A/N:

Hi everyone. I know this might seem weird...and some of you might be like: "wtf...What's wrong with this plot? It changed?!"

Yeah...I figured out that it wouldn't really work with the plot...so I re-wrote chapters I wrote already and scrapped the ones I posted. I'm so sorry! *blushes*

(p.s I know...that some of your comments got deleted for the old 2nd and 3rd chapters, but don't worry I saved the email versions so I can re-read them.)

Thank you everyone for all the support so far :)

CHAPTER 2

"Deku! Fuck your rotten luck! Who the hell gets stuck in the middle of a villain fight on their eighth birthday!"

The bus they were on shuddered and Kacchan threw Izuku another dirty look. It was as if the world, fate, and destiny coincidentally aligned once every blue moon to curse Izuku's every waking moment.

They were out celebrating his birthday in Musutafu's city center when their bus got caught in the middle of a fight between a villain and a hero. Izuku gave the empty air a heavy, exasperated sigh when he glanced out the window and saw a buff, flashy hero in navy blue spandex, big boots, and flaming orange hair.

It took him a moment but Izuku's eyebrows shot up when he recognized the familiar figure of pro-hero, Endeavour. A young villain with white hair in a large black hoodie stood behind a hulking, looming creature as they fought against Endeavour.

Izuku watched, transfixed, as Endeavour's fire engulfed the monster but, instinctively, he knew that regular flames weren't going to be enough to take the creature down. There was the aura of death on it. It was like looking at a jigsaw puzzle; a mess of quirks and human body parts tied together with a jagged strand of black magic.

As soon as Endeavour's flames dissipated, Izuku's magic surrounded the bus and the pedestrians in shaky pastel-green shields, just in time to stop an explosion of flames from injuring anybody close by; but his newly awakened magic was unsteady, and it didn't take long before his glimmering shields crashed.

Screams of terror ripped through the air when Endeavour took a hit that flung him against the side of a building a few kilometres away. The monster's roar shook the air, and when it dove towards Endeavour's form, a miniature earthquake shook the ground. A millisecond later, Izuku's magic sunk towards the asphalt and furled out until the trembles were muffled under a shimmery-green layer of magic. All around him, pedestrians scrambled to safety as his magic worked like a writhing, biological entity to protect them.

"Oi, Deku! You ok?!"

There was a gentle, protective arm around Izuku's shoulders and when he looked up Kacchan was crouched in front of him. He smiled, reached up and gripped the hem of Kacchan's shirt in reassurance when he spotted the lines of concern along the creases of his friend's eyes.

"I'm ok, Kacchan. But, I don't think Endeavour can win. We need to get everyone to safety before they get hurt."

Kacchan nodded and gave Izuku's hand a firm squeeze before asking: "How long can you keep it up, Deku?"

Izuku was about to answer when an explosion went off across the street and blew a hole in a shop. There was a gaggle of teenagers in front of the shop and his magic reacted in the nick of time without any conscious input. In the blink of an eye, Izuku's magic immediately shot forward and surrounded them. The shimmery bubble rippled dangerously when it intercepted an explosive blast of flames that incinerated and scorched the surroundings like it was paper.

"I don't know but I'll try for as long as possible. Can you help get people out of the danger zone, Kacchan?"

Izuku gave his friend a pleading look, and when Kacchan gave him a long-suffering sigh, he knew he had won the argument.

"Yeah, but don't you dare get hurt, dumbass!"

Before Kacchan left, Izuku's hand snapped out and he wrapped a shaky hand around Kacchan's wrist.

"Don't- Don't get hurt, Kacchan. I don't know what I'd do if– if something–"

The thought of Kacchan injured and in pain made his magic want to lash out and destroy. Made him want to burn the world to the ground because Kacchan was his to protect. His to treasure. Someone who was as important to him as oxygen. Someone who Izuku knew he couldn't live without.

Kacchan was his anchor. His equal. Kacchan was part of his family, and Izuku rarely forgave those who hurt them.

There was a drawn-out silence in between them, and Izuku jumped when a hand cupped his chin and tugged his face up. Kacchan's crimson eyes were intense, and there was a rugged, rough type of understanding in them that made Izuku's cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

Kacchan didn't mock Izuku or snort in derision at the green-haired boy's words, instead, his blond friend leaned forward, lifted up the omamori necklace that Izuku gave him after the incident that caused Kacchan's quirk to manifest, and smirked.

