Deja Vu

[Kurusu Akira]

Soundtrack

Neku awoke with no memory of falling asleep, face down, upon a jet-black surface.

Again.

He pushed himself up, expecting to see the scramble and be completely ignored by the living once again, but found himself greeted by a black void. Neku tries to speak, tries to ask the air around him what's going on, and finds that he cannot. He turns in place, eyes fixing on a white shape in the indistinct blackness.

"My name is Omni. This is not the world you know."

Omni went on his monologue about Omnilium, clearly not allowing Neku to get a word in edgewise. Partway through the speech, it occurred to him that he didn't seem to need to draw breath, either. The strange figure stops talking, and Neku is suddenly set upon by a sharp pain in his head. He dropped to his knees and clutched his head, but the pain passed quickly. The teen opened his eyes and stood up, looking around. The blackness was gone, replaced by nondescript whiteness broken only by occasional rectangles of light on the horizon.

The orange-haired boy dusted off his pants absentmindedly, struggling to remember what had led to this situation. He'd taken on Kitaniji, saved his friends, and then...

Then he'd found out that one of those "friends" was the Composer, the one who'd been organizing this whole mess of a game. That he was a piece on the board of a bet to decide if Shibuya would keep existing. Joshua had made a bet with him. He'd lost because he couldn't shoot his friend, no matter what the circumstances were.

Then he'd been shot in the head, again, and the next thing he knew there wasn't any Shibuya or Joshua to be found. Just that Omni character.

"Joshua! If this is your idea of a joke I'm going to kick your ass, Composer or not!"

Since no angel-winged, ambiguously gay, grey-haired teens responded, Neku did the only thing that made sense. He picked a rectangle and started walking.

[Rand al'Thor]

Rand had been watching for someone who might be trustworthy to appear. He hadn't expected to see someone quite so young here, but this kid seemed to be the type of person he might trust not to slit his throat when he turned his back.
The orange haired kid yelled at the sky, or more accurately at someone named Joshua. Rand took a deep breath and stepped out to talk to the stranger with the strange mode of dress. Rand cleared his throat and said, "Hello." Light! Say something other then hello, he lectured himself.
"Hello," He said again as the teenager started to walk towards one of the strange rectangular points of light in the distance, "I'm Rand al'Thor. What's your name?"
There that will have to work until he says something in response, he told himself.

[Kurusu Akira]

Neku's trek to one of the distant rectangles was cut short when he was addressed by a man. He whirled, startled. Immediately, he checked his phone for the ever-familiar message; "First Mission: Reach 104", but it wasn't there. In fact, the phone had no bars on it. No flash of pain on the back of his hand, no timer ticking down. This wasn't a Game, then. Was he alive? Or was this somewhere else? A higher plane than the UG, maybe?

Neku realized he was being antisocial again, and he put the phone that he'd been holding loosely at his side away in a pocket, tapping the volume button as he did to lower the music's volume. "Neku Sakuraba." He walked closer to the tall, red-haired man. Rand, he called himself. Rand al'Thor. Strange name, but it seemed to match up well with the stranger in his strange clothes. Rand looked like one of the people who liked to go around dressed up like a medieval noble. "Did you talk to that Omni character too?"

[Schwi Dola]

"Bow to me Cretins, for I am Desco!" Desco floated up into the air and turned her back so Yogsothoth could face the horde of zombies. The Necromancer in control of them stepped back as Desco displayed her real power. Desco faded into black and merged with her counterpart, growing in size over a few seconds to a huge skyscraper monster. She faded back into view, the purple tentacled abomination now with a fierce red mouth in the middle of its body below a giant yellow eye and tentacles with eyes at their ends. Desco roared, shaking the earth and throwing out four of her tentacles scoping up and devouring handfuls of the zombie army. Then she focused magic onto the mouth, pink volatile energy pulsing and moving as she gathered it. Desco roared as she shot the beam covering the remains of the army and the Necromancer that led them its brilliance blotting out the area until nothing could be seen.

