A.N.: I hope you can all forgive the 2-days late on the Friday update thing, it's a little over double the amount I usually write
Chapter 24
The lights flared, but all Katsuki saw was his hands. The police had arrived half an hour ago, but Katsuki hadn't moved from his spot in the grass. Neither Uraraka nor Kirishima attempted to move him. The police had even reinstated Kirishima's barrier so if something like this were to happen again he'd at least be able to shout to a neighbor for help. The police scoured his yard at the edges, searching for any trace of the resurrection-woman. They flocked out slowly searching the area and careful to stay away from the position where he kneeled in the grass, open hands in his lap. They mine-as-well have been covered in blood. Katsuki watched his hands flip from red to blue at a rapid succession. Deku shifted around in front of him, ultimately deciding to sit down in front of him. "Kaachan…" His voice faded.
"Go help them." Deku's feet left, likely about to give a clear report to the police after hearing it from either Kirishima or Uraraka.
Uraraka's arms surrounded him, pulling his head into her bosom, he didn't dare fight her this was for her just as much as it was for him. "You didn't kill him." Her voice cracked.
He shifted digging his nails into the back of her shirt, suppressing a hiss of, "It fucken feels like it." His eyes shifted towards Kirishima, head bowed; Deku, struggling to do his job even though it was obvious on his face that this situation made him uncomfortable, he tightened his grip on Uraraka's shirt. Five more seconds. That's all he needed. Five seconds.
Katsuki took a breath. Five seconds were up. He unraveled himself from Uraraka, pushing himself up. Uraraka went inside his house. He collected himself, his eyes shifting towards the ambulance where they were keeping Aizawa's body. Katsuki stretched out his hand helping Uraraka up as she wiped her eyes. "I'm personally delivering that woman to Hell." Deku slid back to their side. "Call Todoroki and Kaminari. This woman likes playing with people. Someone has to stay with Kirishima while that woman is dealt with." Deku nodded, his phone already out.
Deku's eyes slid back towards him, "What are you going to be doing?"
Katsuki was silent. He wasn't exactly sure that he wanted to bring Deku with to meet the woman who he was more than positive had a hand in killing Raiz.
Uraraka moved back out of his house, full hero uniform on, "Katsuki and I are going to fight her, Kirishima will stay here with either Kaminari or Todoroki, while you go with the police and explain what you can about the situation."
Deku shifted his weight, "What about the rest of the class? We should probably inform them."
Uraraka shook her head, "Tsuyu and Jirou are out together on a mission in another country, Hakagure and Ojiro just got engaged and are probably far away from here, and we're not too sure what everyone else is doing. It's best we don't get the whole class involved."
Deku nodded, sending a glance towards the police, "I'll get them updated on the situation. And have a separate squad check for robbed graves within a three-city radius."
Katsuki felt himself raised an eyebrow.
"I can't have a cop died because they were unprepared to sho-I'm sure you understand." Deku turned away from him heading towards the cops.
Uraraka swung the keys in her hands. "Get changed before I leave without you." Her eyes shifted towards Kirishima on the doorstep, his head still in his hands. It had been a rough week-heck-it had been a rough year.
"I know you don't have to say it. Text Todoroki to bring over some entertainment or something for Kirishima." Katsuki moved towards Kirishima before waiting for her to ask what he thought would be best. Heck, right now anything would probably suffice. Katsuki lowered himself to sit next to Kirishima. "Hey."
"The judge's house." Kirishima whisper. Katsuki shifted his eyes towards him, "You said the woman that brought Aizawa and Raiz back to life likes to play with people, she probably has Raiz at the judge's house."
"That's not what I want to talk about. It's been a rough week for you."
"I'm not ready to talk."
Katsuki nodded, "We're calling Todoroki and Kaminari to come over so you're not bored when we're gone. I asked Uraraka to tell Todoroki to bring something over, but who knows what he might grab. Todoroki has a son now-"
"It's not like you to babble."
Katsuki unclenched his hand, bawling it into a fist once again. Kirishima somehow always knew. It was probably what he got for letting him stay by his side for years. "I just killed our teacher."
"I know. He'd be mad….and proud." Katsuki raised an eyebrow towards Kirishima, "Sensei always did his best to protect us from the absolute worse, I could see it in his eyes when he glanced at us, there was some form of pride. Something he'd never say. He was proud of you, ya know?"
