Chapter Text
[??? POV:]
The child let out an annoyed sigh as they closed their eyes and looked away from their laptop. Tears were beginning to build, a consequence of staring at their device without a break for so long. They blinked them away, before rubbing at the corners and shaking off the tiny droplets that formed. A break was needed. And the child knew from experience that choosing to not listen to their body would only end up causing unnecessary pain. And just because they were taking a break, didn’t mean they had to be unproductive. They stood up from the desk and chose to open up Limbus Company, waiting for the title screen to pop up before clicking once, choosing to be efficient with the loading screen as they left the laptop open and exited the room.
They were sure to close the door behind them, hating the feeling of being watched that often creeped upon them if it was left open. As they made the quick trip to the kitchen, their mind was overflowing with thoughts and ideas, ones that their fingers could only scramble to capture as they typed out as much as their laptop and motivation allowed. Yet it wasn’t just writing, no, no, no. There were several tabs open to aid in their creative pursuits. To be specific, the pursuit of making an original character. It would not be the first time the child has done this. And, it would likely not be the last. Creating characters was one of their favorite forms of art, and it had been for many years. From the child-like power fantasy of overpowered werewolf-angel-demons that eventually became gacha creations, to the more thought out characters that could explore darker concepts or themes like sacrifice (although their visuals were still preserved in gacha games; just with a less eye straining color palette).
This time, the game the child had their games set on another gacha game, one that seemed fair and not possessed by things like insane power creep, or leaving old characters in the dust in favor of shiny new toys. Or at least one that isn’t so blatant about it. **Limbus Company**. The game had caught the child’s attention on the steam page rather quickly. The turn-based battle system would be a break for their poor wrists and reflexes, since they didn’t need to worry about enemy ambushes like one would in an open world game. The dark, almost gloomy title screen of the nocturnal sweeping event, and the person with the clock head were of great interest as well. The unique design of Dante was something that kept the child drawn in through the prologue and first Canto. Seeing as they had memory loss, it was like them and the person playing the game were experiencing the same sort of adventure.
Like clockwork, the child had run into a bit of a creative block. Normally it wouldn’t be the worst to get over. They’d just focus on another aspect of the character, and use that to pick up their motivation. There was just one, *tiny* issue. Every single thing was making their mind turn up blank. Something as simple as a name was escaping them. They weren’t satisfied with anything that came from the random name generators, or the baby name websites. Working on the backstory? Absolutely not. Firstly, the child had recently learned that each character of the Limbus Company Bus branch was based on a character in a book. Even if they overlooked the real-world references, coming up with the in-world explanation as to why they joined the company was just as ineffective. Maybe they could be a Lobotomy Corp remnant? But then they’d need to open a can of worms on why their OC joined Lobotomy Corporation in the first place.
So the child decided to put a hold on creating their original character, instead focusing on playing though the story. And that was the best decision they had made in a long while. The child had invested into gacha game stories before, unfortunately, those felt like they were a gacha game at it’s core, and some were rather lackluster in story elements. Sure, they were drawn to the shiny characters, but when asked about the story? Only blanks. Contrary to that, Limbus’s story was amazing. It had drawn them in, made them feel for each character, and the child even found themselves relating to several of the stories of each individual character. From how Ishmael had found herself drifting aimlessly in her old job, to how Hong Lu felt like a passenger in his own life, going with whatever he was told because he felt like there was no other way. And the music itself was enchanting. Watching the lyrics pop up in the background, having to not only keep calm and making sure the sinners didn’t die, and appreciating the visual and everything… it was incredible.
It took a few months, and over a hundred hours, but they were fully caught up with the main storyline of the game. Canto 8 beaten. Section 2 and onwards of the railway was left untouched, however. No amount of shards was worth resetting over and over again for better speed RNG, and they didn’t have any EGO with enough attack weight to hit all the peccatula. Still, it was the first ever gacha game, or any game that they felt comfortable enough to pull out the credit card. Not that they really needed to, seeing the whole sharding system. Still, getting a certain character early was free serotonin, and so was immediately using them in the mirror dungeons. Sadly, it was all getting a bit bland. Other than screwing themselves over with bad trials in said dungeons, there wasn’t too many challenges that appealed to them. Solos didn’t scratch the brain, and they didn’t have many ambitions. So what would be the best for a new spark of creativity? A brand-new account.
It could possibly spark their creativity for their OC, and even if it isn’t, it’d be nice to play though the game again while knowing what to do. And that was the child’s plan. They had grabbed a couple granola bars and headed back up, ready to set up their new account. Their expression immediately fell when they opened the door to their room and saw, or rather, heard their laptop. The fan was whirring so loud they thought the thing was just going to implode on itself. They immediately rushed over to their desk, putting the snacks down as they tried moving their cursor to see if they got any feedback from their laptop. None. It was simply frozen, the dark swirling around the star that Dante looked at feeling nothing like a taunt. With concern, the child’s hand left the touchpad, using the back of the hand to make sure their screen wasn’t as hot as the bottom of the device. Then their hand went through the screen, sinking into the white light of that center star.
??? immediately panicked, trying to pull their hand out and wondering if they were just hallucinating. But there was nothing that could be done. They braced themselves against the desk for leverage, yet the more they pulled, the more their arm seemed to be dragged into the PC. Their arm was so strained they were worried it would break. Their arm felt like it was being seared with flames and being doused in ice simultaneously. Heartbeat was speeding up, breaths were shaky and unstable. Nobody else was home, and their phone was well out of reach. The main creeped up their arm, their whole room seemed to get blurrier, their surroundings getting dimmer. The pain was too much. And so, everything went dark.