Izuku was at home. He had been at home for a week or so. His Mom and Dad were trying to get him to use his Quirk, but he hadn't been able to for some reason. It was like it wasn't even there, or like it was just under the surface, stubbornly refusing to work for him. Maybe he was Quirkless? Maybe he just didn't have a Quirk, and that was why nothing was happening when he tried to do something with this hypothetical Quirk. He had been told that it had the power to decay things, cracking them into pieces over a period of time, usually short, but he didn't remember that. He only remembered going to school one day only to not remember any of it past the beginning of play time.
So, they were waiting on the Quirk Counselor's results. They had tested Izuku in all kinds of ways to get his Quirk to respond, but if he was being honest with himself, which he thought he was, he kind of wished he didn't have the Quirk they said he did. They had called it 'Decimation', and they had told him that he had manifested it at school. That already didn't sound very good to Izuku, but they had said that it had the ability to instill a sort of 'decay' onto anything he touched with his hands. Izuku had immediately asked if he had done that to a person, but the doctor had refused to answer, instead getting Izuku to talk about other Quirks. It had worked, of course, but now, a few hours later, Izuku had realized that the man had tricked him out of his worry.
A few things had happened to his body that he couldn't explain, though. His hair had gotten a lot lighter, being almost blue with how light of a green it was. It was strange. It must have happened on the day he couldn't remember. Maybe he went to the hairdresser's. He really didn't know. Another was that his fingertips were really calloused. Just the tips of his fingers were far tougher than anywhere else, like he had been doing hard labour for years. It was strange, but not unwelcome. It helped him not get sore fingers after playing Quirk Brawl 3 all afternoon, but that was about it.
So, Izuku was slowly sneaking into his Mom and Dad's room. It was more Mom's room, because Dad wasn't around a lot. He vaguely remembered asking Kacchan something on the day they had said his Quirk manifested, but all he could think of was his Dad. When he thought back to that day, he couldn't remember a whole lot, just a few odd faces of his classmates and an overwhelming anger. Izuku didn't consider himself an angry person, not like Kacchan, so what had happened? Had he really used this 'Decimation' Quirk to … hurt somebody? That was what he was going to ask Mom and Dad about.
He reached the door, but hesitated. Izuku tried to move his hand, but he couldn't. Why? Oh, there were voices behind the door. He didn't know why, but Izuku had always had trouble with talking while someone else was having a conversation. Dad had said it was because people wouldn't like him if he butted in, but Mom had said it was because he was nice enough to let people finish their thoughts before voicing his own. He liked Mom's explanation a lot more than Dad's. His was mean, and Izuku didn't think it was true. Mom's was nice, and he thought it made him a better person. It was always like that. Mom just had this way of talking that always made him feel better, like whatever happened could be fixed by her saying just a few wise words. He really loved his Mom.
The voices were getting louder. Before, they were quiet, like they were trying but failing to remain small and unnoticed. Their apartment was small, and had thin walls, so it often ended up backfiring when they tried to keep quiet during one of their arguments. It just made it even more obvious they were fighting. Izuku stepped back from the door, knowing that he was too close to the fight for his liking. He listened, with bated breath, as Mom and Dad fought.
"Hisashi, you don't get to just walk away when something goes wrong! This is a family! Families stick together, even when one of us struggles with something," Mom yelled.
Izuku wondered what this was about, but kept quiet. He always struggled to tune out the sobs of his mother whenever his parents fought, and now that was coming to a head as he fought with himself to not walk in there and give her a massive hug. He knew that a hug always made things better, so why couldn't Mom and Dad just hug it out? They could say whatever they had to say, but they still loved each other, right?
"Not this shit again. Do you really think that I'm gonna sit around and wait for what happened at the school to happen here? We should just let him go, Inko! He's a threat to everything around him with a Quirk like that!" Dad yelled back.
"With a Quirk like what? Like a Villain?" Mom asked.
