Mono + Six Afterstory || Little Nightmares II

One

     Mono was on the verge of slipping out of his friend's grasp. He looked down out of fear and then looked back up into Six's eyes, as if questioning her: 'what's taking so long?'
     He noticed then...something changed inside of her. Her expression was resentful, maybe even vengeful. But even despite this tension, after shaking her head and grumbling in rage, she pulled him up, causing him to stumble atop her for a moment.
     He didn't have much emotion on his face, but when he stood up, he didn't hesitate to hold his hand out to her. Upon grabbing it hesitantly, she stood up and dragged Mono behind her to the portal. They walked in this strange void to get back out into the real world, where they lay on their backs exhaustedly on the wooden floor.
     Mono lifted himself up to check on Six, who mirrored his exact posture. She was hiding her face. "What's wrong?" He called out to her with a gentle voice, and she slowly tilted her head to make eye contact with him.

     "I wanted to drop you. So bad." After speaking her mind, she turned away again and stood up carefully, dusting herself off.

     "Why? Did I do something wrong? I've done nothing but try and protect you this whole time, you know?" Mono felt frustrated. Six's honesty was considerate, but the words that left her mouth had him feeling sick to his stomach. He could have died or been stuck in that signal tower forever if she hadn't saved him. He thought they were friends, but maybe he was just being delusional.

     "Because!" Six raised her voice and clenched her fists shut, infuriated by his naivety. "When we first met, I hated your guts...you thought you were saving me from the hunter's house, but in reality, you were taking away the one thing that made me feel safe: isolation. And...my music box. Why did you destroy it?"

     The lanky boy was frozen in disbelief, blinking away the shock he felt. Sure, maybe she was mad, but couldn't she see that his intentions were good? "I thought...it was turning you into a monster. And I didn't want to escape without you..." Mono tried to explain himself, but Six wasn't having it at all. In fact, she seemed even more upset after he spoke.

     "It wasn't turning me into a monster. You were. It's all your fault; everything in this city...is your fault. I realized it when I finally saw your face." Although she had a good point to distrust Mono, he was utterly confused at what she meant. Clearly he wasn't very self-aware. "The thin man who captured me...that TV signal that distorts everything around it, including the people..."

     Mono stood up and walked closer to Six, trying to console her by putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm the thin man? But how? I don't understand..." She nudged his hand away and created some distance between them. Mono frowned and just stared at Six with a heartbroken, compassionate gaze.

     "He disappeared suddenly, and then I turned into...that version of myself. I thought maybe it was your doing. He was the only one who could travel through the TVs. They kept rejecting you, probably because the thin man didn't want you to try and stop him from capturing me." She theorized aloud, finally releasing the pressure in her fists and sighing to calm herself down. "When you let him out of the TV, you felt different, didn't you?"

     "Um...yeah, actually." Mono stared at his feet, feeling ashamed since Six was making sense of everything that happened. She was right, wasn't she? Maybe, in actuality, he had known this whole time and just didn't want to believe it. "I think I gained his powers...when I let him out."

     Six's heart felt weak in response to Mono's obliviousness. When he looked back up to her, she could see his guilt, too. "Why didn't you try to save me when I fell over? You just watched—like a coward—" she suddenly cut herself off, her stomach growling deafeningly. She held it due to the pangs and keeled over onto the floor, groaning out in pain.