- Third Person P.O.V -
Shota Aizawa entered his doorway, slamming it open. He rushed to the kitchen, eyes searching for Florence Reyna.
When she called, his chest felt like someone took a hammer to it and cracked it open. He prayed over and over, he was never a man for religion, but he would become sacrilegious if it meant Florence Reyna's protection.
He distinctly remembered the way every bone in his body stilled, the way it seemed like Florence had stuck her hand in his sternum, draining the oxygen from his lungs. Shota's eyes stayed glued to the screen, he was certain that every Japanese citizen, maybe most of the world, was watching what happened on the live broadcast of Kamino Ward.
The entire population of this country was stunned at the events, they saw the hefty exchange of blows between the villain known as All for One and the number one hero, All Might. What pulled at the heartstrings of the public was the young teenage girl, the student from U.A High that got kidnapped by the League of Villains. The crowd and gatherings of people watching the event were filled with hopeful screams, cheers, and applause. Everybody longed for her to escape, to fend for herself, to seek freedom away from the disaster surrounding her. They watched as she took blow after blow from All for One's quirks or attacks from the villains, she still rose each time.
Nobody's reactions mattered to Shota Aizawa except for her classmates and her family at home. He didn't care what the U.S Quirk Assessment Personnel thought of him, but how could he look Reyna's mother in her eyes and explain that he failed her child? The child he grew to love, to adore so fiercely, how could he tell her biological mother that she slipped through his fingers? He was pacing back and forth at the room of the press conference in Musutafu. Vlad King tried approaching him several times to no avail. He would say a word or two every now and then to Principal Nezu, but Shota was infuriated. They didn't allow him to join the raid group that would infiltrate the League, they forbade him from being in Yokohama, from being there when they recovered the girl.
All he was betting on was calls from the heroes, updating him on her well-being. He didn't expect to see his phone ringing with Florence the Best Kid Ever as the header for his contact name. His heart dropped, he answered and pressed the phone to his ear, running out of the building and to his home.
He knew. She had gotten there somehow, she was waiting for him.
My kid, he thought, using his years' worth of stealth and agility to fly through the different buildings and subdivisions.
She sobbed, begging for him to come home, showing the terror and trauma of a child who was far too young to experience what she had. Her voice was laced in pain, but there was an underlying tone that he refused to accept. No, she's gravely injured, but that doesn't mean... He let his thoughts trail off, he couldn't even think about the implications of his words.
"I love you so much, Shota." Florence whispered, as he nearly flew into the window of a building, her words caught him off guard.
I don't doubt her, but she would only express it so blatantly if she felt.. no. He ended his thoughts, knowing that Florence Reyna was saying goodbye.
"I love you too, kid." Shota choked out, furrowing his brows as he only ran faster, refusing to think about anything else but reaching his destination.
It felt like eternity, he was starting to believe that the universe must've really had it out for him and her. Especially for her. He remembered how she was when they first met. Her face was adorned with a constant frown and furrowed brows, she was tense, always on edge as if someone could hurt her at any second. She would speak in a low and clipped tone, as if the girl spent her entire life being told she couldn't express herself, like if her opinion never mattered. The transformation between the first day he met her, when she stared at him with indifference versus the days at training camp always astonished him.
Shota caught her smiling and laughing often when she was around those four particular kids. At first, he was weary of her being in the presence of the problem children. The teacher of class 1-A immediately caught onto the way Izuku Midoriya clung to her, the way his eyes would flit to her figure every so often, and how he became more outgoing, more affectionate towards her. Katsuki Bakugo was no different, the boy was rarely seen outside of class without Florence Reyna beside him, Aizawa had to refrain himself from threatening the angry kid to not say anything harsh to her, but their contradictory personalities were cohesive, they never fought or argued, it was only understanding and compromise with stellar communication.
Denki Kaminari and Kyoka Jirou weren't as prone to trouble as the other two were, rather, they helped bring down the girl from her own complex issues. Jirou was already a quiet and calm girl, so she only fueled Florence Reyna to be the one who carried conversations, the one who would make Jirou rowdy. Shota used to dislike Kaminari's constant flirtatious manner in class, always hoping that he never made his kid uncomfortable, but the electric user never once pushed her boundaries. Rather, she praised his intelligence and friendly personality, while he helped her see herself for the way he adored her. They were a pair that sometimes never made sense, but Aizawa supposed that was what made their attachment to each other so unique.
He thought this over, how every one of his students had their own personal connection to Florence Reyna. How they all seemed helpless and wounded when the realization of her kidnapping sunk in. Everybody was fond of the American transfer student and her rarity of a heart.
