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Izuku thinks he must be dreaming.
It wouldn’t be the first time he sees things that aren’t there- even before his parents died, he’d play with little flower folk that called themselves ‘pixies’, he spoke to streams, took advice from trees. His mom had said he had an overactive imagination. His social worker stated he liked to disassociate from reality, and it was unhealthy.
Izuku had learned to keep the ‘strange’ things he would see to himself. Which is why he didn’t scream, didn’t try to call for the person on the night shift for the group home when a tall, thin stranger appeared. He had twisted horns and sharp, pointed ears, vines of nightshade and spruces of hemlock growing through his hair, curling about an onyx crown. On his back, a pair of wings that shimmered white under the moonlight, the red and black veins along the thin surface almost ethereal.
Don’t interact with your hallucinations. He heard the unpleasant woman warn him. No one wants to adopt a strange child- you have to be good if you want to be happy.
So he didn’t move, staying on his little bed, clutching the one toy he’d been able to keep from his time with his parents. This wasn’t something real- this was all in his head. This was a dream, not a threat.
So why did he feel so afraid?
“I’ve finally found you.” The trick’s voice sent a shiver over Izuku. It was filled with such longing, awe. The ten-year-old didn’t know what to make of it. “You’re so small…”
The dream- perhaps something of a king, with his crown and regal clothes, knelt before the child, long sharp fingers carefully reaching towards his cheek.
Izuku closed his eyes, trembling. It’s just a dream- don’t interact. It’s just a dream- don’t interact.
Except the dream pressed real, cool fingers against his heated cheek.
He startled, looking directly into the red, serious eyes before him. He- he was-
He was real ?
This couldn’t-
“I’m sorry it took me so long to find you.” His hand rose to card through the young boy’s curls, eyes wistful. “I’m so glad you’re alright, little one. As my son, you never should have been left to such terrible conditions.” The strange creature reached for both of his hands, holding them imploringly. “That’s all in the past now. I’ll take you home- I’ll make this right.”
Izuku- still wrapping his head around how this hallucination was as solid as the children who bullied him, couldn’t help but frown in confusion. “I- I’m sorry, mister. But I’m not your son. My dad…” His throat choked up with grief. Even after all this time, it was hard to acknowledge the truth. “My dad and momma died; in the car accident.”
“No, no.” Thin lips curved into a sympathetic smile. “Dear me- I can barely feel your magic core. You’ve been starving for so long.”
This didn’t make sense to Izuku- he had eaten just that evening. It didn’t taste as good as what his mother used to make him, but he definitely had enough to be full.
“It’s okay- let’s get you home now, and then my little one can eat as much as he needs.”
Part of Izuku started to suspect maybe he shouldn’t have kept quiet, maybe he should call out, even if this isn’t real. But then the world began to tumble like it had when his family’s car had been hit. Except instead of his head being jarred as glass shattered and metal shrieked from abrupt bends and tears, his tiny bed warped, twisting up to the ceiling, breaking off into blossoming branches. Grass sprung up at their feet, forcing their way through new cracks in the floor. Looking beyond the stranger’s form, Izuku watched as the ceiling dissolved, revealing a dark, starry sky.
Leaning to the side, Izuku vomited, the bile burning his throat.
“Wha- at did yoou doo?” He groaned.
The creature’s sharp features softened, “Ah, I forgot. You’re still so young. Stepping through the folds of the dimensions still hurts.”
Izuku groaned. The answer didn’t make any sense, and Izuku’s throbbing head wasn’t helping. The pain radiated at his temples, and his stomach churned in sympathy. I’m having a nightmare, he thought. It was the only thing that could make sense of what was happening. A nightmare.
Squinting up at the creature, he saw how its features shifted, an eye blinking open in his forehead before melting away. Darkness curled off its skin, forming screaming faces and howling creatures before dissipating.
“Oh, oh, little one.” The creature murmured, pressing a kiss to Izuku’s pounding head. The affection was sweet, but Izuku could still feel sharp canines behind. “I’m so sorry.”
