Inko Midoriya was a simple woman with very little that ever bothered her. Nothing could phase her enough to truly hurt, the life she led saw to that. Granted it wasn't filled with perilous adventure and danger like some, but the woman had seen her fair share of wondrous and monstrous things. If not her early life of orphanhood, then certainly her marriage and the half decade of signs and traps and subtle bits of emotion. She had loved that man for all his flaws and in some deeply pathetic way she still held a spark of the old girlish attachment.
However, as of late her patience was lacking. She wanted this madness of recent to end and end fast. She wanted both her children back and to find her husband to make him explain why this has become of her life. God, if the opportunity presented itself Inko was unsure if she'd murder the man at this rate. Then there was the matter that her little boy was out there in the world alone and on the run.
She'd be lying if the idea of this sort of tragedy happening hadn't crossed her mind more than once when Izuku was little. He was so like Hisashi at times that it scared her, always expecting him to show all signs of the spectrum. But thankfully he was free of that divergent illness and not a day went without her being unspeakably grateful for the blessing. Putting that aside, Inko felt...happy? Well, she was glad that she regained one loved one, but it was so bittersweet.
Tomura wasn't the same person he was when she cared for him, instead he had gotten worse and while he tried to put on a brave face, she knew for a fact that learning about what Hisashi did broke him in some way. That was probably why he stayed up for hours upon hours looking for any signs of his lost brother. More than once she found him face down at his laptop with countless bits of crime statistics and anything that could help stacked around his desk. He'd be out searching at all hours of the night if Inko hadn't ordered him to stay when the light grew dim.
She loved the boy, she really did and nothing could hurt him so long as she lived. Yet...he still unnerved her at times. Inko had her fair experience with dangerous people, hell she'd known how deadly her husband was after a few months of knowing him. Yet even the worst sort knew how to hide their true nature and while Tomura wasn't nearly as bad as his father, there was something that made her very uncomfortable in his eyes.
It wasn't the nihilistic anger he fostered for most of his young life. No, that was gone and dead, traded with an over swelling of neurotic drive that had the young man planning grand, horrible things that might shake the world if they had the chance to come to life. Thankfully, he was still her dopy, slacker of a foster son that had gotten the end goal written down and much of the details on how to execute it, but he couldn't focus on one thing long enough to craft a final draft.
Water ran down her bare hands as she stacked plates on the counter, the noise granting a nice calming background noise in the screaming silence of the house. Tomura was gone for now, out on some personal quest as he called it, leaving Inko all on her lonesome. God how she hated that quiet, how it lingered everywhere when she had no one and nothing except this empty apartment. From the time Hisashi left to when her son was abducted, the sound fled from her life. Music quelled it a bit, but nothing could replace her family.
Putting the last dish away and extinguishing the water, she dried her hands in the tiny kitchenette while hearing only her heartbeat. Then, perhaps to answer her request, there came a knock from the front door. Sighing at the interruption she moved towards the door thinking Tomura had forgotten his key again. Flicking the locks undone and pulling the wooden slab open she stood casually, expecting some minor annoyance.
What greeted her on the other side made her heart stop and her lungs flatten. She stared speechless as she met emerald green eyes. Her son was standing not three feet from her in a dirty grey hoodie with a paper face mask hanging off his chin while a girl no older than him stood directly to his left in a similar jacket, her blue hair cut short as hazel eyes under red square framed glasses gazed back bashfully. Izuku pursed his lips, awkwardness coloring his every movement. He turned his head to the girl who nodded encouragingly, causing him to smile weakly at his mother.
"Hey mom...been a while, hasn't it?"
The entire world vanished into a dark blinding tunnel vision, threatening to knock her down from the shock. Yet she found or rather ripped the strength out of whatever was stealing it and wrapped her arms around her son, intent on never letting go again. Izuku gave no resistance yet did not move to comfort his mother (not that he could with his torso locked beneath the woman's inhuman strength). Tears flowed freely from her sockets, soaking his upper body as Inko sobbed uncontrollably, all the while he looked to Hana for some sort of confirmation that he wasn't doing anything wrong.
The girl stared sympathetically and waited until his mother stopped sobbing to suggest with her hands that he should speak. Izuku managed to lift a single hand around his mother's back and patted her gently, completely out of his element and wishing to just run away more by the second.
"So...sorry I haven't called in three years, but um, I figured that…"
He turned his head to Hana, practically begging her with his eyes for her to step in as he heard his mother start sniffling. The tenth bearer stifled a huff of disappointment and gave the best tone she could.
"We figured that since things have calmed down a lot and that he's not in much danger anymore that now would be a good time to reconnect."
