Author's note: Monika's birthday is coming up! If you're reading this, then hopefully its the 22nd of September and I managed to put it out on time! Otherwise I'd be quite upset with myself.
Anyway!
Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale or Doki Doki Literature Club, though I do own Our Player.
She shrieked on her way down, only to have her yell be cut short almost as soon as it came out as the girl slammed against the hard rock ground, landing on her back roughly. "Oh..." She breathed, rolling onto her side before pushing herself up onto her arms and standing, wincing a bit as a sharp spike of pain launched up her spine. It wasn't very bad, definitely not debilitating or anything, but landing on your back in any context is painful- hitting hot, unforgiving rock only served to make it worse.
"You okay, Monika?" Player asked, floating down beside her, and the brown-haired girl nodded, holding her back a bit as she stood.
"Yeah... It wasn't too bad a fall, it just kind of caught me off-guard." She admits, then looks up to the hole where Mettaton was rapidly descending from. "Oh good, there's an Act Two to his play."
"Well most stories have three-act structures." Player replies dryly as the machine comes to a floating stop just away from the rocky platorm she found herself on. As he did, Monika took a moment to look around at her surroundings. She knew she'd been set back a level- which wasn't exactly pleasant but she'd be able to handle a short trek back up- but what was more interesting was the fact that the platform seemed to be connected to a very familiar-looking puzzle.
"Oh no..." She breathed, noticing all of the multicolored squares from Papyrus's puzzle earlier. She recognized the multicolored blinking lights, but not a single one of his instructions came to mind. Well... That wasn't entirely true. Green summoned monsters and reds were impassible, those were the ones she'd latched onto earlier, but the rest had been thrown at her too fast for her to keep up with, even with her naturally academic mind.
"Oh indeed, darling! A familiar puzzle of sorts for you I'm sure!" Mettaton's heavy metallic voice rings out above her, but then he seems to clear his throat, remembering his lines. "I mean- ahem. Oh no! Whatever shall I do? My love has been cast away into the dungeon! A dungeon so dastardly, my paramour will surely perish!" He turned his box-form to look, and Monika sighed, following his gaze. Maybe if he refreshed her on the rules, she might have a chance at passing it. "Each colored tile has its own sadistic function!" He sighed, and Monika breathed a bit easier too- he was probably going to tell the audience at least about each-
"But you already know all of the rules, don't you? You've seen this puzzle before about a hundred rooms ago!"
Well there goes that idea. Mettaton paused as if for dramatic effect, giving the Club President time to fill the empty space. "I don't suppose that... Our audience knows all of the rules though! It wouldn't be fair to... Subject them to a game they can't follow along too!" She tried appealing to his better nature as a showman, knowing that trying to garner sympathy for herself was a losing game.
The Machine considered for a moment, and though it lacked facial features, Monika could see the tiles of multicolored lights on its square frame blinking and flashing in and out as it ran the numbers and considered its options. Eventually, it spoke. "Well... I suppose that makes sense. Fine, I'll explain the rules once for our audience, so I should hope that everyone at home is paying attention!" And with that, he fell silent.
Monika waited for a moment, sparing a glance towards the cameras themselves for the first time since the last challenge she was forced to be part of. Awkwardly, she gave them a wave before her worries got the best of her. "So... Are you going to say anything?" Monika asked.
But Mettaton seemed to chuckle. "Ohohoho! Don't be silly, darling! I know what you were up too, and though it pains me to do otherwise, I've decided to forgo my photogenic voice in this case, and merely plaster the rules onto the screen for the viewers at home! And now that they understand the rules, I dearly hope you were paying attention as well earlier! Because our game starts now."
She sighed, then took a moment to steel herself before looking up at him with a determined expression. "Alright, fine. Continue your routine."
"Thank you~ Now then, where was I..?" The machine reached into its frilly dress and pulled out a comedically thick stack of papers, which he flipped through for a moment. "No, no not that one, that's the script to Mettaton 8- horrible production, handsome main lead though- lets see, Undertale the... Ah! Here it is. Ahem!" He tossed the stack behind him and turned back to face the camera properly. "Oh, and you'd better hurry, because if you don't get through this puzzle in 30 Seconds-" Mettaton's other hand came up and he gestured towards the left, causing Monika and Player to snap their heads over and spot... A rushing wall of flames erupt at that edge. "You'll be completely incinerated by these jets of fire!"
"That seems extreme."
"Extreme sells very well my dear."
"Y'know I'm starting to figure that out."