Feathers grew from the stranger’s translucent wings, building and building until they fell over Izuku, tightening around his form, brushing against his cheek. Izuku wiggled for a moment but immediately stopped as the slightest movement sent his head spinning.
With a pained huff, he rested his head against the creature’s chest.
“Oh, -----,” his captor crooned, and Izuku shuddered. He didn’t know what the trick was saying, but Izuku felt it down to his bones, his very core thrumming to the sound.
“How?’ Izuku whispered.
The creature chuckled, “I already told you. I named you your true name.” He held the child closer, sharp fingers tracing lines over his neck, his back, around his ears. After a few minutes, Izuku’s world started to grow more solid (as solid as the nightmare could be, at any rate). But once he began to feel like himself, more human , the being pulled away, a slight frown overtaking his expression. “Your form hasn’t shifted.”
Izuku felt increasingly confused, staying still as the creature again felt the tips of his fingers, the curls on his head, pressed carefully against his shoulder blades.
“Your features should have started by now…” Abruptly, sharp claws began to pull at his superhero t-shirt, tearing near the collar. “Your human garment is in the way- it could hinder their growth. We need to destroy this-”
“NO!” Izuku thus far had allowed himself to be handled and maneuvered and had stayed quiet without complaint, despite his fear. But the shirt was one of the few things he had left from his parents- he wasn’t about to let this stranger destroy it further. Smacking the hands away, startling the being, Izuku twisted out of his hold, tumbling down onto the grass and moving to flee. Once he’s placed some distance, he turned around, keeping his back to the wall while eyeing the stranger-
Except the stranger was gone.
Izuku had one brief, hopeful moment that his strange nightmare was finishing, that soon he would wake up. Instead, strong hands landed once more on his shoulders, grasping the fabric roughly before tearing down the back. The child cried out, clutching at his beloved shirt, but the being didn’t let him move further. He traced his hands along the shoulder blades once more, pressing. “I don’t understand- not even your wings… Feeding in this realm should have started the process, unless...”
Izuku, stiffening at the feeling of sharp claws, looked slowly over his shoulder towards the mad man. Red eyes met his, and didn’t look anything other than concerned. “Little one, why do you not eat? Surely you are hungry?”
The ten-year-old stared at the creature holding him captive. He hadn’t been given anything, and all of this was much too scary to have made him even think of food. “I-I don’t understand. Take me back to the group home- y-you ruined my shirt! Momma gave it to me, and-”
He watched as the plants intertwining around the king’s crown wilted, the leaves turning brown and falling into the white hair before gentle green stems regrew in their place. “-----, you must eat.”
At the call of the strange name, Izuku felt another shudder run through him. There was a feeling, a yawning need that he at once knew had always been there but also never realized was so closely a part of him. Now it was right in front of his thoughts, insistent and grasping without knowing how to hold whatever it sought. Lip quivering, Izuku curled into himself, trying to shut out the strange and terrible world. “I- I want to wake up. I don’t know this feeling. I don’t know what you want from me!”
The creature took in a sharp breath, feathers regrowing to come and nestle around him. “Oh, my little firefly, my precious moonbeam. Even this part of your heritage, you’ve forgotten?”
One of the long twisting nightshade vines crowning the creature's head twisted into a bloom and ripened into a deep black berry. With regal grace, the creature plucked the berry from the vine, holding it between two fingers.
“You’ve been starving for so long.” He crooned. “But that’s all over now. All you need to do is open up.”
The berry shimmered and swelled, visions of rainbows and dancing flowers sweeping over its surface. A strange energy radiated off of it, pulling Izuku towards it like a drowning man towards air.
Yet Izuku resisted, forcing himself to take a step back. He knew the stories. Every ancient tale whispered by old men and withered women warned against partaking of something so over it. Their voices echoed in his ears, “A gift given requires a price paid. Don’t accept boons lightly, little one; you never know the cost.”
The creature smiled, pointed teeth peeking out underneath his pale lips. “Come now, little one. Don’t be stubborn.” He held the berry out, and Izuku groaned under the need to take it and eat.