Dad was quiet after that. Too quiet. It was like he had even stopped breathing, just to think about what she had said. Izuku didn't quite get why he had been so affected by the question, but he supposed that nobody liked a Villain, so left it at that.
"Nobody has ever been a Hero with that kind of Quirk. He can kill with a single touch. He'll never be a Hero. All that's left is mediocrity or Villainy, and we both know that Izuku won't settle for being ordinary," Dad said, a few clicks sounding out from inside the room.
Izuku gasped, but quickly put his hands over his mouth to stop himself from making any other noise. The conversation inside stopped, an eerie silence falling over the family. Izuku stepped back, trying to keep his tears from falling down his face. He hadn't heard his father talk like this before, even if he had been kind of mean in the past. This was a different person, it had to be! This couldn't be the man who had, not even a few hours earlier, warmed him up with his fire breath when he was cold. It couldn't be! This was a completely different man. This was a Villainous man who hurt people. This … was who his father really was, underneath the 'family man' act. He … was Dragon. Izuku had connected their Quirks before, but had ignored the possibility that he could be the Villain's son. It had seemed impossible, but he was talking the exact way he had seen Dragon talk in news clips. He was sure, now.
"You don't get it, Hisashi. Quirks aren't Heroes. People are Heroes. Quirks are tools that Heroes can use to save people. Izuku would try to be a Hero even if he was Quirkless. That's how set he is on this thing. Now, and I can't believe I even have to ask you this, how set are you on being his father?" Mom said.
Izuku found himself agreeing with her philosophy on Quirks and Heroism, but what did this have to do with him? What had happened at school? What had he done with his Quirk? Izuku was afraid of a lot of things, but knowing the answer to a question he really didn't want to know was a new one.
"He killed half his class, Inko! He turned people, children, to chunks of meat without even touching them. That's not my son. I'm not that thing's father," Dad said, snapping something shut angrily.
Freezing, Izuku remembered. He remembered killing Nikko. He remembered making a crater in the ground. He remembered the sight of the kids in his class, falling apart because of him. He remembered Kacchan's horrified look as he scurried away from his hands. He remembered his own screams as he wiped his teacher's blood off of his face. He remembered what he did. Izuku remembered the question.
'Why do you hurt people?'
'It's really their fault.'
Stumbling back, Izuku hit the floor with a heavy thud. The argument inside the room stopped, and Izuku knew that he had alerted Mom and Dad to his presence. What would happen? Was he going to jail? Was that why he hadn't been allowed to go back to school? He was going to rot in prison for murder? Wait, murder was only when you wanted to kill someone. Did they have enough evidence to figure out that it was an accident? Dad blamed him for what happened. Did Mom? Did Kacchan? He briefly wondered if Nikko, wherever she had ended up in the afterlife, blamed him.
The door opened, breaking him out of his thoughts, and his father stepped out, scowling intensely. He really was the Dragon. The two locked eyes, not saying anything as they tried to get their points across without words. Dad's hateful frown said it all; leave, or I will. Izuku tried to stand, but Dad lifted his hand and shot him a look so filled with rage and open disdain that it hurt him worse than any hit could. He didn't know when Mom had started shaking Dad, but she was. She was trying to get him to back away, but he wasn't moving. He just stood there, making sure that Izuku got the message. Loud and clear.
The next thing he knew, Mom was on the ground. Dad was standing over her, a glow coming from his mouth that threatened to spill over into the air. Izuku knew that it was his Quirk, and stood.
"Get away from her!" Izuku screamed.
Dad looked at him, a glint in his eyes that he had only seen once. On the news. Izuku felt the heat rising before he saw the glow intensify, Dad readying himself to use his Quirk. He wondered for a moment if he would really use his Quirk on his own son, but Izuku had heard what the man had said just moments before. He was no longer that man's son, and that man was no longer his father. That wasn't Hisashi Midoriya, anymore. That was Dragon, the Villain.
