MANGA SPOILERS POSSIBLE, DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME PRETTY GRAPHIC THINGS ALSO POSSIBLE.
Rewrote CA as I wasn't quite happy with how it ended up, think this is much better.
Izuku had always been observant. Capable of telling what people were feeling and thinking.
His mom always joked about how it could be his quirk. To which little Izuku would always reply with "But Mommy, Daddy breathes fire and you attract things, how could that mix into empathy?"
And she'd respond in the exact same way every time...
"Maybe you can attract the fires inside everyone? Their passion, their drive?"
Those words would inevitably make him smile (the widest smile ever, enough to worry his mom resulting in many google searches along the lines of 'Can smiling too wide be dangerous?').
'Ironic' he thinks 'Remembering something like that when this is what I do with my life...'
'After all that time ignoring and suppressing my own emotions they come back to bite me on the ass... After all that time focusing on what others feel, what others think...'
'Here I am inspiring fear and causing pain.'
'After so many hopes and dreams here I am, finally, standing inside the USJ... On the wrong side.'
'I wanted to be a hero damnit... How the fuck did I manage to do this instead?'
He lurches forward, chains rattling as he does so.
"Nuh-uh," 'he' said "This is my show now."
"..."
"Huh. Not even gonna speak to me? Do you honestly think so little of me? I'm hurt, Midori." mock hurt, obviously.
"..."
"Honestly, how can you hate yourself so much?" A smug grin crosses 'his' freckled face "I mean listening to Kacchan? Are you insane? You might be some weak nerd but why believe the people who tell you to die?!" that grin quickly contorted into an angry, hateful snarl.
Izuku stayed silent and still, the ever-present metaphysical chains wrapped around him tightly. 'Do I respond? Do I argue?'
He looked up toward the man in control.
Had this been any other circumstance, or had Izuku not known (instinctually) who the man standing above him was, he could be mistaken as a businessman (Or perhaps a student?).
Red dress shirt with the top button undone, black waistcoat completely unbuttoned, black trousers and red trainers (the only part of him that betrayed the smart businessman kinda look). His eyes glow red and thrum with power. Malice, anger, hatred and all sorts of negative emotions emanating from him in waves.
But... The worst thing about him wasn't any of that. It's the fact that this person is as much Izuku as Izuku himself is. Just a different side of him.
The side he'd been suppressing this whole time, the side that finally reared its ugly head and decided to take over.
The anger (and sometimes hatred) he felt towards Bakugou? It was part of the new 'Izuku'.
The torture All For One had put him through? That was him too.
Everything (not everything, only the truly negative things) Izuku hated about himself the man in front of him had in spades.
This man was the inverse of Izuku. Where Izuku's hair was black with a green tinge his was black with a red tinge.
Izuku was beyond heroic, only wanting to help people with his gift and build up others alongside him.
He was beyond villainous, tearing others down with their gift while simultaneously building his own power. (Like the hypocrite he is... Hating Bakugou for doing exactly what he is doing now.)
Izuku who became colder and more reserved throughout his life after things started to pile up.
And he, who looked on from some dark corner in Izuku's mind, violent and wishing death upon anyone who harmed Izuku.
"...I'll w-" Izuku started.
"Oooh?" Aka hummed "Is that who I think it is? Oh man, going along with Shigaraki is going to be so much fun. I was kinda pissed at the idea of fucking around with some snot-nosed kids, little wannabe heroes, but now? I'm gonna make the most of it."
Izuku looked over to what Aka was looking at, the 'screen' (for lack of a better description) that showed what their body (Is that even right?) was seeing.
Izuku's heart stopped.
Many thoughts went through his head all at once like 'Kacchan made it!', 'Wow, their costumes look cool!', 'Is that Eraserhead?' but most importantly... 'No, please... Don't make me kill again.'
But life isn't fair.
Bakugou did something Izuku could not have predicted in the slightest.
He rocketed straight down toward the fountain where the villains were pouring out of.
3 villains stepped up to stop him. And fell short, blasted with 3 carefully regulated explosions. Enough to incapacitate but not enough to throw him off-course.
After looking toward Izuku and his 3 companions.
Shigaraki, lanky as ever, his faintly blueish hair visible from behind his 'mask'.
Kurogiri, recollecting himself once all the villains have crossed the boundary of his vortex.
And their secret weapon. Nomu. The one to kill All Might. ('No way' Izuku had thought 'No one can kill All Might.' that is until Shigaraki had told him of the Nomu's quirks.)
"Oi Flux?" Shigaraki turned towards Izuku "He the one?"
Their body nods.
"You can fight him if you want."
This time a head shake.
"Not yet? Guess you want him to get rid of some of the low-level mobs? Smart, they would just be in the way."
