With the thick mud caking the soles of my boots, the only thing keeping me from sinking or slipping and colliding into one of the protruding roofs was the tight grip on my upper arm. His left hand radiated with warmth as he clutched onto me tightly.

"Todoroki?"

Dual coloured eyes rested upon my own before quickly darting away, cool and calculating, he scanned the area behind me. "We're not alone" he whispered, strong hands gentle in their movements as he tugged me up and towards him, my feet finding semi solid ground, enough for me to stand without slipping.

"It seems that villain's quirk is a warp of some kind" his voice had stooped to a quiet whisper, eyes never coming to a stop as he observed our surroundings. No doubt he could feel the presence of the various enemies stationed around the land slide area, hiding themselves behind protruding buildings and other such rubble. "My guess is he separated us in order to take us out easier, no doubt he thought one of these climates would work against us somehow", Todoroki's quick overview on the situation and all too serious tone wasn't too surprising to me.

The male was known as one of the more serious of the class, perhaps it was because he had yet to open up to us, or perhaps this was just how he was. Brushing the theories towards the back of my mind, I implored myself to focus on the seriousness of the situation.

"Are we the only students in this area?" I whispered.

"I landed on the other side of the area, I haven't come across anyone else as of yet so I can only assume" he mumbled in response "we can't converse like this, or else they'll suspect that we have caught on". He cleared his throat before speaking up "I'm so glad to see you're okay" his voice echoed slightly as he elevated his voice loud enough that the various villains dotted around us would be able to hear with ease.

"I was so worried" his eyes that had not stopped scanning the area around us finally settled on my form, intense and focused, urging me to play along. l was quick to follow "I was so scared" my voice came out choked, trembling in fear that our lie might be easily uncovered. Raising my arms, I slowly looped them around his neck, urging him to lean down slightly to meet my height.

His form tensed beneath my touch, muscles going rigid, it was clear then that this was a type of physical contact that was estranged to him. With my head resting on his shoulder, this allowed an even quieter conversation, guaranteeing the fact that the villains surrounding us wouldn't hear, "play along" I whispered, voice barely audible. Realization flashed actoss his face, disappearing as quickly as it came. Surprisingly gentle arms came to wrap around my waist, clothed limbs barely brushing against the bare skin of my back, as though he was afraid to touch me.

"They're getting closer, they must think they're going to catch us off guard" Todoroki whispered, warm breath brushing the short hairs by the back of my neck, "how can you tell?" was my reply, eyes glanced to the side, catching sight of the short red locks, tapering off behind the male's ear. "They keep peeking out behind the buildings, they're not very smart".

I resisted giving a snort of amusement, hiding a chortle against his shoulder "they're coming, don't move" I kept myself steeled against him. His gentle arms tightened around my midriff, holding me against him protectively, his left hand radiating warmth as it pressed to the small of my back, his right arm uncoiling itself from around my form. A sudden blast of cold air swirled itself around me, air turning a misty white as it shifted to freezing temperatures. Pressed against his right side, warmth permeated my skin, protecting me from the biting cold that expelled from his right hand.

The sounds of pained yelps and the crackling of hardening ice echoed around me, only when Todoroki's left arm loosened around me, did I turn around. Trailing from Todoroki's right foot was a plane of ice, the lower half of the mud slide taken over my solid water, dotting the trail were half a dozen villains, frozen in mid action, some caught in a running pose, other mid attack.

Only one person, the villain closest to us was partly revealed, ice slowly inching up towards his face, expression pained and fear filled. Stepping around me, Todoroki walked slow, and intimidatingly to the victim of his capture. The villain struggled, grunting as he attempted to break free of the ice, the coating over his skin too thick to crack. Toe to toe with the villain in question, thin eyebrows furrowed in anger and distaste, Todoroki's eyes narrowed as he cast his gaze upon the man opposing us.

"What is your plan? Why have you come here?" his voice was rough, demanding answers, even standing behind his defensive stance, I found the small hairs on my arms raise to stand on end.

