Chapter 13: When there's nothing you can do... (#15 Power(less))

Her body lay prone, muscles unresponsive. Her chest worked to take in air, breath cracking, while her eyes pooled silent tears. The ground beneath her hurt, the cracked gravel painful against her cheek. Not far from her was another still body, though through her blurred vision she couldn't manage to make out any defining features.

Her mind roared from within her broken frame, screaming, begging, raging for her to get up, to find some way to make her arms and legs work. But she couldn't. She was completely spent.

When the world came into view without blurring along the edges of her vision, she gave a mental start when she saw who was sitting in the chair beside her bed, head bent, eyes shut as he snoozed.

'T-Todoroki-san...'

Her heart swelled at the sight of him, taking in the bandages that covered most of his body, the sling for his left arm, and the hospital gown he wore. He looked just as bad as she felt. She couldn't imagine the doctors allowing him to see her in his condition, sitting in a chair with cushions akin to granite, dozing in what appeared to be a ridiculously uncomfortable position.

He was so beautiful to her in that moment, her feelings so strong that they felt as if they would burst from within. He must have felt her scrutiny, or perhaps his neck was bothering him from the painful way he sat, because he shifted slightly before fluttering his eyes sleepily.

When his distinct gaze fell on her face she couldn't keep the tears from forming as she tiredly smiled at him with lips that were so chapped they cracked with the effort. He blinked, once, before his whole body sagged in relief.

Throat too thick to speak, she couldn't respond when he reached a bandaged hand out to lightly touch her arm. "I'm glad you're alright."

There wasn't a whole lot that she could do in way of portraying her gratitude so she settled for mutely leaning into his touch. There was so much that she wanted to say, so many questions that needed answering but she couldn't summon the moisture into her dry mouth. He gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment before sitting back with a sigh, his face turning to the window in the room.

"I know you're wondering how things turned out." She nodded her head when he looked back at her. He gave her a humorless half smile. "I wish I could tell you. I... didn't fare much better than you."

Inwardly Momo echoed the disappointment of his tone. They needed information. They needed to know whether or not they had made a difference, if their heroics had helped save lives, had helped keep their fellow heroes alive long enough to make a dent in the villains plans.

Her skin was still raw and she wondered if what she was doing was wise but she reached out, catching the corner of his sleeve. At his questioning look she offered only her own expression, trying to tell him without words what she felt. In a surprisingly considerate gesture for him he took her fingers in his and pressed a featherlight kiss to the tips, mindful of their sensitivity. "All we can do is wait for someone to come and tell us what happened. Rest until then. I'm not moving from this spot. Your nurse said she wouldn't kick me out as long as I didn't stress you out."

Momo almost laughed but all that came out was a hacking dry cough that made her already aching body hurt even more than it already did.

OWARI

Medical school is hard! But so damn rewarding so there's that. But nothing compares to drawing anime and writing fanfiction and I'm happy to announce that I'm back to having time to do all of this again! Time for some TodoMomo y'all!

Only seventeen more to go and the next one will be posted very soon!