Rejected Stones

Making Blood

This document beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

28. Making Blood

The world needs all types of minds.

― Dr. Temple Grandin

It was hard, staying still. Mei wasn't good at staying still. When she'd been bound by ropes and locked in the dark place for a day, it had driven her nearly mad to have to stay still for so long. It had nearly been a mercy when the Hand Man and his cronies had hauled her back to the light.

"So, we hear you can make some interesting inventions. Is that true?" the Hand Man had demanded, scratching at his neck. Mei saw that the skin there was cracked and peeling, as if he did that often.

"My babies are the cutest," Mei said, sitting up slightly. "I'm the world's greatest inventor!"

"Good, good," the Hand Man had hissed. "So, what if we gave you something to make your...babies...with. Would you make something for us?"

"No," Mei had snapped. "You're the bad guys. Izuku and Shinso and Togata and all the others are going to come and beat you up!"

The Hand Man had sighed. "I knew she was going to be more trouble than she's worth. What will we need to do for her to cooperate? I thought she had some sort of mental illness or something."

"Autism is not a mental illness!" Mei had screamed. "It's a neurodivergent form of thinking that-"

"Toga, she's irritating me. Shut her up."

"Oooh, I wonder how your blood tastes," the Knife Girl had laughed. And then the pain started. The pain only ended when she blacked out.

She'd awaken later in another nightmare. The Masked one was there, with his terrible hands and voice. But he was there. The Hero. The one Izuku liked. The one Hari, and her parents, and even the brats liked. "All Might?" Mei had croaked, feeling weak and listless.

"Don't worry, Hatsume!" All Might had laughed. "For I am here!"

But then he'd been hit by the Masked. And by the Sword Lizard. And the Teeth Monster. Again, and again, and again. And then he was still All Might, but wrong All Might.

I am going to die, Mei had realized. I'm sorry, Izuku. Someone else will have to make babies with you and keep you safe.

But then, he had come. Izuku, with their cutest, most wonderful baby, had come. He'd come to keep Mei safe, just as Mei and their babies kept Izuku safe.

And then it all went wrong. Izuku broke. Their baby broke. Mei had screamed again, she had cried. There was too much noise, too much pain.

But then friends had come. The fast one had gotten Mei, and taken her away. She'd tried to tell him to go back, tried to tell him to get Izuku and to make sure Izuku and their babies were safe, but Mei couldn't think, couldn't speak.

And now, she had to be still, or the needle would come out.

"The human body is 7% blood by volume," Mei said, trying very hard to be still. "I weigh 50.2 kilograms. That means, I have 3.5 kilograms of blood. That is 3.35 liters of blood. I can lose about 1.67 liters of blood. I did lose that much blood. I need another 1.67 liters of blood, which is 1.75 kilograms."

It was very hard to stay still. Mei stared at the ceiling, and counted the corners of the tiles. She tried to calculate the area of the ceiling, but her eyes wouldn't work right. She closed her eyes. They would never work right again.

"She's useless to us. We already have her blood. Her vision quirk might be useful to you, master. It's a vision enhancing quirk. Why don't you take it?"

"How thoughtful of you, Tomura, looking after an old man with such filial piety. A vision quirk could indeed be beneficial to me as my eyes regrow."

The Mask had put out his hand. And...and something had gone out of Mei. Here her eyes didn't work right. They wouldn't work right again. But it was OK. Because Izuku was OK. They would make a baby that fixed Mei's eyes, together.

Izuku was in the hospital with Mei. Hari said the doctors had been forced to amputate most of Izuku's arm. That was alright. He could give hugs with one arm. And Mei would make him a special baby. Her cutest one yet. An arm for Izuku. As soon as she could move again. Being still was very, very hard.

Especially because Mei did not know how big the ceiling tiles were. That was very important. If Mei knew how big the ceiling tiles were, she could calculate the area of the ceiling. If she knew the area of the ceiling, then it would be able to stay up. Since she couldn't do that, she kept her eyes closed and pretended it was not there.

"Young lady, are you awake, woof?"

Mei opened her eyes, even if they didn't work right. She saw a doggy in a suit talking to her. That was strange, because doggies were not supposed to talk, but Mei would practice her social skills and not tell the doggy it shouldn't talk.

Mei nodded. "Yes, doggy."

"I am Kenji Tsuragamae, woof. I'm the chief of police. I'd like to ask you some questions, if that is alright."

"It is not. My eyes do not work, and I am trying to calculate the area of the ceiling. How big are the ceiling tiles?"

"Woof? I'm sorry?"

"I need to know how big the ceiling tiles are," Mei said, closing her eyes. "Then I can answer your questions."

"I see. Well, I'll be back in a moment, woof."

It was quiet again. Mei practiced being still. She needed blood back in her body.

"The ceiling tiles are each 150 centimeters in diameter. There are-"

"The ceiling is 20.87 meters square," Mei said, opening her eyes. "Thank you. That was bothering me. I am sorry, I haven't had to count things or know how big they are in a very long time. But I can't move, and I can't build my babies, and I don't feel good. I can answer your questions, now."

"Um, very well, woof. Let's start with what happened in the forest."

"I don't remember. I didn't feel good, and then I fell and Izuku couldn't pick me up. And then I was trapped and couldn't move. And then the Hand Man tied me up and locked me away, and-"

Mei tried to tell the police dog everything. At least talking let her move a little bit.

"Thank you, that's very helpful, Miss Hatsume. I'll be going now. If there's anything you need, don't-"

"How is Izuku?" Mei demanded.

"He is...well, he's alive, woof. That's what's important."

Mei nodded. "Ok. How are my babies?"

"Those are... your inventions, yes?"

"My babies," Mei repeated. "How are they?"

"I am sorry. That remarkable suit you and young Midoriya constructed was nearly completely destroyed. We're studying what's left of it, woof. When you're better, maybe you can fix it. The rest of the items you and young Midoriya made, well, some are damaged or destroyed, woof. The rest have been taken. Perhaps we can return them to you later."

"Ok." Mei closed her eyes, trying not to cry. All her babies, gone. But that was ok. She could make more babies. She couldn't make another Izuku. But she could fix him.

The police dog left. Mei practiced being still. She was still for so long, she finally fell asleep again. Making blood made you tired.

Authors Note:

Originally I wanted this story to include more chapters from Mei's perspective, but I quickly realized that writing things from her point of view would be very, very hard, and make it difficult for the narrative to come through. This is because as Mei thinks differently than everyone else, she also perceives everything differently too. Things that make sense to her wouldn't to others, and vice versa, so I've unfortunately had to limit the chapters that come from her thoughts.