The Runaway Kid was utterly terrified at the moment!

He had seen her face… the face of The Lady, and now she was running after him! He could practically hear her gliding towards her with malicious intent as he ran. His heart pumped intensely within the child's chest as he forced himself to sprint forwards in spite of his exhaustion, and before long, he saw a door in front of him!

Yes! He was closing in on freedom! Now all he needed to do was to free himself from this dark magic that was binding him and squeeze through the crack in the door!

Wait what.

He was floating! HE WAS FLOATING! THE LADY HAD CAUGHT UP WITH HIM!

With a terrified gasp of terror, the Runaway Kid struggled as he was lifted up into the air. He flailed his arms in terror as he attempted to free himself from her magical grasp, though he made no progress as his body was forcefully turned to the side. He eventually came face to porcelain-mask with The Lady herself as she emerged from the darkness, dressed in a slick red kimono and with a white mask covering her face.

Though it wasn't obvious, The Lady was most definitely enraged with the Runaway Kid as she stared at him through the eyeholes of her mask, and as she did so, the child forced himself to shut his eyes, not wishing to see what came next as the masked woman flexed her hands, further empowering the dark energy surrounding him all the while.

'W-Well… I guess this is it! I had a good run…!' thought the Runaway Kid as he grimly accepted his fate…

A fate that, evidently enough, wasn't about to come as the entire room suddenly shook violently as something crashed slammed straight into the structure they were in.

Gasping under her mask as the room shook, The Lady's magical hold on the Runaway Kid loosened as she stumbled to the side. Thereafter, the child, recovering quickly from his fall, sprinted towards the door and squeezed through its cracks, with him thanking the stars themselves for such a divine intervention having been thrown his way as he sprinted through various cracks and holes in the wall.

'What… the heck was that, anyways?'

Meanwhile

"So… h-how did I do…?"

"You don't want to know/Probably as well as you could've."

The varying responses from both Graham and the Thin Man unsettled Mono quite a bit as he pulled his hands away from the Brave's controller sticks and tapped his fingers together. As he did so, Graham sighed and regained control of his unit, with him now having to transform his Mobile Suit into its mecha form to remove its Drake Howling Beam Rifle from the top of The Maw.

Several minutes prior, Mono, after being rescued from his tumble into the ocean, had requested to try and land the Brave at their destination, which was known as The Maw, according to the Thin Man, a retreat for the rich to indulge in food. Graham found the very notion of indulging in food to be wasteful. At least indulging in Bushido gave him the ability to break down concrete with his fists!

But besides the point. Despite his reluctance, Graham had given Mono temporary control over the Brave in order to land it. He guided the child on the basics as they closed in on The Maw, and though things did seem to be going well at first, things quickly turned sour when Mono fucking rammed the Brave nosecone-first into the top of The Maw, embedding the Drake Howling Beam Rifle deep into the structure's top all the while.

"I… I'm sorry," apologised Mono as Graham freed the Beam Rifle from its predicament.

"It is quite alright. No harm was done, after all," assured Graham as he peeked in through the hole that the Beam Rifle had made. "Not to us, at least."

"The people inside… are they okay?" asked Mono worriedly, and in response, the Thin Man let out a humourless chuckle.

"Those things aren't humans, Mono. They're… animals. Animals that have been warped by other eldritch beings and forced into coming here whenever possible to satiate their insatiable hunger," corrected the Thin Man as, via the Brave's optic-to-cockpit system, Graham and Mono peered into the hole in the ceiling and saw several 'people' sitting within The Maw. Except… these people were all morbidly obese, so much so that it was honestly worrying. And in spite of that, they simply continued to gorge themselves on food items, almost as though they wanted to eat themselves to death, a prospect that was less than savoury to either Mono or Graham, to say the least. "Make no mistake, both of you. They may seem… harmless, but when they see either Mono or possibly even you, Graham, they may pounce and make an attempt to eat either one of you."

