TWEWY: A Fall Into Honor:
This story is about how Joshua became the Composer. The story is from Joshua's point of view, and others if the story needs to. This is a prequel of the game The World Ends With You. TWEWY is made by Square Enix. This is a FAN FICTION and not the real prequel. Enjoy.
I'm really sorry that I haven't really posted any chapters for this story since almost a month ago! It's been really hard for me to shift between writing Izo, Joshua, and Ayumu in UF (Unsealed Fates) and A Fall Into Honor (AFIH) because the time phases are different. So it's difficult to maintain their characters in each story. =(
So… I planned a long chapter for being sorry of the wait you all went through! Hooray! =D
Also… Hooray for the very longest chapter I've ever written until now!
Week 1, Day 4:
Chapter 16: Matters Of Family:
"Never bring me into another store ever in my life Rei!" snarled Izo as he glowered at the ashen haired girl who only stuck out her tongue, the dark blue haired boy looked cross as he picked at his clashing clothing with disgust, "I loathe you! I loathe you Rei Shuito!"
Joshua could only look at his clothing feeling the same as Izo, shopping wasn't something he liked either, this might have been one of the second common things he had with Izo.
When he looked at his half brother, he looked as dull and hollow as ever.
A sudden heart sinking feeling hit Joshua 'Why did this have to happen? I need to find out how I can help Ayumu; he needs me now more than ever. He never let anyone but me help him with his clothing, except his mother. But… it's still a wonder how he got on the clothing that Rei gave us?'
"H-hey!" exclaimed Rei as she held up her hands as though she was caught red-handed, right away she furrowed an eyebrow when she protested softly "Did you want me to choose clothing that didn't fit?"
"You threw clothing at me!" retorted Izo as he stalked up to Rei and pushed her back, "It partly fit!"
Of course it seemed Rei wasn't happy with that so she grabbed his shoulders and lifted him up "We have limited time."
"I don't care mate!" growled Izo back when she put him down and turned her back to him, "Mate, you better start acting your age."
"And holding the doorframe while screaming like a little kid does?" jeered the brown eyed lady when before giggling.
Joshua sighed as he watched them, but at the same time they amused him. How they were acting was like any sibling relationship… He glanced at Ayumu and thought 'But… Ayumu hasn't been acting his normal self anymore, almost as though he was scarred by something. Why are you acting this way? Why Ayumu, why?'
Soon after awhile the pact stopped thankfully, but...
Izo adjusted his small oval glasses a bit as he spoke coldly "Quarrelling is pardon children perform. This won't exceedingly succor per the mission…"
"You would think so, right?" asked the ashen blond with a giggle.
Rei swung her arm around Izo with a sly grin imprinted on her face "Well sure! And by judging our time, we need to split up to make up for the lost time." she tapped her right palm over the blood timer "Aleck, you and Blindy should go to the Shibuki Main Store while me and Izo will go to Dogenzaka."
Joshua tilted his head to the side as he questioned, "Is there any reason you need to be there by any chance?"
"I want to spy on my folks." mumbled Rei as she shrugged, "In a good way… I want to see if they miss Izo or me. Y'know…"
"Hell no!" protested Izo as he began to edge away, "They wouldn't confess to miss me even if they were paid."
His partner blinked at him when she murmured startled "Paid or not, we took you in, fed you, and you say 'Hell no!' for that? Seriously?"
The boy stopped "You'll never be a sister of mine, we're only mates, friends in that matter. If you are not related by blood to me, then your abject family and imprudent you are not my family." for a second he snorted and kicked at the ground before he ran off in the direction of Dogenzaka.
"What!? Huh? Gah!" Rei sputtered as her eyes flew wide in dismay, she shook her head wildly before she spat "Izo Shuito! How could he say that?"
She made some riled clamors before she sprinted after him "Take that back!"
"Family be bad," said Ayumu absently as he stared in the direction the pact went; he blinked every few seconds.
Joshua sighed before shaking his head, he went over to Ayumu and ruffled his hair "Some families don't get along, it's what conflicts or arguments they have to hate each other."
"Hate." said Ayumu as he tilted his head up to Joshua, "Hate why, Josh."
A strong feeling of remorse came over Joshua and he put his hand on his young half brother's shoulder "It just… happens… I don't understand it either, Ayumu. And I like how our family gets along, you and me Ayu."
