So Sorry, forgot that pesky disclaimer: I own nothing except zero. Anyone who wants to sue is a Hectopascal!
The thunder and lightning raged outside, The wind blew so hard, it rattled the windows and whipped the rain like bullets on the glass. It was as if Shibuya herself was trying to tear the house apart to reconnect with her Composer.
Neku somehow doubted that that wasn't the case.
It had been three hours since he'd brought the ragged, sickly boy into his house, fed him, got him dry and warm, and put ice on his head to bting down his fever. The fever-bright violet eyes opened periodically, followed by a snide comment or prissy teasing remark almost every time before the orbs closed again. Neku would ordinarily feel insulted or affronted, but this was Joshua and he was naturally a pain in the ass. So the ginger ignored his ire and just lightly bantered with the sick Composer until the latter was dragged back into darkness.
The once-proxy was still very puzzled as to why Joshua had ended up in this condition, and he was obviously not getting any answers from the Composer right then. Sighing, the orange haired teen descided to call the only other person who could possibly know what had happened.
Digging into Josh's pockets, Neku fished out the teen's cellphone and got the number for the barista of WildCat Café. After about four rings, the cheery voice of Mr. H finally greeted his ears,
"Hey Phones! Great to hear from you!"
"What the hell happened to Joshua?!" Neku demanded lividly "Come on, Mister H, I know you know."
The man on the other end of the line paused, and the teen imagined him running a hand through his hair.
"Are you alone?"
"The hell does that have to do with—"
"I can't discuss this over the phone, Phones." Hanekoma said softly "Are you alone?"
Neku ground his teeth "Yeah. I moved out about a week ago."
"I'll be right over."
Without another word, CAT hung up. A gap of exactly ten minutes passed, and then there was a soft knock on the door.
"It's open" Neku called softly, wiping sweat and heat from the pale-locked forehead of his patient with an icy towel. A hand fell on his shoulder, and the normally cheery voice of the barista shook with sorrowed concern.
"Oh J...I knew they were pissed at you...but to have them punish you this harshly..."
"Who? Who the HELL did this to him?!" Neku snarled.
"The only beings that could, naturally." The man said, sitting next to Neku on a stool.
"The chain of command doesn't stop at the Composer, kid. A fact Josh has trouble remembering until he does something to piss those higher than him off. With my help, he manages to behave himself somewhat, but believe it or not, that Game you played? It really, really pissed the Higher Plane off. Oh sure, at first they allowed our dear Composer to battle his conductor, because they found it curiously entertaining. But the end result was not something they tolerated."
"Wait...they wanted Joshua to destroy Shibuya?! The HELL!"
"No! No, that wasn't the case. The problem was that, to put it plainly...Josh brought you and your friends back to the RG, even though you essentially lost the Game. There were other issues that ticked them off, but those deal with me and the desciasions I made during the Game, but that's beside the point. Point is, Josh unwittingly caused an imbalance. Even though I knew he was going to be punished for it, I never thought it would be this bad."
Neku digested this information as he flipped his friend onto his stomach so he could expel more liquids and blood by hacking them onto the floor. Sanae cringed at the sight, shaking his head and looking up, a pained expression on his face before Neku got his attention again.
"I know he's a prick, but isn't this a bit...overdoing it? I found him lying in a puddle, looking like he'd been flung off the top of 104! What the hell did those 'higher plane' bastards do to him?!"
The man, despite the grimness of the situation, suddenly chuckled lightly. At Neku's scalding glare, Sanae cocked his head and explained,
"Well, from what I just scanned from J's memory, that's practically what happened. Except instead of 104,he was chucked out of the courtroom in the sky and forced out of the UG. His true form was stripped from him on the way down, except for some odd reason for his wings, and all of that was after he was flogged into a fever and robbed of half his strength. When he hit the ground, he was fully in the RG, and it broke his body. That must be when he passed out, because the memory stops."
Neku just sat, horrified, but something stuck out to him
"He should be dead! Those bastards could have killed him!"
"I'm pretty sure they aloud him to keep the majority of his Composer abilities. This wasn't an execution, and they know damn well what would happen if Shibuya was without a Composer. J obviously was able to cushion his fall, but apparently not by much. I expect he's got a few things loose inside, hence the blood he keeps spitting out."
Sanae stood up and went to the window, gazing out at the raging storm with a sigh.
"Shibuya is none too pleased. She's raging and crying and throwing a fit. Her Composer's song is weak and growing silent, She aches to comfort him with her melody, but he remains deaf to her song."
Neku looked at him with a raised eyebrow
"Maybe stick with art, Mr. H. Your poetry needs work."
The man chuckled "Maybe so, but it's true. Kid, don't tell me you don't sense the deep connection between Josh and Shibuya."
The boy snorted "Yeah right. He's so connected to the city, he was willing to destroy it."
Sanae narrowed his eyes "Kid, have you ever wondered why Josh sometimes boasts that 'he is Shibuya'? That descision he made, after your game? It saved more than Shibuya itself."
Neku's eyes widened as understanding crept into his mind. He looked at the shivering, comatose body on the couch. He listened to the howling wind outside, the rain pelting the windows like ice shards trying to break the glass. He looked back to his once partner and swallowed hard as realization spread on his face.
"Joshua would have taken himself out with the city if he hadn't changed his mind. His sparing Shibuya...spared himself. He decided not to die."
"Bravo, Phones. Now you understand."