Little Nightmares: The Lines Between Game and Reality

Lucecito, Six, and Sal: Then There Were Three!

Neither of us said anything - Six continued to tremble there on the ground while not looking at me and holding that Gnome close to her while I continued to stare in disbelief. I was pretty sure Lucecito was still by the entrance of the tiny room waiting for something to happen.

Then, finally, I realized I was still holding the metal lamp over my head in a way that implied I was going to hit Six with it, which I wasn't. I tossed it away into another corner, which startled both Six and her own Gnome comrade and caused Six to whimper slightly. I'm assuming Lucecito got startled since I heard a quick *Jing!*, but I didn't have time to think about that.

"Whoa, there! I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise!" I said while holding my hands out in a non-threatening manner to show I truly meant no harm.

At first, both Six and the Gnome just sat there while still trembling in fear, but eventually, Six seemed to calm down slightly and turned her head towards me. It was impossible to see her face in the darkness, just like the game as I remembered.

Then, in an incredibly soft voice, I heard her speak to me.

"W-who... Who are you?"

I didn't speak for several seconds since I was in shock - this was the first time ANYONE heard Six speak not including her humming at the end of the game - but then realized I had to say something back or else she might get scared again.

"...Salvador... My name is Salvador Reyes... B-But you can just call me Sal for short."

She tilted her head slightly, and I assumed it was because Salvador wasn't exactly a popular name in this world (it ain't popular where I'm from, either). Then she spoke again, this time with less fear in her voice.

"Okay... Sal... so, you're not going to hurt me?"

At this rate, I found it ridiculously hard to believe that this was the same girl who chose to eat an innocent Gnome alive instead of the fresh sausage in his hands.

"O-Of course not! I just saw a light in here and assumed someone might be in here!" I lied. I knew from my experience in the game, as well as other people's playthroughs on the internet, that it just had to be Six, and I've been wanting to catch up with her this whole time I've been in the Maw. 

However, Six didn't seem convinved. She huddled up in the corner even more before pointing an accusing finger at me.

"N-No! I noticed you following me! Who sent you, the Janitor!?"

"No! I was trying to get out of this place, the same as you, when I saw light in a hole in the wall over there," I pointed to where the room with the fridge was, "and me and Lucecito decided to check it out."

"... Who's Lucecito?" She asked tenderly.

Oh, that's right, she hadn't seen him yet. I whistled and called out to said Gnome.

"Hey, Lucecito! You can come over here, now!"

*Jing-a-ling!*

Lucecit then waddled/walked over to where I was standing and turned to Six, still sitting on the ground and turned to look at Lucecito with his peculiar bell on his cone hat

"This is Lucecito, my sort of travelling companion, I guess you could say." I said, "So, what's your name?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. Then, I cautiously walked over to Six and held out my hand to her. She seemed to stare at it before releasing the Gnome in her arms and grabbing my hand, and I helped her to stand up.

"Six...", she said, "... My name is Six."

"Six, huh...?" I feigned ignorance, "That's a unique name."

"So is 'Salvador'." She retorted.

I opened my mouth to retort back, but decided against it, chuckling.

"Fair point." I said with a smile. I also noticed, now that we were both standing, that she actually was pretty short, about 2 inches shorter than me in my 11-12 year old body.

I walked away from the corner with Six and the two Gnomes right behind me and picked up the lamp again, gesturing to it.

"Got a lighter we can use? Maybe we can... y'know, talk?" I asked, though I already knew she had a lighter.

Six took out said lighter and walked up to me, lighting up the lamp and filling the room with light. Because of the light illuminating the area around us, I could finally see her face: she had dark brown hair underneath her raincoat hood, and her long bangs almost covered her eyes... key work here being "almost" covering her eyes. I could faintly make out out two, golden yellow eyes underneath her long bangs. She actually looked... kinda pretty.

"...Alright." Six said.

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Me, Six, Lucecito and Six's Gnome all sat near the small lit lamp in silence, taking the time to warm ourselves up. The two Gnomes were sitting down so that the edges of their cone hats almost touched the floor, and I could faintly make out soft snoring from both of them. I sat with my legs crossed while Six was sitting on the ground while hugging her knees, all of us enjoying the warmth caused by the fire in the lamp.

Eventually, the silence became incredibly thick, and so I decided to try to break the ice by chatting. I turned my head to face Six, who was sitting to my right.

"So... what were you doing in here, Six?" I asked.

She raised her head at my voice.

"I was scared that someone was following me, so I tried to hide in this room. When I came in here, I found this Gnome here, and I didn't want to risk it getting hurt, so we tried to hide in the corner together... Not well enough, though..." She explained. Then, she turned to look straight at me.

"What you were you doing following me, anyway?" She asked in a half-accusing and half-fearful tone, "And don't try to lie to me, I heard y-you and Lu...Lucy...L-Lucecito following me all the way here!"

Crap. So she did notice us - well, Lucecito was only really following me - trailing after her.

"Well... I was trying to find my way out of here when I met Lucecito and offered him the chance to tag along with me. We were setting out when we saw you ahead of us and thought you were trying to escape too." I said. It wasn't a TOTAL lie, since I really was trying to GTFO of the Maw since arriving here. " Why did you hide to begin with if you knew it wasn't the Janitor or some other monster?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"...I thought one of the crew of the Maw sent you after me or something in exchange for not capturing you..." Six said somberly. Okay, that was kind of offensive that she thought so little of me right there.

"Well, like I said, I have no interest in hurting you whatsoever, Six", I said truthfully, "I just thought you were another person trying to get out of here and thought it'd be best to team up or something. I mean, you are trying to escape from here, too, right?"

"Mmhm", Six said softly while nodding in confirmation, "I'm trying to get out of this place and be free. I can't stand staying here any longer than I already have."

Dammit, she sounded way too traumatized and scared for me not to think of her as adorable. Was this seriously the same person who turned into a voracious cannibal in the game?

"So...", I began, " want to try and get outta here... together?" I asked, holding my hand out to her.

She stared at it for a while before grabbing and shaking my hand in agreement. Her lips, which had been a somber frowning position up until now, finally upturned into a small smile. Just looking at her smile made my own lips form a smile of my own. I got up and hoisted her into a standing position as well.

"Deal... Sal." Six said confidently.

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