Ragnarok
By: Aviantei
19
Imagine
Izaya's summation of Chandra Singh was, overall, an accurate one.
She'd had her Alter for a while, and she'd played around with it plenty. Though controlling smoke seemed far too simple, an Alter only had limits if you limited your thinking to allow such things. Even the simplest of abilities could create massive changes, and Singh had manipulated so much, bringing her family good fortune and setting herself up for life.
But as good as that all was, was that the be-all-end-all limit to her ability? Was there a possibility of going even further? What if she could collect more of the innate energy used by her Alter—that thought lead to the creation of the first 'Neutralizers.' Singh had worked on gathering power from others and creating bigger and bigger changes until she went for broke and created the CMA, hiding her real intentions as she used the organization to build up more and more resources. In fact, Headquarters was just a puppet building, with her Alter providing all the tech and administration needed to make everything function.
And now, the final experiment—
Can we use this power to destroy the world? If so, what will happen afterwards? Will this impact the surrounding universes, too?
Singh didn't even care if she wasn't there to see it. Just being the one to create such an outcome was more than enough for her to feel satisfied. And she called that plan—
Ragnarok.
Heiwajima Shizuo led the room into the charge, because of course he did. Even so, the two BUN targets—Karellen and Colleen were close behind, the latter holding tight to a Gameboy and punching away at the buttons, trying to gain some sort of advantage. Singh took another drag from her cigarette, adding extra rings to the air, destabilizing the two Alter users first. Karellen gasped first, almost stumbling as the ground shook harder, adding further to Singh's larger Chaos Manipulation that was starting to tear apart the consistency of the universe.
"Oi!" Heiwajima shouted, looking concerned as the kids stumbled. After all, Singh was using a great amount of their power while also taking their inherent Chaos and Imagination levels as further fuel. If there was going to be anything at all left after everything had blown apart, none of them would be awake to see it, Singh included.
"Don't waste your time, Shizu-chan!" Orihara shouted from the sidelines. "That woman over there's trying to control them. Take her out first!"
Heiwajima didn't seem interested in being petty, following Izaya's instructions. It was a bit of an issue, sure, considering that smokers were rather resistant to Singh's Alter control as it was, and someone as flat-out strong as Heiwajima was had an extra immunity as well. No matter how skillful Singh was with her ability, she couldn't expect to make a significant counter—though a few more smoke tendrils formed and carried Singh out of the direct line of fire.
"What, you're just gonna run away?" Heiwajima said, his voice a very pissed off growl that was enough to make a shiver of concern slip down Singh's spine. Heiwajima punching a hole into the floor where she once was just added to the effect. "Don't be such a goddamn coward!"
"Sorry," Singh said, pulling out her lighter and flicking it open, "but I don't get into fights that I know I can't win on my own."
And, without lighting a flame, Singh snapped the cap on her lighter shut with a resounding click.
Oliver Grewal, who she had known was waiting in the background for some sort of surprise attack, blasted into the room, all of his CMA equipment responding to the protection protocol buried in the programming. There was a certain level of artificial intelligence tapped into them, and they'd respond in defensive counters against Alter users, as well as protection measures to keep Singh—the High Commander—safe.
Which meant that Grewal crashed right into Heiwajima with enough force to even knock him over and restrain the man.
"Hey, you bastard—"
"It's not me! It's the equipment!"
Singh didn't bother to pay attention to the argument. Heiwajima was tough enough to put up a fight, and wouldn't take all that long for him to break out of Grewal's control. Singh diverted some of the collective Alter power of the kids into enhancing Grewal to keep Heiwajima down, then redoubled the rest of her efforts on setting off her explosion, because the sooner everything went off, the sooner she wouldn't have to worry about any of this at all.
Except, there it was again: that laugh.
Orihara Izaya laughed once more—and not just like a madman enjoying the chaos, but like someone who had made it out on top of a drastic situation, and Singh turned to look at him, not wanting to allow for anything that could upset the whole plan. But Orihara was Orihara, and he just met Singh's eyes with that characteristic smirk all over his face. "Sorry, am I bothering you?" he asked, not sounding very apologetic at all. "Did you think I wouldn't make a backup plan? Hey, Karellen-chan—
"Open emergency protocol."
