A/N: I live! Also, content warning for this chapter.

"What…?" Something was wrong, but he couldn't say what. He didn't even know what 'right' felt like.

"What is this?" Was he speaking? Thinking? It was black, empty everywhere. Was he turning? Were his eyes open or closed…

Did he even have eyes?

"This is stupid, of course I have eyes…" He was certain of it. He had eyes, and a mouth and ears. Arms, legs, a torso. Hands…

It felt like a tremendous effort to recall all these pieces of himself, carefully pulling himself back together. Senses came slowly, eventually he was aware of a pressure on his feet… ground. He took a cautious step and heard the sound his foot made on the floor.

"Where am I?" Like trying to recall a drunken night he pushed himself to recall the last solid memory he could.

There was a sidewalk, a street, cold wind.

There were train tracks and an ominous deep whistle.

More.

There was running. A lot of running.

An apartment with a white cot-

Still more.

A familiar face-

Black…

Confusion…

Something sharp-

Almost…

An overwhelming feeling…

IZAYA.

Everything clicked suddenly and Shizuo remembered the rage-fueled sprint that had brought him to Shinra's apartment. The singular desire to destroy Izaya.

…so where was he now?

Everything was still black, though he could feel the ground beneath his feet. It felt too solid to be a dream, but to strange to be reality. So what was this? Shizuo took a cautious step forward and the ground seemed to hold just fine.

"This is probably his fault, somehow," Shizuo grumbled, slightly surprised to hear the sound of his voice in this nothingness. His second surprise was the fact that he couldn't seem to muster up that all-consuming rage that had driven him here in the first place. He was pissed, sure, but that white-hot pure bolt of emotion wasn't there anymore.

It actually made him a little uncomfortable.

Shizuo tried sifting through his emotions as he continued walking, trying to find that spark of raw anger. Trying to find that other thing.

He was so focused on his own thoughts it took him a couple of moments to realize the ground had changed. His feet stuck to the ground a little more, like he was stepping in something thick, and vaguely sticky. What…?

A strange feeling of dread settled in Shizuo's stomach. He glanced down, noting the dark substance that seemed to coat his shoes. Suddenly realizing he could see, Shizuo looked up sharply.

Ahead of him was a hazy light, roiling with tendrils of inky shadows. It reminded him of Celty's shadows actually. There was movement.

Shizuo found himself swallowing thickly as he made his way towards the light, unsure why he was suddenly feeling so uneasy.

There were sounds as he came closer.

Wet pops and snaps.

Dripping.

A sharp gag.

Something under his shoe squished and he didn't look down.

His mind, unbidden, briefly flashed to a nature documentary he'd watched as a kid with predators tearing into-

The smell hit him and he had to swallow hard to keep from retching.

Shit… He was actually shaking. Fighting every instinct that told him to turn away, Shizuo moved closer.

The inky shadows parted with a violent movement and Shizuo caught a glimpse of the back of a figure, tall and imposing, wreathed in light, and tearing at something below it with vicious swipes. A gout of liquid darkness burst from beneath the illuminated figure, spraying out in a fine mist. Shizuo could feel a few stray droplets land on his arm and didn't need to examine them to know what it was. The cloying coppery smell hung heavy in the air.

He moved forward, torn between creeping dread and morbid curiosity, heart hammering in his chest.

Some part of him knew but…

The figure stabbed a hand down and there was a wet tearing noise and a slight gargle. The figure wrenched his hand back out, holding something lumpy and darkly glistening. With casual ease, the human-shaped creature crushed the fleshy lump, flicking the thick strands of darkness off its hands.

And Shizuo recognized the figure.

His anger.

The Calm.

The other.

"Azrael." He didn't know where the name came from, but it felt right. The thing that had been a part of him for as long as he could remember. The anger. The hatred. The power. His inner demons.

He had never expected it to be so literal.

The figure turned slowly, Shizuo feeling a sudden regret for calling attention to himself. Just as the profile of the demon's face came into view it disappeared.

Or rather everything seemed to disappear, leaving Shizuo kneeling in-

When did I kneel…?

-something wet and warm, soaking his pants, running down his arms-

What is this…?

-the smell was thick and nauseating, shadows pooling and eddying around him and with a sudden sense of vertigo he realized he was kneeling exactly where he'd seen the figure. Shizuo looked down and everything froze for a moment.

