Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everything was peaceful.

The sun was rising, a soft breeze was blowing through Mono's hair, and the grass beneath him felt warm and comfortable. Mono felt peaceful, and for the first time in a long time he took off his paper bag. Which was a huge thing for the bashful boy, as he usually felt like the world was against him. For once he felt safe. For once he felt like everything would be fine, that he would truly be fine.

He sighed and laid back, watching clouds lazily drift across the sky. He would sometimes try to make shapes out of the fluffy clouds, laughing at the more ridiculous ones. He was enjoying how every once in a while, a cloud would cover the sun, dimming the blue sky to a more gray color, then it would turn the pretty blue once again as it allowed the sun to shine once more. The wind continued to softly swirl around him, lapping at his hair every once in a while. Mono always wondered if it was the clouds that depended on the wind to continue its journey or if it was the wind that depended on them to continue blowing. Not understanding much about the world, he would often question a lot of things, though he rarely got an answer. He didn’t mind it, as it made life all the more interesting and mysterious.

Mono hoped that everything would stay like this, but a sinking feeling in his gut told him that it wouldn't. No matter how much he wished, how much he dreamed, nothing would stay peaceful. He knew that, sadly, far back into his head he knew that nothing would ever stay peaceful. The feeling he has right now, will eventually leave, and he’ll go back to longing for it to return.

Though for now, he could just lay back and enjoy the scenery. He might as well take advantage of this wonderful moment before he’s forced back into a hazardous world. He continued to stare at the sky and the sun that was ever so slowly sinking. He wished the sun would stay up and continue to warm him and the grass around him, to continue to make the world around him bright and less terrifying. He wanted to be a kid, but instead of letting this get him too worked up he let out a breath. He would just listen to the background noise of rustling trees and grass while he had the chance.

Wait. . .

Trees? That’s not right. There were no trees when Mono first looked around, what was he hearing? Mono sat back up and looked around, hoping that he just wasn't remembering right. All that hope drowned when he saw miles of treeless plains, stretching for as far as he could see. He then stood up confused when the rustling was getting louder. What was going on? What was happening?

Then a shadow fell on Mono and he looked up, to see that the clouds that were moments ago white and puffy were now dark and gray. The soft wind that was blowing suddenly picked up, almost knocking Mono over in shock. The sun quit moving, and instead was soon covered by stormy clouds. The world that was just normal and nice had turned chaotic and strange. Why couldn’t it just stay the way it was? Was it his fault? Did he cause this? Then it started to pour, but Mono didn't get wet. Somehow he didn't get wet! How was this possible?

At this point Mono started to freak out, and went to grab his paper bag back for protection. To hide him from the hateful world that wanted him to underachieve, to fail, to die. Though it wasn't there. Now he didn’t have anything to help him, to give him comfort and make him feel secure in this unkind world he lived in. Where did it go? Did it get blown away? Mono knew he shouldn't have taken it off. He knew the peace wasn't going to last long, yet he still let his guard down. The world hated him, everything wanted him to fail, and he was letting it. He was letting the world get to him, he was allowing it to cause him pain.

Mono looked back up at the dark cloudy sky, and wished that everything could just be peaceful. That he could have a moment to relax and breathe. He really did wish too much.

Mono woke up in a start, his breaths coming out ragged and short. He touched his face to feel the paper bag still there, he let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t gone, he was fine. It was a dream, or more like a nightmare. Mono tried to calm down his breathing, afraid that The Hunter was nearby and could hear him, as even the slightest noise could alert the monster of a man, if you could even call him a man at this point.

Though he knew that The Hunter being around would be unlikely, as it was storming. His beautiful dream was warped by the pounding of the rain and wind, which would usually bring comfort to many others. It was a good thing that Mono noticed dark clouds nearby before going to bed and decided to sleep under some brush on a hill. He was originally thinking of sleeping in a tree, which luckily he didn’t. Who knows what would have happened if he slept there? He could have fallen off and got hurt, or worse. He blinked as a way to try and get his mind to focus on something else, he didn’t want to start thinking about such disturbing things. Especially since he was trying to calm himself down, not work himself up again.

He wished it didn't storm though, as the only time he got to truly relax was when he was sleeping. It seemed like that when he was sleeping, his brain allowed itself to shut down. It seemed even his brain unconsciously understood that a break from carefully analyzing the world was beneficial to both it and his very tired body. Now Mono was wide awake, hiding under a bush from the strong winds and piercing rain outside. Every sound made him jerk his head, wondering if it was The Hunter or another enemy he hasn’t met yet.

A drop or two would land on Mono every once in a while, somehow finding its way through the tangle of branches and leaves. He didn't know how long the rain would last, but he hoped that it would soon end. He never did like storms much, they forced him to take shelter and try to wait it out. It was a good thing that he didn't grow bored easily, because then storms would be a whole bunch worse. He hated becoming restless, but he would if he stayed in a spot for too long. He felt like the longer he stayed still, the higher the chances were he would get caught.

By the time the storm had lightened to a mere drizzle, Mono was hungry. When was the last time he ate? He couldn’t remember. He knew that he needed to go try to find something to eat, even though there was hardly anything here. Luckily he did know of a few things he could find to eat. The options may be very limited in the dying world of his, but he could make things work, he had to.

Mono slowly crawled out from under the bush, stopping at the edge to listen for any noises. The Hunter can sometimes be pretty quiet, and he didn’t want a surprise when he left the bush, not again. The only noises he heard were the wind and soft water drops that slipped their way off the leaves that hung above him. He still waited for a few more seconds in case anybody, such as The Hunter, was out there waiting for him. He didn’t think anybody else would really be out here, especially with the murderous man around. After he believed it was safe he fully got out of the bush, and stretched his back, sighing when it popped a couple times, relieving the dull aches. He then stretched a bit more, trying to soften the stiff feeling in his body and wake himself up more. He may have been awake for a while, but he didn’t get as much sleep as he would have liked.

He then made sure his paper bag was on securely, not wanting his nightmare to become reality, and started walking. He crept behind trees and avoided the numerous traps that The Hunter laid out for him and any other people wandering the woods. Mono hardly saw anybody other than him, except for the piles of rotting bodies that were kept in large hanging nets. It grosses Mono out every time he sees them, but he can't help to wonder where these people were even coming from. From the amount of time he lived here, although not as long as the place he was at before, he had gotten used to it. He knew to be careful of the bear traps that would hide underneath the crunchy brown leaves and the bridges that would lower. He also knew that some things seemed a little specific to his size, as if kids like him were The Hunter’s main target. Maybe that’s why he didn’t see children in the strung up net of bodies.

He shook his head, not wanting to think about it too much, as he didn't want to make himself feel sick right before eating. That would certainly ruin his appetite, and he knew that he definitely needed to eat right now. It was a miracle that Mono even survived this long in the dangerous wilderness that he now called home, even if he hasn't been here for as long as it felt like. He thought about leaving before, but he was always too scared to. What if he just ended up somewhere worse? What if there were more people that wanted him dead? Those were risks he didn't want to take, or maybe he was a coward.

Eventually he did find something to eat, after throwing multiple shoes at bear traps and jumping over tiny bridges that are almost too convenient. He ate his food, and savored every small bite, as he never knew when his last meal would be or how long it might be until he found more food. It was no wonder he was so petite compared to the large number of corpses. He didn’t know where they came from, but they all seemed to have been healthier than he was at the moment, so why did they come here of all places? Why were they so many of them, and why has he never seen anybody alive wandering around? These were just more questions that made this world more mysterious and scary. Somehow, even with living in this world since he could remember and was quite used to it, he was still scared of the unknown. He was scared of what could be out there, and what other monsters were hiding beyond his small perception of the place he lived in.

After eating, Mono got back up and was prepared to find a good spot to hang out that was secluded from The Hunter. Perhaps he should climb a tree, so then he would be out of sight and be able to see everything. Plus he liked feeling tall, as it made him feel more safe. He never understood why either, perhaps it was because he could see a lot more from higher up, but he never did think about it too much.

Mono was just about to go do that when he heard a gunshot. His breath stopped and his blood went cold. He froze for a second, frantically looking for where the gunshot came from, then ran when he couldn't figure out where The Hunter was. He knew it was The Hunter because nobody else lived around here and owned a gun, at least he didn’t know anybody else.

This was bad, he knew it was bad. Where was The Hunter at? No matter how many times he looked around to try and find where the gunshots were coming from, all he saw were trees and bushes. This made him panic and he forced his feet to run faster, and with being barefooted it was quite hard because of the undergrowth, but his feet were used to getting scraped and cut so he knew he would be fine. He was more worried about being caught by The Hunter, he would definitely not be fine if that happened.

It seemed the more he ran the louder the gunshots were, making him start to panic more. As he ran until almost everything around him was a blur, his breaths were getting shorter, and he knew that he couldn't keep this up for long. He hated how useless his small body was, hardly able to keep up with the endless demands the dangerous world threw at him.

When he looked around again to try and spot where The Hunter may be, he tripped and landed face first on the ground. Pain seared through his face and head, but he froze and waited for one of the many gunshots he heard to pierce his small body or accidently dent the ground around him, but none came. He grew confused as he kept hearing shots being fired. Mono knew that The Hunter would hunt things other than himself, such as animals. But he never saw The Hunter do that nearby him, as Mono was either trying to get away from The Hunter before he spotted him or was the prey himself.

Remembering he was still on the ground in plain sight, he quickly got up and hid under a leaf of a small plant. He tried to listen where The Hunter may be, and heard that he was slowly going away from where Mono was hiding, shooting rapidly at something. He knew it was wrong to think of, but he was glad it wasn't him that was being chased by the relentless hunter.

He was about to start going the opposite way, knowing that he shouldn’t stick around for too long, when he heard a scream. Not an animal scream, but a human scream. It was a scream that sounded too high pitched to come from an adult, but different from a woman's scream, it was then that Mono realized that The Hunter was trying to kill another child.

Mono froze right in his spot, until he heard more gunshots, instinctively flinching away from the sound. He then was trying to decide whether or not to actually go and try to save the other child. A part of him thought about what if it wasn't actually a child or if he was just hearing things, and then when he went to help he ended up risking his life for nothing. It seemed likely like that could be what was happening, and for a second he entertained the idea. Though another part of him really wanted to at least go see, and he couldn't tell if it was curiosity or loneliness. He has been alone for a long time, and it could be that he’s been missing having somebody to be around. It was kind of pathetic really, he should be used to it by now. After all, the world hated him, he was bound to be alone for the rest of his life. He shook his head, chasing away the nasty thoughts, and focused on the task on hand. He had decided he would go see if it were another child, and try to go save them if he could.

A few seconds later, without thinking about it too much more, his feet started taking him to the sound of the gunshots. He continued trying to run as fast as he could, and he could sort of tell he was catching up by the sounds of heavy footsteps from none other than The Hunter. He was surprised that he was even able to catch up, with how slow his short legs went compared to the huge monster he was now chasing. It was sort of ironic that the main person he has been trying to avoid this entire time is now the person he is tailing after. There were so many ways that this could backfire, but Mono’s curiosity pushed most of them away.

The repeating ear splitting sounds of the shotgun, made Mono's headache, but he still forced himself to continue forward. He was terrified as to what will happen when he finally does catch up, but he ignored that fear as he began to see the outline of the terrible hunter that brutally murdered tons of people.

Then the footsteps stopped and he heard another yell. Mono immediately stopped in his tracks and dived behind a tree, hoping that The Hunter wouldn't notice him. Even if there was another kid in trouble, he wasn’t going to put them both in more risk by rushing in without a solid plan. He stayed behind the tall bark covered plant until he mustered up the courage to look on the other side of the tree.

He bit down to try and stop the gasp that almost escaped his mouth when he saw The Hunter pick something up from the ground. Mono waited in anticipation to see if the thing that was being hunted was actually a kid or not. The Hunter slowly turned around, allowing Mono to see that The Hunter in fact did have a kid in his hand. The kid had obviously passed out, since they weren’t struggling, and there was a chance that they may actually be dead, but Mono didn't want to think of that. Mono only saw messy, dark brown hair and a blue looking shirt before The Hunter started to walk away with his new prey.

Mono then hid back behind the tree as The Hunter's lantern fashioned flash light shone right on the tree he was hiding behind. He immediately stopped breathing, knowing that The Hunter had incredibly scary hearing. When he heard the tall killer slowly walk away, he still didn't let himself breath until he was sure he was gone, which ended up causing Mono to desperately gasp for air.

Now Mono really knew this was bad, this was so terribly bad. The first kid he had seen in ages was being carried back to who knows where. The worst part is that Mono knows that it's only a matter of time until The Hunter kills them, if they’re not already dead, which Mono still didn’t want to think about too much. He knew not to get his hopes up about the kid still being alive, but he hated to think of the worst when it came to the reality of this situation. He usually always had a bit of a problem when it came to facing problems such as these, but maybe it was because he hasn’t been in too many where another person’s life may depend on him. From what he could remember anyways.

Mono allowed himself to slouch down the tree and try to get him breathing normally again. His body was tired and his head ached from the loud noises and the overly stressful situation. He didn't know if he should even attempt to save the kid, but he knew that he would feel guilty if he didn't, because then if the kid does turn up dead he will feel like he played a part in it by not even attempting to help them. He didn't even know if the kid was alive or not, and yet he was still feeling this way!

All the courage he had felt earlier, withered away as soon as the light shone on his hiding spot. If he wanted to do this "rescue mission", he knew that he would need to be prepared for the worst, which there were a lot of possibilities considering who he was dealing with. He thought about going ahead and trying to help the kid right now and get it over with, but he knew that was a bad idea. He was way too tired to deal with The Hunter head on, or even to try to run away for that matter. He thought about maybe waiting until tomorrow and letting himself rest, but then he would have no idea where The Hunter would have gone. Which would be a huge problem, when he needed to know if he was going to save the person as soon as possible.

Mono was in quite the dilemma, trying hard to think of a solution quickly. Then he thought of a plan that was both practical and safe, well as safe as things could get right now. He would follow The Hunter today, find out where he would be keeping the kid, while staying a good distance away, allowing him to not get caught. Then when he felt good enough, which he hoped would be soon, he would find out a good way to rescue them before they were mercilessly killed. He knew this wasn't the best of plans, but he could fix it as he went, because he was already far behind The Hunter and needed to follow him immediately.

He quickly got up and started to run as quietly as he could in The Hunter's direction, hoping he wasn't too far ahead. He kept running, his legs at this point burning from the effort, when he finally heard the large footsteps he recognized as The Hunter. A pang of fear coursed through him, but he forced it down, not wanting to let himself be tripped up by unnecessary fright, both literally and figuratively.

He slowed down his pace a bit, and focused more on where he was running, trying hard to not make too much sound. It was proving difficult, as his whole body now hurt and his fear was starting to kick in once more. He had to push the instinct to run the opposite direction deeper into his mind, using some of the little willpower he had left that wasn’t being used to make sure he didn’t die. Any little noise he made, caused him to immediately look up and see if The Hunter was coming his way or not. The world around him was dim and gloomy, like it always was. It usually didn't bother him, he was used to it by now, but the dark shadows that laid around him were not helping with the fear that was eating him at the moment. He could tell that it was getting dark, because he has been here long enough to see the difference between shadows and natural nighttime.

After several painful minutes later, Mono heard The Hunter's fast pace slow down, signifying that they were almost there. Then by the opening through the trees, he saw what appeared to be an old, run down house. He already could tell that this was the crazy man's house. Who else would be living here?

Mono stopped at the tree closest to the house, and daringly peeked around it, taking a lot more courage than earlier. He saw The Hunter open up what seemed like the front door and enter with the kid still tightly wrapped in his hand. Mono didn't like this one bit, because he knew that he would have to go into The Hunter's house if he wanted to save the other child. That would definitely put his life in risk, and he would be surprised if he made it out with him and the kid alive. It would be an incredible feat if he even made it out of there alive himself.

Right now though, he needed actual good rest and time to think of a good plan that wouldn't get him killed. He slowly crept away from the tree, in case The Hunter somehow heard him, and went to find a safe place to rest. After walking a reasonable distance away from the house, he found a nice small bush he could hide under without worrying about The Hunter finding him. He would've climbed a tree, but he knew that there was a higher chance of The Hunter finding him in a tree rather than under a tight bush. Trees may bring him an odd form of comfort, but he found that the comfort he wanted right now was the reassurance of him still being alive tomorrow. After all, every day could be his last, especially with everything hating him.

He climbed under the bush, and was surprised to find a small open spot in the middle that he could actually stand up in, instead of him usually having to squeeze his body between the tightly close branches. He then laid down, and tried to get himself to relax so he could get some well needed rest. After all, he was going to go against The Hunter in a near impossible rescue mission that may or may not be his last.

He thought the idea of it would sound crazy to many others, but he knew that he could possibly pull it off if he was careful. This still didn’t mean that he was confident that he was going to make it out okay, because he knew that there was a high chance of it going wrong. There were also many different ways that this could end up poorly. He could get shot and killed, actually, he could just get thrown by the large man and die easily. Mono was scrawny and not very strong, even though he was built a bit more than others around his age and height, from the ones he’s seen anyways. The other kid could end up dead, or they might not even be there in the first place, he didn’t know if The Hunter would go somewhere else while he was sleeping. He could get caught as well and end up in a worse situation than the other child, there was a chance he could get caught right now!

At this point Mono was almost beginning to panic, and he had to forcefully regulate his breathing to try and calm himself down. Worrying over this right now won’t do him any good, and he knew that, but it was so easy to just let all these thoughts tear him down or maybe make him change his mind about helping the captured kid. He couldn’t do that, not without knowing if there was a chance that the other may still be breathing. At least trying would be better than doing nothing but hiding like a coward. To be honest, Mono was tired of being a coward, but he was too afraid of the world to let himself be anything else, even though deep in his brain he knew that he was much more.

Mono, not liking where his thoughts were taking him, forced himself to think about something else. Which ended up being the kid. He wondered what they would look like. He saw a tiny bit, but that wasn’t enough to really visualize them. He did know that the other had dark brown hair, that was longer than his own, which wasn’t too hard considering he didn’t have very long hair. They also had a blue looking shirt on, but he couldn’t remember much more about it as he was trying not to let The Hunter know he was there. Mono also pondered if the kid would be a boy or a girl, he didn’t really care because he was going to try to be friends with them anyways. That didn’t stop him from having a lot of other questions about them. Were they nice? Mean? Loud? Quiet? Funny? Adventurous? Mono almost got a little excited to rescue them, just so he could learn more about them, but he squashed that excitement down because he couldn’t get his hopes up. Not until he knew that there was anybody to get excited about.

Mono breathed deeply, clearing his mind from all his different thoughts, then laid down. He closed his eyes and let the sounds of crickets and small water droplets dropping from trees calm his mind, which felt like it was going at the speed of light from all that had happened that day. The earth below him wasn’t soft, but it had a bit of vegetation, keeping it from being too hard. After a few minutes of having his eyes closed and focusing purely on the sounds of nature, he finally fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Mono knew he was dreaming when he found himself in the same dreadful hallway he would often see when he slumbered. Recently he stopped dreaming this after finding himself in the wilderness, which he found odd but was grateful for anyways, as this dream always freaked him out. He showed up in the wilderness after desperately escaping the last place he was through a television. Since he didn't have much control over his so-called "powers”, it shattered the TV and left him unconscious and vulnerable on the ground. He was curious as to why he was here again, but he had a gut feeling that this place was important, and not in a good way. It was a feeling in his gut that made him feel that this place may end up playing a huge role in his life, but he tried pushing it away as this was just a dream. A dream that sometimes felt a little too real.

After thinking to himself for a bit, he suddenly snapped out of his gaze. Mono wished he didn't, because he immediately heard buzzing and his head started to pound. He then started to walk towards the door he could see at the end of the hallway, hoping that it was a chance to escape this nightmare. The deafening sound and piercing sensation in his head only increased as he walked towards the door, but for some reason he only took it as a sign to keep pushing forward.

Mono was almost there, his hand only a foot away from the handle, and then all of the sudden, the imaginary world around him faded into black. He woke up, his hand automatically going to his paper bag for reassurance. He tried to control his breathing, fearing that The Hunter would be nearby. He held onto his paper bag tight, wanting it to protect him from the dangerous, nasty world he wanted nothing more to escape from.

Mono eventually got his breathing back to normal, and his grip on the bag loosened to the point he let his hands relax back to the ground beside him. He stared at the slightly soft dirt, almost lost in a daze from the soft noises that could be heard. Then his head jerked up, and he suddenly remembered that there was something important today, that for once he had a goal. There was a kid in a house owned by a monster who needed his help! He had no time to sit and do nothing, such as he had been doing for so long.

Crawling from underneath the small shrub, Mono stayed crouched on the ground, listening for any suspicious sounds. When he heard none, he cautiously stood up, quickly stretching his aching limbs. He then began walking quietly back to the shambles of a house, where he believed the person he plans to rescue resides captured.

Mono looked for any movement or sound that would show that The Hunter was still in the house, but everything was quiet and still. Although that should have made him feel better, it only made him more on edge, because now he didn’t know where The Hunter may be. Standing there for a few more minutes, he tried to gather as much courage as he could, albeit there was hardly any left because yesterday took most of it. Then he finally forced himself to walk towards the house, hoping that The Hunter would be gone somewhere, but knowing his luck and status in the world, he probably was in there and waiting for him.

He carefully walked up the porch, making sure to not let the boards squeak too much. Then he went to the window he saw conveniently open, and jumped up the boxes near it to get in. Before he made the jump inside, he looked around again, then he took a deep breath and jumped. Mono landed in what he assumed was the kitchen, and as soon as his feet hit the hard ground, a horrid smell washed over him. He stopped himself from gagging, and continued forward through the unknown.

As he wandered the house a bit, being extremely cautious while doing so, he began to hear a soft melody coming from somewhere in the house. He felt drawn to it, like the source of the melody would bring him where he wanted. Maybe it would, maybe that was the kid playing that melody. He thought about it perhaps being The Hunter, but brushed it off when he tried to imagine The Hunter actually doing anything slightly normal.

Mono sneakily went through the house, drawing closer to the melodic sound. As he walked through the house, he tried his best to not let his instincts take control and run out every time he saw something that creeped him out. The house wasn’t in the best shape, but it didn’t come as a surprise since he doubted that The Hunter even bothered to take care of it. He walked down some stairs, hearing the music get louder. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a boarded up room, the sound coming from it. There was no possibility that this could be The Hunter now, so he continued.

Walking silently over to the room, Mono peered inside using a small hole in one of the pieces of wood. A small gasp escaped his lips when he saw the kid, sitting there alive, and indeed being the one playing the music. He got excited to know that there was a chance to actually help the kid and get out alive. Knowing he was nowhere near strong enough to pull the boards off, he scampered off to find something to help.

He walked into the other room, which was wide open. Luckily, after some digging around and trying things, he found an axe that was conveniently big enough for him to carry, or well, drag with him. He was too weak to carry the axe, but he hoped he wasn’t too weak to use it.

Mono slowly dragged the axe with him to the room with the kid, and checked for any noises other than the music and the kid, who had gone silent themselves. When he heard none, he lifted up the axe and struck the wood separating him from the kid. He continued to strike the wood, trying to quickly take it down before The Hunter came, not worrying too much about the sound he was making. Every time he hit the wood, he could feel it break a bit and his muscles, which were slow with exhaustion beforehand, were now stronger with adrenaline.

The barricade eventually came down, allowing Mono to enter the dust filled room. The kid had run under the table further in the room, and Mono could tell that they were scared of him, but he couldn’t really blame them, he would be scared too. He then slowly walked forward and started to crouch, trying to tell the other that he wasn't a threat. When he felt like he got close enough, he held out his hand, offering for the kid to grab it. Mono hoped that the kid would, so then he might be able to get the other to trust him a bit.

The kid looked at Mono cautiously, not knowing if he could trust the stranger or not. He didn't know them, and he certainly didn't know if they were working with the other masked man or not. Though as he continued to stare at the other, he felt like maybe he could trust them somewhat. He didn’t know exactly why, but he felt like the other wasn’t going to hurt him, maybe it was because they were offering their hand or because he was pretty desperate at this point with his whole body in pain.

Whatever it was, it caused him to slowly crawl out from under the table, and very hesitantly reach for the paper bag kid's hand. Right as he was about to grab their hand, a gunshot was heard nearby. The kid freaked out, and instead of getting Mono's hand he stood up and ran past Mono, accidently hitting his shoulder as he passed.

Mono stood there shocked, but soon ran after the kid, fearing that The Hunter would hurt them again. They almost grabbed his hand, and The Hunter had to ruin everything again. He ran through the house, fear making him careless, as he thought about The Hunter being near. He didn't want to die and be just another carcass in a pile of bodies, to be forgotten by the world as he decayed.

He continued to run after the kid, noticing that they were running towards the direction of the kitchen, where he had entered the house at. He tried to reach for them, and calm them down before they alert The Hunter that they were there, to tell them that he was there to help.

It was too late.

The Hunter busted through the kitchen door, knocking the kid over into the floor, stunning them. The Hunter looked shocked at first, as he stood there frozen. It only lasted a split second, and he aimed his gun at the kid, ready to shoot them without hesitation.

Mono snapped out of his shocked state, and started to panic, and this time he didn’t have enough time to calm himself down so he could think clearly. He didn't know what to do, so he did the first thing that came to mind. He lunged forward, and quickly pulled the kid up from the ground. Surprising The Hunter again at there being two children trying to escape his house, one in particular being the child he’s been trying to hunt for the last couple of weeks.

As soon as the kid was on their feet, Mono tightly grabbed their hand and began to drag them away from The Hunter. He didn't know where they would go, as he didn't know the layout of the house very well. Though he continued to run, not daring to look back as he knew that The Hunter was chasing them from the pounding of his feet.

The kid soon recovered from his shock, and he began to run faster. He might not know the other well, but he didn't care at the moment, his fear instinct taking over. He ran with the paper bag kid, while frantically scanning everything for a way to escape.

Neither paid any mind to the taxidermied people posed around the diner table, as they sprinted through the room. The Hunter didn't care as he knocked over multiple things, angrily trying to get the two kids that were running from him, not wanting them to escape when they were right in his own home.

Mono could feel panic rising in him, as he struggled to find some sort of exit. He felt like if they got caught, it would be his fault, but it also didn't matter since he was trying to survive at the moment. He continued to run, going into a room where there was a pulley. He mentally cursed as they didn't have time to jump up and pull it down to try to go up to wherever it may lead. He also had no clue if there would be a way to escape once they got up there, or if they would be trapped.

The kid noticed the other's hesitation, and started to move them both forward himself. He didn't want to be caught again and forced back into a room where he would most likely die. He saw the pulley, and let go of the other's hand to cup them to show that he was willing to give the other a boost up.

Mono noticed what the other was doing, and didn't think twice before putting his foot on their hand, allowing them to boost them up. He grabbed onto the pulley, but he couldn't pull it down all the way, he needed the other kid’s weight as well. He then heard a scream and saw that The Hunter had grabbed the other kid before they could help Mono.

Mono immediately let go of the pulley, and spun around to see that The Hunter was reaching out for Mono. He dodged to the side, barely escaping the man's grasp. He had to fight the instinct to make a run for it and just leave the kid here, as he continued to dodge the murderous hunter's hand, barely escaping some of the attempts to catch him.

Mono ran around The Hunter, wanting him to trip or get dizzy. Just anything that would give Mono a chance to grab the kid and escape through the way he came in, as that was the only other way he knew to get out of this hellhole. The Hunter was getting tired and frustrated to the point that he tried to shoot Mono instead, damaging his house. Luckily it missed Mono, mostly because The Hunter was trying to shoot with one arm, but it still made Mono stumble a bit. This gave The Hunter the perfect opportunity to drop his gun once more and grab Mono.

Mono could feel him being picked up, and struggled to get out of the strong grip that could easily crush his bones. He shouted and kicked, trying anything to escape, anything to get out of this nightmare. The Hunter was furious by Mono's attempt to escape with his new toy, that he didn't think twice to slam Mono on the ground to knock him out, not caring if the force of the impact would kill him or not.

Mono didn't know what was happening at first, but he felt his body hit the ground at sickening speeds. He felt an immense pain shoot his entire body, before his whole world turned black and he could no longer feel anything. The other kid screamed out of fear, thinking that The Hunter killed them and was about to do the same to him.

This loud noise angered The Hunter, and he was mad from the escape attempt and so he impulsively slammed the kid to the ground as well. He didn't care if he killed them both or not, as he looked at the two unconscious kids satisfied with himself. He’d know exactly what to do with the two brats.

Mono could feel himself slowly start to come awake, but he felt different then how he usually did when he woke up. For one his whole body felt sore, and he knew he had a bad headache, which wasn’t unusual but he didn’t exactly remember what he did to get one. The ground underneath him also didn't feel as soft as it almost always did, and he wondered if he accidentally fell asleep on some old wood or hard dirt. He tried not to sleep somewhere really uncomfortable, but there was a possibility that he passed out or something. Another strange thing was that he didn't hear any noises, such as birds or insects that for some weird reason call this wasteland their home. He knew that there had to be some better places to live rather than here, but then again, he also has been living here for a while. It was still odd though, did they suddenly decide to leave, or was he still sleeping, but that didn’t make sense either. That meant that something entirely different was happening.

This realization made him snap his eyes open, only to see that he wasn't outside at all. Mono tried to get up, his mind already starting to succumb to panic. In all his confusion and panic, he didn't realize that another boy was beginning to wake up from their slumber as well. He was still trying to sit up, every fiber of his body protesting the sudden movement. When he finally did he felt like slumping back down from the amount of pain he was immediately swamped with, but he forced himself to stay up and try to ignore how his body ached. He was used to these kinds of situations, he knew that laying on the open ground obviously vulnerable did not usually end up good.

Seven didn't panic, as he already knew where he was, he was trapped once again. He wasn’t able to escape, much as he hoped he would have. He sighed and laid back down, not feeling like getting up with his head pounding like it was. That was until he heard some slight movement on the other side of the room, and he could feel himself beginning to freak out thinking it was The Hunter there to kill him right there and then. His eyes fully opened and he hesitantly looked up, afraid to see the masked man again, and possibly alert him that he was awake. If The Hunter truly was there, he was going to try to pretend to be asleep for a little longer, so he could come up with a reasonable way to sneak out of the room, if there were a way that was.

Instead both kids locked eyes, well sort of, both of their eyes were hidden by either hair or an object. They both froze in surprise, as they both thought the other had died when they were caught by The Hunter. To know that the other was indeed still alive was a little confusing, because it would make more sense for The Hunter to kill one of them and then come back for the other. Plus, Seven had literally seen the other kid get slammed down with such force that he thought his back had broken, but here they were standing and staring at him.

They continued to stare at each other, until Mono broke the silence with a small "hey", somehow still having some leftover courage to actually try and talk. The other kid flinched at the noise, since he wasn't used to people speaking and never heard the other speak. Mono noticed the small movement, and frowned a bit, wondering if he was really that scary. After a few more seconds though, the kid whispered a greeting back, stunning Mono. Seven was locked up with the paper bag kid, he might as well get used to them, especially if they were going to escape together.

Mono calmed down a bit, glad that he wasn't alone in this mess, but he also hated that they were in this mess to begin with. Wait, how did this happen in the first place? With that thought, a wave of memories flooded back to him from the day before, about his failed rescue attempt, and he felt awful for what happened. He had recklessly put him and the other kid in danger, and he wasn't even able to save them! Who knows how long they have until they were killed now, with how The Hunter is he didn’t think they had too much longer. To be honest, it was a miracle that they even woke up to see another day. Mono looked back at the kid to see that he had leaned back against the wall, no longer staring at Mono with eyes he could not see. Now that Mono had a better look at the kid, he could tell they were a boy. He also saw a metal cuff with a bit of a chain still on it around his foot, which made Mono curious as to where he got it from. The excitement to get to know the boy better he had felt the other day returned, but not as strong since he felt guilty about not being able to get to know them like he wanted to.

"Psst" Mono was trying to get the kid's attention, and the other flinched a little again but looked over. "My name is Mono." He introduced himself, hoping that he could get the kid to talk at least a few words more. It’s been a long time since Mono had a proper conversation with somebody, and he’s been missing hearing other voices from people that weren't trying to kill him. "What's your name?"

The kid looked at Mono hesitantly, not knowing if he should trust Mono so easily. He knew that Mono tried to save him, but that doesn't mean that he wouldn't try to hurt him, he learned that lesson awhile back. Eventually, after just staring at them for a minute, he decided that telling his name wouldn't hurt, and put up his hands. He didn’t exactly feel like talking right now, not with his voice sounding like he had swallowed a cheese grater. A part of him wondered if the other would understand them, or if they were even able to count, but he was sure they could from how they talked.

Mono was confused at first, not understanding why the other put up his hands, but then he understood as he counted the fingers he had up. "Well Seven, this isn't exactly the way I wanted us to really meet." Mono lightly jokes, wanting to lift Seven's mood even by a little bit, as he really was wanting to be friends with him. It seemed to work as Seven smiled a little, then he sighed and slumped against the wall he was laying against. Mono didn’t need to guess to know that The Hunter definitely wasn’t gentle on Seven after he was knocked out. A new wave of contrite filled his brain as he thought back to yesterday. They would have both been alright if he had been more careful and observant.

Everything was quiet for a few minutes, Mono wallowing in guilt and Seven fighting sleep that was threatening to take him again. Then Mono spoke again, his words surprising Seven. "Sorry..." Mono said it so quietly that he wasn't sure if Seven heard him or not, but Seven obviously had as he turned to Mono confused. Mono looked at Seven for a split second before returning his gaze back to the floor, not having enough courage to look at him directly at the moment.

"For what?" Seven said, wincing when he heard how hoarse his voice sounded, he hadn't really spoken in a while. He really was confused, because he didn’t believe that Mono had done anything wrong so far. To be honest he had done nothing but try to help.

"I wanted to get you out of here, but I just ended up making everything worse." Mono explained, looking at the ground again in guilt. He thought for sure that Seven would be at least a little bit frustrated that Mono failed so miserably, or maybe even start yelling at him or tell him that he hated him. The whole world hated him, so it wouldn’t come as a shock if Seven ended up not liking him too. What he didn’t expect was Seven’s next words.

"At least you tried to help, I certainly wouldn't have the courage to do that." Seven said quietly, a little shy to admit something personal, which he almost has never done. He learned the hard way that showing too much weakness or telling people your secrets would get you hurt sometimes. "Plus I should be the one to apologize. I freaked out and alerted The Hunter that you were here." Saying it out loud made Seven feel bad a little bit, because he may have ruined his only chance to escape there with his life and then also put another person’s life in danger. At the same time though, he was terrified since he had just been kidnapped and a random person had torn through the door with an axe.

Mono was at a loss for words. He hasn't talked to somebody in a long time, and to be honest, he's hardly talked to anybody at all. Seven being kind to him was another surprise, because people were hardly nice, specifically to him. However, Mono soon got himself together and laughed a bit, trying to cover up his obvious surprise. "I didn't mean to scare you when we first met." Mono was being honest, he didn’t try to scare them, but when he looked back at it, anybody would be scared of somebody breaking down a wall with an axe while you were just captured by a deadly insane man. Now that he thinks about it a bit more, it was kind of stupid of him to not warn the other first before he started tearing down the wall. Maybe then Seven wouldn’t have been so spooked and ran as soon as The Hunter’s gun went off.

Instead of giving Mono a verbal answer, Seven just nodded, he wasn't used to talking so much to begin with. He let out a breath, and laid back on the ground, his head was pounding and his body was yearning for some more time to heal. All he wanted to do was rest forever, or at least until he wasn't in so much pain. He really wished he didn't yell when Mono passed out, maybe then The Hunter wouldn't have slammed him so hard on the ground. Though he was terrified that he had killed Mono and was about to do the same to him, his fear overtook his logical side and made him act irrationally. Not wanting to think about it too much, because it seemed that even thoughts were painful for his head at this point, he laid back and closed his heavy eyes.

Mono was feeling about the same, and he copied Seven, laying down himself. He would find a way out of here for him and Seven. Then they would get out of the wilderness and go as far away from The Hunter as possible, not ever having to worry about him again. He just hoped that The Hunter wasn't planning to kill them anytime soon, he's going to need time to recover and plan.

Mono was going to make a better plan than the one that got them stuck in this room. He would make sure that he was thinking clearer this time, and that Seven was on board with it. It was also useful that Seven was here to help him out this time, because he knew that he probably wouldn’t be able to do this himself. He didn’t know much about Seven, but he could tell that he had been through a lot, and maybe one of his experiences would be helpful for getting them out of here alive. Mono had done a lot in the years he lived, but nothing he learned over the years would be too useful for what they were going to have to do.

From all the thinking Mono was doing, he barely noticed that he had fallen asleep. His mind continued to think about their escape for a little, but it was soon replaced with blank dreams that he wouldn’t remember the next day. Those dreams were always better than the nightmares he frequently had, so his body allowed itself to go into semi-deep slumber instead of the light sleep he usually had.

Chapter Text

Mono woke up first this time, not really remembering falling asleep, from having been distracted by his thoughts the night before. He doesn't know how long he's been asleep for, but he did feel a lot better than he did earlier, which came as a relief. His body still ached a bunch, but at least he didn't have a horrendous headache like he did the first time he woke up. He knew that he was rested enough to finally get up and fully check out the room he and Seven were potentially stuck in for who knows how long. He was wishing that it wouldn’t be too long, because he knows for sure that he wouldn’t be able to survive long in here without food or water, and The Hunter definitely wasn’t going to offer them some. Even if he did he wouldn’t take it unless he was extremely desperate, as everything would be most likely poisoned.

Then Mono thought about Seven. Seven, from what he seen already, was very petite. Which wasn’t good for their situation, where they may not get anything of their body needs for a while. His shirt draped over him and his sleeves went a little past his hands. Mono could tell that Seven had not eaten a lot from wherever he came from, not that Mono ever had much to eat, but it seemed that Seven had it much worse. Perhaps that’s why he came here? Or maybe he ended up here on accident like Mono had. He would ask Seven later, when he felt like he had the other’s trust enough to get an honest answer.

When Mono finished his little inner monologue, he got up quietly, not wanting to wake up the still resting Seven. Mono glanced at Seven, wondering how he was comfortable all balled up next to the wall like that, but remembered that everyone slept differently. Mono stood all the way up, thankfully without causing Seven to show any signs of wakefulness. He didn’t want to rudely cause Seven to wake up when he needed the rest more than the both of them. Not only was he roughly captured once, but twice, all in the matter of two days. It made a surge of guilt rise back up inside Mono, but instead of allowing it to take over his consciousness, he pushed it back down. He didn’t have time to wallow in guilt.

The last time Mono was in here, he didn’t really get to have a good look around, so this time he finally gave the room a good look over. There were several cage looking things stacked in a corner, right next to a table that had a box on top of it. He wondered if there was anything in it that could help them, but he would worry about that in a little bit, since he was distracted by the window above it. The small amount of light filtering through the window lighting up the otherwise dim room. There wasn’t much else in the room, and he could tell that it hadn't been used for a while before he and Seven were captured.

Without much more dazing around the room, Mono made his way to the table with the small window above it. That window was the only thing allowing light to enter the room, especially since the old doorway was now boarded up tightly with new wood, much to Mono’s disappointment. The light softly filling the room gave Mono a little hope that he and Seven would make it out alive, and instead of snuffing it out like last time, he let it make him feel somewhat better.

The dust floating around signified that the room has not been clean in a very long time. That showed that this was most likely an extra room or an unused room that The Hunter had, which he already came to the conclusion earlier when he saw how empty it was. Though a part of Mono also wondered if this room was specifically for people The Hunter captured and trapped. It was unlikely. There were really no details in the room that would show that, but it was still a possibility and Mono didn’t like the idea at all.

Mono tentatively lifted himself onto the table, which proved itself to be a struggle with how injured his body still was. He made it up there, trying to ignore the pain it brought him, and saw what he believed was a chest of some sort that he thought was just a regular box earlier. He tried to open it, pulling on it with all the leftover strength he still had, but it was sadly locked tightly. It may have even been empty with how light the box felt, but he would never know for sure until he found a way to unlock it. He really wished he had his key thing on him now, even though it most likely wouldn’t have fit, it may prove useful some other way.

