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"Why did you come here?"
It was a good question.
One that Lautrec couldn't answer.
He had no satisfactory reason he could tell to himself, even less to Fina.
In silence, he continued looking down at the dark waters that made most of the flooring of that place.
"There's nothing of value in New Londo. Look around you; you'll see nothing but Hollows too insane to even fight for the sake of their meaningless life. You shouldn't linger long in this failed excuse of a settlement, not when the next sacrifice is waiting for you in Firelink shrine."
Lautrec took a step closer to the edge of the platform, until the tip of his feet were left hanging in the air. Next to him, an insane Hollow kept banging its head against the stone floor. It covered its rotten ears with both hands. It gave no signs of being aware of Lautrec's presence.
In return, Lautrec ignore the creature too.
All that it would take to end it all was a step more.
He waited for Fina to talk to him again.
After a pause, Lautrec got an answer, but it wasn't the one he had hoped for.
"Do it."
There was no emotion in the voice of his goddess. There was no anger, no fury or frustration, just a gelid indifference.
"You want me to save you again, like I did when we first met. You do this as some sick way to reaffirm your power over me. This ridiculous games will not work on a goddess, knight Lautrec of Carim. A goddess does not beg; not to other higher beings, and especially not to some human. If you have made up your mind and are set on going through with this, I will not stop you. Do it, Lautrec. Do not worry about me, I'll just calmly watch."
He would do it.
Lautrec had no fear nor doubts. His conviction beat inside him like a second heart, with more power than the soul he had taken from that fire keeper.
One of his legs moved forward. He kept it up, letting it hang limply from his knee. When he set it down again, his sole did not land on plain air, but on the solid surface of the platform.
Lautrec collapsed on his behind. The Hollows around him ignored the loud clanking of his broken armor. They were as indifferent to his plight as Fina.
"You couldn't bring yourself to do it that other time either." Fina said in his ear with mocking mercy. She surrounded Lautrec in an embrace that was deprived of warmth or comfort. "Oh my foolish knight, what made you think this attempt would be any different?"
Another question Lautrec had no answer for.
The Hollow bashing its head against the floor let out an awful whimper.
It was the last sound it ever came out from its rotten throat.
After snapping the Hollow's neck, Lautrec threw the corpse into the dark waters.
"Estus will not heal him."
Andre said.
A lump formed in Oscar's throat. He said nothing and continued feeding Solaire the rest of fiery elixir that remained inside the flask, slowly and very carefully.
He was holding Solaire by the shoulders.
Though awake, Solaire had not the strength to support his own weight. He couldn't sit on his own, even less keep his back straight without Oscar's support.
Siegmeyer had volunteered to take care of Solaire so that Oscar could rest, but Oscar had refused.
As soon as he had woken up again, Oscar had devoted all his time and attention in looking after Solaire. Andre had tried to talk him out of it, as had Siegmeyer.
Oscar had listened to their reasoning in polite silence. In more ways than one, they were right. His own injuries, though much more healed than Solaire's, were still in need of more rest, especially the reopened scar on his belly. It had stopped bleeding and was starting to close, but the pain remained.
It had taken a lot of time for it to heal properly the last time. This occasion, Oscar thought, would be no different.
In order to numb the pain and silence Andre's and Siegmeyer's complaints, Oscar had bandaged a piece of cloth soaked with Estus around his wound.
His solution had worked well, if not perfectly, but at least it had made the pain bearable and had kept both Siegmeyer and Andre off his back since.
The knight of Catarina had perhaps done so out of respect for his fellow knight, but it was obvious the blacksmith had only complied out of tiredness and exasperation of dealing with Oscar's stubbornness.
Oscar felt no pride in upsetting Andre in such manner. He, Siegmeyer and Laurentius had done much for him and Solaire.
They owed them their lives.
The memory of the pyromancer distracted Oscar. He looked over his shoulder, right towards the old church's stairs. Siegmeyer was sitting on the last step. He had removed his armor. Without it, despite his imposing frame, he looked comically harmless.
But of Laurentius, there was no sign or trace.
Oscar took a deep and silent breath. A part of him wanted to ask Siegmeyer about Laurentius' fate, but every time the question almost left his lips, he bit his tongue.
He feared the answer.
