Chapter Text
The droning and constant beeps of machines were your daily life at this point. Random gusts of air shoved into your nostrils and into your lungs. You were just lingering at this point. The pain though intense was at such a constant, you were used to it at a certain point. Your own life erupted around you as senseless drama between family, friends, even the hospital staff. Watching some members of your family crumble around you while there were those indifferent… and ones that never cared to show up to begin with. Same as with your friends. You watched as the days became weeks, months, and then a year how much your visits dwindled. You lost yourself into whatever entertainment you had… as much as no one truly wanted to discuss it with you… you knew that it was only a matter of time.
A rare visit from a good friend of yours was always a pleasant surprise but what she was toting was an even bigger shock. A game. Not just any game but the one that wasn’t projected to release until next year.
“I told the company that you are one of their biggest fans, that you had been heavily anticipating its release but…” You see her choke up a bit but give her a sad smile and let her have a moment to compose herself.
“Yeah… So they responded with a very heartfelt letter and a copy of the game. They were only finalizing licensing rights and production so they decided to give you the first ever copy.” She smiles as you gaze at it once again. Unable to see something that was projected for a future you wouldn’t have sitting right here in your grasp.
“Nyla… this is… thank you.” You look up at her with tears in your eyes.
“What are besties for? Can’t have you bored when I could at least ask on your behalf for only the one thing you had talked about forever until…” She pauses again and you know why.
The day you were admitted into the hospital, then given a heartfelt apology by the doctor and staff for the results.
You never got to go home again at that point. Your new home was the hospital as they tried to fight for you with no success… then ultimately you ended up here in hospice.
“It did take awhile for them to respond back but I’m glad they did.” Nyla smiles but you can see the sadness behind it.
“I hope you thank them for this, I never thought I’d get to see it let alone have it in my hands.” You smile happily at her.
She grins back with her renewed enthusiasm.
“I can’t wait to hear you talk all about it! You choose some of the most interesting routes and the oddest of decisions!” She cackles in the memories of old… how you’d gush about your game as long as she got to gush about her latest hobby. Both of you were in it for the enthusiasm and pure enjoyment of each other.
You gaze at the package fondly. Rubbing a thumb over the title.
“Among the Monster Tides.” You say it out loud.
“You are amazing Nyla, I can’t thank you enough!” You start to tear up.
“No, none of that missy! You just promise me to play the crap out of it because I want to hear about your adventures the next time I come back.” She hugs you in ernest.
Her visits were the best. The staff always had to escort her out as she would stay past visiting hours. She would stay all night if she could. Nyla had been your best friend since elementary school. Due to college… she had to move far out to be in the dorms so it wasn’t often she could visit. Yet it was always an epic visit to remember.
Once again she hung around until staff asked her to leave.
“I wish I could stay longer… with finals coming up I can’t visit next week but I’ll definitely see you the week after! Promise you will wait for me, okay?” Not once had you failed her request so you nodded and promised her as always.
When you don’t perk back up she quips “Oh! And ell-tay at-thay ack-quay octor-day at-thay e’s-hay upid-stay.” It has you chortling with her. Oh the days of your youth together had you thick as thieves.
“Nyla… Thank you, for everything.” She smiles and waves goodbye as the staff get more insistent.
Now all that is left is you and this game.
Though not for long. As much as you wanted to tell your doctor he was stupid… the results of you being in hospice didn’t lie.
You didn’t have the heart to tell Nyla that the doctor had narrowed down your clock to any day now. She had her own life to live… it’s just not going to be with you in it down the road. You were fine with that… you didn’t want her to give up her chances just because it was your time.
So you started playing the game on your handheld. It and the games you had were your only possessions from home you had left. A lot of things had to be sold to afford your stay… Besides, it wasn't like you would come back home.
You were here to stay until your body gave your spirit up.
You were enthralled with all of the details the game had to offer. Your love interests but a new AI model allowed you, if you wanted, to romance all the people you could interact with. It was astoundingly good because of the AI model… no dialogue was the same with random encounters. It made it highly replayable. Which you had found yourself doing a lot as your main nemesis made things absolutely hard for you.
The Queen of Monsters. This majestic and larger than life goat woman was the epitome of boss monster. The beginning scene had her walking into a small human village in the dark of night. Villagers stunned and quaked before her as she approached. Her nonchalance spoke relative indifference to the poor people before her as her mere glance was that of cold cruelty. Eight figures shrouded in the darkness around them came forward. The only thing telling that they were there were the lights of their eyes.
