Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Yagi Toshinori is no stranger to pain.

The scar on his side is a sign of that. It’s been a companion of his for many, many years, and it will continue to serve as such. He knows what it feels like, and he’s become all too familiar with it. And despite that, it doesn’t lessen the feeling. He doesn’t grow a tolerance to the stinging and throbbing. It doesn’t become easier, as much as he assures others that it has and will. But the pain he is in right now is different.

Toshinori can describe different categories of pain. Different sections and subsections. For him, it’s a list that he has created over the years. The current pain he is feeling is focused in his upper left shoulder, just where his collar bone ends. It’s a hot, dull, throbbing sensation. It feels like something has very well been stuck through that part of his body.

Somewhere else in his body, there’s an ache. No, not just somewhere else. Everywhere. It’s the kind of ache you get after you work out. Not the ache where it hurts to move, but the ache where it settles to a point that just existing feels off. It’s manageable, for now. But he knows from experience that the pain will only grow.

“..-ll Might?”

Toshinori draws in a carefully planned breath. He can feel his lungs rattle as he inhales, as if they have been filled with gravel. It isn’t painful, but he knows that it isn’t supposed to happen. Wherever he is, he isn’t supposed to be there. But wherever he is, someone else is there with him. The voice that spoke just now… he can’t quite make out who it belongs to, but it sends a stab of worry through his stomach.

“Are you awake?”

He was, wasn’t he? Why was it so dark? He squeezed his eyes shut, then slowly forced them open. The same darkness from before greeted him. He exhaled a wheezing puff of air, fighting down the rising coughing fit that began to crawl up from his throat. The voice, whoever it belongs to, seems to let out a relieved gasp. “I thought you weren’t gonna wake up! You were so quiet– and, and you–”

“Midoriya?” The voice finally registers in his mind. When he speaks, his mouth is all numb and fuzzy. His jaw feels stiff and the words are partially slurred and muffled. As if to confirm the answer, a green flash lights up the area. And just in that moment, Toshiori feels himself wake up more. It's instantaneous. Because that simple glow from the boy’s quirk revealed just how much of a mess they were in.

Black whip is active. Long, snake-like tendrils have emerged from Izuku and are arched above the two, holding… something. And from his surroundings, Toshinori can best assume that it is rubble. The areas beneath and just above the “ground” consist of jagged shapes of debris. He can see steel pipes jutting out from a few pieces here and there, along with some wiring and other small scraps. But that isn’t what wakes him up.

The pain in his shoulder can be traced to a steel pipe. One of the steel pipes that goes into concrete slabs to help hold them together. Something about infrastructure (he was a pro hero, not a construction worker). It’s dug itself deep into his shoulder, and he’s almost sure that it’s gone through and has buried itself in the rubble beneath him. But that still isn’t what wakes him up. It’s the trajectory of the pipe that does.

Because the pipe is coming straight out of Izuku.

In just the short amount of time that Toshinori has light, he takes in as much detail as he can. The space they are trapped in is small and confined. Izuku is hovering over Toshinori while black whip arches above them. He’d say they were in an igloo if the debris was snow instead of concrete.

The pipe that has skewered the two isn’t too big, but it’s big enough to cause concern. Mostly for Izuku, because the position it is in is not good. It’s located just at the bottom of his rib cage near the side of his body. If it had been a little higher, he surely would’ve suffered a punctured lung. A little more to the right, and it would’ve gone through his liver. He can’t tell just where it is, but he knows anatomy. He knows from his own experiences.

And that steel pipe is dangerously close from possibly going through his stomach or spleen.

The shirt around that area has darkened to a deep, dark red. In some areas, it almost looks brown (which implies that it has dried, how long was he out for), and the expression on his face makes it all the worse. There is strain and exhaustion. A sheen of sweat glistens when everything lights up, and Toshinori can make out faint tear tracks tracing his cheeks.

“...s-sorry… can’t use too much energy…” Izuku breathes out after a moment, and Toshinori can feel him shudder with the way the pipe seems to gently vibrate against his shoulder. His tone wavers, pain and exhaustion edging it. He’s tired. Toshinori vaguely registers. But if he loses focus, then…

“How… How long was I out?” Toshinori finally manages to rasp, carefully feeling around for his pockets. He had his phone on him… surely he could try and contact someone…

“You were only out for… a few seconds at first.. But then you just sort of drifted..” Izuku strains out, and Toshinori can hear him shuffle his feet. He cuts in, holding a hand out (as if the kid could see it in the first place). “Don’t move. You’ll risk cutting something internally…” If you haven’t already. The last part goes unsaid, but he gets the feeling that Izuku knows with the way he suddenly stills.

After a few more moments of silence, Toshinori lets out a quiet “yes” before drawing his phone out of his pocket. The light that shines in his face makes him grimace and squint his eyes shut at first, but after adjusting the brightness, it’s manageable. His screen is slightly cracked, and the battery is low, but it’s enough. Izuku makes a noise from the darkness, the tone edging on hopeful this time. “Are you able to contact anyone?” He whispers.

Toshinori quickly goes to his messages, beginning to type out to someone before slowly trailing off. In the upper right corner of the screen, he can see it. No signal. No connection. However far down they are, there isn’t enough signal to get through to anyone here. They’re stuck. He can’t know that.

“...y-yes! I just sent the principal a message!” After feigning the act, he opts to slowly raise the phone, rotating it around in his hand to get a better look at Izuku. At first, he winces away from the light, scrunching up one eye and blinking the other a few times. After a moment or two, however, he seems to adjust as well. And now that he has more than just a second to look, he can see the real damage.

Several parts of Izuku’s clothes are torn. In the areas that they are torn, he can see scabbed skin. His face is painted with dust, and beneath that dust, Toshinori can make out what looks to be something like road rash. Multiple smaller cuts and abrasions are littered across his arms and hands, but that’s all he can see on the surface. Beneath his shirt, there are several more spots that are splotched darkly.

“...is it bad?” Izuku finally whispers out, and Toshinori feels his throat clamp shut. He knows how this goes. Psychologically, he knows how this goes. But he knows that Izuku is good at analyzing. He knows what he needs to do, and how he needs to say it. So he shuts his phone off, and nods. “You’ve got some nasty cuts on your arms, but you’ll be fine, young Midoriya… I’m sorry for turning off the light, but I must conserve the battery.”

23%.

