'You now have two hours remaining. Good luck.'

His arms stayed spread out, and his left wrist continued to swell up from what was probably multiple fractures. It was too painful to move his back or his legs dangling over the edge. His head throbbed and he definitely had a concussion.

Yeah, that hadn't been what he wanted at all. It just ended up being a waste of time. No, it was more than a waste of time. A waste of time was something he could get over and live with. This was worse.

He blinked blearily at the ceiling to stay awake. The lines above his head merged and faded. If he closed his eyes too long then he might really fade out of consciousness, and then he'd be giving up like Shizuo, and as easy as falling asleep was the thought of it paralyzed him.

All he had to do was get the key out of his own back and slide it into his collar. Then he would be off the island and far away from here. But his body stayed against the control board listlessly. He knew he was punishing himself by staying. A part of him wanted to see it to the end while another part was determined not to look for Shizuo in the remaining working screens.

How long had passed since then? Probably a while judging by the water beginning to build on the floor. He would have to move if he didn't want this to be his underwater grave, but his thoughts anchored him down more so than his battered body.

He replayed Shizuo's fury in his mind. The violent beast directing all of his wrath on him. A fist red with his own blood poised to strike him. Teeth bared and eyes wicked. Izaya had felt the initial thrill, but with that inhuman contact with his bones, when any one of those punches could have killed him, that trill had quickly bled out of him.

Izaya had thought for sure that Shizuo would lose it completely after he revealed that he had known all along how to take off the collars. He also thought that he would have been okay with that painful execution as long as it corrupted Shizuo too.

Except that Shizuo had let him off easy. Seething rage turned to disgust was even more unbearable when Izaya was the only one allowed to feel disgust for that abhorrent creature.

This wasn't what he wanted. It hadn't been worth it.

He'd been close to casting the final stain to the monster. He'd seen the monster just as it should have been. It should have worked. He didn't understand. It all added up wrong.

How was it that instead of hurting the monster, Izaya had only hurt himself? He'd said it before that the only one capable of breaking Orihara Izaya was himself. Maybe it had been a waste to try to hurt Shizuo because of that.

Lying there, the corner of his mouth pulled painfully as he grinned. His words were a quiet murmur. "Instead of killing each other, we only ever managed to slowly and deeply destroy ourselves."

But it didn't matter. Like a pitiful creature estranged from humankind, Shizuo would die without his peace. The poison in his veins would kill him and he'll fall seething in helpless anguish because there was no way that even he could survive a lethal injection meant for fifty men.

And Izaya will survive this.

He'll go home and everything will be fine. Business will be better when he won't have to worry about things flying at him in Ikebukuro. The city will be much quieter. Yes, in a city filled with over thirteen million people, one wouldn't make so much of a difference. His mocking grin turned to a grimace of pain. Ah, what a terrible lie. But he didn't have to ever visit Ikebukuro. There were plenty of other districts with other fascinating humans. When he couldn't muster any excitement of that idea, Izaya felt his frustration grow. He always wished for Shizuo's death. He ought to be celebrating.

There was no elation though, when this hadn't been a victory. Not when he had been wrong.

'You now have thirty minutes remaining. Good luck.'

The volume from the speaker was soft and Izaya tiredly moved to cover his face.

"Ah, that's about enough time to finish these."

An unexpected cold rush spread through his veins. The voice was too steady, too calm and resigned.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all.

'I've always known that you're nothing more than a twisted, fucked up bastard.'

"Don't care. Those words don't mean anything."

He could run away forever, but the past would never let him forget.

Stop.

"I won't let you haunt me. I won't let you be any more of a nuisance to my thoughts than you already are. You're nothing to me. So leave me alone."

Just thirty more minutes more and he can be free of him. He can't love the gravely remains of humans. They weren't human anymore. Shizuo will be the same. Just a bad memory. A waste of time.

'You were never worth it.'

"This is pathetic. Now I'm hearing him in my head? Just die already."

'And I don't give a fuck about whatever you do.'

"You always end up doing whatever you want. So it's only fair that I can too."

He was determined to keep Shizuo's voice from his thoughts.

