Chapter Text
Todoroki.
Who...
Wake up...don’t fall asleep.
What...
Wake up!
Who was that? Why was there a voice deep inside his mind?
Are you there? Please, say something! Wake up!
"Why...tired...” Todoroki whispered, his eyes tiredly staring ahead, his mind elsewhere.
Oh, good, you’re awake. I was scared for a second. Listen, I don’t have much time; my mental link will get disrupted. You need to stay awake if you fall asleep, you’ll lose what makes you, you.
“I...don’t...get it...”
You’ll lose your memories. The doctor is keeping you trapped here, he’s going to eventually erase everything that makes who you are. If you fall asleep, the quirk will solidify itself and you’ll lose more of your memories and yourself.
Todoroki listened to this mysterious voice, but he felt so empty and devoid of thoughts that he simply didn’t care.
“Don’t...care...tired...”
Dammit, I’m guessing he’s already done his treatment a few times on you already. I know it may be hard to understand, but the more memories you lose, the more docile you’ll become and that is exactly what he wants. If you have no memories, then you don’t have motivations, aspirations, or cares. You’ll have no choice but to follow him; be his lab rat forever. Todoroki, you can’t let that happen!
“I...” Todoroki was having a hard time staying focused. His mind was a jumbled mess, her words simply flew past his disrupted mind. Not only was his mind fragmented, but there were holes in his memories that were becoming bigger and bigger the longer this woman in his head spoke to him.
“I...don’t—”
It’s fine, Todoroki. You don’t have to understand. We’ll find you and it’ll all make sense then. Thanks to our mental link, I have an idea where you are. Ragdoll is working on pinpointing your location. But all I ask from you is that you stay awake.
Todoroki, for the most part, understood the direness of his situation, even if he could barely remember what she said. But taking into heart what she was saying, was incredibly hard. It’s as if he didn’t care; about his situation or about what this “doctor” was doing to him. Also, the pull to sleep was too strong. Even if he wanted to act upon her words, the urge to close his eyes and escape to the world of unconsciousness was just too powerful.
Besides, thinking about it, why should he fight, that’s too tiring. Maybe forgetting would be nice. No worries, no responsibilities, no obligations, no concerns, that sounded wonderful. Maybe this doctor isn't bad, after all, he is the one who could take away all his worries, he could just live carefree without all this heavy baggage.
No, Todoroki! I can read what you are thinking! You can’t succumb to him! He will use you! You’re just a lab rat to him! He probably hurt you already!
Is that really true? His body did hurt, was it him? But how could it really have been that guy this strange woman was saying, he would’ve known, he would’ve remembered pain, right? He would’ve remembered getting hurt, isn’t that, right?
But he doesn’t, so it can’t be him, he would know. Also, he is a doctor, correct? Doctors, from his knowledge, are meant to save and care for the sick, not hurt others. So that doesn’t make sense, he wouldn’t hurt him. Maybe he is good and there is a reason for why he is doing this. But this woman…this woman is nobody to him, a stranger. So, maybe…it’s her! She is speaking to him without permission, a stranger peeking into his mind. She could’ve done something to him, maybe she is the reason he is in pain!
You can’t do this! You can’t play into his games! Your memories are already being affected; I am seeing that. But you must listen to me we are almost—
“Get…out of…my head.” Todoroki interrupted. He tried to stand, but his limbs felt heavy and made of lead. He ignored the odd sensation as well as the soft humming that was emanating from around his neck, “I don’t know…who you are…just get out…”
Todoroki…I know all of this is very confusing but trust me, that guy is at fault. I know it’s hard to believe a stranger talking in your head but please—
“Shut up—” Todoroki yelled; his voice quiet.
What—
“Just…shut…the hell up…” Despite his voice being barely at a whisper, there was hostility present in his tone, “I…don’t know…you…let me rest…”
I—dammit—our---connection—it’s—we—coming—please—don’t—asleep!
Wait what did she say again?