Bakugou, sure of himself due to the nature of his quirk ('Idiots, waiting is the worst thing you could do against me' he thinks), continues fighting villains (albeit a tiny fraction faster than before, in an effort to help Eraserhead who had started slowing down fractionally, it would've been unnoticeable this early, even to Izuku had he not been able to feel and sense Eraser's building exhaustion).
"You hear that, Midori? 'Waiting is the worst thing you could do against me'?! He's so conceited!" He grasps several tufts of his hair in exasperation "Let's see if he thinks so little of us when his bones are being broken one by one." a small bout of hysterical, mad laughter followed by a manic smile (entirely too wide) emanate from him.
And so, after the small fry villains were defeated (and Kurogiri disappeared topside, toward the entrance, to stop the students escaping) their body, under Aka's control, rushes towards Kacchan. And as it does, so does Izuku.
"STOP IT!" he shouts at the top of his voice.
"Shut it, Deku. Children and weak pussies have no say. And you're at least one of those." he turned on Izuku in an instant staring him down with malice and anger "Let. Me. Do. My. Job."
"..."
"Good," he pats Izuku on the head in some gross semblance of human contact "I'm glad we've come to an understanding."
Bakugou was forced on the defensive immediately, punches rapidly sent at him by the masked villain (Aka).
"I am going to mess him up sooo much." Aka says, practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of beating Kacchan into the ground.
"Oh," Aka practically squealed as he recalled Bakugou's fighting style "Here comes the right hook!"
And once it did, Aka grabbed it and swung Bakugou over his shoulder aiming to drive him into the ground viciously, however, the hothead managed to stop himself with his explosions.
Aka laughed maniacally (if only inside their shared mind, their identity being found out by Bakugou wasn't part of the plan) and ordered their body to turn toward Bakugou and attack again, this time using the power of their quirk.
'His quirk probably isn't comba-' Bakugou's thought was cut short as black lightning arced off the masked villain's body, a subtle crimson glow (sometimes green for a second but never permanently) traced their silhouette.
"HAHAHA, DID YOU SEE THE LOOK ON HIS FACE?" Aka turned toward Izuku "THAT SURPRISE?" His laughter increased in volume until it stopped abruptly with a wheeze "Okay," he coughed into his fist a few times "time to get serious."
Life certainly isn't kind.
Not for Midoriya, worse than quirkless.
Scum.
Not just for doing what he's done but also because he doesn't do anything to fight against Aka, not really.
He cries, for the first time since the first time Aka killed someone with Izuku's hands.
"Why are you crying?" Aka says, genuine confusion in his voice (genuine confusion emanating from him too, verifying the truth of his expression.) "Isn't this what you've wanted?"
Another hit lands, the crack of a rib can be heard.
"To make Kacchan pay?" He tilts his head in curiosity
A kick lands directly into Kacchan's stomach, sending him onto the ground.
A metallic clank can be heard.
A locket that fell off of Kacchan's neck.
Izuku's locket.
Izuku and Aka both stare at it for a second.
And fresh tears pour from Izuku's eyes once more.
Aka picks the locket up, mostly to piss Kacchan off.
But also because Izuku was finally bleeding through.
The glow around the masked villain's body was now perfectly half and half. Green and red.
Aka's expression was blank, devoid of its usual anger or hatred.
"He kept it." He says.
"Of course he did." Izuku replies (carefully, stealthily deconstructing the mental chains around him) "You're too focused on your anger to realise. He actually cared in his crazy Kacchan way."
1 chain down. 3 to go.
"But..." Aka started "That doesn't make what he did alright."
"No, it doesn't. But people can change." Izuku replied, stalling for time.
2 chains down. 2 to go.
Aka turns around.
Only to witness 2 broken chains.
A beat passes. Aka stares at Izuku blankly.
Another beat passes. The same blank look still held.
"You ungrateful bastard." And now he was suddenly seething, amazing. 'Well, it's now or never.' Izuku thinks to himself.
And breaks both chains immediately, now that stealth wasn't an issue he didn't have to be careful with them.
"After all I fucking did for you?!" Aka shouted at Izuku, leaning down and grabbing Izuku by the collar of his shirt.
"And what would that be?!" Izuku replied mirroring the same anger "You've held me hostage claiming it's for my own good! You're no different than the person you hate so much!"
"..." The tension in the 'air' between Aka and Izuku was nigh palpable "What the fuck did you just say? Me? The same as that loudmouthed, inconsiderate piss for brains wannabe hero?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I said."
"..." In this strange 'mindscape' that Aka and Midori dwell in quirks mean nothing, neither of them can read each other's minds or feel their emotion. That is unless you're as obvious as Aka, the anger rolling off him could be felt even without an Empathy quirk. He. Was simmering.
