The Bright Hero, Cobalt
Chapter Thirty-four
Partway Through The Final Battle In Chapter Thirty-three
Eri was huddled up deep inside of the wroshyr tree, a panic room existing within each building built into the side of the titanic timber. She was a bit lonely, only having Haro for company at the time since everybody else in the Pussycats' agency was busy coordinating a response to the attack. The droid in possession of a soul was emitting calming music to help their carbon-based friend keep from panicking in full. Eri made a note to ask Haro what the track they were playing was called after the attack had been repelled.
Her head shot up when she heard the blast doors opening up, a slightly pale-looking Froppy entering the room. "Eri-chan, s-sorry to bother you, but…" the friendly hero tried to continue, but broke out in tears, unable to complete her statement.
Eri quietly walked over to her Aunt Froppy, Haro rolling with her and spraying a bit of mist at the amphibious hero in an attempt to help her feel more comfortable. "Auntie Froppy, what do you need?" the single-horned girl asked softly, a bit of fear in her heart in spite of her calm tone.
Hearing the girl seemed to bring Froppy out of it somewhat. "S-sorry. We...we need you to use your quirk. Ochako-chan's hurt bad, but...Sorry. Basically, you can save her. I've cooled down now, kero. You can stop, Haro-chan. It's not pretty, but Ochako-chan's alive, and you're the only one here who can put her back to normal. I've seen you practice before. I know you can do this, Eri-chan," the rainy season hero stated confidently, coming out of her stupor with the help of the tiny albino's gentle hand rubbing and the automaton's mist spray.
Eri simply nodded. "Okay. I'll do it," she said softly.
Not long later, Eri was in a room with the adults and...the top half of Uravity. Later on in life, Eri would reflect that she was grateful the attack that had hit her auntie had been hot enough to cauterize the entirety of the wound, or she would not be alive. The girl gulped, nerves gripping at her suddenly. She'd seen people lose entire halves of their body before, Overhaul not being at all subtle with his intimidation tactics, but this was different, very, very different.
This was someone she loved and looked up to. She...she couldn't possibly…
"Eri-chan."
The rewinder's head looked up suddenly. That had been Ochako's voice.
"You can do it, Eri-chan. I believe in you. Just come here and take my hand. It'll be okay."
The red-eyed girl felt a gentle pull, seeing the gentle green aura she had come to associate with her Uncle Izuku and Auntie Chako. It grasped her hand gently, and tugged towards the pink fingertipped hand of her auntie. With a swallow, and a burst of courage, Eri listened to her heart, and what her mama and papa have told her over and over now.
'My quirk is a blessing. It is no curse. These hands were made to heal!'
With a burst of hope, the nine-year-old clasped her auntie's hand in her much smaller one, the horn atop her head giving off a gentle glow as Eri pictured Auntie Chako from just a few days ago, playing video games with her, Kota-kun, and Haro-chan with a competitive grin on her face.
She was brought out of her thoughts when the hand in hers grasped back, strength and consciousness returned to its owner. A towel was quickly dropped over the hero in training to preserve her modesty, pants currently being sought out by one of the Pussycats' assistants.
Uravity sat up with a bit of a start before turning to pull her niece into a happy hug. "I knew you could do it, Eri-chan! You're my hero, kiddo!" she exclaimed as she kissed the albino's forehead gently. "Now I've just gotta get some pants, and Imma sneak up on that mook and send him to space!"
Many years later, Doctor Shuuzenji Eri would look back on that moment with great pride. She may not have gone into heroics like most of her aunties and uncles, but she knew she was a hero regardless.
Shortly After The USJ Incident
Ochako Uraraka smiled wistfully as she lay down to hit the hay. The get-together with the rest of the class had been nice, even if they couldn't convince Todoroki to join them. The feelings bubbling up in her heart, though…
The shifter of gravitational forces sighed softly, an innocent wish filling her heart as she gradually began losing wakefulness.
'I wish we could be more than we are now…'
The girl found herself in the midst of a very lucid dream shortly after, most of the world around her startlingly lifelike for a dream, outside of the fact that she couldn't properly figure out the features of those around her. These dream denizens walked around, living their temporary lives, as the brunette noticed a familiar bushel of green hair amongst the featureless people. With a grin, she ran to her friend. Dream version or not, she was glad to see him.
"Midoriya-kun!" she exclaimed, the head turning around along with the rest of him as he ran to greet her, a relieved smile on her face.
"Uraraka-san! I'm glad to see you! Let's hang out, okay?" he called out with a grin.
