A/N: Hi, hi! Thank you guys for following the story! I hope you keep reading it and enjoy it!
WARNING: drowning mention
_Shizuo was filled with abundant surprise - as he should have been. Before the applauding and admiration began, Izaya stuck his hand up.
"Don't misunderstand my sentiments. My grandmother would play videos for me when I was a kid. Videos that I keep stored right at the tip of my memory for comfort, in all this. I want the world to be at peace simply because the videos she showed me displays that peace cannot be achieved through Sanus and Infirmos."
The brunette furrowed his eyebrows.
"What do you mean? All the good people are on Sanus - the most peaceful place in the world. All the bad pe-"
"Are you saying you are a bad person, Shizu?"
Shizuo's eyes widened. If it were true, that all good people were on Sanus and all the bad on Infirmos, would that mean the world saw him as a bad person? If someone from the other side saw a picture of him with his residency labeled on his forehead, would they see 'EVIL' instead of wondering if it's just his born location? Was he a bad person? Did the thing inside of him mean he was a monster? Was he a monster?
Izaya clicked his tongue impatiently.
"This videos showed my grandmother traveling. It was a documentary about her world trip. Anyway, the world was a lot different. Multiple countries, people being free to be. Sure, there was still bad people, but the humans lived as they wished. They did what they wanted, for the most part, and that is what I consider peace. Humankind living as they should - without having to conform to a certain behavior to be allowed to live freely."
Shizuo noted the passion in Izaya's eyes for the first time since they had met, admiring his fervor for a world the brunette couldn't even fathom.
"I- I want to be apart of that," he mumbled, causing Izaya to narrow his eyes and smile. "I don't like violence, y'know? I really hate it. But I want the world to be like that. Where I can live, and no one is trying to kill me just for existing."
"You don't like violence? You seem to be a fan of, what was it? Knocking teeth in."
"I just don't like you, Izaya."
The tinier man scoffed, looking away from the younger boy. He wondered - if maybe - he could somehow make that happen. He wanted to paint the world like he had seen it in the videos. The ones he had been replaying in his head since he was forced into the arena.
"Well, then, why don't you come with me?"
Shizuo's eyes widened, standing up quickly.
"I can't just lea-"
"Staying here will only cause more damage, Shizu. You should know that. You were the reason why a few people died earlier, neh? The officers were looking," he jabbed Shizuo in the chest with his pointer finger and smiled widely, "you."
The brunette opened his mouth to protest, but he immediately sat back down, absorbing the reality. He was the only left in the village. The only offspring of the Originals. The officers would keep coming.
"You can stay and keep fighting all you want. Keep being the reason why people die. Keep being the reason why your village stares at you coldly behind a smile that is fake. I, on the other hand, will be off eliminating the threat to people like them."
Shizuo let the information gather in his head, trying to outweigh the reasons why he shouldn't over the reasons that he should. But the reality was simple: He had thought about leaving before, but he had been afraid to die. Now, he had the strongest Original with him to keep him alive. So why was he fighting the solution to the village's problems?
Simply put: he didn't like Izaya. It wasn't that he wanted him dead, but his nature - something about how he handled situations with a kill-or-be-killed attitude - irked him. Sure, if he went with him, he could know him better. He also did save his life.
"What are the benefits?" That was the only thing he could think of to stall time. Izaya thought it was pretty idiotic as well.
"You don't die. You don't watch these people die. You get to help out take down the people who keep causing you pain. Take out the people your brother killed himself over."
Shizuo winced, realizing telling Izaya anything personal would only lead to him using it as a weapon. It hurt, but, then again...
The people of the village had protected Shizuo from horrors like reality. They always took good care of him, and he was never made to feel left out. But Izaya was right, and Shizuo had been made aware of their true thoughts long ago. He heard the whispers. He saw the way they looked at him when they thought his eyes were closed. He heard the things they said when they thought he was asleep.
"Nothing like his brother. I feel more at danger with him here."
"He's got an explosive temper AND leads the officers here? Why does the elder treat him like he's our ultimate savior?"
He closed his eyes and breathed in.
"When do we go?"
"Right now." Izaya didn't miss a beat. He knew Shizuo was easily manipulatable. The reality was easy to break down: if he took this guy with him, he'd be able to have a guard dog who believed his life was at the infamous 2's feet.
