Mono + Six Afterstory || Little Nightmares II

Fourteen

     Six kept moving to the other end of the room, but Mono, although used to the sight of death, was full of empathy even for strangers, and was tearing up at the sight of something so unfortunate. "I can't believe this world has changed so much... This isn't right." With a compassionate frown, he folded his hands in prayer near the man and closed his eyes, taking a moment to ensure his peaceful passing.

     "Why waste your time on someone who's already gone?" Six remarked with an eye roll as she joined him back in the center of the room, watching his eyebrows arch disapprovingly. "Help me open the door." She demanded selfishly, but to her surprise, Mono folded his arms across his chest and gave her the cold shoulder. He'd hoped she would apologize for her disrespectful words, but she ended up dragging the chair over to the door defiantly, opening it all by herself.
     When she was back on the ground, she turned towards Mono slowly. "Are you going to keep acting like this? All because I'm scared to tell you about my nightmare? Fine then. I don't care." She was fuming with anger, and Mono quickly discovered that she was not going to let him speak, because he did try. "All of a sudden when I'm the one doing it, it's not okay. You kept so many feelings from me. You trust me? Yeah, whatever. I don't wanna hear it."

Mono retracted because of her harsh tone, but for some reason, he didn't feel offended by her outburst; instead, he felt horrible about how he had acted. She was right—he was being a total hypocrite and should've been more understanding, and now that he knew she was scared, he felt especially guilty. "I...um..." He stammered as he approached Six in the doorway, reaching out to try and comfort her. Of course, she flinched away when he did so. "I'm sorry. I'll be more patient with you; I know it's probably something you need to think about a lot. So I'll wait until you're ready to talk about it."

Six took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relaxing her muscles and eventually her expression. She clenched her fists, however, and turned away from Mono, needing to clear her mind enough to speak to him again. Even though she knew she had good intentions, Mono wasn't okay; based on the context and Six's demeanor, he'd assumed the worst, and now he seemed to be breaking down. Six only guessed as much when she turned back around to witness him groveling on his knees, a glitchy wave forming around his body. He didn't look physically well.

"Don't leave me alone, please... I don't want to be alone again..." He muttered this desperately, his body twitching and conforming to corrupt radio wave patterns.

Shocked at Mono's deterioration, but also annoyed at his lack of faith in her, Six grabbed him by the collar of his coat and yanked him up off the ground. "I'm not leaving you, idiot. Stop being such a baby." She started forcing him along out of the room, mostly because he wasn't being responsive. She wasn't sure why he thought she was going to abandon him...she'd always been right by his side even through all their fights. Sure, sometimes she needed her space, but she would never leave him, not after everything. Had this happened to him before or something?
Although he was being a bit difficult because of his reluctance about continuing on, Six continued dragging him through the damp room, eventually coming up to a refrigerator with bloody handprints on the bottom. Out of curiosity, Six let go of Mono and pulled open the door, causing a frantic Nome to run out and away farther into the darkness. For some reason, her feet moved on their own, and she followed behind the small creature quickly, though she did make sure to tug Mono along with her. She crouched down in front of a hole in the wall and shimmied through it, following the noise until she emerged in a small room with a lantern and the Nome hiding away. She pulled her lighter out and lit up the lantern, watching the Nome warm itself by the subtle flame.
She didn't know why, but she smiled at the sight and reached out to touch the Nome, even picking it up and squeezing it in a loving hug. Afterwards, when she put it back down, it seemed infatuated with her and wouldn't stop following her. "Aw. I wish I could take you with us. I think you'll be safer here, though." She chuckled when it nuzzled up against her, but the warmth made her realize just how cold she was without the raincoat. It was Veronica's, but she really wished she'd kept it now. But she wasn't shivering for long. Mono was always looking out for her, after all.

"Here, take my coat." Mono suggested as he pulled the sleeves off of his arms, then wrapping it around Six's frail body. It was a little too long for her, but at least she had some protection from the temperature now. "I am sorry, by the way... I mean it. You're not still mad, are you?" He changed the subject, his mind still overflowing with negative thoughts and pessimism.

Six stared at Mono with a blank initial expression, but soon shifted to being puzzled. "Why would I be mad? It was just a stupid misunderstanding. I know I probably overreacted, but I'm just on-edge because of the nightmare. I know you understand." Even though Mono seemed to still be discouraged by her earlier reactions, she flashed a warm smile at him, and suddenly he felt much better. He was blushing, averting his gaze, so Six didn't really know how to make sense of the situation until she remembered Mono's intense feelings for her. She couldn't handle the pressure of such complex emotions and simply dismissed it, pretending everything was back to normal.
"We should get going. Thank you for your coat." She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly when she said this and then headed back into the tunnel first. When on the other side, she waited for Mono to emerge to speak again. "I have an idea. Follow me." She started running back towards the fridge she had opened and then carefully started climbing up it, then jumping up onto a slanted roof platform. Thankfully Mono was following close behind her, so she didn't have wait long to keep going.
Six grabbed his hand before continuing on, running at full speed despite not knowing the destination. Suddenly, a leech fell from a pipe on the ceiling, and she yanked Mono away from it. "Gross, we gotta keep moving. It's gonna chase us." After the new threat was introduced, they began running side by side, jumping over a gap together and covering ground much faster afterwards.
At the end of the room, they came to a door with a lever next to it. "Looks like it leads not too far away." She thought aloud, hopping up and pulling the lever down. Afterwards, she ran with Mono again through the now opened door, over a bridge and through another door with the Sam's mechanic. Only, there was no switch, and the door closed behind them. "There's no going back now... Well, at least those slimy things aren't after us anymore."

"It's gonna be okay, Six. We can do anything as a team." Mono tried to cheer the girl up, and it appeared as though it worked this time, unlike many other times where she complained about his blind faith in their abilities. With newfound confidence, they ripped a plank off of the boarded up door together and then crawled into the opening. On the other side, they only took a few steps and then one of those Nomes started frantically running away, and naturally it got Six's attention; she started to chase after it without thinking. "Wait, Six! The floor doesn't look—" he started to warn her about the cracked planks, but before she could react, she was already falling through.
In a panic, Mono ran over to the large hole in the floor and got on his knees, peeking down below to see Six pulling her lighter out. What they saw when she did...was like Hell. So many leeches, and all of them trying to kill her. "Six, you gotta go! Don't worry about me, okay? We'll meet up later!" He watched her follow his instruction, the light fading as she ran. Even though he was trying to remain calm for her, he felt like a mess now that she wasn't with him. She was in so much danger...and he worried it was his fault for not warning her quickly enough.
Despite feeling disheartened, he stood up and turned away from the hole, his hands shaking anxiously. "Ugh... Guess I'm alone again..." As he complained, he could feel the warmth in his body leave him. What was he going to do if they never saw each other again in this monstrous place?

(A/N: I am so sorry for the month-long wait. I have been so busy and it's been really taking a toll on my inspiration, but I managed to finish this chapter right before my grind for auditions starts. Updates will be pretty slow from now until the 24th of July, so I apologize in advance if chapters don't come as quickly as you'd like! Thank you guys for sticking with me and thank you for nearly 21K reads (｡ŏ﹏ŏ) 💞)