Man, things are just not going the way I wanted them too, eh? first I had a short chapter last time, then my laptop dies, losing the files I had on it, and now a short chapter again! this time a tad bit more later than last time too- sorry!

things got hectic, I blame the forces of technology working against me!

Chapter 8

Be calm, and don't open your eyes just yet, there's a person of law enforcement waiting for you to wake up. Until your mentor arrives, I'd recommend against talking to them.

The moment he regained consciousness, the moment before he could crack open his eyes in a frantic search of where he was, the goddess spoke. The soothing tone of her voice, different than the panicked yell from before, told him that whatever had happened, they were out of danger for now. Heeding the goddesses word's he kept his eyes shut, ignoring the worry that wormed its way into his insides over just why the police were in his bedroom, if it even was his room since the sheets felt far too itchy to be any of his, and instead focused on not hyperventilating in a panic. It didn't last all that long as he quickly realized that he could feel something stuck inside his arm, it felt. . . Weird, uncomfortable if he was to describe it. Part of him was tempted to try and discretely remove it, but that sort of action would likely be too noticeable with the officer presumably right by his bed.

I realize that you aren't exactly the best at keeping calm, but please try to until the law enforcement person is gone. . . what about a game? Games are usually fun! Here- without opening your eyes, try to figure out where you are! You get three guesses, no hints of course~

A game? He supposed that made sense in a way, as a means to distract his mind so that he wouldn't panic and cause a scene. With the slow inhale of a deep breath that he was careful to slowly breathe out, he tried to focus on his surroundings, of what he could hear and feel. He knew at the very least he wasn't at home, the mattress on his bed wasn't as stiff as the one he was currently in. There were no sounds of the outside world- hardly any sound now that he paid attention to it, aside from the faint beeping of some kind of machine somewhere to his left. There was something wrapped around his head, it wasn't overly constrictive- he could hardly feel it in actuality, but he could still feel something there.

Ah, that's partially my fault- your body ran low on energy and heal stopped. I had to manually takeover for awhile for you to fully heal

He was in a hospital then, with a cloth bandage wrapped around his head, it was likely an IV tube strapped to his arm that was the cause for the uncomfortable feeling. Though, the fact that he was in a hospital still didn't explain as to why he was in the hospital. Had the villain from yesterday attacked and rendered him unconscious? That would explain the gap in his memory between now and the goddess yelling for him, but who had saved him? It wasn't All Might- the goddess having said he wasn't here yet, was it the police? It couldn't have been a pro hero, the only one in his neighborhood usually patrolled earlier around dusk.

All that and more will be answered in time, my little Vessel. . . Sooner than you would think, All Might is here.

No sooner did her words echo throughout his mind did the sound of a door opening catch his attention. He heard someone speak presumably from the doorway to the officer sat by his bed- who judging by the sounds of the creaking chair as he got up, was leaving. He waited until he heard the sound of the door clicking shut to open his eyes, to stare right into the boney face that was All Might in his civilian form. The man jumped, though he couldn't tell if it was from being startled or worry for him.

"Young Midoriya?! You're awake? No, don't answer that, how are you feeling? Are you alright?"

He was sore, slightly itchy from the hospital gown and the bedsheets, but otherwise he was fine, to his immediate knowledge.

"I'm. . . alright, All Might. But I. . . What happened?"

"Ah, well, from what I've been told, your apartment complex was attacked by a villain. They unfortunately managed to escape."

Three villains actually, but only one managed to escape. . .

"A villain?! But how!? Why-. . ."

He knew why a villain had attacked, or well, he knew how they found out where he lived. But he didn't know why they had stalked him home from school, his only theory on as to why sitting right in front of him. But that wouldn't warrant an attack on his home in the middle of the night, would it? The sound of someone clearing their throat caused him to look up, to the corner in which the goddess stood as she appeared.

I . . . have a theory as to why we were attacked, but I must ask this of thee. . . Do you believe your master to be trustworthy?

Trustworthy? Of course he believed All Might to be trustworthy! He would trust All Might with his life. The man was the number one hero, the very symbol of peace himself! A man who not only beat back villains with a smile, but was also taking time he could be using to fight crime to train him to become his successor- to inherit his quirk and title as new symbol of peace.

But would you trust him with the knowledge of my existence? Can you say with certainty that he would not betray us? That he would not leak our existence out unto the world?

