Triple Nightmare /Bakudekutodo

Chapter 79: On the Horizon!

Midoriya POV:
That day we were a lot slower than the ones before. Knowing that we were just going to get slower was even more discouraging. Kacchan was starting to worry me. The bags under his eyes were basically black, his eyes were red and he was pale. I tried getting him to sleep but it was no use. And then there was Sho who was barely able to stand on his own. "Kacchan, give me the backpack." "It's-" "That wasn't a question. You are already basically carrying Shoto. I don't get why you always have to do the heavy lifting. You are barely any stronger than either of us anyway." "Shut your mouth." He stoped walking for a moment and took off the backpack. "Here, if you insist." He threw the bag in front of my feet. I put it on and we kept walking. That was easier than I thought. He must really be reaching his limit if he doesn't even wanna argue anymore.

I lost sense of how long we continued for when suddenly something showed up on the horizon. "Kats!" I had fallen behind a few steps. "Kacchan!" "No more breaks till dusk." He answered with a sigh. "NO! Look!" He stoped walking for a moment and I caught up to him. I pointed towards the thin, green line above the white snow ahead of us. Kacchan stared at it for a moment. "We shouldn't get too exited we have no clue what that is." He answered and continued walking. I was a little disappointed at his reaction towards my discovery but was able to understand. So as he said I tried my best to keep it in check even though that excitement gave me a bit of my energy back as the green line got thicker and thicker.

The sun started setting. We were still too far away to be able to identify the green line. I was eager to get there as fast as possible. I was willing to leave out every break just to get there. But my feet had different desires. Every muscle hurt and my body being in a constant state of shaking just made it even harder. "Stop walking so fast extra. You'll just tire yourself out for no reason." Kacchan lectured me from a few steps behind me. But I couldn't go slower. Instead I started walking even faster. "Deku!" His voice started getting more quiet. Staring at that green line for hours, still not being able to tell what it was started to really piss me off. It was frustrating. I was frustrated. "Deku you dumbass! we shouldn't split up..." His voice was as quiet as a whisper now.

My breath got more and more irregular. I stumbled more often the further I walked. My eyes filled with tears my throat started clogging. I started to sob. Crying shortly afterwards. My vision blurred. My knees buckled. I fell to the ground, my shoes filled with sand and my trousers were wet and cold from the snow. I picked myself up and ran on. Fell down again. It was too hard to get up. Dropped the bag and got up. Then I ran on, didn't make it more than a few metres and fell to the ground for the last time. I tried but instead of standing I was suddenly lying down, face on the ground. The snow froze my whole body numb in seconds. I hit my absolute limit. No copium left to inhale. I stoped trying just laid there and waited to freeze to death. Even though I was tired enough to be close to passing out somehow I still had enough energy to continue crying without an end in sight. A couple long minutes later I heard a noice next to me. Then a warm hand on my back. "Let's take a break." Kacchan said. I turned my head. He was sitting next to me. Shoto leaning on his shoulder the backpack right there as well. "I can barely lift my arms. Can you do me a favour and get out the bedroll." He asked and I slowly sat up. I reached for the bag.

After I sat down on the bedroll and leaned against the backpack Kacchan put the out cold Shoto in my arms. Then he sat down as well and just let his body fall into my lap. "I'm so tired..." he whispered and almost immediately knocked out. I stroked through his hair. He was finally sleeping. The night got dark and cold. I didn't know it was even possible but due to my wet clothes I was much colder than the last few days. So cold I wasn't able to properly fall asleep. All I could do was doze off. That's also why I immediately woke up once something started to approach us.

I looked around hectically. I could have sworn I heard footsteps. It was too dark to see very far. I took a closer look around. Maybe it was just my imagination. Maybe a dream I woke up from. Probable nothing. Even so an uneasy feeling overcame me. Suddenly there was the sound of someone walking through snow behind me. I turned around. No one there. I felt as though I would go insane. "Someone there?!" A shadow seemed to hush past me but I could only see it for a second in the corner of my eye. I tried waking up the others but both Shoto and Kacchan didn't budge. Another noise. I started panicking. "Who's here? Stop hiding!" For a moment nothing happened. Whispering broke the silence. There must be more than one. It sounded like a big group. I looked around once more. Where would they have a chance to hide? There was nothing around us. "Your friends doing ok?" I hectically turned around. A tall person in a brownish read cloak. Face mostly covered only their bright blue eyes peaking through. The single person was followed by more and more appearing out of thin air around us. I held both Kacchan and Shoto close to me. Determined to not let anything happen to them.

To be continued ...