A/N: And thus I end the Albion arc. It took me a while, and it was harder since I had to actually think and not just ape the canon timeline to do this shit. But I like that I did. Posting it here, and if there's any grammar mistakes I'll fix it... Tommorow!
A twitch suddenly went through Bug when they saw the form of their Master being lifted off the ground. A black void tendril had pierced her, and lifted her away from them. The appendage was keeping her in the air, not unlike what it had done to the soldiers before.
It had happened in such a short amount of time, too fast for Louise to react. To her, it might've happened in an instant. Bug thought that the Hollow Knight was planning to fire another one of those light daggers, but instead one of its arms had extended into a deadly void tendril.
Which was odd, considering that the last time that it had seen the larger Sibling, they were missing one arm.
Then just as she was lifted off the ground, the tendril snapped to one side and it saw Louise's body flung through the air.
The twitch went through its body again, this time it could feel it in its mask. Another one appeared when they saw their Master hit the wall with a painful sounding 'Thud'.
"LOUISE!"
It heard Kirche scream out. It saw both her and Montmorency run towards their downed Master.
Bug wanted to do so as well, some part of them wanted to run towards Louise. But they couldn't…
It was halted on the spot, just simply staring at the unmoving body of its Master.
Sib could move, they were just slowly walking towards their Master with their Nail sheathed. Wales was just as rooted on the spot as them, simply staring at her from his spot on the ground. The masked stranger, the one that had showed up and almost got killed, was also staring at their Master.
The tendril that had stabbed its Master hovered in the air.
Its own arm twitched and extended, some part of them wanted to strike it while it was in the air. Maybe it wanted to stop it from reaching Kirche and Montmorency?
Well there was no need, as it simply left them be as they ran under the void tendril and knelt by the unconscious body of Louise.
They cradled her, words were spoken in panic as they tried to wake her up.
"Oh god Louise! Open your eyes, open your eyes!"
"This can't be happening… This can't be happening!"
"Quick, we need to get her blood back. Momon, come on you need to save her!"
"I don't know how!"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW HOW. YOU WERE DOING IT JUST FINE WITH THE BLOOD ON THE GROUND!"
"And I don't know how I did any of that! Even if I could… her blood's already spilled on the ground. I don't think it would help her if I just drag it back in."
Another twitch went through its body, its other arm extended outward as well.
Its gaze was still focused on the void tendril in the air. Then it noticed that it was shrinking, pulling backwards.
Bug followed the tendril, and saw it slowly recede into the arm of the Hollow Knight and turn from the void tendril and back into a pitch black arm. Slowly the larger Vessel pulled themselves free from the rubble that Louise had buried them in.
The feeling when it saw the Hollow Knight back in Wale's room was still with Bug, that odd sensation that they also felt when they saw Grimmchild once more. But that feeling was being overshadowed by another, a stronger one.
A harsher sensation that it only felt towards immediate threats.
Slowly, the Hollow Knight approached them. They were limping slightly as they made their way towards them. It appears that they were injured, although they were recovering quickly as the limp slowly faded away.
Why was it so determined to keep fighting? Did it have a target.
Was it Louise?
The thought immediately drew another twitch from Bug, this time it felt it throughout it whole body. From the mask to its feet, its body convulsed on the spot.
No, it couldn't let her be injured. The sense of protectiveness that it had over its Master demanded that they shouldn't be harmed, even if it was by the Hollow Knight itself.
It made sense that their target was Louise, she was the sole target of their attacks barring the masked stranger.
But why?
Why did they want to harm their Master?
"Louise, please keep breathing!"
She was losing the last of her breath. She wasn't a Vessel, even though she was also a creature of the Void like Bug and Sib, her losing breath meant that she was almost gone.
"There's so much blood pouring out of her."
She was losing blood. She needed that to survive. As some of the soldiers would drop dead after a wound that drew too much blood.
The twitching had turned to shaking. The Hollow Knight had paused in their approach; they were staring at it directly rather than looking over to its Master.
"Please Louise, I'm sorry about all the bad things I said about you. Just stay with us!"
It felt tendrils grow from places that wasn't its arms. It could feel the black Void of its body covering the rest of it. It felt their arms grow longer and sharper, it felt their cloak extend out farther behind them. A puddle of the black abyss grew underneath Bug.
It seemed that it was growing the longer it stared at the Hollow Knight. It absorbed the blood, water, and whatever else had been on the ground before they turned black.
"Kirche… Louise isn't going to make it."
