23

Chapter 23: The Road to RecoverySummary:

As the flames die down, healing begins. For everyone.

Notes:

Thanks to Epsilon110, epicderpybro2 and Mattybeach for being my betas once again :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Ochako stared at the hulking, electrified man. "S-Stormclaw?"

"Hisashi!" All Might proclaimed, a hint of nervousness in his voice. "Your son is doing fine. He is in surgery right now, but he is in stable condition."

The father seemed to relax slightly, but only slightly. His glowing green eyes snapped to Bakugou, who didn't seem phased by his intense glare. "Katsuki, are these your classmates?"

Bakugou nodded. "They did alright by Izuku." That was apparently his version of praise.

The intense glow in Stormclaw's eyes dimmed slightly as he looked around to the three women sitting in front of him. A look of recognition appeared on his face. "Miss Yaoyorozu?"

"Good afternoon, Mr. Midoriya. It has been quite some time." Momo bowed slightly in her chair, her refined upbringing shining through.

"Indeed it has," the man said, nodding politely. "If only it was under better circumstances." He turned back to Ochako. "And you are?"

Ochako floundered for a second before she finally suttered out "O-Ochako Uraraka, sir."

"I'm Mina Ashido," Mina said brightly, although less bright than she normally would have, considering the circumstances.

Surprisingly, a flash of understanding grew on the hero's face. "Ah, Izuku has told me a lot about you two. It's good to finally put faces to names. You all have my thanks for protecting my son. He is my most important treasure; you have a dragon's gratitude."

'Deku's told him about us? I hope only good things…'

All Might cleared his throat. "Hisashi, I think it would be best if I were to debrief you about the situation."

"I would appreciate that," Stormclaw said tersely. The two pros walked off in the direction All Might had come from, leaving the students alone.

As soon as they turned the corner, Mina whipped back around to Ochako and Momo, whispering excitedly. "Stormclaw is so much cooler in person. Did you see how protective of Midori he was?"

"Mr. Midoriya is a great hero and a better father," Momo added succinctly. "He must be devastated."

Mina tapped her chin. "You sound like you know that personally. How well do you know the Midoriyas?"

"Not as well as I used to, unfortunately." There was a definite hint of regret in her voice. "I saw them less and less after the… accident."

"When he lost his arm?" Ochako asked curiously. Momo nodded slightly, clearly deep in thought.

Ochako turned and looked at Bakugou, who was glaring in the direction the two men had gone. She turned her gaze in the same direction.

'I hope Deku is okay…'

The door to the surgical observation room closed behind the two men. Hisashi walked to the one-way mirror and stared at his child on the table. The surgeons were working diligently, preparing the grisly burn on his shoulder for a skin graft.

"Toshinori…" His voice was trembling slightly, whether from grief or rage, he could not tell.

It was probably both.

"Please tell me why my baby boy is lying on an operating table."

"Hisashi, you know I respect you immensely. I owe you my life at least once over," Toshinori began. "So I'm going to be direct with you."

"I appreciate that." The man hadn't moved his eyes from Young Midoriya.

"It was your uncle."

The man took it much better than Toshinori expected. Instead of short circuiting the nearby electronics, he instead turned slowly towards his compatriot. "...What?"

"That burn on his shoulder? He was Terrorflame's first victim in 25 years..." All Might stared directly into Hisashi's glowing green eyes. "And thanks to your son, his only victim in 25 years."

Hisashi blinked a few times, his face mixed between disbelief and rage. His mouth twitched, revealing his fangs.

"There's more. To hold him off… your son transformed. Fully."

The rage fell from Hisashi's face, replaced by pure horror. "I-Izuku… transformed?"

Toshinori nodded. "He did. It was only due to your son's bravery that Terrorflame was held at bay until I arrived. I must confess… I was supposed to be there, but the Prime Minister requested me for a sensitive hostage situation."

"You couldn't have known…" Hisashi turned back to his child on the table with a somber look. "I don't blame you. I'm sure Izuku wouldn't either." The men stood in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. "Genta… you bastard . What happened to him?"

Toshinori wished he had good news to give, but alas. "I defeated him again, but he escaped as I ensured the safety of the students."

