(Little doodle of Den and Kin so y'all can have an idea on how they both look like).

Warning: brief description of several dismembered bodies close to the end, not very graphic (I hope so) but still, proceed with caution.

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Resting Grounds was a special place for the Moth Tribe, specially after the defeat of the Old Light, not only was it the place where the tribe had dwelled since their creation, but it was also a place remote enough to discourage any bugs that wanted to harm them for the actions of their old goddess.

Being one of the oldest of the tribe, Seer was specially cautions when it comes to protect them, she and the other elder moths make sure that the caterpillars and young moths were secured in the center of the Grounds and the stronger warriors were always prepared for an attack.

But no one of that happened, luckily the only souls visiting their lands these days were the children of the Old Darkness. The little Vessels got the idea that now that the Moth Tribe was under the Old Darkness "protection" it means that they were 'friends' of some type.

It wasn't really a problem, if being on good terms with the children of the one who ended the suffering that their goddess had caused to them and to Hallownest meant that no one would be coming to attack them for revenge any time soon, the moths were more than willing to share their time with the little ones.

So, when two of them got off the elevator that connected them to the capital of the kingdom, no one reacted beyond a greeting and point out where the young moths had gathered to play that day.

Seer had even started collecting some ingredients to offer them a snack, seeing that these were larger than the Vessels that usually visited them, so she suspected that they had come to seek some advice from larger moths.

It turns out to be something much more serious when they approach after they see her and despite their always expressionless and unmoving faces, she knows that they are worried about something.

That something turns out to be a someone.

It is through signs that they make her aware that they are looking for some new Vessels that the Old Darkness sensed entering Hallownest, that they sensed them somewhere between Crystal Peak and the Resting Grounds, and oh she silently prays for the poor soul that had just signed their death sentence by stealing Void to the God of Gods.

And she doesn't fear for a second that the two in front of her will accuse her or the tribe of anything, not as surely other bugs would've done, if one of those new Vessels had set foot here, they would both have seen them.

There weren't many places to hide in the Resting Grounds as much as Seer wanted to in those first few weeks of uncertainty.

Which only left Crystal Peak as an option of their whereabouts, there were some caves that could serve as an entrance without needing to go all the way back to Crossroads' entrance.

The caves were quite high up, but there were enough ledges that the Vessels could safely climb in to reach them.

And as he watched them climb towards the caves, Seer returned to her food preparation, while all around her the rest of her moths prepared to cure them as soon as they returned from the caves.

Because the mines could be dangerous if you didn't know how to navigate them, and as much as she knew how resilient the children of the Old Dark were, it was still better to be safe than sorry.

(She silently allowed herself to hope that, perhaps, the battle between her old goddess and the Old Darkness had left behind these new Vessels, her old heart yearning to feel her 'mother's' Essence once more, even if it was mixed with Void.

She didn't let that hope grow, as comforting as Radiance would once have been, the Old Light had hurt her and the rest of the moths on her way of revenge and hate, the best they could do now was leave her as a bad memory and wait for the day a new Deity of Dreams and Light would arise, just as her visions had shown her since the Old Light was defeated).

She finishes the meals and allows her mind to wander as she waits for her 'guests' to return, something had changed in the course of her world's destiny and Seer wasn't sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Time would tell, she supposed.

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Kin didn't know what to expect from their siblings other than looking different from them, but 'different' barely covered it.

After passing through the moth village, they and Den had headed for the alternate entrance to Crystal Peak, hoping their lost ones hadn't wandered too far into the mines.

Following their instincts they climb, and luckily, they hadn't had to search for very long, they had found them in one of the higher caves, not far from the entrance, probably on their way to the exit.

But there was wrong with one of them.

The bond was weak between them, barely forming now that they were close enough to connect, but even without that it was clear that one of their Lost Ones was hurt.

They seemed to be breathing very fast and it didn't seem to be something normal if the concerned attitude of the other two was any clue, through the weak bond Kin could feel something akin to panic coming from the shortest one.

The only reason they didn't jump right in to try to comfort them was Den's tight grip, their younger sibling seemed just as worried as they were, but they're showing more self-control than Kin thought was necessary in this situation.

Even without the bond, they were sure their sibling could sense their disbelief and confusion, why was they holding them back when one of their own needed comfort? Why was they stopping them when Kin could clearly sense how much they wanted to go help them too?

