Shadowfire - OC x Shoto Todoroki

Chapter 23 - Forced Freedom

Kaida and Katsuki had been allowed back into her house for only a few hours to collect her things in order to move into the dorms later that day. The whole property was ringed with police tape, and Kaida half wished there was a way to get her stuff out without having to go back inside the house. And yet, when Katsuki lifted up a section of the tape to let her walk underneath it, she did so without hesitation, preferring to keep her mind blank of any dark thoughts that tried to intrude their way into her head.

The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees the second she crossed the threshold. The house felt like some kind of movie set, a lack of reality blanketed the property and she almost felt like she had never been here at all.

She dazedly made her way up to her bedroom, no longer aware of Katsuki's stoic presence behind her. It took a few minutes of her standing in her bedroom doorway before he nudged her shoulder and she stepped into the room.

The freezing air made her skin sting uncomfortably, and she pulled one of Shoto's jackets off the back of her desk chair, sliding it on over her head and savouring the loving warmth. She hadn't asked him to help her. Yes, she wanted to see him desperately, but this situation was...unique. The entire subject of her home life and her mother seemed shameful, like something she should bury deep down despite having opened up to Shoto about it in the past.

He would understand. Of course he would. That was the problem. He would understand what she was going through and would encourage her to speak to him about it. He could relate.

Katsuki was different. The hotheaded blonde boy had no idea how to talk to Kaida about this, and didn't particularly want to. So he was silent, not uttering a single word as they piled clothes, books and knickknacks into boxes and loaded them into a small moving truck. This was exactly how Kaida wanted it, not currently capable of making conversation and knowing that the second she began to open up about what had transpired last night, she would begin to crack.

Almost all the furniture had been moved out of her house already in order to either sell the property or knock it down. The bare skeleton of the house felt haunted, like ghosts were lurking behind every closed door. Kaida walked in complete silence, not even her feet making a sound against the floorboards. Her mother's room was even more freezing cold than the rest of the house and she shivered, sticking her hands under her armpits to fend off the chill.

Only the bedframe and a chest of drawers remained in the room, but as she stepped through the doorway, a sparkling glint of light drew her gaze to the dusty drawers. A tiny object sat on top of the set; a dirty, tarnished ring that had not been well taken care of at all. The simple gold band was a rusty, coppery colour now, a much smaller replica of the one hanging on a chain around her neck.

Her movements were automatic as her hands went to the back of her throat, unclasping the chain and sliding it off of her chest.

"You ok, weirdo?"

She jumped, her heart rate instantly quickening at the sudden break in the silence. Katsuki stood in the doorway, one eyebrow raised questioningly and his arms folded across his stomach. She nodded slowly, the air feeling thick and dirty.

"They need to be together." She said monotonously, not caring that Katsuki probably had no idea what she was talking about.

She slipped the smaller, dirtier ring onto the chain, letting it fall against the larger one with a loud chink. They clacked together as she held the chain out to him.

"I need you to destroy it. With an explosion or something." She didn't meet his eyes. "Please..."

He didn't hesitate, didn't say a word as he snatched the chain out of her hand and closed his large fist around it, igniting a series of tiny explosions in his palm until ashes began to fall from between his fingers. He scrubbed his hand across his shirt, leaving a black smudge on the fabric.