Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Good…all signed and sealed.” The wheelchair bound minister said, unseeing eyes peering down at the sickly child that laid on the gurney before him. “Now, let’s begin the transfusion. Oh, don’t you worry. Whatever happens… you may think of it all a mere bad dream.” His vision began to blur and it was getting harder for him to keep his eyes open. The last thing he heard before everything faded to black was the unsettling laughter of the minister.

When he opened his eyes once more, it was all dark and the minister from before was nowhere to be seen. The only thing he could hear, aside from his own breaths and beating heart, was the sound of something dripping. Tommy looked around the room, trying to locate the source of the sound. To his right there was nothing to be seen, but he spotted a large pool of blood on the floor to his left, with something large beginning to rise from it. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak or scream, all he could do was watch as the bloodsoaked beast emerged from the pool; taking slow steps towards him. It stretched out a large paw towards him, claws foul and sharp, but before it got the chance to touch him, it erupted into flames; causing it to howl with pain, collapse on the floor, and fade away.
Out of the corner of his eye, Tommy spotted something small beginning to climb up onto the gurney; hands, small and unusually pale hands, had grabbed on to the edge of the gurney. It didn’t take long for the malformed creature to climb up on the gurney, followed by many others. His eyes darted around the room as these creatures climbed onto him, heart beating pounding in his chest. Tommy squeezed his eyes shut, wanting this nightmare to be over.

“Ahh, you’ve found yourself a hunter…”

After an uncertain amount of time, Tommy awoke, heart still beating after that terrible dream. What even were those things? Were they real, or were they a twisted creation created by his own imagination? Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Looking around the room he spotted no sign of that beast, those things, or the minister. On shaky legs, he got down from the gurney and made his way toward the door. The less he thought about this, the better…thinking about things too hard had a tendency of making him anxious and fearful, more than he usually was.

He opened the doors, its hinges creaking, and made his way downstairs. There were noises coming from the other room, what they were he couldn’t quite make out, but he was curious to find out about what was making them.
Treading carefully, Tommy stepped inside the larger room and was greeted with the strong coppery smell of blood. He scrunched up his face, finding the smell to be almost unbearable, but he had to get used to it. With steps as light as feathers, he crept towards the source of the sound, and peeked around the corner.
His heart almost skipped a beat at the sight of a large beast, standing over a pool of blood, tearing into some unfortunate soul that got caught in its jaws. Tommy could feel his heart beating in his chest, and he slowly made his way back to the room before this one.
Okay, okay, okay… there’s a beast in the clinic… large, hungry…and angry. He took a few shaky breaths, trying his best to calm himself down. There is nothing around here to use as a weapon so fighting it isn’t an option. But there is enough space between it and the door for me to make a break for it. Running away from danger was a skill he was a master at, being forced to do so from a young age. He took another breath and snuck back into the large room, treading as quietly as a mouse. When he was about halfway there, the beast stopped eating and turned its attention to him. He rolled to the side as the beast lunged at him, bolting up the stairs faster than he’d ever ran before.
The doors that stood closed to the clinic were forced open when he slammed into them, hurting his shoulder in the process. He didn’t have the time to fix that, not now at least, and made his way to the iron gates that stood closed in the courtyard. Using all the strength he could muster, and a little bit of elbow grease, Tommy opened the gates. The shrieking they made was probably loud enough to be heard by half the city.

He took a quick look around, scouring the area for anything that might prove useful to him. On a body down in the little area before him, he found a couple of blood vials and quickly stuffed them into his pocket. This night was going to be rough, so he needed to get a hold of anything that may help him. Tommy made his way up the cobblestone street, and sighed in annoyance when he saw that the gate to his right was closed. He was so busy focusing on the gate that he didn’t even notice that one of the townsfolk, bloodcrazed and mad, had snuck up behind him before they yelled something about him being a filthy outsider, followed by terrible pain from his back being struck with an axe. He cried out in pain and moved out of the way before he got the chance to strike again. He ran towards the lever that sat on the ground and pulled it, the ladder sinking down.

The bloodcrazed Yharnamite didn’t seem too keen on letting him go and tried to attack him again. Unlike last time, Tommy managed to dodge his attack and pushed him away, sending him tumbling onto the ground. This certainly didn’t deter him but it did buy Tommy enough time to get to the ladder and climb it. He ascended the ladder fast, faster than he’d ever climbed before. Halfway up the ladder a loud shriek was heard, inhuman and echoing, making him stop and look around.

What was that? He hadn’t seen or heard the sounds of that many creatures, so he didn’t have anything to compare the sound to. All he knew was that it must’ve come from something large, much larger than anything he’d seen so far… He swallowed, feeling his fear beginning to set in again. It’s probably not anywhere near here, right? Looking down, he saw the same Yharnamite staring up at him, eyes empty and face contorted in anger. Tommy didn’t wish to be anywhere near him and made his way up the ladder faster than before. Once he’d reached the top of the ladder, Tommy flopped down on the filthy ground below him, looking up at the pale orange sky and catching his breath. He winced in pain as the wound on his back made contact with the muddy stone, adrenaline starting to wear off. Digging through his pockets, Tommy pulled out one of the blood vials he’d picked up earlier and looked at it.

He hated getting injections and the mere sight of needles made him anxious, but he gritted his teeth and sighed. This was just something he needed to get used to, else he wouldn’t make it through the night. He held it over his thigh, hand shaking nervously and heart beating. Out of everything he’d seen so far, this is what scared him the most. He closed his eyes and jabbed the needle into his thigh.
It was like magic how fast the blood had healed him. He knew it could heal wounds and treat illnesses, but didn’t think it’d happen this fast. Tommy pushed himself off the ground, brushing off any dirt that might’ve clung to his clothes. The first thing he saw when he looked around was a small house, away from the other houses he’d seen behind the gate. There was a lantern sitting on the side of it, a warm, red glow emanating from it. Something he hadn’t noticed until now was the strange lamp that sat in the middle of the ground. That seems like an odd place to put a lamp. In contrast to the lantern that sat on the side of the building, the glow of the curious-looking lamp was a cold, silvery colour, almost reminding him of moonlight. He crouched down in front of it to get a better look, it seemed normal for the most part, aside from the strange glow and the slight ringing sound that came from it.

Maybe this is a special kind of lamp they only make here? Though, I do wonder what they’re using to get this colour. It doesn’t look like any flame I’ve seen… His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone coughing and Tommy turned his head, looking towards the source of the sound. The coughing continued for a few moments, sounding strained and raspy. It stopped for a little while, then started back up again. He got up from where he was crouching and approached the window, he couldn’t make out any details but he did see a dark shape sitting by the window; most likely the one who was coughing. Seems like Tommy wasn’t the only one having a rough night. Tommy reached a hand through the bars, hesitating a little, before knocking. The coughing stopped and a startled gasp was heard, followed by the sound of someone shifting in their seat.

“Oh. You must be a hunter.” said the man, his voice hoarse from coughing.
“I…I am.” He wasn’t used to speaking to people, so his voice ended up being soft and barely louder than a whisper. He cleared his throat a little bit, then continued, “Yes, I am... I hope I’m not bothering you, mister, I was just checking to see if you were okay…” and sane, though he dared not say it aloud. The man chuckled and broke off to cough again. “Could be doing better…” He paused, “You’re not from around here, are you?”

Tommy pondered on whether or not he should answer that, most yharnamites weren’t too keen on outsiders… then again, would this man really be talking to him if he viewed outsiders the same way as everyone else?

“No, I’m not. Came here seeking treatment, had to sign a contract to get it…” he remembered sitting in that room, trying to fill that paperwork out was a nightmare when he could barely read.

“Then we’re not so different, you and I.” the man sighed, letting out another cough. “You must’ve had a fine time with it. Yharnam has…a special way of treating guests”.

“...I’ve noticed” Tommy instinctively touched the place where the axe had struck him not long before. It hadn’t even been here a day and had already gotten attacked by something. He shook his head, wanting to forget about that.
“I’m Tommy. May I know who I’m speaking to?”

“You can call me Gilbert.” he replied, pausing to take a few breaths. Gilbert wasn’t used to speaking for very long, either, but for different reasons. "I don’t think I could stand if I wanted to. But I’m willing to help, if there’s anything that can be done.”

He shifted a little, trying to think of something he needed, something he needed to ask. But there are so many things I don’t know, where do I even start?
“Have…have you seen any others? Anyone else who might be outside…or anyone in general who could help me?” He hated being alone, especially in places he didn’t recognise. As much as he liked talking to Gilbert, he knew he couldn’t stay here the whole night.

“Other hunters?” Gilbert hummed, taking a few moments to think about it. “I think I saw another one patrolling here in Central Yharnam…although, I don’t know his name.” That made things more difficult. How could he find another hunter if he didn’t even know their name or what they looked like? “Now that I think about it, I did see him walk past my window roughly an hour ago. Massive fella, and wields an axe. If you miss him, you must be blind.”

Tommy nodded at hearing this information. “Okay, huge hunter, wields an axe. Got it.” He turned to leave, but it felt rude to do so without saying anything. “I best be off then,” he began, turning his body in the direction of the strange lamp, “stay safe in there!” Tommy heard Gilbert draw in a breath only to break out in a coughing fit; even if he’d only known Gilbert for a few minutes, it still hurt to hear someone as kind as him be so terribly ill and in pain. Why must the kindest people be the ones who suffer and endure the most? It just isn’t fair.

It took a few moments for the coughing fit to stop, and Gilbert’s voice was somehow a little shakier than before. “I’ve lived thus far, have I not?” Despite the strain speaking put on his voice, Gilbert still found the time to make light out of a less than stellar situation. “This town is cursed… and I suggest you make a swift exit when morning comes-” Gilbert didn’t get to finish the sentence before breaking off into another fit of coughing. “Now… go.” was all he managed to say between the coughs, making Tommy wince a little. He’d been like this only some hours before and it saddened him to see someone else with a similar affliction.

As a very small act of kindness, he rooted through his pockets until he found the unusually smooth stone he’d picked up a few years ago. There wasn’t anything special about it, really, but it did make Tommy feel luckier whenever he had it near him. He left it by the windowsill, hoping it’d provide even the slightest bit of luck for the poor man.

After a few moments, he stepped away from Gilbert’s window and crouched down beside the lamp. He wasn’t sure why, but something compelled him to touch it. Tommy held a hand out to the lamp and flicked it with his fingers.. Oddly enough, this caused the lamp to light up; its silvery light shining brighter than before. Groans were heard below him and he jumped back when he saw those pale things again. The minister had said that was all a bad dream, but seeing these things while he was wide awake was almost enough to make him question whether or not he was actually awake.

The strange creatures looked up at him with curiosity, some of them gestured at him and then at the lamp. Did they want him to touch it? After a few moments, Tommy scooted over to the lamp again, hesitated for a few seconds before finally touching it. A strange glow surrounded him as he felt himself begin to fade; whisked away to a place most will never see.

Chapter Text

When he opened his eyes, Tommy found himself in an entirely different location. Ahead of him was a stone path that led up to some sort of building, it wasn't very large but he could see some light coming from inside. That wasn't what concerned him the most, it was the colour of the sky. Unlike the orange sky of Yharnam, this one was pale and cloudy with the moon being awfully close. Where was he even? It certainly wasn't Yharnam, wherever he was. After a few moments of looking around and trying to collect his thoughts, Tommy hauled himself off the ground, brushed off his clothes, and headed up the path.

He wasn't sure how he'd missed it before, but he jumped back at the sight of a large doll that sat on a ledge by the steps that lead up to the building. It looked almost lifelike, almost to the point where it was uncanny. He shuddered and tried his best to avoid looking at it any longer; dolls had always given him the creeps, especially those that looked so close to people. The pale creatures from before emerged from the steps, looking up at Tommy with curiosity. He wasn't so sure he liked them, but they didn't seem dangerous. Quite the opposite, actually, for they reached their little hands out to touch him when Tommy leaned down to poke one. Maybe they're not as bad as I thought? Some of them went back into the ground, then re-emerged moments later; holding up three different weapons. One looked like a regular cane, the second one an axe, and the third one looked like some sort of large cleaver but the edge was serrated on one side.

He thought about the three options for a while, mumbling to himself while he looked at them. The cane was probably the easiest one for him to wield but it didn't seem like it could do much against beasts.
The cleaver looked like it could do some serious damage to anything that might try to kill him, but Tommy didn't trust himself to be near anything with serrated edges, certainly not after that incident. He grimaced when he remembered it… Horrible day, and horrible mess.
So, that left him with the last option; the axe. It looked pretty big and heavy, but it seemed like the most reliable weapon out the bunch. Having finally made up his mind, Tommy reached for the axe and lifted it up with his hand, giving it a couple of swings to get a feel for it.

The axe was indeed heavy, but he could get used to this. It felt good to finally have something to defend himself with, it was a luxury he didn't get often. In the corner of his eye, he saw a few more emerge from the steps. Two of them held up a firearm each, but the one at the top of the stairs held something different; a notebook of sorts.

Making a decision was a bit easier this time and he picked up the blunderbuss from the little fellows. His aim had always been rubbish, so this was probably the best option out of the two. He picked up the notebook that the sole creature held up for him, gave it a polite nod, and stepped inside the building. It was almost cosy in here, the warm light of the candles and lanterns making him feel almost at ease. Stacks of books were scattered on the ground, a large storage box stood in a corner to his right, and there was some sort of workbench further away. He was so focused on the look of the place that he hadn't noticed that there was someone else here.

“Ah-hah, you must be the new hunter, eh?” Tommy nearly jumped out of his skin, he hadn't expected anyone to talk to him in here. He looked over at the person who'd accidentally startled him: It was an old man, sitting in a wheelchair over by a small table. How long had he been there? The old man chuckled a little, seemingly amused by Tommy's reaction.

“I apologise for that, it wasn't my intention to startle you.” The old man paused for a few moments. “Welcome to the Hunter's Dream. This will be your home, for now.”

A home? He hadn't had a proper home in a long time, so it felt nice to know that he had a safe place to return to if things looked rough.

“I am… Gehrman, friend to you hunters.” The old man said. Wanting to be a bit polite, Tommy dipped his head, then realised that he'd forgotten to introduce himself

“Well… it's nice to meet you, Gehrman. My name's Tommy.” He said with a smile. A multitude of questions went through his head, so many questions whose answers he really wanted to know. Tommy opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off before he could utter even one.

“You're sure to be in a fine haze but don't think too hard about all of this. Just go out and kill a few beasts, it's for your own good.” Gehrman sighed, “You know, It's just what hunters do. You'll get used to it.”

It's kind of hard to not think about the things I've seen so far. He sighed, and decided to save some of his questions for later. But there were still a couple of things he wanted answers to.
“...Okay. But before I go, I'd like to know a couple of things.” Tommy began, “For starters: What exactly is this place? I know you said it's a dream, but I'm still so confused about what this place is.”

Gehrman remained quiet for a few moments, bony fingers drumming on the cane's handle. “This was once a safe haven for hunters. A workshop where hunters used blood to enhance their weapons and flesh.”
That didn't tell him very much, but it did make him wonder where those other hunters were. Maybe there are other hunters connected to this dream? I wonder if- His thoughts were interrupted by Gehrman’s voice.

“We don't have as many tools as we once did, but... You're welcome to use whatever you find. ...Even the doll, should it please you…”

What.

His eyebrows furrowed and looked at Gehrman with confusion. He didn't even want to look at the doll, let alone use it. And how was he even supposed to use it? Maybe it's for the best that he takes Gehrman's advice and avoids thinking about this. One question still remained: How was he supposed to leave this place?

“How do… How do I leave this place?” He hadn't seen any doors or other lamps that could get him out. Maybe he'd have to jump off the ledge to exit the dream, but judging by the fact that there didn't seem to be anything underneath them, Tommy didn't want to risk it.

“The headstones that lead up to this workshop function as an exit to this dream... I cannot use them myself, but I've seen them be used by hunters before you.” Gehrman pointed at the row of headstones. “The one furthest down should take you back to Yharnam. It's not too difficult, all you need to do is touch it, close your eyes, and think of a place in Yharnam you've visited.”

Tommy bowed politely, then made his way down the steps, approaching the headstone that sat closest to where he'd awoken. Okay, he told me to touch the headstone and think of a place I've visited. Is it really that simple? He crouched down in front of the headstone, taking a few moments to just look at it. There was something written on it, but he couldn't read what any of it said. He let his hand touch the stone, finding it to be rather cold but also smooth.

Okay, where do I want to go? I've only visited two places…but I feel like I might've left something in the clinic when I left, so I should probably go back there.

He closed his eyes and focused on the clinic; thinking of the waiting room he'd been in, the smell of blood and chemicals, of the gurneys and of the terrible beast. The feeling of tiny hands holding onto his own hand surprised him a little bit, but just like before, Tommy felt himself begin to fade.

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When his eyes opened, Tommy found himself standing in the ruined waiting room from earlier. The only thing that had changed from before was the lamp that sat to his right. Okay, I'm back here now. Just have to grab whatever I left and I'll be off… wait, what did I even leave here? He shrugged and headed up the stairs, but was surprised to see that the doors, once open, were now closed.

That was strange.

He didn't remember seeing anyone else in there when he'd woken up, but whoever closed it could've just gotten there after he left and then shut them. After standing quietly by the door a little while, Tommy finally decided to knock on the door. A slight gasp was heard coming from behind the door, followed by footsteps approaching the door.

“Are you... out on the hunt?” Asked a voice from behind the door. Tommy looked down at the weapons he'd received and slowly nodded, knowing full well the person wouldn't see it.
“Yes, I am… though I've only just started.” He shifted a little bit in place as he spoke, waving his hand around a little but stopped when he remembered the axe.

“Then I'm very sorry, but... I cannot open this door.” The woman said. “I am Iosefka. The patients here in my clinic must not be exposed to infection.” That explained why the door was closed. The door had been closed when he woke up, now that he thought about it.

“I-It's fine, I understand… I'll try to keep any beasts away from here, t’ keep this place safe.” He wasn't sure how he'd do that, seeing as he hadn't killed anything before and had little experience with weapons. He'd figure this out later…maybe.

“I know that you'll hunt for us, for our town, and protect us, but I'm sorry. Please. This is all that I can do.” A rustling sound was heard and Iosefka stuck her hand out from a hole in the door’s window. She held out a vial, one yellowish in colour, but he took it nonetheless.

“Now, go. and good hunting.” With that, Iosefka pulled her hand back and Tommy quickly put the vial inside his pocket. He made a mental note to visit her again later, this clinic being one of the few safe places he’d come by.
“Thank you, Iosefka!” He said with a smile, even though she likely wouldn't see it.

Halfway through the waiting room, Tommy was reminded about why he’d left the clinic in a hurry; the horrible sounds of the beast’s eating could be heard where he was standing. Taking a few breaths to calm his nerves, he proceeded into the large room again, axe gripped tightly in one hand and blunderbuss ready in the other. He shuddered at the sight of it, large and terrible as it was, with claws as sharp as knives and teeth made for tearing into meat. Treading lightly, Tommy approached the beast, moving to the right to get behind it. It hadn’t noticed him as quickly this time, but as he was about to strike it with his axe, the beast stopped eating and turned its head around in time to see Tommy hit it in the back with an axe.
It howled in pain and snarled at him, teeth bared, and glaring at him with eyes full of rage. Tommy wasn’t able to roll away in time before the beast lunged at him and grabbed him with its large, gnarly, claws. He tried to wriggle out of its grip, but his efforts were futile, and he screamed as he felt it sink its teeth into his shoulder; tearing off chunks of flesh before finally letting go, causing Tommy to fall to the ground with a thud. He got up as quickly as he could, running away to create some distance between them, allowing for him to use a blood vial to heal. The wound didn’t heal fully and the pain was sharp, but it felt more manageable now. Tommy turned to face the beast again, taking slow steps to the right while it circled to the left. This only stopped when the beast snarled at him, lunging at him once again. He wasn’t sure why he did it, but right as the beast lunged at him, Tommy raised the blunderbuss and fired it at the beast; making it stop in its tracks and giving Tommy enough time to strike the beast again, putting as much force as he could into that one attack. One good swing of the axe later and the beast falls to the ground, dead, with blood pooling from the wound in its head.He looked at his injured shoulder and down at his clothes, his clothes that were once fairly clean, were now covered in blood. How much of it was his and how much of it was the beast’s, he didn’t know, and he didn’t particularly care either.

Taking a few steps around the beast, he made his way up the stairs and through the courtyard, then back up the cobblestone street again. That bloodcrazed lunatic from before was still here, unsurprising seeing as the gate was closed, but Tommy had had quite enough of him and having been called a plague-ridden rat only made him more tempted to kill him. It didn’t take many swings of the axe for the man to go down, splattering the ground with fresh blood, and Tommy made his way up the ladder once again. The sound of Gilbert’s coughing made him snap out of whatever murdery state he’d been in, and he looked down at his clothes and then his axe. Both were covered in blood, but it hadn’t fully registered in his mind until now. Tommy felt sick to his stomach when he realised that he had had spilled this blood, and that he had killed something. His hands were trembling, and he slowly sank to the ground, back pressed against the wall of Gilbert's house, and just stared down at his hands. What have I done..? What the hell have I done? It doesn’t...it doesn' feel right… It just doesn’t feel right to take another life. They…they attacked me, yes… but still… I was the one who killed them. Tommy sat there for a while, with knees up to his chest, staring blankly at the ground and trying to comprehend what he’d done. Eventually, he forced himself to stand up, still trembling but less than before. He picked up his weapons from where he’d left them on the ground and headed to the right of the house.

Approaching the bridge, Tommy looked down at the streets below him and just stared at the sight of it all.
No matter where he looked, he was greeted by the sight of blood and death. Mobs of blood-drunk yharnamites moved through the street, carrying around on pitchforks, axes, and torches. Any beast that might’ve been here has either been cut down or burned… He felt almost nauseous when he looked closer at the fires, noticing the beast that had been put up on a cross and burned. He could only hope that it was dead before they tied it up. If this is what Central Yharnam looked like… he didn’t even want to know what the rest of the place was like. He squeezed his eyes shut and let his head rest against the stone railing, trying to shut out the sight, the sounds, and the smell of everything.

What the hell had he been dragged into?

Chapter Text

He stood there on the bridge for a little while, trying his best to collect his thoughts and shut everything out. After what felt like ages, Tommy finally lifted his head from the stone railing, sighed, and made his way down the street; narrowly avoiding getting ambushed by one of the townsfolk and jumped down a ledge from a hole in the fence. Down the street, Tommy saw the mob walk past him and he did well to keep out of sight from them. He spotted another red lantern by a door and approached it; if he was lucky, the people inside might give him some directions or even a bit of advice. There was a shuffle from behind the door when he knocked on it and the voices behind the door quieted down.

“Are you that outsider?” the man asked, his distrust apparent even through his voice. He didn’t answer his question, having a feeling that it would just get him ridiculed. His silence must’ve been taken as a confirmation of the man’s suspicions, for there was a clear grunt heard coming from the other side of the door.

“Well, sorry, but I don't want to do anything with ya. Trot along, willya.” He couldn’t say that he hadn’t expected this reaction, afterall, not everyone in this town was as friendly as Gilbert or Iosefka.

Sighing disappointedly, Tommy turned to leave, but not before picking up some sort of shard from a dead body that laid only a few metres away. He flipped it around in his hand, trying to figure out what it was. It was rather sharp and had a red tint; looking a lot like blood in some angles. He could probably ask Gehrman about it, maybe he knew what it was. But that is something he’d have to do later, for now he had to figure out a way to get past the mob without dying horribly. 

Trying to draw as little attention to himself as he could, Tommy crept down the stairs and walked silently behind the mob. There wasn’t a single chance that he’d take them on all at once, it was just far too risky, so he settled on distractions and taking them down one at a time. Throwing a rock at one of the huntsmen helped a little bit and Tommy was able to kill him with two strikes: one to his leg and the other one to his side. He shuddered a little, the thought of having to kill anything still bothered him greatly, but he reminded himself that he’d just have to get used to it. It’s a part of the job… I just have to think of them as something else…that’ll make it easier.  

The sound of the huntsman being slain and his cleaver clattering to the ground caught the attention of the group, all of them turning around to stare at him and then rushing towards him to try and cut him down. The fight against the mob was a horrible mess of waving torches, swinging of axes, and jabs from pitchforks, but Tommy was somehow able to kill them without becoming a corpse himself.

He looked down at his clothes and groaned at the sight of their current state; torn up from all of the fighting and even bloodier than before. The axe, while not damaged, had gore and viscera clinging to its edge and Tommy swung his axe in an attempt to get some of it off. 

He crouched down by the bodies and searched for any blood vials they might’ve had, he didn’t like the thought of taking things from the dead, but situations like these left him with few options. Gehrman’s words echoed in his mind, ‘Don’t think too hard about all this. You’ll get used to it’ . Jabbing himself in the thigh with one of the vials, Tommy healed up his wounds and continued down the street. 

The first thing he saw when he walked past the carriage that stood to the side of the road was the sight of a large fire: a large fire with yet another beast tied to a cross sitting in the middle of it. It looked like the one he’d slain in the clinic, but maybe a bit larger. He didn’t want to know what the people of Yharnam hated more: Outsiders or the beasts. For his own sake, he hoped it was the latter, and shuddered at the thought of them doing this to outsiders. The large crowd near and around the fire didn’t go unnoticed by him, all of them looking either right into the flames or up at the beast they’d killed. How am I supposed to get past them? There isn’t a single chance that I’m fighting them, that’ll only end one way and it’s with me dead on the ground. He kept his distance from the crowd, but stayed close enough to see any opportunities for him to run past them. It wasn’t the first time he’d had to run from a large crowd, and it definitely wasn’t going to be his last, either.

Tilting his head to the right, Tommy spotted a staircase that led up to an archway and most likely the rest of Yharnam. If he could make his way past the crowd, he might be able to find other hunters who could help him. When he was only a few metres away from the staircase, Tommy heard one of the huntsmen yell and point at him, causing the rest of them to turn their heads in his direction. Not wasting a single second, he booked it up the stairs and made his way toward the archway. The rifleman who’d stood on top of the carriage fired at him; bullet missing him only by a hair. He didn’t stop running until he was sure that the crowd had stopped chasing him, and it was only then he felt safe enough to stop and catch his breath. Being here almost makes me miss the factory… At least I didn’t have to worry about being hunted down like an animal there.

Now that he had the time to get a look around the place, he took note of some of the major things around him: There was a large fountain in the middle, the sounds of something banging loudly on a gate, a staircase on the other side that seemed to lead up to a large bridge. He thought he heard gunshots coming from the bridge, not quite like the ones from the riflemen, but Tommy didn’t want to risk running into yet another crowd. Looking down at the ledge below, Tommy was surprised at the sight of large cages stacked on top of each other, some of which had dogs locked inside. 

Was it normal for the people of Yharnam to keep their dogs outside like this? It didn’t seem safe in the slightest, not for the dogs or regular townsfolk. He didn’t even realise just how large the dogs were until he’d dropped down to the street below and getting to see the dogs up-close.

These were probably the biggest dogs he’d ever seen, and he prayed that they would stay in their cages as he made his way down the steps. Cursing his luck, Tommy groaned as the dogs began to wake up, growling and barking at him at the sight of him. Their mangy, unkempt pelts and the foam around their mouths was almost impossible not to notice and Tommy made sure to keep as far away as he could from their jaws. 

He’s had enough of dealing with diseases and certainly didn’t want to end up with rabies. As he ran past the barking dogs, one of them managed to break out of its cage and lunged at him, but Tommy was quick enough to avoid its bite and killed it with a strike to the head. Poor thing, it didn't deserve to be left outside like this. He felt terrible killing the dog, but it was probably for the best, seeing as it looked terribly ill and rabid. 

On the other side of the bridge he spotted another dog, having already gotten out of its cage and was now barking loudly at a door. The dog didn’t notice Tommy until it was too late and his axe was already in its back, it let out one final bark before dying.

He approached the door and gave it a knock, wanting to check in on the person behind it. Because of the last interaction with one of the yharnamites, Tommy kept his expectations pretty low. The people in this town weren’t exactly known for their friendliness, that much had been made clear.

The interaction went about as well as he’d expected; getting chewed out by the old lady and being accused of lacking respect for the elderly, as well as her accusing him of thinking all people in Yharnam were mad. He left for the large building, which looked like an old warehouse, the moment she was done with her rant. Her words would’ve stung more had he been younger, but he was well used to such words by now, so it didn’t bother him as much. 

The thing inside the warehouse was about as pleasant as any of the other huntsmen he’d encountered tonight, although this one was a fair bit larger and much more beastly than the rest of them. The fight against it didn’t go as well as he’d hoped and ended up getting struck a couple of times with its saw before he managed to take it down. During the fight with the beastly huntsman, Tommy had accidentally smashed through many of the crates and barrels in the room. What he hadn’t noticed until now was the broken window that was previously hidden behind some barrels. He poked his head through it, taking a quick look around before dropping down onto the rafters below. They creaked a little bit, but that was to be expected from wood that looked to be rather old.

While he was up here, Tommy took the chance to grab whatever material he could find, as well as take a look at the room below him. He could see two beastly huntsmen from where he was crouched, one of them was walking back and forth, carrying a saw and torch just like the one he’d previously fought. The other one stood still, staring into a wall and only shifted every now and then. He laughed nervously when he saw the spear it held in its hands, making a mental note to avoid that one. Slashes and bites he could deal with, but being impaled or stabbed was something he’d rather avoid. Having little else to do up here, and not wishing to jump down and risk dying, Tommy began to break and smash through whatever barrels he saw. Unfortunately he didn’t find anything of use in the barrels, but he did accidentally find a smaller area up here when he tumbled out of a broken window. The first thing he saw when he looked up were more crates, and a dark shape standing among them. It was hard to make out any details from where he was laying, but he guessed that it was human, or at least he hoped it was.

The person turned at the sound of his footsteps, arms crossed and tilting their head at the sight of him. He stopped in his tracks, clearly not expecting them to notice him. While they didn’t seem to be hostile, he was still unnerved by their gaze, and the mask that covered their face certainly didn’t help. They looked him up and down and Tommy thought he heard them mutter something, what it was he couldn’t quite tell. He had almost forgotten about what a mess he was until now, and held up his hands to signal that he was no threat, despite being covered from head to toe in blood and his clothing torn up from fighting beasts and blood-crazed huntsmen. 

Tommy desperately tried to wipe the blood off of him, but trying to get it all off with bloody hands only seemed to make it worse, though it did get a slight chuckle out of the masked figure.

“Rough start to your hunt, eh?” he could almost hear the smile on her face. “Quite the mess you’ve been caught up in… and tonight of all nights.” She watched as Tommy sat down on a barrel that stood only a few metres away from her. He put his weapons aside, setting them down on the barrel beside him, before turning his head to look at her.

