"'The Fall of Seraphim,'" Shizuo read, "'a Memoir.' You... have got to be kidding."

"But I'm not," Celty typed, a but huffily.

"I read this book years and years ago," Shinra put in. "It's the one that I asked Celty to track down last night."

"So this," the dullahan continued, "is how the author depicts Lucifer himself." She flipped through several pages until she reached an illustration, and pointed. Shizuo breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"That's definitely not him."

"No..." Several more pages were turned, and then Celty held up, "But look at this."

Izaya's feathers fluffed and rustled as he leaned in; Shizuo fell totally still and silent. For there on the sheet of paper, drawn in just to the right of the supposed Lucifer, was—

"That's me." Izaya's voice was a bit faint, and his wings rose fractionally.

"I thought it was absolutely hilarious that you had a fallen-angel look-alike when I read this back in the day," Shinra said. "Turns out— not so funny. It might just be true, instead."

"Read this," Celty indicated, passing the book to Shinra. "This passage here."

The doctor cleared his throat loudly, taking the book and beginning to read in an authoritative voice, "'Lucifer, The Fallen One, waged another battle against The Lord not long after The Great Flood. This time, the army of 200 Watchers accompanied and fought beside him under their leader, Semyaza.'"

Izaya had begun to tremble, but Shinra read on excitedly without pause; Shizuo noticed, however, and reached out to take Izaya's hand gently.

"'The Watchers, who had fathered the Nephilim, lent the strength of their hatred and embitterment to the battle. Many of God's Chosen were slain, their blood coloring the sands and flowing into the sea. Many Fallen perished as well, and the Watchers who fell shrieked in both joy at release from their earthly sentence and horror at the hell that awaited them.

"'Semyaza lent intelligence rather than strength to the deviant cause, and might easily be called a coward, watching from a safe height as his loyal a went into battle. I saw the absence of pain on his face when his lieutenant was slain. The battle was lost for the Fallen, and the guilty punished accordingly, myself and the trickster Semyaza, unable to slip away as was his custom, included.' Sounds pretty accurate.

"And that's where it ends," Shinra said, lowering the book. "From there it goes into an entirely different story. That's the only mention of Semyaza in the entire volume."

"Who... wrote that book?" Izaya's voice was strained, and his wings were shuddering violently.

"The... the author is listed as a... um..." Shinra flipped to the front of the book, "... Leza Zarchoph."

"Azazel..." Izaya growled, then gave a barking laugh that startled Shizuo. "That bastard... spilling my secrets... that's my job, controlling secrets. I even control God's— nng!" He doubled over suddenly, wings convulsing and hands flying to clutch at his head. Instantly Shizuo was out of his seat, chair flying backwards.

"Izaya!"

Izaya opened his mouth as if to reply, but all that came out was a groan of pain. He grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, his whole body heaving once; twice. Shizuo stooped, gripping a wing with one hand and a shoulder with the other.

"Izaya?!"

"Get... back..." Izaya wheezed, and when Shizuo didn't obey he shouted, "Get away from me, you idiot! I feel like I'm going to—!"

He didn't finish his statement, his whole body convulsing violently and the food he had so excitedly been eating coming back up his throat. He tried to choke it back, but it didn't exactly work, a bit of blood and vomit dripping down his chin for a moment before the rest came up anyway.

Shizuo, although his innermost thoughts and feelings about the whole situation were clear on his face, didn't back up or let go.

When Izaya had stilled, save for his heaving chest and shuddering wings, Shinra stepped forward.

"What was that? Did you remember—"

"Not now..." Izaya cut him off, his voice slightly rasping. "Aah... shit." He smiled miserably up at Shizuo, although it was still a crooked Izaya-type smile. "I'm sorry. Shit. Oh god, I fucking threw up on you. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," the blonde muttered. "You're worse off than me. Come on," he added, taking Izaya's arm. "Can you walk? We'll go get cleaned up."

"But—!" Shinra began to object, but Shizuo cut him off with a glare.

"He said 'not now.'" Taking Izaya around the shoulders, he guided him towards the bedroom, and Shinra could only sigh frustratedly as the door closed behind them.

"Aww man... I want to know...!"

