Chapter Text
Eri’s return to consciousness came as a throbbing headache. She struggled to open her eyes but managed to coax them open. Her vision was blurry and unfocused. She could see flashing lights and what appeared to be the blues of vehicles and people around. Her vision began to clear as she saw that she was outside the USJ, with a couple of cop cars and an ambulance.
Her memories began to return in pieces. She could remember the angled floor she sprinted down as she was looking for...Nanako! Reaching up to feel her horn, she remembered chasing down Nanako and trying to save her from falling rubble. Her horn felt smaller, much smaller. She could remember the sounds as the ceiling collapsed over them and its impact on the back of her skull. She remembered grabbing Nanako...
Oh my god
She could feel the panic rise within her, she needed to find someone who could tell her what happened. She was in a makeshift bed near the ambulance, a belt around her waist, and a blanket over her.
“You're awake.”
Eri jolted as the voice surprised her from the side. She found Aizawa, looking as tired as she’d ever seen him. He was worried, and it seemed like her being injured wasn’t the only worry on his mind. He was sitting on a small makeshift stool just next to her bed. She had thought that one day she would be able to notice him better, but his dark outfit outside made it hard to see him. Not to mention he had barely moved as she awoke. She leaned over towards him, almost toppling the bed, until Aizawa stood up to help balance it.
“Dad, what’s wrong, is Nanako ok?” Eri pleaded. Aizawa looked her over. He tried to show some relief with a smile, but it was too clearly forced. Something was still wrong, and Eri felt the pit in her stomach grow and she waited for an answer. Finally, he spoke, “you don’t remember what happened?”
Eri blinked, “I...was trying to reach Nanako, but there was a trap in the building. I used my quirk to try and protect her. I was trying...to save her.” Tears pricked at the edges of her eyes, “but I...I got hurt.”
She felt the spot in her head where the concrete hit. A steering jolt of fresh pain hit her, and she began to let out light sobs. Aizawa moved as if to soothe her head, but Eri caught his hand. Holding his hand in both of hers she pulled his eyes to meet hers.
“Will Nanako be alright?”
She looked back up at Aizawa, seeing now the sadness in them. He knelt down beside her.
“We...haven’t found her."
Eri had been worried that Nanako was hurt, but what could he mean she...
Aizawa touched her shoulder to draw her attention, knowing full well that what he had to say was going to hurt her.
"It’s like she…” he hesitated, “...disappeared.”
Eri’s heart fell into a bottomless pit. She tried to say something, anything to escape the realization that came to her. She had used her quirk, more than she had in years, on a girl only 9 years old. On Nanako.
Aizawa, with nothing else he could think to do, wrapped Eri in a tight hug and tried to comfort her.
“It’s not your fault.”
In a moment, Eri latched onto him, and wailed, her cries muffled in his shoulder.
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Izuku and Ochaco sat nearby the building where Nanako had gone missing. Ochaco has left the building carrying Eri yelling for someone to call for medics. Staff was soon on hand, both to treat Eri and to deactivate the building's pressure sensors. Free to look around, Izuku, Ochaco, and their teacher teamed up with the students to scour the building. When they found nothing near Eri, they assumed she must have been mistaken, though Ochaco deep down didn’t believe that.
For hours they searched until Eri recovered consciousness and delivered the news they were most dreading.
Eri gasped as she tried to speak, "I...I'm so sorry..."
Izuku and Ochako were quick to embrace her. Eri sat up on the bed they had placed her on, and tried to speak but was silenced by Ochaco.
"Eri...don't apologize. You saved her, and we're going to figure out how to get her back, ok?" Ochaco felt Eri pull away and she looked into her eyes as the younger girl spoke.
"Save her? But...how?" She waited for Ochako to answer. Izuku, too, had been taken aback by his wife's words and was now looking at her for some kind of reassurance.
