Hey everyone, sorry this took so long to get published. Combination of writers block and work. Good news is that hopefully the next few chapters will be coming a bit faster. I appreciate all the comments and constructive criticism. Also as a note as of next month I will be changing the username here to NaturesStressBall the same name I use on Ao3, just mentioning so no one thinks my work got stolen or anything
She didn't blame him, she wasn't mad. She hurt, by everything that she understood she was in intense pain. She didn't understand how Deku could have endured this happening to him so many times. She sighed, most of the others had left. After Izuku had his panic attack he was restrained and drugged. She wasn't mad at him, she knew he had to have had a reason. She stared up at the ceiling, the initial shock from all of it was still raw. He had never attacked her before, she never imagined he would but there was raw fury and fear in his eyes when he threw her,
She was in a bit of an odd state, her leg felt heavy now and her joints had that odd burning feeling. Recovery girl had healed her, she managed to resist the urge to try to ask recovery girl why she didn't do anything more for Deku. Even as she lay there, her body wanted badly to rest but her own stress and the feeling in her body made that desire a rather unlikely to be fulfilled one. She didn't even know where the rest of the class was at this point, though she sort of assumed that most of them were either trying to get through to Izuku or back a the dorms. She had sort of had trouble focusing on anything but she was quite sure that most of the class was very interested in what had happened. It was all sort of a blur, but what really got her was that look on Izukus face, that raw rage and then that sudden look of pain and shock, as if he suddenly realized what he had done.
She was more worried then he seemed to almost have a seizure afterwards, but she wasn't sure if that was what she saw or if she had just gone into shock herself. She remembered a few patches of things after that., some of her friends helping the nurses get her onto a gurney. The doctor being fairly kind if a bit distracted, and then what felt like a giant maze of hallways before she got dropped off. She stared at the ceiling, she was worried but apparently the school was going to deal with the medical bill. She tried to focus on something other than the burning sensation in her limbs and ended up finding a distraction in a very odd source when she heard a voice outside in the hall, rather animated as well.
"You have to let me in to see him! He's my son, my baby! If even half of what I heard is accurate I need to see him, to be sure he's alright! You can't force me to stay out here!" Ochako couldn't see but she could hear the screaming and could all but hear the despair and anger in the womans voice. She realized a bit belatedly that it was the voice of Izukus mother, she wasn't sure who she was arguing with though, but then the other side of the conversation entered, softer but clear and authoritative.
"In fact I can keep you out here, at least for the time being. The fact is that right now in this situation we need to get all the information that we can out of him. And given some of what we've been able to deduce he is going to have a hard enough time sharing it. You being there may comfort him or it may make him too ashamed to tell us everything that happened or he may not be fully accurate. We can't get the information we need both to protect your son and the other students if we can't get all the information." She was a bit surprised it was Aizawa-sensei that was meeting with Izukus mother and not Mr. Toshinori or the principal.
There was an incoherent sound that was a mixture of sob and angry shout, "I don't care about the other students or your damn school! I'm worried about my son! I need to make sure that he's safe and I need to let him know that I'm here. Maybe I should just pull him out of the school like I had wanted to in the first place!"
There was a sigh, "You are free to do that ma'am, however I wouldn't recommend it. For one thing, I don't know how he would react in his state to hearing that on top of everything else. But to be purely practical, if you do that's fine but then we have to pull the guards we have on his room. We will still of course pay for all medical bills gained here and provide support where obligated However.."
There was the sound of a slap, "How dare you threaten my son!?"
"I'm not threatening him. We don't have the people or resources to protect a non-student. As it is we're going to have to explain the situation but luckily it was dealt with without much fanfare. But we will have a hard time justifying guarding him when our students in our care are also plausible targets and he is no longer a student with us."
There was the sound of some ragged breathing and a sob, her voice was ragged and hateful, "You're a bastard!"
"Entirely possible ma'am. But right now whether or not you believe me I am actually very concernred about your sons wellbeing. This isn't just about getting information for security, we also need to have some idea what kind of rehabilitation and counseling he is going to need after this. Which, as mentioned we will also be providing funding for. I don't pretend that we haven't failed him, but I am asking you to please make sure we don't fail him now. I promise you that once we're done we'll make sure you can go see him." Ochako was actually a bit relieved that the attack on her wasn't mentioned. She didn't want to make Izukus mother panic, though she did wonder if that was the other reason Aizawa didn't want her going in before him.
There was a sound of sorrow and frustration and then the sound of loud walking away, apparently Mrs. Midoriya had decided to let Aizawa have his way. Ochako paused for a few moments, looking up she noticed an air vent above her bed. If the argument was this close to her room then it might mean that Izuku was nearby as well. On a hunch she paused and put her hands to her body, she wasn't restrained and she was able to float herself up to the vent. She gripped onto one of the hooks on the ceiling and listened at the vent.