Then suddenly, Desco woke up into pitch darkness. What had happened after? The memories of what had happened were blurry and vague. She wasn't even sure why she was fighting a Necromancer and zombies. She tried to speak out but no sound came, and then the strange and creepy figure appeared.. or rather she had suddenly noticed it. Omni introduced himself and gave Desco a strange rainbow object. Desco wasn't sure what was going on, she started to feel confused, and the world formed around her again. She was standing in front of a strange pool of water, an oasis that stood out on the white ground under the white sky. Desco stood for a moment awed, and for the moment without her counterpart Yogsothoth, then she realized something. Desco looked at her hands, but power there wasn't. She could already feel it, the strength she used to have wasn't there. Magic spells she could cast, how to cast them was now a mystery.

Desco's legs gave out underneath her and she stand on the ground. Tears came unbidden to her eyes as she came to the realization that everything she had been working for was lost. Desco had a job to do, she had to be a magnificent Final Boss, and then some so that she could help Big Bro fight God. But she had lost all of her levels, she was even weaker than when she was sealed in Hades. Less than level 1. "Waaaaah!" Desco started bawling, feeling insecure, inadequate, and alone in this strange place.

[Kurusu Akira]

The sound of someone hitting the ground, followed by a large amount of crying, was more than a little unexpected. Three weeks ago, Neku would've turned up his headphones and left. The thought was still tempting; it wasn't his kid, and he didn't know how to deal with crying little kids. The circumstances were pretty exceptional, though. This was some sort of twisted game by that Omni person. Possibly Joshua in disguise, though that possibility really didn't track. For all he knew, the first mission would come in a few minutes.

That in mind, Neku held up a hand with two fingers, the sign for "bookmark the conversation", and walked over to the little girl. He noticed her pointed ears but didn't pay much attention. Maybe it was near Halloween. The orange-haired kid knelt down next to her and stood there for a couple seconds, trying to figure out what to say. He couldn't tell her what he thought was going on, so...

"Hey. Are you alright? My name's Neku. What's yours?"

[Schwi Dola]

Desco cried as she thought about all that she had lost. However, suddenly a strange and unfamiliar voice spoke out to her. She continued to bawl for a little bit, but slowed down and sniffed. Eyes well, it was hard to tell by her eyes as they were naturally red eyes but her face was strewn with tears. Desco looked at the orange haired person who had approached her and introduced himself. "I am Desco. I'm a... I'm... Waaaah!"

Desco started crying again but quickly stopped, continuing to sniff as she spoke. "Desco ha.. has lost so many levels. Omni must have stolen all of Desco's hard earned levels!" Desco held out her hand, searching for one of her magic spells in her mind. Tera Star, Mega Fire, even the lowest tier spells were beyond her. Final Bosses had to have a bunch of attacks to throw at heroes. Desco hugged herself tight for a moment, then realized that she had no idea who she was talking to. Could this boy be in the same boat as Desco? Or he could be in league with whoever he was. Desco didn't know what to think about right now. "What are you doing here? Where are we?"

[Cloud Strife]

He’d been walking for almost 2 hours, he had nothing better to do, other than count the minutes. Discipline was taught at the soul society, meditation had taught him patience, and he had learned how to count beyond the point at which a normal person would give up and go on to playing a silly little game in their head. It soothed him, and although his wounds were healing, albeit slowly, he still ached. Nyeseth’s fight with the green man and the dinosaur had shaken him, realising that in this world, he was mortal, he was no longer immune to anything and everything that wasn’t a zanpakuto. He looked at his blade but had no response, he couldn’t hear his spirit talking to him, Shiro Ryu was gone, or Omni had sealed him away. He hoped that he would be able to hear Shiro again someday, hopefully, sooner than later.

‘Oh Shiro, I wish I could talk to you right now.’ Nyeseth thought to himself as he looked up at the stark whiteness that was the sky. As he did this, he caught a glimpse of two figures at the fountain, he hadn’t seen them before, not the last time he was here.
‘They’re probably new arrivals as well, even newer than I am.’ He thought to himself as he noticed that one was male and the other a female, a small girl in fact. Nyeseth noticed the boy’s orange hair first, and then the little girl’s pointy ears and strange purple clothing that matched her hair. The boy was crouching down, talking to her, and it seemed as if she had been crying. He thought about whether he should say something, introduce himself. He didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t great at making friends, he thought about how he could introduce himself, a name, his name, and then ask how they got here, that’d do fine.

