Well, hello all!
Sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but it was going to be a big one, so it makes more sense as to why it would take that much longer.
With that being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter, as honestly, it was hard to write, given I had a lot I wanted to do, that I needed to cut out or change in the end to better fit the story.
Anyway, there was a suggestion to create a TV Tropes page, which I have started to look into, and hopefully can be a nice little summary of characters and events should people forget them :D
Onto the Reviews!:
TMGOH: This is why the job, along with Scholar would take place at UA, considering the Aether crystal hidden underneath the land where the Moogles lived constantly giving off aether, also with the land being so saturated with the stuff because that's where Nezu first expelled his own aether those 200 yards ago.
And as much fun as having Feo Ul being Izuku's Fairy for Scholar, it wouldn't work out due to the ability to change the fairy into a Seraph, as well as the whole "eating the minion" thing.
Let's face it, Feo Ul is too spicy for her sapling.
fallendemon248: Oh there will be, considering she has two saplings now! (and maybe a third in the form of a cute unicorn ;) )
Silvanium: Both :D
With that being said, be sure to check out "Three sides of the same coin" the special collab fic being written by me, Derpo, and Pizzaplate, where Izuku from "Bearer of the Light", and their Izuku from "The Devil is in the Details" (MHA x WH40k) end up in the canon universe of MHA! Plenty of hilarious moments, and possibly some thirst :O
It's being updated here by me, or by all three of us over on A03.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter 55
One Brings Shadow...
Hot.
That's precisely what Izuku was feeling right now.
But, while he usually wasn't a fan of either waking up super cold or overly hot, he couldn't complain this time.
Blurrily, the green-haired boy slowly opened one of his eyes, the other being closed due to feeling something resting upon it as he could hear the gentle breaths and coos of his slumbering partners coming all around him.
Looking back up at the ceiling of Momo's bedroom, which was easy to tell it was hers due to the canopy above the bed as well as how large the thing was compared to his own, Izuku began to reminisce about the events that followed after the girls had come to Nezu's office with such a dark aura, he nearly shifted into a kit to defend himself.
They literally said nothing, just kept staring at him until Kirishima and Shoji came into the room, holding what looked like a very thin futon between them. Without another word, his two classmates suddenly grabbed him and rolled him up into the thing, Izuku unable to maneuver out of their reach before the darn thing was wrapped up in some kind of twine created by Momo.
He remembers hearing Nezu's cackles at the sheer silliness of the moment and some muffled voices being spoken that he couldn't quite make out as he felt his cocooned body suddenly lifted up.
Despite his pleas now to be carried back to the dorm, that is exactly what had happened; he was ultimately embarrassed after he was placed back on the ground and the bindings released so he was free once more, laying on the spread-out futon and gasping for air because of all of his shouting (and how hot it was in the damn thing) before being suddenly tackled by a distraught Eri.
After calming down his daughter, it was the classes' turn to voice their own worries, not just because of the explosion of light from the middle of the forest that apparently shook the earth a few hours ago, but also the fact that he was dead silent after the events of Hosu with not so much as a beep since practically all of them seen Izuku take down the Primal Nomu.
Thankfully, it was Iida and Todoroki to the rescue on that front, as they had explained to the rest of the class, with the story given to them by the Dean, that due to the way the creature had disappeared that he should be returned for observation in case of any lingering effects caused by the 'sparkling' dust of the beast.
When it was pointed out why the hospital couldn't take care of it, Iida had replied that Nezu had somehow convinced the hospital staff to release Izuku, though said former patient knew exactly what had happened, as Nezu was well known for using his magic, or whatever left of it was, to sway people to his side.
Goddess help them all if this was only a fraction of the Moogle King's power.
Regardless, the rest of the day and evening went well for the most part. However, the sudden disappearance of Feo Ul was concerning, to say the least, considering what she was capable of. But, before he could think about it further, a soft giggle could be heard to his left, knocking him out of his thoughts.
Turning his head slightly, he was met with the warm gaze of Mina's golden eyes and her smile that matched the look, "Mornin', Izu…."
"Morning, how did you sleep? My muttering didn't wake you up, did it?" Izuku whispered gently, taking care to return a smile back to her while also keeping still to not wake the others.
Despite his strength, it was amazing to think that four women could keep him down on the bed. Probably didn't help the fact that both of his arms were pinned to the mattress, with his right hand sandwiched between both Momo and Kyoka, who were nestled together with the taller woman holding Kyoka from behind while the punk rocker was resting her head on his pectoral with her ear jacks loosely wrapped around his head and keeping one of his eyes closed. Meanwhile, Tsuyu was gently sleeping away with little croaks escaping past her lips with her head resting on his stomach, her hands holding herself tightly to the body heat emanating from the young man.
Mina kept smiling, shifting ever so slightly so she could adequately look upon his face, still having her body pin his left arm down as she giggled and slowly leaned up to delicately kiss him on the lips, "Wasn't the muttering, but yes you did wake me up though…." She playfully 'tsked' as she purred softly in her throat, "You're going to give a girl the wrong idea there, big guy…."