“I-it’s not as bad as it looks,” he began, still trying to wipe the blood off of his clothes. “Most of this came from beasts…or huntsmen.” Tommy brushed off some pieces of gore that stuck to his shirt, the small bits landing a little bit away from him.

“You’ve chosen a rather poor time to become a hunter. Here, there are no humans left. They’re all flesh hungry beasts, now.” He’d just about figured as much, and that would certainly explain why the huntsmen had acted the way they did, they certainly looked a bit beastly too.

“The people I’ve met so far didn’t seem so beastly,” He said, thinking of Gilbert and Iosefka, “they seemed to be quite the opposite, actually.” At the mention of the word ‘hunter’, Tommy suddenly remembered what, or rather, who he was looking for.

“Have you by any chance seen another hunter? A friend said he was huge, and carried around an axe like mine.” Tommy held up his axe for reference. The woman hummed, fingers drumming against her arm. He tried his best to recall any other details of the hunter, but not much else came up.

“Large hunter and carrying an axe? Must be Gascoigne you’re looking for.” The other hunter said. Tommy’s eyes lit up, he finally knew the name of the hunter he’d been looking for. 

“Thank you, ma’am!” He hopped down from the barrel and grabbed his weapons and made it about halfway down the wooden walkway when he remembered that he had no clue where Gascoigne even was. Embarrassed, Tommy turned around and walked back to the hunter in crowfeathers. While he couldn’t see her face, he definitely felt her amusement as she watched him come back up.

“Umm… do you know where he is?” He asked sheepishly, looking down at the ground. His embarrassment certainly didn’t let up when he heard her chuckle. Can this hunt end faster?

“He should be near the plaza, it’s rare to see him leave that general area. Although, I have on occasion spotted him up on the bridge.” Tommy furrowed his eyebrows when he remembered the gunshots he heard coming from that direction. “Does he by any chance have a gun, a rather loud one?” He looked back up at the crow, and groaned loudly when she nodded. He set his weapons down and facepalmed, getting blood and viscera over his face. “I could’ve met up with him by now if I’d just followed those sounds!” He inhaled sharply through his nose and picked up his weapons again, muttering a few swears under his breath.

“Oh, don’t be such a grump about it.” The woman said, reaching into her cloak and pulling out some pieces of parchment. “Here, to welcome the new hunter.” Even if he was still annoyed at himself for not going up the bridge earlier, Tommy dipped his head as he accepted the pieces of parchment. It didn’t matter how much something had irritated him, he would still be polite, damnit. 

“Thank you.” He didn’t quite know what he’d use the parchment for, but he’d probably get a use for them eventually. She nodded and looked past him, right where the broken window was.

“The fastest way to the plaza is through the sewers. All you need to do is get down there and run until you see a ladder to your right. Once you’ve climbed the ladder you take a left and cross that bridge,” she pointed to the bridge that was well visible from where they were standing “then you’ve about made it there, just get up the second ladder, open up the gate and you’ll have made it back.”

“Okay, go through sewers, climb ladder, cross bridge, climb another ladder and open the gate. Got it!” He tried to tip his hat out of courtesy, but remembered that he didn’t have one so he tipped his hood instead “Thank you again…” It was at this point he realised that he didn’t even know her name.

“Eileen,” the Crow Hunter said “Hunter of Hunters and fellow outsider.” She’s not from here either? Knowing that little bit of info about her almost made him feel at ease. He preferred the company of fellow outsiders by far, although people like Iosefka seemed really nice despite her being from here, though that was a slight guess on his end. “Tommy,” he said with a smile “My name’s Tommy.” 

Eileen hummed, and watched as he took his leave; going back through the window where he came from.

Tommy looked around the room, both around the rafters but also at the place below. How was he supposed to get down there? He was a terrible climber so there was no way he’d make his way up through that window and there wasn’t a single box he could stand on either, having broken all of them earlier. Jumping down wasn’t a very good idea either, his legs were about as tough as glass. After a few minutes of contemplating, Tommy sighed, approached the rafter’s edge, and jumped down.

Chapter Text

Decision making had never been his strong suit, he’d usually only done what he thought seemed like a good idea at the time and dealt with the consequences later. It wasn’t until the second before he hit the ground when Tommy realised that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. The landing went worse than Tommy expected it to; face and chest connecting with the hardwood floor with a loud thud, followed closely by the sound of something snapping. He laid there on the ground for a while; stunned and gasping for air like a fish, the wind having been completely knocked out of him. 

After a few minutes of trying to catch his breath, Tommy got up on wobbly legs and made his way towards the stairs and sat down. His head spun and vision was a little bit blurry, but other than that, he felt completely fine despite having fallen from such a height. Although, the ache coming from his chest, difficulty breathing through his nose, and blood taste in his mouth did concern him a little.

After taking a short rest and using another vial, Tommy was on the move again, sprinting past the huntsmen and out the large doorway. Even with his puffy nose, the smell of the sewers was still absolutely horrendous and Tommy held his breath as much as he could while narrowly avoiding getting shot by the riflemen. It was horrible, really - the crows here were far too large and noisy, the rotted corpses shuffling around in the filth and trying to get him. He ignored them as best as he could, quickly making his way up the ladder that Eileen had described to him. When he’d gotten to the top, his first instinct was to go left like he’d been told, but something caught his eye when he was only a meter or so away from the bridge. 

More crows, but that’s not what intrigued him, no it was the thing they were gathered around that piqued his interest. Killing the crows was harder than he’d like to admit; constantly flapping around and scratching him with their talons, pecking at his shins with beaks sharp and foul. Eventually the last crow was slain which allowed for Tommy to take a closer look at what it was they were gathered around. The sight of a long-dead hunter was an unpleasant surprise. The body sat there on the ground, slumped against the fence with their head hanging low. Upon closer inspection, Tommy noticed that it was holding something in its hand and tried his best to pry it loose. He’d almost forgotten that the dead have quite a grip, despite that, he managed to get the item out of their hand to find out what it really was. 

Tommy was expecting to find one of many things held in their hand, but what he wasn’t expecting was a skull and a rather strange one at that. The next few minutes were spent by him sitting beside the corpse, staring at the skull, very unsure of what to do. Okay, okay, there is a skull in my hand. A very, very, very strange one. Why is there a crack in the middle of its forehead?? And why is it shimmering? He took a deep breath and quickly stuffed it inside his pocket. I’ll just ask Gerhman about this later. It took a bit longer than he’d liked to kill that troll, with it trying to cave his skull in using the statue in its hand, but eventually it went down. Looking around, he spotted the little area where he’d met Eileen and approached the fence, leaning over a little bit to see if she was still there. Sure enough, Eileen was still standing in the same place she did before, though he couldn’t quite tell if she’d noticed him or not. He tapped his axe against the fence to try and get her attention and waved at her just to let her know he’d made it here. The crow hunter seemed to have noticed him, for she gave him a curt nod before going back to doing whatever it was she was doing before. 

The ache in his ribs hadn’t quite gone away and winced a little bit as he waved, but he brushed it off, thinking it was probably from the fight with the troll. 

He headed back towards where he’d slain the troll and climbed the ladder, it wasn’t until he’d gotten to the top when he noticed the sound of a music box playing which was coming from the house right next to him. Has it been playing this whole time? It was a very pleasant song, sounding a lot like some sort of lullaby; he hadn’t heard one of those in a long time. Tommy spent a few minutes listening to the melody, relaxing, and almost forgetting about the hunt. The only reason he stopped was because the music box stopped playing and there was a slight shuffling sound coming from the other side. Curious, he approached the window and tapped on it, a surprised gasp was heard from the other side.

“Who… are you? I don’t know your voice, but I know that smell… Are you a hunter?” The voice was small and trembled slightly.

He nodded “I am.” Judging by her voice, he guessed that she was a fair bit younger than he was. “My name’s Tommy.”

“Then please, will you look for my mum? Daddy never came back from the hunt and she went to find him, but now she’s gone too I’m afraid. I’m all alone, and scared.” Tommy couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for her—a child left alone in her home while her parents were out during such a terrible night.

“I’ll try my best to find them and bring them back, I promise.” He had no clue how he’d do that, but he was going to pull it off… somehow. 

“Really? Oh, thank you!” The gratitude and hope in the little girl’s voice brought a smile to his face.  “My m-mum wears a red jeweled brooch. It’s so big and.. and beautiful. You won’t miss it. Oh, I mustn’t forget... If you find my mum, give her this musicbox.” She shuffled a little bit and opened the window just enough to hand him the little music box “It plays one of daddy’s favorite songs. And when daddy forgets us, we play it for him so he remembers. Mum’s so silly, running off without it!”

Tommy looked at it for a few moments and opened it up to take a look inside. There was a piece of paper on the underside of the lid, there was something scribbled on it, though he couldn’t read what it said. He put it in his pocket and waved good-bye to her.

“I’ll be off now, a-and I promise I’ll find your parents!” He said and pulled the lever to open the closed gate; finally arriving back at the plaza. 

The first thing he was greeted with when he made his way up the stairs was the sight of dead bodies scattered on the ground, having been killed very recently. Sounds of snarling beasts, and the firing of a gun caught his attention and he looked towards the bridge where they’d come from. He’s still fighting up there? Should probably help him out a bit, right? He made his way up the stairs, the sounds becoming louder until he was greeted with the sight of a large beast, similar to the one he’d killed in the clinic, covered in large wounds.

  I’ve done this before…just don’t think too much about it . He steeled himself and charged towards it, axe gripped tightly in his hand and swung at it. It snarled and lunged at him, but using the experience from his previous encounter with such a beast, Tommy rolled away and struck it again. It was already weakened from its struggle against Gascoigne, so he finished it off quickly. When the beast was felled, Tommy turned around to see a large figure standing over another beast; covered in blood and torn up from its claws. He turned his head in Tommy’s direction and approached him, axe held in one hand and gun in the other.

“... Well, well. A hunter is it?” Tommy had to crane his head to even look him in the eyes, eyes which were covered up by bandages. Doesn’t that make hunting more difficult?

“Y-yeah, I am.” He tried to make himself sound a bit more confident, though the fear in his voice was still very much apparent. “You Gascoigne?”

The large hunter seemed a little bit surprised at that, but nodded.

“Aye.” Gascoigne looked down at him, Tommy shifted a little, intimidated by the sheer size of him. “You sound awfully young for a hunter, rather short too...” He hunched down to be at his eye level. Can he see me? His eyes are bandaged so I thought he couldn’t…maybe I’m wrong.

“Oh, um…” He tried to come up with a good explanation, “My parents weren’t very tall either, ended up being short too.” Gascoigne didn’t seem convinced by this but hummed and straightened his back once again.

“Judging by your garb and the way you fight, this must be your first hunt… Probably your first time here too, you don’t sound like one of the townsfolk.” Was his fighting style that bad? Tommy hadn’t really thought of it before, but he certainly did now. Gascoigne laughed and patted him on the shoulder with a large hand, almost reminding Tommy of a bear’s paw. “Oh, don’t worry about it. Such things hardly matter during a night like this.” Well, at least he seemed to be a good sport about it. 

“Since you already know my name, may I know of yours as well? Teamwork gets easier when you know eachothers names, calling for the other becomes less of a hassle too.” How had he forgotten his own introduction? “I’m Tommy:” he said, dipping his head out of habit. This got another chuckle out of Gascoigne as well as pat on his back, though he might’ve been a bit too heavy-handed because Tommy stumbled a little bit.

“Tommy, eh? A fine name, suits you well.” He looked down at Tommy’s axe and hummed. “You know how to use it?” This confused him a little bit. It was just an axe, one rather large and powerful, there wasn’t that much to it.

“Yeah, I do. It’s a bit heavy but I can swing it just fine-” Tommy was cut off by snort from Gascoigne. “No, that’s not what I meant.” He gripped his own axe with both hands, “I mean if you know how to transform it?” What? He looked down at his axe, trying to figure out what he meant by transforming it. “Umm… I don’t think I do.” He said and looked up at Gascoigne.

“It’s rather simple. Just hold your axe like this” he glanced down at his axe and Tommy holstered the blunderbuss, then held his axe the same way, “then pull it like this.” Gascoigne pulled on the handle, greatly extending its length and reach. Tommy looked down at his axe and mimicked the motion, transforming his own axe with less effort than he thought.

“I could have done this…this whole time?” While he was impressed by this, Tommy still felt stupid for not figuring it out sooner. His disappointment faded when he heard Gascoigne stifle a laugh and looked up to see a big grin on the large man’s face. 

“I’ve been there before. Felt the same way when I figured it out too.” Gascoigne turned his head to look towards the other side of the bridge, a low growl rising in his throat. “Cleric beast made its way to the gate, far too close for my liking.” A Cleric Beast? Tommy shuddered at the thought of it. There is no way in hell I’m dealing with that . “It’s too much of a risk fighting on your own, but together we might have some luck.” Gascoigne looked down at Tommy, who was staring in the general direction and lost in thought. 

“You’re a bit small, but you seem like you can handle yourself well enough. What do you say? Do you want to assist me with taking it down?” This question snapped him out of his thoughts and Tommy looked up at Gascoigne who was waiting for his response. “Sorry, I didn't quite hear what you said.” He felt bad for making him repeat his words, though Gascoigne didn’t seem too bothered by it.

“Do you want to help me slay the beast?” He repeated. After a few moments of hesitation, sighed and nodded, “It’s probably going to be easier than trying to take it on alone.” With this, the two of them took off, running like madmen to reach the other side of the bridge.

Tommy’s heart skipped a beat when the beast leapt onto the bridge, but he forced himself to be calm. He couldn’t let himself panic in a situation like this, no matter how terrified he was. 

“GET TO ITS LEFT!” Gascoigne ordered, voice loud enough to be heard through the beast's screams. He dodged past one of its attacks and began to wail on it, swinging his axe with as much strength as he could muster. The extended axe handle proved to be rather useful, with the beast being so large and hard to hit otherwise. The beast swung its massive, malformed arm at Tommy, in an attempt to crush him. Gascoigne roared, swinging his axe down at one of its legs, causing the beast to screech in pain and turning its attention on him. This gave Tommy the opportunity to attack the other leg while it was slamming its giant, gnarled, fists down at Gascoigne. Its legs bled heavily from sustained attacks, staining the cobblestone red as it moved around on the bridge. Despite the damage it had sustained, it was still fighting viciously, snarling and screeching, swinging its malformed arms at the two hunters in an attempt to kill them. Gascoigne fired his gun at its head, it didn’t seem to hurt it all that much, but it was enough for it to stun it for a few moments which gave the two of them plenty of time to get in close. “Go for the eye!” Gascoigne pointed at its head while he sprinted past and began to chop and hack away at its left arm. Tommy stared at him for a few moments, but did as he was told anyway. He thrust his hand into its eye, pulling and tearing at it until he finally managed to rip it out of the socket, causing the beast to screech louder than it had ever done before. His ears rang and hands were shaking, but he ignored it as best he could and swung his axe down on its head before the terrible beast stood up. With one final screech, the beast was slain, turning into ash and mist as it hit the ground. 

He dropped to his knees, shaky from the adrenaline that coursed through him. Tommy didn’t even notice when Gascoigne approached him, sitting down beside him and trying to catch his own breath. I survived… I survived and I’m unscathed… There aren’t any larger beasts, are there? Tommy jumped when he felt something nudge him, then looked over to see Gascoigne, who was as much of a bloody mess as he was.

“Not bad… Not bad at all.” Gascoigne’s voice was deeper than before, sounding almost like a growl as he spoke. Tommy stared down at his hand, the same one he’d used to tear out the beast’s eye, and took a shaky breath. “Lost a couple fingers during the fight, did ya?” He pointed at the stumps on Tommy’s hand, where two fingers once sat. Tommy shook his head, “No, I lost them years ago. S’all right, I can hunt just fine without them… just a little harder to use the blunderbuss, that’s all.” He hadn’t thought about it in a long time, that part of his childhood hadn’t been important until now. Childhood… a child… Oh shit! The little girl! He’d almost forgotten about the little girl he’d spoken to not that long ago. “Have you by any chance seen a little girl’s mother?” He asked, hoping that Gascoigne would have some idea of where to find her. Judging by his reaction, Gascoigne seemed to know who he was looking for. “I don’t quite know what she looks like, but she wears a red jewelled brooch, one you cannot miss.” Tommy heard Gascoigne say something, though he didn’t quite hear what he said. 

Before he even got the chance to ask him, Gascoigne had already gotten up and was sprinting away to the other side of the bridge, faster than he’d ever seen anyone run before. “BE CAREFUL!” He called to Gascoigne, though he wasn’t sure if he’d even heard him. After a while of catching his breath and letting the adrenaline go away, Tommy got up from the cold, bloodstained, ground and approached the large gate. It was sealed and so was the door beside it, much to his chagrin. How was he supposed to get out of here now? He’d just have to think about that later, for now he was more focused on the tiny item that laid on the ground beside the lamp, both of which had appeared at the death of the beast. 

Tommy picked the object up and flipped it around in his palm to get a better look at it. It looked like some kind of sword with small ornate patterns engraved into it, it shone a beautiful silver as he held it out in the sunlight. Maybe it is of some importance to the people of Yharnam? What kind of importance or meaning it had, Tommy couldn’t quite figure out, though he could always ask Gehrman about this. He crouched down beside the lamp and lit it with a snap of his fingers; the pale creatures from the dream crowded around the base of it and he smiled at the sight of them. They were actually kind of cute, now that he thought about it. Just like he’d done before, Tommy touched a hand to the lamp, and was whisked away into the dream once again.

The calm he once felt when he arrived in the dream was now gone and was replaced with alarm at the sight of the doll; the doll that was once motionless, was now standing up and looking right at him. It bowed politely as he took a step closer.

“Hello, good hunter. I am a doll, here in this dream to look after you.” It sounded exactly like the voice he’d heard moments before he woke up in the clinic. Tommy’s breathing was shaky and he felt himself tremble a little bit. Dolls aren’t supposed to speak…or stand on their own like this… “Honorable hunter, pursue the echoes of blood, and I will channel them into your strength.” Its words snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked up at it, unsettled by the lack of emotion in its voice. “You will hunt beasts... and I will be here for you, to embolden your sickly spirit.” Tommy gave it a quick nod and sat down on some rocks beside the path, head resting in his palms. Snarling beasts…Bloodcrazed huntsmen…rotted corpses that refuse to stay dead…the cleric beast… and a talking doll. What else does this horrible place have in store? Haven’t I seen enough already? Tommy took a deep breath and groaned.

This was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

“Is something the matter, good hunter?” Tommy looked up at the sound of the doll’s voice, still alarmed by the fact that it moved, even more so now that it was crouched only a meter or so away from him . He felt a little bit unsettled by its glass eyes and the fact that it blinked certainly didn’t help, though he didn’t voice his unease; that’d be awfully rude of him.
“I-I’m fine,” he said “I’ve just had a rough start to my hunt, that’s all.” He shifted a little and looked towards the workshop, wanting to look at the doll as little as possible. It followed his gaze, turning its head until it too was looking at the workshop. 
“Did you speak with Gehrman?” It asked, turning its head back towards Tommy as it spoke. “He was a hunter long, long ago, but now serves only to advise them... He is obscure, unseen in the dreaming world. Still, he stays here, in this dream... ...such is his purpose” Tommy looked back at the doll, a tad confused. What did it mean with Gehrman being unseen in the dreaming world? I can see him just fine even though we’re in a dream. “Is Gehrman still inside the workshop?” He asked, and was relieved when the doll nodded. Before he stepped inside the workshop again, Tommy dipped his head to the doll and was a little surprised when it dipped its head in turn. 

“Welcome back.” Gehrman said as Tommy entered the workshop. “How goes the hunt?” The young hunter smiled uncomfortably and gave him a thumbs up, right before slumping down on the floor beside the fireplace, setting his weapons aside.
“It… It could be going better” he mumbled, digging out the badge he’d picked up earlier and began to fidget with it.The sight of the silver badge caught Gehrman’s eye and moved closer to Tommy to get a better look. 
“What is it you’ve got there?” He asked, peering down at the small object that was flipped around between Tommy’s fingers. The hunter looked up at Gehrman and shrugged.“Some sort of badge, I think,” Tommy said, holding his hand out so Gehrman could look at it. “I found it on the bridge after I killed a Cleric Beast; with some help from another hunter, of course. ” He watched as Gehrman inspected it, holding it up against the light of a lantern that sat on a workbench to get a clearer view. 

After some time, Gehrman handed the silver badge back to Tommy and let his hand rest on the cane’s handle once again. “You said you’d found it after killing a Cleric Beast?” The old man asked.“Yeah, I did.” Tommy tilted his head “Why? Does it have some sort of meaning?” Are there more of these things? Do all large beasts carry around on them? Gehrman hummed, “The silver swords are a symbol of the Healing Church and the founder of the church hunters. As you might’ve noticed from what the beast is called, it is members of the church, clerics especially, who become the most terrible beasts.” Tommy nodded thoughtfully, taking in the information he’d been given. Okay, silver swords are a symbol of the church and the church hunters’ founder… but who even is that? He rifled through his pockets, taking out other things he’d picked up and setting them down on the floor in front of him. “Well, well... What is it you’ve gathered here?” Gehrman said with a chuckle and a slight smile spread across his face as Tommy held up the strange skull he’d found. They spent the next while chatting, with Gehrman talking about and giving Tommy information about whatever he held up or asked about. 

Once his business within the workshop was done, Tommy headed down the steps of the workshop once more. The doll stood by the path as it had done before, turning its head and following Tommy with its gaze as he came down the steps; approaching it. 
“Hello, good hunter. What is it you desire?” The doll said, its voice as lacking of emotion as it had been earlier, though it didn’t unsettle Tommy like it had before. 
“You mentioned something about echoes of blood and being able to channel them into my strength,” He said, craning his neck to look it in the eye as he spoke “Could… Could you do that for me?” He was a little unsure about how it’d do this, though he didn’t question it too much; there were stranger things in this place to worry about. 

“Very well” It said “Let me stand close, and shut your eyes.” Tommy closed his eyes, hearing the doll take a couple of steps closer to him and the ruffle of her skirt as she crouched down. It felt strange, its hands felt almost human but were far too cold and artificial, although that he got over rather quickly. Okay, what do I need to strengthen? I’m rather frail, so maybe my vitality to avoid a horrible death, but I do get tired rather quickly using this axe. I’m not very strong either which makes the axe more difficult to use. He pondered about it for a few moments, but eventually made the decision to bolster his strength and endurance; he’d always been able to bounce back from being hit, but made a mental note to let the doll deal with his vitality at a later point. When the doll was done strengthening him, it took a few steps back and Tommy opened his eyes again. While he hadn’t noticed much of a difference from moments earlier, it did make him feel more confident when he held the axe in his hand. Before he left the dream, Tommy turned around to look at the doll with a smile on his face “Thank you!” he said and bowed. To his surprise, the doll bowed back. It seems like I was wrong about you; you’re not scary at all.

When he awoke, Tommy found himself on the bridge where he’d previously fought the cleric beast. The ground was still red with its blood, though it had already begun to dry a bit. He made his way down the street, heading towards the area where he’d met Gascoigne, and went down the stairs on the right. He hadn’t been down here yet and was curious as to what he might find here. Looking down the ledge, Tommy quickly recognised the sight of the burning beast and the crowd gathered around it; this sight was as horrible as it’d been when he’d first seen it. 

Not wanting to spend any more time looking at this terrible scene, Tommy turned around and looked at the wooden boxes and barrels that were gathered in a small alley. Curious as to what was behind them, he began to clear the little alley out; determined to see what was behind them. The smell hit him the moment he got close to the edge, making him take a few steps back while keeping his nose covered. It’s the sewers again. Great, just splendid, exactly what I wanted to find. His dislike of the sewers was as strong as it had been before and he frowned when he remembered those beasts and riflemen who’d shot at him. Although, the thought of finding more items (and maybe even better gear) was enough for him to jump down into the sewers to have a look around. 

It wasn’t until he’d almost reached the end of this part of the sewers when he realized that it might’ve been a bad idea, for right by the ledge that led down to the rotted corpses he’d seen before, a large spear wielding beast lurked; waiting patiently behind a corner until Tommy entered its field of view. He didn’t even notice it until it had already struck him, its spear stabbing into his back and gravely wounding him, making him stumble as he tried to get away. 

Tommy couldn’t feel a thing with the adrenaline rushing through him, but the attack had left him greatly weakened. He managed to get a single hit in before its spear struck him once more; sending him tumbling over the edge with the force of its attack. He hit the cold, murky ground with a sickening crunch; sending nasty sewage water flying in every direction when he landed. Tommy couldn’t feel his legs or anything as he laid there in the water, vision beginning to blur and the world darkening around him. As hard as he tried, Tommy couldn’t get up; his body failing him as he tried to push himself up, forcing him to lay there as the rotted corpses began to crawl towards him. I don’t want to die here… I don’t want to die here… I don’t… He didn’t get to finish that thought before everything went black, his body fading into a cloud of ash and silvery mist.

For a few moments, there was nothing, nothing but darkness and the hollow sound of the void. Then he felt something beneath him, something cold hard, yet familiar. When his eyes opened again, Tommy drew in a breath; taking in as much air as he could while coughing and heaving from that horrible experience. He looked around with blurry eyes, trying to make out where he was. It took a little while but eventually his vision cleared enough for him to recognise the bridge he’d woken up at, the lamp sitting only a meter or so away from him with the little dream fellows gathered around it. The next few minutes were spent by him laying on the ground, trying to calm himself down and trying to wrap his head around that horrible experience. 

What. The. Hell. Just. Happened.

I just died. I was killed by the beast and that fall. I felt my life end, but I’m still here. I'm still here... This place is a nightmare, one I cannot wake up from not even if I die. He took a deep breath and sat up, head still spinning from that encounter.

 It took him a while longer to fully calm down, but when his thoughts stopped racing and head quit spinning, Tommy was on the move again. He made his way back down the sewers, moving with speed and determination until he was face to face with the beast again. This time, the fight went much better and it was finally slain. Still salty over being killed, Tommy kicked it down the ledge and watched as it landed in the sewage below; rotted corpses beginning to gather around it. The sight of a dead hunter caught his eye, though it was specifically their garb that interested him. It looked like it was still in one piece, hardly any tears aside from a hole in its back from having been struck by the beast; it looked to be rather durable too. He glanced around, checking if anyone was watching, then crouched down beside it. When he was done, he made his way down the ledge, landing on some boards below and running past the rotted corpses. The new gear was probably a bit big on him and in need of some repairs, but that’s something Tommy would just have to deal with later, right now he had to focus on getting up the ladder that sat further away in this filthy place. When he’d finally gotten up that ladder, Tommy was met with another bridge, one leading to an entirely different part of Yharnam and an elevator to his left. 

The bodies that laid on the bridge looked like they’d been butchered by a madman;the traces were large and seemed like they’d been caused by someone striking wildly. They looked a lot like the ones his axe had made, yet he hadn’t seen anyone else wielding an axe. Anyone else except for…. His heart sank at this realisation and an overwhelming sense of dread hung over him. 
His body moved without him realising it, heading further up the bridge and up some stairs; discovering more bodies with similar wounds as he neared the last staircase. In front of him was a dark and unkind place, one filled with dead trees and graves; a place where the sun did not shine and where the dead were left to rot. At the sight of a dark figure standing among corpses, mindlessly hacking away at one not yet dead, Tommy felt the dread that was hanging over him truly set in. Seeing Gascoigne, someone who had previously been civil and helpful, butchering people like this made his stomach churn. 

“Beasts all over the shop” Gascoigne muttered, the growl in his throat much more noticeable, stood up from where he’d been crouched and turned around to look in Tommy’s direction. 
“You’ll be one of them… sooner or later.” Tommy tried backing away, but the fog wall behind him blocked the exit, leaving him with only one option: Defeat Gascoigne.

Chapter Text

He leapt out of the way and hid behind a tombstone as Gascoigne rushed at him, axe swinging down and connecting with the ground. Tommy wasn’t fast enough to dodge all of his attacks; Gascoigne’s axe striking his back, the sheer force of the strike knocking him down. He cried out in pain and desperately tried to get away, ducking behind and using the tombstones as cover while he distanced himself from the blood-crazed hunter. Running away didn’t help much, but it gave Tommy just enough distance to heal up and dodge his attacks once again. 

I should get Eileen, she’d know how to deal with this mess. But with that wall I don’t think it’s gonna work. ShitShitShitShit, what do I do? He’s much bigger, much stronger, and much more experienced than I am. I have to- His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of gunshots and he quickly sidestepped to avoid being shot by Gascoigne.
Tommy used the large tombstone that stood in the middle of this place as cover while he tried to come up with some kind of strategy. Okay, okay, okay, okay, what can I use? I have some molotovs, though he’s moving around too fast for them to be of any use. Think…think… I could use my blunderbuss to shoot him…but my aim needs work, so that’s not an option. While thinking, he couldn’t help but fiddle with the tiny music box he’d been given by the little girl. Its tune had been oddly calming and seemed to make some things less hostile, like the troll that was near her window. Maybe it could help calm Gascoigne as well? Don’t have any other ideas, so this’ll have to do.

Tommy took a breath and turned around to face Gascoigne as he rushed towards him again. He stepped aside, trying his best to avoid being struck by his axe, all while winding up the box. He let out a sigh of relief as the melody began to play and looked over as Gascoigne stopped in his pursuit, dropping his weapons, and clutching his head. “...Gascoigne?” He called out to the other hunter, approaching him with caution. “Gascoigne. It’s me, Tommy. Do you remember me?” There was a tremble in his voice as he spoke, and he hoped desperately that the melody had calmed him.
That hope was extinguished the moment Gascoigne stopped holding his head and turning his attention back to Tommy. He began his pursuit faster than Tommy had anticipated and struck him with his axe; almost causing him to drop the music box. He stuffed it back inside his pocket and hid behind another tombstone to heal. As much as he hated it and no matter how long or how desperately he’d tried to avoid it, Tommy had to fight him. Steeling himself, Tommy got out from his cover behind the tombstones, axe transformed and swung it at the blood-crazed hunter. 

The once gray colour of the tombstones and ground below them was stained with blood; the blood of two hunters fighting desperately to survive, hacking and slashing at each other in a place of rest for those who are dead. The only thing that was for certain was that by the end of this fight, only one would be alive. Tommy panted and tried to catch his breath, exhausted from the fighting, but he had to go on. Gascoigne didn’t look much better, his once black garb now torn up and slick with blood; whose blood it was was uncertain. All it took was one mistake, one mistake out of exhaustion, for Gascoigne to get the upper hand and struck Tommy down; the axe cleaving through him with ease. Tommy hit the ground with a thud, ears ringing and the pain in his side damn near unbearable. As everything began to fade, Tommy heard the voice of Gascoigne, the growl in his throat louder than before “Too proud to show your true face, eh? But a sporting hunt, it was!” All sight and sound became unclear and the darkness embraced him once again.

