Level Zero - Villain!Bakugou Rehabilitation

29 || Hospital Horrors

Sero Hanta's POV

The fact that Ground Zero had Hanta knocked out and injured within seconds of the bell going off was nothing short of terrifying for the black haired boy to reminisce. Though this meant that Hanta had been unconscious for a majority of the fight, his peers' combined recollections simulated a hazy storyline that was more than enough for him to tell that Class 1-A had been overpowered, plain and simple.

If L/N hadn't caught the Villain's attention at the end, he could have killed them. No, he would have killed them. And if Aizawa hadn't been there to intervene, well, Hanta didn't even dare to think about what might have happened. He knew that he should be scared: after all, it was perfectly plausible that they all could have died during that lesson. And yet Hanta couldn't help being inexplicably wonderstruck in Ground Zero's reaction to Tsuyu revealing his name.

He didn't bother pondering how exactly his frog-like friend had learned of the Villain's identity, but Hanta's interest in his new classmate had skyrocketed. Sure, Ground Zero had been intent on winning from the very start, but the change in his demure when he 'snapped' was mind-blowing for Hanta's curious brain.

It was for this reason alone that he was at the front of the class as they hovered uncertainly in front of Ground Zero's hospital room, having had his inquisitiveness get the better of his judgment and sense of self-preservation.

All twenty-one of them, Midoriya and L/N having been included this time, stopped in here under the guidance of the Police and recommendation of Principal Nezu himself. Something about ensuring that 'proper apologies' could be issued. So now here they all were, visiting Ground Zero like they would to a sick family member or hospitalised friend.

Their safety had been promised according to the authorities, but after all the times Class 1-A had been 'assured' that yet still been one-upped by various groups of Villains had left their trust lacking. However, the nurses said that when they'd visited Ground Zero and when the teachers had dropped by he'd been completely docile and submissive, without any drugs. So here they were.

"Hey, someone open the door!" A voice called out from somewhere around the back.

"If you're so impatient to get in why don't you just go and do it yourself, Kaminari?" Jirou snapped at the blonde haired boy.

"This is a hospital hallway," Iida reprimanded. "Please lower your voices!"

Jirou rolled her eyes and the pair continued their banter, hissing back and forth. Hanta chuckled at his friends shenanigans, before reaching out one hand and hesitantly knocking the backs of his loosely clenched fist against the cool metal. A silence fell across the rest of his class as they all began to pay rapt attention to the doorway.

When no response came from inside, Hanta rapped his knuckles again, louder this time. There were sounds of movement rustling inside, and the almost non-existent gasps of whispered words caught his attention in the near-silence. Curious but cautious, Hanta pulled down on the handle, shoving against the heavy door as it swung inwards.

The psychiatric wards' cement floor was polished to shining iridescence, and it glowed under the natural sunlight trickling in through a barred window. A light breeze shifted the curtains hanging across them, and Hanta's eyes moved to the only form of furniture in the room: a crisply sheeted bed.

It was the person seated upon it that caught Hanta's attention however, and when he made sense of what he saw it was enough to stop him in his tracks. Hanta held himself completely still as he stared at the former Number One Villain, eyes wider than dinner plates and seeped in horror.  

Zero was murmuring to himself as he sat on the cot, eyes hazy and distant as he fiddled with the thick bandages wrapped around his hands and fingers. Blood was beginning to stain the fresh cloths, but Zero didn't stop incessantly scratching at his own flesh. If anything, when he found there to be blood staining his fingers and jammed under his fingernails, he seemed to return to his self-harm with re-doubled effort.