A week later...

Shizuo walked down the snowy-icy path in the park, eyes locked-onto the small boy huddled on a bench. He was wearing a lone-black-long-sleeved shirt that didn't look at all warm, and jeans he wore in the summer. His whole body was shivering, and his breath hung heavy in the air. It really made Shizuo worry. How long had he been out here? Did someone pick on him? Did his parents neglect him again?

"Oi, …., what you doing out here without a jacket?" Shizuo asked, coming up to the shivering boy. The raven slowly looked up at him, with that blurred face, but the burnett could feel the sense of urgency coursing through his veins.

"Shi-Shizu-chan," his voice trembled between his clattering teeth. Shizuo frowned at this and took off his own jacket, draping it over the raven. The small boy seemed to jump slightly, but pulled the warm cloth around his frame. Shizuo was fine with it, he could handle the cold.

"Thank you, Shizu-chan," the raven muttered more clearly this time, a small smile enveloping those frozen lips. The burnett smiled back, taking a seat on the bench and pulling the smaller kid on his lap.

Wait, when did he ever do that? This just seemed so impossible, he's never even done that to Kasuka when he was a baby!

"Why you out here, nee?" Shizuo was a bit worried at first, as the raven was silent for a moment, grasping his shirt with his small hands.

"... He was trying to- he was trying to get me," he trembled, unable to keep the sobs and tears away. The burrnett wrapped his strong arms around him, bringing him closer. "H-he grabbed my jacket, which was always too big on me, s-so I managed to get away by slipping out of it." He cried, digging his head into Shizuo's chest. The burnett seemed taken-aback, but laid his chin in that silky hair.

It hurt, it hurt so much seeing this small boy in pain, feeling the small trembles and quivers of terror. Yet, his old self still didn't seem to understand! "He was probably trying to calm you down-"

"N-no, Shizuo, you gotta listen to me! - I'm scared, I'm scared that he'll come after my family next. I need you, Shizu-chan."

"Man, those dreams really must be bothering you," Tom's voice broke through his daydream-memory, nearly making the blond jump. He nearly forgot that he was still at work, his legs moving him along unconsciously.

"S-sorry," Shizuo apologized, not knowing what to say for himself. He knew this was bad. What if he zoned out when Tom really needed him? That could turn out really bad. He needed to concentrate. He needed to concentrate.

"I'll keep my head during this assignment, promise," he ended the matter as they came up to a rather large-old house. It was in a part of the city he's never really gone too before, and wished he hadn't. Half the houses around them were for-closed, or seemed as if bombs had gone off in them. It was quite shocking, really. He didn't think Ikebukuro had a place like this.

Not that it mattered, he wanted to get in and out, then home. What he'd give to take a relaxing hot bath right now.

Tom rang the doorbell, deciding not to respond as the best course of action. But when no one came to the door, he tried again. "Hmm, that's weird, don't think someone's home," the debt collector frowned, placing a ear against the door. But there were no sounds except the hum of machines and the ticking of a clock.

"Hmmm, something doesn't seem right," Tom uttered, backing away from the door. "The information states that he's usually home at this time, unless he's hiding out." Shizuo took the hint and moved in-front of the door. He was used to this, but this time, he was determined to be extra careful with the door. Even though he was frustrated, he was determined not to knock it completely off it's hinges.

Taking a deep breath, he gently kicked the door. It made a groaning sound in defense, but shakingly swung open nevertheless. "Good job! One door that we don't have to fix!" Tom praised.

Shizuo couldn't help but smile softly to himself as they both entered. Seeing those memories of that kid was really helping with his temper, it was strange.

"This place looks, kinda empty," Tom observed, gazing around. Shizuo had to agree with him on that. From what he could tell, there were no house phones or photos. Just over-sized statues placed around the house. There was a stair-case completely covered in dust, yet the side-wall looked rather clean in the shape of a rectangle. It was weird looking.

"Why would he need a pad-lock on the case to put his keys in?" Tom wondered, making Shizuo turn his gaze to the table behind him. There was indeed a pad-lock on a small case made for keys. What did he drive, a million dollar car?

"I think we should search upstairs, he probably tried to jump out a window-" the debt collector stopped in mid-sentence, gazing at Shizuo, who was staring at the stair-case side-wall. The blond couldn't help but feel himself compelled forward, whether that was due to feeling a presence or not; so he allowed his body to be pulled forward. Why the hell would he want to see the wall? There was nothing special about it-

That's when it hit him. There was only a small part of the wall not dusty; of course, it was a door or a opening of some sort.

