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00fairylights00 · 2 years

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Prologue: It Wept Till There Was Nothing Left

Author's Note: Hi guys! Welcome to the inside of my brain, where I think about Little Nightmares every waking moment of my existence. Love these games and I just want the kiddos to be happy and safe so I thought it'd be fun to write a happy AU. Please note I have never read any other happy AUs for Little Nightmares so if you see similarities, firstly) they are definitely not on purpose, secondly) uuuh drop the link bestie I wanna see it. To make the explanation of the final boss fight a little more emotionally labouring for Mono, instead of there being three different room patterns, I’ve upped it to a number closer to ten, so please don’t come for me like “actually, you only have to hit the music box three times in the battle sequence” I am well aware, I just think it’d have more impact if The Tower kept forcing him to fight monster Six! (Cause obviously angst is neat).

Also, the game (Little Nightmares II) has now taken place over a series of weeks rather than a few hours, for immersion and whatnot. Wanna chat with me about this fic or other Little Nightmares-related topics, you can join The Pantheon discord server my friends and I run! The link is here!

Mono and Six escape from the collapsing tower by the skin of their teeth, deciding to bed down in the ruined apartment before moving on, Six’s hunger begins.

He’d just wanted to help, that was it. He wanted to save his friend after cowering in pain and fear from the Thin Man and get the hell out of this city, but when he finally got to The Tower, when he finally got to her, The Tower had stripped her of her innocence and turned her into a monster. Her limbs were twisted and broken, and her hair had grown out to cover her face but despite her intimidating size, she offered him sanctuary in that little room.

She offered her music box, a replica of the one she’d had when he found her in The Hunter’s cabin when he’d accidentally set into motion a series of events that would haunt them for the rest of their lives, most importantly, events that had put his friend in danger again, and again, and again. He felt as though he’d never forgive himself and as he sat there, watching the crank of the music box spin endlessly he realised that she had gotten what she wished for.

The Tower had turned Six into a Monster, bigger than any they’d encountered before, she was strong and formidable, nothing would ever hurt her again and that fact settled heavy like a stone in the pit of his stomach, The Tower had granted her wish for safety and strength in a way so twisted it had stolen her humanity, what was that old saying, something about being careful with wishes.

It seemed accurate given the world they’d grown up in, taking Six’s pleas and prayers and turning them into a cosmic joke. No matter how much they did to stay alive, to prove to the world that they belonged there, it would continue to spit in their faces and kick them while they were down. How hilariously cruel.

When he brought The Tower to him, the doors had opened in greeting and had welcomed him home. This building felt alive, the static of the transmission fizzing in the walls, climbing over his skin and wrapping around him like a safety blanket, he had to force himself not to buckle under the weight of feeling at home.

He’d never felt at home anywhere, not even before when he’d stayed with that group in the orphanage, way back when. A fire had started and then been put out, only for some nasty Adult to come along and snatch many of his pack away, to be consumed or passed along. He hid in a TV unit and when the creature looked down on him he wished with all his might to be anywhere else. Not a moment later was he spat out into long grass in the middle of a forest, found his way to Six, and as they became closer she had felt like home too.

Mono knew what he had to do, he couldn’t leave her like this. The Tower gave false promises, her Monster form wasn’t sustainable and eventually, the great monolith would consume her too, he could feel it in the way the transmission prickled on his skin, he could stay but she wasn’t welcome here.

At first he tried to reason with her, calling out to her, tugging on her sleeve but his voice seemed to hurt her, she flinched at his shouts and brushed him away as he hung off her arm. He hit the floor with a thud, sliding a little. As he brushed himself off and got to his feet he noticed the suitcase at the back of the room, a mallet lay on top of the wrinkled clothing. His heart sunk at the implication, he had to hurt her again.

And surely, this time, she wouldn’t forgive him.

He took a deep breath and picked the hammer up, he dragged it to her and he felt her looking down at him, could feel her begging him not to do it but doing nothing to stop him and with a heavy heart swung the mallet over his shoulder with all of his might.

It all happened in a flash, the tune he often found her humming when they bedded down for the night coming to an abrupt stop, the sound of twisting metal cut out to silence and when he opened his eyes all he could see was darkness, when he blinked again he was back in her room. The toys were replaced with Flesh and the building was collapsing, he was quick to move, running for the door.

Six was at his heels, screaming out in gargled distress. He felt his heart breaking for his friend as he once again tore her safety from her, he hoped to all hope that she would forgive him for this. But until she was herself again he had to focus on not getting flattened.

He weaved through the hallways, jumping chasms and trying to keep himself oriented as The Tower’s influence changed the form of the rooms with each doorway he passed through, he suspected The Tower wanted him dead, or at the very least trapped. He almost scoffed at the idea, considering it was The Tower that had left the mallet in her room. How was it his fault that he’d jumped to the most logical conclusion?

Six screamed again, as he flung himself through a hole in the wall, scrambling to take cover under a table, he held his breath, keeping as still as stone as she tore through the room, looking for him. She pushed her way through a closed door, thumping down the corridor and out of sight. He made a run for her but just missed her as the door she entered closed behind her.

But a familiar axe, stuck in the wood of the door that emitted a purple glow, told him everything. The Tower was mocking him and just like when he’d doomed Six in The Hunter’s cabin by carelessly chopping down the door to free her, he would have to doom her here too. This time he swore it would be different, he was never going to let anyone lay a finger on Six ever again.

With steeled determination he jumped for the Axe’s handle and broke through the door, she was in the centre of the room, hands covering her music box protectively. The static in The Tower felt different, stronger. The tune of the box was lilting due to the damage it had sustained, Mono picked up his axe and yelled.

“Hey!”

Six tore forward, smashing her fists as she went while he slipped through the hole in the door and was transported to the other side of the room, he sprinted as fast as he could, swinging down on the music box just as Six turned back around. The impact on the music box, which he now understood was some kind of tether that was causing her monster form, split the concrete floor, changing the shape of the room before he was plunged again into darkness.

He rushed pained, frightened breaths between his teeth as he felt the force of being thrown against concrete settle in his bird-like bones. He called out again, his voice echoing through the empty plain as he wandered aimlessly. Eventually he stumbled across his axe, stuck in the door again. The axe clattered to the ground as he grabbed it and with a powerful grunt he broke through the door once more.

He continued on like this, each time he made headway with the music box the room became harder to traverse, he had to think clearly about his movements or he’d be killed by his angry friend. Every yell hurt and angered her, drawing her away from the music box to move in on the static form he was leaving behind, it became a cycle.

Call out, run for your life, hit the music box, wake up in the void, find the door, do it again.

He’d lost count of the amount of times he’d opened his eyes to complete darkness but by what he guessed was the tenth time he almost couldn’t find it in him to get up, he felt tears welling up from the feeling of hopelessness that was consuming him. His body ached, his head was swimming and he could taste blood in his mouth. The Tower would keep making him fight her, he was sure this was his Divine punishment, for sentencing her to death all those weeks ago in the cabin, forcing her back out onto the street where it was infinitely more unsafe than being kept alive by a Hunter who seemed to be playing family. This was all his fault.

He wiped his eyes, breathing deep. This was it, he was putting an end to this now. If he and The Thin Man were alike enough that he could beat him at his own game, then he could bend The Tower to do his bidding too. He swung the axe, he counted the doors and the warped levels of the floor, looking for the axe and when he found it he screamed.

“HEY!”

Six was up, leaning down to swat at him as he tore through the doorway, he warped to the other side jumping for the axe, when he had a grip on it he moved swiftly as to avoid her next swing. He was through another doorway, yelling again and when he warped through, her back to him, he knew this was it.

He ran for the music box, heaved the axe over his shoulder and with one final, earth-shattering blow, the music box bent. When he pushed himself up from the floor this time, the room was different. The Flesh having closed in around them, it reeked of death, silt and ash. He looked up, Six was on the floor reaching forward in a final attempt to protect her music box.

She covered the bent metal trinket with her hands as Mono pulled the axe from the floor, when he approached he looked up at her again, her eyes pleaded with him, tears welling up in the corners of her bloodshot eyes, he cast her a sad look, there was nothing he could do, nothing he could say. None of it would fix this, it wouldn’t fix his mistake in The Hunter’s cabin or her kidnapping in The School, or setting The Doctor alight in The Hospital and it definitely wouldn’t fix his decision to not reach out to her in that apartment when The Thin Man chased them. The Thin Man that he’d freed due to his own morbid curiosity.

“You just had to know what was behind that door, didn’t you?” He whispered to himself.

He felt sick, but he couldn’t leave her like this. She'd been endlessly generous and kind to him despite it all, helping even though she wasn’t obligated to. At first, maybe she stayed out of necessity, knowing that parts of the city would be too dangerous to be alone in, but he was sure by the time they’d made it to the hospital that she was staying because she chose to, they’d played for hours in that toy room, trading secrets and knowledge, she’d taught him how to play make-believe and he’d taught her how to draw flowers.

And when she’d curled up on his lap to take a short nap, feeling her tension leave her, he promised himself that he’d continue to protect her, but Mono was never very good at keeping promises. He had always been unlucky and just like every other thing he wanted but could never have, Six was torn away from him too.

He called out to her one final time, fury at himself, The City, The Thin Man and The Transmission for ruining everything, poured into his desperate scream, Six flinched and he took his opportunity. The axe head collided with the music box and both he and Six were thrown backwards, he was on his feet quicker this time, and as her cries of agony bounced off the walls, she reached for the music box, its form glitching and tune warping, it’s true form becoming clear, it was a vessel keeping her distorted, Six’s monster form shifted and bowed under the pressure, limbs changing length and ragged pained breaths wheezing from her throat, she was so close, almost touching the metal but Mono swung quicker.

Mono’s final call echoed off the walls endlessly, the room went dark and when the strange purple light filled the room again, the music box was destroyed and his best friend was sitting there, looking at him. He couldn’t see her eyes but he felt the relief through his whole body. They stared at each other for a while, in shock that they were finally reunited and reality came crashing in, literally.

The Flesh that was The Tower’s true form was closing in, Mono yelled for Six frantically and they raced down the hallway. All he knew was run, don’t look back, just keep moving, the mantra he’d yelled in his head whenever something gave chase. Mono couldn’t hear anything over the rushing of blood in his ears as he hurried to keep up with Six, not daring to spare a look behind him at the brick and mortar that had given way to walls of flesh.

They jumped, climbed and weaved as The Flesh closed in and as he could see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel the flesh eyes tripped him up, Six made it across the skinny crumbling walkway, chunks of it falling away under her feet, she jumped a small chasm that had fallen and collapsed to her knees on somewhat solid ground, catching her breath and then turning back to him and reaching out her hand, like she’d down a thousand time before.

Six had seen it before Mono had, he was going to run out of road and he’d need to jump the gap, he would fall short without her help, he reached for her and leaped as he felt the ground give way beneath him. He closed his eyes and hoped that she’d catch him, just one more time he pleaded in his head. He felt her fingers around his wrist gripping for dear life.

He chanced a look up at her, The Flesh had stopped moving in, she was looking down at him with a blank expression as he hung limply, helplessly, vulnerably over the ledge. Was she going to drop him? She wouldn’t, would she? He thought briefly that she’d be right to do it, after everything he put her through. He swung his legs, sweaty hand scrabbling at the concrete of the broken ledge for support, trying to pull himself up, but he couldn’t get a solid hold,

“Six!” He yelled, chancing a look at the abyss below, he wouldn’t survive a fall this high, “please pull me up.”

She didn’t answer, continuing to stare, like she wasn’t really there. He looked down again, panic welling up in his stomach, oh my god, she was going to drop him.

“SIX!” His frantic, panicked desperation seemed to snap her out of whatever trance she was in. She shook her head minutely and breathed his name with a kind of horror he never wanted to hear again.

She heaved him up over the ledge, and he shook violently as he placed his hands and knees on solid ground, Six looked perturbed, unsure of what to do or say, which didn’t last long as Mono rushed forward to crush her into a hug.

“I thought you were going to drop me.” He repeated over and over again in a terrified whisper, Six didn’t say anything but she did return the hug.

“Let’s get out of here,” She whispered as she stood up, pulling him along with her. They hobbled to the TV screen plastered to the wall, arms slung over each other's shoulders to keep them standing upright, the static felt warm on their skin as they pushed against the glass.

They slid through the static, passing through The Flesh tunnel and then hitting the floor. The TV behind them cast white light onto the ground and they both breathed hard, trembling uncontrollably on the cold wood flooring.

Six was the first to stand, her movement catching Mono’s attention, in her casted shadow was a glitching image of… herself?

Was The Tower not destroyed? Surely it couldn’t survive without The Thin Man, the shadow stared Six down, her hands shook in fear as the shadow cast a glance over to a flyer laying on the floor in the corner, she looked back at Six and giggled, the sound making Mono’s blood run cold.

And as fast as the glitching shadow had appeared it was gone, the room bathed in darkness as the TV powered off, it was silent and then Six’s stomach growled painfully, she keened forward, hugging her torso and falling back down to her knees.

Mono was on his feet, grabbing Six by the shoulders, her face was twisted in pain.

“Are you okay?” He asked, Six grabbed one of his wrists and shook her head frantically.

Mono turned his attention to the flyer the shadow had been so preoccupied with, he pat her shoulder before going over to investigate.

The flyer had a picture of something fish-like, with the word “MAW” in big, bold letters across the top.

“Always the same time, never the same place, all-you-can-eat ocean vessel experience,” Mono read out loud with some difficulty, “all-you-can-eat! Six, look at this!”

He rushed over to her, paper in hand. She took hold of the paper, reading it over herself, flipping the page where three words were scrawled in black ink.

East Coast Harbour.

“East… Coast… Harbour?” She read, eyes squinting at the near illegible handwriting. “East coast? That’s not far from here.”

“So that’s where we’ll go!” Mono suggested excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“What?!” Six exclaimed in shock.

“We’ll go to The Maw! There’ll be an endless supply of food, we’ll be far away from the shore and the city, it’s perfect!” He paced back and forth, getting more animated as his plan fell into place. Six wasn’t so sure, waving her hands out frantically to grasp his attention.

“Woah, Woah. Hang on, let’s think this through-”

“What is there to think through?” He argued.

“The fact that The Maw is an Adult experience, if we sneak onto that boat and get found out, we’ll be killed. You’ve heard the stories just as much as I have, no kid who boards The Maw escapes.” Six didn’t have to mention what kind of food was on the menu, they both knew very well what happens to the kids who are found in the bowels of The Maw. The Janitor was blind, not stupid.

“But don’t kids get shipped out there all the time?”

“Yeah, dying kids.”

A silence was drawn between them. They weren’t going to come to an agreement on this so instead, Six offered a compromise. Clearing her throat she wrung her hands together, speaking carefully now.

“Look, we don't even know if what just happened will happen again. We’ll move east anyway, no use staying in the city but let's keep The Maw as a last resort.”

“Fine, but I’m keeping an eye on you, and if I think your pain is getting worse we find a way to board The Maw. Deal?”

“Deal.”

It took them two weeks to get from the lonely little apartment in the city to the coastline and along their travels, she’d managed to find a paper bag to replace the one Mono gave up to fight The Thin Man, she’d been keeping an eye out after he’d told the story to her, how terrified and powerless he’d felt, she took it upon herself to find a replacement as he cycled through the growing hat collection he had stowed away in his coat. Mono was ecstatic when she gave it to him, quickly but carefully tearing out some eye holes and modelling his look.

“How do I look?” He giggled, Six smiled reaching forward to adjust the bag a little bit.

“Perfect, it’s just like the one from before!” Mono gave a silly bow at her acceptance, the pair laughing at his antics, he pulled the bag off, however, folding it up and putting it away. Six’s expression was puzzled.

“You know what I look like, and you don’t think I look strange so I don’t have to wear it around you,” Mono’s genuine grin made Six’s chest warm, happy that her friend felt more confident with her around, “I’ll hang on to it though, it’s a gift from you so it’s even more special!”

And things were good for a while, scavenging for food, finding safe shelter to sleep in, exploring all manner of abandoned buildings, that was until Six’s condition started to worsen.

They dubbed the pain and aggression she’d been exhibiting Hunger Pangs or more simply Hunger. It had started small, almost nonexistent at first, easily satiated by scavenging for food scraps but by the end of the first week Six had started becoming more aggressive than normal, often turning on Mono when he tried to help. He knew not to take it personally, that she wasn’t well, that she was in pain, but that didn’t stop his feelings from getting hurt when she lost her temper or pushed him over.

By the end of the second week, however, Six had developed a fever. She ignored the burning of her skin initially, making it to the harbour, whether they decided to try and board The Maw or not, was the most important thing.

She did not account for how awful it would feel to push her body to its limit to manage that feat, and one evening, as she and Mono were walking through a back alley, she collapsed. Waking up inside a building, with Mono fretting over her, her memory had been spotty as the fever set in, making her delirious. She tried to use what little strength she had to fight Mono as he tried to remove her layers in hopes of cooling her down, the ordeal ending in her sleeping fitfully with her blue cardigan resting under her head and her yellow raincoat draped over her lower body.

Mono chanced a look through the kitchen cabinets in the other room, finding a couple of cans of soup. He wasn’t able to warm them up, the oven unit being too big to use on his own. He was just relieved that the cans had pull tabs.

Despite her hunger, he found it impossible to feed her. She wasn’t really awake enough to eat but they’d gone so long without anything he wasn’t sure what else could be the cause of her sudden illness, it was hours before her fever came down enough for her to be lucid, Mono hadn’t slept a wink, terrified that a stray Viewer might find them.

“Six? Are you awake?” He wondered as he stroked her bangs away from her sweaty forehead, she made a small noise but didn’t say anything else. “You don’t have to worry about anything at all! I’m gonna take really good care of you, before you know it you’ll be back on your feet and we can get onto The Maw and you’ll never have to go hungry again.”

Mono worries his bottom lip at her lack of response, her breath was shallow too and something about that made him worried, but he wasn’t sure why.

“You know I’m really worried about you, when you fell down outside I thought you’d died, and it was so hard to drag you in here. I didn’t realise how heavy sleeping people are.” He paused. “You are just sleeping, right? ‘Cause if you’re just sleeping, it’ll be okay! And I’m your best friend, you can tell me anything you want. So if it’s bad you can tell me.”

Mono curled in close to Six, letting her rest her head on his chest. Continuing to comb his fingers through her damp hair.

“Yeah, you’ll tell me.”

Next Chapter

#little nightmares #little nightmares happy au #LN Fairy's Happy AU #six little nightmares #mono little nightmares #i love these kiddos so much and they deserve all the love #i put my whole soul into writing out the boss fight scene can you tell?#hello little nightmares tumblr it's nice to meet you #pls be kind i am very afraid #been about 5 years since i wrote fanficiton #found family trope my beloved #And So The Rain Stopped #edit: changed my mind no more reader insert character cause I got attached to my own one lol #dec 2021

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tenspontaneite · 2 years

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White Noise (Chapter 3/?)

