Warning: Major Character Death, Vomit, Gore, Blood, Mental Issues

Basically, be careful when reading this chapter.

- - -

"Zashi, can I ask something of you?" Shouta seriously asks while the two are cuddling on the couch.

Hizashi nods, feeling the tension slipping into the air, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing just...I can't say what it is, but something is going to happen soon that involves of all us."

"Sho, that sounds concerning."

"It is. I'm sure you noticed Izuku."

"Yeah, he's definitely more stressed than usual. Is it about that?"

Shouta nods, sighing, "Zashi, I know this is a lot to ask, but...if something happens to me, can you watch over him for me?"

Hizashi's eyes widen, "You know I would do that anyway-"

"I know, but I'm afraid of how he will react if something happens to me now."

"Ah...yeah, I see what you mean. Why are you concerned about it now? You know I would do anything for Tiny Listener."

"With the stress, I'm afraid he's going to make some bad decisions. Very bad decisions."

"That's Izuku alright. But Sho, I promise I will do everything in my power to help him. We're besties, after all!"

"Thanks, Zashi. It...it means a lot."

- - -

Hizashi POV

"Endeavor is down, and Eraserhead is unconscious, close to his death possibly. I need you guys to grab him and get out of here. I'm calling an evacuation. I will handle Shigaraki from here. Eraserhead is just at the edge of another crater if you come in where I left earlier.

Goodbye and stay safe."

"Izuku, don't! Think about this!" I exclaim just as we are finishing the final nomu off. Multiple other heroes are speaking up as well, hoping that Izuku responds to one of them, but we get nothing. I know exactly what just happened, "Damn it, he cut us off!"

"We have to follow his command because we don't know his plan. Send an ambulance for Eraserhead. Everyone else leave," Detective Tsukauchi explains.

Excuse me? We're going to let a child, who just told us that his brother that he heavily relies on got injured heavily (and possibly dead), take the lead? I know they don't know him that well, but they should at least know that Izuku is far from stable right now! If he has a plan, it's reckless! Did him cutting us off not show that?! He literally just relapsed back to that point where he doesn't care what happens to himself!

I already hated this operation as soon as I heard that Izuku was leading it. The kid is talented, but he's 16! Why is he carrying our bullshit?!

I run to the ambulances on the side waiting, "I'm going with them! There's no way in hell I am leaving Izuku by himself!"

"Mic, that's not a good idea and would be considered disobeying-"

"And you think it is to leave Izuku by himself?! I'm not going to get into the middle of their fight, but I have a range quirk that can shove Shigaraki off of Izuku if needed! I don't care if I get hurt! I'm not leaving a child, let alone him, alone!"

I see the lights of one of the ambulances turn on, and I rush over to that one, open one of the doors in the back, and hop in, "Go!"

I pull the door to close it as the driver slams the gas and zooms through the disaster zone. Out the back of the window, I see the other heroes retreating. Once again, why are we letting a child deal with our issues?

I nearly slam into the door from the driver slamming the brakes, but I don't even think about it as I open the door and stumble out. Right on the ground only a few feet (meters) in front of me, Shouta would be on his back, and I can already see the blood. I rush over to his side to find that I can barely see his face due to the amount of blood. I reach to feel for his pulse and sigh in relief when I find it. It's weak, but it's there. The damn man is probably too stubborn to die at the moment.

"He's alive," I tell the paramedics as I stand up and step back, "Go ahead without me."

The paramedics don't respond, but I believe they get the idea. I see them preparing to lift Shouta up when I look away to focus on the current issue. Shouta will be fine.

In the distance, I can barely see Izuku and Shigaraki fighting simply because they are going so fast. It's a blur. I wouldn't be surprised if Izuku is pushing his limits to pull this off as I've never seen him go so fast with one of his bots. However, they're doing a close-range fight. If I have to intervene, I have to make sure I do it to where Izuku won't be hurt by my quirk, and that will be exceptionally hard to pull off. Maybe impossible if Izuku doesn't give me that opening.

I quickly inspect the surroundings to find a couple lines of indents on the ground. Based on the shape, they're probably from Izuku's laser. A good distance away from the fight, I would see Patchy laying on the ground. It takes a moment to recognize that both of its wings are bent out of shape. That explains why Izuku is on the ground, especially when the kid would have the advantage in air.

