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'It hurts.'
'It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurtsIthurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsihurtsITHURTS MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP'
A massive blob of pulsating, boiling infection spalshes across their face. It burned like acid. The thickly oozing liquid slowly dripped down their mask, eating away at it while leaving behind thin trails. Several holes were present on their cape from the countless -
The Knight's body was abruptly sent flying as a giant nail slammed into their torso, adding a new tear to their cape. Before they could even get up, a pillar of infected fire shot up from the ground, engulfing their entire body in flames. Their vision turned black. Colorful spots danced in their eyes.
They couldn't breathe.
It had to be done. They hated it. They wanted it to stop. But it had to be done.
They recieved these gifts curses blessings emotions from the Hollow Knight. They killed them. KILLED. They KILLED them so many times. They lost count.
Time and time again. Over and over. Their sibling was slaughtered, and for nothing. This was only fair. It was retribution, penance, whatever. And the Knight was certain that if they did this, then everything would be normal again. What other choice did they have? Once everything went back to normal, they could kill the Radiance again and everything would be happily ever after and they could stop going back again and again and everything is going to be just fine, thank you very much.
That was all they wanted. Everything they could have ever wanted. They dreamt of that moment.
Of course, that wasn't really true. But it was. They wanted them all to be alive again. Wanted it so badly that it felt like their chest was tearing itself apart. Quirrel, Myla, Cloth, everyone. They wanted for the infection to just go away, for a nice peaceful existence where they didn't have to murder dozens of bugs on a daily basis. But that wasn't them. They weren't thinking that. THEY DIDN'T WANT THAT.
The Hollow Knight. The Hollow Knight wanted that. Everything belonged to them.
It was the Hollow Knight who cared about all of this.
It was the Hollow Knight who wanted to seal away the infection.
They were just stealing their thoughts, that's all.
'Take it back take it back take it back take it back take it back i don't want this take it back you can have it please take it back just kill me i deserve it kill me kill me kill me just kill me already please hurry hurry'
Through their increasingly wavering vision, they saw the Hollow Knight charging up a lunging attack. Good. Maybe that would be enough to finally end all of this,r estore these thoughts and emotions. And if not? Then fine. They would return anyway.
Death was meaningless.
The Hollow Knight shot forwards, angling their needle down so that the tip shot straight towards the center of the Knight's mask. The vessel braced themselves, expecting to feel another bout of burning pain. But instead, an incredibly cold sensation overtook them. It swallowed the agonizing fire that pulsated through their body and replaced it with a dull, frozen numbing.
Everything turned dark.
...
A different dark then. Sigils of light. A bench, but not really. They were back.
...
They blinked a few times. They opened their charm case and took off Thorns of Agony, replacing it with Wayward Compass. After some thinking, they also decided to remove Mark of Pride for Grubsong and Grimmchild. They hopped off the bench and left the temple, not looking back. They were headed towards Kingdom's Edge, the least explored area of their map. Perhaps they would be able to find an undiscovered boss, or more vessel fragments.
After that, who knew? That was just where they had decided to go first. There was so much to do.
Everything was so cold.
Everything was so bright.
...
They turned around. Was that the Hollow Knight? What happened? They weren't at the bench? They moved closer to their sibling, ready to draw their nail at any moment, in case of a sudden attack. But as they got closer, they realized the Hollow Knight didn't seem to care. In fact, they just stared past them, as if they were invisible.
Their plan hadn't worked - The frightened confusion running through them was evident of that. So why hadn't they just awoken at the bench? Every other time they were killed...
...
No.
They hadn't been killed before, had they? Whenever they defeated the Hollow Knight, they would become the new vessel for the infection and become trapped in the chamber.
But they wouldn't die.
When they fought the Radiance and delivered the final blow, their mask and body were shattered.
But they didn't die.
...
So.
This. This was death? They were dead? That didn't make any sense. They were still here, still with movement, still in front of the Hollow Knight. How could this be?
