"What cost?"

Izuku cringed as he listened to the conversation. He was sitting on his bed, keeping as quiet as possible as he focused on his hearing. One of the first things his Sire had taught him was how to enhance his senses, as it was the easiest, Izuku already having done it before, if by accident. Now he was using that skill to eves drop on the conversation his mother and Sire were having.

"Your son, for lack of a better word, died that night," his Sire said softly, almost too softly for Izuku to hear, "It was only through my intervention that he still walks."

"HE WHAT?!" the shout made Izuku flinch as he rubbed his ears, focusing on bringing his hearing back into the normal range as he heard his mother hurrying towards his door.

"Mom?" he asked as the door burst open, the woman staring at him with tearful eyes, "Mom, are you okay? What happ-."

He was cut off as she launched herself into his chest, hugging him tightly as she sobbed.

"You're not dead!" she sobbed, "It can't be true! I can hear your heartbeat right now! My little boy isn't dead!"

"Not anymore, Madam," Sire said as he stood in the doorway, "I can only apologize for what I have done. I am the only one at fault here."

"Sire," Izuku said, his eyes wide in shock, "You don't have to-."

"I do, young one," the man cut him off, "I need to say this. I am the one who killed Izuku Midoriya. I am also the one who Turned him into the being you see before you now."

"But this is still my son!" Inko sobbed, "This is still my Izuku! A mother knows! A mother always knows!"

"I do not doubt that," Sire sighed, looking away, "But now he is that and more. He is dangerous. To those around him, and especially to himself. He needs to learn to control himself, and what now slumbers within him."

"Within…me?" Izuku asked slowly, "Sire, what are you talking about?"

"There is something more about our quirk you two should know," Sire said, "As Vampires, we sit upon a knife's edge, always teetering between madness and sanity. Should we dip too close to one side, we may very well lose ourselves in the moment."

"Madness and…sanity?" Inko sniffed, "How is sanity bad?"

"Any form of extreme is bad, Madam," Sire hummed, "And what we are can only function in extremes. As such, it is important that I teach Izuku all there is to learn about his new quirk."

"Why?" Inko asked, "Why my son? Why did you…did you Turn him like this?"

"Luck, fate, I do not know," Sire sighed, "I have asked myself the same question every night since. Had I the choice, your son would have left that alley, for lack of a better word, untouched."

"Mom," Izuku suddenly said, making the woman start as she rubbed the tears from her eyes, "I…I know this is a lot, but…but I want this. I have a quirk now. A powerful quirk. I can be a Hero with it."

"But Izuku," Inko sniffed, "You could get hurt. You could…you could die! Or worse!"

"Apparently I've already died and come back once," Izuku chuckled weakly, giving her a shaky smile, "So it can't be that bad, right?"

"Izuku!" Inko gasped, smacking him on the arm before letting out a weak chuckle of her own, "I guess…I guess you're right. I'm sorry."

"You need not apologise, Madam," Sire said from the door, "I can understand the worry of a parent."

"Oh?" Inko hummed as she tried to tidy herself up, "You have children?"

"At one point," Sire muttered, before speaking up, "But now my focus is entirely on young Izuku. I shall teach and train him to be the best he can be, as well as to control his new instincts."

"I…" Inko sighed, "Okay. I'll…I'll trust you. For now. Just…look after my son. I can't lose him. Not truly. Not again."

"Of course, Madam," Sire nodded, "Now, young one, I believe that it is the perfect time for us to go and train."

"Train? Now?" Inko gasped, "But it's a school night! And it's already so late!"

"Again!"

The shout rang out over the rooftop, Izuku scrambling to his feet as he got into the combat stance.

He was fighting his Sire. Izuku would have called it sparring were it not for the fact that the man used every dirty trick in the book to get one up on the teen, throwing dirt in his face, disappearing, and attacking from behind, even going for the eyes and crotch. Despite all the martial arts the man had taught him over the last nine months, the most important thing that Izuku had learned in their spars was that real fighting was unfair, and that the only way to win was to approach it on its own terms.

Izuku feinted left, bringing his leg up to strike his Sire in the ribs. The man batted the kick away, driving his knee up towards the teen's stomach. Izuku blocked the hit, getting thrown halfway across the rooftop for his efforts, slamming hard into the ground. He didn't let that stop him, rolling backwards and landing back on his feet almost instantly, though it wasn't enough. His Sire was standing right in front of him, fist raised, poised to strike.

"Break!" Izuku shouted, making the man hesitate for a moment, beginning to lower his fist, before the teen's own fist slammed into his gut, "OW!"

Izuku cradled his hand as he staggered back, shaking it gently as the appendage let out soft clicking and cracking noises, his regeneration realigning and healing the bones.

"Good," Sire laughed, walking over to gently pat the teen on the shoulder, "You, for lack of a better word, almost, had me there, young one."

"Almost isn't good enough," Izuku panted, walking over to the small collection of thermoses to the side of the roof, finding one that was mostly full and downing the contents, "I want to actually be able to, you know…beat you."

"You have far to go before then, young one," his Sire chuckled, "But I do believe that you are ready for next week."

"Next week?" Izuku hummed as he wiped his lips, "What's happening next week?"

"Why," Sire said slowly, "The UA entrance exams."

