Gravity's Heartbeat (IzuOcha)

Chapter 1: Resuscitation and Diagnosis

“She’s gone into cardiac arrest! We’re losing her!”

“Clear!”

There was nothing but black. Endless void. Nothingness. That was all Ochako could see as she felt something resembling electricity coursing through the area where her heart is. She could hear voices but couldn’t make out where they’re coming from.

“Shock her again! Clear!”

She feels another shock course through her heart. The voices are becoming slightly more clearer with each passing second.

“Wake up, Ochako! Please! Please wake up!”

“Clear!”

Another shock. This time, however, Ochako opens her eyes, gasping for air, her heart pounding hard in her ribcage. She takes in her surroundings and sees that she is in a hospital room, as evident by the heart monitor and IV bag connected to her. She is not entirely sure how she got there as the last thing she remembered was feeling intense chest pain and falling unconscious while she was jogging.

Something was wrong with her and she didn’t know what.

Just then, the door opened. A woman in a white coat, no doubt a nurse or at least someone who works in the facility, walked in. “Oh, you’re awake,” she says to Uraraka, who is undoubtedly unsure as to her current condition. “Wh…where am I?” Ochako replied, wanting to know the circumstances that brought her to the hospital bed she now sits on. The woman in white then explained to Ochako that she collapsed during her exercises and that she went into cardiac arrest en route to the hospital. The woman tried her best to ease whatever horrific images might be playing in Ochako’s head after hearing that.

“From what we can gather, when you collapsed, one of the people nearby, someone with greenish dark hair if I remember correctly, was giving you CPR until the ambulance arrived,” the woman continued. “He was crying, begging you to live as we tried to resuscitate you.” Ochako’s eyes slightly widen. She only knew of one person in particular that matches that description. “D-Deku?”

Ochako wasn’t sure what to make of this, but she knew that she knew as Deku was worried about her health. About her. Then, the door opened again. This time, an all too familiar green haired boy walked in, struggling to hold in his tears. “Uraraka!” The boy called Izuku Midoriya shouted as he tearfully hugged his closest friend. Ochako hugged him back as if to assure him that she was fine when, in fact, she herself is uncertain of whatever fate awaits her. Her parents visited her later in the day after Deku’s visit. They pretty much the same reaction. They too wanted to know what was wrong with their daughter.

—

“You’re kidding, right?” Ochako asked with a tone of shock and sadness in her voice as she stared at the x-ray photos showing a misshapen heart between her lungs. It looked like it was shrinking slightly in size. She could hear her mother sobbing and her father trying to comfort her. “This has to be a joke!”

“I’m afraid it isn’t,” the nurse replied in a tone that told Ochako that this was serious. “It would appear that your heart has lost a bit of its mass.” Ochako was shocked at this news. The thought of her heart being literally misshapen like this was a terrifying one. She had to know more. She had to know what was causing this. “Any…idea what’s happening to me?” She asked hesitantly.

The nurse didn’t want to alarm Ochako, but knew she had to be honest with her. “By the looks of it, your current condition bears a resemblance to that of some astronauts when exposed to zero gravity for prolonged periods of time.” Ochako wasn’t if she wanted to hear the rest. Was her Quirk somehow responsible for her condition?

“It would appear that since your Quirk has a lot of the same properties as being in zero gravity, it’s theoretically possible that it might have something to do with your current condition,” the nurse continued. “We’ll probably have to do a stress test to see if this is the case or not.”

Ochako’s fears may have just been confirmed by the nurse’s comments. Her Quirk was likely killing her from the inside, albeit literally. She placed her hand on her misshapen heart in melancholy sadness. She feels it thumping slowly. How could she even begin to explain to her friends what was happening to her? Especially Deku?