Chapter 2: Set in Stone

Izuku blinked.

And then he blinked again.

He rubbed his eyes and then opened them again.

Nope. They were still there.

To say Izuku was nervous when some people came and started bringing creates into his house. He had started assuming it was a bomb and was ready to get Eri and run when one of the delivery men handed him a phone.

"Uh hello?" Izuku said.

"Is this Izuku Midoriya?" Asked a voice over the phone.

"Y-Yes?" Izuku said.

"Ah good. We would just like to send you our sincere thanks, for helping out with the Overhaul problem."

"H-How do you know about that?!" Izuku asked. While the news did find out about and reported his story, they had kept his and Eri's identities a secret. Making sure to censor their pictures and not say their names.

"Let's just say. We have our ways." The man said. "Anyway, Overhaul was a pain in the ass. We've been wanting to get rid of him for years! But that quirk of his was always a pain in the ass. But thanks to you, the heroes got him, and put him in special cuffs that wouldn't let the bastard use his quirk! Meaning he couldn't fix himself after his unfortunate accident."

"WHAT!?" Izuku shouted in shock.

"So, as thanks, me and my associates decided to chip in, and get you something nice." The man said. "Good luck kid. Enjoy the cash."

The man hung up.

The next day.

Money. Money is what was in the crates. Lots, and lots of money.

After a few calls and some inspections by the police, Izuku found out a few things.

Firstly, Overhaul was indeed dead. He was assassinated while being transported to prison. Probably be an assortment of criminal groups that hated his guts.

Secondly, those criminal groups were probably the ones who sent Izuku the cash. Despite this, the police couldn't find anything illegal about it, so strangely enough, Izuku was allowed to keep it.

After his mother heard the news that they were now rich. She quit her job and headed back home. Where she promptly took some of the money saying she was going to start up her own company, so they would never need to worry about money again.

Izuku had used this money, along with the money he was receiving from the government, to buy Eri everything she needed. A bed, clothes, food. (The first time Izuku cooked for her she cried from sheer happiness, making Izuku cry too.)

Eri had never been as happy as she was with Izuku. And Izuku had gotten out of his funk and was honestly happier then he had been in a long time. (Although the fact that he still hadn't gone to school since then and therefore hadn't been bullied.)

But there was still one issue.

"Hey Eri, why don't we go to the park?" Izuku asked her while they watched television.

Eri's frown deepened. And her eyes moved away from him. She would never tell him no, not unless he asked to move away from him, so Izuku would have to look at her expression to discern his answer.

The poor girl was still obviously traumatized by the time she spent with Overhaul. She would never leave him for a second unless he had to use the bathroom, she would often wake up in the middle of the night crying from her nightmares, and she would always seem scared whenever he went outside.

She would cling tightly to him, whimpering whenever anyone got too close. To her going outside was like being dumped in the ocean, the people were like sharks to her and Izuku was her life preserver.

The only reason she went outside at all, was seemingly because her fear of going outside was beat out by her fear of leaving Izuku.

And while Izuku could sympathize with that feeling of wanting to stay in your house forever, he knew that it wasn't healthy. She needed sunlight. She needed to run around and exercise. She needed friends. She needed to smile.

Izuku knew how it felt to live a life without friends. He didn't want that for his new little sister.

But he couldn't force her. He had to convince her.

"How about this. We can go on a walk through the park to the grocery store and we can buy the ingredients for candied apples." Izuku suggested.

Eri's eyes widened with wonder. "Candied apples?"

"They're like regular apples, but much sweeter and tastier." Izuku smiled as he saw her eyes widened and her mouth water. "But, in order to get in the ingredients to make it, we have to go outside."

Eri thought about it for a minute. Making her adorable little thinking face that resembled Izuku's. And eventually, hesitantly, nodded her head.

Izuku smiled. It was progress. Slow progress. But progress nonetheless.

Later, at the grocery store.

The walk through the park was uneventful. Which was actually a good thing. Eri probably couldn't handle something too exciting with her extreme anxiety.

The two of them walked through the store grabbing the ingredients, Eri would help look for them, grabbing them if they were on a low shelf and pointing them out if they were on a high one.

All and all, it seemed like a pretty good day so far.

