[English isn't my first language, so please, be kind]
[I'm also on AO3 - same username]
[MHA characters' belongs to Kōhei Horikoshi]
Bonus Chapter 2
Lucid Dreams
When I woke up I thought I was in a lucid dream.
All that pain couldn't be true, nor those bruises on my body, nor the bandages that covered half of my head. I couldn't speak, and I was told my throat had been burned.
I, who owned two such powerful quirks, had been seriously injured again.
And this time by my own brother.
"This wasn't a lucid dream then", I thought, "just a new nightmare".
When my friends showed up I still couldn't distinguish the mornings and nights that passed. They told me some things, about who was at the Central Hospital with me, about Midoriya's coma… I saw the pity directed at me in their eyes, and I hated it. Then my sister showed up and told me about father and Touya, who was still missing.
So I slept, and dreamed again that I was lying in this hospital bed.
I guess that's why I never felt like I was in the real world.
When I woke up again, it was with an argument coming from the hallway outside my room. I could hear Fuyumi's voice, and the other one also seemed familiar to me, but I couldn't recognize it at first. I struggled to turn my head to the side until I could see the mountain of indigo hair through the window.
One was long and well-lined, which belonged to a woman with crossed arms and an angry expression. The other was messy, pointing upwards like Mount Fuji.
I smiled upon seeing Shinso's face beside his mother, apparently trying to calm her down and bending down, apologizing to Fuyumi for the argument. But I couldn't blame Shinso's mom right now. He had just entered the heroes course and the entire class had been called up for a bigger battle than we could face at the moment. Teachers lost their lives and were mutilated, heroes gave up acting on the streets, and from what I saw on television, on the news that one of the nurses sometimes let me see, it was that nobody was happy.
That's why I preferred to sleep. It was better to sleep than watch people talk about my family. In fact I think that was why the nurse left the television on, sometimes I noticed the whispers between the doctors, everyone wondering if I was really worth it, if I was different from Touya.
And I knew we were the same.
Then I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, every time, letting the voices mingle in unison in my head.
I did the same now when I saw the door open. I closed my eyes quickly and kept my limbs immobile; it wasn't so difficult being full of bruises.
It was Shinso who was in the room, I could tell from his light steps, and when he approached the bed, pulling a stool so he could sit beside me, he laid his head close to mine, making me smell lavender that came from his skin.
- I know you're awake - Shinso said - but I also know you can't answer.
I couldn't hide the smile that formed at the corner of my mouth. I shouldn't be smiling right now, not after what I've been thinking about doing, but it was comforting to have Shinso around now, even if only for a little while.
- I apologize for the fight - he continued - my mother is just nervous.
I nodded silently with my eyes still closed. I didn't want to look at him, and with my eyes closed it would be easier to swallow my tears.
I wanted to tell him that Fuyumi would also overlook what happened, she was used to having people throwing disapproving looks at her now after what happened, as if she was partly to blame.
- I'll come every day - I heard Shinso say - so don't complain.
I turned my face away to better hide my expression.
XXX
Shinso really did what he said. He showed up at the hospital every day, sometimes alone, sometimes with his mother. When he arrived Fuyumi felt a little relieved, because that way she could rest, as she was taking care of me and the father at the same time, as Natsuo refused to enter his room.
He didn't tell me anything, but I knew he wasn't attending college since Touya's revelation.
- How long will you be silent? - Shinso asked sometimes.
My throat still suffered from the burns, but now I could speak when it was extremely important, and I think Fuyumi had told Shinso that.
He was helping me eat some cold broth when he asked the question.
His hands stopped in midair, so I helped him put the bowl back on the tray, but he continued to hold the spoon like it was something too important to let go.
I looked at Shinso directly for the first time since he had started to visit me. He was too close, as he sat on the bed to help me feed, and sometimes, when he wanted to caress my face, he hesitated trying to find some opening in the bandages. But it wasn't the bruises, I knew that, I'd put an invisible distance between us, and he noticed.
The dark circles under Shinso's eyes were bigger than I remembered, and he looked tired but also very frustrated.
I noticed that his hand were shaking as he held the spoon, so even injured, I took it from him.
- My mom said she's thinking about leaving Japan - Shinso sniffed, he was better at holding back tears than me, even with his eyes open.
I waited in silence until Shinso's expression changed.
- Aren't you going to do anything? Won't say anything?
I lowered my head and swallowed those words. I think it was time to tell him what I was thinking even before he showed up here.
- Does your mother no longer believe in heroes? – I asked. It was the first sentence I told him in weeks.
Shinso didn't answer me. I sighed, the answer was obvious. The eldest son of the new number one hero was a dangerous criminal, what future could this country have?
- I think we need...
- No! - Shinso said, more determined than I thought - You won't do this to me again!
There was fire in Shinso's eyes that revealed the extent of his determination. He didn't want to suffer again, and I felt horrible for doing it the second time with him...
I pushed the food tray away, placing it on the table beside the bed. Shinso tried to do this, but I struggled to do it first. That physical pain was nothing to what I was feeling inside of me.
I put a hand on my throat, speaking was still painful, and the words I had to say to him were the worst ones.
- I'll go after Touya - I tried to be as fast as possible, I would pull that feeling out like a bandage - and you can't stay with me until this is over.
I avoided looking at Shinso for the first few seconds, until his laugh made me glare at him. Shinso was crying but still smiling, which made his expression almost insane.
- It's very easy for people like you, isn't it? - He said - Messing with people's lives.
- It will be temporary - I struggled to say, even though I knew he wouldn't accept me a third time - leave Japan, give up the heroes course...
Shinso's laugh increased, so much so that a nurse came to check if everything was ok, but ended up giving up on entering the room. He covered his face to wipe away the tears.
- My brother is out there - I said, with each word I felt my throat close in pain - and I need to stop him, but I can't do this putting you in danger.
- Putting me in danger? - Shinso replied, raising his voice - Who is in a hospital bed now?
It made me lose my mind, I felt so pressured and stressed that I felt part of the bandages on my left side burn along with my anger.
- What if he finds out I love you? - I said, despite feeling pain in every word - And what if he decides to kidnap you, to kill you to make me suffer? What do you want me to do?
Saying all that at once made me tired; I had pushed Shinso away with my right hand, thus preventing the flames from my left arm from reaching him. The hospital machines began to make an irritating noise.
- I'll go after you afterwards, Shinso - I sighed, my head was spinning - to bring you to me permanently, just be patient for now.
I couldn't sit down any longer, so I went back to lie down on the soft pillow Fuyumi had brought from home. My eyelids started to close on their own, I could barely see Shinso.
- I shouldn't have forgiven you - I heard him say. Shinso was angry, and he was right, and soon he was gone. No sign of indigo hair or purple eyes near me.
With the exception of the machines, everything was silent, and I saw the doctors entering the room and running towards me, but they looked like blurry white spots on the walls.
Then I fell asleep again, or passed out, entering the world of lucid dreams.
So, this is officially the last chapter of this fanfic.
Thank you so much to everyone who is reading and enjoying the fanfic. I've said it before, but I intend to make a MHA fanfic with more chapters, with Shoto as the main one and an OC that I created, I hope it's well received.
Well, this chapter was the most melancholy of all, I think it represents a little bit how I'm feeling, but also the stage where the manga is right now. If Shinso appears again in the manga at this current stage, maybe I'll write more about this couple that suddenly popped into my mind and became one of my favorites.
Thanks for reading!
ps: If you like Percy Jackson and have read my Nico Di Angelo fanfic, could you give me feedback on whether you would like to read more about him or not? Thanks!