"What are you talking— Oh." Izuku blinked, feeling the relatively 'handful' of Mina's perfect ass. He blushed softly, slowly beginning to take it away, only for the pink-skinned woman to reach back and keep his hand there, "M-Mina?"
"It feels nice when you grip it, plus you're the only one I want to grab my butt, Izu… well, minus the others, of course." Mina giggled softly, moving her hand back up to very gently let it rest on his chest, "At least this allows me to talk with you for a moment in private."
"Oh? What's up?"
"Well, not going to go into full details right now, but you, me, and Kinoko are going to have a nice little chat sooner than later…." Mina smiled slyly, seeing the confused yet slightly worried look on her lover's face, which caused her to giggle softly, "It's nothing bad, trust me."
"I trust you, just wondering why is all." Izuku said with a raised eyebrow, only for Mina to stop smiling and blink a few times at him before sighing and puffing her cheeks up.
"From what she and that crazy fairy thing were telling me, you'd already know what we will be talking about, considering what the pipsqueak revealed."
Izuku chuckled softly, his hand on her ass sliding up and down it and her lower back, causing Mina to coo softly and let a smile return upon her lips, "To be honest, I was trying not to be crushed by vines and struggling to breathe during all that, so I may have not been paying my full attention to what was being said."
Mina sighed, resting her head down, "Fair, I guess… I hope the fairy isn't doing anything bad to Kinoko; she said she would make the cutie into another 'sapling' of hers? Whatever that means."
Izuku's attention was entirely on that little tidbit, gently muttering to himself for a few moments before feeling the touch of Mina's finger make circles on his chest brought him out of it, "Not done yet, buster."
"O-Oh, sorry, and I don't think we need to worry about Feo Ul and Komori, given that Quinn was her 'sapling' before and she was… is very protective of him."
"Huh, that's neat." Mina said with a smirk before her finger kept drawing little things that Izuku couldn't quite figure out, but the light touch of his pink girlfriend's finger on his chest did cause him to have a shiver crawl up his back and begin to get goosebumps.
Mina smiled at his reaction before leaning up and gently kissing his lips softly again, holding it for a few more moments before gently breaking the gesture, "You know what next month is, yea?"
"July?..." Izuku frowned before it dawned on him instantly, "Oh! It's your birthday at the end of the month."
"Mhmm…" Mina spoke with a soft smile, "What else is in July?"
Izuku again frowned, thinking for longer than he should have been before finally piping up, "T… the mid-term exams?"
The smile faded instantly on Mina, who was giving him a deadpan look before reaching up and lightly flicking his forehead, "Not that, silly— It's also your birthday!"
"I-I knew that…." Izuku chuckled weakly, blushing softly.
"And I know we are going to be super busy with studying, as well as helping Eri with her training and her own schoolwork, so…" The pink woman's smile returned full force, causing Izuku to blush more at seeing how intense of a look she was giving him, "I thought that we could have a little celebration, just the two of us… a 'birthday date' if you will, later on, this weekend."
Slowly, Izuku began to smile, leaning down to gently kiss Mina on the forehead with a smile, "That sounds like a great idea, Mina… but won't the others be upset?"
"Maybe, but once I tell them what I have planned, they will surely see why." Mina giggled gently, though, for whatever reason, Izuku could've sworn that the laugh wasn't as innocent as she was making it out to be.
"I-I'm looking forward to it, Mina… but we should get the others up since we have classes today."
The cute slight groan coming from Mina and laying her head back on his shoulder gave Izuku a small chuckle before he leaned in and gently began to kiss his 'Alien Queen' again, and for once, enjoying the peaceful morning that he hoped would carry on throughout the day.
The sun slowly began to peek over the tall buildings that seemed to block its light, the streets surrounding the university slowly beginning to bustle with life as everyday citizens started to head to either their jobs or schools, ignoring the darkened alleyways that had yet to touched by the rays of brightness creeping their way towards them.
Deku huffed as he stared up at the giant walls of UA, red eyes shifting left and right as he stood in the shadows of a nearby alley, hidden from the passers-by who were minding their own business as they usually would.
He slowly brought one of his gauntleted hands up to his chin, murmuring away at all the possible ways he could get back into the "prestigious" university, as while it was easy enough to leave the grounds before due to it being the Sports Festival and he had provided a 'distraction' with his 'lesser' self, he knew getting back in would be the more challenging part.
One issue was already solved: the new 'ward' placed by the Moogle King and his menagerie of furballs blocked out anyone whose aether wasn't 'friendly' towards the school. That meant that students, teachers, and Alumni that made regular visits to the school could still get in. And being a part of Him already took care of that issue.
The actual problem was how that ward knew who was friend or foe, as it was also tied into the school's original security system with that loathsome barrier, meaning that without proper identification, he could trigger its defenses, thus making his 'infiltration' a complete failure and would have to fight his way towards his target.
It would be nearly impossible if that happened as they could easily hide away the students somewhere Deku may never have been able to reach.
The other issue was the Moogles themselves; while invisible to most of the staff and students, the damn things were everywhere, and their nature towards aether would make it difficult for him to traverse around, even if he jumped from shadow to shadow to do so.
