"He'll never be able to see…I'm sorry, Ms. Midoriya."
He didn't know where he was, or where he was going, only that he had to get away, he had to run from his bullies.
"His quirk is a minor earth manipulation one, without his eyes I doubt he'll ever become a hero."
Branches and leaves whipped against his arms and face, leaving small cuts and bruises; suddenly, the ground fell out from below him and he was falling, tumbling down a steep hill.
"You're useless, Deku! Your quirk is weak AND you can't see! You'll never be a hero."
Izuku sobbed as he finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, curling in on himself as he wailed in pain, sadness and confusion.
He didn't even have his walking stick, Kacchan had broken it and thrown it away. Even if he did know where he was, he wouldn't be able to find his way home without that walking stick.
So he laid there, crying and begging for All-Might or his mother to come save him.
But it wasn't them who found him.
He didn't notice them, not at first, not until whiskers began passing over his face, a large nose sniffing him all over.
"W-who's there?!" He called out, jolting away from whatever was touching him.
There was a pause, then the sniffing continued, and then a large, rough tongue licked his cheek, making him giggle as relief washed over him. "A… doggie?" He asked softly, reaching out with his hands. His fingers ran over coarse fur and a broad, rough nose surrounded by whiskers that poked, prodded and tickled him. "Do you know how to get home?"
The snuffling stopped, then something large slammed into the ground and Izuku was falling back, only this time it was because the hillside he was leaning against seemed to move upwards, letting him fall back into a cool space.
"Wha-" He started to whisper when suddenly, he could see.
It wasn't real sight. As young as he was he knew what seemed to flash through his mind wasn't true eyesight. The darkness he spent his entire life in; this seemed to pulse out around him, outlining small rocks and the rounded walls and ceiling of a cave.
"How did I…" Izuku whispered in confusion as he returned to darkness, yelping when a large paw picked him up. "Hey, what are you doing?" He whined, struggling as he felt his shoes be pulled off. "What's going…on…" he trailed off slowly, eyes widening when the paw set him back down on his bare feet, the outlined vision slowly coming back for a second before disappearing once again.
And then there was a loud stomp, and the cavern was outlined once again, only this time, a large beast stood before him, with long claws at the end of wide paws, a large, dog-like nose surrounded by whiskers. It began to paw at the ground, each hit against the ground sending small ripples throughout the room.
"I…I'm seeing…" Izuku said in awe, picking up his feet and setting them down a couple of times to sense the same ripples.
"He has a minor earth manipulation quirk."
The doctor's words echoed in Izuku's ears. "The earth…direct contact with the earth, lets me…see? With, um…with vibations…" he let out a slight laugh, tears pricking at his eyes, "I…I can see…I can see!" He cheered
*huff*
Izuku froze as once again the silhouette of the gigantic beast was made known to him, the large animal looming over him. "Um…thank you." Izuku said timidly.
The large beast shook its head and licked his cheek, making him laugh. It then moved across the cave, its back paw stomping and causing a small stone to raise, a stone that the beast then sent flying across the room and into the opening it had apparently created, causing the entrance to close.
"Hey! You have a quirk like mine!" Izuku exclaimed, not worrying too much about the entrance, his five year old brain latching on to the fact that this animal had a quirk. "I can move the earth too!" Izuku held his hand out and concentrated. He brought his hand up, making a small ledge pop up from the ground. "It's not very strong…" he sighed dejectedly.
But the beast was now circling the boy, low grunts and growls making Izuku a little on edge, it began nudging his back, it took a bit for Izuku to realize it wanted him to do it again.
So Izuku did it again, the ledge came up just a little bit more.
Immediately it began to give off high pitch squeaks, excitement emanating from it as it nudged him, then stomped its back foot.
"What?" Izuku asked, cocking his head to the side.
It stomped its back foot again. This time, a boulder about his size sprouted from the ground, and then its front paw came shooting forward, connecting with the boulder and sending it shooting across the cavern. The rock careened into the far wall with an explosive BOOM!
And then the beast began nudging him again.
"Oh…oh!" Izuku exclaimed, finally realizing what it was telling him, "my feet! If I use both my hands and feet…" Izuku concentrated, then stomped his foot, making a small boulder pop up, with a squeak of surprise he clumsily threw his fist forward and sent it about half as far as his new friend did.
A huff of amusement, a few nudges to get his attention as it patiently showed him again, and again he tried, on and on the cycle would repeat.
Soon, Izuku was easily sending boulders flying around the cavern, giggling uncontrollably the entire time.
"I did it! I did it!" He cheered, hugging the beast before darting back to his spot, "what else can you teach me?"
WVWVW
When Erasurehead had been called in to help search for a missing blind kid, he thought it'd be a fast op and he'd be back to his afternoon like he wanted.
Four hours later and everyone was getting discouraged. The park he disappeared in was one of the largest in Shizouka, bordering a fenced off forest at the edge of the city.
A fence that had way too many child sized holes.
