Chapter Text
The stars were Six's favorite thing. They stood still, dotting the freest night sky she had ever seen. Unlike the shadowed and cloudy pale city, here, she could see millions. Chained along on the black sky above her. Too many to possibly count, but she tried. She had more free time now than she's ever had. Never knowing before that was something she would ever want. The peace was nice, the soft waves splashing onto the Maw's iron hull, and the soft hum of its engine, churning the beast forward. However, laying on this balcony, Six couldn't help but feel as though it was too quiet. It was all so surreal to her, and was missing something very important.
Six's heart began to ache, as she was reminded of her music box.
"Its sweet melody. Perfectly still and beautiful. The only thing I had for a long time, to keep me calm. Until on that day, Smashed to Pieces."
She began to breath faster, her throat caught up in what felt like thick oil seeping from her veins. "Shattered, maliciously by- by."
Song then filled her ears. A very familiar tune, that slowed her breathing. She realized she had been humming. She continued, rubbing her legs, heart calming further. She did it for a while, humming the same small tune over, and over, and over again. Eventually she stood up, shaking slightly in the cold.
"I should go back inside" she thought. "I need to regain my strength, and it's freezing out here."
So she turned, slowly diving into the Maw yet again.
_____
Six woke with a start, nearly smashing her head against the stood she slept under. She cautiously crawled from underneath her cave and headed up the stairs to the balcony once more. After she had adjusted to the sun's blinding rays, she was able to once again gaze upon the sea. Absolutely no land in sight. But Six expected this, and with a sigh she retreated back down the steps.
Yawning, she drowsily began to think of what she was going to do today.
"There's really no point in continuing to explore the ship. Maybe I should visit the lady's quarters. Spend the time waiting in there." Six shuddered.
The lady's quarters had made her feel extremely uneasy last time, and she wasn't eager to go back. Despite having gone through so much, the lady haunted her above all else. Visiting her in her dreams, and keeping her on her toes, alone in the Maw.
"If not there, perhaps I could go back to the-"
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a massive crash that seemed to echo throughout the Maw. Six snapped to attention, readying herself for anything as well as adopting a stance to sprint. Then, she began to focus, drowning out all other stimulation in order to sense what could have caused the crash. Feeling for a few seconds, Six was barely able to sense the strong beating of a heart, two hearts, as whatever they were moved rapidly away from her location.
"It must be rats or gnomes, just knocked something over, something really big. Or, it could be something else. Maybe it was a child! What are they doing all the way up here? Maybe without the janitor to take care of them, and the lady gone they've began to wander the Maw. Dangerous, they could attack her. Maybe they already know I'm here." Six thought.
Then she began to fear, "What if they're trying to kill me? What if they know what I've done, and are trying to take out the threat? No, how would they? They would be too afraid if they did. Regardless, I need to keep them under control- and I'm also getting sort of hungry."
In mere moments after the crash Six had made up her mind. Swirling around, she kicked off throughout the halls in chase of the children. Nothing would be able to stop her from capturing her prey.
_____
George scurried through the strange halls in a blind panic, Ryen lost somewhere behind him. He heavily regrets leaving her, but it was her fault for knocking over that vase.
"How does she even do that by accident, that thing was huge!"
Truth be told they were both very jittery after the events of the past 24 hours. They had been taken care of by the janitor for a long time. But while Ryen could remember things that had happened before they had gotten her, George could not. It seemed just like any other day, waking up from the bedroom and mingling in the cafeteria, getting a small amount of bread. They day passed in usual inactivity. They sat or stood, either observing the bars or fighting each other for the food they got. This was until the janitor didn't open the door, leading them back to their cribs. Unaware of time, they stayed for many hours longer than usual, until at last growing confused and uneasy at the break in routine.
They soon began trying to go back, as it was only normal. Banding together and trying to lift the large door. Growing hungry again, they began to get more frantic, bashing things against the door and bars. This continued for a few more hours until at last, they had welded the bars apart just enough to fit through. The children scattered, fearful of the places they hadn't been. Through the chaos, George had met up with his friend Ryen before they continued.
"Hey, let's go, we need to find something to eat" he hesitantly spoke to her. Ryen was very peaceful and talked even less than the rest of them did. This is why they had become friends in the first place. The janitor was frequently not there, and in that time many kids would get really badly beaten for their resources. It was handy to have someone to sit next to you and watch your back in case of danger.
Ryen stayed still, backed against the far wall.
"We have to go!" He croaked to her. "The janitor isn't coming; we have to find him or something to eat. At worst he sees us and puts us back here. There isn't any danger." He said, also trying to convince himself.
After a while of silence, Ryen stood up and nodded to him. "Yeah, we-we should go" she quietly stuttered. He grabbed her hand, and they made way for the opening. Most of the other children had dispersed by then, going their separate ways for the most part. Some sticking in larger groups of three and four.
The duo then turned left, climbing up some boxes and cautiously trekking into the unknown.
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Six felt the two heart beats separating. One darting through the halls, and the other scrambling up into the vents a few seconds after. She groaned and decided to chase the ladder. Quickly reaching the room where the noise had come from, and large pile of vase shards littered all over the floor. She then scrambled up the shelf, and into an open vent in the wall.
Six began to crawl, her fingers and knees practically flying along the metal as she propelled forward and a new and profound speed. She nearly bashed her head against the wall at the first turn and had to be careful to not injure herself at this speed.