Just like Joshua, Ayumu could have a short form of his name. But every time it slipped out of his mouth, Ayumu would go crazy from how annoying it was to be called by a girl's name.
Since Joshua hated being called Josh, Ayumu hated being called Ayu.
But Joshua loved how cute it sounded when he said it.
"Nix Ayu." said Ayumu absently as he looked down sightlessly at his and Joshua's feet.
The older half brother felt like his jaw fell off 'WHAT?! How could he stay so calm and hollow after that!'
He froze stiffly.
Ayumu had taken a deep breath before he leaned forward and gave Joshua a hug, it felt weird since he never did bother to hug his brother. But Ayumu a lot of times hugged him instead.
Whenever Ayumu hugged him, he felt annoyed, and he felt warm from his half brother's love.
Slowly he felt himself calm down and feel warm and fuzzy inside, Ayumu's hugs always worked their charm on him. Even if he hated being hugged.
So after a few seconds Joshua drew away from Ayumu, who did nothing to protest and looked around "So, Shibuki Main Store… Ever wonder why Rei seems to leave, when we need a direction to a district?"
"Nix." said the younger blond as he glanced around.
'Still hollow and absent…' Joshua sighed as his heart sank.
For a while they stood in silence until Joshua broke it "Let's walk around for a bit until we see a sign."
Ayumu could only reply brokenly "'Kay."
Joshua started slow to make sure Ayumu could keep up; he never really spent time in other districts because he and Ayumu always lived in Cat Street. Some of the kids called him 'freak' and 'loner', but it might have been the truth.
When he checked the time they had, the blood red timer said they had 00:31:23 minutes and seconds left. He sighed.
Just as Joshua felt ready to give up, he saw a sign that read: Shibuki Main Store. The sign pointed to the opposite direction of Dogenzaka.
'Finally!' his lavender eyes drifted to Ayumu who was right behind him glancing around while he picked at his clothing, "I found the sign, Let's go."
Ayumu did a nod and Joshua started to walk the direction they had to go.
The next second he fell backwards and landed on his back, he stared up at Ayumu who stared back with his pewter eyes. Before Joshua could open his mouth to speak, he heard someone call "By now, you should have guessed there would be walls waiting anywhere for you."
For a few seconds Joshua grumbled before he rolled onto his stomach and got up, he looked at the person who spoke.
It was a Reaper by the looks of it.
The Reaper wore a dark brownish grey hoodie who wore sunglasses, around his neck was cheery red headphones had hung limply.
A second passed before he took off his glasses to reveal misty jade eyes "My, the first players I've seen today. What pleasure do I owe?"
"I think you owe yourself," replied Joshua politely a bit amused by how friendly he was.
The headphone Reaper nodded curtly without a word.
"So…" started Joshua as he tilted his head a bit, "Since there is a wall, what task do we ever gain to pass Mr. Reaper."
The headphone Reaper blinked his misty jade eyes before he mused "Hmm… Something suitable for you, not the reckless narrow-minded role of erasing those pathetic Noise from the other foolish Reapers…"
The ashen blond blinked at him as he queried "And that would be…?"
"Perhaps a little chat would do," suggested the headphone Reaper as he slowly slipped back on his sunglasses, "Not dissatisfying to you?"
"Why not." said Joshua as he shrugged a little.
Before he could say anything else, he felt someone grab the back of his arm "Josh…"
He turned his head to look at Ayumu who blankly gazed back "Now, leave… Now, please…" how hollow it sounded made Joshua's stomach churn. But what Ayumu said made no sense.
"I guess he is a little impatient, huh?" mused the headphone Reaper with a chuckle.
Joshua bit his lip before he pulled his arm away from his half brother, "We will Ayumu, don't worry. We still have a lot of time, so what's the hurry?"
"Now…" said Ayumu blinking looking towards the invisible wall, "Now…"
By now he was starting to get annoyed how Ayumu was acting, he never saw him want to leave any area ever since they woke up in the UG. So he frowned at him, as he sternly spoke "Ayumu, we can't leave until this Reaper opens up the wall. Please, can you just be quiet and wait patiently!?"
The younger blond fell silent and looked at the ground.
"Sorry about that." said Joshua as he looked at the headphone Reaper with a nod, "He's just been so… weird lately."
The headphone Reaper raised his hand up and dipped his head "Quite understandable, who would want to have a chat with a Reaper?"
Joshua giggled a bit smiling "True."
After a few moments the headphone Reaper started "Ok, what do you think of the Reaper's Game so far?"
