The gate to the elevator slowly creaked open, and the two boys still holding each other's hand made their way out slowly. The whole building was silent, allowing them to hear the steady downpour of rain outside, giving them both mixed feelings. On one hand, the rain was good, providing clean fresh water when they barely had any. However, the rain could also make them sick as it wasn't the warmest where they were at, and they would be forced to find shelter from it. It would be okay though, after all, it's just some rain.
They walked into the only room open, and Mono paused to look at the mannequins sitting down on several chairs, suspicious of them. However none of them moved as the children walked across the damp floor and into a small bathroom. The sunlight outside was dim, but both could tell it was daytime. Surprisingly, the bathroom was not wet like the other room, not having any leaks spread on the ceiling. Seven was grateful, since he knew he was going to get soaked outside, the clouds not indicating letting up anytime soon.
Mono was the first one to try opening the small window in the room, struggling with it for a second before Seven got up on the table to help. Together, they forced the rusty window open, a rush of cool air hitting them as soon as they did. The boys enjoyed the unfilthy air, it not being nearly as stuffy as inside the hospital, however much of it was polluted. Taking in a deep breath, Mono jumped out the window and landed on his feet outside, not having to help Seven on the short jump he didn't turn around.
They were protected from the rain for a short second, but soon they were completely in it, being soaked in seconds. The city streets were a little brighter than the room, having more access to the small amount of sunlight. The paved walkways were all broken and oddly bumpy, but were fine to walk on nonetheless. Clothes and trash littered those paths, nobody claiming them. For a second Seven considered taking something to help combat the weather, but decided that it may be better to not do so, as there was no telling where the clothes came from or who it used to belong to.
Everything was mostly quiet, save for the rain and the boy's footsteps. That was until they got to a wider part of a road, with apartments lining each side of the street. There, the boys could hear a consistent thumping, eerily coming from people falling out of the higher floors. It made Mono's stomach twist from the thought that those thumbs were humans, who were most likely dying on their own terms of self motivation, which made him want to look away. Seven didn't like it either, trying to convince himself that those weren't people but rather clothes, explaining why there were clothes all over the streets. It sort of made sense to him, but he still knew the truth, he just didn't want to think about it.
Mono rushed into the first open building he saw, wanting to get out of the constant rain and away from the sound of falling people. Seven entered right behind him, wet to the core and shivering a bit, hoping that he wouldn't get sick. Getting sick in this world could easily lead to death, and he didn't want to die yet. The building was a little damp when they first walked into it, though got somewhat drier as they went up. Most of the doors were boarded up with a couple planks, there was trash on the ground, and holes decorated the walls and floors. It was only when they were going up the second flight of stairs winding upwards in a spiral like fashion did either of the boys hear talking.
On instinct, they froze, but as they listened more, the voice sounded normal, almost fake. It wasn't the growling and huffs of a deformed person, but that didn't mean the kids trusted it any more than those. They started to make their accent to the top more carefully, now wary of the strange voice they heard. Refusing to go up the stairs with a dead body on it, Mono walked towards an opened door, which was also the place where the voice was coming from.
A few steps into it, the floor above cracked and broke, a man with almost no face left after it twisted into itself, fell through from above. Mono stopped moving and forced Seven closer, not knowing if the man was going to come after them or not. The deranged man didn't actually, instead he scrambled onto his feet and hurriedly ran into the next room over. Both boys had no clue what was going on, hearing a loud crashing noise before everything went silent again.
When Mono felt that they were okay, he cautiously made his way to where the man ran, curious as to what happened. What he didn't expect was for the man to be hunched over a television, his messed up face stuck into the shattered screen of it, smoke rising from the electronics. The man was obviously dead, and the two kids didn't know why he had just done that, killing himself in such a weird way.
Without knowing the answer they ignored it and continued, using the fallen television to get out of the window, trying not to step on any glass. Being up this high, they couldn't go back to the ground, so they walked on top of the small balconies to a ladder onto another balcony. Going inside that window, the room they found themselves in was a lot darker, meaning that Mono was going to have to use a flashlight.
Down the hall, there was another person standing in front of a slightly cracked open door, not flinching whenever Mono and Seven passed. There was sound coming from inside that room, meaning that there was most likely a television inside there as well, which is what the person was probably watching. It seemed that people around here were more than obsessed with the television, and Mono couldn't understand why, especially when it only brought him pain.
The dark hallway led them to another room, with bowls and buckets set up to catch rainwater that leaked through the crumbling ceiling. They could both hear more weird noises in the next room over, that almost sounded like music of some sort. It most likely came from a television, as everybody here never appeared alive without being near one. That would mean that if somebody was in there, they would be too caught up in the electronics to pay attention to Mono or Seven. That was what Mono hoped for anyways, as Seven boosted him up to the knob and he opened the door.
