Belial of Hallownest: A Hollow Knight Fanfiction

Chapter 6: A Dance Between Siblings

Belial felt exhausted. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally. He was not prepared to be reunited with two of his family members, and he definitely was not prepared to tell the story of what happened to his father. But he is an entertainer, and to refuse an opportunity to ply his craft was an insult to his pride. That did not mean however, that it wasn't draining. Quite the opposite. The reason Belial was in such a hurry to get back to the tent was because he felt as if could collapse at any minute. So, for his own health and safety, Belial decided to use the stag station to return home. This wouldn't be his first option, he would have loved to explore the kingdom a bit more, and he knew that the only other bug who used the station frequently was his sibling, who he was not prepared to meet at that moment. But he would rather run into more family then collapse on the way back. Who knows what would attack him if he did? Plus, collapsing would just supply troupe members, mainly Divine, Grimm and some of the Grimmkin, with more material to tease him with. With heavy hesitation, Belial approached the station, and rung the bell to summon the stag. The ding echoed down the tunnels and all around the station, preventing Belial from nodding off. Its tone holding a sense of summoning to the reverberations it created - a feeling Belial was very accustomed to at this point. As soon as the ringing of the bell faded, a new sound replaced it: the rumbling and thuds of rapidly approaching footfalls from deep within the tunnels. The sound quickly grew as an incredibly large stag beetle emerged from the darkness of those vast and seemingly endless tunnels and stopped at the station in front of Belial, who was shocked at the size of the creature before him.

"Heeurgh, I did not expect to see someone new call for me." The stag rumbled with a wheeze. The bug was ancient looking, around the same age as Elderbug but obviously a lot bigger than the old bug from Dirtmouth. Belial could tell he was male because of the magnificently groomed, grey beard on the old bug's face. The final noticeable trait of the old bug in front of him was the large saddle-like contraption sitting on his back. Belial had never seen a saddle with two plush looking benches for seating multiple bugs. It took a moment for Belial to pull himself away from the now distracting thought that bugs could possess facial hair to remember what he had summoned the stag here for in the first place.

"I was hoping you could take me to Dirtmouth please?" Belial asked the bug as he leaned on his needle like a cane to prevent him from collapsing. It took a moment for the stag to respond, the brief pause hammered at the doubts in Belial's mind that this might not work, but his answer washed all of those away.

"Of course, hop on and I shall take you there." The response sounded like a butterfly's chorus to the tired Belial as he hopped onto the frontmost bench of the stag's saddle thing. His hopes of dozing off on the ride were dashed as the stag took off thundering down the halls. The ride was so bumpy, Belial wondered why no one had invented a contraption to keep oneself secured in their seat. Like some sort of belt for a chair, a "chairbelt" if you would. As the ride continued down the dark tunnels, Belial was pulled out of his thoughts of inventing a chairbelt when a new thought crossed his mind.

"Pardon me good sir, but has anyone else used your services as of late?" Belial questioned, having to yell so the old stag could hear him over the colossal sound of his own footsteps. The stag pondered a bit before responding, still running the entire time.

"Well the main one is a small bug who has been reopening the stag stations as they travel. They've been a real help but they're not one for conversation. Another one has been a rather large fellow, says he's a cartographer by trade. He often uses my services to go to Dirtmouth, but he comes back pretty quickly to return to where he left from. Says he's just dropping off his finished maps to his wife in their shop. Another was a rather boastful man, says he's a mighty warrior. To me he seemed like a braggart who's stuck in his own little fantasy. There was a rather shy girl who I also took to Dirthmouth. Kept talking about this shining knight that saved her. Finally, there was this thin looking fellow, said he was a scholar and explorer. He always wore this odd mask on top of his head that looked like a feminine face with four eyes. Though the last time I saw him, he didn't have the mask and he seemed... resigned. Not sure why, but that's the only way I can really describe it."