If you asked the hooded children before the cycles happened, what was dinner in the Maw after a work shift. Their answer would be: sometimes good if things went perfectly to plan or sometimes fucking awful if everything went to shit. But if you asked them right now, their answers would probably change or remain the same, but they would be lying to themselves if they said the ambiance wasn't pleasant in the slightest because it was. The employee only dining area located several feet away from the Guest hall was an area straight out of a fancy restaurant seen in a Pale City flier or a magazine back when the city actually had them in stores or on boards around the city.
A long but round table made out of the finest wood the Pale City had to offer sat in the middle of the room, coated in a Japanese table cloth covering the entire frame till it nearly reached the ground like that of the Lady's fancy kimonos. Another piece of fabric, bright red in color, ran itself across the west and east sides of the table and hung on the sides. It didn't touch the ground like the tablecloth, only hung halfway on the table. Sitting on the surface of the table were several golden candle holders with white candles sitting inside each one being lit up by a long match the Lady had lit and was now carrying.
She carefully lit the last candle before she blew out the match and tossed it into the trash far from the table before settling into her seat close to the children. Off to the side, the Wax Bellman was walking around the table setting plates, silverware, glasses on placements set up for himself, the Lady and the remaining staff of the Maw before taking his seat beside the Lady who sat down next to her father figure. He tilted his gaze upwards to glance in the direction of the kitchen, even from right here, he could still hear the sounds of the Twin Chefs working hard and darting to and fro in the kitchens, preparing dinner for both the employees and the children of the Maw.
He couldn't see Roger or any of the other children from the dining area, but the Bellhop knew the group was working hard at their chores: cleaning the tables that sat in the Guest hall followed by the Janitor bringing the children to their own cafeteria for their own dinner. The cafeteria for the children had gotten better over the cycles ever since Six took over the Maw and the Lady as well as the rest of the workers of the Maw snapped out of their depression to properly fix things up in the Maw since the old boat was starting to fall apart, even more than it usually was.
It wasn't a giant improvement but none of the children weren't complaining, a slight improvement was better than nothing to be honest. In all honesty, both the Lady and the Wax Bellman wish they could do more improvements to the Maw then this, however they didn't have the budget for repairs since they already had spent a ton of the Maw's budget on picking up supplies from the mainlands far from the Pale City as it was running low on fresh food and even if they had the budget for repairs to the Maw, nobody on the Maw were repairmen or had any experience with building things beyond simple things.
The Wax Bellman knew that were useful supplies leftover in the Pale City that could be used for repairing the Maw, but with the Signal Tower currently taking residence in the city and the cycle still active, plans to head into the city for the leftover supplies and kids still left behind had to be pushed to the side for now till they could figure out a way to escape the tower's grasp. But hopefully not for too long as with each passing day, the Bellhop clearly noticed the walls of the Maw were starting to be worn down by the sea even with the clever construction of the Maw long before and if things kept going the way they were, then the Maw could flood like the depths did once upon a time, when the Maw was normal.
Well, the Bellman could only hope they could get out of the Cycle long enough to do just that, otherwise the Maw would be nothing more than a waterlogged prison than anything else. "I don't think I'll ever get used to eating in here," came the voice of the hooded girl, Emerald if the bellman remembered correctly, snapping the man turned monster out of his concerned thoughts. He turned his head toward the hooded children, Emerald had turned her gaze away from the Lady to have a sort of hushed conversation with the other cloaked children.
Well, not exactly what could be considered 'hushed' as the volume of her voice wasn't the level of a whisper as the Bellman was able to pick out their words as easily as he was looking out a clear window. But it was still obvious that this conversation was between the children as the five of them were huddling as close as they could on the fancy wooden chairs and slowly dropped their voices once they realized they had an audience. The Wax Bellman didn't know why they even bother cuz' the contents of their conversation wasn't anything too interesting.
"To be honest, I'm not either even though it's been a few months or how many cycles? I honestly don't know anymore," the refugee boy, Ren, said with a hollow shrug, bowing his head almost like he was ashamed of admitting what he said. The Lady winced slightly in discomfort on her seat, wrapping her arms around her slim body and rubbing her hands up and down her arms in an attempt to calm herself down. She took in a deep breath through her nose and out her mouth as her stoic facial expression became pained.
The Wax Bellman took notice of this in less than two seconds, his facial expression turning from confused to concerned as his eyes darted from the children to his daughter figure. He gently set a hand on the Lady's back and rubbed small circles on her back. Since she was an adult, the Lady didn't react the same way she did when she was once nine years old. Instead, the Lady took in a deep breath through her nose and silently buried her face into her hands, her graceful form hunching over onto the table, her chest starting to heave more heavily than usual.
He wasn't entirely sure if the children saw what was going on, but he figured they did cuz' the conversation stopped dead in their tracks and their heads whipped in their boss' direction. "Oh shit sorry," Emerald said quickly, her eyes going wide under her blond locks, raising her arms into the air in some sort of gesture, nothing that the other employed children could identify yet. "No, no," the Lady said quickly, shooting up from her hunched position she was in a few seconds.
