This is a story I've wanted to write for a while, as I always wondered- What if the USJ incident didn't have such a 'good ending' given the circumstances.- What if more people got seriously hurt, as a normal outcome would likely be?

Well heres my take!


Pain.

Horrible, thought stopping, throbbing, burning pain greeted Tsuyu Asui when she regained consciousness. Her face felt heavy and her mouth was filled with… something… Wearily she opened her eyes… Well she tried to open her eyes. They refused to do so as one felt taped shut, like there was actual duck tape stopping even the smallest muscle twitch, while the other let in a miniscule amount of light before clenching back shut, her head pulsing an ache, only adding to her misery.

What the hell…?

Tsu tried to swallow, feeling tubes and stuffing in her mouth, it was dry as a bone, but the motion hurt so much she chose to stop. Not to mention she didn't know what was in her mouth to swallow. I felt like couch stuffing or something...

She twitched her hands. Her left had something heavy on it. Her right was free, but she was so tried it felt like she had weights all over her body. Something made her head pulse again and she realized it was a noise. A machine would make a compressed whoosh and click, the noise was on a loop and the ache pounded in her head with each repeat. She was wondering if she could find it and turn it off, but it hurt to move…

As the noise went on she realized there was another rhythmical occurrence with the noise, beside her headache. It was the rising and falling of her chest.

She was on a ventilator.

Instantly Tsu tried to open her eyes again. Her left eye still didn't move. Her right did as it was told but slowly, taking a moment to burn as it adjusted to the light of the room. As this happened Tsu raised her right hand, lifting up to feel for a mask around her face. Her large groping hand managed to find her face, but there was no mask to pull off.

There was a thick bandage like cast there however.

Through her lead like fingers she felt that it covered almost all of her face. Her mouth, her nose… Everything but her right eye.

This was bad. This was very bad. Tsu felt along to some tubes going into what could very well be her death mask. A thick two for where her nose was. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but she found herself unable to intake more than the tube was willing to give. She could hear a beeping noise somewhere and she grasped at one of the tubes, wondering if she could just pull one out-

Oh god that moved something deep inside her throat! Note to self, don't pull on that.

"Asui?" A voice came over the noise. Thick and wheezing. She didn't recognize it at all and she took another deep, halted breath. "Asui, calm down…"

Tsu didn't really care what the mystery figure was saying. She couldn't remember how she got here or what happened. All she knew was she needed more air. This thing wasn't giving her enough! Maybe she'd get more if she sat upright?

She shifted and her back screamed at her, her legs yowling with each twitch. When she found couldn't move her breathing got worse, there wasn't enough air! The beeping got faster, then it howled shrilly with an elongated alarm.

"Asui-!" The voice got louder with the noise.

Then a door burst open, feet marching into the room. There were people circled above her but she couldn't make them out, blinded by the light glaring behind them. She whined in her throat, still not sure where she was or who anyone was around her.

Was she kidnapped by villans, wanting to keep her alive for information? Or was she at a hospital?

One figure leaned in and she could make out some features. A woman, she had on a surgical mask and her was hair up in a bun with a hair net. She couldn't see a quirk on the woman, but her eyes were kind and sad looking. A nurse.

Hospital.

"Shhh, let's not grab at that Asui." A hand took Tsu's own and pulled it back down to the bed. "You need that for now. Let's leave it alone." Tsu could see movement from the other nurse, injecting something into an IV going down to what was likely her arm. She made another worried croak and the first nurse stroked some hair on the right side of her head."Your safe now, no one will hurt you anymore."

Hands keeps tracing lightly through her hair, but only on the right side. The other nurse stepped away and there was a numbing sensation that trickled over from the one side of her body, easing her pain and relaxing her breathing, coaxing her back into the ventilator's motions, anxiety melting away.

She lay back against her pillows and stared vacantly at the ceiling. The hand didn't stop stroking and Tsu was thankful, it brought her a lot of comfort. "There we go, just a little something to help with the pain." The nurse said warmly.

