Age sixteen and the concept of raids and why they're necessary have put a sour taste in Kirishima's mouth.
"Get your asses out of my sight!" Kirishima barely registered the crack in Miruko's frantic voice over the little girl's cries as she sobbed into his pant leg. Around him, at least a dozen children were staring up at him with wide, teary eyes, curled into themselves and wailing as war was waged around them. In the distance, a crash sounded out as Miruko sent another villain flying. "GO!"
Kirishima forced his feet to move.
It had been just yesterday morning that he and two other classmates had been chosen to participate in a raid against a quirk trafficking ring that had wormed its way into Musutafu, targeting young children as they began to disappear off the streets. He couldn't remember at the moment who else among class 1-B or other schools might have been asked to join, his mind moving a million miles a second as he scooped up the little girl with one arm, grabbed another child's hand in the other, and ordered the rest of the kids to follow close behind him.
He and Uraraka had been understandable picks, not just because both were experienced in this side of hero work after the raid against the yakuza to save Eri, but because of their ease in working with the younger victims and the use of their quirks against heavy attacks and objects. Despite this, there was one thing that they both couldn't claim to have that the heroes desperately needed.
And that was firepower.
When Aizawa had heard about the sorts of shielding techniques and fortresses that this particular group of villains had become known for, he pushed for the heroes to include Bakugou in the mission. His strength would be necessary in order to break through the villains' defenses, and with Midoriya currently in the hospital for a broken leg and Recovery Girl away on business, there were no alternatives in case things went south.
With all the intel the stealthier heroes could gather, the plan was set and the infantry was sent in. With Endeavor and Ryukyu swamped with patrols, it was Fatgum and Miruko who were leading the charge, Fatgum pulling in Amajiki along with him as more manpower to protect as many of the captured children as they could manage. With such a star-studded cast, it almost seemed as if their scheme would go off without a hitch.
Kirishima should have known better.
"I've found the mole...!" Amajiki's voice crackled over the comms, muted but strong. "I already have an idea of where the villain responsible is, but I won't be able to respond once I come in contact!"
Unbeknownst to the stealth heroes, one of the villains had a quirk that allowed her to see and hear through the eyes and ears of any single person at a time that she came in contact with. She'd managed to bump against one of the heroes while in a crowd, allowing her to warn the villains of basic information about the incoming raid that she saw and overheard through her unsuspecting host.
The explosive trap that was laid out as a result in preparation for Bakugou and other offense-based heroes busting down the door had wiped out half of their forces as paramedics entered the battlefield. Explosives had lined the fields in front of the underground compound where the children were being kept, destroying the entire street that they'd been hidden in and leading to all-encompassing mayhem. The heroes only advantage was that the raid was moved up to a day before it was originally scheduled, which stopped the villains from escaping with the kids in time.
As Kirishima ushered the children out of the prison and Miruko fought off the guards, he heard the unmistakable cry for backup ring through the comms, a sigh of relief making his shoulders sink.
"Mr. Hero...?" the little girl squeaked, eyes red-rimmed. "Are we gonna be okay?"
The whole compound shuddered and debris rained from the cracked ceiling, but Kirishima still managed a toothy grin. "We're all gonna be just fine!"
"Even bunny lady?"
His smile softened. "Yes, even bunny lady."
The boy clinging to his hand sniffled. "I miss my mama..."
Kirishima held on tighter. "You'll see her again." he breathed. "It's a promise."
The ground shook, the kids screaming in terror as they clustered around Kirishima for protection, and he found himself swarmed to the point that it was hard to move as pillars threatened to topple over and crush them. Pounding footsteps could be heard behind them, and Kirishima felt his heart stop as the ceiling began to crumble.
His mind was racing so fast that he didn't even register the distant boom as a pink blur was launched into the ceiling.
Sunlight blinded him as concrete rained down, the ceiling cracking apart as it floated harmlessly above their heads. Kirishima gasped as he stared up at Uraraka's levitating form, her face green from nausea as she fought to steady herself. In a daze, she pointed in the direction that Kirishima had come, revealing the monstrous form of one of the guards that Miruko had been fighting. He didn't know if he'd slipped past her or what, but all Kirishima knew was that he was barreling towards the kids with massive metal spikes protruding from his arms and back and the redhead wouldn't let him get near these children.
