Drawn lines

A loud wail split the air, error signs popping up over the screen, the printer went haywire and the poor sod behind the desk paled as his world crashed around him.

"T-this can't be happening."

Clearing the error from screen, a video played. A bank robbery gone wrong. The gun had gone off, the bullet splitting skull. The manager a young woman at 25 staggered in her heels falling back with a scream lodged in her throat. The screaming continued. More shots were fired and the screams grew.

"I'm sorry." Voiced another screen. A woman sat on the bed, almost past her prime body clock ticking. Her husband sat next to her taking the stick. Not pregnant. The woman wept distraught.

"What? No no no." Paperwork flew in panic.

Another scream took spotlight. Another woman lay in a hospital bed belly swollen and covered in sweat. Her screams were long and pained. The nurses looked at one another.

"Why isn't my baby coming out?" She screamed.

Stumbling from his desk, the bearer of bad news ran from his station and out into the busy office where chaos was quickly spreading. He didn't stop crashing into a busy board meeting. All heads turned towards him.

"It's a matter of life and death."

Izaya looked around taking a seat in the single seat available. He would've liked a computer chair but a bean bag would do. Splashing down he studied the figure behind the desk. Nervous, almost bald and were those horns?

"Izaya Orihara, we don't have much time so I apologise if this is all a shock to you. You must have many questions but I ask you remain silent."

Izaya forced a smile drawing a finger across his lips. For now he'd observe, starting with how he'd got here. He'd gone to bed.

"You may or may not have noticed the chaos happening on earth."

So he wasn't on earth? Interesting.

"I'll make this simple. Life and death eloped."

Izaya blinked. That made it sound as if life and death were actually people.

"As it currently stands, humans can't die and they can't be born either. At least not until we find a replacement. We've chosen you."

Izaya grinned. "You want me to give life to my humans?"

The strange non human behind the desk shook his head. "No. We've decided you'd be a better fit for death."

Izaya's smile slipped. "You want me to kill my humans? Sure some of them deserve it but...I love my humans. I can't kill them."

"You don't have a choice. Congratulations you're the temporary death. You can still die but if you do you'll become death permanently. On the plus side you'll have the immortality you always craved. There isn't anyone to baby you through this so, this is your phone. The next death will pop up. Anything you touch will die, so once you reach the target just poke them. I think that's everything."

Izaya stood up. "What? That's it? You can't expect me to-

"Goodbye."

Izaya shot out of bed and groaned. In his hand was the phone he was sure he'd just dreamed about. Killing his humans? What a joke.

Shizuo swallowed nervously walking slowly into the room. There was someone sitting behind the desk, a young woman with flowing long hair and something of a glow about her.

"Please sit down, Shizuo Heiwajima."

With a gruff nod he took his place in the arm chair, both soft and rigid at the same time but sturdy enough that he didn't break it.

"Thank you for coming. I'm sorry we don't have more time but earth is in chaos. Life and death have eloped, they were in charge of well life and death. Now that they're gone humans are stuck. They can't die and they can't be born. We've decided that you will be the new life. We understand that is a heavy responsibility and we'll give you all the help you need. For now it will be temporary but if you die, you'll have the position for eternity, you'll be immortal."

Shizuo frowned looking around the room. He couldn't see any cameras. "The flea put you up to this, didn't he?" He grumbled.

"Shizuo Heiwajima, this is real. This will tell you the next life granted." Shizuo stared at the phone on the desk. "This is your new reality. You'll see things that you've never seen before." The woman sighed. "It looks like you need some time. Please, The earth is counting on you."

The door opened and in walked a blocky man, shoulders as wide as he was tall, dressed in grey and charcoal. In his hands he held drinks. "Brought you a drink boss." His gruff voice spoke. Shizuo watched as the man put the drink down and handed one to him. "This one is for you. Always wanted to meet you."

Shizuo frowned taking the drink. "...meet me?"

The big guy shrugged. "Sure. That time we stopped that flea. It bruised a little bit we were so close to squashing him flat. Maybe next time."

Shizuo's confusion grew.

"Maybe You should take him outside." The woman suggested. "He doesn't know anything."

"Oh. Seriously? That's harsh. Well you can count on me. I'll introduce you to the steel crew."

"Steel crew?"

"Yeah, your other allies." The man grinned. "On earth, I'm a vending machine."

Shizuo felt the world spin out from underneath him.

Izaya paced his apartment staring at the phone. He'd tried to turn it off to no avail. Now it was flashing up with alerts, and the noise each one made...

The moment he grabbed the phone, Izaya found himself standing in a bank. It was as if the scene was in a cruel loop. The screams tore at his ears. Somehow me knew exactly who needed to die.

Walking through the carnage, Izaya crouched down and touched the woman riddled with bullets, her face barely recognisable. The moment his hand touched her, the screams silenced and the notification vanished.

Taking a deep breath Izaya walked out of the bank. "So I'm death?" He asked no one in particular. No one answered him but the next notification was already flashing.

"So your job is to give new life." The vending machine man had told him his model number but he'd already forgotten it. "All you've got to do is touch."

