Suggestion - While reading these chapters, put on ambience music that will help simulate the environment in the story. Such recommended channels are the 'Guild of Ambience', 'Sword Coast Soundscapes', 'Pandora Journey', and 'The Spirit of Orchestral Music'.

You may not realize it, but using such background ambience enhances your reading of the story over 10 times more.

With that said, please enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 11: The Awakening

On the night of Christmas Day, the eight comrades in arms went out to the Fried Chicken to get a drink. As was the custom for most days of the week, the teenagers loved to abuse the use of alcohol, and were probably losing some brain cells in the process of drinking so much. But don't worry! Brain cells DO regenerate, something about neurons. Anyways, back to the story.

Malin slammed down his cup, shaking the table, in response to the drinking competition that had been initiated amongst the eight of them when their BAC levels had gotten past the point of rational thinking.

"AY WHEENNN (I win) ! HAHAHAHAH!" Malin shouted as his speech became severely impaired, and he raised his empty glass mug whilst laughing gutturally, his victory sounds occasionally interrupted by a hiccup or two. Everyone else was either shit-faced drunk or nearly passed out, unable to drink more.

Rulf slammed down his cup, peering over at Malin in drunken frustration, yelling and half-slamming down his cup in resignation, the mug being empty.

"Ah, ye betch. Ay wus gunna decler et ferst, yu ass!" He shouted, slurring his words quite a bit.

Meanwhile, Malin stood over the crowd triumphantly, flashing his signature confident smile and standing tall. Although it was dark at night, and the bar was not well-lit as of currently, he shone brightly, as if his own aura was aiding in shining light upon this dashing and built figure. The others gazed upon him in somewhat awe, as if he was an actual hero.

Between them all, Natsuki gazed upon him with admiration.

I want to be as respected as him one day, Natsuki thought to herself. Of all things, she absolutely hated not being taken seriously. The problem with that is, being small, high-pitched in tone, and cute, it was inevitable that many people would want to cuddle her rather than be intimidated.

That's why, when it came to Malin, she was inspired both by his innate ability to command respect and garner fear from those who dared to question or oppose him. He was a hero in that he had a good heart and a just mindset, but Natsuki saw him more so as a leader of men than a hero, especially when coupled with his mind, which mirrored that of a master strategist. If anything, it boggled Natsuki's brain as to why Malin was such an idiot.

"Shuzethe, let's hed hoem naow…"

Natsuki mewed as she felt Malin throw his arm around her shoulder, half out of camaraderie, half out of support for his majorly drunken state. She looked over with an expression of slight irritation, then sighed in resignation.

"Yes. Let's…."

They were about to stumble their way out of the bar when Monika suddenly stood up, raising her voice to get their attention. (Which was surely needed to pierce their drunken stupor).

"W-wait, guys, I just wanted to make a little speech…"

All seven individuals turned their heads to Monika, ears half-listening, eyes half-focused. As was usually the case, Monika did not indulge in alcohol often, as she had gone out with Rulf about 3 days after being brought into this world and indulged exceedingly in all types of the tempting drinks at the tavern, resulting in her extreme inebriation, which brought with it tons of unnecessary laughter, severe stumbling, and several offers of her body to Rulf, to which he declined several times at. In the morning, however, she was the victim of its side effects, including but not limited to overwhelming nausea, vomiting, regretting drinking so much alcohol and swearing not to drink again.

Pertaining back to present-day, Monika took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts before speaking.

"I just wanted to say that….I am very happy that we all got to meet each other, and I am sure we will go on many wonderful adventures and journeys together." She raised her cup, which was filled with tap water. "To many great adventures ahead!"

She finished, looking around in slight nervousness as she held her cup up, but the feeling was quickly dispelled when she saw a bunch of smiling and grinning faces staring back at her. Everyone erupted into cheerful celebration, banging their cups with hers, leading her to yelp as the contents of their mugs somewhat splashed onto her, and cheered.

"TO MANY GREAT ADVENTURES AHEAD!"

Of course, all of them being drunk, it came out more like,

"TUH MENY GREYT ADVEHRENTURES AHEDD!"

