The world was dark for what felt to him like years. The strangest thing was that he was conscious during the whole thing. As Izuku sat in the darkness, he thought about the USJ attack, and how very close he had come to killing all might. He shivered at the thought of how much power he had used, and how little control he had with it. That last hit would have killed the man, he was sure of that. Suddenly, a light flashed before his eyes, a pale white one.
The balls were like the ones he often saw in his subconscious, quirks. He saw as a red infection spread across it, spiderwebbing across the quirk. The quirk flashed, half of it turning blue, and swelling in size, still surrounded by the red infection. A wide variety of colours joined it, red, green, orange pink and yellow. The whole thing was surrounded by a golden aura as a horrible voice rasped out as it continued to grow.
"Join us….. FEED US." Izuku screamed as the quirk exploded, surrounding him in white light, a hand, corpse like stretched towards him, and he screamed when it touched his chest. He snapped up in what seemed to be a bed, screaming. The door burst open, and his mother and father stood there.
He began to cry as his mother rushed to hold him, Shigaraki not far behind. They stayed like that for several minutes, until his sobs had subsided. He took several unsteady breaths of air, as he looked around.
He was in the bar's hospital room, surrounded by tubes and machinery. He was also bare-chested, well as much as he could be with the amount of bandages he was covered in. He looked at his parents, and with a dry throat and lips, coughed out.
"What happened to me?" Shigaraki grimaced, and sat in the chair next to his bed, his mother staying sat next to him, holding his head into her chest. The white-haired man steepled his fingers before explaining what happened.
"Your new quirk had some.. unexpected side effects. When you turned it off, all of the energy you had stored rushed out of your body, exacerbating several existing wounds and making several new ones. I would recommend not using that quirk to that degree in the future before we can figure out a way to sap to energy from you so you don't go into a two week injury induced coma every time." Izuku's eyes widened at how long he had been unconscious.
"What about UA, and my cover!" Shigaraki laughed, patting the boy on the leg.
"I'm flattered that the first thing you think of after waking up looking like you did is your mission, but I wouldn't worry about it. We staged some injuries for toga in your body, and as far as UA is concerned your recovering with a family friend at the minute." He grinned, liking the subtle message he sent. That raised a question in Izuku's mind.
"Wait, were any of the UA staff members part of the family?" He asked, and Shigaraki grinned, clapping his hands together.
"I was wondering when you would ask! Yes, three. Midnight, Snipe and Eraserhead." He said grinning. Izuku scrunched his brows, frowning.
"Eraserhead? He seemed to be totally and utterly devoted to UA and its students, and he was genuinely shocked when we attacked." All might grinned and nodded.
"He's a sleeper agent. Asked to have his memory suppressed after a certain.. incident.. with a friend of his that he accidentally caused. Said he wanted to cut ties and start fresh, and I respected his decision. We sealed his memories, and he got a job working as an underground hero, the family keeps tabs on him." He said. Izuku wondered what could have caused such a rash decision, but decided it was a question for another day. It was then he thought about his girlfriend, and paled.
"Where's toga?" Shigaraki chuckled and gestured for him to get up. He did, with help, and detached himself from the machines that surrounded him. He limped through the bar in only a pair of sweatpants. Toga was sat in the bars seating area, biting her nails. When she looked over and saw him, she stared in shock for several seconds before getting up. Izuku gave her a weak grin, and a little wave.
"Sorry, I think I overslept." He joked, and she jumped at him. He staggered back as she wrapped him in a hug so tight he thought his ribs were gonna break, sobbing into his chest. He grinned slightly at the similarity to their first meeting.
He was moved over to a sofa, then sat heavily in it. Toga curled into his chest, seeming to want to keep him pinned there forever. She was still hugging him fifteen minutes later, and he chuckled as he stroked her hair.
"So, I'm guessing you missed me then?" He said. Toga glared up at him, clearly not happy with his good mood.
