"Koda, watch out!"

He could still hear the words playing again and again inside his head, reminding him of the harsh fate that had befallen upon him in that very day. If it were not for the fast thinking of his classmate – his friend – Koda could have been the one whose hero career came to a screeching halt.

It was supposed to be just another training lesson at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. The facility had received a massive security update after the League of Villains attack earlier that year, and the students from the hero courses could now practice around there with the supervision of Pro Hero Thirteen. That day was one of those days. The sun shone brightly through the glass dome that covered the facility, making visible all those landscapes, replicas, students and their aspirations.

The section that was currently being used by class 1-A was the Landslide Zone – A place were terrain did not stay motionless and stable for very long. The earth itself was always being reshaped by the hi-tech machines that made the whole place come alive. Weak artificial quakes shook the very ground the students stood onto, and large and heavy boulders fell down the cliffs where their current lesson took place. It exactly a rescue training, but rather, an escape training. It was one thing to secure any civilians that might be on the area, but to get them to safety before the hostile environment turned against the heroes as well – that was the truly difficult task.

The ground rumbled, distributing shockwaves along the uneven terrain. Most students were already at the bottom behind the safety line that used of an invisible force field to stop any debris from hitting whoever was standing behind it. All except two.

Koda himself admitted his quirk was not the most viable when it came to urban and barren environments. He could even argue that his quirk had virtually no practical use, but that emotionally charged affirmation was easy to contradict seeing as the boy still managed to get into U.A. High School. Commanding animals was an useful skill to have when dealing with foreign landscapes, secluded places with no human presence, and sometimes there were tasks that simply required a non-humanoid body type to be performed optimally.

Running away from boulders was not one of those tasks, however. The shy boy ran for his dear life, letting out squeals each time he felt a foreign object getting too close to his boundaries. One would not expect how much went into retreating in a situation like this; it required good timing, spatial awareness and raw physical speed. All things he did not fully possess.

Koda was about five meters from the safety line when suddenly a shadow was casted onto his form. He did not have to look up to know that it was another loose boulder, but this one was much bigger than what he had managed to avoid so far. It roughly matched his speed as well; this would be no easy task if he continued running in a straight line towards the goal. As the shadow got closer and closer, Koda started to realize that he probably would not make it like this. He had several options as to not get crushed, and unfortunately his adrenaline-filled brain chose the most ineffective one: freezing in place.

"Koda, watch out!"

But there was someone else who had been struggling in the Landslide Zone. A person who Koda respected and owed his entire life to, who chose to take his fate into their own hands and let him go unscathed for another day. However, with a heavy cost.

Despite what one might think, having a living and almost immaterial creature residing inside of your body also had its fair share of downsides. The host would have to double their energy input so that he could support both of them, endure its own quirks and peculiarities, and be prone to relying on it on life threatening situations. Its grasp on the environment around also limited by several factors, most notably a maximum distance the creature could extend out of its host before risking injuring itself. Its powerful claws could subdue whoever crossed its path, however, and since it had a mind of its own, it did not rely on the host's reflexes to act.

But it was not the symbiote who saved Koda's life. As per any great hero, when faced with a dangerous situation, Fumikage Tokoyami's body moved on its own.

"Koda, watch out!"

It all happened in the blink of an eye. The animal-talker's body tensed up to wait for the impact, but it never came. Instead, his body was suddenly pushed to the side and out of the impact zone by a pair of small hands. A black hole – a dark spot in reality that destroyed all matter – suddenly opened in thin air above the duo, shattering the boulder in smaller fragments but not managing to absorb all of them. The hard rock crumbled, lost some of its momentum, but landed on Tokoyami's body nevertheless and with a horrifying noise. It was not the sound of bones breaking, soft tissue being crushed or even cry of pain. Instead, a single exhale. The air left the bird boy's lungs quickly and effortlessly, making his vocal chords vibrate ever so slightly to produce a noise that would haunt Koda's worst nightmares for years – no, decades to come.

Like a ragdoll absorbing momentum, Tokoyami's body was flung away by the force, rolling and twisting in unnatural positions before finally settling down with his unmoving chest facing skywards.

Koda opened his eyes after what felt like an eternity. He was ready to thank his savior deeply, before he finally saw him. Unmoving, cold, hurt. The scene short-circuited his poor mind, keeping his body just as frozen before he finally gathered enough strength to break out of his trance. His high-pitched voice echoed through the dome like a painful reminder of his own, deadly clumsiness.

"S-someone call help! Please! Tokoyami is hurt!"

Another blink of an eye, and suddenly white and red vehicles filled the scenery. Thirteen was doing a good job of keeping their cool façade on, but in reality, they were crumbling inside. Lawyers and parents were being called, statements were being made, and students came forward to look at the boy being carried away in a stretcher as well as to wipe off the tears Koda did not realize were falling.

