by The Pighead
So, I'm not sure if it's short enough to be considered a true Addendum, but it's not really a problem.
Hi, everyone! What you'll be reading is a story that was inspired to me by the disappearance (or, at least, the current "dead link" status) of one of the recent stories that got published (if you look at the recent history of the TVTropes page, you'll get whose story it is) and my mild feelings of frustration with not being able to really reach the anonymous author who did said story (as well as others). More on that at the end!
For the rest, I hope you enjoy!
You shouldn't do it that early.
This is what her brain told her, at least three times since she decided to get up and do this.
To be honest, this was kind of true. Her and Ficboy were supposed to do that after they beat the shit out of « DIO-s Mio, I Just Shat My Pants » (nevermind that the pun couldn't work because this version of DIO wasn't Mexican) because the kid needed to have time to grow up and shit.
Like Pighead would listen to anyone that wasn't herself. She already did him a big favor by accepting to co-create this team, but it didn't mean she was about to accept anything and everything from others ! She had her big plans to carry out, all the rest was just a distraction ! If he just accepted to listen to her, she would already have made a man-shaped hole out of all the Dio Brandos who would be foolish enough to prevent her vision from coming to pass. Pretenders, all of them.
So, yeah, she was about to see the kid with the Keyblade, to do the mysterious, cryptic shit and if anyone had something to say about that, they could always try and-
Pighead suddenly stopped in her thoughts when she realized that there was only white around her. Which shouldn't be possible.
« …the fuck is that ? »
She knew the various points in time, the stories that were published and acted as checkpoints of sorts in the timeline. It was a neat little system she designed for particular occasions : when she first started designing a sort of timeline for the Multiverse and how the story want, she discovered that, even if there was a lot of important events, the ones covered in the stories themselves were bigger points of narrative relevance than all the rest. They were like lighthouses, in a way, you could put a new coat of paint in them, change the way the furnitures were assembled but you couldn't change them once they were established.
So, she should clearly be at the point in the timeline where the Ghost and Sora met ! And she didn't made a mistake in the temporal coordinates, she looked three or four times, it was the exact ones. So, it should be here.
Unless…
« Oh, goddamnit. It's not available anymore. Either he deleted it or either something got fucked up and the link doesn't work. »
Pighead facepalmed herself. Seriously, as much as she was willing to try to understand how other people worked, she just couldn't comprehend what the fuck the Ghost was doing. Did they thought the other Monks would eat them if they approached them ? What was the next step, publishing a story on a fucking… Star vs The Forces of Evil fanforum that hasn't been updated since 2016 ? This was just… urgh.
Then, she thought about something. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she quickly looked at TVTropes and the « Characters » subpage of the fic, which allowed her to see that Earth-2002 still had mentions here and there. Just what she needed !
« So, she said to herself out loud, if the mentions are still here and if Ficboy can mention it to me, it wasn't erased so cool. But it probably means that his personal timeline got already restructured… and his memories, changed. Great. »
She opened a portal for Sora's homeworld. It was fortunate that she actually knew a solution for this type of problems.
When Sora got out of bed and went to take breakfast, the last thing he expected to see was a shirtless woman wearing a crown and a red hermine cloak over a black sports bra (with some blue jeans and Converse) eating on multiple fruits quite voraciously. Who stopped and looked at the young hero with the same look you give your parents when they catch you watching some embarrassing videos or smoking a big, fat blunt.
« Oh. It's you. »
She threw the rest of the orange she was eating out the window and immediately took a more « dignified » pose, which mostly allowed Sora to notice her tallness and lanky arms. She looked… slightly uncanny.
« Don't mind me, I just needed to eat something. HELLO, YOUNG WARRIOR ! Everything's good for you ? You threw a party ? Your friends are alright ? You will muster the courage to ask Riku out, today ? »
The first reaction of the Keyblade wielder was to take a slight step back. Like, he wasn't the most genre-savvy, but he knew that a person who came into your house uninvited, ate your food and knew a lot about you already had all the potential to be kinda scary.
« …who are you ? »
She smiled. Despite her mask, Sora had a very good look on the lots of sharp fangs she had as teeth. Like, was she a human ? And, in that case, were humans supposed to have that much teeth ? Or to be able to make smiles that elongated, for that matter ?
« Simple as shit : I'm God. I'm your best friend. I'm the one who knows everything. I'm the one who choose people when they're worthy enough. Or when they have a bad case of memories erased. »
Sora raised an eyebrow. Memories erased ?
« Or, if you want me to be less cryptic, I'm sorry to tell you, lad, but the reason I'm here is because surprise ! It's an intervention ! There's things that got erased from your memory pretty recently but no fear, I'm here to fix that and after that, I'll be on my way ! »
Another cautious step back. Right now, Sora was just about to go away and run, tell his mom a weird lady just broke into the house.