"No, it's…well I was about to say it's okay, but really it's not. Not yet at least." The Lady sighed heavily as she set a hand against her face, shaking her head as if to clear herself of her thoughts. "I'm sorry, I just don't want to think about the cycle." The geisha let out another heavy sigh as she massaged her temples with a hand, shutting her red irises for a few seconds before she took in a deep breath through her nose. "I just want to have dinner, I'm sure the Twin Chefs are finishing up dinner."
At her words, a loud crash far from the dining hall, almost sounding like trays crashing into each other or plates crashing onto the ground, a lot of them. Since the Lady had better hearing than the rest of them, she nearly jumped out of her seat as she turned her head in the direction of the kitchens, her facial expression locked in a look of alarm. The others in her group wore looks of confusion minus the Wax Bellman whose expression was nothing but concern, as they followed the Lady's gaze to the hall leading to the kitchen, wondering just what the hell that sound was.
"Kevin? Mac?" the Lady softly called into the hall, starting to step away from the table to check on her only two chefs left in the floating restaurant. However, she was blown back into the seat when the aforementioned Twin Chefs came barreling into the dining hall with a large moving tray, tons of Japanese dishes piled on the surface, all hot and ready. "You buzzed?" Kevin said sheepishly, tipping his chef's hat in the Lady and Bellman's direction. The two simply stared at him in surprise and what could be considered disbelief for a few seconds before they looked at each then looked back at their chef and nodded their heads. "Not exactly the way you did," the Wax Bellman said awkwardly, a tone that he hardly used with any of the other residents of the Maw besides the Lady. "But we were expecting dinner anyways, so…"
"So, let's fucking eat!" shouted the children all of a sudden, jumping up from their spots at the table and rushing over to the tray with their plates held out. The movements were so fast and unexpected that both the Twin Chefs and the Wax Bellman jumped an inch backwards, their faces becoming full of surprise as they eyed the five children on the ground. After a few seconds of everyone staying quiet, the three men turned monsters looked back at each other and shrugged. "Alright, let's eat," the Wax Bellman said with a casual shrug toward the children and the Lady. "That is what we were waiting for." The agreement was instant.
Everyone, including the Twin Chefs, grabbed their plates from either the tray or the table and piled as much food as they could carry before sitting their asses down at the table and digging in. Well, actually the five hooded children dug in, hungrily devouring down everything like a pack of wolves, Emerald will never take food for granted ever again. The Lady, Wax Bellman and the Twin Chefs stared at the kids who the Lady swore were raised by wolves, for a few seconds before they engaged in a simple conversation mostly related to business and other things that sure as hell didn't involve the cycle, everyone respecting the Lady's wishes to not bring it up and the young woman couldn't have felt any more grateful then she was right now.
However, about halfway through dinner even with the five hooded children finishing their own in record time, the Lady seemed to notice something or someone was missing. "Hey, where's Roger?" the Lady asked suddenly, quirking an eyebrow at the thin air as she turned her head in the direction of the door that led to the Guest hall where she knew Roger and the other children were working. The Twin Chefs and Wax Bellman, the latter of which was muttering about how the Twin Chefs make far too much food for one single occasion, all stopped in their tracks at the sudden introduction of her voice and looked over in the Lady's direction who happened to be looking back at all three of them with a sort of confused-concerned type of look on her face.
"Well, that's weird, he usually is the first person here for dinner, even though he's fucking blind," Kevin pointed out, looking up from his plate of rice and diced sushi. "No shit Sherlock," Mac said flatly to his brother, rolling his eyes away from his own dinner before fixing Kevin with a deadpan expression. "You do know that we live under the same roof, right?" Kevin fixed his brother with a glare, but one edging more toward annoyance and anger. The Bellman watched the scene like he was watching a movie, bringing a hand up to his face to massage his temples before he spoke up.
"It's been an hour, surely he and the other children should've finished up with cleaning the Guest hall," the Lady said softly with a worried look printed on her beautiful face as she looked back behind her, now starting to regret her choice of not pressuring Roger to let her help with cleaning the rest of the Guest hall with her magic. "Perhaps Roger had trouble with the children this time around?" the Wax Bellman suggested with a confused shrug, quirking an eyebrow at his equally confused daughter. The Lady gave her father something that was too long to be a confused blink and opened her mouth to protest against this possibility or at the very least, add a theory of her very own that would make sure.
However, she never got a chance to speak as the sound of Roger followed by the footsteps of several children caught everyone's attention. "Roger!" the Bellman shouted suddenly, springing up from his seat with speed no one expected him to have and causing the chair to clatter on the floor. The hooded children, who weren't expecting such noises, nearly followed in the Bellman's footsteps except they jumped backwards rather than forwards. "What is the meaning of this?!"
The old blind janitor, for his part, panted heavily and hunched over, hands gripping his knees like he had just ran through the entire Maw like a maniac. The children on the other hand, didn't look half as tired as Roger but that wasn't the strangest thing. No, what was the strangest thing was a group of children carrying Nightlight, the young girl in the white dress with the raven colored hair, with Quince, the eldest kid in Seven's group if the Lady remembered correctly, leading the group.
