Inko Midoriya was a thin woman with long dark green hair and usually a kind smile, but months of attorney meetings and a long court process had rendered the woman… tired. Things were looking up though. She was free of her all too often absent husband, and his constant 'business trips'. Learning that half of the time he was simply visiting his other family had hurt her, but he didn't have any hold on her now. She had an outstandingly bright and loving son, Izuku, and thanks to her friend Camila, Inko had found love again.
Toshinori was goofy, nervous, but oh so kind. He was the type of guy to never look away no matter who walked by, and when he held and hugged her in his arms at the end of a date… she just felt so safe. He didn't mind that she already had a child, and after five months, Inko wanted them to meet. Izuku was excited, in the way that only a four year old could be, and Toshi was nervous, but Inko was crafty. She had set up a playdate between Izuku and Luz, her friend Camila's daughter. It would allow Izuku to meet Toshi and get to know him a bit without feeling like they were being forced to. At the last minute, Inko got a call from Camila letting her know that Camila would be bringing her allusive partner as well, and Inko was ecstatic.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning in early June when the four adults and two children met up in a small park. Toshinori Yagi was a big guy at just over seven foot tall and six hundred pounds of muscle. He cut an impressive image when he wanted to, and the fact that he dwarfed Inko who was barely five foot only made it worse. It wasn't much better for the other couple though, Camila Noceda stood at about five foot six, while the woman with her was only a head or so shorter than Toshinori making her about six and a half feet at least. Camila was a Dominican woman with tanned skin, warm brown eyes, and chocolate brown hair in a ponytail behind her. Both her and her partner were in jeans and tee shirts with Camila's having purple and white stripes, while her partner's was scarlet. Speaking of the other woman, her eyes were gold, as was one of her teeth that had a fang-like look. Her hair was graying quickly, but there were still a few patches of vibrant orange present, and she had alabaster skin.
As soon as the two four year olds saw each other they smiled and waved adorably. Inko smiled at the genuine smile on her son's face. Izuku was a cute boy with features similar to Inko's with the addition of a handful of small diamond shaped freckles, and his hair was cut into short curls. Izuku was dressed in his favorite red All Might shirt (something that had made Toshinori chuckle slightly for some reason), and a pair of light blue shorts.
Inko saw that Camila's daughter, Luzura, was equally as adorable in her yellow frilly sleeved shirt and purple suspenders. The little girl had her long brown hair tied back into a pair of pigtails that stuck out toward her shoulders. Like Izuku, Luz had the sweetest smile as she held her mothers hand.
When they got close enough both mothers hugged like the old friends that they were leaving their partners to look at each other, and for a moment recognition flashed through both of their eyes before the graying woman held out a hand, "Hey there big guy. Names Edalyn Clawthorn, Eda please, it's nice to meet you. My Cammy says I should be 'less hostile', so I hope we can be friends." The whole time the two kept eye contact, and Toshinori got the message.
The blond man laughed, "It's nice to meet you, Eda. I'm Toshinori Yagi, and I could always use more friends." Toshi shook her hand, and in it they made a silent agreement that the women they cared about didn't need to know about, even if Camila likely suspected.
After that, Inko finally introduced Toshi to Izuku as her boyfriend, and for a moment all the adults watched as Izuku's face scrunched up in thought making Toshi start to sweat, but then Izuku put one of his tiny fists on his hip while he used a finger to tell the tall man to kneel. Nervously Toshi did so, and Izuku looked hard into his eyes, before he huffed. Izuku gave him his most serious face as he asked, "Do you promise to treat my Mama nice, and not like my daddy did?"
Toshi smiled, "I promise, young man. I'll never hurt her, or make her cry like your father did. I want to see her smile as often as I can." Inko blushed, but Izuku's face scrunched up again and he tilted his head.
After a moment Izuku gave Toshi another hard look, "Do you love her… like really love her?"
Toshi coughed in surprise before his eyes met Inko's, and he smiled again, "With all my heart." The other adults snickered, and Inko blushed even harder, but looking at the man and how he interacted with her favorite little man, Inko had to admit she felt the same.
Izuku looked Toshi hard in the eye before he stepped forward and hugged the man, and they heard him say with a warm smile, "I believe you." Izuku stepped back after a minute of the two hugging, and everyone saw Izuku suddenly look away nervously as he whispered, "Ca-can I… should I call you dad?"
