guide:
"Normal talking"
"Spoken in foreign language"(in this case English)
'Thoughts'
Flashbacks
"Emphasis"
Chapter 2- Fate's Cruelty
A deep menacing voice spoke in response to his thoughts. Izuku froze and his eyes widened with pure fear. It was dark and all the lights were out something that is very off putting.
"Who's there!?" Izuku asked/yelled in his apartment, his heartbeat was fast and loud. The voice that called out to him was deep, menacing almost ghostly but most noticeable of all was that it was spoken in English.
Footsteps came from within the apartment, too heavy to be his mother's. Worry had suddenly overwhelmed him as he remembered his mother. The footsteps drew closer and the door behind him locked with a click all on its own. He was sweating nervously at who could possibly be here. A villain? Most likely, if the voice was anything to go by.
The footsteps stopped. Izuku's fear was getting to him; his legs were shaky and his breath was uneven. All the boy could feel was the pounding of his heart. He heard a thrashing sound and not a second later, black tendrils flew from around the corner and forcefully wrapped around him.
The tendrils covered his mouth tightly preventing him from screaming for help. He was pulled toward the direction where the tendrils originated from. He tried to squirm and break free but to no avail. He stopped moving and opened his eyes to finally see that he was face to face with the intruder.
A tall hooded figure covered in ragged dark clothing with metal armor sticking out from various places, the shoulders, knees, and elbows stood before him. The being also wore a smooth dark almost faceless mask save for the terrifying maw of razor sharp bits of metal that represented teeth and fangs.
Izuku was losing his mind in fear of the imposing figure that has him trapped. His eyes were so focused on the mask of the villain that he didn't register the living form in the villain's outstretched left arm. His eyes widened with tears and horror as he finally saw his mother. Her feet weren't touching the ground, dangling a foot up. Her mouth was covered by the hand that was lifting her up. Her eyes looked to his, pooling with tears out of fear for him.
"Surprised to see me? It has been some time since we first met." The stranger spoke in an intimidating taunting tone. The tendrils unwrapped his mouth allowing him to gasp for air. "SOMEBODY! HEL—MMMPPHHH!" "Scream again and your mother dies." Both captives were panicking within the stranglers grasp. "Please don't hurt us! We don't have anything much! Please let us go!" Izuku pleaded his with eyes shut tightly.
The villain brought Izuku closer to his face, tilting his head to the side in a questioning manner. This only made Izuku more uncomfortable and did absolutely nothing to ease his worries. "Are you really the same boy?" "Where is your power?"
"What are you t-talking about? I-I-I've never met y-you before!" Izuku responded in English. Fright was clearly present in his voice. His response only seemed to trigger their captor as the dark flowing tendrils started squeezing him tighter like a boa constrictor suffocating its prey.
"Your power...is gone? And you do not recall who I am?" The stranger questioned. Izuku nodded his head quickly. It was the truth. He had never met this man before and he doesn't have a quirk, so what does he mean by "his power"?
Izuku couldn't finish his thoughts as he was violently thrown across the room, hitting a wall with his back. His mother let out a scream muffled by the darkness covering her mouth. The boy, still wrapped in the strange dark matter, grunted painfully at the sudden collision. His young mind couldn't handle the situation he was in for the second...no third time that day.
The villain stepped closer and looked over the boy, a menacing aura radiated from him. "Then perhaps I need to trigger your memory." His voice was threatening, sadistic and promised suffering. The darkness surrounding him got thicker and soon a large mass of darkness was all around the villain.
Suddenly his mother's muffled screaming started filling the room. Her legs were frantically kicking the air beneath her. Her tears were spilling out of her wide eyes. The darkness that was keeping her suspended in the air was now piercing her skin, spreading throughout her body as dark veins appeared. Her skin was turning pale black; blood was dripping on the floor as Inko's screams of agony resonated in the room before coming to a sudden stop.
Izuku looked on horror, regret, grief and more negative emotions swirling in his mind at what he had just witnessed. Big fat tears cascaded down his face as the pale limp body of his mother fell lifelessly to the floor. His blurry vision then turned to his mother's murderer. The villain's mask reflected his tear-ridden face. He wanted to scream, to release the whirlwind of emotions he was feeling. Loss, grief, rage and misery.
Loss and grief for his mother; rage at the monster who had robbed him of the only family he had left; and misery for not being able to do a thing about it.
The dark matter that surrounded him dispersed and he fell to the floor.
"Nothing?" The villain tilted his head."It seems I was mistaken. You're power truly is gone."
Izuku pushed himself of the floor and charged at the man, yelling at the top of his lungs. He wasn't thinking straight and was acting purely on the overwhelming emotions he was feeling. His desperate assault was cut short when a fist connected with his cheek sending him tumbling down to the wooden floor. He felt a hand grab the back his head, pulling at his hair, lifting him up of off his feet, directly face to face with the villain. His voice was a paimed hushed tone.
"WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU COME AFTER US?! WHY WOULD YOU KILL MY MOTHER?! I'M QURKLESS! I DON'T KNOW WHAT POWER YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. WHY?! WHY?!"
