Finding Me (Todoroki x Reader)

Heroes Rising - Chapter 10

The world continued to burn around us, flames blanketing and burning up the land beneath my feet. But the heat didn't deter me from the inconceivable sight of the two boys crouched facing me. All I could see were their lights - their energies. Although different, a multicoloured life force pulsed through them, linking Midoriya and Bakugou together. But how was it even possible?

"What?" the white-haired man hissed, teeth bared in a twisted snarl.

Neither boy answered.

Bakugou pulled himself to his feet, his head bowed in solemn acceptance. "After this," he said, "will you still be able to use your power?"

"What?" I breathed out, looking to Midoriya when Bakugou wouldn't meet my eye. "What's he talking about, Midoriya? Midoirya...?"

He didn't answer me either, only biting his lip as he also stood up. He was in so much pain; but his eyes flashed with unwavering determination in the firelight as if his spark had been fanned into a raging flame. "I don't know," Midoriya finally spoke, his exposed, bruised arm dangling by his side, "but All Might was able to protect us with its embers - even after he passed the quirk onto me."

Thunder crackled in the sky again. "What did you do?!" the villain cried, his eyes flashing along with the lightning above us.

"He was powerless. But still, more heroic than anyone else. I knew you were strong, that much was obvious - you were someone who could already fight. So, I decided that he should have a chance to stand in the ring."

My throat closed up again, cold realisation sinking into my bones. So, that's what they'd done. It was so obvious - the reason they both felt like All Might. The previous Number One Hero had done it before; so who was to say Midoriya couldn't do it as well?

Standing together, Midoriya and Bakugou's power increased again, igniting sparks of orange and flashes of green lightning all around them. "With double One For All..." they said together, that multicoloured vein pulsing even faster through them.

"We'll save everyone!" Midoriya cried, his unruly curls spiking upright from the force of his newfound power. His pupils seemed to lose their shape, the coloured ring of his eye buzzing as if Midoriya himself was some sort of vibrating machine.

"We'll beat you; and win!" Bakugou added, his own hair and eyes matching Midoriya's state.

That seem to piss the villain off even more. "Why won't you weaklings die already?!" Lightning flew from his hands as he spun himself around and around, flying high in the air as a giant tornado formed around him. The wind's force was like a gravitational pull, breaking apart solid ground and pulling trees from their roots it was so powerful. I plunged two energy chords into the ground to anchor myself, holding on so tight my ivory knuckles could be seen through my scarred skin.

Even so, I managed to remain standing with my friends, refusing to let go and fall from their sides. Midoriya and Bakugou didn't even flinch at the raging storm before us. Maybe because they shared immense power now; or maybe it was because both were stubborn and reckless boys who didn't know when to quit. Ever. Regardless, they stared into the storm, taking up offensive stances beside one another.

They moved as one. They were one.

"This is the end of your dream, Deku," Bakugou said with surprising softness. He'd never spoken to Midoriya like that in the time I'd known the ash-blond boy. "You're gonna be quirkless, again."

"But that's fine," Midoriya replied, no hesitation in his words. "I have to do this. I'm sure that All Might would agree, since you're the one I gave it to. You knew about our secret and kept it to yourself. We've always tried to be the same hero. So, if it's you..."