Chapter Text
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. This can’t be happening, this isn’t happening. Izuku himself had been targeted by the league of villains before, sure, but not his mother. Why would they hurt her? She had done nothing wrong! Why did she have to go? Izuku was lost. His mother, his whole world, was suddenly gone and now he had nowhere to turn.
Several hours earlier:
Inko Midoriya was peacefully cooking and cleaning in her apartment in preparation for her son coming to stay for the weekend. The house didn’t feel much like a home without Izuku there, but he was off chasing his dreams and Inko didn’t have the heart in her to tell him to stop. It would be selfish anyway, this was the only thing her boy had ever wanted to do with his life. Her baby was always on a one way track for heroism with no stops in sight. Even when he learned he was quirkless, he kept on moving forwards, refusing to forsake his dream. If only she’d said the words he needed to hear that night, if only she had been more supportive before. A mother can’t help but feel regrets, even if her boy was doing much better now. That strange power of his suddenly appeared just in time for him to make it into the school of his dreams. And what a terrifying power it was. She watched the first sports festival, she saw how it violently tore his body apart and she wanted more than anything to just tell him to stop. She wanted her sweet baby back, if she was honest, that boy she saw on the screen, that look of unmoving determination that blazed brightly in his eyes scared her. She was terrified that that fire in him would consume her boy one day, and that there would be nothing left.
She had to remind her self time and time again that he had friends now. It's heartbreaking for a mother to actually feel like it’s a strange or surprising thing for her son to have friends, but that's the way it was with Izuku. When all of his friends learned that he was quirkless they just abandoned him, and he was left to fend for himself against their torment. He had noone to turn to but her, and he rarely did that in fear of her reaction, she could tell. She just wanted to protect him, all she ever wanted for him was a good and happy life. Maybe he could have had that if he had just given up on his dream, but he refused to. Look at him now, almost top of his class in U.A high school as he wrapped up his second year. He would be home for summer vacation soon, she would be lying if she said she wasn’t thrilled to have him back. He was so big now! He was slightly taller than her before but now he towered over her. Her baby had grown so much, she made a mental note to prepare more food than usual while he was staying because he would probably need it.
Her happy reminiscing was broken by a strange sound she’d never heard before. She immediately felt a dark and foreboding presence in her apartment. She timidly searched for the origin of the sound to find two strange men standing in her living room. The shorter of the two wore clothing that was tattered and black, and he had decaying hands decorating most of his upper body anywhere a hand could grasp. The other intruder was a purple and black shadow, his only physically discernable quality being the metal breastplate type object hidden in his own darkness.
Inko was terrified. These two were the heads of the league of villains, she had seen them on the news. Why were they here in her home? Had they come for Izuku? She couldn’t let them! She would never let them have him. She remembered how that awful man had targeted her son during his first year when he went to the mall with all of his friends. She recalled how the villain had threatened her son’s life, promising to go on a murderous rampage if he didn’t submit to him. The shrill and shaky voice of one of her intruders, who she now recognized as Tomura Shigaraki, ripped her from her terrified thoughts.
“You . . . you’re his mother, right?” He asked, scratching at his dried neck noisily.
“Who’s mother?” She asked, trying to play dumb. Maybe she could talk her way out of this, convince them that they came to the wrong house. It was hopeless however, every single wall was adorned with pictures of her and her baby.
“Don’t play dumb with me woman. You’re his mother. The boy who is to become the symbol of peace.”
“The symbol of peace?” She asked dumbly.
“Oh so he hasn’t told you, has he?” He asked, taking menacing strides towards her until he stood uncomfortably close. “He’s All Might’s successor. He and I are mortal enemies you see. He’s going to grow strong and become the smiling symbol of peace that everyone loves and adores, and then I’m going to kill him. I can’t do it with All Might, there's no point anymore. He’s already been beaten, he’s powerless now. With the injury my master gave him it's only a matter of time before he keels over anyway. No . . . your son is my new target, but I can’t kill him just yet you see. I want him to grow and become the pillar, just like he’s meant to be, then I’m going to crush him.” He exclaimed excitedly, concluding his terrifying monologue with maniacal giggles.
“W-what do you mean he’s All Might’s successor?” Inko asked through her terrified tears.
