"Never forget who you want to become."
I was in a dream.
More accurately, I was having a dream about a specific memory of mine. We were at a Shinto temple outside of our home city. It was overcast, but the sun was still barely visible as it shone on the small group of us that had gathered together. My father was standing on the stairs of the temple, and in his hands he was clasping a white box that was covered in a white cloth, which was customary in the Shinto tradition for funerals and cremation. In my dream I could feel my eyes stinging; I was crying.
My father was speaking with the small group of heroes who had accompanied us to the temple. Some were bowing, giving my father their condolences, while others were continuing to talk amongst themselves. I was sitting alone by a tree, barely visible to the people who were still congregated by the temple.
I remembered this scene vividly, now, though I had not thought about it for some time. It was my mother's funeral, and my father and I were preparing to transport my mother's ashes.
"You aren't going to go talk to those heroes?"
It was a man's voice that had spoken. My body, numb with grief, and in my young age not understanding anything that was going on, turned toward where the voice had come from. There was no fear within me, only sadness. Above where I sat stood a young man; he was older than me, but younger than my father. His short dark hair shifted in the breeze as rain clouds began to move steadily toward us. I shook my head.
"No," I croaked, wiping a tear with the sleeve of my dress. "I don't feel like it."
"You sure do cry a lot for a child of heroes," the man muttered.
It was difficult to hear him clearly, as he was wearing a mask over the lower half of his face. My memory-dream was becoming a little fuzzy. The man was still looking at me, though I could tell that his attention was focussed on my father and the gaggle of hero acquaintances.
"After all of this, do you still want to become a hero like your parents?" he asked me softly.
"All… of this…?" I repeated back to him. He nodded. "My mother is dead…"
"Ah," he sighed. He squatted down suddenly, so that he was then eye level with me. The tip of his mask-covered nose was only a few inches from my face. "It seems you're suffering from a little amnesia. Can't be helped. You're young, after all."
I reached out toward him slowly, feeling unsure about whether or not he was actually there. None of the other people seemed to be noticing him, but then again, we were some ways away. He flinched, realizing that I was reaching out to touch him. He pulled his hand, which was covered with a surgical glove, away from me quickly.
"Don't do that," he instructed. I put my hand back in my lap. He stood up again, his entire attention now focused on me. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Well, I just came to check up on you because she asked me to. It seems like you will be just fine,"
"She?" I repeated his words for a second time. He did not explain, and instead turned to go.
"You can tell your father that your uncle stopped by, if you want." he told me over his shoulder. I thought I saw something like malice in his eyes, but I was too young to understand what that meant. "You will see the two of us again someday soon, I'm sure."
"The two of us…?" The man smirked.
"When it happens, you will understand what I meant."
"Hello, again."
I felt my body shoot up out of bed. I was stiff as a board, and I could hear my heart beating in my ears. It was accompanied by a slight ringing noise, one that had, for the last several weeks, plagued my every move and thought. It was the sound that came when my Quirk overtook me. I glanced around me room, my one eye falling on the door. It was there, so it seemed that I was not dreaming.
"H… Hello…?" I whispered, my voice hoarse. There was no responding movement in my room.
"What an annoying reply…" I heard the same voice say. My head whipped around, desperately trying to identify the source of the voice. "First day of workplace experience, how exciting!" The voice was shrill, almost childlike. It made my skin crawl. "Are you gonna let me out? Or are you gonna keep pushing me back down, as usual?"
My eye continued to dart around my room, which was dimly lit in the morning sun. My eye fell on the chair by my desk, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. This was a voice I recognized: it was the voice of the creature from my dream. But, as I continued to glance around the room, I was certain that I was not dreaming. That could only mean one thing.
"That's right~" the voice sang excitedly. I felt my knees start to tremble below my sheets. "I'm inside your head!"
I clasped my palms to my ears, squeezing my eyes shut as if doing so would rid me of that voice. My whole body was shaking, and I felt an uncomfortable itching feeling begin to travel up my spine. I opened my mouth, trying to speak, but all that met my ears was a high pitched cracking sound as my dry throat failed to produce any words.
