Run.

The pounding of his footsteps matched with the pounding of his heart. Every single footstep was as destructive as a full-blown stampede, with the street cracking and cars that were more rust than metal cleared the way as he—they—ran. Power filled his every breath as he crashed through a building, the others following him as they descended upon their prey, a massive beast that controlled fire and ice.

His vision shifted slightly, turning to that female, tall, slender, powerful, and feral creature with only her soft pink hair to contrast her sheer brutality. A spear of light manifested in her hand, like lightning frozen in time. The tip was a bright red dot that drowned out the sun and engulfed even the most stubborn of shadows.

With a throw that broke the sound barrier several times over, that lightning bolt was launched from her hands and shattered the ground beneath them. The beast below them took the blow, and its massive head, filled with far more eyes and teeth than any creature could ever need, snapped up towards them.

And then he drew a fist back. His knuckles popped again and again and again while every single muscle in his body went into this one singular punch. The world shook violently when his fist caught the creature's jaw and forced it to crumple like an accordion, killing it.

The others around him shouted and hollered at their victory. Tonight they would eat.

Then Izuku turned and stared off at the horizon where Mount Fuji sat. A massive chunk out of its side was missing, like someone had taken a bite out of an apple to its core.

XXXX

The loud droning from his alarm woke Izuku up in the worst possible way, both slowly and abruptly. It was the same as it was every morning. The alarm would buzz for several minutes, tingling his brain and making him more annoyed before he finally woke up and turned the damn thing off. It'd almost be worth it to just grab the device and slam it into the wall as hard as he could.

A second beep from his collar told him to watch those thoughts.

"Those dreams… Again?" With a groan, Izuku sat up in his room. The window let in the cold, early morning light, where the fog seemed to be intent on keeping the day at bay for a few more hours. Despite the coldness that had seeped into his room, he was covered in sweat. The sheets and covers for his bed had been completely unmade due to his nightly thrashing that those damn dreams always heralded.

They weren't all bad. If anything, they were amazing, fantastic, and so vivid.

They just made him want to be free.

His bare feet touched the cold wooden floor of his room, and he glared at his reflection in the mirror. Somehow he looked more tired than when he went to bed. There were bags under his eyes, and his body still glistened with that cold sweat he seemed to wake up to every single morning. With a sigh, he tried to shake off that 'resting bitch face' some of the kids at school liked to claim he had.

It didn't work. He still looked tired and annoyed. "Still better than being a crybaby."

After a quick shower that helped him actually wake up and remove the layer of sweat he had woken up in, Izuku felt a bit better. Not really happy per se, just better.

He wasn't looking forward to what came after the shower, but it was an important part of his life: his medication.

It affected his mood, making even the brightest and sunniest of summer days feel like they were a miserable foggy day where smiles were as rare as sunshine. It wasn't that he was sad, just that everything was muted. Everything felt like how unflavored rice tasted. They kept his emotions in check, made it so he wouldn't get too angry and set off his collar.

Because if he was angry, they were worried he would set off his quirk.

And that was something that needed to be avoided at all costs.

Izuku ran his finger along the thick black collar he wasn't allowed to take off. Designed to take so many readings per minute that he was pretty sure his observer could read his mind, it acted as an early warning system, letting him know whenever he was angry or thinking about activating his quirk, and letting his observers know that he was about to transform.

Though, mostly it just served as a fashion statement that made him look edgier than he was.

"I suppose I should be grateful," he muttered, bouncing the handful of pills he had to take each morning in one hand while he flipped open his half-full water bottle with the other. "Not too long ago I'd either be locked away, sent away, or killed."

It was the simple reality of the world that he lived in. Not every quirk was safe for society. Without aid, some could cause untold damage to those around them. Sure, some could be useful, such as Nicholas Garity, an American who was a living reactor, but others not so much. Some became lab rats, others were isolated, some could live normal lives, and others simply vanished.

Izuku lived with the fear of that last option constantly around his neck.

Not that he could blame people. His quirk was strong—too strong—and he could barely control it.

With a sigh, he popped the pills into his mouth and took a drink of the water to push them down before their foul taste overwhelmed him.