"Sorry to bother my Lady," Quince apologized sheepishly, bowing his head as he talked. "But do you have any smelling salts?" At his question, the older boy blushed blood red in embarrassment as he slowly shrunk in on himself, something that he never did before. Something was wrong, the Lady knew it the second she saw it. "What's going on?!" the Lady demanded, shadow teleporting over to the group to get a closer look and by some miracle, her brain managed to do a mental headcount. "And where the flying fuck is Seven?!"
At the mention of the boy in blue, Night's eyes burst open and she shot up from the other children's arms so fast, it startled the children a few feet backwards away from her. Even the Lady was startled by this sudden movement, but she became even more startled when Night spoke. "Seven's not here! He's gone!" she screamed hysterically, tears forming in her wide eyes and softly streaming down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, what?!" the Lady demanded, her red eyes going wide with shock and horror.
Night didn't answer, instead the fear of the situation caught up to her too quickly. She almost face planted onto the hard ground but thankfully, Quince caught her before she could get too injured.
When Raine had been a younger child back in the Maw, she was considered someone who was rather observant regardless of the situation. She always had an eye out for the young orphans who were under her mother and father's care, looking out for any problems they might have or making sure they hadn't wandered into dangerous territory and hurt themselves. This was a necessary thing of course as neither her mother nor her father had eyes on the backs of their heads so they couldn't always keep an eye on the children twenty four seven as they had their own duties to do on the Maw as did Roger, the Twin Chefs and even the Ferryman himself.
So with the other adults distracted with their own shit, the job of watching the children was passed down to the Granny and Raine, though indirectly for the latter. Raine really didn't mind as she adored the younger children and they adored her back, like she was a mother or big sister figure, Six was no exception. With that job over the children came responsibilities that a big sister/brother usually got when a new sibling was brought into the world and one of these responsibilities was keeping an eye out for your companions whenever they went missing.
So when the young girl in the yellow raincoat noticed Liz/the Pretender had gone missing, a sudden panic overtook itself in Raine's chest like the many times she had lost her little brother or one of the other orphans in the more abandoned parts of the Maw, except it was more stronger possibly because of the situation that was still plaguing them despite the small, subtle changes were launched at a speed that no one could process everything at once or at all, that is.
Raine wasn't entirely certain what was responsible for the extra adrenaline boost that now coursed through her veins, but the reasons didn't matter, the only thing that did was find the missing Liz and get her back to their group before something happened to her. The girl in the yellow raincoat that once belonged to Six brought a hand away from the curled up figure that was her raven haired friend, Six, and tugged a bit of her raincoat and nightgown collar away from her neck, giving a little gulp as she tried to force down her fear into the pit of her stomach and the back of her mind. However, the raw panic Raine felt didn't go away as quickly as she would've wanted, this world wouldn't let her have a break.
However the young girl had to do something to calm her nerves otherwise she might do something stupid and cause Six to have a panic attack or Lord knows what other worse thing that could happen to her, so Raine resorted to taking several deep breaths through her nose, gently fanning her face with her free hand as her forehead was starting to feel hot and streaked with sweat, not unlike the several times she had close encounters with the other monsters in the Nest. She wasn't like her near emotionless mother, she was just becoming a teenager after all, who was barely able to keep her emotions in check when in stressful situations, so the process of calming down took her a few minutes or more.
Losing a few minutes of precious search time wasn't ideal, but having her mind thinking logically to find a member of their crew was much better than anything else. When Raine felt much calmer, she wiped the sweat off her brow with her free hand and settled her hand on Six's shoulder to catch her attention. The girl in question was curled up on the raincoat girl's chest, one of her hands gripping the fabric of Raine's raincoat and her eyes were shut softly with a soft smile underneath them, whether or not she was asleep was something Raine didn't know.
She silently set a hand on the raven haired girl's head and moved the girl's bangs aside to see her shut eyes, one red eye slowly opened to look at her friend, a slight bit of annoyance at being disturbed but mostly concerned. "What is it?" Six asked suddenly, raising an eyebrow as she pulled away from her sister figure's chest. Raine took in a deep breath through her mouth to steady herself, preparing herself to inform the other girl of the situation. But it seemed like Six had already taken a look around the wilderness and noticed the absence of one person in a green dress much to the surprise of Raine.
"Hey, where the fuck is Liz?" Six questioned, the brow on her face raising even more than usual. Raine snapped back to attention away from her concentration, her brown eyes widening slightly and her head jerked backwards but she calmed herself and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, hopefully not too far, otherwise she might be seriously in trouble." Six narrowed her eyes at the brunette girl, shooting her comrade a questioning glare most likely questioning why her friend was becoming concerned about their enemy turned comrade.
