Dabi was having a difficult time again, courtesy of a certain teenager in underwear who, despite being able to mold his annoying sand into a variety of shapes, didn't bother to cover up.
There he was, suspended several meters in the air, with his arms crossed and looking down at him condescendingly.
Around him, a sea of sand as dark as a wolf's mouth obscured the light of the stars and the moon, plunging Dabi into a chilling darkness barely held back by the surrounding flames.
But that wouldn't last long.
The annoying PussyCat he was supposed to capture now lay in the hands, literally sand hands, of the same brat. With nothing left to stop for, without a sarcastic or witty remark, the one Dabi knew as Terumi Tetsumaru dropped his heavy sand upon him.
A pillar of extremely hot blue fire swirled around the villain, the temperature rising past the safe threshold for his body.
Dabi didn't plan on dying here, nor being captured like that good-for-nothing muscle-head, but he wouldn't allow himself to run away once more from the damn sand.
—Eat this, you damn brat!— roared the gaunt young man, firing an intense blaze towards the sky, ready to burn away the blanket of darkness looming over his head.
But the sand didn't try to fight his flames. The sea of darkness suddenly parted, letting the fire pass without fanfare.
Instead, the Satetsu fell upon the burning trees with force, systematically smothering the flames, completely ignoring the furious villain, whose stamina was being wasted for nothing.
That almost made him cough up blood. Such humiliation, treated like a nuisance whose value was inferior to that of some random damned plants in the forest.
Dabi felt a growing urge to fly towards Tetsumaru and immolate himself in a fireball like no other, dragging the bastard with him to hell.
Before he could completely reject the idea, the sand suddenly rose and Tetsumaru himself, along with an exhausted and burned Ragdoll, took flight in the direction of the besieged camp.
With Kurogiri busy in that area and no Nomu to carry him, Dabi had no choice but to extinguish his flames and sit down, recovering his stamina and trying to ignore the pain in his body.
That made him question how in the world he managed to hold his own against a powerful Nomu and the two who clearly managed to interrupt his magnetic control over the sand.
Was it Eraser Head? Or did his sister help him? But he swore those two went ahead to the camp, relying on the black-haired boy's apparent invulnerability.
—Tch, I guess things won't go as the boss planned— Dabi sneered, indifferent to Tomura Shigaraki's intentions and grudges.
**********************************
Tetsumaru picked up Aizawa and the subdued Nomu on the way, as well as his clothes, while flying over the forest at high speed.
In the distance, he could see flashing lights approaching their location, but that didn't alleviate him at all. They had been too slow, and he feared the possibility that his interference in this world had changed things more than he imagined.
—Reinforcements are on their way— Aizawa said coldly, watching the lights in the distance with a tremor in his eyelids.
Even he realized that his security measures were negligently lax. Despite suspecting an attack, despite having affirmed he believed his most suspicious students, Aizawa failed in his duty to his students.
—Can you still fight?— Aizawa asked the PussyCat, who was being bandaged by Tetsumaru.
Her face, arms, and hair showed severe burns, her glasses broken, her mouth bleeding and blistered. Still, she showed a reckless smile and gave a thumbs-up.
As they approached, they could make out the figure of Dark Shadow tearing up the forest and the occasional figure being hurled into the air. Sweat ran down the trio's foreheads, hoping those were villains and not some student.
In a matter of seconds, the sand platform flew over a clearing where the Heroes could make out a battle. Aizawa's eyes narrowed, recognizing the figures of some of his students, but Tetsumaru didn't stop.
Instead, he unleashed a vast amount of sand that spilled over the combatants, interrupting the pace of the fight, and continued his way.
—It's controlled. Mei was intercepted by a villain who spits oil or something. The League of Villains brought the portal guy and threw some hostages, but she has it sorted out. No injuries— Tetsumaru said quickly.
Aizawa processed the information and his frown deepened. A feeling of emptiness sank into his chest for a fleeting moment, imagining a scenario where these guys showed up at his students' dorms without warning.
—Bring Tokoyami back, make sure he's not crushing his classmates by mistake. Ragdoll, you come with me. I trust that Vlad, Tiger, Mandalay, and Pixie have things under control, but it's likely they've been scattered in the forest— the Hero ordered.
At his words, Tetsumaru split the sand platform and went directly towards the enraged Dark Shadow, while lowering the other one enough so that Aizawa and Ragdoll wouldn't break their legs upon landing.
On his way, he saw another group of students confronting a colossal fatty, similar to the one fighting with Mei. His eyelid twitched, another damned clone user.
Hailing a curse at the Deity who didn't grant him such a useful Jutsu, Tetsumaru dropped a huge pillar of sand on the guy's head, who surprisingly dodged it.
The shinobi was about to descend and end the problem quickly, but a large explosion made him change his mind. Though annoying, Bakugo was by no means weak. He could handle the fatty from here.
*********************************
The vision was darkening. A darkness more terrifying than the forest surrounded him, colder, relentless, and indifferent. The pain was gone, but that brought him no satisfaction.
The burning that scorched his insides had turned cold. The sweat soaking his clothes and skin mixed with blood and dirt. He felt jolts in his body, palms slapping his cheek, and hands gripping his shoulder.
A panicked, tearful voice called out to him, but it felt increasingly distant. The adrenaline that had flooded his body and given him the strength to stand was slowly fading, leaving only exhaustion and sleep.
He was so sleepy. He no longer even remembered how he ended up in this state, nor did he know where he was, or who was calling him.
He tried to focus his mind as he had been taught in... Where? It doesn't matter, the fact is he was trying to focus, to rationalize his situation.
His panicked brain could barely form a coherent thought, his memories shaken and scattered.
—Ojiro!— the voice resonated again, almost next to his ear. Tears that weren't his own stained his cheek, a face he couldn't see properly above him, or perhaps in front of him.
He wanted to wipe his face, but his hand didn't respond. He couldn't feel it, in fact. He could hardly feel anything anymore.
That finally allowed him to form a complete thought in his head, but it wasn't a pleasant one.
—Am I dying?
The idea made him shudder imperceptibly. The panic made his almost-stopping heart beat faster. His breathing became shallow, choked with blood that threatened to come out along with vomit.
He gagged, spitting out debris, saliva, and blood, his barely seeing eyes moistened, and his numb hand clenched around another that was holding him and that he hadn't noticed either.
He wanted to speak, he wanted to ask for help, but the words wouldn't come out.
—I'm dying— he thought again, more agitated than before.
His heart rate increased, breathing became more difficult, his trembling body spasmed, and his teary eyes rolled back.
Blood and saliva escaped from his mouth, his teeth chattered and closed around his tongue, which sent a slight jolt of pain that instantly vanished.
There was a final gasp, a final heartbeat, a final tear, and a final thought in Ojiro's mind, before everything stopped.
—I don't want to die.