Thank you for being patient with the update! :) Had a bunch of stuff to catch up on and it wasn't pleasant XD.
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A Day In Your Life
Chapter 13
"Big brother!" Eri called, rushing from Aizawa's side to crash into his stomach. The poor girl was frazzled with nerves, however, and seemingly forgot that the swapping incident had taken place, slamming herself straight into the body she recognized as Midoriya's even though it was Bakugo currently inside it.
Despite the tenseness of the coming situation, the real Midoriya couldn't help but burst into laughter at the expression that came across Bakugo's face. The explosion user was outright mortified by the sudden squeezing around his stomach, mouth dropping open as he blanked on what he should do in response.
"Uh, heh…" he somewhat squeaked, flustered. "I'm uh… I'm Kacchan, remember, kid?"
"….." Eri stayed quiet for a moment, blinking up at her big brother's face before her own became bright red. She immediately retracted her arms and pulled her fists up to her mouth as she gasped out an apology. "I'm s-so sorry, Mr. Kacchan!"
Midoriya was quick to throw his own arms out to the side widely, laughing as he got Eri's attention and nodded for her to come and give him a hug. "It's okay, Eri!" he hummed happily, "Kacchan appreciated that; he's just bad when it comes to affection, that's all."
"Alright," Aizawa called, finally catching up to his daughter with the rest of the adults they'd brought along in tow. "That's enough of being cute, you two. We're here for business."
Midoriya had picked Eri up and begun swinging her around, giggling with her as he squished their cheeks together. He put her down though, face dropping from the reminder of what they were doing at the hospital, and the talk he needed to have with his adopted little sister.
"R-right…" the young Pro stuttered, nodding to the others there that he understood. He got down on one knee and took the girl's hand in his own, looking up at her with as much love as he could. "Eri, Mr. Aizawa told me what you overheard between him and Kacchan. He told me that you want to help me and that you've agreed to practice on Shoto and Eijiro since they're hurt very badly."
"That's right, big brother." She confirmed confidently. "I'm going to be your hero so that you can keep helping others with a smile on your face!"
Her words made Midoriya gulp and sweat drop, his eyes only flickering to Aizawa for a moment before he quickly looked down at the ground. The older Pro was giving him a very annoyed, 'I told you so', look that was equal parts proud and frustrated.
"Well…" he mumbled, now realizing just how difficult it would be to convince her not to go through with this.
Honestly, Midoriya was at a loss for what to say. The same passion that he'd once seen in All Might's eyes and then his own was now burning brightly in Eri's, and just like Aizawa, he couldn't have been prouder of her. But still…
"Eri, it's okay I'm—"
"No." Eri huffed, stomping her foot as she stared down at Midoriya. "I heard Mr. Kacchan, remember? I know you're not 'fine' so don't lie to me, big brother!"
"I… You're… You're right, Eri. My body is really hurt right now, but it's not up to you to fix it. The injuries that I've received were my fault and my burden." He responded quietly, wishing with all his heart that he didn't have to say the truth that cut his confidence so deeply.
Bakugo and Todoroki were the only two people in the world that knew just how much he doubted himself, but neither of them was fully aware of why. After years of training, Midoriya had pretty well mastered all of his quirks and was without a doubt the most effective hero the world had ever seen, but old habits die hard. It was still a struggle for him to see how well he was doing; every action he made reminded him of a time where he'd failed in the past.
More than that though, up until the body swap, Midoriya had kept his physical pain to himself. It was hard to believe in yourself after going so long with no support but even harder to do so when you were keenly aware of how quickly your own body was deteriorating.
How had he been so foolish as to let himself become so injured, he wondered? Then to know that due to those injuries, he was going to let down everyone who finally put their faith in him because he had to tap out early?
Now poor, sweet, little Eri was offering to help him because no one else could… because he'd backed himself into a corner and the only way out was to risk the lives of two people he cared for and a child's mental stability. No. Why should he ever believe in himself when he'd let it come to this?
"Big brother!" Eri nearly shouted, shaking at Midoriya's collar since it appeared he'd fallen into a stupor.
Midoriya felt tears brimming in his eyes when he snapped out of his self-defeating thoughts and returned his attention to his sister. "Eri, I really do appreciate it… But it's still my job to be your hero, not the other way around."
It seemed like forever dragged on as they stared each other down with watery eyes, but young Eri steeled her resolve. "Fine, then," she started, turning her attention back to her father. "Even if big brother won't let me help him, you said I could start my training, right dad? Then show me where Eijiro and Shoto are."
While everyone else seemed to freeze in tandem, Bakugo scoffed a satisfied laugh, shaking his head. "Damn, you weren't kidding Mr. Aizawa; she really is just like a mini-Deku."
Midoriya, however, didn't find any part of what she said funny, turning up to glare at Bakugo darkly. "Kacchan, this is serious!"
"Tsk, hell yeah it is, Deku." He responded while crossing his arms. "Everyone here gets that, including Eri. I know you think of her like your baby sister, or whatever, but she's about to be old enough to start at UA—not that much younger than we were when we started our hero journey in earnest."
