Years ago, Heroes had turned their back on the person who mattered to him most. The pain and disbelief as he'd been sat down and told there would be no further investigation…it had ripped, deep into the fabric of who he was. Who were these Heroes to pick and choose who mattered, Aizawa had wondered. Shirakumo Oboro was going to be one of them and they'd turned their backs anyway. He'd still been only a student himself back then, powerless to do more than ask the front desk at the police station and Hero agency whether there'd been any changes.

Powerless.

He'd barely grabbed his phone to keep it from tumbling away as the next slam of wind hit. Windows exploded in their frames — glass shrapnel rained down on his head, and he felt pieces cut and lodge in his palms as he rolled further behind the building for shelter. Sirens were blasting, and the tremble in the atmosphere held. Momo was still screaming. Aizawa heard All Might's voice somewhere, and knew the worst was coming to truth. All Might and All For One were meeting…one last time.

"Talk to me, Momo," he had to shout into his phone to hear himself over the thunderous explosions that surrounded him. Dust and debris filled the air. Bricks and shingles tumbled from the eaves.

"I'm here, I'm here, the freezer has dead bodies in it, please get me out, please—" Momo's voice begged — begged — and fuck, he couldn't breathe.

His head had already done the math; he wondered how long All For One had been back, collecting bodies, bags of bones, for their quirks. Momo was amongst them. Trapped. Outside the alley, he saw a Hero run past carrying someone in their arms. Another shockwave through the sky.

"Shit," Aizawa breathed as he watched the Hero get thrown forward off their feet, and raised his arm to protect his head as debris crashed down on him. "Stay on the phone with me. The area is being evacuated — All Might is fighting a villain there. It's going to be a little longer for help to arrive." He shut his eyes, and the sounds of destruction faded. He heard only her ragged breathing. Powerless. He needed to focus. "I'm on my way. Stay on the phone."

"Please hurry—"

She sounded so far away, her words so hollow. Like she was fading into the ice. Aizawa heard All Might's yell, close, too close, and he scrambled to his feet. He dove behind a delivery truck that sat unattended in the alley. Behind him, the building fucking exploded. The force slammed the truck and shoved it sideways to block the alley. The rubber tires shrieked. Aizawa dropped flat, chest flush on the ground as the truck went over him, and rolled fast to get back under it as the building began to collapse.

Slabs of cement, chunks of roof hailed down around him. He flinched hard listening to their assault on the truck, and the cracking of the pavement as the rubble smashed into the ground. But his grip on his phone stayed tight, and as the onslaught ebbed, he put it back to his ear.

"Turn off your light," he instructed raggedly. "Don't look at the bodies anymore." She was crying softly, but she didn't protest. "What are you wearing?"

"What?"

"You're in a freezer," he panted, edging his way beneath the truck to the alley opening. Focus. "It has to be cold. Do you have a jacket? Are you in warm clothes?"

"I—Pants and a shirt but I'm not cold."

"You're in shock, Momo. You're not feeling it yet and when you do it may be too late. Focus. Make yourself warm clothes."

He would never be powerless again. He refused it. Rejected it. Anything and everything he could do, he would. She was a smart fucking girl — she could be guided, easily. If it had to be through will and will alone, he would drag her out of there alive.

The ground seemed to explode underneath him, ripping upward. He felt the wave coming through the pavement a split second before it hit him, smashing him flat against the truck's belly. The pain radiated from head to toe. The back of his head felt wet. He could smell gasoline. Aizawa groaned, pinned tight, and flush against the truck like this he felt every echo as rubble pounded down on it. He drew himself in, made himself nimble and small as he painstakingly dragged himself out from where he was wedged. The buildings were gone around him, collapsed into themselves, and there was nowhere to go. Through the dust and smoke filling the air, Aizawa thought he saw All Might's silhouette, but only for a second.

He didn't even know where the warehouse had stood among the wreckage. Everything was fucking leveled. Leveled. Aizawa got down low, crouching, behind the remains of a blasted building. Ear to his phone again, he heard the destruction from her end of the line.

