He awoke around noon the next day, his body a sore mess, and bruises all over his body. He winced and grimaced as he got up off the sofa and went to take a long bath. He needed the soak, it didn't take long before he felt his stiff muscles starting to relax. He spent a while there, letting his thoughts wander, all of which centered on Ochako and Tsu's warning from the previous night. Eventually, he sighed and got out of the bath, he needed to get ready for the day.
He dried off and dressed quickly, not bothering with his hair beyond a quick combing, which didn't do much. Then he was out the door, making his way to the hospital.
As he passed the numerous people of the city on his way to a bus stop, he noticed how they went about their lives as if nothing last night had happened. For a brief moment, he felt a rush of resentment towards them, but as quickly as it had come, it left. Instead, he envied them their normal lives, simpler lives. As he rode the bus, he heard snippets of conversation. A group of junior high students on their way to school, discussing their exams; a pair of older women discussing current food prices and where to find the best deals. He couldn't help but smile to himself. While he might envy and resent it to a certain extent, the fact they could even talk about such subjects meant that they felt safe enough. Which, he supposed, Ochako would be happy about.
Suddenly the bus started to roll to a stop, and before he knew it, he was clambering off the bus, and walking along the sidewalk to the hospital.
The hospital had a steady stream of people coming and going, but when he walked inside he didn't have to wait for anyone ahead of him. He walked up to the nurse at the desk, who looked at him as he approached.
"I'm here for a visitation," Izuku said, forstalling any questions.
"Who for?" The nurse said, going to her computer and bringing up their list of people hospitalized.
"Ochako Uraraka."
There was a brief silence as the nurse started combing through records before she looked back up at him.
"I'm sorry but there is no one by that name present." She said apologetically.
Izuku blinked in surprise.
"What? She was brought here last night via helicopter." Izuku said, confused.
At this, a realization seemed to strike the nurse.
"Ah, in that case, it's probably a matter of she hasn't been fully registered in the system yet. One moment," she said and made a quick call.
She spoke with the person on the other end for a moment before ending it.
"She is currently in the psychiatric ward, but you've been given special permission to see her." The nurse said then then told Izuku how to get to her room.
Izuku immediately flashed back to last night as he talked with Tsu.
"-but Izuku, when you visit her tomorrow. You... it might not go the way you hope."
Something like this must have happened before if Tsu could have predicted what condition Ochako would be in.
He walked to the relevant room, a bit numb feeling, fearful of what state Ochako might be in. As he was turning a corner, however, he nearly walked into a diminutive middle-aged woman with large glasses. Before he could give an apology, however, the woman beat him to the punch.
"Are you Izuku Midoriya?" she asked, looking him up and down.
"Uhh, yes?" He said confused.
"Mm. I'm the head of the psych ward here, my name is Hitsu Sone. You're here to see Ms. Uraraka correct?" she asked, adjusting her glasses
"Yes, I am," Izuku confirmed, frowning.
"Well follow me then, I'll give you run down as we walk." She said, and promptly turned around and began to walk at a sedate pace, forcing Izuku to slow down and match her pace.
"Well, first things first. Ms. Uraraka is largely fine, she is in no immediate danger and poses no threat to others or herself." she began.
Izuku felt some of the tension in his chest ease slightly, the worst not coming to pass.
"The real problem lies in her perception of reality. She is currently reliving past events over the top of the present. Her memories are all jumbled up. At the very least, however, she understands she is in a hospital and needs to stay here. So while you talk to her, be mindful of what you say. If she starts talking about a past event, say, a traumatic event that took place during the war, don't try and correct her." She warned Izuku, giving him a serious look from overtop of her glasses.
"Of course, this is assuming she's even awake. She's been in and out constantly. She lost a lot of blood and she had a lot of injuries. With Okimi out of town, we can't just heal her in a snap like usual. So she's going to be here for a while, at least until Okimi gets back, but that could be another week or more." The woman said with a sigh.
