Chapter Text
Days passed fast, and Hornet spent most of them sleeping, taking it easy, trying her best to restore her energy and soothe the pain. She felt like she was asleep longer than she was awake, but even that didn't help her as much as she hoped it would. The pain and tiredness would disappear for a bit, a few hours maybe, but only to return shortly.
She tried eating as well. Hunting for moss dwellers was easy and felt like a game, but being consistent at that was difficult. Hornet tried to hunt after every nap she took, but she started putting it off and then forgetting to do that. She couldn't feel hunger, and that didn't help her at all.
While Hornet was awake, she searched for materials. She found a good tabletop in the crossroads rather near to the Greenpath entrance. It was a bit too massive for her liking and for the distance she had to carry it, but she managed. She also found some sturdy bones for her curveclaws, metal for short pins and materials for longpins.
It felt a bit strange and annoying to go out of her way and gather materials, but Hornet was somewhat used to it after helping bugs in Pharloom, so it wasn't a big deal. At least it was only material gathering and she didn't need to rip guts out from roaches.
Hornet had half a mind to ask Hollow to help her with gathering and carrying, especially because she thought they would really enjoy this kind of task, but she felt like they wouldn't fit into most of the Greenpath tunnels. It would be nice to get them outside of that old temple sometime though.
She also found some sort of massive stone lid near the Queen's gardens and dragged it into her den as well. This will be the base for her bed when she weaves cushions. For now she put a heap of leaves on it, that was what she's been using for bedding for the last few days. It was appropriate.
Hornet also tried working on blankets. A careful and even weave required a lot of focusing, but the hunter was patient. She made sure the blanket was soft, as soft as those she had in her bellhome, by weaving two layers for it. It took a while longer than Hornet anticipated, but she was satisfied with the result.
There was another problem with weaving that she had to keep in mind: her silk was fading more and more every day together with increasing pain and tiredness. She had to hunt to channel other bugs’ soul into a sturdy thread, so overall this blanket required much more effort than she expected.
Hornet also has been visiting Hollow often. They seemed to enjoy her company a lot.
And now she was headed there. Her steps sounded uncomfortably loud and careless, but Hornet didn't feel like sneaking up on her sibling this time. It's been about two weeks that she was trying to figure out how to get rid of her illness, and having a sleep schedule and occasional meals didn't seem to help that much. Maybe it was keeping her from getting worse, but it didn't cure her. At this point this was frustrating and Hornet thought about giving up on the sleep and meal schedule.
Each step echoed through the long hallway, the sound bounced off walls, escaping into the main room, probably alerting Hollow.
Hornet walked into the room. The Hollow Knight was standing there, facing the entrance, with their hand holding the nail firmly.
Hornet stopped at the entrance to the room, locking eyes with Hollow. They stood like that for a few minutes, not moving, until Hollow lowered their nail and straightened, looking at Hornet questioningly.
Hornet sighed and ran the rest of the distance to her sibling, stopping close to them and settling on the floor. Hollow stood next to her for a minute, probably confused, but then they also sat down, slightly leaning on Hornet with their side.
They’re trying to be supportive.
Hornet leaned against them too. Hollow's shell wasn't warm like hers or Lace's. Hornet didn't feel differently in regard to her constant ache. So whatever healing aura Lace had, Hollow didn't seem to have it. Unfortunate. She wouldn't mind visiting Hollow to get rid of her condition for at least a couple hours.
But there was a different warmth Hornet felt around Hollow, it was born of the memories they shared. Very old memories from times long before the kingdom fell to that disease. Hornet thought of their training sessions, of games they played when father wasn't looking. How they explored the palace, how Hornet would pretend that it was just her dragging Hollow around for fun, not letting anyone know they were having as much fun as she did.
There was a time she regretted it, blaming herself for the Hollow Knight's impurity. It didn't matter anymore. She was glad to have her sibling's comfort now.
Looking at their sister, Hollow tilted their head slightly, questioningly.
