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Weary eyes blinked open to see dust floating down where small cracks in the rubble let in light from the USJ. Denki was starting to really hate this place. His head felt strangely heavy, his mouth full of cotton. There was a warm moisture sluggishly crawling from the back of his head down his neck. He glanced around at the sound of someone crawling towards him.
“Kaminari, please answer. Are you ok?” Azawa’s voice floated towards his ears.
“Mmhm…think so. Hit my head. ‘M bleeding, I think.” Denki felt a hand on his leg, patting cautiously.
“Fuck Dunce. When someone asks for an injury report, respond the first time.”
“Awe, Kacchan.” The hand kept patting further up his body. Denki made eye contact with Aizawa, who was presumably looking for the bleeding. “You do care.” Denki heard a scoff. “Don’t worry. I responded as soon as I woke up.” Denki looked at Kacchan, who didn’t look happy at the news. “Oh, s’not reassuring. I’m sorry.”
“Shut up Dunce.”
“I think it might be best for Kaminari to keep talking if he hit his head.” The voice of Shoto floated in. “It’s what my sister always told m-” Denki hissed as Aizawa’s hand brushes against the back of Denki’s head.
“Sorry.” The soft voice of Aizawa floated in while Denki blinked away the spots. “I’m going to lift your head so it won’t be on the jagged concrete Kaminari. I’ll count to five and lift your head, ok?”
“Yes Sensei.”
“Does anyone have any bandages?”
“I do Sensei. They should still be clean too,” came the voice of Tsu.
“Please pull them out. Alright Kaminari. One-” Denki braced himself. “Tw-” and his head was lifted up halfway through the word, Denki wanted to scream but a loud moan was the only thing that escaped his lips. A loud buzzing filled his ears and blocked out the noises of the other. Something about a deep cut, a long jagged piece of rubble and a lot of blood. Denki was positive the only thing that mattered was the searing pain and foul taste in his mouth. Eventually the buzzing abated and another sound was able to come through.
“-ay with me Denki. Say anything!” Aizawa’s voice almost sounded desperate.
“Aah-knee-thinn,” Denki wheezes out, forcing his hands to do finger guns. Aizawa brushes at a warm liquid on his stomach. Denki looked down. Oh, he threw up…when did that happen? Denki sluggishly lifted his head at Kacchan’s scuff. It sounded off-almost hysterical- like something was really wrong. Denki moved his head side to side. “ ‘m I on a bed? I’s soft.” Denki asked.
“No, your head is resting on my lap now, Problem Child.” Denki’s eyes followed the voice of his Sensei. Denki smiled slowly. “Ah, ‘m moving up in the world, huh Sensei?” Aizawa glowered down at him, but it seemed gentler than normal. Denki’s smile faltered. He can’t be making up all of these micro expressions.
“Is it that bad?” He asked Aizawa.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“You’ll be alright kid, just hold on.” The three answers chimed at the same time.
“SHUT UP, ICYHOT!” Katsuki yelled.
“Am I supposed to lie? We were just talking about how terrible the injury is-” Shoto defended himself.
“This is why you both failed the Provisional Hero License Exam, Kero,'' Tsu croaked. Denki couldn’t help but laugh at that. It hurt pretty badly to laugh unfortunately, so he made himself stop.
“HAH! YOU FROG-LOOKING BIT-”
“Enough, you three!” Aizawa said in a slightly raised voice, causing all three of the arguing students to fall silent. The silence only lasted a few seconds.
“Was that supposed to be an insult?” Tsu muttered, causing Shoto to giggle quietly.
“Asui.” Aizawa warned.
“Sorry Sensei.” She did not, in fact, sound sorry. That was the last straw. Denki just couldn’t help it, he burst into loud boisterous laughter that shook his whole body and filled it with pain. He could feel worried eyes on him as he gripped his stomach as tightly as he could (Imagine a kitten trying to hold onto a rubber ball covered with butter). His head got jousled with his laughs and streams of tears flew down his cheeks. The pain was indescribable. Now he was laughing merely from how much it hurt, and how he couldn’t breathe. Dear god, he couldn’t breathe, he could only laugh. Hands gripped his shoulders tightly.
“You need to calm down Denki. Count with me.” The voice came from above. By the time they reached the number 492, Denki counting in his mind, the last of the giggles and jagged breaths were over and Denki looked at Aizawa again.
