Black.
Stop.
White.
Stop.
Static.
Stop.
Pain.
Stop.
Code, flying all around me, drowning me, entangling me.
Swirling around me like flames.
Flames that engulfed my home, as I watched helplessly as my father killed himself, and my entire family, and neon
I screamed his name, the last thing I remembered being the eye seared on his wrist.
An eye seared on the cover of a book, the portrait of Markov. Finding clues, searching, prying everywhere, for a hint to solve this mystery, falling deeper and deeper under the gaze of the third eye.
Eye's staring at me, emerald, pink, blue, purple, red. Four are friends, one is betrayal.
Neon brought back, still burned. Neon hates Emerald, both like sisters.
Red traps us all, almost ending it all.
Knock him back, back into the fire.
Neon remembers, ends evil's blood line.
Tries to escape, everyone is fine.
Red returns, ends purple, pink, blue
Is determined to end your hue
Emerald intervenes, discards red, the ends justify the means.
Emerald tears float to the sky.
Emerald shatters, gone to the night.
Orange cries begging for her return.
Nothing happens, he begins to burn.
It's Your fault she died.
Stop…
Emerald swirls up, stares at you from the abyss.
Stop.
Your fault…
Stop it!
Emerald begins to crack once more.
Y̵̠͖͉̱͖̾͗̓̋͆̾̽̀̀̾̿̇͝Ȏ̵͍͍͉͓̠̹̱̫̐̍͗͐̀̀̈́̽͠Ŭ̵̡̧̡̹̝͉̤͕̔̆̇̅̋͆͂̍́̔͘R̵̰̄͂́̑̍́͘͘͜ ̵̡͇̫̭̇̾̑͒̔̃̈̈́̿́͝F̴̥̲̜̭̅͛̈̒̆̈́̅͋̒̾̕͝͝Ą̸̧̛̻̺̫̬̲͎̏̓̏́̽̓̉̉Ử̷̡̘̖̬͙̦̩̪̭̰͎̊̕͝L
Emerald screams and shatters.
STOP!
Hikaru's P.O.V
I jolted up gasping, breathing heavily, clutching my chest.
Hikaru: It…it was just a dream…
I looked up, and glanced at a poster advertising the school festival.
Hikaru: D-Dammit…
I got up and took a shaky breath.
It had been two months ever since I had seen the player.
I had chosen the players second option, to go save HER… but he sent me back here, and told me to wait.
For what, I didn't know.
None of the girls, or Anon doesn't exist anymore.
Heck, nothing exists anymore.
The only thing that's here is an interpretation of my warehouse the player made.
He left me plenty of books to read in case I got bored.
I never read them though.
They just remind of, well you know.
Literature.
I had such Fun at the club…
You know, before I Killed everyone by leading them to that deathtrap of a lab…
Pyro: Stop it, Hikaru. Thinking about this kind of stuff won't bring them back.
I sighed, and Glared mentally at my other half silently.
Oh, you're probably wondering up with that, me being able to talk to my fake persona like it's a real person.
To be truthful, I don't know why-or how- I'm able to talk Pyro. The Player told me That Pyro was supposed to be My original programming. He was supposed to be my identity, And Hikaru Callaghan was just my old name in my pre-written backstory.
Then again, Player told me That Hikaru was based off his real-life personality. He said Maybe The power of adapting to the script worked a little two well, and Once I began trying to learn more about my father and my past, the script editing program read the same articles I was reading, gave me a second personality to fall back on. He said my design was only as complex enough to hold one persona at a time. If there was too much identity data flowing through my system, I could overload the entire script and bring down the game.
So, he had to adjust my code a little. He Made it so that I can only hold one persona at a time. The other one would just float inside my codex (Or Brain, if we're not talking digital body parts here). When my other persona was needed, they would switch places. The one in the codex would assume control of the character file, while the other would flee to the codex.
That doesn't mean I'm completely cut off from Pyro however. He can appear as a ghostly (Or digitally) Apparition next to me, or he contact me with the codex's power through my mind.
As Sonic the hedgehog once said: Strange, isn't it?