A sudden knock on my door made me jump. My eye snapped open, giving my room another once over, just in case in the time my eye had been shut the creature had appeared. I was still completely alone. Another knock came.
"Daichi," my father's voice said. I felt my heart begin to settle down. "Wake up, you'll be late for your first day."
I put on my uniform swiftly, shoving both my dream and the worries about the voice in my head to the back of my mind as I got ready for our first day of workplace experience. I was downstairs in a flash, grabbing a rice ball out of the fridge before meeting my father at the door, where he was waiting for me. He shot me a small smile, handing me a thermos full of tea as the two of us exited our home to begin walking to the train station where our class was to meet. In my hand that was not holding the thermos I held a metal suitcase that housed my new hero costume.
"Did you sleep alright?" my father asked me as we exited the U.A. campus. The train station was not a far walk. I shrugged.
"I had a dream…" I muttered, taking a sip of tea. "A dream about mama's funeral." My father said nothing, but I saw his face spasm a little bit.
"Oh?" he said at last. We had made it a couple of blocks already. "You don't talk about that day much."
"I remembered something," I said. I glanced at him with my one good eye, trying desperately to read his mood. It was not working. "A man who came to see me that day."
"I don't remember that." my father told me as we rounded the corner.
"You wouldn't. I was behind a tree, waiting for you to come out of the shrine with her ashes." My father gave me nothing save for a low mumble in the back of his throat. "Do you remember that?"
"Yes." he confessed. "I remember finding you there before we went home."
"The man told me he was my uncle," I admitted.
My father stumbled suddenly, momentarily freezing mid walk, causing him to trip through the air ever so slightly. I could tell that he found the information off putting.
"As in your mother's brother?" he asked me. Up ahead I could see the train station, and I knew that I did not have much time left to get any information out of him.
"Unless you have a brother, I'm assuming so." My father nodded curtly.
"They didn't speak much… Ever… While we were married…" he said, his tone listless as he stared up at the sky. "Her brother was a piece of work."
"Did you know him?"
"No." he admitted. "Only of him."
"Ah…" I sighed.
"Have you seen him since then?" I shook my head, and my father sighed with relief. "Daichi, stay away from that man if you ever encounter him again. He's dangerous."
"So he's a villain like mama, huh?" My father pursed his lips.
"I don't pretend to know what he's been up to since your mother's death." he said slowly. Up ahead I could now make out the faces of my classmates, who were waving at us. "All I know is what little your mother told me. It would be best if you stayed away from someone like him."
"What's his name?" I asked, my heart starting to beat very quickly by then.
I had to know. I wanted him to admit to me what my mother's last name was. If I could just get him to tell me what her brother's name was, that would be all that I needed. My father pondered my question for a moment before speaking.
"The brother…" he murmured thoughtfully. "His name, it was —"
"Aizawa-sensei!"
Ashido Mina cut my father's sentence short with a loud yell — louder than necessary, as we had now gotten quite close to the other students. My face fell, glancing back at my father; he seemed content with the fact that our conversation had been cut short. I took my place with the rest of the students, settling in near Izuku, Shouto, Tenya, and Ochaco.
"You've all got your costumes, right?" my father said as he lead us into the station. "Obviously wearing them while you're not on duty is prohibited."
"Got it~!" Mina said, still shouting.
"Don't stretch out that 'got it,' Ashido. And you all remember to mind your manners in your places of work, alright?"
With that our class split up depending on where each of us were headed. I noticed Ochaco and Izuku dawdling near Tenya for a moment, but I let them be. I assumed that it had something to do with his emotional state since his hero brother, Ingenium, had been taken out of commission by the hero killer. I gave my father a small wave, which he returned, watching me with a look of vague pride as Shouto and I boarded our train. I watched him fade away as our train left the station, regret welling in the pit of my stomach.
He had not said what my uncle's name was.
"You seem a little out of sorts this morning." Shouto remarked coolly.
The two of us were walking down the halls of the Endeavor Hero Agency. I was doing my very best to keep calm, but was still plagued by anxiousness due to the unexplained voice in my head. It had been appearing intermittently throughout the day, resembling an internal monologue, commenting on the goings-on of my life at various times. But this voice was not my own, that much I knew. I pursed my lips, pausing at a water fountain to get a drink.
