Chapter Text
“You sent the kids back to the dorms?” Aizawa asked, standing in the front entrance to the hospital. Principal Nezu nodded.
“It was the best decision for the time being.” With the poor phone service in the woods, it had been hard for the Pro Heroes to communicate. By the time Aizawa had finally agreed to leave the woods, he was fairly uninformed on everything that had happened, and Nezu had little to no information on what Aizawa and the rest of the heroes in the woods had found. Therefore, Aizawa had decided to stop by and get the information he needed. “Don’t worry, we made sure to provide extra security.”
“That’s what the dorms were supposed to be in the first place!” Aizawa raised his voice in anger for the first time that night. “They were supposed to be safe there, and still this happened! Why would you let them back there?”
“Calm down,” Nezu sighed. “We needed time to figure out what to tell the parents, and it wouldn’t be long before the press found them here. We sent them back to rest there for just a few hours until we came to a decision.” Aizawa slammed himself into one of the chairs in the hospital waiting room, burying his head in his hands.
“It was our responsibility to keep them safe.” He could feel his anger fading slowly into cold resentment. “We promised their parents we would protect them. Now eight of them are dead, one is still missing, and-”
“Nine.” Principal Nezu corrected gently. “We lost nine valuable young heroes tonight.”
“Nine?” Aizawa looked up, his expression being instantly met with Nezu’s own sad one. “Who’s the ninth?”
The principal’s face was grim. “Tenya Iida passed away a little while ago.”
Oh.
Aizawa knew the class representative’s injury had been bad, and he had been worried when he couldn’t keep Iida awake. Still, the news came as a strong blow.
“I assume that you had no success in locating Tooru Hagakure?” Nezu asked, and Aizawa nodded, looking down at the ground again.
“We found the bodies of everyone else and rounded up many of the villains scattered throughout the forest, but we couldn’t find her . I scoured her last known area nearly the whole time I was there. We have no idea where she could possibly be, Even Hound Dog couldn’t track her down.”
“That’s a shame,” Nezu sighed again. “I’ll see if we can get more people searching a little bit later once all the villains in the area are apprehended.” It didn’t seem like enough. What if she was still out there, suffering? But Aizawa didn’t have the logic to argue. Instead, he simply stood up again.
“The other teachers are gathered in the back room over there. Why don’t you join them?” Nezu suggested lightly. The last thing Aizawa wanted was to be in the presence of everyone. But… He did want to talk to Mic. So somewhat against his will, he began to head over to where the principal had directed.
The first thing he was greeted with when he entered the room was pacing All Might. The man looked more stressed than Aizawa had ever seen him, running his hand through his hair repeatedly.
“I promised his mom,” he was muttering, walking in circles. “I promised her. What if something had happened to him?” Aizawa didn’t bother to ask what he was talking about, as he already knew. Thankfully, Deku survived. Still, All Might’s concern made sense. Inko wasn’t going to take the information lightly.
Midnight seemed to be attempting to comfort All Might, and Aizawa didn’t bother to interrupt. Instead, he walked further into the room to where Mic was chatting with Vlad King about something. Aizawa gently tapped him on the shoulder.
“Huh? Oh, Shouta, you’re back!” Mic offered him a small smile. “How’d it go?”
Aizawa just shrugged. “Can I talk to you? Alone?”
“Yeah, sure thing,” Present Mic turned back to Vlad King. “I’ll be back.” He then walked ahead, leading Aizawa out of the room, and into an empty one. “So…” He paused, shutting the door behind them. “What’s up?”
Aizawa leaned against one of the walls, avoiding looking at the other teacher. “Do you think I failed them?” He got straight to the point, unconcerned with the way it came out. Mic was quiet for a few moments.
“Shouta… Is that what you really think?” Mic stood right in front of him, forcing Aizawa to make eye contact.
“As their teacher… I was supposed to protect them.” Aizawa shrugged. “Now nine of them are dead, and one is missing. Clearly, that means I failed somewhere.”
“Shouta.” Mic’s voice carried more sincerity that time. “What happened tonight? It wasn’t your fault.” He stepped forward, placing a hand on the homeroom teacher’s shoulder. “It's a tragedy. But that’s all it is. A tragedy. Don’t worry about what we could have done to prevent it, because we can’t change the past. All we can do is support the kids now.”
