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“It’ll take, let’s say, two or three more times before you better start mentally preparing yourself for life with your arms paralyzed”.
He never believed her words would one day come true. He knew life as a hero could be dangerous, risking their safety so others could be safe. Reality wasn’t a story book, where good prevailed against evil and at the end the hero, a little bit damaged but overall whole, would complete his quest. Reality was a hard mistress, when a small mistake could take your life away.
It just… he never thought… he didn’t realized it would happen so soon. So quickly. After the sports festival, Izuku truly tried to let his arms rest and focused on his legs. He changed his whole fighting style to adapt to it.
But, in the end, he didn’t regret it. Because he knew if he didn’t punch and decided to dodge that attack, that little girl with the purple skirt would not be here.
———
His eyes were watering. His face mask was broken, only the mouth piece remaining, and the smoke was getting stronger. A staircase on his right creaked and crumbled, the fire swallowing its falling pieces.
‘Almost there’, he though, he just needed to search two more levels to see if anyone was trapped. Outside, he heard the sounds of Shoto fighting with the two villains, preventing them from escaping while also protecting Uravity, who was trying to stabilize the building.
Izuku then heard a muted sniffle. There, under the bed. He carefully knelt and peaked down. A young girl, with black hair and two antennas, was struggling to breathe. He carefully extracted her, then looked for the quickest safe path to the outside. Going to the nearest window, he jumped, being careful with the victim, green lightning zipping safely around him
Once outside, he took out his kit and searched for a children-size mask and oxygen regulator, putting it on the girl. Making sure she could adequately breath, he made his way towards where the first response unit was. He delicately transferred the child to the nearest triage bed and then went to help his fellow heroes to contain the villains.
As Uravity was still stabilizing the building, to prevent it from falling until they could properly vacate the premises, he run towards Shoto. He was fighting a reptiled-skinned woman who could ignite herself, and a pale all-white man who could control the air. Izuku jumped and joined the fight.
Their opponents weren’t that powerful, but the problem was that their quirks prevent them from being able to get near them, and he could see Shoto starting to pant. They have to be quick. The fighting continued, now two against two.
Then, he saw the woman smirk. Feeling uneasy, he focused on her, eyeing as Shoto moved so they could both surround her and finally get her into custody. She then threw a huge fireball at him, taking him by surprise. Izuku activated his quirk, preparing to dodge. But then, her partner made a strong current of wind, aiming at the fire ball. He saw, as if time itself has stopped, what would happen if he dodged.
At his back was where the emergency services were treating the patients. The worst cases had all already been taken to the nearest hospital, the others were staying with the paramedics. Among them was a little girl. Her shirt was a dirty white and her skirt a muted purple. Her face was grey with smoke and her arms had little scratches. And she would be directly in the fire’s trajectory.
And so, he punched.
———
When he woke up, the first thing he heard was a woman’s hurt-wrenching sobbing. He knew to whom does cries belonged. A stone dropped in his stomach. Turning his head, he saw Recovery girl speaking with his mother, her hands grasping tightly hers.
His mother must have noticed him, because she hurriedly walked towards his bed and caressed his hair. She tried to smile, lips trembling with the effort, but her face couldn’t change from her sad appearance.
“I’m so sorry”, she said, “I’m so sorry”.
—-
After her visit, he was numbed. The minutes passed without him being aware of it, a buzzing sound on his ears. His door opened, and Uraraka entered the room.
Her face was swollen, as it always was when she cried. She walked and grabbed his hand. Izuku was staring emotionless at her.
“Do you even know what this means?” She trembled, shaking her head.
“Why couldn’t you dodge?” She said, bitterly to herself, suppressing her sobs. She didn’t expect an answer, she already knew why.
—-
Sometime after, Iida and Todoroki visited. Izuku couldn’t say when they had entered, nor he could remember when they left. Time, he thought, seemed to not exist. Just the white hospital wall, his mother’s cries, and Recovery Girl’s diagnosis repeating endlessly in his head.
But then, he saw golden hair and sharp blue eyes. Toshinori’s huge emancipated figure was awkwardly sitting on his bed side chair. He stared at him until Izuku’s eyes focused on him.
His mentor hugged him tightly, being careful with his arms (that he couldn’t feel, he-). He stayed like this until something broke in him. Izuku made an animalistic cry, spilling tears on the other’s warm shoulder. Toshinori just squeezed him tighter.
“It’s alright, my boy.” He said “everything will be alright.” Somehow, someway, he felt as his heart started to beat again.
——
It was almost the end of the visitors’ hours when his teacher came. The perpetually tiered man wasn’t alone, he saw, a big-mouthed man following him into the room.
Aizawa stood in front of his bed, staring intensively into his eyes.
“Do you still want to be a hero?” He quietly asked.
Izuku stared at him back.
“Yes.”
“This is Ectoplasm, he is available from Tuesdays to Saturdays on the afternoons at UA.” With that, Aizawa turned and left the two of them alone.
Izuku watched the other, faintly annoyed with himself from not recognizing the without-legs cloning pro hero sooner. Then, he smiled and bowed to his new teacher.