"I'm--" the villain grunted in pain, chin tilting back as the ice inched closer towards his face "I'm not telling you anything, kid" he huffed, his voice was strained, the veins in his neck visible under the cloudy ice. That clearly wasn't a good idea, Todoroki's reaction was less than positive, his right hand raising, icy mist rolling from his palm in waves. The villain's eyes widened in horror as the sudent's hand grew ever closer towards his face.

"I'll give you another chance to tell me before the ice encases you entirely, and I hope you understand that the ice constricting the rest of your body is slowly cutting off your circulation, I will give you another chance and decrease the amount of ice enough for you to be able to feel your limbs on the condition that you tell us what you know"

Todoroki's threat was chilling, a hard shadder rolling down my spine at the thought of something so fear inducing being directed towards myself. The villain's eyes widened, fluttering due to the pain that was taking over his numbing body, he ground his teeth, jaw muscles flexing before the expression on his fell into one of defeat. His eyes fell closed and he took a deep breath, coming out in a puff of white mist "okay, I'll tell you, I didn't sign up for this kind of thing" he grumbled.

--

The villain took his time spilling the plan, at any note of deceit, a simple swipe of the hand from Todoroki had the older male flinching back in fear. He was quick to retell all the details that would assist us in taking down the head of this group. Todoroki held true to his promise, right palm pressing to the ice that coated the male's chest, steam poured out of the small gap between his hand and the ice, the villain's feet surrounded by a small puddle in a matter of minutes.

However Todoroki stopped once the ice had thinned roughly an inch, providing enough space for the villain's blood to flow at a slightly more regular rate, but less than the villain had been expecting. Enough to keep his toes in tact, but little enough to provide a dull ache.

Once Todoroki lowered his hand and moved to step around the villain, fear and anger became apparent on his face "h-hey! Get back here kid! This wasn't the deal!" he stammered shakily, a deep sigh left the hero in training, turning his body half way, right foot sliding behind him to send an icy glare the villain's way.

"The deal was that I would allow the blood to reach your extremities, not to release you, cooperative or not, you are still a villain"

The dual coloured male's steps as he walked away were strong and determined, calculating as he scaled his way down the ice with ease. The villain's eyes turned to me, wide with desperation as he knew there was no hope in convincing boy to release him.

"Come on little lady, help a guy out? I won't attack you, I won't attack anyone! I'll quit being a villain! Just get me out of here" he sputtered, voice chatching in his throat as he called out to me eagerly. Todoroki stopped in his tracks, turning to look over his shoulder at me, obviously having heard despite the hushed whispers.

As Todoroki took a step towards us, I rose my hand, pausing him in his trek, I turned to look at the villain "don't think for a second that just because I'm not the one that put you there, means I'm weak willed enough to let you out". The villain's eyebrows shot up towards his hair line at the harsh tone in my voice "the fact you even considered committing yourself to this kind of cause and attempted to attack and bunch of teens whose only crime is wishing for a better life for the general population, only proves how much of a detestable person you are".

The spaces between my words grew shorter, and before I knew it, I was approaching the villain, brows furrowed in anger and determination. I found my breath leaving me in short pants, clouding at the drop in temperature "you may have a little light at the end of the tunnel for spilling the info, but I'll be damned if I let you think that you deserve the slightest bit of pity from me or anyone else for that matter. You will wait there and you will be thankful that you didn't end up like your comrades".

Marking the end of my sentence, I stepped towards Todoroki, taking his offered hand as I struggled to keep my footing on the ice beneath my feet. I blocked out the loud curses the villain threw at us as we made our way down the mud slide, passing various frozen bodies before finally reaching the stable ground.

--

It was only when we were on the gorund did we see the extent of the damage caused, an inumerable amount of lower level villains lie unconscious on the floor, the few that were conscious simply groaned in agony. In the centre of all the chaos, was Aizawa Sensei, his hair defying gravity as the long scruffy strands rose to stand atop his head, irises glowing red, his body was battered and bruised, coated in blood, it was hard to discern whether it was his or not.

