Izuku stood, the warm grass on his bare feet, his body shaking with both adrenaline and fear, as he stared up at the wall of flames in front of him.
No, No, NO, NO!
This couldn't be happening.
The forest was on fire!
And Touya... Touya was still out there!
He must've been too upset, his fire must've gotten out of control. And if that was the case, he was probably at the center of the flames.
And the flames were going to burn him!
Izuku could feel the jarring heat radiating off of the fire, even from where he stood, at least 20 feet back. If Touya was in there...
Izuku felt the panic rising. He looked around at the firemen struggling to put out the fire. Natsuo, Fuyumi, and Shoto were all trying to use their ice to put out some of the fire. And dad had gone into the flames to try and find Touya, since he was much more resistant to fire then the rest of them.
Everyone was trying to help.
But he was just standing there.
He couldn't do anything to help. He couldn't do anything to save Touya. It would only get in the others way. He was quirkless. His father had made it clear that he was supposed to stay where he was and not do anything.
But he couldn't.
He couldn't just stay there and do nothing when someone who meant so much to him was dying!
Suddenly, he remembered the nightmare he had that night. The night after he learned he was quirkless. The night he asked Touya if he could be a hero.
One of the moments in that dream, Izuku was standing and watching in horror as Touya's flames overtook his body and burned him. Touya screamed, and begged for him to help. But in the dream, he couldn't move. He was frozen stiff, he couldn't do anything to help, and was just forced to watch.
He felt the same horror now as he watched the flames in front of him. He couldn't hear or see Touya, but he felt the same hot tears pouring down his face as he had when he woke up that night.
Except, this was real.
It wasn't a nightmare.
and although he was terrified out of his mind, he wasn't frozen this time.
Maybe he couldn't help. Maybe he would just make things worse.
But how would he ever call himself a hero if he never tried?
Touya didn't want him to be a hero. He'd learned that.
Touya wouldn't want to see him hurt.
But Touya would have to learn that he didn't want to see him hurt either. Or anyone else.
So if he could do anything to help. Anything. He'd be willing to take that chance.
He couldn't stand there any more. He couldn't wait. He couldn't watch.
But he didn't even make the decision to move.
His body moved on its own.
He raced forward, sprinting towards the flames and against the heat, ignoring the screams and yells behind him to stop, and ignoring the already stinging he felt on his skin.
He ignored everything, only focused on running.
Until he realized he wasn't running anymore. He couldn't. He couldn't move his legs at all. Or the rest of the lower half of his body.
It took him a second to realize that was because the lower half of his body was encased in ice.
He glanced behind him, and saw Fuyumi and Natsuo staring at him, shocked and worried, until a firemen asked them to continue. They went back to using there ice, but still glanced up ever so often, watching him, concerned.
Then he saw Shoto on the other side, walking towards him, face still his mostly serious blank expression. Shoto put his left hand on the ice, using his hot half to melt it and lower Izuku back down.
Once Izuku could move again, he found he still really couldn't. The adrenaline was gone. All his energy was gone, replaced by a numbness, and not just from being in ice.
He just stared back up at the flames hopelessly.
It surprised him a bit when Shoto wrapped to arms around him. Shoto wasn't much for hugging.
He could feel the two different temperatures pressing down on his sides, but Izuku didn't care. He liked the hug, it felt comfortable. It helped a tiny bit. But that faded quickly when he realized just how much Shoto's hug reminded him of Touya's hug, the heat that came off of both of them, making the hug feel like a safe and cozy nook. It made it hurt all the more.
Izuku gave up, letting his terribly wobbly legs collapse underneath him as he fell to the ground, Shoto sitting beside him, still hugging. Izuku let the tears fall harder, not even daring to look up at the flames again. Sobs and hiccups and noisy breathing broke out of his squeezed lungs. He was crying loudly.
"T-Tou..." he whispered shakily. Shoto squeezed harder.
It just barely registered with Izuku that he felt a tear land on his head, that Shoto was crying too. But in his defense, he was too overwhelmed and exhausted to notice much anymore.
He just wanted to cry. He wanted to collapse. He wanted to sleep. He wanted more then all of that for this horrible feeling inside him to go away. The feeling he couldn't even describe, but that was so horribly painful.
But what he wanted most right now, more then anything, was too see Touya again. To see that he was alright. To see his smiles, to feel his warm hug.
He wanted his best friend back.
What he didn't know, was that he would get his brother back.
But not his best friend.