nightelf37: Before I begin, there's something I wish to tell you. I am a contributor in the Massive Multiplayer Crossover called the Trope Pantheons in the website TV Tropes. What it is is a universe where tropes in TV Tropes have representatives from all forms of fiction (and some from real life, too) who are marked as deities. As stated in its main page…

"We here at TV Tropes love to categorize things. Tropes, television shows, books, and even people. So, we eventually got to thinking: What would things be like if the world were run entirely on tropes (which it very well could be)? Who would be the Gods and Goddesses? Who would be their worshippers? Obviously, there can never be one singular deity to watch over everything... so we pooled our resources and tried to come up with as many ideas as possible. No initial payment required to enter... it's all in good fun."

It's come to my knowledge that I might not have the best of standings in there (the community has its rules to keep things from getting too messy), so I decided to publish it here.

Warning: Spoilers for the ending(s) of Doki Doki Literature Club. This story takes place after it/them.

Enjoy.

Profiles

Titles may change locations at any time (and even titles might change, too, but there's only so much I can do), and links aren't allowed in Fanfiction dot Net, either, so I'll just give you titles to type on (copy-pasting text apparently doesn't work here either) the TV Tropes search engine or Google, and I believe you can figure out the rest.

Reading prerequisites: (read these profiles before you proceed with the fanfic)
- (Insert Name Here), God/dess of Player Choice
- Doki Doki Literature Club, Goddesses of the Surprise Creepy

Advised readings: (you may read these after reading the fic)
- Twilight Sparkle, Goddess of Checklists
- Baldi, God of Corporate Punishment

Additional readings: (you don't have to read these, but should you be interested…)
- Discord, God of Topsy-turvy Creatures
- Fix-It Felix, God of Fixing
- Ashi, Goddess of Talking Down The Suicidal

Now… time to present…

From Data To Flesh And Blood

In an oddly clean part of the Sub-House of Fear, there is a simple temple. There's nothing much inside it save for a table with a simple desktop computer (as well as a chair for those who need it). Aside from the usual applications, there's also a video game that starts with a warning screen about the experience being not for children or for those easily disturbed. This game is a visual novel called Doki Doki Literature Club!. It wasn't known why the game was ascended as a computer with the game rather than its characters (one of which is aware of the world outside the game), but most gods didn't mind as they each took their time to play it. Some get interested and look deeper, others get scared and turn away, and yet others get mad enough to want to destroy the computer, but it and its temple have been proofed against such rage-actions as part of its ascension package.

That was all about to change.

One day, two nondescript people (currently women) were browsing the Internet. One of them was (Insert Name Here), and the other was an Anonymous, who has recently lost their deity rights as they fell into anonymity, but were thankfully "saved" by INH and made into their followers.

"So, any progress on the research on Project Libitina?" Anon asked.

"Still trying," INH answered. "I just can't understand how this all works."

All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning struck the temple. Normally, the lightning rod installed would've redirected it to the ground, but this bolt was infused with strong Chaos Magic. As it was, this was a stray magic blast from Discord (though he refused to say who he was fighting to have launched that), and this bolt electrocuted the entire temple and everything inside it.

Miraculously, both INH and Anon survived and were barely even hurt, though they could still feel the aftereffects of being zapped. As for the computer, it was predictably destroyed beyond any hopes of them repairing it, though some of its lights were still flickering.

Anon and INH stared in silence after they recovered from their electrocution.

" …Well, shit," the former finally said. "Looks we'll have to report this to the House of…uhh, where do you revive a computer and its programs?"

"House of Technology?" INH guessed. "Either way, our research will have to wait another day."

"Or another computer. It's not like—"

They were interrupted however when they heard two portals materialize right in front of the computer. INH would've entered a fighting stance, but they weren't an experienced fighter at the moment. And then, all of a sudden, four humanoid forms were spat out of it and knocked them over. Thankfully, it did not render them unconscious, but it did leave them dazed for a long while that they didn't recognize who the four were.

