Chapter 48

"This isn't how you pop a wheelie in a wheelchair"

Alarice finally had some kind of sleep. She felt better, too, after a good night of sleep, enough to finish her written statement. Even though she knew if she ever wanted anything from this situation, it had been hard to write about. So hard she had avoided it, but with good sleep she found it... a little easier. Her next few days were like a blur of worries and emotions, with bright spots of comfort from the people who did visit her.

She pushed the thoughts of what happened on the island, on the ship itself, as far away as she could. Though they would return, in the night, again. On top of that, was the anxiety that she would lose control if she got upset again. Clearly, something the hospital was also, anxious about: hence, a bright band over her wrist, alongside the other ones. There was so little to do, eventually she asked if she could get some of her coursework, just so she could do that between physical therapy and just... sitting. Anything to not be alone with her thoughts. Anything at all.

She was only a week into her stay, two weeks of being here in total, but she found it difficult to actually consider that first week, as part of it, since she wasn't conscious. Mic had been true to his word, had started teaching her sign language, when he could do so. Either him, her dad, or even Aizawa surprisingly had shown up with coursework for her to do, so she could stay kept-up with her classmates in the regular core classes. She avoided talking about the incident so far, afraid of what the answer might be.

Physical therapy had been its own treat, complete with pain, frustration and a healthy dose of embarrassment. The specialist had been incredibly patient, or maybe it was the bracelet that had her keeping her distance. Either way the space was welcome, her wobbling gait, even with support, hard to deal with emotionally.

It probably didn't help that while she'd had moments of panic, she hadn't had the same episode as before, but... she didn't exactly have perfect control. Sometimes her ears became hound ears, which would inevitably knock her hearing aid to the floor. Sometimes her teeth sharpened or claws came out. Twice now when she'd stumbled and instead of letting the specialist completely catch her, the tail came out, trying to catch herself. Having people see, even if it was a very nice nurse or specialist, see her tail as a human, was its own added hell. She did her very best to bury these moments with the rest of the thoughts.

Including the not-so-fun auditory hallucinations with her recent loss of hearing. Perhaps that was lack of quality sleep. She was pretty sure they were giving her something to help her sleep...

Today had been alright, improvement, and she'd hid her claws before the nurse had seen them.

The nurse was rolling her into her room, after once again being told ( in text form ) that 'plus ultra' did not necessarily apply to her stay at the hospital. That pacing and avoiding breaking or hurting herself while things were tender was more important. Resting was just as important as getting her strength back. Alarice rolled her eyes and accepted the answer, even though really, she just wanted to get back to walking, so she could leave.

She noticed it was Hizashi and her dad in the room, having some conversation when she rolled in. She couldn't tell what, her lip-reading was as bad as her sign language, still.

"Hey guys." she tried to sound casual and that it didn't bother her she was still wheeling around. They shuffled papers away, stashing them into a bag that she eyed curiously. It was about as obvious as her dad's port, that something was up. She hadn't asked, but she was sure her dad being there was creating a fuss all of its own.

"What were the papers about?" She asked, naturally.

Hizashi, appeared flustered, but her dad only warmly smiled in that way that told her he was up to something. Apparently the blond took it as a chance to get her to practice some basic sign language. Alarice stared at him blankly for a second, taken off guard, forcing him to make the gestures again.

"...something good?" Alarice asked, almost nervously.

Double thumbs up, probably what he meant or close enough.

"What kind of good?" She naturally followed up with.

He skipped trying to make her guess and instead went to writing. 'It's a surprise.'

Alarice screwed up her face, she didn't particularly like surprises. Instead, he was back to scribbling on paper again. Her dad was now looking rather hopeful, rather than looking like he was hiding things.

'How do you feel about seeing some of your classmates?'

"I..mm I guess I'm okay with seeing them. I do miss them." She forced that smile. Seeing some of them... she had sort of been avoiding the thoughts, but.. maybe it would be nice to see them again.

'Great! They've been asking, Aizawa will bring some of them by tomorrow, it's a Saturday.' was Hizashi's written response.

