It feels like forever before he finally comes to. It takes him a couple minutes but he eventually pulls himself off of the ground and starts to walk back towards the street.
Then his feet catch something and he falls. Disoriented he looks down to see-
No.
No it can't be.
"S-starstream?" Izuku's voice comes out hoarsely and it's only now that he realizes that the taste of blood fills his mouth, "H-hey Starstream? Are you okay? How did you get out here?"
There's no response. Izuku's tears start as the panic sets in.
He goes to flip the body only to be shocked by his hands, covered in blood. His heart rate increasing rapidly he flips her over and then promptly gags.
It's indeed Starstream, but she's not alive. Her eyes are dull and lifeless. Her face freezed in a look of terror. Just a bit lower, on her neck is a raw bite mark, human like in nature, yet animalistic in execution. The blood from the grotesque mark had run down her neck and soaked into her civilian clothes, turning them scarlet
Izuku's eyes start getting blurry as his tears increase. But that's not the worst part.
Her intestines are gushing out of her body through a giant cut along her abdomen. Spilling out all over the pavement.
This horrific sight caused a sob to rip through him.
This was his fault, he'd killed her. And without any mercy. Brutally.
Izuku curled up into a ball and let himself go, sobs ripping from his throat and tears streaming down his face as he mourned someone who had died too young. Someone who had done so much, but also not enough.
Someone who was killed by him.
He didn't deserve to be a hero anymore.
He kneels besides her still form and slowly shuts her eyes. Then he slowly pulls himself up and starts the long walk home, there's no way he's riding the train looking like this.
When arrives he goes immediately to clean himself off in the bathroom. It's not the first time he's come home with someone else's blood covering him, but this is the first time it was his fault. He scrubs until his skin is raw, while watching the soiled water wash down the drain.
It's only when he pulls out phone and sees the many missed messages from Uraraka, that he realizes he missed the party.
As he lays there thinking of what if's he drifts off into fitful sleep, plagued by images of crimson gore.
When he does eventually wake up he feels absolutely exhausted. The first thing he does is turn on the TV and unfortunately his endeavors from the night before are all over the TV.
Five Civilians Murdered! Including the up and rising Starstream.
He turns in the hosts talking just about then.
"It looks to have been done by a someone with an animal-like quirk, because despite the gruesome state of the bodies, the bite marks were indeed human in nature. I just wonder where they came from and why they decided to kill five people so suddenly?" The man with one horn asks.
"Well, from the descriptions of the bodies that we were able to obtain it looked as if the individual was very aggressive and animalistic. So maybe it was someone with a very volatile quirk who had lost control? Or maybe their quirk went out of control under the influence of another quirk?" The woman next to him theorized.
"That's very probable. However, we have to be careful not to let our guard down because for all we know it could be a new villain who just made his debut."
"Well, we'll be fine as long as the Number one hero Deku's around!" The woman chimes in.
At that Deku lets out a pent up sob, they thought he'd keep them safe. They thought he'd protect them from the metaphorical monster under the bed, when he was the boogie man all along. What would they think if they knew? And how was he supposed to protect everyone from himself?
It was then that he got an idea. It may work, it may not. All he knows is he doesn't want to hurt anyone else. So with blurry, tear-stained vision he calls up someone he thinks can help.
"Hatsume Support Co. at your service! How can I help you Mr. Number One Hero?" Hatsume shouts into the receiver, his title making him grimace.
"H-hey Hatsume-san… I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" Izuku hesitantly speaks, his voice weighed down with exhaustion.
"Sure thing! What can I do for Deku himself?" Hatsume responds enthusiastically.
"Can you make me some powerful restraints?" Izuku asks hesitantly. He knows if anyone could make anything to hold him if he goes berserk, it would be Hatsume.
"Sure thing! How strong we talking?"
"Like, powerful enough to hold me if I went full power?" Izuku says hesitantly he knows it's something tough but Mei's the only one he can count on.
"You need them for yourself? Why?" Hatsume questions.
"No! They're not for me! There's just a… an undercover mission I'm on and the villain is very strong. I want to make sure the restraints are more than enough." Izuku lies, he obviously can't tell anyone what happened. His entire world would be ruined. Everyone he's ever known would turn their back on him, he wouldn't be able to take it.
"Well, that's a tall order my friend. But I'll sure try! Hatsume Mei never backs down from a challenge! I'll let you know when I have a prototype and you can come test it out."
"Okay. Thanks Mei. I'll see you later. And can you keep this on the down low? I don't want everyone asking about something that's not supposed to be known about."
"Sure thing!" Then she hangs up. Izuku puts his phone down and looks up to see they've finally moved on from spectating about the murders and are now interviewing the police about what happened. Just as he's about to click off, Tsukauchi comes on for an interview.
"So far we don't know who did this, but we're hoping to get some sort of evidence from one of the crime scenes and track down this killer. And considering how messy they were we're sure to find something." Tsukauchi says. Moving onto the other officers, some start making sort of a slip and refer to the killer as a villain, despite them not knowing for sure.Tears spring to his eyes as he hears the words directed at him, a big gaping hole filling his chest. They're right, he is a villain.
How is he going to make up for everything he's done?
Just then his phone buzzes again as he gets a text, this time it's from…
"KACCHAN?" He hurriedly picks up his phone and opens the text message.
Kacchan: Hey nerd, I know you weren't at the party last night and round-face and everyone else are still really worried about your stupid ass. What the hell gives? What's up with you?
Me: Hi Kacchan, I really didn't mean to miss it! I got caught up with some business and by the time I was done it was already past when the bar closes so I went home! I didn't message anyone after cause I figured you guys would be tired. Anyway, I have chores to do so ttyl! (_)/
Kacchan: Okay nerd, just don't do that again. Everyone was fucking worried.
Me: I won't!
After that Izuku puts his phone down again. Then he remembers he should text Uraraka and let her know he's "fine".
So he copies what he texted to Katsuki and pastes it in Uraraka's and his conversation.
After a few seconds she responds.
Uraraka: OMG! I was so worried don't you ever do something like that again! I thought you'd gotten hurt by villains or something! It was even worse when I saw all those gruesome murders on the news. I was worried you'd gotten hurt. I mean Starstream was on the same show as you! I thought…
Me: I'm sorry.
After that Izuku locks his phone and sets it down. He had enough of people reminding him of the worst thing he's ever done. And he can't get the image of Starstream's vacant eyes out of his head.
He curls up on the couch and just sits there for hours as the tremors rock his body.