"ANYWAY! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! MY POOR LOVE, I'M SO FILLED WITH GRIEF! I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING! HAHAHAHAHA!" Somehow, his laughter sounded faker than his voice, and he had a robotic voice- it was dry already, but Monika figured he didn't like all of her interruptions.
And with that, the music kicked up again, Mettaton started singing as the timer began to count down. Without thinking, the Club President rushed towards the conveyor belt and took a step onto it, immediately feeling herself being shoved backwards by its motion. Still, the girl pressed forward. "Player, is this puzzle passable or is something like Papyrus going to happen again?" She asked as they moved towards the puzzle.
"Doesn't that break the rule about me not giving you the answers?" Player asked, crossing his arms as he floated by her.
"A bit, but I just want to know if it is because... I want to try something. I've been playing his game his way up until now, lets see how he reacts when I break it." It was a bit more than that though... Internally, she was starting to worry again. She was worrying that things weren't as real as they felt, like the game was just adapting itself to her actions and... she was also starting to feel the railroad hit her. She needed to change something, she didn't know if that would remove her concerns, but they'd at least give her a bit of reassurance. She stepped onto the first tile and summoned her spear. Monika smirked just a bit as she did, she had an idea. Raising her spear up, the girl took a step towards a nearby red tile and jammed her spear into it. To her, and Mettaton's (if the sudden halting of his singing was any indication), surprise, the spear found itself embedded into the tile, giving her the leverage to fling herself over the first set of tiles. Landing on the other nearby green tile, Monika summoned her spear back to her hand and braced for a fight, but no monsters showed themselves.
Frowning, the girl pressed forward and stepped onto an orange tile, causing her to smell a vaguely sweet scent. She scrunched her face at it at first, but... It probably smelled better than how she had before, given all of the heat and fights she'd been in for the last hour or so. The girl went to step onto a blue tile when a group of piranhas jumped out and lashed at her. "Woah!" She yanked her foot back, stumbling a bit as she did. "How did you guys even-?" She chooses not to continue her thought, instead jabbing her spear into the water. It didn't get any of the fish, but they did all rush to attack it.
'That definitely isn't how piranhas act, these must be some really aggressive guys. I almost feel bad for them.' It must have been awful to have such a small enclosure- and worse, she couldn't imagine how they were getting food. Still, Monika couldn't let her empathy win here, not if she wanted to break the game a bit, and so she yanked the spear out with all of the fish still latched onto it. She smirked. "Sorry!" And quickly passed through their tile before shaking the fish back out and dashing forward onto a yellow-
BZZT!
"Wah!" Electricity surges through her body and the brown-haired girl goes stumbling backwards. It wasn't a lot of electricity, to be fair, but there had been enough to cause her muscles to spasm. Hands shaking, the girl took a moment to steady her pounding heart. It hadn't been much more than a little shock, but that much electricity rushing up your body was definitely not good for it. Still, she didn't think she lost any HP...
Did this game count damage sustained outside of battles against her HP? Was... There damage to be taken outside of battles that she didn't know about? Monika stopped to ponder these questions for a moment when she spared a glance at the 30 second timer and sucked a breath in. She only had 15 seconds left and counting.
"Alright... This isn't the only tile..." She looked around and spotted another green tile, which she lunged for. Then another blue tile, surrounded by two reds. She plunged her spear into the nearest red tile and leapt over it. She didn't know what made them impassable- probably just invisible walls- but it didn't seem to register her spear or her body when she moved over it. An easy exploit... Or maybe a hint that this was real? Monika shook her head, she couldn't think about that right now... at least, for now.
Using her spear as leverage, the girl pulled herself over the red tile and flung herself onto another purple tile. Now she smelled a different flavor of citrus. Lemon? It felt like it. For whatever reason, as she approached another blue tile, the fish inside didn't seem to mind her presence, letting her just run through them, which she was grateful for. Maybe it had something to do with her scent? That was... Probably likely, Monika decided, and kept moving, passing through a green, tile, around two red ones through a blue and purple tile, and seemed to be at the home stretch as she reached a long line of green tiles.
But just as she reached about halfway through the green tiles, flames erupted around her on both sides and Mettaton came floating by as the music, and his song which she had been ignoring, ended. "OHHHH, so close darling! A hair's breath away from the end. Too bad you ran out of time!" Smugly, the machine set his hands on his... Hips? Technically he was a complete square so it-
"Here come the flames!" The fire inched closer to her, but Monika didn't seem bothered in the slightest. At this point, it would just be silly to assume that she was in any actual danger for situations like this. Although, she did hide a smile when the machine continued, trying to pretend that it wasn't becoming amusing to her at this point. "They're closing in!"