"You are in big trouble mister! Two weeks! Your lucky I'm even hugging you right now! Most other girls would have dumped you in six hours, tops!" She ranted, and Izuku couldn't help but laugh as he continued to let her rant for a bit. "Your not going anywhere for the next few weeks without me! You need to make that time back before I even think of kissing you again!" Izuku grinned wryly.
"Who are you punishing here, me or you?" He asked, and she stopped for a few seconds. She thought over what she said and made her famous 'I'm pissed off at you because you pointed out a flaw in my reasoning' pout.
"Shut up, asshole." She said, taking her place back on his chest again. He noticed that her hair was down, and that It was one of the few times he had seen like that before. It fell to her lower back and was silky smooth as he ran his fingers through it. He chuckled, before sighing. God he was tired. He wanted to go to bed, but toga probably wouldn't be happy with that.
The thought of his dream from before swam through his head. Had that been one for all? Why had he seen it? The colours, infection and creepy voice all sounded like it fit the quirks description of a Parasyte by Shigaraki.
But it all came back to one thing, why him? He wasn't connected to the quirk in any way other than by knowing about it, or the fact the first user was his uncle in some bizarre way. Was that it? He didn't know. He'd have to talk to Shigaraki about it some time in the future. For now, he had a warm girl on his chest, while he was sat in a very comfortable position on the sofa. It wasn't long before he was falling asleep.
He woke up a few hours later, if the clock on the wall was any indication. Toga also seemed to have fallen asleep, and he begun to stroke her hair again, causing her to groan as she woke up.
"What is it with you and my hair? Is it a fetish or something?" She said, sitting up. Izuku shrugged, blushing.
"No, of course not! Its just nice to touch, and what else was I supposed to stroke to make you feel calmer." They both looked at each other for several seconds, before they both turned red, and toga let out and embarrassed scream. Izuku made a break for it when she jumped off his chest, and she yelled at him.
"Pervert!" She said, throwing one of her shoes after him as he yelled back, covering his face.
"I didn't mean it like that!" He said, covering his face. Tomura had been sat in the corner, and was now on the ground, holding his sides laughing. Toga threw a shoe at him to for good measure. The older boy was sent sprawling, holding his face where the shoe had hit him.
She took a few calming breaths and sighed, sitting back down on the sofa. Izuku peeked his head back in the room for a few seconds and Toga glared at him but didn't start throwing shoes at least.
-000-
He was just getting up to walk to school the next day, now free of his bandages when toga walked up and latched onto his arm. She still didn't say a word, but they walked together in silence to the UA gates. When they arrived, Izuku stopped waiting for toga to let go of his arm, she did not. He looked at her, and saw she was pouting.
"What?" He said, genuinely curious as to why she was holding him so tight.
"I meant what I said. Your not going anywhere without me for two weeks. That's how your gonna make your coma time up to me." She said, starting to pull him forward.
He tried to resist, saying how it wasn't safe for them to both be going into UA together, but she didn't listen, and he eventually gave up trying. He was slightly pink-cheeked as they walked into class 1A together, getting a few strange looks from the rest of the class. Kirishima came over and grinned at the two.
"Hey Shigaraki, Hi toga." The girl grinned from her position on Izuku's lap she had taken.
"Hi Kirishima! I'm on boyfriend watch after his little accident a few weeks ago." Kirishima chuckled, rubbing the new small scar he had on his forehead.
"That's understandable. I'm just glad to see you up and about man, you looked really beat up." He said. Kirishima had apparently come over a few times to check up on him during his coma to check his recovery progress. Izuku grimaced.
"Yeah, I took a few hits. But luckily there's no lasting damage so I should be okay with a bit of rest." He explained to the red-haired boy. Aizawa walked in, saw what was going on, and decided he wasn't paid enough to care. He just ignored the temporary addition to their class and went on with explaining what was going to happen in the next few weeks.
"UA is holding its annual sports festival, and your all being entered." Izuku's hand went up, and Aizawa shook his head. "Not you Shigaraki. Recovery girl will stab me with her cane if I let you participate, and your still injured." Izuku nodded, putting his hand back down.
