"(y/n), get out of here. Run!"

Aizawa's voice echoed in your ears as the swirling blue flames surrounded you. There wasn't any time to decide on a course of action, no choice for you to make. But you stood there, frozen in fear, as your hands trembled.

Was this what your father felt like that day? Did Endeavor's fire feel the same way, although it meant to rescue him, not harm him?

Aizawa's tired eyes widened as Dabi appeared by his side. "Your concern has you distracted, Eraserhead," Dabi stated as he blasted your teacher with a large-scale flame attack.

As the blue flames neared Aizawa, he called out for Vlad King - the other teacher in charge. He then pointed at you. "I SAID RUN, (y/n)!"

"No, Mr. Aizawa!" you cried out when the flames engulfed him. You took a sharp breath in as the fire closed in on you, filling your lungs with smoke. You needed to make a move. Now. Even if that villain had gotten your teacher, you needed to get away.

"You Pro Heroes should stay out of the way. We haven't come looking for any of you," Dabi said before he narrowed his grave, turquoise eyes at you. "So, are you (l/n) scum, too? Tell me, why do you want to be a hero?"

You dodged some more fire, only your sleeve was burnt, which you brushed with your hand until you put the fire out. Your breathing became heavy. Even if you wanted to reply, you had plenty on your plate already with having to struggle against his lethal flames.

"This is your last chance. Are you bent like your uncle?"

You managed to spit out an answer between a few coughs."I- I'll be a hero."

Aizawa called for Dabi's attention from near the top of the building, where he had jumped to evade the attack. A glimpse of a path between the fire opened to you, and you didn't hesitate this time. However, you stopped right on your tracks as you felt Dabi's presence behind you. You quickly sent a punch flying at him, and even though you loaded it with your life energy, he caught your hand.

"Well done on avoiding me, Eraserhead. Too bad you left this one behind," Dabi seethed. You swung your injured arm at him in a desperate attempt to break free.

Yet, he captured your other hand and twisted it, causing you to shriek in pain as you heard something snap. Though you tried to absorb his life energy, it didn't work as he continued to apply force on your broken wrist. Crack. Dabi snapped another one of your bones, which hurt so much you felt bile rise in your throat as you landed on the ground with a deafening thud.

Dabi's blue flames yet again circled you and Aizawa, but they suddenly vanished.

Adjusting his yellow goggles, Aizawa erased his fire creation quirk. Aizawa wrapped Dabi's lanky body with his capturing weapon he wore as a scarf. While Aizawa pulled Dabi up and met him mid-air, black dots began to cloud your vision. You shook your head to snap yourself out of it, but they returned as soon as you stood up from the floor.

Aizawa flipped Dabi around, pinning him to the ground face first. With his scarred jaw against the dust, Dabi grunted, not wanting to give in to your teacher's pressure.

You plodded away though you tried to run, feeling as if your life energy was escaping you. That villain wasn't a normal human. You realised something had gone wrong when you tried to borrow his life energy as you steadied yourself against the building's front door. Glancing back to your teacher, you noticed that he had used his special alloy weapon to immobilise the lanky man.

The last thing you saw before you fell into your shadow was Dabi's body snapping in half, as though he was made of soft putty. Failing to control your breath, you embraced the deadly night, falling back to the hard ground. Everything faded into black.

---

Todoroki's hands gripped onto his head, his foot tapping on the tiled hospital floor. It helped him distract himself from the relentless beeping from the machines. The colourful flowers, the balloons, the various 'get better soon' cards from your classmates... they all served him as a bitter reminder of what brought the training camp to a sudden end.

Seeing your chest rise and fall with your breathing brought him happiness stained with spite. For someone known for his emotionless expression, the turmoil inside him burned forcefully.

As you opened your eyes, Todoroki pushed his chair closer to you. "You're safe."

The walls of the hospital room blurred as you rubbed the corners of your eyes. You tilted your head to the side as you noticed the clock behind Todoroki. It was early in the morning, and you weren't sure how he was allowed to visit you on his own. Even then, you were glad that he was here for you.

"Good morning?" you muttered.

Todoroki let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding. "Morning. You must be hungry, you've slept for quite a while now."

The half-and-half boy adjusted the overbed table and placed a tray on it, and you accommodated yourself on the bed. The dull ache on your wrist made you look down, helping you remind yourself that you had your arm in a plaster cast.

"Sho, why are you looking at my food like that? You look like you're contemplating something heavy," you asked, looking at the boy who stared down your breakfast.

He looked up before muttering something that might have been more comedic if he didn't look so down. "Cereal is just breakfast soup."

