A/N - Trigger warning: Self-Unaliving attempt
Please skip this chapter if you are in a sensitive headspace. See Chapter Notes at the end for an important message.
Chapter 28 – Hero
Aine had to resist the urge to throw her phone.
Emma had been quick to work through the files as soon as they downloaded and reached the same conclusion – even if it wasn't enough to start a full-blown trial the evidence was more than enough to warrant an official investigation.
All that was left to do was to wait for the court's response – which had arrived that morning.
"They are opting not to pick up the case. At all." The defeat in Emma's voice matched the frustration coursing through Aine's being.
"Why the fuck not?! You said yourself that there was more than enough evidence to at least pass on to the police for an investigation." Aine pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
A sigh from the other end, "They contacted Aldera. According to them, Ms. Kinoshita was fired due to filing 'falsified incident reports with the purpose of sabotage'. Basically, they said she was a disgruntled former employee who lied to get 'good kids' in trouble."
"Of course." Aine couldn't help but roll her eyes. "And now it can be almost assured that any surveillance video will disappear – "
"They said a virus destroyed the software, no recordings beyond a few weeks ago." She could almost imagine Emma wincing as she interjected the information.
Aine's grip tightened around the phone, "So even if someone could get in, there is nothing…"
"And without first-hand evidence like surveillance video or a current employee testimony, everything is dismissed before it even got off the ground."
A knock at her door followed by a soft voice, "Ms. Satterfield? Pardonnez l'intrusion, is this a bad time? I can come back."
Aine covered the phone, "Just one moment, Aoyama. My apologies, I'll be there in a moment." She turned back to the phone call, "I'm sorry, Emma. My next appointment is here."
"No problem. I wish I was calling with better news. Love you."
"Love you too." She turned the phone off and stashed it into her desk and went to let Aoyama in to the office. She took a deep breath and pushed down her frustration before turning the handle. As she opened the door, he was already standing with a tea set delicately balanced in one hand.
"Good afternoon, Aoyama. Come on in. What is the specialty today?"
Later that afternoon, Aine was working on paperwork when someone knocked at her door.
"It's unlocked, come on in."
The door opened, the sound of machinery and the distinct smell of oil and heat that distinguished the support course classroom announced Powerloader's presence before he actually entered the room. "I apologize if I'm interrupting anything. You have Sasaki today, right?"
Aine set aside the paperwork she was filling out and stepped around the desk, "Not until later this afternoon. Is everything alright?"
Powerloader shook his head, "He didn't show up for class this morning, but I found this on his workstation."
He held out an envelope towards Aine, on the front was written "Deliver to Powerloader" she recognized the handwriting even before she opened the letter:
"Dear Mr. Powerloader,
I wanted to thank you for everything you have done to help me this year. I learned so much about design and innovation with you. I'm sorry to do this in writing but I don't think I would be able to do this face to face. You see, I've decided to withdraw from UA. It would be better for everyone if I wasn't in the way. Please see that Hatsume gets my toolkit, I left it in the Mousehole (she will know what I'm talking about). I'm leaving some of my hero merch in my dorm room. There is a small pile in my closet of Crimson Riot memorabilia that I meant to give to Kirishima, but I don't think I will see him before I leave. Please tell him and Midoriya that this isn't a failure on their parts.
Sincerely,
Osamu Sasaki
There was a sick feeling in the pit of Aine's stomach, "How long ago did you get this?"
"Maybe an hour ago, I stopped by Nedzu's office first to see if Sasaki had indeed withdrawn. He said that he withdrew from classes early this morning and had asked for privacy while he packed up his dorm room. Said he would call his parents himself when he was done with what he needed to do."
"Has anyone called his parents? Checked his dorm room?" Aine handed the envelope back to Powerloader.
"One of the kids knocked on his door to check on him and said he answered the door like nothing was wrong and said he wasn't feeling well. I was wondering if you could stop by and see if he will talk to you. I've got classes all afternoon or I would swing by myself."
Aine nodded, "I've got another student coming in any minute now, but Sasaki's appointment would have been right after this one. I'll drop over there and see what's going on."
Powerloader dipped his head in a small bow, before opening the door to leave, "Thank you. Let me know what you find out."
"I will."