The disemboweled body beneath him, filleted like a cut of meat-

This isn't what I wanted-

"Izaya…" His voice rasped, foreign to his own ears, stretched thin with horror. Even in his darkest rage, this was far worse than anything he could have-

The body's chest shuddered and Shizuo froze in disbelief. The skin on the body was flayed open, the heart and lungs were literally missing, crushed to pulp and splattered about. He must be imagining-

A sudden gasping sound made Shizuo's blood run cold and pulled his gaze up to the body's -to Izaya's face. The one remaining eye was glazed over with pain, but turned to him with an intense expression he didn't understand.

"Finish it!"

Shizuo jumped at the sudden booming voice and his gaze snapped up to see the figure again. Azrael.

"What…?" He felt his voice cracking, something that hadn't happened since high school.

"You must kill her," Azrael spoke with thunderous authority, the light blossoming behind him making him a striking figure, "before she regains her strength."

Shizuo could feel the beginnings of an irritated headache forming in the back of his head. He welcomed the familiarity of it.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Pandora must not be allowed to escape." Azrael said, thundering voice rattling Shizuo's chest.

"What-" Shizuo was abruptly cut off when the body beneath him convulsed hard, spasming and twitching. He scrambled to get up, trying to get away. Shizuo watched in a horrified fascination as the dark liquid pooling around Izaya was pulled back into the body, tugging at his pants as it separated from the material as though drawn back magnetically. Ribs reknit with harsh snapping and popping sounds. Organs reformed pooling into the chest cavity.

"Shizuo!" Azrael ordered, "you must kill him!"

Maybe he was still shell-shocked from the last couple of minutes, but Shizuo felt strangely calm as he dusted off his now-clean pants and stood up fully.

"I don't know if this is some kind of test or something. Honestly I don't really care since I already made my decision. If you think you can order me around because you're some scary demon or whatever," Shizuo turned his gaze to look directly at Azrael now, "then fuck you."

"You don't understand what's at stake!" Azrael growled, "you've let her escape. I won't let it happen again." He moved with supernatural speed, suddenly beside Shizuo. "Those are the vocal chords I believe. Time to leave."

"Huh?" Shizuo frowned as Azrael stepped through him and disappeared. What did he mean-

A soul-rending scream suddenly tore through the emptiness, making Shizuo's skin crawl. It took him a stunned moment to recognize it as Izaya's.

Vocal chords…

With a sudden chill, Shizuo realized the expression he'd seen in that lone eye was the look of someone screaming endlessly without a voice.

A tangle of shadows enveloped him, pulling him up, up, up into light and he finally opened his eyes for real.

-DRRR-

"But I received a call just an hour ago," Shinra protested, "I was told it was an emergency!"

"I'm sorry, Kishitani-sensei," the sharply dressed man said, "the boss is fine, there's no need for your services."

"But..."

"It is noted however," the yakuza member continued, "that your haste to arrive speaks for your dependability and loyalty. While unnecessary, it is greatly appreciated," He punctuated this sentiment with a low bow. Too flustered to reply, Shinra scratched the back of his head and turned away. Celty was still waiting for him in the parking lot and despite this frustration he felt a smile tug at his lips when he saw the worry in her posture.

Is everything okay, Shinra? What happened?

"Apparently it was nothing more than a prank call, my love," Shinra said, securing his unneeded medical kit to the rear of Celty's bike. Celty was quiet for a moment and Shinra knew she was thinking the same thing he was. A prank call was one thing, but who would fake a call from a high-ranking yakuza that just so happened to live on the other side of the city?

Izaya?

"That was my first assumption as well," Shinra agreed.

You don't think he did this though? Then… someone else who wanted us out of the way…

"I think so," Shinra grimaced, pushing up his glasses.

We should hurry- Celty's message notification cut her off mid-sentence, and she tapped the icon hesitantly. Shinra waited, first with patience then concern as Celty began gripping the device more tightly.

"What's wrong?"

In reply, Celty showed him the screen. It was a weather warning bulletin.

"Earthquakes…tectonic shifting… ooh that's bad, that could cause a-" he stopped as Celty scrolled down, "tsunami… right." They stared at each other in mute fear for a moment before a low whine began filling the air, increasing in pitch and volume.

"Evacuation sirens…" Shinra murmured unnecessarily, "Celty…"

I know. We have to go back. Get on.

"Celty!" Shinra exclaimed, grinning wildly and gripping her tightly around the middle.

Make sure you hold on tight, it's slippery. This weather lately has been unbelievable.

Behind Celty's back and safe from her ethereal eyes, Shinra's smile dropped slightly. Yes, it's been unbelievable all right. Supernatural even.

Celty revved the bike, rear tires spinning for a moment before catching on pavement. They raced off down the slippery streets, darkening clouds and air raid sirens warning them otherwise.