Instead of stopping to catch his breath and collect himself when he awoke by the lamp, Tommy got off the ground and rushed towards the graveyard once again; his terror temporarily dulled by adrenaline and determination. As he stepped through the fog wall, Gascoigne was already starting in his pursuit, though he was still weakened from their earlier confrontation. The sound of battle, of swinging axes and guns firing filled the air. Gascoigne was beginning to tire, but swung ferociously with his weapon transformed, making this fight all the more dangerous. More prepared than last time, Tommy quickly stepped aside and took this opportunity to strike back at him. The growl in Gascoigne’s throat rose and his attacks became less and less controlled and more wild and frantic; like a beast desperately trying to kill whatever was threatening it. Tommy stopped his attacks at the sight of Gascoigne dropping his weapons, hunching over and clutching his head, then let out a loud shriek as he transformed; his body warping and twisting into the shape of a large beast.
Tommy felt his fear set in and he ran, going past the tombstones and up the stairs in a desperate attempt to get away from him. He heard Gascoigne’s heavy steps behind him, quickly catching up with Tommy as he tried to keep away. No… nononono this has all gone wrong, it wasn’t supposed to go like this. He shouldn’t have turned, shouldn’t have lost himself to the hunt… shouldn’t have…
Tommy looked at Gascoigne, a strong sense of regret washing over him. “I’m so sorry, Gascoigne.” he readied his axe and swung at him.

As the fight went on, Tommy felt his exhaustion begin to set in again, with the grip on his axe slackening and his attacks becoming more sluggish, leading to Tommy taking more hits, losing more blood, and making more attempts to create distance for himself to heal which in turn only led to more blood getting spilled.

On the few times he could, Tommy hurled molotovs at Gascoigne, desperately wanting to put an end to this battle. One of them connected and Gascoigne’s back was set ablaze, he howled and shrieked in pain, and backed away to avoid more flames. It hurt seeing him like this; someone who, while having only known for a short time, was being burned and killed the same way the beasts killed by the people of Yharnam had. After a long while, Gascoigne finally falls, his death throes echoing throughout the graveyard. Tommy collapses on the ground right where Gascoigne fell, trembling and desperately trying to keep himself together. 

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that an honorable hunter should’ve lost his wits and turned beastly. It wasn’t fair that he was killed the same way the other beasts were. It just…it just isn’t fair. 
In the distance, the toll of bells could be heard; bells that came somewhere from the Cathedral Ward. He looked up at where he’d heard them, staring unblinkingly, before hauling himself off the ground and picking up the key that laid where Gascoigne’s body would’ve been. 

Tommy looked around the area, wanting to make sure he hadn’t missed anything here; he’d rather not return here anytime soon. The sight of a blood trail leading to a hole in the railing caught his eye and Tommy approached it with caution. He didn’t think there were any other beasts in here, but it’s always good to check. Peering over the ledge, he scanned the area below, searching for the source of the blood. His heart sank when he spotted a woman laying motionlessly on the edge of a roof, and the sight of her brooch almost made it worse; It was big and bright red in colour, just how the little girl had described it. He hopped down and landed beside her, hoping, praying, that she was still alive. But there was nothing, no twitch of her fingers, no breathing, no reaction as he tried to wake her. The weight of all this hung over him and the realisation that he’d have to tell the little girl that he’d found her mother’s corpse and just killed her father, made his heart ache with guilt.

“You’re back” Gilbert’s voice was as hoarse as it had been hours before, but the relieved tone was almost comforting to hear, “Did you find the hunter you were looking for?” Tommy remained silent for a few moments, shifting awkwardly and looking down at the ground, wanting to avoid answering his question. Though, he didn’t want to leave Gilbert with no answers at all, so Tommy just sighed and shrugged “...yeah, I did.” he mumbled, just wanting to forget about all that… for now at least. Gilbert hummed, likely having picked up on the fact that something was off but didn’t ask about it, much to Tommy’s relief. 

“Tell me… what is it like? The hunt, I mean.” Gilbert asked, clearing his throat and coughing. “It’s not great, but it could be a lot worse.” Tommy replied, looking down at the stumps on his hand. At least I get to keep most of my limbs intact, so that’s something. “I-I’ll be off soon… heard the bells ringing from the Cathedral Ward and I want to know what that was about.” As he turned to leave, Tommy heard the sound of a window opening and saw as Gilbert held something out; almost dropping it when he began to cough heavily again. 

“Ahh, you needn’t concern yourself with me… I’m afraid I’m of little help now. But before I… Take this… I made no use of it, but perhaps you… ” Tommy reached for the weapon, some kind of flamesprayer he guessed, and attached it to the belt on his side. “What inflicted me was incurable, but this town gave me hope… Their strange blood bought me time.” Gilbert hacked and wheezed as he tried to catch his breath “...I was most fortunate. Unharmed by the plague of beasts, I can even die human.” Tommy looked down at Gilbert’s hand that rested on the windowsill. It was pale and weakened from disease, but the nails looked off; far too long and pointy to be that of a regular person. He’s not going to make it through the night, is he? To say that Tommy felt disappointed at this realisation was an understatement, though he just gritted his teeth and sighed. I will just have to find a secluded area for him to stay in if he turns, there’s not a damn chance I’m killing him. “I’ll visit you later tonight, I promise!” He said, waving goodbye to Gilbert as he left.

“We’re almost there now, we just have to go through the graveyard to get there.” Tommy said, looking over his shoulder to see if the girls were still following him. The elder one was walking closely behind him with her younger sister right behind her; stumbling a little bit to keep up with them. He’d heard that there was a safe place, Oedon Chapel, in the ward and there wasn’t a chance he was going to leave these kids alone during the hunt…though, he was hardly more than a kid himself.

“When we’re at the entrance I suggest you keep your eyes closed…it’s quite a nasty sight.” The memory of his fight with Gascoigne flashed through his mind. Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, don’t think about it. He shook his head to try and clear his thoughts; the last thing these girls need is another hunter losing his wits.

It was a bit tricky guiding them through the graveyard, with all the dead bodies strewn around and smashed up tombstones scattered on the ground, but eventually they made it up the stairs and to the closed gate. “Cover your ears, please.” Tommy said as he unlocked the gate, bracing himself for the horrible cacophony he was about to experience.

It screeched as he pushed them open, almost making him wish he were deaf, but it was over rather quickly. “Okay, you can open your eyes now. Just a little bit further now and we’re there.” He ushered them through the gate and up the steps. The three of them frowned at the sight of and the feeling of stepping in the ankle-deep water of the room ahead of them, the elder sister muttering something under her breath as they made their way through and up the ladder. 

The chapel was a bit smaller than he’d anticipated, though it might just look that way with all these pots filled with incense and statues that stood by the walls. He heard a gasp from the young girl and turned around to see what had spooked her. Only a few steps away from the door sat a rather curious looking figure with some kind of red cloak draped over it; the figure looked about as surprised as the little girl, yet it seemed to have no ill will. “Oh, sorry. We didn’t notice that there was anyone else in here.” Tommy said, watching as the little girl hid behind her sister who also looked a bit unnerved by the figure. “We were just wondering if we could stay in this chapel just for tonight, if it’s no big deal.” The figure perked its head up at the sound of his request, a slight smile spreading across its face. “It’s no big deal, no big deal at all..! Stay as long as you’d like”
This seemed to be enough to quell the fear of the elder sister who quickly went to take a seat on the floor, back rested against one of the statues. Though, the younger sister still looked a bit spooked by the dweller and sat down beside her sister, back turned to the entrance to avoid looking at the dweller. Tommy himself sat down in front of the dweller, finding the stone floor to be oddly comfortable here. The dweller rested his gaze on Tommy, eyes dim and unseeing, yet it still felt like he was looking right at him.

“You must be… a hunter. I almost didn’t notice… incense must’ve masked your scent.” Hunters have a special scent? He hadn’t thought much about it, but he certainly did now. “Yeah, I am.” Tommy replied, the dweller smiled awkwardly at him. “Good, good. I’ve been waiting for one of your ilk.” This caught his interest and Tommy scooted closer to the dweller. “Oh? What for? Is something giving you trouble?” Stupid question, of course something would be troubling him, it’s a hunt after all.

“These hunts have everyone all locked up inside…though it isn’t doing much good. Even those inside are going bad… screams of wimminfolk… stench of blood…snarls of beasts… none of it’s too uncommon now.” The dweller fidgeted with his fingers as he spoke “Yharnam's done feer. I tell ya… I can’t do much to help you, even if I want to… But if you spot anyone with their wits about 'em... Tell'em about this here Oedon Chapel. They'll be safe here… The incense wards off the beasts. Spread the word... tell 'em to come on over. If you wouldn't mind... Hee hee..” That seems like a reasonable request, think I already know of a few I could send here. Tommy hummed and stood up, “I’ll bring back as many as I can find. Be safe in here!” He tipped his hat to the dweller, realising quickly how stupid that was, waved at the two sisters before trotting out of the chapel; finally getting to set foot the Cathedral Ward.

Chapter Text

The area outside the chapel was about as pleasant as the rest of the town, with too many tombstones standing so close to a place of safety, although he did take notice of the absence of the smell of death and beasts. What he smelled instead was incense, much like the stuff inside the chapel, though it wasn’t as strong as it was indoors.

The movement of something large caught Tommy’s eye and he looked down to see two individuals dressed in white, each carrying around on a cane, and making their way through the street.

Something about their appearance didn’t feel right , and it wasn’t just their height or ghostly pale skin. He took a step closer to try and make out some other details of their appearance.

One of them stopped in its tracks and pointed right at him, making the other one turn around and stare in Tommy’s direction. They march towards him, canes raised and ready to strike. Tommy hopped back and finished them off quickly with a few swings of his transformed axe. Thank you, Gascoigne, for teaching me this technique. The memory of the axe-wielding hunter left him with a bitter taste in his mouth and he glanced back at the chapel; where his daughters were sheltering, unaware of what had happened in the graveyard. I’ll tell them about it later, so they don’t find out about it on their own…or never find out at all.  

He shook his head and took a quick look around the area, discovering another body hidden behind the stones and slumped next to a tree. A chill went down his spine as he approached the tree and he looked around the area to see if there was anything else here, yet there was nothing else here (aside from the now dead church doctors); though he couldn’t quite shake the feeling of being watched. The first thing he noticed about the body was its garb; it looked like his but without the cape, though it wasn’t what caught interested him.
Instead of a cap like his own, this hunter wore a top-hat and a rather nice one too. Tommy quickly picked it up, dusted it off a little bit and went to put it on. Just as he was about to put it on, Tommy saw something shimmer out of the corner of his eye and hopped away right before the strange glow could touch him. What the hell was that??? I already thought this town was strange, but now it’s just gotten stranger. He stood there in silence for a little while, trying and failing to figure out what that was, but eventually decided to ignore it for the time being, best not to find out too much. The top-hat, while looking incredible, was a bit too big on him and covered his eyes a bit, much to Tommy’s dismay. One cannot have nice things in this town, not even something as simple as a nice hat. He made his way down the stairs and was met with yet another group of blood-crazed huntsmen, one of them walking around with a dog by their side. 

Putting them down took some time, with the huntsmen waving their weapons and torches at him, the dog snapping at his heels and trying to tear a chunk out, but eventually they were all laying dead on the ground. Tommy wiped some of the blood off on his cape and made his way toward the building that stood in the middle. There wasn’t much of interest inside, aside from the large sculpture in the middle, the angry yharno who tried to kill him, and another one of those skulls sitting beside another corpse. Stepping outside, Tommy made his way up the stairs to his right and was unpleasantly greeted with a bullet to the shoulder and legs getting bitten by two angry dogs. The longer I stay in this cursed town the more my hatred of dogs grows…well only for these dogs, all others are okay. With the three of them taken care of, and the use of a worrying amount of blood vials, he opened the door and pulled a lever which revealed a hidden entrance underneath the large sculpture. What in this town is so bad that they have to keep the entrance hidden?  

He made the decision to check out whatever was down there…after he’d checked the little side area to his right. Out of all the things he’d been expecting, Tommy couldn’t say that he’d expected to see another person, likely another hunter, crouched in front of some kind of statue. The other hunter stood up at the sound of Tommy’s approach and turned around to face him with a look of surprise, which quickly faded and changed into one more warm and welcoming. 

“Oh, hello there!” The man said with a cheerful tone which surprised Tommy a little bit but he smiled and waved at him, taking note of his unusual white garb.

“You’re a hunter, aren’t you?” he asked as Tommy approached him. Tommy nodded, dipping his head out of respect and straightened his back to look a little taller; an action which got a chuckle out of the other hunter.

“I knew it. That’s precisely how I started out.” He blinked then looked as if he’d just remembered something he’d forgotten about. “Oh! Where are my manners? You may call me Alfred. Protege of Master Logarius, and hunter of Vilebloods.” Alfred said, dipping his head in return. 

“S’nice to meet you, Alfred! I’m Tommy, hunter of beasts and an outsider.” He’d been expecting some kind of remark or even a sneer, but was instead met with a friendly expression and a pat on his shoulder; an action which brought a smile to Tommy’s face.

“The work of a hunter is thankless and patrolling the streets can be lonely, but it can be remedied by cooperating with others.” Alfred looked down at Tommy “So, what say you? Our prey might differ, but we are hunters, the both of us.” He stretched out his hand and awaited Tommy’s answer.

Tommy thought about it for a few moments. Last time he’d cooperated with anyone it didn’t turn out so well in the end… But Alfred didn’t seem like he was close to turning; there wasn’t even a growl in his throat, pointy teeth, or anything else that might indicate that they’re about to turn. With these facts in mind, Tommy nodded and eagerly shook Alfred’s hand. It felt nice getting to hunt alongside someone else again, a feeling made even better knowing that Alfred wasn’t at risk of losing his wits just yet.

“Oh-hoh! Very good, very good indeed!” It seemed like Alfred was as pleased with this cooperation as Tommy was, with him grinning widely and readjusting Tommy’s hat which was a little bit slanted. “Take this, to celebrate our acquaintance.” Alfred reached into robes and pulled out some papers; edges charred and the paper itself coarse in texture. What’s with every other hunter I meet giving me papers? He accepted Alfred’s gift and stored them in his pockets, having a feeling he’d be using them rather soon. Tommy turned his attention to the building again, his curiosity piqued and itching to find out what lay below. “I have some business to tend to, so I’ll have to leave you for now. But I’ll come back to get you if anything happens!” Alfred hummed and nodded, patting Tommy on the shoulder again. “I bid you farewell. It has been a pleasure. May the good blood guide your way.” With that, Tommy made his way back the way he’d come from, waving at Alfred before re-entering the building.

Even though he’d only been a hunter for a few hours, Tommy had already gotten quite decent at dealing with the scourge beasts, butchering the one that lurked in the run-down room below with little effort. Tommy was unsettled by how easily hunting came to him, having struggled with the same kind of beast not that long ago. Maybe it’s just an effect of being connected to the dream? The thought of that made him shudder.

He made his way down the stairs, sliding down a ladder and entering a large long-abandoned area with a single lamp standing in the middle. Tommy lit the lamp with a snap of his fingers and took a few moments to say hello to the little rascals that sat around the lamp, letting them play with some pebbles and coins he’d picked up while running through the streets. Tommy smiled and watched as the creatures played; it almost reminded him of his childhood, when even something as simple as a stick could entertain him. “You can keep them if you want to, I’ve got plenty.” This seemed to have made them very excited and some of them made some kind of chattering sound; the others joined in on the chattering shortly after. 

How he’d ever disliked these entities was beyond his understanding. Looking over at the door, Tommy noticed that there was something attached to it. Upon closer inspection he realised that it was a note that had been put up on the closed gate; the paper withered and dirty, with parts of it turning yellow with age. He could tell that there was something written on it but no matter how hard he tried, Tommy just couldn’t understand a single thing written on it, and eventually crumpled it up and threw it away out of frustration.
“It probably wasn’t that important anyway…” He muttered and pressed his shoulder against the door and tried his damndest to push it open. Whatever was beyond the door smelled strongly of smoke and of something else, though Tommy couldn’t quite figure out what it was. When the gates finally opened and Tommy set his first steps into this new place, he was greeted by three things; The smell of smoke, the sight of more burning beasts, and a voice. A very, very loud voice.

“You there, hunter. Didn't you see the warning?” The voice echoed throughout the valley and almost made Tommy jump out of his skin and looked around wildly to find who said that. “Turn back at once. Old Yharnam, burned and abandoned by men, is now home only to beasts. They are of no harm to those above. Turn back... ...or the hunter will face the hunt…” For once, Tommy decided to listen to someone’s warning and made his way back inside the abandoned building, planning on returning here later.

It hadn’t even been long since he’d left, Tommy had to admit that he had started to miss the streets of Central Yharnam. Sure, they were full of death and angry yharnamites, bloodthirsty beasts and rabid dogs, but it still felt nice to return. Besides, the friendly (or well, friendli er ) faces here made it well worth coming back here. The old lady who’d given him an earful earlier seemed just a bit less hostile this time, though he suspected it was because he told her of Oedon Chapel and the best route there. He was a bit bummed to find out that Eileen had left her position some time ago, she was one of the people he’d really been looking forward to talking to again. Oh well, he’d probably find her later…eventually… maybe. 

While he was back here, Tommy decided to poke his head down the sewers again and decided to go towards the very end of it; having heard and seen something large in the tunnel. For the first time during the hunt, Tommy wished that he’d be facing a beast. He froze at the sight of a massive, grotesque boar and could only watch as it charged towards him, trampling him to death in the filthy waters of the sewers.
When he awoke by the lantern once again, he was laying on his back and struggling to catch his breath. It took him a little while to recover from that horrible experience, but he was up and moving soon again; heading back towards those sewers for some payback. As expected, the boar took quite a few hits before it went down, fading into mist as it let out its death throes. I can’t even like regular animals in this godforsaken town… not even pigs. The faint, metallic shimmer of a small object caught Tommy’s eye and he crouched down beside a half-drowned corpse to take a look at it. Another badge, one in the shape of a saw blade. I’m guessing it’s got something to do with the workshop, think I saw some saw blades hanging in there last I checked. Think I could get some answers about it from the old man, closest lamp isn’t that far away either. Tommy rooted through his pocket and pulled out one of the bold hunter’s marks he’d gotten from Eileen and focused on it.
His body began to fade as if he were dying, though the feeling was much warmer. After a short visit to the dream to restock and chat with the inhabitants, Tommy awoke on the bridge once again, patted himself down to check if he’d forgotten anything and began his trip back to Cathedral Ward; his interest piqued after his conversation with Gehrman.

Chapter Text

Out of all ways he could’ve chosen, Tommy decided to run back to Old Yharnam, which in hindsight, was a very stupid idea. This was not helped by the fact that he’d completely forgotten about being able to travel there using the dream, instead of going on foot like a madman. He made it back to the gate after several minutes of running (and saying hello to Alfred again) and leaned on the wall to catch his breath; panting like a dog while doing so.
Okay, all I have to do is find the chalice and then I’ll leave… Gehrman said it was here, right? Don’t think the beasts will be too pleased to see me here, but maybe they’ll be less hostile if I leave my weapons by the door? It’s worth a shot.

The beasts were, in fact, not any less hostile. Actually, they seemed to be angrier and more persistent than other beasts he’d met until now. Tommy was knocked off his feet by a particularly large one and scrambled to get away from it. It howled, calling other beasts towards it as Tommy made a break for the building’s exit. One of the smaller beasts was fast enough to get a couple of scratches in, its claws nasty and smelling of infection and disease.
“...You are a skilled hunter. Adept, merciless, half-cut with blood. As the best hunters are. Which is why I must stop you.” The voice was much louder than it had been earlier and the sound of gunfire raining down on him followed soon after. Thinking fast, Tommy jumped down a ledge and landed by some crows, not wanting to deal with them in a place like this Tommy leapt down another ledge, located right behind him. 

The landing was horrible and Tommy heard an unpleasant pop as he landed, with pain shooting up his legs the moment he hit the ground. It took a few moments to recover from the fall, but there wasn’t any time to waste and jabbed himself in the thigh with a couple of blood vials and hauled himself off the ground. Running through the abandoned building was a nightmare, with beasts constantly snapping at his heels and chasing after him as he made his way up the stairs and out of a broken window. He didn’t know what was worse, avoiding the beasts inside the building or avoiding the beasts while being shot at by a madman. 

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of a ladder leading up to the tower, though this relief lasted only for a moment as Tommy felt something grab on to his collar and throw him to the ground. He didn’t even get the chance to register what had happened before something was thrust into his back with edges sharp and serrated. As his vision began to blur, Tommy could see the dark silhouette of a person bearing a torn cape and holding the weapon that had struck him; a cruel spear with both sides lined with serrated teeth. Then it all went black again and Tommy was thrust back into that terribly silent void.

“Damnit!” He exclaimed, kicking the metal door out of frustration. He’d hoped that this door would be open so he didn’t have to run past those beasts and dodge gunfire again, but it seemed like luck was not in his favor tonight as the door was closed. Muttering angrily, Tommy made his way back up to the gate and looked over to where he’d ran through previously. He took a deep breath and took off running; racing past beasts who were already starting to chase after him. Remember the path and ignore the beasts, and everything will be fine. The deafening sound of gunfire and the howls of beasts was almost enough to make Tommy wish he were deaf, but he kept running and eventually made it back to the smoke-covered area where he’d been ambushed by the spear-wielding hunter. He heard their footsteps behind him, heavy and approaching rapidly, but Tommy was more prepared this time and whipped around to face them right as he got to the ladder and fired his blunderbuss in their direction. The spear-wielding hunter cried out in pain and fell to the ground as Tommy began to ascend the ladder. He had to admit that he felt bad for shooting them and dug out two vials from his pocket and chucked them in the other hunter’s direction then continued his climb up; not stopping to see if they’d taken the vials or not. Getting past the big beast that stood on the rafter wasn’t as hard as he thought it’d be, the beast was rather slow and only noticed him after he’d already ran past. 

While up here Tommy took the opportunity to stop and catch his breath, he hadn’t even noticed how exhausted all that running had made him. Looking down at the area below, he could spot many, many other beasts gathering around something with a larger one standing by some kind of altar. He crept silently through the rafters, only ever making sound when he needed to drop down to rafters below. When he was at the lowest point, Tommy dug out one of the blood cocktails he’d picked up and looked around for a good place to throw it. Steady… Steady… Tommy wasn’t sure if there was a god, but if there was one it certainly didn’t favor him, for the cocktail slipped out of his hand right as he was about to throw it; shattering into a million pieces and splattering blood all over his leg. The crash caught the attention of the beasts and the pungent smell was more than enough to get them to chase after Tommy as he dropped down and bolted out of the exit. 

He sprinted through the dark archway on his right and hurried down the stairs as the howls of beasts echoed behind him. One thing was certain about the beasts of Old Yharnam and that was that they were incredibly persistent; only stopping in their pursuit as Tommy opened the metal door and made his way out of the tower. He flopped down on the ashen ground as he made it back up again, panting and wheezing loudly as he tried to catch his breath again. 

It took quite some time for Tommy to recover from all of that running, and was still a bit out-of-breath as he stood up and dusted himself off. The pungent smell of the blood cocktail clung to his trousers and wouldn’t go away even when he tried washing it out in a muddy puddle. “Well…shit.” He muttered, pacing back and forth by the stairs. “Don’t have any others with me… left those in the dream. I could always go back, but I don’t want to waste too much time… I could always ditch them, though that makes me even more vulnerable… Ah, screw it. If I die to the beasts then I’ll just wake up by the lamp again, simple as that.” The chalice was close-by, he could feel it. Wanting to avoid being swarmed by beasts again, Tommy made his way to the right; quickly moving past the scourge beasts and half-tripped down the stairs that lead down to an old abandoned church. This had to be where the chalice was, where else would they keep it?  

The church was rather large and smelled foul, the stench getting stronger as he made his way to the altar where the chalice stood. Tommy reached for the chalice but just as he was about to grab it, a dark shadow cast over him and the sound of an inhuman growl made him look up. There, staring down at him with sunken in eyes, stood something that looked like it crawled out of a nightmare. He could barely call it a beast; its teeth too large jutting out from its mouth, claws long and foul, and a breath that smelled of plague and rot. Tommy backed away as the beast as it leapt down from the altar, dripping what looked like blood all over the ground as it approached him. 

Instinctively he reached for his axe, the terror growing as he remembered he’d left them by the gate. It was much faster than he’d anticipated, easily catching in its claws Tommy as he tried to get away from it. The beast tore through the thick leather of his coat as if it were made of paper, ripping chunks out with ease as he struggled to get out of its grip. It tossed him aside as if he were nothing but scrap, leaving him to scramble to his feet while the rotted blood seeped into his wounds. Tommy hid behind the pillars to create distance while he desperately tried to heal, though the beast was already awfully close. He only managed to use one vial before the beast lunged at him again, this time, Tommy was not strong enough to endure its attacks and was torn to shreds by this bloodthirsty and vicious beast.

“ALFRED!” Tommy shouted as he tumbled forwards, smacking his chin against the cobblestone. The white hunter hurried over to Tommy’s side, hauling him back up with a look of concern and alarm on his face. “You look a horrible mess! What happened?” Alfred waited patiently while Tommy collected himself. “Ran through Old Yharnam… tried to get the chalice… Got torn to shreds by the beast inside.” Tommy gave Alfred a weak smile and a thumb up, leaning against him until his legs were less wobbly. “They have a chalice?! I thought those had been lost long ago!” Alfred grabbed Tommy by his shoulders, staring at him with an almost crazed look in his eyes. 

“You said you found it in Old Yharnam, yes?” Tommy nodded and sighed, sensing where this was going. “Guarded by a beast too, it seems. Don’t think that old fox would appreciate it if we killed one of his precious beasts .” Alfred practically spat the last words out; seems like he disliked the beasts as much as anyone else... Maybe even more than the average yharnamite. 

“I don’t think we’ll need to kill it though!” Tommy quickly added and held up one of the blood cocktails he’d picked up. “I’ve got about five left, which isn’t much but if we’re quick enough we’ll be able to get in there, grab it, and get out in one piece!” He watched as Alfred contemplated it, and was relieved when his expression changed to one of approval. The white hunter moved over to one of the gravestones and Tommy looked on in surprise as Alfred picked up a massive hammer and swung it on his shoulder. “Umm… I don’t think we’ll need that-” his sentence was interrupted by an amused laughter and Alfred stepping closer to him with a grin “I know. I’m not going to kill the beast, I’m just going to use this as a barrier between that beast and myself if things go south.” Well that’s a relief. Tommy nodded and the two made their way towards Old Yharnam, the chances of succeeding far higher than they were when Tommy did it alone.

“Before we enter, can you tell me one thing?” Tommy asked, glancing down at the messengers who held up the fog gate, then up at Alfred who was standing a couple of steps away. 

“Of course.” 

“Can you see them?” He pointed at the messengers. Alfred squinted and took a step closer, then shook his head. “I don’t see anything. Should I be seeing something?” Well, that confirms one thing: Non-dreaming hunters cannot see the messengers. 

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing to worry about. Just, don’t think too much about this.” Tommy crouched down to be on a similar level to the little rascals. 

“Hey, could you remove the fog gate? I know it’s a bit risky, but we’re gonna need to make a quick escape if things go according to plan… or if things go south.” The messengers chattered amongst themselves until they eventually turned their gazes in Tommy’s direction and nodded. Moments later, the fog gate was gone and the two of them set foot inside the church. The beast stood over by the altar, staring them down as they approached.

It let out a horrible screech and Tommy swallowed as it began to move towards them, it looked even bigger from here, but he steeled himself and prepared to throw a cocktail at the nearest pillar. Alfred walked closely behind him, hammer gripped tightly in his hands and eyes never leaving the beast. Three… two… one! Tommy chucked the pungent-smelling bottle at the pillar, glass shattering and blood coating part of it red. It worked like a charm, the beast turned its attention away from them and focused solely on lapping up the blood. “Okay, go go go!” The two of them hurried over to the altar and Tommy quickly grabbed it and attached it to his belt. 

The beast must’ve sensed that they grabbed the chalice for it stopped focusing on the blood and turned its full attention on them, staring at them with nothing but fury and contempt. It let out another bloodcurdling scream and lunged at Tommy, but was stopped by Alfred who struck it with his hammer. “EYES ON ME!” It turned its attention on Alfred and swung wildly at him, its foul claws tearing at the heavy fabric of Alfred’s garb and staining it red with blood. “You’re out for blood aren’t you? Well come and get me then!” Alfred’s voice was almost maniacal as he swung the kirkhammer at it yet again, missing as the beast leapt to the side only to quickly close the distance with a single attack. Tommy threw another cocktail and panicked at the realisation that the beast didn’t care about that blood anymore; all it cared about was killing them and retrieving the chalice. New plan: Save Alfred. His fingers brushed past something metallic and looked down to see the flamesprayer that sat on his belt beside the chalice, how he’d forgotten about it until now was unfathomable, but he could save his surprise for later. 

Tommy held it tightly in his left hand while he threw an oil urn at the beast with his right. It hit the beast’s back and covered it in a large amount of oil, good, the more oil the better. He ducked underneath one of the beast’s attacks and narrowly avoided getting his head caved in by Alfred who was fully focused on the beast. Tommy set the beast ablaze the moment before it caught Alfred the same way it had done to him before. It shrieked horribly and backed away from the flames; the smell of rotting flesh being burnt filled his nostrils. “Alfred! I’ve got this! GO!” He ordered, pointing at the exit with his free hand. Alfred opened his mouth to protest but cut himself off before he could even begin. Tommy only stopped spraying flames at the beast when he was certain that Alfred had made it out safely, at which point he himself turned around and ran. Almost there! Almost- The beast caught up to him just before he reached the exit, hooking its rotted claws into his shoulders and hauling him back into the church. It didn’t seem very keen on letting go this time, certainly not after having been set on fire, which was made painfully clear by how far its claws dug into him. Tommy closed his eyes and held back a scream as it began to tear into him. The sound of a bullet being fired echoed through the church and the beast let out a shriek as another one was fired, hitting it in the arm and causing it to let go of Tommy. He fell to the ground like a ragdoll, vision blurry and unfocused from pain, and didn’t even react as he was dragged out of the building; the fog gate rising behind them.

The blurriness faded as he felt something be jabbed into his thigh and looked up to see Alfred sitting beside him and in an even worse state; his once white garb was now torn and stained red with blood, gashes from the beast’s claws looked as if they were infected, though that could be easily fixed with some blood… he hoped.

“That…could’ve gone better.” Tommy mumbled, sitting up on the cold ground and watched as Alfred healed himself up. “Could’ve gone worse too…” his throat rattled as he spoke and tried clearing it a little bit, though that did little to help. Odd, though it’s probably from being so close to the beast. S’not the worst he’s dealt with, probably the least toxic thing he’s ever inhaled.

