My Hero Academia - Some Things Change

Unraveling

The plan came down to Bakugo distracting Hali while Midnight snuck up from behind. He blasted up to the top of the building that she was standing on. "Hali! Stop destroying the school! Let's talk about this!"

"Hali's not available at the moment! Thanks to you we were finally able to infiltrate her mind! We're in control now!"

"Tch. Why don't you come out and fight me instead of hiding behind a girl, you cowards!" Hali, can you hear me?

Yes. I'm trying to fight them off, but I'm having to spend too much of my concentration trying to hold back Cataclysm.

Girls are such friggin' multi-taskers.

I heard that.

He had managed to get close while she distracted them with her efforts to keep them from making her use Cataclysm to destroy the school.

"What do you think you're doing, boy!?! You think you can save her from us!?! How about this, we'll just have to make her destroy you!"

Hali dropped to her knees and clutched her head, tears streaming down her face. "No! Don't make me do this! Bakugo! Run! Please!"

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!"

"Too late." She stood back up, her arms hanging limp at her sides. She raised an arm and pointed a finger at him. "Stun."  She forced herself to look him in the eyes, trying desperately to stop the villains who had taken over her.

"Hali?"

Tears were still pouring down her face. "I can't stop them. I'm sorry." He tried to lift his arm, but was unsuccessful.

"Unravel." It was nothing more than a whisper, but it was like he felt it all the way through to his core. He felt himself spinning into nothing. The last thing he saw was Midnight catching Hali after she was finally successful in putting her to sleep. Midnight reached out to grab him, but it was too late, and the blackness swallowed him up.

"Are you sure, Nezu?" All Might asked his colleague.

The principal nodded, a grim look on his face. "Midnight saw it herself. We've lost a student in this battle."

Mr. Aizawa was frozen in place. He'd never lost a student before. This couldn't be happening. He pulled himself together. "Have you contacted his parents?"

"Not yet. That was next on my list."

"I'll handle it. You need to get started on checking the status of the campus. All Might," he put a hand on the retired hero's shoulder. "It would probably be best if you told Midoriya." He paused. "I should tell the rest of the class, but it would be hard to pull just Midoriya aside right now, so go ahead and tell all of them together."

All Might nodded. He was concerned about how the class would react to the solemn news, but it was important that Aizawa speak with the parents, and if they waited until after that conversation was over, the students would've heard too many rumors and they would be worked up into a frenzy.

He paused before entering the dorm. This was going to be one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do. He opened the door and headed to the common area. All of the class was gathered together. They looked at him expectantly. So they haven't heard any rumors yet. I got to them in time.

Deku ran up to him and opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but All Might held a hand up to him. "I need to speak to all of you. We should do this outside." They looked confused, but followed him.

"Students, I have solemn news."

Deku looked around at his classmates, then back at All Might. He noticed that his mentor's eyes looked red. "All Might, where is Kacchan?!?"

"As you know, there was an attack on the school today."

Deku gripped All Might's arm. He was shaking. "All Might, where is Kacchan!?!"

"Bakugo intercepted the attackers. He succeeded in defeating them, but..."

"But, what?!?" Deku's grip tightened on All Might's arm when All Might fell silent. "Why won't you answer me!?!"

All Might put a hand over Deku's. "I'm sorry, young Midoriya...Bakugo didn't survive the attack."

Most of the class was frozen. This couldn't be real. It had to be one of those weird tests that Mr. Aizawa kept giving them.

Deku dropped to his knees. "No. This can't be happening." Green sparks began to flicker around him. He stared at the ground and put his hands on his head. "This can't be real." All Might tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but he was repelled as more green sparks erupted around Deku. "Nooo!!!" Deku screamed and the ground below him began to crack. "Kacchan!!!" He was about to punch the ground when Uraraka caught his arm and hugged him as hard as she could.

"I'm so sorry, Deku." She pulled back to look him in the eyes. "You have to calm down. You're going to hurt yourself." He stared at her blankly, green sparks still flying from him. One cut her cheek and she winced.

Iida walked over and put a hand on Deku's shoulder. "Uraraka's right. You need to take a deep breath." Deku still didn't respond.

Todoroki walked over and froze one of Deku's arms for a moment. That seemed to snap him out of it. Todoroki thawed his classmate before patting him on the shoulder and offering a hand to him.

"I--" Deku started to say something, but he passed out from the weight of his grief.

Uraraka caught him and used her Quirk to transport him to his bed. "I don't think we should leave him alone. I'll stay with him for now."

Iida nodded. "Excellent plan. I'll check back with you when I can. Call me if you need me sooner."

She nodded. "I will." She turned Deku's desk lamp on so she would have some light before pulling a chair up next to the bed. She reached over to fix his hair, but of course that didn't work; it was always a mess.

She tried to cry quietly so she wouldn't wake him. She couldn't believe this was happening either. They'd almost lost Yaoyorozu just a few weeks ago and now this.

She scrubbed at her face when she saw that Deku had started crying in his sleep. She climbed on top of the blankets and laid down next to him, hugging him to her chest. She stroked his hair and tried to say things that might comfort him.

After a few minutes, about half an hour after he had passed out, he slowly opened his eyes. "Uraraka?"

She released her hold on him and moved to sit back in the chair, but he wrapped his arms around her and laid his head against her shoulder. "Please don't leave, not yet."

She wrapped her arms back around him. "Okay. I'll stay as long as you need me to." She went back to running a hand through his hair, trying to soothe him. He fell back asleep quickly.

She jolted awake when she heard Yaoyorozu running through the halls yelling, "Everyone! Go to the nurse's office! Right now!"

She banged on Deku's door and came barging in. "Uraraka! Midoriya! I have an idea! Come on!"