A/N: Guess who finally got around to playing OneShot? Me.
Guess who's emotionally devastated, even after Solstice? Also me.
Therefore, I immediately jumped to my usual coping strategy: writing fanfiction.
I'm using gender-neutral pronouns for Niko so that people's headcanons aren't disturbed. Also, this is kind of an AU or something where the player could talk to Niko directly. I'll probably decide on a name for them by next chapter.
As goes without saying, this story will have lots of spoilers.
A god I am, declared some in fits of egomania, only to be incinerated by divine wrath seconds later.
This god... was not like that at all. In fact, at times it didn't seem as if they even wanted to be a god.
This god was, for lack of a better word, different, as Niko discovered early on.
They didn't seem to take their duties or role very seriously, as they found out. They made jokes constantly, told Niko to do silly things for seemingly no reason other than because they found it funny, and once even jokingly suggested putting the sun in a metal crusher, laughing at their expression afterwards and assuring them it was just a joke and they'd never ask them to do that for real.
They only grew serious on a few occasions. The first was whenever Niko awoke from their dreams. As the child pulled themself from under the covers, the god greeted them quietly and listened to what they said in silence, only speaking to answer Niko's questions. As Niko talked about what they'd dreamed of and queried about whether things were the same for them, the god would respond solemnly, no joking around on their part. For some reason, they seemed to greatly value what Niko would talk about after waking up, though they never said why.
Whenever Niko grew sad, this clearly upset the god as well. They would immediately jump to trying to cheer them up, almost pleadingly telling them they could go home soon and it wouldn't be much longer. Of course they'd see their family again, they reassured them, of course they would, and in their role as a god they would do everything they possibly could to help them.
The god clearly cared for Niko, and truth be told, as time passed the child had begun to see them as a friend as well. After all, without their industrious searching for clues and knowledge they seemed to pull from nowhere, Niko probably would not have made it past the barrens, and they freely admitted that. No shame in needing help, after all, and if said help is some kind of god, even better!
When the god went silent again, after Niko had made it to the elevator and begun their journey up to finally replace the sun, they knew something was wrong. So, with the elevator humming quietly in the background, they said, "Sure is taking awhile."
Silence.
"I guess this elevator leads to the top of the Tower..." they tried, with no response. "Are you excited? We're finally gonna save the world! And I know it's for real this time, cause you're here! And then I'll get to go home for real this time, too! I... I can't wait to see everyone again-"
There was a stifled choking noise from the god.
"Are you okay?" Niko's eyes were bright with worry as they craned their neck upward, knowing the effort to see the god to be futile but doing it anyway. Their hat nearly fell off as they did, and they quickly reached up to hold it in place.
The god's voice finally sounded, and it was despondent. "Niko... I... There's something I need to tell you."
A spark of worry twisted in Niko's stomach. "I'm listening."
"We... I... can't..." They seemed to have trouble speaking, finally spitting it out in a single burst, voice sounding as though the words were rotting in their mouth. "We can't save both, Niko. It's... we can't save both the world and you."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"To... If... If we want to send you home... then, the lightbulb... we have to break it. We have to break the lightbulb."
"What?" A shock ran through them. "But won't that... end the world? This is... this is just another joke, right?" they pleaded. "It's not funny-"
"I WOULDN'T JOKE ABOUT THIS!" snarled the god in sudden anger, causing Niko to flinch and instinctively pull the lightbulb to their chest.
The god seemed to immediately regret their outburst. "I..." They let out a harsh sigh. "Listen. You have to break the lightbulb to return home, but that would also destroy this world. If you put the lightbulb in its proper place, then the sun will be restored, but..." For once, they seemed at a loss for words. "I have no idea what happens to you then. I don't... even know if you'd... survive."
Both of them remained silent for the rest of the ride.
At the top, the pedestal waited patiently for them, waiting for the sun to be placed.
"I can't fix this." the god said at last. "I'm so sorry, Niko."
They both stared at the pedestal without saying a word.
