Little Nightmares: The Butterfly Effect

by Wendigo Studios

We all know how the story goes, right? A girl in a yellow raincoat goes through an old mansion run by the furious ruler, the Pretender, with another girl named Six. She dies but Six survives facing new threats either alone or with her beloved Mono traveling through the Maw and Pale City, one is left behind, the other becomes a monster on an endless loop now set to be broken.

3. Chapter 3: The Flap Of A Wing

Within the Lady's more private quarters, teens dressed in yellow cloaks gathered around a stack of books and a fire pit they crafted themselves. Magic formed in between their fingers and the fire pit, softly at first but slowly growing. A light glow suddenly engulfed the room and an image of the ember butterfly and the North Wind appeared, behind them the storm clouds had formed, thunder boomed and lightning flashed. Even from here, they could feel the waves from the ocean become rougher, they looked at each other and grinned. "It has begun."

"It is time to end this." The North Wind took the hand of the butterfly, the winds swirling around them. With it, soft Japanese cherry blossoms swooped to and flo. The shadows shaded, the illusions faded, two adults wearing kimonos that blew in the storm they created held each other close as they danced. The Lady's raven black fluttered gently as she met the eyes of her husband, he smiled back at her. Her chocolate brown eyes that his grandchildren had nearly made him melt, her pale skin still soft and warm as he held her hand, her smile was intoxicating.

He brought his lips closer to hers, she agreed in seconds. Her arms wrapped around his neck and her lips brushed with his, their love though they had been separated, was still as strong as it had been years ago. When they pulled apart, smiles engulfed their faces, one of true happiness and love like the ones their grandson had with his beloved, their granddaughter-in-law, Six. "It's time to free them."

Deep in the Maw, the staff wandered the halls aimlessly, each watching the Nest and the dark clouds filling the sky. Dread and sadness filled their hearts, knowing what was about to happen and feeling frustrated at being powerless to stop it. The Lady stared blankly into her broken mirror, her raven hair hung heavy over her face, one red eye almost glowing. Her reflection wasn't the ugly crone she saw before, but it was difficult for her to peer at her reflection. She didn't want to see the tears that were rolling down her cheeks, her red irises that were bloodshot and her fangs, fangs that killed her mo….

Within the Pale City, the remaining adults sulked in their respective locations. The Hunter sat at his cabin, cleaning his shotgun with a cloth, his visible eye staring out at the woods then looking at the Signal Tower in the distance, cursing its existence. He then looked out into the woods, a pathway running from his cabin into the woods, a pathway that he, his wife and his daughter had walked down before. His girlfriend then wife had carved a heart into the bark of a log, a sign of their love and forever bond. He clutched his shotgun closer, the same one he used to attempt to off himself when all this suffering started.

The Teacher smacked her ruler at her desk as she glared down at the students, some of them shattered to bits, her hair was a wreck, her eyes wild and her uniform looking a bit dirty and unkempt. She felt like she was going insane from that damn cycle and truth be told, she was. Far in the building, a fat child hid in a locker sweating in terror. He swallowed down a brick in his throat, clutching his lollipop close to his chest, it had a few cracks from smashing the Bullies' heads in but it was still usable yet it wouldn't be a match against the Teacher. The child started to sob in terror as he stared out the cracks in the locker, waiting for the Teacher to come by and capture him like the previous cycles.

The two Bullies who weren't a bother, cowered in their desks, shrinking down in order to hide. The Doctor placed a hand against his hand, form slumped over his desk, his old desk back when he was a normal doctor, his hair disheveled and his eyes baggy. A girl with ginger hair sat against a wall of her prison, making tally marks in the walls with a spoon. There were several as it was a reminder of the cycle around her and how many had passed in this hellhole. She let out a choking sob, a hand pressed against her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks, hiccups racked her form, her body shook and her cries filled her room. But nobody came except the storm.

The toddler let out a frightened cry as he curled up into his homemade bed, clutching the blanket and his gator stuffed animal close to his chest. His nightmare was about the tvs, they always were as he was kidnapped by the Thin Man in the previous cycles. He hadn't talked about what he went through with his guardian yet, he wasn't ready and he wasn't sure if he'd ever be ready. The ghost kid took in a deep breath as he stared out at the buildings of the Pale City, his head bowed, his arm clutching the stump where his other arm was. A loss from the adult with the giant scissors before his fate was sealed by the tvs, but in a few minutes another loss was followed.

Like the Barber, his fate was sealed as were the Viewers. One by one, they were sucked into the tvs leaving behind their clothes. However none of them noticed nor did they care and neither did the remaining children in the city as their lives were affected hard by them even if some of them were once their parents. Wires grew out of their heads, connecting with their master behind the board cast. The TVs lit up more, the light blue screens becoming brighter nearly blinding the eyes of the children but they kept going on including a kid in green with his girlfriend even though they were covered in injuries.

In the Signal Tower, the Flesh Eyes watched the scenes within the Pale City with glee. The Viewers were powering them making them more powerful than they were before in years, the children were still numerous but they would be gone soon. If they had mouths, there was no doubt they would have smiled smugly at their battery. In his chair, the Thin Man sulked, a broken look on his face as he watched the screens of the Viewers getting sucked into the screens and the children running around the city, carrying supplies to ensure they could survive.

He looked up to the scenes of the Maw, the wilderness and the Nest, tears trailing down his cheeks before he broke down. It was concluded, the cycle would continue. His son, his family, his friends were about to have their lives ruined once again while he was about to be destroyed. Like in the previous ones. However unknown to them, the North Wind and the butterfly watched, their wings fluttering and their storm building.

"Holy shit!" Six exclaimed in both surprise and fear, bringing an arm up to protect herself from the harsh rainfall while her other arm was wrapped around her body in a failed attempt at keeping warm. She shivered a fair bit in the cold winds as they flew by her almost every second, oh how she wished the Nest had provided her with better clothes then the ones she currently had.

Her black raven hair stuck to her head like glue till it was lifted up and blown roughly behind her by the wind. A flash of lightning lit up the sky and a rumble of thunder boomed loudly making the little girl jump a few feet backwards. "This is one of the roughest storms I've ever been in, I hope Raine is alright. But I heard she's been in rougher storms than this, so I'm sure she's okay, I hope."

Despite the doubts running through her head considering the previous cycles where Raine had different demises as did the Pretender other than falling off the Nest's cliffs, some worse than the others. Six tried to remain confident as best as she could and attempted to look around but only walls of rainwater and the flashes of lightning every now and then met her gaze.

"Goddammit Raine! Where the fuck are you?!" Six shouted into the storm, fully expecting her cries to be swallowed up by the storm. As if an answer to Six's question, a terrified familiar female cry followed by a flash of bright yellow hurrying toward her as another flash of lightning strikes and rumble of thunder sounded.

"Seven, where the hell are you?!" Quince shouted furiously through his raised arm and the thick curtain of rainwater drenching his taller form. All around him, the three younger kids crowded around him for support, each hanging on to him so they didn't get swept up into the storm, their backpacks acted as good weight support but there was no telling if they could keep them down on the ground for long.

Seven really wished he could answer his leader without having the feeling of surprisingly fresh rainwater entering his mouth or having his shouts to either one of his comrades swallowed up by the oncoming storm that was coming in without any intention of stopping, because he had lost his grip on flashlight girl's hand when the rain came pelting down on them much harder then the rain in the Pale City ever did.

Well, this wasn't exactly the Pale City, so the weather patterns were probably more wilder then what he was used to, but still. Seven grunted out a response as the wind blew against his backpacked form, dragging the young boy backwards a few inches and scraping his bare feet. He lifted his head and brought a hand up to his face to protect his eyes from the rain as he looked out into the storm, trying to find any trace of the young girl in the white dress.

"Nightlight!" Seven hollered as loud as his young voice would allow, hoping Nightlight would hear him and she wasn't too far from the group or worse, trapped in the clutches of a monster or the Ferryman, the one and only ride to the Maw and reason why the boy in blue ended up at that awful place and befriended the Nomes. When no answer came, Seven felt his eyes widen slightly and a flash of fear grip his heart but not in talons of pure terror, no that would come later in the Maw when facing the Granny, the Janitor and the Lady down, but more a flash then anything else.

"Nightlight?! Nightlight?!" Seven hollered again but this time, he wasn't alone with his shouts. It seems Quince had realized one of them was missing. "Nightlight, for fuck's sake, where in the wide fucking world of the Pale City are you?!" A scream from an all too familiar female voice caught their attention. "Oh no," Quince muttered, eyes going wide with terror at the realization.

"I'll go get her, just stay here with the others," Seven shouted to the leader, bolting away from his comrades and heading toward the face of danger. "Seven wait!" Quince shouted, reaching out a hand to try to stop him, but he didn't get any further before a large hand wrapped around his middle and dragged him upwards. The boy didn't need to be a genius to know who had grabbed him. "Shit! No!" The leader shouted, wiggling uselessly to try to escape the hand of the Ferryman. The fading sound of Seven's scream was the last thing he heard. "SEVEN!" Quince and Nightlight shouted at once.

"Raine?!" Six shouted in surprise, jumping a couple inches backwards at the sight of her friend rushing in like a fast moving river. "No time for questions," Raine said urgently, practically barreling into the log that rested at the end of the cliff as fast and as hard as she could. "Just get ready to run!" Raine backed up till her back was nearly touching the rocky wall of the Nest's cliffs, powering her legs and torso with all the energy and force she held in her little beaten body and prepared another charge.

She was suddenly caught off guard by a violent gust of wind that hit her back like a truck ramming into her at the highest speed it could possibly go, knocking her off balance and nearly sending her over the cliff. Raine let out a frightened squeak, kicking her feet out and forcing them under the mud to keep herself from flying into the air.

"Raine, what's wrong?!" Six shouted as loud as she wanted to now that she stopped caring about her life thanks to what felt like years of torment, but she soon found the answer without her friend needing to answer her. Six let out her own terrified cry as her little body was being pushed backwards by a strong gust of wind. Lightning lit up the sky for a brief second and Six managed to make out the image of her friend reaching out for her with both hands.

Scarf Kid yelped as the waves pulled at the raft he and the other kids were aboard, his long red scarf blew violently in the winds despite the rain that pounded on their heads. A hand went up to the hat on his head, trying to keep it on his head to protect it from the harsh rain. Off to his side, the other rescued kids he was with ran around the makeshift raft, grabbing strings on deck to keep the sails from blowing away. Another one went for the pack they carried on hand, not wanting to lose useful supplies.

A wave that was heading in the opposite direction of the ocean crashed against the raft, nearly causing the group of kids to crash against the rocks. They yelped out in surprise, wobbling a fair bit as they struggled to stay on the boat. One kid cried out in pain as her side bumped against a rock, thankfully it wasn't anything too serious. Another wave heading in the direction of the ocean crashed against the raft, causing kids to tobble over one another, some nearly splashing into the water below. Scarf Kid gripped onto the wooden plank in the middle of the boat, holding on for dear life as the waves pushed against the raft still tied to the rocks of the Nest.

"Grab those boards, take cover! We're caught in a hurricane!" Mono looked around in horror, the storm he had seen moments ago had gotten much worse. The house was buckling under the pressure of the rain, the wood was breaking off in chunks, the previous flames of the fire that would invade the house during a Cycle were being put out as quickly as they came. Lightning flashed in the sky, lighting up the little shack in a white light and the cracks of thunder shook the boy even more than what the Pale City and Signal Tower could throw at him.

To make matters worse, several kids were darting back and forth inside the building, some blindly panicking and waving their arms around like idiots, others were following orders and diving underneath whatever they could find so they didn't get blown away by the strong winds. However, not all were lucky as the strong winds managed to sweep in and grab hold of some of the kids before bringing them into its stormy embrace while they kicked uselessly in an attempt to get free.

Mono felt horror flash across his face as he watched the kids of the house being dragged into the hurricane in a similar fashion when the Thin Man attacked the house and dragged kids kicking and screaming into the darkness and though he felt his own body being pulled toward one of the damaged walls of the former house, he couldn't move, it was like he had been frozen in ice. "What the hell are you waiting for?! Move your ass! If you're not going to help, then get downstairs!" shouted one of the older kids, stopping in his tracks to ensure everyone was getting to safety.