He feared that his worst suppositions would be confirmed.
It was perhaps selfish and unfair of him, even more so after what Laurentius had done for him an Solaire, but Oscar simply couldn't endure to be the bearer of bad news at that moment.
He didn't want Solaire to listen either.
Solaire wasn't completely aware of his surroundings, high with fever and burdened with wounds that refused to heal as he was, and Oscar didn't know how much he could understand the words that were spoken around him or to him, but he didn't want to take any risks.
Forgive me, Laurentius.
Oscar closed his eyes for a few seconds.
Then, he opened them again and looked at Solaire. He was finished drinking his sixth dose of Estus.
"That's it." Oscar gently told him as he helped him lay down again.
Just like him, Solaire was not wearing his chainmail or the rest of his armor, but a set of common clothes. They were too big to fit him correctly, but their looseness was a not a setback, as they proved to be more comfortable for Solaire that way.
"You did well, Solaire." Oscar covered Solaire up to the neck with the old blanket, slightly warm thanks to the bonfire's radiance. "Now rest, you've earned it."
Solaire didn't answer. He was breathing heavily. His eyes were tightly shut, and the wounds the parasite had left on his face throbbed visibly.
Oscar clenched his jaw. If he had a way to transfer Solaire's wounds into himself, he would do it without a second thought.
But he couldn't; all he could do for his friend was to pick up a clean piece of tattered cloth Andre had supplied for him, soak it with Estus, wring it and use it to softly clean Solaire's face and wash his wounds.
Solaire hissed as the elixir leaked directly into his flesh, but he didn't try to move away from Oscar.
"You'll feel better in no time." Oscar told him, resting his free hand above Solaire's, which lay clenched on his chest. "You have my word."
Once more, Solaire didn't answer, but he loosened his hand and slowly closed his fingers around Oscar's wrist.
Oscar replied by silently reciprocating the gesture.
"Oscar?"
"Just a second, Andre." Oscar replied firmly. "Just a second."
The blacksmith let out a deep sigh, but he didn't insist and he patiently waited for Oscar to finish.
"Andre and I have a few things to discuss. Just irrelevant stuff, mostly related to the total price of our new equipment."
Oscar said casually to Solaire once he was done washing his wounds.
After pretending to look over his shoulder, Oscar bowed his head closer to Solaire and whispered, "I think the greedy old bastard wants to charge us thrice the original price. Can you believe it? But don't you worry; I know a thing or two about persuasiveness and how to make a good bargain with tight-fisted merchants. It is technique I like to call 'my fists'; or 'physical rhetoric', if you want me to sound pretentious."
He laughed, and much to his relief, so did Solaire. It was only a feeble chuckle, but it was a reaction and Oscar treasured it dearly.
"I'll be back soon." Oscar said, but when he tried to let go of Solaire, his friend grunted in fear and tightened his hold on him. Oscar's feign smile vanished. He frowned, trying his best to ignore the pain it caused him to see Solaire so scared.
"Now, now, he is right, Solaire."
Siegmeyer intervened. Before Oscar knew it, the knight of Catarina was kneeling next to him. He was wearing his eternal smile on his lips.
Yet, underneath his beaming expression, Oscar could see traces of exhaustion.
They were barely noticeable, but they were there, hidden in his opaque eyes, his hair slick with sweat and his flushed cheeks.
Yet, Siegmeyer never stopped smiling. He put a hand above Solaire's, the same he was using to keep his hold on Oscar.
"Don't you worry! I'll stay with you in the meantime, young friend, and if at any moment you need Oscar, I'll make sure to call for him. I may be a bit old, but this knight of Catarina has some exciting adventures to keep you entertained! I'm sure you'll find them quite exciting, Solaire, and if you don't… well, I suppose they are at least guaranteed to lull you to sleep. That would offend me deeply, but to be fair, they probably will lull me to sleep too!"
Siegmeyer let out a hearty cackle. It spread across the old church like a warm wave.
A strong sense of affection and gratitude sprouted form within Oscar for the Catarinian knight.
We are lucky, Solaire, despite everything that has gone wrong.
Oscar thought as Solaire slowly let go of him. He gave Solaire one last pat on the chest before standing up.
"Anything happens, let me know." He told Siegmeyer.
