Episode I: Knowledge

Act II: 'Eyes'

Disclaimer: I don't own Bloodborne, this is just a Fanfiction.

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Scene 1

"This has to work... with the corner we're backed in... we don't have another choice..."

Willem gasped himself awake in what felt like the millionth time; his eyes widened and a freezing streak of sweat swam down his pyjama clothed back. His memory very slowly returned to him when he brought his left hand up to rest upon his brown-haired head.

I am in the college, he thought to himself, his stirring senses settling.

Calm down.

His eyes briefly shut and he closed his mouth to breathe through his nose as he did so.

Just a nightmare.

"Can a memory really qualify as a nightmare...?" The matured man further pondered to himself as he re-opened his eyes to narrow them forward, directly down at the simple bed he lay in. Willem turned his frown dead-ahead this time however, frowning as he did so. His room lay in darkness, much like his objective thought process.

At least the room is still how I like it, he ruminated silently.

His gaze was soon called to the lavish window he was allowed as a result of his growingly popular teaching; he rested his left arm across his similarly raised leg, eyes narrowing toward it. A small bird flew toward the windowsill, resting and bobbing its head serenely. Willem sighed through his nose as he watched it enviously before shaking his short-haired head.

Get some sleep, he thought.

You'll need it for the morning.

With that final lingering thought, the relatively older man laid back his head upon the soft pillow behind him.

Willem forced himself not to sigh in half-frustration and half-anger as he pushed past the busy halls of Byrgenwerth Royal College. As always he had gotten many looks of disapproval and distaste, perhaps due to his manners in rushing.

In his previous fashion however, he did not care.

Ability was all Willem cared about.

And right now he was late.

The lecturer, though surely not skinny, was not overweight; his size caused him great trouble in moving. Normally he preferred to rise very early and go through a rigid but perfectly fixed schedule which allowed him all the time in the world to arrive on time.

Unfortunately however this was not one of those mornings.

He cursed very quietly under his breath when he finally made his way into the class he was scheduled for. The lecturer quickly scanned the room and found near maximum attendance.

Impressive, he thought.

All the more reason to apologise.

"I'm never good at this..."

He set his briefcase down next to his main table before laying his books down on the table's surface itself.

"I do apologise," he called out, actively avoiding the class' agonising gaze. "For being late..." He finished in a low murmur before clearing his throat awkwardly and marching around the table and his favourite chair.

Willem approached the blackboard and grabbed the white chalk piece that lay ever reliably on its side.

"Permit me to introduce myself," he voiced out loudly this time, his voice reverberating across the wide chamber. He ran the white chalk piece against the blackboard noisily, visibly writing his name. "My name is Willem Browning and I will be educating you all in... 'Philosophy and History'."

His bouncing but rigid words were backed by the strong fervour with which he spoke. Written legibly in chalk handwriting across the blackboard were the words:

WILLEM BROWNING

PHILOSOPHY & HISTORY

He placed the white rock with which he used to write his words back down on its usual place before about-turning to finally get a look at his new class.

As he had half-expected, all youths, mostly male.

"Please be aware that though you will not be treated like schoolchildren I still do expect a similar sense of respect," Willem announced loudly as he joined his hands behind his person, surveying each eye that scanned him carefully, lightly pacing around the wide room. "My goal is to successfully advance your learning here and I will see to that end, tenaciously if required," he further explained as he abruptly ended his pacing. "However, that said, I will not suffer fools," the well-dressed man warned before re-opening his mouth to finish his introduction. "Are there any questions?"

A dishevelled-haired young man smiled down at him, slowly rising his hand up. Willem prepared his nerves for an inevitable insult and nodded his head up at him.

"Yes?"

"So do you like, think you're better than us, or...?"

Almost immediately the rest of the listening class murmured in quiet laughter. Willem's eyes narrowed up at the youth before he re-opened his mouth to respond.

"Leave."

Taken aback by his sudden word, the young man's eyes widened. "Wha-?"

"Now!"

Willem's fiery but authorised yell caused the class' quiet conversation to immediately die down, almost as if intimidated. The dishevelled-haired youth could only stare back at the older man before gaining an angry scowl on his face; he grabbed his books and kicked his shoes heatedly down the aisle, turning for the open doorway. Willem watched him leave silently with his own hard-eyed frown before turning it back on the rest of the class.