Todoroki—please—don’t
What was happening? What was going on?
We—coming!
The memories of the past few minutes disappeared, but Todoroki did not care, nothing mattered. As the voice in his head went silent, he let his eyes close, letting the relief of sleep wash over him.
“Over here! He’s over here!”
“Shit! He’s asleep!”
“We need to wake him up!”
“Todoroki! Todoroki! Can you hear me!”
Todoroki woke up, his world slowly coming back to him. A light was shining on him, the brightness of the illumination straining his tired eyes. There were voices all around him, each bouncing off the concrete walks and swirly into a mismatched form of tones and sounds. He groaned softly as he tried to move, but he felt incredibly heavy, he could not move a single muscle.
“He is awake! Todoroki, can you say something?!”
The loudness of this stranger’s voice was overwhelming, everything was too much for his dulled senses.
“Who…what?” He uttered, his mouth struggling to voice more than a few words.
“Good. We’ve come to get you out of here.” The mysterious man suddenly grabbed him into a bridal carry, shocking the teenager.
What was happening? Todoroki was so confused. Not only was this place he was in unfamiliar but now this stranger was carrying him and worse of all, he couldn’t move a muscle.
“No…get…off” Todoroki tried to fight, but his attempts came out as weak squirms against the person’s arms.
The guy pulled out what looked like a phone, “We got him, we are heading to the hospital.”
There was too much going on. Todoroki's mind was spinning, “Get…please…”
“Great to hear, Eraserhead! Was he asleep when you found him?”
Aizawa sighed, “Yes, he was. Unfortunately.”
“Dammit, well, there is nothing we can do about that. He wasn’t asleep for long, so let’s hope the damage wasn’t profound. But keep him awake! While I was communicating with him, I could sense a large emptiness in his mind. I fear that if he falls asleep again, the memory loss could be completely solidified and therefore irreversible!”
“Understood, thanks for letting us know Mandalay, and thank you for your help,” Aizawa replied.
“Of course. Take care of him.” Then the line cut off.
Aizawa put away his phone and glanced at the teenager in his hands who was still fighting, doing everything he could to escape his hold yet failing miserably. He then gazed at his two students, “Bakugo, Midoriya, let’s go! The pro-heroes will deal with the rest, we need to get Todoroki to the hospital immediately.” He urged.
“Yes, Mr. Aizawa!” Midoriya agreed.
Bakugo…Midoriya…Aizawa…
He heard those names before, but he didn’t know where. He had this feeling like he knew them, but he wasn’t sure how. He didn’t know if these people had some importance to him or not, but he had this feeling that they did. But he had no memory of them. So why does he feel like this?
Nothing made sense, he had no idea what was going on. As he was led away from the room, he continued to ponder what was happening. Yet, nothing was clicking. His location, these people, or even who he was—blank. He wasn’t sure if he should resist or just submit. Should he let these people take him? At this point, he wasn’t sure what was true, what was real, or who to trust.
“Over here!”
So, he gave up and relaxed against this guy’s arms as he ran.
“Don’t fall asleep.” The guy nudged.
He followed, after all, what other purpose did he have?
The next thing Todoroki remembered was “waking up”, laying on a hospital bed. He wasn’t sure if he had fallen asleep, his memories from before were essentially a blur.
He could hear the melodic beeping of his heart coming from the monitor beside him. He sat up and looked around, his eyes then fixated on the large window that was displaying the large metropolitan. The sun was setting, the warm glows of the falling sun beautifully caressing the city as night began to emerge.
“Oh! You’re awake!”
Stunned, his head reverted toward the voice. His eyes immediately landed on a teenage boy sitting on a sofa near him, his hair green and ruffled.
“I’m so glad! You scared us there!” The green-haired teenager stood up and slowly approached Todoroki. The teenager tried to scoot away; an obvious look of fear plastered on his face. This alarmed the boy in the room, he quickly stopped his advancement.
“Do…you know who I am?”
“I’m…not sure. I feel like I do.” Todoroki replied.
