Annnnd we're back, folks! I've got up to 3 chapters ahead and WOO, it feels good.
As for now, I'm sure you're all chomping at the bit to read so go ahead! Hope you all enjoy!
Izuku woke as he always woke. A jolt of sudden, sharp consciousness that ran like a spasm through his body. It hurt to do so, though not a sharp biting pain as he was used to but a far off, aching pain that came from a body that wasn't all his just yet.
But like an incoming tide, the inevitable feeling of his limbs crept back, linking together once more to form a picture of a body wracked with pain and aches and burns.
New burns, not just the old, familiar railway scar burns.
There were wounds all across his body, some felt like stinging, razor-thin slices, others like open, sore, pounding hammers. All of this was numbed by the presence of painkilling opiates into his system, making him feel just a little nauseated and sluggish.
Izuku groaned as his eyes squinted against the burning light pouring in from the outside. The stench of antiseptic and cleaning fluids filled his nose and he could taste it in the back of his mouth, along with the old familiar copper of blood. All these sensations swam and melded together in a toxic mix of confusion as his senses slowly began to slot themselves back into their correct and proper places.
He hated the fact that he was so used to this that he knew to simply lay there and let it happen.
He didn't need to ask where he was. He knew where he was. He was already familiar with the slightly too-starched feel of hospital beds to know he was in the medical ward. The beeping beside him also helped, as did the slightly intrusive feeling of a drip in his arm.
Izuku didn't try to lift his head up, knowing he would see only his bandage wrapped limbs and a slightly uncomfortable hospital gown. He simply lay there, allowing himself to feel every inch of the numbed pain that pulsed through his body. He felt cheated, however, they shouldn't have bothered with the painkillers. Someone like him deserved to feel every cut, every burn, every bruise, every broken limb.
He deserved the pain, it was the only way he felt as though he was somehow repenting for the pain he had caused others.
The pain he had caused Katsuki.
The sudden flashing memory of Katsuki sent a new jolt of urgency through the boy, along with the heart gripping panic that he might have killed him. Izuku began struggling as he forced his body into a sitting position despite the screaming that came from his limbs. The thing, however, remained silent, which was good. Perhaps its long, extended usage had exhausted whatever dark power it fueled itself with.
That's when he spotted it, or rather, them. His eyes widened in increasing terror as he saw that each and every one of fingernails had turned a solid, void black. He barely held back his vomit of disgust as he slowly began poking at his fingernails with an aching hand. They were his, and felt like any normal fingernail, they were just… black now.
Immediately he began patting the rest of himself down looking for anything else on his body that was new or strange.
His hands hit his ears. Ears that were pointing out far more than they had done before. Silent horror crept over him as he realized that once again the curse of his blood had mutated his form, changing him and making him more like… more like it.
Tears welled in his eyes and he began curling into a ball. Every step he took towards his dream the thing tore him two steps back. Every time he tried to push himself forward he just ended up becoming more and more monstrous. He was a fool to think the thing could ever be controlled. He was a greater fool to think someone like himself could ever become a hero.
He cried silently into his curled arms, his newly blackened fingernails digging into aching, sore limbs. He wanted to tear himself apart, to end all of this. To just drop forever into a peaceful oblivion and stay there until all memory of his spirit and soul were forgotten by everyone.
Maybe that would be for the best after all.
His heart almost stopped in his chest and his head shot up to stare as the bathroom door opened suddenly and a man walked out still rubbing hand sanitizer into his hands with a neutral expression on his face. He took two steps forwards towards Izuku before he looked up and stopped dead in his tracks.
He was, simply put, the most sickly-looking man Izuku had ever seen. His face was gaunt to the point of panic with blonde hair that fell limp and lifeless around his face. But there were two things which almost immediately caught Izuku's attention more than that. Firstly, he was wearing a uniform which was far, far too large for his clearly emaciated frame. A uniform which was, stitch-for-stitch, the same uniform All Might had been wearing earlier that day. Secondly were the fire-lit blue irises which burned deep from shadowed sclera.
A full three seconds passed between them with neither moving before the man suddenly and sharply coughed in panic, raising a hand to his mouth as blood splattered across his fingers.
