Lost in Transmission - Little Nightmares AU

Addition | 1

Landing on coal hurts more than I thought it would.

The tough clumps are crushed under my feet, but it still sends a jolt through me. I stumble over the uneven surface, almost falling. It's too dark to see much except for things close by. There's piles and piles of coal; stacked in boxes, covering the floor, spilling out of shelves. Nothing seems dangerous so far. The Janitor probably can't reach us here.

"Hey!" I call, looking up. "It's-"

Akis drops down a few feet away from me, not waiting for me to stop talking.

"-safe down here," I finish. What if there was a monster or something? I guess Akis doesn't trust me.... But Six didn't trust me at first, either! Maybe it'll just take some time.

"Woah!" The other kid lands, dusting himself off. "That was farther down than it looked!"

Akis scoffs, rolling his eyes.

I look at the other kid to see if he saw Akis's...attitude, I guess. I'm not sure what else to call it. The kid shrugs, like he's saying, "Wow, what's he so mad about?"

I smile at him. "I'm Mono," I say.

The boy grins. "Hi! I'm...actually, I don't really have a name."

"Really? I thought everyone did, or they at least had something they went by."

He shakes his head. "Nope, not me."

"Um...I do."

I whirl around. The girl landed so quietly that I didn't even hear her. She waves a little. "I got a name, I mean. I'm Tria." Her voice is soft and she looks down when she talks. Pointing at Akis, she adds, "And he's Akis, but he wasn't gonna say that."

Akis makes a face like he's trying not to smile. So...he must have known Tria, I realize. She knew his name back before we escaped. It doesn't seem like they're friends. More like they just know who each other are. But they didn't all know each other, or Tria wouldn't have introduced Akis to me and the other kid.

I wonder if there's a place here with a bunch of kids. Somewhere that they could have met, other than the cage room....

"So...what do we do now?" asks the kid. He shifts back and forth on his feet, looking around at all of us.

"We could go together!" I suggest before anyone else speaks. I wouldn't have to be alone, and I could keep them safe while looking for Six. "We could help each other, too. We're all trying to escape this place, right?"

Tria nods. "Yeah. We gotta get out."

"Oh, actually, could someone tell me where we are?" I ask. "I mean, I know it's not safe here, but.... What?"

They're all staring at me, eyebrows raised and looks of disbelief on their faces.

"You...you don't know what this place is?" Akis snorts after a moment of silence. "How are you that clueless?"

Tria frowns at him. He smirks and stops talking.

Looking at me, Tria explains, "This place is called the Maw. It's on the ocean. Well, more like under it, I guess."

"The ocean?" Like when Six and I floated to the Pale City? No, I don't think that was big enough to be a whole ocean. How deep is an ocean? Does the water go down forever and ever? Has anyone ever made it to the bottom, or is it too deep?