A Voice of Reason
"Tell me, Midoriya, why do you want to be a hero?"
The question was asked so lightly, the same way someone might ask the time. Midoriya struggled to focus on the words. It was so difficult to focus. A migraine split his head. The pain was so intense Midoriya couldn't find the strength to even push himself to his knees. The very thought of moving made his temples pound harder and his stomach clench violently in protest.
He lay on his side on the floor of his cell. The bone-chilling coldness of the cement was almost soothing in his disoriented state of suffering. It gave him something else to focus on besides the pain. The wounds from Rorschach's fingertips along his hairline had already knitted themselves close. Midoriya didn't know if that rapid healing was a side effect of Rorschach's quirk or not, but as soon as the villain fully retracted his fingers from his head the edges of the puncture marks would begin to seal themselves back together.
Blood covered his face. Midoriya could feel a small pool of it cooling in the dip between his eye socket and nose. A violent shiver rattled his frame. His head ached worst as a result. Curling against himself, Midoriya squeezed his eyes shut in a vain attempt to momentarily escape the nightmare he was currently trapped. The dim light of the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling was blinding. The clatter of thick chains around his wrists sent shockwaves of pain vibrating through his skull, stilling any more feeble attempts at movement.
"You're being very uncooperative today," Rorschach noted from beyond the shield of his clenched eyelids. The villain was so close. He sounded as if he was standing right over him.
Midoriya huddled tighter against himself on the ground. He'd always known being captured and subjected to torture was a very real possibility for anyone hoping to become a pro hero. They'd already covered such possibilities in class. There was a time when Midoriya had actually thought he might have a step up on some of his classmates in that area if the worst ever did happen. He'd endured enough beatings and psychological torment from Bakugo over the years that Midoriya thought he'd be able to withstand at least some of the mental strain of a capture scenario.
But Rorschach… Rorschach was not like Bakugo. At least with Bakugo his torment had been explosive, direct, and over fairly quickly. Rorschach, on the other hand, was calm, collected, and maddeningly persistent. At times Rorschach asked his questions almost as if he was a friendly councilor seeking to merely guide Midoriya. But Midoriya knew better. He'd suffered enough of Rorschach's sessions now to not be fooled by the man's cool, professional demeanor. Behind those questions was a man of pure sadism who only wanted answers and cared nothing about the pain he inflicted in order to get them. If Midoriya didn't know better he would have almost said the man enjoyed this mental game of cat and mouse.
"I'll ask you again, Midoriya," Rorschach calmly said, dropping into a crouch beside the boy's shivering form. "Why do you want to be a hero?"
"I… I…" Midoriya couldn't find the words. It hurt so much to think after one of Rorschach's assaults. It seemed to take all his strength just to string two lines of thought together. The pounding in his head was debilitating. He couldn't bare to open his eyes and endure the harsh glare of the light bulb. It all hurt too much.
"I already know the answer. I've seen it with my quirk. But I need you to say it. It's the only way for us to move forward with your treatment."
Midoriya squeezed his eyes close harder. He weakly dug the side of his head into cement floor, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him to anyplace other than here.
"Midoriya," Rorschach calmly persisted. "Admittance is the first step in any form of therapy. I need you to say it out loud so we can make headway in your treatment."
"I don't need any of your therapy," Midoriya managed to growl. The throbbing in his temples pulsed white.
"But you do. Your particular case of Hero Complex is outstanding. I've only heard about such dedicated persistence to delusions before in textbooks." There was a long pause, as though Rorschach was reevaluating his line of questioning. "I would like to avoid doing so, but if you remain so obstinate in actively working with me I will be forced to use my quirk again. We cannot allow your rehabilitation to stagnate."
The threat was as clear and tangible as a knife to Midoriya's throat.
Midoriya's breathing quickened, his heart thundering against the inside of his rib cage. He didn't want that. He didn't want Rorschach in his mind again. Only pain came from Rorschach's fingers. The thought of the villain riffling through his memories and making him relieve the worst moments of his life made panicked tears bead along the edges of his clenched eyelids.
"Let's try this again," Rorschach's deceptively smooth voice washed over Midoriya. "Why do you want to be a hero?"
A sob slipped past Midoriya's defenses. This particular session with Rorschach was stretching into what felt like it's fifth hour. He wanted nothing more than to make the questions stop. "To… to help people. I want to be the kind of hero other people can look up to and trust."
"Very good. We're finally heading towards a breakthrough. Tell me, why do you want to be that kind of hero? Why is being that kind of person other people can look up to so important to you?"
Midoriya hesitated. The pounding in his skull was deafening as he struggled to put words to his motivation and feelings.
"Why do you want people to look up to you?" Rorschach patiently pressed.
Another sob of despair. There was just no escaping Rorschach's questions during these sessions. It hurt so much to think and Rorschach was relentless, especially when Midoriya was so tired and weak from one of his mental assaults.
"Because no one ever has! No one ever looked up to me or ever asked me for help when I was younger! I was always just the weak, nerdy kid all the other kids made fun of! I always wanted to be just like All Might. I know what it's like to feel helpless against a bully. I don't want anyone else to ever feel like that! I want to help people so they never have to feel helpless like I once did!"
