Chapter 22
Be With You Part 2: Act
Monika smiled as Sayori healed herself and refilled everyone else with energy. After all, she had several random people she had already hypnotized before as voluntary sacrifices for energy.
The acquisition task was rather easy. All the other Stand Users working for them were commanded to not show up that day by Wallace, leaving Monika to control the standard group of people by herself. All it took was hypnotizing the Principal first, making him call a mandatory assembly in the gym for everyone in the school upon entry. As the others entered the gym, she used Mess is Mine on them and left them under her spell.
Getting to the other Stand Users of her club was more of a close call, but she relished in her success, now seeing three of her subordinate club members along with another Stand User by her side.
"It's only Yuri left," she told herself. She immediately giggled.
"I think we should just go to her house," she told the other club members, not that they actually made sense of her words unless it was a command. "I don't know if she's there for sure, but we can search first. If she were smart, she would move somewhere outside the school. The best place for that would be her house."
Turning back to the group of random students and teachers, she spoke loud enough to reach every single one of them.
"But before that, we should just make sure that she isn't here."
"Split into groups and search every class in this school!" she commanded out loud. "If you find no one, send one messenger back to me and remain stationed there! If you find Yuri Yamamoto, then defeat her as fast as possible and bring her back to me, unconscious but still alive!"
Every person standing in front of her nodded once all at the same time, after which they all ran away to the different corners of the school.
After waiting for a minute, she started to get messengers back to let her know that rooms were free. The gym was free, the second year classrooms were all free, same for the first years, the running track was free, the other specified clubrooms like the music room and the cooking room along with the offices were free and most third year classrooms were free.
The only one that hadn't returned yet was from a room she was all too familiar with.
"So, she's back in our clubroom," she deduced, chuckling to herself. "Stand Users, come with me." She started to walk to the Literature Club, making sure that all of the other Stand users she had just got under her control were all following behind her.
Knowing the path like the back of her hand, she found herself at the door in almost no time whatsoever. Although, she found it irritating that she could not use MC's Rollback to speed things up.
Letting out a quick breath, Monika gently opened the door.
Her eyes widened as she witnessed what was going on inside.
"Hello, Monika," Yuri said as she got up from a desk on the opposite end of the room, The Knife by her side. However, Monika could only barely make her out.
No, what was more prominent were the falling desks, equipment and human bodies between several portals that completely coated the ceiling and floor, leaving them falling in an infinite loop fast enough to be a mere blur. These portals were placed in between Monika and her new adversary, Yuri, serving as a division between them.
"What… the hell…?" Monika took a step back as she witnessed this unprecedented application of Yuri's ability for the first time.
"I've had enough of being supported by everyone," Yuri said from the other end, almost unmakeable amidst the roaring of sounds from the freefall between them. "It's high time that I applied my own Stand's strengths for once. I may not prefer to hurt these innocent people like this, but you leave me no choice."
Gritting her teeth, Monika turned back to her new posse.
"Joster, do your thing!" she commanded!
Stepping up ahead of her, JoJo brought out Renegades and charged a punch like always. Punching it to the side, he compressed space between them and Yuri enough bringing her closer to them, even though the bodies were still in between them, now compressed in space.
However, Yuri smiled, knowing that this was in her favour. Instead of running away, she leapt at them by separating the bodies in her path to the side with a change in her portals' output. Manifesting The Knife on the scratch she had made earlier on her hand, she pointed a new portal in their direction.
Monika widened her eyes as a desk travelling at near speed of sound emerged from Yuri's hand, barely blocked by the speed of Renegades' punch.
But that wasn't all. The entire army that Yuri had forced into infinite freefall was suddenly transported through the portal on her hand, letting her shoot them out as cannons at the group in front of her from just her hand with no recoil.
While space returned back to normal once again, JoJo, MC and Natsuki defended their new boss against the incoming body bullets. JoJo and MC were barely keeping up with the speed and getting struck by several of them. However, Natsuki managed to deflect most of them. Together, they had managed to block all the incoming bullets, even though bodies were still falling.
As the dust settled, they found that The Knife was still standing by where Yuri was. Turning into a portal, they saw that the scratch portal on Yuri's hand started to wrap around her own body, sending her back to where The Knife was.
"Monika," Yuri told her with an odd smile as she stood back up from her leap, now safe once again on the opposite end. "You should have probably checked your surroundings when you entered."
Hearing a whoosh from behind her, Monika slowly turned her head around to see a scratch on the wall behind her spread out into a portal.
"Shi-" Monika was about to curse before the remaining human cannons shot out at her from that portal. JoJo managed to extend a limb to reach out to Monika and protect her, but since MC and Natsuki couldn't do anything, a lot of the bullets managed to strike Monika in the chest, making her cough out blood from the speed of their impact.