"... I ... I dont know." Ochako managed to utter, "but we're not about to give up now, are we." She looked up at her husband. He did his best to match her resolve. He looked to Eri.
"We'll find her. Whatever it takes." He gave Eri the best smile he could muster, and she returned one in kind. It wasn't much to go on, but at that moment, Izuku was grateful for a wife that could find hope when it felt like everything was stacked against them.
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Izuku and Ochako spent the next several hours helping police search the area, which meant that they searched the entire USJ top to bottom and some of the surrounding areas. They spent some time giving descriptions of Nanako to the police as well as photos and any other details the police asked for. While the police expanded the search to include more of the campus grounds, Izuku and Ochako spent time calling hero agencies, any that specialized in tracking people or objects, to see if someone could get a read on somewhere Nanako might be.
They managed to get a hold of a couple of agencies, but none had any luck locating any trace of Nanako. Not where she was, or even had been. Other agencies would get back with them over the next day or so, but eventually, that meant Izuku and Ochako had to wait and see what happened next.
Ochako hated moments like this. When you did everything you could, and just had to wait. She could remember only a couple of times in her life when it was something personal, and those moments were some of her darkest. Now she and Izuku sat, feeling helpless, useless, as police reviewed the scene and evidence for any sign of their daughter.
“Izuku?” Ochaco asked quietly.
Izuku looked towards her. His eyes had remained a deep puffy red from when Eri first told them what happened, but he hadn’t lost a look of determination, though it was slipping. Ochaco knew her husband was never one to give up, but what could they do?
“What are you thinking?”
Izuku shifted around, “I was thinking, trying to figure out what Eri said. I’m trying to figure out what her quirk does.”
Ochako kept her eyes on him. Izuku was searching for something, anything to find hope. At least it was something to focus on right now.
Ochako nodded and tried to help, “Well, we it rewinds, somehow. Like it did on you years ago. It…” Ochaco couldn’t finish that thought. She suddenly felt everything she had been bottling up threaten to pour out. Tears edged her eyes again when she felt Izuku reach his arm around her and pull her in tight.
“I know.” He held her close for a moment before he continued, “we’ve seen what it can do. But we don’t understand how.”
Ochako looked at Izuku, wiping the tears from her eyes, “you think that might help us?”
Izuku looked down at the ground and rubbed his eyes with his palms.
“I don’t know.” He admitted, his shoulders sagged. Ochaco understood. It wasn’t real yet. They were faced with the possibility of their worst fear coming true, and all because of a birthday trip gone wrong. Izuku was looking for something, anything that would bring them out of this nightmare.
Izuku reached out and grabbed Ochaco’s hand again, tears staining his cheeks.
“We won’t give up.” He choked out. Ochaco leaned into him. Two pro heroes, who had saved countless lives, and had faced down the most terrible foes with confident smiles, now sat together trying to hold onto even the tiniest glimmer of hope.
==================
Nanako felt Eri’s hand leave her like she was being tugged away. The floor left her feet in a sudden flash of light. She felt herself falling until she hit the apartment floor again. She braced herself for the ceiling debris that...never came.
She opened her eyes nervously. Now on her back, she uncovered her face slowly and saw a perfectly intact ceiling. She looked to where Eri had been and saw no one. More alarming still, there wasn't even a door where he had entered.
She stood up, on a flat floor. It wasn’t tilted? Where was she!? Her head hurt, her mom and babysitter were nowhere to be found. She couldn’t hear anything but her heartbeat as it began to speed up. She began to panic. Searching the room, she found a different doorway and looked into the hall, but it was pitch black. Nanako was not easily frightened, but today she needed someone to let her know she would be ok.
“ mom” she managed to utter, barely more than a whisper.
Nothing.
“Dad” a little louder.
Nothing.
“Mom, Dad!, Eri?!” She began to scream.
“HELP!! Anyone!”
She couldn’t hear anything, and she was terrified. Would anyone come to find her? Was she that lost? She began to cry, finding a spot in the corner of the room to curl up in as the fear enveloped her.
