Izaya jolted awake.

"Get off me!" He screamed, leaping up and swinging...

At empty air.

He looked around him to see he was alone. His coat was gone as well but at least those monsters went with it. A stereo was playing an English song he didn't know as the foggy but bright sky shined through the open door.

His head turned to the closet where he left Alessa.

His eyes widened to see the door was wide open and the little girl was gone.

He ran out the door. The maze of chain fences had morphed into rows of wooden picket fences. Izaya could see over them to the path he had come from, and there was no sight of the gutted man either.

He ran through the gaps in the fences where planks were missing back the way he came, running up the steps two at a time until he was back on the main road.

Once there, he looked around at the shop names. He spotted a pawn shop and ran over. He wiped the ash of the window, looking inside the abandoned house. And he spotted what he wanted.

A hunters knife sat dangling in its sheath against the wall. He would prefer a smaller knife but beggards can't be choosers.

He rushed over to the door and jiggled the knob.

Locked.

He growled in annoyance then turned around. Then he brought his arm up. Holding his wrist tight, he slammed his elbow into a crack that had been made on the glass of the door window probably by a previous scavenger. The glass shattered. Izaya grimaced a little as his elbow hurt but he wasn't cut so he just shook his arm out. Then he reached inside and jiggled the door handle, unlocking it and opening it.

He rushed over and grabbed the knife off the wall. He pulled it out, relieved to see it wasn't a mere decoration. But the blade was dull. He looked around and found a sharpening stone inside a glass case. He didn't even bother to see if it was locked. He turned the knife around and slammed down with the butt of the blade. The glass shattered and he precariously grabbed the sharpening stone.

From there, he sat sharpening his blade for a good ten to twenty minutes.

Then he atttached the sheath to his belt and left the stone behind.

'Where could Alessa have gone?' He looked around. 'And Shizu-chan. Did Shizu-chan survive the Darkness? Did he...No, no, no. This is Shizu-chan. Something like this couldn't...'

Izaya clenched his teeth.

'He doesn't like fighting. He doesn't have the stomach to kill. Well, not like I do either. But in this place, it's kill or be killed. If either of us are to survive, we'll have to fight to kill...'

His stomach flopped at the thought.

But he swallowed it down and looked around.

What were his bare essentials?

Food. Water. Protection. Clothes.

He had protection.

He had clothes—although he needed to either find his jacket or grab a new one (it wasn't cold but it rained during the darkness).

At the thought of water and food, his throat went dry and his stomach growled.

Alright, first on his agenda—a cafe.

He looked around for another ten mintes before finding his destination. It was a little cafe, run-down and obviously abandoned like everything else. However, the door wasn't locked so he easily got inside.

A vending machine sat on his left. Wiping the dust off with his hand, he saw that no one had looted it.

That meant he could.

Backing up, he did a quick round-house kick to shatter the glass. Then he went about pulling food out. Candie bars, chips, fruit snacks, and granola bars weren't much, but it was good enough.

'Shizu-chan'll probably be hungry too. Maybe I should head back to the raft. He might be there...'

It was the only lead he really had. He had no clue where Alessa went and Shizuo was no where to be seen. Although he had a hunch that he should try and find a school because of the uniform Alessa was wearing, he didn't want to go through another Darkness without Shizuo.

So, once he had his fill, he stood with many of food in hands and turned to leave—

But not before spotting a rack with pamphlets on it. He went over to check them out and found them to be maps!

'This'll be useful.' Izaya a near smile.

He grabbed two—one for himself and one for Shizuo—and looked around the cafe for writing untensils. He found two pens—one red and one blue—by the register.

Now in good spirits, he was on his way back to the raft.


Shizuo groaned as he opened his eyes. His head was throbbing and lungs ached. He was aware that he should probably be more alert, aware that he had nearly drowned. But his body hurt everywhere.

'Izaya...did you survive?'

The thought of the raven in the same situation as him was enough to force him to his feet.

'Izaya...'

Groaning through the pain, Shizuo headed over to the ladder and climbed up. He was relieved to see there were no creatures aorund but the plastic curtains limited his view.

Now more alert, he clamored up and kept his fists balled together. Taking tnetive steps, he pushed through the plastic curtains and back into the gym. The creatures wer gone, not one of them was in sight...

But the mountain of corpses remained.

Just the sight made bile rise in Shizuo's throat. No longer caring for caution, Shizuo ran thorugh the curtain's and out the door. Once outside, he fell to his knees and vomited, coughing and retching until his stomach was empty.

'I can't handle this. I just can't...'

Tears rose in Shizuo's eyes but he quickly wiped them away.

'I've got to find Izaya. We have to get out of this place. We've got to...'

Shizuo reached into his pocket and pulled out the cellphone.

'Kasuka...'

