((AN: Well, suddenly a one-shot. Yeah, I'm not dead, not yet at least. It's been over a year since my last story, so I thought I'd get back into it with a little one shot, depicting a bit of an alternate future if Rhyme didn't exactly turn out okay after the game. This definitely isn't my best work, by far, I've been out of it for too long and to top it all off, I was sick when I wrote this, so sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes that are probably there. Anyway, read and review, tell me what you think. And if I should continue this, I left this one a bit open ended.))

Emptiness And...

Rhyme sighed for what felt like the twentieth time today. "There's nothing..." she breathed out in frustration, tossing the violin roughly onto her bed and storming out of her room. "Not even a hint of a dream." She grabbed her sweater from where she unceremoniously tossed it onto the couch earlier and retrieved her beanie from the kitchen and left the apartment she and Beat now shared in a hurry. Slamming the door behind her and roughly locking it; heading out into the dead of night.

Three years since the Reapers game, three years since everyone's life changed for the better...

Well, everyone's except hers.

Rhyme should have expected this, she knew that without her hopes and dreams she wouldn't be able to contribute anything of relative usefulness to Shibuya. But, she pressed onward, if only for Beat and his friends, sorry, their friends. Though in all honesty she didn't even have the motivation to call them that anymore. It was an odd sensation, the more her life went on, the emptier she felt. She had exhausted every solution she could think of to try and get some inkling of a dream. Today was her last straw, but we should start from the top, the day Rhyme would soon refer to as her "First Day."

8:00 AM. Sunday.

"Beat! Get down here, breakfast is ready!"

"I'm comin, I'm comin!"

Rhyme smiled and rolled her eyes as she glanced at the breakfast she prepared for them. It wasn't much, just some eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Beat sure loved his bacon, though Rhyme would be lying to herself if she denied it's pleasantly sinful taste. She wasn't an expert cook by any means of the word, but if there was one thing Rhyme knew, it was pancakes, much like how her older brother knew his Ramen. Speaking of which, her lazy older brother had yet to-

"I'm here, I'm here!" Beat exclaimed as he sped into the kitchen, swiftly taking a seat at the small table they had and cracking his knuckles. "Let's get those pancakes on, yo! C'mon sis, I'm starvin!"

"If you were really starving, I wouldn't have had to call your ass 10 times just for you to get down here now, would I?" Rhyme replied smugly as she carried two plates over to the table, Beat's having significantly more pancakes than Rhyme's gentle two.

Her brother's only response was a sigh as he picked up his fork. "Ey, y'know I don't like it when you use those kinda words, alright?" He poured a bit of syrup onto his pancakes, well, 'a little' to Beat is quite a bit compared to well, everyone. Regardless, the skateboarder went right to work on his food.

Rhyme only sighed at her brother's statement and lack of table manners. "Beat, I'm 16 now. I understand your... concern, but you have been spouting those words since before the game." it was commonplace now for her to speak so casually of the Reapers game, despite her meeting her tragic end, it didn't seem to bother Rhyme.

And that exact fact bothered Beat greatly. "I know what I say, but you never use to say that kinda stuff, matter o fact, you use to scold ME fer sayin any of that." He grunted slightly. "And why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Talk about that Reapers shit like it was just some stupid game? Rhyme, everyone went through alota stuff there, you especially, so how come you act like it was nothin?" Beat exclaimed, taking the angriest bite of bacon one could ever take.

Rhyme sighed and put her fork down. No, not today, she would not loose her cool again, especially not today. Not on Neku and Shiki's anniversary party, no, she just had to take a few deep breaths and...

"I almost lost the thing I cared about most, sis."

But SHE DID. "..!" Rhyme quickly stood up, slamming her hands onto the table roughly, shaking a bit, she looked like she was about to burst again. "..." A few tense moments passed before she sat back down. "...sorry..." she mumbled, completly avoiding eye contact now.

"...s'alright..." Beat mumbled, going back to eating his breakfast quietly.

