Chapter 22: A miracle

"No no no no no no no no no no no no" Uraraka mumbled to herself as she ran through the halls desperately looking for the right room.

"Come on come on where is it?" she continued to mumble petrified of what she would find when she got there.

"This isn't happening I'm gonna wake up and it's all just gonna be a dream right?" she said trying to convince herself that none of it was real. She was in denial.

"This is it this is the room" she burst through the door and the sight before her broke her heart.

"Deku..." she gasped her voice trembling. All Might and Recovery Girl turned to see her standing there in the doorway. Immediately All Might walked over to her and stood in front of her to block her view of the horrific scene.

"Young Uraraka you don't want to see this" he said his voice trembling slightly.

"I have to I have to see him All Might. Please move" she said as she looked down at her feet. Her body language was angry and ready for a fight. Rage was burning inside of her and she didn't care if he was the Symbol of Peace. Right now he was in her way and she'd move him if she had to.

"Please. Believe me when I tell you that you really don't want to see this" he said placing a hand on her shoulder. This caused her to look up and stare into his eyes with a burning rage that he was preventing her from seeing him.

"I've already seen it. So please. Move out of my way before I move you myself" she threatened. The number one hero was taken aback but understood how she felt. Even still he knew it was best she wasn't here and tried one last time to convince her to wait outside.

"Young Uraraka I really think it would be best if you-" he began but she cut him off.

"JUST FUCKING MOVE!" she screamed tears forming in her eyes. She didn't really want to hurt All Might or even try to attack him in any way. She was just hurting and right now she needed him to move out of her way and allow her to see it for herself.

"For heaven's sake All Might let the poor girl see him she's distraught" Recovery Girl said from behind him.

"Alright. I understand. You can see him. However you'll never be able to forget seeing him like this. Do you understand? There's no turning back" he warned her one last time offering her the choice of walking away while she still could.

"I don't care. I need to see him. I need to be by his side. I need to know he's ok" she said wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Well eventually he'll be ok when he makes a full recovery if that's what you mean but right now he's far from it young lady" Recovery Girl said still hidden by the enormous frame of All Might.

"Just let me see him. Please" she begged.

"For what it's worth I think you're making a mistake but here...see for yourself" he said stepping to the side to let her past closing the door behind her.

"Oh god... Deku...what did they do to you?" she said her hand over her mouth in shock. She ran over to the side of his bed to examine him more closely. He had a mask over his mouth to monitor his breathing and plenty of IV tubes as well as a heart monitor and he was hooked up to plenty of other machines that she didn't recognise. There were bandages all over his body where he'd been cut or injured. They almost covered his entire body. She could see the blood on them still though where he'd clearly been heavily bleeding. His face was bruised with cuts here and there too and one eye completely swollen shut his lips cracked and dry with yet even more cuts on them. He even had a bandage over his forehead that wrapped all the way around his head. There were very few places where he wasn't injured but she couldn't see his lower half under the sheets so she didn't know how bad his legs were. From what she could see his hands seemed to be the only thing untouched but even they seemed bloodied and bruised.

That's not his blood on his hands is it?

"Be careful. You don't want to unplug any of that machinery it's the only thing keeping him alive right now" Recovery Girl warned.

"I won't. Can he hear me?" she asked not taking her eyes off of him for a second.

"Truth is we don't know dear. You can try and talk to him and see if he responds but so far nothing has gotten through to him. Although sometimes a loved one's voice is all they need" Recovery Girl replied trying to give her some hope.

"Young Uraraka hold his hand. If he can hear you he might give it a little squeeze" All Might suggested. She did as he said and gently took Deku's hand.

"Deku...can you hear me?..." she asked her eyes beginning to water again. Nothing.

"Deku please wake up...you're going to miss class..." she joked nervously laughing as she tried to make herself feel better but failing miserably. Still nothing.

"You're so far behind on schoolwork...Mr Aizawa's gonna kill you..." she did it again begining to cry but laughing a little as she tried to make light of the situation. She got nothing in response.

"Goddamnit Deku wake up! Please don't do this to me! I can't take this you have to wake up! You're breaking my heart damn it! Do you hear me!? Wake up!" she began to lose it sobbing as she screamed for him to wake up.

"I'm sorry dear but this is what it's like when someone is in a coma. He might be able to hear you he just doesn't have the strength to respond" Recovery Girl tried to explain.

No. I'm not done. He's in there. I'm not giving up until he gives me some sort of response.

