{Eidolon's POV}

"I am very confused." I stated, nudging my tray with a fingertip.

"Agreed." my parents chorused.

Tyrone had personally delivered our meals, saying that something special had taken place. He didn't really say what, but I suppose that was supposed to explain the chocolate lurking in the corners of our trays. Izaya looked a little unnerved by the sweets, and Shizuo was just plain ignoring them. I was locked in a staring contest with my own.

"... Since they seem to need us so much, I somehow doubt that it's poisoned. But still." Izaya put forth, apparently deciding to do as Shizuo was.

I eyed mine a while longer before shrugging.

We ate in relative silence, broken only by Izaya's slight coughing fits.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Shizuo asked in concern as Izaya began coughing so much that it didn't seem like he could breathe.

"F-fine... It's just a cough..." my black-haired parent nodded as he recovered.

"You don't sound fine." I said bluntly.

"No one does when their throat hurts." he shot back.

"Hm." Shizuo and I replied.

OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO

The door slid up, Tyrone and the entourage of guards standing in the hall. "C'mon!" he beckoned cheerfully. Sighing, I got to my feet. But as I moved to stand with the guards, he added, "C'mon, and you two!"

"Wait, why're they coming?" I asked.

"The head of the company has taken concern for your mental health, as I've told you. Stress-levels skyrocketed when the child subject was removed from the parents' presence, so she's changed her mind about not letting them come. All three of every group will be going to group from now on." Tyrone told me, turning his purple-streaked mask towards me.

Shizuo and Izaya were up in a flash, standing on either side of me. Even with the mask, you could tell that Tyrone was smiling as he nodded. Tinged blue in the lights of the hall, we began to walk quietly to the round room. The floor was much colder than normal, making me shiver a little. Shizuo slipped his hand into mine, giving it a slight squeeze. I smiled, opening my other hand and touching Izaya's. From the corner of my eye, I saw him smile for the tiniest fraction of a second before he stoically took my hand.

It was obvious that we were a family now.

OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO

{Shizuo's POV}

"Dollars?"

"Mm-hmm. They're a pretty hot topic in Ikebukuro, a color-gang without a color." Izaya nodded.

"And you're both part of it?" Eidolon guessed.

"Uh-huh." I answered.

We had decided that we should tell Eidolon more about Ikebukuro. After all, if we ever got out, he'd be living there with us. We'd gone over people to avoid, friends of ours, and color-gangs. Now we were on the Dollars.

"Ohh. How does it work, if there's no color for you guys to identify each other by?" Eidolon asked.

Before either of us could answer, the Chicago group had approached us, looking rather pissed off.

"Uh-oh. Who did I not bow and scrape to this time?" Eidolon muttered darkly.

"We were told you bastards got New Mexico canned." one of them hissed.

Looking around, I realized there was only twenty-four of us.

OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO

{Tyrone's POV}

I turned pointedly to face the wolf-faced worker who was the regular for Chicago, tapping my foot. He swallowed nervously. I could easily predict someone getting a demotion very quickly once I told the president about this.

OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO

{Shizuo's POV}

"What did we do?" Izaya asked.

"Got some good men killed is what!" a second of the thugs spat.

I stood up. I was several inches taller than the tallest of their group, so I was essentially looking down at them. "I'm not particularly fond of false accusations." I warned, my voice low. The room had become very quiet. "And you... you're the ringleader of this lot, aren't you?"

The 'child' subject sneered. "So what if I am?"

How stereotypical.

"Hey!" "Kyle!"

I shook my hand out, content with that. Eidolon had turned away, covering his mouth with one hand, and Izaya wasn't even bothering to hide his smirk.

"Bastard, what the hell?!"

"Eidolon is my son, and I'm not exactly happy with this lot for regularly making his life hell. That's what." I replied coldly. "And should you think about touching him again, I'll beat you worse than I ever intended to do to this louse."

"Aww, Shizu-chan, does that mean I'm in your good books now?" Izaya purred.

"Until you do something else to piss me off." I responded with a growl.

But there was no time to worry about our rivalry right now.

This was bigger.

OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO

{Izaya's POV}

"You damn louse!" I faintly heard Shizuo yell.

I think. Maybe I was imagining things.

As I retched again, guards suddenly poured into the room, hustling the other groups out.

"I knew you were sick, dammit!" Shizuo growled, kneeling next to me and looking unsure of whether or not to touch me.

I gave my head a light shake to chase away the brightly colored spots I was seeing, but that only made it worse. I gagged, retching again even though there was nothing left in my stomach. Tyrone was suddenly shooing Shizuo and Eidolon away, gently pushing me onto my side. I coughed, my body shivering.

"This... is not good..." I faintly heard him say.

"Why? What is it?" Eidolon demanded, evading the guards that were trying to herd him and Shizuo back to the cell and crouching next to the doctor.

"Shizuo told you about that explosion?"

"Oh, fuck..." I said weakly, my breath coming in short, painful gasps.

"But you hosed me down and gave me that check-up and everything! You said I checked out!" Shizuo yelled, making me wince.

"We don't fully understand this virus yet. It's a tricky one, and I guess it secreted itself away somewhere within an immune body then infected a susceptible one..."

He continued talking, ordering the guards about, but I didn't hear too much more as I passed out.

OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO

{3rd Person POV}

This was not good.

The virus's symptoms began with coughing. Once the infected body was placed under stress, or a vital organ was struck— such as a blow to the stomach during a fight— symptoms proceeded to vomiting and shortness of breath. After that, the body would become unable to process food-materials that entered the stomach due to the loss of tissue. As the body became weaker due to the lack of food, the destructive virus spread further, working on the lungs. The victim would then experience trouble breathing. As they deteriorated, the virus eventually reached the heart, which would eventually stop beating.

Tyrone ground his teeth in frustration. His sister would not be happy with this, not happy at all. Even though Shizuo Heiwajima and Eidolon had proven immune to the virus, Izaya Orihara was important. If they couldn't concoct an antibody quickly, they'd lose a third group.

His sister's favorite group, at the moment.

"Quickly! We need blood from Heiwajima! If he's immune to the virus, we should be able to do something about an antibody!" Tyrone yelled.

"D-Lab Seven is sending all research concerning the virus to Medical Bay One now, sir!"

"Good, good, good..."

Feeling the familiar presence of the black-clad president, Tyrone turned to her and bowed. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I should've foreseen this and been able to prevent it." he apologized.

"The ones responsible have been taken care of. However, if it does turn out that we need to eliminate this group as well, I'll see to it that you join the others in Lab Twelve." she said icily, golden eyes flashing. "We've lost two groups too many for such early phases of Project Superboy. If we turn out to lose another to that woman's foolishness, I will NOT be happy."

OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO

{Eidolon's POV}

"This is all my fault, I should've been more careful..." Shizuo groaned, head in his hands.

"No...! It's these bastards' f-for keeping that stuff here anyway!" I objected, trying to stop crying.

Izaya could die.

That was weighing more heavily on me than the fact that if he did, I had a one-way ticket to Africa as a human guinea-pig. I didn't want my father to die. Either of them.

Curling up into a ball, I let a tiny muffled sob work it's way out of my throat.

I felt like this was my fault... What if I never got to see Izaya again? I knew it wasn't my fault, it was more of his, but still... I couldn't help but blame myself for this!

Shizuo's hands grabbed me, their warmth comforting as I began to cry softly. He pulled me into his embrace, stroking my hair as he leaned back. I buried my face into his chest, cursing Omega with all my might.