(Fan-art above is by WhiteSpider/Whitney)

I'm back with the definitely on time and not late what-so-ever chapters!

Grim, the person who did the book cover,  wanted me to tell you that he really appreciate the kind words you said last chapter(ish)! 

Note how I said he. DogInATuxedo is a giant dum-dum who forgot her friend changed pronouns about three weeks ago when publishing that chapter because their memory sucks when it comes to remembering new pronouns after being so used to using a certain one for a long time. Takes an unfortunately long time for their brain to stop doing wrong auto-correcting.

Please refer to Dr.Grim as he if you're gonna speak about them for now on, I fixed the book cover change chapter with a new message explaining what happened. 

Now that that's out of the way, holy crap, I'm terribly sorry it took this long for a real chapter. Writer's block just decided to hold me hostage for a long time and refuse to let me go. 

thankfully I broke free but I have a feeling this is going to happen again-

Oh, and please point out spelling errors and stuff.

--------------------------

Mono was lying down on his side on the top of his wooden ledge, back laying against the metal wall and facing towards the bars of the cell.

He got up and stretched a bit before crawling over to the edge of the ledge. Mono w-sat and stared down at the ground below him.

Sitting down on her knees in front of the cell's bars was the yellow-coated girl he's come to known for so long at this point. 

Mono got up and lowered himself onto the ground, grabbing the wooden ledge with his hands and allowing himself to dangle in the air for a moment. Then he let go for a silent drop. Being quieter this time instead of just jumping off the ledge like he normally would.

Mono walked over to her and sat beside them, staring out the bars too. She didn't react to Mono sitting next to her, she just kept staring out the bars.

Mono yawned, "You're up early..."

"Cassandra." He finished, looking at the yellow-coated girl. Cassandra looked back, her long brown braided hair sticking out of her hood.

The two were alone in their cells. Only Cassandra and Mono.

"You are too, usually you'd be sleepin' longer than this." Cassandra said.

Mono nodded, "Yeah..."

They were silent.

"I still cannot believe how many scars you got from that battle last week." Cassandra said, "I know it's normal to get scars in battles- as you know I have some myself- but I've never seen a child get five scars from a single battle."

"Well then, I made history in that case!" Mono joked, smiling under his paper bag.

Cassandra looked away from Mono, she then scooted away from the bars and just sat in the middle of the cell. Mono followed her and sat next to her once again.

"So... What are your opinions on the children of The Maw?" Mono asked.

"Why are you asking this..?" Cassandra asked, confused. "That's an odd question for somebody who's been here with me this long."

Mono lied down on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Then he switched positions to lie down on his right side. Facing Cassandra with his head resting on his hand. "I'm just curious," Mono said. "...And I'm out of conversation starters."

"Well if you're really that curious..." Cassandra began, "I think that red scarf-wearin' kid is mysterious, and probably lonely in his cell since as you know he's been alone in that cell for a long time. He can't really talk so he may be full of secrets- A child who's a secret-keepin' machine whether they like it or not. They cannot really tell anyone what they see or hear- not to an extent someone would understand most of the time so they have no choice but to watch events unfold in front of them and never say a word."

"Hmm, very true and interesting." Mono commented, "I do wonder what kind of things he could be hiding if that is true."

Cassandra nodded, "But that we will probably never know as that information has probably been lost in time, the knowledge only bein' shared to the red scarf kid who cannot tell anyone." She said in a slightly dramatic-sounding tone. 

Mono laughed a small bit, "Okay... Now we're acting like this kid is some divine being." He said with a smile.

Cassandra giggled, smiling. "Well, wake up."

"...What?" Mono asked, confused. Suddenly he began uncontrollably trembling, he didn't feel scared or anything. He felt completely fine, actually. So why was he trembling?

"Mono. Wake up. Wake up, Mono." Cassandra said, now blankly staring at him. Deprived of all emotions. "Hey, wake up."

---

"Wake up!" Shadow Six whisper-yelled into Mono's ear, shaking him. Mono was on top of his wooden ledge fast asleep. Shadow Six had come up to wake him. She had something to speak to him about.

Eventually, Shadow Six just slapped Mono across the face after she failed to wake him up with only simple whispering and shaking. He jolted awake with a gasp. Mono sat up, once he was up he shoved Shadow Six away and frantically looked around. His body tense from the dream.

Soon enough he calmed down, taking a small breath. Mono then stared at Shadow Six.

"Are you okay?" Shadow Six asked in a whisper, "Also please whisper."

"Yeah, uhm, what do you want?" Mono whispered, getting up onto his feet and moving past Shadow Six. He looked over the edge to see everyone else was still asleep. "...Nobody else is awake?" He said mostly to himself.

"Well, I just wanted to know how you're doing..." Shadow Six said.

"Traitor." She added casually.

Mono spun around to face Shadow Six, sheer surprise on his face under his mask. "Uh- Wh-What are you talking about?!" Mono asked, his voice frantic and scared.

"Well, I've found out your little secre-." She got cut off.

"I-I have no clue what you're talking about..!" He said, "What secret?!"

"- You're working for The Pretender-" Shadow Six got cut off again.

"No, I'm not! I promise I'm not!" Mono said, sounding desperate "I promise-"

Then she took out her own metal piece, "- And I am too!" She quickly finished. "So calm down, please."

"Huh...?" Mono mumbled, shocked and very confused. 

Mono stared at Shadow Six for a few seconds before what she had just said truly processed through his head, "Wait- Wait- Wait- you're working for The Pretender?!" Mono said, nearly yelling. "For- For how long?!"

"Quiet." She said, whispering.

"Sorry," Mono responded in a whisper.

"Well actually, I haven't been working for, but rather more with. And I've been doing it... for a while- Not sure of the exact time, it's been a while... I'm not sure if I've been with her longer than you either." Shadow Six explained, "But I assume it's been longer than you since I have noticed she's been coming to me less, probably because she has you now."

Mono nodded, "What do you mean by the 'Not working for, but rather with' part?" He asked.

"I and The Pretender have been exchanging information with each other. Though recently we've been doing it much less, but yesterday I had exchanged information to learn if you're working for The Pretender." She explained. 

"Can you explain exactly what an information exchange is? I think I figured it out by the name, but I want to know for sure." Mono asked.

Shadow Six nodded, "Information exchange is as obvious as its name, we exchange information for various things. Usually, it's verbal info but occasionally it's for a physical thing."

"Oh, really?" Mono said, his tone quite interested.

"Yeah." Shadow Six said, then she grabbed the three folded up maps out of pocket and dropped them onto the wooden floor of the ledge. The papers looked crumpled due to being folded and hidden inside her pocket so long. "I got these from her. Map of the Maw's entire ventilation system! From the lower parts of The Maw to the highest."

"O-Oh my god, Shadow Six!" Mono said in awe, his voice raised a bit in his excitement. Shadow Six shushed him in reaction.

The two stayed quiet, waiting to see if their friends woke up. Thankfully they didn't.

"Sorry, got a bit excited there." Mono whispered, "But anyways- This is amazing."

"Yeah, I can't believe she'd give something like this up so easily. She came to me with the offer actually." Shadow Six said, staring down at maps.

"What info did you give up for this?" Mono asked curiously, looking at the map.

Shadow Six went silent, she knew for a fact Mono would be very upset with her if she told him she gave The Pretender his personal information for the maps. Heart beating quickly in nervousness, she tried to quickly come up with a story.

"It- It actually wasn't very valuable info- At least to me. She just wanted me to tell her how exactly my and Six's powers worked." Shadow Six lied, hoping he wouldn't find suspicion in that.

"Really?" Mono said, surprised by her answer.

"Mhm." Shadow Six said.