Right now, Izuku seems to be holding himself well by using his grappling hooks to throw Shigaraki around like a doll. It gives him the chance to kick and damage Shigaraki however he can. The issue with that approach is Shigaraki's decay. If Izuku isn't careful, Shigaraki can grab that. I don't know what Izuku's plan here is, but I think he's trying to wear Shigaraki down to get himself an opening. Shigaraki is pretty damn fast from what I am seeing, and while Izuku is fast, his electronics can only keep up with so much.

When Izuku manages to get Shigaraki down, I am shocked when he shoots his laser at Shigaraki. Is he trying to kill him?! The goal is the capture, not kill! I understand that desperate times call for desperate measures, and this is one of those instances, but Izuku is going to suffer badly if he pulls through with this! I hope to God he is just trying injure the man. However, I wouldn't be surprised if he is going for the kill with everything going on.

Shigaraki manages to escape that laser and races right towards Izuku. Unfortunately for the kid, the grappling hook he had on Shigaraki went away with the blast. I don't blame him for the move because he was pushing it for keeping the hook on him for so long, but that also means he destroyed it. That's one less advantage in Izuku's arsenal.

From there, the beat of the battle seems to shift. Rather than a fight, it seems to shift to a dance where Izuku is moving and dodging while Shigaraki chases after Izuku like fresh meat. It's sickening, and it limits my chances further of intervening safely. The air gets heavier overtime as it seems like Shigaraki is just getting faster rather than slowing down like Izuku needs.

"What's going on?!" The detective asks.

"They're going at it. No space to intervene. I don't think anyone can keep up with them anyway," I report with a scowl. I hate admitting that, but it's the truth. These two are on a different level.

What feels like hours happens in only a feel minutes as Izuku seems to recognize that he is going to get trapped soon if he doesn't do something. A laser is shot, scanning across the whole area in hopes of getting Shigaraki, but the man shoots himself into the air and gets his chance to attack. My blood freezes as Shigaraki blasts himself into Izuku, grabs his head, and slams him into the ground.

I can't help the scream that rips from my throat, "IZUKU!"

I jump down from where I was watching into the crater and run as fast as I can to rip that bastard off of Izuku. I don't care if I die in the process: Izuku is too young to die. He shouldn't even be here. If I can give Izuku the chance to run, then I did my job as a big brother and as a hero.

As I approach then, I notice something off: neither of them have reacted to me. In fact, they're frozen. What the hell?

Then, out of nowhere, Izuku manages to shoot an air blast to throw Shigaraki off of himself. I expect Izuku to chase after the man with how he can be.

Except that's not what happens.

Instead, Izuku struggles to his hands and knees, rips off his mask, and throws up on the ground in front of him, not even recognizing that he is getting some on himself. He barely holds himself up. If Izuku was to drop himself any lower, he would be on the ground entirely. Dread enters my gut at the sight; however, I am forced to turn my attention to Shigaraki when he begins throwing a temper tantrum like a child.

"YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO TAKE THAT! HOW THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE THAT?! GIVE IT BACK-!" Shigaraki screams at the top of his lungs and gets ready to lunge at Izuku.

Before Shigaraki can move, I scream at him with my quirk, "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

It blows Shigaraki away, and he looks disorientated. Good. It gives me a chance to try and convince Izuku to get out of here.

Izuku is still heaving by the time I finally reach him, his body trying to throw up something that is no longer there.

I skid to my knees and survey Izuku to realize just how bad of a state he is in. His body his wrecked with tremors as he can hardly hold himself up as it. Multiple parts of his body are out of position from limbs to even his chest. There would be tears in his uniform to reveal multiple injuries. The boy would be drenched with blood, whether it be from the nomu he previously fought or himself. I catch sight of his vomit to find blood mixed in it.

How the hell is Izuku still awake? He looks absolutely destroyed. This is making me want to get sick with him. Even if he gets out, I don't know Izuku's chances of survival. He's in far worse shape than Shouta was. I don't even know if he can get out by himself, even with the bot on him.

I reach towards Izuku and grab his shoulders to lift him up so he wasn't so close to his own throw up, trying to speak softly despite the circumstances, "Izuku, it's Hizashi, can you hear me?"

Despite the excruciating pain Izuku probably is in, he slowly lifts his head to look at me, and my heart shatters when I see pale skin covered in sweat. When he sees me, his eyes widen with tears. Izuku swallows.

"Zashi no," The boy stutters, and it's pitiful to hear Izuku's voice, something that is usually loud and full of confidence, sound so weak and tired, "You need to get out!"

