You never really thought about it while playing Dark Souls, how strange it is that bonfires heal and protect you. Back home fire was just... Fire. Dangerous and comforting at the same time. Now fire is at least thrice as comforting and it no longer causes pain. Although the Iron Keep might prove that to be a lie...

After taking a leisurely break and recharging a bit, you will yourself to stand.

The trek through No-Mans Wharf is pretty smooth, only resulting in your death once. Lucatiel is gone when you wake near the bonfire, which you pretend is not super disappointing. She might reconsider helping you if she saw the foolish mistake you made though, trying to heal with a scaly abomination near by.

You really hate those things.

Finally you make it to the short cut door where Lucatiel's sign lays, sighing in relief. You kill the archers while you wait for her to be summoned, nearly cheering yourself on when you manage a parry and riposte on the second. Fighting isn't as hard as you thought it would be when you woke up in Drangleic, thankfully. It's... Instinctive for you now, your mind not completely synced with your body. You just... Do it.

A clanky noise behind you has you whirling around, blocking the expected attack.

Lucatiel bows, her shoulders shaking as is she's laughing, although being a phantom, you can't hear anything.

You wave in return, giving her an embarrassed smile. "Ready to hijack a pirate ship?" You joke. You hope she can hear you at least, but you've yet to have any of your summoners speak. That's another thing you don't understand, are you just... A player now? Are people in your world summoning you without realizing you're real? Or are they people also trapped in their game?

You slip past Lucatiel as you think this over for what seems to be the millionth time, frowning lightly in confusion.

##*#*#*##

The Mirrah Knight is not sure what to make of your sudden change in expression, but follows you nonetheless. You move much more confidently than she would've assumed given your brief conversation, jumping off the short ledge without hesitation.

Your lips tilt into a relieved smile when you reach the bottom of the structure, crushing a life gem in you palm. You say something, flashing Lucatiel a bright smile. She has the strangest desire to hear your voice again, silently cursing the white soapstone's limitations as you continue on your path.

You pointedly shove your dagger to the right, dipping into a crouch. Lucatiel raises her eyebrows, fully aware you can't see her expression. She watches you curiously as you slink over to the left side of the small clearing and loop back around, stopping in front of the large hole in the building.

It's quite the challenge to make out the creatures that lie within, and had she been not paying attention Lucatiel doubts she would've noticed them. She wonders how you knew they were there in the first place.

You lunge forward, bringing your weapon down on the startled creatures. Lucatiel takes this as the signal to continue, and joins the fray. They only land one hit on you, while Lucatiel avoids their claws all together. You crush another life gem before continuing, looking displeased with yourself.

She glances back at you after cutting down the next pirate, finding you tucking some sort of loot into your pack with a smirk. You seem awfully happy with such a small prize, despite the icy water now soaking your clothes.

She smiles at your childishness, once again taking to following as you navigate the dock. The pirate's on the ship itself are taken out after a few tricky maneuvers (Lucatiel notes with amusement that you seem to favor sneaking around and backstabbing them), and thankfully neither of you take a direct hit.

You cheer when they're all dead, throwing your fist into the air excitedly. She laughs in reply, filing that away as one of your strange quirks.

You strut over to the door leading to the Flexile Sentry, apparently convinced the worst is over. Lucatiel has serious doubts, but follows you through the fog wall nonetheless.

The fight is over surprisingly quick, at least from Lucatiel's estimation. She has been in many more fights than you though, she assumes from the way you dance around the beast. You're hesitant when you need to dodge, trying to get another hit or two in and not quite understanding that taking your time is much better for a single powerful enemy. This leads to you getting hit several times, sipping your Estus when the creature turns its attention to the knight.

The only time she fears for your life is at the last second, when you recklessly deal the killing blow despite the spiked club raised and ready to strike. The beast makes a horrid screeching noise, and would have crushed you if not for Lucatiel grabbing the edge of your collar and yanking you out of the way.

She grins at your shocked expression, bowing again as a flurry of souls flows into the both of you.