"Get behind me!" he bellowed as he let the boy's hand go, setting the girl down as he sped around the sea of innocent eyes and placed himself between them and the mammoth of a man just in time to get slammed into.
Kirishima's arms buckled from the strain, his boots digging through the ground as he pushed against the oncoming train in human form. His hardened body cracked under the pressure, his fingers tightening as he shoved back, even as his feet slid along the ground, leaving tracks in the dust.
The weight left so fast in a blast of heat that he nearly toppled right onto his face.
The man only stumbled to the side from the blow, his heated glare snapping to its new target as explosions rang out through the dilapidated room. Bakugou was like a speeding missile as he rocketed past the villain, whirling around with an AP Shot that finally sent the monster to his knees.
"Get them out, Red!" Bakugou shrieked, his snarl all teeth as consecutive blasts rained down on the man. "Hurry!"
"Damn heroes..." the villain muttered, clearly out of his mind. "Always getting in our way. What's a few brats to a life of luxury?"
"Cheeks!" Bakugou screamed at the ceiling, where Uraraka hung in the air. "Hold out for us! Once the brats are out, let it fall!"
"Guh... Gladly." she warbled, a shaky smile on her face as she gave him an unsteady thumbs-up.
"And for the love of All Might, don't puke on me!"
She only gurgled in response.
"Damn heroes..." the villain repeated. "Damn brats... Damn heroes, damn brats, damn hero brats, you're everywhere."
The villain's ramblings were interrupted by another explosion and a boot to the head, stomping his face into the ground with a powerful thud. Kirishima turned and didn't look back, ushering the kids towards the stairs as Uraraka watched on from above. He couldn't imagine how she must feel, using all her power to hold up the crust of the Earth and not be able to fight alongside her friends. Kirishima didn't think he could stand just watching from afar.
A strangled shout pulled at his attention, his throat closing up as he turned to look, the first child just reaching the safety of the stairs.
In one fluid movement, the villain grabbed Bakugou's ankle, spinning him around and flinging him with a shout into the farthest corner of the room. With a roar, he turned on his heels in the same movement, launching himself at Kirishima and the children with no hesitation. As kids clung to his legs, fear ripped through his heart, sending pins and needles running along his spine. From above, he heard Uraraka scream.
The ceiling collapsed with her.
Dust swirled as a mass of giant spikes were launched into the air, easily piercing the falling concrete as it fell to the ground, Uraraka crumbling with it. Her heaving was buried by the noise, Kirishima ducking over as many of the kids as he could as the spikes whizzed past, embedding themselves into the walls around them. The children were crying, several now making it to the stairs as heroes came storming down to meet them.
His chest burned as some of the kids were scattered by the attack. It almost reminded him of the video Kaminari once showed him of ducklings in a windstorm. He'd laughed until he cried, both at the poor ducklings and Kaminari as he fried himself from cackling so hard. Now, his heart was breaking as little kids fought to get back to their feet, scraped knees and darkening bruises forgotten as they ran for the safety of heroes.
One boy in particular caught his eye.
He was blonde, a bright light blue glowing under his hair and from his eyes. He was small, probably around Eri's age, and his little legs shook as he stood up on wobbly feet. His bright eyes were wide in terror, tears welling up as he searched through the dust for safety as another wave of spikes whistled through the air. The boy stumbled against the wall, holding himself up, and Kirishima was running before he could even register the shouts around him.
Pain exploded in his upper leg, causing him to stumble as he limped towards the boy. He found his vision tunneling, barely noticing his cracked, hardened skin as he forced his aching, protesting body to move. The boy was reaching for him, staggering away from the wall as his eyes zeroed in on Kirishima's leg. His mouth opened, gaping, pupils small as panic started to set in.
"I can help!" he cried. "I can-!"
Kirishima saw the spike speeding towards the boy before he saw anything else.
There was a moment where a lifetime flashed before his eyes, images of this boy's possible family, of a funeral, hateful eyes glaring down at him for failing to save this child. The kid was counting on him, so focused on his injuries that he didn't see the danger heading towards him. In fact, it was possible that he wouldn't even be able to get out of the way if he did see it.
