AN: Thanks for the interest and reviews everyone!
Ricardo Valencia - Sadly, Water Hose died 2 years before the camp attack, which means they died 3-4 months before the kids arrival. You can bet they looked up Water Hose pretty quickly when they were sent back only to find out that the damage was done.
Amit Barabi - AM has a lot to think about, that's for sure! We'll see what he ends up doing...
SwordOfTheGods - Sorry for ending it there, but this whole sequence of chapters are going to be pretty continuous, so I am choosing dramatic points to break it up.
"Really?" Eri asked Emi.
"Really and truly!" Emi replied. "These two knew there was a little girl in trouble and knew just the heroes to call!"
Eri turned toward Izuku and Ochako, curiosity filling her eyes. "How did you know? They tried to keep me in the compound. They told me it was safer there."
Ochako gave a warm smile to Eri. "I'll let you in on a secret." She leaned forward dramatically. "Izu always has a way of finding people who are in trouble."
"I guess I do, don't I?" Izuku laughed bashfully.
"Yep!" Ochako beamed. "And once he knew you were in trouble, there was nothing that could stop him."
"See? What did I say!" Emi remarked, a comforting smile on her face. "Then he told us, and we told the police, and the next thing you know, we were rescuing you from that nasty man!"
"And he won't hurt you for taking me away from him?"
"Nope! And if he tries, I'm gonna punch him in the face!" Emi sweetly promised as she threw a few fake punches for emphasis.
Inko looked toward Izuku and Ochako for an explanation. "Why was she in the hands of the yakuza?"
"Because of her quirk," Izuku softly answered.
"It's a curse!" Eri blurted out, subconsciously touching the small nub on her head.
Something broke inside Himiko. She walked over to the girl's bed, kneeling next to it. She saw a familiar sadness filling the girl's eyes, and she hated it. "Why are you cursed?"
"Because I make people disappear!" Eri started tearing up. "Like- like my dad! That man was the only one who could stop me!"
"Eri," Shota began. He stepped onto the other side of the bed, a softer expression on his face than Izuku and Ochako had ever seen before. "He wanted you to feel that way on purpose, but he's not the only one who can stop you. Remember how I kept you from making All Might and Emi disappear?"
"Yeah," Eri admitted softly, lowering his hand. "It didn't hurt either."
"You-" Himiko found tears building. "Your quirk isn't a curse!" she stated definitively. Eri looked at Himiko, but doubt lingered in her eyes. Himiko smiled at the little girl, pointing at her fangs and eyes. "My parents told me I was a monster because of my quirk. And you know what? They're the ones in jail now! And I'm happier than I ever was when I lived with them!"
"Just because you can't control your quirk doesn't make it a curse," Izuku whispered, kneeling next to Himiko. "It just shows that you were in the hands of bad people. People who would rather hurt you than teach you how to control your quirk. Now those bad people are gone, and we'll help you learn how to use your quirk!"
"Really?"
"It's just like we told you Eri," Emi gingerly said. "We're going to take care of you and help you. And I'm gonna keep reminding you over and over again until you realize it!"
"She will do it, too," Shota said. "She's annoyingly persistent like that."
"Don't you know it!" Emi flashed a warm smile to her boyfriend.
"I want to help too!" Himiko shot up, causing Eri to flinch at the sudden movement. She frowned and made a mental note that she'd have to be more careful as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'll be right back!"
Everyone watched Himiko dart out of the room. Ochako took her place next to Eri. "That jerk was lying to you! Your quirk isn't bad. It's wonderful! You can help people who are hurt! Once you know how to control it, you can make people better and fix injuries that most doctors can't!"
"I can?" Eri asked.
"Mm-hm!" Ochako smiled and nodded to the girl. "Yep! You helped someone very important to us today, someone who had been suffering for years and was unable to be fixed. But you fixed him right up with your quirk!"
Inko joined the children next to the bed, looking fondly at the little girl. "You fixed up All Might, didn't you?"
Eri looked at the woman and bobbed her head. "The mean man injected me with something and tried to use my cu-" She stopped as she saw Emi giving her a look and corrected herself. "My quirk to make him disappear."
"But what happened, Eri?" Emi asked.
Eri looked at Shota and pointed at him. "He used his quirk to stop me."
Inko started crying. "Your quirk is so wonderful. Toshinori has been hurting for years, and despite that, he's always trying to be strong for others. And you made him all better! That's a gift, not a curse."