Surrounding him were a hoard of villains, anger soaring to avenge their fallen comrades, quirks were activated and quickly blocked by Aizawa's own. But from the sight of the Pro Hero, it was clear that he was growing more tired as the villains continued coming for him. Barely getting a moment to rest as more and more of them threw themselves at him. Even from the distance Todoroki and I stood from him, we could see the twitch of his eyelids through the fight, how they begged to close for a simple second - yet he knew that if he relaxed for even a moment, the villain's would take advantage of his fatigue and pounce.

"Sensei" I breathed out, stomach turning with pity as he forced to take on multiple villains at once, "we have to hel--" from the corner of my eye, at the furthest distance from us, was a flash of blue and green.

Brows furrowed in confusion, I turned my gaze to focus on the figure "is that...?" Todoroki started, not a few moments later a flash of red and black rushed to the scene of the fight to stand by the green and blue figure. Midoriya, Bakugo and Kirishima stood by a weak Aizawa, his hair finally falling down to his shoulders as the appearance of the students caught the villains off guard, enough to give him a moment to relax.

"Let's join them, shall we?"

--

We had sprinted as quick as we could towards the scene, Todoroki ran ahead of me, taking out any villains that turned to fight us along the way. It was only when we skidded to a stop by Aizawa's side could we really see how bad the damage to his body was. The skin on one of his forearms had appeared to have hardened and peeled away to reveal the muscle beneath in the flesh.

Blood poured from a gash by his hair line, his nose and mouth also seeping with the red fluid. He panted shakily, body hunched over in a vain attempt to soften the pain "get back to Thirteen" his voice was quiet, strained but desperate. "This isn't the place for wannabe heroes to try and prove themselves!" as his volume increased, he keeled over slightly, a mouthful of blood was spewed onto the floor.

Midoriya placed a gentle hand on his back to coax the fluid out of his lungs, only for his hand to be slapped away "this isn't a drill, these guys are the real deal and I will not allow you to put your lives on the line like this"

"Sorry Sensei" Kirishima spoke up, "but at this point I don't think we really have a choice".

Our conversation was cut short as a loud, intimidatingly deep cackle rang over our heads "as touching as this reunion is, there are more pressing matters at hand, no?". Our attention was drawn away from Aizawa, and to a villain standing in middle of the pile of his group members' bodies. I quickly recognized the male as the first villain to step out of the 'portal'. He was most likely the brains behind this attack, as far as I could tell, behind him stood a creature I had never seen before.

Towering over the rest of us, muscles bulging and skin tinted a deep blue, lines of blood red patterned down his skin. Around the lower half of his face was a beak like mouth guard, jaws open to reveal sharp pointed teeth and a tongue, long and incessantly shifting. In place of a scalp, was a glass like dome, the clear view of the pinkened flesh of it's brain almost made bile rise to my throat in disgust.

"Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!" Midoriya called out, voice strained as he pushed through his obvious fear. The villain with many hands, placed them on his hips, head tilting slightly as he let out a quiet sigh "Kurogiri, what are these students doing here?".

It was a mere second before the purple fog of a figure appeared behind him "it appears they defeated those low level villains after I was forced to separate them" glowing yellow eyes narrowed upon our forms as the mass spoke low, pausing slightly between each word to add an emphasis on his frustration.

The white haired male clicked his tongue behind the palm of his 'mask' in clear distaste "and All Might isn't here yet?" the tone in his voice was that of boredom and exasperation, clearly unhappy that All Might wasn't here as they had planned. "We should get Nomu to kill them, and draw All Might out of hiding" he broke off into a cackle. Insanity lined the bubbles of his laughter, eyes wide through the fingers of his mask.

