Chaos of a Broken Cycle

by UnseenBlade

In the same room as every loop he sat, wallowing in despair. No one could save him, no one had ever tried. Abandoned by the one person he thought he could count on. Little did he know that he would save himself, quite literally. The Loop was broken, and because of that amazing things happened. But the world is not done with Mono, far from it, but he's not alone anymore.

11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: A Deal for A Friend

Back again! I'll never stop posting, I do intend to finish this story, stuff just got busy with both work and school starting up again. But I also go some artwork commissioned for the story as it is right now. The plan is to have a character added to the art piece every time a new character is introduced so procedurally it'll grow. I also am thinking about starting a small discord just to update those that are actually interested, and it would make talking to those that are curious interested. Fanfiction's notification system isn't actually the best. If any of you are in a LN discord server, chances are I'm in there as well I just don't speak a lot and my account is under different name. It was actually very surprising when someone actually sniffed me out. But until I learn a bit more about managing a discord, I won't open one yet. But! If you do have questions or are just curious, I don't mind if you hit up my alt account under my writer's name. It's the one I intend to use for a discord server should I actually go thru with it. Makes it easier to respond to those interested.

Also the picture for the cover art, honestly does not fit how I'd like given Fanfic's restrictive borders but maybe since its going to get bigger that can be something to see better in the discord server.

Unseenblade#3690

When Mono next woke up, it was to the stench of garbage all around him. His body felt weak, and his throat was hoarse and dry. It felt like he was laying on an assortment of objects that were currently poking at his back as he laid upon them. Slowly rolling himself over onto his shoulder, his body felt stiff. Sounds echoing in the distance as his bleary vision came into focus.

He was in an ocean of garbage, not an inch of solid ground could be seen, admits the discarded. With a quick glance around he couldn't see if either Seven or Six were nearby as he tried to get to his feet and walk as carefully as possible on whatever solid surface he could, with his feet slipping from time to time on the grimy trash, it was a slow advance. In the distance there were literal mountains of trash, with even farther away shapes obscured by a black smog. The sky above him blotched out in darkness as well.

Out of the corner of his eyes amidst the many shadows stood out a bright yellow color of a raincoat. Going over, he saw that it was Six laying there still passed out.

Sliding over Mono started shaking her lightly to wake her "Six! Wake up." At first it seemed like she wasn't going to, but right as he was about to give up, Six jolted up tackling him to the ground. They rolled a bit down an incline before coming to a stop against a rotting mattress. After a brief realization that it was Mono that had been shaking her, Six let him go.

Taking in her surroundings she croaks, "Where are we?" Offering a hand to help Mono up.

"I don't know, there's nothing but garbage." Mono said, getting up on his own before gesturing to the desolate expanse.

Looking around, Six seemed to take in her surroundings once more, under her hood her expression was well hidden, but Mono could almost sense disappointment.

"We should find our way out of here…" She mutters, her words further giving an air of distance.

"I don't see Seven anywhere, are they around here somewhere? Help me look around, would you?" Mono said, as he began scanning the area for any sign of the thief.

Six merely watched him, as she folded her arms. "They probably had escaped whatever it was that grabbed us. let's just worry about getting out of this place first before worrying about others." Six said dismissively, and though Mono could see the logic in her words, didn't bother listening to Six, instead kept looking around for any sign of Seven, just to be sure. Six at first seemed annoyed by this but sighed in the end and helped him look if only to speed things up.

In the end there was no sign of Seven, leaving Mono stumped on where they could be as the two carried on without them. In the distance, literal mountains of garbage were in view, dwarfing the small spires he had seen in the sewers. Admits the dump the only possible indication of where they should go was a single light in the distance which slowly moved akin to something like a lighthouse.

Odd, but with no other leads, they began traveling to its location, an act that went on for what felt like hours. With each mountain they crossed they were greeted with more trash, trying to cover as much ground as they could as the sun was already falling again. It had already been night when they had gone to the giant pyramid casino, they must have been out for quite a while if night was already falling again.

They tried to still go on even when it got dark, but Mono found that his legs kept falling into holes between the garbage that felt like they were not there a moment ago, as well as the sound of things skittering in the darkness kept freaking him out. In fact, while he was cleaning himself off after falling in another hole, he felt something skittering on his back, which gave him pause, before he frantically tried smacking whatever it was off him.

All the while Six watched in minor annoyance wanting to continue forward, instead waiting on Mono to finish whatever he was doing. She was starting to get worried as the gnawing sensation in her gut was slowly growing as the days rolled on, knowing she'd have to make it back to the Maw before she needed to feed again, she knew she was in a hurry. Especially as the only thing that she could eat here would be…

As Mono was getting rid of whatever insect was on him, he noticed a wooden stick sticking out of a trash pile along with a strip of cloth. Thinking quickly, he wrapped the cloth up around one end of the stick and approached one of the pits filled with weird liquids. He tentatively dipped the end of the stick in the pit and found the liquid inside to be a lot thicker than he initially thought. Pulling out the stick, some of the liquid clung to the cloth in a sticky mass. Taking care to slowly edge away with his stick, he was thinking on how he was going to make a spark for it until he Felt something odd in his pocket, reaching inside he found a familiar lighter, the one Seven had. Though he didn't know how or even when it got there, he was grateful for such luck. With it the stick burst into flames immediately in a bright violet hue before dying down into a more manageable flame.

"Ok! That's better. We should be able to continue going forward-" he said as the words caught in his throat.

Just out of reach of the light from the torch there was a large shadow of something just out of sight, which as soon as the light touched quickly crawled back into the darkness. Six caught sight of Mono's stare and also managed to catch a short glimpse of the thing right before it slinked off, leaving Both teens tensing up with an uneasy feeling starting to hang over them.

"...Come on, let's keep moving." Mono said in a hushed tone.

The feeling that things were watching them just out of reach of their sight, with their only source of light no doubt giving them away to whatever wandered these desolate fields was leaving the two in a state of constant alert.

If they listened closely, they could hear garbage being moved every now and again. The rattling and clicking noises. Off in the distance as Mono caught sight of the flickering glow of the moving light. The light shone like a beacon in the darkness but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. Then in the distance, however brief it would flickered back to life, frequent enough for the duo to slowly make their way to the source of the light.

When they once more get to the area with the flickering light, the lights cut off once again. While the two were sitting waiting for the next, a sudden cacophony of noise rang out from what seemed like a collapsing pile of garbage that had tipped over. Then off in the distance yet again was a flickering light, peeking from behind a large mound of garbage.

"This is just getting ridiculous, what is even going on here?!" Six whispered seething, seeming frustrated with all the random events. The tension was thick in the air and it was clear it was getting to her. Though Mono couldn't blame her, they hadn't stopped walking for nearly 24 hours and were both tired and hungry. If they didn't find anywhere to rest soon, things were only going to get worse and worse.

Though then, out of the corner of his eye Mono caught sight of a car window shimmering in the light of his torch, one half embedded in the side of a trash wall. With little other options and a growing curiosity, he headed towards the old vehicle and checked the car door and was surprised to find it open. Seeing what he was up to, six joined him at his side as they looked inside.

