Chapter 5

The Black Dog

A/N: Wow I have no idea what happened with all of the weird code stuff but here is the new chapter, hopefully without looking like it went through the matrix first. Also, I wanted to point out that the reason why I have not been posting on here is because I operate mainly from Archive of Our Own and Tumblr now (my username is XXPadfootXX on both sites). So I have a bunch of fics on those sites but I decided to continue posting on this site for those of you who prefer this site over those other ones! I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you to those who alerted me to the strange error the first time I tried to upload this.

In the weeks that followed his therapist visit, Izuku could feel himself starting to heal from the traumatic ordeal. His medication had arrived from Haruka and it was working very well, forcing down the pain in his body and erasing the strange dreams that plagued his sleep. The brand still remained on his hand and it was showing no signs of fading but he was willing to take what he could get at the moment. The school days got easier as his friends finally stopped asking him to relive the attack and the whispers of the other class students fell away into nothingness. But even as training started to take his mind off of things, even as his life began to reform into one of a comforting routine, Izuku could never shake off the thoughts about that dragon.

Izuku groaned and ran a hand through his hair, rereading the word problem on his math homework for the fifth time in a row and leaned back in his chair. He wanted to be able to focus and just get it done, it wasn't that difficult, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. The memory replayed in his mind again, his brain bringing him back to that bloody meadow with the scary men and the terrifying yet beautiful dragon. Izuku growled in frustration. That was the thing! He wanted to fear and hate the dragon. He wanted to conform to normality and say that the dragon had taken him as an evening snack, but he felt in the back of his mind that that was simply not true. He tried to think back to the memory once more but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't remember what had happened after the men had charged them.

With a defeated sigh, Izuku closed his textbook and folded his homework away, preparing to complete it in the morning, and reached into his bag for an old book he had picked up at the library that day. He had already read it, and many others like it, but maybe he had missed something. The book was a book on strike class dragons, describing their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and most common quirks which could be affected by anything from their environment, to their food, to their mating patterns. Izuku opened it and flipped once more to the single page on the Night Fury that was available. All of the dragons in the book had been studied meticulously so that there were pages and pages of information about each one such as how to survive an attack from each species and who to call if one is spotted near you. The Night Fury, however, had information that barely even took up half a page and while the other dragon pages contained highly detailed photos and graphics of each species, the Night Fury just had a question mark in the center of the page with vague facts about the dragon around it.

Izuku knew that it was helpless but flipped through the book anyway, rereading all of the facts about the Night Fury with critical eyes. All of the facts were vague and uninteresting as if the author of the book had been too lazy to find anything more than random facts online about the beast. Izuku knew this wasn't the case as every book he had read on the Night Fury had come up with the same results but he still felt frustrated and unsatisfied. After almost an hour of reading through every single detail, Izuku tossed the book over his head where it landed on a pile of other pointless dragon books. His hands were shaking and he ran them through his green hair again. He was desperate for answers but he couldn't find anything.

"Izuku! Come out for dinner honey!" His mother's voice snapped him out of his feverish reverie and he was able to take a deep breath before replying.

"Coming mom!" Glancing once more at the pile of books on his floor, Izuku stood up to go eat.

Izuku came home from school and threw his backpack onto the couch with a groan. He felt so tired but also so restless as if he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being watched and tracked. He supposed that he was technically being hunted by a bloodthirsty dragon but this somehow felt different. He felt as if he was experiencing severe anxiety but from a distant place, as if he were feeling the stress of another person. Letting out a distressed sigh, Izuku slumped over to the couch and dragged his bag toward him, opening it up to grab the new dragon book that he had picked up at the library that day. He didn't really expect it to help very much but he had to do something. He was so damn sick of sitting around, doing nothing.