Hisashi nodded slowly. "A wise decision. Thank you for watching out for my boy and his classmates. He has only known them for a week, but they are precious to him. They were basically all he talked about when we talked on the phone this week." He chuckled slightly before sighing heavily. "Katsuki said that those girls protected him? How… how was he doing?"

"I entrusted Young Uraraka and Young Ashido with protecting your son after I arrived. Young Yaoyorozu… I understand she performed CPR on him after…" Toshinori didn't need to finish.

"I see." Sadness was palpable on his voice as his shoulders began to shake. "Izuku…"

"There's more." Toshinori winced internally as he continued dumping bad news on Hisashi. "Your uncle wasn't working alone."

"Please...don't associate me with that man," Hisashi pleaded grimly as he looked back at him.

Toshinori nodded. "As I was saying, he seemed to be working with a group. According to the student testimonies, they called themselves the 'League of Villains'."

"And this League had the capabilities to break him out of Tartarus?"

"Evidently," Toshinori said grimly. "They appear to be led by a man known as Tomura Shigaraki. His second is a man the students heard called Kurogiri. This Kurogiri has a warp quirk, and we suspect that's what they used to breach Tartarus' defenses."

"An unknown warp quirk signature that they had no way of defending against." Hisashi shook his head. "At least it won't happen again, but…" He trailed off as he looked forlornly at his child.

"There's more, but it can wait until another time." Toshinori took a step towards the man, putting his hand on his right shoulder. "We won't stop searching until Terrorflame and those with him are brought to justice."

Hisashi's shoulder shook harder. "I will spare no expense. The best doctors. The best specialists. My boy will be okay ."

"Young Izuku spoke to me about his worries and his doubts regarding Terrorflame before," Toshinori admitted. "He was afraid of ending up like them, but I can tell you this, Hisashi: your son is already a hero."

Hisashi wrapped his one arm around Toshinori's shoulder and began to weep. Toshinori returned the gesture with his left arm, giving the grieving father support both physically and emotionally.

About a half-hour later, Midori's mother arrived. For every pound of righteous fury that Stormclaw had carried into the hospital, she carried two pounds of stress and worry. She had crushed Momo and Bakugou in a hug as soon as she saw them, and after introductions, she had given Mina and Ochako a similar embrace. Before Mina could say much of anything to the mother, All Might quickly whisked her off to see her husband.

Once Midori was out of surgery, they moved him into one of the rooms for recovery. Mina and the other girls were permitted to be in the room as the doctor spoke to Stormclaw. The doctor raised an eyebrow at them, but Midori's dad simply told her that 'it's what Izuku would want'.

"Very well," she said after a pause, "the prognosis is both good and bad, Mr. Midoriya. Your son's wounds were easily healed, and the skin graft appears to be successful, although we will be unable to confirm that until more time has passed. The bad news is that he suffered a degree of exhaustion we have seldom seen. He's fallen into a comatose state, and we are unable to determine when he will wake. It might be a day or a week; we simply have no way of knowing."

Stormclaw nodded as she spoke. "You are confident that he will recover?"

She nodded. "Judging from our scans and tests, he has not suffered any permanent damage and all of his bodily and mental functions appear to be working properly. He is essentially just out of energy; it will take time for him to recover, but we are confident that he will."

Mina looked at the green-haired boy sleeping in the hospital bed. His chest rising and falling slowly gave her comfort and helped to pull her heart out of the pit it had fallen into hours prior.

Then, Mina was struck with a bold idea.

"Stormclaw, sir? Mr. Midoriya?" She looked up at the tall, muscular man. He was no longer comparable to Endeavor like he had been in his prime, but he was still incredibly buff.

The man looked down on her and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Miss Ashido?"

"Could we stay here with Midori- uh, your son?" She tried to put on her best puppy dog eyes, but her unique eyes weren't the best at it. "We're all really worried about him, I know I would be stressed out of my mind if I had to sit back at school while he was here."

"Absolutely no-" the doctor began.

"That's a great idea, actually."

Mina did a double take, making sure that Stormclaw wasn't playing a prank on her. "R-really?"

"Of course!" Stormclaw looked to the other three students. "That is, if the rest of you would like to."

