chapelseed:

rex101111:

@chapelseed

As the sight of the hospital crept closer, Izuku couldn’t get off the bus fast enough. Tearing through the crowd and out the back doors with little heed for anything other than finding the receptionist and making sure his friend was alright.

His anxiety had been eating away at him the whole trip over, the last couple days ramping up his usual paranoia a few notches. Ever since his mother was taken a seed of fear planted itself in his gut, would Overhaul be satisfied with just his mother? Would he target anyone else he cares for? 

The sheer contempt Overhaul had grown for him and shown during the phone calls Izuku had gotten was not something to underestimate, there was no telling what a criminal of his type would do if he felt justified and slighted.

Hearing Uraraka was hospitalized sent his panic into overdrive, and until he could determine that she was alright nothing else mattered.

“For the final time, I am not here for my physical therapy!”

The familiar voice snapped Izuku out of his laser focus, whipping his head to see All Might arguing with a nurse a full 3 heads shorter than him…and losing.

“You can’t be serious, you’re all skin and bones! You should be in a wheel chair not rumbling about!” She took a firm hand on his forearm and started to tug, “Now come on-”

“Excuse me!” Izuku shouted, coming over to the arguing duo, Toshinori visibly relieved at the sight of his student, and a little white lump peering from behind his legs at the sound of his voice, speaking to the nurse. “You do know this is All Might, don’t you?”

The nurse raised an eyebrow, before looking at Toshinori again more closely. 

The retired Symbol of Peace raised one of his own.

The way her eyes widened in panic was almost enough to make Izuku laugh. “I am so-so sorry about that Mr. All Might-san!”

All Might took this with a surprising amount of grace, sighing calmly. “No need for that, but if you honestly want to make up for that little mix up…” He grinned widely, images of his many TV appearances springing to Deku’s mind as he did. “Could you please direct us to the room of Uraraka Ochako?”

The nurse rushed off to get the name of her doctor and room number, leaving Toshinori and the extremely nervous Eri with Izuku…who just noticed her presence, eyes nearly bugging out of his skull, “Eri-chan!?” He whipped his head to look at her idol, “All Might-san! Why is she here and not at the school!?”

“Calm yourself young man, we’re in a hospital.” Toshinori gestured to a few nurses and doctors milling about the entrance hall of the hospital giving the hero student dirty looks, which he reacted to by rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “And as for Eri-chan…I tried to convince her to stay at UA…but-”

“O-Ochako-san helped me when I woke up at UA!” Eri spoke up of a sudden, a great deal of worry in her eyes, “so I want to help her too!” She took in the fear in Izuku’s eyes as he looked at her and curled inwards slightly, “…please don’t be mad…”

Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself and went down on one knee to look Eri in the eyes. “Eri-chan, I’m not mad,” he put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I was just worried, you’re safe at UA but going out like this, even with All Might is-”

“But now you’re here!” She shouted again, a hopeful look in her eyes, “and you said I’m always safe when you’re here…right?”

Izuku took in her eyes, so full of trust and desperate hope, and something swelled in his chest, something bright and warm that made a lump grow in his throat, “y-yes, Eri-chan,” he stated thickly, “you’ll always be safe with me…that’s a promise.”

Toshinori felt a tiny smile tug at the corner of his mouth as he watched his successor comfort the young girl, a shadow of the hero he would one day become cementing itself in front of his eyes.

He cleared his throat to catch their attention, the young girl wiping at her eyes, “I’m glad you’ve settled that young man…but now that you’re here, I must ask…any results?”

Midoriya’s eyebrows pinched in thought for a moment before realization rose on his face with a firm nod, “yes All Might-san, I managed to gather some info.” He thought back to his talk with All for-…with Suukikyou, “have you ever heard of Yabinshi temple?”

A look of intense concentration dawn on the retired hero’s face, “hmm…possibly, I’ll probably need to go over some of my old reports, but it sounds similar to something I’ve dealt with earlier on my career.” He nodded, a bit more haltingly, to the boy, “it would also be wise to contact…Nighteye-san about this, he might remember this better than I.”

Izuku nodded, putting a hand on Eri’s head as he rose to his feet, “I will,” he chewed his lower lip for a moment, “All Might…there’s something else-”

“Excuse me?” A professional voice cut through what Izuku was about to say, the owner being a fairly young doctor striding over with his clean white coat and the nurse from before at his heels with a rather embarrassed look on her face, “are you the visitors for Uraraka Ochako?”

Toshinori turned to the doctor with a curt nod, “yes, I am Young Uraraka’s teacher, I came over to check on her well being,” he gestured at Izuku, “along with one of her close friends from school and…” he paused for a moment as he went to Eri, “…and someone rather close to them both.”

The doctor raised an eyebrow at the young girl for a moment, before he smiled politely and nodded at Toshinori, “very good.” He offered his hand to the teacher, who shook it, “I’m doctor Soro, I’m the one assigned to Uraraka-san.”

Izuku lept up to the doctor, “is she alright!?”

