"The procedure was successful. He'll live."

"Oh thank God!" Izuku's mother grabbed his shaking hands, bringing them to her chest. "Izuku, baby, you'll be okay. You'll be just fine."

The doctor, a short old lady with a cane, nodded solemnly. "The organ transplant seems to have been successful. But of course, we'll keep him here for at least a couple more hours. Make sure everything stays stable, you know." Inko nodded in agreement.

"Izuku? How do you feel?" She let his hands fall back into his lap and gently grabbed his face.

He smiled weakly back. His mind felt blurry with shock. One moment, he had been clinging to life as a ghoul ate his shoulder. The next, he was awake in a hospital. I kind of can't believe it. "I'm okay." He croaked. His throat felt incredibly dry. "Can I have some water?"

The doctor smiled faintly. "Of course dear." Her eyes flicked silently to Izuku's mother, who was still gazing at him with tears in her eyes. "I'll be right back." She shuffled out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.

Inko sighed deeply, her shoulders slumping, as soon as the doctor left. "Izuku." Her voice had an edge of exasperation to it now, and Izuku glanced nervously down at his hands. "A strange man brought you in, saying he found you and an older man in an alleyway. He said your shoulder looked torn to shreds…" Her voice wobbled on the edge of tears. "The other man was already dead. When they examined him, they found out he was a ghoul." At this, she burst into tears and grabbed Izuku's shoulders. "What were you doing?! You could have been eaten!"

Izuku opened his mouth to interject, but she didn't stop. "Not only that, but it was the same ghoul that nearly killed you earlier today! What were you thinking?! Running off after a ghoul that already tried to kill you? What-"

"Mom!" Izuku covered his mouth with his hand, tears flowing down his cheeks. She snapped her mouth shut to stare at him, and he swallowed hard. How do I explain this…? He racked his brain, but the first thing that burst out of his mouth surprised him. "It was Kacchan!" He blinked in surprise, glancing at his mother. Her eyebrows were furrowed. Cautiously, he continued. "I think his friends dared him to go up and talk to this ghoul. See if he could scare it off, I guess." He shuddered at the memory of those long, shimmering green kagune unfolding like spider's legs from the ghoul's spine. "It didn't work. The ghoul grabbed Kacchan, in broad daylight, and everyone started running everywhere." He glanced away, his face flushing red with embarrassment. "I don't know what it was. I just...ran after him. I heard him scream...and I…" He struggled to push the words through his throat for a moment. "I couldn't not try! I had to do something. I couldn't run." He met his mother's eyes again, trying to mentally communicate the memory of Kacchan's screaming. "I couldn't."

Before she could say anything, the doctor hurried back again. Her eyes were wide with an emotion Izuku couldn't quite place. Was she happy, scared...hungry? For some reason, it made him uncomfortable.

She placed a plastic cup of water on a table near his hospital bed, then stepped back with a deep breath. "Inko Midoriya? Someone wants to talk to you and your son."

Inko got her feet, wiping her eyes and smudging mascara across her already dirty face. "If it's my husband, tell him to fuck off." She croaked.

The doctor stifled a faint laugh, shaking her head. "If he were your husband, you wouldn't say that." Inko blinked at her slowly. "It's the top ranked CCG hero, All Might himself. He wants to talk to the both of you." Inko's jaw dropped. "Right now."

Izuku shot up out of bed, his brand new stitches and organs tugging painfully. "He's not dead?!" Inko and the doctor both shot him confused looks, and he blushed bright red. His mind flashed back to the skeletal blonde ghoul he had seen eating the corpse. He squinted, trying to piece together the pain-blurred memories. He had seen someone come in for a landing from the sky. They had been carrying another man, then led them down an alleyway. He had been so sure the flying man was All Might. After all, he was wearing what appeared to be his trademark CCG armor, which gave him the ability to fly. And he had what seemed to be real quinces. Who else could it possibly be?

Then All Might had silently disappeared with the stranger around a corner. When Izuku rounded the corner, the door to the warehouse was swinging open, so he had assumed All Might was in there. Pressing his ear to the door, he had heard All might and the stranger quietly talking.

But upon venturing into the warehouse, there was no one there. He had followed a set of footprints all the way to the door. Opening it, he had seen a flicker of movement head into another alleyway. He had only followed it a couple steps when Hedero slammed into him out of nowhere.

