Chapter Text
The last thing lace remembers before plunging into oblivion was watching her mother struggle to squash a little spider. Grand Mother Silk, despite all her power, was no match against the spider's swift moves and powerful strikes. She watched as a powerful trap activated beneath her mother, manipulated to do the spider's bidding with the music from her needolin. Lace remembers ink black tendrils sprouting from the trap, holding her mother in place and slowly dragging her down into the darkness below. And as she watched her mother's pathetic attempts to drag down the spider with her, she knew she couldn't stand idle. Lace had to do something. Her mother cannot have her. Her mother will not have her.
in a final act of rebellion, Lace remembers leaping forward and with a slice of her pin, her mother's hand has been cut off cleanly, and the spider fell out of her grasp. Yes, the last thing she remembers, is falling into the vast, empty blackness below, her mother's screams still echoing in her ears. The perfect revenge. The last thing her wretched mother will remember is how she ripped that pesky spider away from her arms. Lace was happy. It was finally over.
…..Until it wasn't.
She couldn't remember much from her time in the void. She remembers a massive silk cocoon keeping her and her mother "safe". She remembers the deep red cloak of a familiar spider, who by all means shouldn't have made it this far. A bright flash, a strong grip never letting go, thousands upon thousands of eyes staring back.
By the time she opened her eyes and regained herself, she was lying down on the docks above the pool of darkness. Out of the void, given another unwanted chance at life. Lace turned to look around her, locking eyes with that very same familiar spider in her signature red cloak.
The spider looked surprised. As if she hadn't expected to make it out alive. Lace hadn't expected it either. A laugh escaped her, she couldn't really tell why she was laughing. The spider slowly rose up with the help of her needle and carefully walked over towards Lace, extending a hand. She seemingly didn't need words to communicate what she wanted. Lace grabbed her hand and got up, her mind racing with questions.
Why? What does the spider gain from this? Why did she go through all this trouble when she finally had her freedom? She chose to stay and save someone who was nothing but mean to her the entire time she was here. Why?
"Pale child, we must leave this place. The abyss isn't safe and will only drain us of our strength, especially you." the spider's words rang through Lace's mind. "Oh please, dear spider. What do I have to get back to? I have nothing up there, at least in here I may-"
"Child." the spider cut her off, glancing back at the void pool as if looking for something or someone. "You must trust that you have the power within you to find a purpose of your own." Lace laughed. "What foolish words you speak. As if someone like me could. A hollow failure of an attempt at life." the spider stuck her needle to the ground and grabbed her free hand. "Listen to me. The words I spoke to you in the cradle are still true. You are a living bug, despite what you may think" Lace felt the spider's grip on her strengthen and her claws trembling. "Please, child. If you still wish to end it all, at least do it in the caverns above where you don't have to go through."
"Pah. If you keep this up I might think you care about me." Lace retorted, partially joking. Returning another glance towards the dark pool besides them, the spider continued. "Return with me to the caverns above, and I'll leave you to it. Whether or not you decide to continue with me to bellhart will be up to you."
"You're quite eager to leave, spider."
"That I am."
Lace caved in. As much as she wanted to jump back into the void, she had a feeling the spider will jump after her. Again.
After a short rest on the nearby bench, the two made it back to the only way out of Pharloom's abyss: a shoddy diving bell cracking with age. Lace snickered, partially from worry. "That is how you got in?" she mused, somewhat hoping there will be another way out. "Yes." the spider responded. "The bell only broke once, but it has been fixed since. I trust the forge-bug operating it to bring us up … mostly unscathed." she continued, strangely calm. "Mostly." Lace repeated. Is Pharloom's savior really this stupid?
The two got into the diving bell. It was a cramped pod supposedly able to traverse through the magma pools above. It had three chairs with straps and a receiver tube that could be a way to contact said forge-bug operating it.