Pain was survivable.

She wasn’t so sure about the hunger.

(Chapter length: 5k. ao3 link)

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Warnings: (Probably) No new warnings for this chapter; but please assume that warnings provided for previous chapters could apply to any given chapter. It's been a while since I read the story or this chapter so I can't be certain there's nothing not already warned for.

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After a while, Six slept.

She hadn’t, for a while. The light hypnagogic doze she’d managed in the rafters wasn’t quite enough to qualify, and she was weary enough now to want the refuge of true rest. Mono was sleeping, and unlikely to move for a while, and since she still hadn’t decided to leave…it only made sense to use the dead time usefully, didn’t it?

There was no particular worry that he’d wake up without her noticing. Six was a light enough sleeper that, with him this close, she’d be up and alert in a second if he stirred; she knew that from experience. Still, it felt strange to huddle up to the metal wall beside him, and close her eyes to the sounds of someone breathing nearby. His hand was warm, the static quiet.

Sleep carried her shallowly through a few hours, and thereafter she stirred often enough at the minute shifting of Mono in his sleep that it was more dozing again than it was real rest. Eventually she abandoned the effort, and was awake. She looked at Mono, his pale face and the deep exhaustion written there, and wondered how often he’d slept in the time since she dropped him. How often he’d eaten.

That thought struck her strangely; a moment later she remembered hunger, and shifted uneasily. It came irregularly, now. It was hard to predict, hard to see coming. She looked down at her bloody fingernails, and wondered again why she wasn’t leaving.

Wouldn’t it be safer for both of them, if she just…left now? Before he could wake?

She thought of it. She thought of him waking alone, looking around, finding himself deserted yet again.

Six clenched her fingers around his, then dropped them. She stood slowly, made to step around his feet, and – stopped, looking down at him, limbs heavy as though a physical force were bearing them down. A snarl of pain tore through her chest like knives. She hissed to herself angrily, fingers clawing the air, then sat heavily back at his side.

Why? she demanded of herself, shoulders hunched, hating the lack of understanding, hating the lack of control. Why wasn’t she leaving? Why couldn’t she leave? Why didn’t she want to leave?

She stared at his sleeping face, her eyes narrowed and teeth clenched, and didn’t move.

After she’d escaped the Hunter with him, she hadn’t necessarily wanted to part ways. She hadn’t felt driven to stay, either. But he seemed to take it as a given that he would help her, and that she would go with him, and…she’d had no strong reason to object. She did want to get far, far away from the basement she’d been trapped in for so long; beyond that, what did it matter where she was going? And he had at least been useful. Fast, strong, relatively resourceful…it was more than she could say of most children, even now.

She wondered if that was still true. Wondered if he’d sit down and wait to die at every threat, like he had when the Janitor neared. If he was weak and slow and helpless, then would she be able to leave him behind for good?

…Yes. Yes, she thought so. She didn’t want to leave now, but she doubted that would hold true for long if he really did put her in danger. If he threatened her, if he hurt her, if he held her back…

Six sighed, and then breathed a little easier. She settled down and waited.

Time passed; perhaps another hour. She stared at Mono while he slept and amused herself by picking at his coat, pulling off grains of grit, loose hairs, stray strands of wool. When that grew tiresome, she picked up his hand and held it and stared at nothing in particular, eyes going unfocused, ears listening to the distant sounds of the Janitor moving and muttering in the rooms around.

Finally, his fingers twitched in her hand, and she glanced back at him warily. His eyes moved beneath their lids, he stirred a little. He didn’t wake yet, and instead seemed to drift into a dream. It didn’t seem a comfortable one. His breathing grew quick and shallow, and his hand clenched on hers hard enough to be painful. She stared at him curiously and wondered if she ought to try waking him.

A thin film of water collected at the edges of his closed eyes, and that made her uneasy enough to move. She kicked lightly at his shin, but it didn’t do anything. It was only when she tugged on his hand that his eyes flew open, wet with tears and bright with fear, jolting awake with such speed that it almost seemed violent. Six jerked back on instinct, inching away, but his grip on her hand was tight enough she’d probably have to put effort into dislodging it. She wasn’t yet motivated enough to try.

The second after his eyes opened, they flew around, confused and panicked and searching. His fingers clenched on hers again as he inhaled, a noisy shuddering gasp that made her flinch, and at last-

He saw her.

His wide dark eyes fixed on the shadows of her face, his expression steeped in so much raw emotion that it hurt to look at him. Her shoulders hunched and she hissed quietly, wanting to look away…but distrust was alive in her veins, so she didn’t dare. Instead she withstood looking back at him: he stared at her and trembled, breaths loud and shaky, then finally looked down at their joined hands – and broke down instantly.

Six leaned away, profoundly uncomfortable. That black tarry ache was back again, hot and choking in her throat, but she still didn’t dare take her eyes off him for long. She wanted to, though. He’d cried before he slept, and that had been bad enough, but – not like this, not gasping and sobbing like he was running out of air, not with that high-pitched whine rising beneath the broken breaths. It was awful to look at, awful to listen to…

…Awful enough, in fact, and loud enough, that she was quite sure it could be overheard.

Skin prickling, she glanced quickly up and down the crawlspace, once in either direction. They were too far in for monstrous arms to reach, surely? But – there were those holes in the metal, a little further down...could they be reached through? Were they wide enough? She thought they might be wide enough. Fear seethed beneath her skin. Anger, too.

Urgency was motivation enough: she hissed “Shh!” at him, tense and rigid at his side. It didn’t help at all; if anything, he cried harder.

Through the walls, she heard the Janitor moving. Adrenaline bit coldly at her veins, and she didn’t even think before she pulled her hand from Mono’s and lunged at him, fixing her palm tightly over his mouth. It was more than close enough for him to harm her, if he wanted, but right now all she cared about was shutting up that noise.

Part of her expected harm, expected him to hit her, expected him to bite. Instead he leaned in to her hand, his own fingers lifting to it – not to pull it away, but to hold it closer. Her palm quieted the noise, and the next tears that fell from his eyes spilled around her hand; salt gave teeth to the static in the air. Utterly bewildered, Six watched as his eyes slipped half-closed, eyelashes wet and clumped together, his shoulders shaking with every muffled sob. Mercifully, that terrible whining stopped.

She was so taken-aback at his behaviour that she didn’t even stop him as he closed his fingers around hers, breaking its seal over his mouth, but not pulling it away. He was quieter now though, so she only stared as he clutched at her hand, both of his to her one, the wet of his tears stinging on her broken skin.

The confused beat of her heart was dizzying now. She panted a little, wanting to look away, head swimming with the terrible emotion he was bringing to bear. It was too much. She needed to look away but couldn’t, it was dangerous, he might hurt her. “Stop it,” she demanded at last, voice whisper-quiet and harsh with disuse. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d spoken, but she was bordering on desperate now.

He didn’t stop crying. But he did shut his eyes, tight and trembling, and that made it a little easier to look. He seemed to be making a visible effort to stay quiet now, lowering her hand until he was very nearly hugging it to his chest, shaking like a leaf. Her skin crawled with the urge to snatch it back.

Should leave, she thought to herself, half-insensate from the distress of watching him. It was too much, too dangerous, he was falling apart and she couldn’t stick around to let him doom her. But:

“What’s wrong with you?” she hissed at him, a little despairingly. There was bile in her throat and claws in her chest, but still she couldn’t go.

He shook to hear her voice, shook more as his lips parted, uttering nothing more than stuttering air. His eyes opened just enough to blink the tears away, enough to look at her again. He opened and closed his mouth several times, like he was trying to remember how to speak but couldn’t quite manage it. In the end he didn’t say anything, but instead sobbed a while longer, clutching at her fingers with trembling hands as he tried – and somewhat managed – to calm his crying a little.

Within a minute or two, he was quieter. His shoulders still hitched, the tears were still falling, but…there was a little more coherence to the way he looked at her. He sniffed, finally conceded to lower her hand, and exhaled a long, shuddery breath. Finally, he looked at her, and opened his mouth, and managed to say, “You’re here.”

Six flinched. It had been long enough that she’d almost forgotten what his voice sounded like, and now it seemed even rougher than her own. Her gut writhed anew, run through with the same turmoil she kept failing to name. She wished, again, that she could look away.

So, he had his voice back now. What was he going to say? What was he going to ask?

…What was he going to do? Every moment, he might scrape back more of his presence of mind back from his breakdown, and then what?

She watched him, shoulders hunching. She was prepared for him to ask her why. Prepared for him to glare at her – shout at her, lash out at her – when she inevitably had nothing to say. She wanted it, almost; if he’d only show anger, show that he was a danger to her, then she could finally leave. He could do whatever he wanted, once she was gone. She could do whatever she wanted, too. Her throat felt full of thorns at the thought, but she wanted it.

She waited for the questions. Waited for the demands. Instead he looked down and frowned, and in the end the question was “What happened to your hand?”

Six opened her mouth, then closed it, bewildered. She glanced briefly down to try to figure out what he was talking about, and saw – in his hands, hers was covered in bruises, scraped raw in places, split open in others. His tears had made a mess of the formerly-dried blood, smearing red onto his unbroken skin. Reeling a little from this being the question he chose to ask, she hesitated for a long while, then mimed scratching at the wall with her other similarly-battered hand.

Something like recognition flickered in his eyes. “I…saw that?” he said, and it was so strange to hear him speak and see him speak at the same time, she didn’t think that had ever happened before. She was too overwhelmed to know what she thought of it. “When I was-“ he broke off, looking pained, and shook his head violently. “You were – hitting the walls? And then-“

And then, she’d seen him/the Thin Man, both and neither at once, and lunged for them instead. It hadn’t quite been Mono’s throat her teeth sank into, but it had been enough his for him to scream.

She clenched her fists, pulling the one back from Mono at last. He wilted a little, but let it go, hands wavering in the air before balling up in his lap. His shoulders hunched, and he watched her warily, as though waiting for something. She didn’t know what. She stayed where she was, tense and motionless, and eventually he sighed.

“I don’t understand any of this,” he mumbled, with an unhappy edge to his voice, and lifted a hand to his neck. He felt at it, tracing the skin as though bewildered it was still intact. He lifted his eyes to hers, looking worried, looking scared. “…What are you going to do?”

She stiffened, as much from the confusion as from the question.

Somehow, he hadn’t got any less adept at reading and interpreting her reactions, though. He swallowed, and clarified “Are you – going? Soon?”

Reflexively, she looked towards the ledge in the vents, and the ruptured metal of the crawlspace beyond. She glanced back at him, hesitated for a moment, then nodded. She certainly wasn’t going to stay here; she’d have left hours ago if not for him, probably. It was hard to think about when he was right here, with that horrible emotion all over his face filling up her mind until there was hardly room for anything else, but – she would go. Of course she would. Staying in one place too long would get her killed.

His chin jerked down in a nod, and his next breath was shaky. His fists clenched in his lap. Finally he asked, in a very small voice, “Alone?”

The question hurt, and she wasn’t even sure what he was asking. Did he want to follow her? Did he want her to go far away and never come near him again? She managed a confused noise, and his shoulders hunched. Hesitantly, and very slowly, he reached for her hand again.

On instinct, she flinched back. But he looked so hurt by it that she took a deep breath and shuffled minutely forwards again, just to make the twist in her gut stop. His eyes darted between her face and her hand uncertainly, but he completed the motion: his fingers laced into hers and static crackled over her skin. His expression trembled like he was on the edge of crying again. It took him a long while of struggling, breath going thin and distressed again, for him to finally plead “Please don’t leave me behind?”

Six went so tense it hurt. Her head ached, her throat felt choked for air, her chest was full of searing, twisting pain. Everything he said and did hurt, and she didn’t want to leave and he didn’t want her to leave either and she didn’t know what to think. She didn’t know what he was thinking. He should want her as far away from him as possible. He should want her dead. “Why?” she rasped, wary.

He looked miserable. Instead of explaining, or justifying himself, he just said it again: “Please?”

She didn’t understand him. She didn’t understand him at all, and she felt terrible, and she didn’t know what to do about any of it. She wanted him to come with her even though it might not be safe. She didn’t know why he wanted to come with her, and that might not be safe either. Increasingly she was wondering if the best option was to go off alone for a while so she could not-look-at-him in safety, so she could think, but she didn’t know how he’d take that.

She hissed to herself, frustrated, and snatched her hand back again. She folded her arms defensively, finally allowing herself to turn her face half-away so she wouldn’t see his reaction in full, but still keeping him in her blurry peripheral vision. She pressed her forehead to the cold metal of the vent wall beside her; it soothed the headache a little. It also gave her a considerably better ear of the adjoining room, and she went still.

Familiar footsteps. Familiar shuffling. It was hard to tell how close, but…

The Janitor had very keen hearing. They’d not been speaking that loudly, but it might well have heard anyway. Six tensed, listening closely, and when she heard an inhalation from Mono beside her hissed “shh!” at him.

He seemed to understand, and fell silent, watching her. She’d always had the keener senses of the two of them, and he’d always been the stronger. It had worked well. It was confusingly painful to remember that.

They stayed silent and still for a long while as she listened, uncertain. She knew she’d heard footsteps, but now there was nothing. Not even the sound of further-off clattering as the Janitor moved away. Had it sat down somewhere? How close was it? How far?

She waited for long minutes, but heard nothing. Part of her was tempted to leave it, because clearly the creature had just moved on, but…that didn’t feel right. Six hadn’t stayed alive this long by failing to trust her instincts. So she waited longer yet, Mono looking increasingly restless but staying mercifully still, both of them alert for any sound, any movement, anything. And then:

Something did move, but it wasn’t Mono, and it wasn’t the Janitor. It took a few seconds for Six to realise it was her.

Suddenly, she was hunched over, hand gripping at her belly. Suddenly she hurt, suddenly the world was filling edge to edge with a shuddering pang that ate up her mind, and already she could barely think but she knew, she knew-

Wild-eyed, Six whirled around and saw Mono. There wasn’t enough space in her head to parse his expression, wasn’t enough space for anything, but in her next breath – the next shudder of the world – her throat filled with acid, her mind with desperation, and she was on her feet in a split-second. In the next moment she was pushing past him and vaulting over the ledge in the vents, already sprinting away.

She heard him behind her, uttering something that sounded surprised, sounded hurt, but there was no time for that. There was a heartbeat in the ribcage of the world, and the pulse of it would break her open soon enough; her feet were deafeningly loud on the metal as she ran but she had nothing in her capable of caring.

She hadn’t gone nearly far enough, barely a few metres, by the time something in her snapped and it came out: the hunger in all its terrible power, the twist-and-tear inside her head as everything realigned along her awareness of her teeth. She hunched over, gasping, then moaning with pain. Starvation yawned wide and there wasn’t anything else left of her; less than a second had passed before she was whirling back the way she’d come, full of agony and vicious need. It wasn’t a choice. She could’ve no more resisted it than she could’ve held her blood still. Her pulse was thunderous in her ears as she saw him, head poking above the ledge, staring wide-eyed at her. He said something, but there was nothing in her that could understand it.

It had been easy to knock him down before. It would be easy now, too. Her mind bled with the premonition of it, the leap stuttering in her legs as she took a step forwards, another, she was so slow with the pain of starvation gasping from her throat but he was so near, so close, she just had to reach him.

If she’d been in her right mind, she might’ve been alarmed by the enormous hands that suddenly pushed through the sides of the vent, right through those tears in the metal she’d spotted before. If she’d been in her right mind, she’d have run away. Instead she changed focus in less than a heartbeat as she saw that they were close enough to bite.

She’d never willingly approached the Janitor’s hands before. Mere minutes ago, she’d been fearing them, avoiding them at all costs. But now there was only the blood-in-waiting, and there was so much to eat.

Each hand had protruded from its own gap, grasping around in a tight restricted radius in search of children; the nearest found one. Its fingertip touched her coat at the same time she pivoted on her feet and lunged, wrapping her arms around the middle of the index finger and biting down. There was a shriek from beyond the walls of the vent, and the rest of the hand closed painfully around her. Undeterred, she kept chewing, mindless with it, aware only that there was flesh and skin and blood filling her mouth. She tore it open, felt the liquid burst of a nerve under her teeth, heard the shrill scream of her prey. It dropped her, then swatted her violently into the metal grating of the floor, dislodging her mouth from its flesh. It held her there, trapped beneath its bleeding hand, and crushed her down.

Panic bloomed red-and-black in her mind; not at the pain, or the alarming creak of her limbs, but at the loss of the meat in her mouth. Somewhere behind her, someone was screaming, but that didn’t matter. She writhed and turned her head, licking up the last shreds of flesh in her teeth, the blood on her lips, and – found the nearest finger and bit down again with a sob of relief. Everything was the shrieking and the snapping and the pulse hammering in her ears; blood was so sweet on her tongue. Something broke and she didn’t know what.

The crushing pressure on her eased, and she could move again. The hand was jerking away, but that was okay. She was still eating. She stared at it mindlessly from where she lay, soothed by the slide of her teeth through living flesh, the bite-and-swallow that filled the world. Everything was good now. Everything was better than good. She had meat, and nothing was stopping her, and the bliss of that was beyond anything.

In front of her, someone she knew was shouting, was kicking at the hand. The hand was missing a few pieces, now. It finally withdrew, something out of sight still shrieking, and the other one withdrew too. She had enough meat, and the blood was still flowing; it was fine.

The boy she knew was saying something, but there was still nothing in her that understood. She stared at him, mindlessly chewing, the world broken up in the rapture of flesh, and needed nothing else. Until, slowly, something – shifted. As though her mind stuttered a step to the side. She gasped, bit and swallowed reflexively, then gasped again. There was abruptly something strange about the blood in her mouth.

A few seconds later, with a nearly palpable click, it was over, and a rush of dizzy exhaustion bloomed in its place. Six dropped the enormous finger and fell backwards, wide-eyed; another amputated half-digit tumbled out of her lap. Finally she could hear the voice calling her name.

She stared around wildly at Mono, who was on his feet and at her side, already reaching to pull at her clothes. She hadn’t quite recovered enough presence of mind to think of resisting, so she stumbled along as he gripped at her and dragged her forwards, away from the rips in the metal, away from the dripping blood. He was stronger than she remembered. Or maybe she was weaker. She didn’t know. But when he let her go she sank to the floor, still half in a daze, and he followed her down.

“Are you okay?” he asked her, urgently, kneeling in front of her and looking her over with something like despair. “I can’t tell if any of this is yours!”

Six looked down, heart thudding strangely in her chest. Her yellow coat was, strikingly, splattered red. Her hands were red too. A little mechanically, she lifted them, and licked the blood from her fingers. It didn’t occur to her that she should offer some answer.

“Six!”

