Time seems to slow down as things happen for Kai and Six. Six has just been snatched by the fourth Alchemist. Her arms pinned to the to her body as the Alchemist starts to carry her out of the room. The Alchemist pauses before looking around the room again swearing it though it saw two children in the room. Searching all over the room except for under the bed the blue-eyed one starts stomping out of the room. Knowing full well that something else was up Kai begins to slowly follow the Alchemist down the hallway. Six still caught in the grasp of the monster begins to go limp. Unable to escape from the monster's vice grip. A lone tear falls from her face desperately wishing Mono or Kai would help her get out of this.

Mono, she thought, what'd she'd do right now to see his face one last time. For all she knew he was dead willing to go along with her plan. Kai, the Nome she ate the last time. The first and only child she'd actually murdered. She hoped the best for him if she were about to die.

Kai begins picking up the pace to see if there's a way, he could either distract the Alchemist or pull Six down by her legs. As he's looking for a solution the entire ship shudders. Everyone in the hallway is brought down. Kai falls prone as the hallway shakes and the Alchemist falls to his knee. Six looks around in surprise as she recognizes the movement.

A massive wave of static discharge moves from the floor to the ceiling. Kai hears the buzzing in his ears as time seems to slow down again for him. Six is smiling as her suspicions are assured.

Mono's alive and the thought invigorates her to keep struggling.

Unfortunately, sentimental thoughts aren't enough to exit the iron grip of a monster. It is enough to get its attention as the Alchemist raises Six to its face. Being extremely careful the monster looks closely at Six licking its lips. Green slobber splatters down on the ground as the Alchemist looks intently. Kai has to recoil as the smell of gum rot reaches his nostrils. It's taking everything for Kai to not gag out loud betraying his location. Six continues struggling as the monster's face gets closer and closer with its other hand. The Alchemist considers merely dropping the girl drop down his gullet and let this distraction be nothing more than a snack when a voice echoes through the monster's head.

"Bring her to me."

The Alchemist begrudgingly agrees with the voice in its head before continuing for the elevator. But not before noticing the necklace bound around the girl's neck. The Ferryman, a name echoing on the Alchemist head. The symbol used for nullification a power considered rare amongst the powerful. The voice demanded the girl be brought to them and the Alchemist figured it may as well make it harder for the girl to escape.

With a wave of their hand the Alchemist reaches down to the floorboards and a small tendril of flesh begins poking out. Their hands glowing the Alchemist shifts the flesh around Six creating links of chain connected to the necklace she wore. It continued from that binding her wrists, neck, and ankles altogether. Six winced as she was brought into an uncomfortable position as the Alchemist then made a long chain dangling her above the floor as it walked more. The Alchemist rounded the corner with Kai hot on his tail.

The Alchemist turns to panel on the side of the wall flicking a few switches before the elevator illuminates again. A few grunts of surprise can be heard from the Alchemist in the elevator as it finally rises again. The door opens up to reveal a very disoriented monster inside. Not given time to recuperate as the blue-eyed one violently chucks Six into the grasp of the other. Making a motion of shoving a fist into their palm the Alchemist in the elevator understands taking the elevator down with a very worried Six trying to get loose from her bonds.

The Alchemist still on the upper floor turns around waiting for the elevator to come back to see Kai disappearing around the corner. Kai hurried back as he hears the monster roar behind him. Kai is racing down the hallway as the Alchemist rounds the corner. Heart pounding and footsteps heavy Kai attempts to slam the door shut to but himself so time. Kai looks around quickly for a hiding place as the Alchemist gets closer.

The Alchemist bursts through the door in fury. The door bursts open scattering in splinters. The monster comes in swinging a glaive. The monster in fury begins swinging the weapon all over the place. The bed is shattered and sliced apart. Springs go flying and feathers scatter the room. With a heave the mattress is thrown across the room and the bed frame makes a terrible screech as metal is split in two.

A shelf above holding books and empty jars is cleft in twain. Splinters of wood go soaring, hard cover and paper float through the air, and shards of glass pepper the room. The Alchemist continues swinging their weapon repeatedly in the room until all is turned to small chunks of debris. The monster huffs repeatedly before turning around and leaving the room.