« Uh… OK ? Like, it's probably super-interesting, Miss, but there's things I have to do, say « hi » to Mom, eat something so, uh, have fun with what you're planning on do- »
Suddenly, he got interrupted when the woman's right hand suddenly and forcefully wrapped itself around his neck, the visitor being now extremely close from him (which only made some of her uncanny features even more apparent). She let out a laugh, the sort of laugh that was low and that was made by people who had a plan in mind and not the best kind of plans. And was he able to feel her breath ?
« I know you're playing fool, boy. Lesson one : never try this sort of shit when you're facing your maker. Next thing, I don't think I asked you for permission or implied that you had a choice. »
« Wha-ACK ! »
It came way too fast for him to react but it did hurt. Looking at the sudden pain at his arm, Sora could see the visitor' left hand injecting him something with a syringe. He looked at her again.
« You shush. Don't make that harder than it needs to be. I would hate to spill blood, ya know ? »
Her voice was colder, more low-pitched than the one she took instants before. And this thing in the syringe, what was it ? And how was she managing to be strong like that ?
Then, suddenly, he got flashes. The weird place in which he arrived. The person in long robes who introduced themself as « The Ghost » and talked to him about what he was doing, other people like them, the origin of the disaster that struck his Earth some time ago, the Multiverse, the villains who wanted to conquer it…
« Mnestics. I got that – by this, I mean I stole and modified it – from old friends. Generally, it only gives you back memories that got erased by amnestics but my version just gives you back memories you don't remember, period. As I planned, this seems to do wonders on you. »
She removes the syringe and Sora stops feeling her hand around his neck. The flashes of those memories assaulted him so violently a part of him wants to fall and vomit. How did he managed to forget that ?
« Because it's what happens when stories get deleted or when we lost track of them. When the timeline notices, it always take measures to fill the void left with something else, which is why you thought you spent the last few days just doing normal stuff instead of what you were truly doing. I should know. You can ask the Ghost, if you want, they think of me as one of the highest authorities here. Not that I mind… »
Sora immediately lifted his head to look at Pighead.
« You know them ? »
« I do, she said while nodding. They constantly disappear when me or any of my colleagues want to talk to them and we never managed to have a real discussion with them for those reasons. In fact, we know so little about them than when we see them, they always look… glitchy and, well, ghostly at the same time. I wonder how they managed to not show that to you. Maybe they use a perception filter. In that case, they're a person with taste. »
« Wait !, responded the Keyblade wielder. What are you, exactly ? You come here, you know things that you couldn't possibly know about me and you just… »
It's at this point that it clicked in his mind.
« You're like them, right ? »
« Biiiiiiingo ! I wasn't kidding when I told you I was God, y'know ? Tho, I didn't create you at first, it was Tetsuya Nomura but… I'm still one of those who are writing for the goddamn series so yeah, the assumption is still true. I'm happy it didn't took you that long to understand ! »
« Did you really need to almost… strangle me ? And inject me with your weird… thing ? »
« Don't be a sourpuss. It doesn't even hurt that much. Plus, if you fled, I would have had to chase you and it would have ended up badly so it was in the interest of everyone. But it's not why I'm here. »
She went to look at the window of the house.
« The Ghost showed you. You know what happened, what was the Snap, how many pretenders are out there. Of course, you don't know exactly what they do but their wishes of conquest and power became so great that they can't just be content with one universe, now, so expect yourself to learn fast. Whether I or someone else decide to write the story. »
Sora said nothing and just looked at the visitor.
« But the great thing is that cooperation becomes more and more of the big trend among people. And since I… pushed my fellow authors to take more direct initiatives – even Weyer ! – and stop hiding that much, some of us have decided to create our own teams, to favorize this cooperation. To bring together very special people who would fight villains they couldn't fight alone. Those special people include you, Sora. »
« Me ? »
« No, your next-door neighbor. Of course, you !, responded Pighead with clear annoyance dripping from her voice. Who else ? Damnit… but yeah, me and one of my friends were supposed to actually visit you way later than that because we think you have the perfect profile for our team and we want to recruit you, since there's one of our original choices who has his happy ending and we need someone to fill his spot so you'll be the one doing that, congrats, lad ! »
The fact that Pighead dropped all of that on her lap so casually and without any of the gravitas such news deserved wasn't about to stop Sora' impressions about this woman, definitely. Hey, kid, how are you ! Here's something I'm injecting in your arm to give you back your memories and now, you're part of a team, have fun dealing with that !
« Are they all as weird as you ? »
She snickered for an answer.
« No one can be like me, boy. They can't even compare, else, they would see how pathetically out of their league they are. No one has a personality like mine ! »
She started to go for the door.
« Anyway. Was fun chatting with you but I have shit to do. Stories to write, pet projects I would like to work on without being bothered every two minutes… really great stuff. You'll hear from me again. »
« Hey, wait again ! Do you have one of those nicknames too ? »
Pighead turned her head to face Sora again.
