Chapter 23: Remember Your Origins!
Ryosuke Kira was not a good man. He had cheated and stolen his entire life and it had gotten him nothing but a few years in prison and a rap sheet long enough that he couldn't get a real job. He had had a girl once, he had even cleaned up his act for her too. But then he had fallen into old bad habits and she took off with his daughter before he had even met the kid.
After that, it was right back to it. There was a growing market for super-powered enforcers in the Yakuza, and Ryosuke was uniquely suited to the job. His meta-ability, Stack-Up let him stockpile strength and energy, so every day he woke up a little stronger than before. It wasn't much, but after nearly forty years he was comfortably stronger than anyone without a strength-enhancing ability.
Ryosuke settled onto the couch in his crappy apartment, beer in one hand, remote in the other. It had been a shit day, even by his own standards. A job had gone sideways and everyone involved had gotten pinched, including a few grunts for some bigshot business guy the Boss wanted to get in with. Because of it, the Boss had decided that Ryosuke's little brother was going to be the fall guy. While everyone else got off free, his brother was doing a life sentence for drug smuggling and murdering an undercover cop. Frankly, Ryosuke couldn't care less about his half brother. They had grown up together with the same addict mother who sold everything they owned to pay for her habits, but while Ryosuke had grown strong his brother had just become a pushover who did anything anyone asked for the slightest bit of praise. He snorted at the thought of his brother happily sitting in jail for a man who barely knew his name, and cracked the top on his beer.
And that's when the devil found him.
The door exploded inwards, shards of wood and rubble covering the living room, and in walked a monster made flesh. He wore a three piece suit, jacket undone to show the vest and tie underneath. His white hair was perfectly placed and if Ryosuke had crossed him on the street he would have dismissed him for just another rich business man but for those burning, hateful eyes. His eyes were black, iris and pupil melding into one another. The hideous madness held inside of them threatened to absorb and destroy everything, like two blackholes had taken up residence in his skull.
Ryosuke leapt off the couch to attack him but was batted away by a telekinetic shove. He crashed into the dining table, cracking it underneath him. He struggled to try and get back to his feet as the devil entered the apartment and began to rant. He raved over the duties of an elder brother, that he had failed to protect his little brother as he should have, that justice had to be paid.
That he was here to make right Ryosuke's wrongs.
Time ceased to mean anything to Ryosuke as his world was enveloped by pain and screams. The last thing he remembered was the devil standing over him, blood staining his suit from chest to shoes. He remembered that terrible laughter, the mad cackling of a monster who had been left unleashed in the human world. He remembered feeling weak, like his soul had been sundered in two and what remained was only a husk. The devil leaned down to whisper to him.
"Your meta-ability is so fascinating. I know just what to do with it."
And without another word, Ryosuke Kira died.
But a funny thing happened, after Ryosuke Kira died.
He woke up.
He was so so cold. He had been cold most of his life, between his failing health and the mountain village he was born in, but at least when he used to be able to feel the sun. He could put on a blanket to chase away the wind and nap in his favorite hammock while basking in the summer rays.
But the vault was always freezing.
It had been hours, maybe days, since the door was last opened, and Yoichi was beginning to go insane. The last time it had opened was when his brother had forced this terrible curse into his body. He could feel it even now. his brother's "gift", another stolen meta-ability. It ate at his soul and sapped the strength from his limbs. He could feel it pull him inexorably towards his own demise, each heartbeat ticking off another moment before the end.
Please, Yoichi whispered, begging anything that might hear him. I don't want to die here. Please, let me feel the sun again.
Ryosuke could feel the pain of the other one, the man, boy, that the last remaining vestige of himself had been put into. He was dying, this boy. Ryosuke knew it and it seemed he did too because he started to weep and plead with the air as if something was coming to save him. But they both knew no one was coming, and the only one who could hear him was Ryosuke.
What Roysuke had realized that the boy hadn't yet was that it wasn't his brother that was killing him, nor some curse or illness. It was Ryosuke that was killing him. He couldn't survive with multiple souls inside of him. Ryosuke doubted anyone could, except perhaps for the devil that killed him.
Ryosuke Kira was not a good man. He had cheated and stolen his entire life. He had made mistake after mistake and had pissed away every opportunity to turn himself around, to change or grow. But this boy? Ryosuke could see his past played out in front of him from this melding of their souls. He had always tried to do good, had opposed his brother and his cronies at every turn despite his weaknesses. He had battled and struggled and where life had made Ryosuke bitter and angry, it just fed this boy's thirst for justice. No matter what it took, no matter how much pain he was in, this boy always got back up again.
Ryosuke Kira was not a good man. But just this once, he resolved to do something good.
Take me. He focused on the edges where their two souls converged, where they crashed into one another before trying to retreat back into their own shells. He pushed with all his might to corral his own soul, to force it to meld into the boy's. To become one. Take me. I'm giving it all to you, Yoichi. Take my soul, my power, as your own. Use it to live on. Stop that devil from doing this again, to someone else. Become something more, something greater.
Ryosuke surrendered himself to the flood, letting his memories, his self get swept away by the tides. He poured his energy into merging his fragmented self into Yoichi until something clicked, and he was pulled into the abyss.
Ryosuke Kira died a second time in that cold dreadful vault. But with his sacrifice, something larger was given life. The fates shook, and with his death, the world was changed.
"Do something good with the time you have. Make your life matter."
"Your disobedience has gone on for far too long, little brother. Let's not drag this out for longer than we must." Yoichi pressed his back into the rubble that once was a wall, one arm slung over the shoulder of Roy, the other doing its best to stem the tidal wave of blood that threatened to spill from the hole his brother had punched into his stomach.
"We need to get you out of here." Yoichi forced his eyes to focus through the blood loss onto the face of his friend and hero. Roy was half-American, a former soldier who had been visiting family when the borders had been closed as a result of the Meta Uprisings. Yoichi couldn't help but feel a little guilty for all the pain he had caused him. If he had been strong enough to stop his brother, Roy might have been able to go home. He never would have been dragged into a war against an unkillable and unstoppable monster. But his guilt was wasted on what-ifs. Roy was the embodiment of all the heroes Yoichi had grown up admiring. He would have leapt into the fray to fight against injustice no matter what, even if it meant risking his own life.
Even if it meant rescuing the younger brother of his mortal enemy from the vault he had been imprisoned in.
Roy cursed as another blast from one of Hi- of All for One's meta-abilities. Yoichi resolutely ignored the urge to call his brother by his name. He had forfeited that right when he killed their parents. His brother was dead. All that was left was a villain with an all too familiar face.
" Shit. He just took out the comms center. We're flying blind now. Takashi already evacuated with the others, now we just have to get you out of here."
"Don't bother," Yoichi coughed out. "Just go. I'll buy you as much time as I can."
"Damn it, Yoichi, we are not having this conversation again. Your ability is exactly what he wants right now, and if he gets it he's going to be even more unstoppable. So you need to get your head out of your ass and leave."
"No." Yoichi straightened up, ignoring the shooting pain in his chest. "He's my brother, Roy. He's my responsibility. Besides, he won't get my power."
"How the he-" Yoichi held up a blood soaked hand.