Inko raised her head from his shoulder and squinted at the strange girl who spoke for her child. There was a clear gleam of shame on the younger woman when she did this, pushing up her glasses in what might have been habit while avoiding the confrontation by looking away. However Izuku regarded her with a certain confidence and the feeling was mutual from how she looked to him. They trusted each other and that gave Inko reason to breathe a tad easier.
Reluctantly she let go of her boy with tears still streaming down her cheeks. Grief was something Inko had believed to overcome, but in that moment she could have been struck dead and it wouldn't have mattered, her son was back home. Though he wasn't the same, physically or mentally. Be it the massive white scar that divided his face or the straightness of his posture, his person had changed.
Still she mustered a smile and ushered them in, praying to every god and devil that Izuku won't flee like how his body language suggested. Again he looked at the girl, utterly uncertain before she rubbed him gently on the back and received an arm pulling her close almost to secure their waists together. Izuku once again smiled grimly at his mother as they all entered the tiny apartment, the tension choking him like a snake. He flinched when the door locked behind him and nearly jumped around in response, but didn't when his companion squeezed his arm pleadingly.
Inko took in the scene and dashed away her grief with an almost psychopathic calculation. So many things didn't add up and yet here he was and now she was still able to keep her son safe. What should she do? Call the police? No, that'll end badly for everyone. Contact All Might? Maybe, Izuku always adored the man, but even that wasn't certain anymore. She had too many "ifs" and "whys" when a perfect opportunity to set things right dropped on her doorstep.
Scrunching her face at the lackluster steadiness of her mind, Inko set the kettle on. Intent to be a somewhat decent host at the very least while her son was here, she pulled up a chair on the dining room table with the best smile she could manage. Izuku mimicked the act with his very being radiating discomfort while a plate of cookies slid in front of the two. Again he looked to Hana, not sure what to say with all that happened. On the one hand he knew at the very least he was happy to see his mother again, but on the other there was nearly three years of missed experiences, emotional baggage and well...straight up murder to explain away.
The sensation of just being in his childhood home again felt wrong, like he was entering a place he had no business being at. His mother continued to stare at him with a single desperation that he knew was "please don't leave" which only made it worse. Clearing his throat, Izuku shared another look between him and Hana, deciding to break the ice if only to stop the silence.
"So...sorry I've been gone for so long, but um...kidnapping and all that. Anyway, I have been doing pretty good for myself. I left the group that took me, and shacked up with some people. They're nice and treat me well and we get by well enough."
He gestured to the girl on his right.
"This is Hana by the way, she's...she's been a real help to me, even suggested I come see you. But that aside, how have you been?"
Hana shrank back a bit in her seat when Inko studied her. The tea cup in her pudgy fingers twillering ever so slightly before smiling like only a mother can.
"I've been better, it's a pleasure to meet you Hana. Thank you for looking out for my son while I couldn't. Now Izuku, sweetie, I want you to tell me right now if you're in any trouble."
The former villain squirmed under his mother's gaze, shame filling him more by the second. He let out a fake sort of laugh to try and mask it, but he knew she could see right through that.
"No, no, I'm fine mom. Nobody's out to get me or anything, I just wanted to...well, I wanted to see you after so long."
Inko eyed him judgingly, not quite buying what he said nor completely dismissing it either. She put her hands across her nose and massaged some of the stress. Izuku flinched from the gesture, recalling exactly what it meant.
"Honey, I need you to tell me everything that happened. So-"
There came a click from behind the two as the door was opened and stepping inside was the tall, gangly figure of Tomura Shigaraki, standing completely frozen when he met the gaze of the two newcomers. No one moved for the timeless seconds as they remained caught like a deer in headlights. That ended with a thunderous roar that shook the bones of everyone nearby.
"You son of a bitch!"
Izuku threw himself at the lanky form of his tormentor, ready and intent on maiming him. He pulled the revolver out of his waistband and didn't have the calmness to even aim before it was out of his hand thanks to his mother's quirk that sent it into her quivering hands. Dark shaded blue light flowed out of his body like a thunder cloud, empowering him with the might of an army while a vengeance long in the making propelled his limbs. Tomura was wide eyed as the squat body of his former comrade launched itself directly at him, he made to move yet it was in vain when strong fingers wrapped around his throat, bringing him to his knees and face to face with a man who's entire being radiated the sort of rage only the beaten and tormented can possess. Not an ounce of mercy rested in those green eyes, seeming more pitiless than even The Symbol of Evil at his worst. He reached out a hand reflexively to try and pry the arm off, but stopped at the knowledge of what would happen. Thankfully Tomura hadn't needed to make his own case as Inko practically threw herself onto her biological son and yanked desperately at his arm.
