Space Oddity - A Yume Nikki fanfic by Herringway
Rated T
Friendship/Angst
Space Oddity is a song by David Bowie, from his 1969 self-titled album.
Yume Nikki (Translated: Dream Diary) is a 2004 surreal horror/exploration game made by KIKIYAMA on RPG Maker 2003.
I own none of the characters, or any of the names mentioned therein. I am not making a cent off this fic.
This is something I've been toying with for a while. I've played Yume Nikki and I enjoyed the Spaceship, and Space Oddity seemed like a fitting track that Seccom Masada-sensei would play in his floating white tin can.
Also I think this is going to be one of the longest single-chapter fics I've written thus far.
I'm sorry for a lack of updates, writer's block sucks and I'm often wondering if writing is worth it anymore because no one reads these fics. If you liked it, pass it along to your friends, please. Reviews are food, don't let this author starve!
Also, we're going to play a game called 'Find the Shout-Outs'. Read through and see if you can find some real-world things that I've referenced in this fic!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Hey look a spacer *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"That was wonderful, Masada-sensei," Madotsuki said with a smile, looking up from her porcelain white teacup as the sounds of the piano notes faded. It occured to her that everything in Masada-sensei's spaceship was very monochromic, from the ivory and ebony of the piano, to the bare, pale walls of the rooms, accented only by the black void of space visible from the many windows and portholes. Masada smiled with his funny eyes (just his eyes, as he had no visible mouth) and the sound of his voice echoed in her ears and resonated throughout the room.

"Thank you, Suki. It does me good to know that my music is appreciated." He replied in a soft, almost whimsical tone. She giggled at the sound of an old nickname. It was a relief to hear a familiar voice, as opposed to Poniko's silent treament, or Uboa's unsettling, muted scream. Masada was a reminder of a better time, before all of... well, all of this. Madotsuki had always been a very vivid dreamer, and had a good memory for things, such as her dreams, or where other people left things they thought had been missing.

She remembered the faces and names of people that she had met only once. She could remember complex sequences of numbers and letters, and she could remember how things were supposed to sound.

This is why she took up piano when she was younger, she could hear a song and play it back almost automatically. It was during these lessons where she met Seccom Masada, a scrawny young man, maybe twenty-seven years old, with sleek, jet-black hair that hung down to about his chin. His skin was ghostly pale, and he wore mostly black. Or at least, he did whenever she arrived for her lessons. He was an odd character in life, for certain, but she favored him above others in her life. Monochromic he may be, he had always brought light and color into her life through music.

She brought her focus back to him, trying to stiffle a yawn. "May I use your bed, Masada-sensei? I'm so tired..." She murmured sleepily. She thought it amusing, how she could be tired and require sleep in her own dreams. Masada nodded in a sage manner, motioning towards where the bedroom was. She nodded and stood, but Masada's clearing throat made her linger a moment longer.

"Remember, Suki. The Media Monkeys and their Junket Junkies will try to invite you to the Plastic Pantomime. Throw the invites away." He said with the same amount of whimsy, before turning back to his piano and starting to play again. Madotsuki looked thoughtful for a moment. She had never understood his little sayings like that. It must've been an 'artist' thing. She shrugged her shoulders and turned in the doorway leading to the bedroom, watching Masada play.

This time, the piano sounded different compared to it's normal 'spacey' sort of tone. The tune was unfamiliar; it must have been one of those artists from another country that he had loved so much, someone that she hadn't heard of. Masada had mentioned many in passing, among them, names such as Lennon, Cobain, Stevens, and Adams. She envied him and his diverse taste in music.

"This is Ground Control to Major Tom,
You've really made the grade,
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear,
Now it's time to leave the capsule, if you dare."

She tilted her head. She had heard this song before, a long time ago. But she couldn't remember where. She kept silent. She remembered what he was like in life when he played piano; it was as if he had separated himself from the room itself, and was alone with the piano. As if to prove this point, Masada-sensei continued, not looking up from the piano.

"This is Major Tom to Ground Control.
I'm stepping through the door,
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way,
And the stars look very different today...

Here I am, sitting in a tin can far above the world.
Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do..."

He looked actually sad, and he stopped, before getting up forcefully from the piano. She didn't dare move to him, for fear of disrupting him. But then again, he looked... strange. Well, stranger than usual. She watched as Masada-sensei made his way to the tiny table, and poured himself a cup of tea. His hands, with fingers that seemed to glide from key to key on his beloved piano, were shaking violently, as if he were cold. He opened what appeared to be a drawer on the side of the table... she had never seen that before (neither the hidden drawer, or Masada-sensei act this way).

He reached inside and retracted what appeared to be a black sugarbowl, with a skull-and-crossbones sign on it. Madotsuki's eyes went wide... she had never seen that before, and panic went through her body. She wanted to go to him, to tell him to stop, but she found herself moving backwards instead, trying to go to the safety of the bed. She didn't want to see Masada like this. Something about the sugarbowl troubled her, aside from the poison symbol on it. She curled into the warm comfort of the bed and tried to push it all out of her mind, and try not to think that Masada-sensei would kill himself. He was such a nice man, one of the nicest anyone had been to her.

