The sun was starting to go down as the evening approached the world, the sky going from a bright blue or a golden color to a beautiful red or orangish color, it was quite a beautiful sight to behold. Several of the Maw's children had decided to ditch their evening chores to head to the front of the Maw to watch the sunset, wanting to absorb as much as the beauty as they could and forget their troubles for once in their lives. Since the daily deliveries to the Maw were done for the day, not one of the adults knew they were out there. Even Roger, the one who was put in charge of the children and the one who made sure they were doing their chores in the morning, afternoon and evening before finally putting them all to bed, didn't seem to take notice of their absence at least, not yet.
Because one, there were too many young children aboard the Maw after the Signal Tower had taken over the city and killed off most of the parents that anyone could lose track of them all no matter how good they were at counting heads and two, Roger was as blind as a bat meaning that he couldn't see where the children were going or if they were sitting outside the Maw right now. Well yes, he had great hearing and could detect the children's noises even from a mile away, sort of anyway. However the Maw's kids had a way around that little advantage Roger had and that was to find any little thing on the ship that made noise and throw it in the direction opposite of the janitor then take off while he was distracted and searching for whatever the hell had made that damn noise.
Three, there were almost too many machines on the Maw that needed to be tended to as the Maw itself was much older then the Lady herself and these machines were known for breaking down sometimes and not working for a while till they were managed properly. Without someone to tend to them, that could lead to disaster for the Maw. So, with Roger busy at the machines at some odd hours of the morning and the evening, the children were left alone to their own devices. Many of them did their chores but several of them stuck to their guns and tried to escape the Maw like they did several times before only for their attempts to be fucked up by the Signal Tower and the Cycle so many times that the number of escaping children started to decrease.
However, the children on deck weren't the only ones watching the sunset at the moment. Standing on one of the Maw's outside balconies was the Lady, her now loose jet black hair untied and freed from her bun was fluttering in the light breeze that passed over the water and the Maw itself, creating little waves that brushed against the metal surface of the ship. It provided the young woman with a very soothing ambience that helped her calm down from the day of craziness that had itself thrown at her, something that never happened to her in these three years.
Hearing about your daughter having survived the first part of the Cycle that would normally kill her along with the heir of the Nest, then finding out she's out on of an even tougher mission with the same girl who managed to outwit the horrors of your ship after it got corrupted by the Signal Tower and somehow got close to you during these cycles by being so similar to you in so many ways. Followed by feeling worry and anxiety for your daughter and the other two girls she was with, wondering if she was going to be okay and survive this time for good and that wasn't counting the rest of your family who was, no doubt, still out in the Pale City. It was quite both a pleasant change and an overwhelming one at the same time.
Though the Lady was overjoyed at the change of news after having nothing but painful news being hurled at her, it was a bit too much for her to take it all in at the moment and that was why she had decided to cancel any and all meetings she might've have for that day so she could sit in her bedroom and just simply try to process all of this while also trying to maintain her composure and her sanity. Not easy to do when you've been slowly slipping into madness and losing more and more control of yourself with passing Cycle. To put it very bluntly, many tears were shed at least till the Lady felt drained or mentally clearer, she honestly didn't know anymore in these damn Cycles.
The Lady might've been the leader of the Maw, but even then there were times where she needed to have breaks so she didn't have a goddamn breakdown. Thankfully for her, the Maw's employees were understanding and allowed her to have this break given the situation they existed in and what happens in the Cycles. Though she wouldn't say it out loud, the Lady was very grateful for this as she was already going through a lot of stress after learning about Raine and Liz were alive, she wasn't sure if she could handle any more stress today.
However since she was human or at least as close to one as she could, she needed food and water like anything else on this cursed planet. The water situation could be easily solved as the Lady had a bathroom with a working sink and fresh water surprisingly despite the Maw's age. Food, on the other hand, was kind of an issue as that resource was something the Twin Chefs had in the kitchens that was further from her quarters. So the Lady had no other choice but to leave her quarters to grab food and bump into her few employees that still toughed out the Cycle to remain working at the Maw.
Luckily for her, Roger, the Twin Chefs, the Ferryman and the children had kept quiet about the new news that was being spread around the Maw like wildfire, no doubt the ones spreading the news and rumors were her two mail carriers from earlier in the day, though there were a few whispers from a few children who somehow managed to pass her by. Instead they mostly talked about business or stuff like that while at their daily duties, though there were a few children who attempted to get out of their chores by hiding in the Lady's kimono before being caught by either Roger or the Twin Chefs or the Ferryman or the Lady herself.
It had been like that for nearly the entire day. The Lady took in a deep breath of the sea itself through her nose before letting back out in a heaving sigh, her head tilting away from the outskirts of the Pale City that was still visible even from the distance the Maw was sitting in the ocean to the waves below her. Even though she was up high, the Lady swore she saw fish jumping up from the water before they allowed themselves to fall back into the waves though there were a few who accidentally landed on the metal surface of the Maw, creating a metallic thud that echoed into the Lady's ears.
The Lady watched them with her tired eyes, feeling privately envious of the amount of freedom they had from the Cycle that had taken over the Pale City. She heaved another sigh, silently placing a hand on her face the dragging it downwards till the arm went down to her side then turned away, heading back to her vanity and sitting down in her chair, taking one of her combs and running it through her lovely raven hair as she began humming to herself. It was probably nearing dinnertime for everyone on the Maw, so she figured she should get ready. Admittedly, the Lady still felt and looked like a mess, but she wanted to at least look presentable.
It was only one thing to do before she could go down and have dinner, hopefully with no problems.
In The Guests' Dining Area
Roger heaved a loud, exasperated sigh as he ushered in the last few children inside the Maw, them making a lot of complaints about missing literally the last few rays of the sunset. "It's literally the last rays of the sunset, the least interesting part of the sunset. Also you are getting in a lot of trouble for skipping out on your chores, so I'd suggest you stop your complaining," Roger said flatly, silently putting a hand to his face, not even bothering to look at every single face glaring up at him. One kid opened his mouth and raised one finger into the air to protest, but after a few seconds of debating on what to say or do, he dropped the finger and shut his mouth, deciding that arguing the matter any further wasn't worth the effort, especially right now.