"Very good," Rorschach praised. "So your motivations are based in core desires for strength and to be recognized as powerful and trustworthy by your peers… Shigaraki and the League of Villains can give you that. If you submit to Shigaraki he can help you gain unimaginable strength. And you can use that strength to help break the invisible shackles that currently bind our society.'
"Our world has become so caught up in arbitrary definitions of 'Good verses Bad' and 'Justice versus Villainy' that no one can objectively see how much those concepts overlap anymore. Who is 'right' or 'wrong' is defined by a small group of people that make arbitrary rules to keep people submissive and in their place – all in the name of keeping order."
Midoriya almost laughed at the irony. "But you are being a bully to me right now!" He clenched the sides of his head with his hands to try and stop the throbbing agony between his ears. "There's no confusion about whether what you're doing is good or bad! You kidnapped me and are torturing me to try and make me do what you want! That's not 'good' by anyone's definition!"
Rorschach gave a little sigh. "I see there's still so much social conditioning we have to undo… It's impossible for you to see the greater good in what we're trying to do. I know this must feel like torture to you. I acknowledge and validate your feelings. But sometimes the healing process can be painful. This is something you must accept so that we can move forward in your treatment."
"I won't help you. I won't ever help Shigaraki or the League! You're all nothing but evil villains!"
"Even when the one you admire the most – the one person you yourself looked up to as the pinnacle of heroism - abandoned you to your supposed 'enemies'?"
Midoriya froze where he lay on the ground. The side he lay on was becoming numb from the coldness of the floor. In that moment he swore he could feel the icy chill seep deeper into his heart.
"This is a classic case of cognitive dissonance," Rorschach explained. "You say Shigaraki is villain yet it was All Might who refused to lift a finger to save you. Because you have labeled All Might a hero you refuse to acknowledge his misdeeds. Aren't heroes supposed to save people? From what I've been told All Might was supposed to have been particularly fond of you. Yet he did nothing to help you when Shigaraki offered him a way to get you back. All Might abandoned you. Tell me, if he really was a hero who looked out for the welfare of others, why didn't he do anything to save you? Based on your own previous definition of villains from past sessions, how is All Might not one in this scenario?"
Midoriya had no reply. Fresh tears beaded along the rims of his clenched eyelids. He'd long ago lost track of time in this windowless cell, but the stab of betrayal from All Might's press conference still hit him like a knife to the heart.
All Might – the one man Midoriya once trusted to the very core of his being – had said he wasn't worth the effort of saving. He wasn't worth the cost of releasing several villains from Tartarus. He wasn't worth even the flimsiest attempt to save.
"Tell me, why do you think All Might didn't think you worthy of being saved?"
Rorschach's question cut to the very core of Midoriya's soul. His head hurt so much and that question was so painful.
Even now, what felt like months since that press conference the memory of it still managed to leave Midoriya aching in indescribable pain.
"Why didn't All Might try to save you, Midoriya?"
"I don't know!" Midoriya wailed into the floor, his pain and frustration boiling over in a rush of anger. Tears leaked through his clenched eyelids. He imagined those tears mixing with the blood on his face and dripping off his cheeks in red rivulets. He curled tighter against himself – as if that would do anything to stop Rorschach's relentless questions. "I don't know! I thought he cared about me but he just left me! He didn't even try!"
"Very good," Rorschach praised. "Now we're making progress. Let's explore this relationship between you and All Might more and see if we can't pinpoint where this disconnect between your trust in him and his disregard for your wellbeing stems."
Before Midoriya could even brace himself, Rorschach's hand was on his chest – pushing him flat onto his back and holding him down on the cold concrete. Midoriya's eyes shot open. The flood of light against his corneas stung, but the panic of suddenly being held down with a villain poised overtop him overrode the pain of any migraine.
Ten-inch long elongated fingers that tapered to the points of needles hovered over his face.
Midoriya instinctively thrashed against the weight of Rorschach's hand pressing on his chest. "No! No more! NO!"
"Now hold still," Rorschach cautioned. His voice was as smooth and emotionless as greased honey. "This might sting a bit…"
Midoriya screamed as the needle-sharp fingers pierced his skin and sunk into the meat of his forehead and temples. He could actually feel the squelchy pop of Rorschach's fingers breaking through bone. And then –
Midoriya shot up in bed from a restless sleep with a choked off howl of fear. His arms flailed wildly in front of him as though fending off an attack.
Aizawa was startled to full awareness by the sound. He'd been half-dozing in his chair in the corner of Midoriya's hospital room. In an instant the Erasing Hero was on his feet and moving towards Midoriya's bed. The backs of his eyes flushed with warmth at the activation of his quirk.
"No! No more! NO!"
"Midoriya, calm down. It's alright. You're safe."
