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“You’re not a girl.”
Mono looks at Six blankly as his mind churns. After escaping the teacher and helping Six get an outfit change, Mono has decided he's had enough rain for one day. Without his trusty paper bag, the rain is so much more annoying. And knowing how easily Six is distracted, Mono has pulled him along to escape the rain
Wait, not him. Her.
“Uh, yeah.” Six lifts her eyebrows as she looks at the very dumb looking Mono. “I’m a girl, and, you are a jerk for pulling me so hard.”
Mono lets go of Six’s hand as he waves his hand in the air, like he's trying to brush away his thoughts.
“No, no, you can’t be a girl.”
Six scoffs as she folds her arms, giving Mono a disappointed look that’s almost hidden under the raincoat. As it turns out, Six was right; Mono is the brawn of this duo.
“Of course I’m a girl. Why wouldn't I be a girl?”
“You don't sound like a girl. And you don't look girly either.”
Mono has seen his fair share of girls, and Six looks nothing like any of them.
Well, kinda. Every girl he’s ever seen was in a magazine.
In black and white.
With perfect hair.
And cropped to only have their faces visible.
But they all looked the same, so in Mono’s mind, all girls are supposed to look very pretty. And Six… Well, it wouldn’t be fair to say she's not pretty. He hasn’t spent any real time just looking at her face, survival is more important.
Six responds to Mono’s ridiculous assumption, throwing in a little sass for fun.
“So? You don’t sound very manly either.”
“Hey! Rude!” Mono whines with a frown, folding his arms in retaliation.
“You're the one calling me a boy when I’m obviously a girl.”
“Okay okay…” Mono lowers his voice and looks to the floor. “I'm sorry.”
For a moment, awkward silence spawns between Mono and Six. But Mono finally decides to break the silence.
“But… if you're a girl,” Mono points at Six. “And I'm a boy…” Then, at himself.
Then Mono takes both fingers and taps them together, looking extremely confused.
“Does that mean…?”
“I guess.” Six says, shrugging.
Awkward silence returns as the duo stand awkwardly in the rain, left with only their thoughts.
Six has only one thing on her mind.
This raincoat really helps with the rain!
Mono can only think about one thing.
Does this mean Six is pretty?
…
“Well, let's go.”
Six takes initiative by grabbing Mono’s hand and marching onwards. Standing in the rain all day won’t do either of them any good, especially when they’ve yet to find any shelter for the night. So Six pulls Mono along, being a little rough so Mono learns his lesson. While their next destination is unknown, Six has a feeling that they might find themselves in a place of great danger.
As for Mono, he stumbles along awkwardly. A million thoughts run through his head, like adrenaline rushing through his blood. Only, it’s not death Mono is worried about.
In all the newspapers Mono read, there were always rules and guidelines set for being a boyfriend. Which means one thing…
I need to protect Six…
She's my girlfriend!
“AAAAHHHHH!”
Mono looks straight into the void, all his weight now thrown forward with the hospital door opened. He falls for a moment, nearly certain of his death. But in a split second, Six grabs his coat and saves him, only to take all his weight and nearly fall off herself.
With her other hand, Six keeps herself on the cold hospital floor as Mono flails wildly, death greeting him with pure darkness. Six huffs and puffs with gritted teeth as she tries to pull Mono back up, their weight balance almost bringing Six down with him. She closes her eyes and almost prays, realizing that she isn’t strong enough to bring them both up.
Yet in Mono’s flails of terror, he manages to swing his leg back on the ledge and balance out the weight, giving Six the chance to pull him back onto safe land.
They both lay on the ground, their faces hot and chests heavy. Stumbling back onto his feet, Mono gives Six a helping hand so she can also stand alongside him. Then, Mono goes to carefully peer over the ledge, his adrenaline slowly wearing down.
“Woah. huff, huff, I almost fell! Ah! Haha! I almost fell!”
Six bites her hand and pulls Mono backwards, shaking her head in disapproval.
