Chapter Text
Iris is not a hero.
That’s obvious.
She’s killed for life, what kind of maniac would call her a hero?
( Maybe she should’ve fought harder to stay with Marigold and Hyacinth — maybe she should’ve stayed at UA, just maybe—)
She shouldn’t mind the maybes. Iris already made her decision — hero society has to go. And she’ll fight tooth and nail to accomplish it. Even if that means directly going against Hyacinth and Marigold.
( She’s not sure if she’d be able to.)
Iris is on the run, from her morality, from society, from everything. Adding Hyacinth and Marigold to the pile might hurt, but it’s not anything new.
Iris stared at the Man Child that they called their leader. Even the Overseer had been more respectable than him, but Iris doesn't have many options other than to forever remain a follower. This organization might be stupid, with their misalligned goals and idiotic moves, but she can’t deny that they had power.
A bunch of power if they had managed to attack and corner UA students relentlessly about three times —
And that’s why Iris was here. She needed that power. She needed that power to not get caught, to survive. She might not be able to live like Hyacinth or Marigold, but at least she’d survive enough to see them happy.
If her actions make them unhappy, there’s not much she can do. This has to happen. A reformation of society. It doesn’t matter what side she’s on, it just has to happen. Stain wasn’t sprouting bullshit when he said the Hero Society was shit, he was saying legitimate things — and it sucks that no one other than Iris listened.
She’ll make them all listen.
The Garden might’ve sucked, but so does the Hero Society.
At least back in the Garden, she could’ve lived happily with Hyacinth and Marigold.
( You’ll never be redeemed.)
Iris tied her blond hair into two messy buns. She looked at the mirror, and immediately hated who she saw. Iris — no, she was Toga Himiko now — had just finished a mission. There was a bit of blood splatter on her cheek, but she didn’t care that much. After all, she was already horribly used to blood.
Looking away from the mirror, her gaze landed on the blood stained knife that had fallen from the sink to the floor. Heaving a sigh, she crouched down to pick up the knife and begin her washing routine.
The wind rustled, a quiet chorus coming from it. The only light within the room was the Moon’s sparkle, which directly reflected off the knife onto Toga’s blood red eyes. The door creaked, and Toga whipped around, but alas; no one was there.
This night was horribly calm, way too calm. Not a single scream can be heard — and that was alarming. Toga’s area was a well-known crime sect within the city. Muggers, robbers, abusers, they all lived here and often under one roof. Usually the drug dealers would be arguing or the gangs fighting, but it was dead silent.
There’s a predator nearby. That was the only valid explanation.
Who’s nearby? The night itself was what Toga had longed for — a break. Although it might’ve made her horribly suspicious, she was incredibly grateful for those moments of silence.
( Because with every single noise she’s reminded with everything she did wrong and sometimes it’s too much— )
Toga was reasonably pissed. She huffed, drying off the knife from the hydrogen peroxide that she had drowned it in. Putting the knife away, she walked out the bathroom door and into the pitch black hallway. Her steps were muffled, barely heard and mostly silent; as she had been trained to have. There were minimum to no creaks in the hallway, she had taken care of that of course.
She hated noise.
Toga opened the door to her bedroom and took a seat on the bed. Looking towards the windowsill, she paused.
There was a note.
Her heat dropped. There was only one person she knew that would leave notes; often because she left notes for him. But she didn’t say a word to him this time. It was astonishing how he had found her area of living, and knew when she would be there. If anything, Toga was slightly alarmed.
She flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, pondering if she should read the note. With a sigh, she dragged herself off the bed and plucked the note from the tape on the windowsill.
‘You know who this is, and where I am.
The time is 3am.
I expect to see you there. ’
Toga held up her watch to the moonlight, 2:30 .
She’d need 5 minutes to get ready and 10 to get there.
Toga rolled her eyes. She trudged over to the closet and changed quickly. One again, she sped through the hallway and back to her bathroom. She opened the drawer violently, making the knives jump at the sudden force. Once they had laid back down, she grabbed a couple.
She didn’t need much. Toga trusted him, after all. It was unbeknownst to her if she was trusted, but if worse came to worse, she’d run. She was outmatched by him in nearly every way other than speed.
Toga couldn’t leave by the door, after the mission tonight, if she was caught leaving, or entering; it’d be incriminating. She walked to her bedroom and opened the window.
The chorus of wind sounded around her ears as she put the note up to the moonlight again, analyzing every piece of it.
Where does he want me to go? Toga changed the angles of the note here and there until she caught a scribble, a faint one. The Garden really had trained them well, she mused.
‘The Roselin Diner.’
She jumped out of the window and gruffly landed on a nearby roof. She repeated the action until she got to where she needed to be.
And there he was.
She checked the time, 2:45 . Toga sighed, Of course he’d be here early. She made eye contact with him and spoke, this time not as Iris — but as Toga. “Hyacinth, what do you want?”
Hyacinth was leaning on the wall, shrouded in the shadows. The only way Toga had caught him is because of how the Moon seemingly reflects perfectly off his purple eyes — a tell tale sign the Hyacinth was watching. “Why did you leave, Iris?”
“I’m not Iris,” she corrected him.
There was silence, a silence that terrified Toga. Whenever there’s silence, Hyacinth’s thinking. It was common knowledge now that Hyacinth had been trained by the Overseer themselves, and that Hyacinth had the highest scores in intelligence. Way above herself, and most of the high rankers in the Garden.
Hyacinth sighed, and his gaze flickered downward before locking onto Toga’s, “You chose a different path?”
