Chapter 61: Plasma

Shit-

Shit, shit, shit-

Looking at how his left arm started to shake, Izaya couldn't tear his eyes from the small blotch of red. This was bad, wasn't it? What was going to happen?

The uncertainty of what was to come unsettled him worse than any visible zombie's attack ever could. If he had really infected himself with this worm, if it was headed to his brain- unconsciously his fingers trailed to his temples.

Was it already there?

Was it going to control him just as the nightly zombies were?

What was he going to do? Kill Shizuo? When? How?

It was then that the door to the library opened and Izaya's head snapped towards it.

A blotch of brown hair and a bespectacled face emerged from its space and glanced down the corridor.

Shinra.

Looking left, then right he quickly spotted the raven on the ground. Shinra had always been a person that was very easy to read. Just like right now.

His face had spelled curiosity, confusion, and now that he had spotted Izaya sitting on the ground with his back to the wall and probably anything but a relaxed expression it turned into a dark frown of worry.

Swift as a bee landing in its hive he closed the door shut with himself remaining in the corridor as he moved over.

A smile that was meant to be assuring was quickly summoned to his face as he crouched, but it really did nothing to hide the worry he really felt.

"Shizuo is trying to get up against all advice. Could you join us again before he hurts himself?" The words were quick, the information contained used wisely. Shinra had obviously realized Izaya was on the verge of panic as he quickly tried to steer the topic to Shizuo.

Of course he had no way of knowing what it was that was sending goosebumps up and down Izaya's skin faster than a motorcycle on a race, but he didn't need to in order to try and help.

Eyes flickering up to meet the doctor's worried glance, Izaya took a stuttering breath.

There he was, the Mr. Google, he needed.

"Shinra, I used the nightly creature`s blood to create that antidote." A moment of pause followed in which Shinra connected the ends of their previous conversation. Of how Izaya created an antidote. Of how he used a nightly creature's blood. The new information present and the transformation of those very creatures.

An array of expressions displayed on his face, ranging from thoughtfulness, to surprise, worry then confusion.

Deep in thoughts and hardware running at high speed it was almost as if Izaya could see those gears of his turning as he was analyzing the various pieces of information given. It was only after a terrifying set of a full minute that his lips finally moved beneath a set of fingers tapping his chin.

"You aren't full of mind controlling worms if that's what bothers you," he announced- just like that.

And despite not knowing just how on earth Shinra had come to the conclusion Izaya felt a massive surge of relief lift the weight off his shoulders.

Shinra was smart. Had always been. If he said something with certainty, then there was no doubting that.

And right now he looked as confident as someone telling a child the moon was still in the sky even during the day. It might not be understood at first, but it was simply a fact, and that kind of confidence was exactly what Izaya needed.

Taking a deep shuddering breath Izaya closed his eyes as he let his fingers run through his hair as his throat unclenched.

"Explain." He didn't need any sort of further conviction. He already believed what Shinra had said, but considering he was trying to get rid of this damned virus plaguing their environment he wanted the information nonetheless.

Adjusting his glasses Shinra was only too glad to divulge in a topic no one could even come close in terms of knowledge.

"They only used dead tapeworms. But what they also used were a few specimens of the cordyceps fungus," he started and Izaya's face cringed at that.

"Great so I'm filled with mind controlling spores instead?" It was obviously a joke. Considering Shinra had only just assured him he wasn't going to be taken over by some kind of worm he heavily doubted he would tell him he was going to be filled with mind controlling shrooms next.

And sure enough the doctor grinned.

"Are you aware how vaccines work?"

"Of course I am. What do you take me for? You either administer a very small dose of a living virus so the immune system learns to fight it, or you administer the finished fighters to combat the infection should it ever occur." Izaya was aware it wasn't quite the best description in biological terms, but it served an easy purpose and base. And Shinra obviously wasn't looking for anything complicated.

"Simplified and not quite correct but I guess I can work with it. So what was it that you described that happened to the zombie blood?" Dull and quite dusty, the memory of that day returned.

Izaya had come back from watching Shizuo getting bitten. It was the day he realized they all had an expiration date imprinted on their heads. And then he had seen it.

His experiments. The table toppled over from the previous night and the liquid on top of it.

"... it became clear of the virus. Or Tapeworm, or whatever it was that happened to be in its blood," he mumbled curtly and Shinra's face lit up.

"Exactly. In other words you successfully killed whatever it was that resided in that nightly creature's body. Let's say the normal zombies are steered by the flatworm and the nightly ones by a fungus. Whatever infected the normal zombies seems to be inferior to the fungus. Yet you managed to clear the blood of the fungus- are you following?"

Following?

Hell Izaya was glad he was even keeping up with Shinra. In his joy he had started to speed up his explanation by ten times. But yeah. Izaya did follow.

