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He woke slowly to the familiar beep-beep, beep-beep of a heart monitor. Vaguely, he considered that it probably was a bad sign that he now found the sound of a heart monitor familiar.
Mmph. . .what happened?
“Young Midoriya? Are you awake, my boy?”
Even with his mind fogged up— pain medication? —he could recognize his mentor’s voice anywhere. So he struggled to open his eyes. When he managed it, it took him another minute for the world to come into focus.
When he could finally see straight, he slowly lifted his head and caught sight of All Might sitting hunched at the foot of his bed. The deflated man smiled—which looked more like a grimace with his gaunt features—and patted his knee.
“How are you feeling, my boy?”
“. . .Fuzzy. Wh’ ha’en’d?” he mumbled, slowly raising a hand to his head. His voice was heavy and slurred so much that it was near unrecognizable. Luckily, All Might figured out what he was asking.
“You took a chunk of rubble to the head after taking down Overhaul, young Midoriya. Luckily, it wasn’t too severe of an injury; the reason you were out so long was due to your exhaustion after using One for All to its full capacity for such a long time.”
At the mention of Overhaul, the pieces clicked into place. They’d all gone into the Yakuza’s lair to save Eri. Overhaul turned himself into a giant monster, and Eri had stayed on his back; Rewinding him constantly and protecting him against his Quirk. He passed out almost immediately after powering down.
He shot straight up, ignoring the pain that spiked at the motion.
“I-Is Eri okay?! And Sir Nighteye?!” He last remembered a spike sticking out of the man’s torso.
All Might sighed.
“Eri is perfectly fine, young Midoriya. She’s in this very hospital getting checked over, and she’ll stay here until she is healthier. As for Nighteye—” All Might sighed again, much heavier this time. “Unfortunately, the damage to his organs was too great. He died about seven hours ago.”
The heart monitor stopped for a second. When it started up again, the rhythmic beep-beep, beep-beep was beep, beep-beep, beep-beep-beep . It took him a solid minute to form words.
“He—he died?” His voice shook slightly. All Might nodded solemnly.
“He did. And young Midoriya, there is something we need to discuss.”
“What?” He was still shaken by All Might’s revelation, but the man’s next words sent him into shock.
“I think it would be best if you gave me One for All again.”
His jaw fell open.
“W-what. . .?”
“You keep getting hurt, my boy,” All Might explained soothingly. “And it’s not your fault; your body can’t handle One for All’s power and that’s my fault. But you can’t keep breaking yourself like this. So please give the Quirk back to me.”
“W-what happens to the Q-Quirk then?”
“I thought I would give it to young Togata, as he lost his Quirk in the raid.”
He was totally blank with shock. Was All Might seriously asking that of him?
“Please, young Midoriya.”
In a daze—not helped by the pain medication that was still lingering—he reached up to his head and pulled out a strand of hair. All Might gently took the hair and squeezed his head.
“Thank you, my boy. I knew you’d understand.” And didn’t that sting. All Might patted his head and got to his feet. “I’ll put in a good word with Nedzu about getting you a spot in Support or Gen Ed.”
Wait, what?
Before he could ask what All Might meant, the retired hero pressed the call button for the nurse and left the room just as she came in. She started bustling around his bedside, checking his vitals and asking him too many questions to process. By the time she was wrapping up, he was starting to drift off again, his energy totally gone.
****
He woke up again in the middle of the night when the painkillers finally wore off. Luckily, for him, the ache wasn’t that bad.
(Yes, he was sore, but he’d had so much worse before. This was nothing.)
What confused him most was the oddly empty feeling in his gut. It was familiar, but for the life of him he couldn’t place it. So he laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. Out of habit, he raised a hand and pushed a flicker of One for All into it, just to see it light up and remind himself of where he was now—but nothing happened.
Then he remembered All Might’s visit and his stomach dropped.
No. . .no no no no NO!
But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find any trace of One for All. Now he understood why the feeling in his gut was so familiar.
He was Quirkless again.
He faintly heard the door open, but he wasn’t able to focus on it through the horror and the sound of the heart monitor. The nurse’s voice was muffled, and eventually a new wave of medicated haze washed over him and pulled him back into unconsciousness.
When he woke up for the third time, he’d gone from horror to just numb. He mindlessly answered the nurse’s questions to her satisfaction and listened impassively as the doctor gave him a rundown of his injuries and instructions to take it easy for the next few days. The only thing that actually sparked any emotion was the opportunity to check on Eri.
He managed to put on a smile when they brought him to Eri’s room. The little girl clung to him as soon as he arrived, whispering apologies over and over for using her ‘curse’.
Nope. Nipping that in the bud right now.
“Eri-chan, you saved me,” he whispered, gently running his fingers through her hair. “Your Quirk kept me from breaking apart, and that meant I could fight against Overhaul and keep you safe from him. Your Quirk is an absolute blessing , I promise.”
“R-really?” Eri mumbled, looking up at him with wide, shiny eyes. “Y-you mean it, D-Deku-nii?”
“Absolutely I do,” he promised, ignoring how his heart twinged when she called him brother.
The heartache only grew worse when she nuzzled into him, sighing with content.
“Deku-nii is the best hero.”
Not anymore, Eri-chan. Not anymore.
****
When he was discharged from the hospital and brought back to the dorms, he hid away in his room before any of his classmates could come find him. He really didn’t think he could interact with them right now.
As soon as he stepped into his room, his eyes were assaulted by All Might’s smile from all sides. His merch, which he’d spent years collecting, now seemed to laugh mockingly at him.
He took a shaky breath and closed the door, shutting his eyes as well—but All Might’s face was branded into the darkness behind his eyelids. He gritted his teeth and opened his eyes again, stalking forward and—carefully—pulling a poster off the wall. If he was surrounded by All Might merch for another minute, he would go insane.
It took hours for him to pack all his merch away carefully—the majority of it was in mint condition; he could make a pretty penny from selling it online—and replace his sheets and duvet with a plain spare set. He pulled out some of his other merch, but his room was much plainer than before.
Finally, he was finished and shoved the All Might merch under his bed until he could figure out how to sell it. Then he flopped onto his bed, exhausted again.
As he laid there, his phone buzzed. He listlessly reached out and felt around until he found it, then checked his notifications. It looked like he had a new email.
Dear Midoriya-kun,
As soon as you’re up for it, please report to my office. There are some things we need to discuss.
-Nedzu
He groaned, but got to his feet. No time like the present.