He finally reached his home, ending his thoughts as he expected to see her sitting at the usual seat of the kitchen table, the seat that she demanded would only belong to her. He scanned the room, screaming her name while kicking every door open. He searched everywhere, the kitchen, living room, her room, her restroom, his room, his restroom, his office, the backyard, the front yard, everywhere.
Florence Reyna was nowhere to be found, it was as if she had vanished into thin air.
Aizawa couldn't stop the tears slipping down his face. No, where the hell is my kid? He thought, unable to shrug off the dread that filled him from head to toe. He found himself in the kitchen, sinking to sit himself inside the chair, the only remnants of her presence was the photograph that was removed from the fridge, it was placed beside her phone. The phone screen was on, Shota was never a person to invade privacy, but he had no choice. He glanced through her call history, seeing two failed calls and four outgoing ones. Her phone kept buzzing with text notifications, from the students of 1-A no less. Suddenly, it was as if the screen froze, then began glitching.
He let it drop to the table, only staring at it as it filtered through different apps, finally settling on one with a blank canvas. There was one word written on it, scribbled fast in her handwriting. It was an Arabic word, she had grown a liking to searching up various words in foreign languages, she explained how sometimes one language would sum up the feeling that another one couldn't. Upon seeing the word, he knew the definition of it, sinking to the wooden floor as he begged his mind to understand.
Ya'aburnee. A literal translation meant "You bury me." But Florence Reyna was a person who felt the need to express herself through figurative language. The interpretation of this word meant a statement of hope. The hope was quite specific, it was a longing to die before a loved one did, because the idea of existing without them would be too unbearable.
That's why she wrote the word fiercely, how wicked of the universe to allow Shota Aizawa to see it, he finally knew why she was nowhere to be found.
She was gone.
He took out his own phone, standing slowly despite the weak knees he now had. He rang for the detective of the Police Force, Naomasa Tsukauchi.
"Hello?" The detective answered instantly, surprised to see that Eraserhead contacted him.
"My kid, she's gone. I know she was here at home, she used her quirk to transport herself from Kamino Ward, she called me, but I came and she's gone. I can't find her, I need your help."
-
Two hours later, Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, and Denki Kaminari were approaching Florence Reyna's home. They wanted to see Florence or speak to her guardian, but were stunned to see an entire police force surrounding the area, stretching all the way into the woods.
"What the fuck is going on?" Katsuki whispered, eyes widening in fear and panic. Izuku was beginning to cry again, but he ran towards the crowd of police officers, screaming, "Mr. Aizawa!"
The disheveled, tall man looked at them with swollen rims, he sighed, scratching his cheek awkwardly as he looked down in shame. The detective Izuku Midoriya knew was standing next to the teacher, he was speaking into a walkie-talkie, giving instructions to the officers in the proximity. "Dig underground, she's known for traveling through the Earth, but she's weak. She can't go too far." Tsukauchi finished those instructions and left Shota to explain himself to the three boys that looked at him in distress.
Before he could begin, Kyoka Jirou ran through the street, ignoring the way the police officers told her to stop. She was out of breath, panting as she ceased her sprint near Aizawa. She lifted her face to show the fear-stricken expression with wisps of dazed sadness. "Why the hell did Florence leave that voice message? I woke up an hour ago and Momo told me everything. Is it true? Why are cops here, Mr. Aizawa? What the hell happened?" Her voice was pleading, begging for answers, her mind stayed stuck on Florence's last words in the voice message, the way she said "I love you" as if the opportunity would never come again.
Shota sighed, looking up to the sky as a single tear slid down his face. "She called you four before she called me. I came back, thinking I'd see her sitting at the kitchen table, but she wasn't there. We searched every inch of this neighborhood so far, and she's nowhere to be found. I contacted her mother, and she's on her way over here because Florence isn't in America either. We've spent the last two hours using heat detectors to see if her presence is anywhere underground in Musutafu, there's no odd or significant pressures so far and the investigators are nearly done with the wide-range scans of this city. I don't know where she could've went off to. I don't know if anyone took her, I don't know if she's even... alive." Aizawa finally cracked, glaring down at the ground with a seeping rage and sorrow, both of them blending into agony as he attempted to control himself for the sake of his students.
The students took a moment to comprehend his words. What did their teacher mean? Why couldn't they find her? Is she...? Hundreds of questions flew through all their brains, but what was a common distinguishing factor of the four was their need. The need for Florence Reyna to appear right in front of them, with the same beautiful smile, laughing and demonstrating that she was okay.
It never happened.
Nobody said anything, if they spoke, their words would solidify what they refused to believe.
Shota continued, taking out Reyna's phone, the screen was on, oddly enough it hadn't shut off since he read the one word inscribed. He held it out for them to see, they all leaned closely, eyes grazing over her device with furrowed brows. All of them were bewildered, not understanding why he showed them what he did.
