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It started in a bunch of classic yellow school buses. I was with hundreds of other people- some irl friends, some characters from shows, books, and videogames I know, but mostly strangers. At first I thought we were on a field trip. The buses stopped in an autumn forest on a mountain, where there was a somewhat large, modern building, like a mall or a school, that I knew was much bigger than it looked, extending deep underground. We ran off the buses and into the building- something had been chasing us and would be upon us soon- monsters? Villains? Dinosaurs. So we- this absolute FLOOD of random people- ran into the building with the intent to get as deep as we could within a small number of minutes, and then hide, and hope the things didn’t find and kill us, knowing they would definitely find somebody.
There were shelves and cubicles inside, something like an office building and/or a school library. It was cramped and maze-like as everyone ran through as fast as they could, most going for the stairs at the back walls and trying to head further down before settling on a hiding place. We went under desks and behind chairs mostly- there weren’t nearly enough closets or lockers for people to hide with an actual door to protect us. I hid under a desk next to one of my childhood friends, and tho we said nothing, I assured her in my head that I would protect us both, tho I had no power to back that up. We were surrounded by other people- students- also hiding, and maybe I figured that it was likely if we were found, they would get targeted first, giving my friend and I a chance to escape, since we were both quiet and calm in desperate situations like this. Not panicking means not getting noticed and picked off immediately.
Almost as soon as we settled into our spots, I heard the front doors of the building, or maybe the ones at the stairs (we were down at least one floor) burst open. Two raptors burst in- one a mottled red-orange and one an icy grey-blue. There was a crackling noise, and with horror I realized that someone had like… a bag of chips or something?! And the crinkling of them moving it around was going to lead the raptors right to them. And just my luck, the idiot eating cheetohs in the middle of essentially a real-life horror movie was doing it right in front of me, just a desk over from my own hiding place. an annoying, mean girl from my childhood, who I would not mind seeing dead but jeez could you NOT draw the monsters right to me at the same time?
Of course they found her. I watched the raptor’s heads appear over some shelves as they searched out the sound. Their eyes passed over all of us, but they only locked onto her, tracking her movement. The red raptor lurched down and snapped her head in its jaws, twisting her neck and scraping her skull with its teeth (very reminiscent of that one scene in Jurassic park 3 where the raptors are done using Mr.Udesky as bait for a trap and finally kill him). Amongst my sick satisfaction at seeing my childhood enemy go down first for her own stupidity, we all geared up to run like hell- not quite actually moving yet tho because MAYBE the raptors wouldn’t see us yet, even this close, if we didn’t move. Since they did pass over us initially. But then the grey one did something- she lifted her head and SCREAMED like- like a banshee? I could practically see the sound waves, the shriek piercing into every part of my being as it radiated out over the entire structure. Somehow I knew from the feeling that when she inhaled next, she would not only know all our locations, but our powers as well. I didn’t have any powers, but I couldn’t let her find everyone. And I had nothing left to lose since I was maybe a few feet away from her, and would surely be one of the first to die if someone didn’t do SOMETHING. So I stood, and I screamed right back- the exact same noise she had just made came from me, visible sound waves and everything. And then everything went quiet and still, and I felt exhausted, a heavy fog filling my mind and body.
I looked around me and the raptors- and everyone else- were frozen in place. I was the only one up and moving. But everything felt thick, and slow, and I knew I needed to do something still but what had even just happened? It didn’t matter. I had done something great, and I needed to follow through to save everyone before whatever this mass paralysis was lifted. I struggled to shamble through the tight labyrinth of desks and shelves to get closer to the center of the massive room. I cast my eyes about at everyone, targeting them in my mind, “R-run!”, I shouted, get deeper into the building to hide again before I lose my grip and those monsters wake up, I thought. Almost everyone immediately got up in sync, doing as I had instructed in a hurry. But some people were unmoving, most hiding, crouched under desks, others standing as if they had just been gearing up to do something when I froze them. I realized quickly the people who remained frozen were all from UA- the hero students. If anyone could take out those raptors and ACTUALLY save us (my stamina for holding our pursuers at bay was quickly draining, and I had no actual power of my own to stop them with once it ran out), it would be someone from BNHA, what with their super powers and all. But what would I do? They were all frozen, just like the raptors. My brain was still filled with the fog of using my power; I couldn’t put two thoughts together to form any kind of plan. I wanted to leave everything to the super heroes and run with everyone else, but even as I watched people flood through the doors to the stairwell, I couldn’t seem to figure out what direction I should move in. the signs overhead were all blurry, and I was lost in a single room.
Then I spotted Aizawa a few yards away. perfect! He’ll know what to do! He can direct me to the stairs down, at the very least! I ran awkwardly over to him and grasped at his jumpsuit, desperately shouting in his face. He just blinked at me dazedly, movements slow and uncoordinated as he looked towards the sound of my yelling and light shaking. He was still under my control, and I didn’t know how to release him without releasing the monsters hunting us too. There were still people in there with them (huh, when did doors appear between me and them? I thought it was just one big room. Stupid dream, changing things on me), and the few seconds it might take Aizawa and I to reach them would be plenty for the raptors to kill them. I couldn’t risk taking even more time to explain things to him and ask him to come up with a plan for me.
I dropped my hands from his suit and left Aizawa there, casting my eyes about for someone else who could possibly help me. Another few yards away I spotted a head of half white, half red hair standing tall at the edge of an aisle. Todoroki! He’s overpowered as fuck, surely he can take out those fiends in an instant with his ice OR fire, and from a distance too! I dashed over to him, grabbed his shoulder, and suddenly clarity returned to his eyes. “over there!” I pointed towards the doors I had come from. “they’re in there, you’ve got to stop them!” his eyes only flitted back and forth between me and the door for a fraction of a second before he was bolting across the room to save the day. I knew there would probably still be casualties, but he was fast, and I had no doubt the raptors would be trapped inside a small glacier before they could even think about going after the rest of us. Or torched to ash- either way, I and my friends were safe now as I approached the doors Todoroki had just burst through. There was a heat, and a chill somehow simultaneously, and I looked down at my arm and there was a strange symbol drawing itself across my skin.
And then I woke up from overheating.