A Dragon's Heart // Shoto Todoroki x Reader

Chapter 33: The Void In Me

"Amara Aizawa." I heard Shigaraki's shrill voice.

"Hand Job? Is that you?" I sighed. I felt the cloth around my head come off and light pierced my eyes. Sure enough, Shigaraki stood before me, his dry and crinkly skin reminded me of the desert. His appearance reflected perfectly the dryness of his personality. "This isn't very funny." I felt my voice break, much to my embarrassment.

"Don't be so shy," Hand Job murmured. He traced his dry fingers feather light along my shoulders, caressing around to the skin of my face. "You shouldn't be shy – You're beautiful. My perfect masterpiece."

I felt my fists clench, my breath quivered at the sensation of his touch. I avoided his gaze, I couldn't bear to see myself reflected within his eyes – hideous and warped. "You didn't make me." I spat.

"My master did," Hand Job said. "What would you be without us? He's practically written himself along your skin. Here..." Hand job's fingers continued to trial down my body, down to my forearm. "Everything you've survived, everything you've endured. You're so strong, is that not beautiful?"

It was oddly reassuring, his words however did not reflect his creepy actions. I was still chained up. I swallowed the ideas down to kill him here and now, I wasn't sure if I was allowed to. "Why am I here? Whatever pervy ideas you have going on I'm going to have to decline."

"It's time you fulfilled your purpose – the reason your quirks where given to you."

"What?" I became irritated, he wasn't making any sense.

"Your life, your adoption, your rebirth from the flames. It was always meant to happen, you were always going to be blackmailed into joining us. You are my perfect weapon." Shigaraki was murmuring as he paced the room. He frantically wove himself between computer monitors and strange medical equipment as if he was setting them up. "I'm going to fix you, you'll be the greatest Nomu ever created."

My heart rate fastened, I called upon my fire to melt the iron shackles until Shigaraki's shrill voice instilled a fear in me.

"Why are you fighting it? You know your life is over. You hurt your friends, you'll never be allowed back into that school. This was always your purpose."

I felt my dark eyes narrow as my breath left my chest, leaving me with the familiar sensation of numbness. "Wait, you blackmailed me into joining you?"

"Yes, that wasn't the real police that 'investigated you', they were villains paid to act."

Anger swelled inside me, I had been such an idiot. "I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to slaughter your entire 'League of Villains'." I growled, flames danced around my skin and I felt the metal shackles grown in retaliation.

"Why bother? You're life is over."

I was played, I gave up my life to protect Shoto and myself. But it was all a lie, I hurt my friends, I left Shoto. I punched Midoria, even threatened to kill his mother. And it was all for nothing. What is my life? I forced a shaky sigh as I peered down to my arms. My flames flickered before they eventually shrank into tiny clouds of steam.

I didn't feel the pain of the needles that Shigaraki injected into my flesh, I felt like a corpse. I was already dead. Strange colored bags hung around me in a semicircle, the liquid dripped into my blood painlessly. Though I doubt I'd ever feel anything again.

"You are the perfect killing machine Amara, you just need to be tweaked a little." I felt Shigaraki place a cold hand on the top of my head. His fingers gript my dark hair as he forced me to meet his cold gaze. His soulless tired eyes reflected an image of me I'd never seen before, a dark version of me that I knew existed but couldn't bare to face. I kept her hidden away in the farthest reaches of my mind, my other personality – scares me. "I need the dark version of you, the one that almost killed All Might in a fit of rage."

"How did you know about that?" I asked him in a monotone.

"I've been watching you since day 1."

My heard bled, sharp daggers twisted within my chest. I felt my breath hitch and fumble within my throat as I tried to keep myself from breaking. He was right, my life was over. There is no point in fighting back; I have lost. I hunched over, the needles ceaselessly poured the unknown liquid into me, making my vision hazy. This was the end of me.

>>>Meanwhile, Midoria POV<<<

The memory of seeing Amara in the flesh haunted me. She had been missing for weeks but it turns out she joined the Villains, the League of Villains of all places. I stirred within my bed, before I decided to leave the dorm room and go for a walk – just to clear my head.

I stumbled upon Todoroki in the community kitchen. My eyes widened at the sight. Todoroki wore a baggy white shirt and grey tracksuit pants as he leaned against the kitchen counter. His bicolored eyes seemed lost within he ceramic cup he held within his fingers.

"Todoroki?" My voice was silent, barely above a whisper yet Todoroki seemed to jump at my words.

"Oh, its you." He mumbled before he took a sip of whatever liquid was in the cup. "It's coffee, I wonder why Amara liked it so much. It's bitter, but kinda sweet." He informed me. I peered down at the cup before I averted my gaze elsewhere.

"That's kind of like Amara. Seems bitter and unfriendly. But when you get to know her she's just a shy, sweet girl. With a temper of course." I smiled to myself at the memory of Amara. I imagined her back in class with us and everything felt normal again.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Todoroki simply said.

"I need to talk to you," I jumped. I kept my voice low, for I worried what I was about to say would shatter the boy in front of me. Just thinking about seeing Amara at the mall made me shiver, I just couldn't believe it. "It's about Amara."

Todoroki stiffened as white washed over his already pale face. "What about her?" He asked in a monotone.

"I don't know how to say this, but I saw her. She-" Todoroki cut me off as his fingers painfully gript my shoulders, his eyebrows weaved together into a scowl as his bicolored eyes bore into me.

"Keep talking." He spat.

"She joined the League of VIllians. I was at my work study where she saw me. She tried to knock me unconscious so that I wouldn't remember seeing her – but I remember. She threatened to kill my Mum if I told anyone. Its really bad." I pursed my lips together, as I saw Todoroki shift before me. His grip softened as he averted back into his stoic expression.

"She what? No there must have been a mistake."

"I'm sorry but I don't think she's on our side anymore." I felt my voice quiver as I trailed off. My gaze lowered to the darkness of the room we stood in. Todoroki's eyes swelled with concern, he softened his grip entirely as his hands fell to his sides.

"Where did you see her last?" He asked me. An unusual stillness carried within his masculine voice.

"At the mall, during my work study. Fire came out of no where and she saved my life and then, well." I sighed. "I still have the bruises to prove it, she was quite angry." Todoroki stood in a silence, before he gript the coffee mug and drank the entirety of its contents. He slammed the mug down onto the kitchen sink before he pushed pass me. His eyes seemed to swim within memories as he stormed down the hallway towards Mr Aizawa's office. A shaky sigh left my lips before I trotted back to my dorm room. Maybe this time I could manage some sleep.