Tsu blinked up at her. "Thanks." She said.

Well. She tried to say that. Cotton and tubes squirmed in her mouth and throat when she tried to speak, some muffled version of her words huffing out from the bandages. Oddly, even with all this stuff crammed into her oral socket, she felt like something was missing, like she was empty…

"Now now, don't try and talk, you've had quite the experience." The nurse said. "What you need is rest. You won't be getting out of bed for a couple days, so make yourself comfy. If you need anything, just press this-" The nurse pushed a remote into her hand, putting Tsu's thumb to the button lightly to show her where it was. "And we'll come and see what we can do. Till your better, just pretend your a princess, waited on hand and foot."

'And the frog becomes the princess.' Tsu thought in amusement.

"Is she ok?" The raspy voice came again, sounding like it was just a little to her left.

"She's not in any pain." The nurse said, tucking Tsu sheets up higher. "She'll heal in a while."

Not in any pain. She'll heal. Why did these words bother her so much?

"I'll go tell your little friends your awake. You two get some rest." The nurse ordered. "They'll come in to see you but you'll have to keep the visit short."

Feet clicked on linoleum and Tsu was back to staring at the ceiling. She blinked, enjoying the warm feeling of heavy pain medication just starting to work in her system. She could hear sheets moving as the person sharing the room with her moved on their bed.

"Asui?" The voice called again. "Are you ok?"

Tsu's neck cracked when she turned her head a little. She suspected that it would have hurt like hell had she not been just medicated. It was hard to see over everything to her left side, but she managed to see a portion of the other side of the small room.

Midoriya was sitting in the bed beside her. His eyes looked sunken and he was pale, appearing like he had aged about twenty years since she had last seen him. He had a worried, painful expression on his face, mouth a thin line.

Tsu tried to say she was fine, but it came out a misunderstood, muffled mess. Midoriya started to frown at that, but she didn't want to worry him, so she gave a shaky thumbs up around the nurse call button.

It didn't seem to convince him.

Honestly Tsu wasn't sure how fine she actually was. The pain she felt before was some of the worst she had experienced, and the ventilator machine was a little concerning. Thankfully she could at least move, that was a good sign… Hopefully.

"Guys." Tsu heard the door open again as some people came inside. Uraraka voice was unmistakable and Tsu saw her come between the beds, wearing her costume and a sterile mask. "Oh my god…" She put a hand on her mouth over the mask, looking between them.

"Uraraka." Iida whispered, though Tsu could barely hear over the machines. "Put your hand down."

"Oh- I didn't…" She whipped it down quickly, an uneasy look on her face. "Sorry."

"S'fine." Midoriya said softly, shifting on his bed. "I understand."

"How are you two feeling?" Iida asked, walking to Uraraka's side, putting a hand on her shoulder. He was also in his costume and wearing a mask.

"Kinda lousy…" Midoriya said, with a small smile that was a touch forced.

Tsu didn't try to speak this time, she just gave them a thumbs up to.

"You both had us worried for a moment." Iida said, his glasses glinting in the light so Tsu couldn't see his expression. "The other students who made it out of the training without being hospitalized are visiting those who were also injured. They'll likely come see you later, visiting hours end in twenty minutes, so that maybe tomorrow, but were making sure everyone gets a visit tonight.

"Thanks." Midoriya said. He looked at the floor and frowned. "Who else was hurt?"

Iida and Uraraka shared a glance, but Iida spoke. "From what I understand everyone got a mild scruffing but Jiro,Yaoyorozu, Ojiro and Bakugo were the only others badly injured, though we don't know how badly… and umm…" He paused, looking to the window by Midoriya's bed. Uraraka wilted at some kind of unspoken news.

"What?" Midoriya asked.

"... Mineta and Kaminari both had fatal injuries."

Tsu's head rolled back to lay on her bed, she stared up at the ceiling in shock.

