Chapter 2:
Izuka woke up to bright lights and white walls. Silently, she attempted to bring her hands to her face in order to lessen the pain the bright room caused in her head. She felt fear claw painfully into her stomach as her attempt ended in failure.
She struggled to shift her head so she could look at her body. Strapped to the bed by thick leather straps that were a tad too tight, she felt fear twist in her stomach like an eel writhing within her making her feel nauseous. She could only barely move her head under the thick leather.
She looked beside herself to see her mother's peaceful face asleep in a chair holding her hand in a tight grip.
She felt an unfamiliar emotion rise in her chest as she stared at the woman. Before she could regain her bearings her attention was pulled away from the tightness in her chest and her mother by the door to the room opening. In came a woman, she was wearing soft lavender scrubs and a long white coat. It was after looking at her face that Izuku recognized the woman as Bakugo's mother.
"You're awake I see." Her voice was softer than she had ever heard from the woman. There wasn't the usual angry and rough tone she used when she was talking to Bakugo.
Izuka nodded or at least tried to but was stopped by the heavy restraints.
Mitsuki grimaced and quickly took the restrains off of the small girl, "I'm sorry about that Izuka-chan. When you got here, you were resisting treatment heavily and we had to restrain you to keep you from hurting yourself. You're quite strong for a girl your size you know."
Izuka slowly sat up not letting go of her mother's hand.
Mitsuki noticed and gave Izuka a sad smile, "Do you remember how you got here?"
Izuka shook her head and frowned, "What happened?"
"Your father hit Inko and you reacted badly." Mitsuki considered telling the small child the extent of the damage. She had been the one to operate, and the man had only barely survived. Even though he survived he was tormented every moment he was awake, "Hisashi wasn't hurt much physically, but his mental state was pretty bad. He was sent to his family in the United States to retrieve care." Mitsuki lied gently sitting on the bed near Izuka's feet. "What all do you remember?"
Liar. Izuka flinched at the voice that tore throughout her skull. It sounded like her father, but it was chorused by tortured screams. It was loud. Too loud. The screams lingered and its meer presence made her head hurt.
She felt as though the whole world had heard that one word, but Mitsuki only looked at the girl expectantly.
Her head felt as though it was splitting. She shouldn't be hearing that voice. It was not natural. The voice was not meant to be heard by mortal ears yet she heard it.
She cringed as she sorted through her memories, "I remember seeing my mother on the ground and looking at that man before everything going black. How long have I been here?"
Mitsuki nodded and wrote down a note on the clipboard she was carrying, "You've been here for 2 weeks. You were in a small coma after unlocking your quirk."
Izuka looked at Mitsuki in shock, "What quirk? They said I was quirkless when I was 4!"
"You had a dormant quirk that was unlocked by emotional distress. About 5% of people with toe joints have dormant quirks that require strong emotions to be activated." Mitsuki answered in an even tone, "I want to tell you this before your mom wakes up, but you should refrain from making eye contact with anyone."
Izuka looked at her and for the first time realized that the blond never once looked at her face, "W-why?"
"Your quirk… it makes people see bad things." The blond doctor started, "While we were taking you in, three employees looked into your eyes to check your vitals. They were forced to recieve therapy and extensive ptsd prevention courses."
Izuka's eyes widened as she stared at her hands in horror, "Is it permanent?"
Mitsuki cringed looking at her clipboard, "It appears so sweety, but we have something that should help you." She said reaching into her pocket and pulled out a black cloth.
"A blindfold? I won't be able to see!"
Mitsuki gave her a small smile, "It's okay this has a special one way window function that allow you to see past the blindfold as though it wasn't there. No one can see past it, but you can see everything outside of it."
Mitsuki with a small nod from Izuka put the blindfold on the smaller girl and finally looked at the girl's face.
Izuka blinked in surprise as she could still see, but everything was shaded as though she was wearing sunglasses.
"I'll leave you two for now, but I'll back in a few minutes to discuss quirk therapy." Mitsuki said standing up and patting Inko on the back.
It was then that Izuka noticed her mom was awake.
Coward.
As Mitsuki left, a silence fell over the room. Inko dared to look at her daughter and instantly regretted it upon seeing the blindfold over her eyes.
"Izuka" Inko started but was stopped by the girl pulling her mother into her arms.
"I love you mom. I'm glad you are okay." Izuka held onto her mother and let herself soak in the warmth that radiated off the woman like a ray of sunshine shining through the clouds onto her heart.
Her mother was a coward, but she loved her. That would never change.
