(A/N) Aftermath let's go. This'll be fun for exactly no one. Warnings for heavy blood and an almost panic attack.
Momo dropped to her knees, staring shakily at her hands. Whether they were blurring because of tears or the fact her hands were shaking, she didn't know. Both maybe.
Her hands and arms were splattered in blood, although not from Stain, but it still made her vision swim. Her forearms were ringed in dark bruises in muted purple and blue, a lighter yellowish green color around her wrists and elbows.
She only vaguely heard Toru saying something, maybe something about pro heroes.
She looked up slightly, eyes falling on the slowly spreading pool of warm blood, the ice giving way before it as it spread inexplicably outward from its source. Its no longer breathing source.
Her body was wracked with shivers, the cold of the area from Todoroki's ice catching up to her, and her hands shook more then ever as she watched the red blood slowly spreading.
A harsh shake made her look to one side, and she blinked in surprise when she found Gran Torino barely a couple inches from her face. She flinched backwards, right into probably Toru, given she couldn't see the arms that she could feel wrapping around her.
"Hey, Momo, hey, it's alright, I'm right here," Toru murmured, but Momo couldn't bring herself to relax. Not when there was the red red red blood right there, still spreading.
"Kid, focus on me," Gran Torino said sternly, grabbing her chin when her head started turning back to Stain's body. (She'd killed him, really just outright murdered him, his dead body was right there)
"She's in shock," Gran Torino shouted down the alley. "Get some medics in!"
Shock, Momo's mind provided. Best treated by keeping the patient warm and keeping an eye on symptoms as well as elevating the feet to push blood towards the organs.
Stain didn't have a lot of blood in his organs anymore, Momo thought, somewhat morbidly, almost looking back at the body, but was stopped because Torino still had a grip on her chin keeping her facing him.
"Come on kid, this may be your first kill but it won't be your last." It was probably meant to be encouraging. It just made Momo sick to her stomach. This would happen again? She'd watch someone stop breathing, stop living, watch the blood slowly pool outside their body?
Toru started rubbing her back, and Momo assumed she looked rather nauseous. She felt nauseous.
"We're in a mess," Gran Torino growled. "Alright, kid, if you can't do this, go to the hospital with your friend and rest. If you can, we need all the help we can get. There is no dishonor in either option."
Momo remembered the carnage she'd run through in her attempt to find Iida. She wouldn't be much help. She could barely think halfway to straight, she wouldn't be able to create anything to help. Plus she could feel the blood slowing soaking into her costume and dripping out. She wouldn't be any help.
"Hospital," she whispered, and Toru's arms tightened around her.
"At least someone can tell when they need to stop," Gran Torino huffed. "Alright kid. You're injured anyway. You, Todoroki, and that other Iida kid need to stick together. Native'll get you there safe. Invisible, you're with me. We have some clean up to get to."
Toru squeezed Momo one more time, then her warmth disappeared. "Alright. Be safe Momo. I'll come see you when we're done. When it's over."
Momo nodded, staring blankly at the ground.
"Yaoyorozu, come on," Todoroki said, offering her his uninjured hand. "Let's go. My father's getting closer."
That got her moving. She grabbed his hand, letting him haul her up, although it put strain on her forearms and she whimpered softly.
Todoroki just hovered awkwardly, obviously not having a clue what to do while she held her arms close to her chest while the pain calmed down to a manageable level.
"Ma'at," Native called. "Let's go."
Since everyone had arm injuries, and Todoroki had the only working arm of the three of them, he helped Momo, and Native was letting Iida walk next to him and lean on him occasionally when the teen stumbled.
Todoroki had maybe an inch on Momo, which was probably good, since their shoulders were about equal height and he didn't have to adjust much to keep an arm around her shoulders as extra support.
Since she tripped on almost every rock that ended up under her feet, in an uncharacteristic bunch of clumsiness she attributed to barely being able to comprehend the general existence of things outside her hands and forearms, bloodstained and dripping red blood slowly.
"Honestly we're just glad I was even in Hosu this week," a voice broke through her blank staring, and she looked up. They were at the hospital, or whatever station had been set up anyway, since the actual hospital had probably been destroyed. "Hey hero kids. Any particular hero names yet or is this your first rodeo?"
"First rodeo," Native answered for them. "The girl, Ma'at, hero name, had her first kill, be nice."
The woman in front of them winced. "Alright, I'll handle her. Someone else come get these two bandaged up!" She smiled reassuringly at Momo and offered her hand. "Come on, let's go get your hands washed off, and see the damage."
