Recap

"Come on, Keichi. We don't have that much time before the festival starts so get a move on!"

"Yes m'lady Hanekawa." Keichi rolled his eyes and tipped his white hat in an honorable gesture of goodbye. I sighed lightly, looking up at the clouds. Oh. A storm will come today. But what shall it bring?

Recap end

~The present~

When I finally came to after the blackness and nausea, I stared at everyone, everyone I had been friends with. Everyone I had known for such a long time. Everyone who had become so dear to me. Everyone who had been human...

How could this have happened?

"This is SO EPICCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC!" bellowed Masaomi, swinging from one lamppost to the next using his Dulahan shadows.

"I KNOW, RIGHT?" yelled Erika from the vertical surface of one of many skyscrapers, using her shadows to chase after Walker. Shinra was in the process of glomping onto Celty while she tried to teach him how to speak to each other through their shadows; Anri was in a stupor after Mikado had gathered his courage (after he realized he had acquired Dulahan powers) and asked her out; Shizuo was trying to unstick himself from a shadow-created vending machine he had made to throw at Izaya; Mai and Kururi were making out on top of a shadow web stretched across several skyscrapers and Izaya... Well, Izaya was walking around in the air as his shadows swirled around him and his stupendous shadow wings.

How had this happened? Well, I'm not particularly sure of the answer myself, but it all started after the dance.

~Back to the very very recent past~

The crowd had gathered, the cosplay festival about to start with my dance as the first event. For this occasion I had rejected Black Hanekawa's usual garments (well, undergarments to be more precise), and donned a tight shadow bodysuit much like Celty's (with the only difference of it being not shiny). There were many traditional Dulahan dances, most of which started off slowly and then escalated to a feverish pace in the end. I had chosen one such dance, named "The Ascension". I'd thought it appropriate for today's occasion, plus it was quite beautiful in my opinion. Especially since I could freely use my Dulahan powers and pull it off as special effects. Taking a deep breath, I waltzed out onto the stage and bowed.

"And now! For our FIRST performance, welcoooooooome BLACK HANEKAWA!" Keichi-Kaname bellowed to the audience, and thunderous applause shook the entire park. I gestured to Keichi-Kaname so that he would put my soundtrack on play, and as the first notes became audible, the crowd hushed down. My first move was a wave-like motion of one arm, my back curving into an arc with a slow step forward, bringing the crowd into total silence. It's a typical Dulahan move – starting off with slow movements to captivate, making humans unconsciously hold their breath, and then speeding up to the point where it is quite blatantly obvious the dancer isn't human. However, at that point, humans don't notice anything out of the ordinary because they are so much desiring the climax of the dance that nothing else matters. I'd never had the opportunity to perform any of the dances my mother had taught me due to the lack of an appropriate audience. That, or the lack of an audience in general. But now, finally, I had the chance to show off my polished abilities (I had practiced the specific dance for half a month before finally deciding I was ready), and boy had I been craving for this!

Twirling an arabesque, I sprang up straight into a somersault, barely touching the ground upon landing, and continued straight into an elegant pirouette. This created an illusion of my feet not touching the ground, which in turn made it seem like I was gliding across the stage, frictionlessly and effortlessly. My pace quickening with each new step, my mind automatically drifted to thinking about him. Him... Izaya... I wondered whether he was somewhere in the crowd, watching me from afar with those cold wine eyes of his; whether he'd come to the festival or just dismissed it like anything of the sort; if he was indeed watching me – did he recognize me... And if he recognized me, what would he do...? Would he just pass me as if I never existed in the first place? Could he really have not understood that I meant something to him? Did I really mean something to him?
Glimpsing Erika-Touka and Walker-Gin waving at me from the crowd as my shadows spread around the area, creating shimmering orbs all over the place, I smiled. Friends... They all cared about me and loved me. They had done so much for me, if only... If only there was something I could do for them. Some way to repay them for all they'd done. Some way to show them I cared just as much for them as they did for me.

With an abrupt halt, I threw my hands up into the air, in sync with a shadow orb above them imploding in on itself and then exploding, as it released a gigantic shockwave. Spreading around the stage, the shockwave's ripples made each of the floating orbs explode in turn, which created more shockwaves; producing an image of a rippling midnight sea, which shimmered with the stars above it. Exhaling, I proudly admired the looks of awe on everyone's faces as the glimmering black stardust (or should I say shadow-dust?) sprinkled itself onto the crowd. Finding myself suddenly exhausted, I opted to move towards the couch behind the curtains before the crowd came back to its' senses and demanded a repeat performance. Strangely enough, I felt like each step drained me further of energy, and when I had almost made it to the couch, the world reeled around me in black spots, and I collapsed, the blackness surrounding me.

~Back to the present~

I stared at Izaya walking around in the air as if doing that was second nature to him, or a hobby he liked to commit to every week. With each step he took that brought him closer to me, I tried to not stare at him more, failing miserably due to the complete lack of belief this was actually happening. Also due to the fact that Izaya looked completely in his element, which was shocking. You'd think Dulahan wings and shadows wouldn't look good on everyone... And, well, he just looked so hot in those clothes and with his Sharingan lenses that I just couldn't tear my gaze away from him.

"Vi." His velvety voice whispered from in front of me, and familiar cold fingers grasped my chin, tilting it up. I found myself completely submerged in his deep, maroon eyes, unable to speak, unable to think of anything to say. His lips inched closer to mine, and I stopped breathing for fear of accidentally moving or disrupting the moment in any way. "I know I don't deserve you at all, Violet, and even so, you still loved me despite anything I did or said. Despite how much I hurt you. How many times I hurt you. Despite anything, you kept giving me chances. So please, just this once, may I ask for one last chance..?" Izaya asked, drawing slightly away from me. Shocked, I looked at him, searching for the familiar mockery, expecting it to be yet another joke or test of his of sorts, and, noticing that, he slightly smiled. "I'm not lying, Vi. Life without you has been my own private hell, and I never want to go through that again. Call it selfishness if you will, but I want you to be mine and to be by my side like you always were."

Still unable to speak, I drew my hand up to his face, hesitant to touch him, afraid he would melt away and it would all be just a dream. Sensing that, Izaya abruptly cupped my face in his hands and simply kissed me, melting all my fears away along with any thoughts of the current situation being a dream. Parting for breath, Izaya finally smiled his genuine, crooked smile, and said something I had alway hoped to hear but never believed I would actually hear.

"Those sparkling amethyst eyes... You're beautiful, Vi. And I really do have to thank you for turning me into a Dulahan. It's made living with you possible if not even more enjoyable than it already is."

"B-But I don't even know how I managed to do that, or the long term effects! What if they're short-term effects? What if you go back to being human after, like, one hundred years and then poof!"

"Vi."

"What?"

"Stop panicking."

"B-But Izayaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Vi. I love you."