He got a few weird looks because of toga, but most just brushed it off as Kirishima was not so subtly laughing at the two of them. Aizawa explained that the festival would take place in two weeks, with the whole of the school's first years participating. He also heard something about an 'open contenders' division, which would take place the day before. Apparently it was a chance for students from all over Japan to take on UA students, and occasionally staff for cash prizes. It was apparently the second most watched thing behind the third years division. Izuku thought that this could be an interesting thing to enter with the Saisho Tanaka persona, to judge the strength of the upper year students.
He didn't think any of them would be potential recruits, far too deep in the albeit mild indoctrination of UA high, but it would be interesting to test their skills and quirks. Aizawa then explained they were going to be given two weeks of free study to prepare for the event. After going to recovery girl, and explaining to her who toga was, he got told that he was going to be part time for the next few weeks to match up with the free study the other students got. The rest of the day passed easy, most of the teachers just brushing of toga's appearance there. Midnight simply gave the girl a wink when she saw where she was sat, which toga returned.
After that painful day he returned home, pondering what quirk he could create to use in the open division. It couldn't be a mutation, as that would be noticed easily. It also couldn't be one he'd used before, as then he would get noticed and identified. It also had to be good enough to beat UA's top brass, which definitely wasn't going to be an easy task. Maybe something psychological?
After requesting a few new quirks from Shigaraki, who happily handed them over, he finally came up with the perfect combination. It was a mix of four quirks, in illusion quirk, two sensory deception ones and one sensory enhancement quirk. They blended together to create one, and he smiled to himself. Perfect.
The day of the open division arrived, and he was back in his Tanaka form. The reception lady laughed when he said that he wanted to fight the best they had but put him down anyway. He smiled as he accepted the pass from her, and with a quick 'Thank you!' Was gone into the crowd.
Nobody glanced at him once in the changing rooms. He noticed a wide variety of people, aged fourteen to early twenties milling around, and chatting. A live feed of all the matches was being streamed to several large TVs inside the waiting room. There were only ten or so people remaining when his name was called, and he walked out.
His opponent stared him down. An unassuming looking second year with pale mint coloured hair. A part of Izuku was annoyed that they had sent this unknown out to fight him, and his rage simmered under the surface. He could almost feel his nomu quirk begging to be activated, to run free and decimate this student.
When the alarm sounded he sprinted forward, catching the second year of guard with his speed. Several balls of energy surrounded the second year, and he begun to throw them at him. They were easy to dodge, and he was soon in close. He didn't even bother to use his new quirk, thinking that it would be useless now that he was in this close.
As he struck the boy in the jaw with a right cross, his rage boiled over. This was the best they could offer him, insignificant fodder! He tackled the second year to the ground, wailing on him, each punch striking a vital area, jaw, stomach and teeth over and over and over and over. He had lost himself to the red mist around his vision and just kept punching, loving every second of the pain he was causing.
He only snapped out of it when he was knocked flying by a blast of sound, and he hit the ground, cracking a rib. The stadium was silent, and he noticed three of the teachers standing around the boy, Aizawa, Cementoss and Present Mic. The last had been the one who got him off the boy and was staring at him with a strange mix of fear and disappointment, but mainly the first.
Izuku rubbed his head and looked over to where his opponent lay. He was covered in blood, whimpering and crying on the ground. Oh dear god, he had done that. He looked down at his own hands, also covered in blood, and the world started to spin around him. What had he done?
He'd had no control at all, he'd just started punching again and again and hadn't been able to stop. Was that a side effect of his quirk or had that just been him? Was he becoming a monster. His vision began to blur as his breathing accelerated, and he felt dizzy, before he flopped sideways and passed out.
He saw them again, one for all, and what it had done to them. Shigaraki's brother had appeared, a look of pride on his face. It had made his insides crawl like they had thousands of bugs inside. The mass of light and souls kept telling him to feed it, feed it his rage, and anger so it could grow stronger. He woke up screaming again.