With far more practice than Aizawa ever would have wanted to have, he rested a hand on the side of Midoriya's arm. That light touch was enough to startle the boy out of his panic and back to himself. Midoriya instinctively cringed back from Aizawa's touch. Wild, fear-filled eyes swung towards the Erasing Hero. There was a moment of breathless eternity as Midoriya stared at Aizawa as though confused by his sudden appearance by his side before realization washed over him and the worst of his fear seemed to drain from his face.
"Mr. Aizawa…" Midoriya shakily acknowledged. He seemed to droop backwards against the pillow. Aizawa let the heat recede from the back of his eyes. His hair drifted back to hang down both sides of his face.
He sadly surveyed his student. This was not the first time Midoriya had woken from a nightmare in a cold sweat, screaming to be left alone by some invisible attacker. In the week since Midoriya's return this same scenario had become depressingly common not just for Aizawa but for all of Midoriya's other minders as well. Every time the boy drifted off he seemed plagued by horrific dreams. Aizawa doubted the boy ever got more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep at a time.
The boy was still visibly shaking. His cheeks were wet with tears. As Aizawa watched, his arms snaked across his stomach to hug his sides. It was a habit Aizawa had never noticed in Midoriya before his kidnapping. Midoriya was breathing hard, as though struggling to regain control of himself.
"You're alright," Aizawa insisted. "Just try and slow your breathing. No one's going to hurt you here."
"I'm okay. I- I'm fine."
Aizawa wasn't sure if Midoriya was trying to convince Aizawa or himself.
"Do you want to talk about your nightmare? This is the third in two days that I've seen. I'm sure you've had more."
Normally, Aizawa would have never offered to be so familiar with one of his students – he had a position of authority to maintain. But Midoriya's situation was unique and both Recovery Girl and the prison doctor had urged Midoriya's minders to offer a sympathetic ear should the boy ever seem willing to talk. So much of Midoriya's time with the League of Villains still remained a mystery.
As expected, Midoriya hastily shook his head. "No. I'm fine. Really. I… I actually don't even remember anything about it."
Aizawa could see through such a flimsy lie from a kilometer away. The shine of residual terror in Midoriya's eyes belied anything the boy might have said. He did not press the matter though. He would offer his student any help he needed, but at the end of the day Aizawa was not a trained psychologist and he did not feel qualified to deal with a traumatized child. Matters of the brain and emotional distress were not his areas of expertise.
Nevertheless, that didn't dampen Aizawa's concern. He hadn't been exaggerating about Midoriya's nightmares. All the teachers that came to Tartarus to take turns watching him could attest to Midoriya's continuous nightmares. He often woke screaming to be left alone or begging All Might not to leave him with the League. The strain of hearing such cries were taking more and more of an obvious toll on All Might as the days dragged on. Nothing the boy did went unreported to Nezu or Tsukauchi and it was distressing to hear how much the boy still suffered even after his rescue.
It had been over a week since Midoriya detoxed Shigaraki's Berserker Serum and mentally returned to himself. He had remained in Tartarus's hospital wing the entire time. When his mother wasn't visiting or Detective Tsukauchi interrogating Midoriya about his time with the League, the boy spent most of his time napping or surfing an internet-capable tablet Nezu had brought him to catch up on the last two months of news. Unless directly spoken to, Midoriya rarely went out of his way to interact with anyone. When he did he always seemed sullen and withdrawn – a mere shell of the shy but smiling boy Aizawa had almost expelled from his class so long ago.
Aizawa might not be an expert in psychology, but he'd worked enough years in the underground hero world to know when to be concerned. He'd seen too many people slip into depression after a traumatic event like a kidnapping or torture. Without proper care they rarely bounced back to their former selves. Nezu was already making arrangements to hire a trained therapist for UA's staff.
Unaware of his teacher's growing concern, Midoriya shakily ran a hand through his hair. Aizawa was still getting used to the change. The day before, Midoriya had abruptly asked if he could be allowed a haircut. The boy had always had an unruly mop of green curls, but over the course of his confinement it had grown so long it hung like a curtain in Midoriya's face. One of the prison guards had offered his services. Apparently the man was a fan of Best Jeanist and fancied himself an amateur hairstylist – and within the time it took Aizawa to go to the guards' lounge for a cup of coffee and return Midoriya had a new haircut. He almost hadn't recognized the boy when he'd walked back inside the room.
The guard had taken more liberties with Midoriya's new look than Aizawa ever would have allowed someone to take with his own hair. Shaved close on the sides in an edgy undercut, the top portion of Midoriya's hair had been trimmed and styled so that it swung forward over his forehead. The guard had done a good job - Best Jeanist would have been proud. Aizawa was pretty sure such a haircut would have cost a couple hundred-thousand yen to get done in a salon. But with his hair cut so close there was no longer anything to hide the physical reminders of Midoriya's time with the League of Villains.
Constellations of 1-yen coin sized circles dotted the boy's head and the edges of his hairline in clusters of five. The scars stood out against the boy's scalp in varying shades of white, pink, and an angry red. Some areas appeared to have been favorite entry points for Rorschach and more heavily used – like those around the edges of Midoriya's face. The puncture scars in those areas were darker and more heavily knotted than the scars on the sides of his head – as if they had never been left alone long enough to fully heal. Aizawa's skin crawled to think how often Rorschach had to sink his fingers into those points to leave such horrific marks.