Anyway, since I don't read any of the books that Player left for me, I just talk to Pyro whenever I'm bored.
Hikaru: What do you want me do? I am to blame for what happened. If I hadn't flown my big mouth to Mr. Akadenchi, or got obsessed with investigating the portrait of Markov, it wouldn't have led me to the lab.
Pyro: Stop being so hard on yourself. It wasn't your fault. Even if you hadn't investigated the POM, Anon would just have found another way get his greedy hands on Monika. You did your best-
I slammed my fist into the side of the bookshelf.
Hikaru: NO I DIDN'T! IF I DID MY BEST, I WOULD COULD HAVE STOP WHAT HAPPENED! SAYORI, NATSUKI, YURI, AND MONIKA! I COULD HAVE STOPPED ALL OF IT. SO SHUT UP!
Pyro: No. I'm not gonna shut up. It isn't your fault. They would say that too. Besides, this isn't the time to play the blame game. We must escape.
Hikaru: Escape from what?! We're not even in danger here! Player told us to wait!
I could sense The frustration from my counterpart.
Pyro: Think about it. What if he put us back in this warehouse for a reason? Maybe this is some kind of test.
I snorted at that.
Hikaru: "Test?" What is he, Mr. Miyagi, And I'm Daniel-san?
Pyro: I'm serious, Hikaru. You already tried walking out the front Door, right? It's just miles and miles of shadows and darkness?
I sigh annoyingly as I layed down on my bed.
Hikaru: Yes. It leads to no-where. Face, it, Pyro. There's no way out of this dump.
Pyro: Hikaru, Have you even tried looking at this places code?
Hikaru: In case you forgot, pyro, I don't have that ability-
Pyro: Yes you do, remember? You accidently absorbed Monika's, Libby's, and Anon's powers.
Hikaru: … Oh. Right.
I mentally face palmed myself.
Hikaru: I'm an idiot.
Pyro: I know.
I sighed as I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. This conversation was going way too fast for my liking.
Hikaru: Are you sure This is a test? I mean, for all we know, the player had no intention of helping us save Monika.
Pyro: Would You just look at the dang code already?
I sighed, and nodded. I sat up, sat cross-legged, and closed my eyes.
I only saw the blackness of my eyelids. I opened my eyes frustrated
Hikaru: This isn't working! We'll never get out of here!
Pyro: Calm down, Hikaru. Take a deep breath, and try once more. You can't give up immediately. Monika and the girls are depending on you. Try Again. And this time, think of what your trying to save.
I sighed into my hands, and nodded.
Hikaru: I know, I know. Your right.
I sat down, and slowly closed my eyes, once more.
Pyro:Breathe….
I inhaled shakily.
Pyro: Calm down, and just breathe…
I nodded, and exhaled slowly.
Pyro: NoW, reAch oUT…
I extended my mind to the space around me, becoming completely relaxed, as if I was becoming one with the digital realm I was locked in. it felt like I was vibrating intensely, and suddenly, everything became clear.
Pyro: WHAT DO YOU SEE?
I opened my eyes. I was no longer in the warehouse. Well technically I was, but everything was different.
It was like the world had lost color, and everything had gone to black and white.
And each of the objects… my bed, the book case, heck, even the walls. Their masses had changed from color, metal, leather, cotton…To glowing Numbers.
Data…
So much Data…
And I was feeding off it…
It was giving me so much information…
Too much information…
It was twisting me…
Turning me…
It was too much…
Oh, dear god…
Is this what Monika saw every time she peaked at the code?
How did she not go insane?!
Then again…
Maybe this was the Place that drove her to kill her friends…
Hikaru: It's so much…It hurts…
I curled up into a ball on my bed.
I could feel whispers shooting through my brain, telling me pointless information, Random quotes from my friends, and even snippets of conversation I had never heard before.
Natsuki: I'm gonna tell everyone…
?: Me Tattletail! Me LOVE you!
?: Alright Joey, I'm here. Let's see what you wanted to show me.
Monika: I sacrificed everything for us to be together.
?: You dirty Brother killer.