And Shizuo knew that his life, truly was, at the hands of Izaya.
_After a minute, Izaya realized that Shizuo was still young and needed rest. He, also, needed to sleep. He was exhausted from his encounter with it and knew he'd be a lot more irritable if he didn't sleep some of the day off.
So, he told Shizuo to go to his home and pack up what could be carried in a single pouch - conveniently, Shizuo had found a backpack on the ground years ago.
They met when everyone was asleep, and, well-rested and determined, set off.
The sand underneath their feet made soft crunches and slid around as they walked in silence. Shizuo, although, had thoughts loud in mind and plenty of questions he needed answered. The farther from his village the two were, the more anxiety and doubt filled his head.
Somewhere down the line, Izaya had suggested that they make camp as it was too late to just walk until they ran into another community. This, Shizuo realized, was the perfect time to have a real conversation.
Izaya began cooking meat he stole - along with a bit he had been given - from Shizuo's village, much to the brunette's chagrin. But, he kept his mouth shut, as he knew that sticking with Izaya meant they'd be stealing for survival and doing much worse things in the long run.
"You've had that same stupid look on your face since we left, Shizu. What are you thinking?"
Shizuo looked up at Izaya, who had not even glanced to see Shizuo's reaction. His eyes stayed on the meat, watching the edges turn brown over the fire they had spent a little too long creating.
"I have questions. About a lot of stuff, but I don't know how to ask."
Izaya sighed, lifting the ready meat up out of the fire and setting it on his laid out jacket before leaning back on his palms. He made a point to cross his ankles and roll his head. With a quick groan and hand flick, Izaya muttered something short of "Hurry up and ask."
Shizuo nodded, eyes fixated on the fire to somehow guide him through his thought process.
"How were rankings determined? I mean, I get if you're the strongest and all. But, you're 2, right? How did that happen?"
The raven clicked his tongue and looked off, trying to find an accurate way of explaining.
"This is going to be long, Shizu, so get comforta-"
Shizuo flipped over and laid on his stomach, resting his chin on the back of his hands, nodding for Izaya to continue. The older man laughed.
"Alright. So, like I said, I was dumped on this part of the world when I was eight. Back then, they didn't know what to do with us. For the most part, we sat back and thought about home. Talked about how scared we were. Tried to find people we knew. Which, by the way, turned out to be one of the dumbest things we could've done."
Izaya thought back to the faces of familiar students from his school and pursed his lips.
"Then, one day, it was decided that we'd be ranked. No one knew exactly what this meant besides for the officers, but I guess that wouldn't have made them the smartest guys in the room, eh? Anyway, I don't remember exactly what all happened, but I'll never forget... They came into my bunk, handcuffed me, and lead me down this hall. I remember them saying something like -"
"I feel bad that some kid is going to die, but he has about as much chance as the elderly do. Cap'n Malone said something about pitting the weak against the weak for now."
"- having to sort us by appeared strength. They led me to this big room, took the handcuffs off, and some tall lady came in. She told me I'd have to fight the person in the arena."
"Child, you are to go into that arena, and you will be fighting for your life. The other person WILL be trying to kill you. You fight to the death or to unconsciousness. We will stop the fight when we determine the winner. Do you understand?"
"I didn't really get it. I was eight, so how was I supposed to know what fighting someone to the death meant? Not only that, but I had only used my power once. And on accident. It didn't really matter, though, because the cage opened, and I was forced into the lot. That's when I realized why it was such a stupid idea to get close to people you already knew in there. My opponent was a classmate's older brother. He looked about as scared as I did. We heard a bell go off, and he rushed towards me, crying and screaming he was so sorry."
Shizuo adjusted his position and laid on his side instead, trying to picture the scenario in his head.
He imagined a young version of himself having to fight against some person he knew - or at least - a friend's relative. Realizing Izaya was still here, he then imagined having to kill that person.
"I ended up slicing his throat on accident. I didn't even know how to get," he tapped his arm, "those things out me. My body just wanted to protect me. The kid had lifted me into the air with his thoughts, y'know? How do you compete with that? But I did. And when he came to crush my ribs, I had kicked up and sliced his throat 'cause one of those blades decided to pop out of my foot."
Shizuo nodded, realizing that had been the case for most of the Originals - not having control of their bodies but having to quickly learn how to work it to survive.
