From very early on in Izuku's life, he smelled of death.
Even before his Quirk manifested a year ago, Izuku had an unnerving presence. Eyes that seemed to look directly into your soul, stamina that outlasted all of his friends with ease, and strength that seemed just ever so slightly unnatural for the five-year-old.
Izuku Midoriya was a bit of a cryptid. His Quirk, NecroShadows, allowed him to see wisps of black smoke from corpses, and know exactly who or what they were, when they died, and what killed them.
He had discovered his Quirk after seeing a dead bird in the playground and notifying the teachers of the smoke coming off of it. The teachers had been quick to tell him that there wasn't any, and they all realised that Izuku's quirk had manifested.
The teachers had praised him, telling him how good of a detective he could be, or coroner, or medical examiner for the police. But Izuku was just staring at the bird, or more specifically, the smoke rising from at.
He stayed like that for a while, staring at the bird, every now and then poking it with a stick. He felt some sort of connection to the bird as if it was trying to hold onto its life, even though it was long dead.
The bell-ringing pulled him out of his fervour to see that the other kids had all abandoned him to go play something else, except for his best friend, no, his brother, Kacchan. He hadn't gotten his Quirk yet, so he was excited to see Izuku's.
"Hey, Izuchan, are you sure that's all your Quirk does? You were running for a really long time today, and you're not even sweating! Maybe you have Super Stamina too, like All Might!"
Izuku perked up at this. He had been running for a while today and wasn't feeling tired at all! Maybe he did have super stamina! He turned to Kacchan. "That would be awesome! I would love to test it, but we have class now…"
Kacchan huffed, crossing his arms. "Fine. Let's go to class then Izuchan. Don't wanna be late."
The blonde turned to Izuku as he got up. "Hey, Izuchan? I just want you to know that even if you don't have super stamina, we're gonna be heroes together, alright? I'll be by your side the whole time! Izuchan and Bakugou, the tag team heroes!"
Izuku pumped his fist into the air. "Yea! I bet your Quirk is gonna be really awesome as well Kacchan! We'll be side by side fighting villains forever!"
They walked into class smiling, not realising just how right they were.
It was two days after Kachaan got his Quirk that it happened.
They had been at school when it manifested, the ability to turn the sweat on his palms into explosions. The teachers had immediately gone into the Quirk awakening protocols for dangerous Quirks, contacting a professional Quirk Doctor as well as Kacchan's parents.
While everyone had been delighted that Kacchan had gotten such a powerful Quirk, especially with the estimates the doctor had made about its growth in power as he got older, they hadn't had the time to properly celebrate it until two days after.
The Midoriyas and Bakugous were at an ice cream parlour, sitting outside, chatting about a myriad of topics. Izuku and Katsuki were chatting about heroes, and costume ideas for their Quirks, while their parents were talking about the new safety measures the Bakugous had to implement into their house now that Katsuki could blow things up.
They were enjoying themselves, as always, and it was right as Inko started talking about how strong Izuku was compared to other kids his age that the world was turned upside down for all of them.
An explosion ripped through the air, everyone glancing at Katsuki before looking over to the end of the street, seeing a tall man with a blue aura around him running down the street towards them.
Izuku and Katsuki looked in awe as they saw the man who was in hot pursuit of the villain. Endeavour, the No. 2 Pro Hero, sprinted after the villain at speeds you would think unnatural for a man of his size.
Shooting fire in an arc in front of him, he blocked off the street for the villain, who came to a halt in front of the fire wall. "Stand down Villain!" he ordered, in a deep, booming voice, "You're through."
The villain looked around frantically before setting his sights on the Midoriyas and Bakugous. His face grew a rabid smirk as the blue aura around him turned yellow, Katsuki and Izuku yelping as they found themselves being pulled toward the villain.
Inko screamed as she reached out with both hands, activating her Quirk, but she hadn't used it for something like this in a while, only using it to grab things like pens and books, and was rusty with it.
Izuku slowed just enough for Mitsuki to be able to reach out and grab him, but Katsuki wasn't as lucky. Slipping free from Inko's Quirk, her focus too split to put any more power into it, he hurtled towards the villain.
Unfortunately, Endeavour had not seen this happen, only the fact that the villain had changed what their Quirk was doing, and attacked with a bolt of flames, tinged with blue.
Katsuki had brought his hands forward to fire an explosion at the villain almost on instinct, causing the villain to yelp and change the yellow coloured aura back to blue.
Because of this, Bakugou felt the pull stop, holding him in the air right in front of the villain. Right in the path of the firebolt.
The last thing he saw was his mum screaming while his dad held her back. He saw Inko hugging Izuku as she watched the scene with tears.
He saw his best friend looking at him with fear in his eyes as heat and light enveloped his entire world.
Then everything went black.
And then, everything came back again?
Katsuki stood up, feeling incredibly light, and not in any pain whatsoever. He looked around, seeing a bunch of people that weren't there before, now working to quell the fires.
He recognised some of Endeavour's sidekicks helping the firefighters put out the blaze, while Endeavour talked to a police officer. The man that had grabbed him was being put into the back of a police car, with Quirk suppressant cuffs.
"Kacchan, please! Look at me!"
