A Dragon's Heart // Shoto Todoroki x Reader

Chapter 39: Rise

>>Midoria POV <<

The cold air whipped against the bare of my skin, the plastic handle began to bear down heavily within my grip. I just bought some supplies for the School Festival, including thumbtacks for Todoroki. Everyone had been working hard, and I didn't want to let them down. Even Amara seemed to be working hard, it was as if she was a puzzle piece that could not find her place. She was trying though, I still couldn't exactly forgive her for what she said either; how she would kill my mother for trying to help her.

I felt myself shudder, swallowing down the small fragment of anger that stirred deeply within me. Maybe one day I could ask her, see her point of view – She can't really be that big of a monster.

My legs began taking me back towards the campus, almost like clockwork. Until my heart paced, something shook lose within my brain. I heard something shrill in the distance, her screams a whisper. I instinctively decided to follow the anxious screams, with no idea why until it became clear who it was. It was Amara. Adrenaline kicked into my body like an electrical pulse and I frantically navigated through the darkened alleyways of the city until I found her.

Blood painted the walls, chunks of her obsidian curls saturated in thick chunks of her own blood and flesh. My stomach twisted at the grotesque sight, my green orbs staring at the man towering above her. He paled when he saw me, before he bolted.

My mind raced, my body trembled at the sight of her. Her flesh seemed to hang off her skeleton in strips, blood oozed out of her open wounds. Amara's chest convulsed unnaturally, as if she was seizing. "Amara!" My voice shook, I inched towards her and knelt beside her. I went to hold her hand only to find that her fingers had been severed at the joints. My clothes already soaked with the cold blood that stained the mouldy, rotten ground.

I ripped my phone out of its pocket and frantically began to call an ambulance until I heard disgusting snaps crackle from in front of me. Amara's bones were moving back into place! The matted, torn flesh seemed to smoothen out, fusing together. Her ribs, cracked back into place, her fingers seemed to grow from the joint outwards. With each movement her body took, Amara grunted inhumanely.

"Amara, how are you doing that?" My voice trembled at the sight of her, she was healing somehow.

"It hurts so much." Her voice was frail, barely above a whisper. Her voice was so silent it felt like rain drops in the air. She looked like a corpse, except her skin was scolding hot. Puffs of steam seemed to rise from her body as she healed, red veins writhed satanically from under her skin. My eyes widened as I watched her shakily try to stand up. I felt unsure whether or not I should extend a hand out to help the poor girl.

"You should be resting! You almost died!" I shrieked. "I'll carry you back to school."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." She replied in a deep monotone. Her bones creaked eerily as her legs straightened, supporting her body weight. She leaned herself along the blood stained wall for support, her fingernails black.

"Do you have a regeneration quirk?" I asked her. Amara simply shrugged at me as her dark orbs looked out of it. She looked mostly normal, other than her clothes being drenched in her blood and her eyes seemed to be extra soulless than usual. Puffs of steam sizzled around her, red veins continued to pulsate from within her.

"I don't have any quirks at the current moment Midoria." She mumbled in a husk voice. She took a few shaky steps towards me before she collapsed onto the bloodied floor, Amara seemed to mutter a string of swear words under her breathe, causing my lips to turn upright into a smile; she was still herself

I bent down to scoop her scolding hot body into my arms, she felt almost weightless as I lifted her up and carried her entirety. Her blood had dried into the thin fabric of her school uniform. We began walking to school, my eyes never leaving the corpse within my arms. Her dark eyes dulled, staring off into space. Soon I felt a web substance layer onto my arm, I looked down to her fresh blood on my sleeve.

"You must still be bleeding." I tried to say whilst sounding calm. Amara seemed to nod in reply before she rested her head against my chest and closed her eyes. "So are you going to tell me what happened?" I asked.

"Back when I was a villain, I had a friend. He was a fire type user as well, and we had this bet that I wouldn't be able to beat this other guy in a fight. So of course, I had to prove him wrong. And I fought the guy, he lost his leg in our battle." Amara said breathlessly.

"That sounds about right." I sighed. "I don't understand how you are still alive though when you don't have any quirks." I mumbled to her. Amara's smouldering skin, returned to its cold porcelain complexion. The fiery red veins sunk deeply back into her skin, vanishing from sight.

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I never get scars." Amara's throat gurgled horridly, before more blood flung out of her mouth, its dark thick body formed in chunks staining my skin. "Fuck." She cussed. "I think I'll need to see the Doctor soon." Her voice full of fear, and so was I. I activated my quirk and hurried back to campus at the speed of light.

"We need some help!" My voice shrieked, nearby students I've never spoken to before stood around me with a curious atmosphere. Their anonymous eyes watching every motionless breath Amara took. The students nervously hurried out of my way and followed me to Recovery Girl's office.

"What the hell happened?" Todoroki asked me, anger obvious in his tone.

"She got attacked, I thought she was fine until she started coughing up blood." I replied whilst holding Amara's bleeding frame. I felt Amara squirm within my embrace, much to my confusion. "Amara what are you doing?"

"This is so embarrassing, I can walk the rest of the way." She grumbled lifelessly, her eyes vacant of emotion.

"Amara now is not the time to be stubborn!" I tried to reason with her, but the girl didn't listen. Amara's shakily legs quaked towards the door of Recovery Girls' office. Her bloodied pale hands posed to lay flat on the white door. The girl seemed to try to push the door inwards to get inside, but the door refused.

"Amara, it's a pull door." Todoroki said faintly next to me.

"I knew that." Amara slurred, she moved her frail hands towards the handle and went to grip it. With her entire body she flung backwards to open the door but her grip failed her. She plummeted onto the floor, landing on her back with a painful thud. "I meant to do that." She groaned. I felt myself let out a shaky breath, if she was still acting like herself surely that was a good sign. Todoroki and I inched towards Amara who still laid lifeless on the floor, staring up at the ceiling with a dead expression. We both extended our arms out to her and gently gript her porcelain wrists. We lifted Amara upright, her boots squeaked as they dragged alone the floor. We pulled the door open and continued to drag Amara's body into the office.

"Oh goodness!" Recovery Girl exclaimed as she crawled off her little office chair. "Put her up on that bed!" She lifted a gaunt finger at one of the bare hospital beds she had prepared in her office. Todoroki and I both carried Amara over to it and hoisted her up effortlessly. Amara seemed to stir, tethering between reality and her unconscious. "What happened?" She asked the two of us, her aged eyes flicking between us like channels on a TV.

"I found her half alive, half dead. She had been brutally attacked by this villain, her fingers were cut off and her bones shattered. But within minutes her body regenerated itself, releasing huge amounts of heat and steam." I explained to Recovery Girl as she swiftly took Amara's vitals.

Todoroki seemed frozen on Amara's body, his face empty.

"Does she have a healing quirk?" Recovery Girl asked us with narrowed brows. "Wait, she got shot by that Quirk Destroying Bullet, she shouldn't have any quirks at the moment." Recovery Girl mused as her hands kept working.

"That's why I'm a bit confused." I sighed. "Is it possible Amara was immune to the bullet?" I asked.

"Amara!" Mr Aizawa rushed in, his hands went straight to cup Amara's bloodied cheeks as his eyes scanned her battle-torn body.

"Alrighty, I'll need you two boys to leave while I talk to Mr Aizawa; Her Father." Recovery Girls' voice was shrill, but assertive. I felt reluctant to leave, but something inside me knew Amara was going to be okay. That's just how she is; a fighter and a stubborn one.