As Monika got injured, the other Stand Users faltered for a moment. However, Monika quickly brought out Mess is Mine and passed it through their heads, quickly bringing them back under her control.
As the bullets ran out, Monika merely grunted beneath a whole lot of the bodies and desks, to which MC and Natsuki brought their Stands out to free her.
"Fuck, you're all useless," Monika groaned as she clutched her chest while standing. Turning around, she noticed that Yuri was missing once again and the portals on the ceiling and floor were now returned to their original states, save for the riddled scratches across them.
Gritting her teeth, Monika commanded the same three to batter the ground beneath and the ceiling, destroying every single scratch that she had made to keep her from returning to the room.
Still shaking with fury, she let out a loose laugh, interrupted by a sharp cough. "Yuri's grown up," she managed to say in a moment, ignoring the blood she coughed out. "If this were any other circumstance, I would have been impressed."
As she turned to the door to move out, she briefly noticed a glint of purple under her feet.
"AGH!" Monika yelled out as she felt something rip through her leg. Looking down, she noticed purple claws retreating into the ground, leaving behind her bleeding right calf, her stocking ripped through.
Suddenly, the scratch became flooded with purple and started to expand.
"Do something!" she yelled out as she watched the purple haze spread out in trepidation. Natsuki was the one who reacted first, punching her leg strong enough to rip the bruised flesh off.
"SHIT!" Monika cursed as blood gushed out of her ripped leg. "I was talking about Sayori!"
Nodding, Sayori walked to her and used her own energy to heal her destroyed leg. The bodies around them were dead after all, so they wouldn't serve as proper sources.
"You three!" she turned to the others as Sayori healed her. "Yuri has to be downstairs to meet her range requirement! Break through the floor and kill her!"
Nodding, the three manifested their Stands and quickly broke through the floor beneath them, letting them fall down to the lower floor easily. Upon seeing the door to the classroom drift to a close on its own, the three ran past the door to reach the only person who could be there.
Upon reaching outside, they found Yuri with another enlistment of falling people behind her.
"Knock out of it, you three!" she yelled as she held up her hand again, forming another portal on it.
JoJo quickly compressed the space between them again, bringing her closer to him. However, neither he nor MC could handle the fresh array of incoming falling bodies that Yuri was sending their way. These were much slower than the ones before, but JoJo and MC still found themselves caught up in deflecting them.
Natsuki, however, had no such restrictions, seeing as how she was forced out of Yuri's attack path as JoJo brought her closer to him.
Yuri shrieked out loud as she felt Sweet Victory strike her arm, and quickly withdrew into a portal she had luckily prepared on the path of her attack. Falling through it, she found herself back in the room she had just emerged from. The one with the now broken ceiling, from where the other three descended. Feeling a burst of immense pain, she looked down. Her expression turned to one of horror as she finally noticed that her left forearm was completely ripped off, blood rushing out quick enough to turn her light-headed. Acting quick, she slipped off her blazer and tied it around her stump, forming a poor tourniquet that restricted the bleeding to some extent.
As she stood up, she felt another jolt of her pain on her left side. Quickly reaching out to feel it, she knew that the warm sharp pain was probably a shattered rib. Thankfully, if it wasn't obstructed by her hand, Natsuki would have ended up killing her with that punch, she realised.
As she looked ahead again, however, she faltered as she saw Sayori and Monika already waiting for her, having descended to the lower floor with Sayori's rope, Monika fully healed. Sayori quickly used Take Me to Church to tie up her limbs, or whatever was left of them, and lift her into the air, hoisting her up high from the ceiling. She tried to squirm around to break free. However, she was forced to stop as she felt her entire body freeze.
'My rib!' she realized. 'Natsuki attacked it! She paralyzed me!'
Bringing out The Knife from behind her, she tried to have it pass a portal through her body. However, before it could reform, Sayori's rope reached it almost instantaneously and caught it, wrapping it up just like its master.
Yuri heard the door behind her open, and the three pairs of footsteps let her know that the others had returned.
"I'm impressed, Yuri," Monika said, nodding to Natsuki. Nodding back, Natsuki had Sweet Victory clap its hands, letting Yuri regain her movement. "You've grown quite a bit. It's a shame that you will be deleted in moments."
"N-No!" Yuri yelled out, once again fighting against the rope holding her back. "I c-can't lose yet! I n-need to k-keep f-fighting! F-For those t-that saved me! The Knife!"
But nothing responded.