". . . I never thought about it like that." You spooned some of it into your mouth, a comfortable silence washing over both of you.

As Todoroki recognised that he enjoyed spending time doing mundane activities with you, the memory of your knitted eyebrows as you whimpered his name came to his mind. He continued to stare down at your breakfast, not sure of how to phrase it so that it wouldn't sound so stalkerish. "(y/n), are you having nightmares again?"

You stopped bringing the spoon to your mouth and put it back in the bowl. "It's okay, Sho."

"No, tell me. You don't have to go through this on your own."

When you looked out of the window, you acknowledged how the tables had turned. You were used to sitting where Todoroki sat right now, worrying over your dad. It always frustrated you when he didn't share his thoughts with you.

The high buildings opposite the hospital deprived both of you of a calming view, hitting you like the harsh reality that recently had blown up on your faces.

"Mr. Aizawa visited me last night." A half-hearted smile parted your lips as you appreciated the gifts by the side of your bed. "I guess I was asleep when the rest of the class came by. Are they all okay, too?"

Todoroki reached out for your hand, understanding that your homeroom teacher probably had a reason for not breaking the news to you the previous day.

For Todoroki, it was still such a sensitive topic - the League had kidnapped someone he considered as more than a rival, a friend.

And there were many things he wanted to protect you from, but the truth wasn't one of them. That would be unfair to you.

As Todoroki stroked the back of your hand, he uttered the truth. "The League of Villains took Bakugo. I'm sorry we couldn't stop them."

You blinked slowly, trying to process this new information, which felt like Todoroki had just dropped a bucket of icy water over your head. "No, what? No... What are we going to do now?"

"Me, Kirishima, and a few others are planning on rescuing him tonight. Of course, I won't let you come."

You pouted, ready to protest as you wanted to help until you met his pleading eyes. "Oh, fine. I'm meant to stay here for another day, just in case. The doctors aren't sure if it's my quirk playing up on me again."

"Yes, you should stay. What about your nightmares?" he insisted, fully aware that he had suffered from them when he was younger.

Though they seldom haunted him now, he knew that they only made him relive some of the most traumatic experiences in his life. He learned to cope by numbing the pain and rejecting his emotions. But he didn't want the same for you.

"I don't think they're related to what happened at the training camp. They started a few weeks after my dad lost his quirk."

"(y/n), that wasn't your fault."

"You're the only person I've ever talked to about this. I wake up feeling sick and sweaty and ashamed. I-I try to push the memories away, but I feel like I'm sinking. How can I become a hero and save others, when I can't even help my own family?"

Todoroki gritted his teeth. You had chosen to be with him when you could have been looking after your father that fateful weekend. "(y/n), you can't do this to yourself. What happened to 'everyone has a purpose'? Isn't that the type of hero you want to become?"

The empty vial in your uncle's briefcase flashed back into your mind. Soon followed the image of your dad's strained smile under the breathing tube as he reassured you, which made a heavy feeling settle in your chest. "Yeah, everyone does. Still, if I don't answer a call for help, isn't that the same as turning a blind eye to people getting hurt?"

As he noticed your eyes turning dull, Todoroki squeezed your hand. "Yes, I understand. But trust me when I say that you can't live with the weight of the world in your shoulders. I am here for you like you have been for me for more times than I can count. You're not alone."

Todoroki's words tugged at your heart. I wish I could turn back time. I made a mistake I can never undo.

You removed the cotton bed sheets over you with your uninjured hand, revealing your light blue hospital robe as you sat on the edge of the bed.

Once again, Todoroki had brought a glimmer of hope to you. "Yeah. Thank you, Sho. Thank you for pointing out important things I'd forgotten. I haven't given up in my dreams. I don't think I ever will."

"Good. I should be thanking you. You're the one who made me believe that there's better in this world," Todoroki declared, bringing his chair even closer to you.

Todoroki still held on to your hand as he leaned in. His lips pressed against yours, giving you goosebumps. While you could feel the static between your heartbeats, this wasn't like your first kiss. Though forbearing, the desperation that it revealed from both of you was overwhelming. You wanted to keep each other safe. No matter the cost.

As both of you separated, Todoroki stared at you, studying your pensive face. You straightened your collar. I know what I have to do now, especially after hearing what the guy with the fire manipulation quirk said. "Sho, this might come as a surprise, but..."

The knocking at the door made Todoroki stand up from his seat, shush you and hide behind the curtain. You were about to ask him what was up with him when the door opened. Your uncle Daiki strode in, and you flinched when you noticed the pristine briefcase he had in hand.