Shoto was, for the first time in his life, too physically and mentally exhausted to move any muscle in his body. His arms were slumped on the ground like bags of rice, and his head felt heavier than an anvil. His tortured body could no longer sustain the amount of pain he felt, and the blood loss was so immense, his arms had lost the majority of its feeling, and his legs might as well have been gone. He coughed painfully and closed his eyes, the view of the inside of the barn slowly disintegrating as his eyelids closed his view.
"No, no, dear Shoto. Closing your eyes won't do anything to help you," a sinister, hissing voice called, the sound resonating off the dirty wooden walls. Todoroki squeezed his eyes shut and tightened his fist with every bit of will he had left.
"Just leave me alone," Shoto called out, his voice raspy and rough, blood dripping from his lower lip. He hated sounding so scared. So...weak. But he couldn't help it. He was really, truly scared for his life. He opened up his eyes just in time to see a shadow of a hand lurch over his mixed hair, and then pleaded one last time.
"Please...brother..."
Blue flame was all he saw before his eyes closed again, and a scream he decided was his own, rang out into the lifeless and isolated remains of a windmill in northern Japan.
