PLOT BUNNY ALERT
Full Summary:
After the final fight with Shizuo, Izaya meets a strange person in his dreams who thinks Izaya needs punishment, he may still have the ability to change, but she won't let him torture the innocent humans anymore. So, she decides to give him his comeuppance in a very strange way. By turning him into a merman, and dropping him into the ocean.
Now, Izaya must learn to change, adapt, and understand that his past choices were wrong. Eventually, as time passes, the past still somehow manages to confront him. How will Izaya deal with it? Is it really the most important issue, or are there bigger dangers creeping up on them?
Enjoy ^_^
The same white wall, the same white ceiling. It's all Izaya saw anymore. Trapped in this damn hospital room ever since the final fight with.. With him. Both his arms broken, and it hurt to sit up because of that damn knife would. Izaya hated it, he just wanted to be out of this stupid room. His only solace seemed to be the fact that nobody knew he was here, and that he would not be going back to Ikebukuro anytime soon.
"Ah, it's alright," He told himself cheerfully,"Soon I'll be out of here, and I'll be able to see my precious humans once more. I wonder if I should come up with any new plans for them? I'd love to see them squirm.."
Though he felt a slight amount of glee from that thought, it was instantly poisoned by his new, trauma filled thoughts. Of how he shouldn't, how messing with humans was what got him here in the first place. That he shouldn't, he should move on. But another half of him wondered, what the hell could he move on and do after destroying his life in such a way.
Suddenly, his happy mood had fallen. He sighed, ignoring the flash of pain that went through him. He closed his eyes, his breathing deepening as he fell into a restless sleep. It's not like there was much else he could do at this point.
Izaya felt a breeze across his face, as he opened his eyes. Suddenly, he was standing on a small grassy hill, surrounded by clear water that went on as far as the eye could see. The empty blue sky was above him free of clouds. He frowned, crossing his arms before he froze up in shock, bringing his suddenly free arms up to his face. He flexed his hands, frowning even more. I don't understand.. What's going on?
Lowering his hands, he looked around. "Is this a dream?" He wondered aloud, curious as he walked around the small hill. His voice, movements, and even his footsteps all echoed in the strange, empty world. Izaya moved near the edge of the hill, reaching down curiously to touch the water.
Suddenly, the water turned an inky black, and the sky grew dark, clouds overhang above him. Izaya then jumped back in surprise, as the sludge-like water began to crawl up the small hill, killing everything it touched. But then, he crashed into something.
Turning around, Izaya froze again. There was a figure in front of him, one who glowed white with radiance, yet it seemed that the darkness also surrounded her, yet it didn't seem to affect her. Her golden eyes seemed to stare straight through Izaya, yet look right at him.
Izaya took a few steps back, wide red eyes filled with confusion. "Who.. Who are you?" He asked, moving back again. Her eyes sent strikes of fear through him that Izaya couldn't seem to stop.
"I'm here to give you your comeuppance," Her echoing voice whispered, as she took a few steps forward,"You have caused innocent humans too much pain, your life has caused them nothing but damage and sadness. I can no longer allow it to happen."
Izaya frowned, taking another step back. "So.. then what are you going to do?" He questioned, body beginning to shake with fear. "K-kill me?"
The strange creature let out a chuckle of amusement, and shook their head. "No," She sneered,"Death is too merciful for you, and while I would love to give you what you deserve, they still think you have the potential to change. But just because they think that, doesn't mean you get to stay around humans anymore, because if I allowed that then you would learn nothing."
When the raven didn't say anything, she continued,"So instead, I will be changing you, and sending you away. You'll have to learn to adapt, and learn to survive in this new community. You'll no longer be able to interact with humans, you'll have to learn your lesson. I truly hope you'll be able to find happiness in this new form, and realize what you did wrong in the past. Maybe you can change, but only time will tell."
