Are You Happy?

Chapter 2: Bewilderment

Eri awoke to the sound of whispers and machines, an IV in her arm and a plastic mask covering her mouth connected to a long tube. Her vision blurred in and out as she tried to piece together what had happened. Flashes of Deku tearing into his flesh burst into her mind causing her to suddenly jerk upwards catching the attention of whoever was in the room. Her mind racing, her heart beating so hard it hurts, the panic rushing through her veins-it was too much!

"It's okay little listener you're safe now." Some strange man with blonde hair patted her head before looking at the man beside him. "She's scared."

"No shit Hizashi." The man in black grunted, he came closer and Eri flinched not liking his gaze on her. It looked as though he wanted to say something, but the trembling girl started shouting.

"I did what he asked! I said I was sorry-why am I here!? Where's Deku!?" Her eyes widen and she quickly covers her mouth, tears starting to form in her eyes. To say she was terrified was an understatement, Eri was in some foreign place with two strange men and no Deku. All for One must be furious, he must be fixing her body so he can torture her again. Eri's eyes darken at the thought and in an effort of self-preservation she starts over; unaware of the looks of pity from the two men. "I apologize for the outburst, please punish me."

The man in black frowns, "No one is going to hurt you. Like Hizashi said, you are safe. What's your name?"

"2708."

"No sweetheart, your name."

"E-eri?"

Why did they want her name? That did not make sense at all. Shouldn't they be interrogating her? Explaining what All for One wants to do to her? How she is such a bad little girl? The blonde man, Hizashi, tries to speak softly.

"That is a pretty name, my name is Hizashi, and this man is my husband Aizawa. We had been tracking down Dabi and it led us to the two of you. Do you remember us?"

The pale girl shook her head no, more confused than ever at the gentleness being shown to her.

—
Deku struggled to make sense of his situation: his arms ache terribly and a variety of tubes have connected him to machines. There is a blur of lights and distant voices, people moving at a dizzying pace; a voice rings through in full clarity and cold tears splash against Deku's cheek.

"I found you, I finally found you."

Trying so hard to stay awake Deku blearily looks to the source of the voice, seeing a young man with dual colored hair crying next to him. Something about this man made Deku want to cry, his heart screaming that this man was important. But who was he? And more importantly, what the hell is going on?

"I thought of you every day," the stranger gently pets Deku's hair, "Do you remember me?"

Remember? What was there to remember? Deku's entire life so far has been spent living in the facility, wait, was he still there? The chemicals, tubes, white everything-

The young man next to him seems to recognize his fear and quickly but gently holds Deku's hand, softly tracing his fingers across Deku's scars. When they were dating Todoroki had discovered that this was a good way to calm him down. Something about gently touching or kissing Deku's scars always calmed him down. Even now, although Deku does not understand it, he begins to relax.

"It's okay love, everything will be alright. You're safe now."

"E... Eri...where...is she?"

The look of confusion on the stranger's face only upset Deku and he gathers the strength to speak more clearly.

"Tell me where she is."

"Izuku-"

"Where is she!? I swear to god I'll kill you if she's hurt!"

The pain is so blatantly apparent in the man's eyes.

"There was a girl we found alongside you; she should be taken care of by now. Izuku it's me, Todoroki, don't you remember?"

"Taken care of," Deku spat, "Just how long are you going to 'take care of' her? The treatments start soon right? Are you getting her ready to hurt her again?"

Shoto did not know how to respond to this, he never truly realized how damaged Izuku could be. There is a knock on the door and Eri peers in, she is still hooked up to an IV and has Aizawa standing next to her.

"Deku?" She whispers and as he turns away from Shoto to see her Eri's face lights up and she starts running towards him while Aizawa follows holding the IV stand firm. "Deku!"

The anger in his eyes fades into joy and while he cannot get up entirely due to the tubes and overall pain, he reaches out to her and the two share a somewhat awkward embrace. Neither one caring about the potential consequences.

"I was so scared," she sobbed, "I didn't know where you were!"

"Shh shh it's okay because I am here. I'll never leave you Eri."

Todoroki abruptly stands from his chair and makes a quick exit before taking one look at Aizawa and explaining the bleak situation. "Izuku doesn't remember me at all. He thinks we work for All for One."

At this Deku looks up and finally notices Aizawa standing there. A mix of anger and fear overtake him, and he bares his teeth at the man.

"Just who the hell are you?"

"Deku?" Eri lightly pulls on the sleeve of Deku's gown. "I-I think...he's okay."

"What?"

"He took me to where you are and, and he hasn't hurt me..."

"We have matters to discuss," Aizawa interjected, "Such as what happened to you and where we go from here. Hisashi is already putting things in motion."

—
Todoroki quietly made his way down the hall not knowing where he was heading but not exactly caring either. His Izuku, his absolute treasure, did not remember him and nothing else mattered anymore.

"Fuck."

Of course, it would end up this way, it is what Todoroki deserves after all. He still remembers their argument vividly the one that separated them for three years. He had grown concerned of Deku constantly breaking his bones so when he found out about an upcoming mission Shoto deliberately made it so Izuku could not go. The precious boy was furious, yelling and cursing at Todoroki, tears streaming down his face. His accusations of betrayal and mistrust caused Todoroki to start yelling back and it turned into a screaming match between the two of them. Finally, Deku yelled "Congratulations Todoroki you did it! You kept me from a mission! Are you happy!?"

Is he happy? What kind of question was that? All Todoroki wanted to do was keep him safe, to protect the one person he had ever loved. Deku had stormed out of the house and Todoroki decided not to follow. A decision that would haunt him for the next three years.

Are you happy?

How could he be happy when Deku's capture was his fault. If he had not kept him from that stupid mission none of this would have happened. Tears welled up in his eyes and he barely made it to some random empty chair before breaking down, covering his face in his hands.

It is my fault; it is all my fault.