Test of Courage

9

Todoroki' POV
I walked next to Midoriya. The moon was in the middle of the sky meaning it was around midnight. The world was quiet, hardly any crickets were out tonight. Midoriya was deep in thought, his eyes were unfocused.

"Did you think you can talk about what happened earlier?" I asked. He blinked and his eyes refocused. He nodded.

"You guys left and then I got really dizzy and I passed out. Then I dreamed about All for One again," He started.

"Again?"

"Yeah, he comes into my dreams sometimes. Usual he makes empty promises and tries convince me to free him. This time it was different though. This-this time he was saying things to manipulate me and trying to make me trust him," I noticed him shiver. I wanted to ask him for more details of his dream but it seemed that it still bothered him. I nodded.

"What does he promise you?" I asked.

"Help with problems I have, some I didn't even know about. The first one was my mom's financial problems. She's really good at hiding how bad it is. I never knew until he told me," Midoriya said. He sounded disappointed in himself for not seeing it earlier. "Then, when you were taking watch last night, he promised heal me whenever I get hurt or sick." I hadn't realized his nightmare last night was about All for One. I wanted to ask more questions but he'd been through enough.

We walked through the rest of the night. When the sun rose we stopped for breakfast but we didn't stay long. It was best we got a far away from the town as possible. Four days passed. We passed by a town but tried our best to stay away. Even so we sent Bakugou and Kirishima in for supplies. We were running low on food and we needed to restock the first aid kit. We only slept between dusk and dawn, using the dark as a cover. We rotated guard, two people every night.

Midoriya seemed to act different since we made him stay behind at the mining camp. When ever we tried to help him, he insisted he could do it himself. When ever it was time to change his bandages he did it by himself but we all noticed how much he struggled. When he mounted his horse I could tell he was trying to hide how much it hurt. He was stubborn and there was nothing we could do.

By sunset of the fourth day mountains came into our view. They took up our view of the horizon. We stopped at the base of the mountains. Iida reasoned it would be best to start on the difficult terrain when we were fully rested. It was Iida's turn to guard and I fell asleep almost immediately.

When I woke up again I expected it to be time to leave but Iida was still guarding quietly. It was Kirishima's turn after Iida. He sat quietly by the fire, watching Midoriya with concern. I realized the whimpers coming from Midoriya's sleeping bag was the reason I woke up.

"How long has he been like that?" I asked Iida quietly.

"Only a few minutes, I believe he's having a nightmare." As far as I knew, Midoriya didn't tell anyone else about the details of his nightmares. He wanted me to keep it secret so everyone else wouldn't worry. I shook his shoulder gently.

"Midoriya, wake up," I said gently. I was afraid he wouldn't wake up, like what happened only days ago at the camp. This time he blinked a few times, taking in his surroundings. "Are you okay? It looked like you were having a nightmare."

"I'm fine," He said sitting up. His voice was shaky.

"Are you sure?" Iida asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to go for a walk. You should get some sleep," He stood up. He took his sword with him.

"Don't go too far," Iida warned. Midoriya didn't show any sign he heard. He was muttering to himself as he walked away. I decided to take his advice and get some more sleep. I laid down but suddenly I wasn't tired. I lay awake long enough to hear Iida waking up Kirishima and switching positions. I started getting nervous when he still didn't come back, twenty minutes after Kirishima started guarding.

Finally it was too much. I got up and informed Kirishima of where I was going. I went off in the direction I saw Midoriya go, with a lantern in my hand. I wandered for a while without any sign of him and my anxiety only grew.

I heard the soft sound of natural running water. I followed the sound, hoping Midoriya did too. I found a small creak that flowed down from the mountains. Midoriya knelt at the bed of the creak and I could heard him muttering to himself but I couldn't make out what he was saying.

"Midoriya, I was worried. You've been gone a long time," I think I surprised him because he jumped when he heard my voice. His expression went from startled to sad.

"Sorry," His voice was soft. I sat next to him, setting the lantern down between us.

"You've been acting different since the mining camp, is something wrong?" I asked gently. He seemed to hesitate.

"I-do you guys think I'm a burden?" He sounded unsure and sad. I felt as if someone stabbed me in the chest. Why would we think he's a burden? I almost missed him wince.

"We don't think your a burden!" I exclaimed, surprising him, "Why do you think that? Is it something we said? Or did?" I wanted to find who ever made him feel like this. Then I wanted to punch them in the face.

"When I passed out and dreamed about All for One, and he said so. I know he lies and I shouldn't listen to him but it made sense. You guys didn't want me to get in the way at the camp and it's like you don't think I can take care of myself with my injury," He said. That's what All for One has been doing? He's trying to get Midoriya to lose trust in us so it's easier to manipulate him into freeing his soul from the sword. I couldn't find any words to reassure him so I chose actions instead. I pulled him into a tight hug. We were quiet for a moment.

"We don't think your a burden. We are your friends and we care about you. We want you to be safe. I know you are willing to push yourself to help others but you need to let yourself heal. Your important to all of us, including Bakugou, even though he doesn't show it," I said. He wrapped his arms around my neck and buried his face in my shoulder.

"I-Todoroki," I could tell he was starting to cry, "Thank you." We held each other in embrace until his crying slowed. I let go of him and he wiped his eyes.

"We should head back before the others get too worried," I said. He nodded and we found our way back together.