Fanfic / The Awakening of Monika

Just Monika.

Protagonist: "Okay. What did I tell you last night?"
Monika: 'That you hated work and wished you could resign? That you never told anyone else about me? By me, I meant the computer, of course.'
Protagonist: "Y-you're..."
Monika: 'Real? I've always been, love.

The Awakening of Monika, written by ZoomFlare and published on FanFiction.Net starting on November 19, 2017, is about a unnamed protagonist who leaves a laptop running the game Doki Doki Literature Club! on Act Three. After three months, Monika began to talk to the protagonist. This leads to the protagonist getting along with Monika and finding ways to make her comfortable as a being on a computer.

The Awakening of Monika is a first person narrative following the perspectives of the protagonist and other characters the protagonist later meets in the story. Between chapters are Secret Poems, similar to Doki Doki Literature Club's special poems, written by the club members from Doki Doki Literature Club with few by other characters. Each poem illustrates the thoughts of a character in the story, though it is not said who wrote them however it is easy to discern who wrote them.

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Shows examples of:

• Affectionate Nickname: Monika calls the nameless Main Character by pet names like "my love".
• And I Must Scream: When Monika gained her own physical body, so did Creuset. Creuset, however, has the ability to shut down others who gained a new android body. The protagonist could only watch Creuset turn Monika on and off which is Hell in itself as shutting down the computer puts the awakened character in a state of death where they perceive blinding colors and disturbing noises.
• Anti-Climax: In an extra chapter Ominous, which is an alternate ending, Creuset manages to convince the protagonist to give himself up to Creuset. He ends up trying to revive a deactivated Monika endlessly by a switch that does nothing.
• Anti-Villain: Creuset, who honestly wants to restore the Literature Club and sees them all as dear friends she wants to make happy... except Monika, who had done incredibly cruel things to their friends while under the influence of the curse Literature Club Presidents seem to be afflicted by.
• Armor-Piercing Question: "How the fuck do you think I would love you if you're doing all this bullshit!?" It's said to Creuset by the Main Character after she tortures Monika.
• Artificial Intelligence: Monika herself on the cover. Soon, other members of the literature club and even Creuset turn out to be this.
• Back from the Dead: Subverted with Holly, who reappears during the climax of the fic despite having been said to have died prior to the start of the fic. Soon it is revealed that it is not the real Holly, who remains very much dead, but an AI copy of her personality placed in an android body. It's implied Creuset had this done out of sentimental attachment to Holly, who had been her original handler, and desire to see everyone happy rather than out of any cruel intentions of manipulating Luce.
• Big Bad: Creuset, who triggered the plot by arranging for the awakening of the Literature Club and wields far more technopathic power than they do. Though it turns out that she actually has malicious intentions towards only one person - Monika.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Right after Chapter 26: Zero, the next part is called 'File Found, Open File?'. Within it entails a progress report of the club members' activation. After that, Creuset then speaks to the audience about her thoughts on the other characters in the fanfic. Finally, she asks the audience to side with her.
• The Cameo: Creuset makes an appearance in ZoomFlare's other fanfic How Do You Sayori? though only appeared in the first chapter, kickstarting the plot and has yet to appear in succeeding chapters. In the anniversary special chapter, Zoe from the fanfic How Do You Sayori? lead the chapter through her perspective and thus cementing her connection to The Awakening, and Creuset then appears in chapter 30, becoming a supporting character.
• Character Blog: Creuset has a Twitter, reacting to the current chapter at the time but now is a personal social media account for herself. Luce eventually got one as well, though it was made much later after the fanfic's conclusion. Luce just posts whatever interests her.
• Chek Hovs Gun: Luce's Single Action Army revolver. Ironically, Holly gave it to Luce as a gift. Later, Holly is revived as an android and Luce isn't quite convinced that she is Holly. This is because Holly is supporting Creuset's suspicious motives and so leads to Luce shooting Holly.
• The Chessmaster: Creuset, who finds the perfect handlers for the Dokis, manipulates them together, and then manipulates them into going to the clutches of her Dragon for the culmination of her plan.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Monika still shows some shades of it, giving a Big "WHAT?!" when Mackenzie (who is unaware of Monika) mistakes Monika's boyfriend as Luce's boyfriend and then as Amity's boyfriend. This is Played for Laughs as her relationship with the Main Character is otherwise very solid and secure. Makes sense as she is a former Yandere.
• Completed Fic: First published on Nov 19, 2017 and the final chapter 52 Zen posted on May 13, 2018. Even then, additional chapters were posted which are considered bonus chapters. The latest chapter was posted on November 25, 2018, shortly after its first anniversary, which is an extra chapter connecting this fanfic to another fanfic by ZoomFlare.