A thought formed in Ochako's mind. 'This is just a dream, so it should be okay, right?' she wondered to herself. Deciding to take the plunge, she asked warmly, "You wanna go on a date? We're in the city, so there's gotta be someplace we could enjoy ourselves at!"
The verdette became incredibly flustered. "Um, y-yeah...P-please treat me kindly…" he mumbled, reaching his hand out shyly, which she gladly took, pleased to see a tiny, silly smile spread across his freckled face at the action.
The two ended up going to a small park, where some of the featureless people were just watching their featureless kids be kids. The pair eventually ended up pushing one another on a swing that one of the kids offered them kindly.
Ochako gazed softly at the dream version of her best friend, wondering to herself if the real Izuku would find such joy in something like this. A darker thought reminded her that the boy hadn't enjoyed such a thing properly for most of his childhood, but she banished the anger, focusing on the joy the teen was clearly feeling at being pushed on the swing, before stopping the boy with a giggle. "Come on, let's try out the jungle gym!" she suggested with a grin.
What felt like hours later, the pair was relaxing on a patch of grass, gazing at the sky. Ochako turned to her date, a frown on her face. 'Why can't we be like this in real life?' she thought to herself before turning back to gaze at the blue expanse above them.
If she'd kept looking a while longer, she'd have caught the boy turning to her, a similarly sad look on his face before he, too, went back to gazing at the sky.
The world seemed to shake around them, startling the two out of their reverie, the screams of frightened people reaching their ears. A second quake had Izuku back on the ground, before he gasped in shock and pointed at the sky, Ochako's eyes following his gesture.
A vast orb of...something...was hurtling downwards from space. It gave off a horrible feeling, making the heroics students feel sick. Ochako found herself crying a little as some part of her realized that her dream had personified the doubts clouding her heart. As she collapsed to the ground in sadness, a hand found its way into her line of sight.
"Uraraka-san, we can beat this, but I need your help."
Ochako gazed up to see the hand outstretched to her was that of her heart's desire, the boy who had turned her world upside down over the past few months. His teary eyes focused on hers. "I believe in you, Uraraka-san. Do you...do you believe in me?" he asked, face set in determination.
The fears in her heart suddenly less heavy than seconds ago, the brunette nodded, taking the freckled empath's hand into hers. "I believe in you, Midoriya-kun. Let's do this."
The two rose to their feet defiantly, hand in hand as an azure glow encompassed them. They flew, closer and closer to that vast orb of ugly, hurting feelings, and past it, Ochako tagging it as they flung themselves into the sky.
"G-Force Combo: Orbital Slingshot!" they roared as Izuku's blue aura reached out and pulled the orb up into the stars with them, the verdette eventually letting go as the ball of screaming sadness was sent back from whence it came.
The pair suddenly found themselves free-falling, neither Izuku's aura nor Ochako's quirk responding to their attempts to use them. In desperation, the pair reached out to one another, gradually getting closer, closer…
Izuku woke up with a start, his hand outstretched as it had been in the dream. He slowly brought it down, examining it as if it held the answers to the problems plaguing his heart. With teary eyes, he wished aloud, "I wish I was worthy of someone like her."
The two didn't learn until over a year later that this dream had been more than a dream.
A Month After The Events Of Chapter Thirty-three
Inko smiled fondly as she and Izuku prepared a nice dish of Katsudon, Ao in the family room playing a video game with his mechanic, who was there to install a software update, and was now simply ensuring her work was done correctly.. The American girl was very well-mannered, even if she was a bit eccentric at times, so Inko had no problem with her being there for this momentous occasion.
Inko finally had both of her baby boys home for dinner.
Next to her, Izuku was doing his best not to cry and potentially ruin the meal prep, but Inko had made it clear to both her sons that as long as they kept it on the property, they needn't restrain their auras. Needless to say, Izuku was glowing a bright azure, and Inko smiled as she occasionally caught flashes of the same color from the family room. "Are ya winning, son?" Inko called out with a laugh to her Ao. This got a laugh from all three of the teenagers.
Not long after, the four were seated at the table, gazing hungrily at the meal before them. "Itadakimasu!" they exclaimed. Dinner was mostly uneventful, outside of Ao's left arm shutting down unexpectedly at one point, forcing Melissa to do some quick, on the spot adjustments that seemed to work for now. Inko couldn't tell if it was a trick of the light or not, but she could have sworn she saw Ao blush when the pretty blond mechanic opened a compartment in the back of his head to uninstall the update meant to make the teen ambidextrous.
Needless to say, Inko would be enjoying teasing her son about his first crush.