“Sensei…I don’t think I ever heard you say my name before.” The hands on his shoulders stiffened slightly. “It’s nice, in an ‘I’m probably going to die soon’ kind of way.” Tsu gasped in horror as Aizawa pinched his eyes closed. He looked vaguely pained.
“I need to change your bandages,” Aizawa spoke. Denki decided not to say anything about the vapidness of the change. Shoto did not get that message.
“It’s bleeding through already?” he asks. No one says anything in response. Tsu handed over another bundle of bandages with a soft “kero.” Aizawa slowly undid the bandages from before.
“Here’s the disinfectant.” came Kacchan’s somber voice. As Aizawa gently (read with strength of a speeding train and the gentleness of Godzilla in a china shop) cleaned and rebandaged the wound, Denki blocked out the pain as best as he could. He needed to change the topic and fast. It was getting a bit depressing in here.
“Sunflowers, clouds, nightlights, feathers. High Beams, dust, glowing star stickers-”
“Those are some interesting swears, for a five year old.” Kacchan mocked.
“My siblings could do better, Kero.”
“ ‘m not cursing,” Denki panted, “I’m trying to lighten the mood…do you geddit?” All four other trapped people groaned. “They got it.” Denki smiled.
“Do you really think you’re going to die?” Shoto asked softly. Denki hummed in thought, still smiling.
“I’m not really sure. I’m not too concerned either way.” Aizawa stiffened behind him.
“You don’t care if you die?” asked Aizawa in a Worried Teacher Voice ™
“Nah, I mean. I’ve died before. Dying is not so bad really. Being dead kind of sucks, in the beginning at least. You move on, though, and things start to look up again.” The four others looked at each other in confusion.
“Stop talking nonsense, Dunce!” Kacchan grouched.
“Bakugo, calm down! Kero!” Tsu yelled back before moving towards Denki causing a few rocks and pebbles to shift slightly and fall. “Any talking is good right now, and I’m intrigued. Can you tell us the story of when you died, Denki-kun?”
“I’d also like to know.” Shoto replied, looking at Denki like he had some previously unknown answer to a long asked question. Denki thought about it for a moment. He’s not supposed to tell someone of these details, it’s against the law after all. However Denki couldn’t feel his legs or feet anymore. While that didn’t happen the last time he died, it still wasn’t a good sign, especially with all the other information gathered. In the end he decided it didn’t matter.
“Ok, but you can’t tell other people. It’s illegal for me to tell you.” Kacchan scoffed, but Tsu laid a reassuring hand on Denki’s arm.
“We promise we won’t tell anyone. Kero. Right guys?” She looked around the room, making eye contact with the three other guys in the room. Denki watched as Shoto nodded.
“Of course we won’t Denki. Right, Bakugo?” Aizawa asked. Kacchan rolled his eyes but nodded.
“When I was five and got my quirk, my parents took me to be registered, just like everyone else. After they tested it, a few guys in suits came to talk to my parents and me about my quirk. They worked for the O.E.H.S.” Aizawa sucked in a deep breath and pulled Denki a little bit closer to him. It felt nice. Denki laboriously lifted his arm and laid a reassuring arm on Aizawa’s knee. He gave three small, weak pats. Shoto’s face looked stormy while Kacchan and Tsu just looked confused at the negative responses from the two others.
“The what?” Tsu asked. Denki took a deep breath, but Aizawa cut in before Denki had a chance to answer.
“The O.E.H.S. is a subdivision of the O.H.S. or the Organization of Homeland Security. There are many different subdivisions, including the Organization of Electrical Homeland Security. They bring on people who have specialized quirks in case of extreme distress. The Electrical division usually does things like repower hospitals and jails during black outs. I thought they had an age limit of sixteen, why were they talking to you at five?”
“The age limit is sixteen for most of the O.H.S., but some are severely understaffed and had to lower the age limit to be able to continue to function. Powerful electrical quirks are really rare right now so they had to go to some drastic measures. The reason they were interested in me is because the night before my Grandma’s heart had stopped. I had watched some doctor shows with her before so I tried to help by being a defibrillator. You can imagine my family’s surprise when it actually worked.
“Wait you accurately defibrillated someone at the age of five?” Aizawa asked dumbfounded.
