Chapter 9 - The Perfect Support
"It's... all my fault..."
The sunset poured out a canvas of amethyst, orange, and gold to course through-out the sky. The horizon bent the sunlight as it dipped to near its edge, the soft crash of waves near her feet and the squawk of seagulls were about the closest thing to peaceful she had, her body had stopped shaking, but the bitter guilt in her heart remained, cold, unwavered by the sea before her.
SIVA, a nanotechnology that had bonded to her years ago after she lost her family, it granted her a new lease on life, even without anywhere to go, her heart and mind were one and the same, she'd strive for some merit in her life, no matter how bright or dark it may be. At every turn, she was shunned and forced into positions she never asked or needed, and so, her life was bleak, completely devoid of meaning. Until he came.
Of all people, the Symbol of Peace offered his hand to her, and from there, her life became brighter, her fears and doubts over SIVA remained but she trusted it and in turn, the A.I believed in her, despite not needing to it wanted to help her. Yuki had her dream, Quirkless but with the help of SIVA, she strived beside All Might to become a hero, to follow in his ideals and her own. To save people no matter the cost, and to reach out a hand to those just like her.
Now, her fear came back, tightened around her chest. When that virus attacked SIVA, it took so much concentration to hold back its infection, from her arm all the way to the right side of her chest became the coldest thing she had ever experienced in her life, the sight of watching her own body move against her will, attacking her classmates, her friends... Izuku... every, minuscule second that passed was agony, each hit and score of blood turned her soul to stone.
If she learned anything today, it was that she couldn't be a hero, with a power like hers, she was better off a villain, but she hated that thought, so she sat at the edge of the coast, wondering how she could disappear. Tucking her knees in, her arms wrapped tightly to her legs while burying her face. Conflicted thoughts mingled with her emotions, she didn't want to hurt anyone, she desired isolation from the whole world that hated her.
Her arms... wished to be held in his arms again, to feel okay to be insecure and wanted when she felt doubtful and scared.
"Please... don't save me... Deku."
The sun basked UA in its setting eclipse, while the students of 1-A returned from their battle at the USJ, talking over their experiences and checking on one another, all eyes were drawn to Izuku running outside, his head darting in each direction with desperation, he cursed under his breath, not realizing his class was standing before him.
"Midoriya!" Iida grabbed his attention, noting his frazzled expression that drew a collective concern among most of them. "Are you okay? I thought you were recovering, what are you doing out here?"
"Iida! I..." Izuku took a deep breath then spoke defeatively. "She ran... Yuki ran out just after waking up." That made a number of them speak up
"She ran? Midoriya, what happened exactly?" Jiro moved closer, while Ochaco put a hand on his back, rubbing small circles
"Deku...?" He couldn't even look at them as he broke down what had happened. How Yuki recovered and looked terrified to go near him, All Might or Recovery Girl. He held out one of her notes describing her anger and frustration. Once he finally got to the end, a clear weight of sorrow had befallen them
"Just when I thought today couldn't get any worse," Sero sighed sadly. Kirishima stepped through them, motioning to Izuku
"Do you know where she could have gone? Places she'd visit, anything?" He demanded hastily, frowning himself. "I can't sit back and relax after today, not until I see her. When she lost control of her Quirk because of that Kovik guy I felt so... useless!"
"It wasn't your fault," Iida assured him but he pulled away, stomping his foot with a determined glare
"I can't call myself a man or a hero when one of my friends was begging me to save them!" He bowed his head shamefully. "I mean, against her Quirk mine isn't as great of a match in a fight, but I still pushed myself to try, just like you, Midoriya, and Todoroki, even Bakugo!"
Jiro stepped in beside him, flicking her earphone jack. "I wasn't there but if something's bothering Yuki that badly she'd run away then I'm not going to just sit back," She looked to Izuku and Kirishima. "I'll help you look for her, she's a pretty awesome friend, hearing how upset she is doesn't make me feel all that rockin' right now."
"Count me in," Kaminari patted Jiro back, giving them all a thumbs-up. "She actually takes me seriously which is rare for a change so I'll gladly help out!"
"Yuki probably scared and confused so we have to find her, that's what best friends do!" Ochaco was fired up, even Iida looked ready to help out with a single nod and comforting smile to his friends. Sero too, alongside Sato, Tsu, Shoji, Ojiro, Koda, Hagakure, Tokojami, Yaoyorozu, Mina, Yuga, and surprisingly Todoroki
He didn't look all that pleased and said nothing unlike the rest, but he did find it concerning. "She must feel as though it was her fault that she lost control."
Izuku couldn't believe it, all of them were willing and waiting to hear him out, to help find Yuki who ran away crying. He felt so undeserving of their help, but after quickly wiping away a few stray tears, he smiled brightly with a swell of joy in his chest. "Okay! Then let's divide ourselves up and keep in contact, I can help everyone pinpoint the locations she'd most likely be!"
