Shouta felt like a complete failure as his body refused to cooperate. It took a few minutes before he was finally able to take back control of his muscles and drag himself closer to the son he'd been unable to catch before he'd hit the floor.

"Mindjack!"

Gently shaking the teen he tried to remain calm.

"Come on, I need you to wake up for me, Mindjack. I can't carry you with this stab wound. Mindjack. Toshi!"

But he didn't respond.

"Damn it..." Shouta growled before fishing the emergency kit from his pocket and tearing open the packet of smelling salts. "Sorry 'bout this, kiddo."

Within seconds of the salts hitting Hitoshi's nose the teen jerked awake, eyes wide in fear as he tried to get away from the hold, clearly trapped in a memory.

"It's okay, you're okay, it's me, it's Dad." He guided Hitoshi towards him, hugging him tight. "It's Dad."

The teen took a deep breath before his eyes calmed, clearly aware of his surroundings once more.

"That wasn't fun..."

"What did you do?" Shouta asked.

"I may have somehow managed to use my quirk on everyone upstairs, they were frozen when I left but considering I just passed out I doubt they will be anymore."

His eyes widened.

"You did what?!"

"I didn't mean to; I didn't even think I could do that." Hitoshi got to his feet, still a little unsteady and helped his father up, wrapping his arm around his shoulders to take the weight.

"What's going on up there?" Shouta enquired.

"Sir. Nighteye is hurt, it looks pretty bad, Lemillion got shot with one of those quirk bullets, and I don't know what injuries Deku has, it's a mess."

Opening the door with his foot Hitoshi guided the two of them out before looking around.

"Eri?" He called. "Eri?"

"You found her?"

"Yeah, how long was I out?"

"Too fucking long."

"Dammit... I told her to go hide if I wasn't out in five. Look, I'll get you outside then I'm going back to help upstairs and find Eri."

"Okay."

They slowly limped down the corridor, the white walls seeming infinite until they finally reached daylight.

"Eraserhead, Sir!" A medic rushed over.

"Look after him, please." He urged.

"Mindjack!"

Hitoshi stopped, turning back to his father.

"Be careful."

He nodded.

"I will."

The teen raced off back inside.


His head hurt so much. Something was wrong but he didn't have time to work out what, there were vastly more important things to worry about. After making his way back upstairs the scene didn't seem too different than how he'd last left it, but at least Zuku appeared to be making some headway on taking down the boss.

"Mindjack!"

His cousin retreated back a little to join him.

"You look ill."

Zuku's eyes widened.

"Mindjack..."

Blood trickled from his nose once again as a new wave of pain exploded in his head.

"I'm fine."

"Eri's behind the rubble stack over there, she came rushing in saying you hadn't come back."

"It's a long story, just keep fighting, I'll keep her safe."

Zuku nodded determinedly.

Hitoshi rushed over to where his cousin had mentioned and as promised the young girl was hiding with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Come on."

He scooped her up once again before sprinting off out of the room and down the corridor.

Eri was clearly fearful as she looked at him.

"I'm fine; don't worry about me, okay?"

The lie was short lived however as minutes later…

"Ahhhh!" He cried, only just managing to guide Eri gently down to the floor before collapsing to his knees as his brain felt like it would explode. More blood streamed down his face as he grit his teeth through the pain.

"You... need... to run... Eri..." He forced out, urging her on towards rescue.

The little girl was terrified as he shook her head, cheeks wet from tears.

"SOMEONE ELSE IS ABOUT TO DIE BECAUSE OF YOU!" The voice of Overhaul bellowed from down the corridor.

Eri gasped, a whimper escaping her lips.

"IS THAT REALLY WHAT YOU WANT?! Eri!"

The little girl was deathly still, eyes wide as she shook.

"No…" Her small voice was barely audible before seconds later she began to walk back towards the battleground.

"Eri… no… please you can't do this… please!" He begged.

But she didn't stop.

"Please... please... Eri!"


For the next five minutes Hitoshi could do nothing more than listen to the commotion above as his friends continued to fight their enemies. His Father was up there, so was Zuku, he had to help… but he couldn't move.

"Grrr… DAMMIT!" He screamed, throat raw as the pained cry bellowed through the walls of the Shie Hassaikai base. Hitoshi slammed his fist against the ground over and over and over until the skin of his knuckles was broken and blood poured from the wounds. He tried and failed over and over to push himself to his feet, only managing the slightest clearance from the ground before falling straight back down.

His eyesight had gone to hell and his brain felt like it had exploded, he could barely put a thought together as the excruciating agony flared through his skull. Blood continued to trickle steadily from his nose, a pool gathering on the floor beside his face as he pressed his cheek against the coolness of the tiles.

"Dammit…" His voice shook as teardrops dripped onto the floor beneath him.

He knew he needed to stay awake but even such a simple task was proving more difficult by the second. How could he be so weak? How could he be so useless?

"Gahhhhh!" He wailed as a piercing wave overcame him, Hitoshi curling up as he broken hands came to scratch and tear at his skull as if by some miracle that would make the pain cease.

He could only beg for unconsciousness to return once more despite how selfish of a desire he knew it to be. What kind of hero would stoop as low as to want to escape the fight leaving his fellow pros to pick up the pieces in his place risking their lives to fight against the evil spreading throughout the country?