"Ok Eri, the next thing we have to look for is-oaf! Izuku suddenly bumped into someone. "Oh I'm so sorry I-"

Izuku turned to look at the person and saw that they were a stone statue.

Now, either the store had a weird taste in decor. Or this was a villain attack.

"Ahhhh!" Izuku looked to his left and saw a woman running away. The woman looked behind her, then suddenly her feet turned to stone, the stone quickly crawled up her body until she had been transformed into a statue.

Izuku immediately slid back into the aisle he was in. Grabbing Eri and pushing her behind him.

"Izuku. What's happening?" Eri said in a hushed, fear-filled tone.

"Everythings going to be ok, just be quiet" Izuku whispered to her.

He leaned out and looked out at the rest of the store.

He saw a man, holding a small girl like a weapon while also holding a gun to her head. She looked like she was a little older than Eri, and all Izuku could tell from here is that she had green snakes for hair. The man had her tied up so she couldn't struggle too much.

The man held the girl up the cashiers, and they all turned to stone.

It looks like he's using the girl's quirk as a weapon, and is using that gun to make her do what he says! Izuku's fist balled up in anger. This was now two people who tried to use children as weapons, both within the span of less than two months.

Izuku's brain cycled through his options. He needed to take down this guy without letting him see him, otherwise, he would get turned to stone, or he would threaten to hurt the girl.

Then he remembered. The tranq gun!

The government had issued him a tranquilizer gun, to use on Eri in case her quirk ever got out of control. And while he hated the idea of using it on her, he had to concede that Eri's quirk was dangerous to both himself and the people around her. And if she ever hurt anyone with her quirk again, then she may never recover.

Izuku pulled the gun out of his pocket. He looked at the man, he had put down the little girl and started taking cash from the registers.

He aimed the gun at the man. His hands were shaking. I...I can't do this! What if I miss!? He'll come for me and Eri! I can't-"

Izuku looked at the girl. She was far away, so he couldn't see her all too well. But he could see that she was shaking. She was scared. She needed help.

Izuku lined up the shot. And fired.

"Gah!" The man shouted as the dart landed right in his back. He looked at Izuku and went to pick up the girl. Izuku was scared for a moment, but then the man collapsed, reaching for the girl before passing out.

Izuku sighed in relief. His shaking hands dropping the gun.

He ran over to the girl, for a second, he could see her eyes. They looked like emeralds and shined at him, and for a moment Izuku could see a look of admiration and hope.

And then he felt his feet go cold, and then his legs, then his torso, and then he was stone.

A day later.

Izuku blinked.

This wasn't the grocery store.

Izuku was in a hospital room, lying in bed. With a doctor looking down at him,

"Oh good, you woke up. Right on time." The doctor said.

"What!? What happened!? Where am I!? Izuku was freaked out. One moment he was at the grocery store rescuing that girl, and now he was here. "Where's Eri! Where's the girl? Why-"

"Look down." The doctor said.

Izuku looked down. "Oh."

The two girls were sleeping on his legs. Holding using their arms hold onto him and each other.

He looked at the two in shock. Wait, Eri hates it when people besides me touch her.

The poor boy was so confused, and so he looked to the doctor for answers.

"Judging by your expression you don't know any of what happened in the last twenty-four hours so let me inform you." The doctor said kindly. "After taking down the villain robbing the grocery store, you were put under the effect of this girl's quirk, Petrification. It's a quirk that activates when the victim looks at the user's eyes and turns the victim to stone for exactly twenty-four hours. The police arrived and tried to take the girl, however, the other young girl attached to your leg refused to let her go, as well as refusing to be separated from yourself. Giving the dangerousness of both their quirks, we just decided it was easier to let them go with you."

"I...what?" Izuku looked at the man in disbelief. "W-wait. You said Eri didn't want her to go?"

"That's correct." The doctor said. "The two held onto each other the entire time the police tried to separate them and let's just say, it didn't end well for the police officers. Some pro heroes came around and one of them suggested that we just let them ride with you to the hospital. After that, the other girl was much more cooperative and told us that the people she petrified would only remain as such for a day."

Izuku was stupefied. What he was saying didn't seem like something Eri would do. What had happened while he was petrified.

It looked like he was going to find out soon because all his stirring had caused the two girls to wake up.