"Hope we can find the kid soon," Mandalay of the Wild Wild Pussy Cats said. Like him, she wasn't dressed in her costume, and was instead dressed in a nice blouse and skinny jeans, her phone out so she could use the flashlight function in the dwindling evening light. "Hell of a first date, huh, Shouta?"
Aizawa rolled his eyes, giving her a nervous smile. "Sorry they called us in, we'll miss our reservation."
"Come on, Shouta, it's alright! Besides," she saddled up to his side, "walking through the woods is pretty romantic, isn't it?"
Aizawa hid his face in his scarf, thankful he never left home without it.
Mandalay giggled and looked around. "It's getting dark," she mumbled worriedly, "what if we don't find the kid before nightfall."
"We will," Aizawa reassured, "we just have to keep looking."
So they continued on, not stopping until the sun was barely lighting the sky, and a low thudding could be heard.
"Didn't they say the kid had an earth manipulation quirk?" Mandalay asked, her ears pricking up.
"Yes, a minor one." AIzawa confirmed.
"They sure it's minor? From what I'm hearing he may be as strong as Pixie Bob!"
"Lets go," the two took off into the foliage, towards the sounds of stomping and crashing. Soon they reached a clearing at the bottom of a small cliff and were surprised at what they found.
The child they had been looking for was there, his shirt off and discarded to the side, his shoes nowhere to be seen, and he was covered in dust and dirt. Currently he was tumbling about stomping and punching, sending medium sized boulders flying through the air. Pillars were brought up with a thrust of his hand, sending him flying into the air before he would land, making craters form under his feet.
"Wasn't this kid supposed to be blind?" Aizawa asked Mandalay, watching him for a bit.
"He's supposed to be," Mandalay mumbled, stepping forward to call out, only to freeze when she saw something move on the other side of the clearing.
"Did you see that Hama! Did you see what I did?!" the boy cheered as he ran over to the gigantic Badgermole, a creature Aizawa had only seen in books. It nuzzled the boy's head and gave him a few fond licks to the cheek before its head came up, blind eyes staring sightlessly ahead as its head swiveled about, before pointing straight in their direction.
"Stay. Completely. Still." Aizawa whispered to Mandalay, who shook a bit but didn't move from her spot.
The badgermole growled low in its throat as it ushered Izuku behind it.
"What's going on? Hama?"
This was bad. Not only was there a potentially endangered animal in front of them, but the kid they were supposed to be locating was being treated like a cub by said endangered animal, who was now alerting to them and was ready to fight.
"W-wait Hama!"
Aizawa tensed a bit when the boy jumped around the animal and went running over. He stopped in front of them, out of breath, his dull mint/gray eyes staring sightlessly past them. "Hi!" he chirped. "S-sorry about that."
"Izuku Midoriya?" Mandalay asked carefully.
"Y-yes, ma'am."
"...lot of people looking for you, kid." Aizawa said, still watching the badgermole.
"Looking for me? Why would they…oh…" he whispered as realization dawned on him.
Mandalay giggled. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble, but we do need to get you back, I don't think your friend can come though."
"Yeah, you're right," Izuku mumbled, deflating a bit, before perking up, "Can I go say goodbye?"
"Of course!" Mandalay said with a bright smile, ignoring Aizawa's look of warning.
Izuku quickly ran back to Hama, giving her another big hug, "I'm sorry, but I have to go." he said into her fur, "but I promise to come visit! Every day if I can!"
The badgermole chittered and squeaked as it wrapped a large paw around the boy, before stepping back, giving his cheek one more lick before stomping the ground and causing a cave to open up. The badgermole waddled into it, another stomp closing the entrance.
Izuku sniffled as he walked back over to the adults. "Sorry, but we can go now!"
WVWVW
"-and I got scared so I ran, and I didn't know where I was and fell down a small cliff!"
"What happened then?"
"Well I was lying there crying, hoping All-Might or my mommy would come save me, but then the ground moved! And I met Hama! She taught me how to see with my feet!"
"See with your feet?"
"Uh-huh! I think it's the vib…vibation."
"Vibration?"
"Yeah!"
Aizawa hid his smile behind his scarf as the boy chattered away with Mandalay, excitedly telling her about how he came to meet the badgermole, as well as what he learned from her.
"-has a quirk just like mine! How cool is that!"
"Super cool," Mandalay laughed, "I'm glad you learned how to see, I bet that's so much better than before."
"It is!" Izuku cheered, smiling happily, "I have a chance to be a hero now!"
"You want to be a hero?" Aizawa asked.
"Mhmm! But…everyone didn't think I could because I'm blind…but now that I can sorta see, I can do it! I know I can.'
"Work hard," Aizawa instructed, "Nothing's impossible if you put the hard work into it."
"You should listen to him," Mandalay whispered conspiratorially to him, "Eraserhead is very wise."
"He's Eraserhead!?" Izuku whisper-shouted to her, voice full of shock and excitement.
