Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph2 Ch22: Memories Restored

Both Seven and the Grimmchild were left completely silent. Neither one of them could completely process what Brumm just said. When Seven did process it, he still had no idea what to do. The Grimmchild needed to remember what happened before, but how could he help them remember something that he had no clue about? Seven thought and thought, then remembered something else that Brumm said. Brumm mentioned the knight. That was the whole reason Seven came here, and apparently the Grimmchild needed to remember the knight!

Seven turned to the Grimmchild to tell them, but they were still floating in place. The Grimmchild couldn't think straight! Something was missing. It didn't know what, but it knew something didn't make sense! The Ritual, the dance, it had all happened before, but Seven wasn't there! If Seven wasn't its bearer, then who was? Why couldn't it remember? Suddenly, the Grimmchild remembered events throughout this Ritual. Mato's previous pupil, Sheo's painting, Sly's last Nailmaster, Elderbug's lost friend... the Delicate Flower.

The memories flooded the Grimmchild's mind, and it was taken back to the first time it opened its eyes. It remembered the first face it saw. A white shell with two black eye holes, and two horns with jagged points at the end. That face was the face of its first bearer. The face of the knight. The Grimmchild instantly remembered the knight and started frantically flying around in shock and panic. Then it remembered the map. It remembered the charm Sly had given the knight. The map could track the charm. If they still had the charm then... They were here!

The Grimmchild zoomed out of the house, and looked around for any signs of the knight. It heard Seven calling for them, but they couldn't listen. A larger house of silk called to the Grimmchild, and it zoomed inside. It found the scattered cloaks and shells. It remembered the trick. The knight sat down on the bench, and was bound by tight strings. As it was being knocked out, the Grimmchild remembered that it tried to help its bearer break free from the string, but then an orange light consumed them. All they could remember next was static.

What happened? What happened next!? The Grimmchild flew up into the roof, and into the beasts den. It flew around in the tunnels, trying to find any clues to the fate of its first bearer. As it flew, it noticed a faint light shinning through small cracks in the wall. It broke the wall with its fireballs, revealing a hidden treasure stash. Inside was everything that had belonged to the knight. The lumafly lantern, the spare relics, the tram pass, and all 38 charms! All here, where no one would've looked.

But if the knight's stuff was here, then where was the knight?! The Grimmchild continued to fly all around, avoiding all enemy bugs it ran into. After a long, panicked search, it found a room with broken strands of spider silk. Around them, were several dream catcher particles. The Grimmchild remembered how the knight used the dream nail to interact with the particles. Maybe it could do the same. The Grimmchild took a deep breath, and tried focusing all of its power into a fireball. It remembered how it used its fire to enter the dream realm with the Bellman, and focused even more.

It spit out the fireball at the particles, and it exploded as the particles spread out. The Grimmchild opened its eyes after the particles faded, and saw a slightly faded image. It was the knight. It was tied up in silk as the creatures plundered it for anything they deemed useful. When they left, the Grimmchild just stared at the image in front. It looked at its first bearer, remembering them clearly. They looked so real, and vivid. The Grimmchild wanted to fly around the knight like it used to, but it was just a dream.

Suddenly, as it watched something happened. A boy wearing a paper bag over his head walked into the room, and after looking at the knight for a while, started breaking the strings holding the knight in place. The knight fell to the ground, and the Grimmchild watched as the two figures exchanged hollow gazes.

The dream particles faded, along with the image. Suddenly the Grimmchild remembered. Where was its current bearer?! It had left them without knowing what could've happened! The Grimmchild flew out of the den, and cried out for Seven.

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Seven ran out of the room chasing after the Grimmchild. He called to his friend, but it wouldn't listen. It was too wrapped up in something else. It flew into a larger room, and Seven chased after it. But as he ran, he tripped, and fell down the deep, dark cavern. He hit the black waters below, and sunk down as his mind drifted off into a dream.

He opened his eyes, and saw the braided raincoat girl standing in front of him, once again.

"Please, you're the only one who can hear us," she begged. "You need to help us!"

"Wh-what? B-but, I don't even know how! I don't even know what to do!" Seven yelled.

From the darkness surrounding them, an old, creaky laugh rang out. The girl's face became horrified.

"Oh no...," she said. "She's coming..."

"What? Who?" Seven asked.

The girl grabbed him by the shoulders, and pulled him closer.

"Enter the jaws, restore the void, halt the static, feed the hunger, and mend the friendship that was broken. The spider will lead the way," she said, her voice shaking.

"Wha- What does that even mean?!" Seven yelled, lost in confusion.

The laugh echoed again, this time much closer.

"She's here......," the girl said before disappearing into the dark.

As the laugh echoed again, Seven looked behind him, and saw a deformed, old lady swimming towards him.

"Come here my dream~," she said, reaching her boney hands towards him.

Seven tried to run, but it felt like he was in thick tar, all over him. As he braced himself for the coming terror, he felt several strings pull him out of the tar. He opened his eyes, and found himself laying on the ground in front of the stag station, with the Grimmchild looking right into his eyes. He quickly gasped for breath as the shock from the dream reached him, and he sat up, looking all around. The Grimmchild calmed him down, and he looked at his friend.

"Thanks for saving me," he said.

The Grimmchild titled its head in confusion.

"Didn't you pull me out of that dream?" Seven asked. "I felt strings pulling me out. Wasn't that you?"

The Grimmchild shook its head.

"But if you didn't, then who did?"

In the distance, a horned figure wearing a burgundy red cloak leapt away, swinging with a string of spider silk from her needle.

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Awwwwww yeah, we're nearing the ending! I've had this ending idea for so long, so I know exactly how it's going to play out.

Because of that, I might be uploading more frequently, since I'm just as excited as you are to finish this phase!

I don't know how many chapters will be left, maybe one or two. Not three though, I can't stretch out this ending that much.

Well, I'm done talking.

See you in the next chapter! :D