Mono opened his eyes at last, but he did not know where he was.

He was underwater, yet he was falling.

Not sinking falling but even then, he was rising.

Breathing but not needing to.
He looked at his surroundings and saw he was underwater but also in the starry sky.

Deciding to only focus in one direction he looked up. Up and up, he saw a wall, not a surface. Silver and glassy, then soft like fabric, and rippled and watery.

He noticed as he moved upwards more and more there were objects floating past him. They looked like stars that turned to polished masks, brilliant crystals, beautiful eyes, and back to stars again.

Not having much time as he passed them flying or rather floating higher and higher until he hit the surface.

The sound of ruffled fabric, broken silver glass, splashing water, and whirling wind.

He laid on his back turned upright and blinked the material out of his eyes and then he saw it. What a sight to behold as he felt all his worries wash away. A pale light shone up above, yet it was not a cold or warm light. It merely guided him to the beautiful sight before him.

Calm waves gliding over a beautiful white shore. He began to swim towards it when he looked down and realized. There was ground below his feet supporting him to be able to walk. The only thing weighing him down was his coat. He unclasped it and began to walk to those beautiful shores leaving the old coat to rest upon those silent waves.

Walking turned to running as the land called to him, he heard whispers in the wind. Telling him to take his time but there was another voice in the wind. It sounded so vaguely familiar like calling to him from far away. He shrugged them off for the time being wanting nothing more to feel the sand on his feet.

He reached the shore and collapsed out of exhaustion. Exhaustion that did not last long as he felt revitalized despite what happened….

What did happen before?

He could not remember only hearing the voices in the wind telling him to leave it behind again. Shrugging it off in agreement Mono began to continue walking alongside the shoreline basking in the beauty. He walked over the hillside of pearly sand and he was greeted with a beautiful view. A far green country with that pale light welcoming him into. He started to walk forward when he noticed he was not alone.

A group of figures walked towards him. Some tall some short and some of them his size. Of the group he saw four thin men stiffly walking towards him, four women bashfully hiding their faces, and little girl wearing… was that a raincoat?

The four thin men each in their business suits merely looked down at him. Their faces tightly closed blind to the beauty surrounding them and yet there was relief. The corners of their lips slightly curved up in a small smile. They each tipped their hats to Mono. A sign of silent respect offered through gesture. Rising back up they split two to each side before extending their arms out toward those grassy meadows. As if to welcome him home.

The four ladies were all dressed in beautiful robes each of them still hiding their faces. They all looked familiar but Mono still could not pinpoint why. They turned finally removing their hands from their faces. Mono could see they were elegant and fay. They had an aura, but it was not of kindness. They projected more regret and sadness than anything else. They looked upon Mono with a look of pity and sadness as they too stood alongside the men as if to also welcome Mono.

All that was left was the little girl who slowly walked up to Mono. Mono wracked his head trying to figure out why the raincoat girl looked so familiar to him. The girl stood only a few feet away from him as she lifted her hood. She was a pretty girl with brown braided hair, a red ribbon tied in her hair, and dazzling brown eyes. She gave Mono a sad smile and he wondered…

Why…?

Why did she look so familiar to him and yet… there was something so wrong about her? He wondered why her hair was not short and black. Why did she not have her beautiful scarlet red eyes? Why did he not have a sense of longing for… her? Why she was looking at him as if he were the loneliest creature…

Alive.

"Oh God Six!" he remembered all at once everything that had happened before he arrived here. The fight on the bridge. His static reflection glaring at him before flying away. The bridge beginning to collapse and them running to land. Six catching him and then him letting go. He remembered the fall and then he ended up here. In a land welcoming him and telling him to let go of the pain.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he realized what he did. In the moment it felt so right to let go to do his best to save her. Realizing now that he did exactly what she did to him the first time around in the tower.

Abandoned her.

He fell to his knees the tears soaking the ground. Realizing something he looked up to the figures again. Four pairs of Thin Men and Ladies. No… not just that, pairs of Mono's and Six's each of them holding hands still awaiting him to come forward. Looking at him with sad eyes silently telling him to come forward. Leave his worries, his pain, and his regrets behind.

He tore open his shirt and looked down. Sure enough, all the scars and wounds from the brands and wounds were gone. He was untouched, a clean slate, nothing to go back to.

The Raincoat Girl was still standing there with that look of pity on her face. Glaring at her Mono then heard those voices in the wind. Still telling him to forget but then he heard one voice. He listened deeply on it.

"COME ON! PLEASE!"

He followed it abandoning the group of people still awaiting. He did not see it, but the Raincoat girl finally sent him a small smile before returning to those beautiful plains of paradise.

Mono ran and ran back over the hillside following her voice. The voice that comforted him, called out for him, begged for him, and cried for him. The sky starting to gain a couple of clouds in the sky and the waves began to pick up speed as he grew closer to them. The trench coat now floated onto the shore, grabbed it, and put it back on. He began to run out into the water only to find there was no land no ground supporting his choices now. He dove into the water and the skies tore apart in storm. The waves furiously pushing against Mono's advances back towards the ocean. Mono did not care as he pushed further and further slowly gaining water.

