Chapter Text
Fallen kingdoms, what haven’t I felled here, now?
Snares are simple, prey seems to fall so far when
Caught at the height, where it forgets the danger.
Where it thinks itself above the hanged bugs.
Fallen kingdoms, rot they will. Legacies left
Spangled silk among an abandoned body.
Legacies left, never fulfilled nor called on.
I have rejected them. Will fate forgive me?
-Final Lyric. Eve, The First Weaver
˚₊𓆩༺🕷༻𓆪₊˚
Hornet stared at Lace as she laughed, her carapace once again pristine. The void around them had been calmed into glass, and Lace’s gaze swam foggily over it.
“The abyss should not be dwelled in,” Hornet stated, wanting to remove herself and Lace from this deadly area as quickly as possible. “There is only one escapeway left, and it must be the one we take.” She pointed her needle up the path towards the diving bell.
Despite this attempt, Lace continued to giggle, her gaze flicking wildly over the sea as she threw her claw to her forehead. Hornet watched as she raked her fingers backwards, trailing smoothly over the silk of her scalp. She stopped laughing and twisted fully to Hornet, arms draped behind her as she arched back. “Congratulations, little spider.” her voice was soft, but her gaze burned. “I’m ever so grateful for your heroism.”
Hornet ignored the sarcasm, taking the words at face value. “Your rescue was necessary. The threads your mother struck through the kingdom resulted in the demise of many, and would have resulted in the destruction of all, if she was not stopped.”
“Oh, are the lives of these weak, foolish bugs so very important to you? What real delight do you take in their perpetuation?” She straightened, her words biting. “Are you just so selfless? Or is your goal the same as hers, to control them, to be worshiped?”
“Neither,” Hornet told her. “If it was worship I sought, I would have taken her position as queen, without laying the trap. If I were selfless, it would be the same outcome, where I would become the new monarch, because that is what was expected of me by so many of my ancestors. But I chose my own freedom over the expectations the weavers left for me.”
The moment she said the word ‘freedom’, Lace straightened. Her eyes switched back and forth between Hornet’s, searching. Something about their gaze was frightened, more like the eyes of a bug at the end of her needle then one she’d just saved from immortal suffering.
The growl of the surrounding abyss weighed on Hornet’s ears. “As I said, there is only one escape from this place. Will you take it with me, or will you remain?”
As swiftly as Hornet noticed Lace’s terror, it vanished, replaced with narrow bitterness. “Don’t mock me with the illusion of a choice, Spider.”
Hornet nodded and walked down the path. Lace trudged silently behind, her only sound being the lethal strike of her pin on surrounding enemies.
Hornet entered the bell and yanked on the speaker. “Ballow?”
“Miss?” The crackly voice returned. “Ready to make the return?”
“Yes,” Hornet told him. “However, I must first ask—there is another here with me now. Will the bell hold her weight along with mine?”
Ballow replied, “’Course, miss! It was designed for three bugs per trip. You should be fine.”
Hornet turned back towards Lace, who was staring around the diving bell. “What a crude contraption,” she muttered, before she looked to Hornet. “Perhaps its chain will break on the ascension and we will fall into the void once again, proving to you how fruitless this quest was. Or its exterior will crack and it will flood with lava, cooking your organs still in your shell as I am set ablaze.”
“Your fears are founded,” Hornet told her, sitting in the center seat. “On my first journey, the bell did crash. Ballow has assured me it will not a second time.”
Lace gave a single, dark giggle. “It’s charming, how you assumed fear made me voice these thoughts,” she stated. Hornet didn’t get the chance to rebuke this statement before she continued, “And you trust this Ballow fully? His conception’s conception did not even exist when this machine was b—”
The door snapped closed behind her, making Lace leap forward in surprise, grabbing the back of Hornet’s chair in the process.
“You should sit down now,” Hornet told her. “The ascension is quite rattling.”
