The house was awake, the shadows and monsters

The hallways, they echoed and groaned

I sat alone, in bed till the morning

I'm crying, "They're coming for me"

~

Trigger warnings:

~

Shouta was glad that Hizashi could be so organized if he wanted to be. He was staying with him, taking care of him, no matter how many times each night he was breaking down in tears. (It happened more often than he liked to admit.) But something had changed since they had been to the warehouse. Since he had seen proof of Y/N still thinking about him, after all this time.

He was feeling more determined. He was going out during the day, practicing his aim (not that he needed it, but he wanted to make sure). He let Hizashi handle all the technical stuff, since he was better at that anyway, but... the least he could do was to get back in shape himself.

If he could get back in shape, he could manage to take out the bastards that had Y/N, the bastards that were torturing her like this. He'd get her back and he'd make them pay. He'd make them pay for every little bit of pain that they had caused her. That was his plan, at least.

Hizashi had been messing with his phone, so that they might have a shot at tracking them if they ever sent a message or an email to him again. He just hoped they would do that, before Y/N was dead. He had to hold onto the hope that she was still alive and that she was waiting for him.

But he was still waking up in the morning, wondering whether it was all worth it. Wondering if it had all even been real. Wondering if he wouldn't make it even worse by getting involved. And then Hizashi had to pull him back up. Shouta often wondered if he ever got sick of it. He had tried to warn him, hadn't he?

But now it had been a few days and Shouta hadn't heard anything of Y/N anymore and he was starting to get more anxious again. What if he had just blown all his chances when he didn't get to the old warehouse in time? What if they had ended up killing her and that's why they didn't get in contact with him anymore? He was sure they were just trying to get back at him, trying to lure him in by using her as bait, but there was no way he could just leave her with them.

But what if they had given up on getting back at him and just killed her? Would they tell him? Or would they keep him on edge, always wondering whether he might still be able to see her and hold her again? Both would be equally cruel, but at this point Shouta felt like he'd prefer to have some certainty.

He felt like he had been at his breaking point for over a week now and he really didn't know how much longer he could live on this thin line between being able to go back to normal and going off the deep end. He'd rather know what was going on, but he had no choice but to wait for another hint.

Shouta sighed and put down his rifle. He couldn't focus anymore, now that he had started thinking about Y/N. If only he could hold her again, see her smiling shyly, as if she didn't want to get caught smiling, feel her soft skin against his... he missed her. He missed her so fucking much.

He made his way back inside Hizashi's house, hoping to maybe get a nap or do something to take his mind off Y/N. He was getting sick of all of this. He was sick of not being able to think of anything else. And then he felt so guilty for thinking like that, because... it was all his fault, wasn't it? She had to deal with so much and he couldn't even deal with her being gone?

"Back already?" Hizashi greeted him, as he looked up from his laptop. Shouta just shrugged and sighed, before plopping down on the couch. He could feel Hizashi's eyes in his neck. He knew that his friend was worried about him and he was right to - Shouta was worried about himself. But he would like to just get an hour or two completely to himself without anyone giving him concerned looks.

"How'd it go?" Hizashi wanted to know.

"I don't know. It went. Can't focus anymore." Shouta mumbled. He really didn't want to explain himself right now. But he knew Hizashi would keep asking. That was one way in which they were definitely differing - Hizashi wanted to talk everything out all the time, while Shouta preferred keeping things to himself and mulling them over in his head before talking to anyone.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Hizashi asked. Shouta thought he could feel a headache coming on just from being pestered by him this much. He knew he wasn't okay, so why did he keep asking about it? But at the same time he felt so, so guilty - because he knew that Hizashi only did this, because he cared about him and wanted to help him. And what was he doing?

"Yeah, more or less. I hate all this waiting." Shouta replied. Hizashi nodded slowly, before focussing back on his laptop and biting his lip. Shouta knew that look - Hizashi had some idea and he was thinking about how to best pitch that idea to him. It was probably a dumb idea, but at this point Shouta would go along with anything that's give him something - anything - to do.

"What is it, Zashi? Just say it." Shouta said to him. Hizashi sighed and scratched the back of his head. So it was a desperate idea? That's at least what it looked like to Shouta. Well, a desperate idea was better than nothing at all, so whatever it was, he was almost sure he'd agree to it.

"We could go back to checking the warehouses again... We don't really have any clues or hints, but there is not much else we can do right now. Chances are they got her in some other warehouse, probably in the city." Hizashi replied. Shouta looked at him for a long time, before sighing.

