I do not own My Hero Academia or any of its characters.
Gone
Lee blinked as his vision returned, leaving him airborne just in front of a man with a black mask over his face with openings for the mouth and eyes and a yellow trench coat. He was halfway inside one of the same warp gates as from the U.S.J., so when he reached out to grab Lee, Le flipped, slamming a kick into his jaw and knocking him backward through it. He landed on his hands and feet and shot backward away from the gate, only realizing that a second person in the portal, one with burned skin and what looked like another person's face stapled on over his, was holding Bakugo as Bakugo slipped into the portal fully and it closed just before Midoriya reached it, Midoriya crashing to the ground.
"What...happened?" Lee asked.
"A villain that they called Compress shrunk you into a marble, then Aoyama managed to hit him with a surprise attack and freed you," Todoroki said.
"Aoyama!?" Lee asked, looking around at the blond as he stumbled out of the bushes, blood running down the side of his face and splattering his shirt, as well as a bunch of scrapes and tears in the shirt. "Jesus, what happened?"
"Yaoyo...rozu!" Aoyama said, pointing off to one side. "Brain thing."
Lee took off instantly, speeding through the trees before finally finding her, along with a member of Class B, a guy with spiky black hair wearing a white bandanna with blue "X"es around it, a short-sleeved blue button-up shirt, a white under shirt, and blue shorts. The guy had a bruise forming on the left side of his head, a bloody nose, and blood staining the left side of his bandanna, but Momo was worse. She was hanging limply from his arms, one of which was fused to hers partially, and her hair was matted with blood, blood running down her forehead on the sides and into her eyes.
"Momo!" Lee shouted, speeding over and skidding to a stop in front of her.
"Lee!" Momo gasped. "I'm so glad...you're safe." Her voice was soft and weak.
Lee swallowed his fear for her safety, tilting her head forward gently to inspect her injuries, seeing a nasty gash on the top. "Dammit, Momo! Why couldn't you just stay at the campground where it was safe!?"
"I'm...sorry," Momo said, tears mixed with blood running down her cheeks. "I wanted...to make sure...everyone...was safe."
"Stop talking," Lee said, glancing at the guy, who deactivated his Quirk, his arm separating from hers and allowing Lee to take her from him gently. "It's going to be okay now. Where's the thing that attacked you?"
"It just took off all of a sudden," the guy said. "Momo had me stick some kind of button to it's back."
Lee smiled exasperatedly. "Of course she did. Momo, you're a genius. You're going to scare me to death if you keep this up, but you're a genius."
"What was it?" the guy asked.
"A tracking device," Momo said.
"I thought I told you to stop talking," Lee said, lifting her into his arms. "I've got to get her back to camp. Go through the trees that way for two hundred meters." He nodded back toward Midoriya and the others. "The villains left with a warp gate, or, at least most of them did, there are three I can't be sure about. There's a group of students over there that can get you back safe. Todoroki's with them."
The guy nodded and turned, hurrying through the trees. As he did, Lee turned, blurring back to camp with Momo and heading inside instantly. Those who were already there all shouted in surprise when they saw Momo and Vlad King ran to get bandages. When he returned, Lee pressed the bandages against Momo's head, Momo's face contorting in pain, then gently lifted her head to wrap it properly.
"Hang in there, Momo," Lee murmured as he worked. "It's going to be okay."
"What happened?" Mina asked.
"Most of the villains got away," Lee said. "A lot of people are unconscious. A lot of people are in serious condition. Mina can you get me some water?" He gently set Momo's head back down, ripping a piece of his shirt off to clean the blood off her face. "Momo, I'm going to rinse your eyes now. It will probably sting a bit."
"Go ahead," Momo said.
He glanced up just as Mina held out her bottle. He thanked her, then began to gently pour the water into the inside corner of one of Momo's eyes, then gently opened it. Momo hissed in pain, but after a couple seconds, the blood was gone and he let her eyes close, doing the other eye. Once it was done, he ripped another piece of his shirt off, wetted it, then used it to clean the blood he'd missed the first time. Once he was done, he handed Mina's bottle back to her, setting the rag aside and sitting down, resting his face in his hands for a second before looking up at the bandages covering Momo's arms and lower legs.
"Who was the idiot who let her and Aoyama both leave wounded?" Lee asked.