Inside the car seemed untouched, with leather seats and windows that only showed garbage. Mono wanted to go in and investigate further, but the torch would be troublesome to keep inside the vehicle, so he tossed it aside for a moment as the two crouched low and entered the vehicle between the front and back seats, where Mono turned on his lighter to help look around. Upon not seeing anything that could jump out and kill them, Mono deduced that this car would make a good spot to rest the night away.

When he told Six as much, she did not argue, seeming to just take his word for it as the two settled in for some rest. The hours ticked on while the shadows all around them clicked and squirmed with noise. After hours of sitting in the old car and not getting attacked, the two eventually managed to fall asleep in the car, feigning ignorance of the things scurrying around them in the darkness.

When Mono woke up, the next morning his body felt incredibly stiff and when he began to try to move around, but before he could even open his eyes, he was startled awake by a knocking sound. After a little while of not hearing anything, he presumed his mind was just playing tricks on him, but not a second later another faint knock could be heard on the door that they had entered through. Mono was stunned for a bit but looked at the door cautiously. It should have been impossible for someone to knock on that door, because that side of the van was completely submerged in garbage. When he turned around to look at the door they had come through the night before he was surprised to find that side was buried in garbage as well.

Getting up as gently as possible, Mono crawled his way over, taking care not to make any sounds of movement. When he got to the door, he pressed his ear to the door in an attempt to see if he could hear anything on the other side. When he opened the door slowly in an effort to peek through and catch a glimpse of the outside, the door was immediately pried open as red flash dashed into the van with them, swiftly closing it behind them.

It took Mono a moment to focus on the figure that had dashed in with them, and a moment to realize he recognized them, as it was the red headed girl he had met in the sewers while he had been recovering with Seven. Somehow through all the sudden noise Six had still been sleeping, looking almost dead as she slept in the corner under a blanket she found.

"You're Red, right? How did you get here?" Mono asked, rather surprised at the sudden appearance of a familiar face in this unending waste. The red-haired girl responded with a small smile. "Call it intuition, I just thought you and your group might end up here and need my help getting out of this place, and surprise surprise, you do."

Mono gave her a confused look, "Ok, but how did you even know we were here?" He inquired; he wasn't exactly trusting of the strange girl as her motives have always seemed suspicious in his eyes.

With a shrug she noted. "Eyes are everywhere, and I know where to look for them, and I was made aware of your, shall we call it an escapade? Where you so bravely charge into the one place in this city you absolutely shouldn't have. Figured that like many others you would be discarded here after getting caught, and it seems I was right." She said with a mocking smirk.

"So what? You're here to show us the way out or something? While I'd be happy to accept, it is incredibly suspicious that you somehow managed to find us here." Mono asked with an edge in his tone.

"Oh, no no no, nothing like that. I'll tell you how to get out, it's easy enough, though in exchange you just have to do a little something for me." She said with a glint of greed in her eyes that he couldn't help but get a bad feeling from. Though with a frustrated sigh Mono began kneading the ridge of his nose. "Ok well, what do you want? I'll decide if it's something that can be done after I know."

"Trust me, I wouldn't ask you to do anything that I thought you couldn't do. I have complete confidence that you will be able to do what I ask." Red said in a sweet but almost condescending voice, much to Mono's annoyance.

"Well come on then, tell me it already before I change my mind." Mono had already had enough of this coy swindler, and just wanted her to leave, but at his words and with a flourish, the red head pulled out a quill and parchment. "Certainly! The deal is that once you get out of here, all I would need from you, is for you, Six and Seven, to leave this city, and never return." Red said, somewhat letting go of the sweet facade at the end.

Mono was somewhat taken aback by this. "...That's it? I mean it sounds easy enough but what if they don't want to? I won't force them to leave." Mono said, slightly bewildered at the ease of it if the goons are no longer looking for them.

"Call it a gut feeling, they'll follow you, I'm sure. Besides, this contract has some magic to it, just to ensure that that exact thing doesn't happen." Red said with a hint of something she clearly wasn't telling him. What it was he could only guess, and though he didn't like it, this was the easiest way to escape this hell hole, so…

"... Alright, fine," he said. "But I don't really know where Seven is at the moment, nore any idea on how to find them, so I'm not sure if I can really fulfill such a deal." Mono admitted,

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that too much, after all, she likely won't be around for much longer anyway." At her strange and foreboding words Mono was surprised and somewhat worried.

"What do you mean by that…?" He questioned, and when the smirk formed on Red's face, he knew he had taken her bait.

"Oh, you know, unlike you she wasn't thrown out in the junkyard to be toyed with and slowly wasted away. No Seven's fate is far worse than that, as it was, he who took an interest in her…" She said her tone turned more theatrical as she went, and before his question could escape his lips, she answered, "The Crooked Man… He is the head of this city and the one behind every lie that is heard here. He is the one you make a deal in the dark with, and the one who strictly deals in souls of those deals of his. And you walk right into his domain."

At Mono's stunned into Silence, which fits Red just fine as she continues. "It's strange really, the first time I saw Seven was when she first saw that big pyramid of trash in the distance. I'll never forget the expression on her face when she saw it, one that almost looked like it was calling to her… One completely racked with fear. It was then I knew she was one of those types. The ones who seem to come from far and wide just to enter that building, and never to be seen again. Though she never went near that place after that, avoiding it to the best of her abilities as she went about her business amidst the city. That is, until you came along, and now, she is once more pulled into the cycle she nearly avoided, all thanks to you." She finished, and Mono could only blankly stare at her, with all that was just dumped on him, though one thing was clear and that was that couldn't help but feel the guilt that began to crawl all over him.

He knew this is what she wanted from him, to feel bad. Why, he wasn't sure, perhaps she simply liked seeing him like this, or she was mad that he had been the cause of Seven getting caught. Though that seemed a little unlikely, it was clear from her callous way she spoke that she only had selfish motives here, and her aim was to use his guilt against him, and she succeeded.

With a sigh he muttered, "Where are they, and… How do I find them?"

Red eyed him for a moment before she smiled and spoke. "Oh no need to worry about that, the map should be able to show you the way. It does get a little, Disorderly but nothing you're not used to, right Pale City Kid?" Before he could question what that was supposed to mean, she continued, "Oh right, here take this. It is what will show you the way to get out of here, though I will be expecting it back. With that said, my business here is done." Chucking a roll up parchment at Mono she made her way back towards the door, when Mono turned to try and question her further, she, with a mischievous look in her eyes slammed the door shut, finally waking up Six, who scrambled around under the covers she had, before suddenly throwing it off of her and quickly looking towards Mono for answers, all while Mono could only stare back at her with a piece of rolled parchment in hand.

"We need to start moving. We've wasted too much time here, Seven needs my help. I got them into this mess, it's only right that I get them out." Mono said resolutely.

Six was confused, her futures were pale, and she wasn't looking fully focused, but at the sudden worry of Seven, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Mono, we can't help every kid that gets in trouble, there's too much danger in the world for that, we don't even know what we're going against." Six said as she crawled over to him from the front of the van.