“Yeah… wheeze, be more careful, dummy!”
“Yeah!” Mono laughs some more, still somewhat breathless. “Yeah, huff, yeah. Thanks Six.”
Before she can respond, Mono suddenly hugs her. He pats her twice on the back, something they’ve both become accustomed to.
Six, almost on instinct, pats Mono’s back as well. They both hit each other’s backs like ruff ‘n tuff boys, just like old times.
The two separate, trekking ever onwards. As Mono climbs beds and jumps across them, he realizes something critical.
In the wilderness, Six helped Mono cross the bridge.
In the city, Six helped Mono jump across the stairs.
In the school, Six helped Mono escape the Teacher.
And now, Six saved Mono from falling to his death.
When looking at everything Mono has done for Six, he’s severely lacking. Aside from rescuing Six from the Hunter and the school, Mono needs to work much harder to be considered Six’s boyfriend! After all, like the newspapers said…
“A good boyfriend is a good bodyguard! With the increasing hostility in daily life, you must defend your loved ones from increasingly hostile viewers!”
Although Mono doesn’t know what a viewer is, he gets the gist of things. Mono has a job, and right now, he’s bad at it.
“Hey! A flashlight!” Mono runs over to grab the small light, turning it on to see the rest of the room. The heavy blacks bleed into the barely visible light, as if the darkness is trying to consume what little hope there is for survival. The room is deserted yet reeks of memories of better times, times where Mono and Six wouldn’t be scared. The path forward is filled with mystery, likewise the creeping fear of monsters lies within.
Mono turns around, already on the verge of running away.
“Hey Six—“
“Owww!”
Mono jumps as his light shines directly in Six’s face, obviously hurting her eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” He turns off the flashlight and goes to Six, making sure she’s okay. “I’m so sorry! Here, you can shine the light in my face!”
“Ugh… no, I’m fine. Just be careful with that thing.” Six rubs her eyes as Mono takes her hand.
Hand in hand, Mono turns back on the light to reveal the dead room. The path ahead is filled with the unknown, dead silence filling the void with creeping horrors.
“Hey Six…” Mono nearly whispers his question, trying to listen for any suspicious sounds. “Are you scared?”
“I’m scared of you flashing your light in my eyes again!”
“Six! I’m being serious!” Mono’s voice raises an octave as he shuffles closer to her. “It’s really dark up ahead and… don’t make fun of me, but I’m scared.”
Mono keeps staring at the darkness ahead, not noticing Six look at him with surprise.
“But you have the flashlight. I think we’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, I guess…” Mono takes a hesitant step forward before Six speaks again.
“Hey, if you get too scared, you can hide behind me.” She squeezes Mono’s hand, reminding him that they’re strong together. “I’ll keep you safe, promise.”
Mono stays silent, thinking about what a boyfriend should do. He needs to protect her, right? So, he needs to push onwards and keep her safe. That’s what he should do.
“… it’s okay if you’re scared.” Six speaks up, a new kind of softness in her voice. “Let’s be scared together, okay?”
Six steps forward, choosing to be side by side with Mono. Finally, he looks away from the darkness, seeing Six beside her. Despite being nearly shrouded in darkness, he can see it. She’s pretty.
“Okay. Together.”
Mono gives Six a confident nod before pointing the flashlight back into the unknown. Side by side, they start walking, a faint warmness now residing in Mono’s chest.
Mono clutches his head as static fills his mind. It’s another TV, another signal he must tune. So Mono marches to his doom.
(~~~)
Six pulls Mono out of the TV, causing both of them to fall backwards onto the ground.
It takes little time before the duo are back on their feet, welcomed by a huge playing field. In front of the duo sits the remains of those who never tried, and in turn, never had to feel the pain of fighting for a hopeless cause. Their lifeless bodies put a serious fear of death in Mono’s mind. Further onwards are stairs to rooms filled with more death. Despite light now filling the area, there are still shadows, still a fear that he’ll need to hide from something silently looming.