"We can't get close that fast." Was their only response, which in Kin's opinion wasn't really a good reason to stop them, and after a few seconds of silence, with only the faint voices of their Lost Ones being heard in the background, Den proceeded. "They don't know us, you felt the bond just forming between us and them, how do you think they're going to react if two complete strangers walk up to them out of the blue?"

Well... that made sense, as much as it bothered them to admit it, they still made their disgust through the bond for having to wait.

So now it was simply a waiting game, they approached the cave entrance again, they did not dare to enter fearing to alert the three inside, the apparent panic of the smallest seemed to be diminishing or at least, they seemed to be breathing more slowly.

It was at times like these that they would have liked to be able to distinguish what emotions their Lost Ones were feeling even if they knew why there wasn't a bond in first place, the current bond was confused and weak, they could feel their negative emotions but there was nothing clear, nothing that could tell them how to improve their sibling's state once they were able to get closer.

Unable to do anything but wait, Kin looked at their Lost Ones, trying to see what differences there were between them and the rest of their brethren.

There were a few differences that stood out pretty quickly, while their heads weren't too dissimilar to theirs, their bodies were more like a mantis or a beetle than a wyrm like Ghost and Hallow or a root like they and Den were.

There was also the fact that the horns showed that they should be close to their third molt, but their heights didn't match that, maybe it had to do with their other 'parent'?

Minutes passes and finally the little one seemed to be in a better mental state, the negativity stop coming from their side of the bond.

And because their sibling was a hypocrite, once their little sibling seemed better, Den moved deeper into the cave, just enough to be visible if anyone was looking towards the entrance.

Which, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on who you asked, was what happened.

The little one was the one who noticed Den first, two white lights came from their sockets as if they were eyes, their side of the bond seemed to settle as soon as they looked at them, which was strange but a very welcome surprise, it seemed that they would have no problem taking them back to the Abyss.

It wasn't until he saw the older two tensed that Kin realized something they and Den had forgotten about.

Their nails were clearly visible on their back. Their clearly sharp and ready to use weapons.

Oh no.

Completely unaware to their discovery, Den raised their arms in an attempt to show they weren't a threat, which wasn't very effective when they had a visible weapon on their backs and couldn't speak to support their claim.

So, when the taller one reached for their own weapon, -a strangely shaped needle that looked like some sort of flat mallet- Kin was already reaching for their own needle to protect their sibling, whom seemed more focused on the two younger ones than had their guard up.

And just as they expected, the tension that had begun to build was broken when a bunch of small rocks fell somewhere in the cave, it didn't really matter where they fell from or if someone dropped them.

What mattered was the fact that there was a weapon going straight for Den's head and the idiot wasn't even aware of it.

So, they took all their panic and shove it onto their bond.

They were sure that in their haste, their panic and alarm were felt throughout the link rather than focused on Den's alone, but they were in a rush and there was no time to focus.

The sound of two nails colliding echoed throughout the cave. And, oh gods, it was like being hit by a Mawlet from the front, a part of the nail actually managed to hit them and Kin could feel their void starting to drip from the wound.

They could have completely cracked Den's shell if that attack had hit them.

A second crash resounded and from the corner of their socket they managed to see Den parrying the second Lost One's attack.

Well, there goes the plan to get them home peacefully, there was no way to communicate without the bond, they clearly didn't know the language and the only one that seemed trying to calm the situation was the little one if the expressions they were making were trustable and the other two clearly weren't listen to them.

The weight on the opposing weapon wavered as soon as their void began to leak, and maybe that meant the Lost one had noticed that they were family, maybe it just threw them off balance seeing something so hard to find as void coming out of the body of what to them was a perfect stranger.

That wasn't important, what was important was that in that hesitation it gave Kin the chance to finally see her sibling's face fully.

In profile they had managed to see a completely black socket just like the rest of the other Vessels, it had been something remarkable when the other two had lights coming out of their own sockets.

But the opposite socket was different, a bright red light came from it.

Red, the color that distinguished a particular group of bugs...

Kin saved their growing suspicions for another time, they were sent away by a kick from their sibling.

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Myla couldn't find her uncle.

He was supposed to take care of her while her mom and dad where busy mining on the top of Crystal Peak, she was helping him carry some crystals, he even got her a cart just for her to take them!

