So you don't find it too jarring, know that I'm writing up to the end of the rescue when Celty wakes up, then stopping. It will be the end of the story. (As I warned, I'm not resolving the 'an organization is after Taiyo' bit.)
{-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-}
I groaned as I woke up. I didn't remember what had happened at first, but as soon as I did I jerked upright. Shinra was lying on the floor a few feet away from me and Natsu was curled up on the ground near my hand. I picked her up gently and set her back on the couch before hurrying back to Shinra.
"Shinra-san!" I shook him hard. "Shinra-san! Wake up already!" he stirred a little, then slowly sat up and looked around. His eyes widened with fear. "Shinra-san! I think Celty's been kidnapped! Shinr-AGH!" I choked as he grabbed me by the throat and shoved me to the ground.
"Where is she?!" he shrieked at me. I couldn't respond, though, since he was crushing my throat. "Where is Celty?! Tell me, Taiyo!"
I noticed his eyes were clouded with fear and anger.
Struggling for breath, I rasped, "Celty… I… Don't…" but I couldn't manage any more. I was getting lightheaded and my vision was clouding as I struggled to throw Shinra off. I saw something small and furry collide into Shinra's pained face, biting him hard on the nose. His grip loosened and I managed to throw him off. Choking and coughing, I scrambled away from Shinra, who was busy trying to pull Natsu off his face.
"Natsu!" I gasped, my voice broken and scratchy. "Come here!" Natsu yipped and bounded into my arms, puffed up with rage, growling over his shoulder at Shinra.
"Taiyo, where is Celty!?" Shinra lunged at me, but I did a backflip over the kitchen counter to avoid him.
"I don't know where she is, idiot! Do you notice that I'm injured too!?" I bellowed, my voice still rough. I dodged him again, flinging myself over the couch.
"But you weren't knocked out!" he screamed.
"Because I'm insusceptible to drugs, idiot!"
"Insusceptible to drugs?! What the hell are you talking about!?"
"And if I was with the kidnappers," I continued, ignoring his question, "don't you think I would have escaped with them? Why would I stay here to be choked to death?!"
Shinra seemed to calm down a little at this; at least, he wasn't lunging at me anymore trying to kill me.
He still looked murderous, though, as he growled, "Who. Are. You? The truth! What do you mean, 'insusceptible to drugs?!' What happened to Celty?!"
"I'm-!" I hesitated. 'Is this really the time to tell him my secret?' I thought desperately. 'What if he went to Yagiri right now and handed me over? What if he kidnapped me himself?' I searched his face for a long moment, finally saying, "If you sit down, I'll tell you my whole story."
"Sit down!?" he raged, "Are you kidding me!?" He appeared, for a moment, as if he was going to lunge at me again, but he didn't. He sat down on the very edge of the sofa and glared at me with deep distrust. "The truth, Taiyo, or else." He demanded roughly.
"The truth," I agreed.
And I told him my story. Who I was, where I came from, and about my powers. But, since I didn't want to waste any time, I left out the bits about making myself in that odd space and that Yagiri Pharmaceuticals was after me. That could wait till later.
After I was done, neither of us spoke for several minutes.
"You expect me to believe that?" he eventually snarled, clenching his fists.
"I can prove it to you, Shinra. I can!" I added when he glared at me. "Watch." I set Natsu down on the couch and stepped right in front of Shinra. Then I transformed into a small white fox with red highlights. Shinra gaped as I transformed back to myself. Then I transformed into a horse. Back to myself, and then into a short old lady with dreads. Transforming back to myself a final time, I waited for Shinra's reaction.
"So," he murmured a minute later, "so you are from a different world."
"More like an alternate reality, but yeah." I agreed, glad he wasn't shouting and looking as if he wanted to murder me anymore. Or actually trying to murder me, for that matter.
"And we are all characters in an anime there?"
"Well, yeah."
"And so, you know the future?"
"Some of it. I only know the parts of the future that were in the anime or manga. This wasn't, so I haven't a clue what's going to happen. Not to mention," I added, remembering the entrance ceremony, "What happens has already been affected by me coming here, I think."
"And how do I know you're going to help me? How do I know that you're trustworthy?"
"I don't have any proof, but I'll prove it to you through my actions."
"What actions?"
"Well, I'm going to start by asking my employer for help." I grinned.
|^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^|
"I'm coming in!" I called as I pushed the key Izaya had loaned me back into my pocket and closed the door behind me. "Boss! Where are you?"
"Calling so late without permission… is kinda rude, Tai-chan." A sleepy voice yawned behind me.
