notes set before the series starts. for dinoctes, who takes (almost!) forever to think of prompts.
the maps start out blank;
Her partner is lying a few feet away from her, clutching her stomach. Uzuki stands her ground, eyes narrowed. She isn't done yet. Not yet. She clutches the player pin in her hand and curses. She curses her partner because she's a weakling, curses her parents because if it hadn't been for them, she would never be here in the first place.
"Tired already?"
Kariya leaps down from the top of a streetlight he'd been perching on and raises an eyebrow, amused.
"Shut up," Uzuki huffs, hands curling into fists.
"I've got to say, you lasted quite a while. I can't say the same about your partner over there, though." He gestures over to where the other girl is lying on the ground, trying desperately to push herself back up.
"Uzuki," she whimpers. "I'm so sorry."
Uzuki whips around and glares. "You're sorry? Oh, is that right? You little coward! If you hadn't led us into that trap, if you'd just been a little more observant, we could have avoided this! Instead," she turns back around to face Kariya, who's still got that annoying smile on his face, "we ran into this bastard!"
Kariya whistles and sticks a lollipop in his mouth. "Feisty," he comments.
"I thought I told you to shut up!"
"I-I'm sorry, Uzuki..."
Uzuki refuses to believe it. "So this is how it ends?" she asks, baring her teeth at Kariya. "This is how my existence will come to an end? Because of someone like you?"
There's no hesitation. "Pretty much, yeah."
"No!" she screams, head in her hands. "I don't want this! I didn't deserve it! Miho, don't you dare disappear! We can still do this, there's only one more day—" But even as Uzuki turns, her partner is gone, already faded from existence. She crumples to her knees, frustration lacing her trembling fingers. "No," she whispers.
Kariya folds his arms across his chest. "So, what are you going to do? You don't have much longer. Any last words?"
Uzuki doesn't say anything. She's still curled up, knees pressing against the asphalt. Her shoulders shake with shame, with anger, with frustration. It's almost funny, she thinks, to die again, being reminded of how she is always too weak to do anything. She thought she could change things. She'd held hope in her hands and had run free with it for six days. And this is how it was going to end?
"Hey."
Uzuki coughs hoarsely into her sleeve. "What."
"Stand up."
"Bastard."
"Stand up, I said."
Uzuki stands slowly, legs trembling under her own weight. "What," she repeats.
Kariya shrugs and takes the lollipop out of his mouth. "Thought you'd just like to disappear with your pride intact." He tilts his head to the sky. Uzuki mirrors him. The sun beats down on her, harsh and almost blinding.
"Uzuki Yashiro."
Uzuki twists around and frowns. "Wha—"
Kariya's lips quirk upwards in a quick smile. "That's not a bad name."
"What the hell are you sa—"
She doesn't finish her question. Her eyes close and the darkness welcomes her with a frightening embrace.
Kariya puts the lollipop back in his mouth and watches her disappear.
.
.
.
"You," she snarls when she sees him next. "You—"
"It's nice to see you again, too," Kariya says.
"I thought I was...!"
Kariya shrugs. "You were."
Uzuki looks down at her hands, confused. "How?" The timer on her hand ticks slowly. She's in Shibuya again, surrounded by the familiar crowds of people.
He shrugs again. "You don't question the Composer."
Uzuki's eyes narrow. "And why not, scumbag?"
"I don't know, is there really a point in knowing everything that happens around here? It all comes full circle. What goes around comes around. You've heard the sayings, haven't you?"
Uzuki shoots him a glare, but she doesn't say anything. Kariya stares at her for a while and takes out a lollipop.
"Better get crackin', lady. You're running out of time."
She growls. "Who the hell am I supposed to partner up with now? Miho's gone..."
"Whoever you pick, you'd better choose carefully," Kariya tells her, smirking. "You don't want it to end the same as it did last week, do you?"
"Aren't you a Reaper?" she bites out. "Aren't you supposed to be doing your busy Reaper stuff? Why are you—" She stops. "Shit."
Kariya watches as the familiar white glow lifts her into the air briefly. There is a flicker of blue light that lingers, but it is gone before Kariya can do anything about it. Uzuki floats back to the ground and lifts her hand to her head, confused.
Kariya quirks an eyebrow. "Oh goodie, you've made a pact."
"Yeah, but with who?!"
"Does it really matter? All you've got to do is survive."
She snorts. "'Cause you know, you made it so easy for us last week to make it past you." The frogs jump out from nowhere. "More of these?!"