"What are the chances we'll find her in time?" he wanted to know. He already knew the answer, but... well, he needed to hear it from Hizashi, before he could really accept it. He just shrugged.

"No idea. Very low, probably. But it would be a start and we don't really have much else to do right now, do we?" Hizashi answered. Shouta nodded slowly. He was right of course. Maybe it'd take his mind off everything for a while. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. He hadn't left the house in a few days. Maybe it would do him some good at least, even though they weren't very likely to actually find Y/N.

"Yeah, sounds good. Let's do that. Better than sitting around and feeling sorry for myself." Shouta agreed finally and rubbed his eyes. He was tired, his eyes were dry and burning, but if he took a nap or fell asleep now, he knew he'd wake up in a cold sweat from some nightmare soon enough.

"What, you want to go right now?" Hizashi asked. Shouta nodded and got up again. What was the point if they were going to wait around again? He needed something to distract him, he needed to at least feel like he was doing something to find Y/N. If she wasn't dead already...

"I don't think I can stand sitting around even a minute longer." Shouta mumbled. Hizashi raised an eyebrow and then nodded.

"Alright, fine, but let me just finish this up real quick, alright?" Hizashi said and focussed back on his screen. Shouta sighed and started pacing around the room. Where he had felt empty and exhausted earlier, he was restless now. He wanted to get going, he wanted to start doing something.

And then his phone rang. Shouta didn't even know what it was at first, because except for Hizashi no one ever called him. It took him a while to realize that his phone was actually ringing. He took it out of his pocket and just stared at it. Hizashi had looked up from his screen.

"Who is it?" he wanted to know. Shouta shrugged.

"It says it's a private number." he replied. Hizashi's eyes widened and he started frantically typing something on his laptop, before looking back up at him, as if he was expecting him to do something.

"Well, are you going to answer it?" he asked, sounding like he couldn't believe that Shouta was just staring at his phone while it was still ringing. Shouta looked over at him. Answer it? He never answered private numbers, why would he answer this one? Probably just some scam caller.

"Why?" he said.

"What if it's those guys that have Y/N? Go and answer it! I've got the tracking ready, so if it's them, we might be able to find out exactly where they are!" Hizashi urged him on. Shouta sharply sucked in his breath. Fuck, he was right. The phone almost fell out of his hands as he scrambled to quickly answer the call. He gulped and held the phone up to his ear. It was quiet at the other end.

"Yes?" he asked after waiting a while. Something about this was deeply unsettling and that was probably a good sign for Y/N being involved. He could hear some muffled noise in the background.

"Aizawa?" a weirdly distorted voice then answered, as if whoever was calling wasn't sure whether he had the right number.

"Yes? What do you want?" Shouta said, getting more and more impatient by the minute. What kind of game were they playing? This had better be about Y/N. He had little patience for people wasting his time right now.

"We haven't seen you around in a good while. You lost interest in finding your little whore?" the voice at the other end said. Shouta's eyes widened. It was about her... fuck, fuck, fuck. He looked over at Hizashi and nodded quickly, hoping he'd understand what he meant by that.

"Where is she? What are you doing to her? Where the fuck is she?" Shouta replied, his voice sounding angrier with every word. There was a snicker at the other end and then some more muffled noises.

"You really think we'd tell you where she is? Come on, Aizawa, we thought you were smarter than this. You found us last time, didn't you? A little late, but... well, you got there. Why don't we try that again, hm? I'm sure you can figure out a way to get to us. And you should come and get that little slut or we might... dispose of her." the voice at the other end said. Shouta clutched the phone in his hand.

"Why do you bring her into this? She hasn't done anything. Let her go." Shouta replied. His mind told him to beg and plead for Y/N, but he knew that looking too desperate would make them cocky. Better not to risk anything. But shit, he had to get her back somehow. He had to get her out of there, at least. If he died in the process, then so be it, but he needed to save her from them.

"What? She's just some whore. Come on, Aizawa, what's gotten into you? You don't have... feelings for her, do you?" the caller mocked him. Shouta's eyes narrowed and he glanced over at Hizashi who seemed to be deep in thought. He was working on something... hopefully he could find them.

"Is she alive?" Shouta wanted to know. He decided to ignore the jabs they were making at him. They knew damn well that he had feelings for her, otherwise they wouldn't have taken her as bait to get to him.

"For now."

"Just... just tell me what you want and let her go!" Shouta almost yelled into the phone. He couldn't stand not knowing how he could get her out of there anymore. He needed to know what to do. He needed a clue, a hint, something.