‘Hello, I’m Nyeseth, did Omni bring you two here as well?’ Nyeseth asked in an attempt to make contact with them.

[Kurusu Akira]

Levels? Why is it that I always end up with the crazy ones? The orange-haired boy shook his head and shrugged. "I don't know what I'm doing here, or where we are. I'm going to guess that Omni character talked to you as well?" The teen stood up and looked around, then he checked his phone once again. Still no bars, no mission, nothing. Not even a beep on the Pig-o-Meter. He reached down to try and pull Desco to her feet.

A thought struck him, then, and he almost slapped himself for not trying it sooner. He reached into his pocket and, sure enough, found his black-and-white Player Pin. He flipped the disk of metal into the air and caught it, initiating a Scan. Or, at least, that was the plan. It didn't work. There was no sensation of heightened awareness, no Noise floating around, nobody's thoughts in his head but his own. He pocketed the pin and checked for others. Most of the ones he remembered wearing weren't there, but three of them were present; Tin Pin Blade, Black Uranus, and Black Jupiter. While he was thinking about it, he clipped all three onto the wristband on his left arm, where he'd be able to use their Psychs.

Just then, someone else spoke up. Neku turned to face the newcomer and almost lost his composure. The guy looked ridiculous in his black kimono, carrying a sword. With mirth in his eyes, he answered the stranger's question with a question. "Yeah, Omni brought us here, wherever here is. Is it Halloween or something? Everyone's dressed up all strange."

[Cloud Strife]

The boy had looked at Nyeseth, and replied to his question. This reassured Nyeseth, reassured him that not everything or everyone in this place was out to murder him. Nyeseth saw a sense of amusement in the young boy’s eyes as he watched Nyeseth, this confused him as he wasn't sure what there was to be amused about.

'No, I don’t believe it is Halloween. What is your name?’. Nyeseth asked the orange haired boy as he looked at him. Nyeseth thought it was weird how he thought it was Halloween yet he dressed in strange clothes himself. Nyeseth turned his attention to the little girl, she was still sad and Nyeseth only wanted to help her come to terms with this world.

‘Hey there little girl, what’s your name?’ Nyeseth asked as he crouched down to her height, resting his left hand on his sword.

[Rand al'Thor]

Rand was thoroughly confused. Just as soon as the orange-haired kid, apparently named Neku had started talking to him (which happened only Neku pulled some sort of metallic box from a pocket in his pants). Some purple haired child, this one named Desco, had fallen from the sky and started crying like mad about losing levels or something like that. And if that wasn't confusing enough a man, apparently named Nyeseth, walked up to them in some kind of bizzare black robe.

Okay, he thought, Time to do something about this.

"Alright," he said aloud, "It appears we've all met this Omni character. Now we need a course of action. Those glowing doorways in the distance most likely lead somewhere shall we head towards one of them and see where we end up? Or do one of you have an better idea?"

Let's see what these strange people have to say, he thought.

[Schwi Dola]

Desco looked at the samurai guy that had just approached them. A formidable looking demon he seemed, and his first question confirmed that this Omni had not just done this to Desco but also to other strange people Desco didn't recognize. She had no idea why he'd dropped them in a mostly white place that seemed almost like an item world but without the bottomless pits. Now with people around Desco was getting distracted away from her sadness. The orange haired boy didn't respond to her question, instead getting her to stand up as she stared at him with imploring eyes.

Most might not notice if they weren't looking at them, but the unblinking yellow eyes all over Desco made small movements and followed the others around her. They paid special attention to the strange boy and now the samurai as they got close to her. Desco rubbed the tears out of her eyes when he asked about her. "I am Desco. Desco is a a Final Boss. Who are you Mr. Samurai?" She continued to pay attention to him, rather than the yet another person to show up here.

[Kurusu Akira]

Neku was officially stumped. It wasn't Halloween, and this wasn't exactly the type of place people had costume contests. There still wasn't a mission, and there still wasn't a timer, and there still wasn't any explanation except that nonsense about Omnilium that that Omni character spotted. Naming an element after himself. That's not conceited at all. The black-robed guy asked his name, though he neglected to give his own. The kid gave his own name right after Desco gave hers. "Neku Sakuraba. Typically, you give your own name when you ask for someone else's."