"Getting closer!"
Monika did frown a bit at this though, noticing that the roaring fires had gone from moving several feet in one go to moving only a few inches, and Mettaton's performance had changed too, as though he was waiting for something...
"Oh my!"
Briefly, she wondered if the fire was real. It looked similar to Toriel's flames, but these seemed less like magic and more like pyrotechnics. "Any minute now!" Mettaton said louder than before.
And just as Monika was considering touching one of the flames to see if it was really dangerous (and just as Mettaton coughed loudly), her cellphone began to ring.
Seeming relieved, the robot spoke up. "Oh! A phone call? Well I suppose I can postpone the flames for just long enough for you to answer it!" Monika giggled a bit this time, shaking her head at the game's- or maybe just Mettaton's- antics. This game was definitely silly, and she... she preferred silly to scary. Plus, it helped distract from the growing, nagging worries in the back of her mind. She hadn't been able to break the game, and that was starting to bother her... moving quickly, the young woman pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and clicked the answer button. This time, Alphys' voice came through.
"D-Don't worry! I'll save you!" She cried into the phone, nervous and definitely sounding like someone who was terrified of flubbing their lines, but confident enough to almost convince Monika that she was genuine. "I'm hacking into the firewall now! Just a second... And done!"
"Thanks Alphys! I was in a real... Bind there!" Monika tried to play along as well. She wasn't quite sure what Alphys' motivations were for acting in this show, but she chose not to dwell on it much. Though, it was a bit strange that she would. For Mettaton it made sense- he was an entertainer- but what reason does the Royal Scientist need to play along? Oh well.
"Bind?" Player asked, cocking his head.
"I... did the best I could with only a few seconds to react!" She replied with feigned snark, a small smile playing on her lips as she did. Player chuckled, but before he could say anything back-
"Oh no! Foiled again by the brilliant doctor Alphys!" Mettaton decried, though Monika noticed that he seemed a bit... Less enthused for that line.
"T-That's right! Its over Mettaton!" Alphy's voice rang out through Monika's phone, which had suspiciously set itself onto speaker. "You can't beat us, not as long as we work together! So just give up already!"
"OVER?!" Now the bot seemed extremely enthused again, and Monika felt her pulse quicken slightly. Sure, most of his puzzles were silly games but... That wasn't to say that this entire performance had been a ruse- he'd proven that he was perfectly fine with hurting her when he wanted to. "Oh my dear doctor Alphys! Did you forget what the green tiles do?"
"Oh no." Monika seethed, realizing almost immediately what he meant.
"Oh indeed~!" Mettaton couldn't grin without a face, but Monika somehow felt that he was as he put his hands together. "They summon a monster to fight! And darlings? There's only one monster here~!" Mettaton lands in front of Monika while removing his dress, revealing his boxlike body in full once more, as well as transforming his jet into a wheel.
"Mettaton attacks!" Player says with a slightly concerned tone. Monika doesn't comment on it, knowing by now that when he's worried, she should be as well. Still, she doesn't let it bother her as she summons her spear to her hand.
"H-Hey! I know this looks bad but... Uh... Uh oh!" Alphys herself seemed worried now. "Uh, Mettaton! Go easy one her!"
"Oh darling, I would never even think of that! What kind of host would I be if I went easy on my contestants?" Mettaton asked, but didn't give the doctor time to answer before he revealed his own trick. Clicking his fingers, the battlefield filled with bombs shaped like the one she had encountered earlier, though these had small X-s inscribed in the front. "Now then, darling! Lets dance!"
"Wait... What are you-?" Alphys started, but cut herself off with an- "Ohhhhhh! I see, that's clever..."
Monika quirked an eyebrow, replying to her phone. "What do you mean?"
"The bombs! Hitting them with your spear will generate an explosion that could hurt you, but will definitely hurt Mettaton! Hit as many as you can!" Alphys explained. "Its our best shot at taking him down!"
Monika looked at Player. "Is that under ACT?"
He nods. "Yep, it says "Attack the bombs." Under ACT, you want to do it?"
"Yep." She responds, already readying her spear. And once she did, her SOUL erupted from her body and the bombs began to glimmer with golden light. A line of them were in front of her, and Monika threw her spear at them while running to the right. One by one, they each exploded in plus shapes, and while Monika was able to avoid the explosion, Mettaton couldn't.
She raced through tapping the bombs to make them go off but keeping her distance, and once all of the bombs were destroyed, Mettaton seemed a bit bored with his delivery. Monika was starting to get the impression that this wasn't his scene.
