A/N: I have a bad habit of ignoring comics. Sorry, but there is an alternate tale that must be told!
Mono awoke, dazed and confused. He'd had a very strange dream about... a doorway of some kind? And a TV? That was the least of his worries though, as the boy realized, he had no idea where he was. Or, even more alarmingly, who he was.
He knew his name was Mono, that was for sure. A strange name for a little boy, but this was a strange and messed up world. That he also knew for sure. He also knew that he was lying on the damp grass of a forest.
There were no birds chirping in the trees, or creatures of any kind around. Just a cold dead silence, only broken by the determined rush of wind. If Mono didn't know any better, he would think that the wind whistling through the branches sounded oddly like the distinct tones of a haunting, melody. A song that disturbed the fog in his mind, causing it to swirl like ingredients in a mixing bowl, occasionally bringing fragments of images to the surface which almost instantly sunk again.
With a frustrated huff Mono pushed himself to his feet, squeezing and wiping the moisture from his clothing as best he could. The coolness of it made him shiver, persuading him to get moving so as to more easily get warm.
As he explored the forest, setting off traps and avoiding smelly corpses, Mono began to get the feeling that he was being watched. Something was following him, creeping silently where he couldn't see it. What could it want?
He got his answer no more than a minute later, when something dark rushed at him at a breakneck speed. Mono could do nothing but scream as dark tendrils extended towards him, intent on doing who knows what. But whatever it was, it couldn't be anything good.
Then it stopped. The tendrils retracted back into its humanoid body, and it settled on the ground, in an almost bemused manner.
"Oh, you're a kid!" The thing said, in a child's voice! A sort of distorted child's voice, but a child's voice nonetheless. Now that Mono was really able to look at it, no, her, he could see that she was, in fact, a child. Albeit a child made entirely out of darkness. She was dressed in a long raincoat, almost made entirely of shadow, whose pointed hood along with her messy bangs obscured the top half of her face, but Mono could see the glint of eyes peering curiously back at him.
"Sorry kid," she continued. "I thought you were some kind of paper monster with that bag on your head. You're also wet, did you sleep here in the forest or something?"
"Are—" Mono began, but was interrupted by a short but powerful coughing fit. He wasn't sure if it was because he hadn't used his voice in a while, or simply because he was shocked at how quickly the tone of the situation had changed. Either way, this was something Mono felt he needed to ask this strange being, so he cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and tried something a little simpler.
"Shadow monster?" He croaked, pointed a finger at the shadow girl so she was more likely to get what he meant.
She didn't seem to have expected that question, for she paused, contemplating his words for a moment. "That... has a bit of a complicated answer, more than a simple 'yes' or 'no' could provide. It's also something I would rather not get into until we've had at least three sleepovers."
Now it was Mono's turn to be confused, not that he wasn't already. The shadow girl put her hands on her hips, huffing in annoyance. "All this sun must be making me crazy. The point is I mean you no harm, kid. In fact... I could really use your help." Her expression turned solemn. "I lost my sister. A guy with a gun took her, and usually when people are kidnapped by guys with guns it doesn't mean anything good. I tried to get her out myself many times, but I could never pull it off. Either I was caught by the guy with a gun, or something equally stupid got in my way. And I'm really starting to worry about her. He keeps her in this tiny room all the time. Does he even feed her? Give her water? What's he planning to do with her?" The child rings her hands moodily. "So what do you say, bagboy? Will you give me a hand?"
Mono ponders for a moment. He wasn't sure if helping this strange girl would be a good idea. After all, she hadn't denied it when he'd asked her if she was a monster. But she hadn't attacked him like the other monsters he had come across, and apart from being a little abrasive (Bagboy? Really?) she was actually, dare he say it? ...Kinda nice. A nice monster? Now that was something new. But admittedly, not unwelcome.
And of course he couldn't put aside the fact that her sister had been captured by (flickering memories) The Hunter! That's who that was! The Hunter who had been known to kill kids who got in his territory. He wasn't sure if the guy could kill shadow kids since the shadow girl had said she'd been caught but is still standing, it was obvious that she was very worried for her sibling's safety. And who knows, maybe if he helped this girl, it could lead him to clues about himself.
So Mono nodded, smiling slightly. He would help this shadow girl rescue her sister. Not very many people in this world would do things for each other like this, so Mono felt it would be good to encourage it.
The shadow girl grinned in relief and happiness, revealing that she had long needle sharp canines like a vampire. This somehow did not stop the expression from being warm and dare he say it? Kinda cute. "Oh, thank you kid, really." She turns and drifts off inches from the ground, motioning for Mono to follow. "C'mon. The guy's house is this way."
Sneaking into The Hunter's house went relatively well, and soon Mono was following his dark companion into the hut's basement. As they descended, Mono could hear the tinkling tones of a music box. Strange... didn't he hear that song before?
"She's in there," the shadow girl whispers with undeniable excitement in her voice. "I can't believe it! This is the furthest I've gotten! Now we just have to—whoa! What're you doing!?"
Mono was barely listening to what his companion was babbling at him as he strutted determinedly towards the discarded axe, heaving it up in his slightly trembling grip. He then moved towards the door and slammed it into the door, twice! Three times! The door was knocked down, and the sister was saved! But, wait!
Mono couldn't help but be surprised, for sitting in front of him was not another shadow child, but a human girl. And she looked terrified. Still, she needed his help, so Mono approached her. Or tried to anyway, a certain overjoyed shadow girl shoving past him hindered his progress quite a bit.
"Six! Six! It's okay! He's with me."
The girl, those name was apparently Six, gasped in surprise. She blinked a few times, moth agape. "T-Triple?" She croaked, her voice sounding even worse than Mono's had.
"Yeah! Yeah, it's me!"
"Triple!" Six wrapped her arms tightly around Triple, her returned the hug with equal vigor.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't able to rescue you sooner."
"I'm just glad you found me now, I don't know what I would've done if I had to be here any longer." They then release each other, and Six eyes Mono inquisitively. He blushes, feeling as though he was intruding on a private moment. "Hey, who's that kid anyway?"
"That? That's uh, er, mmm."
"Mono." He finishes for her, trying not to laugh. Or cough. Or both.
"Mono! Yeah this is Mono, and he helped me rescue you."
Six gives him a bright smile. "Thanks, Mono." She than turns back to her sister. "You didn't force him, did you?"
Triple gawks. "What? No! Of course not! Why would you think that?"
Six starts to respond, but is interrupted by loud banging and grunting noises. Chitchat would have to wait, now they needed to move.
A/N: So I watched a playthrough of Little Nightmares 2 on YouTube since I can't play it myself, and holly crap! That ending was so messed up! More messed up than the first game and its DLC's endings combined. Needless to say, it definitely needs some fixing up. And who better to help with that than Triple. With her in the picture (at least more prominently), things will definitely be different in new and unexpected ways.