Alarice nodded, letting them get back to whatever, and wheeling herself over to bed, flipping the brake on the stupid wheel chair, to lock it in place. Hefting herself into her bed, grateful that her arms were still strong, and savored the throb of her leg as the only 'sound' she could hear loudly enough to mean anything. With the smell of her Dad and friend/Hero bringing a sense of security, she started to doze.

The rest of her day, was fairly uneventful.

000

When it actually came time to see her classmates again, however, that mood had completely reversed. Alarice had assumed she'd be allowed to at least have crutches, but her stumbling that morning at therapy had them putting her back in the chair for at least the visit. This was unacceptable, it made her feel unequal, weak, pathetic, her mind had automatically started running through all the things...

Not to mention that small issue of not being able to hear a single friend's voice. It was still upsetting that she couldn't hear Mic, or her dad, or listen to what relaxed her, and let her get a solid, actual restful night of sleep. Forced instead to use drugs just to keep her eyes from looking like her homeroom teacher's. Now she couldn't walk reliably, or stand for any extended period, to some extent even sitting caused pain. The rest.. she hoped would just behave itself.

Her dad was taking his nap, so he would not get to meet her classmates. The nurse humiliatingly parked her by a table, they were early. Early meant she had to wait. It would have been a lot better if she didn't have to wait.

"I-I'll wait, it's okay." she offered, whether the nurse heard or not, Alarice didn't really know but she walked away all the same. In fairness, Alarice wasn't really lying about waiting.

Flipping her brake off on her chair, and quickly, before the nurse could come back, making a 'wheel' for it. She'd apologize later to them, when she would inevitably be asked later, what had happened. Alarice managed it, some how, and she suspected entirely by luck, to get herself to an outside little garden, it was cold but that didn't bother her at all.

Cold was okay, it helped her feel less hot, she hadn't noticed that she was shaking till she came to a stop. Meeting friends... shouldn't feel like this. She put her head in her hands, and tried to just breathe for a moment. A moment was awhile, as it turned out, as a gust of air brought the smell of familiarity.

000

He knew what they were wondering, thinking as he got on the bus, heading over to the hospital, like the worlds worst gaggle of ducklings, he knew it.

Bakugo knew that his class, and probably even his teacher, were wondering why the hell he'd decided to come with on the 'check on the mutt' squad. He of course knew, it was his own private business that he was going to the hospital, with the rest of the group.

The group consisted entirely of Hedgehog hair, Deku, Momo, Pikachu and Jiro. Not a huge group, but a group all the same. This was the first group, the next group would be at another time. He didn't count his Sensei, who surprisingly: looked uncomfortable and tired. Something else was going on here, something beyond just a classmate being in the hospital for two weeks and the increased skill set he was still 'working on.'

It definitely wasn't the awkward, anxious fidgeting both Jiro and Denki were doing, or ponderous concern from both Momo and Deku. Arrival at the hospital was considerably less awkward in some ways, and infuriating in others. He was not a little school boy following around his teacher on a field trip goddamnit! To his further irritation, Stone wasn't even where she was supposed to be. The nurse who was supposed to bring her looked deeply embarrassed.

"She was here, I brought her down here, not that long ago!" The nurse burst out.

Aizawa just looked annoyed that he had to suggest it, at all; "Check cameras, she's in a wheelchair, she can't go far."

The nurse nodded of course, and put that over the radio.

"If the Mutt doesn't want to see us we should just fuckin' go, then." Bakugo growled out. His classmates almost immediately, in reaction, let their opinions be known.

"I think we should at least give her 10 minutes. I'm sure she's got a reason." Jiro commented, mocking chill and settling into a chair. Denki nodding to her and settling as well, while Kirishima looked rather concerned. Midoriya of course had to start obsessing. No fucking way was he staying in this situation.

"I'm going to go take a piss." was his out-statement, Aizawa gave him a look he didn't care about, but the man didn't stop him, so it was obviously fine enough. He walked off towards the general direction of the bathroom.

Business taken care of, he could wander for a bit. It wasn't the first time he'd been in a hospital, he didn't plan to spend time waiting for the mutt. In fact, it pissed him off that she'd go and pull her run-away, and hid bullshit on them again. So instead he was going to go find her, something he wasn't going to admit to out-loud, of course.