"It's only," I glanced at my watch, "3am. I'm really sorry, Zaya-chan, I didn't realize. But it's super important, so, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you for some info. And I am offering info in return as payment." I turned around and saw Izaya, in loose black pajamas, smirking at me. "You already know what I want to ask about, don't you?"
"'Zaya-chan?' that's a first for me," He pointed at Shinra next to me. "And of course I know vaguely what's wrong, since Shinra looks about ready to strangle you."
I glared at him. "Whatever. I suppose it doesn't matter exactly how much you already know." Izaya smirked. I glared at him. "So, who kidnapped Celty?"
"That was very blunt, Tai-chan. I'll tell you after you tell me about Shizuo."
My forced calm was slipping through my fingers as my voice rose. "Fine, I'll tell you, Zaya-chan. Let's see… I suppose I should tell you that you shouldn't bother with your plans to make the Awakusu hunt him down? Should I tell you that if you go through with your grand plan to kill Shizuo you'll be forced to leave Ikebukuro beaten half to death by him? Should I tell you how there is no way you can beat him? Choices, choices, so many choices! Now tell me where Celty is!" I bellowed. I knew that I was losing my temper and playing his game, but I didn't care. I needed answers; there wasn't any time for stupid mind games.
Izaya looked startled for half a second but then smirked again. "Of course, Tai-chan. Was she one of your favorite characters, then? Is that why you care about her so much?" As he said this I felt Shinra shift behind me.
Ignoring him, I snarled, "I wouldn't care half as much as I do if she was just 'one of my favorite characters,' Zaya-chan!"
"Well, I suppose I have to tell you now, don't I? She was kidnapped by the Awakusu. They suspect her of having hacked their data base and deleted some of their files."
"What files? Did she actually do that?"
"Files on Shinra, and yeah, she did actually do that."
"How were you involved, Zaya-chan?" it was not a question of if he was involved, as I knew he must be.
Izaya frowned at me, deliberating. "I'm the one who found out that she was the hacker for them."
"And how did you convince Celty to hack them?"
Izaya stared at me, probably calculating his options, running over all that I had said, and wondering how I knew he had been involved. Or not. He knew enough about me to know how. "I just told her how some of the higher ups in the Awakusu don't like Shinra. Really dislike him, actually."
"Izaya!" Shinra growled, advancing on him, "Where is she?"
"I truly have no idea, Shinra. But, I can help you find her." He glanced at me before walking to his desk and turning on a computer.
"How strangely benevolent of you, Zaya-chan." I said as I strode over behind him. "Thank you."
Izaya blinked and looked up at me, smirked a little, then focused again on his computers.
|^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^|
Thirty minutes later, Shinra and I were heading to the warehouse the Awakusu were using. We didn't have a vehicle, so we were sprinting across town.
"Left here, I think!" I wheezed as we neared a corner. Shinra turned and somehow ran even faster. "I'm… sorry… Shinra! I… can't run… so fast!"
Shinra made a noise somewhere between a growl and a choke but slowed down anyways, waiting for me to catch up with him.
"I'm going to… transform into a snake… and checkout the layout… of the place!" I panted. Shinra nodded. I stopped and watched him rush ahead of me. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the black and gray serpent that I had practiced changing into and felt the cold earth beneath me. I opened my eyes, but my vision was blurry.
Sticking out my tongue, I had a clear idea of my surroundings; I even knew where Shinra was ahead of me. I slithered after him, gaining feet by the second, then slowed down next to him. I hissed and he looked down. I nodded at him and then sped up, reaching our goal long before Shinra. It was a small building, but all the windows were blocked.
'How am I supposed to get in?' I thought as I circled around the building. 'The doorway is probably locked, but I guess that doesn't make a difference since I'm a snake, does it? I'll just have to find a hole.' I found one quickly, slipped through, and saw Celty on the floor. She seemed to be unconscious. There were several men standing around, holding guns, look outs and guards, but none of them noticed or cared as I slithered up to Celty.
I nudged her softly, and she twitched. I tried to say "Celty" but heard only a drawn out hiss.
"What was that?" one of the armed men shouted, glancing around. I froze.
"What was what?" A big, muscular looking man asked.
"That, I don' know, hissing noise." said the first man.
"What are you talking about, Rogun?" said another man scornfully. "Hearing things, are you?" they all laughed.
"Shut up! I'm just doing my job!" Rogun retorted angrily.
"Yeah, whatever, Rogun. Probably just have a hangover."
'Time to head back. I know the lay out and everything, so I need to regroup with Shinra.' I thought, nodding my head. Quickly, I slithered back to the hole and back out into the night. Except, it was more like dawn now.