They stayed wrapped in each other's warmth for a while before, Mitsuki returned with another doctor. He was old and balding. He had a name tag on his white coat that read "Yamato Kuzuku". The two of them walked over to the mother daughter duo.
"Izuka-chan this is Yamato-sensei. He is our resident quirk specialist." Mitsuki said introducing the man, "He's going to run some test with you so we can register your quirk."
Izuka nodded.
"We have a facility here that we want you to test out your abilities in. Your mom can come if that will make you more comfortable." Yamato explained not looking up from his clipboard.
Izuka furrowed her eyebrows before sliding out of the bed. When her mother got up, she had to stop herself from pushing her back into her chair.
The group walked to the elevator and took it to the lowest floor in the building labelled "B2".
Izuka felt her gut twist painfully as they went further down. She wasn't sure if she was prepared for what she was going to do. She didn't even remember how she used it in the first place.
When the elevator stopped she felt her gut wrench and was afraid she was going to puke as she was led to a room labelled "Testing location #357".
"Izuka sweety." She was pulled from her nervous thoughts by the soft voice of Mitsuki. "Your mom and I will be in the room right beside you watching. The doctor will run some test with you and if anything goes wrong we'll be right beside you in a snap." to emphasize her point she snapped her fingers making Izuka giggle.
Izuka felt the twisting pain of her stomach lessen at Mitsuki's silliness, "Okay Auntie!"
After a quick hug from her mother, Izuka found herself sitting in a large room with a few battered dummies, a few targets lining one of the walls and several boxes filled with different materials. She also noticed a wall of cages each one with a different animal.
"First I want to test your transformation." the doctor's voice rang out in the room from speakers that lined the walls. "I want you to try and use the shadows the way you did before."
Izuka wrinkled her brow in confusion.
She stood still as she reached into herself. She searched for the burning feeling that had overpowered her that night. She felt it. The boiling rage that was always mere moments away from spilling over. Slowly, she dipped into that power and felt it burn her as it began to overflow into her body.
It was unstable. It was spilling over the more she dipped into it. Filling her body and mind. Izuka grunted as she looked at her arms. She saw her hands and arms slowly get covered in a black tar like substance. It stopped when it reached her elbow and two black rings appeared on her bicep. The ring closest to her shoulder spiked out in a crown like shape.
Her nails elongated to a point before she felt as though she could go no further. Controlling the power was like sticking her arms into molten tar. It was hot and it was trying to pull her in. It was pushing and pulling at the same time. The way her skin tingle under the substance hurt and she had to grit her teeth to keep her arms covered.
"Good Job Izuka-chan! Now I want you to attack the dummy in front of you."
Izuka nodded and slowly turned towards the dummy. She lifted her clawed arm and with one swift motion the dummy was torn to shreds. She was surprised by how easy it was. Her claws glided through the dummy like butter.
"Now we want to test whether or not you can extend your reach. See if you can make your quirk extend outside of yourself."
Izuka closed her eyes and imagined grasping the tar with her hands and pulling it out. She felt a moment of frustration when it slid between her fingers and refused to leave its vat.
"I can't" she replied after a few tries.
"That's okay. Now we want you to try to use your power without destroying the dummy."
Izuka mentally pulled her arms out of the vat until her claws retracted but her hands were still covered. She clenched her hand and with a grunt of effort punched the dummy. She was surprised when her fist went through the dummy and exited through the other side.
"That was good. Now we want to test your eyes." there was a pause as Izuka felt dread build up in her chest. "We know it works on humans, and we know that whatever the people see it is something that can cause massive emotional trauma. We want to see how your eyes effect different creatures."
Izuka nodded and walked towards the wall of cage.
"Now Izuka take your blindfold off and look into the eyes of each creature."
Izuka felt hesitant. These animals were defenseless. What if one of them died? She didn't want to hurt them.
"It's okay Izuka. All the animals here are assigned to be euthanized today. They are all in a lot of pain already. Nothing you do can make it worse for them."
Lies. Our power is to suffer. Their suffering will increase.
She flinched. She shook her head trying to make the remaining screams dissipate before shakingly taking off her blindfold.
She started with a dog. It was old. She could see by the grey hairs that lined its wrinkled face and the way it laid lazily in its cage.
The moment their eyes locked the dog recoiled and started to whimper.
She felt something wrap around her heart as she locked eyes with a cat. The cat shrank back its hairs standing up.
It tightened painfully as a chimp started screaming in fear. Its screams never stopped after that.
