Title: Dead or Alive

Rating: K+

Pairings: Shizuo x Izaya

Author's Note: Hello, Shizaya fans~! Here's the forth and last chapter of Dead or Alive! Thank you for all your reviews and for favouriting (is that even a word lol) and following my story! It really encourages me! XD

I'm sorry that this chapter came out soooo late! I have a habit of growing out of things and my dedication sucks -_-|l| So because I got an idea for another Shizaya fanfiction, I started concentrating on that one rather than finishing this one (I am such a bad person). And, once again, I must ask, if there should be any improvements or if there are any grammatical errors, or if you have any suggestions or advice in general for me, please do tell me!

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters~

CONTAINS MALEXMALE RELATIONSHIP! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED~

I wake up to the sound of my alarm echoing in my bedroom. The irritating sound made me feel like my eardrums were getting pierced by a thousand needles.

'Ugh.' I grunt as slam my hand on the alarm, causing it to shatter into a million small pieces. Ugh. Great. Now I have to buy another alarm. Just how many has it been this week… Oh, well, at least the damned thing shut up!

I hold my head in my hands as I recall the dream I had just had last night. What the fuck was I doing?! "Don't die"? Yeah, right! Like I would care if he died! In fact, I would be happy! It's all the flea's fault for acting so weird in my dream! Why the fuck had I even dreamt of him?! HIM of all people!

I forced myself to stop thinking of that strange dream and got out of my bed and went to brush my teeth and take a shower; had some breakfast. It was a perfectly normal day with my usual routine going on. After I'm done with my food, I would go to work. As soon as my stomach's full, I go back into my bedroom to change into the bartender clothes that my dear brother bought for me, and then head out. Just a normal day. And then I remember my dream.

'Argh!' I groan as I visibly cringe at the memory. Well, as normal as it can get with these thoughts in my head.

'Hey, Shizuo!' I hear a voice shouting my name. I look up to see Tom waving a hand at me, a warm smile pasted on his face. Next to him stood Varona with her usual expressionless face, exuding an unwelcome aura, the exact opposite of Tom-senpai. Though, after working with her, I could tell that that's just how she was on the outside. I'm sure that she's actually a much, much sweeter person.

'Hey, Tom-senpai.' I nod at him then turn to my kouhai and nod at her. 'Hey, Varona.'

'Good morning, Shizuo-senpai.' She wishes in her ever robotic voice.

'So, where to today?' I ask Tom, facing him.

'Kind of far. The guy hasn't paid his debt since a month now…' He complains as he starts walking in the direction of our first client's home.

The day passes pretty well. Soon, it is time to go back home, and Varona parts while I stay with Tom, since his house is on the way to mine. Most of the clients gave up their money without pestering us much. Some had to be shaken up a bit. But, overall, it was a good, quiet day. Quiet… How unusual… And that's when a realisation hits me. The flea hasn't been messing around with me since morning…

'Hey, Shizuo! What happened?' Tom's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I realised that I had been standing in just one place for quite some time, thinking about Izaya's absence.

'Ah, nothing, nothing at all.' I say as I start to walk towards him. It's all that weird dream's fault. It's not like he's there everyday. He may just be busy plotting and planning something somewhere, which is why he hasn't been seen around here. But, as I walk, lost in thought, another voice gains my attention. It's a voice I don't know, but it's not the voice that causes me to go into an attentive mode, but the words that the voice forms.

'-id you hear?! They say that Orihara Izaya's dead!' I immediately turned around to see two girls in a school uniform.

'What?! Are you serious?!' It's the other one.

'Well, that's what they are saying on the Dollars' homepage.' She says this much softer, as if she didn't want anyone to hear it.

I'm not sure exactly what happened after that. Everything just went still and time itself seemed to stop. Izaya… is dead. No, it couldn't be possible. That guy is way too persistent and annoying to just die like that. My mind went blank and I couldn't think of anything as my thoughts stubbornly latched onto only one sentence 'Izaya can't be dead'. Somewhere far off I could hear the sound of someone calling my name, but the voice was too distant; seemingly intangible. I couldn't move my head to look for the owner of the voice; I couldn't even move my feet.

It was only when I felt a hand on my shoulder shaking me that I started to sense the things around me. It was Tom. I look up, not knowing what to think. How did he die? Did someone kill him? If so, then who? How? And where?

'Hey, you alright? I was kinda worried when you suddenly stopped like that. Even now, you don't seem very well…' Tom keeps worrying about me… He's one of the very few people that would actually worry about a monster like me... He would probably even be one of the few people that would cry for me after I died…

I, once again, remember my dream. How there were so many people that seemed worried at my death… And how one person tried to give up his life in exchange for mine… Well, it was just a dream. But it felt so real... So true… like it actually happened. Of course, that's not true, and even I know that…

'Shizuo?' He asks again. He looked at me, concern obvious in his eyes.

'Oh, it's nothi-' And that's when I notice it. That familiar scent that used to irritate me so much. It's coming from way ahead. Forgetting everything, I start running towards it. You aren't dead. You can't be dead. You damn flea. You are alive, you understand me? You are alive, 'IIIIIZAAAAAAYAAAAAA!'

I keep making turns, and even if I end up in the middle of a crowd, I don't slow down. Behind me, I can hear Tom's numerous protests, but it doesn't stop me. 'You damn flea! Like hell you are dead! I could never kill you! You can't die that easily, you bastard!'

'Hey! Shizuo! Wait! Where are you even going?!' Tom called from behind me as he tried to catch up to me, only to fail.

'To Shinjuku to his apartment to beat his ass! Where else?!'

And without saying another word, I continue on my way to his house.

