The fight ended…
Though the heroes were not given a moment to rest…
There was a lot they had to deal with, for a war isn't won when the enemy is finished.
A war is truly won…
When everything is rebuilt…
And life goes back to normal…
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" I'm sorry to say this," Yuusuke said as he looked from the clipboard to the two occupants of the room. " But your Quirk would never be restored."
Sora looked worriedly at her grandmother, lying in her bed, the burnt veins visible on her face and neck.
" I know…" The woman assured the young man. " That was to be expected when I used that move… I should be thankful I'm at all alive…"
Sora reached a hand for her grandmother's, and the older woman held it gratefully. " It's okay… I don't need it anyway… I'm fine as I'm now…"
Yuusuke lowered the clipboard and balanced his glasses. " Your healing might take some time as well now without it, given your old age."
She gave him a quieting, sharp glance, to which he flinched.
" I'm sure I can manage it. Sora is by my side anyway." The girl smiled softly before letting her head rest on her grandmother's chest, seeking her warmth as well, as a way of escaping her inner turmoils…
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Sora was lucky to have escaped almost intact. She had some serious wounds and broken bones, but nothing Recovery Girl or Angel's healing couldn't deal with.
She was horrified to find that Jiro had lost her ear, and Mina had unleashed most of her acid, so that half of her body was burnt and lost its pink color.
But so far, the worst wounds were sustained by Midoriya and Bakugo, without counting the pro heroes.
They managed to visit them and put their minds at ease. Midoriya was practically a mummy, but they said he would make a full recovery.
Bakugo's right arm was entirely compromised, both after being broken and strained during his fight with All For One, but there was a slim chance of recovery as well.
He was told to take it easy, given the poor state his heart was in, which he didn't take well.
Sora was both surprised and relieved that he didn't blow his way out of his room. Although he managed to sneak to check on Midoriya and All Might himself.
So far, despite their wounds and exhaustion, everyone was doing well.
Physically, at the very least.
She could not speak for their hearts.
Everyone except…
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" Bakugo-kun!?" Sora blinked twice at the boy standing outside the room, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. " What are you doing here? The doctors told you to rest!"
He was dragging his IV drip along with him, and he had a brace around his abdomen to prevent any strain to his heart and newly sewn wounds.
" I'm not that weak to have to stay in bed all day long!" A very Bakugo-ish answer. " I need to stretch a bit as well, so I've been checking on how everyone else is doing…" His tone was softer at the last sentence, and Sora couldn't really say anything against him then.
" Just… Make sure you don't tire yourself…"
His eyes trailed over to her for a moment. She wore a few bandages and plasters, but her wounds were nothing to speak of. " Denim head told me… Back in the coffin, when I was about to bite it, every one of you stood up to my defence. The pro heroes, our Senpais, you, him…" he beckoned his head towards the door they were standing outside. " Without any of you, I wouldn't probably be standing here right now."
Then, quite suddenly, he did the last thing she would expect Bakugo to do at that moment.
He bowed his head.
" Thank you, Shirogane."
Sora's eyes widened slightly before a sad, small smile stretched over her face. " Raise your head, Bakugo. There is nothing to thank me for."
He did, and their eyes locked. " If it were any of us in that situation, you'd have done the same for us."
He would.
Their eyes then drifted to the closed door, and they lingered a moment on the white board next to it.
' Seijin Yuu,' it read.
" They said he didn't wake up…"
Sora shook her head.
" What happened?" His gaze returned to her.
She then stepped forward and opened the door, before glancing back towards Bakugo, her smile still there. " Did you want to come in?"
Bakugo said nothing, only followed after her.
The room was simple and overly clean, as was customary for those of a hospital. It smelled of nothing but disinfectant.
Most of the space was taken up by a large bed, on which lay a boy. An oxygen mask was secured to his face, an IV drip sticking into the nook of his elbow, and his prosthetic arm was taken for comfort as he lay, motionless…
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" Yuu! Yuu!" She drifted down, the unconscious boy in her arms. " Wake up! Yuu!"
Her distressed calls managed to get Aizawa's attention, who was the closest to where she had landed.
A moment later, he was beside her. " What happened?"
" I don't know!" Sora looked up at him, not sure what to say. " He was awake… then he just fainted and… no matter what… he doesn't respond…"
There was more to it.
He could tell.
She wouldn't be panicking otherwise.
" His aura…"
His consciousness was too faint.
Far too faint for someone who was just unconscious.
Aizawa's eyes narrowed as he looked down at the boy.
He already had a guess, ever since the huge tree of light manifested.
Still…
It was at that moment that blue mist drifted from the boy's body and coalesced into the ghostly form of the blue dragon.
" Seiryuu!"
" I tried to protect his self-awareness the best I could within that madness while in Take Over. His memories and self-image shouldn't be badly damaged," the dragon spoke calmly, his tone and voice made it seem as though he had done them a great favor, and they should be thanking him.
" What happened with him?" Sora demanded, caring nothing for manners.
" As you might already have guessed," the dragon responded. " That miracle from earlier couldn't have been brought forth easily, even if it lasted for a few moments. There was a hefty price to pay to manifest that many spirits and share their energy all over the place."
" How much?" Aizawa asked.
" More than he could recover in a single day." Seiryuu looked at the teacher, as if scanning him. " I don't know how long it would take for him to wake up. It's not time that matters to us; it's energy. And he shared quite a lot."