Releasing a final shaky breath, Midoriya sagged back against the pillow. Tired, empty eyes stared into his lap. The boy looked so defeated and lost. It physically cut Aizawa at his core to see his student in such a state.
"You should try and get some more rest," Aizawa advised. "We still have a few hours before we start your transfer process. Once we get you to the safe house you can rest but it might be several hours before we get there. Clandestine transfers often involve a number of roundabout routes and evasive tactics to shake any potential tails."
Midoriya did not seem overly excited about the prospect of leaving Tartarus. He'd been briefed on the plan the previous day. "Where is this safe house?"
"Unknown. Even I wasn't given any details on it. The police and hero teams that are going to assist in your transfer have all only been briefed on certain portions of the full plan to prevent any information leaks. All I know is that it's a secret residential property UA owns where we can keep you sequestered until the new dorms are complete and you're able to be moved to campus. Your mother's packed several boxes of clothes and personal items for you which have already been transferred to the safe house and are waiting for you there."
Midoriya seemed to grow even more sullen. "I wish I could have gone home and done that myself…"
"You know it's too dangerous to let you go home, even for a short while. We don't know how dangerous the League of Villains is and we can't risk letting them find out where you are before you can be securely transferred to UA. All of this is for your and your mother's protection."
"I know," Midoriya murmured, refusing to look up from the blankets. "It's just… I still wish I could have gone home one last time…"
Aizawa released a weary sigh. He really wasn't suited to be an emotional support. "I know things feel overwhelming right now. But you will get through this."
Midoriya did not reply.
Unable to think of anything else to say, Aizawa turned to return to his seat. Mic had brought him a stack of essays the day before that still needed graded. Even if he was assigned watch duty on Midoriya, he was still 1-A's homeroom teacher. He couldn't shirk the rest of his duties towards his other students in favor of focusing on one.
He didn't get the chance to even take a step before a soft voice spoke up behind him.
"Mr. Aizawa… do you remember that first day of class when you said you were going to expel the student that came in last for the fitness test?"
Aizawa froze, his back still to Midoriya. An ice-cold chill went down the back of his neck. He hadn't forgotten Midoriya's first night in Tartarus and the bloodthirsty way the teen had stared through the two way mirror and asked that exact same question. He doubted he would ever forget his student's deranged promise to blind him and squish his eyeballs between his toes.
"… I do," Aizawa hesitantly replied. "What about it?" Although not fully activated, heat began to build in the back of his eyes as he slowly turned back towards the bed. Was Midoriya having a relapse? The exact same phrasing of the question Midoriya had threatened Aizawa with instinctively made the Erasing Hero's senses go on high alert.
Midoriya, however, was not staring at him with a berserker grin or murder in his eyes. Instead, the boy seemed mostly lost in thought, his eyes firmly downcast as though embarrassed to even look in his teacher's direction.
"It's just that…" Midoriya seemed to struggle for a moment to put thoughts into words. His arms hugged his sides tighter. "It's just that ever since I woke up here in Tartarus I can't help but think it might have been better if you had expelled me that day… It would have hurt at the time. I know I wouldn't have taken it well. I had worked so hard to get into UA. But… if you had expelled me that day I never would have been kidnapped by Shigaraki or hurt anyone with my quirk. You and all the other teachers wouldn't have to waste your time watching over me here in Tartarus, and my mom never would have had to spend two months thinking I was dead. You were right: I don't belong in the hero course. I don't even deserve to be let out of prison after everything I did. You should have just expelled me that day and saved everyone a bunch of trouble."
The heat that had been cautiously building in Aizawa's eyes instantly faded away. For a long moment of silence he just stared at Midoriya. He wasn't overly surprised by Midoriya's admission but that didn't mean he wasn't disappointed the hear the boy thinking such things.
Aizawa heaved a tired sigh. He should have expected he would have to have this conversation with Midoriya at some point. He would have been lying, though, if he had said he wouldn't have wished it was All Might Midoriya decided to unload all this guilt and self-reproach on. Aizawa did not consider this aspect of teaching his strong suit. But giving guidance to struggling students was an essential part of his job whether he liked it or not, and he would be damned if he wasn't dedicated to his job.
"Midoriya, I know you've been through a lot and everything feels very hopeless right now, but you cannot let yourself have such dark thoughts. I want you to listen to next few things I have to say very closely because I will not say them again."
Despite the lingering guilt on Midoriya's face, the teen raised his eyes towards Aizawa as though intrigued to hear what he had to say.
Aizawa stepped closer to the side of Midoriya's bed and held his gaze. "When I ran that fitness test I had every intention of following through on my promise. I didn't originally see you as hero material. Your quirk was too volatile, too dangerous for you to control. Without an ability to harness it you would only be a detriment not only to yourself but everyone else on the battlefield. How could anyone look to you for help when one punch with your quirk would render you completely useless?"
