Dimensions Collide: Destiny Bond

“Fuck!” John cursed, sitting up. He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to forget the feeling of cold iron in his mouth seconds before an explosion of pain blew through his head. In hindsight, he wasn’t quite sure why he’d done that. He had pills that could’ve done the job just as easily.

He looked around and saw Prota sitting in the corner, looking a little dejected.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“...sorry.”

“Eh? Sorry for what?”

“Should’ve listened.”

John froze for a moment, trying to figure out what Prota meant. Upon understanding, he frowned and shook his head.

“...are you talking about ignoring the others?” John grabbed Prota by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Hey. Look at me.”

“I told you to do what you want. We have as many tries as we want, Prota. We can die over and over again. I told you that [Resets] were a curse once, right? Well, it’s about time we reaped the benefits. Come on. What’s wrong with making a mistake? As soon as we press that button, it’ll be as if it never happened. So do what you want. Until you get what you want. Got it?”

Prota’s eyes widened. As many tries as she wanted. She could keep trying, over and over again. Until she succeeded. Until she got what she wanted.

Until she won.

“Nn.” Prota nodded firmly.

John put his hand on her head and nodded, watching as the [Reset] button came to him.

“Alright. Let’s try again.”

~~~

“Ready?” Fate whispered.

Prota’s eyes snapped open, getting her bearings back a bit faster this time. She was getting used to this. She’d never realized how much having someone with you during [Resets] helped. No matter. She nodded silently, staring at the door, already aware of what lay beyond.

“Let’s go.”

Fate bashed the door down with a kick, and the group piled in, once again seeing nothing. Just like last time, Danjo reached out, calling his sister’s name, and Fate held him back. Unfortunately, he hadn’t thought that anyone would actually make an effort to push forward, so when Prota leapt ahead, he was helpless to do anything but watch as Doctor easily caught her in her empty minded assault.

“Oh. It seems my little bird has flown straight into my hands,” Doctor smiled. His tendrils lashed out and grabbed her, holding her tight. Despite the previous two tries, Prota froze up, still unnerved by Doctor’s gaze.

Caught, Prota stared helplessly at John. She hadn’t thought much about this one. She wasn’t sure why she’d charged in the way she did. Maybe she just wanted to see what would happen. Just out of curiosity. Despite normally being the rational one, there was a sort of desire in her to find out what would happen if she messed around. To see what would happen if she did something illogical.

Her eyes widened as she felt that she understood John just a bit more. The way he talked, the way he acted. He just did what he wanted. It wasn’t that he didn’t care. He just didn’t need to. There were no repercussions, no consequences, just action and amusement. It was strange to realize something like that now of all times, but despite her situation, Prota felt calm. Doctor’s gaze sent shivers down her back, but John’s words stuck with her.

“Very well. I can kill everyone else, then,” Doctor sighed. “I thought you would do better than this.”

Prota was a little less calm now. She looked at John desperately. He pursed his lips in a grimace, then sighed.

“Fuck me,” he muttered as his left eye lit up.

[Power: x10]

It wasn’t a lot, and it definitely wasn’t enough to beat Doctor, but he didn’t need to beat Doctor right now. He just needed to get out of his ropes. With a bit of effort, he got out of his binds, pulled out his gun and fired three shots.

“You- what the?” Doctor exclaimed, whipping around and easily dodging the bullets.

They were never aimed for him in the first place.

Prota’s head snapped back as all three bullets blew her brains out, ending her life immediately.

“John, what the-” Fate yelled as the room grew loud with noise. Doctor’s shriek of fury, the rattling of chains and the smashing of walls all blended together, blocking Fate’s voice.

John didn’t need to hear what Fate had to say. He raised his gun, then thought the better of it and popped a pill.

~~~

John sat up calmly and found Prota right beside him.

“Hey. Let’s, uh… not do that again?”

Prota nodded embarrassedly. Her pale cheeks were red with blush as she remembered what she’d just done.

“We used to call that running it down… still, it was fun, right?”

Prota looked up at John.

“If you ever get bored, you can just do that again.” John had a small grin on his face. “I can’t die, so just once, it’d be fun to do things without thinking. To just do whatever I feel like without caring about what happens next. You were thinking something like that, right?”

