Title: 100 Lifetimes

Author: Soshite

Summary: There are many different worlds out there, that branched out from one single place; each one special and unique. However, no matter where one would look, those two were always inextricably linked to one another. Joshua and Neku drabbles.

Rated: T

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the World Ends With You. If I did, you can bet your butt that there would have been more of Week 2!

Author's Note: Hello people! Welcome to 100 Lifetimes where I get the fun of doing 100 short ficlet or drabbles about Neku and Joshua in either reincarnations, past lives, alternate universes, etc! Sounds like fun, no? Some will be friendship, others shounen-ai...and maybe yaoi, if I feel like upping the rating, hahahaha. But for now...enjoy the ficlets!

Life 1

Dare You To Move

Here they were, standing face to face, each of them holding an oversized gun with a single bullet inside the barrels. They were enemies and friends – no, that was much too good a term to use on the likes of them. They had been partners, Neku thought, no matter how shallow a description that was. It had all been a Game to this person, this wretch of a human in front of him.

Or maybe Joshua had never been human in the first place.

This was the endgame now; all of Shibuya depended on Neku's ability to lift the gun and shoot Joshua dead. All the orange-haired teenager had to do was pull the trigger and that would be that. Shibuya would be space dust, Neku could go back home with his friends and he didn't have to think about the Reaper's Game ever again. Never have to look over his shoulder to see if a Reaper was tailing, never have to worry about being in some twisted freak's mind games or never have to wonder what it was that made Joshua smirk at him the way he did now.

Do it, Neku! You have to save Shibuya!

Everyone was depending on him; the pressure was higher. Saving Shiki had taken everything out of the teen already and the subsequent week by Beat's side only made the boy want to break down and sob like a little kid again. The last three weeks had been literally Hell and it was about time to emerge from the flames with gun on hand. This Game was going to be over any minute now. All he had to do was hold up the gun to Joshua's had and pull the trigger to win it all. Joshua smirked still, his arm having been raised a long time ago; he seemed at ease with the deadly weapon in his pale hand.

Neku secretly wished he was that confident. Where had the drive to do what he had to do to survive gone? Three weeks ago, he had no problem using his Psychs to almost erase Shiki from existence, when a Reaper had lied to him about letting him out of the Game, if he did. Although it hadn't sit well with him then, he raised up a hand, feeling the flow of telekinesis rush from the pin through him as his first partner was lifted into the air, by her throat.

That moment felt so long ago and so foreign. Had that really been Neku, then? Had that arrogant boy been him up until now? He couldn't believe it.

The teen couldn't believe how much he had changed since then, either.

Trust your partner.

There were no partners to help him now.

It was just Neku and Joshua and two guns, in the middle of the Room of Reckoning.

His heart skipped a beat.

He raised the gun and pressed on the trigger. He would make it quick, he decided. He had to remember, this was for all of Shibuya. He could do it.

Joshua chuckled and Neku faltered.

He couldn't do it, could he?

I've changed too much.

That was his realization then and he knew that he had lost the Game. He had failed and Shibuya would take the brunt of his inability to defend the place he loved the most. Yes, he loved his Shibuya. It was loud, noisy, with the same old tall sky scrappers and busy streets filled to the brim with people jostling him all the time and annoying the hell out of him...but he still loved it all the same. It was also filled with people he cared for, like Shiki, Rhyme and Beat and with all the things he was passionate about – that he only realized too late that he had a passion for – music, the differentiating views of the fast paced town, the graffiti art of his most admired artist. If he could keep them safe, then he should, because Shibuya had become an integral part of his life! And had always been so and now it had more to offer him than just a stifling air and crowded streets.

But...

He couldn't shoot Joshua.

He could never shoot Joshua, because....

Joshua was everything Shibuya, wasn't he? He ruled over Shibuya and was, in essence, kind of like Shibuya's soul, right? He had the will and power to keep it all together without things coming apart at the seams; he kept the flow of Soul going and guided the city for what it was worth.

Joshua had also been his partner, who he had trusted, even if the bastard had been as suspicious as Hell. There were times when he wanted to strangle him, others where he was simply glad that the boy had chosen him to be his partner, above all else. Prissy as they came, he had been obnoxious, annoying and the most frustrating person he had ever met.

But he had been interesting and helpful and he still owed him for shielding Neku from getting hurt back during Pi Face's attack, even if it had been for an ulterior motive.

He still owed him one, didn't he? Yes, that was a good way of putting things. Much better than the feelings of sadness and pain the ripped through his entire being when he thought of that supposed last moment with the pale-haired Composer. Neku wouldn't have to think he felt sorry for allowing his partner to get hurt like that, for allowing his partner to get into such a dangerous situation because of him. Neku had already lost Shiki at that time; losing Joshua had been the proverbial straw on the camel's back.

Neku put the gun down, trying to keep himself from turning tail and running for his life. He had to stay and take responsibility. If all of Shibuya was going to fall anyways, he might as well take his due punishment like a man...even if he felt like a very small boy then.

I'm scared.

Trust your partner.

Maybe Joshua would understand why he was doing this, why he was giving up when there was so much on the line. Maybe, just maybe, the Composer would understand his sentiments right now and do the right thing when he was gone like so much Shibuya space dust.

Maybe, in some alternate universe, they could have been real friends and not just partners.

I won't forgive you, Joshua, for what you're about to do...but I trust you.

A tear fell and a shot rang loudly through the Room of Reckoning.