GASP! An update on Apostasy? UNHEARD OF!
Hehe, sorry for the wait guys. I'm off school now so hopefully I will have more time for writing! w
IMPORTANT: Um, also, I kinda updated the first half of chapter 9 a few days before the second half, so if you ended the chapter on Izaya losing consciousness, GO BACK AND READ THE REST! The second half begins after you see 'XXX' ^_^ Thank you, that is all!
There was motion and noise all around the informant. It was a foreign feeling to him, being surrounded by such abundant activity and neither playing a role nor manipulating the other players, but now he couldn't bring himself to care. The Numbness had sunken it's claws into him even more deeply than the Pain. It drowned out any thought of listening in on the commotion around him, even if it could mean figuring out where he was or what was going to happen to him.
But this… this was different. Where the Pain was like a feral animal intent on ripping his throat out, the Numbness was a thick, thick blanket.
A thick blanket with claw-like hooks, that is.
So beneath this insanely thick, impossible to remove blanket, Izaya struggled. Or attempted to.
It felt like he weighed a ton! His heavy, lethargic limbs would not listen to him. All this damned weight pressing down on his body, smothering him, crushing him. Breathing was a pain, the only pain he'd retained amid the Numbness. His lungs were on fire… just trying to breathe was causing the informant to go dizzy with effort.
Hell, thinking was a chore right now.
'Ah… this sucks…'
Well, at least the clawing feeling was gone. Without it being numb was almost… pleasant. If only he could breathe…
He'd been under the effect of the numbness for a while now, hadn't he? He could not recollect when he'd drawn his last breath…. But what did it matter anyway….
The burning in his chest seemed insignificant now. And so what if he couldn't move? He didn't have anywhere to go anyway. He could just stay here, snuggled with his blanket.
Ah~ and now the dizziness was fading as well. Izaya suddenly felt quite sleepy.
'It's not like I have anything to do… mhmm I feel so comfortable here, like I could sleep here forever~'
There was no crushing pressure in this place, no dizziness or pain or numbness. Just a happy floating feeling.
'This is so nice… I should've done this a long time ago-'
"IZAYA WAKE UP!"
Ripped from the blanket of Numbness and the blissful emotion with it, Izaya woke with a shriek.
Now reunited with much needed oxygen, he gasped desperately. Clenching his hands in silk sheets, his eyes darting about fearfully, Izaya found-
That… he was… in his room…?
"Are you OK Izaya?" *
Turning his frightened gaze, Izaya saw a vaguely familiar face.
"Futa… chan?"
Masking her concerned face, Futa-chan smirked. "Who else would it be?"
"A-ah… How did we get here…?"
Futa-chan raised an incredulous brow. "Uh, hello, the great and powerful Futago here?"
The informant grimaced. "Oh. Right."
"Well, come on now," Futa-chan said, grinning. "Get up!" She crowed, jumping up and flopping on the bed beside Izaya.
"Hey!" he shouted, alarmed. "Don't do that- you'll agitate my wounds!"
Rolling on her side to face Izaya, the girl's grin grew sly. "What wounds?"
Izaya's mouth opened, then closed, like a fish. He looked down at himself, and hurriedly yanked his shirt up.
Nothing. It was the same pale, unmarred chest as always.
"Wha-?"
Sliding her small hand up Izaya's torso, Futa-chan teased, "You really need to remember who it is you're talking to, Izaya-kun~"
Futa-chan's hand had made its way to his chest, just right of his heart. Right where her brother had struck him. They had very similar hands, Izaya realized with a shiver.
Carefully removing her hand and pulling his shirt back into place, he questioned quietly.
"H-how-?"
Looking quite smug, she explained. "It's simple really. Being human, you can't actually exist in-in the other realm. Or physically at least. So~ I just transferred your conscience into a spectral form. And then when you got hurt there, I brought you back here and poof, all better!"