"What? I came here for some distraction from my routine," Hornet said, leaning back and propping herself with her arms. "I think I'm going to quit trying to eat and sleep, it doesn't soothe the pain for long enough for me to care." She sighed sharply in frustration. "I don't know what to do with it anymore."
Hollow took their nail. Hornet watched, as they began scribbling something in the dust on the floor, a scraping sound echoed in the temple.
"You want to speak?" Hornet asked, leaning forward, trying to recognize the letters they wrote. They rarely wanted to speak, preferring listening, even way before the infection.
They scraped on the ground: What. Will. Happen.
Each word was written too far apart, but that was how Hollow always wrote.
"I don't know," she shrugged.
She guessed that her death would likely be the outcome of whatever disease she had, but she didn't want to mention that to Hollow. They will be worried.
"I don't get one thing," she said. "I feel better when I'm around Lace."
Hollow turned their head to her, staring. Hornet supposed that was a demand to elaborate.
"I don't know why," she shrugged. "But I think that's the case. It doesn't make much sense to me though, considering her creation. She wasn't made to even interact with bugs, I'm pretty sure her only purpose was to guard the pale god of Pharloom. Definitely not to heal someone."
Hollow kept staring, and Hornet continued.
"We had encountered each other in Hallownest a few times after we returned. And each time my pain would go away. Then it returns shortly after I leave her."
Hollow nodded and took their nail again. They doodled something in the dust, and Hornet stared at it for a few seconds, trying to figure out what they drew.
"...is that Lace?" she looked at Hollow.
They nodded. The drawing looked barely recognizable, but Hornet knew they tried their best. Hollow began scratching a word next to the drawing.
Hunt, they wrote.
Hornet stared at the dusty floor.
"...Do you suggest hunting Lace down?" Hornet asked. Seemed like an idea, but she wasn't sure that was going to help in any way.
Hollow shook their head violently and drew a doodle of Hornet next to Lace.
"You want us to hunt together?" Hornet guessed.
Her sibling nodded.
Hornet sighed sharply.
"I can't hunt with her, her company is irritating, Hollow." She took her needle and scratched out the drawing Hollow just made. "I haven't seen her in a while, but I still manage, so I assume the sleeping helped.” She paused for a bit. Then, she hummed with some kind of sad amusement. “I suppose this is kind of funny. She depends on my supplies of silk, and I depend on her... her what, presence? I'm not even sure how it works. I can't even ask anyone, everyone is dead in this kingdom. I almost wish I stayed in Pharloom."
While she was talking, Hollow started drawing again. This time Hornet recognized Lace in their doodle almost immediately. Then they proceeded to write a word next to it. Hornet had to stare at the symbols for a bit, to figure out it said "friend". A very misspelled "friend".
"...Do we look like friends to you?" Hornet asked with a bit of amusement in her voice. But Hollow nodded. "Well, we aren't. I don't trust her, she doesn't trust me. And the journey to Hallownest proved that we don't get along."
Hollow seemed to think for a second, then they just drew a circle around the Lace doodle and the word.
"No, Hollow, we cannot become friends either."
Hornet was getting irritated at this point. Lace just always irritates her, even when she's not around.
"Pain," wrote Hollow.
Hornet wasn't sure if they were expressing their frustration with that word, or if they were reminding her of her condition. Probably the latter.
"I will deal with pain on my own," she said rather coldly. "Sometimes you don't get along with some bugs, Hollow, and it's normal. I know you want me to recover from this, but I don't even know what kind of illness I have." Hornet sighed. She should distract Hollow from this topic. "Do you want me to teach you how to spell Lace's name? Or any other word, really."
Hollow nodded, looking somewhat excited.
***
Hornet spent a while drawing in the dust with Hollow. Almost like back in their training days, when they ran away from the palace, hiding in the shadows. It was difficult to hide Hollow: they were really tall and the armor they had to wear was constantly rattling. Everyone in the palace would hear them leave. There were a few times Hornet tried to help them take off their armor. The first time Hollow got into trouble, which was bad. Hornet was afraid father might discard Hollow seeing that as impurity, so she told the Pale King that it was her who got rid of their armor.
