Izuku woke up to see the face of his nameless, no… named friend, peering over him. Her stoic face carried a gentle smile of relief at the realization he was awake. She had a name, and it was Marris. The warm feeling of happiness seeped into his chest at the revelation, it was something he wanted to know about her since the day they came home together. And now he knew. But there was more to his happiness than learning his oldest friend's name. Frankly, he was giddy with excitement because he will finally have a quirk, or an equivalent to one, and it was all thanks to Marris. Izuku smiled happily back at the fish woman, and after a moment to recollect himself, Izuku became aware of his position. He wasn't touching the alley floor, instead he was on something rather warm and a little damp. To Izuku's surprise he was still being cradled by her in a much similar way in the pool of stars. Despite the years that had passed and the amount he had grown, his small frame could still be nestled by the giant fish woman. Though his longer legs now sat upon her lamprey-like tail instead of being contained in Marris' equivalent of a lap.

However, unlike his previous situation in the star filled lake, Izuku could now feel everything that had happened to him today. His limbs felt like they were laden with lead while his chest felt like someone had hit him with a baseball bat. With the help of Marris, he was able to get off of her, thus allowing her to pull herself off the filthy alley street. His tense muscles scream in agony as they were forced to work after being taken from the embrace of the fish woman. After a moment of trying to get himself out of his disorienting state, he finally was able to asset his situation. It was too dark to really see anything clearly, so he took to feeling his chest for the damage Bakugou did. His uniform was ruined, again. It appeared to be burned so badly that he will most certainly have to get a new one. Izuku grumbled incoherently in annoyance at the destroyed clothing, he hated having to replace his uniforms. Yet, thoughts of uniforms took a backseat as his hands traced over the portion of his chest that Bakugou had hit. He reflectively winced at his own touch as he felt up the epicenter of Bakugou's attack. The area was still very clearly damaged, but not as bad as he thought.

"Maybe I can hide this injury like all the others with some bandages, burn cream and a lot of pain medication" Izuku thought to himself

"Don't even think about trying to hide what he did, Little Minnow." Marris said in a stern tone

Izuku jumped at the sound of her voice. He then looked at Marris with a rather perplexed expression. She stared back at him with an unreadable expression as she once again took the appearance of mother-like figure who was perpetually underwater. The green haired boy gulped and frantically nodded to the fish woman; he was certainly going to have to get used to the fact his once silent friend is now very vocal.

Izuku let out an exacerbated breath. Bakugou can certainly makes his life more difficult in more ways than one. Izuku wondered how he was going to explain this one to his mother, no doubt she would probably smother him until he was in a protective bubble of bandages and that was before they would go to the hospital. Yet, He shook the thoughts out of his head, he'll worry about those pressing issues tomorrow. Today was simply an awful day and he still had to walk back to his apartment in the dark. Now all he needs to do is to find his stuff and go home. Luckily, Marris seems to have a greater degree of night vision and guided him on the way to his discarded yellow backpack. After retrieving his backpack, the two walked/floated in silence back to the little apartment.

…

It was surprising to the two to come back a dark and rather empty apartment. Izuku found a note on the counter on top of a bag of instant noodles that explained why the small apartment was devoid of its third inhabitant. The note stated:

Izuku,

I won't be able to be home for today and a little bit of tomorrow, I had to cover last minute for a co-worker at the hospital. Don't worry, your favorite is in the refrigerator, and also gave you some noodles if you get hungry later. Also remember that…

The rest of the letter dives into a mini rant of all the places and items that a fretting mother thinks their child will need in their absence. Izuku sighed in relief and crumpled up the note left behind as he dropped his things on the floor as he slowly made his way to his room. Frankly, he was too tired to eat, and merely thankful that he didn't need to explain why he came home late looking like he got jumped to his mother. No doubt she would mummify herself from all the crying. It wasn't long before Izuku found himself at a door with an All Might themed name plate, and promptly went in without hesitation. His room was filled with a lot of hero merchandise with several figurines filling his bookshelf and posters of heroes nearly occupying every space. The only oddity in the room was a desk that contained all manner of books and sketches of marine life be it real or mythological. The center of it all was a notebook containing his analysis of Marris, and with the recent string of events, he would most certainly have to add more to it.

However, such things can wait for another time, as the exhausted boy dropped himself on his bed with the All Might sheets and covered his eyes with his arm. "Goodnight, Marris" Izuku said as his exhaustion began to catch up to him.

"Sleep well. Little Minnow" Marris replied. And like a spell, those words seemingly caused Izuku to finally drift away into the world of dreams.

…

He saw stars, but they are growing faint with every passing second. His body felt like it was being compressed into a little ball. Suddenly he was washed with a burning sensation, like he was slowly being cooked in a oven, his vision began to fade as it was enveloped in a bright light. The pain of such an experience was seer indescribable agony. Izuku was surprised he was still alive or even conscious to begin with, as it felt like every cell was being crushed or incinerated. The unending pain ended he hit something with such a great impact that every bone and organ felt like they had been completely dislodged from their normal place. Hissing and bubbling echoed in his ears as something cold envelops him, fortunately his vision gradually returned. Only for him to see a sky filled with twinkling stars that were obscured by the black waters of a great ocean as he sank deeper into the darkness.

