Hello everyone!

Welcome back to one more chapter!

Thank you for your patience and thank you for continuing supporting me with your views, favorites and follows! That means so much to me!

Also I am really sorry for not updating fast enough. My health doesn't allow me to do lot's of things lately.

And hell yeah Christmas is coming into town! Have you decorate your Christmas tree yet? Me I haven't, but I plan to soon XD

Thank you Kurakihiya for following my story! It means a lot to me! ^_^

Thank you everyone and please enjoy the new chap! ^_^

P.S. This and the next chap will be describing the days until New Year's ^_^

And also I uploaded the first chapter of a new Fanfiction on Yuri On Ice, so feel free to check it!

And today is my birthday! So happy birthday to me!

Enjoy!

Clear - Part 1

December 26

Izaya woke up painfully later that morning as his wound was still open. He was still exhausted and he couldn't move his upper body. He looked around him half blinded by the sun and tried to understand where he was. Then he realized that something heavy was on his chest. He couldn't move to shake it off but thanks to the little light in the room he could see that that thing on his chest was connected to something bigger, which was right next to him, and the smell of alcohol was strong on this one. He tried to move that object lightly but he only heard it moan tiredly. It was a female voice he knew too well. He got used to the current lighting and now he could see her better. It was indeed Cecilia, who was sleeping right next to him, with her left hand on his chest. He stared at her for a few minutes with a soft smile on his face before falling back to sleep. He felt relaxed next to her and he didn't mind her arm at all. He felt like she cared for him, something that he hadn't felt since his parents' death. It was a warm and comfy feeling someone to have, so he decided to let it last for as long as he could. He was feeling safe.

However, when he woke up again, it was already in the middle of the day and the first thing he faced was Shinra's face.

"Good afternoon Izaya-kun! You finally woke up! Let me check your wound." The doctor said smiling like an idiot while he undressed his patient and changed the bandages quickly. Izaya fell on the bed again and stared at Shinra.

"Why are you grinning like that?"

"Nothing… I just found you and Cecilia-san sleeping together!" he said and hid his face behind his palms, pretended to be embarrassed. Celty who was also in the room, panicked and started to write.

[Don't worry. He is an idiot. He didn't do anything!]

"This is rude, Celty! I would never do anything perverted to anyone else but you!" he complained but received a kick by his fiance. She returned to Izaya.

[Are you feeling ok? Hurt? You need something?]

"No thank you Celty. May I ask where is Lia?"

"She has a hangover..." Shinra interrupted.

"What about my sisters?"

"They are perfectly fine… a little shaken but fine. They are at the guest's room. You are at Cecilia's."

"Alex? The ring?"

"You better ask Cecilia-san about those things. But for now rest. They said that they have to clear the situation on their own for now. She will inform you once you are better." Shinra got up and gave a kiss on Celty's helmet.

"They?" Izaya raised his eyebrow.

"Hm… a guy named Shou and that Alex are down and speaking angrily right now."

Are you out of your fucking mind?

Cecilia's voice was heard from below them.

"Oh she seems angry… Quite surprising, taking into consideration the amount of alcohol she consumed last night. Well time for me to go… Rest well and I will come again later!" he turned to his fiance. "Celty lets go from the balcony."

Celty nodded and they left in silence and in a blink of an eye they were gone. Izaya was left alone until his door opened and his two sisters entered. They jumped on the bed, Kururi at the right and Mairu at the left and they buried themselves under Izaya's arms.

"Can we stay here? Down there they are fighting..."

"Yes… can we?"

"Ok.."

Izaya was to tired to object but he didn't care either. So they all fell into sleep once again, but Izaya kept thinking about that feeling he had that morning.

Meanwhile in the living room

Cecilia, Saya, Shou and Alex were all out of their minds and were trying to get what they was just been said.

"You are kidding me right? You thought that they would give you part of Yogsai-City to rule over? Are you lost or something?" Cecilia went insane from hearing Alex's reasoning.

