Ochako POV:

"Ok, Eri. Starting today, this is going to be your home from now on." After explaining everything to Eri and helping her at least trust in knowing we want what's best for her safety, Midoriya, Tsu and I brought her towards class A's dorms. Nezu was also explained of the situation for a room to be made next to mine set up for her. "Some of the people in the class may come off as a little scary, but they're really nice when you get to know them."

'Depends on who you're talking about.' I thought this primarily thinking of Bakugou who unfortunately has a little bit of a lack of a filter. Hopefully Eri doesn't pick something up from him for it to be a problem and something I have to explain to Nighteye why she's learned to curse like a trucker.

"They're....they're not gonna hurt me, are they?" Eri held onto Midoriya's leg afraid of what might happen.

"No. Of course they wouldn't. They're all training to become heroes like me, Uraraka, Tsu and Hado. They'd never dream of doing something like that. Now, why don't we go inside and see about getting you all comfy in your room. I heard principal Nezu made a door for you to go into Uraraka's room if something happens. Would you like to see it?" Eri glanced up at Midoriya as he went down on his knees to talk to Eri at her eye level. She didn't answer, but nodded yes to make Midoriya smile and pat her head. "There we go. Let's just hope nobody is in the common space so we can go upstairs without problem."

As we opened the door, we were met with Iida shouting at Bakugou for some reason and a crowd of people around the two with what looked like some kind of plant or something in the idiot's mouth. "BAKUGOU! CEASE THIS NONSENSE AND RETURN KIRISHIMA'S PINEAPPLE THIS INSTANT!" The group kept shouting with the scene making me significantly rethink my thoughts of having Bakugou as a friend going forward.

"Am I on acid, or Bakugou trying to deepthroat a pineapple."

"If you're on acid Uraraka, than I am too."

"Same *ribbit*."

"What's as...aci-d?"

I realized what I said to mentally curse at myself for not choosing something better to say. 'Why didn't I say I was hallucinating or something?' "Bad stuff that makes you see and hear things that aren't there." I noticed Jirou pull away not wanting to watch anymore for Midoriya to motion to her to come over and ask just what the hell is going on.

"So uhh...why does Kaachan have half a pineapple in his mouth with the top still on it?"

"Kirishima was talking about how that old saying when you bite into a pineapple, it bites back at you and how admirable and tenacious the fruit is. Unfortunately captain ego over there started ranting about how you take the armor off of it when you peel it and said 'this is what it looks like for a fruit to bite back' or something like that with more cursing that I really don't want to sound like a trucker right now for quoting." She glanced down at Eri who was hiding behind my leg afraid of Jirou. "So what's with the kid?"

Immediately, the sound of the word kid rang in some people's minds for Ashido and Hagakure to look over and rush towards us to fawn over Eri. "Aww! She's so cute!"

"Is she your little sister or something? She kinda looks like you." Midoriya immediately went pale being on the spot with Eri starting to look like she was on the verge of wetting herself before Tsu hopped between them.

"Can you give her some space, please? Her name's Eri and to make a long story short, has been through a lot where she needs space and time to adjust. Once she's settled in, we'll answer your questions." They agreed to let Midoriya through with Tsu leading them towards the girls' side of the dorms. Once they left, I gained a look from everyone who wanted some kind of explanation.

"Uraraka. Would you please care to explain to us why you, Midoriya and Asui have come here with a child!? What is your relationship with her!? Is she by any chance-"

"SHUT UP AND LET ME ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS!" I lost my patience with Iida before going to sit on a chair and holding my head. "To make things simple, Eri's part of an investigation we're part of. She's been held captive by Overhaul and is not in a great position."

"Wait. You mean the guy that works right under Midoriya's dad and leads the League?" Kirishima asked for me to nod. When I did, a bunch of our classmates went pale before Todoroki asked.

"She's...she's not the person that Midoriya's father said was his replacement, is she?"

"I'm afraid it's looking like it." I rolled my head back remembering what happened at the hospital.

Few hours earlier at the hospital

Midoriya, Tsu and I began walking into Eri's room for her to slowly wake up and see us. She immediately panicked for Midoriya to speak up. "It's ok, Eri. We're not gonna hurt you. Tsu and I found you and helped bring you here. You're safe. You're in a hospital right now." She still seemed very skeptical of us with Midoriya grabbing a chair. "Let's start with introductions. My name is Izuku Midoriya. I'm a hero in training. Behind me are my friends Tsuyu Asui and Ochako Uraraka."

"Hi Eri. You can just call me Tsu."

"You can call me Ochako if you want."

Eri still seemed very hesitant about us for Midoriya to think of how to help break the ice. "Can you tell me about yourself a little. What happened to you? You spoke of a man doing bad things to you. Can you explain what got you into his hands? Also if you could, can you tell us where your mommy and daddy are?"

She started crying a little before holding her horn. "My curse took my mommy and daddy away. My grandpa told me that he'd help find out. Then he...he..." She was on the point of a nervous breakdown with Midoriya staying there silent. He held his hand out and glanced at Eri.

"Eri. I want you to see something." Eri looked at him and activated a massive amount of quirks to the point it looked like something out of animation or something that didn't make sense how insane it was. "I understand what it feels like when you hate your quirk. I don't know what your quirk is, but I understand the distain you could have for it. I have the power to take someone's power and give it to others. I could also use the power myself. So many quirks are stocked up inside me. Sometimes, I don't even fully understand how many I have. But with this power I have, it can be both a blessing and a curse." Eri noticed something seeing his face for Midoriya to continue. "A lot of times, I look at myself and ask myself the same question every single day. Just how human am I? I was subjected to torture about probably two years younger than you are of being socially outcast by everyone. It got worse when I was kidnapped and tortured by my father to make me a bloodthirsty mindless machine ready to end anyone and everyone that I looked at. I had been through this hell for several years. I'm not saying what you went through wasn't horrible on your end. But what you went through, I get it and I'm probably the only person that can relate to what you have gone through a little at least. That's why I want you to know, I'm going to do what I can to help you. It's what a hero will do and it's the least I can do for you."