Dragon fired off his Quirk, a blast of flame bursting from his mouth. Izuku had already been moving when it had activated, so he was able to avoid it. Those times running and dodging Kacchan's attacks had paid off, apparently. Not enough, though, as his forearm was still caught in the flame. The heat licked at him, but he yanked his hand out of the fire as fast as possible. If he had gotten Dragon's Quirk, he would've been fireproof, or at least resistant. But, no. He had to get Decimation.
Izuku ran forward, toward Mom, and almost made it. He was scooped up by one of Dragon's strong hands, though, wrapped tightly around his throat. Dragon lifted him up, bringing Izuku closer to his face. The two stared into each others' eyes for a moment, both trying to find any semblance of who the other once was in their eyes. Nothing. Izuku was aware that the carpet behind him was on fire, but that could be dealt with later.
As Dragon opened his mouth, Izuku remembered back. As much as he didn't want to, he thought of the day Decimation had awakened. How his Quirk had kept going until every finger had been lifted from the ground. With that information, Izuku lashed out.
Pushing down the bile trying to rise in his throat, he put a few fingers on Dragon's face, watching as his eyes widened in horror. Nothing happened, though. Instead, Dragon started to charge his Quirk, and Izuku put the rest of his fingers on that hand to his face. He started to crumble, his skin cracking and segmenting in under a second. Distantly, Izuku recognized that it was faster, now. Maybe it was because he had used it willingly. He wasn't trying to stop it, so it was working better? That made sense. Izuku saw that he was still charging his flame attack, so put both hands, with all five fingers on the sides of his head.
After a moment, instead of chunks on the ground, Dragon instead turned into dust. Dust. Izuku fell through the small plume, hitting the ground and closing his eyes as the throbbing in his heart he hadn't known was there faded. The particles of dust that used to be Dragon fell on him, but he was too lost in his own mind to care.
He just used his Quirk. He had killed somebody. He killed a famous Villain. Who was his father. He had turned his father, a Villain, into dust with his Quirk. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. What was going to happen now? He had definitely meant it that time. Was he going to jail for real? Was he going to be charged with murder? He was only trying to stop him from hurting Mom, so … MOM!
Izuku sat up, letting Dragon's remains fall to the floor. He looked over to where he last saw Mom, and saw that she was okay. Her face was swollen, but she was alive. That was all he needed. Izuku stood up, making sure to keep one finger off the ground on each hand. He knew that if he did to his home what he did in the classroom, that would be bad. He took a step toward his mother, but saw how she flinched back.
"Mom?" Izuku asked, taking a step back again.
"Oh, Izuku! I'm sorry! You shouldn't have had to do that! My baby boy! Are you okay?" Mom asked rapidly, scrambling to her feet and slowly making her way towards him.
Mom fretted over him, checking over him for any injuries. When she got to the burn on his arm, Izuku blinked away the haze that had taken his mind. He had forgotten all about it. He lifted his arm to see, but all he could spot was the muscle underneath his skin, and even most of that was burned away. Now he saw why Dragon was an A-Tier Villain.
"Am I a Villain?" Izuku asked, only really half-conscious.
"What? Of course not. Izuku, believe me when I say that even worrying about it makes it so that you can't be a Villain," Mom said.
"How? I killed him. I killed Nikko. I killed the kids in my class. That's what Villains do," Izuku said, his voice oddly flat.
"Villains kill people, yes, but they don't worry about if they're Villains or not. They don't feel bad after they do bad things. That automatically makes you better, Izuku. You're my son, and I believe in you. As long as you remember that fact, you'll be whatever you want to be," Mom said, hugging him close.
