Daughter of the Hero

Critical

Aizawa had almost fallen out of his chair when he took off running out of the booth. He bolted through the hall and onto the field. He was at his daughter's side before the medical crew was arriving.

He shoved passed Bakugo and kneeled in front of Astrid. The sight was horrifying, sickening: A pike of ice – on the thinner side, but much sharper than the others – sticking out of her side. By the looks of it, it hadn't punctured any major organs, but only the medical team would be able to tell for sure when they got here.

"Just hang in there," he whispered to her. "You're going to be okay... I promise." Astrid's eyes fluttered some, but that was pretty much her only reaction to his voice. As long as it was something.

The emergency medical team arrived with Recovery Girl moments later. Two people went to help Todoroki, but he was up on his feet and waving them away, and another went to tend to Bakugo. The rest hurried over to Astrid.

Aizawa stepped out of their way.

"We have to pull her off of it." Recovery Girl said, "Shota, keep her calm so it will not cause her more pain than it has to."

Aizawa kneeled in front of Astrid once more and took her left hand. It caused her to suck in a sharp breath. He knew she could feel it – she was still partly conscious, after all. "Deep breath, Astrid. Everything is going to be okay. We just need to get this pike out of you – Just like getting a vaccine: Ready? Three... Two... One."

The medical team lifted Astrid from the pike. Her muscles tensed up when they did so, her face contorted with pain. They laid her on a waiting gurney. Aizawa walked with him as they carried her off of the field.

Shoto watched silently, his eyes worried but the rest of his face remaining expressionless. Bakugo was sitting down on the platform, but he too, was watching. He looked more angry than anything, but there was a flicker of worry in his expression, too.

-

The world was spinning and her eyes were barely open. She heard muffled voices around her and black spots danced in her blurred vision. She couldn't focus on anything while red fingers of pain crawled throughout her body

"Stay with..."

She was picked up and transferred to a softer bed. She felt something cold over her face and then it felt like she was drowning, being pulled into a black voice. Something that felt like needles pricked her arm, pulling her closer to the void.

A sweet scent found its way to her senses and her half-open eyelids started to flutter. Within ten seconds, with a violent yank, Astrid was tugged into the black void of unconsciousness.

-

"What were you thinking?" Aizawa's tone was even, but sharp. His eyes were hard, burning with an angry fire, though it was hard to see through the bandages over his face.

Bakugo was looking up at him from where he sat in the nurses office, a bandage over his nose. Recovery Girl had fixed him up – Astrid had given him a broken nose (and Aizawa was proud of it). "If she didn't come in thinking she could win then I wouldn't have had to beat her up like that."

"Beat her up? You almost killed her!" Aizawa shoved his shaking hands into his pockets. "I don't want you anywhere near until she is fully recovered."

"Yeah sure, whatever." Bakugo muttered, angrily watching as Aizawa walked out. He clenched his jaw. He really hadn't meant to hurt her like that – He thought she would've stopped herself from reaching the ice pike. Not that it mattered now, anyways. But now...

He had been so jealous of how Todoroki looked at her. He guessed that she hadn't noticed it yet, but he knew it was likely that Todoroki liked her. Not that he cared... But he'd been so jealous. That green, ugly color growing on him every time he saw Todoroki around her.

Astrid. Astrid Aizawa. His teacher's daughter. The girl with the terrifying quirk. The girl with long, flowing black hair. The girl with eyes as green and as precious as emeralds. The girl that was tall and athletic, and very, very intimidating. But one thing was for sure: She was pretty, smart, strong, and clever. And maybe, just maybe, Kachan liked her a little...

But he was almost certain that she would hate him after what happened. After all, it was his fault that she had an ice pike driven through her side. He shouldn't get hung up about it, though. Because if anyone else realized how he felt about this situation, they'd never let him hear the end of it. He was supposed to be a tough guy, someone people were scared of or intimidated by, not some softy who went and tried to impress a girl.

-

Four days later...

"She's doing a lot better, but still in critical condition. She's asleep now, but we think she'll be strong enough for me to use my quirk to heal her a little more in a day or so." Recovery Girl said as she walked down the hall of UA towards the nurse's office with Aizawa.

Aizawa nodded, "It's good to hear she's doing better." He said distantly, unconsciously touching the new scar below his eye.

Together, they walked into the room. Recovery Girl led him into the private surgery recovery room in the back of the nurse's office. Astrid lay on the bed, her skin pale. She had an IV drip in her arm along with a breathing tube that wove along her face and into her nose. Her eyes were closed and she looked thin and weak, which it was evident that she was. The room was silent except for the quiet hum of the breathing machine and the steady beep of the heart monitor. 

The scene reminded him eerily of Kaiya Nora when she lay in bed, moments after giving birth to their gorgeous little girl. Moments before she passed on. His heart ached to think about it.

A vase of flowers – gorgeous white roses – lay on the stand beside the bed next to the vase of lilies he'd brought her a day ago. This confused Aizawa – he had given Astrid the lilies: Her favorite flower, but he had not given her the roses, and they had not been here when he'd come to visit her after school had ended yesterday.

He must've been staring at them, because Recovery Girl smiled, "One of the boys brought it for her. Well, the boy and his father, though I would allow only the boy inside. Endeavor cannot be trusted around fragile things, after all, we all have seen the affect he's had on Todoroki."

A voice in the back of Aizawa's mind let out a chuckle, but Aizawa himself didn't laugh. A hint of a smile danced in his eyes, before disappearing as soon as he looked down at his daughter again. So similar to Kaiya... Too similar...

"Shota," Recovery Girl said gently. "You have my word: Your daughter will be perfectly fine. I'll give you a few minutes alone."

The door closed and Aizawa sat there for a moment in the chair next to the bed, silent. Then he started to talk quietly to her.

"My gorgeous little girl," he spoke, his eyes trained on the ground. "I should not have let this come to what it has. I should have stopped the fight... You look so much like her... Like Kaiya..."

Aizawa looked up to her lifeless face, "You know, she would be so proud of you. Of how far you have come, of how smart you are, how powerful. You have such a great heart, just like she did." His eyes stung with fresh tears.

"And yet... I know you don't even remember her. But you know his name. The name of the villain that took your mother's life. But you know not the story of that day. And I believe that it is best that it stays that way. One day, you will know... I promise."

He sat back in his chair, his mind being transported to two weeks after Astrid had been born. To Kaiya Nora's funeral.