Title: What A Wonderful World
Fandom: The World Ends With You
Characters/Pairings: Neku, Beat, Rhyme, Shiki
Rating: PG
Warnings: The truth about Shiki, Beat and Rhyme's relationship, and the end of the game. Un-beta'd.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the stories I write
Summary: The Game has changed them, some for the better and some ... not so much.
This has been sitting on my external hard drive for months. I thought I'd dust it off a bit and finally post it.
Word Count: 388
Things hadn't gone back to normal when they came back. The Game had changed them all and to believe that it had never happened was out of the picture, not when they all met up once more at Hachiko and confirmed that their bizarre dream had been anything but.
They had died.
They had played the Game.
They had lost.
They had been given a second chance at Life.
They didn't understand it, but they weren't about to question a second chance to set things right: Beat and Rhyme with their strict and traditional parents; Shiki with her 'perfect' friend Eri; and Neku with the world and its people that he had turned his back on. They knew they couldn't screw it up this time, knew with excruciating awareness that their lives were short. The knowledge was so much that it closed the gaps in which they made, but made a bigger one because of what they had witnessed.
Beat became more responsible and respectful than he had ever been to his parents. Rhyme no longer trailed after her brother like a lost puppy. Both couldn't stand the idea of getting close to someone with too much authority, someone with enough power to hurt.
Shiki refused to be Eri's shadow and gained the confidence to be herself without hesitation. She just couldn't bring herself to be the best friend Eri had known and wanted. Too much had happened for her to sit quietly and let Eri run the show.
Neku had learned to open up, much to Shiki's delight, and actually seemed more attentive of those around him. He looked too hard sometimes and couldn't find it in him to fully embrace the idea of letting someone in who hadn't suffered like he did. He couldn't allow himself to be with people who hadn't been in the Game.
That's how they all felt. That's why they stuck close to each other. Other than themselves, they knew of no one else who had endured the Game and had survived, much less played it three times over, lost, and were rewarded with revival.
Only the four of them.
Things hadn't gone back to normal.
Their worlds had condensed just as much as they had expanded.
They were alone, but they had each other.
And that would have to be enough.
Reviews are love! They also inspire me to write more stories. *wink wink nudge nudge*