Izuku was making sure that he had one finger curled up against his hand when she was close. She pulled away soon, though, to request that police, firefighters and an ambulance be sent to their home. The flames had grown since he last checked up on them, and they evacuated the house when the emergency responders came. Both he and Mom told the police everything they could, though Mom's account of things was obviously more detailed. The two were hurried into an ambulance, where the paramedics immediately got to work in calming Izuku down, who had started to hyperventilate as the adrenaline of the event wore off and he started to really feel his burn.
At the hospital, the doctors told him that he'd have some trouble moving his arm for a while, but other than that, thanks to the multitude of healing Quirks in the hospital, he'd be fine. It was a relief, especially since he expected to be doing a lot of movement in the future. That got Izuku thinking about what he wanted from his future. Could he still be a Hero with this in his record? Could he be a Hero with Decimation as his Quirk? Did he even want to be a Hero anymore, seeing how they failed to apprehend Dragon and let him abuse his family? Was Dragon right about his Quirk? Could it only kill? Was he destined to fall through the cracks and become a Villain, just like him?
Mom must have seen his expression get tighter and tighter, because she grabbed his good hand and held it softly. He immediately felt Dragon's grip around his throat, rough and too tight to breathe, and he started to choke. Izuku put his hands to his throat, and tried his hardest to breathe, but he couldn't. It was like Dragon was still there, trying to kill him and Mom. He gripped his throat tighter, until it hurt, but recognized that now he really couldn't breathe. Izuku let go, and his breath returned to him. He looked at his own hands, wondering why that had happened.
"Are you okay, Izuku?" Mom asked.
"I … I don't know what h-happened! It felt like he was still here!" Izuku sobbed, tears beginning to flow.
"It's okay, Izuku. He's gone. What made you feel like that?" Mom asked again.
"Y-You touched me, but your touch was nice and gentle, and then I was … back there, feeling him choke me," Izuku explained, still catching his breath.
Mom looked worried, like she knew what was happening. She held his hand again, slower this time, and nothing happened. Instead, Izuku leaned into the contact, and the two fell asleep. During his sleep, Izuku dreamed of Decimation, of his hair turning greyish-blue, and of his father firing off his Quirk at him.
When he woke, Mom was unpacking some clothes that looked like they were for him, but they clearly weren't from his room. She had to have gone out and bought some clothes. She noticed he was awake, and gave him a sympathetic look.
"They couldn't save the apartment, Izuku. I'm sorry. The place was too small and the fire spread too quickly. We have to move. I got you some clothes, so if you want, you can change into them now and we can leave right away to look for houses," Mom explained.
"Okay," Izuku replied, moving to grab the clothes.
He began to make his way toward the bathroom, but paused. Dragon's words kept playing in his head, over and over. 'He's a threat to everyone around him with a Quirk like that'. 'He'll never be a Hero'. 'I'm not that thing's father'. They wouldn't leave his mind. Izuku needed an answer, and he needed it from the one person who could still give it.
"Mom?" Izuku asked, hesitantly.
"Yes?" Mom turned to face him.
"Can I be a Hero? Even with this power?" Izuku asked.
Mom frowned, and made her way over to him. She knelt before him, trying to get a good look at his face. Izuku hadn't known when he'd started looking at the ground, but he lifted his head to lock eyes with Mom. She was thinking about something, but she came up with an answer fairly quickly. Mom was smart like that.
"Do you want to be a Hero?" Mom asked.
"No. I ... I need to be a Hero," Izuku said, tears building at the corners of his vision.
"Then you will be. Do you remember what I said to you? You're my son, and I believe in you. That's never going to change. You can do anything if you want it enough. So, yes. You can be a Hero, Izuku," Mom said.
Izuku finally let the tears flow. He sobbed, clutching Mom tight with eight of his ten fingers. They stayed like that for a while, just crying, until Izuku was able to carry on. He'd do it. He'd become a Hero and prove that it isn't the Quirk that makes the man, but the reverse. He'd destroy the stereotype that destruction is evil. He'd become the greatest Hero to ever live, and he'd do it with the Quirk that had given him so much pain and grief.