What little light there was in Midoriya's eyes immediately dimmed. The teen looked back down into his lap. Embarrassed shame shadowed his face.
"But," Aizawa sternly continued, urging Midoriya to look back up at him, "I stand by my decision not to expel you that day. You impressed me by completing the distance throw by directing your power through your fingertip at the last moment. That showed impressive problem-solving skills and ingenuity. You've improved so much since that first day. You've gained considerable control over your power since then. It might not feel like it, but even though Shigaraki was manipulating you to use your power in a way not befitting a hero you almost defeated All Might himself in battle. There was a reason Shigaraki targeted you. You are incredibly powerful. If we're able to get you back on track you have the potential to become a hero all villains will fear.'
"I will be the first one to admit that the life of a hero is not an easy one. Even if you didn't have the burden of dealing with kidnapping and torture, hero work is not for the light hearted. Ultimately, the decision whether you continue your hero studies or not will be up to you. No one at UA can force you to go pro. But as I said before, I still see a lot of potential in you. I wouldn't be here in Tartarus right now if I didn't have hope of getting you through this. There's a long road ahead of you. I'm not going to try to fool anyone by saying you don't. I will never lie about something like that to one of my students. But now, maybe even more so than before, you have the potential to be an even better hero because you've seen firsthand what it's like to fight against villains and be at their mercy. I know you. I taught you for an entire semester. I know one of your biggest motivations to become a hero is to help other people. You now understand on a visceral level what it's like to feel helpless and manipulated. You understand what's at stake when a hero goes up against a villain. You can use your experience as motivation and protect others from having to go through the same things you did."
Midoriya was quiet for a long moment of silence. Aizawa swore he could see the gears turning in the boy's head.
"If you were me… would you quit?"
Aizawa did not immediately answer. He turned Midoriya's question over several times in his head.
"I don't know," he finally said. His voice was heavy with honesty. "I've never been in a situation like yours. I honestly can't say I'll ever fully understand what you went through. But I would understand if you decided you didn't want to continue. When I first became an underground hero I had moments when I too had thoughts of quitting. Like I said before, a hero's life if not something to be taken lightly. Not everyone can take the stress. Most pros retire before the age of 30. I can only hope you will think things over before you make any final decisions. I will be the last person to try and convince someone to become a pro hero if they don't have the stomach for it. I already think there are too many unqualified people in the field as it is. But… you have so much potential. If you ultimately did decide that becoming a pro was no longer right for you I would always consider it one of the greatest failures of my teaching career."
A watery snort met Aizawa's confession. "I always thought you didn't like me," Midoriya chuckled with a sad, ironic laugh. "Ever since that first day of class I always thought you were just waiting to find something else to kick me out for. I never thought you actually wanted me around."
"I admit I might have to rethink some of my methods of motivating students, but I am not vindictive or have some malicious desire to expel students from my class. I have to look logically at the bigger picture. Preparing a classroom full of teenagers for the rigors of hero work is not easy. By the sheer nature of the job, there is no room for coddling or handholding. Students have to hit the ground running and be able to hold their own, or they're just going to be chewed up and spit out before long."
Aizawa crossed his arms, staring hard at Midoriya if only to impart how serious he was being. "You proved you were able to hold your own when I held you to the flames that first day. You proved you were someone who wouldn't fold at the first sign of hardship. I might have been tough on you, but I never did it because I disliked you. Don't get me wrong, I still consider you a problem child that needs almost constant supervision to stop from getting in trouble, but there's no denying how valuable you are. It became apparent very early on that you are an integral part to the class dynamic. You help inspire and motivate your classmates. There was a noticeable change in the class after everyone thought you'd been killed. It will be good to have you back. I also think once you're back with your friends it will help you readjust to normal life. I know for a fact All Might is desperate to get you back on campus and back into some semblance of a normal routine."
A dark shadow seemed to pass over Midoriya's face at the mention of his former idol. "Yea… I'm sure he is. He doesn't want me to quit either."
"All Might is very fond of you," Aizawa observed. "Your supposed death shook him. I don't necessarily approve of his favoritism, but he will help you reintegrate into school life. When we're back at UA you can always come to me with any problems or concerns, but I've come to find All Might is very possessive when it comes to you. He doesn't like to share the responsibility of watching over you with any of the other teachers. Principal Nezu practically had to threaten to terminate his teaching contract if he didn't leave Tartarus for more than a few hours to get some rest. His door will always be open to you."
Midoriya hung his head, his eyes distant. "All Might helped me train for UA's entrance exam. He trained me for almost a whole year. I owe him so much for how far I got in UA… but that just puts so much more pressure on me to continue in the hero course. I don't want to disappoint All Might, but I already feel like such a failure."
Like a light bulb clicking on in the back of his head, everything suddenly made sense to Aizawa: Midoriya and All Might's inexplicably close relationship, All Might's doting towards the boy, even how hard All Might took it when Midoriya had been "killed." It all suddenly made sense. If All Might had really spent a year training Midoriya for his entrance exam, no wonder the older hero was so protective of the boy! Midoriya was basically being trained to be All Might's successor. Their quirks were so similar. Of course All Might would be drawn to Midoriya. No wonder the two had spent the first semester basically joined at the hip. How had Aizawa never made this connection before?