"That's odd..." Mono commented, which made Shadow Six scared that he was about to give some kind of rebuttal to her statement but, thankfully for her, he didn't say anything else about it after that.

Mono looked through all three maps, just when Shadow Six was considering going back to sleep Mono spoke again. "So, why'd you join Pretender's side. Or, well, began working with her." He asked.

"Basically I was lured into the vents by Scarf, they tried to surround me in a straight vent but I easily pushed Scarf out the way. When I was going to leave and bust the whole thing she managed to convince me to work with her." She explained. "And she gave me a battle perk where I'd never be killed by Scarf or The Pretender in battle."

"Okay, interesting," Mono said.

"It could be a lie to form a false sense of security." Shadow Six suggested, "She could easily go back on it."

Mono nodded, then handed the maps back to Shadow Six. "I'm sure those would be good for Six's plan... Of course you couldn't actually give them to her because it'll out you as a traitor but you can steer her in the right direction probably." He said.

Shadow Six nodded, "Well then. I'm going back to sleep."

"Yeah, I guess I will too." Mono said, looking off towards where he woke up. "Still pretty exhausted."

With that, Shadow Six silently climbed off the wooden ledge. Leaving Mono to sleep alone on his ledge. Just like how he liked it.

Mono lied down inside the shadows of the ledge, twisting and turning to get into a comfortable position. Eventually, he had found one, closing his eyes to drift into slumber he began to fall asleep. 

As Mono worked on getting to sleep he hoped to continue that Cassandra dream. If not that, then different Cassandra dream.

-----------------------------

Scarf tiredly walked through the vents, dragging a child-sized box full of dead rats and mice behind him. His heart was racing, he didn't want to do what he was doing. But he must do it. If not for him, for Ten.

Scarf honestly didn't know if he wanted Ten to get out of The Maw more than he did himself.

Scarf made it into The Pretender's large ventilation room which she had finally given a proper name; Ragdoll's Lair. 

The Pretender stood on top of the large stacks of mattresses. She'd been waiting for him.

"That's the lure?" The Pretender asked. Scarf nodded, his head down to try and hide his nervous and regretful expression.

"Leave the box on the red carpet, then you may go back to your cell." The Pretender said, Scarf nodded and let go of the box he was dragging. Then he hurriedly left the ventilation room.

"Misery!" The Pretender yelled, Misery came stumbling out of a crowd of children. Shoving multiple aside to stand in front of The Pretender.

"Yes, Queen Ragdoll?" Misery said respectfully.

"Go set up the bait, gather up some kids so you don't die or get caught doing it alone." She requested, Misery nodded. She went over and gathered up a few kids and opened up the box.

The putrid smell of dead rats and mice filled the air, sending some kids gagging in disgust however most didn't react to the foul scent. The group of kids grabbed all of the rats from inside the box and left The Pretender's base.

The Pretender was about to climb off the stacked mattresses when she heard somebody jump on the lower mattress stack to the left. She leaned to the side to peer over the higher stack she was on.

A small boy wearing a yellow knitted hooded cape over a white t-shirt and white long shorts (nearly touching the knee) sat calmly. Short, black hair just barely covered his eyes. Lastly, he had a scar going from his left cheek down to his chin as well. 

"Oh, hello Kai." The Pretender greeted calmly, Kai stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking up. "Hello, Queen Ragdoll," Kai greeted back in a quiet voice.

"Why speak like that, dear?" She asked, " Speak louder."

"S-Sorry." Kai spoke in a more normal-volume voice, "I'm just... Used to being quiet."

"The bait has arrived finally, have you secured the cage?" The Pretender asked.

"Yep." Kai responded quickly, "Also, you don't need to answer this, but what do you plan to do with them once you capture them?"

"Well let's see, I can up my torture levels." The Pretender searched her mind for more, "Definitely install more fear."

"So basically this is all for fear and torture?" Kai asked, The Pretender nodded with a smile on her face.

"Oh boy... I cannot wait to see what you'll do." Kai said, though he mostly said it to himself than Pretender.

"Ha, maybe you'll be the one sentenced to find out." The Pretender said in a jokingly tone, but all that did was tense Kai. His heart raced as he forced out a laugh and smile.

She definitely would do that if he did her wrong in her eyes. Kai knew she meant it even if it was set up as a joke.

Their interactions would often go like this, and for the other higher-ups.

Higher-ups. Right... The Pretender made a bit of a hierarchy, kinda. Or well, a spared selection. There are the 'friends of The Pretender kids', then there's everyone else. 

They're supposed to be her friends, loyal companions, promised to be the first ones to step out of The Maw when the time comes.

But Kai found this sickening, he had developed a fake friendship with The Pretender for survival benefits. She talked to him so much along with the others and he hated it. He hated speaking to her, he hated everything. He had no doubt the others felt the same way with how they looked at her when she wasn't looking. he figured they were ''friends'' with The Pretender for the same reason.

"Kai?" The Pretender said, snapping him out his thoughts. He slightly shook his head to clear thoughts, "Yeah, was thinking." He said, "Sorry."

"Hey Kai, you're trustworthy and smart." The Pretender began, "Should we do something with Shadow Six? Something important with her"

"Didn't you say you wanted to work on getting one of her friends bound and gagged?" Kai responded, "A change of plans?"

"No, no, no. We're still doing that. Just asking if at any point should we try to make Shadow Six more useful? We already got Mono on our side which means we're already able to suck info from the escaping children whenever we want." She explained, "But what about Shadow Six? She's already kinda connected to us."

"Didn't you say you needed to trade info about us for her info?" Kai recalled, "For Mono, you can get it for free. If he denies, just threaten and traumatize him then he'll do it."

"We could force Shadow Six to give up info for free if we exploit a weakness." The Pretender said, staring at the kids below her. They were chatting with each other, leaving and entering the vent room, or other things. "But what can we do with her is the real thing."

Kai shrugged, "You know her better than I ever would, I never properly met her in person before. Her shadow powers seem useful for torture but don't think the girl would dare use her powers for that. Not like we can force her to do it either, she'll just use her powers on us."

"All in all, Shadow Six is most likely useless to us until further notice." He concluded.

The Pretender nodded, "Thank you for your time."

Kai nodded and proceeded to hop off the mattresses.

-----------------------

9:59 AM

-Ten POV-

I and Scarf were eating some food out of the trash bag given to us, well mostly me. Scarf was lying against the wall to the left of me. Where the vent was. Scarf hasn't moved from the spot and he'd been there ever since I woke up... which was around 30 minutes ago, but still.

I began to eat some beans out of a thrown-away bean can. As I ate I watched Scarf, he haven't touched any food yet. This bag had been here for at least 30 minutes as well, The Janitor dropped off some food almost right after I happen to wake up.

"Scarf." I called, not sure if I had even gained his attention since he was staying so still. "Can you please come over and eat? It'd be bad to be starving in battle."

When I was so sure he wasn't going to budge, he did. He slowly stood up and began making his way over to the bag with quiet footsteps.

He sat next to me and began to eat. He picked out a chicken bone and began to eat the scraps of meat leftover.

I set aside the now empty bean can and watched Scarf for a moment before eating something else. Though, that's when I noticed something.

Scarf's eyes looked so tired, they were incredibly bloodshot. The darkest bags I've ever seen laid under his eyes too. It was as if he hadn't slept for days, if not that, never gotten a proper sleep for days.

Worry sank into my heart as I watched him. I did notice he'd been acting a bit off lately but this is something entirely new...

"Scarf, why do you look so tired?" I asked, that seemed to really scare him. He instinctively covered his eyes with his hair more and looked away from me. Scooting away too. He then continued to pick the chicken scraps from off the bone and eat them.

"Hiding it won't work when I've already seen it, Scarf." I said, scooting closer to Scarf.

