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“He’s got a bullet!”
Barely a second after those words registered, pain flared in his leg. Then a freezing cold crawling up his leg fast.
The quirk erasing drug is fast. I can’t hesitate.
I can’t hesitate
“His life is on the line!”
They are trying to protect me.
They are fighting so we can go home.
Home.
Eri.
—————————
Knife
Capture scarf
Belt
“Shouta?”
Shouta jumps, he was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t even hear her come in. She was able to sneak up on him. That’s not good. He is getting rusty.
Rusty means he’ll end up dead.
Shouta looked down at his supplies. He sighed.
“Eri. Is everything alright?”
Eri looked at him, then at the supplies he had been organizing on his bed.
“Please don’t go.” she says quietly.
Shouta lowered himself to her level, making sure to keep his expression gentle. He should have known that this would’ve happened.
“ I have to.” He tells her simply. “This is an important mission.”
Her bottom lip starts to quiver.
“I-I know that, it’s just I don’t want you to get hurt or end up like Mr. N-Nighteye.” She stops and looks down, quietly adding “I-I don’t want you to die.”
Shouta didn’t know what to say. He understands completely what she was feeling. He didn’t want to die either. Before, he might not have cared. The only people he was really close with were Nemuri and Hizashi, but they would understand. They were heroes too after all.
But now…
Now he had a class that holds a special place in his heart. He has to see them graduate and become heroes.
Now he and Hizashi are becoming something more.
Now he has a mentee, who he has become so proud of, sometimes he is sure that his heart will burst.
Now he has a daughter.
Now he has reasons to live. To be selfish.
Dear god he has never wanted to be more selfish in his life.
But he will have to be selfish when he returns.
Not if.
When.
If he tells himself if, then the full weight of what he has to lose will come crashing down on him.
That’s when he loses any chance of actually returning.
“Sweetie look at me.” She looks up at him with watery eyes. He places his hand on her hand and smooths out her hair. “I don’t like this anymore then you do. I will do everything in my power to come back to you, okay?”
Eri nods and stays quiet. Shouta can tell that she is trying not to cry. He opens his arms in a silent invitation and she accepts it without hesitation.
“I swear that I will do everything in my power to come back, but-” his voice fails. He finds himself unable to finish his thought of the but if I don’t.
He swallows and picks her up. It’s only 7pm. He can finish sorting through his supplies later. It’s not like he is going to be sleeping a lot anyway. He makes his way to the living room of his ‘dorm.’
The teachers’ dorms were more like mini apartments.
Case and point, he had a TV and a kitchenette.
“Let’s watch a movie before you go to sleep. I’m not...I’m going to leave before you wake up, so you're going to stay with Mr. Yagi, okay?” Eri nods, and clings to him tighter.
“It will be okay.” he whispers to her.
They sit on the couch and settle on the movie Tangled, since Eri has yet to watch that one.
He doesn’t miss the way Eri’s eyes light up when she sees Rapuzel’s power and hears the song she sings.
“Her power is like mine, Dad.” she tells him and Shouta freezes. Eri does too, and she turns away and scoots to the end of the couch.
Shouta tries to fill the silence, he really does, but he can’t. His voice decided to take a surprise trip to Narnia. His heart, however….
His heart was present.
And it was swelling with love.
His eyes were present too and they were, unhelpfully, producing tears.
Happy tears.
When was the last time he cried out of joy?
He did not know.
“I’m sorry.” Eri said, quietly. She wasn’t looking at him and she was curling in on herself. Damn it, he messed up. “I-I’m sorry, Shouta.” The formality hurts more than it should. “Deku and his friends told me what a dad was and it made me think of you. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, still unable to speak and placed a hand in her hand. She turned to him, and any fear of how he would react instantly disappeared from her expression. Eri was good at reading people, though he knew that she didn’t have to read him this time. Not with the massive smile on his face. She reached out for a hug and gave one to her, holding her as close as he could.
“I’m sorry.” he rasped, his voice finally returning. “I’m just...so happy.”
“But you’re crying.” she says.
“Yeah, uh.” he laughs. “When one’s heart is filled with joy, some may spill from the eyes.”
She giggles in his ear, “You got that from a movie.”
“Maybe I did, you have no proof.” he says.
“Shouta?”
Never has he been more disappointed to hear his name.
“Yes?”
“Can I call you Dad?” she asks cautiously,
Never had he been more overjoyed to answer a question.
“Yes.”
They stayed like that for a few more minutes before Shouta eventually had to get her ready for bed. He tucked her in and returned to his room smiling and thanking every higher being in existence for Nezu’s meddling.
His good mood instantly vanished when he saw the supplies on his bed.
He had to survive.
For his little girl, he had to come back alive.
-----------------------------------------
Eri
I can do this.
Quickly and rationally.
Shouta sliced through his flesh, right above where the bullet had pieced him. Blood instantly flooded out from where his leg had been.
Could have been worse. Could have been an above knee amputation. Would have had to cut through my thigh.
His thoughts were getting muddier and time seemed to slow. He saw Shigaraki flying through the air in his direction, but his brain didn’t really register how bad that was until Shigaraki’s hand was literally on his face.
His last thoughts before the darkness of unconsciousness consumed him was I’m going to look like Nick Fury when this is over.
Worth it.
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Flower, gleam and glow
Eri ran through the hospital, looking for room 316. She and Zashi had come to visit her dad.
Let your power shine
The nurse said something to Zashi and made his eyes fill with tears. He kneeled down to Eri’s level and explained everything as best as he could for her.
Make the clock reverse
Her dad was dying. That was the syno-psis of what Zashi was trying to tell her.
Bring back what once was mine
Her dad taught her that word during one of their rooftop lessons. A syno-psis was a short summary of something.
Heal what has been hurt
He won’t die. She was going to save him.
Change the Fates’ design
She reached his room and pulled the door open. Her dad was on the bed, with a tube down his throat. She was going to fix that.
Save what has been lost
She had already healed Mirio, so her power would some from something called her life energy?
She had been told that it was something really important and to never rewind something unless she had enough power.
She didn’t really care right now.
Bring back what once was mine
She grabbed his hand and wasted no time. She focused on the parts of his body that needed the most attention and called on Rewind. Size and complexity were the things that required more power and while her dad wasn’t as big as an oak tree, his anatomy was complex.
What once was mine.
In an instant, she had Rewinded his most concerning wounds and gave him back the eye and limb he had lost. His hand was starting to twitch. He would be okay. Eri breathed.
and gave into the black spots starting to cover her vision.
What once was mine.