The three other students nodded, surprised by the sudden turn of events.

The doctor protested. "This is highly irregular."

Midori's father turned to the doctor. "I assure you that it would be beneficial to my son's recovery. Until he recovers, please consider these four students to be my family."

The doctor looked up into Mr. Midoriya's eyes for a few seconds before sighing. "Fine. But I won't risk the safety of my patient even for family. No messing around and no second chances."

"Understood." Stormclaw nodded as the doctor sighed again and left the room.

All Might chuckled slightly. "Alright, get ready kids, we'll head back to UA and get luggage." The four students shuffled out of the room, but Mina lagged a bit behind, making sure to use her eavesdropping expertise.

"Are you sure about this, Hisashi?" All Might asked.

Stormclaw chuckled softly. "Absolutely. It has to do with our quirk. We always want to return home to rest, it calms us down, soothes us, helping us heal faster."

"I don't follow."

"Remember, Toshi: Home is where the hoard is."

Mina didn't dare listen any longer and jogged to catch up with her friends. It took about another ten minutes for All Might to follow them, after which, the four piled back into his truck and headed back to UA.

The sun was setting by the time the students opened the doors of Heights Alliance. As they entered the dorm, they were greeted by a storm of questions from nearly everyone else in the class.

"How's he doing?!" Kiri asked, clearly worried out of her mind. 

Kyouka popped up beside her. "Is he gonna be okay?"

Mina only caught some of what Pony said to Momo, as the woman was speaking in English, but even in another language her worry bled through.

Before any of them could answer, the imposing figure of All Might entered the doorframe and commanded attention. "Young Midoriya will be fine, students. Your concern is both appreciated and heartwarming."

"How did you know where we were?" Ochako asked the students crowding her.

Kaminari chuckled. "It's not like it was hard to figure out. Where else would you have gone after today?"

Kyouka rolled her eyes. "He had no idea until Midnight told us you went to see Midoriya."

"Jirou, come on!"

Midnight was sitting on one of the stools next to the kitchen counter laughing softly for a moment before she cracked her whip to get everyone's attention. "Now that everyone is here, we have an announcement. President Nezu had made the decision to declare a campus-wide emergency while we analyze and strategize regarding the break-in today." The hero seemed to be parroting official jargon, outside of her normal speech pattern.

"What that means for you is that classes are canceled next week, but none of you are permitted to leave campus without an escort. Any of you that choose to break these rules will be… punished ." She licked her lips.

That was more like it.

All Might cleared his throat again, returning attention to himself. "Now, don't look so sad, students. The doctors are confident that Young Midoriya will make a full recovery. However, I spoke to his father and he actually made a request that I am more than happy to oblige."

The students turned back to the number one hero with looks of curiosity and some trepidation.

"Any of you that wish to visit Young Midoriya are more than welcome to. In fact, Hisa- er, Mr. Midoriya encourages it. He believes it will facilitate your classmate's recovery."

Satou was the first to speak. "But how're we gonna visit him if we need an escort?"

"Not to worry, Young Satou." All Might flashed a thumbs up. "Nezu has granted us the use of a bus to take anyone who wants to see Young Midoriya to him. I hope you all decide to show your support for your classmate."

"Hell yeah. We're all gonna go, right guys?!" Kiri turned around and pumped her fist in the air. Cheers went up from the class in solidarity.

"That's not to say you can slack off," Midnight said loudly. "You're still responsible for all of your textbook readings for the week. This week off from classes means that you'll be pushed extra hard once we get back. Hope you can keep up~"

As the students groaned, All Might shot Mina and her compatriots a knowing look, sending the four of them scurrying off to their rooms to pack.

Ochako marveled at the room Deku had. It was almost more like a hotel suite than a hospital room. It only had one bed, which was currently being occupied by a peacefully sleeping man. There were two recliners and a comfy looking couch in the room, as well as a full bathroom with a shower. It was honestly not the worst place Ochako ever had to stay.

Mr. and Mrs. Midoriya were staying a few hallways over in a guest suite: a room with an actual bed and accommodations. They were seemingly overjoyed that Deku had friends who were willing to stay with him like this.