He heard Izuku's voice, and his entire being filled with the urge to look at the boy. He couldn't even fight it, the part of his mind dedicated to that seemingly not functioning. He turned to Izuku and saw his best friend, as well as Inko, standing next to his family, who were looking at him in fear.
He shook himself off and opened his mouth to speak. He felt himself speak his questions, but no words came out. Not even his breathing was audible. He started to panic a little internally. Why couldn't he talk?!
He took a step forward, toward his mum and dad, his heart nearly breaking as they took a step away from him and looked at Izuku. Then he heard it. The sentence that would start his new 'life'.
"What did you do to my son?!"
Mitsuki's scream would be in Izuku's memory forever.
The anguish he felt at seeing his best friend hit the ground, motionless, was immense.
He knew Kachaan was dead. Black smoke was coming off of the boy, and his Quirk was supplying him with all the information he needed.
[Katsuki Bakugou, AKA: Kacchan]
[4.3 years old]
[Death caused by: 3rd & 4th-degree burns suffered to the torso, destroying lungs and heart]
Izuku had run over to the boy, no, the corpse, as Endeavour knocked the villain unconscious, not even sparing a glance to Izuku and his friend.
"KACCHAN!"
Inko was already crying, while Mitsuki was staring at the body in silence, shock etched onto her face. Izuku was crouched down, shaking the body, tears flowing down his face. He knew he was dead.
Kacchan, his best friend, his brother, his future hero partner, was dead. Izuku knew it was true and he still couldn't believe it. Still couldn't accept it.
He felt something pulling his gaze to the body. It was similar to how the bird had felt but angrier, more desperate.
As if Kacchan was trying to claw his way back to the land of the living.
The smoke was agitated as Izuku touched the corpse. It shot out and came back to the body over and over again like it wanted to break free from something.
Izuku wanted to help it.
"Kacchan, please come back! You promised you'd be by my side… you promised!"
He sniffled as he touched the body's shoulder, the sirens that had been in the distance louder as the police and ambulances arrived. "Please Kacchan, I need you to come back."
"I need you to get UP!"
Katsuki had gotten up, just not the way any of them had imagined.
After Izuku had yelled the last bit, it was like a dam had burst. Shadows shot out of Katsuki's corpse, visible to everyone, not just Izuku. They writhed and flowed, wrapping around themselves to form a vaguely human-shaped form lying on the ground.
From there, a green light appeared out of Katsuki's corpse, flooding into the shadow body. It eventually dimmed, only visible where Katsuki's eyes and palms would have been. Izuku was crying even harder now, not willing to let himself hope. "Kacchan? Is that you?"
The Shadow-Kacchan stood up and looked around, lingering on the villain and Endeavour for a little longer, before looking at his parents.
"Kacchan, please! Look at me!"
That felt different. He didn't know how or why, but when he told him to do something, he felt a pull on his connection to the Shadow-Kacchan, and was surprised to see the boy turn to him immediately.
The shadow had settled enough for the general shape of Katsuki to show. Izuku could see his mouth moving, but there was no sound coming out. Could he not talk like this? What even was this?
He watched the Shadow-Kacchan take a step forward, his breath held unconsciously. Izuku didn't fully understand what he had done, but his Quirk wasn't telling him that Kacchan was dead anymore. Did he bring him back to life?
He didn't get a lot of time to think about it though, because of the scream directed at him. "What did you do to my son?!"
He turned to see Mitsuki looking at the Shadow-Katsuki with horror, Masaru beside her looking like he had seen a ghost. Had he? Was Kacchan a ghost now?
Izuku looked between Shadow-Kacchan and Mitsuki a few times, before very cleverly not answering the question, but asking one of his own. "You can see him?"
Mitsuki looked at him like he was crazy, a look that scared Izuku, with her makeup running and tears still streaming down her face, she looked terrifying. "Of course I can see him! What the FUCK did you do to my son?!"
Izuku flinched and backed away, noticing the Shadow-Bakugou take a step forward, placing itself next to Izuku. "I don't know! I just… told him to get back up, this happened, and now my Quirk is telling me that Kacchan is alive again!"
Mitsuki looked like she wanted to say something when the Shadow-Bakugou walked up to her. He was mouthing words, looking like he was getting angrier the longer it was apparent that he couldn't speak.
Mitsuki broke down crying again when her little Katsuki, or at least whatever this thing that came from him, wrapped his arms around her legs, pressing his face into her thigh. She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around the Shadow, reviling in just how warm it was.
It was then that a few of the paramedics arrived near them, ushering them towards some ambulances. Izuku looked over at the Shadow-Kacchan, who seemed like he wanted to follow Izuku.
It was like he was fighting against a wall that was pushing him towards Izuku. He crossed his arms and shook his head. "Kacchan, you stay with your family tonight, I'll see you tomorrow, OK?"
Instantly, the wall dragging him towards Izuku seemed to disappear, and the shadow followed his parents and the paramedics to the ambulances.
He saw Mitsuki giving the Shadow-Katsuki a concerned glance, before the doors of the ambulance closed, with Katsuki's body laying on a stretcher. Everyone was incredibly confused as to what Izuku had done to Katsuki.
But they would find out more in the days to come…
AN: New fic! If you liked this, please check out my profile for my other fics and One-Shots, as well as the manga Solo Leveling! This Quirk is basically a power from that story, I fell in love with the manga and got attacked by this plot bunny!
See you guys next chapter!