"What was that?"

"I think the roof is caving in," Momo reported. "It sounds like—like something fell on the building."

Smart fucking girl. How wretched to be smart enough to know what was happening — what dominoes were collapsing in to kill her. He raised his head to look around, trying to realign himself. Looking for any sign of where the warehouse had been.

—the freezer has dead bodies in it, please get me out, please—

"Stay on the phone with me. It's going to be okay. I'm coming." She didn't answer. "Talk to me, Momo."

"I'm scared."

"It's okay to be afraid—"

All Might him-fucking-self crashed into Aizawa's makeshift barricade. Aizawa smashed face first into the mountain of debris surrounding him and tasted blood. The blow only stunned All Might for a second before he had pushed himself back up to lunge forward for another go. Aizawa pressed his mouth to the back of his hand, smearing it with blood as he stumbled away to another spot. Momo's sounds through the phone were muffled, and it was hard to hear through the warzone around him.

"Are you okay? Momo?"

"I—I'm not sure—"

"What happened? How bad is it?"

Her silence was prolonged; his concern mounted. Aizawa glanced around him, then saw the remains of a double wall ahead — about five hundred meters, he guessed. When he'd looked at a map of the area on his phone earlier, he remembered the warehouse had had a narrow walkway between it and the next building, framed in by a wall around each's lot.

At last she whispered, "I'd have to turn on the light to see."

That word came back again, unbidden, and again he rejected it. Never. Never again. Aizawa visually measured the distance between him and the double wall, and pinpointed cover for him to get behind along the route.

"Okay. Turn it on. I'm right here," he said, forcing himself to be still. In control. He let the chaos surround him, but he was watertight. The ark in the swells. Four, seven, eight. He would not be breeched. He willed her that strength, he knew she could look, even when the looking was hard, and he would look with her.

"The—The door is caved in. Completely collapsed. It looks like the building is coming down." Another pause. "The ceiling is collapsing, too, from the looks of it."

A tremendous blow exploded through the air around him and left his ears ringing, but the wall he was behind held. She, though…She was beginning to tread on borrowed time, and he knew it. Dirt hung in the air when Aizawa bolted toward his first point of cover, climbing quick and nimble over the piles of debris until he dropped behind his new shelter. He raised his phone again, panting, as he squinted ahead. Four hundred meters.

"Are you there? Answer me."

"I—"

"Just hold on, I'm getting close to your area. All Might and the villain are still—"

He was cut off by another blast, still close, but he didn't let it rattle him now. The dust gave him extra coverage, and he used it without hesitation, closing the distance another hundred meters, then checked in with her again. He heard her crying quietly. It was a relief to hear; it meant she was still alive.

"You can do this," Aizawa reassured her. "Just a little longer."

There wasn't much to hide behind as he made his next move, and he tried to balance his speed with stealth. He could hear more voices, more Heroes, in the area. If they saw him, he'd turn his back, Aizawa resolved.

Momo shrieked, shrill and piercing, stabbing and twisting inside him. Then she moaned, "It's touching me…"

"Do you have the light on?"

"Yes."

"Turn it off. You don't have to see this, Momo. You don't have to look."

It was the last leg of the run between them, and Aizawa knew he had no seconds to squander. He moved, focused completely on the path ahead, running it as though he'd run it a dozen times. Like it was a training course that he knew well, like it was familiar. At last he skidded between the remains of the two walls, heart racing. He lowered himself down into a crouch, keeping tight to the ruined wall beside him. He heard her breathing, quiet, gentle whispers. There, but so far away. Getting even further with every second. He needed to throw her a line.

"How do you get a binary molecular compound?"

"Uh—"

He felt her lapse, he felt that he had jarred her. It was from his grade school days; his teacher who asked him that question again and again until he knew the answer, while Aizawa had rolled his eyes that it was information he'd never use. It found its use now, and a light had turned on.

"…They're formed as the result of a reaction between two non-metals."

