Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izuku had always been a bullied child, ever since the Doctor’s visit he had had when he was 4 years old. He had lost his best friend due to his quirklessness, all because he had been too weak for Bakugou to want to stick around. He knew he was weak, but he didn't know how to fix it, no gym or training place would take in someone that was Quirkless. Someone as useless as himself.

And it was because of that weakness, his quirklessness and lack of ability to fight back, that he was in his current predicament. His bullies stood above him, the one with the long fingers—Nagai Yubi—stood directly in front of him, holding the neck of Midoriya’s uniform in his hand to prevent him from getting away. Midoriya himself at this point had a bloody (and potentially somewhat broken) nose and a black eye, he had bruises of various levels of healing all hiding underneath his uniform shirt, and a fresh bruise on his wrist where Nagai had grabbed him.

“So then Deku, How ya like all the new wounds?”

Nagai laughed as he spoke the words, before pausing when blood from Midoriya’s nose dripped down onto his hand. At which he quickly let go and pulled his hand away, shaking it trying to get the blood off.

“You goddamn quirkless! I can't believe you're trying to share your damn null status with me!”

Surudoi Kiba, the one with the sharp teeth, and Kakudai Kubi, the one with the long neck, laughed from behind Nagai. Then finally, after getting the blood off of his hand, Nagai turned away from Midoriya to leave. Midoriya nearly had hope that that would be the end of the torment, as the final bell had already run, and they were the only four left in the classroom, but then Nagai froze right before leaving the classroom.

“You were lucky Bakugou wasn’t here today, or your beating would've been so much worse,” Nagai laughed at the idea before continuing. “If you don’t want that beating tomorrow, ya better just jump off the roof before tomorrow comes!”

The three boys laughed as they finally left the classroom, but Midoriya could barely pick himself up from the floor where he had sat. His body felt heavy as he made his way out to the hallway. Stumbling from an old wound on his leg, he made his way slowly down the hallway to the staircases. And finally, he made his decision, stepping onto the staircase that went up.

Each step felt like the weight on his shoulder lightened, like the world was telling him that this was the correct decision. He continued up the stairs, taking the few turns he needed to continue up to the door that led to the roof. Okay, the world was definitely telling him this was the correct decision, because the always locked and chained rooftop door was not only unlocked but also wide open.

Midoriya made his way to the edge of the roof, which had a railing that was only there to follow building codes, and would probably never have worked to actually stop someone—like him—from jumping over it and off the roof. Looking down below, the sun was lowering over the edge of the skyline, it was November after all, and the school yard was clear of everyone. Great. No one would see, good, the last thing he wanted was to be a spectacle after everything that happened.

Midoriya stepped over the railing, sitting on top of it for a minute to enjoy the sun lowering as the sky turned red. Enjoying the pink and orange clouds, the cold wind that pushed gently on his black eye and moving the blood coming out of his broken nose. His uniform swayed in the wind, and he didn’t even bother having taken his shoes off- who would want the shoes of a Null? But then, after enjoying the slow descent of the sun, he closed his eyes and pushed off.

Bakugou had always been the first to arrive at school, but now, standing at the entrance to the school yard, he wished he wasn’t. He couldn’t breathe as he dialed 110, barely above a whisper he told the person on the other side what he had stumbled upon. He could feel his body shaking, but he couldn't think, all he could see was the lifeless form at the entrance of the school, the pool of blood that he didn't know if had dried or frozen. 

Deku- no, Midoriya Izuku was dead . Bakugou didn’t know how long it had been since he called the police, but the next thing he knew they were there- packing up Midoriya into a body bag. An officer must have put a shock blanket on him, because Bakugou felt a new weight lay over his shoulders. And he was in a car, being driven home—when had that happened? Bakugou could now just barely think again, as he sat back on his couch at home, he heard his mom talking to the officers, but it felt like everything was deep underwater.

When Bakugou finally got up from the couch, it seemed to be late afternoon, a now cold bowl of untouched miso soup in front of him. He gently shifted the blanket off of him, as he heard his mom and dad talking in the kitchen. He settled into the couch, pulling his legs closer to him, before grabbing the miso soup and putting it on his folded legs. Slowly eating the soup, although it did nothing for the dryness he felt in his throat. 