He looked to the side, fully noticing the stacked up cages, the sight of what The Hunter may use them for made him shudder. Then Mono looked up again at the window. He knew he couldn't reach it from here, but maybe he and Seven could use the cages and the chest to get up there and escape. It made Mono feel wistful, but he also knew that it would be hard to get the window open, if it even opened at all. Which would be a problem if it didn’t, because then they would have to most likely break it, if they could even manage that.

Quietly sighing, Mono hopped back down from the table, landing as soft as he could on the ground. The room was mostly barren, with only a few things strewn about, most not likely to help them with their goal. There was a rug like thing in the middle, which might be more ideal to lay on than the cold, hard floor. Strangely enough there was a music box like thing in one of the corners which seemed odd compared to the rest of the room. Why would The Hunter have that in here?

While Mono was looking around, Seven was beginning to wake up. He allowed himself to slowly get up, as his body was still in a good amount of pain from everything that had happened the last few days. His eyes wandered to the strange boy that was checking out the room. Seven's eyes followed the other's movements, and not wanting to startle him, he didn't say a word or make any noises.

It was only until Mono looked at Seven did he notice that he was awake and staring at him. This made Mono's face heat up a bit, as he didn't know how long Seven had been up and watching him, and if he woke up the boy or not. Even with Mono's embarrassment, he still lifted up his hand and gave a small wave with a tiny hey to go along with it. Mono could sort of tell that Seven wasn’t much of a talker, but he was fine with that, as he wasn't used to talking much either.

Seven offered a small smile and waved back. Seven also felt a little embarrassed for having been caught staring, but he quickly recovered before his face could heat up. Then he slowly got up, his body protesting every move, and started to look around himself. He was in here before, but it hadn't been for very long as Mono had come and tried to get him out. When he first woke up here, he did have a quick look around, trying to find a way to escape. Though his body was extremely tired and didn't have the energy to do anything, making it practically useless to waste the little energy he had at the time.

His body was still barely able to move around much without aching, and he had to stop himself from wincing when he stretched his back. Way too much had happened in the last week that it was starting to take a toll on him. What Seven wanted for now was rest, he could escape later, when he knew that he would actually be capable of running for a long period of time. It seems that was the only thing Seven has been doing lately was running away. It was no wonder why some of the other kids he used to know called him the "Runaway Kid". Now he has run away to a place that may have been too much for his small body to handle.

As Seven was studying the window, thinking about how they may possibly escape using it, he heard a soft call from another part of the room. He turned to see Mono in a very dusty corner crouched down looking at something. Being confused, Seven was about to ask what Mono was doing, but he decided that he could just go see instead, remembering how hoarse his voice was.

Walking over to Mono, Seven saw that it seemed like Mono was dusting off the item with his hand, but it didn’t seem too dusty in the first place as not much dust flew off. When Seven made it over there, he looked over Mono's shoulder and saw what he was looking at. To his surprise it was the old looking, wind up music box. He had found it when he first came here and was playing it right before Mono came. He only played it because it brought him comfort in the unsettling silence that was there when he was by himself. He had almost forgotten all about it, from how much had happened in such little time.

"Is this what you were playing when I came to help you?" Mono asked and Seven slightly flinched. Mono didn't exactly know why Seven sometimes flinched when he spoke, maybe it was because he wasn't used to people speaking actual sentences, but somewhere in Mono's mind he thought that maybe it was because he was scared of Mono. He didn’t like that, and he knew he was going to continue thinking that until he knew that he had gained Seven’s trust, which would take some time.

"Yeah." Mono was brought back to reality when he heard Seven's small voice. Mono usually spoke quietly, but to be able to hear Seven you would have to be listening intensely to him. Not like Mono minded or anything, he was glad to listen to somebody for once.

"Can I try it?" Seven was shocked to hear Mono ask to play the music box, because he didn't own it or anything. Though Mono was looking at him, waiting for a response. Seven looked back, and saw a small glimmer where the sun was shining on his eyes. Although he could hardly see them, he could tell that Mono's eye color was very dark, and if he didn’t know any better he would think they were completely black.

Seven realized that he still hadn't given Mono an answer and started to get embarrassed from the staring. "Of- of course." He stuttered and shut his mouth quickly when he heard his voice sound louder than it normally did, like he couldn’t control it. His face continued to get red as his embarrassment grew, and he automatically looked away to try to hide it.

Mono noticed this and tried to offer a small smile to comfort the bashful boy, but then he realized that the other wouldn't be able to see it. He frowned a bit, but didn't dwell on it long before he turned around and put his hand on the wind up carefully. Cautiously winding it, he waited for something to happen. Though as the seconds went by, and nothing happened, he started to get a little anxious.

After a few more seconds of quiet tension and the soft grinding of gears, a melody began to play. It was the same hypnotic melody that played when Mono was searching for Seven. The one that drew him in and forced him to almost unconsciously follow it. His thoughts sort of stopped as he listened to it, and it seemed to bring some level of comfort as well, which was weird considering their situation.

The melody continued to play and Seven eventually sat next to Mono, watching as Mono continued to wind the music box slowly. They were both just sitting there, listening to the music that they were hardly ever able to hear with their world in shambles like it was. After a while, Seven had fallen asleep with his head falling against Mono's shoulder. Mono stiffened a bit, but relaxed as he continued to listen to the soft song, sort of forgetting that his head was even there. Though it didn't take him long to fall asleep as well, for once falling into a deep, calm sleep.

This time Seven was the first to wake up rather than Mono, even with his injuries. At first he was confused why he felt sort of warmer than usual, then he remembered he fell asleep next to Mono while they were listening to the music box. He fully opened his tired eyes and looked at the other boy. They were both on the ground, and Seven had curled up, in his normal ball like style, next to Mono. Mono was practically laying like a starfish, his arms laying above his head, and one of his legs were completely stretched out while the other was slightly up. It made Seven smile a tiny bit at how ridiculous Mono looked sleeping at the moment, and wondered how the boy could even sleep like that.

What also caught his attention was the fact that Mono's paper bag was lifted just a tiny bit, revealing his mouth. Seven saw that the boy was drooling a bit, and laughed a little to himself. He scooted away from Mono in order to get up without waking the other up, feeling that it would be rude when Mono had tried not to wake him up before. He felt a lot better this time, so he knew that it was about time to come up with an escape plan. He needed to figure one out soon because he was already very hungry. He didn't exactly eat before he got here and he had been using a lot of energy lately, making the pains in his stomach much more noticeable then they were earlier.

Standing up, Seven looked back at Mono who was still snoozing away. He was somewhat tempted to look under his odd paper bag that he wore on top of his head, but he knew that would upset the other boy. They don't need to be fighting, especially when they were supposed to be working together to get out of here. Seven kind of hoped that they would become friends, if they weren't already, because it could be kind of lonely in this depressing world. He thought he would be fine on his own, but he soon realized that there was a lot he couldn’t do by himself, which also made him feel useless sometimes.

Seven noticed that once again he was staring at the poor boy, and quickly looked away in case he had woken up, not wanting to weird Mono out. Seven had a bad habit of spacing out when he was thinking, and it could lead to him getting embarrassed if he wasn’t careful. That and the mysterious boy interested him, which was normal from how different he was. He had never met somebody like Mono before, and he has met several different kids and creepily distorted adults.

Where did he come from? How did he know where Seven was? How did he know the man with the gun? Was he to be trusted?

There were a lot of questions that Seven had yet to ask. He doesn't know if he would have the courage to ask, as he didn't speak much to begin with and he was pretty bashful. Though it was important to know some things about the person you were potentially escaping with, so that they could work together better and get along easier. Afterall, it was unlikely that Seven would be able to escape without somebody helping him. He was pretty weak, with all the energy he spent without any food or water, recovering and running a lot within a few days. It was a wonder how he was still holding up, but he knew he was pretty tough in these situations, and there were times where he went on longer without food or water. Perhaps one day things will be different.

Going away from the dusty corner with the still sleeping child and old music box, Seven ended up going back to the table that he had hid under when Mono broke in, petrified by the sight of an axe tearing down the wall that separated him from The Hunter. He still regrets freaking out like he did and causing The Hunter to be able to capture them both, but he also knew that he couldn't help it, since he was scared of Mono at the time. He didn't know Mono, nor did he think that anybody was going to try to help him because he was sure he was the only child here. That's why he ran away when he heard the gunshot, he thought that it had been a trap. Now he knew that he had screwed up perhaps his only chance at escaping, and well, surviving.

Seven closed his eyes when he felt them start to sting, knowing what that sensation meant. He didn't want to cry right now, not anytime soon really. He hasn't cried in a long time. It was just a waste of what little water he had in his body, and he couldn’t afford that at the moment. If he cried right now, it would probably cause him to die quicker, which he didn’t want. Although he wasn’t the most helpful, he knew that Mono could use some help, especially when he had played a role in getting him into this mess. The tears in his eyes slowly faded away, as he forced himself to think of other things. Like a few ways that they could use to escape, even if he knew none of them were likely to work, at least it was something to make his mind focus on something less depressing.

After calming himself down, Seven tried to haul himself onto the large table. It was extremely hard due to the fact he was pretty short and didn't have much arm strength, considering he was practically a toothpick. He did get up there after several embarrassing attempts, and had a look around the table he was now sitting on. There was a box thing with a lock on it that he assumed was a chest of some sort. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge with the lock that was securely keeping it together. The chest felt surprisingly light, and Seven didn't hear anything when he shook it. He thought that it might just be empty, but that wouldn't explain why there was a lock on it and why it was left in this room. Though it was the same crazy man that killed a whole bunch of people and treated them like mannequins he was thinking about, so who knows what's in the chest. To be honest, Seven didn’t really want to find out as it was probably something disgusting and useless anyways. That didn’t mean that they shouldn’t open it, because if it did end up being something they could escape with, then they could get out of this house a lot faster.

He gave another quick look around the table to see that nothing else was really on it, and it was quite dusty, which he didn't like. Seven hated dust as it had the contingency to make him sneeze a lot, and Mono was still sleeping so he didn’t want to take a chance and wake him. He didn’t know if Mono could be grumpy from being woken up in such a startling way, but he wasn’t about to find out.

Seven looked to the cages on his right. There was nothing in them, but some of them looked damaged as if they had been used several times. There was no doubt that The Hunter used them before, and Seven was honestly glad that he wasn't in one of them. He would probably freak out in such a small container, from where he was from it usually meant that you were going to die. Old memories threatened to make their way into his mind, and he forced himself to think of something else. He couldn’t dwell on the past.

Then Seven looked at the window that offered them light from the outside world. He was curious as to what was happening out there, but he wasn't near tall enough to reach up and look out to do that. He wished he was taller sometimes, so that things wouldn't be so hard all the time. Though there are some advantages to being tiny as well, like being able to hide easier. Sometimes he wished he didn’t have to hide, and maybe he wouldn’t one day if he found somewhere safe, he just had to keep going.

Right when Seven was about to get off of the table, he saw that Mono was awake and looking right at him, his dark eyes hidden by the paper bag. Seven froze for a second, surprised because he didn't even hear Mono move at all, but he was lost in his thoughts. Then after a few more seconds of staring at Mono, Seven waved a little, starting to become uncomfortable. Mono seemed to snap out of whatever gaze he was in, and hurriedly waved back. Seven even might have thought he would have a small smile on his face, but he wasn’t able to tell.

Mono was a little embarrassed to have been staring that long without noticing. Truth was, he got lost in his whirlwind of thoughts going on in his mind, that he didn't even notice that Seven had been staring right back at him. He was thankful that he had the paper bag on his face to hide his embarrassment. It was one of the perks of hiding your face, that and keeping yourself safe from a hateful world.

Not wanting to awkwardly stand there anymore, Mono walked over to Seven slowly, still feeling the aftermath of being slammed into the ground by a huge man. "Do you think we can get to that window?" Mono asked, wanting Seven's opinion first before he said anything else, because he really didn’t want to make a fool of himself so soon. He still needed to get Seven’s trust, meaning that he had to be kind and useful, but he still would have been like that even without trying hard to gain Seven’s friendship. It was just who he was naturally, except for when he got frustrated or angry.

Seven looked at Mono then at the window then to Mono again. "Maybe, but we're both too short to try to reach it by hoisting one another up." Seven replied after thinking for a few seconds, that being the truth. He could tell that Mono had a plan by the way he was acting, and he wanted to hear it. Mono did seem like a good planmaker, so maybe he could come up with something to get them up there. Even if it wasn’t a decent plan, Seven was still going to listen and at least think about it. It would be unfair otherwise.

"I know, but perhaps we could stack some things and get our way up there." Mono explained, looking towards the cages. Seven followed Mono's head movement to the stacked up cages and thought about it. He didn't know how heavy they would be, or how hard it would be to get them onto the table and stack them up. They might be able to make some makeshift staircase, but that would also be difficult. Though it was a possible way to get out of here, and Seven was going to take it. He knew they could do it if they tried hard enough. Plus Mono seemed somewhat stronger than Seven, which would definitely come in handy.

"It could be difficult, but it's worth a try." Seven told Mono, after around a minute of silence. Mono was glad that Seven was willing to try his idea, because he believed that it could very well work. He had been thinking of ways to get to the window, and this one seemed the most logical at the moment. If this didn’t work, they could always come up with something different, at least until The Hunter catches on or one of them dies some other way. That thought almost made Mono feel sick, but before it could really take effect, he stopped thinking about it. He needed to put his focus on the task at hand. Helping Seven get out of here alive and leave as far away from the Wilderness and The Hunter as they could. Then they could try and find some place safe. First they just needed to try something, and this seemed to be a good place to start.

Chapter Text

After they were done talking and Mono had already jumped down, Seven went to the edge of the table, and was about to hop down as well when Mono held out his arms. He was caught off guard with the gesture, since he wasn’t entirely used to people openly helping him, plus he was sure he could get down perfectly fine on his own, as he was able to get on the table by himself in the first place. Either way he still let Mono slightly catch him, Mono’s arms going under his arms and wrapping around his back a little. He showed his gratitude for the kindness with an almost silent thanks, sort of embarrassed that he even let Mono catch him. If Mono saw his embarrassment, he showed no sign when he nodded his head anyways, and let go of the other boy.

Seven wasn’t very used to people helping him. From where he lived at for awhile, everybody usually either tried to protect themselves or join very small, tight groups that hardly ever allowed outsiders such as Seven to join. Sure there were some people who were kind and would help others every now and again, but they were rare and most of the time ended up dead. Everybody was for themselves, but now he was working with Mono to survive, and he preferred it quite more than being alone. Seven wondered if Mono was still planning to stay with him when they escaped, because if so, he didn't think he would argue.

Mono turned his head and looked at the cages that were messily stacked on top of one another. It shouldn’t be too hard to get them down, they would just have to be careful about it. A moment later, Mono turned his head back to Seven. “Do you think we can get them down without hurting ourselves?”

Seven awoke from his daydreaming and looked at Mono and then at the cages. He studied them for a minute, then looked back at Mono. “We can only reach the bottom, and that would cause the others to fall, so it could end up falling on us and hurting us.” He said thoughtfully and noticed how Mono’s shoulder shifted a bit and how his head slightly turned towards the cages. Seven might not be able to tell what expression Mono has, but that doesn’t mean he can’t tell what the other is feeling by their body language. Mono was rethinking the idea, or maybe he was trying to come up with a way to fix it’s problem. Whatever it was, Seven continued before he could speak a word. “Though I think we’ll be fine if we’re careful.” He spoke lower this time, trying to make Mono feel better about his plan. He knew that they could do this if they dodged any cages that may fall in their direction.

When the words came out of Seven’s mouth, Mono was a little surprised, but was excited nonetheless. He was ready to get something done so they could be out of here sooner, even if it ended up not working. Anything was worth a try, since they didn’t have many options to begin with. Mono tried to give Seven an appreciative smile, but then again remembered that Seven wouldn’t be able to see it and faltered.

They then went over to the cages stacked up and looked at one another. Mono gestured to the bottom cage and grabbed one of the bars with both of his tiny hands, ready to pull whenever Seven got ready. Seven also leaned forwards and grabbed a cold, rusty, metal bar. He glanced back at Mono and saw him nod, they then started tugging on the bottom one, being the only one they could fully reach. They strained a little from the weight of the cages, both pulling as hard as they could. The cage was soon pulled out, after a lot of shifting and tugging, causing both boys to fall backwards and the other cages to fall down. One cage was hurdling right towards Seven, but Mono quickly pulled Seven closer to himself. The cage came crashing down right next to them, luckily harming neither of them. Seven breathed out a short thank you and slowly got up, still dazed from the spook.

Mono looked at him concerned, and was about to ask if he was okay as he stood up, but Seven faced Mono and gave him a smile before he could do anything. Despite the situation, Mono brightened up to the point he smiled as well. Mono, instead of checking up on Seven, just gave him a short pat on the shoulder to try to give him comfort. Seven tensed up but his grin grew bigger nonetheless, since they were possibly one step closer to getting out of here.

Mono then turned to the now knocked over cages, prepared to start figuring out how to stack the boxes on top of the table, when he heard stomping from upstairs. He had forgotten about The Hunter. He started to panic, not knowing if The Hunter was coming to hurt them or not for making such a disturbance. Without thinking too much more, his mind in a state of fear, he grabbed Seven’s hand and pulled them both under the table. Mono instinctively put Seven behind him and crouched in front of the small boy, his arms outstretched a little to try and protect Seven. He always had done this when friends of his were in danger, it seemed that it was a natural reaction for him.

As the loud steps continued to draw closer to the room they were in, Seven grabbed Mono’s stiff arm and peaked out from behind him, afraid of what The Hunter was going to do. Mono looked at Seven for only a second, trying his hardest to look reassuring with his paper bag on, before turning his attention back to the boarded up door. The loud footsteps were getting louder every second, signifying that The Hunter was soon to arrive. Then the footsteps stopped, and Mono could swear that his heart did too, then they heard a loud crack, and Mono closed his eyes in fear. He should’ve thought this through more, now he might have just got both of them killed. He should’ve known that the cages would cause so much noise that The Hunter would be furious and kill them both there and then, but he didn’t think, like how he didn’t think before riskingly attempting to save Seven without knowing how to.

After another loud crack, Mono daringly looked back up, wanting to face whatever was about to happen. He saw that The Hunter had made a hole in the wood that was keeping them locked in here and The Hunter out. Mono could see The Hunter’s mask thing go past it, showing the hole that allowed the man to see. Mono’s breath stopped when he saw The Hunter peer into the room, and the slight movement of what appeared to be his eye looking around. The odd eye stopped searching when it landed on Mono and Seven, and it stayed there for a few minutes. It seemed like a year before there was a soft grunt and he heard The Hunter begin to walk away very slowly. He let out a small breath and allowed himself to sink into the floor, his legs buckling from the relief he felt from them not getting hurt.

Seven got out from behind Mono as soon as the other hit the floor. Seven grabbed Mono’s arm and shook him a little to try and snap him out of their oddly mixed emotions of terrified and relieved. Mono looked up at Seven after a couple of shakes from him, and Seven could see a mix of emotions in his eyes, though he couldn’t pinpoint them. Seven let out a sigh and fully sunk to the floor as well, somehow feeling breathless without even doing anything physical like running. Maybe he was relieved as well, but it could also be the adrenaline he felt that left his body, making him more tired than before. He should really stop using so much of his energy.

It was a couple minutes before both boys got themselves together, and even then everything felt a little uncomfortable. The new hole in the boards allowed some light to flow into the room, and they could now also hear the sounds of the outside world more clearly. It wasn’t that which was making them unnerved, it was the fact how easy it was for The Hunter to tear through the barricade, and that they could’ve just been killed just as easily.

“I’m sorry.” Was the first thing that Mono said after the unbearable silence had become too much. Seven almost flinched, but stopped himself, and instead was confused on why Mono had just apologized. To Seven there was nothing for him to be at fault for, since neither of them stopped to think about The Hunter hearing them. “I should’ve thought about that, I-I, somehow forgot and now…” Mono trailed off before he could finish his sentence, and Seven frowned from his words.

“If it was your fault for that, then it was my fault too so that means I should apologize as well.” Seven said firmly, and he could tell by how Mono’s shoulders rose by a fraction that he was surprised by his words. From what he has learned about Mono already, he knew that Mono felt like everything was his fault even when it wasn’t. This is why Seven was trying to convince him that he can’t control everything and that some things are mistakes. Seven learned this some time ago when he actually used to be with other kids.

Mono looked at Seven as if he was about to argue, but when Seven glared at him slightly, he faltered and looked away. The room had dust now flying everywhere from where the cages had disturbed it, and Mono was glad for the paper bag keeping all of it out of his nose. He hated when he sneezed, because then he would have to pull the paper bag up, leaving him vulnerable if only for a second. The cages were scattered on the floor, some looking more banged up and scratched from where they fell. The music box was still in the corner, all by itself, already collecting the dust that landed on it. There were even a couple of cages that were on the rug, which may be more difficult to move now because of that. The only thing that Mono didn’t glance at was the hole that was just broken into the boarded door, because he felt like everytime he looked at it, he could see The Hunter’s eye glaring down at him, daring him to do something.

When Mono had nothing else to look at, he temptatively stood up, hoping his legs would keep him up this time. Then he turned back to Seven, who was still on the ground staring at him, and held out his hand to help him up. Seven looked at his hand then to Mono, before softly grabbing it and allowing himself to get pulled up onto the ground. As soon as Seven was back on the ground, he let go of Mono’s hand and walked to the closest cage.

“I guess we better start stacking these up now.” Was all he said, and Mono immediately went over to him and began to help drag the cage to the table, wanting to make himself useful to make up for what he believed was his fault. Seven knew that Mono wouldn’t listen to him right now about not everything being his fault, but maybe one day he could get it into his thick skull. If they stay alive together to see that one day.

The cages were eventually stacked up to a very unstable, makeshift staircase leading up to the window. It took awhile, and they could tell it was almost nighttime, most of the day already gone. The light in the room was already extremely limited, but during the nighttime it was almost impossible to see anything. The new hole did not help this either, as no light shone through the also dark house. It was terrifying to say the least, since they were in a dangerous situation and sight was a key factor to survive, but both knew that there was nothing to do about this.

“Do you think we should go ahead and try to escape?” Mono asked, staring at the ever dimming light that came from the small window. “The Hunter may be asleep…” His voice trailed off while he slowly turned to look at Seven, who was already facing him.

It was true that The Hunter would most likely be asleep during the night, but that wasn’t guaranteed. Even if The Hunter was truly asleep, that would still cause an amount of problems on its own. First of all, this meant that The Hunter would be in the house, and secondly he had above average hearing, meaning that there was a possibility that he would hear the children’s attempt of escape. He would surely not be happy about that, and would kill both of them.

Seven saw a hand move in front of his face, and he flinched backwards, successfully snapping him out of his thoughts. He didn’t want to admit it, but he had a hard time focusing on things, especially with how exhausted he was, mentally and physically. That wouldn’t stop him though, he had to help Mono find a way to get them out of here safely. Then he could rest properly, somewhere he was safe. If he couldn’t do that, then he would most likely die in here, leaving Mono on his own. Mono would most likely believe it was his fault, leading him to wallow in guilt and most likely be trapped in there as well. Seven couldn’t do that, he wouldn’t do that, not with Mono to help him.

“Seven are you okay?” Seven once again realized that his train of thought had made him daze off again, not answering Mono’s original question. Mono’s soft and concerned voice made Seven frown a bit, since he wasn’t trying to worry him.

“Yes I’m fine, just a little tired.” Seven answered Mono before he got distracted, again. It was rude to ignore somebody, even if you weren’t trying to. He knew better than that, he was raised better than that. Well, he didn’t exactly remember much about his childhood, so who knows how he was raised. That didn’t matter at the moment, he was still going to try to be as kind to Mono as he was to him. There he goes once more, letting his mind wander instead of paying attention to the boy who was still staring at him silently.

After a couple of minutes, with only silence filling the room, Mono spoke up again. “Maybe we should check it out tomorrow, when The Hunter is away. We just have to hope he doesn’t look in here, or he might figure out what we’re trying to do.” Seven didn’t think of that possibility, of The Hunter peering into the room as he did earlier. Maybe that is why he made that hole, to keep an eye on them. That would prove troublesome, since that would mean that they could be spied on anytime they were doing something and end up getting caught in the middle of escaping. How many horrible scenarios that could turn into.

Mono was about to ask if Seven heard him, but before he could, Seven nodded his head just realizing that he was waiting for an answer. “Oh, okay. We could go sleep on the rug over there then. It might be better than the wood.” Mono suggested, and Seven, this time trying hard to listen to Seven, nodded his head again. Though his mind was starting to go into another whirlwind of messy thoughts, and Mono had to drag him by his hand after a minute of only standing there. Seven’s face became red when he noticed this, and looked down, attempting to hide his embarrassment.

Mono let go of Seven’s hand, and laid down on the carpet, making sure there was plenty of room for Seven. Seven then got onto the ground beside Mono, and slowly curled up into his regular ball. The more Mono thought about Seven’s weird sleeping form, the more he understood why Seven did that. He guessed that Seven must have come from someplace where it was colder, which would cause him to have to rely on his own body heat. Being as close to yourself as possible would keep as much of the heat your body had. It made sense, but that made Mono wonder why Seven wasn’t wearing more clothes. Maybe Seven just got so unlucky that he couldn’t find any more clothes to wear. Whatever it was, it made Mono feel a little guilty that there was a chance that Seven was cold in his sleep.

Mono debated an idea in his head for a few seconds, before deciding that he might as well do it. Mono took off his trench coat, scotted over a little closer to Seven, and laid the coat on both him and Seven. He thought it should keep them both warmer, and he hoped that Seven would be okay with it, since he didn’t want Seven to be cold while they were asleep. If Seven ended up shivering, it could end up wasting more energy that he couldn’t afford, so this was the most sensical option. So why did it make Mono’s face heat up from embarrassment?

Mono settled down, and closed his eyes, wanting himself to fall asleep. He wanted to wake up as soon as the sun rose, so he could begin to work on the escape plan. He knew that Seven was most likely too tired to be able to help him, no matter how much Seven wanted to or denied it. Plus he didn’t want Seven, draining much more energy, he would need it when they escaped.

His mind continued to be swamped with thoughts, that he didn’t even realize that he had fallen asleep. His dreams were once again a fuzzy static, which was the case when he was too tired to have a nightmare or the oddly important feeling dream of the long hallway with a single door at the end. He felt numb like this, but it sort of liked it in a way. It was somewhat like a break from the world and himself, and he felt like this was well needed. To just be at peace with himself, at least for the time being. He would wake up and everything would matter again, but right now, it seemed as if nothing mattered.

Seven on the other hand, was having a very vivid dream. He dreamt of being back at the terrible place he was from before. The stench of rotting bodies and grimy water, the noises of scuttling that he couldn’t tell was from the harmless creatures or the horrifying monsters. He had to swallow a whimper when he heard the noises become significantly louder, seeming to come from all around him. He wanted to hide, to protect himself, to run, but he found that he was frozen in place. He wanted to scream for help, but he forced his mouth shut, knowing that nobody would come to help.

His eyes began to water, though no tears came out, he wouldn’t allow it. He needed to keep the water inside him, not waste it because he was scared. Yet did it truly matter if he was going to die anyways? The sounds were becoming louder, and he screwed his eyes shut. Then after the noises stopped, he slowly opened his eyes.

That was his last mistake.

The monster in front of him was ugly to say the least, it had long arms that stretched out of a fat slow-moving body. It’s face was covered by a sack-like mask, only one hole to allow the thing to see. Seven’s breath stopped, and he tried to move this time, but he was still stuck. Then a small sob escaped his throat, and the creature jolted up and let out a terrible screech before it’s arm struck Seven with incredible speed.

Seven jolted awake, cold sweat dripping down his body. Was he dead? Where did the thing go? A lot of questions stirred in his head until his foggy, fear-ridden mind slowly regained full consciousness. He then realized that it was just a dream and that he was shaking from something that was never real. It was also then when he started to feel something warm on top and beside him. Seven’s tiny hands moved from his curled body to feel what was over top of him, when he learned that it was Mono’s coat. Mono must have taken it off to try and keep him warm, and it indeed worked, but it made Seven feel bad thinking that Mono may be cold now without it.

That was before Seven felt something stir beside him, and he went still, a little shaken from the nightmare he just had. Then he remembered that Mono had fallen asleep on his side, but he didn’t remember being this close. It did not matter that much, because the knowledge that he wasn’t alone at the moment, comforted him greatly. He let out a trembling sign, trying his hardest not to cry, and curled back up determined to get some more sleep no matter how much the thought of going back to the nightmare scared him.

The morning came faster than Mono thought, and he woke up as soon as he felt a light change in the room. He wasn’t sleeping very heavily after all, since he was usually a light sleeper. Which you had to be in a world like this. He slowly blinked his eyes open, and slid his hands inside his paper bag to rub his heavy eyes. The brown paper crumpled a bit from the movement and he stopped, not wanting to wake up the boy beside him. After he felt awake enough, he carefully slid out from under his warm coat and into the shockingly cold room. Perhaps it only felt this cold because his body got used to the warmness under the coat with Seven, or maybe the outside world was changing to become colder.

Mono let out an almost silent sigh and did his routinely morning stretch, which helped wake him up and get him going for the day. Then he looked around the room, for any signs of disturbance, knowing that there would most likely be none. After glancing around the room, he daringly looked back up to the hole in the wood, checking to see if he could see the near unseeable eye staring at him. He felt himself relax when there was no sign of The Hunter, meaning that he would be safe for the time being.

The perfect opportunity to continue with his plan to escape. Mono looked back at the table, and the poorly stacked cages that he feared could fall over at any time. He was going to have to pray that they wouldn’t, since it was about his only shot to get a look at the outside. Mono walked over to the cages and hopped onto the table, using his arm strength to pull him up. He felt that he was becoming weaker with every day he wasn’t eating nor drinking, he could only guess how Seven must be feeling. Successfully getting on top of the table, he began to make the treacherous climb up the makeshift stairs, being extremely cautious with every step he took up.

He eventually got up to the top, and before he even tried to look outside, he glanced around the room. Everything seemed to be a bit smaller now, and once again he felt a sort of comfort from it, like he did when he was in a tree. He looked down at Seven, who was surprisingly still curled up on the rug, the coat now more tightly wrapped around him from the loss of Mono’s heat. He felt a warm feeling in his stomach while he was looking at Seven, probably because he hasn’t had a friend in so long. He felt another wave of determination overtake him, and he knew that he would have to get Seven out of here and keep him safe. To keep his one friend happy.

With a deep breath, Mono finally turned around to the window. The light was almost blinding compared to the small amount of light they received in here, and he felt himself squint a bit to try and help his eyes adjust. Then when he could clearly see, his breath hitched from the sight, and he couldn’t help but stare.

Chapter Text

Seven woke up slowly, his mind still ridden with tiredness and fogginess. Though when he moved a bit and didn’t feel anybody laying beside him, he threw himself to his side, uncurling completely and using his elbow to prop him up. Looking at the cold empty spot beside him. Remembering his nightmare, he started to freak out some, worrying that something might have happened to Mono.

Seven first looked to the doorway, to see if The Hunter had somehow gotten in there and taken Mono without him waking up. He should’ve been relieved that the wood was still mostly intact, but that only made him worry more about where the paper bag boy could be. He took the warm coat off carefully, not wanting to rip or tear Mono’s clothes. Then he put his hands on the ground and pushed himself up, forcing his legs to remain steady.

From being dehydrated, hungry, and very exhausted, Seven’s vision faded to black and his ears started ringing. Yet he still put all of his focus into his balance, so he wouldn’t fall over. He knew that the black and ringing would go away soon, he just couldn’t give in. After a few more seconds of impatiently waiting for his body to recover from getting up so hastily, his sight and hearing returned to normal. Then when he felt confident that he wouldn’t fall over or pass out, he started to search the room.

It didn’t take long for Seven to find Mono staring outside the window, oblivious to the world around him, or maybe he was just oblivious to what was going on in the room at the moment. Seven couldn’t think very clearly at that moment, as his head was still heavy from just waking up so abruptly. That didn’t stop Seven from making his way over to the table where the haphazardly stacked cages were, nor did it stop him from slowly climbing his way up there.

Seven might have almost fallen off once or twice, while simultaneously trying to both stare at Mono, climb, and balance, all while feeling like he was about to pass out for a couple of more hours. When he finally made his way up there, it seemed that Mono still didn’t realize that Seven was there, which made Seven curious. He was about to look outside, when Mono suddenly turned to look at him.

“Oh- Seven? I didn’t even notice you were up.” Seven, too tired to respond correctly, just nodded his head. Mono didn’t care either way, as he was happy that Seven was up just in time to see the outside world. Instead of telling Seven to look he stepped to the side a little to allow Seven some room, slightly pointed outside, and then turned back to stare again.

Seven understood what Mono was trying to tell him to do, and so he stood next to Mono and peered outside, curious as to what Mono was so fascinated with.

His breath caught in his throat, and he had to squint a bit but he didn’t dare close his eyes, not wanting to stop looking. Although they were close to the ground, it did not obstruct the marvelous view they could see. The dark green trees surrounded the area, and right between them was a brilliant sun that was ever so slowly rising between them, its colorful rays filtering softly through the trees. There was some low fog still fighting to be there, the wetness starting to stick to the ground as dew from the bright sun. Several birds could be seen flying about, chirping cheerfully at the proposal of a beautiful day that was promised to come. Flowers stretched, trying to reach the sunshine that was teasing it with warmth and comfort from the cold night. Clouds that had not lowered to become fog, stayed up in the redish orange sky, only drifting scarcely across the sky, almost as if afraid to cover up the sky’s beauty.

Neither boy wanted to look away from the outside world. It was something so colorful and beautiful that it seemed unnatural in a world like theirs, as if it didn’t belong here, and they may have even thought they were dreaming. The days were usually gray and cloudy, yet right now was a proudly magnificent sight, so rare and wondrous that everything was relishing in it. Or perhaps the two kids have really been missing the outside world, even though it has been a few days. Maybe it was just that they wanted some sort of comfort or thing to keep going for, to keep pushing until they couldn’t. Whatever it was, they wished that they could be out there, enjoying the wonderful day the world had planned, but they were instead stuck in an insane man’s house.

“It’s amazing…” Seven quietly remarked, fully awake and in awe. Mono silently agreed with a short nod of his head, still marveled as well. Then it seemed as Mono broke out of his trance, as his hands moved from his sides to the window. He began feeling it, and pushing on it. Seven soon caught on to what he was doing, and began to help try to push the window, also desperately hoping there was a way outside.

They continued to push and look for any signs of there being a way to open it, but there was nothing and the window didn’t seem to be budging any time soon. That didn’t mean they gave up though, they both began pushing with all their weight and strength onto the window, wanting the old thing to show any signs of movement.

Something moved, but too bad it wasn’t the window. The cage that they were standing on shifted, and both boys immediately stopped pushing, and moving entirely. Now they were afraid of the highly unstable staircase falling, as they weren’t exactly being careful, too worried on finding a way out. When Mono believed it was safe to walk again on it, he glanced up at Seven, who was no longer focused on the window but onto the unsafe object they were depending on to keep them from falling to the floor.

“Seven, start carefully and slowly going down the cages, we need to get down and fix it before it falls.” Mono said softly, almost afraid that even his small voice might trigger the cages to collapse. This may have not been the brightest idea to come up with, although it did sort of work. Both Mono and Seven were disappointed that they couldn’t get the window open, especially since the outside world was so extravagant at the moment. Though Seven didn’t even dare glimpse back at that world, no matter how much he wanted to gaze at it forever, as the world he was in right now needed all of his attention.

Seven glanced up at Mono, and although Mono was scared himself about the tower falling, he tried to give Seven his best reassuring look. Seven couldn’t really see Mono’s face, but he could tell by the way Mono moved his arm slightly towards him and back that he was trying to comfort Seven. Seven smiled slightly, grateful for the kindness, but it still did little for him when he saw how Mono’s legs shook lightly. Still Seven knew better than to stall his time up on the wobbling cages, and began making small baby steps towards the edge, trying to be cautious so that the staircase wouldn’t fall.

Seven eventually made it to the edge, and ever so carefully, lifted himself onto the lower cage. Then when he felt that he was safe enough, he looked back at Mono, who was surprisingly not even paying attention to Seven. Instead Mono’s eyes were focused directly on the ground, and his legs were crouched more, as if they were going to buckle from pressure. Which to Mono, felt as if they were. Mono was never too afraid of heights, and to be quite honest enjoyed being high up, though what he always hated was unstable surfaces. It felt like he could fall at any moment, or worse, he could go down with the cages and one land on top of him either hurting him or killing him. Just the thought of that happening made Mono’s legs sink closer to the top of the still titling cage. He almost wanted to cry from the amount of fear he felt, but he knew that he shouldn’t, using some sort of self restraint to stop the tears from forming.

Seven could tell that Mono was badly panicking, and he may not have known why, but he understood the feeling nonetheless. So he whispered a small “oi” to try and get Mono’s attention away from the floor. He didn’t know exactly how to help, since he was on the verge of panicking himself, but he wanted to help Mono anyways. Mono’s head didn’t immediately look to Seven, but after a few more calls Mono slowly allowed his head to move to Seven.

“Come on Mono, you have to get off.” Seven ushered, seeing that the cage was starting to shake more with Mono’s legs trembling. “It’s going to be okay, you just have to walk this way.” Seven was trying to encourage Mono and sort of comfort him, but he wasn’t very good at either. Seven never really had to comfort anybody but himself, since he was never really around many children to begin with. He was still going to try for Mono. “I’m right here Mono, nothing is going to happen to you if you come here.”

Mono was still staring at Seven, but he tilted his head up more to the point that the light shone right on his paper bag. This allowed Seven to look at his eyes more clearly, which he could now see had tears peeking at the edge of them. It made Seven’s frown deepen with concern for his friend, as he had sort of seen Mono as the tougher one out of the two of them. Now Mono was distressed and Seven could do little about it. “Come on Mono, little steps at a time, you can do this.” Seven kept trying to coach Mono, almost urging him to come here before the cage did fall.

It took a few more words of encouragement from Seven before Mono slowly made a step towards him, which caused the uneasy balance of the cage to worsen. Mono stopped moving entirely, even his legs froze, but this time the cage did not. The cage began tilting more to the right and Seven could see it start to shift downwards. “Mono come on, hurry!” Seven gave up trying to slowly get Mono to move, but even when Mono’s head snapped towards Seven he still was frozen. The crate was still falling and Seven lunged forward without hesitating a moment longer and pulled Mono harshly onto the somewhat steady cage he was on just as the cage had fallen.

Mono landed on top of Seven, taking the air out of Seven as he fell on his back. The cage clattered to the ground loudly, but it was like the boys couldn’t hear anything, as they paid no mind to it from their own adrenaline pumping. Mono stayed on Seven’s body for a moment, his mind still in a frozen panicked state and his lungs gasping as if he couldn’t get enough air. For Seven, he was trying to get his breath back too, which proved more difficult due to the person on top of him. It wasn’t that Mono was heavy, it was just that Mono was lying mostly on his chest, putting pressure on his lungs.

After Mono’s mind cleared a bit, he realized that he was on top of Seven and quickly got off him and scooted over as much as he could on the small surface. His breaths were still heavy, and he wanted to apologize for what happened but his brain wasn’t thinking completely to do so. As Seven’s chest started to even out he looked at Mono, whose head was casted downwards and hands shaking.

“Are you okay?” Seven asked between slowly steading breaths, concern for Mono coming back even now that they were safe. Mono flinched a bit, still slightly in panic, but nodded when he realized that Seven had asked him a question. “Alright that’s good, but we need to get down. Can you do that right now?” Seven asked, still worried that his friend may be still too spoked to properly climb down the rest of the cages without falling.

Again, Mono wordlessly nodded his head and began to make his way down the unsafe structure with Seven. As soon as they touched the ground, Mono sank to the floor, his hands on his legs, squeezing them to keep them from shaking. Now that he could think more clearly, he felt guilty for putting them in so much risk like that. Why couldn’t he just move forwards off the cage like Seven did? Was he that much of a scaredy cat?

