I'm dying

I was unable to process what I had just heard.

"What do you mean-"

"Exactly as I said. You want the world and all your friends to be reborn, sacrifice is needed. It's what heroes do, so be the hero and die for the sake of everyone."

Is she serious? Why the fuck would I do that!? If I no longer exist, the hell is in this for me? I'm not some goody-good that would just sacrifice myself for a world I don't give a fuck about. And again with Ivy? Is she the only other Ivy simp in the world besides Jeter?

"Your answer?"

"Um, fuck no."

Sharla's face contorted in rage. "Huh? I'm offering you salvation, yet you refuse!?"

"It's nonnegotiable, Sharla. Momo is key to this world, so if she-"

"Butt out of this, Jeter! I'm not talking to you!"

"In a sense, you are. Momo is my creation."

"That you based off of me without my consent!"

Um, what?

"Sharla, now is not the time. Besides, she's not a one-to-one replica of you-"

"The fact that she looks just like me and acts in ways you wished I acted, pisses me off!"

"OK, you two mind telling me what this is about!?" I shouted aloud.

The two turned to me, with Sharla spitting in my face, and Jeter giving me somber look.

"Very well. I said I am the creator of this world, thus it stands to reason that I'd create it's denizens. You, Momo Akasegawa, were based off of Sharla, my ex-girlfriend."

"THE ACTUAL FUCK!?"

Sharla let out a heavy sigh and covered her face with her hand. "Yes, that's all true. And I hate it. We broke up, yet he tries to preserve our relationship in his fanfic. I hate it, I hate you! You're not me, just some demented mockery of me!"

"Everyone loves Momo! Besides, I don't want us to be on torched bridge terms, I want-"

"Will you shut up? I'm only asking you one thing; do you want me to take control of your world?"

"No."

Sharla gave Jeter a look of pure disgust before raising her gun to her head and pulling the trigger. She immediately began to glow gold, however, her body didn't fall, nor appear to bleed.

"What, you think this is pure suicide? Not a chance," Sharla snarled, startling me. "This was just my way of exiting this world flashily, but by no means does this mean I'm dead. Rather, I've been permanently banned from setting foot in this world, so long as Jeter has jurisdiction over it. And with how stubborn he is, that won't be for much longer. If Silas gets control, your own damn fault. I tried, but you wouldn't budge. Now, this is all on you."

And with that, Sharla dissipated into the air. That was it, the last chance at saving the world was gone. Guess we really are fucked. But I still have so many questions.

"Jeter, I want some answers. Why the hell are you condemning us to become asphalt for some next-gen solar system? I thought you liked Ivy, so why the hell would you destroy her and her world?"

Jeter slowly turned to face me. Slight confusion coupled with a majority of somberness consumed his face.

"Is that the explanation they gave you for why the world was going to end?"

"Yeah?"

Jeter let loose a heavy sigh. "I guess this was the end goal of all of this. Momo, do you wish to know all?"

"No shit I do, in fact, it's long overdue."

Jeter nodded and with the flick of his pen, a portal appeared before us. I say portal, but in functionality, it seemed to be more like a window, giving us a glimpse into what appeared to be the room of a hospital.

Crowded around a bed were 5 people. Three I recognized instantly as Silas, Sharla, and the fashion bitch, while the other two were a bald blubbery man in an expensive fur coat and a small pudgy woman with rodent-like buck teeth.

"Recognize them?" Jeter asked.

"Yeah, Silas, Sharla, Fashion bitch, and two others I don't-"

"Oh, the blonde is actually Briana... the psycho bald lady. Josie is actually the small woman with the buckteeth."

I blinked a few times to process what I just heard. But after doing a double take, I realized "Josie" was actually garbed in Briana's typical attire.

"So why did she appear-"

"She's self-conscience of her appearance and has Briana act as her in public. Neither Briana or Oakley mind, thus it came to be."

Well now I know why he turned the fashion bitch into a rat-squirrel when he dropped her into Darvaza.

"So why'd you make Briana bald?"

"To mock her." 

"Why? She only acted all psycho because she got caught in the heat of the moment." 

"That was all Silas. He was the one that decided to make her likable for nefarious purposes, but trust me, she's just as bitchy as Josie, and is nothing but Oakley's sock puppet."

"'Oakley'?"

"Oh right, the fat blubbery bald guy. I guess you only know him as Ookley the fat gorilla. Well, he is a monkey of a boss so-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, so the bald guy's the gorilla, the fashion bitch is a human squirrel, Briana's not bald and poses as the fashion bitch, does that mean Silas is actually Sharla and vise versa?"

"No, those two are exactly the same as their counterparts I dreamt up here in this world."

"Um, what?"

Before he could elaborate further, the 4 began to clear out, giving me a better glimpse of the bed. On it was a sick old guy hooked up to a bunch of machines, and on the dresser besides him, a manga. "Cherry World" was the name on the cover, but as I squinted to get a better view of the cover, I recoiled in shock.

"O- On the cover... Why? Why are me and Ivy on the cover-"

"Because, the world you exist in is actually a manga, Momo."

"No, then why am I here!? This doesn't make any sense!"

I said that, yet at the same time, all was beginning to make sense. Everything, the bald people, the outlines, why Jeter got so bent out of shape with Ivy...

"Then Ivy-"

"-Is also a character in the manga who sadly had her character assassinated by Silas. She was my favorite character..."

"I knew you were a simp, but I still don't get why the world has to end! If it's a manga, it can just continue-"

Jeter went silent and pointed out at the man on the bed.

"What? What about that guy?"

"Momo, I'm the author of Cherry World, the manga you call your world."

"And?"

"That man on the bed is me. Momo, I'm dying."

My heart began to thump.

"No, then-"

"They said it was an incurable disease, and that's certainly the case. Even if I wanted to, I was only given a year to live at most, but even then, I couldn't make the most of it."

"Explain!"

***

"Momo, what you, or rather this specific iteration of you, is nothing more than a perfect replica of the you from Cherry World, in fact, everything that happened ever since we first met was nothing more than a vision dreamt up by the comatose me before you. I guess you could say it's my way of coping, with my regrets."

Momo went pale as she turned back to face me. "Th- Then how are you-"

"-Here? Simple, this is my conscience. Thus, I can appear any time, anywhere."

"Bullshit! If this shit was your conscience, then why the hell do I have free thought, huh!?"

"Authors can think of how their characters think quite easily." 

"So all this time I've just been some figment of your imagination? So why the fuck did I go through so much suffering!?"

I let out a heavy sigh. Seems there's no beating around the bush now.