Slowly tilting her head to the side, Yuri was horrified to see that her Stand, that was wrapped by rope, had seemed to decay into a dirt brown cover, with a tear on the top of the head. It hadn't lasted for long, however, as Take Me to Church's rope crushed the remnants of her Stand, momentarily showing Yuri that it was hollow inside.
"NO!" Yuri yelled out, squirming against her bonds. "It… I-It can't end l-like this!"
Monika chuckled. "I honestly hadn't expected that," she simpered. "Even your Stand gave up."
But in that moment of silence after Monika's words, they heard JoJo murmur something under his breath. Sadly, no one could make out what he was saying.
"What the hell are you saying?!" Monika yelled out at him, shaking her head.
"Act…" he managed to speak louder, clearly still dazed.
"Ugh, you're probably not completely under my influence yet," Monika grumbled to herself. "Seriously, if I had more time to change you all… No matter. MC, I want you to feel this, so I'll grant you the honours."
As the rope slowly lowered Yuri's body closer to the floor and deposited what remained of her Stand, MC walked up to her, manifesting Day One by his side.
"MC, stop!" Yuri squirmed as she shouted, still trapped by the rope. "You're not yourself! Snap out of it!"
MC faltered for a moment, his Stand shimmering in the air beside him as well. However, he kept walking to her.
"Please, MC, you can't!" Yuri insisted, hoping that she had a chance.
"Tokkeaaa…"
Now with Mess is Mine driving its hands into the back of his head, MC straightened as he kept walking to Yuri. Yuri paled, knowing that with Mess is Mine on his head, she had no way of getting to him.
'Is… Is this it?' Yuri pondered. 'Is this everything that I could do? Even after breaking through my issues, I'm still weak?'
Bringing Day One in front of him, he brought his Stand's fists back.
'No, it can't end like this!' Yuri kept thinking, shutting her eyes away from him in fear. 'Please, The Knife, help me! Only you can!"
And so, her Stand heard her.
"The Knife!" she yelled out again, not expecting a strange voice to answer.
"SILENT SHOUT!"
The next thing that Yuri saw was a haze of purple overcoming her senses, shielding her from the incredibly bright flash of light that overtook the room.
Once the flash ended, Yuri found herself free of her binds, letting her fall back onto the floor. Looking around, she could see that all of her hypnotized friends, and Monika, were lying on the ground clutching their eyes in agony.
"What… What just happened?" Yuri questioned.
"I believe that I possess the answer to that query, my mistress," a voice spoke from her side.
Looking to her side, she almost fainted at what she saw. It was a purple-skinned woman-shaped Stand, sharing its body measurements with Yuri's own. Swirls were covering its breasts, drifting away into the rest of its being as well. It wore no garment on its torso otherwise but wore black pants with red streaking stripes running across its sides, cut off at the shin. Large emeralds covered its elbows and knees, with a belt buckle on her waist that resembled the Third Eye from the Portrait of Markov with a ruby as the pupil. Similarly, there were amethysts studded onto its arms, with larger ones on its knuckles. Its hands had five fingers, but with cat claws on the end. Its head held a mane of flowing hair as long as Yuri's but floated behind her despite the lack of wind. It had a taut mouth with full lips sharing the same shade as the rest of its body, a long nose and its eyes were another set of rubies with a trail of red running down its face. It elegantly held itself, back straight and chest outstretched as it held its hand clasped behind its back as it faced its user.
"Wha-Who are you?! Whose Stand are you?!" Yuri yelped out, regarding the new Stand in front of her. "And how can you talk?!"
"For your latter question, certain peculiar Stands are entirely capable of independent speech," the Stand responded. Upon hearing it again, Yuri realized that it sounded like a distorted form of her own voice. "As for the former, I am your Stand. As a fruit of your personality growth, I have, so to speak, evolved."
The Stand held up its hand, raising up two clawed fingers. "You may now address me as The Knife… Act 2."
Yuri stood with her mouth agape as she beheld her new Stand for the first time. "I… didn't know that was possible," she said.
"This is an uncannily rare case," Act 2 confessed, setting its hand behind its back like before. "Hence, your lack of knowledge of this possibility. But for now, my mistress, please. Give me orders."
"Wha… What the hell…?" Yuri heard Monika groan out as she finally rubbed the dark spots out of her eyes. "Everyone, go after Yuri and her… what the hell is that?!"
"Ugh," MC groaned from nearby as he rose as well, opening his eyes. "My head – Oh my god, Yuri! There's another Stand behind you!"
JoJo sighed up to a seat as well. "No, that's her Stand," he grumbled out, making MC shoot a gaze at him. "An Act Evolution. There's only been one recorded case of this before. Never expected it to happen again."
Hearing Natsuki and Sayori groaning up to a seat as well, Yuri smiled as she realized that the others were finally snapped out of their trances.