"Kind of hard to accept that he would be-"
Kirishima stifled a small breath of a laugh, "You may not believe this, but Aizawa-sensei has always had a high opinion of you."
Katsuki nodded, "I've got to go before Uravity leaves me here. Don't tear the place down while I'm gone."
"No promises once you're back." Kirishima smiled. Katsuki nodded, heading inside and changing quickly, he glanced towards Kirishima, who nodded, disappearing into the house.
"We've got a lead. What Kirishima said make sense. We're going to the that judge's house."
Uravity's eyes widened, "Are you sure? You're very close to not legally being allowed in there." He sighed, it had nothing to do with legal or not. Heck, out of all the things they've done in the past couple months the question of legal or not was the last thing on his mind.
"Raiz was Kirishima's sidekick, rescued from gang violence, she's already taken advantage of the gang he was from. This isn't an attack on Kirishima, me, or even class 1-A, it's an attack on Raiz. She has a problem with him."
"How can you tell?"
"If you go through all the trouble of raising someone from the dead because you hate them, you're going to want them to suffer and you're going to want to see them suffer. What's a better way than convincing all the people that cared for you and were supposed to protect you that you're not you, even to the point they would beat you up for it? Kirishima being thrown in jail was part of her plan, she wants to see Raiz suffer. I looked back on the records that Kirishima had those were the safer routes, I traveled down them when I had Raiz. When I didn't have Raiz with me, I chose to go more dangerous routes."
Uraraka nodded. Katsuki knew he was frustrated with himself, but he couldn't show it. The answers should've clicked into place sooner, how each situation had been connected to another. Raiz. Raiz was the one who was suffering the most.
"But why the judge?"
Katsuki's eyes shifted back towards Uraraka as they slid into the car, "The first point is the judge threw Kirishima in jail, although he let me off it was to do with his legal decision, but second is the more important point probably emphasizes the fact that he threw Kirishima in jail…" Katsuki paused, it was information he had only found out months later, "Raiz and the judge are related."
Uraraka's eyes widened, "I-"
"Hurry up." Katsuki threw on his seat-belt, Uraraka was barely in the car before he was revving the engine.
"But how are they related?"
"I found out after Kirishima's trial, Raiz is the judge's grandson. I'm not sure even Raiz knew. Raiz told Kirishima that he lost his whole family to gang violence." Katsuki slid the car into park, the judge's house missing the giant hole he had given it a while back. Heck, it looked better with the giant hole in the wall he should probably fix that for him again.
"Hurry up!" Uravity shouted, already halfway to the door, she had noticed something. Katsuki slid the keys out of the engine into his pocket, already halfway up the stairs after her, he shed his skin as Katsuki, he was The Hero of Explosions. He was going to make this place a better place, by getting rid of the person who was dull enough to bring someone he cared for back to life and abusing their existence. He was going to make her suffer in the way he had. He stepped over the front door lying a crossed the floor, that was probably what Uravity had noticed that sent her flying in.
"Where'd you go?" He shouted, not bothering to be sneaky, if he had to destroy the judge's house so be it. Katsuki stomped the stairs towards where he had found the judge last time he had been here. He was almost impressed the walls had appeared worse than when he had been here, even picture frames were shattered on the floor, the ceiling contained burns, and weapons half wedged into the wall. But it wasn't him. And it wasn't in his fit of rage. So, he wasn't impressed. Uravity slid out of the judge's bedroom, her eyes raged with the fire from her soul. She floored it back into the room. He smiled, she had already found the villains. He knew he had picked her out as a partner for a reason. She was more than the class had seen during their fight, she was more than the audience that day when she threw her all in worrying that he wouldn't take her seriously, that pride that flashed through her eyes that day when she knew that he saw her as an equal, that wasn't something he could just ignore. He was right.
He turned into the room Uravity was going hit-for-hit with the goonies. She glanced towards him pointing towards the judge's bedroom, "Go for the judge!"
He nodded. She knew what he wanted. Katsuki nodded knowing that she would have his back in a second. He floored into the room finding the judge at the back of the room, Raiz's hand wrapped around the judge's neck. The woman sat half-way a crossed the room, a leg over top of another leg, watching impatiently upon a desk. "I don't want to do this!" Raiz snapped, turning to the woman, eyes watering.
