The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

Third Tag Color: White

When next Rhyme awoke, she found that again she was leaning against the crumbling ruins of CAT's famous mural. This time, however, she was also leaning against Neku. Squinting over at him through the dingy darkness of the poorly lit back streets, she saw that he was still peacefully asleep. Her eyes made a trail down to his hands, and she found that he was tightly clutching them closed.

Curious now, Rhyme gently pried open one of his hands and found, to her mild surprise, that he was holding on to a fist full of Pins. Pulling away from him and rubbing her eyes, she sighed. She was still scared, too. Though, she couldn't help but feel a little better knowing that she had Neku for a partner, who had survived three weeks of hell during the first Game.

She choked on that thought. The first Game. Before now, she had never even considered it that way. It used to be known as 'that dark month' between her and the others who had managed to make it through, but now it was nothing more than the first Game. Funny how quickly things can change in a matter of days. She dimly hoped that one day she would be able to view back to her current situation as the second time she had to suffer through the Game.

Gently she shook Neku, calling his name softly and trying to wake him. He awoke with a violent start, holding up one of his fist full of Pins. "Something out there?" he growled at Rhyme. Her hands stayed on his arm until he finally looked at her, and silently Rhyme shook her head no with a small smile touching her lips. "Oh, alright," he yawned, relaxing and giving a long stretch. After he was fully awake, he glanced up towards the wall to get a bearing on his surrounds, and his expression fell.

"You know, this is sort of odd for a Game. I don't remember waking up by this painting so many times in a row," he said out loud, getting up to his feet. Rhyme stood up as well, putting in her two cents, "I think that maybe we should leave this area and try to get to a more populated area. This… emptiness is a little overwhelming." She peered around the empty darkness, quietly emphasizing her point with her timid blue gaze.

Neku agreed with a nod of his head, flicking a Psych Pin with his thumb and catching it in his hand. "Alright, let's head to Shibu-Q Heads and see if there's anyone around there," he said while meeting Rhyme's eyes. He started to walk, and Rhyme quickly moved to follow, staying right by the taller boy's side.

The ruined wall with the graffiti of Ghost Cat quickly vanished from sight, darkness pressing in all around the two. Rhyme leaned in more against Neku, quietly grabbing his arm and holding it while they walked. She didn't want to admit it, but she was terrified of that darkness. At least it was quiet… for the moment.

After several minutes of nothing but eerie silence and crumbling buildings all around, Rhyme let out a breath. "There aren't even any Reapers or any walls to get through. This is so strange!" she said. Neku gave a nod, "Yeah, this doesn't make sense. We haven't got a message yet either, so I'm suspecting that we'll have to figure out the mission for our selves." Rhyme kept to herself the observation of how utterly alone they were in the ruins of Shibuya. There didn't seem to even be any other Players! It was just Neku and Rhyme, completely alone in the dark city.

"Hey, Neku…" Rhyme whispered, leaning in closer to Neku. He paused and tilted his head down towards Rhyme. "…Do you think we're at Shibu-Q Heads yet?" Without giving an immediate response, Neku stood straight again and squinted out into the darkness. The lighting was so poor he couldn't even make out what the caved in buildings near him used to be.

Giving a small shrug, Neku replied, "To be honest… I'm not sure. I can't see a damn thing…" He pulled forth a Pin from his pocket while he spoke. Holding it before him on his open palm, he called the Psych within and created a small burning ball of fire that hovered precariously over the Pin. Even with the light of the burning flame, their scope of sight was as limited as before.

"…Wow," was all Neku could manage, closing his fist to extinguish the flame and putting the Pin away. It seemed the only choice they had was to continue stumbling around, near blind thanks to some unspoken Rule of the Game. "I guess… the only thing we can do is keep going forward," Rhyme whispered hesitantly, straining her eyes in an attempt to see what was around them.

So they did just that, Neku taking a few steps forward, then a few more. Rhyme stuck fast to him, torn between hiding her face against Neku's arm and staring out at the bleak nothingness that she could see. The silence was deadly menacing, nearing on madness. Just when Rhyme thought that she couldn't take one more step forward into the unknown, something seemed to materialize before her.

"Neku… look," she whispered, nearly mesmerized by the soft white glow that grew brighter. He had already seen it though, and his entire body had become rigid. Rhyme's hand slid down his arm to stop around his fist, and she faintly thought she could feel something warm oozing from between his fingers. Neku was watching the light, holding the pins so hard that they were cutting into the skin of his hand.

As the two Players watched the strange growing light, the glow rapidly took shape – two shapes, actually. Right before Rhyme's eyes, the light formed into a pair of stunning, sleek angelic wings. "Oh, so beautiful…" Rhyme faintly muttered, subconsciously taking a step towards that tantalizing blue-white light.

"What the fu-" Neku started, but before he could finish, the wings of light gave a mighty flap – and then took off. Without thinking, both Neku and Rhyme gave chase, following the glowing wings as they glided and zoomed through the black ruins of Shibuya. The two Players could not see where they were going. The only thing that filled their vision was the sight of those glowing wings leading them through the city. As long as they followed the same winding path, they didn't hit any walls, invisible or otherwise.

Panting hard after what felt like hours of hard running on debris covered concrete, Rhyme gasped, "Wh-where do you think we're headed?" Thanks to the many sudden turns, Rhyme had long since lost the mental map she kept of Shibuya's twists and streets, leaving her at a loss to their location. Without thinking Neku muttered, "Scramble Crossing," under his breath, but he would not elaborate when Rhyme asked why he thought so.

