Undying Light (MHA x Dark Souls)

Chapter 12 - Aftermath

"IZUKU!"

Dark... so dark... did the abyss spread? No... I just passed out... I can feel the warmth... is it the flame? Why is it so hot? Why... I can feel another warmth... it wraps around me like a tight embrace... Ocha? Are you there? I'm tired... is that a light?

I opened my eyes to blindingly bright lights shining down on me. I could barely hold my eyes open against the lights. Is this heaven or something?

I looked over to my side, and saw Ocha lying by my side. Guess I was right.

"You're awake... thank goodness..."

"Oh... I was... Is everyone alright? How long was I out?"

Her face dropped. Something's not right...

"You were out for... around 36 hours."

Oh... not that awful. Could be worse, I could've been out for weeks or something. But... she didn't answer my first question. What's going on?

"Hey... is everyone alright?"

She looked like she was about to start crying. Oh god, is it that bad?

"The abyss knight... killed at least 5 or 6 heroes and about a dozen students. And the civilian casualties... it's horrible..."

"6 heroes, 19 students, 137 civilians, to be exact."

Aizawa walked in through the door, a grim aura plastered across his entire being.

"Though not all of the civilians were killed by the knight."

"What do you mean?"

"The explosion of fire... it leveled buildings around it. Many were crushed to death in the rubble."

Oh. Oh... oh god I did that... I... I k-kil...

"I killed people?"

The tears were already streaming down my face as I broke down. I killed people? Sure, I've killed things before, but those were darkwraiths and things corrupted by the abyss, that's different than killing a civilian...

Wait, the buildings around it? Does that mean... no...

"I-is my mom ok? Please tell me she didn't die!"

Aizawa turned to the curtain to my left, separating me from the next bed. He pushed it back, and on the hospital bed, IV's trailing from her arms and oxygen mask covering her mouth, laid my mom.

"She isn't dead, but... still pretty bad."

If I was broken down before, then was shattered like a pane of glass now. My anguished sobbing filled the room with a sense of despair. Even as Ocha held me in her arms, I was still inconsolable. I couldn't bear the thought... my mom could die because of me...

"Hey, what about your drink?"

What? Who was that?

I looked up to see Kirishima standing in the open doorway.

"That drink of yours, the healing one. Could that work?"

A glimmer of hope.

"I-I do-don't know... maybe?"

I spoke through a veil of tears and anxiousness, but this new glimmer of hope began to wear away. I could heal her, just maybe... then I remembered just how much it burns when you drink it.

"But I don't know... if it works on regular people. I'm undead, it might only work for me-"

"I'll test it."