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Oct. 30th, 2008 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sozettaslowTitle: Another Life, Chapter 8
Series: The World Ends With You
Genre: Mostly a gen-fic after the game, now with some Neku/Shiki
Rating: PG-13 at most for swearing
Summary: Neku's final game sent him back into the real world with a bang. However, his story has only just begun.
Arthur's Note: Sorry this took so long. Having trouble with the next chapter and college apps are eating my life... Also, warning in this chapter: Joshua is slightly meta
x-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
subarashiki_ds and thewewyfanfic
Archived here
That wasn’t a good way to start.
“What about her?” I asked.
“Well...” He rubbed the back of his neck, “Our folks have been tryin’ to get her to try doing different things, ya know? To see what she likes and stuff and so she can find her dream. She likes it all fine, but... she still don’t have a dream.”
Rhyme had always talked about dreams during the game, I remembered. Always hoped she’d find one, and seemed really happy when Beat told her about his, even though he’d made it up.
“...Do you think that was her entry fee?”
He nodded, hand on his shoulder now. “I think so, man. And ‘cause she didn’t win... ‘cause of me, she ain’t got ‘em back.” He sighed. “I dunno what to do, yo. She seems so sad when people ask her what her dream is... I gotta find someway. I was thinking, maybe, ‘cause you’ve got that Producer thing...” He looked at me hopefully.
It wasn’t like Beat would ask for help if he didn’t really need it, I knew that. And Rhyme was my friend, so I wanted her to have dreams too. I nodded.
“I’ll help. Maybe Joshua still has a hold on her entry fee or something, I’ll ask.” Though I wasn’t likely to get a straight answer. Jerk.
He grinned and slapped me, hard, on the back. “Thanks Phones.”
“Beat?” Rhyme poked her head back in the room, “You coming?”
“Yea.” He started towards the door before looking back. “See ya, Phones.”
After they left, I collapsed on my bed. Couldn’t my life stay normal for five seconds?
I was planning on going to see Joshua the next day, but a variety of Kisa deciding I needed lessons in cooking for myself (I only ate instant ramen when she wasn’t around) and working and school it took me about a week. By the time I made it, Joshua had acquired a DS.
“What are you playing?” I asked once Jessica let me in. She had no idea where he’d gotten the money to buy one, apparently.
“Oh, it’s this Chain of Memories game,” he shrugged, “Looked interesting enough.”
“Chain of Memories? Isn’t that part of that Kingdom Hearts series?” I remembered something about Disney characters being involved. “Square Enix makes the weirdest games...”
He looked over at me and smirked. “Oh, you have no idea, Neku~”
I decided I didn’t want to get to the bottom of that smirk.
Instead I got to the point and asked about Rhyme’s dreams being her entry fee. He nodded.
“I had a feeling you were going to ask me about this sooner or later,” he said, shutting the game, “Yes, her dreams where her entry fee. But I was technically stretching the rules by bringing her back, so she still had to lose them.”
“Is there anything that can be done to get them back?” If he said no, I was going to talk to Mr. H. There had to be something.
“Dreams are tricky things,” Joshua replied, “Even with the same person they can be different.”
That made no sense. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Well, let me put it this way. You know about frequency, right? When it’s changed, you can shift from the RG to the UG and vice versa. Well, if you have a high enough Imagination, you can shift to even more planes. There are alternate versions of places, and these different versions have different dreams.” He smirked again. “For example, there was a version of you I met whose dream was to win the Tin Pin tournament~”
Winning at Tin Pin? What kind of lame version world did he visit?
“Does that mean you can’t do it?” I asked.
“Oh, I didn’t say that.” He waved a hand casually. “I said it was tricky. Which means I’m going to need for you to do something.” Pulling out a piece of paper, he doodled a symbol and showed it to me. “See this? This is a special Noise symbol. Normally Players can’t see them, but you should be able to by now. Erase them and then I should be able to do something.”
I took the sheet and went outside instantly. Beat was worried about Rhyme, and so was I. I didn’t want her to have to go without her dreams forever.
It was a little tricky figuring out how to see this new Noise, but once I got used to it I saw that they were pretty much everywhere.
“Good thing I got started early,” I muttered before jumping in.