"I figured it out, my power. It can be passed on." Roy's eyes widened, but Yoichi pressed on before he could speak. "I'm dying, Roy. Even if I make it out of here, even if I survive this fight, I'll be dead within a year anyway. I can't defeat my brother, I'm not strong enough. But you could be." Another explosion shook the walls, sending the ceiling lights swinging and dust falling onto them. "Please, will you accept this power?"
"Love is the only immortal thing in this world, Izuku. It lasts beyond lifetimes and binds us all together. You must hold on to that love with everything you have."
"You can't be serious." Roy raised an eyebrow at his second in command, who stared incredulously at him. "Oh my god, you're actually serious."
"You knew Yoichi was that monster's brother. Are you actually surprised he developed a similar meta-ability?"
"Not really, but, to think he gave it to you of all people…" Roy snorted at that, a smile cracking to life on Hiro's face at making his commander laugh. In another life, Roy thought Hiro would have made a great doctor or something. He just had a way of making people feel welcome around him, an inner light that didn't deserve to shine on a desolate battlefield like this.
"I'm choosing you, Hiro." The younger man's face sombered, and Roy felt another pang of regret that he was forced to foist a burden this heavy onto a boy who had barely turned into a man. Hiro's parents had been one of the first casualties of All for One's conquest, their abilities stolen and their lives cut short when they refused to pay protection money to one of his gangs that had set up shop in Hokkaido. Hiro had found them then, all of thirteen years old, fueled by anger and desperation to fight against the monster that had taken his family. The years had smoothed out his anger, tempered it into a laser focus that the rest of the rebels had rallied behind. Roy might have been the leader by rank but he was a strategist, and even he could admit that he was a prickly asshole at the best of times. But Hiro was a guiding light for the rest of the rebels. He could be all the things that Roy couldn't.
All for One had tracked their last few bases down, and Roy knew that it was only a matter of time before the monster caught up with them again. The odds were that this time only one of them would walk away. He only hoped he could take out a few of the bastard's generals with him when he went. But it would be worth it for the chance for someone else to be the leader he never could. If he could give Hiro just a little more time, a half of a chance to become the man he knew he could be, it would be worth it. Roy was doomed anyway, and the others needed a leader, not just some guy with power.
"I'll make you proud, Roy." Hiro promised. Roy pulled him into a side hug and ruffled his hair.
"You already have, kid."
"The people need heroes, not martyrs. You can't save anyone after you're dead."
A cheer tore itself from the throats of the people, glasses clinking merrily, beer and liquor spilling all over the floor in their exuberance. Hiro himself was in the center, reveling in the celebrations. Victory had been hard-won, but they had finally managed to destroy the last of the docks All for One was using to trade with Russian syndicates and their contacts overseas were already reporting that most of the major international players were refusing to do any more business in Japan. The reinforcements from the Japanese army had been a godsend and Hiro thanked his lucky star that the government had finally pulled their heads from their asses. All for One was being sent running from their little group but Hiro wasn't stupid enough to think he would go quietly into the night.
But that was a problem for another day. Tonight was for celebrating.
As the night wound on, Hiro eventually was pushed to find relief from the heat, stumbling out into the cool night air of Tokyo. He found Haru there on the steps, lit cigarette in one hand, an open bottle in the other, staring at the sky like the answers he sought were written in the stars.
"Hey there, stranger." Hiro took a seat next to him, leg pressing into his, as he stole the cigarette from his hand to take a drag himself. "Not interested in celebrating?"
"What's there to celebrate?" Haru dug in his pocket for another cigarette, far too used to having Hiro steal them from him to be bothered, before lighting it again. Hiro was entranced by the way the flames lit up his face, dark stubble splashed across his cheeks, the scar across his eye in stark relief from the flickering light. He wasn't sure he had seen a sight quite as beautiful in a long time. "We killed people tonight, Hiro. And sure, they worked for that demon, but that doesn't mean they weren't people."
Hiro let out a small hum, taking another puff of his cigarette to buy himself time to think about his answer. It wasn't an uncommon issue between the two of them. Haru was relatively new to their cause, a former surgeon who joined up after All for One killed his daughter and stole her meta-ability, her quirk as they were calling them now. Hiro admired Haru's morals, his stringent adherence to the idea that they should do no harm, but Hiro was so caked in blood that he knew he would never be clean again. He had fought in this war since he was fourteen years old, a frontline combatant since he learned what Fa Jin could really do, and that was before Fa Jin had been boosted by Roy's gift. He knew the whispers that had been making their way throughout the underground. The Scourge of All for One they called him. Hiro thought it was entirely too dramatic, but he liked to think it would have made Yoichi smile to hear it.
"We did what we had to, Haru. If we didn't, more people would have gotten hurt." Haru snorted a bitter and angry sound.
"I've heard that one before. It still doesn't make it right."
"Maybe not," Hiro conceded. "But I'd take a thousand deaths on my conscience to save a million lives. I mean look around us." He swept his arm out at the city surrounding them. "Tokyo is still standing. What we do lets people like this live their lives free from the pain we have. If we win, one day there might be kids born who never have to hear the name All for One. And I, for one, want to see that future." Haru looked over at him, eyes heavy with an emotion Hiro couldn't name.
"You're really something, you know that? How the hell do you still have that much hope?"
"What we do is not who we are, Haru." Hiro said softly. "Besides, if we give up hope for a better future, then what the hell do we even have left?"
"Do whatever it takes, but don't let it change who you are."
Hikage set the tea kettle down with a shaking hand. It had been a long thirty-seven years, nearly four decades spent in isolation in the mountains, but it seemed his time was running out. The cracks had appeared slowly over time, at first he assumed it was merely a trick of his quirk, or an infection he had picked up from the last time he had gone into town to pick up supplies, but the attack last night confirmed it.
One for All was killing him.
The attacks, as he was calling them, had gotten worse over time, starting from small involuntary bursts of power until he had destroyed the outer wall of his house in his sleep last night. Years of isolation and training had taught him the value of meditation, and when he dove into his mind this morning, he had felt One for All straining at the boundaries of his body. He knew on a conceptual level that this was what he had wanted. When he had been given One for All by Hiro moments before All for One had stormed their base and massacred the rebellion, he knew it wouldn't be enough on his own. Danger Sense was powerful in its own right, but it was entirely defensive. If Hiro, a man who's quirk was boosted to extreme heights with the added might of One for All, didn't think he could defeat All for One, what chance did Hikage himself have? So he ran; he fled into the mountains determined to build up his legacy quirk. And it seemed he did the job too well because now the quirk was almost too powerful for him to use.
He took a faltering step forward before falling to a knee. His body was beginning to crash, but Hikage could hold on until he found a successor if he was careful. Even in his self-imposed isolation, news had reached him of a new profession, the first wave of Super Heroes who used their quirks to fight against injustice. Someone like that would do nicely, he thought. Hiro and Roy had been his heroes, maybe his successor could be a hero to someone else. Even if they save one person, he thought as a shooting pain pierced his abdomen, it will have been worth it. Now I just have to find someone willing to take on a quirk that might kill them one day. Where the hell am I going to find someone that crazy?
"Sometimes, it's best to wait and let the world come to you. Some things cannot be rushed, Midoriya."
