In Class 2-A's dormitory...
Class 2-A's dormitory was so quiet as everyone slept in their respective dorm rooms. Midoriya laid down in his bed, absolutely exhausted from hero training. As soon as he went to bed, he fell asleep right away. Skylar's quirk really effected him, which made it easier for him to get some sleep. Unfortunately, he stirred in his sleep and couldn't get comfortable on his bed as he slept.
Something inside of him felt off as he tossed and turned in his sleep.
He felt a little hot around his face for some reason. Something about it felt really good, and he didn't understand why. Heat came up from his throat as if something was burning it. It felt weird, but natural as well. His mind couldn't wrap around what was going on. Before he could figure out what was going on, it felt like it was being taken away from him.
He felt like a little kid again and felt like something was being taken from him. For some reason, he felt tears form around his eyes. Something about it really upset him like it was something he wanted to keep. He turned around and noticed this burning sensation being taken away by someone hidden in the shadows.
He could barely see them, but something about him felt familiar. He gave him chills all over his body, and he felt like a little kid again.
This guy in the shadows looked at him, making his goggles glint from an unknown light source.
Midoriya noticed this burning sensation being taken away from him and was heading towards this guy in the shadows. It was forming into flames, which caught Midoriya's attention. He didn't understand what was going on, but something about it told him to fight back. When he looked back at the guy, he felt intimidated and more like a little kid without a quirk.
"Don't struggle Izuku Midoriya," The guy told him, giving him chills, "This'll only take me a minute."
Midoriya felt tears streaming down his face as he watched these flames being taken away from him. He still felt the burning sensation in his throat, but then he felt something being pulled out of him. He tried to fight back, but then he felt his mouth being forced open by this weird pulling sensation. His eyes widened in shock, seeing flames coming out of his mouth.
He felt that burning sensation going away as it left him behind. He tried to fight back, but it was too late.
The moment that burning sensation faded away, he felt so lonely and cold.
"No...!" Midoriya cried out.
Midoriya reached out, but soon realized that he had woken up from a nightmare. He sat upright as his focused on his dorm room. For a moment, he just sat there and tried to catch his breath. He noticed that he was reaching out towards nothing. His hand was shaking as if what just happened really bothered him. He instinctively moved his hand over to his throat, feeling it ever so gently. It felt so dry, but no burning sensation anywhere. Something about it though felt familiar for some reason.
Then he reached up to his face, noticing that he was crying. He remembered that feeling of loneliness from a long time ago. It felt so cold and empty back when he was a little kid. The nightmare brought up some things that he wished that he had forgotten. Midoriya remembered that day when he was told that he was quirkless.
That's what this nightmare felt like.
But something about it felt so different.
Before he could figure it out, he felt the dream fading away. He tried to keep it there with him just so he could understand what this meant, but it was already gone. He sat there for a moment, unsure about what just happened. Even if he couldn't remember much of the nightmare, he remembered what it felt like to be told that he was quirkless.
Something about that seemed to bother him even more now.
Midoriya looked at his Miraculous and noticed it shimmer as if it was trying to get his attention. His eyes widened in shock and grabbed it right away. As soon as he touched it, it seemed to know that he was holding it. New tears formed under his eyes, and he knew that Dekku was trying to reach out to him.
"Dekku..." Midoriya said under his breath.
Nothing happened.
Midoriya activated One for All, but something about the nightmare threw him off a little. He tried to shake it off, but he could barely concentrate on his Miraculous. He tried to recharge it as much as he could, but something was blocking him. It was as if something was getting in the way of One for All. He didn't understand why this was happening to him and tried to keep going.
Once he got tired however, he stopped and looked at his Miraculous.
Nothing happened.
He really thought that Dekku would finally come back after several months of trying to help him. He wiped away his tears, feeling a bit confused. He just sat there, staring at his Miraculous for a good few minutes. He really missed Dekku now more than ever before. Something about One for All possibly coming back through Adrien and Marinette made him really happy. But he worried that he might've made a mistake.