"Th-their dead..?" Midoriya whispered, voice tight and strained with emotion.

The room fell silent, no one spoke and the only noise was Tsu's ventilator pumping. Midoriya's bed creaked before he began to sob softly, and had Tsu been able to she would have cried as well. Yet her face was packed and the tubes down her neck wouldn't allow such movement. She could only stare at the ceiling with a broken look. Uraraka took a seat beside the mourning boy and spoke softly to him, to try and comfort him

Iida sighed sadly. "Honestly with the amount of villains in the U.S.J it's a miracle any of us made it out alive. However such casualties should never be taken lightly…"

U.S.J… That's right, they were doing rescue training. What had happened again? Villians? Tsu tried to remember, but she found she couldn't recall anything after cooking breakfast for her little brother and sister.

"Its so unreal to think they were with us just this morning…" Uraraka whimpered, Tsu looked back over to see she and Midoriya were curled around each other. "This was supposed to be a simple training exercise…"

"What happened today was wrong." Iida said, face twisted in anguish. "But it's a reminder of the difficult path we have chosen to follow. Everyday could be our last, and sometimes no amount of hero work will change that…"

"I should have done something!" Midoriya sobbed, clutching at Uraraka tightly.

"There wasn't anything you could have done… You weren't even near Kaminari." Uraraka spoke, running her hands through his hair.

"I got off so easy compared to them…"

"Easy?" Iida said incredulously. "Easy?! Midoriya, you were gravely wounded! You still are gravely wounded!"

"This means nothing when other people have died!" The boy responded and Tsu felt her eye round at the sight of Deku lifting up the elbow length stump that remained of his right arm. It was tightly wrapped in gauze and had small spots of blood showing through. "My family will at least get some part of me back…"

"Just because others are in pain or have suffered farther than you doesn't mean your own pain isn't valid, Deku." Uraraka frowed, taking his free hand in her own.

"My pain means nothing." He insisted. "Not in the face of this!"

"Do injuries not matter? Does Asui's pain mean nothing because others have died instead?" Iida asked, pointing to the frog girl in her bed.

"What?!" The boy blinked and looked at Tsu quickly. "N- no, of course it matters! She's a victim in this!"

"Well so are you." Iida said. "And there is no other way about it. You could argue you've trained for this, but so have they. All of us have never faced real combat before and we were thrown into the heart of the lions den today. We lost people, good people. That much is for certain… However to disregard the pain of the living because of it, is a disrespect to their memory and what they fought for. Even if your just talking about your own."

Midoriya stared at Iida before deflating in his seat. Uraraka gave him a comforting squeeze. "I understand Deku, this is hard to bare and we all want something to solve our problems. Its easier to be mad at ourselves then be sad for others… but we still have each other and all the other students. We'll make it through this. Together."

Midoriya said nothing but nodded, wiping at his eyes. Uraraka gave him another squeeze before standing, so Iida could take her place and put his hand to Midoriya's shoulder. She came to Tsu's side and looked the girl over.

Tsu saw her eyes widen a little, pupils constricting as she looked over the carnage of Tsu's wounds. They must be bad to get a reaction like that, but Uraraka said nothing, looking at her with misty eyes, sitting beside her on a chair and stroking Tsu's free left shoulder. "The same goes for you Asui, were all in this together."

Tsu couldn't speak, but gave a grateful croak back.

"Can't talk? I wonder why…?" Uraraka frowned.

"She-" Midoriya began to speak but frozen, putting a hand to his mouth. He shuttered but shook his head. "I don't even wanna say what I saw happen to her…the stuff around her face and arm…"

SLAM

She jumped again when the door banged off the wall. Footsteps hurrying in.

"Izuku!"

"Mom…" Midoriya said, looking tearful as the woman almost barreled Iida over to get to her son. She put a hand to her boy's shoulder and inspected his arm.

"Oh god Izuku, look at you! What happened to my baby!?" She whimpered, pulling him into a hug, the boy returning it in full force. "Oh my goodness, what kind of school did you join!?"

