Mono + Six Afterstory || Little Nightmares II

Twenty-Three

     Two days passed; the kids were slowly getting acclimated to having normal lives, talking amongst themselves around a dimly lit candle. They were fed well by the adult crew, and taken care of. Pericia even began getting comfortable with the group again, and the comfort was mutual, considering the smile that appeared on her face for a split second—perhaps a fluke—when Six invited her to join their circle on the second day. They actually became pretty close...not by choice, but Six gravitated towards her and her somewhat similar personality; of course, Mono didn't approve of this development, but he was trying to accept it.

     Six had been getting a dose of morphine each day at the same time to ensure the pain didn't return, and today was no different. Julie would always come to get her; there was still time before she came today, according to the young girl's internal clock (which wasn't actually that great), so she took the opportunity to have some alone time with Pericia, who seemed rather spaced-out.
She stood up from the group and tapped on her shoulder to get her attention, causing her to snap out of her trance. "Hey, can we talk for a minute?" She suggested this invitingly, and the tension snapped in half because of it.

Perry gazed up at Six curiously, nodding and standing up to follow her a ways away from the group so they could have some privacy. "What's on your mind?" She indulged her without thinking, having honestly developed such a deep understanding with the other girl.

     "Okay, so..." She took a deep breath, as deep as she could manage, then continuing, "I've just had a lot of time to think these past two days because of, y'know...but um, I just think it's nice to get along with you 'n stuff. After talking to you so much, I just..." Six tried to keep calm as she spoke, but everyone knew, even herself, that she wasn't great with people. She was slightly intimidated by the fact that Pericia was staring at her so intently, not once looking away, and her expression was so touched as well. "I forgive you, okay? You've apologized so many times, but that's not even what made me get here. I think you and I are pretty similar. And I don't blame you for getting so upset after I..." She trailed off once again, but she was comforted by Perry suddenly smiling at her and grabbing her hand. "I've been beating myself up so much." She finished out her speech, and though she was glad the other girl was accepting of her, she still had the biggest frown on her face.

     Before Six could react, Pericia had wrapped her arms around her neck, tearing up and trying to fight the urge to cry as her lip quivered. "I never expected you to be so kind..." She gave a slightly backhanded compliment, so she pulled away after realizing, expecting Six to be upset. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

     "Ouch." The cunning young girl replied jokingly, snickering afterwards to show her amusement rather than disdain. "Don't worry, I know. Besides, I've heard worse." Her relaxed response was plenty to get Pericia to lighten up; she even giggled quietly to herself.

     "Well, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened...when you...?" Although the mood was positive, Pericia seemed to be unable to stop herself from asking the inevitable...something that had been on her mind since Veronica passed.

     Six tensed up when she heard these words she hadn't wanted to hear, but fully expected. She felt wrong talking about it, and yet she wasn't cruel enough to deny Perry her answer. "Her mom was saying something about her fate, that she was meant to be cursed like all the other kids in The Maw. She brought it up because Veronica was questioning her about everything going on there. I overheard all of this, and when I walked in, Veronica was struggling to get away from her, so I fought her mom and ended up killing her." After explaining the cause of their 'fight' in the first place, her expression melted into one full of somber. "She started screaming at me, and I was trying to explain why I did what I did to protect her, and she said something hurtful, and I don't know what happened—I just...suddenly lost control, so I told her to run away, but it was too late."