Saving Grace

Are You Alright?

3rd Person POV

Mio sniffled, pulling the hood of her sweater up more to cover her face as she walked. Her eyes stayed down, hoping her hair would hide most of the damage. She shook her head trying to skim over the events that took place.

Mio flinched, hearing three distinct knocks on the closet door. She scrambled to her knees, forehead, and fingertips pressing against the wood. "Please let me out... please..."
"Awe sweetie, how do I know I can trust you hm?" Her mother's voice cooed from the other side.
"You can! I promise you can! Please!"
"You promise hm? Well... in that case, I guess I'll let you come out." Her words turned sharp. "BUT, if I do... you have to do exactly as I say or else, right back in you go. Understood?"
Mio didn't care, she'd give anything... she had to make sure Mako was still safe. "I swear! I'll do whatever you say please! Please just let me out."
Her Mother smirked. "Good."
Mio heard the quiet jingle of keys and then the clicking as her Mother unlocked the door. She nearly gasped with relief as the door opened, hands shooting up to shield herself from the light of the bedroom. Her eyes adjusted pretty quickly and her Mother stood tall as ever, smiling down with a forgiving face.
She felt her Mother's hands gently cup her swollen face. "Oh, Mio... look what you've done to yourself now."
She kept her mouth shut, jaw trembling as she held back tears and flinching as her mother tilted her chin up. "I'm sorry..."
"Oh come now... no tears, here I have something that will cheer you up hm?"
Mio's focus switched to the bed behind her Mother, seeing Mako attempting to crawl off towards her. "Mako!" She struggled to get to her feet, checking his head to see the small bump from when he had fallen to the floor. "Mako you're alright, I love you so much." She kissed his forehead, a warmth spreading in her chest as he wrapped his arms around her neck. "I promise I won't ever leave you again..." She whispered to him.
"Alright, that's enough. I'm taking Mako for the day... you need to go to school little miss."
Mio's brows scrunched as her Mother pulled Mako from her. Lifting him and walking towards her bedroom door. "School? I thought you-"
"Oh come on... it's your dream school, isn't it? What kind of Mother do you think I am? Now..." She walked back to Mio, hand pinching at her chin. "Why don't you do as you're told hm? Get dressed, go to school and make sure you get caught up on all that work you've missed?"
Mio fought her body's natural reaction to pull away, she froze instead, staying absolutely still in her Mother's grasp and giving a short nod. She didn't want to go back in ... there...

"Hey! Watch where you're walking huh?!"
Mio jumped, turning to apologize to the disgruntled passer-by, as she faced back around she caught a glimpse of herself in the window of a small shop. From far away you couldn't tell anything was different, right? Or maybe the reflection gave her false hope. She glanced up, seeing UA in the distance. Not too far now. Mio went to check the time but realized she was never given her phone back... she didn't even know where it was.

The mirror seemed smaller than before, or maybe her face had just gotten bigger... Mio cringed to even look at herself after everything. Her right temple was cut open and slightly swollen from her head hitting against the floor and the left side of her jaw was a terrible red and purple color from her Mother. Mio also took notice of the dried bloodstain that ran down horizontally on her cheek. This was going to be hard to cover this time. Luckily the cigarette burns on her stomach were easily concealable. They were already scabbing and soon would just be scarred like the rest of them. Mio started to brush her hair, it hurt to move, but she had to... she had to keep going.