"Look out!" Kirishima screamed on instinct, though he couldn't say why he even bothered.
And then, fire and smoke.
A fiery rocket came roaring in from the side, smoking hands reaching out as the boy's eyes widened, turning to search for the danger that Kirishima was seeing. In one swift movement, the boy's arm was snagged as Bakugou bodily tossed him through the air, catapulted into Kirishima's arms with a solid oof.
The smell of blood hit Kirishima first before the spray even went splat against the floor. Silence seemed to fall over the battlefield, the sun gleaming against the blood and the spike hammered into the wall.
Bakugou stared down at it in open shock, his eyes dimming dangerously as his hands shook, reaching out at nothing as his fingers curled. His hands searched for purchase, his feet slack against the floor as he stared at the spike protruding from his chest, nailing him to the wall.
He gagged, blood streaming from his mouth like a waterfall, and time restarted.
Kirishima's feet nearly gave out from under him.
"Baku-...gou...?" he whispered, disbelieving. Uraraka was shouting something, but Kirishima remained oblivious as he stumbled forward with wide eyes, reaching out aimlessly. "No... No, no, no..."
He didn't notice the tears, nor the ghosts of feral grins and secret smiles in his mind's eye, or even the innocent, horrified gaze staring up at him from the boy in his arm. All he could think as his best friend's body began to grow lax was how much he hated the color red right now.
"No, no, no, no!"
The weight in his full arm left, freeing it to wander with his other hand. He shook off the grip on his shoulder, taking a painful step forward as his leg began to grow numb.
"...in shock..."
"...severe bleeding..."
"...will die..."
Kirishima paid no mind as hands began to pull at him, a comforting voice speaking gibberish in his ear. His vision tunneled, tears clouding it as a sharp, distant cry and intense pain pierced his skull. He registered a limp body falling to the ground before he realized that he'd collapsed too, the world around him moving far too fast for him to register. Numbness and cold encroached on his body, the world going dark before he could even question what was happening to him.
He woke up to a sea of white.
The air was still as Kirishima breathed in deeply, his eyelids impossibly heavy and his arms weighing against the bed like sacks of bricks. There were flashes in his mind's eye, terrified eyes and confident smirks dancing across his vision, but none of the puzzle pieces seemed to fit together, leaving him with a scrambled mess of thoughts that almost resembled alphabet soup.
His throat bobbed, nothing but a pathetic wheeze leaving his lips. He belatedly noticed the oxygen mask as it fogged up with every breath he took. It reminded him of snowy days as a child, breathing against the car window on long drives with his parents and drawing smiley faces with carefully softened fingers.
"How do you even do this stuff?"
"Idiot, it's not that hard!"
Despite the way his arms shook violently underneath him, Kirishima pushed himself up, only now noticing just how cold it was. He felt faint, almost collapsing back into his bed as he stared blankly at the room around him.
"So...you multiply this?"
"Thank fuck, we're finally getting somewhere!"
It certainly wasn't his dorm room, wherever he was.
"You'll help me study for our next math test, right, Bakugou?"
"Yeah, yeah. We'll study in my dorm room later."
Right, he'd been planning on studying with Bakugou recently. He would hate to keep the blonde waiting after he'd agreed to spend his time helping him.
Even as something dark and vile sat in Kirishima's gut, he pulled off the oxygen mask, staring down at himself in confusion. His gown was clean, barely a wrinkle in sight, and it only now occurred to him that he was in a hospital. Why was just beyond his reach, but the smell of antiseptic was suddenly overpowering.
"Get them out, Red!"
A spike of pain lanced through Kirishima's head, the teen cringing as he clutched his scalp. It barely registered that his hair was down, not even a background thought as memories of crying children and screaming heroes rushed back. Of villains and compounds and pain.
Where was Bakugou?
The question was clear as day in his mind, but as his vision warbled, pressure building behind his eyes and liquid dripping down his cheeks, he couldn't quite put his finger on why.
"Oh, you're awake!" a voice piped up, and Kirishima whirled around to see a nurse staring at him in surprise, a clipboard in hand as she briskly stepped to his side. "You're up earlier than anticipated! How are you feeling?"
The nurse's questions flew over Kirishima's head, the most he could offer being grunts and nods as the nurse fiddled with the oxygen mask, placing it back on his face. Kirishima frowned around it, something ugly churning in his gut. "Where's Bakugou?"