"So I was like a spirit…? And I object to 'poof' being your onamonapia of choice as I'm being pulled from the brink of de- Hey!" Izaya protested as Futa-chan scooted closer, pressing her face against his clothed shoulder.
"Hey." Futa-chan murmured back as if in answer, suddenly shy. She peeked up at him through her hair and spoke against his shirt.
"I'm sorry…. About what with my brother. I honestly didn't expect him to react to you like that…."
Izaya wasn't one to miss little things, so it was clear to him why she was apologizing. She'd apologized for the magnitude of his reaction, not for his unexpected appearance. Anyone else wouldn't have picked such a small distinction up, but Izaya wasn't just anyone.
"But you knew he would show up and know it was me, didn't you." It wasn't an accusation or even a question. Izaya already knew.
"…" Futa-chan buried her head in his shoulder again. Answering the suspicion she heard loud and clear in his mind.
She'd lied, and she took a gamble. With his life, no less.
'If you don't trust me anymore Izaya, I'd understand…'
But with all his intuition and information, Izaya was no mind reader, so he didn't answer her.
He just watched her, pressed against the side of his body. When she was being still and quiet, not bursting with enthusiasm or countering his teases with snarky comebacks, even with her youthful face and childlike body, he could sense something ancient about her. There was a somberness and seriousness to her silence. Yes, when she wasn't running amok like an ADHD squirrel on drugs, he could see how mature she truly was. How much of her was a ruse, a red herring? He may not be omniscient, but Izaya wasn't an information broker for nothing.
'Who are you, really?'
And though she'd heard him, Futa-chan said nothing.
After their bout of silence became uncomfortable, Izaya sighed loudly and changed the subject.
"Geez~, all that hard work on my part, and not only did I not fool him, we didn't even get what we came for!"
"Hmm?" Futa-chan questioned, sitting up and gazing down at him quizzically. Then-
"Don't look at me like that, it's annoying and freaky!"
She smirked wider. "Like what~?"
"Like you know something I don't know or something!" Then it clicked.
"Wait, you…?"
She nodded rapidly, grinning hugely. "I got it."
Izaya gasped, then sat up quickly, eagerly cupping his hands in front of him. "Well, let me see!"
Futa-chan rolled her eyes and chuckled, and it really seemed as if she was the adult and he was the child.
"You don't even know if it's a tangible thing," she chided, and watched his face fall into a pout.
"It isn't?"
She giggled. "It is, it is, I'm just screwing with you."
Another gasp, this time tinged with outrage. "You-! You troll!"
'Would you like to be the pot, or the kettle?' She thought, laughing, louder and more full-bodied than earlier, before plopping something small and very warm into the informant's hands.
He stuck his tongue out at her briefly. "Kettle, please," he griped, and turned all his attention to the object between his palms. So captivated was he that he took no notice of the girl beside him stiffening as if electrocuted.
"Whoa… something this pretty belongs to that brute?"
Blinking away her shock, the girl was a bit slow to respond. She didn't even bother reminding him of his declaration of love for his so-called 'brute'. "Uh… yeah, it does…but uh…. Everyone's** got one so it's not such a big deal…"
"Everyone huh?" Izaya inquired, turning the small jewel like object in his hands. "So, it's like a soul then. Ooooh, this is a soul gem? Ah, is it~?"
"It's not really that simple," Futa-chan murmured, but Izaya paid her no mind.
"So I'm holding Shizu-chan's soul right now? That's so cool! Ah, if I crush it will it hurt him?" The informant asked, giving an experimental squeeze, then cocking his head to the far wall of his room. As if he'd be able to hear Shizuo screaming from Ikebukuro all the way in Shinjuku. He heard nothing. "Huh, guess it doesn't work like in anime. Oh well. So I just have to give it back to him right~? Wait, aren't you supposed to be, I dunno, dead if you're away from your soul? I guess Shizu-chan really is a monster. Still, he really isn't the same without this, huh? Hey wait! He would have to form a contract for his soul to take tangible form! So you- you and your brother are demons aren't you? Ah, that means that place- that was hell wasn't it!"