In the stretch of quiet, there was no peace there. Izaya took deep breaths, trying to calm himself, but feeling lightheaded and cold.

He heard a voice in his mind as rough as it had been the other day. "I wasn't wrong about you."

Had he known how much his words would kill him more than his hands? Shizuo had always been cruel. Cruel with his words and he never cared. "Die. Just die already."

Shizuo's laugh was bitter in his mind. "It's too bad, yeah, I was actually kind of starting to like you."

Why had he said that? Ah, but there was no point in trying to figure it out now, was there? It wouldn't matter. He couldn't change what had happened. Going after him wouldn't be worth it, either. Shizuo would never like him. He had no reason to. Izaya had made sure that there could only be hate between them.

But...

All the years they spent didn't have to mean nothing.

And either way, he wouldn't see him ever again. When they will return to Ikebukuro, Izaya will leave Shizuo alone, and he'll make sure their paths never cross again.

"Just this once, I won't let you be right about me." He moved, muscles protesting and feet nearly giving way. The water reached his heels. "I won't lose to you."

Shizuo wasn't in any of the screens. The biggest one had been splintered with fist-sized craters, but among the cracks of the screen, he saw himself. The control board had dents and blood. Resting against the floor was the black bag, and Izaya grabbed it before plucking the charged two-way radio and putting it in there. He picked up his last remaining folding knife from the wet floor. From what he had added throughout their stay into the black bag, the weight was heavy as he slung it over his shoulder.

Water splashed by his feet as he staggered towards the exit. Whatever Mura had given him yesterday had begun to taper off during the night, but he was still incredibly weak. Reaching the metal ladder, he gripped one of the bars with his one working hand and sagged down to breathe tiredly before straining his muscles as he forced his first steps up.

He rested his head against a bar as he paused. He was shaking too much. If he wasn't careful he'd fall. Wouldn't it be pathetic if he couldn't even get out the building? If he didn't make it in time?

The last thought sent a cold shiver down his back and Izaya pulled himself up along the ladder. When he reached the top, he collapsed to the floor, one leg still over the ledge and his breaths coming in harsh pants. A soft breeze rustled his hair and with it came the smell the ocean. The sweat forming on his back cooled in the night air.

He turned his head and saw the hole Shizuo had made and through that was the ocean and black sky. He could just make out tracks in the sand. His arm slid against grains of sand and cement as he pushed himself up all the way to stand.

He'd run if he had to, but the first uneven step sent him to the ground. A dizziness tilted the world around him and Izaya gripped the sand and dug his hand into it slowly.

Sweat trickled down his hair. He had to close his eyes tightly just to ground himself.

At this rate, he'd just pass out. He hadn't been able to fully exit the building either. He laid there till he was no longer panting and the world wasn't spinning. He got up slower this time, more steady. His feet dragged in the sand as he walked, following Shizuo's footprints one after the other.

Shizuo had taken long strides but it was a punishing pace to match.

As long as Shizuo kept to the beach...as long as he had stopped when he had said that it would be enough time to finish these, these being his cigarettes, then Izaya had a chance to find him. But it was equally possible that Shizuo had just decided to smoke and walk, and if that were the case then it would be impossible to catch up to him.

He checked his phone, slid it from his pocket and allowed the light to wash over his front and make him dizzy once more from the brightness of it. He only had sixteen minutes left.

Izaya pushed himself harder, ignoring the throbbing pain at the back of his head and the way his hand was radiating a searing stabbing all along his left arm.

Every so often he'd check his phone, seeing the time slip away as he knew he was walking too slowly. He really might not make it and he swore under his breath.

"If you die before I get there, I'll never forgive you." Izaya took a shuddering breath and tasted the blood at the corner of his mouth.

His back ached with each step and Izaya had to concentrate on his breathing or else he'd buckle over and give up. The next time his phone buzzed, reminding him of his critically low battery, Izaya saw that there were only eight minutes left before Shizuo's time would be up. His phone shut off soon after with a soft-sounding swoosh as it died in his hand. He stuffed it in his pocket.

