Chapter Text
It had been a few months since he started working in Merrin. The first month by himself meant his supplies were practically depleted, only having what little the town's merchants had to treat his patients until Inko reached the town. She still had the donkey and wagon with her so there were plenty of supplies to last a good while.
She loved Tsuyu and Uraraka who offered to help whenever they could and she had openly said how glad she was that Izuku could spend some people of his own age for once. Although that really was not much of a problem for him but Inko would not know about the time he spent with Katsuki.
It was a comfortable morning when Izuku and Uraraka were headed off to the bakery whilst his mom slept in a bit. Warmth flickered from the fireplace, filling the room in a cozy glow; it was a lovely cure to the autumn chill that seeped into his bones.
The last few months were filled with work as was to be expected but it was a much healthier balance than before and the sickness seemed to have stopped spreading, meaning they could go home in a few days. Overall, with the mix of working and taking care of himself, Izuku felt at ease.
However, it seemed like fate wanted to change that.
The Inn door crashed open, a young man with a mess of brown hair in a slightly charred apron barged in. "We heard that the Midoriya healers were staying here?"
The man's voice was wavering in desperation, although he clearly tried to mask some of it in an attempt to stay calm.
"Yes, we are. Is there a problem?"
Normally, Izuku would be stuttering and stumbling over such a sudden entry but the anxiety laced in the question made the situation seem like an emergency. As a healer, one must learn to stay calm and appear in control to those around you; a lesson he had quickly learnt from his mom.
The man moved to hold the door for someone behind him. It was another man in a charred apron but he much older and heavily built; in his arms was a limp figure. "Please, he won't move."
Izuku rushed over, quickly checking the body. It was a teenager maybe 14 or 15, his eyes where wide open and his chest was raising in irregular beats with his breaths. "Come with me." He turned, heading towards his room; the others in tow.
Holding the door wide the burly man hurriedly moved to place the young boy on the bed.
Once more, Izuku checked the body, though more thoroughly than before. His skin burned to the touch and his pulse was racing like his breaths but his arms and legs stayed still, not even a single muscle twitch to be seen. Turning to the two men, he asked, "Do you know what happened?"
"He had gone to hang out with his friends just outside the wall but they came to our shop with him like this. They said he had walked off but when they searched for him they found him on the ground. He's tried to talk but his words are too slurred to make anything out."
The greenette furrowed his eyebrows, if he could still more or less talk than maybe that could be used to determine whether or not the problem was temporary. Although Izuku would need to first know if the boy could actually process and understand what was happening, if he hit his head as he fell then an untreated concussion would not help with the situation. "Hey, can you hear me?"
An almost strangled, mumbling sound came out; his lips were not moving properly, hanging lopsided as the teen tried to open his mouth. So not enough control in his mouth, but his eyes seemed to flicker and flutter around. Maybe he has some control there.
"Okay, let's try again but blink once for no twice for yes. Can you hear me?" Two blinks. So his lack of coherency is not due to a concussion mostly likely, although that may still be a factor.
If this was not due to a concussion than what else, Izuku has heard of certain snakes and other venomous creatures with these paralysing effects but they normally are not this far north- wait.
"Do they normally go out the north of town?" He directed to the bystanders
"I think so?"
Oh shit, facing the teen again, he spoke urgency clear in his voice "Were you by the woods?"
Two blinks. Damnit. Why were those kendi shits everywhere!
Breathe Izuku, calm down, focus.
"Uraraka, wake my mom. I need to check something out." The girl who was hanging by the entrance nodded and left.
The greenette grabbed his bag, and some new leather gloves he had taken to wearing against the cold chill in the monastery. He gated left Izuku panting as he faced the that they found the teen probably was not the best idea, but he was here now and going back would just waste time.
He walked along the walls, eyes restless as he searched and thought. If these things were hurting outsiders then he would really need to talk to Katsuki. This was getting out of hand.
Why was this even happening, the blonde had said before that they stayed in the mountains due to the wind. So was this just coincidence, like the wind patterns just changed or something. Although, he had nothing to rule it out, Izuku thought that it was just too unlikely. If it was only due to some minor wind changes then why has it not happened before. Changes in weather occurs to often for it to be the sole reason this.
It was at those thoughts that Izuku spotted the familiar tuff of white. It was trapped against an outcropping of the wall. Tugging on the leather gloves, the freckled boy inspected the creature with a bit of curiosity but mostly annoyance. These things were turning to such nuances despite how mystical they were.
Upon closer inspection, Izuku saw how broken the creature looked, it's stiff hairs were crushed and bent and the once luminescent spotted tendrils were dull and lifeless. How long had it been dead? Does that mean the boy received a weaker dosage? That would explain why he was somewhat in control if the paralytic was as strong as Katsuki said.
Either way there was not much he and Inko could do since they only brought supplies to deal with the sickness, not for any venoms but even then, they likely would not work if the venom was too different.
Sighing, Izuku decided to wrap the kendi in some spare cloth. He could spend some time studying it when he returned home.
He needed to talk to Katsuki about this and they needed to do it soon. Not only are outsiders now in danger of getting hurt or possibly killed but if word gets out of it, people will most likely try to inspect the woods.