"Actually, I think I have an idea of what I'll be up against, and even if that were not the case I should at least try, I can't just leave them to their fate." Mono argued.

"What if they're already dead, or it's a trap, or if there's something like the Signal Tower in there? What if they end up ditching you and leaving you for dead?" Six yelled clearly frustrated as she tried to make Mono see reason, though in doing so, she didn't seem to notice the severity of her words, or the hurt in Mono's eyes.

Mono threw a frustrated glare her way, but in the end instead of yelling back at her, he let out a tired sigh. "You could be right, you could be right about everything, but if I did as you said, you wouldn't be here today, would you? You may be dead or even still trapped in that cabin, or the Signal Tower, but against my better judgment, against my fears, I went after you, even though it didn't work out well for me in the end." Mono muttered, and in that moment Six realized what she said and looked away, almost frightened.

"When I was with Seven in the sewers, something went wrong with me, and I could have died… I-I had thought I was going to die! Being dropped and falling again, I really expected it too, but Seven caught me, and though I was pretty much dead weight at the time, they held on even when it looked like it strained them to do so. So, I owe them this much at least. A life for a life, and I owe it to myself as well, so as long as there's a chance that I can help them. I will." Mono said, trying to catch Six's eyes, hoping to convey that this wasn't something he could give up on.

Six for her part stayed silent after her mistake, there was something desperate in her eyes, but it seemed she had nothing else to say or argue. So Mono continued. "Listen, let's just find our way out of here first, then we can decide what you want to do afterwards-"

"You know this is a bad idea, don't you?" Mono was caught off guard as a familiar voice rang true in his head.

Mono in his surprise suddenly stopped talking, catching Six's attention, though he was quick to wave it off. When she seemed less interested, he gave her the map in hopes of distracting her as he returned his focus to the voice only, he could hear. "Your back!" He thought, responding perhaps a little too pleased as he could sense Sloth's slight amusement at his tone.

"You say that like I've been gone." The voice responded.

"I mean I haven't heard anything out of you since the sewers. I thought-" Mono started, before cutting himself off.

"I take one tiny nap and you think you're going insane." Sloth chuckled, as it seemed that they were already aware of his inner turmoil.

Mono sighed "What were you saying about a bad idea?" Mono asked, trying to bring the conversation back to the problem at hand.

"Oh yeah, I got a whole list of reasons why this is a bad idea. First one, you're too slow, by the time you even manage to leave this place, too much time would have passed. Reason two, you are horribly underprepared for the job you want to do. At best you'll manage to get away by yourself after you try, at worst you'll take a dirt nap. I say we take the hint and just leave, try again in a couple years or something like that." Sloth said dismissively.

"You know I can't do that. I won't leave them here to the same fate as me." Mono argued, to which a groan echoed through his head, rumbling it and shaking his vision slightly making his headache.

"Oh my god, can't you see we're doing the same old song and dance routine here? Boy meets friend, friend gets kidnapped by a monster, boy saves friend, boy is then left to his presumed death." Sloth jeered flatly, and Mono found himself momentarily stunned at Sloth's callous words, even so he continued, "It won't end like that." He rebuffed, though through his bravado his voice held a hint of uncertainty.

"Sure sure, whatever sets your mind at ease. Well let's get on with it then, would be better than sitting around doing nothing at least." Sloth sighed, already bored with the conversation.

In the end, Six and Mono exited the van the way red had gone, and immediately noticed that the surrounding garbage that had surrounded them had drastically changed. Tall walls of trash and discarded buildings line around them like a labyrinth of old and broken things.

After getting the 'map' back, Mono furled parchment and slowly unrolled it, ready to see what he had been given to help him escape this place. What he saw on the paper was nothing, just blank of anything, leaving him confused for a second before a black splotch had appeared in the center of and slowly took the form of a map, outlining the surrounding area that they were currently in. After a while the map had fully taken form and instructed him on the path he should take.

With a direction given Mono followed it while periodically looking at the map to make sure he's on the right track. While he was walking along the line that the map indicated he was stopped by Six tugging at his coat. When he looked back at her in a questioning gaze she pointed out in front of him. Looking forward he turned to see that he was just a few feet away from walking into a wall of garbage. When he looked down at the map it obviously wanted him to continue walking forward with a clear show that there was a path ahead of him.

"Ok maybe it's like a trick or something." Mono tried to make sense of the directions given.

"Or maybe that piece of junk that you got doesn't work. You really shouldn't trust everything kids tell you, Mono." Six said as he walked up to the pile of garbage and reached out to touch it.

Though as he reached out, he found he could not touch the wall, forcing him to move further and further into what looked like a wall, it was somewhat messing with his head as the space didn't make sense, that is until he really did touch the wall, finding that he a distance away from six and with two other paths to take.

"See it works fine!" Mono said as he began walking once more.

Six had wanted to say something but Mono had already disappeared amidst the garbage pile. Not wanting to leave his side, she let out a frustrated sigh before following after him.

When both kids went through, they came out the other end in a vastly different area. Whether it was on the other side or a type of portal neither could tell. The map within Mono's hand immediately began changing again, giving a new path the duo began following. Sometimes it would stick to paths between the mountains of garbage and other times it would take them through a pile of garbage spitting them out in a new area.

Their journey continued for quite a while until suddenly the map began to change again even though they had not moved to a new area, as if the dump around them was being moved and changed in real time. Watching the map change over and over again the two waited for the map to stop. When it finally did there was a new path for them to take and so they followed along, still keeping their eyes peeled for whatever caused the change.

They continued forward again, this time at a much quicker pace, as they were also unsure if it would change again. Running through this area the map eventually led them to another hidden entrance that brought them closer to the exit.

The entire area shook again, and black ooze began to seep out from the crevices of the trash piles. Seeing this the two immediately began to run following the map as more and more black ooze seeped out and began to fully cover the piles of garbage. As they pushed forward the black ooze had completely covered all the piles of garbage around them while also covering the path they had taken to get here.

"Just a bit more, the map says the entrance should be coming up soon to a new area. Hopefully it can't follow us through there!" Mono yelled

The two made their way through the pile of trash that took them to the next area. As they exited out there was a force that expelled the two out throwing them onto their stomachs.

When they stood up once again, they were in an area of junkyard where there were puddles of black mass along with tendrils that looked like roots splayed out and growing all over the ground and across any surface that they touched. Looking at the map once more it took a moment to fill out the location but when it finished it showed a path that led to a clearing in the center.

Walking forward slowly they took care to not step on any of the root like tendrils that spread across the floor. As they made their way deeper down the path the black roots grew bigger and bigger, growing in size. The puddles of black mass connected with small trickles of flowing black liquid that connected each puddle together.

All the roots and puddles were slightly trembling if he looked close enough. With each step they continued forward taking care not to step anywhere near the black substance, which only caused their advance to slow down. Having to make their way around like walking on eggshells they looked for any area of the ground that wasn't covered in the black substance.