I should have expected as much, but goddamn it is so frustrating. Shouta has that same damn habit, and I hate it with a passion, especially now.

I help lift Izuku up to face me and press my forehead against his because, if this is my final moment with this amazing kid, I'm not going to half-ass it, "Izu, it's okay. You have been our hero for far too long. Let me be yours this once. You still have so much to live for and accomplish. I've followed my dreams. It's your turn to do that, but you have to run." Jesus Christ, I just want to hug this kid and hide him from this hell, but I can't. However, I can give him the chance to escape it.

That seems to make the situation worse as a sob rips from Izuku's throat, and his face contorts into anger, "No! I'm not running! Who gives a fuck about dreams if you can't have them with your family?! Sho is already close! I'M NOT LEAVING YOU TOO!"

This damn kid. This damn astronomical kid.

I reach up and wipe the illness running down his chin with the sleeve of my jacket, "It'll be okay, kid. I may not be there physically, but I'll be there somehow-"

"THAT'S BULLSHIT!" Izuku, please-

Before I can respond, Shigaraki interrupts, "A SECRET SCENE NOW?! WHATEVER! GIVE IT BACK, IZUKU!"

I turn away from Izuku to face Shigaraki only to feel myself be shoved aside. I look towards where Shigaraki should be only to find him way too close to Izuku already.

Izuku doesn't hesitate to raise his right arm and shoot an air blast to throw him back once more. While Shigaraki is still flying, Izku shoots his laser at him, it successfully landing on him finally. Once the laser disappears, Shigaraki's right arm or majority of his torso would be gone, leaving only a burnt mark from the laser itself. I don't get to look too long as Shigaraki crashes to the ground.

I don't even recognize that Izuku had shot himself towards Shigaraki until I find Izuku on top of him with a sparked baton in his right hand. He slams the baton in Shigaraki's mouth, and the man pulsates rapidly while muffled screams escape him.

Izuku is burning Shigaraki alive.

It would be a solid minute until the pulsating stops. The screams stopped within 10 seconds, but the electricity burnt him for much longer. From here, I don't see Shigaraki breathing. The smell of burnt flesh fills the air.

He's dead. He has to be dead.

Izuku stares down at Shigaraki's body frozen, not saying a word. It's like he expects the man to get up after that. I slowly get up and approach Izuku loudly. I don't know what's going through his head right now, but I don't want him to attack me because I scare him.

As I approach, Izuku's shoulders rise up and down rapidly as he digests what just happened. His knees wobble as they hold up his broken body, and that's when I realize that he dropped the bot at some point during the assault. Somehow, Izuku killed Shigaraki through his own crumbling strength alone. His overwhelming adrenaline is likely the only reason he was able to pull this off with the anger I accidently sparked in him.

Despite Shigaraki being dead, he's still standing.

Izuku raises his right hand over his mouth as I hear him choke out, "He's dead, right? He's not going to come back to life?"

I swallow the bile building up in my throat for Izuku as I come right beside the boy, bend down to Shigaraki's side, and press a hand against the side of his neck. I can tell by the deep-seeded burn marks peeking through that he is surely dead, but Izuku is freaking out for a reason.

I wait for a minute before shaking my head, "He's gone, Izuku. Detective, I need you to get help here as soon as possible for Izuku."

If Detective Tsukauchi has anything to say, I didn't get to hear it as Izuku collapses forward. I don't hesitate to catch him and lift him up to carry him away from the body. I am shocked to find his eyes open, almost glossy. We aren't very far when Izuku indicates that he is about to get sick again. I quickly settle down on the ground. I adjust Izuku to face the ground while leaning all his weight against me. I keep one arm across his chest while rubbing his back with my free hand.

Izuku gets into a hacking fit, but he isn't able to produce anything considering he just got sick. It fricking hurts to see the kid so destroyed. What makes the situation worse is I don't know what is wrong when it comes to the illness. I would say stress, but Izuku is not the kind of person to suddenly get sick in the middle of a fight because of it. It's usually once everything settles down.

Even if I everything I am saying is not helpful considering how messed-up Izuku's body is, there's something off.

Izuku eventually gets over it, and I watch him press his head against my chest. I help Izuku to readjust to where is he more comfortable while I hold him.

I would have missed Izuku saying something if I hasn't been so hyper-focused on him for how soft he speaks, "I'm sorry."