Neku turned to face Rand and nodded. "Not like there's much to see around here. Still, I need to figure something out." He pulled out the black pin with the white Reaper symbol on it and held it up. "Check your pockets and see if you've got one of these. It's called a Player Pin, and mine isn't working right. It's making me wonder if this is a Game at all."

[Cloud Strife]

At this point, Nyeseth noticed another person. A strange man dressed in red and orange clothing, carrying what seemed to be a broad sword.
‘Is this guy some kind of soul reaper too?’ Nyeseth thought to himself as the man asked about what the four of them should do, and the gates that surrounded them.

Nyeseth smiled as the little girl focused on him. At the same time, the orange haired boy spoke up, giving his name, Neku Sakuraba, and a snarky comment about how you’re supposed to give your name first, and he had, he had introduced himself but Neku probably wasn’t listening, that would've made it seem like he hadn't introduced himself, so he did it again.
‘My name is Nyeseth, I’ve been here for a couple of days… I think.’ Nyeseth replied as he noticed Desco’s tears stop.
Neku, speaking up again, asked about a strange little object he called a ‘Player Pin’ it had a symbol on it that he did not recognise. He was sure he didn’t have one, and considering that his shihakusho had no pockets he did not check for any.
‘I can tell you that this is no game, not for us anyway. Omni has brought us here for his amusement, or our strength, but we can be hurt here. Those Gates, I assume, lead to different worlds.’ Nyeseth explained to the three of them before turning to Desco.
‘Now what was the matter? Were you upset about being here Desco?’ Nyeseth asked as he remembered her strange way of talking about herself, she spoke as if she were in the third person, it didn’t bother him though, he’d met all kinds of beings, all with different speaking habits.

[Schwi Dola]

Desco looked away as he asked why she was upset. She wasn't very comfortable with it right now and she started to tear up again. "Desco has lost all of her power coming here. She used to have lots of skills and spells to use but she can already feel that they aren't there. Desco also feels that all of her power has gone, she's weaker than she was when she was sealed in Hades!" Desco recalled way back when that happened as she spoke of it. It was a difficult time for her at first. She was only the Prototype final boss, when her father created the final version of her design, DesX, the question came as to who would help Big Sis take over the world. Desco fought with her little Sister DesX and despite being older, DesX was stronger and defeated Desco. She was sent off and sealed in Hades while daddy continued his work with raising DesX. It wasn't quite the end, she still had words of encouragement from her father. The Sealing was a good place for a Final Boss, where she would eventually be found and unsealed by some hero and go out to terrorize the world. That wasn't quite how it turned out though.

Desco looked back at Mr. Samurai and curiosity got to her. These others were also here and trapped by this Omni person. Shouldn't their situations be similar to Desco's? "Didn't you lose something when you were brought here?"

[Rand al'Thor]

Rand realized he had yet to introduce himself to his two new companions. "Pardon my rudeness in not introducing myself, my name is Rand al'Thor and I am the Dragon Reborn," he said with a nod of his head toward Desco and Nyeseth.

The little girl had confirmed what he had been afraid of since he realized he couldn't channel anymore, Omni had taken away his connection to saidin. "Actually I have lost something. I lost my connection to the One Power, so in a sense I have lost a lot of my abilities as well. The good news is I won't go insane due to the taint. The bad news is I had a series of prophecies to fulfill and so far I've only fulfilled a few of them. Also, if I don't fulfill the remaining prophecies my world will come to an end."

Neku had asked the most bizarre question he had heard yet. "I don't seem to have one...and I'm with Nyeseth on this. This certainly not a game," he said turning to address the orange-head

[Cloud Strife]

Nyeseth could see the discomfort in Desco’s eyes as she thought about his question, he wasn’t happy that he’d made her sad again. She replied, talking about how she had lost her powers after coming here, and being sealed away for some time in Hades before coming here, wherever that was.
She was strange, but she was a little girl, this pulled on Nyeseth’s sympathy strings, he just had to make sure she would be okay in this place, this world was obviously dangerous, and he couldn’t let her be on her own.

