Fractured Memories- Oboro Shirakumo

~Broken Memories~ Oboro Shirakumo

Pain.

Crushing, burning fire split his head into two fragile pieces, his chest was on fire, his nostrils burned with inhaled dust and smoke and he choked, even as more rubble fell onto his exposed back, knocking the last choked breath out of his body. He felt his spine shatter in two and he screamed with air he didn't have, and then the world went dark.

...

Revival.

He was lying on a hard surface.... The air was dry and biting, but clear now, hung with a heavy scent... was it blood?

He was raised above the floor, he could see the blurred shapes of crates, cables, and other equipment idly tossed about the floor, leaving little space for walking.

He still felt a sick sense of pain all throughout his body, but it was numbed...

He couldn't help but feel grateful for that, even in his mixed up mind.

There was a heavy pressure on his chest, making his mind and lungs choke from lack of breath, then a brief, burning pain and suddenly he could breathe again.

He took in a first, shaky breath, grateful like he never thought he'd be that he was alive, and breathing. Somehow, even as he felt the wind front the rubble crushing down on him, he'd never considered how close he'd come to dying.

He literally felt the oxygen flow into every cell, flooding his body with life, and suddenly he could think clearly again.

Where am I? Were the first coherent words in his head, as his mind belatedly began to decode the meaning of the crates and the stone and wonder why he was here.

Where are my friends?

...

There was someone standing over him.

Their face was hidden in shadow, but it was clear that they had just removed their hands from his torso.

Their shadow fell over his face, eclipsing the burning light of the dim room, which he couldn't help but be grateful for; but at the same time he panicked, not knowing who it was or why they were here.

¨Ai-Aizawa?.. Hizashi? ...Are-Are you here?..¨ he choked out, squinting but failing to pin the man, as his eyes were straining, the world too hazed and too bright for his throbbing head.

¨Hi-Hizashi?..¨ he whispered again, before there was a renewed pressure on his torso, and the world briefly flashed to dark again, which only made his dread worse.

He was broken. He couldn't move, couldn't think. A haze was slowly spreading over his vision, tinting the room purple and making it harder to see. Panic clicked on, only worsening the pain as he gasped with lungs that couldn't take in the oxygen he needed. ¨...Someone help...¨

He'd never imagined pain like this.

His eyes burned, but they were too dry, his mind too fractured, to cry.

A raspy, guttural voice that was not Aizawa or Hizashi, spoke from above him, in a tone as near soothing as it could be.

¨I'm taking care of you... Don't worry, you won't be broken for much longer.¨

He heaved a weightless sigh, smiling as best he could through the haze.

¨Thank you...¨

¨Oh there's no need to thank me, child... You'll have ways to repay me soon enough... Sleep...my friend, you need it...¨

If he'd had any sense to him at that moment, he wouldn't have slept, but he was in the doctor's hands and maybe nothing would've changed. Anyway, at that time he was too hazed and scared to think, so with a last effort at whispering for his friends, he brokenly let his head weigh down on the hard table and his eyes droop closed. His memory faded as his mind blanked into sleep.