When seeing the man's frustration, the dragon continued. " It was the only rational solution he could come up with. The other one was ending All For One in the spot without making anyone else fight, but that would have undoubtedly cost him his life. He said you taught them not to throw their lives away, and so he opted for the second. He made sure that not a single soul would be lost today."
That was why Yuu had been waiting for the final dash, to limit the time he had to summon Yggdrasil. Any longer, and he would have paid the exchange with his life rather than his energy.
He would be a sacrifice.
When Seiryuu revealed the method, Yuu had decided to make it a last resort plan. If Midoriya failed.
It wasn't that he thought little of his friend.
It was that he knew the mastermind most likely had planned several steps ahead of them.
Back then, he couldn't share his energy with humans, and so, he assumed he would be materializing as many spirits as he could.
With Seiryuu on his side, one of the strongest spirits, convincing other spirits to help was easy.
They all wanted to end All For One, needless to speak. The world's balance, the very thing that defined their existence, was being threatened by him.
They were as cornered as the humans.
That was the reason Genbu, one of the other Guardian Spirits, had joined them in the fight.
However, with the revelation that sharing energy with humans was now possible came a new plan. One he had put in a hurry as he saw his friends struggling.
He would use it mostly to support them.
Because he trusted them.
Because he knew that all they needed.
Was one last push.
Not to win.
He knew they would.
Whether he helped or not.
But to ensure they would live to see the day after it.
That no one would be lost against that monster.
All For One might have been on his last legs.
But so were the others.
And they had lost a lot during the liberation war with better preparation.
To survive that without a single casualty would have been out of a Jump Manga series.
That's why he had to step in.
To make sure that it was, as Bakugo had taught him, a ' Perfect Victory'.
And he would be the hand to deliver that last push.
Seiryuu thought as he slowly faded, ready to return to the spirit world as well.
"Goodbye, child of miracles. I hope to see you again."...
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No one knew what was wrong with him.
He suffered wounds, that was right, but none of them were life-threatening.
So why didn't he respond to any of their stimulations?
The doctors were at a loss before the case that had been brought in, when Yuusuke stepped forward, grabbing Yuu's left hand.
In a moment, his eyes were set aglow, and he poured his energy into his little brother's frame.
A few minutes of continuous sweating and concentration passed before Yuusuke's face cracked, showing his concern.
His brother wasn't responding.
Knowing how his container was bigger, Yuusuke shouldn't have been surprised by that.
No, what worried him…
Was the fact that no matter how much energy he poured, Yuu's energy remained the same.
But he felt it. It was working. His own energy was circling through Yuu's body, albeit it did little to raise his.
His mother broke out of the crowd of parents who came to check on their children as they were brought to the central hospital, standing on the boy's other side.
With her blue eyes glimmering, she reached for her child's right shoulder, sharing her energy as well.
But it did nothing.
His father stepped in next, holding onto his wife's hand, offering her more as he saw her sweating.
Seeing that, Sora rushed over to Yuusuke's side, holding onto his elbow, her eyes practically begging him.
" Shirogane…"
" Use mine too." Aizawa stepped up, a hand on the young man's shoulder. " I didn't fight along with the others. I might as well use my strength in a rational way."
Yuusuke looked between the two before he gave the slightest of nods in response, and drew from their strength as well.
However…
Yuu's eyes remained closed while the shared energy seeped away.
And his aura remained on the verge of dissipating.
It was like pouring water into a bucket with a hole.
" Enough! That's enough!" A doctor, who looked like a humanoid version of a dinosaur, stepped up to them. " Stop it! You're exhausting yourselves! I can't have any more patients! We're at our limit already!"
Haruka staggered, falling into her husband's arms, apparently drained from helping Recovery Girl already, while Yuusuke turned on him.
" But… Dr. Yoshida…"
" Is it working?" The man asked calmly, and Yuusuke gritted his teeth.
It wasn't.
" What was his last wish?"
Yuusuke bit his lip, his head tipped down, not daring to look up.
" What was his last wish, Dr. Seijin Yuusuke?"
He must have heard him earlier, Yuusuke thought.
Whatever, he had to answer him then and there.
He was a doctor.
He made an oath.
" Not to wake him up."
Sora's eyes shot wide at that, and Aizawa clicked his tongue, piecing everything together.
" And do you attest that your brother is of good mental health and capable of making sound decisions?"
"...Yes." He forced out.
He wished he could say no.
But before his classmates.
Before his teachers.
Before everyone he had worked so hard to save.
He couldn't… no matter how much he wanted to.
It was odd.
When Yuu was working hard, he looked down at him, he snubbed him, and he told him he was being foolish.
And now…
When he could have said the same to continue helping him.
He couldn't bring himself to.
Yoshida nodded his head slowly. " Then it's the same as a DNR."
" Still!" Yuusuke balled his hands as he looked at the older man, and Yoshida remained poised.
" He specifically stated not to wake him. We're going to accommodate him and look after him like any other patient here. His wish to you, however, was clear. Do not waste your energy on him. We have many patients awaiting treatment whose states are far more urgent."
Yuusuke's hands unclenched as he looked down in shame, and Yoshida walked up to him, a hand gently patting his shoulder. " Your brother did his part. And he wants you to do yours."
Yuusuke's shoulders shook slightly as he raised a hand to cover his face, his glasses slightly slipping up his forehead at that motion.
And from her angle…
Sora could see the tears streaming down his face…