"Izuku, let him go! Please, let go!"
Tears tore down her cheeks in torrents, begging with all her will and using her quirk to try and peel the fingers off his neck. Hate filled Izuku's eyes when he saw the sorrow on his mother's face, a dangerous, animalistic hate that grew into a snarl. He was ready to break the weedy villain's neck and damn the consequences. Yet that halted when a voice peered in from the back and he felt a stronger hand grab him. Hana gripped his wrist in a near crushing pressure and made him pause as she spoke in that frank, matter of fact way that he had grown to value. She twisted his hand ever so gently to relieve the pressure on the criminal's windpipe.
"You need to stop. You aren't a villain anymore and your mother seems to know more about this situation than we do, so let go before he drags you down to his level."
There was a challenging edge to her voice that made the whole room feel tense. Izuku looked at her, finding a resoluteness to what she meant. For an instant, a mere instant he considered dismissing what she said and doing what he wanted, but there also came a definite backlash from one of the few people he had left, much less the only person he had grown this close to. "Don't let him bring you down to his level" repeated over and over in his head many times in the few seconds he continued to keep the successor to The Lord of Villainy by the neck. Looking again at his partner, then to his mother and at last to Tomura, his fingers slackened and allowed the taller man to fall to the floor with a thump.
"This bastard was the cause for everything! He took me from my home! He threatened me, drugged me, brainwashed me and destroyed every bit of who I was! It was because of him I got involved with that crazy bitch, it was because of him that I can't ever go back to being a hero! Fucking hell, he probably ordered that cunt to sleep with me so I'd be easier to manipulate! And you expect me to just let it be!?"
Hana shook her head solemnly, her eyes blazing with a moral contempt for the scum clutching at his throat on the floor. One For All sparked out of her, primed to action if the moment called for it.
"No, I don't, but you can't go around killing people without a fair trial. We're better than that. The most you can do at this point is to turn him in at best or if he is here to hurt then...maybe, but we don't take life unless there is no other option, even if the scum of the earth are before us. Besides, your mother isn't exactly horrified like she would be."
They both turned back to the limp man on the ground who was now being helped to his feet by the woman of the house. Inko spoke softly to the young killer, cradling his head as he slowly recovered through the gasping breaths he took. A maternal sense came from Inko which concealed none of the concern she held for the cleansing decay user. Tomura did eventually find his footing, leaning against the wall to support himself. There wasn't much in the way of anger or childish malice that Izuku would have guessed from the man, in fact the bastard was grinning ear to ear like he had just heard the funniest joke in the world. Carefully he pushed Inko away, touching the purple mark on his throat and beamed with an obvious pride that made the other two uncomfortable in the extreme.
"Well, good to see you haven't lost your balls since you left. Gotta say, not exactly what I expected, but close enough. How've you been Izuku? Haven't seen you since you ripped Sensei to shreds."
He focused on the girl standing just behind the green haired troublemaker who scowled with every ounce of self righteousness that told him more than enough about what she was.
"And who's this? Some puritanical bitch you hooked up with? Toga ain't gonna like that one bit."
Izuku contained his emotions under a heavy wall of contempt. He glared at the man who took everything from him, feeling his teeth click from the pressure. Snatching the .38 off the counter where it fell, he jammed it inside his waistband and drifted his attention back to Hana, trying to get a feel for how this should go. His eyes snapped back to Tomura again when he laughed mockingly, enjoying the squirms and embarrassment that he saw.
"Damn, you actually listen to this nobody npc. Fuckin' hell, you're gone for hardly a year and you already let somebody else do your thinking. Tell, me does she-"
The rant ended suddenly when Inko got to her feet properly and in turn glared at the villain with what could only be described as parental annoyance, the tears now forgotten. Tomura noticed this instantly and pursed his lips. The older woman held her expression, turned to him and spoke in a tone that Izuku thought she reserved only for him when he messed up badly.
"Tomura, this is not how you greet someone. Especially when there's bigger issues at hand. Now, Izuku has come back and we will make him feel welcome, understand?"
The master of decay, the bane of justice, the leader of the infamous League of Villains who had brought down one of the brightest stars of a generation and could easily destroy buildings with a touch, lowered his head like a child to the short, overweight woman who could barely fight at all. He nodded apologetically to the three around him and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, still smiling in such an uncharacteristic way.
"Right...I see what you mean. Just got caught up in the rush of things."
He made eye contact with Izuku and walked closer to the younger man. His stride was short and reserved, growing more reluctant in tune with the arcs of blue energy that flickered out of the girl behind Izuku.
"Sorry about that, I let my tongue get away from me. Regardless, it's good to see you again, Greenbean."
