S I X - A Little Nightmares Story

Chapter Seventeen - Talk

But finally, the two of them had found a place of shelter. It was small, water dripping all over the place. It was a dark shelter, but it was a shelter from the raging storms outside, so it was decent for the moment. Six's hand was being gripped in Mono's, for what reason she wasn't sure. Six glanced at Mono, and could barely see his face through the small eye holes in the bag over his head. She peered into his mask, attempting to see the expression on his face. But due to the shadow his mask cast, Six was unable to see Mono's face. But something about the way Mono was gripping her hand, she could tell he was scared in the horror-fest that was taking place.

Six turned her head towards the rest of the room. She studied the room, getting used to the surroundings. Her attention shifted from the walls, to the wood-covered ceiling above, to the covered floor below, the very ground on which they stood on.

Six looked down at the floor. There were scattered papers and what looked like might have been newspapers before everything good in the world was practically destroyed and silenced. Back when Pale City was one of the busiest cities in the world. Back when people looked like people, not warped, disgusting creatures that wanted to kill anything innocent. But the photos and newspapers of people in those better days weren't what caught Six's attention. It was what was on top of the pile of objects on the floor that intrigued her.

It was a raincoat, a yellow raincoat covered and random spots of black. Black stains, brown stains, and many other types of distracting colors covered the raincoat, but the raincoat itself was still an unmistakably bright yellow.

And to Six, it was unmistakably her raincoat.

Six forced herself to walk towards it. It was just a raincoat, sure, but to her, it had so many memories, not all of them her own. Along with her own memories of other small creatures her size on the Maw who spoke of something called the North Wind, there were also memories of a girl. A girl who had brown hair that was often worn in braids, bangs over her eyes. Six had never known the girl's name.

But she did remember trying to save the girl, and failing. The girl was hanging on the ledge, fear shining in her ocean blue eyes. She stuttered out a cry for help as the concrete ledge continued to crack. Her grip grew tighter on the ledge as it cracked more. Her breathing was shaky, sweat poured down her face, and tears streamed out of her eyes.

"Help me...", she had whispered just loud enough for Six to hear her. And Six could have helped her, she could have gotten down to the ledge and pulled her up, but she didn't. And so, as a consequence, the concrete ledge broke, and the girl fell at a fast pace, letting out a shrill scream of fear.

The girl hit the green-blue water below with an explosive splash. Her screaming was muted, and Six watched as the last of the girl's oxygen floated to the surface of the water. Six said nothing and did nothing, other than working her way down to the water by the cliff's rocks.

Upon reaching the water, she watched as the yellow raincoat came up, and she stretched her arm to reach for it. She gripped her fist around the hood of the raincoat and pulled it towards her.

Mono suddenly shook Six, pulling her out of the memory of the girl. Six looked back down at the stained yellow raincoat on the pile of papers on the floor before her. She bent down onto her knees and wrapped a bony hand around the raincoat. She placed her other hand onto it, gripping both hands around the yellow fabric of the coat, pulling it off of the floor.

She raised the raincoat up in front of her. It was an old raincoat, but still a decent size for her. She pulled the raincoat over her head and onto the rest of her body, she placed her arms into the sleeves and pulled the hood over her head. Her black hair fell over her eyes and Six adjusted the hood to a perfect fit. She turned and looked at Mono.

Mono, although having a paper bag on his head, seemed to be neutral about what Six had done. Mono didn't have any idea of what history lied within the raincoat, but Six did. It was why it was so meaningful to her.

Mono continued to walk forward, looking over his shoulder at Six.

"Oi!", he whispered at her, giving a quick hand gesture, getting Six to follow him.

Six fluttered her eyes open, staring up at Mono. Mono was looking back down at her, his dark, blackened eyes somehow having comfort within them. He brushed the loose hair out of Six's eyes, a soft chuckle coming from him as he smiled at her.

"You passed out again.", he said in a soft tone, almost a whisper. He placed a hand on her cheek, attempting to keep her awake. "Are you alright, Six?"

It was clear that Mono was worried. He had been worried every other time she had passed out and welcomed visions, flashbacks to her mind, but it seemed that he became more and more worried every time it happened. And as a result of this, he had become more caring and protective of Six.

And Six welcomed his carefulness this time, due to the fact that the vision was, once again, a painful one. "Yeah, I'm fine...", Six muttered quietly. She looked down at the pile of papers on the floor, noticing that the yellow raincoat wasn't there. "But our 'future-past selves' are already past here, clearly."

Mono nodded a bit. Six looked over to notice that his dark blue blazer was no longer on his broad shoulders. She looked down at herself and a quiet gasp escaped her. The blazer was draped around her, like a blanket. She smiled softly and looked back up at Mono.

Mono looked more so concerned. "What is it, Mono?", Six asked, questioning the purpose of his concern. She knew he had been worried about her because of her continuous passing out, but this was a different sort of concern. A scared kind of concern.

"You told me your dark powers, your magic, was gone. You told me that you abandoned it, rid yourself of it.", Mono explained. "So, why is it you were able to heal my back earlier?"

Six's eyes widened a bit. Even she had not considered that, and it had been her idea to use those dark powers. "Maybe...", she began to whisper, "...maybe I have had them the entire time, just neglected them. Maybe I thought they were gone until I had a reason to use them." Her gaze shifted up to Mono.

Mono smiled a bit and stood up from the floor where the two of them had been sitting. "C'mon. We should get moving", Mono said, offering a hand to Six. Six took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. The two of them left the room and question of dark magic behind.