"You ruined my life you know! So, I'm going to make sure you-"
"I died already! Just let me be!"
"You destroyed my whole gang! I built that from scratch! Do you know how much work goes into building a gang that was extremely loyal like that without killing them? And do you even know how long the ones that have to get resurrected last? Do you know how much work that is?"
Raiz's eyes shifted towards him, "Don't-"
It was too late that woman already noticed. Her eyes shifted towards him, a slight twitch of a smile on her face, "Great. You can kill both dear old granddad who left your family to gang-violence and your old teammate." The woman shifted her eyes towards him. She knew exactly what he was thinking. He was trying to determine what was more important, getting rid of her or stopping Raiz, "Even if you take me to the police there's no way that everything going to get better. You can't bring the dead back to life, baby Raiz here is stuck with me until he crumbles."
Katsuki cracked his knuckles, "Doesn't mean fighting you won't make me feel better."
The woman glanced behind him, "Raiz, hurry it up." She had made the decision for him. She was scared of him. Katsuki pivoted his foot moving towards the woman, she likely had brought more than just Raiz with her, but if she really was in danger it was likely that she would demand Raiz priorities switch from killing the judge to attacking him. Katsuki charged her. "Raiz, dammit!" She snapped.
Raiz dropped the judge, his head tilting, blood running from his nose, his feet dragged a crossed the room. The woman let out a small noise of annoyance, removing herself from the desk, "Your presence is only hurting him."
Katsuki attempted tackling the woman only to get cut off by one of her bodyguards launching themselves into the room, sending them through the floorboards to the level below. He scraped himself off the floor, glancing towards the man that struggled to get on his feet, "Sorry man, no hard feelings." The man stumbled, wiping dirt off of his face.
"Can you tell me something? How much of you has been revived?"
The man stumbled, catching himself on the couch, "As you can see although she uses us as bodyguards without any consent, we don't have much muscle mass, so I wouldn't say that it's a complete revival. But I also got revived several years after. That kid Raiz might be a different story since he wasn't buried that long. You want to save him, right? It would've been plenty of fun to see you attempt to raise the dead, for real. Not this half-ass way her quirk does." The man stumbled, coughing up blood as he collapsed the floor. The man shivered.
"You are half-dead already, how am I supposed to fight you?"
"That's where you are wrong man, I've been dead for a good long time, it's been about ten years. She received me so far away from the date of my death that my body is crumbling already." The man stumbled, placing himself on the ground, leaning against the wall. "Just keep her away from me and let me crumble, about five minutes should do. I'm so tired, If I was told I'd be brought back to life without a choice I'd probably have denied the offer. I'm someone's puppet."
Katsuki nodded, snatching the blanket off the couch, "A last courtesy for an ancient like you."
The man let out a laugh in the sound of a cough, "A little bit rough, but I'm sure the future in your hands won't be too bad. Do me a favor-" The man let out another cough, "when I'm revived in my next life, save me a spot at the bar, I want to hear about her demise."
"Will do." He stood up letting the man lean against the couch, and then flooring it up the stairs. Raiz stood at the top his hands shaking as they were matted with blood. Katsuki felt his eyes widen. "Raiz, what happened?" Raiz shook, glancing in-between him and the blood that layered in his hands.
Raiz lowered himself to the floor, eyes completely fixated on his hands, "I can't do this anymore. I can't." Raiz wiped his hands on his pants before reaching for his own neck, Katsuki grabbed his hands.
"Don't."
"I can't do this anymore. Please, please." He stared at him, pleading, begging him.
"I'm not going to let you kill yourself!"
"I'm not even alive! I'll fall apart in a matter of months! I can't wait to rot! I can't rot while she has me murder everyone I've ever cared for!"
Katsuki lowered himself, glancing towards the blood that layered the halls and the lack of the woman who had revived Raiz. She likely had gotten bored after making such a mess. He would need to use the resources he was growing at the hospital to save Raiz. They could at least keep him in some form of pod, anything, anything. Katsuki shook his head returning to the moment, "Where's the judge?"
Raiz grabbed his wrist, "Not the judge."
