Now and then the Child meowed in disappointment, as some Gruzzer dodged the flame - or in triumph when another Tiktik fell from a wall. It had grown noticeably after harvesting flame, having become a dangerous companion, and now it attacked every moving thing around, showing a sheer delight of its new abilities. The Knight watched in fascination as the tiny Grimmchild intently spat fire at fat Gruzzers and agile Tiktiks. They had done it - they had kept their oath despite it all. The Radiance was destroyed, her infection gone. She found herself murmuring that it was okay, that they could cry now, they could let themself feel.

She gently stroked their back as they cried, holding them tight as if her arms alone could keep them from falling apart. But the way they clung to her as shuddering sobs raked through them made them feel so small and fragile in her arms, and she blinked away tears of her own. They were so much bigger than she that she had to stand to give them a hug, even as they remained seated. An instinct Hornet had long thought dead had the spiderling wading into the water with her sibling and wrapping her arms around their shoulders. Surprise pulsed through her at the motion, at the clear assertion of want without her prompting. She went to withdraw her hand, intending to give them space, but their own hand quickly covered hers and they leaned into her touch. But most of all was shame, and a steady, burning anger that pulsed in the pit of her belly at what had been done to her sibling, at what trials they had endured.īut when dark tears of void began to spill from their eyes, and their quick breaths quickly dissolved into silent sobs, she realized they were probably only just beginning to process what had happened to them. There was an uncomfortable itch of confusion somewhere in there too, at their shared survival, and a warm flicker of gratitude tainted with sorrow that they had, even if at Ghost’s expense, though it pained her to admit as much.

The sharp ache of hope in her chest was only sharpened by the dark coil of fear twisting and untwisting in her belly – the fear of doing too little, too late of potentially discovering that her sibling was actually hollow after a fashion the fear of them not. She gently cupped their cheek, staring into their eyes as a confusing swirl of emotions eddied through her. However, when she unwrapped the bandage over the Hollow Knight’s eye, Hornet had to stifle a flicker of sorrow to find their mask still cracked. No longer open, bleeding wounds, the Hollow Knight’s injuries were little more than slightly duller grey scars along the perfect black of their carapace. Hornet carefully, oh so carefully, removed the bandages to reveal the scarred shell underneath.

Hollow knight fragile strength