So I’ve had this plotbunny for a really fucking long time and I think I might have actually posted it on the kink meme like over a year ago?
Plotbunny under the cut. Involves mostly canon post-game with the beta earth restored, and the kids and trolls retain their powers from the game and become weapons of the government - and eventually have to come to terms with being feared, and revered by all of mankind.
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So, post-game. I’ll go ahead and say that they won, they beat Lord English or whatever they needed to do, and all the dead characters were revived at one point or another and went god-tier.
Earth is restored to a time moments before the meteors start in the beta game, and the kids and trolls use their power to stop the meteors from destroying the planet. So now they have a home, and for the 4 beta kids, it’s exactly as they left it, complete with people they knew and relationships they had.
Only, that’s not all. One way or another, the Game made it to where every person on the planet knew vaguely what transpired. They’re aware that four kids (that turned into eight) witnessed the destruction of the world, entered a game and endured many hardships, teamed up with an alien race who suffered the same fate, ascended to achieve powers of gods, and ultimately saved the humans’ world.
Obviously, in the real world, having teenagers (including violent, alien teenagers) with such unimaginable power isn’t going to sit well. They can’t just be left to their own devices - what if they become corrupt and decide to take over the world? Or kill those they despise, or use their power to manipulate others?
The United States takes it upon themselves to get ahold of the children first - and in doing so, regain their status as hegemon, the ultimate superpower of the world. At first they simply detained the children and trolls; and they have no other choice but to comply. To resist could result in a war and people killed, since the US isn’t the only country willing to brandish weapons to keep them in line for the safety and peace of mind of its citizens.
The kids and trolls are detained for a long time, tested, and assessed. Though they’re a bit like prisoners, there’s still a certain amount of respect given to them, since they are technically saviors. Eventually, they’re allowed to return home, though they’re still heavily monitored. The kids attempt to return to school, but they soon realize that the amount of fear, respect, and awe they garner from people they once considered their peers to be too unsettling. Simple tasks that were once mundane become a huge issue (speaking up in class births uneasy silence, every time they make an unexpected movement everyone’s eyes fall on them, and finding a lab partner is either fruitless or an unmanageable ordeal of fans mobbing them) - not to mention the fact that the powers they’ve come to grown accustomed to using in everyday tasks can’t be used without seeming like a huge potential threat. It doesn’t last long, as each one of them slowly drop out and decide to take up permanent residence at government-run building where they’re at least not ogled every waking moment, and they’re given much more freedom to be themselves without as much scrutiny.
But after a few years, things take a dreadful turn for the worse.
The United States becomes perhaps a bit too comfortable with the kids and trolls. After they’ve secured enough familiarity, a new prospect rises to the surface: that these “gods” can be used as weapons.
There isn’t much the kids or trolls can do. To defy the government could result in imprisonment for disobedience, or they could be branded as a hostile threat - and while they wouldn’t necessarily have a problem defending themselves, none of them want to run away to spend the rest of their lives hiding and fearing each waking moment that someone could find them; spending each day worried that their cover could be blown, and whatever home they’ve settled down into could be compromised once their identity is brought to light. The trolls especially would have little place to hide, as they can’t exactly blend in.
The kids and trolls are reassessed for battle potential, and are thrown to the front lines. While the United States at this point isn’t under a true war with any one nation, this simple act sparks a world war against the reigning hegemon. A nation that’s willing to use the gods as personal weapons for their own agenda cannot be trusted. Nearly every nation threatens to retaliate unless the US compromises.
Months of attempted treaties and compromises bear no fruit. The US becomes an Empire bent on turning the entire world into something of a dictatorship, with the driving force of attaining rights to natural resources, and of course to impose their beliefs onto the rest of the world. With the gods on their side, how could they lose? A few years of war, and soon the world will know that standing against them is meaningless.
The “gods” are once again thrown to the front lines of war. They’re forced to kill, even though most of them try their very best to cripple the enemy rather than destroy them. This goes on for years, and slowly, most of the kids begin to deteriorate. They question their duty. They question their entire existence. They question if it’s all really worth it, staining their hands with so much blood.
The trolls are much more used to violence, though a few of them start losing it soon after the kids. Eventually, nearly all of them fall into the same hopeless state.
They can’t take it any more. A few trolls stay to continue being weapons, but the rest disappear. Most of them scatter to different points of the world, in hiding. Sometimes they form small groups or pairs. Sometimes they meet, sometimes they part. Sometimes their identity is blown and they have to leave whatever life they were able to establish. Most of the trolls either have to hide in a kid’s home, or completely away from civilization. A few stumble upon small, close-knit towns that sympathize with them and help them hide.
It also helps that a few of the kids/trolls were able to come up with a global de-recognition spell (the Seers, perhaps?) that helped them hide immensely. For years, they were (and really, still are) the most well-known celebrities, so of course their names and faces are household knowledge. But thanks to the spell, no one is able to recognize them through sight or hearing alone, unless there’s already strong suspicion (and people who have personally met them before have a much higher chance of bypassing the spell entirely). I would imagine with this, the kids could live in an area for even a few years at a time before their cover is blown, though it’s usually much shorter. It also doesn’t take long for higher ups to catch wind of the spell, and announce it to the general public. A lot of people aren’t sure if they believe the spell to be a rumor or not.
I just love the idea of the drama and angst that would follow being a sudden outcast of society, feared and respected for their power and what they did to save the earth. The turmoil that would change them as they become weapons. And the bleak, but at the same time, hopeful lives they lead while fleeing. The people they meet who accept them, and those that treat them at gods, or as demons. The few relationships most of them probably form with other normal humans, the good they still try to do even though they’re condemned by most of the world.
This is kind of WAY too ambitious of a story for me, though I might attempt a few oneshots that take place at different times. As always with any of my “plotbunnies”, anyone is welcome to take it and write for it themselves, or remake it to their liking for whatever they want! (Doesn’t even have to be the same fandom, nor do you have to give me credit or anything cause I’m sure someone before me has thought of this, though it’s always appreciated!)