Toga stared back down at him, and replied, “I had no choice.”
“You could’ve stayed with us, yet you fled, why?”
“You’re near the heroes.”
“That’s not a reason. I didn’t ask about that, answer my question; why did you flee?”
“There’s no way you’re this fucking blind, Hyacinth,” Toga snapped, “The heroes — they’re not who you think they are.”
Hyacinth raised a brow, and smiled — a terrifying image that Toga had never seen in her years as Iris. His smile was sharp and pointed, perfectly matching his next statement, “And what’s new?”
“Huh?”
Hyacinth looked over to the side, momentarily as a squirrel rustled out of the bushes, “You heard me—” His gaze snapped back to Toga, “—what’s new?”
Of course Hyacinth knew. It’s Hyacinth, Toga asked, “What do you mean...?”
“No one’s who you think they are,” Hyacinth said, “Not you, not me, not them, and not the heroes.” Toga knew that wasn’t all he had to say, so she stayed silent, not a word said. “You should know this by now. It’s how the world works.”
“And you’re here saying that the heroes aren’t who I think they are? What do you think of me, Toga? Just what do you mean by that statement?” The venom that came out with her name was something that she had expected, but it didn’t hurt her any less.
“Listen, I didn’t mean it like that,” Toga tried to redeem herself, “I meant that the Hero Society isn’t as good as you think it is.”
“Who do you take me for, Toga? That’s fucking obvious ,” Hyacinth’s anger issues were beginning to spark, “But what other option do you have? To become a villain?”
“Well it’s not like I can be a hero!”
“You had the option right fucking there and you’re telling me that you couldn’t do it?” Hyacinth snapped back, “How stupid do you have to be? You’re not this dumb, Toga.”
Of course Hyacinth doesn’t understand, he’s too logical for that, Toga grit her teeth, holding in her anger, “Even if I chose that fucking option, I wouldn’t be happy!”
“So you’re happier on the run?” Hyacinth’s reply was instantaneous, it’s like he always knew what to say. “You’re happier getting threatened? Hunted down? Unable to settle?”
“I’m happy if I can make a change, Hyacinth.”
(“I wish I could change things about the Garden,” Iris said for the 50th time that day, “Like imagine having a break?”
“We have breaks,” Hyacinth looked up from his homework, “You just don’t use them correctly.”
“We need more breaks.”
“That’d just make you lazy,” That reply had sparked Iris’ anger. Of course Hyacinth doesn’t understand, he never does and never will.
“I’m not lazy!”
“Suuure.”)
“You and your stupid obsession with change,” Hyacinth rolled his eyes, “You could’ve done it from the inside out, but no, you always pick the worst route, don’t you?”
“Inside out would’ve taken too long!” Toga yelled, “Don’t you get it, Hyacinth? I want change to happen now! So when Marigold becomes a hero, he’ll be happy to be a hero.”
“You should become a hero too then.”
“I've killed, Hyacinth, I can’t be—”
“Then by that logic, neither can Marigold.”
Toga (Iris— ) stayed silent.
“Make up your fucking mind.”
“I already have! You just don’t understand! You’ve been brainwashed by these heroes—”
( “Oh but it has! You’ve been brainwashed by these heroes —”
“Brainwashed? You know what my quirk is, right?”
“That doesn’t —”
Snap. “Turn around and hand yourself into the authorities.”
Nice try Hyacinth. )
“Don’t ever say that shit to me again, got it?”
“Or wha—”
Toga was cut off as the familiar coldness of Hyacinth’s quirk washed over her. I pushed him too far...
“Don’t ever say that shit to me again,” Hyacinth’s stare was deadly. He took a deep breath and let go of his quirk. “Sorry, that just reminded me of —”
He cut himself off, but Toga already got the gist. It was obvious that Hyacinth was referring to the fight with the Overseer. It didn’t take rocket science to see how that fight affected him.
Toga sighed, “Right, sorry. But what I said still stands. I’m not letting go of my fucking decision. I don’t give a fuck about what you say from this point foward, yeah? You can’t change my decision. I don’t care if it seems stupid to you.”
Hyacinth ran a hand through his hair, one of the habits he had while trying to calm his anger, “Whatever. Just know that once you make this decision, you can’t go back.”
“I already made the decision.”
The silence returned.
“You’re a dumbass.”
“I don’t care.”
“I know, just wanted to clear the air a bit,” Hyacinth said, “When can I expect to see you again? On the battlefield?”
“We’re on two different sides, Hyacinth.”
Hyacinth shrugged, “Right now, it seems like you’re on a different world, not a side,” He got up from the wall and started walking away.
He paused, and looked one last time at Toga.
“If you target Marigold, I’ll target you.” His eyes were filled with the familiar feeling that Toga had forgotten he could do — bloodlust. And it made her stiffen.
His bloodlust was thick in the hair. Toga swallowed nervously, “Got it.”
“You’re not Iris anymore,” Hyacinth turned around, “And I’m not a hero, by your terms, and mine either.”
He didn’t finish the thought, but Toga knew what he meant.
If she targeted Marigold, she’d be dead.
And she had no doubt that he could do it.
(“He’s supposed to be the next Overseer...?” )
If she went to bed dreaming of Hyacinth ending her,
No one needed to know.
(His sparkling, moonlit purple eyes were forever ingrained into her memory. “You’re not Iris anymore,” Hyacinth turned around, “And I’m not a hero, by your terms, and mine either.”)
Iris is not a hero.