Work Text:
Black boots took calculated steps when going through the rubble, careful to avoid what remained of innocent lives taken in the conflict that turned this entire city into ruin.
Not a single eye was on him as he continued past those that remained, their focus solely on identifying the deceased civilians.
Months ago he thought nothing could surpass the bloodshed at Kamino, many unnecessary lives were lost on that day, but that still can’t compare to this.
To what Jaku was reduced to.
“Ryukyu, there’s more trapped under the rubble!” Sir Nighteye shouted, his voice carrying across the landscape to where the Dragoon Hero stood.
“I’ll be right there!”
He kept walking, eyes searching the horizon for something.
Not too much longer until Sensei breaks free, and then the next stage of the plan can be carried out.
But first, he has to locate the person that caught Sensei’s interest.
Provided that person even survived.
For a brief moment, he stopped and turned to stare at one of the few Heroes who survived this fight.
Her long green hair left a panging in his chest as he held a hand up for a brief moment, reaching out to her only to stop when his eyes focused on his red gloves.
Red like the blood that was underneath, the blood that remained since Kamino, the blood that he can never clean off no matter how hard he tries.
Instead, he watched his mother run over to help Sir Nighteye pull yet another body out from under the rubble after Ryukyu cleared the debris away.
Not wanting to bring attention to himself, he instead continued his search for the one person Sensei kept an eye on.
The person whose Quirk evolved in such a way that it got Sensei literally salivating: a desire to make that Quirk his.
Red fabric caught his eye, his feet already pulling him straight towards it.
The person he was searching for had a red cape, though they were a dime in a dozen when it came to Heroes and their students.
He didn’t know if he should feel relief or disappointment when he saw it was only a piece of fabric trapped under a rock, not even attached to an entire cape.
Relief could stem from not wanting this person to fall into Sensei’s hands, but he also knows where disappointment came from.
Even if he still knows Sensei for what he truly is, he can’t fault himself for his fear of failing Sensei.
If it wasn’t Sensei, then he would have probably gone down a path of complete mediocrity.
Instead of being unknown thanks to the effects of a Quirk gifted from Sensei, he would be unknown for not having a Quirk.
Just another nameless face in a crowd of people.
Perhaps he would have been part of the ones who died in Kamino or Jaku?
Or maybe he’d die much earlier?
As he picked up the red cloth, he allowed his mind to briefly wander to that fateful day well over a decade ago.
When he had just turned five, still fresh from his visit to that doctor.
–
He would never forget that day by the river, when the friend he admired fell off the log.
While the other boys said that their friend would be fine because he was strong, he didn’t think that.
All he could think about was offering a hand to his friend, because it’s something a Hero like All Might would do. To make sure that someone was ok after taking a nasty fall like that.
However, his friend rejected the hand he offered and yelled at him.
Claiming he doesn’t need the pity of some “Deku.”
Perhaps he shouldn’t have offered that hand on that day, but he doubts it would have made a difference whether he offered that hand or not.
Eventually his friend would have left them all behind in his pursuit of glory as a Hero who surpasses All Might.
Though while he likely should not have offered that hand, he likely would have still done so no matter what because it’s just part of his nature.
No matter how hard Sensei tries to rip it out of him, he refuses to let go of his kindness.
On that day, he decided to sit by the river instead of following the other boys.
(Thinking back on it now, he realized had he followed them when he did then he would have just barely missed that fateful meeting.)
All alone by the river, he remembered bringing his knees to his chest. His entire body shaking as he sobbed all alone, his doctor’s words and mother’s apologies swirling in his head followed by his friends’ jeers.
That was how Sensei found him.
“Poor child, it isn’t easy being different. Rejected, shunned, treated like trash.”
Those were the first words Sensei greeted him with as he set a large yet gentle hand on his back. Rubbing comforting circles like how his mother used to whenever he would cry from getting a small scrape.
He doesn’t remember too much more about that encounter, other than the soothing words Sensei spoke.
At the time he thought Sensei was an adult who saw something wrong and offered to help, an adult that could be trusted.
An adult who had nothing but good intentions.
“You dream of being a Hero, don’t you?” Sensei asked, as if he was going to actually offer to help Izuku fulfill his one and only dream.
And like a fool, he took the bait—hook, line, and sinker.
“More than anything.”
With a smile that effectively hid the wolf in sheep’s clothing, Sensei offered a hand.
“I can make you into something more than a Hero, something even better.”
In hindsight, he should have asked what Sensei meant when he said he could make Izuku into something better than a Hero.
But he was only five and saw the world as unfair, knew he would seize any and all opportunities to be a Hero like All Might.
To be saved from his lot in life, from a future of mediocrity.
—
He was a fool to take that hand, but take it he did.
And now he stood in the ruins of Jaku, hands clutching on a piece of some Hero’s cape as he kept searching until he finally found what he was looking for.
There wasn’t much left though: only half a head, an arm, and a splatter of blood.
Togata Mirio did not stand a chance against Sensei’s chosen vessel the moment it was released from the lab, even if the vessel was released early.
Why Sensei was interested in this student, Izuku did not know.
All he knew was that this was yet another life that was needlessly taken to achieve Sensei’s goals.
He reached down and picked up the arm.
For a moment he thought about grabbing the head too, but then he remembered that Sensei only needed a single body part to take a Quirk.
Not as many pieces of a body as possible.
Plus it would be for the best to let the Heroes take Togata’s head so they have something recognizable that can be burned and put to an altar.
“Excuse me? Who are you?” A voice asked.
With a slow blink, he realized that he must have subconsciously shut off the gift from Sensei.
He only glanced back at the painfully familiar voice, knowing that she would not initially recognize him because it has been over a decade since she last saw him.
His body has grown and changed then, no longer that small and weak child that would cling to her leg.
The very child who would beg her to watch and rewatch the same video over and over again.
“I won’t ask again, who are you? I don’t remember you being part of the cleanup crew.”
He finally faced his mother for the first time in what felt like forever, though he doubted she would immediately recognize him.
He did not think she would know he was the very reason why she became a Hero in the first place.
“My name is Yoichi, and you’re right. I’m not with the Heroes,” he said, staring past white bangs to get a better look at her.
To see how she has changed since they last encountered each other.
His mother studied him, as if trying to figure out where she has seen him before, only to shake her head.
“If you aren’t with the Heroes, then why are you here? This is a restricted zone.”
With a smile, he held up the hand he collected.
“Locating something for my master, but there isn’t much left to find.”
He stepped aside, pointing down to the head and blood splatter for his mother—no, for the Hero to see.
He needs to remember that he can’t call her his mother anymore, because he is no longer her son.
“I suggest you call Sir Nighteye over, I hear he had a hand in training this boy and it’s only right that he knows what happened to his student,” he said, already turning his back on the Hero and activating the gift from Sensei.
He could feel her search around, hear her call out to him.
He knows it could look like he just warped away, or that he simply went invisible right before her eyes.
In truth, it was just a change in perspective.
With a deep breath, Yoichi clutched the hand tight the moment he felt a familiar tingling in his throat.
He did not look back at where the Hero stood, still trying to find someone that she just keeps overlooking.
A person who is just another nameless face in a crowd of people, a blank slate that no one would ever pay attention to.
As Transmission carried him away from the ruined city, he mentally apologized to the Hero who would never find her son.