Raine sighed heavily and gave Six a hard stare, almost a cross between anger and concern, Six couldn't really tell. After a few seconds, Six finally relented and allowed Raine to pull her to her feet. The two girls took a good look at each other, Raine looking into the distance with narrowed eyes and a determined facial expression. Six, however, was looking around the wilderness with a mild fearful expression on her face as memories she didn't want to remember until later and her hands started to tremble like mad.
Raine noticed her companion's fear and reached out one of her hands, taking one of Six's shaking hands with a tight grip. The raven haired girl stopped trembling like mad to glance down at their joined hands, a small smile playing on her lips as her mind flashed back to Mono holding her hand back in the previous cycles whenever she was scared or stressed about something. She always loved when her boy held her hand, it always comforted her as it let her know she wasn't entirely alone even in a world like that and if things kept going their way then she wouldn't have to be alone in the world anymore.
Taking a deep calming breath, Six looked up at Raine and gave her a firm nod and the two walked off to find Liz.
A Few Minutes Later
The familiar sobbing of the Pretender filled Raine's ears as she and Six walked through the dark wilderness and it was coming from straight ahead of them. Even without sight, the raincoat girl still knew where to go find their missing comrade. So with a tug on Six's hand, Raine began to lead Six over to the spot where she heard the faint sobbing. Six apparently didn't need to be snapped to attention for she already had heard the sobs and had her head raised in the direction Raine was heading.
"We're close," the raven haired girl whispered quietly, eyes slightly glowing in the darkness as they focused on Raine. The raincoat girl in question shot Six a determined look and nod before tugging on the raven haired girl's hand, her grip never once faltering as they walked much like Mono even when he didn't have to hold her hand. Truth be told, Six didn't really mind when her boy held her hand, in fact she really liked it as it reminded her of her mother's gentle affection before she was taken away from her.
Even if she didn't fully trust Mono the first time around, she still liked how the boy held her hand and gave her all his affection that he was full of. He was the only boy who would give her affection and get back her own affection in return for his kindness and saving her so many times in the cycles. That didn't mean Six wouldn't give any affection to any girls who were kind to her and helped her if she needed it, which nine times out of ten or rather five times out of ten or something like that, she was able to do shit on her own.
After all, both her mother and the girl in the yellow raincoat/Raine were the two girls she had grown to love deeply, not the type of love she had for Mono, but more of a family type love but for the latter, Six had a small bit of romantic love for Raine probably considering all the times she spent with Raine back to the Nest. Six blushed softly and tilted her head to some side of the dark wilderness, trying not to face the back of Raine's head and her beautiful brown hair that was still tied up in a braid.
Six didn't want to admit it as she wasn't entirely sure if what she was feeling was the same type of love she felt for Mono, but she found Raine to be the most beautiful, kind girl she had ever met in her entire life and truthfully, the raven haired girl loved her as much as her boy, Mono, and her mother. After a few more seconds, Six shook her head to free herself from her thoughts, taking notice that her pace was slowly faltering, but thankfully not enough for Raine to notice.
Six softly sighed, keeping her voice as low as possible so the brunette didn't hear her. She placed a hand on her face then silently punched the side of her head in some attempt to scold herself for getting so distracted by her thoughts when she had shit to get done first. It took her a few seconds to get back on track, but she focused her attention on what was in front of her besides Raine. Her glowing red eyes scanned the forest's ground floor and even the tops of the trees, keeping an eye out for a familiar sight, most notably a trench coat boy.
If Raine or Liz were watching her at this very moment, they would be staring at her with questioning looks or maybe not as they already knew about Six's side mission in finding Mono before something drastic happened to him. The two other girls knew the reason why she had to find him, but not the full story of how they met and Six wanted to keep it that way till she found Mono. As she peered up at the tree tops, she thought she saw a shape resting against a tree branch.
Curious, the girl picked up the pace and squinted her eyes so she could see the shape better, wait was that Mono? "Hmmm, seems like you found him at last," whispered a voice into Six's ear. Six nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden, unexpected and familiar voice and her hand nearly left Raine's. Her eyes widened and her jaw clenched, her fangs bared as her irises darted to look behind her where she knew her shadow was even if she couldn't see it at the moment.
She took in a deep breath and tried to ignore it as best as she could, the sound of Liz sobbing took Six's attention off the unexpected visitor. "We found her," Raine whispered to Six, turning her head in the younger preteen's direction and pointing a finger at the crumbled heap of spring green and pure snow white on the ground near what appeared to be a homemade shelter.
"Well, at least that solves the issue of where we should set up camp," Six muttered under her breath, relieved that they didn't have to sleep under the stars completely exposed to both the elements and the Hunter. "Liz!" Raine called out to the girl in green, snapping Six out of her thoughts and toward their enemy. It seemed like Liz hadn't heard Raine, so Six tried calling out to the white haired girl but in a more aggressive manner, probably more than she should've. "Liz!"
Still no answer, this was starting to get fucking annoying really fast, was that bitch hard of hearing or could she really not hear their shouts? Six gritted her teeth in pure frustration as she glared daggers at the ball of green and white on the ground, the whites of her eyes threatening to darken into dark red as anger and impatience started to take over her soul. Raine, though she was admittedly annoyed at Liz's lack of response, she couldn't help but feel slightly concerned.
