Trials and Tribulations

HankFlamion18 - I can't tell if that's a good thing or not, but I think it's good so thank you xD

AnimeAddicts7 - lot's of expletives getting thrown around in the reviews for the first chapter huh xp but still, thank u for the kind words

It's chapter 2 now yay, lets see if I can keep this momentum up. I've always had problems sticking with a story idea after the first chapter, but hopefully this can mark a change in that. Make sure to review or favorite or anything else, cause that definitely helps inspire me to keep going!

Anyway, enough with me talking. Back to the story -

X

She awoke the same as she had the day before, a dark pulsing in the pit of her stomach making her want to emit a discomforted moan. But this time the feeling seemed somewhat artificial, for lack of a better word; like something had actually been put inside of her stomach, something that made her feel significantly worse than usual. She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew that she hated this feeling it caused.

She was surely awake, yet for some reason wasn't able to bring herself to open her eyes. It were as if a weight were forcing her eyelids shut, a weight she had been much too weak to argue with. Now that she was aware of herself, she was coming to realize that this weight forced itself around her entire body. She couldn't move, open her eyes, or make any kind of sound. It was starting to get annoying how often it seemed that she couldn't control her body lately. If she were able, she definitely would have groaned in discomfort right about now.

"Shes been asleep now for over 24 hours, is there truly nothing more that we could do for her?" A voice that she quickly recognized as Eraser Head reached her ears, though she couldn't respond. It made her wonder where she was, and more specifically what he was doing there.

"I've done all I can. Even after exhausting all of the help my quirk could give, I still have to administer an I.V." another voice rang out, this one she recognized as Recovery Girl. She guessed that meant that she was in the nurse's office, though she couldn't quite remember why. A memory that she knew existed, but seemed so far away.

"Is she going to be okay?" Izuku's voice rang out, sounding distressed. His being there gave her great relief, but she wasn't sure why.

"For the millionth time, yes." Recovery Girl sounded exasperated, and Uraraka could imagine the exhausted look that was on her face. She had to empathize with the nurse; Izuku was sometimes a bit too enthusiastic when it came to the well being of his friends. Not that this was a bad thing. "She's just fatigued, almost to an unnatural degree. Like the muscles in the legs of someone who just spent three hours squatting a couple hundred pounds. But the fatigue is the only lingering issue I can see, so that's a good sign"

This gave her another surge of relief, knowing that these feelings that she felt were only temporary. Or at least some of them. This weighted surge would presumably come to pass whenever the liquid dripping into her veins from the I.V. had run out, and her fatigue would probably do the same after a few more hours rest/ A certain pang in her chest seemed different for whatever reason though. Like it had festered into her soul and created a home for itself, one that she would have a hard time removing. But she couldn't be certain about anything, especially considering that she couldn't even move a finger at this point.

Having received all the information that she thought she needed from the exchange that she was eavesdropping on, she settled her mind again to go back to sleep. She was extremely tired, after all, and hopefully some rest would make her feel better. But just before she slipped into an unconscious state once again, she heard one last mutter that would have worried her had she been attentive enough to truly comprehend it.

"I hope her hand is going to be okay, that thing is starting to look pretty crazy…"

She awoke again what felt like a couple hours later, this time to a much more eager response from her body. Although still a pain, she was able to open her eyes after a few seconds of struggle. She didn't dare move any other part of her body though, fearing how it would react to being woken up so abruptly. She let out a tired yawn without realizing it as she attempted to examine the state she was in.

"Ah, she finally awakes!" Uraraka lifted her head slightly to much protest from her muscles, but still managed to catch a glimpse of a smiling Nurse Girl. As soon as her head had been lifted though, it came crashing back down onto the pillow beneath her with a thud. The sudden movements made her yelp helplessly. Recovery Girl gave a small laugh and put a reassuring hand on Uraraka's arm. "Give me one second and I can help with all that."

She felt the sharp pain, almost like a bug bite, as her I.V. was pulled out of her arm. She then felt a moist sensation on her palm followed by the sound of an intense, moist kiss. She would always blush whenever Recovery Girl would use her quirk on her, and she blamed it on her almost childlike innocence. Not that anyone else could call her 'childlike' and get away with it.

Within seconds she could feel the strength coming back to her body as her blood ran through her veins at what felt like doubled the pace that it normally had. It sent a chill down her spine, like a surge of warm water being spilt on her without warning. Before she knew it she had been pushing herself up to a sitting position, using the pillow to support her still sore back muscles. She ran her fingers though her hair and was disgusted for a second over how greasy it felt.

"twenty-six hours of sleep sure was a lot, far surpassing my initial estimate." Recovery Girl wrote something down on the piece of paper on her desk, presumably Ururaka's medical chart. "you sure must have been tired."

"I guess so…" She responded sheepishly, her brain still foggy as to the details of what had happened before she passed out. But it wasn't her fatigue that blocked her brain, she felt like it was almost as if her brain didn't want her to remember something. She was hard pressed to find a reason to argue with it.

"With that though, you should be able to move around again." Recovery Girl placed the pencil down on her desk and turned to Uraraka, "Class is still going on right now, but I wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to take today and the rest of the weekend off."

She wasn't sure exactly what Recovery Girl meant when she said that she 'wouldn't blame her', but she still knew that missing class was something that she couldn't let happen. She already missed a day and a half of classes if her internal clock was still correct, and that was enough to get her behind. Three consecutive absences would be hard to recover from.

"It's alright, I think I'd better go to class." She decided, stretching out her tired limbs. She ran her hand through her hair again and tried to settle the intense bed head that she had accumulated, but it was to no avail. She would have to shower before going to class again, twenty eight hours was way too long for her to go without a shower after all. It made her feel icky.

But when she ran her hand through her hair that second time, something felt different. She couldn't place her finger on it, but something was definitely off. She started with her pinky finger, rubbing the spot in her hair where it rested. All good there.

She went on to her ring finger, and eventually tested every finger on her left hand. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary there. There was some resistance when she finally tried moving her pointer finger, but maybe that was just the fatigue finally starting to ware off. She let the hand fall in front of her eyes.

Her finger didn't just feel weird. It was… gone.

She stifled a scream, but couldn't stop a pathetic groans from escaping her lips. This had to be her mind playing tricks on her, this had to be some kind of mistake, this had to be something….

"Are you sure you don't want to take the rest of the day off?" Recovery Girl spoke out somewhat awkwardly, as if she she weren't sure exactly how to approach the topic. But the fact that the nurse had said anything at all meant at least one thing; this wasn't her mind playing tricks on her.

Uraraka herself wasn't sure how to respond next, her gaze transfixed on the medical wrap that the area surrounding her finger was wrapped in. She was at a loss for words, and it didn't help that her mind felt like it was keeping something from her. Something that she almost felt like she didn't want to remember.

"There will be some complications surrounding… that… that we may have to address." Recovery Girl turned away again and looked down at the medical sheet on her desk, leaving Uraraka with a stunned look on her face.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to put the finger back on the hand. It had been removed in a very…" she hesitated, picking her next words carefully, "messy way. This significantly impacts the use of your quirk."

It was then that Uraraka tore her gaze from her missing finger long enough to notice that the rest of her fingers on her left hand were missing something as well. The pads on the tips of her fingers were gone, and the newly exposed skin where they used to be were instead covered in band aids decorated with small illustrations of Shiba dogs. Uraraka would have thought this cute in any other sense, but at the moment she was too overcome to react.

"With one of your fingers missing, we've seen in previous students that a quirk such as yours could go completely out of whack." Recovery Girl continued, Uraraka barely keeping up with what she was saying. "We have managed to combat this in a way that may seem uncomfortable, but is for the best."