He paused for a moment, then tossed the chicken bone across the cell, it slipped through the bars and hit the floor with a small 'clunk' sound.

"Scarf?" I said, Scarf finally looked over at me again. He looked like he could faint any minute, what was wrong? I mean, I knew what was wrong- He was so tired, but why was he so tired? Did he have trouble sleeping?

Or did this tie into why he was acting so stressed about something the time when I caught him staring out the bars...

"Did you have trouble sleeping last night?" I asked, as I expected he nodded. Though he could easily be lying.

Now I would never accuse Scarf of lying, I'd hate it, but something deep in me tells me something isn't right here. Something that I don't know about is going on here...

"Eat your food and then sleep, Scarf." Ten said, "You're in horrible condition."

... But what kind of info could I get out of Scarf by words? Trying to interrogate him is useless, he can't really speak. All I can do is hope whatever is happening isn't too bad.

----------------------------------------------

1:00 PM

Kids were gathered and set into holding rooms as usual, the first battle of the day was about to begin.

Children were chatting with each other, however Six sat away from the crowd of kids and off to herself this time but she did watch the other kids interact.

Shadow Six quietly walked over to Six and sat beside her. Watching the other kids alongside her, not saying a word yet.

Then she looked over at Six and leaned close to her ear. Six was confused at her sudden closeness but she stayed still and kept on watching the other kids.

"So, when are you going to tell the other kids about your problem?" Shadow Six whispered to her, Six turned her head towards her Sister. She was still confused, "What?" Six responded in a whisper.

"Your hunger." Shadow Six explained, "They still don't know about it yet, right?"

Six went silent, averting her eyes from her sister. "Yeah." She whispered, then paused for a few seconds before continuing, "I'll tell them when I can't hide it anymore." 

"Let's see how long that takes." Shadow Six said quietly. Six looked back at Shadow Six again, "I think it'll take a while to happen." Six said.

Shadow Six looked at Six with a 'really?' face.

"Seriously, it could. I've made it this far without any suspicion." Six responded, "I could actually make it out The Maw without having anyone know, I bet."

"We'll see." Shadow Six whispered.

Eight watched the two from afar. He hasn't heard their conversation, they were being far too quiet for him to hear, but he was just staring at the two while he thought.

He remembered getting a prophecy of a cursed child far back when Seven and Two were still alive. Back at the very start when Six was a new child, actually. The prophecy spoke in confusing words, yet he figured out the gist of it- Child with a weird cursed hunger.

(yes this prophecy happened in case anyone forgot because I sure did. Seriously, I was rereading this book and realized I had some kind of Eight plot point with this hunger prophecy going on that I completely forgot about, so for anyone who does remember that hunger prophecy happening that's why it's coming back up so late. I forgot it existed-)

(it was a minor thing to the story to begin with anyways, if I did remember the only thing that would change is more inner thoughts about Eight's view on Six.)

(Could've saved this for the after-chapter message but I felt like I should say it in the moment.)

As soon as they found Six bloodied after she bit into a rat that one time back when Two was beginning to kind of die, he knew she surely had to of been the one the prophecy spoke about.

Though Eight still has his thoughts, Six has a (very) good chance of being it and but also the possibility being not it. 

Though if she was it and was just hiding it for this long, was she ever going to willingly admit to having this issue?

Probably not if she is it and it's been this long.

"Hey." Mono said, joining Eight's side and sitting down next to him. "Hello." Eight greeted him, temporarily pulling his thoughts off the somewhat old prophecy.

"What are you doing?" Mono asked, Eight shrugged. "Waiting for the battle to begin, I guess"

"And watching Six and Shadow Six from a distance." Mono added.

"Mhm..." Eight said, looking off towards the barred window. The actual sight of it was blocked by kids standing in the way but he still looked in the direction of it.

"So... Eight." Mono began, "Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead." Eight said.

"Remember the traitor prophecy?" Mono said, "I'm not believing it but I was wondering what you would plan to do if it came true?"

Eight went silent for a few seconds before speaking, "I don't know, it really depends on the situation that's presented if it came true." Eight said, "We don't know why exactly the traitor is doing what they are, there might be something manipulative going on behind the scenes or they're doing this out of pure hatred."

"So it all depends on the sitaution." He finished. Mono nodded, liking his answer. 

Soon enough, the all-so-familiar taikos began playing. A few minutes afterward the music came on, The Janitor came in. His hands searching the floor for a child, any child. His long hands found and snatched up Eight.

The Janitor left the room with Eight tightly in his grasp, shutting the door to the holding room behind him.

After a few seconds of little-to-no movement in the holding room, the children raced over to the barred window to watch the fight unfold.

-------

Eight paced back and forth, waiting for the gates of his battle enter cage to lift. Though it was taking a bit longer than it usually would.

"Hello my wonderful guests," The Lady began, standing from her balcony which gave her an overview of the whole arena. "Before this battle begins I have something important to announce. Chimera, the child who gone missing during the fire, was found in a mousehole in the same kitchen the fire took place. He had died from assumingly the flames."

"We're not sure how exactly he got out of his cell in the first place, our cells are highly secured so we could only guess one of our staff somehow forgot to lock the door and only Chimera decided to leave the cell and was able to wander through The Maw undetected and get into the kitchen." The Lady explained.

"Highly secured is a big word," Mono commented in a mumble.

"Anyways, that's what has happened to Chimera. It's sad he had to pass away in a fire instead of a vicious fight inside the arena, but what can you do." The Lady said, "Anyways here's the battle between Qiqirn and Hope Dreamer you've all been waiting for!"

The gates to his enter cage finally lifted, he slipped under the rising gate to get out quicker. The guest chanted his gladiator name, "Hope Dreamer" as he did so.

The opposing battle enter cage opened as well, out the shadows of the battle enter cage came Scarf. His gladiator name, Qiqirn, was chanted upon his entry too.

The two kids circled each other, waiting for the weapon to drop.

A normal dagger was dropped directly in the middle of the circle they had going on. Both charging forward at a quick speed for the weapon, Scarf managed to get it first but only by a few inches.

Eight slammed himself into Scarf accidentally as he was too close to stop himself, both kids were flung off to the side. Scarf letting go of the dagger due to the impact of the slam.

They landed on top of each other, Eight on the bottom and Scarf on the top. Scarf quickly got off of Eight and went straight for the dagger, however Eight in quick reaction grabbed the end of Scarf's scarf and pulled him back.

Eight tugged him to the ground then raced over to the dagger while he was down, purposely stepping on Scarf in hopes it'd make it take longer for him to recover from the attack.

Scarf slowly rose to his feet, panting. He looked over to see Eight had already grabbed the dagger and was making his way back to him.

Eight lunged forward towards Scarf once he was close enough, swiping the dagger with great force. Scarf jumped to the left side, barely dodging the dagger in time. The blade only inches away from him.

Eight immediately spun around to attempt another attack, his feet spraying up sand with his swift turn. Eight leaped forward and swiped at Scarf's shoulder. He successfully cut him, the dagger wound starting at his left shoulder and going down to his elbow. Scarf shrieked in pain from the cut, instinctively moving his right hand to hold the injury.

Eight kicked him in his stomach after performing the first attack, knocking Scarf to the ground. He then jumped backwards multiple times, giving distance between him and Scarf. 

Scarf sat up, blood seeping out from Scarf's cut. His hand was barely doing anything to stop the blood flow.

Scarf let go of his wound, the palm of his hand soaked in his own blood. He wiped off his bloody hand using his red scarf and stood up once more.

Eight began circling Scarf once more, Scarf defensively kept his front facing towards Eight to make it harder to find an opening- Though with his arm injury weakening him it might be okay for Eight to charge him head-on.

