@sunlithopes: won’t we get in trouble? ( from hollow ) / kiki’s delivery service starters
for what, is what i wonder first, though soon after i am struck by the realization that there is no one to catch us. they’re all gone, and what thoughts persist in dream alone are none i’d wish to hear again. even if there were but one who remained… they’ve no power over me.
the fenestras of my shells look upward, beholding the fountain before us. having seen him in his most desperate hour, and once again at his demise, i can attest to what accuracy there is in his form looming down at the bugs below.
i would take my sibling to his throne if i could, if memory of it did not wither away upon the taking of so sacred an item. to see the state of the castle, how weak he was, it would be fitting, i think. he promised a kingdom to last eternal, yet we are what remains. i relished knocking him down in favor of an ascension all my own.
attention is drawn to the plaque: let hallownest’s pale king relieve you of your burden. to think he is who left my sibling with such a heavy burden in the first place. that is why i draw my nail. i strike at the words with such distaste. to sheathe my nail after leads me to calm. i turn to my sibling, a tilt of my head to encourage their own strike at the statue next.
ghost’s strike draws hollow’s gaze down to the plaque. something unpleasant claws up their throat at the sight of the words; something like anger, something like...bitterness? yes, bitterness.
what would the pale king know of burdens? had he turned his body into a tomb for an angry god? had he slept for all eternity to act as a seal & protect the kingdom he had built? had he stood alone as the guardian of this dead land? no. at the first sign of his plan failing, the pale king had fled, abandoning his people. abandoning them.
perhaps they should have expected it, given how easily he had abandoned and damned all the other vessels.
they look down at their nail, cracked and dulled as it was, and adjusted their grip. a moment to steady themself, and then - before they can think on it any longer - they bring their nail smashing into the statue’s side. it bounces off with a metallic ‘ting’, which only spurs hollow on.
again and again they strike the statue, throwing all their strength behind the blows. they wanted this statue as cracked and broken as they were. what did their father know of burdens?! he didn’t know- couldn’t know- the way it felt to burn from the inside out for eternity. to hang there, awake and aware as the radiance tore them apart, tried to twist their body into her cocoon.
they only stop when a chunk of metal breaks off, and it’s to their dismay that they look to find it comes from their nail, and not the statue. their shoulders slump, and they look to their little sibling. for approval or guidance, they don’t know.
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