Canary

Chapter 26: The Aftermath

This was not a scene to be smiling at.

But Shinso was so caught up the fact that he just help defeat the Hero Killer with a knock-knock joke that he couldn't help himself.

"I can't believe that worked!" he exclaimed, pulling at his persona cords to ensure that his imitation of All Might's voice wouldn't be repeated.

And then Midoriya was laughing too. Crying – but laughing. It was often a combination of the two when it came to Midoriya.

Eraser Head skidded around the corner a couple of seconds later. Once Shinso was behind him, Mr Aizawa's hair decided that it didn't like gravity anymore as he activated his Quirk. Whatever Stain's Quirk was – seemingly a paralysis one, like Midoriya had assumed, it was immediately countered and the four injured people sprawled across the alleyway sighed in relief as they were freed from the power.

Mr Aizawa reached Iida first, helping him to his feet and interrogating him over what had happened whilst Shinso reached Todoroki.

The ice on his right arm was slowly thawing as he used his fire to remove it. Shinso's eyes rested momentarily on the blades digging into his right, but before he could even... ask if it hurt (which would have been stupid anyway) – Todoroki stooped down again and scooped a small bundle of fluff off the floor – Siren.

Shinso gasped as he took her from his wounded friend.

For a second there, he thought she was dead – from all of the red staining her feathers. But either God had rejected her or Satan had sent her back because she hadn't finished her duty of terrorising everyone and everything yet – because she rolled back onto her front and gave Shinso a disgruntled tweet.

He sighed in relief, and then moved on to check on Midoriya.

He was still right by Stain's feet, sobbing silently with a wide smile on his face.

"Can you get up?" Shinso questioned, propping Siren up on his shoulder to free his hands and offer one to Midoriya.

Midoriya didn't falter to grasp the outstretched hand. He put an awful lot of weight on Shinso as he shakily stood up.

Shinso was sure to pull him away from Stain before he fell right into him.

"How many songs did you use?" he demanded, quickly realising that it wasn't an injury preventing him from standing – but sheer exhaustion.

He didn't reply at first. He was more interested in Siren hopping from Shinso's side to Midoriya's. "Um, err, after this morning... five?"

"Five?!"

"I didn't sing the entire song..." he muttered, staring at Stain's motionless self.

"We should get going," Todoroki interjected. He reached Midoriya's other side, pulling his arm around his uninjured shoulder. Shinso did the same on his other side, and they hoisted the slightly shorter boy forwards.

They reached Iida. He hung his head – clutching onto his discarded helmet with trembling hands.

"I'm sorry..." he breathed. "F-For all the trouble I caused..."

"You didn't cause any of this, Iida..." Midoriya whispered in reply. His voice was quiet – but there was something strangely calming about it. "I'm just glad you're alive."

"Shinso?"

He turned back to Mr Aizawa. He had Stain wrapped up in his scarf. The other injured hero had removed most of the villain's weapons. He smiled at them softly as Mr Aizawa continued to speak, "Can you make him follow us out of the alley?"