"Shut up! It was the only solution!" Alex shouted back at her.

"And from when do you care that much for that city?" she countered him.

"That city raised us Manipulator! We own her something!"

"Yeah! Our deaths! That city is the reason why we are like this right fucking now! I can't believe that you went as far as trying to kill us for some empty promises! I thought you were smarter than this!" She was devastated. No, she was shocked from the fact that her friend was so dumb!

"How do you know that they were empty?" Alex spoke slowly almost whispering like a kid who was trying to refuse the truth.

"Wanna bet Alex?" she growled back at him.

Silence.

"Manipulator there is no reason for us to keep him alive. Let me kill him and everything will be fine." Shou walked into the conversation.

"No… if what he says is true, there is a possibility one of them coming here to find him. If they find us it's over." Cecilia murmured annoyed.

"How are they going to recognize you?" Saya asked Cecilia.

"I don't know… but we know that nothing stays hidden for a long time." It was something that all of them agreed with. Cecilia sat down and tried to calm down.

"For whom do you work and what is his plans." she asked her old friend calmer. Alex surprisingly spoke.

"I work for a guy named Don."

"Don?" all three of them asked in union.

"I don't know anyone like that..." Saya said.

"Me neither… Shou?" Cecilia asked Shou who was skeptical.

"I heard about him right after your death when everyone was panicking. He was walking down the street and preaching that your death was a sign that an era ended in Yogsai-City. That now was the time for them to team up and fight the ones who ruled the city."

"Did he have any followers?"

"At the beginning no… but a few weeks later yes… and lots of them. It was crazy! But the supporters were mostly simple citizens who never were into any of the gangs and never tried to do something for the city."

Cecilia looked at Alex.

"So you followed him, right?" Cecilia asked him. He nodded and started to explain his reasons.

"At that time, you were already out of action and you were trying to rest from that attack. I was scared and I was angry. You, the almighty Manipulator, the one and only, who nobody could kill, was now useless. I felt vulnerable. I felt like the city was going to die. I wanted our old city back. So when I heard him saying that the city would be like in the past I believed in him. So I followed him. He said that because he saw potential in me I would be a good ruler. One of his goals was to take down those who were ruling the city and replace them with his own men. Because I was working already with Dragon he assigned me to take him out. But I knew that it was almost impossible to do that on my own. He took most of Dragon's men with his own ways. The only thing left was Dragon and his close men. I became Dragon's right hand and he told me about the ring. That ring would be my strength and I needed it badly. Then he asked for someone to go and get it from the owner, Orihara, and I thought of you Manipulator. The best when it came to cases like that. I didn't like it as an idea but I was so desperate. And you accepted almost immediately. So you were send away. At least that way you would be safe, of course if you were to do your job right. But you didn't. I didn't expect you to act like that! You took a job and you didn't give it any kind of thought!"

Alex's sudden force of anger made Cecilia to take a step back as it startled her but after thinking about his words she felt bad about her actions and frowned. She realized that Alex had a valid point there. She never thought about it like that. With that way of thinking it was actually her fault.

"Time passed and you hadn't communicated. Don was in a hurry and he wanted Dragon dead as soon as possible. So I made Dragon to be in a hurry too and come and find you. Dragon asked Shou to come and take out you and Izaya. That… that caught me in surprise… Well, you and Shou had a past so I could trust him that he wouldn't hurt you… at least too much? Anyway… I wasn't assigned to take out any of you." he turned to Shou. "I never ordered the death of anyone!" he turned to Cecilia again, "I got really angry with you because you were digging your own grave. If you had found the ring earlier then you wouldn't know anything and everything would be working on clock. But you didn't. And because of that more people died than I had planned at the beginning… hah…" he went silent for a while and then rage took him over.

"It was all your fault MANIPULATOR! IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU EVERYTHING WOULD BE FINE NOW! YOU BETRAYED ME! No… YOU ARE THE CAUSE OF THE DEATH OF SO MANY PEOPLE!"

