Summary: It's the last night in the cathedral.
(Author's note: Again, I can only thank your continued support for my story. Ornstein and Tempest will go back out into the action soon. Means I need to do some more research about the game areas, so updates could be slow, sorry. Along with me having two other WIPs and being in a large Bloodborne mood lately.)
When Ornstein returned to the cathedral after Gwyndolin had dropped the illusion of the sun and the moon rose, he decided to stop by at the old silver knight ask box. It wasn't possible that there was any message in it, Smough had been the last one to ever use it and... Ornstein didn't want to think about it. Regardless, he felt like he wanted to look into it one last time before he would be on the road for some while and felt a flush of surprise when he indeed saw a note lying in it.
Slowly, he grabbed the note, unfolding it, facing an unfamiliar handwriting.
"Thank you for the training and to be willing to stay around me. I made me feel so much more secure and happier. I am looking forward to our quest."
That could only be.. the little storm. Ornstein read the note again. And another time. There seemed to be some warmth blooming in his chest. Finally, he folded it back together and slipped it into his armour.
After Ornstein had looked at the box, he made his way to the kitchen and was greeted with a mouthwatering smell. Tempest appeared in the door frame, cheerily smiling at him: "You have been out for quite some time. I even waited for you."
"We are going out tomorrow and I wanted to take a look at Anor Londo again." Who knew when Ornstein would see it again.
"I have cooked your favourite food and even prepared a surprise for later." Tempest put a bowl from which the mouthwatering smell came right in front of him. Ornstein determined the dish in it as a fish-vegetable-stew. With trout and carrots. Some of his favourite ingredients.
"Thank you.", Ornstein said, starting eating. And having trouble to keep his face straight. The dish was so extraordinary well made, that his face automatically wanted to turn into a smile. It even reminded him of... Smough's cooking.
"How do you like it?", Tempest asked, both hands on the table, his upper body basically laying on it, voice shaking with excitement.
"It's... good.", Ornstein answered. It wasn't just good. It was fantastic, tasty, probably the best meal Tempest had ever cooked. But Ornstein couldn't get himself to admit it. He apparently didn't need to, because Tempest already smiled brightly at the rather lackluster compliment.
"I am glad.", Tempest grinned. "I gave it my all for this meal."
That was more than apparent. Ornstein didn't answer anymore because he was too busy with eating, he even asked for seconds, which made Tempest even vibrating more than he already had. It turned out to be... a comfortable silence. Ornstein didn't mind that Tempest was staring at him while eating, it even felt... cozy. It was nice to have some company. That was what the little storm was. Ornstein thought back at the note that had made him feel warm. No, he wasn't attached. He was company. Just company.
Once Ornstein was finished with the second serving, he wanted to get up to retreat to his room, already a lecture on his tongue for Tempest to go rest too, when the small Undead gestured for him to sit back down.
"I have a surprise prepared, remember?", he said and Ornstein swore he was vibrating even more. If this would continue, it wouldn't surprise Ornstein if Tempest would become a literal storm and just fly away. His excitement was unmissable and also kind of... cute. He shouldn't find him cute. He wasn't attached. No, Ornstein was indeed not attached to the little storm.
Ornstein still was questioning himself what kind of surprise Tempest had for him, he surely hadn't trained himself to master spear techniques when he had been busy cooking, when he came back with the plate full of cookies.
Cookies in sheep form.
Ornstein stared at Tempest aghast. "What... I have literally told you that I like sheep only this morning. How did you manage to prepare this?!"
Tempest sat down opposite to Ornstein while the dragon slayer picked one of the sheep cookies up, eyeing it curiously. Tempest even had used a sugar coating to give the sheep cookies a woolly look.
"I grew up in a tavern. It was usual that we got requests to make a meal and dessert in a short time. It had to be done in a few hours so we didn't had much time to think about what we did. I decided to make these cookies these mornings, when you told me about liking sheep and because of the cookie book I found."
The small Undead carefully laid a book down on the table. Ornstein recognized it instantly.
"Artorias...", he said, finally taking a bite of the cookie. That was it. That was the taste of Artorias' cookies. Not even Smough had been able to recreate this exact same taste. Ornstein had a hard time to not break out into nostalgic tears.
"I... have to apologize. I shouldn't have taken it. I should lay it back to where it was. I just always enjoyed making sweets the most and wanted to try out one of the recipes.", Tempest said, but Ornstein quickly shook his head.
"No, keep it... I am sure Artorias would have loved for someone to take over his recipes."
Even though Tempest would eventually become fuel for the first flame, Ornstein still felt that it would be better to give the cookie book to him. To a person who appreciated it. In the cathedral it would just lie around and get more and more dusty.
