Chapter 70: Love

Unnatural silence took over the garden. Like the kind felt upon rushing towards one's own death on the road by facing a car in the wrong lane.

Time seemed to slow, and this time it was not due to Izaya's ability.

What happened? Izaya couldn't quite comprehend the situation.

The priest- there had been blood- he had been shot- but if he was shot where did the sound go? Where was the shooter?

And as if fate were graciously willing to reveal the details Izaya sought, light suddenly flooded the garden.

Cold, white and blue cast shadows of darkness on the ground and Izaya turned his head towards the walls to see the culprits of these actions.

The police.

Guarded, shielded, holding enough artillery to end them all.

Leo, kneeling next to the priest faster than anyone else was the first to react to the disaster unfolding in front of them.

Izaya had known Leo was an incubi. Of course, they all were. He was also aware that some of them developed powers, like Roy, like Shizuo, like Maria- and the child seemed to be no exception as flames of no source sprouted from his palms like freshly budding flowers.

The color of orange and blue mixed into the gray of ashes and smoke as half the garden submerged in flames and time suddenly seemed to speed up again.

Warning sirens, shouted orders from the police, the sound of guns being shot- everything filled the air at once.

The children playing in the garden screamed- they rose to their feet but the bullets piercing their backs were faster.

One child after the other went down-

Blood splattered-

Izaya barely managed to locate his sisters in time of Shizuo's arrival as he shoved the twins to the ground.

Namie had disappeared, only by an occasional glance did Izaya notice her hand underneath the table.

Again shots fell and before Izaya was even able to warn the kid, Leo had run up to the middle of the garden. More flames sprouted from his palms as soon as the police came in sight, but he didn't realize that the vision he had on them worked both ways. "LEO-!" Maria had been the one to scream his name, but the bullet came faster as it pierced his leg.

A scream resounded through the air, but the fire succeeded in one single task- creating smoke.

And the second Leo dropped to the ground he also faded out of vision.

More guns unlocked and Roy turned his head as he tried to locate the police. Reaching for the willow tree he heaved himself up faster than Izaya could react to his presence.

The police spotted him immediately on sight as he achieved the same Leo had by entering their field of vision.

But his ability served a much more dangerous trait.

Bullets were shot, or in the midst of being released and Roy's eyes glinted as he used his power to return them with rageful ease.

Exploding on sight the police screamed as the guns they held met the force of their own power.

Within seconds the random shots aimed at the smoke and fire stopped and screams filled the air instead.

Shizuo's head turned and for a second his heart just stood still.

Izaya-

Izaya, where-

Too recent was the memory of Shizuo hearing that broadcast on the news, telling him a certain incubus had been shot. Too recent had Vincent's assault been to forget the horror inflicted upon the threat he posed to Izaya's life.

Eyes searching in the smoke and burning flames Shizuo rushed to his feet and dashed into the darkness.

The flames were everywhere due to Leo using his ability and he both cursed and praised the fact that he had used them.

Why was this happening?

Why was the police here?

Why with an all out assault?

He didn't understand- and neither did Izaya.

Blood and tears tainted the happy ground of what should have been an extraordinarily nice evening and Izaya's head snapped around in search of danger.

Smoke was covering him all around.

He was looking for an escape, but the door leading back inside the monastery was constantly being fired at.

Just moving into the direction of the only exit was going to get oneself killed.

The option of stopping time and escaping with Shizuo was one of many that came to mind- but his sisters wouldn't be able to follow. Roy wouldn't be able to follow. Maria-

Dashing away from the statue Izaya headed to the last place he had seen his siblings in.

The stage.

The makeshift stage they had created.

His feet accelerated and breath came in spades. It was only natural that he stumbled halfway and he cursed the corpse of the priest on the ground that had served the hindrance.

"We need to leave!" he heard Maria scream before he saw her. The smoke lingered, but moved just at that moment. She was still there. Still fine. Two kids, not having met the end of their life yet, were kept up by her arms as she helped them move.

But just as the smoke lifted to grant Izaya vision, so it did for the officers on the walls.

Roy saw it, before anyone else.

A police officer.

A gun.

Aiming right for her head.

"MARIA!"

She turned, awfully quick, really, and Izaya stopped time, because he didn't need to see what Roy had to know that someone was aiming at her from a distance. And his body moved.

Moved towards Maria.

Intended to shove her out of the way. Out of immediate danger at least.

But ten seconds were ten seconds.

Raising from the ground, jumping over the priest's corpse, gaining speed and running over were just a few too many actions to exceed that time.