But he gathered his willpower and forced out a “No.”
The creature paused, looking as if he had been turned to stone. Features chiseled into perfect disbelief. Then the spell cracked as he shook its head. “No,” the creature repeated back. “No...” The word hovered in the air then crashed down on Izuku. “No, I will not allow that.”
The creature snapped its fingers, and vines sprouted from the ground. Izuku shrieked as it lunged for him, snapping around his ankles and crawling up his legs. “Get them off!” He tore at the vines, ripping into the plant’s slimy flesh until a sharp pain flashed in his head. He clutched his head, willing the hurt to disappear, but his eyes weren’t working right. Everything was shifting and changing, like when he was little, and flowers became sprite and trees became wise, but this feeling was more. It was more intense and overloaded his brain.
The long green vines entrapping him melted away into deep blue scales as the flowers became hissing snake heads. They slithered up his body, crushing Izuku’s legs together and binding his arms against his chest.
“What’s going on?!” He screamed as the snakes bloomed petals, and their tails sunk into the ground like roots.
The creature, who had been silently watching this take place, stepped forward, berry pinched between its fingers. “Poor little thing. So unaware of your nature. So blind to what’s really around you.” He bent down, crimson eyes locked on the tears dripping down Izuku’s cheeks. “I can help you see. I can help you know. Just open up, little one. Open up, and eat.”
Its long fingers pressed into Izuku’s cheeks and peeled apart his lips until the nightshade berry was inches away, hovering above Izuku’s lips like a black hole, threatening to pull him in.
“That’s it,” the creature purred as he pulled open Izuku’s mouth and forced the fruit in. The berry exploded on contact with Izuku’s tongue, fizzling into oblivion, and it sent sparks down Izuku’s spin and up into his brain. His fingernails sprouted wings, his legs grew eyes all around him, and the landscape warped and changed—all except for the creature.
Izuku moaned as the creature picked him up. Izuku couldn’t move; he could hardly think. He could only ride this wave of chaos and power that was threatening to overcome him. His eyes fluttered closed.
“That’s it,” the creature crooned. “Go to sleep, my prince. Now you will begin coming into your form. Don’t fret- I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Unfortunately, the creature kept its word because when Izuku woke up, he was crouched over him, head tilted to the side, its lips peeled back in a smile.
“Hello, precious,” he cooed.
Izuku flinched into the thick blankets wrapped around him. He threw them off and tried to crawl away. He still didn’t know where he was, a starry sky twinkled above him and thick walls of vines and stone surrounded him, but anywhere was better than here with this creature.
He chuckled, its clawed hand wrapping around Izuku’s ankle and dragging him back. “Where do you think you’re going, little one?”
Izuku flipped onto his back, arms coming up to protect himself. There was still a strange zing over his body- energy dancing over his skin that was both easing yet uncomfortable. And for some reason he itched - the crown of his head and ends of his hands and feet making him want to run them along a firmer surface. His back, too, seemed irritated, and he couldn’t help shuffling against the surface to try and alleviate the feeling, the surface not feeling quite right.
The action did not go unnoticed. “No, no, none of that. Let me see your back.”
He pinned Izuku on its lap, an arm wrapping around Izuku’s waist. At once rebelling, no scratching or thrashing made the hold budge, and Izuku felt its chest rumble in irritation.
“-----!” Izuku jolted, the hairs on his neck prickling. He was a mouse trapped under the claws of a hawk, a fish clenched in a bear’s jaws; he was exposed, skin peeled off, revealing his vulnerable interior.
“Better,” he grumbled, and Izuku realized that during his shock, the creature had maneuvered Izuku onto his stomach, where he rested in the creature’s lap. “They’re still so small, even after your feeding.”
Izuku craned his neck, watching the creature trace a long finger up and down the delicate, green wings sprouting of Izuku’s back. Its finger followed the lines of the membrane from its back to the tips of the wings. Izuku shuddered at the feeling, and his wings trembled in turn.
“Sensitive, aren’t they?”
