neverplaysfair | Game 021 [Action] - Happy Six-Month Anniversary. Sucker.

Him? What about you? You're...

[Bleeding. A lot. Neku knows it won't take long for someone to die from a wound like that, seeing as how that's the same way he died. The thought of Mr. H dying just makes him panic a little more. Plus Joshua still has the gun, what if he shoots again? Neku drops his hand from Mr. H's shoulder but stays right where he's at. Damn did he ever feel useless.]

[ Oh, don't mind Josh, he's just over here mostly passed out. Huh, the world is swirling in pretty colors. ]

Fine.

[ Finishing that sentence for you, Neku, but fine probably isn't the word you were thinking of. Still, Hanekoma's got no intention of dying from something as simple as a bullet to the stomach -- wouldn't have allowed Josh to even hit him, if it hadn't been point-blank. The hand clutching at that wound has taken up a visible shine, white-hot with energy, not unlike the Composer in his natural form. Mr. H is long past caring whether Neku sees him using psychs and powers.

Voice still less than steady: ]

...help me up.

[You really do not look fine, Mr. H. Though of course Neku will still help him up, he just pauses for a moment first at whatever that is that Mr. H is doing. No, no time for questions. Just helping Mr. H up now.]

[ Josh can sense that energy, but at this point, he's not even sure what to do about it. He can barely move, he can barely think, and he has no hope of aiming his gun again any time soon. ]

[ Just a healing psych, nothing unusual about that, right? Except maybe for the subtle shine to his skin and slight thrum of power about his hands, but with any luck, Neku won't notice or won't care. Still, it hurts. He wants to get out of here so he can let out his wings, his real wings, and heal himself fully and thoroughly without all the blood and pain and mess--

But Hanekoma's sticking to that maybe-irrational insistence to fix Josh. Just gonna put all his weight on Neku and make his way toward the guy, unsteady at first. That glowing hand drops from the wound, and the stain of blood on his vest doesn't seem to be spreading or darkening much further, now. Bleeding's nearly stopped. ...but he can feel his shirt clinging to the small of his back, hot and wet. Well. He'll get to that one next.

It's only a few steps and then he abandons Neku's support and drops to his knees in front of Joshua, and oh let's hope J is pretty out of it, 'cause Sanae is gonna try wrenching that gun out of his hands. ]

[Neku steps back some once he gets Mr. H over to Josh, giving him some room. Still keeping close enough just in case he needs him, though.]

[ Not out of it enough to not give protest in the form of a less-than-coherent disgruntled moan, but too out of it to do anything else. ]

[ Good, then he can switch the safety on and send the thing skidding a few feet away, nicely out of reach. Hands are back on Joshua, now, his shoulders and then his temple, and Sanae's letting his mind and presence press against Josh's. Trying to get into his head. Joshua needs to feel Shibuya, but an Angel with a flexible code is the best he's got.

He's tried things like this before, but never in this sort of situation and certainly not while tuned so low and getting dizzy with blood loss. Still, Hanekoma puts Shibuya's music at the forefront of his mind and tries to mimic it, tries to bend his vibe and presence to imitate bits and pieces of the city's song. He's still just one being and the changes are too shallow to be worth much, but it's the only idea he's got. ]

[He's just watching curiously, still mostly concerned about Mr. H. Don't overdo it man.]

[ It takes a few moments, but suddenly Josh can feel Shibuya. It's weak, and it's distant, but it's there. He's drawn to it and trying to get closer, he doesn't even realize as he reaches up and grabs Sanae's arms. Then he's trying to pull, trying to get closer, be closer to Shibuya, and oh how he's missed feeling his city, and there's tears on his cheeks and he doesn't even know why, just feebly reaching out and trying to touch his city once again. ]

[ Totally overdoing it, at this rate poor Neku is going to wind up the only conscious one. Always the lone sane man, isn't he? --but whoa Josh, the sudden contact makes him jump and lose focus on the song, back to being just a man. A man with slightly-glowing hands and a bloody vest and ragged breathing, one who's starting to wish he could get out of here and sleep for a week. ]

[This is hard to watch. In the back of his mind all Neku can think about is how he should have just listened to Joshua. And all he can do is continue to wait, and hope they both make it out of this okay. Damnit.]