That move apparently was seen as out of character for him to do as in seconds, the boy was assaulted by a bunch of shocked eyes from every direction. The boy lifted his head, letting his dark and annoyed filled eyes dart around the surprised and puzzled faces of the other children, several of them were kids a little more older then himself. There were several quirked eyebrows with the looks of confusion he had expected from them, but there were also those who were gazing at him with looks of what the boy could only be described as deep concern or rather, confused-concern type looks. That was the only expression the boy could compare those looks to, he honestly couldn't be too sure.
"What the fuck are you doing?" one of the kids that was the closest to him asked in a demanding whisper, his head quickly tilting upwards to face the back of Roger the janitor as he felt around the entirety of the Maw, looking for the directions of where he was supposed to be taking the children for their evening chores. The only answer to his question was a silent shrug and a whispered response: "I'll tell you later". The second kid felt his expression shift into a look of angered confusion at his companion's answer and opened his mouth to speak again, but the sight of Roger searching around convinced him overwise.
Surprisingly, despite his great scent of sound, Roger didn't tilt his head in the kids' direction to see what had made the sounds. Instead, he felt around the walls for a few seconds then pointed a hand down a hallway, his other hand raising up then heading downwards to the back of the line of children that was behind him, gently pushing the child that was closest to his hand so they could go forward. The children paused at the front of the hallway, doing a double take as they stared at the front of the hallway, taking notice of just how dark it was, like the Lady's shadows had fully taken over the hall or something like that.
Yet none of the children felt the cold presence or heard the swish of the woman's kimono as they stood in silence, just where the hell was she anyway? Was she even here? Was she…? Honestly they didn't know and to be fair, several of them didn't want to find out just yet. One of the kids at the front of the group stepped forward toward the hell, poked her head inside and took a few good seconds to look around for a threat or the Lady herself. However, she found nothing in plain sight or the shadows, the latter being a skill she trained herself to learn whenever the children had to deal with the Lady's created offspring: the Shadow Children, there weren't many hiding spots for any of the Lady's shadow children so the hall looked safe from a distance but there wasn't a clear way to tell.
She frowned a little at this, bringing a hand up to her chin to stroke in thought as she started to think of something, she was about to say or do something until Roger rested a hand against her back and gently shoved her forward. The girl let out a surprised cry as she felt her body being moved without her command, she whipped her head around to face the blind janitor as he began ushering the remaining children to the hallway. "Come on now, we wasted too much time. Let's hurry up and finish cleaning the Guest dining area so the Lady doesn't notice the half mess and get mad at us," Roger said with a sigh, putting a hand up to his face, continuing to push the children forward.
"I guess so," one kid muttered, probably the same one who tried to speak up earlier, but his voice had gotten so soft, it was hard for Roger to tell but the result was the same. Roger and the group of children walked down the hall in the darkness, there were some Shadow Children hanging out in the hallway much to everyone's worry, but they did nothing more than gaze at the group passing by before disappearing back into the darkness. The children were quite relieved at this but Roger almost didn't bat a nonexistent eye as they entered the Guest dining area where another hoard of children were busy at work, cleaning either some plates the Twin Chefs hadn't been able to get to yet or the tables themselves.
When Roger felt around for the tables, he ushered the children toward the table that held the other hoard were on and went back to his own duties, occasionally checking back on the children once in a while. A couple of older boys carried a large bucket of soapy water along with toothbrushes, sponges and rags. They dropped it in the middle of where they were cleaning and began dipping in the toothbrushes, sponges and rags before handing them out. "Give this to Eleven," one boy said to another, handing him a wet rag before sending him on his way. The second boy pulled free a toothbrush then handed it to Nightlight who looked like she was in the process of waking up.
"Give this to Seven," came the order. She nodded and handed the toothbrush to another kid, repeating the same order who then processed to repeat the same actions and so forth. "Give this to Seven," came the second to last kid in the line, who took it and turned to the spot where Seven usually was on the table. "Here you go, Seven," the last kid said, preparing to hand said object to the aforementioned boy that everyone had mentioned for at least the last minute. However, instead of the little boy in blue who could talk with the Nomes on the Maw, the kid was shocked to find a couple of older kids standing in Seven's spot who simply happened to be walking by, pausing in their tracks and turning their heads to stare at him quizzically.
The kid froze dead in his tracks for a few seconds before turning his entire body to face the last kid who handed him the toothbrush. "Seven's not here," he said just as the next kid took it and turned their body to the next kid. The kid understood and turned to the next kid then spoke, who said it to the next kid then the next kid then the…well, you get the idea. The last kid who received the toothbrush and the message was Nightlight obviously. "Seven's not here," she blurted out loud to Quince who was now handling the bucket of soapy water and Roger who just so happened to be walking by the table.
Both Roger and Quince stopped dead in their tracks at this statement, their brains taking five seconds out of their lives to process what the hell was just said. "What?!" they both shouted in unison at the girl, nearly making the poor dear jump out of her skin and her dress. Once the shock wore off, the girl smiled stupidly as she looked around the table, letting out a snort of laughter as if this was some kind of joke or something. However, her expression switched to one of fear as the realization of what was going on hit her like a brick wall.
"SEVEN!" she screamed at the top of her lungs before she fainted onto the table with a loud thud.
The sun kept dropping down over the horizon as Six, Raine and Liz continued to wander through the wilderness. The entire world was going dark as the Lady's shadows, the trees with leaves above their heads were making everything even darker. Six was too prideful to admit it, but even she was having trouble trying to see through the slowly darkening forest even with her heightened eyesight when she went feral red to help her and her comrades through the wilderness. "Fuck," Six cursed under her breath, a hand reaching up to brush aside a stray tree branch that was in her way. "Stupid fucking branches. If only these fuckers hadn't grown in so fucking long, then we'd have an easier time getting through the motherfucking woods."
She heaved a heavy sigh as she stepped by the branch and pulled it aside to allow Raine and Liz to pass through so they didn't get hit by the tree branch. However, she probably didn't hold it good enough or the branch had somehow slipped from her grasp despite her attempts to hold it, cuz' the branch flew right at Liz and hit her straight in the face, nearly knocking her off her feet but the impact only managed to leave her with a mouth full of leaves. Liz paused for a few seconds as if to take in what had happened, once it sunk in, she furiously spat out the leaves in her mouth and glared furious daggers at both Six and Raine who were walking ahead with their hands covering their mouths, probably to contain their laughter or something of that sort.
