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Chapter 2: Chapter #2 | The Remnants of Yesterday
Chapter Text
Six and a half days was all it took after Izuku woke up to remember. He hated hospitals, and he wasn't too overly fond of doctors either. Oh, don't get him wrong, they weren't performing experiments on their patients or really anything evil for that matter. They never did anything at all that would make him think that the medical staff of Musutafu General was plotting something nefarious against him. In fact, it was the exact opposite, and it was driving Izuku insane. He had barely been awake a week, and of that week, barely any of it was spent alone. Either a nurse was checking on him and his vitals, another wheeling him to a test chamber, or a doctor performing some test or another on him. The constant coddling as if he were an invalid reminded him entirely too much of what society expected of the quirkless. Much less a quirkless that had, apparently, just come out of a year-long coma.
The only silver lining to any of the constant tests or the incessant physical therapy were the visits from his mother in the afternoon. Oh, sure. He was certain she would stay every waking moment were he only to ask. But he couldn't do that to her. She had responsibilities to attend to, a job to perform as one of the top chefs in the Shizuoka prefecture. She was quite good at what she did, and it meant a lot to her. If there was one thing Izuku wasn't going to risk, it was her losing her position. Thus Izuku persevered through the ceaseless presence of the medical staff and complied with their requests as best as he could, considering his body had apparently weakened considerably in his year of beauty sleep. Not that it was to be unexpected considering just how weak he was to start with.
"-ear me, Mr. Midoriya?" Izuku snapped his head back to the doctor that was talking. He had been lost in thought wondering what else the doctors could possibly test him for.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Ken'Ichi. What was that? I was thinking about... Something. Besides that, I've barely gotten a few hours sleep across these last few days with all the testing." Dr. Ken'Ichi Toda was, by anyone's standards for a doctor, young. In his early thirties, he was barely out of medical school. But despite this, the spry man that, were he not sitting, would tower over most of his patients had cemented himself as an asset at the general hospital. Currently, the young doctor sat beside Izuku's bed rattling off the day's results to the testing he had undergone. Giving Midoriya a rueful smile, he let on that the pause had told him exactly what it was Izuku had been contemplating.
"Oh yes, I'm quite sure you were. As I was saying, young man, you've made absolutely remarkable progress in terms of your recovery. Your MMSE score is practically perfect, which is shocking considering the degree of your head trauma when you came in here initially. Besides that, your MAS scores have improved so rapidly I would suspect that you had a quirk that was speeding up your recovery. Of course, that would be if I hadn't personally run your blood twice more to check for an active quirk factor. Which, if it isn't clear from my phrasing, was absent."
"What can I say doc," Izuku gave him a small humorous smile, "I heal quickly."
"That, young man, is a serious understatement. The rate at which you have recovered is nothing short of a medical marvel. Regardless. You are for all intents and purposes recovered enough for me to clear you to be discharged. Though you should still continue the exercises we have had you do. We'll also be sending a packet home with you containing any information that you might need. Of course, if you have questions, you can still call the hospital directly. I'll get the paperwork together, and when your mother gets here this afternoon, you'll be able to head home with her."
"Thank you, sir." Izuku dipped his head, thanking the doctor for finally clearing his release.
"You can thank me by not ending up back in here again. We're still not sure how you managed to get those injuries of yours. Are you sure you don't remember anything?"
"No sir. Though I'll be sure to inform the detective if I do happen to remember something." The doctor nodded his head before turning and exiting the room. Sighing, Izuku sank back into the mattress. He knew perfectly well who had put him in the hospital in the first place. Sure, he couldn't blame Katsuki for the villain that stumbled drunk into the alley after he had left. He certainly couldn't blame Katsuki for the villain having had a bad day. For the villain loving an easy target to take his frustrations out on. But he most certainly could blame him for the years of torment that he had been subjected to. He could hold him accountable for putting starburst scarring across his body, and he most certainly could blame him for his general quirkist nonsense. If he learned anything in the last years, it's that you don't need a quirk to make something of yourself.
…
The trip home was refreshing for Izuku. He was glad to be out of the hospital. The medical personnel had been nothing but kind to him, but he was really enjoying being back in real clothing. The city was familiar, yet so strange at the same time. To Izuku, it was as if he had stepped back in time. To a home that he had never expected to see again. It was so peaceful here. Such a contrast to the silent ruins he had been stalking through only weeks before. There was life here, people living their lives happily without any thought to what could happen to them at the drop of a coin.
"Izuku, are you okay?" For the second time that day, Izuku was snapped out of his thoughts by a concerned voice. "We're home, honey." Midoriya Inko was a short woman with a mature air about her, and she was as kind as they came. Izuku simply hugged his fretting mother and breathed deeply.
"Don't worry mom. I feel better now than I have in a long time." Izuku stepped into his old home with a smile on his face. He hadn't expected to ever be back here, but he was certainly going to make the most of it now that he was.
"I'm going to start work on dinner. It's your favorite katsudon! Why don't you go and get settled back in while I'm making the food." Nodding his head, Izuku walked slowly down the hallway, just taking in the details as he did.
So many things familiar, yet only in distant passing. As if the things he was trying to remember were fading out of memory. Only to then be forced back to the surface. The pencil markings on the wall where his mother had marked his height as he grew, the little scratches in the paint from where he had been playing hero a little too rough when he was younger. He let his hand trail across the wood architrave around the doors, breathing deeply and taking in the mixture of scents he could only associate in his mind with his childhood. Then suddenly in front of him was the door to a room he hadn't seen in so long. The old All Might sign with his name written in stunted crayon handwriting still hanging, slanted, from its peg on his door. Izuku gripped the doorknob and opened the door to what seemed like another time. All Might merchandise was hanging from practically every surface and figurines were on every shelf. His journals on his bookshelf one of the blessed few things in the room that wasn't somehow related to the man. Izuku sweatdropped looking into the room in what was a state of almost shock.
I knew that I was particularly a fan of All Might, but I have to admit, I didn't realize it was quite this fanatical of an obsession. Though I suppose being the number one hero in what might as well be the world does get you a few crazy obsessed fans.
Placing his papers from the hospital onto his desk, he took a moment to just sit down and look at his room. He would have to do something about the room. Maybe take down a few of the older posters and box up some of the dozens of figurines. But for now, at least, he was content to just look. To sit and remember the past and let his memories of growing up keep him company for the moment.
…
Izuku was fairly certain he had an idea as to why he was able to get out of months of rehabilitative therapy within the week, but he wasn't quite sure quite how it was possible if he were correct.
"Don't let your fear hold you back. Use your fear, understand it. Don't let it rule you, but make it work for you so you can do what needs to be done." Rose's words echoed in the back of his head as he sat at his desk. The sad ghost of a smile twitched at Izuku's lips.
An entirely different world and your words can still reach me. You'd be proud of yourself for that, Rose. Izuku stood, walking over to the mirror positioned next to his dresser. The augmentations we developed for the Black Cats would explain my recovery time, but how would they have come back here with me? If they did, clearly not all of them did. The doctors certainly would have noticed subdermal implants in their follow up tests, right? That generally rules those out, but what about the genetic ones? The genes we altered for muscle growth, density, and regeneration would certainly explain the recovery, but I can't exactly test those in quick fashion. The mental genes we altered for reaction time certainly still seem to be in play if the hospital tests were of any indication. What about the activatable traits we altered? That's something to try. I didn't have time to alter myself with many of them bu-
A burst of happy, bubbling laughter brought Izuku out of his thoughts. At his doorway stood his mother looking at him as if her world were complete for the first time in a long time. "Look at you. I was all worried because you were so quiet on the way back from the hospital, but look at you now. Home, not even night, and already muttering so quickly that I can't understand what you're saying. Come on hun, dinner's on the table and there is no reason to let it get cold."
"Alright, thanks mom. I'll be out in just a second." Inko smiled and walked back towards the kitchen. Izuku looked back at the mirror and leaned into his reflection. Taking a deep breath and remembering Rose's words, he focused and opened his eyes. Where one would normally find deep, dark emerald eyes, instead one would, at that moment, find eyes a bright viridian, cyan specs floating in what seems to be an otherworldly sea of color and light.
"Well looky there," Izuku murmured under his breath. "Looks like I still have a piece of you all after all." Letting his focus drop away and his eyes to return to their normal shade, he smiled at the thought. Then frowned. How is this possible? Izuku walked towards the dining room shaking his head. At the moment it doesn't matter. All that matters is that he still has some of his augments, and that would be incredibly useful.
Sitting down at the table, he smiled at his mother and thanked her for the food. Taking a bite, he froze. It had been so long since he'd had his mother's cooking that he had forgotten just how amazing it was. At that moment, that katsudon was the best thing he had tasted in eighteen long years. It wasn't until he heard his mother's concerned question that he realized he was crying.
"I- I'm fine," Izuku choked out around the sob already building in the back of his throat. "I'm just really happy to be home." Inko teared up as well at this and, laughing, the two ate dinner together in an odd state of happy crying revelry. She caught him up on the major things that had happened in the last year and he gladly listened. When she heard from him that he was planning on heading back to classes already, she was initially concerned. But after some reassurances that he would be fine playing a little bit of catchup, she relented. He knew there would be no catchup at all if he could remember even half of what he had learned working alongside the rescued scientists at the Elysium Installation. If he could, then he would be ahead of most college graduates, much less some middle school math class.
After dinner he excused himself to shower and get ready for bed. After doing so he laid awake, unused to the relative silence of his room. There had always been something happening or some noise being made in the barracks. Be it the air pumps working away to keep the underground facility breathing or a game of poker in the common area, there was some noise to assure you everything was fine. The silence was dangerous, he had learnt. The calm before the oncoming storm. Sighing, he rolled over and did his best to get to sleep. Surely going back to school couldn't be any worse than anything else he had experienced.
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