Lace looked at Hornet again, eyes piercing, before she sat on the chair to Hornet’s left. Her eyes still retained the bitterness from before, but her body spelled fear. She tightened her limbs close to her chest and gazed out the window as the room shook and brightened with orange light. One of her claws reached towards her face, gently rubbing her cheek, when a strong shiver shot through her, before her narrow eyes looked to Hornet. “Your gaze is most unwelcome, spider.”
“I find your stature concerning,” she informed her. “You are frightened.”
Lace rested her claws in her lap and giggled, her eyes closing. “How observant, little spider!”
Hornet wondered idly about her. Being possessed by the void was likely akin to a nightmare you couldn’t wake from. Drowning in thoughtless, hopeless nothing that only whispered the comforts of giving up. To have a body that sucks in that feeling the way Lace’s had must’ve been a torturous experience. Perhaps her quiet demeanor these past moments, utterly lacking in the mirth and mockery Hornet had come to know her for, was result of that experience. Maybe it would even be a permanent effect.
But Lace could heal, if she chose to. So long as she was sustained with silk, she would have enough life to heal from the many traumas or her existence. This would mean Hornet would have to sustain her, but she had Sylphsong to help her to generate silk wherever she rested, so providing silk to Lace would be easy.
The details of what their necessary relationship would entail, however, were more complicated. They should be discussed together, somewhere privately, and soon.
The Bell jolted to a halt, swaying dangerously as Hornet was broken from her thoughts.
“Welcome back, miss and stranger!” Ballow called from the microphone, and the door shot open.
“Oh, we arrived safely,” Lace said with a long sigh. “Your foolish trust seems to have been founded. Bravo.”
“You are correct,” Hornet stated as she unbuckled and stepped out of the bell. Ballow was there to meet them at the door, and looked past Hornet with curiosity, eyes catching on Lace. “The white knight?”
Lace only stared at Ballow without responding. Her arms were still wrapped tightly around her body, and she shuddered again, as though she were frigid while standing in a lava pit.
“Thank you kindly Ballow. Your efforts saved this kingdom as much as mine, and you deserve only the highest praise,” Hornet informed him.
Ballow shrugged. “All in a day’s work. I'll be back to the forge now, though, I’ve found a little inspiration while working on this project for you, miss. I might consider working on it a bit more. Who knows what would be done with it?"
Hornet nodded. “We now must be on our way.” She hopped up to exit the cramped room, but Lace stayed planted, staring downward. The door below that lead to the abyss was shut tightly, and the red glow of lava emitted brightly from its small window.
“Follow me,” Hornet called to her. “There is something we must discuss.”
Lace’s head still hung low, but she stepped away from the diving bell and followed Hornet through the doorway and up through the Deepdocks.
Hornet wanted to be swift in finding a private location to speak, but Lace trudged behind her, forcing her to wait patiently at doorways. She noticed the typical sounds of beating hammers and construction work she had grown to expect of the Deepdocks had gone silent through the metal halls.
They journeyed up and left, the smell of hot metal and sulfur nullifying after Hornet climbed through the trap door. She entered the first arena the two of them had battled in, and walked to the edge of the platform, listening to Lace jump onto the metal plates behind her. As Hornet turned to her, she saw she still gazed downward, claws clasped to her elbows, her thin legs were quivering. She halted on the platform, not looking up.
“Your appearance has worsened,” Hornet told her. “Tell me what it is you need, and I will aid you.”
Lace finally showed her face. “You’ve condemned me to an existence of suffering, and now you want to aid my needs?”
Hornet was silent for a moment. “Do not misconstrue my motivations,” she said. “Whatever ails you, I wish to soothe.” The word soothe fell from her mouth too quickly. Heal, or repair, would have been more appropriate terms.
“What is there to misconstrue?” Lace said bitterly, her claws clenching into fists at her sides. “It’s obvious, spider. You knew well that I was strung to be loyal, and nothing more. You are a callous and cruel thing to do this to me.”
“I miss your meaning. My intentions are not cruel,” Hornet told her.
