Chapter 3

Katsuki dragged Izuku behind him to the nurse's office. The green-eyed boy tried protesting, claiming that he was alright, but Katsuki wouldn't take any of it. He knew that his childhood friend was not doing alright, and it pissed him off that he would try to hide it.

"Kacchan, I promise, I'm fine. Please let me go now." Izuku whined while trying to pry Katsuki's hands off of the front of his shirt. At this, Katsuki turned around to glare at the nerd, his usual scowl evident on his face.

"Look, Deku, I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you, and I don't care. But you've been acting weird since this morning and it's fucking annoying me." He scoffed angrily. "I'm throwing you in the nurse's office whether you like it or not."

Izuku blinked, biting the inside of his cheek as the blond turned back around and continued to drag him. It didn't take long for them to reach the nurse's office, Katsuki demanding to see the old lady. He knew that he was going to be late to class now, but he wanted to make sure Izuku was doing fine despite the words he threw at the nerd. He couldn't admit to him that he cared. Not yet.

Katsuki pushed Izuku inside the office once he saw Recovery Girl, briefing the old lady about what had happened a couple of minutes ago. She took Izuku in, pushing the blonde out of the office with her staff and telling him to get to class. Katsuki huffed out in annoyance, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he made his way to his classroom. The halls were empty as he walked down them, an eerie silence against his whirring thoughts. Hopefully, class would distract him from them.

Meanwhile, in the nurse's office, Izuku answered a few questions while Recovery Girl checked his vitals. He found out that he had high blood pressure, which wasn't surprising due to the many anxiety attacks he suffered. It explained why he felt dizzy after what happened at the elevator, resulting in him passing out momentarily. Recovery Girl noticed the bags under his eyes—the exhaustion in his green orbs.

"Have you been getting the appropriate amount of sleep?" she asked quizzically as she wrote some things down on a clipboard. Izuku scratched the back of his neck guiltily, knowing that he couldn't always lie to the lady.

"Not really." He muttered. "About 3 to 4 hours a day."

"Why is that?" she asked, putting the clipboard aside and crossing her arms in front of her chest. Izuku didn't want to tell her about his nightmares, afraid that he would be forced to see a psychologist and be tested for whatever mental illnesses he might have.

"I've been staying up late doing homework and taking extra notes." He lied with a sheepish smile. Recovery Girl's eyes slanted in suspicion, uncrossing her arms and moving over to a cabinet not far from her desk. Izuku watched her, curious as to what the old lady was looking for. After a little rummaging, the lady pulled out a bottle that seemed to have some sort of vitamins in them.

"I will excuse you with Aizawa so that you can get proper rest. These are melatonin vitamins to help you regulate your sleep. Take one of these and go lay down in one of the beds, I'll go send him a message." She said, shooing the boy over to one of the many beds. He was about to protest, not wanting to miss out on his classes and fall behind, but Recovery Girl gave him a stern look. He had to keep up his perfect grades—he couldn't risk falling behind and failing.

His mom wouldn't like it.

"Alright." Izuku sighed, not wanting to get in trouble. He took one of the gummy vitamins and chewed on it, surprised by the overly fruity flavor it had. Recovery Girl watched him as he walked over to one of the beds and took his shoes off, making sure he laid down and covered himself with the thin blanket.

Once she was sure that he would stay put, she sat down on her desk and took a sticky note, writing down Izuku's current condition. As she walked out of her office, she noticed a passing student and motioned her over, asking her to take the note over to Aizawa. The girl complied and took the note from her hands, earning a "thank you" from Recovery Girl.

Aizawa was currently talking about the pros and cons of quirks, sipping on his coffee to try and stay awake. He was interrupted by the girl, who motioned him over to the door to hand him the note. He let out an exasperated sigh, excusing himself to the students and going over to the girl.

"Recovery Girl asked me to send you this." She said with a smile. Aizawa gave a small nod of acknowledgment, waving the girl away and he read the note. He already knew that Izuku was at the nurse's office since Katsuki had to fill him in to explain why he was late to class. The teacher walked back over to his desk, giving the class a bored stare and he put the note down.

"Midoriya Izuku won't be joining us today, so I need someone to take notes and give them to him," he said in his monotone voice. A few classmates volunteered, Iida and Uraraka being two of them, but Aizawa had other plans. "Bakugo, since you took him to the nurse's office you take notes for him."

"What?! Why?!" Katsuki exclaimed, standing up abruptly. "Why can't any of these extras do it?!"

"Extra work for being late." He said, a finality to his words. Katsuki was enraged, that was for sure. One could practically see smoke coming out of his ears, palms turned upwards ready to explode everything and anything. Aizawa noticed, and his eyes turned red as he glared at the blond, hair floating around him in defiance. Katsuki let out a scoff, feeling his quirk being erased as the teacher glared at him.

"Tch, whatever." He grumbled as he sat back down. The teacher just couldn't let him off the hook for taking care of one of his classmates. Aizawa was one cold-hearted man, alright. Katsuki grumbled under his breath the entirety of the class, trying to multitask between writing his own notes and Izuku's. He was beyond irritated, his handwriting sloppy and barely understandable. He didn't care though, as long as he wrote it down.