==================
Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki made their way into the USJ early on a chilly afternoon. Midoriya and Iida were working on greater control of their speed in tight city areas, while Todoroki was trying to control his powers more precisely while avoiding buildings or doing other unnecessary damage. So, two of them would run while the other shot fire and ice at them. What could go wrong?
The school had given the three of them leave to use the facilities, as long as they reported any damages afterward. As second-year hero course students, they were allowed to ask for such permission, but even they were surprised to have received the go-ahead.
“I don’t want to do anything today that might jeopardize our use of these facilities in the future, for ourselves or our classmates!” Iida declared forcefully as they made their way down the steps towards the city area.
Todoroki smiled softly, “you heard the man Midoiya.”
Midoriya sighed, “I hate to admit it, but you're not wrong. I’ll do my best to keep collateral damage low.”
"And personal injuries?" Todoroki asked smugly.
"Hey!" Midoriya started indignantly, "I'm getting better."
"Not fast enough."
Both Midoriya and Todoroki gave Iida a look of disbelief. Their class rep didn't usually add to such dogpiles, but when he did it usually meant there was good reason to dogpile.
"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for," Iida said with a soft smile, "but I o hope we'll all try to keep ourselves and our surroundings intact."
Midoriya shook his head. Some friends he had.
"I'll be careful."
That got a chuckle from both friends, and Todoroki added, “as will I.”
Iida nodded appreciatively. “Then let’s figure out where we want to start.”
They made their way into the small city area in the USJ. It wasn’t much space to work with, but they needed somewhere with lots of tight corners to help them all work on their control.
“I was thinking that maybe the two of you…” Just as Todoroki started to speak, he was stopped by a hand from Iida. Midoriya looked at him with confusion. But before he could say something Iida shushed him too, signaling to his ear. Midoriya and Todoroki placed hands behind their ears and searched for whatever got Iida's attention.
After a moment, Midoriya did hear...something. It was inconsistent, but it sounded like...yelling? For just a moment it sounded like there was someone in the city area with them, then it died down again.
“I think it came from over here.” Iida led the three of them over to the back end of the city area. They walked quietly as they made their way through the central street with hands by their ears. However, nothing else came. Iida looked around, then cupped his hands to his mouth.
“Hello!” Iida yelled
They waited a long moment. Just before chalking it up to his imagination, another muffled yell was heard. They could tell now that it was to their left and above them.
Izuku used Float to go up nearer to the buildings and listen. Then he called out, “We can hear you! Where are you?!”
This time there was a lot of muffled yelling. He still couldn’t make it out, but it came with a banging on a nearby wall that helped him pin the sound to the second story of one of the buildings' far side. Izuku made his way over cautiously, then started tapping on the wall. He was met with a more enthusiastic banging on the other side.
“They’re in here!” Izuku yelled to the others.
Iida nodded. “We could go around and enter the building from the front, but I’d rather not split up. I don’t know who would get lost here of all places, but let’s treat this as an emergency. Todoroki, can you make a staircase to that floor and use Midoriya to make a hole in the wall?”
Todoroki nodded. He formed ice into a small staircase and long platform where Midoriya had been floating. Midoriya dropped own onto it as Todoroki climbed up. Once together on the platform, Todoroki began using his fire, cutting through a section of wall large enough to walk through. Midoriya held the cut portions using Black Whip and slowly extracted chunks of wall as Todoroki cut them off.
With the hole in place, they heard nothing. Midoriya peeked in and looked around. There wasn’t much to be seen in the room. It was basically empty... except for one small figure in the corner.
Midoriya was surprised to find a child, but put on his best smile, “H-hi, I’m Deku. I’m one of the hero students. Did you need help?”
Midoriya couldn't see much, but it looked like the child was a small girl. She ha hopped up quickly and started towards him almost at a run, but she stopped short. Midoriya didn't know what had stopped her, but he reached his hand out for her to take. The little girl only gave him a questioning look.
