Chapter Text
Initially, it starts out as just canon Silksong, but that changes during the fight with Grand Mother Silk. Lace doesn't save Hornet in time, either because she takes too long to make up her mind about following Hornet up to the arena, or because she hesitates a moment too long when she actually gets there.
Lace sees Hornet get dragged into the void, and determines that she has to do something about it. This time, it isn't just about spiting Grand Mother Silk, though that's part of it. It's also about Lace regretting her failure to act in time, her hesitation and cowardice or her unwillingness to make up her mind. So, just before the portal closes, Lace jumps in after Hornet.
(Since Lace doesn't care about her own life, she wouldn't try to seek out some void-proofing solution, which is maybe a good thing- she didn't know about the Everbloom in the first place, so even with the power of the Old Hearts, she wouldn't be able to retrieve it from her memories.)
And instead of journeying through memories of dead kingdoms and battling the Old Hearts, Lace journeys through the Abyss and meets some of Hornet's siblings, and learns more about Hornet from them.
- Hollow, who always saw Hornet as their adorable baby sister. Energetic and noisy and mischievous and alive, everything that they couldn't be. But though they were sometimes jealous of her, they still loved her. She was the best thing about their life in the White Palace. Lace wonders if that is how Phantom saw her. It is definitely how Lace saw some mortal bugs, very early on, before she gave up on making friends.
- The Greenpath Vessel, who was killed by Hornet*, and who has only ever seen her at her worst: killing her own siblings to stop them from saving her other sibling, all because she didn't want to risk hoping for change only for the change to turn out to be worse. A far cry from the current Hornet that Lace knows, who summoned the Void to GMS's throne room. Lace learns Hornet is not perfect; she is not greater than Lace in any way, except that she learned and changed. This is comforting.
*(Yes, I know, there's a whole analysis post or two about how the Greenpath Vessel couldn't have been killed by Hornet, since they were stabbed with a nail, and that they probably killed themselves for some reason, likely because they were starting to become infected, since they have exactly the same pattern of cracks across their skull that Hollow does. But at the same time, I need a vessel that can represent Hornet's worst choices, so that Lace can see her at her worst. And Hornet likely did kill vessels (I mean, she tries to kill Ghost after all), and while Greenpath Vessel technically isn't one of those vessels, they are a visual symbol of it: seeing Greenpath Vessel in the Hornet 1 arena was what signaled to most fans on their first playthrough "Oh no, that's a bug like me, and she killed them.")
- Ghost (in their smaller form), who was tested by Hornet and earned her respect. While Hollow sees Hornet as a little sister, someone to protect and cherish, and GV sees her as a very flawed person at best and a monster at worst, Ghost sees her almost as an older sister: a mentor and someone worthy of admiration, a great warrior and teammate. She taught and tested them through their journey and supported them in the end. Lace is more willing to accept that there are things to respect about Hornet now that she knows Hornet is flawed too (and is someone she can relate to), and since Ghost's perspective is the last one she gets, she's more willing to listen to it now instead of rejecting it out of jealousy like she once would have.
Each of them fight Lace, then curl up and sink back into the void. When they sink back into the void, Lace sees Hornet through their perspective in a flashback or series of flashbacks.
Hollow fights Lace to protect Hornet, GV fights Lace because they're angry again now that Hornet's in the void with them and they want to pick a fight, and Ghost fights Lace to test her and prepare her, like Hornet tested and prepared them.
By the time she reaches Hornet, Lace actually cares about Hornet and wants to save her. The problem is, Hornet doesn't need to be saved; Ghost has been protecting her. But all the void exposure has been taking a toll on Lace, and now it has become too much.
That's right; this AU still has the Lost Lace bossfight... only Lace is the one fighting her.
Instead of becoming covered in void and turning into Lost Lace, in this AU, Lost Lace is a copy of Lace formed from all her regrets that materializes from the void- basically a shade, but if a shade was more solid, had actual arms and legs, and was a ridiculously skilled fencer.
Partway through the bossfight, Hornet steps out of the safe zone Ghost made for her to help Lace fight, doing for Lace what Lace failed to do for her in the GMS fight. Similar to Ghost coming back to save Hollow even though Hollow let them down in their backstory, this shows Lace that Hornet forgave her, or at least that Hornet really does care about her and wasn't just lying, as Lace initially thought. And like Hollow assisting Ghost in killing the Radiance, Lace's very presence there with Hornet (as well as her fight to survive against her void duplicate instead of just letting it kill her) shows Hornet that she's willing to change.
Later, when they're safely out of the void, Hornet or Lace asks Ghost (perhaps somewhat accusingly) why they didn't just take away the Lost Lace shade, even though it was so dangerous? They could have destroyed it easily, and saved Lace a lot of time and trouble.
Ghost says something like "It would be rude; it was not mine." or "It would not be fair." or "Knew she could succeed." Perhaps all three.