Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hive Knight climbed up onto a platform, the few hivelings buzzing around the area letting him pass. He paused, looked around, and only saw the small bees. No sign of anything dangerous. 

He was here to find whatever had been killing hivelings that were out here. One hiveling who had survived had told him that it was a strange bug with a dark cloak, two horns that ended in short bumps, and a nail. But so far, he hadn’t seen anything.

Whatever it was, he’d need to deal with it before it killed any more hivelings. So he kept going, making his way into more dangerous sections of Kingdom’s Edge.

The acid pit was easily avoidable, as long as he stayed on the rocks above it, so he did that and slowly climbed higher. The large flying bugs were easy to avoid, and so were the bodies of bugs that were falling from somewhere above the pit. 

But one of them didn’t look very dead. It was moving. Hive Knight was fairly certain dead bugs don’t move.

He walked closer, carefully holding his weapon. He had heard from the bees about bugs that hadn’t truly died, brought back to life by the infection that the Hive had avoided for this long already.  

But this bug didn’t look very infected. Just hurt. There was a large crack in his shell, and it was bleeding. He held a shield in one hand, and was using his other hand to try and stop the bleeding. The hat he was wearing hid his face, but Hive Knight could see greenish hemolymph dripping from under it.

That can’t be good.

He was trying to walk, but it was obvious that he wouldn’t get very far. Not when he was hurt that badly. Hive Knight slowly took another step forward. The bug didn’t seem like he could do anything, but it couldn’t hurt to be careful.

And then the bug fell.

Hive Knight ran and barely managed to catch him. He had fallen forwards, and Hive Knight held him up by the arms. After a few seconds, he carefully picked the bug up and then ran back to the Hive. The hivelings looked at the bug he was carrying and tried to ask questions, but he ignored them and just tried to focus on getting this bug back to the Hive. Where it was safe.

After finding a decent spot to put the bug down, Hive Knight realized that he had no idea if there were any bandages in the Hive. There probably were? Maybe? He found a hiveling and sent them to find some. Several come back with that one, all of them trying to see the new bug. Hive Knight took the bandages,  as well as the various other things the rest of the hivelings had. One of them had brought honey, and Hive Knight told them to go get more. All of the hivelings left. He sighed again, and turned to look at the bug he had found.

He was surprised to see that the bug was awake. He had been unconscious the whole way back to the Hive. But he was still hurt. Hive Knight carefully starts to clean the most serious injury, the crack on the bug’s shell. When it was as clean as he could get it, he did his best to bandage it. It might not help much, but hopefully it would at least keep it from getting infected. 

There are a few small scrapes on his arms and face, but most of them are pretty small so Hive Knight doesn’t worry about them. There are some bad cuts on his face that do get bandged, though. They're in a weird spot where Hive Knight has to carefully avoid one of his antennae, cover his eye, and then wrap bandages across his face to hold the rest of the bandages on. He helps the bug stand up, and the bug leans on him while they walk. Hive Knight takes him to a room that’s a lot further into the Hive than the rest, and less likely to have hivelings. Sure, it’s his room in the Hive and he sleeps in here, but this bug is hurt and he wants to be nice. 

The bug. He couldn't keep just thinking of him as 'the bug'. So what was his name? How could he ask? 

He was interrupted from his thinking when the bug coughed. Not a bad cough, more like he was clearing his throat. Alright. That's fine.

"Where's my shield?"

Oh. The shield. The shield that the bug had been carrying. When he fell. The shield that he had dropped when he fell. Right. The shield.

It wasn't in the Hive.

And Hive Knight couldn't say anything about it, because he couldn't talk. Well, he could talk to bees. But not other bugs. Great. Cool. Alright then. This is fine. 

Hive Knight shook his head, hoping the other bug understood. But instead he seemed to get upset.

"Give me my shield."

Hive Knight shook his head again, setting the bug down on the bed in the corner. He wouldn't have given the bug his shield even if he knew where it was. 

The bug tries to sit up, but falls backwards onto the bed again. There's already a small green stain on the bandages. Hive Knight stands near the bed, not moving, watching him. 

"Stop being weird and give me my shield." He pauses. "Please."

Well, at least he's polite.

Hive Knight shakes his head again. The bug sighs and lays down.

Hive Knight makes sure he's asleep before he leaves to get food. It's been a long day, and he still hasn't eaten anything.

When he gets back, the bug is still asleep. He sets extra honey down nearby. Hopefully the bug wakes up soon.

As soon as Hive Knight thinks that, the bug yawns and tries to stretch his arms, but it seems like it hurts to stretch them too far.

Hive Knight waits until he's a bit more awake before helping him sit up and offering him the honey. 

The bug looks at it, seems to hesitate, and then takes the honey and eats it. He waits, quiet, and then after a long silence he asks "Can I have more? Not a lot, just… it was good."

After several more handfuls of honey, which he probably needed, the bug asks for his shield again. 

Hive Knight had gone out to get it while he had been asleep, so he shows it to the bug but then sets it near the door.

"That's… fine. Whatever. I'll just go get it myself."

He tries to get up and then almost falls onto his face, and hitting his face on the floor probably won't help him heal, so Hive Knight gently pushes him back onto the bed and shakes his head. 

"Alright, fine, I get it. I can have it when I can actually walk, right?"

