aterat | Signal Interference

Entry tags:

Signal Interference

Who; Mono and whoever happens to be around
What; Log
Where; Harbor district sewer entrance to start
When; Mid September
Warnings; I will update if specific warnings are necessary. To start I would say: Mentions of solitary confinement/isolation, and abandonment
Note;Mono is now canon-updated to the end of game, and he is not going to be particularly rational atm, so it'll probably take a while for him to calm down and get both himself and his abilities under control depending on the way your character approaches. For more information, see his canon update here.

A young boy stumbled out of the sewers in the harbor district, looking disorientated and somewhat skeptical of the world around him. He shouldn’t be there, really. Not in the ‘children should not be in dangerous places in the dead of night’ kind of way, so much as the… he shouldn’t be in this world, kind of way.

This couldn’t be real, after all. He’d spent months in that room. Months feeling eyes on him despite the presence of the walls he’d built up around him with his powers. Months alone to ponder and let the hurt and anger gnaw at him after his friend… After Six dropped him. After she abandoned him to make her escape from the tower alone, letting go of his hand in the last moment. Just as he had thought that they were going to be free and could resume their joint escape from the city in search of a better place.

This had to be a wishful delusion of a place far better than the Pale City. A place he would much rather be, with people who cared about him (or could they betray him as easily as she had?).

But it wasn’t real, it couldn’t be real. The more the thoughts spun in his head, the more anxious and angry he got at whatever had changed the appearance of the space around him to look like something he couldn’t have. “It’s not real.” He mumbled, the light static that flickered in his sclera more pronounced as he frowned at the sight of the harbor district around him. “It’s not fair. It’s not. Stop trying to trick me.” He balled up his hands into fists. Seeing a place like this, it was too upsetting. He didn’t want to see something he couldn’t have. Mono needed to change it back, to stop being taunted by it. “CHANGE BACK!” He yelled in a desperate and unsteady tone. Energy rolling off of him in waves that seemed to thicken the air unchecked as the already small, rundown harbor buildings around him shuddered almost as though they might really change back.

If he had been more clear minded, he might have remembered that if he’d been in his world… he wouldn’t know or remember this place at all. That fact didn’t even begin to edge its way into the child’s mind as a few windows nearby exploded in shards of glass from the strain. The illusion wasn’t changing, the surrounding images weren’t changing like they should be… It was more like when he’d been outside the tower still and trying to get the hang of his abilities to get to the tower faster before everything had gone south.

Why…? This couldn’t be that place. This couldn’t be real, right? So why…? Was that thing behind this? Was it taunting him out of boredom? Could it even do that?

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He's summoned. Word of mouth can travel quickly between guards, especially when some were mounted on chocobos. And so the word gets back and he's summoned to find the boy that had been missing from his place in their lives for too long. The one Nida had feared had gone home, and so a part of his life had been lost. It takes a while for him to get there though. Takes a while for him to arrive, which is while a new set of windows explode nearby.

The Protect spell keeps them from falling on him in a truly bad way, the glittering shards slipping around the limits of the magic as Nida approaches, confident but slow. From what he'd heard, Mono was far from okay at the moment.

"You know," he said, trying to keep his voice conversational, "when I get mad I try to break things I can easily replace. Saves some money that way. Trees are usually good for it, near the forest."

There were very few people here that Illyana actually cared for. In most cases if they came or if they went was of no consequence to her. Mono however was one of the few that she would count as someone she cared for. There was a lot in him that reminded her of herself, for better or worse. When she'd noticed he was gone it hit her with a wave of sadness that took her time to process. Of course processing for Illyana simply meant avoiding others and avoiding discussions about anything that might be wrong.

It was a healthy way to handle things.

No it wasn't.

But it was her way. One could only expect so much from someone that grew up in a pocket hell dimension. At least she hadn't just run away completely. She'd still stayed around, occasionally looking for him both on foot and with various spells. One particular spell she'd set up around a talisman using something he'd owned while here. That particular thing she tucked in her pocket, hoping that maybe one day it would glow. Lo and behold it did! Immediately upon the first pulse she scrambled to follow it's trail to the sewer entrance where she saw him stumbling out.