Raine was doing a good job at containing herself surprisingly, only muffled snorts of laughter came out of her mouth. Six, on the other hand, was on the floor in loud, hysterical, crying laughter, face beet red and her entire body was shaking so hard Liz almost thought Six was losing her stomach. "Very fucking funny!" Liz barked furiously at Six, wiping her face free from leaves and leftover dew from the nightmare storm yesterday as she stomped over to the white-clad girl. The spoiled white-haired lady threw her arm back for a few seconds then threw it forward in some clear attempt to karate Six right in the side much to Raine's shock and dismay.
Six, who had somehow managed to calm herself from her fit of laughter, quickly stood on her feet as fast as she could run from the Tower's flesh. She took notice of Liz's movements and set herself up in a defensive stance much to the confusion of Raine. However, Six didn't take notice of her friend's face as her brain flashing back to the several lessons the Wax Bellman had given her on how to dodge attacks as they came, counterattack with as much force as her opponent and block. As Liz swung her arm to try to karate chop her into oblivion, Six smirked and raised her left arm with speed that Raine and Liz hoped to match, blocking her opponent's move with only the speed and grace one would expect of a lady of the Maw.
"Huh?" both Raine and Liz were absolutely flabbergasted at what just happened as it wasn't something that either of them were expecting. Liz pulled her arm away from Six as if the white-haired girl was afraid that the raven-haired girl would bite her, letting it drop down to her side as she took a few steps backwards, staring wide-eyed at Six despite her white bangs covering her eyes. Six simply shot Liz a smirk and tilted her head to one side, allowing both Raine and Liz a good look at her red irises that were usually hidden underneath her feral hair. She then stuck out her tongue rather childishly right before she descended into very adorable fits of giggles or at least, Raine thought they were adorable.
Liz furiously glared at Six, losing her shocked facial expression she wore a few seconds ago as fast as she could climb down a rock wall headfirst. "You little…! How did you do that, Six?" The girl in question tilted her head back to her first position though the smirk was still there, she shut her eyes and simply shrugged her shoulders. "All training moves and later advanced moves taught to me by the Wax Bellman," Six replied bluntly, wearing something close to a proud smile on her face as she set both hands on her hips. This response only made both Raine and Liz even more confused as evident by their facial expressions or rather as much as Liz's expression as Six could see.
"Hold on, you were trained by the Wax Bellhop? My mother's teacher and caretaker?" Raine exclaimed in disbelief to Six, tilting her surprised and slightly horrified facial expression towards her friend. For her part, Six merely turned her head to face Raine and her head, lifting her hands to allow the raincoat girl a good look at the scars the training equipment had left on her. Raine took Six's hands in her own, rubbing and turning them gently as if any fast movements might break the already damaged and crusty skin and scars created by the blood that leaked out, no doubt Six had trained hard. "No kidding, just look at those scars."
"Yeah, there were some accidents during training," Six admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck, shutting her eyes as a smile spread across her face. Raine shot the girl a deadpan stare, rolling her eyes to the other side of her head. "No shit. The same thing happened to my mother when she started to train like that, it does take a while to learn how not to cut yourself while training." Raine gave a light chuckle at the last part, shutting her brown eyes for a few seconds, smiling like she couldn't have a fucking care in the world. It was a stupidly yet adorable facial expression Six privately admitted to herself and the young girl savoured this moment as long as she could so she could look back on them with fondness, or as much fondness as she could.
It only lasted a few seconds before Raine's facial expression switched to an expression Six almost couldn't read, it was sort of a mix between confusion and concern though really the raven haired girl couldn't tell. "When did you learn those moves? Cuz' I can obviously tell you learned those at the Maw and the Bellhop taught you since my mother had gone through a similar experience before she took over as the Lady, so…" Raine stopped mid-sentence as she realized that she might be overstepping her boundaries for what she could ask Six for she knew her friend had currently dealt with some serious fucked up shit when she and Raine were separated and several of this shit was related to both the Maw and the Pale City.
Well, she only knew bits and pieces of Six's trauma drama from the very few times she had gotten answers from the raven haired girl back at the Nest before all went to shit and trust her, the details were…horrifying to put it mildly. From what she could gather, after Six left the Nest, she traveled to the Pale City where she got captured by the Hunter till a boy Raine knew so well, Mono, had rescued her from his basement. After managing to gain Six's trust, which was something that Raine almost wasn't able to do when she first met Six, they escaped and defeated the Hunter where they jacked up a piece of wood from an old door then sailed to the Pale City where shit more shit hit the fan quickly.
Raine wasn't entirely certain what went down in the Pale City but what she did know that it involved the school, the hospital and the heart of the Pale City itself and the Thin Man, someone Raine also knew very well, as well as Six getting kidnapped by the Bullies and the Thin Man. Raine wasn't too certain what that experience was like the first time, much less getting kidnapped over and over for the last three years but Raine reckoned that it wasn't a good one, not at all. It was an obvious answer as evident by Six's face, her raven hair was rather messy, bags and dark sleepless shadows hung under her eyes, her skin was pale, almost sickly, obvious signs that Six wasn't sleeping well at night but the girl was still doing her best to keep going.
That was something both admirable and concerning to Raine as it told her about Six's character traits, both good and bad. Despite the good stubbornness could do, such as getting yourself out of a bad situation, it could also lead to rejecting other peoples' ideas, refusing compromises and what Six was known to do, closing herself off from her emotions in favor of surviving to see another day. Raine supposed that it was necessary for surviving in this world, if you didn't have that certain trait or the will to survive, then you were dead.
However despite that, Raine knew that being too stubborn would only lead to Six bottling up all her emotions and forcing herself to not feel would only lead to problems that the raincoat girl was sure nothing could cure in the long run. Raine had seen that happen one too many times with the other children back in the Maw and she didn't need that happening to Six, she cared too much about the raven haired girl to let that happen to her, to let anything happen to her really even if she had to listen to some really unpleasant truths.
Though Six never fully opened up about what had happened to either her or Mono in the Pale City or the Maw, but she knew it had something to do with her family aboard the Maw and what remained in the Pale City, something bad that Six had done, to not just Mono but to every other remaining person or monster in the Pale City and the Maw including the Lady. Raine had her sneaking suspicions for a long time but she never pushed Six beyond the answers Six wanted to give her least she'd accidentally trigger one of Six's PTSD flashbacks, she had done that once before and didn't want to do that again at least, until she was ready to talk which probably wasn't going to be for a long time.