They managed to walk along the edges of the path and made their way slowly down the path the map showed. The deeper they went the bigger the black roots grew, from as small as grass roots to the width of an arm. The small trickles of black liquid became a rapidly widening stream flowing down the path. Mono caught sight of the black roots beginning to burrow into the walls of trash, whatever they touched decaying or disintegrating at the touch. One root was going through an old metal fridge. The metal shell of the fridge had corroded and rusted right where the root ran through, making it so that the root was not touching the fridge. The air, while it had smelled earlier, now began to smell acidic in a way and the smell of something burning could be smelled.

Eventually they came upon a path made of gleaming black rock. Stepping onto the surface there was almost an echoing clack of his footstep even though the environment should not have had an echo. Following this path Six and Mono came upon the source of all the black tendrils. A huge pool sat in the center of the clearing they had come upon, Watching the pool cautiously their eyes wandered to an exit at the other side of the clearing. Slowly making their way around the pool their eyes stared at the substance, watching for any sign of movement. Strangely enough, staring at the pool it felt like it was playing tricks on them. The surface seemed to be changing before their very eyes in a way that they couldn't tell if they were imagining it or not. One second the pool would ripple and tremble with the consistency of water, a noticeable gleam of the reflection of light on the surface, the next its surface change to a dull non reflective look, seemingly taking the appearance of a solid mass that they could walk upon, a few seconds later it changed yet again, the surface somehow looking almost see through and billowing, hanging like a fog that had settled. It made both of their eye's tingle and begin to burn the longer they kept staring at it.

Though against all the bad signs they crossed the open area without incident. The entire time fully expecting something to happen, for that black mass to rise up and become the creature, of some sort. Perhaps it was sleeping, Mono thought, but he quickly dashed the idea as he recalled the scene at the last area, they had been in.

"It's toying with you if you haven't figured it out yet." Sloth's voice rang out.

"What do you mean?" Mono asked.

"Well, if you hadn't noticed, everything is moving and shifting, you can't tell what's real or not. The bottom line is that it hasn't actually tried to harm you, instead it gave you a spook in the last area. Why? Who can say, Creatures like this are incredibly powerful and above feelings of spite. It's giving you the illusion that it is angry, goading you into continuing on past this point. Scaring you just enough so that you don't take your time and curiously poke around. But make no mistake, it's watching you right now, hoping you'll go past this area." Sloth said.

"That doesn't make any sense. There's nothing here to look at, and this place is dangerous enough as it is. What could be here that could be important enough to scare us." Mono said.

"A shortcut." Sloth simply stated.

"A shortcut? Wait, you mean we can get to Seven faster right?" Mono asked.

"You certainly could, or it could just bring you to your demise all the faster." Sloth explained.

"Well, come on, where is it? Every second we wait, Seven could be in danger." Mono rapidly ushered Sloth.

"Well, it isn't exactly easy, and you probably won't like it, But… There is a portal that will take you right to the old vice of greed chambers. Well, if you think about it I guess it technically isn't a portal. Though the short of it is, you need to throw yourself into the monster." Sloth said.

Mono paused for a moment, looking at the pool of void-like substance before simply stating. "Sloth, that's a horrible idea."

"Told you you wouldn't like it. Either way you're probably going to have to do it anyway. Dinner bells are ringing." Sloth said, a hint of amusement behind the disembodied voice.

"What is that supposed to mea-" Mono began to question before his thoughts were interrupted by an ominous feeling coming from behind him. Turning around slowly he saw Six a few feet away clutching her stomach as she keeled over with a whine. He was surprised as he didn't expect her to already be THIS hungry, but that soon shifted to fear as he unconsciously took a step back as a dark power began to swirl around Six, growing faster and faster and more violent.

"Ok, ok, maybe we can talk this through." Mono said, trying to psych himself up. Taking a step forward, he pushed through the resistance that the dark billowing power exuded, shielding his eyes with one arm. Every step getting harder and harder to take as he felt the force getting stronger and stronger attempting to push him back.

Meanwhile Six laid in the center of the small dark storm. Beside holding her stomach Mono could catch faint glimpses of her sometimes moving her hands to hold her head as well, as if she were suffering from a headache as well.

"What are you doing! Do you not remember what she is?! She can take care of herself, and you really don't want to be next on the menu. You should be running, preferably towards the nearest exit, not worrying about some girl that's going to eat you." Sloth yelled in mild panic and annoyance. Even so Mono continued grinding his heels in the ground and pressed forward, every now and again being pushed back slightly.

"Six! If you can hear me, I need you to show me that you're still there." Mono said. To his credit he was trying to do the right thing, even if everything was telling him not to, but when Six looked him in the eyes, that suddenly changed. It was a familiar look; he had seen many times.

The next thing that Mono knew a black tendril of strange smoke and dust had wrapped around his legs, pulling them out from under him. On the floor he felt himself being dragged by his legs toward her. The moment he was within reach she pounced, and glared down at him as she kept him pinned to the ground, her hands gripping his arms with such a strong grip he was sure it'd leave a mark later. The grumbling of her stomach was heard and noticed by the two and at that moment Six seemed to panic, she was still unaware that Mono already knew about her curse.

"You're going to leave me! Aren't you?" She accused Her piercing red eyes looking at him unhinged, as if trying to convince herself or give herself a reason to justify sating her hunger.

"What- N-no! I was never going to leave you!" This was a lie, as he recalled the many times he thought about it, but even so he meant it now. "I get you're hungry, I do but if you just hold on a bit longer, we can find something for you to eat other than me!" Biting through the pain that ebbed through his body, He had tried to teleport away but somehow Six seemed to know what he was doing and simply squeezed harder, the pain forcing an involuntary groan as he lost concentration.

Six's face loomed over his own as he tried to think of a way to deescalate the situation. Mono could catch a glimpse of Six's sharp teeth as she breathed heavily, looking like she was trying to process what he said while holding herself back. She even began to drool a bit like a starved predator salivating over a hard-earned meal. Though with this momentary pause, Mono saw the chance he flipped them over so that he was on top. When he did, Six immediately began thrashing, swiping at Mono who was trying his best to hold her down. In the end this proved fruitless however as he felt a shadowy tendril wrap around him throwing him off.

Quickly picking himself up he saw Six stalking towards him. "Six, we can talk about this. I understand you're going through some things, and I promise as soon as I have the chance, I'll go over to the Maw with you." He spoke while putting his hands up, he hoped that perhaps his offer might catch her attention enough to reason with.

Still Six jumped at him trying to claw at him. Charging up a small static shock, Mono gave Six a quick jab. Fully expecting this to do her in, he was caught by surprise when she almost immediately shook it off only becoming angrier. Without any hesitation Six swiped at Mono, managing to rake a nasty claw mark through his coat, leaving a gash on his arm. A dark shadow rushed out from her raincoat toward Mono who teleported away at the last second. Thrusting his hand forward the walls and distance between the two instantly began to stretch and widen.

Six began to run towards Mono in a feral rage, even as no ground was being covered as Mono only kept stretching space. Immediately Mono cut his power off, returning space to normal, startling Six. The two unseen hands slithered out from under Mono's coat, coiling around Six's body like a snake before stopping at her shoulders, locking her in place. Six could feel that something was holding her in place but for how long Mono didn't know. He could feel her trying with all her might to break free as a dark power began to build up around her.