Saya just shook her head disappointed and Shou dropped his dramatically. Then he got up and walked to the kitchen to get a painkiller. His head was killing him and Alex's screams weren't helping at all. It seemed that him and Saya didn't took Alex's words for granted and neither paid too much attention at the last sentences as they thought that Alex just wanted to throw the blame to someone else. But the same thing didn't implied to Manipulator.

"Oi! Manipulator, want a painkiller? We drank too much last night. Also that dude won't shut up… damn my head is killing me… oi! Manipulator! I am talking to you!"

But the Manipulator didn't give any answer. She was not listening to him at all. She was in deep thought, and Alex's words started to make more sense.

"Oi!" he called her again.

No answer once again. She was battling with her self. What Alex just said was entirely true. She was entirely at fault and they attracted attention because of her and now who knows who else will come after them. She closed her eyes tightly and woke up from Saya's continuous callings.

"Cecilia! CECILIA!"

"Eh? Oh sorry… did you say something?" Cecilia looked at Saya and tears started to form in her eyes but she took them away quickly. She got up and went to Shou asking for a glass of water.

"You are feeling guilty right?" Alex snapped suddenly and started to laugh hysterically.

"Shut up!" Shou barked back at him and Alex zipped it immediately. Shou turned to Cecilia with a softer expression on his face.

"Don't listen to him."

"He is right though..." she whispered back at him and took the glass of water in her hands with an extra painkiller.

"Saya… what do you think we should do with Alex?" she asked Saya, looking for help in this situation she got them all in.

"I don't know… we can't let him go back-"

"Just let me go… they will come to kill me anyway if I don't go back soon..."

"I don't trust you..." Shou spatted angrily. "No! I know what we should do to him. Let's send him to Blue Squares. Cause of his boss they had lots of casualties… and I want to kill him too! He played my friend and I even took him to my family! He only knew where they were staying!" Shou shouted angrily and walked towards Alex grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

"I said that I am not the one who ordered for the killing! I didn't expect him to do that!" Alex shouted back at Shou, but instead, Shou threw a punch at his face, sending him at the other side of the living room.

"Ok that is enough for now." Saya warned them both.

"You are suspicious too, Saya was, right?" Shou asked.

"And why is that?" Saya asked back calmly.

"When Cecilia was called Manipulator you didn't react at all. You left the city before her so called death but I bet that you knew who the manipulator was… yet you didn't react at all when hearing about her. She doesn't like anything like she used to after all."

Saya took a step back and exhaled. She stared at Cecilia who was sitting on the dinner table waiting for her answer.

"That is because Cecilia told me that she was Manipulator. But that is not the moment to talk about that… I am not the enemy here… Right Alex?"

"Yes… she has nothing to do with all this." Alex confirmed Saya's sayings.

Then Cecilia spoke again. "Alex your motive was to kill Dragon right?"

"That is correct..."

"Does Don know about me or Shou?"

"I never mentioned you to him, neither my plan or the ring."

"Then go back and tell them that you killed Dragon and do the job you first started to do."

"WHAT?" Shou screamed at her. "Are you going to let him go just like that? I want revenge! I want to get revenge for my men!"

"What I told you about the attack at the warehouse was Dragon's plan. Not mine. But indeed I was the one who asked to burn your house down but I didn't expect you to be there!"

"Don't try to get away from your responsibilities!" Shou was ready to beat him up again.

"Cecilia… how do you know that I won't betray you?" Alex spoke to the girl ignoring Shou's threats.

Cecilia looked at him with an innocent smile, and he knew exactly what that smile meant.

"Oh, I know where your family lives… they left Yogsai-City years ago but..."

"But you found them… you bitch!"

"Let me remind you were the one who asked me to… and I still have connections with them… so~"

"I get it..." Alex groaned.

"Good boy" The girl mocked him.

"Bitch..."

"Thank you." she gave him an even bigger and eviler smile.

"WOW…." Shou was amazed and grinned. "Can I beat him up a little before he leaves?"

"Go on..."

