No Choice |VILLAIN!DEKU|

Chapter 40

Izuku, for what must have been the millionth time in his life, opened his eyes and found that he was in a hospital room. This time, however, something felt… different.

The heart monitor beeped rhythmically, letting Izuku know that his heartbeat was definitely still there. That seemed promising. His green eyes scanned the room, searching for clues as to what was going on. There was a TV in a corner of the room. The volume was turned down, so Izuku couldn’t hear much of what they said - just the gentle thrumming of the news. He could, however, read the date on the screen. That couldn’t be right. 

June 12, 2403.

He could have sworn the year was 2400. 

There was a sound to Izuku’s left. He turned to look. Inko snored gently from where she sat in her chair. She had bags under her eyes that looked as though she hadn’t slept in years. Her hair had occasional streaks of gray running through the green and her face held more lines than Izuku remembered.

“Mom?” Izuku whispered. His throat felt scratchy from disuse. Inko did not wake up.

Izuku tried moving his arms. There was a glass of water on the bedside table and he definitely needed a sip. He lifted his hand from the bed and it was as though he was lifting some sort of alien and sore extra appendage that had just sprouted out of his body. 

With an extreme amount of effort, Izuku sat himself up on the hospital bed and slowly grasped the glass. The cool water rushed down his throat, immediately soothing most of the raspiness in his throat. He felt a slight tug on his wrist and noticed he was connected to an IV. 

Maybe he could find out what’s going on if he went into the hallway. His mother looked like she needed the rest. Wincing slightly at the soreness of his muscles, Izuku moved his legs over to the side of the hospital bed and walked to the door, taking the IV drip with him.

The hallway was crowded, but not as bad as it usually was immediately after a large disaster. Izuku supposed that made sense considering nobody was actually hurt. Technically. But wouldn’t they still have to do a general check-up just in case? He stood in the doorway, watching nurses rush to and fro as they tried to complete all of their tasks. Izuku had a healthy respect for nurses. He still does, and so do I. In fact, Dear Reader, I hope you respect them as well. They definitely deserve it.

One of the nurses stopped and looked at Izuku as he loitered in the doorway. He was holding a tray that was, luckily, empty considering what happened next; he looked like he was a nurse in training. Izuku, feeling slightly awkward, did a small wave at the nurse. 

There was a loud crash! as the metal tray hit the ground.

Apparently, Izuku was in a coma for three years.

After the nurse-in-training freaked out and dropped the tray, a more experienced nurse spotted Izuku and promptly led him back into his room and promised him answers as long as he let her do a routine examination. The two had to whisper so as to not wake Inko who slept in the corner of the room as the nurse filled Izuku in on his situation.

He had been in a coma for three years. Nobody believed that Izuku was going to live.

“You were brought in covered in holes and ripped nearly to shreds. We couldn’t tell you had a pulse until we hooked you up to the machine. The doctors didn’t understand why you just kept bleeding because you had certainly lost more blood than most people have in their bodies. But your mom insisted we at least try and see if we could help you. Tilt your head back, please.” The nurse flashed a small light into Izuku’s eyes. “We were going to give you another week before we pulled the plug. You’re lucky you woke up when you did. I don’t blame you though, your body was barely healed until recently. I’d imagine if you woke up a year ago then you would probably have immediately fallen unconscious again just to escape the pain of having nearly every injury imaginable.”