“Are you really that dumb?” Tomura responded shrilly. “You don’t just develop a quirk when you’re already fifteen years old. It doesn’t happen, All Might passed it to him, like my master is going to pass All for One to me. Its fitting that I get to inform you of his little secret. Not that it will matter, I’m going to kill you anyway.”
“W-w-why?!” Inko asked through her tears, begging for her life. “My baby is strong, he’ll beat you. You’ll see.” Inko managed through her tears, spitting in her assailants face.
“Like I said, I can’t kill him just yet, but I can destroy his heart.” Tomura responded with evil glee in his eyes. This menacing childish glee only intensified as he took the sobbing woman by the throat and proceeded to slowly detach her head from her shoulders. Once the deed was done, Tomura decided to take a tour of the house that he had just transformed into a crime scene. He came to Izuku’s room and nearly threw up. He tasted bile as he inspected the bedroom with a record breaking amount of All Might memorabilia. He promptly returned to Kurogiri.
“Ready to go?” The shadowy man calmly asked in a deep and oddly soothing voice.
“Not yet.” Tomura responded, smiling evilly through the hand that decorated his face. He then used his quirk to write a message for Izuku. “You can’t protect everyone, fledgling symbol of peace”.
“Let’s get out of here. If I see another piece of All Might merchandise I’m going to puke.”
Izuku was heading towards his childhood home to stay with his mom for the weekend. He couldn’t wait to see her, it had been a while, hadn’t it? He missed her cooking and the conversations they shared. He missed sitting down and watching silly movies with her, he just missed her. He was a momma’s boy, there was no denying it. She was all he had, and he loved her more than anything. He walked at an excited pace towards his mother’s apartment on autopilot, looking forward to the katsudon she was undoubtedly making for him. He could already smell it as he crossed the threshold and made his way up the stairs. He turned his key in the door and looked towards the kitchenette, expecting to see his mother working diligently. When she wasn’t there, he figured she was in the bathroom or something. “Mom, I’m home!” He shouted into the empty house. He dropped his bags off by the kitchen table and walked into the living room, only to see a sight that would haunt him for the rest of his life. His mother was lying motionless in two separate and distinct pieces. A large pool of blood had formed beneath her corpse. A loud, clamorous cry tore lose from his throat, a sound that closely resembled that of a cornered and dying animal.
Tears flooded Izuku’s vision and the air inside his lungs suddenly weighed a metric ton. He crashed to his knees with a painful sob, unable to look away from his mother’s body. Several moments later, when he was finally able to, he read the message his mother’s murderer had left him. The teenager sat motionless, unable to process the situation he had found himself in. It was only when the police flooded the apartment that he came to the terrifying realization that this wasn’t a dream.
The police had received a call that someone was screaming and crying loudly in one of the apartments in a relatively nice complex. Not quite knowing to expect, the officers arrived on the scene to see that the door to the apartment in question was unlocked. They cautiously entered, only to find a horrible scene. One of the students from the U.A hero course, Izuku Midoriya, was kneeling motionless before the corpse of his own mother. They instantly recognized him from the second year sports festival, where he had made quite a name for himself, defeating Bakugou and taking the final. On the wall was written a cryptic message that they first thought was meant for All Might, but clearly it was meant for the young man. Ever since news of the fall of the Eight Precepts of Death went public, the general population started comparing the young student to All Might. Everyone took note of how similar their quirks were, how similar even their moves and movements were. The events of the sports festival only attributed to this. They tried to pry the young man away from the scene, and with some effort they were able to, he was surprisingly heavy. The first responders arrived on the scene, but there wasn’t much for them to do. There was no saving that poor woman, she was already far gone.
Surprisingly quickly, Detective Tsukauchi arrived on the scene and whisked Izuku away to question him however he could in the boy’s sensitive state. He wasn’t a suspect, they didn’t even consider the subject. It was obvious who did this. This was the work of Tomura Shigaraki. The detective took up his phone and dialed All Might’s number. This was bad, very bad.
“Yes?” All Might asked through the phone.
“We have a situation at the Midoriya household.” The detective responded in a somber tone.
“ . . . What happened?” All Might asked cautiously, hoping for the best.
“Inko Midoriya was murdered. We strongly suspect it was the work of Shigaraki. Izuku saw it, he’s not doing well. Its messy.” The detective responded. The sound of projectile blood-coughing could be heard before All Might responded.
