(Art not mine)

The tunnel was tight and narrowed the more Mono ran. There was light coming from the other side, but Mono didn't worry about it.

Seven coughed, blood pooling from his mouth as he used Mono as a crutch. Red liquid covered his mouth and chest, a hand desperately gripping the piece of jacket on his shoulder.

Blood gushed from the bullet wound, jacket stained red from it. Six was in the rear of the group, Zero scampering forward, tail down with worry.

Mono carried the injured boy forward, blood smearing on his coat. Seven collapsed onto the ground, breath in uneven gasps as he tried to stop the bleeding.

Not a second later, Six dropped to her knees next to him, unzipping his jacket in one quick motion. She ripped his jacket off his shoulder, letting out a small squeak as blood gushed from the wound.

It was deep, and Mono could see by the way Seven was holding his arm, either a tendon or muscle in his shoulder took the most damage. Mono had a grave feeling the wound might cripple him for a while, maybe even permanently.

"Seven, look at me," Six ordered, cupping her hands around his cheeks. With a grunt, the boy opened his eyes, looking up to her. Six brushed his bang out of the way, and for the first time, Mono froze at something that wasn't... ugly.

Dark blue, like the night sky above them. For a moment, Mono had thought they were black, before Six took the flashlight from the injured boy. With a click, she shined it in his eyes, the boy flinching.

"His eyes aren't big, so I don't think there's a lot of stress happening," she said, rolling her thumb on his cheek as a small sign of comfort.

Mono touched the wound, running his hand over to his back. It was a clean shot, nothing caught in him, thank the stars. "Straight though, nothing lodged."

Seven groaned all the while, whimpering and quivering from the pain. He felt light headed, breathing becoming harder with each passing minute.

"We need something to stop the bleeding..." Mono muttered, reaching into his coat to feel around.

Six slid the dull brown rucksack from off her shoulder, opening it and digging through. Negative wasn't lying when she said she'd packed snacks. Six place the delicately wrapped food to the side, looking at whatever else was given to them. Water canteens, extra lighter fluid, a small blanket, a-

Six's eyes widen as she pulled the small box out. "Mono, hope you know how to sew," she said quickly, popping the snap on top of the box off.

"No, I don't. What you got?" he said, looking at the other, picking at Zero's fur for stuffing from the taxidermy corpses. The puppy didn't seem to like it, the tugging on her fur making it a little painful.

Six held the small needle up, trying to thread it in the dark of the burrow. Mono ran a hand through her bangs, bringing them to the side. She glanced over at him, before going back to work on getting the small string through the tiny hole.

Mono couldn't see her eye color, the tunnel much too dark to see. Seven let out a whimper, the boy suddenly looking ghostly pale, his hands and legs shaking slightly.

Six cringed slightly, but finally got the thread through, looking to Seven's wound. When Six got a better look at it, she could tell what they once thought was a whole bullet turned out to be a cracked piece that flew. If it was a full bullet, he would have lost his shoulder thanks to how small they were compared to everything else, not to mention how close they were when the Hunter fired.

"I'm so sorry, Sev," she whispered, getting onto her knees so she could work. Not fully knowing what she was doing, Six pieced the boy's skin with the thread and needle.

At this point, Seven was almost too weak to even make a whimper, head held low as he tried to cling to reality. Working as quickly as she could, Six was able to get five loops done before the thread broke.

"Damn it," she hissed, recoiling back to rethread the needle. Mono, noticing Seven about to pass out, cupped the boy's cheek.

"Hey, look at me, Seven," he said, gently smack the boy's thin cheeks.

Seven gave a growl, trying to push him away. "Hands.. off me... Bag Boy..." he huffed. Six got the thread in the loop again, practically throwing Mono off the other.

"Man, no one likes me," he muttered.

"Zero comes first, then Sev, and then you," she answered bluntly, going back to her stitch work.

Seven had a small lopsided smile (or was it a smirk?). "I can... live with.... dog.... above me..." he muttered weakly, wincing as Six tugged a bit too hard as she fixed the lose ends. She quickly got to work on the back, brushing away dirt that got in it while he was resting his back.

"Don't stitch it yet, it'll get infected," Mono said, reaching and grabbing the water canteen. He screwed the top off, dumping the water onto the wound.