Her head snapped up, and she swallowed. She shook in place, sucking in a breath; her limbs shook with adrenaline and belated terror. She’d not been scared during that whole encounter, not even for a second – not when the hands of the waiting monster had grabbed at her, not when it had caught her, not even when it had been trying to crush her against the metal like a troublesome insect. There’d been no space for anything but the hunger. She clenched her eyes shut against the horror of what that meant.

It would happen again. It was getting worse.

She’d nearly died.

A moment later, there were hands on her shoulders. Her eyes flew open again, and she stared at Mono, who was pale-faced and – and scared, he looked scared, he’d tried to help her, she’d nearly died but she’d been too busy eating to care-

She curled up, knees to her chest, burying her face in her bloody hands. Ten minutes ago, she’d not have dared take her eyes off him like this, leave herself vulnerable like this, but – but he’d tried to help her, and she’d nearly died because of the hunger. She’d nearly died.

He muttered something that sounded like a curse, his breath too-fast, and then he said “Stay here, okay? I’ll just – I’ll just be a minute.” And then he was gone, feet clattering off down the vent. She didn’t even look up.

All the while he was gone, she turned over those bloody minutes in her mind. It was as she’d feared, wasn’t it? On so many levels, it was as she’d feared. The hunger didn’t retreat in the face of mortal danger. It didn’t even make distinctions between lesser and greater threats from its prey. It could’ve easily driven her a few steps further, towards Mono, but instead she’d gone for the closest meat, and it had nearly killed her. She was, confusedly, relieved about that – even though she hurt in a way she’d never experienced before except after some very bad falls. It had nearly crushed her under its hand. She’d nearly died.

It took until his return for her to realise her position, curled up and shaking and in pain, as weak as she’d ever been. It would be so easy to kill her now. Part of her was waiting for it as Mono drew close again, something dirty-white clutched in his hand. She was waiting for it, though at this point she didn’t even know why; waiting for him to reach out and choke her. She knew he had to reach out and choke her, knew it in a place as deeply-rooted and violent as the hunger. He had to. Surely, he had to. Now, while she was weak, before she could kill him, before she could betray him again…

Instead, he knelt in front of her and reached out to clean the blood away.

There was a rag in his hands, and he was wiping it over hers. Each finger, one at a time, then the palms, then their backs. He cleaned the blood from her wrists as well, up to the yellow sleeves, and then cleared those as well. It came away easily from her coat; he had her arms and her front clear in moments. All the while she watched numbly, wondering when he’d hurt her, wondering if he ever would at all.

He hesitated before tugging her hood down, as though waiting for her to object. She might have, if she weren’t still in this awful daze. She might’ve backed away, flinched from the contact. Instead she just stared at him, shaking minutely in every limb. This was the kind of shock that ended people, she knew. She’d seen children die like this, too numb to flee from the monsters that killed them. She needed to move, needed to pull her wits back together…

She’d managed to stir by the time he pushed back her hood, and thought she could back away from his hands, if she really tried.

She didn’t try. She let her eyes fall almost fully closed, and in the vague shadows beyond her eyelashes saw his hand and the rag draw close again. Gently, he wiped the blood from her face, and then her neck, and then finally he leaned back.

Six shuddered, feeling strange, and glanced up at his face. Almost immediately, she averted her eyes again; there was too much there, and she wasn’t sure how to cope except by looking away. She waited for him to hurt her, but he didn’t. The confusion of that was a pain of its own.

“…Are you hurt?” His voice was tentative. Worried.

She opened her mouth, but couldn’t quite manage words. There was pain, that was certain. She wasn’t sure if it went as far as actual injury. Carefully, with a shaky sigh, she stretched out her legs, then drew them in again. She did the same with her arms. Everything hurt, felt not quite right, but everything moved when she tried. For lack of a better answer, she shrugged uncertainly.

Not quite looking satisfied, he nodded regardless, and after a moment hesitantly crawled over to sit beside her, still looking her over worriedly.

Worried. Worried, instead of fearful, instead of angry, instead of wary, instead of anything else that she could understand. Worried, and not hurting her, even now. She didn’t understand, and the frustration felt so thick in her throat she thought she might gag on it, might bring up blood and flesh and broken bone. Her eyes burned and she swallowed thickly.

She waited for him to hurt her, and he didn’t.

After a long, long silence, he spoke again. “What just happened?” he asked, helplessly. “What was that?”

She couldn’t answer.

Eventually, he exhaled frustratedly, head falling back to the vent with a thunk. “Okay,” he said, defeated. “Okay. I’ll – ask again, when you’re feeling better. Right now…” he hesitated, and looked back down the crawlspace, where her abandoned meal was still bleeding. “I’m worried he’s going to come back with something to break the vent open? I think we should go.”

Six blinked, swallowed again, then nodded. That was sensible. She should’ve thought of that. Slowly, she uncurled, and staggered unsteadily to her feet.

He followed, looking her up and down. “…Are you okay to run?”

She exhaled, shook her limbs out, and nodded. Instead of letting him question her further, she set off down the crawlspace at once. She stumbled on the first few steps, everything feeling jarringly not-quite-right, movement pulling at her many, many aches and pains. After that, she adapted, and carried on. She didn’t have to look, or ask, to know that Mono would follow.

He did follow. It was like nothing had changed. Like it was months ago, and he’d just cut her down from where those false clay children had strung her up, and was hovering worriedly at her heels, watchful for anything that might be wrong.

Something had been wrong, then. She’d hit her head on the way down, and had been dizzy, and her head swimming and pulsing with splitting pain, but she’d survived that. She’d survive this, too. Pain was survivable.

She wasn’t so sure about the hunger.

Six gritted her teeth, and picked her way painstakingly through the remainder of the vent. Mono trailed quietly at her heels.

He still hadn’t harmed her, and against all reason, she was starting to wonder if he was ever going to.

It didn’t make sense, and it hurt.

---

end chapter.

Posting this entirely because ao3 user Kiyo left a lovely comment at the right time and I was like, you know what, I have more chapters of this, let's post one.

This chapter has been edited but it was months ago, so idk how it is. Here's some notes fresh from the second-ish edit way back when:

This is still pre-written content; nothing new has been written since the story was posted.

I could write a lot about my characterisation of Six, and her psychology, and I have done to my friends. Not sure about posting any of it in the notes here, though; I kind of want to see how much readers can infer from reading the text. At any rate, she’s super fun to write, and I find her a really fascinating character.

Thank you in particular to people who comment, and also to those who kudos and bookmark. Thank you to my editor Penny, and to Cora for prereading.

#little nightmares six #little nightmare mono #little nightmares #white noise #@ my tdp readers: dw I'm not out of the fandom #just posting a chapter I've had written since december #I'm not engaging with tdp rn due to brain weasels and irl stuff #so am off tumblr to avoid info and spoilers for now

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thelostsisters · 2 years

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As someone who is Starting to watch stranger things and doesn’t mind spoliers I would like to hear the similarities between Mono and Henry creel, it sounds interesting

omg sorry for taking FOREVER to respond to this but i wanted to make sure i had all my thoughts together perfectly idk

but anyways yeah here’s my mono/henry comparison:

first is something more superficial but still interesting is that mono means “one” and obviously henry = 001

both betray their friend (who are both ironically young girls whose names are a number), however neither of them really view what they’ve done as bad/betrayal (obviously with mono still being the protagonist at this point in the game we know he’s doing the right thing, whereas henry is very obviously in the wrong)

this interaction between henry and el perfectly describes mono and six’s ending: “you tricked me!” “tricked you? no i saved you.” so in st4 henry manipulates el into helping him removing the tracker that suppressed his powers so he can kill everyone at the lab and escape. he doesn’t view his actions as wrong bc he was still planning to help el get out of the lab, and he doesn’t think killing the kids is wrong bc, in his words, he “freed them” from the grasps of dr. brenner. in ln2, you have to use six’s trust in mono to trick monster!six into going after you, to which you run through the portals and smash her music box behind her back. mono knows that six is bound to the signal tower through the music box (or at least that how i interpret it; basically mono is willing to do whatever he can to get his friend back) but six doesn’t see this. i’ve written about it before but i think she was in a trance similar to that of the viewers, and mono breaking her music box not only physically hurt her but broke her out of the safety of that trance and into their dangerous world. mono wants to get his friend back, but six only sees that he’s betrayed her trust

after the betrayal, both mono and henry are then turned on by their young friend, who “kills” them by sending them to an alternate realm of some sort (and in the most dramatic of ways possible lol; six could have just walked off instead of catching mono and dropping him, and el could have just snapped henry’s neck and been done with it, but they live for the drama of it all and honestly? good for them) (also ik the upside down is much more of an alternate reality than the signal tower but it’s still very much a supernatural entity that can alter reality in a way so i say it counts) neither of them knew that they would survive this, but of course we know that isn’t the case… which leads to the next big point:

both become monsters after being imprisoned and isolated from the world; mono becomes the thin man after being trapped in the signal tower for decades, henry becomes 001 and is trapped in the lab for 2 decades, then is sent to the upside down where he’s imprisoned again and becomes vecna

with both of these transformations we see the characters letting their anger and loneliness consume them, as well as them being overtaken by a desire for revenge

now some sightly less major similarities that i still thought i’d point out bc it’s kinda neat:

thin man kidnaps children through the tvs according to the LN comics (i imagine he kills them too but don’t quote me on that), 001 killed the kids in the lab who had been kidnapped by brenner

the unsettling twinkling music that plays when we first meet henry in 4x05 reminds me a lot of the beginning of The Man in the Hat and End of the Hall

#this just??? showed up in my drafts after i’d thought i lost it forever? tumblr mobile is stupid lmao #stranger things #stranger things 4 #henry creel #001 stranger things #st vecna #little nightmares #little nightmares 2 #ln mono #little nightmare mono

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elflock-magician · 11 months

Text

"The Reunion - Chapter Two"

Summary - It's been a long time. Suffering is overrun and gluttony thrives well. But, on one night. It's time for a reunion between the heroines, the villains, and the hungry. And this reunion, will be the true end to the nightmare. Six, the Runaway Kid, Mono, the Students, the Gnomes, and The Lady of The Maw, must work together to finally put an end to the endless cycle of suffering.

"Chapter Two - Alliance" The Runaway Kid and The Lady sat together.

Runaway Kid had been awake for a small while at that point. The Lady explaining the slightest of the situation they were in. "We have to stop her! With every person she kills, she becomes stronger. And after what she did here, what do you think she'll do to the rest of the world?" The Runaway Kid questioned. "What makes you believe I have any attachments to the world outside of this place?" The Lady asked. The Runaway Kid froze. The Lady forgot this was just an idiot kid she was talking to, and he probably couldn't understand any statements with more than two syllables per word. "But you should care! There as so many wonderful people out there! We can't just let them die!" The Runaway Kid retorted. "There is no 'we.' The people out there would eat you if they had the chance." The Lady said. The Runaway Kid couldn't argue with that. He was always very quick with his words. Each word natural and honest. "But that doesn't mean they deserve to be slaughtered by Rain-Coat kid!" He cried and slightly stomped his foot. The Lady sighed. "I shouldn't have saved you. You're just like every other child I've tried to care for!" The Lady shouted. The Runaway Kid didn't speak. But without hesitance asked,

"You've cared for other children..?" He questioned. The Lady turned her head away. "That is none of your business." She snapped back. Runaway Kid went quiet for a moment. "Come onnnn, you can't just say something like that and expect not to tell me!" Runaway Kid exclaimed. The Lady groaned.

"One...she was like the child in the raincoat...Six. And I made the same mistake. I let my guard down around them." The Lady answered, leaving out as many details as she could. She knew if she didn't answer properly, the kid would ask question after question about the previous child under her care. "What happened??" The Runaway Kid asked with insensitivity. "Do you have no shame?" The Lady asked quietly, sarcasm drenching her voice. The kid shrugged. "You lost in a fight to a child that is several feet shorter than you." The Runaway Kid threw back. The Lady sighed. She stopped pacing and sat down on the bed. "I know we don't really know each other, or trust each other, but if we let...whatever her name was get away, there won't be any world left for us to live in." The Runaway Kid said, the worlds spilling out slowly. The Lady clearly hesitated.

The Maw was empty. No one left to even speak to beside the child. And The Lady hated cleaning up messes. "I suppose we can make a stop at the land and see how bad the damage is." The Lady said. She saw how the Runaway Kid's face lit up, smiling innocently. "Yay!" They cried out and jumped to their twiggy feet. "So, is this an alliance?" The Runaway Kid asked. "Like the ones in the movies?" He added, way to overly excited to be making an alliance with someone who hurt him so terribly. "Yes...I suppose." The Lady replied. The Runaway Kid help out his hand for The Lady to shake. Her hand was several times bigger than his but she still shook it. If she held his hand a little tighter, she'd crush it.

"I gotta find the other Gnomes. They'll be so excited!" The Runaway Kid said and started jumping on the bed. The Lady got lost in her own thoughts for a moment. This child...

"Why are you forgiving me?" The Lady asked. "Eh?" The Runaway Kid muttered as response. "Why are you forgiving me? Making an alliance to me? After what I did to you..." The Lady muttered. The Runaway Kid stopped jumping, their expression souring. "I'm not forgiving you. And I don't know if I ever will be able to, after what you did to me and my friends. I'm just coexisting with you. " The Runaway Kid began. "I knew that was right." The Lady said. The Runaway Kid did not like how her voice...soured.

"But, if you're willing to try and be better, then I'm more than willing to give you a second chance." The Runaway Kid stated. The Lady rolled her eyes- or more specifically eye. "Anyways!! I'm going to go find Shamus, Darius, Mayus, Fayus, and Bayus." Runaway Kid stated. The Lady had never been more confused.

"...Pardon?" The Lady muttered. "Who are....'Shamus, Radus...and...what in the worlds name you said..?" She questioned. "My Gnome buddies." Runaway Kid said and started walking out of the room. "You named the Gnomes?" The Lady wondered if she should mention they already had names, as they were all once children. Not that she remembered any of their individual names. "Yep!! And they all end with 'us' so they're easy to remember." Runaway Kid said. He got to the wooden door and planted his small hands onto it, in a futile attempt to open it.

He paused before coughing into his hand. "Can you get this for me?" He asked. The Lady hesitated but sighed before walking over to the door and opening it, before picking up Runaway Kid and holding him in her hands.

"And...What is your name, child?" "Runaway Kid!" "...Runaway Kid? That cannot be your true name." "Yeah, you're right. I don't remember my real name. Buuuut the long-arm guy always shouted 'runaway kid' whenever I was around." "Hm..." "So, what's your name?" "My name?" "Yeah! Y'know when two people meet and one of them says their name the other usually says it back. Unless you don't wanna." "Vanessa. But simply refer to me by my title." "Your title?" "Lady of The Maw." "Okie dokie."

"Runaway, if anyone makes any humor out of you saying 'okie dokie' I want you to slaughter them." Lady said. "Miss, I am not doing that, but I'll try my best." Runaway Kid replied and saluted.

Next Chapter - Table of Contents

#little nightmares #little nightmares 2 #mono #six #lady of the maw #runaway kid #little nightmares mono #little nightmares six #little nightmares runaway kid #little nightmares fanfic #little nightmares fanfiction

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headcanonsandhijinx · 3 years

Text

Little Nightmares II Fix-It!

(Spoilers for the game ahead)

I just wanna talk about the game for a moment. It was so good, but that fucking ending. God, it punched me in the gut. I don’t actually know if I’ve processed it yet? Like I just feel weird about it, like I can’t believe it?

So I’m fixing it and ignoring the canon ending.

I wanted them both to escape so bad and why did it have to end that way? I think Six must of had a reason for dropping Mono, but I still hate that she did it. Personally, I’m thinking of the theory of Six’s hunger state coming back and Six was scared that if she pulled him up, that she’d attack and eat Mono, so that’s what I’m gonna do for this fix-it.

I’ve never written for Little Nightmares before but I’ll do my best! I also apologise for any grammatical errors or anything but I hope you enjoy it. Also warnings for minor references to cannibalism, thoughts of cannibalism and mentions of rotten food. I don’t think that I go to in depth but I wanted to put warnings, just in case.

***

His hand was clasped in hers when it happened.

It came back. The gaping void of hunger in her stomach returned and she would have dropped Mono if she wasn’t used to the pain of it. She could feel it like a leech, crawling and gnawing at her empty stomach, demanding to be fed.

However, there was no food around.

Nothing to quell the hunger.

Nothing, apart from the boy hanging in her hand.

She knew it would be wrong, to hurt her friend and she didn’t want to. But sometimes she couldn’t help it. The hnuger gets so extreme that she’ll eat anything. And god knows, she has. She remembers the hunger on The Maw, the rotting meat, the bread thrown to her, the rat, the- the poor gnome, and The Lady. All consumed because she couldn’t control it. Couldn’t control herself.

Would that happen to Mono as well. Would he end up as just another meal that she’d regret once he was gone.

Would it be kinder to let him go? There was just enough light streaming through the cracking ceiling that she could see where he would land. It looked squishy, so he’d be okay? He’d be able to find his way out.

But there may not be another way out.

“Hey.” It was him, still hanging in her grasp. His eyes wide, full of confusion and something else that shocked Six.

There was trust.

He trusted her to save him.

Because he had saved her so many times. From The Hunter, The Bullies, and The Thin Man.

She couldn’t abandon him now.

No! She wouldn’t abandon him now, how could she?

Because for the first time, in a long long time, here was someone who trusted her.

And she wouldn’t let him down now.

She looked down at him, pushed the hunger away, tightened her grip on his hand and began to heave him up. Like she had done so many times before, during this adventure. He reached the top and used his other hand to pull himself up onto the stone.

Still holding her hand, he clasped it tightly in his and pulled her through the door behind him.

***

There was a moment of bright static light before Six felt herself fall out of the tv. Pushing her hands underneath herself, she sat up and looked across the floor.

Mono was there, sitting in the same position as she was and looking at her.

Then the lights flickered as the hunger returned with a vengence, causing her to hunch over and wrap her small thin arms around her middle.

Mono made a noise of alarm as he stood to move towards her, stopping when he saw her frantically shove herself backwards and away from him.

She wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t hurt him.

He stepped forwards again and Six pushed herself further away, towards the wall behind her.

Mono made a small noise of distress. “Hey.” He said and frowned when he recieved no reply. Six had pushed herself into a corner and was curled into a tiny ball, hiding as much as she could. Growls coming from her and the lights flickered again.

Mono thought he had seen a shadow from the corner of his eye as he turned, only to see nothing there.

It was then Mono left.

He left and walked out the door of the small battered room, leaving Six on her own. The hunger surged again and Six didn’t know what would happen.

Had he left her? Had he run away after seeing the hesitation in her eyes as she thought of dropping him? She didn’t know.

Her stomach growled again, another huge wave of pain rolled over Six and her eyes slipped shut as she slumped unconscious in the corner.