As the door swung closed behind him, Aine returned to the paperwork she had left discarded on the desk. She couldn't shake the uneasiness in her stomach at Sasaki's letter and behavior. Something was majorly off.
No, I'm not going to wait. She quickly jotted down an apology note, asking her next student to come during what would be Sasaki's time. Maybe I can convince him to change his mind.
Aine was in the process of taping the note to her door when her school cell phone began ringing. It was a number she didn't recognize. "This is Miss Satterfield."
"It's …. Hurry…..phone number….Uraraka….please…" .The sound of wind on the other end of the line made it almost impossible to hear as the phone cut in and out.
"I can't hear you, who is this again?" She plugged one ear to try and make out the voice on the other line over the roar of the wind.
The person on the other end of the line tried speaking over the wind, "It's Midoriya! I'm with Sasaki….I need help!"
"Oh, Midoriya where are you? I'm needing to talk with Sasaki."
"He's on the roof! Please, hurry!"
Every ounce of blood in her veins went to ice as the bottom fell out of her stomach, "Midoriya, keep him talking until we get there. I'm on my way!" Aine was already sprinting down the hallway before ending the call. She slid to a momentary pause outside of 1-A's classroom door, Shouta looked up as she grabbed the doorframe.
"Sasaki is on the roof, Midoriya is with him." she didn't need to say anymore. Shouta sprang to action and the two ran up the stairs to the roof access.
Being quicker than Aine, he opened the door first and immediately caught sight of the two boys. Sasaki was standing dangerously close to the edge with Midoriya standing in front of him, his hands held up in a placating manner. Shouta held his arm out and Aine stopped beside him as she emerged on the roof. Both adults stood still as stone watching the two boys who were standing at an impasse.
"Please, Osamu, it's going to get better. Come to my dorm room and we can talk." the green-haired boy pleaded with his friend.
The older boy ran a hand through his black hair, "Don't you see, Izuku? Things got better for you because you eventually developed that quirk. For the rest of us it never changes! Even here, where they have a 'strict policy on bullying and quirkism" Sasaki added air quotes for emphasis, "he only got a slap on the wrist and then put in the SAME DORM. Not just the same dorm but the SAME FLOOR. I can't get away from him no matter what I do! And it's not just him! No matter where you go, the taunting, the threats, the pain never stops."
This is what Aine had been afraid of the moment she heard Ikeda's punishment. She looked over at Shouta, he looked pointedly at her and then gave a slight toss of the head towards her right. They moved in tandem, Shouta attempting to maneuver within range of his capture weapon and Aine in an attempt to pull Sasaki's attention her way.
"Don't come any closer!" Sasaki stepped up on the ledge, just a hair's breadth away from toppling over into the open air. The wind whipped his hair around his head, his eyes wide as they flitted between her and Shouta.
Both adults froze in place, hands up. "Sasaki, talk to us. We are here for you, please, come down from there and let us help." He finally looked at her as she spoke.
Tears were beginning to well up in the teen's eyes, "Miss Satterfield, how could they….why did they….You and Midnight…" the sounds of voices began drifting up from the ground. They heard shouts of alarm followed by someone screaming. Sasaki looked down at the growing crowd.
"Please, come down. You belong here at UA. Everyone down there is worried about you at this exact moment." Midoriya held his hand out towards Sasaki.
Sasaki looked from the people below, to Midoriya's hand, to the adults and then at his feet.
Silence stretched between the frozen figures on the rooftop, the only sounds were the wind and the voices echoing up from the pavement.
"O….Okay. I'll come down." his hand stretched for Midoriya as all three exhaled in relief.
"We can go to my office while the teachers get everyone cleared out." Aine began walking towards the boy as he knelt to step down from the ledge. "I just got a new…"
Sasaki's eyes cut over to the neighboring rooftop – focusing on something that was blocked from the adults' view by the various large ducts and AC units, Midoriya stretched his hand more fervently towards Sasaki, "Ignore him, he isn't worth your attention. Let's go to Miss Satterfield's…."
"Do a backflip!"
"Somebody recording this?"
"Jump! Jump! Jump!"
His hand dropped back to his side as he stood glancing over the edge again, where the voices of Ikeda's friends flew through the air. Sasaki couldn't hear the voices telling them to shut up, he couldn't see the teachers grabbing the boys. The words shot through the air like darts aimed directly at his heart. Without looking at each other, Aine and Shouta both started carefully moving to close the distance between them and the distraught boy.