"I can do it, big brother!" Eri added, nodding fervently. "Please, at least let me try!"
Midoriya looked between the many faces that had gathered around. Bakugo, Aizawa, Recovery Girl and Nezu… Fuyumi and Kirishima's parents. They were all there waiting to see if Eri's resolve would waiver or not, and what the outcome would be if it didn't. "A-alright…"
After a considerable amount of forms were signed and a specialty containment room was put together, Eri was allowed to start. She followed Aizawa in, gasping and startling backward at the sight awaiting her. The adults had decided Todoroki would be the best person to start on since most of his injuries were clearly visible to the human eye, giving her sight awareness of when to stop.
Eri wasn't really expecting the wave of smell she was hit with nor the sight of Todoroki's back fully exposed and oozing from the lack of uncharred skin. She stared with her mouth gaping and eyes wide, unable to move a step further.
Though the minutes continued to tick by as she remained frozen, Aizawa stayed where he was, watching her. This was the first stage of her training—being able to see a person she cared for badly injured without activating her power unintentionally. Though he hadn't been one of the people that rescued her, Todoroki was Midoriya's best friend, and she'd come to see him as a member of her family as well.
"Sh-Shoto…" Eri finally whispered, recovering from her shock just enough to take another few steps forward to the bed. She peered up at Aizawa and sucked in a deep breath, calming herself when he nodded supportively.
"O-kay… What do I do, dad?" she questioned, refusing to let her anxiety overwhelm her. "I mean, I know I'm supposed to be reversing how hurt he is, but specifically."
The Pro smiled at her determination and took a moment to look over his old student's chart. "Well, this will be quite a bit more straightforward than with Midoriya. Your objective here is to use your quirk to rewind his body to just prior to being hurt. Now, once you start using your power, you'll need to show you're capable of turning it off when using it on a loved one as well as regulating how fast the process occurs; does that make sense?"
"Yes," she responded, taking another deep breath.
"It would be best to start with the whole body rather than try to limit yourself to a single limb since that kind of targeted treatment will be more difficult to achieve. Also, focus on the sensation of using your quirk; eventually, we want you to be able to selectively rewind cells on a mass scale—like with Midoriya for instance." Aizawa added as guidance while putting eyedrops into his forever dry eyes. "Are you ready, Eri?"
Eri wrung her hands at her chest and closed her eyes tightly, mentally picturing all the people she loved so deeply. They'd all helped her in every way they could, and now, it was her turn to finally repay them. She stretched her arms out after a pause and gently lowered the tips of her fingers to Todoroki's back, nodding as her horn began glowing.
"Not too fast. Don't lose control. Focus on Shoto and what you're doing." She thought to herself, watching cautiously as her power started taking effect. "Carefully. Methodically. Only rewind to right before Shoto was hurt. Feel the cells changing."
Aizawa couldn't help but hold his breath, not failing to notice how choppy the process was. He'd only seen the tail end of Eri healing Midoriya during the rescue mission, but the most important part of that incident was that she'd been unable to stop. That had been their first and only priority in training Eri so far, making sure she could turn her quirk off if she needed to.
Aizawa was painfully aware of how fearful Eri was of accidentally harming someone again, so it was no surprise that she kept abruptly stopping her rewinding now. Still, being overly cautious wasn't a bad thing given the consequences of making a mistake.
The Pro was ready for anything, barely blinking in case something went terribly wrong in the split second it took for him to re-hydrate his eyes. As a dad though, he wanted to boast about how well she was doing and give her encouragement, but now wasn't the time; Aizawa didn't want to risk distracting his daughter when she was clearly focused on what she was doing.
"D-Dad…" Eri called out, her voice shaking and tense but growing in confidence. "I need you to watch the screen for me and tell me when Shoto's vitals go back up. I want to make sure all of his injuries are healed even if I can't see them."
Aizawa was about to shake his head and say that it wasn't possible, that he had to keep his eyes on her just in case, but then he saw a mirror image of that damn wobbly grin Midoriya still wore wiggling on her trembling lips. She believed in herself and from what he could tell, she'd almost finished—he had to believe in her too.
"Right," he agreed, carefully monitoring the medical equipment while pinging his eyes back to Eri and then to Todoroki's face, noting that his color had returned. "...Okay, stop now."
Eri quickly withdrew her hands and focused all her attention on her horn, willing it to deactivate. She held her breath until the hum of power ceased, exhaustion hitting her the moment its light faded. It was all she could do to stay awake, but she didn't even flinch as she swayed backward, trusting in Aizawa to catch her.
Though Eri couldn't quite understand the garbled voice of her father, she was aware he was hovering over her, his blurry face full of approval. The last things she could somewhat make out before darkness fully clouded her vision was Aizawa turning to look up at the hospital bed and bright red hair shifting around.
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Alright, alright, alright! Success! :) What will happen next, I wonder? Tune in for the next chapter to find out! Leave me a comment if you feel so inclined! I love to read them!