These Noise were... different, to say anything. They had the basic shape of normal Noise, but there was something kind of warped about them. And their attacks hurt more than normal Noise, so I was tired and bruised up a lot before the end.
I’d gotten rid of most of the Noise, but there was one that I’d been avoiding on purpose. It looked a lot bigger than the rest, and there was something just... wrong about it. But it was the only one left so I headed towards it.
Once the fight started, I wasn’t sure where I was. It looked familiar, but not something you saw in Shibuya everyday.
“About time, you factoring hectopascal!”
Factoring hecto--? Oh no.
The Grim Heaper was there. Again. Just like all the other Noise, he looked warped and not quite sane. But he was never sane in the first place, so that didn’t bother me but so much.
“What the hell?!” I glared at him. “You died! Again!”
He laughed. “Zetta moron! It was all in my calculations!” Grinning like a psycho, he punched his fist into his other palm. “Let’s see how you factor in!”
Pi-face hit me once and I flew back, landing hard on the ground. Apparently he’d gotten stronger too... I was screwed if I didn’t get out of there soon.
He was about to hit me again before he got hit by a very bright light and vanished almost instantly. Joshua had been standing behind him.
“Let’s get you home, shall we~?” he chimed as he pulled me up.
“What the hell were those?” I asked as we walked back to his house.
“Corrupted Noise,” he said, “Noise itself is made when someone’s Soul is released and taken over by negativity. But when people have really strong feelings of hatred or anger, even their Noise becomes corrupted. We make sure they’re on a different plane from most people so they don’t get hurt, but they still can affect the RG heavily. And when the Soul is released, those people might actually have some peace.”
We didn’t speak again until we got back to his house, settling down in his living room since Jessica and Sora were out.
“So... will Rhyme be ok?”
Joshua smirked and pulled something out of his pocket-- the box I had delivered when I first came here. He opened it, and held up a pin. It looked suspiciously like the pin Rhyme had been contained in...
...with the kanji for ‘dream’ in the background.
I glared at him. “You had it the whole time?!”
He giggled. “Don’t be mad, Neku. You got to help out the RG and we got to play another game~!”
I groaned and leaned back on the couch. “Jerkface.”
Series: The World Ends With You
Genre: Mostly a gen-fic after the game, now with some Neku/Shiki
Rating: PG-13 at most for swearing
Summary: Neku's final game sent him back into the real world with a bang. However, his story has only just begun.
Arthur's Note: Sorry this took so long. Having trouble with the next chapter and college apps are eating my life... Also, warning in this chapter: Joshua is slightly meta
x-posted to
subarashiki_ds and thewewyfanfic Archived here
That wasn’t a good way to start.
“What about her?” I asked.
“Well...” He rubbed the back of his neck, “Our folks have been tryin’ to get her to try doing different things, ya know? To see what she likes and stuff and so she can find her dream. She likes it all fine, but... she still don’t have a dream.”
Rhyme had always talked about dreams during the game, I remembered. Always hoped she’d find one, and seemed really happy when Beat told her about his, even though he’d made it up.
“...Do you think that was her entry fee?”
He nodded, hand on his shoulder now. “I think so, man. And ‘cause she didn’t win... ‘cause of me, she ain’t got ‘em back.” He sighed. “I dunno what to do, yo. She seems so sad when people ask her what her dream is... I gotta find someway. I was thinking, maybe, ‘cause you’ve got that Producer thing...” He looked at me hopefully.
It wasn’t like Beat would ask for help if he didn’t really need it, I knew that. And Rhyme was my friend, so I wanted her to have dreams too. I nodded.
“I’ll help. Maybe Joshua still has a hold on her entry fee or something, I’ll ask.” Though I wasn’t likely to get a straight answer. Jerk.
He grinned and slapped me, hard, on the back. “Thanks Phones.”
“Beat?” Rhyme poked her head back in the room, “You coming?”
“Yea.” He started towards the door before looking back. “See ya, Phones.”
After they left, I collapsed on my bed. Couldn’t my life stay normal for five seconds?
I was planning on going to see Joshua the next day, but a variety of Kisa deciding I needed lessons in cooking for myself (I only ate instant ramen when she wasn’t around) and working and school it took me about a week. By the time I made it, Joshua had acquired a DS.