Lanky arms stretched out to grip around the young man which Izuku stepped away from, a hand reaching into the exposed handle of his revolver. Tomura recoiled with disappointment heavy on his brow. Both of the men eyed Inko, looking for what to do when Izuku allowed his emotions to break.
"What the fuck is he doing here and why in the hell are you acting so soft towards him, Mom? He's a goddamn villain and-"
The eldest Midoyria held her hands to her face, dragging them down the length of her cheeks and for the first time in a long, long time to her son, clenched her hands into fists, popping the cartilage between the joints. She gestured to the table and began to set out cups of tea for everyone as she returned to the kitchen, the sense of weariness never leaving her. Izuku and Hana shared an equally confused sentiment while Tomura just stared on awkwardly, flinching even when Izuku spoke out with his quirk now causing him to glow a darker shade of blue.
"Give me one good reason not to shatter every bone in your goddamn body for what you did. More to the point, why are you here?"
The girl gripped his shoulder, reminding him that she was still there in his anger. Tomura found the will to chuckle as he became torn between running away to save his skin or staying to try and patch things up.
"For the first, let's just say there's a lot I need to catch you up on and I can't do that if I'm screaming in pain. As for the second...I kinda...live here now."
There were many things the ninth and tenth bearers of One For All expected to hear, anything from extortion to blackmail to hostage taking. This was not one of them. Izuku blinked, completely sure he misheard while Hana recoiled in shock. The biological son answered back, still certain this was either a lie or a trick.
"You gotta be kidding. Of all the bullshit you could say, do you honestly expect me to buy that? What, did the old man kick you out or did everybody exile you after you kept fucking up?"
Tomura shifted his gaze to the wall, not focusing on anything at the moment. His hand found the back of his neck as the urge to scratch knocked louder under the strain.
"No, I moved out actually. Been here three months now? Look, this is hard to believe and after everything that happened with the League, you, me and well everything else, I don't expect you to. But Izuku, I'm being serious when I say there's something I have to tell you."
Anger bubbled anew in the younger man as old thoughts and grudges came in tow. He stole a glance back at his partner with shame slinking in from what he instantly thought of, yet of all the things he could learn he had to know this before his death or it'll haunt him past that. In a whirl he spun with his quirk blazing to match his emotions towards the seemingly insignificant villain.
"Did you have Toga sleep with me?"
Tomura paused with honest disgust forming in his soul. He found himself becoming serious and no nonsense from the implication to the point that Izuku backed down a bit.
"No, everything she did was all her. Save for the quirk suppressors, each bit of madness she made was her own doing, the good, the bad and the ugly. Though, to be fair she did try and make sure you weren't too fucked up by the doses once you started getting a resistance to them."
Instantly memories of all the times he woke up with extreme chest pain for seemingly no reason came back like a freight train. The proof was right in front of him for that long and he never knew. More emotions built up as the images bridged one another in his head. Betrayal, mistrust, hate, rage, fear, shame, all stormed in him and caused a heavy casting of his quirk to surge out of his torso and to his limbs. So messed up was Izuku's mind that all he wanted was to retreat away from it, only to get a jolt of pain that brought him back to reality. Hana was now beside him, digging her fingers into his bicep while her given quirk spread outwards and touched his body.
Nothing in the world for that moment was stronger than her to him as her mere presence chased away lingering sins and the demons that sprang from his deepest regrets. So sure, so robust in her gentleness while not backing down an inch in the face of such evil. There was contempt of the most glorious and heroic sort that made even his shortcomings die when she glared at Tomura, her arm now firmly wrapped around Izuku's in the most protective way.
"You're scum, you know that?"
An eye roll was all she got out of him as the killer positioned himself into one of the wooden dining table chairs, his usual annoyance returning in strength.
"Oh, what fuck do you know about any of this? You're some bitch who just got dragged along into his life. You don't know what we've done, you don't know the sacrifices we all had to make and you're certainly not anybody who's gonna be sticking around for long when shit gets bad, and I mean slasher movie level bad."
Hana scowled as if a slug had just crawled over her shoe, tightening her hold over Izuku's arm like he was going to vanish.
"I know you're nothing but a sad manchild of a bully who only corrupted what you couldn't have and ruined his life for your own ends while some crazy sadist of a bitch tortured him. And the fact I'm here now proves that I'm not going to run no matter what you or any other sicko does."
Tomura leveled his eyes at the girl. Instantly there came a buzz in the back of her skull that vibrated out like a dull headache, not quite causing her to move, but showing in a way more than basic animal instinct that danger was close at hand.