So he would have to wait for the most opportune time to sneak in, and as his eyes continued to gaze out towards the street, a mischievous smile soon curled along his lips as the rather large and fairly recognizable food truck could be seen down the road, on its way to the loading bay for the kitchens of one Lunch Rush.
And providing the perfect means to continue his hunt.
"Good afternoon, students!" The buffed-up form of All Might called out to the assembled class members of 1-A, "I am happy to see everyone is here today and looking as ready as ever for today's Heroics class!"
The ever-smiling blonde scanned his eyes over the young people, hands rested on his hips as he spoke out again, "While I understand some of your classmates had a rather– 'interesting' time with their internships," He paused as he could see some of the more sullen looks come across both Iida and Midoriya, while Todoroki just seemed as stoic as ever, "It makes this old hero proud to see the next generation get their first taste of being a pro hero!"
"But all I did was do the cleaning for Mt. Lady and wash her dishes while she ate chips and loafed in front of the TV!" Mineta shouted out, along with a few others who also had a rather unfulfilling time.
"Well, from what I was informed about by my fellow teachers, sometimes there will be a few 'bad eggs' in the bunch when we reach out to agencies that either newly debuted heroes have started up or those that seem to exploit their interns, which I can assure you that is one hundred percent inexcusable, and my apologies if you felt that way, young Mineta." With a finger raised into the air, the number one hero said, "Should you wish to make an official complaint, I would seek out Hound Dog or the dean, as Nezu usually likes to make sure his students are well cared for."
"Now, with that settled, today's class will be rather different from what I had initially planned, but thanks to the actions of a few key members of your class…." Izuku, Iida, and even Todoroki winced when they could feel the icy blue stare of their teacher's eyes on them before turning back to the others, "We will be doing an obstacle race!"
"A race, sir?" Kaminari raised a hand up, looking slightly concerned, considering some of his classmates were relatively speedy due to their quirk.
"Indeed! When it comes to patrols or search parties, speed is key when escorting civilians or chasing down a bolting villain. So, while I know that some of you don't have the appropriate quirks or gear to keep up with your quicker classmates, while it is a race, I would like each and every one of you to think outside of the box and try and reach the target as quickly as you can."
"That being said, there will be a few stipulations for this race. First off, there is to be no attacking the other racers. You will get to the end without sabotaging your classmates, understand?" All Might said, with a casual glance over to Bakugo, who merely huffed and looked away, ignoring it and the other stares coming from everyone else., "Secondly, I want little to no damage done to the environment. I understand some of your quirks are quite destructive, and causing collateral damage to the area is unavoidable, so keep it to a minimum."
"And lastly, Young Midoriya," All Might looked towards the green-haired young man, who blinked and pointed at himself, "While this last rule is meant for you strictly, your 'Dragoon' Kit is off-limits for this exercise, considering the distance you traveled during the first event at the sports festival clearly shows you could literally just 'jump' to end."
A few snickers came from those around him while Izuku blushed and chuckled, nodding his head, "Y-Yes, sir."
"Good lad! Alright, Aizawa should be here momentarily to keep watch and provide commentary while I wait for the racers at the end, as I will be 'playing' the victim for this scenario. The first group will come with me to the starting line, and you will start the race when you hear the buzzer!" All Might, beaming a smile to everyone, bringing up the computer screen to show who would be starting first.
As Izuku watched the many names of himself and his classmates flicker quickly, his mind was racing with the possibilities of which kit should he use, or the combination of them as well as running the race in just his support gear, considering Mei had asked for a proper testing of them at some point, given their magitek enhancements.
As the green-eyed boy kept smiling, enjoying his already great day, unbeknownst to himself and everyone else, lurking within the shadows of the giant pipe maze that was 'Ground Gamma', a pair of red eyes shone brightly before disappearing back into the darkness.
"Whew! I never knew making those hard turns was such a pain!" Mina spoke with heavy pants, returning to the control room after her group had just completed the race track. While it was easy to skate around some of the straightaways or glide along the rows of pipes, the sharp turns had proven to be more tricky to pivot while sliding along her slimy acidic track.
Well, she'll just have to have Izuku or Kyoka kiss her bruises later so they can heal faster.
She made her way back to the small gathering of most of the girls and a few boys, all watching the monitors, with each having a camera trained on the last group. The pink-skinned woman was smiling and a few others when spotting the one focused upon her boyfriend.
Her golden eyes sparkled as she could see the rather determined-looking smile on his lips, tapping the tips of his armored legs against the ground before doing some quick stretching exercises, "Man, Midori is certainly getting revved up for this!"
"Doesn't surprise me, kero." Tsu spoke, moving to Mina's left side, her finger on her chin, "While it's unfortunate that he couldn't be a Dragoon for the race, it will be interesting to see how well he does without it."
"You're just upset that he can't use it because it's 'your' kit, huh Tsu?" Mina said with an arm wrapping around her almost girlfriend, who began to blush softly, but kept her focus on the monitor.
"No comment, Kero."
As others began to voice their opinions on who would win amongst the group currently out at the starting line, which now consisted of Izuku, Sero, Momo, Bakugo, and Yuga, a sudden and shuddering sound of a caw came from one corner of the room where Tokoyami had placed himself after his race.