"'M sorry… I'm sorry…" Hitoshi whimpered; screwing his eyes closed against the tears threatening to spill. "I couldn't even save a little girl… 'm so sorry, Eri."

His eyes flickered closed.

"'M sorry…"


A Few Minutes Earlier

Shouta was in the process of being fussed over by paramedics when his younger brother had smashed through from the tunnels to the surface, Eri along with him. As he proceeded to fight the Shie Hassaikai boss Overhaul, he'd spent the entire time trying and failing to resist the hold of the medical crew.

"Eraserhead, Sir, you need to keep still, the paramedic treated your wound but it was only a temporary fix, you're going to need stitches, any further strenuous activity will only cause more damage, please let us take you to the hospital."

"My students are out there." He stated firmly.

Trying to gauge what was happening proved difficult but it was obvious that the fight was turning in Zuku's favour before eventually he heard the sound of what must have been Overhaul's form colliding definitely against the ground.

"Mr… Eraserhead!" Ochaco shouted; her tone telling him all he needed to know about the urgency of the situation.

Finally managing to force his way passed the paramedics he found arms wrapped around him seconds later follow by a 'ribbit' as Tsu guided his gaze and he powered up his quirk.

And then there was silence.

Shouta winced against the pain from his wound trying to keep a mask on it in front of the kids.

"Eri." Zuku's voice spoke up softly.

"Hey, over here!" Amajiki's voice came after. "Help him!"

"It's Mirio-senpai." Tsu supplied.

When Hitoshi had left him with the paramedics he was going back in to find Eri, Zuku, and Mirio, but if they were all accounted for…

There was a small whimpering cry before small footsteps sprinted past him.

"Eri!" Zuku's voice called out.

Shouta looked between the pros stood around.

"Where's Mindjack? Where is he?"

"Eraserhead, please, you're going to hurt yourself…" A paramedic attempted.

"Where's my son?!" He shouted.


Hitoshi was a mess; falling out of unconscious proved equally, if not more miserable than previously but he couldn't help but notice the deafening silence surrounding him now.

Had they won?

"Hitoshi!"

He gasped, opening his eyes to see Eri running down the corridor before she threw herself to her knees beside him. In seconds she huddled close, burying herself against him. As her hand came into contact with the bare skin of his hand, Hitoshi's eyes widened as her quirk powered through him and then... the pain was gone.

"Eri..."

But she couldn't stop.

No, no, no.

"Eri, what was the name of your cat? Can you remember?" He asked softly.

Her eyes were wild and terrified.

"M- meow."

I'm sorry, Eri.

"Turn your quirk off."

And she did.

Hitoshi released control and held her tight as she cried.

"I've got you, you're fine, we're both fine."

He clearly wasn't fine; Eri's quirk seemed to have helped whatever was going on in his head but his chest still felt wrong. It was as if he couldn't pull in enough air but the adrenaline pumping through his system seemed to be doing a good enough job of allowing him to hold out.

They needed to get out quick though before it eventually ran out.

"I'm sorry..." Her tiny voice whimpered.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, okay? Anyway I should be the one saying sorry to you; I had to use my quirk there. I really didn't want to but you were hurting yourself."

Slowly getting to his feet without letting go of the young girl, transferring her to rest against him, Hitoshi used his other hand to steady himself as they continued on down the corridor.

They seemed to walk for miles before daylight finally appeared. Reaching the outside world the first thing that caught his attention was that this was a different exit to that which he'd used to transport his Father out of earlier. There was however still crowds of people outside ranging from pros, to policeman.

Ignoring them all he held Eri even closer against his chest as he noticed the press and their cameras, being sure to shield her from their view.

"If you fuckers think you're getting another photo like Kamino then think again." He muttered under his breath.

Like hell was he ever going to let another person feel the pain that photo caused him.

"Mindjack, Sir."

A lone paramedic stood beside an ambulance opened the door.

"You can rest in here."

"I..."

"Please, the pair of you look as if you've been through the ringer, let us do our jobs now, you've done your part."

The young girl was almost asleep in his arms.

He exhaled before nodding.

"Okay."

"Thank you, the stretcher is all set up."

Stepping up into the ambulance he turned back to the paramedic.

"Eraserhead, he's out front, could you tell him I'm safe, he'll be looking for me?"

The paramedic nodded with a soft smile.

"Of course, no problem, Sir."

"Thank you."

A white sheet had been laid over the stretcher with a fluffy white pillow laid on top. Hitoshi tried to set Eri down on the makeshift bed but the young girl began to fuss the second she separated even the smallest distance away from him.

Seeing no other solution he carefully climbed up onto the stretcher and lay on his side to allow Eri the most room he could, not that she seemed to mind. The young girl was more than content as she fisted a hand into the material of his capture weapon, her breathing slowly beginning to even out.

"You're so brave, everyone is so proud of you." He encouraged. "You should be proud of yourself too."

The two of them were a matching picture, looking at each other through equally half-lidded eyes. Eri shuffled impossibly close against his chest as they both finally got the rest they deserved, falling asleep minutes later peaceful and safe.