Izuku makes a non committed sound. “That’s good… there’s just a.. Really strong burning sensation below my ribs.. On the left…near my stomach.” Ever the smart one. Toshinori would’ve normally praised Izuku for his diligence and awareness, but right now? Right now he was cursing the kid for such a thing. There isn’t any point in a lie. Izuku could flare his quirk at any time and investigate for himself. He was sure the kid already had, and was just looking for a second opinion.

“That’d… probably be the pipe skewering you… but it doesn’t seem like it hit anything major.” Toshinori confesses, bringing a fist up to his mouth to cough into weakly. He can feel Izuku shake a little, but he decides not to bring it up. “Just keep me updated on how you’re doing, okay? If you get too tired–”

“Then the whole thing falls down on us.”

Toshinori clamped his mouth shut, frowning. Izuku continued. “If I lose focus, black whip goes away, and then the whole thing falls down on us. And if that doesn’t happen first, then we lose oxygen.” Right. Oxygen. “And if that doesn’t get us first, then it’s me losing too much blood on my end, and then the thing caving in on you. I know. I’ve been feeling for a way out with black whip, but I can’t find anything. It’s all jagged and rocky, and black whip can’t seem to find enough space between the cracks to seep through. But if the pro heroes know where we are, then at least we can…”

Toshinori lets him ramble. The kid might be overanalyzing things, sure. The kid might be overcomplicating things, sure. But it helps keep his mind off of the seemingly impending doom that is literally hovering over them. He isn’t sure how long he lets Izuku ramble for, but he lets himself get lost in his own thoughts.

They’d just been at a mall on a day off. They spent plenty of time together training, so he figured he’d treat the kid to something special. But then there’d been villains. Not the league, fortunately, but still villains all the same. The last thing he remembered were explosions, Izuku shouting something, and then something heavy and hard smacking his head.

He absentmindedly rubbed at his head, wincing at the sting of pain that followed. Judging by how rough it felt, he’d probably bled and it had scabbed over by now. He probably wasn’t concussed, seeing as he was fairly responsive and coherent. But that still didn’t take away from the fact that he had been injured.

He couldn’t help but feel a stab of guilt when he thought about it. Here he’d been, laying there, drifting in and out of consciousness, while Izuku held the weight of the world on his shoulders. Well, not more so a mall, but you get the idea. He couldn’t begin to imagine how scared he must’ve been. Sure, Izuku could put on a brave front when he wanted and needed to, but Toshinori was all too familiar with him now.

He’d noticed the dried tear tracks on his face from earlier. He’d been crying. And he hadn’t been able to stop it. If only he’d been able to transform… He could do something. Even with a second, he was sure he’d be able to punch hard enough to launch all the debris off of them. But what about the people above ground? Surely heroes and law enforcement were scouring the rubble for survivors and those who had been injured. They’d be caught in the blast. And then there was the surrounding area, and— yeesh. Now he was overthinking things.

“I’m sorry.”

Toshinori’s breath stuttered in his chest as Izuku broke him out of his thoughts. His voice wavered, this time bubbling with a shakiness that made his chest hurt. There was a quiet, muffled sniffle, followed by a stuttering breath as Izuku continued. “If I’d been faster, we wouldn’t be in this position…” He whispered out, the sounds of a sob beginning to bubble over his lips.

“Midoriya, my boy, it wasn’t your fault… those villains came out of nowhere, and–”

“No!” Izuku cut him off, and Toshinori winced. Despite not being able to see, he knew tears were overflowing at this point. “If I’d been faster, I could’ve saved Kacchan! Then you wouldn’t have had to go save him and fight All For One! And you still would’ve had some power left!” A sharp, crackly gasp for air follows the confession. “It’s my fault!”

And once again, Izuku leaves him speechless. But this is a different kind of speechlessness. It isn't wholesome, impressed speechlessness. It’s a shocked, gut-wrenching kind of speechlessness that tugs on his heart strings in ways he isn’t sure he can handle. Carefully, he brings up a hand, slowly reaching forward through the darkness with his fingers until he feels those soft, bouncy curls.

From there, he manages to carefully cup his hand around Izuku’s now wet face. He’s a mess. A sobbing, crying mess. But he’s alive, and he’s fighting. Toshinori carefully rubs circles into his successor’s face, beginning to speak.

“Young Midoriya… if I had known you felt this way, I would’ve spoken to you a long time ago.. What happened was not your fault. Whether or not the league captured Young Bakugou, One For All would’ve eventually faded from my body one way or another. The quirk is yours now, my boy. And I couldn’t be more proud of where you’ve taken it.”

“But–”

“No such thing. I will not have you telling yourself these lies. Midoriya,” He stops, inhaling a slow, even breath. “My time with One For All was up. You saw me… I could barely keep up the form! Having it now would not have changed the predicament we’re in, either. We still have to take the heroes above into consideration, along with whoever else may be trapped in the rubble… not to mention the position we ourselves are in.”

As if to emphasize the point, he flicks the pipe that is skewering them with his fingers. Izuku sniffs in acknowledgement, but any fight seems to have left him. So Toshinori sighs, and continues. “I know you like to try and take everything and pin it on yourself, but this is not your fault, young Midoriya.”

A few moments of silence pass, and for a second, Toshinori grows fearful that Izuku has gotten too comfortable. That he has lost consciousness. But then he makes a quiet, little sound. A pitiful whisper. “Thank you, All Might.”

Toshinori lets out a gentle sigh, carefully ruffling Izuku’s hair before pulling his hand back. “You know… you can use my actual name, if you want.” He offers, chuckling softly. “Yagi. Toshinori. You can even call me ‘Toshi’ if you want.” He explains, leaning back comfortably onto the rubble beneath him. Izuku lets out another wet sniffle, a broken laugh bubbling at his lips. “Alright All M– Yagi.”

“That’s my boy.”

For a few moments, they lapse into a comfortable silence. Toshinori almost forgets that they are under the rubble of a collapsed mall until he feels the pipe in his shoulder shift. He lets out a quiet hiss of pain, and Izuku quickly leaps to apologize. The words are hushed as Toshinori lets himself relax once again. He can feel blood sluggishly flowing from the wound. He’s sure Izuku feels the same… gods he hopes someone is working on getting them out.

“...y’know… Nana talks about you.”