Sure, she wasn't entirely familiar with the Pretender's behavior and for all she knew, it could be a trap so Liz could kill her though a part of Raine's brain really doubted that Liz would do, but something about Liz's crumbled form didn't sit right with her, it was almost like Liz was having a breakdown, but why? Six must've taken notice of the Pretender's pathetic display or Raine's concerned facial expression though that was unlikely, truth be told, because the raven haired girl lost some of her anger and quirked an eyebrow at both Liz and Raine, probably demanding to know what the hell was going on and why Liz was doing that.
Raine didn't answer her, instead she gave a harsh swallow and gently tugged on her friend's hand to direct her forward to which Six sighed but followed Raine regardless. "Something's not right," Raine muttered under her breath as she and Six approached Liz, Raine didn't know how she came to that conclusion, but right now she paid her thoughts no mind for now.
Liz didn't know how long she was lying there, it might've been a few minutes, but to her it felt a lot longer. So she was completely unprepared for Raine's gentle voice calling out to her followed by her footsteps coming up behind her along with her partner in crime, Six. In less than a heartbeat, the white haired girl snapped herself out of her pathetic state and shot right up to her feet, green eyes filled with tears and rage, bloodshot from sobbing even under her thick bangs.
Raine and Six, completely unprepared for such a reaction, jumped about a foot backwards, eyes widening to the size of dinner plates, bodies tensing like the shadows of the Lady had grabbed them and their grip on each other's hand tightened, more tighter then what Six was used to. But Six didn't mention it as her brain had settled on the first thing she usually wouldn't think of during her time in the Pale City, that is until the monsters arrived. Her free hand clenched tightly into a fist as if she was getting ready to punch the ever living shit out of the Pretender, her eyes were beginning to glow blood red and her pupils were starting to slit like that of a cat or a snake.
Her already sharp fangs seemed to grow even longer than before, resembling razor sharp daggers Liz had once seen in a museum and the pint sized lady swore she saw Six's smaller body change, a dark brown kimono like that of the Lady's replacing her white shirt and shorts and her hair seemed to grow longer with each passing second but it fell straight down her back and wasn't put up into a bun like Liz's mentor and finally there was no mask covering her face.
However Liz disregarded those images as she was certain that they were only her imagination, however what wasn't was Six becoming feral red right in front of her before Raine threw out an arm to stop her, like she seemed to be always doing every single hour by this point. Six's eyes returned to normal as she shut them, giving her partner in crime a huge sigh of exasperation. The raincoat girl sighed in relief before turning her attention to Liz, a look of concern and fear on her face.
Truthfully, the white haired girl had never seen that kind of look on the brunette's face, but at the moment she didn't really give a fuck, why did they have to come after her now, especially when she felt like complete and utter shit? "What the fuck do you want?!" Raine flinched in surprise, completely taken aback by the Pretender's reaction even if she had gotten yelled at by Liz or rather, her and Six, back at the Nest under the huge hellstorm.
Even Six, the girl who usually didn't take shit from the white haired girl, looked quite startled at the amount of rage Liz held in her voice and her eyes sort of narrowed her eyes, the whites threatening to turn dark red and her fangs becoming more visible as her upper and lower lips raised/lowered. Besides that, Six didn't do any more than that and gently squeezed Raine's hand then what she thought was possible, much to the latter's relief as she didn't think she could handle a fight on her hands especially with her looming exhaustion.
After a few seconds, Six's expression slowly but surely morphed into an expression of mild anger and major annoyance. "Looking for you, what did you think bitch?" The response was short but blunt and it made Liz very pissed off as evident by the girl's gritted teeth, which weren't as sharp as the raven haired girl's but the sight was still scary to see. "Yeah, no shit!" Liz retorted back, glaring furious daggers at her enemy turned comrade and taking a step forward to which Six took in a deep breath and propped herself into a defensive stance.
"I noticed or rather heard you coming up behind me!" As she ranted and stomped up to Raine and Six, both girls or more likely Raine since her friend was focusing her mind on which kung fu moves would be best for protecting both herself and Raine just in case the situation escalated, noticed that there tear streaks running from her eyes down her cheeks much like Six had on her cheeks when she had first woken up on the beach after hell broke loose.
Raine didn't need to be a genius to know Liz had been crying when she separated herself from them, but what? Despite the situation slowly going to shit, Raine couldn't help but feel concerned for the white haired girl, she didn't know why but she had a feeling Liz had more pain on her shoulders then she realized. "But still…" Liz paused for a few seconds so she could point a finger into Raine's flat chest. "What the fuck do you even want from me?!"
Six grinded her fangs as Liz's bossy tone and obnoxious body language especially right here and now, she started to let go of Raine's hand so she could stomp right up to the pint sized lady and deck her right in the face or something like that. However, Raine's next words stopped her dead in her tracks. "Are you…okay?" On any other day, Raine would be more confident in her words and getting on her knees to carefully examine the child in question to ensure they weren't hurt even if they possibly weren't really hurt or the wounds inflicted on them weren't visible and the wounds everyone was suffering weren't visible in the slightest not that anyone would admit to feeling them.