Eri didn't seem to understand why he wanted to, but could tell he wasn't lying. She moved off the bed and hugged Midoriya. "I'm sorry."

He began hugging back before continuing. "To be honest, I think I should apologize to you. You were just the unlucky person chosen because I wanted to run. If you hate me for unintentionally forcing you to be an object for that man to use, I understand." I felt sick to my stomach hearing Midoriya blame himself for something that wasn't his fault. He didn't do this, but he still felt responsible at the very least in some way.

'I wish I could go back in time and tell my past self it's not Midoriya's fault. If I could, then maybe half the shit that went on could be gone.'

Back to present

"So the kid's just as fucked up as the freakshow upstairs. So why the fuck are you helping out?" Bakugou asked me to stare at him blankly before answering.

"I had a chance to help Eri earlier today. But because of certain situations that I can't disclose due to the case my agency is working on, I didn't. I feel like crap knowing I had the chance and didn't. Not only that, but Eri is literally a younger Midoriya. Forced into torture for something she had no idea about for god knows what purpose. Not only that, but I can't leave her in Midoriya's hands alone. She's a little girl. There's no way he'll be able to treat her right counting all the problems he's got. He's got so many, he has a pig that's smart enough to work the TV and watch soap operas."

"*squeal*!" Pork Rinds shouted as he shut off the TV when seeing credits of a show he follows. When he did, he placed the remote on the coffee table and ran towards the girls' side.

'I still think that pig has some kind of quirk added to him to be half as smart as he is.'

"Whatever. As long as the brat doesn't become a psycho, then do whatever you want." Most of the class walked out with those of Midoriya's crowd of friends and some of mine staying around.

"So what's the real reason?" Kirishima asked for me to look up.

"You haven't cared as much for Midoriya's problems enough to question if he's ok with actions he's taken. What makes now different?"

I sighed before answering Jirou. "Midoriya talked about the fact Eri's situation is partially his fault and some responsibility needs to fall on him. If we're being honest here, does responsibility fall on me for some of the stuff Midoriya's dealt with recently? What happened to Eri was indirectly because of him. He had no actual control over this, but is still trying to make right. So where does my responsibility for how I treated Midoriya at the beginning of the school year fall into? Not only that, but where does my responsibility for not acting when Eri needed someone fall? I know I can't change what I did to Midoriya even though I wish I could, but this is the closest thing I can do to help prove I'm sorry for what I did. It physically sickens me knowing a cycle repeated with somebody else, but Eri's cycle of torment didn't fully complete. So she still has a chance for a normal life."

Mina stared at me before smiling. "I think you're actually a nice person at heart. Kinda crappy knowing it took you this long to make amends with Mido, but beggars can't be choosers."

"I'm gonna pretend that's  your way of saying 'you're doing a good thing, just make sure the kid's happy'. But I see where you're going." I stood up and began walking to the stairs to check on Eri. "We'll try and introduce Eri to you all slowly to not overwhelm her. Just try not to overreact and watch profanity. I know that'll be hard with my idiot of a childhood friend."

"I HEARD THAT!"

"...I stand by my statement." I walked up and went to the third floor. There, I noticed the name plate over the room that was Eri's as well as a little doggy door for some reason on the bottom of it. 'Did Nezu get a therapy dog for her?' I opened it to see Eri asleep in her bed with Pork Rinds beside her with her arm wrapped around the pig. 'Ok, now I get it. It's for the pig.'

"She was still really tired, so I let her sleep a little more." Midoriya spoke quietly to the point it was a whisper almost to the side sitting on a chair.

"Maybe wake her in an hour or two. That way she can sleep through the night." Eri started hugging Pork Rinds a little tighter for Izuku to walk over and place his hand on her head. He activated some kind of quirk for his hand to go into her head and pull out some kind of red blob. "The heck did you do?"

"I took a nightmare from her. It's called Dream Snatcher. In short, I can go into people's dreams and rob them of dreams they have. Once I do, it comes out as a blob like this. Depending on the dream, the color will change with red being nightmares and blue being pleasant dreams." He used his quirk on himself to pull out some kind of blue blob out of his head and implant it in Eri's before placing the red blob in his own.

"What did you put in her head?"

"The day I adopted Pork Rinds. Since her mind can't tell it's not her dream, it'll naturally swap me with her." Her grip loosened on the pig for it to move closer and wag his tail. Meanwhile, Midoriya looked like he was a little pale as if he was about to be sick. He sat back down with the way the quirk he had worked making some sense why he might.

"So why did you put the dream in you?"

"Better the person that's used to the nightmares she faces having the bad dreams instead of Eri. Memory is powerful, but mental relief goes a long way."

I thought about this before grabbing a chair and watching Eri sleep peacefully. there was a silence before I spoke. "If you have to do that again, give me the nightmare."

"Why?"

"Because. Someone has to atone and you've atoned enough. The least I can do to fix my mistakes is take some of the burden off you."

Midoriya laid back in his seat and began closing his eyes. "Just don't regret me doing it, please."

"I can't regret what I deserve to have upon me as punishment." I laid back as well feeling some exhaustion looking at Eri calmly sleep. 'Sweet dreams, Eri.'

And that finishes this chapter. So Izuku and Ochako feel a notable amount of guilt and self responsibility for Eri in their own way. As such, both are trying to atone by being her guardian. See what happens next time. Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading.