Histoire: Mind the Gaps (French version available : "Intervalles")
Date: published 20 december 2022
Beta: None
Fandom: The World End With You
Avertissement: No, I don't own TWEWY and I'm not making any profit from this story.
Résumé: Just after the Long Game, Joshua saved and resurrected the rest of the Hashiko gang but was condemned by the Angels for his actions: He is confined to Shibuya and half of his powers have been sealed. Neku dies again but without his powers, Joshua cannot resurrect him. He takes him to safety anyway, which leads to M.H being banished by the Angels. Joshua is left alone to manage Shibuya, well not quite since he's got Shinjuku's scum on his hands. Months pass, Joshua is struggling to manage the UG without Sanae and Kitaniji and Shiki and the other reach out with an offer of friendship.
Trigger du chapitre: None I can think of
Once again, "Father" was most certainly quite heavily influenced by Gramophoneturtles own Father and Mother OC on tumblr, go check it out!
Enjoy your reading!
Joshua was sitting on the throne in the Hall of Reckoning, knee crossed and fingers playing a random song on his lap. Well, random wasn't the word, it was actually the soul song of his brand new Reaper.
As he had predicted, Mikan Hanako, fourteen years old and far too mature for her age had won the Game. And as he had also suspected, she had jumped at his offer to become a Reaper. Of course, because of his Tuners, and their stupid rules, he'd had to put aside her Initiation until one of them came to him. Which they had definitely not done monthly as Mother had indicated. On the one hand, it wasn't so bad, one couldn't say that Joshua was missing their visit, on the other hand... His Conductor hadn't been very happy about this fact. It must be said that they were severely short of Reaper and new deadpower without delay would have been well needed. Fortunately, Father had finally come through today so Joshua had carefully brought the six selected players from the first Game and the four from the second out of stasis. There was no one left from the third. For those who hadn't quite earned their way back to life but had a strong enough Vibe to become a Reaper, it had been simple. All they had to do was to offer them Erasure or the job and 99% of the time, that did the trick. This time it did not fail and the two of the first group as well as the only one of the second accepted without any fuss. All Father had to do was pull their wings out and give them enough energy to sustain their existence without hunting for the next six months and that was it. Without delay, Kariya had come for the three new Wall-Reaper apprentices, suspiciously silent and eyes jumping to Father before avoiding him just as quickly. He had hurriedly guided them to the Dead God Pad, bringing them to Uzuki for their initiation allowing Joshua to focus on the second small group.
Seven people ranging in age from fourteen to forty-two were facing him. For them, there was one more choice: Erasure, being a Reaper, or resurrection. Unsurprisingly, five of them chose life without hesitation and it had only taken Father a snap of his fingers to grant it to them.
For the other two it had been a little more complicated. The man, a slightly helpless but incredibly kind-hearted thirty-year-old, had had great difficulty accepting the decision of his partner, Hanako. He had begged her again and again to come back to life with him. He had promised her that he would help her out of her catastrophic family situation. But the girl had shaken her head with a sad smile. Joshua understood her point of view, he had seen in her memories that several people had already tried to help her but they had never been able to do anything against her overpowering father. Politicians had a long reach and it wasn't a couple of schoolteachers, a babysitter and an overzealous librarian who could do anything about it. So a florist in his thirties who had no reason in the RG to know the girl and her family situation? No, of course she couldn't believe it and Joshua understood her. She'd ended up asking the composer to resurrect her partner, interrupting him when he started to say that he would stay with her, that he would become a Reaper by her side. She had shaken her head violently, begging him to live his dream, and she had promised him that she would be his first customer when he finally opened his own flower shop.
Father had watched the whole drama with an infinitely curious air. It must have been years since he had observed humans so closely. Joshua would have ended the show minutes earlier otherwise. This discussion was mainly for Hanako to mourn her life (which wasn't that hard) and especially the almost familial relationship with her partner (which was much more difficult) and she had done so as soon as she had explained her reasons and said goodbye. Her partner wouldn't remember anything once she was back to life. Not consciously anyway. The changes and accomplishments made during the Game would remain, and as with all former players, Joshua would keep an eye on them and help them behind the scenes with their plans, especially now that Shibuya's survival depended on their imagination.