The disorientation was finally fading. A moment ago, or however long it was since the game was opened, Sayori was dormant as a chr file, and then like something was loading it and pulling her together. It hadn't been so much painful as it was weird. The next thing she knew, she was seeing, and had been flying down this strange tunnel full of psychedelic color. It wasn't long before it reached its end and she flew out of it and straight into someone.

And now she was here, having knocked over the one she bumped into. As she struggled to open her eyes, she was able to register her surroundings. She seemed to be in a room with a cool temperature, the floor was smooth stone as she lay face down…and there was a hand on her chest. She could also feel that this hand was connected to a left arm, so she turned her head to her left, and saw a woman in a suit and a Guy Fawkes mask covering her face. And an unconscious Natsuki was on top of her, the short girl's head resting on the woman's ample bosom.

Seeing her fellow club member here as well jolted Sayori fully awake as she quickly pushed herself to her knees and stood up to see what was going on. She quickly spotted Yuri in the same predicament Sayori had been, except she was on the mysterious woman's right arm.

She then took the time to take a better look at her surroundings. The whole interior seemed to look like one of those temples in some place called Greece. But all the computer hardware left her a little confused. Once she looked to her right, what she saw there startled her a bit, but at the same time, she expected it since everyone else was already here.

Monika—the antagonist of the game they came from—was unconscious like the rest of the girls in the club, and was lying on top of another woman, who was somehow featureless. The only things certain about here were that this woman was of young adult age, and had a considerable cup size that the former club president was resting her head on. And yet the woman was also familiar for some reason.

Understandably, the entire situation was extremely confusing to her. "W-what's going on?!" she cried out.

(Insert Name Here) woke with a start, finally coming to her senses…and feeling an entire body on top of her.

"W-what's going on?!"

INH woke with a start, turned to the voice's direction, and recognized who it was. "Sayori?" she called out.

The schoolgirl faced her and gasped, somehow finally recognizing the woman. "(Insert Name Here)?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I… I don't know. One moment I was asleep, and the next I found all of us here. Where is here, anyway?"

Thai surprised INH. "Wait… All? You mean…"

"Natsuki and Yuri are on your friend, I think. And…Monika's on top of you."

A glance later to her bosoms and indeed the former club president was resting her head there, which was turned away from Sayori. It was a good thing she and Anon were females at the moment; this would've been extremely (more) awkward had they been guys.

"Okay…" She then moved to gently wake her up.

"Where is this place?" Sayori asked.

"I think it's best to tell everyone at once, don't you?"

At around this moment, Monika opened her eyes. She groaned from the landing, then noticed who she's on and gasped. "(Insert Name Here)?"

"Hey, Monika," the nondescript woman replied in return before getting herself upright, supporting the younger female as she did.

"Wha– where are we?!" a different voice called out.

During this whole exchange, Anon had already gotten up herself, cradling Natsuki into her chest as she did so, and was also helping Yuri to her feet as all three shortly came to their senses. Everyone was now on their feet, but Anon's companions haven't noticed anyone else yet.

"Before I start, what do you two know?" Anon asked the two.

"Everything," Yuri answered. "Like how the world we came from is a visual novel to those who observe it. How we were just characters with scripted lines. How Monika ruined us, made Sayori hang herself with a noose, made me stab myself over and over, and—"

"W-what?!" Sayori blurted out in confusion. "I never told you any of that!" How do they know?!

Anon and her companions immediately turned to Sayori, then saw INH and Monika past her. As if a trigger was flipped, the two club schoolgirls immediately rushed straight for the former Club President with murderous (or at least vengeful) intent. Anon barely managed to block off Yuri with her right arm while grabbing Natsuki by the uniform collar with her left hand, but the latter's surprising strength was too much for her to counter and was being forced to backpedal.

Thankfully for her, INH got in their way and helped Anon get enough leverage to properly pull them away. Or at least better struggle since the two attackers were still trying to escape from their hold.

Being the only one not mixed up in this brawl, Sayori noticed something strange. Monika didn't seem afraid or smug or anything like that. If anything, she looked resigned, as if she wanted to accept her whatever punishment her fellow club members—who were too angry to notice—had in mind for them.

"Why, INH?" Yuri cried out. Why are you protecting her?! You know what she did!"

