Riley shrunk away after his outburst, showing his shame as Julie walked to the bed. To their surprise, another woman walked in behind her, one that only Six and Mono knew the identity of.
"Are you feeling alright, darling?" Jezebelle sat down next to the bed; her presence was enough to return Mono's breathing to normal. He was relieved to see her.
"I'm okay. I just feel really tired." He answered her truthfully, pausing afterwards to gain some confidence to ask what was on his mind. "Is my mom...?" He trailed off, unable to form the words that scared him so.
The woman frowned initially at his questioning, expressing her aversion to discussing the subject of her sister. "I...um..." She stammered, choking up from the mere mention. "She's..." Once again, her words wouldn't come out. It was simply too hard for her to admit such a thing. Mono understood what this meant.
He thought he would be sad, and maybe he was, but he couldn't feel anything—just the numbness of his body, heart, and mind. He wasn't exactly shocked to hear this news, unfortunately. "Please, tell me what happened..."
Jezebelle let out a strained breath upon hearing Mono's request, wiping her tears just as quickly as they fell. "It was suicide. I'm sorry, dear." She watched Mono closely, noticing that he didn't move an inch. "I did not want to tell you, because I felt like you might blame yourself after what happened." After explaining the reasoning behind her reluctance, she dropped her head in disappointment, sniffling subtly as more tears fell. "If anyone is to blame, it's me. Why, I was so frightened by her actions that I was unsure how to calm her down. And quite honestly, I was so furious at her for treating you that way. I will never know what was going through her head, but perhaps that is for the best." Her speech was thoughtful and reassuring, enough to provide a reason for Mono to stay calm.
Regardless of his feelings, his aunt took a moment to herself to calm down and then introduced a different subject to lighten the mood. "I know you and your mother weren't very close after the things she said and did to your father, but even though I let her stay with me, I still visited your father in the hospital. Oh, how I loved him, I really did. He was a great man. He told me to take care of you if anything ever happened to him. I could never utter a word to Mira about it." Her words were full of emotion, voice carrying the passion of sorrow and happiness at the same time. "I can finally do something now; I promise to make sure you grow up to be a fine young man." She was finally smiling towards the end of her message, though it was weak and shaky, just like her frail hand that she reached over to Mono.
The grieving boy was touched by Jezebelle's vow, and felt more connected to her after having heard how close she was with his father. He couldn't resist also smiling—her happiness had always been so contagious, which is likely why all the other kids were smiling too. "I want to stay with you in the city. I want to finally be a normal kid." His tone was laced with desperation, which is likely why Jezebelle's was too, in response.
"Of course. Let's go then, shall we? It's best we stick together for now." She helped Mono up and waited for him to come closer, but to no avail. He had his worried eyes glued to Pericia.
"I was going to take Perry back to her mom..." He admitted this calmly, staring back up at Jezebelle longingly even though she couldn't see his expression.
Thankfully, Mono didn't have to fret; when Pericia spoke up to reassure him, he was immediately touched by her patience. "Don't you even think about leaving your aunt. You go spend time with her. I'll be just fine." The proper young girl didn't hesitate in her response whatsoever, and Mono truly felt like he could hug her, but he didn't want to make things weird.
"Don't worry, Mono. I'll go in your place. Just make sure you brag about me a lot while I'm gone." Suddenly Six interjected, her typical devilish grin decorating her face. She had of course forgotten that Julie was in the room as well, and tensed up when she walked over to scold her.
"There is no way I'm letting you go off on your own. You are still healing, young lady." Julie's voice was stern as could be, but she was very quick to cave. "Well, I suppose I could accompany you." After she changed her mind, Mono was still worried, and it was simply because the city was still dangerous, or so he imagined.
To his surprise, Riley joined in, and suddenly most of his stress went away. "Let's all go together. It's probably not safe out there, but there's safety in numbers." He explained his idea briefly, causing Mono to sigh in relief. Riley smiled over at him, though it was clear his heart was aching somewhat, just based off how forced his expression seemed. "I'll keep everyone safe for you, Ghost Kid."
Before Mono could reply, the other kids began showing their fear, which was not unwarranted at all. "Um... I'm too scared to go. I'll stay here. But you guys be safe." Guppy was the first, and understandably so after his traumatic past here in the city.
Of course, since Pippa was closest with him, she chimed in next. "It's alright. I'll stay with ya. Not all of us need to go anyway." She squeezed his shoulder to comfort him, having noticed his trembling a while ago.
