Footsteps echoed through the alleyway, like the sound of rolling thunder. He clamped his hand over his mouth and held his breath, praying with every bit of strength in him that they would give up and pass by.
They didn't.
Pain turned into agony, wounds turned into scars, seconds into hours, he was being punished for his brokeness, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was atheist yet prayed to God for mercy. His life fading but still able to cry for mercy, for someone to notice.
No one did.
He'd given up, his cries fell on deaf ears, he was as good as dead.
After a few minutes of more thrashings, he lost consciousness.
He died, at least he thought.
The light filled his eyes as he stood there.
"It's time for a new you, Seoto." A voice dubbed from above, but he couldn't determine what.
"This is what you wanted, didn't you, Seoto?" He didn't think about where he was, or why he was there. All he could think about was what was going to happen to him. Is this what death was like. Was this heaven?
It looked as if he was above the clouds, yet it wasn't space. The floor rippled and reflected, yet it wasn't water.
"Have you noticed anything unusual about yourself?" He took a reality check and that's when it hit him. "What the…" Where had his wounds gone.
"Wh-who are you!" He yelled, fear ran throughout his body, 'What am I doing here?'
No response, was he dreaming?
One thing was certain, whatever was happening, he needed to get out.
"Oi, Seiko!" He awoke with a jolt in a hospital bed, his arm was wrapped in a cast at his chest, his legs numb, broken, but numb. He found it difficult to fully open his left eye as a black eye blocked it.
"His name is Seoto, not Seiko." Words came from a gentle, soothing voice. Seoto couldn't determine who he heard but he had a pretty good idea, an idea which he hoped wasn't the case.
It was the case.
He took a glance at his wrist, it was broken. His body ached as if he had the flu, but a lot worse.
"How are you feeling?" His attention shifted onto the sympathetic sounding woman he heard but saw a rather unfitting face. Tears fell from her soft eyes. His tough sister has become sweet, and compassionate.
Seems like it really was a dream.
Wait, why was Izuna here? "Izuna why are you here? Did you come here to piss me off, I'm not in the mood to take your nonsense." It was a shock to see someone who you don't really talk too much waiting for you to regain consciousness in a hospital. Little did Seoto know, that it was Izuna who saved him.
Izuna arrived at the alleyway seconds after Seoto was consciousness.
"What the hell are you two doing?" His eyes widened in horror as he took the scene in.
"What does it look like, we're beating him up" Came a deep, sneering voice.
"Hehe, do your eyes not work or something?" The provocation was gasoline on a fire that was already burning, and Izuna charged forward, full of righteous fury. But he wasn't as fast as he would have liked to be, and the brutes easily sidestepped him, cackling as Izuna slammed into the wall
"Really? That's the best you've got?" They guffawed even louder, watching Izuna stumble off the wall. His only choice was to escape but was cornered by the two bullies. There was no chance he would win this, and his overflowing fury didn't help. He clenched his fist while thinking of a plan, because there was no chance these bullies would simply leave him alone, that would be too easy.
His fists weren't connecting, his kicks were too short ranged to be effective, nothing really was all that effective. His instincts were telling him to play evasive and to wait for an opening. He cooled himself down, staying on the defensive side, waiting for an opening. Even someone as inexperienced as he could see that they were slowing down, their stamina was wearing out. He saw his chance, a slow punch. He ducked under and forced his fist under his chin. He heard a crack as he pushed harder and harder upwards. After the aggressor fell, he received a barrage of punches. Each landing fist led to more and more blood staining his hand. He punched harder and harder, relieving his built-up wrath. The other menace paralyzed in fear, witnessing his brother being beat to a pulp, and he knew he was next.
"That's what you get you idiot." He stumbled and struggled to get up, but nonetheless he was still ready to face the other bully. It didn't matter, he escaped. "Ughh, all that big talk for nothing I guess." He was disappointed by their cowardice. "Damn, he really did a number on me." He thought aloud as he collapsed to the ground, he was too tired to stand up, at least for now, "If he hadn't been such a pussy I would've been finished. he was breathing heavily, wincing as every breath made the bruises hurt even more. He looked over at the motionless boy on the ground, groaning internally. He was going to have to carry him to the hospital, wasn't he?
