A/N: This last chapter is kind of long, because there was a lot to go in it, but not enough to split it down into two.

Okay! For a first stab at DRRR! fanfiction, I think this came out pretty well. C&C is welcome and appreciated!

Some people had inquired about a sequel, especially because we didn't resolve the question of the original thief and the compulsion spell laid on Shizuo and Izaya, so for those of you who are interested, we will give you a definite maybe. We've talked about it, and if we can come up with a good way to do it, we're definitely game. =D

Thanks to everyone for reading!

Chapter Seventeen

Celty watched the three kids leave from her seat at the kitchen table. Sitting in the center of the table was the heavy wooden box that held the Mask, and over the edge of it she could see Masaomi peacefully asleep against the window. She watched him for a long moment and then her hands went to the box and she lifted the lid gently.

The Mask was silent with no mouth or voice of its own. She imagined all the things it could say. All the questions it could answer, but only at the price of someone else's voice. She only had one question, only one thing she felt she was missing now that she had Shinra for all the long years of her life.

"You don't want to know now. Now you're happy. Enjoy it." Celty gently closed the lid to the box to reveal Masaomi looking at her with surprisingly clear eyes. There was nothing empty or vacant in the level look he gave her; instead it was full of the casual insight that Masaomi often displayed but now backed by a pool of infinite wisdom. She was glad to see that it didn't make him look any older. She could just ask him. "You could. And I could answer. But I won't. If you don't ask me, I won't have to refuse."

Shinra stood with his hands on Celty's shoulders. He gave them a squeeze. "We don't need to ask," he said. Celty's hand came up to cover Shinra's.

"You'll find out one day," Masaomi promised. He stood then, shedding the blanket and laying it on the chair before moving towards them. The progress was slow; he got lost for a few minutes looking out a different window and then pulled himself away with a shake of his head. Soon he was standing at the table looking at the box.

"How are you feeling?" Shinra asked.

"Coherent." He pulled the box towards him and opened it.

All three of them looked down at the Mask. Shinra felt edgy, ready to try to grab it if he thought that Masaomi was going to reach for it. Celty held her breath and tightened her grip on Shinra's hand.

Masaomi didn't seem to feel the same sort of concern. In fact, he looked at it almost fondly before reaching in and lifting it out.

"Ah," Shinra said, reaching out.

Celty almost let him, but at the last second some instinct took over. Masaomi holding the Mask made her uncomfortable, but somehow it seemed like letting Shinra touch it, even to take it away, would be more dangerous than just letting Masaomi have it. She tugged him back and laid a finger against his lips.

Masaomi held it up in front of his face and looked through the eyes, though he never held it close enough to touch his face. He handled it without fear. Celty watched through the eye holes as Masaomi's eyes went dark again. Then he suddenly blinked and laughed, pulling it away and turning it to face him.

"Wow," Shinra said in an undertone, not wanting to say anything about how freaked out he was. And he was someone who did not easily get freaked out. He was suddenly very glad that the teenagers had gone out; he was fairly sure that both Mikado and Saki would be having heart failure right about now. "Uh. What's so funny?"

"The world. The way it works." He touched his forehead and nose to the Mask like it was a normal and loved face. Like he was about to kiss it. Then he set it back down gently into its box. Celty sagged in relief once Masaomi had set it down. After a second, she reached for her PDA. Masaomi waved it off. "It wants to go home. It's lonely."

"How do we get it home?" Shinra asked.

"I don't know the whole path. I didn't look." He shrugged and then grinned. "But it would like to meet the Lady of the City to start its journey."

'Does she know where it's from? She never said anything!' Celty typed, clearly indignant.

"I don't . . ." Masaomi choked on the words. His hand went up to his throat and he felt sick.

"Are you all right?" Shinra asked worriedly, leaning forward.

Masaomi shook his head. "Can't lie."

"So . . . don't?" Shinra suggested.

The blonde slumped into a chair and took a couple of deep breaths. "Harder than it sounds."

'No lying at all?' Celty asked, appreciating that Masaomi was at least letting her type now. He shook his head. 'That could make polite conversation difficult.' Masaomi just snorted. Celty gave him a minute, but he was starting to look tired again and she didn't think they'd have that much longer. 'So the Lady knows how to send the Mask home and didn't tell us?'

"Yep." Masaomi forestalled her next question with a shake of his head. "It's not smart to question gods. Even medium sized ones like the Lady."

"Undoubtedly it's one of those zen things," Shinra said. "You know, because she didn't say anything, we all went into action and a lot of things happened that maybe important to our larger fates!" He sounded very excited about this, and struck a dramatic pose for effect.

