-Let's Chat- (MHA x OC fanfic)

-14-

"Come here, rest little mouse, you have done your part.." Nezu gently pat his shoulder- an invitation for Mizuki to rest by his side.

"..." Mizuki only mumbled something incoherent and collapsed into his shoulder with a small breath.

"You know, you're quite brave. I was rather worried for you when I found you, quite the bloody sight for a child." Nezu responded- voice level, but somehow still holding the weight of a swift punch to the gut.

"...I'm...sorry." Mizuki replied in a soft murmur, voice a mere whisper in the still air of the room. Without all of the more excitable people in the room, it's like the atmosphere turned cold with the realization of her true condition.

"Sorry?" Nezu questioned- a soft smirk on his little face.

"Mhmm..." She nods, and yet she cannot help herself but to curl into the warmth by her side.

"Why are you sorry?" He inquired to her softly, it didn't matter who was around, as the room seemed to feel as if only they were in it.

"I'm... I didn't protect her right... I didn't do it right.." Mizuki fought off the choked nature that tried to find her tone- giving a shaking exhale.

"Oh dear, you believe you were responsible for Noriko's protection, isn't that right little mouse?" Nezu realized that she had seen herself as the reason Noriko had been hurt at all.

"She's my little sister.. I should've stayed strong longer.. It was my responsibility... I failed..." Mizuki crumbled, soft tears falling as Nezu gently wrapped her in a hug.

"I've felt that way myself you know? I was raised in some testing facility in god knows where on the outskirts of heaven knows what place. I believed since I was the smartest and one of the oldest of the test subjects that I was responsible for protecting everyone. It was my fault when they got hurt. Would I be correct in assuming that is how you feel, little one?" Nezu told a bit of his own story, casting his line to see if she would bite.

"Mhmmm. It is my fault she gets hurt.. I should've been better, taught her to defend herself and to hide better.. It's my fault.." Mizuki sniffles- but Nezu does not stop her tears.

"Cry, dear, but you are not at fault. You're a child of 10 years old. You have had no way to complete that goal of yours. It was never your job to protect, it should not have been your job for many more years, and yet you sit here in my arms and cry because you feel you have failed a job that is not yours to fail in the first place." He soothes with a soft tone. He knew what this was like- he was conditioned much too young that the burden of protecting those around him was his to bare.

"Cry, mouse, you deserve that liberty. You're duty as a child is to grow, to learn and adapt. You've done too much growth for your age, adapted to too harsh a situation, became ever too much a hurtful stereotype of a battered youngling.. now is your time to learn. It is time to learn that not every moment will be as painful as those, that despite how much life will hurt you, you have a life worth living. You are safe, and you are allowed to be a child, young one." He nods to his own statements as his words break the child, Mizuki sobbing into his shoulder with no restraint. Nezu wished someone had stepped in to do this for him when he was young, he wished he never had to learn these lessons on his own, and he wasn't about to let her learn them alone.

Mizuki's sobs weren't scared, they weren't saddened, there was a melancholy relief to every shudder of her shoulders, each sob that wracked her body creating a symphony of tensions finally released.

Finally, safety.

She hadn't felt safety even once in her life.

Not a moment of her life was safe. At first Noriko lived safely- the beatings only for Mizuki and only in the dark of the basement where Noriko was sheltered from it, beaten because she held the traits of her mother's quirk. Noriko had that healthy family for a while until the truth found it's way to the surface like a coiling serpent around the throat of a helpless victim. The glass illusion of love and care shattering the moment Mizuki broke her contract to her parents and called someone for help. She had ruined Noriko's safety, and she would carry that burden to her grave, but for now she finally felt content.

Someone cared for Noriko.

Someone cared for her.