The first time he'd felt it, he was four years old.

They had been playing, as young children often do, with a carelessness towards safety that stemmed from a lack of experience. It was far too easy to ignore the warnings of their parents to, for example, not mess around with fallen trees in the wooded areas of Musutafu Public Park, when they themselves had yet to see anything bad come from it.

It was because of this that none of the children following a young Katsuki Bakugo into the shaded woods–and away from their parents' watchful eyes–voiced any complaint as he confidently marched across a dead trunk that spanned across a relatively small creek instead of utilizing the stone bridge from the footpath.

None, that is, except for Izuku Midoriya.

"That's dangerous, Kacchan!" he admonished gently with a frown, looking and sounding so much like his mother that his classmates all stiffened for a brief moment, fearing as if they'd been caught. Shortly after, when realization set in, Katsuki made a show of spinning in place in the center of the log; he eyed his best friend with a defiant gleam and overconfident smirk as if to say 'who's going to stop me?'

"C'mon Izuku, I'm fine! Look," he boasted, jumping to and fro upon the log. Their classmates laughed and cheered with–at least in Katsuki's eyes–appropriate awe and he drank it in like a sponge with a self-satisfied grin. Izuku huffed. He was just worried!

And for good reason, it would seem.

Katsuki landed his next jump too far to one side and teetered for a moment, trying to maintain his balance, until his sneakers slid against a patch of moss and pitched him off the side of the log and into the water below.

"Kacchan!"

Izuku moved without thought, leaping from the bridge to follow his friend into the creek and make sure he was okay. The water was shallow, barely up to their short knees, but there was so much more danger than just drowning and Izuku wasn't about to take any risks. He waded as fast as he could against the current towards a sitting Katsuki. The boy looked from this distance no worse for wear, though his head shook as he seemingly tried to get his bearings.

"Kacchan!" he called again, this time garnering the attention of his friend. Katsuki turned to Izuku with a frown.

"I'm fine, Izuku. Just a little scrape. See?" Katsuki said firmly, holding up his arm for inspection. It seemed he'd earned himself a small cut on the underside of his forearm, most likely from a sharp rock on the creek's bottom. The rest of him seemed perfectly fine, if wet, but that wasn't what held Izuku's attention any longer. Silence stretched on for a time. Katsuki grew uncomfortable. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

The words barely registered in Izuku's mind. His thoughts, his focus–everything, it seemed, was suddenly dominated by one thing.

"K-Kacchan…" Even for a child his voice seemed pitched too high when accompanied by the distinct whine of desire. Something was wrong with him, surely. Because his teeth suddenly ached and there was an unnatural urge that clawed its way out from inside when he looked at the crimson liquid that flowed from the scrape on his best friend's arm. "I…"

Something snapped.

He lunged forward without thought. Katsuki's shriek of pain was a distant buzz, suppressed by the cacophonous rhythm of Izuku's own blood rushing in his ears. His suddenly aching teeth clamped down hard on Katsuki's arm. Newly sharpened canines punctured skin and drew more blood that washed over his tongue and elicited an almost groan of relief, like a man given water after having spent days in the desert.

"Help! Izuku's gone crazy!" Their peers became frantic, unsure of what to do in such a situation. One boy ran off and shouted for their parents. Others cautiously approached the pair of boys only to be frightened away by, surprisingly, Katsuki, who glared them down with all of the power a four-year-old could muster.

"I'm fine!" he snapped, lip quivering but brow set firmly in determination, "He just surprised me a little."

To the children left around, it may well have been the understatement of the century. Izuku's mind slowly returned to him. with it a queasy stomach and mortification at what he'd done. He released Katsuki's arm and eyed the new bite mark warily, as if the sight would cause him to create another on the spot. No such thing happened, but what did was Katsuki's blood seeming to float off of his skin. It formed a trail, advancing eerily towards Izuku until he scrambled backwards with a shout; the seemingly-possessed blood finally remembered gravity and dropped to the water with a splash, turning it red for a second before it washed away. Izuku watched it warily before he turned to his best friend with watery eyes. Katsuki looked back with an unreadable expression. Shock? Anger? Fear? Perhaps a little of everything.

"Kacchan… I'm–"

"Don't say it!"

He couldn't hold back anymore. Izuku sobbed. Tears rolled down his face and mixed with the blood that stained his lips and cheeks. When the flavor hit his tongue it only made him cry harder.

That was how their mothers had found them. One boy with his head held high, pressuring his wound to stifle the pain. The other was unresponsive, sobbing and doing his best to wipe the deliciously foul taste of blood from his mouth.