“Do you have the chalice?” Alfred asked, worry laced his voice which faded as Tommy tapped the golden chalice that sat on his belt. “That’s a relief.” he sighed and chuckled “Wouldn’t want to go back there to retrieve it, now would we?” Tommy shook his head in agreement. The less time he spent around that thing the better. 

“We should probably get a move-on, beasts might smell the blood on our clothes and think we’re an easy kill.” He rose to his feet and held out a hand to help Alfred up from where he was sitting. They made the trek back up to the gate in one piece, only the scourge beasts were bold enough to try and attack them, but one demonstration of the flamesprayer was enough to discourage them from further attacks. The two of them parted ways inside the abandoned building with Alfred heading back to the secluded area he’d first met him in and Tommy returning to the dream, though he did remember to mention the Oedon Chapel to Alfred right before he left. He wasn’t sure if he was actually going to go there, but he could hope. With his weapons in hand once again and chalice attached to his belt, Tommy crouched down by the lamp and was whisked away into the hunter’s dream.

Chapter Text

His visit to the hunter’s dream wasn’t very long, it mainly consisted of Tommy chatting with Gehrman, getting some advice, and leaving the chalice with him in the dream. He didn’t quite understand how he was supposed to use it to commune with other hunters, but he’d keep it there anyway. Something that piqued his interest during the visit was the mention of two names;  with Gehrman very briefly mentioning a hunter called ‘Ludwig’ and changing subjects before Tommy even got the chance to ask about him. The Doll, however, asked about someone named ‘Djura’ and of his well-being at the mention of his visit to Old Yharnam. Until now, he hadn’t considered that other hunters might’ve also been connected to the dream, but it became quite clear to him with the sheer amount of tombstones he’d seen around the dream. He had to admit that it was almost sweet seeing how the Doll still remembers and cares about those who no longer dreamt, though it did make him wonder if those hunters remember the Doll. He hoped so.

Crouching down beside the headstone and touching his hand to it, Tommy’s mind began to wander; thinking of all the places he’d visited so far and where he should go now. Gehrman had mentioned something about Oedon Chapel so he figured that’s where he’d go next. It was rather difficult trying to remember the chapel, having been there only briefly, but it seemed to work nonetheless as his body began to fade from the hunter’s dream.

The feeling of dirt beneath his feet surprised him and Tommy opened his eyes to see that he was standing in the darkened graveyard below Oedon Chapel, instead of the safety of the chapel’s walls. The large tombstone that stood in the middle of this accursed place towered above him, making him feel small and insignificant in comparison. He made his way toward the chapel with hurried steps; being there had only ever made him feel uneasy and miserable with the guilt that hung over him. When he was about half-way up the stairs, Tommy was hit with the familiar smell of the incense that wafted through the air. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining things, but the incense seemed stronger than before and inhaling it made his throat itch and his head ache. It wasn’t like this before, was it?

Sitting in a corner by the back-entrance he’d just come from, Tommy spotted the two sisters huddling together with the younger one fast-asleep and using her sister’s shoulder as a headrest, and the older one fighting to keep her eyes open. Seeing as this place was relatively safe, Tommy made the decision to pull his mask down and set his weapons aside. He didn’t need to use them here.
“How’re you holding up?” Tommy asked in a hushed whisper, sitting down opposite the older sister. She didn’t say anything in response, just giving him a tired smile before leaning her head back against the stone wall. Just how long have these kids been awake for? Too long it seems.
“You should get some rest, too-” He cut himself off to clear his throat which rattled as he spoke, “This hunt seems like it’ll be a bad one, and I don’t think you want to be awake to witness any of it” He’d know, having already seen some unpleasant things himself.
Before he left to investigate the strange door, Tommy handed the sword badge to the elder sister, stating it’d ward off beasts. He didn’t know if that was true or not, but giving the two even the slightest sense of security was the least he could do. 

He wasn’t sure what surprised him the most when he stepped out of the elevator; the sight of a huntsman slumped over dead in his chair, or Alfred who was sitting only a few meters away on a chest; somehow bloodier than before, waving at Tommy with a friendly smile. Somehow, this is the least threatening thing Tommy’s seen all day. 

“Oh-hoh! Good to see you again.” Alfred said in the same cheery tone he’d greeted him with before.
“I can say the same to you, too.” Tommy replied, looking over at the dead huntsman and shuddered at the condition he was in. Seems like Alfred had killed him with the hammer… would’ve preferred if he’d struck him with the sword instead, makes less of a mess.
“What brings you up here? I would think you’d have other matters to attend to, beasts to hunt, and others to rescue.” He observed, followed by a chuckle. Tommy took note of the rattle that was present in Alfred’s voice, something which wasn’t present during their previous conversation.

“Well… I stopped by the chapel to check in on everyone and noticed the door was open, an’ came to check it out.” Tommy said, tapping his fingers against each other and looking over at the building on the other side of the bridge. The building looked as if it hadn’t been in use for some time, but judging by the dead yharnamite who was slumped over behind him he could almost guarantee that there’d be at least a couple other huntsmen in there. He’d been so caught up with gazing at the building and marvelling over the view that he hadn’t noticed that Alfred was standing right beside him and was looking over at the church’s workshop as well. 

“Seeing as we’re both here-” he jumped at the sound of Alfred’s voice, and straightened up to mask his embarrassment, “do you wish to investigate the church workshop together? I don’t quite know what to expect here, but I have a feeling we will find something that benefits us both. Besides, we’ve already proven that we make for a good team.”
“I already thought we’d agreed on cooperating? Let’s go!” Tommy said and took off running, axe held firmly in his hand and flamesprayer in the other. The sound of bullets being fired rang through the air and Tommy stumbled as one of them hit him in the leg, but got back on his feet before another could hit him. Why did a workshop need so much protection? Was the church hiding something, and if so; what exactly were they hiding?

The last huntsman fell to the ground with a thud, blood flowing out from a wound in his head as Tommy dislodged his axe. With the two of them working as a team, clearing out the workshop had gone rather smoothly; a massive improvement from last time. Now that everyone previously in here laid dead, they could finally take a proper look around and maybe even take some things for themselves. He turned his gaze up at the various weapons that hung from the ceiling, many of which were saw blades; excellent for slicing through beasts. While he was busy looking at the weapons, Alfred was caught up with trying to get a mysterious door to open up, and muttered angrily when his attempts proved futile.

“How’s it going with the door?” Tommy called, his question quickly answered by a loud groan and the sound of heavy metal being dragged against the stone floor, “You’ll get it open eventually, just keep trying!”. He continued his tour throughout the room, opening up a box to discover yet another badge; it was similar in shape to the silver sword but it shone oh-so brightly in the light; its radiant silver light reminding him of the lamps cold glow. There was a small movement in the corner of his eye and Tommy looked over to see something hiding in the small space between the chest and the stone pillar. He crouched down to get a better look and was surprised at the sight of some kind of large, greenish, slug.
“Hey there, little guy.” He said in a soft voice, reaching out to touch it with an ungloved hand. It was slimy and cold as expected, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Being very slow with his movements and with a lot of care, Tommy picked the slug up and held it up to the light. He watched as pale markings, previously hidden from sight, danced and shimmered in the light.
“You’re a strange one, aren’t you? Wonder where you came from…” he thought aloud, petting the little creature’s head with his finger. It’s kinda cute, I wonder if- Thinking quickly, Tommy shoved the slug inside his coat at the sound of Alfred’s approach.

“Well, the door doesn’t seem as if it’s gonna move anytime soon. There’s not enough space for me to use the hammer properly either, so it seems like we’ll just have to find the key… wherever it’s being kept.” Alfred said, taking a quick look around the room. “Found anything of interest?”
“Uh, yeah. Picked up a badge from a chest, but that’s about all.” He held out the badge to let Alfred take a look at it, completely forgetting the fact that his hand was still a bit goopy from holding the slug. To his surprise, Alfred didn’t seem to have noticed and was focusing solely on the badge with a smile.
“That’s quite the find, and in such good shape no less!” His grin grew wider as he held it up in the sunlight, almost blinding both of them with its silver glow. Tommy shielded his eyes from the light, while Alfred continued to marvel at it; like some sort of moth. Lunatic.

“Curse whoever built this place.” Tommy groaned out of frustration as he landed beside Alfred on the small wooden platform, a jolt of pain going up his legs as his feet connected with the planks. How either of them had made it down without dying or breaking the planks was truly impressive. The sounds of a large beast came from below and the smell of it was enough to trigger Tommy’s cough and Alfred sounded a little hoarse as well. What the hell had that beast been spewing out?

The two of them made their way down the stairs and Tommy froze at the sight of the workshop; the familiar shape building and the path leading up to it looking almost the same as they did in the dream, though there was a clear absence of flowers here, which only made the place look more abandoned than it would with them. Alfred had gone ahead to search through the workshop, while Tommy looked around outside. He wasn’t expecting to find anything out here but he did stumble across two things; a box full of clothing that looked exactly like the doll’s (which he left) and an old bone resting beside a headstone. There was something written on the headstone but this place had been left uncared for for so long, it would be almost impossible to make out what it said; leaving the person’s name a mystery and forgotten by everyone.

A shame, really. The dead should be remembered, not left alone and be forgotten in a place like this. Entering the workshop Tommy was greeted by the sight of three things; papers and other things scattered over the ground, a doll sitting motionlessly by the door, and a mildly confused and very disturbed Alfred who was staring at something dark that sat on the table in front of him.

“All good?” Tommy asked and took a couple of steps closer “What are you even staring at-” he cut himself off at the sight of the thing that sat coiled up on the table. For a few moments, all he could do was stare at the fleshy thing with disgust and…curiosity? He picked it up without thinking, his fingers tracing over it and shuddering as he touched one of its eyes; black as the night sky and devoid of all life, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was watching him. He felt as the slug he’d tucked away in his coat began to move and watched as it poked its head out to look at the cord. Is it curious? Can slugs get curious? Maybe I can study them when the hunt is over? That was something he could dwell on later, they had more important matters to deal with. Tommy dropped it into the dream, wiping his hand off on the wall to get rid of the strange feeling left behind.

“Tom…?” Tommy turned around to look at Alfred, who still looked disturbed.

“Yeah?” 

“Why did you touch it?”

“...I don’t know.”

“Where’s your other glove?”

“...i don’t know…”

Aside from the doll, the old bone…and the cord, there really wasn’t much else of interest in the workshop, though Tommy quickly grabbed a hair ornament that sat on a nearby shelf; small and ordinary, yet it could probably make for a good gift. A gift for the Doll perhaps?
With their business in the workshop concluded, the two of them made a swift exit and didn’t bother looking back, but Tommy did make a note to himself to come back and fetch the doll and bring it to the chapel. Even if it wasn’t the one in the dream, she still deserved better than to be abandoned.

The way down was a nightmare, both of them almost falling to their deaths on multiple occasions, yet they made it nonetheless. The beast they’d heard earlier was sitting in front of the door, asleep and blocking their exit. Its stench was so much worse now that they were so close; the smell making his throat rattle and he had to fight to suppress a coughing fit. Tommy crept closer to the beast, readying his axe to strike it. It awoke when he was only a couple of steps away, rising to its feet right as the axe struck it; the beast snarled furiously as its blood sprayed onto the ground. It moved away from the door and into the large open space; standing right where Alfred waited. It roared as Alfred’s sword thrust into its side and jumped away right before the hammer struck it. Then, something very strange happened as the beast turned its gaze on Tommy; he watched as it held up a clawed hand, a flame sparking to life and illuminating its malformed face.

 He was so focused on the sight of fire in the beast’s hand that he barely had enough time to dodge its attack; the ball of flame hitting his leg and making him stumble. It quickly closed the distance and grabbed a hold of Tommy with its foul claws, but let go as its side was struck by Alfred’s hammer and turned its attention on him. This distraction gave Tommy enough time to recover from its attack and ready one of his own. 

The beast wasn’t quite as fast or as vicious as the blood-starved beast, but it still kept them on their toes, dodging its flames, taking hits and striking back until it fell. It let out a horrible shriek as it died, making Tommy clutch and scratch at his head at the sound. If he wasn’t sure that something was off before, he certainly was now; every sound felt louder, every smell stronger, every light brighter. He sat down on the ground, knees up to his chest and squeezing his eyes closed in an attempt to shut everything out. Too loud… too loud, too loud too loud! Everything’s too loud… too much. Garb too tight and itchy, lights too bright and painful, smells too strong and sharp… Make it stop…make it stop!

There was a strange sensation in his head; a presence, something burning, something being etched into his mind. That feeling was present on his arm and he scratched at it in a feeble attempt to make it go away, yet it remained. He froze at the feeling of something touching his shoulder, something firm yet warm, and he looked up to see Alfred sitting beside him; much like he’d done after their struggle with the blood-starved beast.

“...I’m not going to ask what’s wrong, but if there’s something you need then do tell me. Part of cooperating is being able to look out for one another, especially if one of us isn’t doing too well.” His voice was soft and moved away to give him some space. Tommy stared at the ground for a few moments, feeling himself start to unwind, little by little.

“... a hug… ” he mumbled, looking back at Alfred again.

“Sorry, I didn’t quite hear that. Could you repeat?”

“...a hug…” Tommy repeated and watched as Alfred nodded and scooted closer to him. He leaned against the other hunter almost like a ragdoll, and closed his eyes as he felt Alfred wrap his arms around him. They remained like this for a while, only getting up when Tommy felt better; though he was still a bit jumpy. While he didn’t say anything, he was very much grateful that Alfred had even bothered helping him; something which hadn’t happened much until tonight. It was almost funny that he meets the kindest people in a time and place like this. Yharnam’s a lot like its people now that he thought about it; there are many, many flaws and many problems yet it still has some good qualities, good qualities that are found in the most unexpected places.

Chapter Text

Opening the door and setting foot on the streets of the lower parts of the Cathedral Ward, Tommy was greeted with the stench of rot, disease, and death; a foul odor that hung over the city like a dark cloud that clogged his throat with every breath. Yet, despite the smell and the horrible taste it left, he couldn’t help but feel at ease as he filled his lungs with the smog-filled air. These streets, as awful and gloomy as they were, reminded him of his hometown; narrow, almost claustrophobic streets, with buildings crammed so close together one could easily hear every breath their neighbour took, and located so far below surrounded by buildings so tall that the sunlight rarely reached the cobble streets. He was snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of a groan and looked over at Alfred, whose face was scrunched up in disgust and covering his nose with part of his garb to keep the smell out. 

They moved quickly through the narrow streets, but made their way into an alley at the sound of approaching footsteps; A patrol, judging by the sound of the steps.
As the patrol came into view, Tommy couldn’t help but be both shocked and intrigued by their garb; what they wore was more akin to some kind of butcher, rather than something more commonly worn by the rest of the townsfolk. He watched as the patrol walked past, the two of them only moving when the footsteps were no longer heard. They shared a look of annoyance at the sight of crows lurking around a corner, killing them before they were able to make a sound; same went for the rabid dog that lunged at them. As they made their way through the alley, Tommy spotted something in the corner of his eye and turned to look at it. Standing further up in one of the passages, Tommy laid his eyes on a large, cloaked, figure with some kind of sack slung over its shoulder. It stood eerily still, almost like a mannequin, with only the twitch of its fingers indicating any kind of life. After what felt like an eternity of staring at the strange humanoid, Tommy finally tore his gaze away from it and scurried to catch up with Alfred, who was waiting for him further up the street.

“Let’s not spend too much time here, the sooner we get going the better.” Alfred said, quickly making his way towards the elevator with Tommy following close behind. 

It was nice to see the ward again, less cramped and dark than the streets below. He scanned the area for any sign of life, and jumped down from the ledge when he felt it was safe; Alfred landing beside him shortly after. Pulling the lever took a bit of effort on his end but it was well worth it, as the gate left him with a shortcut to the chapel if he ever wanted to return there again. Soon, he hoped, that place felt similar to the hunter’s dream: Safe and free of beasts. His thoughts were interrupted by an inhuman groan and hopped away right before one of the church doctors struck him with its cane. Tommy glowered at the doctor and readied his blunderbuss, firing as the doctor raised his cane for another attack; causing it to stagger. Seeing this opening, he couldn’t help but feel as if there was something within him that was tugging at his limbs; something that wanted him to use a technique he hadn’t used in a little while, to kill this thing.

Tommy felt as his body moved on its own, quickly closing the distance and curling his hand into an almost beastly claw; thrusting it into the church doctor’s chest and tugging at whatever organ was the closest, tearing it out with little effort. It let out a gurgling sound as it died and Tommy glanced at the organ in his hand, then let it fall to the ground and crushed it with his heel. It took a little bit for Tommy to actually realise what he’d done, but to his surprise he wasn’t shaking like he had when he’d torn out the Cleric Beast’s eye… Instead he was oddly calm. He looked down at his hand, red and sticky with the doctor’s blood, and wiped it off on his cape.
The sound of bones being crushed and something being smashed into a pulp caught his attention and Tommy turned around to see Alfred haul his hammer onto his shoulder again; covered with blood and gore from the other church doctor, whose head now looked like mashed potatoes made of flesh, bone, and other things
Mmm… Mashed potatoes. Maybe I could..? No, don’t even think about it. Remember what happened to Uncle Jonathan. But, I haven’t eaten in some time and a little bit should be fine, right? Wait, what the hell am I thinking? Why am I even considering this?? Is it the blood? Has it gotten to my head already? It doesn’t turn you this fast, does it? For my own sake I hope it doesn’t, I don’t want to become a beast yet or ever for that matter-

“Tommy!” He jumped at the sound of his name being called, the feeling of being shaken snapped him out of his morbid thoughts and back into reality.
“Huh? Wha-?” He blinked a couple times, looking up to see an annoyed Alfred staring down at him, eyebrows furrowed.

“Is something the matter?” Tommy asked, puzzled.
“I’ve been trying to talk to you for nearly a minute.” Alfred sighed, “Yet you didn’t seem to listen to a word I said. What were you even thinking about?” He asked, expression softening and letting go of Tommy’s shoulders. There wasn’t a single chance he’d be telling Alfred of his thoughts.

“I was just thinking about… where to go now.” He said, picking at his nails as he spoke. “I mean, the gate’s open so I could go to the cathedral now, yeah? But… there might be some townsfolk lingering about, sane townsfolk, who I’d like to bring to the chapel.” That wasn’t a complete lie; he had been  asked to bring other people to the chapel, he’d just forgotten about it until now. Alfred did not look convinced by his words, yet he remained silent.
“I suggest we open the main gate before we help any survivors, it’ll make the trip back to the chapel less of a hassle.” Easy enough. Shouldn’t take too long, either.
Right as he was about to take off towards where he guessed the main gate was, Alfred stopped him by grabbing onto his shoulder with a firm yet gentle grip. 

“Now, before you go dashing off and potentially getting us both killed.” Alfred began, ”I have to warn you about the giants that patrol the square. While they aren’t a threat if you’re careful, I’ve seen what they can do to someone who’s acting recklessly.” He said with a disturbed look on his face. 
“What does the Church need giants for?? Aren’t the servants…church doctors… Whatever, enough?”
“They keep the townsfolk away from the Cathedral at night, and are doing so very effectively, might I add.” Alfred added. Oh, right… That makes sense. Didn’t think about that.

“Okay, thanks for the heads up.” Tommy said, fidgeting with his fingers; itching to get going. “Can we get going now? I don’t want to waste too much time talking and I really want to get a move-on.”
Was he acting too restless? Too fidgety? Probably, but Alfred didn’t seem to mind, much to Tommy’s relief. Not many people have been tolerant of his restlessness, so this was a nice change of pace. Hopefully it remained that way.

Standing in the town plaza, Tommy was in awe of how beautiful the place was; basked in the warm light of the setting sun. He didn’t get to enjoy this sight for very long, there were gates to open and people to help, but he could always enjoy the scenery at a later point. While he opened up the gate, Alfred was busy dealing with the church servants; one wielding a flamesprayer by the sound of it. He made his way to where Alfred was waiting, the two of them making their way down a narrow walkway and down a flight of stairs; kicking a servant down the stairs and finishing it off by shooting it in the head. Not the cleanest death, but less messy than Alfred’s method.
The light here was dim and was covered in mist, though the sight of a red lantern sitting outside a window piqued his interest. He knocked on the window and heard an annoyed mutter coming from behind the window.

“You... you're not from around here are ya?” The man asked, the familiar tone of distrust laced his words as he spoke. Tommy sighed, having a feeling about what it was the man was going to say.
“An outsider who's come to join the hunt? What a pathetic idea. You what? What, you think I'm a beast? Well, maybe I think you're a beast. And step away from my castle!” 

He let out a huff of irritation, turning and to see another red lantern sitting by a closed door, yet there was no light coming from inside. First one was about as pleasant as a hornet, let’s hope this one’s better. A surprised gasp was heard behind the door as Tommy knocked, a nice change from the last one.

“Oh, my, what a queer scent... But I'd take it over the stench of blood and beasts any day.” Tommy didn’t know whether he should be insulted or complimented by the woman’s comment. Insulted at the fact she said he smelled weird, or complimented at the fact he smells better than a beast.
“What is it, then? I'm off during hunts, so if that's what you're here for, I'll leave you to your own devices. If that doesn't do it, come back in the morning, darling.” 

“Ummm, I think you might’ve misunderstood… a lot.” He said, embarrassed. While he didn’t turn around to check, he could just feel the amused look on Alfred’s face. Bastard.
“We’re not here for your services, ma’am, we’re just hunters doing our duty and trying to bring anyone we can to a safeplace.” 

“Oh, dear me. Forget I said anything.” The woman laughed. “You mentioned a safeplace, did you not?” There was a worried tone in her voice as she spoke. Was she afraid of them? Or was there something else she was worried about?
“Yes, I did. It’s pretty close too.” He added.
“Then, could you bring me there? The night is long, and I’ve very little incense left…” He heard a scoff coming through the window behind him, and the woman let out a tired and irritated sigh.

“Of course we’ll bring you there. There’s plenty of space and I’ve already brought others there, too.”
“Oh, thank you darling.” She sounded relieved at his words, and Tommy took a couple of steps back as the door creaked open and the woman stepped out. She was a bit taller than he was and wore a beautiful dress; one that reminded him of the dresses he’d seen upperclass women wear, but maybe a bit simpler.

As the three of them walked, he couldn’t help but notice the way Alfred was staring at her- no, glaring at her. Did they know each other? Was there any bad blood between them that he wasn’t aware of? Well that shouldn't matter right now, they were hunters and had a job to do. They made it to the Oedon Chapel in a rather short amount of time, and Tommy groaned as he was hit with the strong, almost sharp, smell of the incense. Alfred didn’t stick around long, mentioning something about having business to attend to, though Tommy suspected he wasn’t telling the truth. The woman, Arianna, had gone on ahead while he remained outside; coughing and wheezing as his lungs protested. His voice was hoarse and shaky by the time the coughing finally stopped, though it was still rather sore as he breathed. The blood is supposed to help with diseases, they said. It’ll help with my illness, they said. A bloody lie, I say. My cough is just getting worse every time I go near this place!

He made his visit in the chapel very brief to avoid another coughing fit, though it was nice to see the residents again. Stepping out of the Chapel, Tommy couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief as the smell of the incense faded away, being replaced with the smell of blood and death; a smell he’d gotten rather fond of. 

“Yep, the blood’s definitely gotten to my head and I’m going mad. Great... But I don’t really feel that different; my mind’s still sound and I don’t go out of my way to get more blood… Maybe it just takes longer for hunters to feel the effects? That would explain it. But still…”

“What on earth are you mumbling about?” Tommy froze as a familiar voice broke the silence, eyes darting around to find the source of it. There, right by the stone railing and standing with her arms crossed, he spotted the familiar shape of Eileen; standing so still he almost confused her for a statue.
“I, uhh, nothing, nothing at all!…Don’t think too much about it.” She did not believe that for a damn second, he could tell; watching him with a gaze that felt as if she were staring right into his soul.

“Anyway, what’re you doing here?” He asked, quickly changing the subject.
“I have business to attend to, and I must warn you not to go near the tomb below Oedon Chapel. Henryk, an old hunter, has gone mad. And he’s my mark…” The seriousness in her voice was almost scary, and he took a step back.

“I-I’m not planning on going there, ‘place gives me the creeps.” Tommy held his hands up as if he were trying to appease her in some way. Eileen let out an amused snort, then turned back around; that small gesture made Tommy feel more at ease.

Deciding to listen to the old hunter’s warning and keep away from the tomb, Tommy headed up the stairs and began making his way towards the Grand Cathedral. He had many, many questions that he wanted answers to, so where else to go but the source of the holy blood? The run there wasn’t too bad, or at least, that’s what he thought until he got to the top of the stairs. In front of him were two church servants, both dressed in black and wielding an unusual crucifix; guarding the Cathedral’s gates. At first, fighting them wasn’t too bad though they were surprisingly fast, but something rather strange happened as they struck him. His ears started ringing, almost unnoticeable at first but became unbearably loud after only a few moments; vision becoming dark and unfocused soon after.

In this darkness, Tommy felt himself begin to panic and he began to swing his axe around wildly; desperately trying to find something in this darkness. An overwhelming sense of dread hung over him, almost suffocatingly so, as he failed to hit anything in his state of panic. There is nothing here! Nothing here… They're gone! They're all gone... Coming here was a mistake; I want- I want to leave. I have to leave-

Then, it all stopped, and the last thing he felt before fading into moonlit mist was a heavy strike to his head followed by horrible pain.

-

The racing thoughts in his head, the ringing in his ears, and the terror he felt, all disappeared in the soothing embrace of the darkness. Could he stay like this for longer? He hoped so. It was so calm here, so comforting and oddly pleasant. Even in a place as dark as this, he could still see his body, though details were blurry and hard to make out. His remaining glove felt strange on his hand, ill-fitting and much too small. This feeling quickly faded as he removed the glove, yet something still felt off as he flexed his fingers; though he couldn’t make out what it was in this darkness. There was a faint glow coming from inside his coat and reached into it and pulled out the slug; the only source of light he had in this place.

“Just what are you?” Tommy wondered to himself, eyes wandering as he gazed at it. Perhaps it could act as a guide to him, even if it was only in this darkness? The hairs on his arms stood on end as something within the darkness changed; the void flexing to give space for a new presence. There, in the darkness ahead of him, something emerged. It bore the shape of a hand though its appearance was strange; looking somewhere between a beast’s claw and a talon, though it had one finger too many. It stopped in front of him, twitching a little before grabbing on and holding him in a vice grip; the rest of its shape wrapping around him like some kind of snake. The little vision he had began to fade as Tommy felt himself be pulled from the embrace of the void; back into the world of the living.

Standing in the shadow of the great tomb, Tommy could feel a hostile presence staring at him from somewhere; somewhere close. In the corner of his eye he saw a person, another hunter, dressed in a bright yellow cloak and glaring at him with eyes full of madness and blood drunkenness; Henryk, he presumed. The man was fast, faster than Tommy had anticipated, and easily sliced into him with that saw cleaver of his. Using the tombstones as cover, he was able to recover from Henryk’s attacks and prepare a counter attack. His axe struck hard, temporarily staggering Henryk in his attack; sending splashes of scarlet flying onto the graves. Henryk regained his balance quickly, blocking his attack with the use of the cleaver and left Tommy open for an attack; an opportunity the hunter in goldenrod took and stabbed Tommy in the side with a small knife he’d tucked away in his cloak. Several daggers were thrown at him, many hitting Tommy in the back as he made a run for cover behind the great tombstone. A surprised gasp was heard coming from the bloodcrazed hunter, followed closely by the sharp whistling sound of blades slicing through the air; Eileen had finally arrived. 

Quickly making his way over to where the two were fighting, Tommy tried his best to stay away from Eileen and keep Henryk’s attention on him; intending on having her be the one who finishes him off. Despite being outnumbered, Henryk still fought viciously; like a cornered animal. He hopped out of the way to avoid getting hit with the cleaver's serrated edge, and gasped as Henryk spun around and struck the crow with the same weapon he'd tried to keep from hitting either of them. At the sight of Eileen's blood being spilled, something within Tommy shifted and churned, a growl rising in his throat as his focus shifted from distracting Henryk… to ending him. Tommy transformed the axe and swung it at him; his attacks wild and and uncontrolled, almost as if he'd gone blind. Right as he was about to deliver the final strike, a flurry of dark feathers dashed towards the wounded hunter, and watched as Eileen finished him off with a strike to his throat. Henryk let out a gurgling cry as he died, voice broken yet full of pain and regret. Whatever was inside Tommy's head faded as he approached the fading body of the old hunter, peering down at him with respect and pity. While he didn’t know the man, one should still respect dead… Even if he was partially responsible for Henryk’s demise.

“You…” Eileen croaked out, panting and trying to catch her breath, “Did I not tell you to stay out of here?” Her voice was sharp as she confronted him, but he couldn’t help but pick up on something else. What was it? Alarm? Suspicion? Or something entirely else?

“I didn’t mean to!” He said, trembling. “I had an accident on my way to the Grand Cathedral a-and…”
“You don’t need to explain what happened, it's not important.” Tommy gave her an appreciative smile; He really did not want to think about that experience, not yet at least.

“This was not necessary of you, but you have my thanks.” Eileen’s voice retained the sharpness, though she sounded more appreciative than before. “You must’ve killed Gascoigne as well then.” He flinched at the mention of the hunter’s name, the memory briefly returning to him. I should’ve brought Eileen and have her deal with him… would’ve made things easier.

“He was falling apart… I’m sure it had to be done.” She gave Tommy a quick pat on his back as a sign of approval… or perhaps sympathy? Either way, he appreciated it.
“But try to keep your hands clean… A hunter should hunt beasts. Leave the hunting of hunters, to me.” No need to tell me twice, I’ve killed enough hunters for a lifetime.

Eileen sheathed her weapons and returned to her usual stance; head down and arms crossed, though it looked a little different this time; seemingly focused on something. He followed her gaze, eyes traveling over the ground until they rested on the bloodstain where Henryk’s body was only moments ago. He squinted in an attempt to find whatever it was Eileen had seen.

It took him a few moments to register what it was they were staring at, but he felt his blood turn to ice when he finally noticed it. There, in the pool of blood laid a large, bright red brooch; the same one he’d seen on the body of the childrens’ mother. His thoughts started racing as he picked it up from the ground, going as still as a statue as he stared at it in his palm with the world fading around him as his eyes focused on the blood red gem.
This… this is a dream, isn’t it? Yeah, it's all a dream... a very bad one… One where I’ve killed two hunters in the same place; two hunters who were likely friends, and I've successfully turned Gascoigne's kids into orphans… I want to wake up from this nightmare; to be freed from everything I’ve done... but how do I wake up? Wait... Henryk’s cry, before he died... it sounded sorrowful, didn't it?.. He was mourning them, wasn't he?

