Mono + Six Afterstory || Little Nightmares II

Two

     Six coughed and sat back on her legs, wiping her mouth as she tried to catch her breath. She didn't respond immediately, likely because she was trying to adjust to so much food at once. "I'm okay." She stared into Mono's eyes and exasperated, clinging to him out of nowhere. She didn't know why, but she felt like hugging him. He made her happy when she was sad. "Thanks...for taking care of me." After showing her gratitude, she tried to pull away, but Mono wasn't letting go.

     "Sorry, I've just never had a friend before I met you. My dad was in the hospital and I was on my own at that boarding school. All of the kids hated me..." The boy tried to explain his past, and why he was so clingy, but Six didn't seem that emotionally invested in the story.

     "So you lived here in the Pale City? Why were you in the woods near the hunter?" She finally pried his arms off of her body and sat back down, watching him and keeping her ears open in case he wanted to speak again.

     Mono shrugged and anxiously fiddled with his coat. "All I remember is waking up in the woods next to a TV. Maybe I had this power the whole time and just wanted to pretend I was someone else..." He answered her melancholically, his posture exhausted as if he didn't want to discuss this matter anymore, which was pretty much true.

Six frowned and put a hand on Mono's shoulder, her mood faltering considerably since she knew he was also upset. "You're my first friend, too. I was an orphan, and I was experimented on... That's why I kinda don't have a real name; Six was just my number." She explained a bit of her past, causing the other to look slightly encouraged. She hadn't said much about herself until now, so he was happy.

     "I think it's pretty. Even if it is just a number, it's still your name." Mono complimented the girl, which caused her to become a tad shy—at least, that's what he could see from her averted gaze.

     "Th-Thanks...yours isn't so bad either." After she responded, it was extremely awkward between them, and Mono couldn't tell why Six was being so quiet.

     Eventually, they were just sat next to each other on the kitchen floor. Six was dozing off again, and Mono took the opportunity to put the rest of the platter back in the fridge. When he returned to her, he pulled her up off of the floor and walked with her to the living room, practically carrying her since she was still half-asleep.
     Before helping her back onto the couch, he removed her raincoat, wanting her to be able to dry off and be cozy. After getting her up, Mono took his coat off as well and hung them both over one arm of the couch. Then, finally, he hopped up and joined Six.
     He found himself idly staring at the TV, even though it was off, and began reflecting on the events of yesterday. He didn't even realize until Six grabbed his hand and squeezed it that he had been completely out of it. She stared at him with concerned eyes, and before he knew it, there were tears streaming down his face.

     "It's okay. I know you feel guilty... And I know I said some messed up things to you, but you're a good person, Mono." Six brought her free hand up to the boy's face and wiped his tears away, nudging his chin with her fingers to perk him up. "You can make things right by following your heart. I've decided I will, too."

     Mono's expression was blank; he didn't know what he felt, or how to deal with his thoughts. He spent so much of his childhood being a scared little kid with so much anger pent up inside him that everything felt like such a fever dream. Sometimes he really thought he was just living a little nightmare. "Six, if you had dropped me... I think this would all just...repeat. If I, the thin man, can actually travel through time and change the past...maybe that's why my future self tried to stop me from getting to you. What if that's the reason my future self is like that in the first place...because this has all happened before?" He was sure what he was saying all just sounded like bumbling nonsense to Six, but he couldn't help it. There was an aching sensation inside his body that made everything twist and distort, even his sane thoughts.