Blossoms of the Dark

CXLIII Selene: Upheaval

 Now when I open my eyes, I wake up to a sterile, white ceiling.

Ah, the hospital.

Wait, why am I in the hospital?

The answer to that question comes soon enough. My body feels like a mountain. Heavy, hard, and tiresome. I can't even bring myself to sit up. All that I manage is to turn my head from side to side. The heart and breath monitor shows normal values. An IV needle penetrates my cephalic vein. From that and the fatigue, I presume that I had surgery.

A young nurse comes in to check in on me. She introduces herself and helps me sit. I ask her to tell me all that has transpired. My voice feels like gravel and sandpaper. She tells me that The League of Villains kidnapped me and Bakugou-san. Both of us were missing for two days. Then some of my classmates grouped together to rescue us. They managed to safely save the Bakugou-san, but I was not so lucky. He tried to bring me with him, but I fell almost twenty-five meters to the ground. All my appendages were broken. Compound fractures. Then some concrete slabs crushed my legs. Compound and comminuted fractures. "This rescue was kept under wrap-ups because unlicensed students were involved," she says. "But us doctors and nurses were told the entire situation. We had to take you in for emergency surgery. External blood loss. Internal bleeding. Broken bones. Your lungs were nearly punctured. You were kept sedated for four days as more surgeries had to take place."

I almost laugh. The Bone Crusher Killer had her bones crushed! How ironic! At the very least, the sleeping pill I took was very effective. No sensation of the pain, until now. I urge her to tell me more about what happened. I learn that U.A. deceived the public and the villains with a broadcast while organizing troops of heroes to infiltrate the League's base. The bar was compromised. The location where the noumu were kept was compromised. All for One and All Might had a grand battle. The League of Villains escaped unscathed, but All for One was captured. All Might's true form was revealed: a withered, sick man. The figure once known as the Symbol of Peace is dead, and all that remains is a husk.

I have a lot to process. But when the nurse lingers for a moment too long, my wariness rises. "There are some things you should know," she murmurs. "The first is that despite all the advancements in medicine and health quirks out there, some injuries cannot be healed. I was told that you have juvenile arthritis. But you could walk for a short time without your cane, right?" I nod slowly, ever suspicious. "Well ... your legs ... they were so damaged that I'm afraid you won't be able to walk without support again. You need physical therapy, and you won't be able to perform hero duties for a long time."

Now I do laugh. Sardonically. "Perhaps that statement should hurt more than the fact that my prized cane has been missing for nearly two weeks. Look at me! At age fifteen, my joints have reached age ninety. I ought to start using a geriatric cane!" She doesn't reciprocate. I don't expect her, too. My false joviality sobers. "You said that was the first thing I had to know. What are the rest?"

She gulps nervously. "For the surgeries, we had to strip you. There were ... there are letters etched into your skin. Slurs. And hundreds of other scars. By any chance, are you-"

I interrupt her, knowing just what she is about to ask. "Is there more? Tell it all to me right now, fearlessly."

Perhaps I should have spoken less defensively. The nurse swallows again before saying what I did not expect. "We performed a physical checkup of you. And you showed signs of assault and miscarriage. What you were thinking were intense period cramps was actually your body having a miscarriage. It happened so early that it was understandable that you would confuse your period for a miscarriage. It was just that trace amounts of fetal and placental tissue were detected, and that's how we knew."