As Rhyme thought back to the years that passed since the Reapers Game, she noticed that slowly and slowly she degraded into a worse person over time. Well, having no hopes or dreams can do that to a person. It really wasn't until six months back that Rhyme began to blow her fuse though, more and more her patience shortened with just about anything, and only just recently did she gain one or two trigger words or phrases for her outbursts. She couldn't help herself though, it's not like they understood what she was going through, they all got what they cared most about back; but did Rhyme? No, she didn't. She died, fair and square, she would never get her dreams back. But Beat won, so her life was back, because that's what Beat cared most about, her.

And she hated it.

If Beat didn't care for her as much as he did, she would have gone to Joshua already, or Mr. H, anything to leave the RG, she had no place here. She knew it, her life was on a technicality, and that technicality was sitting right in front of her eating his fifth pancake. At this point, the poor girl was already too far gone. Rhyme hated how much Beat cared for her, she hated how much she cared for him as well. If she cared quite a bit less, she probably wouldn't be trying so hard just to live life with a hinge of happiness. It practically disgusted her, she became the one kind of person she hated, a fake. Rhyme let out a sigh she didn't even know she was holding... yep, she was pretty much at rock bottom. But hey, it's only uphill from here, right?

"...it's just some teenager stuff yer goin through." Beat spoke up, startling her out of her thoughts. "I was a complete ass to our rents back in the day, member? Once I got past those years, things settled down fer us. You're just havin a phase, that's it. I'm here wit ya." He smiled, that smile that she hated so much because somehow, she still managed to cause it. His happiness.

"Yeah, I guess your right." No your not, you couldn't be more wrong. Rhyme decided not to openly disagree with him though, as she repeatedly reminded herself not to blow a scene today, she could blow a fuse tomorrow or any other day, but not on this one.

Heaven knows how much she cared about her friends' happiness.

"We should go." Rhyme stood up, taking her plate and putting it in the sink. "Neku and Eri are probably waiting for us." Not to mention Joshua, but he had all the time in the world to wait. She'd rather catch him alone, when she didn't have any of her friends around to impede her judgement on her own life.

"Aight." Beat soon stood up and did the same before making his way out of the kitchen and towards the door. "Let's hit the town!" He smiled brightly.

Rhyme forced a smile in response, he bought it, as he always does. Glancing down at her watch to look for the time, or really, just any excuse to glance away from that smile that heated her so much. "We're late already, oh boy." She chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. Rhyme could only blame herself for this one, she almost lost her cool, and that in itself cost them a few precious minutes. "Let's not waste any more time."

And with that, the two were off, starting their day with bright smiles, though one was constantly being forced.

Rhyme had her mind elsewhere the whole day, so the events that occurred were all but a blur to her. Though she didn't really care, it was all the same to her anyway. They would meet up, Neku would say something to Beat, he would get a bit ticked and throw a comment back, and the two would continue this until someone, usually Shiki or Eri nowadays, she didn't really care anymore. Then the two would laugh about it and then they would all get on with their day's activities. Today WAS different, but Rhyme didn't really care. The only real difference she saw and took part of, was them glancing around the jewelry store helping Neku find the perfect gift for Shiki. Rhyme had never seen the girl wear any kind of necklaces or the like, so she thought the gift would be useless, that is until she saw Neku glancing around the rings, so she supposed he was trying to make it special.

They left the jewelry store, and Rhyme let the rest of the day just completly slip from her mind. She was so far gone, she didn't even recall the point at which she arrived home later that evening, alone. Beat had stayed behind with Eri and Neku to help set up Shiki's surprise. Then the party would commence because they're all such close friends and they all enjoyed eachother's company, well, except for Rhyme. Regardless, she had been given the time to rest, her brother claiming that she needed it since she looked "completly out there" the whole day. Nice to know his eyes still worked well enough.

Rhyme honestly had no idea what compelled her to retrieve the violin she had stored in her closet all these years. It was an item her mother INSISTED that she take with her when she had finally convinced them to let her move in with Beat. Honestly the mere sight of it only served to make her angry nowadays. The instrument served as a reminder of dreams long lost, and she hated it. There were alot of things she hated nowadays, wasn't there? Rhyme had turned into the one thing she use to despise, a cynic. Just a person flowing with negativity... she use to work hard to avoid becoming even remotely like that, but now... she reveled in her own cynicism.