That was slightly harder to answer. Especially given that due to being a pro hero, All Might legally reported to the Hero Public Safety Commission. It was his literal duty to report against crimes, stop villains, and keep tabs on special cases that either might make good heroes, or spiral down into villainy. But. . . he was positive that if he stressed the importance of keeping the goddess a secret, he would keep it.

That. . . isn't exactly reassuring.

It's All Might, please. I know we can trust him.

. . . Have him promise us something first, if he can keep his word, then you have my permission to tell him.

"All Might. . . promise me. . . Promise me you won't freak out at what I'm about to tell you."

"Young Midoriya, it would take a lot to freak me out."

He tore his eyes away from the walls corner, and instead chose to focus on the blanket he had been covered in. His thumb and index finger moved around in small circles, almost as if trying to wrap as much of the thin fabric as he could around the digits. After what felt like minutes his eyes finally rose, to stare into the vibrant blue eyes of his mentor, patiently waiting for him to speak.

". . . Back then, when we first met and you left me on the rooftop. . . I met someone. Someone, who offered me a quirk in exchange for something. . . I accepted the offer, and in exchange for a quirk. . . I gave her my body"

His confession was met with a deafening silence for several long, drawn out moments. Fearing the worst, his eyes shut tight while his muscles tensed, preparing for a verbal lashing of a lifetime. . . That never came.

"Eh?"

Eh was a good sign, Eh meant that he was probably still processing the information- or that he's secretly Canadian. Eh also meant that he wasn't freaking out. His eyes shot towards the goddess, he gave her an uneasy smile as her eyes rolled. Her hand rose and she made the shooing away motion, a surefire sign of her permission if he ever saw one.

"You gave her your body? Young Midoriya, please tell me that you didn't do. . . that"

His face scrunched up in confusion at the tone All Might used, what did he mean by that? What other meaning was there to giving your body to someone else aside from in the literal sense?

My dear, sweetly innocent Vessel, he means sex, procreation, the act of trying to create precious life! ~

A rather violent shade of crimson overtook his face at the goddesses' words, while his arms immediately began frantically waving around in wild unreadable gestures. Him? Do that? He would never! Unless they were in dire financial need for the house and they had exhausted all other forms of potential cash- but even then! It would only be thought about before being quickly discarded over the unreliability of it, his age was also a factor in that too, as he highly doubted the kind of people who would. . . Pay for that, would desire a sixteen-year-old.

Unfortunately, you would be surprised my dear Vessel. Though, to my limited knowledge there are laws in place preventing those sorts of. . . Situations.

He was snapped out of his thoughts /and his talk with the goddess/ by All Might standing up in front of the bed. His eyes were hidden by the shadows of his bangs as, contrary to the normal of his lanky true form, he seemingly towered over Izuku even when he sat up in the bed. The look on the pro hero's face wasn't one of cheer, nor was it of confusion as he was silently hoping, instead it was as though he was scowling at the teen sat before him.

"Young Midoriya, please. . . Tell me what you mean by her."

Can you truly trust him?

I . . . Can.

Very well.

With the faint sound of snapping fingers echoing throughout the room, she appeared, with her bare feet hovering just an inch or so above blankets of his bed and a smile gracing her all too familiar lips. His eyes narrowed at the sight of her, specifically of the reddish tint to her face on her otherwise pale skin, coupled with long hair that reached down almost to her waist that he knew wasn't like that a moment ago, did she change her appearance again? Why?

"Who he means, my dearest senpai. . . is I! Primus! A pleasure to finally meet face to face, no? We certainly have much to. . . discuss, you and I"

It was a surprise to see All Might's mouth hang open like a dead fish, words failing to coherently form for the first few seconds for the normally composed pro hero. He could see the tiniest amount of sweat sparkle on All Might's forehead as his eyes frantically travelled between the goddess and he, likely unbelieving of the sight before him. To be honest, if he hadn't been moments away from death, he probably would've been just as shocked about a random woman appearing out of nowhere.

"Oh, but you were just as shocked my dear Vessel! or do I have to mention how you nearly passed out from hyperventilating?"

"H-Hey! A-All Might doesn't need to hear about that!"

"Really? ~ well I believe that he doe-"

"So. . . This person is really here? And she's not a construct of a quirk or an illusion?"

The moment All Might managed to find his words again was the same moment he took a hesitant step forward, his arm reaching out towards the goddess with his fingers outstretched. His eyes noticeably widened as his fingers traveled through the goddesses' shoulder, he wiggled them around the tiniest amount, and she moved a step away from him- just out of reach of his fingers. He retracted his outstretched hand, his eyes glued to his fingers as the goddess crossed her arms above her chest.