"No, I'm not." I bit back in between slurps of water. "I'm just trying to concentrate."
"On what?" Shouto scoffed. "We haven't even done anything yet."
I straightened myself up, tugging at my new hero costume nervously as I did so. I had gotten my new costume the day before, having put in a request with the support department several days earlier. Like Ochaco, I wore a skintight bodysuit. Per my request, it was made out of wicking material just like my old one had been; I had to do my best to keep my body temperature down. It was a rich terracotta color, slightly lighter than my eyepatch, with darker scale-like features around my hips, shoulders, and chest. They were raised up slightly from the rest of the costume, made from a denser material that was meant to defend parts of my body from slicing attacks.
The costume covered me entirely, the high neck not ending until it reached almost halfway up my cheeks. It even covered my feet, the costume in that area resembling toe socks, the fabric slightly more thin so that I could feel the ground beneath me. It was a feeling which always comforted me during battle.
"Sorry," I muttered tiredly, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "I didn't sleep well."
"Any reason in particular?" Shouto pressed. I bit my lip, mulling my answer over briefly before replying.
"I had a memory…" I began. The two of us were making our way down the hall toward the exit, as we were meant to meet Endeavor outside for our first day of workplace experience. "A memory of the day my mom died."
Shouto was silent for a moment, watching me carefully as we continued walking together toward the building entrance, where his father would be waiting. He was studying me, his mismatched eyes fixed on my face. I was beginning to feel a little embarrassed with him watching me so intently.
"I didn't know your mother was dead." he said finally.
"Yeah… I was very young. I don't remember it well…"
"How did she die?" I made a face, slightly surprised at his forwardness. "Sorry," he said quickly. "You don't need to answer that."
"I've been wondering about that, myself…" I said. "My father doesn't talk about it much."
"Aizawa-sensei doesn't seem like much of a talker."
"You hit the nail on the head." I said through a laugh. "But the circumstances of her death are murky for me. Sometimes… Sometimes, I wonder if it was All Might who killed her." Shouto's eyes widened, looking astonished.
"All Might?" he repeated. His shock was evident in his tone.
"I learned recently that my mother became a villain." I admitted. It was strange telling someone these things, but somehow with Shouto it was very easy to let the things that had been filling my mind out. "I'm not sure when that was."
"I see…" he muttered darkly. He tore his eyes away from me, staring at the floor for a moment as we neared the doors that would lead us outside. "Thank you." he said. I looked at him, puzzled.
"What for?"
"For opening up to me." he explained as he reached for the door handle. He opened the door for me, ushering me outdoors. "You don't do it often. But it's nice when you do."
I felt my face flush a dark pink. We stepped outside together, side by side, our eyes and ears met with an onslaught of noise from pedestrians and cars. Endeavor was waiting for us outside on the street
"Took the two of you long enough." Endeavor said sternly, turning to us. I grimaced, looking determinedly at my own toes as Endeavor glared down at us. "I was surprised that you accepted my offer, Shouto." Shouto said nothing, but merely continued to stare up at his father. I was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable. "Does this mean you have decided to follow me?"
"Absolutely not." Shouto replied coolly. "I will continue to forge my own path. I came here for other reasons."
I felt my cheeks heat up again just as the blush from earlier was beginning to subside. Endeavor glanced between Shouto and I for a moment before scoffing and turning away. He lead us down the street wordlessly as we began our first day of workplace experiences.
Todoroki Enji was nothing if not stern. Throughout the day we intervened in various petty crimes, which Endeavor sometimes allowed us to participate in minimally, while other times he would merely tell us in his usual detached yet fatherly voice that we should stand back and watch. Shouto seemed surprisingly comfortable throughout the whole day, only reverting to his trademark icy nature when his father — accidentally or on purpose remained unclear — stepped a little too far over the line with his son.
Before I knew it our first day was over. My and Shouto's costumes were each neatly folded into their respective suitcases, which we each clasped tightly in our hands as we exited the Endeavor Hero Agency. I was, quite frankly, exhausted. We had walked more than I had walked the day I had gotten lost in the city, and I could feel my feet crying out for relief. It did not help that I wore no shoes with my hero costume. In a fight I typically enjoyed feeling the ground close to my feet, but on a day that was riddled with strutting around on concrete, I had to admit that it was not the best choice. Perhaps my hero duties could take me toward something like natural disaster relief, something that was fully immersed in the elements.