Neku and the others... that had been an exception. It was always an exception, Joshua realized. Even now, he'd agreed to hang out with Shiki and the others in the RG the following week, something he hadn't done since his own death and certainly wouldn't do with other living peoples. But it wasn't the same, they had his pact, he reassured himself before suddenly remembering where he was. Cursing himself for his flighty thoughts, he considered what to do. Father wouldn't appreciate the interruption, and Joshua preferred to keep him in the best of moods, even if he'd given up on asking for his powers back for the foreseeable future. But continuing like this for Hanako with her partner's pleas was more torture than anything else for her. She was only fourteen after all and already had too many problems with authority so to continue to say no to an adult she finally respected? He could feel her resolve crumbling without even listening to her music.
Nothing changed outwardly, Joshua remained carefully seated on his throne in his composer form and did not move a muscle. His Timbre, on the other hand, carefully patted the Angel's timbre as he slumped on Joshua's armrest. Not that he was visible to the players, of course. For one thing, it wouldn't help the omnipotent God vibe he liked to project to have what looked like a poorly dressed thirty-something curled up like a cat next to him. Secondly, the Angel was on a plane too high for them to see anyway. Even Joshua had trouble perceiving it, the Angel looking more like a blurry mass of light that made his head hurt than the well-defined being he was used to. With his powers so limited, Joshua wouldn't be surprised if even Kariya could see him more clearly than he could. The Tuner responded to his gesture by carefully wrapping his own Vibe around the vine that had come to tap him. After many years at the job, and especially knowing that it was Father himself who had patiently taught Joshua the rudiments of Angelic language, he had no trouble translating that as agreement. Agreement quickly confirmed when Father waved his fingers and the Florist disappeared in mid-sentence. The Composer winced at the shocked look on Mikan Hanako's face, this wasn't going to help her transition, that was for sure... With a sigh, he called Kariya back and he came to lead the new recruit with the others and Joshua found himself alone again in the Hall of Reckoning.
Well, alone... with the Tuner.
The latter took advantage of the fact that he no longer had an audience to unfortunately start bothering Joshua again. It was as if he didn't care that the Composer still had an infamous pile of urgent duties to do after these new resurrections.
"Well, that was interesting." He said cheerfully as he leaned forward, patting Joshua's shoulder with what must have been his hand. The Composer turned his head towards him, instinctively trying to raise up a plan when he saw his light before hissing in pain as he bounced off the block of his powers. "Oh, yes that's right, I forgot how weak you are right now." Added the Angel with an incredulous tone.
Whose fault is that?! Joshua shouted loudly in his mind as Father suddenly appeared clearly in front of him, wiggling his fingers with clinical curiosity. "My half was a bit harsh, it's so uncomfortable going down so low, I don't know how you manage to stand it all the time!" Complained the Angel before tapping his chin with a finger, seeming to think deeply. "Maybe we could raise the limit of your powers a bit? That you can at least see us without us needing to sink down to the level of a Reaper... what do you think, Joshua?"
Joshua thought he'd really like so, but that, knowing the Angel, it was still a game or a conditional reward. Father may not have been as enamoured of the stick and carrot system that Mother was fond of but he wasn't shy about using it either. Worse, he preferred betting, playing games, and Joshua made an admirable effort not to think about the fact that his own problem-solving preference most certainly came from Father.
So instead, he rested his head on his hand with the most unconcerned look he could conceive. "If it is more comfortable for you..."
As he hoped, Father let out a small laugh at his attitude and reached out to flick a stray lock of the boy's hair, sending it waltzing across Joshua's nose. Rolling his eyes, the Composer correctly put his lock back in place, placing a protective hand in front of it when the Tuner pretended to come back at him.
"Oh, and why not ? You've gone a whole month without causing any new problems, I suppose that deserves a little encouragement, doesn't it?" Father smiled, a definite amusement enveloping his every word. And then, leaping from his perch, he rose up a plane before he even touched the ground, transforming into a shapeless mass of light in Joshua's eyes. The light approached and he felt a weight brush against his forehead before an enormous warmth enveloped his heart, making him shiver with surprise. Blinking, the figure in front of him was more or less human again, though its colours seemed a little too bright and diffuse to really be considered as such.
At least, Joshua thought as he marvelled at the tiny little ball of power he'd been able to recover, he could finally look at the Tuner without increasing his headache.
Think about letting a review on your way out and see you the 30th !