"Remarkable. . . It was as if nothings there. . ."

"Sticking your fingers in a Goddess without permission, how rude! You could've at least gifted me an offering first!. . . Or a sacrifice. But those are sort of meh, if you know what I mean"

All Might visibly balked as she spoke, his eyes immediately snapped to the goddess, to the shoulder his fingers phased right through. His face paled a shade or two at the realization, visible for only a moment before he bowed before the two of them.

"My apologies about that you two, I meant no disrespect. I just found it hard to believe you weren't illusionary and just had to be sure. . . Ah, did you say, Goddess?"

"I did. Rejoice dear Vessel and Vessel's mentor!~ for you two are the first in millennia to gaze- no, to speak with one of such divinity as myself!. . . At least, that's what I thought until last night"

"W-what do you mean by that, goddess?"

The tone of her voice towards the end had his muscles tense, though he didn't know why. Did that mean there were other gods out there? Was that a good or a bad thing? Was he in danger- was his mom in danger?! The goddess looked away from him, towards the wall of the hospital room, it didn't reassure the forming pit in his stomach.

"Last Night when the villains broke in and captured you, my vessel, they utilized a device foreign to my knowledge. I know not how it worked, but I felt it take a sample of my power."

"S-So that m-means, w-what exactly?"

"Only another divine is capable of creating such a device. No mortal made machine could withstand even a sampling of our power."

It was then that All Might chose to sit back down in his chair. He leaned back, arms crossing above his rather flat chest as his eyes closed in contemplation.

"So what you're saying is that there's another. . . god, out there who's not so thrilled that you're around, right?"

"A slight understatement, but essentially, yes."

Izuku mimicked the posture of his mentor and leaned back against the hard cushioning of the bed, it was all he really could do aside from break down in an absolute panic. He was already partway there, with wide eyes and hands quickly soaking through the blanket with sweat, though who could blame him? A second God was out there somewhere in Japan, one that had already shown their displeasure in his goddess being around. The other god already had the upper hand too, if the attack on his home was anything to go off of- it possibly being some sort of message.

The sound of hands clapping together next to his bed caused him to jump, a startled 'erp!' escaping past his lips. With his body visibly shaking as the heart monitor angrily beeped at them, All Might stood from his chair.

"Alright, while I'm not so pleased at being kept out of the loop-" he pointedly looked at Izuku, who was quick to find interest in the upper wall and its tiny bumps from a previously poor paint job. "- I am understanding of it. However, someone is after the two of you. Someone who knows who you are, but we don't know who they are, so for now our first priority should be to get young Midoriya here out of the hospital and somewhere safe. Speaking of Young Midoriya, do you have any friends or family that might be able to house you for a night or two?"

"I-I N-no, I don't. . . I don't have any friends except for Kacchan-"

"Who isn't a friend by the way!"

He winced at the accusation, but looked past it as he stared at All Might.

"-Aside from the bakugos, we don't have anyone else. . . my mom says my grandparents passed away when I was little, and my dad moved overseas once I was diagnosed as quirkless"

"Hm. . .I figured that might be the case. But don't worry! You two can just crash at my place then!"

Izuku hardly paid attention to the way All Might frowned at the mention of his father's absence, and instead his mind hyper fixated on the minor detail that he and his mother were going to be living with All Might! A literal dream come true! Did that mean they were going to live at Might Tower in Tokyo? No, while All Might had a room in Might Tower like most pros did with their agencies, he opted out of living in the tower for personal reasons. Did all Might have a house in Musutafu? He must've unless he was taking his truck from another city. Though there was the possibility of him temporarily living in a hotel room while training him and Itsuka.

Oh crap, Itsuka! Was she alright? What if the other god had gone after her thinking she might be a vessel too?! Or a hostage to kidnap to trade for him?!

"I'm sure young Kendo is fine, most attacks orchestrated by a singular group don't tend to happen simultaneously. But just to be sure, I'll go check on her before our workout time- which you're exempted from today, obviously. Oh, and we've really got to work on your mumbling problem, can't have you accidentally spilling all your secrets now, can we?"

