The air. It was suffocating. He couldn't stand it, and he needed fresh oxygen. He needed to breathe.

His heart was pounding, and everything hurt. His throat, his stomach, his soul.

And no matter how much air he struggled to intake, it always found a way to escape him, leaving him breathless once again. His ears rang, and the racing organ that was rapidly pumping blood throughout his body rose above said ringing.

Dragging his feet across the ground, clutching his scarlet-stained belly, Izuku looked for something, anything to help him-

But there was nothing.

Buildings were toppling over and on fire; crashed cars blocking the roadways as fear-stricken drivers climbed out of them and went berserk. Rubble and shrapnel was scattered about everywhere, and there was no sign of anything, or anyone, for that matter, that could help Izuku.

Crying out when he stepped on his sprained ankle too much, Izuku stumbled and fell on his face; sharp prices of rock and metal embedding themselves into his skin.

Taking his sweet time getting up, Izuku gingerly considered his ankle and tummy, shifting as best as he could so as not to cause unnecessary pain for himself.

Once he had gotten up and had found the energy to continue forward, no one was in the street he was in any longer, screams and screeches sounding from the distance startling Izuku only momentarily.

Walking as fast as he could, which was unbearably slow, Izuku limped his way through the streets; stepping over charred and/or completely unrecognizable bodies and huge chunks of cement with the opposite of the utmost grace.

A frantic blonde woman in a ripped business suit scrambled up to Izuku, grabbing onto his right arm with urgency.

"Hey kid! Can you help me?! I lost my daughter when the city...fucking exploded- can you help me find her?!" she asked if the green-haired teen desperately, her eyes as wide as saucers.

Feeling the need to help her as a reflex, Izuku opened his mouth to say yes-

And he found that he couldn't. For some odd reason, his gut was telling him not to help her. It wasn't because he suspected her of trying to trap or kidnap him or anything.

No, his conscious mind was just telling him straight up not to help her...because he wasn't fit to. That through deeply disturbed Izuku, however, becuase he had made it a habit for him to help people now matter his circumstance.

'You are literally bleeding out and I'm the verge of a panic attack. How in the actual hell will you be able to help this woman?! Turn her away! But explain why so she doesn't become more hysterical,' he reasoned with himself.

Shaking his head internally, Izuku prepared himself for what he was about to say. He couldn't believe what he was about to do. He was going to turn someone in need away...because he was also in need.

"I'm so sorry, Miss, but I am just not in the shape to help you find your daughter."

^^^^^^^^^

*10 minutes prior*

"No sir, I'm sorry sir...yes, I am on my way to my apartment, so once I get there, I will be sure to contact you about my schedule.....yessir, talk to you later, sir," Izuku conversed with his superior as he drove. Once he had hung up, Izuku set his phone in the cup holder angrily and changed lanes.

"Fuckin' prick," he said under his breath, looking back and forth so that he could change lanes once again.

He had been in the highway for a few minutes by then, only being about 2 miles away from his complex where he was on said interstate.

Izuku sat back a bit as he cruised at around 62 miles per hour, his rather new accent purring louder the more ground he covered.

Sighing and resting one arm on the driver door, Izuku let his thoughts wandered, really only paying attention to the road before him.

A flash of light suddenly caught his eye, Izuku sitting all the way forward to see what was happening through his windshield.

What the light had originated from, was a huge explosion going off in the sky, not too high above where he was driving. Allowing his glittering viridescent orbs to be blown to their maximum size, Izuku watched as the scene unfolded before him without his being able to do anything.

Right through that explosion, another light came barreling through, and seemed to be heading straight for Izuku.

'Shit.'

What the light turned out to be, was a huge missile aimed for the city. A fucking missile.

Following right after that first one, came another....and another.

All three splitting up slightly as they were all set for a specific course.

Feeling extremely tired and like he might get even more tired in a second, Izuku sighed, and pressed on the gas completely; swerving illegally in and out at top speeds, needing to get off the interstate so he had some chance of survival.

And just as the three missiles hit their respective places in the city and close countryside, Izuku had made it to a more quiet and peaceful side of town with less things that could explode and make things worse.

The impact of the "explosions packed into a giant stick," as Izuku considered them, was enough to topple anything and everything within a 400+ mile radius. One thing led to slither, and skin, Izuku found himself inside of a crumpled, silver Hyundai Accent in the side of a building. He had a major concussion, his stomach was pierced by a stray piece of metal protruding from the car, and his right ankle was twisted so much, it looked unfixable.

His left leg was barely any better, but it was something, and that was all that mattered to Izuku.

Once he had finally properly grabbed onto consciousness, Izuku used all of his strength to open his smashed door; him tumbling out of the car and onto the ground like a pile of flesh and broken bones.

Izuku groaned and decided to just sit there and collect his thoughts. He needed to gather his shit together to the best of his ability while he had time and ground to do so.

Lightly sitting up, and yelping loudly if he moved even a microscopic centimeter in the wrong way, Izuku had somehow gotten himself to stand with the amount of injuries littering his body.

Slowly walking around his car and getting out of the alleyway he had smashed into the corner of, Izuku looked both ways and immediately went for the middle of the road, as it would have the better view.

The sky was full of smoke and everything was either broken, in ashes, or in the process of becoming either. People were going in all sorts of directions, as well as pets; their hands in the air and tails between their legs.

Taking a moment to just soak the situation all in, Izuku stood and tried to take a deep breath, only to have a coughing fit that made breathing harder afterwards. He could barely see what with the dirt and smoke in the air, and tears caused by the strong smells polluting his precious O2.

'What. Is. Happening?!'

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Okay, how many citizens have you managed to capture?" she asked of her subordinate, her shining, sea glass eyes scanning their cameras with a certain sharpness that only a lioness could match.

Afraid of what his superior might do to him if he lied and if he told the truth, the subordinate stayed quiet and tried to weigh his options quickly, but being faced with indecision that would lead to his downfall.

"Hm, tell me, Maximum, why shouldn't I have you killed right here right now for disobeying my immediate order?" she inquired, turning to him and raising a perfectly groomed with a lit in the middle eyebrow at him. Her sneer that was always there underlying her fake, beaming smile being on full display.

Starting to panic at this, Max's hands started to shake while he thought up a good reason.

Though he never did find one.

"Mm-hm, that's what I thought. Kill him," she commanded, turning back to her cameras and not even batting an eye at the ear-piercing, drum-breaking gunshot sound behind her.

"Gather up all of the men you have, Riles, this is where we finally find the one!" Swiveling on her heals at her boisterous proclamation, the boss woman slowly walked over to the small crowd near the door that was watching her sift through the footage.

"We are leaving, someone turn everything off before we go, please," she seemingly suggested, only to very obviously throw in a hostile tone with her statement.

The small crowd following after the rich lady who could literally tell a plant to photosynthesize on the spot. Leaving only one person behind.

Sighing, the teenage boy that had been abandoned to do something that literally took seconds to accomplish.

'Ugh, I guess I'm just going to have to wait a bit longer. Don't worry the one, I'll find you...'

Sup y'all! Oh, another chapter?? That's like- *mumbles under breath and counts on fingers* three chapters in one day, author-San! How did you do it?

I shook myself awake several times for this latest chapter near the end, so-

Any theories, even tho it's been ten seconds since I've posted the book, or comments about the chapter overall??????

Anyways, I love you all, I thank you guys for selecting this book to hop onto, and I hope y'all have an amazing day/night! ❤️🧡💚

-wen_ur_actual_trash
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