The stronger fungus killed the virus. And he killed the fungus- so basically-

Looking at his arm Izaya felt the oddest sensation of warmth as he reached his conclusion. "... you are trying to say I created antibodies that combat both?" Again a smile displayed on Shinra's face. "Exactly."

No way.

Izaya had a hard time believing such a convenient thing as his forehead folded into a frown of doubt. "And those are in my blood?"

"If I am right."

If.

A soft sigh left Izaya's lips.

Okay. Shinra might have a point, but it was just a theory. Izaya might as well just have killed everything and injected himself with a liquid that was void of any living being. Be it antibodies, the virus, the flatworm, whatever. Shinra's theory was only that, a theory.

Letting his head thud against the wall he closed his eyes for a moment of peace. "Well that would be too good to be true." Antibodies that defeated both.

The possibilities would be endless if that were true.

Apart from the fact that no zombie bite could ever infect him it was also a gateway to various options of trying to do the same to others.

Shizuo.

He could make him invincible if he found a way to transfer this immunity.

If it was actually present that is.

"Seeing as you are alive and have been acting the same as you always do for an extended period of time I would say the chances are high," Shinra shrugged with oozing optimism.

Izaya hummed, "Hypothetically speaking, does that mean transferring my blood to others could act as a vaccine?"

Ah. That question seemed to actually douse the doctor's mood almost instantly. Like a cloud suddenly having moved in front of the sun, the gleaming expression suddenly unnaturally dimmed.

"Sadly it doesn't work that way. The antibodies you might have would just be broken down by the new host's body as their immune system would treat them as waste instead of reproducing them." The words were awfully analytic and cold. Almost as if Izaya had just asked an artificial intelligence for intel and it was providing such with its robotic voice.

Izaya couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but something about the question seemed to have downed Shinra's mood for good.

Probably because of the lack of solutions to their apocalypse.

"... can`t we separate them?" Izaya tried, and Shinra sighed.

"What you are referring to is convalescent plasma therapy. And yes, that might work. But getting plasma from your blood would need an apheresis machine, which I`m afraid is currently not at my disposal."

Izaya's face lit up at that- that actually didn't sound half bad.

"Can't you improvise one?"

"You have no idea what that is, right?" Shinra snorted half heartedly, "That device is about as tall as you are. The technology and various parameters needed to get whole blood and separate its liquid to get plasma is too complicated to improvise on the spot."

Okay that increased the difficulty by a bit. Considering most hospitals had probably been skimmed for anything useful and been left open for any nightly creatures to ravage inside, finding one would prove to be quite the hindrance.

"Okay getting our hands on one is probably going to be a challenge. But what about research labs? Nothing useful in terms of direct survival should be there so they should have been left untouched for the most part."

A tired smile spread across Shinra's face. The glasses he always wore were tugged off as he pressed the bridge of his nose.

The air seemed heavy and the mood even worse as he spoke quietly.

"... Celty disappeared after saying she would ride to a nearby laboratory to check for one."

The immediate heat of having touched upon a sensitive topic rushed to Izaya's chest as he watched Shinra's expression slip into undying sadness.

He was trying to keep his smile and optimism in place, but watching him say what weighed on his heart more than anything in the world ever could was hard.

But it made sense.

As a dullahan she had probably been immune to the bites. She had been Izaya right now in a way.

And Shinra being smart as he was and her veins containing blood just as any human it was a logical conclusion to come to.

Despite not having had the chance to realize earlier Izaya somehow felt the need to apologize.

"Sorry, I didn't know," the words sounded so awfully static. He knew nothing he said right now was going to help the doctor. Celty was the love of his life. After all the efforts he had taken to finally be together with her it seemed far too cruel of this world to separate them like this.

If at least she had died and given Shinra a body to bury and a grave to mourn, but like this? The most likely outcome was that she had been plucked apart like a fresh bouquet of roses on Valentine's day.

A quick sigh was given and Shinra placed his glasses back where they belonged with a smile. "Just make sure you don't end up like me."

Interrupted only by the soft creak of the library's door, the context needed for Shinra's answer appeared as if on cue.

Shizuo.

Face worried and expression strained from moving despite having been ordered to stay still he glanced down the corridor.

"Izaya?"

"AH, I told you to stay down!" Shinra instantly scolded, feigning false offense as he moved over, hands at hips and expression stern.

Just like a child having been distracted by a butterfly flying by Shizuo couldn't have been less bothered by the outburst as his eyes glanced towards Izaya only.

"Are you okay?" It was as if the curtain from the final stage of a play had been lifted to make room for the masses of sunlight traversing the window hidden at the back of the stage.

Yeah.