Secretly, Aizawa promised himself he was going to have words with All Might the next time he saw the Symbol of Peace. If one of his students was getting outside training or counsel from another teacher, Aizawa typically liked to remain in the loop.
"That…" he weakly said, still trying to process this unexpected revelation, "would certainly explain why All Might wouldn't want you to give up yet."
"Yea… I guess."
"You know All Might will not let anything else happen to you, right?" Aizawa asked, studying the boy's face. "None of the teachers at UA will. I know it's difficult to know who to trust anymore after everything the League made you think was real but we are all here to help. All Might is not the only one who would give his life to stop Shigaraki from getting his hands on you again. Every precaution is being taken to make sure you are safe when you return to school."
"I know," Midoriya softly replied, although his tone suggested he did not actually have that much faith.
Aizawa curiously studied Midoriya for several moments. "Can I ask you something, Midoriya? It's been something I've been wondering ever since you were brought here."
Midoriya seemed to grow wary, as though afraid of what Aizawa might ask. "What is it?"
"How much do you remember of waking up here in prison?"
"Not a lot," the boy admitted. "Whenever I see red my memories get blurry. I'm not even sure if what I remember is actually real or not."
Aizawa remained undeterred. "When you first woke up here you were being held in a holding cell so we could observe you. Nezu led a small interrogation through a two way mirror. During it you tried to manifest your quirk to break out of the cell. I nullified it with my quirk. Even though you couldn't see through the two way mirror or know who was behind the mirror besides Nezu you felt me erase your quirk. That in and of itself is no mystery or surprise. Anyone can tell when they no longer have access to their quirk. What was surprising was that you seemed able to immediately pinpoint where I was standing on the other side of the glass. How is that possible? In my entire career, no one has ever been able to determine what direction my quirk was coming from. How did you know?"
"I'm not sure," Midoriya shrugged. "I don't really remember talking to anyone through a two way mirror. But… what I do remember whenever I would see red is that it's like my entire body is on fire. Every nerve ending burns. But it doesn't hurt. I don't ever remember feeling pain whenever I saw red. It's like all your senses are heightened and you can feel every little change in the air around you. You feel so angry, but alive at the same time. It might have almost been instantaneous, but if I was still seeing red when you used your quirk on me I might have been able to sense which direction that split-second change of Full Cowl disappearing happened before it spread over my whole body."
"I see," Aizawa nodded. Midoriya's explanation was close to the theory he himself had begun to formulate, but it was still interesting to hear it from the subject in question. "Try and get some more rest," he abruptly announced. "We'll start to get ready for your move in a couple hours."
"Yes, sir…" Midoriya murmured. He sounded so tired, as though his conversation with Aizawa had zapped him of all his strength. Aizawa doubted the boy would try and get any more sleep though.
As he walked back towards his chair, Aizawa made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Midoriya when they returned to UA. Whether the boy decided to continue in the hero training course or not was immaterial. Midoriya was returning to Aizawa's classroom and no one – not Shigaraki, not Rorschach, or anyone else in that accursed villain organization – was going to hurt his student again.
Uraraka glanced at the clock on the classroom wall. Only twenty more minutes before the end of class, and with it the end of the school day. Final period usually would have been hero course training, but because of the new dormitories being constructed all hero training simulations had been put on hold until next week. The dormitories were slated to be completed by the next day – Friday- and that weekend she and the rest of her classmates were scheduled to move in and become permanent residents of UA.
Uraraka wasn't sure how she felt about the dormitory plan. She lived by herself in a rented apartment, so the prospect of being able to live with her classmates was an exciting opportunity. She'd never enjoyed the solitude of living alone in Tokyo away from the rest of her family. Her parents couldn't afford to move or be away from the family construction business for that long. So that meant Uraraka had had to move to Tokyo alone to attend UA.
It had been a lonely transition. It would be nice to be around other people outside of class again – almost like having a surrogate family. But the policy change had come so suddenly – and after the start of the new semester too! – that it felt like things were happening so fast Uraraka couldn't keep up.
The general consensus of the rest of her classmates about the upcoming move seemed to be one of reserved excitement.
At the front of the classroom, Snipe was lecturing on the history and regulations of support weapons in the course of hero work. Uraraka was only half listening to him. She doodled listlessly in the corner of her notebook. Her particular quirk didn't really lend itself to weapon-based offenses so she had no invested interest in learning about the limitations of their use in battle.
To be honest she was rather bored. Ever since the suspension of their after school patrols, schoolwork seemed so boring and mundane. It had been almost two weeks since the train station attack that had ultimately put an end to their student patrols. Almost two weeks since she'd last seen their resurrected classmate, Midoriya, return as Shigaraki's attack dog…
The memory of Midoriya's deranged grin and the sadistic glee with which he'd systematically shattered the bones in Bakugo's hand still sent a shiver down Uraraka's spine. She still had trouble believing that monster All Might had fought that night was really the same boy she's saved from tripping over himself the morning of their UA entrance exam.