"Sure is!" Mandalay confirmed, smiling at the excitement the boy showed, as well as the stunned, slightly pleased look Aizawa gave them when he realized the boy was genuinely excited to meet him. He immediately began bombarding the young hero with questions, to which he patiently answered up until they reached the staging area of the search.
"IZUKU!"
"MOMMY!"
Mandalay hugged Aizawa's arm as they watched the boy's excited chattering get drowned out by his mothers fretful worrying. "Worth missing the movie, huh?" Mandalay asked.
"Kid knows how to talk," Aizawa muttered dismissively.
"Oh, you liked him, you big softie," she giggled behind her hand as the mother approached.
"Thank you both so much!" the woman cried, hugging them both, "Thank you for finding my Izuku!"
"We're always happy to help," Aizawa said, bowing to her as she picked up her son and left, the boy waving good-bye to them as they went.
"You're not gonna report the Badgermole?" Mandalay asked.
"The forest is already a nature preserve," Aizawa said as they walked, "and they're already talking about replacing that fence with an actual wall."
"Aw, that means little Izuku won't be able to see his friend," Mandalay pouted.
"Hmph, right," Shouta said dryly. "The kid can now move boulders, I don't think a wall would stop him."
WVWVW
"I was so worried, Izuku, you can't run off like that!"
"I'm sorry, Mommy, but-"
"-no 'buts', young man, you're not like all the other kids, you're fragile."
"-b-but, Mom, I-"
"Oh, and we'll have to get you a new cane too. Katsuki said you broke it tripping on the sidewalk?"
"N-no I didn't-"
"In any case, perhaps we should get a seeing eye dog for you."
"I don't need that, Mom-"
"Oh but I would feel so much better! You're helpless, Izuku!"
"B-but mom-"
"We'll talk about this later Izuku honey, for now let's get you into the bath! You're so dusty!"
Izuku sighed in his head as his mother ignored any protestations or explanations he tried to give. Maybe I can tell her everything tomorrow, he thought dejectedly, that I'm not helpless anymore, that I can take care of myself.
Yeah…tomorrow.
WVWVW
Ten years later.
The high pitched beep of his alarm clock woke him from his deep slumber, the cold nose pressing into his ear made him roll closer to his wall.
The bite to his ear had him jumping up.
"I'm up, damn it!" Izuku whined, hand coming to rest on the small head of Acorn.
He was a small dog that his mother had gotten him as a 'seeing eye dog'. He had argued and refused until he was blue in the face; but he couldn't say the dog hadn't grown on him.
"Just one morning," Izuku mumbled as he started getting ready. Much had changed since he was a child. His hair was slightly longer, hiding his sightless eyes just a bit until he could find his sunglasses; his frame was thicker now, and no longer was he the twig-like boy Hama had found at the bottom of a hill.
He walked with graceful cat-like movements, deftly avoiding trash and clutter on the floor while accurately picking up the things he'd need for the day. He grabbed his uniform, his modified shoes with the bottoms hit out, his cane, and finally, a gray jacket. He zipped it up partially before setting Acorn inside it and zipping it up further, letting the small dog's head peak out, panting happily as he walked out of his room, his cane unfurling.
He didn't need it anymore; his Vibration sense let him see most of the apartment complex, but if he didn't have it and use it when his mother or Kacchan were around then he'd get lectures.
"Good morning, sweetie," his mother beamed at him in the kitchen, prompting a fake smile from her son.
"Morning, mom," he said softly, taking a seat while his mother gave him his breakfast, happily talking about her night shift at the hospital while Izuku nodded and responded when required. Soon he was out the door with Bakugo waiting for him.
"Make sure he doesn't get into any trouble, Katsuki, please," Inko said as they left.
"Sure thing, Auntie," Bakugo grumbled as they walked.
They only walked together for a few blocks before Bakugo split off.
"Don't do anything stupid you shitty nerd," Katsuki growled as he stomped away.
Izuku sighed wearily as he continued on alone. Bakugo had let loose on the reins when it came to him being alone. After he'd run away when they were young, he had gotten in trouble for leaving him behind; no word ever reached either set of parents about Katsuki bullying Izuku, but enough of a fuss was kicked up that Bakugo knew it couldn't happen again.
That didn't mean they were friends again. Bakugo just took his bullying in a new direction: never letting him do anything fun or on his own, driving away what little friends Izuku had and making sure he was isolated while doing his "job" of "protecting" Izuku.
The last few years Bakugo had been letting Izuku walk to and from school without him after a few blocks. One day he told him he wasn't gonna "waste anymore time babysitting a blind deku!" And had been splitting off from him almost regularly every morning since.
Not that Izuku wasn't grateful. After all, Bakugo would mostly leave him alone until they met up for the walk home in the evening, giving Izuku multiple opportunities to train his quirk on his own.
But he couldn't train right now. If he was late to school again his mom would start dropping him off in fear of "harm" coming to him. He couldn't have that.
So, with another weary sigh, Izuku continued on to school, absentmindedly petting Acorn as he went.