"More information continues to trickle in from within U.A. High School's walls as law enforcement's investigation of the recent attack on the school proceeds at what we are being told is a 'steady pace' by Musutafu's chief of police. The perpetrators of the incident, a domestic terrorist group calling themselves the 'League of Villains,' assaulted the school last…"

Antiseptic. Artificial lemon. Undertones of peroxide. The woman's voice faded into the background, replaced by the steady chime of a vital signs monitor. His entire body felt like a ball of pain. It was almost too much to distinguish his individual parts.

He tried to open his eyes, but they felt heavy with fatigue in spite of the fact he'd just woken up. The world grew distant; his mind grew dull. He was lulled back to sleep for an indeterminate amount of time and when he woke, a different voice was speaking.

"... finally released a public statement, which we will play for you now: 'U.A. and its staff are working closely with the police and exploring every avenue in search of the individuals who carried out the assault on our students. We were very fortunate that the worst of their injuries amounted to broken bones with no permanent damage. As heroes, we know through firsthand experience that things could have gone much worse, and it is thanks to the effort of those same students that a larger crisis was averted. With that said, we are aware of the rumors currently circulating about one specific student. Rest assured, we are…'"

Focus on the little things. Fingers first.

He found that he could wiggle the fingers on his left hand but not his right. Even the attempt prompted a sharp pain to shoot up his arm and forced him to suck in a shaky breath.

"'... how does U.A. expect us to feel safe when somebody like that is walking its halls!? Do you have no sense of shame that you are training a future villain?'

…

'Our official statement has been given. This press conference is over.'"

The tv switched off with a click.

"Tch. Bastards."

He recognized that voice.

The heavy feeling over his eyes suddenly lifted and his world was a flash of sterile white light for an instant before he squeezed them shut with a groan.

"Deku?" a chair squeaked and then footsteps approached his position. Katsuki must have stopped there, waiting for a sign that he was actually awake.

"I…" his voice was scratchy from disuse and his throat dry as a bone. "Water." He gasped at last, feeling accomplished. His eyes opened slowly and he was met with Katsuki's half-hearted glare.

"I never signed up to play nurse." Katsuki groused, though he moved to grab a pitcher of water that had been left out anyway. Soon enough a paper cup was pressed against Izuku's lips. "Drink."

He did so obediently. The room temperature water felt like the touch of an angel to his parched throat. He drank his fill until there was none left and Katsuki took the cup back. Izuku took the opportunity to take a look around. What he thought had been a hospital room was actually U.A.'s infirmary. He could see Recovery Girl's desk on one end of the room along with her cane, though the woman herself was nowhere to be found.

With his location confirmed, Izuku had something else he'd like to look at. His eyes drifted down, taking in the bandages that seemed to cover almost every inch of available skin along with the IV drip attached to his arm. They hadn't seen fit to cover him with a gown; he wondered if he was so injured that they couldn't get it over his arms without hurting him even more.

"I could list off the things you didn't break and it'd probably be shorter." Izuku moved his eyes to meet Katsuki's. The other boy was scowling, though it seemed that he was in a fairly neutral mood by Katsuki standards. "Not like I came out unscathed either, but you were beyond fucked."

Now that Katsuki mentioned it, Izuku wondered how he hadn't noticed that the other boy's left arm hung in a sling. Seeing Katsuki's injury reminded himself of the others he'd seen injured.

"A-Ai–" he coughed, scratchy throat still not up for talking, it seemed. The action hurt his already-aching chest and prompted him to moan in pain.

"He'll live." Katsuki was incredibly good at reading his thoughts, apparently, "Shortstack, too, because I know that's the next thing you're going to ask. And All Might. Nobody died."

'Somebody did.' Izuku corrected in his head. The thought of what he'd done before losing consciousness made him sick to his stomach; if it had anything to give he might have lost his lunch then and there. Did Katsuki know? What about his mother? Manami? The rest of his classmates? How would they react to the knowledge that he'd taken a life?

The silence was deafening. Katsuki, it seemed, was out of things to say. He glared with little animosity at Izuku and waited for him to speak his mind.

'Wait…'

"Why…" Izuku tested his voice and found it rough, but significantly less painful than previous, "... are you here?"

"Sure as hell not because I want to be." Katsuki grumbled, "My mom had to physically drag Auntie Inko from the room to eat something and get some sleep and forced my dad to bring Shortstack too. 'Course, Auntie Inko refused to leave if somebody wasn't with you, so here I am, stuck with you until they get back."

