Preydator || Todoroki x OC

•17: Epiphany•

She sniggers. "Weak."

I feel tears pricking my eyes. 'She's right. If I was stronger, I wouldn't have been caught. I would've been able to face my mom. I wouldn't be on the ground like this. I'm no different than the Little Bunny.' I clench my jaw as my mind wanders back to my dream, my mom's voice, the rabbit. 'I'm weak.'

-----

Carnal leans down with her fan and slices my mask in half. I wince at the cool air hitting my bare face. "Aw, were you crying?" She taunts. I'm taken aback by my own reflection in the safety mirror of the parking lot. My tired, golden-brown eyes stare back at me. My choppy, black hair wet with sweat around my face. "You look so much like your mom." Carnal remarks. "Although I assume your hair colour comes from your dad. Your mom has such beautiful, white hair." She sighs. "You're even weaker than her, though!" She smirks. "Your mom folded so easily after I used my quirk on her, but I haven't used it on you at all!" She cackles. "I won't even have to use my quirk to kill you. Weak."

'In the end, I'm anything like a predator. I'm nothing like the facade of a fox I was hiding behind this whole time.' Frustrated tears blur my vision as I gaze at the broken mask laying on the cold, concrete ground next to me. Anger boils in my veins. 'Even though I'm just a rabbit, even though I've already been cornerned, this rabbit isn't going down so easily.' I think bitterly.

"Fuck you!" I hiss through my clenched teeth. Ignoring the excrutiating pain radiating from my side, I muster all the strength left in my body to raise up my casted foot and kick her square in the face. A satisfying crunch of bones echo throughout the parking lot as she steps back.

Blood drips from her nose. "I still have you cornered, you little brat!" She snarls.

"I don't think so." I pant as I fall back and out of the opening in the building. Wind rushes past me as I fall towards the ground. 'I may be weak, but I won't be eaten by a fox like you.' I determinedly say to myself as I stretch out my hand and grab onto the ledge of the opening on the lower floor. 'I haven't spent the past year running across rooves and jumping from buildings to die from a fall.' I grasp the concrete ledge with all my might and pull myself. 

I flop onto the ground, the adrenaline from falling beginning to wear off and the aching pain of my broken ribs intensifies. I force myself to get up and sloppily sprint to the stairwell. I listen closely for the sounds of Carnal's footsteps, but don't pick up on anything. Realizing she's not following me, I run down the flights of stairs, trying to get to the bottom. "Fuck!" I hiss out in pain as I trip on my cast almost fall down the stairs. 'I'm almost there! Push!' I internally yell at myself as my eyes land on the sign with the letter G- meaning ground floor, printed on it. I quickly turn the corner and all my hopes of escape are crushed. The exit is blocked off with a brick wall. "What the hell?!" I frustratedly curse under my breath.

Realizing that the only ways out of this parking garage are the window-like openings I jumped from, I begin to go back up the stairs. My ribs ache in protest as I push myself as I use the railings to help pull myself up. 'Why aren't there any openings on the lower floors?!' I irritatedly think as I go up another flight of stairs. As I reach the fourth floor, my eyes light up at the sight of an opening. I run towards it and look down at the ground at least fifty feet away. I gulp and propel myself out of the opening, jumping to the roof of the next building over. I roll to distribute the force as the gravel cuts into my knees. I stumble a little, a bit rusty from not having moved around like this lately. I glance over the edge at the ground to see it still quite far down. I spot the next building over slightly lower to the ground but definitely a long jump away. I gulp as I take a running start and leap over the gap. 'I'm not going to make it!' I think, alarmed as I reach out my hand and grab ahold of the ledge. My ribs cry out as I hoist myself up.  I collapse on the roof. 'I'm exhausted!' I think as my legs tremble. "You need to find your classmates!" I yell at myself out loud. "Come on!" My legs feel as if they're attached to weights as I force myself to stand up.

"Rin!" A familiar voice calls out and I look down. I spot Mina and Todoroki standing underneath me.

A ramp of ice appears next to the ledge. "Come down!" Todoroki shouts up at me as I quickly slide down the slippery slope of ice. 

'You can't even get down on your own. Weak.' I berate myself, my spirits completely defeated after speaking to Carnal. 

"I almost didn't recognize you without your mask." Mina says to me as I get up.

I quickly cover my face with my hands. "Well, I guess you've already seen me." I mutter, dropping my hands to my sides.

"We won't look if you don't want us to." Todoroki states, facing away from me.

I sigh. "It's fi-ah!" I wince as a sharp pain from my ribs cuts me off.

"Are you okay?" Todoroki asks, picking me up bridal style.

'And now I need to be carried.' I think to myself as we run through the facility and towards the entrance. 

"Where did all the villains go?" I ask them.

"All Might showed up with some other pro hereoes a few minutes ago." Mina explains. "Most of them got arrested, but a couple villains escaped."

'I guess I couldn't hear all the commotion while fighting for my life with Carnal.' I think. My mind wanders back to what Carnal said about my mom. 'How does she know her? Does she know where my mom is now?' I frown. Since I never saw any pro hereoes or police, I can assume Carnal got away. 'How am I going to find her now?' I hopelessly say to myself as we emerge from the front doors.

"Rin!" A few of my classmates gathered outside greet me with relief on their faces. 

"Woah! Where's your mask?" Kaminari asks.

"It got destroyed..." I mutter.

"I can't believe you were hiding such a cute face all this time!" Kaminari winks at me in a reassuring manner.

I blush a little out of embarrassment, even though I know he's just saying that to make me feel less uncomfortable. I feel Todoroki's grip tighten around me. "Recovery Girl is in the bus." Todoroki says to me while staring oddly at Kaminari. I quirk an eyebrow at him but let him carry me to the bus where Recovery Girl awaits.

He glances down to meet my stare as we walk and I blush, averting my eyes immediately. My blush only intensifies as I realize I longer have a mask to hide my blush. "You're really red. Are you running a fever?" He asks.

My already blushing face gets hotter. "N-No, I'm okay." I sputter.

He looks away, turning his attention towards the bus we're approaching. He cracks a small smile and I feel a swirl of tingles rise in my stomach and chest. 'God, I really am weak.' I think. 'At least, when it comes to you.'