“I’m… sorry.” Mono said slowly, staring at the ground not wanting to spare a glance at Seven in shame. “That was all my fault.”

Seven frowned at Mono’s words, knowing that it wasn’t his fault. “It’s okay Mono, you didn’t cause that.” Seven softly said, afraid that he would cause Mono to flinch again like earlier. Mono didn’t respond back this time, and Seven could tell that he was still blaming himself, so Seven got closer to Mono and hugged him. Mono stiffened from the action, but hugged back after a moment. It’s been awhile since either of them have had a hug, and it felt nice to finally receive one after so long. Seven was warm, and Mono relished in that warmth as he tried to get his mind to focus again.

It took awhile for Mono to calm back down from both his shock and guilt of the cage falling down. Seven tried his hardest to cheer Mono up, but he knows that Mono still blames himself for what had happened. It made Seven feel bad seeing Mono on the brink of tears as he desperately tried to hold it back, sniffling a little bit as Seven continued to hug him. When Mono did calm down, he tried apologizing again, but Seven stopped him, repeating that it wasn’t his fault.

Now Mono and Seven were back up on their feet, looking for another way out, as the window didn’t seem like it was budging any time soon. They decided that they would try a different method with the window later, as Mono didn’t want to go back up there just yet or fix the staircase of cages, even with the beautiful view just on the other side of the glass. Trying multiple things, including attempting to reach the small peep hole The Hunter made, Seven grew tired.

Seven hunched over and clutched his stomach in pain, his hunger has been growing each hour he’s been stuck here. Mono looked over at the sound of Seven’s stomach and ran over to him when he saw Seven kneeling down. “Are you okay?” Mono asked frantically, worried even more so now, as Seven just stayed there gripping his shirt for a moment without answering.

Eventually, when the hunger pains slightly subsided, Seven looked up at Mono. “Yeah, I will be for now. I’ve gone on longer without anything.” He said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. That just worried Mono more, wondering how Seven’s life before this was.

“We’ll get out of here soon, and then I’ll get you some food and find some clean water.” Mono said, hoping that he could keep that promise, since it’s been several days being stuck and they still haven’t found a way out. This wasn’t the time for losing hope though, he would have to keep pushing even if he was tired. He couldn’t just give up now, then it would be his fault that Seven died. “If you want you can rest a bit while I continue looking.” Mono offered Seven, being careful with his words. “You’ll need all the energy you can get when we escape to get as far away from here as we can.”

It would probably have offended Seven a bit from what Mono just said, if he wasn’t so tired to not appreciate the kind offer. Though he didn’t want to be more of a burden to Mono as it was, so he declined nonverbally by shaking his head and stood up. Then he went back to the hole where The Hunter had looked through. They had tried making it up there by boosting one another up, but they were still too short. They could use the cages, but then they realized that they would have to move the heavy things again which would take a lot of effort. Plus, the hole was too small anyways, so it wouldn’t even matter if they could get up there. What the boys needed was an actual plan, a good way to escape, but even with all their thorough searching, it just seemed like there wasn’t anything they could use.

Neither Mono or Seven wanted to give up just yet, they still want to live, even in this hellish world. That’s why for the next hour they continued to look for anything to use. They looked at all the small cracks in the wall that were still too together and sturdy to break when hit. Under the table, that was only filled with cobwebs and dust bunnies. They also looked at the music box, to see if there was anything about it that could help, which proved to be useless. That’s when they returned to look at the chest again, which was moved to the corner when they were using the table for their staircase to the window.

Taking the chest thing to the middle of the room, Mono tried opening it again. Pulling and tugging the lock to see if it would give away, but the lock refused to even partly open. Then Seven suggested attempting to take the lock off of the chest altogether, also not working. The lock was practically stuck on there, with rust forming around the holes of it, making it harder to do anything with it. That’s when they decided to stop with the chest, and get back to it when they find a way to open it. They didn’t even know if there was anything that could help inside of it, why would they spend so much time on it when they could be doing something they know might actually help?

With most of their other options exhausted they returned to their thrown together staircase, and rebuilt it more carefully, mainly for Mono’s benefit, as surprisingly Seven still wasn’t all that scared of it. They climbed their way back up it, and looked back outside. The sun was quickly falling, every second counting to their escape. Mono was surprised that they hadn’t heard The Hunter at all that day, not even a single gunshot was heard from the maniac man. Perhaps there was a chance that The Hunter could have also been enjoying the peaceful day, but the thought of it seemed impossible to Mono.

While Mono was lost in thought, Seven stared outside longingly. It felt so long since he breathed fresh air or could feel the warmth of the sun on him that he was wondering if he would ever be out there again. He quickly shook his head, putting more faith into himself and Mono, determined to make it out of here alive. He wasn’t going to die in the clutches of The Hunter, he wouldn’t give that man the satisfaction of it.

Both snapping out of their thoughtful gazes, they started to work on the window again. Analyzing it more clearly this time, not rushing to get out like the time before. Which had resulted in the top cage falling down and Mono nearly going down with it. Mono checked every crook and cranny, for some kind of weak spot or crack, anything that he could use to get the window to open or break. Seven, on the other hand, was in charge of looking out for The Hunter and making sure the towering cages were sturdy. Mono insisted on Seven doing this, since he didn’t want what happened before to happen again. Seven only agreed because he wanted Mono to feel secure, and Seven didn’t want to see Mono so upset again.

It was starting to get dark, with little progress made on finding a way out. The window did have some cracks where cooler air was coming through, but it was still too tough to get through. Meaning that their options at this point were close to none, making Seven spirits fall with disappointment and fear.

When Mono saw how distraught Seven was getting over this, Mono knew that he had to get Seven to become more cheerful again. “It’s okay that we didn’t get much done today, we can try again tomorrow, and I’m sure we’ll get out by then!” Upon hearing Mono’s optimistic words, Seven smiled a tiny bit, making Mono’s grin become more heartfelt. Mono sort of wished that Seven could see his smile, to attempt to reassure the bashful boy, but he knew no matter how much he wanted to just take off the bag, he couldn’t. He knew that as soon as he took the bag off, the world would be at him again, all of it’s terror coming at him full force. He doesn’t think he’s strong enough to handle that, not yet anyways.

Seven let out a stifled yawn, obviously trying and failing to hold it back. Mono let out a small laugh at the way Seven quickly looked away as soon as he realized that Mono was still looking at him while yawning. “Alright, I think that’s our cue to get to bed. We’ll start off bright and early tomorrow, well, maybe not so much of the bright part. It doesn’t seem to get too sunny in here.” Mono joked, hoping that he could get another grin out of Seven, but all he received was another silent nod of agreement. It wasn’t that Mono was disappointed with Seven’s lack of speech, he just missed hearing Seven’s voice, although the boy just talked earlier. Perhaps when they get out of here and spend more time together, Mono could get Seven to speak more.

Instead of immediately lying on the carpet, Seven went to the music box and sat right next to it. Mono was confused at first, but soon understood when Seven began to wind the box. Mono slowly made his way next to Seven and sat down right beside him, just in case Seven wanted to lean his head against Mono again. Then after a couple more cranks of the wind up, a soft melody started to fill the once quiet room. Its calming effects quickly settled in on the two young boys, making them more tired as the music dragged on, Seven’s arm steadily becoming slower. Then Seven’s arm stopped altogether as he fell asleep, and his head slumped all the way on Mono. This made Mono tense up from surprise, being mostly unconscious himself.

Mono realized that Seven was asleep and decided after a minute of sitting up uncomfortably, his legs beginning to go numb, that he should probably move him to the rug to sleep better. After all, they were both going to need a lot of rest when they escaped the next day. That’s, if they escape. Mono didn’t want to think that way, so he convinced himself that they were going to find a way to leave this horrid place, and then he was going to get Seven plenty of food and water.

Mono carefully picked up Seven, well as good as he could. Seven might not weigh much, but Mono couldn’t carry much either, leaving Mono to only be able to slightly pick Seven off the ground to where he wouldn’t be dragging him across the floor. When Mono got to the carpet, he laid Seven down as softly as he could, and watched Seven curl up into his tiny ball. He took off his coat as well, and laid down himself, laying the coat on both of them. He scooted closer to Seven and closed his eyes, finally allowing sleep to claim him.

That very next morning, as soon as Mono felt some light hit his face, he woke up ready to start his day. He wanted to get out of this house as soon as he could, because he felt that Seven wouldn’t be able to last much longer in here. He himself was already feeling hunger pains, but not nearly as bad as Seven, since he ate before he was captured. There was no telling when the last time Seven had seen food.

Mono quietly got up, believing that he should let Seven wake up on his own. He knew for sure he would want to sleep as much as he could. Then he started to walk around again, feeling a bit of a chill from the lack of his usual trench coat. He started to mess around with things, rechecking the walls and everything else for anything he might have missed yesterday. Yet, there was still nothing. He knew there had to be a way out, there was always a way out! He just hasn’t found it, and it’s starting to aggravate him.

He then went back to the music box and stared at it, still wondering why in the world, out of all things, the lovely music box was in here. It was a strange object to find in such a horrible place with such a terrible person like The Hunter. Why would The Hunter keep this in a dusty room? Let alone a place where he kept children or extra things. Was it even his? Mono didn’t know, but he sort of didn’t want to know, the answers may not be good.

Still, Mono appreciated the music box, as it made this all feel a bit better to deal with. It was odd to him how comforting the melody it provided was. He was lost in thought when he felt his arm begin to move towards the box and start to wind it up. He didn’t know exactly why he was doing it, maybe he wanted to feel comforted? He was feeling stressed from all this. Hopefully Seven wouldn’t be woken up because of this. He began to wind it up, when the wind up stopped working, and he realized that while lost in his head he had started going the wrong way. He froze, afraid that he broke the one good thing about this whole situation, but then the music box started to make more gear sounds as he let his hand go back to his side.

Slowly, but surely, the top of the small wind up toy opened up to reveal a small box. Mono stared at it in wonder, completely dumbfounded by what just happened. He didn’t know that music boxes opened up like that! He cautiously took the small wooden box out of the music toy, not trusting it since it could be another trap from The Hunter. Then he slowly opened up the box, hearing the metal keeping the two pieces of wood together to make the container creak with effort. As if the box hasn’t been opened in a long time. He was worried about what was in it, as it could be anything at this point. Maybe it was something useless or it was actually empty, or maybe it was something cool and exciting!

Though when Mono opened it all the way, he didn’t expect it to be something that could potentially help him leave. As the item that was hidden away in the small compartment of the music box, was in fact, a small key. The one that may fit into the one thing they haven’t checked.

Chapter Text

Mono couldn’t help but get excited. He had found something that could potentially get both him and Seven out of this cursed house. He grabbed the box and held the key tighter in his small hand, then quickly got up. He regretted getting up so quickly when his vision blacked and he started swaying on his feet. He was really dehydrated, making sudden movements was almost too much for his body. He didn’t care as much as he usually would though, and he waited for the nauseousness to stop, then went bouncing over to Seven.

He didn’t hesitate this time to wake Seven up with a gentle nudge of his foot. “Oi! Seven, get up! I found something!” He whispered yelled, not trying to be too loud as Seven slowly opened his eyes, sleep still trying to drag him back to unconsciousness. Mono was also trying to control his voice due to them most likely not being the only ones in the house, and if The Hunter knew what they were planning, it could be the end for them. That’s why when Seven was still getting up, Mono nervously peeked at the hole in the boards and felt relieved when there was no almost unseeable eye moving across them.

While Mono was practically jumping with excitement, Seven felt like he had been thrown off a high building. His stomach was strongly aching for him to give it something, practically anything at this point, and his throat was sore from being dry for so long. Not to mention all the pain from getting injured so much in the last week or so felt like it was coming back full force. He just felt so tired and miserable that even Mono’s giddiness couldn’t get him to feel happy. At this point Seven didn’t even know if he could escape with Mono, being as weak as he was.

Mono could tell Seven wasn’t doing good at all, which only made him want to escape sooner. Mono helped Seven onto his feet, Seven literally having to force himself to not sink right back to the ground. He was going to have to be strong for Mono, just for a little bit longer, pushing past his already strained limits. He honestly felt bad for being so useless. He thought that he should be used to this by now, that his body should be better from everything he’s already gone through. All the sleepless nights, limited food and water, killers around every corner. Really, after dealing with all that for so long, how could he not handle this? That just shows how undependable he can really be. All the other kids were right, he didn’t have what it takes to live outside the Maw.

Noticing that Seven was daydreaming again, Mono gently took his hand and walked him over to the chest, grabbing onto his arm every time he wobbled. It made Mono worried to see Seven so fragile and in pain. He should have found a way out a lot sooner, not just moping around and taking his precious time. Well, more so Seven’s precious time, because Mono was in a lot better shape than him. Mono shook his head, right now wasn’t the time to be thinking about things he couldn’t change. He needed to get out of here before The Hunter checked on them again, perhaps even deciding that it wasn’t worth slowly seeing them die slowly and finish the job right then. The thought of that happening caused Mono to glance back up at the hole, glad to see that The Hunter still wasn’t there.

“So what was it that you had?” Seven quietly asked, he was more awake now, and he was curious to what Mono wanted him to see. He also had a little bit of hope that it may even be the thing that would get them out of here, though seeing how they haven’t found anything that worked their entire stay, he didn’t want to get himself too hopeful. Mono, upon hearing Seven’s almost silent voice, came back to reality. He didn’t want to waste anymore time that they had already lost, so he opened up his hand that was still occupied with Seven’s own hand, both of which they forgot about. Seven stared at Mono’s hand that he had opened, eyeing the key that was resting on it.

Seven had so many questions he wanted to ask Mono at that second, when it finally dawned on him that the key was most likely the key that would open up the mysterious chest. Where did Mono find it? When did he find it? Does it actually work on the chest? How long has he known about it? With all these questions, Seven didn’t know what to ask first, or if he should ask some of them at all. To say the least, he was tongue tied, staring intensely at the key in Mono’s palm.

Mono noticed the unusual quiet staring, Seven may not speak much, but he would at least give Mono some sort of response most of the time. Then he realized that maybe Seven just didn’t know what to say, after all this was pretty sudden. “I found it in the musical box when I was messing with it earlier.” He started with a low voice, still wary of The Hunter. “I accidently wounded the box backwards, and then the music box started acting weird. After it was done there was a small wooden box with this inside it.” He gestured to the key, “You think this may be the one for the chest?”

Listening to Mono, Seven thought about it, and before his mind tried to doze again he came up with an answer. “Well, let’s see.” With those simple words, Seven took the key out of Mono’s hand and sat down, unconsciously bringing Mono down with him as their hands were still locked together. Realizing this, Mono let go of Seven’s hand, and looked away for a second in embarrassment. Seven, who didn’t know what Mono had done at all, tightly gripped the key and tried to steadily put it into the lock. Which was easier said than done, as Seven’s hand shook the entire time he was doing so.

That didn’t stop Seven from eagerly unlocking the chest when he realized that the key actually fit, it seemed luck was on their side for once. In all actuality, it was lucky that there was a key hidden in a toy in the first place, especially in a place like this that was owned by a psychopath. It did make some sense, as it gave the once oddly placed music box a purpose now. Both of the boys just wished that they had found it sooner, with them playing with the music box several times over the past couple of days. It didn’t matter now, as Mono had found the key, and they were finally going to see what was in the chest. Both wishing that it would be something that would help them out of here, or really anything useful. It’s been too long since the last time they had seen the outside world beyond that of a glass pane.

After fighting with the rusty lock, trying to get it open without harming anything, the chest was successfully unlocked. Mono, being almost impatient at this point, took off the lock completely himself. Though he still allowed Seven to open the box, both extremely anxious to see what was in the very light box.

What was inside was what neither of them was expecting. A small, but sharp and expensive looking knife was sitting in the middle of the chest, surrounded by soft black looking foam. The handle was a dark shade of blue, almost the color black, with white letters on the side of it that read T.H. When Mono read it, he assumed that it was for “The Hunter”, because he was the one who owned it. What didn’t make sense about it, is why The Hunter had it, and why it was locked up in a chest with the key hidden inside a music box. None of that made sense, but then again, The Hunter was the one who owned it.

Staring at the knife, not daring to touch it yet, the two boys were silent, left in their own thoughts. What could they use it for? Would it prove to be any use? Maybe not from how small it was, it probably wasn’t even made to do much. Was it safe to touch? Did The Hunter use it to kill others? That question was better left unanswered, since there was a high chance that The Hunter used it for something similar to that, if not murder itself. Why was it locked away? Was it special to The Hunter? If so, then why was it put into a mostly empty room that stayed to collect dust?

There were too many questions, and not enough answers, but Mono was still determined to make it work. He would have to make this work, since it was the only chance he got. The knife would be their ticket out of here, he knew of it, because if it wasn’t, then they would probably end up dying. He couldn’t let them die, he wouldn’t let Seven die, not if there was a chance. Plus, Mono wasn’t an easy quitter, he always tried to find a way despite the odds.

Mono tentatively picked up the knife while Seven was still thinking about what to do with it. The knife suspiciously fit Mono’s hand fairly well, which would definitely not work well if it belonged to The Hunter. Maybe The Hunter used this knife when he was younger, and now that he was older and bigger he couldn’t use it anymore and that’s why he locked it away. That had some sort of reasoning to it, but it still didn’t fit his image of what The Hunter was. A soulless, cruel, coldblooded killer who didn’t care what he murdered.

With the knife in hand, Mono examined it more thoroughly. He discovered that the knife was in almost perfect shape, compared to the rest of the house and even in the container it was in. The knife also had zero scratches on the actual blade, still shining with sleekness and sharp to the touch. Which Mono in fact did touch, much to Seven’s bewilderment, why would anybody touch the sharp part of the knife? Seven would never, he was too scared to really pick up the knife to begin with. Too many memories with too many knives for him to be comfortable around one.

Mono’s hand traced over the letters once more, fully thinking about it. Did it actually stand for “The Hunter”? There was a possibility, but Mono didn’t know if The Hunter even went by that. Mono was pretty sure that he made it up so that he could classify the man as something, so he wouldn’t just be referring to him as “the man who hunted people for fun”. Though something in his mind said that he didn’t come up with that, and The Hunter was what he was always supposed to be called. It didn’t matter to him that severely though, he was still going to use the knife with or without the suspicious letters on it.

It was a few more minutes before Mono stood up, holding the knife in his hand, that he started to pace around the room trying to think of a way to use it. There weren't many weak spots in the walls to try and use the knife to make a hole to get through. Even if they could, he doesn’t know that it would help them at all or if the walls even had another room beside it. The boards also seemed like a no go. Mono tried using the knife to cut through the wood like he did the axe, but the knife was too small to make more than a couple deep scratches on it. That’s also when he noticed that there were several layers of wood nailed to the doorway, meaning that he would have to go through all of them to get out. Who knows how long that would take, and if The Hunter would figure out what they were doing by then or not. Mono looked back up at the hole, making sure that the eye was somehow there again, watching him. He relaxed when there wasn’t, The Hunter learning what they were doing was the last thing that Mono needed at that point.

Still trying the wood, Seven was watching what Mono was doing with heavy eyes, every second getting harder to keep them open. He knew that going back to sleep while Mono was working hard to find them a way out, was not what he should be doing, so he was forcing himself to stay as awake as he could while waiting. It wasn’t like he could do much, because he didn’t have the knife to try things out, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking of anything they could use it on. With his exhaustion though, it was difficult to stay onto one topic too long before his mind slipped and started to think of something else. Like the outside world.

He craved to be outside. To feel the sun on his skin or being able to follow its movement across the sky. To look at clouds and ponder if it was going to rain, or to just feel it rain in general and be blessed with the clean water that came with it. To be chilled by the constant wind, whether it was soft or strong, he didn’t care. To taste food and satisfy his aching stomach that growled with pain and lack of fulfillment. To hear the bugs and birds that would provide him with sound all throughout the day and night, never allowing the world to be silent, unlike the prison he was stuck in now. He just wanted to be outside, looking outside the dirty window wasn’t enough for him.

That’s when it hit Seven. The window. They could use the knife on the window. Well not exactly the glass part, due to them and the knife not being near strong enough for that, but the outside of it. The wood and glue like materials that were keeping the window in place weren’t that secure and he could tell that it was becoming frail from being there for so long. They might not have been able to push the window out by themselves, but maybe they could use the knife to cut at the weak spots around the window to help them. Then they could crawl out when The Hunter was out of the house, and sneak away without him even noticing! The more Seven thought about it, the better the plan sounded. His plan might perhaps be the one to get them out of here, and it would be okay if it’s not, as they could always try something else. If there was anything else.

Seven didn’t sit there patiently anymore as he sat up straighter and called for Mono. Mono flinched by the sudden sound of Seven’s voice, with Seven also being louder than normal, mainly due to being excited. Nonetheless, Mono stopped with the wooden blockage and walked over to Seven, wanting to hear what he had to say. He was wishing for it to be a way to get out of here, because he was beginning to get frustrated with his futile attempts of discrete escape.

Luckily Seven had just that. “I think we might be able to use the knife to get the window open.” Mono was confused at first, since the small knife wasn’t anywhere near big enough to break the window. Seven noticed Mono’s confusion, since Mono’s head tilted slightly and his shoulders slumped just a fraction, it surprised Seven how easy it was for him now to tell what Mono was feeling. “You might be able to use the knife to make the place around the window weaker, then we can push it out like that.” He elaborated hoping that helped Mono understand what he was trying to say. It seemed to work as Mono’s head shot back straight and his shoulders rose back to their normal position in shock realization.

“Seven, you’re so smart! Why didn’t I think of that sooner?” Mono whispered yelled to Seven, who in turn looked away when his face turned red from the compliment. He wasn’t used to such open compliments. From where he ran away from, it was rare to even hear somebody’s voice, let alone receive nice words of encouragement.

Mono held his hand out to Seven, offering to help him onto his feet. Seven hesitantly took it, not exactly used to the frequent physical contact that Mono gave him. It wasn’t that Seven minded though, he appreciated the thoughtful actions that Mono has done for him. When Seven was completely steady standing up, which was easier than it was earlier, they both made their way to the precarious stairway. Mono reluctantly went up, skeptic of the way it would shift a little under their careful steps.

It was a good thing that they got up to the window without any more accidents. Who knows how much more stress they could take at the moment. Mono looked at the window, disappointed when he saw that the day was not like the day from before. Today the sky was once again it’s usually murky gray with clouds filling most of it, casting a shade over the entire forest. This made Mono wish that he had found a way to escape when it was pretty outside, that way they could enjoy their freedom so much more, but he better not ask for much as there was a chance they wouldn't escape at all. That thought alone was scary enough for Mono to forget the beautiful day and start feeling for a good weak spot to begin working at.

Seven had sat down beside him, without much to do he only stared at Mono’s small hand gliding over the surface next to the window for any deep cracks he could wedge the knife in. Not doing anything made Seven feel once again, utterly useless. He knew that the main reason that Mono wanted him up here was so that he would be less scared, and to keep a lookout for any signs of The Hunter, but it didn’t cause him to feel any better. Especially with how he was barely paying attention to what was happening around them, from either day dreaming or straight up almost falling asleep sitting up, he wasn’t doing too well.

The hunger pains were clawing at Seven now, and he wished that the loud growls would quieten so that Mono could focus more. This had to be the worst hunger he had ever felt, and he believed that he wasn’t too far away from starving to death. He wouldn’t say that out loud to Mono though, both because he knew that Mono would blame himself and because Mono was also hungry. It would be unfair to complain about his hunger when Mono was feeling the same way and was helping Seven out, so he kept his mouth shut and tried to get his stomach to quit.

That didn’t stop the terrible feeling of what felt like your stomach was eating itself. He almost curled over in pain, but stopped himself to only scrunch up his face. His stomach might have even been tearing his organs into shreds with how excruciating this was. Any thought of food made him feel worse. Plus his thirst, oh how much he wanted to taste the refreshing coldness of water right now. His throat seemed to close in on itself, raw and scratchy, and when he tried to move his tongue it felt sluggish and cracked as well. All of that combined to make him the weak mess he was now, eyes blackening when he moved too much, pain searing throughout his body if food even crossed his mind.

Although Seven was trying to hide the pain he was enduring, Mono could very clearly tell that he wasn’t doing good, motivating him to work faster. Seven’s plan was working, much to Mono’s gratitude, and the old splintering wood that was holding the window in place was slowly coming apart. Mono could already feel the cold draft of the outside wind pouring out of the now deeper cracks, making his skin grow bumps at the almost forgotten touch. He was so close to getting them out of there! He only had to do a little bit more, and then push the window and run away as fast as he could. Then he would get Seven something to eat and drink and he would get to feeling better. After that they could go somewhere else, a different place that would be safe and nice, and everything from his dreams. The sunny morning with white puffy clouds would be an everyday reality, and he would have Seven right there with him. He wouldn’t be lonely no more, and maybe the world would stop torturing him. He would be free from this awful nightmare!

First he just had to deal with it, and come to terms that not everything can be like his dreams.

Seven jolted awake, face going red as he peeked at Mono to see if he saw that he accidently fell asleep. He didn’t mean to, he really didn’t, but it was getting harder with every second passing to keep his sore eyes open and mind away from the blissful feeling of slumber. Though it wasn’t hard for him to come fully awake when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, he froze knowing just what those footsteps meant.

He mentally dragged himself out of his fear-induced stunned state, and started to tug on Mono’s coat. It took more than a few tugs, each one becoming harder, until Mono got out of his focused mind and looked at Seven questioningly, his head tilted to the side. That’s when he heard the scarily louder and closer footsteps, and went rigid, before fervently working on the window again. While he was doing that, Seven frantically looked around the room for anything they may be able to hide away or use against The Hunter, in case Mono didn’t get done with the window in time. Nothing. There was nothing and it was making Seven’s breath speed up and his brain become fast and muddled at the same time. What were they going to do now?

Seven kept tugging at Mono’s coat, not really thinking it through as he was panicking from the steps of the gun wielding man that was coming closer to their room every second. Mono was also freaking out, his hands shaking from both the pressure and the effort of tearing through the wood. He was trying his hardest to hurry up, knowing that if they got caught now, they were done for. Absolutely dead, as The Hunter was sure to not like what they were doing and putting an end to it right there. He might even have his gun on him, which would allow the man to easily kill the trapped children without having to break a sweat.

Mono had to keep his word with Seven. He had to! That’s why he kept scraping the wood with the small knife, his hand going red from the force he was putting on it and his arm getting tired from the constant and quick movement. This wasn’t how he was going to let them die! He already told himself that this wasn’t it, that they were going to get a happy ending. He already told Seven that as well, that they were going to be okay, and he can’t just let that slip now. Not when he was so close!

The Hunter was already at the door, and Seven’s fast breath unconsciously stopped immediately, already used to having to do that in the sign of danger, even though he knew that it wouldn’t help him this time. He saw The Hunter slowly move towards the small hole, his sac shifting in front of it before it stopped at the cut out that was there to allow him to see. Seven saw it. The Hunter’s eye zoning in on the two boys, the white increasing as he saw what they were trying to do. Then the almost unseeable eye moved to the open chest in the middle of the floor, and it flickered back to the boys, no Mono, and the white became smaller. The Hunter was mad, Seven could tell. That chest or knife was important to him, it had to be to get that kind of reaction.

Without a second more, The Hunter began banging on the wooden planks, yelling in sounds that couldn’t be described as words. The garbled noises left his hidden throat, and the boards and room shook violently with every furious pound. Mono flinched involuntarily at the sounds, almost falling over off the cages, he saved himself right before he could teeter anymore and kept clawing at the window with the knife. He was desperate at his point, only a few more tears away from being able to knock the window out and leave, but The Hunter was also only a few hits away from tearing down the only thing that’s keeping him from killing the boys there and then.

Then the knife finally went through the last of the wood, and Mono could already feel the window shift with less holding it in place. He almost dropped the knife to go ahead and start pushing on the window, but instead decided to stash it in his coat pocket in case it came in handy for later. He began to push on the window right after, using all the energy and strength he could muster on the window, hearing The Hunter breaking the boards more quickly now. Even with all of Mono’s strength, the window hardly budged.

Seven saw what Mono was doing, and stood up, ignoring the way his vision swirled and darkened, and pushed on the window as well. The window was shifting now, the force on both sides making it slide more efficiently. That’s when The Hunter successfully breaks down the last of the wood and enters the room. He was quickly making his way to the escaping kids, stepping heavily with anger, not caring how he was walking as his frustration and fury took over him completely.

It almost seemed like the boys were going to get caught right when freedom was only a step away, but somehow luck was still on their side, and the window finally fell. Right when The Hunter’s hand was reaching for them, making a last attempt to grab them before they slipped through the window, barely missing them as they left. They fell onto the ground, which was only about a foot away from the window, breaths coming out in hurried, deep gasps. They were free! They actually made it out!

If only The Hunter gave up that easily.

Chapter Text

Landing on the ground was softer than Seven expected, maybe it was because he had gotten used to the hard wood floors in the room. That’s also when the realized that he was outside, not in the dusty house he had been trapped in for the last few days, which had felt like years to him. He was back to the world he could only stare out of from an old glass window before. He actually lived to come back to it.

Well not for long if he didn’t start moving, The Hunter was still after them. Seven could hear The Hunter running as fast as he could, which was hard for the stocky build he had, to catch up and kill the escaped boys. The terrifyingly unhuman sounding yells were also to be heard from inside the house, increasing every second as The Hunter became closer to the outside. He and Mono needed to start running, this time they weren’t going to be so lucky if the man grabbed his gun.

Mono must have been thinking the same thing, as he scrambled up onto his feet and dragged Seven up as well, not hesitating to grip onto his hand and begin running the opposite way of the front door which The Hunter would most likely use. Seven trusted Mono to know what he was doing, after all he believed that Mono had been here for a while, at least longer than Seven had. He probably knew his way around this forest, and the best hiding spots too, so Seven squeezed his hand and began running as fast as he could to keep up with Mono. He might still be extremely tired, but he would have to wait to rest when they found somewhere safe.

The two boys ran around the house, into a direction that would take The Hunter longer to catch up to them. Mono hoped by going around the house a bit would make The Hunter lose track of them, since he wouldn’t know which direction they went. The downside of it was that Mono had never gone this way before, and knew next to nothing about what laid ahead. He only wished that he knew enough of the wilderness to get them to somewhere safe, and quickly regarding Seven’s current state. He didn’t know how long Seven could keep up with this pace, but he was grateful that Seven was putting in as much effort right now to try and go as fast as Mono was.

They continued to run, and since they didn’t hear any normal sounds of The Hunter, they almost believed that they might have lost him. Luck was no longer on their side, as a gunshot followed by loud footsteps soon came from not too far behind them, allowing them to know that the hunt was still on. This made Mono’s pace quicken, straining Seven more, but he didn’t complain. Seven couldn’t, not after everything Mono had done for him, he couldn’t risk them like that.

Then a barn from not too far ahead came into sight, and Mono knew that The Hunter also probably owned it, since it wasn’t falling apart like the rest of the abandoned buildings that he would come across every once in a while. Instead of trying to go inside of it, Mono started racing around it as well, wanting The Hunter to somehow be slowed down by it. He was indeed not, and he continued shooting as well, missing them and hitting a fence nearby.

Mono ran behind the strewn out boxes, attempting to hide behind some of them to save him and Seven from the continuous bullets. He had slowed down considerably from before, noticing how Seven’s breaths came out more ragged and that he was practically dragging him by now. He felt bad for pushing him so hard to begin with, but he tried not to dwell on it so much as they continued to run. Boxes were shattered behind them, and Mono couldn’t help but jump each time, but he was grateful it wasn’t him. The terror he felt from the sounds of the gun made him want to almost cower and curl up, but he wasn’t going to, that wasn’t going to get him and Seven to safety.

Seven was tailing right behind Mono, also glad that the boxes they were hiding behind kept them from getting obliterated from the bullets The Hunter shot. His mind seemed to be running faster than his feet, both from the spinning of exhaustion and the process of trying to find a way out of this. He was lucky to have Mono here to guide him when he was in such bad shape. He wasn’t normally this undependable, but right now he couldn’t help it with all that had happened. The original escape mission of the Maw ended up horribly, to winding up here and getting captured, to running away from Mono and getting captured again, and then escaping once more with Mono this time. It didn’t seem like he could get a break from running, but then again, it was what he was mainly nicknamed for.

Mono saw that the amount of boxes to hide behind was thinning out, while The Hunter was painstakingly catching up. He saw a small cliff up ahead and knew that they may be able to use that to hide for a bit, if The Hunter was dumb enough to not notice them. He let go of Seven’s hand for a moment, much to Seven’s confusement, and jumped down. Then he quickly turned around and held out his arms to catch Seven. He knew that Seven could jump down on his own, but he didn’t want to take any risk of Seven getting hurt right now, especially with The Hunter on their tail.

Seven saw Mono’s outstretched arms below him, and didn’t think twice about jumping down the cliff into them. Mono wrapped his arms around Seven as soon as he caught him and kept them both from falling backwards, then he let go of him and held his hand to drag him to the small open area that was in the cliff. When he got there, he crouched a bit, not fully to the ground in case they had to spring back to running. Seven copied him and waited for what was going to happen next.

The loud footsteps of The Hunter grew, and the ground shook from the heaviness of those steps. It made Seven wince with every movement, not knowing if The Hunter would notice them or not. He hoped that he didn’t, and would blindly continue forward in search of the boys, allowing them to run the other way and escape him. When The Hunter got there, the steps slowed when he noticed that the two boys weren’t in sight anymore.

The Hunter did go forward on the path, using his lantern like flashlight in search of the boys. Mono crept from the hidden spot in the cliff, Seven right beside him. The Hunter wasn’t far enough away for them to try and run somewhere else without being seen, but staying there for too long was going to get them caught. The Hunter would most likely search the entire area until he found the two of them, which would lead to fatality for them. The only way for them to get away was to try and sneak away from The Hunter by following him, Mono was sure of it, and he almost didn’t know why.

Still holding onto Seven’s hand, Mono started walking forwards, hoping to get around The Hunter. Seven didn’t fully understand what Mono was doing, but trusted him enough to not get them killed. They crouched into the tall grass, using it as a cover in case The Hunter looked over. A crow fluttered but Mono didn’t stop, even when The Hunter snapped to their direction, the light blindingly hitting them both. Seven didn’t make a peep, but he flinched and held Mono’s hand tighter as they continued to move.

Making their way down the path, The Hunter unconsciously following them, Mono was glad that they haven’t got seen yet. Then he saw a hole up a little bit further, and knew that it could be their chance. Too bad the tall grass ended right before they got there. He paused and stayed crouched, wondering if The Hunter would keep walking or not. Unfortunately The Hunter quit moving as well, and instead swung his massive head back and forth in search of any sign of the kids.

Mono would just have to wait for the perfect moment when The Hunter was looking the opposite direction, then he and Seven could make their way to the tunnel and leave. When the time came he let go of Seven’s hand and ran for the hole, hoping that Seven would follow. He jumped in and spun around, ready to help Seven. Seven followed Mono inside the hole and landed beside him, but almost fell from the pressure on his legs. Mono held the boy upright, not wanting him to fall over. Then he heard the tell-tale sign of The Hunter coming over from the sounds of footsteps. Mono quickly got Seven away from the opening hole and onto the wall, out of sight from when The Hunter used his flashlight to peer in it.

There was a grumble and then a bang from the shotgun. Both of them winced from the loud sound, and Mono was upset that his plan didn’t work the way he wanted it to. He didn’t waste anymore time to venture deeper into the tunnel, Seven being close behind him, fearful of what may lay ahead. They had to get lower to the ground to keep going, the whole tunnel shaking from the steps of The Hunter above. Dirt and small rocks fell from the ceiling, hitting them every once in a while. Only small passages of light filtering through the cracks allowed them to see where their feet were landing. It wasn’t too long that Mono saw the end of the tunnel, leading them back to the upper world.

Fighting through the roots that sealed the hole, Mono came out of the tunnel and quickly glanced around. Spotting no signs of The Hunter, he looked back over to Seven, who had just got out of the hole they went through. Mono was about to grab Seven’s hand again, but decided not to, since he wasn’t sure if the shy boy appreciated it when it was unnecessary. When he felt they were both ready to go, he walked more along the fading path. It must have not been used in awhile, but it felt weird that it was here in the first place.

It was only a few steps more when he reached a bridge much like the other ones he has sometimes seen in the waste land of a forest. Cages swung with the wind, dangling on a thin chain or rope over the ravine that seemed to stretch for miles. Seven walked closer to the edge and peered down warily, “How are we going to get over this?” He whispered so quietly that his words were almost gone with the wind. Truth be told, Mono didn’t really know, he was never able to get across the bridges, instead either having to find a way around or down into it. Though now that he had Seven, he may be able to actually find another way that would work better.

While Seven stood there waiting for something, or a solution, Mono searched for anything that could get them across. That’s when he saw a pulley-like thing, and it clicked. The other part of the bridge was downward, and he had always thought it had just broken or that The Hunter did it to make it harder on his prey. Now he knew that it was supposed to rise up when somebody pulled the rope. It was confusing on why anybody would build a bridge like this, but it didn’t matter as it could get across.

Mono began to pull on the rope. It was hard at first, but he poured a lot of his strength in it and started to be able to pull it back. The bridge cracked and creaked as it rose, and Seven took a few steps back in surprise, not knowing what was happening. He looked at Mono for an explanation when he saw that it was Mono doing it, and was most likely the way they were going to get across the deep gap.

When the part of the bridge was all the way up and the pulley was done, Seven knew that he was going to have to jump the rest of the way. Not knowing how long Mono could strain himself and keep the bridge like this, Seven took a couple more steps back, readied himself, took a calming deep breath to even his heart, and raced to the edge jumping at the last step. He was in the air for only a second, but it didn’t take much for his stomach to feel like it was doing cart wheels, then he landed safely on two feet on the other side. He stumbled forward a couple steps and stood triumphantly, happy that he was able to make it.

As soon as Mono heard Seven land on the other side, he let his hands let go of the rope, falling forwards from the strain of holding it still. He got back on his feet and walked to the ledge, realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to use the bridge to jump across all the way. He didn’t even need to attempt the risky jump to know that he wouldn’t make it and plummet all the way to the bottom, inevitably dead on impact. He needed a different way. From what he could see, there wasn’t another pulley on the other side, which made him question the design of the bridge even more. He couldn’t hope for another way down or up the gap, since there was no telling if they would find anything at all, just being in more risk from The Hunter. He looked down the cliff, seeing nothing there either. He would have to jump, but how would he reach the other side?

It didn’t take him long to figure out a plan. He should just get Seven to catch him, surely he still was strong enough to pull Mono up. He didn’t waste anymore time to call for Seven, who was still turned the other way. As soon as Seven heard Mono’s voice though, he turned back around and came to the edge of the bridge, noticing his dilemma. “Hold out your hand and catch me.” Mono yelled across quietly, still wary of The Hunter. Seven looked at him bewildered, but it soon faded into determination. He crouched down, grabbing from behind the bridge to keep him steady and held out another hand. He had leaned out to be able to catch Mono better.

When Seven was ready, he gave a short nod to Mono to jump. Mono nodded back, going back several steps before taking a running lead to the end of the bridge, jumping across. It was a stunt based fully on trust, having to put faith in one another to make sure they both end up safe. Mono’s breath caught in his throat as soon as his feet left the ground, anxiously wondering if he would make it or if Seven would be able to catch him. Then his hand connected with Seven’s and he felt a tight grip take him, then he was dangling in the air for a second as Seven worked hard to pull him up, strained grunts leaving his mouth from the amount of energy it was taking.

Mono felt a weird sense of deja vu when he looked up at Seven holding his hand pulling him into safety. He felt like this would be an important mark in the rest of their lives, like this moment held a big part in their future. It was the same feeling he would sometimes get from the dreams in the long hallway with a single door at the end. He didn’t know what exactly was important, but something was screaming in his head that it was very much so.

Seven was relieved when Mono was back on the ground, no longer dangerously over the edge. He let him go and crawled backwards, giving Mono plenty of space to properly get up. Mono sat there on his arms and knees for a second, collecting his breath before pushing himself back onto his feet, ready to get going again. He walked past Seven and straight ahead, wanting to hurry along before something bad happened. He looked around, noticing the huge stack of cages against the trees, remembering the cages that he and Seven had stacked up in the room. He shook his head, disliking the sinking feeling in his stomach when he thought about when he almost fell off. No way was he going to use those again.