Right now, this felt very awkward for the question to come out of Raine's mouth especially considering this girl was their former enemy. Admittedly, Raine felt very awkward and conflicted with herself about asking the question given how Liz had acted and lashed out at both her and Six plus the slight conflict between the Pretender and the younger once Lady of the Maw. Now Raine was wishing she had kept her mouth shut or could disappear into the ground as both Liz and Six were staring at her with surprised and confused facial expressions despite the former's long white bangs covering her red, puffy and bloodshot green eyes.
When Raine took a look at her friends' faces, she felt her cheeks burn bright red to the point she gave her mother and Six's red eyes a run for their money. The brunette shut her eyes tightly, burying her reddened face into her hands and stumping to the ground, groaning out loud in embarrassment before she got a grip on herself and stood back up on her feet, uncovering her red face to let the others see her rolled brown eyes. "What I meant to say was…" Raine started, but she cut herself off when she realized she had nothing else to say and because Liz decided to speak up just as confidently and bossily as before despite the awkwardness of the situation.
"What? Okay?! I am perfectly fine! Why did you even think to ask that stupid question?" Liz snorted furiously at Raine, turning up her nose and flipping back a white curl. It only took her a few seconds to realize she still had tear streaks trailing down her cheeks which wouldn't help her case, so she quickly wiped them away while she had her back turned to her other two girls. Unfortunately for her, both Raine and Six could see what she was doing even with her back turned to them.
Six dropped her defensive stance in less then a few seconds and quirked an eyebrow at the Pretender before her face slowly transformed into a deep frown as she slowly started to understand why Liz was called the 'Pretender'. As annoying as that was to find out now, Six had to admit that it was a clever name for her. That bitch was just so good at pretending, however that wasn't to say Six didn't do any pretending in the previous cycles as much as she didn't want to admit it.
The only person she would admit her problems to was Mono as he understood her the most despite not fully understanding what was going on in her own head. Six had told him the details she felt most comfortable giving, but she didn't want to delve too deep into her past at that moment for fear of her sanity and Mono, thankfully, understood and slowly allowed her to sort herself out before she came clean about her past. But given the situation she was in now, Six probably wouldn't get that luxury with Raine and Liz since they weren't aware of what happens in the Pale City and the wilderness.
Well, maybe Raine cuz' she had worked with the other children of the Maw with the Lady, so she knew how they were with traumatic experiences. But not Liz as that bitch was impatient and wanted to know the answers to everything, though Six supposed she couldn't blame the white haired girl for wanting answers. After all, Six would probably be the same way if she was in her shoes, but less bitchy. Hell even if Liz wasn't on the team, she would have to tell her first friend the truth of what's going on, what happened to her and what to expect.
"Even if the past hurts to remember," the familiar voice whispered in her ear. Six's expression morphed into something that could be considered mild fear and concern, though with her it was hard to tell. Speaking of Raine, the girl in yellow still wore her concerned facial expression though it was crossed with confusion as she stared at Liz, clearly not believing what the Pretender was saying considering her title and her behavior. She took in a deep breath through her nose as she prepared herself to speak, but it seemed the words had left her mind because she simply sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"Alright, if you say so…" the yellow raincoat girl whispered loud enough for both Liz and Six to hear her, which made Six tilt her head to one side. "Yeah, I'm fine and shit. So, can we find somewhere to sleep or are we going to be out here all night?" Liz turned herself in some other direction and took several steps forward, only to trip over a well placed log on the ground near the shelter. She fell forward and face planted into the hard ground with a grunt onto some kinds of fabric before scrambling into a sitting position, taking a look around before realization hit her. "Oh, I guess we found somewhere to sleep," the white haired girl said stupidly, feeling like a complete moron for not taking notice of the shelter before.
Raine and Six both sighed loudly in pure exasperation at Liz's words, eye rolling and putting a hand up to their faces. "No shit Sherlock," Six grumbled, shooting the Pretender a deadpan look as she began to lead the other older girl, Raine, toward the shelter so they could settle in for the night. Good thing for them to have come across it as her body was starting to shut down, exhaustion now claiming her body and mind. Though she tried to suppress it, a little yawn burst from her mouth as she brought a hand up to her lips to muffle it.
When she was done, Six heard Raine giggling above her even though she wasn't looking at the brunette. Her eyelids started to droop as she practically stumbled into the makeshift shelter, forcing Six to rapidly blink herself awake before she almost face planted onto either Liz or Raine or a log. Liz and Raine almost immediately took notice of the younger girl's exhaustion, the former scrambling out of the way to another part of the makeshift bed and the latter gently lowering the raven haired girl onto the fabric.