The nurse paused mid-sentence. "I beg your pardon?"
"Bakugou!" Kirishima stressed. "Is he here? What room? He was..."
All he could think as his best friend's body began to grow lax was how much he hated the color red right now.
"He was hurt..."
He gagged, blood streaming from his mouth like a waterfall, and time restarted.
"He was hurt." he breathed, images flying across his vision as it all came rushing back. "He was hurt really badly! Can I see him?"
The nurse stared at him sadly, fiddling with her pen. "I- I'm sorry. I can't give away patient information-"
"I-!" Kirishima's hands were shaking. "Please, he's my best friend! I just want to know what room he's in!" His vision continued to blur with tears. "Please!"
The nurse frowned deeply. "Well... If I'm being honest, I don't think a Bakugou was even admitted here."
All racing thoughts came to an abrupt halt.
"I've probably said too much as it is." the nurse sighed, turning to leave. "Well, please, take it easy. You heroes have done so much as it is. You deserve to rest."
"I don't think a Bakugou was even admitted here."
But, no, that wasn't right. That couldn't be right, unless he was taken to a different hospital, but with his injuries, they'd take him to the closest one. It would make no sense to take them to different hospitals unless there was literally no room.
But that couldn't be right, because despite the scale of the raid, it wasn't a disaster zone.
There was a fucking spike in his chest. He was bleeding out, losing strength, fading, there was no way he wasn't brought to a hospital.
Unless-
No. It wasn't possible. He refused to believe it.
A soft smirk and sharp eyes came to mind, an ugly, piercing laugh and heated gaze carving into his soul. He didn't know if the nurse was still there or if he was alone, but as he stared at his hands, he couldn't help but see them covered in blood, the corners of his vision occupied by a reddish static.
They were supposed to study. There was a test coming up.
He'd promised he would help him study.
"...a Bakugou was even admitted here."
It had to be a mistake, Kirishima thought, tearing the mask off and leaping to his feet. There was a soft rumble of noise, but he paid it no mind as he pushed his way through the door, fighting the static as he surveyed the hall. There was movement around him, but he didn't care, pushing through the pressure holding him back as he stomped down the hallway.
The next room wasn't Bakugou's, nor was the next. Maybe he was on a different wing. Maybe a different floor.
He'd have to check. Check every nook and cranny.
Because Bakugou wasn't dead.
It was the first time he'd even entertained the thought since he'd woken up. There was a deep pressure against his chest, like a black hole opened up and sucked up all the light inside. It was heavy, like a burden weighing down on his shoulders, and Kirishima didn't know what to do with this weight. He tossed what he could away, his eyes landing on the names by the next few rooms and finding nothing familiar.
He'd have to look elsewhere then.
Because he wasn't-
He couldn't be-
He realized he was crying. He was screaming.
"...code green! Get-..."
"...gonna open his wounds-...!"
"Where's-...!"
Kirishima took another step forward, reaching for a faded silhouette as it walked into the distance. It turned to look at him, sharp red eyes meeting his with a strange, alien softness. His spiky hair was like a halo of light as he turned and walked away, wordlessly ignoring Kirishima's cries for him to turn around.
Because he couldn't be dead. They were supposed to be heroes together.
Tears dripped down his cheeks as it slowly sank in that one of his closest friends had died just a few feet away from him. He'd been right there, useless, motionless, just like always. A failure.
What would he tell his parents? What would he tell Midoriya?
"Kirishima!"
Everything hurt all at once, Kirishima being shoved to the ground as the silhouette was overtaken by a black figure overshadowing it. The look of pain in his glowing red eyes was enough to make Kirishima sober, suddenly aware of the people holding down his thrashing form.
"It's okay, Kirishima." his teacher soothed as a pinprick of pain stabbed into his arm. "You're going to be okay."
As darkness overtook his vision, all he could think in his grief-stricken haze was that nothing would ever be okay again.
The second time he woke up, it was to sunlight.
There were tears in his eyes, he noticed, waking to the feeling of dried tear tracks clinging to his cheeks. There was a heaviness in his chest that he couldn't quite place, his mind a whirling tornado of thoughts and feelings all crashing into each other in search of coherency. Kirishima sniffled, going to wipe at his face only to discover that he couldn't move his arms.
