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Hizashi comes to with a groggy groan and it takes him a moment or two before he opens his eyes fully. He flexes his fingers, noticing there was a bed underneath him. Without his glasses, he can’t see the details of the ceiling other than it’s white. Where is he? “What..?”
Immediately, he notices something is wrong. It wasn’t in how his body felt like it was floating nor how his head throbbed. It was in his vocal cords that lacked the usual response he would feel from his quirk. It was ever present, always threatening to burst forth and release its energy which he then has to hold back, but now it’s gone. He can’t feel it and that causes him to panic.
He forces himself to take in a deep breath and calm down. What was the last thing he remembered? He was out on his usual patrol. That much was normal and fine. But he also remembers being approached by a stranger and things went dark after that. Did the stranger say something? He doesn’t remember. How long has he been out? What happened to him?
He was starting to panic again. He slowly pushes himself up into a sitting position with a groan and again feels the loss of his quirk. Why can’t he feel it? What happened? Hizashi holds a hand to his throat, his chest heaving as he tries to make sense of the situation. And fails.
He jumps at the door opening, darting green eyes towards the general direction of the noise. But without his glasses, everything was just a blur at a distance. Right, where was his glasses?
“Yamada? You’re awake.”
He recognizes the voice immediately, nearly ready to cry with relief. It’s his long time friend, Aizawa. Despite his personality, Aizawa was definitely a comfort he greatly needed right now.
“Aizawa—” he starts, but then stops himself, tapping on his throat once more. It’s wrong. It all feels wrong. Why isn’t it there? He feels empty.
“Yamada? Are you okay?” The blurry figure of Aizawa quickly stepped closer, his features getting easier to see the closer he was. Hizashi looks up at him, certain he looked less than fine. “Does it hurt anywhere?”
“I—...” He wants to talk. He wants to say what’s wrong, but barely a word makes it out and it feels wrong. This isn’t his body except it is and he wants to jump out of his skin right now. Hizashi shakes his head, wanting to give some sort of reply to Aizawa. His body still felt heavy although not as severe as before.
That was the least of his concerns, however.
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you saying anything?” Aizawa speaks up, and with his limited sight, Hizashi can see that he’s frowning. He’s sure what his friend must be thinking. Why isn’t the most talk active and energetic person in the world speaking? He knows what it must look like. But everything just feels wrong.
Hizashi opens his mouth to speak again, but he lets no sound escape this time, instead settling for tapping his throat.
“Your throat?” Aizawa sounds confused. Hizashi can’t blame him. He sees that Aizawa reaches out and he raises his chin, letting his friend inspect his neck. Although he’s sure he can’t see anything from the outside — the anomaly is on the inside, after all.
“Is it your voice?”
Hizashi nods. He’s not sure if Aizawa understands the problem.
“I’ll go get Recovery Girl. Wait here.”
“No!” His outburst is loud and he grabs Aizawa’s arm before he can go anywhere. But even as he shouts, he notices immediately that it doesn’t hold its usual volume and given Aizawa’s shocked expression, he must have realized it too. His quirk really is gone.
It’s wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong—
“Hey. Calm down.” Aizawa’s voice cuts through his panic and he turns his attention back to his friend, biting down on his lip. Maybe if he doesn’t speak, it won’t feel as wrong.
“Yamada. Look at me.” Hizashi does as told, trying to control his breathing. He can see Aizawa’s stern expression, unreadable and steadfast as always. It gives him a sense of calm. “Did something happen to your quirk?”
His breath got caught in his throat. He’s sure Aizawa must noticed the panic in his expression cause Aizawa narrows his eyes.
“It’s just like Ragdoll then.” Aizawa places a hand on top of the one clinging to his arm and the shift of weight on the bed tells Hizashi he sat down as well. He pays that no mind as he directs a confused stare to his long time friend.
“What’s the long thing you remember?” he asks. Hizashi bites harder on his lip, turning his gaze downwards. “Right… we’ll talk about that later.” Aizawa sighs, sounding as tired as ever. “We found you in the same place as Ragdoll. We’re still looking into how you got there, but it seems they had the same intentions as with Ragdoll.”
Ragdoll was taken? He remembers her. She’s with the Wild, Wild Pussycats and he’s even interviewed the group once on his radio show. Very friendly and energetic people. He rather liked them. He looks up with great concern, frowning deeply.
“Is she okay?” As soon as the words were spoken, he bites down on his lip, his shoulders tensing up. He forgot for a moment about his own condition.
“She’s fine,” Aizawa answers immediately, seemingly not worried about him. But Hizashi knows better. “We found her along with you and she’s sustained no injuries. Except… she lost her quirk. As far as I know, she’s quitting as a hero.”
She… lost her quirk? He released his lip from the teeth, looking at Aizawa confused. How does one lose their quirk? He’s never heard of such a case before.
Aizawa must have read his thoughts cause he started speaking again. “We think it must have been a member of the League of Villains who did it. But as far as the public is concerned, it’s all but an incident.” He sighs, closing his eyes as he rubs his nose in a distraught manner. “But if you’ve lost your quirk as well, people are sure to ask questions…”
It cuts through him like a knife. He’s known from the start when he first woke up, but hearing it out loud really sets it into stone. He doesn’t have his quirk. He can’t be the Voice Hero, Present Mic, anymore. He’s not… himself.
Hizashi whines and covers his mouth, closing his eyes as he curls in on himself. Tears falls down his cheeks and he struggles to keep the sobs in. He’s not himself. Everything is wrong and none of this should have happened in the first place. Why did he go with that stranger?
Wait. He went with the stranger? He didn’t remember that before. But then, he was lured into a trap. How could he have fallen for that? He felt stupid now.
“Oi, Yamada…” Aizawa sighs, gently patting his back while he cries out. He felt empty, lost, and all sorts of emotions he’ll usually pull through thanks to U.A.’s school motto, Plus Ultra. But it doesn’t help one bit now. He’s lost the very thing that defined him and he’s nobody. How was he supposed to push through this? He can’t push onward cause there’s nothing to hold onto.
He was pulled into a strong pair of arms, and he sobs then, crying his heart out as he buries his face into the fabric of Aizawa’s shirt. He doesn’t think there’s a way to recover from this, no matter how hard he tries.