Chapter Two
Awakening
Everything hurt.
He could feel the pieces of his spine, shattered and worthless, move when he breathed.
He could feel his ribs, cracked and splintered, digging into his lungs.
He could feel his collarbone cutting into his throat.
He screamed into the void, but no sound escaped.
Izuku Midoriya took one last breath, and he screamed no more.
Ochako stared, terrified. The boy had pushed her out of the way, taken the hit for her, and now what? He laid there, his breaths heavy, shuddering, strained. His back rose and fell erratically, until he took in one more deep breath.
His back stopped rising after that.
Around her, the class began to stir. She was aware of arms wrapping around her. Iida's arms. She didn't even glance at him, her gaze stuck on the broken body, now half buried in the concrete from the force of the blow. Numbly, she raised a hand to her cheek.
She felt the blood.
His blood.
Blood, mixed with dirt and, she realized, her own tears. She wasn't cognizant as to when she started crying, only now knowing that tears flowed freely down her face. She knew, on a primal, instinctual level, she had just witnessed someone's last moments.
Last moments given up to save her life.
Iida didn't say a word. He turned, Ochako still in his arms, wanting to run. Tears streamed down his face, too, having also seen the boy's demise.
"He… It killed… It destroyed him," Iida's voice was soft, but the horror was palpable. "I have to… get… away…"
Before he could take a step, it was right behind them, inhumanly fast. Even faster than the brother of Ingenium.
Ice covered its body, acid burned at its arm. Todoroki and Ashido seemed to have recovered enough to see what was about to happen, but the creature continued, undeterred.
It raised its arm again, and Ochako had the image of the green-haired boy, joined by her and Iida. The class rep realized that he wasn't fast enough, so he did what instincts commanded him to, crouching down with Ochako, trying to shield her from the blow.
It wouldn't be enough, she realized. The force of the blow would crush both of them, leaving them broken and bloody, just like their teacher, and her green-haired savior. She could see, from her position low to the ground, the arm had begun its descent.
"I'm sorry, Uraraka," she heard Iida whisper, his voice shaking, as he clenched his eyes shut. She did the same, bracing for the few seconds of pain before she drifted to the void.
The pain never came.
Fearfully, she opened her eyes to look at the creature. It had lowered its arm, and was facing behind them now, its body turned half way. It seemed… confused? Surprised?
"What… what the hell?" The question came from Bakugo, in the least 'Bakugo' voice she had ever heard. "Deku?"
He sounded… haunted. Ochako looked at him, where he stood a few yards away, staring past her with a look like he had just seen a ghost.
She followed his gaze, matching that of the creatures, set behind where Iida stood and she realized where Bakugo's haunted expression originated from. For all intents and purposes, he had seen a ghost.
The green-haired boy had risen to his feet, his body still broken, blood seeping from areas where his bones had snapped and pierced through his own flesh, his eyes were open, and they seemed to glow green, a few shades lighter than the color of his hair. Once again, no one in her class could move, and it seemed even the creature was unsure of what would happen next.
Then, the boy's body jolted. The sound of crunching bone could be heard by everyone in the class, as they watched the boy's body shift before them. His shoulder realigned itself, and his ribs were taking shape properly. Structurally, his body began to return to a normal shape, though it retained the scars and open wounds.
It was a disturbing process to watch.
"W-what the hell is this?" Todoroki said, an uncharacteristic stutter coming to his voice. "What manner of quirk…"
"It's as though… as though he's piecing his very body back together…" Yaoyarozu's voice called, small and quiet.
"G-guys, I think we should be running, while it's d-distracted," Kaminari said, fear creeping into his tone.
"W-we c-c-can't leave h-him," Ochako's own voice was shaky and choppy, and she was still fully aware of the boy's blood dripping down her own face. "E-even if w-we ran… it's too fast. And we'd be abandoning both him an-and Mr. Ai-Aizawa."
The creature showed no indication of hearing them, still staring at the body putting itself back together.
"C-c'mon, Ashido. Help me pry Aizawa out," Yaoyarozu said, walking toward the bus, though her eyes never left the creature. The pink-skinned girl nodded numbly, following the creation-user.
"To-Todoroki, Bakugo, Kirishima, Sato, protect them," Iida ordered, standing straight now, and putting Ochako down beside him. The four boys nodded, even Bakugo, despite the look of terror in his eyes as he watched the boy piece himself together.