Toshi nearly fell over at that, and Inko had to be caught by a laughing Camila. Once he recovered, Toshi looked at the boy, and for a moment he thought about it, before he scooped him up, and put him on his shoulder, "Izuku, my boy, you can call me whatever you like, but never feel pressured to do or say anything your not comfortable with. I love your Mom, and I'd really like to get to know you. Does that seem fair?" Izuku nodded and hugged Toshi's head with tears in his eyes.
After that Izuku and Luz ran off to play, first in the sandbox, then the swings. The adults watched and smiled for a few minutes, as Luz proved a bundle of energy, and Izuku was just happy to play with someone who didn't mind he hadn't gotten his quirk yet. When it was clear the kids would be distracted and having fun for a while the adults sat and started to chat. Camila, of course, decided it was the perfect time to tease her old friend, "So Koko, when's the wedding?"
Inko blushed, but Toshi laughed as he looked out at the kids playing, "I'm afraid it won't be for a while. I love my Emerald Rose, but Izuku deserves to have some time alone with her, and I'll admit… No matter how much being with Inko forever would make me happy, the little man has to come first. I don't know if I'm the man for the job, but he should have a father that loves and appreciates him. He barely knows me, so I'm not that man, but I hope to be someday."
All of the women looked at him in awe, before Inko hugged his arm with tears in her eyes, "And that's why I love you, Toshi. You only met him today, and you already understand. That little boy will always be first in my heart…" Inko gave Toshi a seductive wink, "But if you keep saying such sweet things, I could definitely make room at number two."
Toshi blushed and stammered, "Ho-How about you two? Any plans for a wedding soon?"
Eda sighed, and Camila smiled sadly, "We've talked about it, actually, but…"
Eda stated somberly, "Our jobs keep getting in the way. We want to be there for our daughter, but things aren't that simple for me. I've… done things. I'm not a great person, and no matter how much I wish things were different. Things are the way they are. I'm trapped in a cage of my own making, and my dove deserves better than me."
Camila spun around rapidly and glared at Eda, "NO! None of that. We'll find a way. I want to be with you, Luz wants to be with you, and we Noceda's never give up." Eda looked into Camila's eyes and rested their foreheads together for a moment as she smiled wondering what she did to deserve such a wonderful partner.
After a moment, Inko spoke up nervously, "I'm sorry, but… Luz is both of yours? I'm sorry to assume, but I thought you were… and Camila is?"
Camila blushed, but Eda chuckled, "So, funny story about that. Firstly, all woman, always was, always will be, but… apparently my quirk has a side benefit I wasn't aware of, and it surprised us too." Eda looked out at the kids and smiled, "But I don't regret anything about that kid. Luz is…" Eda smiled and a tear reached the corner of her eye, "She's the best thing to ever happen to an old buzzard like me. Only my dove can compare, and I'm sorry love, but I might love her more. She's all the best parts of us without any of the flaws." Eda snickered, and joked, "Meaning she's got all of you and almost none of me."
Eda chuckled, but got a punch in the shoulder from Camila, "Cállate señora Lechuza (Shut up, Owl Lady). Luz is just as much you as me. Her mischievous smile, her wit, and that annoying smirk she gets when she knows she's won and that melts my heart… those are all you, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
Eda rubbed her sore shoulder. Eda loved how strong her Dove was, but it came with definite downsides. Before they could continue, they heard Luz scream in terror as a smoky black void in space opened up and a hand tried to grab and brag her in, even as a tall man in a suit stepped out that both Eda and Toshi recognized. Stepping in front of their partners, Eda let her form shift and grow as she took on her harpy form adding another half foot of height along with sharp talons and a large set of wings to her figure. Toshinori simply used a hand to brush back his hair as he stood straight and to his full height before letting out a loud reassuring laugh as he declared, "HAVE NO FEAR, KIDS. FOR I AM HERE."
Izuku tried to hold onto Luz, and prevent the shadowy hand from dragging her away, but as he heard those words Izuku felt new strength rush through him because All Might was here… and if All Might was here, then everything would be ok. Then the hand yanked hard and pulled both kids into the void in space, making Inko scream in terror. The black suited man just laughed, "Hello Yagi. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting to run into you right now, but… look at me not playing dentist for the gift horse."
Eda growled, "The fuck do you want, All for One? I already told you, I'll never work with a scumbag like you. I'd rather hand you over to the police first, or put you in the ground. I might be a vigilante, but I'll never stoop to being a villain, least of which under your soon to be dead ass."
