Chapter 47: Beautiful face
"What?" Adrenaline and quick actions had forced Izaya's body to move without wasting even a second to think. So right now, facing a blond that was way too calm for the setting they resided in served like a handbrake to Izaya's mind.
"The hole, it's closed, right?" Shizuo repeated as the former captain of the survey corps snorted.
Recognition caught up with his words' meaning and he quickly nodded.
"It is- goddamnit you idiot. What did you think? Why didn't you just get somewhere safe?" he scolded immediately and Shizuo's chest rose.
It was not the right moment, not the time or location to talk about the matters that sat aside the war against the titans, but Shizuo couldn't help but feel his chest clench at the display of care.
Izaya cared.
Cared so much about him, and yet-
"Izaya-" Shizuo started, wanted to talk about their last conversation, about the decision Izaya had taken, but he didn't get to do so as the rest of the survey corps landed close to the decaying titan body.
"You fucking hypocrite." Kida was the first to arrive. A glare accompanied his hissed words and Shizuo felt light confusion.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked and his guts plummeted. Had he acted too slow? Did he accidentally kill someone by stepping on them?
The pure malice reflected in Kida's expression told him so, and so the words he spoke next came as an even bigger surprise.
"Thanks to you, yes," he mumbled, but the glare still sat in place.
"We should get out of here for now, contain your ego trip for late," Izaya suddenly interrupted and pulled at Shizuo's arm as he removed himself from his titan's neck.
"The hell I am," the soldier spat with venomous words, "Why?" he asked, and suddenly Shizuo realized the stares. The way everyone was looking at him. Not only Kida, but the rest of the survey corps. "Why the hell is he allowed to walk around and Anri is not?" he yelled, and Shizuo felt his guts churn.
Right.
He was a monster.
He didn't know why nor how this situation came to be, but he was. To say he had remembered everyone's faces inside the survey corps would have been an overstatement, but he did recognize more than he likes.
Kadota, Karisawa and Yumichi caught his attention as they looked at him with a certain amount of respect.
"Kida-" Mikado, the guy that loved interrupting Izaya at the worst times, spoke up in an attempt to calm his friend, but failed miserably.
They were all glad the fight was over. The titans were gone. And yet the aspect of how this had come to be was one too tremendous to ignore.
Moving in front of him Izaya was quick to react and Shizuo realized what he was about to do.
Palm extended he pulled Izaya back by his shoulder.
This was his problem. Not another he was going to dump on the flea.
"No one knows," Shizuo slowly spoke up and the frown on Kida's face only deepened.
"And you, since when do you know?" Shizuo was blatantly ignored as Kida adressed Izaya anyway. "Why didn't you keep them from locking Anri up if you knew about it? Are there more of you?!"
Anger threatened to take over Shizuo's words as he clicked his tongue. No matter his appearance, no matter his actions, yes he had transformed into a titan, but hadn't he done so to save Izaya?
His actions had saved probably the entirety of wall Rose including the survey corps and their goddamn families, and now this was what he received as gratitude?
Blame?!
Stepping forward he was about to yell some sense into that stupid guy, but Izaya beat him to it.
"Shut your trap, he didn't even know he could turn into a titan at the time Anri got captured," Izaya barked, and for a second the entirety of the surrey corps, including Shizuo went silent.
Izaya wasn't really the type to yell, nor to curse- hearing both of those in one sentence set everyone straight without intending to.
"... he didn't know?" Kadota was the first to gather his guts and speak.
Even Karisawa seemed slightly unsettled, yet not opposed to what had just happened.
If anything it was curiosity that seemed to sparkle in her eyes as she looked back and forth between Shizuo and the fixed wall.
But the question was blatantly ignored as Izaya saw no use to answer the obvious and instead he turned to face Kida once more.
"Listen up. This might actually be a chance for Anri. And humanity too." More confusion added to the already perplexed mix as Kida frowned.
"Huh?"
Of course, Izaya had not expected Kida to understand what he was getting at without stating the obvious, but Mikado seemed to be quicker on the uptake.
"You want to use Shizuo to gain intel, right?" he voiced slowly, and an appreciative nod was hinted towards the guy.
"Shizuo is on our side. We can learn how to defeat the titans. He himself can fight them. And Anri, if she even ever was a true enemy, might get a chance to join us and be set free once more. With these two we could actually win."
Win.
The entire troop flinched at that word.
After years of hopelessness, after decades of fighting against the titans there had never been a second worth considering their victory.
Yet Izaya was suddenly standing there, talking exactly about what everyone had secretly dismissed as a wishful dream.
It lit their eyes with fire and their chest with hope.
Only Kida was met with hesitation as he resisted the urge to be swayed by Izaya's sweet words.
"Can you really get her back?" he asked softly and his voice gave away the care and hope he already held.
"I will." Izaya confirmed and his words didn't waver in the slightest. "I can give you my word that I will try my utmost to get her out of the cell if she is truly as innocent as you say." A soft pause followed as Izaya's lips opened to speak before stopping shortly.
"But there is a condition for that." His eyes searched for his comrades. The entirety of the survey corps present consisted of the few members that had actually survived the past missions. That had seen the terror of titans- and most importantly, they had learned to listen to their captain.
Be it Izaya or Shizuo.
They were reliable in a way, and for once Izaya was willing to extend some trust towards his troop.
"Silence," he announced and the members of the survey corps straightened their stances. "You have seen nothing of what happened today."
Everyone was aware of the dangers that blabbing could bring.
Not only for Shizuo and Izaya, but for the entire troop.
If one of them slipped up the entirety of the survey corps was going to be interrogated and locked up for possible conspiracy.
This was no joking matter.
This situation was a bomb. And without being handled with the utmost care it could go off and wipe them all off the face of earth.