"Oh no. You have defeated me! You are much stronger and more powerful than I thought, I was wrong, etc, etc..." He was already rolling off the stage as he added a quiet- "Whatever." And once he was gone, the color returned to the world and Monika sighed. That was... Easy. Weirdly so for Mettaton.
Maybe it really wasn't something he had a hand in writing, if Alphys' apparent acting was anything to go by...
Speaking of, the good doctor was still on the phone as the machine left. She sounded happy that he was gone, and her words were certainly a lot less rehearsed than before. "L-Looks like you beat him! You did a really good job this time! I'm glad... I just wish I could have helped more." She sounded sad, but Monika shook her head.
"I wouldn't have known to try attacking the bombs without you." It was a lie, but it was to make her feel better, so did it really matter? Small white lies like that... They were used a lot back in the Literature Club to keep the peace. Besides, Monika had a feeling that was exactly what Alphys needed to hear. For the short time she knew her, the woman didn't seem like the most confident person in the world, so a little lie to boost her self esteem couldn't be that bad.
"W-Well still... You were the one doing everything cool..!" The woman trailed off, and Monika could hear a soft shuffling sound on the other side, like something was scratching against the cellphone. It took her a moment to realize what it was- Alphys was nervously running her finger around the edge of the cellphone. "Um... Hey... Can I tell you something? Before we met... I didn't really think I was all that good... I thought I was a total screw up a-and I kept on messing things up for other people... But... Helping you like this... H-Has made me feel a lot better about myself. Even if I haven't done much..."
"You're doing good. I wouldn't have been able to handle his bombs or Undyne without you! Don't ever feel like you're not doing enough, Alphys. I promise that you are." Monika says softly. It wasn't the first time she'd had to do that kind of thing. Sayori often needed pep talks to keep going too, and in the morning sometimes... She really had to dig deep to give her that. "But..." Her tone shifted a bit. "This time... Were you in on it?"
"I-I-I Uh- I was- well-!" Immediately flustered, the doctor's finger began to trace against the edge of the phone again, muffling her words. Monika sighed.
"You don't need to set up these elaborate things with him to make me like you. I promise, just showing up randomly like you did with the bomb- that's enough. It isn't very nice to trick people like that. Or to try to. I'll forgive you this time, but please... Be genuine in the future."
The woman fell silent, and Monika filled the space. "I'm not mad, and what I said earlier still counts. You really are doing good, alright?" There was a response from the other end that sounded like a quiet "Alright" from the scientist, and Monika sighed. "I'll talk to you again soon. I have a feeling that we're going to need to work together on whatever his next plan is." Smiling again, Monika finished. "I can't wait to have your help again."
Click.
And the Club President hung up before turning to her Player with a gentle smile. "Shall we keep going?" She asked, taking her first step forward.
Player seemed more elated than before as he nodded. "Yes, we should. And hon? You're doing a good job too."
"What do you mean?"
Player gave her a knowing look and simply shrugged. "You know what I mean. Doesn't she remind you of someone~?" He spoke with a tone not unlike Mettaton's when he was acting particularly smug. Monika sighed and rolled her eyes a bit, but smiled. As much as Mettaton got on her nerves with the whole trying to kill her thing, she really had to admit that he was charismatic, and her boyfriend acting like him was definitely kind of cute.
"Alright, I see the parallels. But its not like I was completely monstrous to Sayori up until the Game started, y'know? Until I had my epiphany... I really did treat them like friends." She explained, her smile dipping and then dropping as she thought back to Sayori, Yuri and Natsuki. "And now... If this world really is real, if it really is then... Maybe I'm just remembering the way I used to act."
"Maybe." Player admitted. "But that's definitely a step up from acting the way you did towards the girls in your world. You're getting better, my love." He smiled.
And Monika smiled too. If he was proud, then she was doing everything she needed to be.
Not long later, the pair of them were standing outside of some kind of restaurant. Monika took a moment here to stop, listening to the electronic music that swelled in the background. She sighed as she did. The sound was... well it wasn't relaxing, but it had an almost mysterious feeling to it... And she had a feeling, though her understanding of musical theory in narrative was limited, that a song like this signified that she was nearing the end of her journey. Her eyes softened, and she gently touched the edge of her jacket as they did. The fabric felt real enough. She breathed, and the air, hot and heavy with bits of ash, flowed through her lungs as real as it had ever been. She looked around and spotted a menu sitting on the ground. Someone must have dropped it, and some part of her said that it would be best to return it to the restaurant owners.
