Mortality

4. Into the Flames

Midoriya found himself back home after a very fussy night in the hospital. His mum had stayed with him the whole night he was there, refusing to leave his side, and he believed that was because she was scared he was going to somehow disappear on her again.

The fretting didn't stop when he was released to go back home. He still needed a lot of rest, so that is what he mainly did. But sometimes, when he was awake, he would find his mum just standing there staring at him. However scary it was, he found himself being patient, as he understood how horrific the whole ordeal must have been for her. He couldn't imagine what he would be like if it was the other way around. At least she had stopped crying now.

But she looked at him with such sadness, like she understood something he didn't.

He almost thought she would be happy, knowing that he couldn't die. He hoped that would help with some of her fears for his safety. But it almost seemed to do the opposite.

When they had returned back he had seen the funeral arrangements across the coffee table that his mum had been trying to sort through when she had got the call to the hospital. Seeing a picture of yourself on a memorial pamphlet was a surreal experience. It didn't feel real, almost like it had been made for a poor joke, but it helped him realize what exactly his mum had gone through without him. It was like seeing an alternate universe where you were dead.

Aizawa-sensei and All Might had stopped by to check on him and his mum the day he got released from the hospital. They had appeared mainly to make sure that everything was okay, and to ask if they needed anything. Aizawa-sensei told him that they were ready to welcome him back whenever he was ready to return, that his classmates were missing him. And that is what started the debate he was waiting for with his mum.

It was like that moment when All Might had come to their apartment to discuss Midoriya moving into the dorms. He knew of his mum's feelings, but he was almost still shocked to hear them. He remembers what she said when she first mentioned that she wanted him to leave UA. But All Might had made a promise with his mum that he would give his life to protect Midoriya if she was willing to allow it. Midoriya felt it was all different now. He felt as if those promises didn't matter anymore. He didn't need protecting, as he couldn't die.

"I know what you are going to say Izuku," his mum said after she said goodbye to his teachers. She turned to him from her place near the door with such a worrying look on her face.

He had told her before that it didn't matter if she pulled him out of UA, he was still going to be a hero no matter what. And he still held to that, but he wanted to convince her that UA wasn't the enemy. "I-"

"I want to be supportive, you know that," his mum cut him off. "But please consider that you shouldn't go back, please."

Midoriya could feel his heart jam into his throat. He didn't want to have this conversation again, he didn't want to make her worried about him. He promised her that he wouldn't. But he was never that lucky.

"I want to go back, this hasn't changed anything for me."

"That's because to you it's like nothing has happened! You weren't here that week you were dead!" His mum cried. "You were dead Izuku. It wasn't like you were injured in the hospital wondering if your hand would be okay – you were dead."

"I'm so sorry mum. I don't want to make you worried about me, I don't mean to. But despite even this, I am –"

"Going to become a Hero." His mum gave him a small smile. It reminds him of that time when he was younger when they first discovered he was potentially quirkless. "I know. It is what you have wanted all your life, and I have resigned myself to the fact that not even I would be able to stop you, or should be able to stop you."