Mono didn't move at first as it seemed his brain was struggling to process what the hell was going on. But one good shove from the older kid convinced Mono to haul ass, for despite his new abilities, he knew the storm was bad and more electricity would be a recipe for disaster. The sound of his bare feet slapping the worn wood of the House echoed within his ears as he moved, his trench coat flowed behind him as he moved. As he did so, a familiar buzzing from a certain man filled the stormy atmosphere.

Six caught on and grabbed onto her friend's hands as tightly as her hands would allow. Raine grunted and fought against the wind as she pulled her body backward as much as the wind would allow her to. She bit her bottom lip then gritted her teeth, shutting her eyes as she powered her cold cramping limbs to their limits, no matter what the odds were, she would not let go, she would not lose Six.

"Hold on, girl," Raine shouted at Six, pulling the other girl into a tight embrace and moving toward the back of the cliffs despite the rough winds, seeing if she and her friend could take shelter under them. "What do you think I'm doing?!" Six yelled back at her, wrapping her thin arms around the raincoat girl's body even tighter than she normally would, but honestly who could blame her?

Raine placed a hand in Six's wet raven black hair and gently stroked it, feeling the other girl's tense form relax and her grip on her body ease a bit though Six still didn't let go, but Raine didn't really seem to mind, in fact she gave a soft smile filled with happiness and love for the now twelve year old girl. However, that happiness was short-lived as she and Six bumped into something or someone else.

"Owww! Fuck!" the familiar female voice of the Pretender snapped angrily, no doubt backing up and rubbing her head from the force of the impact. "What the fuck?!" Six and Raine both backed up and felt their bodies go cold in an instant despite the piles of heavy rainfall pounding on their heads like someone was dumping a large bucket of water onto them.

Six tensed up like she never did before and she wrapped her arms around Raine's neck, pulling the other girl closer to her protectively. She narrowed her red eyes and bared her sharp teeth, a curse the Hunger had blessed her with even when she was much younger. Raine had her arms wrapped Six tightly but not as tightly as the raven-haired girl. Her own expression filled with nothing but anxiety like the countless times she had been faced with the monsters of the Nest except ten times worse, she thought she was going to start doing an overdrive.

In all honesty, Raine didn't know why the fear that was buried so deep in her guts was coming out and striking her in the chest like a hammer banging into her ribs. It wasn't like this was the first time she had faced her, in fact the little girl in the raincoat had faced her before several times in these twisted cycles. She had seen her before, knew what she was capable of doing and how the final encounter with her ended. Yet the fear of facing her still existed within Raine as evident by the quiet yet terrified 'shit' that came out of her mouth.

Seven screamed in terror before gritting his teeth, letting out grunts as he stuck out his feet, scraping them harder against the ground and causing them to bleed. Normally this would've been a problem as blood on his feet would point out to an adult where he went, but right now this was the least of Seven's problems. The first one was keeping himself planted on the ground as much as possible, the second one was finding his friends. Both of them were problems as despite the weight of his backpack, the wind was still managing to pick up his small body as easily as the Lady's magic when she caught him in her quarters.

The boy straightened himself as much as possible and shifted the weight of his backpack so it was pushing him downwards. The effect worked much to his surprise, he didn't how but he wasn't about to question good fortune just yet. As the boy landed safely on the ground, he heard the sound of screaming from behind him. "Quince? Nightlight?!" the boy gasped out loud, feeling his heart rate spike much faster than before as if he had just encountered a monster or worse. "SEVEN?!" screamed Quince's voice once again, coming from behind him but off in the distance as if he was getting further away from.

However, Quince's voice wasn't the only one he could hear, for if he strained his hearing to it's very limits, he could hear the screams of his other comrades going off in the same direction as Quince, one of those voices being Nightlight to his horror, the same friend he was searching for. But that wasn't all, as he started to turn around and trek through the storm again, he swore he heard the sounds of the Ferryman's boots. "Oh shit!" Seven nearly shouted, eyes going wide with terror and realization of how close he was to being caught.

"You again?!" The Pretender shouted in both anger and surprise but the former was more present in her tone of voice. "You just don't know how to fuck off, don't you?!" The white-haired girl's voice got closer to both Raine and Six as she moved like a shadow in the rainstorm, no doubt the Pretender was glaring daggers at both of them through the thick curtain of rain water and her white bangs.

"Come from you, bitch!" Six shouted back at the Pretender with as much anger as the other girl, refusing to let go of Raine as she bared her fangs, her eyes squinted as she tried to see through the storm. "Except you seem to a worse habit of not fucking off then we do as well as evaporating any kids that come close to you!"

A growl from the Pretender was the only answer Six got, in response Six growled back like a wild angry animal. Her fangs bared, her stance firm despite how frail she might be and her eyes threatening to go feral red at the drop of a hat if the situation called for it. If this bitch decided to threaten Raine, her mangled remains would be found on the Nest's front door the next morning.

"Yeah, well at least I don't have a habit of eating or betraying other people! Especially those who trust me!" The Pretender shouted back, foolishly taking a step forward toward the cannibal child who had later become the Lady of the Maw. Six snarled angrily as flashbacks of her adventure through the Maw and the Pale Cityraced through her head before the unpleasant images of her losing Raine, getting kidnapped by the Thin Man and getting turned into a monster, betraying Mono, devouring a rat then a Nome and finally...her.

That was the last straw for Six, her pupils turned into slits, the whites of her eyes darkened to pink then shadowed into blood red and soon she launched herself at the Pretender or at least she would've if it wasn't for Raine pulling Six backwards and shoving herself in between the two advancing girls. She threw both arms out, hands connecting with Six and the Pretender's chests to keep them from barreling into each other and tearing each other to shreds.

The two girls either didn't notice or care as they were more focused on getting to one another and kicking the shit out of each other, all while hurling insults that weren't limited to: 'Fuck you! Go die! Bitch!' Raine grunted, breathing heavily and gritting her teeth as her tiny muscles struggled to keep Six away from the Pretender or the other way around, it was hard to tell. It was quite difficult to do considering her muscles were cramping from the rain and cold.

"Guys? Cut it out!" The raincoat girl shouted desperately, shutting her eyes and forcing more strength into her beaten limbs as much as possible. Before either the Pretender or Six could retort, a flash of lightning and loud booming of thunder pulled the three girls back to reality. The Pretender let out a terrified high-pitched scream, Six's eyes returned to normal as they widened in shock while Raine looked mildly startled. Six gave a swallow and wrapped her arms around her friend's neck in an attempt to hug her in comfort.

"That actually scared the shit out of me," the Pretender admitted, sweating heavily from the sudden boom of thunder, heart pounding within her little chest. Despite being scared out of her own mind, Six couldn't help but give a small smile at the thought of the Pretender of all people, being scared and was about to make a snarky comment when she suddenly let out a terrified scream.

Raine and the Pretender both screamed as well, Raine reacted quickly and wrapped her thin arms around Six's smaller body to keep her close so she didn't blow into the wind which was now at it's roughest, sending rainwater flying in the three girls' direction. Above, the lightning flashed and the thunder boomed loudly, muting out all sounds around the Nest.

The Pretender gave a harsh swallow looking up into the sky with fear on her face. With every lightning flash and boom of thunder, the white haired girl could see just how bad things were getting. In that instant, it dawned on her that she shouldn't have followed that girl in the yellow raincoat down here and should've just gone back to her home where she could cuddle up in a blanket and have a hot chocolate with whipped cream.

"Raine! What do we do?!" Six shouted to her friend, shutting her eyes tight and bringing an arm over her head to protect herself from the rain. "I'm getting the hell out of here!" the Pretender shouted fearfully, turning around and attempting to run like hell only for her escape to be foiled by the pouring rain and rough winds.

"Shit! Where the hell are you?!" Raine screamed into the rough rainstorm, head whipping from side to side in a frantic attempt to find the white haired girl, clearly worried sick about her despite all she's done. "I don't know! But once I figure it out, I'll send you a postcard!" the Pretender shouted back, running against the wind as best as she could.

Mono kept running as fast as he could, dodging any fallen pieces of wood and old pipes as he ran over to a sight that he knew very well, that broken Tv. "What in the world? What's going on?!" demanded a voice from his back, the trench coat on his back shifting and moving in response to the voices. "Escape first, ask questions later, it's happening again," was the only response Mono gave in between heaving pants as he booked it as fast as a feral red Six could run while chasing him or her much slower prey or running from the Tower Flesh.

There was a bit of confusion before they went silent again at the sound of the Thin Man teleporting and kids screaming upstairs, some afraid, others with rage in their voices. "Oh dear." Mono heaved for breath as he finally reached the Tv, he wasted no time in climbing up the frame, squeezing himself inside and pressing himself against the wall. He took a deep breath and began channeling his power into the Tv, he knew that despite being broken, the damn thing could work if he forced himself to his very limits and that's what he intended to do. It would hurt him later, but now he didn't care as the familiar light blue energy engulfed him and the buzzing of the transmission in his ears.

The Thin Man was approaching him, no doubt about it, but Mono didn't pay any attention to him. He would be far gone before he got close. With a final pop, the entire house was soon engulfed by a light blue flash. This one managed to destroy the remaining parts of the house and send both the remaining children and the Thin Man flying out into chaos.

Seven tried to cry out for his comrades as he felt his body being pulled once again by the winds. But the rainwater flooded his mouth, forcing him to spit it out only for more rainwater to fill it. The boy in blue shifted his backpack once again, trying to force himself back on the ground so he could try to save his friends, even if the Ferryman was much bigger than he was and could easily overpower him. However, this seemed to have the opposite effect or he had the bag adjusted wrong because when another gust of wind came, Seven was swept up rather than planted down, leaving behind only his screams as evidence that he was once there.

Scarf Kid yelled out in surprise as another wave smashed against the raft, the rope attached to the thing tugging hard as it tried to keep it place. But that was a battle it was slowly losing and Scarf Kid knew it, still it didn't stop him from reaching out toward the rope to keep him and the others from being swept into the ocean. "Gather yourselves into the middle, I'll try to grab the rope." Many kids went to protest against this order but the feeling of their raft being smashed into made them reconsider.

Scarf Kid barely heard the sounds of feet pounding the wood as the rest of the group made their way to huddle into the middle of the boat, but that wasn't his focus right now. His own bare feet slapped the wood of the raft as he moved like a tortoise against a heavy windstorm to the front, an arm up to protect his face from getting even more damp and to try to see what he was doing at the same time. The latter was difficult thanks to the rain pounding on his head like there was no tomorrow but the former was even difficult considering he was already wet.

A yelp escaped his lips as a wave crashed against the raft, the rope stopping the wooden boat from being blown away. The jerk made the kid with the scarf nearly fall backwards on his butt, but he somehow straightened himself and kept going. The waves smashed, the raft rocked, the rope's grip started to loosen, it was becoming harder and harder to stay together. Scarf Kid grounded his teeth together as he struggled to get to the end, the waves were making his progress hell but then again, his life was already hell considering everything he went through, so was this going to be any different? Apparently so…

Raine opened her mouth to speak again but was interrupted by a large gust of wind and a scream followed by grunting from both her and Six as the third girl crashed into them, sending them flying backwards into the large log behind them. Normally, it would've fallen if shoved into a good few times by Raine, but with the strength of the storm plus the weight and impact of both Six and the Pretender, it broke off from its place like toilet paper and soon it and the three girls were swept into the storm.

Meanwhile

The halls of the Maw were quiet as five children walked, their long hoods and bandages dragging along the ground. The green hooded girl let out a sigh as she readjusted the brown mail bag on her shoulder, they came across a crack in the wall and the girl crawled inside for a few seconds before re-emerging without the bag. She rejoined her friends and the five continued on, the girl suddenly paused causing her friends to bump into her. She ignored the startled cries from her friends as she swore she heard the Maw buckle under pressure, an eyebrow on her face raising. "What the fuck was that?"

She looked back at her friends who were also looking around the Maw, confused looks on all their faces despite their face coverings, obviously they heard the buckling. "What the fuck indeed." They suddenly yelped when the Maw slid to the side causing the five to slide down till they hit a wall. "SHIT!" The humpback crashed into the wall first then the bandaged kid while screaming at the top of her lungs, the brown cloaked boy then followed suit with a grunt escaping his lips as he landed, the green cloaked girl grabbed the green cloaked boy to try to protect him with her body. She was nearly crushed flat.