"Nearly just like I hoped it would be." replied Joshua as he pushed some of his scraggly bangs to the side.
"Oh?" the headphone Reaper slowly put his hand on his glasses and held onto the rim "Are you implying that you knew about it already?"
The scraggly haired teen nodded "I've seen the game before I knew what the Reaper's Game was."
For a second the headphone Reaper was silent until he mused, "That's interesting. Do you mean you saw it before when you were alive?"
"Yes."
He chuckled a moment before smirking at Joshua "How long have you seen it? By that I mean age?"
"You could say that I noticed the game when I was between 4 and 5," explained Joshua as he raised his hands face up while making them move up and down "I saw that they could go though people without making a commotion and there were weird animals that they fought, initially. After awhile I found out they were the Noise and the people fighting them were players. It was amazing but eerie I guess…"
"Splendid," replied the headphone Reaper before he flicked his hand in a circle before pointing at Joshua "Did other people react the same way as you?"
It took awhile until Joshua responded politely "They thought I was a freak."
"Very sad." mused the headphone Reaper, "It makes sense because RG people can't see our game, but for you to see it… Is fascinating."
He sighed before taking out a pin, a second later a clicking sound from a door could be heard "Well then, that was a good talk. I shall not keep players such as yourselves with a Reaper like me all day."
Joshua dipped his head politely "That would be the veracity of it."
"Go, now." said Ayumu as he looked at the ground still.
The ashen blond turned around and ruffled his hair "That's right Ayumu, now, we can go."
"You two have quite a good friendship," remarked the headphone Reaper as he looked at them smirking, "Never have I seen a tight bond between two friends."
Joshua was silent for a moment before he turned around to face the Reaper "We are not friends, we are half brothers."
A chuckle came from the Reaper "Ah. Deep apologies."
"It's okay," replied Joshua before he started to amble the way they had to go, "We're leaving now, Ayumu."
Ayumu was still staring at the ground but then he looked up at the headphone Reaper "I know you…"
"Hmm…" the Reaper held onto his chin shaking his head "Sorry, but I think you must be mistaking me for someone else."
Right away Joshua grabbed onto Ayumu's hand and pulled him away.
When they got to Shibuki Main Store Joshua sighed, "Why were you so bothersome back there?"
"Nix was." replied Ayumu hollowly as he looked up at the sky.
'Jeez…' thought Joshua shaking his head as he watched his brother 'Why can't you act normal? It's starting to bug and vex me…'
"Sorry…" suddenly said Ayumu which made Joshua jerk up his head startled and look at him, "Huh, what? What are you sorry for, Ayumu? I didn't say anything to make y-"
Ayumu shook his head slowly "Nix. Said 'bug and vex me…'."
Now Joshua understood, Ayumu was just reading his mind. That's all.
He felt that he shouldn't think about that around Ayumu anymore, whatever he could think might hurt Ayumu's feelings.
Taking a deep breath he murmured, "I should be the one to say sorry, I need to think of more positive things and stop worrying too much. But it's so hard…"
He stopped when Ayumu ignored him by looking at the sky again, "Uh… Were you listening to me?"
Still Ayumu didn't show any response making Joshua nervous but irritated; he just expressed his feelings yet Ayumu rudely didn't care. Slowly he clenched his fists as he turned away "If you don't want to talk, that's fine."
He made another sigh before getting out his Player's Pin. The black pin with the familiar white skull seemed to taunt him suddenly, for a second he felt something cold roll down his cheek. He touched his face lightly only to see it wasn't sweat thankfully, it was only tears.
For a long while, Joshua forgot what it was like to cry. The last time was… when his parents died. And Ayumu wept and grieved the hardest than anyone who attended the funeral.
With a shake of his head and brushing away newly formed tears, he closed his fist with the pin and closed his eyes.
The next second he found that he was Scanning the area.
He found some Noise very quickly and grouped 2 chains to fight before he hurried back to Ayumu, when he stopped Scanning and blinked as he spoke "Heads up Ayumu, the Noise are coming."
"'Kay…" Joshua was relieved when his half brother finally spoke.
Before he could say anything he saw two red Noise symbols appear in front of them and Joshua crouched "Time for a little playtime…"
Brilliant light surrounded them and the next second they were in the area of combat.
He saw four red bats with tabooed wings with glowing yellow eyes and two light green mink Noise that had brighter claw-like wings that had dark red eyes.
