Jumping from roof to roof, A hero has answered the call. Because he likes to avoid all news and media, because it's stupid, he mostly worked at nights, which resulted in him taking a call about a possible break in at some low-end apartments. With his yellow goggles and capture scarf, he had built a name for himself, being one of the most dangerous pro heroes to patrol the nights. Shota Aizawa had a powerful quirk, called Erasure. By just looking at his enemy, he can disable their quirk.

It helps out a lot, especially against mutant or powerful strength types. To make up for fighting those who don't always rely on quirks, he's become quite skilled in martial arts, and could rival many pro hero teachers at U.A. He knows this for certain, because since he is one, he spars with them a lot.

On his way to the scene, he spotted a young boy fleeing through the streets, holding his shoulder.

'What's a kid doing out this late? Why is he holding his shoulder? Something's not adding up, he's even running in the opposite direction of the location of the call.' Going off his evaluations, he decided to confront the kid.

Landing just in front of him, the boy got startled and tripped, falling and sliding on the ground until he sat just in front of the hero.

"Wha-"

Where you goin this late, kid?" Aizawa asked tiredly. It was 2 am, and Mic's loud voice kept him awake in the teachers lounge earlier that day.

"Erasure Head! Oh thank god look I need your help. My name is Izuku Midoriya. Me and my mom were in ou-" Izuku began to mutter the events that had transcribed recently, and began to bombard the hero.

Shota was taken aback by the thorough explanation, and tried to keep up, but he noticed the kids arm, or his case, the lack of a left?!

"Kid. slow down! Your arm, you need the hospital. I'll ta-"

"No, I'm fine, I was on my way there. My mom told me to run and she said she'd fight off the villain! She's said she'll meet me there, but she needs help. I called the cops and medical just in case, but please! Please, save my mom!"

Izuku cut off Shota, and bowed to the hero, further emphasizing the importance of the information. Aizawa knew he was right, but he also needed the kid to get to safety. He compromised.

"Alright, alright! I'll head to your mom. But you go to the hospital, no stopping. not for anyone, you hear me? Don't tell anyone until I get back to Musutafu General, understand? Take this, too. The doctors will treat you right away when you show them this." He handed Izuku a card that gave instructions from Pro Hero: Erasure Head to treat him.

With that, the pro leapt away. Izuku stood for just a moment, easing slightly that a hero was going to help. He ran off to the hospital, and started to think again. 'I already called an ambulance and the police, so that's probably how Aizawa had gotten the call. Maybe he got it from the neighbors too. Aw shit, my turning kits coming undone.'

He ducked under an underpass to fix it really quick. He soon found himself about 5 minutes from the hospital, and little did he realize, this was the exact same underpass where he ran into All Might. He began to change the position of his old shirt, and re-tighten the belt. He looked over his nub once, mad that the knife had also ruined his hoodie. It was his most recent gift from his mom, which made him more worried.

'What if Erasure Head doesn't get there in time? What if the police don't get there to arrest that girl? What if I never see her again?' The thought he was having began to distraught the poor boy, and he stuck his remaining arm onto the wall to keep from falling over.

'C'mon, you big baby! Stop thinking like that! Mom's gonna make it out, a pro hero is going to help her. She'll be fine, so you have to make sure your fine so she won't worry!'

He pushed off the wall and began to return to his journey to the hospital, until the sound of shoes running along the road behind him made him stop and turn, and gasped at who he saw running towards him.

( . . . )

Aizawa finally arrived at the apartment where the boy had escaped, and found it wrecked. The dining table was in splinters, a chair was in the wall, and the window and TV were shattered, and the couch became a chicken coup. He did a quick scan to find the villain, only to lay his eyes on a green haired woman lying on the floor. He rushed to her side, and did a once over of her condition. She was in a puddle of blood, which wasn't a good sign, and found the reason why as he turned her around to find a knife jutting in her chest, around the area of her heart.

"Hey, Miss? Miss! Miss, are you still awake, miss?!" Aizawa hated these nights. Finding an attacked victim dead, or on the brink always took a blow to his mind.

He was relieved to find a pulse and her stir, but when she awoke, he held her tight to show he was no threat, and explained the situation to her. She cut him off with just a few words that shook him to his core.

"Sh-e... Took my.. My.. body... The vill...ain... M.. My Ap-...-pear..ance... She drifted back to unconsciousness.

'The villain took the appearance of her? She'd be able to get away if that's the case. Where wo-' His eyes widened as he pieced together the information.