“Kill them, I want this village out of my way before the sun rises.” Her cool tone startled the humans before them. Men and women came forward to plead and beg while some tried to shield the children as monsters came from all corners.
It was as if she couldn’t see or hear them as she strode off with the eight shrouded monsters… as the other monsters tore into the villagers and burned their village to the ground.
Sheesh… not even going easy on children? Man, that was some seriousness this game had for a tone.
No wonder your character was the soul survivor of the slaughter.
You were the heroine. Your main goal, aside from the romance, was to defeat the monster hordes and their evil queen. Then you found out quickly that skeletons were the devil incarnate because their strength and magic reserve and skill were too great. Didn’t shock you when the Captain and right hand of the queen was also a skeleton. At first you were up against random monsters. With your love interests powers and abilities you were able to push through but then you would encounter a skeleton as a boss and get trounced.
So it riled you to the point that your weak body be damned. You were going to beat this game!
You wrote notes of how, where, and why a route didn’t suit you.
When you finally encountered Blue, A royal guardsmen and skeleton. He was difficult but you didn’t technically defeat him. You just managed to keep him from overtaking the village you were protecting. He had witty and cute charm and those star-like eye lights that would light up when you were able to counter his attacks. In the end he narrowed those brilliant blue eye lights and said he’d report this to his commander. He took a bow and winked at you with boyish charm that made your cheeks burn.
It had you bubbly finally taking this win but now you had to know the commander. After a lot of routes and honestly putting your relationships by the wayside. You encountered Papyrus. Hoping he was the commander but sighed in frustration when he too had the status of Royal guardsman.
He, like Blue, had a more chipper disposition which really made you feel happy that you didn’t kill them at the end of their fights… even though they were extremely hard. He even told you he believed in you during the battle and it had you blush. When he accepted he could not win this round, he did it with grace and praised you for your efforts though his commander would not be happy. Then escaping with a cute Nyeh heh!
You had written down these routes and expressed how cute the skeletons were.
Then you came across someone you were absolutely sure was the commander.
The burly skeleton with sharp teeth and one a golden fang. His crimson eye lights were like daggers as he eyed your character. Then he sent you a lewd wink as his name was revealed to be Red the commander's lieutenant.
Just how many of these freaking skeletons were there!? In the game lore they were said to be rare. Yet they had magic and might that almost rivaled that of the Queen herself.
The Queen was a magnificent goat monster. Her kind was known as boss monsters and they were extremely rare. In fact the only one that you have seen is the queen herself. Yet with the twists and turns this game has given you, you are pretty certain she isn’t the only one. The only way to find out is to continue the game.
As you were fighting Red though… you weren’t sure if you wanted there to be more. He was a cheeky bastard and he seriously didn’t fight fair. Like he was coded to interrupt your spells and give you lewd remarks and wink at you if you failed. THERE WAS EVEN A MOMENT YOUR CHARACTER SHRIEKED BECAUSE HE FLIPPED HER SKIRT!
Then had the audacity to smirk and wink.
You felt vindicated when you finally forced him to retreat. He merely tsked and flipped you off before disappearing from the battlefield.
The red in your face wasn’t from the cuteness, it was the pure raw anger you had for that prick.
You were so going to trounce him if he ever showed his smug ass face again!
Not going to lie… you flipped off the handheld’s screen in your fury.
Every now and then you would encounter Blue, Papyrus, and….. Red…. but they were not battles but random encounters… in which you learned that Edge, the commander, and Black, the Captain of the Royal guard and queen’s right hand, were watching you.
That watcher happened to be another skeleton by the name of Russ. You managed to figure out that he had been sneaking about and caught him by surprise. He honestly hadn’t expected to be caught by you but something about certain nuances of the game made you curious.
It had been random how you were able to distinguish that something wasn’t right, or something was off but you could ignore it entirely. Yet you didn’t and found the skeleton responsible.
There was no battle with him but a terse growl as he slunk off into the shadows. The Honorary Guardsman?
You looked into your lore tab and it revealed that he is Black’s personal guardsman.