That was okay, Raine could respect that, if she went through what Six had to go through, she wouldn't want to talk about her trauma drama now. Six stared at her friend's face as it shifted from adorable giggles to serious concern, the girl didn't like that look on Raine's face, it made her uneasy. No, not uneasy, that was an understatement. It made her stop in her tracks and her entire body went tense like she had been frozen in a block of ice, every muscle became taut and she became very frightened like the first time she dropped Mono into the Signal Tower.
At that memory, Six gave an involuntary shudder that she swore Raine must've felt and dropped her gaze to look at the ground, not wanting to meet her friend's worried brown eyes that were trying to bore their way into her red ones. The twelve year old girl went slightly more pale then she usually was as her eyes shut, her teeth clenched, her hands balled into fists so tight that her fingernails threatened to break the skin on her palms. Her breathing became heavy, her heart began to pound even faster and sweat began to form on her forehead as memories that she had tried to forget fought through the barrier between memories she wanted to remember and memories that she wanted desperately to forget for the last three years.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't force those awful memories back to the darkest corners of her mind as much as she wanted to. They just kept growing and growing like a parasite that was clinging harshly to her back and draining her of her other thoughts till she could think of nothing else but the sound of Mono's screams as he neared the bottom of the Signal Tower then the choked cries and screams of the Lady as Six tore her throat open, letting her dark crimson blood stain her raincoat and face till she was covered head to toe with the blood of her enemy.
The memories and the sensations were almost too much for her young mind to handle at the moment and her entire body threatened to collapse onto the ground, but the sounds of Raine and Liz's voices pulled her back to the real world. Six let out a surprised gasp as her world suddenly snapped back to her in less then a few seconds, her eyes widened to the size of pinpricks, her heart nearly stopped in its tracks, her breaths nearly stopped short, more sweat formed on her forehead then on the rest of her body making her feel much hotter then she usually would be under normal circumstances, her hands flexed outwards to allow some blood to drip from her hands, her entire body went limp and her legs threatened to give up on her and for a second, they did.
Raine took notice of what Six's body was threatening to do and reacted in an instant, she quickly wrapped her arms around Six's shutting down form before she could fall on the ground and pulled her into a tight but comforting embrace. Six let out a quick breath and allowed her entire body to fall flat against her friend's body, the tension leaving her body as quickly as it came which left her uncharacteristically drained. Her facial expression shifted into one of pure exhaustion, her head rested in between Raine's shoulder blade where Six could scent the smell of cherry blossom on her raincoat, a clear sign to know that she was the Lady's daughter as the Lady's kimono always smelled like Japanese cherry blossom.
It was a rather odd scent to be coming from someone she considered to be one of her best friends, but she would be lying to herself if she said that it wasn't, at least, a comforting scent. Six took in a deep breath through her nose and out her mouth, taking in more of the scent of cherry blossom the Lady wore on her kimonos. She wasn't entirely sure if it was perfume or something else, but she wasn't going to allow those questions to disturb her descent into relaxation and she wrapped her arms around Raine's body to hold the other girl close and Raine did the same thing.
The raincoat girl rubbed small circles on Six's back, softly nuzzled the raven haired girl's head and provided even softer kisses to the girl's forehead to help her further relax and it seemed that tactic worked. Six smiled happily to herself as her eyes slowly closed, allowing the gentle motions to lull her into a much comfortable state of mind and in a few seconds, she had forgotten what was previously in her head. Good thing too, Raine wasn't entirely sure if she could handle her poor, damaged friend having what looked like a violent panic attack or simply passing out on the spot.
Despite the situation, Raine found herself smiling gently down at Six as she felt the younger girl's frame relax against her own and saw the faint smile on Six's soft lips. Even if she wouldn't say it out loud, Raine found the small feral, raven haired girl to be the most adorable thing she had ever met in her life, well when she wasn't being a feral little shit and more of an adorable little sister-like figure. Bringing a hand up, Raine rested it on her friend's head and ran it through her lovely dark hair making the younger girl smile even more to herself, she nuzzled even more into Raine's embrace and let out a soft noise that sounded close to that of a purr, something that a little, cute kitten would make and if Raine didn't know any better, she would've assumed she had taken in a little black coated kitten, a little feral kitten named Six.
"You're so cute," Raine cooed sweetly, nuzzling her nose into Six's hair, loving how soft and delicate each strain was which told her about what had happened to her after the final parts of the cycle, probably the Maw though the daughter of the Lady couldn't really tell. At this comment, Six blushed softly and scrambled around in Raine's arms to bury her face into the fabric of the other girl's raincoat that once belonged to her. Raine felt that blush on Six's face even through the layers of clothing, she couldn't help but giggle with delight at Six's reaction.
All the while, Liz stood on the sidelines, watching the two girls pass around their affection with jealousy that she would never admit to feeling out loud. After a few seconds, the white-haired girl snorted softly and turned away from both Six and Raine to walk off in some other direction in the wilderness, one far away from those two sicklove girls. That probably wasn't the case with both raincoat girl and non raincoat girl or rather, Raine and Six as they were called since all three of them were still too young to understand what romance was yet.
But she couldn't stand it when either of the two girls showed each other affection that could easily be considered sisterly or even motherly type affection, it didn't really matter. Maybe she was overreacting, but it wasn't fair for Liz to watch other people display something that she use to have and can't have now thanks to this son of a bitch cycle and these stupid fucking powers of hers. Liz gritted her teeth as she glared down at her hands, tears forming in her emerald green eyes, something that no one could see unless they had gotten close to her but no smart child would be foolish enough to step even two feet towards her, hell even two inches near her if she was lucky and normally she wasn't that lucky.
Somedays, Liz wished that the other children would be brave enough to approach her so she could finally have what she wanted and not have to pretend anymore. Wasn't that the story of her life? Probably every fucking day of her life for that matter, always having to be on her own living in her big ass fancy mansion, pretending she wasn't fucking alone and she had tons of friends like how Raine had Six as a companion and a possible new sister figure or love interest. Granted Liz herself didn't know much about romance or family bonds since Liz barely had any family besides her two servants even before the cycle started.