"Ok we can find something for you to eat after we're out of here." Mono said with the still trashing Six, who responded by roaring at Mono.

"Wow, she's a real piece of work." Sloth voiced

"Not now Sloth, just tell me how to get through the monster and where we need to go." Mono said, turning around toward the black mass.

"Oh, that's easy, just jump into that pool and hold your breath." Sloth said

But right as the Vice said this all around them black balls of the tar like substance began to rise up into the air like gravity stopped working, floating mid-air, with even more seeping out from cracks in the wall and floor. Once a few seconds had passed the balls floating suddenly shot toward the black pool, growing in size. The black tar mass in the center then began to spin rapidly growing in height and taking form, two huge appendages took form, slamming on opposite sides of its body and at least a dozen other smaller tentacles all around its body. Countless stone eyes rose from beneath its inky black body, glowing a dimly sick yellow. Its body floated in the air, a thin line still connecting it to the black pool beneath it.

"Ok! Yeah, it's not that hard. Just gotta make it under the giant monster. How hard can that be?" he asked himself sarcastically.

He then broke out into a sprint and the Overseer reacted, bringing one giant arm in a long sideways sweep. Six struggled all the harder in his grasp, thinking Mono was trying to get her killed.

"I'll rip your throat out when I get out of this Mono. I should have eaten you when I had the chance earlier!" She screamed.

"Ah that sounds like true friendship if I've ever heard it." Sloth said.

Commanding his hands of sloth, they threw Six high into the air over the approaching arm. Before the monster hit him, in a flash he teleported past the attack. When he appeared on the other side of the attack Six had just fallen into his waiting arms. Surprised and confused by his actions, this only gave a brief pause before the hunger began gnawing at her once again. While he carried her his hands of Sloth once again restrained her, this still however didn't stop her from throwing her head trying to get a bite in on Mono and squirming trying to get out of his arms. This in turn impeded Mono's attempt at getting past the Overseer. A few tendrils lashed out like whips, attempting to strike at the two. When Mono managed to dodge a strike, it would be followed by a loud snapping sound and a cloud of dust as the ground cracked and dust kicked up.

"Six if you keep trying to bite me, we're both going to die! I'd appreciate it if you could stop!" Mono yelled at the still thrashing girl.

"It's no use. You can certainly reason with the girl, but only to a certain extent. At the end of the day, she still needs to eat something, and you can't hold her for much longer." Sloth said as suddenly the ground beneath him cracked and the black mass of the Overseer seeped out from the ground, sticking to his foot like glue, before climbing up his leg and starting to squeeze down on him. Thankfully he managed to teleport out of its grasp before any real damage could be done, but by that time Six could no longer be restrained. Dark power and shadows burst from out of Six's body, having been restrained the power now rushed out blowing Mono off of his feet and tumbling back.

When Mono recollected himself, he turned to see that he was still far from the gate that laid underneath the Overseer. Turning his attention back to Six he already saw her running over to him. A loud roar reverberated through the air as the Overseer reared up its body before flying straight at Mono, coming towards him like a massive missile. Gathering static in his hand, he ducked to the side at the last-minute blasting the Overseer and slicing through it as it flew by. The Overseer's tar like body was unphased whatsoever as the electrical blast tore through it, it simply melded its body back together almost instantly. Its face, or what Mono assumed was its face, turned around to look at him after he had dodged.

At least now that he was behind it he began to make a run for the gate, with Six hot on his heels yet again. Looking behind them he took notice that the Overseer would quickly reach them so he held his arm back while running and concentrated yet again. The space between the two rapidly extended, and the Overseer took notice of the spatial anomaly almost immediately, slamming itself into the ground, forming a crack before fitting its amorphous body through the crack disappearing out of sight. The ground shook crazily beneath the two, and it was obvious that the Overseer was still here, Mono just couldn't tell where it would strike from. He didn't have time to worry about the Overseer though as his concentration was cut when Six neared him and lashed out with her sharp claws, tearing right through his coat leaving a slash mark across his arm. He clutched his arm letting out a hiss and he bit his lip and the stinging pain.

When Six was preparing to strike Mono again, the ground crashed in an almost perfect circle around the two and a large wave of black mass rushed out, seemingly preparing to encase them in a dome. Mono, seeing this lunged at Six grabbing her in a hug, while she responded by clutching him, her nails digging into his side and she took a bite into his neck. To Six, the taste of Mono's blood was for a lack of better word, absolutely delicious, as if just the taste of it had already mostly cleared her mind. Before her mind could wander too much the sensation of teleporting was felt as a tingling on her skin. A loud crash followed as dust was thrown everywhere. She felt her hunger flaring up again, while the taste of blood was enough to clear her mind just a bit, it wasn't enough to sate her, but that moment of clarity was enough to notice the situation around her.

Only moments later did she notice Mono still clutching on to her, where they stood moments ago was a large hole where the black mass had risen up and smashed a clean hole into the ground. She could already feel the hunger gnawing at her mind again, but as she looked at the hole and realized that Mono had saved her knowing that she would still bite into him. Looking towards the gate that Mono had wanted them to go to initially, she saw that they were still close, so she steeled her focus and tried to ignore the urge to feed.

While she wanted to apologize, she knew that now wasn't the time for it and began trying to pull Mono along, lest her hunger rip away her sanity again.

A wall of tar rose up from the ground stopping their advance. A tendril of dark magic rushed out from beneath Six's raincoat toward the approaching tar wave, but it did nothing to slow its advance. The dark magic simply lacked the necessary explosive force to cause any meaningful change, it simply tore a hole through the wave and continued on. This wave wasn't something they could dodge or teleport out of the way either, behind the wave was a sea of tar meant to completely drown the pair in the viscous and deadly substance.

Mono was racking his mind on how to when it suddenly dawned on him. When he crouched down on one knee, Six assumed he was giving up, trying to lift him by his shoulder.

"Hey hey! You can't do that! Stop what you're doing, there's consequences for trying to meddle with the fabric of reality!" Sloth voice buzzing with anger.

Nestling both of his hands onto the ground, he concentrated, and sparks danced along his arms down to his hands and into the ground. The ground shook only once, then it rumbled, followed by a steady vibration, finally he felt what had seemed like a snap. The ground beneath them shook violently, moving up and down like the waves of the ocean, yet still in one piece. It wasn't enough though, such a thing could not possibly stop the sea of tar coming their way, so he pressed further. Like the warped buildings that once inhabited the once Pale City, the ground was distorting more and more. Sometimes they would rise up and fall back down with the wave of the earth beneath them. Harder and harder he pressed trying to achieve the desired result, until something happened.

"Come on! Come on! Just a little more, I can feel it." Mono grunted out

The ground was groaning as if it were being pushed to its breaking points. Mono could feel that he had hit a wall, as if something else was keeping him from pressing forward. He forcibly tried to push past this unseen barrier. After he felt a pressure building inside of him and then….pop. It felt like something had popped in his chest and a pain surged out.

