101 Cycles: Peratio Tempus (Part 2)
“Oohoohoohoohoo~ ‘hellhole’. Now even I must admit that was a very bad pun, Thiera-sama~” Yasu crowed devilishly. “To what do I owe the pleasure of the First Counsel-lady herself in my….humble chamber.”
This “humble chamber” was a scary place. There was very little light, barely enough to see silhouettes and what was right next to you. Odd thing was, the majority of the floor seemed to be pits filled with what looked like fire. Every now and then, the fire would quiver, and a sorrowful sound would echo from its bowels. There seemed to be something wriggling on the ground around them, what seemed to be a weird worm noise.
Joshua could barely keep himself up, and Yasu was here. They were both going to die if she had her way. In the state he was, he wasn’t sure if he could stop her. He moved slightly.OW- Yeah, he definitely had no chance. He looked back to Neku, and realized he was awake.
“Neku…”
Yasu looked delighted.
“Oh? Pretty boy’s little plaything? Is that who that is? Didn’t recognize him…last time I saw him he was-“
“Be quiet,Yasu!” Joshua demanded, glaring at her.
“Oh~ He doesn’t know~ huhuhu~” This fact gave her even more delight.
Neku was still too out of it to be his usually snappy self.
What don’t I know?
He vaguely wondered if Joshua could still read his thoughts in this -oh how he hated to agree with Thiera- hellhole.
“You don’t know many things Sakuraba. Well, for the purpose of the punishment, it would be best if that boy over there tells you.”
…You’re still a bitch. Wait, what the hell? Punishment?...What the hell is going on?
Now Neku was consciously directing these surfacing thoughts towards Thiera.
Thiera, however, ignored him and turned towards Yasu.
“I’ve come here to oversee the punishment of this Composer. He has committed many wrongs in the past month” or, should I say, in his whole miserable life “than I can count, and it is completely ridiculous that he has not been punished yet. Aside from that, he got in the way of my last job of retrieving Sakuraba.”
She shifted her gaze towards the mostly forgotten fallen Angel, standing off to the side.
“Thanks to that piece of thrash, you’re only getting your memories erased, and dumped back in your precious little city. Isn’t that nice, Yocchan? You’ll have no power, you’ll be separated from the city for good, and the only thing to protect you is that fragile little mortal pet of yours.”
Thiera was brimming with arrogance.
On the other hand, Neku’s eyes widened at the declaration and his mind was screaming at Thiera to stop, to leave him alone, to kill him instead, all the while remembering what it was like to hear the city’s Music, and how it felt when he couldn’t hear it, when he was dragged away from it.
Neku couldn’t possibly imagine what it would be like to not just lose the Music, but be forcibly ripped out of it. Joshua was the Composer. He…needed the music, didn’t he?
Yasu laughed.
This wasn’t just a laugh. It was a cackle. A deep chuckle that lifted into a shrieking howl that continued far too long to sound like just a laugh. She choked on her breath and the laughter finally faded. Her grin glittered out of the darkness as he eyed the angel and the Composer.
“Mortal suspension…” she said gleefully, “An angel’s most feared torment , aside from erasure~” the last word purred out her mouth.
“And Pretty boy here gets it? From Me?” she asked in disbelief. Another cackle flew out of her mouth. “How ironic…” she stomped her foot down to lean over on her knee, just so she could have a good look at his face.
“He took the music from me and now I get to rip it back!”
Joshua shuddered. This was terrible. Why is it her? Why did Sanae suggest this?!
Hanekoma couldn’t watch this anymore. “Yasu, You’ve said enough.”
“Not yet I haven’t. “ She said, straightening and walking forward into seeing range of the two. Her hair was long and dark, falling in kinky curls all around like a mane. Her eyes were wild and merciless. She had a boyish figure, and wore worn out clothes spattered with all sorts of paint and mess. They were scorched too, no doubt.
Joshua felt his stomach twist. He looked down. Now he remembered why he hated this city. All the music, all the beauty…was once this woman. This was the woman who’d strived and almost succeeded in crushing every bit of will he had. He’d gotten to a point where he didn’t even care about being Composer. He just wanted her gone. To know she was here, doing something she actually enjoyed. It was almost like he’d failed.
Yasu smirked darkly. “You know~ We can’t have Shibuya without a Composer~ Maybe it’d be better if you found a…Replacement.” She said deviously.