…

Izuku jerked awake. His breathing was heavy with his limbs shaking uncontrollably. His body was also drenched in a cold sweat as the green haired boy tried to make heads or tails of the dream he had just had. However, never in his life had Izuku had a dream that felt so…real, like he had been reliving someone's traumatic experience. Izuku looked to floor near his bed that Marris usually rested in, but she was not present.

"What did her Blood do to me?" Izuku shakily questioned

He needed to ask her what that dream meant or at the very least if having nightmares was a side effect of the pact. The trembling boy looked at his All Might themed alarm clock and saw that it had read 8:00.

"I need to get ready; mom will be here in a few hours. Marris is never gone for too long, so I will ask her when she comes" Izuku thought to himself. With a bit of wobbliness in his frame, he gets out of bed and left his room towards the bathroom to start his day.

Izuku knew that he would be subjected to changes as he accepted Marris' gift, but he wasn't expecting extreme physical alterations. When he was younger, he expected it to be a moment of great happiness when he finally manifested his quirk. However, his shocked and panicked expression snuffed out all the potential happiness he could've felt, and it was a far cry from his daydreams as a kid. In simple terms, he had jumped in fright at the sight of the stranger in his bathroom mirror after waking up that morning. Once the initial shock had passed, and the realization finally hit him, he begun to examine his alterations in detail. His signature green coloring of his eyes and hair had been completely vanished in favor of a dark blue pigmentation. Izuku's skin grew more pale and smooth and moist, similar to the skin of an amphibian. While his teeth were now slightly more sharp, giving him a slightly more fierce appearance. If one had no prior knowledge on Izuku's Quirkless status, on can assume he has a minor aquatic mutation quirk of some sort.

Many thoughts bombarded the mutated boy's head, but the foremost was how the heck he was going to explain this one? One does not simply develop a quirk beyond the expected age of manifestation, and even if one were to develop such a thing, it certainly wouldn't be a mutation one. However, Izuku's change was not brought on by what anyone would consider as normal, and as a result the teen was perplexed on how to deal with the inevitable fallout. As he dumbfoundedly stared into his reflection, the source of his metamorphosis floated into the bathroom with her usual grace. At the sight of Izuku, Marris froze briefly before quickly examining him with a curious intent. Marris' probing gaze took Izuku out his stupor, and he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at what Marris was doing. As such, his cheeks flushed red as her nonexistent smile grew larger and larger. The uncomfortable staring ended with Izuku getting crushed in the large arms of his friend as she did the equivalent of squeal.

"You look like I am your sire and not the green one! I feel so flattered!", Marris beamed with pride, "You haven't been this adorable since you were a hatchling!"

Izuku never thought he could ever feel this embarrassed and not be at the receiving end of a prank from his school bullies. He also now knew what it felt like to be one of those baby animals that were being swoon over at the pet store by some schoolgirls. Frankly, he was just glad there was no one else around to see him getting manhandled by an invisible force, the last thing he needed was for someone to think he was possessed by a ghost or something. However, his earlier dream and the alterations had not left him, and he was craving answers.

"Marris, what exactly will your blood do to me?" Izuku asked

The fish woman had gone silent at the mention of his choice of words, while she had let Izuku fall from her embrace. She once again scanned over his appearance, but this time she gave Izuku the impression that she was trying to solve a rather difficult question. It planted a seed of worry inside the now blue haired boy.

"If you seek an answer, then I do not have one. For I do not know what my blood will exactly do to you.", Marris said with a hint of guilt in her voice, "But, I do have some ideas…. take off that shell". Izuku took that as a que to take of his shirt and obliged to this suggestion. He gasped in shock at the sight of his bare chest because it was completely devoid of any injury. Impossible! Bakugou had hit him with his quirk yesterday, and it took at least a few days for the initial damage to even heal in any noticeable way. In fact, all of the injuries he got from Bakugou were gone, and Izuku hadn't noticed at first due to the new change of color. It was simply impossible for as many injuries as bad as that to disappear unless…

Izuku took his gaze away from his reflection, and towards his invisible friend, specifically her arms. Marris had used her arms as a shield against Bakugou's explosion, and Izuku clearly remembers devastating amount of punishment they took. Yet, the only indication of such an event was the numerous scars dotted in those damaged areas. The scars themselves looked they came from a wound that had happened years ago and not a day ago. The blue haired boy was at a loss of words at the regeneration that Marris, and him to an extent, possessed, but that cannot possibly be it?

The idea of possessing anything more than a strong regeneration quirk was something that made Izuku feel a combination of excitement and dread. He was excited by the potential power that he could get, but at the same time he did not like the way Marris was implying the possibility of that being a bad thing. His thoughts swam with the possible implications on what she calls their "Pact".

"Do I even have a quirk", Izuku's thoughts pondered, "Or is it something more than that?"

Then as if his thoughts have been spoken out loud, Marris was quick to reply to the puzzled teen.

"It seems that you took more from me than just appearances.", Marris said with a stoic voice, "Come with me little minnow, let us find a place to see the full extent of our pact. It seems you really are imitating me in more ways than one…"