Greece (10): The dream, memories... (FTHD - 25)

"What do you plan to do here?" Stheno was the first to recover. "Show off how strong your beloved Hunter is? The monsters he's killed?" She

"What do you plan to do here?" Stheno was the first to recover. "Show off how strong your beloved Hunter is? The monsters he's killed?" She mocked, hiding her discomfort and apprehension behind sarcasm. "Are you planning to create some sort of harem for him or something?"

Stheno's words trailed off as, for the first time, she saw a negative emotion flicker across Doll's face—discomfort, but beyond that, anger.

It wasn't anger directed at Stheno herself, but at her words, for when the 'h' in the word 'harem' was uttered, Doll's face contorted, something subtle, but Stheno could see for the first time something ugly emanating from within Doll.

"It seems I've become more selfish than I thought. How strange, what a nasty feeling..." Doll murmured, more to herself than anything, before turning to Stheno. "No, what I plan is simply to observe, to understand, if you can change..." Just as Doll had changed over the years...

"And you'll force us?" Euryale growled the question before briefly glancing at the Hunter and the other Doll, the eyes of the former having reverted to just two sickly yellow orbs and no longer looking towards the three. "Trap us in this dream... In these memories for what? A test?"

Doll's response surprised the two.

"No, I won't." She nodded serenely. "If you both want to leave, or just one of you, you're free to do so, just tell me." Doll, of all people, would never force another being into a dream that wasn't theirs, not after all she had seen come and go on the hunt...

Before either Stheno or Euryale could speak, Doll continued.

"But, I ask that you think of your sister, Medusa. For if I, having known her only briefly, could perceive it, you must have noticed too..." The two gorgon sisters closed their mouths before the words 'Get us out of here' could be uttered.

"...Medusa still loves humans."

Neither Stheno nor Euryale uttered words to deny this statement, for it was a fact, even after everything that had happened, even after all that Medusa had suffered, she still loved humanity.

Perhaps it was because she, of the three sisters, was the most 'imperfect', thus the closest to humanity, or by a cruel twist of fate, but of the three, Medusa, who had suffered the most at the hands of humans, who was hated by them, was the one who loved them the most.

"What will that change?" Stheno asked, her tone calmer.

"For you two?" Doll shook her head. "Nothing, but for Medusa, perhaps something will change..." Doll knew that, thanks to the Hunter, whatever the fate of Medusa and the two before her, had changed how much? She didn't know.

But just as the Hunter, who had seen something in Medusa that reminded him of himself, Doll had seen something in Stheno and Euryale that reminded her of herself, and just like the Hunter, perhaps on a whim or perhaps for something more, Doll wanted to try to help Stheno and Euryale.

Because, as much as the two before her hated humanity as a whole, their dear younger sister did not, and as flawed as the two may be, above all, Stheno and Euryale loved Medusa with all their hearts.

Doll's insight was high, perhaps the highest apart from the Great Ones, but compared to the Hunter?... She couldn't see the future, couldn't fathom beyond, but even without that, she knew there was a great chance this division between 'hatred' and 'love' for humanity was a crack between the three, something the two before her could perceive as well, hence the grimace on their faces.

The bond the three sisters had was strong, as much as Stheno and Euryale had a stronger bond between themselves, the bond with Medusa still existed, weaker, but robust... But over time, the dissonance between something as deep within them as the feeling for their 'creators' would weaken or perhaps even crack, break that bond...

"Damn, Meduseless..." Euryale sighed. "What the older siblings do for their younger ones..." Stheno added and nodded towards Doll. "So be it, show us what you want to show us before we change our minds."

...Something neither of them would allow to happen.

Doll nodded without saying a word and began to walk, with her, the dream, the memory distorted, sped up, following the Hunter back away from the workshop...

The three followed the younger Hunter in silence, walking to the same grave he had walked to and disappearing into a mirage, just as he had disappeared.