The ground beneath them trembled even more violently and then the ground opened up, a great fissure opened up causing the black tar heading toward them to cascade down the crack. When Mono had achieved what he had set out to do he fell down to the ground in a heavy sweat. Six wanted to help him up, but she could already feel the rumble of hunger. As he was trying to collect himself, he felt the strong urge to wretch and when he did a large spray of blood was coughed up. His entire chest felt as if it were on fire and his bones were turned to dust.

"Ohhhh, now you've done it. How's it feel? Not very well I imagine considering you just tried to tear apart the fabric of reality, unsuccessfully I might add. The only reason that crack opened up is because of the backlash of failing to do anything worse. If you had actually managed to tear reality we'd be in a worse situation." Sloth said

Every breath he took sounded labored and as if liquid was in his lungs. But he wasn't even given the chance to rest as the ground kept shaking, violently sifting more and more beneath their feet, rising and falling even higher and lower. Before long the distance between them and the supposed gate was widening and closing as well, almost like reality was closing in on itself. It was impossible to gauge the true distance between them and the gate.

"What's….going….on?" He groaned

"Don't worry, it'll work itself out eventually. Although I would recommend running before the reality backlash wears off. I don't mean to alarm you but the ground beneath your feet is currently breaking down." Sloth said

And true to his word the ground beneath their feet was breaking down. The cracks weren't appearing over time but instead instantly, splitting apart and extending both sides, making it impossible to locate the starting point of fissures that would suddenly appear. As is reality could not cope with the constant wear and tear of its bending.

Struggling to stand up, surprisingly once he stood up, besides the wobbling in his legs the world felt still under his feet somehow, contrary to the waving ground he was now seeing. Six next to him seemed to be having a difficult time standing though, showing that he was unaffected by the spacial backlash.

"Come on, come on, walk toward the pit while the Overseer is preoccupied." Sloth instructed

Grabbing onto Six's hand they began to walk toward the supposed gate that Sloth had mentioned. As they journeyed toward the hole in the ground the Overseer suddenly appeared before them, space having bent in such a way it was suddenly right in front of them. It too was surprised but quickly brought its giant body smashing down upon them. Six and Mono closed their eyes fully expecting to be crushed, but before the Overseer had landed upon them space shifted again, unpredictably the Overseer now appeared a good 50 feet to the right of where they had been standing, crashing into the hard ground, the earth cracking beneath it. The Overseer noticed that it hadn't crushed them whirling around to look toward them. Six and Mono looked at it as well before realizing that they should begin running. They made as much ground as they could but with Mono injured the exasperated pain only worsened. The Overseer kept lashing out at the two, trying to desperately strike them, but space would shift at a constant rate, sometimes shifting its aim right before it strikes, moving the Overseer to a different spot, or the tendril that it sent to strike them would shift in such a minute way that it would strike so close to the pair, the force almost knocked them off their feet. The large floating for of the Overseer was trying to circle around the spacial phenomenon but it would always move around before it could make any ground. As if it had had the many eyes on its body begin to light up simultaneously, before rays of light shot out toward the two preparing to immobilize the two, luckily on instinct Six covered the two in a cloud of dark shadows so thick the light would not pierce through. When they had finally reached the drop off they had both almost fallen into it, thanks to their sight being slightly obscured by the dark fog from Six.

"Ok, you're gonna wanna time this, it's really simple, that dark pit might seem bottomless but it's made from matter not perceivable by humans. It is constantly switching its states of being from solid, liquid and gas. You jump in when it's solid, you die, you jump in when it's gas, you die, you time it right, and jump in when it's liquid, it should take us to where we need to go." Sloth said

"Should!" Mono frantically questioned the entity in his head

When they looked over the edge of the hole there was nothing but a black abyss. It was impossible to gauge exactly what state of matter it was currently in. Slowly crouching over the edge of the hole if Mono stretched his hand enough, he could just barely reach the dark substance. It looked like his hand should have disappeared into the blackness but instead his hand pressed against a hard almost stone-like substance. He pressed against it trying to see if anything would give but instead the entire surface, without any indication, gave way, like a dark choking fog he almost tumbled over.

He quickly ripped his hand out of the dark pollution, the skin on his hand beginning to tingle, almost as if it was burning. Bringing his hand out she shook off the feeling that numbed his hand before looking it over to see if there was any lasting damage.

"Sloth I can't tell when to jump into this thing, and I think it burned my hand, you didn't say it could hurt me." Mono said

"Well then hit it with some electricity, maybe it'll change state to liquid, and I never said it wouldn't hurt." Sloth said

With no time to even think of the validity of Sloth's idea Mono tried to charge up a spark but the pain in his chest.

"Oh yeah, you might be like this for a while, just don't try to use your powers for a while and you'll be fine, but hey, sometimes things are just up to chance, with a roll of the die, no matter what you do, what is meant to be, shall be." Sloth

Looking behind him the shaking of the ground was slowly leveling out, reality finally began to settle once more, the Overseer instead of being moved around by space was moving towards them albeit at a slower pace as if it were moving through syrup. Turning back, he looked back down the pitch-black hole. But before he could come to a decision he felt a hand grab onto his shoulder in a tight grip, swinging him around. Of course, the sudden shift in position caused him to lose footing.

It happened so quickly the only thing he caught sight of was Six lunging at him, her sharp nails missing only because he had fallen back into the pit. The last thing he saw as he fell back was Six still reaching for him, before he was engulfed in the black smog. He fell into the pit, the wind rushing past his ears. He couldn't see anything around him as he shut his eyes, the black gas burning and tingling all of his exposed skin. He tried to hold his breath for as long as possible, fully expecting the worst possible outcome, but suddenly he stopped.

He still couldn't see, because he couldn't even open his eyes. Instead of feeling like he was falling through fog it felt like he was slowly sinking down in a thick gunk. All around him he could feel whatever surrounded him seeping into his clothes. He didn't know how long he had been sitting in the pool of gunk, it couldn't have been too long, no more than a few seconds, but it felt longer as he held his breath, the need to breathe as his lungs screamed at him to take a breath. His body began to kick and struggle as he tried to do anything to keep from opening his mouth, and just when he felt like was finally about to pass out, he began to free fall once again, crashing onto a floor a few feet below.

Taking long gulps of air, sprawled on the floor black gunk covering him from head to toe, he shakily stood up. His hands raked across his face, grabbing a whole handful of black gunk that covered his face, then trying to take it out of his hair, throwing as much as possible down to the floor. Immediately noticing that any of the black gunk that landed onto the floor disappeared almost as if being absorbed by the floor.

"Hey! Look at you! You made it! Granted you hurt yourself trying to rip reality apart, you almost fell down a bottomless pit, then you almost suffocated passing through the gate, but you made it." Sloth cheered.

"Cough….Cough, where are we? And why is there classical music playing?" Mono said, the sound of music playing reaching his ears.

He was in a long fancy, and furnished room with a large and exquisite wooden door being the only exit he could see. The door opened abruptly, an adult standing in the doorway wearing a butler suit, holding the door open with one arm and a towel draped across its other arm. Once the door was open it stepped aside looking at Mono before bowing, using both of its hands to show Mono that it wanted him to step out of the room.