"You gave me this and I haven't taken it off since. The magic in here –your magic– has never failed to protect me. So don't you dare think that I'll be wiped out so easily, Deku."

Izuku's heart swelled and his magic wandered out of his fingers and landed on the green, black and orange omamori in response. A second later, Kacchan's omamori necklace glowed a soft green-tinted gold before it faded like fairy dust. Kacchan barely flinched at the display of magic. Izuku suspected it was because Kacchan had become so used to the feeling of his magic around him.

Izuku leaned forward, wrapped his arms around Kacchan's neck and inhaled his friend's fresh-oranges-and-sweet-cinder scent until the ball of anxiety in his chest dissolved. Kacchan's scent lingered in Izuku's mind with the imprint of a warm hug. Izuku didn't hesitate to use the nostalgic, bubbly feeling that Kacchan's scent evoked as an anchor for his magic.

A fond huff from Kacchan ruffled the wayward strands of hair on top of Izuku's head but, instead of pulling away, Kacchan tightened his arms around Izuku for a few seconds longer before his friend untangled himself.

From the corner of Izuku's eyes, he saw Kacchan walk towards the jammed door of the bus and place a hand on the metal section.

"Everybody fucking brace for impact!" Kacchan's shout sliced through the sobs of distress and frantic voices with the ruthless force of a guillotine. The bus immediately went silent. It was like all sound ceased to exist for the next few seconds.

Half a second later, the bus door flew open in an explosive shower of glass and a deafening boom that rattled the bus so hard, it nearly tipped over. The only thing that kept the bus upright was Izuku's instinctive reaction. Even though Izuku's magic reached out and righted the bus before Kacchan even activated his explosive quirk, the bus shuddered dangerously and all the windows shattered when a shockwave of sound steam-rolled through them.

Kacchan ignored the mangled metal and razor-sharp glass, and ducked out into the street. Within a few seconds, Kacchan had made it halfway across the road but the blonde suddenly stopped when he realized that no one was following him. Izuku couldn't help that chuckle that erupted from his lips when he witnessed tension build up in Kacchan's shoulders.

His friend whirled around, let out an inhuman scream of rage, bent down, and picked up a hefty slab of debris before hurling it at the bus. The piece of debris blew up a meter away from the shattered windows, and it caused another cacophony of shrieks that had the potential to shatter eardrums.

"MOVE IT! we're evacuating, people! NOW!"

There were terrified whimpers from the crowd, but it wasn't long before some rational adults started corralling everyone towards the makeshift exit. Children were carried and passed along, and elders were gently helped down the bus steps by more able-bodied teenagers and adults. Soon, there was a crowd of bus-goers on the street and Izuku nodded in satisfaction when he saw quirks being activated in self-defense.

They cautiously shuffled forward, and in the panic, nobody noticed that Izuku had snuck towards the rear end. Nobody noticed that Izuku had assigned himself as the protector of the group until the ground shook and split down the middle with the impact of Endeavour's fall.

A few meters away from the group, there was a crater the size of a small meteor where Endeavour's battered body landed. From the sidelines, Izuku noticed a black and red blob approach, but by the time he realized that it was the homunculus from before, the thing had already barreled into Endeavour.

Endeavour briefly tussled with the powerful, misshapen creature before his flames blasted it away. Izuku watched in horror as it rolled and landed in front of Kacchan. There was a terse, fleeting moment of eye-contact between the group and the homunculus before it roared and rushed towards them.

Kacchan pushed back the two elementary school children that were hiding behind him, and frantically flung his palms forward. Before the homunculus' claws had the chance to graze Kacchan's chest, it was blown back by the force of an intensely violent blast. Izuku propelled himself to the front and used the short moment of reprieve to erect a white, silvery-green shield that safely encompassed the group.

The homunculus came propelling back and it hit Izuku's shield with a savage screech. The only thing that kept him standing was Kacchan's steady palm against the dip of his spine.

The shield gave a loud crack after a series of unwavering and extremely potent strikes. Izuku had to bite his lips to stop himself from crying out loud, but it was so hard when exhaustion ate away at his limbs and his vision started to go fuzzy at the edges.