His heart rate sped up. There was an unfamiliar weakness in his movements. The cuts caking against his back and coat reminded him that he was suffering from blood loss.

The footsteps that he had been following veered to the right suddenly and Izaya looked up trying to see around the trees. Sand turned to dirt, and it was impossible to see further than the scattered trees. Izaya rested against a palm tree, his heartbeats throbbed painfully in his head.

He really wouldn't make it in time. He dropped down to the base of the tree not even caring the way his back hit the bark. The dizziness was overwhelming.

Hearing muffled steps, Izaya lifted his head slowly. Perhaps he was hallucinating as Shizuo stood over him, looking as displeased as ever to see him. Out of habit, he grinned.

"You didn't have enough, did you? You won't stop till I break your legs and fling you into the ocean. Shit, that still wouldn't be enough for you, huh, flea?"

"We had a deal," Izaya said as he rested his head against the flaking bark. "Even if you don't believe me, I'll still tell you." He didn't wait for Shizuo to respond, knowing how little time he had. "To open the collar there are keys on the island, the same keys that you found earlier and I said were for opening safes—"

'You now have four minutes remaining. Good luck.

Izaya shuddered, licked his cracked lips, and tried to speak quicker.

"It's in our backs. I just don't know which one works for whom if yours opens mine or yours. You can take mine out first if you want." He closed his eyes tightly. "Chuck it into the ocean if it doesn't fit yours."

Izaya sat up straighter as he continued to breathe tiredly and he held up his last folding knife in his palm, the blade tucked in the handle.

"You can choose," Izaya said as he finally met Shizuo's eyes. He couldn't quite read his expression in the dark and for a paralyzingly second he thought that Shizuo would choose to walk away.

"You're an idiot," Shizuo muttered before he bent down, squatting so that they were level. "Which do you think is more likely the right one?"

"Both are probable, but what the game makers I think would rather see is a lot of backstabbing. The riddle said look inwards, but that's not necessarily your own body. Also, that guy said to look back, but not over your shoulder...please just pick something quick." He took a shallow breath, his vision tilted, and the knife almost dropped to the floor.

"Then you can cut it out of my back first."

"What?" But Shizuo was already turning around lifting the shirt from his skin in one smooth motion. "But..."

"You said both were probable, and I already hurt your back enough. It's only fair that you do something to me."

The knife almost fell from his hand. He stared hard at Shizuo's bare skin as the man waited for Izaya to make the first cut.

'You now have three minutes remaining. Good luck.'

He didn't have time to argue over this when Shizuo had already decided. His knife flicked open and he lifted both his hands, though his left was useless. He felt along his spine, not quite able to see where the thin line of the scar rested. His fingers passed over a line thin enough to be a paper cut. It was parallel to the spine, higher than his mid-back, and embedded in muscle.

He traced the edge of that scar with the blade, and could cut his skin alright, but he couldn't push past muscle as hard as stone. He gripped the knife harder, jabbing it more recklessly.

"Shit," Izaya whispered as he still couldn't make a deep enough cut. "Relax your back, I can't cut anything!" The blood ran down the open cut thinly. He tried to dig his fingers beneath the skin, but he didn't feel any key.

He was becoming more lightheaded, the smell of salt, dirt, and blood was too strong. Sweat trickled down his hair unnoticed in the humid night.

'You now have two minutes remaining. Good luck.'

He put his weight down on the knife, and now he had the frightening thought that the knife would snap.

"I said to relax!"

"I am! I don't feel a thing you're doing!"

Izaya lifted the knife and drove it down hard. It sunk in a few centimeters down and Shizuo stiffened up. It took some effort to pull it out and once he did, Izaya brought his knife down again. Soon he pushed his thumb inside, digging in deep like a parasite worms its way through flesh.

It was there.

His nail brushed against bone and metal and Izaya fished it out. His hand was shaking as he lifted the thin, flat key slick with blood.

As he brought it to the collar, bumping it around till he found the indent, Shizuo's collar sounded.

'You now have one minute remaining. Good luck.'

Izaya twisted the key angrily, moving it in both directions but the collar stayed on. He slipped the key out.

