https://open.spotify.com/track/6RlmoIqcWkSrIEjCW4Co13?si=g3s2SYebQYSP6TdTwkq3LA
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Am I... dead?

Oh no-no-no! No I can't be dead! We escaped.. Right? We were flying... Kiri... Ten.. Izu

Bakugou! He-he protected me..

I thought that when you die your brain stops functioning... all I see is black.. I'm not imagining anything..

Is this it?

Is this all that's left? God, what even was my life?

Was it all real?

Was everything worth the while?

Am I just going to be gone?

.. empty?

I don't want to...

I don't want to be alone!-

"Hailey! Hailey!" A voice cried, and Hailey's eyes shot open and she gasped for her breath.

"Thank god.. BP's dropping again, Doctor." Another voice sighed in relief.

When she finally realized what was happening, Hailey saw a female doctor pressing her fingers against Hailey's pale neck and looked back to the heart monitor.

"Wh... where am I? What happened?" Hailey panted in a hoarse voice.

A male nurse wrote something things down and looked to the doctor. The doctor leaned down and gave Hailey a warm smile.

"You're in the hospital, Hailey. You were brought here after being kidnapped by the League of Villains." The doctor explained to her simply and slowly.

"The league... wait-" Hailey suddenly realized, "How's Bakugou, he didn't get hurt, right? Or my other classmates that helped rescue us?!"

The doctor shook her head, "No sweetie, they weren't hurt. Katsuki only came back with a few scratches."

"What about.. the heroes?" Hailey questioned, gulping when the nurse and doctor shared a look of hesitance.

————

"Shouto! Why haven't you answered the door?! Fine, I'll do it myself- Mel?" Endeavour exclaimed in shock as he opened the front door to his home to reveal his friend.

"Hello, Enji." The blonde greeted, sounding professional and poised. "May I come in?"

Endeavour allowed her inside and the two sat in the dinner room. Endeavour asked his daughter to make them some tea and they began to talk in the tense filled room.

"How are you doing?" Endeavour asked, feeling genuinely concerned for her wellbeing after the recent events.

Melodie let out a heavy sigh, "Better, I just got news that Hailey woke up.."

"Why are you here and not with her?" Endeavour queried.

The Pro Hero watched as Melodie shifted in her seat and chewed her lip.

"... I don't know if I could handle it... my mom, she passed away the other day and I just found out that my ex is in the League of Villains.. He almost killed her, Enji.. and all I could do is put trackers in her earrings and hope to God that the villains would be on vacation or doing petty crimes." Melodie professed in emotional frustration. She then ran her fingers through her hair, ".. I just don't want to see my child like that... it was hard enough to let her become a hero when it's one of the most dangerous jobs out there.."

Enji let out a huff of breath, then Fuyumi entered the room with a tray of two teacups and a teapot, all steaming. She placed them in front of the two adults,

"Thank you, Fuyumi." Melodie said whole heartedly and took a sip of the Earl Grey.

Fuyumi nodded and left the two to continue speaking.

"You know, we haven't really had a talk in my house like this in almost, what? Ten years?" Endeavour suddenly said, a bit of amusement in his voice.

Melodie scoffed jokingly, "Right, the last time we talked like this was when you suggested having our kids in a quirk marriage."

The two chuckled at the memory.

"I was, petty with some of my ambitions back then.." Endeavour admitted and stared at his reflection in his teacup.

"You're getting better at it, that's for sure.. maybe that slap knocked some sense into you." Melodie laughed.

"Don't remind me." Endeavour said in what looked like a pout to his friend.

"Just proves that you don't need to be a Pro Hero to be a hard hitter." She smirked and took another sip of her tea.

The two continued to converse about the old and new times before Melodie shifted the tone of the conversation back to what they started.

"Hailey speaks highly of Shouto, she talks about them being very close friends. I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but I was pissed at him for back at the Sports Festival. It took some convincing from Hailey's stories about him and her other friends to accept that he wasn't following your past example." She enunciated.

Endeavour listened intently to what Melodie was saying, only to be taken aback by her words.

Melodie then looked up from her cup and passed Endeavour. "Speaking of him, Shouto, you can come out." She called out to the doorway.

Not long after, Shouto's ambivalent form peered out from the doorway and he stepped into the room.

"I'm sorry for eavesdropping." He apologized.

Before Endeavour could voice what was on his mind, Melodie excused his behaviour and forgave him.

"I wanted to.. I wanted to ask how Hailey was.." The youngest Todoroki digressed, clenching his fist and looking down at his feet.

Melodie's gaze remained soft, "Her wrist was fractured, she got hit just above her hip.. but nothing fatal..but she's awake now."

Todoroki then quickly looked up at his friend's mom in what appeared to be a relieved but still desperate expression. "Are the doctors allowing us to visit her?!"