In the cafeteria, several young children stopped dead in their tracks then gasped as they felt the Maw rock and back, some lost their footing and fell to the floor. A girl with messy black braids turned her head, looking up at the ceiling as the feeling of a wave crashing against the walls of Mono's home, her body tobbling but not falling over. A boy with black/white hair yelped as he was sent to the floor, a grunt escaping his lips as he attempted to straighten up. His two sisters raced over to him, helping him up and pulling him into a hug. Three boys who were brothers despite their physical differences shrundown as a boom of thunder roared, their youngest brother beginning to cry loudly at the loud noises and unstable rocking.

Both older brothers held their brother close and rocked him back and forth to try to sooth him, the eldest brother gently plugging in the little boy's pacifier into his mouth. The little boy curled up against his brother's chest, sucking on the pacifier as he tried to calm down. Another boom of thunder rang out which scared the little boy causing him to whimper loudly, the raven/snow child and the girl took notice of this and went over to the three brothers, holding each other close to comfort one another. When the Maw was finally stable, children watched the ceiling with fear as they picked themselves off the floor, some holding each other for comfort, others already scrambling around in panic.

The Lady's eyes widened as she felt her Maw start to move, she raised her head to peer around. The metal barrier around the crab ship dampened most noises but the feral red lady could still hear the sound of rain pounding down, thunder booming and waves crashing against it. The Lady swallowed harshly as she stood to her feet, eyes looking around her room towards the phone she had set up a long time ago in case of emergencies. "Hello, Wax Bellman, can you round up the children? A storm is hitting the Maw."

Six, Raine and the Pretender all let out the most high-pitched screams they could ever muster as the three at them flew through the air by the Nest's newest and most violent storm ever to show it's ugly face, something that not one of them had ever done before in their lives and something that none of them enjoyed very much as evident by the loud screaming they did that should've attracted the attention of any monsters of the Nest.

However any cries they did make were simply ignored or swallowed up by the terrible storm, no one could tell. Regardless of which option it was, both Six and Raine were very grateful for this as they hugged each other while soaring through the air like one of Raine's hot balloons as they didn't want to be captured not after they dodged a big bullet.

The Pretender, on the other hand, wasn't at all as she thought she was too young and rich to die. So as she hovered and flailed around in the wind like a dumbass bird who had no idea how the frick to fly, she cried and shrieked like a banshee or like the Lady when she was scorched by Six when the little canary faced her within her quarters.

The sounds were painstakingly familiar that Six wanted to bury her face into Raine's chest and cover her ears. Yet the rough feeling of the wind and the feelings of guilt and grief she would feel if she let go of Raine convinced her not to. So, she reached more around the raincoat girl's body and held her closer to her. She shut her eyes tightly as she felt tears of fear stream from her eyes.

Raine wrapped her arms around Six in response, understanding the severity of the situation. She ran her hand through the other girl's wet hair and wiped away her tears and excess rainwater from her cheeks. It was a small comfort but it was enough to ease the fear within Six slightly but not completely as most of that fear came from that wicked storm that was carrying her, Six and the Pretender further away from the Nest.

The brown haired girl tilted her gaze downwards away from Six and toward the water. She felt her brown eyes widen when she managed to catch sight of her and Six's raft floating on the ocean's waves and from the looks of things, it seemed to be floating right underneath them both. "Six! Look!" Raine called, lowering her head slightly to Six's ear so she could hear her better. "Our raft is underneath us!"

Six opened her tear-filled eyes and looked up at her friend's brown eyes that were filled with relief and hope. She cocked a brow up in confusion before following her downwards gaze to the ocean and to her great relief, Raine was right. How it managed to find its way out to them on the ocean was beyond her but right now, she didn't care. The only thing that mattered was staying right above the raft or as close to it as she and Raine could possibly do, so in the case of a water landing, the two girls could swim to the raft so they both didn't drown.

However that relief didn't last long, for their field of vision was soon filled by a large round rock that had been picked up by the wind and was zooming right at them at the near speed of light. "Heads up!" Raine shouted, flailing her body like a ragdoll so she could get both herself and Six out of harm's way.

The Pretender, who had been completely oblivious to the whole chaotic scene around her and was more focused on trying to fight the wind to get back to the Nest, perked up at Raine's voice only for her to get smacked square in the face by the oncoming rock, sending her flying circles backwards a few feet. The white-haired girl gave a pained groan when she stopped spinning, bringing a hand up to her head to rub it, the world around her was now hazy and her hearing faded in and out but she could still make out the panicked cries of both Six and the Raincoat girl.

"Duck!" Raine yelled, no doubt at Six who was hanging onto her friend for dear life and understandably so. "Got it," Six yelled back, the Pretender opened her mouth to say something only for her to be interrupted by a literal duck flying right into her face causing the other girl to scream out muffled curses as she fought like a wild animal to get the creature off her. "Get off me!"

With strength neither Six nor Raine had seen before, the Pretender shoved the duck off her and into the storm, quacking away in fear in the process. "Same to you, pal!" she shouted, flipping the animal off as it flew away. Six and Raine both went dead silent upon seeing and hearing this as they stared at the white-haired girl in complete disbelief. "What?" the Pretender asked in confusion, raising a brow that was mostly hidden by her long bangs at the two girls.

Nobody answered her for what felt like a full minute as they simply floated on the storm's wind like kites normal kids would play with while on the beach. Finally, it was Raine who broke the silence. "I will not ask," she muttered, shaking her head and shutting her eyes. "Neither will I," Six replied, shaking her head and putting a hand to her head. As the Pretender tilted her head to the right in confusion, the wind started to calm down, the rain almost stopped pounding on their heads, almost becoming a light drizzle and the thunder and lightning vanished.

"It's stopping?" the Pretender asked slowly, looking around the now calmed atmosphere at the sky. Raine and Six both took a look around themselves, Six looked relieved for their nightmare to have finally ended but Raine frowned in worry, something that troubled both Six and the Pretender. "Don't get your hopes up too high," she replied, eyes boring into the Pretender's green eyes. "This is only the second phase of really rough storms on the water like this one. I've experienced this before while in my hot balloon. This is the calm point called the 'Eye', it may be calm at first but the second we leave, we'll be swept back into the violent storm like before."

"What?!" The white haired girl shouted fearfully, not liking the sound of that, making both Raine and Six flinch at both the tone of her voice and the noticeable fear present within it, something Six noticed but didn't comment on for now was not a good time. She instead turned her face to gaze at her friend whose expression was stone cold serious, probably the most serious she's ever been. "Okay, this is bad." As much as Six hated the Pretender, she couldn't deny that the girl did have a point to make.

However upon remembering Raine's words, icy cold fear swept through Six and she felt her entire body freeze in an instant which was something not even the rain could do. Six's fear must've been very noticeable as both her friend and enemy tensed up and their facial expressions melted into ones of fear and realization.

"Shit," all three girls said in unison before gravity finally caught up to them and the three girls fell down from the sky at such speed that they turned into blurs of white, yellow and green, splashing hard and causing a large wave of water to fly into the air. The water was not calm despite the wind having died down, the waves lashed out like a child throwing a tantrum. They pushed, pulled and shoved the three children in different directions, some crashing into the rocks that made up the Nest, others heading toward the Pale City.

Six let out a muffled shriek from underneath the rough waves, her legs and arms flailed in the water as she tried to reach the surface. She was now panicking, the current pushed and pulled her in every direction possible, causing her to fly left, right, up and down. Her head spun as the motions made her dizzy and sick to her stomach, Six didn't think it was possible for her to get seasick underwater but here the feelings of nausea were coming and she swore if this continued, she would lose her stomach.

However, a slight burning sensation within her lungs convinced her not to. She didn't have too much air in her lungs, that bit was for certain and if she opened her mouth for even a second, water would fill her mouth and throat and that would kill her, slowly but surely. She couldn't die now, not after all the shit she's been through, not after her friend had managed to survive the first phase of this cursed cycle that otherwise would have ended her life along with the Pretender's.

As the waves started to calm down, Six flailed her arms and kicked her legs, starting to swim to the surface. She whipped her head from side to side, trying to find any trace of her friend or her bright yellow raincoat. A whirlpool of water splashed by her causing her to nearly jolt out of her shorts, shirt and skin. Six whipped her head around only to be met by the Pretender grabbing around her waist, the white haired girl flailed around in the water, trying to reach the surface much like Six was trying to do, so she could get fresh oxygen.

Six gritted her teeth in anger at the sight of the Pretender and she made to push her off, however a hand grabbing her left hand convinced her not to. Six turned her head in the direction of the familiar yellow raincoat that she herself used to wear during her travels with Mono through the Pale City. The little girl smiled happily at the smiling face of her friend and locked her grip with her.

With newfound determination Six, Raine and the Pretender kicked their legs and one by one, the three girls broke the surface with loud gasps and heavy pants from each of them. "That was close," Six gasped, coughing and panting like an old racehorse from holding her breath. "You're telling me," Raine said, pulling the dark haired girl into an embrace. "But I'm just glad you're okay, Six."

"Me too," Six admitted, hugging the brown haired girl tightly, tears of happiness streaming from her red eyes that right now, she wasn't ashamed of shedding after all the losses, she was so happy to finally have one of the people who had grown to care about her. A warm feeling started to brew within her chest and Six swore she felt the broken pieces of her heart start to heal slowly.

However, their tender moment was interrupted by a girl's voice, both Raine and Six tilted their gazes to the Pretender who was, no doubt, staring at them with confusion and narrowed eyes. Six narrowed her eyes at the other girl. "Of course," she thought bitterly, rolling her eyes before they widened in fear as they caught sight of the sky darkening, a terrified gasp exiting her mouth. Raine heard this and whipped her gaze to what the other girl was looking at.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Raine cursed through terror and gritted teeth, her brown eyes going wide with fear and realization as they darted around the wide ocean till they found the much needed raft a bit further then when they first viewed from the sky. "Move! We've got to make it to the raft! Move your ass!" The raincoat girl turned her attention back to the slowly floating away raft that she had nearly forgotten about in her mad attempt to keep herself and Six alive.

The Pretender whipped her head between looking in the direction of her home and the two girls advancing on an old piece of wood that served as a barrier to protect the trio against the water they were splashing in, wondering if she swam for it hard enough, could she make it back to the Nest in one piece? However the flashing of lightning and rumbling of thunder convinced her to turn around and follow Raine and Six to the raft, the former and latter both performing some weird kind of doggy paddle, trying to outrun the rising hellstorm.

Thankfully for them, their small hands brushed against something hard and wooden. Raine sighed in relief, using the strength in her little cramping body to pull herself aboard, Six followed suit. Both girls rolled onto their backs, dripping wet and panting heavily from serious exhaustion from what had happened to them and if it wasn't for a loud rumbling above their heads, they both would've passed out.

Raine understood what was happening and stood to her feet, grabbing hold of an old piece of wood that wasn't attached to the raft and a long piece of rope she managed to steal from the Nest and hide in her raincoat before gathering the raft. She looped the rope around both her and Six's waists then to the raft itself by a single hook on the raft. With a determined look in her eyes, Raine took control of the wooden plank and gave a hard paddle through the water, she glared hard at the dark storm clouds ahead of her and her friend.

Rain began pouring onto the two girls, soaking them both even more in mere seconds. The wind picked up immediately, blowing Six's hair and Raine's yellow raincoat in one direction yet both girls refused to pay attention to it, their attention was on more important matters. The standing girl paddled like mad as the waves rocked the little raft like a mother rocking a baby but ten times more worse. Raine didn't give two shits, this was definitely one of the worst storms she's been in no doubt, but she could handle it.

This wasn't like the time in her hot balloon where it was just a thunderstorm and not like a goddamn hurricane, but she could survive this, she was the daughter of the Lady and the heir of the Maw after all! Six stared at her friend, not sure how her friend could be so confident when it looked like the entire world would slam a hammer down on their heads like everything in this twisted world.