Not noticing Kai who was hiding behind the door shuddering in fear from how badly this thing wanted him dead. Kai sinks to the floor amidst the carnage he starts making a new plan. The elevator dinging and shifting signaling Kai the Alchemist has left the second floor to join its brethren.

'Okay so, it thinks I'm dead I could use that to escape this place. I can meet up with Six later. Six is strong I'm sure she can handle herself'

His thoughts paused as a scream runs through the hallways. It is shrill and could only be.

'Six! Okay alright she needs help so maybe I can distract them somehow that they'll drop her?'

Kai picks up the key laying on the floor before walking down the hallway again.

'Besides Six knows something about my nightmares that I don't. I need some answers. Hold on Six I'm coming.'

Remembering Six's words Kai goes over to the restroom partially wondering why the plumbing has the two toilets right next to each other. He pries open the vent and crawls inside. It's a bit tight for him given his teen body but he manages to squeeze through.

Seeing a small light slightly covered by flesh Kai squeezes past the small hole to reveal he's on top of the rafters above the kitchen. Looking down he sees a depressing sight. All four of the Alchemists are glaring down at Six who's still struggling in her chains to get away. Repeatedly she's being slammed against the massive mound of flesh in the center of the room. Kai looks at the other Alchemists in the room seeing the one with its hand chopped off now armed again. This time though in lieu of a "normal" hand it was now a claw. Two of the other Alchemists were also covered in scorch marks due to Kai's handiwork from before. The blue eyed one from before still holds their glaive standing vigilant for anything.

Kai starts to walk carefully on the wooden beams trying not to make a sound too early. Then Six's screams reach his ears again and he quickly looks down. With a sizzle Six is being shoved into the mound slowly. Again, she struggles but to no avail. She screams out calling for Mono or Kai to help her out of this. Kai determined to save her looks for anything that could be used to interrupt this. Looking at the wood beams and under them he sees a possibility.

A remnant of what used to be the kitchen a massive swordfish hangs from the ceiling. Left to gain some flavor of rot as it hung. It's size though, Kai surmised, might be enough to knock some of the Alchemists unconscious for Kai to get down there and pull out Six.

"HEY!"

All four Alchemists look up at Kai while Six looks up for a second through tearful eyes. The flesh begins to swallow her again pulling her back into her fight to get out of the flesh. The Alchemists drew their weapons and began trying to spear or hit the boy down from the ceiling. While that was happening Kai began unclasping the hooks that suspended the fish in the air. Kai huffed as he pried chain from hook. He only needed to do one and it would work. With a bit more effort and….

The fish swung down its tail hitting the Alchemists in the face knocking a few of them over. Kai still holding onto the chain ran and jumped off the side. Using the swing he propelled himself forward towards the flesh mound with Six's arm just poking out. Kai grabs onto her hand trying to pull her out. Using her chains Kai gets a better handhold on her gaining ground as more of her body is visible to him. With a slick slip Six is pried out of the flesh and sent into a tumble on the ground.

Slight relief hits her face as she looks back to Kai only to one of warning as Kai looks behind him. The blue-eyed Alchemist rears back his fist and punches Kai repeatedly. Each strike making Kai lose his footing and he too starts to recede into the flesh. The sensation is odd it doesn't seem to burn like it did for Six. It feels warm and slightly welcoming as it pulls Kai inside.

Kai knows not to trust it though and begins to fight his way out. Six attempts to get over to Kai but her chains are already making it hard enough forcing her to try and crawl her way to him.

"Hold on Kai! I'm coming!"

Six barely makes it halfway when a tendril of flesh comes out of the ground and shoves Kai further into the mound. The tendril then turns towards Six growing a multicolored Eye and everyone can hear the Void.

"Capture or kill her. I don't care which."

And the Alchemists all turn to Six as her face turns white with fear. She begins to struggle again as all four rush her with their weapons ready.

