Mon chou [A Zacharie x Reader Story]

The Batter

You stared at the text now displayed before you, wiping the black liquid off your arms.

"Ǵ̶͎̩͓͢͝͡L̪̻̥̙̞̰͎̺͓̭̼̯̣̫͠Į̛͖͙͚̜̳̗̪̳̦̯̬̕͜ͅŢ̡̣̤̰̬̰̖̫̳͚͚͚͓̯̫̯̲C̼̬̯͇̗̜̩̣̙̺̭͖̮͉͞͞H̷̢͖̰̲͎̬̫͖̩̪̘͍͜ has joined the party."

Your expression slowly turned into a frown as you looked to the Batter, who was staring at you too, blood still dripping off his bat. The Add-Ons floated behind him, seemingly staring too.

"I--Batter, I can't be on your party." You tried pushing the box away but it only sizzled you slightly. Something was wrong.

He swung the bat onto his shoulder and began picking up the pieces he needed from the dead thing, shaking his head.

"There's nothing I can do about that. You fight with me, you stay with me."

You narrowed your eyes and looked over, down at the Secretary who was oozing black liquid, then looking to the doorway, then looking back at the textbox.

"I'm sorry. I have to get back to Zacharie." You turned on your heels and started to briskly walk away, but before you could get to the black doorway that would lead you down, you felt strings tightly attached to you, pulling on your entire being like little grappling hooks. They started to reel you back in towards the Batter, as tears started to well up in your eyes.

"(Y/N), I'm sure you must remember when it was you pulling my strings. All the times we purified the world together and you liked it each and every time. Each monotoned zone was a new achievement for you, and even when we went and faced off the Judge, you didn't bat an eye."

He turned around to you and all his eyes focused on you.

The air around you grew eerily still and you could feel a digging pain in your brain, like you were involuntarily trying to remember something you didn't want to, or didn't even remember was there.

What strings was he talking about? You've been a glitch in this warped universe for as long as you could remember, even through the epidemic of resets that hurt you the most out of the rest of them. You've never fought the Judge, you've never purified any zones, and you've never been by his side.

But the nagging pain in your head was telling you otherwise.

He stood up, his add-ons falling in a straight line behind him, and he lifted his hand to place it on your shoulder.

"What has that miserable cat done to you, Puppeteer?"

At his touch, a jolt of electricity pulsed through your body and you crumbled to your knees, heaving. Inside your mind, a tornado of memories flurried back and forth, and old voices came around you, ringing out for as long as you could bear them.

Your name is (Y/N). You are 13 years old playing the video game you learnt about through social media, while waiting for your favorite webcomic to come off its hiatus. You are the Puppeteer of the Batter, whose success depends solely on you.

To many, you are considered God.

You screamed, the pain in your head becoming unbearable now as the rings floated down around you, forming a protective cage.

Your name is (Y/N), and today you are going to play OFF the game one more time before you delete the game forever. It has been causing you to start hearing the characters as you play, and besides mimicking Zacharie's adorable accent, you sometimes hear him mimicking you too. The Batter replies to you when you speak. The Judge does too. All of them do.

You figured you should say your goodbyes before you delete this poisonous game from your life forever.

As you say goodbye to your favorite Puppet, tears forming in your eyes, you hear a loud snap and your head hits the keyboard, eyes wide open and vacant.

The loud ringing subsided slowly, leaving you on the floor with fists clenched, your pupils dilating. He kneeled down in front of you, shooing the add-ons away.

"You were mine, and I was yours, Puppeteer." He traced his fingers under your chin, bringing your face up to meet his. You looked straight into his eyes as strings of white snaked slowly from your hands to his, slithering along the floor until they pierced his hands.

A sad smile grew on your face as you threw your arms around him in a tight hug. Your breathing was uneven, some in pain and some in relief, as you found your eyes pooling tears of joy.

His face broke into a small smile as he returned your affections, running his hands along the small of your back, covered in small specks of blood. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in.

"My Puppeteer."

You laughed and squeezed harder. "My Puppet."

((A/N: I roughly know what's going to happen next. The thing is I always procrastinate on updating, and then I completely forget about it. Somebody needs to spam me and remind me to update.

413's this Thursday!! In case I don't get to wish everyone, Happy 413 in advance!!!!

And thanks for supporting this fanfic, though I'm sorry to say it's almost over. I'll probably continue on my Batter x Reader, and probably the MettaEX fanfic, and then I'll post this Dualscar x Reader fanfic I've been working on for a while.

Anyway, have a nice day and don't forget to stop and smell the roses!