She didn't care if she got in trouble. They all could scold her as long as they'd like, they could try to ground her as much as they'd like, but Hornet always found a way to scuttle away.
The next time they tried to run from the palace, Hornet put Hollow's armor in front of the door to the Pale King's chambers. As if to mock him. The Pale King would know it was Hornet's doing. They escaped the palace that day and were drawing on the ground for a few hours. That's when Hornet came up with the idea of teaching Hollow to write and draw.
Their drawing skills turned out to be good, that's considering they never did that before. After Hornet drew a very simplified picture of Hollow, they stared at Hornet for a while, then turned to the sandy floor of the cave they were hiding in, in the ancient basin, and drew Hornet in turn, their drawing turned out quite accurate.
Later Hornet learned that they really struggled with drawing from memory. Their Pale King's drawing looked as simplified as Hornet's did.
Then she tried to get them to remember how to spell some words. They learned fast, but over time they began misremembering some of them.
When they were back in the palace that day, father was furious. But this time he left Hollow alone, scolding only Hornet. He tried to explain to her why it was prohibited for Hollow to leave the palace. Back then she didn't care enough to listen and by now she has forgotten the reasons.
Now Hornet was somewhat ashamed of her childish behavior when she was younger.
They sneaked out of the palace a few more times, but only because they were lucky. Most of the time they left and returned unnoticed.
It was fun back then. It was different now.
Hornet scribbled a small doodle of Hollow with the point of her needle. Drawings and random words were covering the floor around them, but they were running out of space, and Hornet was running out of ideas for words to teach. Hollow gave up their doodling some time ago, now they just watched their sister.
Hornet put her needle down and stretched.
"I should probably go and hunt something down," she said. "My claws are itching for battle. Maybe I should seek out Lace and challenge her again."
Hollow tilted their head in a question.
"She's a really good opponent in battle, I told you," Hornet said, shrugging. "And she can never resist a challenge. But also I don't want to come to her too often, I fear she might get clingy or mention it too much."
Lace would definitely use her chance to embarrass Hornet. Probably. Maybe. She hasn't really been doing that since Pharloom, but that was probably only because they were fighting the whole time they were going here.
"But I think I'll focus on my hunt," Hornet added. "There's a trail I've been following, and I think I caught the scent on the way here. I might check it out now."
Hollow nodded. Hornet took her needle and silently went to the exit.
She caught the scent again near the Greenpath entrance. Fairly fresh, the creature must have passed here about an hour ago or even less. Hornet kept her needle ready and followed the trail.
it would be fortunate to encounter this creature in Greenpath. If it is a predator that would pose a threat, it will be easy to get rid of it right there. Hornet doubted that it was a herbivorous creature. Those don't wander the whole kingdom like this.
But this one was searching for something. A den? Prey? Maybe its kin?
The trail led down into the lower Greenpath. Hornet stopped when she reached the fog canyon. The trail seemed to disappear. She searched around the closest caves to Greenpath, but the scent was either absent or really old.
Maybe the creature turned around and went back into Greenpath.
Hornet left the canyon and climbed up to the other entrance that led into some old ruins. These were usually infested with mosscreeps, so perhaps this was where the predator decided to hunt?
And yes, she was right: the scent was there, incredibly fresh. Hornet was so close.
She entered the massive cave, creeping silently through the foliage.
...Until she heard a voice. Lace's voice.
Hornet froze for a bit, then rustled closer to the edge of the undergrowth and peeked out of it. There she was, Lace, fighting some flying beast. Must be the one Hornet was stalking.
Something about this beast seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite remember. Spiny exoskeleton, old, tattered wings. She could say for sure that she hasn't seen this kind of creature for the last several centuries.
Lace didn't seem to do well against her foe though. She was actively missing strikes and getting hit by its sharp claws. Hornet should probably help her.