"It'll be like camping!" Mina said excitedly. "Except we won't freeze our butts off if we have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. And we won't have a fire, and we'll actually have running water… well, it's a little like camping."

Ochako and Momo couldn't help but giggle a little, and even Mrs. Midoriya, who insisted they call her Inko, laughed as well.

"Mr. Stormclaw, sir?" Ochako spoke up quietly.

"Please, Uraraka; call me Hisashi. Like I said, you're family right now." The man looked exhausted from the emotionally draining day. Ochako couldn't blame him, she was nearly about to pass out on her feet as well.

Ochako smiled weakly. "Thank you. Uh, I'm curious, why did you let us stay here? Not that I'm not grateful, but wouldn't it be better for him to get some peace and quiet?"

"I appreciate your concern. Izuku said you seemed to be a very considerate girl, and he's seldom wrong." Hisashi chuckled weakly. "I don't know how well you know my son, but I suspect that your presence here will help him a lot. He puts a lot of value in his friends."

Ochako smiled wider. 'But how will us jus' bein' around help him? Not that I don't wanna be here…'

Hisashi incidentally answered her mental question. "Knowing that you're close will help him recover. You're just going to have to take my word for it. That's why I asked All Might to bring any students who wanted to see him by. You should talk to him, even if you think he can't hear you. Let his brain know that you're there. It will help him. I promise."

Inko squeezed his arm a little. "Come on, dear. The kids need rest. They've had a long day." The kind woman turned to Ochako and her classmates. "I can't thank you enough for doing this; I'm sure you would rather be sleeping in your beds back at UA."

"Come on, Auntie, Izuku would do the same thing for us." Bakugou rolled his eyes, but there wasn't any bite behind his words.

Tears began to leak from the woman's eyes as her husband wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her out of the room. Ochako let out a heavy sigh as a heavy silence filled the room.

Bakugou stepped over to one of the recliners and placed his backpack on the ground before flopping down in the chair. He shifted around, making himself comfortable and seemed to begin drifting off to sleep just like that.

Then Ochako realized the problem. "Oh, someone is gonna have to sleep somewhere else." She glanced over at the couch and the other recliner.

"Nonsense!" Mina said cheerfully, even though her own exhaustion was clear on her face. "Yaomomo can take the chair, you and I can share the couch."

Ochako was too tired to argue. She was just grateful to have a place to lie down as she crashed onto the couch. Unfortunately, due to her height, she took up the entire couch.

"Ugh, come on, Ocha, scoot over a bit." Ochako remained face-first in one of the pillows as Mina wedged herself in on the other side of the couch. Ochako just let it happen as Mina struggled and shifted the taller woman out of the way as she claimed a spot.

Eventually, Mina had carved out enough of the couch to get comfortable. The women's heads were on opposite ends of the couch as both rested on their right sides with their backs to each other. Mina's feet were just at the bottom of Ochako's back, while her feet were much further up Mina's.

Momo shook her head and smiled as she turned around, her back to the rest of the group. Ochako blushed slightly as the tall, busty woman pulled up her shirt and exposed her back to the group. The telltale glow of her quirk caused Ochako to tilt her head in curiosity, before a large white blanket billowed out around the woman.

She repeated the process two more times before walking over and putting a blanket over Bakugou, another over the two women on the couch and then finally herself as she turned off the lights and then snuggled into her own recliner.

"Thanks," Bakugou grumbled softly.

"You're the best, Yaomomo," Mina mumbled into the pillow at the end of the couch.

Ochako could hear the smile in Momo's voice. "You are welcome. Let's get some sleep everyone."

Tired, sore, grouchy, and all the other symptoms you would normally feel after spending a night on a hospital sofa scrunched up with someone else: Ochako felt none of these.

Instead, as she woke up the next morning, the early morning light peeking into the room, she felt fantastic. She opened her eyes slowly and rolled her shoulders slightly as she sighed. Ochako suddenly became aware of a weight pressing down on her body.

She glanced down and noticed that the blanket was a tangled mess and Mina had flipped around in her sleep. She was hugging Ochako's leg like a teddy bear and resting her head on Ochako's hip with an adorable, satisfied smile on her face. The brunette grew a matching smile and in her grogginess, reached down without thinking and rustled the pink woman's hair.

