Weak [BNHA Fanfiction]

Chapter 23

Charlie stormed out from behind the curtain. She ignored Iida and Midoriya's stares, grabbing a roll of gauze and limping out of the infirmary.

"Charlotte!" Iida rushed after her.

She fumbled with her ring, getting it off her right hand and onto her left, flicking out the blade and slapping her left thigh once. Iida tried to catch her hand again but she slid to the floor and tore it away. Using the blade to cut the gauze, she wrapped her newest wound over her pant leg and just sat there, panting and tearing up.

Midoriya limped out after them.

Charlie covered her eyes and tried to catch her breath. "If you guys heard what we talked about, please keep it to yourself—don't tell our classmates. And what I do with my ring is to combat my quirk's backlash—sort of like how Midoriya breaks his fucking arms."

"We overheard, yes, but I'm not quite sure what we overheard. What was she talking about, Charlie?"

Perhaps Iida was naive to the world of mental illness and self harm? Midoriya seemed to have put two and two, however, and was staring at her with sad eyes. "Is Mr Aizawa aware of this?"

"I don't think so, but Midnight and Hound Dog are—not about the ring yet, though Midnights probably going to give me a chat tonight. That old hag is going to report me, so you don't need to." Charlie took a shuddering breath as Midoriya came closer and Iida grabbed her trembling wrist. An explosion rumbled through the halls. Charlie forced herself to her feet. "That must be Bakugo and Kirishima's match. I'm up next so I should get to the competitor waiting room.

She felt her two classmates staring holes into her back as she limped away. She only relaxed once she turned a corner, leaning against the wall as support.

The roar of cheers from the stadium hit Charlie's ears as soon as she arrived at the waiting room. The match must've come to a conclusion—meaning she was up now. A teacher she didn't recognize came to tell her to head to the arena and only then did it hit her that she was up against Todoroki.

Her body shook as she approached the ring, her legs barely carrying her weight. Going against Iida had been hard enough and they weren't even close. She really didn't want to use her quirk on Todoroki yet again.

Getting to the ring, she made eye contact with him. Todoroki raised an eyebrow at her limp and the hastily wrapped gauze around her left leg.

"What happened?" he mouthed.

Charlie only shook her head in response, averting her gaze as they bowed to each other. Nemuri counted down and announced the start of the match. Todoroki immediately formed a shelter of ice around himself—encasing himself completely.

Did he think she couldn't use her quirk if she couldn't see the target or was he planning on separating himself from her? Was he going to keep her from dragging him out of the ring—intending on just enduring the panic attacks and hallucinations until her stamina ran out?

Lucky for him, it had run out long ago. Charlie was bone tired and wanted to just curl up into a ball and just die. Literally.

She stared at the ball of ice that had Todoroki likely curled up in it. He was fighting a battle of rebellion against his dad. Winning this festival was important to him. Why was Charlie trying to win? Sure, she wanted to gain control of her quirk but did she really need to push herself like this and hurt her friends in the process?

This line of thought was beginning to stress her out and her breath hitched when she heard yelling from behind her. She whirled around to face her parents, watching the familiar scene play out with tear filled eyes.