Six yawned once again as Raine gathered up more fabric from around them on the logs of the shelter and tucked the girl in, kissing her on the forehead causing her to smile softly in her sleep. Raine smiled down at the sleeping Six as she gently ran her fingers through her dark raven hair, ensuring she was really asleep before she went over to the Pretender and tucked her in, giving her a little kiss on the forehead before she removed her raincoat, leaving the brunette in her white nightgown.
Raine settled herself under the shelter's fabrics, settling her head on her yellow raincoat before she shut her eyes to go to sleep, hoping the next day would be as uneventful as today had been. Before she did, Raine looked up at the dark sky and whispered: "Goodnight Mom and Dad. Goodnight Mono."
In all her time of running the Maw, never once in her life had she'd seen her family business in such an uproar. Sure, there were times where something or another went wrong or there would be a fight among the Guests that either her employees or the old security guards would have to break up, but this was beyond anything she, the Wax Bellman or Roger had to deal with on a basis.
Of course, with there being so many young children in the Maw as well as there being several others who couldn't keep their tongues silent for more then a few seconds or their tempers in control and because the news was shouted out before either the Lady or the Bellman could be properly told of the startling news that the Lady reckoned could rival the news of both her daughter and the Pretender being alive, news of Seven's disappearance spread through the Maw like peanut butter being spread onto a plain piece of bread or one with jam.
Suffice to say, if someone said there was a commotion going on at the Maw tonight, they were seriously fucking underestimating how bad it truly was. Children were shouting at each other, pointing fingers, demanding answers about what was going on and sometimes getting into fights because either their emotions were running high or the children they were demanding answers from were just as much in the dark as the rest were.
Unfortunately the latter was happening so much that Roger and the Twin Chefs as well as the Ferryman had to get involved and break up the fights before they got worse. Once the fighters were separated, Roger sent the furious children down to their rooms so they could cool off and enlisted the Ferryman to watch them to ensure they didn't start fighting again. Roger would've kept an eye or ear on the children himself but given that he had to struggle with several fighting children and nearly got the shit beaten out of him by said kids he was meant to watch before either the Lady or the Twin Chefs saved his ass, he was exhausted.
The Lady could see that with her own eyes which is why she sent the old blind janitor to his lair to rest up for the night even in spite of his protests, paid him Kevin, Mac, her employed children and the Ferryman extra for having to deal with all of this bullshit before retreating to her quarters with the Bellman and the hooded children following behind her. Once the door to her quarters slammed shut, separating the group from the rest of the Maw, the Lady let out a heavy sigh and put both her hands onto her face as she stalked off to her bedroom, dropping herself on her bed and burying her face into her pillows.
The Wax Bellman wiped away a layer of sweat and molten wax off his forehead, readjusting his red bellhop's hat back on his head. His eyes widened when he saw his daughter wander over to her bedroom, probably with a stressed look on her face especially with the situation escalating to levels that he could never imagine and he thought he had only one set of problems under control, apparently not cuz' another set of problems reared their ugly head when he least expected them to.
Now that he was thinking about that morning when he informed the Lady of Raine and Liz's survival, he probably should've asked everyone around the Maw if they noticed anything else strange before this whole mess took place at the Maw tonight. It probably wouldn't have made a difference, but any other situation would've been better than the one they were currently facing. The Bellhop sighed heavily, gently rubbing his eyes with two fingers. Well it was certainly too late for him to do anything about it now, the news had been spread and the Maw was in an uproar.
He supposed this was the price to pay for trying to keep as much stress off the Lady's back as possible or rather, trying to not confront the past or whatever. Still he should check on both the children and his daughter, make sure they were both alright. Since the hooded children were the closest things to him, he looked downwards to see the five had huddled together and started having a hushed conversation of some kind, probably related to everything that had happened this night though without their voices being louder, there was no way to properly tell, but there was no way in hell he was going to pry especially right now.
Besides that, they were okay, physically but still okay. The Bellhop sighed softly under his breath, resting a hand against his head for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and looked over to the Lady's bedroom. Time to check on the other one. As carefully and quietly as he could just so he didn't accidentally startle the Lady, he walked over to her bedroom in a few quick steps and peered into the room. The woman in question collapsed onto her bed, face being buried into her pillow, her black hair curtaining one of her red irises.
The one that was uncovered was shut before blinking open at her father figure's entrance, she let out a harsh sigh through her nose as she looked up from the pillow before her facial expression scrunched slightly as she started to feel the stress of today collapsing onto her shoulders so hard that she didn't think she could handle it. The Lady set a hand against her face as she slowly sat up in a sitting position on her bed, brushing her long strains of jet black hair out of her uncovered face.
The Wax Bellman or rather Mamoru eyed his daughter sitting up on her bed, looking stressed to no end and probably on the verge of tears as well. Her lower lip trembled before her entire face scrunched up, burying her face into her hands as she started to cry quietly. At this, Mamoru's expression shifted into sadness and concern at the Lady's breakdown. He didn't hesitate, he walked straight over to the Lady's bed and pulled his daughter into a tight but gentle hug.