Izaya tried to move away, but since his fear had sent him stumbling back, the inky black water now surrounded his feet, trapping him in place. He looked up in fear, but saw that the person was gone. Suddenly, the black sludge began crawling up Izaya at a fast rate. Izaya cried out, trying to pull away but falling over. "Wait! I don't understand!" He cried out in fear and terror,"What do you mean?! What's going to happen to me!?"
But all he could do is cry out as he was pulled under the water. But underneath the water was nothing, and so he fell. Izaya could only scream as he fell down into the empty, black nothingness below.
Falling, and falling, falling, and falling..
Once again, Izaya's eyes snapped open, and he took a huge, panicked breath. Jerking into a sitting up position, gasping for breaths. Trying to calm down, he shut his eyes, his hand coming up to run through his hair. He even yanked on the hair roughly, despite the jolt of pain, to make sure it wasn't a dream.
"I'm awake.." He whispered, pulling his hand out of his hair and staring at it. That's.. Strange.. There were a few strange, red flakes embedded in his skin. He frowned, bringing his hands up to scratch at them. That's when, once again, it registered in his mind that his hands were once again free of those casts.
He frowned, lowering his hands. In that moment, he registered his surroundings as well. Surrounding him was kelp, and some fish swimming around. He lowered his hand, grabbing a handful of the sand. He tossed it in the air, watching it slowly float around him. "I'm underwater?" He finally realized,"But if I'm underwater then.. How am I.." As he wondered aloud, his eyes lowered to look down at his feet.
But they were gone.
In place of his legs was a long, red, mermaid tail.
Izaya released a panicked noise, his hands going down to feel the body part. Right at his waist, the smooth skin of his body ended and turned into flaked red scales that went down and became the tail. On both sides of the waist were butterfly fins, that were a transparent gold colorcolor, and fell elegantly down about halfway on both sides. At the bottom of the tail were for tail fins instead of 2, the first two were smaller, but the lower two were larger and connected to the very end of the tail, much like butterfly wings in the same transparent gold color.
His panicked hands felt the rest of his body. Izaya felt some patches of red scales, on his shoulders and near the sides of his chest. When he reached his head, he felt his ears again. Now, they were gone, replaced with what felt like fins. Izaya could only guess that they were red too, and that the thinner parts were lighter.
Izaya's desperately wished for it to be a prank, willing himself to move his legs, to get them out of this crazy costume. But when he tried, the whole tail moved instead, causing him to panic. His legs were gone, he had a tail! He was a fucking merman!
What's going on?! No, this has to be a dream! This has to be! Izaya thought, bringing his hands up to his head, but he never woke up. Did that mean.. Was this real?!
Izaya leaned down, pushing off the ground and into high water. He tried moving the tail, trying to understand what was going on. But he couldn't work it right, not with the ghost feeling of his legs still there. He made it above the kelp, before floating back onto the sand. He tried again, and again, but continued to land in the sand.
He whimpered. The trauma from his fight with.. With him, and this whole strange, confusing situation left him in a panicked state. He whimpered in the sand, rolling onto his back, his hands squeezing into the sand. "I don't understand.." He whispered,"What's going on?"
For several moments, Izaya stared up at the ocean above him. He didn't know what to do, and he hated that. He sighed, closing his eyes. Even though he had just been asleep, he drifted off once more. All he could do was hope..
It had to be a dream..
It just had to..
Someone shaking him is what woke Izaya up next.
So he opened his eyes, and found himself staring into blue ones.
Izaya cried out in shock, jerking up once more and colliding foreheads with the other person. They both groaned, hands going up to rub them. Izaya opened his eyes first, looking down very quickly, and filling with confusion and disappointment at the sight of the red, elegant tail. "It's not a dream.." He whispered, confused and upset.
"Ooooow!" The other voice whined, making Izaya look up. It was another mermaid. He had messy blue hair that went down to his back, bright blue eyes, a lean, toned stomach, and a dark blue tail. But instead of tail fins, he looked more like a shark, even the fin on the edge of the back of his tail helped fit that narrative. Around his neck was a rope, holding what looked like a ruby on the middle of it.
