Summary: "Mono reached up to rub his head as he slowly sat up. The Lady was there, staring at him. She knew who he was. 'Rise, Thin Man.'" The Lady turns Mono on his friends against his will. One-shot. First game AU.
A/N: I just wanted to say that I got this idea while reading the latest chapter (thirteen) of pinkCeku's Monochromatic Insomnia, a story which I've been following for awhile now. I suppose you could say that this is a fanfic of a fanfic, my version of how the story could end. It's a bit different, however, my version being one where the Lady has not yet seen Mono's face. And recognized him for who he is.
Beneath The Surface
The big room was dark. Shadows moved around like smoke. It was eerily quiet, the only sounds being of his own breathing and that of his friends. The worn paper bag on his head rustled as he turned to look around. The light from the flashlight and lighter that his companions held was swallowed up in the darkness.
"What do we do?" RK's nervous voice reached his ears. "Mono?"
Mono swallowed, but forced himself not to allow fear to overtake him. "We wait for her to show herself."
Both boys startled at the rumbling of their companion's stomach, then allowed themselves to relax as they realized that it wasn't the woman praying on them who had made the sound.
"Hold on, Six." He urged.
A sudden, larger shift in the shadows off to Mono's right sent a chill up his spine. RK involuntarily took a step back, pressing up against the back of Six's yellow raincoat in his fear, causing the girl to hiss at him. The boy apologized quietly. Mono shushed them, eyes scanning through the darkness for another sign of movement.
Whoosh!
A powerful gust of air caught the shadows, scooping the children into the air and tossing them across the room like ragdolls. RK cried out in fright. Mono's breath caught in his chest. He heard Six gasp. They collectively grunted as their bodies hit the wall, the floor not long after.
Mono reached up to rub his head as he slowly sat up. His foot crunched against something and he froze, eyes landing on the paper bag that gave him sanctuary to the demons of the world. He was completely exposed now.
His gaze snapped upward at a thoughtful sound. The Lady was there, staring at him. At first, he was puzzled. But despite her white mask, the tilt of her head caused the realization to finally dawn on him. She recognized him. She knew who he was.
Horrified, he could only stare at her.
"Rise, Thin Man." The Lady hissed.
"Never." He growled, eyes cold.
The use of the name triggered an anger deep within Mono, one he had thought long gone; it was the Thin Man's resentment that he felt boiling through his veins. His eyes widened as that thought came to him and he realized that he had no choice in the matter. No.
An animalistic screech tore from his throat as he felt the horrible pain of his bones growing. He wasn't sure if he was hearing the crackling of the Transmission's static or the cracking of his bones. He was vaguely aware of the ground getting farther away from him, the terrified forms of his friends growing smaller beneath him. Agony radiated through his heightening body.
He could feel the fabric of his trenchcoat and other clothing change as they transformed into the suit that the Thin Man wore. He staggered, one hand groping at his forehead, as the growing gradually slowed and came to a stop. He straightened, towering over the Lady, stripped back to the monster that he had never wished to be again.
She regarded him for a moment behind her mask, then stepped back. Her voice had the same snake-like texture to it that had been there when she'd spoken previously. "Attack."
He whipped around to face RK and Six, static crackling around him, his power radiating through the air. The girl had gotten up, baring her teeth as if the gesture would threaten him. RK cowered against the floor, his small eyes shining in betrayal, fear, and confusion. But Mono was not in control of the thin, wiry body that was the Thin Man.
The part of him that remembered the horrid loop he had been in forced him to target Six first.
The yellow raincoat leapt to the side, his fingertips grazing it as he grabbed for her. His eyes narrowed in bitter annoyance at her evading maneuvers, unable to forget the many times he had gone up against her and his younger self. She would not get away this time.
"Fight it!" Six snapped, wildly throwing herself to the ground, away from him as his hand closed where she had been a moment before.
The part of Mono that hadn't been swallowed up by the Thin Man's hatred fought back, her words urging him on. The Thin Man reeled back at the sudden resistance, lips curling back to reveal clenched teeth.
He barely had time to process the sound of her stomach growling again before teeth latched onto his leg through the fabric of his pants. He snarled down at her, giving his head a violent shake to clear it. But Mono was strong. He would not give in to the Thin Man's attempts to rid of him. He felt blood trickle down his leg as Six got through the fabric of his pant leg and tore at his flesh, attacking it like a starving animal.
