Chapter 31 Is It Over?

Dante's wings beat wildly as he soared over the smoking wreckage of the U.S.J., Aizawa was still unconscious in his arms. Every movement was a gamble. Every flap felt like his back was tearing open, but he needed to keep going.

He could finally see U.A. properly. Just a little further. Just a little more—

*BOOM!*

A shockwave pierced the sky as the bird monster thing came flying out of a hole in the U.S.J. like a meteor headed straight for Dante, launched by a furious All Might.

Dante's eyes went wide. "Shit—!"

The monster missed him by inches, the sheer force of the wind dragged it behind knocking Dante clean out of balance. His wings lost all balance and retreating back into Dante's body.

And then, he fell.

He was plummeting and very fast, the sky and ground was spinning around him as Aizawa's weight dragged them both like dead weight through the air.

"NO, NO, NO!" Dante screamed, eyes darting around for a solution in desperation.

Below, dante noticed tons of heroes. And Iida? They all looked up just in time to see a blur or black and red screaming through the air.

"HELP! CATCH ME, OR HIM, OR SOMETHING!!"

He tried to use his quirk mid fall, trying to morph a shape. A parachute? Wings again? Anything. He was extremely starved, his nerves were fried. The only thing that came out was a deformed mass of semi hardened sludge stretching out like a warped glider.

Too small. Too unstable!

But it slowed him at least.

Barely.

A dozen Pro Heroes broke their sprint below, there was one guy that looked like a block of cement and a small animal looking guy in a suit.

Dante clenched his teeth as the ground raced toward him.

But the impact never came.

He fell into the arms of three familiar heroes, all teachers from U.A.

"You need… to save him…" Dante managed to get out, before he fell out of their arms.

Flat on his back, all of the sludge retreating back to his body, blood dripping from his nose and ears, Dante managed to wheeze out one more thing as the pros swarmed him.

"…fucking bird thing… hurry, they are still in the U.S.J."

And then be blacked out.

…

…

Hours later, the faint beeping of medical monitors echoed through a large room. The smell of antiseptic quickly stirred Dante awake. He was in a hospital bed, bandaged across his arms and legs, one eye was covered in bandages and his body was in agony.

Across the room, he saw Aizawa who was barely conscious, his face was wrapped fully in bandages, an IV in his arm. His injuries were way worse than Dante's, he had deep fractures, torn ligaments and a broken arm. Yet, he still managed to glance Dante's way with that same unreadable, tired look.

Dante tilted his head to the side, staring up at the ceiling.

"…Should've been faster."

A nurse came by to check their vitals, then left them alone again. The room was quiet, save for the machines.

For the first time since he had blacked out in his blind rage, he had time to think. About the fight, about Shigaraki's words, about the way he fused with little Dante almost. And most of all, about the moment he thought Aizawa had died.

He clenched his fists.

"You're really still gonna go through with this?" A voice asked beside him.

Dante turned again, and saw that familiar figure of his younger self.

"You saw what they did right? They nearly let Aizawa die. And you want to join them?"

Dante squinted, "but you want to join the people that put him in that position?"

Little Dante just scoffed and looked away.

Outside the room, reporters swarmed the hospital entrance. Rumours were already spreading, about the students, about the villains and especially about the mysterious 1-A student that fought alone to protect his teacher.

But in this room? It was nice and quiet, except for the rumble of Dante's tummy. He was very hungry.

Then came a knock, soft, almost hesitant.

The door slid open and in walked principal Nezu, and behind him were Present Mic and Recovery Girl. Power Loader lingered in the hallway behind them, clipboard in hand.

"Dante Graves," Nezu said, his voice light but there was a serious undertone. "I've wanted to talk with you for a while now, I can do that now that you've caused quite the stir."

Dante blinked, then slowly sat up, grunting. "Yeah, well… we were attacked. Aizaw— I mean, Mr. Aizawa would've died if I hadn't gone all out. I simply responded."

"You responded by carving through a small army of villains?" Present Mic said, raising an eyebrow behind his tinted glasses.

"I had to, they were in my way of saving Mr. Aizawa, I call that initiative." Dante muttered, rubbing his face.

"Some call it a warpath," Recovery Girl added, but she didn't seem angry. Just tired from helping all of the injured. "You need food."

"Yes." Dante grumbled. "I'm starving actually, I need something with a lot of calories."

