The closer the boat got to them, the faster it seemed to be moving, though it wasn't really moving any faster. They felt so small compared to such a giant vessel, just like in The Maw, only now they were getting to see a boat in all its glory without it hidden mostly underwater. It felt surreal, and a little scary.
They all backed up away from the edge of the submarine, giving the captain enough room to "park" nearby. Soon enough, someone threw a rope down for them, and they looked up at the bow to see a beautiful young woman with a welcoming appearance. She was like an angel to them. "Come, children! We haven't got long before the weather turns foul." She encouraged them to take action, smiling out of relief when one by one they began to climb up, Pericia going first as a precaution.
Mono let Six crawl onto his back before bringing up the rear and climbing the rope behind Riley. It was definitely a challenge carrying her weight, but he knew she would have no chance on her own because of her ribs, so he didn't mind lagging behind for her. When he was finally at the top, Six crawled off of him and hopped down, which he did immediately after her. She stumbled, however, holding her chest as she keeled over. "Six, does it hurt again?" He knelt next to her, a worried glint in his eyes. He was pleasantly surprised to see the same woman squat politely next to them.
"Oh, you poor thing. Come with me, I'll patch you up, alright?" She held out her hand to the girl, offering her assistance in a very trustworthy manner.
Six was still unsure, however, because of how she had lived until now. Her instinct was to be wary of anyone and everyone upon first impression. But thankfully, Mono was there with her. "She's a little scared... Is it okay if I come too?" He requested this anxiously, and the woman nodded immediately, which made him believe it was no problem at all. So, he helped Six up and they walked into the woman's hand, glancing down at their friends on the floor before being carried away. Thankfully, as they were escorted, they watched a young man lead the other kids down below the deck; he seemed friendly as well.
"You two are just darling. I can't imagine what you must have experienced thus far." She made casual conversation with Mono and Six as she walked below deck, leading them to an infirmary with medical supplies and a few adult-sized beds for the sick. She put them down on the table with the supplies, then pulling a chair over to sit so they were more level with one another. "My name is Julie. I'm a nurse and a designer. Not much use for the latter these days." She introduced herself amicably, causing the two kids to relax for the most part. "So, what kind of pain is it?"
"Um... It's my ribs. I just got saved from drowning, so yeah." Six replied nonchalantly, her manners comparably worse than the woman's.
The lady gasped upon hearing the news, a compassionate frown on her face. "Goodness, you are one strong little girl. Well, I'll tell you now, you'll be resting a lot if you want that to heal quickly. I can give you a painkiller for now, since you're already freezing cold. Would you prefer a shot or tablet?" She stood up from the chair, opening the cabinets above them while waiting for an answer. "How would you rate the pain on a scale of one-to-ten?"
Six hummed to herself momentarily, breathing in to test her reaction, which was equally as bad as before, maybe even worse. "Like a twelve. I could probably handle a shot." She responded calmly, appearing unaffected by all of this for some reason.
"Is it really that bad?" Mono freaked out slightly when he heard Six's answer, feeling responsible even though it was completely out of his control. "This is why I hate the ocean. I'm fine sticking to cities for the rest of my life." He got chills just imagining the terror of what Six had to go through; how could she act so unbothered?
She snickered at his wimpy attitude, tensing up afterwards since she had forgotten once again. "It's not like I'm dying or anything. I'll be fine, just stop making me laugh, seriously. It hurts." She admitted to this issue, and he immediately looked guilty, taking her complaint very seriously.
"Alright, young lady, I'll give you a very, very low dose of morphine. I would have suggested aspirin, but if you're really in that much pain, I don't think we can afford to risk you feeling worse." She walked over to one of the beds, setting up the equipment carefully. When she returned to them, she patiently waited for Six to step into her hand again. "Don't worry, it's completely safe. I have treated several young kids in this way." She provided more reassurance, though Six had something to get off her chest first.
"Hey, Mono, do me a favor and talk to Riley... When you freaked out earlier, you kinda hurt him." She awkwardly admitted this, and she did so in a hurry so he didn't have a chance to question her about it.
Julie was already carrying Six over to the bed, and away from Mono within seconds. The woman returned to him after letting her get comfortable, however. "You'll have to go join your friends for now. I'll have to give her all of my attention for a bit. I assure you, she will be in good hands." She waited for Mono to come closer and carried him out of the room, putting him down on the floor gently. "If you go down the hall to the end, your friends and all the other kids are in the room on the left. The door is cracked open, you shant miss it. Off you go, now."
Before Mono could ask any questions, or even say goodbye, the door shut in his face, which he could understand—Julie needed to focus, and that meant no distractions. So, with a deep breath and exasperation, he followed her directions to the room at the end of the hall, peeking his head inside before entering to make sure it was correct. When he saw all of his friends, he smiled and jogged towards them, relieved that they were all getting warm finally, especially Riley, whom he had his sights set on.
"Ghost Kid, how's Six? What happened?" The boy in question spoke up first, breaking the ice since the others were cozy and barely awake.