Izuku immediately yelped at the sight and tried to further climb out of his bed, ignoring the sharp and stabbing painful protests from his body. "D-Don't move!" He wanted to shout but his voice croaked from a throat that felt burnt from the inside, "I-I'll get you s-some help! Just wait here I-I'll-"
"No!" The man replied sharply, still half-coughing up fistfuls of bright red blood, "It's alright, young Midoriya!"
Izuku once again froze, now almost completely out of the bed. Young Midoriya.
His eyes looked back to the man once more and watched him as he grabbed some tissues from a dispenser on the wall and, unable to stop his own shock, he croaked out, "… All Might?"
"I knew I shouldn't have drank that tea." All Might mumbled as he wiped the blood from his mouth and hands. He turned his sunken gaze back to the shocked boy and sighed. "You caught me right at the wrong time, my boy. I'm sorry you had to see me like this."
For a horrible moment Izuku's eyes widened as panic, wild and hot, began tearing through his mind. "D-Did I d-do th-"
To his credit the man was at Izuku's side in a second, large, bony hands resting on the boy's shoulders as he quickly tried to soothe him down, "Izuku! Izuku no, you had nothing to do with this, I'll explain it to you in good time if you wish but for now please calm down, my current state is absolutely not your fault! It's alright!"
Izuku was shaking like a leaf in a blizzard and he allowed the man to push him back onto the bed until he was laying down once more. He had been assured, but the very idea that the thing had turned All Might into half a man wasn't out of his head. It had the rage and the fury to do it.
"How are you feeling?" The teacher asked calmly as he moved to sit onto the bed, a gentle smile moving across his drastically thin face.
Izuku didn't answer immediately, instead his eyes refocused upwards at the blank, white ceiling. "Terrible."
All Might nodded slowly. "I understand. You've been through quite a lot in the last few hours."
"I-It's alright." The boy croaked back, feeling his throat burn and welcoming the sting of raw skin.
"I have to ask you, my boy." All Might continued, his voice low, almost sad. "Do you… remember what happened?"
Izuku felt ice run through his blood and he quietly croaked out, "Yes."
"How much?"
"E-Everything."
All Might's eyes widened but not in horror. It was pity, it was sorrow. "Oh… I'm so-"
"I-I remember it better t-than I remember p-parts of my n-normal life." Izuku suddenly blurted out, his voice cracking and broken.
A memory flashed through his mind. The smell of burning flesh, the screams of pain.
His throat burned as he spoke and his hands were raising and linking through his messy hair. He deserved it. He deserved the pain.
Blood everywhere. So much hate.
His aching fingers started to dig into his skull.
"I r-remember every second, e-every s-smell, every sound an-and touch and i-it won't leave my h-head."
Kaachan's mauled face, his broken body, a rising fist wreathed in terrible blue fire preparing for a killing blow.
He began curling up once more. His body screamed in pain but he embraced it and held onto it with both hands. He deserved it, he deserved it, he-
"Izuku, stop!" All Might's voice once more speared through the darkness, a hand wreathed in light offering the boy reprise from the horror of his own, repeating memories. "You're not back there anymore. You're here, with me."
The boy looked up from where he had begun burying himself into his arms. All Might's bone-thin face should have offered him nothing and yet the very aura of the man was enough to bring him back into the present, back into reality.
"I-I-I-"
"I promise you, you're safe." All Might's voice was low, heavy but laced with incredible strength. Strength enough to drag Izuku up from the dark. "And so is young Bakugo, you're both-"
"KAACHAN!" The boy shot up again and again his teacher coughed in shock. Izuku turned on him and grabbed at the man's rail-thin arms as despite panic again burned like wildfire cross his heart, mind and flooded fire through his scars. "I-I have to-to see him, I-I-I need to s-see if he's-"
"Young Bakugo is fine." All Might once again soothed, though his expression went dark. "He was badly hurt, but he'll be alright. He's in the next ward over recovering from surgery on his arm… and face."
Izuku couldn't stop shaking and his eyes filled with tears. Whatever was in his stomach suddenly came up violently from his stomach and he turned, throwing up yellow bile laced with red from his raw throat onto the floor of the room. All Might moved aside just in time to avoid it and, with a surprising amount of calmness, rubbed Izuku's back.
Once Izuku was finished throwing up, which happened another two times in succession, All Might moved aside for a moment to gather more tissues and handed them to Izuku, then after moving for a moment into the bathroom he came out with a small, plastic lined bin and some towels and began cleaning up the mess left splattered on the floor.