The panic that had been squashed under confusion bared its head. “W-why are they there? They shouldn’t be there- I shouldn’t be here !” Tears dripped from Izuku’s eyes, and he squeezed them close. “I should have woken up by now- why is the dream still going? I- I need to go back home. You aren’t real- This isn’t real! You’re a trick. Like the tricks my mind sometimes plays on me when I’m tired and bored, and the trees talk to me, and the flowers dance, but if I ignore them, they go away, and Kacchan and the teachers and everyone else stop yelling at me-”
Thick arms wrapped under Izuku’s waist and flipped him upright. Izuku yelped but snapped his mouth close when fingers curled around his jaw.
“Look at me, little one.”
Izuku tried to shake off the hand.
“Look at me, -----.” A core inside him shuddered, and Izuku’s eyes snapped open, unable to resist when that strange word was used.
Crimson eyes, the color of blood on snow or a cardinal’s red belly, peered into Izuku’s face. Izuku tried to shrink away, but the grip on his jaw tightened. The creature’s face was inches from Izuku’s own. This close, Izuku could see the unnatural shimmer glossing over the creature’s pale skin. There were no wrinkles, moles, or blemishes- no imperfections or anything that made it human.
Against his better instincts, Izuku reached up a hand and poked the creature’s cheek. The warm flesh pressed in under pressure, and a zing sparked on Izuku’s finger flashing white, red, then black. He blinked, probably surprised at Izuku’s boldness but said nothing. Izuku pulled away, watching a thin vine poke out of the tip of Izuku’s finger, coiling down his index finger.
“How can you be real? Who are you?” The harsh lines of the creature’s face softened, its white lips quirking in a half-smile. Izuku shrunk away, but the creature tightened its hold. “I’ve told you, little one. I’m like you.” Its fingers curled into Izuku’s hair, pulling Izuku closer, and cold lips pressed a kiss onto Izuku’s forehead. “I’m Hisashi Shigaraki, Master of the Mysteries of Magic, King of the Faeries, and your father. ”
“You can’t be. I had a father, and he died. A father doesn’t abandon their child.”
“-----, there is so little you know. So much growing to do. But I will help you through all of it.” Its fingers pressed into Izuku’s cheeks, forcing his mouth open. From its pocket, he withdrew a shiny red rock. The rock thumped, pulsing like a beating heart, and then it was a heart, oozing blood and pumping despite its lack of a body.
Izuku whimpered and tried to shut his mouth as his supposed father brought it closer. “Ai own’ wan it.”
“But you need it.”
The creature forced the heart past Izuku’s lips and then covered his mouth. Izuku gagged and thrashed, trying to spit it out. He could taste the tang of blood dripping down his throat. “Most must willingly accept such as gift,” he murmured as Izuku sobbed. “But I can bypass that Law since you are my child and I am your king. So there is no use in fighting.”
Izuku finally swallowed and felt the stone explode inside his chest, its electric energy crackling through his bones and fizzing in his brain. The surroundings twisted and swirled, and like last time, the sensation overwhelmed him, forcing Izuku into unconsciousness.
He doesn’t know how many days it went on like this- how long it had been since he’d been taken from the group home. Izuku would wake up, be held and coddled and tempered into good behavior, then fed another strange item. Sometimes it was water with moonbeams captured within; sometimes, it was Yarrow with bees still stumbling over the petals. Sometimes it was the bones of a creature engulfed in shadows or teeth sharp and red. Each one was always the same, swallowed too easily for the form it took, and then the energy (the magic ) contained flowing through his body.
It was constantly too much, too powerful. And as the feeling of his body absorbing the magic left him dazed and falling back asleep, he’d listen to the Fae King croon out the strange name, letting him know he was doing so well, he was growing, he was getting better.
Eventually, the magic did not throw him into a state of helplessness. He grew accustomed to the whirling and churnings of reality, learning to bend it betwixt his fingers, softening the harsh changes to something he desired, he felt safer with. He did not sleep immediately after and soon realized he slept less and less- even as days went by.
