Chapter Text
Six knew that nome wasn’t normal as soon as it wandered into her chambers.
For starters, not many living things even dared to go near her, let alone find a way through the carefully locked doors and cut off the elevator. Since she had killed the Lady and acquired her strange magic, using it to drain the Guests at the exit, monsters had learned to stay away from the Lady’s Residence, especially after boats stopped carrying passengers to and forth from the Maw.
With nowhere to go, most Adults had turned on each other– the first few months after the Lady died were a bloody feast that was more dangerous for the monsters than the children. Only the strongest Adults survived, which left the Maw to become a hunting ground rather than a factory. Even with her newfound powers, Six quickly came to the conclusion that if she left the Lady’s quarters, she’d be as good as dead when she would be swarmed with lethal Adults.
So naturally, Six waited. The Guests she had killed had given enough energy to last her a good while, and any Adult stragglers were quickly drained in her wake. She was waiting for the monsters outside to end each other; waiting until the threat was gone.
It had been five years. And the threat was still very real.
With nowhere to go and nothing to do, when a familiar pointed creature wandered into her closed off world, Six was pretty happy to see another living thing.
That said, like mentioned before, that thing was not normal.
Nomes stopped becoming a common sight around the same time as she killed the Lady. She’d always assumed that they’d been wiped out in the bloodshed outside, but now that clearly wasn’t the case.
Of course, Six hadn’t seen a nome in a while. But she was quite sure the creatures didn’t have rusty metal cuffs around their necks like this one did, small chains knocking against the wooden floor. The poor thing– Six wondered who would’ve chained it up like that.
Standing up from the Lady’s–no, her bed, it was Six’s at this point, the girl approached the nome tentatively. The last time she had walked towards one of these like this… Six shuddered at the memory–the feeling of blood filling her mouth, the feeling of the thing squirming in her iron grip, her desire to feast on something alive–
Six took a deep breath. That… that was in the past. She was younger then. She.. she didn’t mean to. She shook the memory off and saw the nome perk up, most likely confused by her actions.
“Hey little guy…” Six reassured it, “I was just …thinking.”
The nome curled in on itself. Was it in pain?
Six took a step back as a layer of thick black smoke engulfed the nome.
Smoke like… like the Lady. Like Six herself.
Six braced herself, watching the black rise up and disappear into tendrils of air.
Only to reveal a boy around her age.
What?
The same cuff that had been clasped around the nomes neck now curled around his right foot, smaller chains chasing after. He was wearing an azure turtleneck, which covered his entire scruff and even dipped a bit above his chin. Dark blue eyes and slightly tanned skin were framed with curly black hair that bounced a little as he straightened his posture.
Did the nome just… turn into a kid?
The two teenagers stared at each other for a moment, before Six opened her right hand and felt the familiar darkness gather in her palm, rough and sandy but still flowing like water. She’d learnt the Lady’s power well as a result of hours alone in the Maw’s highest floor— whatever this new shapeshifting monster was, it was about to die a painful death. Six would ensure it.
The Boy–Nome(?) noticed what Six was about to do, and his eyes widened. “Wait, I’m here to help, let me explain.”
His speech was clumsy and dipped in panic. He sounded just like any kid. Still cautious, Six decided to give him a chance.
Six lowered her arm slightly. “Go on.”
He took a deep breath in to calm his nerves. “Thanks for, uh, hearing me out there.”
Six raised an eyebrow along with her hand that was still filled with the swirling shadow. Go on.
“I’m here to get you out of this place.”
Six paused in disbelief, before letting out a cold dry laugh. “As if I haven’t already tried to. There’s no way out of here, every boat was destroyed years ago. Whatever you are, I’m giving you five seconds before I take every meager ounce of life you have.”
“I have a boat.”
“Nice one.”
“Look, I’m not one of those monsters-”
“Then what are you!? Last time I checked, kids don’t just turn into nomes.”
“Well last time I checked, kids don’t control shadows.” Turtleneck Boy narrowed his eyes, his nervous energy solidifying into confidence. “And kids don’t interfere with the Transmission.”
The darkness curled between her fingers dissipated.