He thought that he might've made a wish by accident before they left.
Midoriya worried that this Ember girl was stuck there because of him. Whatever happened with her, he knew that he had to help in some way. Even though he couldn't go over there at the moment, he had to do something.
He couldn't fall back asleep, so he got up right away. He threw on a hoodie and grabbed his phone.
Whoever this Ember was, he knew that she was from their Japan. She was stuck there and had no where else to go. He felt bad for her and wondered what her quirk was. He wanted to call Marinette, but it was so late. He didn't want to wake her up, but then again she might be awake because of her mild concussion.
Midoriya let out a sigh and put his Miraculous in his pocket. He headed out of his dorm room and went down to the common room. He felt like he needed to step out of his room for a moment. Once he got into the elevator, he leaned onto the wall and looked at his phone. He never got any messages or voicemails from her. He hoped that she was doing okay considering what she just went through.
He tried not to question how she even got into this sort of situation in the first place, but it was a little strange. She couldn't handle two thieves from her Paris. They clearly didn't have powers so he didn't understand how she would've had a tough time with them. He shook it off and soon left the elevator when it opened.
He rubbed his throat, still feeling a little thrown off by his nightmare. Something about it made his throat feel really dry. He headed over to the kitchen and grabbed an ice cold glass of water. He gulped it down, and it soothed his throat right away. It felt so refreshing that he gulped it down all in one go. He quickly got some more, feeling it dripping down his chin.
He let out a sigh of relief once he needed some air. He felt so much better and went over to sit on one of the couches in the common room. He was just glad that he didn't feel so out of it or hot like when Chrysalis was around. Something about that made him feel a lot better as he settled down onto the couch. He looked around to see that he was the only one in there.
Midoriya looked at his phone, wondering if he should call Marinette.
Without even thinking about it, he soon pressed call. He almost hung up the call when he realized what he had done, but then heard it ringing. Before he knew it, she had answered it.
"Hello? Izuku?" Marinette said to him, "What're you doing up so late? Isn't it like four o'clock in the morning?"
Midoriya couldn't help but smile hearing her voice over the phone. He really missed just talking to her like this.
"Yeah, but... I-I couldn't sleep," Midoriya said, still barely able to remember the nightmare, "I felt like I needed to call you. I figured that you might be up considering... your situation."
"Well, you're right about that," Marinette said to him, "I've been just resting in my family room all day. Me and Alya even got Ember to play some video games. She surprisingly got the hang of it pretty quickly."
Midoriya was surprised to hear her talk about Ember so easily. He thought maybe she would try to avoid talking about her for some reason. He hesitated, wondering if he should ask about her. He cleared his throat since it still felt a bit dry.
"Izuku? Is something wrong?" Marinette asked him.
"O-Oh! Umm... I-I just have a sore throat is all," Midoriya told her, "It's nothing to worry about."
Something about the silence over the phone made it feel like Marinette was sending him a suspicious glare. He even stiffened up, knowing full well what she was thinking.
"Izuku. I know that you're lying," Marinette said back, "You're not a good liar. What's going on?"
Midoriya didn't want her worrying about him. Whatever nightmare he had, it was gone. He could barely remember any of it, and yet it still bothered him a lot. He carressed his throat, feeling that dryness coming back to him. He didn't think that it was a big enough deal for her to worry about him. Whatever this was, he knew that he could deal with it.
"Marinette. It really is nothing," Midoriya said to her, "I just had a nightmare is all. It's really not a big deal. I barely even remember what happened."
He could hear her let out a long sigh over the phone.
"Well, if you're so sure," Marinette said back, "I just hope that Skylar is someone that you can trust. Is everything really okay with her around? Alya is worried about you guys."
"Yeah. She's fine," Midoriya explained to her, "Things might've been weird at first, but I feel bad for her. She's pretty much going through the same thing that Adrien did back in Paris. We're trying to give her some time to adjust. I can tell that it's still weird for her. Even that sparring fight that I had with her was pretty intense."
