Scars That Mend - Kiribaku Emergency Services AU

Bleeding Out

We've lost one of our own.

The words echoed in my mind on repeat as we made our way to Station 16. The car ride with Shoto was silent, spare the almost-indecipherable garbled speech from his radio. He looked unruffled, as usual, but I sensed a sort of tension in the detective; the way he gripped the steering wheel, the way his jaw firmed with each turn closer to the station. He was much more affected by the sudden news than he was letting on. 

We arrived quickly - Shoto taking quiet back streets to get us there sooner - and hopped out of the car, making our way from the parking lot to the station. The bay doors were closed, and the automatic door light that usually stayed on outside of daylight hours was off, signalling to me that there was something more going on than just losing a colleague - something that would probably affect us all.

Shoto and I entered through the front door, making quick work of the staircase and barging into the break room - the only lit room in the building. Tai sat at the table with his head in his hands, Hanta to his left and Hitoshi on the opposite side of the table. Rikido was leaning against the counter, fingers gripping the edge like he was moments away from collapsing. Emi, Mei and Mirio were the only ones not accounted for.

"Shit..." I hissed, looking around at my grieving colleagues. They all wore grimaces; they'd obviously already found out...or even witnessed what happened.

I felt Shoto shift beside me. "Where is Aizawa?"

Hitoshi gave us a grim look and pointed to the Chief's dim office. Shoto led the way, knocking gently on the door. The Chief gave a grunt and we entered, being hit with the heavy atmosphere as soon as we saw the Chief's drawn face. 

"Sit." He grunted, rubbing his bloodshot eyes. "Sorry to call you both that way. I was...shaken up. I should have waited for you to arrive."

"It's okay..." I breathed.

"What happened?" Shoto queried, his tone softer than usual.

Aizawa shook his head. "We had another anonymous tip. We scouted the outside first to make sure nobody was nearby - Todoroki, your colleague Fumikage and some officers helped with that. We found nothing out of the ordinary. Mirio and Mei went inside to check for charges..."

The dark-haired man stopped suddenly, pausing to get his breathing under control. "The place went up while they were inside - a motion trigger, we think. Mirio was closer to the exit, and Mei was on the upper floor."

"A-are they okay?" I asked in a small voice, knowing from the Chief's call that the answer was going to be 'no'. 

He swallowed hard, looking up at me with pleading pewter eyes. "We pulled Mirio out - he's in the surgery now - Emi is waiting at the hospital for news. Mei..." He let out a ragged breath. "The structure collapsed underneath her. She was impaled on a busted water pipe. She...she bled out before we could recover her."

I saw Mei's golden eyes flash in my mind, happy and energetic as they always were - always used to be. Aizawa's perpetually solemn face cracked, showing the shattered man beneath. Shattered, broken and desperate; he covered his eyes with his hand as he wept silently. I felt tears roll down my own cheeks, but I was so deep in shock that I barely noticed. 

Mei...was dead. 

"I'm sorry for your loss." Shoto said quietly, his voice distant. "I never met her, but I'm sure she was a wonderful person."

I nodded. "She was." Was. Because she's dead.

"Shit." Aizawa muttered through his tears, sniffing back his emotions and wiping his face. "Obviously that was one of the reasons I asked you to come in. The other being...our Station has been put on mandatory shutdown."