"That would be unwise, Shigaraki, he would not be happy if we used Nomu for anything unnecessary"

At Kurogiri's scolding words, Shigaraki let out a frustrated grunt, huffing as he straightened himself up "fine, I'll just kill them off myself". The villain stepped towards us slowly, but I found myself frozen in my boots. The eyes peering through the shadows behind the fingers of his mask met mine, wide in a maniacal manner, no trace of what left him human remained. The air around us grew cold with an unfamiliar chill, different to that of Todoroki's quirk. It was the chill and spine shuddering atmosphere of blood thirsty intent.

"No!"

Aizawa, even in his fatigued state, cried out. Dark, blood shot eyes glowing a bright red, his hair rising quickly to stand above his head. The bandages around his neck lifted and separated, floating and moving as though it had a mind of it's own.

"Ah" Shigaraki paused, hand falling limp to his side, his eyes narrowed and I felt a sudden shoot of fear spike through me at his obvious anger. He clicked his tongue "Nomu" he called out, voice scratching in his throat as his hands balled up at his sides, twitching as though he was desperately holding himself back.

"Shigaraki" Kurogiri's tone was threatening, as if warning him of something that I couldn't quite place.

"Shut up! I know!"

"Oi, you sure do have balls to talk among yourselves in front of us like that" I could hear the anger dripping from Bakugo's voice.

"Bakugo don't" Aizawa's voice was just as threatening.

"Get rid of the pests Nomu".

The dark blue beast behind the villain's perked up from his slouched position, jaw parting slightly as though the order had brought it to attention. A single step had the floor beneath us vibrating, long tongue unfolding form the creature's mouth, wide, bulging eyes rolling back into it's head as it reared his head and let out an ugly, ear piercing cry. I slapped my hands over my ears, eyes squeezing closed.

The wind that rushed forward from behind me caused my hair to blow into my face, the unexpected gust of wind causing my eyes to peek open. Aizawa sprinted forward, slower than he had been in the beginning, his exhaustion showing in his performance.

The events that passed happened in the blink of an eye and yet felt agonizingly slow. Aizawa, even with his quirk activated, was grasped by Nomu. Large, claw tipped fingers wrapping around his head, Aizawa dangled in his grip as though weightless, the mindless beast lifted his arm, our teacher's feet slipping off of the ground. I could feel my stomach contents rising to my throat as I watched, with a strong hand and a heavy grip, Aizawa was slammed back into the ground.

The cement beneath him cracked, breaking off into a multitude of fragments, the loud sound of cracking permeated the gaps between my fingers and into my ears. I was scared to determine whether it was the crack of the cement, or the crack of Aizawa's bones as Nomu cotinued to slam the hero's face into the ground, even as he went limp.

"Stop Nomu"

The beast stopped on command, hand still pressed to the back of the raven haired male's skull. The thought that this was the simple, sheer strength of the creature was enough to make me gag in itself. Shigaraki waved the beast aside, it obeyed, stepping back and slouching over once more. The villain's vein covered hand reached down to slip through the messy tresses of black hair, gripping tightly. Slowly, the villain pulled the teacher's head up.

I turned on my heel, reaching out to grip Kirishima's arm for support as I doubled over, taking hard jagged breaths as I struggled to keep the bile down. A gentle hand pressed to my back in an attempt to soothe me, I didn't care to find out who it was.

The person that lay in a small pool of their own blood and a pile of rubble was hardly identifiable, not an inch of unharmed skin, not a hint of flesh not stained with blood. It was hard to believe that was our teacher, that that was a Pro Hero.

A loud boom and an erruption of smoke from the entrance of the dome was the only thing that could distract me from the sound of Aizawa's blood dripping from his broken face onto the broken floor.

"There's no need to fear"

I could feel the hair on my arms raise to stand on end, nausea forgotten in that moment as my head turned quick enough for me to feel the familiar twinge of whiplash in the back of my neck.

"Why?"

I almost dared to let out a breath of relief, and yet the uncomfortable coiling in the base of my spine didn't go away.

"Because I am here!"