Banjo never thought he would live that long. His mother had died of an overdose when he was a kid, his brother killed in a gang-war that had spilled into his neighborhood not long after. He had grown up around violence and death, even during his time as a vigilante before the government offered them the chance to be licensed heroes, he figured it was only a matter of time before some punk got a lucky shot in with a knife or he came across a villain that was too strong for Blackwhip to tie down while he called the cops. And that was before the crazy old man had found him, offering him a quirk that would put a timer on his life in exchange for the chance to help more people.
Banjo still didn't exactly anticipate being tortured to death by a supervillain from the dawn of quirks who had an extreme brother complex though.
He snorted to himself at the dig, spitting blood onto the floor. All for One (and wasn't that a kick in the pants to realize that guy was still kicking around. He must have found some de-aging quirk or something) had left not too long after his most recent attempts at "convincing" Banjo to hand over his quirk. He was tied to a chair in the middle of a warehouse, steel chains connected to a massive spike that had been driven into the floor preventing him from leaving even with the boosted strength from One for All.
Dull thuds of footfalls alerted him to somebody entering the warehouse. Banjo lifted his head with an absurd amount of effort.
"What's up you brother-loving bastard? Came to take another shot, huh? I tell you what, I'll call you nii-san if you really want, but it'll cost ya."
"Banjo?" He focused on the face in front of him, soft black hair and worried grey eyes coming into focus.
"En? Well shit, how's it going buddy?"
"Better than you apparently. The villain knock something loose in your head, man?" En moved around to undo the chains binding him while Banjo laughed.
"Nah, this one's just real obsessed with his little brother. Kinda creepy if I'm being honest." Banjo groaned in pain as En threw one of his arms over his shoulders, letting Banjo lean his weight on the shorter man.
"You always did have a habit of picking up the weird ones, Banjo. You remember that girl with the devil wings?"
"Oh man," he chuckled. "She was a real firecracker, that one." The ground rumbled, sending the two men swaying as dust rained down from the ceiling.
"What the hell was that?"
"That would probably be the villain coming back for round six. Or maybe seven? Man torture really messes up with your counting skills, huh?" En tugged Banjo toward the back exit.
"Come on, man. Let's get you the hell out of here. You're in no shape to fight."
"Can't do that, En." Banjo pulled himself out of En's grip and settled into a fighting stance, Blackwhip emerging from his back, reaching out to pull chunks of concrete from the ground for ammo to throw. "This one's got to go down, here and now."
"Are you crazy?" En hissed. "You can barely stand! How the hell are you going to fight?"
"Cause I'm a hero." Banjo's voice was shot with steel, his normal joking manner left behind. "A hero doesn't run from a fight."
"He does from fights he can't win. I won't let you just kill yourself like this, Banjo" Banjo shook his head.
"I'm not giving you the choice here, En. Besides, I'm not killing myself. I'm giving you time to get out of here." He looked at his friend, concern and rage at Banjo's decision still warring on his Banjo didn't think there was any way All for One would let him leave here alive, but there was still something he could do to pull out a win against the overpowered bastard. "There's something I need you to do, En."
"Trust your friends, kid! If you can't go on, let them carry you til you can again."
En knew he was being hunted. Banjo had given him a barebones explanation of his quirk and sent him out the door. He had found the journals under the floorboards of Banjo's apartment, notes and theories compiled by Hikage Shomori, the fourth holder of One for All.
And now En was the sixth.
En hadn't told anyone about finding Banjo in that warehouse. They had been tracking corruption among the heroes and police and were close to a major breakthrough when Banjo had gone missing, so En had assumed whoever did it was also behind the corruption. He had no idea how right he was though.
When he had turned on the news the next morning, it was to reports of a fire that had wiped out half the ward where the warehouse had been and no news about Banjo's death. After that he had started to have the feeling of being watched, even more than the normal paranoia he felt day to day as a hero. Buildings on his normal patrol routes had exploded, flames so hot and fierce that it took the fire department days to put out. He felt suspicious eyes on him whenever he walked into the police precinct with another arrest, the small of his back itching from lingering gazes, but every time he tried to figure out who it was, he was left empty-handed.
He had spent the last two months piecing together the threads of All for One's empire with the help of Hikage's journal. He had mapped out shell companies and likely moles within the police and Hero Commission, but he still couldn't help feeling like he was missing something. He had taken a walk through the park to help clear his head, a ritual that still helped even though it was something he had once done with Banjo. It was there that he saw her.
She was young, only 19 or so, dressed in bold and bright colors that the newest generation of heroes favored. A dark base suit, a long white cape and bold yellow boots and gloves. She floated back to the earth, her quirk he assumed, handing a white cat to a young girl.
"Thank you, Ms. Hero!" The heroine laughed.
"You're welcome, kiddo! Try and keep a better eye on Ms. Scruffles from now on though, okay?"
"Okay!"
En smiled at the exchange. The world could use a few more people like her in his opinion. She would make a great hero one day.
Pain exploded in his back. Something ripped through his back, bursting out of his stomach in a spray of red. The crack reached his ears only after the pain as the bullet lodged itself in the earth at his feet. The screams of the civilians rang in his ears as he stumbled forward, collapsing onto his knees. His quirk erupted from his skin off instinct, covering the area in thick purple smoke. He wondered briefly what All for One's plan was. A man like that wouldn't just give up on obtaining One for All. He was too obsessed, there was too much history.
"Hey!" A blur of black cut through the smoke as the heroine landed next to him. "It's going to be alright, sir. I'm a hero, I'm going to get you out of here." She checked over his injury as he coughed on his own blood, impressed over how composed the woman was despite her young age. "It seems like the bullet went through and through. It missed your spine and hit your stomach, but it doesn't look like it hit anything else. Just hold on, the EMTs are already on their way."
Ah, that was his plan then. He couldn't snatch En off the street so he would put him in the hospital and take him while he was hurt. He hated to admit that it made sense. The young heroine leaned down to focus on his face.
"Just hang on, sir. I'm going to be right here with you." He was right, she was definitely going to be a great hero. He reached up toward her, brushing his blood covered hand across her mouth, making contact with her tongue as it opened in shock.
"My name is En, my quirk-" he coughed a wad of blood up onto himself. "My quirk is called One for All."
"What the hell?"
"The villain who did this. His name is All for One. It's up to you to beat him, hero. Do you accept?"
"Sir, I told you, you're going to be fi-"
"Do you accept?" He stared into her eyes, trying to impress upon her the seriousness of his offer. Please, please, don't let it die with me. After a long moment, she nodded.
"Okay. I accept."
"Good," he nodded. "Now get out of here. The EMTs are probably on his payroll. You can't be seen with me." He slipped a flash drive into her boot as she turned away, leaving his mission with her.
You're going to be a far better holder than I ever was, kid. He thought as darkness began to take over his vision. I just hope it works out better for you than us.
"Trust your instincts, Izuku."
Her heart ached as she watched Toshinori spar with Gran Torino. He was a good kid, a little on the dense side sometimes, but he had the biggest heart she had ever seen and the drive to match his lofty goals. He had a presence about him, an energy that people couldn't help but be drawn in by. She had no doubt that he was going to achieve each and every last one of his goals. Even if she hadn't given him One for All, he still would have found a way to be a quirkless hero. She knew that he looked up to her like the mother he never had, and in another life she would have been proud to call him her son.
