At the last second 🩰

by KitKatKhaos, Sevvykinsgirl2027

Summary:

Prima Ballerina Izuku is kidnapped and forced to dance for his captor without pause. He is quickly fading. Will Eraserhead get there in time or will Izuku's light be lost forever?

Chapter 1: Dance with me?

Chapter by KitKatKhaos

  Shouta's phone rings in the middle of their date. There's only a handful of people whose calls bypass the Do Not Disturb. He picks it up, the caller ID says Naomasa. He answers it. “Nao? What's going on?” He hears chaos in the background of the phone call, Naomasa's worried voice comes through. “How far are you from the station?” Shouta does a quick calculation “About five minutes or so, depending on a few things. Why?” “Are you still practiced in ballet?” “...Yes? Nao, what’s going on-” there’s the sound of a body hitting something hard. Naomasa curses “I told you DO NOT TOUCH HIM! -I’m really sorry for interrupting your date, but I need you down at the station- Hernandez if you touch him and get taken out it'll be your own fault. Stay back! -There’s a problem. Does Hizashi know ballet as well?” “He does. We’re on our way. Is there anything you can tell me?” “But Tsuka- if I can touch him I might be able to communicate!” “No! It is too dangerous right now! Stay back!” 

    Shouta and Hizashi take to the rooftops, running to the nearby station. “STAND DOWN! Shooting at him will do nothing but cause collateral damage! He is a victim not a threat! -Please hurry Sho- HERNANDEZ!” Shouta shares a look with Hizashi and they speed up, making it to the station in just under five minutes. They burst through the doors, and find the bullpen in complete chaos. There’s officers thrown all across the room, papers whirling through the air, Naomasa, Sansa, and the Chief yelling and herding people away from the person in the middle of it all. They are ghostly pale and flickering in and out of visibility. They are covered in blood, their own judging from the injuries Shouta can see on their back and legs. Blood wells up from inside their pointe shoes. They are dressed as the white swan and are dancing as her. Shouta makes his way around them, to Naomasa who looks relieved when he sees him. 

    “What’s going on Nao?” “We don’t know. There seems to be some sort of forcefield around him, every time we try to get close we are thrown back. He both is and isn’t here, like his spirit is here but his body is somewhere else. His eyes are vacant and completely white, so he isn’t doing it of his own volition. That plus the obvious torture he has gone through is… Well, we figured out who he is. His name is Izuku Midoriya, 17. Quirk: Minor telepathy. He’s a professional, prima ballerina, he went missing two months ago. And- look! There-” Shouta follows Naomasa’s finger, looking into Izuku’s eyes. Naomasa counts down from five. On one, the greenette blinks nine times. Three sets of three. Three short, three long, and three short. SOS. Shouta nods, and takes his boots off. “Zash, film this. Do not stop until I tell you to.” He stretches quickly but thoroughly and steps into the dance. He manages to get close and settle a hand on Izuku’s waist. 

    His mind flashes, and he sees images and hears a voice sobbing in his mind. “I’m here. Blink twice if you can hear me.” Shouta orders, they all watch, and two blinks. “Okay. Okay, that's good. Do you know where you are? Two for yes, one for no.” One blink. “Do you know who took you?” Three blinks. "Ok, too broad. Do you know their name?” One blink. “Do you know what they look like?” Two blinks. “That's good. You showed me pictures a few minutes ago, can you do it again? Show me who took you.” Pictures flit through his mind, like flipping through a photo album. Then a picture is settled on, and gets closer, like it's being lifted to his eyes. One of the officers they work closely with comes forward. She grabs his extended hand and activates her quirk. “No- don't take the picture away yet.” Shouta orders when it starts to fade. It snaps back into focus at his words and Hernandez is holding a copy of the picture, which she hands to Naomasa. 

   “Ok, can you show me anything about where you are being held?” This time, the picture seems to be struggling to come into focus. Izuku abruptly changes into the dance of the sugar plum fairy. Shouta easily adjusts and the picture clears up. A snow globe? The picture changes to another, this one looks like it’s in a mirror. There's a giant snow globe and Izuku is dancing inside it. Blood soaks the floor, his injuries look far worse in the pictures than they do in person. Shouta asks why and he gets a picture of a stopwatch as an answer. “Time delay?” The picture takes on a green tint before returning to normal. “Ok, do you know how he is making you do this? Is it hypnosis or-” Shouta is cut off by another picture. This time, it’s of a marionette being puppeted. The marionette changes to look like Izuku and the puppeteer looks like his captor. Then, the picture changes again. This time, it changes to a video. There’s a flashing sign of a restaurant he vaguely recognizes, moving through the restaurant and behind a secret door. Stairs, a metal door, and the snow globe. 

