Disclaimer: Durarara! I don't own thee!

Psyche blinked. Or rather, after he attempted to blink a few more times to make sure he was not dreaming, he realized that it was not he who blinked. Izaya was ascending a flight of dimly-lit stairs with something quite huge and round tucked under his arm, and he could feel his heartbeat pounding loudly in his chest as he rounded corner after corner. He finally reached the top, throwing the door open and running into the rooftop lit by the night sky, its silence disturbed by the sounds of yelling in the distance.

'Finally…' The thoughts were not Psyche's.

He stood atop the building, watching the commotion below as the two groups moved towards each other, fires burning. He feigned a smile. "Finally…" he spoke the word this time as if it would bring him closure, his voice tired, almost crazed, and he hugged Celty's head in his arms tighter.

The sounds of gunshots echoed throughout the city, and the yelling escalated as he watched on in sick fascination. "Look at them Celty! Isn't it beautiful? The sounds of battle…" Sirens indicated the arrival of the police, but suddenly another gang appeared around the corner, yelling indistinct taunts and accusations.

"You'd wake up, won't you Celty? You'll make sense of everything for me, right?" he asked the head.

He laughed at how everything had so easily come together without his meddling, almost not hearing the sound of the door opening behind him. He turned around, the laughter in his face not relenting. If he acted happy enough, maybe he'd somehow convince himself he was okay. He was so tired of being apathetic. Maybe, if Celty woke up, he'd somehow find a way to cope. Maybe… for some reason he thought of Tsugaru, the old worn steps up to the shrine gate, the little dusty pebbles lining the grounds, the cracked offertory box…

"Shiki…" he let the name slide off his tongue as he turned around to face the one who had caused this.

"Orihara." The man took a step towards him, gun pointed at the informant's heart. "I should've known not to give you so much freedom, you backstabber," he accused.

He laughed bitterly. Even now, Shiki suspected him. "Freedom?" He held Celty's head up to the sky, offering her to it. "Since when have I had any freedom? Besides," he motioned to the lights below with a jerk of his head, "none of this is my doing."

"Don't lie. Orihara, you betrayed me," Shiki said, moving closer.

"Who betrayed who?" the informant returned. He didn't let his smile turn bitter; he was far too good of an actor for that. "Who was the one who left me to the other group? Who was the one who was too late?"

On the other hand, Shiki suddenly lost his composure. "I told you already, I miscalculated!" It looked so strange to him, seeing the always stoic Shiki this agitated for once.

It's not like it mattered to him anymore, anyway. "If you cared even a little for me, you wouldn't have," he muttered, turning Celty's head to face the violence below.

"Orihara… Listen… Put that down…"

"No, you listen," he hissed. "If you had acted when I told you to, none of this would have happened! If you hadn't arranged that useless meeting, I wouldn't have…" He faltered. "If…" His thoughts continued for him. 'If you had only loved me back, even a little…' He shook his head. "Leave me alone."

"Izaya…" Shiki suddenly realized what he was trying to do with Celty's head. The yakuza's hand tightened on the trigger. "Put the head down."

He couldn't bear the other calling his name like that. "Just die!"

The head in his hands took a breath just as Shiki fired, and a portal in the sky ripped open, revealing a mass of shadows, their horses neighing in anticipation and their riders swinging their scythes, ready for blood. One picked the head out of his hands as the others rode at the yakuza, their scythes raised.

"Goodbye Shiki…" Yet, he couldn't stop his throat from clenching and looked away.

'Izaya Orihara… You will live to see the consequences of what you have done,' a voice told him. He saw the Dullahan carrying Celty's head ride off.

Before he knew it, the riders were descending upon the gangs and high-pitched screams covered the city, screams of fear and pain mixed with the Dullahan's battle cries as they cut down the mortal world for taking their comrade's head. It was then he felt a pang of guilt, and he turned away from the scene below, unable to look on.

The yakuza's body lay strewn in a messy circle of blood and clothing, remnants of his former employer. He'd seen many things in his short life, but the sight made him queasy. He clutched his chest, feeling his apathy starting to fade.

Shiki never even screamed.

It was then he finally felt the wetness on his hand and looked down to see the blood trickle off, dripping onto the floor.

The scene shifted, and suddenly he was at Shinra's house. Blood. Everywhere. The doctor sitting on the ground, blood seeping out of a wound in his chest, his eyes empty… Celty, with a head, staring back and forth from the corpse to her own scythe, seeped in blood. She screamed, an unearthly sound, and he ran and ran, holding the shoulder where Shiki's bullet had penetrated, his hands wet with his own blood.

