Too Deep Too Late (Suicidal Izuku Midoriya)

A new day brings hope

...

" A form of rejuvenation?" Aizawa Shota asked, standing in the doctor's office with his bandaged arm and stitched side. On his healthy hand was a sizable black notebook, held in a way which indicated secrecy. His usually black hero gear had been changed to blue hospital pyjamas and a matching robe to keep him warm. On his feet were cheap, extremely uncomfortable slippers, also courtesy of the hospital.

The hero readjusted the notebook and suddenly winced, the stitches stretched his sensitive skin with a painful tug.

A nurse on his left gave him a concerned look before ushering the man to sit down on a plastic chair. It creaked concerningly under his weight, but he did not bother to get up again.

" Something like that." A doctor sitting opposite to the hero said quietly. Even if the doors were closed, one could never be too careful when speaking about important matters. "Based on what Midoriya-san has told us, her touch alone was enough to turn his injured body back to a previous state of existence. He estimated months, but we can't be certain how far it could possibly take if given the chance. Eri isn't on any of our records, which indicates she has never received formal quirk education or counselling. That leads us to believe she could be fully incapable of controlling it."

" Yes, the report we received stated as much." Aizawa nodded. "The horn on her head seems to be related to her quirk in some way."

" You're right, Eraser. From Midoriya's statements we gathered that it could be tied with her energy and quirk usage. It might also be able to tell us if she's about to lose control of it." He placed a sheet of paper onto the table, scribbled from front to back in a slightly crooked handwriting. "Your student certainly seems to think so, he's given us a quite thorough analysis on her quirk, which he labelled as 'Rewind'. Very detailed, if I do say so myself."

" That's Midoriya for you." Aizawa said with a shrug but on the inside, he felt a surge of pride.

" Hm. Well, I don't think we need to be concerned about the girl, the horn has only grown smaller since she's been here."

" And as you might guess, right now, there's not enough energy in that girl to do anything. The whole ordeal with the escape must have worn her out." The nurse woman faced away from the hero and placed a hand onto her cheek, worried. "We had hoped Eri would fall asleep and give her body the much-needed rest after everything but that doesn't seem to be happening."

" And why is that?"

The nurse raised an eyebrow as she turned her attention back to the teacher. "Haven't you seen them? She seems to be fully attached to that boy." She emphasized by locking her fingers together. "She has kept an eye on Midoriya ever since he came back from surgery. Stayed by his side and not moved at all, it's so sad really."

Aizawa could imagine the children, together in a room, one on the bed and the other standing by. Izuku peacefully sleeping under the white covers, Eri staring unwaveringly at him, waiting for him to wake up, and thus unable to feel secure enough to calm down and rest. The man knew from his years as an underground hero how children from bad homes sometimes slept in shifts, but he wasn't really sure if that was the case here.

" We couldn't separate them, she wouldn't let go of his hand. We just stopped trying after a while and put them both in the same room."

He'd have to go and see for himself, Hizashi might appreciate some pictures.

He missed Hizashi, his gentle hands and his soft long hair. Missed the way his eyes lit up in the mornings and how he always seemed to know what to say.

...

The day Izuku had gone missing had started out good.

The door to their shared closet slid open with a woosh before the mechanisms stopped it from going too far and breaking. Aizawa crouched down and began to rummage through the clothes and boxes with their belongings packed messily on top of each other. The noiret was certain Hizashi's psychology textbooks had crushed their fine China dishes, but that would be an argument for another day.