Work Text:
It was a quiet evening in the UA class 1A dorms.
Most of the class was in the main room either talking, playing card game or watching TV, a few of them even doing some of the homework they had been given during the week.
Even Aizawa was there, grading, keeping a watchful eye over Eri who was currently watching some cartoon on TV with Midoriya and Uraraka. The poor kid had had a rough week, she has been sick for most of it and was only now starting to feel better.
The students had been pampering her for the whole week and Aizawa idly wondered if she hadn’t faked it somewhat toward the end of her sickness. She sure had healed surprisingly fast after her favorite hero, Deku, promised her some ice-cream once she got better… A small smile stretched over Aizawa’s lips at the thought. She had them all twisted around her little finger.
Maybe he could call Mirio and they’d go to the park when Deku would buy her the ice-cream? She loved it when they were together.
Deciding that it was what he would do, he wrote it on the corner of his paper so he could remember to call Mirio tomorrow in the morning.
It was overall a quiet Saturday evening and seemingly nothing could disturb the –for once- peaceful class.
...
Of course it couldn’t last.
An alarm started to blare signaling an intruder on the school ground.
And just like that the peacefulness was shattered, in an instant Aizawa was by the door, a hand on his capture weapon, cursing under his breathe while listening to the security system telling them exactly what was wrong. The students weren’t as calm anymore, some were fearful and some were anxious, but all seemed determined. This time the attack wouldn’t be a complete surprise, it would be a fight head-on and they all had a pro-hero license. They could fight.
A robotic voice came from the speakers announcing that a few villains had infiltrated the school and from the regular update on their position, they seemed to target the dorms. There were two groups, one composed of numerous villains who were currently being handled by the teachers assigned at the security this evening and a second group, in much less important numbers (a dozen if whatever information the speakers spouted were anything to go by) were coming toward their position.
The students were going to have to fight.
«Deku!» Midoriya startled at the mention of his hero name. «Take Eri away from here and stay with her.» his teacher said, a grim look on his face.
Well, Midoriya supposed it did make sense. He was the one Eri trusted the most beside Aizawa-Sensei and Mirio, plus, except for Iida, he was the fastest of the class. He was the safest bet to put her out of harm way. And yet…
He still felt some kind of reluctance. Was he going to let his friends fight alone? They were strong and reliable but.... He still had nightmares about Tsu and Mineta during the USJ, had his teachers been a little less fast, they wouldn't be here today...
He shook his head, no need to think of that now. They were stronger now, they could do it. A determined smile spread on his face.
«Yes Sensei! » He then proceeded to reassure Eri so he could carry her out of danger.
When she saw him smile she answered with her own small, hesitant smile and it made his heart swell with that much more pride. She was such a courageous little girl, being scared but still putting up a smile for them!
Midoriya took her on his back and jumped by the open window while the speakers still loudly displayed information on the whereabouts of the villains.
He carefully avoided the areas susceptible to contain villains. Even though the chance that a group of villains hadn’t been repaired were minimal, they weren't null and he wasn't taking any risk.
Midoriya ended up taking Eri to the USJ, it was close enough from the main building and the dorms that he could still get there in less than a minute and it was far enough that no villain should be showing their head over there.
He also liked the irony that the place where they first attacked them would now be the sanctuary that protected a young girl from the villains.
Midoriya put Eri down and they started heading toward the entrance of the USJ.
A small hand reached for his and Midoriya gladly took it. She was such a cute little girl!
«They will win? » The small voice cut him from his thought. He looked at her and smiled as reassuringly as he could.
«Of course they will! Everyone is very strong, plus, Aizawa-Sensei is with them, there is no way they'd lose! » At the mention of her caretaker, the young girl seemed to calm down, she was still worried but a small smile graced her feature now.
Midoriya watched her with a more genuine smile now. She had really taken a liking into Mirio, Aizawa and himself, she was his first fan and it made him so giddy he was probably smiling like a fool.
But when he saw the smile disappear from the child face and her eyes drop to the ground, he forgot his good mood. She was really worried, and, while he tried to reassure her, he was too.
Would they be alright? What if there were some Nomus? They couldn't compete with them, his Sensei had been totally crushed by one of them, so what if there were more? And the Nomus weren't the only thing to worry about... He saw it again a hand approaching the shocked face of Tsu, closer, closer and closer again... And he remembered Aizawa's elbow crumbling and the hand didn't stop, it never stopped...
Weird how that hand still haunted his nightmares, not Shigaraki's face, or the Nomu crushing his teacher, just the hand. The hand and that eternal moment of helplessness...
Eri's hand tightened around his and he looked at her, grateful for the small involontary distraction. They had passed the entrance and were now in the building. What had caused Eri to tighten her grip had probably a lot to do with the awed expression she was adorning now.
He smirked, the first time they entered the USJ sure had been a shock, the building was huge and his classmate and himself were as awed as little Eri was now. Then the villains happened.
Midoriya winced, maybe going to the USJ hadn't been that good of an idea after all...
Well let's try and keep his mind clear. He needed a distraction.
«Hey there, do you want me to show you what the USJ looks like? » She looked at him and cocked her head as if to question him. «You see, that's where I train to rescue people from natural disasters, you want to look around? » She nodded a little, her eyes brightenned.
He then proceeded to lead her into each section and explained what kind of disaster they dealt with and how they rescued people. Eri followed him, and listened attentively, enjoying each moment she spent with her favorite hero. She sometimes asked a few questions and Midoriya would gladly explain it to her in more details.