Shinra had most probably lost what he loved most in this world.

But Izaya didn't. After everything that had happened the two of them still remained and it made his throat choke a little with relief. "Better than you are."

This guy really. Feeling a smile creep up onto his lips Izaya felt how all remains of worries disappeared.

Shizuo hadn't even done anything apart from waking up, yet he was already convincing him that everything was going to be alright as long as they were facing it together.

The door to the library closed and Shizuo moved over, slowly and a bit staggering but firm in his steps anyway. What he lacked in stability he just made up with his strength as his hands pushed against the wall for proper balance. It was funny, Shizuo had been at the brink of death and yet Izaya couldn't find himself worrying about him anymore as he approached with crushing confidence.

"You looked pale as a wall when you left," Shizuo announced softly, his voice lowered as if to make sure no one inside the library who might be eavesdropping heard him.

Shinra did though, and quickly moved a few steps away as he figured this was not the time to join the conversation.

A weak smile reached Izaya's face as he avoided Shizuo's glance for just a second. "...was just losing my cool a bit."

"About what?"

Ah.

Guilt that Izaya thought had long been buried and forgotten resurfaced from the back of his mind. "... remember how I injected myself?" he asked, and even without Shizuo telling him, he could tell he did by the way his entire body stiffened in seconds, along with his eyes narrowing at the unpleasant memory.

Of course he did. "I ended up at the wrong conclusion of it having been dangerous, but Shinra says I'm probably fine."

"Probably?"

Ah.

Wrong word.

Shizuo seemed anything but relieved by his assurance. Which was funny, considering he was the one with a damaged lung and much more prone to die any day.

"You better focus on getting better yourself before you think about me," Izaya scolded halfheartedly, and Shizuo shrugged, just as expected.

"I'm fine."

"We both know you aren't. Who are you trying to fool?"

A rebellious grunt followed, and suddenly Shizuo reached forward. Body instantly alert, Izaya reached out for Shizuo, thinking he might just be losing his balance- only to find himself trapped in a hug.

Silence followed as Shizuo merely sighed softly, "Have been wanting to do this ever since I woke up."

"Now have you?"

Shizuo had been worried. More than he was letting on. Not so much about Izaya's physical well-being but rather his mental state.

He had already been suffering from his fear of the fast zombies prior to the attack that almost killed Shizuo. So it was only fair to conclude that this fear had to have gotten worse by now.

Bitterness layered the back of his tongue as Shizuo remembered the last time Izaya deemed their surrounding situation as hopeless, and the actions he took in favor of them.

"You faced one of the nightly creatures," he announced softly, and waited for Izaya's body to stiffen.

"Guess I did."

It didn't.

Instead a much welcomed and dearly missed sense of returned confidence was all he found as he leaned away to glance at Izaya. His expression spoke nothing but assurance and unexpected calmth.

"... what happened while I was out?" Izaya bit his lips as he glanced towards the ceiling.

How should he put this without worrying Shizuo? "Not much, really. I rode a motorcycle to Shinra's camp and fetched him. Then we took base here and-" fading out he left the rest up to Shizuo's imagination.

He didn't really need to emphasize just how close both Karisawa and him had gotten to being killed.

But Shizuo knew anyway without him giving the details. "They almost got you didn't they?"

"I am still here, Shizu-chan."

It was fascinating just how comforting those words sounded. They acted like an eraser. Because at the end of the day wasn't their living presence all that mattered? The past was gone, the dangers passed.

The only thing that mattered was here and now.

"Yeah. You are." Leaning forward Shizuo's hand reached for Izaya's cheek, brushed along his ear and neck, before he brought the raven closer for a soft kiss.

Eyes trailed up to Shizuo's eyes, then back to his lips, before Izaya smiled to return to gesture, and Shinra awkwardly looked any way but their direction.

to be continued~

Now wasn't that kinda cute? xDDD Shizuo is finally here again and ready to give Izaya mental support- but hey! Izaya finally got his shit together and doesn't need it haha

We are in for power couple moves now C:

On a side note, sorry for updating so slowly on this story C': I started working at a private school with hella lots of kids in September, and ever since then I keep getting sick left and right cuz those motherfuckers pick their noses all day and eat shit whenever they see it xDDDD

God I hate kids xDD but the job is good, and the hours amazing xD I will just stay here until my books finally kick off and sell enough to live xDD

By the way! It's finally time, I have an actual release date for my Fantasy trilogy!

28th of January 2024 ! xD Everything is read and revised like 1000 times xD And now I feel confident enough to call it finished hahahah xD Book 2 will take way less work than this holy shit xD

I will give you a heads up in every single story once it's up and out hahahah xD

Anyway with that being said, see you next Saturday when I keep my 100% updating winstreak xD