Knowing it was a real place made the dreamscape even more terrifying. The shadows were longer than on most dreams, the place darker. Toga knew what was coming. She walked up the stairs, along the hallway, into the room where she had been strapped to a chair and her mind broken with images of death and destruction, with commands and horrible sounds, with the Quirks of instructors and doctors. It had all been real, not just a villain fucking with her mind inventing nightmare scenarios. It was an almost unaltered memory.
This time she ignored the pain, took refuge inside her own mind. Around her, the sequence happened as before, until her target was shown to her. It was Izuku. She would never do it, she would not hurt him. But her body moved on its own. She was a passenger. She walked out of the building, and as she crossed the outer gates, her vision faded.
Toga was awake then. She looked up at the ceiling, the panels looking blurry. Beside her was Izuku, and she could sort of see his form, in the fog at the edge of her vision. She tried to move, to breathe a sigh of relief, but she was paralyzed. An unstoppable force held her in place, shadows creeping just beyond her sight. She felt panic start to rise as she tried to move her eyes, to look around. She couldn't move, she couldn't scream.
And then she felt a hand close around her throat, cold and unyielding. She was pulled away and turned around, and she felt all sensation leave her body. She was looking at herself below, half cuddled with Izu-Izu. The Toga below opened her eyes, looking straight at her, and smiled. Toga could only look as her body grabbed her knife from the bedside table, took it out of its sheath, and put her finger on her lips, as if to say, "stay quiet".
Toga saw her body get on top of Izuku, who only moved slightly in his sleep, and start stabbing him. In the chest, neck, face…Izu-Izu had no time to react, he had been stabbed half a hundred times before he could open his eyes. Toga screamed with all her lungs. No, no, no, NO! Why? He…he can´t be dead, he can´t be gone…No, NO!
Her eyes burst open as she woke up. Her lungs were empty, like she had been underwater till the point of drowning, and she tried to breathe. Her throat was in pain, her vocal cords strained. Toga´s lower leg had cramped up and she couldn't even move her toes. And there was something else hurting her, a large needle stuck on her arm. The adrenalin shot.
The syringe was removed carefully, and the area disinfected with some alcohol on a cotton bud. Toga felt tears stinging in her eyes as she came to the realization that it had all been a nightmare. Izu-Izu was alright, had pulled her out from the nightmare and had wrapped her in a comforting embrace. Toga ran her hand on his neck, his back, his hair. Half the tears she cried were of happiness, that it hadn´t been true. I fell for goddamn sleep paralysis! Motherfucker! I´m on the other side of the bed for fucks sake! "He got me good, Izu-Izu…the first dream didn't do a thing, so he did this stupid trick. Sleep paralysis, then he made me watch my body kill you. I…it was…I will never do that to you. I don't care how much anyone fucks with my mind, I´m not going to hurt you."
Izuku just held her tighter "I trust you, Himiko. We are going to stop him." They stayed cuddled for the rest of the night, even when Toga knew she would not be able to sleep. Awake, she was safe. She could take her of herself and she had Izuku by her side. Asleep, she was vulnerable.
The goddamn nightmare had seriously put her in a bad mood, even more compared to the high spirits she had fallen asleep with. Sleeping all night on the same bed as her love, her official boyfriend, after making out for quite a while…she was having the time of her life. She was starting to think they might even take their relationship even further…at a pace comfortable for the two.
Izu-Izu had been through a lot of shit in his life and he had told her a couple of times he felt he wasn't good enough. A part of Toga had wanted to hurt everyone who had planted those doubts in her precious boy´s mind. And Toga herself…she knew each and every crime she had to pay for, and, as much as it made her happy to have Izu-Izu, it hurt her knowing that he was involved in all this Pestilentia bullshit because of her.
So, they may as well take their time, make sure it was as good a moment as they had dreamt. And I´ve dreamt of that a lot, oh yes. With her lewd thoughts she involuntarily caressed Izuku´s scarred arm. I fucking love your scars, baby. Each one has a story…Izu-Izu stirred, opening his eyes a bit. Toga didn't stop softly dragging the tips of her fingers along the scars.