The spider told her to sit down on one of the chairs as she went over to the tube and spoke into it. "Ballow, you may bring us up." she called out to the forge-bug. "Right on, miss! Just sit down and- wait, us?" The forge-bug's voice rang from the tube. "Yes." The spider answered. "Well. Both o ya sit down and I'll bring ya right up."
The spider sat down in the chair next to Lace as the door to the diving bell closed and they could feel it going up.
The silence was deafening. Not even the (definitely scary) creaking of the old bell and magma were enough to pierce through it. Lace hated it. She glanced over at the spider who seemed to be quite busy staring at her own weapon. Admittedly, that blade did have a pretty shine to it. It reflected the light from the magma, the pale steel it was made of adorned with hexagonal patterns. Lace couldn't help but wonder where that blade came from. That spider was always mysterious, sharing nothing but cryptic words about anything that could even allude to her past. Then Lace realized ….. she doesn't even know the name of the one who so graciously saved her.
"Hah aha. You just like to be so mysterious, don't you, spider?" Lace spoke up, breaking the silence.
"I like to keep unnecessary information to myself. Keeps the mystery going." the spider joked.
"It's rather surprising to see you have a sense of humor, little spider. But seeing as you killed my mother and brought down my kingdom to its knees, you ought to at least give me the courtesy of knowing your name."
"Well, you never gave me yours either."
Lace was caught off guard. Everything they went through, the fights, the bickering, all was done without knowing each other's names?
"Will you tell me your name, pale child?" the spider asked. "..Lace." she reluctantly responded.
"It's nice to meet you Lace. I am Hornet." the spider said. Hornet. Such an interesting name for the half-weaver.
"I apologize for not giving my name earlier. We were occupied with other things, it seems." Hornet sounded genuine. "Truly." Lace said. "Say, aren't you a weaver? Why is your name Hornet?" This wasn't so much as a mock, but a real question. What kind of weaver names their child after a different race? Hornet's other half seemed too.. pale to be some kind of wasp.
Hornet went quiet. As if trying to think if she should respond to it. Eventually she did. "It's… an honorary title. Given to me by my mentor.. along with this very needle. She was a fierce warrior from a tribe in my homeland, though now long gone."
"Did you have a name before that?" Lace inquired.
"Does not matter." she said firmly. "You may only call me Hornet. Or spider, if you so desperately wish to." so mean suddenly. Did Lace strike a weak point?
Before they knew it, the diving bell reached the end of its journey, the door opening to reveal a dock above a pool of exposed lava.
"Miss Hornet!! Glad to see ya and yer friend are safe!!" Exclaimed the forge-bug greeting Hornet. "Thank you Ballow. I couldn't have done it without your help."
"I heard violent screams from below, and then the void silk things disappeared!" Ballow said. "The dock workers are all confused, but not as violent as before."
"That's good to hear. Pharloom may finally be free." Lace watched from afar as hornet breathed a sigh of relief. She heard the two continue to talk while staring down at her own weapon, a golden pin, Pharloom's chosen. She looked down at her own fraying hands and the cuts on her silken body. Hornet may want to give her freedom, but there's not much Lace can do without constant upkeep. Even in death, her mother was so cruel, to spin a child as frail as her.
"I hope you haven't been waiting for long, Lace." Hornet's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "What do you plan to do now?" "Rest." Lace said, barely looking back at the spider. "That's fair. I own a place in the town of bells above. You can come with if you wish. And if not, know that my home is open for you." The pale spider stated.
"I appreciate the offer, spider, but you can go without me." Lace only wished to be alone, and seeing Hornet's stupid, double pronged face didn't help at that moment.
"Very well then. Goodbye, Lace." Hornet said. Glancing at the silk bug one last time, she added "I hope we may cross paths again." Lace then watched as the spider played a tune in her needolin, two beastlings popping out of the ground and taking her with them, disappearing into the hole they came from and leaving her alone with her thoughts.
"And there the little spider goes." she said to herself, exasperated. For now, the only thing that mattered to her is to find a place to rest.