"Such corruption… tell me, what do you know of the eldritch being that compels these people to feast until they perish?" inquired Graham, to which the Thin Man shook his head.

"I can't say much about that. All I know is that it's similar to the Signal Tower, located somewhere to the East," explained the Thin Man, sounding rather apologetic for his lack of knowledge. It seemed to be enough for the soldier, however, as he nodded.

"I see. After we free your friend and bring the two of you to a safe location, I shall head East and free these men and women from its influence!" declared Graham Aker as he positioned his Brave unit in front of a lighthouse-esc structure that sat at the very top of The Maw. As he did so, he opened its cockpit and jumped out of it with little issue. "Mono, remain in the cockpit! Thin Man, you shall remain in charge of the Brave until I return!"

The Thin Man offered no objections to remaining behind. He really didn't wish to see Six, after all, much less the woman she had grown into. As for Mono, however… the boy found himself shuffling out of the unit's cockpit before he came to a stop in front of Graham… and it took him less than a second to understand what he wanted.

Opening his mouth, Mono was about to speak, though he was silenced when Graham held a hand up.

"Allow me to guess. You wish to follow me?"

A swift nod.

"And you won't take no for an answer?"

Another nod.

"And your reasoning for following me is because you believe that your friend will recognise you and come to you when she sees you?"

Another nod… and the Thin Man yelled out: "Bullshit," in the background as Graham sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You know that if they see us, they'll try and eat us, yes?" reminded Graham, prompting Mono to shudder as he nodded.

"You especially, Mono, since children are a delicacy here," added the Thin Man as he warped out of the Brave's systems and into the real world, where he claimed the cockpit seat as his own and propped his legs up onto the main monitor of the unit. Graham appeared noticeably disturbed by that but chose to not comment on it as he nodded.

"As such, you will be more likely to be targeted. So, allow me to ask, are you certain-"

"YES!" replied Mono almost immediately, surprising Graham with his courage as he nodded firmly. "I want to follow you, Graham Aker! I… I want to see Six again! P-Please…!"

And with that, Graham sighed and glanced over at the Thin Man, who had once more materialised a cigarette in his hand as he took a long drag from it. Thereafter, he coughed, threw the recently lit cigarette out of the cockpit and into the ocean, before shrugging, telling Aker that this was his choice to make, and at that, the soldier sighed and lowered his hand down towards his young charge.

"Very well, though do remain here at all times," ordered Graham as he set Mono on his shoulder, and at that, the Shonen nodded as he sat atop the soldier's shoulder, though as he did so, he opted to remove Graham's helmet from his head as it ended up weighing him down quite a bit.

"T-Thin Man, catch!"

The throw that Mono had attempted with the helmet was… laughable, to say the least, as the helmet simply landed on the ground with an unceremonious thud, and after laughing about it for a while, the Thin Man made use of his power to levitate the helmet towards himself, much to Mono's shock.

"W-Whoa… can I do that someday?" asked Mono as the Thin Man shrugged.

"With enough time and patience, anything is possible. Now get a move on. You have a traitor to save," urged the Thin Man as he waved both Graham and Mono off before the cockpit to the Brave shut itself. Thereafter, the Brave boosted high up into the air, well above the atmosphere, before it came to a stop, hovering above the clouds as the Thin Man patiently waited for the two to finish their task.

"So, Shonen, shall we? We have a Shoujo to save!" proclaimed Graham as he smiled at Mono gently, and in response, the child in the trench coat chuckled awkwardly as he nodded.

"Y-Yeah, let's go save Six!"

Elsewhere

Sighing a little as she stumbled out of the elevator, little, yellow raincoated Six found herself collapsing in exhaustion as she felt her heart speed up dramatically.

That was a close call right there. That Chef was nothing if not tenacious, and if it had caught her, then who knows what would've happened to her!

She'd probably become a dish for those guests, most likely. And that was if she was lucky! Hell, she was lucky enough to have been able to have made it this far on her journey through The Maw. Having to deal with The Janitor, The Twin Chefs and The Guests, among other things, it was simply a miracle that she has yet to die!

