Tides of Change

Chapter Seven

Sar'ika's POV

When I walked out of the hospital the next morning, I was a little surprised to see Aizawa waiting in his car for me. I had been told at the desk I had a ride already outside for me and thought maybe they had called a cab. Turns out it was Aizawa.
He nodded in my general direction and unlocked the door to the car. I crawled into the front seat, setting my bag between my legs. I quickly put my seat belt on, and we started driving towards my house.
"I didn't expect you to be my ride." I said softly but smiling all the while. It was a nice surprise.
"By all technicalities, even though I am your teacher, I also am your guardian. It is my job to ensure you are cared for properly, even if you are old enough to look after yourself." He replied, a gentle smile on his face.
Not everyone was allowed a glimpse at this side of him, but those who did get to see it, they knew it was a rare thing given. I smiled more, nodding. He had always been a sort of second dad to me, even if I didn't tell him that. I always looked up to him.
We chatted for a bit, until I finally decided I had to ask. "So..." I slowly started, afraid of the answer I would receive. "Have you talked to the school yet? About us going with you to save Bakugo?"
He was quiet for a minute, focusing on his driving. "Do you have a plan?" he questioned.
"Well, Kirishima and I were brainstorming most of last night together, and depending on what you know, we may have some ideas." I replied softly.
He nodded a bit, slowly pulling in front of my house. "Good. Make sure they're well thought out and prepared. You'll be presenting them to the rest of the staff at UA tomorrow. If they agree, you will officially be the student in charge of the rest of your peers on this mission. You will answer to all of the pros. But your classmates will also be taking orders from you too. It will be your job to find out who among your peers will be joining us. This is your first big assignment, consider it a try out. This is what it's going to be like as a Pro. It's time you learned."
I could feel my heart beating quickly, but a smile was on my face. Currently, we have a good shot at convincing our teachers to allow our help. This just might actually happen.
Looking up at him, I closed my eyes, giving the most confident smile I could. "I won't let you down sir!"
He smiled a bit more. "You haven't yet. And I highly doubt you'll start now."
After a quick goodbye, I hopped out and headed inside. I had been sent home in bandages still, so I had to be careful moving around. I set my bag aside and smiled, seeing my luggage from camp had been dropped off already. I took time to unpack it, letting my brain rest for a bit. After a while, I could feel my side hurting, and decided it was time to rest.
I walked over, grabbing a notebook and pen, and sat down on the couch and started to write. I quickly shot off a private text to each of my classmates, asking them personally if they would be a part of the task force to go in and rescue Bakugo. Not surprisingly at all, I received yes messages from all of them, except for Kirishima.
I was a bit worried why I wasn't hearing from him, until I heard a knock on my door. I got up to open it and smiled a bit when I saw the spiked red head standing there, with a to-go bag of food in his hand.
"I got your text. You better believe I'm in!" He said grinning, as he held out the bag to me. "I also figured you might be hungry, and you shouldn't be up and about making your own food, so my folks said I could come by and hang out for a while and help you brainstorm over dinner."
I felt a bit of heat in my cheeks as I took the bag, thanking him and letting him inside. He kicked his shoes off next to the door and walked in and sat down on the couch. I set out the food and could barely believe how much he brought.
"There is no way I can eat all of this. Have you eaten yet? At least share with me." I said, staring at the buffet he had brought.
He chuckled, insisting it was all for me, but I convinced him to share while we plotted out ideas for Bakugo's rescue. We sat there for hours going over tactics and how we could handle it. It was difficult not knowing where he was being kept and who all we were up against, but we were determined to try and cover all bases.
Through all the plans though, one thing was certain. We both would need to be the ones to free Bakugo. Bakugo might be stubborn and let his pride get in the way if its anyone else. But if it was either of us, there was a better chance he would listen. I tried to insist it be just Kirishima, but he pushed that it would be safer if we both went in case of an attack. and because he knew Bakugo would listen to me as well.
"I really don't see how you're coming to that conclusion." I argued, leaning back against the couch.
Kirishima chuckled a bit. "Trust me. As his best friend, I should know. He doesn't just help anyone with studying or training or even going to their house. You're someone he sees with respect. That's gonna be needed if we wanna pull this off."
I sighed, looking up at the ceiling. Was he really right? I just felt so conflicted. Part was guilt, and part was... the ever-lingering crush I felt for them both.
I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Kirishima talking again. "Oh dang, it's getting late. I promised my folks I'd be home soon. I better go. You gonna be okay by yourself?"
I nodded, smiling. "I'll be just fine. I appreciate your help tonight and bringing dinner. Thank you."
