Author's Note: I've had some free time the past few days, and I'm trying to avoid thinking about an upcoming event that makes me nervous, so for once I've been writing a lot. All 3 parts of the story are basically done at this point and I may post the third tomorrow or the day after.
btw yes I know I've been bending the rules of co-op a little, and that I rushed through the fight with Vicar Amelia... But that fight legit went super quickly in the real co-op this is vaguely based off. I think something happens to Amelia's AI when there are multiple people fighting her? And let's just say that in this version of Bloodborne there isn't really a way to do passwords when you ring the bell, and you don't automatically disappear every time the beckoner beats a boss.
Chapter 2
"Are you sure you want my help with this?" I asked Sean as he prepared to open the doors of the Grand Cathedral. "You can try her on your own first. I don't want to ruin your fun."
Sean looked at me sadly. "Have you been here so long that this stuff is fun to you? I'm just trying to survive here, so I need as much help as I can get."
I nodded, properly chastised - when had killing beasts become my idea of fun? - and followed him through the doors to Amelia. Together, we watched her as she prayed.
"Let us pray, let us wish… Let us partake in communion and feast upon the Old Blood..."
She was a beautiful woman, really, despite the desperation evident in her posture and the tattered state of her clothing. The first time I saw her, I remember wishing I looked like her right up until the moment until she transformed into a hideous beast. Her prayer had echoed in my mind for what felt like days afterward, and now it's an unpleasant shock to hear it again from her lips.
"Remain wary of the frailty of men. Their wills are weak, minds young... Were it not for fear, death would go unlamented…"
The Vicar's prayer trailed off as she clutched the golden locket and her breathing grew ragged, echoing through the cathedral.
And then the moment. My hand tightened on the handle of the axe, ready to leap into battle even as Amelia's blood spattered around her. Hit her fast. Hit her before she gets her bearings and realizes what she's become. I pulled a Molotov from my pocket and threw it at her from a distance, causing her to screech angrily at the sudden flames. Behind me, Sean yelled a war cry as he charged into battle. Whatever happened to this not being fun?
I closed the rest of the distance between myself and Amelia, dodging her frantic swipes and jumping back as she pounded at the ground. After a few hits to her side with a blood gem-infused Hunter's Axe, Amelia decided she didn't like that and started slowly backing away into a corner. Sean and I drove her back further, until she crouched down and howled in agony, our constant barrage of blows not allowing her enough time to heal herself or retaliate. She got Sean once with her claws, and briefly knocked me down with the side of an antler, but for the most part we were able to keep her down quite satisfactorily. I almost felt bad for Amelia, robbed of the fight she deserved, but I told myself that this was a faster and more merciful death.
Afterward, when she lay dead on the ground, Sean flicked some blood off his coat and remarked, "Huh, that wasn't too hard for once."
Something about hearing that comment rather than being thanked for my help annoyed me, and I blurted; "I died to her. At least ten times, and it hurt every time. This fight was Amelia when she's scared. You don't know what she's like when you're alone and don't have any backup to save your ass."
"Geez, sorry," Sean said defensively. I rarely got angry, and this was definitely the first time he'd seen it. "I didn't realize. Thanks for your help."
I nodded in acknowledgement, more or less accepting his apology. I generally felt better somehow after the battle with Amelia, even though it made no sense for my guilt about killing one person to be eased by killing another. "So shall we call it good then? Or do you want to go further?"
He looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course, we should go on together! We can be partners in the hunt!"
"I'd love to," I said carefully, wondering what would be the best way to let him down gently. "But look at me. That blue glow around me. I'm not really here, you know, and sooner or later I'll have to go back to my own world. You could always ring again, but there's no guarantee we'll resonate even if we think the same thoughts very hard. And it consumes insight, have you noticed that?"
He looked up sharply, as if gazing at the ceiling of the cathedral or the inside of his own skull. "I guess it does," he said slowly. "I can ring you a few more times, but I've gotta save some so I can talk to the doll. Is the doll the same in your world? Like, is yours a guy, or..."
I involuntarily blushed at what he was implying. "What kind of relationship do you have with your doll? "I asked him. "Wait, no. Don't tell me. I don't want to know."
Now it was his turn to blush furiously. "It's not like that, I swear! She was just praying at the gravestone this one time, and then she said she loves me..."
I just shook my head at him, laughing a little. I was glad Sean was easily distractible and the building tension had been defused so easily. "I bet she says that to everyone. Anyways, onward to Hemwick for now?"
"One second," he said. "I have to spend my echoes at the Hunter's Dream."
"Yeah, better unload those while you can," I agreed. Sean lit the nearby lamp, then knelt at it and slowly faded from view. I waited for him in the cathedral, my hand in my pocket nervously fingering the silencing blank in case I'd have to slot it into my pistol and fire. I'd never been with a cooperator when he'd returned to the Dream before, and I was prepared to return to my own world if anything went sideways.
Sean reappeared a minute later, his clothes free of blood and a new spring back in his step. "Look at this," he exclaimed. "I got a new sword, isn't it amazing?"
He brandished a Ludwig's Holy Blade, then started jabbing and feinting at thin air to test its moves. I watched him, clapping politely when he executed a particularly difficult looking combination. I'd briefly tried the same blade myself at one point, but it had soon become clear that I had no talent for swordplay. Sean, on the other hand, was already halfway decent after five minutes with the thing. Maybe he'd had some kind of training in whatever life he'd had back before the hunt began.
"All right," he said a while later when he'd properly gotten a feel for the weapon. "Let's go to Hemwick."