Izuku was starting to feel the effects of the vitamins, his eyelids drooping tiredly as he let out a long sigh. He was scared of sleeping—afraid that another nightmare would haunt him. He tried fighting the sleep, silently cursing the old lady for making him take the vitamins. Although he couldn't really be mad at her since it was her job and she cared about other people's wellbeing. He gave up at the end, letting sleep take over and drag him back to the dark abyss.

The greenette opened his eyes to be met by a clear blue sky, a huge contrast to the darkness he was in just a few seconds ago. He was laying on a field with long, green grass that tickled his bare feet and back of the neck. Confused, he sat up, looking around to try and make sense of his surroundings. The place was unknown to him, nothing he had ever seen before. Why was he there?

Reluctantly, Izuku stood up, noticing he was wearing white clothes. The wind gushed, kissing his skin and making his hair flail around his face. It reminded him of his previous nightmare when he was falling. Only this time, he was standing on an empty field. Nothing but endless grass that reached up to his knees and the eerily clear blue sky above him. No trace of a single animal, building, person...nothing.

He started walking, not having any sense of direction. Was he going north? South? He couldn't tell—just kept walking and walking. His eyes darted desperately around the field, trying to find anything that could possibly stand out. It was frustrating him to the point of tears, the familiar feeling of loneliness taking over. He felt empty, just like the field he was roaming around in.

Izuku didn't know for how long he walked. It could've been minutes, hours, days, weeks, even years. There was no sense of time. The sky remained clear blue, the sun on its same spot as he walked. Not a single hint of weather change. He was sweating, the white clothes clinging to his skin. He knew that he had walked a couple of miles already, his feet aching and itchy due to the grass.

Why was he even trying?

He was about to give up, lay back down on the grass with the empty feeling. That was until he saw something in the very distance, something that stood out. He squinted his eyes to try and take a better look at it, but it was too far away. The wind gushed with force, pushing him forward and making him continue his walking. With a sigh, he forced himself to continue forward, the mysterious object getting bigger. It was a tree next to a small pond.

All this walking just for a tree? Izuku thought, irritated. It was a change, at least.

After a little bit more walking, he finally reached the tree. A cherry blossom, to be exact. He fell down to his knees, looking up at the pink leaves as the wind blew. They fell down slowly, falling on his hair and body. He smiled, admiring the beauty of the tree. It was a nice change.

The sudden sound of thunder made him jump in shock, dark clouds covering the once clear sky. The wind blew harsher, shaking the tree branches and making its leaves fly around uncontrollably. Izuku's eyes widened, eyes darting around anxiously as lightning stroke. Darkness loomed over the sky as rain started pouring down on him, hard.

Just when he had found a slight ounce of happiness, it was ruined.

He screamed at the top of his lungs, angered and desperate. He should've known that it was too good to be true. He didn't deserve happiness, no matter how hard he tried to achieve it. That dream was a sickening reminder of that.

Izuku's attention diverted to the pond, something about it calling out to him. It was like taunting whispers beckoning him to get closer. So, he did. Standing up turned out to be a challenge, the downpour was too heavy. When was rain capable of holding someone to the ground?

Somehow, he managed to stand up. He dragged his feet over to the pond, more lightning striking around him. The water created small ripples with each raindrop that fell making his reflection look blurry, barely visible. Something about his disrupted reflection seemed weird, his green hair longer than what it really was.

"You will never escape me." A static voice whispered. He recognized it immediately, how could he not? It was the very same voice that haunted him every day, in his nightmares and in his mind. It was his mother.

"I'm trying to make things right," he whispered, a tight feeling in his chest. His mother's face was more recognizable in the water, her red eyes glaring at him.

"It's too late for that, Izuku." She taunted, the water getting darker. When another lightning stroke, he saw the blood taking over the pond. He choked back a sob, watching the way she opened her arms, revealing the deep slits she had made on her arms. The blood overtaking the pond was hers, from when she took her own life.

His eyes widened as he reached forward to his mothers, tears flowing freely down his face. The rain was still falling, hard, making his hair stick to his face and his clothes stick to his skin.

"No! Mom! I can save you!" Izuku screamed, desperately trying to get a hold of his mother. The woman let out a sarcastic laugh, her hand reaching out to his son with a sly smirk.

"How can you save someone that you killed?" she whispered, her hand breaking through the surface of the water. He desperately stretched his hand to grab hers, determined to pull her out of the water. The image in the water changed, his mother's features morphing to a different person. Izuku's eyes widened as he stared into the familiar ruby red eyes of his childhood friend. They looked worried, the hand now wrapping around Izuku's wrist and pulling him into the water.

The greenette sat up abruptly on the bed, gasping for air as his eyes darted around the room. He was shaking, the first signs of a panic attack surfacing. A pair of hands gripped his shoulders firmly, forcing his attention to the person in front of him. Emerald green eyes met ruby red ones, breath hitching in his throat. Katsuki stared at him worriedly, watching as Izuku tried to control his breathing.

"Deku...?" Katsuki started, not really knowing what to say. Izuku stared at him with wide eyes, tears instantly falling out of them, and he looked down at his hands. Helpless, he looked back up at Katsuki holding back a sob as failed to hold himself together. His voice came out in a broken whisper as he said the next few words, not caring what the blond would think about him.

"I couldn't save her."