Tommy didn’t know what to do; with emotions swirling in his head like a storm and thoughts racing faster than he could keep up with. It was too much for him to deal with, and so, he began to laugh; starting as a giggle and gradually turning into a sad and pathetic laughter… which ended as a weak whimper. When he was done, Tommy felt as the rest of his energy faded and looked around with unfocused eyes; limbs feeling as if they were made of stone. Where to..? Dream? No…. must go to Cathedral… I need answers.

Eileen stood a couple of feet away, watching as Tommy shambled up the stairs with his head hanging low, almost dragging his feet as he moved towards the chapel. If she was following him, he didn’t know, his only goal was to get back to the Cathedral. Even in his weary state, Tommy made sure to hide the brooch in his pocket before entering the safehaven; the less tears shed tonight the better. The smell of the incense was powerful and clawed at his throat as he re-entered the chapel, yet he couldn’t even bring himself to register the tightness in his throat as he made his way towards the exit; not hearing a single word the residents might’ve said to him. The difficulty breathing from being inside the chapel left him horribly dizzy as he exited the building, legs getting wobblier for each step taken until they eventually gave out, and Tommy tumbled forward, hitting his head on the stairs leading up to the ward. He laid there as limp as a ragdoll, barely aware of anything going on around him and too fatigued to do anything. He wasn’t sure if his mind was playing tricks on him, but he could faintly hear the sound of approaching footsteps, whose they were he couldn’t tell. Tommy didn’t get to find out who they belonged to, as he felt his eyes grow heavy; the world gradually disappearing into darkness caused by his own exhaustion. The last thing he felt before the darkness swallowed him, was the feeling of the ground disappearing below him.

Chapter Text

Tommy awoke in an unfamiliar location, finding himself laying down on grimy stone floors with the weak light of a lantern shining down on him as he looked around the room with unfocused eyes. He took a deep breath and pushed himself off the ground, using a nearby pillar for support as he regained his balance. The room spun as he rose to his feet and he rested his head against the pillar’s dirty surface until the dizziness went away. While leaning against the pillar, Tommy became aware of the phantom feeling of something brushing past him; prodding him, despite there being no one else in here. That was strange… Are there ghosts in Yharnam? Is that what I felt?

Where was he even? It didn’t exactly look like anywhere he’d visited recently, and it smelled far too different, too much like a morgue for it to be a part of the Cathedral Ward. Though, that wasn’t what concerned him the most. No, it was the unnatural silence of the place, hard as he tried he couldn’t hear a single sound other than the sound of his own breathing. Pushing open a rusted door, Tommy made his way out of the cell and up a spiral staircase, his footsteps echoing throughout the halls as he walked. When he reached the top of the stairs Tommy was met with the sight of a vast and hauntingly empty chapel; any sign of life that might’ve been here once was long gone. Despite the emptiness of the chapel he couldn’t help but get the sense of being watched; shivers going down his spine as the feeling of unblinking eyes bore into him. He looked around frantically in an attempt to locate the source of the feeling, his eyes darting wildly until he caught a glimpse of something movement at the very top of the stairs. Taking a few steps back, Tommy could finally see what it was that had been watching him and he quickly wished he hadn’t.
Sitting at the far back on top of the raised platform, Tommy saw something he could only describe as an abomination; with its head large and misshapen, body unnaturally spindly, and limbs far too long and crooked for any normal creature. The thing that unsettled him the most were the countless eyes that stared at him; seeing right through him and peering into his soul. As horrified by this thing he was, part of him couldn’t help but feel a sense of curiosity; curiosity that only grew stronger the longer he stared at it. 

This thing shouldn’t exist, it just can’t exist… and yet, this one does. It’s strange, its limbs look almost human and yet it’s all so warped, to the point nothing else even resembles it. Just, what are you? What do you want…? What do you want? What do you want?! Why won’t you say anything?! Can you even speak? …Hello?

As if something had heard his thoughts, Tommy felt as the phantom sense he’d felt back in the jail cell returned; feeling less as if he were being prodded and more if something was moving him or perhaps holding him. That sensation was enough to ease his mind, bringing him back from the torment he’d felt being trapped in its gaze. He tore his eyes away from the creature, blinking rapidly from the dryness of his eyes as he tried to collect himself. 

This brief moment of relief was interrupted by shock as the taste of blood filled his mouth and Tommy scrunched his face up as the blood, whose consistency was thick like old medicine, ran down his throat; coughing and spitting in an attempt to get the stuff out. 

Then, something changed. Coming from somewhere closeby, Tommy heard the faint sound of breathing, though its source remained unseen. He felt as his body and his mind became heavier, with the breathing getting louder the heavier he felt; almost as if something was trying to ground him and bring him back to the waking world. And he let it. The last thing he saw before getting pulled from this wretched dream were the hundreds of eyes that peered down at him, watching him with the same wild curiosity he’d shown for the creature itself.

As his eyes flickered open, Tommy was annoyed but not surprised to find himself back in the jail cell he’d left not that long ago. He grunted at the blood taste that lingered in his mouth, though it wasn’t as strong as before. He jumped at the sight of the cloaked figure sitting right beside him, keeping him propped up against the wall and holding a small vial in their hand.

“Bad dream?” The figure asked, chuckling as they set the empty vial down on the dirty floor. “No need to answer, I already know… ‘Talked a lot in your sleep.” Tommy shifted at the mention of his ramblings. He’d always known he talked in his sleep but didn’t think that he’d been uttering any thoughts aloud, but now that he knew, Tommy couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed about it.

“Oh, don’t look so down about it.” The figure nudged him, making Tommy look back up at them. While their face was hidden beneath a dark hood and what seemed like a helmet, he could still sense the amused expression on their face. “Sleeptalking is hardly the worst thing that’s happened in this place… Far from it.” There was a shudder in their voice, but it was subtle enough that Tommy almost missed it. What was going on in this village was something he’d rather not find out about, no matter how much his curiosity begged for him to search for answers. He gave them a slight nod, and went to reach for his axe but his hand was met with nothingness. Panicked, Tommy patted himself down and looked around frantically in an attempt to find any of his weapons; not a single trace of them was found within the confines of this cell. 

“Where,“ He began, turning his gaze back on the cloaked figure and stared at them for a few seconds “Where are my weapons? I know I had them before I got here… I’m certain of it! So where are they-?”

“They were confiscated.” They cut in, “People locked up here don’t often keep their things. Don’t know where any of your things are being kept either, ‘barely even leave the Gaol.” 

God damnit! Of course, of course something like this has to happen! Can’t even keep my own weapons in this cursed place. I guess I’m an unarmed hunter now, with no idea how to get back to the dream. What’s next? Losing my sanity? Seems likely at this rate.

Tommy inhaled sharply through gritted teeth, muttered a couple of swears under his breath, then turned his attention back to the figure, who he assumed was some kind of hunter.

“Okay, so… My weapons are gone, and you don’t know where they are…” He began, trying his best not to sound annoyed as he spoke. “Do you have anything else I could use? I’d rather not spend the rest of this hunt beating beasts to death with my bare hands.” 

“Hmm, it depends…” The figure murmured, reaching into their cloak and pulling out something that closely resembled some kind of morningstar, though its shape was rather different than any he’d ever seen… which was only one. 

“You don’t have anything against bashing things in the head with blunt objects, do you?” They snorted, handing the morningstar over to Tommy. It felt similar to his axe if a bit lighter, though its range was much shorter than he’d like and it didn’t look as if it could transform.

“It's not the same as my axe, but I can work with this.” Tommy remarked, slowly rising to his feet to give this morningstar a try. While the range wasn’t anything spectacular, the speed more than made up for its shortcoming; a faster than his axe and Tommy shuddered at the thought of being on the receiving end of one of these swings. Broken bones, broken bones for MONTHS .

“Do you want a bit of advice?” The cloaked hunter called.
“Uh, yeah!” He wasn’t sure if there was much advice needed for a weapon this simple, but he appreciated it anyway.

“Try striking it, like how you would a match. Just, you know, a very big match.” They suggested in an amused tone

Tommy stared down at the weapon, then up at the hunter with a look of confusion on his face. “Like a match? Okay then.” he replied, though he was still rather puzzled. Keeping their bit of advice in mind, Tommy tried holding it like how he would a match of this size, and swung it with as much force as he could manage. Tommy stared in amazement as blue sparks surrounded the morningstar’s rounded head; the sight was something he could only describe as holding a star in his hand. 

“Can I keep it?” Tommy asked, barely containing his excitement as he held the weapon in his hands; looking like a little kid who’d found a frog and wanted to bring it home. The hunter let out an audible laugh, patting Tommy on the shoulder in between their snickers; their hand oddly stiff and heavy.

“Wouldn't offer it to you if I wasn't gonna let you keep it, now would I?” Any hopes of containing his excitement were gone and Tommy held the morningstar tightly in his hand; watching the blue sparks as they danced around it until they eventually fizzled out.

“Just be a bit careful when using it.” they advised, “The tonitrus can be a brilliant weapon but it’s rather fragile. You may need to repair it more often than most other weapons, but if you’re okay with that then it’s all yours.”

“All right, good to know! Thank you-! …uhhh.” He paused, realising that he didn’t even know their name. Nicely done, Tom. You forgot to ask for their name. Mother would be ashamed of you.
“Antal.” They added, “Former hunter and follower of the School of Mensis, now defector and a rat.”

Tommy snorted at the rat comment, but he had to admit that his curiosity was piqued at the mention of some kind of school. Numerous questions came to mind, questions he wanted to ask but judging by how Antal had said the school’s name, it was best not to ask any of them. Curiosity killed the cat, and Tommy did not wish to end up like that cat, even if he was unable to die permanently.

“Okay, thank you Antal!” Tommy said, still giggling at their comment. If Antal was going to introduce themself in such a way, then so was he. “The name’s Tommy, formerly a factory worker and now Yharnam’s unluckiest hunter.” He greeted, putting on the dumbest and most friendly grin he could manage as he introduced himself. It seemed like this was appreciated by Antal, as a low chuckle was heard coming from them; it seemed that places like this bring people with similar humor together.

“Anyway…” they began, pausing to clear their throat “Seeing as you’re up and armed, I think it’s about time we get out of here. This place gets worse the longer you’re here, and I doubt you want to spend another second in this cell.” Before Tommy could utter anything, Antal had already begun walking towards the cell’s door; its rusty hinges squeaking as the door swung open. He scampered after them, trying to keep up with their pace as the two made their way up a spiral staircase.

Getting past the things that lurked by the other cells was almost worse than dealing with beasts; at least they didn’t trip him to try and scoop his eyes out with rusty spoons. His face still hurt and the area around his eye bled a little, but other than that they’d made it out in one piece. Antal stood further down the path, waiting patiently for Tommy to collect himself; though there was an undeniable eagerness coming from them, an eagerness so strong that he could sense it even from where he was standing.

“What’s got you so excited?” He asked, looking around in an attempt to see what had gotten the other hunter so worked up, yet there was nothing around them but the path they were standing on, the prison they’d left behind, and the large graveyard. 

“Ohohoho, you’ll see soon. You’ll see very soon!” They replied with an enthusiastic tone, taking off running down the path and into the vast and empty graveyard; giggling like a lunatic as they made their way down. 

Tommy hurried after them, and almost collided with Antal as they suddenly stopped in the middle of the area; gazing down at what seemed like a large, oddly shaped, pile of rubble. He looked down at the debris with furrowed eyebrows, trying to figure out what exactly it was they were looking at; it definitely wasn’t wood or rock, that was for certain.

“What-?”

“Give her a moment,” Antal interjected, “she’s only just started to awaken from her slumber… Now please, do back up a bit. She can be a bit jumpy when she wakes..” 

She? But there’s nothing here- ah nevermind. Doing as he’d been told, Tommy took a couple of steps back; far enough away to be safe from whatever she was, but close enough to still see the rubble clearly. The familiar sight of blue sparks enveloped the heap, dancing and flickering over its mass as hairlike parts of it stood on end; much like the static fur of his old dog. It was only then he realised what it was they were staring at, and Tommy gasped as the remains of a great and remarkable beast stirred to life; bright blue bolts lighting up the area as the beast let out a ghastly, yet human, howl. The beast gazed down at the two hunters with hollow eyes, a low purr rising from its skeletal throat as it lowered its head to Antal’s level.

“Good to see you again, old girl.” Antal murmured in an affectionate tone, “Hope we’re not disturbing you, we’re just passing through.” Tommy’s jaw just about dropped as the cloaked hunter scratched the beast’s chin as if it were a dog; the beast purring loudly and leaning into their touch.

“W-why are you petting it??? It’s a beast! You’re not supposed to be doing that??” He stammered in confusion, gesturing wildly at the undead beast who was playfully munching on Antal’s arm.

“You’re asking me why I’m petting Paarl, yet you’re standing there with an Augur in your coat.”

Augur? What do- Wait, do they mean the slug? He looked down at the little creature who’d poked its head out from its hiding spot, blinked, then turned gaze back on Antal. 

“Fair enough.”

Tommy felt all the colour drain from his face as the beast turned away from Antal and began to approach him, a shiver going down his spine as the unsettling sound of rattling bones grew louder the closer Paarl got; clicking and clacking with every movement it made. He dared not move as the beast loomed over him, watching him with those dark empty sockets where one would expect to see eyes, yet he could still feel its gaze as it inspected him, tilting its head and contorting its neck in its search. Paarl took a step back and lowered its head to be at Tommy’s level, low rumbling sounds rising in its throat as it stared into his eyes, and Tommy returned its gaze despite shaking like a leaf from nervousness. 

They stood in silence for what felt like an eternity, the silence broken as a purr rose in Paarl’s throat with the beast leaning in closely; bumping its head against his with a surprising amount of caution.Taking a deep breath, Tommy slowly lifted his arm up to Paarl’s head and waited patiently for its approval before running a hand through its fur. It felt strange, not unpleasant, just really unlike anything he’d been expecting; Paarl’s fur reminding him of the coarse bristles of some kind of hairbrush, but the smell was unusually coppery.
“Aww, I think she likes you.” Antal teased, approaching Tommy and chuckling as the hair on his head stood on end from being rubbed against by Paarl. Tommy barely noticed as Paarl scooped his arm up with her jaws, munching on it in the same way she’d done with Antal.

“Okay, I'll admit.” He began, spitting out some of her fur from his mouth. “Maybe I was wrong about this one… She’s actually not that bad; she just looks a bit spooky... Actually, Paarl’s kind of cute now that I think about it-”

Crunch

Tommy let out a pained squeal and slowly looked over at his arm, biting his tongue to hold back a scream as he realised that his arm was completely broken; hanging uselessly in Paarl’s mouth as she continued to chew on it.

“I take back everything I said; Paarl sucks.”

After saying goodbye to Paarl and opening the gates, Tommy couldn’t help but let out a frustrated groan as he was hit with the familiar smell of smoke, disease, and beasts; he was back in Old Yharnam again.

“Cheer up; Old Yharnam isn't that bad.” Antal said, taking a deep breath and inhaling the town’s smells the same way one would on an early spring morning. “... any place is nice when you've spent ages in a jail.” Tommy muttered, making his way up the path and towards the shortcut. He wasn't sure how he'd get up the ladder with an arm like this, but he'd figure something out. 

“Now, before we leave this place,” Antal began, clapping Tommy on the back with a heavy hand and almost making him stumble, “We’ve got a friend to visit; a good man with a big heart who wouldn't hurt a fly.” 

A friend? But this place is full of beasts, nothing else lives here- Oh wait, Djura lives here. Not sure I believe them about Djura 'wouldn't hurt a fly' bit, last time I met him he shot at me... Wait, didn’t Antal just tell me that they barely leave the prison, so how do they- ah, nevermind, it doesn't matter.

He followed Antal through the smoke-filled streets of Old Yharnam, staying close to them to avoid getting attacked by beasts, though much to Tommy’s surprise the beasts didn’t seem as hostile as they’d done earlier. Was it because of Paarl? Is it because the two of them smelled like her? Is that it? He wasn't sure if that was right, but then again; what did he know about beasts? The climb up the tower was painful and took longer than he liked, but with some advice from Antal, he made it to the top with little issue. Right as he was about to begin his climb up the second ladder, Tommy felt as he got  pulled away from the ladder by a heavy hand; turning around to look at Antal with a puzzled expression.

“Let me go first; Djura's not expecting any guests and might not take kindly to seeing you.” They hissed and began their ascent up the ladder with Tommy following a bit behind; stopping before he could reach the top. While Tommy couldn't see anything that was going on up there he could hear them quite clearly as they spoke; Djura’s voice was rather loud even when he wasn't shouting halfway across the valley.

“Well, well; If it isn’t Antal.” There was no sign of hostility in Djura's voice as he spoke; only surprise and recognition. “Finally let out of your madhouse, eh?” A wheezy laugh was heard, soon joined by a second, hoarser one.

“I can leave whenever I please, excuse you.” Antal replied with mock-offence in their tone; a  tone which quickly faded into a relaxed one.

“Old Yharnam’s not that different, y’know?” They sighed, “It's good to see you again, you crazy bastard.” Tommy strained his ears to hear what was going on up there, but all he could hear was the rustling of cloth, faint whispers, and what sounded like a thud albeit much gentler. Perhaps they were hugging? Seemed likely; he'd do the same if he met a friend he hadn't seen for some time. Friends… Haven't thought about them in a little while. I wonder how Isak's doing, I haven't seen him since that accident. Maybe I can pay him a visit once the hunt's over?

Tommy was roused from his thoughts as the two started talking again and leaned closer to hear a bit better.

“How's the arm doing? Need any adjustments? Repairs? A replacement?” Djura inquired.
“It does alright; functions as well as it did when you first gave it to me... Still trying to think of something I can do to pay you back.” Antal replied, their voice was soft and full of gratitude as they spoke.
“That's good to hear. And how many times do I need to remind you that you don't need to pay me back? Your gratitude is all I need, hell, I'd do this even if you weren't going to thank me.”
“I know,” Antal snorted, “Anyone ever told you you care too much for your own good?”
“All the time.” He laughed, “But in a place like this, I'd rather be known for caring too much rather than too little.”

“On the topic of arms,” Antal began, “I've brought a friend with me who'd appreciate your help; poor bastard broke his arm.”
“A friend, eh?” Djura hummed, “Is it Aleksander? I thought he'd disappeared some time ago.”

“No, it's not him. ‘Brought a newbie with me, he's a little wimpy but learns quickly.”Antal shifted and Tommy heard as they approached the ladder and looked up at them with exhaustion and impatience. His expression must've said more than words ever could've, as Antal drew in a breath to stifle a laugh.
“Sorry ‘bout the wait; you can come up now.” They called, barely containing their amusement.

“FINALLY! ” Tommy exclaimed, almost losing his grip on the ladder as the numbness set in. “Mind lending me a hand? Arm's getting tired and I feel like I’m ten seconds away from falling.” He watched as Antal leaned down by the edge, stretching their arm down to haul Tommy up once he was close enough; pulling him up as best they could without accidentally nudging his broken arm. The first thing Tommy noticed when he got up was the incredible view he had standing up there on the platform; he could see almost everything in Old Yharnam from up there, including the path leading to the run-down chapel where the blood-starved beast lurked.

Tommy was so amazed by the view that he failed to notice as Djura approached, one foot half-dragging over the platform’s dusty stone, and stopping right beside him. He only noticed Djura’s presence as the smell of gunpowder, machine oil, and tobacco filled his nose. Standing face-to face with Paarl had been less nerve-racking than it was to stand beside and stare Djura in the eye, and Tommy felt himself begin to tremble as the ashen hunter stared right back at him. He jumped away and before Djura had even gotten the chance to speak, Tommy had already started his nervous rambling.

“I’M SORRY!” He blurted out, “I’m so sorry for intruding! I didn’t know- I didn’t mean any harm going here! I just- someone mentioned there was a chalice here a-and I wanted to see if it was true! I-if I’d known about any of this beforehand I would’ve never come here, I swear!” He was left with little air left in his lungs by the time he was done apologising, and Tommy panted heavily as he tried to catch his breath.

"Take it easy," Djura murmured "Don't want you to accidentally fall off the edge; would be a horrible way to go." He said and Tommy only now realised how close he'd been standing to the edge, and gasped when he saw just how far up they were; The beasts below looking as if they were no bigger than ants. Slowly, Tommy backed away from the edge and further toward the platform's center with Djura stepping closer in turn. 

“Now that you’ve calmed down and are away from certain death, how about we finally get that arm of yours looked at?" Djura began and gestured at the arm, "Don’t worry, I’ve done this several times before; I’ll be careful.”

Tommy looked down at his arm that hung uselessly by his side like a dead fish, and nodded slowly before holding it out for Djura to inspect it. He hadn’t even realised how bad it was until now; large, dark, bitemarks covered most of it, and the break itself reminded him of the twisted branches of the trees he’d seen in this town. Djura drew in a sharp breath as he looked over the arm, eyebrows furrowing, and muttered something under his breath before letting go of his arm.

“Sorry kid, not much I can do about this.” He sighed, and gave Tommy a sympathetic glance. "Best bet's to use the blood to heal the worst fractures, but even then it's not guaranteed it'll be fully healed." Djura frowned at the mention of the blood, clearly displeased about even suggesting it.
“Expected as much… but hey, at least you tried.” Tommy said, trying to sound optimistic but his disappointment shone through. Seems like all my vials were confiscated in the jail, great. This is fine, I’ll just restock once I’m back in the dream, no big deal. Now that I think about it, won't my arm be healed when I re-enter the dream? Yeah, yeah it will. Almost forgot about that.

“Well, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, there are a couple of things I’d like to ask you. If you don’t mind answering them, of course.” The sudden sternness in Djura’s voice startled him, and Tommy looked at him nervously. Was he mad? Seemed likely, and Tommy had a feeling about where this was going...and he did not like it.
“I don’t mind, I don’t mind at all.” He uttered, trying to conceal his unease.

“So, you told me you came here for the chalice,” Djura began and while he seemed calm at a glance, his eyes narrowed eyes betrayed his displeasure. “I assume you found it, seeing as it was missing when I went to check in on Suzie. Speaking of her,” Tommy laughed nervously as Djura’s gaze bore into him, and he wished he could disappear into nothingness to avoid all of this.

“When I checked in on her, I noticed that she had some not so insignificant fractures along with nasty burns along her back. These injuries wouldn’t have surprised me as much as they did, fractures are not uncommon and Suzie's already covered in burns, hadn’t it been for the little detail that these ones happened recently. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you?”

“Well?” Tommy looked over at where Antal had been standing, only to find that they had disappeared at some point during the conversation. You rat bastard. Slowly, he turned his gaze back on Djura who was staring daggers at him, swallowed, and prayed to whatever deity was looking out for him that he’d make it out with all limbs... most limbs intact.

“I- Look, I might’ve angered her the first time I went in there, she might’ve mauled me too, and so I went to get a friend for help. That friend might’ve brought their hammer along to use as a barrier in case things went wrong, but I didn’t think things were gonna go that bad. Threw some blood cocktails at a pillar to keep her occupied while I got the chalice… it didn’t work for long and things might’ve, umm, escalated a little bit… and I used a flamesprayer so both my friend and I could make it out safely… Sorry.” 

He watched as Djura contemplated his answer, scratching his chin and muttering something he couldn’t quite make out, though he guessed it probably that it was a string of swears. He stood in silence as he anticipated Djura’s answer, fidgeting nervously with the radiant badge as he waited.
“So, you’re admitting that you stole the chalice and harmed Suzie…” Djura began, “While I appreciate the fact that you’re telling the truth, you aren’t off the hook just yet. I won’t punish you directly, seeing as it’s not my job. What is my job, is to look after the beasts in Old Yharnam, tend to their needs, and heal their wounds if needed.” a pause, “I suspect you already know what I’ve got in mind, but I’ll lay it out for you anyway: I want you to return the chalice to its rightful place before sunrise, and I want you to tend to Suzie until her wounds have healed, yes even after the hunt ends.”  

Tommy stood there in silence, considering Djura’s terms. Sure, he definitely deserved this and it’s the least he could do… but the thought of being in close proximity to a beast who a) hated him, and b) had already killed him before, did not sit well with Tommy. He sighed and nodded, though not without hesitance “Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll bring the chalice back before sunrise, and I’ll take care of Suzie for as long as I need to.” This seemed to please Djura, as his expression softened and shoulders relaxed once again. “Very good.” He hummed and looked down at the town below, “In case you’ve failed to realize… The things you hunt, they’re not beasts. They’re people. One day, you will see…” 

That was something he knew, but wasn’t something he’d given much thought about, and it felt so obvious now that he did; he’d even seen someone turn into a beast before his own eyes, that memory was something he wouldn't forget easily, though it didn't bother him as much as it had only some time ago. Lucky me for getting over things quickly, never thought it'd come in handy here. On the topic of beasts, Tommy was reminded by the fact that he had no idea how to actually deal with them in a non-violent way that isn't running away.

"Just, umm... How am I supposed to care for that beast- Suzie, when she hates my guts? I don't want to end up as a lump of shredded flesh and blood because of her, and I doubt anyone wants to clean that mess up." Was he supposed to wrestle her until she'd calmed down enough for him to help? Yeah no, there's no way he's doing that, without his weapons Tommy was about as strong as a mouse. Actually, mice were probably stronger than he was. Besides, trying to wrestle her would just make things worse for everyone, so he'd have to scrap that idea.

"I don't have much advice when it comes to dealing with her, seeing as she's rather unwelcoming of anyone who enters her chapel, myself included." Djura began, fingers drumming against his weapon, "You could try offering her something to eat, either that or those cocktails again; 'makes her more agreeable, if only for a little while." Huh, so my original idea was actually a good one. That doesn't happen often. "If that doesn't work, what do I do then? I'm not going to offer up any of my limbs just to appease her, if that's what you're going to suggest." This got a slight chuckle out of the ashen hunter, whatever annoyance might've remained before was seemingly gone; for now at least.

“Most beasts tend to relax when they realise you aren’t a threat, works the same with people too.” Tommy hummed, remembering how well that method had worked when he ran through here earlier. Where was he going with this?
“...maybe for you it works; I didn't notice much of a difference myself when I tried that.” he muttered, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Let me finish," Djura's tone, while calm, had a slight edge to it. "Ditch your weapons, all of them. Flamesprayer, axe, gun, and whatever else; anything that could be used to harm her should be left outside of her chapel. Both me and Gabrijel learned that lesson." Djura snorted, "While you did an alright job, you did bring the flamesprayer with you, as did that executioner friend of yours, though he brought his hammer like you said." Tommy flinched at the disgusted tone in Djura's voice at the mention of his friend. Is he mad at Alfred for also hurting Suzie, or is it something else about him? Y'know what? Those questions can wait, I have things to do and a beast to help... later.

"Okay, okay. Just to to make sure I've understood; you want me to leave all of my weapons outside her chapel and offer her more cocktails to get her to relax. And then, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to tend to her without dying. Did I get all that?" Tommy was pretty sure he remembered and understood the instructions, but it's always good to double-check. Djura hummed, nodding his head ever-so-slightly, but gestured at Tommy's garb with a frown.
"One last thing; Your garb. The beasts here don’t often take kindly to anyone who looks or smells like a hunter; only ever brings them harm.” Djura remarked, his tone sounding more serious than before, "Before you re-enter her chapel again, I suggest you find something else to wear. Doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's not hunter's garb."

“Hmm, it’s time you got going." The ashen hunter sighed, "But first, a farewell gift. I have no use for it anyway.” He looked down at Djura’s hand and accepted the small and oddly beautiful badge that smelled faintly of gunpowder. Tommy clipped it to his belt, right where he kept the other badges. They jangled a bit as he moved, it didn't bother him much but he had a feeling he'd have to move them into his pocket later on; getting killed by a beast because it heard the jingling was not on his to-do list. He dipped his head and turned to leave, but before he did, Tommy back around to face Djura.
"Before I go, there's just one last thing I'd like to say," Intrigued, Djura raised an eyebrow, which urged Tommy to go on. "The Doll says hello, 'said she still remembers you."

Djura seemed taken aback by the mention of the Doll, his gaze darting over the ground as if he were in thought; trying to recall something. Perhaps memories of when he too dreamed, Tommy guessed. Would he remember any of this when the night was over, or would everything be a blur? Did he even want to remember any of this? He didn't know, t'was something he could dwell on later; much like everything else he'd thought about tonight.

The ashen hunter watched as Tommy took his leave, the concerned look in his gaze did not go unnoticed, though Tommy didn't think much of it. Probably just concerned about the beasts on my way out. Don’t worry, none will be harmed. It’ll just be more difficult than before, that’s all.

Chapter Text

As he made his way through the familiar area below the tower and through the burnt buildings, Tommy couldn’t help but take note of the beasts, or rather the way the beasts acted as he walked past them. He could barely see them from where they remained in the shadows, heads turning in Tommy’s direction and watching him with pale, yet human, eyes; gazing at him with a wild curiosity. Though, not a single one made an attempt to approach him and some even shifted away if he got too close. Whatever sign of hostility they’d shown him earlier was oddly enough gone, and they seemed content with ignoring him, as did the large beast Tommy accidentally bumped into in the burnt building; uttering a quick apology to it before scampering away. 

Despite the smoke-filled air and the beasts’ foul stench, Tommy found it much easier to breathe here than most of the ward; the Oedon chapel being the absolute worst. Though, that begged the question; why did his throat act up when he fought the strange, fireball throwing, beast at the bottom of the workshop, but not when he’s around the beasts of Old Yharnam? Did it depend on what kind of beast it was; Was he more sensitive to the more ‘beastly’ ones? He didn’t know, he was no doctor; only a lousy hunter who lacked any kind of education.

Re-entering the abandoned building, Tommy was greeted with the familiar sight of the moonlit lamp and the little rascals who surrounded it; chattering as eagerly amongst themselves as they’d done before. Still no sign of Antal. Wonder why they just left like that, and how did they even get away without making a sound? Come to think of it, did I even see any signs of them on my way here? No, no I didn’t... Who knows, maybe they’re actually a ghost? It wouldn’t be the strangest part about Yharnam, might even be the most normal part of it.

Moonlight surrounded him and Tommy felt as he faded into the hunter’s dream once again, the gentle light bringing with it a peaceful, yet cold, feeling as his body disappeared. Back in the dream the Doll was sat on the little ledge by the stairs; fast asleep and snoring lightly as she rested. Tommy treaded past her as quietly as a mouse as not to wake her; she’d done so much for him in just a few hours, so the least he could grant her in turn was an undisturbed rest. The warmth of the workshop was a stark contrast to the cold air of the waking world and Tommy felt as any worries or fears he’d carried with him faded into nothingness; being replaced with a familiar sense of ease and safety. Were it up to him, he’d never leave the dream, he had everything he'd ever really needed here. But that may just cause him to go mad for being cooped up in a small house for so long; he’d rather not end up like his aunt.

