The Sound of Your Voice

Chapter 10

The first few hours were the easiest.

All Might drove Aizawa home in a state of shock while Ms. Joke called for people to meet them there to take care of Present Mic's body. It wasn't until they were outside his house that Aizawa finally spoke again, "Eri."

Ms. Joke and All Might shared a knowing look before turning to Aizawa. "Let us deal with this," Ms. Joke told him. "Go inside and sleep, we'll figure it out in the morning."

Aizawa visibly hesitated, but exhaustion won over in the end and he handed the body over to All Might. "Don't let anything happen to him," he said softly.

"We promise," said All Might, "Now go get some rest."

Aizawa nodded numbly and entered his house. 

As the door clicked shut behind him Ms. Joke gave a heavy sigh and looked to All Might. "I hope he'll be alright," she said, a slight tremor in her voice as the situation began to truly sink in.

"He'll be okay," All Might said, as much to convince himself as it was to reassure Ms. Joke, "He's always been one of the strongest."

Sirens soon alerted the two of them to the arrival of officials and they set their minds to dealing with the business side of things. It was easier than thinking about the emotional side.

Meanwhile, too tired to think, too tired to cry, Aizawa fell into a fitful sleep. Half-formed nightmares plagued him that night and though he did not wake, he did not get much rest either.

The next morning was the hardest.

Light streamed in through the blind and for a split second he'd forgotten what had happened. When did he get home? Why was he so tired? Then it hit him.

The emptiness beside him felt impossibly vast.

There was a small knock. "Dad?"

He urged himself to stand up and go to the door but he could not find the strength to do so. After a moment, Eri opened the door herself and walked in.

Her smile fell the moment she saw that Hizashi was not in the room.

"Where's daddy?"

Aizawa stared at her trembling and realization dawned on her. Eri was, after all, no stranger to loss.

"Is he in the hospital?" She asked, her voice thin and shaky. Her optimism was a façade and they both knew it.

"Daddy's not coming home," Aizawa managed at last, his voice rough.

Eri walked over to him, her face falling to an expression that was far too practiced for a child so young. "Who's fault is it?"

Mine, Aizawa thought. "A villain," he said. He lifted Eri up and sat her in his lap, noting that she would soon be too big to do so.  "A villain who has been captured," he said stroking her hair softly, "There will be justice." He didn't quite believe his own words.

Tears began to fall again, staining the fabric where they landed with dark sorrow. "I'm sorry," he managed, thick with emotion. He tried to keep it together for her sake, his shoulders shaking with the effort, but to no avail. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

It broke his heart even more when she did not cry. Instead retreating into herself for survival as she had been taught so long ago. "Don't cry dad," she said, hugging him back just as tightly, her delicate hands bunched up into fists. "Don't cry."

Aizawa struggled to catch his breath, her words only another punch to the gut. She should not be the one comforting him. She was so young, too young. He had promised to protect her, he was supposed to protect them all. And yet here she was, seeing the horrors of the world yet again.

He lifted his head to meet her gaze, only to see her eyes wide with fear. Fear he had hoped she'd outgrown by now.

This was his fault.

"You're right," he said shakily. He planted a gentle kiss on her forehead before holding her out at arms length. "We're going to be strong together, okay? Everything's going to be fine."

Eri nodded, "Okay."

"That's my brave girl," Aizawa nodded. He wiped at his tears and forced a smile that both of them knew was not genuine. "Why don't we both take the day off, today? I'll call in and we can rest."

Another nod, "Okay."

The two of them barely left the house for nearly a week.

Aizawa threw himself into caring for Eri, and he wasn't sure if he was trying to distract her or himself. Luckily, he didn't have too much time to think about it.

After so long of Hizashi being the stay at home dad, he found that he had a lot to learn. The way Eri liked her food, the times where certain cartoons were on tv. Which books were for bedtime stories and which ones Eri wanted to read on her own.

Of course, Eri did all of her usual things now with a muted expression. It would seem that she was also only feigning normalcy.

The only times either of them left the house was to pick up groceries. Once he suggested he and Eri go for a walk but it quickly became apparent that neither of them quite had the energy to do an activity that involved so much quiet time.

Aizawa didn't sleep much either, finding that nightmares of the event kept replaying whenever he closed his eyes. Instead he spent most of his nights dealing with paperwork that he didn't want Eri to think about. Hizashi's will, Hizashi's funeral. Hizashi.

He missed him terribly.

On the fifth day, All Might called.

Or rather, Aizawa finally answered when All Might called. Friends had been calling on and off after the second day of self imposed isolation but he'd ignored all of them. His phone had filled up with missed calls and unread texts but he didn't trust himself to answer just yet.

But at last he decided that maybe it was time to stop avoiding society, so he picked up. "Hello?"

"Aizawa!" All Might said instantly, "You answered."

"Yeah."

"How are you doing?" All Might asked nervously.

"Fine."

"And Eri?" He added.

"Fine."

There was a long pause before All Might spoke again, "I wanted to talk about what happened. Endeavour told me the details and about what you did to the villain-"

"I know." Aizawa cut him off. "I'm sorry for losing control like that. It won't happen again, I-"

"No, that's not it," All Might interrupted. "I just wanted to let you know that the only people who know about it have agreed not to say anything. The official story is he and Endeavour got into a close quarters fistfight. No one needs to know what really happened."

Aizawa was stunned, "What?"

"You're allowed to get angry, and grieve, Aizawa," All Might said, sounding almost embarrassed. "Take your time."

"Oh, thank you."

There was a long and awkward silence, to the point where Aizawa wondered if he should just hang up. Then All Might finally spoke again, "So is. Well I mean, have you planned..." he trailed off.

Aizawa knew what he was trying to say, though. "The funeral? I was going to tell people when I had a date down but it should be sometime next week. I'm sure you know this but a will is something most pro heroes have ready at all times. It's not exactly the safest line of work.

"Yes, of course," All Might said sheepishly. "Well if you need any help with anything at all, please don't hesitate to reach out."

"Thank you."

All Might hesitated, "I'm sorry about Hizashi."

"Me too."