But she had given away her son five years ago. That part of her heart had gone dark and even Toshinori's light couldn't bring it back.
"Sensei!" Toshinori waved from where he and Sorahiko were waiting, towels over their shoulders, bags gathered at their feet. "Gran Torino said that we could set some Taiyaki from that new place by the pier on the way back!" Nana forced a familiar smile onto her face.
"Sounds great, zygote! Let's do it!" Toshi's smile grew wider but Sorahiko's expression grew dark. She glared at her with suspicion, perceptive as always to her moods. What a pair we are, Gran. One of us smiles to hide the darkness and the other scowls to protect the light. She flew up to Toshi's head so she could get the right angle to run her knuckles across his scalp. "C'mon, kiddo. I'll race you!" She shot away from her boys, letting the rushing wind chase away a little of her worries. There was a time and place for breakdowns after all, and she couldn't let her darling successor go hungry while she wallowed in her own choices.
"If I could do it all again… Protect your peace, Nine. Find what you love and hold it as close as you can for as long as you can. Remember what you're fighting for."
Nemuri pressed her hands against her temples, trying to restrain the headache that was blooming behind her eyes. Recovery Girl had assured her that Izuku was healthy, but she couldn't tell her why he wouldn't wake up. Their best guess was that One for All, an already spooky quirk, was doing some spectacularly spooky shit causing him to slip into a coma.
In the forty-eight hours since the exam ended, Uraraka had barely left Izuku's side, and Nemuri had finally managed to convince her to go to bed for classes in the morning. Inko was requesting hourly updates from the two of them as she was off on a work trip and wouldn't be back until the following week. (She had wondered, when she heard that, what it was that Inko Midoriya actually did. She wasn't sure Izuku had ever mentioned his mom having a job that required travel, or any job at all for that matter. Did she just have a freelance job or something?)
Still, she hated how useless she felt just waiting around for her student to wake up. Every tick of the heart monitor was like another straw added to the camel's back and she was worried for when it would break. It wasn't right watching him just lie on the hospital bed. The kid she had gotten to know in training was a slightly unhealthy mixture of anxious energy and puppy-like excitement, the stillness of him now was uncanny.
"Why won't you just wake up, damn it! Don't you know how worried we are about you kid?" Nemuri slapped her hand against the wall. "You couldn't just be another student, could you? You had to go and worm your way into people's hearts, you, you, you heart-worming jerk!" (Nemuri winced internally at the weak insult. At least Hizashi was here to mock her for it.) As she cringed at her own actions, the heart monitor at Izuku's side began to beat faster. Her student stirred in his bed, softly groaning as he began to come out of his coma.
"Mom?" Izuku's eyes opened, immediately squinting at the bright lights in the room. "What… what happened?" Nemuri smirked.
"I'm not your mom, kiddo, but you can call me mommy if you want~"
Chapter 24: Look to the Future!
"Midoriya?"
"Izuku!"
"Mido-bro!"
A wall of noise greeted Izuku as he opened the door to Heights Alliance. He took a half step back, adjusting to the explosion of sensations. He'd been asleep for two days, apparently, but he was still exhausted. A heavy weariness settled into his bones. It blanketed his senses and made him unsteady on his feet. Recovery Girl had checked him over, giving him a clean bill of health but that lingering exhaustion remained. There had been a flood of people waiting for him to wake up, but before Aizawa could grill him for answers he didn't know how to give, Midnight had stepped in declaring that the first thing he needed to do was get some rest and he could answer their questions in the morning. Izuku wasn't sure he had ever felt more grateful to his mentor as he had when she said that. The last thing he wanted to do at this point was try and dance around Aizawa's questions. He wanted to scarf down a protein bar, curl up underneath his All Might comforter and go to sleep.
What he wanted more than anything though, was to see the figure that was currently sprinting at him with tears in her eyes.
Ochako slammed into Izuku's chest, nearly sending them both tumbling to the ground. Izuku called on the barest percentage of One for All to keep them standing, letting Ochako put all her weight on him. His arms wrapped around her and he ducked his head to her ear like he could shield them from the rest of the world.
"Hey, Ocha." His voice was rough from disuse, her name cracking as he said it. Her sobs hitched and she started to cry harder. She squeezed tighter around his middle, but Izuku ignored the creaking of his ribs. "It's alright. I'm okay." He brought a hand up to run through her short hair, the other still wrapped around her back. "I'm right here, Ochako. It's okay. I'm right here."
"I was so worried." Izuku's heart broke a little at the sound of her tear-choked voice and his own eyes started watering in response. "Dammit, Deku, you scared me so much. I thought…" Ochako burrowed herself deeper into his embrace instead of finishing her thought, and Izuku couldn't blame her. He didn't think he would have reacted any better to watching her pass out in a coma either. An awkward cough brought his attention back to the rest of the room, and he looked up to see Ashido smack Kaminari on the back of the head for breaking up their moment.
"Uhh, sorry guys. I'd hug you all too but…"
"It's alright, Izuku." Momo shot him a soft grin. Her hair was down and a cup of tea was in her hands as she lounged on the couch next to Sato and Shoji. "We're glad you're alright."
"Yeah," Jiro added. "You scared us a bit, big green."
"What happened, kero?" Tsu asked. "One moment you were fine, and the next you had just passed out."
"It was super scary dude!" Kaminari tacked on after he broke away from Ashido's barrage.
"Ah, I'm sorry for worrying you guys. Apparently I used my quirk a little too much and the quirk exhaustion combined with my exhaustion from the past few days to just knock me out." Izuku felt Ochako's breath catch as he said quirk exhaustion, and he gave her a squeeze. Not here.
"Damn, bro." Kirishima whistled. "And I thought my skin getting dry and cracking was bad. Your quirk is no joke when it comes to backlash."
"We been knew, Kirishima." Mina said. "Did you happen to forget that his quirk also breaks his bones if he uses too much of it?"
"Whoops. My bad."
"You really should get some more sleep, Midoriya." Ojiro said, concern dripping off his voice.
"I agree!" Tenya jumped in front of Izuku, beginning to circle around him while chopping his arm through the air. "It is vitally important that young adults get 8-10 hours of rest per night! That is especially true of aspiring heroes such as yourself because of the additional exercise that we accumulate over the course of training!"
Izuku ignored Tenya's growing tirade as the adrenaline hit he had gotten from seeing his classmates again faded away. He leaned down to whisper in Ochako's ear.
"Hey, do you want to stay with me tonight? There's some stuff I need to tell you." Ochako gave him a nod, her forehead still pressed to his chest. Straightening up, he picked up his girlfriend in his arms, settling her in a piggy-back ride on his back with her arms wrapped around his neck. "Alright, we're going to bed."
"Together?!" Tenya shouted, face as red as Izuku's shoes. Izuku stopped to pat Tenya on the cheek before he continued toward the stairs.
"Relax, Mr. President. Ocha's just making sure that I get some sleep, and I'm making sure my girlfriend doesn't cry any more than she already has. We'll keep everything pg, I promise. Honestly, who would've thought that you had a dirty mind, Tenya." Izuku winked over his shoulder at his friend who appeared to have blown a gasket. Smoke, similar to the exhaust that sometimes flowed out of his engines, poured from his ears. Shoji snickered as Sero and Kaminari began to laugh openly. Izuku climbed the stairs to the sounds of his classmates calling up goodnights and catcalls telling them to use protection.