Mina pushed her head into the contact instinctively, letting out a small mewl as she nuzzled her face further into Ochako's leg.

Ochako felt a strange tightening in her chest as her face grew warm. Her heart rate increased, her blush deepening further as she woke up more fully. She slowly and perhaps a little reluctantly pulled her hand away from the messy pink locks of the woman wrapped around her leg.

It was Mina's turn to finally wake up, which was probably Ochako's fault for tussling her hair. The woman blinked slowly a few times and stretched her mouth in a small yawn. She looked around, taking in the surroundings and quickly noticing the position she was in.

Mina's eyes widened in surprise for a moment but, to Ochako's surprise, they quickly shrunk back down as a happy smile and a lilac dusting appeared on her face. "Morning, Ochako."

"Good m-morning, Mina." Ochako looked away, less embarrassed about the situation she was in, and more so that she was enjoying it so much. Seeing her discomfort, Mina begrudgingly let go and the two women untangled themselves from both the blanket and each other.

Ochako looked over to the chair which Bakugou had occupied, which was empty, and then over to the still snoozing form of Momo. The woman's voluminous raven hair was spread over the reclined chair as she breathed peacefully. 'She even looks beautiful and refined while she's sleepin'...'

Her vision finally fell to Deku, still in the exact same position as when Ochako had fallen asleep. If it wasn't for the faint beep of the EKG telling her his heart was still beating smoothly, there was almost no sign that he was still alive.

But he was still alive. He had nearly given everything to keep Ochako and the others alive, but he had pulled through. He would wake up again soon, the doctors said as much.

Ochako sighed as she stared at the man. Just looking at him filled her with so many emotions that it nearly overwhelmed her. She felt gratitude for what he had done for her, she felt guilty that she wasn't able to protect him more, she felt disheartened as she remembered what Terrorflame had said about him, she felt proud for what he had been willing to do… and she felt that strange tightening in her chest that she had felt when Mina was cuddling her leg.

She felt her face warming up again.

Saturday passed surprisingly quickly. About ten students came by on the first bus, each spending some time with Deku and talking with the four overnighters. Inko insisted on bringing a home-made lunch for them, which Ochako enjoyed immensely.

"I see where he gets his cooking skills," she complimented, her eyes squeezed shut with delight as she ate Inko's rice.

The mother smiled wide. "He was so happy that you all enjoyed the meals he made. He went on and on about it when he called me a couple days ago."

"Does he tell you guys everything?" Mina asked, saving Ochako the trouble of having to swallow her food to speak.

"Well, he tells us a lot." Inko was rummaging in the food basket she had brought. "Like this, for example."

She produced a small dish containing some delicious-smelling mochi and held it out to Ochako. "He said you seemed to like mochi; you should have heard him begging me to give him lessons on making it…" Inko trailed off as he smile dropped. "We were going to cook all day today, in fact. He was planning a big feast for you all tomorrow. Celebrating the first week of classes being done, and all that."

Ochako felt her heart both swell and drop a little. She took the dish and ate a small bite of the dessert, doing her best to contain a delighted squeal as it hit her tongue.

Mina reached over and put her arm around Inko's shoulder. "Maybe next weekend, Mamadoriya. He'll wake up soon."

The woman sniffed once. "Thank you, dear. I'm sure Izuku would be happy if you would want to join us. He speaks so highly of you."

Ochako smiled as a small dusting of lilac appeared on Mina's cheeks. "R-really? I'd love to!"

Inko threw her arms around Mina in a tight hug. "Of course! Oh, he'll be so excited once he finds out."

Fire and fury. Heat and hatred. Terrorflame bared his terrible fangs in a cruel smile as he took titanic, earth shaking steps towards Ochako. He towered over a hundred feet above the paralyzed woman as he sneered down at her with his burning eyes full of malice.

"Greedy, greedy. You're just a hero for the money. You don't care about helping people."

Ochako tried to step back, but she found her legs encased in black, volcanic stone. She tried to use her quirk to free herself, but it wouldn't activate. Her panic grew with each thunderous step the monster took.

"While other heroes stood up to me, you cowered in fear. And why not? There's no money to be made in standing up to me."