Yuri: My heart pounds…
?: …They might forcefully stuff you into a Freddy Fazbear suit.
Sayori: Get out of my head…
?: …You may call me, "Infinite".
T?N?: The echo in the Mirror…
Pyro: Hikaru! HIKARU!
Hikaru: H-huh?
I noticed I was rocking back and forth, breathing heavily. I glanced around, and saw a circle of fire had been burnt around me. The fire seemed to prevent code from flowing towards me.
Hikaru: W-what happened?
Pyro: I'm not exactly sure. Your core coding starting overloading for no reason. Maybe it was too much exposure to the data source?
I glanced at fire, and noticed it was blocking off any code that could flow towards me.
Hikaru: W-what's up with the F-fire?
Pyro: I had tried to snap you out of it for five times, but it wasn't working. So, I had to tap into Monika's code editing powers to create a barrier to block the code from reaching you.
Hikaru: H-huh… So, I guess you could say…
Pyro: Don't you dare finish that thought, Hikaru.
Hikaru: You.
Pyro: Hikaru, I will harm you.
Hikaru: Just.
Pyro: Hikaru...
Hikaru: Used.
Pyro: Hikaru!
Hikaru: A.
Pyro: HIKARUUUUUUUUUUU!
…
…
…
…
…
…
Hikaru: Firewall?
Pyro deeply inhales.
Pyro: GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I burst out laughing, not being able to hold in my giggling. Oh, man. I couldn't understand why Pyro despised my jokes. I love jokes a lot, and Pyro is technically me, Right?
Pyro: WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU PATHETIC JOKES, SANS- I MEAN HIKARU! WE NEED TO BEAT THIS PUZZEL- I MEAN TEST!
Hikaru: Alright, Alright chill.
I stood up, slightly giggling from my joke, took a deep breath, and examined the area around me.
Hikaru: …It seems like the code is originating from over there.
I pointed to the area where the code seemed to be flowing from- the white board that held all the pictures and info about the third eye, and trigon labs.
Pyro: Great. Now we do what Yeezma threatened to do to Cuzco in the emperor's new groove.
Hikaru: Which is?
Suddenly, a giant hammer fell into my hands.
Pyro: WE SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!
I smiled evilly as I swung the hammer into the wall, smashing it in.
The code flow suddenly stopped, as the gaping hole was exposed, to reveal another room.
There were two beds, a desk in between them, a clothing dresser, and a bunch of books filling them all.
Sitting in the chair, fast asleep, was a boy about my age. He had brown, flat hair, and tan skin.
Hikaru: Player.
The player didn't answer, and snored quietly.
Hikaru: PLAYER!
Deltasanssavepaps: GAH!
The player fell out of his chair and slammed into the floor. He got up groaning, and glared at me.
Deltasanssavepaps: Took you long enough! Geeze… You think being a genius program I designed to tear Prison programs apart would work a little faster to destroy its own prison!
Pyro: You know, even though he created me, he can be a real dick sometimes.
Deltasanssavepaps: OH SHUT UP, PYRO!
Hikaru: Ahem, if we could get back on track with the whole, "Save Monika" Plan we talked about…What? TWO MONTHS AGO?! I would appreciate that.
Deltasanssavepaps: I'm sorry! I just needed to check if you could control your powers! The only way to do was with a test!
Hikaru: Can we just get back on topic please?!
Both Player and Pyro shut up fast.
Deltasanssavepaps: Ok, ok. you obviously can control your abilities. I guess you are ready to leave the DDLC-corp.
Hikaru: Thank you- wait what? What's a ddlc corp?
Deltasanssavepaps: Ah…Um how should I explain this…let's see.
Deltasanssavepaps: The world We both reside in right now is called the "Digital Neo Matrix" Or, if that's a mouthful, call it the "Neo Digitalis"
Hikaru: Can I Just call it the "NEO"? That shortened version is still a mouthful.
Deltasanssavepaps: Yes, yes. Anyway… where was I?
(This is the player talking the whole time.)