That was actually why the shield was near the door. Hive Knight nods. 

The bug sighs. "Great. Well, if I'll be here for a while anyways, I guess I need to introduce myself. I'm Tiso." 

Tiso. He's got a name for the bug now. He wishes he could actually tell Tiso his name. 

"So, why are you keeping me here? Why not just let me die?"

Oh.

He sounds upset. Really upset.

That's bad.

Hive Knight points at the bandages, which definitely need to be changed because they're slightly green. Hopefully that's enough of a reason.

"I know I'm hurt. But why did you even want to help me?"

He sits next to Tiso on the bed. And then he realizes that Tiso's crying. So he does what he's always done when one of the hivelings, and sometimes even a hive soldier, is upset, and hugs him. 

Tiso doesn't try to move, just lays his head on Hive Knight's shoulder and cries. Hive Knight does his best to help him calm down, but doesn't hug him too tightly to avoid making the crack in his shell worse. He's buzzing quietly, since the sound sometimes helps the hivelings calm down, and it seems to be working with Tiso. He doesn't stop crying, but he's crying less and that's what's important. 

Eventually Tiso falls asleep again, still hugging Hive Knight. Hive Knight carefully lays Tiso on the bed, manages to clean the cuts and change his bandages without waking him up, and then covers him with a blanket. He lays on the floor, since he doesn't want to make Tiso uncomfortable, and soon he's also asleep.

Chapter Text

It’s been about two weeks since he’d found Tiso, and Hive Knight was a bit worried. After the first two days, Tiso had stopped trying to talk to him, and now he was just staring at the wall for most of the day. Maybe he wants to leave? He would want to leave if he were Tiso, so he’s not surprised. But he’s still too hurt, and even walking through Kingdom’s Edge could be dangerous.

And what if he tries to go back to wherever he got hurt at? It was probably the same place the other bugs were getting thrown from. 

He couldn’t let Tiso leave yet.

Hive Knight went to get more bandages, and came back to see Tiso sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, staring at the door.

Well, at least he could move.

He hadn’t picked up the shield, though. That must mean he didn’t plan on leaving yet. Hive Knight sat down next to him.

“What do you want?” He sounded tired, and a bit upset. But he was talking. Hive Knight held up the bandages and Tiso sighed, but let him replace the old bandages with new ones. The injuries were healing, but still too serious for him to let Tiso go and get himself hurt again.

After he’s done with that, Hive Knight sits quietly next to Tiso on the floor. After a long silence, he points to the bandages and tilts his head slightly. He really wants to know what happened now.

“What? You just changed them.”

Hive Knight shakes his head and points at the bandages again.

“How did it happen?”

He nods and waits for Tiso to talk again. It’s a few minutes before he says anything.

“The Colosseum. I thought I could beat everyone there and prove I was the best. It… didn’t go very well.” He sighs, and stops talking. That might not have been a good question. 

Maybe he should go before he makes things worse.

He stands up and leaves. He needs to eat anyway.

He gets food, makes a Hiveling go give some to Tiso, and then starts walking. He doesn’t know where he’ll go, he just doesn’t want to stay still. He ends up going to a random room and pacing, carefully counting his steps.

Four steps forward, turn around, four steps forward, turn around, repeat until he calms down.

It isn’t really helping right now though.

It just gives him more time to worry, and doesn’t help keep him distracted. What if Tiso leaves? Or hurts himself? What if one of the bees thinks he’s an intruder and hurts him? What if he dies? What if Tiso hates him now? He does kind of deserve it for asking a pretty personal question and then just… leaving.

He realizes that all of the bees that were in the room have left. He keeps pacing.

Four steps forward, turn around. Four steps forward, turn around. Four steps forward, turn around. 

It’s repetitive, and soon he stops thinking and just counts the steps.

Four steps forward. Turn around. 

He’s still not calm. 

Four steps forward.

Tiso’s probably gone already.

Turn around.

He messed up, he shouldn’t have asked that.

Four steps forward.

Tiso hates him now, he ruined everything, he had a chance to have a friend for once and he ruined it.

Turn around.

One of the Hive Soldiers bumps into his chest. When did they get here? He didn’t see them come in.

He realizes he’s crying. He tries to walk forward but the Hive Soldier won’t let him. It buzzes, and he sits down. 

The Hive Soldier gets comfortable on his lap and buzzes. He hugs it. Is he still crying? Probably. It doesn't matter, he won't be going anywhere soon.

A Hiveling soon joins them, laying next to his leg and buzzing quietly. Soon he's surrounded by bees, all of them buzzing as quietly as they can and not letting him move.

He's still crying. 

Someone's walking. Is it an intruder? He couldn't do anything now, he doesn't have a weapon and the bees aren't prepared -

"Where are you taking me, anyway?"

Tiso's voice. Not an intruder.

A Hiveling buzzes into the room, and Tiso is following it. A Hive Soldier is helping him walk. So he's still too hurt to walk very far?

He can't believe he was worried about Tiso leaving, he's so stupid, how could he not remember that?

He's still crying. 

It takes a few seconds for Tiso to notice Hive Knight under the pile of bees trying to calm him down.

"Hey, are you alright?"

He nods. 

He's lying. But Tiso has his own problems, why should he make him worry about someone else? 