Joshua looked up in surprise. No….
No! You can’t do that!
He looked up at Hanekoma pleading. They can’t do that, can they?
Hanekoma didn’t answer. Joshua felt something inside him drop.
Oh, so that’s how she wants this to play out.
Thiera looked towards the two boys, then Sanae, and finally, at Yasu.
If I agree to this, I can do this annoying little job faster. The faster that brat Yoshiya is out of the picture, the better it looks for me.
But even Neku felt that it was bad for this woman to be Composer. He had the slight feeling that Shibuya would fall apart at the seams with her in control. Things would be the same as they had been before, when Joshua was nearly at the point of burning the city to the ground.
“Replacement, huh? Well, do as you please Yacchan. It’s not like you’re breaking any rules, since the one who dethrones the former Composer gets the job. As long as you fulfill this request I’ve asked of you, it’s fine.”
Neku felt completely helpless as Thiera stood there, controlling the situation
Joshua’s mind screamed. NOT HER! Please! The souls of shibuya will be in torment within a weeks’ time, NOT HER!
Yasu came closer to the little Composer. “Isn’t that sweet, Yoshia-kun? You can play with your little boy toy and I can take over the city. It’ll be just like old times~” The woman taunted, grabbing Joshua’s chin.
Josh grabbed at the hand and tried to force it away. “Get…Off me….” He hissed.
Yasu laughed. “The descendance is humbling, innit, Pretty Boy? I bet you hate it, don’t ya? You- EUGH!”
Just as Yasu had begun to grip harder the boy had spat right in her face and She’d Jumped back in disgust. “You rotten little FUCK!” She hissed, eyes going red and form shifting to that of a medusa-like noise. She grabbed him by the shoulders this time, digging claws into his skin. “I oughta kill you right now! Not like I got much ta LOSE!” Her voice had become a demonic growl.
“Yasu, keep in mind that if you quit following orders you’ll wind up back where you were.” Hanekoma warned.
Yasu went cold and shot a surprised glare to the Producer, and then to the flaming pit around them. Her breath shook for a moment and she looked back at the boy wincing at her grip. She lifted a claw and dug it into his cheek before throwing him down.
As she changed back to her real form, she sucked the blood off her claw. She grinned. “Imma enjoy ripping your soul apart, brat.” She mused, grabbing the back of his shirt and dragging him away from his former proxy, going towards the middle of the stone platform they stood upon.
Now, usually he would laugh at Joshua getting dragged away in such a comical manner, but this was just wrong.
Somehow, seeing Joshua so below someone like Yasu, had given him a burst of energy and as Yasu dragged Joshua away, he did something he would deny later.
He scrambled up and jumped for Joshua. But since he had a huge hunch that he couldn’t separate this Yasu from his friend at this point, he was basically hugging Joshua’s leg to stop her progress.
“Let go, you bitch.”
Thiera made a small sound of wonder at the two boys and wondered how Sanae had dealt with the two of them.
They really are just kids. Too bad for them.
Joshua stared in awe at Neku’s action. He was…trying to stop Yasu? Trying to help him? After all that…
Yasu stopped and turned around glaring down at the boy who was interrupting he rampage. “Lil’ red, your messin’ with the wrong chick.” She warned. To be perfectly honest, she was more or less distracted from busting his face in by the disgusting coincidence neither of them even knew about.
Joshua was both touched and horrified. Yasu was bloodthirsty and vicious, if the drop didn’t destroy his music, she most certainly could. Don’t Kill him. Let him go, let him go, PLEASE.
Neku’s plea was the opposite. Please don’t do this. Take me instead…I’ll do anything!
“Feh, you two are disgusting.” She said, slamming the boy back onto the ground and walking around him to lift her foot, prepared to kick the hitchhiker off.
Joshua took the freedom to jump into the way, clinging back to the boy and succeeding in being kicked in the back. He choked in pain and fell into Neku landing both of them in the floor.
Yasu growled. “Stupid brat! I’ve had about enough of this…”
Even Thiera didn’t want to stay and watch Yasu do the job.
“…I’ll be back in a little while. Have fun kiddies.” Thiera raised her frequency and went to the UG. Even she didn’t want to watch two kids get tortured the way they would be.