AFO laughed, "You've made your position quite clear, Ms. Clawthorne, but luckily for me…" The man suddenly appeared in Eda's face as he grabbed her by the throat making her form change back as red lightning arced around her, "I only require your quirk." AFO threw Eda's limp body toward Camila, who caught her beloved, but ended up knocked back for her trouble. All Might took the opportunity to slam into AFO with a powerful punch, but the suited man barely moved even if the tree's behind him were uprooted by the wind pressure alone from the punch. Camila handed Eda to Inko, and gave her friend a smile, before she rushed the suited man.
Swinging back her hand, a bat made of hardened sunlight formed in Camila's hand as she swung it forward and slammed her light bat into AFO's stomach, suddenly really annoyed she'd decided to leave her actual bat back at Eda's place. Much to both mens surprise the bat not only did damage, it succeeded in burning away both a section of his suit, and a few layers of skin.
As AFO recovered, Camila shouted, "Cabron, give me back my daughter or so help me, I'll break every bone in your body, mend them, and break them all over again. I am Red Wrath, and you will remember my name because I'll bash it into your moronic skull." Camila swung her bat again, and caught AFO under the chin, knocking him back, but that's when a small dark void appeared behind Camila. Before anyone could warn her, it was too late… a shadowy fist had punched through her back and out her chest. As the fist retracted, Camila fell forward and into All Might's arms. He watched her gasp for air before grabbing his fist and making it light up with warmth and glow. The woman coughed, "Toshi, save my daughter. Protect my family. I've given you all that I can. Now smoke this pendejo." With that, Camila passed out and her breathing got slow and ragged.
All Might knew he needed to finish this fast or the woman, his friend, was a goner. Clenching his fist, All Might rushed AFO, and tried to slam his meaty fist into the man's midsection, but AFO just caught it with a smirk… until he noticed the fist he caught wasn't warm or glowing. With his other fist, All Might delivered a mighty uppercut aiming for AFO's chin. He intended to remove the villain's head, but AFO managed to dodge back just enough so that only the top of his head was blown off, and while he did so, he smirked. If he was going to die, he was taking his nemesis with him.
All Might felt AFO's hand stab into his gut, and shred everything he touched, before falling back into another dark void. All Might fell to the ground clutching his stomach in a desperate attempt to go after his most hated enemy, but it was too late. After a mighty yell of frustration at failing the kids, All Might looked back and his blood froze. A misty figure had Inko by the throat, and he was forced to watch as it strangled the love of his life until there was a loud snap. Inko stopped struggling, and the last thought Toshinori Yagi had before he passed out from blood loss was, "I've failed. I've failed them all."
When Toshinori woke up, he was in a hospital room covered in tubes and wires, and he felt weaker than he ever had before. Standing against the opposite wall was his friend, Detective Tsukauchi in his usual trench coat, but Toshi knew something was horribly wrong. His friend looked exhausted, and he was holding his hat tightly against his chest.
After a moment, Toshi remembered what happened, and his body slumped as he started to quietly cry, until a familiar voice dragged him out of his sadness, "All Might, we don't have time for you to fall apart." Toshi watched as an alabaster skinned woman used a hand to draw back a privacy screen and Toshi noticed Eda didn't look much better than him. She had dark bruises around her throat and her other arm was in a cast, but the fire in her eyes was unmistakable. Eda took a breath and softened slightly, though the fire didn't diminish, "We have to save our kids. We owe it to Camila and Inko. We can't just give up! I don't care if it kills me, I'm bringing my baby girl home. Are you with me?"
All Might took a deep breath, and let it out slowly before he looked back at Eda, "You're right. We have a duty to perform, and I refuse to let that monster hurt anyone else. Harpy, Eda, until this is settled, you have my full cooperation."
Tsukauchi sighed at that, as he prepared for the worst assignment of his life. For now he had a little old medic to get a hold of. Hopefully Recovery Girl would be able to beat some sense into Yagi's head. He was the number one hero after all, he couldn't go running off to die.
The next week was rough on everyone, after Tsukauchi returned with a dark blue haired detective with similar skin to Eda's, the four of them got to work figuring out what happened and what to do next, until the elderly frame of Recovery Girl arrived and nearly beat the two detectives upside the head for allowing her patients to work in their condition. Her attitude didn't improve when the blue haired detective introduced herself as Lilith Clawthorne, Eda's sister.
After that Recovery Girl insisted on both injured parties taking a few days off at least to heal, but once she found out why they were so frantic, she just groaned and prepared to do all she could. On the fourth day after the incident, Eda's quirk suddenly returned, but nobody knew why since every other time AFO took a quirk it was gone for good, but they took it as a sign. Maybe that meant AFO was dead, it would certainly make everyone involved feel better. At the end of the week, the duo were well enough to leave the hospital, but they were still told to take it easy, but those suggestions were ignored… They had a pair of kids to find.