Toshinori feels his chest clench again. An odd stickiness forms in the back of his throat as he croaks out a quiet “yeah?” Izuku hums, and continues. “She makes fun of you… a lot.” He snorts a little, and Toshinori breathes out a breathy laugh of his own. “Does she, now?” He muses, closing his eyes.

“Yeah… She’s always talking about how much I remind her of you… kinda find it funny. I can’t really talk whenever she’s there, but I can nod and acknowledge her and stuff. She’s nice… and she’s real pretty. And she does have the same hair as my mom– we’ve talked about this before. Sorry. Uh… but, yeah, she…”

The rambling continues, and Toshinori, once again, lets it go. It’s soothing. It’s like white noise in the background. He could almost fall asleep…

Pain sparks in his shoulder again, and his eyes flash open. This time, he can’t suppress the cough that comes rippling up his throat. Nor the blood that most definitely splatters on Izuku. “S–Sorry!” Toshinori manages to squeeze out between the coughs, a fist now balled up in front of his mouth. Izuku makes a noise of acknowledgment, but doesn’t utter any other word in response. It sounds like a whine.

“Y–You weren’t responding…” Izuku whispers. “I got scared, so I… moved the pipe… sorry.” The last part comes out meekly. Toshinori can practically see the kid bowing his head. With a sigh, he waves a hand dismissively. “It’s alright… sorry for leaving you alone, there.” He laughs a little. It’s forced.

Izuku waits a moment or two before speaking up again. “How long have we been down here?”

Toshinori draws in a deep breath, and fishes his phone back out of his pocket. “It’s… about three right now… when did we get to the mall?” He asks. Izuku ponders the thought for a moment before responding. “Two? Maybe a little before then…” He trails off, coughing weakly. Toshinori frowns, furrowing his eyebrows together before turning the phone to shine some light on him.

And gods he is pale.

“Are… how long ago did you text the principal? Did he ev’r reply?” Izuku blinds lopsidedly at him, and something in Toshinori churns. “I.. I forgot. I don’t think he did.” He forces out, not bothering to check. He knows he didn’t message the principal. But Izuku doesn’t settle for that. “Check the time.. Just go to the messages… should say when.” He sounds breathless when he speaks. It’s wrong.

“I–It doesn't say..” Toshinori can feel himself tensing. Izuku makes an annoyed noise, and a hand reaches towards his phone. “Let me check–”

“No!”

Toshinori winces at the sudden volume in his tone. Izuku’s hand retreats back to his side in an instant, a sudden clarity filling his expression. Toshinori draws in one or two shaky breaths before exhaling. He rests a hand on his face, slowly dragging it backwards through his hair. “...I wasn’t able to message anyone. There isn’t any cell reception down here.”

“...Oh.”

18%.

Toshinori pockets his phone dejectedly, pressing his lips together tightly. A few more moments of suffocating violence pass before Izuku speaks up, once again. “Why didn’t you tell me?” There’s a childlike innocence in his voice. He isn’t angry. Gods, this kid. “I didn’t want you to worry…” Toshinori responds, and he can’t help but feel like it’s a lie. It doesn’t feel like a good answer. There should be a better reason, but there isn’t.

This time, when they lapse into silence, it isn’t comfortable.

Toshinori knows they need to get out of there. They can’t have much oxygen left, and that isn’t even touching on the fact that they’ve been skewered by a rusty piece of metal. Either way, when they get out of this, it isn’t going to be pretty.

He can’t even begin to imagine how the kid is feeling right now. He’s sure his brain is working overdrive to try and calculate a solution. Going through every probability until he finds one where they don’t end up crushed or dead. He feels like he’s already gone through every answer as well, and the outlooks don’t feel good. They aren’t good.

Eventually, the silence breaks. Izuku manages to whisper out a quiet sentence. “A– Toshinori?” And there’s something about his tone that makes his heart skip a beat. He doesn’t even think about fetching his phone out of his pocket to shine some light on the situation. Izuku doesn’t wince at the light in his face. His eyes are lopsided, one being more closed than the other, and a hazy look has started to glaze over those green orbs of his.

“I.. I think ‘m gonna pass out…” Izuku croaks out, eyelids fluttering dangerously. Above, Toshinori can hear the rubble rumbling and shifting. A few loose pebbles fall down onto his head, but he ignores them. Instead, he focuses on the kid. “Alright, kid, just keep talkin’ to me. You’re gonna be just fine.” He assures, raising up his other hand to snap his fingers.

Izuku shakes his head dizzily, closing his eyes for a moment before slowly bringing his two hands together. “M not.. G’nna pass out… j’st need you t’ look away…” He whispers, grabbing a hold of one of his fingers. Toshinori barely manages to utter a question when a sickening crack echoes through the small chamber. Izuku lets out a strangled cry, seemingly trying to curl in on himself, but the pipe stops him.

Instead, he lets his head dangle, panting and gasping for air. A hollow pit forms in Toshinori’s stomach. He’s truly helpless. All he can do is hope that help arrives before Izuku exhausts himself too much. Hell… The kid was willing to break a bone to stay awake for him. “Kid–” Toshinori began, but Izuku cut him off with a humming sound.

“‘M sorry… ‘m not strong enough yet..” He apologizes, cradling his now broken finger in his hands. The appendage has already turned an ugly shade, but it doesn’t stand out from how Izuku already looks. Just another injury to add to the list. Toshinori sucks in a short, shallow breath before exhaling it slowly. “It’s… It’s alright, Midoriya… You’re doing great.”

He’s rusty at this. Sure, he’s saved a bunch of civilians from disasters, but he honestly really didn’t do much of the talking to them. He saved that for the heroes he handed them off to before diving back into the danger. Even when he did talk to them, they were short, curt conversations. He’d never been trapped himself. Not like this. Especially not with someone he was so close to.

“I-I think I found a pocket.”

Toshinori snaps out of his thoughts, blinking as he twists the phone to shine it on Izuku again. There’s a hopeful look in his tear-filled eyes this time. “There’s… black whip… it– it got through. I’m… trying to get attention. I can feel vibrations… people are moving around up there.” He explains. Toshinori feels his heart flutter in his chest. Finally.

“But ‘m.. not sure how much longer we have..” Izuku’s voice trails off into a defeated tone. “We’re far down… really far down. It’ll take them some time before they get to us… and even then, we’re… losing blood. And oxygen.” He looks down dejectedly before looking back up at Toshinori. “But I have a plan.”

10%.