Another student appeared, next to the still-stunned Bakugou, (because that villain DARED to pick up his locket, Deku's locket) his hair half-white and half-red, a nasty burn scar around his eye. Anger, fear and determination could distinctly be felt coming from him in a constant surge.
As a wave of thin ice emanated from his foot Izuku held his breath (despite not having to, they didn't have to breathe inside that weird 'mindscape' place) hoping that attack would be enough.
And it was.
Because that thin sheet of sleek ice soon became a glacier aimed at their head.
Izuku moved their body back just enough that it hit their mask instead. No injury sustained.
"Checkmate." Izuku breathed out, a smug smile on his face "You lose, Aka."
And with that, Izuku put his own chains on Aka. They wouldn't hold, not in the slightest. He'd break them soon, which is why Izuku did what he did as fast as he did it.
Their mask fell.
The villain hopped back and as he did so the hood fell off his head.
Everything seemed to slow down as a mess of curly, green hair was suddenly freed.
"You two are strong," the villain started, halting Todoroki momentarily (confusion and relief washed off of him, replacing the fear and anger, once he realised the villain was unlikely to attack again for a while) "You did so well Kacchan. I'm surprised. P-Pleasantly I mean!" he waved his hands around him in embarrassment (yet another wave of confusion from Todoroki), typical Deku behaviour.
'Nono no' Bakugou thought, static filling his head 'It can't be, he died.'
"I'm glad you're so much stronger, truth be told I was kind of scared for you ehehe. When I heard we were attacking U.A that is, because I knew for a fact you'd be here. That is without the assistance of that informati-"
"Oi, Flux! We're leaving." Shigaraki called out, standing by Kurogiri's side. In front of a gate.
Izuku shot a glare in the voice's general direction something along the lines of 'Stellar timing.' may have been mumbled too.
"Sorry Kacchan," Izuku smiled at Bakugou while clasping his hands in apology "We'll play some other time, it's home time ehe."
For a second those dull forest green eyes turned into vibrant, gleaming emerald ones.
The scars disappeared. The skin returning to a healthy colour. The bruise-like shadows under the villain's eyes vanishing.
For a second. Bakugou saw Izuku again. The Izuku who still felt, the Izuku of days far gone.
Izuku as he was at 4-years old, before his hopes and dreams become nothing but dust.
Before Bakugou fucked it all up.
Before Bakugou murdered the nerd.
(Todoroki was frozen. Not literally. Well. Not physically. Because that villain, the one who he saw clearly aiming potentially fatal punches at Bakugou, spoke to them in such a child-like fashion. The cold killer spoke to Bakugou like a friend, like they knew each other...Not to mention that pitying look. As if he knows everything about me... What if he does?)
Every step Izuku took away from them magnified the static in Bakugou's head.
Every step taken caused the tears to well up harder than before.
He could hear every step as if everything around him just didn't exist.
The Nomu standing over Aizawa's beaten body?
Bakugou didn't notice.
Being pulled out of the plaza by Todoroki?
Nothing.
The U.A doors exploding outwards as if they were made of flimsy plywood rather than the several inches of reinforced steel that they truly were?
Nope, not even that.
It all escaped Bakugou.
Everything but the footsteps of his childhood friend.
He wanted so desperately to reach out to him.
But he couldn't.
He was too weak.
He let Deku down again.
Needless to say Bakugou wept that night like he never had before.
Frustration, anger, sorrow, guilt, self-hatred.
Those were the emotions Izuku could feel coming from Bakugou.
Through the indisputable emotional connection Izuku somehow had with Bakugou.
It made no sense to Izuku.
How could they have an empathic link?
Izuku had only gotten the quirk after he jumped.
He didn't have it back when Bakugou and he played at being heroes and villains in their childhood.
It made no sense, there was no time go have cultivated that link.
~~Midnight after the attack. Living room of the Bakugou Household.~~
"He's been like this since he came back..." Mitsuki said, she has had her fair share of stress and worry at her son's mental state. Especially after Izuku (what a sweet boy he'd been, no one deserves to go so early especially in such a way) fell off the school roof. She knows for a fact that her stubborn, hot-headed (yet oddly heroic) boy still blames himself immensely for that. And while she was absolutely livid the moment she found out he had been bullying Izuku she also realised that her son, while part of Izuku's issues, was likely not the whole story. She doubts a single person could push someone like that.
"It's best to leave him alone for now, dear." Masaru replied, sitting right next to his wife, rubbing circles on her back in an attempt to be reassuring (it was working surprisingly well).
"It doesn't seem right Micchan, what could get Katsuki this upset?" Inko asks, confused.
"I-I'm honestly not sure... We'll have to wait for him to tell us."
'They're worried, huh.' Bakugou thinks as he walks down the stairs, one hand braced against the wall for stability the other placed on his throbbing head.