"Are you hungry?"
Shouto's voice broke through my thoughts, causing me to jump slightly at the unexpected interaction. I glanced over at him, my eyes resting on his face as if to double check if it indeed had been him who had spoken. He was staring at me again.
"Are you hungry?" he repeated.
"N-no!" I gasped right as a loud growl escaped from my stomach. Shouto smirked.
"Let's go eat somewhere." he said. It was more of a command than a suggestion, and I felt the blush returning to my cheeks again.
"But… But I'm not…"
"You're hungry." he observed coolly. He was still smirking. "I'm offering to take you out. Please let me." My blush increased tenfold.
"Okay… Okay…" I murmured softly, doing my best to contain my embarrassment and anticipation.
The two of us walked — mostly in silence — toward a ramen shop several blocks away. I felt a peculiar fluttering feeling in the pit of my stomach the entire time as Shouto asked for a table, managing to get us one that was outdoors that we could enjoy the pleasant evening air. I sat with him at the table, sipping a cup of iced tea as we waited for our food to come.
"Are you feeling any better?" he asked me in a soft voice. He was staring at me over the rim of his glass, which he was holding to his face while he spoke.
"I guess so," I replied. "The workplace experience was a good way to take my mind off of things."
"Indeed." he said stiffly after swallowing his drink. We lapsed back into silence for a moment. "What was your mother's hero name?" I was taken aback, almost spilling my tea in response to his question.
"W-why…?" I said through a fit of coughs. "To ask me that so suddenly…"
"I'm only wondering because my father is the number two hero," he explained coolly. "If your mother was a villain, maybe I've heard something about her. Although I suppose if we don't know her villain name, it may not be much help."
"I… Uhm, I think that it was Heaven's Gate." I said softly. "At least, that's what my father told me. But I've known him to be dishonest about matters concerning my mother."
"What a shock, a father not telling you the whole truth of a situation." Shouto remarked bitterly.
I wanted to ask him about his own mother, and her relationship with his father. Somehow, I figured that this could not possibly be an appropriate moment to pry into that sort of thing. I quickly found myself wondering where Shouto's mother was; if Shouto's mother, had she been a hero, had ever encountered my own; if the two of them would have liked each other had they ever crossed paths. These musings dashed away from me as Shouto began speaking again.
"What makes you think All Might killed your mother?" he asked. I shrugged.
"It's just a feeling," I confessed. I glanced across the street, my eyes following the cars that passed us and a couple of families that were walking together. "He knew her. He was the one who told me the truth about her."
"I bet your old man loved that." Shouto scoffed. I smiled; it was somewhere between a cringe and a smile, at least.
"Yeah, not to mention that the two of them don't get along very well," I continued. "It would make more sense if it turns out All Might is the one that did it."
"I can't imagine that Aizawa-sensei is the sort of person to hold a grudge like that." Shouto commented. I nodded slowly.
"Yes… That's true." I said, my gaze softening. "He isn't a bitter person. He's a hero, after all…"
"Don't speak so soon," Shouto chuckled darkly. "Heroes can be bitter people, too." I was sure that at that moment, Shouto was thinking about his father.
Our food arrived shortly after. Two steaming bowls of ramen were placed in front of us, and for a long while there was no talking, only the sounds of slurping and air as the two of us blew on our noodles to cool them down. Every now and then I would catch Shouto looking at me, but each time our gazes met his eyes would dart away from me. He seemed a little bit nervous, but I could not imagine why that was.
"Every evening." Shouto's words broke through the silence suddenly.
The two of us had been sitting with our empty bowls, people-watching instead of talking to one another. My one eye slid over to him, searching his face for some kind of explanation. He shot me a small smile. One did not often see Todoroki Shouto smile, but somehow it seemed to happen quite a lot when he was around me. That thought made me smile, too.
"Every evening what?" I asked.
Shouto dropped some money on the table and stood up, walking over to where I was sitting. He looked down at me.