By the miracle of will, Izuku somehow managed to stubbornly dig down into his core and anchor his magic to the ground beneath his feet. The Earth beneath his feet stirred, and Izuku felt the Soul Song surge and crest like an ocean wave beneath his skin. Izuku closed his eyes, held his breath, and threw open the connection between them. At first, it was a trickle, but it slowly built and built until the torrent of the Earth's life force flooded into every pore and cell in his body.

Izuku bit his lip and contemplated if he had enough control to expand his magic even further, but the decision was taken out of his hands when the homunculus opened its mouth and a ball of light formed. Izuku's eyes widened.

"Kacchan! Incoming!"

He only had a millisecond to form another layer of magic around his shield before an ear-splitting, high-pitched screech cut through the air followed by a thin beam of light. The beam of light impacted against the shimmering shield with a thunderous boom. It was like a million gongs went off simultaneously in front of them.

Izuku's feet skidded against the ground and he lost his footing but, luckily, something soft cushioned his fall. Izuku immediately recognized the arms around him and he slumped into Kacchan's chest with a pained huff. Izuku only had enough energy to blearily push himself upright. His limbs were trembling so hard he could barely speak. In the end, Izuku succumbed to his body's demands and he allowed himself to sag back against Kacchan's chest whilst his magic worked furiously to maintain the flickering shield.

Izuku did not know how much longer the shield would last. The connection between him and the leylines beneath his feet were cut off so violently and abruptly that he felt like his insides were scraped raw. His magic was dangerously weak and, by this point, solely running on fumes.

It was excruciating, and Izuku couldn't help the way his nails dug into Kacchan's knees. There was another rattle and a crack spider-webbed across the flickering shield when the creature collided against it.

Izuku heard babies and children wailing from the crowd behind them. The distress of everyone around him was starting to affect his shields, and Izuku grunted in irritation when another spike of pain lanced through his temples.

In the back of Izuku's mind, his instincts and intuition were propelling klaxon-level warnings at him. They had never led him astray, so Izuku took another deep breath and dug deep into his own life force. Then, Izuku reached back, tugged Kacchan's palms forward and laced their fingers together. With the last ounce of his magic, Izuku latched onto Kacchan's life force and borrowed an atom's worth of energy for one last act.

Izuku had never used his magic offensively before. His magic was never meant to hurt. Never meant to be used to kill, but Izuku flung every last shred of magic out with the intention to annihilate.

His shield crashed and the sound of a million glass pieces hitting the floor resonated against the walls of the city like a death knell. A nano-second later, the silver specks of magical residue floated up, and made the air sparkle like a night sky full of stars before they turned pitch-black.

Black dust hovered in the air like a beautiful omen of death. Distantly, Izuku felt blood trickle down his nose when the black dust started swirling and pulsing in time with his heartbeat.

They elongated in a blink of an eye and the air was suddenly filled with glistening, black, one-meter-long spikes. The white-haired villain's eyes widened, and Izuku heard the young villain desperately call out to the creature.

But it was too late.

The black spikes shot forward and there was a violent, terrifying screech that made Izuku's stomach curdle before everything went silent.

When Izuku's sight cleared, he realized that he didn't go blind from magical exhaustion, he just couldn't see anything because the air was filled with droplets of blood.

The air was dark red with blood.

Every droplet of blood hung in the air like a frozen, macabre painting. It was a horrific, hellish sight. The creature was splayed out on its back with hundreds upon hundreds of black spikes jutting out from its body like thorns. Every inch of the creature's body had been impaled until there wasn't even a discernible shape left behind.

The bipedal monster was just a mashed-up mass of flesh, skin, bones, and organs. There were no eyes, no mouth, no body parts left; just a pile of what a human body was made of. Underneath its broken body, the ground was smeared with fresh blood that kept seeping out of the creature's twitching form. The air smelled overwhelmingly like rusted metal, and the creature's gurgles and haunting moans sounded like thunder on a barren wasteland.

Every agonized gurgle was followed by a pulsing, wriggling mass of flesh that rapidly grew and shrunk. It took Izuku way too long, but his analytical mind finally understood why; the monster was futilely trying to heal itself.