"Right!"
While everyone was already dividing into groups and discussing how to locate their missing classmate, Kirishima noticed Kacchan watching with disdain. He found it annoying and a waste of time, why anyone would bother looking for such a weakling in his eyes. "Hey, aren't you comin'?"
"Like I care about helping all these extras in finding some Mute who's too scared to face her own damn faults." He growled, shoving his hands in his pockets and slowly made his way inside the campus. "If she can't even face this on her own then she really is a useless Mute wasting her time."
Kirishima went to argue otherwise but just shrugged and went back to the others, though he smiled. "I knew you cared in your own messed up way, man."
Izuku, leading Jiro, Kirishima, and Ochaco he made a mental note of everyone's groups. "Yuki's taken me to alot of different places she visits frequently, there's the Mall which has Sero and his team searching there, while Shoji handles long-range communication from buildings near a street with a number of shops Yuki goes too, there's also places around the school and train station, most other areas are being covered by others within those select groups."
"So, Midoriya, where exactly are we going?" Kirishima inquired, the four of them strolling down a suburban street as the smell hit his nose, they were growing closer and his gut told him to go here, somehow, he hoped it was true
"Because, its the very first place me and her met," Izuku answered, then blushed when he saw the looks the three gave him, and he shakily sputtered out nonsense while tapping his fingers together. "I-I-I mean, sure, yeah, of course, she'd, um, uh, might not be here, I didn't really..."
"That really fell apart on you didn't it?" Ochaco smiled sweetly and he hunched over in defeat
"Yeah, a bit..." His sigh brought him back up, with Jiro looking back at him with a simple, honest smile
"From how you both get along I think you're right," Jiro gazed up at the golden sky. "She's told me alot about you both, you're her first friend she told me, quite the beat she drummed too," She turned back to him. "If anyone should know where to look it's her closest friend."
Kirishima quickly linked an arm around him, giving a toothy grin while ruffling his already messy hair. "She's right! And we'll be here to back you up until you can bring her back safely - Man's honor!"
That brought a smile to his face. "Thanks, you guys," Soon, the street opened up past a small park and his eyes widened. "We're here, come on!" He waved them forward into a brisk jog, the four coming into view of the once ruined beach of Takoba Seaside Bay, the sight was still as breathtaking as the last time he was here, congratulated by Yuki and All Might for passing into UA, it was so strange since it was roughly only a week since that day when he inherited One For All.
The four slowly descended the steps, probing the area for any sign of a girl with a glowy-eyed mask. There wasn't very much to hide a single person besides the overlook or a few mounds of rocks, so in no time at all, Izuku's eyes finally locked to the sitting form of a person, and he could recognize the sky blue hair with the longer strand down to her back anywhere.
The others caught her as well, so with looks shared between them, Jiro pushed Izuku forward, himself feeling nervous about causing her to run away again, but if that happened he'd run after her, no matter how creepy that sounded because he wouldn't let her run away from her fears, he almost did himself if not for her and All Might, and now he had more people to rely on other than them, all thanks to her.
'Why did you come here?' He blinked at the note he caught from the ocean breeze, a slosh of waves snapping him from his trance, she didn't turn around, body fixed toward the ocean. He investigated the back and frowned at rereading the note. 'Please... don't come near me...'
"We're not going to run away, I... don't really have the correct words at all, but... I'll try," He paused, awaiting her to say or do anything, so with a pregnant pause he sighed, seeing the rest gather behind him with equal amounts of concern, Jiro pointing out that they notified the rest. "You know, when I found out that I didn't have the signs of a Quirk when I was younger I was really devastated, not realizing I was a late bloomer." He made sure to add that carefully
He peered down at his palm. "Since I learned about heroes I became so obsessed, I wanted to be just like them, like All Might, someone who would save lives with a smile on his face, that was my ambition right from the start, and each and every day I never let those around me take that dream from me," He blinked, looking back to Yuki's shadow. "When I found out I hadn't gotten my Quirk I... shutdown, it felt someone had been baiting me along, teasing me until that single answer would break me, no one... ever told me I could be a hero after that... not even my mom, but I don't blame her for it."
He smiled back at her shadow. "When I met you when I thought I failed the entrance exam I still remembered what you told me, the words just as someone else told me, you said 'you will become a hero, the best in the whole world', and I felt the weight of failing back then vanish!" Izuku poured every ounce of his thanks into these words, not to convince her but to let her know that even now, her words still mean so much to him. "It was you Yuki, All Might was my hero but you were one of the people actually in my life!"
Blinking back a few tears, Izuku saw it, a new note that was handed to him by the same pair of glowing eyes he had come to know for so many months. 'I... really mean that much to you? I hurt you... nearly killed you... how can any of you...' She crumpled the note, stumbling back at the moment Izuku had nearly reached her, and now she was slipping away. No, he clenched his fists for a second, he couldn't let her go now!