He just grinned and did his ever-adorable signature pose. "No problem! I'll see you tomorrow yeah? For the presentation to the staff?"
"You really want to come?" I asked.
He nodded. "We thought of these plans together, we're in this together! Think of me as your number two in this fight!" he said as he grinned big.
I just couldn't find it in me to argue with him. He was so determined and honestly, I felt like I needed that kind of determination if we were going to do this.
He waved goodbye as he left, and I headed back in, gathering my notes in a more presentable manner to take to school tomorrow. I quickly got ready for bed, setting fresh bandages out for me to change first thing in the morning. I got up a little bit before I was supposed to, having had a rough time sleeping.
I went ahead with changing my bandages, examining my stab wound. It was fairly deep and had been stitched together. I was lucky it hadn't hit any of my organs.
I finished changing them and gathered my notes into my bag. I warmed up the leftovers from last night for a quick breakfast, then headed for the door to leave. I opened the door, nearly stumbling into Kirishima, who was about to knock on the door.
"Oh hey, good morning Sar'ika! Didn't realize you were about to leave haha. I figured I'd walk with you to the presentation." He said cheerily, smiling big.
I giggled softly. "Aw that's very sweet of you. Yeah, I was about to actually leave for school. You have perfect timing."
He grinned, and the two of us set out down the sidewalk for school, going over any last-minute plans and changes. I think Kirishima could tell I was nervous, because he kept telling me that the plans would go over well, there was no way we couldn't nail this.
I just nodded and looked up at the school as we climbed the stairs. We headed inside, heading to the meeting room that Aizawa had told me to go to. As we walked inside, we could see all the school faculty, including the Principal were already there.
"Ah good, you're here. I see you've brought someone with you. Eijiro Kirishima, am I correct?" The principal said softly.
Kirishima nodded politely, and I gathered my courage to speak. "Kirishima is my right hand in this planning. He has helped me greatly and is a vital part of our success. I felt it was appropriate he be allowed to sit in on the meeting as well." I said, my legs shaking a bit.
The rest of the staff nodded, and one of them pulled an extra seat over for Kirishima. We both sat down, looking at each other nervously.
"Aizawa said he tasked you with coming up with a plan, if you're to join the Pro's. Have you?" Midnight asked, leaning forward on her desk.
I took a deep breath, reaching into my bag to lay out a stack of papers on the desk, a bit to their surprise, though I saw out of the corner of my eye that Aizawa was smiling.
"Yes ma'am. We have discussed several different plans, as we do not have all of the information that you do. Depending on what we learn, it will allow us to narrow our plans down, and adjust any plan to fit with the current mission." I explained, trying to keep my nerves under wraps.
It was fairly obvious they were impressed. They saw we were serious about going with them. After a bit of discussion, and us being asked to step out for a few minutes, we finally were allowed back in, and were told they would be granting us all Temporary licenses for this mission. As Aizawa had stated, I was to be the student who would relay orders to the rest of the students. I would be the go between for pros and students, and I had a lot of responsibility resting on my shoulders.
They quickly filled myself and Kirishima in on what they knew, which allowed us to narrow down to one plan we had. It would need minor adjustments, but it wouldn't be difficult to make work.
We would need to split the students based on their quirks and fighting abilities. Where he was being kept, we believed, was a populated area. To try and keep the students from having to fight as much, we agreed that the bulk of us would be assisting with evacuations, while a few of the students who were more experienced with fighting would be allowed in for the main assault. We had two places to check, based on the tracker Yaoyorozu had managed to place on one of the villains.
We believed, due to some scouting that one housed the Nomu, as we called them, while the other building in the residential area was where Bakugo was held.
The day of the rescue came quickly, and we all were nervous. This was a life-or-death situation, if we screwed up, it could be over for someone. Be it Bakugo, one of us, or even a Pro.
We all suited up, meeting outside the school.
"Alright, everyone knows the plan, right?" I asked, looking around at everyone.
They all nodded. From now on everyone would be splitting to meet with the Pro's they would be working with and would be taking orders from them, as I would be at the main event. Those joining me on the main assault would be Kirishima, Midoriya, Iida, and Kaminari.
"Here's to bringing our classmate and friend back safe and sound." Iida said, as we all placed our hands in the center.
With those last words of encouragement, it was time we all split up to head for our prospective places. My group met with Aizawa, Gran Torino, who Deku had gone to intern with, and All Might.
