Manic Pixie Dream Girl

His eyes popped open. The ceiling was familiar, but it wasn’t his bedroom’s. It was the wooden beams of the Leblanc attic, yet all the wood was grey. Ren turned to his left to see he was indeed back in his old room at Leblanc, seemingly alone, sitting on the bed.

The place was in the same state is it was the day before he left; with the workbench, old TV, potted-plant and various knick-knacks he’d collected over his stay. However, everything was black, white and grey with the odd bit of red. Ren twisted to look out the attic window. Outside was _all _red. Not a rosy sky hanging over Yongen-jaya, but an absolute void of red.

“It- It can’t…” Ren muttered before pinching himself, though he already knew this wasn’t a dream. “The Metaverse!?” One hand gripped the bedsheets while the other squeezed his phone. “My phone!” He remembered.

Looking at his phone, Ren saw an unfamiliar app was open. He could immediately tell it was different from the Metaverse Navigator. The app displayed hundreds of tiny moving 2D shapes, bouncing off the edges of the screen and each other. He minimized the app and found the icon to be a red and black image of a small heart within a big heart. The smaller heart was surrounded by a series of lines resembling- “A maze.” Said a high-pitched, feminine voice. It was the same as the one he heard earlier.

Ren froze, eyes darting around the room, yet saw no one.

“Up here silly!” The voice called from above. He looked up. Perched on one of the ceiling beams was a small woman wearing a navy-coloured leotard, arm length gloves and thigh-high boots. Light reflected off the fairy wings on her back.

“A pixie!?” Ren hollered. Said pixie’s wings began fluttering as she hovered off the beam and down to eye level.

“Your pixie.” She replied while descending. “Don’t you remember the day we met?” The fairy lady asked with a playfully sad tone. “Back at the castle, all those years ago. We were enemies, sure, but I knew you were a better man than that dreadful king.”

Ren blinked, processing what he was hearing. “You’re a shadow?”

Pixie tilted in mid-air and smiled. “Formerly yes. Then I became part of you, as a persona. Thou art I...”

“And I am thou...” Ren unconsciously finished.

“It’s been some time. Joker.” She said.

He shook himself. “Wait, what’s going on? What’s this place?”

“A maze.” She repeated. “That’s all I know.”

“And how do you know that?” He asked.

Pixie fluttered upwards, gesturing to the room. “Don’t you feel it too? The sense of being lost. We’re not at the entrance to a palace, but dumped in the middle of a labyrinth.”

Ren certainly felt lost. “Why am I here?”

She shrugged. “No clue. Maybe the answer’s somewhere in this maze.”

“So, I have to travel through this ‘maze’?” Ren questioned, looking back out the window at the plain of red. Before Pixie could reply, he had an alternative idea. Ren checked the mysterious app, searching for a return to reality button, seeing as the original Metaverse Navigator had one. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find one, or any other function beside minimizing the app. “Dammit.”

“No easy way out.” Pixie said, drifting towards him. “Still, mazes aren’t tricky to solve.” She flew close enough to Ren for him to feel the breeze her wings generated. He found his gaze locked with her pinkish eyes. “The solution is to think of it as one long path.” She lay a hand on his bare chest. The material of her gloves was soft yet firm. “Just trail a hand along the wall as you walk to avoid getting truly lost.” Her own hand began moving down, between his pecks to his abs. “You’ll eventually reach the exit.”

Ren broke eye contact with Pixie to glance down at her hand, to which he saw that he was naked and fully-erect. He yelped, jumping back and swinging a bedsheet over his lower half. His face went as red as the void outside.

“Already back at full-mast?” Pixie noted calmly. “Must be an effect of this reality. The Metaverse does seem to amplify people’s abilities.”

Ren looked for an escape from this awkward situation.

The fairy girl lazily flipped her hand. “Oh come on Joker, I’ve already seen plenty. Besides, I’m a part of you. Being embarrassed about me seeing your dick is as silly as getting flustered over seeing yourself naked in a mirror.”

Both his heads were pulsing with heat. “You were… coming onto me!”

“And?”

“You’re my persona!”

“So?”

“That’s freaking weird!

Pixie simpered. “Is it? Weren’t you just masturbating?”

A blush somehow managed to appear on Ren’s already cherry-tinted face. “How did-?”

“I felt the tail-end of your little self-loving session. Guess it really was good for you.” She moved away from him, hands in the air. “But if you’re not in the mood for it, fine.” Ren watched her for a few moments. “Of course, you’ll still need protection in order to get out of here.”

“There are enemy shadows here?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Can’t be careless either way.”

Ren gulped. Can’t waste any more time here. He fastened the bedsheets around like a towel before standing up, finding the wooden floor to be mildly warm.

Pixie hovered over the stairs. “Coming?” She asked.

“I need to check something first.” Ren said. He walked over to the cardboard box on the shelf next to the stairs. Since he’d used the one in the real world to store spare clothes, he hoped for this version would have something to wear. It was empty. Shit.

“No armour?” Pixie remarked. “Don’t worry, I’ll heal you if things get rough.”

“I’m more concerned about my modesty,” Ren grumbled, “especially since we’re going down to Sojiro’s café.”

Pixie frowned slightly, then smoothly dived downstairs. Seconds later, she was back. “All clear.”

“Really?”

She cupped her cheeks. “Why would a good girl like me lie?”

Ren gave her an unamused pout and slowly stepped down to the ground floor. The café was indeed empty, as well as devoid of any colour other than black, white, grey and red. Scarlet light glowed beyond the windows of the front door.

Looks like there’s only one way to go. He guessed. His feet patted against the cool, tile floor as he approached the door, glancing at the array of beans behind the counter. I could really use a cup of coffee right now. His mind sighed.

Upon reaching the front door, he slowly turned the handle. “Here goes nothing.” Ren opened the door, like he’d done so many times before, and was enveloped by red light.