However, a sharp gasp followed by a body dropping onto the raft next to her. Six didn't need to turn her head to know who was beside her because who the fuck else would be stupid enough to go into the ocean going from the Nest to the Pale City? "Goddammit, fuck my life," Six grumbled flatly, putting a hand to her face in exasperation. "Glad to see you too," the Pretender said sarcastically, rolling her eyes under her bangs. Six snarled angrily, exposing her fangs and her eyes flashed blood red. "Nice to come aboard," Raine said sternly, tilting her eyes to try to stare at the Pretender. "Hang on."

The Pretender was about to ask why however her and Six's mouths shut as quickly as they opened when they spotted a giant wave heading straight at them, ready to crash down on them like the Signal Tower would try to crash both Six and Mono in previous cycles, when the fucker showed it's true disgusting form after Mono saved Six from her monster form by smashing her music box which she still loved despite everything but started to become less important compared to her friends and everything else she lost.

It came at them at all sides, there was no other way around. Raine steeled herself as best as she could, paddling as hard as she could while Six and the Pretender stared at the wave in terror. "Aw shit," they both muttered as the darkness swallowed them.

Meanwhile

Mono felt sick as he traveling through the tv, it wasn't the first time he had done this as there were three year records of the boy/Thin Man traveling through the tvs even when he wasn't rescuing Six, but Mono still felt sick like that one time he got sick with the flu back when he was younger and when Six rescued him from the Signal Tower, when he got *them* and his ability stuck in his spine. Thankfully for him, the motion sickness he was feeling wasn't as bad as those two sicknesses, but the boy was hoping he wouldn't throw up as he traveled through the transmission. He rested a hand on his stomach, rubbing it tenderly to ease it as best as he could. "You think you're the only person who's feeling fucking sick?"

Mono tilted his static brown eyes to look behind him at his back, seeing his trench coat moving in response to what they said. "No," he replied, shaking his head then yelping in surprise as he knocked into a block of flesh with eyeballs hard. He pulled away from the flesh with quick movements that one would expect from Six or the Lady or the Butler, his black, static eyes going wide as he stared at the thing that caused everything to go wrong. The eye rolled around for a few seconds before glowering down at the escaping board-caster, flesh reaching out to grab him. "Mono! Move!" The voices from his back shouted, clearly having seen the situation below them.

Mono didn't need to hear that call to know he needed to haul ass, he pressed his feet against the pile of flesh with everything he collected in his body, static power mixing with the adrenaline in his veins as he shoved himself back into the transmission's waiting embrace. Mono lost control of his floating and hovered backwards nearly crashing into another wall of flesh, but he clenched his fists tightly, static enveloping his body to slow down time just enough to gain control of himself. He winced when he felt them leave the wound in his back then push down on his body at the time of another flesh arm reaching out toward the thirteen year old, propelling him in the direction of escape.

"Take that, you motherfuckers! Try to get us now!" At the shout of the sometimes less rational voice, eyes popped out on the remaining flesh, glaring down at the young boy as he propelled himself along using his powers. They grew in size, some detaching from the walls of the tv realm and colliding into each other. Mono's black and static eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, a gasp escaping his lips as they suddenly formed into a giant humanoid flesh monster, a murderous scowl printed on it's face as it observed its young board-caster now hovering right in front of it. "Oh shit," Mono muttered under his breath, his powers stopping.

"You just had to fucking say it, you fucking idiot," the main voice growled at its sibling as it's former brethren reached out a fleshy arm to grab Mono, no response was given but Mono sure as hell didn't need one for their silence hammered in just how screwed they were unless Mono reacted fast. Screwing his eyes shut, Mono clenched his fists tightly allowing the static and power to take over his body. A light blue barrier formed around him, fleshy fingers pulled backwards, yelps of pain came from the monster above him.

However nothing else mattered as Mono was dead-set on completing this teleportation, a flash of bright blue, the flesh roared out in pain, the realm was now empty.

Meanwhile

Seven yelped as his body bumped into a building of the Pale City harbor, he stopped hovering in the wind for a few seconds at the impact before the wind hit back with a vengeance. The runaway kid cried out in surprise as he flew like a moronic species of bird who could never fucking know how the ever loving fuck to fly like a normal bird, his wet backpack of supplies either slapping against his back roughly or the straps pulling on his shoulders so hard he feared it would rip off his body. He gripped the straps on his backpack straps with both his hands with difficulty as the rain was pounding down on his head so hard, his entire body was wetter than what was possible.

Despite the wind flapping his hair and whatever else, Seven's young hands gripped his black backpack straps with a lot of force. The loose fabric tightened the backpack to the point it felt painful to wear on his shoulders, however the boy in blue didn't care, better do that than to lose his neatly collected supplies. "Especially when I fought tooth and nail in these damn cycles, fuck…!" Seven's furious muttered comment was cut off by his bare foot crashing into a rooftop of a warped building, possibly an apartment building, at least he believed it was an apartment building.

It was hard to tell as the rain made it difficult to see where he was going, it was traveling through one of those damn tvs Mono had once told him about in one of the cycles. He had no control over where he was going, he couldn't see where he was thanks to heavy sheets hiding most of his vision, he was hovering probably fifty or more feet above the ground and finally, he had no fucking idea where the fuck he was going. For all Seven knew, he was going in the same direction or simply going in circles till he ended up back to the place where the whole fucking mess had started, back into the Ferryman's grasp.

Seven shuddered violently at the thought, his mind flashing back to the screams of his friends, his Nightlight, being snatched by the hulking brute with the sagging face. Memories of traveling through the Pale City or the alleyways, picking up supplies or hiding out in any abandoned buildings till it was safe enough to continue hiking, entering the harbor after a horrific chase by the Viewers that left one of them injured, living out in that old fishing boat house where old twisted fishermen lived. Then they met the Ferryman, got taken to the Maw where everyone could probably guess what happened next and now after what felt like a thousand cycles later, he had more friends then when he started.

His thoughts paused for a few seconds at the thought or rather, the thoughts of Mono, Six, Mono's older sister, the five cloaked children who Six hung around and…the Nomes. The Nomes, the cute cuddly little creatures who he hugged and cared for in the cycles. The little friends who adopted him as their own, who accepted him as their king and he adopted them as his own friends/companions. Besides Mono, Six and the other children, the Nomes were the one thing that kept him sane in cycles of insanity, though he acted like he was never affected by the cycles even though he was mostly for Nightlight's sake.

Truthfully he was affected by the cycles, the loss of his friends, discovering the secret of the Nomes, understanding the Lady's grief and self-hatred toward herself, befriending Six and her beloved Mono. Though the vast majority of it was pure misery thanks to the Signal Tower's influence, that didn't mean all was dark as there were times of happiness that Seven probably wouldn't get a chance if the world was normal. Nightlight admitting her love to her, Quince gaining more respect for him as both a companion and friend, the younger guys of his group accepting him as a brother and of course, the Nomes.

Seven put on a tough font when surviving on his own in the Maw, but in reality he was like everyone else, just a broken soul trying his best to survive in this world like right now. Thinking about his friends in this moment made a tear form in his eye, the rain pounding on him made it difficult for anyone to know if he was crying but it didn't matter, did it? "AAAAHHHH!" Seven's thoughts were cut off as the wind stopped in it's tracks causing the runaway boy to fall to the earth, his eyes darted downwards to see a row of trees greeting him, ready to pull him into their green embrace. "OH SHIT! THIS IS WORSE THEN BECOMING A NOME!"

Meanwhile On The Water

Scarf Kid couldn't see where the fuck he was going nor could he safely direct the other children on his raft to anywhere in this giant ass ocean as he wasn't the sailor type like the girl in the yellow raincoat, growing up in the more northern winter parts of the world nor had he been anywhere near a fucking ocean before in his entire life. The raincoat girl had taught him how to properly row during the Nest cycles so it wasn't like he was going on the ocean without any kind of experience, but one thing the girl hadn't accounted for was a storm hitting them without warning.

Obviously considering there hadn't been a storm striking the Nest at any point in the cycles, so of course she was expecting this rescue to go well. If he was facing the girl in the yellow raincoat, he would've kicked her ass for sending him on this traitorous journey or maybe he wouldn't, after all she had no idea this would happen. Scarf Kid took in a breath through his nose and shook his head, banishing his thoughts from his brain as they weren't going to help him in the slightest and if he kept thinking about them, he would be dead meat.

Instead he jumped to the front, grabbing a piece of wood and splashing it into the water. He grunted as he started to pedal like he was pedaling an actual boat, sweat formed on his face and his muscles tensed to the point they hurt, already becoming exhausted despite how little he did physical work. Scarf Kid grounded his teeth as he lifted the wood out of the water then back into it, a frustrated grunt escaping his lips. Kids who were struggling to stay on the raft, heard the noise then quickly scrambled around their makeshift boat, gathering planks of wood to act as oars then followed in their leader's footsteps.

Even with the help, it was still a struggle to get the damn boat to go anywhere. The waves rocked the little boat nearly causing it to tobble and sending it in different directions, rainwater had become a wall of darkness at this point making it hard to see through and though the flashes of lightning were helping in allowing them vision, they only lasted so long before everything returned to darkness. Scarf Kid yelped as a splash of water hit him in the face causing him to fall back, the plank of wood being knocked from his hands. "FUCK!"

The boy shook his head, spitting water from his mouth and started frantically wiping his tongue to rid himself of the taste of salt, he was salty enough about this shitty situation already. He turned around to face the other children as they pedaled along the rough water, sometimes getting splashed in the face and though they were annoyed, they kept at their task though it was a struggle. "The struggle is fucking real with this shithole situation like this whole situation wasn't a shithole already, especially considering the dumbass in the yellow raincoat reassured me that this shit would go well. Can this day get any worse?"

Cue giant ass wave. "For fuck sakes."

Meanwhile On The Maw

"Man the Maw! All hands on deck! We're hitting a storm!" The yell was nearly cut off when a large wave smashed against the metal wall of the Maw causing the old metal fish to buckle under the rough pressure. Pots and pans rattled violently, piled up plates in the kitchen sink fell from their place crashing to the floor into several pieces. Food smacked hard against each other before falling and smacking the Twin Chefs hard on the head. The headaches from the sudden impact were drowned out by a flash of lightning that would power the entire Pale City for months.

"Holy shit!" A boom of thunder rocked the already rocking metal fish startling those in the kitchen. "What a hellstorm! Ain't seen anything like it!" The man/monster speaking let out a surprised cry as another large wave rocked the side of the Maw, a lightning strike bouncing off the rubber barrier of the Maw to ensure nothing and no one could get hurt/damaged and the thunder boomed. However the loudness of the thunder didn't muffle the yelp of a teenaged boy nor the sliding of a body on the floor, the noises were soon cut off by hands grabbing hold of one of the kitchen counters then clinging onto for dear life.

"Herupa! Look out!" The teenaged boy let out another yelp as pots and pans came flying right at his head. The boy gripped the sides of the kitchen counter with his arms when the Maw tipped straight again, ducking down as the oncoming projectiles flew over his head. "Hang on tight! This is going to be a wild ride!" The second twin chef whipped his head from the kitchen exit to his twin brother, a look that was a combination between disbelief and something else that no one could tell.

"Shouldn't we be making our way to the emergency lifeboats?" The teenaged boy still clinging to the kitchen counter for dear life, struggled to stand on his feet with the help of the island. His head turned to the exit then raised to the ceiling, where the Lady's quarters was located. Though he couldn't see anything right now given the barrier protecting the people from the downstairs, he imagined the chaos she must be facing. The lightning flashed once again, thunder boomed, a wave crashed against the Maw, sending the Janitor, the Twin Chefs and the Bread Kid sliding across the kitchen.

"Bunker down, get to somewhere without windows, stay there until I or the Bellman comes to get you!" The Lady cursed under her breath as she was nearly knocked off her feet, several children scrambled her in a panic to get to the storm room, the former prison that got torn down when the cycles cooled down and Six took over the Maw as the new Lady. She managed to stand upright with the use of her powers, grinding her jaw together as she ran around the fleeing children like a sheepdog would herd sheep. "This way!" A door cracked open as the Wax Bellman pressed the button to the storm room and began herding the children inside frantically.