"Ah, sor–"

"Don't say it."

Izuku stiffened, instantly reminded of his dream. The room grew quiet, the atmosphere tense. Izuku's eyes were drawn to Katsuki's uninjured arm. He could still see the scars his teeth had left on the other boy's skin.

"Kacchan?" Katsuki raised an eyebrow, wordlessly commanding Izuku to speak his thoughts. He swallowed thickly. They'd never talked about it before. Hadn't ever tried. His mouth opened and closed silently a few times before he found his voice, "Do you… remember the day I discovered my quirk?"

"... Yeah." Katsuki sighed deeply after a long and awkward pause. "Hard to forget." Whether he meant the scars it had left or the trauma of being assaulted wasn't something Izuku could tell from his tone. Katsuki's voice was rough with anger, but that wasn't so unusual where the two of them were involved.

"That time, when I bit you, it was the first time I had ever felt the urge to hurt someone." Izuku admitted suddenly, the words barely a whisper, "The sight of your blood was too much for me to handle and I was on you before I could even think about what it meant. I…" His eyes dropped, unable to stand the judgment he convinced himself that he received from Katsuki's gaze, "... I still feel it. Every time I use my quirk, every time I see even a drop of blood. In the USJ, I–" the words caught in his throat, "I used my quirk to kill someone."

"I know." Katsuki's facial expression didn't change. Of course he already knew. He was there, after all.

"I didn't want to." He hadn't done it out of his urge for blood, but there was no denying the end result. The memory of the man's blood flow coming to a stop, of his heart being crushed beneath the weight of Izuku's quirk almost made him want to vomit.

"I know." Katsuki repeated. His expression had softened somewhat. His glare that much less vexatious. He frowned thoughtfully, but didn't say anything more, seemingly waiting for Izuku to continue.

"I… I felt like there was no other way. You were busy protecting me, and my arms wouldn't move, and he was so, so close to–!" Izuku's voice cracked. He choked down a panicked sob with eyes full of tears, "I didn't want anyone to die!"

Katsuki watched and listened silently while Izuku gathered himself. He didn't want to cry. He didn't want to panic. His body trembled and shook like a leaf in the wind. His eyes squeezed shut. He thought he might be sick. He didn't... he couldn't deal with this right now.

"Sorry." He whispered, pointedly avoiding Katsuki's eyes as he said the word.

"Stop apologizing."

Katsuki's voice demanded his attention and drew with it Izuku's gaze. His childhood friend was unusually subdued. His glare had softened into barely-narrowed eyes and his downturned lips were more frown than scowl. He pressed one hand into a fist and squeezed with the other until his knuckles turned white.

"I'm not going to give you any bullshit about how it wasn't your fault and I'm not going to blame you either. I won't tell you how you should feel. If you want any of that shit, go find someone who gives a fuck." He opened his mouth once and then closed it and narrowed his eyes further before he seemed to find the right words, "The world's full of fucking dead weight morons who'll blindly back you because you did it to a villain or call you a monster because 'all life is sacred' or some bullshit. Some will say you were just trying to survive; others will cry that you went too far. But at the end of the day, you're the one who has to live with it, so you're the one that has to decide if what you did was right or wrong."

"I don't…" Izuku opened his mouth but he didn't know what to say. His emotions were a mess, his thoughts disorganized. For all of his flaws, Katsuki was arguably the most honest person Izuku knew. The first person Izuku had ever wronged due to his quirk's urges. If anyone had the right to an opinion on the matter it was him, but he had completely disregarded all of that to instead force the issue back onto Izuku.

"You don't have to decide now and you don't have to tell me, either." Katsuki turned his back on Izuku and stalked his way to the door. He slid it open but stopped just outside the room, "The next time I see you fight, I'll know." He paused for a moment as if to let Izuku digest the meaning of his words before he continued, "I'm going to call my mom to let her know you're awake. Auntie Inko's gonna' want to run right back. Recovery Girl got called to a staff meeting so she should be here soon, too. Just get some rest and don't do anything stupid."

He slid the door shut with a click.

Izuku, left alone, slumped and let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He took a deep breath and took stock of himself once more. Looked around the room. Tried to make sense of the various medical equipment strapped to his body. Anything to avoid thinking about what Katsuki had said. It was too new, too rough. Maybe once he could move. See the outside. Maybe… maybe once he saw Aizawa alive and well he would be able to face himself. To decide whether or not it was right of him to have taken a life.