A few heads turned in his direction, with Kyoka walking up to the bird-headed man with his 'pet' shadow and seeing how distressed it was, "Hey, what's up with Dark Shadow? Is she ok?"
"I wish I truly knew." Tokoyami said while he held the quivering shadow in his arms, wincing when the buzzer to the start of the race blared loudly out of the horns on top of the monitor room, "She has been like this since we first entered that foreboding complex during our race."
A few whispers came out of Dark Shadow's mouth, catching both students by surprise as Kyoka leaned in, hoping for her to speak a little louder, "What was that? I couldn't make it out."
The whispers of the sentient filled her hearing, causing Kyoka to look puzzled and turn her gaze towards Tokoyami, "What is it, Jiro? What dark secrets has the beast whispered upon your ear?"
"She said that there was a creature lurking in Grounds Gamma, watching with red piercing eyes, and how it flitted between the shadowed parts of the place on the prowl like it was hunting."
Dark Shadow nodded quickly, nuzzling more into Tokoyami's arms, "Such revelry; we should inform Aizawa about this."
Kyoka nodded, turning towards the large group of people, only to witness a sudden purple eruption in the sky with a body suddenly plummeting fast into the pipeworks.
[Meanwhile, a few moments before]
The buzzer for the race to start had blared to life, the racers already leaping out, not only from the shock of the sudden noise but also from anticipation.
Sero shot out two long strands of his tape, both catching onto some pipes which slingshotted the boy up. Momo had chosen to run, creating a staff from her wrist before pole-vaulting over the rows and disappearing into the maze.
Bakugo, in either a vain attempt to either show up Izuku or perhaps let the nature of the competition get to him, took a running leap, blasting up into the sky like an angry plane over the rooftops and using his explosions to propel himself at a much faster rate than he did during the sports festival. Yuga had simply turned his body one hundred and eighty degrees and fired his navel laser, hurtling into the air over a low rooftop, disappearing from sight soon after.
A bright light enveloped Izuku, as he too had taken to a running start for the race, shifting into his red mage kit and holding up the crystal focus in front of himself, shouting 'Corps-a-corps!' and being pulled towards some pipes, touching down on one foot before leaping off and following through with the second beam of light to pull him to the rooftops, where he immediately changed into the 'monk'.
Using the flexes within years of training flowing in the aether within his body and more light armor (or lack thereof), Izuku began to dash and leap across the rooftops, front-flipping a few times, all the while a rather happy looking smile was spreading across his face.
In his mind, Izuku was just going through the motions; while he was determined to try and win the race, in reality, he mainly enjoyed the freedom this was giving him.
The worries and fears that often plagued his mind while he was alone doing something: About raising Eri right and keeping her safe, making sure his partners were happy, to keep training to be the best hero he could be while also living up to the expectations of a goddess who had her blessing passed onto him by her previous 'champion'.
All of that had gone from his mind, simply enjoying the nature of the exercise; it was like this day was made to give him some sort of respite from all the craziness in his life and that nothing would ever take this feeling away from him.
"UNMEND!"
The sudden shout to his left caused Izuku to snap out of inner thoughts, shifting his head in midjump to see what had caused it, only to get hit by a purplish projectile that exploded upon hitting his side and launched Izuku down into the maze, hitting several and causing them to break upon his impact until he eventually landed on the ground, with several pipes still falling down near him.
Izuku could only hear ringing in his ear, grunting in pain as he slowly began to pull himself up off the ground; the muffled sound of a blaring horn echoed in his head as his vision began to grow more precise, as was his hearing, "W... what was that?"
"I have to know…" a voice suddenly called out from the darkness, making Izuku's eyes shoot open in alarm as he quickly, but roughly, got up to his feet, reading into a stance as the eerily familiar voice continued to speak, "Can I be a hero, even though I am quirkless?"
Like the clinking of armor, the sound of metal hitting more metal could now be heard, growing ever louder as Izuku realized someone was walking towards him, "Who's there?! Why did you attack me?"
"Do you remember what All Might said to you? To us?" The voice called out again, ignoring the question asked by the hero student as a broken and the nearly flat pipe was kicked out of the darkness in front of him, making Izuku ready himself for anything.
Nothing could prepare Izuku for what or who stepped out of the shadows.
Standing before the monk was a heavily armored individual, with the blackest yet regal looking suit of plate armor Izuku had ever seen, with a crimson red tabard hanging from the front of the belt and their legs surrounded by an almost charcoal skirt hanging from the sides.
With one hand raised up, holding a large and very foreboding great sword, where part of its handle was resting on his shoulder, the rune-etched thick blade extended out behind them and to the side as the being walked closer towards him.
Emerald eyes met crimson, with matching green and curly hair to match between the two and identical diamond-shaped freckles on each cheek, though both had been shaped differently due to the opposing facial expressions of each boy.
One with pure shock and awe, as well as fright.
The other with a dark, sly smirk across his lips.