"Mono?" she called out as she teleported the final distance to him. She reached a cautious hand out towards him to place it on his shoulder. "What happened to you?"

Not okay was decidedly a decent way of describing it. Mono was currently a mixture of panic and anger at what seemed like such a cruel joke to be playing on him. It was like that thing must have decided just watching him sit alone in that chair wasn’t entertaining anymore, like it wanted a new show to watch. The world wasn’t changing back around him; it wasn’t bending to his powers the way it had when he’d ended up at the bottom of the tower in the first place. Instead of warping around him, things were just creaking and breaking instead.

The boy practically begged for the world to change back, to stop messing with him. To stop tricking him.

Then he looked up sharply at the voice, hands still balled into fists and the static buzzing in his eyes as his power, the signal he was the source of, flowed around him. At first he was entirely still, but then he began to edge back slightly. That couldn’t be Nida… Right? He couldn’t be here either. The boy’s form blurred and looked like it stuttered slightly as he edged backwards warily, before in a blink of an eye he was a few feet away.

“You can’t be here.” He mumbled with a surprising amount of certainty.

The boy gave a start, static clouded eyes looking up quickly with some obvious surprise and panic as his small daze was interrupted. The signal he gave off, spiking slightly with his uncertain emotions, leaving the air with an oddly thick quality. He wasn’t used to being approached anymore, nor was he used to the gentle pressure of a hand on his shoulder. The last time he’d been in contact with anyone else… It had been Six’s hand wrapped around his for those brief few seconds before she let go.

And Illyana couldn’t possibly be here, right? That had to be his imagination, or something… Something making him see her and the familiar city of Aterat instead of the walls of the room where he’d been sitting for so very long now. He blinked, breath coming quick as he tried to figure out what the trick was. What was making him see someone who was undoubtedly one of the most important people he’d ever met again after months of being alone. “I-Illyana…?” He rasped out, anxiety bleeding into his tone. “You’re not really here, are you…? This isn’t real.” He mumbled with a particular tone of resignation and sureness.

If he thought it was really his friend, it was just going to get yanked away from him by whatever had made the illusion in the first place. Whatever had warped the room around him.

The static hurts and Nida is wincing when it builds up. Siren is practically keening in pain from the sound of it, and it's leaving Nida shaking. Which means he has to do something he hates. Which is to unjunction Siren, leaving him vulnerable without his magic and enhancements. At the same time it means he can hear without the great pain of it.

"Last time I checked, I could kiddo," he said, not taking another step forward, not yet. "Though I my boss might agree with you since the harbor isn't my beat most of the time."

Confusion touched her expression for just a moment before it faded away to sympathy. She knelt down, trying to meet his level and attempted to make some sort of eye contact. There was power around him, rising power that she could feel prickling her skin but she had felt worse. She had felt so much worse. All she cared about at the moment was finding out what was wrong with him. He seemed so anxious, so frightened, and so confused. What had happened to him?

"I am as real as you are." Once upon a time she had found her brother suddenly after his alleged death. Her reaction had been similar to this. Fear. Anxiety. And ultimately she had fled convinced that he hadn't been real. That none of it was real. Whatever had transpired had to be quite a lot for him. She gave a gentle smile. "My imps have missed you. And I have been disappointed at our lack of a movie night. I thought we had an agreement."

There was a small part of Mono, the part that had been growing since he’d been left behind, that felt a certain satisfaction that the illusion seemed to wince under the force of the static signal that was thickening the air. Serves the thing right for trying to trick him, for showing him someone he missed just to tease him or lull him into a false hope that could be snatched away again as easily as Six had let go of his hand all those months ago.