"Every evening after we leave my father's agency, we should get dinner." he insisted.
My one eye widened, quite shocked at the invitation. His eyes darted away from me, and I thought I saw a faint pinkish hue in his cheeks.
"Really?" I muttered, confused. "Why?"
"I'll pay for it." he continued, clearly not wanting to explain.
"That just makes me wonder why even more." I said stonily, straightening up to join him in walking back toward the train station.
"Because I want to." he said stiffly. He paused, his eyes darting to me and then swiftly away again. "And because it seems like it would be nice." I felt a smile tug at my lips.
"Alright," I replied at last as we boarded our train to head home.
"And I already said I'd pay, anyways…"
"Shouto, I said alright, already." I reminded him. He froze, realizing his mistake. He had obviously been prepared for me to put up a fight.
"Oh…" he muttered as he gazed out of the window. "Good." I could not help but grin ear to ear.
The next day the two of us got dinner again, speaking animatedly with one another about our families, our Quirks, about school. We conspired about whether or not Ochaco and Izuku would ever end up together. We wondered how Tenya was doing now that his brother could no longer be a hero. We wondered whether or not Todoroki Enji would ever be able to get the stick that was clearly shoved up his ass out and behave like a real hero.
Neither of us knew that it would be our last dinner together during our workplace experience.
Our third day of work experience had, at least in the beginning, gone just like any other day. It was clear and sunny out, and Shouto and I had been following Endeavor and his sidekicks as we tackled various small crimes throughout the city. We had come to the Hosu area that day to scout for Hero Killer Stain, but had up until that point turned up empty. Tensions between Shouto and Endeavor were, as usual, quite high, but Shouto seemed to be handling it well. Before we knew it evening was upon us, and the three of us were fixing to head back to the agency building.
"Tomorrow we will return to Hosu," Endeavor told us as we walked down the sidewalk. I could have sworn that I saw Shouto roll his eyes. "We need to continue to seek out that Hero Killer. Who knows where he could be lurking."
"Indeed…" I heard Shouto mutter, but I did not think that Endeavor was truly paying us any attention. "How are your feet, Daichi?" Shouto asked, turning toward me. I shot him a small smile.
"They're hangin' in there!" I said with the most energy that I could muster after our long day.
I felt something stir within my mind, something that wanted to say something more than that, but I ignored it. The voice in my head had left me alone mostly the day before, but every now and then I could feel something within myself — something that did not feel like me — tugging at my consciousness, trying to pull me in another direction.
"Where should we go tonight for dinner?" Shouto asked. I noticed that he was keeping his voice low, probably because he did not want Endeavor to butt in.
"We could —"
Before I could finish my thought a loud crash erupted from nearby. My face shot toward the noise, my one good eye widening as I watched the scene before me unfold. Dozens of gangly creatures were flying through the air, scuttling across the concrete. Screams from citizens and yelled orders from heroes began to meet my ears while I continued to watch the creature writhe across the city.
"These are…" Shouto murmured darkly, his eyes narrowing at one of the monsters that had gotten a little too close for comfort. I nodded.
"Shigaraki Tomura's henchmen," I said. I narrowed my eye at the creature approaching me, rocking back on me heels as I allowed my temperature to spike. I groped at the asfalt around me with my mind. "Nomu."
A moment later Shouto and I were forced to dodge as the Nomu took a swing at us. Enormous flames engulfed it a second later, Endeavor standing triumphantly behind the burnt creature. I could not tell whether he was annoyed or excited. Another Nomu came dashing at us but before it could even get close Endeavor had sent his flames for it. I had to hand it to him, he sure lived up to his number two hero status.
I saw a small person — dressed in yellow and white — zoom through the air. He and Endeavor met in the center of the road, looking as though they were discussing something as the two of them fought the creatures together. A loud screech to my right alerted me of another Nomu. I leaned down, dragging my toes across the debris-littered concrete.
A ring of dirt particles lifted at my command, and a moment later they were around the Nomu's throat, my Quirk fashioning the dirt into a ropelike appendage. I swung my hand around in the air and the Nomu followed suit; I released my hand from being in a fist, my fingers dancing through the air as I simultaneously released the Nomu from its bindings. I felt vaguely like a cowboy; the Nomu went soaring through the air.
