Familiarity

Chapter Twenty-One

sorry that the last two chapters have been kinda boring?? i've rlly been struggling with direction and how i get from one point to another with this fic. i've been really stressed out trying to figure out what i'm doing for this fic, because i don't think i've had much direction (at least, not as much as i used to) since they got back from the US, so line chapter 13 or 14??. anyway, i've really been spiraling trying to figure out what i was doing and adding a bit of normalcy seemed to be the best fit.

and even though this is just a fanfic, i do put a lot into it and will always try to do my best. as someone who aspires to make writing my work, not only is writing fanfiction fun for me (90% of the time), but it lets me practice as well. and yeah. thanks for reading this if you do!! i just wanted to say all of this bc i've felt pretty disappointed in my writing as of late, and wanted to give an explanation ig?? i'm not too sure honestly LMAO

(also, this is the longest chapter so far so...)

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Never in the sixteen years you lived, did you ever imagine the sight before you.

Buildings were empty and aflame. Panic had settled long ago. The air felt thick with the bodies that roamed the streets almost miscellaneously. Sweat dampened your brow and hairline as you ran around the smoldering city, attempting to evacuate as many people as you could. And smoke darkened the blue sky until the world around you was just as anguished as the parents who held their children desperately against their chests.

You slowed for a moment, looking up at the impossibly tall building you remember passing many times. Never had it been engulfed in such sheets of light and hunger, grasping at anything surrounding it. Then you felt a shoulder bump into yours, and you watched over the ocean of bodies, clashing and contagious from the panic you could only get in a situation like this.

You attempted to weave your way through the mass of bodies, pushing through them with your hands as you yelled for them to move. The fire was spreading. Maybe it was good the crowds were growing, knowing that meant people were leaving. But it made it harder to get to those oblivious to the destruction. Still, when you reached past the rings of the crowd, you pushed through the front door of a pale building and yelled for anyone in there.

It was quiet, but you continued to run up the three floors, checking each room and pounding insistently in the floors when they were locked. You went to the building beside the previous and found a small crowd of elderly men in the backroom, being nudged by Katsuki as he tried to get them out of the building.

"Move!" he yelled at them. You tried to keep your face neutral as you glanced at him and began to pull at some of the old men's arms. When you got the men outside, you directed them in the movement of the crowd. They walked slowly and beside the edges of bodies.

Soon, you moved to the next building, only finding an old, sickly-looking man standing in one of the convenience store isles. He was trembling as he grabbed at this box of crackers, his fingers boney and his veins palpable. But when he turned to look at you, you realized he wasn't old. However, he still looked weak, fragile, deteriorating.

He had sullen features and heavy eyelids, each of his movements slow and shaking. He stood hunched over himself, holding onto the shelves for his own sake. His lips were chapped and he breathed like a rabbit's pulse, quick and shallow. But his face looked young. He didn't look a day over twenty.

"You need to follow the crowd and evacuate, sir," you told him. "If the crowds are too hectic, you can walk along the sidewalks. They're clear."

He took a hesitant step toward you. "Can you..." he breathed, voice hoarse, "take me?"