“No ‘cause you're not real.” He mumbled again, a small quiver in his voice. “Adults can’t be in the tower unless they’re part of that thing.” Which meant they weren’t really human anymore, just part of the amalgamation. “You’re just a trick.” He flickered again, bordering on another skip away in his uncertainty. There was some truth to the other’s words, though, if he were thinking clearly. The harbor wasn’t where Nida usually worked, and he sounded terribly real…

It wasn’t quite as hard to get on his level anymore; the boy seemed… Slightly stretched, a bit more spindly than he had been last they saw. The tower had sustained him, somehow, but it had also begun to change him… Not much, not enough to say it was significant… But still not quite as short as he had been. His eyes darted to her and then away, then back again. It was a frantic and uncertain pattern as he wanted to believe that she was really there and that this wasn’t all some kind of cruel prank, but not quite being able to believe it.

“No, ‘cause you can’t be in the tower. You can’t be there, no one can be there unless they get dragged in and then you’re not even a person anymore. And you’re not from there. You’re just someone I wanna see.” He babbled slightly, edging away and feeling a prickling of tears in his eyes. He’s not really sure who he’s trying to convince though, and his form flickers and stutters slightly as the urge for flight was truly settled into him on instinct.

But then she was talking about the imps, and… The movie night… That thing couldn’t know about the movie night, that was something they’d talked about here. That was something only the two of them knew…

"Last I checked I was real. I eat food. I sleep in a bed. I need to use the bathroom. Hibiscus still pecks at my hair."

This is a bit weird, but he supposes he understands. 'Adults can't be in the tower'. He went home. Like Llewellyn's husband had. And now he was back.

"Ig and I were worried about you, you know. Honestly, of everyone here who could go home, I never wanted you to. Place sounds like shit."

Comfort was not something Illyana was used to offering. For Mono though she would try. He looked strange, somehow just a bit different and not just because of the flickering power. The differences were not as pronounced as hers had been when she had returned from Limbo, but they were enough to cause her concern to grow.

"The Tower?" Ah, he had mentioned that before. That was where he was trying to get to in order to save his friend, wasn't it? Clearly something had gone wrong there. Though she was a bit uncertain if she should push that particularly subject at the moment.

She shook her head. "We are not in the tower, Mono." Her voice was gentle but firm. "You remember me so you remember Aterat." Was that too harsh? Or was that the proper amount? Why was this so difficult. A little frown touched her lips. "Did you forget about our movie night then? A shame, I had the snacks planned." Perhaps this was the correct path to take. He seemed to react at least a bit to it.

It wasn't often that Ignis came down here since there wasn't much that he needed. But he'd tried to stretch his chocobo's legs out and Nida was still at work. The house seemed rather empty now and Ignis would steal moments in Mono's unoccupied room while Nida was out. He had no wish to upset or burden his already grieving husband at how much he too missed the boy and so hid his own grief at the boy's departure.

Sighing, he dismounted the chocobo and stared out at the water after tethering the bird to a safe post. He didn't want to go far since he wasn't really up for fighting off thieves or anyone that might want to steal or harm his chocobo, but he would if he needed to of course.

Half of him thought he then heard Mono's voice stating something about something not being fair and so Ignis turned his head to the sight of nothing and no one. He sighed and figured maybe he needed to work less hours and he was hearing things. But still, he walked down the steps at the entrance of the sewers and thought he heard Mono's voice again, this time a command to change back?

"Mono?" Ignis called, before crouching and noticing the energy engulf the buildings. He himself had to duck into one of the sewers to avoid the onslaught.

Mono still stared at the man with uncertainty, like he was trying to see through some elaborate trick or illusion… But it was starting to connect, starting to hit him that Nida was saying things that a fake probably wouldn’t know to say… Nor would he even know Nida if they were in his world. If they were in the tower…

If he remembered, then… He was back…? He was back in that weird other world where people were nice and were still people, where he had a home and a bedroom and people…? And… “Nida…?”

Oh… Oh no…

His form jerked and stuttered again as the broken glass on the ground around him made him realize just what he’d been doing before now… He hadn’t been changing the room in the tower, he’d been breaking part of the city he’d returned to in his panic. Now the boy was panicking for an entirely different reason, as his breath started to come quick and his form blurred as he started backing away, another ‘skip’ pulling him further than one would expect as he disappeared in a little blur and then stilled again.

He was the one who’d broken the Pale City, he was the reason people weren’t people anymore… Whether they deserved it or not… What if he did that here? What if he hurt everyone? He couldn’t control some of what he could do. He didn’t even know how to stop it!

