Hey guys.

Welcome back for another chapter of Stay! Things will take a sudden turn now!

Let's start!

DISCLAIMER: Little Nightmares does NOT belong to me, nor the image I'm using for the fanfic.

IX:

(In)Complete

It was pitch black.

She was used to the dark, she really was, but she never thought she'd find a place as dark as this place. She couldn't even see her own hands.

She walked around blind, her steps were unsteady and fearful. Where was she?

Suddenly, she saw something; a light; a purple light from afar. She started to sprint towards it, and she was able to see a door in bad shape. Once she got close enough, she placed her hands towards the wood, trying to break it, but she didn't have that much strength. She was too small.

She stepped backwards, and she almost fell as her left foot felt something hard. She looked down and saw an axe. Grabbing it, she looked at the door. For some reason, she knew who'd be behind it.

"Mono…"

Raising it with all her power, she smashed it, destroying the old wood, but the gap wasn't big enough. After four more tries, she was able to get through, and held her breath.

A monster; a giant monster made of flesh and eyes was surrounding the place, it almost felt like the whole place was made out of that creature. She was able to see a boy lying on the fleshy matter, unconscious?

"Mono!"

Six ran to drop to her knees besides him. She shook violently his shoulders, and he winced in pain. With effort, he opened his eyes.

"Si… Six?" He muttered, breathless.

His eyes were back to normal. They were dark blue again.

Wait, again? She blinked.

She shook her head. She didn't have time to think about that. Mono looked his surroundings and quickly got up.

"We have to get out."

Without replying, she just started running as she grabbed his hand. He was close behind her, but she could tell he was struggling to keep up her speed. He was gasping in pain, he seemed tired too. She clenched her teeth, but she didn't slow down. The fake normal walls were collapsing as the flesh kept resurging from it and tried to swallow them.

She spotted a path that seemed free of the flesh grasp, so she ran towards it. It felt like a bridge, the hard matter below her feet seemed delicate, though. It could break any second.

"Wa… it…"

Mono fell to his knees, panting as he let go of her hand. Six turned and tried to drag him, but then, she noticed something.

There was a dark liquid running down his neck, and his left shoulder was stained of it. Was he hurt? When?

Mono winced in pain as he tried to control his breathing. He needed to concentrate, they wouldn't be able to get out if he didn't try hard enough. He closed his eyes.

Six watched him in silence, then, she felt something bright behind her. She turned and saw a kind of glitchy exit. She assumed they'd get out through a TV and it was Mono's doing. She looked back at her friend, and grabbed his arm and dragged him to get out. He barely walked, but they made it.

.

.

.

They were expulsed from the TV so hard it broke from its force. Six sat up and looked around; they were in a room, maybe inside a house or a building. As long as they were alone, she didn't care.

"Mono." She called him.

"Hn…"

He was still lying, breathing loudly.

"Si-Six… are you okay?"

She felt a knot in her throat.

"… I'm fine."

This room was dark, but she could see his face, and since she could properly see his whole face this time, she appreciated the relieved smile he gave her.

"I'm glad…"

She narrowed her eyes and kneeled by his side.

"You look worse than me."

"Oh… I, uh… I was running… from that man… I was in a train carriage… it went so fast when it crashed… I can't move my arm." He whimpered in pain as he tried to move his left arm.

The girl grimaced at that; she didn't know he was hurt during his "trip" to save her. And now that she remembered…

"Where's that man now?" She asked. Honestly, she feared he'd come back for them. She didn't remember what he did to her, but she didn't want to feel like that ever again.

"… He won't bother you anymore." He assured her, then suppressed a groan.

Six softened her gaze and helped him to sit up.

"Why are you bleeding?"

"Uh?" He blinked. "I'm bleeding?"

"Yeah." She followed the trail of blood from the shoulder to the head. "Maybe you hit your head."

"Uh, I did. I forgot about that." He murmured.

"You should rest. When you get better, we'll get out of here."

Mono stared at her for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Okay." He winced as he grabbed his shoulder. "Mm… Can you help me, though?"

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"My shoulder… I think… it hurts when I try to move my arm, but I think the main problem is my shoulder."

Six fixated her gaze at it; now that she saw better, his shoulder had a weird angle.

"… What about it?"

"I read it, in a book… I think that I dis… um…" He blushed, embarrassed he couldn't remember straight away the word. "Disc… Mm… Dislocated it? I need to place it back together, but I need your help."

"… You want me to do it?"

"Umm, if you don't want to…" He deflated at her reaction.

"It's not that." She shook her head. "… I'm just… not sure if I'll do it right."

"You'll do fine. I trust you."

She looked up at his face.

He trusts me, she thought, then nodded silently.

It took more than one try. Mono had a really hard time while Six tried to accommodate his arm right back to his shoulder; she needed to move it in the right angle, to finally pop it together, or piece it as if it were a puzzle. When Six put it back, Mono let out a long sigh of relief.

"… I'm so tired." He muttered.

She didn't blame him. He was injured and he needed a good rest. Six honestly didn't feel that tired; a good nap wouldn't hurt. So they looked around and spotted a big sofa. Six pulled gently Mono's hand to get up and signaled the thing where they could sleep.

"You're not tired?"

"I am…" she admitted. "But I… don't want to sleep yet."

He stared at her for a while, then he curled himself into a ball and closed his eyes, but something in his pocket bothered him a little. When he was about to check what it was, a gurgling noise sounded in the room. He moved a little and saw Six hugging her stomach.

"Six? Are you hungry?" He frowned; it was the first time he saw her wearing that kind of expression; almost as if she was going to die if she didn't eat something. He sat and looked through his pockets, and found what was the thing that pressed against his side before going to sleep. It was a piece of corn. He had found it in the hospital. The whole thing was too big for him to bring around, so he chopped it and only grabbed a piece of it. He extended the corn towards her.