Prota nodded, a smile forming in her eyes. Relief washed over her. She’d been afraid that John might berate her for her mistake, but it seemed that he’d almost been expecting it. Still, this didn’t change the fact that they’d made very little progress.

“Do you have a plan?”

Prota remained silent.

“Do you want me to make a plan?”

Prota nodded.

“Hm. Well, that sucks. I don’t have a plan.”

Prota looked at him.

“What? I’ll just make one now, ok? Why’re you looking at me like that?”

Prota continued to stare at him. What was the point in all that?

“Just… go over there or something. Let me think for a bit.”

Prota shot him one more look before wandering out into nothingness, leaving John alone. While he didn’t have a plan, he did have an idea. It was the same idea he’d had for a bit. He just needed to get the others out somehow. They didn’t even have to be gone. He just had to be alone with Doctor.

They’d tried saving Danjo, but that hadn’t worked. He closed his eyes and focused. What was the order of things in the first run? A fight. Defeat. Danjo’s brainwashing. Another fight, followed by Danjo’s escape, and then an inevitable death. Kit’s death. Fate’s defeat. Prota’s death.

John frowned. What was he going to do here? Had he been too cocky?

“Hey, John.”

John’s eyes snapped open to see Zero.

“What do you want?”

“That’s the first thing you have to say to me?”

“You only show up when it’s inconvenient.”

“That’s just not true.”

“Fine. What’s up?”

Zero shrugged. “Just thought I’d let you know something interesting.”

“...yeah?”

Zero floated down and sat down beside John.

“The [Story] hasn’t been too great so far, right?”

“Well, yeah. The [Author] is pretty garbage at their job. I’ve known that for a while now.”

“Mm… think again.”

“Huh?”

“John. A story is a world. A whole entire world. Even if it takes place on Earth, it’s a different Earth. The [Stories] you read are just windows into those worlds.”

“What relevance does this have to the fight?”

“Nothing.”

“Then-”

“Let me finish,” Zero said with a smile. “You might find this interesting.”

“John. You, as a [Reader], have the ability to see beyond the window into the real world. And yet, at the same time, you, as a [Writer], have the ability to manipulate that world. But most importantly. John. As a [Character], you have the ability to do more than just look through that window John. You can do more than just treat things as words on a page.”

John frowned. “Yeah? What’s the point? Or are we just yapping away for no reason?”

“That’s the point, John. The [Story] so far is what you’ve been seeing. Your own eyes are now the window into this world. The [Story] you see is what you, as a person, experience. Even in real life, that’s the case. Your [Story] is what you as a person go through. If things haven’t been the greatest, yes, maybe the [Author] is bad. But things are also only as bad as you choose to make them.”

“What I choose to- what are you talking about? The things I experience are just that. Experiences. How do you expect me to choose what happens to me?”

Zero shook his head. “Those people in the cells, begging for death. Scared out of their minds. Pleading not to be released from their cells, but from their bodies. Dolls made of flesh, trapped inside, yelling to be let out. Endless torment. Helplessness. But you don’t care about any of it, because those [Characters] aren’t important to you. They’re [Side Characters] no one will ever see. No one but you. And what you choose to do…”

Zero got up and looked back.

“John. I’ll let you in on a little something. Back when you were a normal person, a [Writer], I guess, you always wanted to help [Characters]. You knew you couldn’t. But it made you happy to imagine scenarios where you could step in and solve their problems. To be a god and do what you pleased, to solve problems no one else could.”

“That sounds incredibly cringe.”

“It is,” Zero smiled. “The daydreams of a child, maybe. The wandering imagination of a [Reader]. Wanting to be all powerful. Wanting a happy ending no matter what, wanting to save everyone, to make sure everyone got the ending they wanted. To enforce justice. To make everything right, even while knowing such a thing is impossible. That was you.”

Zero looked at Prota in the distance, playing with her hair mindlessly.

“It still is you.”

John snorted. “Sure. Right.”

“Are you denying it?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

John didn’t say anything.

“Hey. You still like reading, right? Reading stories?”

“Well, yeah.”

“And you like good stories.”

“Obviously.”

“Why?”

“...what kind of question is that? They’re just better than bad ones.”

Zero just left it at that, much to John’s confusion. He got up slowly, walking away into nothingness, but stopped and turned back.

“So what now? John. What kind of [Story] do you want? This world. This [Story]. You’re a [Writer], aren’t you?”

