Chapter Text
“Hey, you’re coming over this weekend, right?”
“Yes, I already promised you I would. I can’t wait. I’m bringing the cheesy movies for us to watch.”
“Hahaha, now I’m not so sure about that. The last time you did that we ended up crying all night. You’re on snack duty this time.”
“No, come on! Don’t take away my movie privileges!”
Izuku Midoriya slowly leans back, peeking out the corner of his locker door and watches the two girls laughing at each other as they walk past him.
“If I give you another chance you can’t bring any tear jerkers, you hear me? I already cried enough after my midterms, I don’t need to cry again until finals.”
“Hahaha, okay, okay, I’ll only bring one.”
It must be nice. Izuku moves his eyes forward and finishes grabbing what he needs out of his locker. He shoves it inside of his backpack before closing the door, attaching his lock. He gives it a spin before he shrugs his backpack on, keeping his head lowered as he wanders through the halls. It was only one o’clock in the afternoon, so that meant the room would be empty. There isn’t another class until three, so Izuku had a full two hours to be by himself and concentrate.
He moves through the crowds like a leaf in the wind, shifting and breezing past the bodies heading the opposite direction. A class must have just gotten out or something, Izuku thinks to himself. There’s normally never this many people when he’s going through this hallway. Izuku finally makes it to his destination, room 101 in the west building. It took him a bit longer than normal to make it here, but the classroom was completely empty so he didn’t complain that much about it.
Izuku heads inside and closes the door behind him. He walks down to the front of the classroom and heads straight over to the grand piano next to the window. Petunia was her name. She has been here longer than Izuku, longer than most of the professors who taught here at this college has been. She was a real beauty… and probably Izuku’s only friend. Izuku takes his backpack off and places it on the floor next to the stool. He sits down and lifts up the cover, wiggling his fingers around a bit in the air.
“Hello Petunia, did you miss me?”
He plays a light tune, letting his fingers dance across the keys as he warms up.
“Really? Me too. Ready to have some fun?”
Izuku takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He begins to press into the keys with purpose, letting the music inside of him take shape and come alive. He’s been able to play with his eyes closed for years now, and thanks to his photographic memory and sharp ears, it was easy for Izuku to play back any song that he could think about. He started with something deep and sorrowful at first. He played away his frustrations of the day, of the week, everything that he’s been holding back from saying out loud, and Petunia took it all for him. She always did, so kind, so gentle, accept all of his emotions regardless of what they were and in return would bless him with this music.
Once one song ended another would begin, not a single break happening between the two. The keys would change and the shift would happen instantly. Izuku often got lost playing the piano like this. Sometimes if he wasn’t careful he could very well play until the first students started to trickle into the classroom for their next class. It’s happened to him before and Izuku embarrassingly ducked his head down and ran out of here. He hadn’t come back for a week straight, afraid of risking it happening again, but now he has a timer on his phone to remind him.
Izuku had only just begun though and he had no plans on stopping so early, so he played, and played, letting his fingers dance, allowing the music to take ahold of him, that is until he felt a shake.
Izuku’s green eyes snapped open and he looked around.
“Hello?”
There’s no response. No one was here. That was… weird. He swore he felt something shake underneath his feet. He starts playing slowly, more cautiously as he glances out of the window. It looks like any other normal Wednesday afternoon. He gets back into his music and closes his eyes, allowing it to possess him again. He never liked all the music lessons that his mother would force him to go to every Monday and Friday after school when he was younger, preferring to hang out with his friends instead… when he had friends, but he’s grateful for them now. Izuku didn’t know any other way that could relax him as much as playing a song-
BOOOOOOM!
Izuku definitely feels that shake, along with hearing something loud explode in the distance. His piano playing comes to a halt and he stands up, heart racing inside of his chest.
“What was that?” He mumbles.
He walks over towards the window and looks down on the outside. He saw students downstairs, all of them looking like ants from being so high up, and they all looked so-... far. They were getting harder for him to make out- they were all… running away? Running where? And from what? Izuku looks up and stares at the fire alarm that’s in every one of the classrooms. It’s not going off, so it can’t be a fire. Was this an exercise or something?
“I don’t know what’s happening.”