Each of the three with their thoughts racing, Stheno's and Euryale's interconnected, Doll's more tumultuous than they had ever been, wondering if understanding and helping Stheno and Euryale with Medusa was truly the only reason she was doing this...

...Or if seeing something that reminded her so much of herself in her origins like the two sisters, distancing herself from something akin to what the Good Hunter said reminded him of himself, was what drove her in this moment...

It was like a shattered mirror, a reflection similar, but distant, only vaguely familiar... But

the mere idea of it happening sent shivers down Doll's spine.

"I really have changed..." Doll spoke to herself, her words unheard by anyone as the dream around her distorted...

"Everything changes, my dear Doll..." The Hunter's voice echoed, only to Doll... Always to Doll... "Just know, that I'll be here... Always..."

...By no one, other than the pale full moon above, which for as long as Doll could remember, was the same, but even it had changed... Now, being kinder...

"Oh... Good Hunter..." Doll closed her eyes, a smile on her lips.

When she opened them again, the landscape before her was no longer the workshop...

But the pale Moon still shone high in the sky... Always accompanying...

Always...

[…]

"What place is this?" Stheno grunted, being the only one to speak of the two sisters, or who could speak, since Euryale was busy holding her breath and covering her nose. "This smell... This aura..." But even with her efforts, she followed her younger sister in her actions.

The smell of blood was too heavy, the atmosphere too dense...

Even Doll was somewhat surprised, for the sensations she felt were different from what she remembered of this place, they were less vivid, less real... This was no longer just a memory of Doll.

"It is... It's Yharnam..."

... But an old, cruel, bloody, and distant memory of the Hunter...

As Doll momentarily lost herself in the sensations she felt, comparing the memories from before with her current feelings, Stheno and Euryale observed the surroundings.

Where the monuments, houses, and temples of Greece were made of white marble or something that sought to emulate and copy the light stone, Yharnam was dark... Dense...

The entire area seemed to be covered by a subtle gray mist that hindered visibility in some way for the two goddesses, while carrying the massive scent of iron, permeating the entire environment with the smell.

Not even the rain falling from the gray clouds above, higher even than the enormous buildings, foreign and different from any memory the two could recall, was enough to wash away or even mitigate the aroma.

The two sisters scrutinized the environment in a mirrored manner, one searching to the right while the other to the left, what they found was the same.

A dark street, but wider than any main avenue they could remember seeing in their lives, made not of stone or marble, but of a black material they didn't know the name of, wet from the rain falling from the sky.

Stheno was the one who looked at the nearest puddle, her reflection was something discordant from the entire environment, her light lilac hair, along with her fine and beautiful features, along with her white dress stood out from everything around...

Well... Almost everything...

"We're not getting wet." Euryale spoke aloud, able to feel the rain falling on her skin, running down her face, but not wetting her or her clothes in any way. It was a strange sensation but welcome compared to everything around.

"Where is this place?" It wasn't in Greece, Stheno was sure of that.

"Far away." Was Doll's response. "Farther than you imagine..." Doll's voice still sounded vaguely distant, lost in her sensations and memories.

Without warning, Doll began to walk, the sound of her boots muffled by the rain and wind.

The two sisters glanced at each other, their thoughts jumping from one head to another before they followed Doll in silence, noticing how strange the sensation of the street was under their bare feet.

Doll walked down the street with light steps of someone who had made this journey thousands of times, even though she had never done it personally, confident in her steps as she passed by the buildings, alleys, and lanes.

Meanwhile, Stheno and Euryale observed the surroundings, illuminated by the faint and occasional lanterns and torches here and there, flickering weakly, even shielded from the rain and winds, barely lighting up the surroundings.

The streets, the driverless carts, different from what they knew, the black coffins that seemed to take over the entire city, sealed by immense iron chains, everything was new, strange, and different...

"No doors are open..." Stheno moved her head around. "Not a single window..."

"There are no people either..." No matter how much Euryale searched, beyond her, her sister, and Doll, there seemed to be not a single soul in the entire city.