"Hey, um...she's fine. She's getting medicine and resting for a bit." Mono replied briefly, sitting next to the boy after stalling for a minute. He kept his gaze averted out of shame, but eventually, he brought himself to change the subject. "Six told me what happened. I don't even remember exploding... I'm so sorry I hurt you." He attempted eye contact for the last part, the weight on his shoulders being minimized a generous amount.
Riley sheepishly returned the eye contact, smiling despite his previous fear. "I know you didn't mean to. I just wanted you to know you hit us with your powers, because I want to be honest with you..." He had already forgiven Mono by the sound of things, but the way he had phrased his sentence was a bit of a revelation for Mono.
The boy furrowed his eyebrows out of concern, glancing at the other kids and then back to Riley. "'Us'? Who else did I hit?" He was panicking slightly, and he couldn't tell if it's because he had less social confidence than Six now somehow, or because he was afraid...of himself.
It was silent between them for a few seconds, enough time for two kids to squirm in their peripheral: Ray and Eliza. He was so sharp that he snapped his eyes over to them, catching them staring and looking guilty, though it was really him who felt guilty. "You guys... I knew something was up when I checked on you two earlier."
Since he had figured out they were eavesdropping, they stopped trying to hide and faced Mono. Ray decided to reply since he didn't want the other boy to beat himself up. "Eliza and I were closeby when you had an explosion of power. You were completely different, and were choking that girl. When Riley tried to stop you, he mentioned Six, and you suddenly freaked out, knocking us three back onto the floor with your powers." He gave his full account of what had happened, and Mono had the most horrified expression on his face.
"I don't remember doing any of that... Thank you guys for telling me. I feel horrible. I'm such a crappy friend..." Mono scolded himself harshly, covering his face with his hands and tugging on his hair as he agonized over his mistakes. "I'm so sorry. I really want to get better at controlling this power, but it's largely influenced by my emotions, so..." He removed his hands from his face after explaining his issue, feeling slightly better after getting it off his chest.
"Don't worry, Ghost Kid. Hopefully you won't need to use them for anything bad anymore. And if we are ever in danger, let us back you up. You don't need to work so hard to protect us. Plus, these people seem safe..." Riley comforted Mono with a gentle smile, and a hand on his shoulder squeezing reassuringly.
"Yeah, and maybe in the meantime, while we're traveling, you can practice with your powers, try sourcing them from positive emotions instead of negative ones." Eliza chimed in, which made Ray and Riley blink in shock; they were impressed by her thoughtfulness. "Instead of fear, anger, and sadness, you could try thinking about it from a different angle, like their counterparts." She explained in more detail, to which Mono nodded slowly—he was mostly just touched, and slightly taken aback, by her willingness to help him.
He really tried to hold back, but after getting acclimated to physical contact as a platonic love mechanism, he couldn't refrain from hugging them all. His face was red since he was shy, nervous to be judged for his clinginess, but they hugged back one by one. "You guys don't have to forgive me, but I hope you can still trust me. I'll try my best to change." Although he was enjoying this heartfelt moment between them, he felt someone watching him, and he was right to believe that, because he saw Pericia standing beside him patiently. "Perry, what's up? Something wrong?"
The young girl was clearly emotional, though her eyes were never really visible; her frown was big enough to give it away. "Can I talk to you alone for a minute? Just the two of us." She requested this passionately, her tone full of pain.
Mono stared at her in disbelief momentarily, but he eventually stood up and let her lead him somewhere enough distance away from the group where they could chat. "What is it?" He incited her words, taking a seat with her so things were more comfortable.
"Hearing you talk about your powers, I felt obligated to share something about mine... I learned them myself, and I can handle them for the most part, but, like you, my emotions make them hard to control." She began her confession, averting her gaze sheepishly and fiddling with her fingers. "To be frank, there was a time when Veronica and I had just become friends, and she slipped and fell off a snowy cliff, so naturally, my instinct was to reach for her... In the heat of the moment, I accidentally used my powers on her, and turned part of her stomach to stone." When she finished sharing her story, she was still far too ashamed to look at Mono, but he understood how she felt, and why she was telling him this. "I was so scared I would lose the one person who cared about me, and I did something stupid because of it. So, you see... I don't blame you for losing control back there. That's all I wanted to say. If you still want to kill me, then you should." Her words took a sinister turn, but she seemed so genuine; maybe she had just lost all hope after Veronica died, or maybe she just wanted to atone for what she had done.
"I won't kill you. Six wants to help you, so I'm fine with you being with us for now. Your mom really misses you, and she's under the impression that you're dead, so I'm sure it'll make her really happy to see you." Mono replied indifferently, having lost all compassion for Pericia the moment she laid hands on Six. They could be allies, at least, but nothing more. "Are we done now?" He asked this rudely, standing back up without waiting for an answer.
"I suppose it's not surprising you're still very upset with me. I'll leave you be. Just think about what I said. You can't blame yourself forever." Perry joined him in standing and wiped the dust off of her already tattered dress, walking with him back to the group and sitting down in her own isolated spot.
Mono believed that she meant well, but he still didn't want to think about what happened. The more he thought about it, the less guilt he felt. And he didn't want to lose that humanity.