The waves suddenly rolled out harder and harder almost restarting Mono's progress. He had given up all hope of seeing her again until he heard her sad voice again,

"P-please Come Back."

He heard her sobbing and it bolstered him. He was not going to let Death hold him back from her. He was not going to be held back from wiping her tears. He would do whatever it took so he once again focused out towards those deep waves. With a pop he felt something leave him, but it did not matter to him. All that mattered to him right now was getting back to her and holding her again. He dove down into the depths again passing all the stars turned eyes. The eyes were looking back towards him not out of hatred or malice. It was a sad acceptance to him leave for now. Mono looked backed down towards the depths. Not stopping not giving up he looked down and he saw a light an image.

An image that depicted Six holding Mono's body in her arms crying in his shoulder. Determined Mono kept swimming his arm outstretched toward the light.

Then he felt his heart beating, coarse sand under his legs, a weight pressed up against his chest, something holding him up from behind, and his shoulder getting more and more damp.
He was back. Mono was alive.

Six was still crying into his shoulder believing she was not able to bring him back after all.

'Why must I be left alone in this world? Mono, please come back' she mourned him in her head. The fact that she would never grow up with him. The fact that she would never see his smile. She would never feel his warm welcoming embrace. She would be alone in the world all over again. Clenching his clothes as she sobbed heavily into his cold shoulder. Then she heard it…

A Heartbeat. And then she felt it.

A hand slowly rubbing her back in warm comfort. She pulled back looking into his face, his closed eyes.

His eyes opened looking back into her scarlet eyes. Tears of joy filling both their eyes as Mono weakly said.

"I'm back."

Six tackled him in a hug launching him backwards as Six landed on top of him. Mono beaming from ear to ear as Six embraced him not letting go for a long while. Mono completely returning with a mighty embrace of his own. They looked back into each other's eyes when Six noticed there was something off about him.

"Mono what happened to your eyes?"

Mono looked into Six's eyes and saw what she meant. He could see his reflection in her eyes and his eyes. They lost the black and white static that used to fill. Now? One of them was a deep-sea blue and the other was a glassy silver. Now self-reflecting he realized he could not completely feel his powers. He could still generate static from his hands, but he could not feel his ability to teleport. Not that he wanted to anyways he did not want to leave who was right in front of him.

"Six what happened to me is not important right now. Six I…" and he sat up to look at Six face to face. "I'm sorry for leaving you and I know just telling you just that isn't going to cut it," he knelt on all fours in surrender. "Six… Please Forgive Me."

Six looked down in shock of all the things she expected for him to do when he woke up it was not this. Shaking her head, she sat on her knees as she gently grasped his head. Gently pulling him up she stared into his heterochromatic eyes and said, "Just as long as you promise me one thing Mono."

He stared back into her eyes, "Anything Six, Anything."

She smiled as she said, "Never leave me again as long as we walk in this world."

His eyes on the verge of tears as Mono went limp in Six's arms. "Of course, Six of course." He looked deeply into her eyes. "It turns out paradise isn't real without you."

They looked deeply into each other's eyes before drawing their faces close into deep kiss. Unlike all those other times in the Pale City this one was different. It was a relationship that could never be broken. An ongoing cycle they both would make sure never shattered. A promise that could never be fractured.

Leaving that embrace they looked outward toward the Pale City and saw the fruits of their labor. Out in the distance they heard the distress of the remaining Viewers as they tore themselves apart. The city not being supported by the Tower's influence finally began to crumble. They watched as the city that gave them so much trouble from its menagerie of monsters and head finally crumbled to debris. The two of them suddenly blinded as a yellow warm light finally poked out from the clouds.

Morning Sun a new age dawned on the collapsed city.

Mono having never actually felt the Sun started to walk out towards the waves. Undoing his trench coat that was tied around at his waist and unbuttoning his shirt he began to bask in it. Six looking at him from a small distance saw him as he reached his arms out towards the view. Six realized in that moment what this felt like to Mono. Seeing the white scars of chain brands, she was reminded of a prisoner. Mono was not a prisoner though he was an innocent man now walking free. Free of the chains that bound him, the Tower now slain.

Mono faltered and then looked back towards Six his hand outreached. Six started to walk towards him stopping for a second. She took off the raincoat now in her shirt and shorts and she joined him hand in hand. They stayed there for a good while basking in the light feeling free of the nightmare they had gone through.

Mono looked back to that place of paradise one last time and had one more thought, "Not yet. Not without her."

He and Six wished they could stay there forever on that beach, but the storm clouds were rolling in and they would need to keep moving forward. Mono was the first to stand up and reached down to pick up Six with a big grin and spoke.

"So… What now?"