As he did so Izuku sobbed open, loud tears and his voice continued to break, barely now above a forced whisper. "I'm so sorry." He buried his head into his shaking hands as his body shook. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so-"
"It's okay, young Midoriya." All Might made quick work of the mess, despite his exhausted looking expression, and wrapped the vomit-soaked towels up into the plastic of the bin. "It's not your fault."
"Don't!" Izuku snapped in a move that surprised All Might as his eyes, drowned in the deluge of his tears, bore at the hero. "Don't s-say that! Th-This is my fault! It's a-all my fault! I-I-I lost c-control and now-"
"Izuku Midoriya." All Might's hand again landed on his shoulder as he took a seat at the side of the bed, making sure that the young teenager's eyes were focused on him and no where else. "This is not your fault. It is mine. You warned me this could happen, and I foolishly didn't listen. I- I assumed you were simply untrained, scared of your own power because you didn't know how to fully use it yet, I…" He sighed heavily and looked down. "I misread and misunderstood your fear, despite the clear warnings. I should have pulled you from the exercise the moment you expressed your concern."
He stood up suddenly and moved to the side of the bed, where, to Izuku's absolute amazement, he bowed deeply. "I'm so, so sorry, young Midoriya. Please, forgive me."
"A-All Might- I"
Whatever answer Izuku would have given him didn't come. The entrance to the room suddenly opened. The sun became hidden by clouds and the temperature dropped. Toshinori straightened up as his eyes fell on the man and Izuku watched with absolute, jaw-dropping fascination as eyes which only moments ago had been so full of sorrow and regret became burning flames of bottomless strength.
In that moment, muscles or not, he was All Might.
"Hokori."
"Yagi." Hisashi Hokori shut the door behind him though his eyes never left All Might.
There they stood. One a shadow of a man, almost entirely skin and bones in the ill-fitting suit of a hero whom all believed was invincible. The other tall, handsome, square jawed with smart black hair in a suit that probably cost more than most of the cars parked outside.
But their gaze marked them as more than just men. One with eyes aflame with passion, righteous justice, and pure unstoppable good. The other seemed remorseless, prideful and almost serpent-like shielded only by the thin layer of his spectacles.
Hokori broke their stare-down first, turning his eyes to the still sniffling, shaking boy on the bed and his eyes ran over Izuku's new ears and fingernails. For a moment something new entered that utterly void-like gaze, something which again Izuku felt he caught as only the shadow of a ghost. Concern.
His fire-cold eyes moved back to All Might. "Why are you here, Yagi? And why are you allowing a student to see you in," He paused as his eyes quickly traveled his disheveled form, a dismissive look upon his face, "This way?"
"It couldn't be helped." All Might spoke politely, though the snap in his tone was obvious. "And I was making sure he was alright."
"And convincing him to speak well on your behalf I bet." Hokori's sword-jab caught All Might off guard and the man took a sharp breath through gritted teeth.
"Absolutely not!" He countered as he stepped back, allowing Hokori to pass him as the well-suited man walked to Izuku's side and pulled out a small, plastic chair which sat against a nearby wall, "As his teacher, it's my job to be there for him! Especially at times like this!"
"And it's my job to stop this academy from being sued into the ground because of your incompetence!" Hokori turned his eyes once more to All Might, his void-like gaze bordering on furious behind his glasses. "Furthermore-"
"It wasn't his fault!" Izuku finally spoke, his throat spiking with pain as he tried to raise his voice. His hands gripped the sheets of the bed as the two men suddenly turned to look at him, wearing the same surprised expression.
It was an odd moment and for a second Izuku felt as the combined weight of the two men's looks before he pressed on. "I-It was mine! I-I lost control and-"
"Izuku." Hokori cut him off with a raised hand. "You can tell me everything in a moment and I promise I will listen, but first," His eyes turned back to All Might. "You know you have to leave."
All Might seemed to falter before finally giving Hokori a sharp nod and turning. Izuku watched with fascination as his form inflated like a balloon into the overpowering force that was the Symbol of Peace. Though even as he made his way to the door he paused, giving Izuku one last sad and longing look. "We'll talk again soon, young Midoriya. Stay in bed, heal up and please, don't worry."
Izuku could only reply with a small, weak nod and with that, All Might was gone.
