Test of Courage

17

Todoroki's POV
We were far from the village. The sounds of fighting were long gone, leaving us in the quietness of night. We walked at a steady pace to get as much distance between us and Shigaraki as possible. No one talked and our guides were especially gloomy. I hadn't got to interact with them much but this seemed uncharacteristic. Though, I couldn't blame them. Their home was just attacked.

We walked throughout the night and the next day. The mountain terrain wasn't easy to travel through and by night fall we were exhausted. We decided starting a fire would be too noticeable so we ate our food cold and in the dark. It was quiet while we ate dinner like the rest of the day, until Sero spoke up.

"Where are you guys going?" He asked, "What was important enough for Aizawa to risk the village so you could get away?"

"You know anything about this sword?" Midoriya asked holding up his sword. It was hard to see in the dark, luckily the moon cast enough light to see some of the details. The three nodded in shock.

"How did you get that?" Mina asked.

"I found it," Midoriya explained, "Anyway we plan on destroying it in Mt. Shimura, Shigaraki wants it though. He kidnapped me for it when we were traveling near Chester." The quietness came back as they processed the new information.

"Wow," Kaminari finally said, "Isn't there an easier way to get rid of it then going all the way to Mt. Shimura though?"

"No, the only way it can be destroyed is by throwing it into Provorago, a pit that is said to destroy any curse imaginable," Iida said. "We should get some rest so we can make some more progress tomorrow." The rest of the group agreed and settled down for rest. Midoriya volunteered to keep watch first. Bakugou agreed to watch second.

The next morning I woke up to arguing. Bakugou was angry at Midoriya for some unknown reason and Midoriya looked exhausted.

"You should have woken me up. I said I would watch second, Deku," Bakugou growled.

"I wasn't tired and I figured you'd appreciate having more time to sleep, Kacchan," Midoriya replied.

"Well, I didn't," Bakugou snarled in response.

"Both of you, quit fighting," Iida said in attempt to stop their bickering so early in the morning.

"Shut up, Mom," Bakugou said sarcastically. Iida continued to scold Bakugou and I went over to Midoriya,

"Why didn't you let Bakugou take second watch? You need sleep too," I asked.

"I wasn't tired," He shrugged. I could tell he was lying from the sound of his voice. He didn't make eye contact either. I gave him a look.

"I can tell your lying."

"I wasn't though."

"Midoriya-"

"Seriously, Todoroki," He cut me off, "I just wasn't tired." He gave me reassuring smile to make me feel better but I could only see how tired he was. Not just physically, emotionally too. This whole ordeal took a lot out of him, out of all of us.

I decided not to push him too much so I left him alone. We had breakfast before Mina, Kaminari, and Sero lead us again. No one talked until late afternoon. The quiet was nice and it was easier to tell whether the people from Chester were following us.

"Since we are getting closer to Mt. Shimura, I suggest we think of strategies to find Provorago," Iida said, breaking the silence. I thought back to the large library at home in the castle.

"We have little to no knowledge about the pit. It's hardly mentioned in any of the castle's books and the entrance isn't recorded anywhere," I say, "The only way we know it's in Mt. Shimura is because of the guy in Midoriya's dream."

"I've heard about the entrance," Sero spoke up.

"Yeah, I have too. Our village has a lot more information about Mt. Shimura by the sound of it," Mina added.

"The entrance is camouflaged in the side of the mountain," Sero explained, "The pit's symbol is the only clue to the door's location."

"Do you guys know what it looks like?" Midoriya asked.

"Yeah," Kaminari stopped and crouched down to the ground. Using his finger he drew a symbol I had never seen before. Kaminari's version was sloppy and hard to see and I hoped I would recognize symbol if I saw it.

"You can remember this but not your math work?" Mina asked, raising an eyebrow. He just shrugged. He stood up and we began walking again. Instead of falling into silence again we continued in small talk and joking around. It helped that the four from Nedzu were pretty silly.

Midoriya's POV
When we settled for the night I was the first to volunteer for keeping watch. Of course there were protests. Todoroki and Iida insisted I needed sleep and Bakugou said he wanted to take watch since I didn't wake him the night before. After some fighting Bakugou took first watch and Iida took second. When everyone lay down to sleep I did my best to keep my eyes open. I didn't even want to think about what All for One might say to me if I fell asleep.

A wave of dizziness washed over me and everything faded out. When my eyes opened again I stood in the black void with All for One in front of me. He looked mad even though I could tell he was trying to keep his face expressionless. His arms were crossed over his chest.

"How long did you think you could avoid me?" He asked, but I didn't reply. "I only want to help you. Ever since I helped you realize your true feelings for Todoroki you've been struggling to treat him like he's just a friend." As much Midoriya didn't want to admit he was right, he was having a hard time not slipping his hand into Todoroki's while they were walking. Or moving his sleeping bag closer to his when they camped out at night. "I can help you. Just let me free and you can be with him with no problems."

"Your lying. You don't want to help me, you just want to use me for your own personal gain," I argued. His eyebrow twitched and he tried to stay calm.

"Why should it matter who I'm doing it for? You'll get what you want in the end. That's what should matter," He continued. I shook my head.

"It's not worth the price, anyway I'm not going to force my feelings onto Todoroki. He can love who ever he wants," I say. All for One sighed, anger seeping in and flicked a wrist. I felt like I was falling and I jolted awake. I lay in my sleeping bag, trying to keep my breathing under control so no one would notice. After a few minutes no one said anything or moved so I assume they didn't hear me.

"I know your awake, Deku," Bakugou's voice broke the silence. I sat up quietly. Everyone else was asleep. Bakugou sat next to Kirishima, holding his hand. He wasn't looking at me. He seemed really interested at a beetle that walked along the ground. "Did you have a nightmare or something?" Was he trying to help me? It was hard to tell in the dark but if I looked close enough I could see he was embarrassed.

"Yeah, I had a nightmare," I said. He was putting in the effort so it felt wrong not to let him help.

"You get them a lot, right?" He asked, surprising me.

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?"

"Because your so damn loud when you wake up!" He said raising his voice. Kirishima grumbled and rolled over and Bakugou looked panicked. Relief washed over his face when he noticed Kirishima was still asleep.

"If you have any more, I guess I could tolerate listening to it," He grumbled quietly, "Or just talk to one of the extras! They want to help too."

"Thank you, Kacchan," I smiled gratefully. I noticed him blush.

"If anyone asks, we never had this conversation!" He said keeping his voice down, "Go back to sleep so I don't have to look at your annoying face anymore." I laid down, listening to his advice. I did make All for One mad, maybe he'd leave me alone for the rest of the night. I let my eyes close and sleep consumed me.