Take My Hand [Wuthering Waves x Reader]

[1] Anomaly

[ Cover Art by: GeeBee_79 ][ Link: https://twitter.com/GeeBee_79 ]

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"Ahh, I should really check up on Wuthering Waves," I muttered to myself as I glanced at the computer on the black metallic desk, currently lying in bed. "I admit, I'm probably helplessly addicted to it but it's not my fault the game has mostly everything I like! Though..."

I paused for a moment before finally letting out a sigh. "I've been having some issues while playing but I'm sure it'll get better later on," I quietly remarked. "Besides, it's just been released, you know? On top of that, Kuro Games seems to be earnestly trying their best to fix things so I might as well be good and wait patiently. ...though, I do wonder if some of the problems I'm having are mainly because of my sometimes unstable internet and kinda oldish computer...? I doubt the latter would be that much of an issue though since it's been mostly running the game pretty smoothly but..."

I stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. In the end though, I decided to just shrug it off and leave it at that. Besides, in my current circumstances, there wasn't much I could do to improve either one, anyway. With yet another sigh, I sat up and then slowly got out of bed, all the while stretching my arms and legs.

Once I was finally up, I walked over to the gray office chair and sat on it. I spun it around until I was facing the computer itself, which took a few tries since I went a little too fast at first. ...or maybe I just wanted to spin around for the fun of it but I digress.

I moved the mouse a bit out of curiosity, causing the computer screen to suddenly turn alive. Oops, looks like I left it on while I took a nap. I thought to myself with a nervous laugh. Guess I was too sleepy to think about turning it off, huh? At least I was able to get to bed this time instead of me falling asleep in front of the computer... I immediately shook my head, realizing I was about to get derailed from what I was supposed to be doing.

Without any further delay, I dragged the cursor to the Wuthering Waves game shortcut and double-clicked on it. As to why I did that, the launcher seems to have gone wonky on me, just like how the Punishing Gray Raven launcher did before, so I resorted to this. I'll probably need to confront it someday but for now, this will do. Besides, it'll probably be fixed by the time I'll have to use it again! ...I hope.

Anyways, as I waited for the game to launch, I leaned against the chair in silence, left alone with my thoughts. Unfortunately for me, out of all the things that my brain could've focused on, it decided to dwell on how my life is right now.

Other than dealing with college and work, the only things I ever really did were play games, eat food, and sleep. If I were to be blunt, there's hardly anything worth looking forward to in this life of mine. On top of that, it's not something I really wanted to acknowledge or think about but I had no friends whatsoever either. It's not like I'm incapable of socializing but...I found it hard to connect with people. After all, whenever I watch everyone from afar in silence, I end up thinking to myself, "There's no way I can be like them." Because of that, I would usually give up on befriending them, doomed to be the black sheep that can't find a place to belong.

However, despite it all, I'm still trying and looking. Even if I were to be ridiculed for it, I just couldn't bring myself to abandon that radiant future I saw with my own eyes. Even if my body ends up being covered with countless scars, I'll continue to brave the dark night until the day dawn comes.

"...still, I wonder when will that day come?" I asked as I felt tears falling from my eyes. "When will my life change for the better? How long do I have to keep struggling for? I can't stay strong forever, no matter how hard I try..."

To my surprise, I suddenly heard someone speaking out of nowhere but it was too faint for me to hear properly. Seeing as how the internet browser was currently closed, it couldn't be a video playing. I pulled away the curtain covering the window beside me and saw only a few people walking about outside. ...maybe it's just one of them talking...? Though, it seems they stopped pretty quickly...

With a sigh, I wiped away the tears and pulled myself together. For now, let's not think about all those depressing things. I thought to myself as I turned my attention back to the game. Let's focus on the game and take a break from it all for now...

As usual, I pressed the check box regarding age and then clicked on the Google icon to log in. Once the browser opened up and the prompt appeared right after, I picked the one that had the male Rover chosen. The other one had the female Rover selected and had Jiyan in it but I felt like playing as a male Rover main for now. It was super rare of me to main the MC of all people, I admit, but I just really love his design. ...and as I progressed through the story, maybe everything else about him too but that's...too embarrassing to admit out loud.

Upon seeing the close-up of both Rovers silently waiting there and the "tap to land in Solaris-3" when I checked back on the game, I did as I was told and clicked. The camera zoomed onto the male main character but what happened after was different from usual. Instead of doing the usual animation of absorbing the player, he just glanced at the camera with a gentle smile and then put his hand up against it.

"If you really want your life to change that much, then put your hand up against mine, (Y/N)," Rover said, catching me off-guard. "With my help, you'll be able to live in the same world that I'm in. As the one responsible for bringing you here, I promise to make sure that you survive. ...and if you don't want to go, you can just close the 'game' and everything will be back to 'normal'..."

I stared at the monitor for a while, unsure if this was real or not. It certainly seemed ridiculous with how sudden and strange this is but...a part of me wanted to try and see what happens. As far as I was concerned, I had nothing to lose. If this was merely a hallucination, there was no one here to laugh at me for falling for it. If this was real and I really do get taken to Solaris-3, to be honest, I wouldn't miss my life here. After all, I'm just an insignificant ghost in this world. No one would really miss me or notice that I'm gone.

Feeling my heartbeat getting faster by the second, I slowly extended my hand out to his. The instant my hand touched the part of the screen where his hand was, I noticed that it felt like touching water. Out of morbid curiosity, I tried pushing further, causing wavy silvery lines to appear around it as it strangely went inside. Before I could fully process what just happened, I soon felt someone else's gloved hand against mine.

"...right, guess that settles it," he remarked, gently holding my hand. "I'm...not entirely sure how I'm doing this but just trust me, alright?"

"A-alright..." I stammered out while looking away, my cheeks hot.

Yellow particles quickly appeared around me right after I said that, catching me off-guard. I checked on my body to see if my hunch was right and as I suspected, I was now glowing. Am I being converted?! I thought to myself in shock. How is he-. I immediately recall the animation of the Rovers absorbing or perhaps converting the player before getting sent to the loading screen. Instead of it being a cool transition scene, I'm experiencing it for real this time?! Is this like how the Wave-.

An overwhelming sense of drowsiness suddenly comes over me, stopping me from theorizing it any further. He must've noticed something was up because his grip became more firm.

"You'll be alright," Rover comforted as I struggled to stay awake. "Go ahead and sleep. When you wake up, you'll be in Solaris-3 with me by your side. I promise."

"I hope I...won't regret...trusting...you..."

With that said, I stopped resisting and let myself fall unconscious, entrusting my life to a person I didn't expect to be interacting with.

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[ Author's Note ]

Hiiii, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! I could've made this longer tbh but I felt this was a good spot to stop. Besides, I still need to plot out certain stuff. Ah, that said, as a heads-up, the next chapter will expect you to have completed all the currently released main story quests as of now. Simply put, it'll be set after defeating Dreamless. Just so you know!