Jet Stream (Kirishima x OC)

Chapter 54: Guilt

When we got to the hospital, Sir Nighteye, my dad, and Eijiro were all already in surgery since they had arrived a few minutes before us. Doctors and nurses rushed around getting the three of us patched up, and then the others started to arrive a few minutes after us. Midoriya and Mirio came in with Aizawa after we arrived, who also had to be rushed to surgery along with Rock Lock, who's actual name I finally bothered to learn.

Ochaco, Tsu, and Nejire were all pretty much uninjured, just severely drained of energy from the guy they were fighting. Those three girls were given a room to sleep it off in and be monitored, and they were out like a light pretty quick.

Fat Gum and Amajiki are in the room next door to me, and I was with them until it was my turn to get patched up. I haven't wanted to move away from them yet with everyone else I know either in surgery or getting seen by their own doctors so far. Amajiki's own surgery on his face was fast and he's sleeping already, so really I've just been hanging out with skinny Fat Gum.

"Your own injures are nothing too major, these cuts and bruises will heal fine on their own." My doctor tells me as we're sitting in a private room. "The problem is your lungs. I took a look at your history, they've been fairly damaged in the past, and while today didn't make it much worse, it is still concerning how inflamed they are. I'm going to prescribe you a specialized inhaler to use every day for a week, just to try and strengthen them for now after overusing your quirk."

"Thank you. Have you heard anything about my dad? Or about Eijiro Kirishima? And Sir Nighteye?" I ask hopefully, thinking of those in the most critical. I already heard that Aizawa just needed stitches on his wound and he's doing ok now, and that Rock Lock will be fine too.

"They're all out of surgery now and recovering in rooms in this hall. Mr. Yoarashi is in room 408, and Mr. Kirishima is in the room next door with Fat Gum and Mr. Amajiki in room 402 now, he just got transferred there before I walked in. Sir Nighteye should be finished up with surgery now as well, his recovery room is 416." He informs me with a comforting smile. "You're cleared to go see them now."

"Thanks, doctor." I nod and jump up, readjusting my hero costume to be back in place.

These last two hours while everyone was in surgery, my mind has steadily been slipping into panic. Fat Gum and Amajiki have been keeping it at bay enough with idle chatting, but now that I'm here in the hallway, alone, my mind succumbs to the panic. And it's for the most idiotic of reasons.

I can't decide which door to go through first.

I can't choose between going in the see my dad, whose quirk is gone and destroyed forever because he was defending me. Going to see my boyfriend who got beat up really bad protecting my dad against a very strong enemy. Or going to see Sir Nighteye, the hero who just lost an arm because my own disability couldn't see the projectile heading his way.

I don't know the exact moment that the panic attack started, but I do know that breathing became difficult as I began to sob in the hallway. I collapsed my body against the wall, sliding down until I was sitting on my butt, knees bent in close to me as I held my head with my hands, tugging at my hair. This simple choice of all things was the thing that broke me today? Because I couldn't decide who's bedside I should sit at first? I couldn't decide who to apologize first to for being too weak?

My dad was right all along. I'm too weak to be a hero. I'm too limited, Sir being the perfect example of that. If I had seen the second spike, could I have countered it in time? There were so many spikes in the air, my subconscious echo wasn't working as effectively as normal, plus Sir was just a little too far out of its range. And then there's my dad... I had let myself get distracted during the fight, too focused on my failure with Sir that I ignored the enemy, turned my back to him even. Because of that, I left myself open to an attack. My dad had to take the bullet that should have been for me. I'm the reason the world will no longer have the hero Gale Storm.