No one knew him by his real name.
They knew he came from one of the Western countries, arriving in this city when he was barely a young man. His intentions for coming here remained unknown. In the beginning, he seemed to be looking for something with feverish determination. That determination soon devolved into despair. He looked lost ever since.
He sold electronic television sets, now that the country was producing daily broadcasts again. He didn't make a lot of money, though; it seemed his employer got most of the earnings. Very rarely did he buy food, and he rationed it if he did. Even though he ate, he still looked starved and sickly. Every night, he could be found sitting on a bench or doorstep, but never in the same place twice. A kind stranger would let him stay in their home for the night if it rained, but it was never guaranteed.
He wore the same thing every day: a casual suit and a fedora. He owned at least two suits, the extra stored in the briefcase he always kept with him. He didn't need anything else, to be fair; he didn't have much of a social life. His eyes hid in his fedora's shadow and sunken from a lack of well rest. His face was near skeletal in structure, thanks to his poor diet. His posture was stiff and straight, still as a lifeless mannequin. Most obviously, he was scrawny and appeared taller than he probably was.
A few called him "Salesman".
Everyone called him "Thin Man".
Oh, if only they knew how important he would become.
The first thing he noticed was that the floor he was lying on was wet. A rug, most likely. Far too soft to be tile or wood. Why was it warm, though?
More importantly, where was he, and how did he get here? His head ached, and he so desperately wanted to fall asleep again, but he had to remember. He will be in grave danger if he doesn't.
A potential customer had just turned him down. Too poor, already had a neighbor that had a television. Was about to move on to the next door when... when what?
Shaking; yes, he was shaking! He thought he was going to faint from eating too little again. But then he noticed everyone was shaking too. Police sirens went off. The nearby lampost was waving back and forth. The road started cracking.
An earthquake. A violent one, too.
The cracks in the road deepened and widened. It looked like it was sucking in anything that crossed its path. People were screaming. Still screaming, he noticed. It made his headache worse.
What happened after that? He ran. He tried to run. He wasn't fast enough. He tripped and fell. Someone grabbed his suit sleeve, but their grip wasn't tight enough.
Wait.
Was he dead?
Oh well. He lived the best he could.
Didn't answer where he was specifically. With all the strength he had left, he pushed himself off of the ground. He looked ahead and screamed.
An eye. A large eye. A large, glowing eye. Bloodshot and ever-rolling, as if it was in pain.
Adrenaline pumped forth energy he didn't even know he had. He jumped to his feet and began stepping back. The ground below him squished until it didn't. The screaming around him suddenly grew louder. He swiftly turned around and saw another horrid eye. He screamed again and made the terrible mistake of looking down.
Flesh. Cramping muscles, oozing puss, bursting veins. His entire front was red with blood.
Any screams he had left in his system died in his throat. Chills climbed up his spine and spread across his shoulders. He spiraled into a panic.
Hell. He was in Hell.
He needed to get away from the flesh. He didn't care how or in what compacity. He just needed distance between him and it. He desperately spun in circles, trying to find anything that could help him.
A television set! He had no idea what it was doing there, but he didn't care. He made a beeline for it, trampling another eye in the process. When he finally reached the television, he climbed on top and laid on his side, tightly hugging himself into a fetal position. Surrounded by the screams of the damned, he shivered and hyperventilated.
What did he ever do in life to deserve this?
As his adrenaline slowly diminished, the screaming devolved into pitiful moans. It sounded like an animal dying a slow and painful death. It was unbearable to listen to, and he tried to block out the noise to no avail.
Morbid curiosity caused him to want to observe his surroundings with reason. He was going to spend the rest of his eternity here; he might as well get a good look at it. A glance over, and he noticed there was no one else. Just darkness. And the flesh. That wretched flesh.
Wait.
Ever so slowly, he unfolded himself from his fetal position. He lowered one of his feet to the ground and gently tapped it with the tip of his foot. The moans grew slightly louder.
Oh fuck.
Fuck.
He refolded himself back into the fetal position, this time sitting up. He felt sick to his stomach, his hunger pains not helping in the slightest. He watched as the flesh writhed in pain, then settled down once more. The eyes still rolled, tears now spilling from them. The moans almost sounded like sobs now.
Was it terrible of him to still want to be afraid?
Feeling pity felt worse for some reason.
The voice at the back of his head chastised him for thinking that, and he apologized for it. It still didn't feel good, though. He unfolded himself once again, but this time into a criss-cross position. He held onto his stomach in a feeble attempt to soothe it. He mustered up any courage he had left in his system, then swallowed.
"...h-hello?" he quietly croaked.