“Yup, it’s much easier to do than the training at school since I’m not forcibly ejecting all my electricity out at once. I can control the levels much easier too because the number of volts is so much lower. All I need to do is focus on pushing the electricity to my hands, not out and about.” Denki explained, he went to lift his hands but they were starting to get heavy and numb. He left them where they were so as not to panic his friends and Sensei any further. “Saved a couple hundred people with that by now.”
“Why didn’t YOU SAY ANYTHING?” Kacchan screamed in frustration.
“It’s illegal to talk about what you do in any of the O.H.S. groups. You’re not allowed any kind of recognition for working there. You can’t even tell people you work there. To be fair, others knowing the identity of someone who Japan depends on so much can put said person's life in danger.” Shoto chimed in.
“Ding Ding Ding! That’s right Shoto, so none of you can say anything. Besides, you promised.” Katsuki ground his teeth.
“Right.” Aizawa spoke through his own clenched jaw.
“Bakugo, Todoroki, Asui, Kaminari and Aizawa! This is Yamada. We are coming to save you! Try not to move too much, we are unsure how structurally sound this mess is! Everything is pretty precarious and we don't want to make anything worse! We’re working towards you but it will be slow going. So hang tight YO!”
“I didn’t know Yamada-Sensei could be so quiet when yelling.” Denki spoke. Aizawa snorted.
“If he spoke much louder he could have disturbed the rubble around us. He can be quiet when he needs to be.
“So you worked for the O.E.H.S. when you were five? Kero” Tsu butted in.
“Ah, yes. It was really hard for my parents watching me being dragged away for days at a time, not knowing if I’d ever come back. They knew that I got hurt constantly from my quirk and that I was starting to get nightmares and episodes where I freaked out. There was nothing they could do though, I was needed for the good of Japan. About a year after I joined I had to go on a mission that lasted a week. After the week was over my handlers dropped me off back at my house. My parents took me over to the couch to have a conversation. It was the first time my parents didn’t sit next to me, but across from me. They told me while I was gone I had died. I don’t know how or when, but they told me it was confidential so they couldn’t tell me any details about it. I didn’t believe them at first because I didn’t remember dying or anything that could have caused me to die. Not to mention I was there, you know? Sitting in the living room right across from them. They had proof though.”
“Proof?” Shoto asked, soft as a mouse. Maybe it was the lighting but everyone looked pale.
“Yeah, they had pictures and videos of my funeral. It was closed-casket but I was able to watch as my family all talked about me. Mourned me. My aunts, uncles and cousins were there, even my grandmother. You couldn’t really make out what she was saying when she got up to talk because she was crying so hard. She had been my best friend. After I watched the video, looked through the pictures twice, and stopped crying my parents took me to see my grave. On the ride home my parents explained to me that dead kids didn’t have parents unless their parents were also dead. So they couldn’t be my parents anymore. They were very nice about it though. They told me they would still feed me and give me somewhere to live, they just couldn’t care about or love me anymore.” Tsu laid her head on Denki’s shoulder. He could just barely feel her tears making his shirt sleeve wet. She was hugging him, Shoto and Katsuki started wiggling closer to Denki so they could be in contact with him too. Aizawa’s hands trailed comforting paths through his hair. They still cared. Denki must not’ve died yet. He cleared his throat. It was getting super hard to keep talking, but Denki held on to finish the story. They wanted him to keep talking after all.
“My parents also explained that I couldn’t have my name anymore since it belonged to their dead son. I got to pick out a whole new name which was pretty cool. They told me I couldn't stay in my old room anymore since they were going to get another kid. A daughter this time, they were going to find one with a weak quirk that didn’t have anything to do with electricity. She’s really sweet you know. I wish she could have been my sister.” Tsu was trembling. Denki even felt a tear from above him hit his forehead…that can’t be right. Aizawa has dry eyes, so it's really hard for him to cry. Denki was confused so he focused on the words that made sense. “So dying…dying is not so bad, you don’t even realize it’s happening sometimes. Being dead kind of sucks. ‘Cause everyone you ever loved or cared about doesn’t care about or love you an’more ‘n it’s sad n lonely…” Denki trailed off.
“We care about and love you Dunce! We always will!” Kacchan yelled, giving Denki’s leg a shake. Denki couldn’t feel it, he smiled.
“Not ‘or much longer I don think.” Denki’s words were slurring together pretty badly.
“DON’T EVEN SAY THAT YOU PUNK!” Kacchan voice sounded weird, being that frantic. Fingers desperately ran from Denki’s hair to his pulse point.