Back to the dusty old violin though, somehow the strings had still managed to stay fully tuned, and somehow Rhyme found it humorous. Chuckling dryly, she held the instrument against her chin calmly, and slowly pulled the string across it, hearing the notes flow out from it. "Of course, it somehow still works." She joked dryly. "...fine." she mumbled before attempting to play an old tune she use to love. Just like everything else she used to like though, she damned near hated it now, and did she know why? No. She just did.

Rhyme didn't know what she was expecting when she finished playing the song, was she hoping that inspiration would suddenly hit her and another dream would create itself within her now broken mind? Of course not, she had lost that too, the ability to make dreams for herself, or at least, she believed that she had lost it. Rhyme just couldn't bring herself to care enough to try anymore, even if she did have the ability to make dreams for herself, it sure wouldn't happen anytime soon, not with that attitude. Rhyme somehow managed to suck it up and play another, more melancholy song than the one before, once again knowing the whole tune by heart.

"I honestly don't know what I expected." Rhyme sighed for what seemed like the twentieth time that day. "There's nothing..."

Now we come full circle, to the lone girl walking down the dark streets of Shibuya, heading to Neku's own apartment to at least try and enjoy herself at the party. Rhyme seriously doubted she would though, and the doubt only grew the closer she got to the party. It was getting harder and harder for her to fake it the longer the days went on. As ironic as it sounded, she feared the day she would finally loose her cool in front of her friends, bursting in anger at them in the same way she had previously done to Beat a few times. In general she was a more negative person, but she had never had one of her full outbursts in public, at least not yet.

"I'll be fine... no outbursts today, nothing..." Rhyme mumbled to herself as she approached Neku's place, already seeing the lights on from the window he had in front of the apartment. "...I still don't get how we all manage to fit inside these apartments comfortably." She chuckled dryly as she approached the front door.

"Talking to yourself again, Raimu dear?" Of course HE would be outside waiting for her, nobody else. Just him. He being Joshua, composer of the Reapers game, and in a way, the whole reason why her life felt like a living hell. Yet, somehow, despite everything, she didn't hate him. She knew she should hate him most out of everyone, since it was him who brought her back to life in the first place, but she couldn't. Joshua was only doing his job, Neku had won, and subsequently, Beat. So the rules stated that her life was back...

But not her dreams. And that's what she hated.

"Nice to see you too." Joshua giggled as Rhyme turned around just in time to see him flick his hair again.

"Reading minds again, Joshua?" She crossed her arms at him, her scowl softening ever so slightly. She had been meaning to talk to him or someone along his stature anyway...

"Heheh... oh Raimu, when will you realize that is just a myth Neku came up with." He placed his hands in his pockets. Classy. "I could sense your negativity from miles away. Now tell me..." He smiled at her, a smile that would just annoy anyone he flashed it at. "Why the long face, dear?"

"Tch. An easier question would be what makes me happy. Because the number of things is dwindling by the day for that response." Rhyme replied, already feeling a bit ticked off.

"Simmer down dear, there's no reason to get all huffy. You're as bad as Neku sometimes, hehe..."

"Are you sure you don't read minds?"

A flick of his hair. "Believe me Raimu, even if I could read minds I wouldn't need to in order to know what was on yours. You're as fake as Top Ramen."

"Why thank you, because that makes me feel sooo much better." The sarcasm was practically overflowing.

"And who said I was trying to make you feel better?" Joshua giggled.

He only recieved a sigh in return, a constant reward for being so damn difficult. "Fine Joshua, I'll bite, what do you want?" She smiled slightly, just because he knew she was being fake doesn't mean she can stop. What if Neku or someone else walked outside?

"It's not about what I want, dear." Joshua stepped forward slightly. "It's about what YOU want." His words rang through her skull as his smile only spoke truth. Would he really give her a way out? It can't be that easy.

"Why can't it be that easy?" Joshua spoke up suddenly, an amused smile on his face.