Melodie looked down back at the table, "No, not until the police finish questioning her... but in a few days, you and some of your classmates can. I filled out a form for who can visit her, due to the circumstances of the whole thing. I only put the names that I know that Hailey talks about in a good way."

"Oh.."

"I have a favour to ask of you both..." Melodie began.

"Would you please take care of my daughter in my place?"

The two Todoroki's looked at her in shock.

"Where will you be?" Endeavour questioned.

"Away, just until I know for a fact that Robert is rotting in prison. I can't endanger Hailey and let either of us become liabilities to each other. If I leave, then this way I know that I'll be protected. As selfish as it sounds... But Aizawa was able to convince me that Hailey staying at UA will keep her safer than her heading to Shiketsu like I was debating." Melodie confessed.

Before Todoroki could add his argument, his father told him to go help his sister with something. Reluctantly, the youngest Todoroki did as he was asked.

Melodie then stood up and Endeavour copies her actions.

"I will do my best to look after your daughter, but something that remains the same from when she was younger, is that she always clings to you in a way. Mel, she needs you." Endeavour reasoned as he was showing her out to the door.

Melodie pondered on his words, "Ironic that it's you giving me this kind of advice." she said quietly but with a hunt of amusement.

"but thank you."

———-

After considering his words, Melodie walked the halls of the hospital with a box of some of Hailey's belongings from her bedroom. As she finished speaking to the secretary nurse, she turned and noticed Mr Aizawa and the much thinner and smaller version of All Night enter the hospital lobby.

Mr Aizawa was the first to notice her and approach her with All Might following him.

"Mel, how are you?" He questioned.

"Better than I have, after hearing Hails woke up a bit earlier." Melodie answered.

"Ms Roselle, do you want me to take that box to Hailey's room?" The nurse that was assigned to Hailey's room questioned.

"Here I'll do it, then you two can talk and I can fill her in on how her classmates are doing." Aizawa volunteered and took the box from Melodie. "What room again?"

"304." The nurse answered before returning to his desk.

"Thank you, Aizawa," Melodie called before sitting down with the thin man.

"Hm, I wonder why Aizawa was so fast to take Hailey's stuff to her." Toshinari muttered out loud, not realizing such until Melodie replied to him.

"It's because I already told Shouta that I'm planning on going away for a while, as much as it pains me to leave my daughter in this state, it'll be safer for the both of us if we're separated."

Toshinari's eyes widened in surprise, but he looked down at his bandaged hand. His mind spiralled with the possibility of this being his fault for not capturing the villain, Paralyzer. In a way, he felt that he was the reason for this parent and her daughter to be separated from each other. He then desperately thought of something.

"I know this isn't the best time to ask you this, but U.A. is putting in a dorm room system for all of the students. This way, everyone is safer and you don't have to move away, even if that is a temporary." He optimistically suggested.

Melodie chewed the inside of her gums, "Aizawa mentioned it before, I almost thought that he was just saying that to keep me from transferring Hailey to Shiketsu or Ketsubutsu."

"I don't blame you for doubting the school's integrity and safety after all of this, and even if Young Hailey was to transfer to either schools, I am willing to write a recommendation for her. Both are good schools, not as publicized as UA, but will still help Hailey achieve her goal of becoming a hero." Toshinari concurred.

Melodie gave him a soft smile, "Thank you, All Might, I really do appreciate it. I'm not opposed to the dorms, but if Hailey needs to go to a different school in order to feel safe, I might have to take you up on that."

————-

"Mr Yagi." Hailey greeted.

As the thin man walked up to the chair beside her hospital bed, Toshinari gave the young girl a smile.

"I see that you are doing well, Young Roselle. I'm glad."

"I heard about what you did to rescue us, and how you defeated All for One." She said slowly, "Thank you for that, and I'm sorry that you lost your power because of it."

"It was a long overdue battle, and your lives are more important than my power." Yagi assured her.

"I heard that my classmates are doing well, no one got hurt." She smiled.

"Indeed they are, everyone is spending time at their homes, recovering." Toshinari replied.

Hailey nodded her head, "That's good to hear. They'll need to spend time with Bakugou too, they probably missed him a lot."

"But they've missed you too."

Hailey looked away bitterly, "Not after the word gets out of who my father is."

"Hailey, you should know better than anyone else that you aren't your father. You took completely different paths." Toshinari tried to reassure and encourage the girl.

She looked down at her casted hand, "So much so that it turns out that he could make me into a version of him at any time he wishes. He wasn't captured, he escaped."

The slender man gazed at the young girl in confusion, before he could ask, she elaborated.