"MIO! Hey! MIO!"
Oh fuck...
"Mio wait!" Deku ran down the hallway to catch up with her, confused why she wasn't answering him, he cut in front of her. "Where have you been?! We all thought-Woah..." His expression dropped in an instant. Eyes going wide at the sight. "What happened to your face? Did you get into a fight?"
Where has she been? Mio's nose scrunched at him, she was here yesterday. "It's fine Deku I just, was in the wrong place at the wrong time I guess." She shrugged him off, still walking to class but he followed her.
"What happened?! Was it a bad guy? Did you do to a Doctor or anything?! Those bruises look really bad... I bet recovery girl could fix that for you i-"
"NO Deku... No... please just-" She felt her chest sink as his posture did, she didn't want to be rude but, she just didn't want to talk to anyone today. "Thank you but, I don't want to bother her with that. I just want to get to class..." She avoided his stare.
Deku shifted from foot to foot, trying to catch a glimpse of her eyes but she wouldn't look at him directly. His stomach started to turn and he knew something was off but didn't want to push it. Deku knew when he wasn't wanted, but that didn't mean he was just going to give up so easily. "Alright well... I'll meet you in class okay? I heard Mr. Aizawa has a training exercise planned for us! Maybe you can work on your fighting skills huh? That way next time you won't get beat up so bad!" He tried to joke, shooting a smile that was obviously rejected. "See you in there I guess..."
Mio nodded in silence, finally rounding the hall to their class, she thought to herself... this would probably be the first time she actually showed up to class before the bell rang. Hopefully, Aizawa would be happy.
She stepped in to see him already standing behind his desk.
There weren't many days Aizawa was actually on time for his own classes, normally he'd like to sleep in but today was important for the kids, he had a great training exercise planned for them and he was just finalizing the details now. His attention was pulled when he saw her walk through the door. " Miss. Tsuda, you're awfully early today, I thought you'd have dropped the program considering your three-day absence." He never looked up at her, only plopped down the pile of work she'd missed on the corner of his desk.
Mio stopped dead in her tracks, mind racing. She gulped, stepping up quietly and carefully to take the small file folder full of homework. "T-three days...?" She let out a shaky breath as she flipped through them all.
Aizawa adjusted his scarf, taking note of the tone of her voice before finally glancing up. "Yes, three whole days, or have you not no-" He stared for a long moment, immediately coming around the side of his desk. "What happened?" Aizawa's muscles tensed, eyes locked onto hers and he started to put puzzle pieces together in his head.
Mio shook her head, stepping back as he came closer... how had it been three days? It felt so much shorter than that. Mio thought this whole time she was only in there for the night, had she been blacked out that long? Had she not eaten in three days? Not drank any water... her fist curled around her stomach as it gurgled and she came to the realization of how hungry she was. Fuck...
"Mio...?" Aizawa waited for her response but her face was blank in thought. Something was wrong. "Mio can you take your hood off please and answer my question?"
Mio snapped back into reality, she didn't want to take her hood down, it hid a lot of the damage but she knew it was against the rules to wear anything on her head indoors. Unless it was part of her hero uniform. She sighed, shamefully pulling it back and keeping her eyes on the floor. "It's nothing... I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Mio was pretty good at keeping her story the same by now. She made sure never to tell anyone differently.
Aizawa bit his tongue, he wouldn't accuse her of lying but he knew she had to be. Her injuries were far too severe to just be some run-in on the way home from school. His eyes shot to her hands, the sweater covered most of it but... there, the exposed bit of her wrist that revealed a scabbed over scratch mark. Defensive wounds. His mind raced with all of the possibilities, maybe she had been in the wrong place but that wouldn't excuse her absence. The wounds were healing already, she'd had to have gotten them the last day she was here. The bruising was still dark and her face was swollen, he couldn't tell for sure. "Is that the reason you've been missing so much school? From being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as you put it?" If he could just get her to drop the hint, to tell him indirectly what really happened.
Mio shook her head, "I was actually helping with some stuff at home."
Aizawa eyed her, examining her facial expressions, he sighed, she wasn't going to give anything up, he had to be more direct. "You know if you're lying about something I will find out. You won't be in trouble if you tell me the truth Mio."
She stayed silent.
"You're sure there's nothing you want to say?"
She shook her head, teeth grinding the flesh on the inside of her cheek.
"Alright, well... in that case take your seat and get working on what you've missed. I expect it to be finished by the end of the day tomorrow. Go on." Aizawa nodded his head, turning and coming back around to his desk. He switched a few things around in his file folder for today's lesson, satisfied he'd figure this out.
Aizawa pulled out his phone, not having to scroll at all to find Present Mic's name, a small little heart emoji at the end. 'Hey baby, hope you're enjoying your day off. I have a feeling I might be late coming home today. Just a hunch. Let Shinso and Eri know for me, please? Talk later. Love you.'