She could hear a frustrated groan come from the kitchen, and a frantic 'ting'-ing sound of something being stirred. She pulled the covers closer to her and tried to sleep through the haunting noise. There was a loud swallowing noise, followed by a sigh of relief. She didn't dare look up, but she did smile... if Masada-sensei was feeling better, then so was she. Maybe it wasn't poison in the sugarbowl after all; perhaps it was just nerves, and he needed a drink to calm himself down. With that thought in mind, she fell asleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Oh look another spacer *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She awoke with a start. Red. She could see red. Why could she see red?

A sound. An alarm. A warning. She was awake, but she wasn't. She threw the covers off and looked out the window, and her mouth gaped in shock and awe. Oh no, she thought, pressing her hands to the glass, We're falling!

Stars zoomed past the white ship, and she remembered. Masada? Where was he? She returned to the main control room, where the piano was. Masada was rooted in front of the piano, watching out the large window with the same horror, before looking to her. No. He wasn't looking at her. He was looking through her, as if she wasn't there (and the fact that his eyes seemed to roll lazily in opposite directions didn't help, either). She ran to him and threw her arms around his scrawny waist, buring her face in his chest. He draped his arms around her shoulders and waited for the end to come, only fleetingly aware of what was going on, and vaguely certain of the young woman in his arms.

The ship crashed onto the surface of the reddish-brown planet, and surprisingly, they were both unscathed. Perhaps this was the magic of her dream-world. She could not be hurt. Masada didn't seem to fare well, though. He remained frozen in place, his voice lethargic and labored. "S-Suki?" He asked. "Where are we? What is this place?"

"I'm not sure, Masada-sensei... I'll go get help, okay? I'll find someone who can help us." She said, rubbing the older man's back. "We'll be okay. Sing me that song, Masada-sensei. About Major Tom and Ground Control." Masada looked confused for a moment, trying to recall exactly what she was talking about. Seeing this, Madotsuki started the little bit she knew. "This is Major Tom to Ground Control. I'm stepping through the door,"And that's as far as she got before Masada started singing.

"And I'm floating in a most peculiar way,
And the stars look very different today...

Here I am, sitting in a tin can far above the world.
Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do..." Madotsuki smiled and nodded, clapping her hands gleefully.

"That was the one, Masada-sensei! Such a lovely song. What's it called?" She was trying to keep him focused; he appeared to be fading. Why? Why was Masada disappearing? She didn't have a knife in her possession, so he couldn't have been killed by her stabbing. The knife would have made him recoil in fear, anyhow. Knives made him nervous.

"I-It's... Space Oddity. By David Bowie." He replied hesitantly, as if he were slowly giving away a closely guarded secret. "It's... it's one of my favorites... I think. I can't remember." He shook his head. "S-Suki. Go... get help. I'll... I'll stay here." His voice was losing it's familiarity; it was distorting from her memory. She nodded and gave his black-gloved hand a reassuring squeeze, before she left the ship and touched down on the red planet. Mars. She would call it 'Mars' for future reference in her Dream Diary.

She looked around. Mars seemed to expand in every direction, the ground was littered with rocks and it was so... so barren. So desolate. Where to go? In the distance, she could see what appeared to be a mountain. Maybe she could get a better view from there. She had to slowly coax her feet into walking again. That's it, one foot in front of the other, there we go.

As she left the familiarity and comfort of the spaceship, little doubts started to form in her head. Was there anyone else on this planet, or was she just wasting time? Would she find anything atop the mountain, or was it a hopeless endeavor? Time would tell. She recalled her Dream Diary. How would she describe the events she just experienced therein? She always tried to put a positive spin on her dreams... how would she do so with this? I meant with Masada-sensei today, and he played piano. I learned of a new song today, by someone named Bowie. And we crashed on Mars and it seems like there's no hope for us here. ...Okay, that was no good. She was becoming more of a pessimist with these dreams, it seemed.

The fact that the land was so barren was a bit surprising. There were a few places within The Nexus' many worlds where there was at least something or somebody to encounter, be it human-looking or a creature of some sort. They never reacted, though. She sighed, kicking away one of the reddish-brown stones, watching it ricochet off of one of the many other stones like it, before skittering to a stop. She sighed again for good measure, before trudging along what seemed to be a predetermined path, that stretched on for an eternity and a half, before stopping at the base of the mountain. The landscape never changed, even here, at the base of the mountain. Her tummy rumbled... she was hungry. No. Push the thought aside. This is a dream. You're not hungry, she thought bitterly to herself, shutting out horrid memories of things her 'friends' called her. She swallowed dryly and began to climb. Surprisingly, the mountain wasn't very steep, and she was able to climb up relatively quickly.

