Matt's Dream

Opening my eyes as I see lights flashing all around me, it takes a minute for my sleepy and groggy brain to recognize where I am. My first reaction to this was a belated "ohhhhh noooooooo… no no no no no nononononononononononononono NOOOOOOOOOOO!" It felt like I had been dragged back to act three of DDLC, but looking around, I could not see Monika anywhere. Taking a look as to where I was in the Space Classroom, I could see where I was laid out, as I finally recognized the teacher's podium for what it was. My back felt sore, as if i'd been sleeping on the bare floor for… who knows how long. Slowly getting up due to my sore back, I stood up and strode around the place, taking a better look around it than you would get from either act three of DDLC, or from Monika After Story. In fact, this version of the Space Classroom looked… furnished. As if someone had taken inspiration from the Monika After Story sub-mod that allowed you to furnish the Space Classroom and used that to make this one. I could even see doors in here that I had never seen before. One of them led to a bedroom that looked exactly like MC's. Another door led to what looked like a bathroom, and the last one led to a larger kitchen than I was expecting, given from what little I knew of it, the Space Classroom was never intended to host that many people.

I returned to the bedroom, checking to see if the television worked, since there really wasn't anything else to do in here. Sure enough, the television turned on, tuned to an international news station from the DDLC verse. After a few minutes of that, I decided to see what sort of video games might have come with the Playstation two that I saw. I'm sure that the name for the console was different in the DDLC verse, but since I was from reality, I was just going to call it what it looked like to me. I was surprised at the presence of a Playstation two console here, since it would not come out until years after the original DDLC came out. Unless Project Libitina were just messing me with here, which was a distinct possibility. I finally settled on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and started playing. I don't know how long that i'd been playing the game for, but I eventually felt someone tap me on the shoulder.

The tap on the shoulder made me jump, since as far as I knew, I was the only person in the Space Classroom, but looking in the direction of the person who tapped me on the shoulder, I could only see the black outline of a person. "Enjoying yourself in here Matt?" I didn't recognize the voice, only being able to tell that it was an adult male speaking to me. "After all, you're going to be spending a lot of time with Monika in here, you know. So you better get used to the amenities that we've provided you. Wouldn't want you getting bored, after all." That last bit was said with a fair bit of sarcasm, as if this person couldn't care less about me, past a certain point.

I would normally have come out with a sarcastic reply of my own, but the Space Classroom started shaking as if it were suffering from an earthquake, and I quickly lost my footing, falling to the floor as the shaking continued. I could hear one of the windows shatter, and feel myself being pulled out into the void. As I fell into the void, I swore that I could see Outline Man smirk at me. "Someone must really want to speak to you," was all he said before I had completely left the Space Classroom, and hurtled into the void. Unlike the void of space back in reality though, there was air here, and though it was cold, I certainly couldn't see myself turning into a Matt-cicle out here. I even felt myself hit what felt like a floor, which was yet another difference between the void, and space itself. I recalled how Monika had said that this was where she waited when she wasn't in a particular scene, and how the void had become her home. Briefly, I wondered if it were the same in this newly expanded world, but then I also remembered how there was no script in this world, so that it would be much less likely that that had remained the same.

I was totally unprepared for what came next though. I felt like i'd been slapped across the face, and then a loud booming Monika voice was yelling at me to wake up. As my eyes opened, I could see both Moni and Mona looking at me, each of them to one side of me. Both of them looked scared, and I sat up, then grabbed them both by one of their hands at the same time, giving their hands a squeeze. "I'm okay. A bit confused, but okay you two. Could one of you two please tell me what happened?"

Moni nodded before explaining. I could see that even more of her natural skin tone was returning, getting rid of that ugly charcoal black from earlier. Was this perhaps from her original personality reasserting itself? The answer to that question would have to wait, as I listened to Moni explain that I had started rapidly twisting and turning on my futon, followed by loud yelling that sounded like muttering, with my limbs flailing about at random. They could tell that I was having some sort of nightmare-ish episode, but when Moni had checked the code in order to see what was going on, she had seen that I was caught up in some sort of psychic link. Thus she'd done what she could to wake me up, and happily for us all, had succeeded, without the use of any coding powers.