The Lady flinched at the sudden movement at first, but eventually she hugged her father figure back just as tightly, burying her face into his chest, suddenly feeling just as safe and secure as she did when she was a child, within both her parents' and later families' embrace. As quickly as she started crying, she stopped.
In the doorway, Emerald and the green hooded boy she was with watched the scene in silence, their facial expressions slowly shifting into looks of confusion as evident by them turning their heads in each others' direction then shrugging their shoulders as if to say: "Ah whatever". A commotion from outside caused the two children to turn their heads in the direction of the noise, finding one of their comrades, the brown cloaked boy or Ren clearly having an intense conversation with another child, a boy most likely given the deeper tone of the voice.
But the kid's hair was certainly weird as it was pitch black with patches of white on top, the hair at the back of his head reaching his worn red sweater that hung awkwardly at his black skin tight pants that were ripped in some places. The murderous glare from the boy's dark emerald green eye was enough to scare the shit out of anyone on a normal day, but definitely not Ren as he returned the boy's glare ten fold, giving off a furious snarl or as close to a snarl with him anyways.
Off on the sidelines, Bandage, the bandaged kid and the Hunchback girl, Kyoka, were simply watching the verbal smackdown, unsure of what to do but not wanting to leave their friend hanging in case a fight broke out. It was very obvious even from the distance Emerald and her friend were standing at and it was even more obvious who the other boy was, he was an infamous troublemaker to the Maw and its children.
After a few more seconds, it seemed the refugee boy got real fucking tired of the green eyes boy's bullshit cuz' he stomped right up to him and with strength that no one had expected from him, Ren furiously and quickly shoved the other boy straight out the open door of the Lady's quarters before shouting: "Same to you, bastard!" shouted the brown cloaked boy, flipping the boy off as he turned back to glare murderously at the refugee boy, his silver eye almost glowing in the light of the rising moon as he stalked off.
This move confirmed the boy's identity as the group of children shut the door, the sound of light footsteps fading away from hearing as the boy walked away. The five cloaked children let out sighs of relief as they settled back into their little huddle, a couple of them holding each other in silent comfort, the day seemed to have been overwhelming on them too. A few quiet seconds passed before the sound of someone clearing their throat caught their attention.
The group looked up to see the Wax Bellman, bringing a hand down from his mouth. The group of five didn't need any more hints to know what he wanted them to do cuz' they were already getting up from their spots on the floor and heading toward the exit. They shut the door behind them before they quickly disappeared into the darkness, heading into their hiding spot deep within the Maw.
Once upon a time, their secret hiding place was simply four walls and a single fire pit. But over the cycles, the five children managed to gather bedding, mattresses and other supplies from all around the Maw but only in small quantities even if the adults had stopped being complete dicks to the children, so their hiding spot/home was more comfortable and bearable for them to live in. Without another word, the five children crawled into their beds and went to sleep.
But they weren't the only ones who were exhausted, from all around the Maw, the other employees had settled into their rooms of rest after finishing their final duties, even the Wax Bellman had retreated to his bedroom after saying goodnight to the Lady and giving her a little forehead kiss much like when she was a child. Speaking of the Lady, she was the only one who was still awake for she still had something to say before she hit the sack. Looking out toward the Pale City from her balcony, she heaved out a heavy sigh.
"Goodnight Raine and Mono, my dear and beautiful children. Goodnight Hiroshi, my loving husband. Goodnight Liz, you secretly sweet child. Goodnight, my loyal workers. Goodnight Mamoru, my father figure. And finally goodnight Six, my beautiful possible future daughter in law. Have a good sleep, all of you, I hope we can be together soon." The echo that finally left the Lady's lips didn't travel across the waves like she expected as she bowed her head to the calm water.
Within the Signal Tower, the Thin Man silently bowed his head to the single locket in his hand that was open, a single tear slid down his cheek and landed on the picture of himself, his wife and his two children with the writing below them saying" 'Togetherness'.
Meanwhile
The Butler and Craftsman both searched around the Nest, preparing themselves and the mansion for their lady's return. The two looked from the Pretender's room to the phone that was always broken in some ways, remembering the call they placed to the Maw about her and Raine's survival. They looked at each other in silence, wondering if it was time to leave the mansion and finally put in some work. Around the Pale City, everything had quieted down for the night, the Teacher went to the Teacher's Lounge, the Bullies stashed them into their bunk beds but the Fat Kid hid behind a vending machine. The Hunter rested in his cabin, a photo of his family under his arm. The toddler snuggled in his guardian's bed, his plushie clenched softly to his chest.
The Doctor snored in his office chair, an arm covering his face. The Patients wandered the hospital halls, searching for their next victims. The ginger haired girl was curled up in a makeshift bed made from one of the hospital cots and blankets, but her sleep was broken and not a full sleep. She always had a hard time sleeping in this place ever since the hospital got corrupted and this night wasn't going to be an exception. Yet for some reason, she found herself more relaxing and sleeping more easily then usual, it might've been because she was in a safer place.
All the while, the Wind blew and the dust settled, but the butterfly effect had just begun.