The two stared at each other for a long moment, Izuku's eyes going wide as he blinked in surprise.

"I COMPLETELY FORGOT!" Izuku howled, falling to his knees as he began to panic, "I've barely done any studying! How will I pass the practical exam if I can't even pass the written one?!"

"Calm yourself, young one," his Sire hummed, patting the teen gently on the back, "You need not panic over such trivial matters. You are smart, you shall do well."

"You don't know that!" Izuku replied, shaking his head defeatedly, "I'm just a worthless Deku! All this work you've done for me, and it's going to be for nothing!"

"SILENCE!" the shout made Izuku jump, looking at his Sire in surprise, the man almost never raising his voice in such a way, "You are intelligent, young one! I will not have you defacing yourself simply because others cannot see your brilliance!"

"But Sire…I-," Izuku started to say.

"But nothing," the man cut him off, his voice going soft and comforting, "You will do fine. If you prefer, we can replace our training sessions with more tutoring for the next week. How does that sound?"

"I…no," Izuku shook his head, "Y-you're right, I'll be fine. I just need to…to believe in myself more. Sorry, Sire."

"That is quite alright, young one," the man sighed, standing up as he helped the teen to his feet, "You have much to, for lack of a better word, work through. Now come, it is almost dawn, we must go."

"Yes Sire," Izuku replied as he watched the man don his thick cloak, gathering up the thermoses they'd used that night. A sudden question popped into his head, "Sire, why do we only train until dawn? I know that I need to get home, but we could easily get another two or three hours in if we kept going."

"Because we are Vampires, young one," Sire hummed, "We burn in the sun."

"We…we do?" Izuku blinked, "But…but I walk to school every day, and I've never burnt."

"You haven't?" Sire said as he stopped, turning to the teen, "Are you…are you sure?"

Izuku just nodded, the man hurrying over to him and grabbing his arm, inspecting the skin.

"I see no obvious difference in our bodies," the man hummed, "Perhaps we should test this."

"Are you sure?" Izuku asked, "I mean, how would we do that?"

"Simple," Sire hummed, "I shall follow you to school."

Izuku was panicking. This wasn't strange for the green-haired teen, but the reason for his panic was entirely new. And it was mostly centred on the figure currently hovering just out of sight of his classroom window. He'd been prepared for his Sire to follow him to school, even expected the strange glances and whispering the man had garnered, but he wasn't expecting him to stay around through the whole day.

Thankfully, his Sire had managed to stay out of sight of most of the other students and teachers, the few that had seen him assuming he was some Hero on patrol, an act the man had seemed able to adopt very easily, even giving out a few autographs to those confident enough to ask. But now it was lunch, and Izuku was waiting for his daily confrontation with Bakugo, the blond having been glaring back at him for most of the day.

"Deku," the word made him tense, looking up from his notebooks to see the other boy glaring angrily at him.

"H-hey, Kacchan," he said softly, bowing his head and waiting for the inevitable.

"You still writing in those creepy notebooks?" the blond growled, "You think that you can just keep acting the same when you're obviously training to get into UA?"

"Uhm…" Izuku started, swallowing as he looked back up at the boy, "I…how did you know?"

"You think I'm stupid?!" Bakugo spat, grabbing Izuku by the collar and yanking him from his chair, "I know you've been training! You've been putting on some actual muscle and shit! You think that that's going to be enough for a quirkless freak like you to get into UA, huh?"

"N-no!" Izuku blurted, "I…But I have to try, r-right?"

"Try?" Bakugo growled, "TRY?! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK UA IS? A SCHOOL FOR WEAKLINGS?!"

"N-no!" Izuku shouted back in fear, noticing the smoke rising from his collar, "I…I just thought it would be good to, you know…prepare?"

"Prepare?" the blond suddenly laughed, "Yeah, prepare to get killed! Which I'm going to do right now!"

Izuku gritted his teeth as he saw the punch coming, knowing full well that he could probably catch it and reverse the hold Bakugo had on him. But he didn't. He couldn't afford to show his hand just yet. What would his Sire say if he used his quirk to hurt someone?

"Enough," the voice rang out through the class, every student freezing under the force of the word, "I do believe I warned you before, young one."

"Huh?" Bakugo blinked as he slowly turned his head, staring at the figure standing outside the window to their class. Their class that was on the second floor of the school, "What the fuck?"

"Release him at once," the cloaked figure said calmly, "Or I shall report your actions to the proper authorities."

"The…who the fuck are you?!" Bakugo yelled, throwing Izuku back, the teen catching himself easily as he stumbled, "And what authorities? No one will give a shit about this quirkless fuck!"

"UA will," the man hissed, his voice going cold as he spoke, "They aim to raise Heroes, do they not? And Heroes protect the weak. You are not acting like a Hero at this moment."

"I…what?" Bakugo said, staring into the dark hood of the cloak, "What the fuck do you know?!"

"More than you, young one," the man replied, "Now, I believe your lunch period is almost finished, it would be best for you to, for lack of a better word, hurry, and eat before the bell."

"Fuck you!" Bakugo snarled, before turning away and stomping back to his desk, grabbing his lunch from his bag and aggressively eating it, "This isn't over, Deku!"

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the man slide away from the window, the rest of the class still staring at him and Bakugo as the green-haired teen pulled out his own lunch and began to quickly eat.