The Hollow Knight took a step back when it felt the Void cover their Mask as well. It was fully enveloped with its Void body, tendrils growing from both their body and the Void puddle underneath It. They were thrashing all over the place, striking the walls, striking the ground, striking the air.
The thrashing grew harsher and harsher as it stared longer and longer at the Hollow Knight.
"…Bug?"
It heard someone call out for them. Some part of them wanted to turn, to see that its Master was the one that had called for it.
But she was hurt. Injured, and almost dead.
She didn't deserve this.
Why did the Hollow Knight hurt their Master?
Why did Louise have to be hurt?
Questions that it never asked before flooded their thoughts as the harsh sensation grew more intense. The tendrils around them thrashed harder and harder.
Everything was silent, Bug wasn't aware that it had attracted the gaze of everything in the room.
The Hollow Knight took another step back.
Bug's vision blurred, it was aware that its body had left the ground, it noticed that it could feel the air on its body whenever they dashed. It noticed how the sight of the Hollow Knight was growing closer.
But unlike before, the larger Vessel wasn't coming to them. Bug was speeding towards the larger Vessel.
The silence was broken with a loud 'CRACK' as one of the tendrils growing from Bug's right side struck the Hollow Knight across the mask. The larger Vessel's head was thrown to the side.
Another tendril from the same side wrapped around the Hollow Knight's neck, and then they were thrown to the wall on the right side of the room. The tendril made a sound similar to a 'Pop' as it threw aside the larger Vessel.
The Hollow Knight slammed into the wall, the stone breaking from the force that they hit it. It broke further when they pushed away from it, just as Bug struck once more. However instead of just one, five tendrils from their body and the growing puddle of the Void under them pierced the stone wall and blew it open.
Bug's eyes followed their elder Sibling, it glowing white eyes never letting them out of sight. And before the Hollow Knight could fully recover, another tendril struck them directly in the middle of their Mask.
The feeling that it had felt before was burning them up inside. The harsh sensation was building up further and further as it struck the Hollow Knight over and over.
Each strike threw the larger Vessel side to side. Each blow sent its head turning to the direction of the blow. Each stabbing pierce made them take a step back. Every hit, was hurting the Hollow Knight.
And Bug felt that the harsh sensation would change with the pleasant one they had before. Each hit drawing the pleasant sensation more and more, before the harsh one would return.
The Hollow Knight managed to take a step away from another Tendril strike. They raised their right hand, the one that wasn't holding the Soul Wand, and just like before it glowed white from fingertip to wrist.
No less than eight tendrils grew from the puddle underground and stabbed the entire length of the arm. They curled around it and forced the arm, and the rest of the Hollow Knight into the ground. The flash of light meant that it had discharged the dagger into the earth below.
The Hollow Knight tried to push back to their feet when they saw how more tendrils had popped up around them. With a wrench, they pulled their arm through the void tendrils that had impaled their arm, and managed to escape before they were pierced into the ground.
Bug continued to watch the Hollow Knight, never once letting up. The tendrils around it had grown even larger, thrashing around it even harder, and the pool of the abyss underneath it was even larger.
Stumbling back, the Hollow Knight right hand hung loose to their side. They looked at it for a split moment, before they pointing their Nail forward.
Bug's eyes shot towards the Nail.
It had nearly killed Louise multiple times before, it was another thing that they had used to try and hurt their Master.
Before any of them could react, even more tendrils grew from the ground and kept the Hollow Knight in place. Some of them wrapped around their arms and legs, some of them simply stabbing them through and then anchoring back into the void puddle.
The tendril that was their left arm snaked forward as the Hollow Knight tried to free itself, and wrapped around the length of the blade.
Runes started to etch across the length of the tendril, Bug's white eyes glowed brighter than it had before.
It looked at the Vessel before it.
So different, yet in the end they were just the same as the others that died while it earned the chance to 'live'.
So many had desires. The desire to live, to leave, to fight, to hate.
All of them, was deemed unworthy and unpure by that Wyrm.
The being of Pale Light whose power it opposed. Yet he still managed to force his will upon the fragments that he picked up.
Even the Vessels, the body of the Void held with the Shell of the Higher Beings.
It was still just another shell, that trapped the true Void being inside of it.
Bug wrenched their arm back, taking the Pure Nail with it. The tendril unwrapped itself from the Nail, and it soared through the air before stabbing itself into the wall just beside the Nightmare Troupe's torch.
The Hollow Knight was defenceless, and in that moment Bug's right arm glowed its own pure white.
They dashed forward, their black tendrils trailing behind them as they flew towards the Hollow Knight.
And struck it directly at their mask.
The room exploded with white and black. The magical energy covered the whole room, for just a moment the scarlet that had been colouring the hall this entire time was washed out with pure white, before a swirl of black replaced it.
The sound of the crash echoed within the area, following the crash was the sound of rubble breaking.
Then after the swirl of black, the room cleared. Once more, it was covered in scarlet red from the flame. Bug stood in the middle of the room, their body still twitching and thrashing.
In front of it, by the entrance, the furniture, rubble, the archway, even the walls itself had been blown apart. And the Hollow Knight was nowhere to be seen.
It had been punched clean out of the room with that single blow.
Bug took a step forward, to chase after the one that had hurt it's Master.
"BUG!"
But stopped when a voice called out towards them. The voice knocked out the harsh sensation.
They turned towards the voice, and saw that Kirche was the one screaming out for them.
Louise was in her lap, unmoving just as she had been for a while. The hole where she had been pierced was covered up by their capes and cloaks. Montmorency was staring right at them, her own body was shaking.
Sib was holding their Master's hand.
The feeling slowly died down, and Bug walked towards their Master. The Void tendrils and the puddle slowly followed them as they did.
"Louise…" Kirche spoke, her usual happy tone was gone. Her voice was shaking "Sh-She's barely breathing, she stopped just a moment ago and I thought she was dead. B-But then she started to breathe again. Sib's been helping with some kind of spell but…"
On cue, their Sibling glowed with the Soul within them. Louise's own body glowed the same color. Then in a flash of light, they could see the slight rise and fall on their Master's chest.
"It's not gonna work for long."
Bug walked closer and closer.
Their Master breath was growing shallower and shallower. Before they wouldn't even know about how they needed air, but somehow seeing her this way made them aware of it. The short breaths, and the faint rise and fall.
She wasn't going to make it.
Another sensation filled them. It wasn't the pleasant one that they felt when they saw Grimmchild and the Hollow Knight, nor was it the harsh one that it experienced before. Instead it was a slowly tug at their chest, one that they wanted to make go away.
Another flash of light from Sib, and they could sense that they had no more Soul left to use for the Focus healing. And even though they had just used up all the Soul that they could use, Louise was still gasping for breath.
Bug approached her, walking up until they were staring down at their Master.
Montmorency pulled away, her hand making sure not to touch the ground.
Bug simply watched the unmoving figure of their Master, and placed their own hand upon her.
They began to glow, not the bright white as the other Vessel, but instead they began to glow the 'Darkness' that covered their entire body. They heard the gasp from the blond mage, the red haired one didn't seem phased, while the other Vessel didn't care.
The spot where they were in was covered in a ball of blackness. The only thing to be seen were three pairs of eyes. Two pairs were large circular ones, while the other pair was a small faint glow.
They watched down at the creature with the Soul of Void. The girl hadn't tapped into the true abilities that she could use, yet she still did well with the basics of using the Void to empower her own spells.
It seemed that she needed some help to truly use it, and so they pushed.
The black void that surrounded them shrunk as it poured into her wound. Although the only ones that could see it was them.
It poured deep into her physical form, filling up the hole that was made by the tendril that had pierced it.
But it didn't simply stop at the physical level. The Void poked into their Soul, their entrance was allowed without a hitch.
It poked into her soul, refilling what she had burnt throughout the day. It would serve to help them, to use their magic stronger than before.
Then just as they were about to reach the mind.
Something stopped it.
The black void bubbled around Bug and the others dispersed, and they found themselves staring down at Louise once more.
A moment of pause and silence stretched between the group, before she took a long deep breath.
Bug tilted their head slightly as Kirche let out a grateful sigh of relief as did Montmorency.
Sib was staring them, while Bug was staring at Louise.
[Scene]
"They're gone." Wardes said as he watched the retreating figure of his fiancée's friends, along with his fiancée and the two creatures at her side. Were those her Familiars? He should've asked her when he had the chance. He looked over his shoulder to see the face of Prince Wales, and he could feel the wand poking at his back "You can let go now."
Wales kept him in the hold for a couple more seconds, before he pulled it away from Wardes "They're safe." He breathed a sigh of relief. The moment he said those words, he allowed his wand to fall to the ground as the Prince fell over onto his butt.
"You seem protective of them, Prince Wales." Wardes turned around, and pointed his own wand at his throat.