Little feet pounded the ground as tons of stray kids either from the Maw or Pale City scrambled over one another to get inside, some yelped as a boom of thunder rocked the air, some of the more younger ones started to cry at the loud noise understandably and had to be comforted by the older ones. Though the Lady and Wax Bellman were use to the rough storms that would come with living on the ocean, even they were taken aback by how rough this storm was. Still that didn't stop them from herding the tiny things inside the safe room then shutting the door after ensuring they were safe. Once finished that, the Governors of the Maw quickly bolted up the stairs to the Maw's controls.

Down in the Depths, the Granny was kicking back in her rocking chair as it was sliding around in the water soaked unsexy dungeon whenever a wave could crash against the Maw, enjoying a combination of whiskey, Brandy, Vodka and every kind of alcoholic drink you can think of to save time from the Maw's bar. On a normal day when a storm hit the Maw's metal walls, the Granny wouldn't drink so much to the point she wouldn't walk properly on her own two feet. However time in the cycles AKA getting killed by a boy in blue had made her give no fucks about dying either by storm or whatever, after all she would be brought back by the Signal Tower anyways.

She couldn't see the lightning that lit up the dark skies like the Runaway Kid's torch lighting up a dark room nor the waves that threatened to buckle the Maw like the Signal Tower attempting to buckle down Mono and Six, but the Granny could hear the thunder even from down here. It was her first, only and final hint to know how bad the storm was. But the Granny didn't care and kept drinking like there was no tomorrow. If this was going to be her last day on Earth then she was going to enjoy it as much as possible. Well as much as she could while banging into what like a metal pole or a fucking semi-truck.

Footsteps echoed through the more secret parts of the Maw, heavy panting exited the mouths of those who were bolting. Feet pounded the ground creating loud echoes within the hallway, more footsteps behind the two advancing adults indicated that more were coming. "Miss Lady? What the h…" the boy's sentence was cut off by the Maw suddenly rocking back and forth violently, a result of a violent wave crashing against the surface. The sound of something metal becoming undone from above caused the Lady to snap her head to look up, eyes widening when she saw a metal pipe fall from the ceiling.

"Watch out!" The five cloaked children let out surprised yelps as they were encased in the Lady's magic, getting them out of the way of oncoming danger. The pipe crashed to the floor, a loud clanking sound echoing within the hallway as it landed then rolled off to some corner of the hallway. The Lady cursed under her breath as she set the children back on the ground, head angling itself to look at the ceiling. "Son of a bitch," the Lady cursed, setting a hand against her bare face, her fangs gritting together and nearly glinting in the light of the lightning. If it wasn't for her quick thinking, one of the mail couriers would've been crushed by the items that were rusting away worse then any of the adults thought.

"Seems like we'll be needing more repairs on the Maw than we thought, this room was always the most rundown out of all the Maw's since the years have gone by and my parents' once greatest accomplishments had been corrupted. Of course, neither me nor the Wax Bellman had been able to get to the repairs considering the storm and the cycle and it's showing right now." The Lady tilted her head upwards to stare up at the ceiling then all around, eying the Wax Bellman and the five cloaked children. "Holy shit," muttered the girl in green as the pipe came rolling back to them from the Maw rocking back to its normal state.

She picked it up, examining it closely before tossing it to the side, the thing clanking as it rolled away. The Wax Bellman who happened to be getting to his feet, scanned the walls for a button when the next of lightning flooded the Maw. The thunder rocked the Maw but he wasn't deterred. The door to the control room opened easily and when it did, the seven stampeded up the stairs to the control panel, heading over to the Maw's controls. In less then a second, the Lady, Wax Bellman and the five cloaked children dashed over to the controls, fumbling with the buttons and levers, trying to find the right ones. Wax Bellman perked up when he saw the emergency lever, grabbed it and pulled it down.

An anchor shot free from the bottom of the Maw, digging deep into the sand at the bottom of the ocean. As it did that, several more anchors popped from ports around the large one following in their brother's footsteps. The ropes snapped taut as they dragged the large metal sub or crab or whatever the fuck it is, underwater till it crashed against the bottom, sand bursting up then lying flat once again. The residents in the kitchen stopped sliding upon feeling the sudden crash, the Granny halted in place in the water, the children uncurled from their fetal positions on the floor of their former prison in the past.

"Whew, that was close." The Janitor sighed, wiping a layer of sweat off his brow. The Twin Chefs nodded in agreement, one of them helping the teenaged boy to his feet. "Oh, that's it? Well, that wasn't too bad." The Granny downed the rest of her drink like there was no tomorrow. None of the children said anything, they all sat in silence on the floor, holding each other in comfort. The Lady, Wax Bellman and the five cloaked children picked themselves off the floor, using the control panel for support. The seven of them took a quick breather before embracing, they could still hear the storm above but down here, it wasn't so rough.

However despite that, the Lady couldn't feel happy about that as her gaze was directed toward the eye monitor showing the darker parts of the ocean, a place where her daughter and the Pretender had died many times, a place she knew Six was familiar with. She pulled away from the group hug and walked over to the eye monitor, the Bellman and children letting out noises of surprise at her actions. "My Lady?" the Bellman asked, concern sounding in his voice, standing from the floor and carefully approaching her. "They're out there, they're heading in the direction of the storm. Oh please be okay Liz and Raine. Please be okay Six."

The sun was high in the sky and beating down on the Pale City Wilderness, warning the creatures to be up and ready for the day. The animals and birds did so upon remembering they had families to look after. They dipped along the trees and branches, collecting whatever food they could like nuts and berries while avoiding a duel with a few little gray creatures with pointy hats or heads or whatever.

There wasn't much food to behold, but there was still enough to last as long as the Hunter didn't come out and fuck everything up, then they will all be fine. The little gray creatures huffed and chirped in frustration, picking up whatever food their little arms could carry and took off running deeper into the Wilderness before they could become prey.

Far off to the beaches of the Pale City, three young and unconscious girls rested on the sands. One had short black hair and wore a white t-shirt and a pair of white shorts. Another had long brown hair tied up in a tight yet lovely braid and she wore an equally lovely yellow raincoat that was as bright as the sun. The final girl had white hair like that of the snow that falls in the winter and wore a green dress and bow that held up some of her white hair on top of her head.

The waves of water that came up from the ocean washed over the trio's bare feet and a light breeze swooped over their heads, ruffling their slowly drying hair. A pained groan from the black haired girl sounded as she lifted her little head from the sand, she coughed and wheezed as she tried to get air into her lungs.

As her getaways to oxygen cleared up, Six took several deep breaths into her lungs, blinking rapidly to get her vision back. She slowly sat up on her knees, stretched and rubbed her eyes as if she had just woken up from a long nap. When Six took a good look at where she was, Six was confused as to why she was suddenly in the Pale City Wilderness as the last memories before landing here were hazy.

The young twelve year old girl looked around the beach, spotting both Raine, one of her best friends besides Mono, and the ruler of the Nest, the Pretender. A soft chill ran down Six's spine as she laid eyes on the white haired girl as hazy memories started to clear up. Raine running for her life, the rough thunderstorm from above, falling from the sky then hitting the water and nearly drowning. A piece of broken wood brushed up against Six's right bare foot from the water.

Six perked up and shifted her small body to look down at the piece of wood, another wave came up to reveal more broken pieces of wood followed by the remains of a wooden raft. In an instant, everything came back to her and panic replaced the calmness that had sat in her gut as her wide red eyes shot to the unconscious brown haired girl. "Raine!" Six cried to her friend, rushing over to her and shaking her to wake her up.

"Raine! Raine!" Six called to her friend, lifting her by the shoulders and shaking her, almost breaking her neck in the process. "Raine? Raine? No, no, no Raine, you can't be dead, you can't. No please, please, don't leave me, please…you can't fucking leave me. Not now, not after all this, not after all this pain of trying to survive only to lose you to her…please…I know I fucked up…but you can't leave me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry…for not being able to save you…I'm so fucking sorry…I love you…" Six's voice trailed off into heartbroken whimpers as her hopes of her friend being alive after what happened finally…finally started to die with each shake.

Fresh tears welled up in her eyes and slipped down her cheeks, tickling under her chin before falling to the fabric of Raine's raincoat. She made no effort to wipe them away from her face, it didn't matter anymore, one of the only other people she ever loved or rather she'd admitted to loving as much as her mother was gone, just when Six and her had escaped death and the first part of the vicious cycle. Six sniffled, feeling her face scrunch up with sadness as once again, she felt her damaged yet slowly healing heart break into a thousand pieces.

Her body trembled like she was cold and a cry ripped freely from her throat as she swiftly wrapped her arms around Raine to cry into her chest, into her lovely yellow raincoat. Raine let out a moan of pain as she was greeted by a pounding headache upon opening her eyes then gave a grunt of surprise followed by a moan as she felt a tight grip on her body, she shook her head and blinked a few times to get her consciousness back to her. When she felt more awake, Raine's eyes widened when she spotted Six with her head buried in her chest and wait…was she crying?

Raine sat up into a sitting position and gently brought a hand up to rest on the red eyed girl's head, causing her to jolt slightly. "Six?" Raine called out, grabbing the other girl's attention. Six's head shot up from Raine's chest to gaze back at the brown haired girl much faster than Raine expected and she almost felt her heart break as she stared at the poor girl's face. Six's usually tough face looked so broken, her red eyes were red, puffy and bloodshot from crying and it was obvious to Raine that she was crying as evident by the long streaks of tears running from her eyes.

Her lips were quivering in a deep frown and her sharp teeth were gritted together as she tried to keep her emotions in check. However, the second Six saw Raine, alive and well, the little girl let out a choked sob and wrapped her arms around Raine's neck to hold her close, face buried into her chest as Six's small frame racked with sobs. "Six, are you okay?" Raine demanded, not realizing that it was a stupid question to ask but not caring at the moment as she put an arm around her sobbing friend to try to comfort her.

"I thought you died!" Six exclaimed between sobs, hugging Raine as if her life depended on it, it probably did. "I thought I lost you after I, or rather we had finally escaped this cycle of me always losing you to…her! I'm so glad you're okay!" Six felt her face slightly turn red when she said that last sentence, but at the moment, she didn't care much about her embarrassment and instead cared more about one of her best friends. She wasn't lying, Six meant it when she said she was glad Raine was okay. After all this time of hoping and trying to save Raine's life only to fail and lose one of the only other people who ever cared for her without wanting something in return, Six would be damned if she and Raine had worked so hard to be free of this curse only to have Raine lose her life to something she was good at surviving.

Raine smiled softly at Six's words, she wrapped her arms around the girl's body and pulled her into a tight hug, nuzzling into her slightly wet hair. "I'm glad too, mostly more glad that you're okay," she whispered softly to the other girl, pulling an arm away from Six and running it through the raven haired girl's hair, she then lifted Six's bangs and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. Six slightly jumped at this action from the other girl, her eyes widened and her face slowly turned red with embarrassment as she didn't get that much or that type of affection from other girls her age or above before in her life, besides her mother of course.

Yet despite this, Six couldn't help but smile to herself and nuzzle more closely to Raine, basking in her affection. Raine smiled even more and gave Six one last hug and kiss on her forehead before the two had to break free and stand up. As much as the two girls wanted to stay on the beach close to each other, they had much more important matters to focus on at the moment, such getting the fuck out of here as quickly as possible. "Okay, where to?" Raine said, her voice becoming serious in the blink of an eye as did her facial expression as her eyes focused on Six's face.

For her part, Six had taken her white shirt and raised it to her face, wiping her puffy eyes and face free from tears while taking a few deep breaths to relax her smaller form. When she felt calm enough, she put on a serious expression and set a hand to her chin in thought. "If I remember correctly and I'm very certain I am, considering how many times I've done this. We'll have to trek through the Wilderness to make camp cuz' let's face it, there's not much we can use out here."

Raine gave a once-in-a-lifetime look around the beach, finding Six was right about one thing, there wasn't much food to be seen besides fish in the ocean and none of the girls wanted to go into the ocean right after that storm and what remained of their raft wasn't much use to them, they still had their rope though, it was surprisingly in one piece. "Right," Raine said with a determined nod to her friend whose expression matched her own, she bended onto her knees and untied the rope from Six's waist then her own before wrapping it around her left shoulder, letting it hang loosely on it but not too loose, she didn't want to lose it.

