Frozen Wings

Chapter 52

Storms' POV

Todoroki's brother and sister had spent the night with us at UA, grieving for the loss of their mother before heading home the next day. Two weeks had flown by since she passed. I couldn't bear to look at my student.

Rei had told me about her condition. But she asked me not to tell anyone because she didn't want to be treated any weaker of a being than she already was. She wanted to see all of her children together one last time, and I swore I would grant her wish. But I still wish there was something I could have done. I tried giving her one of my lives but it didn't work. I assumed it meant either she didn't want to come back, I couldn't give my lives away whenever I wanted, I was on my last life or her body was too far gone for a spirit to stay inside of it.

"Shit!" I snapped, tripping over a chair in the teacher's lounge.

"Winter are you alright?" Keigo worriedly asked. I glared at him.

"Yeah I'm fine, shit-face." I barked. He fell quiet, sitting back down. I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm just..." I walked over to the couches, sitting down next to my boyfriend.

"I wish there was something I could have done." I admitted.

"I know you do. I wish there was something that we could have done too. But you know that's part of being a hero. You can't save everyone." He set his hand on my shoulder.

"He's hurt because of me."

"No, that's not true, Winter. You didn't do anything. In fact, you fulfilled the dying wishes of someone. That's more than enough." Keigo said.

"I can't stand seeing him cry." I whispered.

"He's getting better though. With you, Dabi and Yaoyorozu by his side, along with the rest of his friends, he's got the support he needs. Just like a wound in the flesh, this'll take time to heal. But it'll stop hurting eventually. Until then you've got to be there for him." He said. I shuddered, trying not to cry.

"Why couldn't I give Rei one of my lives?" I asked.

"We've gone over this, Winter. There's a multitude of reasons. You have to treat yourself like someone with one life to live themselves. If you don't, you'll tear yourself apart trying to save people by giving them a life. Shinso got lucky. You need to remember that. He's safe. Think about it this way. If he had died too, you would have lost both Rei and Shinso. But you managed to keep one of them here. Now he'll get to fulfill his dreams. Rei already did that. Maybe that's why she didn't come back. Because what she wanted was finished." Keigo replied. I thought about his words for a moment.

"I wish I knew for sure." Was all I could say.

"One day you will." He cautiously pulled me closer, wrapping his wings around us. I didn't move. I just let him hold me. It hurt. I closed my eyes, holding his arm.

"You'll be okay. You all will. We're in this together. We're a family, remember?" He said softly.

"My family..." I muttered.

"Yeah. Your family."

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Yaoyorozu's POV

I had seen Todoroki grow weaker since his mother passed. His movements were sluggish and his reactions were delayed. He didn't respond to conversation as much and went to his room at 6 every night without a single word to us. I was the only other person besides Storms that he spoke to, but even that was little. I wished I could do something more to ease his pain. But all I could do was wait.

"Hey has anyone seen IcyHot tonight? He was supposed to be going on the night training with us." Bakugo said, walking back into Heights Alliance. He, Kirishima, Midoriya, Shinso, Jiro and Todoroki had been tasked with the nighttime training procedure Storms wanted us to work on. It was supposed to improve our abilities to work in all sorts of situations. We were divided into teams at first, then once everyone went we'd be pitted against each other.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't." Kaminari frowned.

A sick feeling began to pool in my stomach.

"When was the last time anyone saw him?" I asked as calmly as I could. I was still vice class rep so I had to keep my cool.

"Uh... right before dinner. He said he wasn't hungry and went up." Hagakure said. I frowned, my brow furrowing.

"I'll go check on him." I said, rushing upstairs. I stopped in front of Todoroki's room, knocking on the door. No response. Something was off. I didn't like it.

"Todoroki can I come in?" I asked. Nothing. Normally I'd figure him to be asleep but I knew it wasn't that. I opened the door, freezing at what I saw. My classmate was still on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood. There was a knife by his wrist.

"Yaoyorozu, is everything-" Jiro cut herself off, seeing what I saw. "BAKUGO GO GET STORMS!" She shouted. I heard a slamming.

"We have to try and stop the bleeding!" Jiro said, snapping me out of my panic. I raced over, dropping down by my friend's side.

"He cut his radial artery." I said, taking the fabric Jiro found, fiercely pressing it to his wrist.

"What does that mean?" She worriedly asked.

"It means he's not got much time left." I muttered, noticing just how much blood was on the floor.

"Shit!" Storms slid into the room, dropping down to her knees. I removed the fabric, letting her cover the wound with her ice. She checked Todoroki for a pulse. I saw the fur on her ears and tail spike outwards.

"Door. Open." She said. I knew what she meant. I ran downstairs, opening the front door. Storms followed close behind, carrying Todoroki. She charged across the lawn, into the main building. My heart was pounding and my head was spinning.

"Yaomomo... you okay?" Mina walked over to me.

"The blood... s-so much... blood..." I stuttered.

"It's okay. Storms won't let anything happen. She's seen things like this before." My friend said, guiding me over to the couch. My classmates quietly whispered amongst one another, not sure of what to do or say.

I noticed Bakugo approach. He sat down next to me.

"I know this isn't what you're gonna wanna hear right now but... don't blame yourself for this. You didn't know. No one knew." He said.

"If he had told me I could have stopped it." I said, not completely there in the moment.

"Yeah. But he didn't. So all we can do is wait."

Time seemed to drag on slower than it ever had before. We all sat silently together, anxiously awaiting news. Midoriya had even tried texting All Might for an update but the retired pro said Storms hadn't said anything and wouldn't let anyone else into the recovery room.

Finally, after what seemed like years, Storms came back in. I jumped to my feet, searching her features for any giveaway of what might have happened. She walked over to us without a word.

Please don't say it. Please don't say it!

I silently begged.

"Todoroki lost too much blood..." She said. The tears already started to well in my eyes as I hung my head.

"He lost way too much. But... he's stable." I looked up at her, staring in shock.

"H-How?" Kirishima asked.

"I have no damn clue. But he's alright. He'll be unconscious for a while while his body retains the blood he lost, but he's going to be okay." She said. I couldn't help but cry.

He's okay. He's going to be okay.