"His damn quirk is in my DNA, but isn't 'awakened' as he would put it. Now that he has been by All for One's side for a few years, he knows how to awaken it." Hailey then felt herself become sickened. "I don't want to be like him, if that even is the same man who I used to call my dad."

"A lot of people died because of me, you've even lost your power and Bakugou literally could have saved himself if I wasn't there keeping him- he wouldn't have even been kidnapped if I wasn't so damn weak!" Hailey sobbed, covering her face with her uncasted hand.

The once Number One Hero put his hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort his student. "I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that, but none of it was your fault. It was ours as staff for allowing any of this to happen." He assured her.

"It chased my mom away, Mr Aizawa already told me. Not only because my Grandma passed away, but her ex happened to turn into this dangerous villain who is still at large. If I wasn't so selfish in wanted to go to UA, the most publicized school, we wouldn't have been found and this wouldn't have happened!" Hailey vented, feeling her breath beginning to leave her lungs faster than she could breathe it back in. She coughed in response.

Toshinari placed his hand on her shoulder and reminded her to take slow breaths and to relax.

"Your mother is scared too, but she believes that this way you will both be safe. Nothing is your fault, here."

'I swear in the name of my successor, I will make sure that man rots in prison for what he's done to his family.'

"I-I know that it's selfish, but.. I-I want to stay at U.A! I still want to be a hero!" Hailey cried out loud.

------------

A few weeks passed, Hailey wanted to heal naturally and didn't want Recovery Girl to waste her quirk on Hailey. This gave Hailey time to mentally recover, not completely but it was something. She went to the in hospital physiotherapist to work on her hip, but he wasn't sure on how much longer her wrist would take.

Hailey was more nervous about her wrist, scared that it would effect her wavelength quirk. If the bone healed wrong, the wavelengths would become disrupted or jagged upon release, causing a much weaker attack.

The hardest part was not seeing anyone, her mother she missed the most. Only getting a letter explaining to her why her mother left and how much she loves her daughter.

Hailey curled up into a ball as she cradled her wrist and the letter in her hands. She sobbed as she yearned for her mother's warm and safe embrace.

What she also wanted was to see her friends, she wanted her spirits to be lifted up from Kirishima's encouragement, she wanted to laugh at Todoroki's lack of understanding to certain trends and jokes, she wanted to feel her heart swell at Midoriya worrying about her and telling her that no matter what, she could still be a hero.

But Hailey believed that all that she desired was a fantasy. Anything but a reality.

Who would look at her the same now that her friends and classmates know that her father was a villain, a member of the League of Villains?

'It would be safer for them to stay away from me, anyways. May as well keep them from getting hurt because of me.'

————-

A knock on the door caused Hailey to turn towards it.

"Hey Hailey," Her doctor greeted her with a smile and entered the room. "Are you ready to be discharged?" She asked excitedly.

Hailey nodded her head and smiled, "I sure am, Doctor Suga."

"Great, Mr Todoroki will be here in a few moments after he signs the discharge form for you. Then you'll be on your way!" Doctor Suga grinned. "I'm almost going to miss you, we had some good times here, right?"

"Yeah, good thing I watch Grey's Anatomy and The Good Doctor to kinda translate what was happening." Hailey joked.

"Well I'm no Meredith Grey, but I'm happy to say that it's been a pleasure being your doctor." Doctor Suga sighed and told her genuinely.

Hailey nodded, "Thank you again, Doctor Suga."

"Hailey, are you ready to go?" Endeavour questioned as he entered the room in his civilian clothing.

Hailey took a breath, "As ready as I'll ever be."

—————-

The drive was long, to say the least.

Hailey felt her heart plummet to her stomach when Endeavour told her that he was taking her back to U.A.

"... Shouto is already there, he's decorating his dorm room. Then in three days, you'll all resume your classes." Endeavour concluded.

"I didn't think that suddenly, summer break would be over so soon." Hailey muttered as she watched the scenery out the window.

"Time seems to go by slower when recovering in the hospital." Endeavour commented. "A strange request to let your injuries heal naturally, you could have been out after you woke up. Maybe spend more of your vacation relaxing."

"It was better for everyone that I stayed in the hospital. Got some physio and counselling." Hailey responded.

"Shouto.. he was worried about you. He didn't visit because he was scared as well, but it may have been better for the both of you to be around another. Shouto seems different nowadays.. more happier after you became friends again." Endeavour blurted.

"He's made a lot of friends this first semester, it wasn't just me." Hailey tried to argue, but her words came out at a hushed volume.

"Don't sell yourself short kid."

When they finally pulled up to U.A. High school, Aizawa was waiting for them.

"Aizawa." Endeavour said gruffly as he exited his vehicle.

"Endeavour." Aizawa glared back.

"H-hi Mr Aizawa." Hailey greeted with a nervous stammer.