Iida stepped back from them and nudged Uraraka, who nodded. They both stepped away from the beds towards the door. "We'll come back tomorrow guys, to give you some privacy."

Tsu might have been the only one to see them go. She waved them off with her only working hand, before looking back at the ceiling and listening to the two cry just a few feet from her.

Had her family come to see her today, but she had been passed out? No. It didn't even look to be night yet and she had likely just awoken after surgery. Did they know? Were they coming?

Well once they found out they'd be here faster than anything.

As Tsu listen to the two sobbing she felt her mouth frown under the gauze. The movement making a tingling sensation that would likely have been painful. Who was going to cook for her brother and sister in the morning, to let her mom sleep in? Who was going to help with the chores or walk Satsuki to swim practice…

Tsu wasn't sure when she'd be better to help with all that again.

Not to mention she'd likely miss school for a while-

Wait, what if this was serious enough that she'd have to quit U.A?! She had worked so hard to get in… What would she do if she couldn't be a hero?

"I don't want you going back to that school!" Midoriya's mother spoke suddenly, voice watery. "Its too dangerous-"

"Mom, you said you'd support me, no matter what…"

The woman paused before huffing sadly. "I don't know what I'd do if you died Izuku. Your all I have left. I want to support you, but this is… This is too much!"

"Mom, please…"

"I- what about your arm?" She asked. "You only have one- one arm-" She choked on her words before starting to weep again. "My baby only has one arm!"

"The doctors said there's a chance it can be reattached when I'm stable. They're flying a specialist in or something…" Midoriya spoke softly. "My arm won't be pretty and maybe even a little numb, but it will be there."

"I still don't like it." His mother said sternly. "This is so dangerous and reckless and-" She paused to take a deep breath, blowing it out in a calming motion. "And I am very emotional right now and we don't know how things will turn out. So it might be best to talk about this later, once everything is done."

"Thanks." Midoriya sounded so tired and doleful.

"I'm sorry, I know everything is likely hitting you from all side right now. I shouldn't add to it. Its just when you get a call that your son was attacked by a band of villains in the safety of his own school… A mother can get worked up. Add on the nurse saying they only have one arm-" She took another calming breath. "Well. Lets just go from here. I'm going to be staying overnight. Since this is the I.C.U I can't sleep in the room, but I'll be just down the hall in a waiting room."

"Mom you don't have to-"

"I want to."

Tsu didn't move when she heard them hug. Man, Midoriya had such a cool mom. The door opened again but it was another nurse this time. She walked to Tsu's bedside before speaking. "Alright its dinner time. Ms Midoriya, I know your going to be staying here for a bit, but I'm afraid we can only serve the patients. We do have a cafeteria down stairs for you and other visitors ."

"I understand." She said. "I'm not hungry right now, thank you."

"Ok, I'll bring yours in a minute Midoriya, I just have to set up Asui's Levin catheter." She said, setting up some kind of bag on an I.V stand. One of the tubes in her nose moved as she plugged it in, the liquid inside starting pool down into the tube, through her nose and down to her stomach. "Ok Asui, if you start feeling anything off with your breathing, just push the button, ok?"

She gave her a thumbs up.

"Oh I didn't even see anyone else when I came in here…" Midoriya's mother mumbled, embarrassed as the nurse left.

"Iida and Uraraka were here to, but I think they left to give us privacy. They were in the waiting room all day, getting checked up on themselves."

"Oh and I ran in all tearful." His mother groaned.

"Mom, this is my classmate and friend Tsuyu Asui. She was… there when this happened and I was there when she… got hurt to." Midoriya said.

"Oh you poor dears." The woman said, standing up. Her face appeared into Tsu's view and she had a similar reaction to Uraraka. Yet she held her friendly smile and gave her a little wave. "Well I'm Inko Midoriya! So nice to meet you."