'You warned me, didn't you, Stendhal-sensei…?'

"Izuku?"

His mother's soft whisper pulled him from the tenuous state of half-sleep he'd fallen into. Izuku's eyes opened and he blinked blearily. He felt even more exhausted than when he'd first awakened, but the promise of seeing his mother had him perk up and brought a smile to his lips.

"Mom." Izuku's voice was rough and shook with emotion. Tears sprang to his eyes when he took in the sight of his mother. Inko's body shook with repressed tears, not an uncommon sight, but her crumpled clothes, the heavy bags under her eyes, and her hair in the messiest bun he'd ever seen were evidence that he'd been worrying her far too much. "It's okay. I'm okay."

"Izuku!" Unable to hold back any longer, Inko stormed her way to Izuku's bedside, sobbing tears of simultaneous concern and relief. She gripped Izuku's unbroken hand in both of hers. He ignored the pain that it caused and tried to perform his best comforting smile to little effect. "I-I saw that something was happening on the news and then I got a call from the school and-and when they finally said you'd been hurt fighting one of the villains, I–"

Inko couldn't seem to bear finishing her sentence. The words choked in her mouth with a strangled sob and she lowered her head to Izuku's hand, still clasped desperately in hers. She rested her forehead gently against his fingers, trembling. He felt her tears, warm against his skin and the breath she let out when she whispered.

"I can't lose you, Izuku. Not you, too."

Izuku's own tears finally spilled over. His agonized fingers protested when he forced them to curl comfortingly around his mother's, but he didn't care about his pain at the moment.

"I'm sorry, mom. I'm not going anywhere, promise."

Inko didn't say anything in response. She merely gripped the tiniest bit tighter to his fingers and cried that much harder. It wasn't a promise that he had control over keeping. They both knew it. But it was enough for the moment. Her baby was safe. He was safe and alive and that was all that mattered.

When finally Inko's cries quieted, she raised her head without releasing Izuki's fingers.

"You need to always come home." She whispered, "I know that's a lot to ask for a hero, but I know that you can do it. Please. For me. Always come home."

"I will." Inko's eyes were still glassy with tears and threatening another sob session, but another squeeze of his mother's hand held them at bay. "I promise." He repeated.

"Okay." Inko sniffled. One of her hands released Izuku so that she could wipe the tears out of her eyes. She did the same to him, gently sliding her fingers across his cheeks. "Okay." She repeated with a shuddering breath. She stretched a wobbly smile across her lips and turned to the other woman in the room that Izuku hadn't noticed. "I'm sorry, Recovery Girl. I'll get out of your way now."

"Don't be sorry about a thing, dear. I just need to do a bit of a check up on Izuku here and perform today's dose of healing. Why don't you wait outside for a minute and let the others know they can come in as soon as I'm done." Recovery Girl said kindly as she hopped off her chair, to which Inko nodded with a soft smile and hesitantly left the room, keeping Izuku in sight until the door finally slid shut.

Recovery Girl took hold of her cane and made her way across the room to Izuku. He hadn't seen much of U.A.'s nurse since he'd started the year, but he could have sworn the elderly heroine seemed tired.

"H-Hello again, Recovery Girl." He tried to be polite, but the moment the nurse reached his bed, she gently but firmly smacked his uninjured foot with her cane. "Ow! Wh-What did I do?"

"That's for worrying your poor mother…" She scolded gently, "... and to make sure you haven't lost feeling in your lower body." Recovery Girl's lips were set in a grim frown. "Tell me if it hurts too much."

She began to push and prod at multiple places on his body. Some were merely tender, others had Izuku suck in his breath through his teeth.

"Do you remember the events before you were injured?" She asked suddenly, pressing gently on his ribs.

The sickening feeling of a circulatory system stopped in its tracks. The chill of a heart crushed and punctured by its own workings. The lifeless eyes of a dead man.

"Y-Yes."

"Good. Follow the light with your eyes."

He did as he was asked. Recovery Girl asked him more questions and ran more tests as she continued to examine him. By the end more of his injuries than before were aching, but the healing heroine seemed relieved.

"You were very lucky." She told him sternly. She walked along the edge of the room and searched her medicine cabinets for something in particular before she snatched a bottle with a frown, "None of your injuries will result in any permanent damage. My quirk can 'heal,' but only so much. If you had been paralyzed or one of your limbs had become too damaged, I wouldn't be able to fix it."

"Because your quirk accelerates natural healing factors, right?" Izuku eyed the bottle as Recovery Girl grew closer. He recognized the gummies that she'd given him after the entrance exam. It had only been a few months, but it felt like it had been so much longer.