Regardless, Monika smiled as they slammed the drinks down their throats. She looked over to see Rulf, who, albeit drunk, was smiling slightly as he looked at her. She felt her heart pump rapidly, and smiled back at him sweetly, resisting the nearly-overwhelming urge to tackle and kiss him so as to not break the wonderful moment. However, she was not done with the celebration yet moment yet. She looked over to the bartender, nodding, to which she nodded back. The bartender then nodded to a group of waiters and waitresses, who nodded in confirmation. They then looked towards the kitchen, seeing the cooks, and nodded, to which the cooks then nodded back.

"What the f*ck are they doing?" Rulf questioned with a perplexed expression on his face. "Are they gonna assassinate someone or something? What's with all the head signaling?"

To everyone's surprise, the waiters and waitresses wheeled out a cake, one side being half-chocolate and the other side being half-vanilla (I spent an hour looking up types of cakes in the Middle Ages on Google, but I couldn't find squat, so GIMME A BREAK HERE). It was finely decorated, with swirls of chocolate and vanilla icing lining the rims of the top and bottom of the cake. Surrounding the cake were a plethora of cupcakes, one entire side of the whole entree being half-vanilla and the other side being half-chocolate, just like the cake. The entirety of the drunken group gasped in surprise and delight at the sudden treats approaching.

"You got us THAT?!"

"Wowee! That looks delicious!"

"Quack!"

"What the…...is that duck back?! Dave, you MOTHERFU-"

Monika's smile only grew bigger, radiating the sweetness of an old granny, watching her grandchildren feast upon her baked goods, to which they most indubitably feasted. She looked over at Rulf, seeing that he was looking at the food with suspicion in his eyes. She sighed, recalling a past moment in time when she had drugged him in the attempt of making love to him (this was, of course, in the very early days, during the weeks when they were getting accustomed to each other). At the time, one of the many interactions she was looking for was, of course, lovemaking. Rulf, however, would never give her the pleasure of it, for many reasons. (But he's a f*cking moron, in my opinion - I mean, COME ON, man, it's not everyday that you get such a beautiful woman offering her body). From this, he rejected her offers many times over, resisting the temptation over and over again.

Of course, she could have always walked into the village and asked some rando, but she abhorred the idea of not giving her body to her one true love, the man who had saved her from hell, and so would only dare to deal any intimacy towards him. Eventually, she subsided with the offers, settling for simply wooing him with their developing relationship…...for now.

"Go on and eat, my love."
Rulf looked up at her, his cheeks slightly aflame from hearing how she addressed him. He then turned his head back to a chocolate cupcake that was placed in front of him by Monika. Unlike the other cupcakes, this one was especially noteworthy, as Monika had painstakingly made sure that extra time and care was put into this one, just for Rulf.

With that said, he picked up the cupcake meticulously, as if it would crumble from the slightest mishandling. He took a look at it, a mix of cautiousness, salivating hunger, and admiration in his eyes. He was not constantly judging of Monika, nor did he really want to be, but her incessant misadventures and dangerous, selfish, and/or stupid tropes only led him to establish a rather disappointing image of her. Actions like this happened often, though, and only served to incur respect from him for her. However, these conflicting views constantly annoyed Rulf, as he was not one who liked to have his head messed with, but would rather deliver the manipulation to others himself. He muttered a rather crude phrase whilst he bit down into the cupcake.

"F*cking Monika- mmmmmmm, that's good…."

He felt the texture of the chocolate foundation soak his taste buds, and he felt a chocolate-y flavor swell throughout his mouth, causing him to sigh in pleasure. He looked up, seeing how the others enjoyed their pieces.

However, he was slightly put off when he noticed Natsuki, wide-eyed and jaw dropped, as if she was undergoing trauma at the moment.

"S-Suzette? What's wrong?"

He waved his hand, seeing if he could catch her attention, but her gaze remained unwavering, staring at the space between him and Monika.

Meanwhile, Sayori's gaze drifted around the tavern as she happily munched on her piece of the cake, holding it in her hands. Wesley looked over at her with a sigh.