Joshua right away darted sideways as the Bat Noise flew at him by charging in the air, he snorted as he evaded each advance they gave him before he taunted, "I'm not batty for bats, they annoy me."
All of them let out shrieks and started to charge at him again as he giggled, "You really are slow, why bother flying?"
Fluently he dodged them until they split up in two groups, two bats for each.
He smirked as he mused "Smart move, but you can't catch up."
Quickly he dodged, sidestepped, and leapt back as each group did the airborne assaults, he felt amused that they couldn't land a scratch on him. Noise were dumb, he could anticipate their every move blindfolded.
When he started to grow tired of evading and dodging he made energy go through his veins, as soon as he felt he had enough power for the pin, he used his Star Blight Pin.
"Bye-bye, batties!" he taunted as he clenched his hands before opening them, the same light from yesterday came down from the sky and hit the Bat Noise like a celestial shower of power. He watched, as their body outlines vanished into fade and erasure.
He flicked his hand between his nose and mouth "Heh, easy. That was fun…"
Without another thought he looked over to find Ayumu before he ran over.
His brother was caught between both Mink Noise as they seemed to spin around at the same time like a whirlwind, Joshua knew that it looked like they trapped Ayumu where he couldn't escape.
With a snort he charged up his Transflaration Pin. As soon as the colbolt fire was ablaze in his hand he lifted it up psychicly and clenched his fists, the fire warped a bit until it changed into a brilliant fiery orange color.
Even standing nearby it felt like he actually was standing in it, so he clenched his fists more before scattering the flames at the Mink Noise.
As soon as the fire hit them they flung themselves at random and rolled around pathetically. Joshua giggled at this until he froze in horror.
He accidently hit Ayumu as well…
Ayumu just stood there as the fire burned his skin, Joshua numbly watched in horror until he ran up to him and used his Breezifreeze Pin on him. He formed a shield of ice on Ayumu and waited as sizzling was heard and he saw steam.
After a few moments he used his Transflaration Pin to melt the ice.
He sighed in relief, as Ayumu didn't look too hurt or burned. Ayumu only looked at him blinking his pewter eyes "Ta."
"No problem," murmured Joshua before he added softer "You scared me… Why did you just stand there and do nothing as you got burned?"
"Nix, hurt." replied Ayumu before pointing "Gone…"
Joshua looked where he pointed to see light particles floating into the sky "Ah, there they go. Rest in peace."
Suddenly a flash shot through his eyes and more Noise appeared, the second chain and last part of the battle.
This time there was a grey Wolf Noise with a blue tabooed tail and front paws, three Frog Noise with blue tabooed hind legs, a golden Shrew Noise with grey claws, and a pale pink Pig Noise with magenta tabooed limps, tail, and ears.
Right away Joshua did a curt nod to Ayumu before he targeted the Garage Wolf, he decided to name each Noise to remember them better for the time being. He first used his Breezifreeze Pin to surround himself in a shield of ice, when the Garage Wolf charged it only crashed into the shield and howl furiously.
With a smirk he psychically broke the shield into ice shards and shot them all at the Garage Wolf Noise, the Noise for a while was knocking back the shards or destroying them by biting through each one.
But soon it was caught off guard and got piled by the ice.
Joshua knew it wouldn't stay there too long so he ran far from it to target the Dixifrog Noise next.
Upon arriving in front of them they all jumped at him with their strong legs, he merely just sidestepped as each one hopped in confusion. He took his chance and used his Transflaration Pin right away.
When he consumed them all with flames, he leapt back to avoid the Garage Wolf that recovered from his attack from before.
The Garage Wolf snarled as it charged at him, Joshua narrowed his eyes as he yelled, "The big bad wolf goes down!"
He used his Star Blight Pin on the Garage Wolf and it erased in that one attack.
'Hmm… Why is this pin so powerful?' wondered Joshua as he looked around for a new target, 'Whenever I use this pin, I feel very certain and powerful? How confusing and good.'
A snort made him look down, the Pig Noise cringed when he looked at it before squealing and fleeing.
With a sigh he summoned his fire from his Transflaration Pin and fried the Pig Noise.
"Samba Pig…" whispered Joshua feeling that was the right name.
Before anything else happened he saw something floating down, it spun around until it fell into his hands. When it stopped glowing Joshua saw that it was a silver pin with snowy white cartoonish swirls from wind.
Right away he equipped the pin with his other three pins.