"Umm… it's not much, but…"

He was abruptly interrupted when Six took the food away from him and chewed it desperately. He was surprised she even ate the whole kernel. Had it been that long they stayed inside the Tower that she was starving? He didn't remember much, then how come he wasn't dying of hunger like her? Maybe it was that he needed more rest. Maybe he'd be hungry in a few hours.

Six's gums were hurting, biting something hard like the kernel of the corn. The emptiness she felt inside her stomach seemed to dissipate, at least, for a while.

"Feel better?"

Silently nodding, she sat closer to him. He smiled one last time and leaned back down, feeling the hard mattress of the sofa against him. He fell asleep almost immediately. Six watched his body relaxing and moving with the rhythm of his breathing. She contemplated his face a little. His hair wasn't long, but wasn't that short either. It looked black, but was it really? It was dark, so she couldn't tell. He was pale, awfully and sickly pale, but what kid in these circumstances wasn't? His cheekbones were pronounced a little, maybe because he didn't eat much, just like her. Still, it surprised her his ability and persistence of survival. She gave him credit for that.

… And she was glad he was safe, with her.

Her eyes moved to the wound that was in the back of his head. She gently pressed her fingers in his nape through the hair, searching for the whump he suffered. His body tensed when she found it; it was a little swollen, and the cut had stopped bleeding, she didn't feel any wetness in her skin. She leaned closer, and noticed Mono didn't clean the trails of blood that went from his nape to his shoulder. The coat was stained in it, and his neck too.

She didn't know what made her approach him some more to do what she was craving to do, but she did.

Six grazed the back of his neck with her nose, inhaling the intoxicating scent of iron; of Mono's blood. She opened her mouth and her tongue licked clean the dry liquid from his skin, and she savored the taste.

This was Mono's.

From Mono.

Her precious friend…

Her precious safe place.

He let out a soft yelp as she sucked a little his sensitive skin to make disappear the dry blood from his neck.

Then Six reacted.

She lifted her head, getting away from him. To her relief, he didn't wake up. He just moved a little. She moved away from him and hopped off the sofa. She walked around the room, trying to understand what just happened to her. She had a painful desire to eat, and Mono satisfied it giving her food. Still, it didn't seem enough. She licked her lips, noticing the flavor of her friend's blood was still there. It was metallic, almost tasteless like water.

But it was thicker and so warm.

Even like that, she craved more from her friend.

She wasn't going to eat him. Eating him would mean he'd disappear from her grasp. Losing him wasn't an option. Six wanted him closer to her; closer than anyone else. So, she could be safe. Tasting his blood made her realize how fragile his life was. She needed him so much…

She yelped in pain as her stomach growled. Almost falling to her knees, she hugged her torso and panted. She stole a brief glance at Mono. He was asleep. Usually, he was a light-sleeper, but she wasn't surprised he almost dropped dead to sleep. So, she looked around to find something to open the door of the room. She dragged a box that was near the broken TV and was able to open it. She cringed as the door made a horrible sound as it opened, but Mono didn't move.

Silently, she got out.

Screams and wails made Mono jump awake. He abruptly got up, disoriented as he kept hearing the screams. They sounded like… the viewers? He wasn't sure. He moved his arms to approach a window, but flinched as he felt his muscles protesting.

"Six? What's…?"

He froze as he noticed he was alone. The door was half-opened and he thought about the worst scenario. He ran towards the exit of the room, and when he walked through the hallway, he saw her.

He figured she was coming back from wherever she went, but what concerned him was her appearance. Her raincoat, specially her sleeves, was drenched in blood. Her own face was stained with it, specifically in her mouth. They stared at each other without saying anything. Mono saw her clenching her fists, as if expecting something bad to happen.

"… I thought something happened to you." He first mumbled. "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself somewhere?"

Six was silent a few seconds, then lowered her gaze.

"… The blood's not mine…"

"Oh." He blinked, then swallowed, feeling a little awkward. "You need to clean yourself. We can look for something to…"

"You're not going to say anything?" She interrupted him, frustrated he wasn't yelling at her or telling her she was a monster.

Mono frowned, but then softened his gaze as he looked at her eyes.

"It's not the first time I've seen it." He shrugged. "I don't mind." She widened her eyes, and Mono walked past her to look for a bathroom or some room that had some tissues or something useful. "I was in a group before I met you… I was only allowed to join them because they wanted to kick out one of the children because he ate one of them. I don't know the whole story, but I know that kid ate him because he was going to die anyway." He noticed a half open door and was relieved it was a bathroom. There was toilet paper, towels, and water filling the tub. "Six, here! I found it!"

Six silently followed him, still wondering why he wasn't judging her.

"… Have you… eaten…?"

"I've eaten raw meat once or twice." He answered her before she finished her question. "I never ate a person, though. I was really hungry, and I ate a crow that I found in a trap through the woods. I try to avoid it, but if I have to, I do it." He looked at her. "Are you embarrassed?"

"… I thought you'd be mad at me." She honestly replied.

Mono signaled her to sit in the toilet seat and he gave her a damp towel so she could dry herself. Six was surprised he didn't reprimand her, or at least be horrified of her actions. Still, he had a point. They were in a broken world where survival was almost a miracle.

As he waited, he sensed a presence nearby and tensed. Six noticed his behavior and was about to ask what was wrong, until they saw a dark figure in the entrance of the bathroom.

More like, a dark, glitchy version of Six, smiling at them.

Ok, we only have one chapter left!

I hope you guys liked it!

Rossana~