Chapter 2: Welcome Back To Reality

When Monika stepped out of the room, she was momentarily taken aback. Because directly outside of that one room with no other windows or doors was… the outside. And it looked rather like an encampment. There were a number of tents, probably close to fifty of them, and each seemed like it could probably sleep about six people. And many of them were currently running about.

There were people picking up guns from their rooms, people dropping off guns at their rooms, people looking at cell phones, and others carrying bags of who knew what and just running by. Some were whispering back and forth, and others seemed to be conspiring. But everybody was in a hurry. There wasn't a slow walker amongst the people she could see. Everybody seemed to have some goal or purpose in mind.

There were a few other unsettling things about the sight though. First was the fact that everybody was in uniform, and she was pretty sure they weren't school uniforms. They consisted of a brown leather jacket, properly buttoned, with a grey shirt underneath. Both the guys and the girls were wearing black cargo pants. The jacket had an insignia of a red eye stitched over the heart.

Given that this looked like some sort of military camp, there was a second unsettling observation. Nobody hear was older than their early twenties. Ok. Sure. Monika was new here. It was possible that some of the people in front of her were older than they looked. But even if the fact was only that none of them looked like they could be older than 24 or so… it was still equally unsettling.

The third observation was that this red eye, which gave her an unsettling feeling she couldn't quite explain, was everywhere. It was on the uniforms. It was etched onto the sides of the tents. It was etched onto her frickin' hand. It was drawn onto the sides of the brown shoes that everybody was wearing. And when she turned around… to face the building she had just stepped out of… she found that it had been shaped and painted to look exactly like the red eye insignia. And she had just stepped out of the pupil.

Monika stumbled backwards away from the building, tripped, and fell down the stairs. She hit the bottom, and lay there for a moment, stunned. It hadn't been many stairs, only three or four, so she wasn't badly hurt, just dazed. But that only lasted for a second, after which she realized… that there was complete silence around her. Slowly, she looked up. Everybody had stopped moving, and was simply standing there, staring at her.

The awkward silence was broken by one of the girls, who stepped forward and knelt down, offering Monika a hand. The girl had coral pink hair and a red bow in her hair. She had bright blue eyes and a contagious smile. Well, Monika found it contagious, as she found herself smiling despite herself as she let the girl help her back to her feet. As soon as she was standing, Monika's eyes darted around to everybody who was staring at her.

The eyes that were staring back at her forced a cold shiver down her spine. They all looked… dead, emotionless, empty. She hadn't noticed it while standing in front of the Eye Building, but these people felt more like zombies than living people. Sure, they were clearly alive… but they seemed so… vacant. Like they were simply doing what they were programmed to do.

"Alright! Break it up!" Natsuha called, clapping her hands. She was standing in front of the Eye Building, looking disapprovingly at the crowd. They immediately turned and took off running like they had been before Monika's stumble. The ones who had been talking immediately went right back to doing so as they ran. It was like they had all been on pause and Natsuha had just hit the play button.

The only person who didn't immediately take off was the girl that Monika assumed was probably Sakura.

Sakura was different than the rest of the people there. She was smiling, a wide genuine smile. And she was twisting her left foot on the ground in an attempt to hide her exuberance. "I… can't believe you're finally back. We all knew it was a long shot… I mean… You were gone for two years, and every other test had failed. I was so afraid…" Apparently giving up her flimsy attempt to seem non-challant, Sakura embraced Monika. "Welcome back!"

At which point, Natsuha stepped in and pulled Sakura apart from Monika with a slight scowl. "Honestly, Sakura," She said tersely. "This is why you are still stuck with the new recruits. Signs of affection have no place here. Besides, Monika has no idea who you are."

Sakura's smile faltered for a moment, as she released Monika and stepped back. Her eyes darted between the two of them. "What do you mean, she doesn't remember who I am?"

"She doesn't remember anything," Natsuha replied. "Not about you, not about this place, and not even about Markov himself. Apparently, the experiment had unexpected side effects. All she remembers is the game. She completely forgot about reality."

Sakura's face darkened. "Then she should leave. She should leave right now, before she does remember. We've all wished we could forget so many times. If she actually has…"

"She can't leave, Sakura," Natsuha said with a firm shake of her head. "Not anymore." She took Monika's hand and turned it over to show Sakura the marking. "She belongs to Markov now. There's no place for her out there."

"Will you two stop being so darn cryptic and explain to me what's going on here?" Monika asked, yanking her hand back. "What does this tattoo on my hand even mean? Where are we?"