"You can say that now, but have you ever had someone try to kill you? I-"
At once black tendrils shot out of her wrists when the buzzing in her skull shouted "Danger!" in some unknowable, sixth sense way, wrapping around the entirety of the villain and lifting him into the air with effortless ease, leaving only his head and feet visible under the twisting binds while he shouted and cursed in surprise, his decay quirk rendered useless in the trappings. Hana was huffing from the sudden and involuntary reaction that her body made. Sweat beaded down her forehead in response to the heat radiating off her in waves that changed the temperature of the room. Her arm became able to hold the weight from the reinforcement of One For All. Pure muscle memory switched her legs into a fighting stance when she saw this unfold before her eyes, keeping her from toppling over.
Tomura struggled wildly under the tendrils, his desire to show the cunt a lesson now set in his mind. He grimaced from how Izuku stared at the situation like some shocked weakling, god damn what had happened while he was away? Normally there would be the select violence of the man, yet now he was so reserved it hurt to see after everything they've been through together. Yet that became the least of his issues when the bands of black energy starts to slowly squeeze around him like a snake, causing his bones to pop as the blue haired bitch glared in a hate so pure in its belief and commitment that had he been himself of four years ago, there'd be actual jealousy for that sort of drive. The pressure increased, constricting slowly to crush the breath from his lungs as the movement started to press hard against his ribs.
The rage started to shift into panic as he realized from the way the woman stared at him, that he was likely going to die at this rate. There wasn't any petty sort of enjoyment or high of power in her eyes that colored every villain from the most childish to the most depraved, instead there was only the cold vengeance of the anger of a good person pushed too far. This woman intended to hurt him because it was the right thing, the moral thing, to do in the face of all that happened to the person she loved and that filled him with a fear Tomura hadn't felt in a long time. However, his crippling was held off when Inko chimed in with a tray of fresh pork belly katsudon, the portions unreasonably large and plentiful.
"Would you mind setting him down, please? Dinner is ready and we need to talk, all of us."
Hana glared at the woman in near equal contempt to the sick monster in her grasp as her quirk crackled in response to her emotions, cultivating even more heat from the reaction that now sent heatwaves out that warped the air surrounding her like a tide in a desert. Tendrils began to ebb out of her left wrist now, slinking with a squirming wiggle that almost made them appear alive as they swayed and curled reflexively, flicking slowly out of the girl until they dangled near the floor.
"Why? This man took your child from you, tortured him, burned his life to the ground and ruined more lives than anyone can know and yet you stand there ordering me to let him go after he explicitly said he was going to try and kill me? No, I think what I'm going to do is break every bone in his body and dump him at the nearest police station afterwards. You have a problem with that Ma'am?"
Inko remained unfazed and moved to set up the table with her mood still staying the same. Plates were centered around the main course of pork belly katsudon held in a porcelain tub, steam wafting up from it while chopsticks waited beside those. Soon empty cups the size of a forearm came next. Once that was completed she set her sights to the younger lady, her age showing in droves.
"Yes I do, seeing as how he's my son. So again, if you would please take a seat for this to get cleared up it'd do us all a favor."
Izuku flinched with such a force that his back banged against a wall behind him. His eyes were wide with confusion and disbelief, shifting from his mother to Tomura to back again. There was a tremor in his limbs, shaking weakly as his brain refused to fully process what was said. Everything felt so distant, so removed from him that the fear overturning his rage was numbing if anything. Yet that remoteness died instantly when a warm hand touched him. Hana stared back at him with all the resolve behind her faith, handling him like an anchor that dragged his mind back into reality. Silently thanking the very stars themselves for this woman, Izuku drew his attention to his mother, who now appeared like the spitting image a lifetime of parenthood had cultivated in his head with the unbridled concern and near uncontrollable urge to help her child plan on her face. Biting his lower lip like he needed to do, Izuku found an uncomfortable smile crawling onto his soul.
"Mom...what do you mean?"
Inko once again pursed her lips at her son, wringing her hands compulsively while dinner sat cooling on the table. Now fraught with a shame that the young man never imagined his mother could possess. Swiftly her eyes met his if only for a second before dashing to the floor and back again. Hesitation lingered in the air, threatening to blow everything away in an instant. Moving to the side of the table and pulling up a chair for herself, Inko answered thinly as if it hurt to say.
"There's...is a lot I haven't told you sweetie. Things I hadn't even known about until after things went wrong...but do you remember how you have an older brother that went overseas with your father?"
Nothing came or went, no air passed his lungs nor twitch from his body. Everything was inert as his brain, so highly valued and sharpened over years of self education, need and talent, calculated everything those two sentences meant. Then like dominos the synapsis of his grey matter fired one after the other like an unending siege of half truths, signs and hints which unraveled into a larger and far more disturbing picture that painted his entire tenure with the villains in a much more hellish light. However it only climaxed in horror when he realized one thing above all else that could never banish the fact from his brain. It made sense. It made fucking sense and he was unable to see it until all the peices were finally spilled in front of him.