"Naturally!" Siegmeyer said.
He dedicated a wide smile to Oscar.
We are lucky to have found such loyal friends in this cruel land.
With his heart at peace, Oscar turned his back on them and, together with Andre, he went down stairs.
Chosen Undead.
The memory of their former comrade found its way into his present, and infected it with a dark gloom that made Oscar's knees tremble.
Together with the Undead came the memory of the endless darkness of death and the awful creature that dwelled amidst it. Its gigantic teeth, its deathly stench, its dreadful voice—
"Whoa!" Andre exclaimed just as he caught Oscar after he tripped on last step. "Careful! Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah." Oscar said, quickly regaining his balance and trying to appear amused by his clumsiness. "I just lost my footing for a moment there. It seems my body has yet to get used to being so light... just a setback of wearing armor most of the time, I guess."
"Right." Andre sounded and looked unimpressed. He gave Oscar a moment to fully recover before he dryly continued, "Oscar, you did hear what I tell you, didn't you?"
Oscar was taken aback by how directly Andre went to the point of their conversation. Though he appreciated Andre's honesty and sensibility, Oscar felt a bitter dread brewing in his stomach. His tongue became stuck to his palate.
Andre must have interpreted his silence as ignorance, and repeated himself once more.
"Estus will not heal Solaire from his current ailment. I've seen those marks many times before. More than injuries, they are the signs of a disease. A curse, the result of one of Bighttown's parasites and worms infecting him."
Oscar remained still. He felt cold, as if his blood had suddenly leaked from his body.
"Siegmeyer is infected too." Andre continued relentlessly, but not cruelly. Oscar could see in the blacksmith's eyes the pain his own words caused him. "His curse is different than Solaire's; but this doesn't matter. Unless they are healed from their curses soon, they'll both be consumed by it. The sooner we free them of it, the better."
"So what are you saying?" Oscar said fiercely, barely remembering he was meant to keep his voice down. "That we should kill them both, so they can be reborn from the bonfire? There's no way I'm agreeing to that, Andre. Solaire will not endure a new death in his state; and even if he wasn't so weakened and injured, I would never let you—"
"No." Andre cut Oscar off. "I'm not implying anything of the sort. Killing them would gain them nothing, for their infection is not something Death can remove or cure. Blighttown is a cursed place, and the diseases its dwellers and parasites carry are not so easily healed. In a way, they are very much like the everlasting effects of a basilisk's breath."
Oscar rested his hand against the wall. His strength had suddenly faltered. He felt as if an abyss had materialized underneath him and it was swallowing him whole, condemning him to an everlasting fall.
"There must be something we can do." He said, forcing himself to remain, if not hopeful, at least determined and steadfast. "We can't just stay here and watch them die and go Hollow. There has to be a way!"
He punched the wall, hurting his knuckles in the process.
"There is." Andre continued. "Or at least… there was."
Oscar stared at him, confused.
Andre rubbed his temples for a couple of seconds before he could proceed.
"Not all the dwellers of Blighttown are mindless monsters. Among them, dangerous as they are merciless, there are the Servants of Chaos. I do not know what their purpose truly is, but they hunt Humanity like wolves hunt their prey. The knight of thorns, the man that killed you and Laurentius, he is a member of this covenant. Laurentius told me and Siegmeyer all about him, all about what happened in the Depths, Oscar."
Andre rested a sympathetic hand on Oscar's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, lad. You did not deserve to go through that, and neither did Laurentius. No Undead… no human being does."
"How do you know the knight of thorns belongs to that group or murderers?" Oscar said, incensed by the memory of his killer. He hated the bastard not only for taking his life, but also for being the catalyst of all that had happened after.
His encounter with the Chosen Undead, his imprisonment in the foul mouth of that toothy serpent, Solaire's despair… it had all been the fault of that merciless man.
"Many Undead have come to Lordran before you and Solaire."
Andre said, removing his hand from Oscar.
"Some of them, the few that weren't instantly reduced to Hollowing by that strange magic the knight of thorns uses to kill his victims, told me about their encounters with him. They are all dead now, of course; they were either killed by the knight of thorns during a second encounter, or simply failed on their quests and lost hope, and are now Hollows wandering aimlessly around Lordran. The reason I'm telling you about this is because the members of said covenant are also the only ones I know of who could have a way to cure Solaire's and Siegmeyer's curses."
