Chapter:Fuyuki One
She heard the alarm ringing in her ears, rousing her from a dazed state. Even with her senses dulled, her vision blurry and her hearing muffled, she could tell something had gone wrong. She could see the blue lights of CHALDEAS and FATE had turned red, chunks of the ceiling had fallen to the floor, and fire licked at various places around her.
An explosion. Right, that was what happened. They had been preparing for the first Rayshift experiment, and then there was that deafening sound. She must have lost consciousness.
Realization dawned on her soon after. The other teams, the staff, the Masters. How many of them were still alive? Her ears were still ringing a bit. If anyone was screaming or saying anything, it just became muffled static to her.
She was on her belly, she soon realized. She moved her arm forward in an attempt to crawl, but soon realized that she couldn't move. After that, she came to realize that she couldn't actually feel anything below her waist. She turned her head behind her to look, wondering what had happened, only to see a massive chunk of concrete block most of her vision.
Oh, she thought dully. Now it made sense. She was going into shock. Her spine had no doubt been severed by the impact, and with the pool of blood she could now feel underneath her, something had likely been pierced as well.
So, this was it. She was going to die here.
She felt disappointed, strangely enough. Not scared, or sad, or angry. Just disappointed. She felt like she had been robbed of something. All this time put into bringing her to life, making her a Demi-Servant, and for nothing, in the end. She would simply die trapped under some rubble, having done nothing with the gifts she had been given. She hadn't saved the world, she hadn't helped anyone. It was tragic, but it wasn't like she could feel sad for herself. After all, she wasn't worth much to begin with.
Her only concern was Dr. Roman. She hadn't seen him among the staff when the experiment began. Hopefully that meant he was safe and had avoided the worst. He was probably slacking off when everyone else was getting prepared. That was just like him. She wondered if he'd miss her. He probably would. He was sentimental like that. He'd still have Fou, though. That was a small comfort for her, but it comforted her all the same.
It was alright. She could just let go now.
It was then that she lifted her head. Had someone been calling for her? Her hearing was fading in and out, but she could've sworn she heard her name just now.
She blinked behind her glasses, as a shape appeared just before her. It was a person, and as it drew closer, she had this nagging feeling that there was something familiar about him.
Wait, she had met him before, hadn't she? Oh, that's right. It was the new recruit. She saw him out in the hall earlier. He must've avoided this whole thing. What was he doing there, though? Shouldn't he be trying to get away?
The young man stopped for a moment, looking down at her, as she did the same to him. He looked horrified. Not that she could blame him, she imagined that she looked like a mess right now.
What took her by surprise, however, was when he hurried past her, coming to a stop at the debris holding her down. She turned to look at him as best she could, only to be greeted with a far more baffling sight.
He was trying topushthe debris off of her.
"...Senpai...?" she croaked out.
In response, the young man cried out: "Just hang on!" There was clear panic in his voice.
Was he really trying to do this? She knew it was impossible. She'd seen him before. He was skinny, almost underfed. The Director had deemed him unfit to even participate in the Rayshifting. There was no way he could move this off of her, and he had to know that too. So why was he even trying?
"Senpai..." she said again.
"Just...hang on...!" he uttered again, grunting as he kept attempting to move the immovable. "I...can...save you...!" he continued, every word strained and tense.
Save her? Why would he even say something like that? There was no way he could. It was utterly impossible. Everything was set against the both of them. At the rate things were going, they were both going to die.
Was this a bad joke? No, it wasn't the time for something like that. She could see it on his face. The pain and panic that was written all over his expression said he was completely serious. He genuinely wanted to try and rescue her, even if it meant he was likely to die in the attempt. The fire was growing by the minute, and whoever set off the bomb was still out there. The longer he stayed there, the worse the risk was for him. Yet, he still spent time in this futile attempt.
It made no sense logically, but she couldn't begrudge him for it. No, she actually found it endearing. Gallant. Heroic, even.
She wished she had spent more time with him. He seemed like a very nice person.
She heard him make a pained noise as his grip slipped off of the debris, causing him to stumble and fall to his knees beside her. The chunk of concrete hadn't budged at all.
"Damn it!" he shouted out, frustration evident in his voice. He turned around and started to get back up, seemingly to try again, but she knew it was enough. She reached out and touched the hem of his pant leg, just to try and get his attention.
"Senpai...it's OK..." she said in an attempt to comfort him.
The young man paused, dropping back to his knees. He seemed to understand the hopelessness of the situation, but it did nothing to dissuade his feelings. "No...no it's not..." he responded, his voice trembling as he spoke.
It was so strange to her. He barely knew who she was. Why was he going this far for her? However, the confusion that came with the illogical nature of his actions was buried more and more behind growing feelings of admiration.
With those feelings came fear, much to her surprise. She was going to die, that much couldn't be avoided. Yet, she was going to die while knowing nothing about the man who tried to save her. He was a stranger, risking everything for another stranger. Someone like that deserved to be recognized for it.
She moved her hand off of his leg, but held it out to him, her voice becoming more pleading.
"Senpai...can you...hold my hand? ...please?"
The young man looked at her again, and wordlessly did as she asked. Both of his hands clasped around hers, even as they trembled against her skin. His hands were a bit larger than hers, yet his touch was gentle. She allowed herself to smile. "Thank you..." she whispered.
She noticed a light trickling of blood against her hand, coming from his. He must have cut it on something while trying to free her. His hands were still warm, however. That feeling alone made her elated. No one had done something like this for her before. It felt special, in a way. Dr. Roman had told her that only those who were very close to each other held hands like this. How funny it was that it was only at the end of her life that she met someone who would do this for her, then.
"Thank you..." she repeated.
She lifted her head slightly to look at this person, only to be greeted with another surprising sight. This mysterious boy had tears trickling down his cheeks. His eyes had met hers, and the sorrowful expression was all she could see.
Was he crying because he knew he was going to die? Was he just that scared? No, he had to know what he was doing coming in. Then, he was crying forher. She was going to die, and that made him sad.
What a strange and wonderful boy. She wished dearly that they had spent more time together now.
"...I...didn't get to tell you my name...before..." she whispered to him. She couldn't give him anything else but that. She hoped it'd mean something to him. "I'm...Mash Kyrielight..."
The boy sniffled, but he kept his hands on hers. He nodded slowly, acknowledging that she spoke, but unable to answer himself.
"...can you...tell me your name? Please...?" she asked him. It'd be the last thing that she heard, at this rate. She liked that idea, for some reason.
The lights around them seemed to throb, but her vision was getting blurry again. She could hear the alarm, hear the computer saying something, but it was a muffled mess. She strained herself to focus, wanting to hear his reply.
He sniffled again, and as her vision began to fade, she just managed to hear him.
"Midoriya...Izuku."