Lace’s eyes blazed. “If you think that, then you are truly heartless!” She pressed her claws to her chest. “You expect me to follow your command without question and yet you consider your actions heroic? You’ve forced me into an existence fully reliant on obeying you, one I could never escape from unless I chose to starve! You expect me to see you as anything but cruel when you could rip away my only source of life on a whim, a single upset remark, a single action I commit that you disapprove of?”
Hornet was more surprised then she should have been. Of course these would be the anxieties that plagued Lace. She thought her future only had one path, and in a way, it did. “Your obedience will never be required for the silk I provide you. You will never owe me anything.”
“Oh, you comfort me, spider!” Lace said, throwing her hand to her forehead as she stared up at the ceiling. “I’ll never owe you a thing, until I do! Until your needs are not met and I can provide them. Until something must be done, a task so dangerous or disgusting or personal that only someone loyal to you endlessly would be willing to do it. I must follow you everywhere, and live always with the threat of you tiring of me, deciding I am too heavy a burden!”
She inhaled shakily, closing her eyes. Her body wilted; she fell to her knees and her head hung low, a whimper escaping her voice. “I had a perfect conclusion. I had trapped her myself in a punishment where she watched the husk she built to be loved become everything she feared.” Her neck bent and she glared up at Hornet. “But you retched away my ending. You stole my escape, trapped me as your despondent slave, and expect me to think of you as a hero for it.”
Hornet clenched shut her mouth. Lace’s interpretation of her motivations were incorrect, but understandable. There was nothing she could say that would make her think otherwise, no matter how earnestly she spoke.
But actions often spoke louder than words. “I promise you, Lace, you will never owe me in exchange for sustaining your life.” She unwound a thick portion of silk from her spool and held it to Lace. “Here. Do with this what you need. I have a house in Bellhart as well, the residents may direct you there. I will leave portions of silk outside that you may take whenever you need. I expect nothing from you in return. You need not speak to me or even see me again, if that is your wish.” Such a statement hurt Hornet slightly, but it was a pain she was well acquainted with. “You will find over time that my oath here proves true. You will never owe me anything.”
Lace’s eyes darted between Hornet’s gaze and the cake of silk in her claw. She growled, “This would not sustain me for half a day, you idiotic tyrant.”
Before Hornet could speak, Lace slapped at her hand, and the silk rolled and unraveled, falling in the lava to their side with a bright flare. They stayed in silence for a moment, watching the spot it had burned.
“Perhaps…” Lace contended, pressing her hands into her lap. “Perhaps I really would rather starve then live with your lies.” She dropped her head again, facing the floor.
Hornet lowered her hand to her side, her cloak falling over it. “If that is truly your wish.” Her voice was stern and quiet to mask her sadness. So, this would be the result of all her efforts to save Lace, then. Such was how it would be; Lace, after all, owed her nothing.
She turned away from the kneeling girl and walked to the other end of the platform, before casting one look back at her. Lace still sat with her claws folded together. Two glimmering pale tears splashed into a small pool on the metal beneath her hidden face.
Hornet turned away again and leaped to the other side, making her way down into Far Fields, towards the Bellway.
˚₊𓆩༺🕷༻𓆪₊˚
Hornet arrived at her bellhome needing rest more than anything else. Before she had the chance to collapse on her bed, however, she remained true to her promise. She rapidly fastened a round chest with a glass top, and took a moment to adorn the exterior with depictions of white roses—a flower she felt Lace would recognize as meant for her. Then, she rested in her spa, rapidly replenishing her silk as she sighed towards the ceiling. She splashed as she jumped out again, spraying drips across her workbench.
She took the chest outside and affixed it to the wall above her craw nest, a shining white spot on her scarlet bellhome, and filled it with silk.
She checked it every time she visited the home, but it still remained full, the cakes of silk within untouched. She moved on to other projects, helping other bugs with rebuilding and turning Pharloom into a safe home for all, and still she checked the chest upon every return to her home. She considered herself foolish for checking, as there was no possible way Lace had survived this long without sustenance, even if her statement was false.
Yet, Hornet would still hold true to her promise.
Until one day, much later… she noticed one of the cakes had gone missing.