She then walked over to the remains of the raft and pulled out the long piece of wood she had used to steer them, she then looked back at Six whose facial expression was still the same but held a bit of nervousness which was an emotion she had never seen before on the raven haired girl's face, it made her uneasy. "Ready to go?" Raine asked in a soft tone of voice, worried she might accidentally startle Six if she talked louder. "I'm not really sure if I'm being honest with you, but I guess I have to," Six said with a heavy sigh, bowing her head and setting a hand against her face, bad memories rushing back to her consciousness.

Raine noticed this and shot her a look of concern. "You okay, Six?" Raine asked the girl, Six looked up at her from her trip down memory lane. "I'm fine, Raine, I just have a lot on my mind." Raine gave a little frown at the black haired girl's tone like she was recalling some bad memories from long ago and silently set a hand on her shoulders, rubbing it gently in little circles to try to comfort her. Six didn't look up at her, but she did softly nuzzle into her friend's shoulder.

Their tender moment was soon interrupted by a groan from an unfortunate familiar voice. "Shit," both Six and Raine muttered flatly, putting a hand up to their faces in exasperation, they just couldn't catch a break, could they? Not in this world could they catch a break, if they could, they could die. The two girls turned their heads to see the Pretender slowly getting back on her feet, rubbing her head. "Oh my head, what the fuck happened yesterday?" she groaned, rubbing her head free from pain and taking a look around while trying to get her memories back.

The second she laid eyes on both Raine and Six, the memories came back and hit her like an oncoming train. "Oh shit," was all the white-haired girl could let out before she was tackled to the ground by Six, the latter baring her now elongated fangs with her eyes now red from lid to lid and her pupils slitted like a snake. "Six!" Raine shouted, running over to the scrap of girls to grab Six by the arm and pull her away from the Pretender before either of them could do any damage to each other. "Guys, relax, fighting each other isn't going to help matters!"

Six let out an angry growl at Raine's orders and the thought of not being able to tear the Pretender a new one but relented, slowly getting off the Pretender and backing up a few feet. However once freed, the Pretender charged at Six, intending to knock her down but was held back by Raine. "You too," she said sternly, the Pretender gritted her teeth, glaring murderous daggers at the raincoat girl and prepared to charge at her, but Raine flexed her wrists causing black smoke to flow out from her palms, something Six had seen before with the Lady while she was trapped and trying to escape the Maw. Six's eyes returned to normal as they widened to the size of dinner plates and she backed up a couple steps from Raine, feeling unintentionally threatened.

The Pretender stopped dead in her tracks and backed up as well, realizing that Raine meant business. Despite never seeing the Lady or her daughter in action, she had heard enough information from the other children aboard the Maw to know you don't fuck with the Lady or her family unless you want to die and the Pretender didn't want to do that especially since she had just escaped the Cycle of death she and the other two girls were trapped in. She gulped and backed up as well, her now bare feet kicking up sand as she moved, the Pretender slightly cringed as she shot a quick glance at her feet, now realizing that her stocking and shoes were gone somehow, probably ripped off by the storm. She was surprised she hadn't noticed this until now, but somehow this wasn't her biggest concern however.

When Raine noticed that their enemy was backing up, the raincoat girl took a deep breath and canceled her powers before turning her attention to Six whose red eyes were staring at her with amazement and horror. She felt her heart clench at Six's fear that was present in her expression even though she didn't always express it. "You okay?" the older girl asked, snapping Six out of her haze. "Yeah I am, but holy shit!" the twelve year old girl exclaimed, excitement and amazement in her eyes which was something Raine hadn't seen before in the other girl's eyes and she didn't know why, but the sight made her smile slightly.

Raine gave a light chuckle at that comment and Six's excitement, but shrugged her shoulders, understanding that this was probably the first time Six had seen her use her powers before. She then heard the sound of splashing water from behind her, both Raine and Six turned their heads in the direction of the sound and were surprised to find the Pretender attempting to gather the raft the trio had used to escape the storm, only for the white-haired girl to gasp in terror upon seeing the raft was now nothing more then pieces.

"What?! What the fuck just happened to this piece of shit?! It was just fine yesterday!" Furious at her current situation and her shitty luck, the Pretender started chucking broken pieces of wet wood from the calm water to the two girls behind her, almost hitting both Raine and Six in the face, the latter having to duck and dodge in order not to get hit. Six had no problem dodging the debris, having gotten a lot of training back on the Maw when she was the Lady.

Finally the Pretender perked up when she found a piece of wood that looked like it could support her weight and float at the same time only for the entire thing to collapse in her hands the second she held it up. For a few tense seconds, there was only silence as the Pretender, Raine and Six stared at the remains of the big piece of the raft, expecting something drastic to happen. Well, something did happen, but it wasn't as drastic as either girl expected.

The Pretender let out an enraged scream and grabbed the sides of her head, ready to rip her hair out from her scalp which, truth be told, she was about to cuz' her day just sucked ass with a thousand lemons and limes thrown into the mix. Why can't she can't ever catch a break? However, before she could even tear out even a string of her white hair, two hands grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from her head, she didn't need to be a genius to know Raine was right behind her.

"Hey relax, hurting yourself isn't going to help you," the girl said in a calm yet stern but soothing tone, almost like a mother talking to a child. Six couldn't help but be reminded of the Lady and her usual tone of voice when she was talking to the children of the Maw, it was comforting yet still had a way of sending chills down her spine despite how many cycles had gone on. The white-clad girl wrapped her arms around her small body as she trembled like a leaf from both fear and anger.

The Pretender gritted her teeth and glared murderous daggers at the brown haired girl. "And why the hell would I listen to you?!" she snapped angrily, the anger in her slowly fading when she realized Raine wasn't at all fazed. "Because I didn't let you get killed by that storm or Six, did I?" The white-haired girl stopped in her tracks, her half-exposed face becoming even more confused as she thought about what Raine had said. She didn't understand why Raine did that, she had done some terrible things to children and these two girls, why didn't Raine kill her?

"No, you didn't," the Pretender admitted begrudgingly, her voice almost a harsh whisper, tone filled with confusion and slight anger. Six couldn't blame her for being confused, she herself was puzzled to all hell as to why the fuck Raine didn't just kill the Pretender with her newly revealed powers right there and then after all the shit she and Raine went through with her. "Still, why should I listen to you?!"

Six gritted her teeth in pure frustration at this bitch's attitude, even after getting out of a dangerous, life-threatening situation, she still was acting as bitchy and entitled as she was before. The raven haired girl bared her fangs at the Pretender, her eyes started to glow furious red. Raine seemed to know what was going on behind her and held up a hand in an attempt to stop Six from advancing closer. Six grumbled in disappointment, but obeyed.

"Because you are a spoiled brat who wouldn't survive a second in this world," Raine replied bluntly, much like Six would in any situation cuz' her honesty was brutal. Six's jaw dropped open in surprise at her friend's response before she quickly raised a hand to cover her mouth to keep herself from laughing her ass off. The Pretender's bang covered eyes widened to the size of dinner plates before they narrowed into angry slits at that remark, she opened her mouth to retort only to shut it.

As much as she hated it to admit it, Raine was right. The Pretender grew up in a lavish lifestyle where she was handed almost everything in life and servants worked under her eye, she was spoiled rotten to put it mildly, she had no other way to put it. Always used to having everything being handed to her on a silver platter even before the Cycle and the whole Signal Tower corruption.

The Pretender slumped forward and relaxed her shoulders, letting out a heavy sigh in the process as she tried to calm her anger which was not easy, mind her. "You're right," the white-haired girl muttered under her breath but Raine and Six still heard her. The former still held her stern facial expression probably to mask her surprise while Six looked like she had figured out a plot twist in a story. If cartoon physics were a thing, no doubt Six's jaw would be on the floor or rather the ground.

"Hold on a fucking minute. Why exactly are you telling her this, Raine?" Six asked her friend curiously after managing to pick her jaw off the ground, she was very confused as to why her friend was asking the Pretender these at this moment. She hoped it wasn't what she was thinking, however a part of her brain was telling her otherwise. "Raine, you can't be considering allowing her to come with us!" Six shouted at the raincoat girl, voice sounding in complete disbelief which matched the Pretender's facial expression.

"Do we have any other ideas?" Raine asked Six flatly, turning her attention to the raven haired girl who was still standing behind her on the beach. "Raine no, we can't do this, especially after all those cycles of her killing you!" Six pointed out. "Look Six…" Raine started only for her to be interrupted by the starting sentence of Six. "I don't trust her," Six grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest in a pouty type way like she did in her early childhood. Raine sighed and nodded in an understanding manner. "Neither do I, Six. But the only thing we can do is keep a close eye on her." Raine's brown eyes narrowed as they gazed at the Pretender.

"And keep her in line." Six's red eyes knotted themselves in an angry glare, the white-haired returned her glare ten fold. "And if she tries anything, I'll be able to handle it myself. I have my mother's powers running through my veins, she won't stand a chance," Raine said reassuringly, ruffling Six's black hair affectionately. "It won't be like the last times."

Six stopped glaring and smiled sweetly at the raincoat girl, wrapping her thin arms around Raine's chest to hug her close. The Pretender huffed angrily as she watched the two girls in jealousy, crossing her arms over her chest angrily. When Six pulled away from Raine, both girls became serious as they turned their attention to the Pretender who was giving them one hell of a nasty glare from beneath her white bangs.

"Just as long as she doesn't try anything," Six said sternly, not tearing her furious glare away from the white-haired girl, gripping Raine's shoulders with her hands. "Like hell I would! When I would need someone to help me in this shitty world!" Six snarled lightly at the Pretender and the whites of her eyes shadowed to red. The Pretender shut up upon realizing what was happening and sat down on the beach, slowly dragging a finger through the sands. "If she doesn't do anything to hurt you like all those previous cycles, then I won't do anything. If she does, then I won't hesitate to kill her, not anymore."

A sigh from the third girl sounded and seconds later, a familiar green dress showed up in Six and Raine's vision. The two girls almost jumped out of their skin, but calmed down once they realized it was their old enemy now turned temporary partner. She was holding out her hand in a handshake gesture. Six and Raine were both hesitant at first to shake the Pretender's hand as they were understandably afraid they would be erased if they took her hand.

But after a few seconds, Raine took the Pretender's hand and shook it, thankfully for her, she wasn't erased, she sighed in relief. Seeing that Raine was okay, Six set her hand on top of the other two girls' hands and the trio shook hands. "But this is only a temporary partnership till I can find my fucking way back to the Nest," the Pretender said sternly to the two girls, her last sentence littered with frustration and spite.

Raine and Six glared back at the Pretender but they nodded and soon they pulled apart and were turning their attention to all around the beach. "So, where to?" Six took a deep breath and stared at the Wilderness, the second part of the Cycle as well as the home of her best friend and enemy. "The Wilderness." Raine nodded and pushed her supplies more onto her body, the Pretender tensed up immediately and stared at both in shock with an expression that screamed 'what?'

Six took a deep breath to prepare herself for what would happen next then she took a step forward. "Hold on, before we go, we should learn your name. I mean, it would be weird to call you 'Pretender', right?" Raine said suddenly, the Pretender stared at her with a look that said 'is that what everyone calls me?' "First off, I'm Raine, she's Six. What's yours?" The Pretender stroked her chin for a minute before opening her mouth. "I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me Liz."

Meanwhile

Far out in the ocean sat the Maw, a resort where fat bastards go to eat themselves to a coma and the staff do whatever the fuck they're meant to do. Standing in the doorway of the Maw before the Guests arrived was a tall figure made of wax wearing a red bellman's suit. He looked out toward the Pale City Wilderness which was far in the distance, he gave a small salute toward the woods. "Good luck, Madame. I know you can do this."

From within the Nest, the Butler twitched as he felt his telepathic connection to the Pretender suddenly act up. His eyes gave a faint glow before they returned to normal, his jaw clenched and his hands within the golden bolt the tower had crafted for him as his powers when his hands were free, were more stronger and could probably be a match against the Thin Man if used properly. The Craftsman who was sitting beside him in his wheelchair, saw what happened and understood in an instant. He carted over to the phone they hadn't used in three years and dialed a number that he and the Butler knew so well.