A small break was probably in order, Six decided, as she made her way towards a secluded corner and huddled herself in it. As she did so, the young girl pulled back the hood of her raincoat and wiped the sweat from her brow. Man, was she exhausted! She couldn't afford to stop for more than a few seconds prior to this, so this mild respite was very much necessary.

And at the same time… her brief reprisal had also brought forth an unpleasant part of her mind as she began to think about… him.

'Mono…' thought Six as she hugged her knees closer to her chest, frowning deeply as she remembered his name. Why did she even bother to remember his name was a mystery in itself. Forgetting it would've made her life much easier, after all, as the mere thought of his name simply made her remember that look on his face as she dropped him…

There was no hatred, nor was there any sign of any real terror, at least none that Six could see at that very moment. No… there was only… confusion. Confusion… and pure, unadulterated sadness when he had realized that Six was not going to save him. Back then, dropping Mono had yielded quite a good response from the raincoated girl, as she felt the dopamine rush hit her like a sack of bricks at getting back at Mono for not helping her when the Thin Man had taken her.

Now, however… she found herself regretting that one act more so than anything she had done in the past, and trust me, she had done plenty of fucked up crap prior to dropping her only friend in this god forsaken world. The loneliness… the guilt… the lack of 'Oi!' and 'Psst, hey!'... it was all rather… depressing to Six as she had no one to turn to vent these frustrations out on…

Or at least… no one useful…

"Thinking about him again, huh?"

"Shut up…"

In response to her comment, the entity that sat atop a nearby drawer pouted as she stood up and jumped off it. At that height, any normal child would've been at least a little injured, but the entity appeared unphased as she dropped down and approached Six casually.

When she stepped into the light, her appearance became clear. It was Six… but at the same time, it was not. Its general appearance matched Six's, though it lacked any recognisable details and was instead formed almost entirely out of shadows. Even without a mouth, this… Shadow Six was still capable of speech, and it used it to taunt the actual Six as it crossed its arms scornfully.

"You know it's your fault, yes? You dropped him down there when you could've saved him. You wish you did it all differently, now don't you?" inquired Shadow Six as Six herself winced and held both her hands up against her ears.

"No… Mono was weak… he… he wouldn't have survived for much longer if I had pulled him-"

"Excuses. Nothing more than excuses. You know that you're wrong…" growled Shadow Six as she disappeared temporarily before reappearing once more, with her leaning against a close by wall as she spoke, checking on her nonexistent nails all the while. "Mono was a strong lil' bastard, y'know? He fought tooth and nail to get you back at the school, voluntarily ventured deep into the hospital so that you wouldn't have to… and even when you were stolen from him, he still came for you. And you let him fall."

"Shut up."

"You know the truth. You were just too immature to let it into your thick skull."

"Shut up!"

"Poor Six~ Destined to be abandoned by everyone she ever knew~ First the girl on the airship, and then Mono~ Who shall be the third?~"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

And right as those words left her mouth, Six heard a soft cry of fear come from behind Shadow Six, and at that, the Shadow faded away as the girl in the raincoat blinked a little and turned her attention towards the one who had cried out in fear, only to raise a brow when he saw… a boy?

Definitely a boy. Short brown hair covering his eyes, blue hoodie-like shirt, long blue pants and a chain wrapped around his ankle. He didn't look particularly threatening, not to Six anyways, though she reckoned that he needed a haircut. That massive mop on his head covered up more than half his face, for fucks sake!

"Erm… h-hi…?" greeted the child meekly, waving a tad at Six as he gingerly approached her. He was swiftly halted, however, when Six let out a growl and bared her fangs, which were inadvertently sharpened to cruel points by now as she felt the influence of The Maw cast a tighter stranglehold on her person. "I… I'm not here t-to cause any trouble! I just want out…!"