The kidnapping, his talents, the kindness, the manipulation, the denial and the lies. It was because of that one simple truth. His legs gave out underneath him as he all but fell on to Hana who caught him with both arms. He slouched like a rag doll, the mass of packed muscle becoming useless under the spell. Impulsively he sought out her hand, squeezing it for some connection to anything beyond the psychosis and gained double the help when she returned the favor. His eyes traveled to the ceiling of his childhood home, everything becoming tainted when the words passed his lips.
"All For One is my father."
The very sentence brought a demonic weight to the room as he slumped down deeper into his partner's arms, now fully depending on her for support while the black whips sprouting from her wrists flexed, intrapping their prey still. The Tenth bearer held the Ninth close, not sure of what to even make of the announcement and not fully believing his claim in the slightest. It all seemed too convenient to be true, yet Izuku had to think so given his current state. Tomura ceased his struggles in the energy bindings, almost sympathetic in his view of his oldest friend while Inko pulled aside another chair which scraped against the floor and begged with her eyes that he sit down. Blood rushed back to his legs eventually as the ground became a solid concept again. Shaking overcame his calloused hands, but still he stood despite the shock.
Tomura, had he the room to move would have inched away when those too familiar dead eyes found him. Their blankness a front for the cold, wild emotions just waiting behind the veil that propelled the once idealic young hero into deeds so inhuman that simple murder would be a kindness if the right mood hit him. Izuku stared at him silently, weighing every little trick and deception played by the pathetic man child through the years. Intently he turned to Hana, who maintained her stoicism at his change despite the urge to speak. He placed a hand on her shoulder, allowing his fingers to tap rhythmically for a bit until he found the right words to say to the villain at their mercy.
"Did you know?"
Sweat beaded down the decay user's brow in long learned fear, his hands scrambling for any leverage while the opportunity to make amends still remained.
"No, I had no fucking idea. You think I'd keep something like that secret when I wanted you around? He messed with my memories so I couldn't remember your mom or this place or anything good. He fucked me over the same as you and now I'm here so we can get our revenge on the old fucker! Now get off your ass and let's go!"
He cried out when the tendrils choked down harder like a fist around an egg, bruising his ribs and nearly breaking his arms.
"He isn't going anywhere you dick! You don't get to dictate his life for your petty games anymore, not now or ever again!"
There came a screech of hardwood skewering across hardwood that silenced the room, Inko was standing with her face brimming with fury and sorrow, completely ready to berate the girl when once again Izuku placed a hand on the stranger he brought to their home.
"Hana, let him down. We came here for a reason and if Hand Man thinks he can add something of worth to this discussion then arguing about a null issue is the last thing we should do, but before you do that."
He walked towards the suspended form of his former leader, his green eyes now murderously cold as he grabbed the greasy blue hair of the man and pulled his mouth to his ear, malicious dripping in the refined manner of nearly two years of trial and error. The fingers digging down to the root while One For All increased their strength, the audible crackling sound mounting the fear of the decay villain as he stopped struggling in vain. There was a simplicity to Izuku's tone that cemented the statement as a fact, there was no anger or vindictiveness, only a solemn promise that would be carried out.
"If you think I'll allow you to get away with any of your bullshit, if you try to betray the hand I'm offering."
He twisted the hair in his hand and dragged Tomura's ear closer, his breath hot and dreadful in the clinch.
"If you attempt to harm my mother after all she's done to defend you or you retaliate against my partner in any way after she went easy on you or you hurt anyone in this house and I will show exactly what I learned from you and the rest of them. Do you understand, Tomura?"
A chill set in the air which was too reminiscent of the old man. The assuring swiftness of violence appearing in his mind as example after example of his own death showed itself in ways more grotesque than the last. He wasn't sure if it was truly like how his mentor did where death followed in his path or if it was due to understanding just how horrible the threat was that made them appear. Reluctantly he nodded and relaxed as best he could.
"I understand better than anyone and I'm not suicidal enough to test your patience. I swear I won't try anything, not that it matters with you powered up and miss goody-goody over there being that fast."
Izuku motioned to Hana to release him and despite clearly not wishing to, she complied. Allowing the whips around the A-rank villain to resend back into her wrists(while also dropping him hard on the floor from the height), the ends still poked out like a black pearl bracelet as her body refused to completely drop her guard. To which Tomura glared at her for, but only dusted himself off.