The sobbing hushed. All the eyes turned their gaze toward him, to the best of their ability.
Oh, fuck that.
The voice at the back of his head encouraged him to continue.
"Uh... who are you? Wh-what are you?" Those were decent questions to ask, right? Good to know the... thing he was going to spend eternity alongside.
The eyes just... stared at him.
Then, from the darkness, a deep, androgynous voice echoed.
"I am the Great Eyes," it said.
Silence, for he was too scared to respond.
"Be not afraid," the Great Eyes reassured. "I have no intention to harm you."
"Th-the-then, what is your - is you - why are you here?" He clutched at his stomach tighter, trying so hard not to upchuck out of terror.
"I was here when reality came to be," the Great Eyes explained. "I was supposed to purge the universe of evil: a foreign force that had trespassed into this realm."
"...purge?"
"Yes. Purge via consumption. It is how I feed."
"What happened?"
"Malicious sages from kingdoms long-extinct forced me into hibernation, encasing me in dirt and blood."
"Wait, so, I'm not dead?"
"Far from it."
He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
"During my slumber," the Great Eyes continued, "evil entered a kind of creature called 'Humankind'. Through evil, they have committed all sorts of atrocities. Atrocities I dare not name, but I fear you know all too well." He nodded in confirmation. Images and stories of the previous war came to mind. So much suffering, so much death. The Great Eyes gave a weary sigh.
"Ancient soothsayers foretold that I would awaken from my slumber and fulfill what I sought to do from the beginning. Alas, I have awoken too late. I am incredibly weak and cannot leave my prison. I will starve and die, and this world will devour itself."
Hunger. Exhaustion. Wanting so badly to do good, only to accomplish disappointment.
He knew those feelings all too well.
"How do you feed?" he asked. He wasn't so scared anymore, now that he knew the Great Eyes were benevolent.
"Humankind must only observe me," it explained. "Once he looks upon my form, I can feast upon his loathing and sorrow. I can set him free, give him paradise."
No more sorrow...
How wonderful that would be to no longer feel sorrow.
The voice at the back of his head tried to remind him of something vitally important, but it fell on deaf ears.
"But, alas, no man will be able to do so. Sane men will stay far away from the crevice my awakening had created; foolish men will fall to their death if they try to come down here."
He looked up and noticed the faintest ray of sunlight breaking through the darkness. Yeah, probably not the wisest idea to climb down here. Only heaven knows how he survived his fall! There has to be a way for people to observe the Great Eyes. Stomach now unclenched, he placed his hands next to his feet and began tapping his fingers on the television set in a rhythmic pattern.
Wait a minute.
The television set.
Broadcasts!
"I have an idea!" he exclaimed. "See this box I'm sitting on top? It's called a 'television'. It can show people and places from anywhere in real-time, and they're in everyone's houses all over the world! If we can figure out how to broadcast you, get you to appear on the television, then everyone will be able to see you without having to come down here! You'll finally get rid of the evil that plagues us all!" He paused when he realized one problem with his plan. "That is, if not seeing you in person still counts..."
The eyes intensely stared at the television with deep thought.
"Stand back from the 'television'," the Great Eyes commanded, and he obeyed. He watched as the flesh absorbed the television set. The eyes widened with excitement.
"Yes! Yes! Yes, it will work! Oh, thank you! Thank you! You've saved humanity!" A wide smile dominated his face. At long last, the world's misery will be brought to an end!
"What do you want in return?"
The smile quickly faded into a look of confusion.
"What?"
"'When two create an agreement, one cannot receive without giving something in turn,'" the Great Eyes quoted. "It is one of the laws of the universe. You have given me the means to liberate Humankind from evil. What would you want me to give you?"
"... What can you give me?"
"Anything. Purging evil is only one of my many abilities. I can mold reality into whatever I want, by reasonable means, mind you. I can give you riches, victory, whatever your heart desires."
Whatever his heart desired...
Her.
Oh, how badly he wanted to see her again. He missed how she pinched his cheeks and sometimes hugged him too tightly. He missed her messy hair and her burlap sack dresses that still smelled like potatoes. He missed the safety her presence brought, the playground song she would always sing. The deep, hollow pit in his chest returned.
He suddenly remembered him, how his name and memory were a ghost that lingered over the home. She would talk about how he was a good man, and he promised to return when the fighting ended. He never did, and she swore on her life that he was just stuck on the other side of the world. It turned out he didn't even arrive at his destination. He could finally know him.
He could have them both.
That's what he wanted: to defy death itself.
He opened his mouth to declare his wish.
