Comeback
The Awakening

"Just consider hardships as another part of training and keep working hard."
~ Tsuboi Ryoutarou aka Klein ~
~ Sword Art Online ~

Key
'Heroes.' - Thoughts
"Always." - Speech
"Lose." - Technology
"Something." - Super Moves

~ New Arc! ~

Opening his eyes, Izuku was blinded by a bright, white light. "Where," He began as he tried to sit up, only to feel a massive headache and a sore throat. Instinctively, he brought up his right hand to his forehead, but instead of the rough hand from years of hard work that he usually felt, he felt something alien to him. "Am... I?" Izuku looked at his right hand and saw a prosthetic hand where it should be.

Unknown to him, he started to cry as he stared at his prosthetic hand in complete shock. Trying to remember whatever he last experienced, Izuku's heart rate suddenly increased immensely, all due to fear as he shakily looked down at the rest of his right arm, only to see it was also replaced with prosthetics. With his left hand, Izuku wiped his tears away before slapping himself, literally slapping some sense into him. Unfortunately, he slapped himself so hard that he knocked himself off the hospital bed that he was on and tried to catch himself using his right hand, but it was too slow.

Now on the ground, Izuku accidentally tore off the tubes that provided him oxygen through his nose and dragged his patient monitor to the ground. "I'm... in a hospital." He concluded, trying to calm himself down, though he could already hear the rushing of footsteps getting louder. After a few seconds, Izuku set his monitor upright and used its stand to support himself as he stood up.

As soon as he stood up, the door slammed open to let both Inko and Recovery Girl into the room. The latter of which was pulled by the green-haired heroine using her Quirk. But immediately upon seeing her son awake, Inko ran through the room and hugged him, albeit a bit too tightly.

"You're okay," Inko said while sobbing, which wet Izuku's hospital gown. "Thank goodness... I thought I lost you." She continued to sob as Izuku tried to hug her back to comfort her.

Now that Recovery Girl wasn't being dragged around by a worried mother, she was able to go to the machines that Izuku wasn't hooked up to at the moment. But since Izuku was still connected to the arguably most important machine in that room, Recovery Girl needed to separate the mother and son duo.

"Inko, you're going to hurt the poor boy, let him breathe!" The elderly woman nagged, causing the sobbing woman to slowly and shakily release the grasp that she had on her son. "Now, Midoriya, sit down so I can make sure you're ready to go into rehabilitation."

Complying with her orders, Izuku sat down on the edge of the bed while Recovery Girl inspected the patient monitor. While she did that, Izuku noticed that his muscles seemed to have weakened and shrink slightly since the time at USJ. Sighing he tried to move the prosthetic just as he would move his regular arm and, surprisingly, it moved just like his arm used to, albeit much slower.

Noticing her son's small conflict with his new arm, Inko sat next to him on his left and gripped his left hand comfortingly. "I know it must be hard for you," she said weakly, both of them saddening at her tone. "But... you saved all of us."

"I did?" He asked, completely shocked as the last thing he remembered was the Nomu creature ripping off his arm. "How... How did I do it?"

"You used your Quirk." Interrupted Recovery Girl as she continued to look at his patient monitor, seeing no irregularities.

"What? B-But I'm Quirkless... How is that possible?" Izuku stammered, looking at his hands as he tried to make something happened. Yet as always, nothing happened.

"You were never Quirkless." Clarified Recovery Girl, looking away from the patient monitor and instead at Izuku. "Your quirk didn't 'awaken' like other Quirks when everyone was a kid. It was always there, just... storing heat. I suppose at USJ... your Quirk finally had the chance to awaken." Waiting for a few seconds, Izuku kept trying to process all of that information as Recovery Girl went back to checking the numerous machines in the room.

Sighing, Inko thought of how to explain the climax of the USJ incident. "Well... When you lost your arm, All-Might tried to take down Nomu but it got the better of him and beat him too. Then, you suddenly made white flames appear out of your body and fought the Nomu until you turned it into ashes."

Izuku only continued to stare at his hands, completely in awe at what he was just told. After all, he was powerless his entire life and had to compensate for it by excelling in practically everything else. Yet now, he supposedly had a power strong enough to defeat a being that could best All-Might in battle.

All of the sudden, Inko's phone buzzed in her back pocket. Taking it out, Inko looked at a new text she had gotten and immediately texted back hurriedly. "Chiyo, is he good to go?" Inko asked Recovery Girl, whose real name was a mystery to many since they never bothered to ask.

"I have to do a rehabilitation test to make sure he can move around properly and exercise to get his muscles back without hurting himself again. But after that, you can take him to get settled in at home." She replied as she disconnected Izuku from the patient's monitor and gestured both of them to follow her.

