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Seven sat between a group of nomes, peacefully petting and playing with the timid creatures. He was having fun, at least for a while, until..
Bang-
A door slammed open, causing him to flinch and all of nomes to scatter. He sighed and looked over his shoulder, watching as two familiar figures stormed through the door.
"Leave me alone, I don't want to talk right now."
"You called me a dimwit! I am not going to just accept that Six!"
"You were one! You spooked me and I almost fell off the walkway, and you did nothing to help!"
Seven groaned and rubbed his eyes, they were at it again. They had been fighting on and off for a few days now, and he was sick of it. He understood everything couldn't always be perfect forever, and they had been through a lot, but come on. They always tried to involve him to pick a side, couldn't they give him a break? He didn't want to be involved, they always fought over something stupid. He didn't know why, the tensions between the two had just been so high recently.
"It's not my fault I didn't know you weren't paying attention, you're always somewhere deep in your thoughts. I was just checking up on you!"
"You keep hovering over me, I don't need it!"
"I-"
"Seven."
'Oh here we go again', he thought, standing up and turning to face the two. "You know, I have a great idea to solve this", he said with a fake sweet tone, barely restraining his annoyance. Both of them stared at him incredulously. Six's eyes had a red shine to them, indicating her anger, while Mono just had his arms crossed and had a deep frown on his face.
"What is it.", Six hissed, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.
"Maybe we should spend some time together, sit in the sun, listen to the sea, just..get out of the Maw for once?", he offered, the two seemed apprehensive at the notion.
"He follows me around like a lost puppy! I don't want to spend another second around him.", Six growled, flashing her slightly sharp teeth. Mono snorted softly and rolled his eyes.
"I do not.", he scoffed.
"Yes you do.", she retorted, glaring at him. Seven sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then, an idea formed in his head. He could get them to sort out whatever tension they had, away from him.
"Hey.", he snapped, getting their attention. "Follow me, lets go on a walk, I think I want to look at the sea", he smiled and left the room, he heard them silently follow behind him. Good. They walked down the hall together, nearing the elevator that would take them to the dining hall. Once they reached the fake beach he could lock them out of the Maw, he had no intention of staying with them, of course they didn't know that. They could fight out there. He heard them start bickering quietly behind him, shoving each other or growling. He frowned, the sooner they got over this the sooner he would get some peace. They all stepped into the elevator and Seven threw a shoe at the button, sending them to the top. Six and Mono quieted down for a moment and he almost thought they had stopped picking at each other, when..
"OW!"
He had hoped too quickly.
"Let go!", he sighed and glanced back at them with a mild scowl on his face, Mono was clutching his hand and glaring daggers at Six.
"What now.", he said with gritted teeth, Mono's gaze snapped back to him.
"She bit me!", he exclaimed as he pointed at Six, who put on a very innocent face.
"Did not", she stated while crossing her arms.
"Look!", he held up his hand, where you could see a very clear bitemark on his skin.
"You're just imagining things", she said while rolling her eyes, Mono spun back around to face her and bared his teeth.
"You!-", Seven just frowned, he was going to lose his mind. Then the elevator dinged, saving him from this fate.
"Oh look we are here!", he said in a cheery tone, grabbing the two by theirs hands before they could start fighting again and pulling them through the dining hall. They protested but he ignored them until the reached the staircase with the two tall doors, he pulled them up it and then pushed them through the doors, causing them to fall into the sand, before stepping back and slowly pushing the doors closed.
"Hey wait! Are you just going to ditch us here and leave? I thought you were coming with!", Six exclaimed, scrambling up to her feet.
"Oh did I say 'we'? I meant you two, have a fun time!", he smiled and slammed the doors shut before she could squeeze through, luckily Mono was a bit more clumsy and was still struggling to get up.
"Traitor! You know I can just command these to open up again don't you?!", Six yelled from the other side, Seven dusted off his hands and begun his trek back.
"I trust you not to do that, I have had enough of your constant bickering. Figure out whatever is going on between you two and leave me out of it!", he yelled back, then sighed. Finally, he could be alone..and he now had the Maw all to himself! Time to throw a party!
-
Six banged on the large metal doors and bristled, little traitor! "Idiot!", she muttered under her breath, she couldn't believe this. Sure she could easily open the door, but she also felt the obligation not to. She felt a presence behind her and softly growled, now she had to be 'trapped' here with him. She looked behind her without turning her head and glared at Mono, who in turn folded his arms and returned the glare.
