Third Person POV
Todoroki, Iida, and Midoriya watched in utter horror as Tanaka's body went limp. "N-no... no!" Todoroki cried out, shaking her body.
Iida looked up at the Hero Killer with rage, Midoriya doing the same. Iida runs over with Recipro Burst and kicks him up into the air. Midoriya, able to move again, shot up, straining his legs in the process, and hit Stain the same time as Iida. Todoroki creates an ice slide for them to be able to land softly as he stares at Tanaka in disbelief. He hesitantly puts two fingers up to her neck, and his heart sinks. He looks up at Iida and Midoriya and shakes his head, tears gracing his eyes for the first time in a long, long time. Midoriya burst into tears and knelt beside Tanaka, hugging her. 'She was my first friend...' Todoroki thought to himself as silent tears ran down his cheeks.
'She came to save me...' Iida thought to himself as he thought about how she died saving him.
'I could've saved her... if I was only fast enough... Mr. Aizawa was right, I can't save anyone!' Midoriya thought to himself as he wept.
Suddenly, Midoriya felt Tanaka's body grow warm. He looked down and saw that she had started to glow, until she was eventually too hot to touch. Midoriya let go of her body and they watched as she eventually burst into flames. They watched in awe and fear as the inferno slowly died out to show a pile of ash in the shape of a body. Midoriya instantly gasps and digs through the ash, 'D-does she work like the phoenixes of Greek and Egyptian mythology?!' he thought to himself as Todoroki and Iida protest, not understanding the situation.
Then, Midoriya's hand lands on something solid, but soft. His eyes light up as he grabs the solid and pulls it out of the ash. 'A wing...' they all think as they too dig through the ash to partly reveal Tanaka's body. Midoriya's eyes travel to her midsection and notice that there's a lack of knife wounds. He gasps and instantaneously presses two fingers on her neck.
...Bum bum... bum bum...
Midoriya instantly starts crying and sighs in relief, "She's alive!" he cries out, hugging her shoulders.
Todoroki then observes that she is lacking clothing, so he walks over to a dumpster and finds an old blanket, throwing it over her body. Midoriya realized the situation and blushed fiercely, uttering a small thanks as Todoroki picked up her body. Native finally regains his movement and offers to carry Midoriya as Iida uses a rope to bind the Hero Killer. Pro heroes start to show up and see the winged girl in Todoroki's arms as well as the unconscious Hero Killer. Then, Miruko comes running, "Endeavor said that people needed assistance at this location, but- PHOENIX!" she shouted, pushing through the crowd and taking Tanaka out of Todoroki's arms, "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?!"
The boys struggled to speak in the presence of the worried and infuriated bunny hero, as she glanced over at Stain. "W-we can explain," Midoriya said.
Tanaka's POV
Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep
I slowly opened my eyes to reveal a hospital room. My entire body felt hot and groggy as I tried to move, but I was so tired that I couldn't. 'Wait, what happened? I was fighting the hero killer... then I got stabbed... and everything went black... wait, did the thing happen again?! The last time that happened... I was twelve. I was starting to think I had imagined it or that it was just a nightmare... but now...' I looked around and saw Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida sitting on other beds. "G-guys?" I asked.
They all turned to me and ran over to my bed. Well, Todoroki and Iida did, Midoriya hobbled over on a crutch. "TANAKA!" they all cry out.
Midoriya was instantly sobbing as they crowded me. "Y-you were dead!" Midoriya cried out.
My heart sank, 'So it was like last time...' I thought to myself, looking between the three of them. "I'm sorry..." I said quietly, lowering my gaze.
"No! You did nothing wrong! You saved me and Todoroki!" Iida exclaimed.
"You just... scared us," Todoroki said quietly.
I nodded and asked, "So... what exactly happened...?"
"You died... and you burst into flames and your body was essentially reborn from the ashes. It's just like a phoenix in mythology," Midoriya explained.
I nodded, "Must be what happened last time..." I muttered to myself.
"Last time...?" Todoroki asked.
"W-wait, Tanaka are you saying that you've died before...?" Midoriya asked, stunned.
My heart skipped a beat. 'Fuck,' I thought to myself, but before they pressed me for an answer once again, the door opened. A man with a dog head walked inside. "Oh, thank goodness you're awake -woof. You kids are aware of the fact that you are unlicensed, meaning that your fight against the Hero Killer was illegal," he said, "Miruko, Manual, Gran Torino, and Endeavor would be punished, as would the four of you."