"Try to relax, Kirishima."
Kirishima startled, turning to find the figure of his teacher sitting at the far end of the room. There were dark bags under his eyes, far more prominent than usual as he stared the redhead down firmly. "You've given the nurses quite a bit of trouble."
He was restrained, he realized belatedly, a flush of embarrassment overtaking his cheeks. He grimaced, staring down at the floor as Aizawa-sensei looked him over. "I don't know when they'll release you." he admitted. "You almost died on that battlefield. The spike nicked your artery and you would've bled out on the spot if it hadn't been for quick-thinking paramedics."
"Oh..."
"Your friends have been worried about you."
Kirishima frowned sadly at that, the emptiness opening up a void in his heart all over again. Everything hurt in a way that had never hurt before, and the teen didn't know if he could ever make it feel better.
Aizawa-sensei sighed, then nodded towards the other side of the bed.
Kirishima blinked, curiosity pulsing as he turned to stare at the other side, only to be met with a sleeping figure in the chair by his bedside. It took him far too long to register what he was seeing, the ash blonde halo coming to mind as he stared at his visitor in disbelief. There was a moment where his mind went blank, his thoughts coming to a screeching halt as recognition struck him.
Bakugou was fast asleep in the chair by his bed, arms crossed and lips parted as he leaned against the side of the uncomfortable hospital chair. He wasn't even in a hospital gown, dressed in his favorite skull t-shirt with barely a scratch to be seen. There was little to no sign of injury, as if Kirishima's horrid memories were nothing but a distant nightmare.
"You weren't imagining things." Aizawa-sensei assured him. He continued to speak, but Kirishima heard none of it as he stared at his best friend's sleeping form in utter shock. The void in his chest gave way to something powerful, an all-encompassing relief that nearly turned his entire world white. He might have been embarrassed by the loud sob he let out, but the weight on his shoulders was gone so quickly that he might as well have been floating.
His cries must have been why, but a moment later, Bakugou was startling awake, sharp eyes bright and steely and alive as they snapped to Kirishima, on high alert as their gazes met. Kirishima could only cry harder, his hardening easily cutting through the soft restraints as he surged forward, pulling the explosive teen into an unexpected, bone-crushing hug. Aizawa-sensei said something, but Kirishima couldn't hear it over Bakugou's surprised shout.
"Oi!" he yelled angrily. "You're gonna get in trouble, you moron! Off!"
Kirishima clung to him, even as Bakugou fought to escape his grip. He felt warm, the redhead sobbing against him as he squirmed, full of energy and life and he was here.
"Damn problem children." Aizawa-sensei muttered. "I have to get a nurse now. In the meantime, more of your friends are waiting for you."
With that, he swiftly got to his feet and briskly strolled out of the room, leaving Kirishima to cling to his struggling friend. "Oi, oi, Kirishima, seriously, you-!"
"You're alive..."
The squirming slowed, Kirishima taking the chance to hold on tighter. Bakugou made some kind of strangled squawk, but only huffed a moment later. "Idiot, of course I am." he grumbled. "You doubted me, asshole?"
Kirishima let out a wet laugh, grinning from ear to ear as a commotion sounded out from just outside the room. Before he knew it, the door was swinging open, a swarm of familiar, friendly faces pouring in as his friends cried tears of joy. Ashido was nearly on top of him, pulling him into his own tight bear hug as Kaminari and Sero cried over him, goofy smiles on their faces as they recounted the last few days that Kirishima had been asleep. Apparently, doctors had been concerned that the blood loss would affect him severely, but he'd gotten off extremely lucky.
Kirishima didn't take in any of it, his eyes never leaving his best friend's familiar snarl as he gripped his wrist tightly, a steady pulse beating against his minutely trembling fingers. There was a small part of him that didn't even believe that this was real, that this was a dream and he would wake up to an empty room.
The rest of him simply held on tighter.
It was such an oddly warm moment that Uraraka almost felt as if she was intruding.
"They couldn't even bother to knock." Jirou snorted, standing at Uraraka's side in the forgotten doorway. Uraraka smiled at that, watching as Bakugou threatened to blow up the entire room if the three other idiots didn't stop smothering Kirishima, he swears to All Might.