Katsuki found his feet moving through the house, it had gone awfully quiet since he had fallen through the floorboards. He moved pushing doors open, the judge's room had blood splashed along the walls, whoever was losing all this blood was putting up more of a fight than he would've pinned the judge to give anyone. But this was a fight for survival, not his tantrum from so many moons ago. The only sounds that radiated the house was Raiz completely called for meltdown as Katsuki dragged him along and the rebellion of the floorboards. He scanned the floor, there was a suspicious lacking of unconscious bodies a crossed the floor. "Uravity!" He snapped, it was unlike her not to answer him, dragging Raiz was taking too much time, but he didn't have a choice. He'd lose him again, one way or another, if he let him go. Katsuki opened another door, his heart plummeted, then sped up to a rate he was sure if adrenaline wasn't running through every vein it could find he would puke out of panic.
Uraraka lied at his feet, blood pooled from her from her mouth encompassing down to his feet, "Hey, hey, wake up." Katsuki whispered, his voice shook as he reached for Uraraka. She had always had his back when he needed it most. And he wasn't there to have hers. She needed him, and he had left her behind. His hands shook. He couldn't hurt her in this way. He ne- "Uraraka, wake-up dammit!" He snapped reaching for her, something slammed against him, rolling him a crossed the room and into a wall.
He glanced up towards Uraraka on top of him, the fire glowing brighter in her eyes, "I'm right here! Right here!" She shouted, her hand on her chest, her hand moved from her chest to his chest, her voice dropping to a whisper, "I'm right here."
He let his arms wrap around her, "Don't do that shit, it's not funny."
Uravity unwrapped herself from his embrace, glancing around the room, a hand towards Raiz, "Raiz, come here. We're leaving."
Raiz shook backing away from her, "I-I, I can't." He glanced down towards the blood that covered his hands. Katsuki knew the wheels in his head had been turning since the minute he spotted Raiz on the top of the stairs shaking with the ferocity of a chihuahua. He found his eyes skimming the walls, the blood nor the body had disappeared. Whatever kind of illusion this was he didn't like it. It became too physical, and even after they had realized it wasn't real it still remained. It had a mass of its own. And it wasn't fading. This house disgusted him. His eyes scanned the home, it stood for everything that had gone wrong in life. He desired to see the house burn. He wanted to stand and relish in the warmth from the flames that brought this oversized house to the ground.
"Where's the judge?"
"Not in this house." Uravity glanced towards the window, "He's made it outside, I'll go make sure that's the police he's talking to."
Katsuki glanced towards the police. Something wasn't settling with him. How would the judge have made it passed any of the people in the house? Especially if he was the target? His foot pivoted to the woman leaning in the next doorway, "You like my present? I figured you two were like that." The woman smiled, raising her eyebrows, "But isn't Uravity dating Deku according to the news? I wonder how you all work."
Katsuki's eyes shifted to the judge outside, "Having Raiz try to kill the judge was a farce. How long has he been dead?"
"Oh, I don't know. Do you remember wrecking his house? Heart-Attack about one a.m. the morning after, I would say you probably killed him. That or his cholesterol, but I mean you probably made it happen sooner than it should've."
"Tell him the truth." Raiz whispered, "His heart broke when he realized what happened to his whole family, a family that he thought was dead was brought back to life and you killed them. Metaphorically first and physically second."
The woman glanced towards Raiz, "Shut up, Raiz. I'm not done."
"You can't be a puppeteer of living puppets and a convulsive liar, you'll never get away with your lies." Raiz glanced at her, his fear fading into adverse, adverse fading into a blank stare. Raiz was shutting down, blocking out all emotions. Katsuki braced himself, he couldn't let Raiz do that any further or there'd be a backlash.
"Don't you give up on me, kid! You've got a whole life ahead of you!" Katsuki moved, denying the inevitable and creating a new path for the future was part of his job as a hero.
"I've been killing over-and-over for months, where is there for me to go? What future is there for a dead-man?"
Katsuki paused, his feet sliding on the floor, he pivoted punching Raiz in the face, "I said don't give up on me! People who give up don't become number one! And number one doesn't give up on the people they're trying to save!" He glanced back towards the woman darting towards the door, only to be tackled by Uravity. Instinctively, he felt himself relax. Hopefully, hopefully, this mess was all over.
