-The Catacombs-

Tetsuro ducked a swing and shattered the skeleton that had attacked him, wielding his Murakumo curved greatsword in wide, sweeping attacks. His armor had scars all over it, but no breaches. He was walking across a bridge he'd just made available, skeletons rushing him, a necromancer across the bridge preparing a Fireball. Tetsuro spun to face a skeleton, deflected a blow with his shield, smacked the attacker's rib cage with Murakumo, then spun again. He took a knee, hiding behind his iron round shield, as the necromancer's Fireball struck. Heat washed over him, but he was unharmed. He stood, shield still up, and charged forward.

The necromancer turned to run, two more skeletons emerging to cover his escape. Tetsuro ignored them, blasting right through one as it tried to step in the way of his shielded charge. Tetsuro slipped Murakumo into the strap he had for it on his back, drawing a Silver Knight straightsword at his hip for the tighter quarters he was entering. The old necromancer couldn't keep a swift enough pace to escape, and Tetsuro caught up with him in seconds. With a single swing of his sword, Tetsuro cleaved through the man's back.

With the necromancer dead, the skeletons nearby started staying down. Tetsuro's strength was enough to shatter bones, his dexterity such that he could easily deflect their attacks with both sword and shield. Down and down he went, toward his first Lord Soul. He reached another bridge he'd need to rotate and searched for the lever. He spied a metal glint on a platform below, but kept looking. There appeared to be one up a nearby ladder, so Tetsuro sheathed his sword and climbed.

"Oh! Why hello, there. You look reasonably sane!" said a thin, bald man standing near a lever.

"What're you doing in the Catacombs? You don't look like a cleric to me," he continued.

"I'm here for the Lord Soul of Gravelord Nito. And you're in my way," said Tetsuro, pointing at the lever.

"Oh, pardon me, pardon me. If you're going that far down, do be careful. There are all sorts of traps and monsters that don't appear anywhere else, you know. You can never be too careful!"

Tetsuro pushed in the stone lever and watched the bridge rotate.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Tetsuro, deadpan and unamused.

He didn't bother with the ladder on his way down, jumping in full steel armor and bending his knees to absorb a bit of the shock before walking away. The thin man watched him go, until he was nearly halfway across the bridge.

"Rude git, this one. Didn't so much as let me introduce myself!" he said to himself, pulling the lever back out to rotate the bridge and drop Tetsuro. He looked back to see Tetsuro had cleared the bridge before it rotated. Tetsuro was also drawing a bow larger than he was. The thin man dove for cover as an arrow larger than the average sword embedded in the wall behind where he'd stood.

"Where'd he even get that?! He was carrying two swords and a shield!"

"The bridge! Hurry!" yelled Jinta.

Jinta and Seiko faced the same trial in their world. Seiko could have easily crossed in time, but Jinta was too slow. Instead, Seiko grabbed Jinta by the arm and threw him the rest of the way. He hit the rock wall near the door to proceed as Seiko slid off the side of the bridge into the darkness below.

A short time later, Seiko reformed from the ash of a bonfire they'd discovered not long before. With one of her Humanity she reversed her Hollowing before venturing back out. "Trusty" Patches, who'd dropped the bridge while they were on it, was nowhere to be seen now. Seiko rotated the bridge again so it was safe to walk on, and ran across to find Jinta.

He was waiting for her in the middle of the next chamber, a small book in his hands. He shut the book when he heard her approaching, placing it back in a pouch on his belt.

"There you are… Did you survive?!"

"No, I used Humanity. Patches is gone."

"Why would he do that? If he wanted souls, dropping us would only mean he'd have to find our bodies. Humanity as well."

"Jinta, some people don't need a reason," responded Seiko. It quickly came to mind that she didn't really have a reason to say that, but she had the impression that she knew it to be true.

"I prefer to think better of others than that…" said Jinta. "But I suppose that's useless, given that, in this case, 'thinking better' of Patches was thinking he had a reason to kill us."

Seiko could only shake her head.

"Anyway, now that you're here, we should push forward."

He drew his swords and lead the way out of the chamber. The way ahead took them along the cliff again, this time on a C-shaped ledge that was guarded by three skeletons. There were floating skulls watching them as well, which made things a bit eerie. As Jinta engaged the skeletons, Seiko took a glance back just in time to see one of the skulls streak forward and hit her in the back. There was an explosion of magic and Seiko was bowled into Jinta and the skeletons. Seiko was numbed and had a hard time even rolling away from Jinta so he could get up, though she managed after a second. She stayed down while Jinta gained his feet quickly.

Jinta cut down the skeletons and hopped aside as another skull flew at him. It stopped before hitting the wall and looked for him while the third skull started flying at Seiko, who was only then drawing her Estus flask. Jinta dashed forward, stopped when he stood over her, and cast a miracle. She heard him mutter out some lines and saw a bright flash. Whatever he'd done, it sent the skull that had tried to attack her careening into the far wall of the ravine. It exploded there, far away, harmless.

"Stay down and drink your Estus. The other one's coming," said Jinta.

Seiko drank, sitting up slightly to do so, but she didn't move otherwise. The other skull that had attacked Jinta previously flew at them. Jinta repeated his lines, there was another flash, and the skull flew back into a wall like the other. Jinta stepped away from Seiko, but looked around for any other threats rather than stop and help her up.

"What was that?" asked Seiko as she stood.

"The miracle 'Force,'" said Jinta. "Another quick, easy miracle. It doesn't really damage anything so much as repel objects. Arrows, spells, enemies; it's very useful to get some breathing room or defend against long range attacks."

