Flames of the Phoenix

Chapter 11: Please Don't!

I opened the door to our apartment and got pulled into a hug. "I heard that Endeavor took down The Hero Killer. Are you okay?"

I pulled away from Harrison, "That asshole didn't do anything! Todoroki, Izuku, and I took Stain down!"

Harrison laughed before he saw my expression, "Wait. What?"

"Our classmate was stupid and went looking for Stain. Izuku found him and jumped in. Then Todoroki and I found them and helped. The three of us beat Stain, but stupid quirk regulating rules mean that the police are covering it up so that there isn't any public outrage!" The front door opened, disrupting our conversation. "Izuku, is everything alright?"

He nodded, "Sorry, I'm just tired. Recovery Girl healed my leg, so I'm exhausted." Harrison and I let him through. I watched as he closed the door to our room.

I leaned into Harrison's arm as he hugged me. "Let's turn on some TV. Inko should be home with dinner soon."

Mom was happy to see that Izuku and I were home. Harrison and I had decided not to tell her about Izuku and my involvement with Stain. Instead, we blamed our injuries on the villains that attacked the city. Izuku seemed to be in a better mood during dinner.

*Suicide attempt warning*

A cold breeze woke me up. I looked around the room and groaned as I got up to close the window. The light from the moon illuminated a stack of envelopes laying on Izuku's desk. The top one had my name written in Izuku's handwriting. This isn't normal. What? I picked it up and looked down. The next one had "Mom" written on it. The next one was to Bakugo. There was a letter for everyone in our class, including Mr. Aizawa and All Might. I tore mine open and read through it

Dear Cyra,

Please forgive me. I couldn't take this life anymore. None of this is your fault. If anything, I only lasted this long because of you. Thank you for being there for me. What I'm doing isn't anyone's fault, so please don't blame yourself or anyone else. I love you. Maybe I will get to meet Dad.

Love Izuku

"NO!" I ran out of our room and quickly put on my shoes.

"Cyra! What is going on?" Harrison had sat upright on the couch as Mom was poking her head out of her room.

I wiped tears from my eyes, "Izuku ran away! I think he's going to try to commit! He left all of us letters. I need to find him! I can't lose him too!" I threw open the door and ran, praying that he wouldn't do anything stupid. Where would he go? I spotted the trail that went into the forest. Shit! The log over the river!

My legs screamed as I sprinted into the forest. I tripped over a tree root and cut open my knee. Ignoring the blood trickling down my leg, I kept running. "Izuku!" The trail led me out of the trees. The moonlight glinted off the river as it gushed and gurgled under the log. The light made Izuku's dark green hair shimmer. Tears trailed down his cheeks as he stared at the river, "Izuku!"

He looked over at me with a sad smile, "Hi Cyra."

I took a hesitant step forwards, "Please get off the log. You're making me nervous."

He shook his head, "No. I can't live in this world any longer. I have to do this."

"Please don't! I can't lose you too!" Maybe I can keep him talking while we wait for help. I put my hand in my pocket and used my fingerprint to unlock the screen. "Do you want to tell me why you think that this is your only option?" I knew that I had left the class text open, so I tried to text for help.

"I'm useless. All Might even said so."

I inched my way towards him, "Why would he say that? It doesn't seem like him. You are his favorite student."

Tears streamed down Izuku's cheeks, "He took back his quirk! I didn't do well enough in the Sports Festival, and I was stupid in getting involved with Stain. I don't deserve to live! I can't be a hero!"

"Izuku, you can be a hero. It doesn't matter what anyone else says. You have a strong heart and a powerful mind! It also helps that you have a powerful quirk. I don't know why you can't see what an amazing hero you would be."

"Weren't you listening?" He turned away from me and looked down at the surging river below him. "All Might took away my quirk."

I felt my phone buzzing in my hand, "Izuku, please! Just get off the log. We can talk about his taking your quirk more."

His eyes looked dully at the river, "Is there anything that you want me to tell Dad?"

"No! Please don't do it! Izuku! No!" I screamed as he pushed off the log into the rushing river. He hit the water with a large splash. I dropped my phone to the ground and jumped in after him. The water froze my blood, but I wrapped my fingers around his sweatshirt. The water beat against us as I pulled him to shore. The wind whirled around us, chilling me to the bone.

I dragged him out of the water and hugged him tightly, "It's alright, Izuku." His chest was barely moving. I turned him onto his side, and he began to cough. Water sprayed out of his mouth as he cleared his lungs. "Izuku, can you hear me?"

He looked up at me with unfocused eyes, "Cyra? What?"

I pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm never letting you go! Please don't try to leave me!" He nodded into my shoulder and began to cry. "It's okay. You're okay. Let's get home." We clung to each other as we walked back to the bridge. I stopped and picked up my phone from where I had dropped it. I looked at the group chat. Everyone was concerned. I had managed to text the word help, but it didn't do anything but make them panic.

I managed to get Izuku to the main street. There were police lights in front of our apartment. Izuku froze, "I really made a mess of things, didn't I?"

"No." I gripped him tighter as I pulled him towards the apartment. "You didn't. Let's go find Mom."

"There they are!" A police officer and a paramedic ran over to us. "What happened? Are you okay?"

I nodded, "We fell into a river." The paramedic herded us to the ambulance in the parking lot, and wrapped blankets around us.

Mom ran over to us, with tears streaming down her face, "IZUKU!"

A paramedic stopped her from reaching us. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but we need to check that they are not injured. Please wait a minute." They checked me over and gave me a bandage on my knee before calling Mom over. "We are going to take these two to the hospital to watch for hypothermia and other complications that happen with near-drowning."