Writers notes: i do not own danmachi or bloodborne and this is just fanfiction please keep that in mind.
As the grey mist who covered the hunter began to lift, he realised something he did not pay attention to before, the dream heals his wounds and mends his flesh, perhaps being almost mauled to death was worth it on the grand scheme of things, but that is not something he would admit to anytime soon.
Still he was thankfull for the discovery and soon began to prepare himself to go back to the waking world, however, when he went to buy more blood vials he realised that one more messenger was at the bath, and that they sold new things. One of those that really caught the hunters attention was the powerfull kirkh hammer, a weapon commonly used by the hunters of the church, more importantly it also resembled a sword from his homeland, one that he always imagine himself using against the monsters of the dungeon.
The weapon, however was to heavy for him to use both forms and so the boy sought the help of the doll to increase his strengh.
"Wellcome home good hunter, what is it you desire?"
"Hello doll, i wanted to see if i could increase my strengh, i want to wield a new weapon, and i don't have enough to use it."
"Of course good hunter, i can already sense the echoes coursing through your veins, now shut your eyes and let the echoes become your strengh."
"Thank you."
I can see lots of different stats to raise, and as tempting as it is to increase my levels in arcane as it's basically just magic, i know that investing in them is not that wise as of now. So i raise myself just enough to be able to lift the kirkh hammer and opened my eyes.
"Hmmm, it feels really good, i feel stronger already."
"Good hunter, i wonder, is the falna you told me from your homeland that similar to the echoes of blood?"
"Well from what i heard from my grandpa, it kind of is and at the same time is not, for starters you don't choose the stats you level up, but you can gain abillities like magic and powerfull boosts." although i don't even remember some finer details, i can vaguely make recall the levels being more important, perhaps rarer?
"Still, what you told me about your home is amazing, a land where mortals and great ones can work togheter."
"You mean the gods? i never heard anyone calling them great ones."
As i say this line i can feel hole being burned through the back of my head, but as i turn around the only thing i can see is the moonlit sky.
"Good hunter, shouldn't you be testing a new weapon?" the doll's face was as devoid of any emotion as she said it, just as it always was, but something felt different, fear was inscribed upon her tone of voice, altough the hunter did not notice it in his childish excitement.
So this is the kirkh hammer huh, it's blade is lighter than i thought, though the stone on my back is pretty heavy, the hunter continued his small pratice session, doing some swings from the sword and chaining attacks with the hammer part of the weapon, it's a truly neat weapon that can fight different beasts on different styles just like all the other trick weapons from the workshop.
Before going out to hunt though, the hunter had dissasembled the hammer's mechanism, modding it to his liking, even if only small fortifications with a few blood stone shards and changing the tension between different bolts, it helped that Gherman had taught him this lesson in order to properly introduce the boy to maintaining his trick weapons.
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Now that he was confident in his preparations the hunter was ready to face the hunt head on, his enthusiasm however, was quickly destroyed, the path to the church district was blocked, meaning all his battles to get here were semi useless, stillhe found it in himself to go back for a moment and search for a way to get to his goal, Maybe there is a backdoor somewhere, gilbert should know where it is.
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"Blocked you say?... hmmm i see... well you could try the aqueduct, there is a rather, how shall i put it, colorfull area south of the great bridge, from there an aqueduct leads to cathedral ward, not a desirable place to visit, but your hands are tied."
"Wow, thank you Mr. Gilbert, i cannot thank you enough."
"You ar- *cough, *cough, wellcome."
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That's how i got myself in these messy sewers huh, i guess i should have been more carefull with my route, then again, i doubt that there is another entrance to cathedral ward, still i should go back for the momen- his train of thought was stopped as a beast plunged it's makeshift weapon on his neck, trying to desperately save himself from the painfull death, he stabs himself with Iosefka's vial, healing him back from the jaws of death, interrupting the beast's follow up with his trusty pistol, the hunter shoves his hand inside the beast to pull out whatever organ he can find, not a clean method but as he learned from experimentation, a pretty efficient one.
Going back through the staircase he was suddenly stopped by a noise, coming from a window that gave view into an enourmos section of the sewer system, pushing away some small clusters of boxes and other useless things the hunter jumps from the window and into the rafters that support the ceilling, following the source of the noise he jumps through another window getting to the city's rooftops, but to his surprise he was not alone, there with him was a hunter, clad in the feathers of crow wearing a white mask with a beak and a black pointy hat.
"Hello?, w-who are you?"
"Oh... a hunter are ya? and an outsider judging by the accent, what a mess you've been caught up in. And tonight of all nights."
"Well you are right about the outsider part, i'm not from these lands, but i don't think i can be called a hunter just yet, i barely did anything."
"So then, here to welcome the new hunter." she hands the boy a few bold hunter marks, used for a safe return to the dream.
"Thank you, not all people i meet are this helpfull."
"Well then prepare yourself for the worst, there are no humans left, only flesh-hungry beasts."
A heavy silence began to fill the room, the old hunter knew the dread the young one was suffering from, you can rationalize their deaths, tell yourself it was necessary or that it was the right thing to do, but the blood in one's hands may never be washed off, to accept the nature of the hunt is a necessary step, lest the blood continues to torment one's soul.
"Still, without fear in our hearts we are little diferent than the beasts themselves."
"Well..." she said with a way lighter tone than her last line, not a light hearted one but still less dark than she usually spoke "... enough trembling in your boots, a hunter must hunt."
"Then thank you again, Ms?"
"Eileen, my name is Eileen."
"Thank you Ms. Eileen."
Now exploring the sewers after talking with the old hunter, the boy walks through unnerving sights as well as few things which he had never seen, the corpses and beasts are still many and the real citizens are few, he had encountered a bitter old woman before but said nothing of good, still she said little that was not baseless insults and curses towards the young hunter.
The hunter now climbing a ladder towards higher ground, in the hopes of making sense of the labyrinth that is the aqueduct, now finds himself discovering an area he previously visited, right after the massacre he had made of a mob of beasts, at the time he had not thought of the beasts as peopls, he prefers not to think about it, to prevent the thoughts from stopping him from pursuing his main goal, going back home.
He was about to pass in front of a window, not even batting an eye, when he was forced to turn back by the sad voice of a girl.
"Who... are you? i don't know your voice but i know that smell..." the hunter was more than embarassed by the smell of blood, fat and guts on his garbs "...are you a hunter?"
"I am y-yes i am."
"Then please, will you look for my mum, daddy never went home from the hunt, and mummy went looking for him, but now she is gone, im scared mister and i would really appreciate your help." her pleading voice cut a hole deep in the hunters soul, he was an orphan still young and never met his parents only his grandpa who stepped up and took care of him throughout the years, he lived in a peacefull mountain village.
"Well then, i will look for your mother, but i need a description okay?"
"Oh really? Thank you! Mother always wears a red jeweled brooch it's so big and... beautifull, you won't miss it! oh, i musn't forget, here take this..." she then hands the hunter a small music box, "If you find mum please give her this, it plays daddy's favourite song, we play it for him when he forgets about us, mum is so silly running off without remembering it!" that line gave the hunter an omen, a bad feeling one might say, was this hunter truly still sane, was he not beast consumed by the lust for blood, or was it something worse.
"Well then i should be going, your mum won't look for herself now, will she?" the playfull tone of the hunter did little to calm his own insecurities but worked wonders when hiding his fear.
"*Giggles* you are funny mister hunter, take care on your hunt."
Well... that was something, she had given him the name of her parents, Viola and Gascoigne, although he was not sure if the last one was not a beast.
Going past a few other quickly dispatched beasts he found himself on a bridge, a small crowd on it, he began fighting the beasts but as his opponent took a hammer swing to the jaw, his rookie hunter senses realised something, looking to his side he saw what looked like a giant fireball rolling down the bridge, doing a mad dash towards safety he is caught between a loose slab on the pavement, falling and feeling his legs being crushed, the heat on his back as his lower body turned in to a mashed paste, the moment felt infinitely longer as the ball progressed to his abdomen and he felt his lungs crushed by it's weight, at this point already in a state of shock the only thing left that was not already fading into the grey fog was his hands outstreched towards the bloody ground.
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So i don't wan't to repeat THAT so i should just bait them into rolling that giant ball of death towards the mob while i stay at a safe distance. the hunters plan had worked to aa extraordinary degree, cleaning the bridge and letting him take care of the brick troll who had crushed him before, after that two beasts had come to take part in the battle, the hunter, for all his strenghs in combat and quick learning had one staggering flaw, he could not fight multiple enemies at once in an enclosed space, he was after all, only a begginer, one that could take care of mobs of beasts as long as fighting in open terrain.
After wasting an embarassing amount of blood vials, it was only five but for two beasts it was two much, he had to start training were he to even get further, and oh boy how would he train after his next encounter.
Climbing a set of stairs led to an old decaying graveyard, one man standing alone in the dark, a hunter, judging by the axe and blunderbuss.
"Hello?, sir are do you recognise this?" the boy had asked him, knowing the man's status as a hunter, he probably could know Gascoigne or his wife Viola as the little girl specified.
"Beasts all over the shop... you'll be one of them... sooner or later..."
The boy had recognised the old hunter as beast immediately, where his speach not that of a crazed maniac, his blood lusting eyes would have given him away, still there was one thing that he would need to test. Winding up the music box the hunter had an instant reaction.
Clutching his head in pain and muttering to himself, the hunter had recognise this now foul beast as Gascoigne, truly a horrific end to become the prey you once hunted with pride, perhaps a fitting one, the irony of this encounter was not lost on him.
"Gascoigne, please don't make me do this..." despite the rational side with him saying there is no reason to talk to beasts, his more emotional side could not be bothered to listen, as someone who never met his parents he could not kill this poor girl's father, even if he himself probably longs for the end of his suffering as beast.
The old veteran and rookie hunter then started a game of cat and mouse, the boy running for his life and the foul beast running towards him, getting hit by the few stray shots of the man's weapon and heavy lunges from his axe costed him a lot of blood vials, when finnaly jumping to a rooftop to save himself from a particularly painfull looking swing, the boy finds the corpse of a woman, distracted by his find, the old hunter blasts a hole in the boy's leg with the smell of gunpowder still stuck to the smoking barrel of his gun.
As the hunter tries in vain to reach the vial Iosefka gave him, he realise he never went back to the clinic to get another after his last use, feeling his vision fade to black the boy tries to get something that grabbed his attention but was prevented from doing so, only for his death to be accelerated by Gascoigne's axe.
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"Good hunter what is wrong?" the doll asked after seeing a depressed expression on his face.
"Doll, remember how i said i never met my parents?"
"Yes i do good hunter."
"I never thought about this, maybe because i never met the family of a beast, but how am i supossed to kill the man, father of a child who trusts me too find her family!"
The emotion on his voice left the doll speechless, thus far she never encountered a hunter with such empathy, with such a kind spirit and she feared the day that the hunt would decide to smash it to tiny pieces.
"Good hunter, i will leave you with this, beasts suffer more from life than death, perhaps you must help this child's father... by granting him mercy."
"B-but still, how can i ev-" the boy was cutt off.
"Good hunter, that man is already dead, free him from his shackles and save him from the scourge, this is your duty as a hunts it not? to hunt beasts and maybe save people."
That last part was not a duty a hunter would have known, it was the doll's own way of keeping the boy's bright spirit alive, by appealing to his love for heros and martyrs alike.
"Thank you, i don't know what i would have done without you." The boy tried his best to hide his sadness as to not worry the doll, such an attempt was easily foiled, but the doll, for his own good decided to ignore it.
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I should go back to Iosefka and get more vials.
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And so a cycle of preparations, battle and death started, Gascoigne proved himself a far superior opponent than the cleric beast, the hunter suffered many ends, some that would leave even the strongest adventurers scarred for life.
Some of those ends were quick but painfull, like getting decapitated and quickly dying off as the blood drunk hunter's axe swings around, the others were much worse, Be it getting shot through your guts and having to bleed out as your mad opponent laughs at you or getting a leg cut off as a crazy beast swings his axe on your back untill you die, surely he was just distracted by the girl and still hoped to save the man, but his salvation would only come in the form of death.
However one thing was still undenyable, with each death and battle, the hunter was getting better and better, reinforcing himself and learning in this trial by combat untill death, like tempered steel he was only becoming a better fighter.
Slowly but surely, he was chipping away at Gascoigne's health, he had gotten quite good at predicting moves, and when hit with one he never seen before he was quick to improvise and dodge the attack, even if some of his dodges were panic filled desperate attempts at not dying, creating his own adaptive fighting style, he was really hit and run when dealing with his enemies, this only served to enrage his prey, sometimes he also praticed parrying enemies with his pistol, since he still needed blood echoes for vials and the occasional level up.
It was like that untill he realised something that would leave his fights much quicker, that the music box could be used in combat, and perhaps it could leave Gascoigne open for attacks, this however marked the end of the cycle, his next battle would be the last that the old veteran hunter ever fought.
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"Thank you Iosefka, you really are helping me alot."
"No problem, you hunt for our sake, and even if i am not able to offer you shelter, knowing that i can offer you something usefull is more than enough." Over time the hunter and Iosefka became really good friends, "You know, i can't wait for the sunrise, i want to speak to you face to face."
"Me too Ms. Iosefka, me too."
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So now the only thing left is to go at it again huh?, i wonder how i am i gonna tell her... hey kid, sorry to bring bad news but your father was crazy so killed him! it just sounds so cruel, yet i think telling her the truth is in of itself cruel, the hunter was staring at the box, untill a certain thought came to mind, could i use it to help him? or at least to distract him, he had a pretty violent reaction to seeing it.
"Gascoigne! hey remember me?" the hunter said, taunting his opponent before the fight, he had to admit it felt really good to just say that, of course he wouldn't outright insult him but still, it was satisfying.
"Graaargh" the beast gave an angered warcry before a lunge towards bell, who dodged it like it was child's play, the first attacks were always like this.
"Why don't you listen to this?" he said as he winded up the box.
"Aaargh" the hunter was stopped mid axe swing.
"And now here we GO" the hunter, now behind the beast gave his all into a heavy that opened the beast to a visceral from behind, that is a hand through his body.
"Oh look, maybe you might need this, i don't know!" the hunter said as he pulled out whatever piece from his guts he could.
Their battle was pretty much always like this, Bell, prefering to abuse viscerals, hit and run tatics and every terrain advantage he could get his hands on, he was a pretty resourcefull hunter, that could almost bridge the gap in experience he had when compared to other hunters.
The same tatic repeated itself 2 more times, but in the 3rd time he tried the box, the beast snapped, finally shedding the skin of man that hid it's ugly form, the beast showed it's foul self. ripping apart skin and muscle, the man was nowhere to be seen, instead just a humanoid, blood lusting beast.
This helped the hunter in their uneasiness to put Gascoigne down, if the man was already transforming, then there is nothing to do to help. So now the threat was serious a beast was no good and needed to be slain, hunted, preyed... that was all his mind was set on, the blood of father Gascoigne was not on his hands, but the blood of a beast? that was different or at least he told himself so when not thinking about.
Changing from saw cleaver to the kirkh hammer's sword, he prepared to face a hideous thing, and when the beast leapt to get him, the real fight started.
Sidestepping his leap and jamming the sword's tip on his leg, the hunter got his payback for the death suffered from Gascoigne's hands, the beast did not like this and thrashed around, swinging wildly and preventing the hunter from pulling out his sword, grabbing his saw cleaver as a replacement, he readied his pistol the moment he could see an attack and parried him, however, instead of a visceral attack, the boy had other plans.
Pulling out his sword after the stunned beast fell foward on it's knee, the hunter then grabbed the beast's head and slashed his throat, sealing the fate of his opponent, it did not matter who would win the fight, the beast would die no matter what.
The still bleeding and enraged beast then lunged forward grabbing the hunter by his leg and threw him on a set of gravestones, not the best attack ever but still enough to break a few bones, feeling his cracked and broken ribs the hunter used one of Iosefka's vials, as he used many times before.
But his opponent continued it's onslaught and made a desperate attempt to drag the hunter down as it was bleeding out, chasing him into a familiar rooftop, where as the beast was preparing his last attack it was surprised by another gunshot, the rookie hunter was not the best at quickly reloading his weapons but still made an impressive effort.
Blood and fat dripped down the boy's hands and clothes still the last visceral to kill the beast was done and Gascoigne was freed, he sat on the rooftop still breathing heavily after the exhausting encounter, he looked at the view of the graveyard, a lamp had appeared on the middle of it, inviting him to the dream, still he sat there for a while longer, when finally getting up he saw the corps of the woman he had seen before... and his face froze.
A red jeweled brooch, so big and beatifull he could not have missed it. There on that forsaken rooftop lied the corpse of Viola, Gascoigne's wife and the girl's only family.
He went back to the dream after such a heavy revelation and sat down on ķ4uthe cold ground of the garden , he had not even cleaned himself from the guts and blood, he just stared at his own hands and said nothing.
The doll, for all her talk about not being human, was heartbroken to see this, a very human emotion, she wished to help him but nothing she thought of would have helped him, not as a hunter or as a person. She just sat by his side, both not speaking, but she could sense the echoes in his veins, she could sense the stories of a veteran hunter, a family man... and a beast.
The silence was heavy and filled the air around them, how can i face her, should i even face her, if i do should i speak the truth? how can i speak the truth...
A while later he got up and returned to the waking world, he decide to explore a bit, maybe all he needed was some time to think about his problem, he new that the girl's parents were dead, not brcause of him, but the feeling that he had been at fault was still heavy on his soul.
When he climbed a set of stairs and, after grabbing an important tool, opened a door to a new room, he discovered the chapel in cathedral ward, and inside it was a man, thin like bone and blind, still he looked like a nice person.
"Oh, you must be... a hunter. Very sorry, the incense must have masked your scent. Good good, i've been waiting for one of your ilk."
"And why is that?" the hunter said in a quiet voice, truly he wanted to be nicer, but he was not in the right mindset to do it.
"The hunts always end you know, but this one won't end up so nicely, people have been locked inside but even they are starting to go mad, the snarls of beasts, the scream of womenfolk, Yarnham is done for i tell ya, but if you see any survivors with their witts about 'em tell them about this here Oedon chapel, would ya?"
With a deep breath the hunter says "I guess so, i'll do it."
"Well then hunter i would like to thank you, please stay as long as you need, the incense here wards of the beasts."
"Thank you, by the way, i would like to ask you... do you know a man by the name of Gascoigne?"
"Oh yes, i do, he is a hunter who stays around this parts he migh-"
"He's dead."
"Ah... poor Viola."
"Was but a beast when i found him, his daughter asked me to look for his wife, but..."
"Don't tell me..."
"Found only her corpse." he said holding the brooch he found.
"That poor child, have you told her yet?"
"No i have not."
"Then hunter... tell her of this safe place... please, she'll need someone to take care of her."
The hunter stoic face broke down, tears on falling down his face. "Then... can you please break her the news, i can't do it myself, i made her an orphan, i can't do it."
"Very well, you suffered enough, i tell ya stranger, you got a bigger heart than any yarnhamite i've seen, to accept her request was noble in it's own way, but to care for her even after that..."
Not being able to stand it being praised for his "nobility" and "kindness" he goes back to the dream. First, to put his blood echoes to good use, then to go look for the poor girl.
Inside the dream however, the doll was waiting for him, standing beside her usual spot, as much as he tried to hide it his suffering was quite obvious, she had to help him, such was her purpose... even if she never had to go to such lenghts before.
"Hi doll, could you please just channel the echoes i go-"
"Good hunter, it was never your fault and there was never any other option, it had to be this way, you did not kill Father Gascoigne, neither his wife, you need to understand that."
"I do."
"Then you do not." The doll's remark sounded harsh and cruel, but not unreasonable, still she chose to not poke the wound too much, even if her lack of human emotions made it difficult for her to understand why he blames himself.
Still she channeled his echoes and after his leave wondered about humanity, is being human just mindless emotion, just the guilt for what you were powerless to fight against, or is it not knowing what you are powerless against... perhaps ignoring one's weakness and limitations, defying what is set in stone unlike the doll who along with the old hunter Gherman is trapped in the dream.
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"Hello, are you still here?"
"One moment mister hunter."
"Look... i met your father... and he is still in the hunt, i am afraid he will be hunting for a while."
"Oh you met papa?"
"Yes... but please listen to me... he is searching for your mother right now."
"That's amazing mister hunter!"
"He also told me to guide you to Oedon chapel, you will be safe there, he fears that central Yarnham is too dangerous for you, there is a man there on the chapel that will take care of you for a while, ok?"
"If he is a friend of father's then i trust him."
"this notes here are the instructions to reach the chapel... i have things to do so you will have to reach it yourself."
"Don't worry mister hunter."
"I have cleared the bridge for you and the aqueducts should be empty."
"Thank you mister, i will get my things then." A wide grin on her face, that face could brighten up a funeral.
"And i will be going then, i have to clear the path for you." He said with the first genuine smile he had in a long time.
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Why... why her... how could i have not seen this coming... i am a monster... What a shame ot was, that the hunter's redemption would not come this early, for the girl's fate was sealed, dead within an hour or so, she never reached the chapel, instead her corpse had been eaten by a monstruous pig-like beast. The hunter found the only reminder of her sad existence, a white ribbon, bathed in her own blood.
The beast was not slain, that would be an understatement, the hunter with eyes shining a blood red light, he had cut off the beast's legs and beaten it with his own hands untill they were bleeding, after slaughtering the pig he used a mark given to him by Eileen to simply go back to the dream, there the doll had talked to him.
"Good hunter..."
"I was not enough... i could not have saved her... all i wanted was to be a hero in a land far away from this damned place..."
The doll seeing his anger came up with a way to help him, he had told her a lot of stories he had read as a kid.
"Good hunter, did your hero Argonaut save everyone he wanted?"
"Huh? no but-"
"You are too harsh on your self, even the greatest heros are human, you can fail, and that is all right."
"But i could have done so much more to help her."
"You could, that is true, and so could many others, Argonaut did not give up even after failure did he not continue on and on, even when people around called him a fool?"
What is she trying to do? i'm not hero, i'm no Argonaut and now that girl is dead because of me... I am not worthy of this... all i wanted was to be an adventurer.
"Thank you, i get what you are trying to do but... just... thank you."
Too caring for his own good, no cold blooded hunter would care for the girl, no one would grieve her death, still he was no hunter at heart, just in flesh and blood...