Requiem of the Broken

Chapter 71: Lasting Pain

Ochako let her head rest against the wall behind her, and just let out a long sigh. She rubbed her face, trying to work the tiredness out of herself. Eventually, food was brought to her, but like the doctor, the nurse quickly left. The next few minutes were spent in silence as she ate the nice meal. Almost a half hour had passed when the door opened again and Tsu popped her head in.

"Tsu!" Ochako said happily.

Tsu immediately came over and the two embraced. Then Tsu pulled up a chair and sat next to her.

"How are you feeling, ribbit?" Tsu asked immediately.

"I can't move particularly well, apart from feeling stiff all over, Zeus's lightning seems to have impacted my motor skills. I just feel sluggish, but at least I can talk fine." She said.

"Is it permanent?" Tsu asked, a look of worry coming over her.

"They aren't sure, lightning injuries are tricky so the best they can do is have me report anything off. Even if my motor skills are impaired for a while, I could get around with my quirk though so it wouldn't be the worst thing." Ochako said, trying to think about the more serious consequences that would result from long-term motor skill impairment.

"But what about you and the others? What's happened?" Ochako asked, changing the subject.

"It's..." Tsu started to say but fell quiet. Ochako could see the struggle as she tried to speak and she felt a pit form in her stomach.

With a sigh, Tsu clasped her hands together before eventually speaking.

"Jirou, Denki, and Shinso are dead along with several teachers and a lot of heroes. Mina is in bad shape, Bakugo is in pretty much the same state you are in, Tokoyami's lost an eye, and who knows how many other heroes have been seriously injured. The city... if you factor in the ruined sector from the war, then combined with the latest damage then the city has been reduced to half of its original size. The only buildings standing from the attack are the police headquarters and several other lucky buildings, but most of those are surrounded by giant piles of rubble that will take weeks or months to clear out. There... we lost... students too... twenty..." Tsu managed to say before she fell silent.

Ochako reached over and took one of Tsu's hands in hers and they just sat there for a while. Eventually, Tsu took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, sniffling as she did so. Ochako was much the same and she used her quirk to float a small pack of unopened tissue over to her. When they'd dried their eyes and calmed down the silence become much more amiable.

"Zeus is currently imprisoned in Tartarus. No idea what will happen from here on out, but since he's the last surviving major officer of the League, then this will be the end of the League for good. A lot of Zeus's forces also consisted of League members so those that remain won't have much of anything left." Tsu said.

"So it's over... almost eight years, and it's finally over," Ochako said, leaning against the wall and letting that fact sink in.

It was a strange feeling, even after the war officially ended, there had always been that lurking fear that there would be a major resurgence. With Zeus, there had been, but now it was all over. No more heads of the hydra left to cut off. For the first time in eight years, she was at a complete loss. So much of her life, or at least it felt like it had been spent fighting and killing. It was hard to imagine a future where that wouldn't be the case. At least not on a scale she had become accustomed to anyway.

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Kirishima and Mina were seated, waiting for someone to fetch them. They'd been told to come by for a follow-up concerning Mina's stab wound so they'd been waiting around for a while. Mina had almost completely fallen asleep, her head resting on Kirishima's shoulder when a nurse came and fetched them.