Tiso sighs. "Are you sure?"

He starts to nod, but maybe he shouldn't lie. He shakes his head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The bees move so Tiso can sit next to him.

He shakes his head.

"Alright."

The only sound in the room is the bees buzzing. It's familiar, and calming, and Hive Knight feels a bit better now. Tiso doesn't hate him. He was just overreacting. Everything is fine.

But what if it isn't? What if Tiso does hate him and he's just hiding it really well? 

He's crying again. 

Tiso doesn't say anything, just sits next to him and yawns.

They don't move for a while. Hive Knight is starting to calm down, if Tiso hated him he wouldn't be here right now, and he's fine, and everything is fine. 

Tiso yawns, and it seems like he's starting to fall asleep, so Hive Knight makes the bees move and helps him stand up. They walk back to Hive Knight's room, and Tiso lays on the bed and falls asleep pretty fast.

What now? He's not tired. He starts to pace again. 

Four steps forward, turn, repeat.

No. He shouldn't start pacing again. But he also doesn't want to stop.

He stops. And now he needs an idea. Maybe he could find more blankets? It does get a bit cold, and Tiso shouldn't have to deal with cold right now. 

He finds blankets and lays them on top of Tiso. That's one thing done. He checks on the Hivelings. More have been killed recently. He'll need to go check in Kingdom's Edge again soon. 

Tomorrow. But first he needs sleep.

Chapter Text

Hive Knight didn’t sleep very well. He couldn’t stop worrying about the Hivelings. And Tiso. And what if whatever killed the Hivelings found a way into the Hive? That would be bad. It could kill all of the bees. And then what would happen? What if they attacked Tiso? He wouldn’t be able to protect himself.

But it was fine. None of that was happening. Everything is alright. 

He leaves the Hive, making the small groups of Hivelings outside go back into the Hive. So they’d be safer. The platforms are still easy to climb, and it doesn’t take long for him to check the whole room. Nothing’s there.

So he goes up to near where he found Tiso. There’s still nothing. 

Going too far from the hive wouldn’t be a great idea, so he turns around and goes back to the Hive’s entrance, and several Hivelings start buzzing excitedly around him. He hugs all of them, and then goes to check on Tiso.

He’s awake, sitting on the edge of the bed watching the door. He’s holding honey in one hand, and when Hive Knight walks in he holds it out.

“The bees brought food, so I saved some for you.”

Hive Knight shakes his head. If he wants food, he can get it. And Tiso needs to eat.

“Are you sure?” 

He nods, sitting on the floor. Tiso shrugs and eats the rest of the honey.

Neither of them say anything. It’s not an uncomfortable silence though, they don’t have anything to talk about and that’s fine.

“So, where were you?”

Hive Knight points at the door.

“Yeah, you were gone, but where?”

He sighs, stands up, and then helps Tiso stand.

“Oh. That works too, I guess.”
Hive Knight has to almost carry Tiso there, but he takes him to the Hive’s exit and points at it.

“You weren’t even in the Hive?”

He nods and starts walking back to the room, still helping Tiso walk. 

“Why?”

He points at a Hiveling as they pass it, and then tries to figure out how to say that they had been getting hurt. He decides to point at Tiso’s bandages. Hopefully that’s good enough.

“They’re… getting hurt?”

He nods, and by now they’re in his room. He helps Tiso sit down on the bed and then goes to make sure his weapon is sharp and clean.

Tiso's been staring out of the door a lot recently. His shield hasn't been moved since Hive Knight set it near the door.

He's a bit worried. 

Does Tiso want to leave? He probably does. Yes, it's dangerous, and Hive Knight really doesn't want him getting hurt, but if he wants to leave then he can. He should know that.

Hive Knight sits next to him.

After a few seconds, they point at him, and then point at the door.

"You want me to leave?"

No, that's not what he wants, and he can't really tell how Tiso sounds right now. He shakes his head, frustrated. He doesn't want to make Tiso think he shouldn't be here. That's not what he wants. 

"Do you want to know what I'm doing?"

No. He just wants Tiso to be happy. Happier than he is now. He doesn't really seem very happy here. 

But he can't tell Tiso that. Even if he wanted to, and he really does want to, he couldn't. Why is this so hard?

He stands up and starts pacing. Four steps, turn around, four steps, turn, repeat. He just wants to focus on counting the steps.

Four steps, turn, repeat.

"What's wrong?"

Tiso knows he does this when he's feeling bad, apparently. That makes sense.

Four steps. Turn.

He just wants to be able to talk to Tiso, instead of making Tiso have to guess what he's trying to say.

Tiso gets up and leaves. So he did want to leave then. Oh. That's upsetting, but not surprising.

Four steps. Turn.

He hears buzzing, and talking, and then Tiso's back and he's brought several Hivelings with him. The bees see Hive Knight pacing, and bump into him to make him sit down. 

He sits on the floor. Tiso sits next to him.

The bees stay, and lay on the floor or on his lap to keep him from getting up. He pets one one them. It helps.

He doesn't remember falling asleep, only waking up in his bed. Tiso isn't in the room, but the shield is still next to the door.

He wouldn't have left without his shield.

That's one good thing, then. 

He closes his eyes again. The blankets are warm, and he's tired. He falls asleep quickly, buzzing quietly. And this time, he actually sleeps

Chapter Text

When Hive Knight woke up, Tiso was walking into the room. Without a bee helping him. 

“Oh, you’re awake! I would say good morning, but I don’t actually know what time it is.”

He sits up, rubbing his eyes. Hopefully he wasn’t asleep for too long. He needed to do things around the Hive, and maybe look around in Kingdom’s Edge again, and help Tiso with his bandages.

And that’s when he hears something. Angry buzzing, the sound of things breaking. There’s an intruder.

Something's in the Hive. 

He jumps up, grabs his weapon from its place near the bed, and runs to his place. He has to protect the Hive.

The small bug's nail slams into his side. It hurts, but he stays standing. Attacks. Gets hit again, swings at the hug and misses. It hurts more now, and he's having more and more trouble dodging the bug's attacks. 

He's too tired to keep fighting.

He's failed the Hive. He's failed the queen. He always knew he would, eventually. Why wouldn't he? The bug goes to attack one last time. He closes his eyes, not even bothering to try to block it.

But instead of pain, there's the sound of metal hitting metal. He opens his eyes to see Tiso standing in front of him, blocking attacks with his shield. 

The smaller bug stops and tilts their head, pointing their nail at Tiso.

"Wait…" Tiso seems confused. Does he know the bug?

Apparently he does, because they stop attacking.

"Pale thing? Why were you attacking him?"

They get what looks like a book out from somewhere under their cloak, and slowly show Tiso some of the pages.

"Is this… No. Do not." 

Tiso sounds horrified. Whatever it is must be bad. 

Hive Knight tries to stand. It hurts. Tiso notices and helps him up. He puts one arm over Tiso's shoulders and leans on him. He just wants to sleep. 

The small bug points at Hive Knight with their weapon.

"He helped me. Leave him and the rest of the bugs here alone. Please."

The bug seems satisfied with that, putting their weapon away and leaving. 

Hive Knight realizes he's bleeding. Tiso notices too, and helps Hive Knight to his room. It isn't bad, but it hurts.

Tiso helps him clean and bandage the injury. He's surprisingly careful. When he's done, he gives Hive Knight some space. A Hiveling slowly drifts into the room and lays between them. They're scared. Hive Knight is too. He still falls asleep, though.

When he wakes up, the first thing he does is change his bandages. Tiso's still asleep and Hive Knight doesn't wake him up.

Then he goes to check on the Hive. It's too empty. There's a few Soldiers, a single Hive Guardian, and a handful of Hivelings that aren't hiding. Or dead. 

It takes several hours to get the Hive cleaned up. More Hivelings and Soldiers show up to help, but no other Guardians seem to be in the Hive.

There's a lot less noise in the Hive. At least half of the bees that had lived here are gone. Maybe more. 

When he finally goes back to his room, Tiso's awake and surrounded by Hivelings. Hive Knight sits next to him. He wants to cry. 

Tiso would understand. So when one of the Hivelings lays on him, he starts crying. Tiso's crying, too.

"I… I'm sorry. I should have done more."

Hive Knight shakes his head. Tiso did more than he had to. 

He didn't need to help at all. But he did.

If he didn't, the Hive might have been destroyed even more.

Chapter Text

Hive Knight couldn’t sleep. He was tired, and he probably should have been resting, but he couldn’t sleep. Tiso had fallen asleep sitting up, leaning against his shoulder. He was glad Tiso hadn’t left. More Hivelings, and even two of the Hive Soldiers, had come into the room, and they were all sleeping on or near the bed. 

He carefully got up, making sure Tiso didn’t fall too quickly, and grabbed his weapon so he could walk with it. It was still hard for him to walk on his own, since he hadn’t had a lot of time to heal yet. He walked through the Hive, taking note of places where floors or walls were broken. All of the dead Hivelings, Soldiers, and Guardians had already been taken out of the Hive. A few Hive Husks were wandering through hallways, and he mostly just ignored them. 

It felt too empty now. Too quiet. Instead of the usual buzzing, there’s just silence. A few Hivelings are in a small group, taking a break from rebuilding. Hive Knight keeps walking. The Guardian he saw earlier is still in the main room, and now there’s another one there too. 

It still feels empty.

He makes his way back to his room, leaning his weapon against the wall. Tiso’s still asleep, and the Hivelings and Hive Soldiers are all laying next to or on top of him. Hive Knight carefully gets some of the Hivelings to move so he can sit down on the bed. He’s suddenly very tired.

But what if that bug came back? The Hive was too weak to defend itself right now. He couldn’t stop an intruder this time. He stood up to start pacing, but almost falls before he can. He pulls himself back onto the bed and lays down, staring at the ceiling. 

He should sleep. With all of the Hivelings in the room, it’s almost like the Hive still has more of them in it, and the room is filled with soft buzzing. It’s relaxing, and he falls asleep pretty quickly.

He doesn’t dream. He hasn’t in a long time. When he wakes up, Tiso’s still asleep. Or is he asleep again? The Hiveling’s haven’t moved much. Hopefully Tiso doesn’t mind that Hive Knight fell asleep. 

A few Hivelings are laying on top of him. He doesn’t want to move. He doesn’t want to do anything, really. He just wants to sleep.

