Izuku was exhausted. It was 1:46 am and he had been driving the same winding back road for the past three hours. He loved his mother dearly, but it really was a shame that when she decided to downsize after he graduated, she decided to move halfway across the the country. The long drive from the small rural town of Yamagato to Tokyo was brutal, almost 6 hours long. Granted, it was Izuku's fault for never picking good times to leave and the late night drives could accounted back to his poor decisions. Whenever he was trying to leave he always allowed his mother to talk him into staying for dinner, which inevitably was his death knell.

Despite the long drive, Izuku was beyond happy for her. She had finally opened up the small bakery she always wanted but always put off out of concern for money. She had never wanted to risk putting him in position where they couldn't afford his schooling. In reality Izuku's father had sent enough child support in the mail but it was never enough to have his mother stop worrying. Izuku was sure his own anxiousness was a trait he had definitely gained from her.

His lips quirked at the memory of her introducing her to her "close friend," Mr. Yagi. Izuku had been concerned about his mother moving so far out but it seems that he had no need to worry about her being lonely.

The driving was getting to him and Izuku's eyes were getting heavy. He turned up the music, some country sounding tune. His tired eyes kept falling despite his best attempt to keep them open. Reasonably, Izuku knew that he should pull over and park the car, lock the doors and try and get a small nap before continuing. But really, the faster he could get home the faster he could sleep for real. Not to mention… Izuku's eyes scan the forest he was driving beside being unable to see past the first line of trees. It was pitch black outside, and he was unable to see the moon or stars from his position in the car. As he drove, he could have sworn he had seen fluorescent eyes peering out at him through the foliage. It was probably animals or his tired eyes playing tricks on him but regardless the hair on the back of his neck stood up as he passed another grouping of "eyes."

Izuku pressed his foot to the accelerator, just a bit, and continued driving.

His eyes were drifting closed again… A bright light caused his eyes to shoot open before having to shut them just as soon. It was blinding, brighter than the sun and hotter than anything he had ever felt. Izuku was a paralyzed in his seat and sweat was pouring off of him.

Just as fast as it started it was gone and Izuku was left gasping. He blearily opened his eyes, and was rubbing them as well as he could. But the bright light had left him with holes in his vision, where all he could see was floating balls of light. He rubbed his eyes with increasing desperation trying to clear his vision. Slowly, it started to come back. His arms and face felt sore but he was still too dazed to really process why. Izuku looked out the window and saw that he had stopped the car in the middle of the road when it had happened.

He looked down to the gear shift and saw that it was still in drive. The car wasn't moving. Why wasn't the car moving? His foot was hard on the break, that's why. Hesitantly, he put the car in park, and looked around outside. He shook his head trying to get the last of the floaties out of his eyes. It was pitch black and and nothing was moving. It was like nothing had happened at all. Then, Izuku was unbuckling his seat belt and throwing himself outside of the car.

He stubbled trying to get the feeling back into his legs. Standing up he realized his whole body ached just like when he was young and had done full body workouts for the first time. Izuku stubbled around in a circle, looking for anything that could have caused the light. He saw nothing. All he could hear was the soft country playing in his car. Had that really happened?

He leaned back against his car, it was hot to the touch.

The feeling was coming back to his body as well as his level of awareness. He looked down at his shirt and saw that it was soaked with sweat. A nightmare, maybe?

Izuku swallowed hard and forced his body back into the car, his skin stung. He took a deep breath and buckled back up. He put the car into drive. He continued down the road. He turned off the radio. It was 2:18 am.

For thirty minutes Izuku drove down the road. His eyes scanning the twisting winding road and the forest with all the vigilance he can muster. His eyes flashed to his rearview window frequently. Izuku felt like he was having an aneurysm, unable to tell if that flash was something that happened or not.