Celty administered a hellstab. 'Don't pose.'

Shinra coughed as the air whooshed from his lungs. "Why not? Doesn't it make me look cool?"

'No.'

Masaomi shook his head and them pillowed it on his arms on the table. The excited grin faded from Shinra's face as he looked at the teenager. "Why don't you get a little bit more sleep?" he suggested. "You look pretty tired." Masaomi nodded and closed his eyes, clearly thinking that where he was made a fine napping spot. Shinra got the blanket from where he had left it, and tucked it around the teenager's shoulders. "Well," he said, speaking quietly to Celty so as not to disturb him, "once the others are back, should we go pay our respects to the Lady?"

'I might thump her one.' Celty typed before reaching out to close the lid to the box.

Shinra laughed and went back to what he was doing. The three teenagers came back about forty-five minutes later. All of them were exhausted, but at least Mikado seemed to be in a better temper; he took one horrified look at his stack of schoolwork and immediately dove into it. Anri sat down to do hers as well. Saki stood behind Masaomi, who was still asleep on the kitchen table, and gave his shoulders a little rub. "He woke up?" she surmised.

'Yes,' Celty replied. 'He's getting better.'

"We have a quick errand we need to run," Shinra said from his computer. "We'll pick up some dinner while we're out and see if we can't get Masaomi to eat something when we get back."

Celty slid the box towards her and then picked it up.

Saki looked at the box. "Finally getting it out of here?" She wouldn't be sorry to see it go.

Shinra nodded. "It's got a long way to go," he said, "but every journey has a first step. Or something like that."

Saki chuckled, then looked at Shinra and sighed. "Shinra-san? Ears. No one will believe you're cosplaying a Vulcan."

'We'll have to have Izaya teach you how to hide them.' But for now, she had an easier solution. A black helmet formed in her hand and she held it out to Shinra.

"Oh, good idea," Shinra said, rather relieved that he didn't have to stop to learn a bunch of complicated magic. "We'll be back in a bit!" Celty put her own helmet on and then waved before leading Shinra out. He got on the bike behind her and the ride to the highrise complex where the Lady of the City lived went by in relative silence. Despite the fact that they were, in theory, unexpected, nobody in the pricy building bothered them as they went into the elevator and up to the penthouse.

When the elevator door opened, Shinra immediately began to ooh and ahh and explore the clutter. Celty was too busy being surprised to see Shizuo, sitting at the table and feeding what looked like sunflower seeds to the bird. It squawked at her approach. "Visitors! With a gift! Visitors!"

Shizuo looked up at Celty and Shinra and then shrugged. "I like the bird. It's nice."

Celty raised a hand in surrender. 'You don't have to explain yourself to me.'

"Yes, yes," the Lady of the City said, bustling out from between two stacks of books. "Ah, the gang is all here! Except the troublemaker. Which is probably all for the best. He's off making trouble somewhere, I'm sure. How are you, Celty dear? And you've finally brought your young man. Tea? No, you look like you're in a coffee mood today. Let me see . . ." She disappeared as quickly as she had come.

Celty sat at the table and set the box down next to her. She thought about telling Shinra to stop being so nosy, but then changed her mind. The Lady could do with a dose of Shinra. Besides, it wasn't as if a simple admonishment would stop him. He was leafing through a book that looked older than she was with a fascinated expression on his face.

Shizuo was studying Shinra with the same intensity. "You look better," he finally said.

"Oh, I'm fine!" Shinra said cheerfully. "Better than ever."

"Tch," Shizuo said, turning back to the bird.

'How have you been?' Celty asked Shizuo.

He shrugged in response. "The usual."

'Right.' In truth, Celty felt Shizuo's laconic nature endearing.

The Lady bustled back in, carrying what looked like a small espresso maker on a tray. With a flurry of activity, she moved entire stacks of books, chairs, and Shinra, and eventually had everything set out on the table and gestured for them to sit down. "Ah," she said, looking at the box that contained the Mask. "Every journey has its first step."

Celty suddenly feared for how well Shinra and the Lady would get along. 'Yes. Exactly how much did you know about how events would unfold?'

"Oh, I didn't know a bit, dear, I only suspected," the Lady said. "Either way, my interference wouldn't have made any difference."

'I'm not sure Mikado will agree with that.'

The Lady gave her a clear, even look. "I only see maybes, Celty, only see might-have-beens. If it helps our Taichou at all, you can tell him that there were plenty of alternatives that were far worse."

"Here's an idea: let's not tell him that," Shinra said hastily.

'He won't concern himself with worse alternatives. Just the ones where things could have been better. He is very upset about Masaomi.'