‘Yes, I lost something after coming here, two things actually. My soul reaper abilities, and Violet… my best friend.’ Nyeseth explained as he replied to Desco’s question. It hadn’t been long after Rand’s reply to her question that he had answered, he noticed how Rand explained about his ‘One Power’ and how he was no longer connected to it. This confused Nyeseth a little bit, but, he had come to realize that his own world, was not the only one out there. This place was a meeting place, it has a connection to all the worlds together, and Omni was behind it, pulling people here for something.
‘Rand, what I meant was, this wasn’t a video game. For all we know is that Omni brought us here for his own game.’ Nyeseth said as he turned to face Rand, again being greeted by his obscene clothing. It was foreign to Nyeseth, and he wasn’t getting used to how the others looked at all.

[Kurusu Akira]

Neku shook his head as Rand and Nyeseth completely missed his inflection. "No, it's... nevermind. Not important." Listening to Rand talk about prophecies made him bite his tongue. He was trying to be less abrasive, but fortune telling had been obviously bogus to him even before he found out what made Reaper Creeper work. Of course, he wasn't anywhere in Shibuya and he had spent the past 3 weeks doing things that, by all rights, should be impossible. This might not be a game; there wasn't a 104 building for the first mission to send them to.

When he heard Nyeseth mention that he lost "soul reaper powers", his attention focused entirely on the strange man, and not in a good way. He didn't see wings, but Reapers could hide their wings if they wanted. Sho had done it easily when he went into the RG, and 777 had done it in the UG. A stray couple sparks flew from the Black Jupiter pin on his wristband as he stepped between Nyeseth and Desco. "Reaper powers? You're a Reaper?" His tone of voice was wary, and his eyes didn't leave the man. You never took your eyes off the enemy.

[Cloud Strife]

As Neku stepped between him and the others, he realized that he’d said something to set him off. When he asked if he was a reaper, he assumed that Neku had a problem with reapers, but he had missed the soul part.
‘Yeah, I’m a Soul Reaper. Not just any reaper.’ Nyeseth replied as he could see Neku’s eyes examining him, looking over him as if he was the enemy. Nyeseth didn’t want to fight, but he could see it coming.
‘I’m not the enemy here Neku.’ Nyeseth said as he placed his right hand on his sword, readying himself for what was to come.

[Rand al'Thor]

Rand had seen some pretty weird things, but a shadowspawn that looked exactly like a human was unheard of...unless you count the Gray Men. However, the term Soul Reaper and Neku's reaction to it made him realize that's exactly what Nyeseth was...a shadowspawn. Rand silently cursed himself for being so foolish and gullible. And to add insult to injury this Soul Reaper had the nerve to insist he wasn't the enemy.

"Alright 'Soul Reaper', either run and tell whatever Forsaken or Fade you work for that they better come out here and fight me," Rand said telling this creature his options, "Or prepare to die here."

Rand tried reaching out for saidin, but again it failed. Oh well he'd have to figure out a way to fight this thing without the One Power.

[Schwi Dola]

Desco nodded, that was interesting. He had lost powers like Desco had, so this Omni guy must have done it to everyone. That Rand guy lost something too, so Desco couldn't help but wonder what the kid had lost. Maybe he was some kind of dark hero! But before Desco could say any more about it, Neu and Rand started to challenge Nyeseth. Because he was a Soul Reaper. What was wrong with that? Really, what was that? The job title sounded like he worked for Death, he certainly didn't look like any Reaper Desco knew. Reapers from Hades, except Emizel, we're big skeletal things with Scythes and bone wings to fly.

Fear gripped Desco, as she realized if they didn't like this nice guy they probably won't like Desco for much longer! She was still down leveled, Desco couldn't afford to fight like this. How would a final boss look if she were defeated by lowly heroes so early in their quest, Desco couldn't be demoted to Mid Boss! Desco started to take a few steps backward, summoning Yogsothoth behind her. Once he fully materialized with his purple and light purple tentacles, red belly, and yellow eyes on his back and one small one on his belly, Desco's tail slithered out from her dress and pushed her up into the air to center her body on Yog's floating center. Then she turned and lifted up her tail and floated away as fast as she could.