~ Time Skip ~
~ BTYB Chibi Izuku Exercising ~

A week later, Inko returned to UA to teach her first class in over a month since the USJ incident. Already in her hero suit, Inko stood in the hallway while shakily raising her hand to open the door to Class 1-A. After a few seconds of hesitation, Inko slid the door open and walked in, only to see Aizawa laying on the ground in his yellow sleeping bag, so she stepped over him before going to the front of the class.

Immediately as students started to see the heroine, they quieted down and straightened up as they waited for her to speak. "Class, I'm sorry for my absence, but as you know, I had some personal matters to deal with," she started, grabbing the attention of some students. "But, luckily, Izuku is up again. Unfortunately, he isn't taking to the new changes to his body very well and has secluded himself from everyone."

With that piece of news, some of the students became saddened while only one of them was actually happy. The obviously happy one was Katsuki who was glad to be rid of the thorn in his side. While the saddened students were Momo, Jiro, and surprisingly Shoto. Though all of the students were actually saddened at losing one of their friends, those three were the most saddened.

"Despite this, we will start to use this class to catch up with the other classes since we are two weeks behind them." Stated Inko as she continued to explain what each of them should be focusing on for their training.

But once she was done explaining their training, the rest of the class ended up as a free period for everyone to talk. During that time, Kyoka had ended her usual conversation with Denki and got up to talk to Momo.

When she got near the black-haired girl, Kyoka could see Momo was oddly troubled and busied herself in a book to get her mind off something. "Yao, something wrong?" Kyoka asked leaning against the wall to keep up her cool reputation.

Looking up from her book, Momo set the book down on her desk as she looked at Kyoka. "I'm just worried is all," Momo replied, though she stumbled over her words at first, obviously making Kyoka suspicious of the reason why she was worried. At least Momo wasn't lying to her.

"It's about Midoriya, isn't it?" Kyoka asked as Momo nodded in a defeated manner. "It has been five weeks, I at least understand why. But it's not like you can just go and talk to him or anything." She said in a very hinting way, making sure Momo realized what she was aiming at.

Actually taking the hint, Momo looked out the window as she thought about it. "How would I even know where to look?" She asked, making Kyoka sigh in annoyance.

"Doesn't Izuku have a really dorky friend that knows where he is all the time?"

"Oh, Hatsume-chan knows where he is!" Momo exclaimed happily before realizing that she wouldn't be able to visit Mei until after school. "I'll have to wait until after school to ask her though."

"Don't worry, at least you're going to talk to him." Reaffirmed Kyoka before she returned to her seat and went back to making fun of Denki.

As for Momo, she just got more worried as time went on and all she had to thank was her own thoughts. 'What if Hatsume doesn't know? What if he turns me away? Why am I so worried about this?' She continued to think, eventually just blaming herself for being so worried about Izuku.

And as the day went by, Momo continued to berate and worry herself with her own thoughts, barely allowing her to focus on whatever the class was doing. But once all the classes were over, Momo took more time than usual to clean up, making sure everyone else left so they wouldn't suspect her of anything.

After classes were over, Momo walked toward the Support Department's workshop, passing by students that were hurrying away from the very place she was headed. Once she was at the door, she was about to knock but smelled smoke coming from the room so she moved out of the way of the door to prevent certain events from reoccurring.

Then, the metal door blew off its hinges once again with Mei blasting out of the room along with it, though this time, she was wearing a clunky pair of boots that were smoking. "Hatsume-chan, are you alright?" Momo asked, seriously concerned.

Mei tiredly raised one of her hands and gave Momo a thumbs up, though she wasn't any less concerned because of the reassuring sign. When she realized who it was though, Mei immediately got up and rushed up to the girl. "Yaoyorozu-chan, did you need a new gadget? A new addition to your suit perhaps?"

"N-No. Actually, I need to talk about Izuku." She said before Mei pulled her inside of the workshop to keep their conversation private.

While that happened, Power Loader went to go and repair the door for the second time that day. "What happened with Izu?" Mei asked in a very concerned tone as she took off her experimental boots. "I know he hasn't called me for almost a month, but he is usually working on something."

"Izuku has been in the hospital for the past month and was released a week ago, but he secluded himself from everyone." Started Momo as she sat down at a desk in the workshop. "I was wondering if you knew where he was so I can talk to him."

"Hmm... Head toward Dagobah beach and look for a warehouse. Here's the address in case you get lost," Mei said as she wrote down the address of the warehouse on a slip of paper that she handed Momo.

"Thank you, Hatsume-chan," Momo said as she got up and adjusted the strap of her bag to make sure it was comfortable for her.

"Say 'hi' for me." The pink-haired girl said before going to her desk to work on her boots.

"I'll try!" Momo shouted as she ran out the doorframe before Power Loader put the door back on its hinges.

