Chapter Text
He awoke violently, shouting and gasping for breath. His piercing blue eyes wild and unfocused as they flitted across the room. Panting harshly and chest heaving, Todoroki-san hunched in on himself, tugging sharply at his hair with a high pained whine.
The various machines attached to Todoroki-san shrieked and blared, and Rei trembled, wide-eyed and scared. “To—todorki-san…” she stuttered, the words leaving her quivering lips before she could stop herself. A crawling tingling feeling of alarm skittered down her spine as Todoroki-san’s gaze met her own.
It was chilling.
His normally sharp and calculating gaze was filled with something like fear.
Lost and afraid.
It was wrong.
Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong with Todoroki, Enji.
A nurse finally crashed into the room, alerted by Todoroki’s elevating vitals. “Todoroki-san, please calm down. You’re in Sakurai Hospital and have been in our care for the last three days.”
Unsurprisingly, he did the opposite, frantically, and quite clumsily, kicking at the stark white blankets tangled at his feet. Todoroki-san’s face twisting in an expression she had never seen before. “Wha—” He chocked, and Rei gripped her hands tightly as the hospital equipment pinged louder and louder.
The world distorted around her, and words turned into a skipping record.
~0~
Winnie jolted awake with a shout, her eyes painfully snapping open. She greedily sucked in air with harsh quick breaths, shoving her body forward as a sharp and agonizing pain laced through her head. Her nails dug desperately into her hair, frantic for something to stop the pain.
Something was wrong.
Nausea crept up, a sharp chemical smell surrounded her, making her dizzy, and it took everything within her not to retch. She glanced around the room quickly, searching for something—and—
And something wasn’t right.
She felt—she didn’t feel right.
She could vaguely hear the rapid beeping of the hospital machinery, when a soft and timid voice broke through the haze of stuttering thoughts.
Her gaze snapped toward a woman with striking white hair and wide pewter colored eyes.
She didn’t recognize the woman.
Who the fuck was she?
And why the fuck was Winnie in the hospital?
The door to the room suddenly opened with a bang, and her head swiveled to the side as a man in pale blue nurse scrubs hurried in and said, “Todoroki-san, please calm down. You’re in Sakurai Hospital and have been in our care for three days.”
She jerked up at the name, trying to halt the chaotic spinning of her head.
What had he just called her?
“What—” She attempted to speak, but her voice came out hoarse and much deeper than usual. She coughed, and tried again to speak, but before she could, the nurse stopped her with a raised hand.
“Please don’t force yourself to speak. You’re in Sakurai Hospital.”
Winnie froze in her bed, before frantically trying to shove herself off the bed. Her limbs heavy and uncoordinated.
Sakurai Hospital? There wasn’t a hospital with that name anywhere near her. Where the fuck was she?
The nurse continued to speak, uttering words that were meant to comfort and calm, but she was hearing none of it. “Now, Todoroki-san, I insist you calm down. The doc—”
He was unable to finish his sentence when Winnie interrupted him with a strangled, “Who?” Her voice sounding strange to her ears.
The nurse paused, brows furrowing. “What do you mean, Todoroki-san?”
“Who is Todoroki-san?” She asked, her hands shaking at the sound of the unchanging deep voice. Her heart skipping a beat as she looked at her far too large hands. Scarred and calloused and slightly pink at the edges, as if they had been sunburnt.
The nurse straightened, eyes widening. “You don’t remember?” He whispered, shock coloring the nurse’s words, as if this was somehow inconceivable. “Todoroki-san?” The nurse called quietly, causing her to jump, and snapping her head toward the paling nurse.
“Why are you calling me that?” She growled, her hands jumping to her throat. Her voice. It was wrong. It was deep and sounded like a man’s voice.
“Please stay calm, Todoroki-san.” The nurse fidgeted, “The doctor should be here soon.”
Winnie barely registered what the nurse had said after that, staring at her dull blunt nails.
Her nails…her nails were wrong.
Winnie’s nails were long and well-manicured.
She took pride in her nails and had recently painted them a pretty pale blue.
She desperately gasped for breath as her heartbeat jolted and skipped. Anxiety and panic searing itself into her chest as a strange burning sensation flowed through her.
Shaky hands reached up to brush her hair, and she shrieked. Her hair…her hair was short.
What had happened to her hair? Her hair...it wasn't short...
What the hell was wrong with her? Nothing was right. Everything felt strange! Everything was wrong.
Winnie shakily twisted her far too large wrist and saw a bright neon hospital wristband.
Todoroki, Enji was etched onto it.
“To-to-todorki, Enji?” She stuttered, gagging at the taste of ash and fire on her tongue.
“Yes.”
~0~
It was the half-crazed screams that brought Rei back from her distorted and foggy thoughts.
Her husband’s huge and imposing form bursting into flames as he screamed and screamed and screamed.