It was good to be back in the land of the living.
Izuku stirred to wakefulness with a strange pressure making the fingers on his arm tingle with pins and needles. He felt better than he had in months. He felt well rested and content. No One for All induced dreams of long dead heroes, no visions of gruesome deaths at the hands of nearly immortal supervillains, just the soft embrace of his blankets and the warm weight of Ochako against him.
Wait, what?
Izuku rolled his neck, turning to look at his girlfriend pressed into his side. Her head was pillowed by his arm, explaining the numbness in his fingers. His heart clenched at the sight of her sleep mittens as she rolled over, murmuring something about a sale on mochi. He would never tell her, he knew she was embarrassed by the need for them, but the fact that she needed sleep mittens was one of the cutest things he had ever heard of. He felt absurdly lucky in that moment. He had an amazing girlfriend, he was at his dream school, and he was well on his way to turning his ultimate dream into a reality by becoming a hero.
Izuku pressed a kiss on her head and gently extracted his arm from underneath her. Recovery Girl had said to give it a day or two before going back to his usual routine, but maybe could sneak in a quick run if he just- A gloved hand gripped his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.
"I hope you're not doin' what I think you're doin', Deku." Ochako's voice was thick with sleep, Kansai accent slipping into her words. "Recovery Girl said no workouts."
"I know, but-"
"You were in a coma, Izuku." All traces of sleep vanished from Ochako as she sat up to glare into Izuku's face. "Just take a day to rest, okay? There's no need to jump right back into things." Izuku sighed.
"You're right." He sat back down on the bed. "Of course, you're right. But really, I feel fine! Honestly, I feel better than I have since Kamino."
"Great. You can feel fine while staying in bed then." Izuku let her drag him back into bed, and settled herself half-draped across his chest like a seatbelt. "Now pipe down, pillow. Not all of us like to get up before the sun rises."
"It's like 6:30, Ochako."
"Hush!"
Izuku sighed and gave in to his girlfriend's demands. The two of them slept in until Ochako's alarm went off and they were forced to get up again. Ochako ran back to her own room to get changed while Izuku snuck in a quick shower, but soon enough they met up at the entrance of the dorms and made their way toward UA. Midnight had managed to buy him a few hours of rest, but Izuku knew they were due an explanation about what happened inside of One for All, and he had a few questions of his own that he wanted to ask All Might.
Ochako blinked sleepily. Voices were buzzing around her but through the lingering drowsiness they were soft and distant, like they were filtering through an ocean she was at the bottom of. Rough gnarled fingers ran tenderly through her hair, and she practically purred at the affection from her boyfriend. They had gotten to the secure meeting room Midnight had requested early, both teachers running late because of a faculty meeting that had gone long, so she had laid out on the couch with her head in Izuku's lap and did her best impersonation of her homeroom teacher, stealing a few more minutes of sleep.
"Are you sure, my boy? You really spoke with them?" The voice was raspy and a touch wet, a unique mixture that Ochako knew had to have been All Might. He was also the only one who called Izuku his boy, a fact she knew he loved even if he denied how much of a dad the hero was to him.
"Yeah. I spoke with them. I even saw some of their memories." Izuku's fingers continued to stroke her hair, and Ochako felt her awareness fade in and out with the movement. When she came back to her body, she caught the tail end of Izuku's sentence. "... I saw it through her own eyes. I felt what she felt. She's so proud of you, All Might."
"How is that possible?" Midnight's voice was sharper, free of the emotion that was so present in All Might's and Izuku's tones. "Did One for All store their… their souls or something?"
"I'm not sure," Izuku said. "Even the vestiges don't really know how One for All works. I mean, quirks are fundamental parts of someone, right? Maybe when it stored the quirks of the previous users it also stored a copy of them too?" Ochako heard the fabric of Midnight's costume shift and crinkle as she leaned back into her chair.
"You know I really wasn't expecting to have to deal with haunted quirks and philosophical discussions about whether quirks are tied to our souls when I decided to give you lessons, Izuku."
"Hehe, sorry, Nemuri." Midnight waved him off.
"Don't worry about it, kiddo. It's not like this is your fault. I just wish there was someone who actually had some of these answers."
"...well there is -" "No!" Midnight interrupted him. "Uh uh, no way, ain't gonna happen!"
"Um, what is it?" All Might asked.
"Your successor is talking about taking a field trip to Tartarus to ask All for One about the vestiges!" Ochako's breath hitched. Izuku's hands paused in their journey through her hair before starting again, even more gently than before.
"It was just an idea." Izuku said softly.
"My boy, I would never forgive myself if I allowed that to happen. Please, do not even think such a thing." Ochako wasn't sure that she, or anyone, had ever heard All Might so desperately plead for something before.
"Okay." A calm silence settled over the group. Ochako managed to sit up, shaking off the rest of her drowsiness. She leaned back against the arm of the couch so she could look at Izuku.
"So how many more quirks are you going to get?" He gave her a small, grateful smile for the change in topic.
"Just one more, so six total. Well, seven, I guess." He counted off the quirks on his fingers as he began to list them. "There's the original stockpiling quirk, the first's quirk to pass it on, Fa Jin, Danger Sense, Blackwhip, Smokescreen, Float, and whatever the second's quirk is."
"He didn't tell you?" Izuku shook his head at Midnight's question.
"No. Roy told me that since he was the first quirked person to hold One for All that his quirk has been supercharged too much to safely use it, so he'll only unlock it for me in extreme emergencies."
"There's something else, isn't there?" All Might's guess was all but confirmed from Izuku's wince. "What is it, Young Midoriya?"
"It's just…" Izuku sighed. "One for All became so powerful because the previous holders needed it to oppose All for One. Every holder before me fought him. What if…" He huffed, shaking his head. "It's stupid."
Ochako laid a hand on his thigh, trying to give him a comforting squeeze. "It's not stupid if it's bothering you, Izuku."
"She's right," Midnight added. "You have some great instincts, Izuku. If you're worried about something I would like to hear it."
"What if One for All fades now that All for One is gone? He was the reason One for All needed to grow in strength in the first place. What if him being in jail means One for All isn't needed anymore? What if the vestiges start to fade now that there's no need for One for All?"
"That won't happen, my boy." All Might stood up tall, even in his skinny form he towered over everyone else in the room. His blue eyes burned, a glow lighting them up from the inside. It was the same glow Ochako saw whenever Izuku activated his quirk. "One for All is just a quirk. A strong quirk, but nothing more than that. It was always the strength of the user that made it a sword for justice. And even if you're right, even if One for All is some sort of preordained light meant to combat the evils of the world, evil isn't limited to the activities of All for One, Izuku. There will always be injustice in the world; just as there will always be heroes who rise up to oppose it."
"Well," Kayama slapped her thighs. "I suppose we should get going. Uraraka, would you mind coming with me? I could use a strong girl to carry some papers to my first period class."