"Dude, that hurt! What are you, a hammerhead shark? I was just trying to wake you up!" The other merman whined.
Izaya frowned, using his hands to push himself back a bit. "Who.. Who are you?" He asked, confused.
The blue haired creature moved, sitting in the sand in front of him. "I should be asking you that, I've never seen you out here before, and I know everyone," He claimed, before holding out his hand,"My name is Azul, prince Azul to be exact. I know, my name means blue, it's very creative. What's your name?"
His smile seemed genuine, and his curiosity was warranted. Izaya slowly reached for his hand, and shook it. "My name is Izaya," He said calmly,"And I know you've never seen me before, because I'm not.. I'm not this. I'm human, or, I guess I was."
"Human, really?" Azul asked curiously, leaning forward,"Well, if you are human, then what is this?" He reached out and poked Izaya's tail, causing the male to cry out, pulling it closer to him.
"I don't know, okay?!" He exclaimed,"One minute I was human, and then this weird lady in my dreams said she was going to give me my comeuppance, and then I woke up here!"
Azul hummed, crossing his arms. "Well, that is strange," He said,"But if you're telling the truth, I don't know if you'll be able to change back.. Especially if this was done by someone on purpose.."
"I'm not sure I'd even have anything to go back to as a human anyways.." Izaya muttered, not meaning for Azul to hear.
The blue haired man frowned, before reaching out and poking Izaya's tail again, causing him to squeak. "Hey, don't worry," He promised,"I can help you. I'll take you to my kingdom, you'll be safe there, we can figure out what to do from there."
He grabbed Izaya's hand, leaping out of the sand and into the water. He then let go, and swam forward quickly. Izaya cried out in a panic, flailing his hands and tail. "Wait, wait! Wait!" He cried out,"I can't swim!"
Azul stopped, staying in the water as he watched Izaya slowly float back down to the ground. "Wow," He said,"Any doubts I had on your story have just been destroyed."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Izaya declared, feeling the stab to his pride as he crossed his arms.
Azul swooped down, lifting Izaya from the sand. "Oh, nothing," He began,"It's just, even newborn merpeople know how to swim, from the moment they're born. If you were a merman before this, you'd probably have died."
Izaya frowned, but let Azul bring him up higher. "Okay, try flapping you tail fins, sort of like a dolphin would, okay?" He tried explaining.
He held Izaya's hands, lowering him a bit. "Swim up to me," He ordered. Izaya looked up to Azul, before trying to follow his orders. He huffed, it seemed the fact he hadn't done much physical work for a few weeks followed him to this body. He stopped, watching Azul for a moment. Then, he looked down at his own, and tried to copy it.
Slowly, he rose in the air, but since he had angled himself down, he flipped over, and was now swimming with his tail point up. "Whoa, whoa!" Azul exclaimed, grabbing him again,"Angle or direct yourself where you want to go."
Azul moved down, swimming forward. Izaya struggled, but began to get the hang of it. He used his hands a bit, but managed to get the hang of it a bit, though it was a lot of effort. He was breathing hard. Azul gave him a worried look. "You need lots of practice, it's a long way home, I'll help you," He promised.
It was strange to have someone worry about him, to want to help him. But then again, nothing was really making sense at this point. Deciding that nothing he could say would help this situation, he simply nodded.
Azul gave a comforting smile, taking Izaya's hand once more before taking off through the ocean. Izaya tried to swim the best he could, not wanting to be dead weight.
Nothing was said between them, but Izaya didn't know what he could say. All Izaya could do was let all the fleeting thoughts go through brain. He knew why this happened, he knew he sort of deserved a punishment. But how was he supposed to change back to human? Would that woman let him? Was he stuck like this forever? All these thoughts were sending fear through his body, boiling and overflowing and leaving him with one main, panicked question.
What am I going to do?