I own the plunny.

Could argue that this is a companion/sister story to Omens. Inspired by the same prompt at least.

It started with music.

Or something that could be closely identified as music. As far as he knew this was nothing like the classical music he had knowledge of nor the one called rock that Wally had introduced to him. It wasn't country, blues or jazz. As far as things went Conner didn't know what to classify this music he kept hearing but one thing was certain: it was driving him crazy.

He couldn't even describe it. It was constantly changing, reflecting the mood of the area he was in. At school it was bouncy and happy sounding with undertones of a deep bass. At the mountain it was softer, but a stronger feeling with a what sounded to be a guitar and trumpet. In his room it was more solemn and heavy like a pressure on his shoulders. People's words sounded more like they were singing than speaking. Even the general noise clatter from the cars on the street to sounds of Megan cooking in the kitchen sounded as if there was a melody to them.

Then when he asked the others, none of them could hear the music. They had all chalked it up to his superhearing something far away that they couldn't. It was frustrating and annoying. That was why he was always listening to the static on the TV. The white noise drowned out some of the music and Conner could actually hear himself think.

It was almost as if he had been placed in a musical and Conner hated it.

Then came the orange flashes.

It had started about three weeks ago during math class. Ms. Gainsborough had been teaching them about the trig functions sine, cosine, tangent and the meaning behind SOHCAHTOA when Conner had seen something out of the corner of his eye. When he turned his head to look, all he managed to see was a flash of orange before it disappeared.

This continued on for at least a week. Every time Conner would see something out of the corner of his eye but when he turned to look all, he would manage to see was a flash of orange. Megan was beginning to get concerned, he knew. She kept glancing over at him when she thought he wasn't looking.

Honestly, Conner can't blame her. He's starting to think that he was beginning to -how did Wally put it?- go insane.

Finally one of the pieces of the puzzle began to unravel.

During one of Megan's cheerleadering practice, Conner had been sitting in the bleachers watching them when once again he managed to see something out of the corner of his eye.

This time though when he turned to look, he saw more than an orange flash. There sitting on the bleachers, a few seats away from Conner, was a orange haired teenage boy. He couldn't be more than a year or two older then Conner's (physical) age. The boy just sat there, listening to his music from purple headphones while watching the practice.

Conner was at a lost. What was there to do? The boy wasn't hurting anyone, he was just there. He wasn't a threat and was probably just a classmate whom Conner just kept miss seeing. So he let it go as Megan called him down, telling him that practice was over.

Later when he asked Megan if she noticed the other boy sitting on the bleachers, she looked at him strangely. "Conner you were the only one sitting up there," she replied.

That was when Conner decided that it may be better to keep it to himself.

After that incident, Conner started seeing that boy everywhere.

It was eerie, almost as if he was being followed by this... ghost. (It had to be a ghost. A ghost was an apparition that not everyone could see, since his teammates cannot see this boy, but Conner could, therefore this boy must be a ghost.

As Conner walked pass the park, he saw the boy sitting on the park bench. He was wearing a long black coat this time and his purple headphones perched on his head. Birds flocked around him as he threw bread crumbs to the ground. It was surreal to watch really.

When Conner was in school, he would often pass the boy in the hallways. Wearing a sleeveless turtleneck blue and black shirt and white jeans, he easily passed as a highschool student… if anyone could see him that was.

At Mimi's Ice Cream Shop, he was sitting in the back corner when the team came into the shop, listening to music on his headphones.

It seemed wherever Conner went, this boy seemed to be there at the same time. It was too strange to be a coincidence. Rather it was much like that music that Conner continue to hear all the time. Speaking of which, the music also seemed to get louder every time the boy appeared. Really, this was just giving him a huge headache.

Perhaps more terrifying was the fact that Conner was getting use to it all.

Conner stretched and pulled. Terror began to bubble within him as all around him the water level steadily rose. Once more he tried to break free from these metal bonds that were keeping him in place. They didn't move. "Damnit," Conner swore to himself. No one was around to help him either. The team had to split up in order to disable each bomb across the city. They were too far spread out to be linked up through Megan's telepathy, choosing communicators this time around. Too bad that was the first thing that broke in Conner's fight.

He had managed to stop the bomb in time, but not before triggering a trap that was left behind. Now he incase in metal coating and water from the hole he made to get rid of the bomb was slowly trickling in. This was not good.

Finally, as the water slowly created his mouth. Conner took a moment to close his eyes and hoped that someone, anyone could manage to find him before too late.

He woke up in his bedroom.

Conner wasn't expecting that. Was that a nightmare? But it felt so real. He stared down at his hands, flexing his fingers. He could still moved them and feel the soft bed beneath him. A quick pinch to his skin (a common test to check if one was still dreaming, his mind supplied) told that he felt it. It had to have been a nightmare.

"Good, you're awake."

Startled, Conner looked up. Sitting on the edge of his bed, was that orange haired boy. "Who are you?" Conner demanded, a tight ball in his stomach began to form. This was the first time the boy had talked to him. His mind began whispering to him that something was not right.

"Neku," the boy finally said. "Welcome to the Reaper Game, Conner."

This is a oneshot.

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