●~Not All There Anymore |REWRITTEN|~●

|5| Unremarkable

Izuku frowned. Ryuko was his brother, he wasn't going to send him away. "No, it's fine. R'uko's my brother."

If possible, Koniko only looked sadder. "A- alright. Last night, there was a power outage on your mother's floor...." Izuku breathed out a sigh of relief. Okay, so treatment was set back a bit. Maybe Mom was unconscious right now. He could come back later.

The nurse's face told a story much worse.

"It- it hit Ms. Midoriya's room the hardest, she was having a fit at the time...." It could be worse, Izuku told himself. She's just more sick. That's fine. He didn't give a crap about the churning in his gut, the tightening ball in his stomach.

"Life support failed, last night. We truly did everything we could, but.... I'm sorry, Izuku, but your mother died last night."

The world came to a screeching halt. Plants stopped moving in the wind, the sky stopped blowing clouds, the mist froze like icicles. People stopped existing. Everything stopped.

Izuku stopped. His heart, his brain, his breathing, everything. He didn't feel Ryuko put a hand on his shoulder, he didn't hear him say it would all be alright.

And suddenly, it all came back at full blast. Mom's dead.

Everything was too loud. The colors were too bright, the sky was too blue, there weren't nearly enough clouds in the sky. His ears buzzed with white noise.

It shouldn't be so bright. The world should  be cold and dark and lacking even a single drop of warmth and joy.

"....wha-" Izuku couldn't get the entire word out before his throat closed up, burning. Ryuko brought Izuku into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"Hey... hey, it's alright. It's going to be okay. It'll be okay. Come on, we can go home-"

"THAT PLACE ISN'T MY FUCKING HOME!"

Izuku didn't know he was running until he heard Ryuko calling for him. Izuku only ran faster, feet pounding against the pavement as his chest burned.

Tears dripped from his eyes, immediately being dried off his face from the stinging cold air, blowing his messy hair which way and that. Izuku swerved around people, sobs letting loose from his mouth. He couldn't go back to that damn house. Not when Ryuko just called it home.

That place wasn't his home. His apartment was home. The place he grew up in was home. The house with pictures that documented the highlights of his life, every last bit was his home. Even that god forsaken picture of his father. Even the vase that he accidentally broke and got cut with.

That house wasn't his home. It was hell. 

Izuku didn't spare so much as a glance back when Ryuko called his name from a couple meters behind, running after his brother.

Ryuko panted, frantically trying to catch up to Izuku as the kid - his brother, his stupid little brother - ran away, darting between people and obviously without any set destination in mind.

Izuku was going to get himself killed if he didn't slow down.

Ryuko's eyes widened a significant amount when Izuku suddenly vaulted between two buildings, disappearing into the dark alleys. Ryuko cursed under his breath, racing in the same direction.

"I- Izu- Izuku! Izuku Midoriya!" Ryuko screamed out through pants and wheezes. To his ultimate dismay, Izuku did not come walking out towards Ryuko at a reasonable pace with a calm expression that offered a calm and rational conversation/therapy session.

Because his brother was Izuku Midoriya, and everyone that knew him knew that he was the exact opposite of rational when emotional.

Ryuko stopped, leaning with one hand on his knee and one hand against the brick wall of the alley. Izuku was nowhere in sight. Ryuko clenched his teeth, blinking back the flow of tears that threatened to escape him.

"Goddammit, Izuku.... where the fuck are you- you dropped your goddamn phone."

The sky darkened as it began to rain.

•~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~•

Haha... I told you the fluff from last chapter was an early apology.

But huzzah, be grateful you fools! I totally forgot when I started this chapter, so whatever. I fucking love Devil Town though, and apparently my dad does too. Music sounds better loud, doesn't it?

So uh... yeah. But hooray for you guys, I don't plan to wait until next month to update again. Should be.... the week after next I think.

But man, shitting blood sucks.

Anyhow, adios, my guys, gals, and non-binary pals!

5083 words!