Shinso looked at Aizawa with some skepticism. He heard the argument and sat awkwardly waiting to see how it played out. He understood that he was being asked to help but even he admitted that this felt distinctly uncomfortable. "Ok, I get what you want me to do but I'm not exactly sure why you want me to do it in particular."
Aizawa sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The reason is simple, Midoriya is near catatonic, and I know you heard the conversation. I wasn't lying when I told her that we need information from him. Anything he knoHe ws is going to be important. Right now he isn't in a state to remember what happened let alone talk. We need to be able to get him to speak and that means we need someone that can either review his thoughts or cause him to review what happened. Fortunately your quirk seems to put the person into a fog, it's unlikely he'll remember any of this as he reviews it. You can also leave the room once he starts speaking, you don't want to hear this and I won't subject you to it."
Shinso nodded, but the look of confusion remained, "Alright but why me, why not a pro hero or at least a third year student?" He seemed more than a little concerned about the choice of himself, trying to figure out why it was decided to use him.
Aizawa looked annoyed but answered, "The list of people who have the kinds of quirks we would need for this are fairly small. You were more accessible, less well known, and perhaps most importantly you function at a range. Midoriya has shown he might attack anyone getting close, but you can affect him at a distance. Also because he is familiar with you he is more likely to respond as well as you being less likely to be someone he would assume is a threat."
Shinso nodded again and walked in with Aizawa. Izuku was laying on his bed, muttering intermittenelt,y his eyes glistening with tears but also oddly glassy. The machines beeped and showed different readouts, only a few were easily understandable. He paused, this was going to be a bit tricky as he had to make sure he got Midoriyas attention and response. In the fog he seemed to be in that looked difficult and even as he considered it the idea felt a bit wrong, controlling him in this state.
He closed his eyes and willed those thoughts away, he was doing this because it was needed. Both for Izukus sake and possibly for other students if they were targets. He looked at Izuku and pondered a plan of attack, a basic greeting might work, "Midoriya, do you remember me?"
Izukus head didn't even turn, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Midoriya didn't react to their entrance so of course he wouldn't respond to speech. He thought of getting closer to listen to the mumbling, but he also remembered Aizawas repeated admonitions to stay out of reach, that was part of why he had been chosen after all. Ok, he had to think. The main thing was understanding Midoriya well enough to know what would get a reaction. Unfortunately, he didn't know him that well.
He had started to pace now, he grunted suddenly, stumbling over the great maze of cables and cords on the ground running to the bank of machinery helping keep Izuku alive and in less pain. As he tumbled and groaned a bit in pain Izukus head suddenly snapped towards him. Izuku wasn't looking at him exactly, or didn't seem to register that there was someone there, but he did seem to react. Shinso thught for a few moments. Midoriya was apparently someone that wanted badly to be a hero, maybe even in that state he noticed someone else being hurt, someone else in pain and that cut at least partially through his haze.
He knew that he was going to have to reach him but now he had a way, well maybe. He inched closer, speaking calmly, "Hello Midoriya, I think you remember me right? I'm Shinso we fought in the sports festival. You managed to break the control before but now I think I need you not to, I think you can do that can't you?" He made himself trip again, though immediately regretted it as he controlled the fall poorly and slammed on his right knee, letting out a wheeze of pain.
Midoriya seemed to clear at that sound, turning, he blinked, "Shins.." his pupils dilated slightly and his expression slacked. Shinso looked up and forced himself up, rubbing his knee and cursing his apparently poor pain threshold. He looked at the figure in the hospital bed awaiting instructions. He saw the scarring and injury, saw the raw skin and other damages that seemed to coat his body. He took a deep breath.
"Ok, you are going to answer Aizawa-Senseis questions completely and to the best of your ability. You won't leave anything out, whatever you saw, felt, smelled, and thought you are going to tell him. You will pause to answer questions he asks and you will answer them completely. Once he says that he is done asking questions you are going to lay down and rest as comfortably as possible for 8 hours of dreamless sleep or until a doctor or nurse tries to rouse you." The parts after the questioning were his own addition but they seemed like an appropriate mercy given the situation.
He looked to Aizawa for approval or if anything else was needed, and Aizawa simply nodded. "You can wait outside, you're not going to want to hear this and frankly I'm already probably going to have enough problems explaining this without potentially traumatizing the other student I brought in for this." Shinso paused, he wasn't close to Midoriya but he did have a connection even if it was tangential. It almost felt like abandoning him to leave, but then he thought about who or what did that to the boy in the hospital bed and he decided that maybe he would be a lot more interested in not knowing. He stepped back into the hallway, hoping that the fog that seemed to settle in the minds of those affected by his quirk would help shield Midoriyas mind at least a little while he relived that happened.