Yup… The kid was running now, afraid for different reasons than before.

Even as Illyana was unsure of her approach, it actually seemed like the right one for the moment. Her gentle words but firm tone were holding his attention about as well as anyone could hope for now. He still seemed to be on the edge of bolting, of course, but he was hearing her out. Listening as she reinforced what should have been obvious to him. That this wasn’t the tower, that he wouldn’t remember her or Aterat if he were there.

It took a couple moments for it to click properly, to settle in place and to feel… real… But it does all the same, and even as he was still panicked and anxious, he shook his head. “I didn’t forget! Or I did… I did ‘cause I wasn’t here. I was… There…” He mumbled, eyes unfocusing for a moment. “I’m sorry.” Escaped as he fussed with the ragged edge on his coat.

Mono glanced at her, and then suddenly his gaze widened. The static in his eyes buzzing a little as a new fear struck him. “But I shouldn’t be here! I should be there. If I’m here, bad stuff could happen here, I can’t… You should go!” He began babbling again, and his form flickered and seemed to stutter a bit before it solidified a couple of steps away like a tape that had skipped forward when you sped the image up.

Mono was decidedly… not himself. Or at least not the ‘himself’ that everyone was used to him being. Having been trapped in the bottom of the Signal Tower for several months alone without company, save perhaps for the many eyes of that amalgamation that resided there as well (blocked by the walls he’d built around him) had unfortunately changed him somewhat. He was stretched out a little more, limbs a bit more spindly than they had been, and the static in his eyes was more pronounced than it had been. The changes were at least not as bad as they could be, but more time in the tower would probably have left him entirely unlike what anyone remembered.

On top of that… Mono was actually more powerful than he’d ever really realized. He’d had ideas, of course, but he had only ever used his ability to teleport through televisions before. When asked if he could do other things, the boy had only ever shrugged and expressed uncertainty. Now… well, he’d been through enough to have a better idea of what he could do. Unfortunately, while the powers could be good and helpful given the chance, some of them were also quite destructive as well.

At the very least, not being attached to the Signal Tower here was sparing the city from something much worse. A few broken windows and creaking buildings trembling under the weight of his emotional outburst were better than the kid bringing them down entirely, after all. If this were the Pale City, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see them practically bend in half. But this was Aterat, and so there was only the sound of windows breaking and a certain thickness in the air as the signal he gave off ran a bit wild. The air smelling like ozone around him, and a constant, practically begging tone coming from the boy asking for whatever was trying to trick him to stop.

Vaguely the boy thinks he hears a familiar voice, but that seems like another layer to whatever was trying to fool him into some kind of false hope. “Stop trying to trick me. I’m not stupid!” He Another window exploded nearby, scattering across the cobblestone audibly.

"But now you're back here," she said with a light squeeze of his shoulders. "Calm down, Mono. You're back here and you can make it up to me. So no apologies." Apologies were for when one had done something wrong and he had done absolutely nothing wrong here. Though she was starting to wonder if perhaps that was a different story where he had come from.

She watched him carefully and even as his powers flickered she stayed still and calm. Whatever had happened he certainly seemed to have unlocked more of his abilities. Now the problem seemed to be a distinct lack of control. Though that would need to be something spoken about when he had calmed down some. If he would.

"I have never been afraid of bad stuff. What could happen?"

Hyne did he have to do this when Nida decidedly did not have a speed junction? Sure he was quick for a SeeD and had tricks he hadn't taught the kid yet, but something was wrong.

And, as much as he hated it, he settled Siren's junction back in place. He would need the enhanced senses as he bolted after the kid. Someone needed a hug.

"Mono! Wait up!"

Mono tried to take a few deep breaths, trying to calm down and pull back some of his control. What little there was, there was always a little bit of him bleeding out around him, even before… He just realized it now, and perhaps that was making it worse, or perhaps it was from being so fresh out of the tower than amplified everything.

