My Hero Academia: Nightfall

Bring Her Back

Aeon left the billboard rankings with an unpleasant feeling throughout his body. He thought he would certainly be #1, but Izuku had to get it twice in a row. He really wanted to be happy for Midoriya, but he couldn't help but feel incredibly disappointed. 

For a moment, his thoughts drifted into the past when he saw a poster in the distance. It showed the former class 1-A students, all smiling and wearing their hero costumes. It was the day of their graduation, and Bakugo was obviously right in the middle, wanting to be seen by everyone. Aeon and Mina were near the left corner, while Tsuyu Asui was near the top right. 

EIGHT YEARS AGO

Aeon walked up to the central U.A hospital doors, visiting all by himself. Mina had wanted to go with him, but he knew she would begin to sob at the sight of Asui. He checked in with the receptionist and walked silently into her room, having been visiting his classmate daily for the last two weeks. 

Asui was in her hospital bed, wearing the typical blue patient gown and had two separate tubes inserted in one arm. She slowly raised her head to see Aeon and grinned when he came into view. Her green hair was sprawled out on the pillow, almost sinking underneath the bed. 

"A...aeon, you're here," she whispered, reaching out an arm toward him. Aeon took Asui's hand carefully, slightly clenching his palm around her weak fingers. 

"Yeah, how are you doing?" he asked, already knowing what her answer would be. She sighed, closing her large eyes in dismay. 

"The usual," she said, seemingly feeling pain for every word she spoke. Aeon noticed this, growling silently. He had blamed himself for her poisoning, convincing himself that he could have stopped Ben earlier and prevented the entire incident. 

"I'm sorry, Tsu, I should've been there, I could've-" 

"Aeon, stop," Asui interrupted, causing him to shut up immediately. "You couldn't have done anything and you know it. Stop blaming yourself for things that he did, that only makes things worse. Aeon, you especially should know that being a hero has its own consequences. You can't always save everyone no matter how hard you try." 

"I hate him...so much," hissed Aeon, wiping his eyes before his tears could come out. He had the opportunity to kill Ben and he didn't, because being a hero prevented unnecessary death. Compress got to do the honors, only because he was a villain. "I had his neck in my hands and I couldn't do it." 

"You're forgetting that if you did, he would have won. You might not be the same person you are today, or worse, you might have become a villain. Even though you didn't save me, that doesn't mean you weren't a hero. You saved the rest of our class without any concern for your own safety because you ARE a hero." 

Asui then rose from her resting position, widely spreading her arms. Aeon nearly toppled over from emotion, but pulled through and gently embraced Tsuyu. She broke the hug early, succumbing to a severe coughing fit. 

After a few more minutes, Aeon left her room, slumping to the floor just outside the door. 

"Bi-Han, pick yourself up. You're making me even more depressed." 

Shota Aizawa stood above him, with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a card that had personalized messages from everyone in the class in the other. He warmly smiled at Aeon, with no facial hair to be seen.