"Don't blame them," Momo said. "We both left...by our own choice." She opened her eyes, wincing and blinking a few times before looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "It wasn't...their fault."
"It was their fault for letting you leave!" Lee said. "What if Stitch had found you again? What if that freak hadn't just up and left? What if..." He stopped himself, sighing. "Why did Aoyama leave?"
"He wanted...to prove he could be...a hero too," Momo said.
"Well, he definitely did that," Lee sighed. "He saved me and Fumikage, then told me where to find you."
Momo smiled. "Guess you misjudged him."
"Yeah," Lee sighed. "Kills me to owe him one, but he definitely saved my ass today."
He sighed, glancing up at Mina and seeing how shaken she was. He held his arms out and she dropped into his lap, burying her face in his chest and trembling. He stroked her back comfortingly, and they stayed there until the others arrived, along with Aizawa. Once everyone who was awake had arrived, Lee left and used his Quirk to quickly find everyone else. There were over a dozen still passed out along the trail from the gas, including Toru who had passed out right next to Kyoka, though both had gas masks on, so he quickly collected them, one or two at a time, until everyone but Bakugo and one of the Pussycats was accounted for. Once they were, he checked on Toru again, then Momo, then returned to sitting with Mina, who had calmed slightly now that it was over, though not much. A little while after, ambulances and the fire department, as well as police, began to arrive. Lee pulled Aizawa off tot he side as they did.
"I want to go to the hospital with them," Lee said.
"I understand how you feel but-"
"Sir, the three most dangerous villains in that group are targeting me, along with the people close to me, and two of the most important people in my life are helpless now," Lee said. "I need to be there, sir."
Aizawa sighed. "Alright. But be careful. I'll call you tomorrow to talk about what happened before the police take a statement from you."
"Yes sir," Lee nodded.
Aizawa sighed and motioned for him to go and Lee headed back to the classroom, quickly letting Mina know where he was going so she wouldn't worry. She kissed him goodbye before he ran to the cabin to grab his duffel bag, then back to the ambulances, climbing in with Momo. The trip to the hospital was long and uneventful, though stressful for Lee regardless, given so many of his friends were in serious condition, including two of the girls he had feelings for. Once they arrived, he waited in the waiting room until he was allowed in to see her. Her head was bandaged properly now, and had several stitches, he assumed, but she was awake and didn't look like she was in pain.
"Hey," Lee smiled.
"Hey," Momo said back, obviously exhausted. "Feels a little weird to have stitches after being attacked by them."
"Yeah, I can see how that'd be weird," Lee smiled. "How do you feel?"
"Awful," Momo said. "But I'll be okay."
Lee smiled, taking her hand. "You saved Toru and Kyoka's lives with your gas masks."
Momo smiled sadly. "I wish I could have done more."
"You already did too much," Lee said seriously. "There was no need of you going back out there like that, Momo."
"I know," Momo said. "At least, for me. Aoyama was helpful."
Lee sighed, kissing her forehead. "You were helpful, Momo. You got a tracking device on that freak, and you saved as many people as you gave gas masks to."
Momo smiled. "I'm sorry for worrying you."
"I'll always worry about you, Momo," Lee smiled. "It's part of caring about you."
Momo smiled, and Lee leaned down, kissing her. She sighed, kissing him back for a few seconds before he pulled back, sitting beside her and taking her hand.
"How are the others?" Momo asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Still unconscious," Lee said. "They should be trying to find a way to neutralize the poison."
Momo nodded, yawning.
"Sleep," Lee said. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Unless Toru wakes up," Momo said, smiling knowingly.
"After which, I'll be back," Lee said.
Momo smiled and nodded, tugging his hand. He leaned in, giving her another kiss before she closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep. Lee sighed, sitting back and settling in to watch over her and the others. walking through the rooms every forty five minutes to make sure none of the others were in danger either.
Lee sighed, leaning against the doorway. Midoriya was finally awake. He'd been bad. Seizures, in and out of a coma, too wounded for Recovery Girl to heal. It'd be a miracle if he recovered at all.
"I brought you a present!" Mineta was saying. "I mean, it's from all of us. It's a melon!"
"I caused you trouble, Midoriya," Fumikage said obviously meaning to apologize.