He wasn’t calm enough to get everything under control, but… Illyana was smart, she understood his situation perhaps a little better than other people did, given her own childhood… And she didn’t lie to him, maybe she could help him figure out what to do. Or maybe she would realize how dangerous he was and decide to do something about it, to leave him somewhere like Six had. One part of him panicked at the idea, felt angry that it might happen again, the other part of him thought that might be smart… “You should be afraid though, ‘cause… Illyana I figured out why that man in the hat can do the stuff I can do… And I think I kinda know why people kept watchin’ the tvs and losing their faces.” He admitted anxiously in a mumbled tone. “It’s me, he’s me and I’m gonna be just like him ‘cause of the tower.”

Edging back again, he gave her an uncertain look. “So people should be scared of me, what if I do it here too? I dunno how to stop it!”

Nida could count one thing as lucky, well… Lucky was a bad word for it, all things considered… But it would make catching up a little easier even with Mono’s odd ‘new’ ability that allowed him to skip ahead a few extra paces at a speed greater than he had been going.

The kid didn’t move like he normally did. Between the unfortunate effects of the signal tower that had caused him to get a little taller and a little more awkward looking, and the fact that he’d been sitting stationary on a chair for several months? His skills built up during his time here were a little rusty, and he was going to need some time to adjust to that on top of everything else.

So the thing that kept him ahead at all was definitely his ability more than his awkward run.

Even in trying to jump over something that normally would have been nothing, he didn’t quite land right and went awkwardly skidding and flailing a bit as he tried to catch himself to move on. “No, go away. You shouldn’t follow me!” The boy responded over his shoulder, fear evident in his tone. Not fear for himself, though, fear for what could happen to this place and the people in it.

Well, this was turning out to be good fun, wasn't it? That was sarcasm, in case anyone was wondering. Nida threw himself over a low set of crates that Mono had tripped around, trying to keep his breathing even as he went.

"Yeah, you know that's not happening, kiddo. We're family. That's important."

Ah. Well, that certainly explained his panic. What he said was relatable to her in a very distant way. Thinking back to the how the Darkchilde had taken over stirred similar emotions in her. Similar emotions and similar thoughts. People should be scared of her. People should run from her. After all she had done terrible things, both as a child and a soulless reconstruction.

"I see..." she frowned as she looked at him, still trying to keep some degree of eye contact. "But you're not him now." The most observant observation one could ever possibly make. "Whatever you do here, there are people who could stop you. I killed Elder Gods. I could stop you." Was she actually certain of that? No. Not at all. Was she able to sound completely confident of it? She certainly was.

"Why were they watching the TV?" Perhaps it would help to know a bit more about his power.

Ignis braced himself by flattening himself as much as he could while the place continued to be torn. This was the power the boy hadn't quite showed, but the whole static thing made sense now that this devastation was going on. He didn't have any means to protect himself but he was determined to get to the boy he'd began to see as son he would never have. He hinted around at the idea of Nida feeling that way too, but always stopped short of his husband giving him some speech or another as to why that would never work and that it would never happen.

The advisor heard windows breaking and placed a hand up over his glasses to try and see whatever was going on. "No one's trying to trick you and no you're not stupid!" Ignis called almost desperately. "We've been looking for you, Nida and I! We've been worried when you disappeared from the house and we couldn't find any trace of you!"

There had been so many things Ignis hoped to do such as reading to Mono, and going on more grocery trips. It was always fun to have the boy help around the house and in the kitchen. Ebony loved Mono and was often found trying to creep into Mono's room in an attempt to sleep next to him. The advisor also wanted to teach the boy how to ride a chocobo and help around in the garden and maybe even cook. But all of those hopes had been dashed when the boy had gone missing.

Mono knew that Nida was being serious, of course. That was the problem, though. He cared about the family he had here. He didn’t want to lose that, but he also didn’t want to hurt them either. What would they even say if they knew the truth? What if they turned like Six did? He felt tears sting his eyes, because somehow that felt just as bad to imagine. Darting around a building, he stifled a panicked shout of disappointment as he spotted a wall. He was a little less confident than he usually was when it came to climbing, even with the memories of their lessons. And… He’d never gotten to try his ability on ‘up’ as he had ‘forward’ even if up was technically forward right now.

