Work Text:
Warnings: Major Character Death
...
Ears tilted forward when he heard the sound of the door unlocking. Izuku barely lifted his head from his paws to see the human he watched over enter. The man was tall with shaggy black hair and rumpled clothes that made him look homeless. It never failed at least once a week Aizawa was mistaken for being homeless. This amused Izuku to no end when he did follow the man out. Which was rare nowadays.
Izuku was a cat spirit selected to look after Aizawa Shouta. Typically there were only a handful of animal spirits out in the world at a time. Some like Izuku were assigned a human to watch over. These humans had special significance and must be protected from spirits who meant them ill. Other spirits like Shiratama another cat spirit did as they pleased. Shiratama rarely left her comfortable life with a human girl.
Spirits could come and go between the human world and the spirit world. They could also choose to be visible to humans or not. A human could not directly harm a spirit. On the other hand, a spirit could kill another if they decided to fight.
What had once been an oddity was becoming more common. Spirits were frequenting the human world unbound and choosing their own path. It made him nervous.
Shouta grumbled, "Evening, Bastard."
Oh yes. The man decided to name him Bastard. He scratched Shouta once and the man never let him forget. It had taught Shouta he did not like being picked up. Small he may be currently his true form was the size of a jaguar. This form was simply convenient for what he needed.
Izuku gave a soft meow at the man his green eyes flickering towards him. And as they were coming back they froze in seeing out the window. What in the... Shiratama?
A white female Persian cat was sitting in the window. He knew that if Shouta looked over he would see her. Shiratama wasn't one to let herself be seen by humans unnecessarily. His human mumbled something as he headed for his bed. Izuku doubted he would come out again before he had to leave for school.
Stretching out in a casual manner he glanced towards the man's room. The door was closed and he then moved to the window. With practiced ease, he pushed it open and walked out onto the rooftops. Cool night air blew through his black fur and he gave a bone-cracking yawn. This had better be important.
Once on the rooftop, they used for meetings he shifted into his human form. It was that of a teenager between fifteen and sixteen. His hair was black with tips of green. What always caught people's attention was his eyes. They were acidic green. The clothes he wore were a simple t-shirt and jeans. The first thing he noticed was another figure. A small smile crossed his face taking in the white-haired boy with bright red eyes. He appeared to be a few years younger than Izuku. He wore a light jacket over a t-shirt and jeans.
"Kouichi," he greeted, "I assume Shiratama called you in too?"
Kouichi turned to greet him, "She did. How is your human? Still a hobo?"
Izuku snorted, "He's not a hobo and you know it."
The two bickered easily back and forth until they felt Shiratama arrive. The feeling of her power caused them to turn. Three spirits in one spot was a rare occurrence. If anyone saw them it would appear as if three cats were on the roof. Nothing unusual or reason to be concerned.
Shiratama said, "Thank you for coming, Izuku, Kouichi."
"Of course," both intoned seriously their laughter now gone.
Izuku asked, "What are we meeting for though? The last time there was a large meeting between spirits was before that fight between All For One and the current user of One For All."
She said, "It has to do with the last meeting. All For One is alive and he has a successor. An attack is going to happen tomorrow and we need to stop it."
...
Shouta tapped his fingers against his biceps in thought. When he got up that morning to feed Bastard before he left for UA he found his cat was missing. Bastard had never left the apartment since Shouta adopted him nearly ten years ago.
He knew that Bastard was getting old and they tended to disappear when they felt their time was coming. The problem was Bastard seemed to be as healthy as he could be. Nothing about his cat spoke of being sick. Shouta hoped that the cat was simply exploring and that he would come back.
There wasn't time to dwell on his cat as they pulled up to the USJ. If Bastard wasn't there when he got home he would put up flyers. With his unique coloring, it would be hard for others to mistake him.
With some directing and prodding, he was able to usher his kids out of the bus and into the USJ. As usual, most of them were overly excited and a few made jokes. Kaminari and Mineta both received glares at their attempts at humor. Both boys cowered while Bakugo looked on in disgust. That boy needed an attitude check otherwise he would become a second Endeavour. It was something to work on later.
Once in the USJ, Thirteen took over explaining the details. Shouta was only listening with half an ear as he could not shake the feeling that something was very wrong. As usual, his instincts were right as a purple-black mist began to form in the center. Dozens of people began to pour out of it and Shouta instantly knew they were villains.
With an order to his students to get out and run back to the school, he lowered his goggles and jumped into the fight. He had to buy time for them. What he did not expect was a small body to join him. Or the sound of a bell chiming.
Bastard?! What in the hell? There was mistaking his feline housemate. His coloring and collar matched but there was something in his eyes that Shouta had never seen before.
Shouta tried to call out, "Bastard get back! What are you doing here?"
There were a few murmurs of confusion as his cat suddenly grew in size. Shouta felt a cold thrill of fear go down his spine. With each stride, the cat seemed to grow in size. At first, he thought it was his imagination. There was no way his cat was growing in size.
Then there was a gasp from one of the villains who Bastard had lunged at. His once ten-pound cat now was twenty pounds and the size of a small dog. Bastard was still growing by the second.
There were two more bell chimes in rapid succession as two more cats appeared. Just like with Bastard they were rapidly growing in size. He had to push that thought out of his mind as the cats are now the size of large dogs.
