Chapter 7 - Introductions

Izuku got teleported in two steps after going inside Kurogiri's portal. He got used to it in the past 5 months, his breathing nor eyesight was affected by the mist. When he got out of the mist, He found himself inside a bar. It wasn't extremely luxurious, except the drinks standing on the bartender's shelves. There were 4 visible wooden stools, 2 aged couches, a large table front of the couches, an old, small TV with unbelievable amounts of cables attached, and one guy looking at the visibly turned off TV. He wore a dusty, long sleeved shirt with matching black pants. His fading blue hair was visible from his back. His head rose up from the footsteps and turned his face towards his guests. Izuku wanted to greet his eyes, only to be welcomed by a hand covering the man's face. A hand, covered with something to make it look less grotesque, with a yellow metal piece attached on its wrist that Izuku had no idea for its reason of existence. Izuku was cautious. Not because of first impressions anymore, it was his body screaming for safety. The man standing in front of him felt like death. Not the kind his Master had. AFO's aura was much heavier and it never felt like he regretted something in his life, as if people's death was his reason to be born. This man however, felt like a bomb with all green disarming cables, all of them being fake and causing an explosion with the smallest cut. This man was unstable and dangerous. Smallest wrong step could mean the end for him.

In the few seconds that Izuku got lost in his head, Kurogiri greeted the man:

-It's great to see you again, young master. This is the boy we've been telling you. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Izuku tried to hold his curiosity and excitement. With the most unrealistic serious tone:

-Sir Shigaraki! My name is Izuku Midoriya. I am very grateful for being able to work with you from now on. I would love to kno-

Shigaraki turned his back, still sitting on the stool that he greeted Izuku with. He repeatedly tapped his right hand's fingertips on the bar's serving table. Izuku noticed that each five finger touch cracked, no, rot the table a bit.

-Kurogiri… who is this child? Send him home, he is annoying the hell out of me.

Izuku didn't know how to respond. He was regularly interrupted and looked down in the past. Ironically, his experience didn't seem to be helping him. So he, for the first time in his life, stood up to the person looking down on him. He was sweating, knowing that headbutting a bomb would be instant death. It didn't matter though. He promised himself that he wasn't going to suffer in silence for any reason. He would rather meet the consequences, rather than not taking a risk because of fear. His throat hurt like he swallowed a pointy rock, his right arm was shaking because of his attempt to do something new, but It didn't matter. Fear wasn't an escape anymore, it was the enemy.

-Shigaraki, Sir! I don't know why you are hostile against me, but I didn't get this far to be rejected by my idol AGAIN! Please tell me how I can help with our goal!

Izuku noticed Shigaraki's right hand. It's menacing grip on the table turned a quarter of it into dust. Shigaraki only turned his head 90 degrees to take a look at the kid who spoke up to him. His moon red eyes swallowed Izuku's soul like the river Styx. He started to scratch his neck, bits of skin and blood flying out, assisting the fear his vicious groan created. Izuku was afraid, but not because of the possibility of death. He was afraid to fail his goal, even before starting it. Izuku took his very first knife from his back and got into his fighting position. Izuku didn't want to use his quirk, because he didn't want Shigaraki to think that he was trying to overpower him. Izuku's fear turned into determination to make this man in front of him understand his dedication.

Shigaraki stopped scratching his neck and stood up. He walked up to Izuku with his hands in pocket just like his outrage and bloodlust never happened. Izuku noticed the change of tension and put his knife back without losing caution. Shigaraki pointed at a stool for Izuku to sit. As they both sat and confronted each others souls, Shigaraki spoke with no content:

-Izuku, was it? Look brat, I have no intention to waste any of my time for something worthless. I have no need nor desire to hear your tragic backstory... So, here is a simple question for you…

Shigaraki took the hand on his face and faced Izuku. His scratch marks, cracked lips, countless eye bags and his past were all visible to Izuku. It didn't take long for him to understand that Shigaraki wasn't someone greedy or entitled. He was just angry, and very hurt. No longer that a second, Shigaraki asked his question:

-Why are you here?

Izuku was surprised for the grand question to be this simple, yet hard to answer correctly. He didn't hesitate though. Izuku answer with honesty, with the wicked anger he held on till today:

-I'm here to destroy the symbol of peace and everyone who looks upon him. Because I want a society, where people won't depend on heroes to help the ones who only need a hand or a couple of words.

Izuku noticed the change in Shigaraki's face. His words filled it with confusion and pain. Izuku seemed to take Shigaraki's attention…

-Really? You want to become a villain to help citizens? What exactly do you think villains do, charity work?

Shigaraki's choice of words seemed like mockery, but his tone of voice gave away his true feeling: unacceptance. Izuku didn't lose his cool to answer back:

-I don't want to help citizens, I want them to decide their fate, work for their own life and suffer for their actions. I want them to realize how much they lost because of heroes: Their independence, responsibilities, empathy and their rationality. Civilians caused our suffering, they ignored our existence and left us to rot in silence because there "had to be a hero" to help us! I want them to see the evil was them all along! I want them and all of these so-called "Heroes" to face consequences of their actions! If they will call me a villain for seeking justice, then I will be exactly that!

After 3 seconds of awkward silence shigaraki started to giggle, which turned into normal laughter. Izuku felt that a sane laugh coming from this man was more disturbing than a crazy one. Izuku didn't change any expressions he had and waited for Shigaraki to stop. Shigaraki took the hand off the table and put it on his face before he spoke:

-Well, that was certainly somewhat entertaining, not a complete waste of time. You are very different Izuku, and hopefully, not completely useless. Though, you should work with those tear bags of yours. You wouldn't look this lame if you didn't cry.

Izuku's eyes were on the verge of tears, he didn't realize it at all. Maybe it was because he got a chance to get this weight off his chest. He felt ashamed that his skill to express emotions was so fragile. He wiped his eyes and crying stopped before it started. He looked at Shigaraki before he turned his back. Izuku noticed Shigaraki was holding his chest pretty tightly. He didn't know what he said hurt him this much, though today was probably not the time to ask about his past. Shigaraki walked off to a door and put his hand on the knob, except his index finger, and gave the word:

-Congrats brat, you are part of the League of Villains now. Kurogiri, show him around the place, we will have a meet up in 6 hours. Oh, and brat? No offence but you might want to get rid of your name. We don't need people tracking us, thinking that we kidnapped a missing kid.

Shigaraki was right. Izuku used to watch the news in the past five months for information gathering about heroes, since he wasn't ready to go out alone. He did see himself a couple of times, with his mother holding his most recent picture. His dear mother...

It didn't take a second for Izuku to remember his only sacrifice and regret for starting this new life: His mother. She didn't deserve what Izuku did to her. Every time when Izuku saw her on TV, he could tell that as each day passed, she was barely hanging on, worse than the time his father left them. He could see it in her eyes. No sleeping, no eating, no continuing her life. Izuku knew she was praying for his safety and return. He knew that the only person in this world that didn't cause any pain to him was her. Ironically she was the only person he caused suffering in his life. Sure, Izuku wished that his mother believed that he could become a hero instead of telling him that she is sorry that night. But those tears she shed with her wasn't for pity or anything, it was because Inko thought it was her fault for making her son cry. She was the one who played hero and rescue games with him all the time. She was the one who didn't console Izuku for any other options or future goals to have. She didn't try to make Izuku forget about being a hero after it was official that he was quirkless, nor believed in him that he would surely become a great hero even if he didn't have a quirk. She only tried her best to love his son because he was suffering, if not more than she was. She was blaming herself for not passing her quirk genes to him. She knew it wasn't in her control, but as any other mother would do, she connected the roads in her self sacrificial eyes and concluded: "I made my son cry…".

She was very concerned about him all the time, despite Izuku pushing her away. Izuku wanted her to stay away not because he didn't love her, but because he thought he was worthless and didn't deserve to live. And he thought if his mother stopped loving him, he could finally take his life and rest in peace, assuming that she wouldn't cry after him. However, Inko wasn't an idiot. She always saw his bruises when he came back from school. She could tell he was suffering in mere seconds. No, she could tell someone was making him suffer, because she was his mother. And after all that care and love, Izuku chose to be selfish for the first time in his life, to do something he finally wanted, and hurt the only person he wished happiness for.

Izuku was used to pain. Numerous times of bullying in the past; uncountable times of getting punched, bitten, kicked by the nomus; and the price of pain that his quirk caused. But he never got used to this singular one. He couldn't move on knowing that his mother was crying for the past five months, each and every single day. It hurt him so much that he wanted it to end at any cost. He had to ask Kurogiri and Shigaraki. He was still weak, and all of his efforts would be for nothing if he couldn't move on.

After Shigaraki went to a room and closed the door, Midoriya called to Kurogiri, in a pleading voice like a puppy that got hit by a car:

-Sir Kurogiri… May I ask you something?

Kurogiri noticed something was wrong, although had no idea what it was about. He looked at Izuku and only nodded.

-Please don't get the wrong idea, but… Is there a way, a way to… to-for me to… see m-my m-...m-mother? For one last t-time?

-Kurogiri saw the problem. He didn't understand why it was a problem, but he knew it was a big one that blocked Izuku's path to become a great ally of LoV. All For One did talk with Kurogiri about this possibility in the very beginning, before Izuku woke up from his coma. Unlike Shigaraki, Izuku had a family, a single parent, that was the embodiment of all the hope for humanity and a better future Izuku had created… AFO said that It wouldn't matter what anyone did to Izuku, since he was the type of person who could take any kind of hit to achieve his goal. However, if anything happened to his mother's single strand of hair, Izuku would break. If villains hurt his mother, Izuku would become one of the biggest threats they had, despite being a single person. And if the heroes did anything to his mother… His last drop of morality and hope would dry out, becoming a villain that seeked nothing but punishment and pain. Especially after Izuku reached the maximum capacity of his quirk… Which meant, his mother was the key for his rebirth.

-You may want to prepare yourself Izuku. For everyone's safety, requests like this shouldn't happen anytime soon again. Preferably never…

Midoriya felt like today was the happiest day of his life, twofold. A chance to visit his mother, to say sorry and explain everything he had kept as a secret from her. He would have to leave her again but at least, she wouldn't cry after him, at least not as much as she did now. She deserved to know that his son was alive, and happy for the first time in a long while. He couldn't cry, he was too happy to shed any tears of happiness. Izuku raised his head and thanked Kurogiri. For the past 5 months all Kurogiri saw was a boy covered in blood, wounds and a wicked smile to become a better killer. And now, making this boy happy with a simple request like this made Kurogiri feel almost guilty. Despite Izuku being a traumatized kid training to become a villain, him still containing this overwhelming wholesomeness made Kurogiri a little bit happy, and mostly concerned. Izuku had to get over his emotional weaknesses. He had to watch Izuku over and hope that after some murders, he would grow colder, stronger. It was either that, or Izuku's key had to be gone…

Izuku was anxious as well as being happy. This opportunity was something he thought he wouldn't receive in such a short time. And now, how was he going to confront his mother? What was he going to say: "MomImavillainandIwon'tseeyouforawhilesinceIwillstartkillingpeoplebutImOKsodontcryBye!"

or something like that? He was anxious, because no matter what or how he would tell his situation, it wouldn't change the fact that it would mean something like that sentence he thought. It didn't matter though, he had to face his mother. She had the right to know he was alive and happy. Even if it meant the only person that loves him was going to hate him, It was the price for his rebirth. Izuku thought that it was ok if his mother was going to hate him for the rest of his life. At least, she wouldn't get involved with his villain life and put herself in any kind of danger. Izuku prepared his heart and told Kurogiri the address of his mother's house. Kurogiri went there alone first, to make sure no one else was at home, then got back and called Izuku in. Kurogiri gave Izuku a flip-phone and told him he had 4 hours at max to work things out with her. Then Izuku had to message Kurogiri at the destined location away from the eyesight to get back to their hideout. Izuku thanked him one last time as Kurogiri warped himself away.

Izuku had left his villain suit and weapons at the hideout. He had a light grey tracksuit on, with new regular shoes, since he took his old ones before taking his swan dive off. Izuku knocked the door three times with his index finger's knuckle. He didn't remember being this hurt in a long time. He was supposed to be happy, but his heart was aching. Izuku heard his mother's slippers rushing to the door. Door opened faster than anything Izuku expected. He saw his mother holding his childhood picture on her chest. She probably never let that one go, and rushed to any knock on this door, hoping for any progress about her child. Izuku raised his head, to see her mother. She had lost some weight, but the body fat was still on. Malnutrition must have used her muscle mass first. Her eyes weren't like anything he remembered. They looked like she forced them to stay open with a pair of pins. But that look, that look of a person stabbed and left for dead on a back alley, vanished in mere seconds after Izuku looked into her eyes. He wanted to cry, not because of happiness, but because of the pain he caused to his mother. He knew this was all his doing to be happy. But this price was unbearable. Because he wasn't paying for it, his mother was, with her own life. He couldn't cry, he didn't had the right to cry in front of the person he hurt this much. He forced himself to not to hug her, kiss her, cry with her or anything. Because he thought he didn't deserve it. He managed to cry out a few words:

-I'm back, mo-

Inko dropped the framed Izuku without any thought process and hugged his son. Her tears cleaned off the dirt on his tracksuit. In mere seconds, Inko felt that this boy wasn't the old Izuku she knew. His body felt hard, toughened up, forced to stand straight. It didn't matter, it never did. Her prayers were answered for the first time. "Please, bring my son back home in one piece…" was her only prayer for the past five months. She felt a hand caressing her hair as it trembled. It wasn't soft like Izuku had before but as caring, as gentle as it was in the past. Inko was still crying but raised her head from his son's chest to look at him again.

She saw his face, covered with bandages, bruises and cuts. His eyes though, it didn't speak the bushy cinnamon roll boy Inko had raised. She could tell, because she was his mother. His eyes weren't forced to show anything he didn't want. She saw more than what Izuku saw in her eyes. She could tell he did something bad, at least something he regretted. She saw something frightening, awaken, ready for war inside his eyes as well. And she knew, it wasn't about fighting villains with a smile on his face, like he dreamed in the past.

It didn't matter that much right now. After five months of departure, they both finally felt each other's body heat, heartbeat and sound waves. Inko finally managed to smile after 5 months of crying and hating herself. She sincerely said:

-Welcome Home, Izuku!..

She didn't let her son's hand go, and took him to the kitchen, made him sit. Izuku couldn't even say a word, couldn't even look at her hair while she put warm katsudon on the table. Izuku didn't want to guess why and how she had a warm katsudon ready for him, but he already knew the answer.

-Mother… Did you cook katsudon for me, for my return… everyday?..

Inko could only smile. It wasn't fake, forced or with any ulterior motives. She couldn't look at his face as she talked:

- I didn't know when you would be home, or would you be hungry when you come back… So I just made one everyday! Just to be sure…

Midoriya's eyes felt like a timed bomb. His chest hurt, it felt like a 300 pound man was jumping on his chest like he was a trampoline. He felt like he was going to puke all of the pain away, with tears and his organs. But he had to eat it. He didn't want to, he didn't deserve to, but for his mother, who cooked his favourite meal every day for 5 months for his return, he ate it. It was delicious. Compared to everything he ate in his life, this was the best meal he had. But it hurt him. Each bite he took, every time his taste buds worked, he wanted to be erased from existence.

Izuku finished his meal and thanked his mother. Inko could only smile. Izuku pleaded with her to sit with him in the living room. Izuku sat on the single sofa, as his mother sat on the couch diagonal to it, to be able to hold his hand. Izuku pleaded to his mother again, for her to listen to him until the end. Inko didn't oppose in any way. She only agreed and listened to Izuku's story while never letting go of his left hand.

Izuku told her everything except Katsuki's role. He didn't want his mother to stop talking with Mitsuki because of everything her son did to him. Izuku told it all, how from the day that people around him learned that he was quirkless, everyone started bullying him. How everyone saw him as a toy to break, since he didn't have any quirks to fight back. He told her that this torment went on until the day he decided to jump off, even after he woke up in the hospital.

Inko remembered what that doctor said. About his son being a quirkless, useless, non-worthy patient wasting a bed for a more-important hero that wouldn't come. She could only hold his son's hand tighter.

Then Izuku came to the hardest part, the 5 months of missing:

-...And then, after I got out of the hospital, I sat next to a trashcan in a back alley and tried to open up my stitches. I wanted to die where you wouldn't see me suffer, where I wouldn't have to suffer from people who hated me for not having a quirk. Then a man came to me. He told me what nobody had said in my life, that I had the power to fight for what I want. He told me that I could achieve my dreams and prove everyone wrong! But to do that… I had to become someone everyone despised. Mother, I wanted to see you know, because in the future, it will get very hard for me to see you again like this. I became a villain.

Inko did think about this possibility. Her son ran out of the hospital and went missing for months. Possibilities were that he was either kidnapped, died or started a new life, away from everyone he knew. Still, she wasn't prepared to hear that his son was a criminal now. Someone that society would hate, police and heroes would hunt, and someone was going to hurt people for the rest of his life. She didn't want to accept the reality, she didn't want to see her son get hurt and live in the shadows for the rest of his life. She saw something was different about him. He didn't have any trace of what he was since he was a kid. His eyes… oh her poor baby's eyes… they seeked blood. She could tell, because that's what mothers do. She had to accept this is who Izuku was. Still, she wanted to try her chance to get him back:

-I… I understand Izuku. But… isn't there a chance... for you to come back? To me? We can move out if you don't want to live with people who hurt you. You don't have to… become a villain, right? Please I… I just don't want you to get hurt anymore…

-Mother… please. I have to make a change. I wanted to help people by becoming a hero, but no one believed me. But now, I have a chance. I have a chance to make an impact! I can show people who despise quirkless people and heroes who only think their fame that they are wrong! I probably am not the only quirkless kid who suffered from society. I am alive, but maybe out there somewhere, a quirkless kid didn't survive his suicide attempt and died, only because he didn't had a quirk! Only because people didn't support him for who he was! And a mother maybe weeping behind him! I can change this! I can make sure that no more kids will suffer like I did, and no more mothers will suffer like you have… Please, Just this once… don't let my dreams go away.

Izuku didn't realise the weight of his words as he talked. Once he did, it was too late. He made his mother cry, again.

-Izuku… I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry I let you get hurt this much! I didn't mean to… but I was too weak! I was blaming myself for not making you become a hero and then… then I didn't realize what you were going through! Your classmates hurting you, your hero abandoning you, ME abandoning you… I'm sorry Izuku… I'm so sor-

Izuku stood up and hugged her mother. He promised himself to not to cry, but after all of this, if he didn't cry, It would mean he was no more a human. As Izuku's tears dropped on his mother's shoulder, he sat on one knee and held his mother's cheeks and wiped her tears with his scarred hand. He spoke as his voice chords were stabbed by thousand glass pieces:

-Mother… please… don't be sorry. You are NOT responsible for what happened to me. I never, ever, EVER blamed anything on you. You were and still are and will be the best mother I could ever ask for. So don't say you are sorry. You never did anything wrong. You were the only person who loved me. You are the only person who still loves me, even after telling you what I have become… I just want you to be happy, but please… Please don't hate me for what I have become… Please, when I leave, don't cry behind me. I just want to see you smile. You don't have to support me for who I am, but please.. Please just don't hate me… Please don't cry behind me… I am fine! I am happier than I ever was in the past fifteen years! I finally have a goal in my life, I am no more blinded by hero's lies and I met people who support me! They believe in me! They are not annoyed by my existence! Look I even have a quirk! I can make people feel my heart, make them see happiness and pain that I have been through and witnessed!

-Y-you.. You have a quirk? How?

-It was the person who saved me mother! He landed me a hand while I was dying, after leaving the hospital. He is a villain because he knows how people are! People hate him, because he knows the truth about how corrupt they became! With this quirk, I can make people see what they did to me, what they did to YOU! So please… don't hate me…

Inko grabbed his chest, because of the ache in her heart. She couldn't breathe, it was too painful. She wanted to believe that her son was brainwashed, but at the same time, after everything he told her, after what that doctor said how worthless her son was, she could only believe that Izuku was doing what he believed was right, and it was his choice. It hurt her, because it felt wrong. But as a parent, she knows she has to support him. Even if she didn't, her son had the right to do what he believes is right. She didn't have the right to take his freedom away. As her thoughts came clear and her breathing calmed down, she faced up to see her son holding her hands looking at her for an answer. She spoke the truth:

-Izuku… I could never hate you… I am your mother, and there is no way in this world that would make me hate you. I can get angry, I can oppose your thoughts, but I would never hate you, for who you are. I am your mother… I just wished that I realized your pain sooner, before all of this happened… I.. you… you have to know… I don't want you to become a villain. I don't want you to be hated by people, running from people who want you captured or dead... I don't want to hear people despising your name… I don't want to see you die on the news and people celebrating your death… But… If you are taking these risks to do what you think is right, I won't hold you back. Because the Izuku I know, Izuku I grew up only wants people's happiness. Even if what you do will hurt some people, I know you won't do it out of evil. I know that after all the pain you have gone through, your heart is still full with good deeds. You want to risk your life, reputation, future, everything to fix people's mistakes. You did say you are a villain now, but I know that you will be a hero. Not in books, not in heads, but in people's hearts.

Izuku didn't want her mother to say all of this. He wasn't a hero. He was going to hurt people, kill people. Heroes wouldn't kill people, not even villains, but they did hurt them. Heroes violence was mostly justified, when it meant to save the lives of civilians. But Izuku's problem wasn't those people. It was the small percent that abused the "hero" title. Ones that did an unnecessary amount of collateral damage just to look cool. When they paralyzed villains for life just to make a show of their quirks. When the villains got captured, nobody wanted to know their story. Why they chose to be a criminal seemed like the most ridiculous topic on people's head. All they thought about was how a hero saved the day. And that was why the crime rate never stopped. None of the heroes wanted villains to stop. Because they needed villains. They needed people to kick around and capture to be on the news, to gain money and fame and love. Izuku wanted that to stop. He wanted a world where quirkless people could live in peace, and with real heroes who wished and worked for everyone's happiness, not for the luxury. That was what his mother meant. She could tell, in an instant, that Izuku's revenge was for the greater good. Izuku felt a warmth covering his heart. It was the acceptance, the support that he seeked from his mother years ago, when he asked her if he could become a hero. She said it. She said that he could make people happy. Not in the way both of them imagined, but still. She believed in him. Izuku put his head on Inko's chest and cried as he continuously weeped:

-Thank you mom… than you…

Inko fixed her mistake. She believed her son. It was hard for her too, because he was a villain now. But she knew something had to change too. Her son was bullied so much that he wanted to kill himself, only because he was quirkless. A doctor wanted him dead, just because he was worthless. If his son's happiness meant for him to be named as a villain, she didn't care. She just wanted him to smile like the old days. It was all a mother could ask for.

3 hours have passed. The Midoriya family hugged each other until the departure, because there was nothing else they could talk about. As Izuku got up to leave, Inko closed the shrine she made for him. She told him that It was for him to come back home safe, and now, its deed was done. Midoriya made her promise that she was going to look after herself and not to cry behind him. She promised to try her best, for his sake. Inko gave Izuku a handkerchief as a departure gift. She said it belonged to her mother before. It was white, as clear as recently shed ice. It was as soft as his mother's hair, and smelled like her too. Izuku couldn't even put it in his pocket, he didn't want it to lose its smell or clean touch. During the last hug, Izuku gave his farewell with a genuine smile:

-I will be back before you notice…

Inko was barely holding her tears, but smiled, to keep that one promise she gave to her son:

-I know… I will be waiting for you.

Izuku turned his back and walked away without looking back. His each step echoed in her ears, making her tear up. But Inko stayed by the door until he was out of her eyesight. After that, she went into Izuku's room. She opened up an empty notebook and tried to write everything she heard from him: Bullying, fake heroes, man who gave quirks at will… Inko wanted to understand her son better, and this was her first step.

Izuku messaged Kurogiri after reaching the alley they agreed to meet. Kurogiri opened his warp gate in seconds after the message. He asked how it went with his mother. Izuku told the truth:

-Better than anything I expected, or deserved...