[ In a moment, Shibuya vanishes again, and panic hits Joshua once more. He gives a startled cry, hands tightening, arms and vibe weakly pulling, trying to find his city again. It was there, he heard her, he felt her, she was there, and he was about to be with her again, finally, after the few months of separation and loneliness that have almost felt as long as his entire reign as Composer because there has been no Shibuya, not here. He reaches, clawing desperately for something, anything. No, she can't be gone. Not so suddenly. Not again. ]

Josh-- don't--

[ He can't manage any more. Later, maybe, he can try this trick again, but now it just hurts too badly and he's too tired. Mr. H is dizzy, exhausted, and whether or not he's managed to steady Joshua's connection to his city, that insane determination to help the guy is fading. There are holes in him and he's too tired even to be spiteful. It hurts. The world's going dim, despite the adrenaline. It hurts.

Hanekoma tries to push Joshua away from him with one arm, the other clutching at his stomach again. He throws a look to Neku for help, but not entirely sure what he's asking for. He doesn't particularly want to try standing up. ]

[Neku is back at his side almost instantly. There is probably no way Mr. H can stand right now, so Neku takes his arm (the one that he was using to push Joshua away) and tries to help him move back, just to get him away and out of reach. Neku is even trying to put himself between the two so Joshua can't reach Mr. H if he keeps trying to grab at him.]

[ Shibuya's gone.

It hits him, and suddenly Joshua goes quiet. Very quiet. And very still. No more gagging. Barely any shivering. Just quiet. His cheeks itch from the tears, but he doesn't even bother to scratch them. For the moment, it's as if nothing else matters.

Shibuya's gone. Again. ]

[ Totally slumping against Neku, sorry if he gets any blood on you, man. Would be thanking him but can't quite sum up the energy or willpower. He feels about twenty times weaker than he did sixty seconds ago, and his whole back is unpleasantly wet, and the world is definitely getting dimmer. Is he dying? Dying sounds incredibly inconvenient. He'd really rather avoid it.

He had to take this chance to fix Joshua, and he did. Mission accomplished. Teleporting on home to heal and rest sounds like a great plan, but he's not so sure he can manage a jump that big. For the moment, he's just gonna keep leaning on Neku and breathing shallowly, thinking about just how pissed he'll be at Joshua if he manages to die from this. ]

Mr. H?

[There's a bit of desperation there in his voice, but mostly just that panic he's still feeling. He's not even caring if there's blood on him, just that there is blood and it's coming from Mr. H. His stomach is in a huge knot and he even feels like crying right about now. He wraps his arm around Mr. H's shoulders and just hangs onto him, afraid to let go. Please don't die.]

[ Joshua barely notices that the nausea is gone, or that the warning bells in the back of his head aren't firing a million times a minute anymore, or that if he tried he could probably sit up now, and the only reason he wouldn't be able to stand is because of how he's shaking.

For the first time, it's hit him hard. For the first time, he's actually acknowledging it. He's trapped here in a world without Shibuya. And he has no way to get back there. Back to his city. ]

[ Mr. H hears his name and gives a low noise of acknowledgment, but there are no coherent words to it. How long has it been since he was hit? One minute or five? Time's moving in an odd way and he can't tell, but he knows that he ought to fix himself soon, that shots to the abdomen are bad and he'd really prefer not to die from something like this.

His legs won't hold him up and his vision is doing something odd, but Hanekoma's not wasting any more time. He's out of here. Won't even shoot for home, can't think clearly enough to shoot for home -- anywhere is good so long as it's away from here.

There's a slight shift of light and Hanekoma is gone. ]

[And with that Neku is no longer hanging onto Mr. H anymore. He's now hunched over on the ground, believing the worst and Mr. H has died. What else could that have been? He's... gone. And Neku is crying. This wasn't fair. Wasn't fair damnit. He doesn't even want to look up and see if Joshua is okay or not.]

[ By this point, Joshua has pulled himself up, staring emptily at Neku. But he's not looking. He's listening. Listening to one of the few remnants of Shibuya that are with him in this place. ]

[He still doesn't want to look up, doesn't want to look at Joshua, but he wants to know why. So after a few moments Neku does finally look up at Joshua, still obviously crying and only weakly able to mutter one word.]

Why?

[ And there's only one response to it, despite the many different possible meanings because the question. ]

Shibuya.

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