Crossing Fates : Book 1 - Escape (BakuDeku)

28 - The Wreck

Pain woke him up.

Izuku's body was twisted at an uncomfortable angle. He was surrounded by jagged metal and trapped under a heavy weight.

He groaned.

"Shh," Katsuki whispered. "It's all right. You're going to be all right."

He tried to take a deep breath and couldn't.

"I can't breathe," he whimpered. "I can't move my legs."

"We've been in a wreck, Izuku. You're pinned in, but I'm going to get you out. For now, you must listen to me. Don't move. Can you do that for me? Just for a little while?"

Katsuki's voice wove into him and brushed aside his panic. The man was beguiling him into calming down.

Someday, he was going to have words with Katsuki about messing with his head. Right now didn't seem like that time.

Izuku tried shallow breaths and mouthed, "Okay."

"There's a brave boy," Katsuki soothed.

The heavy weight on his chest lifted briefly. Metal groaned. It was a terrible sound. Pain seared his legs and back.

He cried out, and the world grayed over before black.

*****

Katsuki cursed a steady stream of vitriol as Izuku lost consciousness again.

The impact had been so violent the car was an unrecognizable heap of twisted metal. Most creatures could not have survived the crash.

If he had been less than he was, if he hadn't recovered enough from the Elven poison, if he had not thrown himself over Izuku and pushed out with his Power to cover them both, Izuku would have been crushed in an instant.

They were surrounded by shadows.

Katsuki ripped the collapsed air bag to shreds and threw the pieces out the little twist of space that had been the front passenger's window, then he snapped Izuku's seat belt.

He glared around as the shadows crept closer. He bared his teeth and growled a warning, and the shadows paused.

Over the burnt rubber and gasoline smells, the stink of Goblin made his nostrils flare.

Soon, the Goblins began to creep closer again, their coarse features coming visible in the predawn.

They thought they had him pinned. They were right.

His own body had taken damage, various contusions and cuts, but he ignored it. For him, the injuries were minor. If he had been alone, he would have ripped his way out of the wreck and done a WWF SmackDown on their ugly asses.

But if he did that, he could do incalculable damage to Izuku, maybe kill him.

He would have to be very careful in working to free the boy from the wreckage. That would take time. Izuku was so much more fragile than him.

The Goblins grew bolder. They were misshapen creatures, gray-skinned and brutish with inhuman strength. They were one of the few Archaic Races that could not maintain some kind of glamour to make them more palatable for coexisting with humans.

For that reason, they spent most of their time in Margin Lands, where magic was stronger, humankind was the rarity and certain technologies such as electrical appliances and modern weaponry wouldn't work with any degree of safety or reliability.

Katsuki expanded his senses and found a passageway nearby that led to a pocket of Margin Land. Big surprise.

Katsuki turned his attention back to Izuku. The wreckage had wrapped them together like a ghoulish present. He was twisted at the waist, his torso covering Izuku's.

The boy's seat had broken. Izuku was lying partially in what had been the backseat while the front of the car had collapsed on his legs.

Katsuki wiggled his left arm free and reached behind him to grasp the steering column which was pressing against his left lower kidney. Bracing himself with his right arm, he pushed.

Careful. Metal groaned and the column eased away a few inches.

He stopped before he wanted to so he could check if shifting the column would make something else pinch down on Izuku. He didn't sense any further collapse. Good enough. He tried the same with the roof crumpled over his back and gained a little more room for them.

Goblins called to one another in their guttural language. One came too close. Grinning, it poked a serrated sword at him through the crunched window hole.

Katsuki grabbed the sword, he punched his other arm out the hole. He locked his hand around the Goblin's throat and crushed it while the creature choked and kicked, then he let go.

The Goblin crumpled to the ground, claws digging at its ruined neck as it died. The other Goblins watched as their comrade kicked out his life but made no move to try to help him.

How fucking charming.

Ignoring his bleeding fingers, Katsuki pulled the sword into the car. The other Goblins snarled but kept well out of his reach.

He wedged the sword near his hand and turned his attention back to Izuku, ignoring when the ruined car lurched. The Goblins lifted the wreckage onto a flatbed with them still inside.

At least, Izuku was breathing easier. Contusions, cuts and bruises mottled his pretty face. The shirt he wore like a jacket was cut and damp with blood in places.

Pale to his grim gaze, Izuku looked too white in the dirty morning light. A delicate tracery of blue veins was visible under the fine skin at Izuku's temple, his freckles too noticeable than normal against the pale white skin.

The flatbed truck lurched into motion, turned off the highway road and cut across country. Armed and armored Goblins jogged alongside and behind, keeping them surrounded. They traveled toward the passageway that would lead them to the Margin Land.

Katsuki scanned down Izuku's body with Power, paying close attention to his spine and legs. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found them intact. He'd managed to throw enough cover over the boy to prevent major structural damage.

Next, he checked for bleeding. He found jagged metal cutting into the boy's right calf. No wonder he had passed out when he tried to shift things.

Katsuki lowered his head and used his shoulders as he pushed up against the crumpled roof, gaining them several more needed inches.

He studied how Izuku's legs were pinned until he was satisfied he had found a way to widen the area without hurting him further. He gripped the two places he had chosen and pulled them apart. The metal protested but gave way until Izuku's legs were free.

Blood gushed as the jagged metal left Izuku's leg. Katsuki slapped his palm over it.

Despite the urgent need to stop the bleeding, he paused and sucked in a breath as he felt Izuku's Power welling underneath his hand.

Liquid sunlight, magic eternal, young, wild and free. Katsuki discarded each word as it came to him. They were all inadequate.

What he now knew for sure was what he had suspected before. He was in the presence of something unique.

In the series of surprises he had encountered since coming aware of Izuku, Katsuki came to another first in his long bad life as he discovered reverence.

He sent a very gentle pulse of Power to seal the wound and stop the bleeding. He sent the pulse over the boy's body, sealing other smaller cuts.

Izuku would hurt and be unhappy when he woke up, but he would live.

That's all that mattered.

That's everything that mattered.

Katsuki straightened as much as he could and cupped the boy's chin. "Izuku," he said, reaching soft and calm into his unconscious mind. "Time to wake up. I want you to open your eyes now."