Katsuki glanced towards the window, the judge falling and bubbling at the mouth, out of the corner of his eye he could see Raiz watching. Katsuki turned him away, "You might've not known him, but he was still-"
"Grandfather or not, he wasn't family. Family doesn't leave you to the dogs. Family doesn't get jealous when you find a family that actually cares and throws them in jail." Raiz whispered, sadness glistening in his eyes, as he struggled to keep his voice from cracking. "But there's nothing wrong with admitting in the days where you're weak."
Katsuki nodded, leading him down the stairs, "Uravity, for now, keep close, we don't want to separate them too far."
She nodded, following close behind, it was likely that she planned to do that beforehand anyway. He glanced back at the woman attempting to imitate Uraraka with her coy whispers, idiot. There was nothing that woman could say to Uravity that would make her let go.
"Raiz, what about these ridiculous illusions?"
Raiz glanced down towards the man near the couch surrounded by blankets, a blissful smile on his face, something similar crossed Raiz's face, but it almost seemed to be mixed with pity or regret. Katsuki wasn't sure what Raiz was thinking about, "He's in control of the illusions, I wouldn't worry anymore. It's likely the last time she could've brought him back considering the way he went."
Katsuki nodded, he would have the police move him later. Reports he had seen earlier stated that majority of these people had come from criminal backgrounds. Katsuki felt his eyes slide towards Raiz, but that didn't mean the only trait in their personality was 'criminal'.
Uraraka loaded the woman into the police car, turning and giving the police instructions and details on the attack. She was likely receiving a reprimanding about how they plotted their invasion, the police's shoulders relaxed suddenly and she returned a soft smile, before hurrying towards them. "Get him into the ambulance, they're going to try to keep him stable, we're going to be right behind the police car up until the hospital, then-" Uraraka's eyes shifted towards him.
"You don't have to tell me." Katsuki was already dialing. The phone rang. The phone rang again. Dammit, if that woman didn't pick up the phone he was going to go there and smash it, it was little more than decoration if he had to leave a voicemail. Especially in this situation. The phone rang again. "Please leave a message after the beep" Katsuki glanced at the phone ready to smash his phone until the screen lit up, "Doctor Gloria Calling" He hit answer, "There better be a good reason that you didn't pick up the first time!" He snapped.
"How's heart surgery on an infant?"
Katsuki bit his tongue, she knew what he meant, "How long do you think it would take you to set up an incubator?"
"We have about five free ones right now, I could probably snatch one from the infant ward-"
"I need one for an adult. Probably about 5'3" in height." He glanced towards Raiz collapsing to his knees, barely supporting himself with an arm. "You've got 30 minutes, assume you have less than that, I'm going to jack an ambulance if they don't drive fast enough."
"K-"
He cut the call short moving faster than he knew he could move to Raiz's side and picking him up before moving towards the ambulance, "We move now! Anyone not prepared to move in less than two minutes gets left behind!" He snapped, watching the police and ambulance crews scatter to their assigned positions and posts.
Raiz grabbed his wrist, "It's okay, thanks for showing me a future not covered in blood." He laughed. Katsuki glanced down towards Raiz's wrists. Not covered in blood, his ass. This wasn't a time for joking. Katsuki swung him into the ambulance.
"As close as physically possible, we're going on the assumption no more space than a classroom!" Uravity bellowed orders as the crews scattered, "I want this group taking care of the bodies inside, this group taking care of the judge, and this group is with me we need to keep Raiz stable or we're going to lose him." The groups responded, each nodding to her adamant and concise directions. "We don't have time to lose, break." She followed him into the ambulance, "I should go with the police." She glanced towards Katsuki and Raiz. There wouldn't be enough room for the three of them plus the ambulance crew.
She turned, the red that lined the walls from the judge's house flashed through his memory as though he was the one that had put it there, he grabbed her hand tightening it and letting it go, "As soon as she's behind bars join me, don't bother with their interrogation."
She let out a faint smile, "Are you sure?"
"You can write out the finer details later, but…." He paused, glancing towards the fading breath beating itself against Raiz's oxygen max. "This time…. I need you."
She smiled, "Just the trip to the jail then. I'll be with you shortly."
