Lost in Transmission - Little Nightmares AU

The Lure and the Lost | 1

"Why do you wear that paper bag?" Six asks, kicking a pebble. It rolls on ahead of us, skipping over the rough, uneven stones. The ground here in the city is made of stone and rocks and bricks. Most of it is falling apart or broken, like everything else in the world.

Well, everything, except for Six and me.

I think about her question. "Well...I feel like it keeps me safe. Like...I don't have to be afraid when I'm wearing it." Even though I know she can't see it, I smile at her. "And I feel pretty safe when I'm with you."

She grins. "Yeah, me too." After a pause, she adds, "I do miss my music box, though. I always felt safe when it was playing."

"It's too bad we had to leave it behind. I guess we couldn't take it with us, because of the Hunter. If we did, it might have got lost in the swamp, or got stuck in a claw trap, or fallen over a cliff. At least it's still safe where it is."

She nods slowly. "Right....It has to be okay."

"Maybe even another kid found it," I add. "Maybe they used to be scared, and now it's making them feel safe."

Her smile turns into a frown. "No. My music box was always just for me. I don't want someone else to have it."

I correct myself. "Okay, then, it's still there, and no one's been back to that cabin because it looked so creepy, so no one's touched it. It's safe and sound, waiting for...." I trail off, not sure what to say.

"For what?"

"Waiting for...for you to come back."

Six looks at me. The pebble skitters to a stop. "Really? You mean...we could go back there someday? To get it?"

I hadn't thought about that before. We don't know where we're going; we just want to get away from all the bad things and monsters. We haven't gone back before, but that doesn't mean we couldn't....

"Yeah, I bet we could." Another thought pops into my mind. "And, since we've been there already and the Hunter is...um, gone...." - Six smirks when I say that - "...it might mean that all the bad things are gone, too. Killing the Hunter probably made it safe there."

"So...we could go right now? We could turn around and go back?"

I hesitate. As much as I know Six wants her music box back, there's something about this city.... I don't know what it is, but I know that I don't want to leave.

"I'm not sure if we should go right now," I say, "Maybe...later...?"

"Why?"

How should I explain it? That feeling like I should be here, because something is important and I shouldn't go? Does Six feel it, too? Like something's pulled us here, and we need to find out what it is?

"I...something's telling me I can't leave yet. There's something in the city that's important, and I can't leave without figuring out what it is."

Six nods, even though I don't think I did a good job of explaining. "Okay," she says. "I still wanna go back to get my music box, but it does feel special about being here."

"Someday," I promise. "We'll go back there someday." I hold out my hand. "I pinky promise."

She smiles, pinky promising back. "Okay." She keeps holding onto my hand, swinging it back and forth as we walk along.