The battlefield no longer resembled the peaceful field it once was. Hours earlier, the grass had been tall and golden, swaying gently under a bright sky. Now it was nothing but scorched earth and broken soil, carved open by explosions, quirks, and chaos. Smoke curled upward in thick, suffocating plumes, mixing with the heavy rain that poured relentlessly from a sky turned almost black.

Heroes were falling. Civilians were crying. And the League of Villains was pushing forward with terrifying momentum.

You could barely hear anything over the thunder, the crackling flames, and the distant screams. Your ears rang from the last blast you’d taken, and your vision blurred at the edges, but you kept fighting. You had to. Everyone was spread thin—Katsuki locked in a brutal clash with Twice, Izuku pushing himself past exhaustion, Ochako desperately trying to keep up with Toga’s unpredictable movements.

No one had time to look at anyone else. Everyone was fighting for their lives.

Shigaraki stood in front of you, drenched in rain, his white hair plastered to his forehead. His grin was unsettlingly calm, as if the destruction around him was nothing more than a mild inconvenience. You were wounded, breathing hard, but you refused to back down. Every muscle in your body screamed, but you pushed forward anyway.

You didn’t even see the attack coming.

One moment you were preparing your next move—the next, a sharp, cold shock tore through your abdomen. Your breath hitched. The world seemed to freeze. You looked down slowly, almost mechanically, as if your mind refused to accept what your body already knew.

Something had pierced you.

Your hero suit was torn, soaked with rain and something darker. Pain radiated outward in waves, but your brain lagged behind, unable to process it fully. Your knees buckled, and you stumbled back until your body hit the remains of a tree stump behind you.

Your voice came out small, trembling, barely audible over the storm.

“...Oh— gosh… This can’t be real…”

Shigaraki didn’t stay to watch you fall. He simply turned away, disappearing into the smoke with a satisfied, almost bored expression, leaving you slumped against the stump, struggling to stay conscious.

The battle raged on. No one noticed you at first.

Your breathing grew shallow. The rain felt colder. The sounds around you became distant, muffled, as if you were sinking underwater. You tried to call out, but your voice cracked, lost in the storm.

Then—a flash of orange light.

Katsuki.

He had turned just in time to see you collapse. His expression shifted instantly—from fury to confusion, then to something far more raw. He blasted forward, landing beside you so fast the ground cracked beneath him.

“What the hell—?!” His voice broke, louder than the thunder. “What happened?!”

He dropped to his knees in front of you, hands hovering over you, unsure where to touch, terrified of making it worse. His usual sharpness was gone—replaced by panic, fear, and something that looked dangerously close to desperation.

“Hey— hey, look at me,” he demanded, but his voice trembled. “Don’t you dare pass out. Don’t you—”

His words cut off as he swallowed hard, rain dripping from his hair, mixing with the dirt and ash on his face. His eyes darted around, searching for help, for anyone, but everyone was still fighting for their lives.

You tried to speak, but your voice was barely a whisper.

“Katsuki… I—”

“Don’t talk,” he snapped, but the edge in his voice was gone. “Just— stay awake. I’m right here.”

He leaned closer, shielding you from the rain with his body, his hands shaking as he tried to support you.

For the first time since the battle began, Katsuki Bakugou looked genuinely afraid.

And all you could think was that the world around you—the fire, the rain, the screams—felt impossibly far away.