"You'll get your chance to ask questions later," Celty said consolingly, although her next words were anything but. "For now you can clean up the table and what got on the floor."

"Whaaaat?!" Shinra objected despairingly, and Celty crossed her arms.

"You don't expect Izaya to do it, do you? And Shizuo's doing his share of clean up right now."

"And you?"

If someone could look disbelieving without a face, Celty did. "Me?" she held a hand up to her chest. "Are you saying... you'd make me do it? How mean!"

And so Shinra, with another sigh, had no choice but to relent.

… … …

There were three bathrooms in the apartment, two equipped with showers and the master equipped with a bath. The later, as it turned out, was the only one that could accommodate a twelve-foot wing-span, and so that was the one that the blonde guided his winged companion to.

Izaya sat patiently, cross legged and naked, on the edge of the sink while Shizuo cleaned himself. Then, at the blonde's motion, he hopped down and climbed into the partially-filled tub, keeping his wings tucked somewhat close so that he would fit

Shizuo crouched down in front of him first, where the worst of the vomit was clinging to his skin. Izaya lifted his head unquestioningly, giving the blonde better access to his chest and neck. Shizuo's movements were quick and gentle as he washed the other, his chest and belly and legs.

"You really made a mess of yourself."

"And you."

"Yeah, and me. Thanks a bunch for that."

Shizuo got up, moving around to Izaya's back. After a moment of hesitation, he picked up one large wing and stretched it out. Izaya let him.

"Do you think I can just use regular soap on these?"

"Don't see why not."

Shrugging slightly, Shizuo lathered his hands and began rubbing at the thickly feathered appendage. Izaya shivered slightly.

"That feels... really good." He bent forward a bit, letting the wing stretch out further. Shizuo smiled.

"You're fucking spoiled, you know that?"

"Of course."

They lapsed into silence, Shizuo working steadily up the first wing. When he reached Izaya's back, he rubbed at the tense muscles for a moment before moving onto the next wing.

"You were remembering something, right?" Shizuo finally asked, and Izaya nodded.

"Yeah. But I'm sure as hell not telling that to Shinra."

"Why are you telling me, then?"

Izaya laughed lightly. "Because I know you won't press me for details."

Shizuo yanked playfully on the wing in his hands, although not hard enough to jerk Izaya's whole body. "I guess that's fair enough. Besides, knowing the contents of your stomach is already too much information for me."

"Sorry," Izaya said dryly, "I didn't realize you were so sensitive."

"Who the hell is okay with getting thrown up on?" the blonde retorted, but then both of them dropped the line of conversation as Izaya leaned back.

"Thanks."

"No problem. This is nothing, you know? We've been through worse together."

Izaya chuckled. "You sure about that? This is pretty… pretty serious," he finished vaguely.

"Remember the time you set my old place on fire?"

The information dealer choked on an unexpected laugh. "I forgot about that," he admitted, and Shizuo shoved his back playfully.

"And that time with the chimp? Remember, the one that escaped from Shinra's lab?"

"That was a bonafide nightmare," Izaya admitted. "Straight out of a horror movie."

Shizuo was smiling, then, and continued. "What about when Namie got all four of us on camera? Remember what she asked for in return for that damn sex tape?"

"That woman is the devil," Izaya growled. "I can't believe we caved to her demands…"

"She was going to distribute the thing!"

"Who cares? All four of us are stunning. It would have been quite a hit."

Shizuo shoved him again, and this time Izaya shoved back. There was a brief, splash-filled tussle, and then Izaya snugged abruptly against Shizuo's chest. The blonde, with a put-upon sigh, leaned back against the tub and put one arm around Izaya's back.

"So see?" he asked softly. "We'll make it through this the same way."

"I think finding out I'm a fallen angel is slightly different than my stupid secretary managing to record us fornicating, Shizu-chan." Izaya closed his eyes, then sighed. "I think I finally understand how Celty feels about her missing memories. I've existed… for so much longer than I ever knew. And all I have are nightmarish fragments and an old book to go off of."

"We'll get through it," Shizuo repeated simply, one hand rubbing soothing circles on Izaya's back. The angel shuddered with pleasure. "Okay? We're in this together. And if we're together, there's nothing we can't handle, okay?"

"Sure. Right. ... Okay."