She let go of the jacket and knelt down, picking the menu up and shaking it off. She chuckled. "That's a big price for a steak shaped like a face." She squinted at it, her brow furrowing. Everything else here was Mettaton shaped, but the picture of a steak in front of her seemed... Different. She shrugged it off, not really wanting to focus on why exactly someone else's face would be made into a steak- or for that matter, why there would be a steak shaped like a face. It was just this game's... This...
World's sense of humor.
A world...
A world that ran on code? She spared a glance towards her Player, her fingers twitched. He had the File Menu open again, scanning through it like he always was. She could never read him when he was like this. Not only because fate had cursed him to be faceless when he arrived, but because his entire body language shifted when he opened up the code. He looked tense, stressed. Every action he took was like a Lovecraft Protagonist's, as though with every moment he slipped further into the grip of insanity, the more he tried to comprehend, the less he did. She started to reach for him, but then something got her attention.
"heya kid." Sans said. His skeletal hands were buried in the pockets of his hoodie as he approached, and Monika peered past him for a moment, right into a stone wall. How had he managed to get there? But the skeleton's laid-back face and friendly attitude didn't seem interested in answering her question. Instead, he offered his hand out to hers for a shake, seeing her hand reaching out. "wanna go get somethin to eat? there's a restaurant right there." He jerks his thumb back towards the vaguely Italian-looking restaurant behind the pair, doing so right as Monika was about to take his hand. "too slow." He adds with a wink, seeing her unamused face.
She cracks a grin with a sigh no more than a second later though, "You really take every opportunity presented to you, don't you?" She chuckles, and the skeleton shrugs.
"eh when you're a comedian down here, you learn to take what you can get. 'sides, you looked like you could use a hit to the funny bone." Sans said, and Monika glanced away a bit. She might have been smiling, but her eyes told the truth. She was starting to stress over the moral questions now. The world was coming apart at the seams and yet... It all ran fine. Was all of this part of some predetermined railroad too? Did her entrance into the game change the code so drastically that some all-seeing AI director made sure she stayed on the path even when she didn't want to-
"c'mon kid." Sans said softly, his easygoing expression dipping only a tiny bit. "now you're really starting to look like you need a rest-a-raunt..." He giggles just a bit, but Monika doesn't smile this time. Seeing this, he sighs. "tougher crowd today... just uh... follow me, i know a shortcut."
He took a step towards the wall, and this time his hand extended out for Monika to take. Player had looked up too, noticing that Sans had shown up out of the blue, he came over to float near them. He noticed her expression too, but Monika gave him a sad look and he left it alone. Reluctantly, she slipped her hand into Sans' and the trio vanished.
Only to appear a moment later. Somehow, Sans had managed to not only get them a table in the middle of a room, he'd managed to set Monika into a chair while simultaneously sitting across from her in his own chair. Player blinked, astonished. "That was- how did- so fast... That was way more than teleportation..." He muttered, and Monika made a mental note to ask him about it later. As she and her boyfriend settled in, they both noticed the music change. Monika recognized the instrument immediately, but Player knew the song.
"Piano..." She said gently, and then gave a sad half-hearted laugh. "Just like home..."
"oh? what, the music?" Sans asked, and Monika perked up. "yeah, its alright. never heard this one before..." He grinned at her. He was always grinning, but this time felt different. Like he wasn't telling the whole truth, "its got a nice beat to it though, and the rain is a good touch."
Another half-hearted near-sobbing laugh came from the girl. "Yeah... it's kind of ironic, y'know? In my..." She stops herself, he couldn't possibly understand what she'd mean by "her world", and who could? It was insane, crazy to think that someone could really leave a whole world behind. "...town, I really liked playing the piano and... rain is my favorite kind of weather. That sounds gloomier than it really is but... it's kind of like Waterfall, I guess. I really like listening to the water hit the ground outside while I read or do my homework or..." She shakes her head, feeling a stinging in her eyes. "Relaxing with my friends or my boyfriend..." All things she loved to do, but was that all really her? Was she really the one in control, even after her epiphany? Did she really know the real Monika? All at once, her head was starting to spin again, and all of her old fears were starting to crop up. How much of this was she really in control of? How much of this was really her? How much, how much, how much... the words repeated in her mind over and over again, and Monika suddenly felt on the verge of tears. Everything she thought she was past by now, everything she thought she'd beaten in that last conversation with Player was rearing back at her, and it felt like she was losing control all over again. But just before she could lose the fight with her emotions, Sans speaks up again.