"They're right," agreed Monika, not much spirit in her tone. "I deserve it. After everything I've done, they should."

"You heard her! Let us at her!" Natsuki said to INH.

"You don't know why she did it!" she countered. "Anon and I spent hours with her piecing together her motives!"

"Why does it matter?! It doesn't excuse her actions!"

"Let's hear her out."

Sayori's plea startled her club-mates enough for them to stop and turn to face her.

"I won't forgive her for what she has done, but it's best to know her motivations before we can truly judge her."

"Oh yeah," INH remembered. "I also said I would explain where we are."

"Yeah, you did say that."

INH and Anon proceeded to explain to the club everything they felt was appropriate to tell them about the Trope Pantheons. This includes the fact that their story is public knowledge (at least to those who have bothered to see their story), and that means they know everything, including Monika's transgressions.

Monika then proceeded to explain just how she became self-aware within the game while seeing her classmates fall under specific routines over and over again, and feeling jealousy over not being able to be a love interest to the player while in-game. Of course, now that they're all out here, it seems they're now just as self-aware as any human being.

Somewhere along the way, Yuri and Natsuki explained how they got to know everything that had taken place during the previous Acts. While sailing down the tunnels they had suddenly found themselves in when their chr files were loaded, they had been bombarded by memories pertaining to those prior Acts. That was probably why they were unconscious for longer before Anon woke them.

"…And then when Sayori took the position of Club President," Monika finished her narration. "She became self-aware just like me, and that's when she went crazy possessive just like I have due to her depression."

"Umm… I don't think that's what happened," Yuri said.

"I'm sure I'd know if I did go crazy," added Sayori. "I'm not even that depressed anymore."

"They must have come from a different ending," Anon guessed as she addressed the club.

"Different ending? You mean our story has branches in it?" asked Natsuki. "Besides when players had to choose between me, Yuri, and Sayori in Act 1?

"Not exactly, but a certain action does affect the ending," said INH.

"It seems that Monika came from a playthrough where the player just played the game normally," Anon added. "While the rest came from a playthrough where the player used different save files to spend time with each girl (at least where gameplay permitted)." She then produced a tablet device. "Here's a letter that comes right after the former."

She opened the image gallery and sifted through the images until she got to her screenshot of Monika's letter. She then showed it to the club, each member reading it from beginning to end. Once they were done, the anger Yuri and Natsuki had have long since ebbed.

Monika then asked, "So…what happens now?"

"Well, first off, we'll take you to the Court of the Gods to update them on the current situation," INH explained. "Given what just happened to this place, I bet we have folks coming right now to see what's going on."

"And during your "trial", the folks at the House of Craft will revamp this temple from accommodating one computer to making room for four school girls," added Anon.

Yuri seemed to get what she was implying. "Four? You mean…"

"Unfortunately, I don't think the Court will remove Monika just to convenience you three; this temple is supposed to represent Surprise Creepy, and Monika is a source of and catalyst for much of it."

"But she doesn't have to stay in the club, right?" asked Natsuki.

"Actually…" Sayori trailed off as she twiddled her fingers.

The short school girl immediately realized what the club president was implying. And it did not please her or Yuri. "Seriously?! You want her back?!"

"She's been through a lot, and I admit I probably would've done the same or worse in her place."

INH then said, "I'll have to agree with you there. One player once decided to start the game after removing Monika's chr file first. The game shut down after some short freak-out dialogue. And when they started it up again, it just showed you… and a noose. And the words "Now everyone can be happy.""

Thanks to that strange tunnel thing, everyone knew of Sayori's self-hanging in the first Act, having been "programmed" to do so by Monika. "You don't have to sugarcoat it," Yuri then turned to face Sayori. "Are you certain you want her back in the club?"

She nodded. "I do. But I'm still Club President."

"Then, she's—"

"You're still Club Vice President, Yuri."

This confused Monika. If Yuri and Sayori were keeping their positions… "Then what position am I taking?"

"Advisor," Sayori stated.

Needless to say, Monika was startled by this, "Me? As Advisor?"

"I… still need a little help in being Club President." She twiddled her fingers as she laughed nervously.

