Infinite Apocalypses

With a large sigh Sona smacked her lips getting up from her bed. The sun was just peaking over the hilltop nearby and she wondered for a moment what the day was.

For a few moments she laid there blankly staring at the window before almost immediately jumping up, it was her birthday!

Of course, normally a birthday was something most people got excited for, but this was going to be an extra special one to her. Not only was she turning twenty-one and finally becoming what she considered as a full adult, but her girlfriend Penelope would be flying into town as well. 

It had been almost a year since she had last seen her, mainly due to the fact that she had flown off to Hawaii to get her degree in marine biology, of course Sona was planning to join her there once she completed her degree in mechanical engineering, but that was still a few years away. Checking her phone she looked back on the pictures Penelope had sent her that last night, a picture of her wearing stockings and a garter belt, with nothing else, promising in her words, "A night she wouldn't forget."

That would come later though, for now she had to get ready for the day, starting with a quick shower before getting dressed. Making some breakfast Sona started to go over what else she'd be doing that night.

Her mother and father had reserved a room at the arcade she used to frequent and invited some of her old friends she hadn't seen in a while to the event.

On the other hand, her older brother Wade was working his magic on a few cakes he planned to bring. According to his texts he had spent a month working on the recipe and planned to release it for his customers after today but wanted us to be the first ones to try his new concoctions.

Unfortunately, instead of being able to relax the day away till those fun times she had things to do, her classes. Getting out of her apartment she drove off towards her college for another long day of school, starting with her boring math class and ending with an infuriating English one.

For hours she merely sat and waited as time slowly ticked by, barely able to focus on anything except the fun times she was about to have. After what felt like years her English teacher finally ended their boring lecture and freed them from her wrinkly grasp, Sona practically rushing to her car.

Her mother knew when she'd be getting out of class and from the messages, she had sent on her phone she knew they were already at the arcade with a few of the guests about to arrive. A twenty-minute drive later left her with a nice parking spot and looking at her former place of dreams.

Penelope was waiting at the front door, and on spotting Sona immediately ran forward, giving her a big hug and an equally big kiss, "Sona! Everyone's already inside, though… if you want, we could go somewhere for a bit, just the two of us, they shouldn't mind waiting another ten or thirty minutes."

"As much as I'd enjoy that we'll have more than enough time tonight and tomorrow to ourselves, please lead the way." Sona responded, breaking the hug, but still keeping their hands locked together.

Slowly they made their way through the place, past the front desk and through the games area to the reserve rooms, Sona going through the fun memories of her past as they continued walking through the area.

At the reserve rooms Penelope fully led the way, breaking away from Sona's grasp for a moment in order to push open the door and let her darling in the room. Where upon stepping inside she could see almost everyone waiting inside.

Close friends she hadn't seen in months if not years, her and Penelope's parents sitting together at the end of the table. The only person that was missing from the area was Wade.

Upon spotting her, her mother quickly rose up from her chair, "Ah, Sona it's' been just so long since we've last seen each other." Giving an even larger hug than her girlfriend had given her.

"Mom, we saw each other just last week." Sona explained, struggling in the strong grasp of the hug.

"Pish posh dear, even a day feels too long for a mother. Wade still hasn't arrived yet, I had him go to the store to pick up a few more things, should be here in an hour, so why don't you go and enjoy the place."

Sona nodded in agreement, calling out to her friends and exchanging heartwarming greetings as they all moved out of the room, leaving the parents behind. The group wondered what they should do first, there were so many options to choose from, the typical arcade games, bowling, the racetrack, minigolf, the Laser-tag area, even a set of escape rooms to enjoy the place had everything.

Eventually they decided on the minigolf, heading out to grab some of the small putters and a neon ball for each of them. Sona took the game as a chance to get some extra feels on her girlfriend, "helping" her line up her shots while holding her from behind.

Sona wasn't doing too well in the game herself, missing several easy shots and eventually hitting her ball into the small pool and failing the game. It didn't matter much to her though, simply being able to enjoy herself with her friends was something she was fine with, golf was never her strong suit anyway.

They went through a few of the other events as they waited for her brother, from a small game of bowling to trying to win some tickets from the arcade m machines. Sona spent nearly ten minutes on a single one of the machines, a crane machine, trying to win her girlfriend a prize, and she luckily succeeded before she ran out of tokens.

Pulling the prize from the machine she turned around to hand it to Penelope only to see her brother standing behind them, happily smiling.

"Wade, what took you so long? We already went through minigolf without you." Sona asked him, giving another hug.

Wade kept his smile, "Sorry, some of the cake decoration was messed up so I had to spend some extra time on it, but don't worry it's perfect. Now, what's say you guys to some Lazer-tag?"

The playplace, while being one of Sona's greatest area for happy memories, was also one with the most intense battles she had ever faced, all of them coming from the laser-tag arena. Her and Wade had competitions, choosing separate teams and battling for supremacy in the foggy space area with the loser often having to do the winner's chores.

Seeing him invite her to another match could only mean one thing, "What's the stakes?"

Wade's smile grew mischievous, "I brought an extra pie, one filled with nothing, but whipped cream, loser gets it thrown in their face."

"You're on!" Her friends smiled at that as well, they had been part of the games more than their fair share and knew how serious they were. Quickly they headed off towards the arena, getting into the hall and starting to separate into teams. Sona and Wade were both the team captains nabbing the number one vest for their team, but instead of joining her Penelope slipped off to Wade's team, putting on the red vest.

"Hey, why are you betraying me, Penelope?" Sona asked her.

Penelope merely smiled, "Not betraying, more like motivating." she whispered to her, "I brought a few extra gifts, if you win, I'll be sure to wear them tonight."

The idea made Sona's face glow red, "I won't go easy on you, in either of our matches today." earning a blown kiss from Penelope as both teams went off to their separate areas.

From around them both teams heard the beginning of the countdown, everyone, even the children who had joined in on their game being almost too excited to stop.

With the count of zero everyone rushed off, Sona rushing up to the second floor and hiding behind some of the fake cover to avoid being hit.

Something strange happened though as she ducked behind the cover, everything started to go dark around her and in a single blink she had fallen asleep.