Softly, she asked "Hey, how did you get this one?" With a sleepy smile, he replied "Fighting Shouto on the Sports Festival." "And this one?" "Stain." She moved upwards with every question. "This one?" "When I saved Kouta." "And here, on your shoulder?" "That knife last week?" "Aww, Izu-Izu…" she cooed and planted a kiss on the scar. "How about the one on your neck?" "All for One with a wind-blade, he only grazed me, but he broke Kacchan´s ribs…I don't really remember all that fight, Himiko." He looked a bit sad as he gazed into the distance. "You know what would be cuter than a scar? A little bite!" Giggling, she nibbled at his neck, in the curve where neck met shoulder. She wasn't biting him hard, so it tickled him, and he laughed as well.
"Himiko, that´s gonna leave a mark!" "I know!" She smiled, still tracing her fingers on him. "You look sleepy, Izu-Izu, you don't have to stay awake for me, I´ll be okay." He looked like he wanted to say something but could only yawn instead. She whispered, "Shhh, go to sleep, my hero", kissing his ears and giving him a final kiss on the lips. In seconds he was asleep again, I´d probably need clorophorm to sleep that quickly.
The next morning, Izuku awoke to the smell of bacon and pancakes, which Toga was preparing on the kitchen of the base house they had been given, shared with the Shieldmaiden Freya. At six a.m., Freya had left for her morning workout, the last they would get before the mission. Toga herself had left the bed at 2 in the morning and spent a few hours training with her weapons of choice, some of the guns on base, even some cardio and weights.
In the weight room she had been joined by Ochako, to her unending surprise. "Can´t sleep?" asked Toga. "Had a nightmare. A normal one, though. I´m too tired to fight with you, but too sleepless to go back to bed." "Same. Spot me?" "Sure." Ochako stepped behind her as she squatted with the bar. "Hey, Ochako?" she asked between reps "I´m really sorry about everything I said, you know, when we fought." Ochako took a few seconds to answer "I don't think you really need to apologize for that…it was a duel to the death, wasn't it?" After another rep, Toga answered "I guess it was. I just want you to know I´m really sorry for saying it. It was hurtful, and wrong." "I also called you horrible things, if you forgive me, I forgive you." "Deal. Can you add some more weight?"
With a new plate on each side, Toga had to make a bigger effort. "Anyway…you and Iida, huh?" Ochako was probably blushing behind her "I still don't know how I feel about all that. I care for him a lot…" "I´mma interrupt and say that you smell like you already like him." "That smell thing is still creepy, Toga." "Oh, I know! Give yourself the chance, Ochako, he´s head over heels. And you smile when you look at him, don't you?" "I´m not gonna deny that. Can I get my turn now?" "Gimme more weight, I can do a set!"
Now it was heavy, she was really straining. Ochako´s Quirk gave her confidence, though. "Fuck, here we go, I think this is my new max, Ochako." At the seventh rep she felt her legs going wobbly, so she backed up to the squat rack, putting the bar on it. "My turn" said Ochako, who was looking more fired up than before, and Toga took up position to spot the hero.
An hour later, both girls were sweaty and a lot more at ease with each other, less like toddlers who had been forced to wear one big shirt after a fight and more like acquaintances, if not yet friends. As they left to shower at their respective lodgings, Ochako called out to her "You are much better when we´re not trying to kill each other, Toga." "Same" she had answered before they parted. Was that the start of a beautiful friendship?
At 5.30 she had heard Freya´s ringtone, a rather old and cheerful soundtrack piece from a movie about midgets throwing jewellery into volcanoes. The hero had then taken a shower and braided her hair (Toga had made a mental note to get the hero to braid her hair when possible) and then gone out for a run and some boxing. And Toga had gone on to her cooking. She wanted to make breakfast for Izuku, perhaps subconsciously expecting approval from his mother when she heard.