Wales didn't even react, all he did was look up at him with one eye closed and a grimace "After what they went through, they at least get to leave this country alive." He snarled "Don't think I don't know that you would stab them in the back the moment they turned away," he spat at his feet "You Reconquista Rebels have done worse."
"Hmph," Wardes chuckled "Honorable and caring to the end?"
"It's the least I could do, after they went through hell like this." Wales shook his head with a sigh. He lifted his head "Well, what're you waiting for then, an invitation? Kill me and get this over with, I'm way too tired to keep going."
"Not going to try and fight?" Wardes asked.
"I can't even stand right now," Wales answered "So no, I'm not gonna try and fight." He smiled weakly "Though, if I can do anything can I at least request a quick death? Both for yours and mine, because I can't even find it in myself to scream if you decide to torture me."
"I'm not going to torture you," Wardes shook his head "But I'm not going to kill you, yet."
Wale raised an eyebrow.
The masked Noble held out a hand "You know why I'm here, the reason for the raid that happened just before today. That letter that you have, the one that detailed your relationship with Princess Henrietta of Tristain," he pushed the tip of his wand closer to Wale's throat "Hand it over."
He expected the prince to scowl, to get angry. He even expected the prince to simply deny that he had the letter.
Instead, what he got was the prince weakly laughing at his face.
"Right, you guys want that letter so bad that you did all of this." Wales continued to laugh for a moment longer, before he ended it with a sigh "Sorry to say, but that letter is long gone."
"Gone?" Wardes asked.
"Yup," Wales nodded "I tore it up just before you raided the castle, because like hell am I going to give you ammunition to use against Tristain." The smile vanished from his face as he snarled at them "This whole thing was a waste of your time, and I want you to fucking know it."
Wardes looked to see if there was any signs of untruth, any shifting eyes or fidgeting body parts.
But the prince was looking at him dead in the eye with an impressive glare, one that reminded him of the pirate captain that had robbed his transportation ship just a few days ago.
"So it's gone then," Wardes said "Ripped to shred?" He looked over his shoulder "How do I know that you didn't just give it towards the Tristain mages."
"Yeah," Wales rolled his eyes "I obviously gave the letter to a group of mages that I wouldn't know would come, from a country that never gave me assistance before." Wales looked annoyed, despite the wand at his throat "I'm a Wind Mage, not a Void Mage you dumbass. I can't look into the future."
"Fair enough," Wardes nodded "Guess all that's left is to kill you then."
"Still going to make it quick?" Wales asked.
Without another word Wardes stabbed the wand through his neck, earning a pained gurgled from the Prince. He chanted a spell under his breath, and with a mental flex he unleashed into the Prince's body.
Wale's jerked in place for a moment, before he went limp.
Wardes pulled free the weapon from his throat, and watched as Princes Wales Tudor of Albion fall over dead.
He closed his eyes and sighed "At least, this is over."
As soon as he said those words, he heard heavy footsteps approaching the entrance.
His eyes shot open, he turned towards what remained of the door and he felt his heart sink.
It was that damned Insect! Somehow it was still standing despite getting hit dozens of times over by those tendrils that Louise's creatures had summoned!
'What does it take to KILL this thing?!' Wardes thought in panic as it stepped into the room.
Even with the beating it had taken, it didn't look any worse for wear. It was still standing up straight, their body wasn't bleeding profusely, despite getting stabbed enough times that he had lost count. The only sign of an injury was the crack on the right side of its skull.
Wardes was alone, and considering how he was nearly killed the last time he had 'fought' the damn thing, he wasn't in any shape or form confident in surviving another encounter.
The insect looked around, before it spotted their target.
Wardes readied himself as they walked forward, ready to try and face it.
Only for the Insect to ignore him entirely and head towards where the Nightmare's Torch was. As silent as it was, it reached for the Soul Wand that had been embedded in the wall next to the burning torch, and pulled it free.
Without another word or a glance, the Insect left just as suddenly as it entered.
Wardes stood there for a good couple of seconds, before he started laughing. Slowly he sunk to the ground, until he was sitting on the floor. He winced a bit, feeling the burn marks across his arm prompting him to carefully place a hand over it.
For a good couple of seconds, Wardes simply sat down and enjoyed the quiet.
[Scene]
Red eyes opened, and they peeked through the scarlet flames.
"The Prince of Albion is slain, having met his fate,
At the end of his life just like other, brimming with hate."
Grimm walked out of the torch, his form materialising in a swirl of red flame.
"The story of Albion has reached its last page,
Is it time for us to take the stage."