"i can kinda relate. i didn't always used'ta live here either, y'know? i know how it feels to be homesick." Monika looks into his eyes as he speaks, and she can tell immediately- there's pain behind them. Even if he didn't have irises, even if they were empty sockets with little lights inside, she's always been empathetic with others. She knew when someone was hiding their feelings. And so does he. "but... that ain't what's bothering ya is it, kid? not really. ya wanna talk about it?" Sans offers.
Monika falls silent, staring down at the empty table. Despite it being a restaurant, no one was coming to wait on them, and though there were people having their own conversations around them, their voices were muted, as if she and Sans were the only people here. Another reminder that this is all a game. Or maybe, she was just so focused on what was around her that everything else faded away. She wanted to believe that. She wanted to believe it so badly, and yet... "Where I'm from..." She clears her throat, which had suddenly tightened. "I'm not... I never really felt like I had a choice. Or that... Anyone I knew was really there. Like some twisted form of imposter syndrome, but targeted towards everyone I know instead of me. Like I was the only one who was... Real. And even then..." She shrugged. "It didn't really feel like I was real either. Like it was all... Unreality. Like the whole world was built within the uncanny valley."
He was quiet, he didn't meet her gaze when she looked at him, instead facing towards the wall, head resting on his hands like he was bored but... For the first time, he didn't look like he was smiling, not really. She breathed, taking a moment for herself as well before she continued. "I wasn't the best person after I started thinking that way. I hurt people... People I cared about. And what's worse... I didn't even really think of them as people while I did it. And it was fine because... Nothing felt real. Like I was an illusion too. The only thing that made me feel any different was my boyfriend. He felt like the first actual, real person I had ever met. He came into my life and suddenly the world had color again, the world meant something. I meant something. Things had value and I... I still hurt people,"
She takes a moment, steering the flow of her thoughts out of the tempestuous depths of memory and regret, yet the only course back to shore leads through a sea of concern and fears. She speaks again, taking the next leg of the journey as a rain of emotion begins, "And now I'm here and I'm helping people and I'm starting to worry. I'm starting to wonder if this is real either, if any of it matters. I keep going back and forth in my head about it, and I can't stop." She managed to keep from crying, but barely. Her hands moved against her face in cycles, wiping away tears and worries all the same, but they never really got rid of them. "Everything feels real, but everything felt real until I started the Literature Club. I want to believe that this is real so badly but I just... I don't want to believe and get hurt again."
Sans was quiet for a moment, but now he turned to look at her. Despite everything, he smiled. "let me tell you a story, kid..." He looked away again, as if... As if he couldn't face her for a moment. Then he looked back, still smiling. "it ain't easy being a sentry out in snowden, y'know? gets pretty boring, sitting there and watching for humans all day." He winked at her then. "fortunately, deep in the forest, there's this HUGE locked door, and it's perfect for practicing knock-knock jokes." He sits forward a bit now, and Monika focuses on him. Monika welcomed the story's distraction, it was a reprieve, if only for a moment, of her own problems. "so one day i go out there and sit at the door, banging 'em out like always. i hit the door and i say 'knock-knock', and suddenly there's a woman's voice." Clearing his own throat, the Skeleton does his best impression of someone she knows. Toriel. "she says: 'who is there?' so, naturally, i said back 'dishes' and she said 'dishes who?' and i said 'dishes a really bad joke.'" He chuckles a bit, remembering something. "and she just starts laughing like its the funniest thing she's heard in a hundred years."
Monika pauses, noticing something in the man's voice. "You sound pretty happy. Must have been a good time."
"it was. i kept 'em coming and she kept on laughing, honestly she was my best audience in years." He chuckles, then looks back up. "and eventually, after about a dozen'of em, SHE knocks and says 'knock knock!' and a'course i reply with 'who's there?' and she says back 'old lady!...'" He laughs, but it dies after a moment, and Monika notices something else behind his eyes. A good memory, a really good memory, is always a sad one. Because you want to go back to something you can't. And as he remembers, she sees that sadness behind those eyes. "so naturally, i say back 'old lady who?' and you know what she says back to me? 'oh my! i did not know you could yodel!' heh... needless to say, this woman was pretty good." He winked at her again, and Monika giggled a bit.
"That's a horrible joke."
"yeah, they all were pretty bad. but we didn't care, we just kept tellin em to each other. we must'a been there for hours. eventually, i had to leave." His eyes lit up with a joke as he spoke. "papyrus gets pretty cranky without his bedtime story." He shrugged in an almost "whaddya gonna do" kind of way, and Monika shook her head, barely able to smile. If he was trying to distract her, he was doing a good job of it. "but she said i should come again. so i did, then again. and again. its a thing now. telling those bad jokes to each other through the door. it rules." He glances away, but his smile comes back in full as he does. Then, he looks away fully, as if trying to see what else he wants to say.