"Think of it like a car with four wheel drive. If the front right tire were to pop, the car would go completely out of control and you wouldn't be able to steer it," She continued, "In an ideal world we would just change the tire, but we've tried that and it hasn't worked, unfortunately. So, if you didn't have any other option, the next best plan of action would be to move the front left tire to the middle of the car so that it would still be driveable, albeit a lot more dangerous."

Uraraka still couldn't bring herself to take her eyes off of the image in front of her, much less respond to what Recovery Girl was telling her. The phrase "I would know it like the back of my hand" came to her mind at this moment, because it no longer rang true for her. She no longer knew what the back of her hand looked like. This thing in front of her no longer looked or felt like it belonged to her.

"To put it simply," Recovery Girl turned towards Uraraka again with a look of concern, "Your quirk would have been unmanageable if we had left things how they were. You would have been an out of control car. So we removed the damaged side, though in your case that results in you only being able to use your quirk on your left side. Needless to say, this also makes the quirk much less potent than it was previously."

Once again, Uraraka couldn't bring herself to speak. She tried, but it only resulted in her mouth being stuck agape.

"Are you sure you don't want to skip the rest of class for the day?" Recovery Girl asked again, "nobody would blame you."

Uraraka finally shook her head determinedly, forcing herself out of the trance she had been stuck in. Forcing her gaze away from her hand and towards Recovery Girl turned out to be a harder task than expected.

"If my quirk is going to be weaker now, that's even more reason I should get to class and work on it…" She feigned a sense of confidence, but it was easily seen through considering the tone she spoke in. It was barely audible, and full of countless voice cracks. Recovery Girl sighed.

"If you insist…" Recovery Girl gave in apprehensively, "Though I implore you to shower in your dorm before doing that. You've been asleep for a long time, after all."

Uraraka nodded at this, instinctively trying to push herself off the bed. But her damaged hand sent a wave of pain in protest, so she adjusted her legs and leapt out of the bed instead in a single, quick movement. She gave Recovery Girl one last thank you as she left, but couldn't ignore the concerned look she saw her having as she stepped through the door. Although appreciated, Recovery Girl's worry brought about more questions than comfort. The nurse must have surely dealt with worse injuries than this in her time, All Might's situation being the example that first came to her mind. His injuries and the resulting damage to his quirk were much more significant than hers. And besides that, she didn't necessarily take Nurse Girl as the empathetic type. The seemed more like a power through it or you are simply too weak' kind of person. There had to be something more to it, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

When she entered her dorm, she saw that her phone had been left on her bed, though she distinctly remembered putting it in her pocket the last time she had exited the room. Curious, she handled the device with her one good hand, unlocking it with only little trouble. It had been over a day, so her parents would have surely been worried about her not responding to their usual morning texts. As soon as the home screen appeared, she was met instead by a flurry of messages from all kinds of classmates. Those in her class, ones from those in class 1-B; even a few messages from students outside of UA entirely had found their way into her phone. Although mostly familiar names popped up, there were quite a few numbers that she had completely forgotten to create contacts for.

'Keep up the hard work, we are all depending on you ^.^'

'Get back to class soon, slowpoke! Don't want to fall too far behind ;-p'

'Not that I care or anything, but I hope you're feeling not bad.'

That last one was from Bakugo, obviously, but the sentiment still made her smile. One day away from class and she already got this many messages from worried comrades, this was the perfect pick me up after an extremely stressful morning. She made a point to send everyone who sent a message a reply, but most of them got the same text from her.

"I'm doing fine! :-) Definitely gonna head back to class today. Thanks for checking in!"

Having sent all the messages she needed to, she sat down on her bed for a moment. She was still confused as to why she didn't get the usual 'good morning' message from her father, but she was in too much a rush to let it bother her. She quickly stripped off the unbearably sweaty and smelly workout clothes that had been sticking uncomfortably to her oily skin before stepping into the bathroom.