Another stretch of unrecognizable time passed with nothing but haggard running and those elusive glowing wings. By the time Rhyme was ready to drop to the ground in a mound of gasping exhaustion, the wings stopped suddenly. They hovered several feet above the street, utterly still. Then they gave another slow flap, and started to fade from sight. "What in the hell is going on?!" Neku screamed up at the black nothingness above. An instant later, he got a reply that made him wish he would have kept his mouth shut.

From above, a shrill cry that made their ears ring hard enough to hurt sounded. Rhyme groaned, covering her ears and squatting down low to the ground, fearing an aerial attack. Beside her Neku was already readying a few choice Pins. "Come on, Rhyme. We have no choice but to fight whatever's out there now," he whispered encouragingly, though it was hard to take strength from a trembling voice.

This time when Neku used the fireball Pin, the glow threw back some of the oppressive darkness and revealed to the Players their adversary. Rhyme only glanced at it for a moment before she had to turn away to struggle with the dry heaves. Somehow defying gravity above them, a giant bird like creature flew above them.

From its slow flapping torso with huge wings that well exceeded twenty feet in total length, a gross misinterpretation of a neck dangled almost to the ground. At the bottom of the boney length of spinal cord hung a menacing head, wide glowing eyes blazing fierce and long sharp beak snapping between the shrill cries. The head jerked irregularly in random directions, as if the bird were trying to lift it to peer at its prey evenly. Neku grimly noted that the shape of the bird creature's head almost resembled a great owl, if the bird's feathers were instead replaced with gleaming, bloody bone tips ripping through skin.

Extending below the flapping wings in the torso were the monster's long legs and sharp talons. From the talons oozed a faintly glowing substance. Rhyme did not want to find out what that substance was or what it could do if it made physical contact. Emitting from the bird beast like a foul aura came a nauseating smell of stomach acid and charcoal. It seemed impossible that the thing could even be flying.

Not wasting any time, Neku began to release the fireballs from his bloody hand, sending them right towards the greasy mass of bird. It couldn't move fast enough to dodge, crying out in pain and shuddering. The fireballs exploded against the beast with mighty cracks, Neku not relenting in his attack. Rhyme gently grasped her pendant, but it wouldn't chime under her touch. It seemed the maddening shriek of the monster put a block on her accessing her Psych.

Her body froze as she realized that Neku was just buying time for her devastating blast of power. He looked over his shoulder after a moment, the question obvious in his eyes about her shot. She shook her head and opened her mouth to try to explain, but instead a scream poured forth as she pointed at the beast. Neku turned just in time to see the extended talons as they struck him full force in the chest. He couldn't even manage a grunt as all of the air was forced out of his lungs and he was sent flying into the graveled street. The glowing ooze from the monster's claws ate at his shirt and burned hotly against his skin, but he didn't even notice as he struggled to his feet, making a weird gasping cough.

When he glared at Rhyme with accusation in his eyes, it took all she had to keep from crying. "That thing blocks my Psych!" she finally managed to scream at him, and when he understood that he would have to fight solo, the rage at Rhyme left his eyes. He turned away as he swapped Pins, holding a quick healing Pin in his left hand while he readied several projectile Psych Pins in his bloody right.

After its first attack the monster had landed on the ground and flopped around for a moment, completely helpless. Neku took the prime opportunity to aim right for the beast's head, sending it flying in all directions like a sick bouncing ball toy tied to a string. While it took the hits from Neku, its body shuddered and popped wetly. A moment later and two thick legs had erupted from the torso in between the talon edged legs. The monster stood up on these new legs, folding up its wings against its body and flexing its oozing claws. This new mode of transportation left the monster's head to drag behind its body on the ground, but its legs were built for rapid speed.

Giving another shrill cry, the bird beast started on a mad charge towards Neku and Rhyme, claws out and ready. Neku healed himself as he waited for the other Pins to reboot, watching the sick torso as it raged closer. This time when he raised his glowing right hand to shoot, he aimed for the glowing claws of the monster.

The blasts of fire and lightning, giant ninja stars comprised of bright green light and balls of glowing water all struck the talons of the beast, and exploded in a masterful display of colors. Neku lowered his hand and closed his eyes against the painfully bright lights, knowing that once it had cleared, he would be victor.

True to his prediction, once all of the light had faded and Rhyme could see clearly again, the hideous twist of torso and limbs lay on its side in the middle of Scramble Crossing, dead. Already the darkness was quickly retreating, leaving behind the familiar blue skies of day. Rhyme stared up at that sky, tears in her eyes. Her whole body was shaking. It wasn't fair. The Game wasn't supposed to be set up like this, with monsters that could make her completely helpless.

"I'm sorry, Neku," she sobbed, sinking to her knees as the boy turned to see her tears. "I couldn't do anything. You were hurt and I couldn't do a damn thing about it!" She pounded her fists against the concrete, gritting her teeth to hold in her screams of frustration.

Neku kneeled down by Rhyme, lightly laying a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Rhyme. We cleared today's mission, that's all that matters!" he said while holding out his already beeping phone with the message of success. She looked up at him and he pulled away some from the blazing emotion in her dusty blue eyes.

"Yeah? We cleared the mission? What if we come across something else like that, where one of us is left to do all of the fighting and protecting while the other stands on, a defenseless idiot?!" Before Neku had a chance to think of a reply, Rhyme turned her gaze up towards that blue sky, and she screamed for whoever was listening, "Are you listening?! This is fucking unfair! This isn't how the Game is controlled! This is cheeeeaaaating!!"

Slumping forward onto all fours, Rhyme was reduced to sobbing into her arms, the crumbling empty shops of Shibuya pressing in all around, jeering at her in her powerless state. Unsure of what to say, Neku ran his fingers through his hair. He was never good at trying to comfort someone; it was still a skill he had yet to gain. All he could do was kneel beside the girl and sort of pat her heaving shoulders, listening to her sorrowful cries.

- End Day 2