Alternate ending for a few characters, but doesn't directly conflict with the plot. It ignores about 3 seconds of a scene and is like if the next scene had just gone a minute longer, then one more had been added right after. It's cheesy, it's a little OOC, but I loved how it all appeared in my head. This story is written to be read alongside the song Evermore from the live action Beauty and the Beast, from which this story was inspired. Credits go to the owners and writers of Durarara, I own nothing but the ideas in my head. Enjoy.
That was one weird day. That was one long weird day. That was one long, weird, frustrating, stupid, irritating day! Shizuo bent his cigarette and threw it on the ground as he stepped in the front door of his apartment.
It had only been an hour since he'd left the airport. He was fine seeing Varona off, it was nice to have someone like him for his strength who wasn't a possessed knife monster. Kind of sucked knowing she'd come back someday wanting to fight him, but he'd worry about that when that day came.
He wasn't as much ok when the kid showed up. That little girl who tried to shoot him.
"WAIT!" screamed the young Awakusu girl running with a bag trailing behind her, with two men in suits following out of breath running in stride behind her.
Everyone looked at the commotion, including people with no idea what they were looking at, but those heads returned to whatever they had been doing in their less exciting lives.
"I'm going too! Wherever you're going, crazy lady, I'm going too!" She stopped in front of Varona and stamped a foot down as her escorts caught up and gasped for air.
"What are you talking about, kid? You live here with your family. Where do you think you're going?" Shizuo asked.
"This lady was really strong and I know she's leaving to get stronger than you. So I'm going with her so I can get strong too!"
"That isn't how things work, little one. Where I go is no place for children. Stay here and train hard for your dreams," Varona reached to pat the girl on the head.
Akane reached up and grabbed the woman's hand as strong as she could. "NO! You'll get strong and come back to hurt Shizu! I'm going with you and I'm gonna' train with you until I'm strong enough to stop you!"
Everyone just stared and tried to understand the mind of a child. But Varona laughed and turned around. "Fine, if you die, we will both know you could never become strong like him. If you become strong enough to stop me, then I will know I am not yet strong enough to defeat him."
Varona and Slon headed to catch their flight, and Akane followed after without her guards.
Sure would be interesting to know what will happen to them when they explain it to her family, Shizuo thought walking into his little apartment.
Lighting up another cigarette, he sat down on the couch and stretched his free arm over the back thinking back on the weird year he'd had. He never considered himself very loved until he thought back on every person he'd known or just met. He had more people to talk to than he ever thought, he had people to turn to when he needed them, he finally had people who liked him for who he was. He'd taken an active role in so much that had gone on, not just living moment to moment trying to get by and keep a job.
He thought about Varona pushing him away from the falling beams only to be hurt herself. He thought about how close that woman had come to crushing the flea, ridding of the one thing he hated more than himself. And how they had both tried to stand between the other and that bastard Izaya. No one had ever done anything to protect him like that, it was his job to protect others because he could handle it. She cared for him in a way no one had before, his eyes opened wide remembering the feeling when he saw she'd nearly died for him.
And that little girl, willing to try to kill him for her own family, but now wanting nothing more than to protect him as well, to be strong enough that she could walk with him like an equal. To be so small and to be unafraid of him, wanting to see the world in a way she thought only he could. She ran away to go through hell, for him. And he didn't even think to try and stop her.
They would probably be taking off soon, and he wasn't far from the airport. Living near heavy air traffic made for cheap rent. He wondered if he might even see their plane take off.
For the first time in his life, he felt alone. He had so many still in the city he knew, but they were all so spread out. If yesterday was the end of all their troubles, what reason would most of them have to seek each other out? An accidental meeting in the street wasn't the same as having people looking for you, or you looking for them.
He heard the telltale sound of engines, got up, and moved out onto his little balcony. He saw the nose of a small private jet appear above a rooftop. Somehow he just knew that was them, flying unfathomably far away so they could work for their dreams- work to be on a level with him. The sun was setting fast and soon they would be gone- out of the city, out of view, out of his life until they chose to return.
Without hesitation or thought, he jumped to the balcony above him and began scaling the side of the apartment, looking back over his shoulder to see if the plane was still visible. He reached the top and scaled an antenna on top of the building, as high as he could possibly go without leaping into the sky after them as they flew off into the darkening sky.
They were going to give it their all to reach a level where they felt they deserved to stand in his presence again. They would do whatever they had to so they could feel worthy to be in front of him or at his side, but never again behind him being protected. It would only be fair to them to make sure he was still there when they returned, and would be able to give them the fights that they thought they needed. He opened a door at the top of the building and walked down the 12 flights of stairs back to his little apartment.
They were coming back. There was no way to know when, but he was sure it would likely be years before he saw either of them again. He could wait, he finally had something in his life worth looking forward to. He could wait as long as it took for the people who had shown him he could be cared for. And maybe, he thought, maybe he had finally found people he could care for in return.