The Fae King would not listen to him when he tried to plead not to eat that day or when he asked to go back to the human realm. The being, though terrifying, never grew angry with him. He would only look at him sadly like Izuku was too young to understand what he was asking.
“You need to eat more, -----. Once you are better, then you will understand.”
Soon he did not need to force Izuku. He would sit quietly, resigned, and open his mouth wordlessly, letting the strange pieces be placed on his tongue, swallowing the strange and uncomfortable forms of magic.
He watched as the strange little wings on his back grew vibrant and beautifully green, twitching at every touch, every emotion. From his hair grew moss flowers, little vines of moonflower braiding and curling into a circlet that the king placed pieces of quartz and emerald into.
Izuku no longer felt like someone trapped in a stranger’s house. His surroundings which had seemed so foreign and uncomfortable to him, now fit around him like a well-loved glove. He could recognize the grass underfoot as a soft carpet, the lush moss as a blanket, and the ever twinkling sky as his lights. He became intimately aware of this room, surrounded by its vine-choked walls. He wondered what was beyond those stone walls if there was a way for him to step back to his reality with humans, cars, phones, and school. Izuku craved the sensation of sunlight on his skin and real food that didn’t leave him dazed. He wanted to go home.
After the latest feeding of a crystalized rainbow, Izuku feigned exhaustion, allowing his heart to slow and his eyes to flutter closed as the Fae King stroked his fragile wings.
He felt the king press a kiss against his forehead, magic tingling with the contact before slipping away, the stone walls parting to let him through.
After waiting soundlessly, Izuku sat up, shaking off the moss covering him and the flowers that had grown between his limbs. Approaching the stone wall, he ran his hand across it. Part of him knew that he would not be able to scale the stones. The wall would not allow him.
Izuku paced back and forth, his wings trembling in agitation as he tried to determine how to escape. Finally, he stopped in front of it and stretched out a hand. Izuku knew what was needed, even if he didn’t want to believe it. Reaching inside, he tapped into the core of energy, Izuku’s magic, and forced it to the surface.
His head constricted in pain, and his limbs burned, but green sparks of lightning crackled across his arms and into the wall. With a groan, the stones pulled away, allowing Izuku to slip through the gap. Once through, the wall shifted back into position, looking as if they had never moved.
The Fae King would be furious, he realized suddenly, and the thought made Izuku’s wings tremble. Izuku needed to run. He couldn’t be here with the King returned. He had to escape this realm.
Izuku ran, leaping over gushing rivers and sprinting through thick pine forests. He didn’t know where he was going or how to get home, but he couldn’t stop. I need to go home, he thought. The core of magic inside him thrummed, and Izuku could feel it pushing at him now, tweaking his wings and pressing on his ankles, changing his direction through this strange land.
Izuku submitted to the feeling, allowing his path to be diverted through bogs of bubbling mud and fields of towering mushrooms until he came to a stop at a crumbling wishing well. Izuku approached carefully, noting the bucket and rope sitting on the well’s edge.
Why was I brought here? Izuku wondered, pressing at the magic core inside. Why did you bring me here?
His magic sparked across his skin, pulling him over to the bucket. Picking it up, Izuku noted its peeling wood and ragged rope before throwing it into the well. The bucket disappeared into the darkness. There was no splash or thud, but a heavy weight filled up the bucket, threatening to pull Izuku down into the hole.
Straining, Izuku pulled the bucket up, hand over hand. Sweat dripped from his brow, and the green spark of his magic reappeared over his skin, strengthening his muscles as he lifted the bucket out of the darkness.
When the bucket reappeared, Izuku was moments from passing out, and he could tell that the core within himself was drained. Izuku heaved it up over the well’s edge but lost his grip, and the bucket tumbled to the ground.
Thick golden liquid like preserved sunbeams poured out of the bucket and then gushed out, flooding the surrounding area until Izuku stood in the ankle-deep golden liquid. Ripples formed in the liquid, and a giant crystal-blue eye blinked open.