"No, no, NO!" Monika yelled out as she realized the same thing. "Yuri, you son of a bitch. You ruined everything!"
Monika yelled out loud. "Mess is Mine!" she called out, bringing out her Stand. "Tokkeaaa…" it responded as it slowly floated its way to Yuri, turning invisible along the way.
"Act 2!" Yuri yelled out. "Do something! Protect me!"
Act 2 smiled from behind her. "With pleasure."
Walking up to Yuri's form, it enveloped her within its own body. Yuri felt her vision quickly covered by purple but then faded away to help her see.
"I would suggest silence, my mistress, considering how you are currently rendered invisible," Act 2 said. "And only you can hear me at this moment. I additionally possess the ability to perceive your thoughts, so you may relay anything I need to know from there."
Soon after that, Yuri's vision took on a redder tint. Upon not seeing anything, her vision turned purple once again. This time, however, it hadn't obstructed her vision, and it was more like someone placed a colour filter over her eyes, just like how it was when her sight was turned redder like before. Yuri was surprised to find out that she could now see Mess is Mine again.
"The new ability that I have acquired from evolution is Light Refraction," Act 2 began to explain. "I refract light around your body to render you invisible. Additionally, I can use this refraction to adjust the wavelengths of incoming light, allowing you to witness spectrums of light that others cannot see. For example, if you weren't a Stand User, I would have been able to help you see the upper end of the Infrared Spectrum, which is where all Stands are visible. This Stand, it seems, can shift its visibility to the lower Ultraviolet Spectrum instead. Therefore, I've granted you the ability to see within that spectrum, with a compromise in that you will be unable to see other Stands now as you are now unable to perceive red colours."
'T-That's… That's good,' Yuri thought, making sure to press her lips together to keep from making a sound. Slowly, Yuri took a few sneaky steps to the side, making sure that she hadn't produced a sound.
However, to her horror, Mess is Mine still followed after her even after her adjustments. As the grey Stand faded away once again, The Knife Act 2 quickly ended the filter over Yuri's eyes, allowing her to see the Stand once again, now right over her. Yelping at the sudden reappearance, Yuri accidentally jumped out of her own Stand's protection.
"Yuri, you idiot!" Monika yelled out. "You may be able to turn invisible now, but you're still bleeding! I can see the blood on the floor!"
Looking down, Yuri realized that she was correct as blood was quickly dripping down onto the floor.
"Tokkeaaa…" Mess is Mine voiced out as it approached Yuri once again, not bothering to turn invisible this time.
Cursing to herself, Yuri immediately jumped back further and removed her blazer tourniquet. Moving away further, she covered the open wound with the cloth and pulled out the ribbon on her neck, using that to tie the blazer into place. Looking back up, she saw that Mess is Mine was still slowly approaching her. 'How do we escape?' she thought.
Suddenly, The Knife Act 2 covered her once more, rendering her invisible again.
"I have already created an incomplete path behind us." Looking back, Yuri noticed that there was a purple portal beneath her.
"Please excuse my interruption, my mistress," Act 2 spoke in her head as it rose its own right arm away from Yuri's, rendering it visible for that moment for Mess is Mine to move to it. Suddenly, Act 2 shot out a ball of light from its hand. As it travelled, it seemed to stop at a spot behind Monika and filled out into another purple portal.
"Unlike my predecessor, I can only create two linked projected portals at a time on any space that I can aim at, aside from my central ability," Act 2 revealed. "These portals share our invisibility, so there is no need to worry about adversaries seeing them."
Nodding, Yuri turned around, Stand covering her in time, and stepped through the portals she had formed, leaving Mess is Mine to grab the air where she once stood. Just as she stepped through as quietly as possible, she closed the portals, leaving Mess is Mine to keep going forward aimlessly.
"What?! Your blood just stopped falling!" Monika yelled out. "Where are you? Show yourself!"
"I'm right here."
Monika jerked back around, as Act 2 split away from Yuri to reveal her body.
"Mess is Mine!"
"Act 2!"
Both Stands approached each other as fast as possible. Since Yuri was up close, Mess is Mine could easily get to her with its close-range speed. However, that speed was nothing compared to how quickly Act 2 reached Monika.
"FAEFAEFAEFAEFAEFAEFAEFAE!" the new Stand yelled out as it kept attacking Monika before she could use her Stand, revealing its drastic increase in physical strength and speed. Unable to defend against a sudden Stand Rush with her Ghost Stand, Monika was sent stumbling back to the opposite end of the room, now rendered unconscious with her Stand faded away. Satisfied with its victory, The Knife Act 2 retreated back into its master's form.