He didn't know why but he felt like he needed to call Kasuka. He needed to let his little brother know he was alright. He needed to possibly hear his beloved brothers voice, one of the only things that ever calmed him down.

So he dialed in the number he had memorized and pressed the phone to his ear.

It rung four times, making Shizuo's anxiety grow. Then it finally sent him to voicemail.

"Hey, Kasuka, it's Shizuo. I left my phone at home so Izaya gave me one of his. I-I'm in Silent Hill; we made it but I lost Izaya. I'll find him though. And we'll be home. I...I don't know when though."

Shizuo began to choke as tears rose in his throat.

"I'm not okay. This place...it's so-so, I don't even know. It's just bad. And I-I-heh, heh heh. I'm scared, Kasuka." A crooked smile crossed Shizuo's lips. "I'm actually really scared. But I swear, I'll come home. I promise."

Shizuo ended the call.

He started to laugh as he wiped his eyes. Then he composesd himself and opened the phone back up. Going to the contacts, he smiled when he saw there was only one.

:Izaya #4:

He clicked send.

As he pressed it to his ear, he thought he heard something.

Like a Japanese ringtone going off.

That couldn't be a coincident!

A smile plastered to his face, Shizuo followed the sound. It led him to the alley by the gym. Pickets fences line the yards behind the place, leading him through a maze of residential housings.

That call went to voicemail, so he cancelled out and called again. The ringing picked up again and he was back on the hunt.

He ended up recalling the phone four times before he came to a stop. The sign was in English so he couldn't read it but there were bowling pins being struck by a bowling ball by the letters so he figured it was a bowling alley.

The front door was wide open so he dashed inside.

"Izaya!" he called.

Only to be disappointed and horrified.

Izaya's coat lied on the ground, the pocket vibrating from the call. And there was blood on the tinted fur around the left sleeve and hood.

'No. no no no. No!'

"IZAYA~!" Shizuo called, looking around frantically. "IZAYA, where are you?!"

Shizuo could feel despair rise in his throat. Izaya wouldn't go anywhere without his coat. He wouldn't leave his phones behind.

"Don't tell me you were killed..."

A noise behind him tore him away from his grief. He turned aorund to see a little girl staring at him from the door way.

His eyes widened. "Ales—"

The girl turned and ran.

"Hey, wait!"

Shizuo grabbed Izaya's coat and gave chase.

The girl never lost pace and never slowed. But neither did Shizuo.

"What did you do to Izaya?! Alessa!"

The girl turned the corner.

But when Shizuo turned the corner, Alessa was gone.

And in her place was a snarling dog. But it wasn't a normal dog. It had huge jaws and a small body resembling a greyhound. However, it lacked fur and skin, it's red muscles exposed for all to see with only a stump for a tail.

The dog snarled at him, sinking low to the ground in order to pounce. Shizuo's phone began to static and flash in his pocket but the blond didn't notice nor care.

"I don't have time for you." Shizuo snarled and balled his fist. "Get out of my way!"

The dog took his throat as an invitation and leaped for Shizuo's throat.


Izaya sighed as he lied down in the orange raft, the food placed in the far corner so he didn't touch anymore of it. He stared up at the ashes falling before he sat up to be more alert.

'I wish I didn't lose my coat. It had all my phones.'

He sighed and leaned against the side of the raft and closed his eyes.

'Shizu-chan...'


Shizuo growled as he held his arm. The dog had gotten a good hold in his arm and although it didn't bubble up with black ooze or anything like that, it still stung.

But he'd survive.

And now Shizuo was looking around the town again. He came across the sign Izaya left in the window and stared at it.

'I can't smell the flea at all. There's not even a breeze to carry it.'

Shizuo scowled.

'...Maybe he went back to the raft. He knows he lost his phone so if he's alive, he'll know the only way to get ahold of me is through these...'

He turned and stared at the road he had come from.

'Maybe it's just wishful thinking...but it wouldn't hurt to look...'

With that in mind, Shizuo followed the road out of town to the highway.

Not long after, the orange came into sight...

And a raven-haired man was seen sitting in it.

Shizuo's heart lept with joy. "IZAYA!"

He ran to the flea as Izaya jolted and looked at him.

...But then Shizuo's eyes widened in shock.

Izaya was vanishing. And by the time Shizuo got to the raft, he was gone.

"No. No, no, no. Izaya, Izaya, no. Don't..." Shizuo fell to his knees in defeat. "Am I seeing things? He was just a mirage?"

Shizuo clenched his teeth.

"Or was that a ghost? Did Izaya really die and now he's stuck here forever?"

Tears fell from Shizuo's eyes.

"IZAYA~!"


Izaya jolted when he heard the familiar voice scream his name.

"Shizu-chan?"

Izaya stared out through the fog.

And spotted blond locks poking through the haze.

A happy smile spread across Izaya's face.