"What we want? We just want you to suffer. But you know, I'm a really nice guy, so... I'll let you talk to her for a bit. Don't ask about where she is. She doesn't know and if she says anything, she's dead anyway." the voice said and then there were some muffled noises in the background. Shouta frantically looked over at Hizashi who had a little smile on his lips that grew bigger by the second.

"I got them! We can go there right when you finish your call." Hizashi said to him quietly. Shouta let out a sigh of relief. At least they knew where she was. Damn it, there was no way he could wait even a minute longer, but he wanted to talk to Y/N. He needed to talk to her, to see that she was okay.

"Y/N? Are you... are you there?" he asked after a while. He heard a pained groan, before there was an answer.

"S-Shouta? I-is it really you? Shou?" she said quietly, her voice sounding broken and shaky. Her words were a little slurred. Fuck, Shouta would kill those bastards. He'd kill every single one of them for what they had done to her. He didn't even need to know what it was, he'd kill them.

"It's me, Y/N, are you okay? Please tell me you're alive... Please..." Shouta replied, feeling his eyes filling up with tears. He heard a quiet scoff at the other end. Damn it, he had no idea how much time he had with her...

"I-I'm alive... barely... Shou, please... t-tell them to kill me quickly... I-I don't want to b-be alive anymore... please..." he heard her begging. Shouta felt the hot tears running down his cheeks as she said that. She was begging to be killed? He thought he had seen most of what they were doing to her, but... damn it, it had to be so much worse... what had they done to break her like this?

"Don't say that... I'm going to find you and get you out of there... I promise, Y/N, please... Please hold on for a little longer... I've had no idea where you were until now or I would have gotten you earlier... Y/N, I promise... I promise to get you out of there." he told her. He had no idea if he could keep that promise, but he sure hoped so. If he couldn't... well, if he couldn't then he was too damn useless to stay alive anyway. Hizashi was starting to shut down his laptop and get his things together quickly.

"Shou, I don't... I don't know... just let me die..." Y/N said and started sobbing. Shouta clutched the phone, wiping away some of his tears. He couldn't believe they had broken her like this. And it was all his fault.

"No, Y/N, listen... I'm not going to leave you behind. I love you, okay? Just... just remember that, I-" Shouta replied quickly, before he was interrupted by someone in the background shouting.

"Alright, that's enough! Aizawa, we'll wait for you. Don't make us wait too long or poor Y/N won't like it." the original voice said and then hung up. Shouta's hand was shaking when he looked at his phone and the screen telling him that the call had been disconnected. He couldn't believe it.

He had her. He had her right there, he was talking to her, he heard her voice... and then she was gone again just as quickly. And there was so much more he wanted to tell her, but... he hadn't even gotten a chance. What the hell had they done to her? She was begging him to let her die...

"Shou? You okay?" Hizashi asked quietly, his laptop under his arm and ready to get going. Right, he had found out where she was. Shouta was scared. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see what state she was in right now.

"I'm... I'm not okay... I was talking to her just there..." Shouta replied, not even sure where to start. He thought his head would be full of racing thoughts, but it was so silent inside his head that it scared him. What was he supposed to tell Hizashi? Nothing that he had learnt would change the fact that he would go and kill those bastards... and that he would save Y/N. Or that he would try to. The truth was, he wasn't even sure whether she could still be saved.

"Oh fuck... what did she say? Could she tell you anything?" Hizashi wanted to know. Shouta shook his head.

"No, she... fuck... Hizashi, she was asking me to let her die... to ask them to kill her quickly... I don't know what the fuck they're doing to her, but... they're trying to break her, Zashi. And I think... I think they might have already broken her..." he answered, tears forming in his eyes again.

Hizashi ran a hand through his hair and nodded slowly, before looking back at Shouta, a new determination in his eyes now. Shouta wasn't sure what it was about Hizashi being so adamant about not giving up, but he couldn't have asked for a better friend in this. He wasn't sure whether he himself could have gone to save her, after he had been talking to her on the phone.

But Hizashi seemed to have no doubts at all. And somehow that got him back on track and made him more hopeful that maybe... maybe everything would end well. Or as well as it possibly could end with everything that had been going on. Maybe there was a chance to bring her back, even if she had been broken.

"Then let's get her out, before it gets any worse." Hizashi replied, as if it was the most logical thing in the world. And it was the most logical thing, of course it was, but to Shouta it seemed like a revelation. He nodded.

"Yeah. Let's get her." he said with a little smile.