He nodded letting her shut the doors as she exited the vehicle. He took a breath, allowing himself to shift from his hero state to his doctor mentality, it didn't take much but it did take some self-dehumanization, frankly, it probably wasn't a good career choice for someone who was struggling with the problems he was beginning to realize he had. But it was what would save his friends and family, so deeper in his own ditch he dug. But if he was digging a ditch at least he'd have the dirt to build a mud house. From a different perspective, he was just creating supplies necessary to continue through the next storm, it only deepened on how he used them. He glanced towards the three crewmembers each staring at the screen in the corner, one reaching for a defibrillator, the other leaning forwards and whispering in the driver's ear. The monitor lacked a heart rate. The driver hit the gas. Katsuki moved, these idiots. He was going to have to save Raiz on his own. "Sir, please sit back down, we'll keep him stable." Another said, not removing their hand from Raiz's arm.
"I have-"
"I know, sir, you're famous not for your medical education but the amount of time you achieved it, retained it, and of course, the reasoning for it. But as you know, direct family members aren't typically allowed to operate on the patient."
"I'm not."
"Sir, I'm sure you know why. And I'm sure you consider this boy your family. Also, you don't want to accidentally remove my hand. My quirk keeps people in the current condition from the moment I'm in physical contact with them. They gave you half an hour warning for a reason."
Katsuki glanced down towards their hand on Raiz once again. "I'll trust you, but the second that monitor drops even one point we're going to have a problem."
"Understood, we've got about twenty minutes before that happens. Please, mark your watch."
They were there in ten. The ambulance rapidly and strategically unloaded, Doctor Gloria greeted them at the front with an incubator, "You wouldn't believe how hard this was to dig up. Hey, Kanol, keep your hand on the patient, we're going to move him now."
Kanol laughed, letting her partners move around Raiz, "You know I know how to do my job."
"I know, it comforts me to organize." Doctor Gloria moved towards Raiz scanning him over, "Poor kid, what kind of fight did he get into?"
Katsuki glanced towards the police car right in front of the ambulance, images of the night Raiz died flashing through his mind, the feeling of fading heat from Raiz, his mind trying to deny every possibility that Raiz was dead even with a gaping hole in his abdomen. "A hell of a fight. This is going to sound odd, but as soon as you're done stabilizing him, check for organs. Make sure they work."
Doctor Gloria's eyebrows twitched before she moved back to the crew, "We're going to work double-time as usual, can everyone handle that?" The crew nodded. "I'll be back with results or updates in twenty minutes."
"Stay with Raiz."
"I'll have someone update you in that amount of time."
He nodded. He understood, she was keeping him out of the operation, no matter how much he could see in her eyes that she wanted him on the floor. He turned queuing the police car which flipped on its sirens, flying out of the hospital. That woman was probably talking their ears off. Promises of raising loved ones from the dead and the world. Cruel promises that sounded like candy. Katsuki moved himself inside dialing his own home, someone picked up on the first ring, "Hello?" Kaminari and Kirishima argued over a video game in the background. Katsuki let out a sigh of relief. "Hello?" Todoroki said again, "I can't believe he has a landline in this house, caller i.d. would be helpful." Todoroki grumbled likely already reaching to hand up the phone.
"Yo, it's me. How's everything there?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Todoroki paused, "How are you?"
Katsuki glanced towards the ceiling pacing into the hospital, if he could he would probably replace the dull mind-numbing tiles with tiles of intracavity anything to remove the mind-numbing ceiling from these dull tiles. "We arrested the woman that was bringing people back to life, Uraraka's on her way with the police to make sure for sure that she gets behind bars and Raiz…Raiz is in the hospital."
"He's alive?"
"Alive wouldn't be quite the truth, but I'm working on it." Katsuki paused lowering himself into a seat closest to the door that the ambulance crew would've gone through, "I'm playing God, Todoroki."
Todoroki was quiet for a moment, "You may be playing God, but you're also fighting for a future for someone who never had a chance to have it."
Katsuki glanced towards the doors, how was he supposed to help Raiz like this? How was he supposed to make an already, long dead, child alive again? He tightened his grip on his phone.
"You never answered my question."
Katsuki's mind faded Todoroki's voice out, he had other things on his mind. Like how to explain to Kirishima if he had the chance to save Raiz's life and had become the cause of Raiz's death all over again.