Oscar remained immersed in a meditative silence.
"Then I'll go to them." He straightened his back and tensed his chest. "And I'll make them hand the cure to me, whether they want it or not."
"By the lords! For a knight, you are awfully impulsive!" Andre wasn't as angry as he was amused by Oscar's immediate reply. "Look at you! Do you really think you'd be able to make your way across Blighttown in your state? Please, you wouldn't be able to defeat the puniest of Hollows!"
"I'll do it. I'll find a way."
"It wasn't a dare, Oscar. I was just pointing out how irrational you can be. Besides, I'm afraid that even if you were completely healthy and had the finest equipment at your disposal, your quest would be fruitless, for the Servants of Chaos exist no more. And it's all thanks to Solaire."
"What?" Oscar found nothing else he could say.
Andre let out a low grunt and folded his arms.
"Your death affected Solaire immensely, Oscar." He said carefully. "It was not your fault, but Solaire never stopped blaming himself for what the knight of thorns did to you. Laurentius told us everything, Oscar. He talked of how much Solaire changed once he became convinced you were gone for good. According to Laurentius, Solaire became a husk of his former self, a violent man motivated by anger and grief, fueled solely by his wish to fulfil his fallen friend's dream."
Andre made a short pause that felt eternal for Oscar.
"Siegmeyer… after he returned from Blighttown without Laurentius, he told me everything about what they had seen in Blighttown once they defeated all those abominations. For some reason, Laurentius had insisted in exploring that awful place, even that strange cave at the other side of the swamp. In the deepest corners of the cave, they found a chamber. Solaire's helmet, sword and shield were there, together with a snuffed out bonfire, a dead abomination with his back eaten away by maggots, and a Hollow knight of thorns. He was too grotesquely injured to stand on his own feet, and he merely clung to the corpse of a deformed maiden stuck in the wall. A fire keeper from what I can tell… and perhaps, the leader of this covenant all along."
A fire keeper was killed.
Oscar couldn't speak. He remembered how the old merchant he'd found at the Depths had talked about Solaire. He remembered the look in Solaire's eyes as he had attacked him in Blighttown.
His anger, his fury, his bloodthirst; how he had called himself a monster, how he claimed he had ruined everything.
How he had claimed that an innocent maiden had perished because of him.
None of them had passed unnoticed for Oscar, but it wasn't until now that he felt the true meaning of such claims.
It hurt.
It hurt to know his death at the hands of the knight of thorns had been the cause of all that pain.
Even if Andre was right and Oscar couldn't be held accountable for his own demise, there was a feeling of responsibility Oscar couldn't shake from his shoulders.
The tender weight of Andre's hand on his hair shook Oscar from his bitter musings. The gesture was fleeting, but Andre's eyes remained fixed on him.
"Solaire didn't do it, Andre." Oscar claimed, hating the way his voice broke in the last syllable. "He is not that kind of man. It wasn't him! It was Lautrec… that bastard! It was him who—"
"I do not know this Lautrec. I'm afraid there's much of this story I ignore." Andre accepted calmly. "But if you believe Solaire didn't commit such a heinous sin, then I believe it too, Oscar. I too don't believe him capable of such atrocity… but the Undead curse, mixed with despair and hopelessness, can drive men and women to do truly horrible acts."
"Solaire would never hurt an innocent." Oscar said. "Even less a woman… a fire keeper!"
"But in his eyes, was she truly innocent?" Andre ventured, making Oscar feel as if he had punched him in the teeth. "If this maiden was truly the leader of that covenant, then perhaps Solaire saw her as the one responsible for your death. Perhaps, in a moment of vengeful blindness, Solaire only saw her and the knight of thorns as the cold-blooded murderers of his beloved friend. She was neither an innocent in need of his protection or a fire keeper, only an enemy he had to eliminate to avenge your death."
Oscar had thought so too, no matter how much he had tried to keep his mind from doing so. Yet, regardless of how innocent the fire keeper had been or not, Oscar would have never wanted Solaire to taint his hands with her blood, not even that of the knight of thorns.
If Oscar had truly died for good, he would have wished for Solaire to continue being the merciful, selfless and kind-hearted man that he was. He would have never wished for him to become a killer hell-bent on avenging his passing.