"So energetic." Uraraka said wistfully.
"Ugh, too much so, if you ask me." Jirou huffed, pulling out her phone. "I don't know how Blast tolerates them. I love 'em to pieces, but they can sure give me a headache, sometimes."
Uraraka simply smiled, watching as Bakugou bodily hauled Ashido off of Kirishima only to get pulled into a giant group hug against his will. Jirou suppressed a laugh. "Anyway, I got a playlist I wanna share with Kiri. You coming in, Uraraka?"
"Huh? Oh, no, I gotta get back soon. I promised Tsu that I'd study with her today. I just wanted to make sure that everyone was okay."
Jirou shrugged, staring at her phone as she walked into the room. "Suit yourself."
And just like that, Uraraka was left standing alone in the doorway, watching as Jirou wriggled her way into the group hug and said something that somehow calmed the three newcomers down and eased the tension in Bakugou's shoulders. A part of the brunette did want to enter the room and join her classmates, but another part felt as if she was already overstaying her welcome, and she couldn't quite put her finger on as to why.
She supposed it didn't matter in the end, Kirishima laughing with tear tracks lining his face. His hair was in disarray as he wiped at his face, a toothy grin glistening in the sunlight. Uraraka had been told that though his injuries were small size-wise, they were no less severe. A nicked artery could easily lead to death from blood loss, so Kirishima had been close to dying that day. He'd come so close and that had scared her.
But at least she'd had hope for him. He had healers at hospital who could do something, give him blood, stop the bleeding. He had time.
Uraraka had never thought at any point that she was about to watch Kirishima die.
The same could not be said for Bakugou.
She remembered the sickening squelch of a spike being pulled from flesh vividly. Nobody had known that the villain had telepathic control over the spikes that exited his body, allowing him to pull his spikes back to him as soon as he was apprehended. Uraraka had scrambled out of the rubble of what was once a ceiling in order to help with the arrest, but watching two of her classmates crumple to the ground was at the forefront of her thoughts.
When the situation was under control and she was shooed away, she immediately ran to her classmates' sides. Paramedics were on scene by this point, led into the disaster zone by the relieving form of one Aizawa-sensei. When he'd arrived, Uraraka didn't know, but if there was anyone she needed to be here right about now, it was her teacher.
"Sensei!" she cried as the paramedics loaded Kirishima onto a stretcher, desperately trying to staunch the bleeding from a terrifyingly deep wound on his upper leg. The towels and gauze were already soaked through, and Uraraka's gut twisted with worry as the redhead was quickly whisked away for treatment. Aizawa-sensei, meanwhile, was crouched over Bakugou's fallen form as more paramedics surrounded them. "Sensei!"
Aizawa-sensei looked up at her, a dull glint in his eyes that Uraraka couldn't quite decipher, and the brunette came skidding in next to him to look over her fallen classmate.
The gaping wound in his chest had her heart stuttering, Bakugou's eyes half-lidded and dull as he stared up at nothing, blood pooling in his mouth and dripping down his chin. The paramedics were saying something to Aizawa-sensei, but Uraraka heard none of it as she reached for Bakugou's still hand.
"I see..." Aizawa-sensei sighed, defeated. Uraraka's mouth went dry as some of the paramedics ran off to help other patients, as she couldn't help the surge of anger that ripped through her being.
"Where are they going!?" she shouted. "Bakugou needs help! He needs a hospital! Where are they going!?"
Aizawa-sensei didn't respond, staring at the limp hand clutched in Uraraka's own two. There wasn't even a twitch.
"Uraraka..." Aizawa-sensei said carefully, as if each syllable had the power to kill.
The sad shine in Aizawa-sensei's otherwise dull eyes told Uraraka everything she needed to know.
"But-! No, they can save him!" she pressed. "He- He still has to be number one with Deku!"
Aizawa-sensei grimaced, and Uraraka's world came crashing down.
"He can't die!"
"Fuck off, Cheeks! I shouldn't have shared with you at all!"
"Then you could teach me how to make it and I won't have to bother you about it anymore!"
"He-... He can't die..."
"Ugh... You know what? Fine, but only if you teach me that Gunhead shit you pulled in training today."