"W-what are you doing?" RK stammered in horrified disbelief at the sight before him, his two companions tearing away at each other like the monsters he hadn't known they were.
The Thin Man angrily kicked at the child clinging to his leg. His foot connected with her form and she was thrown back into the wall with the strength of a man at least four times her size. She fell limp and didn't move.
He turned on RK. The boy had risen to his feet, but remained close to the ground. It was clear that despite the monsters he had encountered, he had never seen anything like the vicious sight unfolding before him. His eyes were so big, so round. His face was pale.
He's not your enemy. Mono told the Thin Man, desperate to protect the boy. He's done you no wrong, not yet. Leave him be. Go for the Lady. She's the real enemy.
In a blink of an eye, the Thin Man complied. He manipulated the static, phasing from where he towered over RK to no more than a foot behind the Lady. Scooping a fragment of broken mirror off of the floor, he plunged it into her back with all the resentment he had ever held towards Six and the Signal Tower.
A shrill shriek of pain shattered the air as the object punctured her skin.
Let me speak. Mono requested.
He received an affirmative buzz of static in response, jaw slackening.
"You cannot control me." His voice was naturally gruff, the static of the Transmission distorting it to make it sound more threatening than it probably was. "Leave my friends and I alone. I don't want to kill you, but I will if I have to."
The Lady laughed coldly, a sudden aura of shadows erupting from seemingly within her, sending him back a few feet, the bloodied shard of glass clutched in his hands, but freed from her body.
Without warning, the shadows constricted his throat, blocking his airway. The Thin Man growled in protest, hands releasing the broken mirror and reaching up to claw at the darkness around his neck. He could feel his energy start to drain away, the shadows sucking the life force from his body. He slowly allowed himself to fall to his knees in his lack of strength, body glitching in uncontrollable spasms that the monster had probably never felt before.
"Stop!" RK cried, his flashlight flashing onto the Lady's face.
She let out a screech as she recoiled back towards the shadows, unintentionally releasing her control over the Thin Man and the suffocating tendrils of darkness surrounding him.
Mono collapsed onto his stomach, gasping for air as his body agonizingly shrank in on itself, beginning to reduce him back to his own size.
Thank you. The Thin Man hummed at him, the feeling of the monster's presence fading as he was shut away again, where he should have remained.
The boy stopped shrinking. His eyes had fallen shut and now struggled to flutter open. He was so, so tired. He panted as air slipped back into his lungs, yet could not bring himself to move, for his limbs felt heavy. He felt a chill sweep through his body as the heat of the action faded from his veins.
He managed to glimpse the Lady collapse to the ground, blood leaking from her throat as a figure in a yellow raincoat tore at it with a relentless hunger. Her shrieks faded to silence not long after his eyes slid shut again.
Silence.
The licking of lips. The rustling of a sleeve wiping across a face.
Soft, echoing footsteps nearing him.
"Mono?"
He managed to tear his eyes open, trying to lift his lead to look at the disheveled form of Six beside him. His muscles burned. The room was a little brighter than it had been a few moments ago. He spotted a guarded RK watching them from a distance.
"You're monsters." The boy repeated the words he had said to them upon their meeting, his voice painfully cold. "You lied to me."
"So?" Six asked, scowling darkly.
Mono clutched at his throbbing leg with a whimper. He wanted to put his paper bag on, to hide from RK's accusations. He could feel his blood seeping out onto his hands. I'm going to die here, aren't I?
"Help." He croaked as his eyes fell shut once more, his voice soft with youth again. I don't want to die down here. It's too dark, too cold. Six, please do something.
He felt her hands pry his arms away from his leg and start to drag him towards the room's exit, halting shortly from the exertion of energy. He heard her ask RK to assist her. For a long moment, there was nothing and Mono was sure the boy wasn't going to help. Then, a second set of hands grabbed him and they began to move again.
Despite how unhappy he was, RK knew that he would need them to survive. That and the boy probably didn't have the guts to abandon him, even if he had not been told the full truth from their original meeting.
They would stick together, for now, until they finally escaped the depths of the Maw. After all, there was more beneath the surface of the Maw than there was their alliance, and that took precedence over whatever they felt for now.