Because ffnet is lame, thought speak looks like this:

{Hello.}

Where Did You Come From?

Izuku could still taste the remnants of gas in the air as he ran through the woods. Screams and explosions filled his ears, and the blue fire illuminated the cabins he had just escaped from.

"Kota!" the name scratched the walls of his throat as he shouted. How, he thought to himself. How could the plan completely and utterly fall apart like this? They were warned in advance, they gathered everyone together and hid under the ground with Pixie-Bob's quirk! There should have been no way for the league to have gotten to them. None! And yet—

A voice screamed from the distance "Get away from me!"

That voice.

"I'm coming, Kota! Hold on!" Izuku ran in the direction he heard the noise from, but he still couldn't see the boy. Smoke was clouding his vision, and he could no longer hear Kota's screams.

He did his best to block out what that could mean.

It was USJ all over again. No-worse than that. At USJ, at least he could fight to protect his classmates. Here, he couldn't even find the kid who needed help the most. And if he couldn't even do that, then what was the point? If he couldn't save Kota, then who was he to call himself a-?

{At the base of the mountain.}

Izuku was yanked out of his thoughts by a calm and clear voice. He looked around frantically to see who it was only to be met by the same smoke and fire from before. What was that? It was as if Mandalay had used her quirk to speak telepathically with him.

But that wasn't her voice he heard.

{What are you looking around for? The kid! He's at the base of the mountain!}

Kota? That got Izuku running again. He didn't know what or who this mysterious voice was, but if it could lead him to Kota, he didn't care.

Coming up to the mountain, he finally laid his eyes on Kota. The boy was on the ground as if he was previously cowering in fear but, other than that, not a scratch was on him. No, instead the one who was being scratched was a towering blond man with giant muscles. He used his large arms to swat at a bird - a red tailed hawk - who was screeching and swiping its talons along his face.

Tim.

So Max really wasn't lying.

The hawk was making a valiant effort to ward off the villain. But Izuku knew that it could only last for so long.

As if sensing his presence, Tim's sharp gaze snapped toward him. Call him crazy, but Izuku felt some sort of understanding pass between him and the bird. An understanding that, no matter what, they were getting Kota out of here.

Tim backed away from the villain just in time for Izuku's Detroit Smash to crash right into the bastard's jaw.

Don't fear Kota. I'm finally here.

His body screamed in pain as he carried Kota away from the mountain's edge and the villain they left behind to rot. His will screamed louder. It didn't matter how broken his arms were or how much blood was running down his face, Izuku needed to get Kota to safety and find Mandalay.

They were after the students this time. And - based on that hulking brute's description - not just any student. They were after Kacchan.

So it didn't really matter how much his body was screaming. He was going to find Mandalay, tell her what he'd learned, and get right back to fighting among his class -

Maybe he should've been more wary about the amount of blood loss he got from his fight because he had to be hallucinating. Either that, or there was an actual horse standing in front of him.

He stopped in his tracks and stared. The horse stared back. He blinked again to be sure that he wasn't seeing things.

His fast track mind immediately began forming ideas. One of two things could be happening right now: He was going crazy, or this was a trap by one of the League villains. The latter possibility had him charging up his quirk again. He'd kick the villain into submission if he had to.

However, instead of attacking or going on the defensive, the horse let out a snort, revealing its well-groomed teeth. It then slowly trotted over to him and used its large head to gesture to its back.

"What the...?" Kota said from his place on Izuku's back.

What the, indeed, Izuku thought. Did the horse want him to get on its back?

The horse suddenly let out an impatient neigh, as if it was frustrated with his indecision. It motioned its head toward the chaos surrounding them before incessantly nudging it against Izuku's torso, almost like it was trying to force him to mount it.

"Yeah," Izuku panted out, feeling the soreness in his body kicking in as he slowly removed Kota from his back and set him on the horse. "Yeah, okay okay. Sounds like a plan."

And that's how Izuku found himself rushing through the flaming forest to save his classmates on the back of an oddly intelligent horse.

What had become of his life?

He was right there.

Right. There.

Izuku stared numbly at the spot where his childhood friend had just been. The spot where he was taken away by a wave of shadow while Izuku could do nothing but lay in a heap on the ground and watch.

Someone was screaming. It wasn't until he felt his throat dry and vision fade that Izuku realized that it was him.

According to Vlad King's report after the incident, the ambulances and firetrucks arrived 15 minutes after the villains left.

Of the 40 students...

Fifteen lost consciousness and were in critical state due to poison gas.

Eleven had injuries ranging from minor to severe.

Thirteen were uninjured.

One was kidnapped.

Of the 6 professional heroes..

One suffered a head injury and was in critical condition

One was dragged back to camp by a wolf, unconscious and with severe blood loss.

Four obtained minor injuries.

And as for the Americans and their bird?

There was no record of them even being there to begin with.

In the brief moment of consciousness Izuku had as he was hauled into the ambulance, one thought occurred to him:

Where did that horse go?

A/N:

Petah...The horse is here.

Chapter title from Cotton Eye Joe.

I'm very much writing this story in the form of vignettes. There is a connected plot, but the majority of the story (at least before the plot really starts kicking in) is told in bursts. Basically, if the manga covers it, I'm not covering it. In case you were wondering.

Y'all I can't take the nickname Kacchan seriously. I need this story to hurry up and switch POVs (I say as thought I'm not the one literally in charge of the pacing)

Ragdoll originally got captured. Good thing she had a pack of wolves and a scary blue something to save her.

So I didn't update this fic for a year...To be fair, it wasn't just any year, it was senior year. Between college apps and the boat load of work teachers had us doing during 2nd semester (for some reason. like wtf we're almost out of here, go easy), can you really blame me? Anyway. I'm hoping to update quicker even though college starts soon. I got into harvard! So I guess the pain of senior year was worth it.