"Anyone else?" He challenged, this time in a much lower tone of voice. The class of adolescents mainly all avoided his eyesight, apart from perhaps one or two, a sure sign of their obedience. "Good... then let us begin."

–

2

"Now, remember to clear away your desks and I will see you all... next week." Willem finished his lesson, about-turning on the class as he briefly tossed his chalk up to re-catch it. As expected the class all very quickly stuffed their books under their arms before rushing for the door in single file. The watching lecturer couldn't help but smirk very lowly as he spectated their sudden enthusiasm for leaving.

He had that effect on people.

Still with some time remaining before his next meeting, Willem opened some paperwork from his briefcase and took a quill to it, frowning down at it from within his ever reliable favourite chair. The classroom soon descended into his most cherished sound.

Silence.

All ruined for him however when he felt the presence of an approaching pair of footsteps.

"Sir Browning?"

The named man turned his head up, slightly annoyed but tried not to show it. A smiling young man stood before him, perhaps around fifteen to sixteen. Though he wore the basic Byrgenwerth student attire, his warm aura seemed to stand out from the crowd. His black hair hung on his head like a pair of curtains, shoulder length and all.

"Yes?"

"I must say, I really enjoyed that lecture you gave," the nameless young man greeted in his warm smile, eliciting a raised black eyebrow in curiosity from the listening Willem. "That part about theories and conjecture on Pthumerian society was especially interesting!"

"Um... thank you...?" Willem began back in response, arching his eyebrow ever upward, as if for the boy's name.

"Laurence, sir!"

"Thank you... Laurence." Willem murmured back out, his brow furrowing and his eyes narrowing in half-suspicion, half-puzzlement.

No-one was ever this friendly to me, he thought.

Much less a student.

"Though I'm more interested to see where you lean when it comes to Pthumerian religion sir Browning," the newly introduced youth smiled on as he dared to take a step further leaning his body forward as he did. "What can you tell me on it?"

"Um... we shall cover that... of course, but...," the taken aback Willem could only blink back at the exuberant youth before attempting an awkward smile of his own. "Y-You should probably save something for next week."

The young student suddenly let out a boisterous laugh, tipping his head lightly back as he did. "Always in the very basic fundamentals I am lacking in!" He joked; the listening Willem couldn't help but very lightly curl his deepened, familiar frown into an uneasy smile of his own. "I shall not keep you from your busy work sir Browning; thank you for the lesson." The budding youth smiled on as he bowed forward respectfully before, finally, turning to leave the classroom. Willem watched him leave in his tiny smile, shaking his head, almost as in disbelief.

"Think nothing of it... Laurence," he murmured out so lowly the walking youth could not hear him. "Strange boy." The older man hummed thoughtfully, regaining his deep but familiar frown to his face as he re-confronted his work. As if to stop him from doing so however, a quiet but audible babble outside the open classroom doorway made him re-turn his head in its direction. The young Laurence nodded and spoke inaudibly to the much taller man now standing in the doorway; Willem recognised him immediately, his only real friend.

Byrgenwerth Royal College's ever reliable janitor.

Though he was dressed in the familiar black of the grand institute, the very jumpsuit he wore indicated his lower rank within the hierarchy. As if that wasn't enough however, the mop and bucket he carried with him seemed to reinforce that. Normally he wore a hat on his head but today he allowed his shortened black hair without.

When Laurence had finally finished with his greeting and parting, the janitor turned his light smile on the sitting and frowning Willem, the lecturer nodded his head upward, as if in confirmation. The man of similar age strode on into the classroom, bucket and mop in hand, as if to begin cleaning the area. He briefly scanned the vacant seats in the back before turning to face his friend, smiling as he accosted forward.

"Gehrman," Willem greeted in his ever hardened frown. "How goes it?"

"Well for a janitor's day, Master Willem," the newly introduced Gehrman smiled lightly back down at him as he placed his bucket and mop down directly ahead, gripping the handle with both hands. "How about your own?"

"Fine...," Willem murmured back out as he re-turned his work, scribbling on his papers. "I wish you'd stop calling me that..."

The smiling Gehrman's face dropped in a curious frown. "Calling you what, sorry?"