Aizawa sighed but saw that Mic had a point. He hung his head for a second to try and regroup, and at the time, Present Mic didn’t move his hand. He knew what he had to do next, he just wasn’t sure how to do it.
“I need to go see them,” he finally raised his head, and Mic took a step back, nodding.
“Go visit those kids. Give them anything they need. Support them. None of them blame you for what happened, so you shouldn’t blame yourself. Just do as much as you can for them now.”
“Right,” Aizawa began to walk towards the door, but he turned back towards Mic at the last minute. “Hey, Hizashi? Thank you. For everything.”
“Anytime.”
Aizawa left the hospital in a rush. Now that he knew where he was going, he wanted to get there as soon as possible. He needed to see his students. He needed to be with them. He needed to support them in ways that he hadn’t before.
It took a bit of struggling with the guards to let him into the dorm room based on how the villains had kidnapped the kids, but he managed to convince them that he was the real version of himself. Now he stood outside the door, hesitating. Was Present Mic really right? Was it really not his fault? Was this really the best thing to do?
He took a deep breath. No. I’m going in. He pushed open the door and was instantly greeted with a surprising sight. All of the students were asleep… In the common room. They were all wrapped up in varying levels of blankets, but they were all there. All ten remaining members of class 1A.
Tokoyami and Satou were off to the side, but the rest of them were huddled in the center. Some of them were so close to each other that their limbs were overlapping, just soaking up each other's presence. Deku was lying at an angle to the right, and Uraraka was hugging him close to herself in her sleep, probably unaware that she was doing so. To Deku’s right lay Aoyama, his face turned towards Deku’s. Lying at the part of the circle closest to Aizawa was Shouji, looking peaceful in his sleep despite everything he had just gone through.
Next to Uraraka was Jirou, who was fidgeting slightly in her unconscious state. To Jirou’s right was Denki, who had his head lying on Kirishima’s chest. Both boys were completely out, their breathing synced. Finally, in between Shouji and Kirishima lay Ojiro, his tail resting gently on top of him.
They'll be okay. Aizawa stood in the doorway, watching as the light breezed softly through the windows and illuminated the sleeping students. Obviously, they might not ever fully recover from the events that took place that night, how could they?
Nine, possibly ten of their classmates would never return. They had to watch as their friends died right in front of them. Their own lives were put in danger, and it was honestly a miracle that any of them had survived at all. Some of them might give up on the idea of becoming heroes, and Aizawa was fully prepared to support that. They were just kids. What they went through that night would change the shape of the rest of their lives forever, and it would be wrong to force them to pursue a career that would constantly remind them of everything that happened.
But Aizawa knew, no matter what decision U.A. made, no matter what decision the news made, whatever way hero society changed based on the tragedy, no matter what their parents thought, no matter what the kids themselves chose, they would be okay. They had each other, and they had him. Somehow, they would go on.
As for those that passed… Aizawa took a minute to reflect on them all once again. Mineta. Todoroki. Asui. Ashido. Kouda. Yaoyorozu. Bakugou. Sero. Iida. Possibly even Hagakure. You all were too young. It was true. They never should have been in that much danger. Yes, the hero course was dangerous. But none of them should have died. They should all be together, training so that they could one day become the heroes they wanted to be.
No, Aizawa interrupted himself. He looked back at the sleeping portion of his class. All of them more than proved themselves that night. They all fought bravely, showed undoubtable courage, thinking skills, and decision-making. A lot of those who passed had even sacrificed themselves for the sake of the others, and many of those who were still alive were going to carry on the flame of those who passed.
Tonight, you all proved yourselves. All of you. He watched for a few more minutes as his students slept. It would be okay. The sun was rising even higher, signifying that the new day was really about to begin. The days would keep moving, even if it felt like a completely different reality. They would manage. They would all manage together.
I’m so proud of you. Of ALL of my class. He turned and left the room, shutting the door behind himself quietly. I’ll never forget any of you, or your work tonight. As he walked away, he finally came to the conclusion that he had been thinking the whole time.
They had all proved that they were already heroes. No matter what choices the kids who were still alive made, whether they chose to pursue the hero career still or not, nothing would change that fact. Nothing could change that fact.
All of you were unknowingly put in the position to be evaluated last night, and every single one of you passed the test. There was no denying it.
His kids were, and would always , be heroes.