The Lady shrugged carelessly and sipped her coffee. "Masaomi's likely the only one of you who could have worn it and then made the choice to take it off again. Taichou is luckier than he knows. When you see the Universe, it's not easy to look away. All that knowledge . . . but Masaomi knew that he didn't really want to know everything. Masaomi heard Taichou's voice and turned away."

Celty mulled that over, her index finger tapping at the table. After a moment she relented and took a mug to wrap her hands around. 'And now, because he wasn't greedy, he gets what everyone wants from the Mask, but doesn't have to pay the price.'

"Basically, yes," the Lady said with a nod. "And not to sound mercenary, but that might prove rather useful to Taichou in the future."

"He would never use his friend like that," Shizuo said, not looking up from the bird.

'Shizuo is right. But Masaomi also will sometimes offer anyway. He's like that, I think.'

"Let's face it," Shinra said, amused, "Masaomi-kun has hardly been asking permission before saying whatever the hell he feels like."

'. . . Alarmingly true.'

"So!" The Lady clapped her hands. "All's well that ends well. And I will see that our Mask here gets safely back to its original owner. You have my word. He will be very happy to see it return, I'm sure."

'And Masaomi should continue to recover?' She wanted a firm answer. Mikado and the others needed it.

The Lady in the City looked at her over the rim of her mug. "What did I just tell you, dear?"

"That you only see maybes and might-have-beens," Shinra answered promptly.

"Precisely. Gauge the situation with your own eyes. You certainly don't need my help to tell you what you already know. Now . . ." She turned to Shinra. "What to do with you? Someone's going to need to teach you some things shortly."

Celty felt like pouting. She didn't have eyes currently. But there was no point. The Lady was the Lady. 'Izaya can teach him about glamours, but I'm at a bit of a loss after that. Do you have any advice?'

"Oh, well," the Lady said, sipping her coffee, "it's always best to go back to the source."

Shinra sighed. "Let's just make sure we never mention this to my father."

'Ever,' Celty agreed.

oOoOo

Masaomi knew something was . . . off. He couldn't say wrong because it wasn't wrong. Promises had been made, and they were being kept. So nothing was wrong exactly. But maybe he wasn't quite right yet either.

He knew he was messing things up. Forgetting to eat, sleeping in the wrong places at the wrong times, staring at nothing. Even though, in his mind, there was something there. Or would be. But there was so much in his mind now, things that didn't have time for food, things that moved easier when he was asleep. Sometimes he would stop talking in the middle of sentences, but he couldn't help it. He was being shown so many new things that sometimes he had to leave a thought behind to catch a new one. They were slippery like that.

It worried Mikado. Saki and Anri too. It worried them into frustration, but it worried Mikado into pieces. That was true. If there was no Masaomi there would be no Mikado. That was also true. And new to him. It wasn't new to Mikado but it was new to Masaomi. It was also true that without Mikado there would be no Masaomi. That was old news, but still very true.

He stared out the window, hand pressed to the glass. There was so much out there, so many true stories. It spread through his perception like a woven blanket or a piece of orchestral music. He stood in the middle of it and turned around, looking at and hearing things no one else could see.

Here and now was solid and whole and a pleasant hum of music. But here was a very small place. A bubble of the world made safe by Celty's magic and the people looking after him. Outside the warm blanket turned ragged and the calming hum started to rattle as parts of the music fell away, unable to reach him.

He had to get out.

Somehow, he wasn't sure when he had moved, he ended up standing in front of Mikado, rocking back and forth on his heels, toes curling in his socks. He shook his head once to clear it because talking to Mikado like he had a functioning brain was important. "I need to get out."

Mikado blinked at him, then said, cautiously, "Out?" as if he didn't have a functioning brain at all. Which made sense, given that he had barely slept for the past several days.

"Out," he repeated, and looked at Mikado expectantly.

"O-Oh," Mikado said, getting to his feet. "Okay. Where do you want to go?"

Now it was Masaomi who blinked. Wasn't out good enough? He just needed to get the world to stop rattling. Clearly it wasn't good enough. "Not here." That was really his only criteria. But he thought maybe he should try to explain. "It's rattling and won't stop until I go out."

Mikado didn't think he had the slightest idea what that meant, but from the way Masaomi was fidgeting, it was obviously unpleasant. He took a deep breath to ground himself and said, "Okay. Why don't we go to Russia Sushi? We could get something to eat and say hi to Simon."

Masaomi shrugged. One place was as good as another. "Sure." He stepped back and headed towards the door, then paused midstep because he was thinking about Simon, and that was a lot of story he hadn't known before. But still. "Simon's nice. Okay."