“Where is he?” The retired hero raspily asked.
“He’s with me. I’m going to take him down to the station and see if he saw anything useful, you should come.”
“I’ll be there.” All Might responded. This was just as he feared, villains coming to claim the lives of his successor’s loved ones. The poor boy hadn’t even made his debut as a pro yet, but that bastard had already come for him. Lineage be damned. All Might didn’t care if Tomura was Nana’s grandson, he was going down.
The car ride to the station was a silent one. Tsukauchi didn’t expect Izuku to be talkative, but he wasn’t expecting the utter silence that came from the young man. The ninth holder of One for All was in one of the worst states of shock that the detective had seen in his entire career. His expression was completely blank, devoid of any indication of what had just happened. Thee only indicator of the event was the tears streaming down the boy’s face, staining his shirt. This poor boy was shattered. The thing that worried the detective the most was who this young man was. Casting aside the fact that he was All Might’s successor, which meant that his old friend was undoubtedly blaming himself for this whole thing, this boy was rash. After learning that he was to be the next symbol of peace, the detective decided to do his homework on the boy. It wasn’t that he doubted Toshinori’s judgement, far from it, he was just interested. The young hero before him didn’t seem to be able to turn his heroic zeal off. He would always throw himself into any situation, regardless of the danger. This much was evident through studying the USJ incident, the defeat of Stain, which the detective had managed to learn that it was in fact the boy and two other students who defeated the hero killer, the incident at the Kamino ward where several students intervened and rescued their classmate Bakugou, and finally at the raid on the Eight Precepts of Death. Whenever anything big was happening, this young man seemed to always be in the thick of it. Tsukauchi had no idea if he was going to seek vengeance, he hoped he wouldn’t.
They arrived at the station to find All Might was already waiting there for them. A couple of reporters were there too, Izuku had become somewhat of a local celebrity after the second sports festival. They caught film of the boy entering in the tow of All Might and Tsukauchi. Undoubtedly, his friends would arrive shortly, perhaps that was a good thing. The trio made their way to the interrogation room for questioning.
“When did you arrive at the scene?” Tsukauchi asked.
“I-I-I arrived a-at seven in the evening. I was coming home t-to spend the weekend with her.” Izuku tentatively responded, still shell shocked. Each word he spoke threatened to break his psyche apart.
“Can you explain to me what happened?” The detective inquired, hoping the boy had witnessed something useful.
“I-I unlocked the door and put my bag down on one of the chairs in the kitchen. Mom was cooking katsudon for me, I could smell it even b-before I came in. She wasn’t in the kitchen when I got in but I didn’t think a-anything of it. I went into the living room and t-that's w-when I . . . I saw her.” This time the dams broke down. The young hero was weeping openly, already mourning for the mother that he just couldn’t comprehend losing.
“I see. You didn’t see anything useful?”
“N-no . . Just the message.” He managed to say through his sobs.
“Can you tell me what it said?”
“It said “You can’t protect everyone, fledgling symbol of peace”, written on the wall by some disintegration quirk.”
“That will be all for now. Toshinori here will take you back to the dorms.”
“Lets go, my boy.” All Might said, resting a bony arm on the shoulder of his protege.
Back at the dorms, most of the students were either studying or procrastinating in the common area, finals were closing in. Suddenly, Mina burst into the room and in a frantic and mortified tone, said “Guys! Check the news, quick!” Following her request, Tenya turned on the TV and searched for the local news channel. It didn’t take long to discover what happened.
“Here at a local apartment complex, one Inko Midoriya, mother of Izuku Midoriya, who has become somewhat of a local celebrity after the recent sports festival, was murdered in cold blood by what we can only assume was the league of villains. Officers and first responders arrived at the scene to find the shell shocked boy kneeling before his mother’s corpse. That’s all the info the police have given us so far but this is the second time that he’s been targeted by the League of Villains. It's no secret that a lot of people compare him to All Might, and perhaps that relationship is why he keeps being targeted, but that's all speculation for now. Back to you.”