Aine had maneuvered just close enough to see the moment his eyes glazed over, "I told you so, Izuku. It's never going to end….I'm sorry." Sasaki tilted back into the open air.
Shouta ran, grabbing at his capture weapon even before Sasaki's feet had disappeared below the ledge. Being closer, Aine reached the ledge mere moments before he did and leapt over the edge after the teen's falling form without hesitation.
Midoriya also ran towards the edge and would have possibly gone over had Shouta not wrapped his capture weapon around the Problem Child and threw him back away from the edge. "Get Recovery Girl, NOW!"
He withdrew his weapon from Midoriya and sent it over the edge towards the falling bodies of Aine and Sasaki. The cloth stretched towards them, he watched as Aine wrapped her arms around Sasaki, twisting her body putting herself between the child and the ground. As her face turned towards the sky, he saw her reach towards the capture weapon that was flying towards them.
Shouta let the cloth slide through his hands until he saw it wrap it's way around Aine's forearm and her hand close around the fabric. With a gentle jerk on the cloth still in his hand, the opposite end wound its way tighter around her arm securing her grip. Bracing both feet against the ledge, he pulled the cloth taut feeling their weight fall heavily on the end. Slowly, he started lowering them down until he felt the cloth go slack.
The last few seconds were a blur. Aine didn't even realize her body had reacted until she felt her arms wrap around Sasaki. The next sensation she felt was the air whipping around them, followed by the screams that were approaching far too quickly. Then, it was as if someone had hit the slow-motion button.
She turned their bodies so that she would take the brunt of the impact. As her eyes turned skyward, she saw the all-too-familiar grey material whipping out towards her. Holding tightly to Sasaki with one hand, she reached the other up towards the material feeling it wrap tightly around her forearm.
Just before the expected meeting with the ground, the scarf went taut. Aine heard the sickening pop from her shoulder as their descent abruptly stopped. As they hung there, she noticed that Sasaki was holding just as tightly to her with his face buried in her shoulder. Slowly, they were lowered to the ground.
As they tumbled unceremoniously to the concrete, Aine finally loosened her grip on Sasaki allowing him to fall to the side. She unwound the scarf from her arm using her good hand, letting her unresponsive arm fall to the side on the concrete. Looking up to the sky, she watched the capture weapon retreat back to its owner.
Looking over the edge, Shouta saw as Sasaki let go of Aine and laid on the ground weeping. Aine unwound his capture weapon from her arm and then looked up at him just as Nemuri and Hizashi materialized out of the crowd. Hizashi helped Aine up, her arm hanging limply to the side, and escorted her into the building out of view of the students as Nemuri scooped up Sasaki and followed them.
A rattling door on the neighboring rooftop caught Shouta's attention. Ikeda was desperately trying to open the roof access door now that the terrifying teacher of 1A was within eyesight. Wasting no time, Shouta used his capture scarf to swing across the rooftop and securely wrap the instigator.
He pulled the boy close, his hands fisted in the material now tightly wound around Ikeda's arms and chest. "You are going to Nedzu's office and this time, there will be REAL repercussions."
End of Chapter Note:
Hey everyone.
Today's chapter notes are going to be a little more serious in tone. I originally wrote the rooftop scene after losing a dear friend to suicide back in May. The questions everyone asked themselves is "Why didn't we see this coming?" or "I can't believe they didn't tell us how they were feeling." As I was editing this and getting the other parts put together for the chapter, I heard the news of the passing of Jason David Frank. Part of me contemplated waiting to publish this chapter due to the subject matter surrounding his passing. However, I realized that one of you, my beloved readers, may be in a place where you are in pain and contemplating a way out. Sasaki's story is based off of my experience, but it is not the absolute blueprint for suicidal thoughts or attempts. If you or someone you care about are having thoughts of suicide or just need someone to talk to - the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by dialing or texting 988 anywhere in the United States (I am based in the US so if you live outside of the US and know the Crisis Line in your country, please put it in the comments below so that others will be able to see it!). My private messages are always open as well so please do not hesitate to message me. Talk to the hotline, talk to me, talk to the people around you, just please talk to someone if you are having those thoughts! You are important! You are valuable! and You are loved!
Love and Light to you all!
Kahelle