"Do you want me to call the girls and have them meet us there?" Mikado asked. He wasn't sure what he thought of the idea. Both of the girls had been worried about Masaomi, of course, but the blonde seemed to do better when there were fewer people around. Of course, how this made a trip to Russia Sushi anything but a terrible idea, Mikado wasn't sure either.

Masaomi tried to wrap his mind around that question, to find an answer. The universe liked giving him answers. "Saki's busy with . . ." Well, he wasn't sure, things fell apart too soon. "Saki things."

"Okay." Mikado managed a hesitant, almost painful smile. "Just the two of us, then."

Masaomi started heading towards the door then, because he needed to get out, but walked backward. Mikado's smile was a sad smile. He didn't like it. "It promised. It's fine." Because that was true too.

The last time Masaomi had said 'it promised', Mikado had tried to ask exactly who had promised what, but the answer he had gotten was so nonsensical that it had only made that dull ache in his stomach worse. He wasn't about to ask again, and said only, "Ah, Masaomi, your shoes – "

"Yes?"

"You're not wearing any," Mikado pointed out.

"I like socks." He let this percolate and rattle around for a moment since Mikado was wearing a look that was half exasperation and half sadness. It rattled and then clicked. They were going out; shoes were needed. He plopped down and pulled them on.

Relieved, Mikado turned and called out, "Celty-san? Shinra-sensei? Masaomi and I are going to go out for a little bit. He needs some fresh air."

Celty appeared from the other room, walking and typing at the same time. 'Wait a moment.' She handed the PDA to Mikado and did something with the shadows at her fingertips. A second later, she gently took Masaomi's hand and wrapped what looked like a black leather bracelet around his wrist. It fit snugly without being tight.

Masaomi blinked at it and then at her. "I won't get lost."

Celty took back the PDA. 'It'll make me feel better.' She was pretty sure that she had had experience with faerie-touched crazy humans before, though the details weren't in her memory.

"I'll stay close to him," Mikado promised her, his hand hovering tentatively near Masaomi's, like he wanted to take him by the wrist but wasn't sure how he would react. Masaomi watched Celty for another long minute and then reached out and took Mikado's hand. Mikado jumped slightly, but then managed another one of his nervous smiles. "We'll be fine," he told Celty, wishing that he believed it.

Masaomi grinned. "We'll be great." Because he needed to get out. And it would eventually all sort itself out. The weave would fill in and the rattling would turn to music.

Mikado grabbed his green and white jacket, though he didn't bother to put it on. It wasn't too late, and it was still warm outside. He watched Masaomi carefully as they took the elevator down. He wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything to say. Masaomi followed along docilely enough until they left the building and the circle of Celty's influence. Then he stopped cold. It was suddenly so loud. Mikado stopped when he stopped, his hand tightening on Masaomi's. "Are you okay?"

Masaomi's free hand came up to cover his ear, even though it didn't help. The other hung on tightly to Mikado. His eyes squeezed closed. "It's loud."

"Do you want to go back in?" Mikado asked, wishing that he had any sort of clue about how to handle this.

Masaomi shook his head, blonde hair whipping. "Just have to wait. The rattle will be a hum." He could hear it starting to sort itself out. Just a little.

"Oh . . . okay."

"Yes," Masaomi said brightly, one eye cracking open. After another moment, he adjusted to the noise that wasn't there for anyone but him, and then started to tug Mikado along.

Mikado went along willingly enough, biting his lower lip as he struggled to decide whether or not he wanted to ask his question. "Hey . . . what's it like?"

Masaomi turned to look at him for a long moment. "The Universe?" he asked, like he wasn't quite sure that was what Mikado meant. Then he said, "Yeah, the Universe." He reined his mind in as best as he could. It was a little easier now that the din was starting to settle and the holes were filling in. It was disturbing before. Big blotches of empty. But Mikado had asked a question. It was important to answer questions just right. "Loud. Rattling like . . ." He looked for the right word. "Discord. And parts are empty. Like you could fall through to nothing." He smiled then. "But it'll be music soon. It'll be amazing."

Seeing that smile on Masaomi's face, Mikado finally managed a real smile of his own. The expression felt a little odd after so many days without, but it was genuine. "Okay," he said. Without thinking, not even caring that they were now standing on a street corner, he wrapped his arms around Masaomi's waist and hugged him hard. "I hope it's amazing soon."

Masaomi was startled. He hadn't seen this coming, but something out there that sounded a lot like words in the slowly resolving noise told him that he was an idiot and he should have. He hugged Mikado back. "It promised. It'll be okay."

"It . . . the universe promised?" Mikado asked, not letting go.