"Shizu-chan!"

The raven leaped to his feet and dashed toward the blond locks. But his movements caused him to lose sight of them so instead he ran in the direction he had last saw it.

He never stopped running until a human figure came into view, making his heart jump with relief.

"Shizu-chan!"

The fog cleared up just enough to see the person clearly.

And Izaya came to a screeching halt.

It wasn't Shizuo.

But the armless man from his nightmare. The one with no face and a gaping hole in his chest. Black ooze pooled out, plipping to the ground and melting whatever it touched.

Izaya backed away.

'Shizu-chan...'

The creature stumbled towards him.

So Izaya turned and ran.


Shizuo would never admit to anyone that he cried over Izaya nor admit he huddled into Izaya's coat. He would never admit that he had broken down because he thought Izaya died.

But right now, on an abandoned road where no one but monsters could see him, he would cry. And cry and cry.

'This place is so fucked! I want to go home. Kasuka...'

It took Shizuo another ten minutes to finally calm himself down.

From there, Shizuo finally looked up into the raft. His eyes widened when he saw a small pile of food, a couple of water bottles, and pieces of papers.

He climbed into the raft and, completely ignoring the food, grabbed the papers.

They were Izaya's drawings. Shizuo's eyes widened.

'How'd these get...Izaya didn't bring these with...'

The blond shuffled through them. There was the drawing of the Red Pyramid thing, the armless man creature, a strange gray humanoid that's face twisted to the side of it's skull with a gaping, stretched mouth. The next page made him pause. It was the picture of Alessa. The one that the psychic said was drawn by Alessa using Izaya's body.

'This is not a coincidence. These are here for a reason...'

Shizuo saw something against the raft as he shuffled the papers. He lifted them up to look down in the raft. There, having been hidden under all the papers, was a pamphlet. He put the papers to the side and picked it up. Unfolding it, he saw the pamphlet was actually a map. And on the map, someone had circled the school and wrote 'Shizu-chan' by it in red pen.

His eyes widened. And his heart filled with hope.

"Izaya..."

Then his expression filled with conviction.

"He's alive. Izaya's alive. And I'm going to find him."

With that said, Shizuo put on Izaya's coat, pocketed the map, and ran back to town.


Izaya heard the Armless Man screech and splatter its' goop behind him. The raven was luckily out of reach so only the concrete started to burn.

He knew this thing wasn't very fast so he could outrun and out-manuveur it without any issues. But those things typically ran in a ram-shackle form of pack. There was usually always more than one.

So Izaya ran the opposite way from town with a pray that there would be no others. He soon lost the creatures in the fog.

Once there, he slowed to a walk.

'I need to get back to town. This'll lead me to Brahms, if I remember correctly...'

Izaya's thought died off when he noticed that the ground in front of him disappeared into a crumbling canyon.

He cursed before turning back around.

'So no matter what, I have to go this way.'

He gulped, fear rising in his stomach. The hell of his dreams replayed behind his vision. Being blinded by burning acid from the Armless Man would never fade from his memory.

And right now, just the thought of getting close to it was terrifying.

'I've got to do it though. What if the Darkness comes while I'm here? I've gotta get back to town. I have to find Shizuo and Alessa before then.'

He glowered as he turned around.

'I know I heard Shizu-chan. He was there. He's alive and I'll find him.'

With that determination in place, Izaya ran back the way he came.

The first Armless Man was easy to dodge. It didn't even realize it had been duked until Izaya was already long gone. But like Izaya had thought, there was more than one.

'Bastards. I'm not going to let you stop me. I will find Shizuo. I will find Alessa.'

"And you bastards aren't going to stop me!"

Filling with something that wasn't quite bravado but wasn't quite insanity, Izaya ran toward the monster.

With the grace of a cat, Izaya dodged a pile of goop while weaving around his first assailant. It screeched in rage before trying to turn around, ultimately colliding into his partner all according to Izaya's plan.

As the two toppled over each other, Izaya ran with a smirk.

Not long, he returned to the raft, so far managing to not run into any other Armless Men.

He had no intention to stop at the orange thing, but something in it caused him to pause.

The things he had left for Shizuo were still there except for the pamphlet. And in its place was a piece of paper. He picked it up before inspecting it.

It was a...dark picture. Drawn in crayon, it was a scrawling of a black building, the word school scrawled across the top in red crayon, with a crude image of a blond-haired person with black-and-white clothes and a girl with scribbled long black hair.

'Is that...Alessa?'

He flipped the picture over, hoping to find a name but was disappointed.

'Who left this?'

A glob of black goop splattering onto the raft tore Izaya away from his thought process. Shizuo's food and the orange of the raft began to melt, making Izaya jump away. Two more Armless Men were moving towards him, withering and screeching with every step.

Izaya turned and ran.

'School it is then.'