“Izuku, other than the falling injuries, was found with so many other injuries.” He heard his mom say to his dad in the kitchen, although faint, it was the only thing he could focus on other than the soup.

“I assume it was bullying? I mean, poor Izuku was quirkless after all.”

“That’s what they suspect- but no one knows for certain until they get Inko’s statement. Besides, this suicide triggered an investigation into Aldera”

“That’s good.”

Bakugou tuned the rest of it out, as for when he looked down at the bowl, he realized he had finished it. He put it back onto the coffee table, and then laid down on the couch, it all felt like nothing to him at this point. Midoriya Izuku was dead, he had left Bakugou alone and behind, and Bakugou had never realized how much he had cared about Midoriya.

He guessed that this must've been how Midoriya felt for so long. But that didn’t matter anymore as he was dead. Bakugou finally closed his eyes and fell asleep, wishing he had been there the day before- no, that he hadn’t bullied Izuku and had protected him instead.

Chapter Text

Tsukauchi stared at the case file in front of him- how does a body just go missing ? The body of Izuku Midoriya went missing, along with a spare body bag, just before the autopsy had begun. Although, the time it went missing was right after Midoriya Izuku had been released to the press to be quirkless by someone that knew him, so chances were that it was taken because of some quirkest piece of shit. 

But that was, somehow, only one of the most concerning things he had found so far. According to the statement given by Midoriya Inko, the woman practically neglected Midoriya for the entirety of the boy's youth after he had turned four. Sure, when she was around, she had cared for him- but she had drowned herself in work to avoid any semblance of contact with her son. She hadn’t even seen him for a week before he ended up dead.

Tsukauchi sighed to himself as knocking rattled his office door.

“Come in.”

Eraserhead walked into the office, and sat in the chair on the other side of Tsukauchi. He set his own coffee down on the desk, and folded his hands.

“Do you want to tell me what kind of case I’m supposed to help you with?”

“Midoriya Izuku, died by suicide.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a case-”

“His body went missing, his mother was neglectful, if he hadn't died right in front of Aldera- the school would have been able to succeed in denying everything.”

Tsukauchi practically growled out his words in frustration, before grabbing his coffee and chugging down a large chunk of it. Eraserhead just stared at Tsukauchi, as if his brain hadn’t fully processed everything that was just said by the Detective. Then Aizawa moved, grabbing the file from in front of Tsukauchi and flipping through it, his brow knitting together as he focused harder. The Detective couldn’t tell for once what was going on in Eraserhead’s mind.

“How the hell did this all happen?” Eraser asked, finally setting down the file.

“The boy was quirkless, we are trying to keep everything quiet- especially after the body disappeared. We’re assuming someone took it due to him being released as quirkless in the media.”

“Damn Vultures. So, any leads so far? Or am I here to go digging for you?”

“You’re logical Eraser, I need you to find the body.”

Eraserhead nodded at Tsukauchi’s words before standing up and grabbing his, so far, untouched coffee. He made his way to the door, and opened it before pausing in the frame. Mostly, just so he could take a sip from his coffee, but afterwards he spoke again to Tsukauchi.

“Make sure to email me the files, and any leads.”

Tsukauchi nodded, though he doubted the pro hero even knew that he had, as Eraserhead adjusted his capture scarf and walked out of the office. The door slammed behind Eraser as the Pro Hero disappeared.

Midoriya Izuku didn't know what to expect when he died- but waking up in a back alley at midnight was not what he had figured as most likely. He was lying face up to the sky, where clouds covered the moon's light. Had he failed? No, he had definitely died on impact. He got up, expecting everything to hurt, but nothing did—which was a super weird feeling—so he stretched. And then he heard fly’s buzzing

When he turned, he didn’t know what he had been expecting, but seeing his own decomposing face peeking out of a mostly zipped up body bag, was definitely not on the list of possibilities. Midoriya freaked out, letting out a gasping scream as he jumped away from the bag. He panicked, looking around for anyone else, before tensing to dart out of the alley way.

But then he froze; If he was dead and people had known, then wouldn't going out in public looking exactly the same as before he died be extremely incriminating? He paused, untensing, and looked around for any trashed clothing in the alley to change into. Apparently whatever alleyway he was in, was a dumping ground for old trashed clothing- so like, score .