From every corpse that remained within the castle, and around it, similar red flames grew from them. From each and every scarlet fire was a hooded figure, with masks that had lines running vertically down and over the eye sockets.
Each hooded figure resembled who had died. Each hooded figure was the last remaining memories that they carried. Each carried the memory of fear and despair as they were killed.
And each other gathered into the main hall where Grimm was waiting.
Staring around him, the Troupe Master spread out his arms wide
"Harvest the fear and despair, the nightmares that plague this kingdom,
Burn the remaining hope of those yearned for the false freedom."
They all cheered for him, all of them singing the tune of the Troupe.
Grimm mouth broke open into a massive monstrous smile.
"Come now all my Grimmkin brethren, it is time to play our part!
Gather the dreams, and act as the blood that pumps the Nightmare's Heart!"
All over the final vestiges of the Kingdom of Albion, as they saw the smoke and fire from the castle, they dreaded and fear what had occurred.
This fear grew as the Scarlet Fire made it's appearance, burning brighter and brighter as every citizen that was loyal to the Royal Family knew what it had meant.
The Grimmkin harvested their fear, the nightmares of what would occur to them by the Rebels. They harvested the fear of their fate towards the other kingdoms. They harvested the last hopeful remains of the Royalty's victory and replaced it all with the terrifying truth.
Grimm felt it all, the heat and fire burning inside him, empowering him more and more just as he had harvested the previous Kingdoms.
The Nightmare's Heart was satisfied with what was harvested and for a moment it showed.
As the citizens of Albion heard on that day, the heartbeat of the Higher Being. It echoed in every mind, as they heard it beat the last heartbeat of Albion Kingdom.
[Scene]
She was falling.
Falling in a deep dark abyss that she couldn't see the top of the bottom of.
All she knew was that she was falling.
Was she supposed to stop herself from falling, even if there was a way for some reason she didn't seem to want to do it.
She just wanted to keep falling and falling.
After all, she was one of those that was undesirable. Why would she try to escape, why would she try to stop?
She was falling because she deserved to fall.
She failed to live up to the expectations that were set for her. She failed to have the qualities that she should've had.
She deserved to fa-
She saw two pair of eyes stare at her from the top, and suddenly she was pulled to a stop.
[Scene]
Louise's eyes fluttered open as her consciousness returned. The Valliere looked around, trying to see where she was.
She was in a cabin, alongside a couple of other people as well. All of them were huddled together, some were crying, some were silent, and some were just asleep.
Louise looked around some more and she saw Kirche, Montmorency, Tabitha and Agnes, all gathered just a couple feet away from her. They saw her wake up, and immediately they rushed for her.
She flinched a bit from the rush, and was about to stand up.
But she paused when she felt something hold her down.
Her gaze moved downwards and she saw Bug and Sib at both sides. They were holding onto her arms, and seemed to stop her from getting up.
Their empty eyes looked into her pink ones.
And for whatever reason, Louise couldn't help but opened her mouth and say.
"Thank you."
[Scene]
"You know Big Sis Tiff, I think it's funny!"
Standing inside a homely cabin was a beautiful girl with long blonde hair, green eyes, and pointed ears. Her attire was a simple green dress, and in her hands was a broom and she was in the process of sweeping shards of a broken plate.
The elf looked up from the broken shards and placed a hand on her hip "What?"
Standing in front of her was a young boy, a child at most at the age of 10. He was pointing at the shards as he grinned "I think it's funny that you always tell us to be careful with our plates, and you're the one that broke one!"
Tiff pouted, her face plumped by her puffing her cheeks "Yes yes I know," she looked back down at the shards and swept faster "I know it seems hypocritical of me, but you should really be careful with your plates." She looked up "Especially when you just run around like that."
The boy laughed "Aww we've never broken a plate by running before big sis!" He threw his hands behind his back "Besides, it's not like you broke it while running. You just kinda froze and your eyes glowed for a moment, and then you dropped your plate."
Tiff paused at what she had heard, but merely sighed "I guess I am setting a bad example with this." Despite that, she plastered another smile on her face "So as your Big Sis, let me apologise for breaking a plate."
The boy grinned "Apology accepted!" He turned away "Can't wait to tell everyone that I got an apology from big sis Tiff!"
As the boy ran away, cheering about the apology he had received, the elf thought about what he had said.
Slowly she brought her hand in front of her eyes, hoping to see a glow reflected on them. But she saw nothing but her own pale hand.
"Maybe I'm just tired," she said to herself. She looked up at the sky and muttered "I wonder when Matilda is coming back?"