With that, Zero disappeared.

John shook his head. He hadn’t ignored the conversation, but at the same time, he didn’t have time to think about it.

“Prota!” John called out. She walked over, ready to hear what John had to say. “I want you to…”

~~~

“Ready?” Fate whispered.

Try number three. Prota stared at the door. There was a plan this time. It might not work. But it was better than nothing.

“Nn,” Prota nodded.

“Let’s go.”

Fate bashed the door down with a kick, and the group piled in, once again seeing nothing. Just like last time, Danjo reached out, calling his sister’s name, and Fate held him back.

“You two. Remember. This isn’t the time to act irrationally.”

Prota coughed.

“You! You’re the one known as Doctor, right? You’ve done way too much. It’s time to pay for your sins. There’s no one else here. Give it up.”

Those words were so familiar, yet so distant. Like a fading memory, like a familiar tune.

“Bravo! Bravo! You’ve done it! You, the good guys, have broken into my lair and slain my underlings. I’m alone and helpless. Is that not it?”

Prota was a lot more controlled this time. She locked eyes with John, and he gave her a reassuring nod.

[Remember the plan.]

“You… I see you’re still the same. You’re still doing the same things. Doing the same sick experiments. You’re not human. You’re a monster.”

Prota didn’t move. She let things play out. Fate’s eyes lit up as he grabbed his blade, the rage in his eyes lighting up. He would lose. But he didn’t know that yet/;

“I’ll kill you. I’ll tear you to pieces, here and now.”

With a terrifying cry, he ran forward, brandishing his blade high above his head. Prota provided supporting fire, but it wasn’t any stronger. It was exactly the same as before.

“This ends here!” Fate roared, blinded with rage, as he held his blade with two hands. The next strike ripped through the walls, tearing the room to shreds, yet Doctor remained unharmed.

“Ah, you’re still the same as always, Sixteen. Blind. Ambitious. Yet utterly stupid, still playing the role of the pawn in a larger game of chess.”

It was an exact reenactment of the first loop. This was what John had wanted. He needed things to play out the same. To see what he could change. To see what changes would direct what reactions, to see how the flapping of a butterfly’s wings would create a storm.

So, even when Fate was shaking on the ground, his traumas coming to haunt him, Prota stayed still. Even though she knew that she could help him, divert even the slightest action, she remained still.

“Danjo, run!” Olivia yelled as her collar came off. “I’ll-”

“You. Code five.”

Even, when Danjo was brainwashed, she did the same thing as before.

“Fate. Your lie detection ability. Do you know specifically how it works?”

John’s voice was the same as always. Mildly cheerful. Calm. Prota wasn’t sure how he remembered what he’d said the last time, but it was an eery sense of deja vu. The fight continued. They fought. Doctor fought back. Words were exchanged just as violently as blows. She fired off spells, but they felt empty. Like she was watching the fight take place, rather than actually participating in it. Even as she was knocked down, she still felt a weird sense of disconnection.

“That’s it! Struggle for me!”

“Kh… I’ll kill you,” Fate growled. “You can’t keep getting away with this!”

“Oh? But I can. And I will.”

“Prota!” John yelled. Her eyes snapped open. That was right. She had to keep fighting.

“You got this, right?”

Right. Even if this life didn’t matter. Even if they were bound to die. Even if everything was just repeating, even if she knew everything that was to happen. She should still keep fighting.

“Get up!”

Right. She was here for John.

Prota fought, but she couldn’t muster the same emotions as before. This was just a trial run. Knowing that there was no penalty, knowing that they would be trying again anyway… it almost made the fight pointless. She just couldn’t muster up the emotion, the will, the urgency to fight. Still, it wasn’t as if she was doing nothing. It was just… pointless.

“You… you dare?!” Doctor yelled, lashing out and knocking Prota into a wall. A handful of tendrils shot toward her and pinned her down, restraining her movement. A tendril rose up and smashed her in the face, but she knew it was coming. She tilted her head just a bit, just enough to avoid getting knocked out.

They were playing the long game. They were playing a game that only they knew existed: the game of trial and error. Seeing what could go right and what could go wrong. Playing a chess game with takebacks, trying again, seeing what moves were wrong and right. Eventually, they’d find the right path, right? The time flew by. Words went in one ear and out the other, until-

“Your power.”

“Ah, yes. You’re about to tell me that it’s all I am, aren’t you? Well, it’s much more than that, manaless boy. My superior mind is-”

“[Control]. That’s your ability, isn’t it?”

Prota froze. She didn’t remember this. What was John doing? This wasn’t what he had said last time. John was standing in front of the chessboard, staring at it intently, but he was saying something completely different.

“Control?”

“Your [Character]. Your obsession with superiority. Your obsession with being in control. Your [Deus Ex Machina] ability has to do with control, doesn’t it?”

“...”

“Your silence is more than enough of an answer for me.”

“You cannot possibly infer that-”

“It’s a [Story]. Silence always means yes. And besides, what’s wrong with telling me? What am I gonna do with that info?”

“Fine!” Doctor laughed. “You make a good point. Even if I tell you, you cannot do a thing.”

He leaned in close to John and whispered. Prota couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she saw John smirk. He’d gotten something. She wasn’t sure what, but she was sure he’d tell her later.

“Then, what will you do now? What is your move here, manaless boy? You know my tactics. You know my strategy. Does that change the outcome of the game?”

“I stopped talking about chess a long time ago. Please stop bringing it up.”

“What-”

John pulled out his gun, and Prota looked him in the eyes. It was time to try again.

“You don’t possibly think you could kill me with that, do you-”

There was a crack, and Prota fell over. Doctor stared in shock, and his shock slowly turned into horror. John had planned this. Doctor could tell.

“You-!”

“See you next time,” John sighed, and popped the pill.

