635Darkness, pure undiluted darkness, that's the first thing the Knight saw upon regaining consciousness. It's small black body was drifting through the void, it's moth-wing cloak flapping behind, despite the lack of wind. It turned it's white head around, two horns sticking out from it's white shell, pitch black eyes looking around.
It wasn't sure what happened, it remembered fighting the source of the infection in the Hallownest, it remembered ascending the pantheon, the countless enemies it fought. Then, as it was able to deal a killing blow to the Radiance, it's form changed for a moment, allowing it to destroy the infection for good. However, as it tried to escape the dream realm, something happened, pure white light surrounding it, before it found itself here.
As it pondered what to do next, it felt something, a presence. As it looked around, chains appeared from the darkness, binding it, as some kind of seal was being put on it. That made it react, it wouldn't end like the Hollow Knight, it wouldn't be bound and sealed for decades, it would fight back. And so it did, the power of the Void and Soul surging outside, breaking the chains that desperately tried to contain it.
The Void, the substance it was born from, the one it had under full control of it refused to be bound by the chains. It surged outward, destroying everything around it, the seal shattering upon the impact. Then, a light, different from the infection. It felt… calm, welcoming even. However, the Knight wasn't going to simply walk in, as it's hand clenched pure nail it's possessed.
It wouldn't stay here, that much was for certain, so with it's weapon ready it began flying towards the light, the monarch wings, similar to butterflies, but white and translucent propelling it forward. And as soon as the Knight entered the light, it's form felt different, it raised it's hand in front of it and noticed something peculiar. It's hand had five digits, different from the form it used for the majority of its life.
However, that was only a beginning of surprises as it looked around. It seemed to be located in some kind of room, a rather spacious one. It seemed to be laying on something soft, light shining through a window. The Knight wasn't sure what was going on, so it tried standing up, which turned out harder than it expected, in fact, it failed.
The Knight frowned, before it realized something important. It… frowned? How? It didn't have a face, only a shell. It looked back at it's body and began examining it. Two arms, two legs, similar to his vessel form. However, instead of jet black body, it was fair, a bit pale, but that's about it. As it tried to reach for it's head it felt something soft. It began pulling on it, which made it feel pain, making it stop.
It wasn't sure what was going on, but it didn't like it. It didn't like it at all. As it considered what to do, two beings entered the room, different from anything it had seen before. They had two legs and two arms, similar to it, but they were much taller than it was. They possessed some kind of soft fur on their heads, a pair of eyes, mouth and some kind of flesh like object with two holes in it. Their bodies also were different from the bugs of Hallownest. What the Knight didn't know was that these two were European descent humans.
"Look at it, our baby is awake, darling," The female said.
"I can see that. How are you feeling, little guy?" The male asked, as it began tickling it.
The Knight however was a vessel, it could feel pain, it could feel joy, fear and such. However, it's feelings and emotions were dulled on the account of being a vessel. No mind to think, no will to break, no voice to cry suffering, born of god and void. It didn't laugh, it didn't snort, it simply watched the two humanoids that stood in front of it.
"Guchi gu," The male said, trying to be funny and failing miserably.
"Hey, honey, I don't think it's working," The female said.
One thing that was problematic was that it could not understand what they were saying. It tried to understand them, but it couldn't, their language was simply too different from the one used by bugs of Hallownest. On top of that, it had no clue who those creatures were or even what they were. Definitely not bugs, but they didn't seem hostile to it.
"I can see that, I know. Say daddy," The male said and pointed at himself. "Daddy."
"…" The Knight didn't reply as it tried to understand what they expected from it.
"How about mommy? Can you say mommy?" The female asked and pointed at herself. "Mommy."
"…" The Knight didn't reply, as it simply analyzed the duo in front of him.
"I think that may be too early for him. Maybe he is hungry?" She asked, scooped it up and presented some kind of bottle to it. "Here baby."
She then pushed the bottle towards its mouth, while the knight kept it's mouth closed glancing between the bottle and the woman. What was it supposed to do with it? Eat it? It had no use for that, it was a vessel. It didn't need to sleep, eat or drink, it simply moved, fought, died, came back and died again. However, it could be a problem, if it at least didn't pretend, what would they do to it, if it refused to eat? Would they try to kill it? It wasn't sure.
It looked back at the bottle, trying to wrap it's head around the contraption. It had some weird rubber like thing at the end, which it assumed was a way for it to eat or perhaps drink, as it seemed to be some kind of liquid. Should it drink it? It never drank anything before, what would the void do to it? It wasn't sure, nor did it care at this point.