For his part Aizawa put down a recording device and began, "Alright Midoriya, I need you to tell me what happened starting from approximately an hour before you remember being captured." He sat and listened, and as he listened several insights about the situation formed for him and none of them was especially pleasant. The biggest problem was that between what they had seen independently and what he was saying this was literally the lone action of one villain. One villain with an apparent psychotic obsession with Midoriya and a fixation on him. The fact that she had been able to determine where he was, let alone her ability to infiltrate communications and then capture and hide him for a week was disturbing.
It also meant that when he spoke to Inko Midoriya he was going to have an extremely unpleasant conversation with her. Explaining the problem to her was necessary, she may become a target as might her husband when he returns home. The other problem is that frankly this is a fixation and it won't stop if he stops training to be a hero, not that the boy would. Even sending him to another school likely wouldn't help as many of them wouldn't be any better able to protect him and may not be able to keep him sufficiently trained to deal with a threat like this if it happens again which seemed likely.
As worrisome as all of that was it still wasn't the biggest concern he had. Izuku had spoken several times a bit strangely, his words and tone implying he was dissociating heavily from his body. This meant one of two things. Ideally it was that the amount of pain he had experienced had been severe enough that his mind couldn't wall it off and he had to force himself to escape from it. The more unpleasant, but also unfortunately likely, reason was that his captor may have taken liberties with him while he couldn't resist. The fact that Izuku even with the brainwashing didn't seem to be fully aware of what happened could be a blessing though he hoped that in that case it stayed forgotten.
He also made sure to note the type and number of injuries that Midoriya had been aware of, all of that was going to be needed by the people taking care of him and knowing what might have been done to treat wounds before as well as the level of blood drain would be useful to say the least. He sighed and looked at the young hero. The words that came a the end being what stuck with him.
"When I saw them, trying to save me, I knew that it wouldn't work, she was too smart, she would track me down again, or she would trap them too and torture them. Or she would drain them. I don't matter, I don't deserve to be a hero but I could sacrifice myself.. I could have given myself to save them." The boy had a massive martyr complex, likely born from a combination of the earlier bullying her suffered combined with his near obsessive hero worship of all might.
The problem though more came from when he explained what happened when the attack happened, "When I saw everyone I was scared but I felt somewhat safe. No way that she would be able to be everyone, I was safe. Safe. Then..when Uraraka got close I was scared. I was barely awake, I only saw her, I remembered Toga looking like her. I felt the adrenaline surge, my limbs and body moved faster than I could. I didn't even realize what I had done until it was too late. Now she hates me, she has to. She tried to comfort me and I hurShe t her. I don't deserve her I don't deserve to be loved. I don't deserve.." Aizawa had told him that the questions were done, causing Izuku to suddenly fall into a deep sleep. Aizawa sighed again as he gathered up the recording device. This was not going to be easy to fix, but it would have to at least be attempted and he was going to need to establish rules for guarding Midoriya until he recovered as well as rules for the students going forward.
At this point Midoriya was likely to view anyone and everyone as a potentially hidden Toga so he would probably need to have groups of people with him to avoid having violent or terrorized reactions. Though there was one thing that had impressed Aizawa, even when the boy thought he had broken he still hadn't, not fully. He had lied to his captor about things involving his classmate Ochako Uraraka. He had said things about pet names, memories, things he had made up but sounded plausible. All as a means to try to hint to her that the Izuku she spoke to might not be real. His last actions when he thought he was going to die were to try to protect someone else.
She shivered, she had heard all of it, his almost flat descriptions of the pains and torment worked on him, but also of weird stray thoughts. Thoughts that she would have almost thought cute were it not for the context of when he had them, like when his captor had referred to a 'Mr. Stainy' and Izuku had remembered seeing Stain plushes at the mall and thinking they were in bad taste. What actually hit her was when he spoke about his desire to confess to her, and when he thought he had been rescued. She heard the words, those sweet simple words from someone who had felt so alone and frightened. She wished she had been the first one to hear them, wished that she could go to him right now and comfort him.
Her hands were shaking, she felt a twinge of nausea so forced herself to release, tapping her clothing as she fell to help slow it enough that she didn't simply crash downwards. She heard movement and turned, hypervigilant. However it was Tsuyu and Iida, probably there to pick her up. Though the smile Tsuyu had seemed to melt away and Iidas face, while always stern, now looked a bit unnerved. "Kerro…Uraraka-san are you alright?"
Ochako couldn't see her own face, couldn't see the look in her eyes that seemed to be a mixture of her expression of determination as well as something almost tinged with madness. There was a dark hate in her expression as well, something that looked primal and cruel. When she spoke her tone was almost eerily calm, "No, I'm not alright but it's fine. I will be. I'm going to track down the monster that did this to Deku and I am going to kill her."