Chapter Text
It was a fairly regular Thursday. The sky was clear, and the sun was shining. Izuku tapped the pencil on his desk absentmindedly as Ectoplasm went on with his lecture, explaining the process of how to solve the equation that was written on the whiteboard. It was not a very complicated equation for Izuku. He was rather good at math, but he could see many of his classmates scratching at their necks with furrowed brows.
Maybe he should suggest a study session? It was still his first week at UA, but his classmates seemed rather nice. Specially compared to his middle school classmates. So maybe they would agree? Izuku made a mental note to bring it up after class. The purple haired boy, -Shinsou- had even been nice to him for the past few days. Maybe Izuku could ask him first.
Then he felt it.
Izuku jerked up, sitting straight in his chair. The pencil that he’d been tapping on the desk clattered to the ground. His breath quickened, his heart rate picking up. The familiar tugging sensation in his gut was getting stronger.
And it was close.
Izuku felt the tugging almost every single day of his life. He had learned to ignore it when he knew that he couldn’t help. He tried to help whenever he could, but he rarely ever got the chance. As frustrating as it was, Izuku knew why he had to hold himself back. But this… this was close! Maybe a little over two miles? Which meant it was coming from inside the school grounds!
“Midoriya?” Izuku’s head snapped at the sound of his name. His eyes met Shinsou’s who was holding out the pencil that Izuku had dropped. Shinsou’s violet eyes scrunched up as he furrowed his brows, probably at the look in Izuku’s eyes. “Are you okay?” He asked, still holding the pencil that Izuku had made no move to retrieve.
“I.. um.. I need-“ The tugging got stronger. Strong enough to make Izuku jump to his feet.
“Midoriya? Do you have a question?” Izuku’s panicked eyes shot up to look at Ectoplasm who had stopped in the middle of his lecture, an open book in his hands. The entire class had turned in their chairs to stare at Izuku.
Great! Just what he needed! More attention!
“Um.. No Ectoplasm sensei.” Izuku gulped. How was he going to explain this? “I jus-“ Izuku sucked in a breath as the tugging got almost uncomfortably strong. He didn’t have time to explain. He needed to go now. “I have to go.” He managed to let out before turning around and booking it out of the classroom. He thanked whatever force that had set his desk at the very back row of the classroom, thus closest to the door.
Izuku ignored Ectoplasm’s calls coming from behind him as he ran through the deserted hallways until he burst out of the building. He did not look back as he ran towards the forest area to the east of the school, letting the tugging lead his way. Before he went too far, he heard the alarms starting to blare loudly behind him.
Izuku ran faster.
*****
Katsuki was having a good day. Emphasis on ‘was’, because he sure as hell was not having a good day right now.
The day had started out like any other. And then it got interesting as Hobo Sensei sprung a field trip on them at homeroom.
Rescue simulation training.
Rescue heroics may not be Katsuki’s favorite area, but he knew that UA had some insane simulations. If the fucking huge robot at the entrance exam was anything to go by, their rescue simulations had to be fucking awesome.
And it was! USJ was huge and just from what Katsuki could see from the entrance, there were multiple disaster simulations running all around inside the dome. All the extras were oohing and aahing when Rescue Hero Thirteen came to give them the introduction to the day’s lesson.
That was when everything started going to hell as a warp gate opened up right in the middle of USJ, spitting out dozens of villains.
It was pure chaos for the next 30 minutes or so, which felt like fucking hours to Katsuki. By the time they came out of the USJ, almost all of the girls were sniffling and crying on each other’s shoulders. But luckily, none of his classmates were injured badly apart from a few cuts and bruises.
The teachers on the other hand….
The USJ entrance was buzzing with activity. Aside from the bunch of teachers that had blasted into the dome just a little while back to save them, a whole lot of EMT’s and police officers were milling about, offering shock blankets and water bottles to his classmates. Some were applying first aid to the ones who had gotten minor injuries.
An EMT had tried to drape a shock blanket on Katsuki just a few minutes ago but had quickly backed away when his palms started crackling. No one had tried to come near him since. Katsuki was glad. He was still running on the adrenaline high and was still majorly pissed off with the whole fucking thing.
He had been almost totally useless back there! Sure, he had knocked down a few of the idiots that could barely be called villains. But he hadn’t been able to anything where the main fight happened since the fucking warp fucker had dropped him and Shitty Hair on the other side of the fucking dome! By the time they made it back to the plaza, Aizawa sensei was already….
Katsuki gritted his teeth and glared at the ambulance they were just loading Aizawa sensei onto.
“Kacchan!” All the emotions whirling inside Katsuki’s mind stilled at the all too familiar voice. He whipped back to see none other than Izuku fucking Midoriya running out of the woods towards him.
“Izuku?” Katsuki caught Izuku when he almost tripped over nothing as he barreled into Katsuki. He was huffing and panting as if he had run a few miles. Seeing as he came out of the woods from the general direction of the main campus, he probably did run all the way to USJ. “What the fuck are you doing here?” Katsuki hissed holding Izuku up as he panted.
“I felt the tug.” Izuku said in between panting breaths. It was like someone dumped a whole tank of water on Katsuki’s head. His blood felt like ice in his veins. He quickly turned his neck to survey the area, still holding Izuku by the shoulders tightly. Katsuki had seen the ambulance that Thirteen had been loaded to speeding away a few minutes ago. All Might looked a little battered at the end of his fight against the Noumu, but he didn’t look that bad. If Izuku’s tug led him to USJ, then that could only mean….
”Aizawa sensei…” Katsuki whispered out with horror.
“Kacchan!” Katsuki turned back at Izuku’s insistent voice. “I have to help him!” Katsuki went cold all over for a whole different reason.
“No! No fucking way!” Katsuki’s hands tightened around Izuku’s shoulders.
“Kacch-“
“No Izuku! I’m not letting you do this!” Katsuki yelled shaking Izuku roughly. Green eyes locked onto Katsuki’s red ones.
And Katsuki knew… He knew that the determination shining in Izuku’s eyes meant that there was no stopping him. Katsuki’s heart plummeted, his eyes starting to sting. Izuku slowly brought his hand up, laying it lightly over Katsuki’s cheek.
“He’ll die Kacchan.” Izuku whispered, his voice begging for Katsuki to understand. And he did! He did understand. And he hated the fact that he did. “I have to do this.”
“Everyone is going to find out.” Katsuki whispered back, admitting defeat.
“It was bound to happen someday Kacchan. Might as well be today.” Izuku said with a small shrug. Katsuki let go of Izuku and let his arms drop to his side and Izuku also dropped the hand on his cheek.
“Aunty is going to be fucking mad.” Katsuki said in a feeble attempt which he knew would fail. Izuku smiled a small smile.
“She forgives easy.” Katsuki sighed, knowing there was nothing he could say that would change Izuku’s mind. And he really fucking hoped that Aunty will forgive him.
Katsuki looked back towards the ambulance where Aizawa sensei was being loaded onto. There were too many people there including the medics and fucking Present Mic! There wasn’t enough time for explanations. This was one of them ‘Do first, explain later’ situations. And as much as Katsuki would have love to just blast the shit out of everyone to get Izuku to Aizawa sensei, he knew that it will be too much for him.
He needed help.
Katsuki’s eyes scanned the area and came to rest on Shitty Hair’s face. He was standing only a little farther away from them, already looking at him and Izuku with curious eyes. Soy Sauce Face, Discount Pikachu and Raccoon Eyes were also gathered near Shitty Hair.
They’ll have to do.
“Come on.” Katsuki grabbed Izuku’s wrist and bodily dragged him towards the group.
*****
Eijiro curiously looked at Bakugou and the other boy as they whispered to each other in hushed tones. An expression that was almost alien was on Bakugou’s face as he spoke to the other boy. His face looked tender and… soft.
He wasn’t sure who the kid was, or where he had come from. He knew that he was not from the Hero course. UA unforms had slightly different designs for each course. Whereas the Hero Course had dark green double bands on their jacket sleeves, the Gen Ed Course had only one band, which was what the green haired boy was wearing.
What the hell was a Gen Ed student doing here? Specially after there’s been an attack? Eijiro was pretty sure that the whole school should be on lockdown by now.
Bakugou suddenly looked away from the boy and started scanning around. His eyes came to rest on Eijiro, then he started stomping towards him, dragging the other boy behind him.
“Oi Shitty Hair! I need your help.” Okay, now that got Eijiro’s full attention. Even during the attack, Bakugou had made a point to let Eijiro know that he didn’t need any help from him. Even as they were being actively attacked by actual villains! So, what could possibly make the explosive blond openly ask for help now?
“Er.. Sure?” His answer came out sounding more like a question. Bakugou looked towards Kaminari, Sero and Ashido who had been close to him and waved them over. All three walked closer albeit with puzzled faces at the same time Bakugou came to stop right in front of them. The strange boy came to a stop right behind Bakugou and leaned to the side to give them a timid smile and wave. Eijiro waved back hesitantly before looking at Bakugou. “Uhh… What do you need?”
“I’m going to ask you shitrags to do something. And I need you to do it. It’s going to sound crazy, but I swear it’s a life-and-death situation. Literally.” Eijiro gulped and nodded.
Bakugou told them what he needed.
It was beyond crazy.
It was borderline insane.
“Bro what the hell?” Sero voiced exactly what was on Eijiro’s mind. “We can’t do that! We’ll be expelled! No scratch that, we’ll be arrested! Or killed!”
“No, you won’t be. I’ll explain everything after. It’s just… I don’t have time right now.” Bakugou insisted. Eijiro looked at the dubious faces of Kaminari, Sero and Ashido. They all looked hesitant (for good reason).
“Baku-bro, I don’t understand what’s going on. But you can’t ask us to do something like that and expect us to not ask que-“
“Kirishima.” Eijiro’s lips smacked shut. This was the first time Bakugou had called him by his name. For the whole week, it had been ‘Shitty Hair’ or ‘Hair for Brains’ or something along those lines. Eijiro was starting to think that Bakugou didn’t even know their names. “You know I won’t ask this of you if it wasn’t important. Please.”
Okay that did it.
What the actual hell!? Maybe the world was ending? Yeah! That must be it! this was Eijiro’s last day on the green earth, and an asteroid or some shit was probably going to hit earth and destroy everything any second now.