Seeing as he had no choice, he followed along with the butler. An immaculate red carpet was splayed out before him in the hallway, the entire hall was well lit and every nook and cranny was free of even the smallest speck of dust. The black and white tile floor was so clean his reflection could faintly be seen. Dozens of other butlers could be seen walking around, all ignoring Mono as he trailed behind the butler.

Meanwhile flung within the oily mass a body fell to the ground, scrambling on the floor. The figure stood up, dirty and crazed Six shook off the gunk on her before she began looking around. A long and wide dining table stretched across nearly the whole room, adorned with all manners of food that you would not see even on the Maw, such as glittering pastries and golden franked meats all meticulously placed and portioned among the great many chairs all along the table. As opposed to the guests of the Maw there were adults, skinnier but not by much with clothes were nothing but the fanciest suits and ties.

Some even had the most ridiculously large hats she had seen, anything and everything about them screamed societally elite, down to the way that they ate. Using their utensils slowly and properly to eat only the smallest of morsels. Every action they did was poised in such a way as to show that they were above the common people, different from the Guests that scarfed down whatever food was placed before them. If one looked closely though, you'd quickly find that there was so much food, and the adults were eating so slowly, that it was literally growing cold and rotting rapidly before them.

Though to Six's ravenous gaze it all meant nothing as her eyes landed on the closest among them, slowly trailing across to each among them before she jumped on to the table, with a crash and walked along the table, kicking the food off while black wisps of shadows trailed out to her sides, sucking the what little life out of the adults she was walked past, each one slumping over as a corpse, some falling to the floor off their seat, others hitting their heads onto their food. As she walked along, she spied an adult with slightly more meat on their bones then usual she walked up to the adult, using her shadows to lift the flailing adult before taking a chunk out of its throat, chewing the meat and sinew in her mouth before throwing the lifeless corpse to the side, swallowing the flesh before using her sleeve to wipe the blood from her lips.

Once all the adults had been killed and sanity returned to her, she became keenly aware of the sound of clapping slowly approaching her. Turning she spots a tall figure walking through the door at the opposite end of the room from where she had come from. When her eyes finally focused on the figure, she noticed the absolutely gaudy attire the man wore, like a blend of only the poshest clothing, it was a pure black vest with gold lining in patterns and buttons, hugging his body perhaps a tad bit too tightly, and draped over that was a piece of clothing that Six couldn't quite tell what it was. The top half of it was like the vest of a suit, the collar popping off to the side, but the arms of the clothing which should have tapered off at the wrist was covered in linen fluff, that for the most part kept his hands hidden, the fingers the only visible parts. The back tail of the vest extended downward like a cloak behind the man, the fabric moving ever so slightly, the gold gleam from the shining buckles on his equally gaudy black shoes peeking out and shining forth with every slow step that he took. As he walked closer and closer to Six he stopped clapping, instead opting to show a smile while using a hand to slick his hair back, making sure it was as it should be.

"You may think of me as the boss, the king, owner and proprietor of this city. Or as the children call me, The Crooked Man." The man said while giving a bow.

The moment he bowed a dark tendril pierced through his body, though it passed through his form as if through smoke. The man simply looked up without a scratch.

"Ah, just as predictable as any other child I see, really you should strive to be less… spontaneous. You should be happy to see me, honestly, I'm only here to offer you a little help with your current issue." The Crooked Man mused.

Six sneered at him. "I don't need someone like you for anything, you're just here to try and mess with me." Six said as her muscles tensed, ready for any sign of an attack that the hunched adult throws at her, though as a moment or two passes, nothing of the sort happens.

Standing to his full height, even if a little crooked, the man began a slow approach. "You have nothing to fear, I assure you. Of course, I'm not here to help you free of any charge, rather more of a trade of sorts. comprende?" He asked.

Six just stared down the Crooked Man as she replayed his words in her head. Though when the Crooked Man had begun to speak again, more dark tendrils pierced his visage. He stood completely unharmed, the parts of his body struck blew away like wisps of graw mist, slowly being moved back into shape.

The Crooked man merely sighed. "You're being an unreasonable little girl, you can't harm me, and yet you honestly think I would have come so close to a child with a nasty temper such as yourself if you could? Just listen to my offer and then you can be on your merry way. It is loathsome enough to have to even speak to your ilk, but I believe a deal between us would be… mutually beneficial."

With a snap of his fingers, the furniture around disappeared in a billow of smoke, everything except the bodies of the adults at least, that is until servants dressed in finery walked in and dragged the bodies off, their faces obscured under a dark vail. The blood soaked into the ground, being drained into the tiles. Six had half a mind to attack the servants too, but the Crooked Man approached her quickly, demanding her attention.

"As much as I would love to watch you gore upon my possessions we really must talk. Understand?" The Crooked Man spoke.

Six only provided the Crooked Man with an angry growl but nonetheless remained still, her eyes glued to the man should he make a move she didn't agree with. Seeing her inaction the man smiled, once again slicking his hair back before beginning to speak.

"The boy you follow around, Mono correct? You see, he's causing me many many issues here, and I'd like nothing more than to get rid of him." he said. When these words left his mouth, he could see Six's face slowly morph into one of anger, so he spoke quickly.

"Of course, for reasons I am unable to elaborate on, it is not in my best interest to kill the boy. So, I will capture the boy and then that's where you come in! The boy…. doesn't trust you, he may say he does, but we both know it's just sweet words you'd like to hear. In fact, he may have already made a new friend, one he is steadily growing to trust more and more. So, I will provide you with an opportunity! You may "save" the boy when he inevitably falls and whist him away with you, out of my city. The other child you need not worry about, they shall stay with me, a piece in my ever-growing collection." The Crooked Man spoke, explaining the plan in detail. Six looked unsure, the plan sounding good to her but still too many factors to properly feel at ease.

"You may be wondering; how do you stop him from returning? What keeps him from leaving you again? Will he trust you again? We'll all these worries can be easily remedied, for should you accept this deal, I will bind the both of you together. I have eyes and ears all around my city, of course we see how you look at the boy, the affection you have for him. Bound together, you'll be the one in control, still the same boy you care for, unable to leave your side, he will have no choice but to trust you again eventually." He finished.

At first Six wanted nothing to do with the adult but as he talked on and on, the deal he spoke of sounded more and more appealing. But what ensured that the adult would follow through with his promise.

"Think of this as a sign of good will. Honestly, I don't have any intention of harming you, far from it actually. I'd much rather have nothing to do with you kids but here you are, making a mess of everything. But rest assured the boy will remain unharmed and you need not answer now, I was simply here to pass the message along, until next time little girl." The Crooked Man said as his form whilst away like smoke. The door that he had initially walked through slowly creaked open and Six walked through tentatively.

Mono Pov

Mono walked behind a butler, ever vigilant for anything that posed a present danger. They walked down the winding hallway, the gilded walls filled with countless paintings and statues along the way. While they did peak his interest, he was not in a position to look freely at the moment. Their journey through the hall was silent thanks to the carpet beneath their feet.