  “Did you go up or down the stairs?” An arrow pointing down. “Ok. Thank you. How are you here? Your quirk is telepathy, which is how we are talking, but how are you here?” The picture is of a pair of pointe shoes that turns into three pairs of pointe shoes. “There are more hostages?” The picture flashes red, and then turns to a video of a watch ticking backwards. Past. “There were more.” Green flash. “Ok. What happened? Did they escape?” Shouta knows the answer even before the red X appears. An image of gravestones. “They died? Were they-” An image of a bloody knife. Murdered. “Murdered. How are they using their quirk on you then?” Another watch. “Timed. Ok, do you know how much time is left?” Red X. Black Swan now, Izuku is visibly in more pain.

   Naomasa growls in frustration. Shouta raises an eyebrow at him. “There are too many of those restaurants around. Were you able to see anything else? Any street signs, or nearby shops? Anything we can use to narrow the search down?” Pictures flip rapidly through Shouta's mind as Izuku thinks. The pictures stop, and there's a blurry street sign. “Can you get that clearer?” Shouta asks. The image flickers, zooms in and out, the lighting moves, nothing. A red X flashes and Shouta can feel the frustration in Izuku's mind. “It's okay. We can work with it. Can you show me anything else?” A fast video, then it slows down and zooms in on something. There's what looks like a radio dial and then- Shouta winces, that's really loud. “A train? Do you remember going over tracks?” X. Shouta frowns as the video starts again, this time zooming in on something else. A shop across the street. Wait. Shouta recognizes that shop. “The salt and sugar bakery. Nao?” Naomasa is frantically typing, eyes moving quickly as he looks for- “Yes! There it is. We-” They pause, turning at the panicked sound Shouta lets out. Shouta is holding up Izuku as blood leaks from his mouth. His eyes are hazy and there's more injuries, more blood. Still, he dances. He starts to flicker and Shouta feels his mind yanked. ‘Can't last much longer. Please hurry.’ Izuku begs in his mind, voice weak and quiet. There's a terrified scream, and then he vanishes, leaving puddles of blood behind.

Chapter 2: I'd say I'm sorry, but I've been told lying is wrong sooo...

Chapter by KitKatKhaos

Summary:

*Checks watch* "Yeah, it's tomorrow enough." *yeets chapter at you*

  Shouta immediately takes off running, Hizashi, Nao, and several cops and heroes following. They jump into a car, Nao sliding into the driver's seat and taking off, pedal to the metal, lights and sirens on. Izuku's voice trickles back in, something they can all hear. ‘I pirouette in the dark. I see the star through a mirror. Tired mechanical heart~ beats till the song disappears. Somebody shine a light! I'm frozen by the fear in me. Somebody make me feel alive and shatter me! So cut me from the line, I'm dizzy spinning endlessly. Somebody make me feel alive and SHATTER ME!’ “We're coming, kid. Hold on a little longer. We're almost there. I promise, we're coming. Stay alive, keep fighting for me.” Shouta says, hoping the kid hears him. An ambulance races beside them, Shouta isn't a religious man, but he finds himself praying as they race against time. He’s out of the car the second they get close enough, forcing his way into the closed, locked restaurant. He beelines for the back and throws the bookshelf to the side, kicking down the door and racing down the stairs, everyone else hot on his heels.

  ‘If I break the glass  then I'll have to fly, there's no one to catch me if I take a dive.’ Shouta swears, kicking the door at the base of the stairs down and running into the room. There, suspended high in the air, is the giant snowglobe. Blood splatters the glass and a moving figure is inside it. Izuku. Shouta snarls, grabbing the cape of one of the heroes and using his capture weapon to take him up to the snowglobe. He leaves them to deal with the villains and captor as he grips his knife in his teeth. “If you can hear me kid, back up. I'm going to break a hole in the glass so I can get you out.” Izuku clearly fights, managing to dance back. Shouta takes the knife and stabs it into the glass, puncturing it. He uses it to knock a big enough hole out then he swings inside. Blood coats the floor, turning the white fake snow red and brown. The floor is tacky with it, and he can see patterns in the puddles where Izuku has been forced to dance in them. He ignores the two bodies in the corner, focused on the only living victim. Izuku looks terrible, he's coated in blood, injuries, and something he really doesn’t want to think about. He's pale as paper and his lips are blue. He's lost too much blood.