"Correct. As you probably know it tuckers you out though. The energy that your body uses to heal itself doesn't come out of thin air, it comes out of your own 'supply' so to speak. Back in his glory days, All Might used to say he could barely feel it, but I've seen others who would pass out on the spot if I had to heal anything more than a broken bone." She reached Izuku's hospital bed, popped the top off of the bottle, and handed Izuku three gummies. "Of course, full-body trauma like yours can't be fixed in one session, and my own energy is spread thin as it is between you and–" she paused, as if she thought better of it, but Izuku knew.

"Aizawa-sensei and All Might, right?" Izuku popped the gummies into his mouth and looked down. He frowned as he chewed, memories of Aizawa's broken body and All Might's emaciated form sprung to the forefront of his mind.

"... Yes. Your classmates, like Bakugo-san, will unfortunately have to heal naturally. I'm spread too thin between yourself and your teachers to spend my energy healing them." That made sense. Recovery Girl's energy was finite. It was better for her to expend her energy where it was most critical, and as he remembered the pro heroes had sustained more damage than any of his classmates, since most of the villains didn't seem interested in killing them. Well, it made sense for the teachers, but as for him…

"But… can't I just heal myself with my quirk? Then you could spend more effort on the others who need it." Izuku was honestly surprised blood wasn't the first thing he was given, to be honest.

"That won't be possible for a little while." Recovery girl frowned for a second but forced a neutral expression over her face. "Your quirk… well… it will be explained to you later. For now, no blood. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Izuku frowned. Why wouldn't they want him to use his quirk? Did they…? "Is it…" he swallowed thickly, stomach doing somersaults, "... is it because of what I did to that villain?"

Recovery girl stalled for a moment.

"No." She stated firmly, "That is something you'll also need to talk about soon, but it's unrelated and I don't want you stressing about it while you're trying to heal. As a medical professional, I am asking you not to potentially strain yourself using your quirk. Do you understand?" Recovery girl's expression was firm but kind. If she was lying to him, she was amazing at it. Izuku followed his heart and chose to believe her.

"Yes, I understand. I'm sorry for questioning you."

"Don't worry about it, dearie. Now, let me heal you a bit." Recovery girl puckered her lips and with a quick smack to his forehead, Izuku felt a soothing warmth flow across his body. "Your arms should be in decent shape after this, but I'm going to keep you around for one last session in a couple days to make sure all of your ribs are fixed up before I let you leave. Any leftover muscular strain and bruising you'll have to heal up yourself along with the fracture on your right leg. If I'm right, I don't think it will heal fully from my quirk but I'm sure you'll be fine after I clear you for quirk use again."

As she spoke, Izuku felt most of the pain leave his arms, along with other injuries that patched themselves up. Consequently, his body rapidly fatigued to match the output of his healing factor. By the time Recovery Girl had finished her explanation, her quirk's effect had ended and Izuku felt like he'd taken three back to back training sessions with Stendhal.

"I understand." He mumbled, fighting the urge to pass out on the spot. He could sleep later. His mom was waiting outside with 'others' that probably included Manami. He wanted to at least see her, to make sure she was okay.

"Good." Recovery Girl noted what did and didn't heal in his chart before she stood and made her way to the door, "I'm sorry to keep this brief, but I also have to visit the others today. Your mother and friends can stay as long as they like, but make sure you get some rest. You'll need your energy to heal up if you want to be able to go home with them."

"I will, ma'am. Thank you."

"It's what I'm here for. I'll see you tomorrow, but if there are any emergencies in the meantime, hit the red button on the side of the bed."

With her last order, Recovery Girl left the room. Outside of the door, Izuku heard her begin a short conversation with his mother that he couldn't catch the details of before the door slid open again and a pink, red, and white ball of energy shot its way across the room to his bedside.

"Izukun!" Her eyes were full of tears, but she was doing her best to hold them back with a gentle smile that told Izuku she was trying not to worry him. Her left arm hung in a sling and bandages covered what must have been cuts or scrapes along her arms and right cheek. Her good hand reached for his, but she stopped before contact, looking unsure.

"Recovery girl just healed my arms. Here." Izuku raised his left hand as best he could and let Manami meet him halfway. Her fingers intertwined with his almost instantly.

"Are you-"

"I'm fine." Izuku preempted her question with a crooked smile and enjoyed the adorable way her cheeks puffed out in a pout.