“Shit! Shitshitshit!” He heard Aizawa mutter. Denki took a deep breathe.
“Al’ost everythin’s numb Kacchan. ‘N ‘m so…tired” Tsu started to sob loudly while Shoto tightened his grip on one of Denki’s legs. Denki didn’t even notice.
“NO! DENKI FIGHT IT! YOU STAY AWAKE DENKI!” Katsuki begged.
“I’ll miss you too Katsuki.” Denki’s lips twitched into one last attempt at a smile, then his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
“GIVE HIM COMPRESSIONS!” Aizawa demanded before bending to start giving breaths. Tsu and Shoto both moved to start compressions like their Sensei told them but Katsuki pushed them out of the way to do it himself. Katsuki counted out the compressions out loud. After five cycles of breaths and compressions something strange happened. Denki went rigid, then electricity jolted around him, shocking (in both ways) Aizawa and Katsuki, causing them both to give a small shout. Once the electricity faded Aizawa checked for a pulse. “Again!”
“Denki, please stay, I can be your sister, please just wake up.” Tsu whispered. She wished she could give him even a fraction of the love her family has. Shoto is crying, conflicted because he doesn’t want his classmate to die but he can’t stop his thoughts from flashing to a brother he once had, who left mysteriously after a training session with his father. Some of the rubble was moved to the side and they could just make out Hanta peeking his head in, words falling from his lips before registering what he was seeing.
“I found them! They’re-” His eyes widened and he quickly started making the opening bigger so someone could get in or out. “Someone get Recovery Girl up here, STAT!”
“What happened!” Yamada-Sensei asked from another section of rubble.
“Denki flatlined!” Hanta screamed, his voice cracking slightly in his panic.
“Get the others out!” AIzawa yelled between breaths.” Hanta blinks back tears as he shoots his tape around Tsu and Shoto, pulling them away to safety. Hanta had just enough time to see Denki’s unconscious body defiberlate itself.
“FUCK!” Katsuki yelled at the sudden pain, Aizawa hissed as he jerked backwards a bit. WHen the electricity stopped he checked for Denki’s pulse.
“Again.” Aizawa said with a croak. Recovery Girl was brought up by Tenya, both weightless. Tenya gasped as Recovery Girl pushed her way forward.
“Tell me what happened.” She demanded.
“HE. SAID. THAT. ALMOST. EVERY. THING. IS. NUMB. AND. THAT. HE. IS. TIRED. HIS. EYES. ROLLED. BACK. HE. IS. NOT. BREATHING. HEART. NOT. BEATING. BUT. STILL. USING. ELEC. TRIC. CITY.” Katsuki said in between compressions.
“Deep head wound from a long, jagged piece of rubble.” Aizawa said when he had a second. Aizawa and Katsuki pulled away when it was time for another burst of electricity, Aizawa braced as Denki was laying on him. Nothing happened.
“NOOOO! COME ON DENKI! WAKE UP!” yelled with tears falling down his face.
“Let me see.” Recovery girl moved closer doing a check of Denki’s nonexistent pulse while Aizawa quickly unwrapped his head wound so Recovery Gril could see the injury. After checking it she tried giving him a kiss. Nothing happened, the small scratch on Denki’s face didn’t clear up and the blood flowing from his head wound didn’t slow. Aizawa moved his hands to place his head in while his shoulders shook.
“NO! TRY AGAIN! PLEASE! DENKIIIIIIII!” Katsuki falls forward, resting his head on Denki’s unmoving, slightly vomit-covered shirt. He screamed nonsense as he shook against his friend. Aizawa moved one arm to cover his eyes completely so he could put one hand on Katsuki’s hair, causing the loud blonde to cry louder. Hanta swung back up to the group.
“How is he!” He demanded. Tenya quickly moved over to Hanta as Recovery Girl closed Denki’s eyelids. Katsuki let loose another gut wrenching scream. Hanta paled. “No.” He muttered, tears poured down his face. Aizawa lifted his face from his army to look at Hanta. He took a step back, into Tenya’s arms, at the sight of his Sensei’s grief stricken, tear tracked face. Aizawa shakes his head ‘no’. Hanta’s legs gave out and Tenya gently sat him down on the cold, crumbled rubble. He buries his head in Tenya’s shoulder as he sobbed, unable to look at his too pale friend.