I tasted the air with my tongue, located Shinra, and slithered over to him, transforming back to myself when I joined him behind an adjacent building.
"She's heavily guarded. They aren't tying her up or anything, but she's totally unconscious. How are we going to get her out?" We both pondered this problem for a bit, then I thought of something.
"I… have an idea," I murmured, then continued in a confident whisper, "I'll transform into Celty and pretend that one of my abilities is making copies of myself. I'll stroll in there and say some randomness to convince them and tell them that the real Celty is me and that the one they have is just a copy, and they might as well leave it outside because it will start smelling funny soon. Then I'll fight them a bit, let them catch me, wait till Celty has been put outside, transform… damn," I stopped, deflating like a balloon. 'I forgot that I can't change from one form to another…'
"What's wrong, Taiyo?"
"Hold on, I'm thinking," I said sharply. 'It takes me a full five seconds to change forms. So I'll need ten seconds at least to change into some random small animal. With all of those guards, there's no way I'll have that long. How am I supposed to do this? Maybe, if Celty can catch on quickly enough, she can prove that she is the real one. Most of them will go out to try and catch her, but the ones that stay will be more interested in watching Celty fight then watching me being unconscious. I think that works.'
"Shinra, we are going with my original plan, but when Celty is put outside, you need to revive her and tell her to make a big seen. Tell her to use a lot of shadowy stuff. While the guards are trying to catch her, I'll make a break for it. Yeah?"
Shinra looked at me skeptically, "That seems a little over complicated…" he said doubtfully.
"Have you got any better damn idea?" I asked, raising my eyebrows
After a short pause, he nodded grudgingly. "Here," he handed me a phone, "to type on. You won't have a head, after all."
"Thanks. Oh, and you need to wake her up within twenty minutes of when I transform into her. After that, I transform back to myself and can't transform again for five minutes." Shinra eyebrows rose a little higher but he didn't object.
Ignoring the butterflies in my stomach, I tried to transform into Celty. I hadn't ever transformed into her before, so it took me a few tries. Eventually, I became a Dullahan. There are no words to describe what it was like being Celty. Strangely, being a Dullahan didn't feel wrong, that is to say, I didn't feel out of place, like I had expected too. It was just like being a human, honestly, just without the head.
Anyways, I strolled out from behind the building and walked purposefully towards the warehouse. Since I couldn't call out, I knocked on the door and waited. Lots of footsteps, shushing noises, and then a whispered "who's there?" I rolled my, er, nonexistent eyes, and knocked again. Silence, and then a lot of clanking as the door opened.
All of the guards and lookouts stared at me, dumbfounded. They glanced at Celty behind them, back at me, and then at Celty again. I tilted my, uh, neck, to one side and typed on my phone, [You fools! You thought you had captured me! Ha!] I showed them the screen, then typed, [That body you've got is just a copy! In fact, if I were you I'd toss it, because it starts to smell bad pretty quickly.] I showed them this message too. I finished with, [Now fight me, you miserable thugs! You can't possibly defeat me! I'll pound you to pieces then force you to reveal your boss!]
'This is the lamest dialogue… It has to be lame so that they believe it when Celty turns around and says that I'm the real fake. But still, augguhhhghg,' I thought drearily.
I snapped back to reality as one of the men ran at me. "You monster!" he roared, throwing a punch at me. I flipped over and landed lightly behind him.
'I forgot I could do that!' I realized with a jolt. 'I could've just lead them all away while Shinra takes Celty to safety! But how am I supposed to tell him that now?' I thought for a while, dodging kicks and punches as easily as anything, and then took out the phone.
[SHINRA! IM SORRY I FORGOT BUT IM REALLY AGILE! IM GOING TO LEAD ALL OF THEM AWAY WHILE YOU TAKE CELTY TO SAFETY! DON'T JUDGE ME] I nodded my neck in approval of the message, then turned to face the angry guards. I spread my fingers out where my ears would be if I had had a head, wiggled them, then turned away and ran towards Shinra's hiding place. 'Sorry, Shinra!' I thought guiltily.
All of the guards shouted things like, "Get back here!" and chased after me as I sprinted towards Shinra. He was kneeling there, dumbfounded, as I, discreetly as possible, chucked the phone at him. I made shooing movements with my fingers as I passed and was pleased to see him get the message, scrambling backwards into the shadowy alleyway between the two buildings.
I sprinted on, looking back every few seconds to make sure they were still following me, then, after fifteen minutes of cat and mouse, I scrambled up the side of a building, leaving my pursuers down on the ground, totally speechless. I waved over the edge of the building before disappearing from their view.
