Chapter Six: Phobia (Losing Time)

Panic.

Sheer, bloody panic.

A sensation of pure fear rolled over Izuku, Ochako, and their interns like a wave, crushing them briefly in place before they sprung into action.

The day had been going pretty steadily so far, with a few villains requiring subjugation, but now all of a sudden it felt like the world was ending. The fear rushing through them was primal and fierce, causing the interns no small amount of panic as they followed their mentors to a scene of chaos.

But despite the raw, nightmarish sensation flowing through them, Izuku and Ochako knew that the fear they felt was from a Quirk.

"Some kind of emitter-type?" Ochako asked Izuku as they ran towards the source of the terrible fear still coming at them in waves. Just behind them, the three interns were sweating and wide-eyed as they felt the emotion blaze through them once again, but they kept their cool.

"Probably," Izuku admitted with a grimace. He'd felt terror before, but this was too pronounced, too extreme to be anything but artificial. Logic told him it had to come from a Quirk, and it was that logic that helped him remain fearless in the face of it.

Ochako, too, was mostly unaffected. She'd faced true panic before, and though this was a really, really powerful fear, she knew it to be false. Someone was causing this.

Around them, however, the people were losing their minds.

Cars screeched to a stop, but thankfully no one crashed—yet. Pedestrians were scrambling to get away, shrieking in fear and running from some invisible threat. A few members of the police were trying to evacuate civilians, but most of them looked pretty freaked out, too.

He ended up almost running into a police officer who was pulling a woman away from the scene as she screamed at him. Deku took a moment to stop and steady them both before one of them could hurt the other. "Whoa, whoa, it's okay! We're here—"

"Deku, please!" The woman gasped, eyes wide with panic that had nothing to do with the Quirk affecting everyone else. "It's my son! I think his Quirk just manifested, but I got pulled away before I could help him! Please! He's only four!"

Izuku sucked in a sharp breath and glanced at Ochako, who looked just as alarmed. A child was causing this. And the longer it went on, the greater the chance that the boy's newfound Quirk would result in someone hurting him to make it stop.

"Just sit tight, we'll help him," Izuku reassured the panicking mother.

Ochako issued orders to the policeman fidgeting beside them. "Tell the rest of the police to hang back and keep the civilians away. Wait until we can defuse the situation."

"Understood," the officer managed, releasing the woman and grabbing his radio to pass the orders on.

Ochako turned to their interns. "You three, stay with the boy's mother and help any civilians who can't get away from the immediate area."

"Yes, ma'am," they echoed. Grand Slam remained with the scared mother, while Tekken and Psykick took to searching for any handicapped civilians.

Izuku faced the woman one more time, trying to project calm as best he could. "Where is he?"

"He-he should be in the ice cream shop," she told him, pointing out the building just across the street to the heroes. "He said he felt funny and then everyone started panicking. I got dragged out before I could do anything."

"Leave it with us," Ochako said, reaching up to touch Izuku's arm. "Come on."

"Right behind you," he echoed, bolting past the still cars in the middle of the street to get to the shop.

Izuku peeked through the window and spotted the child huddled up on the floor, his face buried in his knees as he shook intensely. The boy was panicking just as much as everyone around him. Was he projecting his fear, or was his Quirk triggering fear in everyone around him? It was an interesting ability, but Izuku pushed aside his Quirk fascination for the moment. They had a job to do.

Ochako tapped him again. "Let's take this slow, yeah?"

"Yep."

She carefully, slowly pushed the door open, causing the bell to go off and make the boy flinch. A fresh wave of fear slammed into them and Izuku almost lost his breath, but he pushed it away and followed Ochako into the building.

"Hey there," she started gently, slowly walking over to the boy. He had yet to lift his head up, but flinched again when she spoke, causing both of them to wince. "It's okay now. You're safe, alright?"

"Mommy," his cries were muffled against his knees. "Where's my mommy?"

"Your mommy's outside," Deku told him, kneeling down with Ochako so they were sitting next to the child. Even then, they kept a little distance to avoid crowding him—and at this range, the fear was so potent that Izuku worried actually touching the boy might be too much, even for him. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally hurt the child and make this worse.