Ignoring the cages, the two boys kept going, only to see The Hunter again. Mono froze, Seven freezing right with him noticing the man as well, this was not good. Mono had really hoped that they had finally lost the murderous man for once. It didn’t seem like they could get a break. Mono urged Seven to run ahead and go climb up into the barn he saw not too far ahead. Maybe they could hide in there if they made it without alerting The Hunter, the said man wasn’t looking this way at the moment, but Mono didn’t want to take any chances.

Not having to be told twice, Seven ran ahead with Mono right behind him. It was going good for a second, until they accidently alerted another crow, which flew off with loud wings beating as it went. Mono cursed under his breath when The Hunter spun around, immediately alerted to the two boys scampering off towards the breaking apart barn. Seven hesitated for only half a second, and Mono gave him a nudge forwards, ushering him to continue running as fast as he could to the building.

The Hunter held his gun up, readying to shoot the gun, only giving Mono enough time to hide behind the crate that was sitting there. The Hunter accidentally shot the crate, having to reload now, allowing Mono to keep running for the barn. He made it to the part of the building that was breaking, about to go up the makeshift ladder that Seven was using, before The Hunter shot again. Mono was again lucky to have the crate blocking the man’s shot and quickly followed Seven up the wall. He then heard the gun click again, signaling that The Hunter was about to shoot, and stopped to hide behind the hanging television, which The Hunter also hit instead of the boy. Grateful for all the coverage that protected him, he safely made it into the barn.

Seven was already across the narrow plank that connected the two broken floors together, and Mono slowed a bit only to not fall off it, Seven using his hand to encourage him more. All of the sudden the wood collapsed under Mono’s feet, and for a second he believed he was going to fall all the way down, but Seven caught him right before that could happen, saving Mono once more. Seven quickly pulled Mono up, The Hunter already breaking into the barn, his flashlight swinging like crazy.

The wood splintered from the bullet going right through it, causing the two kids to stumble forward a bit, before moving faster to the window. Seven just jumped straight through it, not caring to climb over it or even look to the other side, while Mono hoisted himself over it. They both began sliding down the slanted roof, Seven not being able to stop himself and falling over, making Mono worried about him. Instead of clenching to the side of the roof like he wanted to, he pushed himself off into the whatever was below, wanting to make sure Seven was okay. He was surprised when he landed in… water? Well it was sort of water, only very disgusting and slimy.

Seven was already hiding in the space between the water and the floorboard above, beckoning for Mono to come before The Hunter made his way outside. Mono waded his way through the thick liquid and crouched beside Seven, hating the way the water was making his skin and clothes feel. The Hunter busted through the barricaded doors, and looked around, trying to once again find Seven and Mono.

The floorboards creaked along with The Hunter’s slow movement across them. Seven could see the light flickering on the trees and dock, then it landed on the water and he held his breath and shrunk deeper into the shadows. The Hunter stopped, and Seven thought that they had been spotted, he closed his eyes and awaited for the ear bleeding sound of the gun. None came though, and Seven opened his eyes again to see that The Hunter was moving away once more and that Mono was wading through the water as well. Seven didn’t want to be left behind so he started fighting his way through the swamp as well, hating the way it dragged on his clothes and smelled of rotting, proof from the flies circling it. Even with Seven’s dying thirst it made him gag to think about the liquid going down his throat.

The two boys were making it steadily through the swamp, having to dunk under the water and hold their breath whenever The Hunter looked in their direction. Mono wanted to throw up from the smell of the water, but it was worse when he accidently licked his lips after arising from it, the taste ten times worse than the smell. Then they come to a point where The Hunter has once again stopped to look around, but this time they couldn’t just go underwater to hide in, since they couldn’t hold their breath long enough to make it without either drowning or getting caught.

They needed to come up with a plan, and Mono stopped just beyond the small spot of land to peer around and try to find some sort of solution while Seven stayed behind him. While Mono was looking around, Seven looked up on the tiny piece of ground that was in the middle of the swamp with a couple of dead trees on it. Seven studied the tree, wondering if it would be useful, when he knew what they needed to do. He climbed up onto the dirt, out of the murky water but safe from The Hunter’s view, and close to the dead tree on his right. He looked at the bottom of it which was barely hanging on, and knew that he and Mono could push it into the water. If The Hunter didn’t see them and just waved it off as the tree naturally falling, then they could use it to have enough room to make it all the way to the far side of the swamp!

It didn’t take long for Mono to sense that Seven wasn’t close to him anymore and spot him near the dead plant. He made his way to Seven and crouched next to him, waiting for something. Seven waved his hand to the tree and gave a pushing gesture, letting Mono know what his plan was. Mono nodded his head and put his hands on the rough bark. With a silent count down, they began to push, and with some work they were able to get the tree to fall into the water creating a huge splash as it fell. Both Mono and Seven hurriedly jumped back into the water as The Hunter quickly looked at the falling tree. He shot towards the area, wanting to see if anything was there to cause it, but hit nothing. This made him grunt and reload his gun as he looked for the boys elsewhere.

Seven ducked into the water and began making his way to the other part, Mono following in suite. Going up the ladder like thing in the cliff, they made their way out of the swamp and back onto ground, both relieved to have made it. Mono jumped down the cliff and had again held his arms out for Seven, which Seven was starting to get used to at this point. Seven saw a shed looking thing not to far away, and wondered if that was where they were going, after all it would seem weird for Mono to bring him here if not. Trying to be as quiet as possible around The Hunter didn’t work, their cover blown from crows flying off after being spooken during their meal.

Both boys bolted towards the shed, stopping momentarily behind the crates when The Hunter shot at them, each shot causing a flinch from them. The speed of their feet seemed nowhere near the speed that The Hunter was now using to reload his gun, anxious to kill the boys. Mono almost thought they weren’t going to make it when he pushed open the shed door and pulled Seven in by his wrist, afraid that The Hunter’s gun would go off again at any moment.

Mono tripped over his own feet as he ran more inside, landing on the ground with a loud thump. He cursed himself and quickly got back up to see that Seven had shut the door and was desperately pulling the lock. Seven jumped back from the door when The Hunter began banging on it, making the whole shack shake, reminding him of the moment back in the room. It was crazy how that was just an hour or so ago. As Mono ran to the lock and held it in place, knowing that it was one of the only things keeping the door from busting open right now, Seven searched for some way to escape.

Seven’s eyes landed on the gun that was at the end of the room, really the only thing there except for the box underneath it. He sped to it, hopping onto the box and pulling the gun off the mantle. He fell back onto the ground, the gun landing right beside him. He stood up to see that The Hunter had gotten his hand through and was making the hole bigger. Seven dragged the gun towards the door a bit, and Mono ran over to help prop it up. It seemed as if time stopped as Seven pulled the trigger, both boys barely registering what was happening. The loud bang of the gun bouncing off the walls, ten times louder when you were this close to it. They fell back from the force of the blow and onto their sides, the gun slinging backwards as well.

Mono’s ears were ringing and his head was pounding to the point he didn’t want to get up, all the energy he put into running from The Hunter finally catching up to him. Surprisingly Seven was the one to get back up first, only seconds after the shot, and shake Mono to see if he was alright. Mono lifted up his head slightly and Seven’s shoulders sank in relief. They were both okay. Though it didn’t seem like The Hunter was if the obliterated door was anything to go by.

Chapter Text

The ringing seemed like it would never end, and for a moment Mono thought he had messed up his ears. Luckily the sound quit after a few minutes and he was able to open his eyes without the room constantly swirling. Seven was sitting next to him, not doing any better. When he got up to check on Mono, his body stumbled and begged to lay back down and rest, but his overly worried mind overridden that feeling and made sure Mono was okay. Then after he saw that the mysterious paper bag boy was indeed alive, he immediately let his tired body crumble next to Mono.

They didn’t think about The Hunter still being alive, since there hadn’t been a sound from the man since the blow. Though he could be unconscious, it seemed very unlikely. Afterall, the bullet most likely went through his chest, which would kill practically anybody instantly. This allowed Seven to relax a bit, finally safe from his kidnapper, but Mono was a different story. He didn’t think of anything at first, letting his brain try to rest so the consistent buzzing would stop, but when he began thinking more clearly again, it hit him. He killed another person, well he didn’t exactly lay the final blow, but he had helped kill them. It made him sick to his stomach for a second, thinking of how the man most likely was on the ground out there, body growing cold, no longer any life in his eyes.

He tried to think about how the murderous man had it coming, of how he deserved it for all the terrible things he’s done. All the rotting corpses hanging up in nets, to the stuffed people in his house, to the kids he has hurt and hunted over his lifetime. Even with all of those things, Mono couldn’t help to remember that The Hunter was human. A human with thoughts and goals, and maybe a past self that wasn’t so bad. He saw how this world can shape people into terrifying creatures if you let it. Maybe The Hunter was the same way, perhaps he was forced to be like this.

That would mean that he and Seven had killed a somewhat innocent person, but he couldn’t let himself think that. The Hunter may have not been in complete control of his actions, and he may have, but that still meant he had let the world turn him into that. Which means that he wasn’t innocent, at least in a way. Mono wasn’t like the man, he didn’t kill people who didn’t deserve it, he tried to help others and be kind to them. That’s who he was and nothing could change that, not even this nightmarish world, he wouldn’t let him become a monster. There was a small feeling he wasn’t in full control of that.

Seven noticed Mono was stiff, and that his breaths were becoming more uneven. Seven called out to him quietly, but it seemed to go in one ear and out the other as the boy didn’t move an inch. He was starting to get worried, and he didn’t know what to do. “Mono?” He tried again, his voice soft but a little bit louder than earlier, Mono didn’t acknowledge him. “Mono, are you doing alright? Are you still hurting?” Seven reached his hand out to Mono, barely touching his arm when Mono flinched away. Seven winced as well, not expecting the sudden movement.

It seemed to drag Mono back into reality though, since he was sitting there staring at Seven. Seven used the opportunity to try and talk to Mono again. “Are you hurt somewhere?” Mono shook his head and stared at the ground. Seven didn’t know what to do now, if Mono wasn’t hurting then what could be bothering him?

He didn’t have to ask this time to receive an answer, because Mono began speaking. “Do you- do you think he’s dead?” Mono asked hesitantly, glancing over at the broken door and then to Seven. Seven tilted his head, confused, wasn’t it obvious? Why did Mono almost seem scared of the answer? Shoulders stiff and slanted backwards, head tilting away from Seven’s deep stare.

Then Seven remembered something, something that happened to him when he was younger. Mono had never killed anybody before, or at least a person. Which was strange considering where they live. Still, Seven can vaguely remembers when he first had to kill somebody, or more like it, defend himself from being murdered. It has been several years now, but he still knows the feeling he felt when it happened. At first he was shocked by what he had done, then slightly disgusted and a bit scared of what happened, then finally he accepted that if he hadn’t killed them it would’ve been him who died. Even though he knew that it was either them or him, it didn’t feel fair, but that’s also the day he learned that the world he lived in wasn’t fair.

Seven was by himself then, and had to figure that out alone, suffering from the guilt for weeks on end. He wouldn’t let Mono do that to himself, not while he was right here. “Yes, he’s dead.” He started out blankly, and Mono looked back over the door, before the boy could go back into a whirlwind of pointless thoughts, Seven continued. “Though I wouldn’t dwell on it too much. It was bound to happen one way or another. If not him than us.” His words were what he told himself all those years ago, he didn’t know if it was helping Mono any, but he hoped that it brought some sort of comfort.

Mono listened to what Seven had to say, his words circling in mind on repeat. Mono then understood that Seven has been through this before, that he has killed somebody before. Mono looked at Seven more intensely than a few minutes prior, wanting to know what all the boy had been through. He knew that wherever Seven came from was rough, but he never thought it went that far. It made Mono realize much more that he didn’t understand everything about this world or how cruel it may be. Perhaps he would have if he could remember more about his past.

Seven’s words made Mono feel somewhat grounded to the point he no longer felt like curling in on himself. He looked at Seven, who was now looking away and at the floor, and smiled. He wasn’t alone anymore.

Both were taken out of their thoughts when Seven’s stomach let out a loud growl, causing Seven to grip his shirt where his belly was at and curl inward. The pain Seven felt was worse than before, probably since all the adrenaline he just had wore off while they were talking. Mono then remembered what he promised Seven and stood up, ignoring the fact that his body ached and that his stomach was also clawing him in pain. He needed to find them some food, or at least some for Seven, Mono believed that he could make it a little bit longer without anything, it was the small boy he was worried about.

Most kids in this world were scrawny and underfed, stunting their growth and discoloring their skin. There were a few that still managed to maintain a healthy diet, and even fewer that got so much food that they didn’t have to ever worry about starving. Unfortunately, these two boys were part of the majority and ate whatever food they could find whenever. Although it would get them by for the most part, a lot of the times they would go to bed hungry or burn more calories than they were ingesting. Dying by starvation was a horrible way to go, but it wasn’t the worst, so they kept pushing.

Mono was now out of the old shack, going out of the window behind them instead of the busted doorway with a dead man right outside of it. Seven insisted on coming with him, but Mono forced him to stay behind, convincing him by telling him that he needed to keep watch in case The Hunter was still alive. It was an excuse more than anything, but Seven took it, as long as he didn’t feel completely useless.

It took longer than Mono would have liked it to, but he did eventually find a few mushrooms that he learned were edible after he saw The Hunter gathering them and eating one. He didn’t try to think about how his stomach turned sour at the thought of the man or how the picture of the door getting blasted burned in his mind. With a couple of mushrooms in his arms, that were a little hard to carry due to the fact that they were about half his size, he returned back to the shed he left Seven in.

That’s when he realized he wouldn’t be able to go back through the window again. He stopped dead in his tracks, the thought about stepping over the man and going through the door made him feel sick again, the smell of the mushrooms not making it any better. He closed his eyes and thought about Seven’s words again, and then told himself that he needed to hurry to the said starving boy. He made his feet go one in front of the other, making his way to the door. The smell of blood and the hum of several flies almost caused him to throw up, but he swallowed it down and looked the other way. He hopped over the splintered wood of the door and quickly made his way to Seven, setting down the mushrooms in front of him, before spinning around. He put his hand on top of his mouth and begged his body not to vomit, he needed to keep what little nutrients he had inside his body.

Seven didn’t start eating the mushrooms that laid in front of him, no matter how much his mouth wanted to water from it even without having the liquid to do so. He wanted to make sure that the food was completely safe to eat, and he also didn’t feel completely comfortable with eating other people's food without them giving permission. Mono may have said that he was getting food for him, but it still felt wrong to eat without him. Which is why he wrapped his arms around his knees and leaned forward, almost impatiently waiting for Mono to sit down and eat.

After successfully getting himself to not throw up, Mono stood up straight and walked back over to Seven and sat down. He noticed that Seven wasn’t eating yet and got confused. Did Seven not like mushrooms? Maybe he should have asked that before going to search for food. “Do you want to eat this?” Mono asked, Seven looking up at him and nodding his head.

“Yeah, uh…” Seven’s small voice trailed off and he glanced at the two mushrooms. “Is any of it bad to eat?”

Mono was shocked. Has Seven never eaten a mushroom before? Well to be fair he doesn’t think he had either before he came here. Maybe they didn’t grow in very many spots. “No, you can eat the whole thing. Though some parts do taste a bit better than others.” Mono hardly cared for the taste of most food he ate, but he didn’t care as long as he got something to eat. There were many days when he didn’t even get lucky enough to get anything.

Not needing any more info, Seven picked up one of the plants and examined it. It had been torn out of the ground from the bottom, some specks of dirt still littering across it that he quickly wiped off. The fungi looked nothing like what he was used to, but that didn’t stop him from tearing a piece off and stuffing it in his mouth desperately. Definitely wasn’t the most tasty, but it felt amazing in his mouth and his body relaxed from the food. He devoured the whole thing in an instant after the first bite, not caring to take his time.

Mono had eaten around half of his mushroom, his stomach still threatening to puke right back up whatever he gave it. When he noticed that Seven had finished his, Mono offered the rest of his to the other boy. Seven looked at it, and shook his head, but Mono only pushed it towards him more. “I’m not that hungry, I don’t think I can hold down much more.”

Seven gave him a skeptical look, as if he didn’t believe him, but Mono only put the food in Seven’s hand and nodded his head. With a small thank you, he began to eat the food, more slowly this time trying to savor it. He was grateful for Mono giving the rest of his food to him, but it made him feel somewhat guilty since it was Mono who got it in the first place.

It was only a minute longer before Seven was completely done eating. He didn’t know if he would be able to eat it all, since he felt a little sick from suddenly eating in the first place. He’s learned over the years that eating a lot after not eating in a long time could cause him to get sick and not be able to do much for a bit. He hated when that happened, since it was like his body was deliberately trying to work against him. He could only hope that it won’t happen to him right now, that wasn’t something he thinks they could handle at the moment.

He was glad that Mono seemed to be doing better than earlier. He was scared that Mono would lock up for a while after they killed The Hunter. Seven didn’t enjoy death any more than Mono did, but he was more used to it. He would have to make sure Mono remained okay for the next few days.

Actually, what were they going to do now that they were free? Seven did not plan for anything after escaping, as he didn’t know much about what lay in the world other than the Maw and a few other faraway places. He didn’t believe that Mono had anything planned either. Sure Seven thought about trying to find a place that he wouldn’t have to worry about his next meal or who was after him, but now that he was out here he doesn’t know if a place like that exists.

“So what are we going to do now?” Mono was surprised to hear Seven’s voice again, it seemed like Seven was feeling more talkative today. It was too bad that Mono didn’t have an answer. He didn’t know what to do from here. He wasn’t the type to plan things and more so wandered around. The only times he deliberately left a place was to get away from something, mainly through a television. That was the only moment his weird powers came in handy.

Now though, Mono did have somewhere he wanted to go. A safe place for him and Seven. It might be a place that didn’t exist, but he wouldn’t know if he didn’t look. He won’t find it staying here, he knew that. There could be other people he didn’t know about in the forest, or more people might start showing up since The Hunter is dead. They would have to leave, he knew it, he was sure of it. “We need to leave this place, who knows what other dangers remain here.”

Seven nodded his head, fully agreeing. He didn’t want to know if there was something else out in this wasteland. Then he thought about how he ended up here after landing in the ocean, perhaps that’s what separated everything. They could cross the water and find somewhere new and get away.

Right now he only felt tired, and the thought of moving again made his bones ache. He didn’t say anything, not if Mono wanted to leave right away. He has already been enough of a burden, he doesn’t want to hold back Mono anymore. He was surprised that the boy still wanted him around and was willing to help him, it was a miracle surely because Seven might have died in that forsaken house.

Mono sat there, thinking of what to do much like Seven at the moment, but he glanced over at Seven to try and see if he could tell what he was thinking. That’s when he realized how exhausted Seven looked, his shoulders hunched and head loosely hanging. That’s also when he felt how tired he was too. After everything that happened in the last twenty four hours, how could they not be in need of rest?

With that, Mono began taking off his coat, now used to it from their past nightly routine. Seven gave him a confused look and Mono shot one back at him until he figured out why Seven was looking at him like that. “Um,” Mono was trying not to stutter. “I thought we could rest up and then leave?” Seven seemed to understand and shrugged his shoulders, not attempting to answer with his throat already becoming sore. Mono took off the rest of his coat and gestured for Seven to lay down, which he obliged and curled up on the ground. Mono laid close to him and put the coat over top of them both, not wanting Seven to be cold. He wasn’t used to sharing his coat or taking it off in general, but he didn’t mind when it came to his new friend.

It didn’t take long for Mono’s small breaths to become deeper and more even. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Seven who was still laying awake. He was warm and pretty comfortable to be laying on wood floor and close to a rotting man, but sleep wouldn’t come. It might’ve been all the thoughts running through his head while all he wanted to do was forget about it and shut down. He needed sleep, so why wouldn’t it come to him? Again it seemed as if his body was working against itself.

After a while longer, he couldn’t take it anymore and rolled over to face Mono, using the boy to block the remaining dim light from the window. He clamped his eyes closed and demanded for sleep. It still wouldn’t come, his mind was still too worked up over everything. He would get like this every now and then, his mind would stay alert while his body wanted nothing more than to rest. He hated it, but he usually just ignored it until he eventually fell asleep, even if it took hours to happen.

Tonight though, he needed to go to sleep. He was going to need energy for anything that might happen tomorrow. Since he’s gotten food all he craved for was water, which was very limited. Usually water was either too disgusting to drink or was from the sea and people were unable to drink it. It made Seven grateful for every sip of water he got, but he wished that he didn’t have to worry so much about it. Hopefully tomorrow he could find some drinkable water and he and Mono could be hydrated once more to continue on.

That would mean he needed to sleep soon so he could have enough strength to do anything. He curled up tighter in a ball, the sleeping position he had the easiest time in while he slumbered. From the place he was in before he mainly started doing it to stay warm, but now it was just normal for him. He wondered how Mono slept like he did, his limbs spread out and sticking up in random places, sort of reminding Seven of a disformed starfish. The thought brought a smile to his face, but he then remembered that he needed to be asleep, not thinking about the boy next to him.

Said boy had suddenly draped one of his arms across Seven’s head, the back of his arm lying awkwardly overtop him. Seven froze from the contact, but didn’t try to force the arm off, since he was afraid it would wake Mono up. He closed his eyes again and tried to ignore the new weight on top of his head, proving to be more difficult than it seemed.

Shockingly, it didn’t take too much longer for Seven to fall unconscious and in a deep slumber, his dreams undisturbed by any kind of nightmare. Everything was blank, unusual for the boy, but welcome all the same. These were the types of sleep that made him feel the most energized in the morning, so he was going to appreciate it.

When he did wake up that next morning, the arm on his head disappeared and he quickly realized that he was alone. Mono had once again left his coat on top of Seven, keeping him warm while he slept. He didn’t like it when the other boy woke up before him, since it felt wrong for Seven to keep his coat while he got up to do things.

Seven rubbed his slowly opening eyes and peered around the small room. For a second he almost forgot that he was in a shack and not the room in the house he escaped from, and started looking for the corner with the music box that he would sometimes find Mono at. Then he remembered that they had made it out, and there was no more music box. That’s why when he saw Mono was not in there, he didn’t freak out but remained sitting down for a moment longer, wanting to enjoy the soft rays coming through the cracked door.

He may not like waking up in the mornings very much, but he did like the fact that they are almost always the brightest part of the day, where the sun rises up and casts warm rays down to bless everything it touches. It was the time the birds would sing the loudest and the crickets would play their last tune before turning in for the day. It was the time when the gray world turned somewhat colorful for a bit, allowing it to feel normal if only for the moment. The terrible things that happened all seemed to be forgotten for a second, making Seven feel like he could breathe for a second. This time was the only thing he looked forward to when he woke up. Well, not the only thing anymore. Now he had somebody to enjoy these mornings with.

Speaking of that person, Seven was starting to wonder where Mono had gone. He got up, picking up the coat, and was about to head out the front door when he stopped and stared straight at the rotting corpse that laid on the other side. The Hunter, who was becoming unrecognizable, had a huge hole in the middle of his chest, flies swarming that area the most. Small maggots could also be seen worming their way in and out of the exposed flesh, feasting on the smelly meat. The man’s limbs had landed in a weird spot when he fell, making them awkwardly splay out around him. Which seemed so strange and unlike the man, even though Seven hardly knew him.

Seven had to quickly look away and swallow the already rising acid back down to his stomach. He tried hard not to breathe in as he walked back into the room and made his way to the window. Now it made more sense why Mono exited this way the day before. The corpse on the other side was disgusting and probably only reminded him of what they had done.

He was also glad when he saw that Mono was just outside the window, on the beach pulling a piece of wood more on the sand. Seven curiously looked at him as he walked over, not sure of what the paper bag boy was doing. He walked up to Mono and waited for him to notice he was there. Which didn’t take long as Mono jumped whenever he saw a figure next to him, clearly spooked.

Seven almost laughed from the reaction but instead quietly apologized while trying to hide his smile. Mono only huffed, seeing the smirk that Seven was failing to hide and the amusement in his voice. That didn’t stop a smile from blossoming on his own face though, not like he would tell Seven that.

“So, what are you doing?” Seven asked after getting himself to not laugh. Mono looked at him and thought it was obvious, but when he saw how Seven’s expression didn’t change, he knew that he was going to have to tell him for him to know.

“We’re crossing the water to find someplace better.”

Chapter Text

Seven was surprised when he heard Mono’s plan, since he thought he was going to be the one to have to offer it. He didn’t expect for Mono to be thinking the same thing he was, though he guessed that he was glad. If Mono was against the idea, who knows what they would do. Perhaps they would have to go their own ways, and Seven would be without a friend again. It doesn’t matter to think of that now, because they were both on the small wooden raft that Mono got from the broken shack, and were drifting across the sea. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t have to separate further down the line, which Seven decided he didn’t want to wonder about either.

Mono was sitting on the raft, staring up at the once again gray sky. Although there was some sunshine this morning, it soon was blocked out from dark clouds that almost never even held water. Mono wished they did, then he would hardly ever have to worry about water. He wished for a lot of things, didn’t he? He sighed and looked down from the sky and at the wood he was sitting on.

To be honest, this wasn’t his ideal way of transportation, as it held so much risk, but it was the easiest route to leave the other land behind and seek new ones. Plus the board was just sitting there, perfect for it, and the idea just popped into his head. Now he was with Seven, waiting for them to finally reach the spot of ground they saw from a little ways out. It was hard to see at first, with the fog rolling in so deep, but in the distance there could be seen several buildings, a sign of civilization.

The thought of other people being there made Mono wary, but also a bit hopeful. Maybe, if there was anybody, they would be friendly for once. It was a long shot, but all he had was hope for that. There was no telling how much more he and Seven could handle, even with the proper food and rest they needed for so long. He might have felt a little stronger, but he was still weakened from before. He could only imagine how Seven must feel.

After a while longer, they finally hit land and were able to walk back on land. It took a moment for Mono to get adjusted, as he was sort of getting used to the constant waves of the sea, but it took Seven no time adjusting. He had come from a boat, so he was far more used to the transition than Mono.

They were also able to drink from some puddles near the front of multiple tall buildings, which Mono recognized as a part of a city somewhere distant in his memory. Luckily they were mostly clean, and weren't salty like the water from the sea they just crossed. Mono took a leaf and dipped it into the puddle, allowing for him and Seven to drink as much as they could. It felt more than refreshing after so long.

When Mono was done he got up and walked away to inspect where they had landed, leaving Seven behind to finish drinking. As he looked around the dusty beach that slowly faded into grass and then abruptly cut off into stone, he wondered why this place seemed much more lifeless than the wasteland of a forest they had just escaped from. There was no sign of life, even with the evidence of some being here. He began to grow cautious, fearing that there may be more to the place than there seems.

Seven had appeared beside Mono, snapping the mysterious boy out of his worrisome thoughts. He could feel the other boy wrap his hand around his and look him in the face, before tugging him along towards the building. He didn’t need to speak for the paper bag boy to understand what he was trying to say, they might as well go ahead and keep going since they already got this far. Afterall, they survived The Hunter, albeit more by chance. They could handle this, Mono knew they could, and he knew that Seven thought so as well.

Going through the door everything seemed to fade and come back as their eyes adjusted to the low light from a hole somewhere far up in the ceiling. A shadow casted across the room by something that neither wanted to think of, they have seen enough death in the last bit. Hopping outside the rubbled building into a narrow, empty road, Mono continued forwards, determined to continue on and find a way out of the city. There may not be any threats at the moment, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t anything to fear in the expansive city. It may have also been because Mono wasn’t very fond of cities.

They moved from one room to the next, not bothering to stay in one too long after going over it real quick for any dangers or useful items. Then they ended up in a dead end of sorts, and while Seven was wondering if they should head back the way they came and try to find another way, Mono was eyeing the chain with the hook swaying over the hole in the floor. Without double guessing his decision, Mono ran and lept to the hook, latching on with his hands. That’s when he realized he was too light to make it go anywhere. He swayed his body to glance over at Seven, who was staring at him, thinking of how fearlessly careless the other was.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll find us a way out of here.” Mono said softly, and Seven sighed loudly before nodding. Mono’s mouth lifted up slightly at the reaction, and he started to swing his body back and forth. He hit the television that the chain was attached to, causing it to fall over, allowing him to shoot upwards. Then he landed on the floor nearby, his arms beginning to get tired.

Running to the next room, he saw more televisions wrapped up in a chain. Knowing what to do now he called for Seven to come over from the floor below, hoping that he understood what was happening. He waited a second and heard a quiet call back, signaling that Seven was ready. Mono pushed the electronic over and saw it make the other fly upwards. He was worried for a second, but was relieved when he heard Seven land on the floor above.

They made their ways up the stairs and across the broken plank, Mono trying to ignore the hanging man. Seven, on the other hand, did not move forward. Mono didn’t know why, so he looked to Seven and saw that his head was lowered and he was almost bowing, he seemed to be paying his respects to the dead man gently swaying. Mono found it admirable, but he couldn’t do the same, not when he felt the need to keep going. Instead he pushed his way through the hole in the door into the next room, stumbling his way in.

He regretted it when he began to hear a sharp static noise and saw the white flickering of a powered television in the middle of the room. As soon as he glanced at it everything got worse, and it seemed as if the world started to hone in on the bright screen and glitch with every flicker of light. He was becoming nauseous and his head was starting to pound, promising a migraine if this didn’t stop soon. He got back onto his feet and forced them in front of one another towards the television. With each step the terrible sound increased and the ringing got louder, the jittering world only getting worse. Mono had to cover his ears from the noise, lowering his head to the awful electronic that was twisting reality.

Mono knew that this was the cause of his so-called “power”, which in some cases was more of a hindrance he had to deal with. He would sometimes wish that he was never cursed with this ability, that he could be normal like Seven, but right now he couldn’t focus on that. He finally reached the screen and shakily raised a hand to it, touching the screen, somehow already knowing that if he did that he could make it stop.

The ringing and white static was replaced with a wave like sound and the hallway he often saw in his dreams, except it glitched and jittered. He didn’t dare let up his hand as he began to put his real power into work, tuning the transmission to make the signal work properly. There were a couple of warnings flaring in the back of his head about how this wasn’t something he should be tampering with, that whatever mystery signal was intercepting the television would only cause him harm if he messed with it. Yet the awful sensations he was feeling pushed him to continue, his brain not letting him think this through more. Such as how his dream, well nightmare, was being displayed on the screen in the first place.

Once he finally got it tuned to where it was supposed to be, he was brought into the hallway, falling onto his knees. This time though, the place seemed so much more real but more distant to him at the same time. Every movement he took was slowed and as he ran towards the door, the same door he always tried to reach becoming closer, the whole world threatening to fall apart as his hand got close to the knob. He didn’t fully know what he was doing, but he did know that something felt off, as if there was something different that he wasn’t noticing. Like how instead of him being afraid to find out what was beyond the tall door, it was afraid of him knowing, trying to push him back by twisting this reality.

Before he could even get his small hand to touch the door, he was sucked back out and to the room he was in before. He fell backwards and heard another person land beside him, his brain subconsciously registering that Seven had pulled him out. Luckily, the television didn’t continue to torment him and finally turned off.

While Mono was trying to pull himself together to figure out what just actually happened, Seven was next to him in an instant. Seven, after giving his respects to the man who had felt horrible enough to take his own life, had gone into the next room wondering where Mono had gone. That’s when he saw Mono being sucked into the lonely television and panicked. He had rushed to the boy and began to try and pull him out, afraid he was going to lose him. It was hard to get him out, with the television almost having a stronger force than Seven, but all of a sudden it let them both go, and he fell back with Mono next to him.

Now he was glancing all over Mono’s body, looking for any injuries that might have occurred inside the electronic. He didn’t even think about how it even happened until he knew that Mono was okay. Then he was about to ask what happened when Mono stood up, and spoke first. “Thank you for helping me, but are you alright?”

Seven felt something snap inside him at the question, and couldn’t stop himself from speaking, barely being able to keep his voice moderately quiet in fear of somebody bad being nearby. “Why are you asking me that? You’re the one that almost got kidnapped by a television, for goodness sake! How did that even happen to begin with?”

It took a second for Mono to compose himself from the shock of Seven’s sudden outburst. Then he tried to come up with some sort of response, since he didn’t really know half the answers to the other boy’s questions. He decided to just answer truthfully. “I don’t really know what happened. It's just, well, I, see…” He rambled on, nervous on how to explain his sort of hidden powers to his recently developed friend.

“It’s okay if you don’t wanna tell me, I get it.” Seven finally said, putting an end to the boy’s nervous mumbling. They haven’t been friends for long after all, he didn’t expect Mono to be comfortable telling him everything. He didn’t completely trust Mono with all his secrets either, so who was he to ask something out of Mono? He just hoped that it was nothing that would cause them harm in the future.

Mono was glad that Seven wasn’t going to push him. He really does want to tell Seven sooner than later, but it’s just so complicated for him. He’s also afraid that Seven might decide to leave him when he finds out, and Mono would be all alone again in this spiteful world. He doesn’t want to live like that anymore, not after he’s gotten so attached to Seven already, which was probably from how lonely he was beforehand.

They only waited a few minutes more before fully moving on, jumping out the window into the dumpster below. Walking to the wired fence and the building behind it. Although there were many more options on where to go, Mono felt like they needed to go through that building to get where he was wanting, and he didn’t know why. Deciding to trust his gut, as it usually does him more good than bad, he goes to the fence to search for a way through it.

Seven was right behind Mono, seeing him stop at the fence and look around. He realized that Mono was wanting to get past it, and he began to look for some sort of way over it or perhaps through it. That’s when he looked behind the dumpster and found a hole. If they wanted to get to the otherside they would have to move the huge thing. He went back to the front of the dumpster and grabbed onto the sticking out part, he tried it for a second before deciding that it would work. He called for Mono, who was still looking, and waved his hand towards the dumpster. Mono understood the gesture and he came over and gripped onto the dumpster as well. They both tugged on it, forcefully getting it to move away from the hole in the fence.

Then they crawled through the hole and were officially on the other side of it. That’s when Seven noticed that there was a huge building in front of them, with a small playground in the front. If you could call the few broken down play equipment a playground. It didn’t matter to Seven though, as he ran up to the seesaw and looked at it in wonder. He’s only ever seen them in past memories that were almost forgotten, but he still understood what it was for nonetheless. He sat on one side and kicked himself up into the air. It didn’t last but a second, yet he felt thrilled by it, the sort of excitement he hasn’t felt in a long time. He looked to the other side to see Mono standing beneath it.

The smaller boy stopped jumping to let Mono on, and the boy jumped and grabbed the other half of the plank. Pulling it down with all his strength, he finally was able to get on it. Both boys then started to spring up and down on it, small giggles escaping their mouths whenever they would fly up and down, their stomachs erupting in butterflies each time. It had been so long since either of them had gotten to play like this in a while, and to say the least they were having a blast. It almost felt like they were normal kids in a normal world for once. If only it could stay that way forever.

It took them both a bit, but they decided that it was time to keep going, not being able to stay in one spot for too long. Mono looked at the large building, and somewhere in the back of his mind he recognized it as a school. Not wanting to go through the front door, the two kids went up the rope of sheets to the window high up. Seven didn’t know who created it, but he did know that the person did it as a means of escape. That realization only made him more nervous for what was about to happen.

Figuring out how to get to the next room and crawling through small tunnels and vents was not what Seven had expected them to do, but he didn’t say anything since he felt like Mono knew what he was doing, or maybe even where he was going. They jumped down the vent and found themselves in a rather empty looking hallway, or that’s what both had thought anyways. As soon as they walked a little more, there was a sharp sound followed by cracks and creaks of what sounded like bones, and the flickering of light from an odd looking shadow. Then they heard a door close with loud footsteps slowly fading away, the light peering in the dim hallway fading with it.

A shiver went up Seven’s spine from the sounds the person made, if what they just saw could be counted as human. From what he could tell from the shadow, this person looked abnormal, and he was almost hoping it was just the effects of the shadow. After hearing those cracks, he wasn’t so sure. Now all he wanted to do was find a way out, especially since they can’t just go back the way they came. Mono was feeling about the same, somewhat regretting coming into the place to begin with. It didn’t matter though, because now he had to focus on getting him and Seven out safely.

Not daring to be in that area any longer, they entered the next hallway. Only to barely dodge a swinging bucket after stepping on a, what he originally thought was just a loose board. He could hear small footsteps run away after ducking under the fallen lights. That’s when he knew that there were people here that wanted them dead, and his blood dropped from the thought of having to go through more trouble after just getting away from The Hunter. It looks like neither child could catch a break from danger.

Encountering several more traps, ranging from swinging objects, to things falling on them whenever they opened a door, or to a heavy locker colliding with the floor only a few inches away from them, the person, or people, were trying hard to get rid of them. It was some very close calls from Mono bravely, and dumbly, rushing ahead, sometimes not bothering to check for the traps before jumping out of the way. It gives Seven a heart attack everytime, and he swears that he’ll faint soon if Mono doesn’t try to be more careful.

That’s when Seven decided that he was going to lead instead, making sure that Mono stayed behind him so he could try to not get either of them killed. It was going good for a few seconds, then further down the hallway Seven didn’t catch the noises of scuttling nearby. He stepped forward before Mono could warn him against it, and a wide open locker fell on top of him, and he got lucky he ducked last second or he knew he would’ve just died. The world went dark, but he could still hear noises from the outside.

“Seven! Seven are you alri-” Mono didn’t get to finish his sentence as he let out a loud gasp, seeing multiple weird looking kids come out from their hiding spots. They jumped at him screeching, and although he tried to fight them off, grunting and struggling, he couldn’t beat all of them. He was still weak from not eating all of his food from the day before, and spending a lot of his energy on not trying to get him or Seven murdered while in this cursed school. He yelled out for Seven, hoping that he was alright or that he may be able to help. Seven banged on the locker and pushed with all his might, but he couldn’t get it to lift, the thing being too heavy with the other kid on top. He cursed himself for being so weak.

After they had left with Seven’s only friend, he was able to push the locker up enough for him to quickly roll out. He stood up, not caring about how his arms felt tired from trying so hard to lift the locker and jumped over it. He would get Mono back, and he was going to make all these horrible children pay for trying to hurt either of them. He didn’t think about anything as he grabbed the sledge hammer off the ground and slammed it into the gnome like kid, shattering them in pieces. Demolishing another porcelain child with their own trap, Seven dropped the tool turned weapon and lept through the broken door.

He crept through the rest of the way into a room where he heard marks being placed on a chalkboard and the scratches of pencil writing on paper. He snuck through by hiding behind the chairs whenever the creepy looking teacher glanced back at the “students”. All Seven knew was that this was not how a classroom was supposed to be, well, a children’s class. The next room was smaller, a storage closet perhaps, and Seven immediately saw the glisten of a key on top of the book shelf.

He ran over to it and tried to climb up it to reach it, then the bookshelf began to creak and lean over. He panicked and jumped off, causing it to fall faster, the bookshelf slamming loudly onto the ground. He didn’t need to hear the fast clicks of a heel to know that he needed to hide at that moment. Diving into a fallen empty box on its side, he pulled himself in and stopped breathing, wanting to be as quiet as possible.

The teacher slammed open the door, and Seven had to hold his hand over his mouth to stop a gasp of pure terror as her neck twisted and convoluted to stretch out and search the room for the cause of the disturbance. When the teacher finally left, Seven forced his lungs to wait a second more before he allowed himself to breathe and crawl out of the box. He never wanted to leave this dreadful place more, but he knew he couldn’t without Mono. He walked over to the key he almost died for and held it, hoping that it was worth it. Crouching down and exiting the room through the small opening beside the door he just saw the teacher shut, he grimaced on what he had to do next.

Barely opening the cabinet Seven was now in, he saw that the teacher had now chosen to stand up and walk around, slapping people’s desks with her ruler, instead of writing on the board. This was going to be a nightmare to sneak through, but he reminded himself that Mono was somewhere here having who knows what done to him, he had to hurry.