I transformed back to myself, brushed off my black jeans and tank top, and jogged back the way I had come. I met Shinra half way back. He glared stonily at me as I laughed sheepishly and helped him carry Celty, who was still out cold, back to their apartment.
(ÞϘV Shinra)
"Can you get the door, Taiyo?" I asked as we neared our apartment.
"'Course, Shinra," she darted past me and tugged at the door, but it didn't move. "Shinra, I need your keys!"
"They're in my pocket, hold on." I shuffled around for a moment, then handed them to her. She shoved the key in and turned it, pushing open the door at the same time. She flattened herself against a wall as I trudged past her, carrying Celty piggyback.
We laid Celty down on the couch gently and covered her with a blanket. We both sat down near her, not talking. My head was buzzing with questions as I stared at Celty. 'She's safe for now, but if the Awakusu are hunting her, then she won't be able to let her guard down. They'll always be hunting her. I don't have enough pull to stop them, either. We'll have to go into hiding.'
"I could turn into Celty? So that must mean…" Taiyo murmured, breaking the thoughtful silence.
"Mean what?" I asked. She jerked and looked up at me, startled.
"What?"
"What must that mean?" I asked again.
"Oh, well," she said awkwardly. She fidgeted and finally spoke, "It's just, I did turn into Celty, a headless Dullahan. But," she paused, looking blankly over my shoulder.
"But?" I urged her impatiently. She seemed to be having an internal struggle.
"I thought, I thought that if I could turn into a Dullahan, then that could mean that I can turn into other mythical creatures," she explained slowly, now staring at Celty. "I wasn't able to use any of her powers, though… but I can use the abilities of animals… it did say I would find out more rules when I got here…" she drifted off.
I sighed, got up, and went to the kitchen to cook something. As I got out rice I thought, 'Celty is completely unconscious, but I woke up pretty quickly. They must have given her more because they had been warned about her strength. But it didn't affect Taiyo at all,' I grabbed some beef and started slicing it. 'Right, I forgot. She is immune to drugs. How the hell is she immune to drugs?! I could understand some resistance, but she made it sound like she was completely, what did she say, insusceptible to all drugs!'
I slammed a pan onto the burner and chucked the beef into it. Someone tapped my shoulder tentatively and I turned to see Taiyo.
"Need any help?" she asked quietly.
"Huh? Oh, sure. Would you cook some vegetables?" I pointed at the cutting board and the recipe book lying open next to it. She nodded.
"Um, I know you probably have a lot of questions, so- so ask away." She suggested as she hauled a bunch of vegetables from the fridge.
"Yeah, well. Are you really insusceptible to drugs?"
"Yeah."
"All types, all the time?"
"Yep. Even beneficial ones don't work. I've tried Ibuprofen, and it has no effect. Those injuries were not fun," she added, sweat-dropping.
We were silent for a while. Eventually, I asked, "What about turning into Celty? You were murmuring gibberish in the living room."
"Oh, I was trying to think through what it meant. Being able to turn into Celty, I mean," she added, seeing my confused expression. "Before, I thought I could only turn into animals. Celty is a Dullahan, though, so I wondered what that meant. I don't have enough information to figure out the restrictions and rules for that."
"What do you mean?" I asked, stirring the meat around.
"Like, does that mean I could turn into all mystical creatures, or only human ones? Or only mythical ones? Or only certain mythical ones, if they had somehow been real in this world. All sorts of problems like that. And then, assuming that I can transform into anything, why? Does that mean I can turn into any creature I can think of, as long as it's alive? And does it really have to be alive? I haven't even considered that till today." She sighed and stirred the vegetables.
"Never? Not once in your life?" I asked skeptically.
"I haven't had these powers all my life," she shrugged, "I've only had them for like, a month or two, I think. Remember when Celty first brought me here? That was my first day in this world."
"The- the what?" I asked, dropping the spoon into the pan.
"I- oh. Right. You, uh, you didn't know," she laughed awkwardly, putting her hand behind her head. "Well, it- it's a long story, and-"
"So you didn't have powers in your world?" I interrupted her, deciding to hear the rest of it later. So she wasn't from this world. That could wait.
She laughed awkwardly again. "No, no, I didn't. I, well, I need to start from the beginning. I didn't tell you everything back at my apartment. They weren't important at the time."
"Well," I said, stopping her before she could tell me, "wait until Celty is up. Put the vegetables on this plate," I handed her a large platter, "and go check on Celty. I don't need any more help, but thank you." She nodded and left.