By 6.30, Izuku had woken up and joined her in the kitchen, his first instinct being to offer his help. As the base around them woke up, the soldiers singing cadence as they ran, the trucks and jeeps driving…Toga and Izuku ate a nice, simple breakfast, and the world seemed perfect. A good way to spend our last day before the operation.
Outside, Hatsume and Yaoyorozu had gone to meet a helicopter and soon the sound of metal on metal could be heard. "Himiko, you´re going to need to be well rested for the mission, when I return from training, we´ll take a nap?" "Hell yeah, Izu-Izu." She was still a bit shaken, but if Izuku was going to watch over her she could sleep a while, if all went well, she´d likely sleep well for the rest of time.
Shouto opened his eyes groggily, as the alarm on Momo´s phone went off. They always woke up at the same time, to get ready for the day and share their breakfast, so they only really needed one alarm. His vision was slightly obscured by something dark, smooth and silky, in an instant he knew it was Momo´s hair. He loved her hair, how the raven black contrasted with her pale skin, and he loved even more when another colour was added with her blushing cheeks. He smiled, a bright, wide smile that most people would never see. He remembered taking some silly poetry course early on the second year, to learn how to better express his feelings for her.
Soon the piano music on the phone woke Momo up. Shouto shuddered slightly as she moved beside him, their skin rubbing slightly. Momo was secretly very self-conscious about her skin, if she used her Quirk too much, her skin could get irritated and itchy, and she was always extremely embarrassed when that happened. Shouto didn't care, he loved everything about Momo, her imperfect perfection.
With a groan, Momo had turned off the alarm and started blinking away sleep. And then, as if hit by lightning, Momo had remembered something "The helicopter is arriving in a while! We should get ready to meet them!" In an instant, Momo had turned from a half-asleep girl into her bouncy self. With a smirk, Shouto asked "How long is that while? Short enough we´ll have to share the shower?"
It took a couple of seconds for Momo to understand what he was implying, and she blushed. Shouto loved that vision, a goddess smiling shyly.
A good while later they walked over to the helipad where the Yaoyorozu helicopter would land. "You two are in a good mood" remarked Hatsume. With a shared look full of mischief with Momo, Shouto said "Those showers are pretty good." A few minutes later, the helicopter arrived, a pilot in YaoCorp uniform leaping from the cockpit. "Miss Yaoyorozu, our fastest helicopter, as requested." With a very low bow, the pilot had then darted off to the military base´s gate, where a car would pick him up.
"He didn't even ask if any of us knew how to fly it?" Hatsume seemed surprised at the employee´s behaviour. "Shouto can fly it!" Momo replied. Shouto was a bit embarrassed when he said "Uhhh…Natsuo taught me, we, ah, we stole one of Endeavor´s helicopters one time." "That´s pretty cool, dude. I´ll be the gunner then!" "Gunner?" "We are adding some Babies to this bad boy to fly us into battle, nothing too big."
Shouto decided he would try practicing a bit on the military´s simulators, and maybe spar a bit with Iida and Tsuyu, while Momo and Hatsume worked on the aircraft. Already talking energetically, Hatsume had pulled out a huge metal lunchbox for Momo. Shouto was really happy Momo had someone challenging to talk technology and materials with, no one on their hero classes had been anywhere close to that level of knowledge on the subjects, not even Izuku could keep up with Momo and Mei when they got really technical.
Leaving his girlfriend with the inventor, Shouto toured the base looking for helicopter simulators. Worldwide military forces had been streamlined, with the old powers, Russia, China and the United States, having at their largest a few hundred thousand troops, most as support personnel. Japan devoted its small army mostly to disaster relief, with a few units prepared for military reaction, just as a caution. Korriban airbase was assigned to Special Operations, and thus, Shouto was sure he would find his simulator.
A few airmen were gathered around it, waiting for the last of them to complete a simulation, to either congratulate him on his success or mock his performance. The airman didn't make it to the leader board, and his companions weren't about to let him get away scot free. Shouto wasn't interested in such a competition, only in remembering what he and his brother had learned on that stolen chopper.