And while Shou was fighting with Alex, Saya caught Cecilia at the corner.

"Cecilia… after all this chaos let me speak to you… privately… and you know that I lied… but I will explain to you everything later… for now make sure to finish this for your own good..."

"Ok..."

"Then I will take my leave… if you need anything please call me..."

"Will do."

Saya left skeptical letting Cecilia find a way with the two idiots fighting in her living room. Once Shou finished with Alex he left him on the floor bloody making Cecilia snap at him.

"How many times have I told you that I don't want blood on the floor, god damn it!?"

Those were the last words Saya heard from Cecilia as she found her way back to her hotel. On her way there she took her 'special' phone and dialed a number quickly. She waited for a few minutes when the receiver picked it up.

"Boss? We need to talk…"

"Do you have news?"

"Yes… Alex said that someone named Don is behind everything. He intends to take control of the city. Do you know him?"

"Don? I do know about him. He is no good news that is one for sure. So he was behind everything huh?"

"It seems so. So? What am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing. Don't attract other attention on you. Once I learn more about Don and his actions I will inform you."

"Ok Boss…"

"Ok. See ya."

"Yes… and Boss?"

"Yes?"

"Please be careful."

"I will."

And he hanged up. Saya stood in silence in the middle of her way to her hotel staring sadly at her phone.

"Be careful… you idiot..."

The news about the hotel who collapsed spread quickly and the whole city was talking about it the very same day. Especially at Ikebukuro. Police was out there looking for evidence and the causes but the building was dead flat on the ground and dust. No survivors, no bombs, no anything. Also the snow that started to fall once again, after so many days of absence, covered a big part of the remainings.

Cecilia, after the heated meet up she had that evening, called her agency and asked them for a special cleaning at the twin's house. The bodies were not there anymore, as the Blue Squares took them, prior that night, and to Cecilia's surprise her company didn't ask any question, but she did tell them a few lies just in case.

Alex was locked at the basement of the house and Shou left to find his family, but of course, after he gave to Cecilia the ring. Cecilia was left alone in the house for the time being, as night took over. She sat at the dinner table and kept thinking what she should prepare for dinner, so she would stop thinking about the rest. Then one of the twins, Mairu, came down.

"Um… Cecilia-nechan..." she said slowly but her tone was betraying her mental state. It was shaken. The siren looked at her and smiled warmly.

"Come… sit honey. Want something to eat or drink?" Cecilia asked her kindly but the girl refused and sat at the other side of the table and looked at the older girl in a serious matter.

"Is something the matter honey?"

"Yes… I want to know about those who attacked us… and you and Iza-nii. You know… me and my sister may don't have and the closest relationship with Iza-nii but he is our only family… our parents died years ago in an accident… and from then we were left all alone. So I want to know who were those who tried to hurt my family." Her cheeks were now reddish and someone could feel the tension into the room. Cecilia blinked but chuckled lightly.

"What is so funny?"

"Oh my love. You remind me of me a few years ago. You are so brave you know. You managed to save your self and your little sister from such dangerous enemies. You should be very proud of your self." she smiled at her widely. "And about those enemies… they won't come after you anymore. They are all gone."

The girl jumped from that statement. She let her head fall at front and tried to hold her tears.

"It's ok to cry. You feel relieved, right?"

"I just don't want to feel like I will lose my family again. I will take any kind of weight on my shoulders and next time I will make sure to kill the enemies… this time I did half the job..." she got up quickly and smiled at the older girl. "Thank you Cecilia-nechan!" she ran to her and jumped on her hugging her tightly. Cecilia hugged her back and let her go up again to her siblings.

"You did your job well done, honey. So don't be so discouraged..." she whispered as she took another sip of water and decided that she should cook something simple, like fries with fried chicken for dinner.

December 27

"It seems like your wound is closing nicely, Izaya-kun!" Shinra sang as he was getting new bandages from his bag. Izaya didn't say anything but just followed him with his eyes in silence.