Lace dashed to the side, and that made the creature turn. Hornet was about to jump out of the greenery, but froze as she saw a familiar mask and the cloak wrapped around its long neck.
Those resembled her own appearance.
There was another nosk in Hallownest.
Hornet changed her mind, and instead of jumping out in the open, she climbed up closer to the ceiling of the cave, above the clearing where Lace was fighting against the nosk, and held her needle readily, waiting for a perfect moment to throw it.
The nosk flew to the side as it prepared for a lunge attack, positioning itself almost right below Hornet. She threw her needle and held onto the thread, dropping down onto the nosk after her weapon.
The needle got stuck between its ribs, and Hornet made it go deeper in, landing on it with the force of her drop. The nosk screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Hornet pulled out her needle, immediately jumping away, landing onto the ground next to Lace. The hunter glanced at her, only to find Lace staring wide-eyed with fear and surprise.
"Attack its underside," Hornet said quickly.
She didn't wait for Lace's nod or change of her expression, instead throwing her needle at the nosk again and zipping after it. Two slashes and back away.
Letting out a furious scream, the nosk charged at Hornet, and she dodged successfully. Lace went in and attacked the beast, backing away after a couple strikes, just like Hornet did. Then she stood next to the hunter, awaiting the next chance to attack.
The nosk dashed towards them, trying to slash at them with its claws, but Hornet and Lace both dodged, jumping away to different sides. The nosk paused for a short second, trying to choose who to chase. It was enough time for Hornet to pull her straight pins out of the tool pouch and throw several at the beast. They got stuck in the soft shell between its ribs, turning the nosk's attention to Hornet. She managed to throw a couple more pins before the nosk charged at her. Hornet jumped over the beast, landing a strike on its back. But before she managed to successfully land on the ground, the bony tail got caught in her cloak. Hornet fell flat on her face.
Lace dashed past her, attacking the beast with a growl-like battle cry. Hornet would quip at Lace for how silly it sounded from her, but it wasn't a good moment for that.
Hornet got up and barely dodged another attack from nosk. Lace ran after it, swinging her pin, and Hornet joined her.
The nosk bumped against the wall of some old crumbled building and turned, looking a little bewildered. It was injured, blood was seeping more and more through the wounds Hornet and Lace left. If Hornet's goal were to scare away the creature, she would leave it alone now, letting it flee her territory. But Hornet didn't trust keeping this monster in Hallownest, so she had to kill it.
Hornet stared into its empty eyes, ones that looked like her own. Unsettling feeling. This creature pulls faces from other bugs' memories. It must have chosen Lace as its prey and pulled Hornet's appearance out of her memory. No wonder Lace looked so terrified.
Was this thing hunting Hornet at first? That would explain why it would wander around the crossroads and Greenpath. Or maybe it was searching for prey that wouldn’t fight back. If at first it picked Hornet as prey, it must have changed its mind as it saw Hornet following its trail, hunting for it.
Hornet charged for the nosk, and so did Lace a moment after her. They attacked at the same time: Lace leaped up and slashed at its face, and Hornet slipped under the beast, leaving a long wound on its underside. She scrambled away before the nosk's wings gave in and it fell on the ground with a pained screech.
Lace jumped in the air and dashed on top of the beast, pushing her pin deep into its shell.
Hornet left a heavy strike on its neck before it could shake Lace off. The needle went deep into the hardened shell, breaking it.
The nosk twitched. Then it fell unmoving.
Hornet stood up, shaking the blood off her needle. Lace jumped off the beast's back and stood next to Hornet, staring at the beast in silence. She was breathing heavily, shakily. Her shell bore a lot of ripped wounds, silk strands were sticking out of them. She still looked terrified.
Hornet didn’t know how to start a conversation when Lace was in this state. She sat down on the ground silently, then looked up at Lace, inviting her to follow her example. And so she did.
"Show me your arm," Hornet asked quietly, softly, slightly extending her own hand towards Lace.
Lace stretched out her injured arm, and Hornet took it, examining. The wound was long and deep, it might take a bit more to stitch it together than usual.