"Stop looking at your phone, Shouto, look at me!" I heard Endeavor say from several yards away.
I felt something vibrate on my hip, and I realized with a jolt that my own phone was receiving a message. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, clicking the home button so that the screen would be illuminated. I made a face, staring at the message. Izuku had dropped a pin and sent it to basically everyone in class. My eyebrow furrowed incredulously, and I glanced up to look at Shouto. Our gazes met, and I nodded.
"Shouto, Aizawa, where are you going?" Endeavor yelled as the two of us hopped on top of the chunk of concrete I had pulled out of the ground.
"The narrow lane by Ekou street, 4-2-10." Shouto called over his shoulder. "When you're done if there are any heroes who've got their hands free we'll be requesting backup." Endeavor looked flabbergasted.
"Our friend may be in trouble!" I said loudly as I moved the chunk of concrete around the corner of a building. "When you've finished, please come!"
It seemed like in no time at all we had arrived at the location Izuku had sent us. I allowed the rock to drop to the ground as sweat dripped down the back of my neck. We were standing in the mouth of a very dark alleyway, but the loud noises that met my ears told me that the alleyway was far from empty. Izuku was down there. Who he was fighting, only time could tell.
"Daichi, let's go," Shouto muttered. I wanted to protest, feeling my heart flutter as we made our way into the alleyway. I could not stop him, and I could not stop myself, either.
Up ahead I could hear voices, yelling, and other loud noises. Shouto reacted before I could even ascertain the situation at hand. An enormous wall of fire went shooting out in front of us, and I heard a snarl from up ahead. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could see Izuku laying on the ground, and Tenya, too. There was another hero with them who I did not recognize. The person that Shouto's attack had been aimed at, however, was an entirely different story. As I looked at him, there was not a doubt in my mind of who this person was despite never having seen him before.
"Hero Killer Stain," I said under my breath. I felt as though I might choke on my own words
"My work keeps getting interrupted," he snarled. I saw Tenya glance at us from his place on the ground.
"Todoroki, that's your left side…?" Izuku squeaked. Shouto said nothing.
"Todoroki… Aizawa… Why're you here?" he managed from his place on the ground. I made a face, raising my arm through the air to bring a pillar of earth up abruptly from beneath Stain's feet.
"Hey, dumbass, that's our line." I retorted.
I ducked low to the ground while speaking, dragging my foot in front of me. A wall of earth sprung up in the wake of my foot. Remaining in a squatting position I brought both hands in front of my face, balling them into fists; I knocked both fists together several times, causing the wall to break up into smaller bits.
"Shouto," I muttered, to which Shouto nodded.
A second later spikes of ice appeared on each chunk of earth. I sent them hurling, one after the other, in Stain's direction in between intermittent bursts from Shouto's left side. Stain dodged one attack after the other, though just by watching him I could tell that he was slowing down.
"Todoroki, Daichi-chan, don't let him cut you!"
As Izuku spoke Stain appeared closer to us; I sent several chunks of ice-covered earth hurdling in his direction, which he dodged. Shouto pressed his lips into a firm line, concentrating as he sent another fire attack toward him. He had been practicing with his left side throughout our time with Endeavor, but it was plain to see that he still had minimal control over it.
"My guess is this guy can paralyze people by ingesting their blood orally! That's how we all got taken down!"
"So that's what the blade's about, huh?" Shouto muttered, keeping his eyes on Stain.
"Luckily, you and I are suited for long range attacks," I said. It was half to reassure myself, and half to reassure Shouto.
I crouched again, hitting my fists against the ground. Two pillars sprung up on either side of my hands and I stood up, stretching out my fingers as straight as the could go. As Shouto followed Stain with a mixture of ice and fire, I chopped at each pillar of earth with my stiff hands, sending discs of concrete flying into Stain's path every chance I got. I watched as one landed heavily in the middle of his chest, sending him flying back to crash on the ice that Shouto had made.