But she did know enough to know enough to know what romance and family love were and what were the signs of love and all that jazz and what Six and Raine were displaying was either of the two. Liz grounded her teeth even more as more tears started filling her shut eyes even with her attempts to stop them. She angrily brought a bit of her ruined dress up to her face and managed to wipe her face free from tears, however that effort was in vain as more tears just kept streaming down her face because her fucking eyes decided to be stupid and create even more tears, was this what normal children felt on a basis in this fucking cycle?
It fucking sucked but at the same time, felt good because that meant she was alive at the very least and still able to feel emotions, though hers were more unstable then anyone else's. That was one of the factors for why Liz had been abandoned because her emotions could get so unstable that she sometimes didn't have control over her actions and did some awful shit with her powers. Oh yeah, speaking of her powers, these stupid little motherfuckers that only served to bring her more misery then anything else now that she thought about it, since the first time she had ever used them, she caused someone important in her family or maybe not, she couldn't remember who but that hardly mattered right now, the result of her actions were still the same, disappear.
The event was so surprising and admittedly horrifying that it was the only thing Liz could focus on what had happened right in front of her and not what was happening all around her. However, everything that happened around her hardly mattered as it didn't change what happened next. The next thing Liz knew, she was being picked up by her mother and father then being taken far away from the main land before being left back at the Nest, her later permanent home, with only her father and servants for company. Her father said this whole thing was to protect her as the nature of her powers could attract the attention of terrible people who might use her for terrible purposes.
Well, once upon a time that statement might've been true as Liz had seen bad people before in the world even inside the Nest itself. But as the world fell further into disorder and became more of a nightmarish mess than anything else, the white-haired girl was finding that possible lie harder and harder to believe with each passing day and with her mother being gone twenty-four, seven back at the main land, let's just say Liz's already unstable emotions and powers got even more unstable. Even though there was hell going on in both the outside world and at home, the two things that kept Liz sane were her dolls that her craftsmen made and her father who was the sweetest man the Pretender had ever met.
Even though Liz was a bit of a spoiled bitch whose emotions could get unstable, she loved her father very much as he gave her so much love and affection when her mother grew more distant. Though she would never say it out loud, but Liz thought her father was the best person she'd ever met. Then the world-ending cycle began and her father was taken away from her then that fucking portrait appeared. Liz's tears came out of her eyes even faster than before and this time, she couldn't stop them no matter how hard she tried.
How pathetic, she was the furious and terrifying Pretender, ruler of the Nest and here she was sobbing her fucking eyes out like she was some fucking child, oh wait she was a fucking child and how on Earth could anyone as young as her contain her emotions as well as anyone else? Liz sobbed hysterically as the memories of her father entered her mind followed by the cycle and role she was trapped in.
She wanted to yell with frustration about how unfair her life was, the other children might've been poor and injured, but at least they had people that cared about them and gave them love and affection that she wanted such as siblings and friends and if she had a chance, she would give up her fancy house, her toys and her sense of safety just so she could have a chance at being loved once again. But she had lived in that Nest for so long that living outside of it was weird and a bit scary though Liz would never say it out loud.
Heaving a shudder breath in some effort to calm herself down, Liz reached a hand up to her face and rubbed at her eyes, feeling they were red and puffy from sobbing so much, they were probably bloodshot though without a mirror, she could hardly tell. She could hardly tell what was going on anymore to be honest since she was so drained, she hardly heard the sound of both Raine and Six calling out to her from somewhere in the wilderness.
Mono wasn't sure where he was going in the wilderness especially with the slowly dwelling sunlight overhead, making the entire world go dark and everything more harder to see through. Admittedly, the wilderness was already pretty dark with the trees overhead blocking the natural source of light even in the daytime when the fog wasn't blocking anything. But it seemed the wilderness had gotten even darker then what the trench coat boy was used to and Mono wasn't sure if it was because of him slowly becoming exhausted or the effects of the cycle/Signal Tower itself, but still the result was the same.
The boy paused for a few seconds, reaching a hand up to feel out for any obstacles that would no doubt be waiting for him and his fleshy companions despite them being stuck in his back then walking beside him like Six had been over the cycles before she went off on her own. "Went off on her own? Ha! That's putting it lightly," said one of the voices flatly, giving a humorless laugh in between his sentences. Though the trench coat boy wasn't looking at either of them, he really didn't need to as he swore he could feel one of his companions' eye roll like he was twisting his eyeballs himself.
Mono's dark brown eyes slowly darted from the front of him to his back before they went back to the front, his hand still hovering in the air almost near inches from a tree branch that was coated in dark leaves that he could barely identify in the slowly darkening forest. His small fingers brushing the wood of the tree branch as his mind snapped back to reality, he grabbed hold of the tree branch and pushed it aside so he could pass through. His bare feet snapped loose twigs and crunched fallen leaves from trees, a few scratches formed on the soles from doing this but they weren't anything too serious so the boy didn't pay too much attention to them.
Instead he focused his attention in front of him so he didn't accidentally walk straight into a tree or one of the Hunter's traps, the latter of which were the most dangerous to the boy then the natural elements of the forest at the moment. Mono hadn't seen any bear traps, snare nets or falling logs during his all day journey through the wilderness with little breaks that mostly involved looking for a freshwater source, but that didn't mean he was about to drop his guard that had been built up like iron with the strength of the Signal Tower over the cycles just yet, not when he had to escape death and find his lost friend.
It was common knowledge for children of all ages and sizes to escape death and the remaining adults left in the Pale City after the Signal Tower corrupted the city and wiped out most of the population. It was a part of this new life for the children though it took some time to get used to considering everyone had a normal life before all this shit went down. Hell, even the youngest kids knew this fact, being taught the ropes by the older kids like the tough traveler named Quince even when he was out traveling with his other group mates. Unfortunately, there were a select few who were either too exhausted or too dumb to put it mildly cuz' they forgot the rules of this world and paid the price for it with their lives or with even worse results for them.
If there was something the cycles did right for everyone, it was hammering in the rule that you have to avoid death at every opportunity into everyone's heads hard to the point where in three years, there wasn't a single causality on the Pale City, at least to Mono's knowledge there wasn't. However, that wasn't to say there wasn't any more danger left in the world the children should avoid cuz' there still was even if it wasn't as much as when the cycles first started. Mono didn't need to be a genius to know he needed to look out for danger, he knew that rule as well as he knew the back of his own hand.