"Katsuki, I can come to get you."
"I'm fine. I'm not leaving." He snapped.
Todoroki sighed, "You do understand that you need to take a break, working constantly isn't healthy."
"It's not about work. It's about-"
"I'll be there in about half-an-hour." The line went dead. Stupid half-and-half didn't listen to a word he said.
Katsuki glanced towards the ceiling then back towards a clock, the minutes dragged on forever. He was tempted to offer his assistance in one of the surgeries to make the time pass by, but he also wanted to know about Raiz's situation as soon as possible. He leaned his head against the wall closing his eyes.
"Should we wake him?" A voice whispered.
"Probably not, you know how he is."
Katsuki found himself prying his eyes open, immediately shifting towards the clock. It had been an hour, Todoroki should be there any moment. He leapt to his feet glancing around, Doctor Gloria didn't break her promises, where was that stupid messenger? His eyes shifted back to a young girl standing next to Deku, high school-aged, one horn on her head. "Aizawa's step-daughter?" He growled. Of course, Deku would figure to bring her. He probably figured an apology would do-
Eri's eyes shifted, "I know about him. Thank you. He wouldn't have been happy the way he was. But Raiz, I might be able to save him. I can't promise anything. That's up to Raiz himself if he wants to accept the quirk, but I can't promise if it'll revert him to being dead again or further than that."
Katsuki nodded. That wasn't a risk he wanted to take. He had promised himself that he would save Raiz. "I-"
"I think that's something that we should leave up to Raiz."
Katsuki glanced up towards Kirishima, standing in the doorway in-between Todoroki and Kaminari, he rose from his seat, "Idiots-"
Todoroki shuffled pulling papers out of his pocket, "I went to the police station beforehand and granted him visitation with Raiz, they didn't see a problem." Didn't see a problem was probably a bit of an extended lie, Todoroki likely had something trick up his sleeve to persuade the police. It was uncommon for heroes to get that finely along with the police in matters that depended on situations like that. Especially their class.
"Well, he's stable, I just transplanted a kidney, a stomach, and a few other organs for the kid I'm sure you all don't want to know about. But if we can get this kid to the point without worrying about the fact that he might die again any minute, I would appreciate that." Doctor Gloria stood behind him. "Eri was it?"
The girl nodded.
"If you are going make use of your quirk to offer him, I would like if you could do it without anyone else in the room to influence him. It's a big decision and as a medical practice-"
"I understand." Eri smiled following Doctor Gloria towards where Raiz room likely was. Deku's foot twitched his instinct to follow her as a bodyguard likely hadn't faded after so many years.
"She's with Doctor Gloria, she'll be fine."
Deku nodded turning back to the group, "Where's Uraraka?"
Todoroki glanced over his shoulder, "She looked exhausted, she's sleeping in the car, I told her I'd wake her when we get there. I just didn't say how long after we got there."
Deku nodded, "I'll go get her."
"Let her sleep, five minutes longer." Todoroki shook his head, glancing back towards Katsuki. "You two are going to wind up being the problem children of our class aren't you."
"Hey!" He snapped, Kirishima sat down next to him, "Hey, man, you know you can talk to us."
"I know." He turned away from the class, noticing Eri running down the hallway. "What's the matter?" He moved towards her, a smile flashing on her face.
"I did it, his heart is beating!" She smiled, Doctor Gloria not far behind.
Kirishima picked her up swinging her around, "You're my hero!"
Red lit Eri's face before she glanced towards Deku who gave her a curt nod.
Kirishima darted towards Doctor Gloria who smiled, turning to guide them towards the room, "I'd prefer if you go in small groups to prevent from overwhelming him and causing a possible backlash, we'll keep him for a while for observation." Doctor Gloria explained.
Todoroki glanced back towards the door, "I'll stay with Uraraka until someone comes back."
"I'll be back." Deku nodded, glancing towards Eri, "It's late so I should probably return her, too."
Eri shrugged, "I'm just proud I got to do something heroic while I'm still in high school. It's strange holding someone else's future in my hands, it's scary and exhilarating."
Deku laughed, giving her a few words before she followed Todoroki to the car.
"I'll wake her when you get back."
