We take our seats and turn our attention to the front. I tune out to Izuku's muttering and instead think of what my half brother told me. He said that robots were used in the entrance exam. My half brother was the only half decent person in my family.

After the briefing and the written test, we find our assigned battle centres and wait there for the signal to start. Coincidentally, I was put in the same centre as Izuku. I was worried about him since he was Quirkless, but I couldn't afford to be distracted.

"Start!!"

A few students freeze in surprise, wondering why there was no countdown. I dart ahead of the crowd into the open gates, morphing along the way. My bones crackle and pop, elongating into those of my bird form. My clothing disappears, feathers sprouting where the fabric used to be. When I'm finished transforming, I take to the skies, soaring above the fake city. Other students flood in, almost like ants, and my gaze locks on a group of three-point robots. I quickly tuck my wings in, diving towards them. At the last second, I spread my wings again and whip my talons in front of me, slicing through the metal like butter.

The other two robots close in around me but I use the claws on my wings to slash them apart.

'Nine points already. Nice.' I think, taking to the air again. Three minutes of this technique has gotten me up to 56 points, but I'm running out of robots. The other students are less powerful, but they're smart. At that moment, a massive tremor rocks the earth below me. From my vantage point, I witnessed a large portion of the city slide away in each of the battle grounds, leaving a gaping hole.

A platform holding a massive robot rose from the depths and I identified it as the zero point villain. My eyes widen as the robot starts tracking forwards slowly, crushing buildings in its path. Students flee from it, more than one crying out in fear. I heard them from all the way up in the sky.

Suddenly, a blur flies up to the face of the robot, punching it in the face. The robot falls backwards and I feel like my eyelids shot so far open that they would never close again. That was Izuku!

"IZUKU!!!" I screech, my voice strangely mangled by the bird form. I stop beating my wings altogether, diving as fast as I dare to go. I reach for him, my talons just grazing his shoe, before he falls away from me.

"NO!!" I shout, refusing to pull up even though we were mere metres from the concrete. At the last second, a girl lying on a destroyed robot reaches out and slaps us both, most likely activating her Quirk through contact. I feel myself go weightless and I stop falling, instead hovering in the air. The girl says "release" in a pained voice before sagging and we fall to the ground. I immediately begin my transformation back into a human as a crowd forms around us, scrambling to Izuku's side.

A wizened old lady walks through the crowd and I recognise her as Recovery Girl. She kisses Izuku's forehead and I watch in concerned wonder as his bones fix themselves. He remains unconscious though. Now fully human again, I kneel beside Izuku and watch over him while everyone disperses.

~ Two hours later ~

"Uh... where am I...?" Izuku asks softly, making me whip my head up. He was lying in one of the infirmary beds, having been moved there after his show.

"Izuku!" I shout, jumping forwards, and throwing my arms around him, "Never do something like that again!"

"E-Eh? But what happened?" he asks, flustered by the sudden contact. I smile weakly.

"Never. Ever. Do something like that again. Promise me." I whisper, and he suddenly realised I was trembling.

"Erin...?"

"I didn't catch you. I couldn't catch you. I thought you were going to die, idiot!" I shout, trying to cover up my emotions. He's known me for most of my life, though, and he knows what's happening in my head.

"I'm sorry for worrying you... I promise I won't do that again."

I didn't want to let go of him, like he would disappear as soon as I stopped the contact. Due to this feeling, I held on for a few seconds longer than I should have. When I do sit back, though, I felt a sense of loss.

Recovery Girl ambles into the room and checks up on Izuku, then allows him to go home for the day. I refuse to leave his side until he gets home, even though my house is in the oposite direction. He tries to argue with me but soon realises it's futile.

About half way there I wrap my pinky finger around his. He looks up in surprise, studying my face. I keep my blank look, staring at the ground we were walking on.

"I was really fucking worried. When I saw you falling all I could think was 'please, god, don't do this. Don't take him away from me.'" I say quietly, "So you better make sure you never die, alright?"

"I'm... not sure that's possible..." he says nervously, his face red.