Shizuo looked at his hand. He was trembling. The violence...he was a destroyer. "On earth we can't talk to you. But in here we can." A tall thin man said softly. Apparently he was a lamp post. Shizuo couldn't bring himself to look at the tall man bent over in a wheel chair. He'd done that.

"So when you go back, as long as you're holding the phone you'll be taken to where you need to go. Just a single touch and your power will work." The vending machine put a heavy hand on his shoulder. "We've done all we can. There's a woman who's been in labour for a week now. You'd better see her first."

Shizuo woke up with the phone in hand. As soon as he stepped out of bed, he was ripped from his apartment and Shizuo standing next to a hospital bed in his boxers. The woman's screams were hoarse.

Shizuo's fingers trembled as he lightly poked her belly. His fingertip glowed, the bright warmth seeping into the woman.

"What the-?" The nurses pressed a button. "The baby is coming."

Shizuo quickly hurried from the hospital room. No one saw him, did that mean he was invisible? Already though he could feel his body being swept from one place to another, his touch not harming but bringing a gift.

Izaya hated bullies, hated how they singled out one human and made them suffer. It only ever escalated. He'd stood on rooftops before, getting his humans to jump, but they'd always been saved by Celty. This time there was no one to save the human. If he'd been brought here, he was to give the final push.

The teenage boy was covered in bruises with a broken arm, Izaya was surprised he'd managed to get over the fence in the first place, but desperation gave the strangest strength.

No one else could hear the notification droning in his ear, no one understood the pressure he was under. Already a dark misty smoke formed at his fingertips. Izaya sighed walking the edge of the roof up to the boy. Reaching out he let his fingertips graze the boy's cast.

The boy stopped trembling, resolve in his eyes. Slowly his body ripped forward plummeting from the school roof. Izaya was already gone to the next human he had to kill.

Shizuo didn't sleep, didn't need to anymore. The notifications didn't stop and he'd gotten used to being transported without warning, sometimes with food in his mouth, with his underwear down or completely naked. He'd gotten over the embarrassment, diving into his new found power. For once he wasn't afraid to touch.

Shizuo had taken a walk though the park and the flowers had blossomed at his feet. The starving kitten he'd found near dead in a cardboard box had been brought back from the brink. He'd stopped someone from committing suicide with a single touch.

No longer did he hurt people, he saved them. Shizuo felt his body blurred and wasted no time in touching the feverish woman at his feet. Next was a man who'd been shot in the chest. It felt good flitting from place to place across the world.

Shizuo lifted his phone seeing the next notification. A smile touched his lips as he went to meet the new happy parents.

Izaya slumped at his desk shrouded in gloom, tears staining his cheeks. He was a murderer. The number had gone past the thousands a long time ago. It was real and he was the cause of his humans' misery. He'd betrayed his humans.

Next to him the phone continued to prompt him about due deaths. Why couldn't he be the new life? Why death? Glancing at his phone, a small whimper escaped. He was to cause a misscarriage. The children were the worst, their sickly bodies hooked up to machines struggling to take their next breath.

Then there was the old humans who had forgotten who they were and had basically regressed into a baby. Izaya had seen it all, the tragedy of new love, the end of a generation and the cruelty of the most evil of his humans.

The phone beeped continuously. Izaya swiped it up finding himself next to a happy looking woman snuggled up against her husband at a picnic. Izaya swallowed making his way over to them in slow staggered steps. These days he looked the part. Crouching down he murmured an apology before touching her belly.

Like that everything changed. The picnic cloth went from white to spotted red and the panicked screams began. Izaya was glad when the phone tore him to his next victim.

Shizuo felt refreshed despite not getting any sleep, life seemed to rejuvenate him. At least until he looked at his phone. Not his work one but his personal one. There were some from Tom, Shinra, Celty and voicemails from Kasuka.

With his new role he'd forgotten them. There wasn't time for him to speak with his friends and family, he already had a full time job. But he wanted to see them. His work phone beeped, Shizuo was already picking it up. He had a job to do.

The good thing about being death personified was that he was basically invisible. That meant Izaya didn't have to deal with an irate Shiki bursting into his apartment for information he didn't have and wouldn't get.

Killing humans was a full time job. Izaya sat back listening to Shiki curse and demand to know where he was. His apartment had already been ransacked and he hadn't been bothered to clean up.

Shiki wasn't his only visitor. Namie had turned up every now and then probably to demand her pay check. Clients he'd never get to deal with popped in. His emails went unanswered.

His latest visitor was Shinra with Dotachin in tow. They looked concerned. Izaya followed behind them invisible. "Izaya isn't here either. No one has seen him in days."

Either? Izaya moved closer.

"Celty is frantic. Do you think they killed each other?"

"I don't know but they vanished at the same time. Maybe it's time we called the police."

After they'd finished their little discussion and poked around the apartment for clues, the duo left.

Izaya clenched his fist, a spark of anger filling his heart. Shizuo had gone missing at the same time as he had. "You fuckers made him life, didn't you?"

End