"You know… Shinra..." he started. The doctor returned to his side with a small smile and started to fix him. "How would you described me?"

"Hm… manipulative, love humans to a completely another level, you don't care about the feelings of others, dangerous for the humanity. I believe that you may be a sociopath but again I may be wrong… you fail to get what other people feel or think. Or you just ignore them and you fail to feel for them…"

"I see…. So for someone like me it's more likely impossible to have feelings for someone else, right?"

Shinra jumped surprised but got immediately interested in his words.

"I don't know. It's always a possibility for someone like you to have feelings for someone. You may explain to me that feelings?"

Shinra had a feeling that Izaya was talking about Cecilia but he didn't want to force him so he let him speak and calculate everything himself.

"I don't know what to say. All those years I have always loved humans equally. I never had the slightest love interest. I never thought that anyone would actually love me back. I never cared. But those last days were weird. No. Those last days were the weirdest from the past ones. I started to get worried. Worried about my sisters and worried about Lia. You have no idea how relieved I was when I saw her alive and fine. I was also worried about her when she was badly hurt at my apartment too. I never thought about it, the reason that I took her home, the reason that I protected her like that. Until now I thought that it was because I owned her, but..." he paused.

"But?" Shinra asked ready to explode as he was so into this and Izaya was just silent.

"But… I don't know… you know that yesterday I woke up and Lia was next to me. She had drank as you said… but I didn't hate it. You know how much I dislike people touching me. But with her is different. I actually liked it. It was something that I haven't felt for years..." he gave a smile or uncomfortableness.

"The feeling of someone caring about you?" Shinra asked with a kind smile.

"Yes… Also being safe next to someone… It's weird. And exhausting..."

"Well I find it beautiful. You should embrace it instead of tossing it away. After all you gave her some affection too!" Shinra winked at him with a mischievous smile. Actually his smile was from ear to ear as he was actually rooting for them from the darkness.

"Embrace it, huh? I don't know. Of course I find it interesting! It's one of the lots of feelings a human being has."

"She is not a full blood human..." the doctor corrected him.

"But I am. So this is going to be something like an observation for me. Human with monster… it will be interesting."

"You do realize that me and Celty are just that."

"Yes but you were in love with her from the moment you saw her and you-"

Izaya stopped for a moment. He was frozen. That was right. Shinra fell for her from the first moment he saw her. He didn't… Right?

He came back eventually tossing that possibility away. "Well, it's not about you, it's about me. I am the one who was never interested in anything else but humans but I never intended to have anything to do with them… romantically at least."

"Um… that didn't sound so good… are you planning on playing with her?" Shinra felt like he had to see that coming. They were talking about Izaya after all. The master of manipulation when it came to feelings and especially to romantic ones.

"No… I am planning on going all out with her, open my heart to those feelings and see where it will get me."

"What… what if you fall for her? Do you know what will happen to you?"

"It's love… nothing scary… don't worry like that!" Izaya joked with him and let his hands flew in the air.

Shinra got up troubled by his friend. Izaya had told him before that he kissed the girl In her sleep in the past. They also shared lots of nights working on different jobs. They had many things in common and they were actually caring about each other even if they couldn't see it. Of course with the whole situation with Dragon, Cecilia's interest was because she wanted to find the ring. But even when she failed to find it she didn't go away from Izaya.

Now that he was thinking about it, Cecilia's side of things, he didn't knew it, so it was possible that after all this confusion she might even walk away. So having her walking away and Izaya after her for some kind of experiment was already fucked up. Both of them could actually get hurt from this.

"I advice you to stop that experiment of yours. How do you know that she will actually respond?" Shinra asked trying to put it logically to his friend's brain.

"I don't know. She may reacts she may not. And the fact that we had sex doesn't play any kind of role in all this, in case you ask."

"Wait… what? You had sex?"

"Yes."

"And? How was it." The perverted Shinra came to town.

"If I tell you that this was the root of my now experiment, how do you think that it was?"

"Oh… Wow…" That was a first. The all mighty Izaya actually has feelings for someone else. "Well… if you actually manage to make her fall for you and then threw her off like you are used to do… be ready for a huge storm towards you…"

Izaya just smiled at him ensuring him that he knew what he was doing so Shinra backed off. He decided that it wasn't his job to interfere anymore so he wished his friend good luck and took his leave for the front door this time. He walked down to the living room where Cecilia was sitting on the couch looking at the wall in front of her. She was at the same exact position she was when he entered the house.

"You… you have been looking at that wall the whole time?" he questioned her. When she listened to him she jolted up immediately. It seemed to Shinra that he took her from her thoughts quite brutally. He felt so bad for her.

"Oh you are right! I have to cook!" She rushed by him and started to look into the fridge for potential ingredients. Shinra followed her and gave her his report about the health of his patients.

"Alex is fine. His foot is in no danger anymore, so he will be able to walk perfectly again in a few weeks. Izaya woke up and that is a good sign. Also his wound doesn't seem to be infected so he will be able to heal soon too… um… are you listening?"

The girl was so into her cooking that she didn't listen a word. Shinra repeated his report and she just gave him a node. He gave up and left. Something that he realized was that in her mind the last thing that was, was love. Izaya would have so much trouble dealing with her. And at the end if he backs off, she would definitely kill him. With no mercy at all.

On his way out he fell on Shou who was coming back.

"Oh doctor. How are our patients."

"Oh, Shou-kun, right? They are doing fine. Cecilia-san is not from the other hand."

Shou just smirked.

"You say about her being too much into her cooking and ignoring the rest?"

"Yes. Did something happen?"

"Um… yes… you see yesterday Alex told her some awful things, and she took them too heavily. She is like that since dinner last night. She must be doing that to stop thinking about them."

"Them?"

"Alex told her that everything it was her fault. So I guess she feels guilty for everything that happened. I told her that it's not true. But as you saw, she didn't listen to me..." Shou looked at the sky disappointed. Shinra thanked him and left quickly. This was a matter that he couldn't put his hands on. It was not his business. Even though he would like to help.

Shou entered the house and noticed Cecilia cooking. He announced his arrival but she just waved at him. He shook his head and went directly to the basement where Alex was held. He had a few things to make sure before he leaves for Yogsai-City.

A few hours later he returned and sat at the table. Cecilia was still in the kitchen. She smiled at him and placed a dish with curry in it for him to eat. He thanked her and started to eat. Once done he promised that he would take food and to the rest of the residents of the house. Cecilia happier than ever prepared four more plates and gave them to Shou to take them to Alex and the twins, which he gave Izaya's too, as he didn't want to see him. Once done, he quickly went down, excused himself and left as he waved goodbye to Cecilia who was washing the dishes. His talk with Alex gave him enough info for him to think and calculate his later actions so he left as fast as he could so he could think and take some serious decisions. His brother would be a great help as he knew what was going on.

At the same time Cecilia had finished with the dishes but she noticed that she hadn't eaten yet. So she prepared a portion for herself and sat alone to eat. The food she made tasted bad in her mouth but she continued to eat it anyway. She knew that it wasn't the food the problem, but the taste in her mouth was changing everything she was eating lately. But she felt that she deserved it. That she had no right to complain so she continued to eat it forcing herself to accept it. She knew that she screwed up and tried to fix it but that wasn't enough. Her ignorance had as an outcome people to get hurt and people to die, like Shou's men. Something that she hated. She hated when innocent were losing their lives on matters they had nothing to do with in the first place.

"I should had just died back then… now everything would be better..." she said to herself and smiled bitterly. "How stupid can I be… really..." she continued until she finished her food. She pushed the plate away and looked around her. She was living away from that nightmare, she was living in a safe environment, she was doing a normal job to get money and she didn't have to go after criminals to make them pay for their crimes because police wasn't doing her job and she didn't have to run and hide from enemies. Her life was so much better now and she didn't want to change that.

"I am a horrible person. Other people are still there and here I am living a good life..."