"Wait, but if Iida hadn't shown up then Native would have died, and if Midoriya, Tanaka, and I hadn't shown up, they both would've died. Tanaka literally sacrificed herself to save me and Iida's lives," Todoroki defended.
"So just because things went your way, you think you're above the law?" the chief challenged.
"Are you saying we should've just sat there and watched people die?" Todoroki snapped.
"It wasn't in your place to act," the chief said calmly.
"You damned mutt!" Todoroki exclaimed.
I released a feather and brought him back to his bed. "Now now, listen to what he says Young Todoroki," an old hero says.
"Gran Torino?" Midoriya asks quietly.
"That's only what would've happened if news broke out that you four were the ones to take him down. As it turns out, a majority of Stain's injuries were burns. As Endeavor was at the scene, we could easily say that it was truly him that took him down. You wouldn't receive any of the credit nor praise, but you wouldn't get punished either. While you won't receive the praise publicly, allow me to thank you for what you did," the chief says as he bows.
Todoroki grimaces, "You should've started with that..."
I smile and thank the men as they walk out of the room. "So... I guess we have to say Endeavor saved us now..." I say awkwardly, knowing how much Todoroki despised Endeavor.
We were all silent for a moment before a doctor walked in. "Fuka Tanaka?" she asked.
I raised my hand slightly and she said, "If we could have a moment alone..."
The boys left the room, leaving me alone with the doctor. "What is it?" I asked.
"Well, normally I take this time to talk about a patient's injuries, but you have none. Your body was in pristine condition when they gave you to us, excluding the fact that you were unconscious. We were puzzled, but then they told us what happened. Your heart stopped... you were essentially dead due to two stab wounds in vital areas. But then, according to them, you burst into flames, and from the ashes they found your body as if you had never been hurt. So we did some digging. Your quirk is called Phoenix, correct?" she asks.
I nod, wondering what she could possibly be getting at. "Well, originally it was deduced that you only had a combination of your parents' quirks, Power Wings and Flame, but after analyzing some of your DNA, we found that you have many more abilities. You have the ability to reincarnate yourself, as we saw last night, and your tears have healing powers," she explained.
I sat in silence for a moment, processing what she just told me. "Anyway, you are fully recovered, so as soon as your mentor comes to pick you up, you'll be free to go."
I nodded and she opened the door to reveal that Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida were standing outside the entire time. She rolled her eyes and left as the three walked in. "Sorry about eavesdropping..." Midoriya said.
"I told them it was unheroic!" Iida exclaimed.
"It's ok guys, it's not like it was super personal," I reassured.
"So, you have hidden aspects of your quirk?" Todoroki asked.
"Apparently. I mean, I was vaguely aware of the resurrection one... but my tears having healing powers? That's crazy!" I exclaimed.
"It's kind of hard to believe, but also super interesting at the same time, like how did that happen? Did your quirk have a mutation?" Midoriya started muttering.
All of it began to stress me out, and I felt tears well in my eyes. I sniffled and turned away, frustrated and overwhelmed with all of this information. "Wait, Tanaka can we try something?" Todoroki asked.
I glanced back over at him and he asked, "I don't mean to take advantage of the situation, nor your quirk. But since you are crying, why don't we try having you heal us? That way we can understand it better. Of course, that is up to you to decide and you can say no, but I feel like you want to understand your quirk a bit better, right?"
I nodded as a tear slipped down my cheek. I brought a finger up to it, wiped it, and slowly walked over to him. I brought my hand up to his arm and ran the tear across the skin beside his bandages. After a moment, his skin absorbed the tear and his eyes widened slightly. He unwrapped his bandages to see that the wounds were scabbed over and mostly healed. My face lit up and I wiped another tear off my cheek, running over to Midoriya and wiping the tear just above his cast. I wiped my cheek for another tear, but it was dry. "Shit... I don't have any more to do... I can't exactly cry on command. Sorry Iida..." I said.
"No, I want to live with my injuries. I want it to be a permanent reminder of the lesson I learned last night..." Iida said sincerely, looking at his hand.
"Well, if you ever change your mind, just show me a video of kids getting puppies or people and pets reuniting with loved ones, that always makes me cry," I joked.
"That would be unheroic of me to make you cry!" Iida exclaimed.
I chuckled and said, "It was a joke. But seriously, if you do change your mind and want the damage healed, just let me know, ok?"
He nodded and we all started talking about mundane things, and for the first time in a while, I felt like I belonged.