Warning - death.
Throughout my life, the hospital was my second home. Diagnosed with an undocumented form of Juvenile Degenerative Immunoleukemia at a young age, I was never expected to make it past 18, or even get close.
I was coddled, yet ignored. Useless, yet apparently loved. My parents were rich, able to give me the care I needed, but always too "busy" to show up more than once a year.
I was alone. Always alone. Even at school, I wasn't really with people. I never had friends. No one saw me as an equal. To them, I was an attraction. The girl with little time left. a thing to pity for a while, then to quietly forget.
I learned that truth the moment my age hit double digits.
From there, it only got worse. As the years passed, the hospital visits became longer, the pain heavier, and the stares colder. Teachers stopped calling on me in class. Students stopped inviting me to things I wouldn't have gone to anyway. Even the nurses, kind as they tried to be, looked at me like a time bomb.
I wasn't a person to them. I was a story. A reminder of fragility. The kind of thing people glance at from a distance, just so it won't ruin their day.
I used to be happy, you know? Loud. I liked being the one cracking jokes, making people laugh, and laughing at my own nonsense. I liked being the idiot in the middle of everything. But after the sickness came, after the endless tests and hospital stays, I was too tired to even be that.
I wanted to travel. I wanted to feel the wind on my face, to see places with my own eyes, not through a screen or a hospital window. I wanted to run until my lungs burned for a good reason. But what I could manage was one trip. From home to school, and back again. That was it. My entire world shrank down to that pitiful little routine.
I'm happy with it... Actually, no, I'm not. Who would be? But life's like that, isn't it not? You deal with the hand you're dealt, no matter how shit it is.
with so little strength in me, I turn to the few hobbies easily done in bed, gaming, and anime, movies, youtubers and influencers, anything to give entertainment to my bleak life.
So, that was my life, spending day after day, 100% completing every game I found, or watching everything about a fixation before moving onto the next.
And now, I was sixteen. The last few days of my first year of high school, done with exams and testing. I could finally breathe for a moment."Hah… how funny," I remember thinking.
I liked school. Not for the people. Not for the social crap. But because it was different. It wasn't the hospital. And I was good at it, too.
Of course I was. It's all I had. All I could do.
The three subjects I loved most were English, Art, and Games Development. The only places where I could actually create something, build a world, or tell a story I'd want to see. Places where, for a moment, I wasn't some sick girl killing time.
It was what I was best at, and what I enjoyed most.
Even if deep down, I knew it was completely fucking worthless.
What skills will I use? When I'll be dead before I have any practical use for it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emXaeWX9TSs
A familiar sound snapped me out of my travels through memory lane.
The triumphant little jingle from The Battle Cats chimed through my phone's speakers, that ridiculous fanfare marking another victory. I blinked, my eyes refocusing on the screen in my hands.
Right. I'd been playing again.
I must've zoned out in the middle of a stage, lost in my head like always. The victory screen flashed across my phone, bright and dumb as ever. My lineup of sometimes cute, sometimes horrifying cats stood proudly over a crumbled enemy base, everything from adorable chibi kittens to towering mecha abominations piloted by cats… and the occasional collab character riding on their shoulders. Because what gacha game doesn't have collabs? Or shameless fanservice.
Still, The Battle Cats, even though I'd only picked it up fairly recently, had already made its way into my list of favourites. Out of the sea of gacha games I'd burned through over the years, this one stuck. Fun.. and oddly addictive. And the lore was just interestingly quirky and entertaining.
which was... cat's trying to take over the world, and then the future, then the universe.
which I mean fair.
I glanced back down at the screen just as a new pop-up appeared.
[Unlocked: Bahamut Cats' true form unlocked.]
My eyes lit up.
"hell yes. I've heard how busted this guy is."
Grinning, I tapped through the menus, and true forming the dragon, which, made it more huminiod, and bad ass. just like the one in the stage.
Swapping out one of my alien ubers with awakened Bahamut, I went to a legend stage to test him out.
I should've gotten up. School would be starting soon.
But… one quick test run wouldn't hurt.
I pushed myself off the bench and started walking, eyes still glued to the screen, loading up a random stage just to watch this new monster of a cat tear through enemies. One-hitting everything in its path, steamrolling through like some ridiculous god of death in cat form.
It wasn't long before I noticed I'd wandered into a narrow shortcut alley. A path I didn't remember choosing, but my feet must've carried me there while my brain was too busy watching the dragon smack the shit out of everything.
I shrugged it off, too caught up in the game, tapping away, eager to see how far Awakened Bahamut could go alone. Unattentive. Oblivious.