Yuri and Natsuki glanced at one another for a moment as they thought this over. Soon enough, they spoke out their opinions.

"All right. I'll trust you, Sayori," Yuri said.

Natsuki huffed as she folded her arms. "If it's true that her sins are well-known, how people feel around her will have to be punishment enough."

Monika bowed to Sayori. "I shall accept what has been offered me."

While that was happening, Anon was thinking to herself. I wonder if things between them would ever become good again?

Flash Forward...

It was the most terrifying minute of their entire life in the Pantheon so far. Well, for Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki anyway; Monika's was when Ashi cornered her and delivered her death threat for her transgressions against her clubmates. Apparently, it triggered some very painful memories in the ex-assassin's life.

Anyway, Baldi entered the room, in pursuit of Monika, who kept her distance as she baited him to circle the table between them. Since it was she who answered his notebook wrong (not that it's possible to answer it correctly in the first place save the first one he provides), he ignored the other girls as he stepped around them on his way to the wrong-answerer, and as she left the room, the teacher kept his usual pace all the while.

As soon as he was out of sight, and his ruler-smacking out of hearing range, after letting out a breath they didn't realize they were holding, the club president made a decision.

"I'm going to help her."

Yuri and Natsuki were surprised with this verdict. "What?!" they both gasped.

"After everything she's done to you, to all of us, you wish to…" Yuri trailed off, still not quite getting Sayori's reasoning for her decision.

"We can't keep hating her forever, and not even she deserves whatever Baldi will do to her."

"But still!" Natsuki argued, though it was admittedly a weak one.

"Don't worry. I won't ask you to help me. You two just get to safety."

The club president then proceeded to leave the room. A few seconds later, Yuri immediately followed her. "Sayori, wait for me!"

Feeling the peer pressure, and seeing Sayori's point, Natsuki went after them. "Dammit, Monika…" she muttered to herself.

Back to the present…

Given what the Pantheon is, who knows? Anonymous finished her thought.

"What's going on here?"

The six ladies turned to face whoever was at the entrance, they saw Fix-It Felix.

"About time you showed up!" greeted (Insert Name Here) We've been waiting here for about an hour now…

"Who are these gir…" The miracle repairman trailed off as he recognized one of them. "Wait, is that Monika from the game in this temple? Why is she out here?"

"That… is quite the story," Anon answered.

Two days later…

The temple that used to hold a simple computer now has what looks like a standard modern Japanese classroom. It was the first day of the Doki Doki Literature Club (there were already a few other Literature Clubs in the Pantheon, hence the Doki Doki in the name), and they have already attracted a few members, despite Monika's actions being common knowledge. At a corner was a large table with several trays of cupcakes, thermos bottles filled with hot tea and other drinks, cups for serving them in, and a few other snacks.

Among the applicants was a purple winged unicorn, whom Natsuki (quickly losing her composure as she squealed) shortly ran over to glomp, only for her to he stopped short by a magical aura and was shortly brought to her senses. Sayori and Yuri giggled as their classmate was returned to her side, who then immediately acted as if that never happened.

"Umm… Am I missing something?" asked the pony.

"Natsuki likes cute things," Monika explained. "I don't think we expected someone like you to appear. We don't exactly have magical talking horses in our game."

"I see. So, what do you have to offer in this literature club?"

"Well, that's what this orientation is for, Miss…" Sayori asked for her name.

Deciding it's not important right now to say she's a princess, she answered, "Twilight Sparkle."

"Ah, yes!"

Monika leaned over a bit to Sayori to suggest something. "Why don't you start from the top?"

"Right!" The club president turned to the gathered folks. "It's a pleasure to meet you all! Welcome to the Doki Doki Literature Club!"

What followed that was an eventful day. Yes, most of the new members did avoid Monika, but there are those who didn't, such as Twilight, who merely said she "has befriended people who have done far worse than her (Monika)". Still, there was hope for the club, and tomorrow will be open to plenty more adventures for all the girls. No longer stuck in a computer program, they have the whole Pantheon to explore.

Nightelf37: And… done. I might do more of these, given the lack of them in this site. That said, this will be the only Ascension story I'm writing. Sorry. See ya on Third!