Work Text:
Arty Zara blinked her eyes open to an unfamiliar sky, the blue brighter than she'd ever seen in real life before.
"What am I doing here?" She questioned as she sat up and surveyed her surroundings, finding herself in a grassy park in a city somewhat familiar to her. "Am I in… Seoul?"
Before she could come up with a theory on how exactly she arrive at a place on the other side of the planet to where she was supposed to be, a voice she'd only heard through the speakers of a screen called out to her.
"Are you okay?"
Arty blinked hard in disbelief, for she was shooketh by the sight before her. Zoey Huntr/x, in all her animated glory, was standing before her as if it were not an impossibility for a fictional character to be sharing her space. All she could come up with to say in response was a verbose: "Huh?"
"Oh, right, it's totally understandable that you're confused, but don't worry, I'll explain everything to you, starting with the fact that you've been Isekaid into a bad K-Drama-ified version of the Kpop Demon Hunters universe!"
"Right…" Arty replied, believing her situation to be a fan-fiction induced fever dream of some sort. She's certainly been reading enough of it for her brain to come up with something like this.
"First things first, we're going to skip right over the part where you think none of this is real and you're in a coma or something, just for the sake of brevity. So everyone's going to pretend I said something really profound and persuasive to convince you that this is real so we can get to important plot stuff!"
Which was a convincing enough argument for Arty, so she was fully willing to go along with the premise now. "Okay, so if all this is real, why am I here? How did I even get here?"
"Well, that's a bit of a longer story. Basically, this universe's existence hangs in the balance, and to save it from disaster, the author has opened up a wormhole and sucked you inside to save the world! It seems you hit your head pretty hard on your way here though, so if you're acting Out Of Character at all, that's probably why. It's definitely not an excuse for the author for this work to have you acting in any way they wish without directly commenting on how they think the real Arty Zara would act in any given situation. It's an important distinction to be made when writing Real Person Fiction."
"I see. But, I don't understand, I'm just a streamer? How could I possibly save a whole world?" Arty questioned.
Zoey chuckled, like the answer was obvious. "Well, silly, I can hardly think of anyone else as well versed in polytrix fanfiction as you, which makes you perfect!"
Arty nodded seriously. "If that's the case, I'll try my best to help!" She stood and brushed herself off dramatically, even though she had no dirt on her because she now existed in a pristinely animated universe. "So, what seems to be the problem for me to fix, exactly?"
"Hmm, well." Zoey put a finger to her chin in thought. "In order for this universe to have a happy ending, Polytrix needs to be endgame. But there's a major problem! Mira and Rumi are having this huge dramatic fight about Insert Melodramatic Problem Here, and I've tried everything I can to get them to make up, but I can't seem to do it alone."
Arty clenched her fists. "Oh no, they're having a fight? That just won't do!" She smiled as she felt conviction filling her veins. "Don't worry, I know just the solution! Lead the way Zoey, I have some bricks to throw at Rumi and Mira."
-Left to right fade transition brings us from the scene at the park to the interior of Huntr/x tower, Rumi and Mira are having a fight inside-
"Well I'm right about this argument because of reason X!" Mira yelled across the space.
"Oh yeah?" Rumi retorted. "Well actually, I'm right about this argument because of reason Y!"
Mira scoffed. "Well that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Here," Her eyes tracked to Zoey and Arty, who had just entered the room. "Why don't we let Zoey settle it? Zoey, do you think reason X is more reasonable, or reason Y?"
"Yeah, Zoey." Rumi said. "Who do you think is right? Me, or Mira?"
"Actually." Zoey inhaled, steeling her confidence. "I've brought in a third party to solve this argument." She gestured to Arty. "This is Arty Zara. She's the magical chosen one, here to save the universe from your argument."
Mira looked on skeptically. "Okay then, miss 'Savior of the universe'. Who do you think is right?"
Arty knows this conversation isn't going to go down so easily, so she readies her throwing arms in preparation for the worst. "I so happen to think that neither of you are right."
Each member of Huntr/x gasped in shock, like it had never crossed their mind as a possibility. "I mean, did you ever think that maybe even something like reason Z is the solution? And did you ever consider, maybe even more important than your argument, is your relationship to eachother? I hate to see it when you hurt one another, and I think it would be best for everyone if you put your differences aside and made up with eachother, right?"
Rumi and Mira seemed about ready to retort, but they were quickly put to a stop by a barrage of soft, heart shaped foam bricks being thrown aggressively at their heads in reprimand.
After being forced to think about it, reluctantly, they both seemed to agree. "Maybe, she kinda has a point." Mira muttered.
Rumi thought about it for a moment longer before nodding, her mind made up. "You're right, Arty. Reason Z is so much more important than X and Y anyway, I'm sorry for putting that in jeapordy."
Stars lit in Zoey's eyes as the connection made itself in her mind. "You mean… I'm reason Z? Like, Z for Zoey?"
Mira smiled at their adorable Maknae. "Of course, Zoey. You and Rumi are always my most important reason."
Zoey bounded up to them and pulled them into a group hug. "I love you guys so much."
Mira hummed contentedly. "I love you too."
"Me too." Rumi agreed. "And, thank you, Arty. For helping me realize what was right in front of me all along."
"It was my pleasure." Arty smiled to them.
Zoey grabbed Mira and Rumi by the wrists and pulled them to one of their bedrooms, and before the fics rating could change, Arty Zara was yeeted back out of the universe through a magical wormhole and into the real world, where she had just finished reading a crack-fic about saving the world by shipping Polytrix hard enough it became cannon.
And as she read the final words on the Ao3 page, she realized that real the treasure at the end of the journey was the gay lesson we all learned along the way, that being that the author of this unhinged mess, JabaWaki, really wants their fandom senpai to notice them, senpai notice me senpai.
And they all lived happily ever after, The End.