Running through the halls of UA, Momo didn't care for the rules, all she cared about was getting to see Izuku again. But as soon as she got out of the campus, her chauffeur hurried her into the car, only to have a slip of paper forced into his hands. Looking at the piece of paper, he put the address into his GPS and started to drive there, only for Momo to stop him once he reached Dagobah Municipal Beach, where she told him to wait.

Leaving the comfort and safety of her chauffeur, Momo started to look for a warehouse and ran as fast as she could once she saw it. Once there, she went to the door and knocked on it before a screen came to life, right next to the door.

"State your business." Ordered Pina as she used the security system to see who was at the door.

"I'm here to see Izuku. I need to talk to him." Replied Momo as she looked directly at the screen, only for it to turn off for a few seconds then turn back on.

"Izuku isn't here at the moment, please come back at another time." Informed Pina before Momo punched the door out of pure frustration, hurting her hand in the process.

Holding her fist, Momo screamed in pain and anger. "Izuku, I know you're in there! Just let me talk to you!" She shouted before punching the door again, only hurting herself. "Please!"

Frustrated, Momo punched the door a few more times before she shook her head and rolled up her sleeve. Like an angry ex, she procured a lockpick out of nowhere and picked the lock of the door handle easily before slamming the door open.

In the warehouse only a few lights were on, leaving everything in the darkness except for a few desks covered in parts, gadgets, or equipment. At one of those desks sat Izuku who was working on something that Momo couldn't see from her position, but he continued to work on whatever it was while ignoring her. Walking closer to Izuku's workstation, Momo didn't hear him say a word while three hummingbird-shaped robots flew above right next to where Izuku was working before making a hologram of Pina's body. 

"Momo, you shouldn't have come here," Izuku said out of nowhere but he didn't even take his eyes off of his work, consequently keeping his back to Momo.

"I wanted to talk to you and make sure you were okay." She said, clearly worried and saddened. "I was so worried about you," she continued, starting to tear up.

Keeping his back turned to her, Izuku grabbed his prosthetic arm and literally ripped off his arm, not feeling any sensation of pain. "Why would you care about someone like me?" He shouted at her with anger that he didn't even know he had, finally turning to face her only to swing his prosthetic arm around aimlessly. "I don't have a Quirk! I lost my arm! And I'm a reckless idiot! Why should you of all people care about me? You're... perfect. You have all the riches you could want... a wonderful quirk... and are already at the top of the class..."

His voice started to trail off and now he started to tear up, no matter how much he didn't want to. But now it was getting a bit personal. And all of the sudden, he threw his prosthetic arm across the room, hitting the wall before it fell to the ground. Then he broke down, everything over the past week and even years before that coming down on him like an avalanche all at once.

Dropping to the ground, Izuku continued to cry against his will. "Why... why would anyone care about a loser like me?" He sobbed out before punching the ground and actually causing it to shake very slightly.

"Dumb dumb," Momo mumbled as she stopped crying and sniffled before walking up to Izuku and kneeling down. "I love you. That's why I care about you." She said before hugging him tightly, trying not to touch the part where his arm was missing.

Still, Izuku cried and tried to push Momo away from him, but either her hold was too strong or he lost too much muscle mass from being in a coma for a month. "Why me?" He sobbed out, stopping his attempts to get away from her. Instead, he accepted her comforting hold and gripped tightly on the back of her blazer. "Why not someone like Shoto? Even Katsuki would be better than a loser like me... I have nothing... I can't even work properly..."

Releasing her hug, Momo held him by the shoulders, allowing her to look at his forest green eyes. "I don't care about how much they have or how powerful they are." She said before wiping away Izuku's tears until his tear ducts were dried up. "I love you because you don't care about my body, money, or even my Quirk. You saw me for what I could be when everyone saw me for what I used to be." She said in the spur of the moment, listing the reasons she thought of first.

All of the sudden, she kissed him. It obviously surprised Izuku, distracting him from his previous thoughts and instead, he only thought about Momo for that moment. And once she pulled away, she got up and held her left hand out to help Izuku up, which he gratefully accepted.

Turning toward the desk where Izuku was working just a few moments prior to see what looked like a metal arm on two little stands for someone to work on. Though it looked like Izuku was in the process of applying another layer on the arm, what the actual material was escaped Momo's thoughts.

"What were you working on?" She asked curiously as Izuku sat down at the workstation and turned his chair to make sure he faced her.

"Its," he began before he positioned the metal arm so it looked like it was right next to his shoulder, right where his arm was torn off. "My new arm."

~ Winter Soldier Vibes! ~

A/N: The kiss was a last minute idea, but I did plan Izuku losing his arm. I just wanted to add a little romance for the readers who were waiting for it. Also, before you say their relationship is rushed, according to my timeline, Momo and Izuku have known each other for a month and a week (not counting the month Izuku was in a coma). I think being the best of friends for a month then having time apart to reflect on their relationship is enough time for Momo's true feelings to surface, at the very least.

And before you go, should Izuku receive One For All?