A sharp pain of hunger struck him before he could even get the words out. He fell onto his knees and then crumbled into a ball onto the flesh. As he laid there, the weight of his exhaustion finally made itself fully known to him. It had been freezing the past few nights, and it rained the night previous. It was a sheer miracle that he hadn't gotten sick yet, but he feared he was running out of luck. He was tired enough to weep. So that's exactly what he did.
It dawned on him what he almost asked of the Great Eyes. What would she think of him, asking for something so selfish? He felt so ashamed.
"Please," he finally said. "I just want a roof over my head, someplace to lay down and rest at the end of the day. That's all I want. I'm just so tired..."
"Then it shall be so," the Great Eyes responded, voice somber with understanding. The flesh below him rippled, and a wooden floor emerged. From the floor grew a bed just his size, complete with simple bedding. As this was happening, wallpapered walls and a dry-walled ceiling enclosed around him, but not too close that it felt claustrophobic. "You know, most men wouldn't have wished for what you asked."
"I almost didn't," he admitted, pushing himself off of the floor. He felt so drained.
"But you did," the Great Eyes noted. It gave off a thoughtful hum before continuing. "Such humility and honesty are a rarity nowadays. It mustn't go unrewarded."
"I thought you couldn't give without receiving something?" He slowly made his way to the bed. He fought off the urge to rub his heavy eyes.
"That is for making agreements. This is a gift, no strings attached."
He paused, bedsheets within his hand's clasp.
"I have no means by which to leave this crevice," the Great Eyes explained. "Even when I gain the strength to bring Humankind's evil to its knees, I am far too large to escape the earth. And although I can see beyond that of any mortal, my gaze isn't infinite. I will need an extra pair of eyes to see what I cannot, a pair of feet to go where I cannot. I need a steward to look after the world in my stead."
Its voice lowered to a hushed whisper.
"You, my friend, are the perfect candidate."
His eyes widened in horror.
"Oh no! Great Eyes, there's no way I could handle something that - that huge! I'm only -"
"Human?" He responded with a slow nod, and the Great Eyes chuckled warmly. "You Humankind sell yourselves so short! You are capable of things you couldn't even begin to comprehend!" It gave off another thoughtful hum. "Although to be fair, you will need a little bit of help. But you won't need to worry about that. For now, rest your weary head."
He thought about asking about what the "little bit of help" would be, but he was too exhausted even to try. The moment he laid onto the bed and wrapped himself in the bedsheets, he lost consciousness.
No one knew him by his real name.
They knew he came from the Signal Tower: the mysterious building that emerged from the crevice in the middle of the city. His intentions for appearing here were benevolent, harmless even. In the beginning, he seemed to be timid when presenting himself in front of the populous. That timidness soon evolved into boldness. He looked confident ever since.
He gave away electronic television sets, ones that didn't need to plug into a wall work and had infinite channels. He didn't make any profit from his televisions; he claimed he didn't need the money. He never ate but appeared healthy, albeit a bit scrawny. Any food given to him would only end up in the hands of one in need of it. No one ever saw him at night. Once dusk approached, he would return to the Signal Tower until the following morning. He didn't seem to enjoy rainy days all that much.
He wore the same thing every day: a casual suit and a fedora. It was almost as if his clothes were fused to his body. No one was bothered by this, however; it seemed wrong to see him wearing anything else. His eyes hid under his fedora's shadow and blackened from whatever powers that laid behind them. His skin was an unnatural shade of grey and glitched like television static. His posture was stiff and straight, still as a lifeless mannequin. Most obviously, he was incredibly thin and impossibly tall.
A few called him "Broadcaster".
Everyone called him "Thin Man".
Oh, if only they knew the horrors he would bring.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: So as the description said, this is an AU of sorts. Long story short, I hate time loops in general. I'm not the biggest fan of the whole "Mono is the same Thin Man that chases him around the Pale City" story element. I am so not a fan of it, that I decided to adopt the "Six is the Lady's daughter" theory and applied it to both Six & the Lady and Mono & the Thin Man. I don't care if that theory was debunked by the developers themselves. I hate time loops that much. Sue me.
This is kind of a prologue of sorts of a bigger story I would like to write if anyone's interested. If there is an audience for what essentially one huge, complicated fix-it AU, I'm going to post it on AO3. The main reason for this is I want to post illustrations alongside the story, and you can't do that on FanFiction (plus I'm not a fan of the ads that randomly appear in the middle of stories). I'll try to keep the same username to make it easier for everyone who wants to find me on AO3; I'll leave an update on my profile if otherwise.
Let me know what you all think. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
UPDATE: I'm now on AO3! Check out my profile to get the link. I plan to post this fic on there as well, but it won't come up until later in the evening. Hope to see you all there!