Summary: "The Thin Man, it was the boy. The very same one she had condemned to the Tower. And he was a monster of her own making." Following her adventures aboard the Maw, Six returns to the Pale City and stumbles upon Mono. Prequel/Companion to Goodbye, Old Friend. One-shot.
Hello Again, Monster
She had been admittedly surprised when, after days adrift at sea, her boat docked in the familiar Pale City. The sky was dark and cloudy, as per usual, a light drizzle coming down upon the buildings. In the distance, she was the horrifyingly recognizable shape of the Signal Tower, standing as tall as it ever had.
She travelled through the city slowly, headed towards the Tower. She knew that somewhere within the structure, a boy remained. A boy condemned by no one other than her. Sometimes, she felt remorse for what she had done to him; for how she had let him fall so far down instead of hauling him up to escape alongside her. But she always reminded herself that, no, only one of them would have made it. One or none. And so, she had put her own life before the boy's.
The dreary streets were empty. She pulled her hood tighter around her head to fight off the coldness of the air.
She vaguely wondered if the boy in the Tower was still alive and what had become of him. She hadn't known him well, really. They'd helped each other so many times, yet neither had paused to ask for the other's name. But he had seemed compassionate. She wondered what he thought of her now.
She wondered what the boy's name was. Maybe it was a number, like her own. She couldn't remember her real name, before the one the Ferryman had given her when she had been taken captive aboard the Maw. Six, he called her. The sixth child he had brought to the ship. Was the boy she had met also named after a number? Maybe his had something to do with his powers or where he had come from; she didn't know where he came from.
Night had fallen, the sky had grown darker than before, by the time she reached the clearing the Tower was in. She simply stood and looked at the structure for a long moment, recalling how she had barely escaped, and again, the boy's fall. She could still remember the feel of his hand clasped tightly in her own, how he had trusted her with his life in that long moment. She could still remember the look of unconcealed horror on his face when she had released his hand, as he had fallen down, down, down into the dark pits of the Tower.
If the boy was alive, he would surely never forgive her for that fateful day. Not that it bothered her. She did not wish for forgiveness. She did not regret what she had done. It was better that he was the one who remained in the Tower rather than her. After all, it punished her leaving with the all too familiar hunger she had now faced several times. The boy couldn't be much better off down inside.
As a fresh wave of the hunger tore through her, sending her into a bout of dizziness, she caught sight of a rat scuffling around near a crate at the front of one of the neighboring shops. She made her way over towards the rodent, noting that it did not seem able to smell her through the scent of the falling rain.
Six pounced. She pinned the animal down with her hands, draining the life from it with merely her will. Then she devoured it.
Her hunger faded. The rain washed the rat's blood from her face.
She ducked back behind the crate in fear at the sound of an agonized scream coming from the Tower's entrance. She peeked out a little, glancing at the open doorway. Hands and a face were pushing through the barrier, out into the city. She recognized the figure immediately and suddenly remembered why she had left this place.
Was there nowhere safe for her?
After a few long, horrifying moments, the Thin Man tore completely through the doorway. But something was off about him, she noted, as he collapsed to his hands and knees to cough and gasp for air. And it wasn't just the color of the air during his escape of the Tower. He had shrunken.
The Thin Man, it was the boy.
The very same one she had condemned to the Tower.
It made sense now, why the Thin Man had pursued them so vigorously. He had wanted revenge on her. He had wanted to escape his fate. But he had been unable to. He'd been stuck in a time loop. And now, somehow, he was free of the Tower's clutches. He was a boy again, even if he did appear to be a tad older than when she had known him.
And he was a monster of her own making.
She watched him rise to his feet, sloppily slicking his dark hair back in the rain as he pulled his coat tighter around his body. He glanced up, and she ducked back behind the crate. He didn't need to see her, not yet.
She waited a long moment before daring to peek out around the edge of the crate again. He was taking the final steps up to a television set up outside a shop opposite of her own. He stopped before it, reaching up to turn the dial. As soon as he pressed his hand to it and the scene of a room formed, she stepped out from her hiding place. She approached him from behind, coming to a pause a few yards away. He was completely immersed in searching for something in the Pale City.
And then, against her better judgement, she cleared her throat.
His hand slowly lowered as he turned around to face her. He stared for a moment, then stalked up to her. His body glitched like the static of the television screen. When he paused before her, she noted just how much he had grown. As she looked up at his face, her head tilted so far back that her hood slipped off and the water began to soak her hair.
"You left me behind." He accused, the voice she had never heard reaching her ears. It was like hers, only deeper. "You dropped me and left me to rot in your betrayal. Why?"
She couldn't help but to pity him. He must have relived her betrayal a thousand times now. She reached into her coat, withdrawing the paper bag he had once held so dear.
His dark eyes narrowed bitterly at her. "What are you doing here? I can kill you now. I'm stronger than I was when you abandoned me."
She merely blinked at him, mild amusement and concern cancelling out all emotion. He'd never threatened her before.
He hesitated at her lack of response. "Can you speak?"
"I can." She assured him, straightening up to her full height despite being shorter than him. She decided to inform him that he wasn't the only powerful being there. "But I can kill you too."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"Nor I, you."
"Why did you leave me behind, girl?" He asked tersely.
Her own anger flared for a brief moment, despite knowing he had no knowledge of who she really was. "My name is Six."
He regarded her for a moment. "Mono."
So he does have a name.
Hello, Mono.