Chapter Eight: Trial To Salvation

The days leading up to the trial were filled with everyone rushing to get prepared. Creating statements, preparing the best legal team that they could, just doing everything that they could to help their friend in his time of need. Shouto was already like family to them, and now that was about to become true in the name of the law.

"Mom, I hope you know what you're getting into. This is the same man who swindled his way out of his arson and manslaughter charges, it won't be an easy case." Izuku spoke to his mother, ruffling his hair as he followed after her down a hallway in the Midoriya estate.

"I'm well aware, Izuku. But I can't just sit by while children are at stake, you know this." She explained, a small urgency in her voice as the need to save those in need resided within the both of them. "Even if it were against the worst families, like what we did with Eri. Even if it were with one of the rival families, like the Jirous. I would never let a child go without the love and care they deserve."

"Of course…" Izuku mumbled, smiling at his mother's noble actions before a question popped into his mind. "Hey, speaking of the Jirou's, why have we always been at odds with them? They seem like good people, is there some sort of deeper conflict I'm not aware of?"

Inko paused walking and turned to face her son, with him staring at her curiously. Her expression was… Unreadable. "Um… W-Well, to be honest I'm not aware of the reason myself. The only person who knows is your father, but I don't think he'd want to talk about it."

"Hm, alright… I'll talk to him about it later, maybe he'll tell me." Izuku mumbled in response, continuing to make their way down the hall until they encountered a certain amphibian loving individual. "Oh, Tsu. How're you doing?"

"As alright as I can be. I was hoping to run into you so I could ask for some time to go visit my family if that's alright? Being around the main hotel's been rough because of… Well, you know who." Tsuyu admitted, nervously averting Izuku's gaze. The man sighed and nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, that's fine. But take Kirishima with you, he's been a bit on edge as well. Your guys' families are relatively close, right?" Izuku inquired, placing a reassuring hand to the girl's shoulder as she nodded to answer his question. "Then it's settled. Take the rest of the day off and take it easy, we don't need you stressing out over that damn snake."

"Lizard." Tsuyu corrected.

"Whatever. He acts like a damn snake." Izuku corrected her correction, scowling as he thought about the bastard in question: Shuichi Iguchi. "Anyways, we've got to get going to meet with the others at the courthouse. We'll be seeing you alright?"

"Right. Thanks again." She thanked, bowing respectfully to both of the Midoriya's before heading on her way, presumably to find Kirishima.

"She's such a nice girl… What a shame she's exposed to this life. Reminds me of myself when I was younger." Inko said, smiling warmly at the green haired girl as she left before the Midoriya's continued their trek to the main hall.

"It's all a matter of circumstance. We all ended up here due to our own situations, and she's no different. Her family needs the money, and after that bastard Iguchi got his hands on her she had no one else to turn to." Izuku explained, sighing as he remembered her coming to him during a typhoon for help. "He forced her to cut ties with everyone, hell he probably would've put his hands on her if we didn't put a stop to it. Thank god for Kirishima..."

"Oh? What did he do?" Inko inquired, curious to find that their shark-toothed redhead of all people had intervened in the affairs between Tsuyu and Iguchi.

"Well… Let's just say he has a dent in his skull from where Kirishima had struck him. He hates people who abuse their partners, almost scarily so. He's got a vendetta against those he finds "unmanly"." Izuku informed as the two Midoriya's finally made their way to the main hall where their chauffeur was waiting for them. "Oh, Tetsutetsu! I didn't know you'd be the one driving us today."

"Ah, well, since everyone else was unavailable it was left up to me. I'll do my best to drive you to your destination safely." The gray haired man greeted, grinning excitedly at Izuku before bowing respectfully to the woman beside him. "Hello to you as well, . It's a pleasure to see you."

"And you as well. Now let's hurry, we shouldn't be late to the courthouse." Inko instructed calmly, forcing an end to the conversation as the Midoriya's were led to their transportation of the evening. They'd be enjoying their ride in silent anxiety for what was to come.

The courtroom was about to become a battlefield.

Wandering into the courtroom Izuku was greeted by many familiar faces, and some rather… Unwelcome faces. Today was not about him, however, he was only here to give an account of when he had first encountered Todoroki.

Izuku went to approach the dual-haired boy in question, but was surprised to see that his younger sister had beaten him to the punch. Ochako had made her way over to Todoroki, and while he wanted to intervene, something was telling him to let her be. She was merely providing comfort to him.