"So what's the story between you two anyway? You save her in an alleyway and decide to be a white knight while she orders you around?"
Izuku shrugged, moving to the table and taking a chair across from his mother.
"You're about half right in that."
He faced Inko with the ire of one long waiting and scorned. Adjacent to him Hana sat down without a word, her eyes tracking between the others nervously. Tomura set himself at the latter end of the table, not in arm's reach of anyone as he listened to his former right hand speak in that hair raising way which warmed his cold, almost dead heart.
"Mom, can you please explain...this situation I was born into? Because after all the things I endured, a little honesty is what I need. Or more to the point, how in the hell did I even happen? You're the kindest person I know and he is...himself. I doubt it was because of chemistry, am I right?"
Inko sighed, shame still lingering on her face. A nostalgic smile came soon after before regret, loneliness and dread followed in rapid succession. Her eyes drifted to Tomura and meekly raised a finger towards him.
"To be completely honest sweetie, the entire reason I was even able to get past your father's attitude in the first place was because of Tomura. He was around six when we first met and Hisashi was having trouble calming him down after he started a tantrum and Dr. Garaki was equally stumped so I stepped in to help out of good will which landed me-"
Instantly Izuku's expression transformed to one of heartbreak as he stared at his mother in disbelief.
"Popo was part of this? I...I thought he was just a quirk specialist. That's what you told me when I asked you what he did. Why-"
Tomura interrupted by way of his knees hitting the table as he jumped in surprise, even more horrifying than the blood son.
"Hold up, you know who Garaki is?"
Izuku turned to him dumbfounded, appearing far less like his lethal self in the emotional pain he had.
"Yeah, he was my Popo. I knew him since I was four, he was like a grandfather to me. He's the one who got me interested in quirks and taught me how to take notes. He even showed up every Christmas so we wouldn't be alone. Hell, he even delivered me from what he said."
Tomura felt his jaw drop at the blatant insanity in front of him. His voice came out in a shout at how close this all was. Standing up from his seat and slamming his hands on the table his answer was booming in the relatively tiny room.
"He was the guy who made the fucking Nomus! Every little biological horror we threw at the world was his handiwork! He was the one who took my memories at the old man's request! He fucking experimented on children for fuck sakes, granted they were likely dead before he got them, which only makes it worse! Inko, how the hell could let that sick fuck around your child!?"
Inko recoiled at the outburst, but she never got the chance to answer when a horror so deep settled in her son that he turned ghostly pale.
"He said there'd be a job for me if I couldn't become a hero. He offered to make me his lab assistant on a project that was supposed to change the world, that it would be something I'd be perfect with. To shape the very foundations of humanity and finally understand what quirks are, to push them beyond normal limits set by ignorant fools too fearful of progress. I'd be funded through university and...then I would have taken over for him."
His eyes were haunted, the memories and visions of that kindly grandfather who was for the longest time his only male relative, who had watched him numerous times during his mother's late shifts and played heroes and villains with him. The man who at the age of five gave him his first notebook and taught him all the facts his young mind could hold about quirks. Now they were being cross examined with computer-like efficiency against the few times in his life he had seen the abominations that man created. Crimes against the very law of nature which suffered mindlessly under his control while an even greater evil, the boy's own father, directed it.
The grief had come and passed instantly in the haze of unholy revelations that appeared one after the other. Color returned to Izuku as he repressed the memories and placed them in the past where they belonged. He massaged the bridge of his nose with his hands cradled between his eyes and shut them for a moment, opening them with a frank and tired weariness that should possess someone four times his age.
"Alright, since that's all been firmly established and unless there's more earth shattering news you'd both like to share. What do we do now? What's the plan going forward where we each get over this hurdle?"
Knuckles popped reflexively across the table as Tomura glared down contemptuously at him. The emotion was more related to disappointment and brotherly anger than honest hate.
"You come back with me, we gather the League, we kick the old man's ass and make him apologize, then we get started on taking over the fucking world like we're suppose to and bring this rotten corpse of a society to the ground so others can have it better then we did."
Izuku scowled at the man, his quirk flaring up at last in response as he shot up, knocking his own chair down in the process.
"No, I'm not! You threw my fucking life away and now that you finally got screwed by a fourth as much as did by your misguided trust in a man literally nicknamed "The Symbol of Evil", you come to my home, steal my life and cling to my mother, who was suffering because of what you caused and you expect your everything to go your way because you "deserve it" and think I'm still your fucking pet project to parade around so you can go "Hey, look I'm not a total failure"! But I'm not that anymore you son of a bitch! I'd rather slit my own fucking throat before ever setting foot near that house of madness again! I'm done with the killing, I'm done with the pain and the sobbing and the fear!"