"Of course you do! I could never have gotten so far without you!" He wasn't alone, Kirishima joined in beside him
"He's right, you didn't know what would have happened, none of us did, if anyone should be blamed it's that villain!" He answered back, hand on his chest as he called out to her, hand held out like Izuku's. "We took down villains, a bunch of kids for crying out loud and we're still standing! No one here hates you for what happened!"
"They're right, and if you think I'll just back away from helping you as you've done for me you're dead wrong!" Jiro stepped forward, even while Yuki felt her feet graze the water, eyes dilated while shaking her head, hands pressed to her temples
"Stop, please! I-I don't want to hurt you, please stop trying to reach me!" They weren't going to leave, despite her begging them to not come closer, she felt their hands reach across the gap, asking, pleading her to take them. It hurt her so much, a headache from overthinking while a stitch formed in her chest. 'I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU TOO!'
The notes sailed by in bold writing, and Yuki finally fell to her knees, tears streaming down her neck with soft whimpers, the most she could muster without a voice. Softly, a warm hand reached out and took hers, snapping upright, Ochaco knelt down beside her, smiling thoughtfully toward her while unafraid to sit near her.
"We're besties, you, me, Deku, Iida, all of us are here for you just as you've been for us, always being to outgoing in only the short amount of time we've known each other," She closed her eyes, offering a kind smile. "We'll be here for you so feel free to let out your frustrations, okay?"
Izuku joined Ochaco, grabbing ahold of Yuki other hand with a welcoming grin. "She was willing to give her life to protect me and the others, even All Might didn't expect her to take on Nomu alone without back-up. Maybe soon I'll be able to protect her too, I haven't let go of that promise yet."
Yuki stared back at him and Ochaco, the silence between them having a lasting impact on her. "Izuku is the most precious person to me now. The events of today helped me realize that, even though I hurt them, I failed to stop Nomu from hurting Mr. Aizawa and All Might, he and the others weren't going to give up on me. I thought I was going to die, but Izuku, he protected me, saved me in his own way without realizing it."
Slowly, she let go of her restraints, pushing her head down into his chest as fresh tears fell from her mask, Ochaco hugging her alongside Izuku who calmly smiled. Jiro put a hand down on Yuki's free shoulder while Kirishima put his on her head, they couldn't see it, but she was smiling again.
The four didn't know how long they remained as they were, comforting their lost, Mute friend by the ocean but she finally stood up, no longer afraid to stand by them as her close-quarters self as her hands never left Izuku's or Jiro's hands, swinging them as the five of them walked down the length of the beach happily as Yuki tugged them along.
Despite the sun nearly setting, the five finally decided to call it a day, given how the school was closed for two days until they updated the security and other formal details, and with what their class went through, Yuki understood they needed time to recover, physically and mentally. The sweet feeling of her bed was certainly an inviting incentive, but as she and Izuku reached the point they'd separate, she found her hand unable to let go of his, an odd, bubbly feeling in her chest.
He noticed her hand still locked, ignoring the feeling rising to his cheek as he turned to look at her. "Yuki?" She stepped closer, keeping her head low while handing a note out
'I... haven't got the right words myself but... can I stay at your place for tonight? I... can't really explain, so I'm sorry if it sounds awkward' She asked and had him locked in a state of shock, his face completely crimson while he kept his face turned away from her. A girl, Yuki asked her to stay at his place!? He hadn't formulated a plan for such an event, it was crazy, but he realized why. "She must still be unsure, even after today, I'm sure mom wouldn't mind... I wouldn't - wait, why did I think of that!? No, she's just wanting to stay with a friend, right? Yeah... yeah! That's it!"
Her inquisitive gaze threw him off his focus, and he robotically motioned for her to follow, face paled, and shaking. "I, uh, sure, yeah, I-I don't mind - I mean, my mom wouldn't since she'd like to see you again anyway! So yeah, let's go!" "I'm freaking out!"
At the agreement her eyes brightened with her cheeks, happily swinging herself around him for a tight hug that had him gasping for breath, himself thanking his injuries were so minimum, but his embarrassment was another story from out he went as rigid as a plank, even as Yuki swung him in her arms sweetly.
"You're the best, Izuku~!"
"I'm going to be crushed in a cute girl's arms, not a horrible way to go..."
To Be Continued...
And we're back to happy stuff with some fluff next time between these two, my boi Izuku just don't get as much love these days, so I'll fix that! I hope you enjoyed this trip through Yuki's mentality, but the woods haven't ended yet. Seeya in the next chapter, Plus Ultra!
Next Chapter: His Imperfect Friend
Izuku must survive the night with Yuki staying at his place, and the embarrassment of his mom while Yuki experiences strange new thoughts and feelings while processing her own about her place at Izuku's side moving forward.