Tsu made a garbled reply around her cotton stuffed mouth and managed to wave back a little.

"Oh don't push yourself." She said softly, lightly patting Tsu's shoulder. "You need to focus on getting better."

The nurse returned with Midoriya's food and Tsu found it a little funny that his mom watched him eat every bite. With the management job she had at the retirement home, her own mother didn't really keep an eye on who was eating what. She would put dinner out and let everyone grab what they may. Tsu's mother also gave all her children a list of chores to do to. Most likely to try and teach her children responsibility and self reliance, but Tsu usually did most of them as her siblings had a wandering pair of minds.

Her mom most likely hadn't realized what happened today. She'd get home, run ragged from work, then realize Satsuki needed to go to swim practice as Tsu hadn't taken her. Mom and Samidare would fight about him going, he'd ultimately lose, then pout on the bleachers while her mom tried to do something productive at the pool. Then with her dad out of town till tomorrow for business she'd likely not see her family until later.

She couldn't be that forgettable though right? They'd figure it out by tonight…

Tsu frowned painfully under her cast again.

The day slowly turned to night, the staff having to turn on the lights in the room. Midoriya's mom stayed in the room the whole time, sitting on the bed with him, trying to teach him how to play Solitary, so as to keep his mind from his injury. The medication was wearing off for both of them. Tsu could feel the light twinges now, which would surely be a horrible throbbing again come the middle of the night.

"Ms Midoriya, Izuku Midoriya?" Two doctors stood in the doorway, one holding a chart. Midoryia's mother quickly stood off the bed as the two entered the room. One of the doctors looked like a blue, gargoyle monster while the other was a human looking woman with pink hair. "I'm Dr Satou. This is Dr Shakuniku." The blue creature said, gesturing to each of them as he spoke. The pink haired woman, Dr Shakuniku, waved to them. "Were handling your son's condition."

"Do you know what's going to happen with his arm?" His mother asked, eyes wide.

"Well we're about to find out." Dr Shakuniku said, walking over to Midoriya's bed side. "I'm a Doctor from Tokyo who specializes in Limb replantation. I was flown over to help out as soon as word arrived." She spoke confidently. "I have a quirk that lets me control organic tissues, though only on a small scale. I would like to take a look at your arm if thats alright."

"Oh, yeah sure." Midoriya nodded.

The curtain was pulled between the beds so Tsu couldn't see, not that she'd want to, honestly.

"It hasn't been too long to reattach it, has it Doctor?" Midoriya's mother asked.

"Since quirks became so prevalent, limb damage has become much more common place, unfortunately. There have been many advancements in the field, but its still a touch and go operation." The Doctor explained. "We have his arm, which was recovered from the scene, in a special case, feeding it the required oxygen. It won't work more than twenty four hours, but we want to be sure Midoriya is ready for the operation. It's very painful, but we've found higher success in nerve recovery if the patient can test their movement as we work."

"Oh my…"

"It's a lot for anyone to do. Let alone a highschool student. However if Midoriya wants his arm back, its what must be done." Dr Shakuniku said softly.

It was quiet behind the curtain besides the shifting of bandages until Ms Midoriya gasped. "Oh my god-"

"Would you be more comfortable waiting in the hall Madam? This is a very gruesome injury, there's no shame in stepping outside, especially if your unused to such sights." Dr Satou said and Tsu began to note the mild smell of blood through her thick cast.

"I- no, no I'm ok…"

"I'm going to manipulate the muscle strands and nerves now. This will hurt, a lot, but I can get a clear view of how well the fibres will reattach and where everything is." Dr Shakuniku said. "Is that alright?"

"Whatever it takes." Midoriya said unwaveringly.

Tsu listened to a few more moments of silence before Midoriya yelped. The doctor didn't stop though, as she observed the wound and tried to evaluate it for possible reattachment. The boy had quieted down to whimpered and mumbling, Tsu wondering if she could hear his teeth grinding to.