Maybe when he walked back home they could make some progress on the situation seeing as he would be in those woods for a good few weeks anyways.
Briefly, he thought of heading to the woods for Katsuki, but it could take too long as Izuku had noticed the blond would only meet him further inwards along the path.
Anyways he should check up on the young boy. If he did indeed get a weaker dosage then he might recover depending on how long the kendi had been dead.
When he returned to the inn, the sun was high in the sky and clouds draped across the cool blue. Inko was sitting by the bed alone, the men who came in were waiting in the front so as not to crowd.
There was concern written blatantly across her face. Well, at least blatant to Izuku, who had learned to read her face even when she hid her worries from patients. She was probably so confused about the situation and sitting here obsessing over it would not do any good.
"Hey mom?" Inko snapped from her thoughts, her worried gaze softening.
"Izuku honey where were you?" Leaving without an explanation had probably not helped with the worry. Whoops.
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"Ah sorry, I was just checking the area they found him. But I couldn't find anything," Inko nodded and the concern in her face stayed as she stared at the paralysed teen. "Mom, do you want to go check on the monastery. I'll wait here if anything happens,"
She hesitated for a moment but nodded and headed out with a quick kiss goodbye on the forehead.
The young teen seemed to be sleeping, having very little else to do like that. Izuku gently shook him awake, his eyes shot open and the greenette waited for him to fully wake up.
"Sorry for waking you, I wanted to check if the effects had changed. Is that alright?" Two blinks.
"Great, you just need to try say something"
"Mm humgy," the teens slurred out, his eyes widening slightly.
It took a few seconds to figure out what he said but when he did Izuku fumbled an apology, "Ah sorry I'll see if there's anything I can get,"
Walking through the now familiar hallways, he reached the front room, the two men who had brought the teen in sat in quiet conversation in front of the fireplace. Tsuyu was behind the counter with Uraraka this time, though the two were chatting a bit more animatedly. When they noticed Izuku they waved him over.
"Is there anything wrong Midoriya?" Tsuyu croaked out.
"I was just wondering if I could use you kitchen to make something for him, he seems to have regained enough control to at least eat some soup."
"Yeah we actually have some broth I made earlier, it should be warm still." Uraraka lead him down another hallway, "So is he going to be alright? His cousins were worrying so much earlier I was afraid they would run the floor in with their pacing."
"Yeah, it's only temporary. He should come back fully in time."
A soft smile graced her lips as she navigated the small kitchen area, "You know, your a really good person Midoriya and you've done so much compared to me even though we're the same age. It's amazing really, but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in myself when you help all these people and I do nothing." Her smile started to slip.
Frowning, Izuku placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Uraraka, you shouldn't measure yourself up to people like that. Your amazing too and you help a lot in your own way, like with how you've been so willing to help me and my mom for free or how you've made me smile everyday since I've been here or even letting us treat someone here."
"But that's something anyone would do, shutting someone hurt out like that would be cruel." She claimed, as she served the broth.
Izuku shook his head, she did not realise how many inns had previously refused to let them stay if they thought they would bring disease with them. It was far too common of an occurrence for people to choose their own ungrounded beliefs over a strangers facts. "It's much easier for people to do things like that, to step away from a problem just so they can get on with their lives" he paused, taking in a breath, "You are a good person and I'm glad to call you a friend. Both you and Tsuyu have helped considerably even if it may not seem like it,"
That brought back the smile to its full. Uraraka leaned in, hugging Izuku tightly. "I'm happy to be your friend too. If you need any help in the future our doors will always be open for you." Chuckling he returned the hug, he would miss them when he left for home.
When Uraraka pulled back she placed the bowl of warm broth into his hands, "Now shoo, this kitchen gets cramped to easily and I actually need to check our stock whilst I'm here." She giggled as she made a small shooing gesture at the freckled boy.
He rolled his eyes and made his way back to the room.
Setting the food down on the bedside table, Izuku helped the young teen up to lean against the bed frame. "I'm going to have to spoon feed, is that alright?"
"Yeth" Letting out a relieved sigh at the slight improvement of his speech, the greenette smiled at the teen, "Seems like the paralysis is just temporary. It might take up to a few days to fully recover but otherwise you're fine although you might have some residual pain with moving."
The boy hummed in response eyeing the food unashamedly. Izuku mumbled out a small apology as he reached the bowl to feed him. It was messy but they managed to get most of the broth into his stomach and not on the bed sheets.
After spending the rest of the day talking to bed ridden boy, Izuku let him be taken back by his waiting cousins. The teen had been making small bits of progress at a time and had managed to regain some control of his left index finger which left him lazily tapping anything he could with it, too restless from the paralysis.
If all went well he would make a full recovery and those left in the monastery would do so as well and Izuku and Inko could finally take the trip home again.
Though saying bye to his Uraraka and Tsuyu might bring some tears, they did not get as close as he would like but their casual chats about visitors they've seen and the like did wonders for his stressed mind. Maybe he could come and visit them again. Under better circumstances, hopefully he could get to know them better.