Chapter 24: Bloody Miracle

What happened?

Patterns of waves and drowsy light danced in Izaya's peripheral vision the second he opened his eyes. White. Everything was white. A low sound of annoyance kept ringing in his ears and his body felt as if someone had wrapped it in cellophane.

The club. Creston. It had been a day like any other.

A headache assaulted the back of Izaya's eyes as he came to and his face scrunched in a sour sensation of pain.

Where?

His stomach- Raising his hand in an attempt to reach for the tender spot he realized that it was being held back. A clear tube connected to the back of his wrist and the clear green of an access point made for needles immediately cleared Izaya's vision and mind.

Stabbed-

He had been-

Eyes whipping around he finally recognized his surroundings as those of a hospital room. The white was interrupted by streaks of green belonging to a small window's curtains that showed the corridor next to him.

Doctors, nurses, patients, people of various reasons blessed the hospital with their presence and Izaya closed his eyes in a short moment of relief.

He was conscious- meaning, he survived.

The dread that had dared to take control slowly started to fade and Izaya followed the tube connected to his wrist to an IV drip to the right of his bed.

The beeping sound he had even heard in his dreams appeared to be a monitor of his heart rate and a variety of other stats. Only now that he followed the cable he spotted a small device not larger than a clip stuck to his right hand's fingertip and he let his head sink back into the cushion he was resting on.

Stabbed.

He really had been stabbed.

In the middle of the club nonetheless-

He would have laughed at the absurdity of the incident had he not worried about moving his body.

Night Salvage.

He had been visiting this club for years. Noone had ever dared to threaten him or Creston. Not to mention anyone else.

But the save times were starting to fade. The people who knew about Izaya and were wise enough to stay away from him entirely were on the decline and so was the respect. Fading like the scent of a candle after its fire depleted.

A few years ago Izaya couldn't have imagined anyone daring to threaten him, let alone bring a weapon inside the club.

The guy who had stabbed him was an exception.

An anomaly in his line of work.

An anomaly that almost killed him.

Pushing at the cushions below his back Izaya's face scrunched in a second of discomfort as he pushed himself up.

He could feel it.

The tenderness around his stomach. The tugging sensation of strings sewing his skin shut. Warmth and the scent of disinfectant stuck to the rim of his skin as he lifted his shirt.

Patched up like a stuffed animal.

He couldn't see the area he got stabbed in nor the actual stitches, but the rectangular patch that covered it left not much room to fantasize.

Pulling the shirt back down he let his head sink into his cushions for a second of drowsiness.

His head was spinning. It seemed the movement was deemed as too much by his body and immediately caused him to regret it.

The awful sound of silence kept pestering Izaya's ears and he closed his eyes for a second as he recalled a certain bartender's face.

Shizuo had saved him.

Memory loss didn't appear to be part of his current state as he recalled every detail of the previous evening to the point he passed out.

The way he rushed to his side. His stance. His whole attitude.

Even when Izaya's body went into shock he remained almost unnaturally calm.

Almost caused Izaya to think he simply didn't care all that much whether Izaya did or did not die- but no.

He had seen it.

The undeserved concern in his eyes. He was nothing more than a guest to this club, hadn't done anything to deserve it, and yet it had lingered in his eyes as clear as sunlight on a winter day.

The soft sound of a lock becoming undone snapped Izaya out of his thoughts and his eyes back open as he looked at the door.

A doctor, surprisingly young and tall entered the room with a clipboard at hand and glasses resting on his nose.

"Ah. You are awake," he declared as soon as he saw Izaya looking back at him and a smile spread across his unblemished chin. Seeing as he was stating the obvious Izaya felt the need to comment on his words, but bit back the urge to deliver a snarky reply.

Locks of brown struggled to stay behind the guy's ears as he approached the bed and the smile he wore broadened even further when he glanced at Izaya's stats. "How are you feeling?"

Struggling to find the strength to speak, Izaya quickly cleared his dry throat.

"Like I spent the entire night drinking vodka and tequila?"

Wow. His voice sounded like it too.

A laugh was all the doctor had to offer as he quickly skimmed through the papers that Izaya guessed were his patient files. "An accurate description," he agreed, and a round chair was pulled forth from beneath Izaya's bed. The doctor's gaze grew serious much quicker than expected and he sat down.

