Izuku slammed through the door so hard it nearly flew off its hinges, scaring Eijirou and Tenya. "We need to get moving, now!"

"What? The hell is happening?" Eijirou asked.

"Those bastards are coming for us. The monster that leads these things summoned up a monster that's been dead for decades," Izuku explained.

"I do not understand, won't that barrier thing protect us from them?" Tenya questioned with a chuckle.

"You know I should be thanking you Tenya, if it wasn't for you that Slither from yesterday would have gotten what it wanted," Izuku said putting up his axe and walking over to the wall closest to the stairs. He punched through one of the boards and pulled out a tattered book, navy blue in color and with several golden bumps on the spine.

"Wait, you're saying that the monster from yesterday was here for a reason other than to try and kill us?" Ochako was more confused than she had ever been since...ever.

"Not a doubt in my mind, the Slither got distracted was all. These things are deadly but dumb." Izuku tilted his head upwards and cupped his mouth with his free hand, "Rhys!"

Small feet could be heard padding across the roof, along with the mumbles of an old man. A board in the ceiling slid open and a small creature with dark blue skin, wisps of grey hair, and both a pointy set of ears and nose, dropped down and hung from the roof like a monkey. He wore a tan vest and black slacks.

"Oi laddie! What's all of the fookin' yelling about? I'm tryin' tae sleep ye arsehole," Rhys yelled in anger.

"Who is that?!" Ochako asked in surprise.

"That," Izuku scowled," is the gremlin that lives in my attic and steals my food. He's a piece of shit, but he helps me understand the monsters that roam these woods."

"Glad tae know ye think so highly of me. By the way, breakfast yesterday was far better than it's ever been," Rhys commented.

"Blow it out your ass. Can you lower the barrier around the woods?" Izuku asked the gremlin.

"'Course I can, but I'll need my book and a couple of hours, and ye still have one of those things." Izuku tossed the book up to Rhys, which he caught effortlessly with one hand, "Well then. I do have one wee question, why in the bloody hell would ye want to take down the barrier? 's the only thing that keeps the horrors of this forest from the outside world."

"Shut it."

"Fair enough, see ye all in a few hours." Rhys pulled himself and the book back into the attic, and put the floorboard back in place.

Izuku then turned to the brother of Ingenium, "Tenya, how fast can you run?"

"At my max speed, I can easily break Mach 3."

"And how long would it take you to reach U.A. going at that speed?"

"Thirty minutes," Tenya answered.

"Good, I'll lead you out of the woods, you run to U.A. and round up the teachers, and grab any other heroes you can find on the way back," Izuku commanded. " I may be strong, but not enough to fight my way to their leader."

"Right," Tenya said.

"Eijirou, I need you to stay here and protect the cabin until I get back. I don't want anything getting near this place. Do you both still have the weapons I have you?" Tenya took up a large silver sickle, and Eijirou donned some spiky silver gauntlets. "Good. Ochako, you stay in here and make sure Katsuki's condition doesn't take a turn for the worse.'

"I can handle myself," Katsuki spoke up, suddenly on his feet. It looked like it was causing him discomfort, but he was on his feet nonetheless.

Izuku stood there with an impassive expression on his face. "Fine." The woodsman walked outside for a few seconds, before returning with a chainsaw and throwing it at Katsuki.

"No way, I'm not gonna allow him to go and fight, he's not well," Eijirou protested.

"Eiji, you of all people should know that I'm not gonna back down from this," Katsuki quietly stated.

Eijirou stammered for a few seconds, before sighing, "I know, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna drag you back here the minute you start lagging behind, it would be unmanly to do otherwise."

The two of them left through the front and Izuku turned to Ochako, "I have another job for you."

"Whatever it is, I can handle it." Ochako clenched her fist close to her face.

"As soon as you all get out of this forest, I want you to take Eri and run, run as fast and as far away as you can. Take her away from this place, take her away from...me." Izuku turned his head away in what seemed to be shame.

A soft hiccup from behind them caused them all to turn around. Eri stood at the bottom of the stairs, tears pounding down her cheeks like a waterfall.

"Eri, it's for-" Eri took off running up the stairs, clearly too distraught to talk to her father at the moment. Izuku followed her a few seconds later.

Ochako climbed up the steps and watched Izuku guiltily knock on Eri's door. "Come on baby open up."

"No!" Eri yelled from her room, her voice was muffled, more so than it should be.

"Please, you know that I can't stand you being angry at me," Izuku pleaded with his daughter.

"Go away!"

Izuku sighed and Ochako took that as her cue to step in. "Let me try, you go and get Tenya."

Izuku nodded sadly and walked downstairs. Ochako knocked on the door a couple of times and called through the wood, "Eri, sweetie, it's Ochako, can you open up the door for me?"

There were a few seconds of silence, before the door clicked open. Ochako waited a few more seconds to walk inside.

Eri was sitting up on her bed with her legs drawn to her chest and her face was drenched with tears.

"Hey." Ochako sat down on the bed next to her. "Are you doing ok?"

"No," Eri mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Ochako asked.

"Everybody keeps leaving me! Mama left me, Grandpa left me, and now Papa wants to leave me! WHY DOES NO ONE LOVE ME?!" Eri sobbed loudly.

Ochako lept forward and wrapped her arms around Eri. She felt something well up in her gut, an almost primal instinct to protect this child from any harm, physical or mental, like a mama bear whose cub was being attacked.

As she cradled the child in her arms, Ochako softly ran her fingers through Eri's hair. "Your father doesn't want to leave you, he just wants to make sure you're safe."

"Are you gonna leave me?" Eri asked quietly.

"Of course not."