"No, it's okay," Midoriya said. "I did this to myself. Did everyone from Class A come to visit?"
"No," Iida said as the mood in the room plummeted. "Jiro and Hagakure are still out. They were knocked unconscious from that villain's poisonous gas. And Yaoyorozu took a pretty severe hit to the head. She's hospitalized here. Though she's been recovering. So it's just us, though obviously we wish the whole class could be here."
"Only sixteen of us, for now," Uraraka said.
"Because Bakugo is gone," Todoroki said, Mina, squeaking and staring at him, wide-eyed.
"He knows, Todoroki!" Mina said.
"All Might told me there would always be people beyond our reach, that we can't protect," Midoriya said. "Which is why we have to save the people we can reach. I...was so close to being able to save him. I...needed to save him!" Midoriya struggled not to cry, but it was a losing battle. "I had to. That's the entire reason I have my Quirk. It's exactly like Mister Aizawa said to me." tears began to run down his cheeks. "My body...wouldn't move! I couldn't save someone who was right in front of me! And since I failed...he's gone!"
"Not yet," Lee said, everyone staring at him. "The league didn't want to hurt Bakugo. They wanted to recruit him."
"They'll never get him to give up on being a hero," Eijiro said.
"I know," Lee said. "But it gives us time for a plan."
"I have a plan," Eijiro said. "Let's go get Bakugo back. I was here yesterday too. So was Todoroki. We were on our way to see you when we saw All Might talking to Yaoyorozu, and so was some police officer."
"It was about the tracking device she planted on that Nomu," Lee said, everyone staring at him. "She had the Class B kid that carried her away from the Nomu when it attacked attach it to the thing's back, then made a receiver to give All Might and the cop." He raised a small device. "And then she made this one for me."
"You're going to go after him!?" Iida gasped, then grit his teeth for a moment. "You should listen to what All Might said! You have to leave this to the professionals! It's not the right time for us to get involved! Idiot!"
"I don't care about the law that says I can't use my Quirk to defend other people from Villains," Lee said. "I don't care about the law that says I can legally defend myself with it either. If they want to kick me out of the Hero Course, that's fine. I'll enroll at a different school and finish out the classes there instead. It's all the same to me. But I am going to help Bakugo."
"And I'm going with you," Eijiro said. "At camp, I couldn't do anything! I heard my friend was targeted and I just stood by, helpless! So if I stand by and do nothing now, how am I supposed to call myself a hero or a man!?"
"Kirishima calm down!" Denki said. "We're in a hospital! There's a better time and place for this, dude."
"Yeah and what Iida said is true," Su said.
"Look guys," Eijiro said. "What you're saying is true but...come on, Midoriya! He's still within your reach! We can save Bakugo."
"Midoriya is going nowhere without his arms healed," Lee said. "We're going to face a lot worse than Nomus in whatever hideout they're in. He can't come if he can't fight to full potential."
"So...let me get this straight," Mina said. "You got Momo to make you another receiver so you can track a bad guy, and then try to save Bakugo all by yourselves?"
"Pretty much," Lee nodded.
"The villains that attacked the camp planned to kill some of us, but they took Bakugo alive," Todoroki said. "Even assuming Lee's correct about their intention to recruit him, what we don't know is how long they'll let him live. That's why we're going after him." He looked to Lee for permission, and Lee nodded, smiling.
"Have the three of you lost your minds!?" Iida demanded.
"Hey!" Shoji said, stepping between them. "Calm down. I get how frustrated Kirishima is, and how Todoroki feels because he couldn't grab Bakugo. I'm upset too." He extended a tentacle with a mouth on it. "But, we can't let our emotions get the best of us, right. Especially you, Lee. You're not going just for Bakugo. You have a score to settle with those three villains you fought for what they did to your sister, as well as what they did to Yaoyorozu. And now, both Yaoyorozu and Hagakure are in the hospital because of the League of Villains. You've lost two of your three girlfriends, because if we're being honest, that's what they are to you. You're not going for Bakugo alone. You're going for revenge."