Mono sighs. They’re far too deep in the hospital to leave now.
Without a prompt or reason, Mono starts walking. He turns around for a second, watching Six catch up with him. The duo walk together, ignoring the stairs and investigating whatever is onwards.
While walking, Six bites into her hand, repressing something Mono can’t understand.
It’s not the first time Mono has watched this happen. Six is the quiet type, Mono has accepted that. But when things are dire and death comes knocking, Six always bites on her hand.
He’s never really cared to say anything. On one occasion, he poked fun at Six. But he can’t do that now, Six is a girl. And nobody, especially girls, should hurt themselves.
Instead of understanding, Mono does the next best thing.
“Six, hey.” Mono grab’s Six’s hand and pulls it away from her mouth. Slightly irritated, Six almost shoves Mono away. That is, until he offers his own hand.
“If you wanna bite on something, bite me. I have thick skin.”
“… what?” Six squints her eyes at a Mono who doesn’t look like he’s joking.
“Don’t hurt yourself, that’s dumb. Bite my hand instead, or grab a pencil or something.”
“Mono, I’m not biting your hand.” She looks at him with a vague sense of disgust. “That’s gross.”
“Then don’t bite yourself! That’s bad for you.”
“You’re bad for me, you jerk!” Six scoffs as she goes to speak again but stops herself. She struggles to speak but forces out the words anyway.
“I’m only doing this because you're the one being weird and going into TV’s!” Six almost mumbles her words, upset that she actually has to say that she cares for him. “It… freaks me out.”
Mono raises his eyebrows as Six folds her arms and looks away with a frustrated glare.
“It does…?” Mono feels a tinge of guilt swell within.
“Yeah! Every time you do something stupid like that, I get worried! Like, what if I don't pull you out and you get sucked in? I can’t do anything about that!” Six looks down at Mono’s legs, trying to be sincere with her words. “When I’m worried, I need to bite something. It helps.”
Mono frowns as he tries to fix the situation.
“You could’ve said that before, I would’ve stopped.”
“… I guess. Whatever, let’s keep going.” Six drops the conversation and tries to walk past Mono. But he grabs onto her raincoat coat and blurts out a solution.
tWait! You’re upset, right? How about this?” Six looks over her shoulder. “I stop going through TV’s and you stop biting yourself. Fair, right?”
Six groans and turns around to face him, very clearly tired of this conversation. But when she finally meets Mono’s eyes, a small, stubborn smile appears.
“Okay, that’s fair.”
Mono smiles with crooked, happy teeth, nodding before taking her hand and leading the way.
“Thank you, Six.”
Six folds her arms as Mono walks behind an x-ray machine, carrying a huge teddy bear. Inside the teddy bear is a key, just the thing they need to continue onwards. But really, they’re not looking for a key.
“Well? Does it have a heart?” Mono calls out, curious but also confused.
“I don’t see a heart. Only bones.” Six replies, a bit saddened by the fact.
Mono leaves the teddy bear inside the x-ray and returns to Six, scratching his hair all the while.
“Six, I don’t think teddy bears are supposed to have bones. Or a heart.”
“Well, that’s because you don’t believe in it. It’s like the tooth fairy, it doesn’t work unless you believe.”
Mono ignores the comment and goes to turn on the x-ray again, seeing the key inside the teddy bear. He audibly hums, now curious to see the insides of the teddy bear.
“Hey Six, did you know that if you get x-rayed too many times, you’ll get cancer and die?”
“Cancer? What is that?” Six turns to Mono and looks at his blank eyes. “Is it a monster?”
“I dunno. But it’s bad.”
The duo look back at the x-ray and Six speaks with morbid curiosity.
“Do you think the teddy bear has cancer?”
“It might.”
“So it’s dying?”
“It’s not really… Well, if it was alive, then, I guess.”
