14

Her

Izuku opened the door to their apartment.

"Guess what, the news reported two missing students." Dabi was chilling on the couch like usual. He nudged his head to the door. He rose an eyebrow. "Deku?" That didn't look like Deku. Not only in appearance but also body language. He had a melancholic demeanor, not that cheerful bounce.

"Hey, Dabi." Izuku took of his maskguard, placing it on the counter. "Is Toga around? She said something about a surprise."

"Yeah?" Dabi sat up on the couch, landing his feet on the floor. His eyes narrowed, staring at the empty socket and stained blood that ran like tears. "What happened?"

Izuku's cold expression didn't change. He rubbed his cheek below the missing eye. "He died."

"...Who?"

"A villain."

"From the league?"

Izuku ignored him. "I'm going to shower."

Dabi kept his eyes on Izuku's back as he stepped inside the bathroom. "The fuck?" He shrugged. Deku was still Deku. "Whatever." Trying to go to sleep. His eyes closed for a moment, then opened. He stared at the ceiling. The forest was a lot more tranquil. "I can't sleep."

Izuku stared at the mirror. "This is my face?" He tapped his nose then rubbed his eye, and finally ran his hand through his hair. He glanced again at the mirror, staring at the hollow pitch black eye socket. "This is who I am?"

It's all so strange. This thing they call life. What are we supposed to do with it? What can we even accomplish? Does it matter?

"It didn't matter, what he accomplished... in the end, he's gone..."

Izuku Midoriya had died and was replaced by an Izuku Midoriya who was born.

Reborn or unborn.

Izuku walked back into the living room. Dabi flung something at him, it hit his face and fell as Deku caught it.

A Chrome-Skull eyepatch, with two straps, one going over his eyebrow and the other over the bridge of his nose.

"Cover that shit." Dabi went back to his TV. He didn't know what happened to Deku and didn't care, but if he left it exposed it would get infected, probably. "What's that waitress' name?"

Izuku placed on the eye patch covering his hollow socket. 'I don't really like it. I'll take it off when I can.' "Uraraka, Dabi. Her name is Uraraka." He didn't ask why he wanted to know. He simply left to go look for Toga.

He closed the door, stepping out to the hallway. The damp cold air echoed through the halls from the broken windows and open doors.

His ears pitched to the laughter. "The room."

He walked to it for the first time, remembering it. The door was closed, but behind her maniacal opera was the desperate cries of a voice muffled by tape.

The door creaked open. His steps croaked on the floor. His eye grew a vivid stare of horrified confusion.

Her.

She was tied to the ceiling with rusty shackles. Her head was down and to the side with her bangs covering her tear stained eyes. A purple throat, and a blood-dripping body.

Toga spun on the heel of her boots to face Izuku. Her fangs were carnal and her smile was an excited bloodlust. "What do you think?! Remember her! You do don't you? You saved her! You can be her hero, over and over again! I bet you're so happy, huh Izuku?!"

His disturbed eye agonizingly turned to her. Gulp. 'This... This is Toga?'

"What do you mean?" He calmed down.

She mimicked him, stopping her crazy thrill. She stepped closer to him with the skip of a maiden. She rose her hand and pulled his eye patch down, it slipped to his neck, hanging like a necklace. Her eyes narrowed. "Who did this? I'll kill them." Only she was allowed to hurt her Izuku. She rubbed his cheek tenderly.

Izuku's eye widened at the expression of affection towards him. 'This... This is Toga.'

He closed his eye, held the hand over his cheek. "It's fine." He rose his head and faced her again. "But more importantly... why did you?"

Why her of all people?

"Because you saved her, silly!" But she had a sincere smile.

'This is my fault? N-No. Not mine.' His.

Izuku walked up to her without hesitation. He slapped her cheek gently, checking if she was still conscious. He readied himself, holding the edge of the duct tape over her mouth.

Ripped off in one motion.

She coughed awake. A huge amount of air filled her lungs.

"Do you know your name?"

"F... Fuck you..." She strained out with busted lips. She did her best to glare, but her eyes were trying to avoid his void eye, facing the only one he had. It was difficult because deep down, there was an earnest concern in that lonely, emerald, cold orb.

She faded in and out. This was probably just a hallucination. Maybe she was losing her mind to the torture. Did anyone know where she was? "A... All.. Might..."

Izuku gasped, before standing tall. "Don't worry." He released her shackles with his quirk, slicing off the chain. She instantly collapsed. Her legs and arms were dead from hanging for so long. He took off his green sweater and laid it over her mangled body, and ripped clothes. He bent down and picked her up bridal style.

"Izuku?!" Toga gasped, clutching her knife. 'I knew it! She's a love rival!'

His lips lifted crooked, and he tilted his head. "Th-Thank you Toga. It was a great surprise. You wanted me to save her right?"

Her grip released. "Aww Izuku, darling!" She held her gushing cheeks, shifting on the balls of her feet, bashfully, side to side. One of her boots rose up behind her knee. She shyly giggled. "I knew you would love it! I'm sorry... I just thought she was taking you away from me! You would never leave me! I just get so scared of losing you! Sometimes, I could just kill us! I'm sorry for being such a baka."

"It's okay." He kept his forced smile. "When I get back, let's talk. It's important."

Her eyes grew. 'A marriage confession?' He walked past an infatuated Toga. She ran to the door. She waved out the hallway to him. "I love him so much." She sighed.

Izuku walked down the stairs. The floorboards squeaked with his empty steps. She was holding his sweater, hiding her body and neck. She noticed that it was warm and toasty, his quirk burned a hole through it earlier.

Another step. Her eyes grew and she shrunk deeper. Deku turned down the stairwell. "Sorry. I didn't ask for this." Her shaking eyes caused him to sigh.

Her fingers clutched the fabric of his collar. "She..." Her voice, it was fragile, now shattered. "She strangled me..." Her voice let out a quivered note. A heartbroken dream. "...with my own quirk..." Izuku's back tensed and the arms under her firmed. She squeezed his sweater tighter, crying into it. "I can't be a hero anymore."

His eye lowered to the face buried in the sweater. Short Purple hair, with a rocker vibe. His eye grew guilt and sorrow. Her ears were bleeding.

Her earphone jacks were missing.

Toga twiddled the tangled headphones in her hand, resting her elbow out the window. "Izuku has a fan now right, right?"