𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐬 || S. Todoroki x Reader

9 - Pain. Power. Plan.

Your tongue felt like sandpaper against your mouth, impossible to swallow away or help calm the burning in your throat.

Kurogiri was keeping your class captive in his shadow gates, closing them in like a dark prison around the platform.

Questions, too many to count, banged around in your mind. It was hard to hear over the steam engine in your brain, chugging out thoughts and theories about why they were here, what they wanted, and what they were going to do to get it.

Todoroki's hand was still firm on your arm, cooling the skin under your costume. He was staring up at the great monster in a suit with yellow eyes, his jaw tense, stare locked on your foe, his grip a vice. Fear was locked away tight, the unuseful emotion pushed to the side to allow for determination.

He wasn't afraid of you either, and he wasn't letting go.

Todoroki had no idea what was going on with you, but the last thing he needed was you doing something unexpected and ending all of your chances for survival.

It was impossible to tell why he was still holding on, but you were shaking less than before, your eyes still bled with panic but a controlled kind.

That was something.

He chose not to question why you were so troubled by the villains, why your apprehension was almost like... like you knew them.

Your eyes were not scared of what they might do, but what they could do.

"It might be a bit presumptuous," Kurogiri said, smile thick through his voice. "But we are looking for a certain hero today. That's why we invited ourselves to the party, to have All Might, the Symbol of Peace, take his last breath."

Other students were squaring up, already seeing that cowering wasn't going to get you out of the situation. Fists raised, quirks activated just enough in palms, eyes set, determination pooled.

"I do believe he was supposed to be here today," Kurogiri continued, yellow eyes raking across the fresh prey he'd collected, but coming up short when his object of interest wasn't among the lot. "Or has there been some change of plans? I do-"

Time stopped when Kurogiri all but certainly found your gaze in the ton.

The watch resting back in your locker stopped ticking.

Your heart seized at the possibility that he wouldn't notice, that your hero costume would be enough to keep his stare moving along as if you were just another student, nothing out of the ordinary.

But your hopes were fruitless, a dying tree as he turned to face you better, head tilting. "Wait a moment."

Something sank in your stomach, the last of your air passed through your lips as he said, "Is that you, Y/n?"

The second your name escaped into the USJ floor, students started turning in your direction. Eyes blown, brows scrunched as they tried making sense of how this villain seemed to know you, how he managed to recognize you if this was everyone else's first time meeting them.

Kurogiri obviously had no trouble causing the little rift, only continuing on as if you were sharing a family dinner.

"So it seems you've started class." The rhetoric in his question made your skin crawl, lip turning up in distaste.

Age apparently had no toll on his memory, as he looked down at you just as he had in that backroom all those years ago.

He still had that air of superiority, those eyes charged with the knowledge he had more power than you.