Staggering back, Izuku watched as the eye emerged from the liquid and then snout and then head and then neck until finally, an entire dragon slithered out of the liquid. Its long horns scraped the night sky, sending sparkling stardust falling to the ground, and its wings stretched wide, blanketing the surrounding forest.
“Who released me!?” the dragon roared, its long teeth flashing. It craned its neck, lowering itself to peer at Izuku. “Was it you? Did you release me from my prison?”
Izuku stumbled backward, his wings wrapping around himself as additional protection and tears dripping from his face.
The dragon’s tone softened, “I’m not angry little faerie. I merely wanted to know to whom I am now indebted.”
“My name is Midor-”
“Remember, little one; names have power.” The dragon interrupted. “Do not tell me your name unless you wish for me to have it.”
Izuku’s mind flashed to his childhood friend and bully with blonde locks and crimson eyes. Kacchan, who had once been such a vivid part of his memory, now seemed muted. But his name for Izuku still lingered. “Then call me Deku.”
“Deku. An interesting choice in name. You may call me All Might then.”
The name matched the dragon as Deku matched Izuku. Even feet away, Izuku could feel the magic coursing underneath the dragon’s glossy scales. All Might seemed as powerful as the Fae King, if not more so. Izuku bit his lip and blurted out his request. “Can you help me go home?”
“Home?”
“I’m a human. I want to go back home to earth, to my neighborhood. I don’t want to be here!”
The dragon’s sapphire blue eyes blinked. “Human? Child, if you are a human, then I am a bird.”
“But I am! The Fae King says he’s my father, but he’s not. He brought me here, but I’m not supposed to be here!”
A deep grumble built in All Might’s throat and crescendoed into a roar. “All for One. The magic thief and destroyer of light.” His scales increased in brightness until they shone like the mid-day sun, blinding Izuku’s eyes. “And you are his child.”
“But I’m not!” Izuku cried, tears gushing down his face. “I’m not, and I want to go home.”
The dragon leaned down, its tail curling around Izuku. “I can recognize the harsh sweetness of that being’s magic on you, although yours is more innocent. You are young and naive, unused to this world.” The dragon sighed. “His crimes are not your own. But regardless of that. You are fae, and you are his kin. There would be no point in sending you back to the human realm. Your magic is awakened and too weak to sustain you. You would die within a moon’s cycle.”
Inside Izuku, the core of magic hummed in agreement. Even now, with his magic store depleted, he could feel his wings drooping and his body sagging. He craved more of it, needing that buzz of energy to sustain him. With a heartbreaking sob, Izuku knew All Might spoke the truth.
In the distance, birds cawed, and meteors streaked across a now dark cloudy sky. A cold wind swirled up from the ground, spinning leaves and flowers in its grasp.
“Deku, the Fae King is coming, and he is not pleased.” The dragon was now inches from Izuku, close enough to eat him whole in a single snap. “Until you are stronger, the human world is beyond your reach. You are at a crossroads, little fae. You must decide your road.”
Izuku looked towards the chaos that grew closer, back to the frightening shape of the dragon before him, then the forest beyond. The magic he’d grown accustomed to whispered in his ear, dancing around his form. Whatever path he chose had the potential to divert him even further from his goal. He didn’t want to risk the unknown but feared what he knew could happen as well. He didn’t know; he didn’t know-
A memory, sudden and fierce, sprung to his mind. Of feeling helpless, hopeless, unsure of what to do as he knelt outside of the broken car, crying as his mother urged him to move away from the car, blood trailing down her face.
(“Oh, my little Izuku. It’ll be alright.” Inko smiled weakly at her darling boy, pure love in her expression. “I know it’s a hard choice, sweetie. But you can make it- you’ll be alright.”)
The memory- so potent, seemed to burst around him, the presence of his mother flittering softly over the swaying grass and dewy leaves. Izuku closed his eyes, feeling the phantom touch of his mother’s gentle hand.
(“It’s a hard choice, sweetie. But you can make it.”)
The Fae Prince opened his eyes, “I’ve made my decision.”