“What is it?” Toshinori asks, ignoring the battery. Two new strands of black whip emerge from Izuku, slowly wrapping around the steel pipe between them. “I’m going to break this… so that we aren’t stuck together. It shouldn’t move too much, but I need to do this for my plan to work.” He explains, face twisting and straining. He’s reaching his limit. “Do it.”

It’s instantaneous. The pipe between them breaks with a shrill sound. Toshinori only feels it jostle his shoulder a little, but it’s still enough to make him hiss and arch his back in pain. Izuku mirrors the feeling, squeezing his eyes shut and blowing out a breath between clenched teeth. “Okay.. I’m.. I’m gonna slowly send up more black whip strands to the surface… and I’m gonna use them to pull us up right through this. I’ll keep the ones above us active so they work as a shield, and so that we don’t create any explosive force when we reach the surface. No heroes and civilians risk being harmed.”

It seemed probable. It was a good plan, but the question came to mind… What if he couldn’t do it? The kid was already straining enough just to hold everything. Heaving them up and through all that weight would surely exhaust him even more. If he lost consciousness halfway through, they’d plummet right back down, and everything would fall on top of them. But they were running out of time, and no other ideas were coming to mind. “...okay.” Toshinori breathed after a moment.

He could hear black whip moving after that point. While they set their plan in motion, Toshinori worked on attempting to help the both of them with their blood loss. He managed to tear a few pieces of his clothes off to work as makeshift bandages. They wouldn’t stop the bleeding, but they would slow it. Not only that, but he hoped it would help keep the pipes in place when they made their escape. If they got pulled out or caught on the way…

He shook the thought away from his mind, tugging tightly on the knot to secure some cloth around Izuku. He wasn’t sure what other injuries they had. He knew moving wasn’t a good idea. If either of them had sustained serious injuries that he was imagining, moving was the last thing they should've been doing. But there was no other choice than to do this.

Especially with the way Izuku is looking. He’s paler than before, and his eyes are lingering shut for just too long each time he blinks. It’s a miracle neither of them have been concussed. Without proper planning and strategy, they wouldn’t be able to make it out. Speaking of planning, Toshinori frowned. “Do you think you can use black whip to stabilize the pipe when we launch? If it gets caught on something, it could rip.. And…” He trails off, gesturing vaguely with his hands.

Between heaving breaths, Izuku nods, and a few more (noticeably smaller) strands of black whip thread out to wrap around the pipe impaling him and the boy. It’s an extra precaution, and a good one at that. With the way the pipe was nestled into Izuku’s side, one wrong tug would mean serious internal bleeding. And with how exhausted the boy already was, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make it.

No.

He shook his head, focusing on the objective. They would make this out. There was no if. They would make it out. He had to stay positive. For himself and Izuku. But for the time being, they had to wait. Wait until Izuku is set. Wait until everything is ready to go into motion. His phone battery is almost dead at this point, so he’s hoping that this works. It has to work.

“Alright.. I think we’re ready.” Izuku confirms after a long stretch of silence. He blinks sluggishly at Toshinori, clearing his throat. “Grab onto me… I’ll use black whip to help keep us together.” More strain. But there was no arguing about it. He needed to make sure he had a firm hold on Izuku, or they risked being separated.

He leaned forward slowly, carefully wrapping his arms around Izuku’s body, carefully avoiding the pipe sticking out from his side. It was awkward, seeing as they both had their own skewer sticking out of them, but they made it work.

0%.

Just as his phone flickers off, Izuku’s quirk flares. Green lighting dances over his body, and black whip strains with tension. For a gut-wrenching moment, there is no movement. For a gut-wrenching moment, he’s terrified that Izuku can’t do it. But then there’s a burst, and he feels weightless. He can barely make out the rubble and debris they blow right past, but the plan is working. They’re going to blow straight out of there!

But he was far too hopeful. Far too comfortable. He feels something snag, and he isn’t sure if it’s from him or Izuku. He doesn’t feel the pain, but he’s almost sure any adrenaline would keep him from feeling it anyways. He can’t make out any shapes past the blur that is roaring past them. He can only tighten his hold on Izuku, and hope that they burst free.

And then there’s light.

Air rushes to wreathe around the two as they burst up from the rubble. The momentum from black whip keeps them sailing up into the air. Distantly, he can hear shocked shouting and cries from below as they rise up and up and up. He greedily sucks in the fresh air, an ecstatic, almost hysterical laugh bubbling in his chest. They did it!

“Young Midoriya! You did i–” The words die in his throat. Black whip recedes and snaps back, falling lax. The tendrils wrapped around Toshinori and the pipes fall lax as they retreat. He can see it now. The light shining clearly on the two reveals it. The pipe going through Izuku's side is gone. It’s missing.

An eerie moment of silence passed onto the two as they reached the peak of their ascent. And then there was vertigo. His head swam as gravity bared its teeth and sunk into the two, dragging them down, down, down. Izuku isn’t conscious. He doesn’t even need to spare a glance at the strained, yet somehow relaxed expression on the boy’s face. But they’re falling. Plummeting. The ground is rushing to meet them. Faster and faster and faster–

And then they stop.

Well, not exactly. Their descent slows, and then they seem to slowly rise back up again before settling somewhere between. It’s only now that Toshinori is able to take in the threads that have woven themselves beneath the two to create a safety net. He breathes out a shaky sigh of relief as the adrenaline in his veins slowly runs out.

They made it. He can rest.

And so he does.

Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya is no stranger to fear.

From the moment he was born and up until his current year in high school, fear was something that had been prominent in his life. It wasn’t something he enjoyed, but it wasn’t something he could avoid. Fear was a primary emotion. He needed fear to stay alive, but sometimes, just sometimes, he wished he didn’t have to feel afraid. He wants to be a hero when he grows up, sure, but heroes deal with fear every day.

It’s something he has to get used to. It’s something he needs to learn to keep control of. But it’s hard to do such a thing with the situation he’s in. It’s dark and stifling. Dark and stifling and cramped. And, on top of that, he knows he’s hurt. He can feel the faint, dull stinging and throbbing sensation of cuts all over his body. Somewhere below his ribs, there’s a thick pooling of heat. It hurts.

It happened fast. Faster than he could have reacted (but maybe he could’ve been faster had he trained more). The villains weren’t even associated with the league. He and All Might had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it had resulted in this. Being trapped beneath mounds of rubble with only black whip holding it up. He was doing just peachy. But the thing that made it all so much worse was the fact that All Might hadn’t been speaking.