The door clicked into place louder than it had any right too and Izuku now turned his eyes to Hokori.
The man gave him a small smile devoid of humor or joy as he sat down into the plastic chair and smoothed the wrinkles from his pants. "I apologize for the ugliness, son. It's the nature of lawyer-hero relationships I'm afraid, though sometimes I think he gets a little personal about it."
"W-What are you g-going to do? W-Why couldn't A-All Might stay here?" Izuku asked cautiously, feeling the odd coldness of the room seep into his skin. It had been so warm and pleasant only a moment ago and now he could almost feel a chill up his spine. Which was odd enough on its own, as the nature of the thing made sure he never felt cold.
"Last time we met I don't believe I told you what I do here. Well," Hokori reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a large looking phone, or perhaps it was a small tablet. Either way he clicked it open and got out an electronic pen. "Hero training schools hold a lot of promise to young men and women hoping to become heroes, however in all the brochures and T.V. adverts they never tell you how dangerous the nature of the training is. People get hurt and injured, mostly by accident, sometimes on purpose. Despite your quirks, you're all still teenagers at the end of the day."
His fingers linked together at the tips as he talked, "When these events happen, accident or otherwise, parents obviously want answers. If they are especially harmful," Izuku winced at that moment, "Sometimes legal action is needed. That's where I step in. I'm essentially U.A.'s entire legal division. I make sure the barbarian hordes of angry parents with lawsuits in hand don't breech U.A's gates."
Izuku allowed this information to sink it. It made suddenly made sense why he'd seen Hokori at the entrance exam, and why he'd mentioned the first few days being chaos in their second meeting. The teenager nodded slowly and Hokori gave the same joyless, polite smile back.
"All Might wasn't allowed to stay due to school policy. He was involved in what happened, his recounting must be taken separate from yours and Katuski Bakugo's to avoid conflict." He let a hand wave casually before him. "It's just procedure I'm afraid."
Hokori's assurance seemed somehow hollow, but Izuku was in no position to argue.
"Now, before we continue I have to ask, do you believe you're well enough to give me clear and concise answers to my questions?"
Izuku felt his stomach knot, but he nodded.
"Are you willing to speak to me about the events that happened a few hours ago?"
Again, his stomach twisted but he nodded silently. The memories flashed across his eyes once more, but he remembered All Might, he remembered the comfort of the man's voice and forced his thoughts into the present.
Hokori noted both these down on his tablet before finally sighing and leaning further back into his chair. "Alright, son, run me through everything that happened from the moment the class started."
Izuku began, though the memory of the event was absolute torment to bring back up. He was shaking, stuttering, and barely holding back the gathering panic that swirled within his heart. He wanted to run to Katsuki, to apologize over and over again and offer his heart on a platter if it would make him alright again.
But he persisted, he ran through each moment, telling how All Might inspired him to push forward, how Hitoshi had shaken his hand, how Katsuki had simply been following the exercise to attack and stop the heroes when he'd lost control of the thing, which Hokori had to clarify as his quirk, and assaulted Katsuki until Hitoshi had pulled him away. After that, everything was a blank.
More than once he stopped as the memories became too much, too bright and focused and almost super-imposed over his own reality. More than once Hokori simply sat back and allowed him to recover before continuing forward once more.
Once he was done, Hokori nodded. "Alright Izuku, we're almost done, I promise." Again the flash of that coldly professional, meaningless smile, "Just a quick question. Why are you lying to me?"
There was a spattering of rain against the window and goosebumps ran along Izuku's neck. "W-What? No, I d-"
"I saw the video of the exercise, it was the first thing I did the moment I was summoned down here." Hokori's brown furrowed. "I saw him taunting you, pushing you, attacking you with far too much malice and using his quirk in intentionally harmful ways. He clearly wanted this to become a fight between the two of you, not a training exercise."
"The Brat demanded a fight, we gave him a fight." The thing's sudden whisper shocked Izuku and he jumped a little, though it was odd. Usually its voice was the mutilation of many, the screams of dying thousands. This time it was distant, quiet, a blade in the dark, a snake through grass, "We did only what we were asked. We fought back."
Izuku's hand curled into a fist and he barely stopped himself from simply punching one of his many wounds. Pain always tended to shut it up, though he was surprised that it was coming through even though he knew he had painkillers running through his system.