Because Bakugou saying please? That had to be an omen or something!
Well, since the world was seemingly already ending…
“If I get killed doing this, I’m totally going to haunt you for the rest of your life. Then I’ll haunt your descendants for the rest of eternity.” Bakugou huffed out a laugh.
“I’ll take that deal.” He gave a nod to Eijiro and looked towards the rest of the other three teenagers standing around him. “What about you fuckers?”
All of them looked uncomfortable, shuffling on their feet, but Eijiro could see that they were as much shaken by Bakugou’s pleading as he had been.
“Fuck it! I’m in.” Sero was the first to answer. “You’re gonna buy me lunch for a month.”
Bakugou snorted with small shake of the head. “Sure.”
Kaminari and Ashido looked at each other for a few seconds and nodded once at each other.
“Well, nobody going to say that I’m the smartest cookie out there, so I guess no one can blame me for making bad choices.” Kaminari said with a goofy smile. “Count us in.” Eijiro was sure that Kaminaru was trying to lighten the mood more than anything. He appreciated the attempt, specially considering what they were about to do.
“Okay. Good.” Bakugou nodded to himself looking uncharacteristically relieved. “So, the plan is to get this fucker into the ambulance.” He reached behind him and yanked the green haired boy who’d been almost hiding behind Bakugou the entire time. He yelped and stumbled once before righting himself beside the blond, then flashed a brilliant smile at the group.
“Hi everyone! I’m Midoriya Izuku. It’s nice to meet all of you.” He said in a soft yet clear voice.
“Yeah yeah, let’s do the whole fucking ‘Hi my name is’s and ‘how are you’s thing later.” Bakugou snapped, and the boy, -Midoriya- snapped his lips shut immediately, but the soft smile was still lingering in his face. Bakugou continued, “Once he’s inside, he’ll need a few minutes. We have to keep everyone out. Including the teachers.” He emphasized the last part. Eijiro could hear Kaminari gulping.
“Got it.” Eijiro answered as the other nodded along.
“Good. Let’s go.” Bakugou turned towards the ambulance but was stopped by Midoriya grabbing his hand. Eijiro was surprised to find no annoyance in Bakugou’s face as he looked back at the green haired boy, eyes almost soft and…. Sad.
“You’ll stay with me?” Midoriya asked in a small voice, a flash of fear in his eyes as he looked up at the blond. Bakugou stared straight at Midoriya’s eyes as he answered.
“Of course you fucking nerd! You know very fucking well that I won’t be moving an inch from your side.” Midoriya smiled bright as the sun at that, the small traces of fear in eyes dissipating. Bakugou did not return the smile, but did give the other boy a nod before turning towards the rest of them.
“Show time…”
******
Blood. So much blood! Hizashi kept his hold on Shouta’s hand as the paramedics pushed pieces of gauze onto Shouta’s wounds, trying to slow the bleeding. Every piece of gauze pressed rapidly turned crimson in seconds.
“Come on Shou! Don’t you dare give up on me now!” He whispered to his unconscious husband tightening his hand over Shouta’s. “I can’t lose you too.”
“Present Mic, Sir you need to back up. We need get him into the ambulance.” One of the paramedics gently pushed on Hizashi’s shoulder to get him to move. If it wasn’t for the years of training that helped Hizashi keep a level head in a crisis, he would have flipped the paramedic on his back in a flash. Instead, he gave a curt nod and forced his fingers to loosen so that the stretcher Shouta laid on could be loaded onto the ambulance.
As soon as Shouta was loaded in, Hizashi took one step towards the vehicle intending to ride it to the hospital with Shouta when he heard a sudden yell of,
“NOW!”
Someone grabbed Hizashi by the back of his jacket and yanked him back. Hizashi tried to hang onto the ambulance door, but the power behind the pull was too sudden and too strong. He stumbled back a few steps before quickly righting himself.
An attack? Had they missed one of the villains? But there were heroes and police officers scattered all around the USJ. There was no way anyone could have snuck behind him without anyone noticing. Hizashi forced his whirling mind to a stop and opened his mouth to let out a quirked attack. Upon seeing who was attacking however, Hizashi froze.
What the hell?
He stopped his attack just in time to see Bakugou Katsuki bodily throw the paramedic that was inside the ambulance, out through the door. Hizashi’s mind sputtered. Why was Bakugou attacking them? Was it a mind controlling quirk or something? And who was the other boy climbing onto the ambulance behind Bakugou? He looked vaguely familiar, as if Hizashi had seen the boy in passing.
Whatever the case was, they were after Shouta. Shouta who was helpless and vulnerable inside the ambulance. Shouta couldn’t protect himself right now, so Hizashi had to. He opened his mouth again. Maybe he’ll have to hurt Bakugou a little bit, but if he kept his quick on low, there won’t be any lasting damage. He’ll probably feel shitty for hurting a student later, but he needed to act now.
Before he could, his directional speaker got yanked out of his shoulders from behind. Shit! He won’t be able to regulate his quirk without his directional speakers! Hizashi tried to turn back with a swing, but his arms were suddenly wrapped by something, pinning them to his sides.
“What th-“ Something sticky got slapped over his lips, effectively sealing them.
“I’m really sorry about this Mic Sensei.” Sero Hanta from Class A-1, -Shouta’s class- said apologetically as he dragged Hizashi back by the length of tape he had wrapped around Hizashi’s arms, pinning them to the side. “But we’re trying to help… I think.”
Hizashi glared at the boy once and turned back to look at the ambulance. His gaze was met with chaos.
More students had arrived. Ashido Mina had sprayed a layer of acid all across the entrance of the ambulance, effectively blocking access into the vehicle. A few more of the paramedics were wrapped in Sero’s tape and Kirishima Eijiro stood in the middle of the pool of acid, protected by his quirk, pushing back anyone who tried to get close.
Hizashi was a patient man, but right now, his patience was taking a break. He didn’t know why his students were attacking them, and he didn’t know what was being done to his husband just out of his reach. Hizashi was very very angry!
He growled as he planted his legs on the ground. The kid had gotten the drop on him from behind because he’d been distracted, but he was still Present Mic! No first year is going to get one over him.
Taking leverage from his boots dug into the ground, Hizashi yanked hard on the tape that Sero was holding. He was presented with the sight of Sero’s panicked face as he was pulled at a rapid pace towards him. Hizashi’s arms were pinned, but his legs were free. He focused hard to keep the force as low as possible as he placed a well-aimed roundhouse kick at Sero’s side, sending him flying sideways. The momentum forced Hizashi towards the opposite side, and without his arms at his side to help him balance, he landed roughly on his side.
Hizashi wiggled trying to free himself from the tape, but the damn thig seemed be too fucking sticky!
“Mic!” Hizashi almost cried in relief at the familiar voice of his favorite detective. The piece of tape covering his mouth was ripped out of Hizashi's face, and the bewildered face of Tsukauchi Naomasa came into view.
“Mic, what-“
“No time!” Hizashi cut Tsukauchi off before he could start. “Get this shit off of me.” He said still trying to wiggle out of the tape trapping him. To his credit, Tsukauchi did not hesitate, he pulled out a pocketknife and started cutting the tape off immediately.
“Hey Baku-bro! Mic Sensei knocked Sero Out! We can’t hold him off by ourselves! I sincerely hope you’re almost done!” Kirishima yelled out at the same time the detective cut off the last piece of the tape off of Hizashi. The words made Hizashi’s world burn!
More often than not, mind controlling quirks made their targets more like mindless puppets. The fact that Kirishima was communicating like this probably meant that he was doing this by his own will.
But why!?
Hizashi growled as he saw red. Anger, confusion and fear for Shouta took turns fueling his rage. He stalked towards the ambulance and walked right over the pool of acid. His costume consisted of steel soled boots. It’ll take some time for them to be eaten away by acid. And seeing how Kirishima was standing on the stuff, Hizashi was fairly certain that it was not a very corrosive acid.
Ashido who was standing behind Kirishima paled watching Hizashi advance. She took a step back and yelped as she slipped on her own acid, falling and landing on her ass. Hizashi was sure that the look on his face was pretty scary to the students.
“Uhh… Bakugou?” Kirishima yelled with a scared look as he took a step back.
“Almost! Just give us one more minute.” Bakugou’s voice came from inside ambulance.
“Move!” Hizashi growled, his voice almost unrecognizable even to himself. Kirishima’s eyes widened for just a second before hardening again.
“I am sooo gonna punch you in your face after this!” He muttered, probably to himself and jumped forward hardening his whole body. Hizashi braced himself, but instead of an attacking like he had thought the boy would, Kirishima wrapped his arms around Hizashi’s torso, once again pinning his hands to his sides and held on.
Hizashi let out an outraged scream and struggled to get free, but the kid had some strength in him! If he used his quirk now, without his directional speakers to regulate it, it would probably kill Kirishima. Hizashi didn’t know what the hell was going on, but he couldn’t kill a student without knowing the whole story! Hizashi turned towards Tsukauchi.
“Tsukauchi! Go! Get to Shouta!” He yelled.
Instead of rushing to the ambulance as Hizashi expected him to, Tsukauchi stood frozen at the edge of the acid pool. “Tsukauchi! What the hell are you doing!? Get to Shouta!” The detective stood still as if he couldn’t even hear Hizashi and continuing to stare ahead with wide eyes.
“Tsuka-“
“No, Mic, look!” Tsukauchi finally spoke, and his tone made Hizashi stop struggling and look over Kirishima’s shoulder at the ambulance.
*****
Naomasa was taking statements from the students involved in the attack when he heard the commotion. His head whipped to where the yells and unmistakable sounds of struggles were coming from.
What was it now!? Naomasa was sure that they had contained all the villains that had been inside the USJ. So who was fighting now? Had they missed a villain!? Panic rising in his heart, Naomasa shouted at one of the remaining officers to take over and raced over to the sound of yelling to find…
A very confusing scene.
Few of the paramedics were laying on the ground, bound by some type of tape. The few remaining paramedics were… fighting (?) two students who were standing with their backs towards an ambulance. Another student had Present Mic wrapped in the same type of tape entrapping the paramedics and was pulling him away from the ambulance.