I finally reached his apartment after about half an hour. I waited for a while outside the apartment, trying to catch my breath, and then continued on inside, and into an elevator. I pressed the button to his respective floor (I knew the floor he lived on because of that one time I had gone after him to beat the shit out of him for trying to kill me by sending some guy who had gone nuts after me) and waited for the elevator to arrive at that floor.

The door soon opened with a ding that indicated that we had reached and I stepped out. I didn't have to waste much time searching which house was Izaya's, since there was only one flat on the entire floor. The door in front of me was closed, but I was sure that if I rang the bell, no one would open it like last time, and I was not having any of that shit today, so I just kicked the door open. I guess I put too much force in the kick, because it kinda broke… completely… Oh, well, can't do anything about that now. Might as well get on with what I came here for.

'Oi! Flea! Where are yo-' But I stopped mid-sentence when I saw all the boxes and the packing. I couldn't understand what was going on. Why were there so many boxes here? What happened to all his stuff? And that's when it hit me, like a light bulb appearing above my head. 'Ah! I see! So you're running away, are you?!' I see now… he first spreads rumours about his death so that no one is suspicious about his absence, and then leaves. He may even be plotting something, for which he thinks it'll be safer to be further away from Ikebukuro for. That flea…

A women with long, brown hair and green top comes down from the staircase. She must be that assistant of his. 'Heiwajima Shizuo?' She sounded surprised. And of course she would be. Bet you she must not have expected me seeing through Izaya's plans. How stupid does that guy think I am?!

'Yeah! Now, where's that louse hiding?!' I ask impatiently, wanting to punch the flea's face in already!

'Huh? You didn't hear? Izaya is-'

'Yeah, yeah! I've heard all those rumors!' I cut her off, not wanting to head that word being associated with his name again for some reason. 'But for all I know, it was him who spread them! Now tell me, where is he?' I pointed to all the boxes. 'He's obviously trying to run away, so I'm gonna kill him before he does.'

'Heiwajima-san, I'm telling you. Izaya really is dead. You can call the hospital. You can even search the entire house if you want, just don't unpack any of the boxes, it was a hard task packing everything. Also, all of that stuff is getting shipped overseas to his parents' house, since this flat will be sold and his sisters don't need it.' Her voice was calm and void of all emotion, like she couldn't care at all about her boss' death.

And why would she? Why would anyone care about Izaya's death…? People would be more glad about his death than mine… 'Wait! How did he die?!'

She raised an eyebrow. 'You don't know? He was shot.'

'By who?!'

'By one of his clients. It was a deal gone wrong. In an alley near Sunshine 60 at around 10 at night. Honestly, it was quite a commotion. I'm surprised no one heard it… Until it was too late, of course.'

An alley near Sunshine 60… around 10 at night… commotion… I remembered last night… standing at the start of a small alley near Sunshine 60 with Celty, I had heard a commotion. I was going to go in to beat the crap out of them, 'cause the noise was making me angry, but Celty asked me to let it go and not let it bother me… For her I let it be and we moved to another spot to talk… but… if I had gone in anyway, then I could have saved him… But would I have saved him? Heck, I would have tried to kill him myself…

'Oh.' I say, not being able to think of anything else to say.

'Also,' she shouted over her shoulders as she climbed back up the stairs, 'the other movers-and-packers truck will be arriving soon, so please don't disturb them while they're doing their work.'

I went over to a sofa, head held in my hands. 'So he really did die, huh, that flea. Dammit! I was supposed to kill you! You can't just go ahead and die like that!' Anger clouding my eyes, I pick up the sofa and then throw it over my shoulder, just barely missing the computer. I hear that assistant shout, but she doesn't come down.

I keep standing at one place, trying to cool down and clear my thoughts… 'How dare you die like that… You can't die… You aren't allowed to die… I had to kill you…' I feel a weird wetness in my eyes and the feeling in my chest feels foreign. The way my eyes cloud is different from when it is clouded by anger.

'If you want, I could help you.'

The sudden voice jerks me out of my thoughts. But the voice isn't really a voice, more like a a chain of thoughts. So I don't pay much heed to it.

'This isn't right… No… I was sure I could still… That stench… it was still there. I knew you were alive! But, I guess I was wrong…' I continue. But when the voice speaks up again, it's not so easy to ignore.

'You remember your dream, don't you? Izaya died because he saved you, and this is how you repay him? By throwing around his furniture and acting like you care?'

I was so stunned I didn't know what to say…

'I could help you exchange your life for his. You are the only one who can do this. The proof is the fact that you could still smell him. If you want proof that I can help you save him, then how about I let you sense him?'

"Sense him"? What?!

'Shizu-chan!' I hear a distant voice call out to me suddenly. I flinch when I hear it. It wasn't the assistant… The voice of a male's, and more precisely, it was-

'Izaya…?'

'Shizuo!'

I mutter and he shouts, and this time I am sure it's him. I look up, and there he is, standing right before me.

My eyes widen in belief as I gasp in surprise. 'Izaya!'

'So? What is your reply?' I hear the voice say. 'All you need is to think the answer and I'll know.'

I lunge forward at Izaya, and feel him flinch as I hug him. His body tenses up at first, but then eventually relaxes, for which I am thankful.

Yes. I think and state my answer as I mutter the words that will possibly be my last: 'Izaya. You are alive.'

And I can feel the voice grin as a chill runs down my spine.

End notes: And so the story ends. I feel like such a bad human being, but I'm still going to end up writing more depressing fanfictions. I guess depressing stories are just my thing (but then again isn't that pretty much every author/fanfiction writer ever?).

Anyway, thank you so much for sticking with me and reading this chapter and this entire story! Hope you liked it! ^^