"T-that's not true!" Ochako yelled back. "I want to help people!"

Terrorflame sneered, exposing his massive fangs. A fiery glow that was terribly familiar to Ochako shone in the back of his throat as he opened his jaw wide.

A torrent of flame poured forth, impossibly hot and bright.

Suddenly, Deku appeared between the monster and Ochako, but he was no dragon. The man was in his hero costume, his chiseled chest facing toward her. The fire crashed into his back and split around her as his face contorted in pain. His eyes bugged wide as he stared straight into Ochako's own.

The flames began to consume him, his flesh and muscle charring and melting from his bones. The fires began to close in as his body was burned away. "Ochako…"

"If you want to be a hero, then why didn't you protect him? Why didn't you try?!"

Deku reached his skeletal hand towards her. "Help me…"

Ochako's eyes flew open as she shot up in her seat. She was dripping with sweat and panting slightly. She was so tired the previous night that she slept dreamlessly, but tonight there was nothing keeping the terrible memories of Terrorflame from her mind.

Even now, her imagination wandered back to the roaring flames that melted Deku in front of her. Her heart pounded in her chest as she recalled his death-

Except... he wasn't dead. He had saved her and had lived. She threw the blanket off of herself and quietly walked over to Deku's bed and sat down in a chair next to him.

She reached out and grabbed his hand, gently moving her fingers up and down his palm. She wrapped her hand in his and felt his pulse. It was slow, but it was steady.

Just by touching his hand and feeling his heartbeat, she felt her own begin to calm down. A feeling of warmth and safety radiated from the contact, spreading up her arm and across her body.

"You too, huh?"

Ochako nearly shouted as Mina's whisper broke the silence of the dark room. She whipped her vision up and saw the pink woman sitting on the other side of Deku's bed, his right hand held tightly between hers.

Mina smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Ochako's pulse began to slow again as she came down from her fright. She took a few deep breaths before finally calming down enough to speak. "I-I had a nightmare…"

"About Terrorflame?"

Ochako nodded slowly. "You too?"

Mina returned the nod as she looked down at Deku. "I feel safe around him, but I want to keep him safe, too. I see him lying here and I can't help but think that I could have… should have done more."

Ochako shuddered slightly, remembering what the Terrorflame in her dream had bellowed at her.

"But…" Mina continued, "seeing him here, still breathing… I know things are gonna be okay. There will be chances in the future to show him what he means to me and return the favor." She leaned down and rested her face on his arm.

Ochako nodded again as her eyes returned to Deku. She reached up and brushed his hair away from his face and ran her fingers along his horns. The whole time, both Ochako and Mina never let go of his hand.

After another half hour of silence, the fear and uncertainty that had filled Ochako's heart was all but dispelled. Waves of sleepiness began to crash against her body as her eyes began to feel heavy again.

Mina yawned widely, seemingly feeling the same thing. Their eyes met as they both made their way back to the couch. Ochako laid down, leaving enough room for Mina to squeeze in. Instead of turning around to the other side of the couch, she slid in facing the same way.

The pink woman wrapped her arms around Ochako's legs and rested her head on her hip again. Instead of resisting, Ochako just blushed a little and pulled the blanket up so it covered her friend.

"You know, Ochako. I feel safe around you, too."

Over the course of the next few days in the hospital, they settled into a sort of rhythm. Several students came by each day to spend time and talk with Deku, some of which came by every day; namely, Pony, Iida and Eiko. What surprised Ochako most of all perhaps, was that over the first three full days of Deku's coma, every single student had come by at least once, even the stoic Todoroki.

Todoroki hadn't said much, but at least he had come by. The man had mostly sat in the chair next to Deku's bed and stared at him, before saying a few short words under his breath and leaving. Hisashi had given Todoroki a knowing nod as he left, which tipped Ochako off that they knew each other, at least a little bit.

Ochako couldn't catch most of what Pony talked to him about, she spoke English with such speed and excitement that she could only understand about every third word. It was nice to see her so animated, but Ochako blushed a little when she saw Pony holding his hand between hers. 'Perhaps it's an American thing? I hear they're touchier over there… but it's not like I wasn't doin' the same thing earlier.'