"Really? Her and Adrien are similar? Like, strict fathers, specific schedules and rules?" Marinette pointed out.
"Yeah. I might've heard her talking to him at one point," Midoriya said to her, "She sounded a little upset. I just want her to feel included, you know? I know how weird it can feel entering a brand new school like this. It can be pretty intimidating. Luckily, she has a bit of hero training and combat skills already."
"That's actually something that I wanted to talk to you about," Marinette told her, "Alya and some of my teammates caught those thieves earlier in the abandoned lair. She found something weird on that machine."
Midoriya straightened up, not expecting her to bring something like this up.
"What do you mean?" Midoriya asked her with determination behind it.
"She found a picture of Skylar. Information about her somehow got through to the portal and machine. Her quirk was even there. The weird thing about it though is that her strengths were all there, but no weaknesses. It said: unknown."
Midoriya's eyes widened in shock, not realizing that his hands were shaking. Something about that really frightened him for some reason. That sparring match seemed to feel more intense now as he thought about it some more. Something about her glowing blue eyes gave him chills. He remembered how fast she was, which threw him off. He could barely even react to her punches.
"Izuku? Are you okay?" Marinette asked him.
"Umm... Y-Yeah... I-I'm fine. I just..." Midoriya trailed off, not sure how to explain this to everyone else, "I just... I knew that she was strong, but not this strong. I wanted to even talk to someone about this. There's something going on around here, I just don't know what it is just yet."
"Do you need someone to come over there and help you guys out? Maybe Melissa can open up the portal. I'm sure Alya would love to come over and help out," Marinette said to him, "Even if it's just for a day, she might may be able to help out. She's really good at figuring things out for our team."
Midoriya thought about it for a moment. He hesitated and wondered if this would make things worse. He didn't want more information leaking out and into that machine. Whatever was going on though, he needed some sort of outside help. Alya might just be the person to help them out. He clenched his phone and knew that Mr. Aizawa was going to be lecturing him all year long for this.
"Alright. I'll talk to Melissa and see what she can do," Midoriya said to her, "What about Ember? She probably wants to come home, right? Maybe she should come with her."
Marinette hesitated for a moment, and Midoriya could tell that she wasn't sure if she could trust her just yet.
"I don't know. She's still shy and secretive about certain things," Marinette said to him, "I might need to keep things on the down low for now. I'll talk to Alya, and see what she thinks in the morning. In the meantime, go see if Melissa can open the portal. Alya will definitely be more than ready to help you guys out. I'd come with you, but I'm still not quite ready to come over."
Midoriya nodded with a determined look on his face.
"Okay. I will," Midoriya said back, "Thank you for the help. We could really use a bit of that right now."
"Of course. That's what friends are for," Marinette said back, "Call me if you need anything."
"Okay. Get some rest, bye," Midoriya said to her.
Midoriya hung up his phone and let out a sigh. After that entire conversation, he realized that he never got the chance to ask about Ember. He still didn't know anything about this girl. Whoever she was, she was from their Japan and had a quirk. He was curious if she had anything to do with that information getting leaked, then again it seemed to be happening because of the portal.
In the corner of his eye, Skylar appeared out of no where. He almost jumped out of his seat, not expecting someone to be there, let alone her. Something about her being there threw him off and hoped that she didn't hear anything about a portal.
"Sk-Skylar! Wh-What are you doing here?!" Midoriya exclaimed to her a little too loudly.
"I couldn't sleep so I decided to come down to get some water," Skylar told him, "I didn't think anyone was up this early."
Midoriya really couldn't tell if she heard anything important that maybe she shouldn't know about. He wanted to tell her, but he barely knew her. Even if he knew about her situation and father, that didn't mean that he could go around telling her everything. What they went through as a class was something that not everyone knew about.