Our plan was straight forward as it could be. The Pro's would go in first, drawing the fight, followed by Deku, Iida and Kaminari. It was mine and Kirishima's job to sneak in while they were fighting and go find where Bakugo was being kept. We believed that the building had 2, possibly 3 levels, which meant we had to search the floors quickly, find Bakugo, then get out safely.
Before we knew it, it was beginning. We made our way to the building, the Pro's giving the last of their instructions before storming the building.
We waited, and I signaled our classmates to enter the assault, then waited a bit longer before Kirishima and I snuck into the building. Thanks to the reconnaissance that had been done, we knew exactly where the stairs were. We quickly snuck up them, running down the halls and opening the doors looking for Bakugo. We didn't find him on the second floor, so we quickly made our way to the third floor.
"There's no one following us, right?" I called back quietly to Kirishima.
He shook his head and we kept running. He ran down one hall, and I ran down another. I slid to a stop in front of one door that had a lock on it. None of the others had locks.
"This one. It's this one!" I thought, as I knelt down to examine the lock.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked back to see Kirishima.
"Find something?" he asked, looking over my shoulder.
"This door is locked. None of the others were locked." I said, standing up.
He just smirked, hardening his hands, and hitting the lock, smashing it to bits. I quickly opened the door, and felt my heart drop a bit.
"Bakugo!" I quickly rushed in, Kirishima right behind me.
Bakugo was chained to a chair, specialized cuffs covered his hands, keeping him from being able to use his quirk. He had some sort of face mask over his face, and his head was hanging down.
I knelt down, pulling the mask off his face. I grabbed his shoulders, shaking him gently.
"Bakugo! Bakugo, wake up!" I nervously whispered, feeling fear building up inside me.
Kirishima was right beside me, eyes wide with worry. After what felt like an eternity, Bakugo lifted his head, struggling to open his eyes. Kirishima and I both let out sighs of relief as he shook his head a bit and looked at us.
"Hey... you both came... to get me..." He slurred.
He looked at us, with the most-odd look I think I'd ever seen. He looked like a little puppy, trying to beg his way into someone's heart, his eyes big, a goofy smile on his face. Kirishima and I exchanged confused glances. Are we sure this was our Bakugo?
"Dude, are you okay?" Kirishima asked, as he tried to get the cuffs off his hands.
"You both are... here. Never better..." He muttered softly, his head dipping a bit.
As Kirishima worked to free him, I grabbed the mask off the floor, and lifted it to my nose. I took one whiff, and felt myself fall backwards, my eyes rolling into the back of my head as a strange and sudden feeling of exhaustion hit me hard. I felt someone grab my arm before I hit the floor, pulling me forward and then proceeded to shake me a bit, as my senses started coming back.
I blinked a little, seeing Kirishima's worried face staring at me. "Sar'ika! Are you okay?!"
I shook my head a little, my sensing coming back. "Yeah... i-it was the mask, I think its... drugged somehow." I shook my head a bit again. "They probably used to keep him calm and silent. He is Bakugo after all."
Kirishima helped me steady myself, as I took some deep breaths to clear my lungs. After making sure I had my bearings, he went back to getting the cuffs off Bakugo.
After he finally got them off, we tried to get Bakugo to his feet, but he was still extremely disoriented.
"Well, we don't have time for this. So, sorry Bakugo. Please don't kill me later." Kirishima said, grabbing his arm and pulling him onto his shoulders.
I stifled a chuckle and headed to the door first, peeking out to make sure it was safe. We quickly rushed down the hall towards the stairs, but quickly stopped as someone was coming up them.
I motioned towards another room, and we ducked inside there. I looked around for a way out, smiling when I saw a window. I looked at Kirishima, feeling my nerves building again.
"Do you trust me?" I asked, as I pushed the window open.
"With my life." He said, not even skipping a beat.
I felt my cheeks flush a bit and quickly shook away the feelings that were creeping up inside me.
I leaned out the window, looking around. The area behind the building was empty and lead into the forest with a river nearby. I knew if we followed the river, it would lead us to a safe place. It had been one of the backup routes we discussed with the Pro's, so if we could make it out of the forest, we would be safe.
Reaching into the bag I had brought with me, and I pulled out a few bottles of water. I quickly opened them, dropping them to the ground, and focusing my attention into using the water to make a short staircase down to the ground. I looked back at Kirishima, who was grinning. He knew exactly what I was planning.
"Smart. Let's go." He said softly as he carefully crawled out the window onto the water stairs.
I stayed at the window, doing my best to hold the water. I wasn't used to having to hold weight, which was a bit of a struggle. I had been practicing, but I wasn't good at it yet.