Futa-chan blinked slowly once. Then again. In her shocked state all the rambling nonsense from the informant was really absurd sounding. Who went around comparing real life to anime? She felt a slight headache coming on. "You-! You know what? Yes. We're demons. Happy now?"
Izaya giggled, sounding a bit nervous. "Sorry, I just, um, got a bit ahead of myself." he apologized, embarrassed. "But, in a sense, that's how it works right? This is his soul, and all I have to do is give it back to him, and he's fine?"
"Well, like I tried to say earlier," she paused to glare at the chastised informant, "it isn't that simple. This isn't Shizuo Hewaijima's soul- rather, it is the essence of Shizuo Hewaijima. I'd rather not dive into a long, complex explanation of the difference, so I'll keep this simple. The essence of a person, well… it's what makes each of you different. Unique and individual, every single one of you. And when my brother took that from Shizuo… he stopped being so different. I mean, he's still his own person, but… well you know how after a person dies, their brain keeps functioning for a brief period after their heart stops?"
Izaya nodded, looking a bit wary of her next words.
"Well, it's like that, really. Even after the 'heart' of Shizuo was taken, he is still hanging on, trying to function as he would if it were still within him."
"…. Are you saying that, eventually, without this essence, Shizuo will die?"
"…" Futa-chan nodded slowly.
"Then let's go!" Izaya exclaimed, jumping up from bed, ready to race from his room all the way to Ikebukuro.
"Hey, calm down," the girl cried, holding him back by the shoulders. "Don't freak out. Shizuo still has quite a bit of time left and the amount of time away from his essence won't affect him as long as he gets it!"
Izaya glanced back at her uneasily, turning the object in his hands over and over.
"… Ok, but I still think we should go. Now."
She smiled weakly in return. "That's fine, but do you really want to go out looking like that?"
He blinked. "Like what…?" Without walking for an answer he turned on his heel and stalked into the bathroom connected to his bedroom and slammed the door behind him.
Looking in the mirror, the informant winced. She was right- he shouldn't be walking out the door with his current appearance. Which in a sense, he had... The girl had sort of kidnapped him. His hair was stuck up all over the place and his clothes were askew and wrinkled from sleeping in them.
And splashing some cold water in his face and switching his normal V-neck shirt for a casual red T-shirt he'd conveniently found hanging on the door (Futa-chan had probably been kind enough to leave it for him) he returned to find Futa-chan standing innocently where she'd left him.
Innocently wearing his jacket too.
Glaring at her briefly before shrugging it off, he headed through his office which was adjoined to his home. ***
She skipped after him, humming happily.
As they were heading down in the elevator Izaya glanced at the thing in his hand again.
"Now that I really look at it, it really doesn't look like a soul gem at all."
It really didn't. Instead of an egg shaped, intricately designed jewel, this was a simple rounded bottle, with a brilliant golden light glowing from whatever it was in the bottle. The light blocked his view of the thing. But from the feather-light weight of the bottle, he guessed it was just the light. It was incredible warm beneath his fingers. Holding it, he could hardly remember the chill of the Numbness… He was it, entranced still, as it fluttered delicately, like a baby's heart beat, or a butterfly's wings….
Wings.
"Hey Futa-chan…?"
"Yeah?"
"When I was hurt… I think I had a… dream. In my dream I got hurt badly, and it just… gave me the most dreadful feeling, you know?"
"That's understandable isn't it? I mean, you get hurt, you dream about being hurt, it makes enough sense. In any case, I'm no psychologist, and I hardly even spend time around humans, so I'm not the person to ask." She shrugged noncommittally.
But her face was guarded. And Izaya didn't miss little things. He said nothing. Then something else occurred to him.
"Hey Futa-chan?"
She heaved a sigh."What now?"
"If you hadn't taken me back to this world when you did, would I have died?"
"No." She said. Too quickly, too smoothly. Izaya just nodded.
Suddenly he noticed her biting her lip. She caught him watching and turned her face away.