Little did he know, his mother was watching him from around the corner in their kitchen, her worry growing as she saw his nervous behavior and the book he had pulled out of his bag. She wanted to help him so badly but felt as if she could only watch him struggle from afar, forced to watch him sink deeper and deeper under the sands of anxiety and paranoia. She stood up straighter as she realized he had started to shake and set her face into a determined smile as she rounded the corner, growing desperate to help him.

"Izuku?"

"Oh, Mom! Sorry, I didn't know you were there, what can I help you with?" He closed his book and slid it under his leg to obscure the title and looked up at her with a pretty convincing smile on his face. But she knew better, he was her son. She placed a hand on his shoulder before leaning in to give him a hug.

"I know you have been struggling, so why don't we eat dinner early tonight and go out for some dessert treats tonight? I have to run to the store to get some more medical supplies anyway since we have used most of our stock on your more recent injuries."

Inko saw shock feather lightly in her son's eyes but then they brightened and he smiled genuinely for the first time in weeks.

"That sounds really nice, Mom, thank you."

"Anything to make you feel better, sweetie."

After eating and making a small list of the supplies they would need, the pair left the house and walked out together down the sidewalk towards town. It was a little bit of a far walk but it wasn't anything too rigorous and Izuku enjoyed the quiet company he had with his mother as they walked. They went out and got some Taiyaki before heading to the pharmacy to pick up some of the more basic medical materials such as gauze and bandages and disinfectant. They left the store and headed back toward their home just as the sun was beginning to sink beneath the horizon, casting the sky into shades of pale violet, radiant orange, glossy red, and pastel pink. Izuku felt the most relaxed than he had in weeks, the violent memories of the dragon attack fading away into blurry afterthoughts that barely registered as a dull buzz in his mind. He and his mother laughed together and walked with their arms around one another as the sun began to dip beneath the roofs of houses, the last rays clinging to the edges of the buildings with golden fingertips. The pair were almost to their home when the rustling of bushes caught their attention. Izuku felt his mother tighten her grip on his shoulders and she moved forward a little bit as if to protect her son from any threat that may come their way. The rustling got louder and closer, until the branches of the bushes right beside them parted.

A piece of the deepening night limped out of the bushes, its eyes, dull with pain. It was a black dog. Izuku and his mother stopped walking as the creature stumbled out in front of them, its head, turning just slightly to look at them clearly. As the light around them was beginning to seep away, it was hard for them to tell exactly what was wrong with the dog, but no matter how dark it got, they could easily tell that the poor beast was horribly messed up. It looked to be a German Shepherd of some kind as it was of lean but muscular build and had pointed ears but its fur was a velvety midnight black.

"Izuku, stay behind me," Inko stepped even further in front of her son and place an arm in front of him like a bar so as to barricade him from moving any further. She had no idea who's dog this was or why it looked like it had just come back from surviving the apocalypse but she also didn't know if it was friendly or not and she did not need her son to live through another animal attack. The dog looked up at her, its eyes glazed in pain before suddenly collapsing to the ground. Inko and Izuku were too stunned to move for a moment but after a little while, Izuku stepped past his mother's arm and bent down near the dog.

"Izuku-"

Izuku held up his hand slightly and glanced at his mother, the corners of his mouth twitching upward slightly in a comforting smile. He hesitated for a moment before placing a hand on the dog's flank. He felt the feather-light rise and fall of its chest. He turned back to his mother and took a deep breath.

"Let's take it back home with us," Izuku said. His mother looked momentarily horrified so he pressed on quickly.

"Come on, the only nearby veterinarian's office is almost thirty minutes away and it is probably already closed and if we leave it here, it will die. I don't think it will try to hurt us if we help it survive," Izuku turned back to the dog. "Please, I need something like this, to help someone in need."

Inko still hesitated but after another quick moment of thought and a glance at her son, who was still staring at the dog that lay panting softly on the road, she let out a sigh and nodded to him. Izuku brightened up a little bit and leaned down to wrap his arms around its back behind the shoulders and under its belly, in front of its back legs.

"Have you got that sweetie or would you like some help?"