Sakura and Natsuha exchanged glances, but said nothing for a moment. "Sorry," Sakura said quietly. "I don't want to be the one to explain everything to you. Suffice it to say, that marking… is the insignia of the damned. We call it The Third Eye."

Monika frowned, staring at her hand some more. "And I take it I got this after passing this test that everybody is talking about?"

"Yeah," Natsuha replied. "It's only received after an initiate has passed some form of test. It… signifies the awakening of your inner demon."

Inner demon. Monika's mind immediately flashed back to Sayori hanging from the ceiling, then to Natsuki's broken neck, and then to Yuri's bloody corpse covered in knife wounds. Inner demon, huh? Was Doki Doki set up to have that ending? If so, that meant that the only ending ever deisgned was her own… and her inner demon had been awakened from the pain and rage at not being given one. That was… pretty ironic.

"Wait…" Monika frowned. "Awakening my inner demon is supposed to be a good thing? Where the heck am I?"

"A place where all hope turns into despair, where humanity crumbles into dust, and bloodshed and horror reign supreme," Markov said proudly, walking towards her from the third eye building. His left hand was spread out as if revealing some great masterpiece. "This is the paintbrush I used to create my portrait."

"And why are you so interested in me?" Monika asked with a scowl. "You psychopath!"

Markov grinned. "See, what's funny is that you have absolutely no idea how accurate that title is." He motioned his head to her two companions. Sakura was staring at the ground apprehensively, any sign of her jovial spirit completely gone. At the moment, she looked like all of the other people living in this place. Natsuha, on the other hand, simply wore a grimace. "But they know."

"What are you going to do with me?" Monika repeated a second time.

"Don't act like a victim," Markov said, smiling. Somehow, he looked even more terrifying when he did that. "You are the one who chose to join my camp, who demanded trial after trial after trial. You are the one who told me that if you failed this last trial, I was to kill you. You are fully responsible for where you are right now."
"And where exactly am I?" Monika repeated again.

"In the training area to become a member of the gods of our world," Markov replied. He turned to go, snapping his fingers and saying, "Natsuha, I want you to take Monika to Level Two. Oh, and take Sakura as well. It's about time she moves up." He paused for a moment, turning back to Sakura. "Let's see how well your friendship holds up there. Oh, and best not forget. She already killed all three of you in her video game." Then he strode back into the third eye.

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"I'm sorry. No." Michael said, crossing his hands. "I've already had a strange man show up at my door, been shot at, dragged outside, and had my apartment blow up. I am not a hero. I'm not your savior. And I'm not traveling to another frickin dimension to save a fictional character. And before you argue," Michael held up his hand to silence Stefan. "In this dimension, that's all she is. Leave me out of your dimension hopping."

"If I leave you here, Markov's men will kill you," Stefan replied simply.

"And I'll somehow be safer in his dimension? What makes you think that?" He paused for a second. "How well do you know that world?"

"Um… Well… I've never…"

"You've never what? Been there before? So you're telling me to a dimension you've never been to, that belongs to some crazed lunatic, and I'm supposed to be safer there then hiding out in my world?"

"Everybody who stayed in this world is dead," Stefan reminded him.

"Everybody who is dead had no idea they were being hunted. You're job is done. Feel free to move on now."

"But if you just…"

"I'm not going over there." Michael said. "No way. No how. There is only one life I care about, and that's my own. I feel no pressure whatsoever to throw it away for some girl who doesn't even exist in my world. It is not my responsibility, any more than I am yours. If you want to get yourself killed trying to rescue that girl, knock yourself out. I wash my hands of this though. There is no reason for me to risk my life here. I'm out."

Stefan frowned but shook his head. "Fine. Be done. I won't try to stop you anymore."

"Good," Michael said, turning to go.

"But…" Stefan continued. "I wasn't done. You can go if you want; but to do what? Go back to hiding in some new place wasting your life on video games and cartoons?"

"That's the basic idea," Michael responded.

"So busy experiencing the fake lives of others that you don't have any time for your own?"

Michael frowned and turned around. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I don't play video games because I want to be the people in those games. Most of them have incredibly sucky lives! Besides, I remind you that this whole conversation is about 'the fake life' of somebody from one of those games I played. I don't understand what you are trying to sell me on."

"Life," Stefan replied. "I'm trying to get you to live."