"Sloth, do you know what all this is? I know they are painting and statues but why keep all this?" Mono said

"Ah these are just pieces of art from before stuff went south. Most of these were considered priceless art pieces back in the day. In my opinion most of these are garbage, Greed doesn't really have a sense of taste, just monetary value. If it is or was worth something he'll want it." Sloth said

"Is that a banana taped to a wall?" Mono asked incredulously, eyeing the fruit that was taped to a piece of wall that was seemingly cut from whatever building it had initially been a part of.

"Like I said, no taste. It was worth a lot, so I guess he took that too." Sloth said

They came upon a large wooden door and the butler stopped abruptly before it, its hand reaching for a bell with a wooden handle along its waist. With a small shake of its hand a ringing sound was clearly heard, breaking the silence. A moment later the doors slowly opened on their own before the butler began leading the way once more.

Walking through the door Mono saw that the room was filled to the brim with plants, other butlers in the room attending to each plant, be it trimming, watering or adding soil.

"Greed's like to get their hands on pretty much anything of perceived value, like these plants for example, while they have no monetary value, some of these are probably the last of their kind so he collects them too." Sloth said

The other butlers that were taking special care of the plants and trees were watching him from a distance. They walked along the path led along by the butler, looking at all the weird plants and trees he had never seen before. A larger pair of wooden doors came into view, blocked by two large goons. Seeing the butler, the two goons grabbed the two large handles and each door and slowly began to pull the doors apart, the doors creaking as they were parted.

A room decorated in white tiles and white marble columns. Everything in the room was white save for certain things. Those being various statues that seemed to be made of gold. He had walked into the door with the butler, the two goons closing the door behind them. As he walked by the statues slowly Mono took his time to inspect each one briefly. Very quickly Mono came to the realization of what exactly he was looking at. They were people, people of various ages and sizes. The first one he saw was an older man, the wrinkles of his skin plainly visible as the gold seemed to have been laid over their skin like a second skin. Every detail from head to toe was done perfectly, even the hair looking like it would still move if you touched it.

The next statue was a lady, visibly younger than that first one yet still older than Mono. Wearing what looked to be a very fancy dress. Her face looked to be stuck in one of fear, almost as if she had been encased in gold almost instantly.

Further and further, they walked, some of the statues were of children that looked his age, others were far younger than him, others older, middle aged. Most showed signs of fear, others looked angry, and some looked like they didn't even know what was going on. They lined the path of the room that they walked, one on each side of him a few feet away from the next two. He wondered how many there were exactly, he had given up counting exactly how many when they had reached what looked to be a wooden door that looked to be hand crafted with details of a eye, just like the room he had once been trapped in, except the carving was slightly different from the one at the Pale City. The door slowly creaked open, a strong smell of smoke filled his nose. Not like smoke from a fire but like someone had spent all their time smoking cigarettes within.

The sound of smooth jazz reached his ear and he peered within. There a figure sat back in a chair, counting gold coins, stacking them and counting them meticulously. After he stepped through the door it slammed shut behind him.

The figure gave no indication that he had heard him. Simply still counting his gold, and as Mono looked around, he noticed gold coins everywhere. Gold and jewels were sprawled about everywhere in the room in piles on the floor, on the tables, spilling over or entirely covering other pieces of furniture.

Looking towards the figure Mono saw the figure sitting behind a desk, with slicked back hair. A pair of shades hiding his eyes, one lens gold the other an almost pinkish hue and a cigar in mouth, puffing out a constant stream of smoke.

"Child of Sloth, I wish I could say it's a pleasure to meet you, but that would be a massive understatement. Tell me, what did you think of my collection? I spent a great many years building it up piece by piece." The man said without looking up from counting his gold coins.

"I'm assuming Greed has told you about me." Mono said

"Told me? No, just small clues here and there, useless records from long ago on top of you not being the only child of another that I've seen. Being in my position of power affords me some luxuries many could not even dream of a dream I wish to keep it that way, and you are posing a problem to that." The man simply stated with a flick of his eyes as he looked at Mono briefly before going back to his collection once more.

With the faint scent of smoke, Mono turns around to see a chair materialized behind him, when he looks back to the Crooked man, he simply gestures to sit down.

"I know quite a bit of our kind, those chosen by these things. Sloths however are an oddity, for one reason or another. Some chosen that I've met before have had… Repercussions for killing them, so seeing as I've never personally seen a child of Sloth it is not in my best interest to outright kill you. So, I had you brought here to propose a wager of sorts." The man explains, his tone no different than that of someone simply talking about the weather as he admits to wanting to kill him if he could.

"Just keep talking to him or he'll get angry. Most of those chosen by other vices can be unpredictable and sporadic at best. Play along for now." Sloth instructed.

"Is he talking to you right now?" The man suddenly asks, spooking Mono. "Greed used to speak to me, though it was hard to tell at first, it's subtle ways of trying to influence me, but he's gone now." The man seems to pause at that with an expression Mono couldn't quite decipher before the man realizes something.

"Ah, apologies, I believe I have not yet introduced myself. I am the Crooked Man, I am sovereignty of this city, as well as many of its fine establishments. Though I must confess it's been so long my real name escapes me, so my moniker will have to do. Though, let's not dwell too much on the unimportant things. What is it that you want?" The Crooked Man asked, for once leaving his collection and leaning over his desk to staring straight at Mono. Even so, Mono was undaunted.

"I wanted to rescue my friend. You have them don't you." He said, but of course the moment he finished saying this, a wheezing laugh was heard as the Crooked Man removed the cigar from his mouth, grinding the end of it into a dish, smothering the burning end.

"I'm not a fool you know. You came to this city with something else in mind. To stick your hands where they shouldn't be. You might have left your decrepit city and think you're doing something good trying to ruin mine, but let me tell you, this won't go the way you think it will. However, I'm not an animal like many others, so let's set up a deal. We'll play a game of my choosing, whether you win or lose you can go free. I'm not so much interested in you, more so the city you came from, new land, new opportunities and a new resource for revenue. If you win you can have the kid." The Crooked Man said.

"Firstly, you came to my city so I lay down the rules, secondly nothing you have is valuable enough for me to even consider betting my city, besides if you really care about the kid then this should be an easy thing for you to agree to. Besides I think both you and I understand the importance of that child to me in particular. You can choose to not accept of course; I'll have you locked up somewhere nice. So…. Do we have a deal?" The Crooked Man said as he slid a piece of paper over to him.

Mono hesitated, looking at the parchment with fine strict lettering, binding him in many ways he could barely imagine. Could he really do this? Risk all that was saved to possibly save his friend. His insides churned as he felt nauseous at the thought, he couldn't do that. Does that mean he'll have to abandon them? No, he'll just have to find another way.

The crooked man had started to sample some tea when Mono spoke. "Is... There anything else you would trade them for?" To which the older man seems to muse over, his eyes flicking away in thought before he simply nods.

"I see, perhaps I'm being a little too greedy. So, here's a simpler request. Though be warned, this is my final offer." The Crooked man states as he slides a second parchment, that seemed far simpler to understand. Though as he finishes reading through, his throat felt tight as if someone may as well be tying a noose around it. When Mono looked up the crooked man had only this to say.

"You lose, and your soul is mine."