On his other phone, he'd pulled up a science exam, and had already chosen his next question.

"List five polyatomic ions."

"Nitrate, cyanide—" She stopped, and he heard the tremor in her voice as she was absorbed back into the world around her.

"Keep going," he promoted.

"Sulfate, phosphate."

He wouldn't let her go that easily. "Momo. I said five."

"Nitrate."

"You said that one already."

"Ammonium."

All Might and All For One were still warring nearby, and Aizawa heard the signature thrum of helicopter blades — the news was here. They'd only get in the way. Aizawa glanced around, surveying where he hoped the warehouse was. Hoping he was right. The fighting was further away now though, and he leapt over the remnants of the wall and ran to the leveled building, heart beating wild.

She was in here, somewhere.

"Does sound travel faster through air or water?"

"Water."

"What's the largest desert in the world?"

That one made her pause, and Aizawa could almost hear her chewing on the question. He moved in closer to what was left of the building, trying to see if he could find any sign of the freezer's shell.

"The…Antarctic?"

"Good. What is 'laser' an acronym for?"

"Light amplification by simulated emission of radiation."

"What's the effect named where hot water freezes faster than cold?"

"Mpemba effect."

He stayed, quizzing her. Grounding her. Taking her away from the dead bodies closing in on her as they began to thaw in the small space, muscles going wet and soft. Keeping her safe for precious seconds in the darkness, keeping her safe as it tried to consume little pieces of her she could never get back while he crawled over the rubble, trying to sift through the slabs of roof, the wires, the windows.

"What's the pH of milk?"

His regular phone's battery was getting low. He'd been using it throughout the day, while his burner had been untouched.

"It contains lactic acid so slightly acidic."

"What is a raincoat made of?" he asked, the last question he saw before it's screen went black.

"P-Polychloroethene."

He realized, suddenly, exactly how dark it was. How smoke and dirt hung in the air, how hard it was to breathe this close to the conflict. How the sky was filled with the thunderclaps as near gods fought. He shoved aside some debris with his legs, and dropped down inside.

"When's your birthday?" he asked, unsure of what else to ask.

"Huh?"

"When is your birthday."

"September 23rd," Momo answered, unsure but dutiful. It was coming up soon, then.

"Good, now ask me mine."

The energy around him was changing; the fight outside was nearing its climax. He knew it on instinct from the electricity that charged the air. Aizawa stayed low, trying to find a way around — but it was like a bomb had gone off. Twisted metal and concrete was impassable in every direction, and he didn't know where to look — and his line of visioned was limited by the lack of light. On the phone, Momo asked his birthday. He kept his tone calm, trying to sound almost casual, as they talked. He stayed in the dark with her. He stayed in the dark while he searched for her.

Nearby, outside, sirens were closing in — the fight must be over. Aizawa dragged himself back out a narrow gap to look around and survey the situation; the entire area had been leveled, pock-marked with craters from the fight. A prison transport was on the scene, and rescue Heroes were finally moving in. So All Might had beaten All For One. Thank fuck.

"The fight is over," he reported dutifully to Momo. "All Might won. Rescue crews are entering the area now. I'm close by."

"Please—" Momo whispered.

She sounded so timid. So meek. Fading. His spine felt cold, wondering what Hell she was in. A freezer of bodies caving in and thawing on her.

"I'm not giving up on you."

He lowered the phone to press it against his leg so she wouldn't hear; he shouted, his voice ricocheting across the war torn landscape: "Here! There's a trapped victim in here! Urgent!"

She said nothing when he put the phone back to his ear, not so much a whisper. Barely her breath.

"Don't do that," Aizawa said, watching as a rescue worker began jogging in his direction, talking into their comm. "Don't get quiet on me."

"I'm here," she whispered.

A fire rescue helicopter came overhead, and a spotlight beamed down. Its glow was hot in his scalp, and he shielded his eyes with one hand. Wind whipped at his clothes.

"How do you take your tea?" he asked.

