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The Art hero, Artiste, woke up in a sudden panic. She quickly sat up and at first had no idea where she was.
'I'm in the hospital? How did I get here?' She then noticed that she was wearing an oxygen mask. She took it off and was about to get up from her bed, but then...
"OWW!!" She found herself on the tile floor feeling the throbbing pain from her head. She moved for only a moment and noticed that she felt...uneven. She tried to get up, but again she fell to the floor. All it took was one look at her legs and she just went cold.
'N-No way?!' Most of her right leg was completely gone.
'I-I lost my leg?' The door swings open. She looked up and right there was the nurse who didn't really expect to see this heroine all wide awake, let alone trying to get out. The nurse quickly helped her get back to bed.
"Are you okay? Wait, you shouldn't be even up like that, you could've gotten yourself hurt!"
"What happened to everyone else? Are the students okay? Did everyone make it out alive?" Artiste started asking so many questions that it was nearly impossible for the nurse to even answer one.
"Please slow down for a moment," The nurse pleaded. At that moment, she started to remember what happened...
'Everyone was about to get crushed by Gigantica! He was coming in fast and there was no way to stop him. All the students were taken away from one the hero's quirks so they won't get crushed.
'Hina Get Out Of Here!!' Fatgum grabs hold of her and starts running, but it was too late. That giant hand was about inches away from the both of them. Artiste started pulling out her weapon from her drawing pad when this happened...
'...love you...' She was tossed away from him. Everything became slow motion. Seeing the dirt and debris coming in, Fatgum looked at her with a warm smile on his face, that same smile that made her fall in love with him in the first place. The last thing she remembered before everything faded into darkness...'
She went quiet. The nurse started explaining to her about what has happened in the past few days, but Artiste didn't really listen. She was just too focused on what happened to Fatgum, the hero who risked his life to save her.
"Ma'am," the nurse started to get worried when she didn't respond to her.
"Are you listening? Ma'am? Ms. Artiste?" The door swung open. They both looked over and noticed two students standing there eyes wide and mouths opened.
"Ms. Artiste!!!"
"Red Riot! Pinky! You guys are alright!" Right away Pinky rushed in and gave her art teacher the biggest hugs.
"I'm glad you're okay!" she cried. Red Riot came in after and smiled all wide showing his sharp, pearly teeth.
"I am too," He added. "Thought you were a goner." Artiste smiled while rubbing Pinky's back.
"They can't get rid of me that easily."
"Yeah!" It was quiet for a moment until she spoke again.
"Where is he?"
"Who?"
"Fatgum." As soon as she said that, his smile faded and quickly looked away. Now she's starting to get worried.
"Kirishima," She said, in a serious tone. "Is he here?" He nods.
"Have you seen him? Is he okay?" Again he didn't say anything.
"Kirishima, please tell me."
Taishiro Toyomitsu, aka Fatgum, was in the other room. He was hooked up with so many wires, he had an oxygen mask on and his heart monitor was at a steady beat, which is good. Artiste was taken inside with Kirishima who stayed behind since he didn't want to see his mentor in that state, heck even she didn't want to see him, but alas she took one step inside and thought for a moment that she was having a nightmare and that she will wake up from the coma.
Slowly she wheeled herself towards his bed, went as close to him as she could and gently grabbed his hand.
At first she didn't know what to say, should she say hi, should she even be here to begin with, was he going to wake up, how long was he out, is there hope that he will be his old self...
"Taishiro," She began. "..I don't know if you could hear me, probably not, anyway..." She cleared her throat, but caused her to get a little choked up, but she continued on.
"I wanted to say thank you...for saving me. Hope you wake up soon...I have to be honest..seeing you like this...it hurts, a lot..." As best as she could, she took a few deep breaths, gripping onto her gown with one hand and wiping her face with the other.
"...you...you better wake up...you owe me a date... you hear me, Taishiro!!"
Nothing.
She expected that he wasn't going to answer her, hell she didn't know why she was trying to talk to him, however, it would've felt wrong if she came in and never said anything. Artiste slowly stood up, went closer to him, and kissed him on the forehead.
"Wake up soon, okay." She whispered. Just as she took a step back away from him, the heart monitor started beeping rapidly.
'What's going on?' She thought. At that moment, the doctors and nurses came in and went towards him.
"Ma'am! Ma'am come with me!" One of the nurses started to grab her arm and pulled her away. When she was being pulled out of the room, all she could see was his body shaking uncontrollably as well as seeing his arm reaching out in the air, like he was trying to reach out towards her...
Still no updates about his condition. At this point she wanted to go to him, comfort him, do anything in her power to be with him, but as of right now she can't.
"Ms. Artiste," She noticed Red Riot sitting beside her with a concerned look on his face.
"Hi sweetie," She spoke while trying to smile at him. He knew that she's forcing it.
"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Her smile faded.
"You shouldn't worry too much, it's not good for you."
"But I am worried about you, about Fatgum, everyone who got hurt." She wanted to tell him that everything's going to be alright, but the truth is, she didn't know what was going to happen.
"Was it worth it?"
"I'm sorry?" She looked at him confused.
"Was it worth it, all of us going through that?" She stood in front, kneeled down and grabbed his hand. Although her mind wasn't in the right place due to what she saw with Fatgum, she knew that this kid, no, her student needs some encouraging words.
"Kirishima, I'm not going to say whether or not it was worth it, personally it would've been safer if you and your friends stayed behind. Even though all of you have seen so much and have encountered villains many times, you all made it through. But you guys are still kids, still growing up, heck to tell you the truth, I tend to ask myself that same question." Kirishima didn't really think that someone like her would admit to saying that. Just then a doctor came by.