"What a drag."
The nurse looked over at him; why was there a beaten-up teen carrying a bloodied teenager. She rushed over to treat the two and caught Izuna just as he had blacked out.
He had woken up, in the same room Seoto had, hours later.
"Hey, I'm the one who saved your sorry ass from those two dicks. You should be thanking me instead of dissing me." Izuna said, with a frustrated tone.
"Oh… Thank you, I-izuna." He stroked his face to feel the swelling around his eye, a cut just between his eyes and a slit lip. Those two didn't spare a shred of mercy on him, how dare they beat him up so hard. "Those two. I'll kill them the next time I see them." Izuna's eyes were ablaze, his wrath hadn't burnt out yet, and once he set his mind to beating the life out of someone, it was set.
"How dare they piss me off and have the audacity to run." He felt his throat closing. "I swear on my life, I'll beat the s*** out of him." His passion grew the more he thought about it.
"Oh." Seoto was stuck on words¸ Izuna was as hot as a torch, and he was the source of it.
"I-izuna!" He exclaimed
'Huh, what's up?'
"I'm sorry f-for getting you involved in this." He sighed heavily, letting his head drop.
"Hey, it's fine. It isn't your fault, its those damn bullies that pissed me off. The next time I see them, oh I'll…"
"Hey Izuna, relax. Come on, there's no need in getting so worked up, just leave it." Tomoko stared into his eyes, begging to God he wouldn't lose his temper. She saw his clenched jaw, tensed muscles.
Izuna repeatedly bashed his clenched hand onto the desk next to Seoto's bed. Her words were no use, Izuna was pissed, brimming with frustration. Each time his knuckles clashed with the hardwood desk, the louder the sound it made. Bruises formed on his fist, but he didn't care about the pain, he didn't care about the disturbance he was creating for the other patients at the hospital. He cared about relieving his pain, and nothing was going to stop that. His drive was too powerful for anything to stop it.
"Izuna, stop!" She bellowed, clasping tightly onto him, wrapping her arms around his lower chest. The hospital was silent, and Izuna looked at her in shock. "P-please..." She whispered, hugging him even tighter. "You're...You're being really scary..."
Izuna froze, the realisation of what he was doing hitting him like a truck.
He paused, awkwardly returning the hug. "A---Alright... I'm sorry." He spoke at a lower tone than usual, stroking her hair as she gripped onto him. All his built-up rage had faded, he had felt relaxed.
"This doesn't mean that I'll forgive that b*stard for what he did." He stared at Seoto, to see him dead asleep. "Pfft, I'm not that boring, jeez." Izuna's followed Tomoko as they both exited the room.
Seoto wanted to be alone. He was glad he had been helped by Izuna, but he was too tired to put up with Izuna's rants. He wanted some rest. How unlucky was he? The damage to his arm was going to be a pain to deal with.
He tried to clear his mind, but the more he tried, the more rage built up in his body, and sleep was the best option for that.
It had been three days since the incident and Seoto was allowed to leave, he stepped out of the hospital and took a deep breath, he was glad to be out of that place. His wrist remained broken, and his arm was still in a cast, however he could still walk.
He was walking over to his house when he noticed that his door was red, isn't it brown? In fact, everything was off, he was noticing slight changes to what he was used to.
"Huh, why isn't my key working?" he tried each of his keys just to be sure, why did everything seem so weird?
Seoto knocked on the door, he heard footsteps rushing down the stairs, "I'm coming!" a feminine voice cried from the other side of the door. Her voice was thick, but nothing like his mother or sister. Who was it?
She opened the door. "Hello, d'you want something?"
"Uhh, this is… not my house?" he had a face of astonishment, why had his house moved."
What was going on with the world? Something was off, and he was going to find out what.
'It's as if I am in a different world' Seoto thought to himself, little did he know things would only take a turn for the worst.