Track 13: It's my fault! I killed him… I killed him… What am I going to do? (Sobbing) Shinra… I'm so sorry… Shinra…

I didn't know! (Choke) I didn't know! I…

(Screams in the distance)

They're… they're still killing… What have I done? Tsugaru… Help… Help them, please…

(End of recording)

Desperation… Anguish…

'Wake up…' Psyche finally heard his own thoughts, and he struggled to gain control, but the dream continued on.

He was standing on the edge of the building. "Sky, you picked a hell of a night to snow," he whispered as he held a hand out to catch a few of the snowflakes, breathing out a trail of steam into the cold winter sky. He examined the water formations aimlessly before drawing his fingers in, crushing the delicate asymmetrical pieces of ice in his bloodied hand. "What an end…"

Love… Hate…

'Wake up…'

He almost laughed at the irony of it all. Of all the days he could have picked, all the days he spent delaying the inevitable, this one day happened to be the first snow. However, as determined as ever, he finally drew out what little courage he had left and took a step in the direction of his destiny, his end. He was going to choose his own manner of death. To hell with the wound on his shoulder bleeding out his life's nectar.

Death…

He shut his ears to the continued screaming in the distance. This was all his fault. He was responsible for killing the humans he claimed he loved so much. Even now, the Dullahans were probably tearing the city apart. This was a fitting end for the great Izaya Orihara, the one who had caused all this.

Guilt… So much guilt…

'Wake up!' Psyche thought desperately. He didn't want to see this. He didn't want to feel any of this.

He paused, thinking back on the things in life he had experienced. He smiled; he was going to miss the protozoan chasing him all the time. 'Live,' he spared a single word for the monster. And that first time he had realized his own feelings for his mentor, the one he had finally managed to kill. It was all just so ironic. His smile didn't drop. He flinched just as his vision suddenly jolted and looked back to the wound, realizing that Shiki hadn't shot to kill. He almost laughed.

"I really did love you…" he whispered as he closed his tired eyes and finally threw himself into the darkness. He was falling and falling.

He saw the ground coming towards him, the blurred pieces of snow around him, and then, eyes behind a pair of sunglasses, wide with horror, and an outstretched hand…

'Shizu…'

He hit the ground, head first.

"Ah!" Psyche bolted upward from his futon, breathing heavily. "What… Who am I? I… I am…"

'I am Izaya Orihara.'

.

"So Orihara won't help?" Shiki asked. Akabayashi could almost picture the other's disapproval on the other line.

"Look, he's still recovering, and it's not like he can do anything about it at this stage."

"Last time I saw him, he managed to climb out of Shinra's apartment window, and since you contacted him, he's still alive. I think he's fine."

"But this isn't his job, Shiki! He's an informant, not a negotiator!"

"He's good at both."

Akabayashi finally lost his temper with the other. "Sheesh, stop expecting so much of him!"

"I trust him," Shiki stated.

"Well, it's time you reevaluated his limits. He's human too, you know." Akabayashi hung up, leaning his head against the wheel in exhaustion. He admitted, they had already done all they can. Hell was coming to Ikebukuro in a few hours.

.

Izaya picked up the phone cautiously, his hand shaking. 'What is Shiki going to do with the head?' He barely recognized Shinra's voice over the phone, his own thoughts overwhelming him. He felt like he was drowning.

"Izaya? Are you listening? Psyche is missing!" Shinra repeated.

"What?" the informant gasped, finally understanding. "Did he go back to the future?"

"We asked security in our building, and the guy said he saw Psyche leave about half an hour ago! Oh, what are we going to do?"

Izaya bit his lip, not caring when the taste of iron started seeping into his taste buds. Even he wouldn't survive meeting an entire fully armed gang out on the streets, and it was just a matter of time before they started fighting. He looked at the T.V., which had switched to a new story back in Ikebukuro.

"… and your switchblade is gone!" he caught the end of the doctor's sentence.

"My what?" He thought they had taken it from him when they removed his coat back when he was captured.

