Not Yet

XLI: The Calm Before the Storm

Of every beat of his heart, he was aware. Of every contraction and every pump, with every expanding artery, and every retracting vein. With every rushing drop of blood echoing in his ears, with every lump forming in his throat, he was aware. Of his rocketing anxiety, and his thundering dread.

"Nii-chan?"

It has just been a few moments, before the boy's eyes lit up with recognition. It should be normal, considering he had been unconscious for a week, but Aizawa couldn't help the fear that washed over him when he saw Izuku staring at Eri and Mirio with an empyt, unrecognising gaze. As if he had no idea who they were. As if he had no brain activity at all.

The long agonizing moments after Eri's question stretched longer than they should have, but maybe it was just Aizawa's imagination. Because upon Izuku's small whisper of Eri's name, everyone seemed to relax just fine.

Everyone but Aizawa.

He just hoped he was being paranoid yet again....

*****

The days went by, and Aizawa couldn't help the budding worry from growing. Izuku... wasn't getting better. Although he was getting worse either. Since he had helped Mrs. Bakugou, he had been sleeping for the majority of the day, dead to the world around him. Whenever he was in one of those states, no matter what you did, you wouldn't be able to wake him up.

Matsuda had suspected something about an overload. But to Aizawa, it just seemed like Izuku's life force was slipping from right between his fingers.

He couldn't help the faint feeling of regret for allowing Izuku to help Mrs. Mitsuki from forming, yet when Bakugou showed up to class, after a week of absence to stay by his mother's side, Aizawa couldn't cling to that feeling any longer.

The kid was a whole new person. He interacted with his classmates relatively friendly. The cold, thorny aura that had always seemed to prevent others from approaching nowhere to be seen. He hadn't stopped cussing and bursting out in anger of course, no one changes like that overnight, but he had seemed much more relaxed, the invisible burden that had always seemed to chain him down finally vanishing.

No, Aizawa didn't regret his decision, and he's sure Izuku didn't either.

****

They fell into a routine, everything seeming to have been stabilized for the meantime.

Or so he thought.

He was just dismissing his class after the last period for the day, when he had gotten a call from detective Naomasa. He refrained from answering until the last of his students had left, gathering his things and hurrying to the teacher's lounge with a fast pace.

"Aizawa," the detective's voice seemed more strained than usual, tired, with a tinge of urgency buried deep into the professional tone.

"What is it?" Aizawa knew something was up and he wanted to cut straight to the chase. He knew that was a trait that the detective didn't mind either.

"We caught someone. A villain. And we think he might be related to your case."

"My case?"

"Your last rescue mission," he could feel his heart sinking in his chest. "And the case of Midorya Inko ten years ago."

"Are you saying that..."

"Yes, we caught her killer."

Aizwa stopped abruptly in the middle of the corridor. After all these years?!

He didn't know if that was a good news or a bad one, considering everything that happened lately. The Bakugou's were finally starting a new chapter, so he would never drag them to that past ever again.

"And we need someone to confirm his identity. A witness."

Yeah, not gonna happen. The only witnesses were Bakugou and his mother. And they both don't remember the incident now.

"That's impossible," he sighed, knowing a headache was about to assault his nerve receptors very soon.

"Why not? The file says that there were two witnesses. I understand that the boy could be too young, but can't we bring the mother? If you are worried about her mental health then we could always arrang a-"

"No, it's not that," how will he explain this? "It's a long story, but there's no one that has any memories of the in-"

Wait.

There was, in fact, a witness with memories of the incident.

"What?" Naomasa's wondering voice came from the other end at Aizawa's interrupted sentence.

"Shit...."

****

Shit indeed. That was a bad, bad idea.

Izuku was the last person he wanted to involve in something like this. The boy was still far from healthy enough to walk, let alone testify in the police station under that kind of stress.

From the small bits he had managed to piece together about the boy, it was clear that he had some connection to the deceased woman. He didn't know what kind of relationship they had, yet it didn't really matter, this was going to be hard on him nonetheless, that's for sure.

Yet he couldn't just turn a blind eye, not when this villain was potentially connected to the League of Villains. Not when they could acquire priceless information that could finally free them from the need of hiding the kids. And certainly not when the possibility of arresting these disgusting villains was dangling right in front of his face, the possibility of bringing closure to the kids whom have been hurt way too much by them.

Matsuda had made it clear that he was against the idea.

"Any more straining to the amygdala and it could be the final blow," he had said. "Any more stress and the whole system could shut down."

Aizawa really wanted to bring justice to those villains, but what use would that be if his kid was already dead by then?!

No, he made up his mind. He was not going along with that.

"I'll do it."

Matsuda and Aizawa both startled badly at the voice that interrupted their discussion. They hadn't thought that Izuku would come out of his slumber so soon.

His eyes were sharp, his speech so clear, his resolve stoned. He knew what he wanted to do, and not a single word of objection was uttered after that.