"Oh, uh, sure, Midnight-sensei." Both of them stood, Young Uraraka leaning over to press a kiss to Midoriya's forehead. Midnight gave Toshinori a meaningful look over the rim of her glasses, one that practically screamed talk to him, you old fool. The two left, a heavy but comfortable silence falling over the room in their absence.
"You're not just worried about One for All, my boy," Toshinori said eventually. His successor rubbed at the back of his head.
"I'm that readable, huh?"
"Only to those who know you well." Toshinori took a sip of tea. "You haven't let these what-ifs consume you in sometime, Young Midoriya. It must be truly eating at you for it to make you so unsure."
"If One for All fades," Izuku started in a small voice. "I'll be back to being quirkless. I won't be able to be a hero anymore, All Might."
Oh. Toshinori should have assumed his prince of nonsense would be thinking about such things. His own childhood as a quirkless child felt far off and hazy, far removed from the man that he had become over the years, but for Izuku it was less than a year since he had received One for All. He had made such incredible progress over the past few months it was hard to remember that he had held a quirk for such a short part of his life.
"My boy, do you remember what I said to you after you charged into the situation with the Sludge Villain?"
"I'm pretty sure you called me an over-emotional fanboy."
"Ha!" Toshinori laughed. "I probably did! But I meant a different thing."
"That I was worthy to inherit your quirk?"
"True, but also not what I was referring to." Toshinori laid a hand on his shoulder. "Young man, you were a hero that day. When everyone else was standing still, you moved. You ran toward danger when no one else would. You were a hero even before you inherited this quirk, my boy."
"But-"
"What I told you when we first met, that without a quirk you couldn't be a hero, I was wrong. Yagi Toshinori needed One for All to become a hero. But you, my boy, never needed it at all." Toshinori brought his successor into a hug, letting his tears dry into his shirt. And if Toshinori himself let a few tears fall, well no one was there to see it.
"Now that you've all received your provisional licenses, you're ready for the next step in your evolution as heroes." Ochako shot Izuku a smile as he slid into his seat as the bell rang and Aizawa began his lecture. His eyes were red-tinged but the return smile he sent her was bright. It looks like Midnight was right to leave it to All Might. "Your internships were meant to get you exposed to day-to-day life as a hero. The training camp was meant for you to hone your own skills and make you realize where your talents lie. The next step is meant to get you used to applying those skills in the real world."
Aizawa smacked his hand against the board where he had written work studies.
"For those of you who qualify, you will be allowed to do work studies with a pro that is approved by a committee of faculty and staff." A flurry of hands raised at that, and Aizawa nodded towards Tenya.
"Sir! Who will qualify for this prestigious opportunity?"
"Because you'll be missing classes and adding a significant strain on your schedule, only those who are in the top ten academically or those who get requested specifically by a pro hero will be allowed to do work studies."
"Are we allowed to ask the heroes we did our internships with?" Tsu asked.
"You're allowed and encouraged to use any and all connections that you have to secure an internship, but we will be selective about who you can go with. They have to be a hero with a strong track record of success with UA students, and they have to be willing to take you on. Not every hero takes on work study students, and most don't take on first years."
Tsu deflated slightly at that and Ochako felt a pang of sympathy for her friend. She knew Tsu wanted to focus on doing water rescue work, but much like Gunhead, Selkie didn't have the resources to take on more than just an intern for a week or two.
"But, a thing like this isn't something you can understand with words alone. So all of you get changed into your gym uniforms and meet me in the TDL. It's time for a practical demonstration."
The Big Three. It was Izuku's first time seeing all three of them together, but they cut an intimidating figure.
He had already met Nejire, but anyone who had seen the Sports Festivals of the last three years could have picked her out of a crowd. She had dominated the first two of her Sports Festivals, taking back to back first place finishes before coming in second in the most recent competition. She had instantly rated as one of the hero students with the brightest futures in the press and social media. Between her raw power, natural skill, and bubbly personality, she was a crowd favorite even before she started interning with rising heroines like Mt. Lady and Ryukyu. Izuku had seen her first hand in training and she was certainly deserving of her placement in the Big Three. She stood off to the side, chattering away towards a deadpan Eraserhead while playing with the horns on Mina's head.
Anyone who was interested in quirks could have told you about the next member of the trio. Tamaki Amajiki was a study of contradictions. He had dominated the opening rounds of his first and second Sports Festivals before bowing out in the tournament with lackluster performances. He had finally overcome his yips over the third round in the final year, cruising to a third place finish. He had landed with Fatgum late in his second year after working only with low ranking heroes beforehand. His quirk, Manifest, made the quirk analyst in Izuku salivate. He could manifest parts and characteristics of the things he ate, like growing giant tentacles from his fingers if he had eaten octopus early in the day. Izuku had a million questions he wanted to ask. Could he completely turn into an animal? Did he get an immunity to snake venom if he manifested part of a snake? If he ate shark, could he use their electromagnetic sensing in a fight? Amajiki had by far the most versatile quirk of the Big Three, easily able to slide into a powerhouse role or settle back into a capture or support role, and he had the technical skills to make himself a top hero. He was so timid, though. He had a severe aversion to crowds and attention, something that would make his climb to the top even harder. His anxiety had led him to stand behind Nejire, head pressed to the wall unwilling to even watch the impending battle.
The last member of the Big Three was the one Izuku knew the least about. Mirio Togata was most memorable for dropping his pants in the second round of his first Sports Festival but he had made up for two lackluster performances by resoundingly dominating his third. He led from the outset and didn't give anyone else a chance to take it from him, beating the tournament round without taking a single hit. Izuku didn't know much about his quirk (he was still pretty high off of painkillers since he had watched it while stuck in the hospital in the aftermath of his fight with Stain), but at times it seemed like he just glitched past attacks. Izuku had some ideas (the idea of a quirk that simply let him alter reality was extravagant but his personal favorite if true) but because they were third years just a few short months from becoming pro heroes, most of their information was redacted on the rebroadcast Izuku saw. Whatever his quirk was, Togata had managed to hone it until he became the top student at UA and leader of the Big Three. He stood across from the whole of 1-A, smile undaunted by the numbers advantage the class had from him. Aizawa had called him the number one contender for the title of top hero and Izuku couldn't wait to test himself against his skills.
"Mirio, just remember to go easy, mkay?" Nejire called out. She had swapped targets and now had one hand on each of Shouto's cheeks, squishing his face. "We don't want another Fujiwara incident! Ooh, your cheeks really are different temperatures!"
"Pleashe, shtop."
"Don't worry so much, Nejire! I've learned how to hold back since then!" Izuku could feel the collective sweatdrop from his classmates.
"Um, what?" Jiro asked.
"Hey, hey, you guys ready?"
"This won't end well," Amajiki muttered just loud enough to be heard.
"Enough talking!" Kirishima crashed his hardened fists together. "Let's do this guys!" Mirio smirked over at them. The confidence in his smile sent a shiver of dread down Izuku's spine, Danger Sense softly pinging in front of him.
"You asked for it, first years."
Mirio was pretty impressed by this year's crop of first years. He didn't exactly make a habit of beating up on the freshmen, but when they had done this demonstration with 1-B a few days ago at least two people had tried to run away and one of them had been so startled that he accidentally deafened a few of his classmates when his head turned into an EEP! 1-A, at least, hadn't done damage to each other yet. All their experience fighting villains showed. Mirio could confidently say they were ahead of where his own class was during their first year, and even the ones that didn't stand out as much as their peers would have been in the top of some of the previous classes.