Fumikage Tokoyami, one of the best students in class 1-A, had just gotten hurt because of him.

Fumikage Tokoyami, his best friend, had just gotten hurt because of him.

Koda was not one of the most extroverted people there were, and it showed. His lack of socialization had led him to become shy and reserved, and made him unable to do something as simple as use his voice in everyday situations – resulting in him having to learn sign language if he wanted to do so much as not to have a panic attack while expressing his thoughts. The world was loud, people were loud. They scared him and his animal companions away without a thought.

However, Tokoyami was different. The boy preferred peace and quiet just like he did, handling every situation with a calm and stable demeanor that Koda wished he could have. His voice, deep and soothing, was the opposite of his own. He could listen to it for hours and hours, even if he did not know what Tokoyami's usual metaphors about darkness and shadows meant most of the time. He was just glad he could be in the presence of someone so great like him. Despite both boy's reserved natures, they often did group assignments together, had small friendly discussions and often times ate together or just enjoyed mundane everyday tasks in each other's presence. Silence never felt awkward when they were around each other. Tokoyami had even started learning sign language for him, so there was one less barrier hampering their friendship.

"Comatose."

Koda found himself in the waiting room of some sort of hospital. Most 1-A students were there, along with some teachers, Tokoyami's parents and a person he did not recognize – whom he later found out was in fact the Pro Hero Thirteen. It was odd seeing them out of their mockup astronaut suit. It was sad seeing the usual large and comforting monochromatic figure outside of their shell. They were a mere human, a person who currently looked like they were holding onto their last shred of sanity. The hero was apologizing deeply to everyone, but it did not really sound like it. It was as if they were trying to apologize to themselves, for not being able to fulfil their single and most important duty.

"Comatose."

The other students had varying expressions of melancholy in their faces as well. People like Bakugou, Todoroki and Aizawa had their usual neutral expression, although it was possible to distinguish a hint of distress behind their eyes. Usually goofy fellows like Kaminari, Mina and Present Mic where deadly quiet, looking away from the doctors and nurses. Staring blankly into nothing as if they had lost their reason to smile. All-Might was there as well. His towering figure, that usually brought smiles and reassured everyone nearby, now only served to illustrate how serious the situation was. He did not have his characteristic grin on his face. It was not a frown either. It was a painfully neutral expression. There was nothing he could have done to change the situation, but he still could not help but feel like some of the fault was his.

"Comatose."

It took three times for Koda to acknowledge the term, a more bitter than sweet taste filling his mouth. Tokoyami was asleep. Trapped inside his own body, consciousness far away. The doctors said something about light injuries. Something about an unconventionally shaped skull. But nothing of a recovery date. Nothing about getting up. And nothing about his future as a hero.

One by one, they were allowed to enter the room where the injured boy was resting in. One by one they came out, sobs held and tears staining their cheeks. Koda insisted for him to be the last one to enter, and so it was done. It felt like both an eternity and a flash. He wanted to see his friend, but he did not want to come to terms with the fact that the Tokoyami he knew and loved was not there. At least not yet. It could take weeks, months, even years for him to return. And there was also the possibility that…

No. He tried pushing the thought out of his mind as he entered the sterile white room, but it kept coming back. A heart monitor beeped in a slow pace in the corner of the room. A nearby desk was filled with flowers and cards Tokoyami would not be able to read anytime soon. A window blew a gentle breeze into the environment, giving motion to softer things such as fabric and leaves. And on the bed, deep into the room, there he was. His soft black feathers were sprawled against the pillow. His arms limply rested at the side of his body. His face had a quaint expression on it, eyes closed. Only his chest rising up and down displayed he was still holding on.

Koda's entire body was shaking as he walked closer to his unconscious friend. The pressure of guilt building inside him was too much. His legs faltered and he crumbled onto his knees, pressing his face against the white mattress and staining it with his tears. Tokoyami… Had left. He had left Koda alone in this loud and cold world. Heroes, villains, quirks, none of that mattered to him at the moment. He simply wanted to hear his friend's comforting voice one last time.

Neither the nurses nor any of his classmates had the heart to take him out of the hospital room. His parents had to be called, and they were equally as hesitant to escort their son away from the source of his emotions. His eyes – previously hidden by the bed sheets – were puffy and red. His throat was sore even though he had not done any shouting since the incident. And his heart was broken.

They managed to convince him to go back home, on the premise that they would take him to visit Tokoyami each day after class. Koda did not want it; he wanted his friend to be back now. But even with the most advanced medicine and healing quirks, nothing else could be done at the moment. He would have to simply wait and help him from a distance, keeping everything in order until the great hero-in-training Tsukuyomi decided to return home from whenever he was.

And so he did.