"Does it hurt?" she asked, slightly touching the edge of the wound.
"...Nothing I can't handle," Lace responded, looking away.
Hornet nodded. Good. She will sew it together right here then.
She gently pulled the edges of the wound together, making a few wide stitches just so the edges were in the right position.
"What happened here?" Hornet asked while working.
Lace was quiet. Hornet glanced at her: Lace looked like she was about to start crying. Hornet decided not to push her, instead focusing her silk on fixing the rip. She didn't really know what she was going to do if Lace started sobbing in front of her.
They sat in silence for a while. When the shaking in Lace's hand seemed to abate, Hornet decided to speak. If only to calm her own nerves.
"I've spent weeks hunting this creature," she said. "I didn't even manage to see it before today. It was remarkably stealthy for its size."
Lace was quiet.
"Other hunters of this land call this beast a nosk," Hornet continued after a short pause. "I believed there was only one nosk. It lived near my birth nest, and it didn't stray too far from its den, being an ambush predator. My sibling killed it somewhat recently, but I didn't know another nosk existed."
"Your sibling? Hollow?" Lace asked. Her voice was weak.
"No, a different one."
Lace nodded, but didn't ask more. Hornet went quiet as well.
She didn't recognize this nosk's scent, it was different from the one from Deepnest. And its behavior seemed to be different if it attacked Lace out here, in the largest cave of Greenpath, instead of luring prey in its lair.
Either way, it's dead now, they have nothing to worry about.
...Unless there's a third nosk somewhere.
"I was looking for you," after a long pause Lace said in a small voice, responding to the question Hornet asked earlier. The hunter didn't look up at her, continuing to sew. "My shell was fraying, so I thought I'd find you to fix it."
Lace fell quiet for a bit again. Hornet waited patiently for her to continue.
"...And then I thought I saw you, but it was this thing," her voice shook. "I thought... it killed you and used your corpse as bait."
"Nothing in this kingdom can kill me."
"Everyone says that until they get killed."
Hornet breathed in to respond, but then stopped. No. They shouldn't argue right now.
"...Fair enough." She said instead.
Lace leaned back a little, trying to look more at ease.
"Thought I was going to die as well," she added with a small laughter, that probably sounded more hysterical than Lace intended. "My shell has been unraveling a little for the past few days. It's hard to wield my pin like that."
Hornet didn't answer, still focused on sewing the wound together. She realized her own pain abated. Maybe... maybe it was Lace's presence that somehow made her tiredness disappear. It didn't make any sense though. Lace doesn't have any healing abilities or anything like that. So strange.
She almost wanted to return to Pharloom and search there: weavers must have known something about her condition. But it was too long of a trek back there, Hornet wasn't sure she would be able to make it there.
"It's terrifying sometimes," Lace spoke again quietly, almost in a whisper, dragging Hornet out of her thoughts.
Hornet glanced at her for a second, not pausing her weaving. Lace wasn't looking at her, she stared at the tear in her arm, eyes wide.
"...What is terrifying?" Hornet asked after a long pause.
Lace was silent for a while. Hornet thought she wasn't going to respond.
"It doesn't take long for my threads to fray," She spoke again, still staring at her arm. "Only a couple weeks, wasn't it? They already start aching from inside."
Hornet nodded in acknowledgement.
Lace was quiet for a while again, but Hornet didn't push and didn't necessarily expect her to continue. If Lace didn't wish to speak, Hornet would respect that.
"...I was thinking about Phantom a lot for the past few days. They were alone in the organ for several centuries without Mother's silk." Lace continued, her voice dropping to a whisper. She was scared. "How much would it ache after several centuries?.."
Hornet didn't respond. Lace's hand was mostly complete, she just needed to channel silk through Lace's whole body to strengthen the frayed threads. But she hesitated now, after what Lace said. It felt like she wasn't done with her speech yet. Still holding her arm in her hand, Hornet raised her eyes to Lace's face, waiting.