Once the temperature was at a comfortable temperature, she stepped into the shower and immediately wettened the rats nest that currently was the hair atop her head. She ran her hands though the strands, forcing through any tangles that had forcibly stuck themselves together. She stood for a moment, using this time to reflect on what exactly had happened thus far in the day.

So her quirk was now significantly weaker, and she could only activate it with her left hand, huh…. That may be a problem for a little while, but Uraraka was thankful at least that her quirk could be saved at all. Without a quirk, there was no way she would stand a chance in the U.A. program, especially not the top class that she somehow found herself in. That fact still surprised her sometimes.

She looked once again at her now damaged beyond repair hand, wincing slightly as the water dripped onto her fresh wounds. It was something that she would have to get used to, but she had to look on the bright side. At least she still had a hand.

She must have been looking at her hand again for longer than she thought, as the water dripping onto her fingertips eventually made the band aid that covered one of them begin to fall off. She winced once again as the water now irritated the newly exposed reddened skin, but she did her best to brush it off. She stuck the band aid back onto her finger as best it was able, inwardly reminding herself to replace the band aid with the ones he had in her drawer after she was done with the shower. They were pug band aids, but that was close enough to the shiba's that were stuck to the other fingers. She took her worry about something as trivial as band aids matching as a good sign as far as her mental health went.

She washed the grime and sweat from her body as quick as she could, stepping out of the shower afterwards and putting on her usual school uniform after drying herself off. She examined her reflection in the mirror, ensuring that everything was in its right place and looked as sharp as ever. She gave herself a quick nod after brushing her hair, happy with how she looked. An extra couple seconds spent on your outfit really did go a long way.

She may not have felt anywhere close to okay, but she was pretty good at pretending. The thought came from out of nowhere.

She lifted the backpack from the floor of her bed and started out the door, locking it as she left. She knew that nobody would try to break in or steal anything, but any defense against Minoru somehow getting a hold of a pair of her underwear was a defence she planned on taking advantage of. She exited her dorm and made her way to the classroom as quickly as she could, having checked the clock to see that third period was ending. If she hurried, she wouldn't miss any of fourth period. And fourth period was always the most fun anyway, since it was when they got to use their quirks.

She waited outside of her fourth period classroom, waiting patiently for third period to end. She had gotten there with a few minutes to spare, so she took the opportunity to review the notes she had taken last class. She was already a full day behind, so she needed to be as prepared as possible.

'Izuku came to talk to me before we started, he looked as confident as ever…'

Now that she was actually reading back her notes, she was starting to see that they seemed more like a diary than anything else. She skimmed through the useless comments she had the bad habit of writing down to focus on the important stuff.

'Using my quirk on everyone isn't as hard anymore, and it really helps to get everyone off the ground whenever someone uses a quirk to mess with it, like making an earthquake or something. If I put all my finger tips together I can focus really hard on changing their gravity, and now it actually works pretty reliably!'

With her new found injury, she knew that most likely none of this was the case anymore. She assumed that her quirk's power had been at least halved given that half of the fingertips that regulated her powers were gone, and without being able to put her fingertips together any longer to remotely activate her quirk, she would presumably be lucky to get even one person off of the ground. Maybe she could come up with some work around this, but at the moment she couldn't rely on anything she hadn't tested.

As this thought crossed her mind, she heard the bell signaling the end of third period ring out to her side. She shoved the notebook back into her backpack, patiently waiting for the previous class to file out of the classroom before entering and making her way for her desk. She gave Eraser Head a pleasant wave as she passed him at the front of the classroom. He gave only a half-hearted smile in return.

"While I'm happy you're here…" Eraser Head started as the rest of the class began entering the room, lingering in the hallways to converse their friends or make out with their significant others. Seeing the latter always made her uncomfortable, and it didn't help that it was much more common than one would think. "I could have sworn that you were going to take at least a couple days off from class."