Izuku decides to do what he always does whenever he’s confused; he goes for his phone to search on the internet. He didn’t know if anything was happening or not, but if it was serious someone would have posted something on the school forum, right? Izuku digs inside of his phone and sits back on his stool. He unlocks it and taps his college app… waiting for the darn thing to open up… he swears that ever since he got that update it’s been working slower and slower.
“QUICKLY! WE HAVE TO RUN AWAY!”
Izuku’s head snaps up. Phone forgotten, he walks over towards the door and peeks out of the small window. A bunch of people just ran past him and Izuku has a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He opens up the door and looks around; no one else is running down the halls anymore.
“That-... that has to be a bad sign.”
Izuku should really learn to stop talking to himself. The ground shook, there was an explosion, and a bunch of people ran by the classroom yelling to run away. All those pointed to something bad happening, right? Izuku turns around and heads back into the class. He picks up his backpack and puts it on before leaving the room, heading the way he thinks he saw the others went. If there was something that they knew that he didn't, Izuku wasn’t about to question it.
He checks his phone again and unlocks it, the app finally loading up correctly. Izuku sighs out in relief as he checks the forum post. It’s moving by so quickly as students make new posts rapidly all about the same thing. Izuku’s eyes scan through it as quickly as he can, but before he can even process what is happening another explosion happens.
Right next to him.
Maybe that’s a bit too exaggerated, but Izuku didn’t know how else to explain it. He felt the heat of the flames, he was pushed back by the force and landed roughly on the ground, and his ears were ringing from the sound. His phone flew out of his hand somewhere, but Izuku couldn’t look for it. He could barely even see. All he could hear was a ringing in his ears as he tried to pick himself up. His vision was completely split and everything looked slanted. He might have a concussion right now, it would be best to stay down and wait for someone to come, he knows that, he should listen to himself, but something inside of him was screaming out loudly that he had to get up and move. He was in danger right now.
His instincts kicked in and Izuku slowly started pushing himself off the ground. He gags a little bit, the smoke filling up his lungs. He thinks he is about to throw up, but nothing comes up. Izuku turns his head to the side and looks at where the explosion came from. The hallway in front of him was no longer there. The walls were cracked and on fire, black smoke rising in the air like crazy. Izuku squeezes his eyes shut tightly and opens his eyes back up. His vision gets a little bit better and he- he-
…
Oh hell, is that a body right there? In- in the smoke. That’s a body, right? No- no, that person can’t be alive. Those flames were getting too close and the floor looked like it was about to give in at any moment. Izuku should run away and protect himself. There was no need to save a person who he didn’t know, who wasn’t going to survive. Izuku coughs out as he picks himself up. His legs are shaking and he takes a step back, turning around.
…
…
If that was him…
“Dang it!” Izuku coughs out.
He lifts up his shirt and covers his nose, stumbling to make his way to where the danger is. There was a body on the floor, a man, and if Izuku didn’t start pulling him back he would have fallen down as the ground crumbled right where he used to be. Izuku groans and yells out loudly, not caring about the sounds that are escaping him. His everything hurts so much right now and it’s not like anyone could hear him over the fire burning. Izuku doesn’t know what to do.
It would be suicide to stay inside of a burning building, but there’s no way he could carry this guy down the stairs in the other exit. Besides, weren’t the people running away from the other direction? He was trapped here, they both were. Izuku didn’t really have a choice other than to drag the unconscious man back to room 101. It was a struggle opening the door, and he might have dropped him once or twice, but he was able to pull him inside safely.
Izuku collapses on the floor and rolls around, gasping for air. The smoke hadn’t gotten in here yet, and the windows in the classroom were open, so he was breathing fresh air right now. He took a moment to catch his breath and laid there… entire body aching… wondering what in the world was going on.
On his phone… which he abandoned so calling for help wasn’t an option anymore, but on his phone people were posting up how there was an- an attack at their school. A villain attack. Is that what all of this was? Why today? Why here? Why now? Izuku groans to himself as he curls up into a ball. He can’t handle this. He can’t. He’s just a man- why is the world like this?
“Grrrng.”
Izuku’s eyes open up. He turns around, remembering the guy he saved. Thank goodness he was still alive. Izuku moves over towards him and looks down at him. The guy looked around his age, a student? He was bleeding from his head and he didn’t look all that good. Izuku looks over at him. Why was he wearing such a strange outfit?