He learned the rules of this world from the kids of the house when he was ten years old, now being a young thirteen year old boy, surviving in this world was just simply second nature by now. Mono didn't say it once in the cycles with or without Six, but he was very grateful that he was a fast learner when it came to skills easy to learn as well as his powers and…transformation. The trench coat boy gave a little shudder at the mere mention of that little quirk of his, actually could he even call it a quirk anymore?
Mono took in a deep breath through his nose before letting it out in a harsh sigh, he raised his hands into the air so he could see them even through the deepest darkness of the wilderness. That might not have been a good idea as the boy trembled like a leaf upon viewing his hands, he swore he saw not his own hands but the blue-gray skin and dark blue suit sleeves of his father: the Thin Man and the monster he was turned into by the Signal Tower. Despite having gone through this same stupid, fucking routine countless times, Mono's pale face turned even more pale then it usually would've been. His chest heaved heavily, his heart pounded hard in his chest and his breathing became raspy and panicked more so than what Six would show on a daily basis in his part of the Cycle which was surprising to him.
Half the time in the harder part of the cycle, it would usually be Six who would have the worst panic attacks out of the two of them without her ever realizing that she was having a panic attack and it didn't matter where she was and what time it was, it would just happen. That is until she grew numb to the world. Mono, at first, didn't know why Six would have panic attacks at any point while in the Pale City, but he didn't push Six beyond the answers she gave him. At least till she finally decided she owed him an explanation for his troubles and being her friend for so long.
Mono shuddered once again as his mind was assaulted by memories that he didn't want to remember right now, pulling his arms away from his face which caused his skin and trench coat sleeves to return to normal or at least, it seemed like it. Mono shut his eyes as he took a minute to try to relax his mind and body, a hand slowly going up to his face so he could massage the bridge of his nose. He wouldn't admit this out loud to anyone, even Six, but he was glad he stopped for a spell to clear his mind before he continued.
Even though he was completely isolated in a remote area off the outskirts of the Pale City, he didn't want to risk transforming into his second form his former captors had gifted him before his best friend managed to rescue him a hundred cycles or more later. One, just transforming once caused him terrible exhaustion and if it got worse, Mono risked passing out for two days or a week if he was really unlucky. "Getting exhausted, Mono?" came the voice of one of his companions, not the one who made that sarcastic remark about Six leaving him.
Mono didn't answer them but he didn't need to, they could feel the young boy's exhaustion like they had always been a part of him his whole life. On any other day, Mono would've refused to give his body a rest if he had to go on a rescue mission which was right here and now and how it went for every cycle involving him and Six. However, running around, fighting monsters and rescuing Six with barely any breaks for himself in every single cycle was really starting to take a toll on him. Mono hated to say this but he was exhausted, far more than usual to be exact not unlike the first time he was forcibly transformed into the Thin Man or at least, a version of him Mono reckoned.
However, unlike that transformation exhaustion, the young boy didn't just collapse on the ground right then and there like he usually did when he transformed into the Thin Man, he could still go a few miles into the wilderness but he would have to find a place to rest soon otherwise he would have no energy to continue searching for Six. "Where do we even go?" Mono asked out loud to no one and everyone at the same time warily, struggling to suppress a yawn creeping up his throat and his eyelids starting to droop.
Another yawn crept up Mono's throat as he continued walking before it managed to escape his mouth, even when he brought up a hand to cover his mouth. The boy paused for a second so he could blink away the sleep that was now forming in his brown eyes, he rubbed both his eyes with his hands before continuing on. His body started to feel heavy and his legs started to feel dragged along the ground, almost causing him to trip. At this point, the boy knew he had to stop for the day but where was he supposed to stop?
Mono let out a surprised cry as he nearly crashed into a tree, probably the same tree he had climbed at the start of his cycle. He knew what the thing looked like at this point, so he didn't bother looking around the wilderness too much when he got to the top, he only looked at the spot where he would meet Six for a few seconds before he leaned his head against the tree trunk and collapsed into an exhausted sleep. Meanwhile, back in the tv room, the three brothers, the girl with the braids and the mismatched eyed child let out soft sighs as they watched their friend settle in.
The raven/snow with the silver eye walked closer to the tv, stared at it for a few seconds then rested a hand against the screen. "Mono." The comment was muttered but the others could still make it out, the girl gently setting a hand on the boy's shoulder then soothingly rubbing small circles on his back. The brothers gave the screen sad looks, their baby brother letting out a whimper, a little hand reaching out to the tv and the boy he saw as his big brother. The eldest brother looked down at his baby brother, gently putting his pacifier into his mouth.
The middle brother didn't display much emotion but his expression mirrored the sorrow he, his siblings and his friends were feeling most notably his little brother as well as Lez and Alle. The former was probably going to cry himself to sleep tonight. "Goodnight Mono," Alle muttered, walking over to the tv and stroking the image of the trench coat boy before the five depart.
Seven panted heavily in exhaustion as he stopped in the middle of a forest clearing or at least, it looked like a clearing from the hiding moonlight behind the thick trees. Truth be told, Seven didn't care what this was fully just as long as it was a perfect place to set up camp for the night. Thankfully for him, the clearing was empty besides the obvious trees, bushes and other stuff one would expect to find in a forest and no monsters running around, so Seven slipped his blue backpack off his shoulders and dropped it onto the ground with a thud.
When the suddenly heavy backpack fell off his shoulders, he stretched out his arms to get pain out of his shoulders. He managed to crack a couple bones in his body near his spine and shoulders, but that was about it.
"Dammit, this backpack is really starting to fucking kill me," Seven sighed, his shoulders slumping downwards as they throbbed softly, he set a hand against his face in silent exasperation. He pulled his hand away from his face and used both of them to gently massage his shoulders but he couldn't get them to feel like new.
"Nightlight always does a better job massaging my shoulders than me," the boy in blue sighed as he felt the aches in his muscles slowly, much slower than usual, faded to the back of his mind. When he felt a bit better, Seven's hands went to the straps of his backpack where he installed a blue lantern a few weeks or cycles ago so he could see whenever he had to travel through the dark with his friends. It took him a good minute to find the button to turn on the lantern since it was so dark and the lack of moonlight above his head making everything ten more times more difficult to see, but eventually Seven found the button and turned on the lantern, preparing for the light that would probably cause a headache.