The black spikes grew longer the more it struggled, and Izuku could feel his magic starting to boil under his skin. It felt as if his flesh was bathed in acid, and as he clutched a shaking arm around his heart, he felt blood pour out of his eyes and mouth. There was no time for horror. No time for shock. No energy to even react or flinch away when the young villain, in the black hoodie and a medical face mask, screamed and lunged towards the dying creature.

"GET UP! GET UP! KILL THEM!-" The young boy scrambled through the blood until even his black hoodie was stained a deep, dark red. His footsteps were sickeningly loud whenever he stepped on a blob of mangled entrails, but he didn't seem to notice. The villain's red eyes were wide with panicked mania and Izuku knew that, in that moment, the villain wasn't there anymore, instead, he was trapped somewhere in his past.

Izuku watched in detached wariness as the villain madly scrambled up the creature's body, giggling and screaming in turn.

The ball of anxious fear wreaking havoc in under his stomach lit up like a firework until Izuku could barely feel the pain of the dark magic he was using under his skin. It was soon apparent why his instincts were shrieking at him with abandon; because when the villain placed a pale, bloody hand on one of the black spikes and it immediately turned into dust, Izuku felt his magic recoil and snap.

There was a moment of silence and numbness, but that didn't last long. The adrenaline faded, and Izuku instantly felt his magic rear back in agony. It felt as if his magic had been violently disconnected from his body. It felt like he had just lost a limb, and Izuku couldn't help the loud, gasping wail that fell from his lips.

As more of the spikes disintegrated, acid crawled up his nerves with the force of a tsunami, and soon Izuku's vision were blurry from over-burnt nerves and freshly leaking blood. It took Izuku too long to realize that he wasn't dead. The agony that lit up every nerve in his body was brutal. When Izuku regained consciousness, he found himself braced on the asphalt, heaving out blood and undigested food with Kacchan's arms around his shoulders.

"Deku! Fuck!-"

Blindly, Izuku threw himself at Kacchan and haphazardly burrowed into his friend's chest. Everything in Izuku was shaking with desperation. In his chest -under his heart- his magic was a cold, shaking ball of shock and excruciating pain, and Izuku couldn't even move without feeling like there was lightning electrocuting his nerves. Izuku's palms spasmed and flailed against Kacchan's chest, but with sheer force of will, he managed to grab onto his friend's shoulder and tuck his tears against Kacchan's neck. He knew his voice was barely audible...barely understandable.

He knew he was switching between The Speech and Japanese with the clumsy finesse of a toddler but, somehow, Kacchan seemed to understand his desperation.

"Ka- K͖̹̟a̱͖̭̱̦̠̬͟c͖̹͈̫͈̼c̜̖̼̞͔̥han̙̲̖͙̣̗.͍ i̠̯̪͟t͓̟̞'̼̝̥͜ş̪ ̭͈͓͖̳̳w̠̙̤r̡̥̲͍͔͓ong! ͓̥n̟͇o̻̖͈̙̩t st̢a̝̣͕͇͇͚b̦͓͖͘l̢̤e -ru̪̫̖͖̠n! Kacchan!"

He didn't even finish his sentence before Kacchan scooped him up and stumbled backwards, but they only managed to slip to the back of the crowd when a long drawn-out groan from the writhing creature split the air. Between one blink and the next, the creature swelled up; All the blood and entrails that belonged to the creature hurtled through the air and shot back towards it at breakneck speeds. The sight was uncannily disgusting, and Izuku felt his stomach give another threatening roll. The dread in his veins danced along with his heartbeat, but, even foresight couldn't prepare him for what happened next.

Because, a millisecond later, the creature's body inflated like a balloon whilst all the blood in the air pierced into the mangled, glued-together mass of entrails and body parts with the force of a million bullets. The creature exploded in a tormented, goosebump-inducing screech, and the force of the backlash was so strong that it created a shockwave of wind that flattened the buildings surrounding the group and flung everyone in the vicinity up into the air.

There was a heart-stopping moment when they were suspended in mid-air. Izuku desperately dug into his core and tried to wrench his sluggish, twitching limbs and feverishly aching magic to do something.

Anything -

-suddenly, there was a loud bang. Their descent wasn't as fast and wasn't as dizzying as before, and it was rugged and rough, but Kacchan's eyes were alight with adrenaline-fueled determination as he hastily propelled them towards the tallest tree. Izuku felt another arm brace his head before they tumbled into the tree's branches. Izuku knew they were about to hit the ground because Kacchan's body tensed up before he suddenly tucked them into a tight ball and they hit the ground in a jarring roll.