"Wrong key," he said breathlessly before he shed his coat from his shoulders, letting it pool around his waist as he turned to face the tree and let his forehead rest against the bark. He held out the knife for Shizuo and braced himself for the knife tip.

"What am I supposed to be looking for? Your back is littered with bruises and cuts."

Izaya's eyes widened and he felt along his skin over the sweeping bruises and cuts that marred his once pristine back.

If he recalled correctly, from two days ago, it should be similar to where he made the cut in Shizuo's own back.

"There!" He pointed, his finger still covered in Shizuo's blood as he left a wet trail over where the key was.

'You now have thirty seconds remaining. Good luck.'

The knife dragged through his skin, and Izaya knew right away it wouldn't be deep enough. "Deeper," Izaya gasped. "You need to cut through muscle."

"You're a stick. If I go too far I'm going to break the back of your rib cage."

'You now have twenty seconds remaining. Good luck.'

It hurt feeling the slow precise knife burrowing into his back. He hissed and shut his eyes. The flow of blood spilled across his skin, and Izaya's head pounded as he held still.

'You now have ten seconds remaining. Good luck.'

He forced himself not to arch away as fingers dug into him. Shizuo's other hand, warm and steady, rested at his side, holding him up.

'You now have five seconds remaining. Good luck.'

Shizuo was remarkably gentle when Izaya would have preferred him to just yank the key out.

'-Four-'

'-Three-'

He couldn't stop from groaning as Shizuo finally found the edge of the key, easing it out, and with it blood streaming down his back. The countdown played in his ear, drumming down and throbbing like his head.

'-Two-'

The slippery key was placed in his hand and Izaya immediately spun around-

'Game over.'

-jamming it into the metal, and having it slip off center before connecting. Something clicked.

He turned the key and this time felt the lock recognizing the key and the collar came apart. A high pitch hiss of air escaped from it and Izaya threw the collar as far as he could.

He didn't realize how hard he was breathing as Izaya sagged against Shizuo's back, completely exhausted with the adrenaline coursing through his system. "Shit," he gasped.

He had almost not made it. As he felt Shizuo's chest rise and fall, he noticed that he hadn't been the only one breathing shallowly.

"You okay?" Izaya asked.

"Yeah..." His breath and words were in tatters as he spoke. "Just give me a moment."

He felt like laughing shakily. He lifted his head. "Did any get in you?"

At Shizuo's neck there was blood welling up from a prickle the size of a needle point. Izaya slowly moved on his knees, going over dirt and roots so that he could face Shizuo.

He looked incredibly tense, the muscles in his neck taut, and his face flushed. He was concentrating on breathing normally. Only ten seconds had passed and he was already like this.

Izaya knew right away that the poison circulating through him now was highly concentrated and lethally potent. If he had waited a second longer... more like he had been a second too late. But that was because the countdown had no final one.

"Shizu-chan, I'm going to get help. We'll be out of here soon."

Shizuo lifted heavy eyelids, but he wasn't looking right at him before his head lowered. His breathing was becoming more ragged.

Searching the ground, Izaya spotted the key that was still wet from Shizuo's blood. He picked it up and reached behind his neck to slot it in. The collar flashed green and opened up instantly.

'Congratulations, Orihara Izaya. You have finished the first task. You worked hard. Now to get off this island you will need to collect eight more undamaged collars. There is no time limit. Good luck.'

He sat there in momentary shock, an ill dread chilling him. "The first task..." He should have known. Shit. He should have known this wouldn't be the end. Such a gross miscalculation...all because he had been so focused on bringing Shizuo down.

Izaya dropped the collar as Shizuo dropped to the ground. Cast in the moonlight that trickled through the leaves, he was slumped over on his side, his chest moving in slow shallow breaths, bare skin alive with color.

The two-way radio was pulled from the black bag, and Izaya pressed down on the talk button.

He hated the way his throat felt like it was closing up. He didn't sound like himself, he had to pause and clear his throat. "I know you can hear me. I know someone's there. I believe we could work out an offer."

