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Tiso opens his eyes to an overwhelming blue.
He has to blink a few times, eyes adjusting to the glow. His vision is blurry, and as it clears, the fuzzy cerulean fades into sharper details, giving the ant a more concrete idea of what he's looking at.
The pale thing he encountered on his travels is standing over him, and there's an ungodly amount of lifeblood splattered across his surroundings. Himself and his — ehhh, companion — included.
"What are you doing, squib?" Tiso says, eyes narrowing. He sits up from where he'd been splayed out across the ground, face twisting in annoyance. The tiny bug in front of him jumps on their feet, clapping wildly as they begin to run around Tiso. Their mask hides any expression, but based on how they keep patting Tiso and run in circles around him, they seem overjoyed.
"Did you bring me here?" Tiso sneers, though he knows he's not going to get any answers from the mute bug. Annoyance flares, and he starts to stand.
Pain is what keeps him down. His chest aches like a boulder was thrown at him, resulting in a less than graceful stumble back to the ground. Annoyance, frustration, and pain all combine to make Tiso's already wire-thin patience snap like a twig underfoot.
"Stop that." Tiso orders, and the pale thing immediately does. He lets out a sigh of relief, rubbing at his head and hoping the ache will soon fade, and then the other bug climbs into his lap—
"Stop it! I did not say you could do this!" Tiso cries, but it doesn't listen. It just wraps its black arms around Tiso as best it can and holds onto him. It can't even wrap its tiny arms all the way around his torso, and yet it seems determined to hold onto him. The blue lifeblood that's splattered across its mask rubs off on his armor, and he does not hold back his groan of annoyance.
At least it's not attacking him. Still, this is hardly ideal, and attempts at gently pushing it away don't succeed, only resulting in it clinging on tighter.
It's not like Tiso can stand anyways. If only he could remember why he ended up here in the first place. He'd been doing so well in the Colosseum, and then his memory is just blank. There hadn't even been anything else in the arena, aside from him and the bodies he'd left behind. His head aches like an open wound, and his chest is even worse, and again, there's this pale thing hugging him like he almost died and lifeblood splattered across every surface of the cave he's found himself in. He's not sure how long it's been since his memory blacked out, but he's intent on discovering the misspieces between the colosseum and... here.
Tiso reaches for his shield—
His eyes widen. He looks around the cave, anxiety rising, and it reaches its peak when he realizes his shield is gone. Not even shattered remnants lay beside him, and that is when he panics.
"Get off of me, pale thing." Tiso hisses, pushing it off, and this time it lets him. He tries to stand again, stumbling twice more before he can finally get to his feet on shaking legs. His entire body hurts, but he refuses to let that stop him. "Did you hide my shield somewhere? I may be weakened, but I am still a threat, even without my weapon."
The bug stares at him for a moment before it points up. Tiso leans his head back, staring up at the twitching lifeblood cocoon. He can feel himself getting lightheaded, but he still stares at it. He's never seen one of them before, but despite that and the darkening spots in his vision, he can still notice how it seems only half-formed, as if someone had cut it down and it was still regrowing—
And before he can connect the dots, Tiso faints.
***
Ghost is very concerned about their friend.
It's very reasonable, they think. Tiso died, after all. When Ghost had dragged them over to the closest lifeblood cocoon, it'd been more out of a manic desperation than anything. They'd cut it down and smothered him in the lifeseed, and when that had failed, they'd simply sat by his side and tried to focus their soul through him.
They'd been desperate. They hadn't expected it to work.
The juice of the lifeblood creatures had glowed brighter the more they focused their soul, and then there'd been a burst of light, and Tiso had opened his eyes, breaths resuming as if they'd never stopped.
Even though he's unconscious again, Ghost can still hear him breathing, can still see his armored chest rise and fall with each inhale. The crack in his shell still exists, but it's filled with lifeblood, blue globs almost spilling out of it from where he's sleeping.
Yes. Sleeping. Not dead. Not anymore. Just sleeping.
Ghost looks up at the cocoon far above them, half-regrown from being cut down hours earlier. It twitches, and Ghost decides more lifeblood couldn't hurt.
Cutting it down again is easy. Lifeblood spills as a couple of lifeseeds erupt out of the cocoon, scrambling as they land on the piles of ash below, and Ghost is quick to catch them before they can skitter away into the rest of Kingdom's Edge. They don't need to bother with their nail to cut them open — ripping them apart with their hands is easy enough, and it means they can spread the blue goop inside across Tiso easier.
Maybe they're imagining it, but the lifeblood seems to help. Tiso's breaths get stronger, and the crack in his shell is nearly invisible underneath the clumps of blue.
Ghost sits beside the sleeping Tiso, and waits for him to wake up.
It can't be long, surely.
***
As Tiso wakes up, the first thing he notices is that his pain is more or less gone. There’s still the slight twinge as he shifts into a sitting up position, but his headache has vanished, and with it, the soreness that seemed to exist in every inch of his body.
The tiny bug that was there when he first woke up is still sitting beside him, head hanging as if it fell asleep while it was waiting for him.
Probably for the best. Tiso doesn’t want it clinging onto him again.
When he stands, Tiso nearly falls again. There’s a wave of lightheadedness, and Tiso thinks he may pass out again, but then it passes and doesn’t return. He pushes off the butterfly-shaped flowers that grow near him, and then limps out of the cave that tiny squib must have brought him to. He’s missing his shield and his memories, and he’s determined to find both.