"'Master' Willem," the lecturer shot back, very briefly re-facing the slightly older man with a disapproving frown on his face. "I am only in a temporary position here."

"They say you're one of the best," Gehrman countered with, raising up an eyebrow in his own light frown. "Or so I hear."

"If it wasn't for the results I get I'd have been dropped years ago...," the bitter lecturer muttered out as he underlined a word with some sense of emphasis. "Most of these places want a popular professor or a rich one," he reinforced further as he scowled down at his work. "If I'd known this in advance I'd have tried to make some more friends here." He sighed this time, leaning back from his papers and into his favourite chair thoughtfully.

"Can't argue with that," the smiling Gehrman nodded in light agreement, still gripping his mop as he briefly faced the vacant seats to his left side. "It's been difficult finding a person that won't look down on me."

Willem chose not to voice his shame on doing just that when he first met the friendly but awkward janitor.

"Anyway," Gehrman re-began in his light smile as he turned to look back at the curious-faced Willem. "Sir Provost Wells asked me to tell you he'd like to see you at your earliest convenience," the custodian claimed in his light smile. The listening lecturer lay his eyebrow skyward in curiosity.

"Did he say what for?"

"Would he tell me anything?" Gehrman countered back, this time in a similarly eyebrow-raising smirk. Willem couldn't help but chuckle lowly as he listened. "Just whenever next you're free."

"Very well; I was only finishing up here anyway," Willem sighed out, this time in a light frown as he grabbed his papers, books and quill before placing them away in his briefcase. "Thank you Gehrman."

The custodian nodded in a light smile before pulling out his mop, presumably to clean the now vacant classroom with. "Anytime Master Willem."

Willem couldn't help but put on a stony frown as he sat in one of the headmasters' waiting room chairs; the seat felt uncomfortable and wobbly, which did little to ease his growing concerns.

Maybe I'm just missing my chair, he thought.

"Doubt it."

His silent but sure thoughts made his mind wander back to his very reasoning for being here.

No outward purpose; just sent here.

As if a student to be sentenced to expulsion.

Calm down, he thought; perhaps it's not as bad as all that.

"And yet it's all can think about."

"Sir Provost Wells will see you now."

The older woman's voice yanked him straight out of his daydreaming; he snapped his surprised-eyed frown up to the receptionist on the side of the office before nodding in confirmation.

"Th-Thank you."

With that, he grabbed his briefcase hanging at the chair he sat in before standing up and marching forward. On the fancy looking door before him marked were the words:

MASTER PROVOST WELLS

Headmaster

With respect, always, he knocked first at the oak door before him.

"Enter!"

He nodded, etiquette and formal behaviour drilled into him before pushing the door very carefully. The high quality of the door did not surprise him; not a single creak emanated from its hinges and he could only frown as he stepped through quietly.

The place was as he remembered it when first being hired.

The short-blonde haired man sat in his chair, seemingly previously engrossed in some kind of paperwork before soon turning his head up in response.

"Ah, Browning!" The headmaster smiled in greeting before pushing his lavish chair backward; he stood up to walk around his large desk before reaching his hands to grasp at the frowning Willem's. "Excellent, excellent; glad you came!"

"Sir Provost Wells." Willem greeted, his right hand shaking the headmaster's as he bowed in his display of respect.

"Please, take a seat!"

The frowning junior traced the well-mannered headmaster's hands, gesturing toward the lavish recliner opposite the desk.

"Thank you." Willem acknowledged in a forward nod, pressing ahead to lay down in the chair. Though it was certainly a high quality one it was not his favourite.

Thus, it was uncomfortable for the man.

But he resolved not show this, especially to his employer.

"So! I hear your work in Byrgenwerth Royal has been trying Mr. Browning!"

The man's sudden call made Willem's eyebrows rise in tandem with his widening eyes.

"I-I'm sorry sir?"

"Yes," Provost Wells laughed out well-naturedly, taking the younger man off balance. "I hear you had to send a student out of your lesson today!"

"Ah-ah y-yes...," Willem winced back out, lowering his eyes temporarily, as if to look for a very reason with which to give him. "I apologise sir; my hand was-"

"It's fine; you don't have to explain yourself to me," the headmaster interrupted softly, a similarly comfy raise of his left palm making him halt his words mid-speech. "Your results speak for yourself."