Any injuries he’d sustained in the waking world were healed and Tommy flexed and stretched his arm, surprised at how light it felt as he moved it around. Focus, he was here to restock his supply of blood vials and bullets, though he doubted he’d need more seeing as his gun was still missing. He hadn’t noticed it before, but looking around the workshop Tommy took notice of three things; the absence of Gehrman, the photos that sat over the fireplace,  and the large mirror that leaned against the workshop’s wall. Where Gehrman had gone, he didn't know. Perhaps to a secluded part of the dream, but this place was so small so there probably weren’t many, if any, quiet spots. Then again, this whole place was located in a dream, so it probably couldn't get more secluded. The photos were what actually intrigued him, the thought of getting a glimpse of Yharnam’s past was too strong to ignore, and slowly but carefully, Tommy took down one photo after another; his curiosity growing the more he gazed at the photos.

The first photos were dusty and their edges were faded, but were just clear enough for him to tell that they were taken right outside the abandoned workshop. It was almost sad seeing how alive that place was in comparison to how it is now, with hunters going back and forth through the workshop and others seen sparring with one another. Who any of the people were, he didn’t know, but one of them seemed familiar, somehow. He held the photo closer to the fire, hoping that its light would help him with figuring out who that hunter was. The hunter in the photo was seen standing by two others, seemingly conversing with them, perhaps sharing advice and tips for their next hunt; with him towering over the other two. There was a nagging feeling in the back of Tommy’s head, he was so close to figuring out who it was, he could feel it.
Think, what was it? Is it the way he stands, his weapon, or something about his appearance? He looked closer, scrutinizing every detail he could make out about the hunter until it finally clicked; the scarf, it was the scarf that was wrapped around his neck as well as the hunter’s attire that looked so familiar to him. It was Gehrman himself, albeit much younger than he was in the dream and looking far more alive and energetic than he ever did when Tommy saw him.

The other photos were a tad different, with one of them featuring a group consisting mostly of hunters standing outside of the Grand Cathedral, another inside a large building which he assumed was a part of some kind of school, judging by the amount of books shown, the desks, and everyone's garb. One of the photographs was too faded to make out any details, but the last one stood out to him the most; it was by far the most clear out of the photos and he could easily make out the faces of everyone in it. Gehrman he recognised instantly, and Tommy grinned at the mischievous look on the old hunter’s face; it was endearing to see someone like him crack a smile and look unbothered, even if it’s only for one photograph. Everyone else in the picture Tommy didn’t know, though that was to be expected; all of these people were likely long gone by now.
However, one of them caught his eye and Tommy peered closer at the person on Gehrman’s right, eagerly trying to figure out who she was. Tommy’s eyes widened and he let out a gasp as he saw the her face; she looked exactly like the Doll; with the same pale skin, light hair, and tall stature. The biggest difference was the eyes, the huntress' eyes were narrowed and as sharp; much like a hawk. Despite the sharpness of her gaze, she shared the same look of mischief as Gehrman, with a barely contained grin crossing her lips. Tommy gave the photo one last glance before putting it back up with the rest of them, his mind brimming with questions and theories about who everyone else was; questions and theories that he’d likely never get an answer to. After all, Gehrman didn't seem too keen on talking about anyone from his past, he'd gathered that much at the mention of Ludwig.

That left him with that mirror, the last thing of interest in the workshop he wanted to take a look at before he went back to the hunt. Aside from the mirror’s frame, there really wasn’t much intrigue about the mirror, though it was so covered in dust and grime that Tommy almost wondered if it was ignored on purpose; seeing as almost everything else in the workshop was rather clean. He raised a hand to the mirror’s glass and wiped away the many layers of dirt that coated its usually shiny surface. When he was done, Tommy took a step back and just stared at the mirror for a while; it took him a good moment to realise the person he was staring at was just himself. It’d been so long since he’d seen his reflection last and Tommy had almost forgotten his own face and stepped closer to the mirror to examine it.

Oh, I see...

Tommy stared at his reflection, fingers tracing over some of his features as he inspected the face that stared back at him. His once rounded face was rougher and had an unusual wildness to it, teeth sharper and reminding him of the townfolks', his hair, which was always messy, looked somehow worse; its mats and general shape bringing to mind a magpie’s nest. He didn’t even notice the look of his hands until he nicked himself with a nail too long and sharp for any regular person. He’d seen hands in a similar state before, back when Gilbert had handed him that flamesprayer, though he hadn’t anticipated for his hands to look the same so soon. But the one thing that hadn't changed were his eyes, and he cracked a tired yet content smile at the sight of them.

"I'd say I'm surprised, but with how this night's been going I don't think much can shock me anymore..." 

He sighed and straightened his back, feeling as it crackled and popped from being hunched over like some sort of gargoyle, before turning away from the mirror. Djura's words echoed through his mind, "The beasts here don’t often take kindly to anyone who looks or smells like a hunter," and he stopped to gaze down at his attire, the same attire he'd swiped off of a dead man and is wearing as if it were his own. Before he left the workshop, Tommy made sure to switch into his own clothes; they were far less durable and could easily be torn apart by a beast's claws, though the way they felt against his skin and the way they sat made the higher risk of being sliced to ribbons almost worth it; if he was going to spend the rest of the night hunting, he should at least be comfortable. The slug, which he'd usually kept out of sight, was now held in his hand in a similar way as he'd held his gun; the mental image of it being used as one brought a smile to his face. It would be rather absurd if that'd work, but it wouldn't be the strangest thing he'd encountered tonight. Tommy made his way down the path with quiet steps, treading carefully as he passed the sleeping Doll, and crouched down beside the headstone like he'd done quite some times now, closed his eyes, and focused his thoughts on the run-down building that stood as an entrance to Old Yharnam. It was the closest place to the ward that wouldn't give him any issues, and within just a few moments Tommy felt as his body disappeared from the dream; the smell of smoke and beasts getting stronger by the second until he found himself standing by the lantern once again.

Now prepared and restocked, Tommy began his ascent up the building, climbing the ladders and rushing up the stairs; setting foot into the Cathedral Ward sooner than he'd anticipated. He saw Cathedral's massive structure beyond the buildings; well protected by axe wielding giants and crucifix wielding servants, neither of which would bat an eye at slaughtering anything that went near their precious Cathedral. Something about that didn't sit right with him, and Tommy felt as his mind itched and pushed him forward; leading him in that direction once again. The church is clearly hiding something, no institution guards a place like that without hiding some sort of secret, a secret Tommy very much wanted to discover now that his curiosity had been piqued. 

Chapter Text

Ah, Oedon Chapel, a building one could almost consider a blessing in this accursed town, though the strong smell of incense that emanated from inside the building was enough for Tommy to keep his distance; he already has enough issues for one night and would rather not end up ruining his lungs even more than they already were. Even though he had better things to be doing, he couldn't help but just survey the area; taking in the beautiful sight of sunlight that shone down on the chapel's walls and gravestones that surrounded the place, casting them in a golden orange light only matched by the sun itself. A gentle breeze blew past him, bringing with it the smell of incense along with the faintest hint of blood; scents he'd become rather familiar with. As he gazed at the chapel, letting his eyes wander over those oh-so-familiar walls, Tommy became aware of a dark figure that stood almost hidden by the stone railing by the other entrance. It took him a moment to figure out who it was, but when he finally did, Tommy raised his arm to wave at and get the attention of the old crow; though she'd probably noticed him long before he did.

"Hey, Eileen!" He called, throat rattling as he raised his voice "I'm heading for the Grand Cathedral, there's something I need to investigate there! Wait for me down here, I'll explain everything when I get back, I promise!" Tommy finished, quickly scurrying up the stairs that led to the large square. To his surprise, the giant that normally patrolled this area stood drowsily behind a closed gate and barely even registered Tommy's presence; only glancing at him for a moment before letting its head hang again. It seems like even the church's most intimidating protectors could get tired, even on a night like this.

The square was much calmer than it had been only some time before, with the other giants either half-asleep or sitting on the ground and already out. He certainly wasn't complaining, the fewer troubles the better and he'd had enough hiccups and distractions tonight than he was fine with. Numerous bodies of long-dead church members littered the ground, half-hidden amongst the dirty graves, all of which had been uncared for and abandoned; a sorry sight, really. There were hardly any servants around either, seeing as most of them were either dead from his previous trip through here or simply gone, as if something had just whisked them away, with the exception of the two servants that guarded the cathedral's gate. He recognised them from last time, eyes widening as he saw the dark reddish glow around their crucifixes; something that hadn't been present in his previous encounter with them, he was sure of it. The servant further down the steps had already taken notice of him, raising an arm to point in Tommy's direction and alerting its companion with a ghoulish groan. He wouldn't let this end the same as last time and Tommy took a deep breath, steeling himself, and lit the tonitrus; letting its blue bolts dance once again. Having learned from his past mistakes Tommy kept a close eye on the servant's movements, sidestepping as the servant attempted to slam the crucifix down on him and countering with a series of strikes; with the ghoulish creature hitting the steps with a loud thud, groaning as the remaining life inside it left. While he'd been focused on the first servant, Tommy had failed to notice the approach of its companion and only realised it was there the moment before it struck him, sending him tumbling to the ground as if he were nothing but scrap. The wind had been knocked out of him and Tommy winced at the throbbing pain in his side, forcing him to remain on the ground while the ghoulish brute closed in; the crucifix held above its head as it prepared to crush him. He felt as his ears began to ring, his breathing getting quickening, and vision getting blurrier the longer he remained on the ground. He didn't want to die like this again, not when he's so close to the gate, and in a desperate attempt to save himself, Tommy pointed his hand at the brute, steadying his arm and preparing to fire his gun. In this moment of confusion and desperation, Tommy failed to realise that his gun had been missing ever since he'd woken up in the jail and all he held in his hand was the slug, though this did not matter much in his state of mind and he pulled the trigger; squishing the creature in his hand in a feeble attempt to prevent his death.

A starry, pale-blue glow surrounded his hand and Tommy watched with unfocused eyes as something shot out from a cosmic tear, sending the brute flying and hitting the cold stone ground with a thud. Taking this opportunity, Tommy quickly scrambled to his feet and rushed over to where the servant laid, using the slug as a guiding light to find and strike at its head; the sound of the tonitrus connecting with the servant's skull was something he'd really rather forget. He slumped down on the ground with his back against the cathedral's wall, closing his eyes to tune out the world while he waited for his vision to clear and the ringing in his ears to go away. As he began to relax, countless thoughts flooded his mind, and Tommy looked down at the slug with a newfound sense of curiosity. This was no ordinary slug, that he'd known for a while now, but he'd never even thought about how truly strange it was until now. What was it that Antal had called it? An Augur? Is that it? He didn't even know what that word meant, yet it felt fitting, special almost.

"Sorry about squishing you like that, didn't mean it." Tommy murmured, examining the little creature and turning it around to check for any injuries it might've sustained. To his relief, it was completely fine; not a single mark or nick as far as he could tell.

"Well, seeing as you're going to be sticking with me for a while, how about I give you a name? Doesn't feel right to let you go without one, y'know?" He sat there for a solid minute, banging his head against the wall as he tried to think of a name for the slug. Tommy's gaze wandered over the area, his eyes going from the cathedral's stone structures, to the dead servant only a meter away from him, to the darkening sky; the sun's light barely visible over the tall buildings of the ward, with some stars already beginning to shine and light up the sky like countless tiny suns. He held the augur up and watched as its markings danced in the torch's light, the sight reminding him of the tonitrus' bolts but made of silvery starlight instead of those brilliant blue sparks. Stars... Starlight? No, not right, but close...

"Stella?" Tommy suggested, uttering his thoughts aloud. He looked down at the little creature and repeated the name quietly to himself until he felt satisfied.
"Yeah, that's your name now. Stella, the world's weirdest slug." Tommy declared, stroking the slug's head with the tips of his fingers; carefully, as to not nick it.

Standing in front of the Grand Cathedral's gates left Tommy with an unwavering sense of unease, a feeling that only grew worse as he pushed open the doors and set foot inside the massive building. There was a curious lack of incense within the cathedral, something he'd expected to find inside a place as grand and important as this, yet his throat still itched as the smell of beast emanated from further inside the cathedral and hung in the air like a cloud; a warning of what's to come. Statues of unnatural creatures were lined up on both sides of the staircase and his heart skipped a beat as he recognised the shape of their misshapen heads and malformed bodies; they looked just like the creature from his nightmare, yet these ones remained still and lifeless unlike the one he'd encountered. It's okay, Tommy. That was just a nightmare, this is just a coincidence... Just keep your head down and keep going. The further up the stairs he got, the clearer a voice became; once so faint he thought it was nothing but his imagination, but now it was clear enough for him to make out the words the woman by the altar was saying.

"Seek the old blood. Let us pray... let us wish... to partake in communion. Let us partake in communion... and feast upon the old blood. Our thirst for blood satiates us, soothes our fears. Seek the old blood... but beware the frailty of men. Their wills are weak, minds young. The foul beasts will dangle nectar and lure the meek into the depths. Remain wary of the frailty of men. Their wills are weak, minds young. Were it not for fear, death would go unlamented."

The stench of beast got stronger the closer he came and the woman's voice grew quieter for every step he took. She hunched over on the ground, grasping something in her hands as if her life depended on it. Her prayer grew fainter and fainter... until it eventually stopped, with a raspy, terrified, growl rising in her throat as she tried to speak. Tommy quickly glanced over his shoulder and froze as he saw the fogwall begin to rise once again, he knew where this was going... and he didn't like it. The woman, The Healing Church's Vicar, breathed heavily and sounded as if she were fighting tooth and nail just to take another breath. Her clenched hands were held close to her chest, in a sad attempt to comfort herself in her final moments of clarity before all hell broke loose. A pained, inhuman, shriek echoed throughout the cathedral and Tommy watched in horror as the Vicar clawed at her throat, her body rapidly growing and splitting apart, violently shedding the last traces of humanity within her and making room for the beast she'd tried to contain. Her blood stained the once pale stone of the statue red, with more of it dripping down onto the ground below, yet the Vicar's new body remained untouched by the blood; silvery white fur covering her body as her limbs grew and twisted into something he'd only seen once before, though that beast was much too different than the one that stood in front of him. Scraps of the Vicar's garb clung to her body, draping over her head like some sort of veil; their colour the same white as they were before. The Vicar breathed heavily, trying to recover from her transformation while keeping a clawed hand closer to her chest, clenched in a tight grip to protect whatever it was she held dear. She must've finally noticed his presence as she swung her head around, staring at him with malicious intent and baring her teeth at him; a gesture he returned.
The beast turned her massive body around and swung her head up towards the ceiling and howled, a howl that echoed throughout the cathedral, before setting her focus on Tommy again who was already rushing towards her; tonitrus lit and adrenaline coursing through his veins. She slammed a clawed hand down on the stone floor, furiously raking the ground with her claws and forcing Tommy to keep his distance, narrowly avoiding getting struck by her. This was very different from fighting the cleric beast; this one was faster, wilder, and far far angrier than the one he'd fought previously. There was no clear weak spot here and his lack of reach was really starting to bother him now, though he didn't let that stop him as he struck the Vicar's arms; causing her to shriek in pain and swat him away, successfully slashing him with one of her claws and sending droplets flying onto the ground. Tommy felt as warm blood flowed down from his wound, staining his shirt a deep red as he tried to create enough distance between himself and the Vicar to safely heal. One vial was all he could administer within the short time he'd bought himself, the wound closing just enough for him to get back into the fight.

The sounds of furious snarls reverberated over the cathedral's walls, with the beautiful stone that surrounded them covered in large claw marks, and the patterns that covered the floor were stained red with blood; whose it belonged to mattered little in the heat of the fight.
The Vicar's once silvery white fur was now matted, with clumps of fur sticking together in her own gore. Tommy's own appearance wasn't much better, he couldn't even tell the colour of his garb anymore; torn and stained as it was. The two of them were locked in this fight, determined to be the one who comes out on top, no matter how much their bodies ached from pushing themselves to fight so aggressively. Whenever it seemed like one was about to fall, it always ended with them backing away to close their wounds, with the other party desperately trying to prevent it; a cycle of violence and healing that had gone on for far too long. And they were getting tired, oh so tired. Tommy felt his muscles ache, begging, no, screaming at him to take a break, yet he ignored his body's demands and just kept fighting; tearing at the Vicar's body with his claw-like nails, hoping it'd do even the tiniest bit of damage.
The Vicar thrashed wildly, limbs flailing in every direction as if she'd gone blind, her attacks getting more desperate for every minute that passed. This fight had to end soon, it just had to... neither of them had the energy to go on and all it took was one mistake for the other to get the upper hand; and he was going to look for that mistake. Tommy moved away from the Vicar, patiently waiting and praying for an opportunity to strike... and that opportunity finally came as she pounced in his direction, her clawed hand slamming down inches away from where he stood. Mustering what strength he had left, Tommy gripped the tonitrus tightly and swung it at her head; a sickening crunch echoed within the cathedral. The strike had left the Vicar in a weakened state and her head hung low as she tried to recover, something he'd been waiting for ever since he ran out of vials. Thinking quickly, Tommy d curled his hand into a claw and thrust it into her head, clawing wildly until he felt something by his fingertips; latching on to it before tearing it out and tossing the gory lump aside. Blood gushed out from the wound in her head and The Vicar let out one final howl before collapsing on the ground with her hands held together in a prayer; one final prayer before she turned to ash.

Tommy stood there for several moments, his head spinning, muscles aching, and legs shaking from the fighting, yet he couldn't bring himself to lay down, not yet at least. Where the Vicar once laid was now only a small golden pendant, its shiny surface almost spotless despite the bloodshed. He walked over to where the pendant lay, picking it up and turning it around in his hand before stuffing it in his pocket; he'd figure out what to do with it later. Tommy looked down at himself and groaned as he realised what a mess he looked, with his garb torn from the numerous injuries he'd sustained, hands red with the Vicar's blood. The tonitrus looked about as well as he did; horrible. He could deal with the repairs back in the dream, no problem.
As if it'd been summoned, Tommy looked over to see an unlit lantern that sat almost exactly where the Vicar once had, from the moments before and the short time after she'd turned.
He crouched down beside the lantern and touched a hand to its oddly cool surface, taking a moment to unwind before focusing his thoughts on the dream.
There was a faint glow in the corner of his eye, distracting him from the lantern, and causing him to look over to see what it might be.

The beastly skull that sat on the altar, surrounded by candles and seemingly worshipped by the church, emitted an unusual light; one that he'd only ever seen come from the moonlit lamps. Like a moth to a flame, he was drawn to the skull's cold glow and stood up from the bloodstained floor to stand in front of the skull; reaching out to touch it with his hand.

"Fear the old blood..." Tommy whispered, half-leaning against the walls as he made his way down the steps and towards the exit. The dream he'd forgotten about, mind occupied with thoughts around the vision, the hallucination, he'd just experienced. Laurence, Master Willem... Just who are they? Clearly important, that's for sure, but still. That place looked like some sort of office, didn't it? Yeah, yeah it did. Probably Willem's, seemed like he was the one in charge. Laurence though? No damn clue about him aside from the way they spoke to each other... Wait, didn't Laurence wear robes just like the ones I saw in that old photo? Does that mean he and Gehrman knew each other, or did they just go to the same school?

The feeling of a cool breeze hit his face as Tommy stepped out of the cathedral, the sky now dark and the ward bathed in the moon's silver light, turning the whole town an unsettling, yet beautiful, white. He looked over at the statue to his right, smiling as he saw the little slug again. "Sorry for the wait. Shit could not have gone worse in there, I tell ya." Tommy let out a tired groan and went to pick Stella up, but stopped when he saw just how messy his hands were; still covered in the Vicar's blood with tufts of fur and gore clinging to his nails. Without giving it much thought he wiped the blood off on the statue, leaving large, red, smears on its side before picking up the slug again.
"Lets get going, the sooner we're on the move again the better." He stopped halfway down the stairs as he realised that he was talking to Stella as if it were another person, and for a moment he was glad nobody else was around.

The Church Giants had all gone to sleep, their heads down and sitting as still as statues, making his walk back to the chapel far easier; knowing that he didn't have to rush past anything had made this walk rather relaxing, letting Tommy walk at a slower pace for once. It was almost cute seeing them in a state like this, unthreatening and peaceful, very different from how he'd first seen them.
Tommy breathed a sigh of relief as the familiar sight of the Oedon Chapel came into view, picking up his pace the closer he got until he reached the bottom set of stairs, at which point he stopped to catch his breath. Right in the center of the moonlit area and half-leaning on the side of the well stood the old crow, her arms crossed as they usually were and head turned in his direction. Tommy had completely forgotten about the state he was in and waved at her again, a gesture which Eileen did not return.

"No." Was the first thing Eileen said to him, her voice drier than the desert sand and so full of disapproval he almost thought she was his boss; though her dismay was nowhere near his level.
"No, I am not dealing with this tonight."

"Huh, what-" He cut himself off, only now remembering what a mess he looked.
"Oh, right. It's not as bad as you think, I promise!" He held his hands up in an attempt to placate the old crow.

"Is that so?" Eileen was definitely not convinced by his words, yet she urged him to go on with a wave of her hand; much to his relief.

"Like I told you, I went to the cathedral to investigate something; there's just something about that place doesn't feel right, y'know?" He began, "The guards didn't give me too much trouble, thankfully… but the Vicar did." Tommy scratched his neck, making a variety of expressions as he tried to come up with a good explanation as to what the hell had happened there.

"Go on." She prompted, taking a step closer.

"Well… uhhh." His eyes darted from the dirty cobblestone, to the well behind Eileen, to the dead tree, then back to the dirty steps beneath his feet.

"Out with it. What. Happened. With. The. Vicar?"

"She… turned into a massive beast… and I might've killed her." he squeaked out sheepishly.

Eileen let out a disgruntled sigh, "I had a feeling something like this would've happened… but not so soon." The feeling was mutual, and Tommy pinched the bridge of his nose to share his frustration; forgetting about his claw-like nails and accidentally nicking himself… again.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way," Eileen sighed, "You should get yourself cleaned up, there's not a damn chance I'm letting you walk around looking like a drowned rat." She gestured at him with her whole hand, the same way one would at a broken chair.

Don't mention the dream, don't mention the dream. "That may be difficult... I don't know of any place I can go to fix this-"

"Oh, don't even try telling me any bullshit lies; I can smell the moon's stench even through the incense." Eileen cut him off, barely containing her prickliness. "Now, do as I said and go get yourself fixed up. I suggest you use the hunter's marks I gave you, I've a feeling you haven't used them much."

He was at a loss for words; he knew people could read him pretty easily but he didn't think it was this easy. An amused hum was heard coming from the old crow and for once he was glad she was wearing a mask; seeing her expression would've just made him feel even more like an idiot. He pulled the parchments out from his pocket and looked them over, mumbling to himself as he tried to figure out just how the hell he was supposed to use them. They probably worked similarly to the headstones and the lamps, seeing as they were all connected to the dream. His guess seemed to be correct, as he felt himself begin to disappear again.

"Better?"

"Much better. You don't look nearly as bad as before." Eileen remarked as he came down the steps again. He gave her an appreciative nod, yet he couldn't help but cast her an annoyed glance. You'd have looked the same had you been the one who dealt with the Vicar, just saying. His annoyance didn't last long though as his mind drifted to the eye he'd received from the messengers, shuddering as he remembered that he was still holding it; horribly mushy and reeking of death.

"What is it you've got there?" She pointed at his hand and recoiled as Tommy held out the eye, its sickly green hue and collapsed pupil lit up in the moon's cold light.

"The messengers gave this to me, and I've no idea what the fuck I'm supposed to do with this." His voice cracked mid sentence as he stared down at the eye, too disgusted to look at it for long but he couldn't bring himself to look away either.

"Did the Doll tell you anything about it?" Eileen asked, not bothering with hiding her disgust. It seems like even she has her limits and they have been reached.

"Not really. All she told me was that something deemed me worthy of finding out the truth, whatever that means." He sighed and shoved the eye into an empty pocket, instantly regretting it as the smell would now stick with him for the rest of the night. While he hadn't noticed it before, there was a strange smell emanating from somewhere nearby; something smelling strongly of mildew and of old death, but also of salty air and the ocean.

"Hey, Eileen?" He asked, "How close are we to the sea?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I can smell saltwater and it's coming from somewhere nearby."

He followed the smell as best he could, getting more and more confused the closer he got to the dead tree. There was nothing there that could possibly give off that smell, yet it was so strong that he couldn't ignore it; all that was here was that tree and the dead body. Too late did he remember the glow from hours before and froze as he felt himself get lifted from the ground by a horribly cold, spindly hand. Eileen let out a yelp of surprise as she watched as the hand scooped him up. Tommy opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out, and all he could do was claw frantically at the creature's hand in a desperate attempt to get it to let go; his terror rising the longer he remained in its grasp, with its countless, unseen eyes, staring at him exactly like the one in his nightmare had. His vision grew darker and blurrier and the ringing in his ears became deafeningly loud, but the abomination was still fully visible despite his frenzy. It all came to a sudden stop as sharp, brilliant, pain shot through him and Tommy let out a weak gasp as the creature's grip around him tightened and the last thing he heard before the world was plunged into darkness was a voice; shaky and barely a whisper, yet so full of wrath and vengeance.

Curse the fiends, their children too. And their children, forever, true.

Chapter Text

After what felt like ages of floating around in nothingness, Tommy found himself laying down on the familiar floor of the Oedon Chapel; the cold stone beneath him covered in a thick layer of dust, making him sneeze. The place looked more or less the same, though there were two key details that stuck out to him; he was the only person in here, and there wasn't a single trace of incense as far as he could tell. He got up from the floor, dusting himself off, and made his way towards the exit. His vision was still a tad blurred so it took a moment for him to realise that the landscape around him had changed drastically; the surrounding terrain was warped and parts were mashed together as if they were nothing but a faded memory. Tommy's eyes widened at the sight of sunlight that shone down on him and he looked up in confusion, gaze wandering over the gray, cloudy, sky. And the sun… the sun looked as if it were half-trapped in some sort of giant spiderweb, yet something did not sit right about it; it felt too alive and too focused to be an actual sun.

Where the hell was he?

The sound of beasts snapped him out of his confusion and he looked around until he spotted a small group up the path beside the chapel, a path that looked as if it'd lead him to the rest of the ward, and he decided to follow it. The beasts looked the same as the ones in Old Yharnam, though they seemed a lot frailer and more skittish, one of them even backed away from him with its arms raised to protect itself.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you… just passing through." He murmured as the beast scurried away from him. Tommy may not have been there to hurt them, but the hunter who lurked around the corner certainly was, and watched as the other hunter struck them down with a blood-drunk eagerness he'd never seen until now. His weapon, in its untricked state, looked like some sort of serrated cleaver but it turned into a cruel and heavy whip when transformed; tearing through anything in its way with ease, as if whatever it struck was made of nothing but paper. Then the maddened hunter turned his attention on Tommy and swung at him without a moment of hesitation, the whip missing him by only an inch. Thinking quickly, Tommy sidestepped the incoming attack and countered with one of his own; aiming Stella at the hunter and knocking him down with those strange-as-hell tentacles, just like he'd done before with the church servant. These hunters were far more resilient than he liked, as it took multiple strikes with the tonitrus for him to die, but the hunter finally fell after a final strike to the side; letting out a weak groan as he died. Now that that was out of the way, Tommy could actually get a proper look at the ward and bask in the sun's unwelcoming light.

It took him a moment to recognise the square and he watched as more hunters, dressed in similar garb to the one he'd just felled, chased after and slaughtered more of the same beasts, over and over again. It was a terrible sight, yet he couldn't look away from the brutality of it all. Every time a beast fell it'd sink into the ground only for another to crawl out moments later, same story went for the hunters on the rare occasion a beast managed to kill one of them; the two locked in a never-ending cycle of spilling blood and losing it, dying and re-awakening, hunting and being hunted; a cruel cycle with no end in sight. It was an ugly reflection of the hunt, the very same that he and so many others participated in, and it made him sick to his stomach and he looked down at his hands in disgust. Just how many had he killed? How much blood had been spilled by his hands? He didn't know, and truthfully, he didn't want to know.

After some time, Tommy finally tore his gaze away from the scene and fixed his sight on the Grand Cathedral, shuddering as he thought back to the fight with the Vicar, yet he couldn't help but feel drawn towards it once again. It was one of the few things here that was still fully recognisable and after a moment of contemplation, Tommy began his way up to the cathedral.

-

The way up was for the most part not as bad as he'd expected, the only things that gave him trouble were the dogs who were far too fast and aggressive, much like the ones he'd encountered in the real ward. He quickly stepped out of the way to avoid being struck by the ball of flame that came hurtling down the stairs, crashing into any poor creature who couldn't escape it in time. Two huntsmen stood at the top of the stairs, waiting eagerly for the gates to open and rushing in only to be stopped by what he could only describe as a knight, no, an executioner from hell; its voice echoing unnaturally as it swung its axe at the huntsmen, striking the first one down with just a single hit. There wasn't a single chance he'd be facing that thing in a fight, it'd cleave him in two just by looking at him, so Tommy weaseled his way into cathedral while the nightmarish executioner was busy with the remaining huntsman.
The Grand Cathedral looked more or less the same, yet it felt very different, much warmer and there was a smell of something burning coming from somewhere within the cathedral. Tommy stopped the moment he laid his eyes on the thing that rested in the farthermost side of the cathedral; a cleric beast was laid on the altar, unmoving, with its head tilted back as if it were dead or perhaps stuck in an eternal, fiery, slumber. The closer he got the more intrigued he became by it, after all, cleric beasts did not seem like a particularly common occurrence and the fact that this one was unmoving did give him a good opportunity to get a closer look at it. Curiosity killed the cat, but he's got more lives than nine, so he'd be fine. The beast's flames were no illusion, for it burned Tommy's hand the very second he reached out to touch one of its claws, leaving a very noticeable mark where he'd been burnt. Aside from its flames, there was little difference between this beast and the one from before, though he took note of one of its antlers which seemed to have been broken at some point.
Right as he turned to leave, Tommy saw something in the corner of his eye and he looked back at the beast's clawed hand, spotting some kind of odd and rather intriguing pendant; tracing over its patterns until his gaze landed on the eye that sat in the middle, staring right back at him. Quickly, but also carefully, Tommy swiped the pendant from its hand and made a swift exit; he'd rather not deal with another cleric beast, not for some time at least.