Seven didn't seem to react, possibly passed out from the blood loss. "Six, when you get done, I need to talk to you..." Mono suddenly whispered, holding the flashlight up for the other.

Six was already halfway done with her sloppy stitches that seemed to somehow hold the wound together. She gave a small nod to him, not looking up from her work.

She gave a tug when she was done to make sure the wound was close properly. Her eyes trailed down, looking at the hundreds of white scars that dusted his back. She ran a hand down, feeling the soft skin of the scar, how warped tended they were.

The memory of Seven telling her and Negative about how his brother abused him and set the blood hound on him made her growl.

How could Negative love such a monster? Mono got up, making his way to the end of the rabbit burrow. Six got up, following him to the edge.

"What do you want to talk about?" Six asked.

Mono tried to give her a sympathetic look, nervously, he took a deep breath and out a loud sigh.

"Six... let's leave him..."

***

Skyshine had been busy running errands when the sound of the intercom made all the Nomes freeze up.

When she came back, a small basket in hand, she was confused when she saw the worried looks of her people. Nervous chatting filled the small Nome civilization under the Maw's engine.

"Veronica would never do such a thing...." whispered a dull silver colored Nome.

"Has she lost her mind?" asked a dark gray one.

"I don't think this is a smart idea, no matter what she said!" squeaked another.

Skyshine gave a small confused tilt of the head. She looked over, trying to spot anyone in the room who might tell her what happened.

Finally, she spotted a small pack of Nomelings, classmates. She came over, walking through the sea of shocked Nomes.

"Moonstone, Sunpetal, what happened? What's got everyone so shook up?" She asked.

Moonstone was the first to speak. He was slightly taller then the other two, a small droop at the top of his cone that seemed to curl like a witch's hat. "Sky, thank the mighty beast you're okay. Veronica just made an announcement that we're leaving!"

Skyshine looked taken back, nearly dropping the basket. "Leaving? But, Six and Seven haven't come back yet, have them?"

"No, no one has seen them," spoke Sunpetal. Thought she had the same gray coloring as everyone else, she had a strange yellowish tint to her, like a small sun in their place of gray scale colors.

"That doesn't make sense... Veronica would never leave them behind... I'm going to go check," Skyshine stated, running off to the entrance.

"No, wait, Sky!" Moonstone shouted. Skyshine let out a gasp as entrance to the Outcast Nome's hideout was suddenly blocked off by bars.

They shot from the ground, nearly hitting the poor Nomeling. "What? She's blocking us in now!" she yelled, looking at the metal blocking her from the outside world.

Moonstone came and join her side, nervously fumbling with his wrist. "I-I tried to tell you. She doesn't want any Nomes out and about anymore..."

Skyshine gave a growl. "So now it's like before, but worse? Now, instead of blocking entrances before we get attacked by the other Nome colony and those rats, we can't leave?"

Sunpetal gave a small nod. "Something isn't right with Veronica, we could try to go out through the emergency exit the construction group dug out last year."

"Yeah, that'll work."

***

Billy stood outside of the lady's quarters, hiding in the small secret Nome room under the stairs.

He had seen it, what happened to Veronica and Negative. He hadn't made a move to leave, too terrified by the idea of going out there and getting thrown around like an unwanted ragdoll.

'I need to get out of here before it's too late... Bertha can handle both of the colonies, she's good at what she does. Heck, she should be, or else she wouldn't be my sister!'

He looked around at the plans he had scribbled on paper, tossing some aside as he looked over them all.

Nothing.

Nope.

Not gonna work.

He gave a groan, gripping the paper.

"Mr. Billy, you okay?" asked a voice. Billy jumped at the mention of his name. He turned, seeing Skyshine and two others come in through a hidden passageway. The older gave a sigh.

"Look, kid, if you're going to give an old Nome a heart attack, warn a fella, would ya?" he growled. Skyshine didn't seem to care, looking over at his plans.

"Where's Veronica and Negative?" Skyshine asked quickly. Billy gave a harsh sigh, getting up and off the floor.

"The shadow is currently being held up in her majesty's room. That creep is up there too," Billy said, walking to the exit of the Secret Nome room.

