Muted Voices (A BNHA/MHA x OC Fanfic)

Chapter 32: Traumatic Experiences

I run into the alleyway to see Shinso's crumpled body laying on a battered dumpster.

No! But I already saved him!

I get the feeling something is sneaking up behind me, so I turn to be faced with a giant nomu. I jump out of the way just in time to miss its clawed hand. It growls down at me, baring its teeth.

What did I do last time? I painfully wrack my brain, searching for anything to get Shinso and I out of the situation.

Panic.

I stare down the monster and open my mouth, but nothing comes out. My breath freezes as I exhale, expanding and forming into a thick block. The frost tears at my throat as I try to choke it out, but my windpipe is completely blocked. The ice gets colder and colder, slowly freezing my blood from the inside out. Warm tears trickle down my face and freeze.

I can't save him, I think in desperation.

I turn back around at the sound of bubbling. Shinso uselessly flails his broken body as it sinks in the pool of his blood. I grasp at my throat, trying to find a way to get air to my lungs.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" His broken voice rasps. The blood leaks into his mouth and he starts choking. He squeezes his eyes shut as he finally sinks into the blood and out of sight.

A hard force slams me into the pavement. I roll over to see the nomu pull its fist back. It repeatedly sends punch after punch my way. I feel every bone in my body break and, as much as I wish I could lose consciousness and not feel anything, I'm left agonizingly aware of every ounce of pain.

The nomu lifts me and flings me into the wall.

How am I not dead yet?

I fall to the ground, paralyzed from pain and the ice slowly taking over my body. I'm forced to watch as the monster turns back to the street where a group of injured people is stumbling past, on their way out of the city. I look through the nomu's legs at the man walking past, clutching his shoulder. He turns and locks eyes with me. The entire left side of his face is bloody and practically torn off.

"This is your fault," he growls at me.

I feel the ice creep into my heart and the frost begins to spread with a new vigor. Suddenly, the ground freezes beneath me. I glance down to see snow piling up around me.

When I look back up, the nomu and the people are gone as well as the entire city of Hosu. I'm looking at an icy road out in the middle of the woods. It looks to be about midday. I'm propped up against a tree, looking at a tiny bridge with a thin creek, frozen where it once trickled, underneath. The guardrails are covered in a layer of frost.

A brisk wind blows my auburn hair across my face as each car passes. My neck refuses to turn, so I can't look around when the sound of brakes squealing slices through the air. I hear a loud boom and metal wrenching.

A familiar silver car slides past. I fight to close my eyes, but they are already frozen open. In my periphery, I see each strand of my hair becoming an icy white, freezing in place as my focus remains on my parent's car smashing through the guard rail.

The shards of metal and glass scatter across the snow, making a mosaic on the ground of the winter woods. Suddenly, it's silent. The only movement I can see is the smoke rising from under the hood.

My whole broken body has frozen into pure ice. I fight to stand and try to rescue my family--to rescue myself--but I'm stuck in place.

From down the street, I can already hear the sirens. Lights flash over the car, over the snow, over the gruesome mosaic on the ground, and over me. They get brighter and brighter until I'm blinded, only seeing the cold white.