Tenya turned off the television, shock and anger written all over his face. A stunned silence consumed the students of class 2-A. None of them could imagine what their friend was enduring at the moment, they all knew his mother was all he had. Through the silence, they all heard the door to the dorms abruptly open. Soon, they saw All Might escorting Izuku up to his room, tears still streaming down their friend’s face. After delivering the sobbing young man to his room, All Might returned and leaned his hands against one of the sofas in the common area where all of the students were now congregated.
“We saw what happened on the news. Do you have any information for us, All Might?” Shoto asked.
“It was Shigaraki. From what I’m told, young Midoriya saw everything, even the personal taunt from the bastard telling him that he couldn’t save everyone. The scene was a bloody mess, Inko met a brutal and cruel end.”
“Deku saw everything? Oh god.” Ochako lamented. She looked about ready to cry herself.
“He’s still in shock, but that’s not really dulling the pain for him any. I’m not sure if he’ll be able to complete the semester, we’ll probably just give him a passing grade. I’ll have a word with Nedzu tomorrow morning.
Ochako was heartbroken. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she loves this boy. Seeing him so broken just kills her. Before she knows what she’s doing she’s climbing the stairs to the floor where Izuku’s room is.
“Uraraka! You shouldn’t -” Tenya was abruptly cut off by All Might as he rested a calm hand on his shoulder.
“Young Iida, I think it would be best if we let young Uraraka help him right now, she might be the only person who can.” All Might states sagely.
“I understand.” Iida says after a pause. “Is there anything we can do? I just feel so . . . powerless.”
“I’m afraid not, my boy. All we can do is support him and hope he recovers.” All Might answers.
Ochako loitered nervously in front of Izuku’s door. She had no idea if she should go in, if she could go in. God, she could hear him sobbing through the walls. She stole her resolve; her friend needed help! She knocked on the door softly.
“Its me, can I come in?” She asked in a hushed tone, afraid that any excessive noise might hurt him. In response, she heard soft footsteps approaching the door, opening it, and she watched as Izuku turned his back to her and retreated to his bed where he curled up in a fetal position. It was only when she took a closer look that she noticed just how violently he was trembling. The courageous boy that inspired her with his fiery determination and zeal was completely shattered. They weren’t pros yet but she already saw him a sort of pillar in their class. Whenever things got serious, he always had a plan, he was always ready to lead. The timid and nervous boy would disappear in favor of the hero within him. Seeing him in such a state almost brought tears to her own eyes, but she needed to be strong.
“Is there anything I can do for you, Deku?” She inquired in as soothing a voice as she could muster, rubbing his side as she took a seat next to him on the bed.
“A-a hug. I could really use a hug right now.” Izuku said between sobs.
Ochako simply leaned in and cradled him as best as she could. Even in the fetal position he had pulled himself into, he was still much bigger than she was. Slowly but surely, Izuku turned his body towards her and eased himself into the hug. Once he does this, the floodgates open in full throttle and he weeps. Ochako rocked back and forth in their embrace and rubbed soothing circles on his back. Izuku cried, and cried, and cried until Ochako started to worry that he’d get dehydrated but then he cried some more. After about an hour of this, Izuku fell asleep. It was sudden, but not unexpected. This had to be the worst day of his life, he must be exhausted. Ochako slowly removed herself from his embrace and wrapped him up in his blanket, drying his eyes with a tissue from a box on his nightstand. She planted a small kiss on his forehead, causing him to sigh and shift to a more comfortable position in his slumber.
On her way back to her room, she was met with a very worried Tenya.
“How’s Midoriya faring?” He asks.
“About as well as you’d expect him too, I guess. He cried himself to sleep and I just held him. I didn’t know what else to do, nothing like this has ever happened before. He’s so hurt. This is just . . . awful. It's unfair. Why did they have to target such a sweet and innocent lady? I met her once when Izuku invited me over for dinner one weekend and she was so nice. She was all he had, what’s he gonna do Iida?”
“That's not true, he has us, after all. From what you told me, you did an excellent job supporting him. This is all we can do for now, he’s just going to need time.” As Tenya said this, he placed a comforting hand on the brunette’s shoulder before striding off somberly in the direction of his room.
Come saturday, when Ochako came to to check on Izuku, she was surprised to find that he wasn’t in his room. In light of recent events, this meant that he was training. If he was training in his condition, it meant that he was overdoing it to distract himself. It was a relatively healthy outlet for Izuku to exert his aggressions, but she just hoped he wouldn’t hurt himself. Her friend was already hurting enough.