She felt like her heart was going to burst when she made eye contact with a bird. She felt the noose that had begun to wrap around her heart loosen when the bird didn't scream. It simply stared back at her. It tilted its head and fluttered its wings before a sorrowful song filled the room from its beak.
"You can put your blindfold back on Izuka-chan."
She was starting to hate the sound of his voice.
He's a liar. We hate all liars.
"Izuka-chan. This is our last test. We want you to try and lose control." Izuka opened her mouth but was interrupted before she could even begin, "You don't have to worry about hurting anyone. The room was created for test like this."
Izuka looked at her hands. She had since pulled out of her power, but they wanted her to dive into it. They wanted her to allow the rage of her quirk to control her.
Izuka took a deep breath before diving into the molten tar. She felt it surround her and burn her skin. Everything was dark and the pained screams of a thousand souls made her ears burn and bleed. Her head ached as the unnatural darkness gripped her body and mind. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be seeing this. She wanted to climb out of it. She wanted to be surrounded in the unnatural light of the training room.
The screams became more sporadic. She could hear their anguish and it made her heart ache. She wanted to help them.
There is no help for the damned.
Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. We must kill. Only the pure must live.
The voice distorted no longer like her father only an angry growl of a thousand tortured souls. It was threatening to take over her.
Izuka tried to swim out, but she was lost. She had let herself float for too long.
Abruptly, she was propelled from the tar. The unnatural blackness that consumed her vision was gone and was replaced by the natural darkness of her mind. Slowly, she opened her eyes and her eyes met the familiar ones of her mother.
She blinked as she realized she was once again in her bed.
Izuka put her hand on her mother's face and gave a small smile. The voices screamed in agony at the touch, but she ignored them.
"Can I still be a hero?" Izuka's voice was so quiet the question almost floated away unheard.
"Izuka, you're already a hero in my eyes." Inko smiled sweetly pulling her daughter into a hug.
Liar. Coward.
Izuka was let out of the hospital the next day with a clean bill of health. While Izuka was in a coma, Inko had gotten a job in a restaurant as a chef. Inko was decently surprised at being able to find a job that would pay for her and Izuka to keep living in their home. Her job even created enough excess for Izuka to continue Judo lessons.
The night the two of them returned home they ate in silence. The two would never be as close as they were before, it was obvious by the way they never spoke to one another. There were moments where the two would make contact, but they were few and far between.
Inko's guilt held her back and Izuka struggled with the voices screaming their disapproval. She had hoped they would disappear, but they only seemed to get worse as time passed.
It was a Saturday when they returned home, so Izuka would be continuing class that Monday. She wasn't really excited to go back, but she felt better when Bakugo, having heard she was discharged, came and helped her catch up on all the work she missed.
The two sat in silence for a while, but it was eventually broken by the blond teen.
"So what's up with the blindfold dork?" Bakugo was sitting on her bed looking through the bookshelf that was next to it.
Izuka flinched from her position at her desk, "I-It's because of my quirk."
Bakugo hummed in acknowledgment before settling on an all might themed fan manga, "My mom told me you got your quirk. What is it?"
"It's a dual quirk from what I can tell. One part is a transformation quirk that makes my skin turn black and I gain these long claws that seem to be really strong. The other part seems to be an emitter type that is used through my eyes. If someone even glances at my uncovered eyes they are momentarily trapped in a horrible vision that seems to leave the person traumatized. The person cannot talk about what they saw either as it seems their speech become incomprehensible when they try to." Izuka seemed to get lose her mumbling till a pillow hit her on the head.
"Shut up nerd I get it!" Bakugo grinned from his spot on her bed.
Izuka pouted but stopped talking nevertheless. She slouched over her work and ignored the chuckle that came from behind her. The two lulled into a silence as they both concentrated on their own task.
After finishing her work, Izuka looked at her blond friend, "Hey Bakago."
"What is it Deku?"
"Let's start training our quirks together soon." She didn't look at the blond, but she could feel his gaze on her back as she stared at the ceiling, the back of the chair painfully digging into her neck.
Bakugo felt a grin slowly split his face, "You're gonna have to try and keep up! I've got years of experience on you and I'm not gonna hold back because you're a girl!"
Izuka felt her the rope that had been tied around her for so long loosen. She wasn't sure if Bakugo knew what he did, but she was glad to have him anyway. She didn't want to be treated like glass. He was treating her the same rough way he always did and that was honestly all she could ask for.
Izuka turned her head and looked into her friend's eyes through the blindfold, "Don't try to act cool when I kick the shit out of you!"