Within his head, he made a checklist of things he needed to find to replace his apparently blood stained uniform; mask and/or hat, sweater, and pants. Thank god he didn’t take off his shoes when he killed himself, because otherwise he would have been running around in only socks! He couldn’t imagine what diseases he could pick up if he was in this alley with no shoes, or any alley for that matter, but wait a second- could Izuku even be hurt? He definitely felt the same as he had before he killed himself, but he didn’t know since all his injuries from before had faded away. But it was whatever, right now he needed to get a change of clothes and then find a bathroom to change into them.

Midoriya dug through the pile of clothes that lined the side of one of the buildings in the alley, and grabbed the first sweater and pair of jeans he could find. A thick bright pink hoodie that said “Kill me.” in gold with a black outline and in one of those old hippie bubble fonts and a classic pair of pale blue jeans with some stains that were hopefully from brown paint and not blood. Underneath the sweater had been some extra luck, a black face mask, that didn’t even have any stains!

“Aw, hell yeah!” Midoriya cheered to himself, before sliding the mask over his mouth.

He undid the buttons of the uniform, the white t-shirt underneath was very decidedly no longer white, but that wouldn’t matter as he quickly put the sweater over it to cover up within the November weather. It was still November, right? That didn’t matter though, as he grabbed the pair of jeans, so he could change into them in a bathroom somewhere nearby, and started heading out of the alley. He only paused for a second when he saw the knife, a small switchblade glinting near the alleyway entrance.

He picked up the blade without much thought, knowing damn well that the night scene of Musutafu were not a place to be defenseless. Ignoring the dried blood that coated the handle and the sharper part of the knife, he folded the knife and tucked it into his new hoodie’s pocket. Midoriya then stepped out of the alley, into the dark streets that Musutafu held within them.

Chapter Text

Before Midoriya had left the convenience store where he had changed his pants, and trashed the rest of the uniform, he had grabbed some fabric paint they had and had asked for the date. Midoriya, of course had paid, he was lucky the spare money he had had in his pockets came with him after death. But other than that Izuku had learned something important- it had been a week .

He had died on the 5th of November, and it was currently the 12th- no, 13th, midnight had been an hour ago. He sat on the curbside, gently painting his red shoes black with the fabric paint and his thumb. When he had finished, he wiped the excess onto his jeans—they were stained enough as is—and threw the empty paint bottle in the nearest trash.

And then he took off, jogging down the poorly lit sidewalk to the more abandoned side of Musutafu. He could tell when he got closer because of the streetlights getting progressively less bright, and then eventually in various levels of destruction. He stopped in front of a building with a hanging shop sign on top of the entrance, half of it was missing so all he could read was “Nekokura’s … café”.

Only a slight bit of hesitance was in the back of his head, but he couldn’t stop. He was dead . He had seen his own body- he didn’t know how he was breathing, much less how he'd been running around. But he needed to make sure, in this second chance of life, that he wasn’t found by those who didn’t care- those who had hated him.

He carefully made his way through the doorway, stepping over broken glass and heading towards the staircase. The probable once bright wall paper that had once had cat prints on it was now faded and peeling. The fabric of the diner seats were completely torn up and most of it was no longer attached to the fixtures. A doorway he assumed to lead to the kitchen had a faint scent of rot coming from it, but all together none of that was important. He headed up the staircase, careful to avoid the steps that seemed like they were about to or were already broken.

The further up the staircase he made it, the more the building grew in decay. By the time he had made it to the 8th floor, just two floors from the top, there were almost no walls, and it was just a square with cement pillars holding up the next floor. There were a few remnants, a show of where old apartments used to be. Broken porcelain from what he assumed to have once been bathrooms, glass near the edges showing where windows had been on the few outside walls that had been destroyed.

Izuku made his way to one of the corners of the floor, it had the most amount of walls still intact. He entered the doorway, one of the only few frames still intact on the floor, inside the 'Room' was a rectangular room, 2 windows on the longer side, and 1 on the shorter side. The door was positioned so that he could easily be out of view when someone was entering.

He didn’t have a backpack or anything to claim the area as his, and he definitely wasn’t throwing down his knife. Just because he hadn’t seen anyone yet doesn’t mean no one was around. So, he left the room to go grab the least rotten and decayed wooden board that he could find, and propped it up to act as a door.