"I want mommy," the boy wailed.

"We'll take you to her," Ochako promised. "First, let's help you with your Quirk, okay?"

"I don't know how!"

"Well, let's figure it out," Izuku said, doing his best to reassure the child. "I had trouble with my Quirk when I got it, too. What does it feel like?"

"It's weird," the boy cried. "Everything feels funny. And my head hurts."

Izuku exchanged a sharp look with Ochako. That wasn't good, but they still couldn't rush this. "Alright, let's take this slow. Do you remember how it activated?"

"N-no," he sniffed. "I asked mommy for chocolate ice cream and then I felt funny and then everyone was screaming and now mommy's gone—"

"Shh," Ochako soothed, stopping the fresh wave of panic before it could really crash into them. "It's okay, your mommy is just outside. We're gonna help you with your Quirk, and then we'll take you straight to her."

"R-really?"

"Really," she told him.

He let out another sob. "I-I want a hug."

Izuku hesitated and shared a glance with Ochako, silently communicating with her. They both knew she'd have to be the one to do this—the risk of Izuku accidentally crushing the child was probably low, but it was a real risk, and neither of them dared to chance it.

As calmly as she could, she moved a little closer to the boy and held her arms out. "Ok. I'm going to hug you now, alright?"

The boy sniffed and let himself be tugged into Ochako's arms, grasping at her shoulders with his hands and holding tight. She squeezed him firmly enough to help him feel more secure, but gently so as not to hurt him. Even though Izuku was the one with the strengthening Quirk, Ochako was still plenty capable of accidentally hurting him—she had to be careful.

She kept him tucked into her body as she ran her fingers through the boy's hair, trying to help him calm down. "It's alright now. Just breathe, ok? Take your time."

Izuku sat and waited patiently as his fiancé soothed the child. A few minutes passed and he started to feel the fear die down. Ochako shot him a smile from over the boy's head. It seemed that calming him down was doing the trick and taming his newfound Quirk. He'd likely need to see a Quirk Counselor after this to figure out exactly how to control it completely, (especially since it was so potent and widespread, Izuku was actually debating contacting U.A to help with this case) but at least they'd figured out that calming the boy would defuse the fear.

"Feeling better?" Ochako asked.

"A little," the boy sniffed. He pulled away a little to look up at the heroine for the first time. He blinked once, then twice, then his mouth fell open. "You're Uravity!"

"That's me," she replied with amusement, feeling the fear dissipate entirely in the wake of the boy's awe. "Can you guess who my partner is?"

The child twisted his head to stare at Izuku next, who waved at him cheekily. "Hey, kiddo."

The boy's eyes lit up like the sun and both of the heroes knew then that they'd made it in time. Izuku stood up and Ochako followed suit, keeping the child secure in her arms as she lifted him. "How about we get you back to your mom and make sure you're both doing okay, yeah? Sound good?"

"Y-yeah," the boy stammered, his face still awestruck.

Ochako winked at him. "When we're all done, Deku and I will give you an autograph if you want."

"Really?!"

"Really," she giggled, and just like that the boy was all smiles and excitement.

Izuku felt an inexplicable yearning in his heart as he opened the door and watched Ochako walk out of the building with the child still in her arms, but forced the feeling down for the moment—the job wasn't done yet. Later, perhaps, he'd tell her about it.

They'd talked about kids before—of course they had, they were getting married in a month—but it had been a topic they hadn't spent a lot of time discussing due to their current lifestyle. Being a hero was demanding enough without a family to raise.

But by no means impossible, Izuku reflected as they took the child back to his relieved mother. Maybe it wouldn't be possible (or at least, not ideal) at the current time, but maybe…maybe one day.

For now, they were both content to sign autographs for the excited child once Ochako had passed him on to his mother, watching as he shone like a second sun before his heroes.

A/N: Sorry again for this being late! A few changes are going on in my life, not the least of which is a new job I'll hopefully be getting soon. I will finish this and try to get a Viridescent chapter up before IzuMina Week starts at the end of March!

As ever, please review and thanks for reading!