It was quiet around him; they had probably moved on after destroying everything in the area. Izuku lifted himself, rubbing the tears from his eye as he started pulling some of the debris out of the way. He wasn't sure where to begin as some of the pieces were too big for him even to lift.
"Midoriya?" The familiar voice of his neighbor who lived one floor below them reached Izuku's manic mind.
He turned to find the older woman watching him with concern from the sidewalk. "What are you doing?"
Izuku stood back from the rubble, eyes dazed as he tried to process that they were standing there in front of him. "Mrs. Saotome...my mom."
He could feel the pinprick of fresh tears, and the older woman looked at him with pity. She pulled out her handkerchief and reached out to dab at his face. "Oh you poor thing."
Her husband moved to stand next to his wife, taking note of Izuku's rough appearance but didn't comment. "Don't worry, your mother wasn't here when it happened."
Hope-filled every crevice of his chest, his mother was safe, not buried under tons of concrete. Like a weight lifted off his shoulders, his knees gave out again, dropping him to the floor with a loud thump. "Oh...thank god."
Mr. Saotome was a rather tall and lean man, even if his shoulders slumped a bit with age; he wasn't as frail as his petite wife. So when Mr. Saotome picked Izuku up to stand on his feet, he didn't struggle. He tapped Izuku's back, making him straighten his stance. "You boys are too soft these days, you have to be strong now for you mom."
"Don't be mean, honey, I'm sure he thought the worst." Mrs. Saotome tisked at her husband.
"He's right I can't let myself get overwhelmed right now." Izuku took a few deep breaths as he wiped the tears from his eyes; Mr. Saotome gave him a nod of approval.
Things were different now, and Izuku needed to be stronger if he wanted to survive. His nerves were still shot, so he released the air from his lungs as his heart rate settled back down. He took a glance up, and finally, he noticed the luggage the old couple had left behind on the sidewalk.
"Do you know where she is?"
The couple looked at each other; Mr. Saotome shrugged in response, so Mrs. Saotome responded. "No, honey, all I know is she left to run errands before it happened."
They turned at the sound of a car as the familiar red of their eldest son's car pulled up next to them. Their son barely put the vehicle in park before he hurried out to his parents.
Mrs. Saotome's son rushed over to hug his mother, the unmistakable sign of relief on his face. As the eldest son, he was responsible for them in their old age and often visited them on the weekends
"I'm so glad you're both okay." The thin layer of ash coating every inch of his body. It made the apparent cut over his left brow stand out as the dry blood left a trail down the side of his face.
"Daisuke, what happened to you?"
His mother fretted over him as he tried to shrug her off with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm fine, but we really need to get going before the safety area gets full." Daisuke grabbed both of their luggage, putting them in the trunk of his car. He didn't waste from there as he swung around to open the back door for his parents.
"Safety areas?" Izuku asked. He considered the likely chance that his mom might be there.
Daisuke held his mother's hand to help her inside, but she paused to look back at Izuku. "Yes...tthe closest one is the hospital nearby, maybe that's where your mother is."
Mr. Saotome patted Izuku's bare shoulder as he headed to the other side of the car, "I'm sure my son wouldn't mind picking up another stray."
Their son glanced up, a ready smile on his face as he nodded in approval. "Of course not, Midoriya you're welcome to join us."
Izuku ran through his options; he was still worried for All Might, but there was no chance of finding help here at this point, the block looked half abandoned, and he was still concerned for his mother.
"Ye.." The loud bang of an explosion made everyone tense, and Izuku turned in the direction it had come from.
"Let's go Midoriya, if that's trouble I don't want to wait around for it to find us." Daisuke motioned him forward, keeping the door propped open for him to jump in.
Izuku agreed; the smart thing would be to go with them, but the sound bothered him, or more it was the direction the sound came from that bothered him.
Kacchan's house was in that direction.
Izuku tried to brush off the feeling of worry for his sometimes friend, sometimes bully, but then two more explosions popped off one after the other.