“There we go!”

“Whatcha got there, kid?”

Izuku screamed , whipping his head around to see the almost all black figure of what he assumed to be a Pro Hero. His head reeled, he knew pros so who could…

“Eraserhead?!”

The figure nodded, before a chaotic grin that sent shivers down Midoriya’s spine spread onto the Pros face.

“You're a smart kid- so why don’t you tell me who you are and why you're here?”

“Uhm… I don’t have a name? Or a house?”

“Seriously?” Eraserhead cocked an eyebrow, clearly taking in Midoriya's dishevelment. “Well, you do look like you’re a corpse that just woke up.”

Midoriya audibly swallowed, before averting his eyes for a second, before he realized that would give him away. 

“Well, I need to call you something, not just kid. Especially if you’re trying to hang around here, and I might see you more often.”

“Uh, yeah, well…”

Eraserhead sighed and Midoriya did not know what to do about it. Would he be able to run? No, Eraserhead had his capture weapon, and besides Midoriya was still as quirkless as he had been when he was alive! Probably, he hadn’t tested that for certain, but now definitely wasn’t the time.

“Kid?”

“Oh! Yes, Eraserhead?”

“What should I call you?”

“I… don’t really care?”

“Got it, Kid until we find something better.”

Izuku nodded, he just wanted Eraserhead to stop talking to him! What if he said something that gave away he was dead- or worse, that he was quirkless, probably. 

“Well Kid, have you perhaps seen a corpse of a kid with green hair and freckles.”

What?! He was talking about that corpse he had found- that was his own corpse! Why would Eraserhead be looking for it? Didn’t someone get rid of it because he had been a quirkless freak? And then, much to his own surprise, he nodded.

“Really?” Eraserhead’s eyes widened, clearly not expecting Midoriya to have known.

Midoriya took off, mentally marking where the abandoned building he decided on was, as he took off back towards where he had woken up. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Eraserhead was following him, good. He pushed himself a little bit faster. It was strange, he wasn’t any faster or stronger than he had been when he was alive but he wasn’t getting winded like he should have. Oh, wait, he was dead, he probably didn’t have functioning organs and stuff anymore.

Midoriya finally slowed to a stop, in front of the alleyway where he had come from. He knew it was the right one since he could see the old convenience store he had gone to, from the same place where first saw it.

Eraserhead went into the alleyway, without Midoriya, and started looking for the body. But there was one problem—the body of Midoriya Izuku was gone.

“Kid- where is the body?” Eraserhead turned back to see a distressed look on Izuku’s face.

He had thought the kid had been leading to the body, but he had just brought him to an alley? Based on the look of the kid's face, he hadn’t been expecting this either. Aizawa groaned, he couldn’t believe the one person who had said he had seen the body, had led him astray.

“No- Eraserhead! I swear, the body was right where you’re looking!”

The kid sounded desperate, did he want Shouta to find this body? But if he had, why didn’t he call the police when he had seen it. Something about all of this wasn’t adding up.

“I believe you. Meaning that someone came and took it while you were away. When did you see it?”

“At midnight- a few hours ago now!”

Aizawa checked his phone, in between 5 hours a body had gone missing? He didn’t think the kid had realized what time it had been, or that they had just ran for an hour across town- and that the kid had apparently done that twice.

“I’ll have to look into this more, should I bring you back to where you were?”

The kid froze, before slowly nodding. And then, for the second time, the kid took off. Thank god for all his endurance training, because he doubted he would have been able to do the hour-long run again without it.

The run made his body hurt—he was gonna be so sore come morning—luckily it was a Saturday today, so he could sleep it all off. Finally, he and the kid had arrived at where the kid had set up his base. The kid bowed to Shouta, before speaking up.

“Thank you so much Eraserhead, I hope your search goes well!” 

The kid grinned, or at least he thought he did, the black mask was hiding the bottom half of his face.

Aizawa nodded, before grimacing. The sun was coming up, and it was about to reach over the skyline. He could see the shadows they were shrouded in start to slowly recede.

“I’ll see you again sometime?”

“Sounds good kid.”

“Great!” The kid laughed, making Aizawa’s chest tighten. He didn’t want to leave the kid here in a place even villains didn’t want to hide away in.