It takes a second for two and two to come together. Izuku blames it on the trauma he’s experiencing right now, but he’s not able to make sense of things until he hears someone yelling out loudly.
“WHERE DID YOU GO HERO SHOUTO?! ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY AND HIDING?!”
A shiver runs down Izuku’s spine. He doesn’t need to see the person yelling to know that they’re a bad guy. A villain. Then this must be? Izuku looks back down at the man. He’s a hero… isn’t he? Izuku has mixed feelings right now, but he quickly shoves them down. What he knows right now is that there is a villain looking for the hero right now and if he comes in here and finds them that’s the end for both of them. Izuku tries to think quickly on his feet and looks around.
The supply closet. Would he think to look there? A villain causing this much destruction wasn’t going to stop inside of every classroom and open every door, was he? It was their only option. Izuku limps over there and claws at the door. Fear invades his system as he can’t get it open, thinking that it was locked and his life was gone, but that was only panic. It was a push, not pull. The door swings open and Izuku grunts as he drags the hero inside of it. He drops his backpack and looks around, staring at the grand piano.
“Petunia, please protect us.” Izuku mumbles.
He runs over to her, pushing her with all her might in front of the door. It would look too suspicious if she was keeping the door close, but if he pushed her in front of the door it kind of hid the handle. Izuku feels tears welling up in his eyes. His heart is racing as he tries to hurry, scared that at any moment now that door will explode open and he’ll be dead. Izuku moves the stool over in front of her and closes the lid down, more like slams it. He has no time to worry and simply flinches instead before he grabs his bag and runs towards the door, slamming it behind him.
It’s pitch dark in the room. Izuku is too afraid to turn on the light. His breathing is heavy and panting, invading into his system. Another groan escapes out of the man and once again, Izuku remembers the hero. He scoots back and crawls around the floor, trying to find his body.
His hand moves over something warm… and he feels a heart beating. Izuku takes a deep breath in and out, trying to match his breathing to the heart. It wasn’t going fast and frantic like his own heart, it was actually at a soothing pace. How was the hero doing? Izuku wasn’t a medic and he couldn’t remember if he was hurt anywhere on his body. Only his head was bleeding, so he was knocked out? Was he in the middle of that explosion? If that hit him at full blast, Izuku doesn’t know if he was going to wake up or not. He couldn’t abandon him now that he knew he was alive, but the fire in the building was spreading. They’d die regardless if they just waited here and-
BOOM!
There’s an explosion in the room. Izuku’s eyes widen as his entire body begins to tremble. It was close. It was so close. The tears he was holding back finally rolled down his cheeks, but he couldn't cry out. The slightest noise might alert the villain. Izuku holds his breath as he waits and listens. It’s quiet for a minute before he hears footsteps.
“COME OUT! COME OUT! WHEREVER YOU ARE HERO! DO YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME?!”
Silence… it’s dead silent. All of a sudden he can hear another explosion accompanied by the off-key notes of a piano. Petunia! Izuku buries his head down into the hero’s chest as he cries. This is it. This is the end. He’s found them. He’ll capture them and then kill them and Izuku didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die!
… He doesn’t die.
He doesn’t know how much time passes by, but it’s dead silent in the room. Izuku looks up, his tears drying as he stares at the only light coming into the storage closet from the crack underneath the door. He crawls over towards it slowly and leans his ear against the wood.
Nothing.
Does he dare? What if he was standing outside right now? Would it really matter? He’d still die no matter what. Izuku’s hand shakes as he reaches for the handle and pulls the door open. He peeks outside… but there’s no one around. Just a hole in the wall and Petunia… no. She was smashed into tiny pieces, parts of her still on fire. That- that- that villain! What did a piano ever do to him, huh?! Huh?! What the hell was wrong with him? Izuku gasps as he closes the door back. He was alive right now, he likes to believe thanks to her, but she was gone.
“Petunia.”
He can’t waste this life she gave him. Izuku sniffs and rubs his eyes. He’s alive because of her, so he won’t die now. She won’t have died in vain. The villain must have moved on to look for the hero, so turning the light on now has to be an okay thing to do, right? Izuku reaches for the light switch and turns it on. The light blinds him for a second, but his eyes quickly adjust. He makes his way over towards the hero again and looks at him.