Even Eraser Head, the most strict teacher in the whole school, was telling her to take a few days off? This didn't make any sense. There were plenty of students that still returned to their lectures immediately following injuries, even if she couldn't think of any examples as significant as her own off the top of her head. Maybe it was just her usual bubbly, cheerful nature that made them worry about her more so than any other random student. The favoritism was appreciated, but she still felt guilty about it.

"No, it's fine, I promise." She waved her hand in front of her face dismissively, "I can't get even more behind than I already am. I already missed yesterday. One day off is enough."

The sour look didn't leave Eraser Head, but he reluctantly backed down. He turned away from Uraraka and began writing the day's lesson on the board, but addressed her one last time. "Even if you want to be here, I'm not too sure if that's the best for you."

This comment once again confused Uraraka, but she didn't have too long to ponder it or respond as she saw a trio of familiar faces entering the room.

"Uraraka!" Izuku nearly sprinted to her desk, embracing her into a tight hug that sent chills along the wound she had still been fostering at her side. Izuku apologized profusely upon seeing the pained expression on Uraraka's face, but she just smiled in return nonetheless. She was always happy to see the energetic boy, even if he was a bit overenthusiastic. A few paces behind him, Tenya and Shoto also walked over to her desk. Neither one was as enthusiastic as Izuku had been, but they were still clearly happy to see her.

"Hey guys!" She waved to the two students, who returned the gesture.

"Surprised to see you up and at em' so quickly, especially for how long you were out." Tenya commented, his gaze lingering on the bandages surrounding her hand. "I like the pugs."

"Thank you! I think that they are so cute!" She responded happily, but hoped that not everyone would be so obvious about their interest in her injuries. At least the gash in her side was covered by her clothes, she thought to herself.

"Yea… especially with how close you were to them, you em-" Before Shoto could finish what he was saying, he was cut off by Tenya's elbow being jabbed into his side. What exactly was Shoto getting at? Before she could ask, Eraser Head called out loudly from the front of the room.

"Alright everyone, class is starting so pay attention."

A few stragglers from the hallway came into the room following the announcement, but for the most part everyone had settled into their desks and given Eraser Head their full attention. Most of the kids had either been focusing on Eraser Head or done their best to hide their interest in her, but Uraraka couldn't help noticing the burning gazes that sunk into the back of her head. She wished they would stop, it was getting in the way of the lesson.

"Before we start on the lesson, let's review everyone's performances yesterday. Starting with Shoto, you were a bit quick to engage your quirk and that made everyone else suffer in having to avoid the huge obstacle you made…"

She wasn't even in class the previous day, so she couldn't really take anything away from the performance reviews of her peers. She tried her best to pay attention, but it was hard without having any kind of context to go off of. When she felt her phone vibrate, it was almost impossible to stop herself from checking the message she had received almost immediately.

'you're in class already? Are you sure you're okay? I know you well enough to know when something is off…'

It was from Tsuyu, probably her best friend in the class. She looked over to where she sat a few desks down from her and saw her doing the same. Uraraka offered the frog girl a meek, apologetic smile, remembering she had not greeted her at the start of class. She looked down at her phone after this and typed up a response.

'What do you mean? Yea the injustice sucks but it's nothing insane or anything'

She typed this out, half trying to convince herself that she believed what she wrote.

'Is that all you remember from yesterday? The injury? Do you even know how you got it?'

Tsuyu seemed to be a lot more questioning than usual, but Uraraka nonetheless pondered them. Now that she thought about it, she really didn't remember anything from the past couple days. She wondered why that was. She remembered running into Fumikage in the common area, but…

'Not really. Do you know where Fumikage is? He doesn't usually miss class. I'll copy down notes for him if he needs it.'

Tsuyu looked over at her from the other side of the classroom with a bewildered look on her face, but Uraraka could only shrug in response. She really didn't know what all the fuss was about.