Izuku clenched his fist, the nagging at the back of his head only growing more insistent.
"Midoriya?" Mrs. Saotome leaned forward towards the open door giving Izuku a worried look.
With a sigh, Izuku rubbed the back of his head a small smile of thanks to ease his poor neighbor's worries. "I'm going to stay here...I need to check on something first. "
"Are you sure?" Daisuke asked.
"Yeah, as soon as I'm done here I'll head to the hospital as well."
Daisuke closed the car door with a final snap.
Mrs. Saotome rolled down the window, ready to protest, but Izuku moved closer to ask her one last thing.
"Mrs. Saotome, could you do me a favor? If you see my mom let her know I'm okay, I'm sure she's really worried right about now."
The older woman cracked a smile, the wrinkles at the corner of her eyes prominent on her face. She had been there for quite a few of his mom's outbursts. "Oh, don't you worry, I'll make sure she doesn't do anything rash when I see her."
"Stay safe Midoriya." Daisuke gave him one last nod and then left with his parents.
Izuku didn't watch them drive off. As as soon as they pulled away, he was running, legs already tired from the day, but he ignored it.
He just needed to make sure. Once he confirmed Kacchan was fine, he'd be able to focus on finding his mom and maybe even make sure All Might was okay.
As he raced towards his destination, he noticed the utter silence of their neighborhood. It was usually busy with people out and about, kids playing in the street by midday, but there wasn't one person left in the area.
So when Izuku found the familiar house, the eerie silence lingered, and he doubted if he heard the explosions at all. He walked closer, looking around, and considered knocking on the door when he noticed the giant hole on the side of the house.
The loud bang from inside wasn't the same explosion he heard, but it let Izuku know that something was happening inside, so he moved to go through the open crater.
He entered the house; the hall trashed with family photos scattered around the floor. The black marks across the far wall were most likely from Kacchan's quirk, and the stair rail was broken halfway up as if someone had crashed through it.
There was another bang; someone had crashed into one of the walls in the direction of the living room. Izuku crept closer to confirm what was happening before he went charging in.
He took a peek around the corner, careful not to be seen.
There was an older man with Kacchan, their fight clear as they slammed into walls knocking furniture over and auntie's hanging decor off the walls. They must have been going at it for a while, although Kacchan looked worst off. He wasn't using his quirk as he, and although he was a decent fighter without it, Izuku would guess the older man was more experienced.
Izuku winced as the stranger slammed their fist into Kacchan's side, the younger blonde reeling back with a painful grunt.
Izuku clenched his jaw, eyes furrowed before he looked around him for some weapon. The only thing he found was the broken slab of wood from the stairs.
The Villain hadn't noticed Izuku still struggling with Kacchan, who was dodging another punch, so he waited for his chance.
"Give it up kid, you ain't gonna win." The Villain was a sickly green color that clashed with the blue jacket he wore; his hair buzzed cut. A slime concentrated around his fists, which he must have used against Kacchan's as his hands were covered in it.
Every so often, Izuku would see him shake his hands out, trying to get the gunk off.
"Shut up and die!"
Kacchan must have given up trying to get rid of the sludge; instead, he threw another fist at the Villain, who feinted right at the last moment. The intruder grabbed Kacchan by the shoulders and slammed his knee into his gut; the air must have rushed out of him as he choked on a gasp, his body bent forward in pain.
"You aren't as tough without that quirk of yours are yeah."
The Villain was taunting him, trying to keep Kacchan riled up, but Izuku used his distraction.
The months of training with All Might had given Izuku muscle. And in this crucial moment, he was aware that he would need to put all his strength in his swing to knock the other person out. But Izuku had never tried to attack anyone before. Could he do it?
He moved forward; breath strained in his lungs.; Izuku didn't have time to hesitate, so he tried to shut off his racing thoughts as he swung with everything he had. The wood slammed into the Villain's head, the impact of wood against bone vibrated back up his arms.
