Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

  Shizuo hasn’t seen anything other than machines in a very, very long time. And no, the animals don’t count.

  He barely made it out of the Forest Kingdom, and his internal wiring and coolant are malfunctioning, getting worse with every step he takes across the rickety bridge.

  If he can make it to the Resistance camp... they can help.

  He stumbles, barely regaining his footing on the rocks at the end of the bridge. 

  Shizuo hears a metallic clicking, and motors running. Shit. 

  He slowly lifts his head, and sees at least thirty machines, with more flying over in the distance. Their eyes blinking red at him. 

  Shizuo has about two seconds to think Aw shit, and then they lunge for him. 

  He whirls his lance around, the weapon also holding on for dear life, blowing half the machines away from him. He has to get away from the cliff edge. If he falls, he will not survive. 

  It doesn’t matter how many he stabs, punches, and launches into the sky; the machines keep coming. 

  Dammit, I’m not even a YoRHa, I can’t handle this shit!

  He’s being overwhelmed and he knows it. His obscene strength offline at this point. His body is far too damaged. 

  Might as well take as many down with me.

  Right as the thought crosses his mind, a flurry of knives whip past his body, slicing the machines open with deadly precision. 

  Shizuo doesn’t have time to worry about it, he silently thanks his savior, and continues to fight. 

  the knives dances around him, never nicking Shizuo once. In the few moments that he can see them, they seem to all be attached by a string of magnetism, or some other force. The air between them is disrupted, like heat waves over pavement. 

  He takes a heavy blow from one of the machines’ ball of electric energy, and he’s down. He won’t be getting back up. 

  Two black-clad feet land neatly in front of Shizuo’s face. They leap, and dance between bodies of machines, metal body parts falling to the ground in droves. 

  Shizuo must have blacked out for a minute or so, because the next thing he knows, those feet are in front of him again. He sits up. 

  His mysterious hero is crouched, balancing on the balls of his feet. He’s wearing the typical YoRHa tunic the males wear, but something about it is different, the cut maybe? 

  He’s wearing dark pants too, instead of shorts. The leather cloth covered his eyes (though Shizuo knows the cloth is actually a set of goggles). He has jet black hair instead of the typical white the YoRHa have. 

  He’s smirking too. Shizuo doesn’t like this one. 

  “I don’t like you,” he blurts, his mouth working faster than he can stop it. 

  The smirk grows, raising Shizuo’s irritation. “Oh? That’s too bad. Is that any way to greet your savior?”

  Shizuo doesn’t like his voice, either. It’s too silky smooth, like he’s hiding something. “Shut your mouth before I-“ Shizuo doubles over, his body reminding him he’s in desperate needs of repair. 

  “Hoh~? Would you like some help there?”

  Gritting his teeth, Shizuo swallows his pride, and takes the gloved hand offered to him. 

  They only make it a few steps before the annoying one opens his mouth again. “So, you got a name?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Heh, hi there, Shut Up. My name is IO.”

  Shizuo growls. Why did the most annoying android have to be the one to find him? He wishes he let the machines push him into the ravine. 

  Finally, finally, the make it to the Resistance camp, a pair of androids immediately taking Shizuo by the shoulders, leaving the annoying one, IO, to disappear, back out into the city ruins. 

  After endless years of studying and training, IO is finally allowed to leave for the Surface. All he’s ever known is a small set of rooms of the Bunker (not even the entire satellite! Just a few rooms!) and now he gets to go to Earth. 

  He gets to put on his YoRHa uniform and wear it in combat, he gets a flight unit, he gets to see the world that the humans once lived in and treasured. 

  He’s not like the standard YoRHa android. He was once a real, living human. Sure it was thousands of years ago, but IO once lived with humans, as a human. 

  His thoughts, feelings, and personality are all facets of the human he once was. 

  Though, he’s missing several important details of that human life. He doesn’t know the arguably important things. His name is still a mystery. He’s only been able to remember a few concrete things:

  The matching faces of two little girls,

  A mischievous smile on a boy wearing glasses

  And the name ‘Shizu-chan.’

  He used to remember a few more things, but when he asked, those memories were forcibly removed. He doesn’t let Command, or the androids of the moon know that he remembers more. 

  In a way, he’s using his first mission to the surface as a way to escape YoRHa. He’ll cut himself from the server, and go off the grid. 

  His flight unit lands on a half-destroyed building, taking off the second his toes touch the concrete. 

  IO stops, and breathes in fresh air for the first time. The Bunker always did seem so stale. 