Shouto and I holding our own against Stain was short-lived, however. My one eye widened as a small dagger was sent flying in our direction, nicking Shouto's cheek ever so slightly. Stain sneered widely, his long tongue dancing around his lips as blood dripped down the side of Shouto's face.
"You've got some nice pals, haven't you, Ingenium?" he snickered. I looked at Tenya, confusion showing on my face. Had he adopted his brother's hero name?
I did not have much time to ponder this. Not a moment later, Stain was darting for Shouto and I, his blade swinging through the air. He was almost too fast for the eye to follow, but I knew what goal he had in mind. My eye slid over to watch the blood dripping down Shouto's face before moving toward Stain, who had moved past us and picked up the dagger he had thrown. My heart sank.
"Shouto —!"
Shouto's eyes widened in shock as he turned around, watching in horror as Stain lucked the miniscule amount of blood of of the tip of the dagger. I knew that Shouto could no longer move. Stain grinned, tossing the dagger to the ground before darting for Shouto: I reacted without thinking. A wall of earth sprung up between Shouto and Stain. Stain growled, grabbing the sword that he had thrown through the air and leaping to the side, closer to me. Shouto, at least for now, was surrounded entirely by rock. I crouched, raising both my hands, preparing myself.
"You plan to take me by yourself, then?" he said, sneering at me. I said nothing.
A moment later he was darting toward me. I ducked low, avoiding the cutting edge of his blade while sending a chunk of earth to knock into his knee. I heard Stain growl as his knee buckled in response to the rock; I bent backward, doing my best to roll away quickly while he was occupied. My eye slid back toward the walls of rock that were shielding Shouto. I did not know for how long he would be unable to move.
"Don't let your mind wander, child,"
Stain's voice broke through my thoughts. I was barely able to dodge, my eye widening as I watched his blade slice off some of my hair. I rolled away again, keeping low to the ground so that I could dodge and move better. I made to slam my palm into the ground, ready for my next attack. That was when I noticed it; that was when I noticed that I could no longer move.
"Too slow," Stain growled. I watched as his tongue moved along the edge of his blade, and I felt my stomach churn.
"Well, Daichi, what will you do?"
As I surveyed the scene before me, it could not be more clear to me that the five of us were in serious trouble. Tenya lay, incapacitated, on the concrete next to a pro hero that I did not recognize. Izuku was beginning to move, but there was no telling how long it would take for Stain's Quirk to fully wear off to the point where he would have the ability to fight again. Shouto was still behind the rock defenses that I had sent up after he had been incapacitated by Stain, through which I could barely make out his eyes watching me.
We had shown up without a plan, and now I was being punished for it.
The cut on my arm stung as though I were being attacked by a swarm of bees. I was unsure how I had not noticed it when it happened; I assumed it was the adrenaline. From where I stood, I watched as Stain continued to lick my blood from his lips. My stomach churned at the sight of it. My body was unable to move an inch, and Stain was closing in on me fast. I had to come up with a plan, I had to do something, but my mind was finding it difficult to focus.
"You can't move," the voice in my head hissed. I felt the color drain from my face as Stain took another step closer. "You can't move. But I can."
"You'll help me?" I whispered, my gaze refusing to leave Stain as he closed in on me.
"It's my job to help you," the voice replied. "It's my only job."
In my mind's eye it was almost as though I could see that creature from my dream, speaking to me, reaching out toward me. Its claws clinked together as its hand beckoned me. I felt my heart flutter as Stain's blade grazed the concrete; he was very close, now.
"How?" I asked, closing my eye. In my mind I saw the creature smile.
I could no longer tell if it was my imagination, or if it was actually there, fully present within my mind. I was beginning to feel that itch again, the one that crawled up my spine, tingling beneath my skin.
"You let me worry about that," it said. Its claws danced through my consciousness. "All you need to do is let me in. Don't fight me anymore."
"Will I still be here?" My voice had begun to quiver. The creature smiled, long teeth gnashing together in excitement.
"You will be here as long as I am here," it answered. I began to reach toward its hand. "We are one, you and I. I am yours, and you are mine." it explained.
"What do I call you?" I asked. Its hand was still outstretched.
"I am Vi."
I shut my eye, and inside my mind I reached out toward its hand. Its hand encompassed my own, several times larger than the size of my hand, its claws grasping me tightly. Its smile broadened.
