The Flap of a Butterfly's Wings

The Harsh Truth

    It's been a month since the maze. Every night Izuku looked at the white ribbon on his wrist. It reminded him of not just the sparkle of Madoka's eyes (how that light slowly faded as the blood emptied from her body), but how many people he might not be able to save. It's almost been over two months since he was brought to the arena and he's only on stage three, The Hunters.

    He's always hungry which makes his exhaustion ever more present. Izuku says it's okay, though. Because at least he's being fed, right? He can survive off of one meal a day until he gets everybody out. Besides, he's been through worse. Others have been through worse.

    (He tries to ignore the hunger pains that slowly eat away at him in the night. How his movements are getting slightly slower and weaker.

    But it's okay. He'll get use to it. Just give him another month or two.)

    Today is his first day as a Hunter. Izuku looks over to Tomura who is still sleeping while cradling his arm that had turned an ugly shade of purple. Luckily, it's just a minor fracture and should heal before his next match. Izuku knows (hopes) that Tomura will make it out of the arena. He has too, even if Midoryia doesn't know how he got out last time.

    Over the time here, Hato has begun to think of Tomura as some sort of big brother. Even though Izuku had never told him about Madoka, Tomura had been extra kind that week. One moment that stuck out was when Midoryia had a particularly bad nightmare and Tomura allowed Izuku to hug him. They snuggled up against each other that night and it was probably the lightest he had felt since he got here. Even now, Izuku craved human affection. So being able to hug Tomura, gave him a sense of grounding which was almost like when Katsuki and him had cuddled.

    (Although, he had to favor Kacchan. Tomura was a little... awkward with human affection. Which was totally understandable, since he's been touch starved for who knows how long.)

    Hato had to guess it was a little past six in the morning when Keres came to get him. The guard wore his permanent sneer while Izuku kept his face blank. It irritated Keres, Izuku had learned, and it was one of the only bits of fun he got in this place.

    As he got closer to the arena he heard the familiar sound of harsh cheers. The cheers that laughed in amusement as Madoka got pierced.

    "If you get past this round, you'll be thinking that these past couple of months were heaven." Izuku doesn't even bother to glance at the man as he walks into the battlefield. He'll just have to deal with it because it'll all be worth it in the end. Just to see everybody's smile.

    He has to be patient.

    The battlefield had large rocks scattered randomly around the arena; most likely for cover and higher ground. In the very middle was an assortment of weapons that could be used. As Hato looked around, he saw nine other people. All of them were looking at the weapons hungrily and desperately.

    "Hunters... Start!"

    Everyone but him went straight for the weapons. Izuku thought that the most risk of getting disqualified would be going straight for the weapons. He thought slowly walking towards it while using the rocks as cover would give him the best chances at gaining a weapon safely.

    As he was crouched behind a rock about fifteen feet away he saw about four people knocked out cold. One had a knife in their shoulder but seemed to still be breathing. Izuku let out a sigh of relief when he realized that the other three were breathing as well.

    Hato saw a women with an axe that had dried blood covering it. He thought he might've seen an intestine wrapped around it, but refused to give himself enough time to find out if there really was or not. There was a crazed look blanketed in her eyes that almost reminded him of Toga. He observed how someone knocked her out by knocking a bo staff against her head. She was probably all looks and zero bronze.