“Daddy?”
Definitely sounded like the voice of a young girl. But what had she said?
“I’m here to help you. We'll find your parents out here.”
Todoroki stepped into the room, a small amount of fire on him to illuminate it. Then they saw her. A young girl, maybe Eri‘s age, or a bit older, with bright green eyes and hair. She had puffy red eyes and was clearly anxious, but not outright panicking, for which they were grateful.
Todoroki called to her, “it’s ok, you can trust us.”
The little girl made some steps forward again before looking at Todoroki.
“Uncle Shoto?”
Both Midoriya and Todoroki froze at that. Midoriya turned to look at Todoroki, who could only offer a shrug. A call from Iida brought them out of their stupor.
“We found her!” Midoriya turned back towards the young girl, “could you come with us? We can get you somewhere safe.”
Midoriya held out his arms and the young girl nervously accepted the lift. He held her tight as they made their way down Todoroki’s ice stairs. Iida greeted them with a large smile.
“Looks like we found what we were looking for! What’s your name?”
Nanako's eyes darted between the three of them, “Nanako...you know that.”
Her brow was furrowed, but she seemed more confused than angry. Her eyes lingered on Todoroki for a moment before staring back at Midoriya with a fury that...well that felt oddly familiar for some reason. She held his gaze before pulling on his right arm like she wanted to see it. He let her maneuver his arm around, and even take off one of his gloves. He wondered how she knew to undo the straps but didn't vocalize it.
She finally got his glove off and seemed shocked to see his hand there. She touched the scars on his hand and finally looked back at him like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Iida looked at Todoroki and Midoriya, "Do you know this girl?"
Todoroki shook his head, "I've never met her, but she seems to know something about us."
Midoriya offered, “She called Todoroki uncle Shoto.” Todoroki felt a mild blush at that, but before he could question her, she added more.
“But he’s different, you’re all different,” Nanako said softly, still held by Midoriya.
He set her down before kneeling next to her.
“Different? Different how? Do you know us?”
Nanako looked at him with hurt eyes. It was clear to the boys that she had been crying, which made sense. She must have been scared and lost. But her reaction to being found seemed entirely off. She seemed confused and hurt by everything they said like they should have known better.
Nanako choked back her tears as they threatened to resurface, and Izuku gently wrapped his arms around her. After a moment's hesitation, she embraced him back. He looked up at the other two, who continued to look as confused as he felt. He rubbed the little girl's back gently.
“It’s ok, you’re going to be alright.”
Nanako grabbed on the front of his outfit, “I don’t un-understand.” She choked out, trying to keep her breaths stable, “what’s going on dad?”
Izuku couldn’t ignore her that time. Neither could Todoroki or Iida, the latter of whom spoke up.
“Who’s your dad?” Iida asked from behind Midoriya.
Nanako turned and looked between Iida and Midoriya, “Deku is my dad," she looked down for a moment to think. Midoriya almost interrupted her, but a sharp hand from Iida stopped him. Nanako continued, "But he’s old, and you're not.” She moved her gaze to Todoroki, “and he is uncle Shoto, and he is In-gen-i-um, but none of you are old.” She felt so frustrated that they weren’t understanding her. She even managed to remember Ingenium's full name, but none of them even cared. Her dad would be happy since she rarely remembered it right.
“Can you tell me your name?” Nanako turned back to Midoriya, his gaze piercing, determined, but also...nervous. He remembered he looked like this when mom had been hurt during work.
“My name’s Nanako. Nanako Midoriya.” She said, almost defiantly.
Deku's shoulders relaxed slightly, and his jaw dropped a little. Todoroki shared a glance with Iida. It seemed like spending a day with Midoriya always led to more excitement than you bargained for. Todoroki crouched down by the two Midoriya's and addressed the young girl.
“What happened before you got lost in that building?”