But if it had been you who had died instead of me… would I really have reacted any different, Solaire?
Oscar scratched his eye, subtly drying a tear that threatened to escape him.
Would I have really been able to accept your departure so stoically?
He knew the answer to those questions.
But the answers meant nothing.
None of it changed all that had happened in Blighttown and the Depths.
"Be strong, Oscar." Andre told him with a fatherly tone. "I know you and Solaire have been through a lot, but before things can get better, they could get worse. Until all of this is over, you have to be as strong as you have been since you arrived to this land."
"I'm not strong." Oscar could barely speak without more tears betraying him. Somehow, he managed to keep them at bay. "Never in my life have I been strong."
"You are. Otherwise, you would be here right now."
Andre spoke with so much conviction that Oscar almost believed him.
Almost.
Yet, even if he couldn't trust in his own strength, he had to hold on to it and keep his chin high.
He couldn't give up, not yet.
Oscar took a brief moment to pull himself together.
"What can we do to help our friends, Andre?"
Andre respected Oscar's efforts to stay calm and pretended he hadn't witnessed the few tears that had escaped him.
Oscar thanked him in silence.
"Curses cannot be cured, not completely… but I have heard that Carim no longer considers this to be the case. During one of Siegmeyer's walks around this area, in his search for a way to open the doors to Sen's fortress, he came across a Carim pardoner. If this pardoner is still around here somewhere, perhaps there's something he could do to heal Siegmeyer and Solaire. I know it is not the most reliable solution, but it's the best and perhaps only lead we've got."
"Oswald." Oscar said under his breath. When Andre asked what he had said, Oscar repeated himself louder, "that's his name. Solaire and I met him after I rang the Bell of Awakening. He offered us his confessing services for free as some kind of reward for ringing the bell."
Oscar chuckled. "Solaire took a long time in his moment confession. Even now, I wonder what kind of sins a man like him could ever commit."
The air turned could around him and Andre as soon as Oscar finished his sentence. Slowly, he raised his head and looked at Andre in the eye.
"Do you understand the risk, Oscar?" Andre said. "If this pardoner really does know a way to heal Solaire, we cannot let him discover what happened in Blighttown."
"But Solaire— "
"Even if he is truly innocent for what happened to that fire keeper, there is the chance he doesn't believe so himself. If Solaire does get cured of his curse and he, moved by a misplaced sense of guilt, confesses his actions to that pardoner, he could get killed by the same man that healed him. You know well how protective men of Carim, especially pardoners and knights, are of their maidens and fire keepers, even if said women are not Carim born. To take a fire keeper's life is an act they could never forgive, even less allow it to go unpunished."
"No, I won't stand for any of that." Oscar stated severely. "If Oswald tries to attack Solaire, he'll die by my blade before he can get close to him."
"Such display of violence wouldn't achieve anything else other than making Solaire's guilt fester, and it very well could drive him to his Hollowing."
"Then what? Should I just let Oswald kill my brother for a sin he did not commit?"
"Of course not. Solaire's death or that pardoner's are not the answer. They are scenarios we cannot allow to become true."
Andre put his hands on Oscar's shoulder and dedicated to him a glance of comradery.
"I'll help you in any way I can, Oscar. If you do find this pardoner and bring him to Solaire, I'll do everything in my power to protect both of you if things turn sour. I do not believe Solaire is truly responsible of that heinous sin. I could be wrong, but I decide to keep my faith in the man both you and Laurentius care so much about."
Oscar couldn't answer.
Andre spoke as if Oscar had already accepted to go through with the plan of finding Oswald and asking him for his help.
But he hadn't.
The constant mentions of Laurentius did nothing to keep his mind calm and focused.
"What happened to him?" Oscar asked Andre under his breath. "Where is Laurentius? He survived the battle against those abominations, didn't he? Then, why didn't he return together with Siegmeyer?"
Andre shook his head.
"I do not know." He answered. "Siegmeyer merely told me Laurentius had decided to continue his own journey alone, but that he wished you and Solaire would cross ways with him again. When I asked Siegmeyer more about it, he dismissed my questions. He only told me that a person's wishes and decisions are not to be questioned, even if we do not understand the motives behind them. I'm sorry, Oscar… but I fear that, if you want to discover more about Laurentius' fate, you'll have to ask Siegmeyer yourself. I hope he can be more honest with you than he was with me. But first, we need to focus on finding that pardoner."