'Midoriya. That could be the only reason. He said he called police and medics, so she should be fine. He needed to get to the boy, though. Whatever reason this villain had to go this far to either kill or capture him, it couldn't have been good. '

He spotted some paper and a pen among the mess, and wrote a quick note to the police. It explained the necessity of speed in the situation, and that he was pursuing the villain, and for a squad to be sent to the hospital with the mother to protect her, and another to take the route the boy took to meet up with them.

He pinned it to the door of the apartment, along with his hero license, and took to the rooftops to give chase. He retraced his steps and followed the route till he spotted a hint of green hair out of the corner of his eye, heading out of sight because of an underpass. The hair was only visible under a streetlamp for a brief moment, but the hero in pursuit recognized it instantly, because he had just seen it up close not 5 minutes prior. He descended onto the street, using his capture scarf like a rope to swing off a lamppost and rolled on the pavement, and continued to the underpass, hopefully just in time.

In time he wasn't. Just seconds after spotting the boy and the fake mother, she had drawn a knife similar to the one buried in the true mother, and slashed across the kids neck.

Aizawa froze as he watched the mother melt away to reveal a young, messy blonde demon.

Aizawa's eyes widened and his pupils shrunk as she walked up to the young boy, and grabbed his hair.

Aizawa's world stopped as she yanked the child's head off his body.

( . . . )

Izuku reaaally needed a break. Like, he's 8 years old, gets bullied every day, and honestly, he starting to think God just has it out for him. He had gotten some.. advice.. From Bakugo, got attacked my a slime villain, told he couldn't be a professional hero by freaking All Might himself, and attacked, AGAIN, by a psychotic girl who was his age, maybe younger.

Oh, he got his left arm cut off, too. That was cool.

But OH WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

'Like.. Seriously?"

His Mom had rushed to the under pass to find him, and brought him into a big hug. He was so caught up in her being there it took a second to realize that Erasure Head wasn't with her. Not to mention, but she didn't have a scratch on her, and before he ran, she had a nick on her cheek, one that'd definitely leave a scar, even if it was a faint one. He became, very, skeptical, so decided to test a theory, one he hoped would prove wrong.

"Hey mom, where'd the hero go? The one with bright red hair." Izuku asked curiously, hiding the growing fear in his voice.

'Okay, if she corrects me and says it's black, it's her. If not...

Well there's no way right?'

'Right?'

"Oh yeah, I passed him on my way here, told him that the girl who attacked us was unconscious in our apartment." His mom said flatly.

'Well, fuck me, huh..'

"Oh is that so?" Izuku said quietly. He let go, as naturally as possible, acting as if nothing was wrong.

Then he turned and ran.

His 'mom' didn't like that, apparently, since she seemingly teleported in front of him and blocked his path.

"araaa? Was it something I said? Oooooh I get it, there was no hero, you little trickster!~" His mom grinned sadistically. She took a step towards him, her face starting to shift.

"He took a step back, his hand moving to try to block any coming attack to his person.

Her faced was melting now, revealing the demon underneath the mask.

'Ok, seeing as she went for my gut first, she's trying to cripple me. If I keep my hand low, I should be able to memorize her fighting style. If I can do that an-'

She literally cut off his train of thought, as in one swift motion, she dashed forward faster than he could react, and sliced cleanly through his neck.

He didn't feel his blood beginning to seep out of his throat, but it never reached his mouth.

He couldn't even blink as she grabbed his hair.

He didn't flinch as his head left his body.

His eyes began to close, as he felt his life leaving.

Until it all stopped.

He felt his life still there, and he felt his head hit the ground.

He kept blinking in disbelief as Aizawa had returned, and was kicking the demon girl's ass.

He flinched as he heard, and felt, his separated body hit the ground, falling forward.

He heard loud grunts, screams of foul language, and then silence.

Soon broken, however, by approaching footsteps, much heavier than a younger girl.

"KID. Oh my.. God..." Aizawa approached the headless body, out of Izuku's sight line.

He fell to his knees at the corpse.

"I wasn't fast enough kid... I'm so.. So..." His dry eyes began to water slightly.

Izuku would look back at this moment, and feel sorry for Aizawa in public, but in private?

He couldn't pass it up.

He felt the hero hold his hand, so Izuku did what any headless corpse should do.

He squeezed back.

"WHAT the FUCK!?"

The pro launched himself back, in a fighting stance just outside of the head's vision, but soon realized this kid, who should definitely be dead, squeezed his hand.

