A Bolt of Hope

Chapter 28 - A Step in the Wrong Direction -

The bustling train and its passengers woke up Leizcio from his slumber as he notices that he has arrived at his stop. He gets up and nearly stumbles from it, but manages to walk normally to get to class. It was the first time today that he didn't go to U.A with Ochaco, but he couldn't bring himself to this time around.

"Morning Esperanza! You're here earlier than normal!" Iida loudly says noticing Leizcio enter the classroom. Leizcio simply nods at him as he stumbles his way over to his seat.

As everyone else begins to come into class, Aizawa walks in and begins homeroom. Leizcio was barely paying attention, doing his best to pay attention and not doze off.

"Internships are going to begin tomorrow so get ready for that. Remember where the agency your going to is located and get the most out of what you can from this." Aizawa told the class, reminding them of their internships. For better or for worse, Leizcio's internship with that "Blink" Pro Hero was quite a bit away from where he usually patrolled.

After homeroom was finished, classes would proceed and continued as normal. Leizcio struggled to stay awake, even having to use his quirk to shock himself awake, getting him some concerning looks from his classmates.

Once lunchtime came about, Leizcio was going to get some food but realized he didn't have any money leftover to get any food from Lunch Rush. Sighing, he decides to head back into class and just wait for lunch to be over. On his way over, he nearly stumbled onto the floor.

"Shit..." Leizcio muttered as he slowly picked himself back up. His energy was low and he's barely been able to stay awake, much less pass out. Taking the chance, he sits down at his seat and closes his eyes.

Wasn't too long before he'd open his eyes again as the bell rang as lunch ended. As he takes out his notebook, he notices a shiny thing laying in the bottom of his backpack. Taking it out, he sees that it was one of his high-calorie bars that was half-eaten. Despite being hungry, he puts it back in, deciding to eat it after classes are over.

He continued the same routine yet again, just barely enough for classes to be over. Today has been like hell for Leizcio as he's been fighting off the drawbacks his quirk has taken on him and more. The last period is dismissed and as Leizcio is about to stand up, he gets dizzy as if he had iron deficiency but quickly regains his posture.

-zap-

"Agh! What?!" Leizcio asked in an irritated tone looking at Kaminari. Kaminari jumped a bit hearing Leizcio slightly raise his tone a bit at him.

"Nothing man! You just seem really out of it today!" Kaminari says slightly backing up. He wasn't the only one to take notice of this but he went ahead and tried to say something of it.

"Look, I'm just tired okay? I just need to get some rest and I'll be fine." Leizcio said half-assedly as he gets up and gets ready to leave the class. Kaminari looks in concern as he leaves hoping that what he said was true.

"Do you think something's going on with Esperanza?" Midoriya asked Ochaco as he was packing his things.

"He probably just stressed with the internships coming up." Ochaco told Midoriya. She knows the reason why Leizcio's mood has shifted so suddenly but she can't talk about it with anyone else other than him.

Slowly walking over to the gates of UA, Leizcio finds each step a bit of a challenge. Reaching into his bag, he decides to eat the rest of the bar that he saved. While it didn't take effect immediately, he felt slightly better and continued.

But it didn't take much time after for the drawbacks to hit him hard as he nearly fainted and almost hit the ground. He should've but there was someone who managed to grab him by his arms before he fell.

"Esperanza are you okay? I can take you to see recovery girl if you need to." Yaoyorozu offered as she helped Leizcio stand up.

"No! Please, I don't need that. I just need to get some rest. That's all." Leizcio said with a slightly raised tone. Unsurprisingly, what he said wasn't convincing considering that he has eyebags and seems to be a bit skinnier than before.

"Esperanza, It's clear tha- What's that?" Yaoyorozu said as she noticed something coming out of Leizcio's sleeves. A medical bandage that had come undone was slightly hanging outside of Leizcio's sleeve and upon Yaoyorozu pointing it out, he shoves it back in.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it alright?" Leizcio said trying to finish the conversation. He didn't give her the chance to speak as he went on ahead walking towards the station.

An attempt to hide his emotions with everything going on has only made it worse for Leizcio as he pushes people away, but some try to pull him in.

Leizcio is about to approach the alley he changes in but is suddenly grabbed and pulled over to another part of it.

"Leizcio what's going on? I know something is up so don't try hiding it with 'I'm just tired'." Ochaco scolds as she confronts him over his sudden attitude shift.

"Look, I just am tired, I just-" Leizcio suddenly winces in pain as Ochaco rolls up his sleeve. There reveals a heavily bandaged arm that's been bloodied. Some of it becomes undone and reveals a small bit of the wound he got from last night.

"I know it's tough, but I told you to watch out for yourself and be careful!" Ochaco says in irritation but also worried.

"I just got caught off guard was what happened okay?" Leizcio said, trying to fix his bandages. However, in trying to do so his vigilante hoodie falls out of his backpack and lays on the floor. Scratches, burns, and dirt cover the sweater showing just how much it's been through. There was even blood that got stained onto it that looked recent.

"Have you been lying about helping your friend? What's actually happening Leizcio? We're worried!" Ochaco pleaded in frustration hoping to get to the root of whatever is causing Leizcio to act like this.

"This isn't something you can help with Ochaco. This is my problem to deal with." Leizcio said as he picked up his hoodie from the ground. Before she got to say another word, Leizcio used his quirk to bolt off into the distance.

- - - -

"Finally... Back..." Leizcio pants as he slows down and walks into the warehouse. He puts down his backpack and starts to take off his school uniform.

Bandages stretching along his chest, a few scars left uncovered still in the process of healing. He begins to unravel some of the old bandages he had on and sees that they're still not gone yet. Getting some fresh bandages that he stored, he starts to wrap them around the wounds. He clenches his teeth as he tightens the wraps. A few tears of pain escape his eyes dripping onto them, whilst it might be from the physical pain he's been enduring the whole day, he can't help but cry from wondering why any of this had to happen.

Tightening the last bandage, Leizcio wipes his eyes, drying them from the tears he had. As he gets up to try and leave the warehouse, his legs suddenly fail him and he falls down to the floor. Overusing his quirk last night despite what he ate burnt him out and having eaten practically nothing but a half a high-calorie bar, it was a miracle that he was able to stay conscious until school was finished for the day.

Crawling over to his sleeping bag, he passes out. The physical damage exhausting his body but the emotional pain making him give in.

Chapter 28

End

[A/N]

Hey y'all! Sorry for the wait, chapters might take a bit longer to come out since I'm going back to college now. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See y'all next time! Peace!