He was almost to the door when he heard an inhuman screech, he whipped his head around to see the teacher’s neck coming straight for him. His feet moved without him realizing it, and there was a snap of teeth right behind his head, making him almost trip over his own feet from fear. Running down the hallway to the door elevator he saw earlier with the key hole next to it, he could hear the sounds of multiple pairs of feet and the stomach twisting sound of bones breaking. He fumbled with the key in his hands, noticing how sweaty they’ve become from the pressure he was feeling. It took only a second more for him to get the key in there and twist it, the doors to the elevator opening. He could hear the sounds of rapid footsteps increase as the door slowly shut, then when it was all the way shut and starting to move upwards, he felt more than relieved.

Yeah, getting Mono back wasn’t going to be easy was it? Seven will just have to make it hard on them as well then.

Chapter Text

Stepping out of the elevator, Seven let out a breath of air, relieved he was able to get away. He walked down the hall but froze whenever he heard scratching noises. Peeking inside was another porcelain bully writing everywhere with chalk, though this one had a weird hat on and a rope around it’s neck, tied up. Seeing that the door was closed and that a pipe was nearby, he got an idea. He ran in there to one side of the room, immediately alerting the kid he was there, and waited for the right moment to go grab the pipe.

The porcelain child recklessly ran towards Seven, forgetting it had a rope hugging it’s neck, and was pulled back to the ground with a grunt. Seven didn’t waste anymore time to quickly grab the pipe, and he spun around seeing the kid running up to him once again. With the little strength in his arms he raised the pipe over his head and smashed it into the bully, shattering it into pieces. The boy-like doll fell onto the ground with a dull thud, and Seven was still standing there breathing heavily. He was beginning to think that Mono would have done a better job saving him again, but Seven couldn’t change anything and walked over to the door.

The door already had several holes in it, so it only took a couple of heavy swings for Seven to be able to get through it. Dropping the pipe, he stopped moving and tried to listen to the sound that was coming from the vent. It sounded like banging, and Seven didn’t know what it was, or if he wanted to know. Nonetheless he climbed up the drawers on the small dresser in the cramped room and crawled through the vent.

Jumping onto the next part wasn’t an easy task, especially with Seven’s height and without the help of anybody, but he eventually got up there and out of the vent. Though instead of gracefully jumping down, quietly and smoothly, he landed on yet another loose board. Except this one didn’t set off a trap, but made two bottles fall down and onto the ground, creating a loud shattering noise.

The banging stopped and so did Seven’s lungs, then he heard the disgusting telltale sign of the teacher, which was her neck bones breaking and cracking to stretch to an abnormal amount. His brain went into overdrive and he scrambled back onto his feet and into the box just beyond the plank. When he saw the teacher’s head slowly snap back down to her body and continue working on whatever weird thing she was doing, he crept out of the box and made his way over the next board. He was on the plank connected to the other one when he saw another bottle. It was at this moment he wanted to curse the world outloud and shout about how unfair it was, but opted to get it over with.

After nearly having several heart attacks, Seven made his way out of that room through another vent, shockingly without dying, and into what appeared to be a library. That also just happened to be where the teacher decided to go after hearing all the noise Seven made. Seven knew that getting through here was going to be difficult without getting caught, but he had to do it for Mono, because he knew that although the boy may be peculiar, he would do the same for Seven.

Hopping down onto the ground and sliding across the bookshelf ladder, he was able to make his way onto a counter. Though from the movement of him jumping onto it, the books stacked on it fell into the ground, making a loud echoing thump. Seven didn’t stop moving for a second, sprinting when he heard the teacher screech and crash her head through the bookshelf, books flying in every direction. Seven jumped up onto another bookshelf, stumbling from the force of the teacher’s head banging into it, barely missing him.

Seven slid into an empty part of two bookshelves and stayed there a moment, the teacher screaming behind him as she desperately tried to get him. Then when she retracted her head and continued to walk on the other side of the wall of bookshelves, he got out and looked at what he had to face next. Being towers of tied together books and boxes, which he knew he would have to climb on. He sighed and reminded him that he was going to be okay, and that Mono was going to be okay if he hurried along.

Jumping onto the tower was easy enough, but finding a good hold was harder, especially with how loosely they were held together. Whenever Seven heard her stop walking, he would stop moving entirely, too afraid that any sort of sound would alert her. Her wispy breaths were all he could hear, sounding oddly labored and shallow, as if she had to force the air into her lungs. She probably did have to contorting her own neck to reach places that it shouldn’t.

He finally gathered enough courage after a couple more seconds to jump onto the next tower, only for a couple of books to fall down and cause the teacher to yelp in an inhuman way again. Seven scurried to the other side of the tower as the head searched for him, going from one side to the next, making him have to hurriedly climb from one position to another in an attempt to not get caught. The lady eventually gave up and pulled her neck back into place, walking out of the room with the same twisted smile that constantly painted her face.

When she was finally out of the room, Seven jumped down from the tower and back onto the ground, grateful for the steady footing it provided him. Then he started to search for a way out of the library, figuring out that the only way out was from the door the teacher used. He groaned, but accepted his fate anyways, and went to grab a crate of books to use to reach the door handle.

Opening the door, Seven was brought into a large room with double staircases leading upstairs, that he reluctantly went up after learning that the other door down the hall had a lock on it. After a while of looking around he stumbled upon a somewhat elaborate chess puzzle, which made absolutely no sense to be there, other than to make his life more difficult. It took him a while to figure out that the answer was behind a roll up poster, but it didn’t take him that much longer to finish after that. Having to swap the tops of the pieces to the right ones, it flickered on a light that was actually a secret switch.

Daringly going through the now opened passageway, Seven was determined to get back to Mono safely. He didn’t care what he had to do at this point, getting increasingly worried by the minute. He knew that Mono was stronger than him, and therefore could more likely handle more than the scrawnier boy, but it didn’t mean he was invincible. That’s why he hurriedly grabbed the key from the chair and ran back down the stairs to the door that was locked, opening it and going through without hesitation.

That confidence didn’t last long when he heard the loud incomprehensible chatter and sounds of things being hit, but he still pushed onward, too far deep to turn back even if he wanted to. He was greeted by a huge nasty kitchen with dishes piling all the way to the ceiling in some places. He ignored it the best he could and crept through, cautious by all the noise. Seeing one of the porcelain bullies right in the middle of the kitchen was not wanted, but he didn’t think twice to smash it with a huge ladle laying next to it, nor the several others that came after it.

He was ready to have to break more of the fragile doll like children, but when he looked at how many there were in the eating hall, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to handle them all. Trying to find another solution, his eyes lingered on the broken head on the floor, and he knew what he had to do. He picked up the head and put it over his, hoping that the others would be too dumb to notice that he wasn’t one of them, and walked in there. It was awful how loud and terrible they were, with their pushing and destruction of everything in sight, but Seven did get through it just fine, only to end up in a hallway full of the little gremlins too. He sighed but didn’t stop walking, hating the way the fake kids acted in such a horrible manner, and so when he got away he couldn’t help but feel relieved.

He wasn’t able to open the other door, so instead he went the only other way there was, up. Finding what appeared to be a brain in a jar that he could throw at the button on the wall, the door opened for him. He crawled through the hole in the wall and heard the same wispy breathing from earlier. He shivered, knowing exactly who it was coming from. Why did it seem like no matter where he went she was always there?

Not very patiently, Seven waited for the teacher to get done with whatever creepy stuff she was doing and leave the room. When she did, he crawled from underneath the table and entered the next room, only to see that she was in there seemingly studying real human parts. He gagged from the terrible smell of rotting parts that were discarded in several parts of the room, having to force himself to sneak his way out of there as quickly as possible.There was no way he was staying in there long, he did not want his organs to be the ones sitting on the stand.

Jumping out of the vent he just crawled through to escape the nasty lab, he noticed yet another sledge hammer on the ground that the kids liked to use to destroy stuff. He picked it up enough to be able to drag it, walking towards the gnome like child drawing on the ground. Though instead of hitting her, he allowed the trap they set up themselves to get her, so that he could smash the other two ones that ran forwards. Walking down the hallway, fed up with the crappy school, he showed no mercy while killing every single one of the bullies that dared to try to attack him.

Dodging the bucket trap in front of the door, he made his way into the bathroom. He looked up and almost gasped at what he could see through his shaggy hair and dim room. There was Mono, hanging upside down by a rope, slightly swaying looking, what Seven hoped to be, unconscious. There was a flash of strong anger that sparked into his chest and he gripped onto the sledge hammer tighter and made his way to the bullies that were keeping Mono up there. This is what they did to him the entire time he was trying to get him back? There was no telling what Mono felt being upside down for so long, he couldn’t stand the thought of them lifeless dolls doing something to somebody who’s been nothing but kind to him.

Making quick work of the porcelain children, relishing in the way they shattered under the strong force of the hammer, Seven quickly rushed to the rope keeping his friend from the safe ground. Breaking the board that the rope was tied to, he heard it snap and a loud thump that made him flinch, knowing well that the fall did not feel good. He dropped the weapon and ran to the unconscious boy on the floor, kneeling down and softly calling out to him. When he didn’t get a response his fear started to rise, and so he called Mono’s name this time, and carefully touched his head, trying to be gentle even with his increasing worry.

It seemed to work as Mono jerked and started to slowly struggle his way into a sitting position. Seven sat beside him and patted his shoulder. “Careful, you need to be easy on yourself.” He told the disorientated boy gently, still holding onto his shoulder in case he needed any stability.

Mono leaned into the touch, wanting something to ground him while his head was spinning and his vision was fading back. He didn’t know how long he was hanging up there, or how long he yelled at the mean children to let him go so he could get back to Seven, but he did know that he had passed out from the amount of blood that flooded into his head. Tentatively putting one hand on his head, he winced, feeling that he had a headache.

That’s also when he realized that his paper bag had fallen off, from when he had to let go after passing out. He frantically looked around, feeling a wave of relief when he spotted his bag not too far away. He doesn’t know what he’d do if the little brats tore it up. He didn’t move to get it though, he was far too dizzy to be able to move across the room and get it. Luckily he wouldn’t have to, as Seven realized what he was staring at and got up to get it himself. Mono watched him do so, the other’s hand leaving his shoulder, making him sway a bit from the sudden loss of support.

“I don’t know why you wear this, but since it’s important to you, I guess it doesn’t matter.” Seven whispered while handing Mono his paper bag back. Mono was infinitely grateful that Seven didn’t care that he wore a paper bag, especially when others might find it extremely weird. He felt better putting the paper bag back on, but felt a little self-conscious while doing so. What did Seven think of the way he looked? Mono thinks that Seven must have not been bothered, or at least he didn’t show it, as he treated him the same as before. It makes Mono smile once more, thinking about how he got lucky to find Seven, even if it wasn’t from the best situation.

Mono sat there for a few minutes longer, waiting for most of the dizziness to subside, lost in his thoughts. Meanwhile, Seven was still thinking of how he barely got to see any of Mono’s face, from his head being tilted down and Seven overly worried and distracted about the boy’s health more than anything, he only got to really see a glimpse. Though from what he could tell, Mono had shorter hair than him, but it still seemed to be somewhat wilder than his, and Mono’s eyes really were dark, almost black. It made Seven want to look more, so that he could see if he could understand the mysterious boy more, but he would never try to push his boundaries. Maybe one day Mono will actually let him see what he looks like.

“Thank you…” Mono broke the silence, making Seven wince a bit. Seven was trying to break that habit, but it was harder when he couldn’t get used to people talking to him.

Seven looked up at Mono and gave him a tiny smile. “Just returning the favor, I guess.” He said with a small shrug. “Though those fragile children really got on my nerves, and the teacher was so scary!” He exclaimed with a few hand gestures to empathize his point more.

Mono seemed to grimace at the fact that Seven put himself in so much danger for him. “Are you hurt anywhere?” Mono was on his knees now, looking over Seven this time for any injuries.

“Um, no I don’t think so. I landed a little rough a few times, but that’s it.” Seven mumbled, embarrassed that he was being fretted over now, even though Mono was in more pain then he was. It was selfless of Mono, and Seven couldn’t get over that. He wasn’t used to others caring about his wellbeing, and Mono was too much of a kind person that Seven was flustered every time Mono did something nice.

Mono took that answer and nodded, before standing up deciding that they should be going soon. He felt good enough to keep going, and he definitely didn’t want to stay in here much longer than he already has, he could tell that Seven didn’t want to either. They probably needed to rest or something after getting out of this nightmarish school. All of these life threatening situations can’t be good for their health, both physically and mentally.

Grabbing a hold of Seven’s hand, Mono walked towards the window and hopped onto the cabinets next to it and he and Seven both opened the window. Then they had to walk over a plank that was strangely placed right between the two buildings into another window, but Mono didn’t question it as he made his way across. That’s when they found themselves in a room with a piano that had a rope attached to it. Searching the room, neither boy could find anything that would lead them to the next place.

Mono then tried out the crank like thing and started to wind it up, which made the slack rope on the piano tighten and lift the heavy instrument off the ground. He didn’t stop until it was all the way up as it could go, then he released it and allowed it to fall back down, hoping that it would break through the floor. When it didn’t, he frowned, but Seven started to climb up the piano that was halfway through the wooded floor. Mono ran over there to him and did the same.

They didn’t have to tell each other what they were going to do, both jumping out of sync at first but soon together after a few jumps. Mono could feel his heart pump at the anticipation of the piano falling, since he knew that they would most likely crash into whatever was below. All he could pray for was that there wasn’t anybody that they would have to run away from when they got down there, and that they didn’t die from the fall.

Then all of the sudden, he heard the rope snap and they were falling. Mono pulled Seven close to him, practically holding him in a hug as they fell, afraid of the smaller boy falling. Surprisingly, they landed safely on the next floor, still standing for that matter. It seemed their legs and balance were better than he originally thought, or they just got lucky.

Mono was the first one off the piano, and caught Seven when he decided to jump from the side instead of from the front. They could both hear scuttling from the room to the left, though Mono believes it may just be another gnome-like child. Seven actually saw that it was indeed one of those when he looked inside from the gate. Meanwhile, Mono impulsively went on ahead into the room by a small opening high up on the wall, not caring that there was somebody there. He saw the glimmer of a key next to the bully and knew that they were most likely going to need it to open the locked door.

Seven sighed, knowing that if he didn’t do something that Mono was going to do something dumb and get himself hurt again, so he got onto the piano and began to walk all over the keys. The fake kid heard the noise and went up to the gate to investigate, twitching and growling as if it wanted nothing more than to pounce on the boy in the other room and kill him. Mono grabbed a piece of a pipe from nearby, and crept up on the child, before shattering them with a quick swing. He grabbed the key and exited the crumbling room, Seven pulling up the wired gate for him.

In the now unlocked room, there was yet another porcelain kid there. Mono smashed that one with the sledge hammer sitting nearby, Seven staring distantly as he did so, feeling as if he wasn’t doing something he was supposed to. When Mono was done, they both made their way towards the beautiful sounding piano music, which didn’t make sense considering where they were at. Who could be playing that around here?

Knowing that it most likely wasn’t anybody good, they went up the stairs and found another vent they needed to go in. When they exited, there was a pile of books and none other than the teacher sitting there playing the piano. Of course it had to be the weird neck teacher thing that was playing the piano here of all places. Mono wanted to groan out loud from frustration, but held it back due to the teacher being right there. He gestured for Seven to stay there, hoping that if he was caught sneaking through, that at least Seven would be able to escape. Seven nodded his head but seemed a little upset that he was being left behind like his life was worth more than Mono’s, he wouldn’t argue though, not when he knew he would just get in Mono’s way.

Mono tried his hardest to silently crouch walk over to the other side of the room, where he could clearly see another crank like thing from the other room with a piano. This time though, instead of lifting the piano it brought down a platform that they could use to get to the next room. Mono heard the teacher stop playing to turn the page, and he immediately stopped turning the crank until he heard her start playing again. It was a good thing that she was distracted, or else they probably wouldn’t be alive right now.

When Mono was done, he had to push a rolly drawer to get back onto the stack of books so he could cross the lowered platform that Seven just went across. When they were both on the next plank of wood near the vent out of the room, Mono thought they had officially got out without alarming the teacher, which was a win in his book. Too bad things never went his way, because as soon as he and Seven were climbing into the vent, the platform began to rise, and this time the teacher noticed it.

There was a horrible screech and Mono rushed in behind Seven, only to see him struggling with another part of the vent. As the teacher's neck rapidly stretched to catch them, bending the metal vent with her large head, the two boys were starting to panic, hurriedly moving through the cramped space. Mono could feel the teacher’s nasty breath right behind him, the odd warmth spreading along his back as the sound of snapping increased with every inch the teacher got closer to him.

It seemed as if Mono’s legs couldn’t move fast enough, barely escaping a few of the bites the inhuman teacher tried on him. If it wasn’t for Seven staying back a bit and pulling him along, able to move more due to his size, Mono believed he might have died right then and there. At the end of the vent, Seven jumped to the other side, quickly spinning around and holding out his hand for Mono, who definitely couldn’t leap as far as him in this state. Mono didn’t think twice to sprint as fast as he could, holding out his hand and latching onto Seven’s, who pulled him in right before the teacher got there.

They both tumbled into the area, falling into a dumpster of what appeared to be clothes. Holding their breaths, they waited for the teacher’s neck to start cracking again as it went back to its original place. With the teacher finally gone, they pulled themselves out of the dumpster, Mono going straight for Seven’s hand and down the street. It was raining, the ground wet and the patter of rain above their head. They would have both appreciated the refreshing water any other time, but when they saw the long wooden plank up ahead, soaked and slippery, Mono wished it could have held out for a little longer.

He didn’t let go of Seven’s hand as they walked across, both using one arm to try to keep them balanced on the thin planks barely hanging together. Whoever designed this place clearly had no idea what they were doing, or perhaps the place had changed to become like this. When Mono daringly looked away from the plank and onto the world around him, it seemed that everything was leaning towards the center, the buildings all tilting in the same weird angle. One thing was for sure, this place used to be a lot better than the ruins that were left.

Going through the rainy streets and over dumpsters, they finally made it to a place in the wall where they could go for shelter from the rain. It wouldn’t be any good if one of them got sick, especially with the little food that was still in their stomachs. The room was barely lit by a hole in the ceiling, allowing some water to come in and soak the ground, washing along other things as well. Though what stood out the most was a yellow raincoat. Mono felt like the raincoat was important in some way, that it was meant for something more than being discarded on the ground.

It was the perfect size for Seven, and would most likely protect him from the rain and colder weather. Mono was about to mention it to the boy, when he saw that he was already trying to open the door. He gave the raincoat one last look, before deciding that it didn’t matter, that he could forget about it. Cupping his hands, allowing Seven to jump and grab the door handle, they entered the next place.

They went through a vent that neither knew where it led on the side of a building, finding some oddly placed gauze inside it as well. Then they opened the vent, and came into their view was another large building, something that Mono knew he was not looking forward to. He went in the window anyways, Seven trailing behind him, both accepting their fate.

Chapter Text

Walking in the building, Mono registered it as a hospital from the layout of the first room. There were cots laying and other medical supplies laying around, and Mono wondered if it would be a good idea to take some for later. From what he could see in the dim light, there appeared to be no life or movement, which didn’t make him feel any better. He grabbed back onto Seven’s hand and walked slowly deeper into the place.

Seven didn’t know why Mono wanted to explore this gloomy looking building, himself not feeling up to it in the slightest. Though when Mono grabbed onto his hand, he didn’t say anything or try to pull away as he was dragged along. This hospital felt off to him, like it wasn’t all as it seemed to be. He couldn’t let Mono explore by himself.

That was proved to Seven when he and Mono pushed open the door, only for him to stumble forward and almost fall off into the dark abyss below. Luckily Mono grabbed onto him and pulled him back up before he fell, holding Seven worriedly as the paper bag boy looked cautiously over the edge. He was starting to regret coming into the place, but he felt as if he couldn’t go back, so he glanced at the oddly hanging beds and got ready to jump. If he needed to do this so that he and Seven could be safe, he would.

Seven didn’t waste any time to follow Mono, not daring to look down as he did. Hopping from one bed onto another to climb up like a ladder, Seven was already starting to get tired. It feels like the sleep he had earlier already wore off, but he wasn’t going to quit now, not if Mono was to keep going.

Jumping into the wide open door, they were finally safe from the hanging beds. Going down the dark hallway, Seven didn’t think too much as he walked close to Mono. That’s when Mono realized it was a dead end, the electric door not buzzing like the last one. The other door down the hall was unreachable, meaning that they needed to find a way to get the door to open. Remembering seeing a battery like thing close to the fist door they came in at, Mono knew that it had to be the thing powering it, especially with most places no longer having electricity due to multiple reasons.

Running back down the hall to try out his theory, he gestured for Seven to stay where he was and wait, since he was only going to be gone for a second. He got back to the door and walked over to the wall with the bright battery sitting inside it, and took a minute to study it in case of anything that may be dangerous. When he found nothing, Mono grabbed onto the handle and yanked it out, the battery easily slipping out, made to be moved from one place to another. The door beside him closed, no longer having the energy to keep its doors open.

He came back over to the door, with Seven giving him a weird look as he was packing around something that he had no clue about. Though it all seemed to make sense when Mono plugged the battery in and the door began to humm, opening up for them. He gave Mono a goofy grin and a small nod, which made Mono smile back, too bad Seven couldn’t see it.

What they both thought was just a door, was actually the opening to what appeared to be an elevator, though the actual elevator was stuck below them. Mono having to jump down, Seven coming right down with him, making the elevator slip a bit and the rope to loosen. Neither of the boys liked that one bit, knowing it could be dangerous if the elevator really did fall, so Seven cautiously made his way to the vent close by to open it. Mono rushed to help as the elevator began to creak and move from the extra weight and looseness of the only thing holding it there.

They barely made it in the small vent when the elevator was completely detached to the cord, causing it to fall, sparks were flying as it scraped the walls all the way down. Instead of there being a loud bang from it finally reaching the bottom, the scraping noise faded, making Mono wonder just how far deep the elevator actually went, and glad he wasn’t going down with it.

The room outside the vent was practically pitch black, no outside light able to reach it. Making it a good thing that Seven found a flashlight in the middle of the room, handing it over to Mono for him to use. He’s had enough experience with flashlights to know that he didn’t like trying to use them, especially when he needed to run or hide. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how to use it, so as soon as Mono grabbed the flashlight from Seven, he pressed the button, the light instantly lighting up part of the room. Mono was relieved to know that he and Seven weren't about to try to explore this place in the dark, that would just be a nightmare and a headache.

As Mono continued to walk through the grim looking hospital, Seven stayed close by, not liking the dark all too much. He would never admit it out loud, but he hated being in the dark, not liking how well it could hide monsters. The place was very dusty, and all the medical equipment and supplies seemed to be either rundown or unusable. It was clear that nobody had used the stuff in a long time, if anybody was here, which both boys had a feeling that at least something was. Afterall, they were never truly safe in the world were they?

The door at the end of the hall was boarded up, something that Seven never liked to see. Mono turned around and decided to go down the hallway, wondering if they could find another path that way. He may have made the choice to explore this dump, but he really didn’t want to stay in there for longer than he had to. The end of that hallway was strangely blocked off by a locked up gate, so instead they entered the room with what Mono thought was blood in the doorway, never a good sign. Seven looked at the blood with disgust, but waved it off, it wasn’t uncommon for places to have blood in it, as people tended to be rather violent.

Again, there was a dead end, but this time there was a button that Mono could see that would open the gate. He attempted a jump to try to reach it, not even getting close enough to press it. He couldn’t have Seven boost him up either, so they would have something to throw at it instead. There didn’t appear to be anything in the room to grab that would be heavy enough to actually cause the button to press in, so Mono was about to backtrack to look in the other places.

Seven, being the smart boy he is, looked at the extremely old snack machine next to the door, and pulled on the lever. Grabbing the outdated can, he walked back over to the button and threw it at it the hardest he could, successfully opening the gate with a loud buzz. Mono stared at him with wonder the entire time, questioning how Seven knew what the weird machine was.

Mono walked right into the next room and immediately felt that it was off, it only took another step for him to understand why that was. He took one glance at the television in the middle of the room and everything started to distort, having to cover his ears from the terrible noise that was being emitted from it. He saw that Seven wasn’t behind him, or maybe he was, he couldn’t really tell as the world around him bended to the offtune signal coming from the television.

There was a loud ringing sound mixed with other horrific sounds that made his ears want to burst. It seemed to force his feet to continue closer, wanting desperately to just fix it or something, just anything to make it stop. He didn’t know why he was like this, or why his powers did this, but he wished it would go away. He didn’t want this.

When he got close enough, he shakily raised his left hand to the television, causing it to quickly shift to that one odd screen again. He didn’t dare look at it too much, instead focusing on the floor as he used his powers to tune the signal. Everytime he felt like he was getting close, he would lose it and there would be a forceful and somewhat painful push on him, forcing him to try again. Eventually he did get it, the world honing in on the television and the ringing getting louder, until he was finally teleported to the hallway he frequently dreamed of.

Again, the world seemed to slow, his footsteps sounded distant. The only light there came from the door and as he inched closer the world began to shake and the ringing increased once more, almost like it was trying to kick him back out. He was so close though, he couldn’t leave now! Not when he was finally about to figure out why he kept seeing this place, or why he felt like it was so important!

He didn’t even get close when he was pulled out of the television from Seven, it going off much like the last when did, the signal no longer torturing his mind. He and Seven both landed on the ground, and he attempted to sit up, his head pounding. That’s only when Mono really gave the room they were in a good look at. He saw several wheelchairs with fake severed bodies sitting in them. There were stairs going up, most likely leading where they were going to have to go to next.

Mono stayed on the ground for a moment longer, trying to wait for the world to go back to normal completely and for his head to feel better. Seven, who was already back on his feet, had walked over to Mono. He was looking worriedly at Mono, wondering why he did whatever that was, especially since it seemed like it hurt him. He didn’t want to force Mono to say anything he felt uncomfortable doing so, but he really didn’t like how this was affecting the boy, whatever it may be. He could only hope that Mono was taking care of himself.

Reluctantly, Mono got back on his feet, knowing that they should probably get moving again. Running up the stairs, the boys both figured out that they were going to need a key before they could keep going. Sighing, Mono went back down the stairs and into the other rooms to search. One room was an X-Ray room with several pictures hanging up on the wall. Which he didn’t pay much mind to, since there were some with broken bones that he didn’t like to look at. That’s why when Seven continued to study them, Mono went to the room connected to it, being a play area with several toys and bookshelves in it.

Mono was touching the stuffed bunny when he looked up at the wall to see children’s drawings. Except, the drawings on the wall weren’t the cute small drawings that you would expect of a child, instead they were creepy sketches of eyes and other indescribable things. Mono didn’t like the thought of them, a shudder going through his body as he tore his eyes away, walking back into the other room with the bunny in his hands.

He didn’t know why he did it, but he was curious to see if the X-Ray could make it where you could see through the bunny like it could do with people. That’s why he sat the bunny behind the X-Ray screen and called onto Seven, who had just walked into the other room to explore. “Hey, Seven, could you turn on the X-Ray for me?”

Seven nodded his head, quickly handing the toy he was holding to Mono before going over to the switch. He jumped and grabbed onto it, his weight able to pull it down for him, turning on the X-Ray. Mono, still holding onto the lever with his weight, twisted his head to look at the humming machine. He first was surprised by seeing Seven’s skeleton, not expecting him to be standing there still. Though what really made his eyes widen was the fact that there were things inside the two toys that Seven was beside, the stuffed bunny having a key while the toy Seven was holding had something else. Curiosity can really help sometimes.

Letting go of the lever, it slowly going back up and turning the machine back off, Mono went to pick up the bunny. Seven followed suit by keeping his toy, which he already knew had something inside of it from studying the pictures on the wall. He already knew that some toys had items in them, because one of the images was literally of a stuffed animal with a key inside it. That’s why he went inside the playroom, investigating every toy until he found one a bit heavier than it should be.

Going back down the hallway, they took the toys with them on an old looking elevator, nothing like the one they almost died on. Both knew that they needed to find a way to get the objects out of the toys, so exploring a bit more for something that could work would be helpful. What they both weren't expecting to find was a practically empty room with an incinerator inside the wall. Why would a hospital have that? The two young boys could only hope it was used for heating and not anything else, but it was hard to believe with a cot nearby with what looked like a body bag on it.

After burning the toys, with some awfully alive sounds emitting as they were turned into ashes, they were able to get the key and go back on the elevator to the story above. Using the key to unlock the door, they entered an extremely disturbing room. There were fake limbs hanging on hooks like meat in a slaughterhouse, most of a mannequin on a chair that looked like it belonged to a dentist office and not a hospital. Mono didn’t like it one bit, so he held the flashlight steady and kept moving, not wanting to look around the room for anything. He may have also grabbed onto Seven’s hand, of course to keep the smaller boy safe and not to just make him feel less scared.

The first door he saw was locked, but it was a good thing that further down there was a door with the window busted out, allowing Seven to boost Mono into it. Seven never liked separating, knowing that Mono could be rather careless at times, but knew that he couldn’t come with him at this point and would just have to trust him. Not that he didn’t already trust the odd boy more than he ever did anybody else.

Mono also did not like leaving Seven behind. They may have not seen anything that would remotely put them in great danger, but that did not mean that this gross place wasn’t full of unsafe secrets either. There was no telling when something could pop out at them, and now they didn’t have each other to back them up. He would have to get over it and just try to get back to Seven as soon as possible, since that’s all he could do.

All seemed fine in the quiet room, until Mono began to move a box of mannequin parts and heard moving from what he thought to be a fake body strapped to the table in the middle of the room. He glanced back for only a second to see the whole thing twitching as if trying to escape its binds, but then a hand popped off crawling away. Mono knew that what just happened wasn’t a good sign, and started to fearfully move along, now having more than one motivation to hurry up.

He could hear the hand cracking and crawling on the floor, and then he saw it lunge at him, he was hardly able to avoid it by jumping over it. He ran, climbing up a shelf to a vent, hearing the hand right behind him, using it’s fake joints to follow him up. Mono dived into the vent, right before the hand could latch onto him. The vent door closed behind him when he jumped out from the other side, keeping the weird hand stuck there.

He would be lying if he thought he was safe, as that didn’t stop the hand for long. As he sprinted down the hall and into a large room, he could hear the hand following him in the vents. It broke through landing right in front of him, which caused him to flinch back in shock for a second before jumping over the small malicious hand once more. He continued to run from the hand until he found a hammer in the middle of the floor, and Mono couldn’t believe his luck. He grabbed onto the hammer tightly and slammed it right into the hand that was about to lunge an attack.

Too bad the hand was tougher than that, and one hit was not going to be enough to break it. After a tense few minutes of having to wait for the perfect moment before hitting the hand, Mono was finally able to kill it in three hard hits. He never in his life thought he would have to fight a doll hand, and then it hit him. He left Seven with tons of mannequins, there was no telling if Seven had to fight any of them right now or not. He knew that Seven could easily take care of himself, but there was no way anybody could defend themselves from an army of things that were not supposed to be alive in the first place. The deep worry in Mono festered as he grabbed the battery to break a window and exited the place of new nightmares he didn’t want.

Seven could tell that Mono looked a little shaken but relieved as he saw him alive and well outside the glass, and could only imagine what just happened to the poor boy. Nonetheless, Seven picked up the battery and walked out of the room to the place in the wall that needed batteries near the elevator. He put it in but was disappointed to see that the thing needed yet another battery. Mono took the battery back out and carried it over to another gate that required a battery. Placing it in, there was the signifying sound of a buzzer before the gate slowly creaked open. They were going to have to go even deeper into the building now, which Mono no longer felt like doing, especially with the spook he got from the sort of alive hand.

Having to leave Seven once again, something that Mono didn’t want to learn was that some of the mannequins could apparently move in the dark. Mono was even more grateful for the light source in his hand, which was practically the only thing keeping him alive as he traversed the area. It was nearly impossible to keep multiple of the cursed things away at a time, which stressed Mono out to his core, trying to keep the light on every one of the moving things. He was glad that Seven didn’t have to endure this now, he wouldn’t even wish this on his worst enemy, well perhaps The Hunter.

Mono was glad to finally make it out of there, and when he got into a hallway that seemed completely empty with every door shut, he felt like he would be okay. All that hope was ruined as soon as he walked past the first door, swarms of desperately reaching hands tried to grab him from every door, peaking out in the broken areas. He was terrified to say the least, running down the hall, feeling the ghost of hands that were so close to grabbing him. If he hadn’t been quick enough he would have surely just got caught.

That wasn’t even the worst of it as one of the lousy doors broke, allowing the creepy inhabitants to escape, going straight for Mono until he flashed the light at it. More appeared and he had to crawl underneath the bed backwards to keep the light on them, until he heard another one behind him. None of them had legs, so he panickingly jumped onto a file cabinet and climbed his way up it, glad to see that the monsters couldn’t follow him. Though the popping and creaking from them didn’t lighten up the slightest as he crawled through the vent, still echoing as he crawled.

He was breathing heavily at this point, wondering how in the world he just survived. This was almost worse then The Hunter, actually scratch that, this was way worse. Still, he had somebody important waiting for him and he couldn't keep them waiting. That didn’t mean he couldn’t take a small break, catching his breath and gathering his wits.

It was a good thing he did because soon he was having to spin around in fast circles just to ward off the horde of mannequins coming at him now. There were more than a dozen of those creepy monsters in the dark room, all moving towards him whenever he accidentally forgot to shine his flashlight at them. The constant sound of shifting of fake joints and popping of material made him think that he would rather deal with the teacher again. Why in the world did he decide to come here?

Finally making it out of that room, hands and arms peaking out of the boards to make a last attempt to murder the boy. Hearing the noise, Seven whipped around, scared at first that it would be some kind of monster. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was Mono, who had made it out alive and was currently getting the next battery. Seven had been waiting for a little bit now, and was starting to get more than a little anxious that something had happened to his friend. After all, this place was not good, he knew that for sure.

The shorter boy gave a good look at Mono, seeing how fast he was breathing though how glad he seemed whenever he looked at Seven. It looked like Mono went through a lot just then, and Seven decided that he would be the next one to leave this time, as Mono couldn’t keep going like this. Obtaining the battery from Mono, Seven allowed Mono out of the room and they made their way back to the elevator. Mono grabbed the other battery and they both put them into the places on the wall, allowing them to go to the next floor below.

It felt tense and strangely quiet waiting for the elevator to stop. Just how deep did the thing go? Mono was still on edge, even more so with the feeling he was getting. Seven’s nerves weren’t faring any better, feeling like everything was just going to get harder from here. It would be likely, since nothing in the world was ever easy, having to always be alert of danger. Honestly a life without danger around every corner seemed like a fantasy, and more hopeless every hour they endured whatever came their way. Maybe one day they could be at peace.

Seven saw how lost Mono looked in his thoughts, staring at a wall with his shoulders slumped but also weirdly stiff. He didn’t know what to do, so he just grabbed the boy’s hand like they did so often. Mono was snapped out of his deep thoughts when he felt the warmth in his palm. He looked at the shy boy next him, and couldn’t help but smile, glad he was here. It really was comforting to know that you weren’t alone.

Chapter Text

Mono and Seven exited the elevator hand in hand, their feet slapping against the smooth tile underneath. It was still pitch black, the only source of light coming from his flashlight and elevator. A strong odor came from down the wide hall, which they learned was coming from a pile of moldy mannequins. Not wanting to go that way, they started heading down the opposite hallway.

There was another gate, though this time they just needed to climb up a piece of metal hanging out of the window opening, easily getting in. There were surprisingly working lights above them, lighting up where they needed to go, so that Mono didn’t need to constantly hold the flashlight. It was a good thing too, because after going closer to the barely boarded up door, one of the cabinets on the file drawer began to shake. One hand popped out, Seven rushed over and started to try and keep the rest of whatever was in there locked up. Mono picked up a pipe piece instead, fighting off the escaped hand, keeping it away from Seven.

Mono got a few swings on the hand crawling around before Seven couldn’t keep holding back the other one, it springing out as he ran towards the door. With Mono fighting the hands, Seven worked on trying to pull the boards off the bottom of the door, slightly covering up the hole there. Mono was able to fend himself from the hands, taking them both out. Seven was still panickingly struggling with the door when Mono came over to him, helping take off the rest of the boards.

If they thought the hallway smelled bad, then this room just out right stunk, probably because of the literal rotting face masks on the wall. They could both hear banging over head, which was never a good sign, Mono sticking closer to Seven as he looked up and continued. They walked quietly into the next room that had shelves almost everywhere full of mostly towels and medical stuff. The thing that stuck out the most was a large man hanging on the ceiling, crawling around instead of using the floor, his body twisting in ways it shouldn’t to do so.

The two boys hid underneath one of the shelves and peered at the deformed man as he was using the shelves to hold himself while he looked around. The man, if you could consider it that anymore, had fat rolling down and his forehead was extremely wrinkly. Neither child liked the look of the doctor, watching cautiously as he crawled away on the ceiling. How in the world did the ceiling not fall from the pressure? They would probably never know.

As the doctor worked on what the two boys could only hope was mannequin parts, they attempted to sneak past, not wanting to be chased by the thing. It worked, they were able to crouch walk through a hole and into the next room. The room they were in now had a lot of beds, most likely being an old resting room or medical bay. Glad for the bed’s covering, the two watched as the disturbing figure opened the door and crawled through there, grunting and huffing. The roof creaked and crumbled a bit from the pressure of the oversized man, but still did not break.

Seven’s breathing stopped whenever the man bent down next to the bed he and Mono were hiding under, messing with something on top of the bed, most likely a mannequin patient. When he went away to do the same to another mannequin, the boys began to quietly sneak under another bed, praying they wouldn’t be caught. They were slowly making their way over as the doctor worked away, not knowing that they were two very alive children there it could grab for whatever weird experiments he was doing.

Making a hand movement for Mono to stay put in a safe position, ignoring the obvious dislike from the boy, Seven made his way to a block on the ground. They would need it to press the button on a gate out of the room. Quickly, but silently, the boys got back to the gate, and Seven threw the block as hard as he could at the button. The gate made a loud buzzing sound like it always did while opening, making both boys sprint out of the room and into a hiding place. The doctor made some weird grunting noises, shuffling as fast as he could go to investigate what happened.

Mono and Seven could hear the man breathing heavily, searching for the invaders, before deciding to search a different part of the room. Knowing this was their only chance, the children ran to the file cabinet that was directly under a vent in the ceiling, quickly climbing their way to it. The vent door made a loud creaking noise, and Mono winced, thinking he was about to hear the doctor come back and get them. When that didn’t happen, he let out a small breath of relief. It didn’t last long as Mono could see a light turn on in the room below from the missing tiles, which were no doubt from the doctor’s weight.

The vent was dusty and bent in multiple places, making them all the more wary, but they luckily made it out without dying. Now they were in a more open space between the ceiling tiles and the actual ceiling, half of the tiles no longer there. The man was really not supposed to crawl on these, as he was tearing most of them off, making the whole ceiling dip and fall apart in spots. Mono was glad to be able to get back down onto the ground by hopping off onto an opened cot attached to the wall. Seven just completely ignored it and landed on the bed below it, somehow taking the fall without any injuries, shocking Mono from how far the boy could jump without getting hurt.

Mono had to turn on the flashlight again so that they could see, and he was grateful the doctor wasn’t in the room, since the light would immediately give away their place. He was also glad about that whenever Seven began to drag out a rusty pull out cot, it creaked loudly the entire time. Seven got into it after pulling it most of the way out, Mono about to argue about him going instead when the smaller boy gave him a hard look. Mono puffed, irritated, or mostly worried, but pushed the cot back through the wall nonetheless. Now Seven was in the other room, exploring for something.

Seven did not like the air of this room at all, smelling horrid and feeling almost suffocating. He searched the room, wanting to get out of here soon so that he can properly breath, finding nothing really. That’s when he decided he needed to look in higher places, and started to pull out the cots that had actual covered bodies in them. Feeling grossed out as he walked over the dead figure and leaped onto the next cot already pulled out, it has a stiff but oddly squishy body as well. Swinging on an opened cabinet, he was able to get on top of the counter.

The dark haired boy almost slipped as he walked on it, blood covering most of the once smooth top. He hated how it felt slimy on his bare feet, spreading on them as he carefully treaded across. The blood most likely came from the pile of human guts in the sink, which had a nasty shine to it in the fluorescent light. Absolutely disgusted by the insides of a person laying right out in the open, Seven tried his hardest to ignore it.

