Darkness was all Minoru could see, and steady beeps were the only thing he could hear. Eveey so often he'd hear the faint sound of what sounded like voices but he couldn't quite make them out. He was conscious but not at the same time.
His vision flickered on and off. There was a white light with each blink in and out of darkness.
"I think he's waking up!" A voice boomed. Minoru could just barely make it out but it sounded like Midoriya's voice.
"Oh thank goodness!" Another voice sounded off. It sounded like Momo's.
"You all may wanna give him room. Once he sees his arm..." A voice that sounded like Recovery Girl's rang.
"( Arm? What? )" Minoru thought to himself as his vision became clearer with each blink.
He could now see his surroundings, he was in a hosptial room and he was in a bed hooked up to some machines.
"( What happened? Agh. I feel like Hell right now. All I remember is me, Momo, Kaminari, and Jirou were in some kinda battle with some villains and I think I shielded Momo from an attack. I don't remember anything after that. Also what did she say about my ar-)" As Minoru leaned up in the bed and looked over to his left...
He saw his left arm was gone. His heart skipped a beat and his blood ran cold.
"W-What? W-Where is..." Minoru voice trembled.
"Mineta, dude. Chill it's gonna be okay man." Kaminari tried his best to calm the boy down.
"N-No. No. This. This is wrong. H-How did this happen? Where's my arm!?" Minoru's heart rate picked up as as the heart monitor sped up.
"Mineta please. Calm down, your not fully recovered yet." Recovery Girl spoke to him.
"What happened to my arm?!" Minoru yelled in a full on panic.
"You lost it...saving me from an attack that would have in all probability killed me and I thank you." Momo said in a low tone not making eye contact.
Minoru's heart sank hearing those words.
"No. This...this has to be a dream. I this can't be real. This just can't be." Minoru gripped his arm stump as he hung his head shutting his eyes tightly wishing hard to just wake up in his bed perfectly in tact.
However. This was no dream and this was very real, the sad truth crashed down on the boy as he sat there with his eyes clenched shut waiting to feel the soft embrace of his bed and blankets but they never came.
"( This can't happen. Tell me this isn't happening. )" Minoru placed a hand over his face.
A hand was placed on his shoulder, however Minoru was too distraught to look up and see who it was.
"Sigh. Kids, listen. Can you all go back to the dorms? I need to speak with Mineta alone." Aizawa spoke.
"But we-" Kaminari tried to argue but Aizawa only responded wit an icy glare.
"Yes sir. Sorry. Come on everyone." Kaminari spoke in a defeated tone.
With that Momo, Kaminari and Izuku left the room. Leaving only Recovery Girl and Aizawa with Minoru.
There was a stiff silence in the room once they three exited. Recovery Girl only looked away, while Aizawa looked at the shaking Minoru clutching his stump trying to hold it together.
Aizawa had always been indifferent when it came to Minoru but damnit he was still his student and he needed him. He had always acted quite foolish and immature but he did have his moments and those moments are what helped Aizawa remember why he's kept him here. This was another one of those moments and he gave up apart of himself to save a life. Now he needed him and he was not going to fail him.
"Minet-sigh...Minoru. Listen. Please look at me." Aizawa spoke softly.
Minoru stopped shaking but remained silent and didn't move his head at all.
"Please. I need to talk you. I want to help you." He placed his hand on the railing of the bed.
The boy slowly nodded with tears poking at his eyes. The face Minoru had was almost enough for Aizawa's stoic face to drop in a sad frown.
"Listen. That was brave what you did back there and you should feel proud of it. It came at a cost yes but you proved something. Despite the things you do, you can become serious enough to be a real hero. I you've suffered a great lost and I'm not trying to tell you not to worry or not to grieve about it."
"You have every right to be able to process your emotions and come to terms with this. You just lost a part of you. Something that can never truly be replaced, so I'm going to talk to Principle. Nezu about giving you just a little time off to recover from this. I'm a strict teacher but it would just be cruel to expect you to just bounce back from this ready to focus on school again." Aizawa spoke.
This had to be the most sincere Aizawa has ever spoken to Minoru and despite his emotional turmoil, even he had to acknowledge this and he was grateful for it.
"Also you'll need a prosthetic before you can even get back to your school work." Recovery Girl chipped in.
"P-Prosthetic?" Minoru choked out.
"Sigh. Yes Minoru. A prosthetic arm. What? Did you really think you could go back to trying to be a hero with one arm?" Aizawa looked at him seriously.
"N-No I just." He hung his head with the reality that his arm was truly lost and not coming sunk in again and once again.