“You’re fine, you’re fine, right? I don’t see any injuries, any bleeding, just a few scrapes and bruises.”
Izuku didn’t know what type of hero this man was, but he couldn’t have been a good one. There were cuts and scorch marks on his uniform, but overall he didn’t see any big red stains leaking anywhere. The only blood leaking was from his head. Izuku takes off his sweater and dabs it against the hero’s forehead. He cleans off the blood on him and looks over at his backpack.
“I have water!”
Izuku reaches for it and unzips it, taking out his bottle of water. It was half full, that was alright. He wets a part of his sweater and wipes away the dirt and blood off of the man. He wasn’t bleeding anymore, it was still an open cut though right on his forehead. That couldn’t have caused him to pass out; it must have been when he landed on the floor.
“Sir, it would be really nice if you could wake up right now. Please, wake up, wake up, wake up.”
Izuku didn’t want to shake him, but he didn’t want to die either. He tried patting his cheek a bit, then slapping him gently. His face scrunched together and he moaned out at that, but no movement. Izuku looks over at the water bottle. He still has some left. He holds it over the hero’s head and takes a deep breath.
“Sorry about this.”
He tilts it over and pours it on his face, careful not to get it near his nose or mouth. The last thing he wanted to do was kill the hero by drowning him; he only wanted for him to wake up. Izuku waits to see what happened… but nothing does.
“Dang it. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do,” Izuku mumbles.
There weren’t a lot of choices for him. If he stayed here he died, without question. If he left… there was a chance. Sure it was a small chance with a lunatic villain on the loose, but it was still a chance. It would be a bigger chance if he abandoned the hero… and why shouldn’t he? He obviously wasn’t doing his job correctly protecting the innocent. This is all his fault to be honest. If he didn’t want to die he wouldn’t have been knocked out and Izuku sure as hell doesn’t want to die right now.
…
…
Izuku sighs out as he picks up his sweater. He cleans off the hero’s face, drying it off, before getting back up. The ringing in his ear was gone, and his body was slowly not shaking anymore.
“Sir, you are lucky as hell.”
Izuku is going to curse him and bring him down to hell though if he becomes his downfall. The young college student tries picking up the hero, which is a terribly complicated thing to do. Izuku wasn’t all muscle and this guy seemed to be just that. He was finally able to maneuver him until he was hanging on his back, feet dragging on the ground a little as Izuku held onto his arms.
“Alright, this isn’t working.”
Izuku clenches his teeth tightly and jumps up. He stretches his hands back and grabs the hero's legs, holding him up. His arms were dangling over his shoulders and smacked at his chest, but this was much better than last time.
“Wish us luck sir,” Izuku grunts as he takes a step forward.
He wishes he would have done this after he opened up the damn door, but after a while he’s finally able to get it. Izuku leaves his things behind and says his farewells to Petunia as he heads towards the open wall in the room. He forgot that it was going to be smokey and wished he would have looked for something he could have worn as a mask in the supply closet, but it was too late now. Izuku headed away from the smoke and down the other hallway. He was careful not to drag his feet and always peeked around the corners before hurrying as fast as he could carrying a body.
“Izuku, you can do this. You can totally do this. This will probably be the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do in your life, but once you do it then everything should be easy. Tests? No problem. Finals? Midterms? Piece of cake. The future? I survived a near death experience carrying an unconscious hero on my back while a deranged villain tries to look for him. What can the future possibly throw at me after that? Shut up Izuku.”
Stop talking to yourself. Izuku bites down at his bottom lip. He’s able to make it to the emergency staircase with no problem, and luckily for him it was one of those push kind of doors. Unfortunately… he was five stories high.
“Hero, it would be a really nice thing for you to wake up now.”
Izuku waits for a response. He receives nothing.
“Okay, don’t get mad at me if I suddenly drop you though.”
It was hard walking around with him on his back; it was completely insane trying to carry him down the stairs on his back. Izuku became winded after the first flight and swore that he would start working out after this. He was never going to imagine himself in this type of situation again, but if he ever needed to carry his mother to safety… that was not going to happen.
Izuku is only able to go down two flights before he gets winded and has to take a break. He leans against the wall and slides down on it, gently putting the hero down before he sits next to him trying to catch his breath.