"What," he demanded, turning her head to face him.
"It's nothing," she retorted, waving his hand away, but she couldn't hold back a smile now.
Eyes narrowed, he stared down at her challengingly.
Futa-chan couldn't possibly keep a straight face while he stared at her like that. "Alright, alright!" She relented with a laugh. "It's just… You scream like a little girl."
Izaya's eyebrows shot up past his hairline. "Ho~? I scream like you? I had no idea you had such manly screams, Futa-chan~"
Laughing again, she shoved him playfully as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out.
XXX
After convincing Futa-chan that taking a taxi to Shizuo's place was the best choice (as they couldn't be sure who would be watching on the other end if they teleported) they stood in front of his apartment complex. Izaya started feeling a bit apprehensive.
"When we give him his, uh, stuff back, won't he want to kill me again?"
Futa-chan kept her poker face as best she could. "That's cool with me."
He reached out and yanked a handful of her hair.
"Owww!"
"Do we just hand it do him? Or do we break the bottle? Hmm, maybe that would hurt him though…" the informant mused, ignoring her cry of pain.
"Ow!"
"Oh, right." He released her hair.
She glared fiercely at him, rubbing at her tender scalp. "Don't. Touch. The. Hair."
He reached for her head again, grinning impishly, only to have his hand slapped away. "Geez! Just leave the bottle in front of his door! I'm out of here!" she groused, spinning to stalk off.
Izaya frowned. "You're leaving already?"
"Yes!" she snapped, before turning back, her eyes softening. "I'm sorry again. About my brother. It won't happen again."
Izaya smiled. "It better not!" He turned to go up to Shizuo's apartment, waving the bottle over his shoulder. "Later."
"…. Izaya…."
Izaya looked back over his shoulder quizzically. "Hmm?"
She hesitated, and her face hardened. "… My presence might have something to do with how well you're feeling after you've just recovered. If you feel lightheaded or in pain after I'm gone, don't think anything of it."
The informant nodded thoughtfully, then started up again.
"Izaya!"
He sighed heavily, turning again. "Wha-! Ah!" Izaya sputtered against the fur in his face. He pulled his jacket away from his face to swear at the girl, only to find empty streets. Sighing, and almost immediately feeling a bit tired and aching, he trudged up to see Shizuo.
Aaaand end of this arc of Apostasy! Believe it or not these last ten chapters were only part 1! On to the next one soon!
*Um, when I was writing this one part I was blasting 'Smooth Criminal' so instead of Are you OK Izaya? I kept writing Are you OK Annie? XD Little fun fact for you~
**Everyone just won't go away! *winks at icywarm*
***I have no idea if Izaya's office is also his apartment so I'll just say it is….
Few random things to say now:
I'm sorry for Izaya rambling about anime earlier… I just saw this one doujinshi where Izaya and Shizuo were talking about anime and simultaneously fighting, so now it's my head-cannon that Izaya is secretly an otaku w And if you know what anime Izaya was talking about I AM WILLING TO TAKE A REQUEST, EITHER FOR A ONESHOT OR APOSTASY!
You know what? I take it back. After writing Futa-chan wearing Izaya's jacket and telling him he screamed like a girl, I decided I really REALLY like Futa-chan. This is still Shizaya though, just in case anyone was getting any weird IzayaXFuta vibes earlier…. Cuz I kinda was….
I have NOT forgotten about Shizuo's Journal, it is just on hold for now. I am attempting for the first time in my life to outline a story before I actually write it. Hopefully it will be helpful cuz I have NO idea where I'm going with Apostasy ^_^"
And again, now that I'm on break I WILL try to update more, but I give no guarantees. Hopefully I will be finished with Apostasy before the summer ends though!
Thank you all for reading, reviewing and favoriting, it means SO much to me! Please review so I know you all care and want more! And I'm going on vacation Saturday so hopefully I will update before then, but if I don't… well, then you'll be in for a little waiting. SO SORRY!