The light came on causing the young boy to flinch, his eyes widening to the size of pinpricks for a few seconds before they had to blink several times so he could get them to adjust to the light. When they did, Seven rubbed his eyes to clear the blurriness within them then went to the top zipper of his backpack where his most important shit was stored. He unzipped the top zipper and reached into the bag, his other hand reaching out for the lantern so he could see into the bag. When the light hit the inside, Seven found his sleeping bag and a folding mattress in seconds.
He grabbed hold of these two items, pulled them out and unpacked them onto the grassy ground that was near a rock that was going to be used for cover just in case any monster/adults came around. Seven dragged the lantern more over to his small campsite, straightening out his sleeping bag on the folding mattress, adjusting the pillow at the top to make it look as comfortable as possible. When Seven finished setting up his bed, he crawled into the sleeping bag and snuggled cutely into his pillow and under the blankets. As the boy in blue got comfortable in his bed, he couldn't help but feel a tear of nostalgia and sadness slip down his cheek then down his chin.
Even though he had promised himself that he wouldn't cry, Seven started to sob softly, tears filling his eyes to the brim and soon they were trembling down his cheeks till they hit the fabric of the sleeping bag. Seven wouldn't entirely admit it out loud but he missed his group of friends even though not all of them were that close, hell even Quince despite him being a jackass at times. But out of all his friends, Seven missed Nightlight the most. He knew her the most out of everyone else before he and her were rescued by Quince from a sort of slave trade or something like that, Seven hardly remembered but honestly, that long ago memory hardly mattered to him anymore.
He didn't admit to anyone, but Seven had kinda, sortof developed a crush on Nightlight over the cycles, not the deep romantic relationship Mono and Six had developed, just a sort of awkward crush type relationship, it could develop if things escalated. However, the state of their relationship didn't really matter to Seven, he loved Nightlight and Nightlight loved him back, that was all that mattered. Seven didn't have too many people that he loved more than anything besides his long dead parents and maybe Six after she had managed to redeem herself on the Maw.
Love and friendship was a rare thing in this twisted world and even rarer for the runaway boy since he always had to be on the run from damn near everything at that point. Seven sniffled as he buried his face into his pillow, his tears wetting the fabric as he cried himself to sleep. "Oh Nighty, I miss you so much."
The walk from her quarters to the employees only dining quarters was as silent as her quarters had been for the past few minutes and in the several past cycles before Six disturbed the silence, the old wooden floor of the Maw hardly creaked at her movements and the shadows all tinged and danced under her skin as she moved like a shadow into them as easily as she was passing by on the streets of the former Pale City.
The lights above her head flickered as she stepped under them, but a little pull with her shadows to hide them more into her being solved that little issue. Those were nearly the last lights left in the Maw and money was becoming thin considering the lack of Guests arriving at the Maw since the cycles went on, they couldn't afford losing more till the cycle finally ended as they did need to feed themselves and the children aboard.
The Lady sighed heavily, her head tilting from the lights overhead over to the pathways that led her to a place she knew very well from the few times she went on break from her very few duties she had aboard the Maw. The Guest hall that wasn't too far from the employees only selection was the first thing she would have to pass then the kitchens where both the children and the Twin Chefs were working their evening duties.
Even though she was a good distance away, the Lady could still hear the sounds of wet tools splashing against the tables, children arguing and fighting over who did what while Roger the Janitor blindly struggled to break up and scented the smell of food being cooked down in the kitchen. Despite the Lady's low appetite, the smell of freshly prepared food made the Lady's mouth water slightly though she would never show it, being a proper and high class young woman.
Though the Lady was hungry, she still felt a feeling of nausea as her heightened scent of smell swore she caught the metallic scent of blood flowing in the air. Once upon a time, when the Lady was much younger, being raised by the Bellhop when both the Pale City and the Maw were normal, the scent of blood even from her hunts, would cause her a panic attack so bad that the Bellhop would have to take a few minutes out of his life to calm her down and though, she would apologize profoundly to her caretaker for being a burden on him, he didn't lose his patience with her as he knew she went through a very terrible, traumatic experience that no one should have to go through in their lives.
Nowadays, the scent of blood and what would follow was just a far, distant memory much like the previous cycles and everything else that had happened in her life that was once in a lifetime that wouldn't affect her as much as the events right now would. It was all thanks to Wax Bellman that the Lady of the Maw grew into the woman she was today, something that she was both proud and disappointed for reasons she didn't want to go into, for everyone probably knew by now or maybe not, not yet at the moment at least.
Speaking of the Wax Bellman, the sound of his footsteps coming from behind her caught her attention. "My Lady?" the Wax Bellman asked, his expression and voice losing their usual facial expression and tone in favor of concern. The Lady tilted her head away from the Guest hall and toward her father figure, her facial expression shifting from her stoic look to a concerned type of look. "Oh hey Bellhop," the Lady responded, her voice sounding drained, no doubt from the earlier events.
"You seem distracted," came her father figure's reply, the young woman took in a deep breath through her nose then out her mouth in a heavy sigh. "Sorry Father," the Lady said softly, tilting her head in the Bellman's direction, the latter looking sort of uncomfortable at the Lady's choice of words. "There is no reason to apologize, also I might've been your father figure for many years but I'm still just your servant."
At this comment, the Lady's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and her jaw nearly fell open in surprise. "What?! Don't say that! You're more than that to me. You practically raised me from childhood when the rest of my family was falling apart, you were my rock, almost like my real father and…Six's father as well." The Lady's eyes went downwards to the wooden floor of the Maw and her voice went from surprised to soft spoken as she talked, one of her hands softly grasped her arms in a similar manner whether she got in trouble as a child, her voice trailed off part way through her sentence before it picked up when mentioning Six, something that she hadn't really done till she and the young raven haired girl in her daughter's yellow raincoat had come to some sort of agreement or something of that sort.
It was a bit of a surprise for the Lady to bring up Six especially right now when all day, she didn't want to hear anything related to the cycle which was completely understandable especially after years of torture. But still, the Bellman stuck to what he wanted to say, with the added details and without sounding rude of course. "Bringing up Six, huh?" the Bellhop asked in the most polite voice he could muster in the situation as the Lady turned back to the balcony overlooking the Guest hall, listening to the ambience of the children and Roger downstairs, it was the usual ambience she had expected.
