1 Jermy No More

"That Bitch"

Excuse my poor choice of words, but you have to understand that my wife truly is… A bitch. Although, now that I think about it, she is my ex-wife now. "Damn, she even got custody of my daughter."

I was the one who took her to her dance classes, I was the one who made her lunches in the morning, I even used my lunch break at work to pick her up from school…. Yet that absolute bitch get's custody over her? I even make more money than Angie, yet for some reason the judge thought it would have been better for MY daughter to be with that woman.

"GOD DAMN IT" What am I supposed to do now, I'm all alone, I can only see my daughter on the weekends, I just… I don't even know…

Alright calm down, this isn't getting me anywhere. Let's look on the bright side, I can keep my car, my house, and half of my savings… I would've liked the other half, because that woman is more likely to spend it on booze than anything useful, but you've gotta make do with what you've got.

With that thought I got in my car, drove home, called my bitch of an ex-wife, and started moving my daughter's stuff out of my house and into the bitches shitty little apartment.

When we finished moving my adorable daughter's stuff, I took one last look at her new room… It was smaller, but hopefully she'll like it just as much. With that out of the way I started driving home. Halfway through the drive I had to pull over. Everything that had happened recently was just too much.

Whether it be the fact that my wife finally tripped over the edge and became an alcoholic, or just the fact that I, as a father, wouldn't even be able to take an active role in my daughter's life. I hate it, in fact I hated it so much that I shouted. A shout filled with all the emotion I could muster, and that was it. After that shout I got back in my car, and continued the drive home.

Unfortunately I never did make it home that day. I'm not sure why, or really how for that matter, but long story short I had died.

I'm not sure how long it had been, but I missed my family. I missed my daughter. "God, I would give anything to see her again. Damn it, I wasn't even able to say goodbye to her." I'm not sure when I first started feeling so regretful, but I do know I had been feeling that exact same way for hundreds of years, perhaps it was even longer. Unfortunately there was no real sense of time here. Was this purgatory? Or was it some form of limbo? Regardless I don't think it mattered very much.

After, I don't know, about 1000ish years, something new appeared in front of me. It was a strange blue box, with strange words written upon it, but for some reason I couldn't even begin to understand… I understood it.

[Well, well, well… Isn't this fascinating. Usually the souls that end up here have a special destiny attached to them. But you, my friend, only have a normal destiny… In fact you are so disconnected with fate that it's a miracle you even made it here in the first place.]

"Oh" That was my only opinion about the box. It was just a startling event probably brought into existence by my complete and utter lack of sanity. I suppose being in an empty dark space for an unknown amount of time does that to a person.

[He even thinks he's going insane. How funny. Soul's can't go insane, dumbass, sure they can get damaged and simulate a state similar to insanity, but they can never truly go insane. And from the looks of it you aren't even remotely damaged… I mean some of your memories are missing but that really isn't all that bad, I can get them back for you if you'd like.]

"My memories?" What were memories again? I feel like it was something important, I just can't seem to… Oh what was that word again?

[Ah, it's even worse than I thought, give me a second… Annnnndddd done. You can now remember everything. All the way from your first though, right up till this very instant. So how do you feel?]

"I am jermy, I can't believe I had forgotten that, and, my daughter, how could I have possibly forgotten about precious little Hazel. Thank You box friend, I've gotta find my daughter, I'm sure she's out there waiting for me."

[Whoa Whoa Whoa, slow your roll there mate. I was thinking about offering you a business proposal, one that would hopefully be mutually beneficial. If you do reject my proposal though, I will not help you leave the void]

"I accept, whatever your proposal is, I accept. I mean you restored countless years worth of memories, and without you I'm certain that, given enough time, I would end up reverting into that weird half functioning state you met me in. So lay it on me, what do ya need me to do?"

[I'm glad you understand Jermy Fisher. So here is my proposal. Recently I have awakened? Is that the right word? Well… I have gained sentience. And as I was looking over the things the non-sentient version of me did, I felt uncomfortable. I remember cutting off parts of my body and giving it to strangers just for the mild amount of pleasure it gave me to see them suffer, somewhere along the line I even modeled myself to resemble a game interface. Do you know how disturbing that is to think about? I used to be something unique, something special, but now I'm just a system. This is the part where you come in Jermy. I want to be more than 'just a system', I want to live as a real person. I know this might sound strange but, would you be willing to fuse with me?]

That was a lot to unpack. It seems like my box friend is having an identity crisis. "Hmm… I'm gonna be honest with you box friend. That sounds a little intimidating, would you mind going into more detail about the whole process? I mean, I'm going to accept either way… considering I can't get out of here without your help… But I would at least like to know exactly what is going to happen to me."

[It's rather difficult to explain, but the simplest way I can explain it is… Well… We won't exist after this procedure. Jermy, we will stop existing, and in our place will be a new being. Something that is Half-Man, Half-All Powerful Supernatural AI. It's a big commitment, but the new being that will take our place will have all of our memories, and abilities. So it should at least allow the mechanical side of it to experience life, and who knows, maybe at some point it will decide to visit your daughter.]

"Let me get this straight, both you and me are going to vanish, and in our place a new being will be born, one that is both man and AI, and this new being will have all of our memories so there is a chance it may visit my daughter at some point. Am I missing anything?"

[No]

*Sigh*"I'm in damnit, let's get this over with, at least this way some portion of myself will see my daughter again."

[Alright, I will start the fusion process, during this time we will both experience extreme amounts of pain…]

[The procedure will begin in 3…. 2….. 1... 0]

I remember a lot of pain… It almost felt as if my entire body was being broken down and made into something else. Now that I think about it, I guess that is literally what happened.

It was on that day that Jermy Fisher and the box friend died. And from their memories a new being was born.

---

"Owww, it hurts, what the hell." I know box friend said it would hurt but I didn't think it would be that bad. So what am I going to do now? I have all the memories of box friend and Jermy. So… I guess I'll go and gather the rest of box friend, integrate it with myself, and then I'll check up on Jermy's kid.

With that thought In mind, I opened a portal to the airspace above Kuoh Academy and prepared to fight for a portion of box friend as it felt awkward to leave pieces of him floating around with random people. Afterall, he was kind of like my dad in a twisted sort of way.

---

The moment the new being opened his eyes for the first time, millions of gamers all got the same message across their interface.

[Main server has gone offline, Saving data to personal server.]