Recovery girl was by his bedside, and although he couldn't talk to her as he normally could, he was comforted by her presence. She told him he had broken twenty-three of the other boys' bones, and that he would be out of commission for a few days, recovering. He was glad he wasn't in his Shigaraki form, as he didn't really want to try and justify why he couldn't heal the older year.
A plain looking woman walked into the room, and he recognised her as the receptionist from earlier, and she looked at him, stony faced. She looked at him.
"Your request for the strongest challenger we had has been considered, after your last performance, if your still willing to participate?" She said, looking almost scared of the boy she had considered so non-threatening earlier. He winced as he got out of bed but nodded to her.
He trekked back down to the waiting rooms, and how different the eyes were from the ones they had been before, all screaming 'Monster'. He almost broke down into laughing sobs at it all, as he was starting to believe he was one.
They all filled out slowly, until he was the last remaining, the air still. He breathed it in and out, until his name was called over the speakers. He once again made his way to the arena, the words being chanted in his head again 'Monster, prove them right, monster!' It was all he could do not to scream.
His opponent was a depressed looking boy who looked like a third year. He had long blue hair that fell over his face, a trait not helped by the fact he was looking down at his feet, apparently nervous. They took their places on either end of the arena, and stared each other down. He saw some of the nervous energy evaporate from the boys dark eyes, but not much.
When the alarm sounded around them, He burst into action again. He still had the advantage of strength and durability enhancing quirks, even if they were minor ones. The boy was surprised, but turned his fingers into squid tentacles, swiping at Izuku with them. He barely managed to dodge them properly, and one clipped his leg, sending him down.
He pretended like he had been injured, and the boy soon rushed over, apologising. Izuku swiped his legs out when he got close enough, and both boys staggered to their feet, now wary of the other. Before the blue haired boy could react, he dashed forward, and grabbed his head in his hands, smashing the top of his skull into the boy's nose. Although he didn't notice it, Izuku's eyes emitted a blast of colours that were replicated in his own eyes, making his vision dance.
Tamaki Amajiki was scared. He had seen what the boy he was fighting had done to that second year, and really didn't want to end up the same way. When he got headbutted he watched the world dance in colours for a second or two, but assumed it was just a side effect of getting hit so hard.
He brushed it off as he looked down at his opponent again. He activated his quirk once more, allowing tentacles to appear on his right hand, a clam shell on his left and wings and clawed talons to manifest themselves on his legs and back for mobility. He launched himself forward but was surprised when he countered.
He wasn't using a quirk, but somehow managed to counter every move he threw at him, and even get some hits in back. He was shocked to find himself quite enjoying the fight, and even found himself smiling. He saw an opportunity and took it, locking the boy's body in his talons as he took out his legs with his tentacles. He idly noted he was just on the edge of the arena but dismissed the fact. He looked down at the trapped boy.
"Do you yield?" He was shocked when the reply didn't come from the boy below him, despite how his lips moved as though it did.
"Now why would I ever do that?" The light pulsed sharply again, and he snapped down to see that his talons were locked around nothing. He didn't even have time to process what was going on before he was hit hard in the back with a strong kick, sending him toppling out of the arena. The claxon sounded, signalling his loss. He snapped around, looking for the boy he could have sworn he had on the ropes not half a minute ago, only to see him walking away.
All Tamaki could do was watch the boy who had defeated him walk away and process the events in his head as the jeers of spectators surrounded him once more.
-000-
A/N
Yo!
Few things from me here, so ignore these if you don't give a shit lol
First off, we hit 100 favs and 150 follows, less gooooo
Second off, sorry for the delay on this chapters upload, i was actually planning to do it a week ago, but my laptop broke and had to go in for repairs, so I'm using a school computer to upload this.
Third of all, I'm going to have a few weeks of free time soon, so expect at least a few more chapters during that period, cuz we might hit a dry patch after that as I'm about to take my GCSE exams, so that should be a wonderful few weeks for me lol.
Aside from that, thank you all so much for reviewing, it really does make me want to write more, and your thoughts and ideas are invaluable to me
Right, enough soppy shit from me, see ya'll next time!