Kirishima quickly ran down the water steps with Bakugo in tow, who was grumbling about being carried.
I smiled as I saw them hit the ground safely. I quickly put my legs through the window, starting to climb out, but froze when I heard the door open.
I glanced back to see the villain known as Dabi standing there. My eyes widened as we made eye contact. He lifted a hand, terrifying blue flames coming from it.
"So you're the brat who took our prize. I can't have that." He said, as he put his hand out towards me.
Without a second thought, I just jumped. I leapt from the window, much to the shock of Kirishima. Flames erupted from the window above me as I fell forward.
I felt the wind blowing on my face and the ground rapidly approaching. I quickly summoned water to me, landing on it and sliding to the ground. I hit the ground, rolling a few times, before leaping to my feet and running towards Kirishima.
I grabbed his arm, pulling him with me. "Come on, we gotta go!" I yelled, as we took off running.
We ran along the riverbank, our legs burning. I could hear Bakugo complaining about wanting to be put down, and I felt a bit of relief hit me. We had him back, he was alive, and he was okay. We just had to get away and get to the Pro's.
This had been a backup route because it was muddy and difficult to run in, but under the circumstances, we had to adjust our plan slightly. We kept running until we slid to a stop as flames erupted in front of us. We looked to see Dabi coming from the side of the forest, smiling.
"You're not going to get away that easy princess." He called, looking at me.
I felt my blood run cold. The look in his eyes was terrifying. I quickly stepped in front of Kirishima and Bakugo, narrowing my eyes.
I could hear the scared realization in Kirishima's voice. "Sar'ika-"
"Get him out of here. He is their target. You need to get out of here and get somewhere safe. I'll buy you time." I said, looking back at Kirishima. "Go! Run!"
He could see the fear in my eyes, but he also could see I wouldn't back down. He reluctantly nodded, and turned, running across a smaller place in the river to the other side, taking off as fast as he could.
Dabi threw a blast of blue fire at them, to which I summoned water from the river, creating a wall from the water, absorbing the flames.
Dabi turned to me, a curious smirk on his face. "A water quirk. Oh, this will be fun."
He started walking towards me, flames in hand. I summoned water from the river, creating a staff, and bringing water around to shield my back.
"You are done hurting my friends!" I yelled, lifting my other hand, shooting water from the river at him.
He threw up a massive blast of flames, evaporating the water I sent at him, but I was already making my move. I rushed in, swinging my staff. He dodged my attacks, kicking me in the stomach. I stumbled backwards but was already summoning water to my aid.
He threw another attack at me, but I had brought up a wall of water to protect me. I smirked a bit as it evaporated. I just had to fight a bit longer, I had to buy them enough time.
I think he knew I was trying to draw out the fight and wasn't going to allow it. He looked around the area and his mouth twitched upward in a terrifying grin. He lifted both hands, throwing down fire all around us. I spun around as the fire surrounded us, leaving me no way to escape. I tried to summon water to me but felt myself quickly becoming over heated from the immense heat that surrounded me. There was no water in the air to call from and I couldn't get my bearings to call it from the river.
My legs shook, and I felt my staff melt from my hands as it evaporated. I could feel myself sweating buckets, this heat was beyond intense. How did he survive this kind of fire?
I felt my body shaking, and I fell to my knees, swaying a bit. The smoke coming up from the fire burned my eyes, and I felt tears rolling down my face. I could hear him laughing softly as he walked over to me.
He stood in front of me menacingly. "So young to be throwing your life away like this. Too bad."
I felt him push his foot against my chest, and I fell backwards onto the dirt, his foot still planted on my chest. I stared up at him, the sky above him starting to spin, and the smoke crawled closer to us.
He raised his hand towards my face, as blue fire danced around it. "Well young Hero, time for you to di-"
"DIE YOU BASTARD!"
I saw him snap his head to the side, as I saw fire light up around him. I felt someone grabbing me, and using their body to protect me, as my ears began to ring from the sudden explosion that went off.
I could hear more explosions going off around me, and just as quickly as the fire was there, it started dying off. As it did, I felt the person protecting me, start to shake my shoulders.
I could hear them calling my name through the ringing in my ears. I gasped a bit, as my senses started coming back and I could make out the blurry shape of Kirishima.
"I told you to run..." I forced out, coughing from the smoke.
"And he told me to come back." He replied, pulling my arm around his shoulders,
He pulled me to my feet, and we started making our way away from the smoke and flames. I looked back and out of the fire came Bakugo blasting towards us, as Kirishima quickly lifted me into his arms.
"Get moving you idiots!" he yelled, as he ran towards us.