There was indeed a television and a person in the bathtub. The figure was illuminated by the light coming from the television, and Seven couldn't help but wonder how long they had been in there. Able to go up a vent in the room without the person noticing them, they were greeted by a crumbling wall and a huge gap just beyond that.
Although there was hardly any flooring except near the couple doors spread about, there was an elevator in the middle, that they could most definitely reach by jumping. Seven, who figured this out first, nodded towards the elevator before jumping to it first. He made it, albeit stumbling a bit, and Mono followed behind. They then went to the small amount of floor near a door, so that they could actually jump inside the elevator.
Now inside it, Mono pulled the lever down and they began to make the accent up. Seven may not have a clue where they were or why they were here, but he did know that the whole city felt weird. Not only did it have weird canyon-like drops in random spots, the whole city seemed to be distorted in different odd ways. It was like something was affecting this city, and he had a feeling it was nothing good. That just meant he had to keep an eye on Mono, since he felt like the sort of oblivious boy didn't have the same weird dread about this place. Otherwise, he doesn't believe that Mono would be here.
With Seven lost in his thoughts on the short trip up, Mono was looking at their environment. This allowed him to spot another piece of floor still attached to the building, though this one was not at the ledge of a door, but instead a tall wall with ladder like wood boarded on it. There was a gap near the top though, and one of them could probably fit in it if needed. He didn't think much more about it though as he passed it on the quick paced elevator.
It wasn't until he and Seven reached the end on the top that he realized that the gate to exit the elevator here was locked. This made Mono automatically think of the boards and he knew that it was something worth trying. Seven was about to just talk to Mono about their current problem when the said boy whisked around and to the lever, pulling it once more. The now confused Seven was about to ask what Mono was doing when he saw him jump off the elevator while it was moving. Seven almost yelled, reaching out for the now falling Mono, when he saw him land on the ground nearby.
Mono probably should have thought of Seven before impulsively pulling a stunt like that, especially when he saw the poor boy leaning over the elevator edge a bit, looking a mix of scared, relieved, and upset. He went close to the edge to look down at Seven who was doing his best to try and get a glimpse of the paper bag boy. "Oi! Don't worry about me, just press the lever and go back up. I promise I'll be up in a second." Mono called into the abyss, getting the loudest tired sounding sigh he's ever heard. It almost made him laugh with how much he really puts the boy through, he wonders how Seven still wants to travel with him.
Seven did trust Mono's promise and pulled the lever, watching as he went back up once more. He told himself he'd watch out for Mono, but the boy sure liked to make it hard with him being so reckless at times. Mono kept his word and made it back up to Seven, only then noticing that a key was needed. "I'll be right back, I need to get a key, okay?" He whispered to Seven, who nodded back silently. To be honest, the boy usually was just silent, Mono doing most of the talking when he did decide to talk.
Mono found the key needed in the office looking room nearby, in a drawer attached to a desk, papers scattered about loosely. He scurried back to Seven, unlocking the gate and letting the boy out. They were now able to solve a sort of puzzle, figuring out that they could pull on the lever outside the door to call the elevator to come back up once it was down, allowing them on top of the elevator. With this, they were able to go up the next floor, being a huge odd room.
There wasn't anything of note from the room, even the room hidden behind a box not having much, so they took the exit outside back into the rain. They were still high up, on top of roofs and things, but now they had a clear view down a row of buildings in the main street. All of them were on either side of the street, but what really stood out was the tallest building at the end of the road. There was nothing obscuring the view, as it was right in the middle. The whole world almost seemed to hone in on it for a second as they passed, and Mono could swear he thought he heard the same weird signal that he was being forced to tune the televisions to.
All of this sort of overwhelmed Mono, so he tried to block it out for a moment, running to the next building as a means of escape. Seven stayed behind for a second to study the tall building in the center, like he was admiring it or perhaps, maybe scared of it. Neither understanding what these feelings meant, decidedly ignored them and pushed forward.
After some climbing, Seven found himself dangling over a gap between buildings, slowly getting across by a hanger and wire. Seven didn't want to admit it, but he had a hard time hanging on while waiting for Mono to get him across. His arms were tired and the muscles in them were burning. Not to mention the constant push of wind and rain, making his grip slippery and loose. Mono, on the other hand, couldn't get across that way, and had to jump over and catch Seven's hand. A very dangerous task in weather and physical conditions like this. Nevertheless, Mono didn't doubt Seven for a second, and made it up alive.
They continued to make their way upwards on the buildings, until they were in a falling apartment building once again. Stuff fell over, them dodging the objects, and the floors were bent up, creaking with every step. This place had obviously seen better days.
