I lifted my head with a sudden deep gasp before cutting it off with clenched teeth as my chest burned. Everything had happened so fast that there wasn't time to do anything.

I had been patrolling the festival with Aoyama, locals smiling and having fun around us, thanking our class for helping setup. It had been a pleasant night as we walked among the stalls. The air around us took on a red tinge and we turned to see a large object break through the layer of clouds. Panic broke out, everyone was either frozen in place at the large mass coming towards us, screamed out or tried to run, but there was no point. Something that big wasn't something anyone here could escape from as it roared towards us.

Aoyama had stepped forward to use his naval laser and I commended his effort. He was a true hero, not freezing up in a moment like that. I wanted to act too, to do something. I considered launching myself up there to try to land a blow on it, but it was moving so fast, that if I did I knew it would collide with me and I would not survive it. Aoyama's navel laser did nothing to it. Part of it cracked and a small chunk broke away, but it was too big, too fast and too hot for us to do anything. It soared over us, the air warming as it passed overhead to make impact behind the town.

The ground shook violently, and I launched myself forward, reaching out and clutching a lone child who was cowering by a stall to my chest. I did my best hold him, but the ground broke under us, rippling like a wave before everything was thrown into the air and the earth was torn apart. I held onto the screaming child for dear life. I lost sight of Aoyama as debris rushed past, a wave of air pushing us away. I shut my eyes and curled my body around the kid. Feeling him slip, I dug my fingers into them, hearing complaints, but if I let go….

The air felt hot for a second and then cold the next. My body finally hit the ground and we rolled to a stop, the world still shaking. I lifted my head, chunks of concrete, asphalt, wood, rocks, everything threatened to rain down on us from the dust cloud looming over us. I held the crying boy under me, feeling my back get beaten as hail rained down. I dared to lift my gaze again, only to see a large piece of building falling right towards us.

Darkness, pain, ringing in my ears. I couldn't tell which way was up anymore, breathing hurt my chest from the amount of dust in the air, but I pushed myself up, biting back a cry of pain as my body ached. My chest was burning, each breath causing searing pain and my right leg throbbed. I was buried and pieces of rubble slid from my back as I pushed up on all fours. The boy, no older then five, was still below me, his eyes closed and his head to the side. Panic flared up inside my aching chest. I leaned down, my ear close to his face, but I couldn't hear anything. I called out, but I couldn't hear my own voice. I brought an aching arm forward to hold over his face. Breathing. I could feel his faint breath and my panic ceased a little.

I leaned back, pushing more rubble off my protesting back until my head broke out to the outside world. It was dark and hard to see through all the dust. My ears were ringing and the only light I could see were small spot fires judging from how the moved and flickered through the gloom. Visibility was low and I couldn't see anyone around me. I leaned down again to lift the boy up, holding him to my chest as I pushed to my feet with a gasp of pain and staggered. I thought my right foreleg might be broken or at the very least fractured, but for now it wasn't completely useless . I shifted to boy in my arms, seeing blood coming from his hair line. I needed to get him help, but I didn't even know which was to go. The ground had been so torn up and left uneven and I couldn't see more than a couple of feet ahead of me and what I could see was unrecognizable. I didn't know how far the destruction had spread and it was a miracle we were even still alive.

My head throbbed with complaint, my back protested with each movement, my right leg throbbed, my left shoulder ached and my chest, my chest burned. The right side sparked with pain with every movement, and I reduced my breathing to short shallow breaths to reduce the pain. I imagined I had broken a rib or two. Despite it all, I stumbled out of the rubble, clinging the unconscious boy to the left side of my chest with my right arm and chose a direction to head in.

After several minutes of limping and staggering my way through the rubble I felt like I was heading downhill towards the lake which was fine with me. The ringing in my ears was fading. I kept opening my mouth to talk, despite my protesting chest, to myself or the unconscious boy to keep tabs on the state of my hearing. Once it was stronger, I would be able to hear a reply if I called for help, but not just yet. Someone would have to be right beside me for me to hear them. The dust was clearing, expanding the area I could see.

I saw a hand poking out from a pile of debris to my right and I gently put the boy down to rush to their aid. I called out to them, my own voice a muffled sound to my ears as I tore at the rubble, uncovering them then froze. My breathing threatened to pick up its pace and I turned my head away to focus on controlling my breathing as fire burned in my chest, but I couldn't escape the sight of the lifeless body I had uncovered. A woman, her eyes wide and empty as she held a girl to her chest. I couldn't see the girls face, but the amount of blood and a simple touch was enough to know that she was gone too. My gut turned and threatened to spill its contents. I covered my mouth and nose with my gloved hand, trying to reel my panic back in. I had no doubt if I threw up my chest would make me cry and it would make me cough. I didn't want to think about how much that would hurt.

I left the woman and girl where they were, half uncovered, and returned to the boy. My body screaming at me as I crouched down to pick him up again. Scared, I checked his breathing again and felt a wave of relief when he was still breathing. I continued limping downhill through the rubble. I twisted my left ankle as it slipped between some shifting rubble and gritted my teeth with pain and frustration. I wouldn't stop and I limped on, pain flaring up both of my legs with each step. My hearing was coming back to me still, enough to pick up the sound of someone calling out.