To his surprise, she was outside, in her wheelchair, wearing simplistic clothes, loose, semi-short pants. Going outside didn't immediately get her attention, but she did look over, after a moment. Her hands were on the wheels for pushing herself, upon see him, but seemed to immediately reconsider that.

"The Fuck are you doing out here, Mutt? Everyone's pissing me off, waiting for you inside."

"I can't hear you." She said quietly to him.

"Fine, I'll come over there, don't know how you can't fucking hear me, I know your ears are more sensitive than that." He grumbled, stalking over like the juvenile delinquent he really wasn't, but totally looked and acted like most times.

"To be honest, I won't ever hear you. Or anyone again. I'm deaf." There was a casual, if upsetting, accepting shoulder shrug from her. Though the slight tremble in her lip, and that she wasn't looking at him, when she said it.

That... did catch him off guard. Aizawa-sensei had mentioned that she hadn't been well , but that was fucking obvious, she was in a hospital still. Had he mentioned the deafness? He wracked his brain for the answer, and was furious that he couldn't recall if Aizawa had mentioned it. She fidgeting about with something, however.

"You can use this. Or your phone." She held a notebook and pen, giving another, shrug trying to appear more relaxed than she clearly was. He took it from her, with an aggressive grab. This Mutt..

"I'm sorry?"

He scribbled quick and aggressively onto the paper. In English, so that it would sink into Stone's head.

'DONT FUCKING APOLOGIZE!'

"o-okay, I take it back then!" She bit back, but leaned away from him in her chair. Bakugo dramatically rolled his eyes and tried not to blow up the notepad as he scribbled onto it again. This was so annoying, having to write-out responses to her. What a pain in the ass.

'Why the fuck are you out here?! You're supposed to be inside, Mutt!'

"I know. I-" She rubbed at her arms nervously, her leg seemed to bother her, and she shifted, uncomfortably. Fiddling with her braid and only occasionally, looking fully at him. "I don't want anyone to see me like this, I can't really walk, or stand completely reliably."

He screwed up his face and tried not to grind his teeth, in how completely relatable that was. Sort of, he tried to push he memory right back out of his mind, it wasn't entirely relevant. It's not like what either of them went through was at all the same. She was just deaf, her annoying troll-doll of a Hero was fine.

"I just.. thought I'd be able to stand up, when I saw everyone again, t-that's all." She practically squirming with discomfort. This squishy side of Stone wasn't something he was really interested in seeing, but any amount of bitching he was going to do, was completely fruitless. That really took the wind out of his sails. Instead he just grabbed the handles on her chair, pushing her a little ways before stopping where they weren't completely in the bare-ass wind and cold. Alarice continued to talk. "Everything's... really different since I got kidnapped."

'Yeah well, you fucked-up those other stupid-ass dogs that took you guys, right?' He wrote, dropping the note in her lap.

She laughed, actually fucking laughed. It sounded like this deaf mutt was laughing at him, too some how!

"Well, I did kinda, I'm pretty sure I broke one of the ribs on the hound who helped kidnap me, Denki and Shinso. Maybe three ribs. I didn't stop to count and check." She gave a chuckle, between slightly fanged teeth, that she didn't even seem to notice. Whatever. "It was Parasus who organized it, arranged for it. She really deserved an ass-kicking." He'd never heard her angry, and she wasn't really angry now, but there was some heat in there he could almost respect. Stone had in their classes been... very stone-like. So he scribbled another response down. Why not, since he was babysitting her, so she could get-over some of her shame.

'Yeah, I would have fuckin killed that bitch, for all the trouble she's fuckin caused.'

He tossed that one down to her and she caught it quickly. Her reflexes were pretty good still, so there was that. What was a little disconcerting were her claws coming out on her fingers. How long had she been capable of that amount of subtle change? Not when she'd been in class, as far as he'd recalled.