"Uraraka, stay close," Iida said, before turning to face the boy. "Can you hear me?! I… I don't know who you are, nor what this power is, but you saved the life of my friend and classmate, and for that, I owe you thanks!"
The boy did not respond, nor did he look at them. His eyes stayed fixated on the creature, much as the creature's stayed fixed on him.
"I don't know the nature of your power, but you… you need to get back!" Iida's voice took a more urgent tone than Ochako had ever heard from him.
"Please, if you can escape, go for it!" Ochako said, her voice cracking. "I-I owe you my life, I don't want to see yours taken!"
She wasn't sure where the next words came from. She just said what she felt sounded right.
"I… I have no idea who you are, but you saved me! You… took action when no one else could! I'm only alive because of you! Please, get away! You don't have to die here, you can run while it's confused like this!"
She took a breath.
"I don't know you, I don't know who you are… but to me, you're a hero!"
For a moment, the boy's eyes stopped glowing. He looked down at his body, which had been broken and destroyed a minute prior, and now was put back together. He looked up again, staring at the creature, then turning his unfocused gaze toward Ochako.
His voice was quiet, soft and sad. But in that moment, in those few seconds of silence, they may as well have been screams.
"...hero…?"
Looking back, Ochako would wonder if he was even fully conscious at that moment. His eyes were unfocused, his words not spoken to her nor anyone in her class. Tears began to fall, though his facial expression remained unchanged.
Tears fell, and suddenly, his eyes were glowing once again. Ochako saw his chest rise and fall, his face changing to one of anger as he turned to face the creature again. Slowly, he raised his arm, pointing it toward the creature, as a green fire began to burn in the palm of his hand.
The next few seconds happened almost too quickly for Ochako to perceive.
The creature raced forward, but was met with an inferno. Green flames poured over it, scorching its flesh searing it harshly.
The same fire poured over the students, yet none of them seemed to be hurt by it. Rather, Ochako noted, the second the green flame hit her, she was struck by an odd feeling of ease. She felt the scrape from falling to the floor closing, as though she were being healed. The flames began to surround the boy, as though he were the center of a bonfire. The fire was intense enough to create a slight wind from the sheer force of it, with the boy acting as a focal point.
Yet the creature pressed forward. It barely even slowed. It reached the boy in the blink of an eye, raising its hand in a fist before slamming it forward.
What should of punctured his chest merely sent the boy sprawling back, his body slamming into the building beside the museum. Not even a second later, he rose again, his body not even looking slightly damaged. It was as though something was dulling them force of the impacts.
The boy raised his arm again before closing it into a fist. The ground beneath the creature seemed to be torn up by an invisible force, pieces of it assaulting the beast and attaching to its body until eventually it was surrounded in a ball of concrete. The boy raised his hand toward the air, the creature and the concrete following suit, until they sat at around twenty meters, suspended above the open street below.
Slowly, the boy began floating as well, until he was at the same level as the creature, still encased. The flames shot forth once again, burning so hot and bright that the entire street was bathed in a cascade of green.
"He's… he's unstoppable…" Iida muttered beside Ochako, both their mouths hanging agape.
"Telekinesis…? That… that explains a part of it, and I-I guess he… I guess that's how he put himself back together… using his power to force his own bones back into place, and I think he's created a… a barrier around himself of some kind, to dull the blows. B-But the fire… It clearly burns that thing, but it didn't hurt us at all…" Yaoyarozu muttered, more to herself than anyone else.
"Yaoyarozu, focus," Todoroki said, his voice uneven, on edge. "It's still not safe here."
"R-Right," she said, returning to using the saw she created to cut Aizawa out of the ruined bus, still unconscious, but his wounds mostly having been healed from the flames.
Suddenly, the concrete shattered, and the creature leapt forward. In one blow, it sent the boy crashing down into the earth, the ground rupturing from the impact, before the creature came down on top of him. It stared down at him for a moment, its body almost destroyed but still powerful, and it rained blows down on the boy. Each seemed to strike harder than the last, the earth began to shake with the force of each impact, all of the students forced to watch, helpless and unable to do anything.
Maybe that's why Ochako broke down into tears when she heard those words.
