●~Not All There Anymore~● |BEING REWRITTEN|

|10| The World Just Keeps Taking

The tombstone was surrounded by small unlit candles, the faint smell of vanilla wafting through the cold air. Izuku hated that smell. The scent that used to waft into his senses when he came home, stuffing his face into his mother's chest, the familiar vanilla scent filling his nose as he breathed it in. It used to comfort him. Now it only haunted him.

"Hey mom."

The earlier feelings of anger were gone. Izuku didn't really remember how he got to the cemetery, but he didn't really care. His voice was hoarse and rough. He looked down at his dirtied nails, picking at them. "I live in an abandoned apartment now. It's not so bad. I lived with grandma for a hot minute. She sucks. Can we stop visiting her?" A small cracked laugh. The tombstone remained silent.

"I talked with Jirou the other day. She has a crush on Yaoyorozu. I wanna help her get together, but I don't really know how. Can you give me some pointers?" Izuku asked, looking directly at his mother's name, as if he expected it to answer. It didn't. Izuku paid no mind, he just kept talking, on and on as if someone was actually listening.

"Me and Kacchan are super close, did I tell you that? Oh, and Eri and Kota met around a month ago as well. They hit it off super fast, it was great. Although, it was super embarrassing how they kept on saying I was their favorite hero.... Mom, they even acted out the villain fights where I saved them! It's nice to know they look up to me, but still..... They're saying I'm their favorite hero, and I'm not even a pro yet." The greenette brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them, linking his hands at the fingers.

Izuku stared at the silent rock, trying to imagine his mother was standing just behind it. That she was waiting for him, waiting to hug him and say how much she really loved him. He would hug her and they would sit down and talk for hours on end. They'd talk about Izuku's training, and Inko's own job. She would make katsudon, and they would never stop smiling. Izuku was brought out of his imagination by a sudden gust of cold wind and the booming of distant thunder. Leaves began to whip around, and the mist that gathered around his knees flew around in time with the wind.

Izuku stood up and dusted off his pants, sighing. A storm would be coming soon, and he really didn't want to be caught up in it. The storm had gotten farther away as he traveled to the cemetery, but now it was almost on top of him. Izuku looked back at the jagged rock, his expression giving no hint of the emotions he couldn't feel in the first place.

He tried to unscrew those bottles in his mind, but they just wouldn't open. As if to say, 'you wanted this. You wanted these emotions gone, now stick to it'. He simply stared at the makeshift tombstone, stoic.

"Sorry you didn't love me enough to stay alive, mom. I'm just that pathetic, huh?" Izuku turned to walk to the exit, blocking the image of his mother's burning corpse from his mind as he kicked the candles to the ground, letting a gust of dirt pile on top of them.

●~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~●

Cold. Windy. Cold cold cold. Breath freezing in the air. Ice on the road. Mom on the couch. She heard me. She's crying. She knew what I said. She did it because of me. She thought it was her fault. Wake up. Please, wake up, I don't want to see this anymore. Please, mom. Please, put the pills down. I didn't mean it. I'll be okay, just put those things back. Mom, please! Please, spit them out! Please, please please please. Wake up, mom. I still need you. Please, I don't wanna live with other people. Please, I want to live with you. I want to be alive with you. I don't want to have to dig your grave.