"You want my honest answer?" Lee asked. "Yes. I'm pissed. What they did to my sister was unforgivable. In ways you can't even begin to imagine. My sister has looked at me like I was her hero since I can remember knowing her. Me. The kid whose life she saved after his own power almost killed both him and his mother. Her mother. The person she's been making exoskeletons for his whole life so that he doesn't kill himself. I was her hero, and I couldn't even use my Quirk without her. Her little brother, has been her hero her whole life. And when she needed me, I failed her. I let her be beaten, tortured, and raped for a week! I am more pissed than you will ever understand, Shoji. But revenge won't undo what they did to her. Killing them all as slowly and painfully as I can manage, in every creative, tortuous method my worst nightmares can scheme won't reverse time and stop the attack on our training camp. The only thing I can do right now, is save Bakugo and prove to myself that I can be a hero. To prove to myself that I didn't fail because I'm not good enough. To prove that there was nothing I could have done to save my sister. You want to know why I'm going, with or without help? That's why. No, it's not about Bakugo. It's about me. But my one and only goal there is to bring Bakugo back safely, so does it really matter if he's my reason or not?"
"Um...we should just leave this to All Might," Aoyama said. "Mister Aizawa only gave us permission to fight and use Quirks at the training camp."
"Aoyama is correct," Fumikage said. "Though I'm part of the reason we failed, so I can't talk."
"You guys!" Eijiro said.
"Listen," Su said. "We're all shocked that Bakugo was taken from us, but we have to be rational." She held her index finger to her chin thoughtfully. "It doesn't matter how noble our intentions. If you go out there trying to fight the bad guys knowing you're breaking the rules, then you're acting like villains, not heroes."
Everyone was silent for a long, tense moment before there was a knock on the door and Aoyama jumped like someone had just stabbed him, spinning toward the door as the doctor opened it.
"Sorry for interrupting you guys, but I need a moment alone with Midoriya," the doctor said.
"Sure, let's bolt," Sero said. "I wanna see how Jiro and Hagakure are doing."
"Good idea," Ojiro said.
"Yeah, okay," Uraraka said. "Feel better Deku."
"Thank you for visiting me," Midoriya said as they all left.
Lee sighed, starting back toward Momo's room as Mina slipped her hand into his.
"Mind if I join you?" Mina asked.
"By all means," Lee smiled. "Maybe you can keep me from doing anything stupid."
Mina smiled and nodded as they walked into the room, Momo smiling over at them.
"Hello Mina," Momo smiled.
"Hey Momo!" Mina said cheerfully. "How're you feeling?"
"I'm okay," Momo smiled. "Maybe you can help me though."
"With what?" Mina asked, frowning.
"Convincing Lee to finally go see Amy," Momo said. "He hasn't left since we got here."
"You haven't?" Momo asked, staring at him. "Where have you been showering?"
"That's your first question?" Lee laughed. "I use Momo's."
Mina frowned then shook her head. "Go home, Lee. Go see your sister. "
"She's fine," Lee said. "I just talked to her this morning."
"Lee," Mina said flatly. "Go. Home. Now."
Lee sighed heavily and stood. "Fine. If it'll make you two happy, I'll go. But I'll be back later."
"Tomorrow," Mina said.
Lee rolled his eyes. "Tonight."
"Tomorrow," Momo agreed. "Spend time with your family. You...You won't have that much longer with her."
Lee froze, then swallowed hard, eyes welling up with tears before he nodded shakily. "Alright. Fine."
Mina pulled him into a hug. "It's going to be okay. We'll be fine. Go be with Amy."
Lee nodded, and Mina kissed him for a few seconds before pulling away. She moved out of the way, and Lee smiled weakly, walking over to Momo, who smiled, pushing herself up to a sitting position before also kissing him. After a few seconds, he pulled back and wiped his eyes, giving something a little closer to a real smile.
"See you two soon," Lee said.
"Alright," Mina smiled.
"Say hello to Amy for me," Momo said.
"Sure," Lee smiled, then left the room, heading outside before taking off running.
He sped past a cop, but the cop simply rolled his eyes and ignored him. He was faster than the cops and they knew it. They didn't both trying to pull him over, and he made sure not to cause problems. It was a simple understanding. And an important one, as he found out when he skidded to a stop in front of his house, finding it marked off like a crime scene.
"Who are you?" a cop nearby asked.
"I...I live here," Lee said. "My name's Lee."
"Oh shit!" the cop said, hand rising to his radio handset. "The brother's here."