Kariya chuckles. "Good luck," he says, waving his lollipop at her.
"Screw you," she says back through gritted teeth. "I hope you die." A strange look crosses her face for a brief moment, then. Kariya catches it and grins easily.
"Sorry, I already did."
.
.
.
"I don't know why you always do this to yourself." Kariya lets the small orb of light dance in the palm of his hand and sighs, unimpressed. "I thought I'd have more fun this week, too. But your partner this week is just as pathetic as that girl from the last week, isn't he?"
Really pathetic, Kariya thinks, looking at her partner. He's a middle-age man, clad in a wonky business suit and thick-rimmed glasses. He's short and stocky and looks scared to death. Uzuki looks equally unimpressed standing next to them.
"What a pair," Kariya whistles. "How many times have you made him cry?"
Uzuki bares her teeth at him. The businessman cowers behind her.
Kariya laughs. Pathetic indeed. It was only the third day and Uzuki looked like she had run herself ragged. "Well, sorry to disappoint, but..." Kariya puts his hand down, and the orb vanishes. "...I'm your next opponent."
"What?!" Uzuki screeches, making the man next to her wince. "Again?! You've got to be kidding me!"
"No, not really," Kariya says nonchalantly.
"This is a life or death matter!"
"No, not really," Kariya says again, and grins when Uzuki's face crumples. "I mean, we're all technically already dead. This second chance thing? Not everyone gets it, even if you do survive till the end. It's not that fair of a system."
"Then why," Uzuki demands, eyes boring into his. "Why would you do all their dirty work for them, upon knowing that?!"
"After I died, I had a choice."
Uzuki stops.
"I had a choice," Kariya repeats, "to accept my death or become more powerful. I played the Game, and you know what, I died on the very last day. I busted my ass off and I failed, and I wasn't given the option to do it again. I wasn't going to die feeling like I was a weakling. That option is for weaklings."
"You..." Uzuki looks at him, confused. "You didn't get to do it again?"
"No one's supposed to. Those are rules."
"But I—" Uzuki stops mid-sentence. "I..." She widens her eyes. "You—!"
Kariya smirks. "I think I deserve a 'thank you'."
"But—"
He shoots a yellow beam at her and she hisses, jumping away from it. "Chit-chat time is done," he announces. "Ready to fight?"
Uzuki's eyes narrow. "Are you pitying me?! You're just pitying me, aren't you!" She clutches her Player Pin and lunges at him, furious.
He grabs her arm and twists it behind her. Her partner's gone pale, glasses sliding down his nose.
"You wanted to live," Kariya hisses.
Uzuki squirms in his grasp, her breath coming in quick bursts. He smirks.
"You wanted to live," he repeats, voice low. "And I gave you another chance." He tucks a stray strand of hair behind his ear and adjusts his glasses. "You ruined it for yourself, didn't you?"
Uzuki squeezes her eyes shut and lets out a choked gasp.
"Time's up, Uzuki."
She stills.
Kariya grins.
"Bye bye."
.
.
.
Uzuki opens her eyes and almost wishes she didn't. The light in the room is dim but it seemed bright and she has to blink back tears. Groaning, she puts a hand to her head.
"So you're awake, are you?"
She creases her brow. That voice...
Kariya leans over her and waves a hand. "Hey."
Uzuki bolts upright, reaching out to grab him. He moves out of her grasp easily, his mouth quirking upwards. "Very energetic," he comments. He turns around. "I told you she was a feisty one, Megumi."
She frowns. The man that steps out of the shadows looms over her and she can see her own reflection in his sunglasses. Confused, Uzuki looks back and forth in between the two men. "Wasn't I supposed to be erased?" she asks, looking at Kariya carefully.
He shrugs.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
"You'll have all the power you want," Megumi Kitaniji says, spreading his arms out. "All the power you need. Kariya's told me quite a lot about you."
Uzuki glares at Kariya. "Has he, now?"
"Good things, I promise."
"You could be magnificent," Megumi is saying. "You have that fury. You have that anger. Do you know how powerful you could become?"
Uzuki stares. "I..."
Kariya grins, takes a lollipop out. "This time, it's your choice, Uzuki Yashiro." He peers at her from behind his glasses. "Choose carefully."
She doesn't hesitate. "You know my decision already." This time, it is her turn to smirk at him. "Don't you?"
Kariya chuckles, and extends a hand. "Welcome, then," he murmurs, "to the Realm of Reapers."
.
.
.
She takes it.
Owari
2013.04.14