"This is all you need to do."
That was when I felt it. As Stain closed in on me, sword raised, I felt the itching feeling in my spine begin to stretch and contort. I felt the heat of my fever dissipate, my body feeling suddenly quite numb, as though my nerves had been shocked by the spike and dissipation of my fever. I held in a scream as I felt something like a tear erupt down my back; it felt as though my body were being unzipped. Without having realized it I had opened my mouth, speaking words that I could not recall ever having had the intention of saying.
"Incubation terminated: Initiate infection!"
A loud rumble drew my attention to my sides, where two enormous arms had suddenly appeared. I knew those arms: they were the arms of the creature in my dream. My back felt raw, as though something had clawed its way out of it. When I moved my eye to glance upward, I realized why.
The creature was perched above me. Its skin, with its familiar pink and white sheen, glistened in the low light of the alley we were in. It gnashed its teeth, its eyeless face gazing around the alleyway with interest. Each time it moved, I felt the skin on my back tug uncomfortably; that was when I was forced to reckon with the fact that this creature was an irremovable part of me.
Shouto was staring at me from his place next to Izuku. The rock walls surrounding him had dissipated with the appearance of the creature. His eyes were wide, moving from my face upwards to gaze at the creature that had just sprouted from my back. Stain had stopped moving, and was also looking upwards, taking stock of his new opponent. The creature moved again, the ground shaking as its arms tilted forward and its neck elongated, twisting down to meet my gaze.
"Here I am!" it said with glee, its long teeth exposed as it smiled at me. "That's him, right? The hero killer?" Stain narrowed his eyes incredulously. I made a 'mm-hm' noise in the back of my throat, the best response that I could muster. The creature's smile widened. "Sit tight, Dai-chan!"
My own body, still unable to move, dangled limply from the body of the creature as it continued to grow out of my own back. It picked up one enormous limb, swatting at Stain with its claws. He dodged but only barely. My jaw was slack, my mind still not fully grasping what was going on. The creature tugged at my skin with every move it made; its neck was stretching, following Stain while gnashing its teeth. I heard Stain growl as one of the creature's long teeth sliced through his leg.
"Dai-chan, hang on!" the creature — Vi was its name — said gleefully.
I felt a third arm sprout from its body, which held me close to it. My one eye slid down, realizing that the creature had sprouted legs of its own, though its main body was still attached to my back. I began to feel myself panic. Izuku was beginning to push himself up off of the ground, and Vi was still holding Stain off by chasing after him with one of its many appendages.
I realized with shock that each part of its body was comprised of even smaller versions of itself, which wriggled and writhed and screeched as they elongated and shrank at Vi's command. Three of these smaller creatures elongated as I watched, cackling as they sped toward Stain and grabbed his ankle, throwing him into the wall.
"I… I feel… I feel sick…"
"Dai-chan, you have to hold on!" Vi yelled. From below I could see that Shouto was still staring at me. "I'm not strong enough to be here on my own, yet, you gotta be conscious!"
"I c… can't…" My vision was beginning to turn blurry. The pain in my back and my exertion were combining, and I did not know for how much longer I could hold on.
"Daichi, let go!" Shouto called from down below. I realized suddenly that Vi had managed to hold Stain off long enough for Shouto and the others to regroup. Each of them were now moving on their own. "I'll catch you!" he continued. I felt myself giving him a weak smile; the pain in my back increased.
"Dai-chan, no!" Vi growled. "Don't you do it! Don't listen to that freak, just hold on!"
"B… But I'm… So tired…"
I could feel my consciousness slipping, a smile still on my face as I stared at Shouto below me, arms outstretched, willing to catch a girl with a creature sprouting from her back. In my mind I felt Vi's anger increase, billowing across my consciousness like flames picked up by the wind. It was an odd sensation, feeling someone else's feelings within you. Vi tugged at my back, and I felt my eye roll into the back of my head. I could not hold on any longer.
"Daichi, no!" Vi screamed. I closed my eye, and I felt myself fall.
That was the last thing I remembered from that day.
As always, thank you for your support! reviews, favorites and follows are always greatly appreciated~
