Between Two Worlds (Aizawa x Reader)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Not On My Watch

After another quiet ride to UA, we were on our way to the faculty lounge inside the main campus building. Aizawa hadn't said a word the whole way there. I knew he was the quiet type, but it certainly didn't calm my nerves. I couldn't help but feel like a wreck. How in the world were they going to "rule out" that what I was experiencing was real? Were they going to do various tests on me? How? What's going to happen to me? This wasn't part of the timeline or any arch that I was aware of. For the first time here, I'm going in complely blind.

As we reached the doors, Aizawa opened it for me, allowing me to step in first. As the door shut behind us both, I looked around to see Nezu, Mic, and Midnight around a small desk. They all had a look of seriousness on their faces, and I could feel myself shrink in their presence.

"Ah, glad to see you both made it." said Nezu cheerily, as he offered us both a seat.

Aizawa pulled out a seat for me, but didn't sit himself. Rather, he leaned against the wall behind me and watched us all with his arms crossed.

"You look nervous, my dear." said Nezu as he reassuringly put his paw on my hand, "I assure you, there's nothing to worry about here. We'll see to it that we help you through this ordeal one way or another. Would you like some tea, perhaps?" he offered.

"N-no. Thank you." I stammered, looking down at my hands on the table.

"Should you change your mind, let us know. Your comfort is important to us." he said, still with a smile, "Now, let's go over what's been established before we continue. Miss Doe, if you could fill us in."

I took a deep breath.

"Last night, I kept hearing a consistent beep and voices. I think it might've been an EKG or something. It sounded like doctors were giving feedback to each other about me, like my heart rate and blood pressure." I said.

"And you didn't see any of this happening?" asked Midnight.

"No," I replied, "and that's what was strange. I could hear and feel everything. My head felt like it was in a vice, and my body felt so cold. I've heard that in dreams you can't feel anything, but I could. And I've never had a dream where I couldn't see anything."

I looked around for a moment to gage their reactions. They were all still looking at me with patience and concern.

"But then when I finally opened my eyes, I was in Aizawa's house. No pain, no voices. Nothing." I said, the words hitting me more than before now that I was saying them aloud, "I went back to sleep again that night but don't remember dreaming about anything. It was just blank. And then today, I must've dozed off after eating, and I heard the same beeping as before. I still couldn't see, but I heard different voices."

"Anyone specifically that you could recognize?" asks Present Mic.

I could feel a lump in my throat as tears began to well up in my eyes again.

"Yeah," I somehow managed to say, "My mom and dad."

The room fell silent as I began to tremble. The feeling in the room felt heavy as I tried to keep it together. Before I felt like I was going to snap, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked around and saw it was Aizawa, whose expression was soft and reassuring.

"Please, continue." he said gently, keeping his hand there as I turned back around in my seat.

"I heard them speaking to a doctor, where I then heard him say that I was in a coma and that my injuries were serious."

"And what was his prognosis?" asked Nezu.

"That's the thing," I said, looking at him, "I couldn't hear the rest. It began to fade out as I heard him say the word 'unfortunately'. I tried to scream and yell but nothing came out."

"Well, technically something did." said Aizawa. All of us turned to look at him as he continued, "Originally, I thought she was experiencing a nightmare, but what started as a mumble turned into screaming. I tried to wake her, but she only came to on her own. It wasn't until she told me what lead to that fit that I called you."

"Are we certain that this isn't just a dream?" asked Midnight.

"That is why we're here." said Nezu, "while it is uncommon, feeling sensations in dreams isn't out of the question. However, we're not in normal circumstances, and I'd like to give this new bit of information the benefit of the doubt before ruling it out entirely."

Nezu got up from his chair and began to pace back and forth in the office.

"I've been thinking this over on the way here and I have a few tests I'd like to run. Given the case that we don't want Miss Doe's presence to be known, we can't get hospitals or doctors involved. Therefore, l'd like to keep these tests between only those of us in this room." he said, as he continued to pace.

"And what if there's a medical emergency?" asked Aizawa.

"No need. None of the tests will require anything drastic. Should something arise, I have Recovery Girl on standby. She's been filled in on the situation." he said, still pacing.

I heard Aizawa hum, disapprovingly.

I felt another hand on mine, this time from Present Mic.

"Don't worry about him. He's always overly protective." he whispered as he winked before removing his hand and bringing his attention back to Nezu.

"What I plan will only involve you three and Miss Doe. Given that we need to rule out that these are just dreams, we'll be using Nemuri's quirk to put Miss Doe to sleep. I will keep watch and time these instances, monitoring her vitals as they go. After the timer goes off, Hizashi will then use his quirk to wake her." he said.

"Alriiiiiiiight! I'm already digging this plan!" he said boisterously.

"Keep your excitement to a dull roar." interjected Aizawa, his tone full of annoyance.

"At which point, we will ask you a series of questions and repeat the prior steps. If we find nothing, we can rule it out. If we do, however, we can take further steps to solving this dilemma." he said to me, as he stood still, "If at any point you become overwhelmed or uncomfortable, please let us know and Aizawa will nullify their quirks. We don't want to overexert you."

I looked from him to the ground as I thought over what was just offered.

All of this was happening so quickly, it was hard to wrap my brain around it. I knew that I was in good hands, but the uncertainty of it all still lead me to believe that anything could go wrong here. What if I didn't wake back up? What if they didn't find anything at all? What if they all thought I was faking it? What if I was slowly going crazy?

"Hey." said Aizawa's low voice, snapping me out of my thoughts, "I won't let anything bad happen to you. Not on my watch. You have my word."