  The moment doesn’t last long, clangs of metal and explosion disrupt his moment. 

  IO looks below, and sees a lone android surrounded by an ocean of the machines.  It’s clear the android is already being overwhelmed. 

  This seems fun, he thinks to himself, and pulls his knife out. Flinging it straight towards a machine’s eye, the knife divides and replicated, so IO can control six knives, instead of one.

  He’s careful not to damage his potential ally any further, letting the knives slice open machines without a glance in their direction.

  The android falls to the ground, so IO decides to make his entrance, and he leaps to the ground. He lands just inches from the other androids face, barely making a sound or tremor. 

  He was given a superior body to the other YoRHa, after all then. Now, let’s test these legs. 

  He pulls the heavy long sword from his back, and springs. The machines didn’t stand a chance. 

  YoRHa may be fast, but IO is faster. He’s grinning for the entire slaughter, and suddenly, it’s quiet. All machine life forms have been destroyed, he mimics the Pods to himself. 

  Turning, he finally gets a good look at the other android. Quite frankly, IO isn’t sure how he’s even alive. 

  Once golden hair, now half singed from humans’ know what, black soot and smudges everywhere. The androids clothes are torn, and some of his internal wiring is exposed. 

  Ah, but those eyes. They’re dark and full of fire! IO finds himself smiling again. 

  “I don’t like you.”

  He raises his eyebrows, though they are hidden behind his goggles. “That’s too bad.”

  Maybe this is one of the androids he’s supposed to monitor and report on, he’s certainly belligerent and temperamental enough. 

  IO gets the other android up and walking... shambling, really, and he follows his map to the nearby camp. 

  The other android is taken away swiftly, and IO makes his exit. This world seems so fun already. 

Chapter Text

  “I don’t like you”

”I’LL KILL THEM DEAD I’LL KILL THEM DEADER THAN DEAD”

  “Aw, that’s too bad”

“Damn flea”

  “I know the flea is behind this”

”What’s your game”

  “I don’t know what you mean...”

  “...Shizu-chan”

  Gasping, Shizuo comes to, the image of blood red eyes still lingering in his mind. 

  Glancing around, he realizes he’s in the spare room of the Resistance camp. 

  Right, Devola and Popola we’re fixing me up... they had to hack into me too. 

  Shizuo grabs the fresh set of clothes next to him, quickly dresses, and strides out into the camp. He needs to see Anemone. 

  “Hey, you were in pretty rough shape yesterday, take it easy,” she says when Shizuo reaches her. 

  He shakes his head, “No, no time. Did you see the android who brought me in yesterday?”

  She looks surprised. “No, I assumed my guys had found you nearby, why what’s up?”

  Shizuo frowns, and just shakes his head. He needs to find the other android, something isn’t right. 

  “Sorry, Anemone, I’ve gotta go,” and Shizuo turns and runs out of the camp, Anemone calling after him. 

  The android is too strange, almost familiar, like Shizuo knows him from- from before. 

  Because Shizuo isn’t YoRHa, he was created before that project. He was a part of the Rebuilding of Humanity. A project that had existed for who knows how many thousands of years. 

  Human minds: personalities and belief systems were all put into programs and restored. They were kept separate and pristine. Someone knew humanity was doomed, and they wanted to preserve what they could. 

  Shizuo was among the preserved, and he was “awoken” a few hundred years ago. He didn’t have a purpose, he didn’t even know who he was. He was just created to exist, like real humans were supposed to exist. 

  He had few memories of his human life, just glimpses here and there, like knives and red eyes, or smoke and a motorcycle. Over time, however, his memories began to slowly recover themselves. 

  He remembered his name. He remembered his ‘legacy’ of being a monster of a human (which explains why he’s a monster of an android). He has not yet remembered who the red eyes belong to.

  He wasn’t the only one of the project that began to remember. When they were first brought to the Surface, many had floods of memories come back and fry their mental circuits. Shizuo was technically a lucky one.

  He came to resent the androids that created him. If he’d died long ago, that means it was his time. What right do they have to revive him?

  They caught onto his anger and rebellious sentiment, and so, they left Shizuo on the Surface. They abandoned him to die.

  This was not the first or last time androids had been abandoned by their creators. The first trial of YoRHa units were all sent to die as their mission. Shizuo heard pieces of the story from A2 and Anemone. 

  So he can’t help, but be suspicious of this not-quite-right YoRHa android who appeared out of nowhere, and doesn’t bear the same uniform or have the usual Pod floating nearby. 