"Don't talk, Izu. Save your energy," I tell him as gentle as I could. However, I am freaking out internally. Izuku is probably still awake because of the adrenaline, but once that's gone, how is Izuku going to take it? I can already feel him becoming weaker since all his weight is against me now. I just hope help gets here fast.

Izuku lets out a multiple gasps, "It feels...it feels like I'm...like I'm going to die," Izuku manages to get out, and I can feel my panic rising in me. If he is saying something like that, he's genuine.

I shush Izuku as I swallow my own anxiety, "Kid, you're going to survive. You still have so much to do. Focus on me, alright? I'll be right here with you. Detective, when is help going to get here?"

"We had to call a helicopter due to the circumstance you two are in, but they are giving us two minutes," I hear in response. That feels too long.

I turn my attention back to Izuku, "Two minutes and they will be here. Come on, hold on, Izuku," I feel Izuku's breathing slow down, and I start freaking out, "Izuku, you still have stuff you want to do! You have so much left to do!"

Izuku lifts his head slightly to look at with tears running down his face and a small smile, "But I did plenty too... That's okay by me... Bitch dead." Despite what he just said, I can feel the tears building up. Fuck, they need to get here faster!

"That was a goal forced on you, and you know it! I know it hurts, but stay awake, please! We'll do whatever you want after you recover! I want to see you grow up and graduate and fuck up the HC like they deserve!"

Izuku huffs, his eyes slowly closing, "Y'all can do it for me... I love y'all...please take care of yourselves."

"IZUKU, COME ON!"

However, the idiot child doesn't listen as his eyes close. I immediately feel for his pulse to find it still there. Weak but there. His breathing evens out barely as it's more unstable than I would like.

I hold onto Izuku tightly as I can until the helicopter arrives. As soon as it does, I stand up with him. The paramedics hop off with the stretcher, prepared to help Izuku however they can.

I set Izuku down on the stretcher, and they get to work doing whatever they have to do while bringing him inside the helicopter. I hop on right behind them.

Everything feels like a blur from there. I remember nothing about the ride. I only remember getting off and hearing the paramedics talking to the doctor as they wheel Izuku away into the emergency room.

Then, I just sat down in the waiting room and wait with this numb feeling. I never wanted to experience anyone close going through that, let alone a fricking kid. We also have Shouta on top of this, even if I have greater confidence in him making it out.

Once again, it becomes a blur. At one point, Nemuri came and sat beside me, but I couldn't even focus on her.

It wasn't until a couple hours go by when an unfamiliar doctor approaches, "You are Yamada Hizashi and Kayama Nemuri, correct?" Both of us nod, "You're both Aizawa Shouta's emergency list. We managed to rebuild his skull from where it was damaged and perform a couple of skin graphs. We suspect that he will never be able to use his quirk again. He might also have memory lost, but we know someone that can bring them back should it come to that. We won't know until he wakes up, but he should be fine. Unfortunately, he will have to recover the old-fashioned way since Recovery Girl doesn't like to use her quirk on those with possible brain injuries. Would you two like to see him?"

Nemuri stands up, "Yes, please. Come on, Zashi. I'll have the lady tell Izuku's doctor where to find us when they get us the news. You can't stay here forever anyway."

I nod as I look towards where Izuku was strolled in one last time.

Shouta's room is not too far from Izuku, and I swallow when I find his head wrapped completely.

Slowly, I approach and takes his hand, "Idiot. You weren't supposed to get hurt."

Nemuri comes up behind me and rubs my back, "Shit happens, Zashi."

"He left Izuku by himself practically. I know that's not what he meant to do, but the kid fucking lost it when he went down. I know I shouldn't be blaming Shouta, but he's the adult."

"It won't do anything blaming him. We'll talk about it whenever he wakes up. For now, let's appreciate that he's alive."

"I knew he was going to live. He's too goddamn stubborn. But what about Izuku? Nem, he told me he felt like he was about to die."

Nemuri sighs. She bends down to my side and pulls me into a side hug, "All we can do is hope. I trust Izuku to come back to us. Get some rest. I'll get you some food."

"Thanks, Nem."

I hear her heels clack out. Once they are gone, I lay my head against Shouta's chest and remain there.

And we wait for hours. We stay in Shouta's room and watch that door to reveal the doctor to tell us the news.

Finally, Recovery Girl enters the room past midnight with a grim look on her face, "I thought you two would be in here."