***

As she awoke, she realised that she could smell something and her mouth watered as she opened her eyes.

There, in front of her, was some bread. It was old and stale but she didn’t care. She launched herself out of the corner and shoved as much of it as she could into her mouth, barely even swallowing before she stuffed more in. The void in her stomach disappeared and then Six saw him.

“Hey.” Mono.

He was back.

He had come back... with food.

He had gone to get her food, to help her.

For the first time, in a long time, Six’s eyes watered and a tear slid down her pale sunken cheek.

He had helped her.

She stood on shaking legs and walked towards him.

She lifted her hands and hesitated for a moment before she reached up and pulled her hood down.

She looked at Mono.

“Hi.” Her voice was hoarse and cracked as she spoke to him for the first time.

“Hey.” He replied with a tiny smile.

Before she knew it, Six had rushed forwards and was wrapping her arms around him.

The first hug she had ever given.

And Mono took a moment to realise what was happening, before he wrapped his arms around her.

Returning the first hug he had ever recieved.

And as they hugged each other for the first time, they each felt something they had never felt before.

They knew the world was dark and cruel and monstrous, but as long as they had each other, the world seemed a little bit brighter than before. They didn’t know if this feeling would last forever, but they didn’t care as long as it lasted for a moment.

They had never known the name of that feeling, but it was called safety.

So they parted from the hug and ventured out into the rainy city.

Once again, hand in hand.

***

So that was my fix-it. I hope you enjoyed my take on the canon ending of the game. I loved that they stayed together and were most definitely going to be okay as they went into the city together.

I’d love to hear what you thought of this, but as I’m a secondary blog, I can only reply via reblog so if you leave a note, it will still be very very appreciated but I won’t be able to reply to it.

I hope you all stay safe and have a lovely day!

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lucifer-luci · 3 years

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Fanfiction Summary:

Mono Realizes that breaking Six's Music box wouldn't be the best option to turn her back to normal. With trust being tested between the two, he searches for another way to get his friend back.

He shouldn’t have tried to break her music box. It took Mono one hammer swing to realize that. Now across from him Six was perched on her stretched, broken, legs. Her back was arched, and her spindly arms snaked around her music box like a shield. She had responded to the box getting hit with something akin to pain. She lurched back and gurgled a yelp as if he had hit her.

He never wanted to hurt her. He was only doing what he thought to be a good idea.

Now standing before Six, Mono let a heavy breath fall from his lungs. He could fix this. He had to fix this. Neither of them could survive if he didn’t.

Trying to stay calm, he cleared his throat, and tried to whisper out a quiet, “Hey.”

Upon leaving his mouth, the word echoed around them, and grew louder with each passing second. The room was twisting his calm tone into snarls of hate. It was eerie, and spooked Mono to his core.

Six didn’t react so calmly. She screeched against the din, and tried to swat in Mono’s general direction. She missed by a few feet, but Mono couldn’t help to step away. Stone shattered from the ground and pelted him.

The screaming echoes faded into nothing, and so did Six’s anger. She pulled herself away and back over the dented music box. Though Mono couldn’t see her eyes, he could tell that she was keeping a gaze on him. Mono disregarded the axe to the side of his feet, and slowly moved towards Six. His hands were held up in a universal ‘I mean you no harm’ gesture.

Six shook as he approached and arched her back slowly. The floor around her rattled as she snarled out a warning.

Get no closer.

Alright. Mono stopped and planted his feet to the ground. He was close to her now. Not close enough to touch her, but close. He had an urge to try to talk again, but he knew that if he tried, he would probably end up dead. So he carefully, and as non-threateningly as he could manage, crouched down and sat on the cold stone floor. He lowered his raised hands into his lap and looked down at the ground. If Six wanted him to move, he would move. But right now he planned to stay here for a while.

If his common sense was still there, he wouldn’t be trying this. Six looked close to smashing him into Mono goo, and sitting down wasn’t the best position to try to dodge in. Still, he did it. Probably because it was the only thing he could risk doing.

Six seemed to wind up tighter as she brought her music box closer into her protection. Her chest shook as she tried to keep up her scratchy bitey mood without snapping and killing him. Mono doubted that Six could see well, due to the hair flooding around her face, but he knew that she recognized him. Could be his scent, could be his voice, he didn’t know.

After, what Mono guessed, a minute, Six showed some change in her demeanor. Her growling stopped, and she deflated. Her music box was still held close, and she didn’t seem to welcome his presence being so near, but now Six could appease him whether she liked it or not.

Mono held his breath and slowly scooted a foot closer to her.

Six immediately took notice, and resumed her previous fit. It hurt Mono to have her so defensive against him. The trust that took days to build was now shattered into small pieces of broken glass, and Mono was cutting his soles on the remains.

Internally sighing, he lifted his eyes to where he believed Six’s eyes were. He didn’t see a monster in a yellow raincoat towering over him, he saw the young girl he rescued from The Hunter’s cottage. His lips curled into a smile, and without knowing, his hand was reached out, asking for something that they would always do in the toughest situations.

Six was still on edge, but she looked taken aback.

I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Mono tried to say to her. More to himself, I was selfish and only doing what I believed to be right. His smile quivered and his outstretched hand shook, I wouldn’t save you when you needed me the most. Even now I’m hurting you instead of saving you. His hand dropped into his lap, giving up on that form of comfort, and he tried to keep smiling through progressively blurring vision. He couldn’t keep up the act. You shouldn’t have to forgive me. I know I wouldn’t forgive me either. His form slouched as he rested his head in his hands, “It’s my fault.”

Silence.

He tried to hold back the tears. He really did. I have no right to cry. Six is trapped in a monster body because of me, and all I do is break down crying instead of finding out ways of helping her. Pathetic.

A large hand brushed his side and Mono flinched away from it. A slender yet large finger got under his chin and lifted up his teary face. Through the tears, and Six’s long black hair, he spotted warm sad eyes speaking back to him, I forgive you.

Mono choked a laugh that turned into a sob. His face crumpled and he sniffed. Good job, me. You guilted her. Six’s hand pulled him close across the stone floor and into her side. Her music box was moved slightly to accommodate him. I really made things worse for both of us. A wrong note from the music box made him curl into her raincoat and cry openly. Six whined and hugged him closer.

“I made you like this.” Mono croaked between hiccups.

He flinched when Six growled at him. Be quiet.

He whimpered. Why is she angry? It’s the truth.

The ground beneath them grew warm and soft. Mono risked a blurred glance to see that the stone floor and walls had reverted back to the playful child-like room he had found Six in. It’s tied to her emotions. He looked up at her to see careful faintly red eyes staring down at him. Six’s body rumbled in a soft purr. So… she’s truthfully forgiving me? That shocked Mono out of his tears so he simply stared at her. His disbelief was immeasurable.

Taking his stunned silence as contentment, Six grabbed him and set him down next to a pile of toys as if saying, ‘If you’re done crying then you should play.’

“Wha-?” he tried to ask her, but she was curled around her music box, eyeing him again. The trust was still in fragments.

Mono cleared his throat from the lump it had before, and asked carefully, his voice still slightly shaky, "I'm guessing you still hold some grudges against me?"

Six didn’t make a move to acknowledge him. She only breathed, and listened to the dented music box intently. She was enraptured by it. Exactly like the viewers with their TVs. Mono had to deal with those guys before. He knew they hated having their viewing time interrupted. If there was no TV in sight, they would hunt one down or kill themselves trying.

If breaking the music box was like breaking those TVs… maybe they should find a different way to get Six back to normal. It would take time, he knew that.

He would do anything to make her happy. He would go through this journey with her. They had come so far already. He couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning her now.

The second chapter is currently being worked on.

#Inseperable LN Fanfic #little nightmares #little nightmares 2 #ln mono #ln six #ln spoilers #ln2 spoilers #fanfiction #Chapter 1 #Chapter Mono am I rite?!#If you have questions then please ask #I will answer them to the best of my ability #avoiding spoilers of course #monster six #This will be posted on AO3 soon.

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littlenighttales · 2 years

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The two children sat in silence for awhile, staring at each other awkwardly. They couldn’t help but feel so familiar with one another, despite them having no memory of one another. Waves gently pushed them along the lake as Six spoke up, “what made you come back for me? You don’t even know me.” Mono shrugged in response. “You grabbed me from the bridge...” he awkwardly responded, “after you saved me,” Six pointed out.

“It just felt right,” the boy clarified. He wasn’t really wanting to bring up his friends right now. He didn’t have the ability to save them, but it still stayed in his mind. He cleared his head of the thought as best he could, “so... umm... what’s your name?” Mono asked, cocking his head. She rolled up her sleeve, showing a mark. A scar of a weird symbol he didn’t recognize. His confusion was apparent, even through the bag. All he knew is it looked like it hurt. “Six. What’s yours?”

“Mono.”

Introductions were out of the way, albeit with the bagged boy being a bit shy about it. They didn’t have much time to talk before the door they were riding on crashed gently into the shore, though neither of them had much to say anyway. Distant apartment buildings shifted towards them ever so slightly as they landed on the beach.

Mono rushing quickly up the sandy shore, Six in one hand, the other hand reaching out to a shadow. “What are you doing?” Six asked him. He rubbed his eyes. “You didn’t see them?” Six just shook her head. Maybe it was the excitement from earlier, or the lack of sleep. Six tugged along at him, taking them closer to a light shining in the darkness, illuminating a door into the city. The first thing they saw in the dilapidated building was a suit hanging from a television just one floor above them. The roof was gone. Mono could feel his stomach drop as he paused at the sight momentarily, speedily walking through the room just in case. Across the street was a diner, similarly full of clothes sitting where the people should be. The city was dead, just as it was when they left. They’d known something the tower did had long since caused the residents of this place to just vanish. Whatever it was wouldn’t stop unless they stopped it. They had to treat this building as a puzzle, it seemed. The duo progressed far enough to find another door, closed but broken. They could see an exit through the cracks. Mono went in first, a nearby television flickering to life and emitting that familiar sound. “Nothing to be afraid of. Nothing to be afraid of,” he repeated internally as he covered his ears and approached, putting his hand on it to tune the signal. The next thing he knew, he was in the hall, walking to a door briefly before being yanked back out. Part of him was relieved. No long arm, no creepy drawings. Six helped him up, the two climbing out of the window and landing on a dumpster before crossing the street, following Six behind a dumpster to get behind the fence towering over them. They were in a school playground, though it still felt less than joyful.

“It’s not abandoned,” Six warned, kicking a ball over to her friend “they’re all in class… for now…”

A short ball game before climbing up a bedsheet into the second floor’s window. Pictures were scattered across the walls, trash on the ground, and a smoking trash can. The far end of the hall was a portrait with glowing eyes- lights shining through the dark. They’d avoid traps and solve puzzles together, eventually being flanked by living porcelain. A locker trapping Mono beneath it for a moment as Six struggled- he chased them down in a futile rescue attempt, five of them grabbing Six and running, lifting a rope ladder behind them to ensure a successful kidnapping. Begging for her safe return did nothing to incite their mercy. All that did was make him angry. Angrier still when he cracked the head of the next bully he saw. He stood over its remains, fuming in rage, before progressing again. He wouldn’t leave until he found his friend again. Just getting to the second floor meant sneaking by a snake necked teacher and outrunning a gang of her thuggish students after a mostly successful diversion. He’d have to outrun and hide from the same teacher in the library above, ever so determined to punish him for the previous interruption. With the coast cleared, he progressed once more, solving a short puzzle with the answer written down nearby, then proceeding into the cafeteria. A handful of the evil children were up to no good in the kitchen. Mono interrupted, picking up a metal spoon and slamming it on the head of the nearest one. Center strikes and wide swings destroyed them all- sparing a hollow head from the last to let him sneak by a small army of the cloned porcelain would let him blend in for just a few moments.

The relative peace was never meant to last. Another encounter with the twisted neck teacher in a classroom place full of various organs in jars. Though with no attention, it was still unpleasant to see her. He’d take some comfort in furiously striking down more of her possessed minions with a hammer through the halls, eventually coming to the bathroom at the end. Six was hanging from her feet above- two of the captors taunting from below. Mono slammed the hammer down to provoke them into rushing him. The first was dealt a blow to the head, crumbling into fragments instantly. The second tackled him- wrestling momentarily on the floor, gaining and losing the upper hand against one another. Eventually, Mono had enough of an advantage to simply bash it’s head into the tiled floor, doing so until it stopped moving. Lifting himself to his feet and grabbing his hammer, he bashed the plank holding the rope Six was tied to in with three strikes. She dropped to the floor, momentarily lifeless. With concern, Mono leaned over his friend protectively, shaking her gently. She looked dazed and confused before taking his hand to help her to her feet. A small sign of trust. “I… thought you were going to leave me…” she admitted. Mono shook his head, almost on the verge of tears. “No! You’re my best friend!”

“Best friend…” Six contemplated the meaning of this. Why? What has she done deserving of this? She didn’t know. She couldn’t understand it- especially considering it had been but a few hours since they met.. They were reunited, at least. That’s what mattered most. She’d follow his lead until they found one more of the little nightmares. Piano music played down the hall. Mono snuck for a hammer. Six approached the figure from behind. As Mono turned around, Six leapt onto the glass figure, attacking with the fury of a t drenched house cat. It was finished. All that was left now was to get out of here. They almost managed to do so without incident- the teacher only alerted to them by the loud creak of the opening hatch to the vents. Her neck seemed to stretch forever as she chased them through, nearly chomping down onto Mono’s coat a number of times. “Faster, faster, faster!” the boy rushed as he looked back. Just a few seconds later, he’d lose his footing and begin to slide, falling into a dumpster below. The teacher looked around, searching for an eternal few seconds before retreating back. Rain began to hit the ground gently. They were safe from all but the elements for now.

#little nighttales #little nightmares 2 #ln2 au #i didn’t #do #proofreading #but still #wanted #to give #this thing #ln2 spoilers

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arielskylanddefender · 3 years

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Ok there it is I’m finally manage to draw all of this and I’m really proud how it’s turns out, mono as got bitten by a werewolf after he’s and six free that thing from a bear trap, which it swipe at his leg but he’s did not know that this animal is a mystic creature in the dark and a monster. But later he’s don’t geeks that good or even his self when after his leg is getting better. Six is really started to worries about him when he’s in his state but he’s didn’t knew how’s it’s happens last night when he’s woke up somewhere. But she’s found himself in the small cabin thinking what’s going to happen to him after she’s woke up after the sounds she’s hears. Unfortunately mono knew what six was doing is trying to stay with him, but he’s scared that he’s going to hurt her. Six keep a secret from everyone and of course Ariel knows what’s she’s planning about mono’s behavior. And mono felt really scared since he’s only 10 I change the runaway kid Tim and his age differently, so yea well Kimmie is everyone guardian angel that’s stay close to the person that’s really felt frightened and sad when mono sees her clearly because he’s bitten by a monster and give him a ability to see ghosts or spirits but he’s still have his static powers but powerful when he’s in a rage mode. Kimmie is the supportive type whose helps outs those whose calls her or mono felt emotional didn’t know what to do, she’s heads his thoughts clearly. And that’s you have it I keep thinking about it and I had to draw it, it’s part of the little Nightmares Au of stories I came up with, hopefully everyone likes it a lot. One more thing he’s also bit Timothy asa the runaway kid whose want someone to play or not being alone lol

#little nightmares #artists on tumblr #this looks amazing #little nightmares 2 #littlenightmares #beautiful #little nightmare mono #ln2 #little nightmares fanart #were wolf #art #my art #artistsoninstagram #concept art #character art #artwork

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grim-faux · 3 years

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2 _ 32 _ Dangerous Activities

First

No matter how many of the miles and miles of the city they crossed through, it didn’t seem as if they saw any of it. Though getting around in some areas was much more difficult than others, the roads and building nearest to the Signal Tower suffered the heaviest damage. Though further from the Tower held dangers of different varieties, not limited to the destruction of the city and those perils. The speek scrawled on walls and floors, any surface that held the disembodied voices of travelers, carried the vibrations of warning. This place held dangers, shelters was an illusion, They will find you.

As always, the Thin Man didn’t heed much Mono’s concerns. Adults just didn’t fear anything. Not until they were dead or worse, caught.

This place seemed safe enough for temporary stop, small and poorly placed t was. The building, or room he should say, wasn’t good enough by the man in the hat standards. Mono wouldn’t disagree, but at least they couldn't get lost and the walls hadn't caved in. The place was a small room on the upper floor of building, with an entry that led directly to the outside. The place was fitted with only a much smaller room, and the bathroom. Some busted out furniture stuff too, like the bed and broken table. Nothing more, no other hide places, which Mono did NOT like.

One window offered a view of the road and sights outside. Mono sat beside the filthy glass, on watch. He was having a hard time staying focused. It helped that it was brighter outside, but not by much. Little activities kept his eyes open, but his thoughts were badly muddled. He was so tempted to lay his head down – not on the sill here – on the floor, or somewhere within the broken out dresser/television stand beside the furthest wall.

Doing some laps around the room and extending his investigation did help. They tiny room offered nothing, not even a chair. He poked into the bathroom, but that had even less - no cabinets, not even a vent to crawl through. He hated this place. The faucet was at least easy enough to turn on and shut off; he got a sip of water and splashed his chilled face with frigid liquid - despite barely drying out at all. All of this helped, since for the while he was going nowhere.

The Thin Man was having a rest. It’d been a while, a good indication how badly the tall thin man needed to stop and do nothing. Do sleep. As well, Mono managed to gather a bit of sleep for himself, before he awoke and realized no one was watch. The man in the hat kept say he wasn't bothered and okay, but Mono decided the Factory took a lot out of him. The Thin Man should probably eat something and do more rest, but the topic always put the Thin Man in a grumpy mood. It was okay, Mono knew better. He kept some attention to the Thin Man - though he couldn't do much to convince the Thin Man of anything - he still kept watch. Like now.

A big stretch helped. It perked Mono up for a bit, and felt good. He caught the Thin Man doing a stretch the other day, it looked so funny. Like a spider pole. He gave the Thin Man a smile, but the Thin Man didn’t seem impressed. Could possibly not like Mono see him do typical, awkward things. Like eat. Sharing food was important. He gave Mono food, but didn’t he take some for himself? The Thin Man mystified him. Everything with the Thin Man was complicated and unknown.

Except for the sleep. Always lied. Said would watch, then Mono wakes up and he’s done the opposite. Gone usually. Off to the danger places. Oh well. Mono was okay on half sleep. It would be fine. The man in the hat didn’t like it when he mentioned watch.

Outside the windowpane, a Viewer meandered by. On some weird impulse, Mono waved at it. They were less frightening with something between him and them, and him having no reason to creep in close to their proximity. It was out on errand seeking a television signal, or a quiet box it could turn on. The television in this room was busted through.