“Calm down kid.” Soro raised a hand calmly, “she’s a bit banged up from her mission, but she’s fine other than…” Soro hesitated for a moment before he pointed behind him, “perhaps it’s best if she told you herself.”

Toshinori and Izuku looked at each other before nodding and turning back to the doctor.

“Right, follow me this way please.”

He turned and the two walked a couple steps behind, Eri taking hold of Izuku’s hand as they walked.

“Tell me the rest of your findings back at school.” Toshinori whispered to his young charge, “for now let’s focus on young Uraraka, shall we?”

Izuku nodded briskly, and when he felt Eri squeeze his hand he looked down with a smile and squeezed back.

But still, the seed in his gut grew, little by little, as they walked down the hall to her room.
 

Ochako stared up at the lemon cream colored spackle of the ceiling of her hospital room, laying down heavily on the events that transpired.

Heavily.

That word made her cringe at the mere feeling of it. For such a bubbly bright girl, she never felt so grounded in the worst way possible.

“Ochako-chan – what’s -!!!”

“Urarara!”

The echoes of Tsuyu and Nejire-senpai sudden cries made her grip the thin blanket in in frustration and anxiety. But despite grabbing it fully, it stayed covering her.

Her Quirk was gone.

Could she be a hero without a Quirk? Would they even accept her now? What would her parents think? They had such hopes for her, and now she might not even make her goal a reality. Oh god, what would DEKU think?!

She sat up to curl her head between her knees and scream in grief, but the room’s door unlatched and opened. Her head shot up to see an all too familiar green bush of hair followed by an almost as messy blond broom head.

“D-Deku-kun? All Might-sensei?” she called, perplexed, but suddenly felt a thump to her side, finding an newly iconic white haired girl with a single horn. “E-Eri-chan?! What are you doing here?”

“We came to see you as soon as we heard you were brought in.” All Might said calmly. “Young Eri was quite adamant on coming as well.”

The said adamant one was currently burying her face into Ochako’s side. The brunette heroine-in-training smiled gently and rubbed Eri’s head, noticing that the child flinched on contact.

“How are you feeling, Uraraka-san?” Izuku asked, and just looking into his deep green eyes made Ochako fill with dread at his reaction. It took her a moment to collect herself, clutching Eri closer before speaking.

“I feel empty inside, like a piece of me was torn out…” she spoke barely above a whisper. “I…I can’t feel or use my Quirk at all…”

Both wielders of One for All froze as a spine chilling bolt flashed through them. “You mean like someone stole it?” Izuku asked breathlessly.

‘Could that madman have passed on his Quirk to Shigaraki?!’ Toshinori felt like his right lung was about to collapse. “Young Uraraka, did anyone physically touch you before your Quirk disappeared?” he asked hotly, the burning pain in his side flaring more than anything Endeavor had.

“Eh?!” Ochako flinched at the duo’s terrified expressions, she didn’t notice the mild whimper of the girl in her arms. “N-no, I don’t think so. It was up until the air when I just…” she paused, disbelief at the recurring scene played in her mind. “- started falling.”

A moment passed in silence, before Izuku spoke up. “Do…do you think you can tell us?”

Ochako looked in his eyes, concern flaring in them. She looked back to Eri, her red eyes watering. Brushing some of the girl’s hair behind her ear, she gave a light smile. “Okay, so it was like this…”

“Ryukyu-san was having Nejire-senpai, Tsuyu-chan, and I on patrol, and we found two street gangs fighting. It wasn’t too bad until they injected themselves with some dark liquid, and suddenly their Quirks went haywire!”

‘That sounds similar to the Trigger case Naomasa told me about five years ago…’ Toshinori thought, still listening.

“Two of them had giant-like Quirks and grew up to the size of skyscrapers. Nejire-senpai was able to stop them and Tsuyu and I were able to work on our combination attack, but after both of the big guys were gone, I suddenly felt myself falling to the ground…” she stopped and shuddered. “If Tsuyu and Nejire-senpai hadn’t caught me…”

The story halted at the mewling of the child in the room.

“Eri-chan?” Ochako reached out a hand to rub the child’s shoulder as she started to shake. “Eri-chan is everything okay-?”

The girl only dug her face into Ochako’s shirt with a choked sob, refusing to say a word.

Izuku looked between the two worryingly, reaching a hand to try and calm Eri down, but she only flinched away as the tip of his finger brushed her back. He sighed and looked back at Uraraka. “Can you remember anything else?” Izuku asked, at a loss, “anything from just before you started falling?”

Ochako wrapped her hands around the shaking girl on her lap, biting her lower lip as she shifted through her recollection of the fight.”Maybe…just as we were about to cuff the two fighting, I could feel…” She reached one hand to touch the back of one of her shoulders, “something hitting me…right here.” She tapped her shoulder for emphasis, “something…like a dart or a needle.” She shook her head, “I thought it was just some debris hitting me but…maybe…”

She was stopped again, this time by a startlingly loud sob tearing out of Eri, the girl tightening her hold on the older girl as she soaked her hospital shirt with her tears.