That lasted until they reached the flood area. There Midoriya's steps became slower and slower and his smile stilled while his posture, which had gradually relaxed when he was explaining everything to Eri, stiffened again. When Eri looked at him curiously, wondering why he went silent all of sudden, he rushed an explanation on how to proceed to save someone in those situation and turned away, not wanting to face the flood area again, not when his classmates were endangering their life.
He returned on the entrance, his worries had doubled. Shouldn't they have called by now? Weren't they done?
He wanted to go, to be with them, to know what was happening. Would they be ok without him? Were the enemies to numerous or powerful for them? He glanced at Eri. He couldn’t involve her in a fight… Maybe they could stay on the sidelines? This way, he'd know what was happening and Eri wouldn't be on the crossfire.
Aizawa-Sensei had told him to take her away, but he didn't say how far, «We'd just be a little closer, nothing endangering» he promised himself. But what if....
No. He couldn't think like that. He wa going to be a hero, he shouldn't second guess himself all the time! All Might wouldn't let «what ifs» change his mind, he knew what he had to do, he had to protect Eri, and to protect her, knowing what was happening was very important.
He made his decision.
………………………………...
Ashido was sweating, summoning acid on her fingers to derail Toga from hurting Ochako-chan, he quickly assessed the situation. It was weird how the villain would claim that she loved Ochako and tried to kill her. Weird and creepy.
They had called the reinforcement but the security team was apparently stuck with an enemy who could clone himself as much as he wanted, making him hard to fight.
Her classmates and her teacher were all fighting against the league of villain. Them again, yeah.
When it started, Shigaraki and Dabi had teamed up on Aizawa-Sensei; Todoroki, Kaminari, and Jirou had been trying to take Mr Compress down with their long distance quirks; Tokoyami and Tsu had made a really good team against Spinner; and Ochako, Iida and herself had been fighting against Toga. Everyone else had been fighting the Nomus, Mineta's quirk being surprisingly effective against stupid opponents.
Now, though, every Nomus had been taken down, -either stuck by Mineta's ball, or Sero's tape, or exploded into unconsciousness by Bakugo...- Mr Compress was frozen solid, and Spinner was unconscious, Dabi wasn't producing any flames anymore and Shigaraki was hurt badly enough that in a few minutes he wouldn't be left with enough blood to stay conscious, Toga was still laughing maniacally but her right arm was broken and she had slowed down considerably.
In another word? They were winning.
And wasn't that a delighting thought? They would finally be rid of the League of Villains, no more threats, no more classmates breathing mortal gases, no more teachers half-dead!
That though was enough to renew her energy and she let a small smile spread on her lips.
No longer having the advantage of the numbers, Shigaraki had finally been taken out and Dabi was being driven into a corner. Toga was now desperately swinging a knife all around her to keep them at distance.
Just as she was going to get the upper-hand on Toga by throwing acid on that annoying knife, she saw, from the corner of her eye, a flicker of light coming toward her. Uh, Dabi wasn’t as out of carburant as he seemed.
However, before the fire could reach her, two things happened simultaneously. Her teacher activated his quirk and threw his capture weapon, and a green lightening stuck Dabi.
After a few uncertain moments, she could see what had happened. The green lightening was none other than Midoriya Izuku, smiling at her with an unconscious villain at his feet and a capture weapon laying a few meters away from him, having probably been ejected from its trajectory by the sheer power of Midoriya’s quirk.
“Midoriya, Eri? “ Aizawa all but barked.
As she proceeded what had happened, a maniacal laugher was heard right behind her, she turned on instinct and attacked the villain on hand-to-hand –she noted absentmindedly that the knife wasn’t in her hand anymore.
As she finally managed to hit her with enough strength that the villain stayed down, she looked around her, wondering why none of her classmates had come to help her and why everything was so silent.
Her eyes fell on the inert form a few feet from her and she froze.
Eri was laying in a pool of blood, a knife in her chest.
………………………………………………...
Jirou watched the scene, transfixed.
Eri was laying on the ground, her hair laid out as a halo, the idea reinforced by the blood slowly spreading around her, still leaking from the wound on her chest where the knife was jabbed. Her face was stuck in an expression of surprise, her bright red eyes wide open but extinct, with no sign of life in them, her lips were slightly parted, her last breathe long lost. Her chest wasn't moving. Her skin never seemed so white than in that instant and her body was neer so frail.
Jirou was startled from her morbid contemplation by a small whimper, one too soft to be heard by anyone else. Still not registering what she just saw, she absentmindedly searched the source of the noises.
Aizawa-Sensei.
His hair and scarf were hiding his face but his shoulders were shaking.
She thought dully that she had only ever seen the man smile when he was with Eri (except for those creepy «logical ruse» smiles of his), and it was horribly fitting that the one time he cried it would be for her.
She watched, dazed, how he made a few steps toward the child, falling on his knees when he arrived at her side. Dark, deep stains spread on his costume as he knelt there, in the blood, near his ward. He advanced his hand but froze a few centimeters away from her skin, as if afraid to touch her.
The moment lasted an eternity and Jirou just wasn't able to tear her gaze from the scene.
Then his hand moved once again and he touched her, letting out a pitiful wail, audible by everyone this time.
Jirou watched, morbidly fascinated as he took the little girl in his arms, cradling her and stroking her head as if to reassure her. His shoulders were shaking violently and small, shocked sob rocked through his whole frame as his costume soaked in the blood of his child.
For an infinite amount of time, the students stayed here, silent, watching helplessly as their teacher broke down.
Then, in the distance, the security team called them, running to them, ready to help them if they needed it.
But the heroes couldn’t help.
They were too late.
.
.
.