Mono + Six Afterstory || Little Nightmares II

Twenty-Three

     The silence was loud between them after her spiel, but eventually Pericia covered her mouth in what appeared to be a mixture of disgust and fear. She turned away slightly, unable to make eye contact with Six. "I never should've reacted like the way I did. I should've heard you out at the very least. I feel just horrible." She displayed deep regret for her behavior, and Six noticed she didn't look so hot, so she put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

     "You feeling okay? I'm not mad, seriously. Anyone would have freaked out." Six was hoping to comfort her, but she realized quickly that she might have used some harsh language when doing so. "Uh, not that you were acting crazy or anything—"

     "I'm very sorry, I think I'm going to be sick." Pericia interrupted and scurried away from the group, her face pale and damp with sweat.

     Before Six could even react, she heard her name from the group and rejoined them, though she still kept an eye on Perry as she left the room. She took a seat in between Mono and Riley, still having her attention elsewhere regardless of how hard she tried to pull her eyes away.

Thankfully, both boys were puzzled enough to check on her; Mono grabbed her shoulder gently, and Riley spoke up. "Everything okay? What happened?" His voice was enough to snap Six out of her trance, but she dismissed the concern and forced a smile, causing them to give her some space.

"She feels really guilty after what she did—for not giving me a chance to explain. So much that I think she might have made herself sick." She explained this with dread lacing her voice, and to her displeasure, Mono folded his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes.

"She should feel guilty. I don't care how nice she's been. I don't want her putting anyone else in danger." He was stern with his opinion, which was surprising to the others since he was normally rather complacent.

Six sighed out of annoyance, staring at Riley with scheming eyes before looking back at Mono with a somewhat threatening, yet playful expression. "You're such a bummer. Liven up a little!" With these words, she pounced on him and started tickling him mercilessly. This would be the first time she, along with the other kids, had seen him so genuinely happy, even laughing out of control and squirming to escape her grasp.
She didn't stop until he was worn out, and only then did she pull away with an accomplished grin on her face, watching him try to catch his breath in a futile attempt. He sat up not too long after with a suspicious glint in his eyes, a smile, and tears on his cheeks from his previous laughter. If it weren't for Six's quick reflexes, she wouldn't have stopped him in time before he got his revenge on her, but thankfully, right as he was about to tickle her, she snapped her head towards him and grabbed his wrist using a scary amount of strength. She was no longer smiling. "Are you an idiot? Do you know what'll happen if you tickle me while I have broken ribs?" She scolded him with wide eyes, enough to scare him away from another attempt. "If you try it again, you're dead meat."

Mono averted his gaze sheepishly and waited for Six to let go of him, rubbing around his wrist since she did use a lot of force. "Noted..." He admitted defeat in an instant, which only urged Riley to chortle as he tried to hold back his own laughter.

Unfortunately for him, Six took it as a sign of him making fun of her rather than Mono, so she glared his way instead. "You guys are making me lose my damn mind—dang mind. Ugh, sorry Mono." Following her slip-up, she stared at Mono with apologetic eyes. She was beating herself up quite a bit for her mistake, but her close companion didn't seem so bothered anymore.

"It's okay. It's kind of cute watching you correct yourself." He once again wore a bright smile, but it deteriorated slightly as Six punched him on the shoulder. Hard. She was pretty embarrassed by the looks of things, and he was in pain. "You never did say where you learned these words. I'm curious." He held the point of impact, grimacing slightly as he spoke.