10% Energy

Theme #85

When Izaya first opens his eyes, he sees the world in brown.

He's not sure how he knows this color, how he's even aware of being alive. Of taking in breaths, moving and thinking, seeing and smelling the odd scent of dirt and old water rushing into his veins. Not sure at all that he's actually living instead of dying, or feeling instead of imagining.

But he does.

The air around him is compact tight, more of carbon dioxide than the usual oxygen that he was once used to. But it's warm and comfortable, like being tucked in bed at night, blankets wrapped around his body. Though it's too dark to tell if there's anyone else with him, he can sense energy rising and falling from in and out of his underground nest. He feels a mixture of excitement and anticipation at the prospect of being able to meet others, to share in their energy, to know the feeling of being safe and secure with people of his own kind.

Slowly, the thoughts fade away into darkness, and Izaya relaxes in his current state.

He feels himself curl inward, allows the gentle pounding from above to lure him to sleep, and murmurs just audibly:

100% energy.

...

When Izaya opens his eyes the second time, he sees the world in a burst of clear blue.

The color is vibrant, stretching all around him and as far as his eyesight can see—a stroke of fine cerulean on an artist's blank canvas, a stain of deep ocean waves rolling across the sky.

He smiles greatly, experiences a feeling of immense joy and freedom, and breathes in the air. For a second, he's too caught up in the blinding euphoria to notice that he's choking from his first breath of human carbon dioxide. Because he laughs instead, laughs and lifts up his stem-like arms to intercept the world and the beings living so close yet so far away from him and share in their joy too.

But then, just as abrupt as his laughter, Izaya suddenly finds himself gasping for the noxious chemicals surrounding him. Almost hungrily, as though begging, as though he is going to die if the lifelines around him were to suddenly disappear. He takes it all in from the tip of his head, the gas' flow of energy fueling his body as it travels through his stem, his leaves, and then deep into his roots. When it ends, Izaya feels a spark ignite from beneath those roots, a rush of condensed oxygen rising to the surface. He releases it all in one sigh – as though relinquishing a heavy burden from deep inside him – and watches as the meager supply of gas seeps into the air.

Izaya isn't sure why, but he feels accomplished. The sight of the wispy strands of oxygen floating beside other strands from the other people around him brings tears to his eyes.

He can't help but be grateful as energy pumps his veins, as he repeats the process again and again, collecting and giving, feeling empty, then full. Breathing and living with the souls around him and experiencing, for the first time since he can remember – from the memories of his last life – the feeling of being useful.

When it gets too dark to see or smell anymore, the blueness of the sky replaced by darkness, Izaya faces the ground again. His vision becomes blurry and the murmurs of nearby people lull him back into slumber.

He drifts off into a lazy sleep, a tell-tale tickle from the wind briefly whispering into his ear before moving on to the others beside him:

80% energy.

...

When Izaya opens his eyes the third time, everything is bathed in deep gray.

Instead of being his usual cheery self, Izaya feels a sense of desolate emptiness. There is barely a spark of energy around his form, and his sight is too weak to see past the shower of liquid particles falling from the sky. He stretches his leaves out desperately and, though the water warms his veins, the loss of sunlight and the blueness of a clear sky frightens him. There is not much activity around him and without the silent whispers of his people near his roots, Izaya experiences a mixture of abandonment and panic.

He strains his arms out, pushing his lithe form upward and towards the stormy clouds above. The soft pitter-patter of rain envelopes him even stronger than before, but Izaya doesn't care. He's lifting higher now, exhilaration coursing through his system as he soaks in all the wet liquid and the small bit of energy left in the air.

Izaya photosynthesizes without realizing it, without realizing how much energy he is expelling through his leaves. All he knows is the rush of exaltation as he empties then fills up, receives then gives back, cries then laughs as the world around him begins to shift.

It's subtle at first, the recession of the rain and then the tumultuous clouds, but when the sun shines its light on him, a contrast from the dreary background, Izaya finally realizes. At first he doesn't hear it, or feel the vibrations in his home soil. But slowly, as the water drains out of his ears and eyes, he resigns himself to fate.

The presence is gentle, footsteps of a man in his early twenties, childish excitement in his movement and demeanor as he bends down to where the plant is sprouting bright.

Izaya continues to laugh, tears dripping down his petals, sliding down his arms and pooling around his roots, as human hands grab his body and yank him from the ground.

He's still smiling as he feels vertigo and a wave of dizziness, still filled with the energy of life, the energy of growth and freedom. As he slips into a coma-like sleep, it barely registers –

30% energy.

...

The last time Izaya opens his eyes, he finds himself swirling in a mix of murky water and floating bacteria.

There is no color to greet him – whether it be dull brown, brilliant blue, or chaotic gray; there is only a blur of plain black and white. He shakes the last drop of slumber from his body and sighs in exhaustion. Though the vibrant aliveness of the room – a foreign and strange environment he has never seen before – warms his now-dismembered body, he can't help but mourn the loss of his roots. It feels like a piece of him is missing, a vital appendage stolen from his very being.

He is too scrambled to notice how much energy is being lost by the second. The water underneath him is nothing compared to the warm dirt and fertilization of his old home. Even the breeze coming in from behind him, even the stream of radiant light bursting through the window, cannot make him fix his body upright.

Izaya is wilted – he knows this.

His eyes are constantly trying to stay awake, his senses dimming even in the brightness of a well-lit laboratory. And when the man opens the door and stares down at him with worried eyes, Izaya is too tired to care anymore. The plant allows himself to be lifted out of the vase and carried up the steps.

Everything mashes together brokenly after that. There's a box – a cage? – and a monstrous creature – a rabbit? – within it, then a flash of metal, and a name obscures his vision…

Shizu-chan.

As he's placed on the damp fodder of the cage, the creature staring at him with startlingly brown eyes, Izaya suddenly smiles. For a second, as he stares back into the rabbit's wide irises, everything comes back to him. The flash of birth, the warmth of being needed, the pulse of energy…the dizzying experience of aliveness.

And even now, as Shizu-chan leans in close, mouth tentatively open to take away his life, Izaya has never felt happier.

To have seen the full shades of the world, and to feel the full embrace of its warmth… well, was it not enough?

He's not sure how he knows when the world around him stops, how he's even aware of being dead. Of losing his breath, going limp and motionless, blind and devoid of energy. Not sure at all that he's finally used up all of his life, however short yet beautiful it was.

But he does.

Izaya smiles as the remains of his body is absorbed into another's, fueling it with just barely, just barely enough…

10% energy.

Fin.

A/N: Theme 85 of my 100 theme challenge. (Yeah...I'm just skipping around like crazy.)

"Plants give off 10% energy as they are consumed, by the primary consumer up to the tertiary consumer."

Or something like that. Bio has completely corrupted my mind Dx This theme was so... odd to write. XD But I had a lot of fun with it, and turning Shizu-chan into a rabbit eating Izaya (who is a flower, if you didn't catch the bunnies-love-to-nomnom-on-flowers reference) had me giggling, even though this story is kind of supposed to be sad-ish/bittersweet. I know it's a bit boring and is more about Izaya than his interactions with Shizuo, but I really tried to think like a plant would and the stages of its life. Hopefully, you guys caught the brown, blue, and gray reference (all of Shizuo's possible eye colors...well from the fanfics I've seen, that is) and some other things in there too :'D

Reviews and critiques are much love~!