One For All (or something like it) lit up his torso with dark blue light arcing this way and that way as the table was flipped over, landing on its top and placing the wooden legs up right. Spreading the remains of a long wasted feast on the oak flooring. Izuku gritted his teeth, the bone not yielding as the power flowed even through it before he shouted a truth held so long he almost thought it dead.
"I don't want to be there ever again! Yes I understand your point and you're not wrong, but it isn't worth it! I don't want to be tortured by someone I love just to make them happy! I don't wanna lie anymore to myself or anyone! I never want to see another corpse for as long as I live and I never want to deal with a bunch of raving psychotics just to survive!"
In a blur he launched himself at the older youth, his fingers digging into his cheeks and pulling him close.
"I have to be free and so do you! Quit the goddamn villain games Tomura! Stop doing what All For One wants for once in your life and live how you want! Let him rot away in his hate and his misery while you go forth and enjoy your time on earth, that's how to get back at bitter shells like him! He wants you angry, he wants you hateful and pathetic because that's how he controls you! Why else would he have let you suffer for so long!? You have my mom, you have a way out and even if he tries to bring you back, I know you can crumble him into nothing! Fuckin' hell I did it with my bare hands, you can do infinitely worse if you need to!"
Izuku moved his hands to the collar of Tomura's shirt, throwing him into a wall which left a crater the size of his back in the drywall.
"This'll be the last time I'll speak to you, so I'll make it count. I loathe you and everyone else in that group, you all took my future, but seeing any of you die is worse than any hate I can hold. I know I care when I should be long past that, but I need you to know that you can change, you all can if you commit to being better and surround yourself with the right kinds of people. There's hope if you look deep enough."
He motioned towards the door and Hana hurried to his side, her inherited powers blazing fiercely enough to match his as one last note came.
"Now, I'm going to leave and never come back. If you or any of the others come looking for me again I'll kill you to the last. Keep the remains of my life for all I care, I don't dwell in the past anymore, just don't you ever come near my new one unless you plan to die."
The door flung open, its brass knob punching a hole in the wall from the force placed upon it and the two bearers of One For All leapt away into the streets and out of sight while the successor of All For One laid motionless in pain by the crater his brother made. Inko tended to him as best she could, though it was the words that rang in his ears that hurt the most before he blacked out. Later that day as they arrived back home, climbing the concrete stairs to their sanctuary Izuku said not a word to his partner. Stewing in his own reliving of the facts, he stopped when she grabbed his arm forcefully, making him look her in the eye.
"This doesn't change anything, you know that right? You're still you no matter who your father is and I'll stick by you till the end, even if he does show up."
He pursed his lips, thinking of how every bit of his life now might have a double meaning, a second reason that he was too blind to read. Her hand was brushed aside with a yank as they now stood in front of the apartment.
"I know...just promise me that if he does you'll run. Don't fight, don't barter, don't do anything except flee. He'll try and tell you what you want to hear, but it's all lies."
She curled her hands into quaking fists that had both the blue energy crackling and the beginnings of the whips ebbing out of her wrists from how affronted she was.
"Never, you gave me this power so I can fight and I'd rather take suffering then leave you behind. We're in this together until the end and I intend to keep it that way no matter what some old bully does."
Izuku pointed an accusatory finger her way, suddenly much more serious in his tone and posture.
"Your responsibility is to keep him away from that power. If he gets a hold of what's inside you then it's game over. I already served my purpose in that regard, but there are people I want to go to if things get that bad. Understand?"
She stepped back, slightly unnerved by his actions and the direness of his words. The weight of the words showed on his face, revealing lines and causing the faded scar bisecting his face to flex.
"Yes, but-"
"But nothing, we'll discuss this in the morning. For now I need to rest and think for a long time."
He entered the dwelling, instantly made aware of the warmth inside and the pleasant sounds of Beethoven mixing with the sweet scent of jasmine tea. On the couch with a book in both hands sat Gentle and La Brava, curled up in a blanket without a care in the world. The kind criminal greeted them happily as he stood up to hand them each a cup of tea.
"So, how'd it go? Was she glad to see you?"
He paused when the younger man approached him, wrapping his arms tightly around his torso for a few seconds before letting go. There was a sorrow in those green eyes that only family could bring and he knew that feeling too well. He saw a stray tear stream down the young man's cheek as Izuku kept his head down and focused solely on the floor.
"Gentle, thank you for helping so much...I can't begin to express how much that means to me."
He made a smile born of the sort of bond only shared hardship can make as the tea was given to his ward who still refused to look up.
"Thank you Izuku, none of us wouldn't have made it this far without you and if you need to talk, we're here for you."