He wakes up again. Tiso isn’t there. His shield is still next to the door. Next to Hive Knight’s weapon. A Hiveling gives him honey, and he eats it. It isn’t long before he falls asleep again.

He wakes up. Tiso’s changing his bandages, and the bandages that he has over his own injuries look new. Hive Knight buzzes quietly. He feels more calm than he has in a while. He starts to fall asleep again.

He wakes up and the Hivelings are mostly gone. Tiso’s laying next to him, but there’s enough space between them that he’s hopefully not too uncomfortable. Tiso isn’t asleep, so Hive Knight stays awake. 

“How are you feeling?”

He shrugs, buzzing quietly. He doesn’t know how he’s feeling. He’s tired. 

“You need to eat.”

Does he? He ate not too long ago, right?

“Want me to go get you some honey?”

He nods. Now that he thinks about it, he is hungry. Tiso gets up, and comes back after a few minutes with some honey and a few Hivelings. He hands the honey to Hive Knight. Hive Knight takes it and eats it, and he’s tired. He wants to sleep. The Hivelings lay next to him.

“You need to get up.”

But he’s tired. Can’t he just sleep?

Tiso grabs his arm and pulls him up, and walks with him out of the room. He doesn’t try to stop Tiso, and they walk to the main room of the Hive. It’s being fixed, Hivelings and Hive Soldiers working together to put new walls and floors in. They’re almost done. How long was he asleep?

He must look worried because Tiso looks at him and asks “Are you alright?”

Is he? He doesn’t think he is. He’s worried and everything’s still too quiet and the Hive feels empty. It feels wrong. He nods. There’s no reason to make Tiso worry.

“Alright, if you say so.” 

They sit on a ledge for a while, watching the Hive Soldiers work.

He falls asleep again

Chapter Text

Tiso pulled himself up onto a ledge, almost losing his grip because of the ash on the ground. After he was safely on the ledge he gave himself a minute to breathe and fix his hood. He was more than halfway there. And this was the ledge he had fallen onto when he…

He stands up, shifting his thoughts to how he would continue. Eventually, he made it to the entrance of the Colosseum. He was here. Even though he promised himself he wouldn’t leave, even though he had to sneak out to get here, even if it was the worst idea he ever had. He was here, and this time he would win.

He had to.

He had to prove himself. He had failed the Hive. He could have done more, and he should have tried harder. 

He walked into the Colosseum. The Little Fool hanging from the ceiling in chains that he had seen last time was still there.

“Welcome to the… Wait. Hold on. I’ve seen you before. Aren’t you dead?”

Tiso laughed. “Not yet. I’m just as surprised as you are.”

“Oh. Well, you already know the rules. But I would recommend resting before you place your mark.”

“Thank you. I think I’ll do that.”

The warrior’s pit is loud, and crowded, and exactly like he remembers it. Exactly like it was before…

He sits on the bench, makes sure his shield is clean and ready for battle. It doesn’t take long. He’s nervous. Just getting it over with would be best. 

He exits the warrior’s pit and places his mark on the trial board. There’s no turning back now.

The Trial of the Warrior isn’t slow, but it isn’t too fast either. Slicing through the fools and Primal Aspids is a good distraction. The Gruzzers and Gruz Mothers are harder to deal with, but not too difficult. 

He takes his reward and goes to place his mark for the second trial.

“Are you really sure you want to do that?” The Little Fool is trying to stop him, but he doesn’t know why.

“Are you trying to stop me?” He hasn’t rested, but he doesn’t need to. He’s sure he can finish the next two trials quickly. He places his mark.

“No. Good luck, then.”

The next trial is harder, sure, but the challenge distracts him from his thoughts, and that’s really what he wants right now. The most challenging thing to defeat is the Great Hoppers, but he manages to survive. 

He doesn’t care about the reward. It doesn’t matter. He’s over halfway to his goal now. He can’t turn back now.

He doesn’t rest. He doesn’t take a break. The first thing he does is place his mark for the final trial. The Trial of the Fool. 

"You should really-"

"I don't care. It's too late now, anyways. I have to finish the trial." Or die trying. Either way, it would be fine.

So he goes, and he fights. 

It's hard, and he can't focus on anything but the fight. That's what he wants, though. A challenge, a distraction, something to keep him from thinking too much. This was definitely working.

By the time he got to the end, he was feeling a bit tired, and hurt. But he was still alive. And he planned to finish this trial, even if it killed him.

This was it. He only had a few moments to prepare before the champion of the Colosseum entered the arena, riding on top of a large bug.

He was ready. He would win.

The champion, God Tamer, was the last challenge. He would win, or he would die.

He wasn't sure which one would be better.

God Tamer was about to begin the fight, but then she stopped.

"You look awful. I can't fight you, it wouldn't be enough of a challenge if can push you down."

What? Had this ever happened before in the Colosseum? Was this even allowed?

Almost like she's proving a point, God Tamer goes and barely pushes him. He starts to fall backwards, but she catches him.

"You're going to sit in the warrior's pit and rest before you even think about trying the trial again."

He opens his mouth to say something, to tell her she's wrong, but she drags him out of the arena before he can.

"Oh, and someone was looking for you."

Wait, someone was looking for him? Who would…

Oh.

Hive Knight had noticed he was gone.

Chapter Text

When Hive Knight got to the Colosseum, the first thing he saw was the bug hanging from the roof. 