"Yuri!" Sayori finally yelled out, now seeing the rivulets of blood on the floor and her destroyed arm as she tiredly held on to the stump, now free to feel the pain. Acting quick, Sayori brought out Take Me to Church and wrapped up the amputated limb with her rope, removing the tourniquet she fashioned over it.
"Don't… heal it yet," Yuri managed to say through her exhaustion from blood loss, making Sayori shoot her a look of confusion. "I don't need it if MC is going to rewind her."
Nodding, Sayori still sent her some energy and turned to rope yellow.
"Just stopping the bleeding and giving you energy," Sayori responded to her questioning look with a smile. "We need you awake, after all."
Yuri sighed in relief, as a smile overtook her features. It was short-lived, however, as upon looking back at Monika, she felt a shiver run through her body, making her fall onto her knees. "Oh my god," Yuri murmured, still looking at Monika lying in a pool of her own blood, her bones twisted in incredibly wrong ways. "I… I did that?" she asked out loud with a feeling of horror filling her.
Hearing footsteps, Yuri soon felt a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Yuri," MC said. "None of this is permanent. I'll rewind us very soon."
Yuri slowly gulped as she nodded. "But still…" she muttered, looking down at her sole right hand. "I… have blood on my hands now. Real blood."
Suddenly, she felt a spot of cold on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw that MC, while gripping onto her, was slowly tearing up with his eyes closed.
"I-I know," MC choked out between his still emerging tears, rendering Yuri stiff beneath him. "A-And I am so sorry we made you do that. But… f-for all that it's worth… thank you for saving us."
Yuri felt her breath hitch as she felt tears on her face as well. Closing her eyes to her tear-stained world, she looked away.
"J-Just…" Yuri slowly spoke. "Just rewind her already. Please."
"Hey, Yuri!" she heard another voice call out to her. Turning her head to the side, she saw Natsuki, now awake but still lying slumped on the wall, waving to her. "You… You did good, alright?" She said with a smile but then turned it to her trademark pout. "D-Don't make me say it again…"
Chuckling despite herself, Yuri waved her off. "Thank you, Natsuki. It… It was difficult, but I got there in the end."
"Yeah, that you did," Natsuki remarked with a smirk. "And an evolved Stand, huh? How neat is that?"
Yuri giggled, her tears now run dry. "Y-Yes, I do believe it is rather… neat."
Natsuki chuckled, now turning to JoJo. "Looks like you were right," Natsuki sniggered. "Running away certainly helps at times."
JoJo let out a laugh as well. "I know, right?" he replied. "I told you. You can kill gods with that tactic."
Slowly coming back to a stand, Yuri took a moment to look at every member of the club. "Everyone," she addressed all of them. "T-Thank you for guiding me here. F-For helping me grow, for pushing me past my limits. I… I sincerely cannot put my gratitude into words."
JoJo chuckled again as he stood up as well, looking at her. "Who knew that all you needed were spare humans to use as cannons?" he remarked with a smirk.
Yuri's expression suddenly faltered into a horrified one. "O-Oh, t-those poor people… I-I killed them too!"
MC laughed out loud, making Yuri shoot her head back to him. "Don't worry, Yuri," he explained, wiping away a stray tear from his eye. "As I said, I will be rewinding in a moment, so none of those people you killed are actually dead. They won't remember a thing about it, either."
"And about what you just said," MC continued, showing Yuri a bright smile. "We're glad to have helped you, Yuri. Just as you've helped us. So, there's no need to share thanks."
Sayori chuckled from nearby. "Oh, MC," she commented. "I haven't seen that smile of yours in so long."
MC shook his head with another chuckle, keeping the smile upon his face. "Yeah, it certainly does feel like forever," he retorted. "I think my face muscles have locked up."
Sayori let out a loud laugh at MC's unexpected joke, the rest of the club sniggering despite their injuries and the wreck and rubble around them.
However, their laughter was cut off by the sound of something falling. Looking away from them, MC noticed that it was Monika, who had now completely collapsed onto the floor.
Losing his smile, MC slowly walked up to Monika's corpse. "Guys," he announced. "It's time. I need to start my rewind."
Hearing a murmur of approval from the others, he took a breath.
"Day One."
Summoning his Stand, he was about to place his hand onto the second slot like always. However, he managed to see his third slot lit up as well from his peripherals. That was on Wednesday morning, he remembered.
Looking back at Natsuki, he remembered everything she had to do to stop Raised by Wolves. Even though she could take care of them herself now, he still wanted to help her ease up a little. And that was why he decided to rest his hand on the third save slot that he had made instead.
"Load Save."
As the world around MC broke to reform the star-studded world, he saw Monika's form in front of him, glow barely visible. However, the most unusual thing about her was the number of red strands that were connected to her body. It was almost like her form was completely mummified by the strands around her.
