[It is rare that Grimm is stunned into silence and the Knight is one of the few who get to see that.
He knows that is a word the Knight has nothing but bad memories attached to. Like it or not, the Pale King was their father but he abandoned all of his children and did not deserve to be called a parent. He tainted that word for them with his actions and if they never used it again no one should fault them for it.
But despite it all, they still want to...call him father. All fires burn with the knowledge they will one day run out of kindling. Grimm's existence is that of a God endlessly burning bright and dying out. They know this.
But this is what they want, regardless.
Grimm closes his hands around the Knight's as he tries to work out something - anything - to say. But eventually...he just gives up and hugs them.]
My child...thank you. For everything you have given me.
[For making this life shine so brightly. For giving Brumm someone to listen to his worries. For entertaining Divine's whims. For loving the Grimmchild.
For giving the world of Hallownest one more chance.]
...if you are willing, there is something I wish to say. If that is fine with you.
[ The silence stretches on long enough that they begin to feel anxious. They tense. If they've done something wrong -- if they've made a mistake, or been too forward...
"My child," he says, at last, and they lean their head back against his chest once more. They're surprised at how much it makes them feel; happiness and pain, all at once.
With the little they'd known of him, back then, it had been a flight of fancy, some fleeting dream. To be cared for as they'd seen him care for his child, knowing it wasn't for them, still desiring to know it anyway.
To be able to say this, to have it be accepted. To know him well enough to say it at all, to fight with their own hesitations and win...
They are happy, they think. Grateful, for this chance they've been given.
(And even though he is transient, aren't they transient, too? A vessel destined to burn, a ghost fated to disappear.
Isn't it fitting?)
He has something he wants to say. They finally adjust themselves to look up at him, and nod. ]
[It is fitting. Like the grains of time both parent and child fade away eventually. Clogging up the hourglass was not something either of them desired, having seen the horrific actions two Gods took in an effort for their legacies to end. Perhaps the desire to linger among those who still lived was within them both but Grimm and the Knight knew their fates were to pass through as shadows and no more.
It is not as bleak as it may sound.]
We will fade from this place, one day. [Grimm knows the Knight knows, but it is where he wanted to start.] There should never be an everlasting dream.
But there are some good things to come from it all. The lives you have touched, the hearts you have burned yourself in shine brightly. Time will erode these memories eventually, as it will for those you met in Hallownest. We will eventually fade, the shape, the flame.
[Even for Grimm, he heard stories of his incarnations and the stories were never the same twice. He remembered each self perfectly but that was not something afforded to mortals.
Yet--]
But the dance will remain. Your courage, your love. Here and there. The beautiful love you gave everyone will not be forgotten, my child.
[Long clawed fingers fold themselves over the Knight's chest, where their heart was - and Grimm would defend to the death that they had one no matter what their creator may say.]
...he is still here, is he not?
[He remembers their Shadow, the looming figure who easily dwarfed the Knight much like their father's dark legacy would. Some scars go bone-deep and such a monster would not fade into the past so easily.]
If he is and becomes to loud, remember this. You are loved. All of your flaws, all of your perfections and everything in-between. Everyone here and back home loves you. Never forget this, my dear Knight.
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no subject
He knows that is a word the Knight has nothing but bad memories attached to. Like it or not, the Pale King was their father but he abandoned all of his children and did not deserve to be called a parent. He tainted that word for them with his actions and if they never used it again no one should fault them for it.
But despite it all, they still want to...call him father. All fires burn with the knowledge they will one day run out of kindling. Grimm's existence is that of a God endlessly burning bright and dying out. They know this.
But this is what they want, regardless.
Grimm closes his hands around the Knight's as he tries to work out something - anything - to say. But eventually...he just gives up and hugs them.]
My child...thank you. For everything you have given me.
[For making this life shine so brightly. For giving Brumm someone to listen to his worries. For entertaining Divine's whims. For loving the Grimmchild.
For giving the world of Hallownest one more chance.]
...if you are willing, there is something I wish to say. If that is fine with you.
no subject
"My child," he says, at last, and they lean their head back against his chest once more. They're surprised at how much it makes them feel; happiness and pain, all at once.
With the little they'd known of him, back then, it had been a flight of fancy, some fleeting dream. To be cared for as they'd seen him care for his child, knowing it wasn't for them, still desiring to know it anyway.
To be able to say this, to have it be accepted. To know him well enough to say it at all, to fight with their own hesitations and win...
They are happy, they think. Grateful, for this chance they've been given.
(And even though he is transient, aren't they transient, too? A vessel destined to burn, a ghost fated to disappear.
Isn't it fitting?)
He has something he wants to say. They finally adjust themselves to look up at him, and nod. ]
no subject
It is not as bleak as it may sound.]
We will fade from this place, one day. [Grimm knows the Knight knows, but it is where he wanted to start.] There should never be an everlasting dream.
But there are some good things to come from it all. The lives you have touched, the hearts you have burned yourself in shine brightly. Time will erode these memories eventually, as it will for those you met in Hallownest. We will eventually fade, the shape, the flame.
[Even for Grimm, he heard stories of his incarnations and the stories were never the same twice. He remembered each self perfectly but that was not something afforded to mortals.
Yet--]
But the dance will remain. Your courage, your love. Here and there. The beautiful love you gave everyone will not be forgotten, my child.
[Long clawed fingers fold themselves over the Knight's chest, where their heart was - and Grimm would defend to the death that they had one no matter what their creator may say.]
...he is still here, is he not?
[He remembers their Shadow, the looming figure who easily dwarfed the Knight much like their father's dark legacy would. Some scars go bone-deep and such a monster would not fade into the past so easily.]
If he is and becomes to loud, remember this. You are loved. All of your flaws, all of your perfections and everything in-between. Everyone here and back home loves you. Never forget this, my dear Knight.