The Hope Barely Found

The Lesson

Everyone had gathered outside, Izuku, per usual, between Todoroki and Shinso, although Kaminari was quite noticeably inching nearer and nearer to Shinso.

The sun shone brightly, glinting on the obstacle course in front of them. Their was a long field with cones on either sides, an area with a large hoop and baseballs opposing each other, a grip strength machine, repeating side steps, and a seated toe-touches and sit ups area.

Aizawa explained each task as he went around to demonstrate each one. Izuku's eyes glossed over as he went limp, and in an instant, he was back at the bar.

Looking around cautiously, he noted he was back outside, Eri in chains besides him. Izuku nearly collapsed in relief, and kneeled down to squeeze the little girl in a tight hug that she tearily returned just as hard, desperate for him to stay safe. As long as Eri was okay, he could do anything.

Izuku and Eri were situated behind a brutal course of the Leagues own design, practically made to kill. Not that they'd let him die, of course. Izuku had been through it enough times to know the small tricks to make it less painful. The rolling high off the ground skinny tube, the freezing water, the mini minefield, Nomu, who was always waiting to beat him up, and the race track.

It took a minute for Izuku to realize he was drenched and freezing to the bone. Small scratches covered his arms and legs, and he had basically no breathe. Had he already gone through it a few times? Why couldn't he remember doing so?

Shigaraki's cursed word filled the air from where he was standing with Kurogiri and a sitting-crisscrossed Toga, who was munching on popcorn as she watched intensely. "Again."

Izuku sucked in breathes desperately as he took off running, climbing the tall, old rickety ladder before leaping gracefully onto the spinning tube and quickly racing across it before it could knock him off balance. The punishment for that would've been much worse then the course could ever be.

He let a small whimper slip as he jumped into the ice water, teeth chattering from the cold. Izuku had to fight to keep from going in shock. He started to swim with big and heavy strokes until he reached the end and gratefully clambered out, his whole body shaking harshly.

Next was the mini minefield. Izuku was back on the ground level for this, darting in between bits of grass from the dirt to avoid stepping on a small mine. Right as he was reaching the end he tipped out of balance and his foot fell an inch into the dirt. Izuku dove for cover right away as the ground behind him exploded. Kurogiri hummed in disappointment, and Shigaraki rolled his eyes.

Izuku didn't wait around before jumping up and running towards the race track. He had two minutes to run a mile. Racing around the track after the cold water was good to warm back up, but a new scratch was oozing blood on the back of his neck. Izuku was starting to get dizzy as black dots threatened to take over his vision.

Drenched in sweat, Izuku paused just long enough for Shigaraki to give the tiniest of nods that he did alright in timing so he could take off towards Nomu. Everything in him was screaming and shouting at him to run away, aching in protest, but he could feel Eri's big eyes on his back that most likely were red from silently crying as she tried to muffle her sobs.

So Izuku kept going. Because he had to. Nomu had the obvious advantage of not being exhausted, even though he still had his own share of scratches from their previous fights. Izuku jumped onto Nomu, catching him off guard, and slammed his head into the side of the bar. Nomu roared in pain and Toga clapped and loudly cheered from the side.

It didn't take much struggle for Nomu to throw Izuku off, slamming him into the ground much harder then Izuku had managed to slam him. The breathe left his body, and his vision blurred even more. Nomu sent a hard kick at Izuku before he could get up, flinging him across the ground even further. This time, Izuku felt a rib crack. Everything was in circles around him. The room wouldn't stop moving. Izuku couldn't get up.