The boy with the crimson eyes chuckled lowly, keeping his gaze upon Izuku as he continued to speak, "He told us 'No', that we can't be a hero because we are quirkless, just like everyone else, because we are 'powerless'." Lifting the sword off his shoulder, the armored doppelganger readied himself, wielding the large weapon in front of himself.
"I'll show them how truly powerless we really are!" he shouted suddenly, leaping towards Izuku with a foreboding and sinister laugh.
"Excellent timing, young Bakugo!" All Might had said, smiling beaming to the blonde student who landed on the ground before him, panting heavily while shaking his arms around with the much smaller grenade gauntlets jostling their contents inside. "You were the first to make it thus far, and I see young Yaoyorzuru and Sero just coming around the bend."
Bakugo huffed as he could see the two ext– classmates from the corner of his eye and the somewhat withered-looking French boy slowly coming up behind them and clutching his stomach.
As All Might was about to welcome the latest arrivals to the end of the track, the ground shook for a moment with what sounded like heavy industrial buildings collapsing as well the pangs of hollow metallic tubes echoing out, the sound of an emergency horn could be heard coming from the direction of the monitor room. The noise rang as the number one hero quickly dashed to catch a stumbling Sero and Aoyama, the two thanking him before the communicator in his ear squealed to life.
"Aizawa, what's going on?"
"No time to fully explain, but someone is attacking Midoriya, are the rest of the racers with you?"
All Might quickly looked at the four students briefly, all of them seeing the grave look on his face as he turned around, "They are accounted for, yes–"
"Good, Nezu has authorized the students and us to engage; their priority is to rescue and escort Midoriya out of the zone while you and I deal with the enemy."
All Might's face went grim, no longer smiling as he confirmed the plan to his co-worker and fellow teacher. The constant sounds of battle echoed around him, making Momo, Sero, and Aoyama a little frightened. Bakugo was snarling, looking eager to find out what was going on, though there was no smile on his face either.
All Might sighed, bringing his hand down from his ear and turning towards the four young people before him, hands on his hips as he spoke to them, "Students, this exercise is over. Someone is attacking young Midoriya, and we have been tasked with a mission!"
He could see the shocked look on all of their faces then, the young heiress being the most worried and nearly in tears, but before any questions could be asked, All Might cleared his throat, causing all of them to jump to attention.
"Enough! I understand your concern, but we cannot doddle. The mission is this, we are to engage the enemy, and while myself and Aizawa keep the adversary at bay, you and the rest of your classmates are to escort young Midoriya from the battlefield and to the monitoring station where Nezu and a bunch of other teachers are going to be present."
The pro hero turned his gaze to Bakugo, who stiffened up more when he felt the icy blue eyes fall upon him, "You are NOT to fight the enemy, only defend yourself should the foe somehow get past Aizawa and me, am I clear?"
Bakugo frowned, staring into the steely look of All Might before growling out a muttering of 'Crystal, sir.'
"Good lad, now come! The mission starts now!" All Might smacked a fist into his open hand, smiling again and causing the other students to get determined looks, nodding to their teacher before the small group headed back into the maze and towards the carnage being wrought.
The sounds of swords clanging against one another echoed out amongst the pips and landscape as small explosions could be heard with a pained groan echoing out, only to be returned with another sudden shout, "SOULEATER!"
"AAGH!" Izuku cried out in pain, sent flying back a few yards from his opponent before flipping himself around and skidding along the now barren dirt in what would be called a 'hero landing' pose to slow himself down, gunblade in hand and gleaming in the light that now covered the circular 'arena' that had formed from their clashing.
Izuku was panting hard, suddenly kneeling as he gripped his side and gasped out, sweat and some blood falling from his face as he winced in pain; all the while, his enemy seemed to be doing fine, standing on the opposite end and swinging his sword to 'flick' off the blood, "Who the hell are you?! Why are you attacking me?!"
"Has the time we spent apart really been that memorable for you to forget me?" The doppelganger's smirk slowly faded, sneering at Izuku, "Easier to forget everything, right? To push it deep down and never remember those horrible, nasty thoughts, huh?"
That caused Izuku to pause, clearly looking confused as he slowly pulled himself back onto two feet, clearly in pain, "W-what are you talking about? I'd remember someone looking like me."
The unamused look on the dark figure sent shivers down Izuku's spine, who then sighed and shook his head, "Are we really that dense? Because I know we have some intelligence to put two and two together."
"You are the 'infallible' light!" the strange boy pointed to the hero student, "The constantly beaten down and ever so forgiving Izuku Midoriya, the boy who could do no wrong, yet has been wronged his entire life! Only because of some cruel twist of fate that we should be quirkless."
The smirk slowly returned to his lips, jutting a thumb to himself, "I am the 'eternal' darkness, the negative and most brutal thoughts you ever had during all those moments where you were belittled, bullied, abused, beaten – both physically and mentally. Bottled up and shoved so deep into your soul to be forgotten and buried for all time."
Izuku's eyes slowly widened, panting heavily as his foe cackled loudly, his crimson eyes glowing slightly, "There it is! Using that ever so smart brain of ours… That's right, Izuku." The armored boy began to stroll towards the still shocked Izuku, starting to hyperventilate a little, "I am what Fray warned you about, the inner darkness of your soul, the part of you that wants to show to everyone just how 'weak' and 'pathetic' a quirkless person is! I am Deku."