But he didn’t get to say that, because as the sun finally rose high enough to hit him and the kid, The kid disappeared.

He was just gone.

Chapter Text

Midoriya stared at where Aizawa had been. He was just saying goodbye to the Pro, when the light had hit him, and he had gone to wherever this was. Well, It seemed to be the same place as where he had been standing before, except everything was in black and white. And grays.

Except for those things, they were all different colors and seemed to have a crude outline of a human. Some had warm tones, others cool tones, others had sparkles, and a few were straight up glowing neon. And quite frankly, Izuku was terrified of them.

“What… are you?” He whispered to himself.

But one of the beings noticed and approached, A cloudy mix of pale yellow and sky blue, like the sky and the clouds at sunset. It had been standing, not exactly where Aizawa had been, but a bit behind.

“You can see us?! But you’re-”

The figure approached closer, the rough outline becoming more clear and detailed as he—for Izuku was certain this person was male—approached.

“I’m what?”

There was a shake to Izuku’s voice, something the not-human human noticed.

“Not a ghost- Or a wraith, or anything else I've encountered here!”

“A GHOST?!”

“Yeah? I mean, really, how’d you get here? You don’t seem used to it, so it’s not likely you have a quirk that allows it.”

Midoriya, very understandably, freaked out. Where the hell was he?! Who the hell was this person! Why had he been standing by Aizawa- and better yet, What the hell did he mean by a wraith?!

“Okay kid, I can see you’re freaking out but-”

“Where the hell are we?!”

“Limbo.”

“LIMBO?!”

The ghost, for that seemed better than any other title, laughed at Izuku’s misery. Tears, somehow, emerged from the ghost as he held his stomach to stop himself from keeling over from his own laughter. Midoriya’s face grew red and hot, as he wanted to scream in both anger and embarrassment.

“Yeah,” The ghost choked out some more laughter. “You’re in Limbo. With me. A certified grade A ghost!”

“You mentioned other kinds of ghosts too?”

“Not ghosts, everyone in Limbo is a spirit…” He paused, glancing Izuku up and down. “Well, you might be a kind of exception.”

“Huh…?”

“I think you’re a shade, kind of. You only came here once the sun rose, so you can go back when you’re in the dark. Maybe. It might be at night only?”

“So I'm… dead? But not completely?”

The ghost nodded.

“Yep! Seems about right, anyways, My name is… Well, you can just call me Kumo!”

“Cause you’re cloudy?”

“Yep! That’s right little shade, speaking of auras—”

“Auras?!”

“—yours is like a dark green sidewalk while it’s raining. Huh.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What are auras?”

Midoriya pouted, clearly distressed, which Kumo finally seemed to catch onto. The ghost patted him on the head, much to Izuku’s surprise. Izuku backed away from the ghost, deciding he didn’t want to continue this conversation, and ran back into the building he had set up his base in.

And the world turned as he ran through, the sun patches made the world go back to limbo, but when he stepped into the shadows he was back in the grimy building exactly as destroyed as it had been. He was shifting between worlds as he climbed up the stairs, and raced to the ‘door’ he had placed earlier. It was all way too much for Izuku right now.

He tore the door to the side, before rushing inside, slamming the door behind him. Because of the sunlight pouring in through his windows, his perspective shifted back into Limbo.

And he stood face to face with Kumo.

“Cool trick, little shade!”

Midoriya screamed. Half out of frustration, half from the jumpscare from Kumo appearing out of nowhere. And Kumo just laughed.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE?!”

“To teach you!”

“What- what are you going to teach me…?”

“About Limbo! And other spirits- I'm sure Aizawa-Kun will teach you all about what you need to, to survive on earth, but Limbo has different rules.”

Midoriya pouted.

“So! First lesson on Limbo, Auras! They’re basically like a mood ring for your soul, and also that soul!”

“What.”

“Cloudy sky blue is my base, but depending on how I'm feeling, what gets mixed in changes. Yours is that dark green sidewalk, so I guess your feelings react like different weather patterns! You were anxious before, so it was raining, but now it’s just a sidewalk with puddles, meaning you’ve probably calmed down some.”

Midoriya nodded, this made sense for understanding people that are only a spirit.