"What… the hell?" MC spoke out, knowing that no one was hearing him here.
Stepping up to the red strands, he finally remembered why they were so familiar. The last time he had seen these were when Natsuki's father was getting deleted. His soul was getting destroyed by strands similar to the ones in front of him at that moment.
"Why… does Monika have these?" MC pondered.
Slowly reaching out with his hand, he pushed into her form between one of the gaps between the strands, using his Stand to refill her aura. However, something about her aura seemed to reject the incoming flow. The red strands around her were sucking out the green energy the moment they wafted in. Realizing that it was useless to go any further, MC decided to withdraw his hand.
Squinting his eyes to look at her a little closer, he looked past the white smoke filling her form and the red rope around her leaking red smoke into her as well. Looking deeper, he found that there was a spark within her. A spark placed in the root of her head. One that he had never noticed before in any form.
Taking another breath, praying that this was the right choice, he drove his arm deeper into her aura to eventually find her inner light.
Everything was white again.
"Memory?" MC realized as he looked around. "What is it with this place?"
"It's ridiculous how much you don't know about your own Stand."
Jolting back at the sudden voice, MC looked ahead to see someone that she should have expected.
Monika was standing before him. Perfectly fine. Also, more importantly, naked as the day she was born, save for the white mist covering her chest and groin. Looking down, MC finally realized that he was equally naked and covered up as well. He suddenly yelped as he realized that his entire body was on display to his enemy, who was also of the opposite gender and not his girlfriend.
"Seriously," Monika rolled her eyes, ignoring his antics. "It's embarrassing. Your Stand may be new, but you've had it for weeks already. You should've realized its full capabilities so much sooner. Hell, Wallace knows everything about it even without him having to encounter it."
"Monika," MC walked up to her, momentarily letting himself their state of nude. "I'm going to ask you this again. Were you serious about the whole Perfect Human thing? Can… Can we save you?"
Monika's expression faltered for a moment, but then resolved itself into a smirk. "So, you're still looking to save me, even after everything I haven't done," Monika chuckled. "Sayori must have really got to you, huh? And about the Perfect Human, I'm dead serious. I won't stop until I meet them at some point. Until I meet you."
MC frowned. "Monika," he said, deciding to change the subject. "What were those red strands around you? In the universe-looking world?"
"He calls it the Breach. The 'universe-looking world', I mean," Monika explained with another condescending eye roll. "And those red strands…" her expression suddenly took a more pensive turn. "I believe that those are what let me keep my Stand. Those keep me under Wallace's control."
"Wallace?" MC asked. "Wait, as in, Wallace Grieves? The Student President?"
Monika chuckled. "Yep, Wallace!" she laughed without any humour in her tone. "My boyfriend! A hell of a boyfriend, too! I'm so scared that he'll delete me on a whim that I can never stay comfortable around him, even though he's supposed to be my boyfriend! Do you have any idea what seeing hundreds of people erased from the thralls of time feels like? And being forced to remember every single one, as you keep going through the shitty school years?! Do you have any idea how it feels, knowing that you could be next one on the chopping block at any moment?!"
MC chose to stay silent, preferring to hear what Monika had to say.
"Why do you think I'm obsessed with the Perfect Human?!" Monika carried on, tears budding in the corners of her eyes. "If… If I could find the Perfect Human, then m-maybe they can tell me if everything that I was feeling was correct or not! Maybe they could even let Wallace know about his wrongs and help him change!"
MC kept watching as Monika's tears began to fall down, finding herself unable to keep her head straight. "M-Maybe he could realize his mistakes and know how he's hurting me! How he's hurting all of us! T-That's why I have to put you through all that suffering, b-break you, and then reform the Perfect Human again! T-That's my o-only hope! That's t-the only way I-I can be happy!"
MC felt unnatural wetness on his cheeks. Feeling it, he noticed that they were tears. Tears of his own, that he was shedding for Monika.
Monika finally rubbed her eyes, but then she suddenly stood still. "W-Why did I tell you all that?!" Monika yelled at herself. "Stupid, stupid! Why the hell did you expose your plans?! Now it will never work!"
"Monika," MC decided to interrupt her. "Don't call yourself stupid. I'm actually glad you told me all that."
"Well, I'm not!" Monika yelled back in reply. "You know everything now! Y-Your mental fortitude is stronger because of it!"
"Maybe so," MC said with a light hum. "I don't know much about being the Perfect Human, but all I'm seeing here is this. Monika, you're as broken as the rest of the club. As far as I'm concerned, you're one of us."
Monika widened her eyes in surprise as she stopped fidgeting, slowly turning her head to look up at MC.