The Void

Kai is seen floating in a dark abyss. The screams of Six slowly dying out as Kai fights his way back out. Only to realize he no longer knows where that is. The flesh once encapsulating him now feels a smooth as water. He wonders if he's died before suddenly, he's being plunged. Where there once was light and he could see himself was now dark.

Dark, yet darker.

He wonders how long he's fallen for and when will it end. He tries to swim in any direction unknowing if he's actually making any progress. He just feels his arms moving but there's no sound, no smell, and no sight.

Just darkness.

Kai wonders how much time as passed when he finally falls onto something. He doesn't know what until the start of a fire is heard to his left. Looking around he sees he's in a well-furnished room. Beautiful upholstery with a fireplace. The design appears to be all the same with the shade of ebony splattered all over. Even the fire is a darkened flame yet somehow emitting light.

"Well now, it seems my guest of honor has finally arrived."

Kai looks up to a horrifying sight. A sight he's seen too many times during his time at the MAW. He would never forget it for it was even a sight that Mono seemed afraid of. A sight he's seen too many times during his time at the Prison. Hanging above the room Kai was currently seated in was a massive multicolored eye. It gazed down at him not in rage but in curiosity. Then the Eye blinked and an oily tear dripped from it. It fell to the floor with a splash and Kai watched with disgusted curiosity.

Wriggling inside the liquid was a placenta. It moved and struggled with an intensity to survive. Then a clawed hand ripped out the lump. Kai only recoiled further and further as more of that blackened liquid poured from the flesh. The hand then gripped the edge of the flesh it came out of and pried. Ripping flesh to the side appeared a humanoid creature. It stood there only for a few seconds looking at Kai with curiosity. Then it started shifting changing form repeatedly. Growing taller, its arms and legs losing the claws, its face remained blank for a time until the body stopped changing. When bodily changes were done it began curling the shadows around itself. Making fabric from the Void itself wrapping itself up and then moved onto its face. It got a little closer to Kai to which he backed up keeping the same amount of distance. He hears the voice again.

"Do you mind? It's not often I see such handsome features in this unnatural world."

The creature then starts shifting its face. Kai recognizes this face as its one he's seen many times in his life. His own face and body are staring back at him. A perfect replica saves for the soulless pits where its eyes were. Easily corrected as the creature looks up and the massive eyeball starts to descend. Shrinking and separating as they got closer to the creatures head until finally sinking into the head. Blinking a few time, the creature looks at Kai and smiling.

"I apologize for the rough transition but I believed you would have had a much more pleasant time conversing with a familiar face rather than my true form. Can I get you anything to drink or anything to eat?"

The Void casually looks over to a table in the room. Kai watches in a blink of an eye an assortment of beverages and food suddenly appear on the table. Kai's stomach growls but he knows not to trust this thing whatever it was. The Void just keeps smiling and with another glance the refreshments disappear.

"I suppose not, after all the things you've witnessed, I assume you don't want to eat anything lest you throw it up. Now onto more important things, you have many questions for me concerning where we are and who I am so I'll let you ask them."

But the first thing that crossed Kai's mind was Six's safety. He still had questions he wanted to ask her. He was about to ask when the Void started chuckling.

"Six? That's your biggest concern right now? And here I thought you wouldn't have cared about her like that."

"I don't! I can clearly tell that she's with someone else." Kai said before adding under his breath, "As if they didn't make it obvious already."

"So, are you concerned that Mono might kill you should anything happen to her? Well, I wouldn't worry too much about him. He's no longer with us."

And Kai's mind is suddenly filled with gruesome images of Mono. They show him lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. An arm and leg are missing as these twisted creatures devour him. One of the Gremlins get close to Mono's cold face pulling an eye from its socket with their teeth before swallowing it.

Kai at once backs away from the Void now in fear to which the Void chuckles again.

"You don't need to worry about me Kai. I'm not your enemy, in fact, I've been trying my best to keep you away from your doom."

'My doom?' Kai wonders in head what he could mean by that.

The Void smiles, "I'm of course talking about Six. I've sent you warning after warning of how that girl will be deadly to your health. Quite fatal I'd say. I did you a favor of ridding her puppet of this world."

"What do you mean by that?"