“Welcome to the Colosseum! To enter a trial, place your mark-”

Hive Knight buzzes and shakes his head. He isn’t here to fight.

“What?”

He isn’t sure how to say that he’s looking for someone, so he traces the shape of Tiso’s hood in the air, and circles under that for his shoulders. It takes a second for the bug to get it.

“Oh! Are you looking for someone? I think I know who. He got here not too long ago. You just missed him, he’s in the arena right now. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone try all of the trials back-to-back like that before. Maybe try waiting in the warrior’s pit? He might show up there in a minute.”

That was bad. But he’d wait. Tiso had to be alright.

Hive Knight paced in front of the bench. It was exactly 4 steps to get from one side of it to the other, and he was worried. Why did Tiso come back here? Why had he snuck out in the middle of the night? Was he hurt? What if he died?

The bugs in the warrior’s pit had heard he was looking for Tiso.

“I’m sure he’ll show up soon.”

He would. He had to. Hive Knight sat on the bench, buzzing quietly. The sound made him think of home, and it helped him calm down. Not a lot, but it helped. But just as he’s calming down, someone is being dragged into the warrior’s pit.

“I could have beaten you!”

Hive Knight would recognize that voice anywhere. It’s Tiso.

“Maybe you could have, but not when you’re almost dead. Go take a nap or something.”

“I’m not almost dead. And I still could have beaten you!”

“Shut up.”

The bug dragging him picks him up and drops him onto the bench. Hive Knight buzzes, angry with them for possibly hurting Tiso when they dragged him over here and then just dropped him and oh no Tiso’s hurt. The spot he had been hurt when Hive Knight found him is bleeding again, and there’s new cuts and he looks really tired. But he’s alive. He’s alive, and that’s what matters.

“Hey, were you looking for him?”

It’s the bug who just dropped Tiso. Hive Knight buzzes again and nods, helping Tiso sit up. He leans against Hive Knight’s shoulder, obviously tired. Hive Knight wraps an arm around him, and helps him stand up. The other bug just walks away. Tiso’s leaning on him, and it would be a lot easier for Hive Knight to carry him instead of helping him walk all the way back to the hive. So he picks Tiso up carefully, and starts walking back to the Hive.

Tiso doesn’t talk at all on the way back. He doesn’t say anything until Hive Knight is halfway done wrapping bandages around the worst of the cuts, the one that had been opened again while he was in the Colosseum. He’s sitting on the bed, but Hive Knight isn’t.

“I’m sorry.”

Hive Knight just buzzes quietly, continuing to bandage the cut. Tiso hadn’t really done anything wrong. He didn’t have to apologize for wanting to leave. Hive Knight had just been worried, and wanted to make sure he was alright. Tiso could leave if he wanted to.

Hive Knight just didn’t know how to tell him that.

He gets done bandaging that cut and goes to the next. It’s a deep cut on Tiso’s arm, so he cleans it and carefully wraps his arm with bandages. Tiso doesn’t say anything else. Hive Knight has to cover most of his right arm with bandages, and then over half of his left arm. He goes to make sure there aren’t any cuts on Tiso’s face, and realizes that he’s crying. He goes to wipe the tears off of his face, and Tiso leans into the touch. He’s still crying, maybe more than he was before, and Hive Knight checks to make sure there aren’t any more cuts before he carefully hugs Tiso, trying not to hug him too tightly. Tiso leans into the hug, still crying, pressing his face into Hive Knight’s fluff. Hive Knight starts buzzing quietly, hoping it’ll help Tiso calm down, and hugs him a bit tighter. Tiso starts talking again, muffled by the fluff.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left, please don’t make me leave-”

Hive Knight starts buzzing louder, hugging him tighter, and he stops talking. Hive Knight carefully sits on the bed, still hugging Tiso, and then stops buzzing as loudly to let Tiso talk. He mumbles, muffled by the fluff, and Hive Knight can’t understand him so he gently pushes him back a bit.

“I… I didn’t want to make you worried. I’m sorry.”

Hive Knight wishes he could say that it’s fine, that Tiso doesn’t have to stay if he doesn’t want to, but all he can do is buzz quietly and hope Tiso doesn’t feel like he’s being forced to stay. Tiso stops hugging him and wipes the rest of the tears off of his face. Hive Knight buzzes and waves his hand in the direction of the door, but doesn’t point at it. Maybe a less direct motion will make it seem less like he’s asking Tiso to leave?

But Tiso just seems to get more upset. He stands up, grabbing his shield. 

“Alright, I… I can leave. I get it, I’m sorry for… everything.” 

He starts to leave, but Hive Knight grabs his hand and shakes his head. He didn’t want Tiso to leave, he actually really wanted Tiso to stay in the Hive. 

“You don’t want me to leave?”

Hive Knight just buzzes quietly, still holding his hand. Tiso goes and sits down on the bed again. 

“Then I can stay. If you want me to.”

He buzzes. Tiso looks tired, and upset, and he lays down on the bed. Hive Knight lays next to him, but with enough space that hopefully it isn’t weird, and then Tiso moves over so that he’s right next to Hive Knight and leans his head against Hive Knight’s shoulder. Hive Knight is surprised, but after a few minutes he rolls onto his side and wraps an arm around Tiso, buzzing softly to try and help him sleep. Tiso yawns quietly and closes his eyes, and it isn’t long before he’s asleep. Hive Knight smiles, and it doesn’t take long for him to fall asleep too.