And so Maria turned- and the shot connected.

Not to her head, but to her chest as she had changed the bullet's trajectory by just a little and pain grazed her eyes. Not fast enough but quick nonetheless Izaya caught the woman midfall as her body grew limp and he dragged her to the side- into the safety of smoke.

More shots fell- aimed right where she stood and Izaya's body heaved, hoping that the police was not going to luckily end up shooting into their direction.

Sinking off his hold Izaya looked at Maria as her breath staggered.

"Hey-" he called, and Maria flinched. She wasn't dead. But her breath sounded fucking awful.

Blood.

So fast.

So much of it at once.

Izaya knew an artery shot when he saw one and his guts churned. And suddenly it was there.

The opening of smoke and a straight line of sight and light.

Izaya barely had the chance to look above to see the officer on the wall.

He jumped.

A gun laid in his arms. Loaded, and ready to fill both of them with lead from head to toe.

And Shizuo saw as well.

Pushing the twins around like empty sacks of vegetables he had tried to move them out of harm's way- had looked around- searching for Izaya-

And the gush of wind lifting the smoke served exactly that.

A picture of Izaya, holding Maria's body and a police officer heading to finish them off.

"IZAYA-!"

Izaya wasn't the type to freeze, and yet at that moment he had and Shizuo's voice was the one thing reclaiming his attention.

Time stopped again.

More on instinct than anything else, really.

Shizuo was too far away.

Izaya would be too slow.

Ten seconds were way too little to shove Maria off his body and get himself away. And so his eyes met Shizuo's.

Shizuo, who was not stopped within his ability.

Shizuo, who was running like a madman, but short of speed.

And Izaya raised his arms in an instinctive attempt to shield his head the second this guy started shooting him.

And Shizuo understood.

Understood the concept of time.

The lack of time.

And suddenly something else mixed with the fear he felt of losing Izaya.

Rage.

Rage of the same kind he felt when killing Vincent.

But tenfold.

All consuming hot and dark it wallowed up from the depths of his chest. He didn't think. All of a sudden it was as though his mind had been cleared of anything else that was not this all consuming anger.

And time moved.

Izaya readied himself for the unavoidable impact of the officer's feet upon the ground. For the clacking sound of the gun being handled. The shots being fired at Maria and himself.

Instead the gurgling sound of a man choking on his own blood reached his ears and his arms lifted to gaze at Shizuo.

Seething, unnaturally fast he just appeared, out of nowhere.

Blood tainted the ground as Shizuo had pierced the bastard's guts with his bare hands.

An aura of danger radiated off Shizuo, but before Izaya could even get a single word out, the officer was tossed aside with enough force to blast a hole into the garden's walls and Izaya's words got stuck in his throat.

His eyes were wide, his questions infinite, but faster than he was able to analyze the situation, Shizuo moved.

Up the wall.

But he didn't run, he didn't climb.

The smoke dissipated slowly and suddenly Shizuo was just there.

Blinked.

As if he had leapt through time.

Officers screamed, shots were fired, but no bullet could even do as much as harm Shizuo on his killing spree as he tore them apart on sight.

Blood grazed the monastery's walls like confetti.

The shots stopped. The screams faded.

And suddenly Namie was at Izaya's side, tearing his eyes away from Shizuo.

"How is she?" she asked hectic and Izaya couldn't help but admire her guts from removing herself from her hiding spot underneath the table.

She was talking about Maria and as if having forgotten entirely about the woman, Izaya's body suddenly regained its motion.

He looked at her, wanting to give a response, but Roy was faster to speak as he rushed towards the three.

"Maria!" he yelled, and before Izaya knew it he had scooped the woman into his own arms.

"Hey, Maria!"

A scolding was the first on Izaya's mind, because moving Maria was probably the worst they could do at the moment, but those words never made it to light either as he noticed the amount of blood collecting on the ground.

It was useless.

Watching out for her body, that is.

Face scrunching in pain of emotional nature Roy cursed multiple times under his breath as he lifted his palm above the woman.

"Why isn't it working?!" he yelled and Izaya realized that he was trying to reverse Maria's time. Or rather the time of her body, to a time she hadn't been shot yet.

But nothing happened for what reason whatsoever and Roy cursed.

And suddenly it was just very quiet.

Small flames crackled in the distance.

The shots had stopped.

The yelling too.

This place was wasted.

Corpses of the children decorated the grass like freshly budded flowers and grunts of pain followed the sobs that suddenly left Roy's lips.

"I`m sorry-" Maria suddenly whispered, so terribly quiet in the silence of the setting night. Her eyes barely kept open as she smiled. "You were right after all, this place was a stupid idea."

"It wasn't. You gave your best," Roy choked between heavy breaths.

"Did I?" Maria whispered and the smallest smile managed to tug her lips upwards.

"Of course! You were the heart of this place, you were the one that made it a home for everyone around!" Roy affirmed with every ounce of conviction he felt. "That's why you absolutely can't leave, you hear me?"

And suddenly they were there. Tears. In Maria's eyes.

"Roy, I love you." She whispered, and Izaya realized she knew about her fate. Perplexion forced Roy's sobbing face into one of stupor for a second, as the words she had held failed to connect with their respective meaning. "I finally said it," Maria sighed, but her brows furrowed as it was painfully hard to speak, "I didn't know how you would react, I didn't want you to avoid me, I-" a cough forced her to stop as she winced.

Blood stained her lips the color of red and Roy's expression slipped to one of horror.

"Don't speak, just rest, just-"

"I'm glad they didn't hurt you," Maria whispered, with her most gentle smile.

"Maria-" Roy sobbed, "Don't leave- I love you too, you hear me? Maria-"

The smile stayed in place.

But her lips didn't move.

"... Maria?" Roy choked, but the light had already vanished from her eyes.

Tearing his eyes away from the scene, Izaya looked towards the walls.

A sound had caught his attention and his body immediately set into full blown alert.

It was when black hair too familiar to not recognize entered his field of vision that his own heart skipped a beat.

Shizuo.

He was done.

The officers were all dead.

Slow steps moved his body into Izaya's direction, and the raven jumped to his feet.

Shizuo was heaving. One eye black, blacker than anything Izaya had ever seen, the other carrying a glint of gold, his expression showed too many emotions to hold for a single person alone.

Remorse, regret, disgust, love, relief, sadness-

"Izaya-" Shizuo called his name, so out of it and lost it only spurred Izaya's legs to even faster movement.

"Shizuo-" Shizuo was pulled down before he knew what was happening and his head tucked under Izaya's chin.

"It's okay-" Izaya spoke, so terribly gentle and sweet it caused Shizuo's throat to close up.

He killed so many.

So easily.

Izaya should be afraid, but no fear made it to his consciousness.

Only relief.

Relief, that Shizuo had not been shot.

Hadn't been killed like Maria.

Circling Izaya's body, Shizuo swallowed hard.

He could see Roy from here.

Sitting there, with Maria in his lap. His eyes held the devastation of an empty shell.

He had yet to move, yet to react.

It was then that slow movement from the side drew Namie's attention.

"No-" it was Leo who whispered the words of denial, "No, Maria-"

Izaya's siblings were holding onto Leo left and right. The kid had been shot in his leg and was unable to walk alone.

Picking himself from Shizuo, Izaya turned to look at the scene of sadness unfolding behind them.

It was when Leo sank to his knees and looked at Roy that he noticed a crucial detail none of them had seen.

"Roy, you were shot-"

Right.

He was.

When heading for the wall to use his ability he must have missed to return one of the bullets.

It was no serious wound. Just his upper arm, but the bullet had gotten stuck and Izaya realized why it had been that Roy hadn't been able to use his ability.

Quick, much quicker than intended Izaya rushed over to Roy's arm.

"Sorry, this will hurt-" he announced with the care of a veteran nurse and pulled the bullet out of the fleshed wound.

A painful grunt followed, but no complaints as Roy understood what Izaya had.

This bullet.

The police used some of Vincent's.

It was just a hunch, just an idea, as Izaya knew close to nothing about their incubi nature and their abilities. But putting his ability into an external object implied that it was going to work even after his death.

And so Roy moved- moved his palm above Maria and the energy he usually felt when using his ability surged.

Slowly but surely the blood on Maria's lips disappeared. The bullet wound closed and she reverted to her state before she was shot.

She looked fine.

She looked healthy.

But-

Staring at the lifeless body in his arms Roy waited, but Izaya accepted reality much quicker than he did.

She was dead.

No matter how much he healed her body. Roy wouldn't be able to bring back the dead.

"Wake up, will you? Maria-" he whispered, his head pressed against her forehead.

Izaya wanted nothing less than to disturb Roy in his pain, but he heard them.

Noises from outside.

The police officers stationed on the walls were not the only ones present.

There were more.

After having seen Shizuo degutt most of them without effort they were scared, but that didn't mean they weren't closing in.