This time, Willem allowed himself to smile, even if wanly in response.

"In fact I am hearing that you are teaching additional subjects to your 'Philosophy and History' lessons."

"U-Um yes again I must apologise-"

"They have been proven, Mr. Browning."

Willem's eyes widened with his similarly shooting eyebrows, pure shock written across his expression.

"W-Wha-?"

"Quite something isn't it?" Provost Wells smiled back out, his hands joined on his desk before him; he uncoupled them to reach down into his desk drawers, pulling what seemed to be pictures of all things. When he placed the three pictographs down opposite the wide-eyed Willem, he finally got a look at what the Provost showed him.

Pictures depicting what seemed to be the outline of an existing monster or creature of some kind.

"But that's...?" Willem gasped out, eyes widening for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"It's amazing Willem!" Wells laughed on out, clenching his fingers together as if in excitement. Perhaps realising his lack of formality however, he chuckled and raised his two palms up in apology. "Mr. Browning, even."

"It's... fine, sir, I don't mind," Willem put on a real smile for once as he briefly re-faced his employer before allowing his eyes to scan the incredible pictures below. "I'm as shocked as you are."

"At any rate, it shows you were correct all these years! Even if they were mere theories!" Wells grinned back out as he joined his hands together a second time. "Do you know what this means?"

"Multiple things, sir," the frowning Willem managed out lowly as his eyes darted across each spider-like monster taken by a pictograph before soon re-raising his eyes to face the man before him. "But the most obvious one would be-"

"Offering you a permanent, full-time position here... at Byrgenwerth Royal."

Willem couldn't help but be taken aback in silence; he sat back in the lavish chair, eyes widened yet another time. The smiling headmaster, seemingly completely confident in his words, could not be challenged.

"W-B-But sir-"

"I will not take no for an answer Mr. Browning," the friendly headmaster chuckled back as he shook his head in response, still smiling. "Your work has proved exceptional, even among the older staff, and with this new breakthrough... I've been meaning to ask."

"Yes?"

"How much else do you know about your... 'Great Ones' and Pthumerians in your history?"

His question, this time, did not surprise him.

"A lot more than I am currently teaching sir, you may be pleased to know." Willem claimed, this time with a light smile on his face.

"What were you to say if...," Wells began as he lowered his eyes and leant his head briefly to the side; Willem raised a curious eyebrow. "If we allowed you to add to this?"

"Are you serious sir?"

"Hear me out," the Provost smiled as he briefly shot up his two fingers, as if to re-begin speaking on the matter. "If we added to your subjects as a higher tier for the more... gifted students... would you be able to fulfil it?"

Willem was gobsmacked; seemingly unable to respond. Wells couldn't help but rise an eyebrow in curiosity.

"By which I mean... do you have enough material and proven research to meet this demand?" He asked again, this time in a hardened frown.

"U-Um, y-yes! For a full semester? Most definitely!"

"I was hoping to hear you say a quarter... but..."

Again, Willem could barely believe his ears.

Was this a dream?

There's no way, he thought.

"A full quarter?" The man whispered back out, his eyes narrowing in disbelief.

"Ah, I apologise Mr. Browning; perhaps I am asking far too much of you," Wells chuckled good-naturedly. "It is after all a new field and-"

"Yes."

Willem's sudden answer made Wells' eyes widen this time; he re-turned his eyes back to face the younger man, raising an eyebrow. The hard-frowning Willem stared back at him, as if in a very game of chicken; his confidence soaring.

"You are certain?" Provost Wells questioned, leaning his head forward this time as if for clarification. "Absolutely?"

"Absolutely."

Willem's convincing repeat of the man's words made the listening Wells' hardened frown very slowly curl into a light grin.

"Mr. Willem Browning...," the headmaster smiled lightly before pushing his chair backward to stand upright. Lightly surprised, Willem followed his actions in some small awkward sense. Headmaster Wells stepped on over to outstretch his left open palm, smiling as before. "Congratulations... on your permanent position and promotion... Professor Browning."

Willem could barely stop the wide smile shooting across his expression; he bowed forward in respect and gratefulness. "Thank you... sir!"