"Izuku?" Hokori leaned forward. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yes, sorry." He gulped as he refocused his gaze on his own feet. "I-I-" He struggled to find the right words. "He was- was rough, but th-that was part of the- the exercise. H-He was just doing w-what he-"
"We have evidence of him pushing you over the edge and you're still defending him?" Hokori's voice took on an unbelieving tone. "Izuku, please. Stop. Lying to me will only get you in trouble, lying for him will only earn you his scorn. Be honest with yourself, and me, for both our sakes."
He paused for a moment and quietly added. "You want to be a hero, right?" Izuku looked up at this, his stomach twisting but his heart picking up an extra beat. "Heroes always tell the truth in these matters, even if it could hurt their friends. Honesty is a virtue. Don't fall into the trap of believing that lying to defend someone is a good deed, especially not when that person would never do the same for you."
Izuku's eyes hardened. "Y-You don't know that."
Hokori seemed shocked at the answer, though if he did he quickly recovered and leaned back. "So, you're sticking to what you've told me, then? That you were the aggressor in this?"
Izuku could almost feel it. The pull on his heart, the temptation before him to simply throw Katsuki under the bus and pin the full incident on his shoulders.
"The Brat openly mocked us. He wanted to test himself on our fury. Why pretend otherwise?" The thing again whispered through his mind. "What do we care for the fool? He was taught his lesson. Let him fall into the pit of his own making."
"Ka-Kaachan was simply be-being himself. He's loud, a-and brash, and, yes, he c-can be… v-violent sometimes. But he- he didn't cause this. I caused this." Izuku locked eyes with Hokori, ignoring the feeling of gnawing fear in his gut and the subtle anger of the thing moving through his scars. "I f-failed All Might, I-I failed myself. My mistakes are m-mine alone."
Hokori simply looked to the boy for a long moment that seemed heavy with an emotion that Izuku couldn't quite identify before the man stood up, sighing as he did so. "Then, Izuku Midoriya, you will reap the consequences of your actions." He turned and went to leave the room, putting the tablet back into his jacket pocket. Yet he paused at the door he turned to look at Izuku, "You know it takes a certain type of person to willingly take a blow meant for another."
"Yeah, I-I know." Izuku countered even as his heart pounded from the fear of the looming punishment of his actions. "It's what a h-hero would do."
The room was cold. Not just from the pounding rain outside but from the looks of every teacher in the room. There were only five of them, the principal included, but there wasn't a smile to be seen. The reflection of the summer rain ran across all of them, seemingly emerging them all of them within its relentless downfall. It had started yesterday and refused to stop other than some spare moments throughout the night.
Toshinori had sunk his head onto the large, U-shaped desk, covering his messy, wild blonde hair with his arms. He was the first to break the silence, his words crawling from his lips like the remorseful confession of a sinner to a priest. "I failed him. My first day teaching and I already failed a student."
"You couldn't have known." Nemuri, otherwise known as the hero Midnight, spoke quietly beside him. "No one could've."
"He did." Toshinori continued to speak from within his ball of sorrow. "He begged me to take him out of the exercise. He begged me not to let him hurt anyone and I didn't listen." Bone-thin hands curled through his hair, almost pulling it tight against his skull. "I'm such an idiot."
"Beating yourself up won't help anyone, Toshinori." Nedzu scolded softly, "What's important now is that we take action to make sure this never happens again." The voice of the petite animal was calm and smooth, yet his flat ears betrayed his tense nature.
It was almost laid out before them, the fork in the road they were being forced to take, but it was Present Mic, otherwise known as Hizashi Yamada, who first put it into words, the blonde leaning back with a slight squeak in his chair as he folded his arms. "There's no point beating around the bush. Izuku Midoriya attacked a student in a combat exercise. He-" He paused as the words became hard to speak. "He claims to have lost control of his own quirk and as a result he-"
"He almost killed Katsuki Bakugo." Aizawa stepped in where Hizashi clearly didn't want to tread. "If it hadn't been for the actions of Hitoshi Shinsou, Midoriya would have used his quirk to murder his classmate." Even he couldn't stop himself from gulping for a second. "So, our choices are twofold. We play this down, ignore this slip up, keep him in the school and hope to God Bakugo's mother doesn't sue us for child endangerment. Or we take formal action, expel him and let him become someone else's responsibility."