Lace noticed her looking, stared back for a moment, then dragged her eyes away, instead looking down at her arm, now stitched up. The new stitching was noticeable with the fresh silk shining a bit, slightly lighter in color than the rest of her shell. The light will probably fade in a few minutes, and Lace’s arm will look like there never was a rip before.
"I never realized they were in constant pain. If I knew, I'd-" Lace sighed and shook her head. She probably didn't know what she would do. Or could do.
Lace tugged on her arm, her hand sliding into Hornet's. Hornet suppressed the urge to draw her hand back, forcing herself to stay still. As if in a trance, Lace slowly held Hornet's hand, intertwining their fingers. Hornet only watched, unmoving.
Lace continued.
"To think that's how my life will end as well. Living for centuries with my shell falling apart, waiting for someone to challenge so they could put me out of my misery. Why were we even made that way?.." Lace let out a short soft laugh, her hand going limp in Hornet's. The hunter instinctively held onto Lace's hand before it slid out from hers. She didn't know why she did that, she tried not to think about it too much.
"Hm. You're not going to end up like Phantom if you remember to seek me out whenever you feel fraying," Hornet said quietly.
"I know." Lace shifted her hand against Hornet's, holding it a bit more tightly now, but still weakly. "I followed you here, in your kingdom, because I knew I wouldn't survive long without your silk. But I am not happy that I have to depend on you, Hornet. I have to live with the fear that one day you won't be here to stitch me back up."
"I'm as much a pale being as you are, Lace. We don't just die of age. And I am very much confident in my skills, so I do not expect to perish in battle either."
"You’re ill, Hornet," Lace huffed. "I don't dare to hope that you’ll survive for long. And even if you do, are you going to tolerate me coming back to you for healing for the next eternity?"
"I am not going to let you fray as long as I’m able to prevent that."
Lace looked up at Hornet, meeting her eyes, surprised and suspicious. Trying to read into Hornet's expression, to see if she was joking. Lace was silent for a while, then nodded.
"You first save a foreign kingdom you don't wish to belong to, now you save a fraying shell of a bug you don't wish to have around. I don't get you, spider."
Hornet was silent for a second.
"If you thought longer about my motives, I'm sure you would figure them out," she said coldly.
Maybe a bit too coldly, because Lace leaned back, all the bitterness and vulnerability disappeared from her eyes. She tried to pull her hand out of Hornet's, but the hunter gripped on it tighter, for whatever reason. She looked at Lace sharply.
"I'm not done healing you yet," Hornet said.
Lace sighed irritably, but didn't move.
Hornet held her hand, focused. She could sense the threads that frayed too thin, she could almost sense the pain they caused to Lace's core. Hornet made sure to renew and strengthen the aching threads first, then focused on the arm she was holding. It was stitched well, but Hornet wanted to make sure her stitching wouldn't go loose.
And then, she was done. Lace was still looking away somewhere, annoyed. Hornet tightened her grip on her companion’s hand, making her turn to her.
"I do not despise having you around," she said, still with a stern look to her, but not that coldly now. It was even almost gentle. Almost. "Please, keep that in mind when you think about seeking me out next time."
She finally let go of Lace's hand, got up and picked up her needle.
"I don't believe there would be another nosk anywhere here, but I might warn you if I pick up a trail of any other beasts next time," Hornet said.
The weight of her shell returned as she stepped away from Lace. It didn't hurt yet, but still Hornet noticed it. Perhaps she was as dependent on Lace as Lace was dependent on her. Maybe Hornet needed Lace even more, because her strength was seeping away quite rapidly.
...Not like Hornet was going to share this idea with Lace though. She needed to figure out what exactly was going on with her first. Preferably find a different way to cure herself than stay near Lace.
Meanwhile, Lace got up as well. She was quiet, looking at Hornet. The hunter looked back in her eyes for a bit, then threw her needle into the foliage, flying away after it.
She felt like if she stood there any longer, she would break and ask Lace to go somewhere together.