What the fuck?
Naomasa ran up to Mic just in time to see Mic land a harsh kick on the kid that was pulling on him. The kid was sent flying one way while Mic went the other way. Naomasa ran to the fallen hero and saw that his mouth was taped shut. He was quick to pull the tape out.
“Mic, what-“ Before he could even get a full sentence out, Mic cut him off.
“No time! Get this shit off of me.” Hearing the urgency in Mic’s tone, Tsukauchi quickly complied and pulled his trusty pocketknife to cut the tape off as quickly as he could. It took a few seconds because the tape was unusually sticky. As soon as he was freed, Mic shot to his feet and stalked over towards the ambulance.
Naomasa had never even seen Mic get angry let alone as furious as he seemed now. And noticing that the ambulance was the same one that was supposed to take Aizawa Shouta to Musutafu General Hospital, Naomasa understood why Mic was furious. He stopped at the edge of what looked to be a sizzling pool of acid while Mic marched on right through the puddle. Naomasa -still in a very much confused state- leaned to the side looking into the ambulance.
There were two more kids inside the ambulance. A blond boy in a hero costume and a smaller green haired boy in a UA uniform. The green haired boy was standing over Aizawa, both his hands pressed onto Aizawa’s chest. The blond stood to the side, almost covering the other boy with his body as he kept his arms hovering just over the other boy’s shoulders.
Naomasa almost jumped in to help Mic as the red haired boy who was standing in front of the ambulance, suddenly rushed forward and wrapped his arms around the hero, restricting his movements. Before Naomasa could though, he froze in place, realizing what was happening inside the ambulance.
Naomasa had seen Aizawa as he was being carried out of the USJ. And he had looked…. -for a lack of a better word- like death. There had been a huge gash on his head as well as under his eye, his face pale. Both his arms had looked mangled and bent in an unnatural way.
As Naomasa looked at Aizawa now, he didn’t look all that different really. Other than the blood having been wiped off from his face. The lack of blood was the reason that Naomasa saw what was happening. As he watched with wide eyes, the gash under Aizawa’s eye closed up, skin smoothing out as if it had never damaged in the first place.
He could hear Mic yelling at him, telling him to get to Aizawa, but he could not look away or move as he watched the gash on Aizawa’s forehead also closed up, disappearing without a trace.
“Tsuka-“ Naomasa finally managed to find his voice.
“No!” He cut the panicking voice hero off. “Mic, look!” From the corner of his eyes, Naomasa saw Mic stop struggling, and the red haired boy quickly backed away, letting the hero go. But Mic did not move an inch, frozen on the spot just as Naomasa was.
The boy was healing Aizawa!
But that was impossible! Healing quirks were extremely rare and were highly sought after. As quirks became a normalcy and Heroism became an industry, individuals with healing quirks were highly sought after. But unfortunately, it was not only the heroes that valued a good healer. Due to healing quirks being targeted by villain organizations and other unsavory parties, a new protocol had been established early on in the industry.
Any high-level healing quirk manifestation was tracked by the HPSC, and such children were taken in and offered special protection until they came of age. While people with minor healing quirks usually went into medical field as doctors or nurses, ones with high-level healing quirks were offered pristine positions within the ranks of Heroes.
Seeing the speed that Aizawa’s injuries were closing, and how the color was returning to his face at a rapid pace, Naomasa was certain that this boy was using an extremely high-level healing quirk.
But that should be impossible! The last recorded high-level healing quirk belonged to a 27-year-old woman who was now working as a healer for Best Jeanist Agency. She went by the hero name ‘Panacea’.
There was a grand total of four high-level healers in all of Japan. Panacea was the youngest and recovery Girl was the oldest. That spoke as to how rare these healers were. And yet, here Naomasa was standing, watching his friend being healed by a high-level healer that shouldn’t exist! Naomasa’s eyes were glued to Aizawa’s face as color kept flooding it, chasing away the paleness. It was almost mesmerizing to watch.
A drop of blood landed on Aizawa’s forehead. Then another. Then another. Naomasa slowly looked up from Aizawa’s face to look at where the blood was coming from. And the mirage shattered as the horrifying realization dawned on Naomasa.
“Oh God!” He whispered as he took a step forward, ignoring the sizzling sound as the acid bit into his shoes.
Because, no. this was not a healing quirk. This was something much much darker, Naomasa realized as he saw an identical gash which he had just watched close on Aizawa’s head, now on the green haired boy’s head. His face was scrunched up as if he was in pain. When Naomasa looked closer, he could see one of the boys’ arms bending slightly in an unnatural way at the elbow.
The boy was not healing Aizawa.
He was transferring the injuries onto himself!
“No! Kid stop!” He said louder this time as he spotted another gash open up just under the child’s eye, same as the one that had been on Aizawa just moments before. More blood started gushing out of the new injury. Naomasa’s steps quickened.
He needed to stop this! Aizawa wouldn’t want this! But it was not easy trying to run over acid. “Stop!” He yelled trying to run to the ambulance, slipping in the acid as the soles of his shoes corroded.
“Kirishima! Stop him!” The blond shouted from inside the ambulance, his eyes never leaving the green haired boy. The red haired kid threw himself at Naomasa without hesitation, trapping him in a bearhug.
