Fractures

Chapter 33

"We knew." Aizawa placed a stack of paper on another and pinched the bridge of his nose as if that would make his headache go away.

It has been a day since they were back from camp. A day and yet it felt like a lifetime, hospital visits and talks with the police, filling out reports and planning for the next move.

Aizawa sat slumped in his chair, his hair tangled and his eyes shadowed by the lack of sleep and worry.

And now on top of all of that, he had to deal with Ryuu.

After the events of camp, when the villains seemingly retreated, he ventured out to try and find his students that stayed in the forest.

What he found was a disaster.

Injured and unconscious kids lying in fields, where their peers watched them even though they weren't in a better state to begin with. But the worst was when he got to the field where the villains retreated from.

He found a group of broken kids, frozen in defeat and tears streaming down their cheeks. Midoriya was still on the ground, his consciousness barely keeping him awake, but he was already catatonic. The only thing he repeated was your name and Bakugo's.

Ryuu next to him, at this point kneeling on the ground so stiff, Aizawa wondered if he got hit by some sort of quirk. But he didn't; the boy merely felt like his entire being was shattered and he didn't know how to put it back together again. Not without you.

You were supposed to be here with him. He was supposed to keep you safe. He promised his brother he would do that.

But he still saw your face, the one brimming with tears despite your farewell smile and your hand still reached for him.

The ambulance had to get him up from the ground.

They wrapped a blanket around him, said that he was in shock, like all the others around him, and they gave him something so that he could sleep, so that he could forget for the minutes of blissful darkness.

When he woke up, he was in a hospital, and for a moment he was confused, but then he remembered and he cried some more, this time the tears more filled with grief than shock. They discharged him that day, said he only had minor injuries and that he could go home.

But he didn't want to go home. Because he had none. Without you it would just be an empty space, too big to fill only by himself.

So he went to the police station instead.

Argued with the man at the front desk until someone else came down to see what the commotion was about. When he looked at Ryuu, he waved the policeman off and told him he could go upstairs with him.

Ryuu recognized Tsukauchi, the same policeman that came to them after the USJ. He seemed the same, except for the tired circles that formed under his eyes. When he looked around Ryuu realized everyone seemed to have them. They all have been up all night, trying to figure out what to do.

Aizawa was sitting at a desk, a steaming cup of coffee in front of him untouched. Vlad was next to him, the two of them recounting the events of the night, grief and regret furrowing the brows of both.

"You have a visitor." Tsukauchi announced, standing sideways so the teachers could notice Ryuu behind him.

Aizawa glanced up, but he wasn't surprised. He thought the boy would come.

"Do you know where she is?" Ryuu asked, his voice still weak from the smoke he inhaled and the meds they gave him.

"Not right now, no."