"Wait..." Aizawa reentered the kids vision, and picked up the head, and stared, shocked, into the kids should-be-lifeless eyes.

"How.. Are you..?"

"Yeaahhh I don't either, Erasure Head. I'm just as lost as you are." Izuku said curiously, wondering how he was even able to live.

"Okay. I Definitely need recovery girl to look you over." The hero sighed as he kept looking between the kid's head and his body.

"I definitely don't like being a head though." Izuku whimpered.

"For that little squeeze stunt, I'm half tempted to leave you like this." Aizawa stared coldly at the dismembered brain, then sighed.

"What am I supposed to do, just stick you back on?"

"I guess? I've never had to reattach my head before." Izuku said, still in disbelief that this was a conversation that he was actually having with a pro hero.

Aizawa nearly fainted as the body sat up, then warned Izuku that he'd use his head as a basketball if he kept it up, but reluctantly stuck his head back in place.

After a few very disturbing cracks, and the sound of mending flesh drowned out, Aizawa looked over the kid once more. Before confirming that the only injury left was his missing arm, he became curious.

"What's up with that?" He gestured to the nub.

"Oh this?" he took off the bandage to reveal a still bleeding nub. The only difference now, was that it was almost completely healed, and almost looked as though he'd been missing an arm for years.

"I don't know. Maybe it's a timed thing? If I don't reattach the limb, it heals over?" Izuku said, starting to think of different possibilities. What if his wound healed before he re-attached the arm? Or any limb? Limb regrowth didn't seem to be occurring, so what i-"

"Look kid, you need a doctor. This is obviously part of your quirk, and your mother sh-"

"MY MOM! IS SHE OKAY!? IS SH-"

"She's on her way here, I passed the sirens on my way here. Looks like they had to send someone from a different hospital, not MG. You would've seen them. Cops are on their way here soon, then, and I gave them a note to meet us at MG." Aizawa explained calmly. He knew how it felt to worry over someone close. He lost a friend once. He couldn't even imagine family.

Izuku relaxed, and retook his seat on the ground

"That's good, goooo..." The kid petered out, and slumped onto his back, unconscious.

Aizawa just sighed, and maneuvered to pick the kid up and carry him to the hospital. At least he would've, if the cops hadn't shown up. An officer got out of the first car with his lieutenant and approached the hero.

"Erasure Head, I presume?" The cop asked, and Aizawa answered;

"Yeah, you get my message?"

"Yep, the apartments being secured, and the mother is not far-

Sirens wailed as an ambulance with a police escort zoomed past them, finishing their journey to the hospital.

"Well, she's gonna get to the doctors. I don't know if she'll make it. She's barely alive as we speak.. Who's the kid?" The officer questioned, after Aizawa had finished explaining the villain to the lieutenant, and he left and ordered all current officers to be wary and not go far.

"This is her son. He was being targeted, and I don't know why. Search for any kind of evidence, she has a quirk that lets her turn into other people, but I don't know how." The hero explained. The officer grunted at the info.

"Alright, thanks for the heads up. We'll search for anything we can use. In the meantime, take that kid to the hospital, get him and yourself checked out. I'll call my tech guys to see if any cameras in the area picked up someone with her description, and we'll crossmatch with yours if we find anything."

With that, the cop left to radio the station, and give the news. Aizawa collected the young boy, his hero paperwork, and carried him to the hospital. After a quick explanation, he got a room that didn't have patients on either side, and left the kid to the doctors. He exited to the lobby after getting some gauze to cover any small nicks he had received, and pulled out his phone, speed dialing his favorite contact.

It rang once before he heard an old, grumpy women on the other end

"What are you doing calling me at this hour, Shota!" she growled at the exhausted pro.

Aizawa slumped onto a couch in the waiting room, and explained the night's events.

"He healed his detached head back.. Huh..." She spoke curiously, seemingly running possibilities in her head about what else he could do.

"Alright, I'll be there with Nezu first thing in the morning. Get some rest, too. I don't want you falling asleep in front of our boss."

"Yes ma'am, and thank you... Again.."

"Anytime, Shota."

He hung up, and laid out on the couch as more officers entered the building, but left him be. He had given them orders to protect the two green-haired targets, so they would be safe.

He hoped, at least.

Seeing that kid in such a state...

It scared him.

Just before he fell unconscious as well, his mind held two thoughts.

Part of him was hoping best of luck to the mother, that she would make it.

The other part hoped he'd get the opportunity to take the kid in, if the worst happened.

He never thought both of his wishes would come true.

-:- 6. A Second Chance -:-