Chapter Text
Izuku never remembered a single one of his dreams, then again, there seemed to be a lot of things from his life that he didn’t remember. “Mom?” Izuku called out into the gray void. He twisted his body, looking all around him for a sign, a sound, anything, but there was nothing except the hazy odorless gray vapor curling through the air. “Mom?!” Izuku started walking in a random direction. I know you’re there. I know it. You have to be. After several minutes of walking without any change he called out again, “Mom! Please! Where are you?!” It almost felt like he was walking in place so instead, he started running. Just at the edge of his vision, he thought he saw the outline of a person and fixed his gaze on it. It… kind of looked like a person? He wasn’t sure, “Mom!” He ran harder towards the silhouette, but it was like running through quicksand and he just wasn’t getting any closer. They were certainly getting farther away though. He ran until he fell to his knees panting as the shadow finally vanished into the distance of the smoke surrounding them, tears falling from his eyes. She was gone, again.
Izuku woke gasping for air, searching the darkness around him, his karambit already finding its way into his hand. Sweat coated his skin and his clothes felt uncomfortably damp. His chest was still heaving. He glared around him searching for threats. I was dreaming, there’s no threat. No one’s here to hurt me. Izuku took a stuttering breath and slowly lowered his knife, still keeping a firm grip on the hilt. What was the dream? Something… I was searching for… something. His dreams were always gone the moment he woke, with only a vague remnant left behind. Sometimes he was searching, sometimes he was trying to get away, but he never remembered any more than that. Izuku slowly hauled himself out through the car window and gasped in the cold night air. His eyes flicked dangerously around him, constantly assessing for the dangers his mind was always sure surrounded him. He slowly levered himself onto the back of the car, laying against the trunk and his eyes finally settled to watch the stars. After several more minutes, his breathing finally slowed, though he shivered as his sweat evaporated in the cold air. He wasn’t getting any more sleep tonight. Of that, he was sure. He never did sleep much, and dark shadows had taken up permanent residence beneath his eyes, but he always tried to rest as much as he could before the nightmares overtook him. He wasn’t sure exactly what he could do to combat his terrors when he couldn’t even remember what they were of. Finally feeling at least slightly calmer again, Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the air chilling his lungs. The night sky always relaxed him, he figured it was because he never saw it when he was… there.
Shaking his body to rid himself of any memories of that place, he stood and grabbed his backpack, pulling it through the car window. Throwing his arms through the loops, he took off at a jog down the beach. He argued with his mind, and finally placed the knife back in its proper place in a sheath attached securely to his waistband. He was glad tonight was one of the few where he could relinquish it in only minutes instead of hours later. He tried to force his mind blank, but he never seemed overly successful, though running usually gave him the best chance at it. Images flashed through his mind, but he pushed each one away as it appeared. Washing dishes at a sink with scalding water. Fists flying at his face, appearing through blurry vision before vanishing into darkness, not even feeling when he dropped to the ground. A sharp pain and as he looked down, the bright flash of metal and horror as his mind realized a knife was sticking out of his side. He shook his head again, trying to push the painful memories away. They didn’t matter now. The past was done and gone, there was nothing he could do to change it. The only thing he could do was focus his gaze, strong and steady, on the here and now. The past was finished, and the future was irrelevant. Here and now. That’s all that mattered.
He quickly ran out of beach to run and made his way into the city. His breath came out in puffs despite his fitness level, the night air turning them into small clouds. His nightmares always left him a little more breathless than he was without them, though they happened so frequently he was getting used to just having to breathe a little harder these days. His eyes finally caught on what he had been looking for, an open convenience store. He turned towards the door, pulling it open carefully and slipping into the glaring fluorescent light. A little bell over the door announced his arrival.
The clerk turned to stare at him frowning. Goddamn homeless. “No charity,” he announced curtly. Izuku nodded.
“I just want to use the bathroom if that’s okay.” The clerk’s frown deepened. Great, I guess I get to clean up after him. Fucking worthless burden. Izuku winced. Even a convenience store clerk can see me for what I am. Great.