Kacchan didn't waste any time to catch his breath because a slightly shaky arm snaked underneath Izuku's knees and hauled him into a bridal carry. Izuku didn't understand why his friend's heartbeat was jackrabbit fast underneath his palms until he saw large feathers carrying traumatized civilians in the air, and Endeavour's irate, stormy form standing on the edge of the nuclear-sized sinkhole that Izuku's magic backlash created.

There was no sight of the villain, just a black-purple swirling mist suspended in the middle of the sinkhole. Izuku's eyes widened when he realized that the mist wasn't just a portal. Wasn't just a quirk. It was a person, and when two yellow-slitted eyes met Izuku's glowing green eyes, he felt a frisson of his aching magic zing across his sight. For a disorienting moment, Izuku found himself standing inside a large dome where a strange, convoluted amusement park stretched out before him, and where an astronaut and a semi-mummified man stood protectively in front of him. The vision wavered and collapsed just as fast as it appeared. His magic gave a small twitch before it went silent in exhaustion.

Izuku's body responded in kind: his vision tilted and he momentarily blacked out, but he was jerked back into consciousness with a sharp shake. Izuku moaned pitifully into Kacchan's collarbone but, nevertheless, Izuku forced his mind to cling to consciousness with the ferocity of a dying man.

Through the fog of blood trailing down his cheeks and mouth, Izuku hazily heard his blonde friend swear with the same filthiness and passion of a sailor before a forehead was pressed against his hair.

"What- what the hell do I do, Deku?! Damnit, you're bleeding-"

Kacchan flinched back when a sharp, loud shout, followed by a sweltering stream of orange flames, shot towards the mist villain. The flames couldn't even reach a third of the way across the sinkhole before it sputtered out and died. The mist villain didn't stick around for long and disappeared into thin air as soon as Endeavour's flames shot towards him.

There was a beat of shocked silence from the number two hero before the flames surrounding him fanned out in a flash of rage.

Izuku didn't know what Kacchan saw on Endeavour's face. Maybe it was the hungry rage and possessiveness of a demon. Maybe it was the cold, freezing anger of a Yuki-Onna. Izuku didn't know, but they were instantly booking it out of there as if Satan was on their heel. They reached the safe shadows of an alleyway just in time to hear a loud, booming voice laced with a sliver of repressed anger, demand: "Whoever used such a powerful quirk, show yourself! Playing wannabe hero isn't something a civilian should do!"

Endeavour's words clung to his mind like a parasite and, suddenly, Izuku found himself fighting off another bout of nausea. The only thing that stopped him was the glint of trembling fear in Kacchan's crimson eyes.

"Don't you dare pass out on me, dumbass!"

Kacchan took another turn that plunged them deeper into the city and away from the disaster zone. A few minutes passed before Izuku blearily felt Kacchan slow down and stumble to a sudden stop. There was a moment of confusion when the sight of a dead end sunk in. The confusion swiftly turned into disbelief when he realized what his friend was preparing to do.

"Wha- Wait! Kacch-" Izuku's hoarse whisper faded off into a grunt when they went flying into the air with another bang. They landed on a backyard wall with a heavy thump, and the arm around Izuku's knees gently lowered him down.

"Deku, hold on tight. I'm going to get us to a place to rest and hide. The damn streets are crawling with too many shitheads."

Kacchan tugged him closer, wound a tight, protective arm around Izuku's waist, and pointed his -slightly burnt- right hand towards the ground. Instinctively, Izuku pushed himself up onto his tiptoes, curled his arms around Kacchan's neck, and hung on. With one last warning squeeze around Izuku's waist, his friend let out a small explosive burst that ejected them up past two floors and towards a metallic railing of the tallest balcony of the small japanese home.

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut and braced for a painful impact against the building's outer wall, but it wasn't necessary because Kacchan reacted with the speed of a master ninja. The blonde grabbed the railing with his right hand, absorbed their landing against the wall with the balls of his feet, while simultaneously letting off another explosion from the soles of his feet, and used the momentum from the explosion to pull them up and over the railing.