Six’s eyes widened. Was he referring to… Was he referring to him? How could he even-
“What do you know about Mo-” Six started, before stopping herself. Her old friend’s name felt dry and misplaced on her tongue. She.. she didn’t deserve to say it after what she did.
He looked her in the eye. “I’ll leave, but you’re missing out on a chance, Six.”
Six tensed. How long had it been since she’d last heard her name spoken aloud?
So how did this boy know it?
Six weighed her options. She could go with this nome kid who knew too much and get led into a den of Adults, or she could rot in here until she went insane. She glanced at the boy. He was pretty scrawny—Six would definitely be able to take him in a fight if anything went wrong. Still… wasn’t it safer to wait here?
He awkwardly turned around and walked for the open door. “Well, um, unsee all of that.”
Just when he was about to leave, Six made up her mind.
“Wait.” She said.
“Excuse me?”
“I said wait. I’m coming with.” Six snapped.
She paused for a second, realizing she was still wearing some of the Lady’s spare robes. If she was going to leave, she needed some proper clothes. Like her raincoat. She hoped it would still fit her.
“Stay outside. I’ll join you in five.” She said to him with a short glare.
He stammered a quick “ right” and left the room, leaving Six to her thoughts.
She sat back down on the bed.
So… Being able to turn into a nome, huh?
Children with supernatural abilities were a well known phenomenon in the Nowhere, though not many people ever made contact with one. Still… This boy’s powers were pretty obscure. That wasn’t even mentioning the fact of how much they reminded her of the Lady.
He also wanted to.. Help her. Why? How? Nobody even knew of her existence– from what she had garnered from listening in on children passing by, the Lady of the Maw had been killed by something much worse, and that attempting to get into the Residence was a death sentence.
Sighing, Six walked to the dresser and pulled out one of the drawers, fishing through some of the Lady’s smaller kimonos until she found a familiar yellow piece of clothing buried at the bottom. She pulled out her raincoat, along with a dark blue sweater.
Carefully unraveling the clothes she was wearing now, she slipped the sweater over her head and was immediately comforted by the familiar warmth. It wasn’t the same one that she had acquired in the Nest, that one had become too small, but it had the same feel. It was slightly too large for her, dropping to the middle of her thighs, but that would suffice– she might even grow into it.
The white shorts she was wearing were painfully small on her, so she delved through the drawer until she found some black ones of a similar kind. They fit Six well, but they made her wonder how long the Lady had been here if she owned clothes small enough for a child.
Turning her attention towards the raincoat, Six slipped it on over the sweater. Luckily, the sleeves accommodated it, though she could no longer button the raincoat from the front. It had grown to be a bit small on her, now ending at her hips. She pulled the hood up and smiled. Honestly? Six wouldn’t have chosen to wear anything else.
She looked at herself in the broken mirror, and took a deep breath. Time to go.
Navigating the Residence was pretty easy for someone who lived there, and Six had no problem guiding the nome-boy through the staircases and corridors. They carried on through the hallways, walking on alcoves and crossing gargantuan shelves stuffed with books. In the five years she had taken up here, Six had taught herself to read from these novels. Most of them contained important facts about managing business or taking care of your skin, while others contained tales of mystery, romance, and action. She didn’t enjoy reading at first, but after a while Six soon found it as a nice escape from reality– and as a way to pass the time.
Walking into the room with the glowing astrolabe, Six noticed there was a TV plugged into a wall. She stared into the static for a moment. When was the last time she had seen one of these? She recalled that dreaded Janitor stroking the screen years ago, the way his horrible teeth grinded in that twisted smile. It was a sight Six would never forget.
Remembering that the televisions were dangerous to look into for long, she broke her gaze away and climbed down the ladder with nome-boy. She was here to escape, not reminisce.
Mono didn’t know how long it had been since that boy had first spoken to him, though it already felt like an eternity.
He straightened on his chair, tiredly watching all the TV screens around him. Scenes of different places decorated the space around him. A landscape showing a view of the Pale City, storm clouds gathered above. A desert. An ocean. A lush, grassy field.
Places he could never go.
Sighing and curling in on himself, Mono scrunched his eyes shut. They felt dry and it hurt to have them open for so long.
