☆ My Hero QUEST! ☆

Chapter 28: Battery

As he ran, Deku looked down at Eri who was looking up at him. He mustered a nervous half-smile.

"We're gonna get you out of here alright?" he said, determined, "We're gonna save you Eri!"

*THUMP*

Deku found himself falling to the ground. He put his hands over Eri's head to protect her from the impact.

"Aghh..." he groaned under his breath. He slowly looked up to see who he bumped into.

"Oh, Todoroki!" Deku exclaimed with a grin, "I'm so glad you're here! We've been worried about you! We thought you got lost and-"

Todoroki looked down upon Deku, his left eye glowing under the layer of ice on the left side of his body. Deku's grin faded a little.

"...what's all that ice doing on your face...?"

Todoroki didn't give Deku an answer.

"OH! Is it some sort of defense form for your power? Does it help control your ice power better like some kind of ultimate move??"

Still no answer.

"...A-are you here to help me and Mirio...? Did you already take down Nemoto, Sakaki, Mimic, and Rikiya downstairs with Tamaki, Nejire, and the-"

"Where's Nejire?" Todoroki asked coldly.

Deku was thrown back by his question, "Uh...downstairs? Didn't you just come from down there?"

Todoroki quickly turned around to go back down the stairs to find his target. Afterward, he'd kill Kirishima for lying to him.

Before he can go far, however, he felt a tug at his vest.

"...Todoroki," Deku said, his voice more anxious, "Mirio's gonna need help! He's fighting Overhaul on his own! Can you please take Eri somewhere safe downstairs?"

Deku was already bringing Eri closer to Todoroki. The girl clawed onto Deku's vest, refusing to let go.

Eri?

"That sounds uninteresting." Todoroki retorted, turning to leave.

Eri's head lifted off of Deku's chest. She turned to the prince as if she's recognized that phrase.

Deku didn't let go of the prince's vest, "What do you mean 'uninteresting'?!" Deku questioned, "Look, I don't know if you're stressed about this whole quest thing, or if this has anything to do with your dad...but I care about you Todoroki! After this is over, y-you can talk to me if you need to...I mean, we're friends right?"

Todoroki finally turned to Deku. Deku stared into his friend's dark eyes to find any sign of him caring. Todoroki's eyes glinted a little as if he was finally seeing the greenette for what he was, his friend.

Eri reached her small hands out to the prince and placed them on his cheeks. The single horn on her head began to glow gold light. Deku shielded his eyes from the bright light.

The light dimmed, and Eri winced as she lowered her arms.

Deku looked down at Eri with confusion on his face. What had she done?

"Agh..."

Deku looked up at Todoroki who blinked rapidly. The ice on his left side began to melt and fall off.

"My head....Midoriya?"

"Uhm... yeah?" Deku said with a nervous smile, "are you feeling alright...? You were acting pretty funny before...hehe,"

"Funny... ah.... I was under a curse from one of the villains I think..."

A curse! Deku thought to himself, I didn't even notice! That's probably why Eri didn't want to get close to Todoroki, it must have broke just now...

Deku wondered what could have broken Todoroki's curse. Was it his kind words that reached the prince, or Eri's magic?

He'd never know.

"Uhm, that girl did magic right?" Todoroki asked.

Deku snapped back to reality and looked down at Eri who didn't look at either boy.

"I guess so..." Deku said quietly, looking down at Eri, "But what power do you have exactly?"

Eri didn't answer.

"Maybe she helped break my curse," Todoroki insisted, "But if that were the case, then she'd have to have been the one to cause it. But that doesn't make sense since Rikiya did it,"

"That's true... but she's apparently the magic source for the whole castle...but could that be the same for the users as well?"

"Giving magic isn't a spell, it's a specialty. So if she's giving magic, then her specialty is-"

"Battery," Eri said quietly.

Todoroki and Deku looked down at the little girl.

"Mr. Overhaul says I'm an evil fairy..." Eri said in a quiet voice, "And evil fairies are batteries... *sniff*"

Tears began to stream down Eri's cheeks. Deku lowered the girl and wiped her cheeks.

"Shh...your not a battery Eri! And you're not evil either! Overhaul's the evil one..."

"Eri..." Todoroki said kneeling, "You're not an evil fairy. Evil fairies are evil people. Do you think your evil Eri?"

Eri turned to Todoroki. She climbed off of Deku and stood in front of the prince. She clutched her dress as she meekly shook her head.

Todoroki saw himself in Eri. his father would call him a "demon" for his fire powers- something he hadn't asked for. He didn't know what this girl could have done to be called an evil fairy, but all he knew was he wanted to freeze whoever was hurting her.

"Powers doesn't make you evil. It's what you do with them. You haven't done anything, so you can't possibly be evil. Whoever called you evil is wrong, and we're gonna make sure they pay for sying it, so you don't have to cry anymore,"

Eri's eyes lit up as she looked up at the prince.

"A-ah! Th-thank you m-mister...Uhm..."

"That's Todoroki," Deku said with a nervous smile, "Or 'Prince Shoto'!"

"Thank you, Mr. Prince Shoto!" Eri exclaimed reaching her hands out to him.

"hah? " Todoroki said to himself confused.

Deku chuckled to himself. Todoroki's confused face was amusing to him.

"Ok then," Deku said, "You take Eri, and I'll go for Mirio!"

"Right," Todoroki said, standing up, "Come on Eri,"

"I-I want to go with him," Eri said pointing to Deku, "I-I want to help the green hair boy!"

"A-are you sure?" Deku asked turning to the little girl.

Eri wiped away the rest of her tears and nodded.

Deku gave her a small smile, "Ok Eri,"

Eri ran up to Deku and Todoroki followed her closely. The three paced towards Overhaul's room.

The three made it to the door. Loud crashes could be heard from inside the room. Before they entered, Deku drew his sword. Todoroki held his pendant with his right hand and held Eri's hand with his left. Todoroki nodded to Deku giving him the o.k to open back up the door.

Deku swung open the door, and his eyes widened.

Overhaul and Chronons weren't blasting at Mirio as Deku thought they would. No, instead they were simply throwing spell books at him. Deku could see an aggravated look on Overhaul's face.

Deku turned to Mirio who simply stood there, his arms to his sides.

And the books simply going through him.

"Mirio..." Deku said in shock, "You're...you're MAGIC!!"