"I-Izuku?" Eri rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"Is Mr awake?" The other girl said.

Once the two girls fully woke up and realized Izuku was no longer stone, they immediately started to swarm him.

"You're not stone!" Eri hugged him tightly.

"You're awake! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry!" The girl apologized profusely. Izuku noticed she was wearing a blindfold

"It's fine, I'm fine!" Izuku tried to reassure them both.

Eventually, the two stopped fussing over the two of them and the doctor spoke.

"Seeing as you're fine I'll leave you three for now. Apparently, someone from the government wanted to speak to you so they should be here shortly." The doctor said, before taking his leave.

Izuku turned his focus to the girl with snake hair. "Um...hello."

"Hi." The girl smiled awkwardly. "M-My name is Kesseki. I'm sorry for accidentally using my quirk on you."

"It's ok. You didn't mean to do it and I'm not hurt or anything." Izuku said.

Kesseki looked shocked. "R-really?! Normally when I accidentally use my quirk on people they get super mad and call me a monster!"

"Izuku is a nice person! He would never call you a monster!" Eri said with a look of determination, surprising Izuku.

"Eri...you seem to get along with this girl really well. What happened while I was a statue? Izuku asked.

"Oh! OH! I can tell you!" Kesseki hopped up and down excitedly. The snakes in her rose up with her mood.

Flashback, right Izuku turned to stone.

"Izuku!" Eri gasped.

She looked at the statue her brother had turned into in horror. Could he hear her? Was he ok? Was he dead?

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Shouted Kesseki who now had her eyes closed.

Eri looked at the girl. She hurt Izuku! She-she-she's a mons-

Then, Eri realized something.

She was crying. Apologizing every few seconds.

It was obvious she didn't mean to hurt Izuku. Or any of these people. That bad man forced her to. He used her quirk to hurt people.

Like Overhaul did to her.

And she was about to call her a monster.

"I-I'm sorry." Eri apologized, tears starting to well up in her eyes from how emotionally overwhelming this was.

"Wh-what?" Kesseki stopped crying and apologizing out of confusion. "Wha-why are you apologizing?"

"I-I was going to call you a monster." Eri cried.

"Uh, that's fine. A lot of people call me a monster when I use my quirk." Kesseki tried to comfort her. "I'm used to it."

"But-but you didn't mean to do those bad things, r-right?" Eri asked her.

"No! No! I would never! My quirk is just a bit hard to control and this guy took me and started using me to do bad things!" Kesseki explained. "I guess you could say he wanted...stone-hard cash."

Silence.

"Nothing. Uh...you could say he fell like a rock." The snake girl gave a nervous grin.

Still nothing.

"Wow, tough crowd," Kesseki said. "Um, thank you though, for uh...not trying to hit me for turning your friend to stone."

"I-Izuku said that if you hurt people by accident, then you're not a bad person," Eri said.

"R-really. Well, he sounds like a nice guy!" Kesseki smiled at Eri, or at least tried to, she still had her eyes closed.

Eri looked at the stone statue of Izuku sadly.

"You uh...don't really need to worry about him. They turn back after a day." Kesseki explained.

Eri looked at her hopefully. "Really?"

"Really really!" Kesseki chirped. "It's the truth, set in stone!"

Eri started crying again but this time relieved. She thought she had lost her new family so soon after she got them.

"Hey, could you help me out a little?" Kesseki asked. "I'm kinda tied up at the moment."

Eri tried to help untie her but it was pretty clear that she didn't know how to untie the tight knots, So eventually Kesseki and Eri just tried to tear the rope apart, Eri using her horn and Kesseki using her snakes.

Back to the present.

"After that, we talked a whole bunch and now we're friends!" Kesseki smiled brightly.

"F-friends?" Eri stuttered.

Kesseki turned to her and frowned. "Are we not?"

"I um...I never had a friend before." Eri muttered.

"Me neither!" Kesseki said excitedly. "People are usually scared of my quirk or the snakes in my hair! But my snakes aren't actually that scary!"

Izuku watched the two interact with slight shock. I didn't think anyone could get Eri to open up like this! It's...kind of amazing.

Izuku smiled at the snake-haired girl. "Thank you, for getting along so well with Eri."