"These are... very good.", Ornstein said once he was done eating the first cookie. "You are surely better at cooking than at fighting. Speaking of... did you mention that you grew up in a tavern?"
Tempest nodded. "Yes, just me and my mother. I always helped out with cooking and serving. I always thought one time I would take over the tavern once my dear mother retired."
"Then... how did you die?"
Tempest face fell at the sudden question but brightened up instantly. "Oh and here I thought you would NEVER ask this question!"
He straightened himself up in his chair. "You know that I am from Astora. One day there was an attack from a giant beast."
"The beast of the evil eye.", Ornstein nodded. "That is well known, the story even made its way to Anor Londo. Is his how you died?"
Tempest shook his head. "No. But a lot of elite knights and soldiers died that day. So when there were rumours about a rivalling country invading, the young folks of Astora got recruited into a hastily constructed army. They gave us a brief course how to wield a sword, some armour and then we were thrown into battle."
Tempest smile looked sad when he told the next part: "Of course I didn't stand a chance. I died before I could even strike down one single foe."
"... And then you came back...?"
A nod. "Yes. Turned out I was cursed by the dark sign. Felt kind of strange, getting up after having died. Have been very confused. Of course I knew about that the Undead are all shipped to the Asylum. So I went to my best friend back then. I probably also did had a crush on him."
Ornstein felt a pang in his chest about the mention that Tempest did had a crush once. That.. that wasn't right. Of course he could have a crush. It wasn't like they were attracted to each other.
"But what do you know, when I told him everything and asked for help, he turned traitor and I got caught and shipped away."
Tempest put both hands into the air and shook his head.
"Needless to say I didn't had my crush on him after ithat/i. And here I thought we were friends."
Why was Ornstein feeling relieved hearing this? Just why?
"I don't even know how long I have been in that cell, long enough to almost hollow for sure. Until this Astora elite knight dropped me the key to my cell. On a corpse. Shocked my mind right back into my body.", Tempest finished his story.
"An elite knight at the Asylum?", Ornstein asked. "How curious, must have been an Undead too. But why did he free you? I mean, you don't feel like the, uh... right choice."
Tempest had gotten a few more muscles in their training, but even with a bit of military armour on, it must have been apparent how thin he was. He wasn't a fighter. Ornstein suddenly had a newfound admiration that he actually made it this far. Which turned into shame instantly when he remembered that he indeed lost to the little storm.
Tempest shrugged. "If I would have known that. Maybe I was the only one left with a clear mind? When I explored the asylum, all I could find were hollows. A lot of them didn't even move anymore. Even that elite knight was going hollow. He gave me his Estus flask."
Tempest fell silent for a short few seconds.
"Before I got crushed five times by that demon before I saw that there was a door I could run through. Back then I almost already lost hope. How should I be able to get past this thing only having a sword hilt with me?"
"I am astounded that you even tried to fight a demon with a sword hilt alone.", Ornstein said.
"Look, I thought I had no other choice!", Tempest replied with a heated voice. "It was either going forwards or going back to that cell and hollow for good. I preferred to go forward."
"And you eventually made it.", Ornstein stated. Tempest just nodded.
"I still feel like I wasn't the right choice. Chosen Undead? I don't feel chosen.", he laid both hands on the table and placed his head on them, sighing. "Maybe being chosen just means that you are the one who made it...", he murmured and Ornstein froze at how close Tempest came to the truth with this assumption.
"Anyway, I better prepare for tomorrow.", Tempest said, raising his head. "Enjoy your cookies!"
And with that, Tempest ran off and left Ornstein alone with the cookies. The dragon slayer picked another one up, thinking about what Tempest had told him before taking a bite.
He better should prepare for tomorrow too.
Tempest was back in his room, looking at the different armour sets he had picked up on his journey. He probably could have kept wearing Ciaran's old clothes, but for one, he felt a bit disrespectful wearing them and for the other, they actually were a tiny bit tight in his crotch area and a bit too wide in the chest area. It just was apparent that these clothes originally had been made for a woman, even though their size must have been roughly the same.
Tempest remembered that Ornstein had told him that speed came before protection, especially because he was such a small target. So Tempest decided to discard any plate armour or chainmail out at once. This left any sets made out of cloth or leather.
Inspecting the ones made out of cloth, Tempest decided that he still valued a bit more of protection. He settled on a set he had picked up in the lower undead burg. A black leather set, probably once having been owned by a thief. It looked very close to Ciaran's old clothes, but it fit him better, probably once had been belonged to another male.