I could see Kirishima grin as he started running. Angered yelling could be heard coming from behind us, and Bakugo was laughing a bit at it. The two ran as fast as they could, deeper into the woods before finally stopping.
Kirishima gently set me on the ground, the two of them kneeling in the dirt, panting, and shaking.
Bakugo was the first to break the silence. "What the fuck do you two think you were doing?!"
I could hear the genuine concern in his voice and couldn't help but smile.
"Saving your ass... obviously." I said, starting to laugh a little.
Bakugo glared at the two of us for a bit, but it didn't stop me from laughing. We finally got our breath back enough to get up and keep moving. I shakily got to my feet, almost falling down, but was caught by Bakugo. I looked at him a little surprised. He simply scoffed a little, pulling my arm over his shoulder.
"You almost died back there, you idiot..." he muttered softly. "Don't you ever listen to me?"
I let out a soft sigh, smiling a bit, thinking back to our first conversation after my first day of school.
Kirishima walked over, taking my other arm and the two of them helped me as we started moving again towards our rendezvous point.
"Seriously... what the fuck were you two doing out here. Does anyone know you're out here?" Bakugo asked, looking over at the two of us.
Kirishima nodded. "Yeah, the Pro's know. That's where I was taking you, before you demanded we go back. This whole operation was Sar'ika's idea."
I looked down, feeling Bakugo's eyes on me. "It wasn't just me. Kirishima was trying to rally the others."
Kirishima chuckled nervously. "I mean... yeah I guess I was heh. But that's cause we don't ever leave someone behind. Especially a friend" He said, smiling a bit.
I could hear Bakugo scoffing softly. "Hmph. Thanks, I guess then... But I could have gotten myself out you know." he muttered out softly.
I looked over at Kirishima and we both smiled. He was just fine. We had actually managed to pull it off. Bakugo was back, safe and sound.
By the time we made it to where we were supposed to meet the Pro's, there was a commotion going on. Everyone who had been around the building had been evacuated, even the students.
We wandered into the crowds of people, looking for any of the Pro's, but our attention soon turned to the giant TV's, that were broadcasting what was going down.
All Might had taken up a fight against a villain like none of us had ever seen before. Someone with powers beyond anything we could imagine.
We all watched in horror as the fight drove on, until All Might finally won the fight. We all looked in shock, seeing the very weakened state of All Might. He had won, but at what cost?
As All Might gave a speech, pointing out to the cameras, I turned my attention to Bakugo, and my eyes widened seeing his face.
I could see the guilt written all over his face. I could see sadness in his eyes. I wasn't fully sure at the time what was going on in his head, but I knew it wasn't good.
Kirishima's quiet voice broke up my thoughts. "Hey, we gotta find the Pro's or police, we could be followed still, and you both need to get looked at."
Bakugo's face quickly returned to a scowl. "I'm fine, Shitty Hair."
"I wouldn't say that from how we found you." I muttered softly, earning a huff from him.
"And what does that mean, Water for Brains?!" He asked, as I tried to hide a blush.
"We'll uhh... tell you later." I managed to squeak out.
With a bit of convincing, we managed to get moving through the crowd, finding one of the Pro Hero's on the rescue case. He quickly got the three of us into the polices safe custody and we were safely taken to the hospital. We were released that same night, being given a clean bill of health, though the doctors were extremely worried if my wound had reopened. They told me to check it every few hours, which I agreed to so I could go home.
I could tell Kirishima was being a tiny bit clingy to Bakugo, which didn't really surprise me. Honestly, Bakugo for once didn't seem to mind it either.
We were greeted at the exit of the hospital by Aizawa, who was clearly happy to see that we were alright. I smiled as I saw Bakugo and Kirishima's parents were there too. They happily got their boys, and took them safely home, leaving Aizawa to take me home.
I watched them walk away, and looked up at Aizawa. He obviously was trying to act stern, but his face fell soft as I felt tears rolling down my face.
"Come here, young one." He said gently, as I fell into his arms, crying softly.
The long night was finally catching up with me. All the questioning from the police, all the poking from the doctors, all the nervousness from the rescue, and all the fear from my fight. I hadn't realized how truly afraid I had been in those moments facing Dabi. And now it all was coming out.
He held me as I cried, just letting me be. "Let's get you home. Tonight, I'm going to stay over as your protector. The police told me what you said, about Dabi attacking you. I want to ensure you're safe."
I just nodded softly, as we started to walk to his car. "O-okay." I muttered out through my tears.
It was over. Bakugo was safe and alright. But we had a long road of recovery ahead of us still.