“It’s fine. The doctors said that it’s going to take some time for your memories to come back.”
The boy then smiled, he sat on a chair next to his bed, and brought a hand to his chest, “Um, I’m Midoriya, one of your classmates at UA!”
“UA?”
“Yeah! UA High! We are in the hero track together, in class 1-A! Do you remember being a student there?”
Todoroki tried to remember but it was difficult. Certain memories were coming back to him now that Midoriya was speaking to him. About who Midoriya is and what UA is. But things such as his time at UA were still a blur to him or they were locked away. Many of these memories felt like they were at the tip of his tongue, they were so close to the surface, but something kept trying to pull them back into the abyss of forgetfulness.
“Not really…it’s odd, it’s all a blur right now.”
“That’s expected, that doctor did do a number on you.”
Todoroki’s eyes widened.
Doctor?
Images began to flash in his memory. A room, a collar, a blue light, and…pain.
He instinctively reached to touch his neck; it was bare. There was something there before, something that caused him pain. It glowed, didn’t it? The doctor put it there, didn’t he?
What exactly happened to him?
“Midoriya. What happened…to me?” Todoroki asked as he gazed at his wrists, they were bare as well.
Upon saying those words, Midoriya’s face shifted to one of worry and concern. It was obvious that whatever happened to Todoroki has taken a toll on the teenager.
“It was my fault…”
Todoroki’s eyes widened; he did not expect him to begin with that statement.
“It happened a week ago, on a Saturday. It was our turn to go on a convenience store run to grab a few snacks for our class. Aizawa wasn’t around, so I let All Might know where we were going. He insisted we have a teacher escort us, but I said that it would be quick. That it would be best to not waste a teacher’s time to supervise something that shouldn’t take long. All Might agreed but he insisted we let him know if anything happens. So…we headed out. Dammit, I’m such an idiot…we should’ve been escorted by someone.”
Midoriya paused, taking a moment to take a breath before he continued his story.
“Anyway, we went to the convenience store and grabbed our stuff. Everything was going well until we were ambushed…in the store. Apparently, the people at the convenience store were not normal citizens, they were part of this crazy science facility. I was about to use my quirk to escape but I felt a prick on my neck. Everything began to sway, and, at that moment, I knew I was drugged. The last thing I remembered before I passed out was you getting drugged and then being dragged away by those people.”
He paused once again to quickly wipe the emerging tears from his eyes.
“W-well, based on the r-reports, that guy did a number on you. He kept you imprisoned in a laboratory and subjected you to various experiments that were focused on researching different restraining and torture methods. This guy wanted to see how someone with a quirk as strong as yours could be subdued with technology…completely vile.”
“Anyway, he used his quirk multiple times to make you forget what was happening—including your past. Every single time you fell asleep, the length and profoundness of the memory loss were extended. If you stayed there any longer the memory loss length would have been extended forever. Thankfully, we found you in time so what you lost is reparable. You should be able to recover all your memories in about a month or two.”
Todoroki was completely appalled by Midoriya’s explanation. So, this whole time he was kidnapped and experimented on. That’s why he remembered the collar and the pain, he was used for that doctor’s inhuman “scientific” advancements.
“Midoriya, I—” Todoroki stopped upon seeing the distressed boy.
Midoriya looked away as tears began to form, “Sorry…I—just—I caused all of this. I don’t know why they didn’t take me…why did you have to suffer for something I caused?! If only I listened to All Might and had a teacher escort us, then this wouldn’t have happened. You wouldn’t have been kidnapped. You wouldn’t have lost your memories. You wouldn’t have been subjected to all those horrible things that doctor did to you.”
Todoroki stared, dumbfounded. He wasn’t sure what to do. What he meant to Midoriya was still a blur to him. Was he a friend? Or just a classmate of his? Should he hug him? Or is that weird?
