The Endless Loop (Little Nightmares 2, Mono x Six)

Chapter Sixteen: Second Encounter

Mono made his way into the room, despite the sick feeling that arose in his stomach. The buzzing from the TV grew louder with each step he took, and his ears started to ring. He leaned forward and covered his ears as he grit his teeth. With each passing loop, he swore this got harder and harder. He heard Six yell something inaudible in the background as he stumbled towards the TVs bright screen. As soon as he reached it, he began tuning the transmission as quickly as possible.

As soon as he tuned it, he stumbled forwards and found himself in the familiar twisted-looking hallway. He stood there for a moment as the ringing in his ears faded.

Let's just get this over with... He thought, before hurriedly making his way through the hallway. He made it about halfway through when the door suddenly began to swing open.

What the hell-!? Mono stumbled backwards and stared wide-eyed at the door as it creaked open. The Thin Man stood on the other side, his pitch black gaze locked on Mono.

"Why cant you just leave me the hell alone!?" Mono yelled. There was no way that he was going to deal with this bullshit. Not now. Preferably not ever. He heard the Thin Man sigh.

"Oh, you stupid child. We both know I cant do that."

Mono clenched his fists as he glared at the Thin Man. There was silence between them for a moment.

"I'm here to reason with you, Mono." The Thin Man finally said after a moment. Mono couldnt beleive what he was hearing.

"You- what? You think I want to hear anything you have to say? Theres no reasoning with me. Just leave me the hell alone!" Mono yelled as his anger got the best of him.

"Shut up, fool. Listen closely. Because I am you, I've tried breaking the loop when I was... foolish. By getting rid of Six, I figured she would be unable to betray you. But, it would appear that every single time I've tried to do so, you kill me... yourself... to protect her. But that... that is what the loop wants. Theres no point. The loop requires that I catch Six. That is merely the way it's supposed to be. Anything you do will be used against you, dont you see?"

Mono felt a chill run down his spine.

"You- you're lying. If you wanted to end this, you wouldnt go after her. You wouldnt go after us!" He stammered. The Thin Man let out a sharp, ghostly laugh.

"No, you stupid, stupid child. I gave up. You should do the same. Give into the transmission. Accept the fact that you cannot escape this."

Mono scrambled backwards as the Thin Man then began walking towards him.

"No! Get the hell away from me! Stay back!" He yelled. The Thin Man stayed silent as he continued to make his way towards Mono.

Mono started to panic as he turned and ran back the way he came. His movement was dreadfully slow, and the Thin Man was gaining on him at an alarming speed. Mono could see him begin to reach towards him out of the corner of his eye.

No, no, no, NO! Mono thought desperately as he attempted to quicken his pace to no avail. Then, quite suddenly, his ears began to ring and he heard a faint buzzing. He stopped, and fell on his knees as the ringing became louder and louder.

And then he found himself being pulled out of the TV. As he hit the cold, hard floor, he drew in a sharp breath, and tried to steady his panicked breathing. He shut his eyes, and waited for the lingering ringing in his ears to fade away.

"Mono! Mono?? Dude, get up! Hey! Mono! You're kinda worrying me here, you butt! OI!" Six yelling from beside him drew his attention back to reality, and he hesitantly opened his eyes to see her face only a few inches away from his.

"What the hell was that? You didnt really give me an answer last time, but you're an idiot if you expect me to ignore this again." Six asked as she backed away. Mono blinked a few times, before sitting up, and sighing.

"W-well, uh-" He hesitated, and cleared his throat as he searched for the right words.

"Y'see, um... I have.. powers..? And uh-" He hesitated again as he began to feel a little stupid. "...The TVs. Uh.. they... do this thing that kinda just- Oh god, I dont know how to explain this.."

He sighed again, before bringing his hands up to his face. The image of the Thin Man reaching towards him lingered in his mind, and he just couldnt shake it.

"Hey, Mono. Look up." He heard Six speak again, and he hesitantly raised his head to meet Sixs gaze.

"You don't have to tell me about it, okay? Just forget about it. I can tell it's bothering you."

Mono couldnt help but smile. While that wasnt really the thing that was bothering him, he still found it incredibly sweet that she was being understanding.

"Oh god, now you're gonna start smiling like an idiot-" Six joked, before grinning at him. Mono chuckled.

"Well, it's your fault, and you should've seen it coming. You know I cant help but smile when you're being sweet," He replied. He watched as Six blushed and glanced away without responding. Mono couldnt help but laugh at her reaction.

He then took Sixs hand in his, and stood, helping her up as he did so.

"Now let's go. I saw a locked door on the upper level, so we should probably go find a key."

"Aye-aye, captain walnut." Six responded teasingly. Mono rolled his eyes though he was unable to hide his smile, before making his way past the staircase and into the next room.

As soon as the nearby x-ray came into sight, Six let go of Monos hand and ran over to it.

"That's a big ass x-ray," She breathed out. "You should totally pull the lever, I wanna see how it works."

"Language, raincoat." Mono muttered in response, though he approached the nearby lever anyways.

"Raincoat?" Six echoed. Mono grinned as he nodded.

"Your new nickname, 'cause you keep calling me walnut. And dont even complain, because at least your nickname makes sense."

Mono then reached up and pulled the lever before Six could comment on what he said. He turned, and watched as Six ducked behind the x-ray, and inspected her reflection on the x-rays screen.

"Dang, this is freaky." Six giggled. Mono smiled faintly as he watched Six jumped back and fourth, before the x-ray switched off.

"Aww, that didn't even last very long." He heard her sigh as she walked out from behind it. He shrugged.

"We have better things to do anyways, raincoat. Now c'mon, I want to test something out." He spoke as he turned to walk towards the next room.

"You're really going to stick with calling me that, arent you..?"

"Yep!"
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Wooh! Finally got to write another chapter for you guys. I really hope you all enjoyed! Yall are gonna lose your minds when you find out what's to come. Anyways, thanks for reading! ;)