"From what I read of the interviews compiled by," Nemuri's voice took on a sudden sourness as she read the name, "Hisashi Hokori, it seemed as though Katsuki Bakugo was pushing Izuku into a fight he didn't want to take part in, though Izuku himself insists it was his fault. If what you say is true, Toshinori, then the boy clearly had an idea of what his quirk could do if he lost control. That doesn't sound like someone who would want to intentionally kill another."
"I agree." Nedzu added with a nod. "However, I think we need to address the elephant in the room here." He was answered by the teachers giving him slightly confused looks. Even Toshinori raised his head up. "The boy's file indicates he has a serious mental illness. Schizophrenia." He sighed heavily. "I don't like doing this, but we can't ignore the possibility that it played a major part in what happened."
"I don't think that's fair." Toshinori was quick to jump in. "You can't blame this on something he can't control."
"But he can control it." Aizawa frowned in thought. "He takes medication. It's possible that he's not been telling us the full truth about how effective it is or even not taking it at all."
"But surely-"
"A young man, desperate to become a hero despite clearly having a quirk that he finds difficult to use?" Aizawa's eyes narrowed at Toshinori. "Don't be naive. I saw what he did in the entrance exam and what he did on the obstacle course. Izuku Midoriya would break his own limbs if it meant pursuing his dream of becoming a hero. If he believed not taking his medication would help, he would not take his medication."
"If that's the case, then it would ultimately be his fault and..." Nemuri almost mumbled out. She didn't need to complete her sentence. They all knew what it meant.
The room fell silent once again with only the claw-scratching sound of rain against the vast plate windows breaking the weight of the air.
"Have any of us other than Hokori and myself talked to him since the incident?" Toshinori asked quietly.
"No, they've both been sent home to recover." Nemuri sighed, tired and worn, "Midoriya will be back in tomorrow, Bakugo will be back next Monday."
"Then I would like to talk to Midoriya personally." Nedzu nodded solemnly. "While you all may be my council, I ultimately make the final decision." He sighed, his own exhaustion, emotional and otherwise clear in his voice. "I hope you're wrong, Aizawa."
Aizawa shrugged and his eyes went dark. "I won't be."
It had been a strange thirty-six hours. Izuku hadn't felt like he'd been in this kind of a daze since his middle school days when his medication actually worked. It felt as though it'd been forever ago, though in reality it had only been bare handful of months.
How much the world could change in that time.
Inko had heard everything, of course, one of the first things U.A. had done after he had gotten into the medical ward had been to call her. She'd lectured him for several hours, in between bouts of crying and hugging and worrying herself over his new ears and blackened fingernails. Eventually, he had managed to worm his way to bed without any dinner, his exhaustion and the overall low level of constant, aching pain forcing him into an early sleep.
And yet the moment he woke the same thought greeted him as when he had put his head to the pillow. I almost killed Kaachan.
It haunted him. A thought that almost drowned out the casual grumbles and utterances of the thing. He had fallen so far, so deep into the blasphemous pit of fire and shadow that claimed to be his quirk that he had almost done the unthinkable.
And it wasn't just his almost-murder which haunted him. It was the gravity of a mantra he himself had been trying to adopt. No evil quirks, only evil people.
If that was true, what did that say about him now?
He had been so eager to do it. To end his life. To burn Katsuki's skin off his face and torch his skull black.
He didn't immediately get up the next day and his mother eventually had to drag her son out of his bed and practically force food into him. She had paced and worried and panicked, taking the entire day off work herself just to make sure Izuku was alright.
By the time the next morning rolled around things hadn't improved much. He got up on time however and ate his breakfast while he took his worthless medication and promised his mother he would be fine.
He was still recovering from the wounds inflicted on him of course, heavy wounds, many which would leave scars of their own in time despite the miracle working of Recovery Girl. But he had changed out his bandages and he felt well enough, and besides, it was nothing compared to what he had done to Katsuki.
It was still wet outside. Not raining, that had finally quit sometime during the night, but the air was still damp, the world still a semi-hazy fog of rising morning condensation. The damp never bothered Izuku, his body heat never dropped below 'constantly warm' at any given time. Even now while he wore his rain coat over his uniform he felt a little hot.