In the dirty, dark and dank halls of the Maw, a prison for the runaway children who would dare come here and home of the gluttonous Guests, the blind Janitor Roger, the greasy Twin Chefs, the frightening Ferryman, the old and dreadful Granny, the frightened and skittish Nomes, the loyal Wax Bellman, the children of the shadows and light and the beautiful, graceful Lady or Governess, the aforementioned people were up and doing their separate duties within the Maw. Some of the children were off doing their chores like making their beds or small cleaning sessions such as cleaning the tables in the Guest hall or mirrors in the bathroom that the Lady hadn't broken, others were trying to escape which was a normal thing to see in the Maw by this point.

Roger was doing his rounds around the Maw, working the machinery and making sure it was in top notch shape but also keeping an eye or rather an ear out for the children to make sure they were doing what they were supposed to be doing and not trying to escape. It happened from time to time, but not as often as the last times when the Pale City and Maw first lost their fucking minds, the former being the main and only reason Roger and the children fled the world to join the Maw when it was originally a safe haven for children.

Above in the furnace room, the Nomes darted to and fro in the piles of coal, bringing several to the giant furnace and tossing them in, bringing power to the Maw. Traveling from the furnace room to the Lady's quarters were children wrapped in golden and blackened shadows, some were simply traveling around the Maw causing trouble. Others had decided to stop at the coal room and give the Nomes a hand even if the light from the furnace made the Shadow Children hiss in pain. Others were cleaning the residence from their more private activities last night, putting books away and cleaning up the fire pit, a select few watched the security eyes in the Maw ensuring things were going well.

On the monitors, they could see Nomes, Shadow/Light Children and normal children wandering the rooms that served as the resting place of children who were caught in the Eyes' light, cleaning them free from everything that littered the ground. The leader, though he couldn't understand human emotions as well as the others on the Maw, even felt a pang of sorrow at the phantom outlines of kids that were once frozen in the previous cycles. It hurt even more to see the kids who were frozen entering the room to clean it, some staring blankly at where they once died.

The leader of the Light Children winced at this sight, her glowing eyes shutting. The Lady shouldn't have sent them down here where their nightmares had come to life, but on the other hand facing the demons of their past is a way to move forward. Whether the kids liked it or not, they would have to face the past as it flashed to the past. At least that's what the humpback thought, it was difficult for her to look in the mirror as the cycles calmed down considering what the Mirror Man did to her but she knew she had to face her own past sometime.

The humpback took in a deep breath through her nose, setting a hand on the Light leader's shoulder causing her to look up. "You ready?" Nods were the only answer she got, but that was all she needed. She whistled to the other children who turned their heads in her direction, the humpback nodded her head to the cleaning supplies then grabbed a mob. Off in the lower medical rooms, the bandaged kid sorted through various medical supplies the Lady picked up from the mainland, a gift from the Doctor.

It was hard work to be sure, but she didn't mind it as she liked the distraction and the fact that there were more medical supplies just in case something happened to her or any of the children. She shuddered at the thought but kept at her task. The leech population had started to become more controlled ever since Six and the Lady stepped in though with their fangs through anything else, a disgusting job but the bandage kid wasn't complaining especially after her history with them in the previous cycles, when she met Six when she and her friends were gathered around the fire in their hideout.

In the kitchens, the Twin Chefs were moving to and fro around, grabbing boxes full of meat, fruit and other articles of food collected from either the Hunter from his time out hunting or other places outside the Pale City that weren't corrupted by the Signal Tower or from the ocean itself since the Maw was much bigger than anyone would've expected and had fishing nets to catch fish. It was hard work for sure, especially when there were two people doing it, but the chefs were devoted to their jobs, so it wasn't a big problem for them.

Occasionally, a child or a small group of children would sneak into the kitchens from their chores like little silent mice, stealing small bits of food that were sticking out of the boxes then darting back into the darkness to devour themselves or share with their friends who were hiding far from the Prison or Nursery, two places where children or preteens were usually held in this place.

Since their movements were so careful and slight, the chefs didn't take notice of them, so it was easy for those children mentioned to sneak away and sneak back for more since they were either brave or foolish or desperate for something to fill their empty bellies after a long time. This process repeated itself like clockwork a few times till the children felt like they had enough food or were too scared of the chefs to grab more food and just wanted to get back to where they were before the chefs spotted them.

In the flooded depths of the Maw, the Granny was simply chilling in the cool water, doing some rather weird poses as she counted down the days or longer, waiting for a little boy wearing blue pants with a top to match along with a snackle around his ankle to come down here. He wasn't here yet, that was for sure as the Ferryman hadn't brought the next set of children to the Maw and that set was to contain the Runaway Kid or Seven. Nobody knew his real name, but that hardly mattered, he was simply one of the children caught in the Cycle like the rest of them.

Finally, a tall wax monster dressed in a red bellhop's suit walked the lower halls of the Maw, heading to an old wooden door that read 'Maw's Mail Pickup And Delivery' next to another door that read 'Maw's Boat Repair and Launch. He took hold of the door knob, twisted it to the side opening the door. The room was slowly wearing down from age and was rather small, there was a conveyor belt running from both ends carrying large packages that were build for him and the Twin Chefs. A vault was built into one of the walls, a small pile of letters that were probably junk mail from the looks of it rested on the ground.

Wandering the floors of the Maw's delivery room were several little Nomes, some carrying letters others were empty handed. Some were surrounding two children dressed in green cloaks, all sorting through letters and putting them into two separate piles. One pile was for bills obviously from the supplies brought in from the lands beyond. That sight made the monster frown, those were never his favourite. The smaller pile was letters for the employees…including news from the Nest for…the Lady…about the Pretender and…Raine's deaths.

The Bellman felt his chest tighten even though it had been three years since this happened, it was unfortunately that this feeling was familiar. The second the door opened, the children and Nomes stopped what they doing and snapped to attention nearly scattering the letters in different directions. The girl in light green narrowed her emerald green eyes in anger at the Bellman despite her light yellow hair and hood hiding her eyes, her body taking on a more defensive stance a look that the Bellhop was familiar with for he had seen it way too many times. The boy in dark green took in a deep breath, readjusting a light brown mail bag on his shoulder and front.

"It's just me," the monster responded calmly, stopping in front of the children and resting on his knees, his fingers picking up the letters on the ground and the unhooking the mail bag around the boy's shoulder. He then stuffed the letters inside then returned the bag to around the boy in green's shoulder, the lad lifting his arms up to make it easier for the man to hook it in place. "Of course, it's you, what the fuck else would it be?" The Bellman was hardly taken aback at the girl's hostility, though it did annoy him as it was far too early in the morning for that shit.

"Regardless, you have everything for work?" Both children nodded, the girl turning back to the boy, double checking the bag to ensure he had everything, he looked into his friend's green eyes and raised a thumbs up. "You know the routes to the lair, the kitchen and the Lady's quarters?" Another nod. "Yeah, we know every route by this point in time, including the routes of fuck off." The boy rolled his jade coloured eyes beneath his hood and bright blond hair, readjusting the mail bag till it rested perfectly on his small shoulder.

"Not the answer I was looking at, but of course, off you guys go, I'll see you two later. Now don't forget, lunch is around noon." With one last nod to the Bellman, both the girl and boy took off into the darkness, heading for their destinations. He watched them go for a few seconds before a ringing sound caught his attention. "Hmmm?" The Wax Bellman tilted his head in the direction of the noise, a familiar noise that he recognized whenever a guest from the mainland would call to book a room on the Maw or a table for dinner, lunch or whatever.

"Now who in the world would be calling us? Especially right now?" Scratching his head in confusion, the Wax Bellman's footsteps echoed within his ears as he took hold of the phone, picking it up from its receiver and setting it against his ear. "Hello? Speaking, oh hello George and Elias, what is it you want to speak to me about? …what? Oh my…I have to tell my daughter." Back wandering the halls of the Maw were the two children, their green cloaks fluttering slightly and brown mail bag hitting the boy's back as they moved. The letters they received were tucked into the bag so far, it was hard to tell what they were.

Upon arriving at Roger's lair, the girl child reached into the bag and pulled out a folded piece of paper and tossed it into the room, down to a little boy who wore brown clothes and a brown cloak to match. He caught the paper with ease then pointed a thumbs up to let the other two know he got the message. The two nodded their heads at their partner and darted back into the darkness of the Maw. After taking a few turns, the two mail carriers found themselves in the kitchens, but the Twin Chefs were nowhere in sight, probably still unloading the food that had just been delivered.

Regardless, the two children jumped in, pulled out a couple of folded letters and set them on one of the Twin Chefs' worktables. Once that was done, the two took off again and stumbled around in the darkness till they reached a familiar staircase that led to the Lady's private quarters. The two both gulped harshly at even the mere thought of the Lady as she was the powerful adult in the Maw and for a damn good reason.

She got the job thanks to her shadow powers that steal the souls of those who entered her Maw and her grade A martial arts skills she had learned over the years by the Wax Bellman and her biological father. Being one of the daughters of the most powerful lords the Pale City had ever seen definitely helped matters. So, in short the Lady wasn't someone you wanted to mess with unless you had a death wish. The two kids below her quarters didn't have a death wish even after the countless cycles previously, what they had was a letter to deliver to the Lady as much as they didn't want to do it.

Gulping down their fears and picking up their pace on the stairs, that would've taken about a minute on a normal day since the Lady's quarters was the last place the two children wanted to be. But this time, the two simply wanted to get this delivery done and over with for once. Since the Janitor, the Twin Chefs and the Bellman were out that morning with work around the Maw, they figured this would be the same case and they could do this without any trouble like before.

Soon, the sound of a light mournful song reached the children's ears the second they reached the door of the Lady's quarters. In less than five seconds, the two carriers stopped dead in their tracks, looking from the door to each other. She wasn't supposed to be there, was she? This was her home after all, so maybe she was supposed to be there? But didn't she have duties of her own? The cloaked children stared at each other, both silently asking themselves the same questions.

Truth be told, the mail carriers weren't entirely certain of the Lady's schedule, but considering they noticed the other employees of the Maw were absent from their places of work, they figured this would be the same case for the Lady, welp they were wrong. Finally, the green cloaked girl broke her stare away from the boy and took a deep breath to steady herself, stepping forward and pushed the door to the Lady's quarters open. The boy jolted back to attention and reached out to try to stop her, realizing that walking into the lion's den was the worst idea ever. However, the girl had pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The boy paused for a few seconds before sighing and following after her, their footsteps making soft thuds on the floor as they walked around. The song became more noticeable as they moved deeper into the quarters, this was something the two were familiar with but it didn't make it any less unnerving as that meant the Lady was close by. Sure enough, the next few steps later and the two children found themselves crossing paths with the Lady, standing in front of her broken vanity mirror. She was in her kimono and brushing her long curtain of raven black hair that hung over her shoulders instead of being put up in her usual bun, something that not one child of the Maw had seen before.

The two children paused in their tracks upon seeing the Lady, the floor creaked under their feet in the process, they almost jumped out of their skin. The Lady stopped humming and tilted her head in the direction of the noise. "Hmm, you're a bit early," the Lady started in her soft elegant voice, it was very pleasant to listen to on a good day, yet there was still a dangerous edge to it that would make any hardened soul freeze in place. "Yes, my Lady," the cloaked girl said quickly, doing her best to keep her tone steady and formal, though there was still a touch of uneasiness in her voice.

Even after all these cycles of working at the Maw with the adults running the show, facing the Lady in her quarters was still the last thing on every kid's list. "We've delivered the other letters to Roger, Kevin and Mac earlier," the girl continued, making hand motions in the air with the boy nodding at every word she said. "And so I'm the last one to receive one?" The Lady's question was met by a nod from both children followed by the female child handing over a piece of folded paper that was covered by a white envelope and had fancy writing possibly outlining the Lady's real name and the location she lived in.

The sight of the fancy writing on the envelope brought up a cold feeling within the Lady's chest, probably from the Nest to inform her of both her daughter and the Pretender's passing, something that still broke the Lady even though this wasn't the first time this happened. But this wasn't something the Lady could get used to, no one gets used to the idea of losing your family.

The young woman took a deep yet shaky breath, clenching her fists under the sleeves of her kimono as she tried to keep her eyes from welling with tears as she wasn't wearing her mask at the moment since she was still in the process of getting ready for the day. Being someone who had a little more control of her emotions, she was able to maintain her composure and keep herself from crying in front of the children for now, though later she would break down later in her quarters after this day of pain was done and over.