“Fine, just be quick about it. If I find you trying to take a bath in there, I’ll call the police.” Izuku nodded again and strode across the aisles towards the restroom. Hanging his backpack carefully on the hook attached to the back of the door, he yanked the zipper open and pulled his costume out. He changed quickly, keeping the more identifiable and alarming pieces of his equipment in his bag. He wore a black skintight long sleeve lycra shirt, a black knee-length slash resistant jacket with a hood, tactical pants that were baggy around his thighs and tight around his calves, a belt with a hidden pocket, and the same red high-top sneakers he wore every day. He could put his balaclava and holsters on later. No need to alert the clerk after all. He should have just changed at the car, but his mind had been racing and he had just wanted to get out of there and run. He used the bathroom, washed his hands, and slipped back out into the night, leaving the clerk grumbling behind him. He was always thankful for the quiet that only existed during the night. At least, it only existed at night for Izuku. Being in the city during the day, especially in crowded areas was always a rather painful experience for him. He had gotten better at walling off his mind from the thoughts of others over the years, but he still had a long way to go if he ever wanted to tolerate actually living around crowds of other people, not that he particularly wanted to at this point. He could still feel the hum of surrounding minds around him, but at night it was so much quieter, so much more tolerable. When he had first… gotten away… he had made the mistake of going into a mall in the middle of the day once. He cringed at the memory. The pain had been excruciating.
A few blocks down from the convenience store, Izuku slipped down into a dark alley. He made sure to reach out with his mind first before turning into it to make sure it was genuinely empty. Using the shadows to his advantage he strapped his holster that held his larger fixed blade combat knife to his belt and wrapped it around his thigh. He slipped his cross-chest throwing knife holster over his head and left shoulder and tightened it until he was sure it wouldn’t move and quickly replaced his jacket over top of it. Reaching further into his backpack, he extracted long strips of red cloth and wrapped them carefully around both his wrists and each knuckle. Finally, he took a breath and pulled his balaclava with an onryo design down over his face and twisted it until it was comfortable and properly covered his face and hair without obstructing his view and pulled his jacket’s hood over it. He finally felt himself relax with all his gear in place. He had every weapon he owned, or at least had ever “acquired” if not legally owned, either strapped to his body or hidden away in one of the many pockets of his coat. His gear had been carefully “acquired” or in the case of his beloved jacket, saved up for and purchased, over the past six months to maximize defense while minimizing impairment of his movement and light and fast fighting style. Izuku walked to the corner of the alley and delicately removed a few bricks from the wall.
Izuku had never thought he would be grateful to be slammed into a brick wall, but a few months ago he had been proven wrong. He had been fighting a villain with a bear mutation quirk, when they had thrown him into this exact corner of the alley and his body had knocked a few bricks lose. After the villain had unfortunately gotten away, Izuku had regained consciousness to find to his great surprise, the perfect little place to store his backpack when he went on patrol. It had gotten stolen one too many times recently. The building had been remodeled sometime in the last one hundred years and the walls covered with drywall, creating the perfect little space between the two walls to stash his bag. He had later tracked down the same villain and ensured sure he actually made it into police custody that time. Shoving his backpack into his own secret storage space, he replaced the bricks, stepped back, and leaped towards the wall, gripping the drainpipe. Quickly but carefully, he made his way onto the roof. Panting slightly from the exertion, Izuku crouched on the edge of the roof and surveyed the skyline of Musutafu. He had always found being up on a roof in the middle of the night one of the most beautiful places he could be, especially after…
Slowly, he closed his eyes and let his mind expand and reach out. It was always an odd sensation, almost like he was leaving his body behind, but it was extraordinarily effective at finding people that needed help. After all, not everyone screamed when they were scared or hurt. He found the people that no one else would or could. That was how he rationalized doing this after All Might had- Nope, not going there. He mentally shook himself and pushed further out. He could just barely feel the presence of thousands of sleeping minds around his own, but thankfully his quirk seemed to naturally ignore them. He could still tell they were there, but they didn’t intrude on his own thoughts. He had a theory about the types of brain waves that were emitted during different phases of sleep versus when people were awake, after all… Not the time! Stop getting distracted you worthless piece of- There! He could feel terror rolling off of someone in waves. He drove his mind closer to theirs, trying to home in on exactly where they were and what was going on. He could almost feel the tears rolling down their face and hear the short little gasps of suppressed sobs. Help! Please! Someone! It was times like this he wished he could project his own thoughts to someone else, to provide some level of comfort and say, I’m coming!
