The Shadows I Hide

Chapter 8: Return

It wasn't until 2:00 AM, nearly twenty-four hours since his disappearance that Izuku was reported after entering a police station bruised and bloody. Izuku was quickly given medical attention, the doctors discovered that he was suffering from dehydration and blood loss. There were deep wounds on his wrists where he had been cuffed as well as two neatly sliced cuts on his palms. The doctors also identified some mild head trauma to top it all off. Izuku was moved to a hospital for several days during which the school's nurse Recovery Girl made sure to stop by and use her quirk to speed up his healing.

The authorities question the green-haired boy about what happened as soon as they were able. Izuku told them the events of what had happened in as much detail as he could recall, after which a team of heroes was hastily assembled to search the place Deku had been held captive. However all they found was the empty basement of an abandoned building, the villains in question were nowhere to be found. A couple of days later Izuku was discharged from the hospital and allowed to resume school as long as he was kept protected and supervised.Izuku made it back to UA from the hospital late at night. Most of his classmates were probably asleep he theorized. It would probably be best not to disturb them. He silently entered the dorm building of class 3A and proceed to make his way over to where the staircase was. As he rounded the corner to the staircase he stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Uraraka sitting on one of the stairs. She turned her head towards his sudden appearance and gasped as she saw his illuminated face in the moonlight. She slammed Izuku knocking the wind out of him as she hugged him.A startled "Gah!" escaped Izuku as she did so."Deku! You're okay! I was so worried. No one knew where you were,"He hugged her back, "Yeah I know. But don't worry I'm okay now,""What happened?" she asked looking into his emerald eyes."I... I was taken by a group of villains. I'm not entirely sure what they wanted but whatever it was I couldn't give it to them. They probably would have killed me,""That sounds awful!""Yeah. Hey Uraraka? What are you doing here anyway?""Oh," she said as she looked away. "We were told that you had been found but I still couldn't sleep. I was way too worried so I decided to wait here so that I could catch you if you were able to come back tonight""You really care that much about someone like me?" he asked with genuine curiosityShe gave him an astonished expression "What kind of question is that! Of course, I do, you're my friend and I want all my friends to be okay!"The green-haired boy let a small smile appear on his face. Her words had touched him, plus it was funny to see her putting this way. "Well thank you. You should probably go and get some sleep now,"The brown-haired girl nodded, "Yeah you're right, and you should too. Well, goodnight Deku,""Goodnight Uraraka,"With that, the pair went to their separate wings of the dorm building. As Izuku made it back to his room he collapsed at his desk. As tired as he was he couldn't sleep just yet. There were certain things he had to get straight in his head.He closed his eyes and leaned his head on his hands. While he had been a captive of whatever that group had been they had been talking about finding someone. They had abducted him because they had thought it was him but they had apparently been mistaken. They had referred to the person they were looking for as the "Nexus". What did that even mean? That whole ordeal had been so confusing, he couldn't make sense of it. However, there was one thought he had that he was sure of. If that group had abducted him when they were looking to someone else, it must mean that they were close by. There was no way they would have tried that attack if they weren't sure they were in the right place. This "Nexus" had to be someone at UA. He would have to be vigilant. He had no idea how to even begin to tell if someone he knew was the person that group had been interested in. So that meant he would just have to keep his eyes and ears open to anything that seemed out of the ordinary. He had no idea what that group had been, but he knew they definitely weren't human. The whole thought sent shivers down his spine.With that Izuku decided that he should take his best friends' advice and get some sleep. He was still incredibly exhausted from the past few nights. He looked at his dimly illuminated room and suddenly found it incredibly hard to keep his eyes open. He got up from the desk and collapsed on his bed. Within a few moments, he was already asleep, not even having the energy to change out of the clothes he had been given at the police station.The following morning Izuku sat up groggily and winced at the sunlight pouring in through his window. He grumbled in annoyance at not having closed the curtains before laying back down. He laid there a moment with his eyes closed before he suddenly shot into a sitting position and checked the clock on his wall. It was 9:00 am. Crap! He was late for class! He changed into his school uniform as fast as he could. He grabbed his belongings hastily and ran out the door. He was still trying to finish tying the knot in his tie as he entered the common area only to be met with the place filled with his classmates. The quiet buzz of calm conversation could be heard as the teenagers were relaxing in different places around the room. "Hey it's Midoriya!" shouted Kirishima suddenly noticing the freckled boy standing in the doorway.Everyone else then turned to meet their newly returned classmate. They all welcomed him back and shared their relief that he was alright. Izuku was a little bit overwhelmed by all the attention, but he stuck around not wanting to be rude. "Mornin Deku," greeted the bubbly girl."Oh, hey Uraraka. Quick question," said Izuku looking around puzzled. "Do we not have school today?""Oh yeah! That. Class is canceled for today since you just got back. So you can change out of the uniform," she said, punctuating the last word by jabbing him with her finger."Won't I be behind you guys when class starts again though since I missed a few days?"The brown-haired girl rolled her eyes, "Yeah, which is why you're going to study with me until you've caught up. I'll be waiting here, I expect you back in 5 minutes. Now go!"Deku quickly made a 180 and ran back to his dorm. As he ran he smiled a bit to himself. Uraraka really was an amazing friend.