"Mari, you'll get your hands dirty, and you're getting it all over your face…"

He took out his handkerchief and began softly wiping at the chocolate contents on Sayori's face, to which she giggled and a small, cute smile, her arms raised in that stupid but adorable fashion, her cheeks inflated as she chewed on the cake. Her gaze then wandered over to a construction site outside, in which men were hauling up materials by a rope, using it as a pulley. She gazed at the rope.

Monika smiled at everyone once again.

"Now everybody can be happy."

A scream suddenly emitted loudly from Sayori, to which she fell off the side of the booth, flailing wildly about whilst clutching at her head. Everyone's attention diverted to her, expressions of alarm present on their faces. Wesley got up from his seat, placing his hands on Sayori in panic.

"Oh my Tog, Sayori?! What's happening, are you okay?!"

She continued screaming in agony and pure terror, her gaze locked onto Monika, who was also looking down at her in shock.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Another scream pierced the air, high-pitched and filled with horror. Everyone once more turned their heads to see Natsuki struggling in the seat as she flailed around in the booth, clutching her head, enacting the same actions as Sayori. Malin tried to hold her still, panicking as he frantically asked her what was wrong.

Suddenly, Sayori lunged upwards at Monika, fist raised, and slugged Monika across the face. Monika fell to the ground in shock, yelping in pain as Sayori then jumped on top of her, launching a flurry of blows to her face, to which Monika tried holding up her hands in fear.

The bar was thrust into chaos, as out of nowhere, other people in the bar began screaming in the same fashion, flailing about in terror, as if their minds were being shattered with countless epiphanies, and pandemonium ensued. Eventually, some people took it as some sort of bar fight, and as a few fights started, eventually the whole bar broke out in fight, with fists smacking into faces, bottles being thrown, and slurs being delivered. Our band of adventurers looked around in absolute bewilderment when Rulf suddenly slammed the toe of his boot into Sayori's face, causing her to reel backwards and fall to the ground, holding her chin as it welled up with a bruise. Rulf stared at her in confused anger.

"What the Hekk do you think you're doing, woman?!"

Rulf immediately heard a roar of fury, and looked up to be greeted with a balled-up fist flying towards his eyes, smashing into his face and causing him to fall onto his back, cursing as he clutched at his bleeding nose.

From there, a fight broke out amongst the four, with Monika and Sayori attacking each other, and Wesley & Rulf wrestling on the ground. Natsuki broke out of her state, looking over at Yuri, tears streaming down her face.

"You're….alive…?"

Yuri stared at her in disconcertment.

"W-what do you mean-"

She felt an impact as Natsuki got up from her seat, scrambled over, and tackled Yuri with a tight hug, crying profusely as she crumpled against her.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" She sobbed, tightening her hold around Yuri. "The knife….the classroom….your….body…..I'm so glad you're alive, Yuri! I'm so glad…"

Meanwhile, the bar continued to run rampant with fights, screaming, and general chaos. Some of the people who had epiphanies suddenly looked at themselves and their surroundings, as if they were not familiar with anything.

"Huh? This isn't the space station…"

"Wha-...I'm….alive? Levi? Where's Levi?!"

"Oh my God….my suffering was over…I'm here now….Nanachi...Nanachi? Nanachi! Where are you?!"

"Holy sh*t..I thought I was dead…..? The harbor….Whitebeard….Luffy….Wait, how did I get here?..."

"...How….how am I here? Where's that sick son of a….Tatsumi….Mine….Akame….where is everyone?"

People who had gone into near-seizures were now standing up, looking around at their environment with mixed expressions. On the other side of the coin, there was still utter chaos in the bar, and so many things were happening at once that it would take the author of this awesome-ass story several paragraphs to describe it all. Regardless, our main heroes (and heroines) were still having their own epiphanies.

By this time, Sayori, Monika, Wesley and Rulf were tiring out from their constant fight, and so retreated to their respective sides. Sayori looked up at Monika, utter hate and rage pervading her eyes. She brought up her finger, which was shaking profusely from her fatigue, and pointed it accusingly at Monika.

"You….you…."