His mind sprang back into his body like an elastic band, and he started moving before he could consciously realize whether he was even heading in the correct direction. He flung himself over the rooftops, rolling to catch himself on the further jumps. She wasn’t far. He could make it in time. He was sure of it. It only took him a few short minutes to reach the roof that rose above the alley hiding the victim and her villain. Quietly, he crouched on top of the parapet and glared down into the darkness below him.
“You ugly bitch!” a gruff voice rang out from below Izuku followed by a sharp slap. “Someone’s gotta keep you damn mutants in line, and I guess that’s gonna be me.”
“Please, I’m sorry, just let me go,” a soft and hushed voice floated softly behind. “I’m sorry. I haven’t eaten, I just wanted some food, please.” Another slap echoed in the air around them and Izuku found he had heard enough. The anger that always bubbled just beneath his skin began to surface. His brows furrowed and his legs tensed in preparation for his attack. Slowly, he began to lower himself to the ground, keeping one eye on the villain and the other on the wall he was scaling. It only took a few moments to reach the ground and he crept forward quietly forcing his mind to focus in on the villain before him. The man’s mind roiled with rage and disgust and Izuku had a hard time not letting his own anger fill him up in response. Just one more step. And then, Izuku’s foot nudged a glass bottle sitting innocently behind the villain, that of course he hadn’t noticed because I’m an idiot! The villain whipped his head around, hand still clasped tightly around the woman’s throat and stared down at Izuku’s crouched position.
“Ah… hey, didn’t mean to bother you with whatever it is that you’re doing. I just wanted to grab that bottle to recycle. Ya know, everyone’s gotta do their part right?” Izuku gave his brightest smile full of innocence and snatched the traitor of a glass bottle off the cobblestones beneath him. His eyes flicked over to the woman against the wall and could see her eyes begging him to help her. He tried to give as indiscernible a nod as he could before fixing his eyes carefully on the villain. He was tall, taller than average with black hair and heterochromatic eyes, one dark (Izuku couldn’t tell if it was brown or black) and the other a bright yellow. Related to his quirk maybe? Not necessarily, but possible. What would cause it? Usually genetic but can be caused by an injury. Okay, maybe his quirk is more related to the yellow eye than the heterochromia itself. Possibly an animal related quirk then? Yellow eyes in humans are rare.
Is he serious right now? Recycling. That’s what he’s going with? The man gave a slow smile and nodded. “Right man. You just take your bottle and go I guess.” Like hell. He tried to shift the arm not squeezing the life out of the woman in front of him down to his belt without alerting Izuku. Unfortunately for him, Izuku could literally read minds, not that he would have missed something so obvious without it. Before the man could reach any closer towards the knife obviously sitting on his belt, Izuku sprung. Launching forward off the balls of his feet, he swung the glass bottle into the side of the villain’s head, breaking it. Nice, basically an extra free knife. The man reeled back, finally releasing the woman and she slumped down against the wall landing on her butt. Despite the desperate need to check on the victim, Izuku kept his mind and gaze anchored on the villain. He clasped the broken glass bottle in his left hand and drew his karambit with his right, sliding his index finger through the ring of the hilt. All right fuck face, let’s do this. Now, Izuku wouldn’t lie. He knew his quirk was particularly useful, even just in everyday life despite its …many drawbacks, but Izuku had found that one of the places it really shined was in combat. He knew his enemies moves before they made them and there was very little anyone could do to counter it.
Before fuck face had even moved, Izuku knew he was going to lung to his right, so Izuku just… moved left at the same time and slashed with his knife leaving a nice gash on the villains upper right arm. The villain gasped and gaped down at the weeping wound. Motherfucker! How did that little twerp… The idiot tried to charge again, this time straight at Izuku, so he ducked below the man’s arms and slid to the side, stabbing the glass bottle into the dumbass’s leg on the way. A scream tore out of the man’s throat as blood really started to gush out of his wounds.
