Mortem ad Wrens

Chapter 19: When They Breathe Free

Summary:

tw: abuse, medical trauma

With a crooked smile they asked, "Offer still open?"

Notes:

fun fact there are only two chapters with fewer trigger warnings: 20 and 21

'text' JSL
Text thoughts

"Mori, stay for a moment," Aizawa called out as class filtered out.

'I'll catch up with you,' Akira signed to Mad Banquet before walking over to his desk with their crutches. They were still getting the hang of smooth movement, but Akira was slowly building up speed.

"How are the kids doing?" he asked quietly.

Akira gave a small smile, 'Much better, thank you. Doc says it'll take a couple months for them to recover, but they're on their way.' At Aizawa's raised eyebrow, they continued, 'Doc can see the source of people's pain. Can't do much to help, but it's how we knew what the kids needed.'

"I take it med school is out of their budget?"

Akira nodded and hesitated a moment before signing, 'Thank you. You could've walked away with no one knowing, and you gained more that night than you probably realize.'

'Murder God,' Akira signed, tapping on his shoulder in the locker room. 'You still want the match?'

Bakugo's scowl turned into a chaotic grin, "You're on, Reaper!"

'Pit or tournament rules?' Akira asked as they warmed up.

"Until we have a fucking indisputable win," Bakugo growled.

'Pit it is then,' Akira grinned. They snagged one of the larger sparring areas while discussing the specifics, and to his credit, All Might approached with Anii and an Ectoplasm clone.

"Young Bakugo, Young Mori. You don't usually spar together, is everything alright?"

'We're settling the match that would've happened at the sports festival. To reiterate the rules for their benefit, we go until one of us is incapacitated or yields, out of bounds is not a thing in this, but we will try to keep it in this area. If we need to stop, we sign "yellow flag." Chokeholds are allowed but the other person can tap out to drop the hold.'

Bakugo huffed and nodded, crossing his arms. "I'm not going to tap out."

Akira nodded, knowing it was more for the teachers' benefit. 'Ready?' They noted Ectoplasm's clone and Anii stayed while All Might went back to observing the regular sparring matches.

Bakugo burst forward with an explosion, and Akira deftly dodged, the heat now causing more of phantom pains than a flashback from living with Dabi. As Bakugo course-corrected in mid-air, Akira warped between his shoulder blades, feet hooking into his gauntlets' pins as they warped again and directed their clone to pull back as it fell. The explosion made Bakugo stumble, pitching forward at the unexpected momentum. After a moment, he charged again as Akira wove in between blasts, warping when an explosion got a little too close. The loud pops and crackles still made them wince, but it was progress.

Just as Akira noticed they'd slipped into a pattern, Bakugo was right in their face, shooting an explosion into their stomach. They just barely caught their breath in time to warp before hitting the ground, but the momentum made them stumble as a wave of nausea hit and their legs protested the strain. As Bakugo waited for the smoke to clear, shoulders tense in focus, Akira stalked forward, low to the ground with barely a rustle of fabric buried under the sounds of sparring far away and the ringing in their ears.