"You should listen to her," Izuku agreed, handing his mom some tissues, "she's really smart about these things."
Miu joined the other side of the bed, looking down at the girl. "I may not be as smart about hero stuff as everyone else, but I do know you deserve to be happy! If those people were keeping you locked up, they were wrong!" She looked fondly at her daughter. "If my Chako went to all these lengths to help you, that means you must be pretty special, and I'll help in any way I can."
Seeing all of the people encouraging her, Eri's eyes began to light up as she looked at Emi, who simply smiled at her encouragingly. "See kiddo? More people care about you than you think! You're not gonna be a burden to us!"
"That's-" Eri started sniffling, but before anyone could react they saw her horn glowing, wrapping her body in a golden light. She started to panic, but it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
"See Eri? He's going to keep you from making people disappear," Emi said, looking fondly at her boyfriend.
"Oh." Eri looked disappointed as the tears flowed down her face.
Inko reached out and gently touched her arm, internally swearing vengeance on the person who did this to her as she saw the little girl flinch. "It's only been a few hours, things like this take time. But I promise you'll get better!"
"You should have seen Chako when she was your age. We had to switch to plastic dishes because she kept breaking them by accident!" Miu reminisced, causing Ochako to flush in embarrassment.
Suddenly Himiko burst into the room, her arms filled with several stuffed animals. "I'm back! I didn't see any Kirby at the gift shop but…" She saw everyone surrounding the bed. "What happened?"
"Eri activated her quirk again," Ochako explained softly.
Izuku, seeing the stuffed animals in Himiko's arms, lit up with an idea. "Himi, you're a genius!"
"Huh?"
Izuku grabbed the green rabbit and tan cat from her arms and offered them to Eri. "Your quirk only works on living things, but it doesn't affect nonliving objects! So if you are scared of accidentally using your quirk when Aizawa isn't around, you can hold these instead!"
Eri cautiously took the offered animals and hugged them to her chest. They felt different from the ones in her old room. They felt warm and cozy in her arms.
"I'm really good at picking out stuffed animals to represent people!" Himiko stated properly as she shoved her way next to the bed. "That rabbit there represents Izu. And the cat represents me! Big sister Himi-chan!"
"Big sister?"
"Yep!" Himiko gave her a wide smile. "Since you had a bad family, just like me, I'm going to show you what it means to have a good family! The one you deserve to have!" She placed a stuffed bear and plush All Might on the bed within easy reach.
"We all will," Ochako added.
Eri felt tears building again and started crying, but these were different tears than what she was used to. She didn't understand it, but she liked feeling this way. Was this what they were talking about, how she deserved to feel?
Seeing Eri crying, Emi decided that she had had enough and began shoving the group out of the room, before closing the door behind her. "Thank you for all of that." She glanced back at the door. "I've been trying to get her to laugh ever since she got here, but nothing's worked so far. I'm not gonna give up though!"
"Let me know if there's anything I can do," Inko offered with a determined look on her face. "I know it must be hard since you are both heroes after all, but I want to help in any way I can."
"Me too," Miu chimed in. "I know we're both busy with our own jobs, but between the two of us we'll figure something out."
"Sure thing!" She gave the women a thumbs up. "If you didn't offer, these three trouble makers were gonna do it anyway!" Seeing the embarrassed look on their faces, she began laughing.
After exchanging contact information with Emi, the group was led back to Izuku and Ochako's room, where they began changing back into their normal clothing. When Izuku pulled out his cell phone and saw the missed calls and texts from Himiko, he couldn't help but wince as she glared at him, reminding him of her annoyance.
After one final checkup from the nurse, they were discharged and the five left the hospital. As Ochako helped Izuku into the back of her parent's van, they both offered each other silent assurance that the next conversation would go better than they feared.
When they returned to the Midoriyas' apartment, Inko and Miu excused themselves and went to the kitchen, preparing tea and keeping themselves busy preparing dinner until Katashi could join them. Izuku and Ochako sat on the couch awkwardly while Himiko sat in a chair, her eyes darting between them. Eventually, she gave up. With a sigh, pushed herself up and grabbed the pair by their arms, pulling them to her bedroom.
Entering the room, she shoved them on the bed before closing the door and leaning on it. "Ok, what is going on? First, you have One For All, and now you mean to tell me there's more?"