"I ended up somehow ranking in the top 100, and I had this nickname. 'Chrome' or something. The other infected guys were betting on who would win with whatever they could - extra food portions, drinks, more comfortable sleeping spots, protection from guys who killed people in their sleep to slide up the ranks. Anyway, when you got to the top 100, that's when most of the people were using both of their abilities. In the lower ranks, one ability was usually too taxing on a body to even think about using the second. But making it to the top 100 meant you were able to control yourself pretty well."
"You..have two abilities?"
"Eh? All Originals do. We have plenty of things I'm guessing you guys don't. Strength, durability, agility, speed, regeneration."
"I have strength."
"You and I are probably at different levels. I have strength by default. Your strength is probably enhanced. If I punched you, it'd probably hurt. If you punched me, you could probably break my bones."
"Anyway, you have two abilities?"
Izaya nodded, placing a finger on his lips and winking as a sign to let him finish.
"The fight that put me in the top 10, and eventually, as rank 2, was against a friend of mine. Number 6. At the time, he was number 12, and I was number 15. We kept fighting, and we kept getting close to killing each o-"
"I thought you were friends."
"You don't get to spare someone's life because you are friends in the arena. It was okay to make friends as long as you knew that you would probably end up trying to kill each other."
Shizuo's body shook. He couldn't imagine that. He couldn't imagine having to live in a place for years and continuously having to kill people who suffered as you did.
"He was also from Japanese descent. His name is Shinra-"
"Is?"
"I told you, he IS a friend of mine. He IS number 6. He IS alive."
"I thought you had to fight to the death?"
"Do you think I went undefeated? I'd be number 1 if that were the case. Hell, anyone who reached the top 10 would be considered number 1. We fought to the death if it came to that, but, most of the time, the officers would tell us to stop and have a determined winner."
The brunette tried to make sense out of the whole ordeal, but the concept seemed too foreign to understand if he had never been apart of it.
"He had the ability to manipulate the voice in our head - the berzerks. Make them more riled up. He also had the ability to hit pin points in our bodies that would make it harder to regenerate. He broke my leg during the fight. It was broken for a whole day. Insane, really. Anyway, I won the fight. And, I ended up going on a winning streak and hitting rank 2."
The younger boy sat up, furrowing his eyebrows.
"What is your other power, Izaya?"
The raven smiled, cocking his head to the side.
"I can manipulate perception."
"What?"
Izaya laughed and looked to his side, smiling at Shizuo. The brunette looked over as well.
In place of the empty field that had once been there, there was a lake. Shizuo's mouth fell open as he got up and walked towards it.
"Careful, Shizuo. It will feel very real. Even if there is no water there, you can drown."
The brunette scoffed, mistaking the warning as a taunt or an insult to his intelligence. He stepped in the water and felt no ground as he slipped underneath the surface.
Izaya sighed and pushed himself up, walking towards the brunette. He was on the ground, his arms flying in all directions as he kept gaping for air. He grabbed the boy's hand and pulled him up, watching as the taller boy breathed in heavily.
"I told you, didn't I?"
Shizuo looked back down, realizing he was, once again, on the field. He stared at Izaya with horror, trying to gather his thoughts.
Izaya truly was powerful.
But this realization made Shizuo's blood run cold as he froze.
"Shi-"
"If you're rank 2... what is rank 1 like...?"
_AGH. I'M A LIAR. I said I'd write two a day, but I have so much work I've blown off for the past few days, and it's all due today. Oops. I will be writing one maybe later on today, if I have time, but, if not, I'll make it up with three tomorrow (probably.)
I tried to make this one really long, though! I can't see the word count considering I like to write the story in the copy-n-paste part, but it took awhile for me to finish the chapter.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Like before, don't be afraid to give me some ideas, some criticism to improve the story, or just some kind of review. (I'm always a slut for reviews. ;))
SUMMARY:
Shizuo and Izaya discuss what world peace is in the eyes of the Original. Izaya convinces Shizuo to come with him to achieve this, and 2 relives his days at the arena. He tells Shizuo about his friend Shinra - rank 6 with the ability to manipulate the berzerks and slow down regeneration. Izaya shows Shizuo his second ability: the power to manipulate perception. Shizuo realizes just how powerful Izaya is, but this just leaves him wondering: what could the top ranking Original really be like?