Nezu chuckled. "Food is on the way, don't worry."

Dante didn't reply. He just leaned his head back against the pillow, watching the ceiling.

A few seconds passed before a tray was brought in, stacked with steaming bowls of rice, grilled meat, boiled eggs and a protein shake. Dante didn't waste any time tearing into it like a beast. With every bite, something strange started to happen.

Steam began to rise from the bandaged parts of his body.

Recovery Girl leaned forward, eyes narrowing.

His fractured wrist straightened and knit itself back together. The shallow indent in his torso filled out, his ribs cracking back together. But the small cuts remained. He exhaled, the steam rolling from his skin like some kind of mist off a morning lake.

"…Fascinating," Nezu whispered, watching intently.

"How… I thought your quirk was transformation related?" Present Mic added.

Dante paused mid bite. "It's not what you think it is, it's not healing. Well not the way you think. My quirk… it doesn't see those as injuries. When I lose an arm or leg like that, or when they get shattered or torn, my body just treats them like discarded sludge. Like when I first ever trained with my quirk, I'd turn parts of my body into sludge and they would just fail and splatter onto the floor. The limb would be gone for a moment, but they'd still regrow eventually, it just requires calories. My injuries would've healed hours ago if I had something to eat."

Nezu tilted his head. "And what about smaller cuts and bruises?"

"They stay," Dante muttered, swallowing another mouthful. "Because my body thinks that they weren't seperated, just altered. My bones count since when they break, they are seperated."

A silent moment followed.

Aizawa looked over from his hospital bed.

Dante looked at him, his expression unreadable. "He shouldn't have had to fight like that. Not alone. I need to get stronger, so I can protect those who have protected me."

Nezu's ears twitched.

Dante just looked back at his tray and took another bite.

But surprisingly, his mind was barely focused on the food.

It was on the bloodshed.

On the crushed expressions of Izuku and Tsuyu when they saw Aizawa broken.

On the face of his younger self, always watching from the dark and forgotten corners of his mind.

On the fact that his quirk was better utilised when he aimed to kill.

On his urge to kill.

He quickly snapped out of it, and looked over to Aizawa.

He struggled out a small thumbs up, "You did good."

Dante's jaw clenched, teeth grinding.

"I should've saved you sooner…"

…

…

Hours later, Dante was sitting on the edge of the bed, rolling his shoulder. A sharp pain still lingered where he had a few stitches, but the more brutal wounds that had split muscle and shattered bones, they were all gone, which had startled the nurse who was giving him a check up.

"You're free to go after a few more checkups," she had told him, eyeing him like he was an experiment, Dante didn't blame her though.

…

Even more hours later, dressed in casual clothes and a hoodie pulled low over his brow, Dante stepped into the familiar scent of sweat, rubber mats and testosterone. The gym was buzzing with activity as per usual, and in the corner, Kaijin was adjusting his robe while Kazuya tossed a towel over his shoulder.

"Yo," Dante called out, his voice was rough from the days chaos.

Kazuya turned, grinning. "Oh, hey Dante. I've seen the news, crazy stuff dude."

Kaijin raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I heard about U.A. having some kind of situation, you in the middle of that mess?"

Dante scoffed. "In the middle? I was the mess."

They all shared a quiet laugh before Dante launched into the whole story, he described the days events, the battles, his fight with Shigaraki, the weird Nomu thing and the fact that he actually flew for the first time. Neither Kazuya or Kaijin interrupted, just nodding along, sharp eyes reading more between the lines.

After a beat, Kazuya leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "Funny thing. My sister's kid is in U.A. right now too."

Dante raised a brow. "For real?"

"Yeah. Tetsutetsu. Tough kid, we have pretty similar quirks, only he turns into steel and I can do that and create armour but with gold, it's weaker but looks cooler. The kids a knucklehead, but he means well. If you see him, tell him I said 'hi'."

Dante blinked. "Why tell me now? I could've said hi sooner."

Kazuya shrugged. "Didn't know he got in, I'm pretty sure he's in class 1-B? You're in 1-A right? Wouldn't expect any less! Small world eh?"

Dante chuckled, then glanced down at his hands covered in bruises and scratches. Healing at a normal pace. "Guess I'll try find the guy, school is cancelled tomorrow though, I'll find him the day after."