"Everything looks really good." The doctor said finally, sounding relieved. "We shouldn't have a problem getting the arm back on!"

"Oh thank goodness." Ms Midoriya sighed.

"Your son had a few more wounds. Burns from the fire and some cracked bones, but he should recover fully from those." Dr Satou said. "His prognosis is good, despite the condition he arrived in." The man tapped his pen on a clipboard. "However we'd like to request a blood donation from you Ms Midoriya, as your the same blood type as your son. He'll need it after the operation."

"Of course!"

"We can do it tomorrow morning, first thing. However I just want to tell you that you cannot be in the room while the operation is happening, it would just upset you. Once we return him to this room you can stay as long as you like though." Dr Shakuniku said.

"I understand…"

"Good. Now lets wrap this backup, then you can rest up while I get to the next patient I need to see." Dr Shakuniku said. " We'll have the nurses give you something so you can sleep tonight, and please make sure to write down any questions you may have so I can answer them tomorrow."

Tsu stared at the ceiling as she listen to the doctors wrap up Midoriya's stump. Somebody else had lost a limb? She wondered who it could be. After a moment the Doctors stepped back out from behind the curtain, but they didn't pull it back open. Dr Shakuniku was changing her gloves when she turned towards Tsu.

"Ms Asui?"

What!? Tsu jolted when the doctors came to her next, eyes wide in confusion. She clenched her hands. Both there. She wiggled her toes. Everything accounted for…

At the panicked, uncertain look Dr Shakuniki turned to her coworker, faced worried under her mask. "Has she not been informed of her condition?" She whispered.

"Nurses said she woke up a few hours ago. They're trying to contact the parents, but there hasn't been anything yet. We usually try to wait for a guardian to be present to explain, but…" Dr Satou shrugged sadly.

"We're on a time crunch." She sighed. "Right. Ok, well we're just going to have to get consent from the patient then." Dr Shakuniki stood over Tsu then and gave a small simper. "Hello Ms Asui, I'm sure your very confused. I suppose the best thing to do is tell you bluntly."

The doctor took a deep breath.

"Your tongue was cut off."

Tsu stared at her.

"The damage was pretty bad from what I saw of the other side, partly weakened through a corrosive quirk, then tension ripped the other half clean off." She flipped through what Tsu numbly supposed was her chart. "However, I think you have a strong chance of having it replanted as well, given your age and how quickly it was iced. I just need to take a look, is that ok?"

Tsu stared at her.

"Ms Asui? Are you ok with-"

Tsu nodded quickly, but she was still processing the news.

Your tongue was cut off.

Your tongue was cut off.

Your tongue was cut off.

No wonder her mouth and throat felt empty, even with all this shit stuffed into her.

They pulled the curtain fully closed and doctors both started to remove her face bandages. Weight was slowly lifted and Tsu watched as the white roll of bandages slowly turned yellowish, to yellow with specks of red.

To fully red.

The last layer had areas stuck to her face in dry patches. They took those off carefully, but mild pain rippled through the last part of the medication. They paused, Tsu could see them frowning at her face. It burned a bit upon contact with the air and she shuttered. Dr Satou slowly opened Tsu's mouth, which stabbed with pain, and took some thick gauze from her mouth and throat.

All of it red.

The smell of blood was now thick in the air and Tsu felt nauseous. They didn't touch the tubes however and looked into her mouth. Thing were a little blurry, but from shock or the pain she wasn't sure… She could hear them talking…

"Had to use clamp- keep tongue- back into throat."

"Pretty rough ligaments shearing- tough to- need to cut clean to-"

"Planning to during operat- going to be hard on her- shorter- blood transfusion- missing teeth-"

"Asui?"

Tsu blinked, trying to focus in on the Doctors, whom both looked concerned. "Asui I'm going to manipulate the fibers. This will hurt and were going to put a device in your mouth to keep it open, is that ok?"