Momo went quietly, letting the woman place her hands under warm water and carefully scrub them clean of blood, hissing softly at the bruising covering her forearms. She bandaged the stab wound quickly as well, moving on without a second thought. "I'm going to x-ray your arms, alright?"
Momo nodded. The woman pulled out a portable x-ray machine, which looked similar to the things often used to dry nails faster.
X-rays were quick, and the woman smiled as she looked through them. "Alright, no big fractures or any big issues that might require anything big. I am going to put this stiff brace on your arms because these hairline fractures across the bones could result in some nasty compound fractures if they aren't taken care of."
The woman handed her the x-ray sheet, and sure enough, there were tiny lines across both forearms.
"No clue what your quirk is kid, but maybe try and avoid doing such a number on your bones. They're kind of important. Breaking them half a million times is kind of a bad idea. So, what color. I have like five."
Momo almost said red, then remembered that red was, in fact, the color of blood, and decided that was a bad idea. "Silver if you have it."
"Yep! Silver is right here." She turned back around. "It's going to be clipped around your arm, and it basically glues together after a few minutes, so you can go back to doing whatever you usually do while it heals. In a few weeks, or after Recovery Girl gets to you, it'll get removed. It's waterproof and stuff, so don't worry about all that."
While she talked, the woman, who still hadn't given Momo a name, attached the braces to her arms.
"There you go kid. It's Nintaimi by the way. My hero name is Chuujitsu though. No one ever remembers it, so I usually just go by my name."
"It's a nice hero name," Momo offered.
"Eh, I could've picked better, but whatever. Your hero name's pretty neat, the Egyptian goddess of creation, hm?"
Momo shrugged. "Seemed like an alright idea at the time. I'm not so sure about it now."
"Oh? It's an easy name to remember, pretty easy to spell, and friendly sounding enough."
Momo shrugged again. "Ma'at was the goddess of order too. Creation and order. It seems like all I've done with the name is kill someone."
Nintaimi hummed. "How many people do you think I've killed. Directly or indirectly. Whether pulling the plug because there is no physical way for them to continue living and the family has given up or they didn't have any family or directly like you did?"
"Not many?"
Nintaimi smiled wryly at her, putting a hand on her arm. "Oh kid. I wish. A lot of people have died under my watch. I've had to put kids out of their misery because they were hit with quirks that an adult would struggle to come to terms with and adjust to, and as kids, especially kids who still needed a family, it would be impossible. They were in pain, they were only destined for more pain, it was a mercy. It feels awful every time. I'm an underground hero dear. We see a lot."
"Are spotlight heroes any better?" Momo asked rhetorically.
"Hm, not really. They don't have to deal with abuse and trafficking cases for the most part, but they do have to handle the big horrifying cases that deal with supervillains who've murdered thousands of people. So in the end, all heroes have to deal with death. A horrible truth most hero students don't have to face directly until after they graduate and after they've been prepared with class upon class about what to do, how to face it, and what really happens. Everyone has killed at some point. Endeavor does it a lot. All Might's done it although mostly by accident. I know for a fact Recovery Girl has done it multiple times. The longer you're a hero, the more you're faced with it."
"That's awful," Momo muttered.
Nintaimi hummed. "It is. A lot of hero students and even full fledged heroes quit and become civilians after their first kill because that's traumatic. It's horrifying. It's not much of a choice though. It's just what this line of work does. You have to deal with it somehow. If that way is quitting and getting therapy for the rest of your life, then that's fine. Honestly, therapy should be in the equation at all points any, and UA really should have an on campus therapist, but that's beside the point. My best suggestion is tell your teacher. They'll understand. They've been in your position. They're a hero too. They'll have had a first kill. They can suggest ways to cope, and it's your job to figure out what'll work."
"How do you know if something works?"
"If you don't think about it every moment of every day." Nintaimi said frankly. "If you can forget about it, for even a few moments, to be properly happy. If you can move past it."
"Thanks for the talk," Momo said, staring at her hands still.
"Don't wash your hands raw," Nintaimi advised. "It's a horrible way to cope. If you have to wear gloves, fine, but washing your hands to try and make the blood disappear is an awful way to attempt coping. And it isn't medically advisable."
"I'll keep that in mind." Momo replied dryly.
(A/N) Whoo heavy chapters! Yes that is a reference to Kakashi and his horrible coping mechanisms. Nintaimi's originally from Naruto(an oc) and she deals with traumatized shinobi in that universe, so she has no tolerance for bs and bad coping mechanisms. Just because you hate the hospital does not excuse you from checkups.