This is the epilogue, and the last chapter of Watcher.

Let's get the nitpicky stuff out of the way first. I figure most people will read either the first or last chapter, so I'm sticking a disclaimer here. Any characters you see here, or events that sound very familiar probably are and do not belong to me. About the only things that do is the fic!fact that Izaya is a crow (crowzaya!) and the Orihara parents (Takashi and Rumiko) and a random OC somewhere in the beginning of the fic.

With that done, here's the fun stuff. As I stated in the previous chapter, there's a poll on my profile about a suggested project. Well, it's more like, "What do you want me to work on more?" because a Watcher-related story is already in the works. ...Maybe calling it a "story" is pushing it, as it's a collection of shorts. The shorts can come from any period of Izaya's life (crow, kid, student, adult) mentioned here, as well as anything after. In other words, if I have any ideas for a sequel, they'll be there too.

That being said, I'm short on ideas, so please, do send in suggestions! Anything I get, I'll consider and see if I can pull it off.

(As for WHEN this will be posted ... um... No idea! =D)

Said this last time too, but really, truly, thank you for reading this fic to the end! It's readers like you that make writing fun =)


Chapter 29

Izaya moved the mouse across the webpage. Even after all this time, he still found the human invention of the computer to be a most fascinating thing, not that he would tell anyone. The machine was the first thing to decorate his new apartment in Shinjuku. While he had been loath to leave his hometown of Ikebukuro … really, they were only a train's ride apart. He never really wanted to move far, but certain circumstances had made him consider that, yes, it was far safer to observe a city living outside of it rather than living in it.

Because it really was Ikebukuro itself that was unusual. The humans elsewhere paled in comparison. For some reason, perhaps because of the presence of so many non-human creatures in one area, the strange people all seemed to be attracted to the one city. It made things all the more interesting and fun.

The decision had not been made lightly. He'd had to consider certain pros – like the constant company of Kida or his old contacts or just the sheer thrill of living in his favorite city – and certain cons – like living in the vicinity of the Oriharas and being within throwing distance of Shizuo – very carefully.

Shizuo. Now there was a threat, if one existed. He'd actually gotten better and better as time went on. Apparently he'd taught himself parkour just to keep up with Izaya's own nimble feet, so now he was a stupid, fast hulk that had the added advantage of trashcans, street signs, and park benches. And vending machines. Can't forget the vending machines.

The lump had also made great friends with the Black Bike and her doting white-coated lovebird, and they welcomed the oaf's company. It wasn't like the oaf benefitted them any, but they allowed him to stay, sometimes even for more than a night. He doubted that he would've gotten the same treatment, even though he's the one who'd helped Celty provide for the household.

Ever since the night of her shooting incident and his runaway from "home," she seemed to be convinced that he had something to do with it, despite his protests on the contrary that day. (Whether he actually did or didn't was a moot point, it was the principle of the matter.) He still gave her jobs, but she was much more wary of them, and she always seemed to doubt him. Really, was he that untrustworthy?

She needn't have worried. He had no interest in a monster like her, despite her apparent … humanity.

Which was more than he could say about Shizuo, who seemed less human and more a destructive killing machine despite actually being a human.

Funny how Ikebukuro worked, wasn't it?

Shinra, on the other hand, he treated just as he did before. The doctor himself didn't seem to think much of it; he replied in turn. Things were just the same as before, but gone were the dinners together with the three of them.

By all respects, Izaya considered himself a human. He wasn't fool enough to disregard his attachment to human company (although that may've just been purely crow instinct), and he knew that it was best to leave a wide berth in his activities around a certain former cohabitant and classmate. Dotachin and his company were a bit better, since he could keep them at a distance by teasing them some, or perhaps by acting a bit more maniac than usual, but Shinra always had a way of spotting what was fake or not when it came to him. There were too many emotions there, and he himself was liable to fall prey to what he liked to play with in other humans.

No, he liked having a clear head. If that meant doing what Shinra had told him to do – act as strangers – then so be it. It wasn't like he needed much doctoring anyways, giving his accelerated healing.

Sometimes, the crow wondered if he was even that – a crow. Just a bird. Some aspects were just too strange, like his ability to transform simply by wishing it, or his healing abilities, or even his so-called parkour skills (as they called it on the street). It was nice to know that people just thought him an extraordinary human, like Shizuo (sic) or Simon – prevented unwanted attention – but it was kind of galling that he didn't know what was going on with his own body.

Erika and Walker probably had their own theory, but he was loath to ask them. He was sure he wouldn't understand a word of their explanation anyways. He hadn't had any contact with them since the end of the Color Gang wars, though he still saw them on the streets occasionally. It seemed they had roped themselves a chauffeur of sorts.

With Mairu's and Kururi's words in mind, he had dabbled in mythology a bit. His independent research had turned up fruitless, as he had predicted it would, but he found the subject mildly interesting. With nothing to do all day except surf the web when he wasn't staking a person out, he made it a hobby to read a page or two every day.

(He especially liked the Norse Mythology. The idea of a fatalistic society appealed to him – after all, most people were uncomfortable around death. However, these people embraced it, accepted it as fact, and continued to live with it. Even aspired for it, sometimes. It was a fact that Izaya himself had always taken as real – that death was always looming around the corner – so he found the philosophy appealing.)

Shingen may have known something, but the older man's interest in him had quickly disintegrated the moment he had realized he was "only" a crow. The weirdo was out of the country anyways, with no means of reaching him. It wasn't worth the effort to search and dig one out either.

The only thing he could do was to take advantage of his abilities, whatever they were, as much as possible, which he did. Gladly. And liberally, especially when he was on the job.

Everyone who had something to hard guarded their information and secrets jealously, with copious numbers of bodyguards and guns. Lucky for him, they were all expecting human spies.

No one thought to look for an innocuous bird.

He skimmed down the site that he was on. Nothing new on the news, not that the reporters ever wrote any of the real facts of anything that happened. There was the usual gossip, and some articles on current events that reported everything except what was important.

Then he opened a new window. This time, he took a paper out from his pocket and typed the address in. A black page popped onto the screen with the exception of two things.

One was a place to enter a password. This small phrase was copied down onto the paper as well.

The other was a circular logo. Splashed across the center of it was only one word.

Slowly, letter by letter, Izaya typed in the password that would grant him access to the greatest Color Gang of all.

The Colorless Gang, Dollars.