But she just get distracted for a little and now she couldn't find him anywhere and now she was lost in a tunnel she couldn't recognize.

Even if she was lost, Myla didn't have fear, she was a bug miner and mines where basically her home, she was safe in here even when she didn't know where she was in them.

Her parents had always told her that if she got lost, she should follow the sound of the pickaxes, and that if she couldn't hear them, she should try to go somewhere lit until they came looking for her, it was one of the most important things every miner should know and Myla was going to be the best miner when she grew up, so, taking her little firefly lantern, she headed down the tunnel to look for sounds or lights, always making sure her crystals didn't fall off her cart.

It didn't take long for her to start hearing the sound of metal hitting rock that she had known all her life, there was also a weird noise, like metal meeting metal, maybe some miners had started playing fight with each other?

That sounded like fun! She really wanted to play too.

She decided then to go towards the sound of metal on metal, hoping the miners would let her play with them or at least help her find her uncle.

But when she got closer to the tunnel from which the sounds came from, her footsteps slowed down.

That was...her uncle's helmet, the helmet that her aunt had given him for their anniversary, Myla remembers helping to decorate it and putting some of that bright blue stuff that grew near the entrance to Dirtmouth so he could never get lost even without a lantern.

That wasn't right.

The first rule of a miner was not to take off the helmet under any circumstances, she even knew that her uncle was known for rarely taking his off even outside the mine, he wouldn't just leave it lying in a tunnel like it was nothing.

The clanking sound suddenly sounded less like a game between miners and began to remind her of when her mom had gotten sick from the "Orange Dreams" and she and her dad had to leave home because of it, mom had used her pickaxe to break the door and at one point one of the guards had had to stop her, the nail of the guard had collided with her mother's pickaxe.

Suddenly the mine no longer seemed so safe.

Myla knew that she should run to the other tunnel, that she should tell the other miners of a fight inside the mines, but, but she wanted to know that her uncle was okay, maybe he was even the one fighting whoever it was causing problems in the mines.

So, ignoring all the instincts that screamed at her to turn back and run, Myla walked toward the sound.

She really should have listened to her instincts.

Her uncle was the first thing she saw when she poked her head through the tunnel entrance.

Only, it wasn't all her uncle, half of his body was missing, his eyes, always warm and full of energy were now empty and hollow, one of his arms was missing and before she looked away, she could have sworn there were marks of bites on his head.

(There were more helmets, there were more arms, more torsos and heads but Myla didn't want to see them, she didn't want to acknowledge that they were there, because this was a nightmare and at any moment her dear uncle would wake her up and everything would be fine).

(That was a lie, nothing would be fine again).

The first thing she saw was orange, that evil reddish orange that would have taken her mom from her if it wasn't for the Shade Lord stopping whoever was causing the 'Orange Dreams'.

Frightened didn't even begin to cover the sheer terror Myla was experiencing now, especially when she realized that the infected were fighting two of the Shade Lord's children, Heir Prince Hollow's siblings.

Myla couldn't let the infected eat them too, she had to get help!

(She had to bring justice for her poor uncle).

So, taking off her helmet and putting on her dear uncle's, Myla ran towards the other tunnel, screaming and alerting any miner who might hear her about what was happening, and with the echo of the tunnels and the calls for help that would follow, the whole mine would know about the intruders and what they did in no time.

It wasn't until the first group of miners ran into the other tunnel, pickaxes ready to protect the princes and avenge their fallen comrades that she allowed herself to cry.

She never let go of her uncle's helmet, not when her parents came for her, not when they had to explain to her aunt that her husband would never come home or when, a long time later, a counting was carried out and 7 less miners were counted in their ranks.

She really didn't think she would ever let go of his helmet again, not when the last time she 'let go' of her uncle he never came back, and she didn't want to lose the last thing she had left of him.

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That went downhill quickly.

This chapter is dedicated to those who took seriously my joke about Horror eating Myla's relatives (and that person in AO3 who expected angst in this chapter), now the little girl has trauma. /lh

On less harrowing stuff, I'm going to be posting some spoilers on my Tumblr about the upcoming Reaper chapter, which is probably not coming out anytime soon but I'm brainroting a lot for it.

Sorry for the semi-long wait, February was full of school proyects and I had a little writers block, hopefully ext chapter take less to make!