Mono + Six Afterstory || Little Nightmares II

Four

     Mono held the sensitive Six until she calmed down, his body language awkward since she was mostly just crying on him. When she quieted down and relaxed, with only faint hiccups escaping her mouth, he pulled away slightly and wiped her face just like she had done for him earlier. "The song you were singing...it was from your music box, right? We'll have to get it back for you." He was promising himself in that moment to give Six her music box no matter what, even if it meant danger.

     The girl let out a shaky breath and put some more distance between herself and Mono, holding her stomach as it threatened to overtake her mind. "Where did your bag go? Did something happen?" She changed the subject quickly, and Mono stared at her with focused eyes, wanting to understand how she could brush off so much sadness and pain.

     "Nothing bad; I ran into the teacher— she was back to normal. She was my teacher before everything happened, but I couldn't even recognize her when she was under the influence of the signal tower. Even the kids, they—" he cut himself off, getting slightly choked up because of how grim the things he witnessed and heard were. "This is...all my fault..." He dropped his head and gripped onto his hair; he was in agony just thinking about all of the lives he ruined as the thin man, and even now as himself. How many kids had he killed while trying to rescue Six?

     Six didn't react in a very empathetic way; she had problems with that because of her trust issues, but regardless she didn't take her eyes off of Mono, and honestly couldn't even if she wanted to. She just stared at him deadpan, and eventually she held onto his hand, interlocking their fingers to provide some level of comfort.

     Mono blinked in surprise when she grabbed his hand, noticing that she had her eyes fixated on him. He couldn't understand her expression, because it either had too many emotions to count, or too little. He was conflicted about it. But for some reason, he felt better. And then, out of nowhere, he watched her lips upturn into a smile. He could feel his heart racing again. "Um...the teacher said she'll bring us something to eat, just so you know... I didn't forget." He wanted to take his mind off of her deceitfully innocent actions, mostly since he'd seen how ruthless she could be, but also because he wanted her to keep smiling, and knew that it would all go away soon, because she was in pain.

     "I'm starving. I'm seriously gonna eat my hand." Six replied playfully, but although she meant it as a joke, Mono was deeply concerned about her words; he had to really ask himself in that moment: would Six actually stoop that low? And the fact that he didn't know the answer scared him...just a bit.

     "Please don't eat your hand. That's probably not healthy." He replied nonchalantly even though he was nervous, and Six giggled at his funny reaction. Her being happy was probably the only thing he looked forward to anymore, but she seemed to hurt after laughing, which made him not so fond of it in an instant. "Whenever I get hungry, I bite my nails. It kind of helps distract me."

     The girl frowned when he mentioned a coping mechanism, presented both of her hands to Mono...she had already taken advantage of that solution, it appeared. "My nails have been short for like...four months. Before I came here, I had to help some chick try to escape a creepy island. She just ended up dying anyway... Like, what gives? I sacrificed my nails for no reason." She explained a bit of her past with an annoyed tone, but Mono really hoped she was just being satirical. "I escaped on a raft, but I've seen stories of a shadow man that takes children across the ocean to wherever they want. Maybe he's real, and we can leave this place together." Her optimism was pretty rare, so Mono had learned to appreciate it, especially now when the information was so helpful and intriguing.

     "Me too, Six. I would like that." He replied with a gentle smile, as if coddling her, and yet it was such a sad smile. So much disappointment and anger was masked by his display of affection; Six was the first and only person to ever tell him such a thing, to promise a better future.