"Ma'am," She then stood up and walked up to the doctor. “What is your relation to Mr. Toyomitsu?”
“I’m…” For some reason she didn’t know whether to be called a friend of his, a girlfriend, a former classmate, partners? Nevertheless, the doctor started talking. Apparently he suffered from a pretty severe seizure. Luckily he’s doing alright, however, what shook her to the bone was learning that due to the accident, there is a good chance that he won’t ever walk again... or if he's ever going to wake up.
A few days have gone by.
Fatgum has yet to wake up. Since she was still trying to maneuver without a leg, she was still in the recovery room. Each time when she does get a chance to be with him, she would always find herself sitting on the edge of his bed talking to him of what’s been happening, from the aftermath of the rebellion to how their students are doing.
“So that’s what has been happening,” She finished. Still no response from him. Although she did her best to be interactive with him, it was starting to get much harder each time she steps inside.
“Ms. Artiste,” She noticed Red Riot and Pinky standing by the door. They were wearing their school uniforms along with some bandages on them. She waved, but couldn’t really give them her genuine smile that they have known since starting UA.
“He’ll wake up soon,” Pinky concealed her with a small smile. “He just needs to rest, that’s all.” Artiste noticed that the dark lines under her eyes along with her lips wobbled a bit. She knew that all of them have been going through a lot, especially since some of their classmates have yet to wake up. She nodded in response.
“Do you think he hears you talking?” Red Riot asked. “When you’re in here with him.”
“...” She didn’t know how to respond. She knew that she can’t really lie to her students, but she also doesn’t want them to worry too much.
“I’m sure he can,” She said, “But it’s like Ashido said, he needs to rest for the time being.”
“I see.” He whispered.
Later that same day, after going through physical therapy, she made her way back to his room and talked to him about how much she has been improving, however, she took one look at the bed that he was laying in and saw it empty. Inside was that same nurse who was taking the sheets off and from the look on her face, something must’ve happened.
“Excuse me,” The nurse looked over, but before she could ask, she straight up told her in the most kind way possible.
“He was taken into another room, where he can rest as easily as he can.”
“What do you mean? Did he wake up? Is he okay?” The nurse’s face went dark which nearly scared the heroine.
“I’m sorry…” That was all she heard before her vision became a blur and her mind began to fog. For almost a week, she had been hoping, no, praying that he would wake up, praying that he would make a full recovery, praying that she would once again get to see his charming smile and hear his voice.
“Ma’am? Ma’am?” She didn’t respond. It was almost like she lost the ability to say a single word. At that moment, the nurse was able to roll her back to her room and helped her get back to bed.
“You can still visit him,” the nurse mentioned. “Just don’t wait too long before it’s too late.” Once she finally left, Artiste laid on her bed and looked up at the ceiling with a somewhat stunned look upon her face. Just then, she started to reminisce of that one special moment that she had with him…back when they first started becoming partners as pro heroes…
'It was late spring, cherry blossoms were still blooming and the summer breeze started to pick up. Both Hina and Taishiro were sitting on the bench with some snacks from the vending machine that he graciously paid for.
“I could’ve gotten some snacks myself, you know.” Hina tells him.
“No worries, it’s my turn to treat you after all.” He mumbled with his mouth full of chips. A sudden breeze came by along with the cherry leaves that followed. Some of the leaves landed on Hina’s head, but she didn’t really notice at first.
“Hold still,” He tells her.
“Huh?” She started to see him coming towards and unfortunately she thought that he was leading in for a kiss, so instead of waiting, she went in and kissed him on the lips for like a good few seconds. Once they pulled back from each other, the look on his face said it all. He didn’t really expect her to do something so sudden, but here they are looking at each other. Immediately she started to feel her cheeks going all hot and turning into a red tomato.
“AHHH I’M SORRY I’M SORRY!! I-I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T EVEN WANT ME TO KISS YOU HAHAHA LET’S FORGET THAT IT EVER HAPPENED!!” Now it was his turn to kiss her, but on the cheek this time. Well that shut her up and felt herself getting more embarrassed and even looked away, however, so did Taishiro.
It was quiet for a good minute, however, this didn’t feel awkward at all. As a matter of fact, it was quite lovely.
“I like you,” Taishiro finally spoke, sheepishly.
“You do?” He nods.
“From the moment I first saw you, how amazing you are, how your smile can light up the room, how you can draw so amazingly well, you’re just…just…” He couldn’t really find the right words to express how he felt about her, but she didn’t really care. She was just surprised that someone like him would go for a girl like her.
“I like you too.” He looked back and saw that same, beautiful smile on her face. “If we get some time to ourselves, maybe you can take us out on our first date.” That made him smile.
“I like the sound of that, doodles.” That melted her heart a bit, but she kept her cool since she didn’t want to ruin the moment that they were having.
“Good and be sure that you don’t forget about it, promise!” He had his left hand up and made an X on his left chest with the other.
“You have my word.”'
She slowly made it to the room. He didn’t have any wires or tubes to keep him going, all that he had with him was the heart monitor tracking his heart rate. As much as she didn’t want to see him like this, she went up to him, sat down on the bed and gently grabbed his hand. It was suddenly cold which scared her. At first she didn't know what else to do, but then she took a deep breath, went closer to him, and kissed him once on the cheek. She could feel the coldness starting to creep up. In that moment she felt tears flowing down from her eyes as well as her heart breaking into a million pieces.
The heart monitor starts to slow down with every beat and breath that he can take. She knew that this was coming to an end and yet she wasn’t ready at all. She wrapped her arms around him, squeezed ever so tightly and whispered…
“You promised me…so please stay with me, Taishiro…”