Chapter Text

Hive Knight wakes up slowly, feeling calm and a bit sleepy. It takes him a second to realize that he’s still hugging Tiso, and that Tiso’s asleep and he looks more calm and relaxed than Hive Knight’s ever seen him look before. He smiles and stretches, getting up to go check on the Hive. 

Not much has happened since yesterday. The Hivelings are done rebuilding, and now they’re all playing a game that looks like tag with the Hive Soldiers. He waves at them when he walks past, going to see the rest of the Hive.

He’s surprised to see the small bug from the other day asleep on the Hive’s bench. He doesn’t even have his weapon with him. But then the bug looks at him and tilts their head to the side, not moving, and he’d really feel bad trying to attack them. So he just buzzes angrily and points at the way out. The bug just keeps staring at him. They suddenly stand up and get a flower out from somewhere under their cloak, holding it out to Hive Knight like they want him to take it. It’s a very nice flower, but why are they giving it to him?

They don't move until he takes the flower, and then they start to leave. He looks closer at the flower. It's very pretty, but it looks fragile. How had the bug gotten it here? 

He should give the flower to Tiso.

Wait, why had he thought that? Tiso probably doesn’t like flowers. And Tiso probably doesn’t like him. But it couldn’t hurt to try, right? He walks back to his room, and sees Tiso still asleep on the bed. It’s kind of cute and he doesn’t want to wake Tiso up just to give him a flower, so he sits down to wait. 

After a while, Tiso wakes up, blinking a few times. Hive Knight waits for him to wake up a bit more before he walks over, smiling and buzzing softly. Tiso sits up, and he still looks sleepy and that’s really cute, and before he gets too nervous Hive Knight gently places the flower in Tiso’s hands. Tiso looks at it.

“You want me to have it?” His voice is soft and quiet, but he still sounds surprised. Hive Knight buzzes quietly, sitting next to him, and Tiso leans over to rest his head on Hive Knight’s shoulder. “Thank you. I love it.”

Tiso likes the gift? He feels way too happy right now, and he’s sure Tiso notices. And then Tiso reaches up to put the flower in his fluff, and he smiles, and Hive Knight’s confused because there’s no way this is really happening, there’s no way Tiso actually possibly likes him. He reaches up and barely touches the petals of the flower, and then lays his head on top of Tiso’s and buzzes quietly and smiles. 

This is nice. But Tiso needs to eat, so Hive Knight picks him up. He’ll have to help Tiso with his bandages and then get him some food, and then maybe they can go for a walk? It would be a good idea to go check on the Hivelings outside, and Tiso would probably like to get out of the Hive. Tiso closes his eyes and lets Hive Knight carry him out of the room and to the room with the bench. Hive Knight sets him down and runs to get bandages and a cloth.

When he gets back to the bench, Tiso’s still sitting on it. Hive Knight buzzes to get his attention, and holds up the things he had grabbed. Tiso nods, and Hive Knight starts helping him unwrap the bandages on his arms and chest. Some of the worse cuts have mostly dried blood near them, so Hive Knight uses the cloth to clean them, careful not to accidentally rub too hard and make them bleed again. When he’s done with that, he wraps more bandages over the cuts and then sets the extra supplies on the floor so he can pick Tiso up again.

He starts walking with Tiso to the area outside of the Hive, making a Hiveling get them honey so Tiso can eat while they walk. Once they get outside, Hive Knight sets Tiso down so he can walk mostly on his own, but he still leans on Hive Knight and Hive Knight wraps an arm around him to help keep him from falling over. Tiso takes the honey when the Hiveling gets back, and the Hiveling flies back into the Hive. 

Hive Knight sees that small bug again. They aren’t attacking the Hivelings, so he makes sure the Hivelings know to leave them alone and walks over to them, still helping Tiso walk. They’re looking at a map. He buzzes and they look at him, and he points at the map. They hand it to him and he shows it to Tiso so they can decide where to go. It doesn’t take long for them to choose a destination, since they both choose the City of Tears. Hive Knight hands the map back to the small bug, and he and Tiso start walking to the City.

They should have brought weapons. Sure, Hive Knight knew it was dangerous outside of the Hive, but he wasn’t thinking about that when he left. They manage to avoid the infected bugs though, and after a while they make it to a bench in a room that’s empty of other bugs, and they sit down. There’s a large window right in front of the bench, and the rain makes a nice sound when it hits the glass. They’re both soaked from the rain, but that doesn’t really matter to either of them. The flower in Hive Knight’s fluff is surprisingly unharmed.

Tiso’s already done eating the honey, so he just sits next to Hive Knight, resting his head on Hive Knight’s shoulder and staring out at the rain and the city.

“This is… really nice. Before, I would have hated it, but… It’s peaceful and I think I’m getting a bit tired of constant action.”

Hive Knight understands. It is nice. It’s nice just sitting here and being with Tiso, not having to worry about anything, listening to the rain and doing nothing. He loses track of time, which isn’t surprising for him because he has trouble with time anyway, and he doesn’t realize they’ve been sitting there for a long time until he hears Tiso snoring quietly and realizes that he fell asleep. 