You glance back at the body of the sentry, and then back at the knight, smiling widely. You throw your arms around her, nearly sending the both of you to the ground. Lucatiel just barely manages to catch you, very careful not to injure you with her sword in the process.

"(Y/N)?" She blinks in surprise.

Your mouth moves as if you are speaking, a very pleased smile upon your face, although Lucatiel cannot hear a single word. You move no move to release her either, and she is extremely aware of your arms wrapped around her shoulders and the way you have to tilt your face up to look at her. Or, her mask, more appropriately.

She doesn't have time to consider taking it off though, as the soapstone that brought her to your world could care less about a budding friend... Relationship?

She returns to her world in a bit of a daze, a small smile gracing her lips. "Well."

##*#*##

"What the hell, FromSoft." You hiss at no one, begrudgingly picking yourself up. You sort of forgot phantoms disappear after killing the area boss, and subsequently landed yourself neck deep in gross, bloody water after Lucatiel disappeared.

You grind you teeth, trudging to the other end of the room and up the later. You're thankful to be out of the water of course, but your irritation with the time out overshadows that.

You cannot believe... You start, sighing. You actually can believe it. Dark Souls, even when it was just a video game, is known for sticking to the rules, unless of course, it's to kill you.

You sorta... really wanted to spend a little more time with Lucatiel though. You have no doubts it's just your infatuation with her rearing its head, but she makes you feel better. Safer, obviously, but there's something more than just that. You liked talking to her much more than you expected, and maybe throwing your arms around her after the battle wasn't the greatest idea, but damn if it didn't make your heart flutter.

"Ugh." You groan, shaking your head as if to rid yourself of such thoughts. "She's just... A battle companion. Nothing more." You try to convince yourself as you throw open the iron chest. "Get that mushy, lovesick bullshit out of here, (y/n)!"

You're completely aware it's a lost cause trying to talk yourself out of a crush, but you continue to scold yourself as you fire up the boat.

It's got some sort of mechanism in it that knows its path already, which you find very interesting. You always wondered about it during your play through, considering the Bearer of the Curse hardly seemed like a master sailor, but this... Makes sense. If you don't think about how such a contraption came to be.

Surely it must be magical or something. Unless that crack post-apocalyptic theory pertaining to the gutter and supposed car parts in the walls is actually canon and this is just a technological thing.

You glance back at the strange device with narrowed eyes, finally deciding that you can mess with it after you reach the Bastille. You leave the small captain's room, curiously exploring the rest of the ship.

You were rather surprised when you realized the 'real' Drangleic is even less linear than its game counter part, and doors previously sealed shut are now able to usually be pried open. You can even explore the rougher terrain, because you can actually climb waist high objects and grab onto ledges, unlike your video game counterpart. It's amazing, really, you add sarcastically.

In your exploration you find there's entire extra floor to the ship, on the opposite end of where you had killed the Sentry. There's thankfully no more pirate's, although you do find a few rats. Not big rats, just regular sized ones, but nonetheless unsettling.

In one of the side rooms is a row of sleep mats that look very tempting, and you very briefly consider putting one to use. It's been quite a while since you've actually slept... Another rat skitters by as you think it over, and your mind is made up that its a definite No.

But it does give you an idea... You dart back across the ship, trudge through the water again and back into the captain's room. This way, you think, if I missed any undead, I'll hear them coming beforehand.

You open up your inventory (which is actually very similar looking to what it was in the game, much to your confusion), and pull out a few of your softer outfits. You then arrange them into a half-assed nest, finding it to be much comfier than you expected. Maybe it's just because you haven't been able to rest for many days, and you're positively exhausted. It seems like undead don't require sleep, but the very idea is making your eyes droop. Could be that it's just an indulgence, you reason.

You yawn widely, pulling the edge of what you think is the "imported set" over your shoulders. You doubt you're going to have the option to sleep again for a long time, and you are definitely taking advantage of it.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Although, Lucatiel is my favorite npc. Precious knight.

Please fav/follow and reveiw! I'd love to get some feedback.