Wuthering Waves: For The Future of Me, Myself and I

Rover faced off against Phrolova's personal Echo, Hecate inside a space created by her.

A fight deemed to end with a Tragedy, defying all fate and turning it into a happy ending.

That was what the Carnevale was supposed to be.

But then, Katsuri arrived.

The presence of a Threnodian alone could disrupt the flow of the world, and so everything turned into something anew, something even she had never witnessed before.

The story she had witnessed through the monitor weren't something the common people would ever experience.

After all, Wuthering Waves is just a game.

A game created by company, made to express their love for the characters and make profit.

That was what Wuthering Waves is to her.

She's a player, the omniscient player that can witness all dramatic irony, all hidden dialogues that even the characters themselves doesn't know.

Never once in her entire life would she ever have expected to suddenly be dropped into this world, a world so entirely different from her own.

Floating Sea?

Monsters roaming the land?

What do you mean everything in this world relies on frequencies!?

She's tone deaf!

There's no way she can survive in this world, even by all miracles or help, she's bound by fate to perish in all of the things that would and have happened.

The Lament, a devastating phenomena that comes in many shapes and form.

The one Lament that had been haunting Rinascita since the founding of everything, The Dark Tide.

In reality, that should've been it.

That should've been the only Lament haunting Rinascita.

But there's a variable.

A lost Threnodian with no anchor to hold it down, born from nothing.

Katsuri, she was the cause of these changes.

The small butterfly flaps its wings, a suddenly, a global catastrophe occurs.

Her mere existence is killing the world.

"..."

She's witnessing in real time, the fall of Ragunna.

Death everywhere, Tacet Discords replaced all citizens.

All stronger than any she had faced before.

But, none targeted her, even as she was standing out in the open.

No, in fact, the portals were opening near her... It's like she was the reason they could escape in the first place.

They're in an enhanced state, making them stronger than ever before.

It truly looked like the end of the world.

Looking at it this way, everything is really different when compared to her previous attempts.

When she first talked to Danjin on the rooftop, they would've made their way towards the plaza to witness the play.

It was then that the first change showed itself.

The Whale had lost control, even while being blocked by Zani and Phoebe, it began to rampage, flooding the entirety of Ragunna.

Only the strong ones survives, all regular citizens either died, or is in the process of dying.

At first, Katsuri sighed, 'I survived.' she thought.

But she witnessed it, the faces of those that had survived alongside her.

They were not glad that they had lived.

They are mourning the lost of their home.

Those were the exact same face she had shown right after her caretaker's death.

Then, a comet entered the atmosphere, as if laughing at their misfortune.

Everything was wiped.

Second life, she immediately told Danjin about everything that was about to happen.

Danjin, without even blinking, trusted her.

So, they tried to evacuate everyone, but the energy inside the Carnevale was too high, they can't break through.

Nobody would trust them.

They were only facing the current problem, facing off against the Demon King.

The city was flooded again, and the same comet dropped.

...Fourth life, the Mysterious voice suggested a solution. [Commit the Protocol, Quiet Rapture.]

[This is your only escape, consent and the world would return to what it was.]

She asked what it meant, the voice explained that it would 'Reset the World, but at the cost one's suffering.'

There's no doubt, the one who would be suffering is her.

So, she rejected. She could feel deep inside herself, the spiritual energy that's allowing her to regress had someone been recharged, and the amount stored also rose.

Her previously low reserve of 9, had turned into 15.

That's an increase.

She could still try many other things. No need to rush to one's hell of damnation just yet.

Unless she has got no other choices, she would never commit to the protocol.

Then, she went through her fifth, sixth, seventh... all the way until her 13th death.

All was instantaneous, due to the comet.

Even in all her lives, she's never succeeded in finding out what or why the comet came to be. After all, that comet had never appeared in the game.

It really reminded her of a movie she watched back on earth. (Kimi no Na wa, good movie, you should watch it)

...Then, her most memorable life occurred.

[Wuthering Waves]

"Danjin, let's go to the exhibition first, there's something I want to see." Katsuri said as the sun was rising in the horizon.

"Hm? That's unexpected. I mean, sure, not judging or anything. So what was it that you wanted to see?" Danjin, surprised by the suggestion, agreed.

"There's something... I'm sure we'll see it there."

"Hm, ok then."

Katsuri grabbed Danjin's sleeve and led her down the building, moving towards the exhibition.

Danjin, although surprised at the initiative being taken, smiled and followed quietly.

Then, they arrived.

They entered the building and noticed many weapons were encased inside a small box of glass, probably tempered glass.

Katsuri summoned her weapon of this life, it was a pair of guns.

There were a single bullet inside both guns.

She doesn't know whether they would refresh, or would she be left with an empty gun after shooting twice.

Either way, they're both armed.

It was quite unlucky that she had never successfully utilized any of her weapons previously other than the sword due to the fact that there were no enemy.

But the way to use a gun, they're self-explanatory.

Simply aim, and pull the trigger.

Danjin moved to her side, "So? Do you see what is it that you wanted to see? If not then, we can go deeper to look for them. This is the weapon section, after all."

"No, we're in the right place." She could've easily told Danjin about what is going to happen, but she already did it, a lot of times.

And all those times, all she witnessed were Danjin's face painted with despair, even though they had managed to confirm the information regarding the disaster earlier.

'Is this the place?'

[Indeed it is. Scanning for the suitable weapon to end the catastrophe.]

'Ok, you do that, I guess.'

'This voice always takes time to do shit, can't it be more efficient?' Katsuri bad mouthed the voice in her head.

'I did not bad mouth them, I just stated facts.'

Katsuri stopped talking to her self and just began walking around the exhibit. After all, she was the one that recommended going here first.

Plus, it would be in quite a bit before the actual catastrophe started, before the whale attacks and before the comet dropped.

Although death was practically guaranteed at this point... she can't help but believe.

Hoping for a future that could end the suffering of all Ragunnesi across her lives.

If she could do that, she's effectively also preventing her very own suffering.

And also...

She doesn't want to see Danjin's face painted with despair again.

She had witnessed it 13 times, never again.

"Don't worry, Danjin. I'll make sure you will always be smiling." Katsuri suddenly said, surprising Danjin.

"...Is that so? Alright then, I'll look forward to it!"

This is her 14th life, if she failed this one then she would be initiating the protocol on her own terms.

As long as a drop of tear trickled down Danjin's face, then that signified her failure.

Katsuri wholeheartedly wished for this life to be the end of this tragedy.