"What happened!?" Lee demanded instantly. "Calm down," the cop said. "Someone will be along to-"
"Tell me where my sister is!" Lee ordered, reaching out to grab the cop by the uniform, only for a hand to land on his forearms.
He stopped, staring at an older cop with a mustache and an age-weathered face. His face was calm, but his eyes told Lee everything he needed to know.
"No," Lee breathed, eyes welling up instantly. "No! Please! Tell me this is a joke!"
"I'm sorry son," the cop said. "Your sister's gone."
Lee stumbled backward several steps, sitting down hard on the roof of the cop car, tears flooding down his face. When he spoke again, it was little more than a croak. "How?"
"She...overdosed on heroin," the cop said. "She had a stash of drugs, both Heroin and other things, as well as some pipes and needles, stashed under the floorboards beneath her bed. I'm sorry."
Lee's eyes stared at the ground ahead of himself, wide with disbelief. It couldn't be. His sister wasn't a druggy. She couldn't have been. She was better than him. She was amazing. A genius. She had so much potential. In the six months she had left, she could have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize. She couldn't have been doing drugs. She wouldn't have.
"Can I see?" Lee asked.
The cop was silent for a moment before nodding. "Sure."
"Uh, sir-"
"He just lost his sister," the cop said. "I'm letting him in."
Lee walked into the house, ignoring the sympathetic stares. He walked to her bedroom and stopped. There she was. Sitting in her favorite leather chair, one with arms shoulder-high that she used to sleep in when they were younger, and that she would often fall asleep in after a late night of working on one project or another more recently before he'd carry her back to bed. She looked peaceful. She still had the needle in her arm, but otherwise, she could be sleeping. He walked over to where the bed had been slid out of the way and stared down at it. Cocaine, marijuana, more heroin, meth, neat and orderly pile of hypodermic needles, spoon, small bong, lighter, razor blade. Everything pristinely cleaned and set perfectly in its own spot, as evidenced by the labeled outline of every item there, the labels all in Amy's OCD-level neat handwriting. He turned, walking to the workbench and leaning on it, not seeing anything, but trying not to swipe everything off of it. The cops were right. She'd been using. Apparently a bit of everything, and a lot of it. Finally, he wiped the tears from his eyes before they could fall and blinked to clear his vision, looking down. There was his suit. Folded up in ways he didn't understand it's ability to given its durability, function, and materials, and a note on top of it, one glance at the note telling him that she had not been okay when she wrote it.
"Lee, Im so, so sorry you had to find out this way, but I cant do this anymore. I cat stan the pain any longer. I know I toled you it didn't not hurt, but it does. All time. At first the drugs help. But its only gotten worse for the last few month. And now with the what those villains did to me, I just not take it more. Please don't feel like this was your folt, but I just can't bare to keep going anymore. I finished your suit, and anything I did think of that would help I wrote down and gave to Momo. I tried to solve my own problem, really I did. I even managed to burn out my own Quirk doing it. I cant even plus two and two now. And my grammer and spelling going too. Turn out if Quirk burns out, brain damage. Who knew? I going to go sleep now. I sorry. Please don't be mad. And sorry for the airors in this too. Goodby Little Brother. I love you."
Lee clenched his teeth, picking up the suit and the updated mask with it, then staggered backward several steps before falling to his knees, clutching the suit to his chest as he began to cry.
"I'm sorry," the cop said. "Is there someone we can call?"
"Everyone's dead," Lee said, sniffing and wiping his eyes, forcing himself to stop crying. "I...I don't know what to..."
The cop nodded and led him outside. He sat on the street and pulled out his phone, staring at it in silence. After a long while, he dialed Momo, for lack of any other idea what to do.
"Hey," Momo said. "How'd the visit going?" She stopped as he sniffed. "Lee? What's wrong?"
"She's gone," Lee said, voice trembling. "She...overdosed on Heroin."
"Oh...Lee...I'm...I'm so sorry!" Momo said, voice wavering. "Where are you?"
"Outside my house," Lee said. "I don't..."
"Stay there," Momo said. "I'll ask my family to pick you up."
"Thank you," Lee said.
After a few minutes, a car pulled to a stop in front of him and he got in, remaining silent the entire ride. Once they got there and went inside, Momo's mother led Lee to a spare room. Lee thanked her, then waited until she had left to break.
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