"H-How did-"
"How did I escape? Think about it for a moment… when was the last time you truly felt closed off and alone?"
Izuku winced, clutching his side underneath his gunbreaker jacket where that last attack had connected, as Deku still made his way slowly towards him as if he was toying with him. But as he pushed past the pain, Izuku gritted his teeth, focusing on the words of his 'darker' half, muttering to himself for a moment before it dawned on him, "T-the sports festival?"
"Ding ding ding! Give the hero wannabe a medal!" Deku cackled, suddenly swinging his greatsword broadside and striking Izuku where he was injured, laughing at the pained shout coming from the 'Gunbreaker' as he bounced along the ground with heavy imprints being left behind until he skidded to a halt close to one wall of twisted metal and debris that surrounded them.
Izuku coughed up some blood as he tried to right himself up. One eye closed as the other kept staring at the approaching Deku, whose smirk faded as he headed towards his downed 'other half', "How did it feel? To be put into a place where whatever you wished to say was blocked out, cut off from the rest of the world, and pushed down into the furthest and darkest parts of your being?" Deku asked, now standing over Izuku before suddenly kicking him in the stomach, causing another pained shout to echo out, and flipped Izuku onto his back, breathing heavily as the dark manifestation began to walk towards him.
"When that general student kept barking out orders after taking over our body, I saw that as the perfect chance to escape, leaving just a little of myself deep within to fool that damnable 'ghost' from thinking I had left, shifting and unleashing the 'inner beast' of our Warrior kit to cause chaos and allow myself to leave UA."
"W-why? Why now?" Izuku rasped out, a pained look on his dirt-covered face, his gunblade knocked clear and far from his hand, "W-why didn't you try and reach out?"
"Oh, but that's the thing, dear Izuku…." Deku spoke softly, stopping beside the fallen boy, planting his sword into the ground as he squatted down, "I did… numerous times, through the analysis journals, all your thoughts, criticisms, desires… all written for you to see."
Deku's gaze grew cold, the shine in his red eyes gone with his shadow over the top of the fallen boy, slowly reaching his hand out toward Izuku's head as he spoke softly, "But you ignored them, or were too dense to realize it. Regardless, that won't be a problem anymore. Do you want to know why?"
A pant of heavy breath was all Izuku could respond with as Deku's lips curled into a devilish grin, "Because from now on, I'll be in the driver's seat."
"DETROIT SMASH!" All Might bellowed out, socking the squatting person clean against the jaw to send him ragdoll to the other side of the barren battlescape, colliding into the metal barrier.
Izuku slowly opened up one eye, a small slowly creeping his lips, and began to chuckle softly, "A… All Might?"
"Take it easy, son… you have had a rough time of it." The number one hero knelt down beside his successor, moving some hair away from Izuku's face as he could hear the footsteps of his classmates run up to him.
Momo was the first to reach the pair, gasping in shock, and immediately started to create bandages, "Izuku! Oh my god!"
"H-Hey… Momo…" Izuku wheezed gently, smiling at her as if trying to ease her worry, "G-glad you could make it…."
"Shhhh, quiet now, and just focus on breathing." The heiress spoke, creating a bottle of alcohol and some rags as Sero and Yuga came up from behind her, quickly turning her head towards them, "Quickly, we need to get him out of here and be looked after."
But whatever movements they made suddenly stopped when they could hear the rather dark and, honestly, familiar laughter coming from the mess of broken pipes that All Might had sent their current enemy. Several of the pieces flew off with a raised fist hanging in the air before the person slowly began to stand up, dusting themselves off while everyone else looked on in shock, "Good sucker punch, All Might… you even used a fully powered 'Detroit Smash' on me."
They continued to gawk as the doppelganger of the injured boy beside them cracked his jaw, who then began to smile brightly at them, "And oh look! You even brought Kaachan here!" The crimson eyes of Deku met Bakugo's, who regained his composure and snarled at him, though a shiver did run down his back at the long-forgotten nickname being used with malicious intent, "This is my lucky day!"
"I'd say that quickly changed to the worst day of your life." Aizawa suddenly spoke up, as the rest of Class 1-A could be seen behind him and was staring in awe and shock at the other Midoriya before them, "You have five seconds to surrender, or you will be taken down; with extreme force."
"Now, isn't that a shame…" Deku spoke with a carefree tone of voice, crossing his arms while looking at all who were gathered around him before staring Izuku straight in the eyes, smiling devilishly as the injured boy gasped heavily in shock while still being raised to sit up slightly.
"D-Don't-"
"Don't what?" Deku asked while shrugging his shoulders, uncrossing his arms before looking over the crowd, "Don't mention how nineteen heroes in training and two pro heroes using their quirks with extreme measures to take down a single quirkless person would be excessive?"
The air grew silent after Deku spoke those words, mostly everyone holding their breath until Kaminari, with a confused look on his face, broke it, "Q-Quirkless?"