The Thin Man sometimes tried to show him how to traverse the transmission, without blowing up the television. It always felt hit or miss. Be calm. Don’t panic. No rush. Boom. He was a bad student, but it was such a trick. The Thin Man conducted the currents like sweeping his hands through a shallow puddle, creating ripples in the stream of electrical threads churning behind the glass barrier. The tall thin man said he was too excited, but Mono couldn't help it. Getting away from the shared shelter and exploring was an adventure, they would reach somewhere eventually. But for the while they roamed across the city, it was together. More important, staying in one place for too long would never not, and always make Mono nervous. Being left and alone, keeping safe - Mono had many jobs, it was hard. Chasing after the Thin Man was less hard.

It wasn’t often that he rifled through the topic, of why he and the man in the hat had so much same. Felt... Familiar. Had speek – his speek, moved through televisions, and now he knew what his eyes looked like. How different they were from... Her. And the other children, his pack. Was that why he was hated so? That didn't make sense. Who cared what his eyes looked like? What difference did it make? But apparently, it was important for some reason. And it made him a danger.

He didn't feel like a danger. For some reason, however, it made others not want to be near him. Except for the Thin Man. Still, he didn’t understand how he 'summoned' the Thin Man by opening a door, but it must’ve had something to do with the televisions. The transmission. Tuning it in a very specific way, rather trust blind luck. And the door! It was the same as the Signal Tower. Where the Thin Man was to take him. Said it was his... job.

She knew, too. Without being there, and seeing what he did. Saw him. Tried to drag her from the screen but failed. Messed up.

Mono rubbed a space on the glass clean and began doing speek. He fogged the pane and made a curve, then a line.

Danger. Knew he and the Thin Man were too same. She didn’t understand. He wondered, did She miss him? Or at least, feel bad for not keep? The look on her face when he fell. She didn’t look sad. Maybe he didn’t see right. Could be she saw the Thin Man, and that scared her. That was a stupid thought, she was staring at him.

He shook his head, and continued doing the speek. He did the Eye. There was a small Six. A cage, as well. He fogged the glass, and did a door, then a television with antenna. As well, a roof edge with people lined up. A tall tree, and a little twig sticking from the mound beneath. Another building, looming above all the others, with a bulb at its zenith. He scrubbed away the speek and once more, did some lines. A chair, and an ugly fish with nub arms.

He wondered, as he scrawled the things he saw, was the Thin Man still friends with the Tower? It let them in and didn't bother them, despite his new found certainty that it could have. That time remained cloudy in his thoughts, closer to a dream. He remembered Her, the sing box. He killed it. Made her so mad. After that, it's harder to recall. Following her was his forefront focus, escape. The panic. He messed up, it would take them. Run. The flee. It would eat them.

Scrambling through the collapsing corridor, he could scarcely catch the tinges of color against the crowding patches of grotesque mass. Hurt. He was still hurt. It could wait, he willed his legs to slam against the broken path and keep his pace balanced. The floor ruptured beneath his toes, freshly cleaved bits of rock tore at his feet. Onward he fought, heaving on the silt as his lungs demanded - You MUST STOP. There was no place for stall or recover, no moment to squander as the chattering cracks peered at him with glossy, bulbous glands. Jeered. Laughed. Like the sing box sneered at him.

Mine. Mine. MineMineMineMineMine. Keep.

Faster. FASTER! The entire world came undone, spilling out wriggling folds of flesh and gurgling eyes. The loathsome things flashed and blinked, as he swooped by within inches of the rolling avalanche. They would make it. Don't stop, don't stumble. In the gloom far ahead, something glittered that was not teeth nor rolling viscera. His bones shrieked celebration, that familiar prickle of electric surge pulsed against his mind. Out! Escape! Screen! It gave him that last miniscule swell, coaxing him onward despite how his body ached to fail and be done.

At his back, a sudden sound nearly launched him through the window. He whipped around and ducked, muscles tense. No walls. No eyes rolling. No dark unknowns....

It’s only the Thin Man. At the far side of the room, the lank figure shifted on the short sofa seat he propped up in. Mono thought adults used beds, but the Thin Man seemed to prefer sitting. He tipped his head, hat slanting. Electric and distortions hummed pricked at the air of the cool, tiny room, giving him a creaking hurt. This made him mildly wary. He paced back and forth on the windowsill, eyes never leaving the murky corner.

Before he’s certain at all, Mono dropped off the sill and hurried across the room. He skid under the bed and peeked out on the other side, studying the hunched silhouette as another jolt vibrated along his distorted outline. It is so-so critical that Mono be cautious as with be imperceptible. As he bided and observed with unwavering focus, Mono reached behind his head and rubbed at the scab behind his ear.

Unsurprising, the Thin Man does not react when Mono clambered onto the couch cushions and sprang in close to his side. It was a bad fit. Not as alarming as the first, but the man in the hat was struggling. He climbed over the arms looped across the Thin Man’s waist, and perched on the chair's arm. The Thin Man was twitchy, face drawn into a grimace, teeth bared. It was scary. Mono wasn't sure if the Thin Man scared him more, or whatever haunting terror had snagged him. Nothing frightened adults....

With every ounce of his strength, he pushed at the Thin Man’s upper arm. Even a dozen Mono’s wouldn’t have the strength to shift the man in the hat, but he wasn’t trying to jostle him awake. He dug his fingertips into the suit's knit and pulled back, heels digging into the couch arm. Like the way he tried to haul Her out of the television screen.

It looks bad, but it’s not. A dream haunt. He’d seen worse.

One time, he remembered Six had the absolute worst sort of dream haunt. The recollection was terrible, Mono didn’t like to revisit it. He wouldn’t have gotten so close to Her, because children dealt with the terrors of sleep on their own. It was best. Unless to shut someone up, otherwise, they didn’t linger on the nightmares. Done was done, don't die in the awake world. And also, it was taboo to dwell on all the ways they could die. Children that started doing warning speek of the things they saw in the haunts, they went off the deep end fast.

But… she started screeching, and it sounded awful. Agonized. She never made speek like that, except that one... time. The haunting memories became so horrible, he had to stop her. When children cry in the night, they die. That was law. But it was the most horrendous haunt. It was like the monster in the dream was eating her bit-by-bit.

In their scuffle she beat him up pretty good. They never fought like that – if they fought – it was never like that. When-if they fought, it was never to the point of killing the other. Not… like, the one .̷̣͛.̶͕͊.̶̬̑.̶͎̋T̸̯̅i̶̛̼m̷͉̚e̵͇̒. In the skirmish, she swiped for his bag a few times – something she never would ever do to him. It was brutal fight for survival, to the point of failure being certain death. Mono had to hold her down and throttle her out of it, she was going to get them found and killed.

And she bit him good (again, something she almost never did to him). His sturdy coat saved him a debilitating injury, as such, she barely broke the skin. A persisting bruise lasted for a long time, along with a powerful ache. He never brought it up. She was upset and embarrassed, he thinks. If he tried do speek, it would have been strange to drag up the topic. It was gone, he was alright. Maybe she didn't remember.....

"Hey," he hummed, a little louder than he meant to. "Aam got. T's has safe."

When all the usual methods failed to break the Thin Man’s haunt, Mono scrambled to stand on one of the narrow arms and stood high enough to grip the Thin Man's collar. He slapped his hands against the chest, doing not much aside from agitate dust and static whistling. The man in the hat is totally out, otherwise he’d react to Mono’s proximity.

"M'not leave," Mono wheezed. "Keep f'r watch. Make good. Psst? Have'gether. Got'y."

The long arm beneath his toes twitched, and Mono nearly lost his balance. He tugged at the coat lapel, one foot braced to the Thin Man’s chest. This time he would be in the way and might get knocked aside. If he was careful, Mono was might only fall. Regardless the risk, it was harder to wait around and not do anything.

At last, the Thin Man made a little clicking sound and the entire fiber of his being loosened. His head dipped, chin hitting his chest with an audible thump. The static on the air evaporated by a margin, to a more bearable haze. It wasn’t so piercing for Mono now.

A little shaken but all right, Mono crept away from the Thin Man and slipped up to the chair’s arm. He sat and heaved out a deep sigh. Okay. Good. Rather chew on his bandage, he opted to gnaw splinters out of his palms. It was all good. That wasn’t too bad. Some had been worse. More jittery, the man in the hat stayed spooky and distorted.

He’s not sure if his meager efforts helped. There wasn’t a real way to deal with the dreams, aside from ‘die’ in the nightmare and wake up. The lurking terrors hurt, and too much could be dangerous. Some kids lost their minds to them, drove them to desperation and insanity. He was fortunate he’d first smother himself dead than get to thrashing. Kept him alive this long.

The window glistened, a soft twitter of rain pelted across the dingy glass. He couldn't see the Signal Tower from here, only when they went out into the roads. The man in the hat didn't like it to watch. Avoided it. But did look its way, when he thought Mono was not watch. He wouldn't venture too near it's area, but foods and stable places became difficult to secure. And the Viewers —

“Mono?”

He shot off the chair before the stark whir of static registered. The mattress breaks his fall but not by much, its so saturated and near calcified.

“Shouldn’t play. You need to rest,” yawned the Thin Man.

“Aam’watch,” Mono whispered. He dropped off the bed and returned to the broken table, which afforded a slope to the low windowsill. Only low enough for Mono to leap up to, the table was steep and he could only crawl up so far before he slid down the dusty surface. After a few tries, he reached the sill with a leap. “Y’sleep.”

The Thin Man was exasperated. Not this rubbish again. How was he meant to pass those dragging listless hours if he wasn’t allowed to shut his eyes and disconnect from this abysmal world? This… counterproductive child. “Mono. Neither of us need to watch. It is safe.”

The child tipped forward on the sill edge, as if ready to topple head and heels to the floor. “Not n’safe.”

“I am not arguing this with you.” The Thin Man rubbed his eyes. “You have to sleep.” The child inclined his head towards him. “Do you understand safe? The danger here is in not getting enough sleep. You become careless, and get yourself beat up. And I am tired of that.”

Mono glared at the floor below. “Hurt.” At last, he plopped of the windowsill and wandered the room over. Pacing past the dresser and sofa, before crawling under the mattress. The little head did pop out a fraction, peering up at him. “Watch? Safe for.”

Put off, the Thin Man sighed. “Yes. I will watch. Now please, you. For the Eye, get some rest.” The shape flittered out of sight. An invading silence followed.

The Thin Man pushed himself up from the sofa and went to the bedside. He bent all the way over to view where the child was, nestled up against the wall. One eye cracked beside the coat, watching him. “Would you be more comfort—” When he gripped the child around the sides, Mono ripped loose and scurried to the furthest corner of the bed. He gawked at the man in the hat, like he was an unsightly concoction of misaligned mannequin pieces. The Thin Man extended his hand under the bed, but only a ways.

“Aren’t you cold? You can come here.”

The response from Mono was curl into his coat more and stare silently at the Thin Man. The long arm withdrew.

“Y̴̟͊o̴͇̚u̷̩͊ ̴̢͘Á̶̹r̷̲̚ḛ̸́ ̶͕̓A̵͙͝ ̶̦̃S̵̬̔ẗ̵̨́r̴͉a̶̺̅n̴̲̊g̸̳̒e̷̹̎ ̸̻Ǎ̷̯n̵̺͒d̵̟͠ ̵͎͝P̵͓͊e̶̙͘r̷̛̻p̴͓͘l̷̻̾e̸̯͒x̸͓͐i̵͈͌n̸̋͜g̶͈̐ ̸̨̚L̸͕͘i̴͓̓t̸͚̒t̶͍̐l̶̨̇e̴̻̅ ̴̙̈́C̵̟͗r̵̆ͅe̴̠a̷͓̓t̸̫̓u̵̱̾ṛ̴̈e̸̮͌.̴̹́” He rose from the floor and surged out, reappearing at the rooms sole entry. “Sleep then. I’ll watch. F̸̘̈́r̵̞͝o̶̭͊m̸̱͋ ̵̤̊O̵̩u̴̖̓t̴̘͝S̷̢̈I̶͈̕D̸̼̏Ė̶̯!̴͙̒” He slammed the door causing the window to crack and the walls to shudder.

Mono cringed under the bed in anticipation for getting hauled out. He's relieved that doesn't happen, but the Thin Man is leave. Will the Thin Man come back? What happened?

The room was empty. He crawled out from beneath the bed, but leaned on the bent leg. In case. He just… tried to have a think. Should let man in the hat hold him? The Thin Man doesn’t like to bother with him, won’t let him be close unless for company. This confused Mono. Company is an awake game. No books or anything for the man in the hat. Then the leave, but Mono was awake. Follow? Was in to follow?

He surveyed the room. Empty. The curling whir permeated, indicating the tall thin man was not quite leave. Not yet. Mono would’ve been okay. If the Thin Man didn’t watch, that might not be good. He hurt Mono without meaning to.

Across the room stood the mostly standing television stand and dresser combination, the burnt husk of the television atop. The dresser stand has one drawer fitted in the bottom, which isn’t flattened entirely. It isn’t too difficult hauling the slot out, and it clattered flat to the floor. He can push it all the way over the dirty carpet and closer to the sofa side, where it’ll be hidden by the mattress. Once it is situated, he can go over to the windowsill and climb up the sloped table.

He inched back and forth on the sill, searching for the intimidating silhouette. The static buzzed at his skin, the Thin Man was not gone, was wait Where! A swirl of thick vapor plows a clue right through his range, and he can see a bit more of the figure if he mushed his face into the glass. The man in the hat was waiting with his back to the door. He likely couldn’t see Mono.

Nonetheless, Mono waved his arms in an animated fashion and stood up, also flashing the edges of his coat. Anything, but knocking on the glass. That wouldn’t be smart.

By some good fortune, the Thin Man did catch a view of Mono, and shifted the glinting eye under the hat bill to view the child. The end of his cigarette gleamed.

Mono fogged the glass and quickly etched in a good speek of the Thin Man. He kept fogging the glass, to keep the speek pronounced despite how dim it was. He looked from it to the Thin Man, and the figure outside only watched this playout. Unmoved. Mono… decided he didn’t like the way the Thin Man glared at him.

With great care he eased down from the windowsill and snuck over to the drawer beside the sofa.

Shouldn’t have done that. Stupid. If the Thin Man wanted to grab, then let. He won’t hurt. Dream haunt could’ve bothered him. It didn’t seem to, but the man in the hat pretended a lot of things did not bother. Except, he didn’t pretend to be okay with Mono. They went everywhere but reached nowhere. Too great a danger in stop. Though, he thinks the Thin Man wanted to not go anywhere anymore. He was always rest, seemed so spent. Dream haunts... they were hard.

The relocated drawer had three walls, not a complete box, but it would do. He flopped into the bottom and tucked into a corner, with only his thoughts, pondering and puzzling. How to do better for the Thin Man? There had to be a foods even he would like. Something that interested the Thin Man, might be more appealing. Those stick things. Did he eat those? He didn’t know where they came from, or if he’d ever seen something like them anywhere.

For the time, Mono can’t think of anything else. He’s too frazzled and weary. When they go back to the roads, he’ll try and find something, when he has a chance for scout. It was time to quiet his thoughts, and do half sleep. It feels good to rest. He dreams about the chair. It is there, sometimes in a flash of static of the television screens. Waiting. He appreciates how it does that.

It is waiting for him, and that is very comforting. It’s a good feeling to be wanted.

#little nightmares #mono #the thin man #thin dad #the man in the hat #little nightmares fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction

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justcallmenikki7 · 4 years

Text

BTS Reaction To: You Are the Lead Singer in a Rock Band

Summary: you’re the lead singer in a rock band

Warnings: fluff, the appearance of All Time Low and Pierce the Veil, fluff, slight mention of Jungkook getting turned on, crack, Namjoon breaking readers guitar and reader wanting to kill him (lmao), understanding bts.

Request:

Hello, can u do a bts reaction to the reader (their gf) being the lead singer in a rock /metal band?

W.C.: 2.5k

Notes: ooof, my life has been freaking hectic.

Jin:

You were upset.

You always became upset when it was the last leg of your tour. Touring was a huge part of your life – seeing your fans who have supported you since the beginning, meeting them, and connecting with them. You knew that you always will see them again and be on that tour bus with your band members, but it still did not make you feel any better.

The sounds of your fans screaming could be heard from your dressing room, a sound that you will forever love. You were putting on your eye make up when your boyfriend, Seokjin, walked in with your stage outfit, holding a shocked look on his face.

“Why do you have that look on your face?” You asked with a small smile, only to be given a ‘what the fuck’ look in return.

“You’re really asking me that question?” Jin asked, “You’re wearing this outfit? What are you going for? A dead bride?” He asked, not knowing that he hit the jackpot.

“Actually, yes.” You answered, laughing at the confused look. “Remember? The last leg of the tour is all about the first album ‘The Dead Bride’?”

Making an ‘oh’ face at your explanation, your boyfriend sat the outfit down on the couch, walking up to you. He could sense your mood, a frown showing on his face. “You’re upset.” He stated, smirking at your face. “You know that I can sense whenever you’re upset. And I am assuming its because of the last leg of the tour.”

“How do you know me so well?” You sarcastically asked but sinking into his touch. “I just hate the thought of the tour being almost over. I just wish it could last forever.”

“I feel the exact same way, sweetheart.” He stated, only to chuckle a few seconds later, “You are exactly like Kook, he always becomes upset when tour is almost over.” Pausing, “Just remember, you have only three more months before Warped Tour starts, and you’ll be able to see All Time Low!”

“Two Minutes!” Your manager yelled.

“Yeah, you’re right…” You trailed off.

“I’m always right. I am Worldwide Smart Guy,” Seokjin said proudly, smiling at you through the mirror. “Now, go out there in your dead bride dress, and scream your lungs off. But not all of the way cause you need to save your voice for later tonight. Good luck, sweetheart!” He finished quickly, not giving you a chance to reply.

Yoongi:

Yoongi’s arms are crossed over his chest, body leant against the wall, eyes watching you intensely as you practice. He could not deny that you looked so beautiful in your casual, laid back – but dressed up outfit you were in. He knew that you loved looking presentable, but being comfortable, which is your beanie, ripped skinny jeans, black and white converse, black tank-top topped with a black and white flannel.

Every now and then you would glance to look at your boyfriend, always blushing when you notice that he is staring at you. To make you more flustered, Yoongi would wink at you, smirking at how you would try to hide your face with your hair. Once you were done speaking to your band members, you made your way to Yoongi. Smiling up at your boyfriend once you got to him, you allowed him to pull you in for a quick peck on the lips.

“What did you think?” You asked curiously, resting your head on his chest.

“I think you are badass.” Your boyfriend stated, bringing a blush to your cheeks.

“You think so?” You asked, insecure laced in your tone.