  But Shizuo doesn’t have a Pod, or an internal map. So how can he find a mysterious android that likely doesn’t want to be found? 

  As his thoughts wandered, his body took him to the abandoned factory. Perhaps he has a natural compass for dangerous or annoying situations. 

  Might as well check inside, it’s been a while since I’ve come in here...

  Shizuo steps into the factory, the doors sliding shut behind him, sealing him in darkness.

  IO was told his main target was the deserter androids, but he still needs to eliminate as many machines as possible.

  That being said, he hadn’t really thought that the machines would be smart enough to get the factory working again. 

  IO is built for speed, not close combat. The crowded halls of the factory aren’t helpful whatsoever. 

  He leaps off a rail, catching the one on the opposite side of what looks to be an actual lava pit. Why is that necessary? Why would machines need a lava pit? Is it just pure intimidation?

  Are the machines even smart enough for intimidation...?

  These questions were evidently too distracting for IO, as a ball of electric energy hits him point blank. 

  Unfortunately he was running in that direction too so the force threw him back several feet and into a wall. He left a dent. 

  He isn’t even standing before he has his knives out and flying, cutting the machines arms off. Energy gun disabled. 

  The machine runs at him, and IO brings his long sword forward, right into the core of the machine. He kicks it into the lava pit. 

  He’s running again, trying to find the exit, and he doesn’t notice the sudden and suspicious lack of machines. He’s too focused on getting out. 

  The blunt end of a lance hits IO in his right knee, taking him down for half a second. 

  It’s not a long moment, but it’s long enough for the golden android to jump out from the shadows above, and pin IO down on his back. 

  Damn, he’s stronger than other androids...

  IO is beaten, and he knows it, so he decides to do what he does best: tease and provoke. (Which, by the way, doesn’t work on the machines, so IO has been rather bored). 

  “Oh, it’s you again! You should at least romance me a bit, first, before you have your way with me.”

  “Hah?!”

  Ooh, ow that grip hurts. Seriously why does an android need that kind of grip strength? 

  “Ah! Alright, alright, relax! My arms are gonna be torn off!”

  The golden android glares, but loosens his grip, not by much, though. 

  They stare, well, the golden android stares at IO’s goggles, but the idea is the same. 

  Just as IO is about to start complaining again, the other speaks. 

  “Who are you?”

  “Well, I told you, I’m-“

  “No. Who are you?”

  “Emphasizing the words doesn’t make the definition change.”

  “God dammit!” And he rips IO’s goggles off, freezing the second they meet eyes. 

  “...Red...eyes...”

Chapter Text

  Red eyes, the color of fresh blood. Their image has haunted Shizuo since he woke up as an android. They probably haunted him when he was still a human, too. 

  But YoRHa don’t have red eyes. Only grey and blue. 

  And the eyes of a corrupted android are a sickly crimson inside the pupils. 

  No, these eyes only belong to this android. This particularly infuriating android. Who won’t shut up. 

  “...If you’d get off me maybe we can have a real conversation, but I see you’re too beastly to understand the concept-“

  Shizuo quickly stood up and kicked the other across the ledge they’re on. 

  “Shut the fuck up before I kill you. Now, I want some answers from you, and you’re gonna fucking talk.”

  But the little pest isn’t even listening, he’s not even looking at Shizuo, the nerve!

  Shizuo feels something in his chest pop (usually happens when he gets too angry) a he goes for the other’s throat, but the skinny little shit dodges, rolling to his left. 

  “Get back here! I’m gonna kill you!”

  “Hmm, as much as I appreciate the sentiment, not gonna happen. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re quite literally surrounded. More so than you were surrounded the other day, LOL.”

  ‘LOL’? What the fu.... Shizuo looks at their surroundings. 

  The shit was right. There’s easily thousands of machines on all of the ledges and ladders and stairways. They’re fucked. 

  His wrist is grabbed with a “Come on already!” And they’re running. 

  “How you getting us out, genius?”

  “I’m working on it!”

  They’re intercepted, and immediately stand back-to-back. They seamlessly fall into a choreographed combat, though they’ve never met before. It’s like they’ve trained their whole lives together. 

  Of course, the pest starts a conversation in the middle of the fight. 

  “I never got your name. I’m I.O., but call me IO.”

  Knives weave through his lance, shredding machine limbs. 

  “Fuck, right now? You wanna talk right now?!”

  His lance sweeps left to right, throwing a dozen machines down hundreds of feet. They turn and keep running. 