Yet he wouldn't remove his jacket in class. His scars were embarrassing enough as it was. He almost thought to wear a hat of some kind to cover his new ears, or gloves for his hands, but he didn't see the point. Eventually, he would have to remove them, and people would see. They might as well get a good idea of the monster he was slowly becoming now, so they'd be better prepared for when he finally became a villain.
Izuku's train took just under an hour in total, time in which he dived headlong into his podcasts and pre-made playlists while blocking out all other sound and interaction. In between the small bouts of silence between songs, however, the thing, as usual, gave its running commentary of the people around him. Whores, adulterers, rapists, thieves, sinners all. Everyone was guilty of something, at least according to the curse in his blood.
It didn't help that peak travel time also seemed to mean peak monster time. Something resembling a snake with one gigantic eye and a body made of rotting, molted skin slithered between the feet of his fellow passengers while outside a barely humanoid beast made of bleached skin flew on wings stitched together from screaming faces.
Izuku moved mostly in a daze as he made his way towards the U.A. gates. His mind was a swirling mix of anxieties and fears and, of course, the ever-cruel voice of his inner monster. His grip on the straps of his backpack grew tighter as he wondered just when they'd spring their trap and pull him aside to hand him his expulsion papers.
Would be now, in the morning before class started or later, at the end of the day?
Maybe they would-
"Izuku?"
He broke out of his inner thoughts so swiftly that he almost fell over. Stumbling to a stop he blinked and looked around, only for his eyes to land on Uraraka.
She was dressed in a thick white coat which almost hid her entire lower face, though as she looked to Izuku she zipped part of it down to reveal a smile that seemed drawn on by a young child.
"H-Hey. I, erm, I was waiting for you."
Izuku felt the world slow down around him. He had been fearing this. The talk. The 'we can't be friends anymore you monstrous freak' talk.
"Oh, how wonderful." His inner curse hissed through his ears, "More irritations."
Izuku, however, only licked dry lips and nodded to her. "Oh, that's, erm, that's nice of you."
"Yeah, well, I figured we should talk. You know. About the exercise." Her smile became lob sided and she shrugged one shoulder. "I didn't want it hanging over us."
Izuku wasn't sure how to respond so he simply gave her a curt nod. She began walking and he kept step with her, though it was a slow, dawdling walk towards their classroom. He refused to meet her eyes and instead he tormented his newly blackened fingernails by digging them into the straps of his backpack once more.
"For someone looking to talk, she's being very quiet." The thing mused with a wolfish grin throughout his mind. "It's better than her opening her mouth though."
Izuku refused to respond. The last time he'd listened to his monstrous curse he had almost burned Katsuki alive. He wouldn't make that mistake again.
Uraraka took a deep breath and Izuku felt himself brace for the impact.
"I'm sorry."
That was… not what he had been expecting.
"I'm sorry I… I didn't act." Uraraka continued and Izuku looked at her finally, only to be surprised when he saw she wasn't looking at him and, most likely, hadn't been since they started walking. "When I saw you standing over Katsuki and how you looked so- so-"
"Evil?" He braved the word with a small voice.
"No!" She turned to him, her brown eyes watery though she had yet to shed any tears. "Izuku you're not evil! Never say that!"
The thing chuckled malevolently from within Izuku, but he bit his lip and ignored it as he replied, "You saw," He paused in his walk, stopping just outside the doors to their class building. "You saw what I was like."
"Yes. I did. And I'm sorry, I was too scared to do anything I just… I started screaming and crying and…" She took a deep breath, steadying herself. "When I was in trouble, you rushed to save me. You didn't even stop. You just… you jumped forward and blew up that robot even when it would have cost you your place in U.A."
Izuku frowned. Where was she going with this?
"And when I saw you were in trouble I just… I froze. And I cried like a stupid child because there was so much fire and blood and…" She drifted off again into a shaking breath. It was only now that Izuku finally noticed how exhausted she looked, as if she had barely slept properly in the last few days.
"I'm lucky Hitoshi was there. He was so brave." She chuckled and wiped her eyes dry on the edge of her jacket. "I just want you to know that I'm sorry. I'll never let it happen again, I promise."
"That's it?" Izuku was almost shocked at his own tone and Uraraka's eyes grew wide in response. "That's it? You're sorry? You don't- I mean," He ran a hand through his hair and looked around as if someone could be listening in, "You saw me! You saw what I was like! What I'd become! How can you- I should be apologizing, not you! I almost- I almost-" He didn't want to speak it, but he forced the words from his mouth. "I almost killed Kaachan." A slow ripple of warmth moved across his scars.