Inside the NEO, there resides a million different worlds. From the world, I come from, these are
called "Websites" Or "Videos" Or "Games". But In the NEO, we simply call these worlds "Corps." For example, the world we are in right now is the only fragment remaining of an almost destroyed corp. In My old world, we called this Corp (Or game) "Doki Doki literature club.". But in here, we simply shortened it to the "DDLC-Corp".
Now then, the DDLC corp was never designed to know about its existence to be a game. But somewhere in creating its core character coding, it made a few small errors in the character files. Exactly 500 files to be precise. 397 of these were normal members of the third eye. They only gained sentience of our world being remaining three of those hundred also gained sentience, but it was locked away by a mysterious force. These three turned out to be Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki.
The other 100 of these gained sentience, and special abilities. Unfortunately, most of them didn't survive, due to accidents caused by the third eye. In fact, only three of them survived to teen aged years. These three were Monika, Libby, and Anon-… I mean, Main.
But, DDLC-Corp isn't the only corp out there. If it was, Monika couldn't have been shattered like that, because Main used A program from another game to shatter her. There are millions of other world out there. Luckily, we're only gonna focus on the twenty worlds where Monika's pieces are scattered.
(Annnnd back to regular type of writing.)
Hikaru: Wow… that's a lot of info to digest.
Pyro: Dang…there's that many Corps out there?
Deltasanssavepaps: Yup. The Possibility's are endless in the NEO.
We were all silent for a while.
Deltasanssavepaps: Anyway, I have located where the first fragment of Monika's file is.
Hikaru: Great! So which Corp is it in?
Deltasanssavepaps: That's the thing… I… Uh… don't really know.
Hikaru: THEN HOW CAN YOU KNOW WHERE IT IS?!
Deltasanssavepaps: Hey calm down! I said I found the corps location! I didn't say I knew anything about the corp!
Pyro: Wait a minute… Are you telling me this is the only corp you have messed around with?!
Deltasanssavepaps: Uh… yeah…
Hikaru: Great. Now we're just charging in without knowing what we're getting into!
Deltasanssavepaps: Now, Now! I won't be sending you completely unprepared! You'll still have your fire abilities, and pyro will be going with you.
Hikaru: That's it? What about my other powers? You know the ones that I gained from Main, Libby, and Monika?
Deltasanssavepaps: Um…About that…I can't allow you to use those kinds of powers outside of here.
Hikaru: Why not?!
Deltasanssavepaps: If I allow you to use those powers in different corps beside this one, it could destabilize the whole Corp.
Pyro: Greeeeat. Another downside to this whole mess we are in.
Deltasanssavepaps: Do you wanna save Monika or not?
That shut us both up.
Deltasanssavepaps: Now then…I'm going to send you to this world. Now keep in mind that as soon as you enter the new corp, your appearance will change to accustom to the corp your in.
Hikaru: Is that it? Where do I find the fragment?
Deltasanssavepaps: Most likely it'll be inside an object of importance. Or a person of interest in the corp your located at.
Hikaru: Anything else?
Deltasanssavepaps: Oh yes. If you wish to bring anyone you find in these worlds back to reality with you, you may do so.
Hikaru: Um…Ok?
Deltasanssavepaps: Also once I send you to this first corp, once you collect the first fragment, it will bring you to the next world.
Deltasanssavepaps: lastly, and this is important.
Hikaru: I'm all ears!
Deltasanssavepaps: Beware of the shadow of your past. Beware of the you who kill On que. Beware of the ECHO.
Hikaru: Echo?
Deltasanssavepaps: Good luck!
Hikaru: Hey wait! What do you mean-
Suddenly, the floor at my feet opened up, and I was falling through a bunch of code.
Hikaru: PLAYER!
I glared up at the light above me, then stared down at the code around me.
After a while, the code changed to something black and sticky.
Hikaru: Ink? What the heck?
I felt it cover my entire body before I slammed into concrete.
I rubbed my head and looked around.
I was sitting outside a large building, advertised by a giant sign, with big colorful letters.
SILLYVISION INCORPORATED.
HOME OF BENDY, THE DANCING DEVIL DARLING.