Midoriya helped you walk towards U.A. but the group was stopped by paramedics, ambulances and medical heroes.
They were gathered where All For One was originally stationed.
While Midnight spoke to some other heroes, Aizawa ran to you and Midoriya. "What on earth happened to you?"
"I don't really-"
"Shut up, I don't want to hear it."
"You asked-"
He pulled the two of you into a tight hug and let out a long sigh of relief. "You're all so reckless, you know?"
"We know," Midoriya said, turning to you.
"Thank goodness you all survived."
Your lips parted as you pulled away. "We... We didn't all survive."
"What do you mean?"
"Shouto, he-"
"Todoroki has terrible injuries, but that doesn't mean he's dead." Aizawa shook his head. "When were you such a pessimist?"
You stood in disbelief for a while before moving your hand from around Midoriya's shoulders and flying up with the wings Hawks left for you.
Aizawa called for you but you had already decided what you needed to do.
Your eyes darted around the area until you saw a blur of blue, red, and white and chased after it.
Iida stopped, with Shouto on his back, and began looking around.
"Iida!" You plunged down and landed. "Is he okay? How is his breathing?"
"He's breathing, he's just unconscious," Iida assured. "But he needs a paramedic, quickly. I already contacted Aizawa."
You began searching through the crowds - heroes were rushing to where All For One was beaten, some were escorting villains to large trucks that led to Tartarus, paramedics were helping heroes into ambulances that were quickly driving away.
"To your left!"
You turned to your left and found an empty ambulance with a paramedic just pulling out a stretcher. "Thank you!"
"What?"
"That one!"
Iida followed you towards the ambulance and the paramedic took Shouto onto the stretcher and into the ambulance.
You combed a hand through your hair with a disbelieving exhale. He's alive.
"Are you alright, Y/N?" Iida asked with his brows drawn together in concern.
You nodded slowly before tipping over, the world going dark.
•••
Your eyes fluttered open and you were faced with the familiar ceiling of the hospital. I've seen that thing too many times.
Sitting up, you felt a pounding headache and you leaned on the headboard with a heavy breath.
A nurse came in and smiled. "You're awake."
"Unfortunately," you groaned, rubbing your eye.
"We tried to bring Recovery Girl in but you simply had no energy so she couldn't quite heal your leg. It's in a cast at the moment."
You hummed. "Is Shouto okay?"
"Shouto Todoroki?" She placed a tray of food on the side table. "He's still comatose, but he should be waking any day now."
"Okay," you breathed.
Since the battle ended, you had lost a father that was never a father in the first place, a brother that was never quite a brother, and gained a power that would never quite be yours.
You began fidgeting with your hands, oddly hooking and unhooking your fingers as you looked around your empty room.
There was a knock at your door and you moved your hair out of your face, trying to appear presentable. "Come in."
Mirio burst through the door with a wide grin partially obscured by a bandage on his face. "Hey Y/N!"
"It's a miracle that you knocked."
"You're happy to see me and you know it!"
You hummed dismissively as he, Tamaki, and Nejire entered the room.
"I have a book as a peace offering," Nejire said dramatically, holding out Crime and Punishment with an even more dramatic bow.
You rolled your eyes but took it graciously.
"Good thing you've only been out for a day," Mirio said as he sat down on one of the chairs beside your bed. "Midoriya hasn't woken up yet. Ran out of adrenaline the moment he was guided to an ambulance."
"What about you three?"
"I got drowned by a sea of Toga Himiko's," Nejire announced as if it were an everyday occurrence. "But I've only really got bruises, so I'm okay."
"Nomus roughed us up quite a bit, didn't they, Tamaki?" Mirio turned to his friend, who sat silently behind him.
"Y-yeah. But you're okay though, aren't you, Y/N?"
You nodded and gently patted your leg. "It's just broken. Recovery Girl said I didn't have the energy to heal it."
"This should give you some energy." Mirio lifted a plastic bag and placed it in your lap. You peered inside and spotted mochi and cup noodles. "Thanks."
"We got discharged this morning," Nejire explained. "We went to the city and turns out nothing was really destroyed other than the area with Spinner. Stores haven't opened up yet but your friend from Ketsubutsu gave us some stuff to give to you."
"You saw Shindo?"
"Yep! He's helping out with clean up now that he doesn't have to evacuate citizens anymore."
"Do you know anyone else that's helping?"
Mirio put his hand on his chin. "Um... some people from UA - that friend that I got you on the first day!"
"Kuroiro?"
"Yeah! No one from Class 1A, they're pooped. Besides, three of them are missing quirks now so we have to figure out what to do. Maybe Eri could rewind them?"