Looking down at you with a blank face, “You’re really an idiot sometimes.” Yoongi commented, earning a glare from you. “You have sold out three stadiums, performed at the Wembley stadium, and you’re questioning your ability to perform, play both guitar and drums, and sing like an angel? Damn, I am doing terrible as a boyfriend…” Yoongi trailed off, shaking his head.

Tears pricked your eyes, emotions overwhelming your senses, which led to you crashing your lips on Yoongis. Yoongi chuckled into the kiss, his smile having you pull away because his smile is rarely shown, so whenever he does smile, you cherish it.

“What?” Yoongi dragged out the ‘a,’ a whine gracing his voice. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Cause you’re beautiful when you smile,” you cheekily said, earning an eyeroll from the silver haired male.

“Okay you love birds,” your manager spoke, scaring the two of you. “Enough with the lovey dovy stuff, Y/N has to finish vocal warmups.”

Hoseok:

The first time you met Hoseok was when BTS was touring in the United States, the same time you were on tour – ironically in the same state. You were at a bar with your band, getting a drink after a concert. As you were heading to the bathroom, you bumped into a smiling man who was a little drunk off of whiskey. The sum it up, he pulled a terrible pick-up-line that he knew in English and you could not help but fall for him.

So, five months later, the both of you are dating.

Truthfully, Hoseok was shocked to learn that you were in an Alternative band, especially being the lead singer. When he found out that you could scream several lines without hurting your vocal cords, he somehow fell more in love with you. But he could not deny that he sometimes worried about you.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Hoseok asked, wanting to make sure that you are up for this song. He knew that you struggle with this particular song since it has more aggression than your usual mellow, upbeat songs.

“Yes, Hobi, I am sure about this.” You chuckled, giving him a weird look.

“I know, but I worry about you hurting yourself by overdoing it.” He sighed, giving you his puppy dog eyes.

Smiling wide up at him, heart beating just a little quicker by how loved and cared for you are by this man. Pressing a kiss to his cheek, “Don’t worry, I know my limits, like you know yours when it comes to dancing. So, if it doesn’t feel right during the performance, I’ll tone it down and give you our hand signal to let you know.”

“You promise?”

“Promise.”

Namjoon:

“Namjoon!” You screeched, heart stopping for just a quick second due to scene that is appearing right in front of you.

Your boyfriend, Namjoon, the clumsiest man you know, is handling your precious baby, Lydia. Turning around with an innocent look on his face, Namjoon watched you run up towards him like a mad woman. “What? What’s wrong?” He asked, oblivious to what is happening.

Grabbing Lydia, ever so gently but quickly, you took your pride and joy in your hands, holding her to your chest to protect her. “Are you okay, my precious little one.”

Realizing what is going on, Namjoon’s faced morphed into a rejected look. “Did you seriously think I was going to break your guitar?”

“Her name is Lydia.”

Scoffing, “You name your guitars?” He asked incredulously.

“Are you calling me crazy?”

“What? What – are you serious?”

“Are you?”

“No? I am just offended that you would think I’d break your guitar by just holding it—”

“-Her name is Lydia. And yes, you broke a glass floor, Namjoon.”

“You know what, I am ending this conversation and going to go and get me a pop.”

Looking at him with wide eyes, you could tell that you made him feel bad. So, quickly putting away Lydia, you grabbed your other guitar, Leo, and chased after your boyfriend. Jumping in front of him, you realized that you surprised him by your sudden appearance. A wide grin was on your face, now becoming skeptical by your actions.

“Are you okay, baby?”

“Yes! I’m sorry for making you feel bad – no, don’t try and deny it – so I wanted to apologize by giving, well, not giving, letting you play with Leo!” You said excitedly, handing Leo over to Namjoon, who hesitantly took into his hold. “Go ahead!” You encouraged your boyfriend to play your guitar. With one strum, two out of the six strings snapped, causing a yelp to escape from Namjoon.

Your face was blank whereas Namjoon’s held a scared look. “Uh, baby?” He asked after two minutes of silence.

“You have five seconds to start running before I kill you.” You stated in a mono tone.

Turning around, Namjoon took off into a full sprint, wanting to get away from you as quick as he could, not wanting to be taking on your wrath.

Jimin:

“So, you’re the Park Jimin that our Y/N talks about.” Alex Gaskarth assumed, walking up to Jimin with Jack Barakat and Vic Feuentes behind him.

Internally, Jimin felt intimidated, but on the outside, he tried to stay calm. Jimin knows that Alex is a sweetheart, but he always knew that the man was never afraid to approach someone and tell them how he feels. With that, he knew that All Time Low and everyone on Warped Tour were protective of you because of how young and likeable you are. Plus, everyone viewed you as their little sister – the little sister with her first boyfriend.

“Yes, I am.” Jimin smiled, bowing at the group of men.

“How long have you known Y/N?” Jack asked, taking a sip of his drink.

“We met in May of 2019, have been dating since August of 2019. So, a year and two months now.”

The group of three men looked at each other, silently communicating with each other. “So,” Vic started, “What are your intentions with Y/N?” He asked, trying to not laugh at the blush on Jimin’s face.

“Well, I really do like her, love her actually. And, if things go as planned, I see myself with her for the rest of my life.”

The three men tried to not ‘awe’ at the orange haired man’s admission. As Alex was going to ask his next question, your voice cut him off, now having the four men attention.

“Guys! Do not scare Jimin away!” You exclaimed, running to your boyfriends’ side.

Even with the crazy hair and dark eye makeup, Jimin still thought you looked so beautiful.

“Oh, that’d be impossible.” Jack commented, smirk on his face.

“Very impossible.” Alex added, giving Jack and Vic a knowing look, a look that confused you greatly, but a look that Jimin knew which had him blushing.

“Okaaay,” you replied awkwardly. Looking up at Jimin, you smiled to him. “In This Moment is about to start! I want you to watch them live cause they are so good!” You stated before dragging your boyfriend away.

“He’s so going to propose to her soon.” Alex stated, earning a nod from the other two men.

Taehyung:

“I’m confused.” Taehyung admitted, catching your attention from on the stage.

“About what?” You asked, jumping off of the stage and walking over to your boyfriend who was seated in the first row.

“How are you able to scream and not lose your voice? Like, one time I yelled, and I lost it instantly! Do you have some sort of voodoo stuff to help you with that? What is your secret?!” Your boyfriend burst, catching you off guard.

“Uh, I guess it’s just from practice? Chris from Motionless in White and Maria Brink from In This Moment have been my mentors ever since I have begun my career.” You commented, laughing at Taehyung’s face morph into an understanding look.

“Wait. The scary guy and girl that I have seen you in pictures with?” He asked, causing you to laugh.

“Yes, those two.” You answered, “And they are not scary, it’s just their makeup and how they seem on stage and in music videos. I used to think the same thing until I talked to them.”

Taehyung was quiet for a moment. “So, would you teach me how to scream?” He asked in all seriousness. “I want to learn how you do it and maybe we can be the power screaming couple.”

You choked on your spit. “Are you serious?”

“Does it look like I am not serious?”

“I mean it does, but I just want to be sure. Plus, you’ll have to talk to Bang PD and see what he thinks.”

At your comment, Taehyung reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Clicking a few buttons, he put the phone to his answer. After a few words and silent moments, he hung up and put the phone in his pocket. “Bang agreed. But he wants me to have professional help and a lot of vocal coaches.”

Smirking to yourself, “Okay, I’ll give Chris and Maria a call and we can set up a day to begin!” You said excitedly, laughing at your boyfriends scared look.

“Wait! I didn’t say them!”

Jungkook:

Jungkook and the rest of BTS were seated in a VIP section while they waited for you to perform. Jungkook was antsy, this being the first time watching you perform live and seeing you in your, and in your joking words, ‘Emo clothes.’

“Are you nervous, Kookie?” Taehyung asked, noticing how antsy Jungkook was due to his constant need to be bouncing on the top of his toes. Taehyung’s question caught the other members attention.

“You okay, Kook?” Namjoon asked, giving a once over Jungkook, automatically noticing his younger brother’s nervousness.

“Yeah, I’m just a little nervous I guess.”

“Awe, how cute!” Seokjin exclaimed, making a baby face at his Maknae, earning a glare from the younger one.

“Now! Dear Me is on!” The announcer yelled into the microphone, earning cheers from the stadium and BTS.

Jungkook’s jaw dropped as he saw you walk onto stage in your performing clothes, clothes that made Jungkook sweat at his brow. He could not deny that you looked both innocent and sexy at the same time, the aura that you carried making you look unstoppable. Gulping, Jungkook tried to get his mind out of the gutter, wanting to focus on your performance. The other members could not help but chuckle at Jungkook’s reaction.

Once the concert was over, Jungkook was blushing severely when you walked up to him, a huge grin on your face, a grin only he and performers knew when they had the best concert ever.

“So!” You began, “What’d you think?”

Before Jungkook answered, Taehyung walked up with Hoseok on behind, the two men throwing their arms over Jungkook’s shoulders. “Oh, Y/N, Jungkook loved the concert.” Taehyung began, smirk on his face.

“A little too much.” Hoseok finished, a smirk on his face also.

Realizing what they meant, your face heated up, earning laughs and cheers from everyone around you besides Jungkook who was feeling the exact same way.

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rantceratops · 3 years

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Just gonna get some of my Little Nightmares 2 thoughts out and under a spoiler tag. Need to get it out of my system. SPOILERS BELOW CUT.

First, a Fun Fact: I went into Little Nightmares 2 fully expecting Mono to die. Yet I still got attached to him. I was expecting him to die, but I was NOT expecting him to get the fate that he did. I knew that Six was a morally questionable character from the first game, but tbh it never crossed my mind that she’d be responsible for his demise. At least, not until the bridge collapsed between Mono and Six in the Signal Tower. I immediately knew that either Mono was going down with the bridge, or that Six would drop him. But it still hurt like a bitch.

1) My least favorite theory is one of the more popular ones I keep seeing, which is that the Secret Ending somehow proves that Six dropped Mono because she “knew she was just going to eat him anyway”, so she dropped him to “save” him from herself.

This one is a big NO from me. That is not at all what I gathered from the Secret Ending. First of all, I’m not sure in what universe that dropping your friend into a flesh void to rot in hatred and betrayal for decades is somehow “saving” them, even if you were planning to cannibalize them. If you really wanted to “save” them, pull them up and then just run away from them or tell them to stay away from you, etc.

Secondly, it was clear that Six’s stomach growling at the end of the Secret Ending was meant to be the FIRST time she ever felt the Hunger. Six goes the entirety of Little Nightmares 2 without once feeling the Hunger, whereas in the first game she seems to barely be able to go a couple hours (or in game terms, she can’t go a single chapter without it happening) without having to eat, so I highly doubt she could go the entire second game without eating.

This theory is just not sound to me, and I refuse to subscribe to it. I obviously like to hear most theories because it’s always interesting, but this one straight up makes me roll my eyes every single time I read it.

2) I also don’t much like the theory that because Six saw Mono without his paper bag on for the first time when holding him on the edge, she was able to study his face for several seconds and realized that he was the Thin Man. Unfortunately, I as much as I don’t like the idea of this, I can’t exactly debunk it, as Six does indeed spend several seconds just holding him there for some reason or other. Whether it was in pure indecision, or pure malice as she relished his helpless state before she dropped him(I hope not), or whether she was absorbing his power to leave through the TV*, or whether it was in fact because she was somehow able to put two and two together... idk.

My main issue is that Mono and Six are like 9 years-old, how could she look at a 9 year-olds face and tell that it matched a man that appears to be in his 40s? Just seems a bit far-fetched. But again, as much as I’d like to, I cannot debunk this one.

*This is something that confuses me. Six was able to leave through the TV, but Six was never able to travel through TVs. That was Mono and the Thin Man’s power. Six was not there for the defeat of the Thin Man and so couldn’t have taken his powers, so was she absorbing Mono’s powers before she dropped him? Usually she seems to need to eat her victims to gain their powers. The lack of visual cue that she’s taking his power is also strange. I’m starting to think it was just a weird oversight on the Devs part. There is no logical reason Six should have been able to leave the Tower unless she somehow stole Mono’s powers. (earlier in the game we even see Six pressing against a TV trying to escape from the Thin Man, but she cannot, and it’s not until Mono reaches in and grabs her hands that she is able to start phasing through.

3) Mono = Thin Man = Hanging Man is also a strange theory. Though there is a certain uncanny resemblance with not only the door with the eye on it and the chair, but the pants and shoes and long-limbedness of the Hanged Man himself. However, as far as I recall there are several doors with eyes on The Maw(correct me if I’m wrong please!), so I don’t really consider the door that big of a deal unless I’m wrong. Eyes are kind of a big motif in these games.

My biggest question with this theory is why or how would Mono be on The Maw? How did he get there? Why was he there? Which version of Mono is this? I have so many fucking questions with this one it’s not funny.

4) Time-loop theory is the most popular. I’m on the fence. There is evidence to support it’s a Time-loop, but my initial reaction to the ending was that Mono was replacing the Thin Man, not that he was the Thin Man the entire time. I largely just accept Time-loop as it does seem more likely at this point... I’m not sure how Mono being a replacement would change the narrative... hrm.

5) I really just want Mono to be okay. :’(

6) I already reblogged another post and ranted about this but: People are overthinking why Six dropped Mono. There are one of two reasons that she dropped him, and imo it’s not hard to pick up on.

Reason One (Least Likely): Six was perhaps using Mono the entire time, and simply decided to drop him at the end once he’d served his purpose. To me, this seems less likely of the two, even though Six can be very selfish and sadistic, this just doesn’t add up to me. If this one is true, then the question becomes what was Six’s goal? What was her purpose, and what means to what end did Mono serve? Because imo I am not seeing a dark purpose here with Six... which leads me to the second and more likely reason Six dropped Mono--

Reason Two (Far More Likely): Six felt betrayed by Mono. This was my FIRST thought when I realized Six was going to drop Mono. My immediate thought was that it was out of pure spite from Mono not helping her when the Thin Man grabbed her. To me this is so painfully obviously her motive.

Six and Mono spend the majority of the game helping each other; opening doors, boosting each other, catching each other across gaps. There are so many times Six could have been selfish and left Mono to his fate, but she didn’t. She pulls him out of the TV again and again because she knows something is wrong.

Mono saves Six so many times; she gets captured or separated from him and every single time without fail, Mono comes back for her, he does everything in his power to save her. When Mono finally unintentionally lets the Thin Man lose, Six tries to get Mono to run with her. She stays next to him trying her damnedest to get him to grab her hand and run with her, before she runs off alone because Mono isn’t listening to her. Then, she trips and reaches out for Mono, but Mono is scared and cowering under the bed and does not grab Six in her most vital, vulnerable moment.

Six sees this as a betrayal of trust. Despite the fact that if Mono had come out to help her they might have likely both been caught, and despite the fact that the Thin Man’s presence generally seems to hurt and slow down Mono, and despite the fact that Mono STILL comes after her to save her. Mono tries to pull Six out through the TV, and even after he defeats the Thin Man, he goes to the Signal Tower to save her. He NEVER EVER gave up on her.

But for Six that obviously wasn’t good enough. Mono, however unfairly, lost her faith when he didn’t grab her hand in that room. And to add icing on that cake, Monster Six tries to let Mono play with her music box because she obviously has some memory that she trusted and liked him, and then he smashes it with a hammer. In her twisted state, that was another heinous betrayal stacked on top of the previous one, and I think even after she was reverted back to normal the resentment of Mono smashing her music box remained. Six began to see Mono as the cause for all her problems and a betrayer at that. Regardless of whether the theory that she also saw in his face that he was Thin Man before she dropped him, I still very much think the main catalyst here was the perceived trust betrayal.

Mono never really did anything wrong; in fact, he did everything right, but in the end he still got his undeserved fate.

There is no world or theory which makes Six dropping Mono justified in my eyes, but it is interesting to see how things got all twisted and dark for her to the point that she felt dropping him was in her interest.

I’ve never hated Six, but I’ve also never been fond of Six even before LN2. But I do honestly hate her in that moment that she lets go of Mono. It was fucked up. It was disgusting to be frank. Mono got one of the most horrible fates I’ve ever witnessed such a pure-hearted character get. It was fucking heartbreaking, I get sad all over again just listening to End of the Hall on the soundtrack and remembering the scene and what happened to him.

I teeter back and forth on whether or not Six is even meant to be a true protag or not. She certainly feels rather anti-hero. I also sometimes can’t decide whether she truly did care about Mono or not, but I do feel like there’s a lot of evidence pointing to the fact that she did at some point.

IDK. All I know is Mono was just a good boy and I really wish he could somehow get a happy ending at the end of all this. T_T

#little nightmares 2 spoilers #ln2 spoilers #mono #six #thoughts on theories #mono was a good boy #ranty's thoughts #littlenightmares2spoilers

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jflashandclash · 7 years

Text

Attrition of Peace

Twenty-Six: Alabaster

Cock-Blocked by a Talking Head

Warning! There’s a mildly grotesque… thing (?) in this chapter. I’m not really sure it needs a warning or what that warning would fall under, but… you’ve been warned? Regardless, I hope you enjoy! Or love to hate it after the events of that last chapter! Your choice!

Alabaster hadn’t faced such a paralyzing conundrum in years: if he stood up, he might wake up Kally, but if he stayed where he was, he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Being this considerate was highly illogical.

What he should have been thinking about was what other ingredients he could mix that shape shifter’s ear with to make a more poignant transmodifcation potion or what he was going to do with the Pax brothers and their band of Ol-Sissies in the morning. In particular, how he was supposed to feed them, considering he remembered Axel tearing through half a box of cereal before Alabaster had his morning tea steeped.

But here he was: his heart panging erratically each time he or Kally moved in their shared sleeping bag. He didn’t know this girl. Well, he sort of knew her—he’d read her journal, about her mother, her adventures with the Pax brothers and her story ideas. But that shouldn’t have been enough. He wasn’t like Ajax, just falling in love—er—liking—er—infatuating over someone because. He had to think things through. They had to make sense.

This must have been Eros’ or Aphrodite’s folly. He refused to be their puppet, or fall to the whims of—

Until Kally shivered and he debated whether or not he should shift closer or put an arm around her. Was that horrendously inappropriate?

Relief came to him in the worst way possible: the sound of a guitar, a wretched song, and some shriek-mutterings.

“Oh, Jack must have escaped,” Alabaster muttered, wanting to groan.

“Escaped?” Kally asked, her voice too alert to have been sleeping. She sat up, and Alabaster saw their chance to go inside, though he couldn’t will himself to get up. He felt dumb for how much he liked sitting beside her. From the disconcerted look on her face, she might have been thinking the same thing.

“Claymore and I keep him gagged and locked up for safekeeping,” he said. With assigning everyone a room and everything with Pax, he’d forgotten their nightly ritual of detaining Jack. Plus, at Camp Othrys, they didn’t have to, and Alabaster couldn’t help but feel nostalgia with the Pax brothers around.