A mistake I'd pay for, sooner than I could've imagined.
A hand clamped over my mouth.
A sharp, cold edge pressed against the side of my neck.
My phone slipped from my fingers, clattering against the concrete with a dull, helpless sound.
"Don't move."
A woman's voice.Soft. Calm. Almost… entertained.
Even with the blade at my throat, my first reaction wasn't fear.It was
No my phone.
Then, the rational part of my brain kicked in. And I realised what was happening.
Panic crawled up the back of my throat, but I swallowed it down. I forced myself to stay still.
a robbery? maybe? But the tone wasn't right. She would be much happier to have it go quickly, more urgent. If this were a mugging, she'd want it over fast. This wasn't... fast.
I listened. I wasn't stupid. Even a kid could knock me out. I had no chance against a grown woman with a knife. So I stayed still, as much as my twitchy body would allow.
"Good girl", she delightedly muttered, her voice sickly sweet as it dropped into a whisper.
The knife stayed near my throat, as she adjusted herself, my mouth was free, as I heaved a heavy breath, yet kept still.
her figure danced around me, my eyes now catching sight of her masked face, and gloved hand, barely able to see it, with the knife at my throat.
The blade hovered at my throat while she shifted. I felt the slightest pressure, then she moved around me. I didn't dare turn my head, but from the edge of my vision, I caught her masked face and gloved hand.
I breathed in hard. My mouth was free now, but I kept quiet.
The blade pressed gently against my skin, the coldness giving way to a strange, soft warmth spreading through my chest. I barely felt the sharpness anymore, given way to a pleasant heat.
Confusion flickered through me as I looked down and saw the knife buried deep in my chest, it's black handle poking out.
My legs gave out beneath me before I could fully process it, and I stumbled, collapsing slowly to the ground, sliding against a nearby wall.
My eyes flicked back up, locking onto the woman's masked face. She watched silently, a satisfied curve tugging at the corners of her mouth, as if admiring some dark masterpiece.
I let my gaze drift upward, to the vast, endless sky above.
A calm warmth spread through me, soothing, far beyond any pain.
As the edges of my vision darkened, I surrendered, floating away into quiet stillness.
Maybe death isn't so bad, after all.
I thought this as the comforting heat washed over me, my eyes blurring, the darkness closing in.
until finally, I saw no more.
.
.
---
The sharp clasp of a book closing echoed in the silence. "What a tragic life..." an ambiguous voice murmured from somewhere ahead of me.
My eyes fluttered open, bleary and unfocused, struggling to adjust.
I found myself staring at a formless figure, impossible to comprehend, impossible to understand.
"Yet... tragic enough for me to intervene," the voice said softly.
"What...?" I whispered, my gaze drifting around this strange, void-like space, disoriented and numb. confusion dragging on my action, before it finally set in place.
"Oh right... I died? Didn't I?"
"mmhmm, yep. that you are."
"Huh... wasn't expecting that... but I suppose it wouldn't have had made a difference. in the end, I'm still dead anyway."
"Maybe, maybe not. But that's not what I have brought you here for, no. I am here simply to give you another chance, through your karmic attributes made throughout this life, you are qualified for this opportunity of a second life. With the added bonus of having your memories intact."
I blinked, "Really? Reincarnation is a thing?"
"Yes, it is, you will be reincarnated into another world, similar to one you were once in, this life, you will be able to enjoy it to the fullest, and how you want it to go. But the choice is yours. Will you take the second life, or go to the afterlife? It is your choice to make. "
I stared for a long moment, then felt a small, lopsided smile tug at my lips.
"Another life… to do whatever I want? If your words hold true…" I let the thought linger for a heartbeat, then gave a slow, steady nod. "Then, of course, I will."
"Good," the voice murmured, pleased.
Without another word, the void around me began to crack, threads of light weaving through the endless dark. A strange, weightless pull tugged at my being, as though the universe itself were rewinding and rethreading my existence.
"Live it well," the voice whispered, fading into the distance.
And then, everything vanished in a burst of light.
---
In the black void of nothing, the figure stared at the empty space, its figure still unreadable "May your journey be as entertaining as it can be."
A/N This is a self-indulgent slop fic. This has zero thought put into it besides one brain cell. No attempts for emotional stakes. Absolutely no care for characterisation. and absulutly ZERO fucks to give. dislike it, just leave. like it, give me comments. and if you have idea's, give them to me, as it might fuel me for stuff. anyway
adios.
(also, at the end i just got so goddamn tired, i just kinda... gave up a bit.)