"Uh huh." He pressed his nose into Mikado's neck and thought that this was pretty nice, really. The noise was getting better, less jarring.

Mikado blushed, but made no attempts to push Masaomi away. "Did the universe tell you anything else that I should know about?"

Masaomi thought about that. There were definitely words. He scowled against Mikado. "That I need a therapist." He was pouting like only a crazy person could.

"The – the universe says you need a therapist?" Mikado asked, startled into pulling away slightly.

Masaomi was still very definitely pouting. "Yes."

Mikado bit down on his lower lip. Hard. It didn't help. The first snicker escaped him a few moments later. "Is – is that supposed to be a surprise?" he managed, and then broke out into gales of laughter, unable to help himself.

The sound of Mikado's laughter shifted the noise just enough that he could now hear rhythm and pattern to it. It felt more steady and his head cleared a little. It wouldn't last all the time yet, he knew, but he thought it would come and go until it finally stayed. "You're all mean to me."

"I – I just – I'm sorry but – " Mikado was laughing so hard that he had to use the wall of the building to stay on his feet. He fumbled for his phone. "I have to text everyone I know and tell them that the universe says you need a therapist – "

"What? No!" Masaomi dove for the phone.

"Hah, yes!" Mikado was holding it above his head, texting unerringly despite not actually being able to see the keyboard.

"Give me that." Masaomi made a grab for it, and when that failed, he pounced and began tickling Mikado's ribs, though he was careful to avoid the still-healing injuries.

Mikado let out a yelp of laughter, aware somewhere in the back of his mind that they were on a public street (though fortunately a quiet one) and making quite a scene. He had a feeling that a week ago, he would have tried to put a stop to it, but he couldn't bring himself to now. It felt so good to laugh, and even better to see Masaomi acting like his old self. He yielded the phone with good grace; he could always send the message out later. He would put it up on the Dollars forum in big letters. 'Breaking news: Masaomi needs a therapist.' Saki would get a real kick out of it. The very thought made him start laughing again.

Masaomi clutched the phone in one hand and Mikado's shirt in the other, laughing helplessly. "See?" he said in between. "Amazing."

"I guess the world really is an amazing place," Mikado said, feeling like he truly appreciated it for the first time. He remembered Izaya telling him to learn to enjoy every day life, rather than just trying to escape it, and wondered if this was what he had meant.

Masaomi grinned. "It is. It really, really is." He sobered some then. "I can't hold on to this all the time yet." He waved at his own head. He didn't want to ruin the mood, but he wanted Mikado to understand while he was making sense.

"I . . . I kind of figured." The smile faded, but didn't completely disappear. "I think that's okay. Even when you're not . . . all here . . . I'll still be here." He took Masaomi's hand and squeezed it again. "With you."

Masaomi just threw in the towel then, leaned over, and kissed Mikado's cheek. "It'll get better, though. It's just taking time, that's all."

"Okay." Mikado let out a breath. "But . . . I want to tell you something, and I want to be sure that you understand it, I mean really understand it." He looked up and met Masaomi's gaze. "If you ever sacrifice yourself to save me, I won't be saved."

The statement hung in the air for a moment. Masaomi looked at his friend, watched the threads as they wove around the words, a pattern of truth that could not be denied. Without Masaomi, there would be no Mikado – at least, not Mikado as he knew him. After a long moment, he nodded. "Okay," he said.

"Okay," Mikado repeated. He seemed satisfied. "Do you still want sushi?"

"Yeah. But I'll probably be weird by the time we get there." He could look ahead now. See where the music would fall apart. He would fall apart with it, but it would sort itself out.

"You're always weird," Mikado told him, and poked him in the ribs.

"Weirder," he said with a laugh and a swat at Mikado.

"Then you'll fit right in at Russia Sushi," Mikado said, determined not to let this stop them in their expedition.

Masaomi stops and looks thoughtful. "I'm trying to decide just who you insulted there. Me or them."

Mikado wasn't really sure either. He was basically just saying whatever popped into his mind; it seemed like a good way to keep up with Masaomi in his scattered state. After a few moments of thought, he firmly stated, "Yes."

Masaomi laughed. "Now that's talent."

"Exactly," Mikado said. He started walking again, though somewhat hesitantly, waiting to see if Masaomi would keep up with him. Now that he seemed to be a little more lucid, he decided to ask again. "Do you want to see if Saki-san and Anri-san want to meet us there?"

Masaomi grabbed his hand again and shook his head. "Saki's busy and Anri is . . ." He stopped walking, looking up and into nothing, going vague for a moment, then shaking off. "Doing something. I dunno."