She got up and took the dish to the sink. She looked out of the window and saw lot's of lights decorating the roofs, the balconies, the windows and the trees. It was Christmas after all… She just wanted to live again those memories she used to have from when she was a kid. But she guessed that she must have been a terrible person for all those things to happen one after the other.

"Hah… maybe I ask too much..." she said to herself.

Her eyes started to blur. She tried to handle herself as her legs started to tremble. Alex's words started to come to her head and haunt her. She wasn't able to sleep well last night cause of them. That awful feeling she had returned and overtook her easier than last time. She tried her very best to not let them bother her. She didn't want to worry anyone. She was old enough to gather her feelings and have them in order. That was what the Manipulator was doing.

"He is right… it's all my fault… I betrayed him… I betrayed his trust… I got them all involved… Izaya got hurt because of me… Shou lost his men because of me… it's my fault. It's my fault…" She kept repeating loudly so she could hear it or get it out of her system. She closed her eyes shut and dropped down to her knees.

"It's not my fault… I didn't know… I didn't know… I just wanted a better life… why… why I can't just have that?… AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" She let a cry of agony and fell completely on the ground crying and repeating her monologue.

Izaya heard her cry and immediately got up, regretting his decision shortly. His wound was still open and hurt like hell, but her scream was not normal so he did his best to go to her. He got up slowly and stepped slowly towards the door. He met his sisters at the edge of the stairs and asked their help to get down. His sisters tried to calm him down, but he had decided that he had to start his plan. Do whatever he felt like doing. What he wanted to do was to find her right now, so he would just do that.

"Mairu… help me go down..." he asked his sister and she helped him get down slowly but painfully. He could feel his wound complaining and burning him but he didn't care. He wanted to go to her for some odd reason that he couldn't understand but he didn't give a damn. Once downstairs he scanned with agony the place until he spotted the siren on the floor behind the diner table. He moved slowly towards her and then dropped to his knees as well to face her. He could hear her sobbing and murmuring something but he couldn't make out what she was saying.

"Lia… it's ok..."

"No… it's my fault… but… but..." she told him and she held his hand. Her grip was strong but he didn't move it away. He held hers as well and looked at her red, from the tears, eyes. The blue of her eyes was washing out along with the tears.

"Lia. You are not at fault. It's ok… you did well..." he said softly to her as he cupped her cheek with his free hand.

"No… that is not true… you are hurt because of me..."

"No I am not..."

"Stop lying to me…. Because of me all these happened. If I had done my job… now everyone would be back to their homes, living a normal life..." she continued to cry letting her pain out for someone to hear it. She was feeling her heart being teared apart from her own actions. She became greedy. "I became greedy… I didn't deserve this kind of life…"

"Stop. You were not greedy. You wanted to be free and have a normal life. You said it yourself. If you didn't want that kind of life then you would have never left your city in the first place." Izaya felt the obligation to set her straight and stop her from hurting her self more. He hated seeing her like that and his heart was aching. It was a first but he said that he would go for it. He couldn't back down now.

To his surprise the girl in his arms stopped and stared at him.

"You believe that?" her eyes were seeking for an answer. An honest answer and Izaya could see that. Under other circumstances he would give a suitable answer just to make the person in question be depended on him and earn his trust, but now he couldn't bring himself to do something like that, at least not with an ill intention.

"I do. You did a great job. You protected my sisters, you came to fight Dragon and owned your mistakes. You fought and that shows that you are a fighter who won't just give up. And you also saved me..."

She flinched. "I did?"

"Yes..." He stared directly in her eyes with the most kind expression she had even seen and that made her relax and calm down a little. He believed in her and that made her feel warm. A peaceful smile appeared on her face making Izaya feel a skirt and his breath taken away.

"Thank you..." she whispered and she passed out falling towards Izaya. Izaya held her but his wound started to bleed.

"Iza-nii… you are bleeding..." Kururi said worried.