The Void moves take a seat in the empty air and the ground moves to comfort him. An ornate throne from various metals and stonework form under the figure as they take a seat. The Void gestures for Kai to take a seat as well. Kai does so and it feels wonderful. Like he's sat in the world's smoothest fabric and he just melts in joy from it. He's still on edge though as he knows not what the Void wants.

So, Kai have you ever heard of a Cycle?"

"Yeah, actually Six told me about it before we entered the kitchen. Went into a lot of detail about her life as well."

"Did she now?"

A minor change in expression appeared on the Void's face. Their face too dark to notice but Kai thought it looked like… irritation. The Void flicks their hand to the wall of the room and a darkened mirror shimmered into existence.

"Did she tell you everything about the Cycle and what it was made to do? It grants whoever is the primary immortality by resetting time repeatedly. And for a sadistic little freak like Six it makes the perfect sense to watch people's suffering repeatedly."

Images flash on the mirror that grab Kai's attention. A chase between a woman in a green dress and a girl in a yellow raincoat. Another girl is quickly rescued by the girl in the raincoat then tries to stop the woman in the green dress by toppling a boulder on top of her. For a moment there is peace until the woman tackles the girl in the raincoat off a cliff. The image pans back to the other girl for a moment but before Kai can get a closer look to see the other girl's face the image darkens to nothing.

"You see for every cycle mainly affects one area in the world, The Pale City. Secondly however there are some features of the world that must happen. Such as the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat falling to her death and…"

The Void twists their hand in the air as if turning a dial. Kai starts seeing a familiar life of his own. His time of running away from his parents when he was younger. Nights spent shivering and starving in broken towns. Running from both animals and humans trying to snack on him. He sees himself in the grocery again only this time, Mono and Six aren't there to rescue him. The Ferryman however buys him and instead of devouring him takes him to the MAW. He watches himself escape the Prison and the clutches of the Granny by murdering her. He sees himself become a temporary leader of Nomes. He watches himself get caught by the Lady and turned into a Nome. He watches as he himself walks into a room with a small sausage on the floor. Kai watches with horror as Six walks into the room with hunger. A vision he's seen so many times in his own nightmares coming true. The nightmare realized as Kai watches Six bury her teeth into him instead of the sausage. Kai looks back at the Void who has a solemn look on their face.

"… The death of the Runaway Kid."

The Void clenches their hand in a fist and the mirror dissipates into the air. Looking over at Kai with a sad look.

"You see why I am I on your side. You didn't deserve that to happen to you but it did because of that little freak. The same will happen to you, Six was just planning to kill you when you served your purpose. You're just a meat shield along with Mono."

"You keep saying that Six is the mastermind behind this but… what is Mono?"

"Merely a flesh puppet reanimated by Six's shadow. The original Mono turned back time to rescue both himself and Six unaware that Six was the benefactor of the Cycle. So, when he finally met her again, she took her anger out on him. She murdered him by draining him of his soul and put it in her own. You understand that's why they're so close. Who could love anyone more than themselves?"

"You said that Six drained Mono of his soul and put her own in there?"

"Yes, that's correct. The soul is part of what we use to feel emotions it's why she doesn't show fear as much. But you can stop her Kai, I can let you out of here and with her unsuspecting you. You can stab her in the-"

"I'm sorry but that's bullshit."

The Void is taken out of his explanation by Kai's sudden outburst. Blinking out of surprise it just looks at Kai with shock.

"Excuse me?"

"You really expect me to believe all that? I'm sorry but that's the most unbelievable thing you've said. Six is not soulless there's enough proof of that through her emotions. If she's actually as cruel as you say she would have killed me the first time we met. If not her than Mono who you say is not actually him which is false. She wouldn't have wanted to turn this place into a safe haven for other people. I can tell through a multitude of reasons Mono is his own person. They have different powers for one. I don't know what the extent of their abilities are but Mono clearly is the stronger of the two. If Mono really was just a reanimated flesh puppet why did Six almost jump after him. I had to call her out from doing something stupid. Also, if I really was so worthless to them why did they keep defending and saving me over and over. Again, if I did that wouldn't she have just killed me. Now another reason you said she's the same person both in her own body and in Mono's, right?"