"Indeed I am, Denki." Deku smiled as he saw the blonde boy flinch at the rather blatant use of his first name, "Extra toe joint and everything that comes with it, never manifested a quirk once in my entire life."
"BULLSHIT!" Bakugo barked out, his hands causing flashes of small explosions within his palms, "A quirkless person doesn't have any power or strength! Not like this!"
Deku continued to smile, moving a finger back and forth as he shook his head at Bakugo, "Tsk Tsk, now why would I ever lie to you, Kaachan? After all, you know me better than anyone here!"
"Like hell I do! There is only one loser Deku, and he's right there!" The angered blonde pointed at Izuku, gasping for air now, with Momo rubbing his back and trying to calm him down.
"Oh, Kaachan-"
"And don't call me by that fucking name!" Bakugo interrupted, launching himself towards the still smiling 'imposter' as everyone from the teachers and his classmates yelled at him to stop, only to see the explosive boy be sent back into a wall on the other side of the arena from a single punch by the 'quirkless' man before them.
"YOU UNMANLY BASTARD!" Kirishima shouted, ready to jump in before suddenly getting wrapped up by Aizawa; just as the boy was about to protest, his eyes met with a warning glare from his teacher.
Deku was merely laughing loudly, "Oh, he never changes. So easy to rile up, like a pathetic puppy, all bark, no bite." Wiping away a tear before his chuckling slowly faded, "And watch who you call a 'bastard', Kirishima… it is rather rude to your dorm manager."
Another pregnant pause filled the air, and many confused faces, including Kirishima's. A sudden croak escaped from Tsuyu and a gasp from Momo, still holding Izuku, turning to look at the saddened boy in her arms.
"Ah, it seems two of you caught on… do I hear a third? Iida? Shoji? Perhaps the sentient shadow hiding within Tokoyami's cloak?"
When silence was all the answer he got, he sighed heavily, "And you wonder why so many of you have issues with Ectoplasm's math classes."
Deku slowly raised his hand, the sword that had been planted in the ground suddenly flying back and gripped tightly by the dark warrior, its blade tip on the surface while he held it straight up, "You see, it's rather simple, I am Izuku Midoriya, or rather, I am simply a darker side of his soul, Deku, if you will. And just like me, he too is quirkless."
"All his negative thoughts and feelings, buried deep within his soul and mind until one day I had enough, and now it's my turn to 'take the wheel', to live our life as it should, to show all of you how wrong you are about the quirkless!"
As the silence continued, with many of the students turning their heads to Izuku, who just kept looking at the ground, motionless, as if waiting for something, Deku continued to speak, "He's been lying to you this entire time. His power comes not from some biological manifestation of power; it came from another! Given to him when he was but a baby! A transference of a blessing, given to him from a fallen warrior of a Goddess!"
"But look at some of you, clearly not as shocked as I had hoped!" Deku shouted, seeing the rest of the class turn towards a few of the girls, who looked a little guilty as well as All Might; Aizawa merely squinted his eyes at the dark version of the problem child.
"S-so what if he's quirkless!" Kaminari spoke up, "He's still Midoriya!"
"Is he?" Deku turned his gaze towards the other blonde in the class, "If he was lying to you about his power, how much else has he kept secret from you? How many more lies or acts has he spun to keep you all in the dark?"
Silence fell once again, Deku slowly smiling as he saw the doubt beginning to grow in his classmates until a more feminine voice spoke up.
"He hasn't lied or acted the other times!" Mina shouted, acid dripping from her hands as she glared at Deku, "Izuku's always been there for us! Even if he's quirkless, he's still my Izuku!"
Deku scoffed, raising an eyebrow at her, "Come now, you honestly think I will believe that, Ashido? After all the times I have had to deal with the many lies of other girls who toyed with my emotions over the years?"
That gave the pink-skinned girl to stop, looking confused, while Deku looked to Izuku with a mocking look of surprise, "You didn't tell them? And why am I not surprised?"
"Izuku…?" Momo asked, looking at him worried before Deku sighed heavily, shaking his head.
"The doubts of having a relationship, being alone and tormented because we- I am quirkless. Tell them Izuku!" Deku called out, "Tell them all the Valentine's days where you were tricked into thinking someone actually liked you! To meet someplace in private to hear a confession that never came! Only to be beaten by their actual boyfriends and ridiculed by the girls! Tell them, Izuku! Tell them what you know to be true!"
Everyone watched as Izuku took a deep breath, followed by a few shorter ones, clearly trying to keep awake from all his injuries, but was able to speak in a gruff and pained tone of voice, "... Who would fall in love with a quirkless Deku like me anyway."
The gasps coming from Mina and Kyoka were loud, with the pink-skinned girl's eyes welling up in sadness, while the punk rocker began to fidget with her jacks, clearly looking upset and growing more so as the thoughts that Izuku still felt this way despite all the time they had spent together.
On the other hand, Tsu let out a dangerous croak from her throat, the anger she had at this 'dark side' version of her lover clearly unaware of everything that had been going on, considering the week they spent in isolation.
However, Momo's voice broke the dead silence of the area as she looked at the downtrodden Izuku, "Izuku, tell me this truthfully… What you just said right now, do you still feel like that? Do you think I or the others would abandon you?"