-

The sound of gunshots rang out shortly after Tommy exited the cave and he ducked behind cover just before anything hit him. A line of turrets stood at the end of the bridge with a huntsman standing right behind them, standing on a pressure plate and firing the turrets at him. There were a few openings in between the gunfire and he made a break for it the second one of those openings showed; throwing himself behind a strange rock for cover while he waited for his next opening. Much like the ones in Yharnam, the huntsmen were not much of an issue and fell rather quickly, same story went for the second one who hid behind a corner. Now that he actually had some peace, Tommy took a few minutes to just get a look at the area; after all, it was rather different from the ward and it doesn't hurt to see if anything else had changed. He gagged at the sight of the river below him, dark red with blood and smelling to high heaven, with numerous pale, hideous, creatures standing in it. And the rock he'd hidden behind… it was definitely not a rock, it was one of those abominations again. Though, it didn't frighten him like the other two had for this one was dead, stone dead, and half merged with the ground… and that is what truly scared him; because if something as powerful as this thing couldn't survive this place, then how the hell would he?,

The small group of huntsmen, aside from their molotovs, weren't too much of an issue, but their friend certainly was, and he was resilient. The hunter's weapon was something to behold, a hammer made entirely to crush beasts and then burn them, clearly something made for the people who detested the beasts more than any combination of words could ever describe. Fighting this one felt quite different from his previous encounter; despite the significant difference in height and skill, it still felt as if they were on equal footing. The feeling of the ground shaking as the hammer was slammed down, the flames burning the edges of his garb, and the general aggression and unwillingness to back down, made this for quite a thrilling fight. Their weapons, while looking rather different, still felt similar; their strikes blunt and forceful, with the flames and the bolts further adding to the pain they felt every time a hit landed. Tommy had to admit, despite how brutal that hunter and his weapon were and the amount of times he nearly died during their fight, it was still rather fun. And when the hunter finally fell, Tommy couldn't help but dip his head in respect, even though such gestures mattered little in this pale hell. He laughed at himself, realising what a hypocrite he was; first he was disgusted by the violence and pain caused by these hunters and himself, and now he's enjoying it.

-

The river was even worse now that he was standing only mere meters away from it, the stench so strong it made his stomach churn and head ache. The creatures which he'd only seen from afar, were truly horrible up-close; their bodies insect-like yet possessing humanoid features, long grey hair that covered their faces though their long tongues remained visible, and their bellies disgustingly bloated from all the blood they've gorged themselves on; greedily lapping it up as if they were beasts, true beasts, who lacked every feeling except for an insatiable hunger and a constant need for fresh blood. They were a reflection, a mockery, of the people of Yharnam, who never ceased to take in the blood despite how awful it truly was. Those things were fast, faster than he'd expected and hit far harder than their appearance lead him to believe; some of them spitting blood at him, and their filthy blood seeping into wounds he'd sustained from their attacks. There was no point in fighting them, and so he ran; quickly darting past the bloodlicking monsters and into a nearby cave, stopping only when he was on the other side to catch his breath and heal. Only three left already? I'm getting careless… oh well, it doesn't matter much, now does it? I can die as many times as I need to, so it's no big deal. Tommy let out a sigh, feeling his body remind him of his tiredness, and pushed onward, slaying the nightmare dogs who charged at him. This proved to be a bad decision, as both his mind and body had reached their limits to the amount of things they could handle without taking a break, and Tommy slumped down beside what seemed like a fallen tower; feeling as if he were nothing but a beached jellyfish. As he laid there on the filthy ground Tommy suddenly became aware of just how uncomfortable he was; from the seams of his clothes poking at his skin, to the horrible stench that made him nauseous, to the blood seeping into his garb, and the groans of numerous corpses who rose from their bloody graves. And yet, he was too tired to do anything about this discomfort, so he just had to ignore it for now.
Should've rested in the chapel, idiot. But hey, it could've happened in the middle of a fight, so it's not so bad… Just rest for 10 minutes or so and you'll be up again, that's all you really need.

The caw of nearby crows alerted him to the presence of someone else, and he listened as the sound of footsteps got closer to where he lay, the blood sloshing for every step that was taken until the source of the sound came into view; another blood-drunk hunter, wielding the same serrated cleaver as the first one did. There wasn't much he could do in this situation, sure, he could use Stella again to knock the hunter down but that wouldn't do any serious harm, so he just closed his eyes and waited for the hunter to kill him; dying and running back would be a pain, but he was well used to it by now. However, death never came, as the sound a gunshots rang through the air followed by a groan of pain that was cut short. Another hunter?

The crows shuffled closer to his location, but much like the blood-drunk hunter they were also silenced, though the method was far different and he opened his eyes in time to see the last crow get turned to paste by a kirkhammer. He watched as the other hunter untricked the hammer, pulling the silver sword out and hauling the massive maul onto her back with a grunt. Even though her garb was soaked in blood, he could still easily recognise the cape and the general look of her coat; it looked exactly like the one he'd previously donned, though hers was definitely made to suit her preferences. She must've noticed that he was there, as the other hunter turned around and stared in his direction, her expression going from being focused and stoic, to energetic and friendly; waving at him with her free hand.

"Sorry 'bout that, first impressions are not my strong suit." She joked, stepping closer to him and kicking some rocks away so she could comfortably sit down beside him, or as comfortably as it can get; filthy ground and blood rivers aren't exactly known for being pleasant.

"Don't mind me, I'm just resting my legs a little bit and then I'll be off again." The hunter looked him up and down, eyebrows furrowing and her expression changing into one of concern the longer she stared at him.
"The hell's happened you? You look awful!" She blurted out, immediately realising what she'd said and covered her mouth with her hand.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that, I was just wondering why you look like… this."

As much as Tommy wanted to give her an answer, he just couldn't; his brain was simply too tired to string together any amount of words to form a coherent sentence. Instead, he just shrugged and hoped that'd be enough of an answer to sate her curiosity, even a little.
"You don't know?" she asked, "My guess would be the blood… But there's no way you've been a hunter long enough for that to be an issue!"

I don't know what to tell you, I just kinda look like this now. It's not that bad though, hell I might even start to like this.

"Hm, maybe Simon knows? Or maybe that guy in the cave... This kid looks pretty beastly, so he if anyone should know… though not sure if he wants me to visit. Wait, what's his name again? Bah, I'll remember it later… " She mumbled, completely forgetting that Tommy was right there and listening to her talk.
"Screw it! I'm taking you to Simon first, if he doesn't know what's going on with you, then I'm taking you to our trigger-happy neighbour."
The hunter stood up, wiping off some of the filth that stuck to her clothes, and held her hand out for him. It took a moment, but eventually he was up again, albeit on legs that wobbled every time he took a step. He was certainly in no shape to fight so all he could do was watch as the other hunter cleared the way. She must've done this countless times before, for one by one the monsters fell, as did the hunters up on the bridge. When she was done, the hunter waited for him to come out of the tunnel and helped him up the stairs, something which he appreciated; there wasn't a damn chance it'd go well for him otherwise, not with legs that felt like overcooked pasta.

"Huh, he ain't here… Probably off doing his own thing, should be back soon enough." She remarked as they entered the chapel tunnel. Tommy sat down by the corner closest to the chapel's closed door; he'd open it eventually, but for now he'd rather just relax. Besides, this place was far better than the dingy by the blood river, so he wasn't complaining.
"Well, while we wait for Simon to get back," The hunter began, sitting down opposite him, "how about you tell me a bit about yourself?"

Much like before, Tommy just shrugged. I'm sorry, but I really can't talk right now.

"Not very talkative, are you?" She remarked, "That's fine, I've gotten used to that; Simon can be like this, too, so it's no big deal."
The other hunter leaned back, head resting against the chapel's wall and eyes darting around as if she were in thought. While she was busy with that, Tommy took the opportunity to check in on Stella, who had been sitting in his pocket for a little while now. Well, you seem to be doing fine. Can't tell if you're in a good mood or not, but I'm guessing you're content.

"Oh, what's that?" He looked up to see the other hunter pointing at Stella with a look of curiosity. Tommy gave no answer, but carefully lifted up the slug so she could get a better look.
"Haven't seen one of these in a while…" She mumbled, regret flashed in her eyes, but so briefly that he almost thought he'd imagined it. "Ah, don't mind me. I was just thinking about how everything was before I ended up here, thats all." She chuckled, though it didn't feel genuine. There was an awkward silence between them, a silence that was broken by the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Oh! Hey, Simon!" The hunter called in the same energetic tone she had before, beckoning the new arrival to come over.

"Is that you I see, Henriett? Last I saw you you were being chased down by a group of hunters, I was almost beginning to think you'd died."

"Me, dead? Hah! You know it takes more than that to take me down; they barely even scratched me!" She boasted and Tommy slowly shifted away from the corner, moving a little closer to the chapel's door and hoping that he wouldn't be noticed.

"Oh yeah, I've found another hunter, quite a small one, too!" Henriett added, looking to her right where Tommy sat, blinking in surprise when she noticed that he'd moved away. "Don't worry, Simon doesn't bite; he's about as threatening as a pigeon."

"I heard that!" Simon called, though he didn't seem offended by her comment as a faint snicker was heard coming from him.

He slowly scooted closer to his original spot, a little unnerved by the other hunter's presence but that faded quickly when the man came into view. Simon did not look like anything he'd expected, as he was dressed from head to toe in what he could only describe as a beggar's rags, face obscured and eyes covered. A curved sword was hanging by his side, a powerful and beautiful weapon that could easily deal with and cut down groups of enemies; a perfect tool for a solo hunter.

"So, how'd you find this one? Half-dead in a pool of blood, being torn to shreds by beasts, or mobbed by a group of hunters?" Simon mused, taking a sip from the canteen he'd fished out from one of his bags. Has this happened before?

"You weren't too far off with the first one, but instead of half-dead I'd say drained of energy and waiting for death." Well, that's one way to put it… actually, that's quite accurate.

"Welp! I think it's about time we actually get to the point of my visit, before I completely forget." Henriett began, "Do you have any idea as to what's going on with this kid? He's showing clear signs of beasthood, but he seems mentally sound from what I've seen."

"Completely sound? Not even the slightest hint of blood-drunkeness or madness?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Aside from his appearance he seems to be fine."

Both of them looked at him, Henriett having seemingly forgotten about him not being in the mood to talk or their earlier conversation. Don't look to me for an answer, half the time I don't even know how I'm feeling or what's going on inside my own head. Since he couldn't really add anything to this conversation, Tommy just gave them a thumbs up and an awkward smile; forgetting about the fact that his teeth were just a bit too sharp for any normal hunter.

"Well, I'm as unsure as you, but it doesn't seem as if it affects him negatively, seeing as he's made it this far relatively sane; a rarity in this nightmare, and during a night of the hunt as well." Simon remained quiet for a little while, and one could practically feel the atmosphere changing during these moments of silence; getting more solemn and dreary.

"Tell me… how's the big guy doing?" His tone was noticeably different, gloomy and low. Henriett lowered her gaze, her eyes darting over the cold stone floor before she finally looked back up at him again; the energetic and cheerful expression she once had was replaced with unease and regret.

"I… I can't stand seeing him like that anymore. He looks worse everytime I check on him, every time he wakes more and more people are added to the piles of death, and the shrieks… Those shrieks haunt me, Simon. They haunt my dreams, haunt me whenever I am awake and whenever it's quiet… and I've had quiet enough of it." She quickly rose to her feet and swung her sword-turned-hammer over her shoulder with a grunt, and looked toward the exit determination.
"Good men don't deserve to suffer like that, and I'm going to put an end to his pain even if it means losing an limb or two. You two can come along if you want to, but there's no talking me out of this." Henreitt made a swift exit and Simon quickly scurried after her with Tommy following close behind. He may be running on exactly 2 hours of sleep, a 10 minute break, and half a lemon, but he saw no wrong with letting his blood be spilled or himself dying if it meant keeping these two alive; after all, he doesn't need to know people for very long to be willing to aid them. Quickly adjusting to bullshit situations was something he had little experience with until tonight, but it was a skill he was going to master by the end of the hunt.

Killing without a just reason is just slaughter, but if a life has to be taken to end someone's suffering then it's mercy. They are not crows, only doves, and the suffering of a good man shall soon come to an end.

Chapter Text

The three of them moved through the nightmare at a brisk pace with Henriett in the lead and marching forwards with determined steps, while Simon and Tommy tried their best to keep up with her. It didn't take them long to end up on the other side of the large wall, and they soon found themselves wading through yet another bloodriver that led to more clusters of warped buildings, the one furthest away being the soon-to-be resting place of the man Henriett's set her mind on slaying.

The blood sloshed at their feet and Tommy felt his skin crawl as the bony hand of one of the undead reached out to touch him; chills going down his spine from the coldness of its palm. The horrid stench of decay got stronger the closer they got; a smell so foul even vultures steered clear of it, and yet they pushed on until they finally made it to the decrepit building where the smell was emanating from. Henriett stopped in front of the tunnel and turned around to gaze at her companions.

"If you need to prepare, I suggest you do it now… I don't want you dying here." While she sounded calm, the shaky breath that left her the moment she finished her sentence did not go unnoticed; Are we even going to be able to do this? They took this opportunity to look over their supplies and ready their weapons, with Simon transforming his curved blade into a bow and gripping it tightly in his hand, and Tommy giving his weapon a quick inspection and letting out a tired sigh; mentally preparing himself for what's to come. He had no idea what to expect, but judging by how this night's been going for him, he could only pray that they'd make it out in one piece. Just once, let things go my way.

"All done?" Henriett asked, fingers drumming against her weapon's handle.

"Mhm, all done." Simon didn't sound particularly thrilled about this either, but showed no signs of wanting to retreat or abandon them if things went south, even if one major mistake was all it'd take for he and Henriett to end up as additions to the piles around them.

With this confirmation, Henriett took a deep breath before entering the building, her head held high as she set foot into the place that could become her grave. The smell inside the building was far worse than it had been outside; it was abhorrent, no, indescribably awful, and Tommy felt as if he were only moments away from throwing up because of the stench. Countless corpses littered the ground and piled up against the walls; victims of the healing church and the hunt's cruelty and all of them forgotten. Many of them were groaning in pain, some were crying and whimpering, and a select few were whispering; their voices so quiet that their words barely could be heard, even if one were to stand beside them.

"Ahh, ahh, please... help us..." one of the corpses croaked out, crawling closer to them on arms that trembled for every step it took, "Ah... An unsightly beast..."

Something at the far back of the room moved, rising from the pile of death it'd been resting on and heaving itself up on legs that were not meant to support its monstrous body, shaking off any discarded limbs and viscera that may have clung to its body.

"A great terror looms!" They all froze in place, with their eyes widening as an abhorrent amalgamation of a beast came into view; its back was misshapen and curved, limbs stuck out in places where they don't belong, and its face a horrible mess that looked as if someone had melded together the faces of a man and a horse. Tommy shuddered at the sight of its grotesque mouths; one on its face where a mouth should be and the other protruding from its neck; both of which were filled with numerous broken and crooked teeth, but it was the second mouth that unsettled him the most, as it was lined with rows and rows of eyes. A truly hideous beast, a centaur from hell, that's been misshapen and warped to punish- or perhaps serve as a warning to the church and any of its remaining hunters; members of the church turn into the most terrible beasts, and this is the most frightening example of all.

"Ahh... Ludwig the Accursed is coming. Have mercy... Have mercy upon us..."

Then, it saw them, and for a few moments the room went eerily quiet; like the calm before a storm, with the three hunters standing completely still, holding their breaths and never taking their eyes off of the beast that stood on the opposite side of the room and staring them down in turn.

-

The silence was broken by a loud shriek and like the shattered glass left behind by a broken bottle, the three of them scattered, quickly getting out of the way to avoid getting crushed by the nightmarish centaur. The room that was once eerily quiet had erupted into chaos; with a pandemonium of terrible shrieks echoing all throughout the room, limbs thrashing in an attempt to injure whomever was closest, and weapons swinging furiously in turn. Henriett had made it clear that she was the one who'd be slaying Ludwig, but the other two would be there to help her with bringing him down. Amongst all the chaos, a strategy had began to form, silently, but it was one that worked rather well for the three of them; with Henriett swinging her hammer at Ludwig's body and breaking bones with ease, Tommy using the tonitrus' bright blue bolts to draw Ludwig's attention away from Henriett whenever he got dangerously close to harming her, and Simon taking potshots whenever he could to lighten the load all while staying out of harm's way.

It was going alright enough for a while, and for once Tommy felt as if his luck had turned. That feeling did not last long, for one misstep and a kick in the side by one of Ludwig's hooves was all it took for things to go downhill, and Tommy watched in horror as Ludwig swung his head around and clamped his monstrous jaws down on Henriett's arm just before she could land another hit, breaking bones as if they were nothing but toothpicks and flinging her aside like a ragdoll; sending her tumbling into a nearby corpsepile and scrambling to get away despite the horrible injury she'd sustained.

Ludwig let out a ghastly shriek as a silver arrow was lodged in his eye, an eye that was already blinded and now completely useless, and turned his attention on Simon, fury blazing in his remaining eye. Tommy rolled away to avoid getting caught in Ludwig's enraged thrashing and quickly rushed over to aid Henriett who was trying to get back up on her feet and failing miserably at it, leaving Simon to deal with Ludwig while he focused on keeping their companion from dying. They had no time to waste and worked as quickly as they could to fix, or at the very least straighten, the arm before using some of his remaining blood vials to heal her; Henriett gritting her teeth and biting her tongue to silence any groans of pain that tried to escape her. Tommy watched as her arm healed at impressive speeds, but it didn't seem as if she'd be quite ready to jump back into the fight just yet, and with some hesitation Tommy left Henriett in that corner while she tried to regain some of her lost energy, to help Simon who was already in poor shape; his movements slower than before, garb torn up and bloody from the constant barrage of Ludwig's attacks, and Tommy groaned as he laid eyes on the wounds Simon had sustained.

He needed to get Ludwig away from Simon and fast, and with a similar mindset as he'd had when he dealt with the Vicar, Tommy lit the tonitrus and struck Ludwig as hard as he could; breaking bones and watching as Ludwig lost his balance and fell as he tried to put weight on his broken leg. This gave Simon the opening he needed to get away, which left Ludwig in Tommy's hands while his companions recovered. He turned to face Ludwig, staring at him with fear and determination in his eyes, and stretched his arms out to taunt the already infuriated beast. "Well, what is it? Don't you want to kill me? Toss me aside like a piece of scrap? And here I thought you were the greatest hunter of all, and you can't even bring yourself to kill me." he mocked, saying every word in the most condescending tone he could muster all while staring Ludwig in the eye; further provoking him the longer he stared.

This seemed to have worked a little too well, for only a short second later Tommy found himself narrowly avoiding being crushed by Ludwig's attacks. Tommy thought he'd dealt with fast and aggressive beasts before, but all of them paled in comparison to Ludwig; with legs kicking, arms flailing, and jaws snapping at his heels as he ran away and ducked to avoid being struck down. It didn't matter much, though, Tommy could deal with this. All he needed to do was make sure Ludwig was entirely focused on him until the others could join him again, and he hoped to god that it'd be soon.

Tommy felt the colour drain from his face as he watched as Ludwig pressed his gnarled hands into the bloody ground right before taking off, leaping up toward the ceiling, and leaving Tommy confused as to what had just happened. A trail of blood dripped down from above and it wasn't until the droplets hit his face when he figured out what had just occurred... but by the time he'd realised what was going on, it was already too late and he felt as his body froze in terror. 

Ludwig came crashing down not even a moment later, landing exactly where Tommy was standing and crushing him as if he were nothing but an insect, a meaningless speck, and another body among thousands.

-

Tommy took only a moment to gather himself before hurrying back to the dilapidated building where the others remained, rushing past anything that stood in his way and ignoring angry shouts of blood-drunk hunters behind him. The sounds of bloodcurdling shrieks and bellowing screams filled the air, so loud he could hear them even from the river; getting louder the closer he got to the building until it reached its peak at the entrance. Through the fogwall, he could see the shapes of Henriett and Simon dashing around and furiously fighting Ludwig, with the latter having abandoned his previous tactic of keeping his distance and taking potshots, to instead hack away at Ludwig with that curved sword of his. Tommy gripped the tonitrus tightly in his hand, took a deep breath, and rushed back into the bloodsoaked chaos. Ludwig was significantly slower than he'd been before, with several of his limbs broken from countless attacks and energy having been sapped away from being continuously attacked and kept moving by the hunters. Simon struck Ludwig in the side one last time, weakening him enough for Henriett to get in close and Tommy bit his tongue to keep himself from cheering as she thrust her hand into the side of his head, tearing out bits of flesh and whatever else before letting him fall.

Ludwig hit the ground with a loud crash, blood splashing onto the hunters and anything surrounding him, with the lot of them paying little attention to the object that fell from his back and clattered on the ground. Simon let out an exhausted sigh and walked over to where Henriett was standing, her body trembling from the adrenaline that coursed through her veins, and patted her on the shoulder in a friendly manner; a gesture which she didn't seem to take much notice of.

"It... it's finally over." Henriett was the first person to speak, her voice was shaky but she sounded relieved, relieved at the fact that Ludwig was freed from his torment and able to rest peacefully. She perked her head up as Tommy approached, eyebrows furrowing and looking at him as if she'd seen a ghost; a reaction that was very-much warranted. Simon followed her gaze, a look of puzzlement crossed his face but it lasted only for a moment and changed quickly into one of relief; Does he know of the dream or was he just glad to see him alive? 

Tommy opened his mouth to speak, but quickly quieted down as the body of Ludwig stirred, broken bones and injuries healing, and lifted his head once again. The three of them backed away and watched wide-eyed as the object they'd previously ignored flickered to life; a sword most beautiful that bathed in bright, blue-green, light that brought to mind the gorgeous sight of the northern lights.

"Ahh… you were at my side, all along." Whatever beasthood that lingered in Ludwig's mind was gone and was replaced with a newfound sense of lucidity as he gazed upon that gorgeous blade once more. Tommy felt as every hair stood on end as he heard the man's voice; noble and just, fitting of a man thought of so highly and well-regarded by other hunters. Ludwig heaved himself up from the bloody ground and stood tall as he held the sword in his hand; gnarled fingers tracing over its edge as the light danced around him.

"My true mentor… My guiding moonlight…" Ludwig gripped the sword tightly before turning his head to gaze at the three hunters, his eyes full of gratitude… and challenge. He was challenging them to a fight- no, a dance, where blades would swing, blood would be spilled, and lives could be lost. And they accepted his challenge with grace,  readying their weapons once more and preparing themselves for a fight they would never forget.

-

The decrepit building, dark and full of death, came to life as the light from Ludwig's blade illuminated the place; bringing with it a sense of hope, guidance, and purpose each time it was swung. Unlike before where there was a neverending chaos of thrashing limbs, pained grunts, and terrible screams, there was now order and confidence. One could almost describe this battle as beautiful, with Ludwig leading with large swoops of his sword and the three hunters following his movements to avoid being struck down by his blade, gliding over the bloodsoaked ground with light, quick, steps and keeping a consistent flow even as they fought.
There was just something about it all that really stood out; despite the numbers advantage of the hunters and the sheer size of their opponent, it never felt as if it was unfair, as if it were nothing but four people, all from different walks of life, getting to show off their skills in this violent dance. They even forgot about Ludwig's monstrous form at some point during their fight, as it felt no different than facing down someone with similar abilities as their own; as if he were their equal. But he wasn't, not really, for he was the first hunter of the healing church, a man of great importance, a legend who will not soon be forgotten… unlike the three of them, whose names and identities will be lost not long after their deaths.

The fight went on for a long time, with waves of moonlight being hurled their way, silver arrows firing like shooting stars, and the bright bolts of the tonitrus rivalling but not outclassing the brightness of the north star, they had created the imitation of a night sky, one of bloodshed and will; an incredible sight only the four of them would ever bear witness to. Despite how long they'd been fighting for, not a single one of them had began to tire; it was as if the glow of Ludwig's blade had returned whatever energy and vigor that had previously been drained from them, and was continuously fueling them and keeping them all going until one side came out victorious. It was wild and chaotic like a river, yet there was still order amongst it all; truth and ideals, both flowing together and crashing against each other in perfect harmony. Was Tommy imagining things, or was he actually starting to enjoy this fight?... No, he wasn't imagining it, he was truly enjoying the fight despite all that had happened, and for the first time in a long time, he laughed; a genuine, unrestrained laugh that hadn't left him since he was little. 

Ludwig held his blade in his hands, the glow intensifying before he raised it above his head and sending the three hunters tumbling to the floor with an explosion of moonlight and giving them only moments to move out of the way before an onslaught of that very same light came crashing down on them like a wall of shadowy flame.

After countless minutes of weapons swinging, blood spilling, and wounds stinging as filth seeped in whenever they took a tumble, the battle finally came to its end as Henriett swung her hammer down on one of Ludwig's legs, making him cry out in pain and lose his footing; leaving him open for one final attack. And so, Henriett pulled the silver sword out from its maul, and plunged it into Ludwig's abdomen, piercing whatever vital organs were in its way and finishing him off by slicing him open; blood and guts spilling out from the wound and onto the ground as Ludwig fell, his hand clutching at the wound in an attempt to keep himself together. Ludwig's body faded into nothingness, yet his head remained, laying in a corner by the stairs and right beside one of the many, many, corpse piles. He was oddly enough, still alive and mostly aware of his surroundings, his eye tracing over the ground and the structures around him until his gaze finally rested on Henriett who stood only a meter or so away from him, panting and breathing heavily. There was no malice or contempt in his gaze, only thankfulness and acknowledgement, a look that Henriett returned. 

Ludwig's gaze drifted from her, to the hunters who stood by Henriett's side, and lastly to the silver sword in her hand; lingering on it before finally breaking the silence with a shaky, lungless, breath.

"Your sword... Are you a hunter of the Church..?" Ludwig asked, a relieved breath escaping him at Henriett's reply; an affirmative nod, albeit not without hesitation.

"Then tell me, good hunter of the church... Have you seen the light? Are my church hunters the honorable spartans I hoped they would be?" That was a question neither one of them wanted to give an answer to; be it lying to Ludwig's face or telling him the truth. On one hand, they could tell him a half-truth or simply lie; letting Ludwig die peacefully... Or they could tell him the truth and risk tarnishing his faith in the church, his ideals, and everything he stood for. After a moment of contemplation, Henriett took a deep breath, and met Ludwig's gaze with a sympathetic look in her eyes.

"Your hunters...they..." She began, choosing her next words carefully. "They've done well, the hunts are getting worse, but your hunters persist despite it all." 

"... that is a relief. To know I did not suffer such denigration for nothing... Thank you kindly, good hunter... Now I may sleep in peace. Even in this darkest of nights, I see... the moonlight..."

Henriett's words may not have been truthful, not entirely, but they were enough to put the old hunter's mind at ease and they all watched as Ludwig closed his eye; drifting off into an eternal slumber they hoped he'd never wake from. 

No words were exchanged between the three hunters, not even after they'd left that horrible room behind, as they moved through a corridor full of locked cells, madmen endlessly repeating mantras. They dealt with the individuals who patrolled the corridor with ease and stepped over their bodies as they made their way into what seemed to be some sort of old cathedral that's been repurposed into a sickroom, yet not a soul could be seen laying in the beds that stood in the room. The only form of life, aside from the hunters themselves, were the rats behind them and the two women on the opposite side of the room. One of the women knelt down in front of the altar, reciting almost the same mantra as the Vicar had, and the other was hidden behind a corner, waiting for the three of them to come into view before dashing forward to attack them. They were skilled, he'd give them that, but in the end it didn't matter that much and after only a few minutes, the two women were dead; their bodies fading into pale mist and leaving nothing but bloodstains behind.

While he didn't like the church much, certainly not after everything he'd seen so far, he had to give them credit for one thing; their sculptures were something to behold, being able to both unsettle and intrigue him. From what he could gather, they were depicting some sort of surgery, but it didn't feel exactly normal; one of the statues held a bell in its hand, the other statue held a book, the one in the middle held nothing, but his hands were reaching out to touch the statue that laid in front of them; its body thin and skeletal with its face being covered by a cloth made entirely out of stone, though the top of its head was still visible as was a large hole in the middle, seemingly made on purpose rather than on accident. While Tommy was busy marvelling at the altar and the look of the room around them, Henriett had sat down on the ground by the altar with her head resting against the cold stone of the sculpture behind her. 

Simon was also looking at the altar, but not for the same reason as Tommy, instead he was inspecting it; his eyes travelling from the floor, to the hole in the statue's skull, and lastly to the chains. Tommy watched as Simon stepped closer to the altar, leaning over and tilting his head to get a better look at the hole; humming quietly and whispering something under his breath before turning his head in Tommy's direction.

"Have you stepped inside the Grand Cathedral, by any chance?" Simon asked, urgency lacing his words as he spoke.

Tommy was quiet for a brief moment; he hadn't expected to be asked about that, but gave Simon a nod nonetheless; though he didn't really see how that had much to do with the altar.

"Then I assume you also paid Laurence a little visit, and maybe even borrowed an item from him while you were there?" he prodded.

He nodded, albeit hesitantly, and slowly dug the pendant out from his pocket and held it out for Simon to see- or rather, to take. Simon's fingers traced over the pendant's surface before sliding it into the hole of the surgery altar's skull, blindly adjusting it until something clicked and the elevator began to move.

Henriett glared at Simon as he stepped away from the skull and joined her on the stone floor, with Tommy joining him in turn. Simon didn't pay her any mind until a few moments after he'd sat down, giving her a cheeky grin as she continued to scowl at him.

"Something I said?" 

"Simon, there are other ways of asking questions, you know? Ways that don't sound as if you're interrogating someone." 

"I'm aware, but sometimes you have to poke and prod a little bit to get the answers you want."

"Yes, and sometimes you poke and prod a little too much for your own good." 

"Oh, I know that all too well; that's how I ended up here." Simon chuckled, and Henriett rolled her eyes and sighed, but she didn't seem to be annoyed by him anymore. Actually, she seemed to be rather content, amused even. For a moment, Tommy had completely forgotten that anyone could perceive him and it wasn't until the two of them turned their attention on him when he remembered that 'yes, people can indeed see him.'

"Seeing as you're in better spirits and a little more alive, how about you tell us your name?" Simon suggested, giving Tommy a friendly tap on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Hm? Oh, right... Just call me Tom; short and simple.."

"And your friend? I've been curious about its name for a little bit now." Henriett gestured at the pocket where Stella was sitting; the little slug looked entirely unaware of anything as usual, but it was endearing.

"Named it 'Stella', I just thought it'd be fitting. Besides, I think it should have a good name, even if it doesn't understand a thing I'm saying."

Just as Henriett was opened her mouth to speak, the elevator came to a stop and they all turned their heads in the direction of the room in front of them; a massive location with a winding, spiral staircase in the middle. Pained cries, screams, as well as the heavy sound of machinery came from within. That place didn't look as if belonged anywhere in the waking world, feeling as if it had been made in hell and recreated within the nightmare; a place that sucked the life, positivity, and levity out of anyone who entered like a monstrous leech. One after another, they entered the second circle of this unique hell; a place the church had tried to hide and ignore, lest the people of Yharnam find out the truth of what it is they're doing.