"I-I took it out of your pocket when Akabayashi brought it over, just in case," Shinra admitted. "I knew you didn't take it because it was still there last night. I was going to give it back to you, but…"

"Psyche…" Izaya had never properly spoken to him before, but he knew what kind of person Psyche was at first glance: nothing like him. He couldn't imagine why the time traveler would run off on his own like this unless something had truly affected him. He turned to the bodyguard, wondering if the other had more contact with Psyche than he did. After all, if the time traveler was nothing like him, then Shizuo would've had no problem talking to Psyche.

"Shizu-chan?" he called to the bodyguard. "Did Psyche ever… display behavior contrary to the first time I met him?"

"He has flashbacks from your memory, if that's what you mean," Shizuo replied. "At least, I think that's what he sees."

Izaya considered it for a moment. 'Flashbacks…' He returned to the phone. "Let me talk to Celty."

"Sure, hang on. Don't make her do anything dangerous!" Shinra warned.

"I won't," Izaya lied. He thought through his next words carefully. Did he want Celty on the streets today of all days? 'If today was my last day, and I started a war with the Dullahans, then her head must have woken today. What did I want? I wanted her to wake up away from her body, so I must have brought the head somewhere far away from Celty.' He wracked his brain for more. "Okay, where would I have told Celty to go today? Where…' He looked at Shizuo, still staring intently at him.

"Again, we advise everyone to stay indoors until everything is under control. These men are all suspected to be armed with guns," the T.V. blared.

'What would I have been doing now, in Psyche's time?' His heart sank a little as he thought of the situation with Shiki. 'Nothing… I would've been doing nothing… Nothing… Nothing!' It hit him. Celty was home, as far away from the head as she could've been in Ikebukuro if he had brought it to the war zone, because he had done nothing. He hadn't contacted her in Psyche's time.

The static indicated that Shinra had given the phone to the Dullahan. "Listen, I need you to find Psyche. I'll brief you on what kind of weapons the gangs have, just in case you have to deal with them."

Meanwhile, Shinra looked at his girlfriend nervously, wondering what Izaya could possibly be telling her.

.

"Go find Psyche. I have to go back to my apartment," Izaya told Shizuo fifteen minutes later outside of the bodyguard's apartment complex.

"In that condition?" Shizuo looked at the other's foot. "You can't even walk."

"There's something called a 'taxi,' Shizu-chan." He smiled at the other's disapproving frown. "I'll be fine." He began walking away when Shizuo suddenly grabbed his arm, stopping him. "What?"

"What's so important in your apartment? Can't you help find Psyche?" He expected the informant to shake off his hand, but the other just stood there, eyes downcast. "Tell me, Izaya. I can't help you if you don't say anything."

"The key," the informant muttered.

"Key?"

"To the war Psyche mentioned."

"How do you know it's at your apartment?"

"Because I planned it long before this."

Shizuo stared at him, bewildered. "You planned this? Are you crazy?"

Izaya laughed bitterly. "Don't you have the answer to that already?" He tried to pull away from Shizuo, but the bodyguard held on. "Let me fix it, Shizu-chan. It was my fault, so I should be the one to stop it."

"Define 'it.'"

Izaya considered for a moment, and Shizuo finally let go of him, thinking that it was hopeless to get anything out of the flea. Izaya seemed sincere enough about it anyway.

"In my apartment, there is a head," Izaya spoke.

"Celty's?" he immediately asked.

"It's asleep right now, but I had planned to wake it up away from its owner, just to see what would happen."

"You were going to experiment with Celty's head? How could you?" He could feel the familiar anger welling up in him again.

"How could I not? Something that looked so human that was clearly not. I wanted to free her from her body and see what it would be like, that freedom."

"You…" Shizuo growled, grabbing the other's collar, letting his anger seethe.

Izaya laughed. "To think, I ended the world with a simple wish like that." He covered Shizuo's hands with his own although he made no attempt to pry them off. "Let me go, Shizu-chan, before I destroy the world a second time. I don't want the world to end. I don't want Shinra to create a clone of me to save the world from me."

Shizuo found his temper subsiding at the informant's words. Had Izaya been worrying about this the entire time? He let him go.

"Shizu-chan?"

"Go, before the world ends, Izaya."

The informant laughed. "And if it does?"

Shizuo grinned. "I'll kick your ass in hell."

"I don't plan on going there."

"Then I'll follow you where ever you end up and kick your ass anyways."

"So eloquently put," he took off towards the main street, his heart already working full power. He chuckled. "Silly Shizu-chan, that almost sounded like a confession."