“Next lesson on Limbo, Spirits! Basically, everyone in Limbo had unfinished business. If you lived a satisfying life, you skip over Limbo entirely and go to wherever you believe in or deserve, I think. No one in Limbo knows for sure, but that’s what we assume happens!”

“So, a secondary afterlife? Can people from Limbo get there?”

“Yeah! If you fulfill whatever unfinished business you have, you can pass on. But that also means your ‘type’ of spirit is dependent on what unfinished business you have and how you died. Wraiths die brutally and typically want revenge, or to bring destruction to someone or something. Ghosts, like me, are the tamest and most common, die before we are supposed to, and want to stay with someone or something close to us.

“Shades, like you, are the closest and most likely to be able to interact with Earth. Since all Shades are victims of abuse and die either directly or indirectly from that abuse, and they're all at least teens, they most of the time find the purpose of helping people like them or getting revenge on those that had hurt them. Lastly there are Sprites, young children who only wish for happiness, typically they die due to sickness or an accident.”

Midoriya stared at Kumo. What. Wasn’t there a lot of overlap there?

“And, as you’re probably thinking, yes there is quite a bit of overlap, but Limbo decides based off of both your death and soul. Souls are definitely a big factor in determining who gets what in Limbo. And there are probably other kinds of Spirits you might meet, but those four are the most common type by a lot . Since, all other types are super specific conditions, like those damn polters and the spirit creatures.”

“So… basically, everyone in Limbo just didn’t achieve what they wished or died brutally?”

“Yep!”

“Okay… so why were you following Eraserhead?”’

“Aizawa-kun is who I decided to help as a ghost!”

“And, how do you do that?”

“We act like consciences to those we are tied to. They can hear us, just not as our voice unless we say their name, to prevent anyone from thinking they’re going crazy!”

“Tied to?”

“Strong connections to while on earth,” Kumo paused, before continuing while looking more directly at Izuku. “I think, you could probably still make ties to people, since your whole Limbo non-Limbo thing.”

Midoriya froze. Then looked at Kumo, directly in his eyes, he spoke.

“What if I can’t die? I mean, Limbo seems to be a place where mortal damage can’t be done, so what if I heal whenever I enter the light? Or will I still have the wound? What about things like muscles? Can I train them and stuff or if the healing factor of Limbo is true, then will the torn muscles just put themselves back together without strengthening? But what about fighting styles? I mean, I'm living in an abandoned building, what if someone tries to fight me? Or take my stuff while I’m in Limbo?!”

“Breathe Midoriya! Okay wait, I don't think you actually need to breathe, but calm down!” Kumo chuckled at Izuku. “How about we go try these theories out?”

“Okay…” Midoriya nodded.

Chapter Text

It had been two days since Aizawa had seen the kid, and he had finally been able to go back to the kid's part of town. However, he didn’t find the kid at his base, but rather on his way to it. The kid was in an alleyway, blood dripping from a head injury onto the kid's bright pink hoodie, and a large open wound on his arm.

But, the kid wasn’t the only one in the alleyway, a man with what seemed to be a spiny scale quirk lay further within the alley. Based on the blood on both the man's large back spines that he could see, and the blood coming out of his mouth, it was certain the two had fought in the alleyway.

But Aizawa didn’t have time to think about that, as he was just consumed in worry over his kid, who he swiftly ran over to. He buzzed in on his com, and made sure he heard Tsukauchi’s voice before speaking.

“I found the kid, there is a man with a spiny scale quirk here, and I think they got into a fight with each other.”

“In the alleyway, halfway down Yuki St.?”

“How’d you-”

“The victim already called in, apparently a kid in a bright pink hoodie punched the weak point of the quirked man. And saved her from him doing, well, unsavory things.”

“Damn bastard.”

Aizawa hung up his side of the com, before scooping up the kid, careful not to jostle the open wound on the arm. Aizawa turned, and left the alleyway, and turned onto the sidewalk. He started jogging, trying to keep the kid still, as he ran under the first lamp, and towards where he knew Recovery Girl lived.

He barely noticed when his arms were slightly lighter, but he held his arms position. Looking down at Izuku, he had disappeared as they pass underneath the lamp, appearing again just a tiny bit more healed than he had before. 

But that was all thoughts for a different day and time, he had to make sure the kid got to recovery girl and was healed completely. He turned his head to the side, gently bashing the button to turn on his com, into his shoulder. When he connected again, he spoke quickly, and with urgency.