_____
"George where did you go!" Ryen thought. " I had no idea he could get spooked so easily, although that drop practically burst my eardrums. I'm just not used to creeping around! We never need to be stealthy. We should have just stayed in the cafeteria. The janitor would have come eventually as he always does."
She began to slow, but then picking up her pace again. "Why am I even crawling so fast anyway, I don't need to rush. I'm sure I'll find him soon. But... I feel like something is behind me. I don't hear anything though."
Ryen shivered as the cold feeling grew stronger. I-I should speed up. It probably isn't anything though...
_____
Six was getting close now, practically being able to smell them. In fact, she could smell them. She could smell the blood in their body and their sweat as they scramble through the small space.
"This is getting so exiting, they're really trying to get away" Six thought. "But how do they know I'm here? Maybe they really were watching me."
Six didn't even notice her large grin of glee and happiness that she had never worn before.
Right, left, left, up. Her eyes only seeing the dark metallic grey of the vents, but her target was becoming clearer and clearer in her mind. They were desperately trying to escape, clumsily falling over now, kicking the floor loosely to propel forward. Up, up, right, down. Six dropped with a bang, at this point dropping the stealth and lunging on. Clawing at the groves in the narrow corridors scraping and bashing about, letting it echo down the claustrophobic maze. Right, left, right THERE.
"A COAT" Six screamed in her mind. "I see you now!"
Her senses homed in on the cloth's flicker of movement after every turn. More and more if it being exposed as Six quickly caught up to it. She saw its feet, then its leg, then its body, and finally its face. She caught sight of what looked to be a girl, their pale expression contorted into that of pure terror. The sight only exited Six farther as she went faster and faster, leaping claws bared towards the girl. But, instead of tearing into her prey, her sharp nails only swiped at air, as she felt herself plummet through nothingness as she was hit with a blinding light.
Six reacted slowly, realizing the vent had ended too late and shot through the air and crashing into an extremely tall bookshelf with a deafening crash.
Six laid on the ground, on her side, trying to catch her bearings. After a few seconds she gasped, and slowly rolled over to sit up.
"Huh? what juss happen?" she thought to herself, trying to shake away the fog over her brain. A twitching motion in front of her snapped her out of it. Slowly standing up, Six realized that she was in the Janitors room again. The green wallpaper unlike that of anywhere else on the Maw. But upon closer inspection, she realized that it was a little darker now.
"My powers must have destroyed the light. I need to figure out a way to prevent such things in the future." Six thought.
Soon her hooded head dropped, onto the mess of a quivering young girl. Unlike Six, she had fallen softly onto the janitor's bed. She had light brown hair that grew messily up to her shoulders, with some of it covering most of her left eye. She wore a tattered grey coat, with a pair of grey shorts.
Six stepped closer, and noticed that the girl wasn't even looking at her. Her eyes were darting wildly in every direction, before she put her head down and curled into a ball.
"Pathetic" Six thought. "She deserves to be eaten. Although... I did get pretty caried away then. I've never done that before. I really need to stay focused. I didn't even notice the end to the vent in my frenzy, and it could have gone even worse."
As Six creeped even closer, she was shocked to see that the girl still hadn't react.
"Is she stupid? Has she just given up? It's like she can't even see me."
At that thought Six's eyes widened. "Maybe she can't see me, because it's too dark."
Six looked around. Aside from the lightbulb she had put out, there were no other sources of light to be seen. It should be entirely pitch black but Six could see fine.
"So, she doesn't know where I am." Six grinned. "Maybe I should slow down and think of something better to do with her."
_____
"I want to go home" Ryen thought, whilst sobbing slightly.
"When I lived with my family. A-All this, it's too much. Now I'm going to die alone and in the dark on the giant boat that took me away. All that's left to do now is wait for my end, by the yellow creature.
So, she waited, arms around her legs, cuddling herself in the darkness. After what felt like an eternity of waiting, exposed to anything around her, Ryen was shocked to hear a voice.
"Oii"
The call had sounded extremely scratchy and forced. Almost as if the speaker was choking on something. Ryen looked up, but was still greeted by nothing but darkness.
"W-what do you want" Ryen answered to the voice, which she assumed wasn't at all human.
The voice chuckled, but it sounded more of a pained exhale, that had never been attempted before.
"Don't worry, I'm a kid too" it hissed on. "I've just been trapped here for a very long time. I'm sorry if I scared you."
It seemed that the voice was taking on a friendly demeanor, but Ryen wouldn't buy into that just yet.
"You chased and tried to lunge at me. You clearly weren't just looking for a friend." Ryen responded, but regretted it after, fearing what it would do if she seemed too hostile.
There was a pause, but the voice continued, softer this time. "I was shocked, and I didn't want you to leave me. I haven't been able to talk to anyone in so long."
This, Ryen believed. If it were a kid, they seemed to have a throat full of syrup. The way it choked and slightly gargled.
"I just need some help. I-I want to leave this place so bad, but I can't. I've been around here for ages, but I didn't know there were any other kids here."
"How have you been here so long, but never saw us?" Ryen spoke into the darkness.
The voice was hesitant, to reply, until it whispered. It sounded like it was speaking directly into her head now. "Because I was scared" it said. "It's so dark, and I didn't want to explore more. Th-there could be adults anywhere, and I just wanted to be left alone. But, I need help. I believe, that if I could help you, we can escape this place. Along with anyone else we want. After all, I know all about the Maw at this point."
"How can I know you're not lying!" Ryen shouted, covering her ears, and beginning to sob harder.
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"You can trust me, I would never betray a friend."