"You don't have to know everything," Mikado told him.

"It would all be so boring then."

Feeling a little emboldened by the fact that he had gotten a somewhat coherent answer to his last question, Mikado asked, "Well, why is it that you know some things and not others? How . . . how does all this work? I know you took off the Mask before you could see everything everything, but why is it that you know some things and not others?"

Masaomi pondered this. He actually had to figure the answer out for himself before he could tell Mikado. "No one can know everything. It's all there," he said, throwing one arm out in a broad gesture. "But it's threads and themes. I have to follow or I get lost." Which he realized he was doing a little. Things were starting to fray again. He forcefully pulled himself together. "I have to know where to start."

"So it's just like trying to figure things out in the real world," Mikado said, "only a lot more so."

Masaomi nodded. "And I can sometimes see what hasn't happened yet."

"I wonder how that works," Mikado said, almost to himself. "Is it because you actually know? Or is it because you know so many of the pieces that you can draw things out to their logical conclusion . . ."

"That's what you do," Masaomi said, shaking his head. "That takes skill."

"Does it?" Mikado asked, blinking at him.

"Are you insane?"

Mikado wasn't sure what the right answer to that question was. "No?"

"Then why are you asking 'does it?' Of course it does."

Mikado rubbed his hand over the back of his head and let out a somewhat embarrassed laugh. "I guess I just don't think of it that way? I mean, it doesn't seem difficult in my head. I just . . . look at all the pieces until they all line up in my head. It's not like I have to think that hard."

"And so modest!" Masaomi said, though he was just teasing.

"Shut up!" Mikado protested, now acutely embarrassed.

Masaomi laughed, because Mikado was so oblivious to how special he was, and would continue to be oblivious for years and years. He could see it. It was funny now and it would be funny then.

"Let's talk about something else," Mikado said, feeling grumpy. Russia Sushi was just around the corner, and he could already hear Simon assuring the passersby that trying it just once wouldn't kill them. A stunning endorsement, it was not. Mikado often wondered what genius had put Simon in charge of trying to pull in customers.

"Like what?" He could talk about anything. There were so many options all rattling against each other waiting to be seen and heard.

"What do you want to talk about?" Mikado asked, seeing the expression on Masaomi's face and reading it correctly.

Masaomi startled at that and then shook his head. "I can't decide. It's all there. It wouldn't be fair to pick."

"Oh . . . okay," Mikado said.

He wasn't quite sure where to go from there, but fortunately, at that point they rounded the corner and Russia Sushi, along with Simon's rather imposing presence, came into view. Simon spotted them as they walked closer and smiled congenially. "Ah, hello! Masaomi, it's good to see you up and about again. You're well now, I hope?"

"I was never unwell." He looked confused. He felt confused. "Nothing was wrong."

"Masaomi," Mikado reminded him gently, "you were unconscious for two days, remember?"

Masaomi shook his head. He didn't remember. He wasn't awake for it. But still . . . "Maybe not right but not wrong either."

"Well," Simon said, still smiling, "as long as you are well now, that will be enough to satisfy me."

Masaomi looked at Simon flatly for a long minute and then smiled brightly. "That's the truth."

Simon's smile never faltered. "Make sure you try the scallops today! We just got them in fresh and they're excellent!"

"Thanks, Simon," Mikado said, ducking his head slightly.

Masaomi made an appreciative noise and went where Mikado wanted him to go. Mikado steered him into the shop, and stopped when he saw the four familiar people sitting in one of the little rooms. He wasn't sure that Masaomi was up to dealing with Kadota and his weird little gang, but he was very sure that he should say hi, particularly after Kadota had helped him get the Dollars organized for this latest adventure.

Masaomi stopped when Mikado did and took the opportunity to survey the new view of the world. The music was gone, but he knew it would be back. And the weave had changed. It was unusually tight and solid, though the pattern was crazy-looking. Even the universe thought Yumasaki and Karisawa were weird.

Mikado waved hesitantly as Kadota looked up, and took a few steps closer. He wasn't eager to have a repeat of the conversation they had just had with Simon, but he wasn't sure how to avoid it, either, until Karisawa pounced on them and said, "You have to tell us all about Shizuo and Izaya's clandestine affair! Nobody else will give me any details!"

"What?" That was so weird it even got through to Masaomi.

"Be quiet!" Kadota said simultaneously, his cheeks flushing pink.

"Don't tell me you don't know!" Karisawa said fiercely. "Everyone knows that you all teamed up to beat the Green Nights, even Shizuo and Izaya!"

"And . . . this leads to . . . a clandestine . . .?" Mikado asked, feeling lost.