They vaulted over the balcony railing with ease. Landed with a slight wobble before bracing themselves against the balcony walls. For Izuku, there was only a millisecond of relief before an aching pang of dread set in.

Without hesitation, Kacchan swiftly twisted his body around, widened his stance, and ran at the railing. They bulleted across the divide. This time Kacchan pushed off the ground with one feet and leapt at the metal railing with a slow, challenging smirk. As they cleared the railing, Kacchan slammed the ball of his outstretched foot against the railing and they launched off with a huge, concussive explosion that sent tremors through Izuku's bones.

To the left, there was a five storey apartment complex that looked large enough for them to lay low for a while. As soon as Kacchan's feet touched the grass of the open-air garden on the fifth floor, they crumpled onto the cool stone pathways and grass in sheer exhaustion. They laid on the sun-soaked grass for a few blissful seconds, just marinating in the lingering vestiges of overwhelming relief, adrenaline and fear.

Izuku closed his eyes for a few seconds, but he must have dozed off because when he blinked them open again, there was a folded up sweater under his head and bloody gauze strips in front of Kacchan. There was a few long seconds of tense, sombre silence as Kacchan clumsily wound white strips of gauze around his burnt palms and feet, but when his friend noticed that he was awake, Kacchan scooted closer and shoved a water bottle at him.

"I cleaned away all the damn blood on you, so drink the damn water and rest."

His friend threw a thumb towards the early afternoon sun and blue sky, and said, "I went down and checked it out. Still way too many shitheads down there for my comfort."

A yellow, ratty backpack was deposited with a loud plop in front of his face.

Kacchan gave Izuku a what-a-nerd look but it was tempered by a fondness that Izuku didn't expect to see from a tired, overwhelmed, and irritated Kacchan.

"Thank fuck you're such a nerd, Deku. There were damn medical supplies in here. I don't know what the hell you were prepared for -the fucking Apocalypse?- but they were definitely more useful than all that stupid, shitty quirk analysis notebooks you carry around."

The blonde must have seen the lines of fatigue on his face because Kacchan unscrewed the bottle, helped him sit up, and gently tipped the rim to his lips. He couldn't wait. He just drank as greedily as he could. Scared that the cool balm against the bleeding insides of his mouth (and throat) was going to be taken away.

"Woah! Slow down, dumbass."

The water blanketed the tender pain in his mouth and throat like ice on a burn, and Izuku only stopped when he accidentally drank too fast. His thoughts were sluggish like molasses, but the momentary relief from the burning pain brought tears to his eyes. The bottle was gently lifted away from his lips by gauze-taped fingers.

With adrenaline-fueled reflexes, Izuku caught Kacchan's wrist and squeezed it insistently. He gestured towards his throat with the other hand and opened his mouth. There was a look of pure disgust on Kacchan's face before the blonde angrily tsked, cupped Izuku's chin, and tugged his head closer.

"What type of fucked up magic did you use, Deku? Your whole mouth is filled with cuts- Wait- Looks like it goes all the way down your throat."

There was no hint of anger left in Kacchan's voice, just bewilderment. "That's why you were coughing up a shit ton of blood? I don't think we can do anything about it except go to the hospital-"

Kacchan's words faded into the background. The only thing Izuku could see behind his eyelids was the sight of hundreds and hundreds of cuts and holes in the creature's body. The same cuts that littered the insides of his mouth and throat. Izuku wrapped shaky fingers around his neck but the feeling of soft, unblemished skin underneath his palms contradicted the raw, agonizing feeling of fire that coated the insides of his throat, and Izuku gagged.

The feeling of horror grew when flashes of red entered his mind like oil on water. Flashes of blood and gory remains assaulted his senses until the only thing he remembered was the colour of red against grey. The colour of blood. The colour of his destruction.

"Oh god- Kacch-Kacchan! I -I'm a monster."

Hiccuping sobs fell out of Izuku's lips like a prayer. The breathy, pleading words were ripped from the depth of his soul with the force of a tortuous wail.

There was nothing but pure self-loathing, disgust and disappointment at himself. His magic was gifted to him by the Earth. It was a precious, soft, healing warmth that stayed with him through thick and thin. It was his badge of honour to a World that was different. To a richer, more diverse World.