Katsuki nodded, he wasn't sure what kind of hours she was swinging when he wasn't around, but it was starting to show. But that wasn't his problem, the image wouldn't leave his mind. He knew if he saw her, he wouldn't be able to hide his need to grab her and pull her against himself, hold her so tightly she wouldn't be able to breathe. Just to prove to himself she still existed. To prove to himself that her breathing wasn't a figment of his mind. He turned following Kirishima to the room. Kirishima stood at the door bracing himself, "What do I say to him?"
"The kid's convinced he's the reason you were in jail, so don't be surprised if he brings that up. I'm sorry is probably too cliché for the kid." Katsuki leaned his back against the wall. He had considered the possibility before, if he had one more minute, one more second what would he say to Raiz? And now that Raiz was alive, he found his mouth dry and empty.
Kirishima's hand shook on the handle of the room, "Dammit. I can't wait another minute." Kirishima flew into the room, flinging his arms around Raiz, "I thought I lost you."
Raiz grabbed the back of Kirishima's shirt, "You did, but I'm back now. I won't get lost again. I promise." Raiz cried leaning into Kirishima's shirt as they sobbed together. The past seeming as though a poorly designed puzzle that someone was working on shattering. Katsuki glanced towards the ceiling, maybe the future held something even more beautiful to offer him.
He glanced towards the person pulling on his sleeve, Uraraka, "How is he?"
"He's alive, Eri saved his life, but Doctor Gloria wants to make sure. It's kind of an awkward situation, he's been dead for months, she's likely at a loss on how to advise us on to take care of him, or if any problems were to start happening."
Uraraka nodded, "I'll grab us drinks, what do you think Raiz and Kirishima would want?"
"Just grab anything." He sighed following her down the hallway.
"Hey, Katsuki, I-the villain…" Uraraka's voice faded as she glanced back towards the room.
"It's this about whatever that woman said to you? You're not the type to let a villain affect you." He glanced towards her as she scanned the machine likely considering if each of them, their difference in prices and hesitating on buying something. They had stable jobs, they each lived stable-enough lives, but he knew her old habits weren't going to fade anytime soon.
Uraraka began to turn away, "Yeah, you're right, never mind."
Katsuki sighed, grabbing her arm, "Wait, that didn't mean I wasn't listening."
"I said never mind, it's fine. She was just trying to get in my head." Uraraka sighed, grabbing the drinks and walking back towards the room, she paused at the door, "I think I'm going to have Todoroki drive me home, give these to Kirishima and Raiz."
"Yo, you forgot your's."
"Keep it for later." She gave a hollow laugh, a glance into the room where Kirishima sat on the edge of Raiz bed, whispering in hushed tones to each other, before turning towards the door. Dammit. That slightest brush of her skin, not even in the way he wanted to feel her warmth, wasn't enough he desired so much more. Katsuki took a breath, something was different. He had made a mistake, he should've listened the first time. She didn't take that as encouragement or the fact that he knew how resilient she was, whatever that woman had said was bothering her. Katsuki glanced towards Raiz door. He couldn't leave Kirishima or Raiz either. Katsuki gritted his teeth. Uraraka had Todoroki, Deku, and Kaminari waiting for her back out at the car, they would each do their best to comfort her. But that wasn't good enough. He wanted to be the one there comforting her-
"Where's Uraraka?"
"She's sleeping in the car. I'm sure they know you didn't mean anything-What happened?"
"I-My last…her last request was…Her last request was that I kill Uraraka."
Author's Note:
A couple things,
The original plan/hope for this story was that this story would have 25 chapters, but it'll probably be a bit longer.
I also want to participate in NaNoWriMo with my original content [it'll be posted on Quotev…or maybe my Twitter/Tumblr chapter-by-chapter, not everyday cuz that'll be a killer] & currently have too many projects running at the same time of college & work. So, the plan was to finish up all the fanfictions I have in the works [but I had a new story idea for a Todoroki X Uraraka X Katsuki in the middle of it & dug myself further in my ditch where I'm struggling with too much work for myself].
For those who are curious on my original content/glancing at me babble instead of writing the fanfiction (or small tidbits of the fanfiction I'm currently working on/progress): Twitter - TealNaomi3, Tumblr – lovetnaomi , quotev – XReader [x-reader stories, of course] or TealNaomi [original content that will begin updating in November]