Oscar was just starting to think of a potential answer when Siegmeyer's voice came from upstairs.
"Oh Lords… Oscar, Andre! I need some help over here!"
Oscar was already half-way upstairs before Siegmeyer was done talking. Andre followed him shortly after.
Once upstairs, they discovered Siegmeyer holding Solaire in a sitting position. Solaire was coughing raggedly. He had been sick upon himself.
His shirt, clean just a few moments ago, was now stained with the regurgitated Estus.
Oscar quickly relieved Siegmeyer from his duty and took Solaire in his arms.
"I'm sorry." Solaire stuttered amidst his coughing fit.
It took a moment for Oscar to realize Solaire had spoken.
"Sorry."
"You've got nothing to apologize for, Solaire." After adjusting his hold on him, Oscar took one of the clean pieces of cloth and softly wiped away any remaining Estus from Solaire's mouth and chin.
"Oscar?" Solaire said as he opened his eyes. What Oscar saw in them took away the comfort he had felt by listening to Solaire talking coherently after so long.
Solaire's eyes had lost most of their blue shine. It had been replaced by a milky and blurry whiteness. His eyes wondered around aimlessly, unable to become fixed on Oscar even when he was so close to him. "Where are you?"
"I'm here." Oscar answered. He held Solaire's hand. "Just by your side."
"I can't see you." Solaire said, warping his fingers around Oscar's wrist, just like he had done before. "I can't—"
Solaire bit his lower lip and said nothing more. He joined his other hand on top of Oscar's and held it gently. He closed his eyes and stayed still, but Oscar could feel how his shoulders trembled.
"We'll find a way to heal you, Solaire." Oscar said, pulling his friend slightly closer to him. He then looked over his shoulder and looked at Andre.
The blacksmith was helping Siegmeyer to remain on his feet. When Oscar focused on the knight of Catarina, he discovered that he had called for their help not because he didn't know how to deal with Solaire.
Siegmeyer was exhausted, a lot more than that he let on, perhaps to the point where it had been a miracle that he hadn't passed out the moment he had arrived at the old church after his battle in Blighttown.
"It's alright, I tell you." Siegmeyer raved in between his heavy panting. "I just got a bit nervous when Solaire started to get sick. I can still take care of him, I swear! What is a little fever to a knight of Catarina? Nothing, absolute nothing! That's the answer!"
Even then, Siegmeyer was smiling.
Oscar and Andre looked at each other in silence, each holding their friends carefully in their arms. In the background, Siegmeyer's laughter continued to echo across the old church.
"Hello?" Frampt raised his voice, hoping it could be heard by any Undead lingering around the shrine. "Is anyone there? Come now, don't' be shy. I know my appearance can be unappealing to the human eye, but I mean no harm, I promise."
He got no answer.
His disappointment was only matched by his boredom.
"Well, in case someone is around and you are simply ignoring me, feel free to approach me any time. Even more so if it is you, Ringer of the Bells."
Nothing.
Humans, always so prone to do things at their own pace and under their own accord.
Frampt knew that patience was the key when dealing with them.
There was no hurry.
He would wait for the Chosen Undead to come to him. In the meantime, he would take a long and refreshing nap.
The idea of visiting the shrine's fire keeper flashed before his mind.
He would make sure to visit that maiden soon, but first, he would finish his well-deserved nap.
Frampt yawned, his gigantic jaws looking like the gaping maws of a deformed dragon.
Then, he lay his head on the cold floor of the shrine and closed his eyes.
The quietude of the place, the distant smell of the bonfire, it was all perfect. The only thing that was proving to be a discomfort was the awful taste that puny and rotten creature had left on his mouth.
That lost soul had been an annoyance, but also irrelevant and forgettable. It was probably just another of Kaathe's misguided and miserable pawns.
Kaathe, just as the toll of the second bell woke me up from my slumber, you attacked me. Why did you do that, I wonder…
Frampt kept wondering until sleep freed him from his musings and rendered him unaware of the bitter aftertaste permeated in his mouth.