When he first activated his quirk while playing in the park, he had caused several million dollars in damages, and had broken All Might's arm. It wasn't even on purpose; he could remember everything about that day so clearly, about how afraid he was at suddenly being 15 meters tall and able to easily topple a building. And he hadn't been in control. It was like trying to hold onto a horse that was running wild. He managed to save some people during his rampage, but he still hurt so many people and heroes.

That was when he had first gotten the government's attention. He would have gotten a collar and been taken from his parents right then, but All Might spoke up for him.

For a while, Izuku felt like he really could be a hero. All Might said he could be one if he learned to control his quirk. It only took two years for All Might to regret that decision.

He was kidnapped, strapped to a table, and sedated to the point where he barely remembered anything that happened, but the resulting rampage he went on had done a massive amount of damage to the surrounding area, including the hospital he had been taken to.

The good news was that his kidnappers took the brunt of the blame as their laboratory and experiments were revealed to the world, but it was clear that Izuku's quirk was too dangerous for a hero, and he was placed under government surveillance.

He ran his finger along the collar again. "I'm pretty sure they're only spending this much money on me because they want to use me as a living weapon."

With one last look in the mirror, Izuku forced a smile as his emotions began to dull and that greyness came closing in.

Maybe if there was a war, he could finally see the world in color?

XXXX

"Hey Izuku," a chipper voice rang clear in his ears.

Izuku turned his head slightly and shrugged at his classmate as they walked towards the train station. As far as he was aware, they even lived in the same apartment block, but he'd never really been to their apartment. Had they even asked to study together? He couldn't remember. "Hey."

They smiled at him, a bright cheerful smile that Izuku himself couldn't ever hope to match even without these pills. It was the smile of someone genuinely happy, and although that smile turned into a slight pout as they looked up at him, there was a clear bounce to their gait that was infectious. "So, do you think you're ready for the exam today?"

Izuku blinked and nodded slowly. "I think so, I managed to study a bit."

"Yeah, I bet stuff like that is pretty easy for you." They opened their mouth and closed it as though they reconsidered saying something else. "I mean, you just seem smart and stuff."

"Thanks," he shrugged. "I don't have much else to do besides study."

"And work out!" they cheered. "I see you at the gym a lot. You're there like, every night."

He glanced at them again, taking note of their wide, dull eyes for a moment before forcing a smile that instantly made his cheeks hurt. "I like to run."

"Yeah! It's the only time I see a smile on your face! Though that could also just be the drugs—" They stopped and covered their mouth. "Oh, I guess I shouldn't talk about stuff like that huh?"

"It's fine," he tapped on his collar, "It's not like it's a secret anyways."

"Still, I wish I got to know what you're like without those drugs." They hummed and kicked a bottle up into the air before grabbing it and then effortlessly tossing it into a nearby bin. Izuku was pretty sure he should be impressed by that. "Oh, hey, this is our last year at high school. Do you know what you're going to do?"

Izuku just shrugged. "Not really."

He wasn't sure if he had a say in the matter.

"Oh, well here," they reached into their bag and pulled out an orange piece of paper that was folded like a brochure. The text written on it was neat but handwritten, and it looked like someone had put a lot of effort into it. "A monk gave this to me; apparently, they're a sect of quirk perfectionists that train their bodies to become one with their quirks. I know that people think yours is dangerous, but, maybe this can help?"

The bright orange pamphlet felt warm in his hand and sent a tingle down his spine as he stared at it. He glanced back towards her and her shining blue eyes. "That sounds Amazing, Eula."

She nodded with that same wide smile she always greeted him with. "I thought you would. I actually found out about them by accident, but I think I'm going to do a report on them. Oh! We can even research them together! What do you think?"

"Uhh." He could see their eyes fading to a dull grey right in front of him as the once warm orange frosted over with a cool grey. He wanted to hold onto that bit of hope. "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

"Great!" Eula gave a jump, and her light blue hair caught a bit of sun even through the fog, then she gasped and covered her mouth. "I'll have to clean my apartment."