Even so, some of them stood out from their peers.
The frog girl had tremendous instincts and almost caught him off guard when she used her tongue to try and pull his punch away from one of her classmates. The brown haired girl was a vicious fighter, but she, much like the redhead with the spiky hair, was too static during the fight. She launched all her attacks from the same position, never trying to move and throw off his timing. The aforementioned redhead had a great quirk and personality, but he was a little too straightforward when fighting and he fell for the first feint Mirio threw out. The Yaoyorozu girl grew a steel plate from her stomach that actually managed to block his punch, but she was so shocked that it worked that he landed a follow-up through her defenses that sent her crashing to the floor.
Nobody managed to get quite as close as Aizawa's Problem Child though.
When Mirio popped out behind him, he thought Tamaki had actually stepped in for a second. Tentacles were rushing at him the same way Tamaki's did when he had a bit too much octopus and had trouble holding back. He let them phase through him and went for a Blinder Touch Eyeball Crush (yeah, maybe he needed a shorter name for it, but Nejire had named it the first time he had used it successfully back in second year and she would pout for days if he changed it now) only to find the Problem Child had jumped away from his punch and let loose a blast of smoke to obscure his position. It honestly was a great strategy, but he had forgotten one thing.
There was generally a person at the center of a smoke emitter quirk.
After Mirio landed the finishing blow on Midoriya, the rest of the class folded fairly quickly. Several of them had walked off towards the locker room or Recovery Girl (it had taken him three years to build up to this point, learning to hold back was hard ) but a few were milling around still waiting for their friends or directions from their teacher.
"I can't believe they made you do that," Tamaki muttered at Mirio's side. "Just talking to them should have been enough."
"Aw, come on, Tamaki! Can you blame them? They're definitely better than the average first years. Give them a few years and they'll be incredible, I just know it!"
"You're too optimistic, Mirio." He ignored Tamaki's chiding tone, familiar enough with friend's moods by now. His eyes landed on a head of green hair and Mirio couldn't help but smile.
"Hey! Problem Child, c'mere!" Midoriya wandered over, leaving his friends to be bombarded by Nejire's New Potential Friend Interrogation Storm (trademark pending).
"Yeah, Togata-senpai?" Mirio shot him a grin and a thumbs up.
"You did great out there, Midoriya! Whatever training Midnight's got you doing must be good. I could hardly tell you were a first year!" His kouhai's smile lit up his face, eyes thinning into lines with how big it was.
"Thanks, senpai! That means a lot coming from you!" Tamaki turned away from the pair, resting his forehead against the wall.
"Too bright…" Midoriya cocked his head at Tamaki before his face split into a wicked smirk that Mirio would swear had to have been stolen from Midnight herself.
"Aw, don't turn away Amajiki-senpai~" Midoriya took a step forward and leaned down slightly so his face was in Tamaki's eyeline. "You're so cute when you're flustered, but it's okay. You can look all you like~" Tamaki's face exploded into red, a small whimper escaping from his lips. Mirio couldn't help but cackle at his friend's fate.
"Man, Midoriya! You are something else!" An idea popped into Mirio's head, the thought firmly taking root. "Hey, think you could manage to do that to someone else? Cause I think I know someone who would love to meet you."
Katsuki's head throbbed, anger and sleeplessness merging into a migraine that would bring All Might to his knees. His headache flared at the thought of the number one hero and he pushed it away. Focusing on the rage was one of the only things that staved off the crippling headaches and it was easy enough to do when the thing that pissed him off the most in this world was right in front of his face.
Deku laughed at something beady-eyes said. An arm was thrown over his shoulder, the blonde's other hand coming up to noogie that quirkless bastard's head.
How dare he! Katsuki's anger raged in his chest, barely restrained by the fact that he was in a public gym surrounded by other students. What gave Deku the right to act like he was fine? He was supposed to be weak. He was supposed to be worthless. But here he was laughing alongside the guy who had just torched the rest of those useless extras and Katsuki…
Are you a puppy? Or are you a wolf, Katsuki?
"Bakugou." Katsuki whipped his head towards the homeless guy who pretended to be a teacher when he wasn't asleep between classes. "You alright?"
Katsuki fought down a surge of anger. He had been on a hair trigger recently, even for him. He knew that and he didn't want to start going off on everyone, but god damn it he was just so fucking angry. But taking it out on Hobo-sensei wouldn't do him any good. He'd just trap him in more sessions with that fucking mutt. No, there was only one person he could take his anger out on, he just needed a little more time.
"I'm fine, teach. Don't you have to inspect the back of your eyelids or something?" His teacher narrowed his eyes.
"If there's something going on-"
"I said I'm fucking fine." Katsuki turned and walked away, ears ringing with that damn laughter. Deku. You're going to fucking pay for this.
Izuku walked back to the dorms that night, rubbing out the knots in his shoulder. Midnight had insisted on doing a full evaluation of his skills after his little impromptu coma and his sadistic mentor had decided to load water balloons filled with glitter into her t-shirt cannon instead of stuffed animals. Not only was he exhausted, he was now sparkly in places he had never wanted to be sparkly before.
He sighed, already trying to come up with ways he could get back at his mentor. Maybe he could sign her up for an online dating profile? No, she would definitely just find a way to turn that back on him. Putting hair dye in her shampoo? But how would he get access to the teacher dorms… He set aside vague plans for revenge for the moment. He could figure that out later. All he wanted to do right now was scarf down some food and crash into his bed.
"Deku." Izuku bit back another sigh. Apparently, the universe was firmly against him getting a nap in before starting his homework. He turned, one foot still on the first step of the stairs outside the dorms, to look at his childhood rival.
Katsuki looked terrible. He had dark circles ringing his eyes that he had never seen on the other boy before. Katsuki had had a rigid sleep schedule ever since they were kids, an idea his mom had used to try and curb some of her son's more wild behavior that had never really worked. Sweat covered his skin, sparks flashing in his palms from all the excess fuel that gathered there. His eyes were wild, pupils dilated to the point where the red was just a thin band around the black. He looked like…
"Katsuki, are you high right now?"
"Fight me, you damn quirkless bastard." Izuku couldn't hold back his sigh that time.
"I'm not going to fight you, Katsuki. If you want to spar so badly, ask Aizawa the next time we have combat training. I'm going to bed." Pop, pop pop pop, pop.
"Damn it, you useless nerd! Fucking fight me!"
"No, Katsuki. I don't have anything to prove to you anymore." Izuku started up the stairs. Danger Sense flared as his arm was yanked from behind.
"Fight me!"
"No!" Izuku shoved Katsuki in his chest, sending the other boy to the dirt. "I'm done being your god damn punching bag, Bakugou! Fucking grow up already! If you want to work out whatever the hell is going on with you, find somebody else, go to therapy, I don't care! Just leave me the hell alone." Izuku stomped upstairs, frustration and anger swirling in his chest. Blackwhip started to respond to his distress, the quirk sneaking down his arms beneath his skin. He put his hand on the doorknob and took a series of deep breaths to calm himself down. He couldn't have a quirk accident, not in the dorms where people could get hurt.