He… he wanted to go home. Mono didn’t know where that was anymore– there were days long ago where home was being with his best friend, that girl with her yellow raincoat.
Mono couldn’t remember her name. But he could remember everything they did together. Shooting that Hunter. Saving her from that Teacher. Incinerating the Doctor and escaping the man in the hat. He remembered how much it hurt when she dropped him, leaving him to die in this place. He wanted to hate her for that… but he couldn’t. Not after seeing the good in her.
Cracking his eyes back open, his gaze wandered to one of the TV screens to his left.
He must have been hallucinating, because he could’ve sworn he saw Her. Standing up in a sort of library, she stared right through him with her hazel eyes. Just the sight of that raincoat she was wearing unlocked so many memories inside Mono. Like her name. Six. How could he ever forget?
The girl quickly broke her gaze and scurried down a ladder, out of sight. It was like she never was there in the first place.
Wow. Mono really had cracked. He giggled. Nothing was funny. But the more hopeless he felt, the more inclined he was to laugh.
All the TV screens in the air froze, before closing from top to bottom, like an eye blinking. Because that's what they were. Eyes.
They all opened around him, studying him closely. While in the form of TVs, they couldn’t see, but they still always knew where he was. They didn’t need to worry about him escaping through any of the screens— he had spent so long at the heart of the Transmission that his body would just split into static without something more solid to anchor on.
Once, Mono had tried to escape. When was that, three months ago? Or three years. Mono couldn’t tell. Either way, the Eyes had punished him severely after finding him with his hands pressed against a screen. It wasn’t a normal punishment though. They made him relive some of his worst moments— the screams of children being dragged up around him, hiding for his life in a broken TV screen, and that sheer moment of hopelessness when he realized that Six wasn’t going to pull him up.
Mono shuddered just at the thought of it. He’d never want to inflict that upon himself again.
So, as much as he wanted to leave, he stayed in this hellish place called the Signal Tower.
“What is wrong?” The entire space around him asked at once. It didn’t speak real words, just an amalgamation of disturbing sounds that somehow conveyed messages to Mono. He didn’t want to think about it.
“N-nothing.” Mono stammered.
He hated being alone, but he hated Their presence more. The feeling of eyes boring holes into him from all directions made his skin crawl.
“We heard you. Laughter. What is wrong?”
“I just thought I saw something funny.”
The eyes studied him for a moment, obviously recognising the lie but paying it no mind. They blinked, and they were gone, once again replaced with TV screens that showed different locations than before.
A forest. A marsh. The bright, sunny sky.
Places he could never go.
“So, what do you think?” Nome-Boy asked. Six really needed a name for him.
The teenagers both stared at the “boat”, if it could even be called that. Laying sadly in the wet sand, it looked more like a small raft– pieces of driftwood were neatly tied together into a sturdy square platform. A long rickety oar was placed over it, a few dried barnacles decorating. Two nomes, presumably friends of the boy, sat next to it. One skittered up his arm when he waved to them.
The only problem with the structure was that it was only big enough for one person to sit down.
“When you mentioned a boat, I was expecting it to be… er… larger ..” Six noted, stomach sinking lower than the deep ocean that surrounded the island. “How are we going to cross the sea with this old thing?”
The nome on the boy’s shoulder seemed hurt by what she said, and it drooped a little.
“Well, we weren’t originally planning for you to come along..” He primly replied, before whispering to the nome. “ Don’t listen to the yellow girl, you guys did a great job.”
Six blankly stared at him. They did all that navigating through the Residence, for this?
She glanced at the boat again. It was only large enough for one person… but also small enough for a group of nomes. An idea sprang into her head.
“Nome-boy,” She said, cutting through the silence, “What’s your name?”
“Um… It’s Rin, why-”
“Rin.” Six cut in, looking him in the eye as she walked over to the raft. She picked up the oar and gestured to him. “Do your nome thing. I”ll row, you guys sit on the side.”
He nodded.
“Which way is land?” Six asked.
“Northeast.”
“Then that’s where we’re headed.”
Six stared into the horizon, at the sun sinking lower into the depths. She was tired of waiting.
Time to get out of here.