“No! Kid, let me go!” Naomasa tried to push the boy away to no avail who seemed to have some sort of hardening quirk. Still struggling, he turned towards Mic, who was standing stock-still, his eyes firmly locked onto Aizawa’s face. Naomasa wasn’t even sure if Mic even realized that the boy was bleeding. That he was dying! “Mic!” Naomasa yelled in desperation. “Mic, stop the kid! He’s going t-“
A loud gasp made everything else go quiet. Naomasa snapped his eyes towards the sound just in time to see Aizawa’s whole body arch up as he took in a gasping breath. At the same time, the green haired boy slumped to the side, collapsing onto the blond’s waiting arms. Kirishima released Naomasa and stared at the scene inside the ambulance with horrified eyes.
Aizawa started coughing, gulping and gasping for breaths. Mic broke out of his stupor. With a shout of “Shouta!” he almost dove into the ambulance and grabbed Aizawa’s hand, his eyes watery. At the same time, almost as if unnoticed by the voice hero, the blond boy, -Bakugou, Naomasa remembered him being called- carefully slid one arm under the smaller boy’s knees and the other under his arms, hoisting him up.
Bakugou’s face was devoid of emotions as he readjusted the weight of the smaller boy in his arms, cradling him carefully as if he were a precious thing before climbing out of the ambulance.
The green haired boy was a bloody mess, blood gushing out of many open wounds, some Naomasa could see, some he knew to be hidden under his uniform. The same injuries that had been on Aizawa just moments ago. Seeing Aizawa’ injuries had been hard enough. Seeing the same injuries on a teenager broke Naomasa’s heart in a whole different way.
As Bakugou walked by him, Naomasa’s arms reached towards the unconscious boy as if they had a mind of their own. The blond growled when Naomasa’s hand came close.
“Don’t fucking touch him!” He hissed. Naomasa could tell that it was meant to come out as angry, but he could only hear pain in the boy’s voice.
“Bakugou-kun. He- he n-needs medical assistance.” Naomasa said stammering, desperately looking towards the paramedics who were still keeping a considerable distance away.
“They can’t help him.” Bakugou said in a frighteningly empty tone. “No one can help him.” Naomasa almost didn’t hear Bakugou’s whisper. He wasn’t sure if he was even meant to hear it. “Just help sensei. I’ll take care of him.” Bakugou said in a slightly louder voice before he walked off.
The paramedics, the students, the police officers as well as a few teachers that had gathered around the commotion, silently parted like the red sea, letting Bakugou pass through with the still body of the child -whose name Naomasa didn’t even know- cradled in his arms.
****
“I AM HERE!” All Might’s booming voice made Shouta take one deep shuddering breath of relief. A little fucking late! He wanted to tell the blond buffoon, but better late than never, he thought to himself.
Shouta was in agony. He knew that he was badly hurt. Far worse than he had ever been hurt before. Both his arms were broken, he could feel the broken bones scraping against his muscles, agonizingly painful. Few of his ribs were also probably broken, and if the pain in his head was anything to go by, he probably had the mother of all concussions. He also remembered snippets of peeling off flesh…. A disintegration quirk?
Shouta didn’t care. All of that broken bones and injuries were all what he had to bear in order to protect his students. (Please God! Please let all of the children be safe!) As long as his students were fine, he was more than ready go through all of this pain and more all over again.
But if All Might was here, then other probably were here as well. Shouta was not alone anymore. He didn’t have to protect the children alone anymore. So he let the pull of unconsciousness, which had been calling for him for a while now, finally take over.
Please let all the kids be safe!
Shouta prayed one last time before his world went dark.
He was back in the dark room. With a start Shouta realized that he had been here before. In fact, he’d been here many times over the years. Every time he’d lost consciousness, he had ended up here, in this dark room with no doors or windows. He just didn’t retain any memory of the place once he regained consciousness.
Strange…
So as per usual, Shouta should wait. Wait till he wakes up again, probably covered up with bandages, to a worried Hizashi who was certain to be angry at him for getting himself hurt. Again!
Yeah. He’ll wait. Shouta readied himself for the waiting as he had done many many times before.
A door opened up behind Shouta, and he whirled back in surprise. There had never been any doors or windows in this room. It had always been an empty dark room. What was different this time? Shouta wondered as he curiously looked at the open door.
There was pure bright white light spilling in through the open door. Surprisingly enough, the light did not illuminate the dark room. Only a sliver of light made it into the room -twisting and curling as if it was alive- as the rest of the room remained dark. The edges of the tendrils of light licked at Shouta’s feet. It pulled at him. ‘Come here!’ It cooed. ‘Come in to the light!’ It beckoned.
Ah!
All at once, Shouta understood what was different this time.
This was the last time.
Shouta was not going to wake up this time as he had done many times before. He was not going to open his eyes again, once again lost all memories of the dark room of unconsciousness. Instead, he was supposed to walk through the open door this time. Into the bright white light, never to return.
Did he kiss Hizashi good bye this morning? Shouta didn’t remember. He hoped he did.