He even put on the mask, but when he looked into the mirror, he found that he looked too much like a delinquent, so he decided to take it off. It didn't matter if anyone saw his face anyway. And he didn't had to fear scars, because he could heal any wound with Estus.
Still, having his head not protected at all... He looked back into his belongings searching for a suitable helm. After he tried on a few, Tempest decided to go with the Gargoyle helm. It was made out of bronze and fit just right over his head and it even looked pretty good without hiding his face completely.
It probably wasn't the best defense wise, but it was light enough to not feel uncomfortable and it would at least prevent his head to be split open.
Now he needed to pick out a weapon. It didn't take Tempest long to decide, he had a newfound fondness of the silver knight straight sword, mostly because they had trained with it a lot. Even though Ornstein had trained him to not rely on a shield, he still felt more secure with one and picked out a simple knight's shield.
Tempest felt secure in his outfit, so he could put the others back in the bottomless box. Would be a few trips back to the bonfire. Sighing, he picked up what he could carry at once and got on his way.
After a few trips, Tempest was damp with sweat, but at least he had put every armour set back into the bottomless box. Now he only needed to wait for the night to pass.
Maybe he should take another bath? Who knew when they would get back into the convenience of the Anor Londo cathedral. But what if Ornstein was in the bath?
Tempest technically could just enter the woman's bath, it wasn't like there was anyone, but... he even kind of hoped he would run into Ornstein again in the bath. So he quickly got a towel, some soap and a basin along with a light night shirt he wanted to put on later, it was more comfortable running around in these at night and made his way to the bathroom.
When he entered, Tempest had to realize with disappointment that Ornstein wasn't hear. Maybe he already had bathed. Maybe he didn't want a bath today. Maybe he would come in later. Whatever, Tempest mainly came here to clean himself up. Still, after he had made sure to clean every last corner of his body, the small undead decided to stay a while longer but the dragon slayer never came. Tempest eventually left the bath and decided to wait out the rest of the night in his room. He didn't need to sleep anymore, but laying down and closing his eyes helped him drift off and that made the nights pass faster.
The next morning Tempest prepared breakfast. It was the last time. He knew they would go back into the archives. They would go back fighting. He would probably die again. Tempest would have loved to just stay like this. Forever. But he knew that it wasn't his fate.
"When fate means having to die again and again and again, then it can suck my ass.", Tempest murmured while cooking, slightly turning his head to the site only to see that Ornstein had appeared in the kitchen door staring at him.
"Would you have been one my silver knights, you would have needed to pay in the swear jar.", he casually said while strolling over to the table. "But you aren't and I feel you. Fate can indeed suck my ass too."
Now it was at Tempest to stare. "And you don't need to pay in the swear jar?", he said while while stirring the pot. "Besides, you have said that Seath is a pain in the ass back in the archives. Shouldn't you pay double?" Ornstein chuckled.
"I am the captain. Besides, there isn't any use for hard coins anymore."
"Fair.", Tempest said, watching the soup swirl. "So... why do you think about fate... like this?", Tempest asked.
Ornstein sighed. "Just look around you. This ghost of a town should tell you everything you need to know."
Tempest didn't need any further explanation. Once Ornstein had been a legend, a hero. The dragon slayer. A respected knight with countless more knights under his command. Now... the city was empty. Ornstein's companion were all dead or had left. The person he shared the most special bond with was no more and had fallen to Tempest's own blade.
"I am sorry.", he simply said. Ornstein waved with his hand, as if saying "Forget about it." Tempest finished the soup, filled it in a bowl and brought it over to Ornstein. He had decided to cook a simpler meal today. Maybe Ornstein was nervous.
iWhy should he be nervous? That man is the freaking legendary dragon slayer?/i A voice whispered in Tempest's head, but he still wanted to take this into consideration.
After all, in these past few days he had learned that the dragon slayer was softer than he let on.
While Ornstein was spooning the soup, he asked: "So, tell me how we should tackle our mission at the archives."
Tempest took a deep breath and the spoke: "The archives is littered with crystal hollows, so we split up to take care of them one by one and only move on when we cleared out a room. I won't wander off on my own. Seath is a dirty hoe and we should only face him when we have found out how we can hurt him. I will obey your every command, but in return you will listen to me when I have a request."
Ornstein nodded at the end of the tirade of words. Tempest had noticed that Ornstein had frowned when he called Seath a dirty hoe, but he remembered that one day Ornstein had told him all about the paledrake.
"Very good.", Ornstein simply said. "We will leave 30 minutes after I finished eating, so get your things ready."
Tempest nodded and was on his way.