Inside, the simulator was built in the shape of a cockpit, adjustable for attack helicopter and transport helicopter modes. Momo´s chopper resembled more a transport, so he selected that option. The software was easy enough to use, and he was able to easily chose a similar enough aircraft. "Mission 1: Lift-off" He would start from the basics.
A couple of hours later he had a small crowd of airmen around his age, cheering him on as he piloted the simulated attack gunship on the 28th Mission: Mountains and AA Guns, where his gunship would fly around a mountain range clearing out insurgent camps in a war waged more than a hundred years past. Shouto had somehow let the competition get to his head and was bellowing orders to a junior airman that had joined him as his gunner. With the last position eliminated, Shouto turned the gunship away for refuelling, and the scenario ended. The airmen cheered "Frostburn! Frostburn!" He gave his simulated gunner, Junior Airman Tanikaze a handshake and offered the band of soldiers some drinks when he returned from the mission, which again made them cheer. Leaving the airmen, he met his fellow heroes in one of the gyms, an indoor basketball court outfitted with tatami for martial arts. Iida trotted laps around the gym, Tsuyu was climbing a rope, Tokoyami conferred with Dark Shadow. Izuku had joined them, without Toga, and was doing some push ups on the tatami as Ochako counted the repetitions. They seemed to be on much better terms, and for that Shouto was glad. With enough tension, the group could have split up, and he didn't want that, at all.
A moment later they were joined by Izuku´s fellow agents, one of them a hero from the Nordic Confederation. Shouto still hadn´t formed his opinion on her, she seemed an intelligent, kind hero, perhaps hindered by the language barrier, and quite powerful, even if she was unassuming and not particularly intimidating out of her armour. The agent reminded him of Jirou, always exasperated by the bullshit, but with a ready smile for her friends. It seemed she liked Izuku well enough, and that Toga apparently annoyed her quite a lot.
Since they were set to leave just after midnight, all the heroes present were unleashing pent up stress with exercise, before they would have to "hurry up and wait" to be deployed. Izuku was the first to be done, after sparring with every one of his teammates and both agents, and then after groups of two, Shouto teaming up with Tsuyu to fight him. Izuku won the best of three against each one, and only lost against a four-person team consisting of all his teammates. With a smile he left them in the end, looking eager for a shower.
By the time everyone felt satisfied with their performance, Shouto felt really confident on the team, that oil rig was as good as theirs. Going outside again to check on Momo, he found the helicopter completely different than when it had arrived, wall panels strewn about and replaced with lightweight grey panels that looked sleek and strong, an assortment of different things mounted on it, some looking like missile launchers. Hatsume was hauling a seat outside from the small passenger bay, Momo crafting a replacement in parts from her left arm. It seemed like it would still take a while, so he decided to bring her some of her favourite tea on a thermos as she worked.
Back in the base house they had been assigned to, a few houses away from Izuku´s and next to Iida´s. Basic furniture was provided in this kind of housing for soldiers who started families and couldn't stay in the barracks, and at the moment he was looking for a particular piece of furniture, the small cabinet where they had stored their tea. He took the fancy metal box containing Momo´s tea and added the leaves to a teapot. For a second, he felt his scar hurt as he touched the teapot, memories he had already made his peace with flaring up again. He had forgiven his mother, he was not going to be afraid of boiling liquids. With a flourish, he lit the gas stove using his flames. While the liquid boiled, he looked for a suitable bottle, soon finding one.
As the water boiled, the fragrant aroma filled the air. He bottled the tea, and brought it back to his girlfriend, who was now making some cables for the helicopter. "I brought you tea" he said with a soft smirk as he offered the thermos flask. Momo´s face lit up with a smile, and she elegantly sipped at the beverage. Shouto never ceased to be amazed with how graceful Momo was, even when dressed in overalls and as covered in oil as her friend Hatsume always was. It probably had to do with the way she lifted her pinkie finger in a ladylike way to drink.
"The chopper will be ready soon! With these upgrades they´ll never stand a chance!" beamed Hatsume, interrupting Shouto and Momo´s intimate eye contact. That was good, the sooner their ride was ready, the sooner they could hurry up and wait.