"No," Michael replied. "You are trying to get me to die. Yuri made it very clear what sort of man he was, and what sort of place Monika is in now. And if that guy has the power and influence to have an organization that spans dimensions, I won't last a day in that world."

"So what?" Stefan replied.

"So I want to live! And don't feed me some 'really live' cliché about how danger and adventure make life worth living. If I merely wanted that, I could blindfold myself and walk across a street."

"Have you never wondered what it would be like to reap the rewards of fully engaging in something difficult?"

"You're talking to a Gamer, Stefan. I do that all the time."

"I meant in the real world."

"The real world is a terrible place," Michael replied. "I have no interest in it. And all of this Markov suddenly being a real guy isn't really helping with that." He frowned. "Look. No matter the angle, if you take me over there, I'm going to be a liability. I'm safer here, where I can hide not in his world, and you are much safer over there if you don't have to worry about me. So why do you want me to go with you so badly?"

"I'm… not a hero." Stefan said quietly.

"Well, neither am I." Michael glanced at his burning apartment. "I mean, if you aren't a hero, what does that make me? You've tried to save a lot of people. You got me away from Markov's men. And you want to charge into another dimension in order to save a girl you've never met. If that doesn't make you a hero, what would?"

"Not constantly failing," Markov replied. "Don't you get it? I've tried so many times to be a hero. I've tried so many times to save the day. Failure after failure after failure. My only success has been you. I don't win, Michael. I never win. I keep trying and trying and trying. I have no intention of ever stopping, but I'm not naïve. My failures have taught me that much. I can't win alone. Somewhere along the line, I am going to die."

"And you want me to be what, your successor? You want to teach me everything you know or something? Cause, no offense, but it really doesn't seem like you know all that much. If we go over there, and you die… then I'll just be alone in that dimension!" He put his hand to his head. "Stefan. Can you give me any legitimate, logical, tangible reason I should do this?"

"Markov needs to be stopped," Stefan replied simply. "You're right. From what I've gathered, his world is a hellish one. Something straight out of a horror story. It's probably too late to save it. And Markov runs the show. The logical response is to simply hideaway in your room and pretend that place doesn't exist. But you can't do that much longer."

"Why not? What kind of cheesy, clichéd, or metaphysical reason are you going to give me now?"

"None. Just the cold hard fact. Markov is building an army. It's almost complete. And soon that world won't be the only hellish horror story planet around. He can travel dimensions, Michael, and his greed knows no bounds. He already has men here scouting it out and learning the ins and outs of how everything functions. He will devour this world, and then he will move on to the next.

"In his wake, there will be trillions upon trillions of deaths. And even if you aren't one of them, you will be just another person trying to survive in a hellish world. If you want to go back to your safe world of video games and potato chips, you'll have to fight for it. Those unwilling to fight for what they want will always lose it."

Michael frowned, glancing off in the direction he had been about to head. He breathed in and sighed. "Just go to the cops, or the navy, or some powerful secret organization. If you can find me faster, and move faster, than Markov's men… surely, you can find one of those to help you. An eccentric old man and a hikikomori vs. a global dictator?How can you not see how psychotic that is?!"

"Of course I see it. I've failed multiple times just trying to rescue one kid. I'm not naïve about our chances, but we don't have any allies in this. Any powerful secret organization not already under Markov's thumb is busy fighting that fate. No sane person is going to believe me. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why you do. There are countless crazy, whacked out, hair-brained, and far-fetched scenarios that would be far more believable than what I've told you.

"And I've heard a great many of them. You'd be surprised how far some people will go to ignore the truth. We don't have any allies, and we don't have time to find any. We need to get in there and get Monika out as quickly as possible."

"And… suddenly, we're back to Monika." Michael didn't even bother to hide his frustration. "If this is as big as you claim it is, and earth is about to be destroyed by a frickin' maniac, forget about the video game character!"

"No," Stefan replied. "I think she has a critical role in all of this. Think about it. Why would he risk tipping off people on earth that he was real before attacking? That game was a very dangerous gambit, and a needless risk for somebody as ingenious as Stefan Markov. Unless Monika is in some way significant.

"I don't know how that world works, or what Monika is really like outside of the scenario the game gave. I don't even know who she really is. But I'm willing to bet that Markov needs her. It may not be much of a lead, or much of a plan, but getting her away from Markov is the only chance I see of screwing up his plans. So what's it going to be? Are you going to head back to your video games and just wait to die? Or are you going to come with me, and risk living?"