Chapter Text
Most people think of the night and they think of quiet stillness. The buzz of mosquitoes and flies notwithstanding, moths fluttering around street lamps, and the quiet ‘thump thump thump’ of people walking home after a long day at work. Izuku doesn’t quite think of those sorts of things anymore. He tends to think of the steady [or more often recently not-so-steady] ‘Beep Beep’ of a heart rate monitor, or the labored breaths of someone with a punctured lung only just dug out of the rubble from a villain fight. It’s… hard, to be as used to it all as he is, but it’s how he can best help others, so it’s what he lives with.
Tonight had been blessedly quiet for the most part, however. He’d treated a shallow slash wound - the result of a desperate conbini robbery gone awry, and a case of dehydration from a health nut going a bit too hard, but otherwise it had been the most relaxed night of the past year. That peace was shattered when from the sky something hurtled down and crashed into a building just on the edge of his team’s patrol route. The radio call came in, and the lads and ladies were off.
The van is crammed full of first responders, some quiet and with eyes shut - trying to focus so they don’t mishandle the lives that may soon be in their hands, while others chat amicably with whoever will reply - distracting themselves from their nerves. Izuku is one of the former and has been for the past few years. He’s yet to be the only or main reason why someone hasn’t made it to help, but he has seen much more than his fair share of loss. Their frozen expressions haunt him in his dreams and he awakens more often than not mid-sob nowadays.
They arrive at the location of some private laboratory for some big-name pharmaceutical corporation to a semi-panicked exodus of men, women, and everything between and beyond gathering outside. The head of Izuku’s team approaches quickly and gets an image of what they’ll be dealing with - potentially biohazardous materials, about a dozen bodies unaccounted for, and NDAs all around for whatever they see inside after everything that can be done has been. It’s nothing new to any of the more veteran EMTs including Izuku, but he always finds a bit of apprehension inside of himself at the thought of legally binding silence. A more conspiratorial and subversive part of his mind wonders what it could be that they’re up to in there that don’t want anyone to hear about.
He shakes off the thoughts as he gears up, gauze, masks, coagulant, anything he might need to get someone out of a potentially life-threatening situation without further exacerbating any problems. He’s licensed for more than just first aid, but in a situation like this with potentially a timer over their heads it’s best to stabilize and then relocate the patient. He takes a deep breath as he slips his mask on and steels himself for whatever he might see.
The group stays together and in constant contact until they reach the sight of the impact, whereupon they split off in pairs and set about doing what they can for whoever they find. Izuku is paired with an older woman named Michiko, she’s kind, if a bit ignorant about some things, and has been working as an EMT for over a decade. Her quirk allows her to numb the pain of fractured bones [specifically] so long as she can maintain a form of contact with her target. They’ve spoken about a couple things before, and she was there when he was first assigned to this team, so he considers her a sort of friend. One of very few he has.
They work together with a practiced efficiency: Locate, clean, wrap, carry. Back in, locate, clean, set, wrap, carry. Back in, respond to a call for help from another group, help pull aside some debris, retrieve a pair - pinned and unconscious, “We’ve got it from here, thanks for the assist”, Thumbs up, smoke is getting thicker, you're running out of time, Don’t panic, do what you can. Help how you can.
“I’m going to scout further in, we still haven’t found a few of the missing scientists, I’ll call back if I find anyone.”
It’s a bad habit of his, and he’s gotten in trouble for it already, but he breaks off from Michiko’s side and heads deeper in than anyone else is willing to go, through rapidly thickening smoke and past piles of broken machinery worth more money than he’s ever seen in his life. He keeps in contact with his team, and radios back when he finds one of their missing names. He makes sure her condition won’t further deteriorate with a few minutes longer exposure. She’s low to the ground, smoke won’t be a problem, no external injuries - likely a head impact, her eyes dilate properly - not a concussion or brain damage as far as he can tell, breathing steady, no gurgling, and no apparent internal hemorrhaging. He continues forward [after she's been collected, of course] driven by a need to not be useless.