“You little shit! I’m going to tear your eyes out and shove them down your throat!” He screamed trying the staunch the blood flow with his hands as much as he could. Izuku just smirked at him. I’d like to see you try, asshat. Moving much slower now, the man chased after Izuku with each move. Throwing a missed punch here, a sloppy kick there, and with each dodge, Izuku added a new cut to the man’s body until finally the man slowed to a halt and Izuku threw a final punch to ensure he really went down. Rolling his eyes, Izuku walked over, zip tied the man’s hands together, and yanked a large gauze pad out of one of the pouches of his coat. He always kept some meager medical supplies on hand when he could for victims or for villains that managed to… obtain slightly larger wounds. He pressed the gauze against where he had thrust the broken glass into his leg until the bleeding seemed to slow and taped it in place. Finally, he turned his gaze to the woman still sitting slumped against the alley wall, terror etched on her face.
Izuku raised his hands with his palms out, crouching down slightly to try and appear less threatening. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Are you okay?” Izuku asked, lilting his voice in a friendly manner. The woman watched him cautiously but didn’t respond. Even without reading her mind, Izuku could have told you she was still paralyzed in fear. “I won’t hurt you; I promise. I just needed to make sure he wouldn’t be able to surprise either of us before I helped you.” Izuku started to approach slowly, maintaining his non-threatening posture as well as he could.
“A-are y-you a h-h-hero?” a rough timid voice called out to him. Her eyes still shining with fear, but there was a little more life in them now.
Izuku shook his head. “No. I’m not, but I still want to help you if I can.” Izuku was never unclear about that answer. He didn’t want to trick people into trusting him. He was relieved to see the wariness stay in her eyes. Her guard was still up, as it should be around someone like him. Not a hero? Who is he then? Why did he help me? Is he dangerous? Izuku ignored the unspoken questions. “Are you hurt?” Izuku tried again, hoping he’d get an actual answer this time. He may not want her to trust him completely, but it was hard to do much for her if she wouldn’t let him.
Her hand reached up to her throat where fuck face had been squeezing. She seemed to be breathing okay despite the scratchy voice, which at least was comforting. She started looking down at her body, seemingly looking for other injuries. She shook her head in response. “I-I think I’m-m oka-okay.” Izuku figured she was in shock and might not have a full grasp on exactly what she was feeling but decided to trust her answer for now. He didn’t see anything apparent other than that her throat was obviously raw from being choked and a slight bruise was starting to form on her face from being slapped.
“That’s good. I’m glad that you’re okay,” Izuku smiled at her, making it as genuine as he could manage, though he knew she couldn’t actually see it through his mask. He hoped his eyes were enough to convey the emotion. “I’ll need you to do me a favor if that’s all right? Just stay there while I go call this into the police, okay? They’ll be here in just a few minutes.” Izuku stayed until she finally nodded slowly. Definitely shock then. The only thing he could feel when reaching for her mind was… apathy with just the slightest hint of fear remaining. Izuku turned away from her and walked out onto the main street to figure out exactly where he was. Pulling out his phone, he hit number 1 on his speed dial and waited while the non-emergency police line rung.
Shortly, a high-pitched perky female voice answered the line, “Musutafu police department, how can I help you?”
“Detective Tsukauchi, please.”
“Hold just a moment dear.”
Elevator music played through the crappy speakers for a few seconds before the line started ringing again. “Tsukauchi,” a gruff voice answered on the third ring.
“Rough night? What’s up man?” Izuku couldn’t resist the urge to tease him. Honestly, it seemed like it was always a rough night with him.
A heavy sigh filtered through. “What do you have, Onryo?” Izuku always flinched a little at the name his vigilante persona had earned, but he continued on as if it didn’t bother him.
“Oh, I’ve just got a little friend for you to pick up. Plus, her would be attacker if you would be so kind. Her throat got a little messed up since he started choking her before I got the chance to intervene and I expect a little facial bruising, so an ambulance would be appreciated as well if you don’t mind.”
“Fine, where are you?” Izuku quickly gave the address and moved to hang up the call.
“Hang on a second, Onryo. What kind of state is the villain in?”
“Aw, you softy. I can’t believe you would ask about him before asking about me. That’s just rude! I thought we were becoming friends. I’m great by the way since you didn’t ask, he didn’t even touch me. He’s just fine, Tsukauchi. A little bleeding here and there, but I patched up the worst of it. He’s currently unconscious, but I expect that’s more from getting punched in the head than from blood loss. He’ll certainly still be alive when you get here,” Izuku laughed. Another sigh escaped his phone. “Have a good night, Detective!” Izuku hung up. Walking quickly farther into the alley, he called out to the woman who had finally decided that sitting on the nasty ground of the alley was not where she wanted to be and was now standing, leaning against the wall. “I just let them know where we are, they should be here soon. Take care of yourself, okay?” Izuku went to start climbing back up to the rooftops after he felt relief echo from her mind.