Eiko talked a lot about old heroes, which Ochako found charming. The way she spoke about them and told stories about them, it made the old pros sound like their adventures were straight out of a comic book. The passion that Eiko carried into everything she did was infectious and endearing; it was hard not to have a smile on when she was around.

Bakugou talked to Deku every morning for about an hour or so, mostly about the hero news that had happened the previous day, recounting important developments and key battles that gained the headlines. Mina talked with him about funny things she had read online as well as gossip she had heard between nurses and other staff, stunning Ochako with how well trained her hearing had to be to have heard half of the stuff she did.

Ochako couldn't help but giggle slightly whenever Iida arrived. The man would do his best to make sure that Deku kept up on his studies, even in a coma. Ochako and Mina sometimes even skipped certain readings in their textbooks if Iida explained them well enough.

Momo was the one who made sure that the other two women were actually reading. Momo would spend a couple hours each day reading the assigned passages out loud to Deku, unless Iida had already gone over them, of course. Momo's refined and well-practiced speaking voice made her a delight to listen to.

Ochako spent her time with Deku talking about all sorts of things. She would talk about her time with his parents, anything interesting she had read online or in her textbook, or sometimes just whatever came to her mind. She would wind up recounting stories she remembered about her childhood, some that made her laugh and others that made her a little embarrassed.

Overall, it was about as pleasant and exciting that spending time around a comatose man could be. But despite her spending time with her friends, which included Mina and her getting a little bit more comfortable with each other every night, Ochako couldn't shake off the question that was plaguing her heart and her conscience.

Toshinori was nearly shaking when he returned to the hospital on the fourth full day of Young Midoriya's coma. It was a rainy Tuesday afternoon, but the storms outside were nothing compared to the turmoil raging in Toshinori's heart.

He approached the fourth floor room that held Young Midoriya, not able to take any of the joy he normally would have in the eight students in and around the room. He ducked through the doorway quickly looking around for the man he had come to see.

"Stormclaw, I need to speak with you." Using his hero name would tell Hisashi just how serious Toshinori was.

The man picked up on his intent, quickly standing up and following Toshinori out of the room. The students around Young Midoriya were very aware of the tension that had suddenly filled the room.

Toshinori led Hisashi to an empty room on the other side of the floor. He walked to the windows, staring at the rain pouring down outside. He stood still for at least a minute, collecting his thoughts and thinking of how to proceed.

"What's this about, Toshinori?" Hisashi's patience finally began to reach its limits.

The blonde man sighed heavily. "This morning… they found Terrorflame."

Toshinori felt the hair on the back of his neck raise as the air was filled with a static charge. "Where?"

He turned around slightly, looking straight into the now-glowing eyes of his friend. "Allow me to clarify: they found his body."

The scales that had formed alone the man's neck and arms snapped away in an instant as the lights in his eyes blinked out. "He's… dead?"

Toshinori nodded. "His body was dumped in front of Tartarus; their sensors detected the same warp energy from before. Whoever did this wanted us to find him. According to the coroners, his body was chilled, preserved. There's no telling how long he had been dead. There were lacerations around his body that looked like someone had already performed a small-scale autopsy on him, so they suspect it might have been within 24 hours of the attack at the USJ."

Hisashi sat down in a chair, staring wide-eyed at the floor. "I suppose that's a weight off my mind, but judging from how shaken you look, I'm guessing that's not the end of the story."

"No," Toshinori said grimly. "What has me worried is the other part of the police report." All Might turned fully so as to face Hisashi properly, his blue eyes looking straight into his sea green. "His horns were missing, Hisashi."

"Missing?"

"Not broken. Not removed. Missing . As if they were never there."

A silence hung in the room. The only noise came from the humming of the air vents and the rain pattering against the window.

"So what you're saying," Hisashi eventually broke the silence, "is that he is back."

Toshinori nodded. "I fear so."

"To survive an injury like that…" Hisashi shook his head. "So... All For One is back... and this time he has a dragon quirk."

In that moment, to Toshinori, the water crashing against the window sounded less like raindrops and more like the distant, echoing drums of war.

Notes:

See you guys next time!

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