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There was a rumor at aldera junior high. It had started in the first year of middle school.
It was about Katsukis weird classmate, the green haired one that never talked to anyone.
Apparently an upperclassman had spotted the All might keychain hanging from his backpack and offered him an All might sweater to fight a villain. It was clearly meant to be a joke.
But the lunatic not only did it, but he won, if one would believe the rumors.
More and more rumors of the sort started popping up around the school. People were curious, curious enough to try it for themselves.
Katsuki never believed any of them. But the rumors never seemed to stop. Even escalating after a student claimed the green haired boy appeared out of nowhere and saved him from a mugging.
Students started to carry All might merch almost religiously. Some felt safer with an All might keychain on their person than with a phone that had the police on speed dial.
Katsuki just found it stupid that anyone would believe such a thing.
He always scoffed when he heard extras talk about it. It was ridiculous to believe any of it, especially after Katsuki discovered that the green haired boy, 'Izuku Midoriya' was quirkless.
Katsuki was grateful that he could finally leave his weird school, when the last middle school year came to an end.
The USJ was flooded with villains. But what scared Katsuki most was the giant creature that smelled like a corpse. It was capable of incredible speeds. It healed a stab wound within seconds. Every movement it made was inhumane, shouldn’t even be physically possible and judging from the way it’s bones cracked, it wasn’t. It’s dead eyes that seemed to be looking into a void were somehow still aware of everything around it. The exposed brain bulging from it’s skull looked rotten and grey.
Eraserhead was doing his best to keep the thing away from students but everyone could see he wouldn’t last much longer. Every movement seemed to be slightly slower than the last. His arm was ridged, clearly injured and he was having trouble breathing.
Katsuki himself wasn’t in a better situation, he and Kirishima were surrounded by a large group of villains. His body ached all over, but he couldn’t rest without risking both of their lives.
His own explosions were stating to tear at his skin.
The ribs on his left side felt like they were crushed to powder. The villains knew, attacking his injured side relentlessly.
Katsuki only got a little breather when the villains turned their attention to their leader.
The villain, who had introduced himself as Shigaraki, was monologging about All might.
Kirishima and Katsuki could only watch in horror as the villain cackled and the giant monster crushed their teacher head into the ground. A strangled scream echoed through the battlefield followed by a silence, somehow more deafening than the scream.
They couldn’t even tear their eyes away from the horrifying scene their teachers blood painted on the ground.
So much blood it painted both his black hair and suit in a shiny red coat.
Without the enormous amounts of adrenaline in his blood, Katsuki would have thrown up right where he was standing.
"Where’s your hero now?-" the villain mocked- "Call for him, maybe that’ll help!"
Shigaraki stepped on their teachers twitching had, causing another heartbreaking scream.
More of the sinister laughing shock the walls of the USJ. But Katsuki wasn’t hearing it, the last statement still ringing in his ears.
Even non-believers pray when faced with death, because at that point everything is worth a try.
He didn’t have a weapon he could defend himself with anymore, he didn’t have energy to fight anymore, but there was one thing he still had.
A golden hair still stuck on his uniform from the training days prior.
Katsuki looked at Kirishima behind him. He could barely stand anymore. He’d rather die defending his friend than watch Kirishima be killed because he didn’t do anything.
With a deep breath Katsuki grabbed the hair and raised it above his head with a shaking hand.
Ironic how much the pose resembled All mights victory pose…
"Midoriya Izuku, I offer you this in exchange for your protection !"
For a moment everything fell silent, all eyes staring at him.
Great now he was going to die from embarrassment instead of blood loss.
An ear splitting crack pulled him from his thoughts. The bulletproof glass of the giant structure now shattered on the ground in front of a giant gaping hole left in the wall of the USJ.
A small figure was visible amongst the rubble.
It couldn’t be!
It moved closer to him with wide determined steps.
It was just a rumor!
Finally the green haired boy stopped right in front of him, stretching out his hand expectantly.
Even though he was at least a head taller than the boy he felt dwarfed by his presence.
He was still holding the piece of hair above his head, Katsuki realized, still dumbfounded by what was happening.
"Is it real?", acid green eyes stared at him blankly.
"What?"
"The hair, is it real?"
Katsuki couldn’t help but stare for a moment. This was just surreal. The small boy was getting annoyed with him, evident by a small aggravated cough he let out.
Katsuki wordlessly handed the strand to him. Watching carefully as the strand was inspected. The whole USJ had gone quiet. Even the villains were effected by the suffocating presence. As if he was commanding the battlefield without even being part of the fight.
Control without exception.
"What do you want in return?", he asked, apparently satisfied with the offering he was presented.
With that Katsukis determination returned, together with an ambiguous smile. "Make sure every student and teacher of UA is safe, by any means necessary."
A bright smile broke out across the boys face, but his green eyes were no less deadly. "If that’s all you want." He responded with a light shrug.
With slow, steady steps he turned to Shigaraki. Flashing his bright smile. Shigaraki acted first, sprinting forward with an outstretched hand, ready to attack.
Izuku took one more step forward, this one cracking the ground beneath him with its sheer force. Green lightning cracked to life around him.
Instead of avoiding Shigarakis hands Izuku intertwined his own with them, in a way where it was impossible for Shigaraki to lay all five fingers on his skin. Without ever once stopping his bright smile.
A broken horse scream ended the standoff. Shigarakis face contorted from pain. It all happened to fast, Katsuki didn’t even know what had happened until he saw Shigarakis fingers.
They were bent out of place at angles that shouldn’t be possible. Some were just hanging, as if the only thing still connecting them to his hands was his skin. And not a single drop of blood.
The no my was next. Without hesitation he pulled at the things brain. The brute force and lack of remorse was terrifying.
The Monster thankfully didn’t bleed, Katsuki wouldn’t have managed to stomach that. The sound the things brain made when it landed on the pavement was already close to to much.
At least he was on their side…
…as long as they had All might at least.
Katsuki watched with gruesome fascination as Izuku moved on to the next villain. He only noticed now, none of what he did had been random, he’d started with the biggest threat moving on from there.
He fought with intent. Somehow that didn’t soothe Katsuki in the slightest.
Any villain still in the stadium started making a run for it, helped by the right hand of the leader and his warp quirk.
They were safe now! Quickly Katsuki turned his attention to Kirishima. Applying first aid as best he could. Kirishimas focus seemed to elsewhere, eyes turned to Katsuki, wide with questions and fear.
"Don’t ask, just be glad it worked…"
Thankfully Kirishima listened and let him work undistracted.
Steady steps stopped behind him. He turned to look at his old classmate, now looking rather nervous.
"Thanks for the cool merch- really I-I really appreciate it you know!"
Katsuki just stared in utter confusion- this couldn’t be the same person that had fought Shigaraki.
"You really helped me out you know! I had to use the only hair I had from him, thanks to you my collection is complete again!"
Katsuki just continued to stare.
The green haired boy looked uncomfortable with his lack of response. "So um- I’ll leave if you don’t need anything else…"
A short nod later he was gone. And Katsuki was still speechless. The rest of his class staring at him in horror.