"Y-yes?"

"Then why does Six have claw marks around her throat and why does Mono have bite marks around his? They didn't have those the first time we met. It was only when we met in the MAW, I saw those scars. I can put two and two together and see that you're lying to me. What do you really want?"

The Void stood there speechless really relying on the possibility that Mono and Six would have stayed silent about everything. This child in front of it was not going to be a useful to them as it thought. A waste of time who would have been just a beneficial as another addition to the ever-growing flesh of the MAW.

"It doesn't matter. More specifically you don't matter Kai. You were just a means to an end. A possibility that could have been beneficial to me, but I see you won't be swayed by my words. However, that doesn't mean you don't have other uses."

The room suddenly dissolved, the furniture slowly turning gray and pink throwing Kai off his seat. The fire becoming spherical and white. Kai tried to move only to find his feet glued to the floor. Faster he tried to struggle out of the floor only to sink deeper and deeper. The room around him turning to flesh. The Void only glowered down at him walking on air.

"You see Kai I don't do what I do for any sort of gain. I'm not some demon or tyrant wanting to rule the world. I just like seeing the world burn. Everyone and everything are meaningless to me. Your two friends are in my way of watching a chaotic world slowly descend further and further. You were just a possible solution to my problem. A knife in the back nothing more, nothing less. However, I see now that I just wasted time on a stupid little boy. Now? You're no more use to me other than just flesh."

Kai slowly felt his whole body get swallowed by the flesh. Desperately he struggles against the flesh. Doing his best to get out even resorting to biting the flesh around him. Anything to get out. It was clear who is enemy was and he would do anything to get out. Desperation turning to anger as he fights while his hands aren't gaining any egress. He tries to claw his way out but the skin is too slippery. He's in a hopeless situation but he doesn't give up he doesn't surrender. Why?

Because he's the Runaway Kid. A survivor, and he's tired of other forces dictating his life.

The space between Elysium and The Void

A massive black ocean of eyes and crystals are seen floating amongst themselves. Sometimes the Eyes show the lives of children before blinking back to their own irises. Some of these children are shown to have powers unlike any have ever seen before. Others remained close ever watchful of the day their child finally fights back against their nightmares. It's been a long time since the last one opened their Eyes but today. A day unlike any other another Elysium Eye finally opens to reveal a grayed iris. It reveals Kai in his darkest hour of being swallowed up by the flesh of the MAW. All it has is this to say.

"Hmmm Interesting."

The Void

Kai feels something swelling up inside of him. It's a warm almost burning sensation that fills his body. It's not uncomfortable it's actually rather calming. He feels this sensation trail down his arms and to his palms. A small silver light begins to shine from his palms and the meat around his hands begins to sizzle away. Kai is very confused by what's happening but doesn't question it as he begins to become free. He begins to grab more of the meat around him all of it sizzling from his ability.

The Void looks down at Kai again seeing his body begin to poke out of the body. The Void moves to grab him only to find it become much more difficult to reach for them. With surprise the Void realizes what Kai has at his disposal. It was an ability it only ever gave to one individual a shame that individual didn't do what it had expected. The Void needs to get Kai out of there otherwise Kai might be able to destroy all the flesh. It can't have that. The Void controls the flesh in a way that spits Kai out of the mound hoping that the Alchemists will kill the unsuspecting boy.

The Kitchen

Six is once again cornered by all the Alchemists as they surround her weapons drawn. Regardless of what the Void commanded of them they were clearly intent on killing her. Six looks down at the floor her eyes closed prepared to die. Her only condolence was that she might see Mono and Raine again. All four of the Alchemists raise their weapons ready to skewer and chop her. Only for the flesh mound in the center of the room begin to sizzle and scream. Everyone paused in their actions turn around to see the mound melt in a puddle of melted flesh.

Standing in the center of the melted flesh is Kai. His head bowed down low, his hands clenched, and standing tall. Slowly he raises his head to survey the area around him. His hair slightly covering his face but everyone can see his eyes.

His eyes glowing a threatening gray and his arms emitting that same energy.