"I want an apology.", he said in a dull tone, Six scoffed.
"You're not getting one.", she deadpanned, his glare deepened into a scowl. He opened his mouth to speak again but she interrupted him before he could even utter a peep. "I don't want to talk to you.", she said, then stomped past him. She made sure that she just bumped into his shoulder as she came past, just to get on his nerves.
"W- Hey!", he exclaimed, she ignored him and walked to the furthest side of the beach, far enough from him and sat down. "Why are you acting like this?!", he walked after her to confront her, she gritted her teeth.
"You're aggravating."
"And you aren't? You've just been trying to get on my nerves and ignoring me the whole morning!", she scoffed again, he didn't know when to just leave things well enough alone didn't he. "Scratch that, you have been like this the whole week!", he was nearly by her now, if he didn't watch himself she might just trip him.
"You keep following me around and fretting over me, yet when I almost fell to my death you did nothing, you just stood there looking stupid! I had to save myself, and you scared me which caused the whole thing in the first place!", she shouted back at him, her patience was running thin with him.
"I'm just worried about you, you have been more down than usual, and you know how I feel about using my powers!", he retorted, with a slight twinge of worry in his voice and a troubled expression on his face. "I just wanted to know if you are ok, you know you can tell me anything", he said a bit softer, the anger left his features. He held out a hand to her, inviting her to take it. She looked him up and down and stared at his hand suspiciously, before slapping it away and snarling.
"Get over yourself! Why can't you just leave me alone!", she screamed, Mono was taken aback by her outburst but the shock didn't last long. His scowl returned and his arms trembled with anger.
"What is wrong with you! Why can't you just tell me?!", he shouted back, small sparks involuntarily flitting between his fingers.
"Because I don't want to! I don't have to! You- I- Just leave me alone! Get out of my hair and stop following me around! Stop worrying! Just..just stop!", she took in a deep breath after she finished, feeling slightly dizzy. "You are so annoying.", she growled, looking him right in the eyes. Mono didn't speak for a good minute, processing all the things she had said.
"Fine. If you want to be left alone so badly, why don't you just leave. Leave the Maw and never look back, since you don't seem to want any of our help or our company.", he spat, then turned and stalked away from her. Six silently watched him walk to the other side of the beach, he went over to the rocks and sat against some, not looking in her direction. She..she felt like she said something bad, she hadn't meant all of that, but she wasn't feeling right in the head. She didn't mean to be so rude and push him away, he was just being so..clingy! His words echoed over and over again in her head, she had upset him..her thoughts turned paranoid, she had gone too far.
Shadows flowed down her arms and pooled at her feet as a tear rolled down her cheek, then they crept up her legs and slowly enveloped her entire form. She was completely covered in them, she melted to the sand and seeped to the darkest corners of the fake island to wallow in her despair and paranoid delusions. She hadn't felt this bad in a while, soft sobs echoed through the darkness.
-
Mono picked at the sand by his feet unconsciously, while staring out at the sea. It was highlighted by the moon, and the air was cold. The waves was soothing to listen to and helped to calm his nerves, he had been understandably angry with Six. He was worried about her, yet she just kept pushing him away. Sure maybe he had hovered a little too much, but he had his reasons. She had been more down, more quiet and had been isolating herself more. She thinks he didn't notice, but he had seen the way she avoids the mirrors again. It..concerned him, all of it. But she wouldn't ask for help, from neither of them, and she didn't talk. It frustrated him to no end yet..maybe he had been a bit too harsh. He immediately felt guilty, he glanced back over the beach but saw she was nowhere to be found. Where could she have gone? "Six?", he called, no answer. Now he was worried again, he stood up and walked to the middle of the beach. He spun around but couldn't see her anywhere, he had definitely been too harsh, now he felt bad. "Six?", he tried again, still no answer. She had to still be here, she wouldn't leave..no, he could still feel her, she must be here. He felt more regret now, what had he done? He had been so mean. "Six! Where are you?", he called out again, hoping she would show herself. The beam from the lighthouse flickered and dimmed, he looked up to see a small figure sitting on its roof. Six! He climbed up the steep rocks to the base of the lighthouse, then looked back up. How was he going to get up there? How did she get up there? "Six?", he called her name again, but she didn't move. Was she still ignoring him? Then she moved, dark wisps of shadows flowed off her form as she shifted to look down at him. He grimaced, she had completely covered herself in her shadows again, an indication to how she felt exactly.