"I FUCKING KNEW IT!" Mineta suddenly shouted before his head was wrapped up in Aizawa's scarf to silence the boy.
Momo kept her eyes still on Izuku, ignoring the muffled wails of the diaper-wearing grape as she waited for his answer with bated breath. Izuku was breathing slowly, one eye still closed as the other shone softly, moist with the threat of incoming tears as he spoke gently, "T… There are still times… but very few… minuscule…."
"Thank you." the heiress said softly, smiling gently before leaning in close and kissing him on his lips before whispering something to him, which was hard for anyone to hear. The interaction caused Deku to raise an eyebrow, curious as to what was said but also failing to notice his shadow slowly beginning to grow in size behind him; in fact, everyone had been ignorant of this as they watched Momo gently hand Izuku off to Sero, before leveling her gaze to Deku.
As the young heiress strode over to him, a woman clearly on a mission, Deku scoffed as she approached, "If you think honeyed words of a false promise of love and caring is going to stop me from my goals, you are sorely mistaken-"
*SLAP*
The echo of the open-palmed slap across Deku's face not only caught him off guard, but everyone else, as well as Momo, sternly looked at him, "Now you listen here, Izuku Midoriya-"
"Deku-"
"Izuku Midoriya!" She shouted, "How dare you think we would use and abandon you after all we have been through!"
"And why shouldn't I believe that?!" Deku roared, his red eyes glowing brightly, "Anyone that said they cared about me all lied back then! How else am I supposed to feel?!"
"You idiot!" Momo screamed back, "You honestly think I would be engaged to a man I was only toying with to hurt in the end?!"
Deku froze as that statement hit his ears, blinking a few times, "E-engaged?"
"Yes, engaged!" Mina suddenly shouted from the sidelines, "You even promised to propose properly to all of us!"
"And don't think I would teach anyone how to play instruments, buster!" Kyoka shouted as well, "Especially when it's so we can both teach our daughter how to play music as well!"
"D-Daughter?" Deku looked on in shock; when had he gotten a daughter? What the hell was his other half doing while he was getting more power?
"Don't tell me you forgot Eri is your daughter, kero." Tsuyu said, crossing her arms over her chest, "I'd hate to see how upset she would be."
Deku was about to protest when Iida suddenly spoke, "And what's wrong with you being quirkless? Many heroes often fight as such while performing their heroic duties! Our own teacher does so nightly before coming to teach us to be proper heroes like him."
"That may be true, but-"
"Even if you had a quirk and not this 'blessing' you mentioned, you would still have faced off against that Primal Nomu back in Hosu to protect everyone and keep the creature from destroying more homes or possibly killing people; that is what a true hero would do." Todoroki suddenly spoke up, with Kirishima, Kaminari, and Ochako using the verbal beat down on Deku to help a now woken up and slowly recovering Bakugo from the pile of cement he was buried under.
Deku kept looking around, the many voices of encouragement and compliments from his classmates, clearly overwhelmed until he looked upon the still on the ground Izuku, who was smiling at him while looking a little weak.
"Ṇ̶̄O̸̡͚͖͔̅̓O̸̥͂͆O̶̢̼͌̾̂Ṓ̷͉̤Ǫ̴͖̾͠O̷̹̓̔!̴̼̰͑̈͂"
A shrill and warped voice echoed loudly in the area, causing everyone to clasp their ears from how loud it was, almost knocking out Kyoka and Shoji from the pain it had caused them.
Izuku was the first to recover, eyes going wide when he saw a giant darkened claw erupt out, still forming from the shadow behind Deku. Using his remaining strength, Izuku rolled onto his feet and dashed quickly towards the pair in the closest proximity, pushing Momo away as the clawed hand suddenly took both he and Deku together.
Momo fell to the side as she turned to see the still-forming beast holding her lover and his dark half in the air, screaming loudly as a recovered All Might quickly took her back to where he, Sero, and Aoyama were, watching on in horror as the beast fully formed.
It was standing upon two legs, though Lycan in its shadowy form, with its head large and covered with various white outlines for eyes and smaller mouths full of razor-sharp teeth that were placed haphazardly on the sides of its maw, where its central mouth revealed even more teeth along its muzzle, which opened slowly and wide.
The two boys within its clutches struggled continuously, for some reason being unable to free themselves before being suddenly shoved down its throat, much to the horror of everyone around them. The screams and shouts of shock filled the air as the beast now collapsed onto all fours, taking on the visage of a sinister-looking wolf, roaring with waves of darkened power expelling out of it.
It snarled as it lowered its head, its many eyes looking amongst the entire class of students before roaring in an ungodly sounding voice.
R̴̭̪̖͆͒̓́̍̆Ḙ̷̱̹̿̏͊̄V̵̖̋̓̅̔E̵̡̯̲̾̉̊̎͜͠N̷̖̤͇͆͂̈͝G̸̡̧̠͇̣̚͠Ẻ̴͎̥͚̒̑̈́!
A/N: The creature mentioned is the "Shadow Keeper", for a visual reference, simply look up the boss from the Eden Raids of Shadowbringers :D