The next month was torture on the whole team. They hadn't found any clues to where AFO was hiding, and worse fourteen more children were reported missing. As terrible as that fact was, the latest abduction finally gave them what they needed. The six year old in question was a chronic sleepwalker, and their quirk allowed them to walk through walls. As a result his parents had a small tracking device injected into him, so that they could find him if he wandered off, and they lucked out. The device was still active.
Despite still being beaten up, All Might and Harpy rushed to where the device was sending a signal from, only to find an abandoned warehouse. Harpy managed to pick the lock so they could maintain the element of surprise a little longer, but instead of finding people they found over twenty cages with odd or oddly colored animals inside. They were going to ignore them to keep looking for the kids, but the tracker led them to a sheep in one of the cages, and after looking at the clipboard attached to the cage they knew why. They had found the kids, according to the notes they read AFO had used them to experiment with Eda's quirk… the animals were the kids.
One by one each of the duo searched all of the cages for one that held their kids, but to no luck… until they heard a weak canine whimper from the next room. When the duo entered they found an odd sight, in one cage lay a battered and whimpering medium sized wolf, and in the other was a purple and violet snake that was at least four feet long and had a pair of feathered wings, one was white and the other black. Checking these cages, they were overjoyed and horrified to find out the wolf was Izuku and the winged snake was Luz. Within the hour the place was swarming with cops and animal control, since some of the kids were quite hostile to being touched or handled.
Surprisingly or not so, if you knew him, a small white creature walked in while some police were collecting evidence. He was a small chimera of a beast looking like some sort of dog mouse bear in a black waistcoat and tie with a large scar over his right eye. The only thing people could say for sure was that he was Principal Nezu of Yuuei Hero academy, and he looked positively livid. This fact alone made people stay back from him as he approached the two adults, after all Nezu was well known for an unflappable sense of patience and calm despite any situation. A fact made all the worse by the fact he was argued to be possibly the most intelligent being alive, and having a sadistic side that was not to be taken lightly. Both adults gave the principal a deep bow and that seemed to start returning a smile to his face, but not by much.
Both adults let out a sigh of relief when Nezu continued past them, and began to analyze all of the data that had been left behind. That proved a mistake because the room got very quiet soon after, as the sound of aggravated growling and shuffling papers could be heard from Nezu's direction. He was no longer livid, Nezu was furious, and it took nearly another hour before anyone had the courage to approach him.
According to Nezu the twenty-three children they had found first were considered failures. AFO had been experimenting to produce an army of brainwashed beast people by first obtaining children, and then giving them a copy of Eda's quirk, Inner Beast. The beast they would become was almost never obvious beforehand, but according to his notes the quirk drew out a person's sleeping beast and manifested it.
With that done, AFO had started attempting to add additional elemental quirks to each to further strengthen them, but that's where the problem occurred. All of the failures had been unable to receive more than one additional elemental quirk, and some couldn't even accept one. For whatever reason, Luz and Izuku had been different. AFO had considered them successes, because each had been able to accept all of the elements he forced on them excluding the ones that were already present. For Luz that meant fire, ice, lightning, wind, and some kind of plant manipulation quirk. Izuku on the other hand got light, darkness, ice, lightning, wind, the plant manipulator, and when AFO had tried fire it activated a latent fire quirk within the boy.
Nezu was happy to report that all of the children were stable physically, but they were all traumatized, and currently stuck within their beast forms the way Eda would be anytime her quirk became unstable and she became the Owl Beast. Nezu was sure in time that all of the kids should be able to return to their original forms, but none of them would be who they were before.
Unlike Eda, they hadn't been born with the quirk, so the animal instincts and senses clashed with their human minds causing a dissonance they would have to get used to, and learn to live with. While most of the kids were transported to a facility to help them become themselves again, Luz was released into Eda's custody… whether the police liked it or not, and Izuku was taken by Toshi. Before they left though, Nezu suggested they take the kids somewhere familiar where they would feel safe, so Eda took Luz home where she slithered into Camila's suitcase and refused to come out, and Toshi took Izuku back to the Midoriya's apartment.
When they arrived, Toshi let Izuku out of the carrier he had been forced to use since Izuku refused to be touched by anyone but him, and Toshi was adamant he refused to dehumanize the boy any further by trying to collar him or lead him on a leash. Once he was free to move about again, wolf Izuku started to sniff the air and look about.