As Scarf persisted to keep this up Eight just charged in, Scarf tried to punch Eight which he easily dodged. He stabbed Scarf's side, going under his left arm. Intentionally not pressing it in too deep but just enough for a good injury.

Scarf stumbled to the ground, bleeding out his side now. Eight watched Scarf from about three feet away, watching to see if he'll get up.

Scarf attempted to get up, his legs and arms shaking from the pain of his wounds. It had looked like Scarf still had the strength to keep going at first but soon he gave a tired, defeated huff and just dropped back onto the bloody sandy ground with a soft thump.

The Guests cheered in favor of Eight's victory. They threw down colorful pansy flowers in celebration, one drifted right towards Eight. He caught the flower by the stem and looked at it.

The specific flower he held had a beautiful mixture of purple, white, and a hint of black but the other pansy flowers landing had different colors. Every flower was so colorful...

Eight felt something pierce his skin on his arm, he looked down to see a tranquilizer dart stuck to him. Eight looked back at the flower as he heard The Hanging Man walking towards him from behind.

The pansy flowered looked very interesting to him so he allowed it to hold his attention for the remaining time until h-

Eight dropped onto the floor, flower slipping from out his hand. The tranquilizer had knocked him out.

The Hanging Man picked up Eight and Scarf and took them out of the Arena. Not bothering to tranquilize Scarf since he already couldn't really move. The Hanging Man also retrieved the leftover weapon as well.

-----------

Six was snatched from the holding room next and loaded into the left battle enter cage.

Unlike the previous battle, this one began much quicker. Six was let out almost immediately after she was put in.

Six slowly walked out, listening to the guests cheer her Gladiator name "Brutus" over and over again. Once she stepped about 5 feet away from the enter cage the gate slammed closed behind her.

The opposite enter cage lifted its gates, out came Mono. "Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo!" The Guests chanted as he stepped out.

Six kept her distance from Mono, kinda half-circling him until a weapon dropped. Mono watched her closely, he didn't quite try to circle back but he was keeping distance as well.

A long dagger was thrown into the arena. Going over the childrens' heads and hitting a wall near Mono with a 'clink' noise. It dropped to the ground.

Mono rushed over to the long dagger while Six just went invisible and slowly walked over to Mono. She knew she couldn't get it by beating him to the dagger, Six was simply too far away. But perhaps she could steal the weapon from him.

Mono snatched up the dagger, holding it close to him as he closely looked around at his surroundings. Looking for signs of Six's presence.

Six moved slowly and carefully, like a predator sneaking up on their prey. Mono's eyes scanned the arena for signs of her movement but were clearly failing to see her.

Once she was close enough Six charged in for an attack, her invisibility fading off her body. Six tackled Mono to the ground, he kicked and struggled under her grasp while Six tried to hold him down.

Mono still held the weapon, keeping it close to his chest as he struggled. Six reached in with one hand and grabbed the hand that Mono held the weapon with to try to get him to let go of it. Her other hand tried to keep Mono pinned down.

Mono was able to kick Six off himself since she was only using one hand to hold him down now. Yet she still gripped onto Mono's hand to try and still get the dagger from him. She managed to slip under his fingers a bit (mostly through his palm), knocking his hand back a bit, and grabbed a part of the handle.

Mono's hands gripped part of the blade now, the sharp edges digging into his hand a bit. Though he wasn't letting go.

For a brief moment, they played a short game of tug of war for the dagger until Mono just kicked Six in the guts. Knocking her to the ground thus making her let go as well.

She hit the ground with a cough, about to get up again when Mono grabbed her and held her down by the throat. Long dagger raised.

Mono struck her in her shoulder, digging the blade a good few inches. Six cried in agony as she tried to kick Mono off her, blood rushing out her shoulder and down her bright yellow raincoat.

Mono budged with each kick until he eventually ripped the dagger out from Six's shoulder. The blood-soaked blade dripped as Mono stepped back. Staring down at his injured friend.

Six got to her feet, holding her bleeding wound. She straightened her stand the best she could before going invisible. However the blood her wound dripped was still visible.

Invisible yet easier to see due to the blood trail she left. Mono watched Six circle him, holding the dagger out towards her.

Six allowed herself to become visible, knowing it was no use being invisible if Mono could just still see her because of the blood trail.

She kept circling Mono, thinking what she should do. Six wouldn't be able to charge in since Mono would just easily hit her with the long dagger and he isn't allowing her any easy openings...

Then, she got an idea.

Six staggered, looking incredibly weak, then she fell to the ground. She lied still, her shoulder bleeding out.

Mono waited a few seconds before slowly walking over, nudging Six with his foot cautiously then stepping back. No reaction.

He lowered his weapon as The Guests began cheering.

"Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo-"

Six quickly got to her feet and pounced Mono, catching him off-gaurd and pinning him to the ground. She snatched the long dagger out of Mono's hand with ease as he had loosened his grip on it thinking the fight was over (and the pure shock of being unexpectedly pounced).

Six dashed away from Mono, getting a good distance between them.

Mono rose to his feet slowly, still in shock from the fake-out.

Six dove in for an attack while he was still processing what had happened, gripping Mono's shoulder to hold him still with one hand and swiftly striking Mono across his chest with her other armed one. Leaving a clean cut.

Six let go after delivering the blow and Mono stumbled backwards. He looked like he was about to fall over but didn't.

Mono ran forwards, straight towards Six. Six struck Mono, dagger cutting under his right arm. Mono pushed through her attacks as he tried to grab Six's arm.

Six backed up, dodging his attempt. She raised her dagger high, preparing to do a more forceful and damaging attack. Six swiped, Mono dodged it but the edge of his trenchcoat got chipped by the blade.

While Six was in the middle of recovering from performing the attack Mono quickly dove in and grabbed her arm that held the weapon.

Six struggled and twisted, trying to pull herself out of his grasp. However, his grip on her was too strong to pull out of right now. Mono threw Six to the ground and dragged her around by her arm. Trying to make her let go of the dagger.

Six persisted, refusing to let go of the long dagger. Just then, Mono got an idea. He went close to Six (who was still lying on the ground) and stomped on her injured shoulder. The pain mauled at Six, traveling across her upper body. She let out a high-pitched cry before letting go of the dagger in pain.

Mono snatched up the dagger and began attacking her with it. He wouldn't strike anywhere lethal or crippling of course, but he wanted to hurt her just enough for her not to get up and challenge him again.

Six had cuts scattered around her body by the time he backed off, a bit more injuries than Mono wanted but Six didn't get up again which was what he wanted.

The Guests didn't cheer yet, watching to see if she was going to get up again like last time. Though she didn't.

"Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo!" The Guests cheered, throwing down white daisies to celebrate his victory.

The Hanging Man entered the Arena and tranquilized Mono.

-----------------------------

Mono woke up into a familiar gray room- The Medical Room, also called the Treatment Room. He sat inside a gray carrier cage on a gray treatment table. The table itself being a simple folding table as he remembered.

His wounds were bandaged up and medicated though they still hurt. However, notably not as much.

He sat up and looked out the bars of his cage, he saw Six on a table beside him being treated for her wounds. She was awake but being very still and cooperative to The Hanging Man who was healing her.

Mono lied back down, getting into a comfortable position facing away from Six. He stared at the white counters with medical equipment set on them. He wondered why they chose to have the Medical Room's floors and walls be variants of gray but then have some furniture be white.

Though, come to think of it, they could care less about making a room's colors blend nicely.

A click came from the ceiling above, Mono looked up and around to see a vent on the ceiling above a counter with various pill bottles on it. A cold breeze was released from the vent. He took a mental note of it in case he'd ever need to sneak into this room.

Mono enjoyed the cool breeze brushing up against him until it was time to leave.