She seemed to have come to another realization, recalling some memory, and immediately her face contorted into extreme nausea. She vomited on the floor below, which only freaked out everyone around her, including Monika. Wesley was in shock from her erratic behavior, and laid his hands upon her, unsure of what to do. She looked up once more, this time disgust being mixed in with all of the other dark emotions lighting up every fiber of her being.

"You….bitch….I can't believe...I can't believe that you did those things to...to them!" She shouted in grief, looking over at Natsuki and Yuri. Natsuki was the only one to look over at Monika with the same emotions as Sayori, as Yuri was still thoroughly confused.

Monika, on the other hand, stood there, looking down at the ground, blood drops occasionally dripping from her face due to the earlier skirmish that had ensued.

"I…"

She heard a skid across the floor, and she saw a knife enter her field of vision as it came to an eerie stop on the polished wood below. She brought her head up, seeing Sayori look at her with such hatred, tears flowing down her eyes as she felt overwhelming betrayal from the entire 3 months she had spent with this….this monster.

"You made me hang myself, you detestable scumbag. It was a slow and painful death. You encouraged me to end my own life for your own selfish pleasures. YOU brought unbelievable pain to me in that place. Now pick that knife up and cut your wrists, whore! Repent for all of the horrible actions you have committed!"

Wesley looked over in absolute disbelief. Who was this woman? This was not the kind, adorable, fun-loving Sayori he knew. By no means whatsoever could he believe that Sayori was in her right mind. He went to place his hand on her shoulder in an effort to calm her.

"Listen, Mari-"

She shrugged off his hand in anger.

"Don't touch me! My name is Sayori, not Mari! And this….wretch….needs to pay! She needs to pay for all that she's done! Nobody would care if she killed herself!"

Out of nowhere, Yuri screamed in horror, causing everyone to temporarily look over and view Yuri going through the same compulsions that the other two had previously. Wolfe tried to hold onto her as fear pervaded his eyes.

"Y-Yuri?! What's happening?! Are you okay?!"

As fast as it had started, it had stopped, and she brought her head up, her eyes locked onto Monika. But these weren't her normal eyes. They were the hyperactive eyes she would take on when excited. Over the months, her more…..interesting side had started to subside, leaving her to enact only the most subtle of symptoms when excited. However, Wolfe did not take the chance of risking another disaster, and decided to train her in the art of patience and maintaining a calm state of mind, as well as giving her alternatives to her gruesome mannerisms beforehand, which included stress relievers.

In this very instance, however, her eyes were not that way because of excitement. She was filled with rage, directed at Monika. She remembered how Monika had been looking at her from the background, looking at her with desperation in her eyes, as Yuri had plunged the knife into her body three times. She recalled the surge of absolute hatred and despair that had formed a knot in her stomach.

She screamed, and scrambled over the table towards Monika, who was sitting on the ground, perpetrated by a ripple of fear as she Yuri charging at her with the knife she had scooped up from the cake. She felt her body lock up, her mind panicking.

I don't want to die! No! Stop! Her thoughts were filled only with the dread of what was to come. Right before Yuri was about to plunge her knife into Monika's stomach, Monika managed to dodge a serious wound, but still screamed in pain as she felt the knife enter her side. Yuri let go of the knife in shock, reeling back from the feeling of stabbing someone. She felt horrified by what she had just done, stepping back and watching as Monika writhed on the floor, holding the knife wound and screaming. It was an excruciating feeling, and was only amplified by every small movement of the blade in her body.
She felt somebody press her arms down, and looked up to see Rulf, tears in his eyes, yelling in panic. He had pinned her arms down with his legs, and was leaning over the knife wound. He subconsciously inspected the wound and, seeing that there was no dark red blood, which would have indicated an arterial stab, he pressed one hand against Monika's chest and wrapped his other hand around the wound, quickly pulling it out. This had sent a tidal wave of agonizing pain throughout her body, causing her to shriek as her wound began seeping blood, which slithered down her clothes, staining the floor below. However, her scream was quickly drowned out by the ongoing fights in the bar.

"Oh Tog, Monika, Oh Tog…."