She was tempted to try and speak in response, but now knowing her tongue was snipped made her scared to try. She just nodded and gave them a thumbs up. She must have been pale or something as they exchanged a worried glance, but they put what looked like a short and wide plastic tube in her mouth. It was hard but the outside was padded a bit, to keep teeth from cracking.

Dr Shakuniki put her hands on either side of Tsu's face, her eyes glinting and turning pure red-

PAIN!

PAIN-PAIN-PAIN-!

PAIN!

Tsu could tell she was letting out noises, a stifled, tight, quite scream that was garbled by tubes, clamps and her swollen tongue stump. Her knees were bent and her hands almost buried into the bed up to her second knuckles. Dr Shakuniki didn't stop though, focused solely on her work. Tsu couldn't feel what the woman was doing, the pain was too heavy to tell the individual movements. If she could say anything about the sensation, it felt like a porcupine was jabbed onto her tongue, each quill wiggling one after the other, digging deeper with each movement.

Finally she stopped and turned to Dr Satou. "Gauze."

Tsu could taste, with what remained of her tounge, copper and an acid like substance in her mouth. As they put new, clean gauze in her mouth she groaned. That had hurt so much, she was pretty sure nothing in her life had hurt as much as that had. Tsu wondered if this was the pain she would feel when they were sticking her tounge back on or if this pain was actually dull in comparison, as there were still remnants of medication in her.

"Its still bleeding, but you should be ok." Dr Satou commented, pulling the support out and filling her mouth with the gauze as well. Once it was full they looked at her face again.

"This is going to need skin grafting, but we can worry about that later." Dr Satou said, eyeing the damage. "For now we're gonna just put on something to help disinfect and clean it."

The goo they used was thick and it was applied generously over the injury, making it sting, then they wrapped her face back up like a mummy. Now the room smelt of blood and this disgusting smelling gunk.

Tsu was still shaking when they put the used bandages in a disposal, Dr Shakuniki leaning back over her. "Well Asui, I can safely say your tongue can be reattached. It's going to be very painful, but you should get full motion, and most of the sensory. Do we have your go ahead for that, tomorrow right after Midoriya's?"

Her head was spinning in the aftermath of agony her head was under. Could she really go through with that surgery? She had just gotten a small taste and it was so intense…

But could she live the rest of her life without her tongue?

Her mind recalled back to when her sister was still just learning to walk. Tsu was almost ten years old and her mom was cooking dinner, when Satsuki tripped near the stairs. Tsu stuck out her tongue on the wall, buffering it before stairs, just barely catching her little sister before she fell down the flight to the main floor.

Her tongue was an extension of herself. A limb she used almost subconsciously now. A quirk she had inherited from her mother..

Tsu gave them a wobbly thumbs up.

"Alright, I'm going to tell the nurses to give you something as well." Dr Shakuniki said, pulling her gloves off. "Your going to need your rest for tomorrow. Until then just try to relax and think about why your doing this operation, not what the operation is going to be like."

Yeah, cause it was gonna hurt.

They pulled the curtains back open and Tsu winced when the lights got brighter. The Doctors both cleaned up the mess and left the room, promising to see them before the surgery tomorrow. Tsu turned her aching head to look at the silent Midoriya's. Just as she could hear their diagnoses, they had heard hers. Inko and her son were curled together again on the bed, she was petting his hair in comfort and looking pointedly at the wall, trying to convey she hadn't tried to listen.

Izuku just stared at her with a haunting look in his eyes.


Tsu waited and waited for her parents to arrive. It was almost ten before she realised they'd likely not been reached and she wouldn't see them today. Honestly they should have seen she wasn't in her room tonight…

Maybe she was just a forgettable child… When she was five and her brother was born, she had felt very isolated as her mom and dad fawned over Samidare. She didn't have many friends, most of the other kids in kindergarten thought she was weird and ugly. With her parents busy she hadn't had anyone to spend time with. However she told herself at the time that her parents just wanted one of both. A boy and a girl…

When Satsuki was born she had been older, more understanding, but it was still hard to keep the thoughts away at night. Why had mom and dad had another baby when they already had one of both?