They stay that way for longer than Monika or Player probably expected to, Sans just quietly looking away. After that long thoughtful moment, he looks back to them both. He smiles gently. "what i'm trying to get at here, kiddo, is... someone like that, who sincerely likes listening to bad jokes, they've got an integrity about them, something you can't really deny." He looks at her now, and Monika feels her chest flood with warmth and cold all at once as it dawns on her. "you get what i'm saying? you giggle at pretty much all of my jokes. i can't say for sure about your life, or whether or not you're a good person, or if any of that is… real..." He trails off, and Player leans forward a bit now, genuinely curious to know what he has to say. Monika notices, and she notices that as Sans' eyes close, it almost looked like he was thinking of something. Eventually, they opened again. "but you've got the same integrity that lady did. and none of that stuff really matters, does it? as long as you can have fun telling bad jokes and eating bad food and palling around with good friends, what's it matter? and hey, if its still really botherin' ya... you can always try to make up for what you did. who knows? maybe coming down here, doing what you're doing, is that." He shrugs, then grins. "maybe just try to be in har-monik-y with the universe, eh?"
Monika looks like she's about to cry for a moment before breaking out into a grin and rubbing her hand over her face, sighing loudly, simultaneously trying not to laugh and trying not to cry and trying not to get mad at him. Eventually, her body seems to settle on an emotion. She giggles. Then laughs. Its a silent, sobbing, kind of laugh that fills the room, the kind someone makes when they're trying not to be loud in a public place, a muted, quiet thing that turns your face red and forces your hand to cover your mouth or else you'll burst out laughing. She laughs and laughs, her chest heaving and her lungs eventually running out of air until finally, a noise comes as she gasps for air. At once, it feels good. She feels good. The tension is gone. With a final, shuddering giggle, she shakes her head and takes a breath. Tears in her eyes from both her tragedy and her comedy, she looks back up at the skeleton. "Thanks..." She breathes. "I don't know if it helped all the way but... You made me feel better. Thank you, Sans. I really needed that right now. I really, really needed it."
She knows that's not completely right, but the sensation of relaxation, of reassurance, was more than real. Sans understood her, and she understood herself, and that was more than enough.
Player didn't find it all that funny, but as he watched the love of his life giggle, he sighed too. That wasn't how Sans' conversation was supposed to go even slightly. And that was exactly what he wanted. He was starting to question whether or not any of this was her choice as well, but as he looked at the code, which told him that Sans was supposed to end this conversation with his famous threat, he breathed a bit of relief. He didn't know why this box existed, or why he could add things to the world with it, but he did know one thing.
Monika was changing things. More than that, it wasn't just her who had changed things. Undyne had come and go of her own accord and now Sans was making his own choices too. Maybe things were looking up. Somehow, he knew that this hadn't helped Monika all the way though, she needed more reassurance. Even as they stood up and left, even as they moved through the hotel and went to explore a bit more, his darling was quieter, more reserved than usual. She was thinking, her face tight like she was still struggling internally. He knew he needed to talk with her. But he'd save that for a bit later. CORE was somewhere they could be at least a little more alone... And maybe it was time for him to tip his hand.
Maybe it was time to see if she could see the Code like he did.
After a bit, Player and Monika were walking between the hotel and the CORE entrance. "So like... was that guy a meme?" She asks, glancing towards Player.
"Burgerpants? Shockingly, he wasn't as popular for meme material as you, or Sayori or Sans." Player says, and Monika gives an "mm-hmm" in response before he continues. "His best contribution was "I'm only 19 years old and I've already wasted my life"." Player snickers a bit even as he mentions it, and Monika makes a pained expression that is both sympathetic to the man... and trying not to giggle at the way he said it. "But that was kind of thrown out pretty early on. It didn't make its way into the cultural zeitgeist in the same way as Sayori, and it wasn't nearly as popular as you and Sans."
"And why was Sans a meme again?" She quirks an eyebrow at him. "I know that you mentioned my "Just Monika" boxes being memes- that makes sense, I can see how that would be funny but what's so funny about him?"
"Uh..." Player sweats, but before he can think of an answer, Monika's phone rings. "Phew..."
"Alright you'll get out of it this time but once I beat the game I want answers..." Monika puts a finger into his face playfully while her opposite hand digs out her phone. Flipping it open, the girl places it to her ear. "Moshi Moshi!" She answers.
