MHA Sickfic

Day 19 UGHHH THIS IS GETTING LONG LOL

This is different...

Izuku finds himself amongst tall trees, bare feet scrunching against the sandy gravel of the trail beneath him as his eyes dart around, looking for any sign of the creatures, any threat at all hiding between the trunks.

He can hear birdsong, the sussuration of a gentle breeze through the leaves and he can feel the dappled sunlight against his skin. He closes his eyes and allows a small smile to stretch across his face.

It's quiet. But it's not the all-encompassing silence of the grey void; it's peaceful, encourages him to breathe deeply instead of palsying his chest and clawing at his throat. He feels his lungs expand but it's not painful; it's effortless and restorative. His smile widens.

Voices.

He jerks his head back over his shoulder, crouching in preparation to run. But they don't sound angry; there's no malice or threat there. They sound....young, and...familiar?

And when one voice calls out "Kacchan" in that oh so excited way he had as a child, before quirks, before he lost his best friend, he aches to follow.

So he takes a step.

And another.

And one more.

And then the scene shifts.

The forest darkens around him, shadows dancing and twisting as some sort of mist ekes around the scrub, moving slow and languid to pool around his feet.

That voice again; distorted and desperate in a way that makes Izuku wince. He knows what's happening; the tendrils of remembered pain curl around his arms like fiery thorns as he staggers into a sprint, dodging around the low bushes as his chest tightens in desperation.

There.

The clearing.

"Kacchan!" he yells, bursting through the underbrush and skidding to a halt as he takes in the sight of Shigaraki bent over the blonde who's crumpled in a heap at the feet of a looming Nomu.

Izuku can't move. Something tightens around him, pinning him in place. With a snarl of desperation he calls forth one for all, straining, fighting against the unseen strength that holds him as tears well in his eyes. Familiarity ghosts against his panicked mind but the adrenaline flooding his system brushes it away.

"No! Please, I have to-" he pleads frantically, struggling even as the invisible hold on him tightens, weighing him down even further. "Kacchan!"

The world tilts as he's forced to his knees, breaths coming in heavy pants as he struggles. The view shifts until he's mere feet away from the blonde but he can't do more than twitch his fingers against the now suffocating hold than binds him.

He fights to even breathe.

"Kacchan..." he croaks, tears spilling unheeded down his cheeks as he watches Kurogiri open a portal he knows will take him away from them. He feels his arms creak and snap under the strain of one for all but he doesn't cry out; he can't find the air. The pain is distant compared to the fear.

"Kacchan, please," he whimpers quietly before turning to his captors:

"Please, leave him alone. Don't take him. Please. Take me instead."

Shigaraki merely cackles and slips through the portal, the Nomu following a snapped order and slinging Bakugo's limp body over his shoulder.

The portal dissipates into wisps of black smoke and Izuku howls, curling in on himself, hunched into the dirt and screaming in anguish until the raw sound peters out int incoherency.