Skylar went over to the kitchen and grabbed some water. She took a big gulp of it as Midoriya walked over to her. He worried that she heard a lot of their conversation just now. She didn't seem to know anything based on her reaction, but she could've just been pretending like she didn't hear anything. Something about her seemed a little quiet as she grabbed some water.
"Skylar. Did you hear anything that I was talking about on the phone just now?" Midoriya asked her, "It was kind of private."
Skylar stopped in her tracks and gave him a look. Something about her stare gave him chills. She seemed different for a brief moment. Her demanour felt less cheery and more intense. He didn't understand why, but it felt really chilling to the point where he thought she might spar with him again. Then her eyes lit up as if nothing happened.
"Not really. I was too thirsty to focus in on your conversation just now," Skylar said back, "From what I could tell though, you seemed to be talking to a friend. Was it anyone outside of U.A.?"
She kept eyeing Midoriya like she was integrating him. He didn't remember her ever feeling this intimidating before, besides his nightmare. Something about it threw him off, and he didn't know what to make of it. She took a sip of water and waited for him to answer.
"Umm... Y-Yeah. I guess you could say that," Midoriya told her, "Sh-She's just someone that I met awhile ago. She doesn't go here, so I haven't been able to talk to her as much as I would like to."
Skylar stared at him for a moment, and then let it go as she reached into the cabinet to grab some chips. Midoriya tried to loosen up a bit, but she felt like a completely different person all of a sudden. He didn't know where this was coming from, but he thought maybe something was making him feel this way. She wasn't normally this intense towards him. Then again, he barely knew her.
"Sounds like you two are close," Skylar said to him as she ate a chip, "Maybe I'll get to meet her someday soon."
Skylar offered Midoriya some chips, and he hesitated to take one. The way she looked at him made him a little nervous. He soon reached in and grabbed a few.
"I don't know about that. She's pretty busy right now with school and... other things," Midoriya said to her as he ate a chip, "I don't think she'll be coming here any time soon."
Skylar took another chip and ate it, making Midoriya flinch from the crunch. She wasn't letting up on him for some reason. He wondered if this had anything to do with their sparring yesterday. He hoped that they could still hero train together, he didn't want this to stop them from doing some more.
"You know, back there during hero training..." Midoriya said to her, "I didn't mean to get upset with you or anything. I just don't normally go all out with hero training. At least, not to that extent. Clearly you and I have different ways of training. I wouldn't mind training with you again... just, maybe I'll be more ready next time."
Skylar seemed hesitant to say anything for a moment. Midoriya noticed her looking a little bit nervous about something. He didn't know if it had to do with this accidentally hurting him or hero training some more. Whatever it was, she clearly was a little unsure about something.
"You really want to hero train with me? After what I did to you?" Skylar asked back.
"Of course. We all want you to feel welcome here. After all, you are our classmate," Midoriya said to her.
Skylar's eyes lit up, but she pulled back a bit. Midoriya tried to reach out to her, but something about her seemed a little nervous to be facing him. He was confused as to why she was acting this way. Skylar could barely look at him and headed back to her dorm room with her chips. Before she entered the elevator, she looked back at Midoriya.
Her eyes looked almost like they were glowing for a moment.
"We can hero train together. I just don't think I can hold back with you around me," Skylar said to him.
Midoriya's eyes widened in shock as Skylar left him behind. He stood there alone in the common room, wondering what that was all about. For a moment, he forgot all about that nightmare that he had last night. Then it came back as he gulped from that intense glare that Skylar had on her.
Midoriya clenched his phone, ready to call Melissa right away.
Another amazing chapter!
This was such a great chapter to write! I'm really liking the interactions between Midoriya and Skylar a lot. Things are starting to get a little more interesting with Midoriya's nightmare. I know that it seems pretty obvious what was going on, but Midoriya doesn't quite remember what happened. Yes, this nightmare will definitely be a big part of the story. We'll see where it goes, especially with Alya coming over to help them out.
What's going to happen next??
More to come soon!