Julie helped the remaining kids onto the floor; Six was the last to go because she hugged Mono and even lifted up his paper bag to kiss his cheek. Afterwards, she finally hopped over him to join Julie. She couldn't just leave it at that, and stuck her tongue out at him as they all walked out of the room. If it wasn't obvious already, Mono was blushing underneath the bag, though he wasn't flustered like usual. "Man...she's so cool." He admired her aloud, forgetting his aunt, Guppy, and Pippa were still in the room with him. He eventually snapped out of his trance because of Pippa clearing her throat, which was certainly intentional.
"Is she the someone you told me about the other day? She seems very special to you." Jezebelle broke the silence, which caused Mono to be even more certain of his feelings.
"Yeah. And she is. We're going to get married when we're older." He blurted this out boldly, having no shame in his love for Six. After all, she felt the same towards him, so why should he be ashamed?
Guppy fake-gagged upon hearing this, his childish tendencies returning to him. "You guys are so gross..." He teased Mono without thinking, but it was a half-joke, to be fair. He would never actually be disgusted by them.
Pippa giggled at his remark, somewhat agreeing with him but not expressing that outwardly. "I think it's sweet. You guys are a good match because you're both really strange."
The pale boy twiddled with his thumbs due to how awkward he felt, thankful that they couldn't see how nervous he was. "I can't even argue with that. But she's definitely more strange than me. You guys have no idea the things I saw her do when we were alone." He tried to divert attention away from himself, doing the opposite of what Six had intended for him to do. Technically he was still bragging about her, just not positively.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" The girl quickly indulged him, which honestly wasn't surprising. Her voice carried a suspicious tone, though, which made him cautious as he responded.
"Well, when we were in the hospital she—" Mono cut himself off before going any further, putting his finger up to stop the momentum. "Hold on. If I tell you guys, you're just gonna tattle to Six when she gets back. I don't want her to get mad at me." He explained his reluctance, and it appeared he was correct in his assumption because Pippa looked guilty afterwards.
Jezebelle watched them interact with a content smile on her face, admiring their relationship and the casual nature of their conversation. "I'm very glad you've made some good friends, Mono. I was always worried about you not fitting in. You know, your father told me that you got bullied at school. He also told me not to tell you that, but I did not want to hide it." She was honest with him as she reminisced, although her slight regret was clear to see after exposing Mono in such a way.
The boy in question covered his ears and clenched his eyes shut, embarrassed that she would bring this up in front of his new friends. "They just didn't understand me. They made fun of the way I look, so I wore the bag, and then they made fun of the bag. It was like a game of cat and mouse." He replied nonchalantly, the emotion leaving his voice to help him cope with how traumatic those memories actually were. "They talked bad about my dad, said that he hated me so much, and that's why he died—so he didn't have to see me anymore." He clenched his fists and dropped them to his sides, smiling despite the negativity leaving his mouth. "But it's okay. I know they were wrong. And I'm just thankful to have such awesome friends now."
Pippa's expression was adorned with concern now, showing her unconditional kindness towards the boy. "Mono, we are seriously lucky to know someone like you. We had no chance of escaping that place on our own. You and Six both were like this shining star of hope for us." After getting this off her chest, Mono relaxed his hands and lifted his head up to look at her, though she likely couldn't even see his eyes beneath the bag. He was honestly at a loss for words reacting to her thoughtfulness.
"Y-Yeah. Without you, I wouldn't have ever come back to this city. Not that I really wanted to, but... I'm glad I'm here now. I have a chance at s-seeing my sister again." The boy with the tattered overcoat supported Pippa's claim, stuttering since he was typically very reserved and quiet as to not embarrass himself.
Although Mono appreciated their support, he knew that the real hero here wasn't him. "It was all Six. I was terrified in that place, and she was too, but she was strong enough to keep going. I'm really not very brave, you guys...if I had been alone, I wouldn't have lasted ten minutes." He scratched behind his neck after admitting this, feeling shy since he was being so vulnerable with them. "Uh, well, I was alone for a while, and it didn't go so great."
"I am so proud of you for staying calm, Mono. You know, your father would probably tell you to sing a song or something to distract yourself. After all, he did it himself quite often." Jezebelle smiled down at her nephew with a supportive gaze, pleasantly surprised when he nodded affirmatively.
"That's exactly what I did...except it was half-singing and half-panicking." He indulged her theory whilst hiding his nerves behind laughter, though his grin turned sorrowful after a moment of reflection. "He's still looking out for me. That's how I know. We're all looking out for one another now."