The Emperor's Dragon II

Fragile Friendships

Momo Yaoyorozu had gotten permission to spend the first few classes out of school today. She honestly doubted anyone would notice. The management students were nice but... She still felt like an imposter in their class and every time they looked at her, she could see the pity in their eyes. It had sort of been nice, at first, because she'd mistaken it for understanding but it wasn't.

It was pity.

She didn't need pity. Right at first, yes. She'd needed all sorts of help. They all had. Katsuki had been on a hair trigger over his quirk. He still was but he was determined to be a hero and to somehow take down Izuku Midoriya. It was an admirable goal but she couldn't see it happening. She could see him participating in the raid to take him down but not the stand up, fist to fist fight where Katsuki literally beat Izuku into submission that he seemed to have in mind. Even with the support gear Katsuki was being supplied with, he just wasn't that strong.

Kirishima was doing better in that regard. He was still trying to be a hero but had picked a variety of gear that helped him be more balanced and rounded. He was going to have to rely on surprise and he'd never be in the top ranks but... He'd have a good career.

If Bakugou didn't drag him down.

Momo didn't wince at the thought the way she once would have. Once she would have questioned herself for having any negative thoughts about people. Now... there wasn't a day that passed that she didn't think negatively about someone.

Usually herself.

Why had she gone to that challenge?

The note was puerile. It was... Momo huffed. She knew why she'd gone. She hadn't thought there was any danger and had been curious to see why someone had been so full of vitriol about their rescue. It hadn't come off the way they wanted it too but...

It really hadn't come off the way they wanted it to. It had been kept a bit quiet but heroes had died on that raid. An old hero named Gran Torino had been killed. Best Jeanist was still in a coma and... she wasn't meant to know it but they were talking about moving him into a long term ward.

Some of that had happened before they were there but...

So she had lots of negative thoughts. About herself. About the villain. About Izuku Midoriya. About her classmates. About... About everyone.

About the only person she didn't have negative thoughts about was lying in front of her.

Ochaco Uraraka.

It would be so easy to blame her for everything but...

Momo's therapist had forced to her to confront the truth. It wasn't Ochaco's fault. No matter how much she wanted to think that, it really wasn't. Ochaco had borne the cost of their actions, just in a different way. When she was expelled, Momo had been confused but there'd been so much going on that she hadn't known what to do.

And then, Izuku Midoriya had attacked them and she'd lost her quirk and...

Her therapist might have forced her to confront the truth but the days after that particular event were a bit of a blur. She remembered tests. She remembered interviews. She remembered her parents crying and them discussing what they could say at an interview. Momo remembered a lot but none of it made a lot of sense.

In that time though, Ochaco had been attacked and was still in a coma. She looked almost peaceful. She was peaceful but it was a false peace. Ochaco wasn't meant to lie so still. Ochaco wasn't meant to have no expression. Ochaco wasn't meant to be here.

Momo got up and shook her head savagely.

She didn't know why she'd come. Of course, it was to see Ochaco but... Did she hope that somehow, her presence would make Ochaco wake up and then she'd be able to beg Izuku Midoriya to give her quirk back?