Both Player and Alphys seemed flabbergasted, and Monika smiled a bit. She didn't have to do that, in fact, she was pretty sure that her world's pseudo-Japanese setting meant that a simple "hello" is what would have been expected of her. But on some level, she was still bothered by the same worries as earlier, so if she can catch the game off guard even a bit, she'll take a victory. Besides, it was technically following in Sans' words. She was still making people laugh if the nervous but shocked laughter of Player was any indication.
Alphys on the other hand-
"W-WHAT? THAT'S R-REALLY REAL? DO HUMANS U-USUALLY SPEAK IN JAPANESE? WAS DUBBED THE WRONG C-CHOICE?!" She seemed to be taking it particularly hard, and while Monika could barely contain her giggles, Alphys seemed to need a moment to recollect herself. Monika could hear her on the other end of the phone, shuffling through something. She should probably stop her before she ruins her whole anime collection or something.
"I was just kidding! I mean... People do speak Japanese, but I speak English... For... Some reason..." She trails off, shaking her head. 'The world is based on Japanese culture, everything's in English and I'm pretty sure I'm white... Whoever wrote that thing had no conception of coherent worldbuilding...' She shakes her head again, trying not to think too hard about it. "Alphys? Hello?"
"Sorry! I-I'm here! You really caught me off guard there! I thought I had to s-start using the s-sub tapes I found. Not that I mind them, I really like the original language but its just hard to follow the action and-" The girl was rambling now, and Monika sighed. She had thrown the game off, but this was the payment for it.
She shut her eyes. No, she wasn't paying for anything. The world is real, she's reacting like a normal person would... And if not, then Monika made her boyfriend laugh and that was fine. "Alphys." Monika said, cutting her off. "Take a breath... And tell me what you were calling me for."
"W-Well... I thought about what you said earlier and... I won't trick you anymore. It was w-wrong to lie... I just..." She struggled for a moment to find the right word, and Monika spoke up again.
"Hey... Its okay." She says gently. "Like I said, I'm not mad at you. I'm glad you're being genuine now and I really would like to be friends with you. You almost remind me of... Well, a lot of people I know back home." Yuri's anxiety, Natsuki's love for manga and Sayori's general disposition, Alphys really was like an amalgamation of all three of her friends, and while Monika didn't like some of those traits... Many of them were familiar to her.
"I-I-I... I want to be friends with you too. Thank you." The woman replies, then sighs before speaking again. "I wanted to call you and say that I c-couldn't stop the plans we already have in place... but... I can turn off some of the traps you'll face ahead! Sorry about the elevator though, I can't get that one working... I think he might have broken it remotely..."
Monika observes the elevator in front of her, then shrugs. She doesn't mind seeing the final stretch of the game. "Thanks Alphys, I appreciate it." She smiles even if Alphys can't see it.
Despite that, the woman on the other end seems to lighten up even more. "No problem! I'm glad I could help! Just be careful as you go through the CORE! Undyne has rallied the whole Royal Guard to chase after you. They won't be as nice as the Hotland Monsters have been..."
Monika nods. "Thanks! I think we'll make it though."
And with that, she hung up, and she and her boyfriend stepped forward into the CORE.
Author's Note: Long one today! We didn't cover that much ground, but the beats that we hit were important to the greater story. I dearly hope you enjoyed yourselves here and I'm very happy that I could bring you another chapter on another glorious September 22nd! Monitale holds a very special place in my heart, and Monika, even after all this time, does too. I love her with all of my heart and SOUL, and I'm happy to look forward to another year of Monitale...
And possibly... The last year, for the main story at least. Its been a long road, but a happy one. Those of you who have been with me since the story's inception have seen my writing skills grow a lot since I was 16, and they'll only continue to grow as we enter the final chapters. I'm not sure if I said this already, but expect there to be an uptick in the number of chapters per year for this final stretch. We're down to 9 chapters total left for the main story, dear friends.
And now its time for me to start pulling the strings I've been setting up...
But! For now, let's talk about reviews!
And as always, if any of you ever have anything to say, I'd be glad to hear it! I respond to every review I receive!
Dark Brandon: My fellow Americans, this Doki Doki Literature Club and Undertale crossover is Dark Brandon approved. (This message was fact checked to be real.)
Me: Oh wow! A presidential seal of approval! I'm glad my story is beloved by the best president of my lifetime! And that's the closest to political I'll ever get.
Anyway now that that's out of the way, as always my friends...
Until Next Time True Readers!