“What are you playing?” I asked once Jessica let me in. She had no idea where he’d gotten the money to buy one, apparently.
“Oh, it’s this Chain of Memories game,” he shrugged, “Looked interesting enough.”
“Chain of Memories? Isn’t that part of that Kingdom Hearts series?” I remembered something about Disney characters being involved. “Square Enix makes the weirdest games...”
He looked over at me and smirked. “Oh, you have no idea, Neku~”
I decided I didn’t want to get to the bottom of that smirk.
Instead I got to the point and asked about Rhyme’s dreams being her entry fee. He nodded.
“I had a feeling you were going to ask me about this sooner or later,” he said, shutting the game, “Yes, her dreams where her entry fee. But I was technically stretching the rules by bringing her back, so she still had to lose them.”
“Is there anything that can be done to get them back?” If he said no, I was going to talk to Mr. H. There had to be something.
“Dreams are tricky things,” Joshua replied, “Even with the same person they can be different.”
That made no sense. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Well, let me put it this way. You know about frequency, right? When it’s changed, you can shift from the RG to the UG and vice versa. Well, if you have a high enough Imagination, you can shift to even more planes. There are alternate versions of places, and these different versions have different dreams.” He smirked again. “For example, there was a version of you I met whose dream was to win the Tin Pin tournament~”
Winning at Tin Pin? What kind of lame version world did he visit?
“Does that mean you can’t do it?” I asked.
“Oh, I didn’t say that.” He waved a hand casually. “I said it was tricky. Which means I’m going to need for you to do something.” Pulling out a piece of paper, he doodled a symbol and showed it to me. “See this? This is a special Noise symbol. Normally Players can’t see them, but you should be able to by now. Erase them and then I should be able to do something.”
I took the sheet and went outside instantly. Beat was worried about Rhyme, and so was I. I didn’t want her to have to go without her dreams forever.
It was a little tricky figuring out how to see this new Noise, but once I got used to it I saw that they were pretty much everywhere.
“Good thing I got started early,” I muttered before jumping in.
These Noise were... different, to say anything. They had the basic shape of normal Noise, but there was something kind of warped about them. And their attacks hurt more than normal Noise, so I was tired and bruised up a lot before the end.
I’d gotten rid of most of the Noise, but there was one that I’d been avoiding on purpose. It looked a lot bigger than the rest, and there was something just... wrong about it. But it was the only one left so I headed towards it.
Once the fight started, I wasn’t sure where I was. It looked familiar, but not something you saw in Shibuya everyday.
“About time, you factoring hectopascal!”
Factoring hecto--? Oh no.
The Grim Heaper was there. Again. Just like all the other Noise, he looked warped and not quite sane. But he was never sane in the first place, so that didn’t bother me but so much.
“What the hell?!” I glared at him. “You died! Again!”
He laughed. “Zetta moron! It was all in my calculations!” Grinning like a psycho, he punched his fist into his other palm. “Let’s see how you factor in!”
Pi-face hit me once and I flew back, landing hard on the ground. Apparently he’d gotten stronger too... I was screwed if I didn’t get out of there soon.
He was about to hit me again before he got hit by a very bright light and vanished almost instantly. Joshua had been standing behind him.
“Let’s get you home, shall we~?” he chimed as he pulled me up.
“What the hell were those?” I asked as we walked back to his house.
“Corrupted Noise,” he said, “Noise itself is made when someone’s Soul is released and taken over by negativity. But when people have really strong feelings of hatred or anger, even their Noise becomes corrupted. We make sure they’re on a different plane from most people so they don’t get hurt, but they still can affect the RG heavily. And when the Soul is released, those people might actually have some peace.”
We didn’t speak again until we got back to his house, settling down in his living room since Jessica and Sora were out.
“So... will Rhyme be ok?”
Joshua smirked and pulled something out of his pocket-- the box I had delivered when I first came here. He opened it, and held up a pin. It looked suspiciously like the pin Rhyme had been contained in...
...with the kanji for ‘dream’ in the background.
I glared at him. “You had it the whole time?!”
He giggled. “Don’t be mad, Neku. You got to help out the RG and we got to play another game~!”
I groaned and leaned back on the couch. “Jerkface.”