"My students…" even with the sound of the earth being torn apart, even with their own dispeir screaming at them, all eyes turned to face toward that voice. "You don't need to be afraid any longer," the voice was different than it usually was. There was not a humorous undertone, no attempt at charisma or trying to seem larger than life. The voice was subdued. Quiet.
Outraged.
"I… am… here…"
All Might took in the scene. It had only been about three or four minutes since UA had gotten the call from the frantic boy, erratically trying to warn them of an impending attack before suddenly hanging up, but it still seemed that he was too late to outright prevent it. He was grateful to God that all of the students seemed okay, at least physically, but they were also clearly in shock. They looked at him with such terror, such horror. They all thought they were going to die today.
It infuriated him beyond words.
Then there was the creature evidently responsible for the attack. It pounded on something beneath it relentlessly, the earth seeming to explode every time it brought its fists down. The creature had sustained heavy damage, however. While some of its wounds seemed to be regenerating, the burns were cauterized and unable to heal. It looked like it had been on the losing end of a fight recently.
All Might flew forward, slamming into the creature with all his strength. It flew down the road, tumbling end over end, before rising to its feet unsteadily. He turned around to see what the creature had been assaulting so violently to find…
A child?
The boy was bloody and bruised, and it looked like the assault had broken some ribs. But all things considered, there shouldn't be a boy there. With that much power, the child should have been paste at this point.
All Might shoved those thoughts away, choosing to be glad that the boy was even alive. He turned to face the creature.
"This was a child, and you acted so violently?! I do not know what you are, nor why you fight, but for this, I will put you down!" His voice was booming, authoritative, angry. He began to walk forward, when a voice stopped him.
"He doesn't fight for anything," in front of All Might, next to the creature, a black form took shape, joined by a frail looking man of blue hair, his face obstructed by a mask in the shape of a hand. The voice, All Might assumed was the blue-haired one's, was shaking, quivering. As though he was frustrated beyond words.
"You see… Nomu here was designed specifically to kill you. It was supposed to be your equal, if not your superior, in every single way. So imagine my ultimate displeasure when he gets so badly damaged by a child, who's not even a part of UA!" The man started scratching at his neck, almost like a nervous tick.
"Tell me…" All Might's voice boomed through the silent street. "Who are you, and why did you threaten my students?"
"We wanted to kill your students, All Might!" The man yelled back, a gleeful note to his voice. "We wanted to kill you in front of your own museum, with a bus's worth of dead students to mark your ultimate failure!"
All Might clenched his teeth, a rage boiling deep within him.
"You would… threaten the lives of my students… of children… just to get to me…?" His tone dropped, his volume nearly silent.
"We would do that and SO much more, Symbol of Peace," The man used the title as an insult, raising his hands in an image of mock revelry. "And, I believe we have spoken more than enough. Now, Nomu… kill him."
"Shigaraki!"
A deep voice emanated from the black voice, which All Might guessed was some odd quirk that altered his appearance. The blue-haired one turned to face the void, a questioning, and angry expression burning in his eyes.
"I understand your frustration, master," the void began, "but look at the Nomu. It can barely walk at this point. It sustained too much damage against that boy; you know that fire works especially well against it."
Shigaraki wanted to scream, but realized his lieutenant had a very valid point. One of the Nomu's greatest strengths was its ability to regenerate, an ability that gets completely circumvented by fire. He watched the creature crawl on failing limbs, desperate to achieve its designated purpose, but physically incapable of doing so. He let out a long, frustrated sigh.
"Fine. Take us back, Kurogiri. Father will have to repair the damage," Shigaraki turned back to All Might. "Congrats. None of your students died today. But I wonder, will you be able to protect them forever?"
The black void grew, as All Might flew forward, yelling with an incoherent rage at the sound of his students being threatened once more.
"This isn't the last you've seen of us," Shigaraki's voice was quiet, soft and deadly. "The League of Villains will destroy you."
Then, before All Might could reach them, they'd vanished into the void. A teleportation quirk… he wondered to himself, before shaking his head. He had so many questions, so many new concerns, but for now, he had to focus on his students, and the boy.
Turning around, he saw several of the students gathered around the boy's body. Some stood several feet away, looks of awe and… terror etched into their features. Some stood closer, observing with curious eyes. What surprised him the most was the girl named Uraraka. While all the other students crowded around him looked on with some degree of caution, she had knelt beside him, shakily setting him up in her arms and leaning his body against her own, as she checked over his bruised and battered body, seeing if there was anything she could do.