(ÞϘV Taiyo)
'She's still out cold, huh?' I thought as I poked Celty. She wasn't reacting at all, so I stood up and called to Shinra, "Still unconscious, Shinra."
"Okay," was his only response.
I stretched and yawned. It had been a very long night. I checked my watch, reading 7:30am. I dropped my arms to my sides and strode to the center of the room, where there was no clutter in my way. 'I need to find out, so I'll start by ruling things out. I already know that I can't use the magical creatures' powers, because I couldn't use Celty's. First test should be…' I thought. Eventually, I had an idea.
I closed my eyes, envisioning a flaming bird with golden plumage. I felt my arms stretching and becoming very light and I opened my eyes to see phoenix wings where my arms should have been. I nearly whooped with delight, but I didn't want to startle Shinra, who was bound to be on edge. I closed my eyes again and tried to morph the rest of my body to match my idea of Faux, Dumbledore's phoenix. It took twice as long as it usually took me, but after 20 minutes I had become the burning bird.
"Uh, is that you, Taiyo?"
I hopped around to my right, where the living room and kitchen were connected by an opening, and saw Shinra's mildly shocked face. I squawked in response.
"I'm going to take that as a yes. Taiyo, would you try to wake Celty up?" he turned back to the stove as I squawked again.
Before turning back into a human, I flew around the room a few times. It was glorious, I felt light as air and swift as lightning. Finally, I landed on the floor. 'I forgot to try and teleport, to test my theory!' I thought. I then tried to burst into flame and teleport somewhere, but it didn't work. Sigh.
I turned back into myself as soon as I was done with my experiment and kneeled by Celty.
"Celty? Celty, time to wake up now," I whispered, "Shinra needs you, Celty. Come on, wake up now." I started poking her and she twitched a little. After five minutes, I gave up being kind. I started tickling her gently, wanting to give her as many chances as possible. But it was no use.
I started tickling her feet, her arm pits, and her stomach for a thirty seconds each. She seemed very uncomfortable, and after two rounds she jolted upright, shoving me hard in the stomach. She was shaking with laughter.
"Shinra, she's up! And she's mad!" I added, yelping as Celty tried to punch me. it occurred to me that she might have been shaking with anger, not laughter.
"You don't mind dealing with her, do you Taiyo? Thanks a bunch!"
"You jerk, Shinr-eep!" I yelped as Celty threw another punch at me. "Celty! Shinra and I rescued you! Stop it! Calm down!" I said as I threw a pillow at her head. Of course, the pillow went right through, but it still had the desired effect. Celty stopped attacking me and put her hands on her hips. I swear, I could feel the glare, it didn't matter that she had no eyes.
"I'll get your phone right now! I just have to find it," I told her as I hurried to the kitchen. I aimed a kick at Shinra that he dodged as he handed me the phone.
"Here, Celty." I tossed the phone to her as I reentered the living room.
She began typing furiously. "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?! WE WERE AT YOUR PLACE! WHY ARE WE HERE NOW? I WAS KNOCKED OUT I THINK! WHY!?"
"Ahh, well, it's a long story…" I giggled sheepishly, my hand on the back of my head.
"THEN EXPLAIN!"
"Okay, okay! Just, sit down, please?" I motioned towards the couch as I plopped into an armchair. She walked stiffly over to the couch and sat. I told her how I wasn't really from here and that I had powers, then I told how she had been abducted and how we had found her and rescued her.
"Really? Wait, why were you tickling me?" she asked.
"Well, you weren't waking up and I thought it would wake you up. And it did," I stared out the window at the brightening orange sky. "It's been a few hours at least, probably longer."
"Thank you for explaining, Taiyo." She stood up, and I followed suit. But then she strode towards the kitchen and I knew, somehow, to stay behind. I heard a bang, painful yelps, and Shinra begging Celty to spare him.
I can only imagine what she typed.
{-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-}
The end! A friend of mine said that how they rescued her was really flippin' random, so. Idk. I know this doesn't seem like quite a proper ending, but that's because it's... not. I tried to warn you all.
I actually have a good 14000 words after it, but all of that is like, actual plot. Plot, which I won't ever resolve (probably), and I don't want to do that to you guys. Unless you tell me you want to see it. If you do, leave a comment, and I'll add it, as well as a short paragraph explaining where I was going and how I would have ended it if I hadn't run out of steam.
Thanks for reading Transported to Durarara! I've really enjoyed getting to post some of my stuff-I only recently joined fanfictionnet-and to see that other people actually liked it too, despite the shoddiness of some of it. (^_^;)
Regardless, see you next time! （＾∀＾●）ﾉｼ