“Eri-chan!?” Ochako panicked and tried to get the girl to look at her, “Eri-chan what’s wrong!?”

“I’m sorry!” Eri shouted of a sudden, whipping her head up to look at Ochako, her cheeks soaked in tears and face red and twisted in sorrow, “this-it’s all my fault!” She dug her face back into Ochako’s chest, trembling and crying. “They did this because of me!”

“They?” Ochako shook her head, gripping Eri’s shoulders more firmly so she can pull her back and face her properly, “Eri-chan what are talking abou-”

“OCHAKO-CHAN!”

“URARAKA-KUN!”

The door burst open without warning, bring the ones shouting into view; a rather frazzled Tenya, and a near terrified looking Mina, who rushed over to her bedside with little regard for present company.

“URARAKA-KUN ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?”

“THE DOC SAID SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR QUIRK OCHAKO-CHAN WHAT HAPPENED!?”

“Guys?” Ochako mumbled, flat footed at the sight of her two panicked friends, “Guys relax I’m-”

Before she could continue, the door burst open again, with the rest of her class (with the exception of Bakugou, obviously, and Kririshima, which was actually rather odd) following suit, equally as frazzled and, more importantly, loud as the first two, crowding around her bed and throwing out so many questions she could only hold on to the crying Eri as she tried to calm them down and get them to be quiet.

Just then one more person entered the room and did it for her. Shouta Aizawa took a grand total of two heavy steps before breathing in shooting out his scarf in all directions, silencing every single student who barged inside. “Were you all raised in a farm house?” He ground out from between his teeth, one eye twitching and making all the trapped students gulp, “you are all in a hospital, the next one of you to cause a damn racket gets detention for the rest of the school year.”

 They all nodded quickly and without a sound, and their teacher removed the binding so they could all stand in order. “Now,” he said after a short and calming breath, “you’re all going to come with me, and return to school, before you cause Uraraka any undue stress.” A few students, namely Mina and Denki opened their mouth to protest, only for Eraserhead to turn to them with a sharp look. “No arguing.” He pointed to the, still crying, child in Ochako’s arms, “or do you not care about her?”

They clamped up quick after that.

“Now come on.” Aizawa made a sharp nod towards the door, and the class soon sulked off one at a time, offering a quick apology to Ochako and Eri before they did, leaving only Eri, Izuku, and All Might in the room, the last of which Aizawa turned to, tone all business, “All Might-san.”

Toshinori fixed his tie as he removed himself from the wall the students pushed him into in their haste, glancing at his fellow teacher, “Yes, Aizawa-san?”

“Come with me.” He said plainly, pointing to where the students gathered outside the door. “I need you to help me corral these crazy kids before they cause anymore trouble here.” 

Something in Aizawa’s focused stare made Toshinori pause for a moment, before nodding briskly. “Yes, yes of course.” He turned to Izuku, “young Midoriya, I need you to stay here with these two.” He pointed to Ochako and the still shaking Eri, “see if you can calm things down here.”

Izuku, glanced at Eri briefly, before nodding at his mentor, eyes firm. “Of course All Might.”

“I’ll be back soon enough, so wait until I do.”

With that the two teachers left the room, closing the door as they did.

Izuku sighed as he looked at Ochako. “Well…that was…something.”

Ochako laughed a bit nervously, “good to know they care about me this much…” The sound of muffled sniffling brought her attention back to Eri, who had been holding her in a vice grip while all that was going on. “Now…what to do about this…”

“Eri-chan…” Izuku came close again, pulling up a chair so he could sit by Ochako’s bedside, putting an arm on Eri’s head. “Eri-chan this wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes it is!” Eri shouted, voice muffled against Ochako’s shirt, “I ran away and they hurt Ochako-san! They hurt her because of me!”

“They?” Izuku asked, rubbing his forehead, frustrated that he couldn’t understand what she was saying, “Eri-chan you keep saying they, who are you talking-” 

Suddenly it clicked, some horrible stone dropped on Deku’s head and brought with it a terrifying thought, to awful to contemplate but too plausible to ignore.

“Deku-kun?” Ochako asked, the looking of mounting horror on his face digging a pit in her gut, “Deku-kun what’s-”

“Uraraka-san,” Izuku muttered, voice dry and trembling, “do you remember anything particular about the criminals you fought with Tsuyu-chan and Hadou-senpai?”

“Particular?” Ochako mumbled, unsure of what he meant, she rubbed the top of Eri’s head as she thought back again on what brought her here, “well, they both seemed like a couple of meatheads, rugged clothes and all that…though one of them was wearing a-” A lump stuck itself in Ochako’s throat, the same look of terror that dominated Izuku’s features appearing on her own, “a…a bird mask.”

The two looked at each other, mirrored looks of fear in their eyes. The hospital room was silent except for the steady beeping of the heartbeat monitor, punctuating the sudden tension in the air.

Only Eri broke that silence with a single wet “I’m sorry” before digging herself back into her broken embrace of Ochako, refusing to say anymore.