Chapter Text
Show me strength, spider…
Phantom threw their longpin towards the half-Weaver who’d found her way into the heart of the Exhaust Organ, then chased after and caught their weapon with a shout that echoed off the metal walls. The half-Weaver narrowly dodged the blow, skidding back before dashing forward, her needle raised to strike. Phantom threw up a parry on instinct. Metal hit metal and for a split second the duo stared at each other, merely inches apart, two warriors locked in a battle that would only end with one thing.
Show me strength… I know you can. You’re a blessing in disguise. Come on, spider, don’t hold back. Fight!
As quick as the steam that blasted through the pipes, Phantom pushed their mask up with one claw and then slashed their longpin thrice. The first two strikes missed, but the third hit shell with a harsh crack. The half-Weaver staggered back a step and sucked in a sharp breath. Her claw dropped to her side, where Phantom’s blow had just landed, then returned to the hilt of her needle. She dashed halfway across the room and spun to face Phantom, and the Silk-spun bug could tell that the half-Weaver’s stance had shifted, her grip on her needle tighter than before.
The odds were heavily stacked against Phantom; the musician had known this from the moment the half-Weaver had entered their organ room. When they’d initially heard movement coming from within the pipes, they’d simply thought that Lace had returned for another short visit. But the bug they saw out of the corner of their eye, wearing a red cloak and armed with a steel needle, was certainly not their sister. And when they’d seen how that bug could manipulate Silk, summoning threads around herself to heal the wounds she’d sustained from climbing the pipes, well…
There weren’t many creatures with such a skill. Even Phantom themself couldn’t control the substance despite being made of it. This bug had to be a Weaver, at least in part, and Lace had recently mentioned there was a half-Weaver from another kingdom roaming loose through Pharloom’s caverns. From there, it only took a moment to put two and two together.
Lace had thought the half-Weaver might try to enter the Citadel through Sinner’s Road, so Phantom had already been prepared to face her with their longpin if necessary. And only if necessary was the plan the siblings had agreed upon. Phantom knew how to fight, of course, but they were far from their prime and it showed. The half-Weaver was well-versed in combat, and Lace had expressed worry about what the outcome could be if Phantom and the spider got into a fight. She had repeatedly asked the musician to not raise their blade unless it was in self-defence.
Phantom had promised their sister as much. They knew what would likely result from a battle with the spider, and they knew that Lace wanted to avoid such an outcome. They could do it for their sister. They could avoid that outcome for her sake.
But when the half-Weaver had begun walking across the organ room, treading carefully like a hunter, the edge of her steel needle glinting softly in the light from the Silkflies, Phantom’s resolve had just…
Snapped.
The Silk-spun bug adjusted their grip on their longpin and pushed their mask up again, but before they could make a move, the half-Weaver threw her needle forward. The weapon moved much faster than Phantom anticipated, slamming into their shoulder and knocking them back. The half-Weaver quickly retracted her needle; Phantom could feel delicate strands of Silk tearing under the blade’s edge, and with it, a sharp wave of pain.
They winced but stayed standing. Okay, this was good. Now things were actually getting somewhere. They just had to keep this up, keep pressuring the spider more and more until she decided her only option was to… well…
Make a final strike.
The half-Weaver hadn’t even so much as raised her needle at the organ-playing musician as she’d walked past them through the organ room. Phantom was pretty sure that she’d been planning on just leaving them be. They would’ve let her be as well, but her stance, the way she moved and observed her surroundings, that needle… it all screamed of her prowess as a hunter. It was such a perfect opportunity, right there before them. Right there. The thoughts had come rushing back in a pounding flood, and it was all just… far too easy, really…
A fraying musician against the spider who’d fought her way from Bone Bottom to the Citadel?
Phantom hadn’t even fully realized what they were doing when they’d stood up from the organ’s bench, grabbed their longpin and mask, and leapt from the dais in a cloud of steam, smoke, and Silk dregs. They’d landed in front of the surprised half-Weaver with their longpin at the ready and charged with a yell and no second thought.
They couldn’t stop themself even if they’d wanted to. It was far too easy.
Of course, this meant they’d broken their promise to Lace. That realization had almost made them stop in their tracks, the grief welling up inside, until they took that grief and used it as fuel for the fire instead. They were already forgotten, discarded, a complete and utter failure of a Silken creation. Of course they would manage to break their sister’s heart, too. Of course they would.
Phantom grit their fangs and lunged at the half-Weaver with a flurry of jabs from their longpin, which the spider managed to block with her needle. The two continued to exchange strikes and parries, a dance of a duel, all the while one thought in particular was at the forefront of Phantom’s mind: This is really going to be it, isn’t it. There was only one way out of this fight and it certainly wasn’t going to be the half-Weaver’s death. Not when Phantom could already feel their whole body protesting at having to keep up this pace for however long it would take, their wounds fraying deep, loose Silk fluttering to the floor.
But that was the whole point of this. A way out. Release. Freedom. They’d push through this pain, welcome it actually, because they knew what was waiting for them at the end.
And they wanted it.
Right?
They were fully prepared for it, but it still took them by surprise. It happened so suddenly. Phantom lunged. The half-Weaver parried. But this time, the spider struck back, a wide slash of her needle that knocked the musician to their knees. And this one felt different from all the other times that needle had made contact with their Silken body.
Phantom leaned their head back, a claw pressed against their mask to keep it in place, panting hard. The pain was overwhelming, and it came from everywhere. The sound of their longpin clattering against the floor, the Silkfly light shining in their eyes, every shaking breath, it all hurt. The world spun around them. Black flickered at the edges of their vision. They let out a short, broken laugh as the realization sunk in, the action nearly sending them into a coughing fit.
This was it?
This was it.
It really had been far too easy. Better a quick demise than to be left to fade away into nothing. They just hoped Lace wouldn’t be too saddened at the fact that Phantom had decided to go kill themself by challenging the half-Weaver to a fight.
Oh, who were they kidding? Their death was going to leave Lace devastated.
Lace…
A sudden strong wave of pain caused Phantom to let out a strangled scream, their whole body tensing and threatening to give out. Darkness filled their vision and the world slipped away until there was nothing left but pain and their own thoughts.
I’m sorry, Lace, but it’s better for all of us if I leave, I need to be—
…
…
…Free…?