"Are you SURE you don't-"

"No I can't read minds." Another giggle, boy was he getting on her nerves.

Rhyme stood still for a few moments before speaking. "I want a way out... I'm done. Just... done with being alive... being here." She guestured out towards the city. "Without any dreams or aspirations to contribute towards the city. Without those, I'm no better than Noise." She crossed her arms angrily.

"Ah, but you're wrong dear." Joshua spoke up and turned to look at the city as well. "If it were up to me, I'd place you at around Conductor levels..." He smirked. "Oh wait a minute..." Another giggle.

"...it is up to you." Rhyme glanced at him incredulously, was he really doing this? Was he really granting her a way out of all this anger and hate?

"If you like, I can place you as a bit of an overseer to the games... of course, this specific job position comes with some catches..." Joshua giggled at her, glancing her way slightly as his eyes reflected the city lights.

"As always." She shook her head with a small smile. "Alright, what is it that I need to do?"

"Not even going to guess, Raimu?"

"I really don't feel like it. Sorry."

Joshua flicked his hair yet again with a cheshire grin. "The erasure of players, that's one thing. The other, you must be in the company of either Sane, myself, or a designated reaper of Sane's choice. I could choose the Reaper as well, but I'm far too busy as it is, which is why I am here, offering you a job." He giggled. "We are a bit short you know, applications are few and far between..."

Rhyme sighed and stuck her hands inside her own pockets. "...is that all?" She glanced at him "What about Beat and the others?"

"You'll be able to phase in and out of the UG and RG whenever you please, appearing fully human when in the RG, of course." He waved off her question with little concern. "So, do you accept?" He giggled and held his skinny, pale hand out for her to grasp. It was as if the devil himself had just extended a contract out to her...

And she was going to sign it. "...I accept." She shook his hand firmly, sealing the deal; and her fate.

Epilogue

"Ah, hello Rhyme, you're here early." Rhyme glanced up from her seat on the couch in Dead God's Pad, her small, graffiti like Reaper wing twitching slightly. She made no move to open her mouth, she only glanced at the couch across the table, knowing already that he would be sitting there.

"Punctual as always, a very nice quality." Joshua giggled as he sat down in front of her. "It's just us, so relax a bit."

Rhyme smiled an honest smile, she'd been doing that alot since her First Day. No one could explain or fathom why, but sometime after Neku and Shiki's anniversary party, her personality did a complete 180 and back came the old Rhyme. The positive, happy Rhyme who seemed to see the value in all life; though none of them knew exactly how or why. At least, none of them except Joshua and Rhyme herself. Oh, and Mr. H too, couldn't forget about him now, could we?

"Now, let's get the buisness out of the way first shall we?" Joshua picked up some papers that were laying on the table and flipped through them casually. "Mmm. Excellent work Rhyme, you beat your personal best for players erased this month... by two." He nodded at her. "I just wish the others were as effective as you, though if all the Reapers were extremely good at their jobs, we would run out of players now, would we?" He giggled again.

Rhyme nodded. "'Life is about balance. The good and the bad. The highs and the lows. The pina and the colada.'" She giggled a bit. "I try my best, someone has to, knowing no one else does. Well, technically speaking I'm not allowed to try my best, since even my frequency dwarfs regular Reapers, so I even have to tune that down."

Joshua nodded and stood up. "Everything checks out here then, you're free to do as you please, dear."

"Busy week, huh?" Rhyme replied with a caring tone.

"Nothing I can't handle. Now don't I recall you having dinner with Coco soon? A 'girls night out' as you so eloquently put it?" Joshua turned to leave. "How's her practice getting?"

"She can remain in the RG for longer every day, and her frequency slip-ups are getting less... frequent." Rhyme giggled again, standing up herself. "I'll be going now too, goodbye." She bowed slightly, merely out of respect, before leaving.

Joshua turned around and stood where he was, alone in the room for the time being. With a giggle and a flick of his hair, he spoke one last time before leaving.

"Soon enough Rhyme, it may very well be YOU who is composing the music..."