He’d flared his quirk once or twice to shine light on the to shine light on the situation, but he’d been given enough to know what was going on. In the initial blast, All Might had taken a blow to the head. He’d feared that his mentor was bound to suffer from a concussion, but he knew that wasn’t the case. In the short time after he woke up, he was fairly coherent. He just couldn’t keep a grip of consciousness. And that was the part that scared him.

Not the fact that there was a pipe going through his stomach and All Might’s shoulder. Judging from the trajectory, he had to guess it might barely be missing his internal organs, or he was currently bleeding out internally. He figured it was the first, seeing as he probably would’ve noticed the second. Or, at least he hoped that would be the case.

“All Might! Please wake up– gH–” The strangled plea broke off towards the end as he shifted, straining for black whip to keep everything from coming down on top of them. It was heavy. Unbearably heavy, but he would bear it for them.

He’d be a liar if he said he wasn’t scared right now. He was terrified. If All Might didn’t wake up, who knew what would happen? Maybe the blood loss would get to him, or the fact that they were running out of oxygen. His mind whirred as he shifted unsteadily on his feet. His body was already aching from the weight, and it didn’t help that he was in a balled up position.

“All Might! Please!” He tried again, voice breaking as tears flowed down the sides of his face. His mentor wasn’t waking up. His mentor wasn’t responding. If he was silent, and he tried really hard, he could make out the raspy inhale and exhale as the other breathed. But it was so, so quiet. Too quiet. He wouldn’t settle for that.

“I can’t do this without you!”

His shoulders shook with trembles, which only caused the pain below his ribs to sharpen. He gagged, head lurching forward as he spat. It hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt–

And then All Might groaned.

He blinked rapidly, sucking in a breath that crackled. “All Might?” He whispered, hopeful. He hears the other inhale. It’s slow, and it’s different from the smooth, even breathing of someone who is unconscious. He’s waking up! Right? Then why isn’t he responding? He flares his quirk once again, only to feel dismay when he sees the other has not opened his eyes. He’s awake, isn’t he?”

“Are you awake?” More silence follows. But after a few moments where Izuku feels like he’ll burst into tears, All Might exhales a ragged, wheezing puff. It’s something like a cough. He’s awake. More tears threaten to well up in his eyes as a relieved gasp comes from him. “I thought you weren’t gonna wake up! You were so quiet- and, and you–”

“Midoriya?”

Izuku can’t help but wince at the sound. The word is quiet and partially slurred. Was his jaw broken? He frowns, flaring his quirk for a few more seconds this time. Once the light hits, he can finally see that All Might is, in fact, awake. He’s awake and alive and breathing. Another stuttery, relieved breath comes from him as he lets his shoulders slouch.

He was awake, and, judging by his eyes and looks, he wasn’t concussed. He was coherent and here this time. He must’ve just been knocked out of his senses earlier, which made sense as to why he drifted between awareness and unconsciousness.

A few more moments of silence pass, and Izuku is almost worried that the other has passed out. But then he hears All Might’s breathing hitch a little. Is he claustrophobic? Or maybe scared of the dark.. No. That’s silly. He shakes his head, clearing his throat. “...s-sorry… can’t use too much energy.”

Black whip strains above him.

Ever since the rubble had settled, he had set it forth to look for a way out. He hoped it could reach the surface, but that wasn’t even the biggest problem here. It was the fact that he couldn’t find cracks to fit through. And if black whip couldn’t fit through, then any oxygen couldn’t fit through either. He’d been hoping they could’ve maybe had some sort of slow flow of fresh air, but that wasn’t going to happen anymore. He shudders a little, wincing against the pipe once more. He can feel exhaustion building up. It’s heavy. Maybe heavier than everything he’s holding.

“How… How long was I out?” All Might finally speaks up again. Izuku can hear his clothes shifting and rustling. He’s probably looking for his phone… He muses to himself quietly, frowning. He didn’t know where his phone was, but it was safe to assume it was likely broken. He’d already tried to search himself and the small chamber they were in, but he’d had no luck. A shame.

Izuku shook his head a little, deciding to finally answer his mentor’s question. “You were only out for… a few seconds at first… But then you just sort of drifted…” He can feel the way strain is tightening his voice. He doesn’t mean to let it show through, because he doesn’t want to worry All Might. But it’s reached a point where he can no longer help it.

As if to help alleviate the weight, he shifts his feet a little. But All Might speaks up just as he does.

“Don’t move. You’ll risk cutting something internally.”

So he was aware of the pipe. Izuku let his head hang for a moment. Blood loss was one thing to worry about, and oxygen loss made that even more complicated. Add that in with the fact that he was holding who knows how much rubble and debris. He was already exhausted to begin with, and this was just making matters worse. If they didn’t get out, and soon…

He didn’t want to think about that. He let his mind wander for a bit, feeling around more and more with black whip. He could just about map out the way the rubble had fit itself together, like a perfect game of Tetris. Except none of the pieces were lining up, and everything had stacked up to an unwinnable point.

He didn’t even hear All Might’s quiet “yes” before there was light shining on his mentor’s face. Now, with an unbiased color of lighting, he can see the details of his mentor’s face. Dust has coated itself over his skin, making his already dark eye bags seem darker. That, accompanied with the skeletal-like look, makes him look like he’s been sitting in an attic for years. The thought almost makes him laugh.

But then there’s a realization. He makes a sound in the back of his throat, sitting a bit more upright. “Are you able to contact anyone?” He’s hopeful. Hopeful that, if people haven’t already started looking for them, they will now. They’d know they’d be in a race against time. It’d help…

He watches quietly as All Might taps on his screen a few times. For a split second, the excited look on his face seems to drop into something else. Izuku can’t quite make out what the expression is, but it’s gone before he has any longer to study it. But after a few more moments, All Might clears his throat, nodding. “...y-yes! I just sent the principal a message!” He confirms before, without any warning, turning the phone towards Izuku. The sudden change in brightness causes him to wince away and squint his eyes. After a few blinks, however, he finds that his eyes are able to adjust. The screen he’s staring at is currently the wallpaper on All Might’s phone, which just so happens to be a poster from his golden age.