"Yes," Izuku admitted, wincing at Himiko's glare.
"I hate this!" Himiko growled out in frustration. "Just- just- all the secrecy!"
"I know," Izuku said softly.
"Then why?" The strain in Himiko's voice was evident.
"You'll know soon." Ochako stood up and stared at the other girl. "Just wait for my dad to get here."
"And what about One For All? Are you going to tell our parents about that too?"
"No," Izuku said firmly.
"Why not?"
"It's not our story to tell," Ochako pointed out.
Himiko glared at the two of them, but neither backed down. "You saw mom and All Might in the hospital today," Izuku explained. "He should be the one to tell her, not us."
"What about her parents?"
"They deserve to know as well. From All Might."
"Fine!" Himiko groaned, knowing they were right. "But if he doesn't tell them…"
"I'm sure you'll find a way to threaten All Might," Izuku joked.
That was enough to get a giggle out of Himiko. "You're damned right I will!"
When Katashi arrived, he could sense the tense mood in the apartment immediately. After he took off his shoes, he quietly sat down on the couch, soon joined by Miu and Inko, who set out a tray with tea. Calling down the hallway, the three teenagers emerged from Himiko's room and returned to the living room.
"Himi." Izuku took a deep breath and turned towards her. "You may want to sit with mom."
"Izu-" Hearing the tone of his voice, the frustration quickly drained from Himiko's face, replaced with fear and confusion. "What's going on?"
"Just. I want you to be comfortable." Izuku tried to smile at his sister, but she drew no comfort from it.
"Come here Himi." Inko offered, sliding down to make room for the girl. When Himiko sat down Inko placed an arm on her back, trying to rub circles in it to help her stay calm.
"So what's going on?" Katashi asked, finally tired of being in the dark.
"Mom, dad." Ochako took a deep breath. "I'm actually from the future."
"We both are." Izuku looked at Inko and Himiko.
"Well, sort of. Quirks are weird! We're not physically from the future, but our consciousness was sent back in time."
The four sat in silence, confusion and a variety of other emotions passing across their faces. Izuku and Ochako looked at each other, silently debating how to continue. Deciding on an answer, they turned back toward the group and Izuku continued.
"You were right mom. Last September when you said I started acting strange, something did happen to me. Our consciousness was sent back in time, and when we woke up, we realized we were in the past."
"You- That- What happened to our 'Chako?" Miu asked, on the verge of tears.
Ochako looked crushed by the question. Izuku reached out a comforting hand, but she brushed it off and walked toward her mother, kneeling and gently taking her hands. "Have I done anything in the past 11 months to make you think I wasn't your little 'Chako anymore?"
"No, but-"
"Mom." Ochako forced her mother to look at her, to see that she was on the verge of tears. "I'm still your 'Chako. Just - think of it like I went to sleep one night, and when I woke up the next day, I had an extra two and a half years of memories crammed into my head. Even with all this extra stuff in my head, I'm still me."
"That day, when you disappeared and said you were looking for training-" Inko said.
"I actually went to Nabari to meet Ocha." Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry I never told you."
"The contract, our move to Mustafu-" Katashi was trying to wrap his head around it.
"When Izu met with Nezu and All Might, he told them about me, and they knew they had to protect me."
"They were willing to go to those lengths?"
"Well…" Izuku began nervously. "They also wanted to make sure we didn't do anything rash."
"Like take on an entire Yakuza clan by yourselves?" Himiko asked pointedly.
"Yeah… like that.".
"You two really are aspiring heroes," Inko murmured. "I guess it's good that the people at UA reigned you in."
"It also helped that in the future, we were students at UA," Ochako explained. "That's why we decided to go there and get help."
"What happened?" Katashi asked. "If you were sent back in time, there has to be a reason, right? Why did you come back?"
Izuku and Ochako looked at each other and took a deep breath. This was the part they weren't looking forward to. "This is going to be complicated," Izuku admitted, looking at the four people on the couch. "We'll try our best, but we don't understand it all ourselves."
"We were both attending UA as first years. Near the end of the year, there was a villain who was undergoing surgery in Jaku City to become even more powerful. We were part of the evacuation force to clear the city out before villains descended on the city."
"For me, it was the start of a Japanese civil war," Ochako added. "That began in Jaku City. Like Izuku, I was there as part of an evacuation force."