"W-well, that's the thing, I think I did kill her." She wouldn't notice, but he went as silent as the dead. For all his talk, he didn't think she'd actually respond like that. "I.. wanted to, I had my teeth buried in her neck, and I can still taste her blood in my mouth. S-Parasus killed me, and took my ear, an.. she was going to keep doing it, so, I had to stop her. I had to. I keep asking about her, but they wont tell me anything specific. I'm pretty sure she's dead though."

She was gripping the handles on her wheelchair hard, her claws were digging into the padding. Tears had come out but her face had become flushed with an anger. Staring into some middle ground, her claws digging into the arm rest, into the cushions.

"A life for a life is fair isn't it?"

Stone hadn't, in his perspective, ever been amazing at discussing her feelings, though it couldn't be said that he ever cared to ask, either. Which made this rather sudden, clearly emotional confession even weirder. The destruction of the wheelchair's arm rests weren't particularly reassuring either.

"I just can't see everyone, I can't, I'm not myself yet, I don't know why I agreed."

Bakugo, sucked in his irritation at having to deal with a crying classmate that he didn't necessarily consider friend. More like... he disliked the idea of someone who was working so hard... just losing it. He wrote the only thing he could think of to tell her, since he wasn't really good at this whole... comfort bullshit.

'did you see her body?'

Stone stared at that note for longer than he liked. He was already scribbling out his response, since he needed to get it out, quickly.

"No, I.. Aizawa-sensei's knee was in the way, an.. Sunshine had her on the ground."

Well, he'd ask about why their Sensei's knee was in the way, but decided against it. He handed her the follow-up note, any way.

'Then you didn't kill her, dumbass.'

She audibly made a noise like a sad dog, great, but she was reading it and at least was considering the words. Thank fuck for that.

"That... makes sense, too."

He wanted to bark-out that of course it did, when instead of being alone in their space, in the hospital garden, the constant irritation of Bakugo's universe showed up: Deku.

"Hey! You found her, Kacchan! 'Rice why are you out here?"

He would have killed him right then and there but, well, recent conversation had that feeling weird. There was a pop from his fist were the pen had been. The small flash and smoke clearly had Stone's attention, perhaps a bit more, it did have a nice satisfying POP to it. The event had Stone looking over to see why he'd gone and destroyed the pen, and there was Deku.

"She's deaf, Deku, you idiot." Bakugo snapped out.

"O-oh, no, is it temporary or is it... permanent?" Deku's features went from bright eyed with concern to just worried and concern for someone he clearly considered a friend. Though to the spikey blond's mind, who didn't Deku consider a friend, even to his own detriment?

"Permanent." Bakugo answered for her since the pen was now long gone.

Now he had two people looking sad and depressed around him. Fucking great. "Deku, are you useful at fuckin' all? Have you got a pen or something?"

Only he could really make an open hand threatening, but Deku had to have something to write with and sure enough he did. Handing over the pen and Bakugo immediately began writing with it.

"w-well does she-" "No, she said she didn't want to see everyone till she could walk, and they stuck her in the wheelchair, any way."

Bakugo continued to write, while he explained this. Deku just quietly offering Stone a tissue from one of his pockets.

'Mutt, the rest are just gonna follow him.'

"I know, … mm.. "

"I have an idea." Deku offered, then produced his own pen and paper to write on. Flipping to a clean page, of course, before writing down his message for Stone.

'What if we got you a spot you could lean, then you won't be in the chair, but you can sorta stand to talk to everyone.'

Stone chewed on her lip, Bakugo let out a huff of air, and crossed his arms over his chest. Getting roped into this nonsense, if she wants to be left alone, they should probably just wheel her back to her room, or whatever. Instead here was Deku, meddling.

"I.. I don't know... I.."

He let out a breath, and glared over at Deku who looked both nervous and hopeful, per the usual for him.

"I guess we could try it...but.. Its kinda weird for people to touch me."

Both boys shared a glance, one angrier than the other, but they shared it all the same. Deku was the one to finalize the response about it. 'we can figure something out around that, then.'

Bakugo rolled his eyes and stepped back, annoyed at Deku, of course, but let the other take the handles on Stone's wheelchair, wheeling her to where they could carry-out the plan, so she could meet everyone else.