Although, one thing he knew for sure was that this wasn’t something he should be blaming himself for. Listening to his story it was obvious that he didn’t have control over what happened. Midoriya didn’t know that he would end up kidnapped. He shouldn’t be blaming himself for this.
“Hey Midoriya.” He should at least comfort him. Friend or not, he needed comfort.
The green-haired teenager gazed at him, his tears glistening against the rays of the setting sun.
“Don’t blame yourself for what happened. You couldn’t predict this. Plus, you had good intentions, you didn’t want to burden the teachers. And since it was the weekend, it made sense. What happened was out of your control and it is now in the past. I’m here, right? My memories are not fully recovered, but you all saved me before it was too late. That is what matters.”
“Todoroki…”
“I-I don’t know what that guy did to me…but I know I’ll be remembering those details as my memory heals. But even then, even as I start remembering, I will not blame you for what happened.” Todoroki concluded.
Midoriya smiled, the lump in his throat was still there but he began to feel a little more at ease, “Thanks, Todoroki. I appreciate it…it’s been a hard week, but I am so glad you’re here.” Midoriya then chuckled, “I’m probably a stranger to you at the moment. Even then you are still the Todoroki I know. Thanks for being a great friend.”
Friend?
So, that’s what he is to him.
Todoroki smiled softly, “And I am sure you are a great friend to me as well. I can’t wait to remember my life again.”
“Yeah, same here.” Midoriya grinned joyfully.
A knock was heard. The two teenagers stopped their conversation and turned to look at the entrance.
“Oh! You’re awake.” A nurse walked in, “Good. The doctor would like to do a few memory tests to see how you’re progressing with your memory recovery.”
The nurse approached his bed, “He’ll be here shortly, I’m just going to do some blood work before he gets here.” He gazed at Midoriya, “Sorry young man, I will have to ask you to leave. You’ll be allowed to come once we are done. Although, his family wants to see him as well.”
“It’s all good! I’ll make my way out!” Midoriya quickly gathered his belongings, “I’ll come back tomorrow if that’s okay with you, Todoroki.”
“Of course, can’t wait to see you then.” Todoroki replied, “Maybe tomorrow I can start remembering our friendship…and all my memories at UA. I-I know those memories from my imprisonment will start to come back as well. But I’m sure the good one will overshadow whatever memories surface from my time with that doctor.”
Midoriya smiled, “Yeah, I’m sure they will. But we will be by your side to help you process them. If you need anything, I am always a call and a text away.”
Todoroki felt an unusual warmth that he hadn’t felt for a while. The kindness that was radiating from him was overwhelming, he felt so sad that his memories of their friendship were wiped away. But thankfully it wasn’t for forever.
“Well, I’ll be on my way. See ya later!” Midoriya waved.
“See you later!” Todoroki uttered as Midoriya left.
Todoroki was content. The doctor may have messed with his brain, but he couldn’t erase the people in his life. People like Midoriya.
“You have a great friend. That young man stayed by your side the past two days, only leaving for school. I hope you keep him close; you need people like him.” The nurse explained as he began to draw blood into a few vials.
“Yeah. I’m quite lucky, huh?”
Todoroki stared at the window, it was dark now, the sun having already set. He could see the bustling streets, lively despite the darkened atmosphere. He couldn’t wait to be out there, having fun and enjoying the company of the people around him. Maybe he could sit under the stars with them or simply enjoy a movie together. He can't remember what he likes and dislikes, but those things seemed like they would be something he’d enjoy. Or maybe he’ll hate it, who knows?
As he reminisced on what was to come, his thoughts moved to his current predicament. Whatever happened is going to leave a scar. He knows that his recovery will be a long and difficult one. He knows there will be ups and downs while he works on moving on from this. But despite this, he’ll come out of this, he’ll make sure of it.
After all, he had Midoriya, he had all his friends back at UA. The doctor may have taken so much from him, but he didn’t take away his friends’ hope. The hope that he’ll be found and rescued.
He’s lucky, he’s lucky to have them. He can’t wait to remember and laugh with them once again.