Toshi watched curiously as the boy sniffed and sneezed when the dust tickled his nose. Eventually Izuku started to roam with a purpose, and Toshi stayed silent not wanting to bother him, he followed only to make sure he didn't hurt himself. This led to Izuku wandering into his mothers bedroom, and as soon as he was inside Izuku seemed to perk up and dash for the bed. After a minute, Izuku managed to make his way up onto the bed, but it was as cold and dusty as everywhere else.
This seemed to finally break the boy, as he did a few turns before collapsing down by his mothers pillow and crying. Toshi didn't know what to do, or what to say. He missed Inko too, but no matter how much he did, it would never approach the amount of emptiness and longing this poor boy felt. Toshi might have loved Inko, but she wasn't his whole world, and now she never would be.
With a nervous apprehensive step, Toshi sat on the bed with Izuku for a couple minutes, but Izuku didn't seem to mind, or he was so distraught he didn't notice. Wanting to comfort the boy turned beast, Toshi reached out and started to pet his head the way he would if he were human to reassure him, and for a moment Izuku stiffened and Toshi worried he had overstepped or done something wrong, but then the little wolf sniffed and nuzzled the man's mighty mitt to get him to continue the head pets.
Toshi smiled faintly at that, and together they just laid there as they remembered the amazing woman who had mattered so much to each of them, but they would never see again. When it got late, Toshi felt Izuku stand and shift until his head was resting on Toshi's chest. After a few moments, Toshi heard the boy begin to snore, and he made a decision. Izuku would need someone to look after him, and Toshi didn't want to lose the only piece left of Inko in this world, so he wouldn't. Toshi had intended to try to step up before, and that hadn't changed. Toshi would become the guardian Izuku needed, if the boy allowed it… Toshi might not have been ready before, but he was now. Toshi was going to try to be the father Izuku deserved.
Breakdown: Welcome to a side idea I had a while back that I've been tinkering with off and on. For those sad to see this isn't the next chapter of Hungry Hero, I'm sorry. It's almost done, but it'll take one more week. In the meantime, I thought this might work as a snack before the longest chapter I've written to date. With that said, let's look at this chapter.
Surprise, an Mha story from me where Izuku's dad isn't AFO, must be a miracle, although Hisashi is still a monster. The worst kind too… a realistic one. Jokes aside I have 'Daddy Drama' if that hasn't been made apparent yet, and I honestly wish I had a Dad like All Might is (in this story specifically). Not sure if it's something I hint at here especially, but Camila, Inko, and Mitsuki are all highschool friends, and totally didn't get drunk once and experiment. Not a big deal, but it kind of shows just how close they all are and remained over the years. Also, no, Inko didn't know Toshinori was All Might, he was actually going to tell her over dinner that night along with Izuku if things went differently. Kind of a 'you are trusting me with something important, so I am doing the same' thing. In his mind it was a 'Oh, we are in a serious relationship now, so I guess it is time to trust' thing.
I think I nailed just how clueless, adorable, and savage four year olds can be. Yall will have to let me know. The 'do you love her' question is a result of something I've heard a few divorcing couples say when they are really mad… "I never loved you!" It's usually a lie just to be hurtful, but to a four year old, it might be something they internalized during a particularly messy divorce. Also, the return of 'Emerald Rose', love it. Also, sweet foreshadowing of the change from 'I'm not that guy' to 'I'm going to be that guy even if it kills me'.
Yes, taking the time to really get to know Inko and Camila before they died was important, because their dying causes a massive ripple in people's lives by way of the ones they leave behind. Camila being able to hurt AFO, is the prime reason she died tbh. She made a 'god' bleed, so that ended that. As final words go… Camila's are really good. Ironically, this isn't the fight that nearly kills Toshinori, and it's all thanks to Camila. Her quirk has a healing effect, so the light she gave him, also helped him heal after this injury. He still gets hurt later, but this fight did more damage to All Might, since he arguably one the later one. He lost badly here.
Why are All Might and Harpy in the same room, so they can keep an eye on her. Fun fact: due to the unstable nature of Eda's quirk, it can't be stolen permanently, and the copy's are all flawed in a similar way resulting in a pseudo-lycanthropy effect. So, AFO's thought process was simple. Tomura was such a success, why not make a small army of brainwashed kids? Making them loyal beasts was just an off hand comment that led to an actual idea, and AFO loves having multiple plans in progress, so if one doesn't pan out he can just move on to the next one. Also, early Nomu testing. These tests are just an early precursor of his later process.
Nezu showing up and taking the situation personally is expected given he was 'created' in a similar way, and it's not the end of his contributions. Until next time, Shine on beautiful readers. Shine on.