"So… How do you feel?" The brunette questioned as she sat herself beside the scarred man. Todoroki sighed and rubbed his scarred eye, almost as if he could feel the pain from that fire all over again.

The boy shadowed his eyes under his bangs as he stared at his father seated a few ways away from them with his group of lawyers. "...Uneasy. He's acting so stoic when me and everyone in this room knows what he's capable of. What he's done… I'm not even sure we can win this. I don't even know if I want to win this."

"What do you mean? I thought you wanted to cast aside your relation to him?" Ochako questioned, tilting her head curiously as she scooted a bit closer to him in order to see his face. He glanced at her from the side when he noticed her moving closer.

A small silence washed over them as he contemplated his next words. "I… I do. But I know that if we succeed in this it will only mean that he'll see us as a target even more so than before. His envoy won't stop until the Midoriya's are eradicated." He explained, interlocking his fingers as he hunched over and stared down at his feet. "I couldn't stand to see it happen…"

"Shouto…" She called softly, placing a tender hand to his shoulder. He turned his head towards her, slightly confused, as she stared down at him in worry. She then smiled, confusing the man even more. "We're a strong group of people, and we've got even stronger connections. If push comes to shove, we won't go down without a fight. I know I may not seem like it, but I'm worried about it too… But I know my brother will stop at nothing to make sure we're all taken care of. He'd want you to be able to smile again, and s-so do I…"

"Uraraka-San…" He mumbled softly staring at her wide-eyed before a small smile graced his lips. "...Thank you. You know lately it's seemed like you've been my saving grace in all of this. I can't thank you enough."

"Well, you could take me out for mochi sometime to make up for it." The brunette joked before realizing what she was saying and blushing up a storm out of embarrassment, "A-Ah, w-wait I-I-I didn't mean to-"

"Sure, I'll take you out for some." He replied simply, interrupting her stuttering as the brunette's face flushed even more than before. The room then fell silent as the bailiff opened the door to the courtroom and held it open for the judge.

It was a small man, who seemed to be quite old, but he had a smile on his face as he entered the courtroom. He was a relatively cheerful fellow, but one many of those in the room had encountered before. Nezu.

This was no ordinary man. His intellect had him solve thousands of cases, and through his efforts he had raised a lot of money in hopes to better the judicial systems of the world.

"Ah, Mrs. Midoriya! It's lovely to see you again." He greeted cheerfully, politely bowing to the woman in question as everyone rose in respect to the man. "Oh please, sit yourselves down. Ah, Todoroki-san! You're rather lawyered up I see. I can't say I'm surprised, you always do end up finding yourself in a predicament, eh?"

"Nezu." The gruff man greeted, the scowl on his face never leaving. Inko felt the urge to storm over to him and begin to beat him with all of her might, but refrained herself. There was a time and place for everything.

"Alright, well, enough formalities. I see that you two are here for a custody battle… Over an adult, , may I inquire as to why you chose to do this?" Nezu questioned, turning his attention to the green haired woman.

"Shouto Todoroki is in a horrible relation with his father, and I believe the man is not fit to care for the boy, even at his age he's shown nothing but hostility and rage towards his father, and he had burst into my son's business in order to force him around like he had some say in his life now that he was an adult. I want that to change. I want him to be unchained from his father's abusive hold on his life." Inko explained, placing a hand to her chest as she stared at the judge with determination and sincerity.

"I see. Well, that's very honorable of you, Mrs. Midoriya. Never change." Nezu replied, smiling at the woman before turning his attention to Enji Todoroki, the man with a will of fire. "And Todoroki-San. What say you? I see you're counter suing for defamation and… Kidnapping?"

"That is correct. The Midoriya's have been withholding my son from me for far too long and I'm tired of them meddling in my family's affairs." Enji spoke, placing his interlocked hands on the table before him as his lawyers stood beside him, all seemingly to be the most elite group of lawyers that he could muster.

"Alright, well I'll start with Mrs. Midoriya's case and we'll work our way to you, sir." Nezu explained, writing a few things down on his paper as he gestured for Inko to step forward. "And please have your… Advisors, take a seat, Mr. Todoroki. They're blocking the view from your peers."

"Bailiff, put them both under oath while I fill out this paperwork." He instructed, pulling out more papers for him to fill out as the bailiff did as he was told, swearing both parties to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

"Well, I'd like to call up my son to give an accounting of the time where we had originally encountered Shouto. We have images to show if you'd like for us to present them." She explained, gesturing to Izuku who rose from his seat and made his way beside his mother.