So, seeing no other option, it opened its mouth, which was odd for it and the bottle was pushed gently to its mouth. It tried biting it, but then it realized it couldn't. It had no mandibles, nothing to grind the bottle on. The Knight frowned, as it tried biting on it, a bit of liquid coming out from it. It didn't have any taste and seemed to disappear as soon as it entered its mouth, the Void consuming it. It tried again, more liquid coming out. However, it was a slow process, so it tried sucking on it and it worked. Just like that, it repeated the process, as it began draining the bottle dry.
"I told you so, how was it, baby?" The female asked. The Knight didn't reply, as it finished the bottle and looked back at the female.
"He seems awfully quiet, should the children be like that?" The man asked.
"Maybe he is just surprised or maybe I need to change his diaper?" She said and before the Knight could protest, she scooped it out and took a peek into some kind of fabric located around the middle of its body. "Hmm… nothing, okay. I think that's good enough for you, young man."
Then before the Knight could comprehend another weird action, the female touched with her mouth it's head, the Knight blinking at the odd sensation. Then, the female slowly lowered it back to the resting area and covered it with some kind of fabric. The two then talked between each other, before saying their goodbyes, locking the door behind them and leaving it alone.
Okay, it was still alive and in one piece, so there was that. Now, since it's 'caretakers' were gone, it decided to see if it could do something with its body, which it didn't recognize. It started slowly, beginning from getting to a sitting position. This process took a bit of an effort, but compared to what it had to fight when it just started, it was a piece of geo-cake.
It sat as it looked at its location. It looked like some kind of resting area and the thing it was located on, seemed to be some kind of bed. Wooden rods surrounded it, probably as a way to contain it. It touched the wood, it's sense of touch still there. It wasn't sure what happened, it wasn't sure what was it doing here, what happened to Hornet, to Hallownest, but it would try to figure it out.
First thing it needed to do was learn how to walk again. It began focusing its efforts on that, which took a while longer, but it was able to do so. However, it's new form was clumsy, slow, weak. Why? Why was it so weak? What happened to it? Perhaps with time it would figure it out. However, for now, it would try moving around until it could do so without an effort.
This in turn took a few hours at the bare minimum, but after that it was able to move around quite well, not as well as in it's vessel form, but it would do for now. However, this whole process made it realize something. It's caretakers could speak, but could it do it itself? It shouldn't be able to, but things weren't the same anymore.
"...Da...ddy…," It said, it's voice childlike and different from the roar of the Void it unleashed during the fight with the Radiance. It didn't like it, not in the slightest. However, being able to talk would be a huge help, it was better than simply listening. "Mo...mmy."
These two words, that's what they called themselves. It didn't know what that meant just yet, but it made it's caretakers happy and as long as they did not throw it into an equivalent of the Abyss, it would endure it, it would learn, adapt, overcome, just as it always did. However, the time it spent was quite long and it heard the duo coming back to it. It turned towards them, standing on its own, holding onto the wooden frame of it's bed, the two beings pausing at the sight.
"What the…?" The male asked, clearly not expecting that.
"Honey!" The female said as she rushed to it, holding it by its hands, as if she was afraid it would fall. "How…?"
"He is six months old, when did he learn how to stand on his own?" The male asked as he walked up to the Knight.
"I don't know… do you think he can talk as well?" She asked.
"But he didn't last time we asked," He pointed out.
"Maybe he was just shy," She argued, turned towards the Knight and gestured to herself. "Mommy."
The Knight raised it's hand towards the female, pointed it's finger at her and said, "Mommy." This earned a gasp from the woman, who looked delighted, while the man just blinked. The Knight then turned towards the male and said, "Daddy."
"I will be damned," He said, blinking at the display.
"I told you, he was just shy, come to mommy," She said and scooped him up. "Well, now, do you know what your name is, little one?"
The Knight didn't respond, as he looked at the woman, before the man decided to speak. "It's Knight, Arthur Knight."
"My little Knight," The woman said as she gently hugged it.
"...Kni...ght?" It asked, the two looking at it once again in shock. "Knight?"
"He spoke again!" The woman almost screamed, barely able to control herself..
Even the man smiled, chuckled, ruffled it's head and said. "Yes, you are a knight."
"...Knight," It repeated as it gestured to itself, the two humanoids nodding.
Well, it looks like it wouldn't die anytime soon. However, that brought another problem: what was it supposed to do now? It looked at it's caretakers and decided whatever may come, it would deal with it, just as it had defeated it's adversaries before.
Because there aren't many good DxD crossovers that don't devolve into SMUT or follow the canon. Read, review, etc.