"We don't want to agitate her and make things worse. Hallucinations are possible as well, both visual and auditory. Now, so far they haven't been problematic, but if she has an episode and shows considerable agitation, call a nurse immediately. Those are the two big things to be aware of, however there is one last possibility. It is possible she may not recognize you, or if she does, not remember everything concerning the two of you. Recent events are likely beyond her and may talk about an event the two of you shared several years ago, as one that instead happened recently. Along those same lines, don't try and make her remember anything specific, generalize if you must. No need to worry however, she'll sort herself out eventually." The woman said, adjusting her glasses again.
The rundown of Ochako's condition made his head spin, but he was relieved at least that Ochako was largely fine physically, even if not mentally. He was able to wrap his around the general idea behind what she was experiencing, even if he had no idea how he gonna deal with it. Still, trauma was something he understood, and that gave him some level of confidence. Though he was still terrified internally.
"I... I think I understand." Izuku eventually said.
"I doubt it, but just remember what I said and you should do fine. Besides, like I said, she's mostly fine. So I doubt you'll run into major issues." she said, stopping by the door, with Ochako's name on the placard next to the door.
She patted his arm reassuringly and smiled at him. "You'll do fine dear," she said and then started back down the hallway.
Izuku took a few moments to compose himself, letting himself relax, and let his mind quiet. When he was ready, he opened the door and walked in.
The room was nice, the best way to describe it would be calm, with the walls painted a subdued blue. He could see all the standard hospital decorations and furniture, but apart from the tech pieces present, everything else was altered to feel more homely and less clinical and sterile.
Ochako meanwhile, was sitting up in bed looking out the window into the morning light, where he could hear birds chirping.
"Oh, hey Izuku. How's it going?" she asked hoarsely when he entered.
Izuku sat down in one of the thin armchairs. Not exactly comfortable, but miles better than the regular plastic chairs and stools one usually got in a hospital room. Despite seeing Ochako, and seeing her smile he couldn't help but notice the bandages that covered almost every inch of skin, Her face had numerous small patches on it, and what skin he could see was discolored.
For a moment the image of her tortured and burned body back at the warehouse flashed through his mind and he felt light-headed, and a brief desire to throw up. He closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and then opened them again, facing Ochako's curious look head-on.
"I- I'm fine. What about you though?" He asked, flexing his right hand subconsciously.
"Everything hurts, and my throat is raw." She said with a wince. "But... I've had worse."
"Well, just take it easy and you'll be outta here before you know it," he said, trying to sound optimistic.
"Yeah... Shigiraki and the League aren't going to wait for us." She said, nodding.
"Y- yeah..." Izuku said, hesitantly.
Yet despite the obvious problems with her mental state, Ochako was cognizant enough to pick up on his hesitancy.
"What's wrong? Did something already?" She asked, suddenly very concerned and anxious.
"Oh, no, no, everything is fine. They haven't done anything yet." Izuku reassured her.
Ochako relaxed and let out a breath. "That's good, hopefully, they take some time to relax until I'm ready to go."
There was an awkward pause that followed, or at least it was awkward to Izuku.
"Izuku?" Ochako suddenly asked.
"Yeah?"
This time Ochako hesitated, a worried and concerned look on her face.
"Do... do you think we can win?" she asked quietly, staring at her hands.
Izuku was surprised for a moment, but he smiled. He reached over and took one of her hands in his.
"Yes," Izuku said, confidently, glad for such an easy answer.
Ochako looked at him, surprised at his quick and confident answer, but quickly laughed.
A coughing fit quickly followed her laugh. She doubled over, her entire body convulsing as she let out horrible-sounding coughs, covering her mouth with her bandaged left hand. When the coughing subsided, she was shaking and her breathing ragged.
"S- sorry..." she managed to whisper, massaging her throat with her right hand which only had minimal bandaging.
"I love you Izuku, I really do." She whispered.
"You give me so much hope." she brought his hand to her face which she rested upon his open palm, as if drawing strength from the simple touch.
"Yeah, I love you too," he said whispered back.