"Ok Deku. I know you can hear me. You don't have to wake up. Just give me something. Anything. One thing to let me know you can hear me. Just one. That'll be enough for me" she whispered through her crying trying to get through to him. If he could hear her he'd give her a sign. They waited for a few moments. Nothing. Uraraka was devastated. She began sobbing uncontrollably burying her face on the bed weeping into it. Recovery Girl and All Might just sat there heartbroken watching the poor girl grieve him even though he was still very much alive. Then something happened that shocked everybody in the room.

"O..cha...ko..." Deku just about managed to say her name. Her head snapped up to look at him. All Might and Recovery Girl's mouths hung open in shock.

"Son of a bitch" All Might said out loud in complete disbelief at what he was seeing. As the Symbol of Peace he'd seen some pretty amazing things in his time but this was something truly special. Uraraka felt Deku's hand just slightly move as he attempted to hold hers somewhat succeeding and squeezing her hand ever so gently. That wasn't what had her attention though she was more fixated on his face. His good eye was just barely open and he was looking right at her.

"Ochako..." he said again.

"I'm here Deku I'm right here don't you worry. I'm not going anywhere" she said beginning to sob again but this time it was relief and joy she felt that he was awake. He still seemed half unconscious but he was coming round.

"Tell... Mr Aizawa..." he struggled to get the words out.

"What? Tell him what?" she asked confused why he wanted her to tell Mr Aizawa something.

"...tell him... I'll...catch up...on what...I missed..." he joked gasping for every breath as he tried to speak and coughing between words.

"You asshole! I was worried sick and you wake up from a coma after 12 hours to make jokes?" she said angry he wasn't taking this seriously but still laughing at his joke through her tears happy that he was making light of the situation despite his condition.

"Young Midoriya...IS AWAKE!" All Might bellowed.

"All Might...is...too loud..." Deku said making another joke causing everyone in the room to laugh. Uraraka was still crying but she couldn't believe he'd actually woken up.

"Ah you're one tough kid you know that?" All Might said beaming with joy that his protégé had managed to pull off a miracle.

"I don't understand. You should still be out cold. Even my quirk couldn't heal you well enough for you to be able to wake up for another week at the least and even then that would've been pushing it. How are you awake right now?" Recovery Girl asked still completely dumbfounded.

"Oh this is...temporary...but...that's easy...the same...way... I survived... you... Ochako... you're...the reason...I'm still...here..." he explained coughing and gasping for air.

"What are you talking about you big dummy?" Uraraka asked staring into his one barely open eye.

"When...I was... captured...I thought... about you...that's what... kept me....going...and just now... I could...hear... your voice...it gave...me strength... enough...to...wake up..." he explained really struggling to get his words out through the heavy breathing and coughing.

"I...I don't understand Deku..." she said her voice trailing off.

"It's... simple... really...to...keep fighting...to keep... trying... I just...need...one thing...and that's...all I...need..." Deku was really straining himself to say all of this but he didn't care he needed to get this out while he could keep himself awake.

"What is it Deku? What's the one thing you need?" Uraraka asked not knowing the answer. If she wasn't so emotional she would've known where he was going with this. Somehow he managed a smile.

"Ochako...all I need...is you..." he managed to get it out. She wanted so badly to kiss him right there and then but she couldn't because of the mask on his face so she settled for kissing his hand making sure she kissed the part that didn't have dried blood on it.

"I love you. You big dummy" she said smiling at him her eyes still very watery.

"I... love... you too... I don't know...how much... longer...I can...stay awake..." he warned knowing this was temporary and he'd used every bit of willpower he had to wake himself up for a few moments.

"It's ok you can go back to sleep. I know you can hear me now so don't force yourself to stay awake just so you can talk to me. We'll have plenty of time to talk when you've recovered and you're allowed to return to UA but until then I'll visit you whenever I can and tell you all about what's been happening at school and talk to you about all the work you're missing ok?" Uraraka said softly reassuring him it was ok for him to go back to sleep now that she knew he could hear her when she talked to him.

"Sounds...good... I think...I'm gonna...get... some...shuteye...now...night..." he made one last joke before his eye that he'd just managed to pry open let itself close and his small grip on her hand loosened as he let go even though his hold had been incredibly weak anyway.

"Goodnight Deku. I'll be here when you wake up..."

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All will be explained in the next few chapters.

I hope you're still enjoying the story I'm having a lot of fun writing it and almost 700 reads already is just insane so thank you so much.