The only few indications that they were not the only living souls in this place were distant metal noises, followed by light steps and unintelligible murmurs, along with occasional moans that came from behind some of the barricaded doors and windows.

Stheno didn't know if it was out of curiosity or something else, but her small feet moved towards the nearest door, causing Doll and Euryale to stop and watch, the latter already knowing what her sister would do.

Slowly, Stheno reached out her hand and gave two light knocks on the wooden door.

"Excuse me, is anyone home? My sister and I need help." Stheno's tone of voice was sickeningly sweet, innocent, and gentle.

To Stheno's surprise, the voice that responded, even though male, was not intending to help.

"Get out, I have no room here for people of your kind!" The man shouted, growling the last word like a curse. "Stranger..."

"What?" Stheno's surprise mirrored Euryale's.

A common man had refused to help them? To heed their request? The answer was yes.

No matter how much Stheno tried, spoke, even with Euryale's help, none of the people, be it man or woman, opened their homes for them to enter, whether just a crack through the window or door, all the houses remained closed.

After a while, the two even pulled out their divine charms, shaping them into hearts and other forms to make sure they hadn't lost them and lost their charms.

"What the hell? Why isn't it working?" This place was strange, a memory, perhaps a dream or something more, Stheno knew that, but if they could interact with the environment, their powers were supposed to work, but they weren't...

"Is this a prank by that guy?" Euryale asked Doll. She knew the Hunter was immune to their divinities, their charms, was he the one doing this?

Doll shook her head, denying it.

"The Yharnamites have been through a lot. Even the weakest, whether physically or mentally, still have enough willpower to resist your charms." Doll looked at the houses with a heavy, solemn, and sad gaze.

Be it the hunt, the purge, the moon, or blood... Everyone in Yharnam had suffered and gained inhuman resistances to any kind of mental alteration...

What was the seduction of a goddess compared to exposure to the pale blood?...

Even those not directly affected by the blood were still exposed to its presence, to those infected, their bloodlust and madness... How about those directly exposed?...

Not even their love, be it for a close or distant relative, a child or an acquaintance, a mother or a stranger, a wife or a lover... There was not enough love to stop them from tearing them apart when the plague consumed them...

When the red moon hangs low, the line between man and beast is blurred...

Stheno and Euryale could charm animals... But not beasts... Not this kind of beast...

"What is this damned place?" Neither of the two sisters knew which one of them had said that phrase, nor even which was the first to look at the pale full moon in the sky...

... Or even instinctively try to understand it...

At the same time, they both took an unconscious step back, swallowing hard. The smell of blood that until then was being maximally ignored had returned with full force, as if there was a putrid, rotten corpse right below their feet.

The rain fell quickly, drops running down their bodies erratically, still strangely not wetting them, but this time thicker, denser than just water...

Stheno blinked, for a moment her skin was stained red, the water was not water, crimson rain fell from the clouds...

Euryale blinked, for a moment, the moon was not silver, the distant murmurs had turned into howls, the red moon obscured the sky...

"What?" Their eyes widened in horror... Fear...

Then they both blinked again, the world had returned to normal, as if what they had seen had been nothing more than a simple illusion...

A fleeting bad dream...

A passing nightmare...

A memory that did not belong to them...

"Let's go, we need to catch up with the Good Hunter, we're close." Doll started walking again, not paying attention to how Stheno and Euryale were acting, lost in thoughts and memories, unaware of the state the two were in.

The sisters, even before Doll took the first step, were already behind her, following her like a child would with a mother, their small bodies close to Doll's, almost hidden, just short of them hiding under her skirt for safety.

Yharnam would always be Yharnam... The city didn't like visitors...

A dream, a memory, a nightmare...

When someone looked into the abyss, the abyss stared back...

Fear, death, madness...

When the one staring into the abyss had no eyes...

The moon, the beast, the blood...

... The abyss gave them as a gift...

Fear the old blood...