A familiar pur brought them out of their thoughts. Quickly turning around, they saw the quickly shrinking figures of the Grimmchild and... a vessel? That wasn't possible, and yet... That mask and cape. There was no mistaking it. There was another vessel here, in the Temple of the Black Egg.
And to top it off, the Grimmchild was with them? It shouldn't be able to be summoned by anyone, save for themselves. With piqued curiosity, they started to float towards the fading silhouettes.
Float?
They looked down at themselves, keeping their momentum all the while. It was hard to see for some reason. Everything was so... blurry. Bright, yet dark at the same time. Their body looked to be nothing more than a black spot of writhing mass.
And everything was so bright. Too bright, in fact. It reminded them of the Radiance. Except it was warm then, unlike the frigid temperatures here. Much warmer, comfortable even.
This was wrong. So wrong. Where was the Grimmchild going? They were outside now, though they almost didn't realize. Everything was just so hard to see. It felt like they had stared into a lamp for hours on end.
Follow the red. The red, white, gray. Why is there orange? A husk?'
It stopped. The vessel stopped.
The Knight came closer, until the finer details of the vessel became clearer. They had a familiar mask, with a mothwing cloak wrapped tightly around their body and the Grimmchild hovering above their head. The dark, expressionless pair of eyes they carried were staring down at a spread out map, one adorned with various pins.
The cloak, the pins, the map, the Grimmchild... No, it was theirs. It belonged to the Knight.
It belonged to THEM.
No.
nonononononononno.
They looked down again. Of course. Of course, of course. They weren't dead. They weren't alive either. They were just. The ghost, the shade. Why did they do this? Why couldn't they have waited? Or something? Anything?
No, nono. They couldn't stay like this, a pitiful shade wandering Hallownest. Get back,
'give me back my body that's mine my shell my stuff I need it back I'm sorry please let me try again'
If only the Hollow Knight had been pure. 'If only I were pure .'
If only the Radiance hadn't come. If only, if only, they hadn't existed. If only so many bugs could have escaped death.
This wouldn't have been a problem, then.
Was it so hard? Was it too much to ask? They wanted to scream, but couldn't. They didn't even have a voice to speak with. They shouldn't even be having these thoughts. They never asked to be born, to be one of the only survivors of their kin, to seal the Radiance away.
They never asked to have these feelings in them, constantly jumping and spiking in their chest, never asked for it to hurt this much, for this despair.
And for the love of everything why couldn't it just STOP he just wanted it to STOP to STOP these sheer falls of anxiety and loathing from consuming their every pitiful thought and action to just STOP the agony that came with every crospe they stepped across or every friend they lost in this forsaken kingdom.
But complaining wouldn't do anything, nor would the self-pity. No, they had to keep going forward. They HAD to.
Reclaim their body, then keep going. Just keep going, that's all.
The Vessel gleefully hacked away at the training dummy next to Oro's hut. The dummy was dressed up as some sort of strange bug, one they hadn't seen before. Well, whatever it was, it was pretty entertaining to whack at.
They continued to hit it with their nail, blissfully ignorant of the strange look that the Grimmchild was giving them, as well as the shade of the Knight, stalking them from afar.
*BANG*
Without warning, two Great Hoppers fell from the ceiling and began to attack Grimmchild yelped in surprise, shooting a fireball into the wall in a knee-jerk reaction.
The Vessel was hit, and in a moment of sheer panic, they began to spam descending dark. Thankfully, their soul meter was nearly full, so they were able to easily clear out the Hoppers. Their efforts were rewarded with some geo, and after a moment of silent contemplation, they hit the dummy once more before turning around and walking away.
Meanwhile, the shade quickly retreated to the background as to not be spotted. They had long since given up on trying to figure out what the Knight was doing. It was rather disconcerting, watching their body being piloted around to do inane acts with no apparent purpose or sense of direction. But they couldn't do anything about it.
No, they had to be careful this time. It was enough.
They had to take back their body.
Then, they had to become pure. And only then will they be able to finally seal away the infection.
All they had to do was wait.