"No, I've got it," Izuku said, hoisting the dog up into the air and starting to walk. His mother trotted up from behind him and only slowed when she was right beside her son.

"It's a good thing we bought new medical supplies," Inko mumbled softly, looking up at the now black sky, watching the stars twinkle and wink above her like shattered diamonds in a black sea.

It was around 3 am when the dog finally woke up, the unfamiliar surroundings, the sharp scent of fabric softener, the darkness all around it causing the dog to snap its head up in alarm and growl into the darkness, fear causing its heart to pound.

The growling woke Izuku immediately despite the fact that the sound was soft and almost inaudible. He shot up in his bed and swung his legs off the side, walking backward until he hit the wall with his back, his hands up in the air. He paused, and then placed one of his palms on the wall and felt around until he felt the switch and flicked on the lights. The sudden brightness in the room partially blinded the dog and caused it to growl again, Izuku tensed and didn't move.

When Izuku and his mother had arrived in their home with the injured dog, they had worked for several hours to disinfect and wrap up its wounds with the supplies they had on hand. They were ready to take it to the vet and then to a shelter in the morning but they knew they couldn't just leave it to sleep like it was, with gashes all over its body and what even looked like a mark from an arrow or knife in its side. The dog had been knocked out the entire time, which they had been a little grateful for, as they had given it a bath and rubbed medication and bandages all over the wounds. Once they had finished as much as they could, Inko had used old blankets and pillows to make a little bed for it on the floor beside Izuku's bed. She had originally not wanted the dog anywhere near her son but as it had still been knocked out, and after Izuku had pestered her for an hour, she had finally given up with the promise that he would call her in if anything went wrong.

Finally, the dog seemed to get used to the light and glanced around the room, its eyes wide and almost calculating. While it was distracted, Izuku studied the dog, his own eyes roving over the bandages and black fur until their eyes inevitably locked on one another. Despite the fact that this was a dog, Izuku felt as if he couldn't tear his gaze away from those eyes, they seemed so searingly familiar but it felt almost as if his brain was shoving down the memory, trying not to remember where he saw those eyes despite his curiosity. That's when it hit him. There was only one memory that he had ever tried to shut out of his mind, the only thing traumatizing enough to make him want to forget. The memory burst past his mind's efforts to block it and flooded his brain as if it had happened yesterday. Those eyes. Those eyes.

Izuku fought to keep his breathing steady, that was impossible, there was no way, a Night Fury was the rarest dragon in the world, it would have been captured by now. His body was shaking as he continued to stare at the dog, its eyes never leaving his. He remembered what the doctor had said at that moment, how Night Furies were renowned for their intense intelligence, sometimes even being able to learn and understand a human language. Could this dragon have possibly tracked him here using its own skills while also avoiding detection and capture? Was the dog transformation some kind of quirk or was he just going crazy and it was just a normal stray off of the streets? But the wounds, and the eyes, it just had to be that dragon.

The dog never broke eye contact but it didn't attack him either, so Izuku slowly approached it with his left hand held out. The dog again did not react negatively, so he kept moving toward it, raising his right hand slowly, palm out. That was when the dog did something unexpected. It broke eye contact with Izuku and glanced at the mark on his right palm and wagged its tail. It was only two quick thumps and the dog froze with a growl, almost as if it were surprised by that reaction as well, but Izuku took that as a good sign.

"I-I w-want to-" Izuku paused and cleared his throat, still moving forward slowly. "I want to help you, I don't really know why b-but you d-did s-save me. I owe y-you now… j-just please don't e-eat m-m-me."

Izuku saw the dog's eyes widen as he slowly kneeled down in front of it. Taking a deep breath, Izuku closed his eyes and held out his right hand, his brand glowing a deep ocean blue. The world suddenly seemed to melt away as he felt his hand touch the dog's forehead, that same warm and cold feeling flowing into his palm until Izuku's consciousness faded into darkness.