At her disturbed stare, Alabaster assured, “He should be okay. When he’s alone, he normally just wanders around the yard composing ballads—”

Someone shouted. After a delay of recognition, Alabaster and Kally locked eyes. That had been Ajax, his voice weakened from sobbing. Had there been other shouting? Alabaster had been so focused on Kally, he’d written off other sounds as the neighbors.

A loud split, like thunder had torn a crater in the earth, cracked in the air. The ground trembled once.

They shoved the sleeping bag away and scrambled to their feet. Neither was armed—they should have gone inside for weapons earlier. He had extra spell prepared on his pants but…

Alabaster stumbled when one of the runes on his pajama pants glowed brilliant green. He gritted his teeth.

Kally grabbed Alabaster’s arm to help pull him up. “What’s that?!” she asked, her eyes searching the yard for Pax.

“Someone is trying to break through my barrier,” he hissed.

A very powerful someone. He could feel the Mist twisting to the command of another.

“Are there any children of Hecate after you?” he demanded. This was almost as bad as Lamia.

Kally shook her head. “N-no. Uh—unless—I think Leo’s girlfriend could do magic? Was the original Calypso a child of Hecate?”

Alabaster’s eyes widened. “The sorceress? Why didn’t you say—” he cut off. No one but the Pax brothers would have realized how vital that was, and they might have been sparing Jack’s feelings about Calypso.

A dark figure skirted around the side of the house. Alabaster flinched. Something shouldn’t have gotten through his barrier without him detecting—

Alabaster relaxed when he recognized the single glint of Pax’s hazel eye and heard the racking hackle of Jack’s song. Alabaster tensed all over when he saw that Pax was alone. No—not alone—

Pax scrambled up the stairs. He trembled and choked on sobs when he skittered to a halt in front of them. He was pale. Mud smeared his knees, and there was a nasty bruise forming on his neck, like someone had tried to take a chunk out of it. He bent over and put his free hand on his knee. His other fingers were tightly clenched in a mess of short, dripping red hair.

A mess that was definitely talking.

“--okay, kiddo, it was just Nico, and we hate that—” the head said.

Pax gathered himself enough to say, “Jack’s dead.”

“I see that,” Alabaster said, unable to look away.

When Pax registered Alabaster’s and Kally’s looks of horror, he gave another sob—this one of relief. “Can all of you hear him too?”

Alabaster nodded.

He could see Kally do the same from the corner of his eye.

Some part of him was fascinated. The other part of him wondered if his fascination signified how much more therapy he needed. Had this been another situation, Alabaster might have chastised Pax for bringing home wartime trophies. Alabaster already thought it was gross when the weasels did it.

Pax let out a hysterical laugh, twisting the mess of hair. Alabaster’s stomach clenched. He’d had to dissect plenty of bodies for spells, but he didn’t often recognize them. Jack’s face was ghastly pale. His eyes were sunken and his lips looked parched and blue under the spittle and blood. There was a hole in his cheek, leaking more fluids. Despite all of that, his eyes were alert and his mouth wouldn’t stop moving. Now, he was humming the tune to, Don’t Stop Me Now.

Pax laugh-cried, “Oh, thank the gods! Not that I’m happy all of you are going crazy too, just that it isn’t just me.”

Kally reached a hesitant hand out towards Pax, but stopped. “Ajax, are you—”

“No!” he cried, “No, I’m not okay!” Alabaster guessed she was going to say, hurt, but knew stopping a Pax mid-rant was like stopping a train with a school crossing sign. “I’m holding a decapitated—”

“—very handsome—” Jack interjected.

“—very handsome, talking head of a surrogate father I’ve had to watch die twice! And I’ve probably been exposed to all kinds of diseases, like ebola—”

“—actually, it was pneumatic plague,” Jack corrected indignantly, “Keep your pandemics straight.”

“—shingles, and whatever he gave Annabeth! Oh, and Will’s blood.”

“Mono,” Jack said.[1]

“Annabeth is here--?” Kally started to ask, but put a hand to her mouth. “Is Will okay?”

“He was looking a little on the corpsy side after Jack finished his family bonding,” Pax used Jack’s head to gesticulate on family bonding. Someone needed to take Jack’s head from him… but Alabaster really didn’t want to touch it. “Then Nico went all shadows and poofballs to save him and Melinoe captured him to use him as a shadow bridge and now the others are coming for us,” he babbled in one breath.

“We need to wake up everyone, assuming that cracking noise didn’t wake them up,” Alabaster said. He could feel the shield around his property waning. “The barrier will only give us maybe—five more minutes at this rate. Ajax—”

Pax burst into a fit of giggles. He almost doubled over. Both Alabaster and Kally flinched.

“Get it?! Get it?! Jack’s the head of Orpheus Metal. The prophecy! Orpheus’ head won by heart’s loss. I’m at the loss! Why are the Fates so much more creative than me today!” Pax continued to giggle between sobs and gasps. “You win, Fates! You win this round!”

Many stories said Orpheus’ head sang after it was cut off, though Alabaster didn’t know why they would need a singing head. What they needed to do was get inside and ready for a fight. If Annabeth and Nico were here, he had a guess as to which demigod would be leading the charge. The thought of fighting Percy Jackson excited Alabaster, but not in his pajama pants.

Alabaster went to command them inside when Pax hugged himself, not seeming to care that Jack’s head bopped against his hip. He choked and coughed.

“Aw, kiddo, it’s okay—” Jack started.

Kally removed one of her socks and jammed it into Jack’s mouth. She shivered, examining Pax. After opening and closing her mouth once, she pulled Pax into a hug.

Normally, Alabaster might warn that she was falling for one of Pax’s ruses. But Pax could barely breathe. And Jack was definitely dead in Pax’s hand. A shudder of horror rumbled through Alabaster when he realized Death really couldn’t keep Jack away.

And part of him broke, knowing Pax really needed him right now.

Kally reached back, grabbed Alabaster’s sweater, and dragged him into the hug.

He counted out five seconds, trying not to think about how freaked out Pax was. Or Kally. Alabaster had seen plenty of severed heads. He guessed this was her first.

“We need to get inside,” Alabaster said. Later. They could help Pax later. And… do whatever you were supposed to do for decapitated heads to Jack. “Let’s get inside and get Axel.”

As Alabaster had hoped, the others were readying themselves. They must have heard the crack. Axel was decorated with a myriad of weapons strapped on with various holsters: hoplite swords, daggers, knives, and others, both celestial and human-made. He had donned his Nemean Lion pelt. With that, his bracers, and his old leather pteruges[2], Axel looked more like the honored lieutenant Alabaster had proudly looked up to.

The child of Eros had his bow ready, peering out the front window like a sniper. Euna had Backbiter drawn, standing beside him. Merry sat on the stairs, pale, jutting her jaw to one side.

The weasels practiced a war dance all around the living room.

Needing no instruction, Axel handed Alabaster his playing cards as he, Kally, Pax, and… Jack entered.

“What in Hades is going on?” Calex demanded from his lookout by the window. “We heard—Holy Hygieia! Pax, why do you have that mental bloke’s head?!”

Jack finally managed to dislodge and spit out Kally’s sock. “I believe the full term is ‘mentally handicapped’ for the political activists. Don’t want to upset Axel,” he teased.

“Oh gods, it talks,” Calex hissed, touching his temple with one hand.

“Jack’s dead,” Pax greeted his brother.

“Again,” Axel acknowledged as he handed Pax the Silver Tongued Snake helm, his bronze chest plate, some clothing, and Pax’s utility belt and attached daggers. His eyes glazed over Jack the same way Alabaster had seen Axel register other dead in the field of battle: a current logistic, grief best left until grief had time. Though Axel did puff up his cheeks and pop them.

Alabaster flicked his Mist cards through his fingers. Claymore’s was on top, but now wouldn’t be the time to awaken him. As much as he wanted Claymore’s guidance, another body cluttering the room wasn’t what they needed. He flipped to the next set of cards, summoning his bulletproof vest. He hesitated on the imperial gold sword. No… for this, he wanted his old weapons.

Axel handed Alabaster his Cloven Witch Boy helm, the goat skull enlaced with Stygian iron. The Triple A Chimera helped each other suit up like no time had passed since their last mission.

There was a card towards the bottom of Alabaster’s deck that he’d almost thrown away on multiple occasions. He withdrew it, summoned the contents, and handed a thin vial off to Pax. “This is the remnants of some knock out serum. You get one shot. Don’t waste it.”

Jack hummed the whole time and Merry and Calex looked like they might throw up.

“Pax Bae, sweetie, you and I need to have some real talk time about you bringing body parts and dead things home,” Merry whispered.

“They sent a diplomacy party—” Pax explained while Axel strapped down Pax’s bronze breastplate.

“Amicablicious!” Merry cheered. “So why—”

“—that Jack attacked. And now it looks like I played whack-a-mole with Will Solace’s face and poofed Nico Di Angelo into hipsters and Hot Topic.”

“Did you?” Calex asked, his eyes narrowing.

Axel and Kally shot Calex a look. Kally’s was of bewilderment. Axel’s was anger. His message was clear, don’t question my brother.

Pax’s jaw dropped and began to tremble again. “How could you ask that? You know I ship Solangelo.”

“Maybe we can still use some sweet talk. Pax, what exac—?” Merry started to ask.

“AJAX PAX!”

A rumble shook the house and something roared along the shutters. The window glass exploded inward.

Calex and Euna shouted and dove onto the floor.

Everyone crouched and ducked.

“Let’s talk and flee, shall we?” Pax shouted over the boom of wind as it knocked over lampshades, tore loose papers out of the bookshelf, and knocked Alabaster’s favorite teacup off the coffee table. It shattered on impact with the rug.

“What is that?!” Kally asked.

“If I had to guess? Jason expressing his feelings. He’s a very sensitive kind of guy!” Pax shouted back.

Something smashed into the front door. A piece of the wood fractured. Alabaster wanted to curse. Though weakened, his rune barrier hadn’t collapsed yet. No living thing—human or monster—should have been able—

The wooden frame cracked, and something silvery thundered into the living room.

Alabaster summoned one of his best Mist cards: his two pronged, Stygian iron staff. Whichever magic user they were facing must have been powerful to sneak in a—

A silver worktable.

With the wind dying down, Alabaster could swear there was a faint, “Felix! Come back! I wasn’t supposed to program you with door ramming abilities until next week!”

Maybe they would have shared a collective sigh of relief, had the sentient table not bound across the room. Before any of them could get in the way, the worktable slammed into Kally, knocking her flat.

The table lifted a leg above Kally’s head.

She yelped and twisted out of the way of a blow that would have crushed her skull. Instead, the table leg pinned her sweatshirt hoodie, preventing her from rolling away. Kally scrambled to squirm out of the article of clothing.

Alabaster slammed his staff into the leg, jolting her free.

“Hunnie!” Pax shouted.

The weasel scurried out from under the couch. Her approach became much more intimidating when Hunnie expanded to the size of the couch. She slammed into the worktable, rocketing the table back through the front door.

“Out the back!” Axel commanded.

“But—the van and Vinyl—” Calex started.

“Now!”

Alabaster had abandoned so many houses over the last year, all he could do was internally sigh at the thought of going back on the market. At least it was easier with Claymore around.

But, he wanted to take a stand and fight. He’d run from Lamia and the Romans for months. And now, he could possibly have the chance to fight Percy Jackson and Jason Grace and show the pawns of the Olympic mafia what they’d taken from him?

While he hesitated, Pax grabbed the hand he had on his helmet and Kally grabbed the one on his staff. They dragged him back through the backdoor they’d entered moments ago.

From a glance behind, Alabaster could see Euna dragging Calex and Merry in a similar way. Axel followed out last, assuring the group was together.

As they raced down the porch, the rune on Alabaster’s pant leg shattered. A jolt of pain and weakness spread from the break, darkening his senses momentarily. The rune barrier collapsed. The house was now exposed.

They couldn’t make a stealthy retreat, not with Jack mumbling the whole time and the clank of their armor.

The three weasels swarmed around their feet. Hunnie was back to her tiny size, having either won or given up on the fight against the work table. For the sake of defending Hecate’s craftsmanship, he hoped the former.

“Alabaster! Best retreat?” Axel demanded.

“The forest,” Alabaster snapped. Despite Lamia’s recent absence, Alabaster had gotten into the habit of planning escapes. Reflexively, he’d directed Pax and Kally towards the woods, taking the lead.

“Merry—I know it’s a lot—you gotta keep going!” Kally gasped over her shoulder.

“C—can’t—” the daughter of Dionysus panted. From their stories earlier, Merry had completely depleted herself of energy. A couple hours rest wouldn’t recharge the strongest of demigods after causing a Dionysus level dance off.

“I have you,” Calex said.

Alabaster glanced back. Calex had picked Merry up, but they were already so far behind. And carrying her would only slow the Brit down.

They needed something to cover their retreat, but Alabaster wasn’t sure his concealment spells could hide all seven of them—eight if you included Jack’s grumbling head.

Beyond them, Alabaster could see five figures approaching from the side of the house.

The barometric pressure dropped.

“STOP!” Pax shrieked.

For an instant, Alabaster thought Pax or Axel had used their Mayan magic. That’s how it always felt before they did.

Instead, a flash of light blinded Alabaster ahead.

Something popped.

For an instant, Alabaster couldn’t see or hear anything. The earth rumbled under his feet—something was shifting. He, Pax, and Kally fell on the grass.

When he managed to blink the floating spheres out of his vision, he could see something had shifted the earth ahead of them. There was now a deep trench, in a semicircle, around the back of the house. Like someone had collapsed a tunnel underneath.

They were trapped.

[1] Mel Beta Note: “I’m not sure what’s stronger right now: my sense of humor or my sense of morals. I’m so emotionally confused!” However, Mel had the disclaimer that Jack exposure may cause confusion. Like a Psyduck.

[2] This is the proper name for those fancy leather skirts the Romans wore. “Skirts” just didn’t fit the right mood of the scene, though I assure you Pax was thinking of them as skirts.

#The Attrition of Peace #Traitors of Olympus #Heroes of Olympus #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #fanfiction #Alabaster #Pax #Kally #Calex #Euna #Welcoming the Head of Orpheus Metal!#Weasels #Jason #Correction: pissed off Jason #A kickass silver work table

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ameliacole · 7 years

Text

Why Him?

Have you ever been attracted to someone, and when you asked yourself why? You just couldn’t come up with a good answer? Why him? Why out of everyone else in the world did it have to be him?

As I’ve written about previously, I have been maybe in love with this guy, Nick Clarke, since i was in the fourth grade. And with Nick it makes sense. Everything just seems to make sense with Nick. We click, we’d work. And I can’t exactly remember a time when I really didn’t have feelings for him.

Nick feels right. Maybe it’s just because I’m so used to liking him, or maybe it’s because we’re so similar, because we seem to understand each other so well. I don’t know. But having feelings for him feels right, and I understand my feelings of him. Even though I don't necessarily like having them, I know why I have them.

Nick certainly hasn’t been the only guy I’ve had feelings for in the six years. And I don’t feel bad about it-- it’s not like Nick and I were ever actually in a relationship. I’m fairly sure the romantic feelings in our friendship are pretty one sided. If you asked my friends, I’m sure they could tell you I’m a little boy crazy. It doesn’t take too much for me to develop a crush. But those are just crushes, they flit in and out. My feelings for Nick have stuck with me.

I talk with Nick basically every day over e-mail (yeah, he doesn’t have a phone, unfortunately), and have been doing so ever since he moved across the country a little over a year and a half ago. I can’t deny the flashes of joy I feel when I get a message from him, and the excitement and smile on my face as I type out a reply. It’s clear to me I have feelings for him and it would be idiotic of me to deny them.

At the beginning of the second term this school year, a new kid joined our math class. Rob Carter. It was unusual to say the least, since I live in a fairly small town, not the many new people come at the beginning of the year, much less in the middle of it. He came for lacrosse-- lacrosse in my school is a big thing. Our boys are some of the best in the state. A ton of boys have been recruited for the team... and they’re basically all the same. I know it’s not right to push them all in the same category, but they basically all are. I call this category the “lax bros.”

They’re all the same. Same attitude, hair cut, wants. And I can tell you this with 100% confidence, I am not what a lax bro would want. What kind of girl does a lax bro want? The kind of girl my sister is (I guess you could call her my exact opposite.) Sporty, confidant, not awkward and willing to have fun. Me? I can tell you for sure that I am none of those things.

And as for my preferences, yeah, lax bros aren’t my type. I love love love the whole nerd and jock in the movies and the books. It’s great, it’s cliche and it’s adorable, but it’s fiction. That type of thing just doesn’t really happen in real life, especially not when it comes to me. If fiction were real, ha, I’d already be happily dating the star quarterback, who acts like an asshole but has a heart of gold. Yeah, let’s see. I’m single and still have had yet to even have my first kiss, much less boyfriend... Yeah. Fiction is just that. Fiction. As much as I would love the jock with the heart of gold, I’ve accepted it’s a cliche that isn’t actually a thing. In real life it would seem like my type is nerdy. I mean, I guess Nick is also a “jock” because he’s insanely good at sports, but if you really had to sort it out, Nick would be a nerd. He’s quiet, awkward and adorable.

I think you can probably see where I’m going with all this. My new crush... it’s Rob. And god, to I hate myself for it.

Rob... I can’t even decide how I feel for him, and it’s stressing me out to the maximum. I’m the type of girl who likes to know things-- everything. And not knowing my own feelings? And his? It’s driving me insane.

As soon as Rob came to the class, he irritated me. He acted so superior, and it was clear through his behavior that he thought we were all idiots in the class. (Just going to put it out there that this math class is the advanced one.) He’d already done over this material at his old school so he acted like he knew it all. Joke was on him when he failed the first test. Ha, who’s the smart one now?

Still, even though he irritated me, I kind of didn’t mind talking to him. See, the class is right after lunch and I was used to being the first one in there with my friends. We’d have like ten extra minutes to just hang out in there beefier class started. After Rob came that changed a bit. He would always arrive in the classroom before us-- apparently he eats really quickly. Actually, his excuse is that his entire table just leaves and he doesn’t want to be the only one left.

Being the insufferably competitive girl that I am, I turned this whole thing into a bit of a race. To see who could get to the classroom first. Most of the time, Rob beat me without even trying, but I think he started to catch on to the competition. I think it had to do with me complaining and going ah! every time I came in and saw him there first.

Once a week I would either eat really quickly and run back, or eat in the school. On the few days that I beat him, he would look in the classroom and sigh. Then when I wouldn’t beat him, when I walked into the classroom, Rob would say, “So slow” or “I went to the store and back and you still didn’t get here” things like that. Naturally things that would spark my competitive spirit.