Izuku finally whispered, "That's an Arabic word, isn't it? Why would she write that? What does it mean?" He looked to see their teacher's face contorted in an indecipherable expression.
"It means to love someone so much that you hope they bury you, you'd rather die before existing without them. It took me a moment to finally figure out why she wrote it," Aizawa paused, breathing out slowly with a hardened hurt, almost as if he was accepting the next sentence that followed. "I don't know if we'll ever find her."
There was a deathly silence, their faces dropped. For a few seconds, all of them carried the same blank expression, the same hollowed out wide eyes, none of her best friends wanted to process what Shota Aizawa implied. Gradually, the way a building would collapse, slowly then all at once, they fell apart.
"If no one can do their job right, I'll fucking find her myself! What makes you think I'm going to listen to some shitty ass word that shitty girl wrote!" The blonde boy with red eyes snapped, turning to run off in another direction. There's no way in hell this is how it ends, I'll kill her for this. It's all my fault, Bakugo thought. Before he could take another step, he became surprised with Izuku Midoriya gripping his body tightly, using his quirk to stop him from leaving.
"Kacchan, she's.." Izuku trailed off before collapsing to the ground, punching it again and again, the hurt was too much for the successor of All Might. He failed in rescuing his best friend, he watched his favorite hero sacrifice all his power to take down All for One, he returned to see that the girl he loves wasn't home, her status was unknown. His cries startled the people who crept out of their houses, witnessing the event. The police looked at the four children in sympathy. I should've been the one this happened to, not her. She doesn't deserve this, Izuku thought, falling into another fit of sadness. Bakugo only stared at him in shock.
Denki Kaminari was lost, confused, and could only comprehend the way the stars seemed dimmer, the raindrops that began falling from stray clouds, and how tree branches were facing downward, almost as if the lack of Florence's presence forced the Earth to grieve with them all. He fell backwards, landing on the floor with his rear-end as he only brought his legs to him, burying his head in between his knees as he silently mourned. You promised we would sit together on the bus, Kaminari's words from the contemplation forced him to realize what he meant, with that, his cries were no longer silent.
Kyoka Jirou was frozen, the pool of water flowed from her eyes swiftly, but she made no movement, she panicked when her breathing became rapid, hand clutching the hem of her shirt as she spun around. She was absent-mindedly sprinting away from Reyna's home, only focused on running until her knees gave out. Choked noises were escaping her throat, but she carried on, only pausing once to jam her earphone jack into the ground. Jirou was accustomed to Florence's heartbeat, and she prayed for a miracle that she might hear it through the Earth. It was pointless, so she removed her quirk, screaming as she desperately ran, anything to try and stop the shards of her broken heart from floating away. If she allowed that to happen, she would never recover.
At first, the only blonde still standing was raging. His fists were clenched as he cursed, "Deku, who the fuck are you to try and say she's..." He stopped, the last word was lodged in his throat, keeping him from speaking. Silent for ten seconds, Katsuki Bakugo began screaming, his words were unintelligible but his anger wasn't. Officers began restraining him, forcing him to the ground because his explosions were slipping out without control. The yelling didn't stop, tears were added as his body shook in grief. Bakugo sobbed her name over and over with the others for hours, before crashing into exhaustion. Mitsuki and Masaru Bakugo arrived to take him home, they weeped silently at the sight of their son being the epitome of rage and heartbreak.
The entire time, Shota Aizawa refused to look at them anymore, if he tried comforting him, he'd be a hypocrite because he was just as torn into fragments as they were.
Eventually, the police drifted away from his home. Naomasa Tsukauchi notified him that they would begin contacting other cities to see if abnormal spikes of temperature occurred anywhere underground, anywhere she might be. Eijiro Kirishima passed through Aizawa's home to take Denki Kaminari back to his residence, Kirishima couldn't restrain his grief either. Inko Midoriya arrived as well, grabbing her son as she attempted to soothe him. The boy never stopped expressing sorrow, even when they trudged back to their home.
The night was beginning to fade into dawn, relinquishing the horrors of the evening's events to the peace of a new day.
The entire class of 1-A had heard by then, every single student was in anguish, longing for one thing.
Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, Denki Kaminari, and Kyoka Jirou were in different places but they all stared at the sunrise, refusing to comprehend the way the crevices of sunlight were pushing away the darkness. None of them wanted to tear their eyes away from the last remnants of the dark, the way it fleeted, surrendering the truth to them all. A realization nobody could escape from. When it finally dissolved, losing the battle to time, the way it would continue forward without permission, these four students thought the same thing.
Florence Reyna is gone.