He hoped this would not break Hizashi. Losing Shirakumo had very nearly broken them both. Hizashi and Shouta had leaned on each other to get through it the last time. Shouta hoped that Nemuri and the others would be there for Hizashi this time.
Shouta’s feet moved almost on their own, his mind caught in the siren song of the white light. He wondered why many described this moment as ‘The light at the end of the tunnel’. He wondered if it was a tunnel for some, and a door -as it was for him- for others. Maybe he could find the answer on the other side of the door, Shouta thought to himself as he neared the light on the other side of the door, one small step at a time.
Suddenly the whole room started glowing a warm green. The glow did not belong here! Shouta felt the intrusion in the very depths of his bones. But it was warm. It felt safe. Suddenly, the bright white light that had felt inviting just moments ago, felt oppressive.
Tendrils of white light wrapped themselves around Shouta’s ancles in an ice-cold grip, enticing him to walk towards the door. But the green glow enveloped itself around Shouta’s very core and pulled him back, away from the door.
‘He is ours!’ The white light hissed. ‘He has already passed through the vail! He belongs with us now!’
‘No.’ The green glow answered. ‘It’s not his time yet. I won’t let you!’
The green glow wrapped itself tenderly around all that was Shouta. The warmth of the glow seemed to chase away the cold white tendrils of light. ‘Come back!’ It called Shouta. As the warmth of the glow increased, warming Shouta’s very soul.
With an enraged scream, the last of the cold white tendrils of light released Shouta’s ancle and the green glow enveloped him whole. Unlike the white light that which didn’t illuminate the darkness of the room, the green glow got warmer and brighter until every corner of the room was covered in it, chasing away the darkness as well as the white light.
‘Come back’ The green glow whispered again, echoing through every atom of Shota’s very soul.
Shouta obeyed.
Shouta gasped awake. His lungs ached. He gasped for gulps of air as if he was starving for it. It felt as if his lungs had been utterly empty. It was as if he had forgotten to breath for far longer than he should have.
In his greed for oxygen, Shouta choked on his own breaths. He started coughing, his chest constricting painfully.
“Shouta!” He heard the familiar voice of Hizashi, no small amount of panic mixed in with it. Shouta wanted to answer, to tell Hizashi that he was okay, that he didn’t need to worry. But he was too busy trying to cough his lungs out.
The coughing fit went on for a few straight minutes, and by the end of it, Shouta was panting heavily, his chest aching. He pulled in another gulp of breath before finally opening his eyes to find Hizashi leaning over him. One of Shouta’s hands was clutched in both of Hizashi’s, pressing it against his heart. Too many emotions were swirling in Hizashi’s tearful lime green eyes that it almost gave Shouta vertigo.
Relief, fear, pain, wonder, disbelief, terror and probably a handful more.
“You’re okay…” Hizashi whispered in awe as if he couldn’t believe his own words. “You’re really okay!”
“What happened?” Shouta asked in a raspy voice, his throat raw with all the coughing.
“I-I thought I lost you..” Hizashi whispered in a broken voice au lieu of answering Shouta.
Flashes of strange … memories? were swirling around Shouta’s mind. A Dark windowless room. A bright door. Cold white light and a warm green glow… Shouta frowned at the confusing thoughts and tried to sit up. Hizashi quickly pushed him back.
“No, lie back down! We don’t know what you... what he…” Hizashi stammered adding more to Shouta’s confusion. He ignored Hizashi’s pushing and forced himself to sit up.
“I’m fine Hizashi.” He said looking around. He was inside an… ambulance? Why was he inside and ambulance? “What happened?” He asked again fixing Hizashi with a look, letting him know that Shouta was serious. Hizashi gulped.
“You got… you got hurt Shou. Bad! The USJ-“
Everything came crashing back.
Shouta whipped around, seeing the USJ dome behind him. He tried to jump out of the vehicle only to be grabbed and stopped by Hizashi.
“The kids! Where are the kids?” Shouta asked in panic. His breath quickened, his heartbeat racing in his ears.
Please let them be okay! Please let them be safe!
“Calm down Shou! They are fine! All of your students are fine.” Shouta stopped struggling against Hizashi and looked at the blond’s face. There was no way that Hizashi would lie to Shouta on something like this. But something nagged at Shouta’s mind. As if he was missing something.
Shouta looked deeply into Hizashi’s eyes. He had known this man for a better part of his life. Loved him for a better part of his life. He knew how to read Hizashi Yamada like a book. And inside Hizashi’s lime green eyes, Shouta found what he didn’t want to find. He found fear. And that fear quickly invaded Shouta’s heart.
“ ’Zashi, tell me the truth. What’s wrong?” Hizashi opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Hizashi Yamada lost for words! If it wasn’t for the steadily building terror in his heart, Shouta would have made a snippy comment on it. Instead, Shouta brought his hand up to touch Hizashi’s face, but stopped midway through.
His hand.
He could move it.
Wasn’t it broken?
Weren’t both of his arms broken?
He was still in USJ grounds, so the fighting had happened not long ago. And Shouta very vividly remembered being thrown around like a ragdoll by the massive monster. He very clearly remembered how the creature had smashed his head against the concrete not once, but twice. He had felt his arms shatter as the Noumu crushed them.
