The 'Dream'
The doors opened to reveal Makoto's parents, living and breathing. And so, what ensued was a bundle of hugs and tears as Makoto is finally reunited with his family after what felt like years apart.
At the end of the day, Makoto retreated to his room and fell into deep sleep. It feels like forever since he last slept on such a soft bed.
While he slept, both parents and Komaru were simultaneously puzzled and concerned for Makoto's strange behavior.
On the other hand, their apartment looked uncannily similar to their previous home before the tragedy. But he didn't care.
Because for the first time in forever, Makoto felt like he was home. Truly home. And he doesn't want to leave...
Sleep came unusually easy this night.
Makoto would often find trouble sleeping after the events of the killing game. They were scenes burned into his mind that he would never forget.
But tonight was different.
And so was his dream.
Makoto found himself in a dark void. There was nothing but darkness. He felt uneasy, and frankly, terrified. Then a voice was heard, it sounded like it had come from every direction.
"Makoto."
Then all at once a figure appeared, a boy with a hooded jacket, with jagged, brown hair and a prominent cowlick. There was no doubt, the boy that stood before him, was himself.
Makoto was startled, why does this stranger look exactly like him?
The only difference between the two was that the second one had his hood over himself along with a face devoid of emotion. Makoto opened his mouth to speak before he was interrupted,
"Welcome Makoto Naegi. I've been waiting for you."
A chill went down his spine. The doppelganger even sounds exactly like him.
"Who are you?" He managed to speak, his voice cracking a bit under the pressure. "Why do you look like me?"
"I can't tell you who I am, but all you need to know is that I am a friend, not your enemy."
Makoto stayed silent. Silently wondering how he's mostly keeping calm. Maybe it was because he was aware that this is a dream.
"This is more than just a dream, Makoto. I'm here to tell you everything you need to know. We are also on a tight schedule, so listen carefully to what I have to say."
"Why should I trust you?"
He felt he was pushing his luck by sounding so confrontational, but this guy can't possibly do anything to him in a dream... right?
"That's for you to decide." His stare was cold, piercing. Though they were identical to Makoto's eyes, they were clearly the eyes of someone else.. "You are now in dimension 456724. You were sent here on a mission."
"Waitwaitwait, hold on. Dimension? Mission?"
"As you may have suspected, I was the individual that spoke to you through the phone. Unfortunately, our conversation was cut short, since your phone couldn't handle the inter-dimensional frequencies."
Makoto's brows furrowed, "So you were the one who stopped me from talking to Kyoko?"
"No." The boy simply said. "That was because you were already in another dimension from her at that point."
Makoto backed down, but he kept his guard up.
"First, let me explain to you about this world." The boy held up his hand and a screen appeared out of thin air. It was transparent enough to be able to see the other through the screen. "This world is similar to yours, the major difference being that 80% of the population of this entire world have abilities called "quirks"." The screen flashed images relating to what is being said at the exact moment.
Seeing Makoto's confused look at the word "quirks", the boy elaborated. ""Quirk" is essentially the term for superpower here in this world."
He was surprised at the information. His mind thinking of only one possibility. "Superheroes? Like, actual, real-life superheroes?" He asked almost excitedly.
To which the boy just nodded. "Yes. Exactly."
"But wait, what about my family? Were they sent here too from my dimension?"
"Your family is a different case. To better explain, I'll start from the beginning. You were sent here to this dimension; therefore, you are not from here. You are practically an alien from another world. But because you, just existing from out of nowhere, would cause people to notice...We decided to fix that, so there was a bit of tampering involved with this dimension."
"Tampering? What do you mean by tampering?"
"You had to be born somewhere, so we created artificial memories of you for the people around you. That way, you wouldn't seem like you just popped into existence. Legal documents and such were also inserted."
Makoto's mouth was agape. What exactly is he hearing?
"Wait so let me get this straight, I just popped into existence since I'm from another world. Then you made it so that people would think I had been here all along?"
The boy nodded and proceeded to shut off the screen.
"You are also forbidden from telling anyone that you are not from here."
Makoto fell on his knees from the weight of the subject.
"This...this is a lot to take in. But then, what about my family? Who are they?" He asked, confused and suspicious of the individuals he had seen earlier.
"They are your real family, if that's what you're wondering. They are the same as they were before the tragedy of your world. They also believe that they were here in this world from the beginning of their lives. Just as they know nothing about the tragedy, they know nothing about Hope's Peak Academy."
"...what's happening in my home dimension then? Are my friends...okay?"
"They are fine. As long as you're here, time in your dimension is temporarily paused. I should also mention that you were given rights to something called 'Alteration'."
"And what's Alteration?"
"There's not enough time to explain it in full detail. But to put it simply, it's the ability to make minor changes in your current dimension."
"Wha-"
"You'll figure it out on your own. If I answer every question you have, there'll be no time left for me to tell you the most important information I have to give. But you have to know that overuse of Alteration may result on heavy damage to your body or even worse, death."
Makoto fell silent at his warning.
"Right about now you're wondering why exactly did we send you here, correct?"
He looked down at the speechless Makoto, who nodded in response.
The boy looked straight at him, keeping complete eye contact and a blank expression, "You were sent here to prevent the tragedy of this world."
Makoto looked deep into the eyes of the boy before him. They looked pleading, and desperate. The boy's face may be stone cold, but he couldn't mask the despair in his eyes.
"Prevent what tragedy?" He asked, only half believing what was said.
"Let me explain." The boy before him stepped back. And continued.
"From our gatherings, we found very distressing information. The events of your world, including its destruction, is set to happen in this world."
"what?" Makoto said, unsure of how else to respond. "How can that happen? You said it yourself, this is a separate dimension. How can what happened in mine happen here?" He asked, completely confused.
"It's a long explanation. To put it simply, these dimensions have certain links to each other, one link just happens to be the events of the tragedy. But what's important, is that it is most definitely inevitable, unless..."
"What? unless what?" His tone was sounding impatient, the overload of information is slowly getting in his nerves.
"Unless you manage to stop it."
"Me?" He points to himself. "You're kidding me, right?" He wasn't buying any of it.
The boy only continued to ignore Makoto's remarks, making Makoto slightly more infuriated. "The events may happen differently but will ultimately result in the same destruction that plagued your world, possibly even worse."
Somehow this had only made Makoto that much madder.
"Then what is it exactly I'm supposed to do?! Why do you expect so much from me!?"
"Just as this world will encounter the events of the tragedy. This world's tragedy would be kickstarted by this world's version of The Ultimate Despair."
"What?"
That's not possible, how can that be true?
"Our results show incredibly high probability, that there is such a person here."
"Junko Enoshima is here?!" He exclaimed, terrified of the implications.
"No. Not Junko herself. But not entirely dissimilar to her."
"...What do you expect me to do?"
The doppelganger then faced Makoto with an intense expression.
"You are expected to search and find this world's future Ultimate Despair and exterminate them."
Written: 8/25/2021
Edited: 9/13/2022
Published: 8/28/2021
Phew, that one was quite a long one to write. It might not seem much on paper, but the process sure does take a while. Anyways, thanks for reading, leave a review if you enjoyed! Those are always nice to read, and it helps keep the story alive. You don't have to though. Spelling corrections are always appreciated.
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That's all for today. Have a good day! Till next time, bye.