But he had to at least try, and so he was grabbing onto ledges and cracks in the building he could to start hauling himself up and finding stable footholds, but Nida definitely had the advantage now.

Was he not…? Mono wasn’t sure if being younger and smaller didn’t make him the man in the hat already, just… Not a grown up one, right? “I’m not tall like him, but I still kinda am, aren’t I?” He voiced with an uncertain tone, shaking his head a bit. It was all rather confusing, even months later. “You really think so?” Illyana’s words were a small comfort, though, in their own weird way. She didn’t lie, and she was really strong… And she knew lots of other strong people here, too. So maybe they could stop him if stuff happened. “… You gotta promise you will, ‘cause I don’t wanna do anything to people here!” Not now, but considering his feelings towards people in his world? The boy was afraid that might change too.

The question gets a little rise of his shoulders, picking at the edge of his coat again. He has had a lot of time to think about the answer, too much time. “I think it’s ‘cause of my power. I don’t think I ever turn it off. I don’t think I can. Everyone always chases me and knew to look at me when I was around, and then when I got to the tower the thing with all the eyes… I realized it wasn’t looking at Six at all when we were trying to escape. It was looking at me.” He responded carefully, staring down at his feet. “I think that’s what the signal tower does. I think I’m supposed to be in it, so it can broadcast to the TVS and draw the people in. And… And their faces go first, right? And people made me think I had to hide mine, so...”

He stopped rambling there, a small bitter tone in his voice. He wasn’t sure he wanted to admit the rest of his line of thought, because that would be admitting that the angry hurt part of him felt like they all deserved it.

Mono was trembling slightly, the emotions rushing through him were overwhelming. The anger, the hurt, the loneliness and the fear of a hope being dashed upon rocks again. He didn’t want to hurt again, didn’t want to get his hopes up and have that thrown in his face. It had been months of solitude in that room, so very long since he heard a voice other than his own or the distant sounds of whatever shows were being broadcast on the televisions around the city. The televisions connected to the signal tower, to the signal he was the source of.

But there was a voice on the edge of his awareness, the voice of someone he’d gotten so close to in his time here. Someone he looked up to, who always seemed to try to take care of him… Who probably shouldn’t have, all things considered. Mono knew what he was now, after all, knew what he was going to do… Knew that part of him was going to be glad, was going to like it… That wasn’t a good person, by any means.

The boy finally looked up, though, at the voice, despite his certainty that he couldn’t be hearing it. The gray cloud of static in his eyes picking up as they widened in shock at the sight of the man trying to reach him despite the broken glass sometimes bursting around him. A certain recognition there, a realization just creeping in on what this was. “Mr. Ignis…?”

They had been looking for him, worried about him… Ignis and Nida shouldn’t have, and the boy edged a few steps further back. His form starting to stutter and blur a bit as his ability for ‘skipping’ started to kick in as the need to put some distance between them struck him. Not for him, but for the safety of those he cared about. He didn’t want to do to them what he’d been doing to the people of his world. “You shouldn’t, you should go!” He finally yelled back, before he seemed to blur and then reappear a few more feet further away.

Ignis wasn't sure if he was getting through to the boy or not, but he hoped that somewhere he had. He had no idea what Mono had been through and had he known, he would've torn everywhere down to keep him safe. There had been so many times that Mono had brought him happiness and had restrained himself from using that 'l' word. It was too soon, he and Nida differed on how to best approach this, but the advisor did see Mono as a son of sorts. And telling the boy he loved him was always shelved because it wasn't appropriate nor would it be welcome.

After Mono left, that regret seared through him repeatedly.

A relieved slight smile hit his face as Ignis took cover again against the wall as more debris passed him. "Yes, it's Mister Ignis." At least that much had been established. And he took a few breaths just to readjust and refocus. This was so very important.

But at hearing he should go, kicked in the royal advisor's stubborn button so to speak. "No, I am not leaving you. You left us, and that wasn't your fault. But I am not letting you go again. You are very important to me, and I am going nowhere. I will wait as long as I have to for you to come home where you belong."

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Signal Interference

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sewer entrance

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Harbour

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