The one with the witch's hat mumbled softly. "M-maybe we should go and try to get her out?"

"Negs? Pfff, we'd be lucky to even get her to open her eyes."

Skyshine walked over, looking out to see what Billy was looking at. There, on the chair, she saw it.

It was a large cat, a dark colored cat with tiger stripes, sitting on the armrest, head towards the entrance of the Nome room. Yellow eyes loomed over them in the darkness, long fluffy tail twitching. A collar was around its neck, a small piece of gold hanging from it.

Skyshine stepped back, suddenly seeing why Billy hadn't tried to escape prior.

"If we don't do something soon, she's gonna die..." Skyshine whispered, referring to the shadowy counterpart.

"Well, we can't just up and leave to find the others!" Billy hissed, looking to the exit with a glare. That cat would kill them the moment they stepped out.

"Quiet before he hears you... maybe we can distract him with something? Maybe throwing something at him will do..." Skyshine suggested.

"You're joking, right? The guy has eyes in the back of his head, he'll see us a mile away," Moonstone stated quickly, seeing the cat above them.

Sunpetal mumbled, "If you continue to shout like that, he'll hear us before we can even do anything..."

"Whatever, right now I don't care. We have to save her!" Skyshine shouted, stomping her foot.

Billy gave a groan, bringing a hand to his head. "I'm thinking, you idiot, give me a second!"

The sudden sound of the cat's metal plate thing moving made the four of them freeze. "Great, now look what you did..." whispered the necklace wearing Nomeling.

The cat slunk its way to the hole, sitting down in front of it. Suddenly, a paw entered the hole, switch blades for claws glinting in the lantern's light.

The Nomes gave a shriek, jumping back as the cat pawed around in search of its next snack, a low growl in its throat.

Skyshine looked at the claws, an idea sparking to her mind. She looked over to Moonstone and Sunpetal, the two hiding in a corner. Skyshine looked around, before finding what she was looking for.

A string, long enough to be wrapped around the cat's paw. She carefully picked the end up before the cat could find her, motioning over for Sunpetal and Moonstone.

"Wrap this around the cat, make sure to loop it, but don't tie it. When I say pull, you pull as hard at you can."

Nervously, Moonstone took one end, Sunpetal taking the other. The two walked to the sides of the hole, throwing the string ends to one another. Luckily, the cat didn't seem to notice it, continuing to pat around.

"Billy, help me move that lantern," Skyshine whispered. The older gave a nod, coming to the side of lit lantern.

"Ready.... pull!" Moonstone and Sunpetal tugged on the string, which tightened around the cat's paw. The claws began to dig into the floor boards as a yowl was heard.

Skyshine and Billy took the lantern's side, and pulled it down low enough for the cat's fur to touch the flames.

The fire caught the fur, loud screams of pain feeling the outside. Fire scaled up the fur until it came to the strings. "Let go!" Skyshine ordered.

Sunpetal and Moonstone let go, the paw being snatched back as the cat continued with its screaming. Quickly, the Nomes ran out, turning the corner and scurrying up the stairs.

They darted up as quickly as they could, hearing furniture being knocked over as the cat ran about.

They came to the lady's room, not minding the smoke now coming up from below. They quietly pushed inside, surprised no one heard the cat's screams.

Inside, they froze.

There in the middle of the floor, was Veronica, laying in a pool of her own blood.

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Finished - Sept. 19th

Welp, hiatus time!

Sorry about leaving you guys on cliffhangers back to back, but it's kinda fun.

If you guys enjoyed, don't forget to leave a vote and comment! Everyone who has been doing that so far, you guys are absolutely precious and deserved head pats and cookies cause it means the world to me.

Anyways, after chapter wiki time! Or at least that's what DogInATuxedo has dubbed this bit.

Little Daydreams AU info expansion

Skyshine - though Skyshine is all brains and no brawn, she has very back social skills. She tends to make friends with other outcasts, like Moonstone and Sunpetal. All Outcast Nomes have a 2 worded name, kinda like warriors. (Fact: I didn't know Warriors did this until I read the books. Skyshine had pre-existed before my love for the series... even if I'm on arc 2...)

Mono (final main) - Though Mono tends not to, he knows when he has to make sacrifices...

More info later on...