"No," Kadota said firmly. "No, it does not. You guys want to join us?"

Masaomi quietly sat down without saying a word. Mikado gave him a rather startled look, then hastily said, "Ah, we'd like that. Thank you." He plopped down next to the other teenager. "And thank you for all your help this week."

Kadota waved this off, having given up on convincing Mikado that his help had been minimal at best. "Glad you're up and around again, Kida."

Masaomi shrugged. "I had to get out."

"I know the feeling," Kadota replied, as Karisawa busily pulled up her photo of Shizuo and Izaya together and started waving it in Mikado's face.

Masaomi snorted, tuning in for real for a second. "Does she know she's wrong?" It was hard to tell with Karisawa.

"Hope springs eternal," Kadota said dryly.

oOoOo

Izaya spun around once in his chair, thinking about the brave new world he was facing.

He had been by to visit Shinra that morning, just to 'check up on him', but also as an excuse to get a gander at how Masaomi was doing after his brief encounter with the infinite. He had been somewhat unnerved when Masaomi had simply looked at him. There had been an uneasy feeling somewhere in the pit of Izaya's stomach that Masaomi knew him now, in a way that no one else did, perhaps even better than Izaya knew himself.

Fortunately for him, as the minutes ticked by and Izaya fake-fussed over Shinra (who was recovered in pretty much every way possible and required no fussing whatsoever), Masaomi seemed to forget he was there, becoming vague and detached and occasionally spouting nonsense while Mikado honest-fussed over him. All of which Izaya found very interesting, especially the type of nonsense he spouted.

Which was what led to him sitting in his office, with his chair readjusted for his puck legs as he had given up the ghost and dropped that bomb on Namie as soon as she had returned (both to see the look on her face and just to make his life easier), spinning around in his chair. Just thinking about things. He was still there when there was a knock on his door. He waved vaguely at Namie and she stood up to answer it as he shrugged back into his human glamour.

The door swung open soundlessly, and Izaya waited to hear who it was, but Namie didn't say anything, and after a moment, he heard a familiar voice said, "Good afternoon, Yagiri-san." Izaya glanced up to see Namie stone-faced as she stood back and let Mikado and Saki enter. He grinned at them and gestured for them to come all the way in.

"Social visit?" he asked, surprised to see them together but not betraying that emotion. He wondered who was staying with Masaomi while they were on this field trip, which undoubtedly was not to check on him.

Mikado and Saki glanced at each other. Then Saki said, "We wanted to speak to you."

"By all means, my fine protégé," Izaya said, waving lazily. "By all means."

"Privately," Mikado added.

Izaya lifted his eyebrows. He looked at Namie. She glared at him. After an interminably long moment, Mikado turned and looked at her, too. Her glare did not lessen. She held his even gaze for the space of a few heartbeats, then abruptly announced, "I'm going to go get some coffee," and left the office without another word. Izaya was impressed. He hadn't known it was possible to stare Namie down; certainly he hadn't won any of the staring contests she had initiated with him, though that was mainly because he never felt like putting in the effort.

Mikado waited until the door had closed behind her before turning back to Izaya and said, "First of all, we wanted you to know that we're not angry with you about what happened to Masaomi."

"Oh?" Izaya laughed. "Well. That takes a burden off my mind."

They ignored the sarcasm. Saki said, "We know that you and Shinra have been friends for a long time, and you were trying to save him. Either of us would sacrifice you to save Masaomi, so we feel it's only fair that you were willing to do the reverse. So, we aren't angry."

"Great," Izaya said. "Since you said 'first', I assume there's a 'second' which is nowhere near as friendly."

"You know what Masaomi is now," Mikado said. "I saw the way you were looking at him."

This surprised Izaya as well. Mikado had seemed so preoccupied by making sure Masaomi wasn't walking into walls that he had never so much as spoken to Izaya during the entire hour that he was at Shinra and Celty's apartment. Izaya knew quite well how observant the teenager was, but he hadn't expected he was paying any attention to him. "Okay," he said. "So?"

"So, if you ever try to use him, or sell the information of what he is and what he can do to anyone else, we'll destroy you," Mikado said.

It was put simply, with no malice: a simple business transaction. Izaya could tell by the flat way he phrased it and the blank look on his face that he meant every word. Oddly enough, he enjoyed the threat. He liked seeing that steel backbone that lived underneath Mikado's quiet exterior; it transformed the teen from one of the most boring people Izaya had ever met to one of the most fascinating.

"Okay," he said again.

"So you agree?" Saki's voice was sharp and her gaze sharper. It was obvious that his easy acceptance unnerved her.