"Call Shinra..." Izaya smiled at her while stroking Cecilia's hair as she was sleeping peacefully in his embrace. Something he wouldn't exchange for anything in the world at the moment.

What he hadn't noticed was that all this time behind Mairu was standing Alex. When he heard Cecilia's scream he ran, hobbled as he was injured and he arrived rather late to the door of the basement but it was locked. He started to bang the door in hope that someone would hear and open it. His luck appeared as Kururi heard him and unlocked the door. The key was on the coffee table next to the door. So he watched everything. He watched what his words did to his old and only friend that ever supported him. His talk with Shou put him into thoughts and Cecilia's reaction to the whole story gave him more food for thought.

He didn't dare to approach the two on the floor but stood away and made himself invisible.

But the twins had other plans. They dragged him all the way to the girl on the floor and they made him carry her all the way to her room. Izaya stood still on the floor trying to control his bleeding while waiting for Shinra, who appeared in ten minutes later with Celty on his side.

Alex, still unable to walk normally, with the help of the girls managed to get the girl on her bedroom. He placed Cecilia carefully on her bed, turned around and walked towards the door. He stood there and looked back at her.

"Damn me… I am sorry Μanipulator… I knew that you wanted to get away from the city… it was only natural for you to act like that… I would do the same… I also never talked to you… I didn't trust you enough, yet you trusted me… I am sorry… I am an awful friend..." he said and walked again back to his basement to atone for his words.

By the time he closed the door behind him and went down the stairs to his prison, Shinra with Celty's help took Izaya back to his room, where Cecilia was laying.

"Maybe we should take you-"

"No… I will stay here… I will be fine… It seems like she needs someone..." Izaya said as he glued his eyes on her. Celty put him slowly next to the siren and they left after making sure that both of them were ok. Shinra promised to come again. At some point he thought that he should just stay there too.

Izaya didn't sleep immediately but stood up to watch the siren who was sleeping next to him and didn't seem to be enjoying her sleep. At some point she woke up and jolted up confused. Izaya tried to calm her down quickly before she starts crying again.

"Lia… Relax. You are safe now. You are fine. Come here." Izaya would call her until she finally listened to him and placed her head carefully on his chest. He placed his arm around her and tried to calm her down by answering to any of her questions after telling him what Alex told her. Her questions were similar to the ones at the kitchen.

"I feel so bad… I mean Alex was right! If I was to take that ring and give it back then everything would be ok! Right?"

"No. Because that ring belongs to my family. If you were to take it from me, then I would come after you. And I don't want that, and you don't want that either!" he said with fake anger as he poked her nose making her close her eyes as a reaction.

"Eh? Me? Why?"

"Because… I would be make your life miserable!"

"More than it already is?"

Izaya chuckled and kissed her forehead making her blush.

"Lia-chan~ You know that me and you are good together! And I plan on our good cooperation for the future! So don't make me go against you!" he smiled at her dangerously only to make her burst out laughing.

"Izy~ You are really funny!"

Izaya decided to ignore it just for that day because she wasn't thinking straight. Then all of a sudden, she grabbed his face and she brought his lips on hers, making them kiss. But she didn't only stop there, she deepened the kiss causing him to gasp for air soon enough.

"Thank you~ Izy~" she said and fell back to sleep leaving Izaya alone to calm his heartbeat. He tried to get some sleep as well as she seemed more peaceful in her sleep, with a small smile on her face, but the feeling of the kiss hadn't left his lips. He automatically brushed it off with his thumb but he regretted doing it immediately. He found it weird as they had kissed before, they even had sex before, but this kiss had an impact on him. In the past never a kiss moved him. Everything was just fake.

"This is interesting..." he smiled as he still thought that this was going according to his plan and that the next day he could tease her with that kiss. "I wonder what kind of expression she is going to give me!" he giggled and carefully calculate his next move.

That was the new chapter everyone! The next one may contain some new year flaffyness as the first round of enemies is coming to an end!

See ya next chapter everyone! ^_^

Please review your opinions! ^_^