When he reaches the end of the path only one name remains unaccounted for, and he’s possibly in what looks to be a containment facility of some kind. Jars of unknown materials line the walls, some broken open, and some left empty. A spatter of some unknown dark material slowly bubbles in the corner, as far from any fire as it possibly can be.
“Hello?”
Izuku calls out, crouching low to keep his smoke inhalation as low as he can. He’s already beginning to feel light-headed and he’ll need to get back before he starts getting spots in his vision. The blob seems to respond to his call, very slowly making its way over toward him and the thought strikes Izuku that this amorphous blob might just be their missing name. It wouldn’t be the first slime-morph Izuku has ever met, after all, He just hopes this one doesn’t try to wear his skin like a suit.
“If you can hear and understand me, please remain where you are, I’m coming over toward you now.”
What luck that the person closest to the point of impact was this slime person, a more solid being would have probably died very quickly from the shock of impact and any further explosions.
Izuku reaches for the slimy substance and as he makes contact he feels a shiver pass over his spine and hears an effeminate chuckle.
“Thank you for saving me, my hero!”
The slime sinks into his skin and Izuku panics for a few seconds struggling to shake the mysterious substance off, but before he knows it, it’s all gone under his skin and he’s alone, panting and sweating, wondering if he didn’t just hallucinate it all. His radio crackles and they get the message to pull back out, all names are accounted for and the building’s going to collapse any minute now. The thought of being trapped like those he just helped is unappealing, and so Izuku puts his light-headed hallucination out of mind and returns from whence he came. The team meets back up to report on what they saw, before filling out their paperwork so they can all go home and sleep. Izuku’s pretty much out of it the whole time, and it’s only thanks to Michiko’s prodding that he signs on the right lines and checks the right boxes.
The ride back is quieter than the ride over was, and more cramped, as those who needed hospital attention were fit into some of the ambulances they’d brought to start. Izuku pays it no mind as he nearly falls asleep. His shift ends and he returns to his civilian guise before making his way to the apartment he calls home now. When he arrives it’s silent and still, although he pays it no mind. He doesn’t bother with the lights, dropping his shoes off at the threshold and slipping into his sandals with practiced familiarity even in the dark. He’s hungry but more exhausted than ravenous, and so he collapses onto the folding couch he received as a gift from his mother a few years ago. It’s slovenly, but he’s never been one for having company over anyway, one needs friends to invite them over after all.
As he passes from wakefulness and into sleep he hears a titter and feels and unfamiliar pressure wash over him, as though held in a loving embrace. He dreams of someone he’s never met before, but who he feels deeply connected to. She smiles wide, her teeth brilliantly gleaming, and her eyes practically aglow with life. She’s a part of him, and he couldn’t stand the thought of ever being apart from her. They do everything together, and when they embrace, it’s like having a second skin.
He awakens in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar people. “Oopsie!” a voice he’s heard before laughs in deranged glee as the flash of a muzzle goes off against his side. Izuku has been in the presence of gunfire before and has treated several bullet wounds, but he has several questions about why he’s being shot at near point-blank, especially considering he was just asleep like a minute ago. What the hell is going on? There’s a stinging pain in his side, but he’s surprisingly unbothered by the bullet wound apparently, because without any real input on his part his body lunges toward the closest combatant[?] and a collection of blood-red tendrils impale them like some unfortunate museum piece. Their expression a rictus of horror, and the gurgling of punctured lungs are the stuff of Izuku’s nightmares and he realizes this must be one of them. A sort of calm settles upon him as his body sets about laying brutal waste to the nameless thugs he’s apparently in the middle of killing.
It’s not the first violent dream he’s ever had, but it has been a while since he was lucid through one. And this dream in particular seems excessive compared to all others. The screams of terror, the stink of blood and waste, the snap of bones, and the awful sound of flesh being pulled apart like taffy. It’s so much worse than it was the last time. When all before him lie in pieces strewn about and his body is finished with its animalistic motions, some degree of control seems to return to him.
“You’re taking this even better than I could have hoped you would.”