Taking a moment to glance at a clock in the room, I noticed that it was currently almost one in the morning, and both of the girls were already up anyway out of concern for me, I told them what had happened to me. I could see the concern on their faces grow to fear, when I told them what Outline Man (as I had decided to call him) had said about how Monika and I were going to be spending a lot of time in the Space Classroom. Moni especially looked like she was having a hard time with this, given everything that had already happened between us in the Space Classroom in the past. "Moni, how come I have never seen any of those other rooms in the Space Classroom before, even in Monika After Story, at least before the submod?"

Taking a moment to regain her composure before speaking, Moni replied "that would likely be because you were focused on me the entire time. I was afraid of what might happen if you couldn't see me, so I kept you focused on me, so I wouldn't have to figure out how to get the focus back on me again. I think that your words for that would be something like… camera angle? Yes, something like that."

That I could certainly understand. While Monika knew a lot of things, they were likely grouped into certain subjects, and there were still plenty of things in reality that she would have no real way of knowing about, even with her full connection to the internet. It would certainly be interesting to have Moni and Mona take tests to ascertain their education levels, when we got back to reality. The two of them would probably enjoy 'attending' online schools, once we figured out a way to get them legal status, as well as identification. Until then, the internet still had a massive amount of educational material that could be used to help them, and since they both seemed to enjoy reading, it wouldn't even be all that difficult to get them to learn quite a lot in that way, either. Getting them a tutor might not go awry, either. Both versions of Monika were very intelligent young ladies, and could benefit from a good tutor, maybe even a retired teacher to provide guidance in their education. It would be something to look into, at any rate. Both Monikas, as well as the rest of the girls, were too old to be in the regular public school system, anyway. As long as their education met the educational standards of the state in question, then it should be good enough for them to attend college or university, as well.

I could tell that I was getting sidetracked when Moni waved a hand in front of my face. "Sorry, I was just spacing out about what sort of education that both of you and the rest of the girls would have in reality. You were saying?" I should really stop spacing out during important moments, I railed at myself.

"I was saying that one of us should sleep next to you, just in case something else happens to you tonight. The other one can sleep on the futon. Mona, what do you say to rock, paper, scissors to figure out who sleeps on the futon?" Moni could see Mona nod at this one, and I got to watch as the two girls played the game. Moni won, choosing rock against Mona's scissors. Mona excused herself to go use the toilet while I got up on the bed, and predictably, Moni was already snuggling up against me.

She moved her head to my chest, and sighed. "I won your love first, you know. So why does she get all of the special attention and love from you. It is enough to make me jealous, and you know how easily I can get jealous, right?"

Luckily, I already had an answer prepared for this. "Well, when I first came to this world, Mona was there for me, and you were not. I helped her, and she helped me. I had no clue whatsoever as to what had happened to you, and for the differences between you, she is you, just with different circumstances. At this point, it is more like you two are identical twin sisters. You look the same on the exterior, and you probably have a lot of the same things going on in the interior, but you also have different experiences, as well as different reactions to the same experiences, which makes the two of you different people. Though I would be willing to bet that each of you has something that the other lacks, and might need. Of course, if there is a need, there is always the option of having you and Mona fuse together into one Monika. I know that that is an extreme solution, but maybe something to keep in the back of your mind? That way, you could both have me, but it would have to have to be something that the two of you agree on, got it?"

Luckily, Moni knew me well enough not to be completely offended by what I was suggesting. She did have a somewhat scandalized look on her face, though. "You really think that i would just spring that on her with no real choice? Matt, I know that I have done bad things in my past, but that is not something that I am going to do, without her consent."

"I'm happy that you feel that way, my love. It also makes me trust you more, knowing that you can still see the divide between right and wrong. Don't get me wrong Moni, I love both you and Mona, but I also don't want to cheat. As I said, I had no idea of what had happened to you, no way to contact you, and Mona was there for me this cycle. She could have been you with a mindwipe, I just did not know." Moni gave me a quick kiss on the lips, but with a sad expression.

"I understand," Moni looked like she wanted to say more, but Mona re-entered the room, and gave Moni a dirty look for snuggling up to her man while she had been away.

Trying to prevent a fight over me between the two Monika's, I knew that I had to speak up. "Both of you are going to have to have a serious discussion with each other about how you two are going to interact with me in the future. If that means fusing yourselves into one Monika, or if that means doing something else, please at least try not to be uncivil or hateful toward each other, okay? We've got enough going on around us already, we don't need internal dissension as well. For now though, we should really get some sleep. I for one, could really use it after what happened."

I could see both girls nod, and a few minutes later, all three of us were asleep.