   Shouta carefully scoops him up and tries to walk away, only for Izuku to be yanked out of his arms. The fuck- “C-cut.” Izuku whispers through bleeding, blue lips. Shouta looks up and sees glowing strings. They're attached to Izuku, just like a marionette. He growls and slashes through them, mentally thanking Nedzu for getting him a knife that can cut through quirks. When the last string is cut, Izuku crumbles to the floor, weak and lifeless except for the shallow, cracking breaths. They're short and far between, telling Shouta how close he is to death. He doesn't waste a second, scooping the little, broken body up and wrapping him in the cape, protecting him from the glass as he swings them down. He's running the second his boots touch the ground, dodging and weaving through the fights and attempts to stop him. He takes the stairs two out a time, fear unlike any he has ever felt before pumping through his veins as he races through the restaurant, desperate to get the rapidly fading kid to the EMT's.

  “Come on, kid. You've fought this long, don't give up now.” He murmurs, hoping against all hope that Izuku is still in there enough to hear him. ‘Stay with me?’ He shoves past the EMT that tries to stop him, laying Izuku on the stretcher. “Sir-” “You're going to take him, and you're going to save his life.” Shouta growls, climbing into the ambulance. “But-” “NOW!!” He roars, watching the breathing stop. “Nonono- come on kid. Stay with me. Kid- IZUKU!” “CODE BLUE!” ‘I'm scared.'

Notes:

The song is: Shatter me by Lindsey Stirling and Lzzy Hale
The song is what inspired this, and I highly recommend listening to it!

Chapter 3: The end

Summary:

I have been bribed into giving y'all a happy ending. Everybody thank Sev.

….beep….beep….beep…beep..beep.beep- 

  Shouta's snap open, hearing the heart rate monitor speed up. He scrambles to the bedside, praying- Izuku gasps, eyes opening. They're hazy, but they're open. He's alive. Hizashi takes Izuku's other hand, humming soothingly as the kid wakes up, drowsy, but awake. “Wh- where?” “You're in the hospital, kid. You're safe.” Shouta says softly. “‘aser?” “Yeah. It's me.” It had been two weeks. Two long, terrifying weeks. The kid's mother hadn’t visited or even answered calls. Shouta stayed and of course Hizashi stayed with him. Shouta is self aware. He recognizes that he has gotten attached, but the kid doesn't have anyone else. No one else visited or called, and Shouta refused to let him wake up alone. A nurse comes in and checks him over, telling them that the doctor in charge of Izuku will be by soon. “....You stayed.” Izuku says, eyes clear and awe in his voice as he looks at Shouta. Shouta smiles, “I did. So did you.” “Yeah. …How bad? Will…. Will I dance again?” “You will. They managed to reverse all the damage. Kid… They couldn't reach your mom. The cops are on the hunt for her, but right now you don't have a home to go to.” Izuku nods, “...She has always hated that I chose ballet instead of something more traditionally male. She tolerated it because I was making good money, but it doesn't surprise me that she took the opportunity to cut and run when I went missing. Hell, I wouldn't put it past her to have been the one to sell me out. It's… fine. I'll sleep at one of the studios.” “There is… another option. Sho and I have gotten a bit attached. You could stay with us.” Hizashi says, a soft, warm smile on his face. Izuku looks at him, hope lighting up his eyes. “Really? And you won't make me stop dancing? Or- or hate me for it?” “Kid, I'm already so fucking proud of you. A professional Prima Ballerina at 17? That's a hell of a lot of skill and work. We'll be at every single one of your performances, with flowers, food, and hugs afterwards.” Shouta says, cooing when tears fall from sparkling emerald eyes. Izuku practically jumps into his arms, sobbing and thanking them. They coo and hold their new son close. Everything will be okay. They'll make sure of it.