“We should put it out of its misery.” Six looks at Mono. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
When Mono looks back at Six, a moment of silence stands between them. Then, they both smile with childish evil. Without wasting another second, they carry the teddy bear down to the incinerator.
Mono sighs, dropping the large battery in his hands. If they want to power the elevator and escape, Mono needs to collect two batteries. After running through an empty, isolated ward of the hospital, he’s managed to collect one battery. He would ask Six for more help, but…
A good boyfriend can be independent without being distant! Sometimes, a break from your lover is the best thing to strengthen your bond. Being emotionally closed off can also add some mystery into your relationship, but don't go too far! Couples therapy isn't cheap!
Mono isn’t sure how helpful this bit of advice is, but he remembered it anyway.
Mono stretches his arms and looks down at Six who sits beside a prosthetic hand. He speaks to her again, losing some patience.
“We need to keep going.”
Six ignores Mono and busies herself with the joy of cracking joints in the fake hands. She faintly smiles, each crack ringing throughout the empty hospital. Mono doesn’t get the appeal.
“I don’t wanna! I’m tired.”
“Six, it looks like you’ve just been sitting here, waiting for me.”
“Yeah, but now I’m comfy.”
Mono groans and looks around the room. There's an abundance of prosthetics. Strew across the floor, hanging from the ceiling, filled with boxes, it’s a little terrifying to think that any of these body parts could spring to life and attack them. Worse off, the single source of light allows shadows to invade the room, giving a chance for small creatures to crawl around unseen. If they’re not careful, they could be surrounded without a weapon.
Mono gulps.
“Six, c’mon! This place is boring.”
Six doesn’t respond. She only scoffs and snaps another joint in the pinky finger. Mono shakes his head, deciding that there's only one thing to do. He takes off his coat and gets on one knee.
“Alright. Get on.”
“Huh?” Six looks at him like he’s made out of static.
“Get on my back. If you don’t want to walk, then I can just carry you.” Mono accepts the fact that he’ll need to come back for both the battery and his coat.
“… piggy back ride?” Six’s eyes light up as she asks the question.
“If it means we’ll get out of this place faster, yeah!”
“Awww hell yeah!” Six jumps from the ground and quickly runs to Mono’s back. She climbs on with a huge smile. As Mono slowly moves to stand, he grabs Six’s legs. She leans forward and tries to keep the balance equal. Once standing, Mono adjusts to Six’s weight. But for Six, she cheers and scratches his hair.
“Giddiup, Mono! Get going!”
Mono can’t help but smile at her cheering.
“Okay, but you better hold on!” Mono shakes his shoulders and makes Six laugh, building anticipation. Then, he runs off, slicing through the darkness with pure confidence. Six laughs the entire ride.
Getting the first battery was easier than the second. Mono knew it wasn’t going to be easy when he entered the ward and saw one of the patients move in the darkness. But he didn’t expect the hoard of patients, the endless reaching hands, the twitching of their bodies. He didn’t know he was going to be surrounded.
As Six slots the second battery into the port, letting him leave the electrocution room, he walks rigidly towards her. Like a toy cranked to walk. He stares blankly at the floor, shivering.
“You okay dude?”
“Hug. Now, please.” Mono’s voice is anxious and small.
“Oh. Uh, okay. C’mere.”
Six opens her arms, allowing Mono to shuffle into her embrace and still not feel any better. Mono’s heart beats so strongly that Six can feel him slowly start to cry. In response, Six quietly wraps her arms around Mono, gently tucking his head into her shoulder. She embraces him, mimicking the same affection that Mono gave her so long ago when they killed The Hunter.
Mono’s adrenaline wears off as drained whimpers quietly leave his soul. He can barely breathe as the memories of death scar his mind, giving not a moment to forget. Six knows that feeling all too well. She comforts him.
“Shhh… it’s okay Mono. It’s over now.” Six whispers as her hands rub Mono’s back, trying to warm up his frigid body. “I’m here now, I’ll protect you. I promise.”