It didn't take longer than a few seconds for Karellen to understand what Izaya meant, though she hadn't known anything about it before. This was why he'd made such a complicated contract for sealing her Alter: he was accounting for some sort of emergency situation that could have prevented her from using her abilities. It was kind of an ass-pull, but it was Izaya, so she guessed that meant something like this was allowed. And, hey, if it was going to save them all, she didn't give a shit.
After all, Izaya had just given her the temporary capability to use her Alter without needing to write anything down.
Oh, she still needed the words. It had always been about the words for her, about using her imagination to will ideas and concepts into reality. But if she could go ahead and combine those words together, even without writing them down, it could give them all a fighting chance. It just took a little bit of focus, and—
The Alter of Singh's smoke compelling her to use her powers snapped.
Like getting the full control of her Alter back, the freedom rushed into her like a headache vanishing, leaving her mind clear and the options open. Still, that didn't mean everything was just over. The High Commander's Alter was far along enough that Karellen could tell the world was about to snap, and the momentum wasn't going to give up anytime soon.
Enough thinking. Action time, so—
First, the controls on Jarret and Colleen's Alters fell away, giving them a little bit of extra time to counter Singh. Colleen pushed herself up from the ground, retrieving her Gameboy from where it had fallen a few feet away. She focused her abilities on Oliver first, fumbling for a fresh game cartridge. "Alright!" Colleen shouted, once she was ready. "Let's go—Hax Mode on!"
Oliver, who had been struggling against the auto controls on his equipment, flew backwards as the auto programming on his CMA gear canceled out, giving him free reign again. With the force of Shizuo's own retaliation, Oliver flew across the room, blinking a bit as he reoriented himself. "Nice!" he said to Colleen, glad for the assist. Getting further manipulated by Singh after everything else was just an extra slap in the face.
"Ditch your gear!" Colleen called back, and Oliver followed instructions right away. Colleen was swapping cartridges again, going back to the fighting game she'd used before. "I'll be sure to give you an extra boost when you come in, but we don't want to get you controlled again!"
"Hey, Kar!" Jarret shouted, catching Karellen's attention. Jarret and Izaya were both still restrained, and the Alter was tough enough that even Karellen's active powers couldn't just burst it open. "She busted my mp3, help me out here!"
Thanks to Shizuo getting back in the fight and their earlier entrance, finding a busted mp3 player in all the chaos seemed like a massive waste of time. However, Jarret's key component was his music, rather than any particular device—and there was a ready and waiting speaker system just begging to be used.
Karellen grabbed the first song she could think of and slapped it onto the CMA Headquarters' speakers.
Poppu ni sensu o utaou ka
sekai utsumuichau mae ni—
Jarret snorted, but he didn't argue with the choice in soundtrack, instead focusing on his Alter to bring it to full fruition. The high-energy tempo was enough to give him a substantial boost of energy, and he could use it to enhance his own strength thanks to the rhythm getting him pumped. There was just enough to help him slip out of the bindings put on him, and he joined the charge towards Singh, adding his physical boosts for everyone on top of Karellen's fighting game enhancements.
"Alright," Izaya said from the ground as Singh continued to dodge out of the way of everyone's attacks and advances. "I'll just stay here, nice and tied up. It's not like I have combat prowess or anything!"
"You wanna help, Flea?" Shizuo ran past, scooping up Izaya as he went.
"Shizu-chan, no—"
"Then go and do it!"
Considering that Shizuo had been holding himself back for so long, tossing Izaya across the room like so many vending machines and other city fixtures before him was a pretty damn cathartic. Jarret charged forward, and Colleen and Olive both summoned energy blasts to block off Singh's escape options, giving Shizuo a clear target fort the toss to hit home, Izaya smacking into Singh and earning the satisfying K.O.! sound effect from Colleen's still in-effect Alter. Everyone stilled, though they remained tense.
"Is it…" Oliver gasped, "is it over?"
"Well, she's unconscious," Izaya said, hauling himself back up to his feet and with the starting colors of bruising on his face. When he went to try and dust his clothes off, he didn't find any resistance. "And it looks like her Alter isn't working much anymore, either, so—"
"Less talking, more shutting the fuck up," Karellen said, not even giving Izaya an apologetic look when he pouted at her. The shaking of the ground made her point all the clearer, though, and pieces of rubble began to fall from the ceiling. The computer display in the room was showing off a critical level, any emergency sirens overshadowed by the J-pop still blasting over the speakers. "Col, Jar—"
"On it."
"Here."
For the onlookers, there wasn't anything obvious happening. But for Karellen and the others, they had gripped their hands together, forming a circle as they tried to build a counter Alter, something that would stop everything from erupting. The continual use of their powers to fight had stirred up the latent stores of energy a bit more, adding to Singh's already in place abilities, and Karellen's analysis that she'd been pulling in the background knew that they didn't have much more than a few minutes until everything set off in an explosion of destruction.
But we need this built-up power to be able to send Izaya and Shizuo home. We can redirect a good chunk of it, but I don't think that will be enough to get rid of all of this. Maybe I can tie together a teleportation for the others if I focus on it well to get them to safety, but that will probably be enough to tap me out on my own, and then—
Well, if anyone was going to get blown up, it might as well be her.
"Ugh, you're so fucking stupid," Jarret said, his power intertwining with hers. "Like we'd let you just sacrifice yourself all on your own."
"If we go down, we all go down together," Colleen said, squeezing Karellen's hand tighter. "So let's all do it together, send them back, and keep this explosion from tearing up everyone else, okay?"
Karellen nodded, looking back to where Izaya and Shizuo stood. "You guys are going home, so don't worry about anything," she said. While it would have been nice if they didn't notice, Izaya was sharp and Shizuo had great instincts, so they probably knew already—but what Karellen and the others decided to do with their powers was their business. "Just a bit longer, Oliver, and you can go ahead and see your mentor again. We're going to tear the CMA apart, after all."
"Hey, hold on—" Shizuo said, but Karellen had already started channeling her powers, Colleen and Jarret helping her out, which was good. Karellen didn't think she could go ahead with this if one of her favorite characters and people asked her not to. Jarret helped by turning up the music a little bit louder—and then Shizuo and Izaya were gone, an intense sense of exhaustion falling over Karellen immediately after, even if she'd had help from the others. But they couldn't stop just yet, and Oliver vanished next, teleported outside the impending blast radius as the song she'd started came to an end.
Sayonara, ogenki de
Owaru sekai ni iu
A sigh made of cigarette smoke:
"You stupid kids."
And the CMA's Chaos stores imploded.
As was as cliché as possible, Oliver opened his eyes outside to the view of the rising sun. The light was almost enough to overwhelm his senses, but it wasn't enough to distract from the aches and pains he had from getting thrown around. Ditching his gear didn't help, either, but it didn't change the fact that he'd gotten out of things alive, plus he'd watched Heiwajima and Orihara vanish. But the look on Karellen Fenlon's face meant that she and her friends were trying to save everyone else at the expense of themselves.
Dammit. This isn't what I wanted at all.
Oliver gritted his teeth and stood up. Even if those kids had been responsible for getting Kaluhiokalani kicked out of the CMA, that didn't mean they deserved to die. But if that was what had happened, there wasn't anything he could do. Oliver pulled himself up to his feet, recognizing that he was outside with the now destroyed remains of the CMA in the distance. Though there wasn't much point, Oliver stepped towards it, only to trip a few seconds later. Cursing, Oliver stood up, ready to kick whatever had tipped him over, but stopped.
On the ground were Colleen, Karellen, and Jarret, smiles on their faces even after they all had fallen unconscious. The scent of cigarette smoke lingered around them, meaning that High Commander Singh that managed to save them at last minute. Oliver couldn't say why, but it didn't change the reality.
"Shit, K.K.," Oliver whispered, thinking of his mentor, "you think that things are gonna be alright now?" He stared up at the sky for a while, before looking back down at Colleen, Karellen, and Jarret, smiling himself.
With this much imagination between them, he figured that they'd all be alright.
Three Months Later
Watching the GPS stutter for the twentieth time, Izaya gave it up for broke and turned the device off. He had expected as much, but he also had hoped that maybe, things would be a little bit better.
"Shizu-chan, do me a favor and read those paper instructions so we don't get lost."
Now that they'd been sent back home, there was very little that Izaya wanted more than to kick Shizuo off a cliff and never deal with him again. Considering that, thanks to the kids' Alters, there hadn't been much time lost back in their home world, no one would have thought it odd. But there was one last thing that Izaya had to take care of, and he didn't want to hear Shizuo bitching about it later, so taking one last road trip together it was.
In the passenger seat, Shizuo adjusted it to sit back up and shuffled through a couple of printouts that Izaya had prepared in advance. There weren't all that many words exchanged, save for the occasional direction, but that was fine. They'd only have something to talk about once they reached their destination, and that was assuming that things worked out well enough.
A good half hour later, they were about to have the answer. The house tucked away in the hills looked the same as the last time Izaya had seen it, empty driveway and all. Izaya parked the car, and they both disembarked, not having any trouble entering the door. The interior décor had a few differences in pieces like the couch and a different carpet, but it was overall the same, nothing all that concerning. Shizuo paused to scratch the head of the cat that hopped on the couch, and it purred while Izaya headed further into the back.
There were obvious differences in the bedroom, though that made sense—the wall scroll hanging from the wall no longer had Izaya and Shizuo's faces on it, and instead it was an ensemble shot of the main cast from -man. A lot of the art pieces were different as well, and Izaya noted a significant presence of the main character from Samurai Flamenco. "Hey, Flea," Shizuo said, at last catching up, "any luck?"
"Jesus fucking Christ!"
Izaya spun around in the bedroom's doorway, following Shizuo's gaze. Karellen Fenlon—at least the one native to this world—gaped back at them, understandably shocked by the sudden appearance of two strange men in her house without warning. If Izaya were a kinder person, he might have reached out to her beforehand, just to confirm, but—
Where in the world would be the fun in that?
Putting on his best smile, Izaya waved. "Hey, there, Karellen-chan! You wouldn't happen to remember us, now would you?"
"You… You…!" Karellen stuttered over several incomplete sentence starters, and Shizuo was looking even more uncomfortable by the second. After all, scaring a teenage girl wasn't something he had signed up for, though Izaya had bothered to let him know it was a possibility. "Are you kidding me? This was in your stupid contract, too? Anything else you wanted to tell me you slipped in there when I wasn't looking, huh?" She marched up to Izaya as she talked, landing half-hearted punches against his chest, and Izaya laughed.
"No, no, I just wanted to test and see if you could pull something like this off," Izaya said, delighted by his gamble paying off successfully. "I'm glad that you did remember whenever you saw us, though. Shizu-chan looked like he was about to panic right then and there."
"Oh, shut it," Shizuo said, but he was smiling as he reached out to ruffle Karellen's hair. "Nice to see you again, kid." Karellen flushed red, but she was grinning, her memories carried over to this version of herself from the world where they met, and that had all sorts of possibilities, too.
"So what do you say?" Izaya asked, offering out his hand. "Want to go have another adventure?"
-Fin-
[Author's Notes]
And then Karellen, Izaya, and Shizuo went to Ikebukuro and caused mayhem to the already chaotic canon timeline thanks to everyone's assembled foreknowledge of the anime, manga, and light novels. Maybe run into Baccano! characters, too, causing Karellen to freak out more. Back in the "Reality" timeline, Karellen, Colleen, and Jarret at last get to return to their normal lives. Oliver gets to reunite with Kaluhiokalani, and the two go one more wacky secret organization adventures together or something. Someone's gotta clean up after the CMA, you know.
Thanks to BethxAngel for the favorite and the follow, along with thanks to anyone else who went ahead and read this fic. I hope it brought something different to the Durarara! fandom for you. Additional thanks to wowaka, for not only "World's End Dance Hall" (which appears once again in this chapter) but a plethora of other incredible songs. Rest In Peace.
Funny how those weird ideas you decide to write down can turn out. This project was a different genre and framing experience for sure, but it was good practice.
Though I very much struggled to put the ending together, it's here, and I can at last lie Ragnarok to rest, crossing yet another older project off my list. Now I get to have the additional struggle of not knowing which active backlog fic I'll be able to finish next because all their outlines are still super long, but I'll keep trying my best.
For more DRRR! from me, check out Jokes, Whims, & Coincidences, which is slowly plunking its way through the Dollars arc. For a consistent update schedule from me, check out walk steady on this cruel world's path, a Kimetsu no Yaiba OC insert fic that updates every other Saturday. There's also a massive amount of other fics I've written; maybe something there will catch your interest, maybe not. For those who follow me and are wondering what this Saturday update slot will look like, there will be a short break, then we'll have miscellaneous fic updates until [Shibuya Operation - Story Storm] 2021-2022. And, no matter who you are:
Thank you for reading,
-Aviantei
[10.16.2021] - [COMPLETE]