Towards the front of the classroom in the second desk of the first row, Bakugo sat slouched in his seat. He seemed about as interested in Snipe's lecture as Uraraka was. His right arm rested in a sling against his chest. Uraraka couldn't see his hand right now from the angle she sat, but the number of pins and suspension cables holding his fingers in place was impressive and cringe-inducing.
The doctors had only been able to do so much when he'd been taken to the emergency room after the attack. The damage to the bones and ligaments in his hand had been so extensive it was going to take numerous surgeries and months of physical therapy before Bakugo would be able to use his hand normally again. Uraraka had overheard Bakugo telling Kirishima that Recovery Girl had given him at least a three month recovery time even using her quirk in scheduled intervals. The human body could only endure so much healing at a time, especially after such a traumatic injury. Without Recovery Girl's help Uraraka doubted Bakugo would have regained any use of his hand before their third-year graduation.
Bakugo had been strangely quiet and withdrawn since he'd been released from the hospital and returned to class. Uraraka didn't know if that was because of the painkillers the doctors had him on, or if Bakugo was still trying to come to terms with the beat down he'd suffered from Midoriya. She suspected it some combination of both.
She and Bakugo along with others that had been at the train station that night – Iida, Asui, Mineta, and Todoroki – had all remained loyal to the gag order the police put on them. No one had said anything about their missing classmate's return. Everyone else in 1-A just assumed their injuries and shellshock were a result of their clash with Shigaraki and his cadre of villain underlings.
Which… if Uraraka was being completely honest with herself wasn't exactly that far from the truth…
She'd been shocked by the change she'd seen in Midoriya. She'd barely even recognized him. Whatever the League of Villains had done to Midoriya had been thorough. The green haired boy might as well have been one of Shigaraki's mindless Nomu for all the mercy he'd shown his former classmates and mentor. If All Might hadn't shown up when he did Uraraka dreaded to think how else that night might have ended. In some ways she was glad they no longer had student patrols. The world felt a little too dangerous and uncertain right now for mere wannabe heroes like her and her classmates to be out on the streets.
There had been no word about what happened to Midoriya after the train station attack. All they'd been told by Principal Nezu was that All Might had defeated Midoriya and that they'd been able to move him to a secure location. Where that secure location was, Nezu refused to say.
She, Iida, Todoroki, and Asui had all tried brainstorming where their missing friend could be. Since his startling return, Midoriya rarely strayed far from any of their thoughts. When they were alone away from the prying ears of others, the boy was the only thing they talked about. Todoroki had even tried to subtly gather information from Endeavor by inquiring about what had happened to the captured Nomu that night. But whether Endeavor was under a similar gag order or he truly had no more details about the incident than them, Midoriya's current location remained a mystery.
As the days drug on and there was still no word about their missing friend's whereabouts or what was being done with him, Uraraka had noticed a growing sense of anxiety amongst the small group of fledging heroes. Midoriya had been a close friend to most of them. His supposed death had hit all of them hard. So to have him suddenly return from the dead as a villain's pawn was a soul-crushing scenario none of them had been prepared to deal with.
A soft knock at the classroom door caused Snipe to stop mid-sentence. The door slid aside to reveal Principal Nezu. Behind him, his massive body framed in the doorway, stood none other than All Might himself.
A small thrill of excitement went through Uraraka. No one had seen or heard from All Might since the train station attack. Although they had nothing to actually prove it, Uraraka and the others that knew about Midoriya's return were fairly certain All Might was with Midoriya - or at least knew where he was being held. There had also been a very noticeable rotation of teachers subbing for each other's classes, as though they were taking turns covering for each other while they went off campus.
Maybe if Uraraka or one of the others could corner All Might after class they could find out where Midoriya was.
There was a ripple of excitement through the classroom from the rest of her classmates. Everyone seemed just as excited to see their missing teacher. Their excitement was short lived though.
Uraraka wasn't immediately sure what it was about All Might that made her pause. But then, like a punch to the gut, she realized what was so wrong with the scene.
There was no hint of All Might's trademark grin anywhere on his face.
The Symbol of Peace was completely straight faced. Uraraka was sure she'd never seen All Might without some kind of smile. Even at the USJ complex when the League of Villains he been attacking, he'd still had a smile on his face. To see him like this now was unnerving.
A hush fell over the classroom. More than a few of her classmates exchanged uneasy glances.
What was All Might doing here after such a long absence with possibly the scariest straight face in the world?
"Good afternoon!" Principal Nezu cheerily addressed the class. "Sorry to interrupt your lecture," he glanced at Snipe as he and All might stepped inside the room, "but I need to make a special announcement."
"Of course," Snipe said, moving aside from the front of the room.
With a boost from All Might, Nezu stood on the teacher's lectern. All Might took position behind Nezu just off to the side. His face remained shadowed and stern.