"Oi!" A gruff voice that made the world light up cut Izuku off before he could even say anything. Even through the drugs, Katsuki Bakugo looked more alive than anything around them. His short blonde hair cut through the fog, while his bright red eyes glared right through Izuku like he wasn't even standing there. A mixture of shame, anger, and regret left a bad taste in Izuku's mouth. "Long time no see, Deku!"

The hair on the back of his neck stood on edge, as he hadn't heard that name or that voice in a long while.

"Uhh, hey, Kacchan," he muttered, scratching the back of his head. Why were they still using childhood names like this? It didn't feel right, but at the same time, it didn't feel wrong either. Still, out of all of his former childhood friends, Katsuki was the only one that hadn't been afraid of him after he used his quirk.

But, at least now he was taller than him, and by more than a little.

Katsuki had a scarf wrapped around his face just enough to hide some of his smug grin, but it was the U.A. school uniform that stood out the most, as well as the numbered case he was carrying. It was probably his hero costume. Katsuki was less than a year away from being a full-fledged hero, after all, having dominated the sports festival the last two years.

Izuku could feel the jealousy surge inside of him at the life his friend was leading.

His collar itched.

He still wanted to be a hero.

He wanted to hear All Might say he could be a hero again.

"What are you doing here?" Izuku asked, his feet firmly planted in the ground. He knew that Katsuki didn't live in this area.

"Just got off," he shot a thumb back towards the train station. "I'm interning near here for a few weeks. So, I guess this is where they shipped you off to, huh?"

"Don't make him out to be some kind of cargo!" Eula stomped her feet just to my side.

"Woah, woah, tell your girlfriend to calm her tits, I was just asking if you lived here."

"Girlfriend?!" Eula half-shrieked.

"Uhh." Were these two getting along? "Yeah, we live nearby, close to the base actually. Cause, you know…" He rubbed his collar softly.

"My god, to think you'd grow up into even more of a downer than before!" Katsuki didn't even hesitate to punch him in the arm. "Seriously, what happened to all that talk about figuring out how to control that ugly-ass quirk of yours? Hell, you figure it out and you can be my sidekick once I have my own office."

Izuku felt the orange pamphlet in his hand again. The rough coarse texture of the handwritten paper felt so different from the usual half-laminated plastic that they normally got. "Do you really think I can?"

"It's your quirk, isn't it?" Katsuki sneered and gave him a rough shove in the shoulder. His eyes grew closer before he backed away. "Damn, it's like I'm talking to a goddamn shell. You feel fucking empty, man."

"He can't help it," Eula jumped to his defense again. "It's the pills he's on, they…"

"I know about the damn pills," Katsuki growled and huffed. "My question is why haven't you tried to control your own damn fucking quirk?"

Izuku glanced down towards Eula and then shrugged at Katsuki. "They consider me not using it to be control."

"That's fucking bullshit. So you haven't even tried to control it in years?"

"No." Izuku glanced down towards his bright red shoes and hummed. He could feel something stirring inside of him, something was fighting back against the pills. And Izuku wanted it to win.

"Then who's the fuck to say that you can't now?" Katuski pressed his fist into Izuku's chest. "Your quirk always looked like an ugly fucking adult, so maybe it was waiting for you to catch up." He glared at Izuku for a few more seconds before he huffed and walked away. "Or I guess you're just afraid that you'll never be half the hero I am."

Izuku didn't bother to watch Katsuki leave. He had said more than enough, and was more than right for most of it. He hadn't used his quirk since, because he was afraid of what he would do. Of what he could do. He rubbed the collar again and felt his emotions fighting through the stranglehold those pills kept him in.

"I…" He paused and glanced towards a hero flying between some buildings.

He wanted to be a hero.

He wanted to see the world in color again.

"You don't have to say anything," they pulled on his arm and gestured towards the train. "Come on, we don't want to be late."

"Right."

AN: Hello! I write new fic!

Yes, that's Eula from Genshin Impact, no I don't actually play the game, I just really love her character design.

Izuku's quirk has elements of the attack titan from Attack on Titan but it's not a 1:1

And no, Izuku won't get One for All... I mean, he broke All Might's arm as a kid so yeah, I think he's strong enough without it.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have!