"Wait, really!?"
"...Sensei...?"
Uraraka wasn't expecting to be pulled into a tight hug by her teacher, her hiccups turning into sobs as she clung to that rapidly cooling hand. A part of her was angry, at the villain, the paramedics, at Bakugou, but the rest of her was just slowly growing numb to it.
"Sensei?" she sniffled. "Can we stay with him?"
Aizawa paused for a moment, then nodded, Uraraka pulling away to hold that hand and stare at his still, pale face. She couldn't even tell if he was breathing anymore, but it didn't matter to her, even as her hands shook, so long as he wasn't alone when he passed to the other side.
It was the least she could do for him, for his parents, for Deku.
Uraraka didn't pay much attention to the commotion that rose around her, distracted by her dying classmate when shouting forced her to look up. There were emergency personnel panicking as a small figure rushed through the crowd, weaving his way between outstretched hands.
"I can help!"
Uraraka stared in shock as a small child, blonde and glowing blue hair, broke through the crowd, a stethoscope in hand as he stumbled his way to Bakugou's cooling body. The little boy's eyes were wild, a desperation in them that Uraraka had never seen in someone his age. The boy shied away from Aizawa-sensei's touch, swatting at his hand as he pressed the stethoscope against Bakugou's chest.
"I can help him!" the boy cried. "Let me help him!"
Uraraka barely remembered the kid in the heat of the moment, the little boy that Bakugou had sacrificed his life to save. Her hands shook harder, searching for some form of support as the little boy listened to his chest.
"I have a healing quirk!" the boy screamed as Aizawa-sensei moved to grab him. "It can save anybody! Only one time but it saved mama once...! There!"
There was a faint glow as the boy's quirk activated, a glowing blue aura surrounding Bakugou and forcing Uraraka and Aizawa-sensei to shield their eyes. Aizawa-sensei finally relented, left with no choice in the matter as the boy made a last-ditch effort to save his hero.
The sound of flesh moving made Uraraka's stomach do somersaults, but a moment later, she was staring in awe as the boy struggled to close the wound. The hole slowly shrank in size, blood coming out in spurts as the organs inside were forced back into their previous state. Sweat pooled on the boy's forehead, the glow in his eyes and hair flaring up as the wound completely closed, leaving nothing in its wake.
"Not even a scar..." Uraraka muttered in shock.
Suddenly, the boy was falling forward, his face flushed with fever and a small smile on his face.
"Hey, kid." Aizawa-sensei asked urgently, now holding the boy up as the kid breathed a sigh of relief. "...What's your name, kid? And your quirk. What did you do?"
"Hmm...?" He sleepily blinked up at him. "...Seiki... And I heal people...from anything, but only once..."
Whatever else was said was lost on Uraraka, staring in awe as Bakugou's eyes were completely closed, the teen snoring softly as if in a deep slumber. Her breath hitched as she stared in disbelief, a flood of emotions drowning her in a mind-numbing relief that she couldn't remember experiencing before. With a weak sob, she leaned forward, resting her forehead on his chest over his strongly beating heart.
"Thank goodness..."
It was odd, seeing Bakugou back to his old self, not even requiring a hospital stay after a quick check up by medics. Apparently, the boy, one Renkawa Seiki, had a powerful healing quirk that could heal any wound, so long as long as he could hear the victim's heartbeat. Uraraka had overheard from the boy's father as he'd spoken to Aizawa that the quirk only worked on a single person once, as they'd unfortunately discovered with Seiki's mother.
Uraraka could only think to wish the boy good health and good luck, after everything he's been through at such a young age.
Now, watching as Kirishima laughed along with his friends' badgering, Uraraka was eternally grateful for the strange luck that seemed to follow her classmates like a shadow. With a soft smile, Uraraka pushed off the doorframe and walked away, already sending a text to Tsu that she was on her way. Ahead, she could see Aizawa-sensei waiting.
"I'm heading back to the school." he informed her.
As if giving her the opportunity to stay with her friends, to make sure that they were alright, to see them breathing and alive and still here.
But she already knew that, she realized, because despite the scares and close calls and hopelessness, she does trust them to be okay, just as she trusts herself to keep them okay.
So, Uraraka smiled contently. "Me too. Let's go."