Nezu looked out over the class, his face settling into a calm but serious expression. "As I'm sure many of you have noticed, there have been a number of changes to UA over the last few weeks. The largest of these changes was our last minute change to a dorming style system. You might have also noticed a number of your teachers being absent from class, not to mention the suspension of your after school student patrols. I want to thank all of you for being so patience and flexible during this time of transition. I came here today to address the reason for these changes. Later tonight All Might and I will be giving a formal press conference about this very topic. All of you will be able to view it then, but we felt class 1-A deserved to hear an explanation before the rest of the country.'
"As you all remember, the other week there was an attack by the League of Villains on a train station in the Shibuya district. Several of your own classmates were involved in the incident. I want to take the time to formally thank all you that were there for following orders and not divulging any details about what transpired that evening. After today you will no longer have to keep it secret."
Uraraka's stomach twisted with the realization of what was happening. Were they finally going to find out what happened to Midoriya?
A number of curious looks were cast towards her, Iida, Todoroki, Asui, Bakugo, and Mineta by the rest of their classmates.
"What your classmates have been so careful to keep secret is that it was not just the League of Villains that appeared at the train station that night," Nezu went on. "During the attack, the League of Villain's leader, Shigaraki, revealed that for the last two months he has been holding your classmate, Izuku Midoriya, captive. Midoriya was, in fact, not killed in the shopping mall attack this past summer."
A ripple of shocked murmurs exploded through the room.
"Midoriya is alive and you didn't tell us?" Kirishima yelled, casting Bakugo an incredulous look. "How could you keep something like that a secret?!"
"We weren't allowed to say anything about Midoriya," Iida sullenly said from the back of the room. "We were all under gag orders…"
Kirishima appeared to deflate a bit. "Yea, okay… But still." He helplessly looked to Bakugo as if begging the blond to back him up.
Bakugo remained silent and just angrily stared at the top of his desk.
"I know that this is a shock," Nezu interrupted. "It would be for anyone to find out a friend that was supposedly killed is still alive."
"Are you going to tell them about why Shigaraki brought Deku out for that fight though?" Bakugo nastily spoke up. "Want me to tell everyone about how my arm got into this sling?"
The incredulous murmurs in the room almost instantly died away. The tension in air became suffocating.
If Bakugo was expecting Nezu's calm to break in the wake of such a challenge, he was sorely mistaken. Nezu remained the embodiment of collected composure.
"You are correct," Nezu agreed. "There was a reason Shigaraki waited until that attack to reveal that Midoriya was still alive. During the course of his captivity, Midoriya was unfortunately subjected to intense and prolonged torture and psychological manipulation. Under the influence of another villain's quirk, Midoriya was drugged and trained to attack those he would have once considered his friends. Through the coordinated efforts of your homeroom teacher, Mr. Aizawa, and All Might we were able to save Midoriya from the League of Villains and bring him into protective custody. He has since been recovering in Tartarus Maximum Security under the continuous watch of UA's teachers."
Nezu looked out across the sea of stunned faces, his demeanor sobering. "Since the train station attack, I am pleased to report that Midoriya has shaken the League's control from him and is slowly returning to his former self. As we speak he is preparing to be released from Tartarus and moved to a UA safe house. He is scheduled to return here to campus this coming Monday and rejoin 1-A in its studies."
"He's coming back?!" Mineta shrieked from the side of the room. Utter panic radiated off him. "He's coming back here?! But he's a monster!"
No one paid him much mind. 1-A as a whole was too stunned to know how to react. In her dazed shock, Uraraka was only partially aware of the flash of – what was that? – fear? in Bakugo's eyes from across the room.
"Yes, Midoriya will be returning to UA Monday morning," All Might confirmed. It was the first time he'd spoken since entering the room. His tone was hard for Uraraka to decipher, but it left no room for argument.
Mineta instantly quieted and sat back down in his seat. His eyes still brimmed with ill-contained panic.
"Yes," Nezu agreed with a nod. "His return is one of the reasons UA has decided to switch to a boarding style. For both his safety and as well as all of yours, UA is taking steps to ensure its students are kept safe from any further villain attacks. These are dangerous times we live in and UA is taking the necessary steps to counter that danger."
All Might cleared his throat, his face still a stony mask of seriousness. "It might go without saying but Midoriya is likely to experience some difficulties readjusting after everything he's gone through... I hope as aspiring heroes that all of you will do what you can to help ease Midoriya's transition back to normal life. It will not be an easy change. What Midoriya has gone through is something most pros never experience in their entire career. I humbly ask that you all be patient and understanding towards him. He will need your friendship and support now more than ever before."
"Thank you for your time," Nezu concluded, offering them all a bow. "Mr. Snipe, sorry again for the interruption. Please carry on with your lesson."
1-A stared after Nezu and All Might in collective silence as they showed themselves out the door.
It went without saying that no one paid Snipe any more attention for the rest of class.
Author's Note: Guys, if you're enjoying the story, please don't forget to drop me a comment. What did you like/not like about the chapter? With Midoriya heading back to school, is there anything you're itching to see happen? I have my story outline, but I've made minor tweaks to things in the past based on reader suggestions. Let me know your thoughts!