He'd managed to cry enough to dehydrate himself it seems.
Unless the killer headache was as a result of something else, honestly it could be anything, maybe seeing his presumed-dead childhood 'friend' (if Izuku really views him like that still it would be a god-given miracle) was the cause.
His vision swims and his knees buckle. He ends up falling down the last few steps, not enough to be dangerous but enough to have his dad bolting out of the living room.
His dad crouches in front of him, immediately placing a hand on his back "You okay, Katsuki?"
The blonde boy looks up towards his dad's face, that is when it dawns on Masaru.
Katsuki had been crying. A lot. His eyes were puffy, tear trails visible under his eyes, his hair was a mess. HE was a mess.
"Sorry, stupid question," he moves to Katsuki's side and as he does so moves his hand from his son's back to under his left arm "Hold on, I'll help you in." he says, smiling slightly at his son
"Dad. I'm fine." Katsuki responds weakly.
"No. You're not, you wouldn't be appearing in this sort of state otherwise. You hate embarrassment and people worrying over you." Masaru says matter-of-factly.
"Tch." Is Katsuki's only response, signifying his defeat.
"Alright, ready? One. Two. Three." They both stood up and started making their way to the living room, the house isn't large by any means (it's enough for three people, that's all they need no reason to go beyond that) so the short distance from the corridor/staircase to the living room is made quick work of.
Masaru and Katsuki appear in the doorway, the former placing a hand on the doorframe for a little bit of stability.
"Sorry girls, could you help me out? I've got to get him something to drink and eat." Both women got up and crossed the room at a brisk pace to support the younger blonde, as soon as they flank Bakugou either side supporting his weight Masaru dashes to the kitchen taking a large glass from a cabinet and pouring some tap water into it and setting it down on the counter.
Immediately after setting it down he spins on his heel and dives into the fridge plucking out the plate of food covered with cling film that he prepared for Katsuki earlier, right after he learned about the attack. Despite the panic setting in he tried to keep his wits about him and do something productive and helpful for his son, after all he was in the best hands he could be at U.A and neither him nor his wife could be of much help in Katsuki's current situation).
He shoved the plate into the microwave and set it to reheat and walked quickly (needless to say he'd be jogging or running if he didn't have a glass of water in his hand) back to the living room.
"Here you go, Katsuki," Masaru says, kneeling down and handing Katsuki the glass which the boy promptly takes still keeping his head down "the food will be ready in a few minutes, you don't have to eat but it would be best for you to eat at least a little bit."
Katsuki is seated on the couch, flanked either side by Inko and Mitsuki. Masaru instead of sitting in one of the two armchairs decides to sit on the ground in front of Katsuki (after moving the coffee table that would usually stand there aside).
"Thanks, Dad." Katsuki says softly, his voice audible only because of the lack of any other noise. Had the TV been on his voice wouldn't be heard. A subtle, incoherent noise if that.
"No need to thank me. You ready to talk about what's had you down? Or do you want to take your mind off it?" he smiles softly at Katsuki, despite the fact the boy has his head hung low.
"I need to talk."
The three adults in the room share a look, this kind of straightforward speech isn't usual for Katsuki. Something big must have happened.
"I saw him. At the USJ, he was with the villains." Katsuki continued.
A sudden, daunting pressure settles on the room. Taking the air out of the adult's lungs.
The mystery of Izuku's missing body was seemingly solved.
In the worst possible way.
Tears long dried up pool in their eyes, safe for Katsuki who had already cried his share.
"I-Izuku?" Masaru asks needlessly.
Katsuki nods slowly in response.
"H-He was using a quirk... H-How could he be using a quirk?!" Katsuki's eyes suddenly darts upward, looking at Inko, Mitsuki and Masaru in turn.
The adults share a knowing look.
"Izuku's d-" Inko tried desperately to keep the tears at bay, but that was a fool's gambit. Like a dam exploding, the waterworks were now free.
"It's Izuku's quirk. A combination of his parents, his dad's quirk wasn't firebreathing but an emotion-based quirk called 'Zeal'." Masaru explained hastily, wary of the same tears fighting against his eyelids. "We discussed the possibility of Izuku having a quirk a few- few times."
And so ended Bakugou's nightmarish day.
With the realisation that the person he bullied to suicide (an attempt, one that would have succeeded had Izuku not disappeared) was actually never quirkless.
His headache moved from throbbing and agonising to head-splitting pain. As he cried despite having thought his tears dried up.
He is the reason Izuku went through everything that he did.
He is the reason Izuku became a villain.
He is the reason Izuku can't be a hero.
The least he can do now is retrieve the hopeless bastard.
And retrieve him he shall.
Taking the villain's stronghold with him, show these fuckers what's what.
Because turning his hatred toward villains is less painful than focusing it on himself.