Shizuo watched him go before turning around and lighting a cigarette as he headed for Sunshine. He paused for a second, realizing what he had said earlier sounded a little too… He frowned, shaking the thought away as he set off in a jog. Psyche couldn't have strayed that far away from Shinra's, could he?

.

Shiki stared at the spot where the informant had disappeared, wondering if he was just seeing things. He was certain that the hooded figure had been Orihara, but the informant's movements were hurried and just a little too clumsy for some as skilled as parkour as the informant.

"Hey, Shiki, wasn't that our informant?" one of his men in the front seat asked.

The yakuza executive looked back at the empty street corner. "I wonder…"

"I thought he was on sick leave or something. He sure ran pretty well, didn't he?" the driver added before laughing.

"Informants for you," the other subordinate commented.

Shiki remained silent, thinking over the situation. 'Orihara wasn't running like he was injured. Unless that was…'

He opened his mouth to redirect the driver but closed it, reconsidering. He didn't have time to deal with Orihara's mysteries just yet, but as soon as this was over, he vowed to unearth the truth. If Izaya was in love with him, then so be it. If he wasn't, he wasn't going to let the informant go just like this.

Izaya was his. No bodyguard, doctor, or white-clad clone was going to take the informant away from his grasp.

.

Izaya limped towards Shinjuku, cursing the city for closing the stations because of the rioting. He hadn't spotted any taxis at all since he parted from Shizuo, and he knew that they were probably far away by now. He finally stopped at a lamppost, breathing hard from the pain in his foot. It had initially held out for the first few blocks, but he guessed the cut must have ripped again from all the exertion.

A car pulled up, and Izaya instinctively reached into his pocket, cursing when he found it void of switchblades once again.

"Need a lift?" He looked up, surprised. Akabayashi grinned. "Where to?" the yakuza asked as he climbed in.

"My apartment."

Akabayashi started driving as soon as Izaya closed the door. "Wow, lucky I found you; none of the trains are going into Ikebukuro right now."

"Yeah…"

"We've been up in our necks in shootings since it started. I think a few groups are going to start killing each other around Sunshine soon. Total chaos, if you ask me."

"You haven't figured out a way to stop the fighting?" Izaya asked.

"What do you tell a bunch of power-hungry under-aged brats? Don't shoot each other because you'll get arrested? The police aren't faring any better than we are at the rate this is going."

Izaya blinked. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah!"

"No, I mean are you serious about thinking of convincing them that way?" Izaya asked.

"Uh… well I'm sure Shiki would've had a better way of wording it, but he's busy telling all his men what to do against the main group. No time contacting little gangs, you know?"

"Tch." Izaya picked up one of his cellphones.

"Orihara?" Akabayashi hadn't expected the other to do this.

"Shut up, I'm on the phone."

.

Shizuo ran behind a building, scowling at the men that dashed past him. He hated this, hiding from the enemy, but he knew that once he started, everyone would only start shooting, and he would start throwing things. One good shot and he would never find Psyche.

He wondered what the kid was up to, disappearing from Shinra's place like that. He thought of Izaya and the condition the informant was in after they found him. He definitely didn't want that to happen to the squirt. He looked at his cellphone, quickly reading the text Izaya had just sent him.

He bit his lip, heading towards Sunshine. He especially didn't want the kid to pull off another suicide, if that was what really happened in the future.

.

"Yes, I'm sure of it. Why do you think I was missing for a few days? Just stay put. If you go, you would only fall into their trap." Izaya hung up, scrolling through his phone for another number.

"Hey," Akabayashi interrupted his work from the driver's seat.

"What?" Izaya asked, his voice a little hoarse from all the convincing he had to go through with each gang.

"Thanks."

The informant shook his head. "This isn't for Awakusu-kai, and it's not going to stop the fighting, only lessen it."

"I know, but still…" He stopped the car, finally reaching the apartment complex. "We're here. Be careful; I heard some of the guys from the other group have been keeping a watch around the area."

Izaya stared at him. "You… didn't get rid of them earlier?"

Akabayashi closed his mouth. "Uh… well I figured you wouldn't be at your place anyways, and like I said, Shiki's got his hands full."

"Right. Thanks." Izaya turned and ran towards the elevator, his heart pounding in his chest.

Ah! This chapter has drained my brain. Wait, that rhymes. Drained my soul. My soul!

Just kidding! Working on the next one now! After a short date with my video games… Oh, and I meant to kill "him."

Anyways, thanks for reading!