So why wasn’t he in any pain?
And why did Hizashi looked so utterly broken when Shouta was (by some miracle) completely fine?
Hizashi kept opening and closing his mouth, never even uttering a word. Somehow, Shouta knew that he would not get any answers out of his husband. So he slowly pulled his hand out of Hizashi’s grasp and pulled away. for some reason, Hizashi didn’t stop him this time.
As he stepped out of the ambulance, he was greeted by a group of police officers and paramedics. All of them were looking at Shouta with wide eyes filled with a myriad of emotions.
Awe. Fear. Wonder. Surprise. Disbelief.
However, not a single one of them uttered a word, only parted to let Shouta through silently. This was all too confusing. And Shouta needed answers. He quickened his steps, aiming for the area where he could see a group gathered.
It was his students, being held back by a few uniformed officers. The kids weren’t putting much of a fight, just craning their heads, trying to look past the police officers. Shouta let out a breath of relief upon seeing them. They were okay!
“What’s going on here?” Shouta asked as he walked over. Every single head snapped around, and Shouta was met with about a dozen pairs of wide eyes.
“Sensei…” It was Iida. “You’re… You’re fine?” His voice was so uncharacteristically low as he whispered. “But… How..?”
Good fucking question! Shouta thought to himself. I’d also like to know how I’m not several kinds of fucked up right now, but nobody’s giving me any fucking answers! Instead of voicing any of his thoughts however, Shouta forward, coming to a stop in front of his bewildered students.
“Is anyone hurt?” Shouta asked without any preamble. He counted 15 students, and aside from a few cuts and bruises, he didn’t see any concerning injuries on them.
“N-no Aizawa sensei. I-I think we’re all fine.” Iida answered with a slight stammer.
“Good. Now get back to the bus and wait for a teacher to come get you.” Shouta ordered and walked past the officers without waiting for an answer. He could clearly see that his students had questions, but he had to find answers to his own questions before he could answer theirs.
The officers let him pass without a word. Behind the clumsy human barrier, he found one Tsukauchi Naomasa and more of his students. These ones in a far more different emotional state to the ones Shouta had left behind as they stood behind the detective.
Sero stood with a stricken face, holding Ashido as she sobbed into his chest. Kaminari stood to Sero’s side, silent tears trailing down his cheeks. Kirishima stood close, his wide eyes were dry, but his ever present radiant smile nowhere to be found.
“Kirishima.” Shouta called as he walked over to his students. All four of their attention snapped towards Shouta in a second, and the same look, the same cocktail of mixed emotions of fear, surprise and disbelief that everyone seemed to wear upon seeing Shouta colored their eyes too.
“Sensei…” He whispered.
“Are any of you hurt?” He asked once again. Kirishima’s eyes stayed wide as he answered looking dazed.
“I- n-no. We’re okay.” His eyes darted towards Sero for just a second, but that was enough for Shouta to turn attention towards the black haired boy.
“Sero?”
“I’m fine sensei!” Sero was quicker to answer than Kirishima had been. “Mic sensei kicked me on my side, but I don’t think he broke anything.”
Hizashi did WHAT?
“Sensei?” Before he could voice his thoughts, Kirishima spoke up again. The normally cheerful boy’s voice sounded painfully somber. “He- Bakugou asked us to help. But I didn’t think that this… I didn’t know that it’ll…” Tears finally seemed to have made their way into Kirishima’s eyes. They spilled over running down the boy’s face. “Sensei… we didn’t know!” Kirishima’s voice cracked and Ashido once again pressed her face into Sero’s chest sobbing loudly.
“We’ll talk about this later.” Shouta said in a practiced even tone. As soon as I figure out whatever the fuck is happening! “Get back to the bus with the rest of the class.” He instructed before turning towards Tsukauchi who was still turned away from him, looking towards a corner of the USJ dome wall.
Along with the 15 students that he had walked past, this made a total of 19 of his students counted and safe. That left one more.
“Tsukauchi.” Shouta called as he walked forward. Tsukauchi turned slowly to look at Shouta. His eyes also had the same look of disbelief in them, but it was overshadowed by something else. His eyes were filled with pain.
Shouta’s heart plummeted.
“Is Bakugou-“ He started with a quivering voice.
“He’s fine.” Tsukauchi quickly responded, but the way he said it gave Shouta no reassurance. Now having walked past all obstructing bodies, Shouta could see what everyone was gathered around. He could see a tip of a boot peeking out from a small nook between one of the support beams of USJ and its wall. Shouta instantly recognized it as part of Bakugou’s hero costume.
Shouta started to rush forward, panic rising in his heart, only to be stopped by Tsukauchi grabbing him by the arm.
“Aizawa wait!” He said urgently but in a quiet voice. “You have to go slow. Bakugou hasn’t let anyone get near them. I tried multiple times.”
Wait.
What did Tsukauchi mean by ‘Them?’ Bakugou was the only unaccounted student from his class.
“What do you mean ‘them’?” Another look of pain flashed across the detective’s face deepening Shouta’s growing worry.
“There’s another student. I don’t think he’s one of your class. He…” Tsukauchi let out a pained and shuddering breath of defeat. “Aizawa, I-I think he’s dead.”