"What should I do?" Niko asked after a few minutes. Surely, they would know which one was the right choice. "Please. I can't..." They let their sentence trail off into oblivion, forever unfinished.
The god's response came within a few seconds. But it wasn't a simple statement, telling them what to do with the sun. Instead, it was a long, melancholy scream reverberating with anger and heartache.
When it ended, the god spoke, and their voice sounded broken. "I had one shot," they said, seemingly not talking to Niko but rather themself. "And I... I made this happen?"
"This wasn't your fault." Niko told them quietly.
"It's easier to blame myself, though." was the response. They were silent again for a while, before saying, "If... if we hadn't interacted with any of the people living here, then I'd tell you to break the bulb with no hesitation. I'd be able to pretend, I'd just pretend that this world is fake, that these people, they were fake. I could let them all vanish into the void so you could go home. Niko... You don't deserve to be trapped in some foreign, dying world with no hope to escape. You're... a great person, you know that? Even if you might not think so yourself." Their voice sounded tired as they went on. "You're certainly a better person than I could ever hope to be."
"But you guided me all this way and helped me! I'd never have made it here if it wasn't for you! You're a god! I'm just... a kid."
"Please. You were the backbone of this ga- this journey. You were the one who lived all of this. I just watched and talked to you. It's a testament to your strength that you got here with an incompetent 'god' like me weighing you down." Their voice seemed... almost bitter. Before Niko could dispute what they'd said, the god continued, "I can't accept that these are my only choices. If the game won't play fair, then I WON'T, EITHER. Give me a moment, I'll try to figure something out."
They were gone for a while, and just as Niko was about to ask if they'd left for good, they returned, a spark of vitality injected into their voice. "I've figured something out." they said, "but you'll have to promise to trust me. Put the sun on the pedestal, and I will initiate the solstice."
Even though they had said that they had figured out something, despite everything they had said about wanting them to go home, it still hurt to know that they would sacrifice Niko's chance to return to their world. But they must have figured something out, they reminded themself, stifling the feeling that they had been betrayed. "I trust you," they said, stepping up to the pedestal to replace the sun. "Please don't leave me by myself."
"I won't leave you, ever." promised their voice, eldritch and omnipresent. "You'll see them all again, Niko. I promise."
They set the sun atop the pedestal, and everything was obliterated by a wall of white.
They awoke in the same bed from the very beginning, calling out the god's name and immediately wondering what it meant and why they had said it.
Deprived of their memories and with everything set back to zero, they traveled across the areas, with the constant assurance that everything would be okay.
They had to admit, the god's newfound, infallible optimism was reassuring, even before they regained their memories of what happened previously. Even as all of their friends and allies died around them, the god constantly reassured them, "It's going to be okay. Everything will turn out perfectly. I can fix things this time."
Even with the revelation that they weren't, in fact, a god, but actually just had opened a world simulator on their computer and appeared omniscient but actually had barely any power, they continued to reassure Niko, "You've got this. We've got this. We'll make everything better, I know we can."
But Niko was never sure until they met the World Machine, until their revelation that it was tamed, until the squares began to disappear before them. Even then, it was not until they had walked through the so-called "credits" and into the newly-brightened bedroom that they finally allowed themself a breath. They hadn't been betrayed, after all. They really were still friends. They had managed to get a happy ending, after all...
But they had never considered whether this was a happy ending for everyone. They had never considered that maybe, there was one person who couldn't enjoy the happy ending with everyone else.
They never considered it, because they didn't believe that this ending couldn't be perfect.
But it wasn't.
Saying farewell to the person who had guided them all this way and never left their side physically hurt them, but they did their best to hide their sorrow. They didn't want to have them remember them as a crying wreck, after all. The "god" seemed to be trying to keep up the same mask, too, and they would have really believed that they weren't hiding their emotions, but for one detail.
Because as Niko walked towards the distant light, they could distinctly hear them give in and begin sobbing helplessly.