But as she listened in, something seemed wrong, were the young children and Roger screaming and shouting in panic? The Lady shook her head and forced herself to focus on the current moment, the Bellman noticed this silence as his once daughter stared out at the dining halls that were once filled with hungry, greedy Guests. He walked over to the balcony and leaned over the railing that protected them from falling over into the bottom of the Maw. The Lady stared at the bottom for a few seconds as her eyes watched the setting sun till it nearly disappeared into the horizon before she turned back to the Wax Bellman, her mind searching for an answer.
Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke the truth. "Yes," she admitted softly as her red irises shut softly before she opened them again, since her beautiful face was free of her white, expressionless mask, it was much easier for the Bellman to see her facial expressions whether she talked. The Lady had taken it off one cycle ago when Six had come to the Maw and hadn't put it back on, it seems she had gotten used to not wearing it though the Bellman reckoned it would still take a while for the Lady to get use to looking in a mirror again, not that he would ever push her especially after everything she and the others had been through.
"What makes you bring up Six now?" The Lady took a deep breath through her nose, taking in the scent of the cleaning supplies the Maw had picked up from the shores of other towns and cities, resting a hand against her jet black hair that was finally tied up into her familiar bun as she prepared to speak. "This is going to sound stupid, but when I first heard the news of Raine and Elizabeth being alive, I had a thought that Six might've been responsible for what had happened, that is until I realized that she is still a child and isn't capable of creating windstorms, not like the North Wind, a monster that controls the winds to create windstorms. So, that was my second suspect for this storm, but my thoughts told me otherwise."
"So you don't know who or what created this storm?" the Bellhop asked questioningly, his gaze tilting from her to the outside of the Maw where he could better see the slowly growing night sky. "No, but I'm not going to question good fortune right now, this is definitely some of the best news I've ever heard." The Lady ended her next sentence with a small smile that tugged at her lips but didn't reveal any of her fangs.
Against himself, the Wax Bellman couldn't contain a smile at the sight of his daughter figure finally being happy after three years of pain and loneliness. However, their pleasant moment was gone as quickly as it came, the Lady's smile faded and her expression became filled with nothing but anxiety. The Bellman also followed suit. "But that doesn't mean I'm completely relaxed just yet," came the Lady's next response, her voice almost failing to contain the motherly panic she always had in the cycles before she nearly had grown numb to that pain or at least, the Bellman thought she did but he was sure he was wrong.
"You worried about her?" The Lady didn't speak but gave a nod to that question, that was all the Bellman needed. "It's alright to feel worried, my Lady, it's natural to feel worried for your family members especially after what has happened every other time in this cycle. But I can assure you, my Lady, that Raine is in capable hands."
"You mean Six?" the Lady asked with a raised eyebrow, the Bellman nodded. "I know that, Mamoru, you think I don't know that? I absolutely know that, even the Granny had said that to me before Seven killed her…" The Lady stopped talking at the mention of the cycle that took place in the Maw, taking a deep breath to steady herself before she continued. "I don't want to think about that right now," the Lady sighed, resting her hands on her face, her fingers rubbing her shut eyes in an effort to rub away the stress she was feeling almost like Six whenever she was stressed. "Yet despite that, my mind keeps flashing to what could happen to my daughter and Elizabeth since they're in unfamiliar territory. Even though I know they're both in capable hands and Six and Mono will teach them how to survive, yet I still have my doubts."
The Bellman said nothing in response to her statement and the mention of his real name, he only looked over to the Lady and rested a hand on her shoulder in comfort. The Lady's red irises trailed over to the hand on her shoulder then over to her father figure, her eyes wandered back over to overview the Guest hall. She shut her eyes then opened them again and looked downwards without command to an odd sight to put it lightly. On the floor of the Guest hall, little dots that resembled that of the children of the Maw were racing along, some tugging on the clothes of each other as if to make themselves run even faster. But by far the strangest thing was the sight of Roger rushing after them, but not in a way that suggested he was putting them back to their final chores, but why?
"But despite this, I know Six probably more than I should and I know that she is capable of holding her own even though she doesn't have my powers, she had been trained in the same martial arts moves that you taught me, not to mention she has knowledge of what happens next. So, a simple explanation should help Raine and Liz prepare for what happens next in this cycle. Knowing Raine, she's already trained herself with her powers over the cycles she had gotten from me, even if she isn't the type to throw the first punch, but considering she has Six and Liz with her, she'll protect them. As for Liz, she might not have the survival skills like Six or Raine, but she could hold her own with her powers even if she couldn't tell the difference between a normal green leaf and poison ivy."
"I'm as confident as you are in Six, Raine and Liz, my Lady," the Bellhop said with a confident smile, giving the Lady's shoulder a gentle squeeze. However any confidence the Lady had was slightly dampened when she remembered some more key details from Six's journey through the Pale City, especially the parts involving the Thin Man, the Signal Tower and Mono. While she harbored no doubt that Mono would be able to protect himself and the girls from the horrors of the Pale City with his powers he had gotten from his father, the Thin Man, but could Six protect him from the grasp of the Signal Tower?
The Lady gritted her teeth as she winced, dipping her head down and shutting her ruby eyes. She took in a deep breath through her nose, hunching over the railing as she slowly felt doubt start to creep into her chest. The Bellman took notice of this and gently rubbed her shoulder in an effort to calm her down. It worked slightly, but it managed to bring her back to reality. "However, there are still things that I still am doubtful of, mainly Mono, the Thin Man and the Pale City," the Lady said, still in the same position as before, Mamoru watched his daughter as she talked with a concerned look on his face.
He took a minute to process what she said before nodding his head. "You know what? Let's just worry about everything later cuz, surprisingly I'm hungry and I'm pretty sure the twins wouldn't want to wait for us any longer," was the Lady's final response before she went to the staircase that would lead down to the kitchen. The Bellman watched the lady of the Maw descend the staircase, heading for the dining hall for employees only hall. He protested but shut his mouth and followed after her, if she didn't want to talk about it then it couldn't be helped, it would probably take a while for all of them to talk about what had happened during the endless cycles.
However, as they reached the bottom of the stairs, everything was dead silent. This was certainly odd for sure, but the Lady tried not to let that concern her too much as she continued to the next dining hall. She'll let everything else concern her when she has a fresh meal and a slightly cleared mind. However, as she and her servant caretaker walked away, a panicked Roger scrambled into a wall with a trail of children behind him, looking for the Lady. He took a few steps back and opened his ears, listening carefully for her footsteps before taking off after her.