Mono + Six Afterstory || Little Nightmares II

Sixteen

Six and Mono trudged through the sea of shoes safely, and they encountered Roger many more times. Eventually, when they saw him another time, they were in some sort of library. They had learned how to sneak past him by now, so they stayed on the rugs and crouched by under his nose, maneuvering around the shelves.

When they were past him, they came upon a room with a TV, and Mono felt more powerful than ever. "I'll have to be quick. He'll hear the noise for sure." He informed Six of the danger and then took a deep breath, approaching the TV and turning it on. He immediately pressed his hand to the screen, tuning the channel to the nearest television. Once he had it perfect, he crawled into the TV and held his hand out for Six, but it wasn't so easy for her.
Mono tugged as hard as he could, but the signal wasn't accepting her, and Roger was entering the room. Six let go and scurried away quietly, shooing Mono into the screen so he didn't get caught. Yet another time they would be separated, and likely for a long time.
Although he was worried, he forced himself to walk through the signal and was spit out of a TV in a completely different area; there were brown wooden floors, paintings and...strangely enough, there were children standing around his limp body, seven of them to be exact. He didn't think it was real until he blinked away the shock and had to dodge out of the way as Veronica reeled back with a soup ladle and tried to hit him. "Ah, it's me! Mono!" He called out to the girl, letting a sigh out in relief when she relaxed her shoulders.

"Did you just come out of that TV?" Pericia stared at him in shock along with all the others, causing Mono to laugh nervously and lift himself off the ground.

"Yeah... It's a long story. Sorry for scaring you guys." After answering, he walked towards the TV and turned it off, not wanting to attract attention.

Before he could do anything else, Guppy approached him and looked up into his static, soulless eyes. "You're not going to hurt us, are you?" He blurted this out, clearly referring to Mono's similarities to a certain thin man. It would make sense if Guppy knew about him.

It took Mono a moment to understand this hostility and where it was coming from. Then he remembered...Guppy was from the Pale City. "I... I'm not like him, I promise. I've been using my powers for good." He frowned at the boy's suspicion, backing away since he felt so alone in the moment.

"I believe you." Guppy quickly reassured him and closed the space between them once again, tackling Mono in an emotional hug. "I'm sorry for being so mean to you. I just miss my sister..." His words flickered in Mono's mind as an epiphany. Yet another victim.

"What, um...happened to her?" The lanky boy indulged Guppy, awkwardly returning the hug since he was much taller. After a moment, they put some distance between their bodies, allowing them to make eye contact yet again.

Guppy was extremely uncomfortable, but it was inevitable when being presented with such a difficult topic. "My sister was really sick, so she was in the hospital... When the doctor started acting weird, she told me to leave her behind because she was too weak to escape with me. She always got a bloody nose from barely even moving, so I listened to her and ran away." He somehow managed to get through his explanation, but afterwards he was on the verge of crying. Pippa walked over and hugged him, rubbing his back to provide some comfort.

Mono felt guilty even though he knew it wasn't his fault; the thin man was a version of him he would never become, and he was going to make sure of that. "I promise to protect you all. I wish I could say the same for Six, but we got separated before you guys found me." He tried to segway the conversation to something else, hoping to shift the attention off Guppy.

"I was wondering where she was... I'm sure she'll be fine, though! She's brave." Veronica got closer to Mono and smiled encouragingly, which made him feel ten times better, strangely enough. He was so used to Six's pessimism that this was a nice breath of fresh air.