  “Yes! I cant keep calling you ‘The Large Android’ in my inner monologue!”

  What...? Is he insane? Whatever. “Shizuo.”

  “Oooh fancy. I thought all the other YoRHa were 3J or 8R. Why do you get a name?”

  A Goliath class machine interrupts.

  “Ah, shit.”

  They jump forward in a whirlwind of knives and blades.

  “I said, why do you get a name?”

  “Oh good God dammit, this is a Goliath! We don’t have the time or energy for small talk!”

  IO has got to be the most infuriating android that has ever existed. He’s such a pest. He’s like an ant, or a-

  Flea.

  The Large One- Shizuo- collapses, having taken an EMP blast directly. 

  Damn, IO knows he can’t handle a Goliath on his own, definitely not in a place like this.

  He dodges back and forth, trying to save his energy for a final strike. He notices the Goliath is ignoring Shizuo, as though he’s not prey anymore. 

  I can work with that.

  IO turns and bolts, staying just out of the Goliath’s reach. He could easily outrun the machine, but something about Shizuo intrigues him too much. He can’t leave him behind just yet. 

  He wastes his time running, looking for something he can trap, or at least slow the Goliath down with. 

  A strange roar from below stops IO’s search, stops him dead in his tracks, too.

  “IIIIZAAAAYAAAAAAA!”

  He’s a flea, IO is a flea, a flea a flea a flea.

  He hates the flea, the flea is a rotten bastard!

  Who is the flea?

I. O. is the flea

  I.O.? What does I.O. mean?

  A name it’s a name

a name is a name is a flea

  A flea meddling in everything

  A flea ruining his life!

that damn flea

  I O

I        O

I z a y a 

  izaya

izaya

izaya

iiiizaaaayaaaaaaa

  Shizuo comes to yelling the name, even though he still doesn’t fully understand.

  He’ll worry about that later. Right now he has to kick the flea’s ass.

  Hm. Sounds familiar.

  He squats, and launches himself up several stories, first raised. 

  He knocks the Goliath out of the way in one punch. IO staring, jaw dropped.

  IO, huh? That seems like a load of shit if he’s ever heard it.

  Shizuo kicks a person-sized hole in the wall of the factory, sunlight streaming into the blackness of the building.

  He throws IO out the person-sized hole, jumping through, shortly after.

  He pins IO down while he’s still stunned.

  “Alright, you flea bastard, tell me where you are in all this. Did you think you could fool me? I dealt with your shit a thousand years ago, I’m not looking to deal with it now.”

  IO has the balls to look confused, as if he doesn’t fucking know.

  Shizuo remembers now, he remembers who the red eyes belonged to.

  Izaya Orihara, the man who spent his days making Shizuo miserable.

  He may not remember everything about those days, but he can read between the lines. 

  Shizuo knows he wouldn’t chase anyone around if they didn’t deserve it.

  That flea was a scheming bastard, so this one must be too.

  “I don’t know what-“

  “SHUT UP!” He shakes IO- no, Izaya, the android’s head hitting the concrete ground repeatedly. “Come on, call me that stupid fucking name you always do, eh?! Do it!”

  He doesn’t even know what he’s screaming about, he doesn’t know what name he’s looking for, but he knows he’s heard it. He feels it in his non-bones.

  “Come on! You’re the flea! Say what you always do, Izaya-kun!”

  IO’s eyes shoot wide, and he freezes.

Shizu-chanShizu-chanShizu-chanShizu-chanShizu-chanShizu-channnnnnnn04&”$;-8405370&2169@$02693

  IO’s eyes glow with an unearthly blue light.

  [System error: now hacking YoRHa Android I.O.]

  The voice comes from his mouth, but it’s not Izaya. Shizuo thinks it’s whatever Operator, or perhaps an internal system within the android, preventing IO from something.

  Likely preventing him from learning he is Izaya, forever changing who he is as an android, who he was as a human, and who he is as a person.

  [System Admin: Deletion of the memories of the human Izaya Orihara beginning]

  Shit. No, no. Shizuo won’t be the only one left.

  He may have just found his eternal enemy, but he’ll be damned if he’s gonna let anyone else take that away from him.

  He throws Izaya over his shoulder, and sprints to the Resistance camp. Hopefully the twins can help.

  [System Admin: Deletion at 10.2%]

  Dammit, damn you YoRHa. Androids aren’t disposable!

  [Deletion at 15%]

  He can see the camp, just a little further.

  [Deletion at 18.7%]

  “Devola! Popola! Hurry! There’s no time, just help him.”

  [Error: Outside interference detected. Further instruction required.]

  [Understood. All actions ceased. External termination enacted.]

Chapter Text

  It took seventy-two hours, but they were able to disconnect IO from YoRHa’s server. If they want IO, they’re gonna have to go through Shizuo first. 

  He sincerely hopes Command isn’t that fucking stupid and desperate. 

  Shizuo himself asked if the twins could hack him again. He wants his memories of this Izaya. 

  The twins show him how to disable his own firewalls, and so he spends the next few days inside his own mind. The flood of information almost shuts him down completely. 

  He remembers his friends, and his brother. 

  Celty, the mysterious fairy. He wonders if she is still alive. 

  Shinra, who loved Celty, and was probably involved in the death of humanity. 

  Izaya, who he hated and loved. The love far outweighing any ill will, and then his mind goes black. 

  He’s in a computer program, literally watching humans and what look to be early android prototypes try and fix what they did wrong. He’s in the computer for a very, very long time, until he’s transferred into his current body. 

  Shizuo comes to, nearly a week later. He needs to speak to IO. 

ERROR

ERROR

E R R O RRRrr

ee rrrrr o r

-

Rebooting . . .

Android unit I.O. is online.

Connecting to server . . .

Alert: Unable to connect to YoRHa server

Searching for viable servers . . . 

Shinra.

Mairu... Kururi.

Shizuo. Shizu-chan.

Everything leads to him

Hate and Love

Pain and Joy

”I don’t like you”

”That’s too bad”

Life seems to be set on repeat when something is destined, ne?

”Damn flea”

”Izaya! Get back here!”

”You idiot flea! You almost got yourself killed!”

”Izaya!”

”Izaya... I think I-“

IO

No, IO is dead now

I am Izaya

  There’s this awful whining sort of buzz, that sounds as if it’s coming from everywhere at once. And it’s hot. Easily 1000 degrees. 

  IO sits up, surprising a few nearby androids enough that one falls out of his chair. Ha, nice. 

  Shizuo is sitting next to him, furiously scribbling notes down, in his own headspace. Maybe it’s his diary.

  “What’s that awful sound? Is it the sound of your brain trying to think? I’d stop now, if I were you.”

  Shizuo jerks at his comment. “Wait- you- you’re awake?!”

  “No, I’m not.”

  Shizuo sighs; he seems to have grown more patience since IO last saw him. 

  “How do you feel?”

  “It’s hot. My shirt is stuck to me.”

  Shizuo huffs a laugh, “Yeah, it’s nasty out here... what- do you remember?”

  He could lie, Shizuo is meant to be his target, after all. But YoRHa has always been corrupt, and he doesn’t see any reason in killing the one who helped him remember his own name. 

  The one he used to love. 

  “It’s nice to see you again, Shizu-chan.”

  Shizuo sucks in a quick breath. “Damn, never thought I’d want to hear that stupid nickname again.”

  “Don’t call me flea.”

  “Oh? Then what do I call you, hmm?”

  “Izaya.”

  “Hm, good. That ‘IO’ shit was annoying me, flea.”

  “Rude. What’s that awful noise?”

  Shizuo blinks at him, like he’s insane. “What noise...?”

  “I don’t know, it’s coming from the sky, I guess. That buzzing.” Izaya gestures around. 

  “I- are you talking about the cicadas?”

  Shizuo busts out in a full body laugh. 

  “Don’t laugh at me! I was just dead, you shouldn’t laugh at the dead!” Izaya pouts. 

  “Pfft, you weren’t dead, first of all. Secondly, how do you not know what cicadas are? They’ve existed since before we were even born.”

  “I guess I forgot about them. I’ve been living in the Bunker till now,” he’s still pouting. 

  “Yeah, okay, flea.” Shizuo chuckles. 

  “Unit I.O. is offline, ma’am. What should we do?”

  The Commander of YoRHa is silent for several moments. One of their potentially best weapons rebelled and disconnected from the server. It’s basically desertion. 

  She could send a group of Type E androids to exterminate IO and his new friend, another deserter, but she thinks she’ll wait. 

  She wants to see what IO chooses to do, now that he knows who he is. It’s against protocol, but her superiors on the moon don’t need to hear just yet. 

  “Keep tracking him. If any YoRHa on the Surface encounter him, they are not to engage in combat. If he gets out of hand, we’ll eliminate him immediately.”

  “Yes, Commander.”