A joyful and smirking voice speaks into his mind. He sluggishly casts about for the source only to find himself in the dark alleyway, all alone. That’s new, maybe he should finally book an appointment with that psychologist Michiko suggested to him.
“Oh, Sweet Meat, a psychologist wouldn’t help you any with me.”
The voice purrs, and he feels like he should probably be more concerned about the mysterious other voice he’s hearing in the middle of a murder dream, but her voice is familiar in an unexplainable way, and the sound of it fills him with a contented warmth.
“But gosh if that isn’t the most romantic thought about me I’ve ever heard! I would swoon if I had a body of my own.”
From his side, another tendril of red fleshy matter stretches out and seems to pool into a vaguely humanoid shape. It's vague enough that he can't identify very much of anything about it, but whatever it is, he gets the feeling that it's not a threat to him in any way.
"My name, Sweet Meat of mine, is Toga. And you are a wonderful host, I have to say."
Ah, dream voice, vaguely identifiable shape, distinct identity. Yeah, he's snapped, hasn't he? Toga is... well he has no basis for comparison, but as far as alternate personalities[{?} yeah he'll go with that for the moment] go she seems nice. He has to wonder why his fractured psyche is manifesting as a female? He's always been comfortable as a male, he thinks, and he's made peace with his bisexuality since he first started thinking boys and girls were both cute. He should probably get a couple books on psychology and read through them in his free time when he wakes up again. His previous cursory study of the subject is helping at the moment, but he only put enough time into the subject to make use fo it through his analysis.
"Heloooo?~ You still with me Sweet Meat?"
Right, he's still mid-dream conversation-ing with his other personality[?]. He clears his throat and reaches out toward the figure, noting that a thin tendril of material still connects the two of them. If he were more poetic he might compare it to the red string of fate, a thought that seems to earn a squeal of girlish joy from "Toga"
"Oh, you know just what to say, don't you! You're literally perfect."
Is he really so lonely and starved for affection he's dreamed up a for lack of a better term waifu alternate personality? He might just start crying if that's the case. He still hasn't introduced himself to "Toga", and although he's unsure about how wise it is to interact in this way with an alternate personality[?] he finally makes use of the polite manners his mother drilled into his head from a young age.
"Midoriya Izuku. It's very nice to meet you, Toga. Umm, may I ask what you're doing here? What's going on? Context, in general, would be very much appreciated."
"Toga" titters and Izuku notices that as she's been standing there interacting with him, the bodies [and chunks of meat no longer identifiable as having been part of bodies] are being slowly drawn in toward the figure by similar thin red tendrils as the one binding him to her. She licks her lips [and oh, he can sort of identify a few of her features now - like those wickedly sharp teeth] and presses a hand to her jaw in a familiar motion to him.
"Well, Izu-zu, I was pretty hungry ya'know. Near-death experiences really take it out of a girl, and you were just so sleepy that I figured you wouldn't mind me taking you for a quick ride out to find some fresh and tasty snackies!"
The closest of bloody chunks sinks into her form and she doesn't seem to react except to become slightly more distinctive in shape. He notes that he feels the pain of that gunshot almost totally fade away as well, and figures it's some sort of dream metaphor or similar. He takes a moment to look around and realizes that he knows where they are, they're only about 3 or 4 blocks from his little apartment, in the territory of a drug-running gang that the local heroes have all been paid off by.
The violence might be a representation of his own subconscious desires for swift and horrific vengeance to come down upon those sorts of people, and what little guilt he might have felt at being in any way related to the gruesome deaths is washed away by a warm feeling of satisfaction and... fullness? Toga has finished "consuming" the last of the bodies, and now the only hint as to what happened here is the still fresh spatters of blood on nearly every surface around them.
"Ahh, thanks for the meal! You're probably still super sleepy, huh Izu-zu? Well don't worry about a thing, I'll get us back to your place in a jiffy. You can just go back to sleep now if you want, or we could keep getting to know each other a little better! I'm up for whatever you wanna do."