“Wait!” Izuku froze and turned his head back to face her. “I just… I just wanted to thank you. I didn’t think anyone was coming. If you don’t mind my asking, who are you?”
He gave her a bright smile, “I’m glad I could help.” And he was, genuinely. He knew the feeling of believing no one was coming to help in your worst moments. He just wished he had been wrong the same way that she had been. Relief turned to disappointment and confusion in her mind. He turned and was racing away over rooftops only moments later, keeping just enough of a link between their minds to recognize when the police showed up before letting the distance sever the connection completely.
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Shouta really was enjoying this year. He had no homeroom class of his own, so all the gremlins he taught in heroics were really somebody else’s problem. He had upped his patrols in compensation for all the essays he wasn’t grading as well as to bring his stress back up to the proper level of endless. Though he did allow himself a little more time off than usual to spend with his husband because of his decreased workload from school. Despite this, he became a hero for a reason. He loved patrol, especially on nights like this. It was a gibbous moon, meaning it was still relatively bright out in spite of the late hour. The air was cool and refreshing and the stars were shining brightly down on the rooftops and streets below them. His capture weapon ruffled in the light breeze and Shouta closed his eyes, allowing himself to enjoy the moment of calm. Time like this was so rare. He had been a hero for many years now, but it seemed like the truly calm and peaceful moments like this were becoming more and more infrequent over the years. With All Might’s decrease in appearances, crime was starting to ramp up. Villains were becoming bolder, not that Shouta blamed All Might. The man had been a hero as long as he had been alive. He deserved to take time off, even if Shouta didn’t love him as a person.
Of course, the universe decided to take this moment to prove him right. His phone rang. Shouta let a sigh escape through his lips as he tried to hold onto that quiet peace for just a moment longer, but naturally, whoever was calling didn’t give up after just a single ring. He answered after the second. “Eraser,” he didn’t feel particularly friendly after they had ruined one of his rare moments of peace.
“It’s Tsukauchi. Onryo’s got another one for us.” Amusement encroached on the edge of Shouta’s mind at the annoyance in Tsuckauchi’s voice. Onryo, a newer vigilante, had made quite the impression on Tsukauchi since he first appeared six months ago. No one had ever seen the bastard and apparently, he took a lot of enjoyment in teasing the hell out of Tsukauchi, particularly on his bad nights. Shouta had to admit, he desperately wanted to meet him. He usually left the villains in at least decent shape and patched them up if they were worse off. Shouta had never heard of him going too far, which was rare among vigilantes. Add on the facts that he liked to rile up Tsukauchi by being a snarky rascal and seemed to win over every victim he helped, and Shouta could almost call himself a fan. Not that he would ever admit it. The vigilante was adding to his workload on patrol nights after all. He couldn't appear to view him too favorably or he’d get accused of going soft.
“Yeah? Does he ever take a damn night off? The kid’s killing me. I have enough paperwork to deal with without him adding to it every night.” Like he said, he has a reputation to uphold.
“How do you think I feel? The kid has taken to requesting me specifically Eraser. So not only am I dealing with him whenever I happen to have time, any time he calls in that I’m on shift, I have to clean up his mess.” Shouta tried to turn his light chuckle into a cough. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. It’s funny up until he goes down the same road that every vigilante does. We both know how this ends.” Shouta stopped laughing pretty quickly at that. He hoped that in this one instance, Tsukauchi was wrong. “Anyway, this isn’t the point. Can you go check out the scene? See if you can catch the little monster? We’re already on the way. Onryo said nobody was hurt too badly, but still requested an ambulance so let me know if he understated it.”
“Yeah, okay, I’m on my way.” Eraser heard the line click and lowered the phone from his ear. Despite the teasing, and the fact that so far Eraser actually liked the vigilante, he didn’t think Tsukauchi was wrong. Vigilantes were usually more trouble than they were worth.