The faint blossoming of red across his face and the mumbling of an apology had All Might nodding in satisfaction, with a quick wave and the promise of being right back, All Might left the room. Presumably he was off to grab a nurse and ask about his and his mother's release. Closing his eyes as he leaned back into the hospital bed, Izuku was unaware of the goddess wincing as she read his thoughts. His eyes opened as she turned away from him, his eyebrow rose, but he was unable to comment on her behaviour as a nurse quickly walked into his room. Her focus was entirely on the clipboard held within her hands for several long moments before she suddenly looked up, her emerald eyes narrowing before switching back to the clipboard, then to him once more.

"I'm sorry Mr. Midoriya, but there seems to be some confusion about your file. . . while your records show that you're quirkless, you've healed almost all of your injuries sustained from the attack- most of which take months to properly heal! Now I may not be a quirk specialist, but I'm pretty sure that would require a self-based regeneration quirk. Would it be possible for you to explain?"

"O-Oh! I'm sorry about t-that. . . I-I'm a late bloomer. M-my quirk didn't appear until a few months ago, when I was attacked by a villain made of sludge. . ."

A humming noise, followed by the writing of something he couldn't see on the clipboard had the red-haired nurse nodding along to his explanation.

"Alright, but just to make you aware, by law I must book you an appointment at the quirk registry in order to get it registered in the national database. It doesn't have to be immediate- I can book you for a month out from now so you have a chance to recover and get a better grasp on its capabilities, but I can't push it out any later than that, is that alright?"

"I-It's alright, t-thank you miss nurse. . ."

"It's no problem at all! Part of my job really, and please call me Saruki. Being called miss nurse feels a tad bit odd, you know? Or well, I guess you wouldn't know what it's like to be called a miss or a nurse- though maybe the miss, you do have oddly feminine eyes. . ."

It was then that the nurse leaned in close to Izuku, her eyes narrowing as a thoughtful emerald met its far more nervous color twin. Though it wasn't just her eyes that were making the young lad nervous, more so it was how the woman's shirt was a tad bit large on her, giving the teen a rather generous view down her shirt just from the edge of his vison. His cheeks were alight in a hot crimson fire reminiscent of the nurse's hair, not that the woman noticed as her eyes remained fixated on his own.

At least until a small hand bopped the nurse on the head, causing her eyes to close as her hands rose to shield her against the unknown assailant. Which turned out to be a far older nurse with the faintest of scowls mixing in with the wrinkled skin of her face. She held a second clipboard in hand- no wait, it was the original clipboard, stolen from his current nurse as she rubbed the top of her head with a slight frown.

"Miss Tohskoooo, why did you hit me?!"

"Have you even started his checkup? No? Then you get hit. Have you asked him the questions? No? Then you get hit. There are more patients in this hospital aside from him, some of which that could actually use a nurse. Go find one of them while I do his tests."

"B-but-"

"Go."

The older nurse watched as his previous nurse stood up, straightened out her shirt, and walked out of the room with her arms glued to her sides. With a roll of her eyes his new nurse took a glance at the clipboard in her hands, she flipped over one of the sheets- filled with medical jargon he knew little of, before she looked over in his direction.

"My apologies about her Mr. Midoriya, Miss Saruki is our newest nurse- fresh out of medical school. Now, how are you doing? Does anything hurt or feel numb or uncomfortable?"

"N-no, everything feels f-fine!"

"Excellent, now. . . do you happen to remember what happened before the explosion? If you can't remember then don't force yourself, just tell me your most recent memory before waking up here"

He could remember every little detail from earlier that evening, from passing out in his bed after dinner to being woken up by the sound of shattering glass. He kept the goddess a secret as he detailed hearing something from the living room- talking of some kind he couldn't quite discern, right before the wall exploded and he was rendered unconscious. His last memory afterwards had been waking up with All Might sat beside his bed. The elderly nurse continued to write in the clipboard as he spoke, taking a moment every now and then to pause and ask him a question- mostly if he could remember a specific detail of the voices or what the time had been when he was woken up. After his retelling had ended, she wrote for several more moments before the clicking of a pen signalled its end.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Midoriya. With any luck, you'll be released later in the morning. Your acting guardian Mr. Toshinori is currently filling out the required paperwork, for now I'd recommend having a bit of rest. Your body has certainly been through quite the ordeal"

Before he could stutter out his thanks to the nurse, she turned around to leave. Only taking the briefest of moments to linger encase he asked for anything, he didn't. With her work seemingly done the elderly nurse left him to his own devices, the door closing behind her doing little to muffle the faint sound of her heeled shoes going down the hallway. He took that brief moment of silence to stare at the blankets, at his legs repositioning to a cooler place underneath with narrowed eyes.

". . . Do I really look like I need that much more sleep?"

