Chapter 30

First POV

"I am here!" All Might introduced with his usual enthusiasm, "Long time no see boys, girls, and Alex! Today for basic hero training, since you all have gotten back from your internships, we'll have some fun with a rescue training race!"

I smiled to myself, this was gonna be fun. We were all dressed in our hero costumes and were sent off to Field Gamma. I slipped the bracelet off my wrist and began slowly absorbing small amounts of everyone's excitement and nervousness. Nervousness works similarly to fear and excitement works similarly to joy. Though I didn't want to drain them too much from them.

"If we're doing rescue training, then shouldn't we do it at USJ?" Iida exclaimed with his hand raised straight into the air.

"That place is for training for disasters. Do you remember what I said? That's right I said "race"! This is Field Gamma! A dense area filled with factories laid out like an intricate labyrinth. You'll be breaking into three groups of five and one group of six and go through the training one group at a time. When I send out a distress signal from somewhere inside, you'll all start at once from the outskirts of the city! It's a race to see who will rescue me first! Of course, while keeping damage done to the buildings at a minimum," he pointed his index finger to the pomeranian, and I snickered.

"Don't point at me!"

"Alright, the first group, get into place!"

The first group consisted of Izuku, Iida, Mina, Sero, and Ojiro.

"Iida still hasn't completely recovered yet, right?"

"He should just watch."

"This group has everyone in the class with good mobility."

"Hmm, perhaps Midoriya is at a slight disadvantage," Yaoyorozu commented.

Jiro nodded in agreement, "That's true. Honestly, I don't know how good he is."

I rolled my eyes as I moved to stand near them, "You haven't seen him on the field yet, during the incident he had way more control over his power usage and didn���t break any of his bones. Stress fractures, yes, but nothing broken. The two students that I'm going back and forth between is either Sero or Izuku, but knowing Izuku, his clumsiness will be his downfall." Sighing I crossed my arms, "My bet is on Sero winning."

"I agree! I think Sero'll be first!" Kirishima exclaimed.

"As much as I hate to go against the logic of my fellow meme enthusiast, Ojiro's there too," Denki said playfully.

"I think Ashido has the best chance of winning, she's witty, not afraid to take risks, and she is very athletic," Shinsou stated next to me. I had to force myself from flinching, seriously Aizy is teaching him well. Most of the time I can't tell where he is and even when I can, it's only by a small amount. Jeez, he really is a mini Aizy…

"Deku will be last!"

"Even if he's injured, I still think it'll be Iida," pink cheeks said.

"Ribbit," Tsu agreed.

"Okay, here we go! Start!" All Might pressed a red button in his hand and a buzzer sounded. Everyone took off. Sero swinging from pipe to pipe with his tape, Mina gliding across surfaces with her acid, Ojiro using his tail to propel him upward, and Iida started running in his usual stiff and sonic way. The camera was following Sero as he had the lead and was zipping through the field, though suddenly Izuku covered in what looked like sparks of green electricity covering his body.

He jumped from surface to surface, pipe to pipe, and seemed to fly through the course. Everyone's face was filled with surprise, while I just smiled to myself. They all exclaimed in shock about how he was moving with some angry screams from the pomeranian in the background. Izuku continued to fly through the course with ease keeping his power stable and in check until he came up to a certain pipe. His foot slipped off the side and I could see his face fill with panic as he fell and face planted.

Not being able to control myself, I laughed hard. I held my stomach as I slouched over, trying to muffle my laughs with my hand, "That was hilarious!" I choked out between wheezes.

I knew people were looking at me, but I couldn't care less. I heard a chuckle from behind me as I calmed down and wiped a tear from my eye. I looked back still smiling and saw Bakugou smiling widely and chuckling softly. We made eye contact and his smile faded. He crossed his arms and looked away from my scowling and I could've sworn I saw a slight pink tint on his cheeks.

The race was soon over and Sero won. All Might gave his usual cheesy cliche congratulations speech, blah blah blah, I honestly don't care enough to listen.

My name was called and I took a position on the field. My group consisted of me, Bakugou, Tsu, Sho, Sato, and Denki. Long story short Bakugou and Sho were the toughest competitors and gave me quite a challenge. In the end, I won by a hair in front of Sho and Bakugou just barely lost to him. Let's just say the pomeranian boy wasn't too happy about the arrangement.