"Fuck you, Deku!" Izuku couldn't help but flinch at the venom in his voice. "I don't need your fucking help! I've never fucking needed it! Not at the camp, not with that damn Sludge Villain, you got it?! I don't need you, Deku!"
"That's what we do, Katsuki." Izuku said softly. "Heroes help people, even when their help isn't wanted."
Katsuki scoffed as Izuku pulled open the door. "Don't call yourself a hero, you quirkless freak! The only way you could be a hero is if you had taken my advice and jumped off the roof while you had the chance!"
A sharp gasp drew their attention to the open door where Ochako held her hands in front of her mouth, eyes wide in shock. Well, fuck. Izuku snatched Ochako's hand and started to drag her toward the elevators, turning his back to Katsuki.
"Get back here you damn nerd!"
"Fuck off, Katsuki!" Ochako squeezed his hand, nearly cracking his bones with the force. He squeezed her back as best he could. Not here. Please, not here. He managed to haul Ochako into the first, blessedly empty, elevator ignoring the furious screams of Katsuki and the now concerned voices of their various classmates. They could deal with Bakugou for the night. Izuku was done.
"De-... Izuku…"
"Not right now, Ochako." Her eyes, still wide from the shock, narrowed in anger.
"We are talking about this, Izuku."
"Can we at least wait until we're in my room and not easily overheard?"
"Fine."
Izuku pulled Ochako along, hand still gripped tightly in hers as if she was afraid he would run away. He practically ran off the elevator and nearly snapped his key off in the lock of his door in his haste to get it open. He diligently ignored the way his hands were shaking as he tugged her into the room. She let go of his hand and claimed his desk chair, spinning it backwards to lean on the back of it.
"Alright," she said once he had sat on the bed. "Spill, Izuku. What the hell was Bakugou talking about?"
"I-" Izuku choked on the flood of memories that threatened to spill from his lips. Could he really tell her? What if she thought differently of him afterwards? Visions of the pitying looks he had gotten his entire life haunted him. Every time an adult heard he was quirkless and immediately wrote him off, all the disgusted glances from the kids in his class, every hurled insult and threat. He wasn't sure he could take it, if Ochako did that too.
He shook away the thought. This was Ochako. His first real friend, his girlfriend. If Izuku couldn't trust her, who could he trust?
So he talked. And he talked. Once he started he couldn't stop. Word after word tumbled out of him, each filled with enough emotion he thought his chest was going to burst. After a while though, he faded into numbness. Even as Ochako's face faded from anger into confusion, to horror, before circling back to anger, Izuku felt like all his pain had been scooped out of his body, leaving just a shell behind. Eventually, the rush of words slowed and came to a stop. Izuku let his hands fall to his lap as Ochako took a moment to digest the torrent of words.
"That… that bastard!" Ochako said, breaking the silence. "I'm going to float his smug face into the sun!"
"Ochako…"
"No, Izuku! I'm serious! I mean I knew Deku was an insult but the way he said it…"
"It doesn't matter, Ochako."
"It does matter!" She whirled on him, fire dancing in her eyes. "How long has this been going on? How long has he been bullying you?" Izuku sighed.
"It's fine, Ochako. I can handle Bakugou."
"If you won't tell me, then I'll just go beat the answers out of that blonde shitstain myself!" She stomped towards the door of his room. Izuku felt his frustration rise, the whole situation was everything that he didn't want to deal with. Blackwhip sprung to life from his hand, covering the door in a net of black. Ochako spun on him.
"Let me out, Izuku."
"Ochako, will you please sit down?" He held her eyes for a moment, pleading for her to stop. For a few tense heartbeats he was afraid that she would still try and break out. He accepted the fact that if she kept pushing, he would let her go rather than stop her with force. If she really wanted to go down this route, Izuku would have no choice but to let her. Eventually though, she acquiesced to his request, sitting down on his bed with a huff.
"I just don't understand, Izuku." He sat down gingerly next to her, still wary of the furious fire that threatened to reignite in her eyes. "Why didn't you ever tell me about this?"
"Because I didn't want you to know." Izuku looked down at his hands. "I didn't want anyone to know."
"But why, Izuku?"
"For a million reasons. If people had found out I was bullied for being quirkless it would have put even more of a target on my back and you know I can't let people find out about where I got my quirk from. Plus it was nice, you know? When I got to UA for the first time, people actually looked at me and saw me. They didn't just see a useless Deku, they didn't see the weird quirkless kid. They saw me for who I really am and it was…" Ochako rubbed a hand along his back and his words got choked up.
"He told you to kill yourself, Izuku. That goes a little beyond bullying, don't you think?" Izuku shook his head.
"I could handle it."
"But you shouldn't have had to."
"If it wasn't me, it would've been someone else." Izuku clenched his fist, his whitened scars in stark relief from the rest of his hand. "You don't know Katsuki like I do, Ochako. He would have found another target if it wasn't me; I couldn't let him do that to them, or to himself." Ochako leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Why the hell are you still protecting him, Izuku?"
"You heard Aizawa on the first day, right? He's got the potential to be a great hero."
"He's a shitty person."
"I can handle him."
"But you shouldn't have to!" She turned to him, taking his hands in hers. "You do realize that, right, Izuku? You should not have had to deal with Bakugou and his bullshit."
"We were kids, Ochako. I handled it just fine."
"And now? Why won't you call him out for it now? He's a bully, he doesn't deserve to be a hero."
"What about all the people he'll save in the future? Don't they deserve to be saved? If Katsuki can be a hero and save even one person, wouldn't that make it worth it?"
"So he just gets to get away with treating you that way? He gets to walk away?"
"He can be a-" "What's the difference between him and Endeavor then? I know you've been telling Shouto to speak out against his dad, so what's the difference? Why does he get to be saved but you don't?" Izuku's expression darkened.
"Shouto never got a choice, Ocha. I'm choosing this. Besides, Endeavor was an adult; he knew what he was doing when he did it."
"And Bakugou didn't?"
"You weren't there growing up. Everyone told Katsuki he was the best from the time we were four years old. From the teachers, to the other students, nobody ever told him that what he was doing was wrong until we got to UA. He was basically brainwashed into thinking it was the right thing to do."
"So what then? What happens next? We're just supposed to give him a free pass because he was a child sociopath instead of an adult one?"
"If that's what it takes. I'll bear these scars, I'll take on all that pain if it means someone else is saved because of him."
"... you shouldn't have to be a martyr, Izuku."
"I'm not a martyr, Ochako. What happened in the past is done, nothing that I do can change that. What I can do is focus on the future. I can focus on hope." His words hung in the air. For a moment he thought she was going to argue more, but she eventually sighed.
"If this is what you really want, I'll respect it. But Ms. Nice Girl is gone the next time I see that pomeranian. It's hands on sight!" He shot Ochako a grateful smile.
"Thanks, Ochako."
"Yeah, yeah. Now scoot over! Just because I'm not barging into Baku-bitch's room to turn him into a pinata doesn't mean that I'm just going to leave you alone after that. I'm going to cuddle the shit out of you and we're rewatching Pacific Rim so I don't focus on murder."