Sightless

Chapter 3: Protection

Izuku Midoriya sat in his bed. The doctors had run many, many tests on him and he was exhausted. At the end of it all, they told him what he had already known. He had hit his head so hard that he had become blind. The only things he could see were at the very edge of his peripheral vision, and it hurt when he tried to see for too long.

His mother hadn't left his side the whole time and was clutching his hand and crying. The doctors said that they could perform surgery to give him a vision aid, but the surgery would be expensive. Inko jumped at the chance to give her son his vision back, if temporarily, and Midoriya was scheduled for surgery that very afternoon. After the surgery, he had a little machine on his temple that would give him his vision back for ten minutes between cooldowns. After ten minutes, however, it would overheat which would be very harmful to his eyes, not to mention extremely painful.

Midoriya was excited to have the device, but also worried about the cost. His family wasn't exactly rich, even with the Bakugou family's help. His mother kept telling him not to worry about it, even after he was released from the hospital.

During his stay, both Bakugou and his mother explained to him what had happened. He had been targeted by an up-and-coming villain named Despair whose Quirk was to manipulate emotions. Midoriya had simply been unlucky enough to come across him on a bad day and Despair had taken advantage of that. He had turned Midoriya's momentary sadness into an unyielding depression. All it needed was a little push and that depression turned into suicidal thoughts and actions. Though it was never mentioned by any party, Bakugou knew that he was that little push. Silently he vowed to change, to protect Midoriya rather than be short with him, to be a better hero now that he had seen the consequences of his actions.

~~~~~~

When Midoriya was finally released, he received a white cane that would help navigate when walking. He also decided to get an audio recorder to replace his notebooks. While he could still read with his aiding device, he didn't want to accidentally break it and cause his mom to pay to replace it. He was released on a weekend, so he had a few days to arrange some things with the school and such. Bakugou agreed to walk with Midoriya to and from school so that he wouldn't get lost. He had made the walk countless times, but always with the ability to check maps and see landmarks around him.

For a few days, that's how it went. Bakugou would walk Midoriya to school, he would record the teachers' lectures, Bakugou would leave him alone throughout the day, then walk him home. Midoriya slowly got used to his cane and was soon able to walk to and from home without too much difficulty, though Bakugou still walked with him. After a few weeks of this, Midoriya decided that he was ready to go home on his own. The only problem was convincing Bakugou of this. He had been very protective of the smaller boy after the incident, even though he was still very angry and slightly insulting towards him.

At the end of the school day, Midoriya waited until Bakugou finally walked up to him.

"Ready Deku?" he asked.

"Actually Kacchan, I was thinking that I could walk home alone today," Midoriya said. Bakugou was quiet for a beat before speaking again.

"It's only been a few weeks since you've gone blind."

"I need to learn eventually! Besides, I'm feeling confident today!"

"I'm still not sure..."

"Then I'll call you if I get lost, okay? Please Kacchan, I hate being a burden like this."

"Fucking, fine. If you're so fucking sure, go ahead. But if you call me after I get home, I'm not going to come help you." Midoriya smiled and hugged his friend.

"Thank you Kacchan! I won't get lost, I promise!" Bakugou pushed him away, careful not to push him into anything.

"Fuck off you nerd. I'm going home." He walked away as Midoriya headed home. Midoriya was confident that he knew the way, and walked home almost perfectly. However, when he got to the final street, something rushed by him spinning him in circles until he was dazed and confused. After that had passed a few people ran by, shoving him away from the familiar path. He turned on his vision-aid and saw that the street he needed to cross was now covered in a sludge-like substance and many heroes and other people were following the trail. Not wanting to be in the way or get into trouble, Midoriya turned to a different path that led to a place he liked to go when he wanted to be alone. He knew how to get home from there, but he had to be careful not to overheat his vision-aid.

He arrived at the place under the bridge and the sound of rushing water let him know that he was where he wanted to be. He walked along with his cane and occasionally turned on his aid to make sure he was going the right way. Suddenly, he heard a loud bang of metal on stone and he whipped around. He couldn't see anything, but before he had a chance to turn his aid on he heard a voice.

"Finally, a meat suit!" Midoriya raised his cane and swung it at the voice in self defense, but it... stuck. Like he had swung at a pile of glue. Suddenly his cane was yanked forward and he was stuck in the glue himself. As he struggled he sank deeper, and suddenly he was drowning. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't escape.

"Thanks for this, kid. I'll be able to escape with your help and I'll be outta here!" Midoriya only saw darkness, but as the sludge filled his lungs he fell unconscious. The last thing he heard was a familiar voice.

"Texas Smash!"