"You already know all this, but I'll say it one more time," MC continued. "Sayori has her depression. Yuri has her self-harm tendencies. Natsuki had her dad's abuse and unnatural familial past. By helping them out of their situations, they've now grown out of their issues and are now willing to help others as well."
"Monika," he continued. "You are clearly in an abusive relationship. Maybe Wallace might not hit you or anything like that, but the amount of trauma you've faced because of him is a clear sign that you should leave him behind. I may be the newest member of the Literature Club, but I will make a promise to you on behalf of us."
"We will save you, Monika. No buts, no doubts. We are going to free you from Wallace, and that's that."
As Monika looked at MC, who bore a face so oddly similar to her boyfriend's, she couldn't help but feel an emotion that she had forgotten a long time ago. Hop-
She immediately crushed the emotion with the reality of the situation. "Y-You can't, MC," Monika finally looked away. "Y-You… why did… you say that?"
MC widened his eyes in surprise. "Because I'm going to, of course," he repeated. "I'm going to save you."
"NO!" Monika yelled out, falling down to her knees. "D-Don't… DON'T MAKE ME CARE FOR YOU! I'M SUPPOSED TO BREAK YOU! NOT FALL FOR YOU! NOT BE YOUR FUCKING DAMSEL!"
"Monika, please," MC said, slowly walking up to her kneeling form and offering her his hand. "Let us help you."
"Y-You don't understand…" Monika murmured, finally looking back up at MC. "If you help me, then he will come after you!"
MC faltered for a bit upon hearing that.
"He will delete you, just like he deleted so many others!" Monika continued. "He will definitely take revenge against the one who freed me! And no matter what, YOU CAN'T STOP HIM!"
MC shivered for a moment. He was stuck. He wanted to help Monika and be done with it. He had hoped that merely reverting her would be enough to save her and that they could have easily lived out the rest of their lives normally as before. As the Literature Club once was. But now, with the numerous problems that Monika was facing, he realized that the only way to save her would be to help her overcome these demons of hers. Inside and out. And if he had to help with that, he would have to forego that freedom that he sought and promised the rest of the club.
"MC, please," Monika sobbed beneath him, sitting on her heels defeatedly. "I… I don't care about the Perfect Human anymore. Not after everything you had just said to me, even after everything I did. Hell, I don't even know if the Perfect Human is real in the first place, or even how to summon it if it was! I was just grasping at strings! MC, please, run away. Take the rest of the club and move to another school. Take JoJo as well. I… I don't want any more blood on my hands. So, I will let you go. I… I don't want to have to hurt you, or the club, anymore."
Looking down at Monika's defeated form, MC somehow forgot about everything that Monika had done in the past and finally made his decision.
Kneeling down as well to meet her eyes and still keeping her hand up, MC smiled as wide as he could. Monika looked straight into his eyes, not knowing what he was doing.
"Monika," MC insisted with a smirk. "You heard me the first time. We will save you. We can't leave our President behind now, can we?"
Monika looked back at MC's smile, wonder in her eyes. "How…" she quietly said, not believing what she was seeing. "How can you be so naïve…? How can you be so stubborn…?"
MC chuckled. "We've faced… quite a bit these past few weeks," he revealed. "I've travelled back in time. I've almost been ripped to pieces by some string of all things. I've had my Stand erased and stolen. I've been beaten to the ends of my life. Yuri literally stabbed me in the chest. I've been through tons and tons of reflex conditioning at JoJo's hand. Yuri's died once, Sayori and I have seen someone get deleted in front of our eyes. I'm pretty sure I rewrote Natsuki's entire traumatic past."
"And you know what I learned from all of these events, in just four weeks?" he continued. "I learned that we find a way. We always do. Maybe we are going to stand against an unbeatable foe, but none of that matters. We will do everything we can until we either help you or get deleted ourselves. When we all work together, I'm sure we can find a way."
"D-Don't act so recklessly!" Monika yelled at him. "T-This is deletion we're talking about! You can't bring someone back from deletion, even if you reverse time! Y-You are all at risk of actual death this time! One that you won't wake up from and shrug off!"
MC shook his head. "Maybe it will take a bit to convince the others," MC admitted. "But I don't want to just leave you behind when you were suffering. I guess… your club changed me to become like that."
Monika kept looking at MC, then suddenly let go of her stupefied expression for a hearty laugh.
"Wow," Monika managed to speak between her laughs. "You... You're really stupid, huh?"
"Huh?" MC was taken aback by the sudden accusation.
"Heh, no matter," Monika said as she held her hand out as well. "… I don't know what we can do against him. But… maybe if we fight together as you say… we could stand a chance."
Monika accepted MC's outstretched hand.