Neku groaned in pain from being tackled to the floor, not even noticing Thiera leaving.
“Ugh, wh…what the…”
Then he noticed his friend on top of him.
“Joshua?..”
Neku really wasn’t sure what to do, and was scared shitless by the crazy female in the room. So he did his best to try to scramble away, with Joshua in tow, though since he had no idea how to escape the ‘hellhole’, it didn’t do him much good.
Joshua was still quivering from the shock of Yasu’s strike. She’d meant to seriously hurt Neku, it appeared. He clenched at Neku’s shirt in order to keep with him, and glanced behind at the seething ex-Composer ready to slaughter them.
If she was allowed, Yasu would have slaughtered them. She would have done it slowly and painfully. Unfortunately, that wasn’t their assigned punishment. If she killed them now, she’d wind up back in there.
If she did what she was told, she got the satisfaction of running Shibuya.
She stomped towards them. “Enough of this nonsense.” She lifted her hands and pried them apart, causing the worm noise on the ground to thrash violently. They transformed into barbed chains that twisted up in between the boys and pulled them further apart.
Joshua tried to deny the attempt to part them, but it was hopeless. His grip was weakened by the pressure. He tried to grab on to anything he could as he was dragged away from Neku reaching out just before the noise-rope lashed out and pulled his hand back.
By the end of it, Josh was chained to the rock beneath him unable to move without thorns digging into his wrist and ankles. His position was changed so that he was on his knees, with his hands pinned behind his back. He held his head up, not ready to give in to Yasu’s torture just yet.
Neku struggled to get himself free from the chains now holding him down, but it was futile, they didn’t even budge. They just dug into his skin and made everything hurt worse.
“Why the hell are you doing this?! What the hell do you want from Joshua?! He hasn’t done a single freaking thing to you since we’ve been here, and you’re just going insane on us!”
Neku realized he was being ignored, so he turned to the one person nearby-- probably in this entire plane-- that could help.
“Mr. H…”
Neku said it, as though he were losing hope in anything else getting them out of their situation. But Neku had a sinking feeling that things were just going to get worse.
There was no reply.
“…Mr. H...?”
Neku quickly swerved his head towards the area where he and Thiera should have been. He vaguely noticed that Thiera was missing.
Hanekoma winced and looked away. He couldn’t help them. He couldn’t do anything!
And here Neku was, begging for him to help…
“Aw, shut up! Jeez! You ain’t even supposed ta be here, and you only got your ass kicked cause you got in my way.” Yasu complained. “If you gotta know, however…” Her grin twisted up again.
Joshua jerked and struggled out a “no”. He winced, having pulled on his chains.
Yasu smirked. “Course not, you can tell him all that. I’m just telling him about how you were my sweet little Conductor.” She purred, settling on the ground between them.
She gave a fake pout, “I tried to make him feel better, gave him everything he wanted~”She was grinning wildly at the point. “But that wasn’t enough for him.” Her smile faded instantly. “The little rotten ingrate attacked me and I woke up in THAT!” She hissed, pointing at the flames licking at the edges of the rock.
She stood, smirking back at Josh, who was too weakened to make a better protest than coughing, and keeping his head up. “You lie worse now then you used to, is that something you picked up down here?” he tried to put as much cockiness into the choked-out words as he could.
Hanekoma couldn’t help directly, but he was allowed to shut Yasu up. “You’ve said enough, Yasu. Just do your Job. There’s no reason to prolong the punishment any longer.”
“Aw, but Sanae we were only talkin~” she cooed, but grimaced when she caught that look. “Alright, fine. Damn, can’t even have any fun when that Angel ain’t breathin’ down my neck.”
She walked over to the Composer and recited boredly. “By the order of those above, you are hereby relinquished of your powers, and placed into the world of mortals. Your sentence begins immediately!”
The girl placed her hand on Joshua’s forehead and he screamed. Light poured towards the woman’s palm from his body in small moving patterns. There was a terrible cracking noise, and it smelled like something was burning. Yasu grinned as she watched the display and after a few moments, she pulled her arm away, taking the light with it.
Joshua slumped to the floor, and the light in Yasu’s hand vaguely resembled the form of wings. She looked at the form with a triumphant smirk on her face. She moved the light into her own chest, and it encompassed the whole area, causing everything to fade to black.