Chapter Text

The space around them was vast, far larger than anything they'd previously seen; dwarfing even the Grand Cathedral with its height and towering above everything else. The research hall was dark and horribly cold, the bits of light that illuminated the halls were an unwelcoming green and lacking any warmth that light was supposed to bring. It was as if even the nightmare itself was aware of the callousness of the church and was determined to make any living being, be it hunter, beast, or otherwise, bear witness to all of its faults; whether the observers were involved in the Church's crimes or not. The air was filled with the smells of chemicals, strong chemicals, that scratched at the back of one's throat whenever a breath was taken, of damp misery and death that seeped into every crack, every plank, and every atom that existed within the research hall. The staircase in the middle of the hall wound so high one could almost believe it was endless, with numerous other staircases connecting to the central column and branching off and leading towards other floors. If one were to give it all some thought, or perhaps let their eyes wander too long, it wasn't entirely unreasonable to think of the research hall and the giant staircase as a part of a large body, with the building itself acting like a ribcage and the staircase a spine. They hadn't been there long before their throats started to scratch and burn from all the filth that lingered in the air, with one of them falling to his knees in a coughing fit, a coughing fit that lasted several moments until it eventually subsided.

"Do you need another break?" Henriett asked, quietly offering Tommy a hand while she waited for him to catch his breath.

"Nah, it's fine," He took her hand and slowly rose to his feet, "It's just a little cough, that's all." He paused for a moment to clear his throat, sounding not too different from a disgruntled old bastard, and chuckled as he saw the looks on his companions' faces. That'll never get old, much like myself.

They ascended the staircase with steps as light as a mouse, treading carefully and ducking to avoid provoking the patients that roamed the halls; their heads enlarged, bloated, to unnatural degrees and rendering them blind to the world around them, yet their hearing remained untouched... as did their voices. The weapons they carried remained sheathed as neither one of them wanted to bring harm to the patients, even if they lashed out in anger or risked harming the hunters. The further into the research hall they went, the more they witnessed, and the more they saw... the more their hatred for the church grew. Most patients had lost their minds and roamed aimlessly throughout the halls, in a sick sense one might consider them the lucky ones; they didn't have to think about the things that'd been done to them anymore, for all that existed to them was the ground beneath their feet and the halls around them that's become their prison. The few who were still lucid were either mumbling to themselves, speaking about what seemed to be nothing but mad ramblings but made perfect sense to them... or they were begging, begging for mercy and begging for help; crying out for Lady Maria to comfort them, to aid them and ease their suffering.

The room ahead was dark and stood half-hidden behind old equipment, but it certainly wasn't empty, as muffled cries could be heard coming from within. Henriett let her hand linger over the doorhandle for a moment before opening it with a creak, yet she didn't step into the room right away, as she stood completely still in the doorway and stared ahead into the almost lightless room.

"What's the matter?" Simon asked, tapping her on the shoulder and pulling her attention away from whatever was inside. Henriett didn't say anything, she didn't need to, for the look in her eyes as well as the sounds that came from inside told them far more than words ever could. Despite the darkness of the room, there was just enough light for them to make out the shapes of more patients; three patients who lay curled up in their beds, left alone to rot in a place where nobody would go, a place where their cries went unheard.

"...Kill me, please, just kill me... Free me from this place... before I go mad." begged the patient whose bed was closest to the door, his voice tired and sounding as if whatever life he had left was slowly being drained away, having been confined to this room for so long; yet he clung on to whatever was left to beg for mercy.

"Ahh, someone...help me... I am guilty, I know. But I won't do it again, I promise. The damp darkness...it frightens me... And what rises from its very depths..." The patient spoke every word with terror, whimpering and crying silently to herself while flailing wildly in her bed; desperately trying to gain the approval of the people who worked in the research hall and attempting to grasp at anything to comfort her.

"Ahh, Lady Maria, Lady Maria. Please... Take my hand. Please. Help me... don't let me drown..." His voice was weaker than the others, though he shared the same terror as the patient who laid opposite him; speaking with the voice of a man desperately holding on to a piece of floating debris in an attempt to stay afloat, trying as best he could to keep from drowning in the bottomless sea of darkness.

Words could not truly describe the way they felt at the sight of these patients, the sound of their pleas, and the heavy feeling that filled the room; hanging over them as if it were a thick fog of torment and despair. Tommy watched from the corner of his eye as Simon approached one of the patients, the one who feared the darkness, and sat down on an old chair that stood by her bedside. The darkness that surrounded them faded away as Simon lit the little lantern that hung by his side, washing away the patient's sorrows and fears with the lantern's warm light; even if she couldn't see it, she could certainly feel it, and gradually began to calm down; going from flailing and crying out for help, to laying mostly still with her cries turning into soft whimpers.
Henriett eventually followed suit and padded over to the patient who laid in the farthest corner and sat down at his bedside, removing her gloves before taking his hand, holding it gently all while humming a tune; a small gesture, but one that was needed.

This left Tommy with the one who laid closest to the door, the one who begged for death, to escape from this madness and the hell that surrounded him. Taking lives was something he'd gotten well used to by now, after all, it is his job. But this felt different. Before, he could try to convince himself that the things he was killing didn't have much of a mind left, that they were nothing but slathering beasts and no longer human... but this isn't like that, for the man who lay in front of him was still lucid, fully aware of everything that went on around him, and still speaking; saying every word with a painful desperation he'd only ever heard from the most tormented of men, those who were on their deathbeds and awaiting their slow demise. No words would be able to ease the patient's mind, and the only thing that could possibly put him at rest would be a swift death; something that was so close yet so far away. 

"I can do it for you, if it's too much." Even if his voice was hardly more than a whisper, Simon's words could still be heard clearly despite the distance between them; for the silence of the room made even the quietest of sounds coherent.
Tommy shook his head, "No, no, I'll do it... just give me a minute." As much as he tried, he couldn't hide the unease in his voice as he spoke; though, it would be near impossible to accomplish such a thing in a situation like this. He shuddered as he felt his fingers brush over the tonitrus' handle, letting them linger for several moments before grabbing on to it; clutching it in his hand despite how much he trembled. He took a deep breath and raised the tonitrus over his head, looking down at the patient with hesitation, regret, and shame. Tommy let his fingers drum along the handle while he waited for his nerves to calm down. This is fine, you're just doing your job... A really, really, unpleasant job. It'll only take a moment, just one moment and it's over; you've killed things before, this isn't that different... Just count to three, then get it done.

One.

Two.

On the count of three, Tommy squeezed his eyes shut and brought the tonitrus down on the patient's head; putting an end to what must've felt like an eternity of suffering and letting the patient rest at last, even if his final resting place is in the place furthest from the sun's light.

The dark room that was once filled with the pleas and cries of long abandoned patients, now stood eerily quiet, with the pained souls who were once confined to that prison having been set free; free from the pain that the church had brought them and free from the horrible darkness that threatened to drown them.

Loud bangs could be heard coming from somewhere close above, loud bangs followed by furious shouts and grunts, sounds that got louder the further up the ladder they went and coming to its peak just outside the room where an enraged patient roamed; wielding a transfusion stand in one hand and swinging it in a blind frenzy, knocking over and destroying equipment and whatever else happened to be in front of it as it raged. They slipped past it with little issue, moving as quickly and quietly as they could whenever the patient raged; its wails and destructive flailing masking the sound of their footsteps and rendering it unaware of their presence. 

It seems that even a horrid place like the research hall has its brighter sides, or rather, someone who acted as a small yet bright flame even within these dark and depressing halls, for passing through a room full of mask-wearing, wheelchair-bound madmen, and going down an elevator, they came face-to-face with yet another patient; one who was bound to a chair and left unable to move, but kept her spirits up nonetheless, even if her situation was less than ideal.

"Is that you, Lady Maria?" She asked as the hunters exited the elevator, waiting a short moment before continuing "No, you're someone else." She didn't seem too disappointed by this, though, for she tilted her head in curiosity and followed the sound of their footsteps as best she could.

"Sorry if we're bothering you, we were just passing through." Henriett said, looking over her shoulder as Simon opened the door; the hinges squeaking as if they hadn't been taken care of in some time. 

"Oh, no, you weren't bothering me at all." She let out a small chuckle, bringing in a small sense of levity. "But please stay a little longer, will you? There's something I'd like to ask of you." They all stopped as the patient finished her sentence, turning their heads in her direction and coming closer to hear what it was she wanted to ask of them.

"If it's not too much to ask, could you please fetch me brain fluid? Murky, mushy, brain fluid... It makes me hear things." 

The three exchanged looks of bafflement, wordlessly asking each other whether or not they'd heard that right, and then shrugged; this was not the strangest thing either of them had been asked, not even close.

"While we can't make any promises, if we do happen to find some brain fluid, we'll bring it right back to you." Henriett assured. This seemed to please her, for a small and content hum could be heard coming from her. They'd remember this request, and with a little bit of luck, they'd get a hold of the stuff; it's probably the least and only thing they could do to help her.

The light of the research hall changed the further up they went, shifting from that unwelcoming green of the lower floors, to a grayish, almost silvery tone; reminiscent of the moon's light, but this felt different, incorrect, much like the sunlight. Rats scampered over the rafters, quickly scurrying away at their approach and huddling together in dark corners; watching the hunters with big, empty, eyes. Out of curiosity, Tommy took a peek down the rafters and regretted it almost instantly; they were so, so, high up, high up to the point where the patients further down looked as if they were nothing but ants. He yelped as Simon pulled him away from the rafters and chuckled nervously to himself as he tried to forget just how far up they were; just one false step and he'd be falling to his death. 

The research hall shook as the lever was pushed, the column creaking loudly as the spiral staircase shifted and churned, rising upwards until it came to a stop at the very top of the research hall.

They all recoiled at the sight of the patients that roamed the higher floors, going back and forth as if in a trance despite the absence of their heads; the very same heads they found in a nearby room, still moving and reacting to sound as if nothing had happened. The thought disgusted them, but it was unlikely that they'd get a hold of brain fluid anywhere else and they didn't exactly like the thought of just leaving that patient like that; telling her that they'd look for brain fluid and then not doing it. Henriett waited outside, too queasy by the sight of the bloated heads to help, which left Simon and Tommy to gather as much as they could; a stomach churning task for sure, made even worse by the sound the heads made as brain fluid was drained from them; a rather small amount, but two vials should be enough.

"...I feel horrible." Was the first thing Tommy said as the two of them stepped outside, closing the door behind them to avoid ever having to look at or hear of those heads again.

"That feeling is mutual, so how about we hurry up and deliver these before anything happens." Simon replied, giggling as he looked over to where Henriett stood; leaned over the railing with head turned away from them.

They paid the patient- Adeline, another visit, their unease fading away at the sound of her voice. She sounded pleased to see them again, even more so when they told her that they'd brought the brain fluid with them. None of them were doctors so it took a bit longer than they would've liked to administer the brain fluids, but Adeline remained patient with them; leaning back in her chair and relaxing as best she could while they worked. She couldn't offer them much as thanks, aside from her own blood, but they assured her that it wasn't necessary; helping others comes with the job, even if it can be a little messy and gross. However, Adeline was able to convince them to at least take the key she'd held on to for so long, telling them that Maria gave it to her but insisting that she'd be fine if they took it instead.

They all promised Adeline that they'd visit her again once their business within the nightmare was done, telling her that it wouldn't take too long and that they'd be back in a couple of hours. While they couldn't see her face, they could just feel the delightedness that radiated from Adeline; a feeling they didn't realise how much they needed here.

Tommy gazed up at the gigantic door that stood in front of them, eyes tracing over its surface and craning his neck to get a better look at the bits higher up. An unusual smell came from behind the door, though it wasn't an unwelcome one, instead it was one that was rather pleasant; floral, and reminiscent of the flowers that grew in the hunter's dream, but the smell was a little different.

"I didn't know they grew lumenflowers here." Simon remarked, breathing in the flowersmell as well.

"I didn't know the church grew any flowers." Tommy murmured, glancing up at the door one last time before turning his attention back on Simon.

"They do, though it's usually in more... restricted parts of the ward." 

Wait what?

"And how do you know that, pray tell?" Henriett inquired, taking off her hat to readjust it and dust it off, flicking off bits of schmutz that stuck to it, before putting it back on.

"I snuck my way into the Upper Cathedral Ward and saw a garden full of lumenflowers." 

Upper what now? Wait... is that what that door leads to?!

"Can I ask how you pulled that off? Isn't the Choir known for being secretive, and very careful when it comes to who can enter or even go near that place?" Henriett prodded, raising an eyebrow out of interest and urging him to go on.

"Blue elixirs; quite a handy tool when it comes to investigating areas that are off-limits." Simon replied, chuckling nervously before continuing, "Unfortunately, they only last a short while and I might've gotten a little... careless, took too many risks and got caught. The bastards ended up siccing the dog on me for 'snooping too much'." 

"The Choir has a guard dog?" Tommy stared at him, blinking in confusion. Why would they need dogs? Don't they have servants and giants to do the job?

"Not quite," Simon said, stifling a laugh, "He's not an actual dog, but he certainly acts like it; taking orders to attack without questioning why… He also smells like one, but that's besides the point." As he finished the sentence, Simon glanced nervously around the research hall, breathing a sigh of relief as whatever it was he was looking for was nowhere to be seen or heard.

"Best we get going. Something tells me he's going to get restless in a little while, and I'd rather not stick around long enough for him to say 'hello'." He spoke quickly through gritted teeth, but waited for the other two to double-check their weapons, count the amount of vials they had on hand, and anything else that might be important before opening the door.

What they saw on the other side of that door was a bit different from what they'd imagined, while they had been expecting a lumenflower garden, they hadn't expected the enormous cluster of flowers that stood in the center. However, that wasn't the only unexpected thing they discovered in the garden, for right beside the giant flower and standing with its back turned to the hunters, stood a large humanoid being. Everything about it looked wrong, from the pale blue tint of its skin, to its blobby head, to arms that looked as if they'd been stretched out, to its hands that possesed too many fingers for any normal being. It spotted them shortly after they stepped inside the garden, with more of the same misshapen creatures joining shortly after, crawling out from the garden as if they were corpses rising from the dead, all of which focusing on bringing down the hunters who'd disturbed them; how they could even see the hunters was beyond their comprehension.

While the creatures had the numbers advantage, it wasn't particularly difficult to deal with them, for their bodies, while durable, were still quite squishy and fell quickly from a few well-aimed strikes of Henriett's sword. Simon and Tommy didn't have too many issues either, with the tonitrus' bolts proving to be quite effective against the creatures and Simon's curved sword cutting down monstrosity after monstrosity with ease.
This was not to say that the creatures themselves were weak, far from it, as only a couple of swings of the creatures' arms was enough to force one of the hunters to back away and heal all while being pursued by the same creature. Strong as they may be, their bodies were still soft like jellyfish and were felled quickly by the hunters. But didn't matter how many of these things fell, as more of them would emerge from the ground to replace the ones that died; much like a hydra's heads.

The fight came to a sudden stop and they watched as the creatures turned their attention away from them, raising their arms above their heads and looking up towards the sky; veiling the garden in a cosmic darkness and bringing down a barrage of meteors, forcing the hunters to take cover behind the giant flower until the meteor shower dissipated. He had to admit, that, was awesome.
The fight resumed shortly after the cosmic storm faded, but it didn't last very long and soon the last of the creatures fell, disappearing into mist much like the rest, and leaving the hunters standing silently in the garden; catching their breaths and taking a short rest beneath the lumenwood.

The toll of ringing bells came from within the clocktower, the sound was loud but calming; bringing with it both a sense of peace but also caution, as if the nightmare itself was telling them to turn back now, before it was too late. No matter how loud the bells tolled, how many warnings they were given, there wasn't a single chance that they'd be going back now; they'd come so far and seen too much to leave it all behind, and so, they pushed onward, opening the doors to the clocktower to stand in the presence of and challenge the one who guards the true secrets of the nightmare.

Chapter Text

The bells tolled one final time as the hunters set foot inside the clocktower, the sound echoing all throughout the vast space, as if it were giving them its final warning; a final chance to leave and go back. The floorboards were falling apart and creaked as weight was placed on them; having been neglected for many, many years, despite the fact that the bells still rang. At the far end of the tower, illuminated by the unkind light that shone through the dial and slumped over as if she were dead, sat Lady Maria; the person responsible for caring for the research hall's patients but who now spent her days protecting the nightmare's as well as the church's greatest secret. With the absence of the toll of bells, every creak, every breath, and even the ruffling of their garbs became far louder; the sound of their footsteps reverberated over the walls for what felt like an eternity, only quieting down as the three of them came to a stop a few meters away from the body of Lady Maria. Seeing her face with his own eyes felt even more uncanny than it did seeing her in that photo; she and the Doll really did look the same, the biggest differences being that Lady Maria's skin wasn't made of porcelain… and the Doll being the one who actually lived.

Blood trickled down from old wounds, self-inflicted, and endlessly spilling fresh blood that dripped onto the floorboards and staining them a dark red. She'd been dead for quite some time, it seemed, and was left here to rot in a place where neither crows nor beasts could reach her; far away and out of reach from the beings who could set her spirit free. However, death does not come easy within the nightmare, they knew that all too well for they'd seen it time and time again; corpses that were denied the release of death, the beasts that were endlessly and mercilessly slaughtered only to wake again, as well as the blood-drunk hunters who never tired and rose from their graves whenever they were slain; just like the beasts themselves. Lady Maria was still alive, she was only asleep, left in a comatose state, or perhaps pretending to be dead as she waited for someone to be foolish enough to come near and reach for the celestial dial.

The few words that were shared amongst the hunters were spoken so quietly even a hare would've strained its ears just to hear any of it. After a brief moment of discussion through soft voices and hushed whispers, Tommy stepped closer to Lady Maria and hesitantly reached for the dial she'd clutched in her hands; his hand trembling and eyes darting from her face to her hands, looking out for something even as small as a twitch, anything that could give away that she was awake; watching him through barely opened eyes.

No matter how cautious he was, how carefully he watched for signs of life, or how quick he was with his hands, Lady Maria was faster. With movements as quick as a snake, she grabbed his wrist in an iron grip and pulled him closer, forcing him to stand face-to-face with her and meet her gaze.

"A corpse... should be left well alone." Lady Maria warned, her voice eerily calm yet cold as ice. She let go of Tommy's arm and watched as he backed away hurriedly, her eyes narrowing into slits as she spotted the other two standing only meters away. 
"Oh, I know very well. How the secrets beckon so sweetly." The chair creaked as Lady Maria rose to her feet, straightening her back and rising to her full height before grabbing the sword that leaned by the chair's side.

"Only an honest death will cure you now." She readied her blade, letting her fingers drum against its handle before splitting it; separating the two ends and holding the blades firmly in her hands. "Liberate you, from your wild curiosity."

*

Blood stained the floor of the clocktower with more soon to follow as the four hunters fought. The sound of blades colliding became a common occurence, as were the sounds of heavy breathing, and grunts of furious hunters who fought endlessly to bring Lady Maria down. They used whatever they had in an attempt to gain even the slightest advantage; using the kirkhammer's maul as a kind of shield when needed, the occasional firing of arrows to keep Maria from stopping to catching her breath, and knocking her down on a few occasions with the augur whenever things got too dangerous. Though, they were not the only ones who made use of the tools and techniques at their disposal, for Lady Maria made use of several of her own; dodging bullets and arrows with such ease it looked as if she'd turned into a puff of smoke, making use of the wide range she had with her blades to force them to back away, and quickly changing her attack style if she got even the faintest bit predictable; anything to keep them from making it further into the nightmare.

However, prolonged fighting rarely benefits anyone, and the longer the battle went on the sloppier they got and more mistakes were made, leading to further blood being spilled. At this rate, it wouldn't take long for someone to fall, and for their own sake the hunters hoped it wouldn't be one of them. Driven either out of desperation or in an attempt to turn the tide, Lady Maria disappeared into a puff of smoke and backed herself into the nearest corner; just far enough away to give herself the space needed to recover some of her lost energy and prepare herself for what's to come.

They went from staring at her in confusion to shock as Lady Maria raised her arms, holding her blades out to her sides before quickly plunging them into her chest, impaling herself with her own blades, twisting them before pulling them out with a burst; sending a spray of boiling blood flying onto the wooden floor.
Lady Maria turned her gaze on the three of them, staring at them with a look of frustration and regret. She didn't want for it to come to this, yet she's been backed into a corner and running out of strategies to use to keep them at bay, and so she resorted to the one technique she'd sworn to herself that she'd never touch.

If there were little sign of this whirlwind of a battle slowing down before, it was now an neverending hurricane of bloodsoaked blades, panicked sidestepping and desperate attempts at dodging Lady Maria's relentless attacks. Whenever one of them were struck, they just had to keep moving until they found an opportunity to heal, for if they slowed down for even a moment too long or risked using a vial mid-attack, they'd be struck by a lance of blood which forced them to keep moving. Soon, more and more mistakes were made, and the hunters' supply of blood vials started to become dangerously low. One missed attack here, one poorly timed dodge there, and a misjudgement of the range of Lady Maria's blades was all it took for their remaining vials to be used up; leaving them with no other option but to be defensive and strike whenever it was safe enough for them to do so… and pray they'd all pull through. This was an uphill battle they were fighting, and that hill was steep… yet they kept going; even if their attacks were few and far between, they were bringing Lady Maria down, one well-timed attack after another.

.

What was she thinking? How could she have ever thought that there be a chance they'd give up, forget about the nightmare, and return to their hunt?

Oh well, it wouldn't matter in a few moments anyway… she'd be dead on the ground and fading away into nothingness like a bad memory despite her best attempts at forcing them to go away… A fitting end to a life plagued by bloodshed, nightmares, and her own idiocy.

…

Gods damn the hunt! Damn the nightmare, and damn the Church! If these were going to be her last moments, then she'd decide exactly how she was going to spend them. If these hunters were so determined to uncover the truth behind the nightmare, then she'd be the one to judge them to see if they were even worthy of knowing of the old hunters' sins, judge them to see if they have what it takes to survive.

She knew how this would end, she'd seen it in her dreams time and time again… And she didn't give a single shit.

.

Their struggle against Lady Maria was temporarily interrupted as the old hunter disappeared into a puff of smoke, retreating to the other side of the room like she'd done before and stared back at them with an expression they couldn't quite read before stretching her arms out to her sides once again, their eyes widening as Lady Maria floated up into the air; surrounding herself with streams of boiling blood before finally setting foot on the ground again with yet another burst of the very same blood. Something had changed about her and shivers went down their spines as they saw the look in her eyes; this was the look of someone who knew she was fighting a losing battle, a battle that would end in her death, and yet she thrust herself into battle once again with smile on her face, one that did not fade.

The streams of blood that followed the swing of Maria's blades were suddenly set ablaze, the flames singeing the garbs of the hunters and bringing with it a wildness unmatched by anything they'd seen before; bringing to mind the image of a raging forestfire. It was almost poetic how the flames that threatened to scorch them were also the ones who cast away the unkind light which previously illuminated the area by bathing it in its brilliant orange glow and bringing life to this wooden tomb.
At first there was reluctance and duty, then struggle and desperation… Now, there was persistence and pure will, something rooted deep within the hearts of every hunter; both old and new.

Neither side had much blood left to spill, but in the heat of a battle, where each of its participants fought endlessly to see their opponent take their final breath, such things start to matter very little; all that mattered now is that someone met their end within the astral clocktower.

.

Lady Maria could feel her strength fading away with every swing, a feeling shared by the hunters, yet neither one of them were willing to give in. If she wouldn't be able to stop them, then fine, she'd accept her death; something she'd already done so long ago… But she wouldn't be doing so without bringing one of them down with her. Channeling the little strength she had left, Lady Maria readied her blades, holding them in a cross before lunging at the closest hunter; a rather small, weasel-shaped one, who looked as if he'd already experienced many of the horrors that the hunt has to offer. A sorry sight, but it wouldn't matter much longer, for he too would be set free from this nightmare. Her attack hadn't been enough to kill, she knew that before her blades even connected, but it did leave him weakened enough for a visceral attack; something that would kill him. With her last remaining strength, Lady Maria curled her hand into a claw and thrust it into his chest before lifting him from the ground, using her free arm to pull him closer as if she were giving him a hug; a final piece of comfort for one who shall soon meet his end.

"…Don' t worry, little one… This'll only take a moment, and then you too will be free." she whispered before gripping on to his heart and wrenching it out, and watched as he fell to the ground with eyes that grew heavier for every moment that passed.

An angry shout came from somewhere behind her with the sound of a weapon being transformed following soon after. Lady Maria didn't move, she no longer had the strength nor will to do so, and so she shut her eyes and awaited her death. She let out a gasp as a curved sword was thrust into her back, piercing her body with ease, with its owner twisting the blade before pulling it out with a strained grunt. Lady Maria fell to her knees, pressing a hand to her bleeding wound and chuckling quietly to herself as she felt her body slowly fade away; feeling as her freedom from the nightmare drew nearer for every breath she took. Even if she was so far from the waking world, Lady Maria still kept her gaze skyward; silently praying that wherever she ended up now was far, far, away from the nightmare. And then… there was nothing, nothing but moonlit ash and bloodied floorboards where she once stood. Laying atop the ashes pile of ashes and shining in the dim light was the celestial dial, the thing Lady Maria had clung to so furiously was now in front of them as if it were some sort of reward; her way of thanking them for her freedom.

*

Tommy awoke within the Hunter's Dream, panting and breathing heavily, and clutching a hand to his chest. It took him a moment to realise that he was no longer within the nightmare, though his heart was still pounding as if he were still there, still in danger. However, the feeling of being on the receiving end of a visceral as well as having his heart be wrenched out didn't quite seem to leave him, not even after he'd checked several times that he was still in one piece.

"Oh, you're finally awake." Tommy nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the Doll's voice and stared up at her half-expecting to see Maria again and breathed a sigh of relief when he realised she's not here. He pushed himself off the ground and brushed off whatever dirt had clung to him, wincing as he felt a sharp pain in his chest close to where his heart sat.

"How long was I out for?" He asked, hoping that it hadn't been more than a just a few moments. Are the other two okay? Did they survive? Gods please let them be safe.

"I… can't say for sure. Though, I would assume it must have only been for a few minutes." The Doll hummed, tilting her head as if she were in thought. "Before you return to your hunt… Could you tell me something?" Tommy looked up at the Doll, meeting her gaze with curiosity.

"Hm, what is it?"

The Doll remained silent for a few moments, her gaze wandering over the ground before speaking once again, "This may sound strange… But have I somehow changed? Moments ago, from some place, perhaps deep within, I sensed a liberation from heavy shackles. Not that I would know... How passing strange..."

Tommy lowered his head, averting his gaze and focusing solely on the ground beneath his feet. He didn't know what to tell her, he didn't know if he should tell her about what'd happened in the clocktower a short while earlier, but when he looked back up at her face he realised that the Doll had changed, even if only a little; there was a glint in her eyes that hadn't been there before, a glint that goes unnoticed on a quick glance but becomes more apparent the longer you stare.

The last thing he did before he returned to the hunter's nightmare was to give the small ornament to the Doll, something he'd meant to do much earlier. She'd done a lot for him despite having known him for such a short amount of time, so this was the best he could do to thank her. It was hard not to get a little emotional seeing the Doll's reaction to the gift, the fact that such a small gesture meant so much to her and even made her cry tears of joy made his heart melt a little.

*

The state of the clocktower could best be described as a horrible mess, with many of the floorboards charred by Maria's flames and stained red with blood. At the far back of the clocktower and near the giant dial were Simon and Henriett, the former slumped down on the steps leading up to the dial and resting his head against the palm of his hand while the latter was laid down on the bloody floor; both of which looked as if they'd crawled their way through several layers of hell with nothing but a prayer, will, and spite, yet they remained alive despite the bloodshed. Simon perked his head up, having heard the creaking of the floorboards, and a tired smile spread across his face at Tommy's approach.

"Good, you're back… Was beginning to think you'd croaked for good." he chuckled, though his words lacked the tone of mild amusement they usually had, rather he sounded relieved, as if part of him believed he really had died there.

Henriett shared a similar look on her face, tired yet relieved, relieved at the fact that they all survived that ordeal even if it'd gone less than smoothly. Tommy offered her a hand, helping her get back on her feet again just like she'd done for him earlier on; something that she too recalled and gave him an appreciative nod as a thanks. Something he hadn't noticed about the two of them until now was the slight change in their appearances; Simon's hood was pulled down, leaving his face uncovered, and Henriett's braid was coming undone and her tophat, what remains of it, sat on the filthy floor in a pool of blood. Henriett must've noticed the way he stared at her ruined hat, for she rested a hand on his shoulder and gazed down on it with a look of mock-grief on her face.

"Don't worry, shit happens." Henriett said, the energetic tone she normally had slowly returning to her.

"But, you seemed quite fond of it-"

"It wasn't my favourite one anyway, so it's fine that it's gone." She let out a sigh as she looked back down at it, "Though, part of me is going to miss it… I've been wearing it for so long that it's practically become part of me. But! Think of it this way: It's better that I lost my hat rather than my mind- zip it, Simon." Henriett cut herself off and pointed a finger at Simon, who was barely containing his giggles and holding his hands up in the air and trying to play innocent, yet his grin betrayed him.

Simon went to say something but stopped himself, falling oddly silent while he looked around the room suspiciously; suspicion that slowly turned into a look of recognition and fear. It was unnerving seeing him like this, and he felt the hairs on his arm stand on end as Simon looked over to where he and Henriett were standing; letting a moment pass before finally breaking this uneasy silence.

"Do… do you hear it?" Simon asked warily, his voice barely over a whisper as if he feared someone overhearing their conversation. The room fell silent again, as if everything within the clocktower were listening, trying to hear whatever it was that'd put the fear of god in Simon. It was subtle and oh-so easy to miss unless you listen closely, but once they heard it it was impossible to ignore the toll of the bell; unseen, but not unnoticeable, and ringing so clearly within the otherwise quiet clocktower. Tommy looked up at Henriett, wondering if she'd heard the bell as well, and nervously looked back at Simon and nodded; they also heard the toll of the bell.

He watched as the colour drained from Simon's face, though he didn't get the chance to ask exactly why or what the bell meant, for the man had already gotten up from where he'd been sitting on the stairs and scurrying over to where the celestial dial still laid; all while looking around like a frightened hare. Simon held the dial up towards the Astral Clock and waited patiently for a reaction… then, after only a short moment of waiting, the clock came to life; each part of it churned and rotated in such a way one might almost describe it as enchanting, only for it to come to a stop and reveal a secret path forward. It was hard to tell what was on the other side of the clocktower but the smell of salty air, the sea, rain, and something else beckoned them forward. One by one, they exited the Astral Clocktower, leaving it behind as they set foot on the path that'd lead them to the place where the nightmare began.