"How are you going to explain the closed up wall?" Kadota pointed towards the newest achievement of their corps and Izaya glanced towards the largest evidence of what had just taken place.
"Rumble fell down from inside causing it to close up and stop more titans from flowing in," he quickly whipped up a perfect lie on the spot. "Even if they suspect anything else they won't be able to deduct what actually happened," he concluded and the explanation seemed to satisfy the rest of the group.
"Is there a reason you want to keep this from the uppers?" Eyes narrowed for a second as Kadota seemed too smart for his own good.
Izaya was willing to extend some trust. But he wasn't willing to drag others into his war with Shiki.
"... not everyone inside these walls is fighting for actual victory," he simply smiled, and the expression he showed was heavy with genuine emotion. No explanation was needed as it caused the survey corps to fall silent.
Rough determination and quick nods were given as the troop's gazes aligned.
"Deal," Kida announced, as if he had just been elected the class president of the group and nodded, "We are the survey corps. If not us then who will fight anyway?" Kadota nodded as well and Izaya smiled.
This- went smoother than expected.
And not a minute too late.
The dust around them cleared. Destruction of all kinds revealed itself around them and suddenly they were there.
Reinforcements.
Izaya contained his urge to laugh at what Shiki had spared to fight an actual breach in the wall. Not to mention the lateness.
How long had it been since the wall broke?
Half an hour? Longer?
Considering everyone was ready to take out the minute something happened, receiving help twenty minutes later came close to a joke.
"Slow bitches." Kida cursed and Izaya quickly threw a side glance towards the guy.
"You know what to do," he whispered quietly.
"Aye, aye, captain." Karisawa was suddenly next to them, flashing her quirkiest smile as she moved to meet the reinforcements.
Izaya couldn't help but smile at the words.
Of all the years that he had been in charge of the survey corps and wished he were not this was the only time he was actually proud to be the one to lead them.
This was his troop.
The familiar face of Shinra followed all the back at the end of the reinforcements as he had apparently dragged the entirety of his laboratory staff with him.
Boxes, bandaid and various utensils were carried as the doctor frantically searched for the only person he really cared about inside this mess.
And when his gaze met Izaya's face it summoned his usual smile with the speed of lightning.
"Izaya-" light worry grazed with relief reflected in Shinra's eyes as he found who he was looking for- but as quick as Izaya had been to defuse the situation with Shizuo, Shinra was smart enough to not show his intensive care. "Bring everyone injured into the barracks!" He announced loudly, like it was expected from the head doctor and instead of checking on Izaya himself only a glance was thrown.
And Izaya shook his head with a smile.
The message was simple. He was fine.
And Shinra's eyes overflowed with relief.
"What are you waiting for? There are casualties all around! Search for survivors!" he announced without batting an eyelid and the reinforcements did as told as soon as they realized there were no titan's left to be taken care of.
And suddenly Izaya just felt all the tension fade from his body.
Maybe it was the fact that no one seemed to have noticed what had happened on the battlefield except the survey corps.
Maybe it was because he saw Shinra's smile- he didn't know, but for a moment he was just filled with so much relief it made his body sway.
Softly, with almost no pressure at all he found his body tilt a bit and bump into Shizuo.
"Izaya-" the blond was quick to show worry and Izaya quickly regained his posture.
"Sorry, I'm fine, just a little overwhelmed," he announced, but Shizuo frowned nonetheless and Izaya smiled, "In a good way for once."
The danger was over. The titans killed. The hole closed.
And now with the entire survey corps backing them Izaya felt something close to power settling in the midst of his palm.
Looking at Shinra's employees rushing around like busy bees he couldn't help but feel the need to act himself.
And this time the topic didn't regard their endless war.
"... would you join me for a stroll?" The question was directed at Shizuo.
With everyone moving around, busy and occupied no one noticed them as they slipped away.
Houses were passed, the main street left and the faint sound of orders being yelled reduced to a dimmed vibration of air.
Rubbish and destruction was reserved only for the main streets as they served the most space. The alleys on the other hand hadn't been touched at all.
All houses were empty.
Their inhabitants had fled towards the next wall.
They would thank god once they received news that it was safe to return.
All doors were left open and with curiosity Izaya slipped inside a small cottage.
The sun was starting to shove some of its rays down onto the town and one of them grazed a window on the side.
There was a small kitchen. A table, a staircase leading to the second floor.
And suddenly Izaya laughed.
Confusion met his reaction as Shizuo frowned.
"What?"
"Nothing," Izaya wheezed, "I think I'm just happy." And for the first time Shizuo actually believed those words. Not a shred of fear or frustration was to be spotted in his expression and Shizuo found himself mimicking a smile.
Izaya looked free.
Finally.
Like the flower in the morning that had danced in the wind. His eyes were full of life- and a bit of blood.
Shizuo had looked at Izaya the entire time, but somehow he only noticed at that moment that the blotch of red on Izaya's cheek was actually a small cut and not just a sprinkle of someone else's blood.
"You got hurt-" mindlessly he reached out and tentatively brushed the skin beneath the cut.
Blood was wiped aside and Izaya blinked shortly, before offering a snort.
"It will heal no worries," he announced with a hint of amusement. But Shizuo seemed far too upset over an injury this small.
"Still, now you have a scratch on your beautiful face."
Blinking shortly, Izaya found himself speechless for just a second.
Ah-
Those words.
"I think you used the wrong adjective just now-" he argued with a smile, and tried to sound evasive. But he was no fool. He was aware of Shizuo's expression of what he had on his mind. And the tension that refused to fade.
And Shizuo frowned, just as feared as he rejected the excuse.
"I don't think so actually."
to be continued~
Jesus, I need to stop getting too much into details xDDDD Oh well, guess now it's 6 chapters left to go xDDD