The forest was beginning to thin out and he was going to reach the highway soon. He let himself slowly relax, it was going to be okay…

A herd of deer came flying out of the forest. Izuku slammed on the brakes. A deer hit the front of his car and rebounded off of it hard, denting the hood. It stopped and stared at Izuku for just a moment, and in that second he saw its eyes were wild with fear. It was a deranged short of fear that drives people mad. But it wasn't because of Izuku. The deer picked itself up and start running back with it's herd. Not one deer stopped because of him or the car, nor did one even look at it besides the one before. A few Izuku noticed looked behind them as if they were being followed.

Izuku's stomach lurched. He looked over desperately trying to see what they were running from but saw nothing. The deers had cleared out of the road and Izuku was left staring at where they all had disappeared to in the foliage.

The back door of his car was ripped open, and Izuku let out a scream. He whipped around in his seats is fists balled ready to defend himself. He was brought face to face with a stranger with red and white hair and deep scar over his left eye.

The stranger closed the door and stared Izuku straight in the eye, "You should drive now."

"What. The. Fuck."

"Drive the car." The stranger deadpanned.

"Who are you and why are you in my car?" Izuku whispered, mind short circuiting.

"Shouto. I need you to drive. It's coming."

There was a scream from the woods. It didn't sound like anything that Izuku had ever heard before neither animal or human. If that wasn't terrifying, Izuku doesn't know what was. He turned around and started the car backup and floored it. The stranger, Shouto apparently, was fully turned around in the back seat and was staring out of the back window.

"You should drive faster."

"I'm driving a Toyota, this is as fast as these things go." Izuku bit out, his hands tightening on the wheel as he took an almost 90 degree turn at 70 kilometers an hour. Never, in his twenty one years of existence had he ever felt coursing panic quite like this. Not when kacchan was bullying him and not when he broke three of his limbs in an accident. Not ever. It was disjointing and terrifying.

The woods thinned out into a large field. Izuku began slowing down as he saw the exit coming up. Shouto didn't move from his position watching the back window until Izuku was finally on the highway.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Izuku responded his voice three octaves too high. He felt like he was shaking. Maybe he was.

They continued on the highway for an hour. Neither one said a word. Izuku thought about asking what the fuck was going on, but whenever he opened his mouth his voice failed him. So instead, he would look forward and just drive. Izuku saw his exit coming up and signalled off of the highway. Shouto said nothing.

Izuku drove through town heading towards his apartment complex. He pulled into his underground parking complex and into his stall. Shouto said nothing. They both got out of Izuku's car. Izuku wondered if Shouto was going to follow him into his apartment.

Instead, Shouto turned around and began walking out towards the street. Izuku didn't stop him but decided to wait until Shouto was gone to move. Shouto made it until just before the street before turning around to face Izuku.

"Don't go back there." Shouto warned his eyes glinting ominously before turning on his heel and leaving out of the parkade.

Izuku swallowed hard. He moved towards the elevator, he used his key to get in and made his way back towards his apartment. He threw open the door and kicked off his shoes.

Blindly, Izuku began stripping down, not worrying where he threw his clothes. Izuku fell into his bed. The normally soft sheets were harsh against his skin. Izuku fell asleep.

The next morning Izuku woke up blearily. His mind was running full tilt through dreams of bright lights and mysterious strangers. Checking a cloak, Izuku realized that it was early afternoon when he woke up. An unusual occurrence to his normal early bird status. Slowly, Izuku pushed himself up and out of his bed, all of that, it had to have been a dream he decided to himself. He stumbled his way into his bathroom and began going through his routine to make himself feel human again.

Izuku startled in front of the mirror as he looked up and saw a biting red sunburn all across his face and arms. His skin was an angry red. There was no way he had gotten it yesterday, when he was with his mother.

The bright light. Had it done this? But no, there was no way it was real, it had to have been a dream. Izuku stared mutley at his reflection.

Izuku pulled on a bathrobe and grabbed his keys. He made his way to the elevator and made his way to the parkade. His feet padded softly against the cool concrete having not put on shoes.

He saw his car. He saw the dent where the deer had hit it. He realized that just maybe, the events of last night had actually happened.