Reboot | No Pixel

Abandonment

Abandonment is one hell of a bitch. A bitch Ray Mond has been unknowingly feeding her entire life. Starting from the age of six when her parents left both her and Yuno to fend for themselves up until this point.

"Yuno? Yuno, wake up." Her cries echoed in the practically empty room as she tried to rub the tears away from her face. Only for the next batch to replace them right after.

"Wha-" He grumbled, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes only to realize the situation at hand when his sister's wails finally reached his ears. He shot up straight, attempting to pull the blanket off of himself only to find nothing there. He was gripping onto nothingness. "Where- What happened, Ray? Why are you crying?"

All sleep vanished from his eyes as his sister latched onto him, balling into his shoulder. "Mom and dad are gone, Yuno! I can't find them, I'm scared." Even at that young age, they knew what had happened. Narcissistic, self-centered parents do that to you. They make you grow up faster than you should.

He didn't want to believe it, but looking around his room and finding only some random useless clutter and a bed in it, he felt his heart crack. They took everything; even the blanket that was supposed to protect them from the monsters they stopped believing in long ago.

They stopped believing because they knew the monsters weren't under their bed, they were in the lobby — playing poker with their friends. Every. Damn. Night.

"It's going to be okay, Ray. I promise." At this point, he knew no words could really comfort his dear sister's heart but he could at least try. And he did. He tried for hours. They cried and cried, consoled each other, and cried again.

The cycle only broke after hours when the bell finally rang. They froze. Ray stopped crying and looked at her brother with terror in her eyes. "I-"

"Hey, it's going to be okay. I'm sure it's no one." Yuno cooed at her, wiping her tears away before they both hopped off the bed and walked to the front door of their apartment, hand in hand.

When the door opened, the officers had to look down. Instead of someone meeting their eye, they had to crouch down to meet little ones.

Ray clutched onto her brother's arm for dear life, hiding her body behind his and peeking at the kind looking officer with her heart beating out of her chest.

"Hey, kids." He gave them a soft, assuring smile. He didn't want to scare them. If only he knew they were past scares. "Are your- uh... parents home?" Looking at their tear-filled doe eyes, he already knew, but he had to ask.

His question only restarted the floodwork in Ray Mond's eyes as she held on a little tighter. Yuno secured his hand on his sister's arm, assuring her that he'll protect her. Forever. No matter what.

"They're not. They ran away." The officer's eyes widened. How could he have expected for such big words to come out of such a little mouth?

"Did they.. did they tell you where? Before running away, maybe?" Ray shook her head, peeking her head further out. "No, they didn't, but they took everything. Probably for poker money."

The officer felt his own heart break for the little ones as he secured them into his car and took them to the station. He filled all the required paperwork and took them out to eat, filling up their little tummies with nice food and some ice cream that they'd never had before, for one last time before regretfully dropping them off at the orphanage.

Yuno didn't feel it — or maybe he just didn't notice — but Ray knew that that was the second time they had been abandoned in twenty hours. She felt it and she kept that feeling with her. She carried it with her for two years until she had to make her brother feel it.