The small boy stepped back a little, and made the decent sized jump to another pulled out cot, this time with what seemed to have a box in it. Now that he was on top of the cabinets, he was able to look around and spot that there was a key on a smaller cabinet below, which he couldn’t reach on the ground. Feeling proud of himself for finding it, he hopped down and grabbed the key, holding it tightly in his hand as he just jumped the rest of the way down back to the floor.

The dark haired child made his way back to the cot that got him in there and called for Mono, who answered back with a small noise, pulling out the thing for Seven to get back. Now that Seven was with Mono, he held up the key and grinned, the other boy giving him a thumbs up. They now had the key to unlock the double door on the other side of the room, so that they could keep going.

Though the door was still somewhat jammed, which the two boys did not like that. Hoping that nothing was on the other side of the door, or that the incredibly big doctor wasn’t there, they both began to push on the door. It squeaked from the pressure of the boys putting all their weight on it, and soon flew open after a few seconds of bending. Mono fell over on himself, while Seven just stumbled forward a bit. The boy still standing held out his hand for Mono, helping the other back on his feet.

This room seemed to hold more bodies that Seven was getting tired of seeing. Mono wasn’t particularly fond of it either, wondering where all these corpses came from and why they were there. Didn’t hospitals usually not keep patients they failed to keep alive? He thought that was for cemeteries or something.

None of that mattered as they were getting out, using a file cabinet to get on top of the shelves and into another vent. Mono doesn’t know why they go through so many vents, but he was feeling a little claustrophobic from the whole thing, uncomfortable with how little the small space gave for him to escape fast and easy. It also provided little hiding places. Seven didn’t find the vents fun either, though didn’t mind them as much, since it was a much safer way of travel then right in the open near the monsters that were after them. Really, he was grateful for them, as they helped them both out before. That didn’t mean he wanted to stay in there for too long, the air felt thinner with no air ever actually passing through it.

Going up the ladder in the vent, that never made sense to Mono, because only children would be able to fit through the vents. Unless, that was exactly what they were designed for. He lifted the vent covering and crawled out, holding it up for Seven to get out as well. This place was well lighted for the most part, allowing Seven to see the dust floating in the air, gross. There was yet another gate that would need a battery to open up, and both of the kids knew it was up to them to find the dang thing. This was going to be a lot of fun.

Another fun thing was that they could hear the doctor up here with them, adding another thing for them to worry about. No longer able to go through the door like normal people, the two petite children crouched under the space in the wall and out to the other side, having to hide under the sink barely attached to the wall. The whole room shook and the light swung as the large man went back and forth in the room, bending down to grab strange looking stuff to go clean off in a sink. There was a butcher knife and other suggestive things on the same table, that made Seven believe that the stuff the doctor had was actually meat, human meat that was. Were most people cannibals nowadays?

Quietly sneaking from the sink to under the table that the doctor was using, the two waited rather impatiently for the right time to make their way to another table to hide under. Then when the doctor was distracted and couldn’t see them, Seven gestured for Mono to boost him up into the room beside them. Mono shook his head, not wanting to put the smaller boy in any risks like that since he chose to come into this place. Seven gave Mono a frown and crossed his arms, obviously not allowing Mono to do this without a fight.

Mono worriedly looked over his shoulder at the doctor, who could come back this way at any time, and back to Seven who still wasn’t showing any signs of cooperation. He sighed and shook his head, giving in once again to the stubborn boy in front of him. He cupped his hands and Seven swiftly got into the next room, which appeared to be a very rundown and almost empty medical room.

There was a loud beeping sound that filled the room, coming from a machine near a bed. There was a light near the bed behind the curtain surrounding it, allowing Seven to clearly see a body laying on the bed. To his surprise the body was moving, not any weird twitching or anything either, it was breathing. Though he wondered how long that would last, especially after seeing the tons of other patient’s dead bodies stored away in pull out cots inside cabinets. The poor person was probably going to have their organs ripped out and examined, or their whole body chopped up and eaten by the oversized doctor.

Climbing up on the towel rack, that oddly enough had neatly folded towels on it, Seven was able to reach a ladder. Carefully going up bars that looked like they were put into the wall with force, causing cracks to spread all over, the boy made it to the top of the ceiling tiles. Like the one he and Mono had to walk over before, these were also broken or missing in some places, which he carefully avoided.

Realizing what he had to do, looking down at the lever below, he frowned and hesitated. This would most likely cut off the power that was keeping the other alive, causing them to die. Seven knew that they didn’t deserve that, or that they most likely didn’t since he actually didn’t know them. He has ended other people’s life before, but that was for self defense as they were usually after him. This person was lying unconscious on a bed, probably not even knowing what was going on. Did they truly need to die?

On the other hand, it was either them or the two boys. Seven would always choose Mono than some stranger lamely sleeping. Plus, they would most likely die soon anyways and be used for worse things. Maybe it would be better if Seven just ended their misery now, allowing them to pass on instead of being dependent on a machine and a wicked man to live. Yeah, this was for the best. At least Seven told himself that as he readied himself and jumped, catching the lever and pulling it down.

The lever made a loud sound, probably from where it hadn’t been used in a while. Seven looked over at the machine, the beeping sound replaced with ringing as the line flattened, signaling the person was dead. He could already tell though, as they quit breathing as well, their body no longer rising. He let go of the lever and landed on the ground, feeling guilty with what he did.

He didn’t get to think about those confusing feelings much more, as he could hear the tell-tale grunts and noises that the doctor heard what happened and was about to investigate. The boy froze for a second, almost forgetting that the doctor was even on the other side of the wall, before quickly moving his legs to hide himself under the bed with the now dead person on top. He tried to not think about it as he stilled his own breathing, anxiously hoping that he wouldn’t get caught.

The door to the room was opened, the doctor having to duck in to be able to enter, he grunted when he saw the line flat and began to move towards the switch. The whole room trembled violently from it, and the person on top also shook, almost seeming alive, making Seven nauseous all over again. The man went to the switch and flipped it back on, the machine beeping once more, though this time it was a lot faster. There was more movement from on top of the bed, and the doctor went to look at them after turning the switch back off.

Seven could see the doctor bend down and look at the patient, before grabbing it’s body and moving it around, probably trying to fix whatever happened. Seven took the opportunity to book it out of the room, hating how the room and the occupants inside made him feel.

Mono, upon spotting Seven rushing out, ran to the back of the room where the doctor was before. He hurriedly pulled out a cot and got on top so that he could use it to get to the other one. Now high enough to reach an opened cabinet, he was able to grab the battery he saw while Seven was busy finding a distraction for the doctor. There was still loud beeping from the other room and grunts from the doctor as he hurriedly worked, for some reason trying to keep the patient alive. Seven glanced into the room, his stomach doing flips from what he did, but not dwelling on it at the moment, running with Mono.

Instead of using the hole in the wall again, he just walked straight out of the door, since he didn’t have to worry about the doctor seeing them this time. He walked as fast as he could with the heavy battery in his hands to the place in the wall near the gate they needed open. He knew this would create a loud buzzing sound much like the others, so he looked over at Seven to see if the boy was prepared. Seven looked at him and reluctantly nodded, readying himself in case they had to bolt as soon as the gate opened, which they most likely would.

With that, Mono put in the battery, already prepared for the loud alarm going off as it shifted open. There was a loud yelp from deep inside the other room, and the boys knew that the doctor was now alert of them. There were loud thumps from the doctor rushing to get them, and Mono gripped Seven’s hand and ran out of the still barely parted gate. They couldn’t wait for it to fully open if they wanted to make it out alive.

With the large twisted man yelling in a distorted, muffled voice, the kids ran faster, if possible. Sliding underneath shelves with bodies stacked on them, having to dodge them whenever the doctor pushed them over in an attempt to hit them with that, they were trying their hardest to survive. They may be exhausted with all that has been happening, but the adrenaline in them was causing that to melt and be replaced with a strong motive to get out of there. They should probably rest afterwards though.

The large man would make a weird grunting sound whenever he bent down to try and grab Mono, which was the only warning that he had to move out of the way. The other boy was further ahead, as they let go of hands soon after they began to run, both needing to focus on going. The smaller boy was a lot more nimble and faster than Mono as well. Leaping over and sliding under shelves as fast as he could, Mono was barely making it as the doctor caught up, pushing every single one of them to keep going. The stuff on them also shattered as they hit the ground, another obstacle that the poor boy had to avoid. To say the least, Mono was scared out of his mind, natural instinct and adrenaline the only thing not letting him cower in fear.

Mono sprinted down a few stairs, getting him a little bit ahead as the doctor attempted another grab at him. Then he had to crawl under some low tables with mannequin parts on it, seeing Seven there who had stopped for a second to make sure that Mono was alright. They both went as fast as they could, the tables behind them being crushed from the doctor who was trying to still kill them. The tables had been piled up all the way to the ceiling near the end of it, causing the doctor to try and crush them, wanting to get past them to get the two children who have been escaping his grasp every time.

That’s when Mono saw another bigger furnace up ahead, much like the one in the room they were in earlier to burn the stuffed animal. He made up a quick plan since there was no other way to escape, and hoped it would work. He signaled for Seven to hide underneath the furnace door, which made the said boy look at Mono like he was crazy. Mono nodded again, trying desperately to get Seven to trust him on this. Seven looked at the boy for another millisecond, barely hesitating again before nodding. He dived underneath the furnace door and waited, Mono only hoping that the doctor would chase after him and not go after the other. He would never forgive himself if that happened.

Mono launched himself in the huge furnace, which still had a cot in it for bodies, and crawled underneath it, hiding from the doctor. The doctor was stupid enough to follow him in there, barely fitting as he squeezed in with whine like noises. Mono could see some light up ahead, which was the exit he was going to use to get out of there, noticing it before coming up with this dangerous plan. The cot bent from the large amount of weight on it, and Mono could see a reaching hand from behind as he struggled with the vent door leading out.

Mono successfully made it right before the cot fully collapsed from the man, and he waved at Seven to close the door. Seven nodded before quickly slamming the metal door, the latch falling down on its own, keeping the doctor trapped inside. Though when Seven saw the door actually bending and the latch coming loose, he knew that he needed to do something to keep the doctor inside and them safe. He looked at the switch on the wall that reminded him a lot of the one he flipped just a few minutes ago, killing the poor patient on the bed. He may have felt bad for that person, but this man had too many bad things for him to feel any sort of guilt. Which is why he didn’t hesitate to jump and grab the switch, pulling it down and turning on the incinerator.

There was a yellowish orange light spilling out from the open vent below, heat pooling out as well. Screams of agony could be heard as the man burned inside, a horrible smell also starting to mix into the musty air. It was horrific really, but neither boy could find themselves to care as they listened, knowing that the distorted man had it coming.

They didn’t stay there for too long though, as the noises inside soon stopped, and the smell from the black smoke was becoming overpowering. Hand in hand, they started to make their way out of the terrible place. They got into an elevator that Mono was sure would lead the way out, and couldn’t help but sigh in relief. They made it out alive, and now he was going to be sure to rest before continuing, if he could that was. He looked at Seven, who was staring absently at the floor. Mono could only think about how tired the boy must feel, especially with the adrenaline wearing off.

Seven’s eyes were indeed drooping, but he held strongly onto Mono’s hand. He knew he would probably never forget this day, with everything that was happening. It felt like forever ago that he and Mono left the wilderness, but he knew that it probably hadn’t even been a day ago. It was funny how time seemed to work at certain points. He was now, more than ever, grateful for the boy beside him, because there was no telling what he would be doing or if he would even be alive without the paper bag wearing boy. To be honest, he’d most likely be still locked up in that room in the cabin, waiting to die. He didn’t really care what crazy adventure Mono dragged him on, as long as he was there with him, he’s sure he’ll be fine.

Chapter Text

The gate to the elevator slowly creaked open, and the two boys still holding each other’s hand made their way out slowly. The whole building was silent, allowing them to hear the steady downpour of rain outside, giving them both mixed feelings. On one hand, the rain was good, providing clean fresh water when they barely had any. However, the rain could also make them sick as it wasn’t the warmest where they were at, and they would be forced to find shelter from it. It would be okay though, after all, it’s just some rain.

They walked into the only room open, and Mono paused to look at the mannequins sitting down on several chairs, suspicious of them. However none of them moved as the children walked across the damp floor and into a small bathroom. The sunlight outside was dim, but both could tell it was daytime. Surprisingly, the bathroom was not wet like the other room, not having any leaks spread on the ceiling. Seven was grateful, since he knew he was going to get soaked outside, the clouds not indicating letting up anytime soon.

Mono was the first one to try opening the small window in the room, struggling with it for a second before Seven got up on the table to help. Together, they forced the rusty window open, a rush of cool air hitting them as soon as they did. The boys enjoyed the unfilthy air, it not being nearly as stuffy as inside the hospital, however much of it was polluted. Taking in a deep breath, Mono jumped out the window and landed on his feet outside, not having to help Seven on the short jump he didn’t turn around.

They were protected from the rain for a short second, but soon they were completely in it, being soaked in seconds. The city streets were a little brighter than the room, having more access to the small amount of sunlight. The paved walkways were all broken and oddly bumpy, but were fine to walk on nonetheless. Clothes and trash littered those paths, nobody claiming them. For a second Seven considered taking something to help combat the weather, but decided that it may be better to not do so, as there was no telling where the clothes came from or who it used to belong to.

Everything was mostly quiet, save for the rain and the boy’s footsteps. That was until they got to a wider part of a road, with apartments lining each side of the street. There, the boys could hear a consistent thumping, eerily coming from people falling out of the higher floors. It made Mono’s stomach twist from the thought that those thumbs were humans, who were most likely dying on their own terms of self motivation, which made him want to look away. Seven didn’t like it either, trying to convince himself that those weren’t people but rather clothes, explaining why there were clothes all over the streets. It sort of made sense to him, but he still knew the truth, he just didn’t want to think about it.

Mono rushed into the first open building he saw, wanting to get out of the constant rain and away from the sound of falling people. Seven entered right behind him, wet to the core and shivering a bit, hoping that he wouldn’t get sick. Getting sick in this world could easily lead to death, and he didn’t want to die yet. The building was a little damp when they first walked into it, though got somewhat drier as they went up. Most of the doors were boarded up with a couple planks, there was trash on the ground, and holes decorated the walls and floors. It was only when they were going up the second flight of stairs winding upwards in a spiral like fashion did either of the boys hear talking.

On instinct, they froze, but as they listened more, the voice sounded normal, almost fake. It wasn’t the growling and huffs of a deformed person, but that didn’t mean the kids trusted it any more than those. They started to make their accent to the top more carefully, now wary of the strange voice they heard. Refusing to go up the stairs with a dead body on it, Mono walked towards an opened door, which was also the place where the voice was coming from.

A few steps into it, the floor above cracked and broke, a man with almost no face left after it twisted into itself, fell through from above. Mono stopped moving and forced Seven closer, not knowing if the man was going to come after them or not. The deranged man didn’t actually, instead he scrambled onto his feet and hurriedly ran into the next room over. Both boys had no clue what was going on, hearing a loud crashing noise before everything went silent again.

When Mono felt that they were okay, he cautiously made his way to where the man ran, curious as to what happened. What he didn’t expect was for the man to be hunched over a television, his messed up face stuck into the shattered screen of it, smoke rising from the electronics. The man was obviously dead, and the two kids didn’t know why he had just done that, killing himself in such a weird way.

Without knowing the answer they ignored it and continued, using the fallen television to get out of the window, trying not to step on any glass. Being up this high, they couldn’t go back to the ground, so they walked on top of the small balconies to a ladder onto another balcony. Going inside that window, the room they found themselves in was a lot darker, meaning that Mono was going to have to use a flashlight.

Down the hall, there was another person standing in front of a slightly cracked open door, not flinching whenever Mono and Seven passed. There was sound coming from inside that room, meaning that there was most likely a television inside there as well, which is what the person was probably watching. It seemed that people around here were more than obsessed with the television, and Mono couldn’t understand why, especially when it only brought him pain.

The dark hallway led them to another room, with bowls and buckets set up to catch rainwater that leaked through the crumbling ceiling. They could both hear more weird noises in the next room over, that almost sounded like music of some sort. It most likely came from a television, as everybody here never appeared alive without being near one. That would mean that if somebody was in there, they would be too caught up in the electronics to pay attention to Mono or Seven. That was what Mono hoped for anyways, as Seven boosted him up to the knob and he opened the door.

There was indeed a television and a person in the bathtub. The figure was illuminated by the light coming from the television, and Seven couldn’t help but wonder how long they had been in there. Able to go up a vent in the room without the person noticing them, they were greeted by a crumbling wall and a huge gap just beyond that.

Although there was hardly any flooring except near the couple doors spread about, there was an elevator in the middle, that they could most definitely reach by jumping. Seven, who figured this out first, nodded towards the elevator before jumping to it first. He made it, albeit stumbling a bit, and Mono followed behind. They then went to the small amount of floor near a door, so that they could actually jump inside the elevator.

Now inside it, Mono pulled the lever down and they began to make the accent up. Seven may not have a clue where they were or why they were here, but he did know that the whole city felt weird. Not only did it have weird canyon-like drops in random spots, the whole city seemed to be distorted in different odd ways. It was like something was affecting this city, and he had a feeling it was nothing good. That just meant he had to keep an eye on Mono, since he felt like the sort of oblivious boy didn’t have the same weird dread about this place. Otherwise, he doesn’t believe that Mono would be here.

With Seven lost in his thoughts on the short trip up, Mono was looking at their environment. This allowed him to spot another piece of floor still attached to the building, though this one was not at the ledge of a door, but instead a tall wall with ladder like wood boarded on it. There was a gap near the top though, and one of them could probably fit in it if needed. He didn’t think much more about it though as he passed it on the quick paced elevator.

It wasn’t until he and Seven reached the end on the top that he realized that the gate to exit the elevator here was locked. This made Mono automatically think of the boards and he knew that it was something worth trying. Seven was about to just talk to Mono about their current problem when the said boy whisked around and to the lever, pulling it once more. The now confused Seven was about to ask what Mono was doing when he saw him jump off the elevator while it was moving. Seven almost yelled, reaching out for the now falling Mono, when he saw him land on the ground nearby.

Mono probably should have thought of Seven before impulsively pulling a stunt like that, especially when he saw the poor boy leaning over the elevator edge a bit, looking a mix of scared, relieved, and upset. He went close to the edge to look down at Seven who was doing his best to try and get a glimpse of the paper bag boy. “Oi! Don’t worry about me, just press the lever and go back up. I promise I’ll be up in a second.” Mono called into the abyss, getting the loudest tired sounding sigh he’s ever heard. It almost made him laugh with how much he really puts the boy through, he wonders how Seven still wants to travel with him.

Seven did trust Mono’s promise and pulled the lever, watching as he went back up once more. He told himself he’d watch out for Mono, but the boy sure liked to make it hard with him being so reckless at times. Mono kept his word and made it back up to Seven, only then noticing that a key was needed. “I’ll be right back, I need to get a key, okay?” He whispered to Seven, who nodded back silently. To be honest, the boy usually was just silent, Mono doing most of the talking when he did decide to talk.

Mono found the key needed in the office looking room nearby, in a drawer attached to a desk, papers scattered about loosely. He scurried back to Seven, unlocking the gate and letting the boy out. They were now able to solve a sort of puzzle, figuring out that they could pull on the lever outside the door to call the elevator to come back up once it was down, allowing them on top of the elevator. With this, they were able to go up the next floor, being a huge odd room.

There wasn’t anything of note from the room, even the room hidden behind a box not having much, so they took the exit outside back into the rain. They were still high up, on top of roofs and things, but now they had a clear view down a row of buildings in the main street. All of them were on either side of the street, but what really stood out was the tallest building at the end of the road. There was nothing obscuring the view, as it was right in the middle. The whole world almost seemed to hone in on it for a second as they passed, and Mono could swear he thought he heard the same weird signal that he was being forced to tune the televisions to.

All of this sort of overwhelmed Mono, so he tried to block it out for a moment, running to the next building as a means of escape. Seven stayed behind for a second to study the tall building in the center, like he was admiring it or perhaps, maybe scared of it. Neither understanding what these feelings meant, decidedly ignored them and pushed forward.

After some climbing, Seven found himself dangling over a gap between buildings, slowly getting across by a hanger and wire. Seven didn’t want to admit it, but he had a hard time hanging on while waiting for Mono to get him across. His arms were tired and the muscles in them were burning. Not to mention the constant push of wind and rain, making his grip slippery and loose. Mono, on the other hand, couldn’t get across that way, and had to jump over and catch Seven’s hand. A very dangerous task in weather and physical conditions like this. Nevertheless, Mono didn’t doubt Seven for a second, and made it up alive.

They continued to make their way upwards on the buildings, until they were in a falling apartment building once again. Stuff fell over, them dodging the objects, and the floors were bent up, creaking with every step. This place had obviously seen better days.

That, of course, wasn’t the worst of it. They could both feel the house shaking after they knocked over the door to try and hurry out. Now as they ran, the ceiling collapsed behind them. Not thinking of the falling items and squeaky floorboards, they continued to rush. Debris was flying everywhere, and the sound of planks and stone crashing behind them only urged their legs faster. The wind that was blown by the amount of heavy debris behind them was almost enough to knock them over, if the shaking wasn’t bad enough.

The two boys could see an open door close by, and they were almost there. They could get to the door and make it out of this awful house. That’s when Seven saw the gap in the floor between them and the door ahead. Part of the building was collapsing right behind them, and Seven could feel pieces of it fly off and hit him, scraping his body.

Seven looked at the size of the hole and knew he probably wouldn’t be able to make it, and froze right at the edge. His legs kicked and scrambled, almost falling down the deep hole, Mono stepped right beside him. He glanced at the boy for a second, seeing how Mono was glaring up at the ceiling. Then Seven felt a hand grab his arm and he was tugged hard. Mono was jumping into the hole, and dragging Seven with him. What was he doing? The fall was pretty high up, and he knew that they would most definitely get hurt, or even die from the impact!

Mono knew that they weren't going to be able to make it to the other side, and that the house collapsing on them was probably worse than falling. He wasn’t going to let Seven get hurt, it was him who ran into this run down apartment, this was his fault. Wrapping his arms tightly around Seven and twisting his body as he fell with the boy, he tried his hardest to make it where he would take most of the fall, hopefully not wounding Seven too badly. Mono could care less about himself at the moment, and with Seven freezing like that up at the edge, he had to do something.

Seven could feel them falling, the wind rushed past them as they hurdled downwards. He was surprised by Mono grabbing him like that and pulling him close, but he caught a glimpse of what was happening above. Part of the building completely collapsed where they were standing, and was falling down with them. He probably would’ve been hurt worse if he stayed. He held onto Mono tighter, knowing that this was about to hurt, but glad he was with Mono all the same.

Landing on the ground with that much speed and force, knocked the two young boys out cold. It was a few moments later that one of them woke up again. Seven was unsurprisingly that one, his eyes slowly opening to his surroundings, the first thing he saw was the same dull light he was getting so used to seeing. Dust floated lightly in the air, and he could remember that it was most likely because of the house just collapsing. With that thought, everything came back to him, hitting him like a truck as he winced and began to feel the pain in his body and the warmth beside him.

Seven’s head whipped upwards to the boy beside him, already beginning to panic over whether or not the boy was fine. He could tell that the other child had taken most of the fall, as his arm was resting underneath Seven when he woke up, and Seven was on his side most likely having rolled away from Mono’s grasp. The thought of Mono doing something so careless like that to protect Seven would usually make him smile a bit, but right now he was overly worried about said boy lying on the ground unconscious.

The smaller boy could hear a small crackle of electricity and looked upwards for a moment, only to see the flashlight flicker off with a few sparks flying out of it. The flashlight had broken as well, just another thing the two kids needed. Seven sighed and focused his attention back towards his closest friend, or well, his only friend.

He was tempted to shake him to wake him up, but thought better of it after a second. That wouldn’t be a good way to wake up a hurt person, and Mono would probably have a headache too. Maybe he should just let the unconscious boy wake up on his own, he probably needed the rest anyways. Though, to quieten his worry a bit, he put a hand on the boy’s chest, and was relieved when he felt it rise and fall. Mono was still alive and breathing, everything would be okay. That’s all Seven could hope for.

Seven moved a little closer to Mono, staring at the paper bag boy with dazed eyes. To think he met Mono only about a week ago, yet grew more attached to him than anybody else he’s ever known. Seven couldn’t even imagine his life without Mono anymore, it would be strange with everything they’ve gone through together. He may not know much about Mono either, but he somehow felt like he knew everything. It was a weird feeling, one that Seven couldn’t comprehend, but at the same seemed familiar with.

Mono woke up with a small gasp, his consciousness coming back suddenly rather than gradually like Seven. He tried to immediately sit up, his first thoughts being about Seven, but the boy on his mind put a small but firm hand on his shoulder and relaxed him. Seven didn’t want Mono to become nauseous or disorientated even more than he probably already was. He knew it never felt good.

What Seven couldn’t stop was the quick movement of Mono towards Seven, as he was too stunned to do anything when he felt Mono’s arms wrap around him once more. He didn’t get to think about it too much as he and Mono were falling, too scared by the fastly approaching ground to think of such things. Now though, he could think clearly, or as clearly as he could get with how tired he was added with the shock of being hugged again. Mono didn’t let go, and eventually Seven snapped out of his stunned state and hugged back. It felt nice to have affection after so long of not having any, and sort of weird, almost foreign.

Good things always have an end though, and after several minutes they separated and got up. Seven checked Mono for any severe injuries, but the only thing he could see was several bruises starting to form and scratches. There was no way for him to tell if there were any internal wounds in Mono, and even though Mono said he felt okay, Seven couldn’t help but be worried. From the time he spent with the other boy, he knew that Mono had a tendency to cover up his own pain and fear for the benefits of others. It was an admirable trait at times, but could also lead to worse things happening later on, making Seven worry all the more.

The next door was easy to open, nothing on the other side indicated any immediate danger either, so perhaps they were finally getting a small break for once. In the room straight across from the door, there was a children’s room. The room had a few toys lying about, a table, and a bed to the side. Though what stood out the most to Mono was the drawings on the wall and floor, as he couldn’t help but think some of them looked all too familiar.

Seven also had a bad feeling about this room, so he walked out, Mono trailing right behind him. Going up the hall and into the open room on the right, they entered another room. Mono didn’t notice anything wrong with it from outside the door, but as soon as he walked over the threshold, the whole world began to twist. He already knew what that meant, but he still walked closer, as if the fuzzy television was calling for him.

Everything that wasn’t Mono or the television froze, including the shorter boy who was still right in front of the door. Mono didn’t know if Seven just stopped moving or if the signal was playing tricks with his mind. Another step closer and an awful noise began to emit from the television. It wasn’t like the high pitched ringing noise he was used to by now, sounding more like wind howling with a weird crackling noise. Mono still had to cover his ears from it, his brain pounding as soon as the sound entered his ears.

Even with all the warning signs to go away, Mono kept going, strangely drawn to the television, or perhaps it was his powers urging him to tune the awful signal. Mono couldn’t think about it much as he got another step closer, the world bending and swaying with the television’s bright flickering glare. It seemed everything was trembling as he got nearer, focusing mainly on the television.

Then he raised his hand and shakily touched the television, the world jumped, but he ignored it in favor of tuning the signal. He honed his powers to the television, trying to get it where it needed to be. He didn’t even really know how this all worked, it just came to him without him trying.

This television may have been the hardest one he’s ever had to tune, but he eventually got it, teleporting once more to the same hallway he’s always found himself in. To be honest, he was almost getting fed up with this place, having been here so many times. Wait, how many times has he actually been here? From what he could remember more than a couple times, but it feels like he’s done this way more. What was he forgetting?

The whole world went back to slow motion as he ran towards the door, his initial thoughts only adding to his annoyment. Why was this place so special? Why did he keep coming back? What was at the other side of the door?

He reached up at the doorknob he’s gotten close to so many times. The place was trembling more than ever and he swears that his vision shortened to only see the door as his hand slowly took the handle. He hesitated for a second while pulling it down, wondering if Seven was going to drag him out once more. With that thought the place shook and he almost fell backwards, some of the cement falling down as well. No, he couldn’t get kicked out now! Not when he was so close to figuring out the answer!

He retightened his grip on the handle, and put his weight downwards, causing the door to slowly open. The anticipation he felt was immense, his already slow breath stopping to wait and see what was behind the door. What could be so important to him, good or bad, that his own powers were the only thing that could access it?

When the door finally opened, there was mostly a purplish hue over everything, replacing the once grayish blue. There was a shadow in the middle, and as the shadow rose Mono could see it was in fact a very tall man who was getting up from a lonely chair. Mono gasped, and stared at the tall skinny man, and he couldn’t stop the shiver going through his body and the strike of pain in his head. It was almost as if his mind actually knew who this was, but he just couldn’t remember.

When he was kicked back out, he could feel the tug of small hands on him. This time though he was glad Seven got him out. He could feel the danger emitting off the stranger in the television, the one creating the terrible signal. Though this time instead of the television shutting off the power remained, and that wasn’t the only power he felt from the electronic.

He could see the figure of the tall thin man looming deep inside, standing distantly in the white screen. Then all of a sudden his hands were on the screen, trying to crawl out of it, the power causing Mono’s head to feel like bursting and the world to actually shake. Seven stood next to Mono as everything happened, utterly confused with what was happening but concerned all the same. Then he saw the man come out of the television and Mono was still hunching over in pain. He tugged on the poor boy in pain and snapped him somewhat out of it, them both running away as the strange man began to move.

While running away with Seven in what seemed like slow motion, Mono couldn’t help but feel like he just did something horrible that he was going to regret for a long time.

Chapter Text

Seven was dragging Mono by his hand, desperately trying to get them away from whatever just crawled out of the television. Mono, on the other hand, was trying his hardest to run as fast as he could. Though the world seemed to slow down as if he was still in the television dimension. This had to be the world warping powers of the tall man that was slowly chasing after him, his long strides echoing across the space in an unnatural way. Whenever the man got even a little close, Mono's vision became fuzzy and the ringing increased, which was the exact same way the televisions did to him.

Why did Mono let that man out? Did the creepy man brainwash him, or did he use his powers in some sort of way? Why did Mono feel this sort of tugging connection with the man?

There were too many questions and not enough time to think about any of them as the two small boys ran away from the Thin Man. They had made it to the room they visited earlier, and Seven froze for a second not knowing where to go from here. There was no exit, no clear way to escape. Mono felt the sudden urge to run and let go of Seven, as if he wasn't supposed to be with him. He pushed that thought away and started running towards the bed with Seven. He could sense that the Thin Man was almost there, and he had to keep Seven safe. He caused this and no matter what weird instinct told him, he wasn't leaving Seven to deal with his mistakes.

Seven was glad that Mono had snapped out of his dulled state and helped him out. He didn't mean to panic, but after seeing an insanely tall person crawl out of an electronic, his mind was scattered with fear. The smaller boy felt like he didn't know what to do, especially with the dangerous aura the man gave off. Now they were hiding underneath the bed, hoping that the Thin Man wouldn't find them under here and look elsewhere. It was unlikely, but they're best shot with what limited time they had.

Within seconds the Thin Man entered the room, and from where Seven could only see his feet, it almost looked like he teleported through the door frame. If this man could teleport, then that would make their escape nearly impossible. The room darkened with the man's presence, everything rattled as the Thin Man's gaze searched the room, going straight to the table after a second of thinking.

"Where?" The two boys were surprised to hear the distorted voice come from the man, not expecting the person to speak. Mono shuffled back farther, and tried to block out Seven as best as he could, trying to keep the old man away from him.

After angrily throwing the table across the room, the Thin Man took another step forward before teleporting to the bedside. If their breaths didn't already stop a while ago, it surely would have then as they sat there terrified. A hand reached down a bit, and Mono moved himself to protect them from Seven. Seven grabbed onto one of Mono's arms and stared right at the hand slowly coming forward, his eyes wide.

Then, without even having to grab them, Mono felt himself being pulled towards the hand, and he scrambled his feet backwards and pushed in a futile attempt to not get taken. Seven was trying his hardest to keep Mono with him as well, grabbing a hold of him and hoping his small amount of weight would keep them grounded. It didn't work, both being swept up by the hand's force.

Mono pushed Seven off of him at the last moment, causing the Thin Man to only grab Mono. Seven reached out to pull Mono back again, but barely missed his sleeve when the man pulled back. With a new wave of terror, Seven scooted backwards again and watched Mono struggle in the old man's grasp.

"Where?" The question came out again from the Thin Man's mouth, the words twisting and going off pitch. "Where?" This time the older man seemed more agitated, and began to shake Mono. That said boy did not take this, and began to kick and hit the man, wanting to escape in any means necessary. He didn't know for sure why the man hadn't tried to kill him yet, but he did know that it meant that he wasn't entirely after Mono. Which could only mean he wanted to hurt Seven, and Mono wasn't going to allow it.

Mono glanced under the bed, wanting to know if Seven had found a way to escape yet while he had the Thin Man distracted. He immediately regretted this decision as the Thin Man saw where he glanced at and made a move back towards it. Mono began yelling and struggling more in the man's hold, telling Seven to run and get out of here. Seven listened as he saw the Thin Man bending down to take him with his magical hands, and sprinted from underneath the bed.

Mono almost thought that Seven could make it when the Thin Man used his powers again and swooped the young boy right into his hand. Mono reached out, as if he could stop what was happening. This was all his fault! He should have told Seven what was happening to him and he could have probably helped Mono in some way. Maybe then the Thin Man wouldn't be after them and they could make it out of this cursed city okay.

As the Thin Man glared down at Seven, he asked a question, both angry and confused. "Who?" The Thin Man's voice must be strained, since anything the man spoke was short and very distorted. Every word came out with several pitches mixed together, almost muffled in a way.

Then Mono was dropped back onto the ground and Seven was still stuck with the terrifying man studying him. "How are you here? Why?"

Mono didn't hesitate to look for something that could save Seven, ignoring the words from the Thin Man. It felt like he was back in that same situation he first was in with The Hunter, and he didn't like the comparison. While he was doing so the Thin Man looked back at Mono, with a gaze that the paper bag boy couldn't see from the shadows. "You, how?"

Stopping dead in his tracks, Mono froze from the man's attention being back on him. He didn't know what the man meant, but even if he did he wouldn't give him any kind of answer. He hated the man, how he looked, who he was, why he was like that, and much more. He didn't even know why. It was like his brain was holding back answers that he needed, memories that it wanted to forget.

The Thin Man's patience seemed to run out, and he pushed away Mono with a quick angry swipe of his long arm. Seven screamed and leaned out towards Mono, calling his name as Mono watched his friend be teleported away with a mysterious, and obviously dangerous, man. His deep hatred somehow got deeper, and he knew that he was going to get Seven back.

A shadowy figure dropped onto the ground in place of where Seven just was, and Mono stared at it with large eyes slightly covered by the paper bag. Mono reached out to the glitchy person, resembling so much of Seven, but as soon as he touched it the being disappeared. He didn't know what that was, but he did know that he needed to move.

Pushing himself off the ground and racing out of the room, Mono went back to the room with the television that the man used to escape. Without another way to go, he believed that he may be able to use the electronic to chase down the Thin Man, since he had some sort of connection with the signal that was still being broadcasted to it.

This time instead of being put in some weird trance that was painful, Mono wasn't nearly as affected as he carefully got closer to the still powered television. He wasn't forced to try to tune it to the weird signal that the Thin Man was creating, therefore able to hone in with his own will and power. He hasn't exactly done this in a while, and he's never actually tried to use a television to follow somebody, so he had to focus his power into it more than he usually does.

This caused a strong surge of power to flood out of the television while he was pulled in, the world spinning and flashing in response. Then everything was pink and squishy, and Mono almost felt like he was falling but he was actually being pulled along in a weird tube. Whatever this was, it's never happened to him before. Was this place connected to the Thin Man too, or was it just Mono's power?

In a flash it was all over, and Mono was thrown out of another television hanging in the air. Now he was actually falling, but luckily he landed on a thin mattress that was below, catching his fall. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he climbed up the bookshelf and on top of the soaked chair stacked on it. He pulled himself onto the rotting wood and got right back on his feet, already heading towards the next television that was lit up. This time he didn't hesitate to put his hands on it, using his powers to teleport to the next available one. He couldn't lose Seven, no, he wouldn't lose Seven.

Mono fell out of another hanging television, but this time he was more prepared, landing better on the hard ground. Looking across he needed to find a way over, and spotted a crank that would move the electronic. After getting the electronic on the other side, he went in search of another one that was close, since he would need it to teleport to that one. He could only hope that there was one somewhere in the room he was about to open.

The door fell off its hinges and Mono came crashing with it, allowing him to see that he had teleported just outside the room he was originally in, meaning that he can still use the same television that brought him outside. Going back up to it and using the electronic once more, he ended up where he was wanting on the other side of the drop where a ladder was going up.

Grabbing onto it and climbing the slippery ladder, he noticed how quiet and dim everything seemed to get without somebody else with him. He guessed he got used to having somebody usually close by that he could rely on. All the more reason to get that boy back.

Hopping from one balcony cover to the next and dangerously walking across wet boards, Mono eventually got himself to where the next television was located, which had to be across another gap. Sighing to himself, he went down the ladder barely leaning on the floorboards down to the floor below. Though now that he was down here, there didn't appear to be a way up to that television.

That was until Mono noticed that there was a television down there as well, placed right in front of a couch and a lonely lamp. It was off, but there appeared to be a remote sitting on the floor close by, and Mono picked it up. What he didn't expect was the world to start warping again after he turned the television on. He didn't bother to worry about it as he used the television to teleport to the one above, successfully allowing him to continue. It seemed that the remote may come in handy, so he stuffed it in one of his coat pockets.

He tried the next television that was right next to the door, but it only teleported him to the same television he had left to get up here. Great, now he knew that he could only teleport to the closest television if the other one he needs isn't on. Spotting the next television turned off on a floor below in the next room, he jumped down and turned it on. Then before he actually tried to use it for teleportation, he spotted a pushable cart with luggage stacked on top, and thought about using it to be able to jump freely on it and across the sunken floor.

Doing so, Mono used the television and teleported back to the room and used the luggage cart to get over the drop down and on the floor across of it. Even with Mono going as fast as he could, he couldn't help but feel like he was still going too slow. He couldn't understand why he can't use his powers to teleport directly to the Thin Man. What was holding that sort of power back when the Thin Man could do it so easily? Was it just a power limitation, or something more than that?

The paper bag boy didn't want to think about it, the thoughts leaving a bad sinking feeling in his stomach. Jumping up and gripping onto the hanger attached to the clothes wire leaving outside the crumbling wall, he crashed into the next building, somehow landing on his feet as he dropped. Hearing the odd noise of a television in the next room, he slowly creaked open the door and crept in. There was another disfigured person twitching in front of the electronic he heard outside the room. Knowing that the person would be too distracted by the television to pay him any mind, he walked right out of the room.

The signal from the television, was it the cause of the people's looks and behaviors? If so, which it most likely was, then the Thin Man would most likely be behind it as well. What was the odd man's goal? What did he have to gain from this?

Mono has been confused for so long now, and he feels as if he'll never get any answers. Maybe he doesn't need to know them, maybe he's not supposed to. It still don't mean it doesn't make him feel lost a lot of the times when he needs to know what's happening the most. Like right now when he lost Seven and was desperately searching for him, hoping to get to him before anything happens.

Mono's attempts to get himself on top of the kitchen counters were futile, so he needed to find another way to continue forward. He could see a television hanging outside the window and balcony, but it was off and there was no way of reaching it from inside. He turned it on with his remote anyways, knowing that it could become useful to him later.

It was a good thing he did, because he soon came up with a plan after thinking of getting a way to teleport to the television outside. It was risky, very risky, but he was willing to do about anything at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, Mono turned off the television in the living room where the deformed woman was still watching the static buzzing on the screen. Hearing a noise of surprise escape the women, he quickly turned around and ran for the open oven, crouching to hide inside it. If what he thought was right, then the woman wouldn't come after him if she didn't see him and had something else to distract her, being the television hanging outside the kitchen window in this case.

