Togetherness? - Little Nightmares - Mono x Six

Horrible melody

Total words: 1588

I'll explain the reason at the bottom of the page!

Enjoy!

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The blast had blown them both apart. Mono went flying backwards, rolling against the hard stone before stopping just at the edge of the platform. The Thin Man got knocked away. The shockwave swept his body off the floor and sent him hurling straight for the purple void. But a giant stone slab rose out of the bottomless pit, and The Man slammed against it with a sickening crash.

Mono gagged, opening his eyes to see the endless span of the void beneath him. He gasped and drew away from the edge. He sat there in the middle of the platform, his breath escaping in heavy pants. Through all the ringing and buzzing in his ears, he heard the soft wheezing and gasping of The Thin Man coming from behind him.

Slowly, Mono turned around to face him, his eyes widening in shock as he saw the state his attack had left The Man in. Blood spilt out of his mouth, staining his white suit in a dark crimson colour. The upper right side of his head was torn off, and the other side was completely burnt to a crisp. Smoke came out from where his right arm used to be and from the holes riddled in his torso. "Oh, God..." Mono's hand went to his mouth as dread began to consume him. He didn't mean to go this far. He only aimed to immobilize The Man, not cripple him... The TV man's strength turned out to be far more powerful than he could have possibly imagined.

"It's over. Well fought, boy. He can't hold the illusion anymore." The voice said. With that, Mono heard the music again, gradually getting louder and louder. But something about it was different. It was no longer that soothing melody he heard back there in the basement. This one was far more ominous and unsettling. It set his nerves on edge as the tune played backwards, then forwards again, with its deep eerie scores. It seemed to be coming from the giant door floating about in the purple void overhead.

"Wh-What have you-" The Thin Man coughed out blood, "What h-have you done, you moron?" He said, gasping for air. He's not healing, Mono thought. Is he feigning it just like he was? No, Mono couldn't imagine that The Man still had the strength to fake it. He had really won the fight! The Thin Man sat there with his back to the wall, struggling for breath. The illusion should break anytime now, or so Mono thought.

The Thin Man slid and collapsed to the floor, crawling with one hand towards Mono, "I was- I was trying to save you, from that beast!" The Thin Man wheezed, dragging his body against the stone, "I was trying- to end this wretched cycle. Oh, you fool. We're all in the deep now. It's all over..." He fell, breathless and motionless, just inches away from Mono. His left eye became vacuous and blood pooled under him.

Mono's breath hitched, "D-Did I kill him...?" Mono said, his voice thick with dread.

"Unlikely. In this dimension, it is nearly impossible to kill The Tower's Thin Man. Get out of here before he gets back on his feet. Go! Now!" The voice said. And with that, rough sets of stairs emerged from the purple void, neatly setting themselves parallel to one another. Up and up they went until they reached the foot of the great door floating above. Now was his chance, Mono thought. So he bolted towards the stairs and clambered up the steps while minding the cracked surface. He went up and over, forging onwards without the slightest hint of fatigue. The door was within reach when suddenly the steps caved in and collapsed into the purple pit below. The ground beneath his feet shook violently, and Mono lost his balance, falling off the steps, one after the other. And before he knew it, Mono was hanging from the edge of the stairs.

"You- You will NOT release her!" The Thin Man wheezed. His arm was raised, and an electric current was flying out of his fingers. His last desperate attempt to stop Mono was in vain, as whatever strength left in him was spent on maintaining the illusion rather than healing his wounds.

Mono quickly climbed back on the quaking stairs, his feet steadily planted on the stony surface, "I'm sorry. I have to try." Mono said, raising both his hands to the sky. Boulders rose from the purple void and floated all about him. The Thin Man below sucked in a sharp breath. He pierced his eyes shut, bracing for the incoming blow. The boulders rained down on him, pinning him down and crushing his body to the floor. But somehow, he felt no pain at all. He opened his eyes to find his entire body buried under the boulders, with only his head peeking out of the pile. He felt some kind of a force field protecting him from the crushing weight of the boulders, and it wasn't even from his own making, but Mono's.

"You always were a soft one..." The voice said, "Even when your life was on the line." The stairs stopped quaking, and the steps that had fallen to the purple void rose back up and neatly adjusted themselves with the rest, "He's at the end of his power, for now... This won't hold him for long, you know."

"Yeah," Mono said and went back up the stairs. Finally, he stopped beneath the great oaken door and stared at it for a while. The eerie music is louder than ever now, what he's looking for is just beyond this door. He lifted his hand, reading himself to tear this door apart and break her free. But soon, his hand began to quiver as dreadful thoughts consumed him. He certainly wasn't ready to meet what was beyond that door, be it she was either alive or-

No, this isn't the time to be thinking of such things. If it really were too late, then why would The Thin Man try to stop me? Mono thought. It wasn't too late yet! Mono thrust his hand forth, blasting the oaken door to pieces, revealing a narrow hallway with damp walls and floating rocks beyond it. And at the far end of the hallway was that same door with the metal eye on the top. The same door he had seen so many times throughout their journey.

Mono let out a shiver once he stepped through the frame, as the air suddenly the air got a whole chillier the deeper he ventured within the hall. As he steadily made his way to where the music led him. Before he could smash open the other door that kept both of them apart, he gently placed his hands against the cool surface and brought his ear closer to the door, "Six?" Mono called her name, "Six? Are you in there?! It's me, Mono! I've come to get you out of there!" He said. But no one answered from the other side, it was just this nervewracking song that played for hours and hours without end. Well, there's no use prevaricating about the bush, now. Mono curled his fingers into claws and ripped the door from its hinges and threw it outwards into the hall behind him.

A faint purple light shot out of the room. The dust cleared, unveiling a small bedroom chamber with all sorts of floating children's toys, some of them were left untouched and others had their heads ripped off their shoulders. At the far corner of the room, there was a bed floating about, its sheets ripped to bits and cotton bulging right out of the matters. Just beside the floating bed stood a giant yellow leather veil. And then he finally saw where the music was coming from; In the middle of the room stood a battered music box, which seemed to be the only thing in the room to be completely oblivious of the abnormal gravity. The box had a worn-out greyish colour, with symbols in white drawn all around its lower half, Mono only recognized the all-seeing eye, as for the others he couldn't tell. On the upper half, the crank was spinning all by itself, round and round it went, producing this horrible melody...

Mono stepped through the door, keeping quiet. What further unsettled him is that the voice that was guiding him had stopped talking to him. Venturing deeper, Mono slipped a glance at the wall to his right, it was brimming with chalk marks. Mono's eyes widened once he realized that he had been here before, it was a little slice from the basement room where he had found her back at the shack. But... Where is she?!

Mono sucked in a shaky breath and called, "Six? Six, where are you? Answer me please!" With that, the giant leather veil shifted at the far end of the room and a low growl hummed across the walls of the room. Mono's skin paled as the blood in his veins froze solid. For a moment he forgot how to breathe, seemingly because his heart had leapt to his throat, cutting the air off his lungs. It was no giant yellow veil.

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Sorry, this chapter was short. I'll have to dedicate everything I got for the next few chapters... The endgame must be given time and treated with respect, I don't wanna mess all of this up when we are so close to the finish.

I'll be seeing y'all very soon! Take care, stay safe! BYE BYE!