Upon reaching the summit, she turned in all four directions, and her sad suspicions were confirmed: Nothing. There was nothing here, except for Masada's downed ship. She let out a groan of frustration, and stomped both her feet, fists clenched. There had to be someone here... but how would she find out? Why didn't she have a spyglass effect or something? Maybe I've got something that can... she thought, squeezing her already-shut eyes tighter. This way, she could see the effects she had already collected up to this point. "Hmm... Umbrella, Knife, Bicycle (dammit, why didn't I use that instead of walking all this way...), Yuki-Onna, Midget, Cat..." She stopped. Cat! This could work. She nodded and eased the tension in her eyes, and reached her hands up. She was now a cat. Maybe she could attract somebody this way; someone that could help them. She reached up one of her 'paws' and called softly. "Mrrow, mrrow! Mrrow, mrrow!" Nothing. Of course, they might have been far away. She tried again. "Mrrow, mrrow! Mrrow, mrrow! Mrro..." She stopped and her jaw dropped, and a slight fear came over her. She could see something white floating up in the sky. A few white things, to be precise. UFOs. They were too far to be of any help, but... what if they weren't here to be helpful? What if they were searching for Masada's downed ship? What would they do to them? She crouched to the ground and wanted to weep, but found herself unable to.

She risked opening her eyes for a moment. Everything was hazy and unfocused, and it seemed to take longer than it should for clarity in her vision. What she saw caused her to tilt her head in confusion. There was a small hole in the ground here. And she could hear a muffled sound from it. Maybe... maybe she should go down there. There might've been someone more helpful down here; someone more readily accessible, and someone who wouldn't wish them harm. But then, maybe the opposite was true... maybe there was nobody nice here. Or nobody at all. She squeezed her eyes tighter and selected the Midget effect. She smiled with a hint of victory as she found that she could fit down there nicely now.

The sound she heard was a little louder, and more defined. A sad melody, almost like a funeral dirge, with a mix of soft sobs. It was a little dark down here, too. She touched the cool metal of a railing and immediately thought of KyuuKyuu-kun, but dismissed that thought as quickly as it came. There was no rubbing sound here, and no eerie, red-eyed, gleefully chilling stare. She took a few deep breaths to further calm herself and continued down the stairs. Her footsteps echoed in the small cavern-like location. There was a familiar smell in the air, almost like metal and disinfectant. Her mouth opened in realization. This was the subway she used to take so see the city, back in the days when she would go outside and be one of the people. But something was amiss. It was dark here, like the power had been cut. And it wasn't hard to see why.

On the tracks was an overturned traincar, and another torn in half. She bit her lip. Something about this was painfully familiar, but she couldn't remember why. She turned to go deeper into the subway, and she jumped in fright. A large, blue chicken leg with a single red eye appeared to be crying. Madotsuki wondered how it was possible that she had missed it. A name. It needed a name. She tried to make conversation with it, if nothing else, just to ease the tension she suddenly felt. "Hello... Mars-san." She said, forcing a smile. Mars-san never said a word, but let out a gasping sort of sob. "Mars-san? What happened?"

"So young..." It replied. Madotsuki blinked. "Young man. High on something. Ain't that a shame. Why? Why?" Mars-san was speaking gibberish. The words he spoke floated around in her head, and realizations were slowly dawning on her. There was an accident in the subway, that much was obvious.

"Who?" Madotsuki asked, though she feared she knew already.

"Musical man."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Final Spacer *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was a Tuesday. She remembered this because the special at the subway's restaurant was a roast chicken on Tuesdays. Herbal-roasted chicken, with grated blue cheese melted on top. Madotsuki was on her way into the city, because the museum had opened up a new exhibit about Mars. She'd always had an interest in Outer Space and the many mysteries surrounding it. She was sitting at one of the tables, watching for her train. It would be here very soon.

Her concentration on her thoughts was immediately broken by the overly loud ramblings of a man coming down the stairs. God, she hated when people were loud. There was nothing worse than losing your train of thought because some idiot was shouting at the top of his lungs about everything and nothing all at once. But... there was familiarity in the voice. But it couldn't be...

She turned to the stairs and she saw him. Masada-sensei. What was he doing here? Normally he would be teaching Poniko's piano lessons at about this time. As a matter of fact, Madotsuki had left Masada's house not that long ago, and he looked fine. But here... no, it couldn't have been. It was just someone who looked like Masada-sensei, with his hair the same style, the same black clothing and pale skin. Masada didn't have a lazy eye like that before. He was shouting something about someone coming to take him away to a farm of some sort, and men in white coats. It was amusing to watch, admittedly. When someone else identified him as 'Masada', though, he acted differently. Paranoid. He looked to Madotsuki and mouthed a word, something she didn't readily catch at first. However, she had learned how to read lips in school (which was how she knew what they said about her weight, her looks, and that creepy music teacher she had), and read the word as 'Sorry'.

And that's when it happened.

Masada jumped in front of an oncoming train.

And she could do nothing, except stared, mouth open, tears cascading into her chicken.

The police could barely identify him.

The autopsy read that his death was caused by collision with a train.

They had found heroin in his blood.

He was only twenty-seven years old.

She remembered this all painfully well.

She never went out in public again.

She pinched her cheek.