"Then promise you'll never do any dangerous shit like that again."

"Didn't I already do that?"

At this point I nearly let out a sob, holding it back at the last second. The result is a strangled noise that sounded like a dying cat. I clap my free hand over my eyes, refusing to cry in public. Izuku stops walking and throws his arms around my shoulders, taking me by surprise.

"Erin, I swear on my life that I'll never leave you," he says, holding me tighter. My face does the thing where it screws up and gets really ugly when I'm crying, but I didn't even notice. I wrap my arms around him in return, burying my head in his shoulder, finally allowing the tears to roll down my cheeks. I don't make any sounds, though. I've mastered the art of crying silently. I couldn't stop the trembling though.

"Do you want to stay at my place for tonight...?" Izuku offers without drawing away. I nod meekly. We don't move for a few minutes, drawing some strange looks from passersby. Izuku doesn't let go until he's sure I'm calm again, and even then he takes hold of my hand. I couldn't explain how thankful I was to whoever created this world for allowing me to meet Izuku.

When we get to Izuku's home, Inko is in the kitchen cooking dinner already.

"Mum, can Erin stay over tonight?" Izuku asks, taking off his shoes and motioning for me to do the same.

"What for? Did something happen?" she asks, rushing to my side. Inko was like a second mother to me, and I nicknamed her mamadoriya in my head. I've never said it to her face, of course.

"Just something in the entrance exam. I don't think I'll let Izuku out of my sight for a while," I chuckle. Inko's mouth is drawn in a thin line, her eyes troubled.

"Izuku? What happened?" she asks, trucking for details.

"I'd rather not talk about it for now, if that's alright." Izuku replies, hugging her. I smile at them, feeling oddly warm. This happened every time I was over here, I just got this warm fuzzy feeling in my chest.

"Of course. And, Erin, you're always welcome here." Inko smiles at me. Izuku goes to his room to set up the air mattress they use when I stay over for the night or something and I settle for helping Inko in the kitchen. She was making spaghetti, with lemon cheesecake for desert. My mouth watered at the thought of cheesecake and I quickly wiped the drool on my sleeve.

When we're done with the food, Inko tells me to go fetch Izuku so that we can eat together. I nod and set off down the hallway. His door still had the name tag hanging on the front and I smiled up at it, remembering when he first got it. He was so happy on that day.

I knock on his door, since it was closed, but I didn't get a response. I slowly twist the knob, pushing the door open carefully in case he was doing something. My eyes scan the room before falling on his figure. It seems that he had been changing clothes, since he was just pulling a shirt over his head, and I caught a glimpse of his back.

"Izuku food's ready," I say quickly, then laughing as he jumps.

"E-Erin?! When did you get there?" he asks, obviously flustered.

"A few seconds ago. Now come on, I'm hungry!"

We scramble to the table, racing eachother to get the best serving, making Inko laugh at us as we fall in a jumbled pile on the floor. I untangle myself first and whoop in victory, taking the plate that looks best. Izuku groans, making me laugh again. We eat in silence but for the scrape of forks on ceramic. After we finish the main meal, Inko stands up to fetch dessert, leaving Izuku and I alone.

"Feeling better now?" he asks, resting his head on his hand.

"Yeah. Your house is magic," I reply, my eyes sparkling. His expression freezes for a second, a light red hue crawling across it, before he seems to recover. We chat idly for a few more minutes before Inko walks back in, balancing three plates with cheesecake and whipped cream on them on her arms.

After we finish the dessert, we're excused to go have showers and go to sleep. Izuku already had his before dinner. He tosses me some spare clothes and I thank him, heading for the bathroom. After my shower, I walk back to his bedroom and flop onto the mattress he blew up for me.

"Tired?" he asks.

"Very."

I don't know why, but whenever I cry I get really tired afterwards. I can barely keep my eyes open, I stumble around everywhere, I can't see straight... almost like a drunk person, to be honest. Izuku chuckles and drapes a blanket over me. I mumble my thanks and swiftly fall into a deep sleep.