He wants to comment about that later (as well as his ringtone, his notification sounds, why he likes fried eggs on burgers, why he always talks about– ah!). For now, however, he just stares at where he thinks All Might’s face is. An uncomfortable amount of silence settles between the two until Izuku finally gets the bravery to speak up. “...is it bad?” He knows it's bad. But for some reason, he just wants to hear All Might say it too. That, or maybe offer some comfort.

The phone shuts off as All Might pockets it, speaking with relative ease. “You’ve got some nasty cuts on your arms, but you’’ be fine, young Midoriya… I’m sorry for turning off the light, but I must conserve the battery.” That makes sense. Izuku offers up a sound of acknowledgement, wincing a little as a breath causes burning pain beneath his ribs. “That’s good… there’s just a… really strong burning sensation below my ribs… on the left… near my stomach.”

He wants reassurance.

“That’d… probably be the pipe skewering you.. But it doesn’t seem like it hit anything major.” All Might explains, coughing quietly. Izuku feels himself shake, and All Might makes a sound. It sounds like a noise of pity. “Just keep me updated on how you’re doing, okay? If you get too tired–”

“Then the whole thing falls down on us.” Izuku cuts him off. He doesn’t want to hear the words from his idol. From his mentor. From the person he is looking at for comfort. He continues. “If I lose focus, black whip goes away, and then the whole thing falls down on us. And if that doesn’t happen first, then we lose oxygen. And if that doesn’t get us first, it’s me losing too much blood on my end, and then the thing caving in on you. I know. I’ve been feeling for a way out with black whip, but I can’t find anything. It’s all jagged and rocky, and black whip can’t seem to find enough space between the cracks to seep through. But if the pro heroes know where we are, then at least we can try to lessen our use of oxygen. We only have a limited supply. I’m not sure how much we have, but I don’t have high hopes for anything longer than an hour. Maybe an hour and a half. And…”

Any more words die in his throat as the realization hits him. They really are trapped down here. Stuck under so much weight. Weight that could easily crush them if he slips for even a moment. He’s strong, and he’s been training, but there is only so much he can do. He’s only so strong. He’s only trained so much. And he isn’t perfect.

All Might must know that. All Might must fully and well realize that the situation they are in is dire and dangerous. He is sure the other is already trying to calculate ways to escape. Ways that have to solely rely on him. Because he’s the only one with a quirk. He’s the only one who can take the hits and still get back up. He’s all they’ve got to lean on.

He feels his throat tighten up as he bows his head down low. He’s glad there isn’t any light, because he isn’t sure what he’d do if All Might could see him right now. He feels pathetic. He is pathetic. If he had moved faster today, he could’ve gotten them out of the way. They wouldn’t even be in this predicament! Endeavor had worked hard on fixing their reaction times, but he still needed work. He needed to be better.

He feels sick. Maybe it’s the lack of oxygen, or maybe it’s the spiraling thoughts (it’s most definitely the spiraling thoughts). All Might still would’ve had power if he’d just been faster in the first place. All Might wouldn’t have had to fight All For One if his legs had moved faster. If his arms hadn't been broken. If he hadn’t been weak.

All Might is silent. All Might is trying to figure out a way to get them out of this mess, because he wasn’t fast enough. Guilt thickens in his chest. He can feel the back of his nose burning. His eyes are stinging. He inhales a breath that comes out like a hiccup as he bows his head even further, choking out a quiet apology.

“I’m sorry.”

He hears All Might’s breath hitch again. It must hurt. He grimaces as he sniffles. Such a mess. “If I’d been faster, we wouldn’t be in this position…” He can feel his voice breaking. His throat is growing tighter and tighter. Words are becoming harder and harder to force up. He wants to curl up. He wants to curl up in a little ball and let the weight of the world come crashing down onto him, but he can’t. He has so much to live up to.

“Midoriya, my boy, it wasn’t your fault… those villains came out of nowhere, and–”

“No!” Izuku surprises himself with how sharp his voice comes out. The tears in his eyes have begun to boil over now. They flow down his cheeks, dripping down onto the concrete below. “If I’d been faster, I could’ve saved Kacchan! Then you wouldn’t have had to go save him and fight All For One! And you still would’ve had some power left!” He feels breathless. Greedily, he sucks in as much air as he can, hiccuping as his shoulders bob. “It’s my fault!”

A hero would’ve been fast enough. That is what he tells himself. A hero wouldn’t be crying over this. That is what he tells himself. But he can’t help it. He tries to stifle the pitiful whines and sobs that still make it past his lips, but the effort is wasted. He’s powerless. Powerless.

And then, without warning, he feels fingers brushing against his hair. He jolts away at first, but All Might doesn’t seem to notice. He feels a calloused hand gently come to cup his face, and he can’t help but lean into the contact. He’s holding the weight of the world on his shoulders for All Might, but for now? He can let All Might hold him.

He’s a mess. Truly. A blubbering, sobbing mess. Even with All Might’s comfort, he can’t stop the tears that come rushing down his face. He’ll apologize for that later, but he can’t bring himself to do so at the moment. He feels All Might’s thumb begin to gently trace circles into his skin before his mentor speaks.

“Young Midoriya… if I had known you felt this way, I would’ve spoken to you a long time ago…What happened was not your fault. Whether or not the league captured Young Bakugou, One For All would’ve eventually faded from my body one way or another. The quirk is yours now, my boy. And I couldn’t be more proud of where you’ve taken it.”

It’s the reassurance he wants and needs. But still, Izuku fights against it stubbornly. He doesn’t know why.

“But–”

“No such thing. I will not have you telling yourself these lies. Midoriya,” All Might pauses for a moment, inhaling a slow breath. It’s the breath you take before speaking something from your heart. He knows that. “My time with One For All was up. You saw me… I could barely keep up the form! Having it now would not have changed the predicament we’re in, either. We still have to take the heroes above into consideration, along with whoever else may be trapped in the rubble… not to mention the position we ourselves are in.”

Izuku hears him flick a finger against the pipe, and he offers a sniffle of acknowledgement. His throat is too dry to speak.

“I know you like to try and take everything and pin it on yourself, but this is not your fault, young Midoriya.”

It’s the comfort he wants. The comfort he needs. Izuku feels too stunned to speak for a few moments. That, or maybe he’s straining to keep black whip up through the shock. It’s probably a combination of both. But eventually, he finally gathers up the courage to utter a pitiful whisper. “Thank you, All Might.”

All Might lets out a little sigh before ruffling his hair a little. “You know.. You can use my actual name, if you want.” It’s an offer. “Yagi. Toshinori. You can even call me ‘Toshi’ if you want.” An explanation. Izuku lets out another wet sniffle, the panic and guilt from earlier slowly seeping out of him. “Alright All M– Yagi.” He manages to catch himself as the hero's name slips, and All Might laughs a little.

“That’s my boy.”

And then there’s silence again. Because what else is there to do? Talking uses up oxygen (not that it really matters in the end), and Izuku isn’t sure what he’d talk about in the first place. Not only is there that matter, but he needs to stay focused. Black whip still hasn’t found a way up and out yet, and it’s beginning to drive him crazy. Sooner or later, they need to get out. If they don’t… He can only imagine what the last few moments would be like. No. Get that out of your head. He shook his head a little, shifting on his feet a little. He feels the pipe shift a little, and while the pain is seemingly numbed for him, Toshinori lets out a hiss.

Izuku leaps to apologize, but it’s waved off. And then there’s silence.

Izuku decides he hates silence.

“...y’know… Nana talks about you.” He whispers after a moment. It’s a weird thing to talk about, in hindsight. He’s almost afraid. And when Toshinori doesn’t respond right away, he is afraid that he’s upsetting the other. But then he croaks out this soft, quiet, “yeah?” Izuku nods and hums, continuing. “She makes fun of you… a lot.” He can’t help but snort a little, and Toshinori laughs along. “Does she now?”

“Yeah… She’s always talking about how much I remind her of you… kinda find it funny. I can’t really talk whenever she’s there, but I can nod and acknowledge her and stuff. She’s nice… and she’s real pretty. And she does have the same hair as my mom– we’ve talked about this before. Sorry. Uh… but, yeah, she usually appears in my dreams sometimes. Her or the other vestiges. Sometimes it’s all of them… They mostly appear to talk about the quirks I’m going to inherit, and what I need to prepare for. But when it’s just her, she likes to talk about you…”

He frowns a little.

“She misses you.. She wishes she didn’t have to leave the way she did, but there wasn’t much helping it. But she’s watching over you. And me… it’s nice, but it’s sorta a bit creepy. I mean. I know that she isn’t really there there because she isn’t, like, an actual ghost. But she’s in my quirk. So I guess she sort of has a sense of what’s going on with you? That and.. Well… I guess the ghostly version of you is there too.”

It’s ghosty for a reason, he reminds himself. He feels his stomach do a little flip at imagining the day it turns solid, but he brushes it aside and continues.

“She told me this one time that you ran off during training to go help someone. Apparently, she called you a bunch of times! And you must’ve gotten a little banged up, because you sent her a selfie of Recovery Girl looking pretty upset… it’s kind of funny.” It’s relieving. He still knows how dangerous of a position they’re in, but talking helps take his mind off of it. Except, he’s just been talking to himself for the most part.

“All M– ah! I mean… Toshinori?”

Nothing. Izuku’s heart drops. Immediately, he flares his quirk to check if his eyes are open in the first place. They aren’t. He can feel his heart pounding in his chest as the light dies away again. “Toshinori? Hey.. wake up!” The last part comes out as a shout, but there isn’t any response. Panic begins to pool in his chest. Did he have a concussion and I just didn’t notice? Why isn’t he waking up?

“Toshinori! Please! Wake up!”

Back to pleading. This time, however, it’s more frantic. More wild and erratic. He feels black whip loosen for just a moment, and then he’s shifting, frantically trying to regain his footing so that he can somewhat use his legs to help keep things up. “Please!” He tries again, blinking newfound tears out of his eyes furiously. He isn’t responding. He isn’t responding. He won’t wake up.

Fear and terror drive the next thing he does. With both of his hands, he latches onto the pipe skewering the two. And then, without a moment of hesitation, he jerks it. The pain he feels is still partially numbed and far away, but he still groans and throws his head down in pain. The only thing he cares about, however, are the coughs coming from Toshinori. He can feel fresh blood painting his face as he looks up, but he doesn’t care. Still, Toshinori apologizes. “S–Sorry!”

Izuku makes a little sound in the back of his throat again. It sounds suspiciously like a whine. “Y–You weren’t responding…” He whispers. “I got scared, so I… moved the pipe… sorry.” It was dangerous. He could’ve cut himself internally if he hadn’t already. But Toshinori just seems to wave it off with a sigh. “It’s alright… sorry for leaving you alone, there.” He laughs. It’s forced.

And it’s now that Izuku begins to grow impatient.

Black whip still hasn’t had any luck. Surely pros were scouring the surface and working their way down? “How long have we been down here?” He mumbles, squinting a little as he focuses on a tendril of black whip that is worming its way between pipes. Toshinori inhales, and Izuku can hear him pull his phone out. “It’s… about three right now… when did we get to the mall?” When had they gotten there? They had lunch first, and that took about an hour. And after that, they had to go back to Izuku’s dorm to drop off some leftovers they’d taken home.

“Two? Maybe a little before that…” His voice trails off as an itch forms in the back of his throat. He coughs, and he feels something that tastes of iron come up. That isn’t good.

He winces again when Toshinori turns the phone light towards him again. The time seems right, which means they are running out of time. “Are… how long ago did you text the principal? Did he ev’r reply?” He feels himself blink, and it’s lopsided. Like a frog. He can barely make out the way Toshinori’s expression falls. “I.. I forgot. I don’t think he did.” Huh. Izuku furrowed his eyebrows together.

“Check the time… Just go to the messages.. Should say when.” Breathing is hard.

“I–It doesn’t say.” Toshinori sounds scared. That’s odd. Izuku frowns a little more. He knows that his mentor is old, but surely he knows how to use a phone? He sighs, reaching out to grab the phone. “Let me check–”

“No!”

Izuku’s hand whips back to his side in an instant. His eyes grow impossibly wide as he stares at Toshinori’s panicked expression, which is slowly melting into defeat and guilt. He watches his mentor press his hand against his forehead before dragging it slowly back through his hair. “...I wasn’t able to message anyone. There isn’t any cell reception down here.” Izuku feels his heart drop again.

“...Oh.”

The light vanishes once more as Toshinori pockets his phone again. Izuku bites the inside of his lips, frowning as he thinks. He knows his mentor had a good reason, but he just wants to hear it. So, in sincere curiosity, he questions it. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He wishes he didn’t sound like a scared, lost child. He can’t help it. Toshinori’s response helps him feel just a bit better, though.“I didn’t want you to worry.”

