"Beat is going to nail his ass to the top of 104! Rhyme, what the hell did you do?!"

Neku had been trying to get an answer out of the girl who clutched the body of the most powerful being in Shibuya close to her, for the past half hour. Rhyme simply gave him a blank stare and shook her head, grinning mischievously. "Not telling!" she said for the fifth time.

Neku's biting retort was cut off as Joshua's body suddenly began to glow. Rhyme gave a small yelp of surprise as the Composer also levitated a foot off her lap, arms and legs hanging limply, as if his spine was the only thing being supported by the air. After ten seconds of being suspended, his body was placed gently in her lap again, and the glow disappeared.

Purple eyes slowly opened, and the ash-blond focused on her face. The special smile he researved only for her spread across his pale face.

"I thought I heard your Song, dear Raimu, calling to me from the staticky abyss."

Rhyme clutched him tightly, her tears now happy ones as she smiled down at him. Neku gasped slightly.

"Your voice...your throat..."

Snarky eyes turned to him, and the familiar smirk crossed the lips, "Why, yes, Neku dear, seems like the Higher ups decided to heal my mortal body again. I wonder if this is simply another punishment. Destroy me to the brink of erasure, then heal me, only to destroy me again to heal me yet again in an endless cycle. It's quite cruel you know, dangling release in front of a guy, only to yank it away before it's grasped."

Neku snorted, and checked his temperature "Shut up you bastard. You've done it plenty of times I'm sure." He frowned slightly "Whatever They did, it only healed your physical wounds. You're still ill."

"Predictable" Joshua sighed, lifting a hand, which Rhyme grasped in both of hers, startling the ash-blond slightly. He continued after the reaction, cocking his head "They can't grant me too much, now can they? A punishment is a punishment, after all. Which, I can only surmise, is why my arm is still broken, as well as my ribs. They simply restored me to the state I was in prior to the Memory Hell."

"Least it's better than nothing." Nrku grunted.

"True, my dear, dear Proxy. Incrediby true. However, such truth has demands."

He looked at Rhyme clearly touched as he said softly, his voice devoid of its usual snarky undertones as it rolled out of his scratchy throat.

"Raimu, I am hardly worth such demands. I believe I owe you a debt."

The girl shook her head and clutched the hand she held tighter "No. Mister H owes you nothing, and you owe me nothing. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't brought me back, Joshua. Let me repay you in my own way, ok?"

The god of Shibuya leaned forward and his amethyst eyes sparkled "For you, I'll grant that much. But don't think for a second that I don't apreciate the gesture. Whatever you've done, I thank you. Wholeheartedly."

TWEWYTWEWYTWEWYTWEWY

As Rhyme was leaving Neku's house after making sure Joshua wouldn't vomit the medicine she gave him out onto Neku's floor, she felt someone behind her. Not bothering to turn around, the girl sighed and said in a bit of a clipped tone to the figure she knew was there,

"I'm not ready yet. Give me another day with him. Just one more day...being what he knows me to be, please?"

The figure sighed, a rustling behind them.

"Do not prolong this, Rhyme Bito. You offered this so he will be spared. Do not try Our patience."

"Please, I won't but...he's so protective of me. Just give us one day, then I promise, I'll fulfill my end of the deal."

"We will allow this one last request, however insignificant it may be. One more day."

"Thank you."

The figure left, and Rhyme ran home, threw open the door, and tackled her older brother.

"BWAAA! Rhyme! What got into you all a sudden?"

His sister just hugged him, burying her face in his burly chest and crylaughing into his shirt.

"He's going to live!" she said between bursts of emotion, "Joshua is going to be ok!"

Beat snorted "Told you so. Prissy's always tryin' to dramatisize his situation, makin people feel sorry for him before shrugging off the fact he worried 'em. He's matipulive, Rhyme."

"No! Not this time, Beat!" she socked his arm "You didn't see him on that couch...pale and...and dying. There were erasure lines crawling up his legs, even! It was like he wasn't...wasn't even there...like his body was a shell. Beat…" she sniffed and he drew her closer "Beat...I almost lost him."

"But you didn't. Prissy's still breathin' ain't he?" Her brother knelt to her eye level, holding her shoulders in his beefy hands and giving her a reassuring squeeze.

She lifted her soft eyes to his honest face and smiled softly

"Yeah."

The girl held her position, tears of relief trickling down her cheeks. She knew she had to tell her brother exactly why Joshua was still alive, but for the moment, she was content to just be close to his beating heart.