“You should really cut down on the snacks. You don’t look heavy, but you weigh a ton. This would be a lot easier if our bodies were switched.”
Izuku turns to the side to check on him. He looked better without all that blood and dirt covering his skin. He wasn’t pale, but there was color in his cheeks. All good signs, right? Because he’s going to be pissed if he tried saving this hero for him to only die at the end.
“Please be alright.”
Izuku reaches out and brushes his hair away from his face. He was a strange looking hero- or well, person. Man. Who had two different colored hair like this? It was split right down in the middle, half white, and half red. Not to mention that scar. He must have been in a terrible battle. Izuku brushes his fingers over it, feeling the dead skin. HIs eyes tighten for a little bit as he drops his hand. Izuku hugs his knees to his chest and buries his head down. He takes several breaths in and out, blocking the world around him as he tries to chase away his dark thoughts.
He can do this. He can do this.
“I can do this. I can do this.”
Izuku gets back up when he feels he rested enough. The fire alarms all of a sudden start going off in the school and it shocked him. He jumps up and looks around, hearing a loud blaring noise and lights flashing.
“You’re a little late there,” he grumbles before picking up the hero again.
Maybe this was a good thing though. Hopefully this would distract the villain, or hide the noises Izuku might be making right now. He makes his way down the stairwell, taking one step at a time. By the time he finally makes it to the bottom Izuku is ready to give up, but he’s come so far already. He’s almost there. As soon as he leaves these doors all he’ll have to do is walk down the hallway and there will be the exit. No more than twenty or so steps in front of him.
Izuku gathers up whatever hidden strength he has inside of him and pushes the door open. He peeks out, looking both ways, and spots his prize. Without a moment’s hesitation he heads straight for it. It’s right there. He’s almost there. They’ve almost made it. He could see people on the outside- he could hear them, or at least his imagination could. As soon as he revealed himself someone could come and help him and then-
“FOUND YOU!”
He’s dead. Izuku doesn’t see the point of taking another step forward. He limps as he turns around, seeing a villain head straight for him. Every step he takes sparks and his hands seem to be smoking. Izuku was about to die right now. There were still a lot of things that he wanted to do. He takes a step back, and another, because even though he’s accepted death there’s no way he can face it with courage. Why isn’t the villain ending this all right now? Why isn’t he ending their life?
“HAHAHAHA!”
Because he’s crazy, that’s why. He probably wants to play with them a little bit, torture them, and then… poof. Oh well. At least he tried. Izuku went down fighting, not like a coward.
Wait a second…
All the villain wanted was the hero. If Izuku drops him and makes a run for it, could he? Izuku feels his hands slipping a little bit. He could do it. There was a chance. The villain was looking all this time for the hero, not him. He could do it. He could do it! Freedom was no more than ten steps away! If he ran fast enough he might escape the explosion! He could live!
…
…
“I’ll see you soon,” Izuku whimpers to himself.
At least… at least he’ll be able to see him… in the afterlife.
“YOU’RE MINE NOW!”
Izuku closes his eyes and accepts his fate. He hears something loud, but it isn’t the sound of an explosion. He thought death would be instant and hurt, but this one was long and prolonging.
“Put me down.”
Izuku flutters his eyes open. That didn’t sound like the villain’s voice.
“Huh?”
“Put me down!”
Izuku obeys orders and drops his hands. The hero hanging on him falls down, but he doesn’t land on his ass. He stands up on his feet with his arm outstretched. Izuku can’t believe what he’s seeing in front of him. The whole hallway seemed to be imprisoned in ice and the villain was encased in it as well. He was not moving, mouth wide open and body hunched over as he was getting ready to attack.
“Get out of here, quickly!” The hero orders him.
Izuku has a thousand things to say at this moment. What was he thinking talking to him like that? Where was his thank you? He was the one who saved him, remember? But he doesn’t care. Izuku turns around and starts heading towards the exit. He runs out of the front door and doesn’t stop running until he sees people. They are yelling at him, screaming, but he can’t hear them. Their hands are outstretched for him to grab, but Izuku can’t reach them. The world was filled with so much color a moment ago, but now it’s slowly fading to blackness. He gets closer and closer to the ground and then… there’s silence.
And peace.
Izuku can hear a piano playing in the back of his head, Petunia’s final melody as she sings him to peace.