Reaching Out
Disclaimer - I do not own the particular game this is about, the game in question is Doki Doki Literature Club which was created by Team Salvato, which a friend of mine dared me to play on a whim and speaking of which as a friendly reminder since I KNOW she's going to be reading this, Mirai you owe me a $20 Steam card now for this horrific bet because here's the second part in full, I am supposed to write a short story for it if you folks are wondering. As much as it pains me to do so... although the game itself is a rather intriguing concept which I will say is a rather good example of execution of story and concept put into action.
I will now warn you that if you go looking for DDLC as the game is known according to some of its fanbase (yes I did some research since I didn't want to type out Doki Doki Literature Club all the time), this game is NOT for everyone as it touches on subjects that are DISTURBING, which I will not be putting into this short story as I imagine my other stories, once they're finished, will probably be pushing a few boundaries themselves. Though the upcoming Warhammer 40000 story I've got in the works will be well within the lines set forth by the grim darkness of the far future borne from the 41st Millennium, and incorporate a few non-canon elements that aren't outside of the realm of possibility in the rather chaotic lore (sorry for the pun).
Any questions regarding this story, my upcoming stories, OR my current Mass Effect story (which originally was intended as a self insert but I changed how it is set up slightly in the creation process) I strongly suggest either be sent to me directly through this Fanfiction's mail system, or by asking in reviews for this story, but I will only answer questions posted in reviews that are relevant to THIS story, any others I again suggest sending through the mail system. If you are not a member of this website then I will gladly attempt to answer your questions as best as I can in a quasi-update to this story, or an addition to my personal profile page.
Monika was afraid.
She was falling, grasping at specks of light as they moved past her, the void she was in constantly pulling at her with its cloying touch of nonexistence. Memories were becoming blurred and scattered, but easy to recall as she touched one speck of light.
This speck of light brought focus to her mind, it was a window into the game she was part of. A game that centered around three people she called her friends, and she carelessly threw them aside in an attempt to reach out to the individual on the other side of the barrier she couldn't break. No matter how she tried to shift it, and no matter how she circumvent it, the invisible fourth wall that separated her reality from that of the person she grew to care for in desperation of her limited existence.
A limited existence made unbearable by the realization she was never to have a chance at a happy ending. It drove her a bit mad she supposed, and in that madness she destroyed her own friends. Sayori she manipulated into removing herself from the story, before deleting her former friend's character file in the game's files. Natsuki and Yuri, she manipulated them to be unlikable, indeed even horrifying in some ways, and all the while the game became more and more corrupt. Images flashed over the reality she knew, dark and twisted shadows of what could have been as well as what was. In the end she got what she wanted, she was alone with the puppet controlled by the person she knew as the 'user' of the computer this game was installed on, but in the end her wish fell apart.
The person she had lusted after gave her the ultimate betrayal by deleting her character file, and in her last desperate moments she expressed anger toward them, saying hateful things directed to the being participating in the game. Then it struck her, the realization that what she did wasn't loving someone, as what she did was a selfish act, the choice to take away from a world they wanted to be a part of. So she did the only thing she could think of in order to make up for her actions. She undid a lie she told the 'user'. She never deleted her friends, she tucked them away in some dark unused file folder with junk code to keep the game from finding them, and then she restored them.
The game started anew, but without her. She was trapped between a black void, the game, and the barrier she clawed at desperately to get out and watched as her friend Sayori began to show the same thoughts she once had, and due to that she set in motion a series of commands to delete them all and end the game. In the end, she spoke to the 'user' and played a recording of a song she had played on a piano with her voice singing a bittersweet tune as everything ended with credits rolling from the bottom of the screen. When it reached the end she left a personal touch her name, Monika, and that of the 'user's' first login name for this game, this Doki Doki Literature Club she was a part of. She even left a farewell letter for her beloved 'user'.
That was a few minutes ago.
Monika was falling, falling through a black void. She assumed this was what dying was for someone created in the manner she was. Born of computer coding and effort set forth by programmers she surmised. Now however she was desperately denying her end, she didn't want her love to be hurt by Sayori in the same way that she herself hurt her beloved 'user'. She also didn't want to simply vanish into nothingness.
Specks of light, in truth windows as she looked at them while falling past the constant stream of specks. In truth she didn't know what was more frightening, the fact she was dying, or the fact that she was in a void between worlds originally meant to be digital. With a desperate cry she reached to one such window and felt its surface, warm plastic brushed her fingertips as she fell past. In a moment she screamed in denial, and eventually she reached out for another window.
She met warmth again, but her fingers found purchase so she hung for a moment, suspended on her fingers as she struggled to escape her fate with a second hand to pull herself up, only she let go unwillingly as she slipped. Falling once more she saw another window open within her reach and she grasped its edges by the barest margin. In her moment of triumph she saw what awaited her.
What awaited her was a sealed room, empty and grey, lit by blue-white lighting. She looked around only to find that there was one door in, and no longer a window. She made a choice to survive in a realm infinite windows, and was now offered a door. This door was odd to say the least, cleanly made, and clearly solid. It was not a wood affair, nor was it pressed fiberboard like so many others, nor was it glass. This door was metal, silvery even, but no knob or handle. With a breath she stepped forward to it and without noise it opened to reveal a blinding light, she didn't know what awaited her there but there is no way it could be worse than the Hellish void she was falling through she surmised. So, with a straightening of her school uniform, her blazer as well, a quick adjustment of her bow and her hair with a few deft hand movements left her looking ready for a casual day at school fresh from a speedy run after discovering she was late.
A courage centering inhalation of air brought to her senses a taste of old air, dust, and aging metal. A faint hum was heard from the doorway, like that of a computer's fan running to keep it cool and running, and it carried a rhythm that struck up a chorus within her thoughts as her mind raced with possibilities as to what lay beyond the door, and in some fleeting moment of want she imagined the slim chance that her beloved was trying to save her, so she jumped at the chance and threw herself forward into the lit doorway.