It was like they wanted to get it right for once…

Now she knew her parents just loved each other, and that love had given them children so they could love even more. Like overflow. Having more didn't mean the other children that came before were disappointments. It was just they were also very busy and didn't have much time to spend with their kids.

Still would have been nice if they could have spent a few minutes with her before this nerve wracking surgery…

She looked back at Deku and his mom. She was humming softly, now sitting in a chair and holding his hand. The boy was looking out the window with an empty expression, but squeezed his mother's hand every now and then.

Tsu was a little envious. Not that she begrudged Midoriya for having his mother here… She just wanted her's to.

Not to mention the examination before hadn't answered all her questions. She was still concerned about what was happening to her one eye. Then her left arm was still wrapped up for whatever reason, and she still couldn't recall how this had happened in the first place…

Something about villains and the USJ…

"Hello." A new nurse came in the room. "I'm here with the sedative. I just need to pop these in the and I'll be on my way."

"Oh-" Inko looked between the nurse and her son, who was still lost in thought. "Of course…"

She came to Tsu first, injecting the medicine into her I.V bag. The frog girl watched it swirl together with the fluid wearily.

"This one will take a bit to get started, its just meant to lull you to sleep." The nurse explained, coming to Deku next. "So if you start to feel sleepy, just let go and you'll be awake in the morning."

"Thanks." Midoriya mumbled softly.

"No problem, see you kids tomorrow." She smiled, walking out the door.

There were a few moment of silence before Midoriya turned to his mom. "You should go get something to eat."

"Oh I'm fine Izuku, don't worry about me."

"I'd feel better if you did." He said softly.

"Well… I suppose I could have a small something. If it would help you." She sighed, standing up. "Do you want some water? I don't think you're supposed to eat for twelve hours or so."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Midoriya nodded.

"Then I'll be back in ten minutes." Inko said, standing up. She didn't move though, looking uncertain. "I'll be back as soon as I can…"

"Its ok. I'll be here when you get back." Midoriya assured her, patting her hand. "Go a head."

"Ok…" She went for the door, lingering in the archway and looking back over her shoulder for a minute before going.

Tsu looked back to the ceiling. The ventilator ticked and the hospital PA echoed in the halls. Tsu took a moment to just hate how white and bland everything was here… Not like the cool green walls back home. It was calming and natural. With everything so white and clean she felt like she was in a testing lab.

"Asui."

She turned so she could see Midoriya, the boy was hunched over in his bed.

"Asui… I'm so sorry."

Ribbit?

Midoriya sniffled and clutched at his hair. "If I hadn't taken you to check on Mr Aizawa, then you wouldn't be hurt…" He trembled, sucking in a sobbing breath. "Mineta would still be… still be-" He choked on his words, pulling his head up to show watery eyes and a trembling chin.

Alive.

The word wasn't needed said. Yet Tsu frowned. This wasn't Midoriya's fault. He never asked for this. She had gone to check on Mr Aizawa with him of her own accord, he never made her, she could have just gone for the exit by herself.

Her father once said that if you wanted to be a hero, you need to be brave in the face of adversity.

Sometimes you just pay the price for it.

Everything throbbed again but Tsu forced herself to roll a bit more over, to see the boy fully. She gurgled though the gauze and slammed her good hand on the bedside rail, ignoring the pain. Midoriya looked up at her with tear layden eyes. She ignored it to pointed at him with a shaky hand and did the only thing she could right now.

She gave him a thumbs up.

Midoriya stared at her, before letting out a loud sob, thick tears trickling down his face as his shoulders shook violently. Unable to hold her position for very long, Tsu rolled back on her bed, listening to Midoriya cry loudly.

She didn't think he believed her.


Tsuyu's got a pretty rough road a head of her...

Thanks for reading guys! More on the way!