Chapter Text
Six's eyes slowly adjusted to the sunlight, after residing in darkness for so long. As her vision returned, she gazed upon her watery surroundings. The sun was setting upon an endless sea of black and green, the sky shifting from bright orange to black. The only sounds being that of gentle waves splashing steadily, and pained creaking and growing of the Maw.
As Six silently observed the world outside, she began contemplating her next immediate course of action. The boat seemed stationary, as nothing was piloting it. The guests' boat was long gone. She sensed little life remaining aboard the Maw, only being a few rats and gnomes, as well as some children down in the prison. Six worried how long that would last her, and if her deep hunger had at last been quenched. Surely this was enough to fill what she was missing. If this wasn't enough, Six didn't know what she could do to save herself.
But regardless, she figured that land was the first priority. Turning back, Six slinked off the balcony on which she resided and dove back into the loom of the Maw. It was dark. Darker than ever before, as her new powers had suffocated most lights. Corpses of her food lined the walls, toppled over the chairs and floor—their final moments, grasping in their greed and gluttony. Six continued forward, free to roam the broad and grey corridors. Searching for a way to pilot the ship.
At last, she came upon an unfamiliar room enclosed by a door with another large eye in the center, lacking the button present in the previous camera room she had come across. Six allowed her new strength to flow into the eye, rotating and unlocking with a deep click. The door pulled itself apart to reveal a room with, yet another giant eye surrounded by long strands of silvery wire connected to various parts of the room, disappearing into smaller holes leading to the rest of the ship. The wire was lax and spiraled around the sole point of the eye, creating a loose resemblance to a spider web, Six though. As she slowly crept into the room, she began to get a strong sense of deja-vu.
"Makes sense," she thought. "I've been wandering these halls for about a day now."
But this room was very different from most of the Maw, and this feeling, it was a sort of familiarity that confused her. She then shook her head; such thoughts will only distract her from survival.
She stepped up to the eye at the center of the web of wire.
"How do I activate this one? There isn't a button. Do I need to open it, the same way I open the doors?" She thought, then calling upon her power yet again.
Her aura of dark particles focused as she did, twisting and spiraling into 3 separate strands of dense black, that spiraled into the eye.
Suddenly, Six's consciousness began to slip. She withdrew her strength in panic but her head felt like it was splitting in two. Breathing heavily and trying not to hyperventilate, she was vaguely aware of the wires coating in the fog that surrounded her.
"What's going on! Did I do it wrong? My head hurts so much! Like it's exploding outwards." Six thought.
She moaned in pain, grasping at her skull, at risk of cutting herself with sharp nails. Soon, however, she couldn't feel her arms at all. Instead, her mind began to stretch and expand throughout the vast labyrinth of the Maw. Until it was too much for her senses, and her vision went as black as the walls that confined her.
But not for long. Her vision EXPLODED as her consciousness shaped with the Maw. She tried to collect herself and focus, blocking out the constant stimulation attacking her senses. She tried to move, but was instead met with the roar of the Maw as it churned to the right.
Once six was able to calm down, she was able to think.
"The Maw must have been piloted by the Lady herself. If the sun is setting in front of me, then the guests had arrived to my right. If I could just-"
Six focused and attempted to turn the ship right. It groaned once again, slowly but steadily rotating itself to the direction Six desired.
"Augh, how disorientating. But now I can-"
~RUMBLE~
Six dove out of the interface. Forcefully tearing her mind from the ship. She was on the ground, and slowly began to stand in a daze. Remembering her situation, she froze on high alert.
"WHAT!? So it wasn't enough after all, what am I going to do? Focus! Maybe I can find some rats or gnomes to stop the pain. There are still a few children in the lower decks. It's tearing me open! It- its, wait, it isn't quite as bad... Actually, there isn't any pain at all. Rumble. Just a low ache, what is this? Is this- normal hunger?"
Six's breathing slowed, as she felt her stomach. Waiting. Rumble. Yes, it wasn't the same, this lacked the violent urgency and searing pain. Six breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a day after all. In this case, she had a whole ship of food.
"I guess I could stop by the kitchen. After all, I wouldn't be in any danger anymore."
So Six calmly walked along the Maw. Before, she may have had trouble finding where to go. But after being absorbed by the "heart" of the ship, navigating the gloomy halls came somewhat naturally. Not that she needn't fear for her life, Six was able to take in her surroundings.