"No, no, no! Thank you for taking down that thug!" Kesseki said. "If you hadn't done that, he would have forced me to use my quirk on even more people! And that's just cold. Stone cold. You'd have to have a heart of stone to do such a thing. That guy was a real snake."

"You uh...really like puns," Izuku noted. "Well, your welcome. It really wasn't much of a big deal."

"No, it was a huge deal!" Kesseki stood up on the bed and bowed. "I am in your eternal debt!"

"You really don't need to do that," Izuku said.

"Nope! Too late! I already said it! It lasts for eternity now." Kesseki shook her head. "No, take backsies! It's-"

"If you say set in stone, I'm going to bang my head on the wall until I pass out."

The three of them looked towards the door and saw Namae standing there.

"Ms. Namae?! What are you doing here?" Izuku asked.

"What am I doing here? There's a kid who can turn people to stone by looking at em, what do you think I'm doing here?" Namae mocked.

"Oh, yeah that makes sense," Izuku said. "Wait, shouldn't you take her back to her parents."

"My parents threw me out," Kesseki explained. "They said I can be the world's problem instead of theirs."

"That's horrible!" Izuku was disgusted. At the very least if you weren't going to take care of your child you could give them to someone who could! Or an Orphanage.

"I know right! They could have just called us! Make's everyone's lives easier!" Namae groaned. "Speaking of making everyone lives easier."

Namae pulled up a chair. "Oh poor us! We may have saved this poor girl, but now we must take her away to search for a home for her! She and Eri may never see each other again! If only there was someone close by who could take her in and give her food and shelter! Someone who has recently come into a whole lot of money and is really good with kids!"

Her acting was so half-assed and non-subtle, that Izuku immediately got what she was trying to do.

Izuku sighed and shook his head. "I can't just make that decision on my own you'd have to ask my mom first."

"Not really," Namae said smugly. "The age required to sign the contract that lets you take her in was lowered to about your age."

"That doesn't sound right," Izuku said skeptically.

"Like I said the big government doesn't really care much about our branch anymore, so we can get away with a lot of stuff when they're not looking," Namae explained. "And oh look I have one of those contracts right here!"

Namae took out the contract and shoved it in Izuku's face along with a pen.

"Wait, Mr. Izuku's gonna take care of me!? I don't have to eat garbage anymore!?" Kesseki's eyes widened in excitement. "Yes! Best day ever!"

Izuku cringed at her excitement. There was no chance he was gonna say no to that. Especially after seeing how well she got along with Eri. But still…

"I should really ask my mom about this." Izuku was still hesitant.

"I mean...that might take a while and in the meantime, we would have to take the girl away," Namae said with fake sadness.

Eri didn't say anything, but judging by the expression on her face she was not happy with that idea, and she looked at Izuku pleadingly.

Looked at her for a moment, before sighing and signing the contract. "I am such a pushover."

"Yes!" Namae said before snatching the contract away. "Haha! Another day of work thoroughly avoided! Congrats on your new sister kids!"

"Sister? Oh, Eri's my sister now! Great!" Kesseki giggled as she grabbed Eri and locked her into a hug. "We're gonna have so much fun!"

Eri seemed confused but also kinda happy.

"Oh and here's your phone back." Namae tossed him his phone.

"Wait, I could have just called mom with this!? Wait why did you have my phone in the first place!?" Izuku shouted in confusion.

"Because if you called your mom, she might have said no," Namae explained. "So I took your phone so I could pressure you into signing this thing."

"That sounds illegal!" Izuku pointed out.

"Yeah, but I know you're a pushover good guy type of person so you're not gonna do anything about it," Namae said. "Anyway, later losers!"

With that, she ran out of the room at speeds that would make All Might's jaw drop.

"How is that woman a government agent?" Izuku himself.

He looked at the pair of celebrating girls(And by that I mean that Kesseki was holding Eri while jumping on the bed and Eri was enthusiastically letting her.) before looking down at his phone.

He sighed before turning on his phone and calling his mother.

"Izuku!? Are you ok!? I heard you were in the hospital! What happened!? Are you hurt!?" Inko panicked over the phone.

"I'm ok mom. It's nothing, but uh...I have a new sister now." Izuku said.

"...What?"