That, of course, wasn't the worst of it. They could both feel the house shaking after they knocked over the door to try and hurry out. Now as they ran, the ceiling collapsed behind them. Not thinking of the falling items and squeaky floorboards, they continued to rush. Debris was flying everywhere, and the sound of planks and stone crashing behind them only urged their legs faster. The wind that was blown by the amount of heavy debris behind them was almost enough to knock them over, if the shaking wasn't bad enough.
The two boys could see an open door close by, and they were almost there. They could get to the door and make it out of this awful house. That's when Seven saw the gap in the floor between them and the door ahead. Part of the building was collapsing right behind them, and Seven could feel pieces of it fly off and hit him, scraping his body.
Seven looked at the size of the hole and knew he probably wouldn't be able to make it, and froze right at the edge. His legs kicked and scrambled, almost falling down the deep hole, Mono stepped right beside him. He glanced at the boy for a second, seeing how Mono was glaring up at the ceiling. Then Seven felt a hand grab his arm and he was tugged hard. Mono was jumping into the hole, and dragging Seven with him. What was he doing? The fall was pretty high up, and he knew that they would most definitely get hurt, or even die from the impact!
Mono knew that they weren't going to be able to make it to the other side, and that the house collapsing on them was probably worse than falling. He wasn't going to let Seven get hurt, it was him who ran into this run down apartment, this was his fault. Wrapping his arms tightly around Seven and twisting his body as he fell with the boy, he tried his hardest to make it where he would take most of the fall, hopefully not wounding Seven too badly. Mono could care less about himself at the moment, and with Seven freezing like that up at the edge, he had to do something.
Seven could feel them falling, the wind rushed past them as they hurdled downwards. He was surprised by Mono grabbing him like that and pulling him close, but he caught a glimpse of what was happening above. Part of the building completely collapsed where they were standing, and was falling down with them. He probably would've been hurt worse if he stayed. He held onto Mono tighter, knowing that this was about to hurt, but glad he was with Mono all the same.
Landing on the ground with that much speed and force, knocked the two young boys out cold. It was a few moments later that one of them woke up again. Seven was unsurprisingly that one, his eyes slowly opening to his surroundings, the first thing he saw was the same dull light he was getting so used to seeing. Dust floated lightly in the air, and he could remember that it was most likely because of the house just collapsing. With that thought, everything came back to him, hitting him like a truck as he winced and began to feel the pain in his body and the warmth beside him.
Seven's head whipped upwards to the boy beside him, already beginning to panic over whether or not the boy was fine. He could tell that the other child had taken most of the fall, as his arm was resting underneath Seven when he woke up, and Seven was on his side most likely having rolled away from Mono's grasp. The thought of Mono doing something so careless like that to protect Seven would usually make him smile a bit, but right now he was overly worried about said boy lying on the ground unconscious.
The smaller boy could hear a small crackle of electricity and looked upwards for a moment, only to see the flashlight flicker off with a few sparks flying out of it. The flashlight had broken as well, just another thing the two kids needed. Seven sighed and focused his attention back towards his closest friend, or well, his only friend.
He was tempted to shake him to wake him up, but thought better of it after a second. That wouldn't be a good way to wake up a hurt person, and Mono would probably have a headache too. Maybe he should just let the unconscious boy wake up on his own, he probably needed the rest anyways. Though, to quieten his worry a bit, he put a hand on the boy's chest, and was relieved when he felt it rise and fall. Mono was still alive and breathing, everything would be okay. That's all Seven could hope for.
Seven moved a little closer to Mono, staring at the paper bag boy with dazed eyes. To think he met Mono only about a week ago, yet grew more attached to him than anybody else he's ever known. Seven couldn't even imagine his life without Mono anymore, it would be strange with everything they've gone through together. He may not know much about Mono either, but he somehow felt like he knew everything. It was a weird feeling, one that Seven couldn't comprehend, but at the same seemed familiar with.
Mono woke up with a small gasp, his consciousness coming back suddenly rather than gradually like Seven. He tried to immediately sit up, his first thoughts being about Seven, but the boy on his mind put a small but firm hand on his shoulder and relaxed him. Seven didn't want Mono to become nauseous or disorientated even more than he probably already was. He knew it never felt good.
What Seven couldn't stop was the quick movement of Mono towards Seven, as he was too stunned to do anything when he felt Mono's arms wrap around him once more. He didn't get to think about it too much as he and Mono were falling, too scared by the fastly approaching ground to think of such things. Now though, he could think clearly, or as clearly as he could get with how tired he was added with the shock of being hugged again. Mono didn't let go, and eventually Seven snapped out of his stunned state and hugged back. It felt nice to have affection after so long of not having any, and sort of weird, almost foreign.
Good things always have an end though, and after several minutes they separated and got up. Seven checked Mono for any severe injuries, but the only thing he could see was several bruises starting to form and scratches. There was no way for him to tell if there were any internal wounds in Mono, and even though Mono said he felt okay, Seven couldn't help but be worried. From the time he spent with the other boy, he knew that Mono had a tendency to cover up his own pain and fear for the benefits of others. It was an admirable trait at times, but could also lead to worse things happening later on, making Seven worry all the more.
The next door was easy to open, nothing on the other side indicated any immediate danger either, so perhaps they were finally getting a small break for once. In the room straight across from the door, there was a children's room. The room had a few toys lying about, a table, and a bed to the side. Though what stood out the most to Mono was the drawings on the wall and floor, as he couldn't help but think some of them looked all too familiar.
Seven also had a bad feeling about this room, so he walked out, Mono trailing right behind him. Going up the hall and into the open room on the right, they entered another room. Mono didn't notice anything wrong with it from outside the door, but as soon as he walked over the threshold, the whole world began to twist. He already knew what that meant, but he still walked closer, as if the fuzzy television was calling for him.
Everything that wasn't Mono or the television froze, including the shorter boy who was still right in front of the door. Mono didn't know if Seven just stopped moving or if the signal was playing tricks with his mind. Another step closer and an awful noise began to emit from the television. It wasn't like the high pitched ringing noise he was used to by now, sounding more like wind howling with a weird crackling noise. Mono still had to cover his ears from it, his brain pounding as soon as the sound entered his ears.
Even with all the warning signs to go away, Mono kept going, strangely drawn to the television, or perhaps it was his powers urging him to tune the awful signal. Mono couldn't think about it much as he got another step closer, the world bending and swaying with the television's bright flickering glare. It seemed everything was trembling as he got nearer, focusing mainly on the television.
Then he raised his hand and shakily touched the television, the world jumped, but he ignored it in favor of tuning the signal. He honed his powers to the television, trying to get it where it needed to be. He didn't even really know how this all worked, it just came to him without him trying.
This television may have been the hardest one he's ever had to tune, but he eventually got it, teleporting once more to the same hallway he's always found himself in. To be honest, he was almost getting fed up with this place, having been here so many times. Wait, how many times has he actually been here? From what he could remember more than a couple times, but it feels like he's done this way more. What was he forgetting?
The whole world went back to slow motion as he ran towards the door, his initial thoughts only adding to his annoyment. Why was this place so special? Why did he keep coming back? What was at the other side of the door?
He reached up at the doorknob he's gotten close to so many times. The place was trembling more than ever and he swears that his vision shortened to only see the door as his hand slowly took the handle. He hesitated for a second while pulling it down, wondering if Seven was going to drag him out once more. With that thought the place shook and he almost fell backwards, some of the cement falling down as well. No, he couldn't get kicked out now! Not when he was so close to figuring out the answer!
He retightened his grip on the handle, and put his weight downwards, causing the door to slowly open. The anticipation he felt was immense, his already slow breath stopping to wait and see what was behind the door. What could be so important to him, good or bad, that his own powers were the only thing that could access it?
When the door finally opened, there was mostly a purplish hue over everything, replacing the once grayish blue. There was a shadow in the middle, and as the shadow rose Mono could see it was in fact a very tall man who was getting up from a lonely chair. Mono gasped, and stared at the tall skinny man, and he couldn't stop the shiver going through his body and the strike of pain in his head. It was almost as if his mind actually knew who this was, but he just couldn't remember.
When he was kicked back out, he could feel the tug of small hands on him. This time though he was glad Seven got him out. He could feel the danger emitting off the stranger in the television, the one creating the terrible signal. Though this time instead of the television shutting off the power remained, and that wasn't the only power he felt from the electronic.
He could see the figure of the tall thin man looming deep inside, standing distantly in the white screen. Then all of a sudden his hands were on the screen, trying to crawl out of it, the power causing Mono's head to feel like bursting and the world to actually shake. Seven stood next to Mono as everything happened, utterly confused with what was happening but concerned all the same. Then he saw the man come out of the television and Mono was still hunching over in pain. He tugged on the poor boy in pain and snapped him somewhat out of it, them both running away as the strange man began to move.
While running away with Seven in what seemed like slow motion, Mono couldn't help but feel like he just did something horrible that he was going to regret for a long time.
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I feel like we're getting to the good parts and stuff, but I accidentally dragged parts out more than I meant to, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Also, for anybody who may think the story is a bit boring at times, I'm sorry! I'm trying to make it pretty close to the game, as this is supposed to be compared to that. Oh, and most of this is friendship, as they're kids and can't really understand what it means to love somebody romantically, so that might come later. Umm, have a great day! (or night, only if you can!! Which I hope so...)