~~~

“I’ve got to get you a pill for yourself,” John grumbled as he sat in the [Reset Room]. “Can you remind me next time?”

Prota nodded, waiting for John to explain.

“Hm… I don’t know what to do.”

Prota turned with a look of disbelief in her eyes. He didn’t know what to do? What was the point of the last loop?

“Doctor’s ability is strange. It makes sense, but it’s still strange. I don’t know how to get around it.”

“...?”

“[Control]. What an interesting method of using [Deus Ex Machina] energy. It allows him to remain in control at all times. It would explain why his skill increased only when fighting Kit. When fighting against you and Fate, he was nowhere near as strong as he was when he was fighting against Kit.”

John rubbed his chin, frowning. There had to be something more. Something else that he was missing. An ability couldn’t be that straightforward, right? He was theorizing. He could be completely wrong, but he felt as though he were correct. It would explain things. Why Doctor struggled against Prota for a bit. Why Fate could keep up just a little. Why Doctor obtained a sudden boost of strength when fighting Kit.

“Then how did I win…?”

He looked at Prota, who tilted her head in confusion.

“Did you use [Soul Siphon] on him at any point, Prota?”

“Nn. Didn’t work.”

“Didn’t work, huh… did he have a soul?”

Prota nodded.

He got up and began pacing back and forth.

“This would explain why he was able to control Danjo, but then why not control you and Fate? Why not just command you to give yourself over to him? No, no, I’m missing something. Something important. An ability, a condition…”

John’s expression darkened, but then he shook his head again.