He had tried to run, and that was when he had crashed into the strange skeletal ghoul. The two monsters had engaged in a rather one-sided conversation, and it sounded like the blonde ghoul, Toshinori, had killed All Might. How else would Hedero have escaped? All Might wouldn't have just let him go. But how is he alive? And when did Toshinori take Hedero? There was no sign of a stru-

His train of thought was suddenly cut off by the doors to his hospital room being flung open. "Never fear…" A large figure appeared with a dramatic flourish, outlined in fluorescent hospital lighting. Izuku gasped, immediately recognizing him. "Because I am here!"

The man stepped in, clearly limping a little, and grabbed the doctor's hands. "Chiyo, thank you so much!" Behind him, two other unknown people in trench coats walked into the room. They stood, heads slightly bowed, on either side of the doorway. It almost made Izuku feel like he was being arrested. A strange chill went down his spine.

"A-All Might?' Inko stammered, pressing her hands to her chest. He turned to her, the painted smile on his mask flashing. His shadowed blue eye gazed cheerfully down at her. "Sir, I know you saved my son and his friend from that ghoul earlier today. And I'm very thankful." She swallowed hard, suddenly squaring her shoulders. Izuku suddenly got a terrible feeling that he knew what she would say next. "So why did that same ghoul, later the same day, nearly murder my son?!" Her voice grew thick with tears, and All Might stepped away nervously. "It hurt him so badly, he had to get his heart and his entire digestive system replaced! Do you know how expensive that is?! We got a fee reduction due to the fact that this was a failure on the part of public safety, which is you, by the way-" She fell silent as Izuku suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Mom, please, don't-" She gently tugged his arm away. "Mom, he can't be able to-"

"But he should be able to!" Her eyes burned fiercely as she whipped around to face All Might again. "You better explain yourself! If not to me, then at least to your superiors!" Izuku buried his face in his hands.

"Ma'am, I am the superior." Izuku and his mother both jumped at the soft voice of one of the men in trench coats. "My name is Nezu Utagawashi." He stepped forward and lifted the brim of the bowler hat he wore, revealing surprisingly young-looking features. Pale skin, ice-blue eyes, the entire left side of his face covered with a curtain of curly-white blonde hair. "But feel free to call me Nezu." He smiled politely, tipping his hat to Inko. "We've already discussed the incident thoroughly."

"Ah." Inko looked him up and down, clearly a bit skeptical. He was short too, only about five foot two. "And…? How did this happen?"

"First off." Nezu cleared his throat, then bowed so low his hair nearly brushed his shoes. "I am so sorry for what happened to your son. This failure is not only All Might's, but the entire CCG's." He stood back up and briskly rearranged his hair. "With that said, we are incapable of being everywhere at once. Though we try to get to the problem as quickly as we can, we can't do that if no one reports a problem. From what the security cameras of a nearby store captured, your son followed a stranger into an unlit alleyway."

Inko nodded, her eyes darkening. "They showed me the footage while he was unconscious." She gave Izuku a sharp look. "My son is fifteen, and has been navigating Taito on his own since he was eleven. He's never had any issues with following strangers into alleyways before." She sighed heavily. "I should have gone to pick him up after they told me he had a concussion. But I simply can't afford to skip work…" She buried her face in her hands for a moment, holding back a sob.

Nezu stared at her, his smile frozen in place. "Ma'am, we have a proposition for you." She lifted her head, eyes narrowing. "Earlier today, as you know, a young man named Katsuki Bakugou was nearly killed by ghouls. Your son, Izuku Midoriya, ran after the ghoul to help this boy. That was a tremendous show of courage. He did something that almost no one would do. They were the actions of a potential hero." Izuku breathed in sharply at his words, his heart pounding. "We would like him to enroll in CCG Academy, where we will train him to utilize his bravery as a hero." He held out one gloved hand to Inko. "Will you accept?"

Izuku could barely breathe. His eyes flicked between All might and Nezu. Is this really happening? Tears came to his eyes, and he wiped them away with the back of his hand. Everything that happened today has led up to this. I've proved myself worthy of being a hero, and even All Might can see it! He puffed his chest out. It's all been worth it. He watched as his mother lifted her own hand toward Nezu's, her eyes fixed on All Might. I will finally become a-

She smacked his hand away.

"No."