Niko had promised to never forget. They had promised they wouldn't forget the adventure they had and the experiences they shared, and indeed after a year they hadn't. How could they forget such a world, after all? It was true, upon waking up they had thought it was all just a dream and nearly forgotten it all, and indeed they would have if they hadn't stopped and wondered how the dream had seemed so real, how the memories of all of the people of the world they had given back the sun to felt genuine and not like the artificial landscapes of a dream...
And that was all it took for them to recall everything.
A year would have been enough time to forget. But for someone who was patient enough to try to write down everything they remembered and refused to stop until they'd transcribed all of their adventures?
Well, it was not.
And now...
Niko sat patiently at their chair, waiting for the computer to load. They had decided to try downloading and playing some games, perhaps to help them drift into nostalgia as they remembered the world and people they had left behind.
Though none of the currently popular games caught their attention, towards the bottom, a game called "Your Final Chance" seemed interesting, so they clicked on it, swinging their feet impatiently as the page loaded. The logo towards the top was completely black save for a pair of narrowed purple eyes, glowering from above a rusted scythe blade. There was a trailer beneath that, so they clicked play.
A somber piano tune started playing, and a line of red text appeared: "Why have you come here?"
It vanished, to be replaced by similarly-colored text stating, "Why would you want to save-" Whatever was about to come next, it was broken up by scrambled, flashing pixels. Frowning, Niko tried pausing the video to see if they could make out what it was trying to say, to no avail. After a minute of unsuccessfully attempting to pause it at the right spot, they gave up and pressed play again.
"You're already too late. In your absence, your old friend has been reduced to a neurotic shadow of the great and glorious protector you thought you saw."
"You..."
"..."
"You shouldn't be here."
"But if you want to, you can try anyway. You can try to make-" here the text scrambled itself again- "become the friend you remember once again."
"Is that what you want?"
The music stopped, and the text flickered, changing to dark purple, and it clicked into view slowly, spelling out "Then don't let me stop you." As the period appeared, a pair of purple eyes opened behind the text, glowing ominously. They were nearly identical to the eyes at the top of the page. Niko couldn't help but flinch as the glowing pupils seemed to stare directly into their soul.
The scene changed. A person in a gray jacket stood in a black void with their back to the camera, twitching slightly. The art style was pixelated, but it managed to look nice regardless. As they continued to twitch, the piano faded back in, even more quiet this time.
The scene shifted again. The person was still standing with their back to the camera, but they'd stopped twitching. They were standing in the middle of a brightly lit room with a small bed against the wall and an arrangement of child's toys against the other. The light was pouring in through the windows, but it seemed almost artificial in color.
The scene changed yet again. They were back in the void, twitching even more, and as the camera moved towards them, it looked like they were holding something. Before Niko could make out what it was, it shifted again, this time with the camera panning over a desolate, blackish cliff. The person was standing there, looking over a silent, unmoving sea, tinted an unnatural shade of bronze.
The scenes started shifting again, faster and faster, until they were going by so fast that Niko could barely see what was in any of them, until the trailer abruptly went back to the same view from earlier, with the person standing in the void.
New text appeared, dark purple again, stating simply, "The unthinkable happened. You failed and rendered both of us unfixable. This... this is all my fault. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." As it faded away, the person started to turn around, their head twitching even more violently as they did, grasping something tightly in their hands. The camera abruptly cut to black, giving Niko just enough time to see that it was colored a mixture of red and blue, before abruptly scrolling in red text that read "YOUR FINAL CHANCE AWAITS."
The trailer ended there.
Niko leaned back from the computer and sucked in a deep breath. Part of them just wanted to forget they'd ever seen the game and move on, but another part urged them on, relentlessly chanting. Go on, get it. It's free, the trailer looked neat, and the ratings are good. What do you have to lose?
As the situation was, Niko reached out and clicked the download button, though not without hesitation. "If I decide I don't like it, I can just stop playing," they said aloud as they watched the screen flash.
They were horribly right.