Grimm paced around his room calmly and slowly.
The Nightmare Heart beating within his eardrums. He started speaking into the air.
"I've done this thousands of times" His voice echoing through the room. "Countless bugs, beings and gods have trembled before me"
Every word was filled with a raspy hate. The expression on his face as he talked was that of relaxed calculation.
"The screams…" The beating grew faster and faster. "were absolutely intoxicating"
A wicked smile was across his face. The heartbeat was thumping in his ear. He was well aware that no one could hear him.
He was talking to something else.
"Yes, whose to say this kingdom will be different? In fact, they seem quite pathetic" He said as he chuckled.
"I've stomped out worse"
The Hollow Knight was coming to a slow, and stopped right by a bench.
Hornet was relieved and fell down on the bench exhausted.
"Where are you going this time" Hornet said in between heavy breaths for air.
The Hollow Knight didn't respond, they just stood at the bench looking over it.
Hornet got up to see what they were staring at and saw the massive statue of The King.
Hornet knew where this was and was less concerned as to why the knight was looking at it, and more to the fact that she has ran through most of the gardens. Hornet laid back down, unsurprised at the statue, as she had seen it a thousand times.
"Well" Hornet said between gasps, "At least you stopped for-"
The Hollow Knight had taken off mid-sentence. Hornet, not giving any time to herself to whine about it, ran after them.
The chase continued for some time, but it finally came to a stop in front of a cocoon-looking object with a myriad or roots growing out of it.
Hornet finally came to an understanding of what the knight was doing.
"Why would you want to see The White Lady?" She asked The Hollow Knight.
They turned around slowly and stared at Hornet.
They wanted some way to communicate to her that they sought direction, another purpose to fulfil.
Frustration set in, but like with everything else, it was drowned out, and The Hollow Knight turned back and slowly walked into the cocoon.
Hornet didn't have the strength to fight back, so she just followed them in. The walls were dry and the floor kept on making a crunching sound as they walked. It was like a maze, but somehow The Hollow Knight knew exactly where to go.
They walked slowly through the cocoon, moving slower than one would normally walk. It soothed Hornet in a way, but she thought it also might've been the fact that she wasn't sprinting after them.
After a few minutes of walking through the cocoon, they found a path with a bright light at the end of it. The Hollow Knight kept on walking without any hesitation.
They entered a room filled with white roots twisting a glowing everywhere.
The White Lady calmly spoke and assumed it was the little one at first. "I see you have made your way back h-" and she stopped mid-sentence when she realized it wasn't The Knight.
Her vision was blurred, but she could still make out whose horns were in front of her.
For a few seconds she didn't say anything, just stared at The Hollow Knight that stood before her.
"How?" Her voice remained calm and barely changed. Her tone was far from monotonous, she seemed to care for The Hollow Knight.
Hornet decided to help The Hollow Knight by explaining to The White Lady.
"I found this vessel outside of the black egg, the plague seemed to have disappeared with it's shackles"
The White Lady seemed to be happy at this news.
"They did it" She said in a proud manner, although to The Hollow Knight's despair it seemed she wasn't talking about them.
A few more seconds of silence went by, The White Lady broke the silence by welcoming them.
"I'm so happy you made it out" She said to The Hollow Knight. The way she said it, it provoked something inside of The Hollow Knight, that same warm feeling that they held with the king.
They wanted the feeling to stay, but they knew their nature wouldn't allow for it, so The Hollow Knight pushed back the feeling themselves.
"My child, you seem conflicted" The White Lady said noticing The Hollow Knight's internal struggle. "What can I do to help?"
The Hollow Knight didn't even allow for emotion to take over this time, it was cruel to let them have a small taste of happiness or sadness, just for it to be snuffed away. So, they just pushed it down before they could feel anything, so they never could yearn for the feeling again.
The Hollow Knight knelt before the queen and bowed their head downwards. Hornet was looking at all of this from the side lines, but she felt content in just watching.
The White Lady noticed what the knight was trying to do, what they wanted, but she couldn't give it to them. "I do not have anything you want to hear my child. I do not have anything new for you to do"
The Hollow Knight felt something coming up, this feeling less like a calm warmth, but a fiery blaze.
However, they have learnt it's better to not feel them at all, and they pushed it back down.
They gently got up, nodded towards the queen, and walked away.
Hornet knew they had to follow them. "I'm sorry I cannot stay longer; I need to keep trac-"
"I understand" The White Lady said calmly.
Hornet bowed and followed the knight.
Hornet was walking behind them, and was thinking of a way she could comfort them. She tried to stop herself from talking to this 'mindless' 'emotionless' being, but she had grown to care for them, ever so slightly.
"I'm sorry you could not find what you sought, but I believe you should rest".
The Hollow Knight walked on, ignoring what she had to say.
The silence kept until they reached the entrance.
The Hollow Knight stopped suddenly just outside of the cocoon. Hornet was going to ask what was wrong, but before she could the knight collapsed on the floor.
Hornet dived at The Hollow Knight and managed to catch their head before it hit the floor, and gently laid it down.
She sat there for a few seconds, thinking as to what could've done this.
She hauled their limp body to a bench and sat them – as best she could – on it.
The Hollow Knight's body dwarfed the bench. She could still make out what appeared to be breathing.
She then thought that maybe the knight's body forced itself to stop. They may have over worked it, sprinting from one side of Hallownest to the opposite, straight after waking from what felt like a coma.
This thought calmed Hornet down, as she felt that it was the most likely.
"You may have the emotions of a machine" She said to the knight's body. "But you're still a bug"
She also thought that this was also a good time for her to get some much needed rest in as well.
She sat behind the bench The Hollow Knight was laying on and leaned against the back of it. All the running she did slowly caught up to her too and she fell asleep.