“Well. We can just ask him, right?”

~~~

“Let’s go.”

Prota was starting to see what would happen before it actually happened. Fate bashed the door down with a kick, and the group piled in. Danjo reached out, calling his sister’s name, and Fate held him back. Prota just stared at Doctor.

What secrets are you hiding?

“You two. Remember. This isn’t the time to act irrationally.”

“You! You’re the one known as Doctor, right? You’ve done way too much. It’s time to pay for your sins. There’s no one else here. Give it up.”

She looked at Fate. She’d seen him fall twice now. Or was it three times? Regardless, it was unsettling. For her comrade to be unaware of what she was going through, to believe that this was the first fight, to believe that everything rode on this attempt.

How lonely. To try to find a way to the solution all on your own, to die over and over until you found the right solution. How long had John experienced this for? How long had he done this alone?

“Bravo! Bravo! You’ve done it! You, the good guys, have broken into my lair and slain my underlings. I’m alone and helpless. Is that not it?”

She looked at John, who nodded.

[Sorry. It’s a little annoying, but we have to wait until I can play chess. If this were a game or a book, I’d just skip through all this, but unfortunately, we don’t get that kind of luxury.]

[It’s ok. It doesn’t hurt.]

She saw John’s expression darken for a second, but then he shook his head, and his expression cleared up.

Line after line of dialogue came out, like actors running through a play, actions repeated over and over as Prota’s attacks had relatively little impact on what was to come next. She felt as if she were reading a story for the fourth time.

…reading a story.

A flash of insight dawned upon Prota. These people. Fate. Doctor. Danjo. They… this didn’t seem real. It seemed so fake. So artificial. To see people perform the same actions, say the same lines, do the same thing, over and over. Were they the same people she once knew? She’d only ever [Reset] over and over with John and enemies, never with friends. Never with allies. If the world could be manipulated in such a way that the people around her didn’t even realize they were just repeating the same things over and over, like puppets in a play, were they even real?

Prota shook her head. No, this wasn’t the time to be thinking like this. Still, that doubt remained in her heart. She felt a sense of authority rise in her. A feeling of superiority, not in a haughty or prideful way, but simply the feeling of knowing more than everyone else. The feeling of knowing that you knew a fundamental truth that they did not.

This world… you, me, everything around us… it’s just one big [Story]. None of us. None of this is real. We’re all just [Characters] in a [Story] written by an [Author].

Prota’s heart sank a little. She understood, just a bit. She still didn’t fundamentally understand it, but her subconscious was starting to recognize what John had known all along.

She looked at him again, this time more discreetly, and knew. She couldn never tell him that she understood. It would break him. It would go against what he’d been trying to accomplish. And she understood why he’d been against it. While she felt superior, she also felt fear. Discomfort. A sense of perversion, a sense of having learned something she never should have. She’d never forget about this. It would always linger in her mind.

Lost in thought, she found herself flung against the wall, then pinned down, and just like before, she avoided being knocked out by a hair. Doctor undid John’s restraints, and they walked over to the chessboard.

“You’ve got quite the unique ability, Doctor.”

“Why, thank you. I suppose you are referring to my massive intelligence?”

“No. [Control]. The ability to maintain control over everything. It’s how you brainwashed Danjo, right?”

Doctor froze for a second, but then shook his head and laughed.

“Clever. You really are a clever boy. Maybe not as clever as me, but quite clever. Correct. That is my ability.”

“Then why not just control Fate over there?”

Doctor sighed and shook his head. “An insect like you could never understand the thought of a being such as myself. You simply do not understand the art of dealing with a nuisance yourself. Crushing a bug under your shoe is so much more satisfying than sweeping it out of the house. I will personally destroy his life with my own hands. It’s the least I can do.”

John’s eyes narrowed. That made sense. But he’d never really cared about Fate in the first place.

“Then what about Prota? You need her, right? Then why not control her?”

“I could. That is true. But what’s the fun in that?”

John shook his head. He picked up the black queen and held it in front of Doctor.

“No. You can’t control her.”

“And how would you know that?”

“I guessed.”

“Come now, that’s not possible. You couldn’t have just guessed that.”

“I made an educated guess. Based on the information I gathered the past… three? Four? I don’t know. I died a couple of times. And then I came back.”

Doctor laughed.

“Come back to life? Do you expect me to believe such a thing?”

“You already said that. Tell me, then. How do I know about your ability? You think I figured it out? What would give me any clue as to what your ability does? Control. You told me yourself. That’s what your power is. I just had to guess from that point on.”

Doctor’s expression darkened.

“Your power is an extension of mine. [Deus Ex Machina]. The ability of a [Writer]. The ability to be god. And based on your personality, that ability manifested in a sort of absolute control. But that doesn’t explain this. Why can’t you control Prota?”

Doctor clenched his fists, unable to answer in his rage. He’d been outsmarted. What? How? How was this possible? This ability, to defy death, to regress and come back to life. An ability of the gods. This was his power? No, impossible.

“John! What are you talking about?!” Kit said, a swirl of flames blasting the room with heat as she appeared in her human form. “You knew about his power? Why didn’t you tell us?”

Her bloodlust and aggression turned toward him. “Just who are you?”

John just shrugged. “I’m pretty sure I told you already. I’m just a guy that likes to read.”

He pulled out two pills and tossed one to Prota.

“You- that doesn’t answer anything! What are you-”

“Sorry. I’ll see you again, alright?”

He closed his eyes, his last sight that of Kit launching herself toward him. Maybe next time, it would’ve been better to just die to her. It was the least he could do.