"What happened there?" Miu asked softly.
"The two of us - we almost died," Ochako admitted, not wanting to look at her parents' horrified expressions.
Izuku and Ochako felt as if they couldn't breathe with the silence suffocating them. Their chasm of secrets was finally becoming a bridge of truth. It had taken Ochako and Izuku quite some time to finally accept the reality of their situation, even if they didn't fully comprehend it. They knew how shocking the truth was to the four people seated in front of them.
"However, at the last moment, we both were hit by the same quirk. We don't know why or how, but by some miracle, it gave us a second chance - a chance to make things right. And it transported our consciousness back in time - to last September."
"What happened?" Inko asked. "Please, Izu. After everything that I've learned today, I- I need to know. What- How would you have died?"
Izuku looked at Ochako before breathing out a shaky sigh. "Mom, please hold Himi."
The temperature of the room dropped at those words. Himiko suddenly looked scared and small, the confidence she had been building up since March gone. Izuku tried to think of some excuse to avoid this conversation, but finding none, he continued.
"At Jaku City, the villain we were trying to stop attempted to destroy the entire city with his quirk, unleashing a massive wave of destruction. My classmates and I tried to save everyone we could. But- Uravity - that was Ochako's hero name from where I came from - she pushed herself too hard. She got caught in the wave and I watched her die." Miu and Katashi gasped. Izuku had a haunted look on his face as he continued. "I-I was so angry, that I forgot what it meant to be a hero, and I tried to kill the person responsible. I wasn't thinking clearly, and because of that, the villain managed to use his quirk on me. My body was disintegrating when I was affected by the quirk to send me back."
The terror on the faces of Ochako's parents tore at his heart as he tried to remain strong beside Ochako, however, he questioned his strength when he heard his mother's stifled sobbing. It was enough to cause a tear to slip out of his eye, but he knew the worst was yet to come. He turned toward Ochako to let her speak.
Unlike before, Ochako gazed at her parents on her couch, purposely avoiding a certain blonde's stare. "For me, Jaku City was the opening battle of something much larger. In the middle of evacuation efforts, I lost contact with Analyst - that was Izuku's hero name from my time. Of course, I was worried, so I went looking for him. I thought I found him in an empty building, but it wasn't him… It was Toga."
Everyone gasped. The three adults looked at Himiko, who had begun shaking. Inko pulled her tighter to herself, giving Izuku a concerned look. He could only offer an apologetic look in reply.
"She ambushed me and attacked me, puncturing my lungs. As I lay there I saw him - Analyst. I saw that she had already ki-"
"Izu…" Himiko cut off Ochako. She looked terrified of what she was about to ask, despite already knowing the answer. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she gathered her courage. "Ocha… What was Toga's first name?"
Ochako gathered her courage and looked the older girl in the eyes. "Himiko."
Himiko started shaking more, and Inko tried her hardest to calm the girl down. Izuku felt One For All crackling underneath his skin, ready to be called on if it came to that. A quick glance and he saw Smoke starting to form in Ochako's palm as well.
The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Himiko, but he would restrain her if he had to.
"Izu-" Himiko cried out. "Ocha-"
"That's the reason why we've been keeping this a secret," Izuku revealed, hanging his head, "I'm sorry, Himi."
"No." Tears flowed freely down Himiko's face, as she refused to accept what she was hearing. "Nononononono…" She held her head in her hands. "Why?! Why would I become a bad person? Why would I do that to Ocha? I love her! She's like a sister to me, just like you're my brother Izu."
"That's just it," Izuku said as he knelt in front of his sister, "she - she loved us then too. But her ideas for love got all twisted up. She mixed up what it meant to love someone and what it meant to hurt them."
"But why? Why was I like that? I-I don't understand! Izu, Chako, please…" Himiko lowered her hands to look at them, desperation on her face.
Cautiously, slowly, Izuku reached to take Himiko's hand, holding it steady. "Because she didn't have anyone to save her."
"S-save her?"
"Yes. The night she attacked Saito, nobody was there to stop her, and she escaped. There were no heroes to stop her. There was no Mama Inko to take her hand at the hospital. To show her what it meant to have a family, to be loved." Izuku took a deep breath. "She was on her own for over a year, all alone, until she joined up with a group of villains."
"No!" Himiko's pained cry rang through the house, cutting into Izuku and Ochako's very souls.