One recoiled away from the window instinctively. That place, the factory. It had been out of commission ever since the defeat of the machine; they had blown it up, after all. So just what did that smoke symbolise. Was it the machine's return? No, that's impossible, the machine had been destroyed, hadn't it? Maybe it had crawled back to the factory with what remaining limbs it had.

Fear welled up deep inside One and he shot a look of horror at Six, who looked seemingly unfazed by the looming smoke in the distance, despite being the one to point it out. Did...he know something about this?

"Just what is that?" One croaked out, and Six cocked his head, eyebrows slanted in confusion.

"It's...smoke."

One sighed exasperatedly. "I know that, you little-! I meant, why is there smoke coming out of...of there! Of all places!" He gestured dramatically to the smouldering remains of the factory. Six stared blankly out into the distance, before shrugging.

"I dunno."

One took a step and sank down on Six's bed, eyes vacant, and let his head rest in his hands. "This is happening all over again, isn't it? The machine will come back for us. It'll take us all again." He murmured, weakly.

Six shifted in his spot, staring out at the looming horizon. "No..." He mumbled. "It's not the machine." and One lifted his head, his expression perplexed. "Then what could it possibly be, if not that freakish machine?"

Six's expression suddenly grew frustrated.

"I don't know! Okay?! I can't see a damn thing in my dreams anymore! Something big and scary is coming for us, and I can't see what it is!" He snapped, and One almost physically recoiled. He had never seen Six so mad in either of their admittedly short lives! What was he supposed to do?

One sighed. This was becoming increasingly stressful for him. Between his odd relationship with Two, the never-ending nightmares and a visionless Six, who was apparently becoming increasingly prone to temper tantrums, not to mention the pile of smoking remains out in the distance. Just what was he supposed to do with all that?

He thought on it for a moment. On one hand, he didn't want to warn the others and shove them all into a panicked frenzy, but on the other hand, he didn't want to leave them in the dark when that scary 'something' Six kept mentioning came knocking on their door.

Hah. And people thought being a leader was 'easy'.

He exhaled slowly, and turned to Six. The best way to handle this situation, was most likely Six's way, but without his visions, he couldn't guarantee he knew what to do.

"Six." He began, almost regretting what he was about to say. "What do you suggest we do?" Of course, taking the backseat to a potentially unstable individual was the last thing on One's list, but Six was somehow their best bet, even without the visions.

Six looked incredibly deep in thought. More than One had ever seen before, in fact.

"We can't tell the others. Not yet." He said, firmly. One surprised himself by nodding in agreement. "I thought that much. It's not wise to kick up a fuss." Good to see they were on the same page. Somewhat, anyway.

"We should go and see what happened."

One actually had to register just what he was suggesting, before snapping at him. "You can't be serious. You want to go over there? It's not safe in the slightest!" He chided, and Six had to gall to roll his optics.

"Yeah, but people didn't get anywhere by staying safe all that time." He responded, smoothly. Too smoothly for One's liking. He frowned, disapprovingly.

"I mean, if you had any idea what could be lurking out there, then I may have considered it, but since you are without visions, we are at a disadvantage." He murmured, flashing Six a steely gaze, to which he shrugged at.

"I guess..." It was clear he hadn't much else to say, and frankly, neither did One. Nonetheless, he couldn't just up and leave, there were things to be done. Specifically, about the smoking factory which, he desperately hoped, nobody had seen yet.

And there was the other problem. There was no guarantee that the others were as oblivious as One always thought they were. Seven was always out and about, scouting the area, so any change to the landscape would definitely not go unnoticed. Five was always up in the watchtower, gazing out at the horizon, so he would definitely spot if something was up.

"What if the others find out about...that?" One gestured to the still smoking remains with a tilt of his head, and Six, to his surprise, didn't seem worried in the slightest.

"That's easy. I saw the smoke really early this morning and I knew the others would see it, so I got the twins to keep them occupied for the day." Six explained, and One was...impressed?

"I must admit, that was quite a clever thing to do." He murmured, almost reluctantly, but credit where credit is due. Six, however, didn't seem moved by the compliment.

"I'm going to head out there tonight."

Wait...

...what?

One instinctively bolted up from his spot on the bed, anger fierce on his face. "You can't possibly think I'm going to let you wander the emptiness alone, and at night! There's not a chance you'll be doing such a thing!"

"Then come with me."

Six's face was annoyingly passive, and One's threat didn't seem to strike him as worrisome. One couldn't fathom how obnoxious he thought that was, but he couldn't let the young artist traverse that vast emptiness by himself. It wasn't something a leader would do, not to mention the others would string him up if they learned that he let Six go off on his own.

This was not an ideal situation.

He must've been insane to do this.

"Fine. I'll accompany you, but there will be rules!" He said, sternly, and Six shrugged, mumbling something that sounded like 'naturally' under his breath.

"Firstly, I'm giving you three hours to do this and not a minute longer. Secondly, the moment it gets even remotely dangerous, we are leaving and thirdly, you will not tell a soul about this, you understand? Now, I'll be heading off. I think I'll try and get some sleep before...I can't believe I agreed to this, but I'm doing this to put your mind, and mine, at rest."

Six raised an eyebrow at this. "You still think there's nothing out there?" He looked somewhat annoyed, and One struggled to piece together a response. It wasn't like he didn't believe him, but it just seemed so unlikely.

"I can only hope so..."

doot doot