Still the Lady took the letter from her child carrier and read the writing across the front. Oddly, it didn't have the Nest's address or the name of the person who sent it to her such as the Butler or the Craftsman, so maybe she was mistaken about the Nest sending her this letter though this was a foolish hope, but was it wrong for a lady to dream? The Lady took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for what was going to happen next. She quietly ran her fingernails over the flap of the envelope, intending to rip it open and read the contents inside.

However the sound of heavy footsteps approaching and a door opening caught the Lady's attention, the trio turned their heads in the direction of the noise and were surprised to find the Bellman standing in the doorway. "Wax Bellman," the Lady started in a surprised yet still rather stoic tone of voice, her facial expression staying in the same stoic expression she always wore whenever she wasn't wearing her mask which was rarely or not at all though there was a hint of surprise in her voice especially considering how disheveled he was looking.

"Sorry for my intrusion, my Lady," he apologized, bowing his head and eyeing her and the two child carriers. "But I have urgent news you should hear." The Lady gave something too long to be a blink, tilting her head to one side to allow her curtain of black hair to completely cover one of her blood red irises and slitted pupils making her like a patient predator hiding in the shadows, waiting for their prey to come into their sights. Rather ironic considering the Lady trained in the shadows when her mother and father felt she was the right age about their lifestyle.

As much as the memories warmed and broke his heart, of the young Lady in her yellow raincoat as bright as the sun itself looked up at him every time with a smile as she learned a new spell and also as she cried over her mother's body. But the Bellman took a deep breath and focused on the reason he had come here, knowing the information would make his lady the happiest she's ever been after the cycles started. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath then spoke. "Raine and the Pretender are alive."

Standing outside the open doorway was a large man with a small fedora on his head, a heavy coat that was still dripping with rainwater from the harsh thunderstorm yesterday and a sagging face that could reach the ground if it grew much longer, sat on his ass in a small wooden rowboat, paddling with a set of wooden oars. The thing looked surprisingly in good shape given the decaying state of the Pale City and the Maw since the latter had been around for many years.

The man whistled quietly to himself as he paddled on the water, liking how calm the water was after the chaos that was the hurricane of a thunderstorm that had taken place yesterday and lasted the entire night, nearly keeping up every resident of the Maw and forcing the Ferryman to remain in the Pale City Harbor along with his cargo, at least till the storm passed.

This wasn't exactly a desirable situation for anyone involved on the Maw as that could mean a delay in their schedules for the next year or rather the same year the Cycle started, the day where Six and the Runaway Kid/Seven would arrive to the Maw by the Ferryman on the water right now, go through the Maw then kill the Granny, the Lady then a set of Guests as they departed. Or at least one of them did, that's how it used to be for a long while.

Or the delay could anger the Signal Tower, it wasn't someone who liked it's own schedules being disturbed, even by lowly monsters and children it had transformed long ago. There was no way to tell properly, the Signal Tower or rather the Eye was an unpredictable creature, even to the ones who were trapped in the loop the longest. There wasn't any way for anyone to tell, whether it be a lowly child trying to survive another day or one of the more powerful figures under the eyes of the Lady, the Tower wasn't something that could be easily understood.

But there wasn't any other choice, the usual thunderstorms or 'Veronica' as the Ferryman called them for some reason, probably in reference to the tv show on the tvs that had a host with a thundery attitude when it came to critics and lightning fast movements when cooking of the same name, had suddenly gotten much worse then he had expected and if he and his cargo went out on the water that day, they would, no doubt, be lost at sea much like many sailors before the Ferryman's time.

In the time the Ferryman spent in the Pale City Harbor, he thought he would be stuck there for a whole week as he had been stuck indoors for several days on end while making deliveries to and from the Maw and Pale City during his years working for the Lady. But to his surprise, the very next day, the storm disappeared as quickly as it came. This was rather surprising to the Ferryman but to be fair, he wasn't complaining, the sooner he could arrive at the Maw, the better.

So, he gathered up his cargo, headed toward his rowboat which thankfully wasn't ripped to shreds by the storm that happened yesterday and paddled out toward the Maw to deliver. His cargo was a small box filled with extra meat from the Hunter's time out hunting and a hoard of six children from all over the Pale City, maybe even the wilderness where the aforementioned Hunter lived.

All of them were curled up on top of a large sheet of fabric that he had been given by the Lady from her leftover pieces of fabric she had lying around in her fabric bucket, fast asleep like young kittens. They all had rather unique sleeping positions, three of them looked like drunken men during a hangover. The other three had their thumbs in their mouths much like they would when they were babies, it was an adorable sight to behold even for a large, dangerous creature like the Ferryman.

They had been like that for a good long while now. Catching some needed shut eye after a whole night of being kept awake by the thunder and lightning outside, probably fearing the whole building the group had taken cover in would collapse onto their heads. This was understandable as despite the Harbor being one of the more stable locations then the rest of the city, the buildings were still pretty damaged and some parts of them could collapse under rough weather, even if the wind wasn't entirely rough like last night.

Truth be told, the Ferryman was privately worried of the possibility of the roof or something dropping down on him and his cargo like a ton of bricks, that could ruin his cargo or break a couple of bones in his body and it wouldn't help his relation with the Lady if he got himself or any of the kids injured or killed. Thankfully for him, nothing like that happened. But in a world like this, bad things always lurked around the corner and you always had to prepare for the worst.

The scent of coal suddenly reached his nose, the Ferryman stopped his whistling and turned around in the direction of the smell. Sure enough, there was the Maw, sitting just a few feet away from him. Though he couldn't see from the distance he was sitting, he knew the Twin Chefs were waiting for him, probably wanting him to hurry up and deliver his supplies. Without wasting any more time, the Ferryman returned to his oars and paddled the rest of the miles needed to get back to the Maw.

When he arrived at the Maw, the Twin Chefs ran up from the entrance to the Maw to greet him. "Finally, you're here!" Kevin, the first chef, exclaimed, pausing at the Ferryman's boat just as the man in question got out of the boat with the six children in his arms, all of them still asleep in the piece of fabric like little babies. "Yeah, we were starting to think you were going to be stuck in Pale City for a week. What did you get there? More children?" Mac, the second chef, said, walking over to the boat to pull out the wooden box with the all too familiar eye symbol of the Tower and Maw painted on it. He didn't exactly need a direct answer to know what he had.

"Them and more meat from the Hunter," came the reply of the Ferryman, the latter who was walking toward the mouth of the Maw, the Twin Chefs following behind him. "Like we were ever struggling for more meat ever since the cycles, especially with the lack of Guests coming to the Maw considering everything." Kevin shrugged his shoulders as he grabbed hold of the box of supplies, the thing wasn't too heavy but he still let out a grunt as he hoisted it up. "Oh that reminds me, what is Miss Lady plotting to do with the Guests this time around? Given everything that happens here when the young lass Six arrives, meets the lad, the Runaway Kid and all that shit. I know she's going through a lot of shit right now, but she does have a ship to run."

The two chefs paused in their tracks at the question, heads turning each other's directions. Truth be told, they had no fucking clue what the plans for this cycle or whatever the fuck this was as it was the first day of hearing something in the cycle being changed plus their lady, their friend was being overwhelmed, understandably so. "We're not sure but you're right about her going through a lot of shit, especially with the news of Raine being alive. Bellman hasn't said anything about this, but I wouldn't be shocked if the Lady just took the day off and passed the duties of what to do about the Guests' arrival to her father figure." Kevin set the box he was carrying to scratch his head then lifted it back up. "Especially when that shitload of children showed up."

That caught the Ferryman's attention. "More children?" Mac gave him a nod. "Yeah, just last night after we managed to submerge the Maw, we found a raft containing several children we hadn't seen, all soaking wet from the storm. We rushed them down to the medical rooms of the Maw and checked them out. Thankfully nothing too serious besides being cold and probably running down with a cold. We're going to let them rest in the Nursery for the time being, not a good idea to make 'em do any work no matter how small it is in that condition."

"Ain't exactly surprising given they probably went through, that storm was hell even in the Pale City." The Ferryman readjusted his grip on the blanketed children to ensure they didn't fall to the floor. His eyes glinted as the tallest boy's silver and golden hair flickered in the light, in an instant he recognized the boy as if the large backpack he wore on his back wasn't already a hint. "Tell us about that, thought I was going to fucking puke." Mac let out a sigh as he set his elbow against his face, a substitute for facepalming.

"I haven't heard the whole story from the folks at the Nest, but I had to suspect it was pretty bad as well. Oh speaking of the Nest, I'm having a sneaking suspicion that the children we rescued are from the Nest. Given that the Nest is the first place where the cycle takes place and there are still children there, it only makes sense that they would come from there." Kevin struggled to keep the box up and scratch the back of his neck as he talked, the theory about where the random group of children came from running wild as it was most likely but that was an impossible task. Eventually he settled for setting the box down and simply scratching the back of his neck before picking up the box again.

"Hold up, I just had a thought." Both Mac and the Ferryman paused at the chef's words. "Do you think Raine and Six had something to do with this?" The other two adults stared at Kevin for a few seconds then at each other, nonexistent eyebrows on their faces raising as they pondered the question. "I wouldn't put it past the little lassies," the Ferryman replied as he turned his head in the direction of the Nest, eyes having to squint a fair bit to see better as a set of clouds were starting to cover the mansion on the giant ass rock. "Raine's always looking out for the others more than herself including Six as they seem to have a sisterly bond, seems like something she would do. And the other lassie, Six, has really changed over the cycles making her more selfless and caring."

"You ain't wrong about that!" Kevin said with a chuckle, nearly tripping over his own feet as he skipped a bit. He managed to catch himself then shoot his brother and the Ferryman a sheepish smile as he started walking up the boardwalk to the entrance of the Maw, his booted feet hitting the floor. Mac rolled his eyes and if the Ferryman had eyes, he would've followed in his friend's footsteps. Instead he merely let out a sigh at this, scooping the children more up against the blanket he was carrying them in and his chest making sure they were stable and steady before a hand reached out to grasp the door knob then turned it to the left. "Sorry to cut this chat short, but I have to get these children to the Nursery then make some repairs to my boat. Catch ya later."

"Okay, see ya." Entering through the door, the trio of adults headed up a long corridor, it was a rather unnerving place to wander through despite the Ferryman and the Twin Chefs being adults and having walked through this place several times in these cycles. Their destination was clear, they split up and headed in two directions, two in the direction of the kitchens and the other toward the Nursery for the children when they weren't doing their chores on the ship. The journey took a few minutes but he made it to his destination. He pushed a door open to find all the children from earlier in the morning, all nestled in their beds, asleep from their chores. The Ferryman took careful steps into the Nursery and laid each new child into a set of beds that were prepared for the six of them.

When the children were nestled in the basic looking beds, a feeling of something feeling wrong started to hit the sagging faced man. However, it didn't feel like a needle stuck in his thigh, it felt like a knife stabbing him in the gut. The Ferryman swallowed and quickly checked each one of the beds and did a mental headcount. There weren't supposed to be six children, there were supposed to be seven. That's how it always had been in those cycles. On the days before the Guests arrived, the Ferryman would travel through the Pale City, gather up a set of seven children, bring them to the Maw, then one of the boys would escape from the Nursery then the rest is history.

That's how it's always been, everyone in the Maw knew this, it was difficult not to keep track of what was going on in these cycles. It was the only way everyone kept sane besides throwing themselves back into their work they always did before shit hit the fan. As awful as this routine was to some people, most notably the Lady and the children, it was the only way they could cope with their situation without completely losing their marbles. But now, after all this time of following a single routine with little to no changes, the sight of a little body dressed in blue fast asleep in his bed brought a sudden feeling of fear within the Ferryman.

Whatever this change was, it could be either a good or bad one and he had to inform the Lady of what had happened, something was going on, a new chain of events probably. But regardless, the Ferryman turned around and nearly sprinted out of the Nursery, almost waking the children from their sleep as he legged it to the Lady's quarters to inform her of the news. As he moved like the wind through the Maw, he had a sneaking suspicion that the ember colored butterfly he saw earlier had something to do with this.