"We'll get to the images later. For now, I'd like to hear what the young Midoriya has to say. Enlighten me to your recounting of how you found Mr .Shouto upon your first encounter." Nezu instructed, writing a few more things down before giving Izuku his full attention. He needed to make sure that he was paying attention to every little detail.

Izuku nodded, "Of course, your honor."

The night was dark and rainy, Izuku was making his way home from a meeting with his father's "Colleagues" and was without transportation as all of their drivers were appointed to other more important matters, leaving the young Izuku Midoriya to fend for himself out in the rain. Not that he wasn't already accustomed to this.

Sighing, Izuku continued down the road, his wet unruly hair cascading down his face, nearly blocking his sight as he went without an umbrella for the evening. So much for trusting weather reports.

The greenette was suddenly hearing footsteps approach him, but that must have been a mistake. This road was hardly ever populated, and not only that, but it was so dark and foggy out that he couldn't see anyone around him. Surely he must have been hearing things?

But his thoughts were interrupted as something, or rather someone came crashing into him, knocking both of them down onto the ground. Izuku would be quick to recover and attempt to scold whoever dared to run into the first born of the Midoriya family, but he was surprised to find one of his classmates.

"Todoroki-Kun? What are you doing all the way out here?" He questioned, staring at the soaked dual haired boy. He looked to be in horrible shape, he was littered with cuts and bruises. His clothes were torn, revealing many burn scars upon his abdomen, and his face was filled with an expression Izuku knew all too well. Uncontrollable fear. "Todoroki…"

Hearing his name, the boy snapped out of his trance and whipped his head around to stare at his surroundings before they finally landed on the greenette in front of him. "M-Midoriya-dono.."

Izuku frowned at the honorific that he and everyone else in that school used for him. He always hated being held to a higher standard than most others, but with the family name Midoriya he had quite a reputation to uphold.

"...You can drop the honorific. Midoriya works fine, Todoroki-Kun." Izuku assured, bringing himself to his feet and holding a hand out to the dual-haired boy. "And you didn't answer my question, what are you doing all the way out here? Shouldn't you be at home?"

"...H-Home?" He repeated curiously, suddenly looking down at his reflection through the puddle that he sat in with tears building up in the corners of his eyes. His scar ached at the mere mention of home. "I don't have a home. That place… It was never my home. It was hell."

Izuku sat silent for some time, contemplating what Todoroki said, and pondered his next choice of actions before ultimately coming to a solution for the problem at hand.

"...Come with me. You don't have to go back there…" He explained, gesturing to his hand. "Me and my family will help you. Just come with me and we'll keep you safe."

Todoroki was shocked, never before had he been shown such kindness. Not since his mother had fallen into a coma all those years ago.

"Why..? W-Why would you do that for me, I-I can't pay back any sort of debts-" He tried to back out, only for Izuku to slap him across the face and hold out his hand once more.

"No debts will need to be paid off. Just let me help you, you need it, and I can't stand to see you in such disarray. You'll never have to suffer alone again, I promise you that." Izuku explained, giving Shouto a sincere expression as he waited for him to make the decision. Take his hand and change his life, or lay in the rain and return to the abusive lifestyle that he hated. "Take my hand."

The choice was easy, and the rest is history.

"Ever since that day he has been a key member of the business. He was damn near a member of the family, just like the rest of my associates. I care that deeply for them, and you're insane if you think I'm going to send him back to the man that left him in such a broken state."

"Mm, alright. Thank you, sir." He thanked, nodding to Izuku as he then turned to the woman beside him. "Now, Mrs. Midoriya, you may present the images, but I must warn those witnessing this that they may be rather graphic. Now is your chance to avert your eyes or leave the courtroom."

Inko pulled out a small envelope filled with the photos and handed them to the bailiff who then handed them off to someone else to be scanned so they could upload them to a monitor.

"While the photos are being scanned, I must ask, how did you come about them? They mustn't be fabricated, do you have them digitized with the proper date?" He questioned, to which Inko gestured for Izuku to answer.

"They're real sir, and if needed we can provide the full files with the proper date and time of being taken." He assured, pulling out his phone in order to prepare them to be sent in. "And… We took them just in case of a situation like this. My father wanted to be positive that people knew that we didn't do this to him. We merely found him like this."

"No need. You are under oath, so I'll take your word." He stated as the person who scanned the image came back with the monitor being wheeled in via cart. "Ah, so let's get started, shall we?"