All Might made his way over slowly, not wanting to startle any of the young students.
"My students, I am sorry. This… this is not something any of you should have experienced. The rest of the teachers will be here shortly, but why don't you all explain what happened?" He asked, as gently as he could.
Gazes flickered from student to student, as though each was asking who should be the one to speak.
"It… it all happened so fast…" Iida spoke up, trying to take on his responsibility as class rep. "We had just gotten off the bus when that… thing started to approach us. Mr. Aizawa saw it, and tried to stop it, but… it took one hit, and he was half-way through the bus."
All Might furrowed his brow, glancing over to Yaoyarozu and Ashido as they carried his unconscious form. He had several cuts and bruises, but he looked far better than he should have. Yaoyarozu seemed to have caught his glance.
"It was… I think it was the boy's quirk. He used a fire that was capable of scorching that creature, but the second it hit Aizawa, it was like it was healing his wounds… to be frank, he probably would have died had it not been for those flames."
All Might returned his gaze to the unconscious boy, his chest rising and falling steadily. His nose was bleeding, despite repeated attempts from Uraraka to stop it, and his face was badly, badly bruised. It occurred to him that the boy very well could have internal injuries in addition to these.
"Class Rep," he said after a moment.
"Sir?"
"Do you know the way to Musutafu General from here?"
"...Yes sir, I do."
"Take the boy and run as quickly as you can without jostling him too badly," All Might said, with a tone of finality. The rep nodded, bending over to take the boy from Uraraka. Iida gave the dazed girl a concerned look before darting off, boy in hands, sprinting toward the hospital.
He turned to the rest of the class. Some of them, like Hagakure, Mineta, and even Jiro had begun crying. Others talked lightly amongst themselves. Most simply stood or sat, shaking where they were.
"My students, you are all safe now. I vow to protect you from them, unto my final breath," he said, kneeling down to be closer to eye level with them. "I understand that this is a lot to process, more than can be fairly asked of any of you. Not five, six minutes ago, you were just a class full of wide-eyed wonder. To have that be crushed in so… so brutal of a manner is unforgivable. Now, the police will be here soon, but there are things I wish to ask you about. Will you help me?"
The majority nodded. Some, such as Bakugo and Uraraka, seemed to be staring into empty space. It was then that All Might noticed the blood on Uraraka's face, though he assumed it was from a wound that had been healed by the odd flames Yaoyarozu had mentioned.
"So to start with, how was it that the creature was so badly damaged? It was burned almost to the point that the skin seemed to fall off the bone. It was able to tank a direct hit from me, but it was as though it had already sustained harm more than it could properly take."
Several eyes drifted toward the crater where Uraraka sat, still staring at her hands where the boy had been. A silence stretched on, no one quite being sure how to put what they had seen into words. All Might could read the subtext.
"It was the boy alone?" Several nods in response. "Tell me then, how did the boy get involved."
Uraraka very noticeably flinched. She looked up, slowly, uncertainly, looking at All Might with a look he had never seen from the bubbly brunette. Tears leaked from big, brown eyes, her face twisted in a look of shock, frustration, and anger.
"H-he… t-the creature w-w-was above m-me… It was g-going to…" She let out a shaky breath, gathering her thoughts. "It was going to kill me. Smash me into the dirt and kill me. It… it had raised its arm to hit me but… he… he shoved me out of the way. It… It destroyed his body. It broke him."
All Might's eyes widened, taking in a detail of her face with more clarity now.
"Then, the blood on your face… it's…"
Uraraka's stiff nod said everything it needed to.
"But… he didn't look 'broken'. A little battered and beaten up, certainly, but not on the brink of death. Did his quirk heal himself as well…?"
"If I may?" Yaoyarozu asked, raising her hand and continuing at the nod. "It… it seemed clear to me that he possessed two quirks, not just one. There were his flames, that seemed to selectively have healing properties, yes, but…" She trailed off for a moment.
"He was also using telepathy… at least, that's what it looked like. His body was broken, we all… we all saw it. He was slammed into the dust and the creature was ready to move on. But then he stood back up."
"Shit was terrifying," Kaminari said, shaking still. "It was like he wasn't even conscious…"
"Did… did you see the way his eyes were… like… glowing? When the flames came out, I thought that was the end of us all," Hagakure added.
"In any case," Yaoyarozu continued, "when he stood, it was like we were watching him piece his body back together… I… I think he used his telepathy to force his bones into mending temporarily. It… that should have been painful in a way we could never imagine, but his face was blank throughout the process. I think Kaminari was right, the boy was in some altered state of consciousness."
"That's… That's not all," Uraraka added. "I think… it seemed like I got through to him, only for a second, but long enough to get him into a semi-conscious state. It was… I told him that he was a hero…"
"Did… did anyone else see the tears on his face when she said that?" Kirishima asked, to be met with several nods.
"He repeated it too, almost like he was in… disbelief? Shock?" Todoroki ventured.
"Whatever it was, he… he acted like a hero. He tried to restrain the monster and keep him away from us or civilian areas in general. Maybe it was subconsciously, but he seemed intent on truly being what I called him," Uraraka said, a shaky breath leaving her lungs. "What's going to happen to him?"
All eyes turned back to All Might, who had taken all this information in as steadily as he could.
"Well… first order of business is identification. UA got a call just before the attack started from a frantic young man warning us of just such a thing, and I have a suspicion that this young man and your mystery savior are one and the same. We will have to check phone records when we get the chance, but that will give us a good jumping off point."
"His name's Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya."
All eyes turned to Bakugo. His words, quiet and soft, silenced all around him.
"You… you know him, Bakugo?" Kirishima asked. Bakugo gave the slightest of nods.
"Yeah… yeah, I used to… It was a long time ago, it feels like," he said, his voice picking up a little. "But I can tell you all this much; whatever the hell we just saw, it's unlike anything Deku had been capable of when I knew him."
"Were… were his quirks weaker back then?" Yaoyarozu asked. Bakugo gave a scoff.
"He didn't have quirks back then."
To this, the entire class, as well as All Might's eyes widened with surprise.
"But… but how? He more than held his own against that thing, and he was supposed to be quirkless?" Mineta's voice asked in disbelief.
"He was powerful in a way that none of us are, except maybe Todoroki," Yaoyarozu agreed, her tone incredulous. "There's no possible way, he had to be lying to you."
To this, Bakugo's face darkened. It was as though he was reliving something abhorrent.
"No," he said finally. "No, he believed he was quirkless, and so did the rest of us."
"...It is rare…" All Might began, "Rare, but not unheard of, for 'quirkless' individuals to not be quirkless at all, but instead have simply failed the activation method needed for the quirk to actually take effect. If the activation method were, say, being pushed to the brink of death… then it is entirely likely that someone could go through their whole lives genuinely believing that they were quirkless. What Bakugo is suggesting has more basis than you all may initially see."
All Might turned to face the boy.
"Young Bakugo, since you know the boy, can it be assumed you know his family as well? His parents?" The dark look returned to the boy's face.
"He doesn't have any. No parents, no family, no friends, as far as I know."
His harsh tone, mixed with his words, brought an uncomfortable silence over all of them. It was only eventually interrupted by sirens in the distance.
All Might let out a sigh.
"My students. You all have suffered greatly today, and I am truly, truly sorry. You all survived, however, and that is something to be proud of, and grateful for. I hope… I truly hope that the next time you encounter such abhorrent characters, you will have the training to take them down. Until then, I will protect all of you to the best of my ability. Now, the police are arriving and the pros are sure to be here soon. Please, allow me to take Aizawa to Musutafu General, the police will take care of you from here."
And with that, he was off. His friend stirred lightly in his arms before settling once more.
Ochako still sat in the crater, her gaze lingering once more on where the boy had been in her arms.
She meant what she had told him. This boy, untrained and believed quirkless, was a hero. The fact that he probably didn't even know he had a quirk only made him a bigger hero in her eyes.
Yet, what Bakugo had said…
She remembered his tears, how shocked he seemed to be referred to as a hero. Shocked enough to snap out of his altered consciousness, if only for a moment. She hadn't had time nor the mentality to see it right then, but now, she could very clearly see the sadness in his eyes. The disbelief that someone could call him a hero.
She reflected on Bakugo's words as she drew a hand to her forehead, wiping his blood from it.
For a moment, she stared at the blood on her hand, before coming to a conclusion.
No friends, huh?