'He's still hurt pretty bad. Do you really not remember anything about what happened?'

Uraraka couldn't help but be brought back to the sensation that she had felt earlier, the sensation warning her of her thoughts purposely hiding something from her. Something that was better off not being remembered, something that she didn't want to remember. Now that she was thinking about it though, she did vaguely remember Fumikage being hurt, though she couldn't quite recall what happened specifically. An image of his battered and bruised body lying on the floor in her living room came to mind, but she quickly shook it away. What was Fumikage doing at her house?

'not really, no…'

'I think you'd better leave. I think you need a couple more visits with Recovery Girl.'

Tsuyu's response gave her a bad feeling, and the sudden migraine she felt only exacerbated that. Tsuyu was so upfront about things, it really made her head hurt thinking about it. And all of a sudden things were starting to force their way into the front of her thoughts, things she didn't want to see.

The face of a cloaked man, a crimson streak spread across his face below a maniacal grin. Fumikage, looking like someone had gone to town on his unconscious body with a kitchen knife, his dark shadow wrapped protectively around him. Her parents…

Her parents…!

Uraraka raised her hand high, her voice speaking out before Eraser Head could acknowledge her. "I need to go to the nurse's office!"

By the time Eraser Head gave her the okay, she was already halfway out of her desk and heading for the door. She felt the gazes of the other classmates resting on her once again, and she hated it. Though this time the annoyance was fueled by something else, something more… bitter.

She let the door slam behind her and realized she forgot her backpack in the classroom, but at the moment she couldn't have cared less. All of these different thoughts flooding her mind, she hoped and wished that they would be nothing more than some kind of delusion. At this point she didn't care if she was going crazy, as long as these things she was seeing were just the crazy ramblings of an unfit mind. That seemed like wishful thinking.

She took a few steps forward, but jerked reflexively to the sound of the door behind her being opened again. For some reason, she found herself almost terrified when she saw Shoto holding her backpack.

"You forgot this." He started, carefully walking towards her. The look that she had been giving him was that of pure terror, that much she could tell. Or at least she thought she could. There was just too much to handle. "Are… are you okay, Uraraka?"

Shoto tried to hand the backpack to the girl, but recoiled in shock seeing how she responded. She aggressively and pathetically flinched at the boy's movements, as if afraid that he were going to hit her or cause some other kind of damage. Shoto was taken aback. He had never seen Uraraka like this before.

"Let's go to Recovery Girl right away…" He tried to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but his touch burned like the tip of a cigarette being put out on her bare skin. She called out, no longer in control of the volume of her voice, and quickly jumped back. She put her palm on her shoulder as if feeling for some kind of wound, but that only proved to put the damaged hand back into her view and remind her of the damage. She screamed.

Before Shoto could respond she turned and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. This was already too much, too much for her brain to comprehend. And her pathetic cry must have surely been heard from within the classroom, and she didn't want to imagine what it would be like if someone else came to check on her. She was already having sensory overload. She needed to be alone.

She fell to her knees whenever she felt like she had gotten far enough away from the classroom. She stared at the foreign object that was now her own hand, but this time with a gaze that held different thoughts. It was no longer just an obstacle for her to overcome; it was now a stubborn, constant reminder of the things that were driving her world view insane and her thoughts in circles. A constant reminder of these images she was too weak to comprehend. She wanted to sink through the floor, to completely erase herself from this world. She wanted solitude, she wanted her brain to shut the fuck up.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and ignored the messages that Tsuyu had sent, quickly unlocking it and dialing the number for her parents that she had etched into her memory. She didn't bother using her speed dial.

"You have reached the voice message system of…"

The next thing she knew she was on her feet, running as fast as she could as bitter tears once again began running down her face. This in itself sent more bad memories rummaging through her mind.

She cried out pitifully as she sobbed, no longer caring about the classrooms she was surely disturbing.