And then there’s silence again.

He already deemed he hated silence once, but Izuku can’t bring himself to break it this time. It’s awkward silence. He hates that even more than the silence from before, but he can’t bring himself to break it. So, instead, he focuses. Breathing in and out with slow, deep breaths, he closes his eyes and trains his mind onto black whip.

Several different strands are branching off and burrowing through the rubble. They don’t poke and prod at anything. He knows not to do that. One wrong shift of some rubble, and the entire thing could come down. So, for now, they snake through the cracks until they can’t. And when they meet a dead end, that tendril fades away and begins to search another path.

It feels like an ant farm. He remembers his teacher having one of those when he was younger. It was green and tiny, but it had quite a few little ants in it. He remembered watching them walk around and carry on with their days as if a bunch of giants were staring them down. He wonders if the vestiges feel like that right now.

As black whip weaves itself through the rubble, he feels a wave of something hit him. It takes a moment to register it as dizziness. His eyes snap open immediately. A feeling of weightlessness has formed at the top of his head. He can feel himself tilting and lolling. He can feel his eyelids fluttering. Not good. I need to stay awake.

“A– Toshinori?” He needs to stay awake. He needs to alert his mentor. And there must be something in the way he slurs his words that sets Toshinori off, because the phone light is immediately shining on him again. He doesn’t wince at the light this time. He’s too tired too.

“I… I think ‘m gonna pass out.” His eyelids flutter more. He feels faint. He feels ill. He wants his mom. And he needs to stay awake. He needs to stay focused. He feels black whip slip a little. The rumbling from above briefly brings him back to awareness, but it’s quickly replaced by the haze settling over his mind. He needs to act, and fast.

“Alright, kid, just keep talkin’ to me. You’re gonna be just fine.” Toshinori offers him reassurance. It’s panicked. He can tell. He needs to do something. He closes his eyes for a moment before opening them. Slowly, his two hands grow closer. “‘M not… G’nna pass out.. J’st need you t’ look away…” He whispers, grabbing a hold of one of his fingers. He hears Toshinori start to utter something, but it’s lost behind the crack and pain that follows.

Hot, white agony burst through his finger as it bends further back than it should be able to. Izuku clenches his jaw shut, strangling the cry that rips itself out of his throat as his body tries to curl in on itself. The pipe stops him, and all he can do is exhale sharp, jagged breaths through his clenched teeth. And after that, he lets his head dangle as he pants and gasps for air. Black whip is working furiously now. It needs to be faster.

“Kid–”

“‘M sorry… ‘m not strong enough yet…” Izuku apologizes, cradling the broken finger gently in his hands. He’s used to the pain by now, but it doesn’t mean it’s easier to handle. He hears Toshinori suck in a sharp breath before nodding softly. “It’s… It’s alright, Midoriya… You’re doing great.” And it’s what he needs to hear. He can tell that Toshinori is struggling with his words. His tone gives it away (and the awkward look on his face), but it’s perfect. It’s…

It’s breaking the surface.

“I-I think I found a pocket.” He sounds breathless. He’s so gods damned happy. Toshinori is looking at him like he can’t believe it. “There’s… black whip.. It– it got through. I’m… trying to get attention. I can feel vibrations… people are moving around up there.” He can explain it, but he knows it isn’t enough right now. It’s all he’ll be able to offer, though. “But ‘m… not sure how much longer we have..” He trails off. The realization settles in once again. “We’re far down… really far down. It’ll take some time before they get to us… and even then, we’re… losing blood. And oxygen.” He looks down, staring at the red that has stained the concrete beneath his feet. It has splattered out, almost creating a spider web of red.

“But I have a plan.”

Toshinori looks up, raising an eyebrow. “What is it?”

Izuku strains with focus once more. Two new strands of black whip take shape around the middle of the pipe that is skewering them. “I’m going to break this… so that we aren’t stuck together. It shouldn’t move too much, but I need to do this for my plan to work.” He explains. Toshinori seems to study his face for a moment before nodding firmly. “Do it.”

It’s quick and easy. The pipe breaks without struggle or much pain. Izuku does still find himself squeezing his eyes shut and exhaling through his teeth, however. But they need to keep moving. “Okay.. I’m.. I’m gonna slowly send up more black whip strands to the surface… and I’m gonna use them to pull us up right through this. I’ll keep the ones above us active so they work as a shield, and so that we don’t create any explosive force when we reach the surface. No heroes and civilians risk being harmed.”

At this point, he can’t take the heroes and civilians into consideration. Toshinori needs rescuing, and that is just what he intends to do. But still, he needs approval. So he waits until Toshinori nods. “...okay.”

Black whip moves again. While Izuku sets his plan into motion, he feels Toshinoir securing bandages around some of his injuries. Mostly around the pipe, and for good reason. They need to be careful…

“Do you think you can use black whip to stabilize the pipe when we launch? If it gets caught on something, it could rip.. And…” Toshinori trails off as he speaks, gesturing vaguely with his hands. The message is conveyed to Izuku, though. Between his now heaving breaths, he gives a nod. More new strands of black whip draw forth to secure themselves around his torso and the pipe. The ones above ground are set in place.

“Alright… I think we’re ready. Grab onto me… I’ll use black whip to keep us together.”

Toshinori seems to hesitate for a moment. The light the phone is giving off lets Izuku see the worried look in his eyes. He wishes he could reassure him, but there isn’t time. He’s running out of time. They are running out of time. But Toshinori doesn’t linger. He leans forward, grabs onto Izuku, and waits.

And just as his phone dies, Izuku’s quirk flares to life.

He feels energy roar through his legs and feet as he launches himself upright, using black whip to help with their ascension. Everything blows past him in a blur. He can feel Toshinoir tighten his grip (protectively?) as they scream past more debris and pipes. They’re getting closer. The strain on black whip is slowly easing more and more. They’re gonna do it. They’re gonna make it!

And then there’s pain.

It whips through his torso and stomach. It’s white. It’s hot. It’s burning. And it’s agony.

Izuku can’t make any sound, however. His vision flashes as they reach the surface. The rush of cold air suddenly makes him realize just how warm the spot under his ribs is. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registers that something has gone wrong. But between the relief and freedom from strain and tension, he can’t bring himself to care.

He lets black whip go, and closes his eyes.