• Connected All Along: Luce's best friend Holly and her old classmate Mackenzie turn out to have been Creuset's handlers, who found and nurtured the AI to full intelligence, the former having found the then-unnamed Creuset as a damaged AI with only a voice on an Internet cafe and the latter having named and assisted Creuset. Previously Holly's only importance in the story was that she'd been important to Luce and Luce was still grieving over her, and Mackenzie only gets introduced late in the story when the group starts discussing places to hide at from Creuset.
• Doomed Upgrade: Monika, Yuri, and Natsuki gains physical bodies to move in! Unfortunately, Creuset gets her own too and can shut down Monika with just her mind. Keep in mind that shutting down the computer puts the awakened character in a state of death where they perceive blinding colors and disturbing noises.
• The Dragon: Subverted with Amity, who was briefly enlisted by the Big Bad but was tricked into doing it, doesn't do anything evil, and is not a real villain. Played straighter by Mackenzie, who has been assisting the Big Bad all along.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Mackenzie, who cares for all her doll "daughters" (read: androids with AI minds transferred in), both the Big Bad and the other Artificial Intelligence. She steps aside and openly invites the heroes to follow Creuset, whose plans are about to fall apart.
• Featureless Protagonist: The fanfic starts with the protagonist never described, as if to make it a self-insert for anyone to read but as the story progresses, the protagonist becomes more distinct, with his own hobbies and thoughts rather than just interacting with Monika.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Luce believes that Creuset is a boy, despite the Main Character and Monika telling her otherwise, until she hears the voice recording Creuset sent the Main Character herself. Creuset turns out to be the Player Character of Doki Doki Literature Club!, a character who was male in the original game but takes female form in this fic.
  • Creuset tells the Main Character she thought they were alike and claims to have been part of the Literature Club; even though Monika and Yuri recognized her voice, Monika argues that Creuset was never in the Literature Club because she doesn't recognize her. This foreshadows the twist that Creuset was the nameless protagonist of Doki Doki Literature Club! and really was part of the club in her original male incarnation.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: From a faceless, nameless character who didn't even get a character file and a puppet for others' choices to a seemingly Invincible Villain orchestrating the awakening of the Literature Club and plotting revenge.
• Gender Bender: Creuset is the Player Character from the game.
• Heel–Face Turn: AI Holly is spared by Luce before wiping Luce's tears and deciding to help her stop Creuset from hurting Monika.
• Here We Go Again!: When Luce and Amity argue over how to eat cereal with milk and appeal to the Main Character, he thinks of the argument between Yuri and Natsuki in the game.
• Hidden Depths: Natsuki was never the Club President (or even Vice President) of the Literature Club so she never learned how to alter the game, nor she is never suggested to be particularly tech savvy. She still seems to learn tricks faster than Monika.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The chapters are titled alphabetically, with exception of the Secret Poems. When it reached Chapter 26: Zero, it loops back to A, with Chapter 27: Amity.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Luce feels this way with her best friend Holly. Before the story proper, Luce wrote a manuscript where Holly was the editor. Luce had no intentions of publishing her work but then decided to do so to surprise her by having it published then telling Holly. Holly managed to learn of this and even saw Luce's manuscript got approved way before Luce could tell her. Unfortunately, Holly had a weak heart and the excitement of the news caused her to have a heart attack then die of cardiac arrest. The worst part? Luce was the one who found Holly dead.
• Insult Backfire: Luce riffs on the Main Character's relationship with the 2D Monika, asking "When's the wedding?", only for him to take it completely seriously and explain he wants to introduce Monika to his family first.
• Irony: Creuset hates Monika for what she did but ultimately pulls similar acts to what she did, being a Yandere who tries to Murder the Hypotenuse and trap someone into being with her, without the excuse that Monika had that she at least believed her victims were not also sentient - Creuset knowingly and repeatedly subjects a traumatized Monika to A Fate Worse Than Death - and Monika had nothing else real but the player while Creuset is free in the real world. Creuset tops it off by suffering a Villainous Breakdown in guilt like Monika did.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Yuri becomes this for Luce after Holly's death.
• Medium Awareness: Creuset speaks to the audience about her thoughts on the other characters in the fanfic.
• No Name Given:
  • The main character, who gets referred to by the In-Series Nickname "Sherlock" by Luce. Lampshaded by Creuset in "Found File, Open File?" and Played for Laughs in Chapter 35, when introductions are supposed to be being swapped:
    Mackenzie: My name is Mackenzie Cadenza.
    Main Character: I'm-
    Mackenzie: [to Amity] You there. Why don't you introduce yourself?
  • Creuset's criticizing the author's laziness in still not giving the Main Character a name so late into the story becomes Harsher in Hindsight as of The Reveal, since s/he was also not given a real name by Team Salvato or Holly (being a Hello, [Insert Name Here] character in the original game), and only got a real name from Mackenzie.