He didn't want to believe it. It was just too horrible.
"Listen, there's something else I need to talk to you about. It's about the villain fight that you and Momo were in. She told me that in the fight after you saved her from the villain and ended up losing your arm, you used a quirk she'd never seen you use." Aizawa said.
Minoru raised an eyebrow. "What?" He asked.
"It seems you don't remember. Momo informed me that when you fell to your kneels bleeding out and as the villain was about to finish you, purple smoke seeped from your body and engulfed the villain. She said the villain tried to fight back but the smoke seemed to move on it's own and completely wrap around the villain as if it was solid. Then the smoke suffocated the villain as it swallowed him whole." Aizawa explained to him.
Minoru's eyes widened in surprise and shock. "I-I did I? Is he dead?" Minoru stuttered.
"No, gladly. It seems you only knocked him out. Minoru. Did you know of this power? If so what is it?" His teacher asked sternly.
"N-No! I've never had anything like that! Never! Pop off was my only quirk! I don't even remember doing any of that! All I remember is taking the hit for Momo then passing out!" Minoru exclaimed frantically.
"Hmm. Then I guess Momo correct. You were unconscious while this quirk was active. She also told me as she tried to get your attention you seemed out of it. Your eyes were open but they looked dim and lifeless. As if you were out cold. So it would seem this quirk somewhat has a mind of it's own if it's able to function without you being conscious." Aizawa ran a hand through his hair.
"This is so crazy. I don't remember any of this and why did this quirk just suddenly pop up?" Minoru was trying to make sense of this.
"A latent quirk perhaps. It's not too uncommon but it doesn't happen very often. Sometimes quirks don't fully develop and stay dormant within the body only to be awakened at a later time. It would seem that life threatening situation was enough to force the quirk out." Recovery Girl spoke.
"A latent quirk..." Minoru mumbled.
"Forget about it for now. We can talk about it later once your better. Rest please. You've been through enough today. Just rest and get better, then we can talk about all of this and sort things out." Aizawa patted his shoulder.
"Be strong for me okay?" Aizawa asked him. Minoru hung his head again but slowly nodded.
"Thank you. I promise I'll help get you through this. See you later Minoru." Aizawa then left without another word.
Recovery Girl let out a sigh as she looked at Minoru who was still silently clutching his stump.
"You know boy. I've seen so many others in your position. I've seen many fall apart and I've seen many pull what remains of them together to press on." She spoke to him, however Minoru did not respond or even glance in her direction.
"I wonder what you will do. I pray you'll pull it together, because you have potential. Don't waste it anymore then you have already. I wish you the best of luck Mineta." She said walking toward the door of the room.
"Just page me if you need anything. Also we tried getting in contact with your mother an-"
"Don't bother...you'd be at it all day." Minoru cut her off with a rather low tone.
This earn a moment of silence and a long stare from Recovery Girl.
"Very well then. I'll just leave you be for now, but I'll be back shortly to check on you. Rest easy and try not to move around too much. Rather not redo your stitches." With that she exited the room leaving Minoru all alone.
Minoru just sat there in the bed still praying for some way for this all to be some kinda fever dream or nightmare. He wished with all he was for this not to be real. He doesn't regret saving Momo at all but, still he didn't want to accept this.
He gritted his teeth as tears slowly streamed down his eyes and onto the sheets staining them. He was so lost in his emotions not even the loud crack of thunder caught his attention as it started to pour down raining outside.
After a few moments of silent sobbing, the sound of the rain hitting the glass finally got Minoru's attention. He looked over to the window's direction sniffling and wiping his eyes.
"Tch, typical. It's raining. Really world? You had insult to injury? Aghh." As he checked out the small table next to his bed he saw that his phone was left sitting there.
Minoru looked at it silently contemplating. After making a choice he reached for the phone grabbing it and turning it on.
Minoru scrolled through his contacts until his finger hovered over his mom's contact.
"I should probably call and tell her what happened...sigh. She probably won't even answer. Why bother?" He scoffed placing his phone back on the mini table.
Minoru then leaned back in silence staring up at the ceiling.
"Purple smoke huh? Well, I guess something good came out of this. I may have a new power but, I really wish I could actually be happy about it." He gritted his teeth.
Sighed and laid back in the bed already feeling emotionally drained from this whole ordeal.
"I just can't believe it." Minoru choked out a small sob and tried his best to fall asleep.
It took him a while but eventually he managed to drift off into slumber.
Things would be very different for him this day forth and he...needless to say was anything but ready. However time stops for no one. What tomorrow would bring, he could only wait to find out.
To be continued.