Ashes of Love and War - TodoMomo

||Chapter 4 ~ Part 2||

Momo brought her hand up to cradle it against her chest. Her wrist ached slightly. He hadn't grabbed her roughly, but it had been enough to aggravate her already wounded hand. "It's just a sprain," she said, looking away. "I fell. It's nothing serious."

"You were working this whole time without treating it?" he asked in a low voice.

Momo's lips thinned. "I'll wrap it properly after I finish."

Todoroki was silent for a moment. "Is that creature really that important that you'd neglect your own health just to heal it?" he asked coldly.

Momo looked up sharply and glared at Todoroki. "He is not an 'it'! Tokoyami is the most important person to me. He's all I have left...If anything...if anything..." Her voice trailed off as her vision blurred, and she felt wetness start to accumulate on her lashes.

Thinking about Tokoyami made it hard to breathe, and the additional emotional whiplash from the day was making her head hurt. She bit her lip as she struggled to tamp down on her anger and terror but it was too late. Her body had betrayed her. Momo closed her eyes in horror as she felt the first couple teardrops slip over her cheeks and patter onto the wood floor.

She heard Todoroki step closer. "Go to bed."

"No!" Momo's eyes snapped open; she shook her head as more tears flowed down her cheeks. She was drawing in short, rapid breaths as she tried to calm herself. Her chest hurt. He reached out to touch her and she flinched.

Todoroki sighed. Then, in one swift motion, he leaned down and swept her up into his arms.

Momo's stomach twisted. A strangled sob tore itself from her.

"No! You promised!" She gasped as he cradled her in his arms and turned around. "You promised."

Todoroki ignored her, and Momo's eyes widened as he carried her to the bed. Her chest constricted like it had been snared in a steel net. With every step forward, it clenched tighter.

He had no intention of letting her finish healing Tokoyami, she realized. And with Tokoyami barely hanging onto life and her own injury, she couldn't fight him. She was trapped.

Fear seized her; Momo squeezed her eyes shut as Todoroki laid her down on the bed. She sank into the straw mattress, shaking so hard that the bed frame rattled.

She had thought she had prepared herself for this moment, when Todoroki would extract his payment for allowing her to save Tokoyami, but she wasn't. She was terrified.

Momo tried to grab for that strong resolution that had steeled her nerves when she had first stood in front of Todoroki, but it was gone as if it had dried up like grapes left out in the hot, summer sun.

The tears kept flowing down her cheeks. Momo bit her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood as she fought to keep from hyperventilating. It would all be over soon. She just had to keep her eyes closed and think about something else, anything else, until it was over, and then she could go back and finish tending to Tokoyami.

The bed shifted, and Momo clenched her hands into tight fists on top of her chest. Something warm cupped her face. Momo started; her eyes snapped open and her heart stilled.

"Don't," Todoroki said softly. He was pale and his eyes were flashing as he looked at her. His thumb brushed across her cheek, wiping away the tears with unexpected gentleness. "I promise that I won't let anything happen to you or...him. You're mine now. I'll keep you safe, just let me wrap your wrist. I'm not going to let you continue unless you let me treat you."

Todoroki didn't wait for her to respond. He pulled back and strode across the room to grab the extra bandages she had thrown haphazardly onto a chair and returned to the bed, sitting down next to her. He reached out, drawing her hurt hand towards him and slowly began to wrap her wrist.