((Many characters, creatures, and scenarios are the property of Square Enix. I do not claim to own anything featured in 'The World Ends With You'.))

The sound of the shot was resounding and final. The bullet found itself ripping and tearing through Rita's chest, sliding between two ribs, slicing through her lung, and nimbly finding its way out of her back. Rita felt the hit and her body pumped against the initial shock. There were only a few seconds of pain, but in those few seconds she felt a lifetime of hurt. Pain radiated like bright blue sparks and bounced around inside of her, the sparks replicating and increasing in speed. She tried to scream for help, but her once beautiful voice came as only a wheeze and a gasp, a cough that created more deep aches.

They say that dying is like a moment that has been stretched thin and taut into a millennium. The universe becomes vague and near unrecognizable as everything slowly begins to blink out, and while death was slow in taking Rita away from the moment, it felt surprisingly quick. The pain dulled quickly draining out and leaving a rattling ache throughout her body. The most intense part was a feeling that everything had shut down, and she was still trying to continue on. She was out of breath, but when she tried to suck in air, she found no relief, only another bout of shaking pain. Her eyes had been squeezed shut, trying to focus on pressing the pain out, but when she opened them, she was barely able to see anything past hair that was pasted to face with sweat. Behind the deep brown curtain was a world of blurs, paint blended together into a gray mess of sky, earth, and shadow.

Rita forced her head to turn, like grinding metal on metal. She knew that she wouldn't be able to move her hair out from in front of her face, her arms and legs felt buried in earth. It was impossible to move them even an inch. She searched through the muddled background for something, anything. She couldn't get the world to focus, but as the edges of the world began to darken and fade out, her eyes managed to grasp onto one solid object. The rest of the world began to slip away and soft lines became harder and more crisp around the object, person? Yes, a person in a heavy gray woolen coat. A man, staring mesmerized at Rita's dying form. A smile that was soft and devious played on his yellow tinted skin. It must have been day, because there was light reflecting off of his dark black hair.

"Finally going?" He let out in a smooth and even tone. Rita couldn't recall him. It took too much energy to think. Her head started listing to the side, sliding toward the ground.

"No, no. Not yet." He placed his hand against her cheek and lifted it up, a feat she couldn't imagine accomplishing on her own. Now she could see his his face more clearly. Sharp nose, thin lips, dull green eyes. She absorbed the information like a sponge. The most startling feature was a jagged line of stitches stretching from his cheek and down his neck. "Just let me go..." She managed the labored thought, but that was all it could be. She couldn't speak. She felt as though she were a bucket, full of water, and there was no way for her to be empty ever again.

"I just need you to remember something for me, then I'll let you go." It was as if he could read her mind. She tried to slip away, but couldn't manage it. She had no control.

"Tell Kariya, this is only the beginning of his suffering." With that, he pulled his hand out from under her head, and it smacked the pavement with a sickening thud. The man stood up and wiped his hands together. He turned and walked away into a fading, stretching abyss, and Rita slipped away from everything.

Empty whiteness greeted her when she awoke. Whiteness above and in every direction around her. The floor was the only exception. It was a brilliant blue, shining and breath taking. Breath. Rita's hand went immediately to her chest. No hole. No sinking feeling as she struggled to breathe. She easily sucked in a full breath and held it. She held it until her chest began to ache then, and only then, she let it out. A smile filled her face, but it was short lived. She remembered dying. Feeling surrounded in her own body, the pain, intense and dull at the same time. So why was she here?

"I'm in heaven..." She said the words as she looked around. Spinning slowly to take it all in. Nothing anywhere. Nothing but the white whiteness, and the brilliance of the seamless blue floor. She rotated until a voice rang up from behind her.

"Not quite." The voice was cool and smooth, but where did it come from? No one had been there a moment ago, but when she turned around, sure enough there was a man behind her. The man had curtains of black hair framing his face, and dark shades concealing his eyes from the world. The man was well dressed, in a sharp black coat covered in intricate designs. He had a very jazz feel over him, oozing confidence, and a calm attitude. Rita took him in. Where had he come from?

"You're in a place called the Lobby. It is a kind of waiting room for the underground, or UG for short." His words sounded rehearsed, scripted.

"I'm dead." There was finality in the statement. She couldn't find anything else to say. Her eyes looked aimlessly around the white. She prayed that he would tell her that she was wrong, but when he spoke, she only confirmed what she already knew.

"Yes. Yes, you are." Her heart sank into her chest, and she backed up slightly.

"Dios mío." Her eyes were wide as the whisper came out.

"If you don't want to stay dead, then you will listen. I'm going to give you an opportunity to live again." There was a grin painted on his face, but he was still all business. Rita tried to piece the words together into something that made sense.

"You can bring me back to life?" She lifted her head and tried to connect her eyes to his, but his sunglasses blocked her.

"Oh my, no. That's beyond me, but there is someone who can. The Composer. He can bring you back to life."

"And will he?" Rita wanted to grab onto the hope and keep it inside forever. "Will he bring me back to life."

"That's the prize." His grin turned into a full fledged smile. "It's time I told you about the Reaper's Game."