Izuku woke up at the usual time of the morning. He enjoyed a brief moment of peace before the tragic memories of the day before flooded into his fevered mind. This was too much for him to handle right now, he needed something to distract himself. He would feel bad about leaning on Ochako again, as much as he loved the hug she gave him last night, he felt like he was taking advantage of her in some way. The state of shock that he was in was slowly wearing off as the realism of the events sunk into his skull. “Maybe working out will help me get my mind off this.” He thought to himself as he changed into his gym clothes. There was no classes today so he was free to spend as much time as he liked distracting himself.
Upon arriving on the track, Izuku began his usual routine. He liked to start with cardio, running as many laps around the school as he could, which varied depending on how he felt. With how much resentment he was pouring into his workout, he ended up going for about four laps around the entire campus before he decided to stop. This act is more impressive than it sounds considering U.A is the size of a small town. After catching his breath, Izuku decided he’d hit the weights and then train with full cowl. His workouts were always relatively extensive, they needed to be if he was ever going to control One for All. As he was clearing the bench, thoughts of the previous night returned to haunt him. If only he had been earlier, maybe he could have saved her. The police hadn’t gotten back to him about a time of death yet, and he didn’t expect them to for a while. He was left to torture himself, tears flowing from the corners of his eyes as he willed himself to continue his regimen. Izuku wanted to be too tired to feel the pain, he wanted to quite literally work the grief out of his system. This was the first major loss he had experienced in his life, he hadn’t the slightest clue of how to deal with it. Izuku half expected a call from his dad sometime soon, it was only a matter of time. After all, the man was still his father, and his mother was still his wife. Maybe he’d come back home? He wouldn’t be back for long if he did. He was stopped in his thoughts as he saw Ochako approaching him from the corner of his eye.
“Deku, how are you feeling?” She asked, not really knowing what else to say. The look on her friend’s face was so desperate and wounded, she just wanted to hug him again. Besides, he looked like he really needed it.
“I’m alright.” He said, almost too quickly. “I just . . . need to get my mind off of it. I thought that maybe if I just poured myself into my training that I’d be distracted from it. If nothing else it's something to do.” He said, giving her a clearly forced smile.
“Do you . .” She began to ask, blushing slightly. “Need another hug?”
“I’m kinda sweaty, are you sure?” He responded, blushing slightly as well.
“Yeah, c’mere.” She told him, opening her arms. He approached and practically threw himself into the embrace. She could already see the tears forming in his eyes in her peripheral vision.
“What do I do, Uraraka?” He asked helplessly, weeping fully now, allowing the emotions to wash over him once again. “I’m all alone now.” He lamented, hunching over and resting his chin on her shoulder.
“That’s not true.” She almost whispered to him. “You still have us. Everyone in the class really cares about you, they’re worried about you.”
“I’m sorry.” He began, his regret clear in his voice.
“Don’t be, this is too much for anyone to handle alone. Let’s go back and get you cleaned up, ok?” She asked, grasping his chin and forcing him to meet her gaze.
“Ok.” He murmured, allowing her to pull him away from the weights. He had already been there for a couple of hours before Ochako came and retrieved him. He had skipped breakfast and his stomach was now gurgling noisily.
“Looks like someone skipped breakfast, huh?” She teased him, poking his stomach.
“I usually eat after I finish training, I guess I lost track of time today.” He said sheepishly, glancing down at the ground in humorous shame.
“I heard Sato is making pancakes for everyone, I’m sure he has already put some aside for you. If we hurry back they’ll still be hot.” She suggested. Izuku smiled genuinely for the first time since last night, though tears were still in his eyes.
“We better hurry then.” He says in as cheerful a tone as he can possibly muster. “Uraraka?” He asks after a pause.
“Hmm?” She responds, glancing over at him.
“Thank you.” He tells her, genuine gratitude swelling in his voice. “J-just being a-around you makes me feel a lot better.” He stutters out, blushing intensely at his confession.
“I’m glad. That's what friends are for, right?” She asks, smiling brightly at him. If he had been in a better mood he surely would have experienced a the biggest heart clench of his entire life.
“Right.” He responded, returning her smile as best as he could.