"What is is Shizuo?" The debt collector asked, taking a cautious step forward.

Shizuo turned to Tom with a proud smile. "This, this is a secrete bunker which I have no doubt our man is hiding in." Tom stared at the wall in aw, finally seeing what he was seeing. He didn't even say anything as Shizuo raised his foot to kick it down. Yet, he felt his heart pounding wildly against his chest, more memories of him and the boy flooding back to him all at once. Ahhh, curse Shinra and Kadota, now he couldn't concentrate!

Either way, he managed to kick the door-in, leaving it to barely hang on its engines. He was glad he was able to restrain himself again, and entered the small space cautiously. It was dark, nearly pitch black save the small streams of light that came through the now opened door.

"Tom, can you search for a light?" Shizuo asked, senses on high alert.

"Got it," he responded, though was blocked from Shizuo's mind as he heard a faint murmur. It wasn't like it was any form of words, which was strange. There was someone in here.

"Show yourself now or I will pound your face in!" Shizuo snapped, letting his anger drop from his throat. This earned another yet louder screech, making the blond turn his attention to one of the corners in the room. "Who the hell are you?" He snapped, yet, the voice seemed to drag his own voice down. It sounded, weird; familiar. It was so high-pitched yet, nearly non-existent, it tumbled his feelings. It reminded him of- No, it couldn't be.

Quickly, he pulled out his phone, opening it to shed some light in the dark space. It made the voice screech again, though now the blond could make out his labored breathing. Slowly, he walked forward, being sure to drag his feet in-case he might accidentally step on whomever this was.

"Tom, where are those lights?"

"I'm on it, it must be in a weird place." Shizuo shook his head. He'd have to do this in the dark; he just hoped the person wasn't smart enough to shift in the darkness.

"We're here to collect your debt, so don't bother hiding, I will find you-" he stopped in mid-sentence, the light on his phone finally shining upon a trembling body in the feeble position, leaning against the boiler and the wall. His throat was swelling, not knowing how to react to seeing this. The boy's appearance was strikingly familiar, a migraine pounding against his head as he stared at the teenager. What was worse was seeing dark-extreme wounds that littered his body. All he wore was an extremely large shirt, for him in any case, that went down to his knees, exposing the black-purple bruises that popped out. There were what looked like third-degree burn marks on that frail skin, and this was just his legs! Looking further up, he could make out what looked like strangle marks and bruises on his neck, being grazed by-

No... this was the same hair, raven-black, though it looked dead at the moment. His body, though much larger and dirtier, was the same, and his presence, by god it was the same; it was hard not to pull him in for hug. This was, no doubt the boy from his dreams; his memories.

"Hey, we're not gonna hurt you," Shizuo gently soothed, letting himself fall to his knees so he wouldn't seem all that taller to the raven. "We're here to help," he soothed, slowly inching closer. The raven seemed to hear this, as he coiled into himself more, his trembling only increasing.

Dammit, this might take a while. "Tom, call an ambulance, we need to get him to the hospital." Tom stared at him from the entrance of the crawl space, a little mystified, but did what he said. He could hardly make anything out, but knew that that was indeed a boy in need.

"We're gonna get you all fixed up, somewhere this bastard can't touch you anymore, okay?" His made sure his voice was the gentlest it could be, smiling with all his warmth. He didn't know what he could do to make this boy look at him, he wanted to see his face god-dammit! But he had to wait, he would only make himself an enemy if he touched him.

After for what seemed like hours, the small raven-haired teen cautiously unburied his head from his arms, gazing at Shizuo with squinted eyes.

That face- Those eyes- Shizuo felt his heart beating nearly out of his chest, wanting to explode and color an entire town. This was definitely the person from his dreams, the person from his memory, the person from his past; it was all coming back all at once.

His phone suddenly vibrated, nearly making him jump. Who the hell would be texting him right now? Quickly, he looked at the name to see it was Kasuka.

'You don't remember Izaya? You two were inseparable, he was like my other brother.' Yes, it was Izaya; Izaya Orihara. He was younger then him, way younger, but they had been the closets friends ever since he could remember. Yet, he was kidnapped ten years ago by their school counselor. Now he understood, now he remembered everything. He was so depressed after that happened, he didn't even want to recall all the things he did.