The Villain cried out, stumbling away from the blow. Izuku had hoped it would knock him out, but the guy stood back up, holding the back of his head with a wince.
"D..De...ku" Kacchan was still trying to catch his breath as he looked over at Izuku from his crouched position.
"Kacchan! Aa..are you okay?" Izuku was nervous by the glare Kacchan was sending his way, becoming unsure of himself even though he knew the blonde had needed the help.
"Great, I gotta deal with another annoying pest." The Villain stood back up, his stance cocky as he eyed Izuku.
"Your quirk must not be very strong, if you're using that as a weapon."
"What are you doing here Deku!" Kacchan looked ready to attack Izuku instead of the Villain the way he had his hands clenched tight.
" Get out of hear, before you get in my way!" Izuku flinched the reminder of All Might yelling the same thing at him only a few hours ago. Still, All Might was the number one hero, and even if Izuku was worried about him, he wanted to believe his hero would find a way, but Kacchan, as strong as he was, and Izuku knew first hand how strong was different.
Izuku couldn't bring himself to leave Kacchan alone. He had to make sure Kacchan was safe, even if he was quirkless.
"Kacchan.. I'm sorry, you can yell at me later, but I' m not going." Izuku raised his make-shift bat up higher, keeping his eyes on the Villain if he moved towards them.
"You hear that blondie, you're boyfriends here to save you." The Villain chuckled.
"SHUT UP!" Katsuki yelled out, running straight at him; Izuku followed close behind.
Their attacker dodged Katsuki completely, letting him fall forward with a crash against the destroyed couch.
Izuku swung, hoping it would land, but the Villain grabbed the bat, mid-swing the sludge on his hand, already coating the expanse of the wood. He yanked the weapon forward, pulling it out of Izuku's hands while dragging him along out of balance.
The Villain chucked, enjoying himself as Izuku tried to right himself. "Let me show you how to really use this thing!"
He swung down, getting Izuku across the side of the head knocking him down to the ground. His vision hazed as his brain slammed against the walls of his skull, but he didn't pass out, which he was thankful for. The Villain didn't waste time kicking into Izuku's gut knocking the wind out of him.
"Man, y'all really don't know how to fight do you." He gave him another hard kick, the crack from his ribs making Izuku cry out. "Oof that my friend is most likely a broken rib...or two."
"Your fight is with me!" Katsuki's whole body slammed into the Villain, making them both crash to the ground. He was quick to land two punches onto the older man's jaw before he was flipped around getting pinned to the ground.
"You little punk." The Villain's jaw clenched in apparent aggravation, brows furrowed low over his eyes as he wrapped his hands around Katsuki's neck.
Blood was rushing through his ears, making everything muffled, but he could hear Kacchan's strangled gasps in the distance. Izuku turned to lift himself on all fours. He felt the title of his vision as he the pain through his head pounding in protest at his attempts to move. "Ka...Kacchan."
Chills ran through Izuku as his vision cleared enough to see the man kneeling over his friend. There was a crazed look on his face as he grinned down at Kacchan's face as it turned a dark tinge of purple.
He moved without thinking. Izuku lifted a fist, eyes deadlocked on the man. Everything was pure instinct at this point, not an ounce of thought driving him; all Izuku understood was that this man would kill Kacchan if he didn't stop him.
The charge of energy was an afterthought as his fist met the Villain's face, the crushed bone loud as his form flew to the side across the room until he impacted into the far wall.
It was quiet, except for Izuku's heavy pants.
Kacchan was coughing beside him as he looked up at Izuku, red eyes wide and bloodshot, but Izuku was just glad he was okay.
His vision started to blur even further until Kacchan was nothing more than a swirl of colors in front of him.
The next second, Izuku dropped, his body finally registering the excruciating pain that ran up and down the length of his arm.
"Deku!" He could hear Kacchan's shout, but it sounded too far away as he drifted; he preferred, welcoming the darkness as it pulled him away from the pain.