"Finally," MC chuckled as the white glow of the room started to flood it, turning them both into mirages of what they once were. "I thought I was going to keep my hand up forever."
He was back in the universal world. The Breach. Letting go of the spark within Monika, he still kept his hand within her aura. Sending his Stand's energy through to fill out the aura within, he found that some of the aurae were forcefully getting absorbed by Monika's form while the rest was taken by the strands. Sensing her resistance, the strands seemed to squirm their way into her, try to reach the green aura before it assimilated into her.
"Day One," MC called as the rest of his Stand emerged, star-studded green arms seeming to blend in with the surrounding atmosphere. Suddenly, Day One broke up into several green Strands that each connected to one of the red strands on Monika's aura. Fighting back against its forward motion, Day One held back the strands from pulling MC's energy out as he continued to fuel more power into her.
In mere moments, Monika's aura suddenly shot out grey strands similar to Day One, swatting away the red strands still holding on to her. Recoiling from its touch, the strands finally dispersed from Monika's form, fading away into nothingness as Day One reformed itself back into its original form. With the red strands broken away, Monika's form became sufficiently filled out with green energy.
Sighing in relief, MC pulled his hand away, happy to see Monika's form now free of the strands holding her back. Suddenly as the grey strands returned back into her, a grey aura began to bud from within her as well, quickly turning the rest of the energy that he supplied into the same shade.
Before MC could wonder about what that had meant, he found himself stumbling back in time like he had several times before. Feeling a new strand in his hand, he pulled back, briefly seeing four figures coming back with him all connected to his hand. And so, he braced himself to begin his fifth iteration of the same week.
Stand User: Yuri Yamamoto
Stand Name: The Knife
Type:
Act Stand: This is a Stand that evolves over time. An evolution, or a new Act, will give the Stand a new move set. New Acts are normally acquired whenever the user has undergone some form of growth or change. The user can freely switch between their Acts, but can only use one at a time.
Act 1 Abilities: As mentioned before.
Act 2 Abilities:
Refraction: The Knife Act 2's main ability is the refraction of light across its body. It can be incredibly precise with this ability, even capable of rendering things within it and itself invisible, helping its user see in different spectrums of light or releasing a flash of light similar to a flashbang without its sonorous ring. The latter is named Silent Shout.
Reserved Portals: The Knife Act 2 is additionally able to release two conjunctional portals onto any two spaces that it can see, almost similar to its predecessor. It cannot access nor create scratch portals, however. It cannot manifest two Act 1s, as they won't do anything other than form portals where the user desires. Act 2 is also able to use its refraction abilities on these portals.
PWR: B
SPD: A
RNG: C (2m)
PRC: A
PER: C
DEV: E
A/N: And there we have it! The End of the Monika arc!
I'm not going to declare the name of the next arc yet. I will admit to this, however: This is the last arc of the story. Actually, thinking about it right now, I might be able to say that it is actually two arcs in one. Maybe I'll try that.
Also, an Act Stand! I know that I'm not following Araki's pattern of naming Koichi's Stand on an Act divided song (I don't know if this is for real, it's just something that I heard of once), but I really don't know any songs like that. So please excuse me for that.
Honestly, the first time Act 2 yells out Silent Shout was one peak moment that I had been planning from the beginning of this story. As I said before, I was genuinely felling chills down my spine as I wrote that bit down, enough for me to actually slow down my typing speed to savor it.
Review!
IzuOchaShipper99: -I've never played DBD, so I can't say for sure. Also, I firmly believe that in the later parts in canon JJBA, every single Stand is OP. I wanted to start reflecting that in this story as well, instead of giving them all simpler abilities. Face it, there's not much most people can do against Time Reversion (Unless you're Gyro, of course). That's why I had to make these characters so much stronger, so that they could pose a challenge to the gang.
-Oh, and if you think Monika's Stand is scary, then you'd better wait for Wallace's Stand. And I don't think Mess is Mine can be compared to those Stands. With time to set it up, it is formidable, yes. However, the Stands you've mentioned can easily defeat her. Let's not forget that Mess is Mine is ridiculously slow, by the way, unless its near its user.
-Sorry, but no major death in this arc. Even if Monika killed someone, they wouldn't die permanently, after all. She can't delete people. As of now, deletion is the only way of actually killing someone in this story. Also, I'm not going to talk about death any further. You're going to have to wait for the future chapters to see what I have in stock.
And that's all for now! My laptop's currently breaking apart at its hinges everytime I close it, so I'll have to get that checked out. That might end up postponing my releases, but don't count on it. I mean, I've rarely ever lived up to that comment before. I'll be praying that my laptop stays safe, and I'll see you all next chapter!