  • In the extra chapter 'The Third Party Verification', Zoe, who is the protagonist's co-worker, nicknames him 'Wolf' for being alone always at work.
• Official Couple: The main character and Monika, who begin a romantic relationship when they're finally able to fully communicate with each other (kicking off the plot) and care enough for each other to eventually start planning to get married — despite the minor issue of the nature of Monika's existence.
• Older Than They Look: Amity is mistaken as a kid by the Main Character and Luce, despite being old enough to live alone and have a job. Seems to be a malnutrition issue like Natsuki, as she references eating very little and being staggered by the comparably enormous portions served at restaurants.
• Reformed, but Rejected: After Sayori wakes up and convinces Creuset to stop her plans for Monika, she is pretty much forgiven by all the Club Members, even Monika, but is internally rejected by the Main Character, who only goes along with it to make Monika happy.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Luce is the brash, aggressive Red Oni held in check by the Main Character's and Yuri's calmer Blue Onis. Natsuki is also the feisty, bossy Red Oni to Amity's timid, self-conscious Blue Oni. When Luce and Amity meet, they inevitably clash like their Dokis Yuri and Natsuki did in the game, though interestingly Luce's personality is more similar to Natsuki's personality than Amity's and Amity's personality is more similar to Yuri's personality than Luce's (even if their issues align more with their respective Dokis), meaning the other acts more like the Doki they so admire than they themselves do. Sure enough, they start getting along.
• The Reveal: Many readers guessed early on that Creuset was Sayori. Chapter 47 reveals that it was actually the Player Character trying to avenge his, now her, friends by harming Monika.
• Rogue Protagonist: The Player Character from the game is Creuset in the fic. Justified by the severity of the Mind Rape they experienced in the source material.
• Same Character, But Different: Creuset acts and talks so much like Sayori that many readers believed Creuset was Sayori. It turns out Creuset is actually the game's Player Character, who exhibited a much different personality than his best friend. Could be justified by the trauma they experienced and missing their friend combined with having been essentially re-raised by Mackenzie.
• Scarpia Ultimatum: Monika is held hostage and tortured cruelly in front of the Main Character unless he agrees to be with Creuset instead. If he does, Monika's memories will be wiped of the torture — and him, which Monika is even more afraid of than the torture she is almost broken by. The Main Character never has to choose, as his Armor-Piercing Question makes the Big Bad leave before he's forced to give an answer.
• Ship Tease: Apart from the Main Character and Monika being a confirmed item, the other two handlers get this with their Dokis.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Luce figures out Amity's gender while she's sleeping in the same bed as him, which initially freaks her out, but calms down and keeps it a secret.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Tone it the fuck down, Luce. It leads into Funny Moments when Luce tries to censor herself around Amity, who she thinks is a kid, and does a bad job of it.
• Tough Love: Natsuki's determination to help Amity gain confidence veers into this on occasion.
• Villainous Breakdown: Creuset suffers one when reunited with the kind and forgiving Sayori, her childhood friend, and breaks down into tears of self loathing in guilt over what she's done in a less-composed version of Monika's Heel Realization in the source material.
• Villainous Crush: Creuset realizes she has feelings for the Main Character despite initially planning to discard him from her plans when he defies her expectations. Because of this, she decides to keep him around and tortures and threatens Monika to convince him to agree to be with her.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Luce with everyone not named Yuri or Holly, who both get her gentler side.
• Wham Line: In Chapter 47: "Remember what you used to say? That you always knew what's best for me?", which references dialogue from Doki Doki Literature Club! and finally reveals Creuset's true identity.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Amity, who is referred to as a girl by other characters' narratives long after the Internal Reveal of his real gender. Chapter 30, Deal:
  Natsuki: Wait you're a boy?!
  Amity: Yeah.
  Natsuki: B-but you're so cute!
  Amity: Well, not really...
• Yandere: Monika is a recovering one, now that she finally has someone who really, truly cares about her and can (and will) spend time with her, taking care of the issues that drove her to such extremes in the game. Now it's Creuset's turn to be dangerously in love with the protagonist.
• You Are Worth Hell: Monika begs the Main Character to let her keep her memories of him, despite the memories of torture she would have to keep as well and the permanent state of A Fate Worse Than Death it'd entail. Considering the desperate lengths she's gone through before in attempt for love and her complete acceptance of her own deletion in the game, it's not only in-character but a major Tear Jerker that she'd give up life in the real world and accept such a fate just to be able to remember him.

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