The Janitor came in and grabbed Mono's cage. He lifted him off the table and left the room with him, closing the door behind them.

Mono was carried into the cell corridor, Mono stared at the cells he passed by. Most of the cells being empty since most of the children were still at the gladiator.

He stopped at his cell, The Janitor opened the cell and dumped him inside. Shutting and locking the cell behind him.

Eight was sleeping in front of the heater and One on the other side of the room. One was awake but sitting down, he stared at Mono. Mono went over and sat next to One.

"So..." One began, "How was the fight?"

"It was fine," Mono said.

One nodded.

"How is it being able to have such a long break from fighting?" Mono asked, "I assume it's quite nice."

"Oh, it's alright. There's not much to do besides sleeping but it's a welcomed break." One explained. Mono nodded.

One didn't say anything after that, just lied down on his side. He shut his eyes, either trying to sleep or were just resting his eyes. Mono wasn't going to ask either.

Mono lied down alongside Eight, using his own arms as a pillow to rest his head on. He stared out from behind the metal bars of the cell.

After a few minutes, he heard footsteps walking down the corridor. The sound of footsteps got Mono's attention, he raised his head. One opened his eyes and shifted towards the bars.

Mono sat up once The Hanging Man entered his view, the tall man held a carrier cage with Six inside. He looked the two straight in the eyes momentarily before opening the cell and releasing Six. The Hanging Man shut the cell door and locked it.

"Hey." Six greeted going near the two and sitting down.

"Hey." Mono said, lying back down.

"What have you guys been doing?" She asked.

"Nothing, really." Mono said, "I am bored though."

"Well how about we play a game, then?" Six suggested.

"Sure, but do you have any ideas?" Mono asked, staring up at Six. Six stood still, thinking for a moment.

"Uhm... Simon says?" Six suggested.

"What?" Mono said, confused.

"Simon says." Six repeated herself.

"What's that?" Mono asked.

Six went silent, staring at Mono with a questioning look. One sat up, staring at Mono with the same look too. Mono looked between the two, confused. "What?" He asked.

"You don't know what Simon says is..." Six said, her voice in utter shock. "How?!"

"Yeah." One said, "How is that even possible?"

"Well I just never heard of it," Mono said. "I didn't grow up where this 'Simon says' game was."

"Man, where did you grow up if you don't know what Simon says is." Six asked, "I know the world is trash right now and our parents have little to no care for their kids but Simon Says was so common and popular!"

"Really now?" Mono said.

"Yeah! My parents would make me and Shadow Six play the game often to shut us up for a while." Six recalled.

"Are we talking about our lives with our parents now?" One asked.

"Not intentionally." Six said, "But feel free to share a story."

"Well my parents inevitably try to murder me; they hated my guts. Surprised they didn't kill me when I was a defenseless 3 year old." One said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure all our parents hated us and tried to murder us." Six said, "I and Shadowy had to leave at like 5 years old."

One nodded, "I left at-"

"Can we play Simon Says instead of talking about our parents?" Mono asked, cutting One off.

"Oh right, sure." Six said, "But first we need to teach you how to play."

"I'll tell him," One said. "So basically somebody out of a group of people is deemed Simon and they'll tell you to do something. If they say Simon Says before telling you something, you have to do it. If they don't say Simon Says before telling you to do something, you don't do it. If you do what they say when the person deemed Simon didn't say Simon Says you lose. If you ignore Simon when they say Simon Says you also lose."

"So... Kinda like Red Light Green Light but with more words?" Mono asked.

"Yeah sorta, one of us will be Simon first so you get the gist of i- Wait, hold on. You know what Red Light Green Light is but not Simon Says?" Six pointed out.

"Uhm, I didn't know what Red Light Green Light was until I got to The Maw." Mono explained, "When I first arrived a kid which is now dead in current times taught me how to fight when I was pretty inexperienced. When teaching me they figured a game of Red Light Green Light would help me better my reaction times."

"Alright then." Six said, then looked over at One. "Do you wanna be Simon?"

"Oh, yeah!" One said, then stood up. He stood a bit oddly since his leg wasn't quite fully healed just yet but the fact he could stand now was good.

One cleared his throat, "Simon says... Go wake up Eight."

The two looked over at Eight, he was still sound asleep by the heating vent. He looked very comfortable and peaceful in his sleep.

"Maybe not that..." Six said, "It wouldn't be nice to disturb Eight's sleep."

Mono got up and began making his way over to Eight. He crouched down next to him. Mono raised his hand, as if to slap him, but then he just lightly tapped him on the tip of his nose with his finger.

Eight woke up slowly, yawning and stretching while lying on his side. He looked up at Mono, "What?" Eight asked tiredly. Feeling another yawn coming on.

"There, I did it." Mono said walking back over to the two. "And since Six did nothing, I win right?"

"Yeah!" One said, "You lose, Six."

"But I-" Six sighed, "- Okay."

"What are you guys doing?" Eight asked, still lying down.

"Playing games because we're bored." Mono said, "I just won Simon Says by waking you up."

Eight yawned for the final time and sat up, "Well I got a game." He said.

"Go on." Six said.

"It's this little game I made up once. One player says a word and the other player has to say another word that begins with the final letter of the word the first person said," Eight explained. "For example, I'll say Zebra and the other person needs to say a word that starts with a."

"How do we win?" One asked.

"Well, you can't say the same word you said before or somebody else has already said. So the game goes on until everyone besides one person runs out of words or everyone besides one person forfeits for some reason." Eight explained. "Whoever didn't run out of words wins."

"Sounds fun." Six said, "Which order should we go in?"

"I say me first, then Six, then One, then Mono, then loop." Eight said.

"Oh okay, you go then." Six said.

---------

Slinky sat away from the declining crowd of children. He was still at the gladiator with Twenty-One inside the holding room. Nervously awaiting his turn to fight.

Twenty-One sat next to Slinky so he wouldn't sit entirely alone.

"Come on, just remember what you practiced." She whispered to Slinky, he only responded with a "hmpth" and turned away.

"I thought you wanted to be strong no matter what because this definitely doesn't look like 'No matter what'." Twenty-One said.

"Y'know, you're not helping." Slinky said, "Training is far different from the real thing."

"No, it's not!... Okay, maybe it isn't the same just a bit but come on! Just imagine you're still in your cell and the person you're fighting is me." Twenty-One said, "If your opponent actually ends up being me for real, then that's good luck."

"I probably have no chance at winning." Slinky mumbled, just barely audible.

"Well you'll never win with that attitude," Twenty-One said, then she placed her hand on Slinky's shoulder. "Just try to be a bit more positive, if not for yourself then for me?"

"That's a very nice trick to make me be positive," Slinky said, "But fine, I guess I'll try."

Twenty-One smiled, "Thank you."

The door to the holding room slammed open, making both of them jump in surprise at the sudden noise. The Maw worker who came in was The Janitor. His hands searched for a specific child, rejecting any kids close to him.

He didn't have a snare with him, he was using solely his hands to grab. He snatched up Slinky and didn't let him go. The Janitor found the right one.

The short, long-armed man backed out of the holding room. Shutting and locking the door behind him once he left.

-Third person (but kinda in Slinky's POV.)-

Slinky's heart raced in The Janitor's grasp, slightly wiggling around as if he could escape his hand and run away but of course that didn't succeed.

Slinky wasn't afraid of The Janitor, but instead scared to fight.

The Janitor opened the door leading inside the right Battle Enter Cage and set him inside. Slinky flinched at the familiar sand hitting his feet. He immediately spun around once placed down and rushed over to the door in an attempt to run out but it shut far too quickly for him to just run out like that.

Slinky pressed his hands against the closed and locked metal door, his blind eyes staring at the blank gray door. Slinky gave a frustrated sigh and rested his forehead on the metal.