Izaya knew it was pointless, he knew what these men wanted, to watch this monster...no to watch this human with impossible strength die. The point of this island was to watch them all die. But Izaya still spoke because words were all he had.

"If it's money, information, or certain goods, then I'm sure we could negotiate something mutually beneficial if you get this man off the island."

He listened for any response and the static played dully.

He closed his eyes tightly before speaking, disgusted as he recalled how a good number of them were perverse bastards. "Or perhaps if money or valuables don't interest you then I'm sure we can agree on something more inclined to your particular interests."

He listened helplessly for any response and none came. They were probably laughing somewhere safe behind their screens, eating this up and entertaining the ideas Izaya had given them and enjoying it more as his desperation grew.

His anger reared up, making him shake as the flat static played. Pissed too because that countdown had been bullshit.

"If you bastards don't come here now I promise that I'll make you suffer in ways that'll make this island look like a joke."

He waited one last time for anything other than static. He already wasted enough time on this. He put the device down, still on in case miraculously someone changed their mind.

He drew near Shizuo, not letting the fact of how still the other man was get to him. How unnaturally quiet and subdued he had become, and Izaya touched his shoulder, rolling him so that he lay face up and away from any tree roots.

"Hey..."

His chest was barely moving.

Pressing two fingers against his neck, Izaya counted each time he felt an infrequent pulse. It wasn't enough.

He sat on his knees, perpendicular to Shizuo and keeping his arm straight, he placed the heel of his wrist against his sternum measuring the distance with a quick eye.

He didn't know how effective one hand compressions would be, but he did it anyway.

A hundred beats a minute, right? A steady quick rhythm. He began to press down. He wondered if it was strong enough. His arm tired quickly. After counting to thirty, he paused tilting Shizuo's damp forehead back and lifting his jaw so that his mouth stayed open.

Izaya hoped that each inhale and exhale would make whatever poisonous gas in him leave his system fastest. It could be any suffocating kind of poison. Maybe carbon monoxide since that was odorless and colorless, an undetectable poison that in high concentrations could make a man go unconscious within two breaths and die in minutes. Or it could be something worse, a combination of many substances that would ensure a painful death.

Izaya pinched Shizuo's nose before taking in a deep breath and sealing his mouth over his, breathing out slowly and watching his chest rise.

From his lips, he drew back, careful not to breathe too closely or else the poison would affect him too. He breathed into him twice more, his own forceful breaths caused him to go dizzy.

He didn't allow himself to feel anything. He needed to concentrate. He counted the beats in his head and made sure to breathe out slowly and then suck in a deep breath of the clean air tasting of ocean and jungle.

He didn't think about the lingering taste of cigarettes or of the dull static that continued to play a steady flat line.

If he wasn't careful any one of these breaths could knock him out, and then no one could keep Shizuo from death. His arm ached as he continued to do compressions, watching the way Shizuo still looked warm and alive as if he would open his eyes any second.

He didn't let his throat close up with a heavy lump when his arm burned and sweat trailed down his chin and dropped down.

His mouth went over Shizuo's. He was a breath away from taking the same poison that could kill him. As he flirted with death, he recalled for a second time what murder felt like.

Your guilt will be your past and that will be your God.

His own words mocked him. Instead of Shizuo killing him and that stigmatizing Shizuo forever, now it would be Izaya's.

He had never been afraid of heights because he had no reason to fear falling. But this weightlessness and sinking felt a lot like he had taken the wrong step from a rooftop, and now he wasn't sure if he'd end up in broken pieces. Because killing felt a lot like he was the one choking. It dug a deep-rooted dread in him when he was sure he could already feel the cracks.

Then he laughed.

"Ah, I never got to say goodbye, now did I?" Even if Shizuo couldn't hear, this might be the last time he could say something to him, even to apologize. He frowned because he couldn't bring himself to say it when he wasn't willing for this to be the end. That just meant he'd continue for as long as he could.

Though his arm became numb from searing pain, Izaya continued pressing into Shizuo, feeling his warm chest and warm mouth under him.

Izaya wouldn't let Shizuo die, even if it'd kill him.