"No," Izaya said. "Not exactly. I'm not going to make any promises. That's partly because apparently breaking promises is a big deal to fae, but to be honest I wouldn't have even if I wasn't or didn't know that. I respect you both too much to do that. The day may come when the need to use or sell that information may outweigh your threat. What I will say is this: I have heard your threat, and I acknowledge that either one of you is capable of carrying it out, let alone both of you put together, and should the day come when I choose to use the information, I'll do it in full knowledge of what's going to happen to me afterwards. And then I'll try like hell to make sure that it doesn't happen."

Mikado and Saki gave each other another glance. A lot was clearly exchanged in that one look without them having to speak a word. Izaya felt a flicker of amusement. Working together, Mikado and Saki would be damned near unstoppable; adding in Masaomi and Anri made things even more frightening. And they were only sixteen. He had created a monster. "Okay," Saki said. "That seems fair."

"Thank you," Mikado added.

Izaya considered them for a few minutes. "How is he?"

"He's fine," Saki said.

"He's amazing," Mikado added, a slight smile touching his lips.

"Then it all works out," Izaya said, spinning once in his chair.

"I guess you could put it that way," Mikado said, though his lips tightened somewhat at Izaya's cavalier disregard, his attitude that the outcome was all that mattered. "But how long do you think it'll be before Celty-san figures out what actually happened in there?"

Izaya's chair rolled to a stop. He said nothing.

"Because if we figured it out – both of us, individually, without having to put our heads together," Saki added, "it won't be long before she recovers from the emotional shock enough to start thinking about it herself."

Izaya regarded them both, particularly the expressions on their faces. Mikado's was still blank. Saki was smiling her usual sweet smile. "What, exactly, did you two 'figure out'?" he asked.

"C'mon, Izaya-san," Saki said, now laughing. "Yes, Shinra-sensei is your friend. Yes, you wanted to save his life. But it wasn't just that. You had to have been desperate to try to use the Mask on the Founder of the Dollars. You needed the fastest solution possible because you knew that the knowledge to save Shinra was probably in Celty's head, and you knew that if he died and she found out later that you could have saved him by giving back what's rightfully hers anyway, she would come after you in ways that even you can't imagine."

"You used Masaomi and me to protect yourself," Mikado continued. "You didn't want Celty-san thinking about what could have happened. Right now, Shinra-san's okay so Celty-san doesn't care about her head. But the day is going to come when she does care, Izaya-san, and the day is going to come when Celty-san puts the pieces together just like we did. And on that day, not even being one of the Dollars is going to save you, so you'd better start thinking about exactly how soon you want that day to come."

Izaya smiled at both of them. "Was that a threat?" he asked.

"Yes," Mikado said.

"I see." Izaya leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table. He let the glamour drop. Neither of them flinched. "You might want to start thinking about everything that's happened in the past year and how it all fits together. Things have worked out pretty well for you, from what I've done. You were never going to have the balls to tell Masaomi-kun or Anri-chan about who you really were, and the same goes for them. Now, because of what I did, it's all out in the open and you can all work together. And as a bonus, Masaomi-kun pulled his head out of his ass and apologized to Saki, and now the two of them can live happily ever after. Or the three of you. Or four. Whatever. I don't judge."

Mikado's expression never changed. "I don't care," he said.

"Oh?" Izaya asked.

"I don't care," Mikado repeated. "When I was talking with Kadota-san about the Dollars, he told me that nobody gave a damn about my intentions. Maybe that's true, but personally I find intentions just as important as the outcome. You didn't mean for any of that to happen."

"You don't know that," Izaya pointed out.

Mikado waved this aside. "It wasn't your primary goal, at least; maybe you considered it as a possible contingency but that's as far as it ever would have gotten, because the truth is that you never wanted Masaomi to be with Saki-san, and the fact that she likes him more than she likes you is always going to sting, which is why you're such a jerk to him."

Izaya laughed. "Those are some interesting conclusions, Mikado-kun," he said.

"I stand by them," Mikado replied. "You're nowhere near as subtle as you think you are."

With a shrug, Izaya continued, "Anyway, disregarding all that, it's still true what they say about intentions. The road to hell is paved with good ones."

"Yes," Mikado said, "and I bet the road paved with bad intentions leads somewhere even worse."

Izaya studied him for a long moment, then laughed again. "Point, set, and match."

Mikado turned around and walked out. Saki smiled at Izaya and said, "See you around," before following him, linking her hand in Mikado's as the door swung shut behind them.

Izaya's chair spun, and spun, and spun. He looked at the ceiling. Life just kept getting more interesting. It looked like it was going to be a good year.

oOoOo

~finis~