They stayed there for a few minutes, drawing strength from the other's presence but eventually, Ochako sighed and let Izuku take his hand back.
"How are the others? Did everyone else make it through okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, they're fine. Todoroki was a bit beat up and has a couple of broken bones, but he should be back on his feet in no time." He reassured her.
Ochako nodded, expecting as much.
"Well, the battle wasn't very long. I'm just glad we could push Shigiraki out and prevent Decay. Do you happen to know anything about the other lieutenants? I think I remember Toga and Mr. Compress being there, but once I engaged Shigiraki, everything became kinda blurry." She said, frowning as she tried to recall.
"I'm... not sure," he said hesitantly.
Ochako let out a sigh of annoyance.
"Those two have been hard to pin down. We need to think of something to stop them. Toga especially, she's already killed several heroes as of late." Ochako said, a troubled look on her face.
"We'll think of something. We always do." Izuku said confidently.
Unlike last time, however, this only seemed to bring down Ochako's mood.
"Yeah... I guess..." she said trailing off, sinking back into the bed, staring at the sheets.
Ochako then let out a large yawn which quickly devolved into another coughing fit, even worse than the last.
The prior fit had been bad, but nothing unexpected or unusual, this one, however, sounded wet. Izuku frowned and leaned closer to Ochako, his concern growing and he eyed the call button nervously.
When this coughing fit subsided Ochako stayed hunched over, bandaged hand to her mouth, shaking, panting, and a few beads of sweat on her brow.
"Should I call someone?" Izuku asked, hand drifting to the button.
Ochako however shook her head and put her hand back to her side. Izuku looked back at her.
"You sure?"
"Y- yes..." Ochako said, her voice very weak and barely audible.
"I think it would be best if you rest more, and talk less. Here, let's get you back into bed." Izuku said and helped her lay down back in her bed.
When Ochako was settled, she closed her eyes and continued to pant slightly.
"If you think something is wrong, please, hit the button. Don't try and act tough, the sooner you're back home, the better." Izuku said, standing up.
"Okay..." Ochako whispered.
"When I get out of here... let's go see my parents... I... haven't introduced you yet..." She whispered, opening her eyes and gazing at him.
Izuku felt his stomach drop. He didn't think her memory would be this bad, to forget that her parents were gone. He forced himself to smile though and put a hand over the top of hers.
"Sure, I'm sure we'll get along great." He said.
He gave her hand a faint squeeze and then turned to leave the room. He got to the door when Ochako spoke again.
"Izuku, could you pass me those tissues?" she asked weakly.
Izuku looked to his left and saw the box. He grabbed it, put it next to her, and then handed her a tissue.
"Th-thanks." She said.
She took the tissue from him and blew her nose, while Izuku turned to leave again. He was stopped once again however by her blowing her nose, shifting into another coughing fit. He turned around, his concern spiking. As he started to walk back toward her, she turned onto her side coughing horrifically.
As he reached her side, she gripped the bedside table with one hand and suddenly started vomiting. Yet it wasn't her stomach contents she regurgitated, instead, a stream of black liquid poured from her mouth, quickly soaking the sheets and spilling onto the floor. She continued coughing and vomiting causing the black liquid to spatter everywhere.
Adrenaline shot through Izuku and he grabbed the call button and pressed it numerous times in panic. The liquid gave off the smell of iron and Izuku realized with horror that the black liquid, was in fact, her very blood. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ochako's bandaged hand had black stains on it. She must have been coughing up flecks of it every time she had a coughing fit.
Izuku tried to think of something, anything her could do to help her, but he was all too aware that whatever malady Ochako was suffering could be contagious. He helped her onto her hands and knees on the bed, while avoiding the blood at all costs. thirty seconds later her coughing fit started to subside when the door opened and the nurse he had met earlier in the hall came in, a look of concern on her face.
Upon seeing the black blood, however, she froze, eyes widening in shock. Then she spun round and practically ran out of the room. A few seconds later he heard the hospital PA system requesting emergency assistance in Ochako's room.