After school, Denki, Izuku, Sho, Tsu and I all joined up at Denki's room to play board games and a mixture of card games. We played Uno, Monopoly, Apples to Apples, and even some video games. The whole time we were laughing, smiling, giggling, and just having fun all together.

We were playing our last round of Uno until Kirishima entered the room, "Hey, Alex? I'm sorry to bother you all, but could you come here for a minute?"

Although his voice wasn't rushed or wavering, you could still hear the hint of hurry and fear in it and there was no mistaking the look of panic in his eyes. Understanding that it was most likely urgent, I quickly said goodbye to the others and hurried out of the room. As we walked down the halls, Kirishima's steps quickened fiercely, but I managed to keep up, "This seems urgent, but could you please give me a rundown of what's happening?"

He glanced at me, "...It's Bakugou…...you know about the sludge villain attack right?"

The sludge villain? Oh, yeah I heard about that on the news a while back, "Yeah, what about it?"

"He doesn't want many people to know since he doesn't want to seem weak but," he paused and almost seemed hesitant about if he should continue, "ever since the sludge villain attack he gets flashbacks which causes him to panic and normally I can calm him down myself, but this time it's the worst it's ever been..."

"PTSD…" I said grimly. I have my fair share of that and I know how bad it can be, "I'm guessing you want me to use my quirk to help him calm down, right?"

We finally arrived at the door and I heard a faint whimpering behind the door. Kirishima turned to me and pleaded, "Please, help him….he's terrified and won't let anyone, even me get close to him," his eyes started to tear up as clear droplets fell down his cheeks, "please, I'll do anything, please…"

I pat his head and wiped his cheek with my sleeve. I pulled my bracelet off of my wrist, "Don't worry you don't have to do anything, I know what it feels like and I have gone through what he is going through, I don't want others to suffer like me."

I slowly opened the door so as to not startle him, and what I saw was shocking. Bakugou was curled up in the corner of the room with his knees to his chest and his fingers tangled and pulling at his hair.

"Please, help me...I can't- I can't breathe, someone anyone….please save me…" he mumbled under his breath in a shaky voice. Seeing him like this, I need to do something, I need to help him.

I walked slowly and quietly up to him without making any fast movements as I absorbed his panic and fear. It was a lot and seemed suffocating. Though, the more fear I absorbed, the more he seemed to calm down.

Softly I called out, "Hey Bakugou? You need to breathe," I walked closer to him and slowly sat down beside him while gently wrapping his trembling form with my arms. His muscles tensed at my touch, but as minutes passed, he seemed to melt into the hug. Suddenly, his arms wrapped around my waist as he buried his head into my chest and said shakily, "Please, help me…..don't- don't leave…"

"I won't leave, I won't let go of you, but I need you to breathe with me ok?"

He nodded and continued to bury himself in my embrace, "Ok, now breathe when I do alright?"

I started to slowly and deeply breathe in and out at a steady pace as he tried to match my pace. Seconds, moments, then eventually ten minutes had passed and he still wasn't anywhere near calming down and I was at my limit. I needed to try something, something else. I wracked my brain as I tried to think of something, anything I could do to try to help, then it hit me. "Hey, dandelion? I'm gonna need you to think of happy thoughts or to try not to think at all ok? Do you think you can do that?"

He nodded again and I took a deep breath. I was always absorbed emotions, but one thing I've never tried was to transfer them. I always thought that all I could do was take, never did I think that I might be able to give.

I started to focus on things that made me happy, spending time with my friends, petting animals, listening to music, and my family. The good and happy memories, the ones that fill me with joy, and the ones that were positive. Soon, I had found and held that feeling, grasped that feeling, and focussed on that feeling.

I thought of happiness as water as it flowed through my body and drained out from my hands. My veins glowed golden as my arms felt warm and hot all over. I looked down at Bakugou who seemed to feel the warmth and finally started to calm as my emotions dulled. It almost had a similar feeling to when your blood is being drawn as it leaves your body. In that moment I poured all my happiness into him as he stopped trembling, shaking, and crying and seemed to be in a soothing comfortable sleep. I was satisfied with how it turned out however I only felt empty. Not numb, but purely empty, like someone had torn out my heart.