"That sounds exactly like something that somebody who isn't fine would say." Her eyes bore into his without any real intensity. Izuku barked a laugh that was perilously close to a sob.

"You're right," he admitted, smiling mirthlessly. His gaze drifted away from hers to stare cautiously at the blanket covering his torso. He waited for Manami to press the issue further, for her to tell him, just as Katsuki had, that she knew what he'd done. Or perhaps she hadn't been told and she'd insist on knowing what had him so worked up. Fortunately for him, neither outcome occurred.

"You scared me, taking a huge hit like that." Manami whispered, changing the topic instead, probably sensing that he wasn't ready to talk about it. She squeezed his hand like a lifeline, lips trembling, "Everyone saw it. For-For a second we thought… you know."

"Sorry." He squeezed her hand back and smiled weakly, "I just–"

"No, it's okay. I know why you did it. I did basically the same thing, after all." Manami nodded to her broken arm, "I have to train harder. I'll… I'll do better next time so you don't have to do it alone."

Manami's teary smile was soft and genuine. Izuku still wasn't sure what to do with himself when she looked at him with so much affection. He broke eye contact and finally noticed that, like Inko, her hair wasn't in its usual style, instead left in a messy wave of red that traveled down her back. Manami's face was also absent of makeup for the first time since they'd met, allowing him a look at the dark bags that rimmed her eyes. She, too, must have been stressed over his condition.

"Okay." Izuku said dumbly, speechless for reasons he couldn't put into words. Manami laughed at that, the sound felt as if it lit up the room and finally removed the heavy atmosphere that had hung over it since he'd awoken. Inko, sensing their moment was over, moved to flank Izuku's right side and held his newly-healed hand in hers.

"Recovery Girl said you need to rest." Inko reminded him. She smiled lovingly and pushed an errant strand of hair out of Izuku's face, futilely combing her fingers through his untamable mop. As if on command, the young hero yawned, suddenly reminded of his full-body exhaustion.

"M'okay." He mumbled, blinking away the feeling of fatigue.

"We have plenty of time to catch up, Izukun." Manami took his mother's side with a faux-stern glare.

"We were just happy to see you for a bit, honey." Inko used her free hand to pull the sheet up to Izuku's neck, effectively tucking him in as a reminder that he had no say in the matter, especially not with his mother and girlfriend united in their purpose.

"Okay." He gave in with another yawn, finding that each opening of his eyes grew more and more difficult. "Are you getting some sleep, too?"

"One of us is going to stay here until you leave. We'll take shifts."

"Okay. Good." As long as they were taking care of themselves, too. He'd have to make sure they were getting proper rest when he woke up again. For the time being, Izuku closed his eyes and focused on the warmth he felt from the two closest people to him as they held his hands and smiled as he let sleep take him.

Hey everybody, couple months no see! I'm pretty excited to have this chapter out in a somewhat reasonable (for me, at least) timeframe instead of the travesty that was the last few chapters, but I have a feeling it has something to do with a return to form to emotional, character-based storytelling instead of having to deal with fighting, which I find incredibly difficult in the written word.

Speaking of emotional writing, not a whole lot going on this chapter aside from Izuku reminiscing and beginning to deal with what I'm sure will be a bumpy road to recovery–or at least finding a new normal. I'd liked to have delved a bit into the things we missed while our boy was taking a nap, but it seems that will have to wait for next time.

Very excited to be able to bring Inko back into the story, even if I don't know how long she'll be sticking around. If it wasn't already obvious before, I am absolutely hammering it over your head at this point that I've gone and killed off Izuku's dad in this AU. Still, still haven't gotten around to watching Season 6 (much less up to date on the manga, but I don't really like reading shonen anyway so that's probably never happening) but I've always found it super weird how his dad is just completely absent aside from his quirk being referenced in episode 1. Again, no spoilers if Vader is actually Izuku's father or something in the manga and I just don't know yet.

In me being productive news: Bloodstained Hero is now actually, unironically up on AO3 after 3 chapters of me promising to do it and forgetting. I've been slowly editing and uploading chapters over there, and it is completely up to parity with FF as of this chapter, so you can read on whichever platform you prefer in the future. I am over there under the same name: TheAuthorFormerlyKnownAsM so feel free to make the switch if it's your cup of tea. I had never used the site before creating my account, but I'm absolutely loving their tag system for more accurately vetting stories for content I do/don't like as well as better letting people know what mine is about.

That's all I really have to rant about today. Thank you all for your continued support and as always leave a review if you'd be so kind because they make me really happy!