Rulf quickly took off his handkerchief, holding it against the wound, before slinging his overcoat off and wrapping it around her torso, keeping pressure on the spot. The others stood there, dazed by the sudden shift in the atmosphere. Yuri began crying as she her new and old memories continued to clash in her mind, her previous anger fighting with her growing regret from stabbing Monika. She was not a particularly violent person, and so was suffering from the mixed feelings that were tearing her apart inside. However, not all of the girls had felt that way.

Rulf perked his ear instinctively as he heard a yell of indignation, seeing Sayori emit such a disturbing noise, as if she was some sort of animal that had not sated its voracious hunger. As she lowered her head to to eye level, he was taken aback by her gaze. Her pupils were dilated, her eyes rapidly darting around, as if she was paranoid someone was going to kill her any second now. She breathed heavily, hunched over like a decrepit creature. Even Wesley took a step back from Sayori after her maniacal breakdown started.

"That's not enough, you wench! You put me through so much suffering, so much pain, so much mental torture and psychological horror! I didn't want to remember any of this, and yet you've forced this upon me, these past memories that profusely pilfer my mind! My problems… my friends… that boy… that insufferable, agonizing, putrid hell that could not even be called 'living'! You've brought it all back, and it's tearing my mind apart! I can feel myself losing my sanity!"

Once more, she screamed, but this time more high-pitched and out of some livid desperation than from sadistic urges. She clutched her head, pulling at her hair and skin, causing her to bleed from the spots where her nails tore. Wesley shouted at her to stop, crying as he was absolutely bewildered and disturbed by her insane behavior, running up to try and hold her down, to which she elbowed him in the jaw, causing him to reel backwards, crashing onto the floorboards, yelping in pain as he grabbed his jaw with both hands. Sayori looked back over at Monika, who was now shaking vibrantly, terrified of the crazed woman staring so rancorously at her.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

With this yell of smoldering wrath, Sayori, who was now foaming at the mouth from the idea of releasing her sanguinary intentions upon Monika, charged at her in a feral-like manner, hunched over whilst running as if she was barely avoiding stumbling over her own two feet, her arms twisted in a disturbing fashion, her fingers curling like claws, as if ready to disembowel Monika.

While watching this scene unfold, Monika suddenly felt herself hurled upwards into the air, and then into Rulf's arms, to which he dashed out of the tavern, the ravenous Sayori in quick lead behind him. Having heard her following closely behind, Rulf made a split-second decision to try and lose her, and so began weaving into alleyways, turning onto streets, and taking subtle routes. However, Sayori was not far behind, as she had gotten a good mapping of the town, and was able to take detours whenever she saw them heading down certain paths. It was a battle of reaction times, wits, and above all, speed.

It was in the last two categories that Rulf had the clear advantage, as his years of running from authorities and walking long distances had drastically improved his cardio, to which he could run a marathon without too much of a tire, and could outsmart even the most clever pursuers thanks to his quick-witted nature. It was close, but eventually Rulf had gotten Sayori lost in the maze of alleyways and streets in the large town. Her bloodthirsty nature eventually subsided, and she crumpled to her knees, gasping for air as her mental state, somewhat realigned itself. Her hatred for Monika, however, had not been sated so easily.

As Rulf approached the cabin, he felt his legs begin to give out with the added weight of Monika. Panting heavily, he eventually dropped to one knee, laying Monika on the grass below. She looked around quickly, her eyes darting around, fearing that Sayori would continue that horrifying run over the ridge, screaming in rage.

Luckily for her, however, there was no such thing happening anytime soon. She breathed a sigh of relief, but her nerves were still on edge.

After a few moments, Rulf had finally regained the ability to speak again, and raised his head, a plethora of questions and emotions swirling in his eyes like a cauldron of stew.

"What in the name of everything blessed by the Almighty Tog was that?!"

To this, Monika had no viable answers. She had no idea why Sayori and the others had suddenly gone off the handle like that. However, from the way they acted with her, she was sure they had regained their memories of the morbid past, but being after she had begun weeding them out? That was an ominous fortune, especially for her.

"Monika!"

Her train of thought was interrupted by Rulf's jarring call. She looked up at him, and he could see she was holding something back from him.