No response from Six as she glared at him with uncertainty, though at the very least, she hadn't pounced on him and ripped his throat out… yet. No, for now, she remained in her little corner in silence as she eyed the child before her warily, prompting him to shrink under her sharp gaze as she brought her raincoat hood up and above her head.

"U-Uh… well… I… I'm Seven… and it's… nice t-to meet you…?" introduced the child, Seven, as he scooted over towards Six and meekly held his hand out towards her. This situation reminded Six of… something, however, prompting her to glare at him with the force of a thousand supernovas as Seven hastily backed off. "Alright bad start-"

"You. How'd you get out. It's close to impossible when it comes to escaping," remanded Six, grimacing deeply as she glared at Seven. In response to his words, the slightly taller child chuckled meekly and shrugged.

"Luck. It's a whole string of luck," explained Seven as he leaned back and sat a respectable distance away from Six. She said nothing as she kept her gaze fixed squarely on Seven, observing him for any potential sign of hostility… ready to pounce and rip his throat out and eat it at any given second…

Man, she really was a fucked up child, now that she thought about it… ah well. This was a fucked up world, and surviving in it probably guaranteed that you'd get some screws loose.

"Such as?" inquired Six, not particularly interested, though she did want to rest for a little longer, and as such, she opted to listen to Seven's little tale. The kid was quite the talker, it would seem, as he kept rambling on about stuff. He spoke of the depths and The Granny and how he electrocuted her, how he avoided the Janitor as the blind bastard attempted to catch him in the furnace room and finally, he spoke of the lady, a topic that piqued Six's interest as she really wanted to kill her… for some reason.

"She's got some black magic power. It… it let her lift me up into the air. I don't know what she would've done to me if The Maw hadn't shook," said Seven thoughtfully as Six rubbed her chin. Suddenly, this kid didn't seem so useless to her after all…

"Do you know how to counter it?" asked Six, to which Seven shrugged.

"She has a ton of broken mirrors. Think that's how?" suggested Seven, to which Six rubbed her chin before shrugging herself.

"Who knows," groaned Six, grimacing as she stood up. Sparing the runaway kid a quick glance, the raincoat girl couldn't help but scowl as she was once again reminded of her old acquaintance… though she didn't let that keep her back for too long as she walked past him. "Thanks for the info, I guess. I'll be on my way."

"Where? Are you trying to escape too?" asked Seven, sounding hopeful at the prospect of an ally as he stared at Six with a smile. His response killed the hope in his voice, however, as the raincoat girl shook her head.

"No. I have… business here," explained Six, frowning as she rubbed her upper arm in a way that was… very much unlike her. Seven seemed a little curious as to what this business was as he stepped towards her to ask, though he quickly thought better of it and opted to ask another question instead.

"Well, think I can help you with your business?" asked Seven, surprising Six greatly as she glanced back at him. "I don't know if I'll be able to help much, but even so… I don't know how to escape this place. If I follow you, and after you finish your business, we can escape together!"

"That is a terrible reason to follow me and you know it," countered Six, frowning as she found herself reminded of Mono yet again. This kid was so similar to that boy that it infuriated Six to no end. She wanted to rip his throat out right here, right now… though she couldn't bring herself to do it as she watched the runaway kid approach her awkwardly.

"It's terrible, but it's probably my best bet. You look like a proper survivor, after all, and when things get rough, you always follow the best," pointed out Seven, and at that, Six relented as she waved him off.

"Fine, just don't slow me-"

"GRAM PUNCH!"

"-down… what was that?"

And suddenly, the entirety of The Maw shook once more as something heavy impacted its side, much to the displeasure of both Six and Seven as they nearly stumbled onto their sides.

"Doesn't sound good… w-we should get going, Six!" urged Seven.

And to that, the raincoated girl held no objections.

Ah yes, the great betrayer makes her debut! And the Gnome King as well! How shall this pan out? Well why're you asking me. It's not like I'm the author of this story!

… wait.