AN: I've always been a shipper of Izaya X Celty or should I say Izelty and was disappointed with the lack of Izelty fanfics. This is my first time writing fanfics like this so go easy on me hehe...

Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara or its characters.

Celty didn't know what "this" is. Some people –those who are different from them, lives in a different world from them, haven't been exposed to the dark world of the downtown, the underground, anonymous gangs, and dangerous occupants –would say this is "love," some people would say this is "infatuation" but they don't know anything, know the world they were in was different from the dark world they knew all their lives. She was caught in a web of truths and untruths, learning that the world isn't always in black and white but sometimes a murky gray, teaching them that the world isn't only composed of good and evil.

" It's absurd to divide people into good and bad," He said one day with that devilishly charming smile of his on his face. It was somehow unbelievable how that smile and face had lead and caused people to kill themselves. But this is Izaya we're talking about, he could play seemingly innocent mind tricks on people and end up brainwashing them.

She thought about what he said later that day and realized he was right. We could never divide people into good and bad. Not all situations are the same and all relations are different and complex. If one is not good, doesn't always mean they are evil.

This "thing" they have between Izaya and her was like a game of chess, that complex board game he once burned with a match. He was the king, knowing what he wants, pulling the strings, expecting everyone to do everything he wants to, always the last piece standing.

" People are my playthings," He says one night, his gaze on the glimmering argent-silver orb displayed on the night sky.

And she got this feeling that even if she wasn't exactly human she was one of those people.

Her? She doesn't know where she stands –actually deep inside her she knows where she actually stands in this one big game and in his life, she just keeps denying herself the truth, refusing to believe the sad bitter truth – She was a pawn, used as he pleased, polished black wood from maple trees held tightly in his hand, easily thrown away, tossed into the middle of fighting, only made to be sacrificed, destined to go straight to losing and never turned back.

( Little did she know, for him, she was his queen, with her perfect and mesmerizing eyes and flawless and fairest of skin, her stunning beauty that could captivate every men's heart. Noble enough to stand next to the king, rising among the highest and strongest warrior angels, risking everything to protect her king. She can technically move freely but when she does she finds herself surrounded and they will team up to defeat her, limit her. After all they are afraid of her strength. And the most dramatic part of the game; involves the queen, sacrificed for victory, the victory he wanted. )

" I hope you rot in hell for making me do that," She says after a nasty confrontation with the cops that scarred her for life.

She burst in shaking like a leaf into his apartment, repeating the words 'the cops are scary.' He asked her what happened, she doesn't answer him at first but Izaya being Izaya was good at persuading people and she finally gave in at his second attempt. She tells him everything while trembling from the memories.

He offers her a comforting hand on her shoulder and that smile of his, telling her what's meant to be his comforting words but he was never good at comforting people anyways ( She was never good at being comforted either .) , " You could just smother them with those smoke of yours in no time so you shouldn't get scared of them."

And the worst part of this was if he asks her to do something like this again, face those cops she feared so much, she'd do it in a heartbeat for him.

But somehow in the midst of this one big game they were playing, somewhere down the line of events and circumstances, they find themselves drawn to each, spending time more than necessary, talking about miscellaneous things that didn't have to do with their dark and twisted world and she finds her heart beating a little faster, her stomach feeling a little giddy at some point.

" That's something we have in common, right Celty? We're both dark," He says one night as they sat at that one particular building in Shinjuku. To some people it was nothing special; it didn't stand out amidst the other buildings, just a plain building but for her it was something more.

And she silently agrees with him because no matter what she was still the Angel of Death, there was nothing not dark about that. She collects souls and sends them to their very death for goodness sake!

The bad thing about this game they were playing was that she'd never know his next move and what might happen next. Make one wrong move and she finds herself falling for one of his traps ( but lately she'd been doing that more often, hasn't she? Falling, that is).

This game they're dangerously playing, in the beginning she start off as fierce, strong, but as time passes she starts decreasing in those qualities, turning more into a ... human, and eventually she will finish off with nothing.

But just like chess between the beginning and end are ups and downs. Everything starts with her choice, her decision and from then on her path moves and turns as the game is nearing its ending.

When the pressure of not finding her head gets too much for her to handle, she goes to Shinjuku to find him ready and waiting for her. They go on walks as she spills everything on what's really going on. And she wonders how long this will last.

( On their walks he sometimes finds himself wanting to tell her that what she's been searching was right in front of her all along but stops himself before the words escapes because this was not a cliché fairytale love story where he rescues the princess stuck in the tower, fall in love at first sight, and live happily ever after. She was no damsel in distress and even if she were, he wouldn't be that prince, Shinra would. Instead this is a chess game where she's his queen, a sacrifice for his victory, and he her king. )

" This is not love," They tell themselves that but finds them doubting these words as time passes by. They deny it because they think they are incapable of such things.

( Afterall, this is all a game, isn't it? But why does he feels strange as he watch her leave, her back engulfed by the darkness as she grew farther, knowing that she's going back home to him and he'll go home after she's out of sight, go home to his empty apartment. )

Each move, decision comes with a consequence. Like chess, she fears not only losing the game but also losing what's precious to her. Because for most of her life the only thing precious to her was her head but now she has Shinra, Shizuo, and even if she won't admit it, Izaya too.

But this game they were playing requires only one winner and one should lose so the other would win.

They were falling left and right and as more time passes by the queen is suffering more and more. Victory for her was nothing near in sight and only defeat loomed near at large.

The plans were all in place, the pieces all in line

And all there is left to say is -

It's one of those times where she just wants to leave and go to Shinjuku where Izaya would be ready and waiting to walk with her as she tells him everything and an empty apartment greets her instead of a smirking Izaya. She finds herself alone with nothing but this ache in her chest that would never go away.

- checkmate.

AN: Please leave a review and tell me what you think.