'So the Samba Pig gives pins?' thought Joshua mindfully looking for Ayumu and the last Noise, 'I guess it's better than just three.'
After searching the combat area he found his half brother fighting the Shrew Wave Noise, it suddenly leapt up in the air before diving down at the ground. It dug down and disappeared.
Joshua got to Ayumu as he saw him panting softly "Tired?"
"Aye…" panted Ayumu as he suddenly looked up "Behind you."
The scraggly haired teen turned swiftly just as the Shrew Wave burst from the ground and flew at him, before he knew it he felt energy go through his veins and a gust of wind shot through his hands. The wave of wind hit the incoming Noise and blown it backwards.
The Shrew Wave was blown right into a wall and erased immediately upon contact.
Joshua let out a sigh of relief before a ray of light engulfed him and Ayumu.
They were back in the Shibuki Main Store district and Joshua felt like sleeping, his shoulder that he hurt yesterday no longer ached. And the one thing he was amazed by was that he wasn't hurt from fighting.
But he guessed it was because he got stronger and that the Noise were one of the weak types.
Ayumu was still panting as he spoke "Done..."
"Maybe…" panted Joshua as he looked at his palm; the blood red timer was still there.
Suddenly a flash shot into his vision and the timer was gone.
'Izo, Rei, and the other players must have finished fighting as well.' thought the lavender eyed teen as he closed his eyes 'Finally… We can get rid of these ridiculous clothing!'
He smiled at Ayumu as he wheezed, "Let's go back to the 104 building and meet up with Rei and Izo… Hah, hah, hah…" he panted near the end harder than a second ago.
Ayumu looked at him and nodded curtly "'Kay…"
Just as he was about to amble the way to 104 building, he froze.
The headphone Reaper was striding towards them with his sunglasses looking ready to fall off, he had a sulking expression on his face when he saw them "There you are."
"Miss us?" asked Joshua as he tilted his head to one side in confusion.
The headphone Reaper pulled off his sunglasses, his misty jade eyes were hardened and dark when he looked at Joshua "Excuse me, I need to be sure but… Is your brother's name, Ayumu Ki?"
"Yes, that's right," replied Joshua nodding curtly, he gave a nervous glance at Ayumu before he asked "Is there something the matter with who he is?"
The headphone Reaper let out a heart sank sigh "Ho boy… How horrible…"
Joshua furrowed a eye brow at the Reaper "Huh? What are you trying to say?"
It was awhile until the Reaper ignored the question with his own "Has he been acting, weird... since the beginning of the week? Was he different before the Reaper's Game."
What he said made Joshua gasp and he stiffly looked at his half brother, he bit his lip as he sadly murmured, "He used to be cheerful and moody. Does it matter what I answer for the first question?"
"It is dire information to determine what I just found," replied the headphone Reaper dolefully.
Joshua's lip quivered as he responded "Y-Y-Yes…"
"Then what I'm about to say will be blunt and holds very limited sympathy," explained the headphone Reaper as his misty jade green eyes flashed. He rubbed the back of his hood before he firmly spoke "Joshua, do you know what a entry fee is?"
The ashen blond took a deep breath as Sanae's words came back to him again 'The Composer uses entry fees for players in the Reaper's Game.' he never did pay attention to that lecture so he half knew what it was. With another painful deep breath he spoke "I only know that a entry fee is for players in the Reaper's Game."
"A entry fee allows a player to play the game," clarified the headphone Reaper firmly before he went on "It takes something that the player values the most, it can only be won back if you win the Reaper's Game."
He felt a better image of what it was, but… But how did this…
"And I'm sorry to say," said the headphone Reaper, "That two entry fees, concern your half brother…"
Joshua only half heard him; he stared bleakly at him when he asked in dread "I don't u-u-understand…"
The headphone Reaper sighed shaking his head, his eyes were dark with worry "Sorry. I pried in the Conductor's files he had been carrying this morning. There were two of them, yours and Ayumu's. I saw what each entry fee was."
"T-Tell m-me…" weakly said Joshua as he slowly moved towards him unsteadily, he couldn't process what was happening but only one thing mattered "W-What were the e-entry f-fees? I need to know! For Ayumu's sake! Please..." he reached the Reaper feeling so fraught as he shrieked "What were the entry fees!?"
"One was being able to communicate with people," dryly said the headphone Reaper, "The other was… Ayumu's emotions."
To be continued… Hope you enjoyed the chapter…