Nodding to the bailiff to turn on the monitor, the crowd gasped at just the first image of Todoroki's exposed torso. He was littered with different bleeding cuts, burn scars, and fresh bruises towards his stomach. Seemed Enji had gone for a few gut shots, and this was all just the front of his body.

"My god…" Nezu mumbled under his breath, shooting a side-eyed glance to the eldest Todoroki. He still kept that same stoic expression on his face, but there was an odd look in his eyes. It almost seemed like remorse.

They then went through every image that the Midoriya's had provided, each one as heinous as the last. There were countless injuries inflicted upon Shouto's body, and watching the slideshow before him was causing the dual-haired boy to grow stressed. Everyone in the courtroom had looked to him in concern or worry, but he wanted nothing more for everyone else, or even just himself to disappear. But then, once again came his saving grace.

Ochako placed a gentle hand overtop of his own, pulling him out of the spiral that was his thoughts and calming his nerves. He stared at her hand, eventually lifting his head up to look at her and see that she was giving him a comforting smile. She seemed to be doing that a lot towards him lately.

"Thank you…" He whispered breathlessly, taking her hand into his own, he began to slowly calm down and now felt more than ready to deal with those around him.

The brunette didn't even respond, and instead squeezed his hand tightly. That small act was enough to say a million words, but all that he needed to hear was that she was here for him. She wasn't scared, she wasn't put off. All she cared about was his well-being.

There was a small silence in the courtroom as the monitor was turned off and wheeled back out of the room. Nezu cleared his throat and wrote down a few things before looking back up at those in his court. "Well… That was something. And do you have evidence to back up these claims of abuse?"

"Yes, we'd like to call up Shouto Todoroki to provide a testimony against his father." Inko answered, turning to the boy with a kind smile and gesturing for him to join her up at the stand.

"Right. Mr. Midoriya, you may return to your seat." Nezu instructed, watching as Izuku and Todoroki essentially switched positions in the courtroom.

As the greenette sat down next to his sister, the brunette tried her hardest to avoid his gaze and act as natural as possible, but she was way too easy to read.

"...So you like him?"

"Shut up." She scolded in a whispered tone, raising a fist threateningly as her brother simply smiled smugly and patted her head.

"He's probably the only person I'd trust with you. You seem to be helping him a lot during these trying times… You've done us both a great favor, 'Chako." Izuku replied gratefully, smiling softly at her before Izuku rose from his seat and headed back to where he was seated before. Right next to Kyouka.

"Alright, so Shouto Todoroki… In the images provided by Mrs. Inko Midoriya, it is shown that your body had been inflicted with a great deal of physical trauma. Is the person who assaulted you in this room?" Nezu questioned, causing Enji to rise from his chair and slam his fists on the table before him.

"Objection your honor!" He shouted, glaring at the man who now held his fate. Nezu glared at the man and pointed his gavel towards him threateningly.

"Overruled. Be seated at once, Todoroki." He countered. "Another outburst and I'll throw out your entire case. Now, Shouto, answer the question."

"Yes. The person who had done that to me is in this room." He replied, shooting a glare towards his father. He then glanced past him and his lawyers and saw his siblings. Natsuo, and Fuyumi stared right back at him with serious expressions on their faces, but the one that was affecting him most was the pleading eyes of his older sister. She didn't want their family to fall apart, she tried her hardest to make it work, and she wanted that dream to come true. "Nee-chan…"

"Shouto…" She mumbled, feeling the tears in her eyes come back as she was watching her family break more and more.

"And can you please point out who had inflicted the damage to you, Shouto?" Nezu inquired, practically already knowing the answer as he glared daggers to the man that was reminding him so much of his youth as a victim of human trafficking.

Glancing between Inko and his sister, Shouto was now finding it increasingly difficult to decide between what was best. On one hand he had the person who changed his life, the woman who was almost like a second mother to him… And then he had his sister. The girl who had basically raised him from a young age. A woman who made sure he was fed and always tried her hardest to make the family work. She was an ideal role-model of someone who never gave up, and unfortunately suffered a lot for it. But now he held her dreams in his hand. The dream of a normal family…

"I-I…" He started, before the doors to the courtroom slammed open and a white haired woman was wheeled into the courtroom with a rather stern expression on her face. She meant business.

Enji suddenly rose from his seat and stared at the woman in awe, calling her name breathlessly.

"R-Rei…"