"Welcome back, Roselle." Her teacher greeted her more relaxed. "Do you need help with your stuff?"

"I-I can handle this box, my m-mom's assistant brought my other stuff this morning." Hailey responded and held the box under her good arm.

Aizawa took notice of the bandaged wrist that Hailey left hanging by her side as she stood now by Endeavour.

"Thank you for looking after me, Endeavour." Hailey thanked him with sincerity.

"It's no problem." Endeavour replied before looking back to Aizawa, "I leave her to you."

Aizawa nodded and led Hailey to the building that held the dorms. He began to explain the ground rules to her and what room she'll be in.

"I'll be willing to switch you from the second floor to any other, since you're the only girl on that floor." Mr Aizawa pointed out to her.

Hailey looked at him, "No worries, I don't mind -"

"Mineta is also on that floor."

"Okay I guess I now mind."

Hailey felt her heart rate increase and she gulped as they were faced with the entrance of the dorms.

Everyone was there earlier, while Hailey was arriving in the afternoon.

"You'll be fine." Her teacher said, noticing her worried expression before opening the door.

Hailey followed behind her teacher as he led the way to the common area, where all of Class 1-A sat and chatted happily.

Iida was the first to notice their teacher's entrance. "Mr Aizawa! What brings you back-" he then gasped at the sight of Hailey as she stepped beside Aizawa and became more visible.

Many of her classmates sputtered her name, but the room was filled with tension.

Hailey bowed her head and torso, "I-I'm Sorry for everything...I know that my father being a villain will change how you look at me and I understand if you'd feel safer if I distanced myself.. but as hard as it is to believe; I still want to be hero!" Hailey apologized to her classmates, feeling guilty for putting them in such a position.

There was more silence.

"Roselle, you don't need to-"

Todoroki stood up from his spot on the sofa and approached Hailey. She looked up and was surprised to be found in a gentle embrace, "You don't need to apologize. You and Midoriya taught me well enough that I am nothing like my old man, and like it or not, the same applies to you." He professed.

Hailey felt her eyes water with tears of emotional relief.

Soon the rest of her classmates began to swarm around Hailey and hug her.

"We've missed you!"

"We were so worried about you!"

"Hey Carrot Top." Bakugou called out to her, causing their classmates to back away and watch what happens next.

"Thanks for.. not dying." He said, averting his eyes at his risky words.

To his surprise, Hailey smiled and gave him a hug.

"Thank you for protecting me."

Bakugou waited a few seconds before gently pulling the redhead off of him and looking down at her wrist.

"How's your wrist healing up?" He asked.

"Should be all healed up, just gotta be patient with moving it." Hailey replied, holding it up and looking at it as well.

They both remember vividly of what happened and the sooner that her wrist would heal, the sooner it wouldn't be a reminder.

"I take it that you'll all take care of each other then?" Mr Aizawa asked his students.

"You can count on us, Mr Aizawa!" The Class responded and to that, their teacher took his leave.

The girls happily showed Hailey around and to her dorm, which was now on the fourth floor, across from Bakugou's room and beside Mina's room.

"Okay, I can make this work." Hailey breathed as she looked at her room and boxed up belongings.

"Since we had all day to unpack, we could help you if you want, Hails." Kirishima offered.

"S'all good, Kiri. You guys keep hanging out, this'll be a process anyways." Hailey reassured him.

As they all went back downstairs, Hailey began to one handedly open a box of her clothes and hangers. She placed her shirts in piles based on sleeve length and to sweaters, then her shorts in one pile, underwear and socks in another, pajamas in one, pants in another and jeans into one.

As she did, she heard a knock at her door.

"Come in." She called and turned to see Midoriya peer in.

"Hey Izu." She greeted with a smile.

"H-Hi Hailey." He greeted back nervously and entered her room, while shutting the door behind him.

"Do ya need something?" Hailey questioned.

Midoriya awkwardly shifted, "I...I, uh tried to visit you.. but I didn't because I felt guilty.. I wasn't the one to protect you back at the Training Camp.. and I made you feel like you were forgotten... then you were taken." He confessed, he illuminated the same guilt that he had back when Hailey had a run-in with that man and villain.

"Izu, You can't keep feeling guilty for things out of your control... I guess I need to take my own advice on that one, especially with you, but if you keep beating yourself up about it, you won't be able to move on and get better. And in the end, you were one of my rescuers." Hailey insisted and put her right hand on his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "You're still my hero, remember that, okay? You're going to hear me say it a billion times more, but you Izuku Midoriya are my Guardian Angel."

Midoriya blushed, but still tightly clung to Hailey's embrace. He should've known by now that Hailey wasn't going to allow him to go on with that kind of guilt.

He's missed that.

—————