"...Go away..", she said in a dull, cold tone, her voice echoing through the air. "I don't want to talk..", her glowing red eyes flitted away from him, she rested her cheek on top of her knees and hugged her legs tighter. He sighed and rubbed his arm, he shouldn't have said what he said.
"Can you come down here?", he waited for a response, silence. "Please?", he added, her only reaction was the wisps of shadows that continuously floated off of her to flow faster. He looked the lighthouse up and down, he wouldn't be able to climb it. He could tele- he shook his head, no. He had to try to get her to come down, that was going to be difficult..he rubbed his arm again nervously. He scanned the sides of the lighthouse again, seeing chips and barnacles in its metal sides. He would have to climb the lighthouse, but that is dangerous, and difficult, he didn't want to do it. Well, he had no choice. She wasn't going to come down, so he would go up. He grabbed onto the chips and barnacles and begun scaling the side of the lighthouse, one step at a time. The wind and the smoothness of the lighthouse made it difficult to climb and he was constantly afraid of falling off. He glanced upwards, seeing he was near the top. 'Nearly there', he thought, grabbing onto a misshapen barnacle. The barnacle shifted, slowly coming loose. His eyes widened, he was going to fall! He quickly tried to grab onto another one and caused it to snap loose. "AH!", he slipped, he closed his eyes and awaited the painful impact- but it didn't come, something freezingly cold wrapped around him and yoinked him up through the air. "EE!', it stopped, he slowly opened his eyes to see he was being held upside down by a large shadowy tendril. Six stared at him, an unimpressed frown to her features as shadows flowed from her hands, she had saved him. He smiled awkwardly and waved at her, she stayed silent and promptly dropped him on the roof of the lighthouse. "Ow", he winced, sitting up and rubbing his head. He heard Six shifting and looked over, seeing her sitting down and hugging her legs to her chest again. He stood up and walked over to her, then sat down. She flinched, he grimaced. "I- I uh...like you're new look", he tried to lighten the mood, knowing very well she would only be covered in shadows if she was not in a good state of mind.
"What do you want..", she mumbled, he had failed miserably to lighten the mood. He fidgeted with the cuffs of his coat, unsure of what to say, so he just sat in there silence. He contemplated on how to start, but any idea he came up with wasn't good. Surprisingly he didn't have to say anything, because Six was the one who spoke first. "Am I..a bad friend?", she whispered, he would have missed it if it weren't for the echo to her voice.
"What?", he was slightly taken aback by her question, why would she ask that? "Why do you think that?", he asked, she turned her head to look at him, her expression was empty.
"I..", her gaze on him wavered, and she looked away again, going silent. She let out a silent heave and shook her head, her arms trembled. "I was..trying to push you..away", the shadows that covered her skin shifted from floating off of her to dripping like water, she took in a sharp breath of air. Mono frowned and moved slightly closer to her, then reached out and hesitantly took her hand. She flinched again and glanced back at him, then relented.
"You're not a bad friend, you just have some bad days", he said while smiling softly. "I don't know what is going on with you recently, but I shouldn't have said what I said, I'm sorry", he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
"It's ok...", she sighed, her voice wavered. She felt like crying again, everything was overwhelming- arms enveloped her in a warm hug, tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. She let out a soft sob as she hugged Mono back, he just patted her back reassuringly. Slowly the shadows seeped back into her. She didn't feel great, but talking a little made her feel ok. After a few minutes Mono released her, and she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Lets get out of here, I don't think I want to sleep here", he said, she nodded quietly and let her shadows envelop them both, then teleported to the ground. He grabbed her hand, she was taken by surprise but let him. Then they walked over to the door and Six pushed it open. "It's unlocked?", he asked, she paused.
"I unlocked it a while ago", she said, a small smirk creeping onto her lips.
"Oh, cool", she continued pushing the doors open..only to be met with the sight of a dozen nomes running amock and causing chaos, both of them frowned. "What the hell happened here?", Mono asked, watching as a nome threw a vase to the ground and letting it shatter.
"I'm going to kill Seven.", Six growled.