His lungs quitting was a normal occurrence at this point, and he waited with bated breath for the women to pass his spot. Luckily, his theory was correct, and the women once again paid no attention to any potential intruders, going straight for the fuzzy sound coming from the electronic outside. He stayed hidden for a moment before crawling out and heading for the currently off television.

Giving one more glance to the lady inside the kitchen, he turned on the television and teleported through it, ungracefully landing on his side outside the kitchen window. It didn't matter, as now he could keep going, one more step closer to Seven. At least, he hoped so, if Seven ended up gone forever, he doesn't know what he'd do.

The rain was still steadily falling down in large droplets, the sound calming Mono to some extent. The sound of rain used to make Mono wary, as it meant he would have a harder time seeing and finding food, but now it seemed that the rain was the only thing tying him back down to reality. The heavy drops of water soaking him didn't make him want to find shelter, instead the pressure kept him focused on his task, albeit making it somewhat more difficult.

Reaching the inside of another torn down wall, Mono had to yet again do the same trick as he used with the woman downstairs. He turned on a television in the other building and switched off the one the man was watching. This time the man continued to go after the other television, stepping off the building and falling to his death. There was a loud crashing sound from below, but Mono didn't flinch when he walked across the floor to the electronic, teleporting to the other side.

Mono should really be more careful when teleporting, because as soon as he exited the television he tumbled out of it. He was used to that happening, but this time the television broke upon teleporting and the force sent him further away then it usually would. This caused him to almost fall off the building, his fast reflexes the only thing keeping him alive.

His body was swinging back and forth, and it took him a second before his brain caught up with what situation he was in. He attempted to pull himself up, but one of his hand's grip loosened from the slippery hold. Accidentally letting go with that hand, his body swung and he was forced to look down. His stomach flipped several times from how far down the fall would be, and he tried to swallow the fear rising up his throat.

Taking a deep breath Mono fixed his hand into a tight grip back onto the floor and began to pull himself up more carefully. It hurt his arms, them already being sore from the lack of rest and nutrients, but he forced himself to get up and over the floor. He stood up, only giving himself a few seconds to regulate his breathing before walking forward. He didn't have time to prolong anything any further.

It was weird to be on his own again, after getting used to having somebody close by for so long. Everything was too quiet, there being no echo of steps behind his, or small whispers from time to time of suggestions or questions. Nobody was there to have his back or to look forward to when he just did something difficult. He didn't realize how much more bleak everything seemed without somebody to rely on or be close to.

Mono really needed Seven back, because he knew he didn't want to live like this after knowing how it was with Seven. He might survive, yes, but he wouldn't be happy. Even if he found somebody else to be around he doesn't believe it would be quite the same. He didn't know Seven too much, since the boy was rather quiet and reclusive, but he didn't want to have to get to know somebody else. From what he did know of Seven, it caused him to want to learn more, made him curious about Seven and his life. Seven was his friend. What would happen if he lost him? He would probably never find somebody else.

Lost in his extensive thoughts, he didn't realize he had arrived at a bridge of sorts. There were people lined up along it, all standing still in a row across the edge. He didn't know what they were doing, but he was still going to be cautious around them. He turned his head towards the direction they were all facing, wondering what they were all looking at.

There were more bridges and structures with people lined up and down them, all staring at a huge tower in the distance. There was a red light on top of it, shining brightly. The whole building felt off, and if he thought about it enough he could almost feel a connection to it, like a tug. He couldn't feel the signal from this far away with his limited powers, but he had no doubt in his mind that the Thin Man was related to this building. Maybe the Thin Man was there, keeping Seven hidden away to hurt him without interference. Mono didn't like the thought, and he would make sure to find Seven before anything could happen to the boy.

Looking back at the people lined up, he hoped that they would stay fixated on the tower and let him pass. Taking a few steps forward, nothing happened, nobody moved. Thinking that it was safe then, he continued at a more brisk pace, wanting to hurry along.

That's when they started falling. Each and every one of the people lined up on the bridge he was walking on fell, all without warning or any indication. He knew that they died, as he didn't even hear the noise of them hitting the ground, being so high up. It was a sickening sight, but Mono felt stuck, like he couldn't quit watching them all kill themselves.

Why were they killing themselves? Did they want to die? Or was it out of their control? Was this the Thin Man's doing?

The bile rising up in his throat was the thing to stop the multitude of questions that was piling in his brain. He quickly snapped his head away from the now empty bridge and put his thoughts on the rain. How each drop hit him repeatedly, falling off but quickly being replaced. How the rain made the polluted city smell less like smog and more natural. How he would be shivering at the moment if the day had been any colder.

After a few minutes of thinking about the rain, he no longer felt the need to throw up. He didn't look at the bridge any more, not wanting to think about the people he had just spent several minutes trying to forget. It didn't matter, they were dead.

Mono let himself fall down the hole at the end of the bridge, eyeing the chair at the bottom. Even though he knew he would be safe, it reminded him of the other people falling off, and his stomach dropped as soon as his feet left solid ground. He was relieved to touch the chair after falling for what felt like hours, when really it had only been a few seconds at most. He can't let this get to him, he's got to get going.

There was a television next to the chair, which made sense for somebody's living room. Turning it on, he was about to go ahead and teleport when he hesitated. He remembered the last time he teleported, and how he almost fell off. Learning from his mistakes, he went to stake out the next powered television, wanting to make sure he would be fine.

It was a good thing he did, as the next television he could see that was on had been hanging on the side of a balcony. Meaning that he would have died if he had actually just gone on and went through the television. He still needed to use it though, but where could it take him?

Peering over the edge, Mono saw an open window down below. He could probably push the television and be able to go through there if he was careful and quickly jumped off the electronic and into the window. It was very dangerous, but he felt that it would be fine. Well, he would have to be fine, Seven was in more danger.

Pushing off the television was easy enough, and teleporting was fine, but actually using that momentum to push himself into the window was nerve wracking. He somehow managed to stay on his feet as well, which allowed him to use the momentum to keep walking.

There was a door at the end of the hallway, with boards blocking it up. He was about to go ahead and tear off the boards, when he saw the door start shaking back and forth. That's when he realized that somebody was behind the door, and he knew that if he took off the bottom boards, that they would most likely be able to get through and attack him.

He needed a weapon, so he went around and searched for one. He was disappointed to not find one, but even more so, scared. How would he defend himself against the person? There was a lever in the broken wall, which still seemed connected to the electricity, but he didn't know how that would help him.

Then he walked back onto the floor, and remembered that the floor was wet. There was an open cord in the middle of it, though the power must have been off since he wasn't getting electrocuted. The lever probably turned the electricity to the wire off and on.

Using this new information he came up with a plan, hearing the rattling of the door becoming more violent every minute. He went over to the door and took off the planks, then rushed out of the way and to the lever. About a second later, the door busted open and another twisted person walked out, twitching like they all seem to do. He walked a few steps, and Mono wondered if he would have to hurt them at all.

That thought quickly dissipated when the person noticed Mono and began to more quickly come after him. He didn't think about it when he pulled the lever, his mind going into immediate panic. The lights flickered and the water sparked, the man crumbling to the floor from the shocks traveling from the water to his body. There was a burnt smell in the air, and the crackling of the electricity filled the room.

When the man was completely on the ground, Mono switched the lever back, turning off the wire. He looked at the now dead man and thought about how he just killed somebody again. This might not be the first time since The Hunter, but it still felt wrong, making his stomach swirl.

It was the first time he doubted himself and his ability to take out the Thin Man.

Chapter Text

Mono’s eyes felt dull as he stared at the man on the floor, having to peel them away and force his heavy feet to get to the now open door.

If he had felt this way about a man he didn’t know, then what about the Thin Man? Would he be able to kill him if he needed to?

No, Mono couldn’t think that way. He would kill the Thin Man if need be. The only reason he felt this way towards the stranger getting further behind him, was because that was what the man was, a stranger. He didn’t feel the intense hatred for the person like he did the Thin Man, and he knew that it wasn’t even the man’s fault he was like this. It was the Thin Man. Which is why the sickening drop in his stomach wouldn’t stop him from murdering the terrible man that kidnapped Seven, because he didn’t deserve Mono’s guilt or sympathy.

Pushing onward, Mono turned on another television before investigating the rest of the watery room. It seemed that he couldn’t use the lever on the wall, if he didn’t want to be electrocuted like the other man that is. Forcing him to have to take the trash shoot next to it instead. He dropped down, expecting to fall some ways down into a nasty and foul smelling pile of trash, but instead was stopped by an oversized garbage bag in the middle of the vent.

Mono grimaced, not liking this one bit. Jumping up and down as hard as he could, he eventually got the trash bag to loosen and fall. He was almost grateful for the pungent, rotting trash when he landed on them safely and softly, nothing becoming hurt from the high fall. There were flies buzzing about the overload of trash, enjoying the abundance of food for themselves. Thinking about food would usually make Mono hungry, but considering where he was right now, it only made him feel nauseous.

Quickly hopping off the pile of trash, he ran out of the room and into the next. He could see the elevator that would have probably been able to go upstairs, as it was still on and running, but he couldn’t reach the lever to open the gate for it. Luckily, he was able to drag one of the fallen suitcases that he could use to boost himself up to grab on it. He wished he had Seven to help him with that instead.

The gate didn’t fully open, as it was considerably broken from the amount of damage the rest of the building endured. Mono was honestly grateful it worked at all. Turning his body sideways and slipping between the small opening, he was able to turn on the television in there. Instead of using it to teleport though, he climbed on top of it and used the new found height to pull down the lever inside the elevator that would bring him up.

The elevator doors creaked close and the whole machine shook before slowly making its descent up. Putting his hands on the television, Mono teleported before it could move too much, already forming up a plan from what he knew of the place. He reached the spot with the broken lever and trash shoot, and he waited only a second before jumping through where the elevator was supposed to stop and onto the top of it below. He had done this several times before, so he knew that he could use the top of the elevator to reach other rooms, which was probably his only shot of getting to Seven the fastest.

Instead of usually using the elevator to get to higher rooms, he used it to get to one that was just below the room he was just in with the trash shoot. The broken elevator couldn’t stop there anymore, so he had to get in there the hard way.

Landing on the ground and watching the elevator go back to the bottom floor, he marched through the room and to the other side of it. There was a blocked off doorway, with no sounds coming from the other side, meaning there was most likely no way of getting in there. Standing there, he wondered if this room was just a dead end, and began to worry a little. He searched the room for any way of getting out of it, and eventually found that the box with a doll on it in the corner was actually hiding a vent behind it. Mono let out a relieved breath, glad that he just didn’t get himself stuck, as that would put him back on getting Seven a lot.

Crawling out from the other side, he was met with a very soaked bathroom. That usually wouldn’t be a problem, but he could see electricity running through the water, sparking every time a new drop hit it. Not wanting to end up with the same fate as the man he killed, he tested his skills and fatigue by using the bathroom furniture to get over the huge water puddle taking up most of the floor.

He was grateful to make it over unharmed, but was disappointed to notice that there was another television with a twisted woman jittering in front of it. Knowing that he would probably be needing to use that television, he mentally and physically prepared himself for what was going to happen next. He turned off the electronic, that the lady was deeply invested in, and ran back into the bathroom, hearing her angry, alarmed grunts and fast footsteps behind him.

Taking a huge and faithful leap towards the toilet on the other side of the electric puddle, he was barely able to grab onto it and pull himself on top of it. He turned around just in time to see the woman carelessly step in the puddle, immediately getting shocked.

All the lights flickered, the electricity was pulsing with the sudden new conductor, the woman, taking up huge amounts of it. Mono stared, practically mortified as the woman screamed in a muffled like way from her mouth being sucked into her head with the rest of her face. She wilted to the ground, falling onto the ground with a thump after a few agonizing seconds of flailing.

Everything had been short circuited, nothing working anymore, including the television. He clicked the on button on his remote several times, frustrated that the electronic wouldn’t turn back on. Of course he wouldn’t be able to use the television anymore.

Knowing that he would have to find another way out of the room, he kicked the stool from frustration. That’s when it dawned on him that he would be able to scoot the stool to the door on the far side of the living space. Pulling the somewhat heavy wooden stool, he was able to get it right under the door knob where he could reach it. It would’ve been bad if the door opened towards the inside instead of the outside, but he hasn’t gotten that unfortunate yet.

The door opened up to a broken stairway, only a piece of it still attached to the building. Spotting a dumpster down below, he slid off the doorway and into the pile of trash and boxes. He was in an alleyway now, and there was light shining down the stretch of it. Curiously peering down it, he saw a swarm of people surrounding the light, most likely being a television. He wasn’t using that one, even if he found a way to.

Ignoring the crowd of people just down the street, Mono jumped into a window to what appeared to be an old store, as there were boxes and suitcases lining the shelves. He could hear sparking all around him, meaning that there was another loose wire that was lighting up some water, being almost everywhere. He would have to be careful not to step in any puddles, especially those with bright lights dancing across it. Being fried didn’t sound very good to him.

Turns out that the whole floor going down the small ramp was covered in water, electrified water. This was going to be fun. Coming up with a quick solution, Mono grabbed a lone shopping cart and pushed it down the ramp, before quickly hopping onto a counter top. He jumped on the cart and was able to use it to jump to the next counter. From here he could clearly see the lever that would shut off the power on top of a shelf he could neither reach nor climb.

Going through another room and the vent leading to the shelf, he turned off the electricity, allowing him to safely cross the floor. Although this made the floor safe, it also caused the television not to work, which he needed. He pushed the shopping cart between the first counter he jumped on and the one with the television on it. Afterwards, he ran back into the room, into the vent, and turned the lever back on. The sound of dangerous sparks came back, and he knew that he couldn’t miss any jumps or he was toast, literally.

Making it to the television completely uncooked, he teleported, feeling himself being transported upwards into the television up there. Falling out into a small room, he went through the window and back into the outside world. He jumped back down into the street below, his feet hitting concrete. In the alley past a wooden fence was a huge crowd of people all absorbed into a television, and close behind him was only two people closely watching the electronic.

Coming up with a half baked idea, he switched on a television he could see through the window of a store. Then he turned off the one the two people were watching, hiding behind some rubble while he watched them walk past to the television he turned on in the store. With them gone, he turned on the television they were watching. What he didn’t think about in this thrown together plan, was that the people behind the wooden gate would start trying to bust through to the now on electronic.

Hearing the banging from the alley, he swerved his head to the side and looked at the huge amount of people breaking through the fence. Frightened, he quickly put his hands onto the television and teleported through. Though, in his panic, he accidentally broke the television he had teleported through in the store. He cursed himself as he fell to the floor with glass shards raining down with him. This broke the people that were watching it from the outside of their trance. They were immediately enraged, and the woman started to try and break the glass.

Mono, afraid that the people would catch him as they were slightly faster than him in most cases, began to run through the store to the other side. He could hear the man forcefully open the door, allowing him and the woman to chase him. Apparently the whole hoard outside was after him too, as multiple people began going through windows, shattering them without a care, trying to catch him. They didn’t even stop to watch the televisions that were turned on in the store, knocking them down to run after Mono. He sprinted as fast as his short legs could take him, hoping to find some sort of way out of here. There was a television on the ground, and he didn’t hesitate to put his hands on them and teleport right before the distorted figures could catch him.

Panicked as he was, he broke that television as well, flopping onto the ground with his heart racing impossibly fast. Tears started to swell in his eyes and he swiped them, blinking his eyes furiously to try and keep the water in his eyes at bay. He can’t cry, he had a friend to go find. He also didn’t have time for this! He was alive, meaning he was fine, that was just a little scare, nothing to break down over! That didn’t mean he couldn’t give him a second to calm his breathing and his mind, trying to get himself back into order.

Taking a minute to get himself together, he got back onto his feet, swaying a small bit before readying himself. No matter how stressed he felt, he needed to keep moving. Another life depended on him, and he wasn’t just about to let that life die.

He walked to the end of the hall, allowing himself to slightly space out as he listened to the soft drops of water come into the cracks of the building, being the only thing keeping the room from being completely quiet.

When Mono made it to the end, he climbed up the wooden boards and peered inside the room through the large gap. He could hear the signature sound of a television humming with the evil signal causing all his problems at the moment. Double checking that there was nobody in the room, he hopped onto the ground and made his way to the television.

The odd boy had only taken a few steps closer when he felt that the aura emitting from the television felt off, and his brain was itching to fix it. Subconsciously taking another step, he began to hear what was making the signal off. He could hear the muffled yells of a kid, and his first thoughts were of Seven, causing him to rush forward.

It was a good thing that Mono noticed the weird feeling from the television, because he was right when he heard a kid yelling from inside. His heart nearly stopped when he saw that the kid was indeed Seven, but his feet moved faster. He slammed his hands against the television, reaching inside of it to grab the other boy.

Locking hands with Seven, Mono tugged backwards, trying to use his powers to loosen the televisions hold of the smaller boy. Though it was a lot harder with somebody like Seven, who was never meant to be in the dimension that only a few could enter, that being Mono and the Thin Man. Through enough pulling, Mono had gotten Seven somewhat free of the television's force, his hands peeking out of the screen.

“Hold on Seven, I’m going to get you out of this thing.” Mono tried to reassure the other boy, and partly himself, his tone quieter as he was grunting with effort to get his friend out of the electronic.

Mono could hear Seven whimper a bit, probably from the feeling of having himself being pulled two different ways. Mono knew that this was most likely causing Seven pain, and wanted nothing more than to comfort the other when he got him out of the cursed thing.

The paper bag boy only managed to get Seven most of the way out of the television before a hand appeared behind said boy trapped in the electronic. Mono tried to pull Seven harder than he already was, to hurry up before the Thin Man could do anything, but it was impossible. The large hand quickly reached forward and snatched Seven, no other part of his body being seen from the fuzzy white of the dimension. The terrible man pulled Seven back with little effort, causing Mono to fall backwards and for Seven to scream with pure terror.

The sound of his friend’s scream echoed in his head, forming his own terror of what happened to the boy in his head. Instead of rushing back to the television, he crawled back in an almost dazed way. His brain couldn’t comprehend how he was so close to getting Seven back, just for him to be ripped away right when he thought he had him! Tears were threatening to spill again, but this time he was too stunned to make a move to blink or wipe them away.

All of his thoughts were shattered when two all too familiar hands settled themselves on the television screen from the inside. Mono backed up more before swiftly pulling himself onto his feet, the signal sharpened to the painful screech it was before. and he had to look down and close his ears the best he could with his small hands and the paper bag. He turned around and started to run the other way, forcing his hands to retreat to his side so he could run better.

Mono didn’t need to turn around to know that the Thin Man was out of the television and after him once again. To think that just a few moments ago the young boy believed he was chasing them down, and now he was running away with fear following his every movement. He knew there was no way for a coward like him to face somebody as powerful as the Thin Man. Even his paper bag couldn’t protect him from something so cruel.

The paper bag boy may have thought that world distorting was a part of his imagination before, but as he watched the whole world tilt and things to actually fall with the motion, including him, he knew that it was truly the Thin Man’s doing. Falling forwards with the tilting room, an axe slid back with him. When he got himself to stable footing, he lunged for the axe and began chopping away at the already somewhat broken door.

If Mono was scared from the distorted figures before, he was downright mortified now, panic seeping into him. He tried to get his actions to remain steady, because if he didn’t, the Thin Man would sweep him up in a second. Speaking of said man, Mono could hear him slowly creep up to Mono, his slow steps echoing unnaturally.

Finally, Mono broke through the door, and he dropped the axe and continued through. He realized that if the odd man got too close to him, the world seemed to shift more and glitch, becoming much more like the television dimension. It also caused Mono’s head to ache and his ears to ring, which he would need to avoid if he wanted to get away from the Thin Man as quickly as possible.

The Thin Man opened the door, the barely attached thing swinging open with ease. While Mono was climbing, the footsteps stopped, and he didn’t turn around to see if that was a good thing or not. When he entered the space between the walls and ducked under a leaking pipe, he was surprised to feel the world warping to stop completely. Though he could still feel that the man was somewhere close, the old man’s power seeping into every part of the building.

Mono went through a vent opening and into a space beneath the floorboards. He could hear the Thin Man walk into the room, and then continue over the floor Mono was currently walking under. Where the holes in the floorboards were, Mono would rush a bit so that he could get past them before the Thin Man could walk over them and spot him. Though with the man’s large legs, he got ahead of Mono and stopped abruptly at the last opening in the floorboards.

Stopping his movements entirely, Mono waited for the Thin Man to get back up and walk away, silently wishing that he wouldn’t see him as the man looked around.

Mono slightly sagged with relief when the Thin Man got back onto his feet. The lights began to flicker and Mono watched with mild horror as the man vanished into thin air. The man he was running away from could teleport, which he partly already knew.

Dropping back down from the next vent opening and through a hole in the wall, Mono was met with another hallway. There were no signs of the Thin Man being close, such as weird world warping powers or the surge of energy being taken away from nearby appliances. Although Mono didn’t allow himself to relax, he needed to stay vigilant of the man, now that he knew for sure that he could teleport. It made a lot of sense really, with all the other powers the Thin Man seemed to have.

Making a plan to pull the stool near the hole to the window across from him, he knew he couldn’t reach it otherwise, so he started to make his way over there. Then he heard the tell-tale sign of echoing footsteps, and froze for a split second before more anxiously putting the stool close to the window. The world was beginning to shake again as Mono made his way onto the ledge of the window, pulling the wooden boards attached to it. The paper bag knew that the Thin Man must be teleporting a few feet closer to him from how fast he was approaching him even with his slow pace.

Finally the board broke off the window and Mono rushed out of it and jumped down before he could think twice, only wanting to get away from the Thin Man. Turns out that he landed on a slanted and very wet roof, which he would slide down and land harshly on a subway car sticking diagonally out of the building. No wonder the structure was halfway from collapsing.

The young boy was still slipping however, and he couldn’t get himself to stop, so he tried to find something to grab onto. It was too late though as he slid off the subway, and he reached out his hands to barely grab onto the back of a different subway car that was only slightly tilted. Hurringly pulling himself up he began to run forward, knowing that the Thin Man was still close by. He could feel him after all.

He was sadly right, because as soon as he jumped through the window of yet another subway, the door downwards opened up revealing the Thin Man. Mono turned tail and ran as fast as he could with what little energy remained, trying to ignore the ache in his bones and the pounding of his head that only got worse when the Thin Man got closer.

It seemed that the Thin Man could only teleport short distances, since he would have already gotten Mono if he could teleport straight to him, or maybe the Thin Man was doing that on purpose. Perhaps he thought of this all as a game, finding entertainment from Mono’s frantic and desperate attempts to run away. It was a possibility that Mono didn’t want to think about, as that would mean that he would be dead if the Thin Man got bored of him, and the new surge of panic from that was not welcoming.

Mono leaped to the next subway train, hearing the sounds of the Thin Man teleporting inside the subway with him. Running and hopping to cart to cart like this was making Mono’s ignored pain become more noticeable, or more unbearable in a sense. He didn’t know how long he could keep going like this, especially with the Thin Man only having to walk and teleport a few feet to keep up with him, however few feet the man actually was behind now. He had to do something, but he didn’t know what. He’s been lucky all this time, everything always being alright in the end, no matter what happened. He didn’t know if he was going to be lucky this time.

That’s when he slid under a door and saw a lever just ahead and came up with a plan. He crossed the platform holding the two subway trains together and pulled the lever without second guessing himself, and he could hear the click of the carts separating. He watched as they pulled apart, getting farther away by the second, and couldn’t help but feel hope. He saw the Thin Man open the subway door and stop, seeing the two carts slowly drift away from each other. The man looked down then back at Mono, who at this time was already getting farther away from his cart beginning to pick up speed.

At first the increase of speed made Mono glad, as the distance it was putting between him and the Thin Man was becoming larger. Then it started to speed up too quickly, and he began to feel his anxiety and panic rise in him again, anxiously wondering if he was going too fast.

His thoughts were soon answered as he was flung back into the cart from an abrupt stop. His back hit the cart, knocking all the breath from his lungs, erupting a cut off gasp from him. Then with the momentum of the train and his body, he was thrown forwards and onto the ground as if he weighed nothing to the world.

Now everything hurt and he couldn’t tell if the ringing and spinning of the world was because of the Thin Man’s power or the head trauma he just went through. Blinking a few times to regain his eyesight, he pulled himself into a sitting position, trying to get himself moving again before the Thin Man caught up. How foolish was he to think that his stupid plan would work? Most of his others didn’t, so why did he still put so much faith into himself?

After a few more seconds Mono was able to pull himself up, just barely, without falling back to the ground in pain. He held onto his side with both of his small hands, and bleakly looked forward, wondering if it was even worth it to try and keep going in his state.

Mono was almost ready to give in when he saw the same shadow-like figure of Seven from earlier, standing there staring at him, and he was reminded why he was here and hurt in the first place. Seven was still out there, still waiting for Mono. Seven still needed him. That was why he was here. It was why he walked forward, holding onto his side with clear pain but with a determined mindset. He would do this, as he promised Seven he would keep him safe.

The paper bag boy continued to walk, following the shadow version of Seven who seemed to fade in and out of reality. It was the only thing that kept Mono from stopping and laying back on the ground in agony, so he mindlessly looked for the figure and followed them, hoping that they would lead him to where he needed to be. It was all he could really hope for at the moment, since there was always a chance that the Thin Man would appear once more and kill him.

Walking up the staircase he saw that the alley led to a ladder he would have to climb. He looked up and saw that it went pretty high, the pain throbbing in his side nagging him that climbing up was going to hurt. Ignoring that voice and remembering Seven, he placed his hands on the cold metal bars and began to climb. Wincing every time he moved his right arm up to grab the next bar, his side begging him to quit.

There was water flowing through the cover up top, and the thought of it raining on the other side didn’t really bother Mono. What did bother him however was how heavy the cover was, it being a solid chunk of metal that he had to lift with his skinny arms. He did get it up enough to slide under it, crumbling onto the ground from the effort of getting up here.

He took a couple breaths and got himself onto his feet, albeit swaying back and forth for a second. The street lights lined all the way down the street flickered dangerously, and Mono didn’t like it. This time it wasn’t because he was scared, but because he was tired of it.

He was tired of the Thin Man chasing him. He was tired of having to run away and hide to survive. He was tired of this reality he was forced to live in. He was tired of only being happy in his dreams. He was tired of letting those close to him get hurt. He was tired of having to find comfort in his paper bag because he could not deal with all the pressure the world was throwing at him. He was tired of being a coward.

Overall, he was just tired.

The lights flickered again, and Mono wasn’t surprised when the Thin Man appeared down the street, sulking in the shadows. Mono fell down to his knees, but not to cower, no, not this time. He slowly slid off his paper bag, the rain actually hitting the skin on his head, which hasn’t happened in a long time. He didn’t watch as the paper bag drifted in the flooded street, far away from him. As for the first time since he could remember, he didn’t feel the need to have his paper bag. He didn’t need it’s protection anymore.

The lights flickered and all the structures and other items tilted backwards and forwards, and Mono couldn’t tell which of the two of them was causing it. He sunk back into himself again as the Thin Man slowly crept forward, his steps still echoing as if he wasn’t actually in this plane of reality. To anybody else, it may have looked like Mono was giving in, but really the boy was focusing solely on his powers, allowing it to break free from the place he trapped it inside himself and flow throughout him. He had hid this power for so long because he felt ashamed by it, as it only seemed to bring himself and others misery. Now though, he wasn’t afraid of it or what he could do.

When he felt that the Thin Man was close enough and that he had a good grasp on his power, he stood up, no longer feeling any sort of pain or exhaustion, whether it be from his powers or adrenaline, he didn’t care. He held his hand out, a surge of power rushing from inside and out of his hand, projected onto the Thin Man. Said man had to quickly put out his own hand, pushing back with his own force to try and keep Mono’s at bay from flinging him away or harming him.

There was a small battle between the two, the Thin Man trying to push forwards and past Mono’s own force. Then there was a push back of power on both of them, and the Thin Man’s upper half bended backwards, his lower half barely keeping him on his feet. Mono held his ground, prepared to continue. At this point, the water around him, which at first was just rippling from his power, was now circling him in a whirlpool like way. It didn’t affect him at all, as it was only droplets of water, but he was subconsciously surprised that he could do that.

When Mono fully recovered, he didn’t hesitate to use his powers on the Thin Man, the world warping around them as their powers met in the middle in a fierce battle. Mono honed in on his powers much like he would when he tuned a television from before, but now he had control of what he wanted to do, and he could focus a lot more into it.

Mono and the Thin Man would continue to go at it, Mono matching the Thin Man’s own power, not allowing the man to get close to him. Every time they got knocked back, Mono got back up, too determined to lose. The younger male could tell that the Thin Man was getting slightly frustrated, his powers being on the same level of a child’s. What he didn’t expect was for the boy to actually override his power, causing him to fall on his knee.

The Thin Man could feel himself starting to fade, his powers having been the only thing tethering him to this world, and he had overused them too much.

“Why?” The Thin Man asked, as he couldn’t understand how or why the little brat wanted to save the other kid so much. “Why do you keep fighting?”

Mono, who had fallen on his back, was surprised to hear the older man speak, especially in a voice much more clear than how it was earlier. Still, there was a deep hatred for the man inside of Mono, so he spat back the only answer he thought the man deserved. “Because monsters like you won’t stop either.”

“No, why? Why would you want to save the other child?” The Thin Man looked up and straight towards Mono.

Mono answered without hesitation. “He’s my friend, and I know he would do the same for me in this situation.”

“How could you be so sure? You don’t hardly know them. How would you know if they would save you?” Mono was confused on why the Thin Man was talking like he knew so much about him, but he was even more confused on why the Thin Man was asking these questions.

“He already has before, he cares for me. Seven’s helped me more than I could have ever asked for from anybody.” Mono didn’t know why he was answering this man’s questions when he decided that the man didn’t deserve to have any answers, especially when Mono never received any, but it was almost like he was reassuring himself.

For some reason the Thin Man seemed stunned, but Mono thought it may be because his body was slowly dissipating into particles. “You’ve broken it? After all this time, you’ve broken it? No, you’ve both broken it.”

Mono was confused, as he didn’t understand what he or Seven had “broken”, and he was about to ask about the vague questions when the Thin Man laughed in a hysterical way.

“You’ve broken it!” With another hysterical laugh the Thin Man fully disappeared, his laugh echoing slightly in the wind before being carried away forever. Mono was highly confused, but all the more relieved. He had finally defeated the Thin Man forever.

Mono’s mind immediately went to Seven and he stood back on his feet. Now that he had allowed his powers to run freely through him, he felt more powerful than ever, even if it was drained from the fight he just had with the Thin Man.

Holding up both his hands, he focused onto his powers again, his mind only set on one thing. Finding and saving Seven. The lights flickered, this time from him, and the world warped from his concentration on it. It bent and crumbled to his will, and he forced it to become what he wanted.

Feeling the atmosphere change, Mono looked up and saw what he theorized earlier to be holding Seven, the Signal Tower. The doors opened up, almost welcoming him, and he walked towards them, the purple light filtering from no longer scaring him. Now he needed to get Seven, and he wasn’t going to give up until he did.

Chapter Text

When the purple light faded Mono was met with a very familiar hallway. This time though, he knew it was real, not a part of his dreams or the television world, he was actually here. How he knew about it beforehand, was a mystery he didn’t care to wonder about. Right now, he needed to open the door.

Hopefully there wouldn’t just be a chair with an overly tall man sitting on it in there this time.

As Mono ran down the twisted hallway, the door with an eye on it opened up, allowing him inside. It really was weird how the signal tower seemed to respond to him, inviting him in without repulsion. Though it wasn’t nearly as weird as what the tower held.

There were doors covering most of the walls, all closed except for one that was straight across the large room. The space was nearly empty, except for the items floating right in the air, all slightly moving and spinning. He was almost out of the room, the purple hue that was flooding out of the open door coming closer, when the door started to close on him. Apparently he wasn’t meant to go that way, and he looked around the room to see that there was purple light coming from beneath a different door. He walked over to it, and the tower opened it, allowing him through. Perhaps the tower was guiding him? Hopefully, he needed to find Seven as soon as possible.

Mono felt a quick snap of power run through him, and he was teleported to another part of the tower. Clearly not expecting that, the boy fell forward. He slowly looked up, to see that he was now in front of a tall staircase. Getting back onto his feet, he began to run up them.

Mono didn’t dare look down, already knowing that he was high up in the air. He wasn’t necessarily scared of heights, and he quite often enjoyed them , but he still wasn’t fond of them, especially if he was somewhere unknown. Actually, now that he thought about it, was the signal tower an unknown place? He keeps getting a sense of deja vu whenever he looks around, as if he’s been here before. Maybe it was because of how often he had “visited” the beginning hallway into the place.

It took him a few seconds of running up the huge amount of stairs, but Mono made it to the door at the top and was once again transported to a different room. Knowing what to expect, he just continued to run, only stopping when he made it completely on the other side. Already seeing the door he would need to go through, he ran down the hallway and into it. Only to realize he ended up in the same exact hallway. Confused, he tried running to the door a few more times, thinking that the tower was just confused. After getting the same result, he knew he needed to try something different.

This is why Mono ran back through the door he originally came in through, which once again left him in the same room just at the end of the hallway through the door he was trying to get in. There was a sort of panic as the young boy realized he couldn’t go back to the room he was in before. He was stuck in this hallway unless he found some way to break the loop.

This panic that was settling in with the boy from the realization is what led to him running in and through both doors several times, hoping that it would solve something. Somehow, either by his never ending luck or the tower finally taking pity on him, he ended up in a different area. He was in another hallway, and he had a feeling it was the same as before.

This time, Mono knew that he couldn’t aimlessly try out whatever door he ran in, as now there were several more doors opened. Taking a deep breath, he began to actually investigate the hallway and the doors, knowing that there must be some clue as to which one he should go through. Going to each door, he realized that the door that was peeled upwards seemed to have small whispers and scuttling sounds coming from within, if he listened hard enough.

The paper bag-less boy didn’t know if those sounds were a good thing, or if it meant that there was another bad person waiting for him. Then he thought about who would be in here, as the signal tower was relatively empty. Maybe that person was Seven, and the tower was indeed leading him to the younger boy. With these thoughts in mind, he took a cautious step forward, still wary of whatever the building held.

Everything slowed down for a second, but Mono was teleported through, ending up in yet another hallway. Looking around, he could see that there were more things, such as teapots and chairs floating around. He wondered how gravity worked on him and other things, yet decided to quit when it came to others. When he really thought about it, nothing here made much sense, so gravity shouldn’t either.

Luckily there was only one door open, and it led him to a second staircase with a door open above. As he walked up the stairs, his curiosity got to him and he looked around. There seemed to be an endless path whichever way he looked, doors still all over the walls, though this time there were quite a few staircases leading to some of them. Mono couldn’t help but wonder what secrets every door may hold, but he knew that he would never be able to look in all of them and figure it out. Meaning his curiosity would have to remain unsatisfied with that. It didn’t matter much to him, as he was more worried about Seven anyhow.

Going into the door, he was thrown into a room with four doors, two of them opened including the one he came from. Now knowing what to look for, he went to the door closest to him, straining his ears but hearing nothing. Going to the other door, he could hear the soft voice again, and walked in it.

He was teleported back to the door he walked from in the beginning, but he didn’t let that make him nervous. He already knew that this could happen, so he went back to the door he walked through a second ago, and heard nothing this time. Though, when he went to the door he heard nothing from the first time, he could hear the whispers. Sadly, this door was not opened, and he tried to push on it, needing to get to the over side.

From standing there pushing, that’s when Mono began to realize he could see particles come off of him and flutter to the door before disappearing. He knew he could feel a small spark of power strike him whenever he got close to some doors, but he didn’t know they would do this. Standing there and marveling at the glitter like particles, Mono shook his head and focused himself back into reality. He still needed to open the door, and he learned that his luck finally ran out and the door was one that opened towards the inside.

After searching the room for maybe something he could stand on and twist the door knob or something, and finding nothing, he really took a moment to think. Then he thought about opening the other door that was closed, as he hasn’t tried it. Walking over to the door, the first thing he noticed was that the door seemed to open outwards, unlike the door he needed to get in. This meant he could open it, and he began to push it.

This door opened without too much trouble, but the strange thing was he heard another creak that sounded like it didn’t come from the door he just opened. Suddenly alert, he spun around, and almost freaked when saw the back of another kid in the door frame of the door he was trying to open. Then when he walked forward a bit and realized that other kid did too, he took a closer look at them. They were wearing the same trench coat that he was, and were standing the same exact way. Mono tilted his head a bit, and they did too.

Then he finally realized what was happening. The two doors were connected, and the figure he saw was just himself. Which he tested, or played around with, by waving his hand and moving back and forth a bit, fascinated with how the doors worked. After getting over the distraction of another weird thing that happened in this tower, Mono walked back over to the door with the whispers and walked through it.

Mono walked back into the room from the door that was connected to the other, and started his search for the whispers again, feeling that he was close to getting to the next place. Running in the door he first got into the room with, he was teleported back to the bottomless area with floating staircases. Not taking the time to wonder about the tower anymore, he walked right to the open door, and into another hallway with tons of doors this time.

Mono treated it the same as the other rooms, and started the little game of search and listen. It took him a bit longer, with the larger amount of doors and plank he had to carefully cross a couple times, but he made it to another staircase. He might be getting tired from traversing all these steps, but he knew he would continue for as long as it took to get to Severn, which he felt would be coming soon.

It almost seemed like the tower really could tell what he felt and thought, because after walking up those last stairs he ended up in a hallway. Although this was normal, after a few steps he could hear the whispering that’s been guiding him through all of this. They were a lot louder, and now he could tell that the movements he heard seemed to belong to more than one being. Walking slowly and cautiously, Mono made his way to the barely cracked door, and stopped.

WIth the small voice now becoming clearer, he could tell that it was indeed from Seven. The amount of pure joy and relief he felt caused Mono to no longer worry and open the door, wanting to see Seven as soon as possible. He has been going almost nonstop for what seemed like hours now to get back to his friend, he didn’t want to put it on hold any longer. A part of him couldn’t believe that he was actually there, only a door away from his closest friend, and a much smaller part told him that Seven wasn’t actually there.

When Mono fully opened that door, that tiny voice suddenly became much louder, as he saw several figures all huddled around one smaller one. He froze, and watched as the figures didn’t turn to look at him, only listening to the one on the ground below them, who was quietly whispering. They would shuffle every once in a while, or make small noises back, but other than that there were only the whispers.

The room was empty, save for the cages hanging from the ceiling and the mirrors that decorated almost every inch of the wall. It was weird, making Mono uneasy to the point he almost walked back out of the room. Then he thought of the small figure that sounded so much like Seven, and remembered who he came for. Did the Thin Man leave Seven in here with those other figures? Were those other beings humans or something else entirely? They didn't seem very human, with their gray colored skin and weird hat-like things that sat on their heads, looking somewhat like a mushroom.

Mono, who was becoming curious, crept forward towards the others. When he got close enough, somehow without any of them even acknowledging him, he could see the person on the floor more clearly. They were smaller than Seven, but had most of the other boy’s features, except for the hat that sat on top that was the same as the other figures. The only way that Mono could for sure convince himself that the person was Seven, was from the shackle and chain on his foot, which is what Seven had on him. Mono had thought about trying to find a way to get it off the younger boy, but always got distracted or busied with something else. Mainly from trying to survive the onslaught of everyday threats.

Resisting the urge to go forward and rush out of here with the boy he’s been looking for the entire time, Mono stared, trying to figure out what was going on. His friend seemed so different, yet so familiar that it felt unreal. The figures surrounding him were weird too, and he couldn’t tell if they were dangerous to Seven or good. Right when Mono felt that everything was going to be okay, the world decided to make things difficult once more.

Although Mono’s thoughts were running in a blurred mess, he finally spoke up and whispered to Seven. This caused Seven to flinch and whip his head towards Mono, while the figures didn’t even bother to move. Mono called again, and Seven winced once more before shuffling back. It reminded Mono of the first time he and Seven met, and he was beginning to worry that Seven forgot who he was. Then Seven turned around a bit and held a mirror to his face, which Mono just realized he was holding, whispering once more. Mono frowned, and he strained his ears to hear what Seven was saying. He didn’t register any of the words, and he thought it may be gibberish, which didn’t make much sense as Seven could talk fine before.