« I call myself « The Meddler ». But all of those who know me, I refer myself to them as « The Pighead »… multiversally. »
The young hero nodded and started to take his leave.
« Oh, wait, actually, I got reminded. »
This time, he was the one who turned his head and when he did, he saw that her facial expression was, once again, cold and distant.
« I was never here. If someone asks you, you invent an excuse. I never visited you before you got officially introduced into the ranks of our team and you know nothing. If you spill the beans or even imply that I did, no matter who asks you… well, let's say that I have a history with traitors and backstabbers. And if I have to remind everyone why the true mistress of the Multiverse is me, I will. I suggest you to not forget it. »
Then, she disappeared, leaving Sora to ponder on everything that just happened. Meeting two of those Monks was for sure something special but what preoccupied the Keyblade wielder more was the fact that, no matter how he was looking at it, Pighead was more than capable AND willing to back up all her claims…
And that's all! Some notes before I go:
- Like I said in the intro, this story was inspired by another story, Ghost Stories, that served as Sora's real debut into IC but got removed (or, at least, it's a dead link on Wattpad, now) and is not on the TVTropes page anymore. Since this disappearance could fit easily the themes of my stories, I decided to took that as a main inspiration. Also, for why Sora was considered for the Multiverse Warriors, check out, well... Multiverse Warriors, by Ficboy2001, to know.
- My other source of inspiration was, again, the mild frustration I felt about some things. See, I managed to get the identity of the author who did this story, as well as the PAW Patrol and Go, Diego, Go! one-shots, some time ago. I won't share it here because I already put the pseudonym under spoilers on the page and I want, at least, to respect a bit of their privacy, but I know at least one of their pseudonyms. I want to be very clear that said frustration is NOT because of them, not at all! The frustration comes from the fact that after managing to get their identity, they... deleted their TVTropes account. Since then, I haven't been able to contact them. On AO3, it's an orphaned account and Wattpad... I know I used to have an account but I'm afraid it would give too much personal info that I don't want anyone to know.
And it's where the frustration comes from. To keep this short, they told me they were anonymous because of self-esteem issues about their writing. And, man... I wish I could just find a way to tell them some words of encouragment and they would receive it, see it. Which is I decided to put this here, for this author and for anyone who would actually want to write things for IC.
We're not gonna eat you. I really want to stress this: we're not gonna make fun of you or tell you that you're lame. We really won't. Hell, I get what it's like to feel like your writing is not up to snuff! When I started, back in 2016, my first fanfics were horrible. Absolute trash, it was worthless. But I'm still here because the love of writing was stronger than my confidence issues, because I wanted to do stories and put them for the world to see! We have all been here and I'm pretty sure a lot of us have received reviews from nitpicking, arrogant jerks who put into us the idea that if you wanted to make a great fanfic, you needed to do this, this and that or else, it was shit.
Those jerks are wrong. Fanfiction is about having fun, no matter what your story is. Yeah, there's stories I won't enjoy or who are not for me or who have flaws that I can spot immediately. An Adventure of a Multiversal Crisis was hard to read, sometimes, because there's problems with grammar and shit. Ficboy, when he writes something, states the obvious a lot of the time even when it's not necessary and it took him some time before he stopped doing walls of text. But it doesn't mean it's trash or that I'm doing better things than them! Because, ultimately, what matters the most is for you to have fun and to tell the stories you want to tell! That's what they do! Of course, a collaborative series is a bit more difficult since there's multiple people who work on it but there's nothing unreachable.
What I'm trying to say is that I understand if you don't feel confident. But I really want to reassure y'all: you can talk to us if you need guidance for an IC thing, even if you're not involving yourself in big events. After all, the little moments of life and the stories with low stakes are as important, if not more, than the big events. Personally, I know I don't want to be a high and mighty pretentious ass. And I know my fellow co-authors are not. Ultimately, we're just writing a cool crossover series and that's all we do. You don't have to write like Jane Austen. And we would be very happy to help you.
That's my message for you and the one thing I want you to remind yourselves of. We're here to help.
- I'm really happy about the personality I gave Pighead for this one-shot. I teased a lot about how she wasn't about to be a heroic figure and I think that with her roughing up Sora, threatening him and showing open disdain for a lot of things, including the team she's currently co-creating, you can see this darker side of her very clearly. And if everything goes right, it won't even be the worst thing she does, I can guarantee it!
- Mnestics are a concept who come, once again, from the SCP Foundation. The ones Pighead uses are, as it was said, modified but if you want to know more about the original mnestics used by the Foundation, check out the Updated Amnestics Guide by DrChandra on the Wiki!
For the rest, Chapter 1 of The Pilot and the Meddler... is on the way, I'm at my seventh Word page. And of course, a new chapter of DEATHFAME will release, probably a less continuity-heavy chapter so I can put it out somewhere between the end of the year and the beginning of 2024. Stay tuned for that!
And that's all for me. See you next time!