"No, you didn't." Her response was so blunt that Izuku almost felt it as a blow. Her eyes were like steel. "You didn't do anything, Izuku. Your quirk did."
Izuku froze, his mouth stupidly gaping even as he heard the blood drenched echo of his curse. "She should not speak of us like this. She implies we are a weakness."
"Mr. Hokori told me what had happened. With your quirk being out of control because of how Katsuki was acting." Her frown became deeper. "This wasn't your fault. Yes, we were lucky that we got there in time, but it wasn't your fault, Izuku. Seeing you like that was…" Now she paused, and he saw her bite her lip softly. "Scary. I'm not going to lie and say that it wasn't. It was terrifying, actually."
"Good. That's the point."
She took a sharp breath through her nose before continuing. "But, Izuku, you're not evil, I know you're not." Her hands curled into tight fists. "You're going to be a hero. And so am I. One bad day doesn't change that."
Izuku didn't know what to say. His heart was lurching in his chest and he felt jitters moving along his heat-warmed scars. Slowly however tears filled his vision and without shame he began sobbing. Uraraka grabbed him into a damp hug, squeezing him with more strength than he thought she possessed.
"From now on, let's just… let's both do better, alright?"
Izuku nodded as he cried quietly into her shoulder.
Soon enough she let him go and her smile now was wider, more genuine. Her eyes were red, though not nearly as red as Izuku's. No one had ever been so nice to him, and for a moment he wondered if maybe the rest of his day would go as well.
That was until the thing slithered across his mind once more. "She's pathetic. We need no one, we are shadow and flame."
No. No the thing was wrong. Uraraka wasn't pathetic, she was amazing, and Izuku was completely sure on that. Even if he still held his doubts about himself, he was comforted by the thought that at least the people around him were good hearted and kind. They were heroes. He was… trying to be a hero.
But maybe he could get there with them, as long as he got to walk alongside them.
They entered the building together and moved towards their shoe lockers where they could pack their wet coats or rain boots away for the day.
"Erm, thank you for being so nice to me, Uraraka," Izuku mumbled as they reached the lined benches. Uraraka was already pulling off the giant, white coat even as he spoke. "It's nice to know at least one person still thinks good of me." She shot him a raised eyebrow and Izuku replied with a twitch of a smile, his eyes still distant. "Everyone saw what I did to Kaachan, accident or not." He looked down at the floor sadly. "I'm pretty sure you're going to be the only person who'll talk to me."
Uraraka pulled off her coat and shoved it into her locker as Izuku removed his own coat. However, the moment the coat was off his back, she placed a hand onto his shoulder and gave him a half-smile. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, no one actually saw you fight Katsuki."
Izuku paused then frowned in confusion, turning to face her fully. "But- But everyone was in the control room, right? I mean how can-"
"Tenya told me as you two were really starting to get into it, you did some kind of weird scream, and everything cut out." She shrugged, again that half-smile tugged at her lip. "So only me, you, Katsuki and Hitoshi actually know what really happened. Oh, and I guess the teachers I suppose."
Something suddenly struck Izuku as odd. What had Hokori said to him? 'I saw the video of the exercise.' If the cameras had gone then-
"So don't worry about it!" Uraraka smiled. "Besides, people know it wasn't on purpose. It was an accident."
Izuku's nod seemed only half put together but still. He trusted Uraraka. If she said it was okay, it'd be okay. And yet the statement from the lawyer still played at the back of his thoughts. With a shake of his head, he decided to push it away and deal with it later.
Just like all his other problems.
"Oh, erm, and just one other thing." Uraraka said suddenly, drawing Izuku's eyes back to her.
She suddenly put her fingers up to her ears and pointed outwards. "What's with the elf ears?"
Izuku's red-faced embarrassment didn't fade until they got to their homeroom door.
ALRIGHT! So as reward for ya'll patience you get TWO new 'Zuku upgrades, plus Hokori meeting All Might and even more MYSTERIES.
I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter, it's designed as a nice cool down from the last as we begin the road to USJ. But more answers are coming, as well as more MYSTERIES.
So yeah, till next time dear readers!