He heard the gate to his Battle Enter Cage open, Slinky turned around to where the noise came from.

"You know what..." Slinky began, speaking quietly to himself, "Maybe Twenty-One could be right..."

Slinky walked out of his enter cage, his stance lacked confidence and he was extremely nervous. The Guests silently stared at him, not shouting or chanting anything. There was no name to say, he still didn't have a gladiator name.

"I most likely will not win, the odds are stacked against me, but maybe if I stay positive I might win." He quietly told himself, looking forward to where he thought where the other Battle Enter Cage was. Ending up guessing correctly.

The opposite gate rose. Slinky stood still, quickly pulling everything Twenty-One had taught him to the front of his mind. He took a breath, "Maybe I can do this." Slinky told himself.

"Alter Ego, Alter Ego, Alter Ego, Alter Ego!" The crowd of spectating Guests cheered as Shadow Six entered the Arena.

"I'm going to die." Slinky told himself.

Shadow Six began circling Slinky. Slinky strained his ears, trying to figure out where Shadow Six was moving so he could avoid her. It was pretty difficult figuring out where Shadow Six was, and the fact occasionally other sounds blocked him from hearing where she was going didn't make it any better.

Slinky already felt overwhelmed, what made Twenty-One think he could win? He-

Some pieces of sand sprayed into his eyes suddenly, Slinky rubbed the sand out his eyes. At first, Slinky thought Shadow Six had gotten to him but he was quickly disproven since he could hear her further away- If that actually was her, that is. He could be mistaken.

He felt in front of him and his fingers rubbed against something metal and smooth but sharp at the edges. He pulled his fingers at first in confusion to what it was, but then touched it again- It took him a few seconds to realize it but it was a dagger judging by the feel of it, he found the handle and grabbed it.

Wait- Dagger? The dagger landed right next to him? A smile curled onto Slinky's face, this could be his lucky day after all!

He could hear Shadow Six getting dangerously close, she was circling him.

-Full third person-

Slinky stood around the middle of the arena, slightly towards Shadow Six's entry point. Shadow Six searched Slinky for a good opening, finding how slow he was being a bit odd but she just brushed it off as beginner's confusion.

For Shadow Six's battles, any opening could be a good opening. All she needed to do was to just touch somebody with her shadow paralyze and then she wins. Though somebody with a weapon, something to keep them from being defenseless to her, doing that paralyze would be a bit tricky now.

Slinky closely listened to where Shadow Six was going, tightly gripping the dagger's handle.

Shadow Six decided to attempt to attack him on his right side, a bit off towards his back. She charged up a shadow paralyze in her left hand and charged forward.

Slinky heard the quick footsteps approaching and spun around just as quickly, swinging the long dagger as fast as he could. By the sudden pain-filled shriek of Shadow Six, he guessed he must've gotten her.

Shadow Six hunched over, stumbling backwards- Slinky hit her right under her chest, a bit deeply as well. Blood oozed out her wound at a bit of a concerning speed.

Pain threatening to make Shadow Six fall over, she looked back at Slinky. Blood dripped from his weapon as he slowly faced her again. She took a single step back once Slinky fully turned towards her.

Shadow Six's shadow paralyze was still going, she stared down at the shadowy mist curling around her hand, then she looked back at Slinky. He was just standing there.

Shadow Six limped away, one arm over her wound. Once far enough, she did a wide circle around Slinky. She was planning to attempt the same thing as last time again, but this time be much more careful.

Though, when doing a wide circle that's when she noticed something off about Slinky.

Slinky didn't really follow her movement, not in an ''I'm ignoring you'' way but it was like he was trying really hard to follow her movements but was having a difficult time. His head turning was pretty delayed compared to her movement speed.

Shadow Six decided to test something. She slowed down and carefully moved, each of her steps being silent against the sand. She slowly moved towards Slinky, eventually dropping into a full crouch.

Slinky had no clue where she was at all, she could easily tell.

------

Twenty-One anxiously watched from the barred window, feeling like she needed to start pacing from the stress though she resisted.

"That's odd." Ten, who was right beside Twenty-One, said. "It's like he can't see her at all... Unless this is an act I think-"

"HAHAHA." Twenty-One quickly did an obvious fake-laugh, "That's sooo funny."

Ten stared at Twenty-One in complete and pure confusion. "Uhm.... What?" She said.

"Oh man it's like he is blind ᵇᵘᵗ ʰᵉ ᵈᵉᶠᶦⁿᶦᵗᵉˡʸ ᶦˢⁿ'ᵗ ˢᵒ ᵃʰᵃʰᵃʰᵃ" Twenty-One said, her voice turning into a quiet mumble towards the end. 

"Are... Are you okay?" Ten asked, her confusion slightly worsened.

"ᴺᴼ" Twenty-One squeaked, then she took a breath. "I mean, I'm okay..."

"Well. As I was saying, I think he might be blind." Ten said.

"Really? Oh, I had no clue-" Twenty-One nervously whispered.

------

Shadow Six was listening to the conversation happening inside the holding room. Usually, she'd tune them out to focus on her fights but this time she let her guard down to listen in. She felt safe enough to do it when something was clearly wrong with Slinky that prevented him from fighting correctly.

Him being blind, like Ten said, was probably right. It's getting so obvious at this point.

Shadow Six looked back at Slinky, he must've heard them as well judging on how anxious and scared he looked- Or maybe that was because of her and how she was being too quiet to be heard. Who knows.

Shadow Six quietly snuck up on Slinky, waiting for him to turn in the right position and...

Shadow Six lunged forward slapped him with the paralyze, hitting him on the back.

Slinky dropped to the ground, shaking. "AhhHhfh- Skskshoooofuuuu." Slinky said, "HhhHhhhhHhfaaaahshhshsussisisk."

Shadow Six sat down, still pressing an arm against her bleeding wound in an attempt to stop or at least slow the blood.

"Alter Ego, Alter Ego, Alter Ego, Alter Ego!" The Guests cheered, beginning to toss down black roses in celebration of Shadow Six's victory.

Shadow Six stared at the black roses that hit the ground, she considered grabbing a rose to put in her hair though she decided against it.

She heard The Hanging Man enter the Arena, she looked over at him then at the tranquilizer gun he had pointed at her legs.

Staying as still as possible, she watched the dart hit her leg. Shadow Six reached out to touch those little red feathers on the dart, she always wondered why tranquilizer darts had those things.

Eyelids heavy, Shadow Six fainted.

-----

Six, Mono, Eight, and One were sitting in a circle in the middle of their cell.

"Laughing." Mono said.

"Gotta" Eight said.

"Apocalypse." Six said.

"Edible." One asked.

"Evil." Mono said.

"Hey! I said evil five turns ago!" One pointed out, "You're out!"

"Wh- You didn't say evil!" Mono said, "You said evoke."

"Are you deaf? I said evil!" One yelled.

"Nah, he said evoke." Eight said. "Mono's right, he can keep going."

"No, no, no. He definitely said evil. One's right." Six said.

"What?! No!" Mono yelled.

"Yeah, One said evoke." Eight said.

"What n-" Six broke off from the sentence once she heard the door to the cell opening

Shadow Six was dropped into the cell by The Hanging Man, her carrying cage tilted to make her slide out. She stuck the landing- stumbling on her feet and nearly falling, however.

The cell shut and was locked behind her, She turned to watch The Hanging Man walk away out. Disappearing from her view and leaving the cell hall.

Shadow Six looked over at her friends and sister, "Hey." She said, "I heard you arguing about... whatever from down the hall."

"We were talking about a game and arguing if Mono was out of the game or not due to the rules- It's a word game." Six explained. "Anyways how was your gladiator battle?"

