Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph3 Ch1: The Survivors

The knight stood still. It's nail was drawn, and it's eyes were looking everywhere. It was keeping watch, while Mono was resting. They had just arrived at the Maw, and witnessed how dangerous it could be. The knight had to use almost all of its rancid eggs to ward off the bulging, fat bugs that tried to eat them once they tried to get on. Once the two of them did get on, they both fell to the dark bottom of the floating prison.

There, they found Mono another paper bag to wear. It brought him comfort to know that the Maw hated him, and that he was safe behind the eyes of his paper bag. They were able to survive much easier down here, so they decided to rest while they could.

Mono had been using his power a lot to avoid being eaten, and was now exhausted. The knight had recovered already, so now it was keeping watch for anything hostile as its friend slept. As it watched, it remembered the first time it met Mono. It had been a long time since then, and the two had grown as close friends. The knight remembered the times before Mono, and began to get lost in it's memories.

It remembered fighting with Hornet, gathering flames with the Grimmchild, and adventuring with Quirell. It missed it's friends, and could therefore understand why Mono wanted to come to the Maw. He must've missed his friend Six as much as it missed it's own friends.

As for Six, the knight didn't know much about her. He just knew she was a girl, and that she was Mono's friend. If Mono trusted her, then surely she would be nice. Right?

Mono started groaning behind the knight. It looked over at its friend, and saw he was shaking. His groaning turned to slight screams as static built up around him, causing him to shake even more. The knight ran over, and woke him up. Mono gasped, and sat up, holding his head. He breathed heavily, and slowly looked around. Once he calmed down, the knight inched closer, and tilted its head.

"Sorry, I... I just had a very weird dream," he said.

The knight tilted its head again.

"Well, I was sinking into water, and couldn't swim out. As I tried to escape, I saw a boy being dragged down by a very old monster. He reached his hand out to me, and begged for help. As I reached for his hand, I started to glitch even more, and then I woke up," Mono explained.

The knight shrugged in response.

Mono got back on his feet, and pulled out his flashlight. "Alright, I'm okay. Let's go," he said, flicking it on.

Mono lead the way through the dark corridors as the two friends proceeded through the Maw. They wandered through vents, and rooms, searching for Six. It suddenly came to the knight, that it didn't know what Six looked like. Mono had only told it that she was his friend. When the two reached an open room, the knight looked for something to write on. It found a piece of paper, lying on the ground, and decided that would be perfect.

It wrote down its question, then walked over to Mono. It tapped his shoulder, and held the paper up to his face.

"What does Six look like?" Mono read aloud. "Oh, I never told you did I?" He asked.

The knight nodded.

"Well, she's very easy to identify. She wears a bright yellow raincoat, and always wears the hood. That's all," he said.

The knight nodded again, and the two friends continued through the Maw.

"What's that smell?" Mono suddenly asked.

The knight smelled around, and noticed that something did smell. And it knew exactly what. But what it didn't know was how. That smell was the sickly smell of the infection, but it was destroyed! The knight and Mono stopped the infection, along with the signal. So how could it still be around?

Mono and the knight walked into another room, and saw firsthand evidence of the infection. Bubbles. Orange bubbles and vines growing all over a wall. Mono stared, and was just as shocked as the knight.

"H-how?" He asked.

The knight shook its head, for it didn't know.

Mono suddenly started to panic. "If this infection is still around, then Six could be in danger! She can't fight against others, and if she eats one of those bubbles then what could happen?! She could be infected, or killed, or hurt, or sick, or-"

The knight slapped Mono out of his panic.

"R-right, we need to find her," he said.

Mono ran off, and the knight followed. As it ran, something fell down in front of it. It looked up, and saw someone, far above them, wearing a yellow raincoat. Could it be? Before it could get Mono's attention, the figure left. With no way to call to the figure, the knight ran off, following Mono.

_____

Six ran about, making sure not to make contact with any if the orange goo. She had seen how it affected the guests. Not only that, but the orange goo seemed to change the maw. It had grown, and was filled with many bugs. Giant bugs at that. She had to retreat back to the lower parts of the Maw in order to survive.

As she ran, she couldn't help but think about the figure she just saw. It was a bug alright, but something about the way it looked... it reminded her off... off...

"Mono?~" a static voice asked.

Oh God, not now. Six thought.

"C'mon, don't ignore me~" the voice said. "You miss him don't you? You miss your adventures with him?"

"Shut up," Six said.

"Oh? You want me to stop talking?" Her shadow teased. "Why? What have I ever done to you?"

"You're the reason why everything bad has happened to me!" Six yelled.

"Really?" Her shadow asked. "Hmmm, that's not how I see it. I didn't make you eat that Nome, or even tell you to. I didn't make you go to the Maw, I just told you to. You decided to listen."

"Stop..."

"You ate that helpless Nome, when it was just trying to help you. You came to the Maw all on your own," her shadow teased. "And even better,"

"Don't!"

"You were the one who dropped him," her shadow said. "He was your best friend. He rescued you more than once. He saved you from the Signal Tower's curse, he protected you from all dangers, and how did you repay him?" Her shadow asked. "You dropped him. Down into the Signal Tower, never to be seen again. That was all you~"

Six said nothing.

"Don't you hate yourself? You've done so many horrible things, no one will ever forgive you," her shadow teased.

"Some things are better left forgotten," Six said.

"You keep telling yourself that. I'll be right here, always reminding you~" her shadow said.

She dissapeared, and Six kept repeating the phrase as she walked.

"Some things are better left forgotten. Some things are better left forgotten. Some things are-"

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I fooled a lot of you in the Announcement didn't I?

Let me explain. I just wanted to do something creative for celebrating this book's halfway mark, and interacting with the characters just seemed perfect.

I have wanted to write this phase, for soooooooooooo long. I finally can, so I WILL.

I don't need a break, that would make my mental state worse. I need to write this, so I can finally move on.

Well, see you in the next chapter!