Ice Cold

A Reason to Stay

You walked out of the hospital and looked up at the sky. Mirio had tears in his eyes, you imagined him still sobbing in the hospital over Nighteye.

But you? Nothing was happening.

Nighteye had trained you for so long when you were small, then Mirio brought you to his agency when you were older. He was one of your greatest teachers.

You clicked your tongue and turned, but water whipped your face. When you turned, the trees were dried and withered and water droplets drifted in the air, as if you were in space.

"So now you want to move?" It suddenly dropped and you rolled your eyes. "If you had moved when Nighteye was dying, maybe I would've been able to heal him. Why are you moving now?"

The water raised again, this time as if it were a wave, rising up to your height. It felt like it was staring you down.

It tilted. As if it were tilting its head.

That's how nature seemed like around you. As if... it were alive. Fire raged when you felt what was described as anger inside. Water flowed and rushed when you felt sadness or grief or regret. Wind roared when you were afraid or worried. Earth was the easiest to maintain, when you were calm or even emotionless.

You held out your hand and a small portion of the "wave" in front of you placed itself on you.

Maybe this was why it felt like it was listening when you were talking to yourself about regrets or worries or... anything, really.

The water dropped and you turned, seeing Aizawa and All Might leaving the hospital. You caught Aizawa's eye and he walked towards you.

"I heard what happened. You can't use your quirk properly?"

"It feels like I just got it. Everything I knew how to do is still in my head, I just can't figure out how to do it."

Aizawa and All Might looked at each other. "With the current situation, I doubt any of the teachers or pro heroes will have time to do one-on-one lessons with you like they used to when you were small."

You looked down. "I'll teach myself. I can figure it out. I don't... I don't need anyone for this."

"Are you sure? We can figure—"

"Give me five days." You bowed. "Please. I want to try. Everything I learned was under the control of my father." You bowed a bit further. "I... can do this. Please."

All Might's eyes softened and he put his hand on your shoulder.

You looked up and he smiled down at you. "We'll give you a whole week if you like."

"...Thank you."

•••

For weeks, you didn't show up at school. When the others - Uraraka, Tsu, Midoriya, and Kirishima - returned, you weren't with them.

"What about Y/N?" Yaoyorozu asked.

Midoriya shook his head. "Not that I know of. Last I saw her, she was in the hospital."

"But I heard that she was discharged long before Amajiki-senpai and I." Kirishima jumped into the conversation. 

Shouto didn't think any of them would know. Even Midoriya couldn't be best friends with everyone. But to you... everyone was too far from your comfort zone. Everyone except the Big Three.

But the Big Three were busy with their own things at the moment.

He walked outside, half ignoring the notification from his phone from his father.