MHA Fanfiction: Inbound

Step into the Daylight

Iylla's POV

I cried into my hands, unable to move or do much of anything other than watch the woods burn. I didn't know how I ended up on my own or where Toya went. All I knew was that the flames were circling ever closer to me. 

"Toya!" I screamed, fighting my way to my feet. "Toya, where are you?!"

I didn't get a response, but I knew that if I waited around for Toya, then I would die here. Moving in the direction that I thought I last saw Toya, I screamed his name repeatedly. My skin burned in the heat, and my lungs ached from the smoke inhalation, but I kept searching.

The longer I spent alone, the more scared I became that I would stay alone, but my worries were baseless. 

"Nona!" Toya swept me into his arms, running down the mountain with me. "I've been looking for you everywhere! Why did you let go of my hand?!"

Squeezing my face into the crook of his neck, I wrapped my little arms around him. Toya shrugged off his jacket, covering my head with it. We made steady progress, but the fire was speeding up, and Toya was slowing down. He tripped. I rolled a few feet away, but I was only out of his arms for a second. Toya picked me back up, but even I could tell that he was struggling. The next time he tripped, he stayed on the ground.

"I- I can't breathe."

"Toya!" I crawled my way over to him, holding his head in my lap. "Get up, Toya! Please, we have to go!"

"I can't, Nona, I can't." I weaved my fingers through his red hair, my tears falling on his face. "You- You have to put up a forcefield, Nona, you have to."

"I can't do it! It's too hard!"

"We'll die if you don't. Please, Nona, save me." Then he passed out. 

Through my tears, I attempted activating my newfound quirk, but it didn't matter how much I wanted to protect him; I couldn't do it. I tried, and I tried, but salvation was nowhere in sight. Sometimes a flicker of a forcefield appeared, but it faded out of view nearly as soon as it did. 

"I'm sorry, Toya." I whimpered, folding his arms around my body and curling into him. The world burned all around us, but as long as I was with Toya, everything would be fine.

Right?

---

"Toya!" I startled awake, damp with sweat. Bolting upright, I panted, taking in as much air as I could get. 

Toya's pleadings echoed in my mind. The smell of the smoke burned my nostrils, and the lingering terror of thinking I wouldn't live to see tomorrow blossomed in my chest. A child's fear of death and a child's pain of losing a friend etched deep in my bones. 

"I fell asleep?" Rubbing my temples, I did my best to shake off the grogginess and confusion.

I checked the time on my phone. It was only 6:22 pm. I reached over my head, grabbing a picture frame that rested on my headboard. It was a picture of the Todoroki kids and me and my brothers. Toya sported that famous lazy smile of his while I posed on his shoulders. 

People have always told me that the pain would lessen with time, but after all this time, the torture of being without him hurt me to my core. 

Please, Nona, save me. 

How could a pain so deep-rooted be healed? It couldn't be possible. Or if it was, it shouldn't be. Not for me. What right did I have to be happy when Toya couldn't even be alive.

Suddenly, Sidon hopped onto the bed, attacking my face with his own. Sidon rammed his face into mine as if he knew I needed someone to tell me to suck it up and deal with it.