My two friends, Camille and Riley, didn’t believe much in our race, and whenever i would rush them eating their lunches, they would roll their eyes with a knowing glance to each other. They were no help with Rob. See, Rob and I don’t just race to the classroom, we also happen to argue white a bit.

Most of the time if we’re arguing, it’s about the lights. Always about the lights. He doesn’t like them on, he wants it to be dark and the only one with the privilege to turn the lights on is our teacher when she comes into the classroom. This argument started when I wanted to read, so I turned on the lights, naturally, Rob objected. So we got into a light war, each at a different switch, flicking them on and off. On and off.

There are times when Rob gets on my nerves so much that I want to slap him. And then there are other times when I... I don’t dislike him. The best time I have with him is when we’re alone together. Right when it’s just the two of us in the classroom, we just talk to each other. And it’s nice. He’s not an ass or anything. Or wasn’t, lately everyone and then some has been coming to the classroom, not giving Rob and me much time to talk alone.

That’s the time I think I could like him. I think you know, he’s sweet... Kinda. He can be nice. And you know, he’s not the worst looking. Aside from the fact that Rob is extremely short (he might be like an inch taller than me, and I’m like one of the shortest people ever), he’s actually pretty cute. Nice eyelashes, sweet eyes and not a bad haircut. Thank god he’s not on the entire lax bro train with the obsession with flow. Also, he wears like quarter zip sweaters all the time, and ugh! I just love boys who dress nice.

Anyway, I was able to flick these feelings of maybe like off, until one evening I hung out with Riley. Somehow it slipped out that she and Camille had made a pact to try and get Rob and me together. Like they think we’re “perfect for each other.” They claim that Rob and I flirt... but I don’t see it. I didn’t then and I still don’t. Really, I don’t think Camille and Riley can really recognize flirting. They’re just hopeful.

Rob and I exchanged snapchats last week, and we agreed to start a streak. So we’ve been snap chatting every day... Except it’s more than just a streak photo. We don’t talk that much, mostly just pictures of our faces (?). I’m so confused. At first our snap catting back and forth excited me and my emotions peaked. And then promptly fell when he opened my snap and didn’t reply after snap chatting all day long.

Not to mention he’s been out of school ever since we started snap chatting as well. Why? Oh, here’s a good twist to put me back into the real world. He has mono. Sure, you can argue that maybe Rob got it from sharing the wrong drink, but he’s a lax bro. C’mon, he most likely got the sickness from hooking up wth some girl, that just reminds me what he is and who I am.

We’ve still been snap chatting back and forth quite a bit. And for the past nine days I’ve started a new game. One that he doesn’t know about... Who will stop replying first. And yet, even though he doesn’t know about this one either, he’s still winning this game most of the time. For some reason I just can’t bring myself to stop replying. But it hurts a bit when he does it... Reminding me that I’m just an aid to his boredom.

I really wish he’d come back to school so that I could talk to him, and maybe look for a sign on where he stands (I expect I would be disappointed... there’s no way he could have feelings for someone like me.) Seeing him in person would definitely clear up my confusion. But guess what? I haven’t seen him all week and I won’t see him next week (he’s only coming in for half days... math is after lunch) and the week after that is exams and then spring break... Basically I might not actually see Rob until after Spring Break-- and maybe that’s a good thing, so I don’t make a fool of myself, but also bad. I need clarification. And I feel like I could get some of that from actually being around him. I’m so confused now though. I don't know how I feel about Rob. I don’t want to like him, but I know I do, at least a little bit. How? Because I look forward to seeing the notification of his snap chat.

I don’t like him nearly as much as I do Nick, but I do like him. And I hate myself for it. I’m an imaginative person, but this could never work. Even if he was different from lax bros... he’s not and it just wouldn’t work. He’s the kind of guy who hooks up, I’m the hopeless romantic who wants a relationship. Who hasn’t even kissed a guy yet. This just would never work. Ever. And that’s even if he had feelings for me, which he doesn’t... I’m pretty sure. I don't know! I don’t know what I want, and I certainly don’t know what he wants.

Another thing bothering me. I don’t know what he wants. I tend to always take the pessimistic outlook on things, so I say his snap chatting back to me is stemming from his boredom of being home sick with mono... but could it be something else? I kind of doubt it-- I feel a pull to reply to him, so I almost never win this new game of ours... Just why him? Why do I have to like him? As a logical person, I like to have reasons. I know, love isn’t reasonable (not that I even remotely love him), but I would like to make reason of it. Why am I falling this quickly? I think it’s because of my extreme want and need for a boyfriend. All my friends have them and I’ve always been in love with romance. I want it so bad I can’t help but wonder if this sudden spark in my interest in Rob is mostly due to my mind being excited that someone could like me back-- not really caring who it is. I don’t know how to separate my feelings for Rob with my need for a boyfriend. Also. Rob is here. Not across the country. Here, he lives in the general area near my town. One of the things I love about Nick is that he knows me-- and we’ve known each other since forever basically. Rob? Just met him this year. He didn’t know what an insufferable brad I was as a child. It’s a clean slate. My need and hopes for a boyfriend beg me to admit my feelings for Rob and hope upon hopes that Rob has feelings for me. My rationality says hell no to that. There’s no way Rob could have feelings for me-- how could he? He’s a lax bro. He hooks up with girls. I’m an awkward nerd he gets into arguments with in math class. Things would just never work out between us, and he would never think of me like that. I really wish more than ever I could control my feelings about someone, and yet I still get excited and happy when I see his snapchat. And I still get hurt and aggravated when I see he won the game by opening my snap, and not replying. My basic plan for the moment is wait. Just wait and see what happens, don't do anything crazy, try not to be weird. At the moment I want to wait and see if he’ll ask me to the spring dance (which I doubt he will, most lax bros don’t like dances that much). If he asks me, that’s an almost definite yes that he has feelings for me, but the more I think about that, the more I think about how silly the idea is. I’m not the type of girl any guy really likes, much less a lax bro.... Anyway. Thanks for reading <3 -Ames

#love #romance #like #crush #boy #boys #jock #boyfriend #confused #lax #lax bro #lacrosse

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nogalski-nest · 7 years

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Eloise's Birth Story

Evan and I actually took two negative pregnancy tests a few days apart before we got a positive. I was starting to get cramps and other normal period signs and finally accepted that this month just wasn’t our month. I could also tell I was getting sick, so I figured that whatever I had, probably prevented ovulation (yes, that does happen. God amazingly wired our bodies to be able to say, “Hey, I’m not at my healthiest right now. Probably not a good time to bring a baby on board.”) Bummer.

Ugh, my glands were swollen, my head hurt, and I was so, so tired. I would come home from work, take a two hour nap, and still be in bed by 9. Not to mention, the cramps I’d had for a week with still no sign of my period. Hmmm…

One day, when I could barely keep my eyes open at work, I texted Evan and told him I was going to stop by the store and grab one more test on my way home. That way, I could call my doctor to be seen the next day (at this point I was convinced I had mono) and she wouldn’t think I was crazy. This test was about a week after the first one we took and I had every indication I was going to get my period. It was going to be negative. BOTH of us were fully expecting it.

Evan came home and I took the test, handed it to him, and waited. Evan always read the tests so he could, for at least a few seconds, be the only one to know I was pregnant. Was it just me or was he staring at this test longer than normal?

Evan: “How long are we supposed to wait again?” Me: “This box says three minutes.” Three more minutes pass… Me: “Is anything showing up? Like is the negative line there?” Evan: “Well… here’s the thing… you could be pregnant.”

We stared at each other and the test for a few minutes. Complete. Shock. Honestly, I expected to be more excited. But I couldn’t be excited until I confirmed that this was not just a fluke. I grabbed my purse and put on my shoes to go buy three other brands of tests. While reaching for the door, I looked back at Evan, who had made his way to the couch and asked, “Are you coming?” to which he responded, “I think I’m going to throw up.”

Three positive tests later and I decided to call my doctor the next day. I now understood that I, in fact, did NOT have mono, but a baby instead! They estimated I was about six weeks along based off my last period. (They were wrong, more on that in a minute.) They scheduled me for an ultrasound at nine and half weeks. But wait. The cramping. One evening it got so bad that I felt like someone was grabbing each of my hips and ripping me apart like a wishbone on thanksgiving. And everyone knows cramping in pregnancy is bad. Right? Wrong again. I went in to see my doctor the next day. She did an exam and I had to get two blood draws done, 48 hours apart. The draws showed that my hormone levels were rising just as they should be. My doctor assured me that cramping is actually completely NORMAL because your body is stretching and growing at a crazy rate, even that early in pregnancy. Whew, crisis averted.

Despite the cramping and a few other minor complications that, thankfully, turned out to be nothing major, I felt pretty good! I made it to eight weeks with no morning sickness and even got to enjoy Evan’s bi-annual family vacation in North Carolina… until the day before we left. I braced myself for the FOURTEEN hour car ride back to Michigan, PRAYING that I could keep it together for one day. I had a relatively good handle on things until we all stopped at Chick-fil-A and everyone brought their breakfast in the car. That was the moment I lost it. Evan just threw up his hands and said, “Well, surprise! Val’s pregnant.” (For the record, Jim teared up.)

I spent the next few weeks feeling more like I was dying than growing life, and then we had our first ultrasound. I’ll never forget the moment the tech turned on the monitor and said, “Well, this is what’s making you sick.” There was our little bean. It even wiggled for us. It was too early to hear the heartbeat, but we could physically see the heart beating inside the little body on the screen, a healthy 166 bpm. We were both in complete awe, sucked in to that little bean on the screen. All of the sickness, canceled plans, and tears of exhaustion became worth it in that moment. We also found out at that ultrasound that I was not 9 weeks and 5 days. I was actually only 7 weeks and 6 days. My due date was officially confirmed at June 14th.

After that ultrasound, we had my parents over for dinner to celebrate my mom’s birthday. I told her we had a present for her, only it wasn’t ready yet. But we had a picture! I handed my mom the ultrasound picture and I couldn’t even count how long she stared at it. Finally, she said, “Is this what I think it is?” I asked, “Well, what do you think it is?” To which she replied, “It’s an ultrasound picture!” When we told them I was due in June, my dad’s first comment was, “Mary, you get a picture for your birthday but I get the real thing!” (God certainly has a sense of humor because, lo and behold, their first grand baby actually would be born on my dad’s birthday!)

At 12 weeks, we got to see our little peanut again. I could not believe how much he/she was moving! How was it possible that I wasn’t feeling this? Baby was moving around so much that I couldn’t help but laugh, which made him/her move around even MORE! Needless to say, we are overly thrilled and so thankful to have a healthy little baby on the way.

Right around 18 or 19 weeks, I began to feel some little flutters! At first, I honestly thought it was just gas but the kicks grew stronger and stronger and by 20 weeks they were unmistakable. Then, right before little babe turned 20 weeks, Evan decided he couldn’t wait any longer to find out the gender! So, we walked into our 20 week scan, ready to find out if we had a little girl or a little boy. The tech asked us if we had any feelings about the gender. Well, feelings were an understatement. I knew from the moment it sunk in that we were pregnant that this was a girl. There was no doubt in my mind. I just knew. Evan had been praying for a girl (not that we wouldn’t have been thrilled with a boy. I mean, a mini Evan walking around, come ON.) But this one… this was our little girl. In that moment though, I froze. I told the tech we had a feeling but I didn’t want to say it out loud in case I was wrong. Then Evan, being the straightforward guy that he is, stated blatantly, “We think it’s a girl.” The tech smiled and said, “Well… you were right.” She then proceeded to show us all of the intricate little parts of our baby: lungs, brain, kidneys, and all four chambers of the heart, all of them looking textbook perfect. At the end of our scan, the tech shared that if all babies looked the way ours did that her job would be easy!

The next step was to plan a gender reveal to share the news with our friends and family! Instead of using the traditional pink and blue, we decided to use peach and mint for the theme because they were our wedding colors! We made pins for everyone to wear their guess and confetti poppers for the reveal. When it was time, we got everyone in a big circle in Jim and Tracy’s basement and on the count of three, every popped their popper! The reactions were priceless to the pink confetti flying out all over the floor!

At 24 weeks, Evan finally got to feel our daughter move! Up until then, she would be dancing like crazy but the very moment he put his hand on my stomach, she would immediately stop. We had the theory that Evan truly was calming for her. We’ll see if it holds true when she’s born! I will always remember what a sweet moment it was when he felt that first tiny kick.

Over the next few months, we felt and watched baby girl move and grow. She even got the hiccups a few times! Sometimes she moved quite a bit, bee-bopping around like a little jumping bean!

At 36 weeks, Mommy and Daddy got to see baby girl on the ultrasound again. Linda, the tech, said that when she saw my belly she thought we were going to have a little baby. But this baby was 6lbs 7oz already, which was nice, healthy, and maybe even a tad on the bigger side! We watched her practice her breathing, her stomach moving in and out on the screen. Linda mentioned that she must get a lot of hiccups because she was practicing so vigorously!

As the last few weeks started to wrap up, we grew all the more anxious to meet our baby girl. I started eating six dates a day and drinking red raspberry leaf tea in an attempt to prepare for the big day. (Eating all those dates also completely curbed my cravings for anything sweet, haha!) It was a scramble to get the nursery together, hospital bags packed, getting mentally and physically prepared for labor and feeling the urgency of knowing that it could be any day now that we would finally get to meet our daughter. But even in the midst of all of the anticipation, some of my favorite moments were those where I stopped to look at Evan and thought about how none of this would be possible without him. There wouldn’t be the three of us if there hadn’t been the two of us first. I didn’t think I could love him anymore than I already did, but this brought a whole new level of love that I couldn’t have imagined before. God picked the perfect husband for me and the best daddy for our daughter.

On Saturday, June 10th, Evan and I went out for what we figured would be our last dinner date before we would start needing a babysitter. Little did we know exactly how true that would be. That evening, I noticed that baby girl seemed to be moving around a lot less than normal. I just had a feeling that something was different. I hadn’t felt the need to do any kick counts during my pregnancy because she was such a strong and regular mover, but that night after dinner we laid down in bed and did a kick count. Sure enough, I felt 10 movements within about a half hour (the standard for a kick count is 10 movements in 2 hours.) I felt a little better but I still had the sense that something was different. I made a comment to Evan about how ready I was for this baby to come, and Evan leaned down near my stomach and said, “Get out.” I laughed and rolled over to go to sleep… for about an hour.

At 1:00am on Sunday, June 11th, a contraction woke me up. I started to drift back to sleep since I’d had false labor contractions previously, until I noticed how wet I felt. What on earth? Had I peed myself? I put my hand down on the sheets and whoa… the sheets were wet. I stood up to go find Evan (he sometimes falls asleep on the couch watching TV) and I felt a gush of fluid. My pants were soaked. That’s when it sunk in. My water had broken.

Good thing I had finally persuaded Evan to help me finish packing and sorting our hospital bags the day before since, ya know, we were due to have a baby in three days. I am not a procrastinator and had been trying to tell Evan that our daughter might not be either. Sure enough, I was right because we were on the road to the hospital by 1:30am, three days early.

The drive there was nothing like I imagined. Despite what you see on TV, there’s only a small percentage of women who have their water break at the beginning of labor. I had imagined laboring at home first and being in agony on the way to the hospital, but my contractions were relatively light and weren’t coming in any kind of consistent pattern. Even though little gushes of fluid kept coming every few minutes, I was getting nervous that maybe I had just peed myself and the hospital staff would send me home. We arrived at the emergency entrance, which is where our hospital tour nurse had told us to go if I went into labor after hours. Evan went in to make someone aware of the situation and a security guard came out with a wheel chair. I told him that my contractions weren’t very strong yet and I was certain I could walk, but he made me get in the wheelchair anyway and a nurse wheeled me down to Labor & Delivery. Now I really felt like a goon because I, 100%, didn’t need this wheelchair.

When we got to triage, they hooked me up to the monitor and confirmed that baby girl was doing great and that I was, in fact, having contractions. The physician on duty came in to check me and confirmed that I was leaking amniotic fluid (not pee) and that I was already dilated six centimeters! They admitted me and by the time we were settled into our room, my contractions were coming consistently, every three minutes or so. Labor continued progressing pretty steadily from there. Thankfully, I was able to (kind of) sleep during the first part of labor, even if it wasn’t very deep because of the contractions. When transition came, I knew exactly what was happening because I had prepared myself with four different birthing books. Despite knowing about 30 different ways to manage pain during labor, my body instinctually went with the Bradley Method, which tells you the opposite of every other pain management technique, to relax through your contractions. By relaxing your body, you let the contractions work for you instead of fighting against them by clenching up. I’m convinced that letting those contractions work for me is what made my labor progress so quickly. I’ve never focused on anything so intensely in my life. My goal with every contraction was to get to the peak of it and then remember that it was going to drop back down and I would get a minute to whisper “Ice” to Evan, who would feed me an ice chip and then I would fall asleep (no I’m not kidding) for about 60 to 120 seconds before the next contraction started to build.

Finally, the Doctor came in and told me I was completely dilated and that it was time to push. In every birth story I’d heard, pushing was always the woman’s favorite part. I have to say that for me, pushing was the part where I questioned my decision not to get the epidural. Pushing is HARD WORK. I was exhausted and was truly afraid I wasn’t going to have the stamina to make it through. Praise the Lord, the Doctor let me sip on apple juice in between pushes and that little spike in my blood sugar gave me some energy to keep powering through. Then I heard the Doctor say, “I see hair!” I was so surprised! Hair? My baby girl has hair already? What color was it? Was there a lot? And then Even, “I see it, babe! It’s there!” We were so close to meeting her! Just a few pushes later and the Doctor started getting all of his surgical gear on, which he told me he waits until the last minute to do. This meant it was go time! A few more pushes and the Doctor asked me to get my hands ready because after this push I was going to have a baby in them.

Eloise Nicole Nogalski was born June 11th, 2017 at 10:35am. When I felt and saw her for the first time, the whole world stopped. She was even more beautiful than I imagined. This was her. This was the little bean we saw give us a wiggle on that very first ultrasound. This was the little soul that moved and kicked and hiccupped in my belly. This is what she looked like. And she did have so much hair! All I could do was laugh and say hello. Evan cut the cord and they took her and measured her. She weighed 8lbs even and measured 20 inches long. I had pushed for about 50 minutes and labored 9 hours total.

Eloise came out with a lot of fluid in her lungs and had a hard time regulating her oxygen. Her initial blood work was also showing signs of a possible infection, so she spent the first five days of her life in the critical care nursery. She was weaned off of her oxygen by the second day and was responding well to the antibiotics. Mommy and Daddy got to stay with her in the CCN all day and Mommy was able to feed her. Eloise was a champion breast feeder right from birth. The CCN nurses were amazing and took such great care of our baby girl when we couldn’t be by her side. She was a fighter and recovered quickly. On Friday, June 16th, we got to bring our sweet Eloise Nicole home. And so begins our story as a family of three…

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