"It sure is dark, but it's organized very well. Plenty of table room and chairs, organized to prevent traffic. It's impressive to manage such large, clumsy, and greedy guests. Maybe it has potential, what could the Maw be with a greater lure..."
Six shook her head, this place would never run again. Not with the lady dead. It would soon fall to decay and ruin, heck it was already starting to smell. Something told her the janitor would not be cleaning up this mess.
At last, Six reached the kitchen. She observed the bodies of the two chefs on the ground, their right arms reaching forward in an attempt to grab her to make more food.
"How ironic," She thought.
The kitchen looked very different than it did during her previous encounter. It was dark, and the fresh sounds of chopping and boiling had ceased, allowing for a very comfortable silence.
"Now to find food. A sausage should work."
Six climbed the table and reached for a sausage. She was able to detach it from the rest rather easily, considering that it was nearly her size.
"I need to better understand the lady's power. She was able to teleport and dissolve, I need to use it the best I can."
Hesitantly, she sniffed the human sausage. It smelt good, really good. Losing her concerns, she quickly took a large bite out of it... and spit it out.
"This is disgusting! It's worse than anything I've ever eaten. It's like sour concrete, or-or sand! It's making me sick! It-it..."
But she stopped, "what did it taste like?"
Six stood there for a while, thinking and looking at the sausage. She slowly lowered her head and took another bite. Instantly her senses kicked into overdrive. "Ahh! Why did I do that? This is putrid and it hurts!" Slowly the feeling had faded. Six, heart pounding, reflected that it was a somewhat similar feeling to being hungry, in her mouth.
"Why can't I eat this? It's not just normal hunger. Can I not eat dead things at all? I'll starve!" Six then looked down upon one of the chefs. At least, what remains. "Can I eat it? Would it work? It's been dead a while; its soul is long gone."
Six jumped down from the table and shambled towards the body. it looked like a mountain to her. A huge mass of flesh, any features it had were mostly shadowed by the darkness. Leaving only the shadowy outline of a stretched mouth, from one end of its face to the other. Six gingerly stepped toward where it's neck should be, as the creatures head seemed to merge with its torso. Finally she stopped, in that moment of no sound at all. The silence was broken however, by the sudden gnashing of teeth and flesh being torn to shreds. In only a moment, she had accidentally nearly eaten its entire neck, and was scratching on its membrane. As Six withdrew from her quick frenzy, a long strand of black liquid dripped from her mouth. Six couldn't tell if it was blood, because she couldn't taste much of anything at all, but cold.
"Tolerable, but its gross in its own right. Just cold, wet, mush that tasted like paper. I barely noticed I was eating anything, and I haven't gotten any less hungry at all despite eating so much. Is this due to the lady's powers? The last thing I would need is another curse."
Worry setting in again, Six quickly hopped off the corpse and ran her way back to the control room. Left, right, up, down throughout the long corridors she went, till at last she had made it back to the control room. the journey being even faster this time. Taking a deep breath, Six crept up to the eye, and plunged her power into it yet again. Tendrils of black filled the room, getting tangled and caught up in the wire. Coiling around them until they had slipped into the holes of which the wire protruded from. She slipped into control much more easily this time, letting her mind bend and shape itself with the Maw. Back in pilot, Six urged the ship forward with all her might. Hoping that she could reach land, ~rumble~, before she starved.
Six drew herself out, a reminder of the problem at hand. She felt around, the closest life being a gnome four rooms away. She moved quickly, almost involuntarily, but never making the slightest sound. Looking around the corner, her eyes darted around for what she was sensing in the dark. She caught sight of it quickly, waddling through the room, she supposed in search of food.
But it wouldn't get any. For it began to meander towards the doorway Six hid behind. The silence was pure, the only imperfection being the gnome's soft rattling movements. It inched closer, about to pass through the door as it had done so many times while trapped in this nightmare. That would soon be over. In an instant it was snatched up by the darkness, grabbed, fingers coiled around its entire body, and shoved into Six's maw. Devoured as if it were never there with no clues left as to what happened, except a smear on her teeth. Six supposed she could've just eaten its soul, but she didn't know if that would work with ordinary hunger. However, deep down, she knew it had been fun.