"Does that affect their memories?" you wondered, knowing Mirio had been rewound to regain his quirk as well.
"Nah, it's just their bodies that are rewound."
You shifted on your bed. Would it work? Is it safe?
Regret swelled in your chest as you remembered losing control of Kurogiri. If I hadn't had to leave for that, I could've...
"That Shirakumo guy was a big help."
You turned to Tamaki. "Huh?"
"He... was bringing people around to help..." Tamaki looked out the window. "He had to be detained when you passed out. He turned back to Kurogiri. But he was a big help during the battle."
"Oh... That's good." You rubbed the back of your neck.
•••
You were discharged about a week later, with no more news on Shouto.
"Are you alright?" Justin asked as he drove you through the streets of Japan.
"I believe so," you mumbled, your eyes on the book that Nejire had given you.
Aster sat beside you with his head on your shoulder, fast asleep from all the locating he had to do from the battle, which he hadn't rested from the entire time.
"By the way," Justin said as he took a left, "there was something we found among your things that we thought you might want us to bring - other than your headphones and clothes, of course."
"What would that be?"
He took one hand off the wheel and handed a small dark blue ring box to you. You took it and held it closely. "You were right," you muttered.
The ring that Shouto had given you for Christmas resided within. With everything you did, from training to sewing to reading, it never felt right to wear it.
You stared outside at the stores that were starting to be reopened, the people slowly beginning to once again fill the streets, and wondered silently if things would truly go back to normal or if normal would have to gain a new meaning.
You opened the box and stared at the shimmering gold.
"When this is done and everything is back to normal, propose to me properly."
The weight of your words suddenly fell upon you and you felt your face boil. If he awoke and remembered it, you contemplated jumping into the sea.
Oh mon dieu.
"What's on your mind, you look embarrassed," Justin noticed, looking at you in the rearview mirror.
"Is it possible to get drunk without alcohol?"
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"I think I said something I would only say if I was impaired."
"Right now?"
"No, a few weeks ago."
Justin chuckled with a shake of his head and parked. "Here. The temporary dorms are here but I was told that you'll be moving back to the ones in UA in due time. Your luggage is still in the trunk."
You stared at him. "Did you get Aster to teleport the car here?"
"He actually insisted on it because he didn't want to walk everywhere."
You sighed. Of course.
Gently moving Aster from your shoulder and leaning his head on the window, you went to the back of the car and opened the trunk to see all your luggage.
After gathering it all, you knocked on the driver's window and it rolled down. "Thank you, Justin."
"Anytime."
You watched him back out of the parking space and go down the road.
You went to the entrance and were immediately greeted by Shoji, who was lingering in the common room. "Oh, Y/N." You saw his eyes squint in a smile. "Want me to help you with those?"
"If it's not too much trouble."
He lifted your suitcase while you lugged your duffel bag up the stairs.
"How's your leg?" he asked.
"It's better now that Recovery Girl has looked at it. They needed to wait a week before they felt comfortable to summon her back to the hospital to heal it, but I think they could have waited a day."
You got to your dorm and you opened the door. "Thank you."
He put your suitcase down. "Come down for dinner, okay? You always skip it. It's at seven, like always."
You watched him leave with an open mouthed expression then looked down at the suitcase he had brought for you.
"It's the least you could do, dear."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it, maman." You pulled your suitcase in and lied it down so you could grab your books from inside.
There were the books that had creases you didn't mean to put, folds in the pages that were from all the different bags you placed them in, for with some things, the destruction of them is a measurement of your love for them.
You opened the pages, finding sentences you underline and highlighted, little notes on the tabs you used to mark your favourite pages.
You sighed once again and stared out the window.
To spend time with someone was a gift you feared to accept.
Now that you finally saw it in front of you, you wondered.
You finger traced down the book in your hand.
"Wasn't friendship its own miracle, the finding of another person who made the entire lonely world seem somehow less lonely?"
As the clock struck 7:00, you shut the book in your hand and opened the door.
You went down the stairs and were nearly knocked over by Kirishima chasing Kaminari across the dining room.
"Come on, man, your mashed potatoes are always lumpy!"
"They won't be this time!"
"You're using a damn knife, just give the bowl to Kirishima!" Bakugou snapped as he diced vegetables across the room.
Yaoyorozu noticed you and smiled. "Hey Y/N! You're down a bit early to have dinner."
You glanced at Shoji, who placed a sliced apple in a bowl and shrugged. "Technically dinner starts at 7:30."
With a roll of your eyes, you went to stand beside him at the counter. "Making pie? I'll help."