Test of Courage

5

Todoroki's POV
I gazed into the fire. The flames flickered and burned at the wood, slowly turning it to ash. We spent the day traveling through the grasslands and I volunteered to be on guard first. Midoriya and Iida didn't like the idea. They rather have me guarded than guarding.

Now the other four were fast asleep. Their breathing slow and steady. Sometime during the night Kirishima rolled over and now he was cuddling with Bakugou's hand. They obviously liked each other and they are probably dating already. I'm surprised the two haven't said anything about it yet. I took a stick and poked at the fire.

I heard a small gasp and Midoriya sat up abruptly. He breathing was uneven and his eyes darted around, taking into his surroundings.

"Are you okay?" I whispered, careful not to wake the others.

"Yeah, it was just a dream," He said before rubbing his face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I offered. He shook his head and came to sit next to me. We sat together, watching the fire.

"You can go to sleep. I can keep watch next," Midoriya suggested.

"No, I'm going to stay up till the time to switch. We can guard together," I insisted. I knew it sucked to be alone after a nightmare.

"I guess some company is nice." He took the stick and poked at the fire. His eyes seemed unfocused like he was deep in thought. I couldn't help but notice what a beautiful shade of green they were. Like the forest leaves in the spring when they first bloom mixed with the lighter green of the grasses we were surrounded by.

An hour or two passed and we sat in a comfortable silence. Fatigue was taking over and I felt drowsy. Every once and a while my head would nod. Midoriya still seemed to be wide awake.

I didn't know when it happened but I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I was waking up to Iida shaking my shoulder gently. I sat up and realized I was leaning on Midoriya's shoulder. He was already awake and was looking at me. I felt my face flush.

"Come on sleepy head. Your the last one awake. We should get moving before some monster finds us," Bakugou said gruffly. Iida gave me a muffin we bought yesterday in town. I ate it quickly and we set off again.

We walked until my legs were sore and the group agreed on a break. I let out a sigh of relief but it was short lived. The galloping of hoofs filled our ears. My immediate reaction was monster but we could see nine or ten horses in the distance.

"It's okay, they are just travelers," Iida reassured us. I didn't feel any better and by the looks of it, neither did Midoriya. As they got closer I could see the travelers were wearing cloaks, their hoods covered their faces. Then I saw something reflect the sun, a sword.

"Guys, those travelers are armed," I informed the others. Bakugou drew his sword.

"I'm going to kill them," He growled. He seemed a little too excited. Kirishima put his hand on Bakugou's arm.

"They might be hunters, or maybe they ran into some monsters too?" He tried to reason.

"Duck!" Midoriya yelled. I dropped down as an arrow whizzed by my head. We drew our swords and got ready to defend ourselves.

"Put down the weapons or we will shoot!" One of the rides called. I glanced at the others. We realized we had no choice so we slowly put our swords on the ground. The riders circled us with their horses and kept their arrows trained on us. We held our hands up in surrender.

"Which one do we want, Dabi?" An excited girl's voice asked.

"The green haired one," The one I assumed was named Dabi responded. Midoriya's eyes widened in recognition.

"Your the guy I ran into in town!" He said. The man pulled down his hood. He had black spiky hair and cool blue eyes. He had silver piercings along the purplish burn scars on his face.

"The one and only," He replied coolly. Midoriya's eyes changed again, like with the dragon and the Lupus Lapis. He used his foot to kicked his sword in the air and caught it swiftly in his hands. Arrows were shot at him and he sliced them all in half with the sword. He began to fight the riders and the rest of us followed his lead. It was difficult to fight when my opponent had the height advantage. The most I could do was block their attacks.

All of the sudden Iida pushed me to one side. One of the riders lost their hood. She was a girl with blonde hair that she wore in to buns. Her eyes were yellow and she had a childish smile. She threw a knife and it embedded it's self in Iida's shoulder.

"Iida, are you okay?" I asked frantically. Iida grunted.

"Luckily it hit my armor." He pulled the knife out of the leather on his shoulder. They was no blood on it, thankfully.

"Fall back!" Dabi yelled. I turned to see him and his horse already running away. Midoriya was unconscious in his arms along with the sword. His bag was left in the grass.

"No, Midoriya!!!" I yelled. The rest of the hooded riders took off after him. Four of us we left alone in the middle of the grasslands.

Iida's POV
I got to work checking on everyone and making sure their were no injures. Bakugou got a cut on his arm from defending Kirishima but that was it.

"I can take care of myself!" Bakugou pulled his arm away from me and he grabbed the first aid kit. He cleaned his wound and tried to bandage it. He had trouble and Kirishima managed to convince him to let him help.

Todoroki sat silently, staring at nothing in particular. I knew he was deep in thought. A worried expression rested on his face. I walked over to him and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"We will get Midoriya back, I promise," I said.

"How? We don't even know where they went!" Todoroki sighed in frustration and let his head fall into his hands.

"I believe there is a town in the direction they went. Our best guess is to start there and look around," I suggested.