A small thought warns Mono about how a boyfriend is supposed to act. But he ignores it, sinking deeper into Six’s embrace. He forgot what it’s like to be cared for.
As the duo stand in solidarity, for a moment, it feels like nothing can hurt them. No monsters, no TVs, no traps, nothing. Despite the odds, they’ll be fine. There will still be jokes to crack, games to play, hugs to be had, and smiles to share. So long as they stay strong together.
Mono’s heart beat slows. Six is right. He’s safe now.
“Mono, I’ll always keep you safe, I promise.”
“But what if I can’t protect you?” Mono asks with worry lodged in his throat.
“Mono, look at me.”
He moves and see’s Six in her entirety. Her face is clear, with messy hair and pale skin and soft eyes. When she speaks, it’s only so he can hear.
“I trust you.”
Mono smiles gently. Six pulls him back in for another hug.
Hope, a fickle yet beautiful thing.
Mono and Six hold their breath, hiding under a sterile bed as The Doctor climbs above them. The exit they expected has led them deeper into the belly of the beast. They can only push further onwards.
The hulking beast crawls past them to investigate his patients, dust falling in his movement like a warning. Mono watches the beast move, his mind conjuring ideas on how it got so big. How many children it has eaten. How quickly he’ll die if it sees him.
Mono retreats deeper into the darkness, pulling Six with him. He becomes apart of the nightmares he sees in darkness, moving carefully from bed to bed. Six follows along, staying close to Mono.
As they sit behind a tipped over stroller, Six taps on Mono’s shoulder. He looks at her and she points at his hand, then at her mouth.
A soft smile appears on his face as he nods. When Six’s teeth almost draw blood, Mono taps on her head to make her stop. The marks of her teeth remain on his skin for a long time. He thinks it look funny, even if it really hurt.
Pointing at Six to stay behind, Mono searches for an escape, getting ever closer to the looming death.
“HURRY!”
Mono shoves against the steel grate as Six pulls, the ashes surrounding him lifted into the air by The Doctor’s agitated shuffling. As the weight of The Doctor almost collapses onto Mono, the grate comes free, letting him escape. As he stumbles and frantically gets up, Six shuts the door to the incinerator. Immediately, The Doctor slams and clashes against the door, squealing like a pig. Mono nearly falls down as he runs to the lever, jumping to turn it on.
As the machine turns on, the duo stumble a few feet backwards. They look at the steel door, instinctively going to hold hands. After some struggle, the door remains still, the muffled sounds of ear piercing screams filling the room.
As horrible cries burn to ashes, Six sits in front of the incinerator. Mono sits down next to her, almost collapsing in the process. He watches the embers burn brightly as the ashes rise from the silence. Once again, Mono and Six killed a full grown adult. The odds were stacked entirely against them, and for a moment Mono saw death flash before his eyes, yet…
Mono looks over at Six. She’s got her hands extended, enjoying the flames. Funnily enough, there’s an odd peace to her demeanor. Death has terrified her before, but now, it seems to be a comforting reminder.
After everything they’ve been through, Mono feels a need to do something more.
And remember, if all else fails, a kiss will always—
No. Mono is done with that stupid guide. He sighs and looks back towards the fire, speaking with confidence.
“Hey Six?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
Six slightly turns her head, whatever reaction she has obscured by her raincoat. When she speaks, she’s surprised.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I really do.”
Silence once again joins them. But it’s not awkward or scary, it’s familiar. It lets Mono know that he doesn’t have to worry about saying anything more, he’s done the right thing. So, Six speaks, turning her gaze back to the incinerator.
“I love you too, Mono.”
When the embers of the incinerator return to ash, the hospital becomes cold again. It no longer welcomes the duo, their warm hearts better suited elsewhere. So, Mono stands up, offering his hand to Six. She takes it, a goofy grin hidden under her raincoat. Mono smiles with her.
Together, they walk towards the nearby elevator and leave the hospital, entering a new chapter of their relationship.