The scene replayed in Shadow Six's head, it'd be very helpful to know Slinky was blind for future battles.

"Oh, just a usual battle. Nothing of interest really happened." Shadow Six said, "A quick, boring battle."

But she wasn't going to out the thing he was probably trying to keep a secret. Sure the holding room kids found out and were undoubtedly going to spread the word but she wasn't going to be apart of that.

"Oh, alright." Six said, "You can watch our game if you want- I mean, we're stuck in the same cell together so unless you plan on sleeping or something you don't have much of a choice."

"What about playing the game with you?" Shadow Six asked.

" Uhrm, no. Sorry but we're too deep into the game." Eight explained, "You can join the next game if you want to, though."

"Alright then." Shadow Six said, lying down on the opposite side of the cell and watching them.

---------

-Third Person but kinda in Slinky's POV-

2:38 PM

Slinky was curled up in a ball, lying down on his side in the back left corner of his (shared) cell. Shivering and his eyes red from crying.

Everyone knows, if not everyone they all will soon. Slinky thought, Once they find out they'll know my weakness and can easily hurt or kill me. I'll always lose. I had no chance from the start, I should've never listened to Twenty-One. She's so incredibly naive.

I'm going to be doomed to die down here in this ship. This stupid, fu-

The cell door to the cell opened, he looked up towards where he heard the sound. Straining his ears to hear.

It was The Janitor. He held Twenty-One in a carrying cage, momentarily setting her cage on the floor so he could properly unlock and open it. There was no cart, just singly carrying Twenty-One.

The Janitor opened the cage, letting Twenty-One step out on her own. Once she left the cage The Janitor took the cage back, shutting the cell door and locking it.

He walked away with the cage in his hand. Leaving the two be.

Twenty-One walked over to Slinky's side. "Slinky?" She softly called out to him. 

It took a moment for him to respond but he did, "Everyone's gonna know, huh?"

"Y'know... They might not say anything..." Twenty-One said hopefully.

"Might..." Slinky said, "Might is the keyword. And don't even try to be hopeful in the situation because there is no hope, they will spread the word of my disability."

Twenty-One was silent, thinking of what to respond with. "Well..." She began.

"Am I going to die?" Slinky suddenly asked, tears threatening to fall again.

Twenty-One went silent. Slinky didn't like that, his breath quickened. "I don't wanna die." He said, his voice shaky.

"Hey, hey, hey. You're not gonna die, okay?" Twenty-One quickly said, "You knew at some point they'd find out- Much sooner than you liked that is, but it's still okay! You just need to train and fight twice as hard now!"

"H-How?" Slinky cry-gasped, tears streaming down his face. "They can appear basically invisible to me if they're quiet! No amount of training will help me against people who are literally INVISIBLE to me!"

"I-I" Twenty-One stammered, searching for words. "L-Look maybe I could-"

"You can't just tell me where they are," Slinky cut her off, "I'm sure The Lady wouldn't allow it. They'd do something to you..."

"I wasn't suggesting that," Twenty-One said, "But I could find out a way to, uhm, make you hear better...?"

"Oh really? And how do you plan to do that?" Slinky snapped at her, his sadness turning into anger.

"I... Uhm..." Twenty-One pushed her mind for an answer yet found none.

"You have no clue, because it's impossible! You can't just magically make this situation better!" He yelled, getting up. Twenty-One backed away from her friend, giving him some space.

"I don't know why I ever had hope!" Slinky yelled, "I was doomed from the start when I got onto the ship! You can't just be blind and manage to live in this place."

"Hey, you're not dead yet." Twenty-One said, "You don't know what's going to happen- Sure you think you're going to die or something but that's only what you believe. Life is full of su-"

"Don't think some stupid cliche inspirational words will make this situation ANY BETTER." Slinky yelled, however sniffling as well. "Y-You're so stupid..."

"Don't yell, you'll only spread the word faster to the other kids. You're not alone in this place, y'know, the other cells." Twenty-One pointed out.

"Who cares because I certainly don't at this point," Slinky said. "Whoever hasn't caught word will know sooner or later. They'll all exploit my weakness and it'll be the death of me."

Twenty-One opened her mouth to speak again though Slinky spoke before she could,

"Just leave me alone." Slinky said, "I don't want to talk anymore."

Twenty-One silently scooted to the other side of the cell, giving Slinky as much space as possible in their cell.

-----------------

The rest of the day was interesting.

"Slinky is blind?" Six gasped at the news, staring at Ten who just told her. They were in the same holding room together. She turned towards her sister, "Shadow Six, why didn't you tell me?!" Six asked.

"I didn't want to just give up their weakness like that, I know other kids would spread the word quickly but I didn't want to be part of it." Shadow Six said, "Poor Slinky, though. Battles are going to be impossible for him now."

Slinky stayed bitter, neither Slinky or Twenty-One spoke to each other the rest of the day- Slinky didn't speak to anyone actually.

Slinky stayed in the corner of the holding room he was in, he could feel the stares he was getting.

"Can't believe that kid is blind, though it should've been obvious from day one." A kid commented.

"Yeah." Another responded.

Twenty-One came over to Slinky, sitting down next to him. Slinky didn't talk to her but knew she was there. 

Twenty-One didn't attempt to start a conversation with him either. They just sat together silently.

Though, night-time, after all three battles. That was... a time

Mono was woken up from his peaceful sleep on his wooden ledge by some whispering coming from the ceiling, he drowsily sat up and looked up to see where the sound came from.

It was coming from the vent above, through the thin lines of the vent grille he could see the familiar red scarf of his friend. "Come to the lair, Pretender's place." Scarf said before quickly leaving.

Mono's body begged for more sleep but he had somewhere to be tonight. 

He yawned then quietly climbed off the wooden ledge, silently landing on the floor. Mono felt his trenchcoat's pocket for his metal piece, though he stopped the search once he remembered Six took it. 

Thinking about how he was going to get out of the cell now, Mono looked over at Shadow Six who was asleep. Getting an idea, he quietly went over to her.

She wouldn't mind if I stole her metal piece, I'll give it back once I return... Mono thought as he slowly got down and searched her pockets. Trying to not make enough movement to wake her up. Even if she wakes up she'll understand why I'm stealing it.

Mono managed to grab her metal piece without her waking up. He smiled under his paper bag and snuck towards the heating vent. He quietly unscrewed it and went into the vent.

He traversed the ventilation system, going off towards The Pretender's- Ragdoll's Lair. Cold air or warm air depending on the directions he took blew against him as he made his way through.

Eventually, Mono arrived at the familiar vent-room. There were a lot fewer kids than usual, however. The lit candles The Pretender had showcased the mostly empty room, the remaining kids inside beginning to leave anyways.

The Pretender was nowhere to be found either.

A finger tapped his shoulder. Startled, he quickly spun around to see who it was.

Scarf waved at Mono with a tired smile. Taking a breath to calm himself, Mono spoke; "Hey."

"Hi." Scarf responded.

"Do you know where everyone is?" Mono asked.

He nodded, "Snake." Scarf said.

"What?" Mono asked, confused.

"Snake." He repeated.

"What do you mean by snake?" Mono asked, "I'm confused."

"Snake medical go." Scarf tried to explain.

"Snake... medical... go?" Mono repeated, thinking. "Medical... Medical... Medical room?"

Scarf nodded.

"Snake in the medical room go?-" Mono said, "But there's no snake in the medical room. Now I do recall seeing one in the Execution room bu- Wait."

Mono went silent, staring at Scarf. Scarf stared back at him.

"She took the snake, didn't she?" Mono asked, "She snuck into the execution room and took it?"

Scarf nodded, though Mono really wished he was wrong.