"You got stabbed at a club. 10cm of steel rammed right into your gut. You got lucky and none of your organs or bowels were hit upon entry but your abdominal aorta-" he started to speak, or rather rant in what sounded like a summary people of the same profession would exchange but paused upon his terminology. "That's like the main artery of your body, as thick as the knife that you got stabbed with," he quickly explained while looking at Izaya before his eyes trailed back to the papers at hand.

"Well, it was grazed." Pulling out the sheet of paper he was looking upon he turned it in a way that allowed for Izaya to read his own file.

"It's the reason you lost so much blood in so little time. When we arrived you were down to roughly four liters of blood in your body-" the doctor paused and a smile spread across his face contradicting his words in the best way possible.

"That's bad. Like, dying bad. 500ml more and we might not have been able to save you at all. For a second we weren't sure whether you were going to make it."

Pretty hyper for a doctor. What did he do? Drink too many energy drinks to pull off his shift or was he just too motivated in his job?

Izaya couldn't tell, but his humor was not something Izaya disliked.

"But seeing as I am talking to you now you must have been successful, right?" Izaya quickly concluded and the doctor gasped in fake surprise.

"Who spoilered you?" he joked, but quickly reverted to a professional attitude, "You can rest assured. A surgeon or something similar happened to be present and-" he faded out.

Unsure of whether to continue or not he glanced at the papers at hand before removing the glasses from his nose in order to rub his temples.

"I'm not meant to tell you since its use in that manner would need a report to the police, but… Don't ask me how, because it doesn't make a lot of sense, but he had Prothrombin at hand which is basically a substance that enhances blood coagulation."

Izaya blinked.

Blood coagulation? Prothrombin?

"It's a mystery to me why he carried it inside a club, but by administering it to you he slowed down your bleeding enough for us to arrive in time," the doctor quickly added only deepening Izaya's confusion.

A doctor? He knew almost every single person in that club at least by profession.

No one was a doctor.

Shizuo?

And suddenly he remembered it. The call.

It wasn't Shizuo who had administered the substance. He was no doctor. Had he been there would have been no need to call someone else.

Shinra.

That was the name.

His consciousness had been drifting in and out at the point Shizuo called but he vaguely remembered the name.

A face too.

Blurry. But it was there. Brown hair, shoulder length, glasses-

Did Shizuo call a friend? Was that friend a doctor?

"Is he here?" Izaya asked, but of course his doctor shook his head.

"Sadly we have no information of that person other than that he appeared to have been male from what the people present told us." A knowing smile spread across the doctor's lips as he smiled. "He disappeared shortly before we arrived and I think that was no coincidence for someone carrying Prothrombin around like it's a fresh package of gum."

Right.

Depending on this guy's background he might as well be some sort of specialized dealer. Off the top of his head Izaya could think of no drugs being produced by abusing that specific substance, but humanity was as creative as their means of numbing their senses.

Shifting only slightly in his bed Izaya felt a slight tinge of pain shoot up his waist and flinched.

"How bad am I off?" he asked and the doctor offered another of his over motivated smiles.

"For now you are better than you might believe. The graze to your aorta was sealed and before you worry, it's more likely that an artery of your body explodes from impulsive combustion than for that part to become loose again."

Somehow Izaya couldn't quite help but imagine a set of doctors, standing around his operating table, pumping super glue into his gut like there was no tomorrow while going through an entire ball of strings to knit his artery back together.

It was as much comedic as it was inaccurate and he couldn't help but snort at his own silliness.

"That's assuring," he sighed instead and glanced at his files again. "And how long do I have to stay?"

Bringing the paper back to his clipboard the doctor hummed before tipping his chin in a moment of contemplation. Izaya didn't blame him. A victim of stabbing was probably not expected to rush for release as fast he was.

"You slept for eighteen hours after the operation, so coming from a medical perspective as soon as that IV drip is through you can discharge yourself."

Eighteen hours?

Holy fuck-

A clock in the corner of Izaya's room was quickly scanned in a short moment of unrectified doubt.

2pm.

