Drageria

Ch.1: The Offer

"People of Japan, here me! I am Tachibana, the Dark God and I come to you with a message. Rather, I come to you with an offer. To all of those who feel useless, downtrodden, rejected, hated, or ostracized by your current standing society I extend an olive branch of peace to you in your time of need. If you feel as though your current life is all for not here in Japan, then I ask you to join me in my country. The country of Drageria. I ask that you come of your own free will and not by any sort of force. Take only what you need and leave all else behind. In time you will regain what you have left and more in Drageria. Come and start a new life, one free of judgment and pressure if that is what you seek. Go to your nearest docking system and go to any boat captain and whisper the word Eveloeian, and they will take you to Drageria with no charge or payment. I hope to see you there. "

It was the middle of the night and Izuku Midoriya heard a strange voice booming to him and echoing through the air. It sounded like the voice would come from outside with such gusto, but even as he threw open the window it still sounded no different. Almost as if someone was speaking through his mind. Izuku wasn't sure he was still awake, but he knew the strange voice was all too real. Several of his neighbors were also awake; their lights turning on in a frenzy at the sound of the voice. Some of which went outside to explore.

But as this was going on, Izuku recounted what the strange voice said to him. Its offer. Was it real? It couldn't be, there was no way something like that existed! It had to be a trap. No one in their right mind could ever believe in something….so…..unreal…..

Then Izuku remembered. He remembered what had happened not too long ago. It was only just the previous day that it happened. The worst day of his life, the one that almost caused him to snap, but instead run away. The day had started on its trail of horror on his way to school, with bystanders and people who knew him, giving him sideways glances of disgust or pity for being one of the few people in the world classified as quirkless. His class had gone no different than any other day with students and teachers all whispering about him or snickering about him behind his back, and things hadn't been crazy after that which was a relief for him. Then things only went downhill from there as his previous best friend Bakugou told him to kill himself if he wanted to be a hero so badly and hoped to get a quirk, destroyed his notebook, and decked him with his quirk in the stomach.

Things got no better on his way home when he was attacked by a slime thing that got within speaking distance of killing him. Luckily he was saved by All Might who gave him his autograph and bounced away. But Izuku held onto him and wanted to ask an important question. A decision that he not only would come to regret but hate himself for. When he asked if he could be a hero, despite being quirkless, All Might simply turned away from him and told him no and to lose his unreal dream. When All Might vanished he left Izuku on that rooftop with the most shell-shocked expression anyone could muster.

Then things got even worse once he made his way back to the streets and was met with the sight of Bakugou being held hostage by the same slime thing. Feeling responsible he ran out to try and save him, and almost managed to do so. But the angry expression and list of slanders that were thrown at him made him halt and the slime thing took advantage, nearly suffocating both boys, only for All Might to save them with one blow. When they were free the first thing Bakugou did was try and attack him for saving him, leaving a black mark on his right eye. When the heroes peeled them apart, instead of being helped by the other heroes present, he was instead treated like a criminal. Being questioned, harassed, and treated roughly for no reason. He tried to look to All Might for help, trying to get the man to call them off, but he did nothing. Without even facing the boy he told him off, albeit in a much kinder way, for trying to get involved in hero work while not having a quirk on top of things.

Izuku was devastated at his words and felt himself tear up. Only to hear the hero, roughly holding his wrist, harass him for his involvement with no quirk and very loudly. Which only got the crowd of people's attention and caused them to snicker or make demeaning side comments at him, some even laughing at him. Izuku was crushed beyond repair and pulled against the hero, begging him to let him go! To get away from the humiliation, the sadness, to just getaway! But the hero wouldn't let go, only putting more and more pressure till he nearly crushed the boy's hand, who was now just screaming in pain! The heroes had gotten annoyed with this and smacked Izuku hard across the face! Leaving a red welt and freeing him from their vice grip!

Izuku tumbled to the ground and tried to scamper away as the hero approached him while, no doubt continuing with his beating, but fortunately he was held back by other heroes. Izuku Scampered to his feet and grabbed the first thing he could from his shredded mess of a backpack before running off with haste! Pushing through the crowds of jostling and laughing people as he ran for dear life! He ran and ran and ran and ran until he finally made it to his front door where he collapsed in a dry heaving mess. He wanted to lay there and cry, but he couldn't….not now. There was only one person who could console him in his most desperate hour of need, and she was just on the other side of this door.

Luckily he still had his house key, apart from everything else he lost, and unlocked the door. He stepped in and took off his shoes while placing his keys in the dish by the door and weakly let out his arrival. No doubt his mom would ask him what happened to him, all teary-eyed, but now it was the time to tell her the truth. The truth of what had been happening to him outside the house. He knew his mom would cry, but then she would do everything to help him! No doubt they'd have to move and start over because of everything that has happened to him, which Izuku would be grateful for, but it'd be worth it in the end.

When he walked into the kitchen, his mom immediately saw his state of being and was shocked unsurprisingly! He couldn't hold it in any longer and told her about….everything. He must've stood there for an hour telling her all the things he had been holding back and nearly on the verge of tears every time. When he finally finished, breathless and very relieved, he half expected his mom to throw herself into him, cry, hug, and kiss him then tell him everything would be fine now…..but she didn't.

Instead, she just stared at him for several seconds before dropping her head and looking off to the side. This sent a ping of fear through his spine as he anticipated waiting for her to say something. After a long and anxious wait, she finally spoke, and the words she said broke the final straw. She told him that he would just have to deal with all that he's been through. This is what his life would look like from now on. He would just have to accept it and move on while keeping quiet.

But he couldn't. He couldn't take it anymore, he couldn't stay quiet, and most of all he couldn't live like this anymore! Especially since there was nothing left to live for. Every opportunity he had was now gone. He would be less than nothing. Tears rolled down Izuku's swollen face as he looked at the woman who he thought of as his mother, now an unrecognizable stranger. He took a step away from her, then another. His shoulders jumped and his breath hitched, and then he turned on his heels and ran out the front door and into the city! Even if his mother did try and call out to him or stop him, he couldn't hear her and she couldn't keep up.

Izuku didn't know what to do, but the only thing he could think of was to run. And run he did; he ran and ran and ran and ran until he nearly collapsed! The only thing propelling him through the city was his fears, sadness, and thoughts. He couldn't go back to school, he couldn't face his classmates or Bakugou, he couldn't follow his dream, he couldn't go into town, he couldn't even go home! He had no one in this world, and no one wanted him. He was alone. And so he only ran until he felt like he was far away from everything that nailed him.

But even as he laid on the ground dry heaving once again, it still didn't feel far enough. He laid on the cold concrete and cried, he cried and cried and cried until he had no more tears to shed. He finally sat up and saw that in his hasty escape from his 'home' he had nothing with him. Just his school uniform, and his notebook that he still clung onto. He had no phone, no money, not even any shoes, just nothing. He opened his half-destroyed notebook and almost cried again as the pages stuck and ripped apart. Several of the pages had been destroyed from ripping, more had been burned to a crisp, while most of the words were just waterlogged, making nothing readable.

As he flipped through the pages he found only one that was intact. The autograph from All Might. Tears emerged again as he saw the man's name, a teasing reminder of his failure and nothing more. With anger and sadness as his guide, he ripped out the one good piece of paper and then angrily tore it to shreds while screaming until it couldn't be torn anymore. He threw the paper shreds into the wind where they scattered all over.

When Izuku finally looked at his surroundings, he saw that he was in the lower parts of the city and right by an an abandoned motel with a lot of homeless camping not too far. At least he could sleep here until he thought of something to do. Luckily the doors were not locked and he went right into one of the rooms where he found what could've been the nicest and cleanest bed. He flopped down on it not caring about dirt, germs, or bugs, and drifted off to sleep. Or he did for about an hour until he heard the mysterious voice call out to him through the air, his room, and his head.

Izuku looked up into the sky where the voice was, or where he thought it was, and thought about it. It sounded unreal, but then again, when was anything he said, done, or existed forever seems real to others. And from the looks of his homeless neighbors, it seems like they too were taking up the offer. Packing what little they had and marched off to the docks. Izuku knew that if this was real, then it was his only chance. And so he took it.

With the notebook still in his hands, he climbed out the window and joined the other homeless folk to the docks. They all walked into the inner city where they somehow met up with an even larger group of people that all looked like they were headed toward the docks as well. He could figure that much out due to the fact they all were packing lightly and headed in the same direction. While taking a small detour down an alleyway, his leg suddenly collides with something!

He fell straight onto his face and after picking himself up, he saw that he landed on the things that hit him. Much to his surprise, he saw a young girl, no older than 8, with long white hair, red eyes, and a small horn growing out from the right side of her forehead. She wore an old-looking white shirt with holes and stains on it, alongside the fact she was covered in scars. Izuku felt his heart bleed out from the girl, who looked desperate and terrified. He reached out a hand, but the girl scurried back from him.

Izuku retrieved his hand and said through the welt on his face, "It's okay. I won't hurt you. Are you lost?"

The girl's eyes began to water and before he knew it, she fell into his chest and wept bitterly into him while sobbing, "Please help me! He's coming! He'll find me soon!"

Izuku was more than confused, but asked back, "Who's coming?"

The girl sniffed back and managed to squeak out, "The bad man with the bird mask!"

'Bad man? Bird mask?', Izuku questioned to himself.

He then asked her, "Where are your parents?", the girl said nothing in return. "Do you have parents?", this time she shook her head no.

Izuku knew that he couldn't just leave her or take her to the authorities. He had one chance to escape this hell, and it looked like he was taking this girl with him. Izuku sighed and scooped the girl into his arms while joining the crowds of people once again.

"Don't worry. I'll take you with me.", he said kindly to the girl, who looked up at him with watery eyes.

"Where are we going?", she asked him innocently.

"Somewhere far away. Somewhere no one can hurt us. Somewhere the bad man with the bird mask cant find you.", he told her reassuringly while trying to smile.

The small girl looked up at him in wonder and asked, "Really?"

"Really.", he told her. He then remembered something and asked her," By the way, what's your name?"

"Eri.", Eri replied in a relaxed tone while snuggling into his shoulder.

"I'm Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you Eri.", he told her while petting her head.

Meanwhile in the same dark alleyway a few minutes later. Two figures stood in the darkness looking for something but ended up coming up with nothing. They both took notice of the large crowd of people moving in the same direction and looked on from their hiding spot trying to spot someone in the crowds. When that was fruitless, the first person, who was dressed like a Plague Doctor, turned to his associate and prompted him with a question.

Do you think we should join the crowd and follow them, boss? No doubt she hid in there?", the Plague doctor asked him while attempting to move with the crowd.

However, he was stopped by the other man, who wore a large fur-collared parka and large beak-like mask. He put his hand out and said with a cool and sinister tone, "No doubt indeed, but there's no need."
The plague doctor gave a confused noise and asked further, "What? Why? She's super important to our cause? Losing her would be a huge hit for us, Boss Chisaki?"

The man, Chisaki, adjusted his glove and replied with a calm tone that hid an angry ping, "Yes but let's not forget we are to keep as low a profile as possible. Our mission, although important, cannot be compromised. We'll find her again, given time. But for now, we can continue with the samples we have. How is progress?"

"We're in the testing stages right now and have yielded very little fruit.", the plague doctor replied, a bit nervous.

Chiaki gave an annoyed growl before saying in a controlled tone, "No matter. All progress is good progress. Make sure to use the resources properly or we'll have to do something drastic regarding that girl's location."

"Yes sir.", the plague doctor said nervously.

Back with Izuku, he had been walking with a large crowd of people with a sleeping Eri in one arm and a notebook in the other for over 20 minutes. And in that time he had finally made it to the docks where a large cargo ship, void of any cargo boxes, was sitting in port. Almost like it was waiting for them, alongside several smaller vessels. The main body of the crowd was boarding the cargo ship, and Izuku decided that would be the best place to go. As he walked up the ramp in a single file line with the rest of the people, he saw that every person that came onto the ship was greeted by the captain and the crew who looked strange.

Not different strange, just weird strange. Their eyes seemed glossed over and body limp. Almost as if they were hypnotized. Every time a person passed by they would say that 'magic word' they were instructed to say when finding a vessel to cross the ocean. When it finally came to Izuku, the captain looked at him, as if expecting something, then remembered the word he needed and clearing his throat he whispered to the captain 'Eveloeian'. The captain tipped his hat and Izuku came on board. After almost a full hour of people boarding the ship, it was quite literally packed to the gills with most people having to stand just from how little room there was! Izuku managed to sit amongst the crowds and after another hour of waiting, the ship blew its fog horns and finally departed from the shore! Unfortunately, the noise woke poor Eri into a fearful frenzy!

Izuku managed to soothe her and get her to calm down enough until she fell asleep again, much to Izuku's envy. He wished he could be sleeping right now. And according to the many tired faces of the other passengers, they were all wishing the same thing as well. But Izuku stood strong and held Eri far into the night and up until it was morning. When morning's first light came up, so did Eri. They looked around somewhat confused and scared. When she looked at Izuku with fright, he knew she must only remember very little from the night before. So he reassured her everything was fine and told her about the night before.

Eri relaxed and then said to him in a wine, "I'm thirsty, Izuku."

Izuku sighed and replied while looking up at the sky, "So am I, Eri."

The morning turned into the middle of the afternoon with the sun now beating down on them, and people were starting to get rightfully antsy. Even Izuku was starting to get a bit stir crazy from lack of food, water, space, and sleep. But after another hour of waiting and some people starting to lose it or thinking it was some kind of ruse, the fog horns blared and one person on the ship shouted, "LAND HOE!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the bow of the ship and saw that the person was right, much to everyone's instant relief! A few miles away was an island that poked out from the horizon! Everyone on board cheered at the sight and even Izuku couldn't hold in his excitement! It took another two hours to get to the island and dock safely. Then another hour to make sure the ships were properly in place and unload everyone one by one. Finally onshore, Izuku couldn't help but gawk and marvel at the…..well everything! The whole place was just so beautiful!