"Oh? What a pitiful broken soul you have. I don't even have to waste my time killing you." 'You can do that for yourself.' The villain smashed Izuku's head against the wall. Blood was trickling down his face. Surprisingly, the boy was still conscious as he struggled against the wall in vain. The villain's head drew close to his ear before speaking in a menacing, ghostly tone.
"You are utterly pathetic.
You are the reason for your mother's demise.
Had you only been capable enough to protect her.
Had you only been a better son.
I saw what you had foolishly done earlier, pretending to be something you are not.
A hero.
Maybe if you had never been born, your mother would still be alive; I would never have come for you only to be disappointed." With each sentence that escaped his mouth, his grip on Izuku's head tightened.
Out of nowhere a knife came piercing the boy's shoulder. The villain pressed the knife further down Izuku's shoulder. He screamed but was muffled by another patch of darkness. More tears flowed as he felt all the emotional and physical pain at full force. Despair was again building up inside of him. What the villain said was...true.
"Spare yourself the pain and end your worthless life. At least your death will be entertaining."
The villain released the battered boy and pulled the knife out of his shoulder. In a swirl of darkness, the villain disappeared leaving no trace of his presence. Nothing, except a traumatized boy and the remains of his mother.
Izuku crawled on the floor with one hand. His body was numb. His mind was a hurricane of emotions. He stopped when he had reached the side of his mother laying motionless. He placed her pale cold lifeless hand on his forehead. The physical pain was nothing to what was killing him inside. His voice was weak and trembling.
"Mom...mom... I-I'm s-sorry! I'm s-so sorry! You d-don't deserve this! You don't deserve to d-die!" His tears didn't stop falling. Reality was setting in around him, around what had just happened, and it...was...painful. "Y-You don't d-deserve a worthless son l-like m-me!"
Years and years of pent up emotions came pouring out. Years and years of the unending torment he endured while chasing after a dream that was a mere childish fantasy for someone like him. A quirkless nobody.
"You should probably give it up."
...
"You're just a useless Deku"
...
"It's alright to dream just be sure it's realistic"
...
His father had abandoned him and his mother. Society had ostracized him. His childhood best friend had turned against him and became his biggest tormentor. His idol had also dismissed his dream. The only person who had supported him, his one true friend died in an earthquake alongside her family.
And now, his mother laid lifelessly on the cold wooden floor. Her clothes covered in blood and her skin coal black.
He was powerless to stop this.
He was powerless to stop all of those too.
And it all bottled down to him and his quirkless status, to him...just being...himself. His whole life was one big mess just because he wasn't born like the rest. His heart was sinking in his chest. These thoughts and realizations were gnawing at him, eating away at what little composure and sanity he has left.
'Why? Why was the world so cruel to me?! All I wanted was to help. That's all I ever wanted to do! Does not having a quirk really matter so much? Why am I cursed to live this life?!' The emotional pain he is feeling outweighs the pain of his bleeding wounds.
"If you wanna have a quirk so bad, then why don't you take a swan dive off the roof and pray that you'll have one in the next life."
Bakugo's words rang in his head. His world was darkening, and his eyes were blurring. He heard another voice ring in his head, one more menacing and filled with malice.
"Spare yourself the pain and end your worthless life. At least your death will be entertaining."
Izuku's head turned towards the knife on the floor, the one that was stabbed into his shoulder. He reached out for it, grabbing the handle tightly. His sorrow and misery were being drowned out by a more powerful, more primal emotion.
Anger.
Anger at this world, anger at the monster who killed his mother in front of him, but most of all, anger at himself for being what he is... a weak, worthless, quirkless nobody.
He pointed the knife towards himself, to the left side of his chest to where his beaten broken heart was. Grabbing it with both hands he drew the blade out. 'The world won't notice another dead quirkless boy.' 'I hope to see you again mom.' He's made a decision, a bad one he'll never be able to regret. He closed his eyes and with all the strength he had left, he plunged the blade into his heart.
...
Only to see his hands closed into fists to where his heart was. The knife was gone?
That was when his senses came back to him.
'What did I just try to do?!'
He looked mortified at his actions, but his moment of regret was stopped when he felt extreme numbness in his whole body. He didn't know what it was but he lost all strength in his body and he fell forward face first to the floor. The boy was knocked out cold on the floor. A glowing pink tail of energy protruded from behind his head.
Two figures walked toward the unconscious boy. Both were wearing masks and clothes that covered their whole bodies. One was a slender feminine figure, and the other was a lanky male figure.
"Good job, Gowther. That was too close." The woman said to her companion.
"I no longer sense the presence of the one who did this. Do you Merlin?" Gowther asked the woman.
"No." The woman sighed and looked at the boy below her. He was bleeding from his head and his shoulder. She raised her hand and like magic, the boy levitated off of the ground, floating to the side of the woman.
"What are we going to do with him now?" Gowther asked.
It took a moment for the Merlin to reply. "We need to make sure he is and will be safe. It's clear that he is a target, a defenseless one at that. And it is our fault that he is." Gowther nodded his head in agreement before looking on to the dead body.
'Too late again.' He thought sadly.
~End of chapter~