The guy was right. Almost an entire day had passed since he had been stabbed- it was a somewhat unsettling sensation to know he had been out of it for such a long time without noticing a thing.

Looking towards the IV drip Izaya noticed another one, empty, right next to it, only supporting the doctor's words further.

"What are you giving me?"

"Not much. Just some iron, folate, vitamin B12 and some other stuff. It's meant to replenish your blood volume. We had enough of your blood ready for operation and transfusion, but not enough to fill you up to the brim."

Made sense.

With his blood type being zero he might as well have bled to death for the rarity of the blood.

Getting up from the chair the round object screeched quietly for a brief moment and the doctor smiled. "Drink lots of water, eat some iron rich foods, rest, take it easy for a few days and you should be fine," he quickly informed, and a small object, looking like a walkie talkie, gave out a faint sound of a ring. He was being called away to another emergency Izaya supposed and so he quickly nodded. "Should you have any more questions, ask the nurses at the front, but as far as I am concerned you are off better than most people on a normal day," he joked for the last time and this time Izaya actually smiled.

This guy wasn't even half bad.

"Thank you," he replied, but the doctor was already out and gone through the door. It was when it didn't fall shut immediately that Izaya noticed the shadow stepping into its frame and his mood soured back to its usual state.

Creston.

Slipping into his room without even asking for permission he wore an expression speaking of dissatisfaction.

"I told you gathering lead was a bad idea," he grunted as soon as the door closed and one of his favourite cigars found its way to his lips.

Eyes narrowing quickly Izaya felt his body tense at the presence of this man. Creston wasn't here to check up on him.

He was here on business.

"Did I blow it?" he croaked shortly as his voice failed him and Creston clicked his tongue as he raised his lighter to the tip of his cigar.

"Not yet."

Quicker than Izaya liked it to the disgusting smell of burning tobacco filled the room and his nose scrunched in annoyance.

Who the hell smoked in a hospital room?

"But I hope you are aware that this is beyond bad for our reputation."

He had fucked up. Izaya was aware of that. No matter who the guy had been, no matter his true motives or how negligible they were, rumors were going to arise.

Rumors of how easy it was to assassinate the top drug lord in this city. It would tarnish Creston's reputation in ways he didn't want to think about.

"I apologize," Izaya tried, but of course an apology was far from what Creston desired.

"And you believe saying sorry will fix shit?" the guy laughed angrily and Izaya swallowed.

"I will take care of this as soon as I-"

"No need." Inhaling deeply the end of the cigar seared in deep orange before Creston continued with the breath of an ancient dragon. "He is already dead."

The silence inside his room had unsettled Izaya upon waking but not as much as Creston's words did.

Lifting his gaze he brought a quick smile to his lips.

"What?"

But Creston's gaze was sharp and his words had neither been a promise nor a wish for the future.

"Suicide. Jumped off a roof apparently," Creston shrugged and Izaya's blood ran cold.

There was no way he had commited suicide- and Izaya was just as aware of that fact as Creston was.

More smoke filled the air for a few agonizing seconds.

"I hope you take this as a lesson," Creston whispered and a glare of unspoken threat met Izaya's face.

In other words, Creston had already taken care of everything.

He killed him.

Just like that.

And for some reason the reality of him not even having hesitated to do so tightened a cord around Izaya's neck.

"I will."

Izaya's words sounded awfully timid, much unlike his usual demeanor, but luckily it was exactly what Creston wanted.

"Good," he announced and returned to the door, "The doctor told me you could be released today. I expect you at 6pm sharp."

"At the bar?" Izaya asked, a bit perplexed, but Creston's glance was enough of an answer to that question and so he quickly nodded.

"Understood."

This was no question. It was an order.

Or rather- punishment.

Dealt because he had forced him to act in his stead.

to be continued~

C: See? He survived C: And now let's punish him for getting stabbed - makes sense to me xDDDDDDD But no worries, Shizuo will be as unhappy about that as you are xDD

With that being said, see you next friday~! C: And Merry Christmas ! Cx

PS.: Since interestingly most of those who read Impostor also enjoy Angel shot, lemme tell you here xD I couldn't manage an update for Impostor today - sorryyyy x'D But no worries, you can look forward to some real cloud 7 kinda romantic moments next week haha 3 C: