"Let's get one thing straight, I don't care if you see me as a friend or not. First and foremost, we're contractor and contracted. I'll help you to keep my end of the bargain, so long as you keep yours."
A broken or fractured ankle is an injury to the bone. You may experience a broken ankle from a twisting injury from a simple misstep or fall, or from direct trauma during a car crash, for example.
Some identifying marks of a broken are as thus follows:
1. Immediate, throbbing pain
2. Swelling
3. Bruising
4. Tenderness
5. Deformity
In Izuku's experience-
It hurts! IT HURTS!
-he was no doctor, but he was quite certain that he didn't need to be one to say concretely that his ankle should not bend the way that it was.
He could hear the translucent devil with his face sigh off to the side.
"Quit your blubbering. It's only a broken bone."
Izuku grit his teeth. The Execution Devil was really starting him.
Shut up!
He heard a scoff in return.
"Fine, be that way. Just think up a way to live through this."
Live through- Oh Shit!
CRASH!
Crack!
Pain forgotten momentarily, the greenette rolled the side to avoid being crushed by the giant mass of muscle that was moving to pummel him.
From where it landed, trash flew and the pavement cracked.
Izuku hissed as he felt the pain from his ankle flare up once more, but had no time to cry about it as he was forced to dive away from another lunge from the monster that had broken it.
Crack!
More pavement cracked by the sheer mass that was the devil coming after him.
He could only dodge around it for so long.
He was already feeling a bit winded.
In spite of the situation, Izuku's mind pulled forth the memory of a nature documentary that he'd watched not too long ago.
A list of animals, some endangered, others extinct, but all of them natural predators.
One that he remembered specifically was the Cape Hunting Dog.
From what he could remember, they would simply chase their prey into exhaustion, waiting for them to stumble and then pounce to end the chase.
Impalas, zebras, even some ocelots.
They usually hunted in packs, but even a single one could be dangerous if it got the drop on its quarry.
And the worst part about them:
They didn't kill their prey before they started to eat them.
It was then that Izuku realized… he was the impala.
The impala with a broken ankle that was being tired out by the predator aiming for his guts.
He started to feel sick again, but he really didn't have time to.
He was in a fight or flight situation.
And Izuku, mustering up his courage and sense in equal measure, chose to-
"Hey, wait! Where are you going!?"
-fly.
He scrambled on his hands knees for a moment, very nearly falling on his face, but he was up in a moment.
He was beating a heated retreat, Execution Devil and broken ankle be damned.
The adrenaline was taking care of the latter, and the former…
Fuck that guy!
He had felt bad for it for a moment, but he really didn't want to die.
And if he stayed, that was going to happen.
He turned a corner. He heard something giving chase behind him.
"Really? This is what we're doing?"
Of course it caught up.
"I'm not going to let myself get killed by that monster! If I- If I get out onto the street, I can-a hero will-!"
"Save the day?"
"Yeah!"
He heard a hum. He took another turn.
"Right. A question, if I may?"
"What?"
"How do you plan to reach the street if you're going the wrong way and about to hit a dead end?"
"What do you-?"
He turned once more and his heart sank.
No…
"Hm."
The Execution Devil looked behind them.
"What was that about not dying?"
Izuku felt the strength leave his legs and he collapsed.
His ankle still hurt.
Of course it did, it was broken.
It felt dull.
He didn't care.
He was going to be in a lot more pain, anyway.
That devil could've killed him instantly while he was distracted by the cat.
It didn't.
It liked to play with its food.
It was going to eat him.
Piece-by-piece.
Flesh from bone, fiber-by-fiber.
Tears welled up in his eyes.
He was going to die.
He was going to die a horrible death.
He was going to die a horrible death in some dirty back alley and no one would know.
His mom was at work, working hard for his sake.
His dad was overseas, likely getting ready to send another postcard with another monthly payment for his upkeep.
His hands balled into fists again, his knuckles scraped against the pavement.
His tears hit the ground, the beginning drizzle in the storm of despair that was his mind.
I-I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die! Mom! Dad! Someone, anyone, please! I don't wanna die!
"Cease!"
His blurry vision was filled once more by the sight of his own face.
"If you don't want to die, do something. Does it not embarrass you to be so pathetic in the face of adversity? Does such a weak devil invoke such despair in you that your senses have abandoned you?"
Weak? It broke my ankle with a touch.
"There's a devil that could kill a quarter of a million people simply by moving."
WHAT?!
The devil waved him off.
"Unimportant. We need to kill that devil before it kills you."
Off one track and onto another, Izuku was getting whiplash.
Though considering the fact that the fact of his mortality had been presented to him multiple times in the span of twenty-four hours, he was growing surprisingly numb rather quickly.
How?
The devil grinned.
"Oh, that's one of the perks of our contract. Now, listen closely…"
The little bastard ran off.
It needed a meal.
The human it had grabbed before was a bit bony, but he would have sufficed.
It needed blood.
The labyrinthian nature of the alleyways that it made its nest was both a boon and curse.
Boon due to the fact that it was so complex that should anything wander its way into its clutches, it would be hard pressed to find its way out.
A curse due to the fact that it very rarely received any visitors aside from small pets that wandered away from the repulsive humans that they belonged to.
He's not far now.
If prey got away from it, that was fine.
They wouldn't get away for long.
Rattle! Rattle! Clank-Clank!
The clattering of metal.
The links of a chain rattled.
The human had run himself into a dead end.
Though he looked… different.
He stood straight. Unencumbered by the ankle that it had assuredly broken earlier.
His head covered by a thick, dark hood. That hood tied by a thick rope.
His back was turned to it, but it heard the chain that dangled from his wrists.
When he turned around, it felt something that it hadn't felt in a long time:
Shock.
"Y-you're a devil…?"
Cold eyes stared it down.
One eye shone green with malice, a single faded ring framing the dilated pupil perfectly.
The other eye was a bright shining star, the mere sight of it burned.
It- it needed to run.
It couldn't die here!
It-
-felt cold steel wrap around its muscles.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Two voices, swapping every other syllable, spoke.
The chain around its body tightened.
It hurt. It hurt so much!
I don't wanna die!
"If you didn't want to die, you should have thought twice about murdering me. This is your punishment. Die."
It was squeezed and squeezed, and squeezed some more.
And then, the pulling started.
And it screamed.
It screamed because it was hurting.
It screamed because it wanted to be saved.
It screamed because it was dying, and it Didn't. Want. To. Die,
But even still, with its screams for help, the devil that pulled at it, didn't care.
It remained as impassive as ever.
And then eventually, it felt its body begin to tear.
It was going to die.
It looked into the eyes of the monster that was killing it.
In its final moments, all it felt was hatred.
A burning hatred for the devil with the exploding star in its eye.
Its body came apart, but it barely noticed.
All that mattered was the hatred for the devil that killed it.
Muscle Devil- DEAD
Execution by: Dismemberment
What the hell?
Izuku was on the train home.
He decided that going to school wasn't worth it that day.
He needed to rest.
He felt sick again.
He felt dirty, grimy, all-around unpleasant.
His ankle didn't hurt. It wasn't even twisted. Just back to normal like nothing had happened.
But there was evidence that proved that something did indeed happen.
He had concealed his jacket in his bag.
It was covered in blood and dirt, all from the devil that he had just killed with his own hands.
He was confused.
Where did he get that strength from?
Where did that fear in the devil come from?
Why did he feel even more powerful when he saw it?
What was going on with him?
"That's our contract. You can use some of my power for a price every time you're in a jam."
Ah, the ever so helpful specter that led him into a trap.
The Execution Devil was on his shit list, but Izuku was more tired and confused than he was angry at the only 'ally' he had at that moment.
But I just used a chain, right?
"You did. That meant that you didn't have to offer anything up. You already had that. Though, going forward, you will be offering up different things for execution tools. Blood and bone for blades and blunts. A bit of hair for a length of rope."
Going forward? What do you mean 'going forward'? I can't keep fighting these things! I almost died earlier! I did last night! I can't do someth-"
"You can and you will."
He was cut off.
He looked over at the window to see his reflection staring at him sternly.
"Let's get one thing straight, I don't care if you see me as a friend or not. First and foremost, we're contractor and contracted. I'll help you to keep my end of the bargain, so long as you keep yours."
But-
"And I should let you know, a contract between a human and a devil is iron-clad. The party who breaks the term of said contract dies. So think very carefully before you make another refusal."
Izuku's hands found themselves in his hair, clutching hard while the boy in question tried his best not to break down crying on public transportation.
I wanna die.
"You humans are so inconsistent."
Home.
Home was the place where most people felt the best about bringing the brunt of the anxieties to bear.
And at that moment, Izuku could feel his anxieties welling up to an outrageous degree.
So when Izuku saw his apartment building, his spirits rose a little at the thought of respite from the turmoil that the morning and noon had brought upon him.
And then he saw the people in black suits in front of his apartment door.
The sight of them made his spirits drop, what they actually said made them plummet.
"Izuku Midoriya-kun, we'd like to speak with you about the devil that you made a contract with last night."
He hated his life.