But now, his magic was achy and cold. It felt old and alien in his chest, and it was the first time he ever felt scared of his magic. Scared of the depth of his magic's potential; because it wasn't coated with the spring-time warmth and gentleness of innocence anymore, instead, it was now a reactive, sharp, coiling, slumbering beast in his chest.

When the wrongness under Izuku's skin didn't leave he ran hard, irritated hands down his own arms, dug his fingers into his flesh and hoped that he could scrape the emotion out of his skin.

"Oi! Hey! Stop that! Fuckin-," a litany of curses abrupted next to him before a strong hand reached across Izuku's shoulders and pushed his head between his knees.

"Breathe, Deku! Damnit! God, you're such a overthinker, you shitty nerd-,"

A sweaty, slightly warm hand settled into Izuku's green strands like they belonged there, and he basked in Kacchan's tempered gentleness with a wet hiccup.

"You ain't a fucking monster. You're the most sickening pile of sunny smiles, positivity and airheadedness ever. It's fucking gross."

Kacchan's words were spat out like the words had metaphysically offended his blonde hair.

There was a beat of silence that was long and bordering on uncomfortable before Kacchan said: "It's the useless heroes on scene. If there was one competent hero then fucking 'civilians' wouldn't need to fight. Shitheads like Endeavour- yeah, fuck 'em,"

Izuku felt Kacchan press a sharp, feral grin into his green locks.

"I'm going to be the fucking best hero one day, so no one needs to worry about shitheads like those villains. So no one needs to fight like you did today-,"

A vicious, yet gentle whisper wafted against Izuku's ear like a promise. An oath.

"I'm going to be the most powerful fucking 'monster' ever. Just wait and see, Deku. Your magic isn't going to be invincible forever." A taped thumb trailed up Izuku's throat until it reached the dip on top of his Adam's apple, and gently pressed down. Kacchan's eyes were like smouldering pits of orange-red fire, and the voices in his head that condemned him, stopped in the face of Kacchan's conviction.

"Yeah, your magic might be dangerous. That's fucking ok. We're both too powerful and deadly to most people. Too fucking young for this amount of power. But at least, we'll be the best damn monsters together."

Izuku didn't know why that was so comforting. Why the thought of his magic being so dangerous didn't scare him as much as anymore. Maybe it was the same deadliness and feral power reflected in Kacchan's eyes. Maybe it was the permission his magic needed to anchor itself to a person. Maybe it was the thought of not walking this lonely road alone. Or maybe...it was all of it combined.

Izuku didn't know what it was, but he clung on to Kacchan like a limpet and breathed in Kacchan's scent like a single-minded bloodhound. Izuku burrowed himself in his friend's scent and trusted that Kacchan's presence would anchor and settle his magic, and it did.

It made him feel less wrong. Less detached. He wasn't alone in this and that thought chased away the constant, deep-seated fear he had for his magic.

It was a while before they managed to untangle from each other, but when the sky turned a dusky pink and orange shade Kacchan got up and packed all the stuff back into the yellow (All-Might limited edition) backpack.

Then, Kacchan stood up, turned around and waited. Izuku obediently climbed on his friend's broad back and smothered his wobbly smile against spiky, blonde hair. Izuku saw Kacchan glance at him before his friend scoffed and adjusted the yellow backpack slung across his front.

"And it's good that you're not fucking weak. If you were weak, I'd probably attack your stupid ass until it made you strong. Your magic fucking got rid of that creature. It was dangerous and bloody but, next time, you can learn to control it better. So shut up, we're getting outta here. My old hag can get your throat checked out and get you some antibiotics."

There was a painful ache in Izuku's chest but it was soothed by Kacchan's loyalty and comfort. It should have torn him up more. It should have made him feel more guilty, but instead there was slight undercurrent of satisfaction buried under Izuku's magic. The type of satisfaction that comes after a job well done.

His magic felt as if it righted a wrong in the world. Felt as if it was made to do this. Made to sooth the imbalance of magic. Made to be a weapon to protect. Made to be used. Wielded.

For a split second, Endeavour's voice and All Might's all-encompassing smile flitted across Izuku's mind, followed by the word 'hero' and the sea of brave and courageous faces of his fellow civilians today. If being a hero meant saving just one person even if you didn't have the power to do it…well, Izuku wouldn't mind being one in the future then.