The two continued forward, following the path back into the cliff, into a dark room. There were coffins evenly spaced, and the room grew unnaturally dim. Seiko raised her right arm as their torch and they proceeded forward. Not too far in and they both froze. At the other end of the chamber, something large was waiting.

"Titanite Demon… It also looks like a dead end."

Seiko pointed. "There's another way right there."

"I'm not sure I trust a broken hole in the wall leading to a dark pit any more than trying to pass a Titanite Demon."

"You're the one in the lead, here. Not to wash my hands of the choice, but you do have the final say."

Jinta huffed. "Let's get a bit closer and see what's behind the Demon. If that's the way forward, we'll have to fight it anyway."

Seiko immediately walked toward the figure, her right hand still up. The hall behind the Titanite Demon was certainly a dead end, complete with a corpse crushed against the wall. The Demon raised it's catch-poll, charging it with lightning.

"Through the hole!" said Jinta, grabbing his talisman so he was ready to use Force again. Seiko ran past him, took one look down to see if she could survive the jump, and disappeared into the dark. Jinta dodged a bolt before sliding down the ladder after her. He heard her fighting skeletons, so he drew his weapons the second he was off the ladder to finish them.

"I don't think it will follow us," said Jinta, looking around.

There was only one way forward, a hallway lined with indents for bodies to be laid to rest. Footsteps on dirt could be heard around the corner, signalling more skeletons.

"We need to keep heading down," said Jinta, moving to round the corner. "Nito will likely be-"

Jinta ate a Fireball full in the face. He'd assumed there were only skeletons, but a necromancer had been waiting in the dark behind them. As he batted away flames, dropping his weapons to tear off his helmet and drink Estus, Seiko rolled forward to dodge arrows from the two skeletons, then snapped out two Combustions. She came out of her roll practically staring the necromancer in the face. Chains of Abyss snapped out around the opening of her armor, around her neck, flying at the necromancer. At the end of the chains were sharp cones, which pierced right through the necromancer's head and neck. In the next instant, Seiko recalled the chains and Abyss back into her.

She turned back to see Jinta putting his helmet back on and suddenly realized she didn't know how he would react to her containing a part of the Abyss. Black tongues of flame in her Pyromancy was one thing, since he didn't know anything about Pyromancy, but using the Abyss directly was another. If she didn't tell him, he'd find out eventually if she had to use it in an emergency. If she did, it was possible he'd refuse to travel together any longer.

She took too long pondering the thought, apparently, because she'd been staring into space and coincidentally in Jinta's direction.

"You ok? Where'd you get those cuts on your neck?" he asked.

Seiko remembered that the Abyss had to rip out from under her skin. No point in lying, then.

"When I went to retrieve the Lord Soul shard from the Four Kings, I broke my father's ring. Whatever was in it is now in me, and it's attached some of the Abyss to me somehow."

Jinta was quiet. Was he waiting to hear more?

"You've seen the black in my flames. I think it's affecting me in ways I don't know about, too."

"You carry the Abyss? That which Lord Gwyn feared so much he caused the creation of Chaos, sacrificed great cities, and even gave his very soul to keep at bay? I'll say it's affecting you. I've heard of dark magic before, of the nature of the Abyss and its will. Pyromancy gets a pass in my eyes because it is not of the mind, but of the body or the will, as miracles are of the spirit. I had no idea it was possible for there to be dark Pyromancy, as there is dark sorceries. I don't think you should have told me about this."

"What if I had to use it in an emergency?"

Jinta crossed his arms. "Good point. I would have thought you were deceiving me, certainly."

"I can promise you I won't let it out. I have some control over it because there is so little."

"You're the one who volunteered to help me and decided not to fight me instead. I need the extra hands, so I have no room to refuse your presence. Honestly, whether I know about your harboring the Abyss or not, I have no choice. I've got to keep up with the others, and the less death I suffer the better. Not that I want it to sound like I'm using you, because that isn't my intention, but that is the reality of our current relationship."

Jinta sighed and collected his weapons, sheathing them.

"I can only say that it sounds unhealthy, and that it puts the lives of many people at risk. If I were you, and I knew such a thing existed within me that could break free at any moment, I would isolate myself as much as possible… Or I might have stayed down there and left the Chosen Undead to seek a different soul to use for the Lordvessel."

"It has a will," said Seiko, "you're right. It wants something from me, but I don't know what it is. I think I heard it when it was killing me. It doesn't… Speak, really. It's more of a feeling. So I know it wants something, and I know I can't easily get rid of it, and it has changed me or affected me somehow, but that's it. I have confidence, though, that it's under my control for the moment."

"Just be sure it's you controlling it, and not it controlling you."

A/N: Depression's a bitch. Sorry for the massive delay. Again, when these kinds of things happen, it only helps the quality of the story. I can't not think about writing, I just can't always bring myself to actually write, so when I'm not actively working on it, I'm still developing concepts and doing research and asking questions and such. I had wanted to get all the way through this story, even the ending in Dark Souls 3 (BIG plans for that, by the way, some of which were actually set up already in this rework), by the end of this year. Maybe it's for the best I won't be able to do that, because it will give the DLC time to come out and the game to truly be completed. As of right now, we have this rewrite, some scenes in Dark Souls 2 as a sort of "what happened between the two major eras," thing, then all of Dark Souls 3. I've got something daring in mind for 3 involving a single instance of time-travel, which we know is possible in Souls, that's going to allow a lot of fleshing things out for the big finish… Which isn't all that big of a finish in the first place. Not that Twin Humanities ended with a bang the first time around anyway. That's enough spoiling for now, though, but at least this gives a bit of a road map to those who follow the story and are curious where we're going. I'll do my best to turn out content, but I'm sorry that I can't promise the one-a-week thing like before. Thanks for your time.