I immediately sit up from Shouta and face RG, "Please tell me he is okay," I beg desperately to her. RG sighs and moves until she is in front of Nemuri and I in our chairs.

"Izuku is alive, but there's a lot to go over. Let's get the worst out of the way: Midoriya died twice during the operation," I turn pale and feel sick to my stomach, but she continues, "Thankfully, we were able to bring him back both times.

The operation went well outside of that considering what he did to himself. He practically dislocated every bone in his limbs somehow. I'm shocked he was able to fight with that, but it was probably life or death for him. We were able to relocate them. Unfortunately, with that, there was some muscle damage, but my quirk should be able to heal that.

In addition to that, there was multiple broken ribs, one of which punctured his lungs. That took a majority of our time as we had to fix them back together and help his lung. He may have breathing problems for a bit, but it shouldn't last forever.

There was also a suspected injury in the back of his head, but it seems whatever protection he added to the back of the mask worked as we found nothing wrong.

The rest are minor injuries we had to stitch up, but, once again, my quirk should be able to fix it once he regains some of his energy.

If we ignore him dying, it was not one of the worst cases we have seen if close. However, Izuku came in sick, and we suspect that was the reason for his death both times for the extreme state it took him."

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, "He got sick that quickly to a point of killing him?"

"It's unnatural unless he was sick before the mission, which I know he wasn't, so we performed multiple tests to see what could be wrong. That's when we found this."

Recovery Girl hands me a paper, and I found that it is a quirk factor paper. It pretty much tells you if you have a quirk and not and how powerful your quirk is with levels. As quirkless, Izuku shouldn't have any quirk levels.

Yet, his paper is showing that he has something.

I look up at RG, "Wait, so what does this mean?"

RG takes the paper back, "Izuku officially has a quirk now. However, it's killing him. We don't know if it's because that's what the quirk does or if his body is rejecting the quirk. Given the reactions, we suspect that it is his body rejecting the quirk."

I cover my mouth with my hand and choke down a sob. The one thing that Izuku craved for as a kid and grew up to be proud without is now the one thing killing him. That is disgusting.

"Holy shit," Nemuri gives my thought process about the whole situation in two words.

RG nods, "We put a quirk suppressant on his wrist to stop it, but we can only keep it on him for so long until side effects start appearing. Therefore, we have to keep a close eye on him."

"Do we at least have an idea of what the quirk could be? That way, we know what we can do to minimize the effects of it or stop him from using it all together?"

"No. We'll have to wait for him to wake up and maybe he'll be able to tell us. Right now, Izuku is resting if you two would like to see him."

Nemuri practically lifts my seat to get me on my feet, "Go. I'll keep an eye on Shouta and update you if something happens."

I can't help but be grateful to Nemuri for doing that. I nod to her and follow after RG. Honestly, she feels too damn slow, and I can't help the anxiety gnawing inside of me. It gives me less time to be with Izuku. I know the kid is okay now, but I practically witnessed him on his death bed. A death bed he was willing to enter.

"Yamada," RG interrupts my thought process, and I look over at her, "Please take good care of him. I know I am not the easiest on him, but he deserves a good life. He's been through too much." Isn't that the truth?

"I'm not letting him go, RG," I tell her. When I turn away from her, I recognize that I am just outside of Izuku's door.

"You better not or I will adopt the boy myself," She mutters as she walks off. For some reason, I don't deny that despite Izuku having a vendetta towards her at times.

I gather myself and enter the room, and my breath stops when I spot Izuku on the bed under the sheets. His body would be covered in wrappings due to the abuse that it went through, but that's not what catches my sight first. The first thing that does would be his face. It has been becoming more worn-out in the past months, but it looks nothing like it does now. He would be pale with his skin clammy from the illness forced on his body. His hair is limp. There's dark eyebags under his eyes.

Izuku looks tired. I know that everyone looks tired at multiple points in their lives, but that's simply not Izuku. He generally as the energy to run an entire city if he wanted to. This just doesn't look like him.

I can feel the tears running down my face as I approach, yet I can't help but smile when I hear his heartbeat from the machine because he's alive. Despite the odds, he's fucking alive.

I sit down beside Izuku's bed and reach over to run hand through his hair, gently trying to tug the tangles in it apart. A gasp escapes me as I break down in relief.

"I'm here for you now, Izuku. Nothing is stopping me from helping you anymore."