"Plain," Momo answered. Then, "You don't drink tea."

Her statement caught him off guard, and he ran a hand over his hair, processing what she'd said while the helicopter hovered above him.

"I don't?"

"No. You drink black coffee with two sugars."

Damn. Fucking A. She was her own force of nature, even now, and she had no idea of it, did she? She didn't understand her own aptitude. He could tell from her tone, as though she had stated the obvious — it hadn't occurred to her how minuscule of a detail it was. And it should have concerned him; what else had she noticed? What else had she seen and tucked away in the fucking vault that was her memory, to sit on until the time was right? But he wasn't concerned. He trusted her.

Somehow, he was learning that if anyone would take his secret to the grave, it would be her.

"You might have a future doing stealth missions," Aizawa admitted. "I knew you were tailing me — I didn't think you were paying that close attention though."

"I probably know all sorts of things about you that you don't realize yet," she said, and he didn't doubt it.

"Except my favorite movie."

"Except for favorite movie."

The rescue Hero had reached him, and Aizawa flashed his ID and hastily told him what he knew. The man spoke into his comm again and more people were heading over. With the light of the helicopter overhead, it was easier to see. Aizawa crawled back in, the rescue Hero behind him.

"I tracked the location of your phone — I need you to listen," he said to Momo. "Tell me what you hear."

The rescue Hero took a pipe from the ground and began tapping it heavily against the rubble — tapping, then pausing while Aizawa waited for her answer before moving to a new area. At last—

"I—I heard tapping. Two short, two long."

The tightness in his chest seemed to implode. Aizawa clutched his shirt, bending as his whole body went weak, and he nodded eagerly to the rescue hero. They pulled out a neon strip and tied it down to mark the spot before they headed out to get more help.

"I'm above you with a rescue crew. We're coming." Instantly, he heard Momo sobbing, and he covered his face with one hand as he shut his eyes. Focused on his breathing. Four, seven, eight. Ignored the damp on his lashes that he wiped away with the back of his hand. "It's going to take some time to get through the rubble and debris, but we're coming."

He stayed on the line with her while the team came in and began working to free her, and he didn't know how much time had passed before he heard her voice — not through the phone, but right there, someplace below, "I'm down here!"

A rescue Hero dropped into the hole they had cleared — the ceiling of the crushed freezer was exposed, and the metal screamed as they pried it open and back. Aizawa watched, holding his breath, as they reached in…and her hand grabbed onto their forearm for them to pull her up. Only then did he hang up his phone.

It was like watching a baptism. The relief on her face as she emerged and he saw the deep, deep breath she inhaled as the rescuer grabbed her under the arms and brought her to safety. Her knees went out, and she folded completely. Aizawa shouldered his way through to kneel in front of her.

Yaoyorozu Momo.

The moment was surreal as she raised her dark eyes to meet his, and they only stared at one another before she began to weep. Aizawa shrugged out of his torn and bloody suit jacket to drape it around her, hesitating a moment as he got to see what kind of shape she was in.

Her black hair was soaked with condensation, plastered flat to her head. Smears of blood everywhere. Her forehead, her cheek. At first he thought it was all hers, until he recognized the deep, putrid red of old blood was mixed in. The jacket she had made for herself and her pants were tainted with fluids. Excretion from the corpses she had gotten so close to. Her smell was sour. Dead blood, and the sharp and permeating smell of thawing meat.

But it was her eyes. Her dark, dark eyes that scarred him.

Something in her had broken, damaged far beyond repair, and no amount of melted gold could bring the pieces back together. She was glass that found itself as nothing more than grains of sand. He looked at her, and he knew she would never be the same. He looked at her, and he saw what was left.

He took her by her arms and drew her up to her feet, taking what was left of her to put one of her arms around his shoulders. She held onto him tight, nails digging in like he was the last foothold, as they took their first steps together to leave. Momo buried her face into his chest, and he just clutched her tight as he led her to the nearest ambulance.

I update on AO3 most frequently. If you want the most UTD chapters, check there