Since talking to Seven didn’t work, Mono stepped forward, getting closer to Seven and inside the circle that the figures sort of formed. The gray skinned creatures did not pay Mono any mind, and he was able to crouch down to Seven’s level before the other boy noticed that Mono had approached him. This time, Seven wasn’t able to scoot farther away, forced to be close to Mono, and could see how stressed it made the smaller boy.

Somewhat desperate at this point, Mono reached out his hand. This freaked Seven out completely, the boy shooting straight up onto his feet, back pressed as far as it could against the wall. Mono flinched back as well, not expecting the sudden movement.

“Seven, please, it’s me.” Mono tried, holding out his hand, not moving it any closer to the other. He didn’t mean to make Seven scared.

This didn’t help many as Seven’s breathing picked up, and one of his hands instinctively went up to his hat, tugging at it anxiously. Actually, now that Mono thought about it, could Seven see him? Maybe that’s why Seven was so frantic, he didn’t realize that it was Mono. Mono bet that Seven was still panicked from the whole Thin Man ordeal, but Mono could fix that.

This time, Mono put his hand on Seven’s hat, and tugged up, wanting to pull it off. The hat slightly moved, but Seven’s head moved with it, the boy making a disgruntled noise. Seven froze for a half a second, then he started scrambling, dropping his mirror in the process.

When the mirror hit the floor, there was a small crack noise, and Mono couldn’t help but stop what he was doing and look down in shock. There was a small shard of glass broken off of the mirror, and the mirror itself had several cracks running through it. Seven, noticing this as well, flew back down to the ground and picked up the glass and reflective object, before cradling it to his chest. Mono was about to utter some kind of apology when Seven screeched and he was teleported to a different place.

Now on the floor, he quickly sat up and looked around. This place didn’t have the same purple glow as the last, having more of a gloomier look being gray. Then the only light source from somewhere above flickered, and Mono could hear something crumbling. Before he could panic, he was teleported back to the room with Seven and the other weird figures.

When Mono’s vision returned completely he looked around, seeing that the place was indeed crumbling. Seven was surrounded by the odd creatures again, though this time they were ushering him around, all very frantic. There was pink flesh with eyeballs on it, which were actually blinking as they closed in. Mono, who was slightly disoriented, stood up with a sense of urgency.

Spotting the door, Mono began to run to it, then he heard an angry yell from across the room. He looked back for a second to see the large figures running after him, causing his feet to start working before his brain did. Now he had a few very angry looking creatures running after him with a very upset Seven, who looked like he didn’t care that his buddies were trying to hurt Mono.

While being chased, Mono could hear the walls and doors crumble behind him, and he glanced to see it was actually the creatures breaking it down to get through easier, being too big. He could also hear the screams of Seven, and he couldn’t tell if he was angry or scared, or maybe even a mix of both. He didn’t turn around to go calm the other, as he knew that he would be killed by the things protecting him.

The door ahead had a purple glow he knew pretty well at this point, so when he got teleported to a different place, it didn’t stop him for a moment. He didn’t really have a second to spare, both from the falling apart house and the angry mob behind him, who really didn’t care what they were knocking over or breaking.

Mono knew that they were right behind him, but he was already going as fast as he could, far past the point of exhaustion. He still jumped to the vent opening he saw though, tumbling down into the over room, rolling onto the floor. He bounced back up, knowing that the others were still right on his tail. Hearing them come through the hole in the wall, he hid under a table that was behind a huge living room chair, praying that he didn’t get caught.

He held his breath as the figures knocked down almost everything in the room, grunts coming from them, getting louder each time they didn’t find Mono. Eventually they seemed to give up, still having not pushed over the table, and broke the door off it’s hinges and stomped through it. Waiting a second for them to be gone completely, he crept from underneath the table and made his way out of the room and into the hallway he could see the creatures exit.

Apparently they cared about this door, as instead of breaking it like every other door, the group just closed it when they left. This meant that Mono had to find another way to get out of the wasting tower. Luck still in his favor, there was an axe lodged into a cracked door. Jumping and pulling it down, Mono was able to use the axe to tear down the bottom of the door, and go through.

Taking a second to consider whether to take the axe or not, Mono chose to leave it behind, not thinking of anything he could use it for. He was teleported to a bigger room, and he froze when he saw Seven and the figures standing on the far side of it. Seven had calmed down a bit, looking straight at the mirror with a low head, and the creatures were comforting him, soft cooing sounds coming from them. It was strange, but Mono felt that the mirror was the cause for Seven’s appearance and behavior, as well as the existence of the oversized beings. He didn’t like hurting Seven, but he was going to have to completely break the mirror to save him and get them out of the tower alive and as themselves.

This time instead of getting close to Seven and practically committing suicide from the body guards around him, he shouted. The yell vibrated the entire room, and Seven yelped, already cradling the mirror in his hands. Then he started his whispering gibberish again and the creatures began to run after Mono. Prepared for this, he went through the door behind him, teleporting to the other side of the room where another door was opened. It was just like that one room with the connected doors he had to figure out.

Now he was on the other side, he took the opportunity to run at Seven while the creatures were distracted with trying to find out where he went. Seven was holding out the mirror, trying to fit the mirror shard back into the proper place, sniffles coming from him. Mono hesitated for a second seeing the pitiful sight, then remembered that this is what the Thin Man did to him, and that Seven most likely wouldn’t want to stay this way. Mono quickly grabbed the mirror from Seven’s hand, a sharp gasp coming from the poor boy, before throwing it to the ground. There was another crack and scream before the whole world flickered colors and then went black.

Then he appeared back at the gray place, the floor beneath him cold and hard. There was nobody else here, meaning he was safe for a moment. Knowing that didn’t help the dizziness he felt from the constant unnatural movement from one space to another in a blink of an eye. Mono really wanted some rest, but he wouldn’t let himself have it until he knew that Seven was safe and out of the Signal Tower’s clutches.

After a few seconds, the boy stood up and started walking into the darkness. He didn’t know where he was going, but he felt that he was going the right way, like he knew this place from before. He must have, as he ended up at a door with another axe stuck in it. He took down the axe much like he did the last one, and swung at the door. He didn’t even get to see if it broke when he was teleported right back into the room with Seven.

There were more doors opened this time, and the creatures were trying to get the crying Seven to stop, patting the top of his head and offering short hugs. It would’ve been sweet to Mono if he didn’t need to get rid of them. The pink flesh with eyeballs had now caught up and invaded the room, breaking it down even more, debris flying everywhere.

Mono wasn’t deterred though, and he used the same strategy as before, calling the creatures to distract them so he could try and break the mirror. It was almost like a cycle, he would get the creatures to run after him and break the mirror a bit more, wake back up at the deserted place with a lonely door, and then do it all over again. The only difference was each time is that the numbers of figures wanting him dead decreased, making it easier to run way. Though in turn, Seven was getting better at keeping a tight hold of the mirror and running. To add more, the flesh was moving in more, causing more things to fall down.

It was like this for several long minutes, Mono becoming more and more stressed to hurry up and take care of the mirror. He knew it somehow meant a lot to Seven, but he just wanted his friend to be free. He hoped that Seven would understand when he was fully conscious again.

After a few more attempts, the mirror was almost broken entirely, and Mono was teleported again. This time, it wasn’t to the bleak room where he had to break a door to get back to reality, but the same room he was in before. It felt like he just woke up, and he might have from how the world slowly returned back and how fuzzy his brain felt. He tilted his head up to see that the flesh was surrounding him, debris still scattered around. The mostly destroyed mirror was on the ground, and Seven was laying on the ground close by, yet there were no other beings to be seen.

Struggling onto his feet, he saw Seven sit up and scoot slowly back to the mirror. He held out one of his shrinked hands to it, caressing the last piece of glass that remained on the mirror. Mono felt awful to say the least. He may be doing this with Seven’s safety in mind, but it didn’t make this any better. That wouldn’t stop him from walking forward, and crouching on the ground next to Seven.

The boy didn’t look up, instead he whispered again. It was so quiet yet Mono could swear he heard the plea in Seven’s voice as he spoke. Mono's shoulders slumped, and he questioned if he could actually bring himself to break the last remains of the mirror, with how desperate Seven seemed. Then he felt the room shake and the floor crack, and he knew that this had to be done.

Taking a deep breath, Mono did what he believed to be the hardest thing he has ever done. He picked up the mirror, smashing it into the ground right in front of Seven, who did nothing to stop him but sobbed.

The moment the mirror hit the ground and the last crack rang from it, both of the boys were pushed back from the amount of power bursting from the insides of the mirror. Mono knew that the Thin Man made it, there was nothing else that could explain what was happening. Mono could hear the scream of Seven, as the boy fell backwards, and how he started trying to scramble back up to his feet, only to fall back onto the ground.

The mirror still needed to be broken, so Mono got back onto his feet and rushed forward, trying to get to it before Seven could. Instead of picking it up this time, Mono raised up his foot and stomped as hard as he could. This time he knew it was broken, as the world faded to black and all the power was released.

Everything was dark for a second, before slowly becoming light again, and even more slowly did the purple glow return. Mono, who was highly disorientated, carefully raised himself into a sitting position, rubbing a hand on his head, remembering that he got rid of his paper bag. Then when he felt he was good enough, he looked up, and saw that the place was crumbling more than ever and that the flesh was pulsing. That wasn’t what caught most of his attention though.

Seven was sitting a few feet away, also seemingly dizzy from everything. He looked back to normal, no longer smaller with a weird hat thing and small whispers that Mono couldn’t understand. When Seven turned his head towards Mono, they both froze for a minute. Mono soon broke out of his surprise, a wave of relief flooding him as swayed on his feet and ran to Seven. He practically tackled the poor boy into a hug, trying not to cry from having his friend back.

Seven was still frozen, but returned the hug a moment later, still a little confused with how he felt. He didn’t remember too much after he was snatched back by the Thin Man, but he did remember being very scared and upset, and Mono causing those feelings to worsen. He could also remember Mono tearing away what he craved for most, which was comfort and attention.

That couldn’t be right, could it? Mono wouldn’t do those things, he was hugging him right now, giving him both comfort and attention. Then why did he feel betrayed? He thought about it as he continued to hug Mono, who seemed overjoyed to see Seven. Yeah, Seven trusted Mono, he knew that Mono wouldn’t harm him. This had to be the Thin Man’s doing, as he couldn’t remember much. Maybe he should ask Mono what happened.

Actually that didn’t seem to be a very good idea at the moment, as there was a loud sound of something crashing and both of the kids were thrown back into reality. They realized that this wasn’t the best time to hug, and unless they wanted to get crushed, they needed to get out of the falling building. The flesh was creeping inwards, making the space around them smaller and the structure came apart faster.

With his feet back underneath him, Seven started running through the only way he saw, going through the broken door and into a large hallway. He was running as fast as he could, Mono trying to keep up the best he could with how sore his legs were from running nonstop for the last couple hours. All the walls were crumbling, the flesh’s eyes peeking in and staring at the two boys as they sprinted. Jumping over broken floors and climbing over fallen down objects, they could feel the pressure of the entire place collapsing behind them.

Seven was pretty far ahead of Mono, not really realizing it as he continued to run without a second thought. He was getting really creeped out by the eyes and the overwhelming sounds of the gushing flesh expanding all around. Why did he have to wake up to this?

Finally he could see the way out of here, a door with light streaming out of it, and he put more energy into his legs, going past his usual limit. Mono, though, had fallen down for a second, the eyes breaking the door a few feet close to him, the force causing him to fall down. He could feel panic bubble inside him, and he tried to run faster, the path behind him falling apart as he ran.

Time seemed to slow as he ran to the edge, and his panic worsened when he saw that the bridge in front of him began to crumble as well. At least Seven made it in time to the other side, and was turned around, ushering Mono to hurry up. He ran, watching as the path fell apart in front of him. Then he saw that he wouldn’t be able to make it, so he leaped as far as he could and held out his hand.

Just like the time in the wilderness from the beginning of his journey, he felt that this moment would change everything. His outstretched hand locked with Seven’s, and relief came over him. He looked up, smiling, because he and Seven made it. They survived, everything they did became worth it. Seven looked down at him, astonished that he actually managed to catch Mono. It was also at that moment that he saw that Mono’s eyes weren’t actually entirely black, which he guessed from how they were hidden in the paper bag. HIs eyes were dark brown, which seemed pretty in the lighting. Seven didn’t hesitate to pull Mono up, not wanting him to dangle on the edge. Seven was glad that his friend was safe, making it to him at the last second, because he really doesn’t know what he’d do without the clumsy, selfless mess Mono was.

Mono doesn't know why, but he felt a tremor go through his body, or maybe it was the entire reality. He also thought he heard the hysterical laughter of the Thin Man, though there was a hint of relief in it as well. He believed that the stress and exhaustion must really be getting to him.

Now that the two boys were both on ground, they scrambled back onto their feet and ran to the door. Mono grabbed a hold of Seven’s hand, not wanting to get separated somehow when they teleported. Mono could feel how the door held the same energy as the televisions did, and he desperately held his hand out to it as they ran through, trying to use his powers to control where they went.

Yet the only thing he could think of was getting them some place where it was safe. Where he and Seven dreamed of going to. Where he and Seven could live without any worries of something trying to kill them everyday. Where they could have water and food, and a place to sleep whenever they grew tired.

To be honest, it was all wishful dreaming.

Chapter Text

When Mono and Seven exited the door acting as a portal, they were thrown out of a television and onto the ground, both tumbling with glass showering over them. It was a good thing that none of the glass actually left a mark on them, as they wouldn’t have anything to fix the wounds up, leaving there to be a good chance for infection. Infection could easily lead to death in this world.

Mono was the first to look around in a frantic manner, hoping that he didn’t teleport them somewhere dangerous. Then he saw that they were surrounded by trees, and his stomach dropped. Did he take them back to where The Hunter was in the wilderness?

No, this wasn’t that wasteland. The air was a lot cleaner and didn’t smell of rotting things or slimy swamps. He couldn’t hear the constant sound of buzzing flies, excitedly feasting on corpses The Hunter left behind. No traps laid around, such as suspicious piles of leaves or nets. It seemed a lot more alive here as well. Although he couldn’t hear flies, he could hear the distant sound of birds chirping and the trees rustling in the soft wind. The sun was also peeking through the tree canopy, making the place much brighter, a stark contrast to the usual gray and gloomy tone.

All in all, this place was a lot different than any other place that Mono has been to before. It was a lot warmer, more inviting. Perhaps his powers did help him for once, or it was another sign he was getting the hang of using it.

Seven was in awe with the place as well, knowing that this is the type of place he day dreamed about on the Maw. He thought he found that place when he was in the wilderness, but now he could tell that this was a whole lot better.

That didn’t mean it couldn’t be dangerous, which is why Seven stood up and helped Mono. He could tell that the other boy was exhausted far beyond his limit. Seven didn’t know what all Mono had to go through to save him, but he was extremely grateful. He doesn’t want to know what would have happened to him if he stayed in the tower forever with the Thin Man. How did Mono beat the Thin Man anyways? That seemed like something he should ask Mono when they knew for sure they were safe.

When Mono was completely on his feet, swiping all the glass off of him, he looked around more. “Maybe we should explore this place, get a good feel for it. I don’t want any surprises.” Seven silently nodded his head, like he usually does, and they began to creep around.

Although both of the young boys were exhausted, they wouldn’t be able to rest if they didn’t know they weren’t in danger. This was the main reason why they didn’t rest for the last couple of days, running nonstop from the countless dangers that followed their every step. The Pale City was not a good place to be, they knew that, and they're glad to be away now. They could only pray that this place wouldn’t hold those same dangers, or even something worse.

The forest they were in didn’t seem to have any sign of humans living there except for the television the two boys popped out of. It almost seemed to be completely undisturbed, save for the other forms of life here, such as animals and plants. It was peaceful really. The wind was barely strong enough to push the multi-colored leaves over head, the sound as soft as the breeze. The birds never stopped singing, and Mono and Seven could spot them flying from tree to tree every once in a while. There was also the sound of bugs, such as saccades and other loud insects, all chirping and buzzing carefree.

Mono and Seven had been walking for a little bit now, and not once had they found anything dangerous, no monster wanting to kill them. It was almost a miracle or even a dream, like this place didn’t actually exist. The young kids even found themselves letting their guard down somewhat, allowing themselves to take in the sights more.

Too bad the scenery couldn’t satisfy an empty stomach. Mono crumpled over, holding his stomach with his hands as it rattled in agony. He didn’t realize how hungry he’s gotten, as he hasn’t given his needs much attention at all. Seven stopped in his tracks, immediately putting a hand on Mono’s shoulder to try and give the poor boy some comfort. Seven knew from a lot of experience how bad the hunger pains felt, and was more surprised that he wasn’t going through the same thing.

What they needed was some food, and preferably some drinkable water. When Mono could stand normally again without feeling as if his insides were trying to eat themselves, he and Seven began searching for something to eat. Maybe this forest had some mushrooms like the last place did. Though if it didn’t, then they could hopefully find something else, as anything sounded good at this point.

Then they noticed a bush with bright red balls decorating it, or some sort of berries. Either way, it looked like food and Mono was tempted to eat it. Before he could take a step to it though, Seven put a hand in front of him and shook his head. “We don’t know if it’s not dangerous.” Oh right, some food could kill people. Mono looked at the berries longingly, but nodded his head nonetheless, disappointed at the fact that he couldn’t eat yet.

Then they saw a bird swoop down, and both boys froze before diving behind a tree, afraid that the bird saw them as prey. After a second of not being attacked, they looked out from behind the tree, and saw the bird picking off a couple of the small berries and eating it. Mono couldn’t help but smile and watch the bird, because not only was the small yellow bird the cutest thing he’s ever seen, but this also meant that the food was most likely not harmful.

Seven seemed to agree to Mono’s thoughts, because as soon as the bird flew off again, Seven stepped back and gestured to the berries. Both boys carefully made their way over to the food, still wary of any other animals that may be here, and picked off two of the berries, one for each. Mono was the first to take a bite, eager for some sort of nutrients, and almost cried when he tasted how delicious it was. The fruit was sweet and also mildly sour, with a juicy inside, making it the most exciting food that Mono has ever had.

Seeing how much Mono was enjoying the berry, Seven took a nibble out of his, his eyes widening from the taste. Both of the children ended up eating about three berries, trying to hold down as much as they could without becoming too full. This was the first time they were able to eat in awhile, and it was the first time ever to eat something like this in such a big supply. They could get very used to this now that they thought about it.

After eating, they sat there next to the bush and let their small but full bellies settle. When was the last time they actually got to relax? That question came out of Mono’s mouth, spurring an interesting conversation, one of the first real ones the two boys held. It seemed as if neither of them was able to recall a clear time like this with how far their memories went into the past. Mono, who’s memories were still a hazy garbled mess in the corner of his brain, didn’t talk about it too much, since there wasn’t much for him to talk about. Seven reflected with a sense of appreciation, knowing that times such as these was not something to take for granted.

It was at this time that they realized they still knew very little of each other. Mono, being more curious and straightforward out of the two, was the one to ask almost each question. Seven would only ask something if Mono said something and he wanted to know more, which made the other boy nervous and try to answer the best he could. The questions that easily bounced between the two ranged from silly ones to answer, such as their favorite color, to ones that required more detailed explanations and thought. Those ones were harder to say out loud, as the two boys realized that they never thought about answering them.

In the end, they talked for probably hours, but this time the minutes didn’t go by agonizingly slowly, but surprisingly quick. Mono learned that Seven loved the color yellow, since it reminded him of the sun, and that his worst fear is deep, dark water. Seven on the other hand found out that Mono loved nighttime mainly for the crickets and that he wore his paper bag because he felt that it would protect him from the world that always seemed out to get him. To say the least, Mono’s wish to talk and know more about Seven was beyond fulfilled, and he was thrilled. They might have not shared everything or gone into too much detail about their lives, but they didn’t need to yet, they had plenty of time to get to know each other.

It was well into the evening now, with some of the animals beginning to quieten down in preparation for the night that would come in the next short hours. Although Mono and Seven may have been sitting in one spot chatting for several hours without moving much, that didn’t mean that they could completely trust where they had landed up. With newfounded energy, they had no trouble scouting out the areas for any signs of trouble, finding nothing out of the ordinary for a forest.

There was one very notable finding, being a crystal clear creek running lazily down the rockbed. Seven stared at it with an awestruck expression, having never seen water so clear and undisturbed. Mono, who also enjoyed the beauty for about a few seconds before realizing he felt like he was dying of thirst, took a tentative sip from his cupped hands out of the water. It didn’t taste weird, or too strongly of anything at all, so he assumed it was safe to drink more. Any other time he would be more careful when he found a water source, having come upon ones that made him sick several times, but with the berries being safe and him being so thirsty, he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Seven didn’t even think twice after he saw Mono drinking out of it, trusting Mono’s judgment without much thought himself. He’s done that so much lately without realizing it, and if he thought about it then, it would probably amaze him how far he’s gotten.

It was also this sense of ease and calmness that caused Mono to splash some water at Seven after they were done replenishing their thirst. Seven retaliated by splashing back at Mono with a quiet giggle. Chasing that small laugh, Mono splashed again, this time dodging when Seven tried to splash back. They went back and forth for a while, until Seven was practically soaked and tired of Mono always moving away from his attacks, ending up trying to push Mono in the creek. Said boy fell backwards with a yelp, grabbing onto Seven as he fell, dragging them both into the shallow water. Now they were both jumping and splashing, laughing more than they ever had. It was almost like they were allowed to be kids again, having fun without worrying about everyday essentials.

They played for another hour, feeling as if they could never get bored or tired, as if the day would never end. Then Seven took a good look at Mono, and attempted to wipe some of the dirt that stubbornly clung to the taller boy’s hair. Mono let him, finding the careful tugs and rustles soothing after having no physical touch on his head for a while with his paper bag covering it. When Seven was satisfied with the now slightly untangled and cleaner mop that Mono claimed as hair, he let Mono do the same for him when he asked. Perhaps they could do this more often if they decided it was safe to stay here, because it sure seemed nice.

It was getting cold, forcing the young boys to climb out of the creek bed and use the last of the sun’s rays to dry themselves, sitting flat on a warm rock and talking about silly things, such as the shape of the clouds. Mono was sure he'd done this a lot when he was dreaming, but coming up with shapes and scenarios from fluffy white puffs with a friend was decidedly a lot more fun.

Then it was nighttime, and the world returned to being dark, but this time it felt different. No longer were they looking at how dull and lifeless everything felt, but how the moon made everything become like glitter, shining with a mysterious beauty. The crickets and other nocturnal animals came out, welcoming the night with their songs and loud chirps. Even the night was much louder and comfortable than the wilderness that Mono stayed at for far too long. If he knew a place like this existed, he would’ve searched for it a long time ago. Seven agreed when Mono spoke the thought into words, though he was much more solemn.

Mono ended up spotting a nice bush close to the river with thick leaves and tons of woven branches. From there, he and Seven were able to wiggle themselves into a spot underneath it, Mono explaining how he did this a lot when he was trying to stay out of sight from The Hunter. The boy also found himself discussing with Seven how he also used to sleep in trees every once in a while, enjoying the weird comfort the height brought him. Seven only responded saying that he had odd things that comforted him too.

No matter how much they wanted to continue talking, to keep growing closer with each new tidbit they learned from the other, they eventually grew tired. Mono yawned, his exhaustion becoming more evident with the passing time, and Seven was soon to follow. They fell asleep, wrapped up in each other’s comforting presence, and before too long, each other’s arms. It was the best sleep they’ve ever had, sleeping well into the next day, waking up and finding more things to like about the forest and one another.

If this was a dream, well, neither of them ever wanted to wake up.

Chapter Text

Everything was peaceful.

The sun was high in the sky, a soft breeze was blowing through Mono's hair, and the grass beneath him felt warm and comfortable. Mono felt peaceful, and that fact hasn’t changed in awhile.

It’s been several years now since he and Seven had found themselves in the forest they now call home. Years after Mono found Seven hidden away in a crazy hunter’s basement. Years after he and Seven left together to go on a dangerous adventure that almost got them killed multiple times. Years after Mono faced his own fears and saved Seven. Mono wouldn’t change a thing, he was content with the life he had now.

The once small boy had grown quite a bit, becoming more mature with height. He’s also come to realize he looked nothing like he would have expected, and perhaps it was because of the way he’s lived much healthier than before. His dark brown hair has grown out, though he had cut it recently. He’s now able to easily reach fruits that used to hang up high in the trees, his body much taller and his stature wider. It was great, except for the few drawbacks that came with growing up, such as pimples and odor. Mono was embarrassed to admit that he still had a few voice cracks every once in a while. Though, even with all his changes, he still had his big dark brown eyes and kind nature, something that Seven was always fond of.

Seven had grown a lot too, but he was still shorter than Mono, which the other boy had no problem teasing him about. He let his hair grow out more than Mono, but didn’t want it too long during the warmer months, meaning it was cut down a bit. Not being nearly as bashful anymore, Seven often sought out some sort of adventure on a daily basis, Mono being happily dragged along.

Those adventures led to finding things, such as an abandoned broken down house, which they fixed up and used as their home, making it their own. It turned out there was another television to be found in there, allowing Mono to use his powers and teleport him and Seven back and forth to the Pale City. The city has changed over the years with the now grown children.

At first, when they returned back after maybe a year, it was still covered in smog and deformed people crawled about trying to survive. They didn’t go again for a while, the memories of what happened there still fresh and burned into their mind. Then they plucked up some courage and left again, finding the huge urban place more deserted. Seven insisted that they explore it more now that they were older and it was more safe. Mono only agreed after the other boy brought up that they might find something useful, and because the taller boy couldn’t find it in him to say “no” anymore.

It turned out that there were some useful things, such as clothes and medical items. The two teens would return to the city countless times over the next few years, eventually coming up with a map that covered nearly the entire city top to bottom. They knew the places they should avoid, like that one messed up hospital with moving mannequins, the school, and worst of all, the crumbled signal tower sitting in the middle.

They found new places such as a huge mall with tons of clothes to pick from that they never knew could exist, a place where multiple playsets resided, despite the overgrown plants, and a library with a huge selection of books. Seven grew to love the visits he and Mono took to the Pale City, his sense of exploration being fulfilled with every new spot and place they found.

Mono had become somewhat intrigued by what the city held too, especially excited when they had found the library. He would read all the time, sometimes reading out loud when Seven asked him to, both cuddled up on a torn up couch in the renovated house they had. There seemed to be so much the world used to offer before it all went downhill, and although disappointedly Mono knew that he would never see those things, loved experiencing part of it through each and every story. It also taught him and Seven a lot about things that others weren’t there to teach them, since they only had each other.

Even throughout all their time in the huge city, they have never found another normal human being there. It made Mono feel like that he and Seven were the only ones left that hadn’t been twisted by the world, which Seven refused to believe, knowing that they can’t be the only ones left, and that there had to be more outside the Pale City. Mono thought that Seven could be right, since the boy knew some other kids in his time at the Maw, but he didn’t think about it much, already happy with just being with Seven.

If they were to ever find another person, Mono wondered what they would be like. He knew that he would probably never get attached to them as much as he did Seven, but he couldn’t but think about what it would be like to have more people. Seven often thought about it too, sharing his thoughts with Mono, talking about how cool it could be if they started their own little town in the forest. Mono would hum along with a small smile, humoring those thoughts with ideas of his own.

It was always like this. Mono and Seven never went a day without talking to one another, never having run out of things to talk about, whether it was about their day at the moment or a random thought they had. They were comfortable with one another, never needing to feel like they had to hide anything from the other anymore. They told secrets from the past, sensitive memories, things that would never be said otherwise. It was nice, and everything they both wanted.

Yet, Mono couldn’t help but feel like there was something more that they were missing. In all the books he read, they mostly ended up with a happy ending, or two characters falling in love. He was mature enough to know that real life didn’t work anywhere near like the stories did, and that most of them were fiction, but he found some similarities between the piece of written work and himself and Seven.

Such as how whenever Seven hugged him now his heart would pick up and his stomach would swirl, which never happened until recently. He could also find his thoughts being focused on the other boy, his brain having trouble focusing on other things, especially if Seven was around. Whenever Seven smiled or laughed, Mono couldn’t help but grin stupidly. He thought it was incredibly endearing when Seven was confused or super excited for exploration. All of these things were getting increasingly worse too.

Mono didn’t understand what was happening at the beginning, when his stomach started to swirl when Seven gave him all his attention, but when all his thoughts were on the boy, he sort of had a realization. If all the books were correct, then Mono had fallen in love with Seven.

It scared Mono at first, and he tried to hide the fact he was starting to love his best friend more than he should. He didn’t want to have a chance to lose Seven, as he was the only person Mono truly cared about, more than his own self. He tried everything that the book characters did, such as distancing himself with Seven. That obviously didn’t work, since him and Seven were practically attached to the hip. Then he tried to tell himself that those feelings were all in his head, that he was just going off of a book. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Mono knew that he couldn’t keep his growing feelings for the other boy to himself forever, as he was bound to accidentally spill something eventually. Which came to the next thing Mono felt, acceptance. He accepted the fact that he loved Seven more than just on a friendly status, and that there was a slim chance that Seven actually liked him back. By slim, Mono meant practically nonexistent, because there was no way that a boy like Seven could ever want to become anything more with somebody like Mono. Sure, they got along well, but that didn’t mean Seven liked him.

This made Mono become slightly curious, if not a bit hopeful, and he started to try and pay more attention to Seven, trying to see if he saw the same signs of love that Mono had.

This didn’t help much, and maybe had made his crush for Seven even stronger. Seven was never as physically affectionate as Mono, but when he did hug or cuddle with Mono, it made Mono struggle to keep his cool. All the while Seven seemed unbothered by it, even becoming more physically touchy recently. About the increased heart rate and constant thoughts on the other, Mono couldn’t tell. Although he did notice how Seven asked him about his day more often, which was odd considering that they spent a majority of their day together.

All in all, Mono was conflicted on whether or not to tell Seven what he truly felt. He didn’t want to lose this precious friendship but he also knew that he didn’t want to keep this secret, it felt wrong to do. Mono told Seven everything, surely he could tell Seven this.

That’s why when Mono saw Seven not too far away, picking their favorite red berries off a bush, he decided he might as well tell him. He took a deep breath and called out to the busy boy. He could do this, Seven would never hate him, right?

Seven turned his head towards Mono, slightly tilting it as he looked at Mono with a confused look. His dark stormy blue eyes sparkled a bit in the bright sun, and after a second he gave Mono a small smile. All of Mono’s confidence dripped out of him as he stared at the other boy, almost hypnotized by how amazing he looked in the sun’s rays. He caught himself staring like an idiot at Seven, and became flustered, trying to do some damage control by saying he forgot what he was going to say. Seven, being the good person he is, only giggles a little bit before getting back to picking the fruit.

Yeah, Mono needed to do something else, there was no way he could get himself to confess. It was almost ridiculous too, how nervous Mono was. He wasn’t even this worried when he was fighting the Thin Man, and Seven was a whole lot nicer! He was also prettier, smarter, funnier, and-

Mono shook his head, trying to get back on task and to get his face to stop being so red. He needed another plan, something that would definitely work. Then Mono thought of the perfect idea, something he has also seen in books. He should try to get Seven to fall in love with him too, that way there was no reason he would say no. It was incredibly good, except for the part that Mono didn’t really know how to get Seven to fall in love with him.

Mono searched through multiple of his books, mainly the more romantic ones, and found a few things that could work. This shouldn’t be too bad.

It went almost horribly.

The taller boy first tried to use flowers, which seemed like a common thing to do in most of the books that he read. He picked the most beautiful ones, dark blue and big, reminding him of Seven’s eyes. He was going to hand them to the other, but couldn’t figure out how to make a bouquet, ending up messing up half the flowers. Seven found the wilted flowers outside the house, where Mono had left them in defeat, and asked Mono what happened. The poor boy panicked and said he was trying to make flower crowns, and Seven giggled a bit before asking how Mono forgot to do so when he’s done it a hundred times. Seven spent the rest of the day teaching Mono how to make flower crowns again, which Mono had to pretend like he didn’t already know how to.

Next, he tried to take Seven stargazing, only to realize that he didn’t know anything about the stars. Mono asked Seven if he wanted to look at the stars with him right before they usually go to bed, the sun finally settling down completely, and of course Seven agreed. Seven laid down on the grass beside Mono, and they stared at the stars, but without knowing anything about them, they found it could be sort of boring. At least Seven seemed to enjoy their natural beauty, pointing out ones that seemed to shine brighter than the rest.

After both of those failed attempts, Mono was having a hard time to convince himself to try other common practices of courtship. Though there was this tug in his chest for Seven, and he knew that he wanted to keep going.

He asked Seven to dance, but he didn’t know how to dance, only making Seven laugh whenever he accidentally stepped on the other’s feet. He tried making something that would taste sweet, which didn’t turn out too bad, except for Seven not liking sweet things too much. Then, for his last attempt, and the only other thing he could think of, Mono managed to make a television play some sort of movie, and showed Seven. This one was probably the best idea, because Seven was really amazed by the movie, excited by the moving people and story. There was only one thing wrong, Mono had somehow picked a horror movie to play without realizing it, and ended up clutching to Seven for dear life in the scarier parts. Not exactly the image he wanted to portray to Seven, but at least Seven had fun.

Now Mono had done everything he could think of, and was willing to do, but he still couldn’t tell if Seven even remotely felt the same way as he did. Feeling a little discouraged, he went to the bush he and Seven first hid under to sleep when they got here, and sat next to it. He liked this spot because it was quiet and the sun almost always shone on it, making it warm and comfortable. It was easy to get lost in his thoughts here, to relax in the background noise of nature. Sometimes Seven would join him, and they would both sit in silence for a while. Every so often, they would fall asleep, taking a nap together.

Thinking about Seven only made Mono more downhearted. He felt like there was little chance that Seven would see him romantically, or anything more than a platonic friend. He knew he could live with that, and he would most likely get over it, but a part of him didn’t want to. He liked this feeling he felt when he looked at Seven or the spark he felt when they touched. It was nothing he’s ever felt before, and it was exciting and breathtaking, but scary all the same.

The shaggy hair boy sighed and leaned back, falling into the bush, glad for its support. He would get over it, and it’d probably take time, but he’d be fine. Perhaps he should just tell Seven, without knowing if the boy liked him back, to make this heavy feeling go away. Seven wouldn’t cast him away because of what he felt, he wasn’t like that.

As soon as those thoughts entered his head he heard rustling from behind, and he whipped his head around to see Seven shaking the bush.

“What’s got you down?” Seven asked, sitting down next to Mono.

Mono, who was not ready to tell Seven the truth yet responded with something simple. “Nothing really, maybe it’s just the day.” The taller boy cringed inwardly, hearing how fake that sounded, feeling terrible for lying.

Seven only hummed, nodding his head a little. “Just the day? It is a little cloudy, though I feel like that couldn’t get you upset like this.” Mono was nervous now, guilt written all over his face, and he had to look away. Seven couldn’t help but giggle a bit, finding it amusing how Mono’s face always showed how he was feeling. The poor boy couldn’t lie even if his life depended on it. His amusement died down as he continued. “You can tell me anything, you know I’d never judge you.”

Although this made Mono feel a bit better, he couldn’t but think that this was something that Seven would most definitely judge him on. “I don’t know, it’s nothing bad, it’s…” He trailed off, not really knowing what to say. There was nothing he could describe about his feelings for Seven without accidentally telling him.

“Does it have anything to do with the weird things you’ve been doing lately?” Seven inquired, smiling a bit when Mono blushed and looked down. It was almost too easy, getting the truth out of Mono.

“What weird things?” Mono decided that perhaps if he played dumb, then Seven would be confused. Too bad the other was too observant to believe Mono’s facade.

“I don’t know, maybe the flowers or seeing the stars that one day. Or perhaps even the dancing?” Seven listed off, smirking when he saw Mono grow more flustered, obviously trying to sputter out some sort of excuse. Before he could do that, Seven continued. “Actually, making me a pie and then fixing up a television to watch a movie is something you don’t usually do. Does any of those things count?”

Mono sighed, and deflated, feeling defeated once more. He knew he couldn’t lie himself out of this one, even if he tried. He knew that Seven could tell something was up with all these random things he asked, but he didn’t know it was that obvious. Seven probably already knew that Mono liked him more than friends, and Mono would have no choice but to confess if Seven asked. He looked away, ready to hear the thing that was making him anxious the last few days.

Seven, noticing how nervous Mono was getting, decided to try and make the boy feel better. “You know, I did enjoy hanging out with you and the gifts you made me, even if some seemed a little silly.” His voice was laced with amusement at the end, but came off fond like he wanted, and he could visibly see Mono relax a bit.

“Really?” Mono’s voice was quiet, as if he was scared of Seven’s answer. If the other boy actually did like his ideas, maybe he did have a shot. He didn’t want to seem desperate, but at this point, he kind of was.

“Yes, Mono, I really did like your gifts.” Seven laughed softly at the end before continuing. “Although I’m a bit confused on why you started doing all that.” The smaller boy turned to look at Mono, who was currently picking at the grass, trying to distract himself from the swarm of butterflies inside himself.

“I’ll tell you if you can promise me that you won’t be mad or scared and start hating me.” Mono said, his voice still low, and he could feel his heart pick up to unsettling speeds.

“Why would I need to promise you that? I couldn’t ever hate you Mono.” Now Seven was a little worried, if not more confused. Surely the gifts couldn’t be because of something wrong?

“Please just promise me…”

Seven leaned down a bit to try and search Mono’s face, to see if it had answers, but for once, the other’s face was tightly guarded. “Alright, I promise you.”

Mono let out a shaky breath, and finally lifted his head up. This wasn’t exactly how he wanted to confess, but it was now or never, and he didn’t want to upset Seven by changing his mind at the last second. He hesitated, looking at Seven’s face, his eyes traveling up to his eyes. The dark stormy blue was more vibrant, the sun making them sparkle like sapphires. Mono felt a little more confident looking into them, and he stopped overthinking.

“Seven, we’ve been best friends for a long time, and I like you…” Seven’s face was confused, and Mono knew he would have to explain it more. “A lot, more than a friend should. So I’ve been trying to get you to like me too, with the, um… gifts.” Gosh, why was this so hard? “I really want to date you, and I know it’s a little silly and maybe even weird, and I’m surprised you didn’t already figure it out, with how obvious I am, like-”

Mono stopped his anxiety driven ramblings abruptly, his face growing hot as he looked back towards the ground, debating on whether or not he should make a run for it and pray that they would both forget that this ever happened.

Just as he was about to make a decision, Seven spoke. “Yeah, sure, I think I’d like that.” His voice was so quiet, that Mono thought he was hearing things for a second.

“Really?” Mono exclaimed, his heart beating faster, but this time from excitement, then his nerves kicked back in. “You don’t have to though, or, well, don't feel like you have to. If you’re just saying that because you don’t want to make me upset, then don’t worry, we can stay friends and I’ll get over it-”

Seven stopped Mono’s long rambles this time by covering his mouth with his hands. Mono’s eyes grew wide and the red returned full blown into his cheeks, embarrassed once more by his bad talking habit whenever he grew nervous. “Yes Mono, I really do want to date you. I’ve been feeling the same way for a while, I was only scared that you wouldn’t return them.” Seven took a deep breath, since when did he become the more outspoken out of the two? “Though when you started giving me those gifts and hanging out with me a lot more, I was hopeful, which is why I bothered you about it today. I honestly couldn’t believe you would feel that way towards me.”

Then Seven’s hand was caught by Mono’s as he was lowering it, and Mono held it close to him. “Of course I would feel the same way, you’re so amazing. You’re smart and funny, and somewhat sarcastic when you want to be. When you’re around, everyday is fun! I love your messy brown hair and deep blue eyes, I swear I get lost in them sometimes. I could compliment you more, but I feel like I might explode.”

Seven stared, shocked for a second, before laughing hysterically. Mono after a second, joined in, and they both laughed. Whether it was amusement or pure relief, they laughed for a while, still holding hands.

Now they knew this wasn’t a dream, and they couldn’t be more happy. All that wishful dreaming paid off in the end.