"I-Izaya?" His voice trembled, nearly dropping his phone. Tears were welling in his eyes as he continued to stare at that terrified face, trying his best to keep himself from embracing him. "I-I can't believe it, it really is you!" The raven seemed to coil even more at his name, though curiosity was clearly written on his face. Then again, how could he remember Shizuo since he dyed his hair blond? He did that to try to get rid of the memory of Izaya during his depression state.

"Izaya, it's me, Shizuo, Shizuo Heiwajima!" He cried, inching closer. The teen stared at him for a moment before his eyes widened, pupils shrinking to the back of his head in pure terror. He tried to let out a screech, but his breathing was really bad. That's weird, he never had a problem breathing before.

Then again, he was gone for ten years. "I dyed my hair blond, but I swear to god it's me!" Suddenly, the light came on, making Izaya shriek, hands pulling at his hair.

"I-I found the switch...," Tom trailed off, staring at the teen now in complete shock. "A-and the ambulance is on the way."

"Thanks Tom," Shizuo half-heartily thanked, wanting to yell at him for startling Izaya. Then again, every little thing did at the moment; god, he didn't even want to know what kind of hell he's been in. He might just turn into a monster.

Shizuo noticed Izaya's trembling gaze focused on Tom, which he couldn't blame him. He probably didn't see him until now due to the darkness. "Don't worry, he's my boss Tom. We were looking for the person that owns this house to put him in jail." Izaya's rusty-nearly-soul-less eyes went back on him, trembling as if they had a lot of coffee or something.

"I think they have him on some kind of drug," Tom suddenly beamed, worry etched in his voice. "He might be having a bad reaction, with the way he's breathing." Shizuo felt adrenaline coursing through him, the urge to scoop him up stronger then before. Who the hell would do this to Izaya?

"Shizuo, we need to get him out of here, now. This air with the combination of the drugs could be causing an asthma attack."

Asthma...? Shit shit shit. Shizuo couldn't waste another minute if they wanted to have a chance to save Izaya with little effects as possible. He scooted even closer to the teen, but Izaya wasn't even able to move this time.

"I know you probably don't want anyone touching you right now, but I need to carry you out, I'm sorry, I don't want to see you suffer more then you already are." Izaya opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as no words came out. It wasn't until now did Shizuo see the dried blood that lingered on his cheek and lips. It was as if someone had repeatingly slapped him or something.

Very gently, he reached out, wrapping one of his arms under his legs. The sudden touch made Izaya squeal weakly, but it was covered by dozens of coughs. He couldn't even move anymore, only weakly rock back and forth.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Shizuo cried, gently wrapping his other arm to hold his back. Izaya dryly squeaked, like a dying mouse, but couldn't do much more then that. Carefully, he lifted the extremely-light boy from the ground, cradling him like a small baby. "I'm sorry, just hold on till we get to the living room," he whispered into his ear as he climbed out of the small space, followed by Tom. They made their way over to the living room and laid the broken boy on the couch, where he continued to cough and twitch unnaturally.

"What drug do you suppose it is?" Shizuo asked Tom, clenching his trembling fists to his sides. He didn't even care when he began drawing blood, nothing could compare to what Izaya went through.

"Well, I'm not sure, but he's bleary and disoriented, which could be a number of things. But I'd suppose a drug that simulates pain to the nerves system, or one that enables his body to function correctly. Considering how he was able to move even a little bit, I'd roll that idea out."

A drug that inflicted pain? Who the hell would even think of doing that, and to such an innocent person like Izaya? It sickened him to no end. If he ever got his hands on his kidnapper, they might as well fetch a funeral car. Izaya used to be full of so much spirit, so much light, so much love. He only frowned when people picked on him, and when his family left him. Yet, he was reduced to merely a shell, a light in his eyes so far away he didn't know how he'd ever be able to reach him. His body was no longer flawless, various wounds covered it, and where there wasn't a wound, there was a scar. No wonder why he was only wearing a loose shirt, pants would make his wounds burn so badly, he'd really feel like he was in hell

"I'm sorry... I'm SOOO sorrry Izaya," he cried, not even caring that Tom was there to see his tears bead down his cheeks. He hurt, he hurt badly, and yet, even if this feeling was suffocating, it was nothing compared to all the pain Izaya must've felt.