"Hello?" I called out back, my chest protesting as I raised my voice and straining my ears to listen and turning my head to find out what direction the voice came from. I heard it again coming from further downhill. I lowered the boy down gently again and rushed forward, calling to the voice so I could home in on them. I passed another body and made an effort not to look. Finally I closed in on the voice, more than one, calling from below the rubble along with another sound, the sound of moving water. I pulled at the rubble as carefully and as quickly as I could till a gap was revealed and I peered down it, just being able to see a panicked face looking back up at me through the darkness from far below.

"Please, it's filling with water" the face told me.

"Step back" I replied and with a rush of One For All I swept along the ground with my right leg, needing my more stable left to hold my weight, to clear majority of the rubble away. My leg felt like it was on fire, but I bit at my lower lip to keep the pain at bay as tears pricked my eyes. My kick hadn't been great and with so much rubble on top of each other, I cleared an opening as a length of concrete threatened to crash back down on the cleared space. I jumped forwards to catch it before it could on my left side, my shoulder flaring up in pain. I bit my lip harder till I could feel a thin line of blood run down my chin. I offered my right hand to the first person who climbed up and out and helped pull them out of the space. They thanked me with a wide eyes and a nod and turned back to help pull more out while I held the debris back. Four more people were lifted out, all wet up to their middles.

"Anyone else down there?" I asked through clenched teeth. They shook their head no and cleared the way for me to jump back and let the concrete slab drop, covering the hole.

"You're hurt" spoke the person with concern, but I shook my head to them.

"There's a boy up there, take him with you" I panted. They looked over their shoulder than back to me. I nodded at their concerned look. I was a hero. I had to stay and save who I could, while I could. They turned, scooped up the limp boy gently and as a group, left, disappearing into the still clearing cloud of dust surrounding us. With he boy gone my legs shook like they wanted to just give way and rest, but I punched at my thigh, clenching my teeth against the aches. I had to keep going.

"Move!" I shouted down at my own legs and my breath caught, my chest searing with pain again, but my legs listened and step by step I continued downhill, veering off at an angle, listening for survivors and calling out occasional to listen for responses, my chest flaring up like fire each time I did. I focused on my breathing again, forcing it to be shallow so it wouldn't hurt so much.

Something reflective caught my eyes and I hobbled over to it, recognizing the armor of Aoyama's costume. He was lightly buried under rubble and dirt, and I pulled him free with some effort. He groaned at me for it, and I hovered over him.

"Aoyama, are you alright?" I asked, not yelling, but even that was enough for my chest to protest.

"Oui" he replied with a scrunched up expression, but hearing his voice was a relief. I didn't see any serious injuries on him. I guess his armor did its job and protected him from the worst of it.

My mind wandered to the rest of the class. I knew several of us had been this close on patrol. Kaminari, Hagakure, Tokoyami and Shoji had been here too, and I wondered if they were hurt. I wondered about the rest of the class, had they been far enough away to be safe, in which case they wouldn't be far away now making an effort to help others, but if they had gotten hurt too…. I pushed the thought away. I had to have faith in my classmates. Kacchan came to mind, and I shook my head to clear him away. I couldn't start worrying now. Not yet.

I heard a faint voice calling for help further away and I looked in that direction but didn't see anything.

"You wait here," I rasped down to Aoyama who kept his eyes closed, "help is on the way" if he replied I didn't hear it because I turned and pushed myself forward again, towards the voice calling for help. My steps faltered part way as I came to a pile of debris that I had to scale over and when I paused my body didn't want to move again. Everything ached and throbbed and burned and stabbed at me so much that everything hurt, even my shallow breaths and gasps weren't enough to keep the worst of the pain away. I gritted my teeth, yelling at myself in my head to get myself to move again and with some groans of agony I climbed over the debris and slid down the other side. My back protested against the scraps and when I landed on the other side I fell to all fours with a small cry.

I lifted my head and chocked back bile as I came face to face with another victim, dead, eyes empty, half lidded, their hair wet with their blood and spilled over the dirty ground. I closed my eyes and turned my head away.

Don't throw up, don't throw up, I repeated firmly, It will hurt too much if you do, I told myself.

I pushed myself to my feet with a gasp that made me chest flare up worse again, but I could hear the voice a little clearer now and let my body half walk half slide down the slope downhill until I could see the lake through the clearing dust. The comet had broken through the clouds, clearing a hole in the sky that allowed the moonlight through and its reflection on the calm water below was almost soothing to see. Looking to the shoreline below I could see a wall of ice and I felt a wave of relief that made me sway knowing that Todoroki was okay out there somewhere. I recalled the water flooding in through the cracks in the ground and was glad he had done something to slow it. If more people were trapped like that this low down, they would be at risk of drowning.

"Help, someone!" I heard the voice again and snapped my attention back, letting my body slide down the slope a little more until I stopped on some earth jutting out from the surface. My body never stopped complaining, but I would push through until I couldn't move it anymore. I glimpsed movement to my right, a girl pulling at her friend or sibling under the rubble.

I opened my mouth to call to them, to let her know that I was here to help and that she should wait for me, but before my words could come out she pulled the other child free. The rubble that had been atop the child, fell away, the slab of cement it had been holding up, shifting and coming down on top of them. I forced One For All into my legs, leaping for them with the intent of pushing them both out of the way. My hands touched them, and I pushed them forward and out the other side, giving them both a reassuring smile as the full weight of the debris came down on me.