"Monika, what are you keeping from me? Did you happen to know those women from before we all met? Did something bad to you guys? Are you….all from that same place…?"

Monika was reluctant to reveal what she had done to those girls. Although she had told him about everything involving her past, she had willfully neglected to reveal the cruel things she had inflicted upon her said 'fake' friends, as well as the fact that some of the people they had met at the town square that one time were those very same friends. She was, at the very least, fearful that Rulf would become disgusted with her after hearing about it.

"Monika."

Monika looked up at him, gloom present in her face, to which Rulf felt his heart being yanked around.

"Listen, no matter what you did in the past, i'm not gonna suddenly start hating or despising you because of it. I only care about the current you, and I will protect you till the end."

Monika felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. She was unfathomably happy that she had gotten to be saved from the other world by such a soul as Rulf. She thanked every known and unknown force of the universe for this miracle. She raised her hands meekly for a hug, to which Rulf hesitated, then got down on his knees, embracing her, to which she had her own arms wrapped tightly around his back. She began to cry, to which Rulf felt a couple tears of his own begin to form in his eyes. He had never engaged in such emotional encounters as this, as he was solely used to the depravities and dark undertakings of this world. To him, being able to live up to 18 years of age was a miracle in of itself, as his engagements with evil, cruelty, wrath and shallowness were countless, with hope, happiness, and fun times being few and far in between the unrelenting tidal waves of life's brutal facets washing over those insignificant occurrences, being put into practice constantly. This could only build a shell of depressing realization over Rulf's heart, causing him to act bitter, coarse, and even hostile many times over his life. Meeting someone like Monika was not only a miracle, but a complete turnaround for his entire life. Her cheery demeanor, constant positive attitude, and frequent interactions with him and this world he deemed to be dark and damp in nature had started to break down the shell that had solidified around his heart, and for that she had his undying thanks.

It was at this point in time that Rulf realized how far he was willing to go for someone like Monika.

"Even if you tell me that you tortured them, mentally and physically, to no end, that you deprived them of happiness and love, that you were a complete and utter monster to them in that other world, I will not care. Because it is the current you that I care about."

"Oh, um…"

Rulf stopped his heartfelt speech, opening his eyes, and he slowly leaned himself backwards to look at Monika, his head tilted in question. He tried to get eye contact from her, but she subtly averted her eyes to the ground.

"Oy. What did you mean by 'Oh, um'?"

She did not respond, instead darting her eyes everywhere except to his face. He looked at her inquisitively, his eyes squinting, his mouth turned down in a growing frown.
"You're not seriously telling me I just hit the nail on the head…."

Monika began whistling 'Pachelbel's Canon' rapidly as she began to sweat profusely.

Rulf eyes widened as his jaw dropped, giving her a smoldering stare, to which she leaned backwards from the intensity of the expression.

"Monika."

She continued to whistle, this time the pace growing faster.

"Monika."

The pace of the whistling grew even faster.

"Monika!"

The whistling was now rapid, the notes passing by-

"TOGDAMNIT, MONIKA, WHY MUST YOU BE SO DIFFICULT?!"

"Fine!"

Monika looked back at him, tears still in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Rulf, I know you said you wouldn't despise me, but-"

"Look, Monika. I don't care. Honestly, I couldn't care less about your past. However, I am worried that they will come after us. We need to go find a hideout to camp in until the heat dies down. Hopefully, the other guys will be able to get those ladies under control. In the meantime, we need to get going."

Monika got up with Rulf, who was heading into the cabin to gather supplies. She peeked her head inside the door, worry pervading her face.

"Going where?"

Rulf looked back at her.

"It's like this rocky valley, where, like, the waves crash up against the-"

Fuck you, Rulf, for ruining the tension like that. You could have said something really badass, like 'Death's Jaws' or something! Nah, you're not gonna finish that sentence. DAMN IT, now I have to end this chapter really awkwardly.

…

…

…

And so they headed to Death's Jaws, a valley of rocks and hanging cliffs, where the sea and the land met at a-

You know what, f*ck this.

ROLL CREDITS!