Shouta activated his quirk canceling out the villain who was knocked over by a white cat. The others were taking our villains one by one. They didn't hesitate to attack to incapacitate or kill.
One by one they fell but it was an endless stream of villains. He could see a blue-haired man and a black thing. All he could do was keep the villains from advancing. Suddenly he was pushed out of the way by Bastard. Just in time to see a hand pass where he had been before.
It was the blue-haired man the one he had seen giving orders. Shouta tried to catch his breath as Bastard hissed and growled at the man. There was a chime of another bell and suddenly Bastard lunged and came clashing with another large creature. He couldn't tell what the creature was.
The creature swiped at Bastard sending him careening back. With blood dripping from the new scratches across his chest.
The blue-haired man said, "You are Eraserhead. For a hero, you are so cool. It's too bad that you're on their side. I thought the spirits of this world had abandoned the heroes. Yet you have one protecting you. My spirit attacked yours. Such a little thing for a spirit. Too bad Spirits have been shown to die by Nomu. Nomu."
The big black hulking mass moved and Shouta's eyes turned to the thing. It didn't attack but all eyes were on the thing now. A nomu is what this man called it.
"Spirits?" He asked trying to find out as much information as possible.
The man laughed, "You didn't know? The cats are not simply cats! They are spirits given physical form. They bind themselves to a human. For what is only known to them."
Shouta didn't fully understand what that meant. Bastard had been with him for years. Sure he knew Bastard was smarter than an average cat but that didn't equate to being a spirit. Right?
There was a sharp yowl from one of the others and was returned by Bastard. Then suddenly there was another chime. Where were all these bells coming from? Suddenly his cat was no longer a cat instead it was a boy no older than his students kneeling in the dirt. He was wearing a torn t-shirt and jeans. Turning his head he saw that the two others had also become kids. The cats were kids?! Was this a quirk?
Bast... the kid that had been Bastard pressed a hand to his chest snarling, "Shiratama what the fuck is that thing?"
The smallest of the three kids said her voice uncertain, "I'm not sure. Be careful Izuku."
The one, Izuku glanced back at him. He saw a fierce protectiveness in the eyes. He stood unsteadily. Shouta took half a step towards him but stopped. The villain had called them spirits. Surely that couldn't be, right?
The villain said with a loud laugh, "So it is true! One of you is a bound spirit! I'll have to get rid of you otherwise you will simply get in my way. A bound spirit will die to protect its charge after all. Nomu kill it."
The black hulking mass rushed for the one called Izuku. It wasn't alone however the large creature from before had returned. A large canine that he didn't recognize. Its fangs were too big for its mouth and were deadly sharp.
A villain suddenly lunged for him and Shouta was thrown back into the fighting. He lost sight of the kids, spirits, whatever they were. More than once one of them shoved him out of the way of an attack. A few times he caught green eyes glancing at him with concern.
In a moment of inattention on all of their parts allowed the blue-haired man to get a strike on his. It was barely a graze of five fingers on his arm. Searing pain went through his arm and he hissed. On instinct, he kicked out at the man sending him tumbling back.
Shouta glanced down at his arm and winced. It was decayed where it had been touched by the villain. He could see muscle and only thanks to shock did he not feel any pain.
Suddenly Izuku was thrown into the air and he came down hard. He was unmoving now and something in Shouta froze. Dark eyes were wide with fear.
The girl shouted, "Izuku! Kouichi get to him!"
But they couldn't even Shouta could see that. They had their hands full with the villains. The Nomu picked up the boy who was completely limp in its grip. Shouta activated his quirk and tried to send his capture scarf at it. The scarf was knocked aside as it tried to bite into the boy.
Only for the doors to be blown off the entrance. All Might walked in grimacing as he took in what was happening. As much as he disliked the man he was never so happy to see him. In the blink of an eye, he had appeared in front of the Nomu and struck it. As it released Izuku, All Might caught him before retreating to Shouta. Gently he laid him on the ground before engaging with the villains.
Shouta tried to check over the boy but what he saw couldn't be real. It had to be someone's quirk. There were faint balls of light coming off the boy. His breathing was fast and short showing his pain. He reached out to Izuku only to hear the faint chime of a bell. Shiratama appeared by Izuku's side her hands on his chest. There was a faint glow there for a moment before her hands retreated.
"Shiratama?"
She glanced at him before shaking her head, "There is nothing I can do. That last blow... it was too much for him. Izuku was never the strongest spirit and that Nomu is something else. Between it and Shigaraki's spirit, I can't heal the damage that has been done."
"But..."
"There's no point in arguing with her," weakly interrupted the boy, "I made my choice in coming here. Protect you and risk my life. Or let you die. I couldn't allow the latter."
The lights that came off the boy grew in number and frequency now. He began to fade in and out and Shouta felt the loss of his friend. Bastard had been his cat for a long time. To lose him now under such circumstances was killing him inside.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Shiratama was the one who answered, "We aren't allowed to tell those we are bound to. The fact he revealed himself to you would have seen him punished severely. No matter the reason behind it."
Shots were fired from the entrance relief flooded him. The others were here just in time to help the students. A weak grip found its way to his bicep.
Izuku said, "All For One is alive. Ask All Might about him. Be prepared this won't," There was a deep fade and he did not go back to normal as the lights nearly obscured Shouta's vision, "Be the last attack."
And then he was gone.