"And everyone's at wherever Ragdoll took the snake?" Mono asked, Scarf nodded again.

"Ra..R... Ackdoll tells I to get you and take you there." Scarf explained, "Need you. Come"

Scarf turned away and began walking off into the vents. Mono stood still for a few seconds before following. Feeling nervous about what he was going to see.

He took note of the directions he was going, remembering the way back the best he possibly could while following Scarf.

Mono heard the distant echoing voices from further up, letting Mono know he was close to their destination. Scarf looked over his shoulder at Mono before disappearing behind a left turn. Mono quickened his pace to catch up to Scarf.

He turned the corner, then froze.

Ahead was a wide (yet not as wide as Ragdoll's Lair, significantly smaller) vent area where the most of the vent's flooring was missing, collapsed. The hole leading into a deep pit. Enough metal flooring still stuck onto both the sides of the vent to create a narrow-in-some-spots but working pathway over the pit. On the other side the vent continued on normally and undamaged.

Children under The Pretender's leadership sat on the pathway, looking down into the pit. Some of the sitting kids' feet dangled off the metal platform as they looked down into the pit. Others played it more safer and kept as far as possible away from the edge. Their backs pressed against the walls.

On the other side, the part of the vent that continues onwards, The Pretender sat. Staring across at Mono. "Hello Mono." She greeted, pulling the other kid's attention towards Mono.

"Hello..." Mono responded, looking around. "What is this...?"

"A little new room of mine." The Pretender said, smiling.

"Uhm...What kind of room..?" Mono asked.

"Somewhere misbehaving kids go." The Pretender said, "Ones who don't know how to follow orders."

"You throw them in the pit?" Mono asked, looking down into the pit. It wasn't like the vent collapsing caused a pit but collapsed into a room that was already a pit.

Well actually, to somebody as tall as an adult this wouldn't be classified as a pit but to children this very well could be. 

The walls of the room were a lighter gray color than the floor and two ceiling lights were placed on the opposite ends from each other on the far sides of the room. The light bulbs were very dim as if they could break at any moment.

There were quite a few giant shoe piles in the room along with random pieces of metal scattered from the vent collapsing. Suitcases were also placed randomly around the room.

There was a metal door that could lead into the room normally, but the door was being blocked off with a brown leather couch (How the couch got there in the first place Mono couldn't figure out, no way it could of been the kids' doing).

There was a grille-less vent the perfect size for a child to go through but the vent installed far up to the ceiling, just inches below, and off towards the left. Impossible to reach unless you stacked every shoe in this room to reach it which would probably take hours.

Leaking pipes were attached to the walls, they dripped water into the room every few seconds. Supplying whatever was to stay in there with small amounts of water.

There had to be something in there, right? What Scarf said allowed Mono to most likely have an accurate guess.

(btw "The Pit" is actually just the shoe monster room except shoe monster doesn't exist here and some fewer shoes for reasons-)

"I do throw them in the pit," The Pretender answered Mono's question. "A deadly punishment."

"What's in there?" Mono asked, hoping it wasn't what he was thinking.

"Let's find out," The Pretender began, "Misery! The child."

Misery came out from behind The Pretender, forcefully bringing a very resentful child with her. They were frailing and struggling in her grasp. It was a white freckled girl with curly ginger hair, a light green hooded coat, under the coat was a green shirt and dark green pants.

"Xanadu, the kid Misery holds, has done nothing but disobey me!" The Pretender yelled, "They stopped my punishments by letting kids out of my leech room without my permission, caught trying to steal my pentobarbital, nearly killed Kai, refused to obey my orders of collecting items from the execution rooms, and other sorts of things."

She continued, "Allow this fiend to be an example of what can happen if you cause trouble."

Misery stared at The Pretender, her grip around Xanadu tight. The girl had stopped struggling at this point too, giving up.

"Drop her." The Pretender finally said.

"I'm sorry," Misery whispered in Xanadu's ear before tossing her into the pit. She gave a scream before she hit the ground with a cracking sound.

She slowly rose up, breathing heavily. Then she rose onto her knees once she heard a hissing sound from behind and shoes tumbling off the piles it once laid still before.

A shadow casted over the Xanadu.

She looked over her shoulder to see a cobra towering over her. Its hungry gaze falling upon her. She didn't know if it was just fear or perspective but the snake looked massive.

Xanadu tried to stand but pain shot through her leg as she tried- She guessed her leg was broken or dislocated from the fall. She desperately crawled away from the snake using her arms to drag herself.

The snake followed her around a bit before finally lunging at her, its jaws armed with deadly teeth open wide.

Mono along with the others watched as the girl was killed by the snake, blood littering the floor below. The girl was dragged out of sight to most likely be eaten by the snake, her bleeding bite wounds making a trail. 

Mono stared at the leftover bloodstains, stunned.

"Oh my god..." Misery mumbled, hands covering her mouth.

"And let that be a warning," The Pretender said, "Don't let that be you."

She went on, "You can all leave now, I just wanted to get this point across." and with that everyone began leaving with traumatized expressions. Including Misery.

Mono backed up and turned to leave as well.

"Not you, Mono. Come over here." The Pretender said, Mono turned around and stared at The Pretender. Not wanting to come over but he knew he had to.

Mono slowly walked over to her, being incredibly careful on the pathway to her side. It'd be dreadful if he fell.

"Y-Yes...?" Mono said, his voice a bit quiet.

"Can you go get a rat to feed the snake, I want to leave it some extra food?" The Pretender asked, she then pointed behind her. "Just go straight from here, take 2 left turns than a right and then you'll find the snake food storage."

Mono nodded and went past The Pretender, hearing The Pretender begin to leave as well.

The vents were silent as usual, allowing Mono to think to himself easily

What had just happened was terrifying, though that could go without words. Mono was even more afraid of upsetting The Pretender than he already was previously. The Pretender was undoubtedly getting far too strong.

Honestly, when it comes down to how severe the situation is getting, he wonders what could've prevented this. If Six never came along with her plan, The Pretender wouldn't have gotten these staff powers and be able to use a child's freedom for her manipulative play.

Mono wasn't going to blame Six for what The Pretender is doing of course, he could never do that. He's just thinking cause and effect-wise...

Mono shook his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts.

Mono bumped into a metal vent wall. Rubbing his head he backed up and looked around. He didn't know where he was, the way he was going was splitting off into four paths. He probably should've been paying more attention to where he was going.

Mono turned around and went back the way he came, though once he did that he noticed the vent begin to make creaking sounds. Obviously, that didn't happen before.

Mono came to a stop once the creaking first started, though once it began to become more intense he rushed forward.

The vent jolted downwards, the section Mono was in beginning to break off from the main part of the ventilation.

The metal beneath Mono's feet gave out and Mono was left hanging. He desperately tried to pull himself up, his heart racing and his breath quickening in adrenaline.

Mono had been just about to pull himself all the way up when the metal piece he was holding onto broke off and fell.

Cold air harshly brushed against Mono before he hit his head on something hard. Pain spiraled across his head, he could barely scream out in pain before he was silenced by water. Being submerged with a loud splash.

Black dots danced around Mono's vision as he felt himself about to faint while in the water, his limbs were heavy and unwilling to be moved easily. Losing the struggle to keep conscious, Mono fainted.

Mono immediately began drowning, inhaling water. Slowly sinking further and further into the water.

Then, seconds after, there was another splash. 

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12754 words

OCEAN MAN, TAKE ME BY THE HAND-

man can you believe this was originally supposed to be a filler chapter with mostly happy fun times.

okay but the things you guys suggested to me were pretty good (and cute), I'll try to use them in future chapters. 

also can I just say that this video is basically how every Arena AU chapter is like proofreading. 

https://youtu.be/p9wxKCaLcd8