This part of Kingdom’s Edge is unfamiliar. Tiso looks up, and then down, grumbling as he struggles to gain his bearings. He’d only ever come to this part of Hallownest (or Hallownest in general) for the Colosseum, and though he knows it must be close, there’s no sign of it that he can see. No roaring crowd above or below, no corpses falling into acid after being discarded. Tiso’s only choice is to make a random guess and hope it leads him somewhere. Up or down, there’s still a long climb that Tiso will have to suffer through.
Down seems easier, at least.
He nearly falls into the acid at the bottom when he reaches it, almost stumbling off the tiny platform that is the only barrier between him and certain death. He leaps for the rocky shore of the acid pit, and only barely makes it, scraping his chest on the stone and ignoring the spasm of pain it causes.
The cliffs of Kingdom’s Edge feel... empty. Tiso took a very specific route through Hallownest to avoid most of the infected bugs, making a beeline straight towards the Colosseum, but now he’s wondering if he should have even bothered. He hasn’t seen a single living thing since he left the lifeblood’s cave, unless he decided to count the grass swaying in the wind.
After an hour wandering the area, Tiso can feel exhaustion hitting him, far sooner than it should. And he’s starving. He doesn’t have any rations with him — he hadn’t even brought a bag, keeping only his shield on his journey. Catching and cooking the bugs he found on his route wasn’t difficult, but there were no bugs on his route. Surely by now he should have found at least one?
A flash of white out of the corner of his eye distracts him, and when he looks over, sure enough, that ghost-like bug is back. It sprints up to him and waves its black hands in his face, making him stumble back.
“Watch it.” He says. “Leave me be, pale thing. I’ve no need of your company.”
He’s sure, if it had any ability to form expressions, it would be glaring at him. It stomps its feet for a second, and then grabs his hand, dragging him along with a surprising amount of strength. In its rush, it pays no attention to Tiso only managing to stumble after it, not until he falls flat on his face.
Tiso, with his face shoved into the dirt, is finding that he very deeply wishes he had his shield. If only so he could threaten the annoying bug currently tapping at his shell more effectively.
“I said, leave me be.” Tiso grumbles. He does not move, even as the other bug starts crawling onto his back. There’s another twist of pain, but it fades as it settles on top of him.
Tiso’s stomach growls. His limbs begin to ache with exhaustion and discomfort. He does not get up from the dirt.
***
Hornet stares at her smaller sibling, unsure how to interpret the scene in front of her.
“Ghost,” she starts, “did you kill this bug?”
They quickly shake their head. “Friend!” They sign to her.
Perhaps, if it had not been Ghost, Hornet would have been relieved at the news. However, within the last several cycles, Ghost has called various things their ‘friend’. Including, but not limited to: A piece of wood, a smooth pebble, a stray aspid, and Zote. Hornet no longer trusts what Ghost qualifies as a ‘friend’, and right now, she’s just hoping that this isn’t a long dead corpse they decided to grow an attachment to.
Instead of arguing with them — it’d be pointless, she knows — Hornet simply steps closer and picks them up. “Have you been cutting down those lifeblood cocoons again?” She asks, noticing the blue stains on their mask and cloak.
She nearly drops her sibling when the corpse starts moving.
“Oh, great, there’s another one.” The corpse hisses. Hornet kicks them.
The groan of pain they let out is definitely an indication that they’re not a corpse, but Hornet is still cautious as she steps closer. Ghost doesn’t say anything, just clinging onto her as they both watch the not-dead bug rise from the dirt.
“Kicking a bug when they’re down is hardly a worthy battle.” They say, not bothering to wipe the dirt off their face. For a moment, Hornet thinks they’re stained with lifeblood like Ghost, but no, that’s not it. Lifeblood is growing out of them, blue bubbles peeking out of a crack in their shell. Their hood hides their face, but not the annoyance in their bright white eyes.
“If it’s a battle you’re looking for, you’ll have to find it someplace else.” Hornet responds, ignoring how Ghost is currently patting her mask in search for her attention.
The other bug pauses, and Hornet gives them the time to think for a second, refusing to let her sibling go even as they squirm.
“No. No, that’s not what I’m searching for.” They say, rising to their feet. Hornet can easily see how their legs shake, but from what? Weakness, hunger, fear? “Not right now, at least.”
“Then what are you searching for?” Hornet asks.
“None of your business.”
“Since my sibling has decided to stake their claim on you, it is my business.” She’s also the princess of Hallownest, but she doubts any bug still alive would honor that rank now, with very few exceptions.
“That pale thing is your sibling?” The lifeblood-contaminated bug sneers. “I suppose you do look alike. Take it with you when you leave, I’m tired of it pestering me.”
Hornet’s annoyance has been steadily rising with every second she spends with the bug, but calling her sibling an it is when her anger peaks.
“Fine, then. Rot here with the rest of the carcasses.” She hisses, and with her sibling still in her arms, she turns to leave, ignoring how Ghost protests. If they are so determined to be left in the ashes of Hallownest, let them.
Ghost only stops tapping her when she hears the sound of footsteps following after her. If that weak bug can keep up with her, then maybe she’ll spare them when they return to Dirtmouth.