Oh that sneaky bastard. Guess you were causing such a stir that you even caught his attention. Though you had to admit, the southern drawl of Russ was something sexy… and yes you encountered a skeleton with a gold fang already… but damn did he pull it off.
So after some routes you encounter Edge… FINALLY.
He was a sharp behemoth and though his actions were cruel and callous… he surrendered his position with grace when you won. Though trounced he was still pristine in condition and wasn’t very wordy in his fight. He had only asked you to surrender and fought so stoically that… not going to lie… it had you intrigued to know him more.
Just as he was about to leave… he turned back to you.
“YOU FOUGHT HONORABLY, FOR THAT I CAN RESPECT YOU ENOUGH TO WARN YOU. BLACK IS FAR MORE RUTHLESS AND HE HAS NO MERCY. I ASK YOU TO ADVANCE NO FURTHER.” He says with an epic bow and disappears.
It was touching that he would even do that.
Especially when you started to encounter Black in random events and see for yourself how smarmy loyal he was to his queen.
He was like meshing Red and Edge together into a poised asshole that cared about decorum until it didn’t suit him anymore.
He was sly, underhanded, and a way of talking that would leave you both flustered and pissed.
Black had a way with words and they were as eloquent as they were laced with venom. Always on the ready for an attack and you probably shouldn’t be that surprised… He is the queen’s right hand. He assisted her with everything and it was rare for him to be seen without her.
You saw him more after Edge’s defeat. Only instead of lingering in the background he was more in your face… and man this skeleton… if you thought Red made you mad? This one makes you furious.
Had your romance interests not wanted to try and foster peace… you would have decked him the last time he got up in your face with a snide remark.
So how is it that when you find yourself anticipating fighting Black… you end up fighting the queen herself next!?
She is almost impossible to take down. It took some reloading some save files and quick witted strategies but you brought her to her knees.
As you start questioning her and what all this bloodshed was for? It was the only… and last glimmer of emotion she had of pure aching sadness.
Then she dusted as Black stabbed straight through her with his rapier… an evil smile twisting his sharp maw into what looked like pure morbid joy.
He spat on her dust and cackled like a madman. Then he raised his rapier towards you.
“WELL NOW, I GUESS THIS IS HOW MONSTERS WILL FINALLY GET THE PEACE THEY DESERVE.” His words slid as smooth as satin as the other skeletons came forward and poised for attack.
You had only prepared for fighting the queen… NOT HER AND ALL OF THE SKELETONS!
No matter what angle you approached the fight. Black would not budge… so it left you wondering if you had chosen a bad option and thus were bound to a bad ending from your last save.
Getting frustrated you give up for the night. Writing down your adventure list to know what you might have to do next in order to continue forward.
Setting it down you look at the table where your dinner had gotten cold. It had been like this for awhile now… you weren’t as hungry as you had remembered being.
Feeling more exhausted than ever, you ready yourself for sleep.
Somewhere in the middle of the night you heard the machines cause a racket that almost roused you.
As you found yourself fading… you were sad.
Sad you couldn’t keep your promise to Nyla.
You hoped that she wouldn’t beat herself up over this and think she needed to visit you more or risk her studies for more time with you.
Yet deep down… you wished you could have said goodbye. One that she had deserved from being such a loyal friend.
What you weren’t expecting was feeling lighter… it was different than how heavy your weak body had become.
Only to feel like your mind is spinning and soon you see light?
Was this the afterlife?
Yet everything is reeling as you start to hear voices around you… Oh… the hospice staff must’ve been able to revive you.
Though it didn’t make you happy. You had a ‘do not resuscitate’ paper stating that you were not to be brought back.
Suddenly a figure blocks the light before you and leans in close.
“MY QUEEN? ARE YOU NOT WELL? PLEASE, TELL ME HOW I CAN ASSIST.” That… voice? Queen?
When you are able to focus, you see before you is the dreaded Captain Black. He doesn’t seem too concerned as he looks you over but immediately you are rushed by other skeletons.
They are clamoring over you and either asking you what you need or telling others to back off as they try to assist you.
“I promised…” You whimper from the head rush and headache. Not even noticing the pause in the chaos around you. Or Black’s confused stare as you reel from the pain.
Glancing and spying a mirror and horrified at what you see. It’s you… a healthier you but you have goat ears, slight nubby horns, and a fluffy tail.
This is… this is too much…
The headache wins and you black out.