Tiso hums quietly when Hive Knight picks him up, but he stays asleep, and Hive Knight manages to get him safely back to the Hive. He walks back to his room and lays Tiso on the bed, gently wiping some of the water off of his face and then letting his hand rest on Tiso’s cheek instead of moving it away. With his other hand, he takes the flower out of his fluff and carefully lays it on a small table next to the bed. He finally moves his hand away from Tiso’s face, and goes to dry the water off of himself. When he’s done with that he lays down in the empty spot on the bed, next to Tiso, and closes his eyes. He’s more exhausted than he realized and he falls asleep almost immediately.

Chapter Text

Tiso didn’t usually dream. Tonight was an exception to that. The dream was of light, blinding and orange and drowning out his thoughts. He thought he heard a voice, saying something, but the light was somehow too loud for him to hear over it. 

When he woke up everything looked too orange. The Hive was usually a bit of a gold color, but now it was like he was looking at it through an orange lens. He got up and stumbled to the door, his legs not wanting to work correctly. He didn’t even want to get up yet, why was he moving? He picked up his shield and started walking. He wasn’t sure where he was going. 

His vision started to blur, everything fading into solid orange. He faintly heard buzzing, the sounds of the Hivelings and Hive Soldiers working around the Hive, but that started to fade to the whispering voice in his head. He couldn’t quite hear the words. 

As his vision fades even more, his thoughts becomes clearer. He failed them. They didn’t need him at all. He was just getting in the way. He stumbled and fell, but got up and kept going anyway. He had to. Just leave, they don’t want him here. They didn’t, did they? What had he done for them? Nothing. He had used up their supplies and he hadn’t even given them anything in return, just made them worry.  

He couldn’t hear anything over his thoughts. Were they even his? It didn’t matter. Whatever it was, it was right. He was useless. He couldn’t do anything right. He couldn’t even fight on his own, he needed someone to come and save him. He should have died. He should be dead. 

He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel himself walking.

He couldn’t stop.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

He was barely able to feel someone grab his arm, and then his shoulders, and then whoever it is starts shaking him. Not very hard, but enough to clear the orange fog from his vision. The whispers fade with it, but not his own thoughts. He blinks to clear his eyes, and then Hive Knight is in front of him and he can’t stand up anymore, his legs quit working and he collapses. Everything hurts. There are tears on his face. Is he crying? It would make sense, since his vision is starting to blur again but without any orange this time.

Hive Knight helps him up, wipes the tears off of his face, and he looks worried and sad and Tiso feels awful, he hurt Hive Knight and maybe he didn’t mean to but he did and it’s his fault that Hive Knight’s upset.

The voice was right. 

He hasn’t done anything useful. He never has and he never will. 

He shouldn’t be here. He should be dead in Kingdom’s Edge. 

He lets Hive Knight pick him up, and lays his head on Hive Knight’s fluff. It’s soft, and warm, and Hive Knight smells like honey. It would be nicer if he wasn’t thinking. The thoughts wouldn’t stop now that they’d started, and he knew it was bad but they wouldn’t go away.

He didn’t want to sleep, but he was tired. Hive Knight put him down on the bed, so they must have been walking for a while, and then stands next to him for a minute before buzzing quietly and leaving. 

He couldn’t stay awake. 

He had to stay awake. 

He sits up, slowly, everything still hurt. He needed a way to stop himself from falling asleep. Seeing the bandages on his arms gives him an idea. Not a good one, but an idea. He tears the bandages off and starts picking at the cuts, tearing them open again. It hurt. But the pain was keeping him awake. He digs his fingers deeper into the cuts. 

It wasn’t just to keep himself awake. Maybe he’d bleed to death before anyone got back. He kind of hoped he would. He feels himself starting to cry, and that just makes him tear off the bandages on the other arm and pick at the cuts on that one, too.
He should have done this before. He shouldn’t have lived this long. He should have just died when he first found the Colosseum, when he was tossed off of the cliff into Kingdom’s Edge.

He hears buzzing and then Hive Knight grabs his arms. He realizes he’s bleeding onto the bed, blood running down his arms, fingers stained green, and his arms hurt more than he thought they would. Hive Knight already has bandages, and grabs a cloth from nearby to clean the cuts, and wipe the blood off of his arms. The whole time he’s buzzing quietly. Tiso feels even worse. He is useless, and he’s just getting in the way, it would be better if he wasn’t here. But Hive Knight bandages his arms and Tiso sees him start to cry. It’s his fault, he’s making Hive Knight upset, Hive Knight should just make him leave. 

Hive Knight hugs him, and even though he feels awful, Tiso leans into the hug and presses his face into HIve Knight’s fluff. It’s nice, and even though it doesn’t make him feel any better it distracts him for a second. He takes a deep breath, inhaling the smell of honey, and then lets himself cry. Hive Knight pulls him closer, buzzing softly, and for a moment he feels safe. But as soon as he feels himself start to fall asleep he tries to wake himself up again, reaching up to scratch at his neck. Hive Knight just hugs him tighter, trapping his arms at his sides, making it impossible for Tiso to hurt himself again. He’s not able to stop himself from falling asleep, even though he tries, because the soft, quiet buzzing and the warm fluff make it too hard to stay awake.

And this time, he doesn’t dream.