"...Can you be my new Mama?"

Ochako froze up, she didn't know what to say in response. Should she say no and upset the girl but save her from greater heartbreak in the future? Or say yes, and make her happy in the moment, but risk her assuming that she and Izuku were in some kind of relationship, and getting upset when she learned the truth?

Not to say that if the situation arose where she could be in a relationship with the muscular, handsome lumberjack that was actually super sweet and considering under all the levels of "Get the fuck out of my woods" that she would refuse.

Ochako bit her lip in thought, hoping that her brain would come up with a solution that would prevent both of the drawbacks, but she couldn't.

The brunette sighed, before giving her answer.

"Of course I will."


Ochako sighed and blew a stray strand of hair out of her face as she plopped down on the couch. Eri was now asleep in her bed, leaving Ochako alone.

Questions rattled around in her brain by the hundreds, but the biggest one was, "Who did Eri mean by Mama"?

Of course she couldn't ask Izuku who she was talking about, that would just be awkward, but maybe there was one other option.

"Rhys?" Ochako called up to the ceiling.

Stomping could be heard from the attic, as well as Rhys' mumbles of "Bloody cunts."

"What do ye want, Lass?" Rhys asked as he dropped from the attic.

"Who is Eri talking about when she says Mama?" Ochako asked back.

"Well, if what I heard earlier is true, she's talking about ye," Rhys answered.

"Ok, first of all, weird that you listened in on that, second of all, the person who she was talking about before me," Ochako clarified.

"Oh, well, to tell you that, I would have to go back to the beginnin', ye see, Izuku had a mentor, a man by the name of-"

"I already know about Julius."

"Well, did ye know that Julius had a daughter, who Izuku was madly in love with?" Rhys asked with an annoyed tone.

"No," Ochako said through gritted teeth.

"Well that's who she's talkin' about: Mia Zeppeli. She left these woods a few days after her father was killed," Rhys explained.

"What happened to Julius?"

"Izuku got cocky in his early years of learnin' how to fight the monsters, gained himself a god complex, thought himself ready enough to kill their queen by himself," Rhys sighed.

"Queen?" Ochako questioned.

"Ye've only heard her be referred tae as 'the monster that runs this forest' but her real name is Nyarlathotep, an ancient evil shapeshifter. May I finish my story now?" Rhys looked at her annoyingly.

"Sorry," Ochako said.

"Now where was I? Ah yes, well Izuku thought himself powerful enough tae kill the queen on his own. Of course Julius knew that he would be torn tae shreds before he could fully become the next protector of the forest, and ran after him… Nyarlathotep injured him, and he...died out back." Rhys looked away somberly. "Mia blamed him, and asked tae be escorted out. We've never seen her again."

"Jesus," Ochako whispered.

"Yep, Izuku didn't leave his room for a week, until one day, I saw him talking tae himself near Julius' grave. Next day he went out and slaughtered fourty-seven monsters in the span of two hours," Rhys chuckled.

"An hour and fifty-two minutes," Izuku corrected from the doorway.

"What did you hear?" Ochako asked.

"Basically everything. But that's not important right now. Gremlin, did you find a way to lower the barrier?" Izuku questioned.

"Ugh, do ye have tae keep callin' me that, ye know my name!" Rhys groaned.

"Answer my question," Izuku ordered.

Rhys sighed, "Yea, I've got a way to tear it down, just need to perform the ritual is all."

"Good, get ready to leave here in about two seconds." Izuku walked up the stairs and came back down with a sleeping Eri in one of his arms, he then walked over to Rhys, picked him up, and dropped him on his shoulder. "Let's go."


Multiple cars screeched to a halt in front of Izuku, Ochako, and the rest of them, some of them normal black cars but the majority of them police cars.

"I told you to bring heroes, Tenya, not cops, they'll just get Slaughtered." Izuku glared at the bespectacled boy.

"I assure you, Iida didn't have a say in this decision. And the police have been given authorization to use their quirks to deal with the monsters I've been told about." A strange short animal hybrid with white fur stepped out of one of the black cars. He wore an all black suit, with the exception of a red tie.

"My name is Nezu and I'm the principal of U.A. University. I have rounded up as many heroes as I can and we are prepared to help you with...that." Nezu gestured behind Izuku.

The green-haired man slowly pivoted behind him, and his eyes widened. Ochako turned around as well and backed up in fear. Multiple monsters were lined up at the border of the barrier, some that Ochako had seen before, and some that she hadn't.

Among them were a six legged wolf with wings, a star-nosed mole with green liquid dripping from its claws, and an alligator with a stone drill instead of front legs, as well as a stinger at the end of its tail.

"If you wanna fight, then you better get ready!" Izuku called out as he deposited Eri into Ochako's arms. "Remember what we talked about?"

"I'm not gonna leave," Ochako argued.

"You have to," Izuku begged as Rhys began to chant from the top of a random police car.

"No, I need to be here, you need all the help you can get," Ochako stamped her foot to show her protest.

Izuku growled in frustration, before scooping Eri back up and turning to a couple of cops. "You four!" Izuku placed Eri in the back of a police cruiser, "Protect this car, if anything happens to the little girl inside, I'll gouge your eyes out with a blunt rock."

The four officers nodded in fear. "Y-Y-YES SIR!" they all yelled in unison.

Suddenly, the barrier sparked and holes began to form rapidly. Ochako could swear she could see the creatures smiling maliciously as she got into a fighting stance.

The heroes and cops got into fighting mode as well and Ochako could see Izuku draw his axe from the corner of her eye.

The barrier fully dropped, and all hell broke loose.

The walls are crashing down everyone, get ready for a shit show. That's it for now, Peace.