Hollow Knight Oneshots (Requests open)

Catherine The Cat Pt. 2

Also requested by Ships_as_Axololes.

****

It had been a week since the whole jump-kicking incident. While the King was still raging about it, all the Vessels seemed to find it hilarious.

Broken didn't come out of their room, and when Hornet passed by it she heard some sounds that sounded as though someone were being strangled. Vessel laughter. All Vessels laughed like that, so she wasn't surprised. 

Hollow found it very amusing to imitate the King being kicked, and got in trouble for that.

Even some of the King's subjects seemed to find it funny, though they never admitted it. Hornet didn't know what the Kingsmoulds thought of it, but she doubted that there wasn't any of them who at least thought it was halfway amusing.

News certainly spread fast in such a large kingdom. Soon, it seemed as though even the Maggots and Mosscreeps knew of the event.

Unfortunately, the cat didn't come out even in her newfound fame. Once or twice, Hornet saw the Vessels frantically searching and pointing everywhere. 

"What are you doing?" she demanded, when she saw them at it again.

Looking for the thing.

They all signed simultaneously. 

"It's not a thing, it's a cat," Hornet sighed in exasperation. "Am I the only one who knows that?" The Vessels looked at one another and shrugged. Just then, Ghost started making weird squeaking sounds, pointing at something and hopping up and down madly.

I swear they still think they're two weeks old, Hornet grumbled internally. When she looked closer, she discovered that it was a clump of black fur. 

****

Soon, the Vessels found prints left in the soft dirt. They all pointed this out to one another, and signing messages like crazy. They even went so far as to starting a group solely devoted to finding the cat.

Hornet never knew how their brains worked.

The group composed mainly of younger bugs. Ghost had invited Grimmchild to join, but they had to be wearing the Charm or else Grimmchild wouldn't know where they were.

****

Luck only came after months of searching, of looking for more prints. By this time the King had calmed down slightly, and things were going fine until, one day, the cat had come back.

It was a hilarious sight, to see the Vessels rush over in a big group, which resulted in some "accidents" due to their disorganization. Ghost got kicked, Broken got stepped on, and the smaller Vessels swarmed all over Hollow to get a better view of what was going on, knocking Hollow over in the process.

The cat seemed rather startled of what was happening. Her odd bue-purple eyes widened slightly. "What the heck is going on?" she demanded.

The Vessels and Hornet froze. The cat actually TALKED to them. She could TALK. What was HAPPENING. Ghost just lost their head completely. They clutched at their head, looking on the verge of passing out. Hollow and Broken both appeared to have been struck dumb, staring emptily at the cat.

Even though the Vessels had been searching and looking, hoping to find her, the cat wasn't supposed to TALK. 

"You can talk?" Hornet asked, the first one to recover from the initial shock. "How-?" For once, Hornet couldn't think of anything to say. Certain Void beings, like Kingsmoulds, could speak, but they didn't know that creatures who weren't bugs or Void could speak their language, if any at all. 

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be able to?" replied the cat, quite rationally. "You're... Hornet?" Now the Vessels seemed even more confused. 

A commotion exploded behind them. Apparently, a few bugs had just noticed the cat there, and had come over to look.

"I'm Catherine," said the cat, looking ruffled at the sight of so many peers. "Why are they all here?" she demanded. 

The bugs murmured to each other. Hornet caught bits and pieces, like, "it can talk?", "it's a female?", "what even is it?", and, "should we tell the King?".

"Go ahead and try," hissed Catherine at the mention of the Pale King. "And go tell him he's worse than a red tide on a coral reef."

Just then, the King himself came, and it became total chaos. Catherine's black fur bristled, and she crouched, ready to spring again. The Pale King's eyes narrowed. 

"It's you," he spat at Catherine. She hissed at him, her claws, digging deep into the ground. Hornet and the other Vessels stood by and watched. Hornet could feel the air vibrating with tension. 

Who would snap first? Who would strike?

****

Definitely needs a part 3