The greenette paced back and forth outside of the nurses' office, with Kirishima and Ashido sitting in withered navy blue chairs to his left. The hall's paint was a much lighter purple with gray pillars every few feet. Light blue lights shone brightly through the dome-like shapes on the ceiling.

The legs of each seat were crooked, mangled pieces of dark wood. Same for the entire frame, but on the actual seat part lay blocky purple cushions that were extremely small, but soft.

It was interesting, but the dragon had other things on his mind...

How could Deku have been so stupid, so- so powerless...he stood still and watched his friend get bitten.

Ejirou and Mina could feel the guilt aura around the boy, as well as inside themselves.

They didn't do anything either..but they knew they couldn't do much.

Still, the Adventurer felt even worse for seeing that up close.

'He's had it rough growing up and his mother does this to him..? I had my acid, but...'

When she told Izuku about her power, it put a lot of pressure on her then.

While it all happened, the dragon had hoped she would step in, and she knew it.

The vampire on the other hand...

'I know I couldn't help...but this shouldn't have happened...what's wrong with me? I should have done something!'

He isn't coping well either.

A lot of emotions were silently shared among the trio until one of them finally spoke to break the quiet.

Conversation starters- and faking slight happiness- was Ashido's talent.

"Midoriya...how long have you known Wolfie?" she asked. Izuku stopped pacing for a moment as the vampire tried his best to not laugh at the sudden nickname. "You two came in together, so how close are you-"

"I knew him since we were kids." he responded quickly, but coldly. Not in an attempt to be rude...he just couldn't bring himself to be his happy self right now. "I've...I've known him forever."

He decided to sit down in between the pink girl and Ejirou as he continued speaking. "..I know he can fend for himself. I know that he'll be okay. But...it's never been this bad of an injury...I- I just-" Midoriya broke down and began to cry.

"Hey, it's alright." the vampire states. The dragon tries to speak but more tears rush out as Ashido pulls him in for a hug. Kiri puts his hand on Deku's shoulder as the Gem Devil speaks. "He'll get through this, Bakugo's strong. You know he can." she says.

~

With the two creatures helping, the whimpers and sobs coming from Deku turned into short, shaky breaths. He always hated crying in front of people like this, but now he couldn't care less.

Still, he felt the need to say something nice to them after what they've done. While he was off being a dumbass most of the time, he could see that they really helped Katsuki, even when he didn't want it at first. Izuku gazed upward a them, they were smiling at him sympathetically. He opened his mouth but the sudden tapping of footsteps made him close it instinctively.

The trio turned to where the sound came from;

A short, blue skinned old woman walked out of the office. She was wearing normal hospital attire, but she had pointy ears, fangs and white dots all over her body.

'So she's a Healer...' Deku thought. '..makes sense for a school like this to have one...'

"How is he, Recovery Girl?" Ejirou got up and He honestly seemed embarrassed to be looking at someone this short so seriously.

"I'm sorry you three, but I couldn't heal your friend entirely just yet." she informed him. "My powers aren't strong enough for a bite like that.." She trailed off looking at the ground. Like she had some grudge against the woman who bit her own son. The three didn't think much of it at first as the remaining two stood up but Izuku found it weird...

"Can- can we go see him?" Midoriya asked. His voice was a little hoarse from the tears, though the woman nodded and walked down the hall, presumably to the principal's office.

"Wolfie, are you alright?"

"Bakugo!"

"K-Kacchan!"

The words were yelled all at once as they made their way to his bed. Though he understood them clearly. The blonde boy was laying in one of the- shokcingly normal- beds and stared at them with immense relief.

"H-Hey..." he said quietly.

"I'm SO sorry about your arm!" Mina ran up to him and hugged him tightly, hovering with the crystalized wings that appeared on her back out of nowhere. Midoriya made mental note of it as he turned to Katsuki. The blonde actually liked the hug...

"How are you holdin' up, buddy? Anything still hurt?"

"..not as much as when it happened..." Izuku cringed at the mention of that.

Silence we happened once again but this time Ashido quickly broke it.

"We'll give Yaoyorozu a status update, kay?" Ashido began to hover with her diamond-esc wings.

"Won't be long, we promise!" Kirishima disappeared into a cloud of black smoke, with a small bat appearing in his place. The creatures flew out and Izuku couldn'thelp but rush to the doorway to get a final glance at Ashido's wings. He knew why they left so quickly though..

'Thank you guys...' Deku sighs.

He turns back to Bakugo and is shocked to see his saddened expression. Though it is likely, it's not from the bite this time. It's something else.

"Deku." he said softly. "You think that...people will come lookin' for us? I-I mean, my mom already came here, if she gets back to the village then..."

The freckled boy turned and walked back up to his fanged friend. He sat down on the bed next to Katsuki and stared at him for a few seconds, eyes filled with worry, care, guilt, but overall determination.

"Listen to me, Katsuki." he says. He could hear Bakugo's breath hitch at the use of his name. "T-Things.." Deku almost stops speaking entirely for the lies he's about to tell. "..things will be okay...at some point.." he had to be honest. "..they may not be now, but I'm sure it'll get better soon." the greenette looked at him with the biggest smile he could. Before Bakugo could respond he walked out.

He silently walked down the hall, passing multiples recovery rooms that all looked the same.

'why do they have so many..?'

"Hey, Deku?" a feminine voice called.

The dragon stood at attention as Uraraka and a frog girl, Asui stand in front of him.

"You okay?" the brunette asked again. He took one step towards her before hugging her tightly, getting a surprised yelp from both girls.

"..thank you." Izuku whispered. The witch chuckled at this and the boy felt her nod. He pulled away from her as he quickly became worried. "Did- did she hurt you guys?"

"Not really no,ribbit." Tsuyu stated. She placed a hand on the witch's shoulder as her arm revealed a elbow-long bandage. "I got a scratch on my arm and Ochako has a small concussion, but we're okay. What about Bakugo?"

"He's okay, but I think he'd like to see you guys." he couldn't help the smile that appeared as he pointed down the hall to his friends' room. He was happy to finally have people who cared.

The frog girl ribbited in agreement as the witch waved goodbye. The girls sprinted for the door as the dragon's smile began to falter.

More people got hurt than he thought...

This isn't going to work.

He can't watch them get hurt.

Deku got to the familiar stairwell, walking down into the catacombs with a lantern in his hands. Sure, he may get lost again, but he had a plan if he did. He knew what he was coming down here to do, and only one thought played in his head as he walked;

'I've gotta redeem myself, no matter what.'

He has to be strong enough to fight.