The yawn that decided to punctuate the end of his sentence told him that yes, he did need some extra sleep. His eyelids drooping lower- about halfway from closing completely, agreed with his yawn as his head softly went to rest against the pillow. He idly took note that the pillow felt softer against his skin than the hospital gown he wore.

Get some rest, Izuku Midoriya. With how much damage your body healed, you definitely need one. Do not worry, I shall keep watch over you and your room.

With the goddesses reassurance that she would watch over him, Izuku finally lost the battle of wills against his bodies desire to sleep. With the closing of his eyes, the land of dreams was quick to take him back into its loving embrace.

././././././.

He kept his eyes closed as he awoke to the feeling of the muscles in his legs tensing on their own, just as a weight settled in on the left side of his bed against his legs. The weight shifted slightly to the left, then slightly to the right, as if it was attempting to find a comfortable position by his side. The weight suddenly grew, and he felt more than he heard someone lean in closer to him, the warmth of their breath tickled his cheek. In a soft, husky tone he heard the clear voice of Itsuka whisper in his ear.

"Why, good morning Mr. Midoriya~"

His eyes immediately snapped open, to the sight of the orangette's face inches from his own. A wicked smirk overtook the kind, gentle smile he knew and was fond of as she pulled away. She wore a pre-quirk era nurse uniform- a white button up dress that went all the way down and showed a generous amount of cleavage, as opposed to the usual workout tank top and shorts he saw her in. His eyes were glued to her body, to the way it hugged her curves in just the right places as his face erupted into a furious crimson.

He fumbled out his words in an incoherent mess, as his mind attempted to figure out just why she was dressed like that, and why hadn't the goddess warned him she was coming.

With little warning aside from the tensing of her muscles, Itsuka threw her leg to the opposite side of his bed as she sat up. She sat on his waist, straddling him with not but a thin blanket between the two of them. Leaning in close to him once more, her mouth just barely began to open before the door to the hospital room slammed open. He jumped, and the Itsuka sat on his crotch disappeared in a puff of dust. His eyes immediately went to the doorway, to see another Itsuka dressed in a green button up shirt and a light blue skirt, a small bundle of flowers were held in her arms.

Her eyes quickly found his in the rather cramped room, but no sooner did they find him did her eyes look away, the faintest of red hues quickly growing on her cheeks. Confused, he looked at what he could of himself to see if there was anything amiss.

The tent in the blankets painted a good enough picture of why she looked away.

With his face seemingly glowing a shade of red, Izuku was quick to cover his crotch with the pillow just behind his head. He averted his eyes from Itsuka, to instead see the Itsuka in the nurse's uniform by his side- melting away to reveal the giggling form of the goddess. The faint whine that escaped past his lips was interrupted by the sound of the real Itsuka clearing her throat.

"Hey, Midoriya. . . Mr. Yagi told me about what happened, I'm. . . I'm really sorry about your loss"

"H-huh? O-oh! It's alright, it was just an apartment after all. Mr. Yagi told me I cloud stay with him until we f-found a new one"

Itsuka's eyebrow rose at his statement, just as the goddess appeared in front him, blocking his view of the orangette.

Izuku! We should get you ready to head out now! All Might is on his way and we shouldn't leave him waiting!

"Apartment? What do you mean?"

"E-eh? W-what else would you mean?"

He ignored the goddess as she spoke, instead he chose to (hesitantly) stare at her chest- in the direction Itsuka was before the goddess blocked his view.

"Mr. Yagi told me that when he was asking about release papers, you were the only Midoriya to come up in their systems-"

Mayhaps we should look on the hero form pages on the world wide web that you're so fond of! Would you like that?

The blood in his veins froze at her statement. His eyes travelled up, to stare at the goddess as she chose to look in a direction that wasn't at him, only for his eyes to snap back to Itsuka as his brain struggled to understand her words.

"-he checked with a friend at the police station, to see if she was taken to another hospital, but. . ."

Please, Izuku. Don't listen to her, you're not ready yet!

Tears began to swell at the edges of his eyes as his hands held the blanket in a vice-like grip, his knuckles were on the brink of turning white almost immediately.

"You were the only one they were able to save from your apartment."

I'm sorry, my vessel.

Le question by the way, do you guys think I should go back to a weekly schedule? on one hand it'll get more chapters out, but slightly shorter than I want, or I continue as is and try to provide longer chapters in order to move the story along faster,

both have their pros, both have their cons, but what do you guyss think?