"We have to leave," Izaya whispered. Startled faces and horrified glances met Izaya's face as Leo's tear stained face recognized their situation. "He is right, Roy-" he quickly agreed and the hold Mairu and Kururui had on Leo's arms tightened slightly.

Namie's body was tense beyond belief as well as she moved over to the siblings. Was it some kind of instinct to protect them? Or was she getting out of harm's way?

Izaya couldn't tell.

All he knew was that they had survived and he would be damned if after this full on assault he didn't manage to keep them safe.

But where would they go?

Thoughts running haywire, Izaya tried to think of a solution to this mess.

There was a hole in the wall- one the police hadn't expected to appear.

Seeing as every other exit was most probably already spiked with guards and guns it was most logical to escape though the newest route.

But how?

Using his time stopping ability Izaya and Shizuo would be able to leave without being seen. But Namie? Roy? Mairu, Kururi and Leo?

Moving them all in these short time spans of just ten seconds would take ages.

And despite being fully charged, Izaya had no idea of the limitations of his ability's repetitive usage.

Silence grazed the tension and suddenly Roy whispered.

"Hey, you."

He was addressing Shizuo.

Having followed Izaya Shizuo had appeared right next to him, crouching in front of Maria. He hadn't known the woman for long, but he had learned to like her as well and her death wasn't something that left him without any impact.

"You said you wanted to kill the curse," Roy whispered, his eyes full of tears and madness meeting Shizuo's with a question.

And Shizuo nodded with a confidence he couldn't explain.

"I will."

And Roy snorted. As if having heard a joke. But he wasn't mad.

He smiled.

Confidently. And at ease. And suddenly Izaya realized how Roy's wrist was starting to fade.

He was starting to disappear-

Why-?

Did he use his ability too often in previous times? Was the assault at fault? Vincent's bullet?

Many ideas grazed Izaya's mind, but none of them fit as Roy suddenly lifted his face and his eyes glowed.

Bright, turquoise, in a color Izaya hadn't seen him display before he smiled as if nothing had happened at all and his lips moved.

No.

They warped.

Rubbing his eyes Izaya tried to make sense of what he was seeing, but even on second glance Roy was dispersing in an even worsened fashion.

And not only Roy.

Maria.

The ground.

The walls.

Reaching for his sisters and Shizuo in a moment of intuition Izaya held onto them as their surroundings churned and Roy's voice filled every sense they perceived.

"I count on you guys."

And suddenly it was there.

Fire.

Fire everywhere.

Smoke lingered in the air, smoke of a kind no single fireplace was going to expulse.

Screams traversed the distance, screams of low guttural voices. The statue standing at the end of the garden had suddenly regained a color of pure white and a pair of wings previously having missed sat at the back of her shoulders.

The garden too.

Two of the three walls were missing and Izaya suddenly found himself looking at the church.

A church that had suddenly experienced a glow up in under a second and lost half of the monastery. Vegetation had yet to crawl along its walls and a golden bell rang at the very top of it.

Roy was gone, Maria was gone, same for the corpses, the blood and the demise as Izaya looked at Shizuo. Shizuo, Namie, Leo, Kururi and Mairu. Sitting on the ground equally astonished and confused they didn't understand what they were seeing.

And Izaya turned.

A forest sat at their backs.

A forest where the road to the church had been in and the voices coming from the trees grew louder.

"Get the buckets!" a man of massive stature yelled and ran towards the flames licking up the side of the church. "Good lord, how could this happen?!" what appeared to be a nun gasped nearby, holding a cross tightly in both her hands and another joined her with quick and anxious breaths. "Priest Marcius, get the children!"

She yelled and it was as though someone had backhanded Izaya across the face with the knowledge of what had just happened as he heard the name.

Priest Marcius.

The one who sold his soul and started the curse of incubi. The fire Roy told them about, wrecking half the church.

Izaya remembered the date and a chill ran down his spine as he recalled Roy's ability to revert the time of an object.

The time of an object. It took a bit of his powers to use it. This time he had used it on something large enough to make him disappear on spot-

This was the monastery.

The same location they had resided in for the past few days. But not the one they knew.

Or at least, not in the right time.

Buckets of water splashed against the exterior of the church as the present men and nuns failed to notice the newly arrived group's presence and Izaya swallowed upon a single realization.

This was 1353.

to be continued~

C: C: C: C: C:

Now you know why I said Roy will be "essential" for the plot twist xDDD I hope I did not disappoint hahaha

Now let me hide from those that want to kill me for killing off Maria, Roy, the priest and the kids lmao x'DDDD