“Connect me to Recovery Girl, Tsukauchi.”

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

Aizawa heard the com click to a different channel, before hearing the old woman’s voice.

“Eraserhead? What the hell are you doing, calling me this late?”

From how far away she sounded, he assumed that she was talking through the radio she always had set up in case of emergencies. Aizawa had had to gain the trust of Recovery Girl completely, to gain access to the private emergency line she had, but it was worth it right now.

“I’m coming to yours, turn off the lights. Kid’s got a quirk that makes him go poof in the light, I think.”

“Got it. How far are ya, Eraserhead?”

“I should be there soon. I'm a few blocks away.”

“Okay then.”

Eraserhead heard another click, the com’s connection being disconnected, and refocused on running. He could hear and feel the kid, groaning and trying to ball up from pain in Shouta’s arms. He was certain that his uniform's shirt was covered in blood, but that didn’t matter. He needed to order new ones anyways.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he slowed to a stop in front of Recovery Girl’s house. All he could hear was his pounding heart from all the running, as he kicked on the door, not willing to put down the kid.

Recovery Girl opened the door, not saying anything as she let the younger Pro Hero enter the darkened household. Aizawa made his way to the couch in the living room, where towels had already been set, to make sure no blood leaks into her couch. He placed the kid on the couch, before moving out of the way, so that Recovery Girl could get through to do her healing.

“Go rest. I know how far you ran.”

Aizawa nodded, and obeyed the much shorter woman. His kid would be fine.

Midoriya Izuku, upon realizing he had woken up in an unfamiliar place, had immediately scrambled to stand up. It was dark in the room, so the faint candlelight from another room stood out even more. He had sworn he had been stabbed by that man’s spikes, pretty much straight across his entire arm, but now his arm felt fine.

Check that. He actually felt better than he had ever felt.

“Kid?”

Izuku jumped. He moved a good foot away from where the voice, who he had recognized as Eraserhead, had come from.

“OH! E- Eraserhead?!” 

“Good morning to you too, Kid. We’re at Recovery Girl’s house.”

“Oh my god?! Recovery Girl?! She’s so cool! She’s been in the industry longer than pretty much any Pro Hero still active. I mean, She’s been around from before All Might, so she’s seen so many generations of heroes! I wonder how that affects her emotional well-being? Seeing so many Pros become active and then retire from the field, while she has been on longer than them.

“I wonder if her emotional state affects her healing? Or would the patient's emotional well-being be the thing to affect it? Would it be less effective if she was using it on someone who was trying to not be healed, versus someone who can't or doesn't fight back?”

“Kid. Calm down. I’m sure she’ll answer your questions.”

“Oh! Okay then.”

Izuku, despite barely moving, curled in upon himself. How could he have rambled in front of Eraserhead like that! He felt his face flush with embarrassment. 

“C'mon kid, let's go talk with Recovery Girl.”

“Okay.”

Izuku followed the Pro Hero back into the room where the candle had been burning. 

“Hello dearie, how are you feeling?”

“Better. Thank you, Recovery Girl.”

“No problem. Now, what should I call you.”

Midoriya Izuku paused, he had loved the name she'd given him when he was younger, but she had basically neglected him and besides, he was dead. He didn’t deserve, nor want, the name he had been given.

The face of the ghost he had met before flashed in his mind, he could practically still hear the non-teenager teen’s nickname come from the ghost’s mouth.

“I guess… you can call me Shade.”

Chapter Text

When Shade had told Aizawa that he wanted  to return to his base, Shouta had not wanted to listen, but he needed more trust with the kid, so he had to listen. After he had dropped the kid off, he had headed home to grab whatever he thought the kid could use, some spare blanket’s and food especially. His cat probably would hate him stealing the soft blanket that was her favorite

But she would forgive him later on, he was sure. Right now, he was more focused on getting some actual things for Shade to use. He wanted to make sure that the kid would be as safe as he would allow Aizawa to help with.

Aizawa walked into the 8th floor of the building where the kid was staying. Upon pushing through the wooden plank Shade had laid as a door, he realized the kid wasn’t there. Didn’t matter, it’d just be a surprise for later, he was sure. He had the stuff he wanted to give the kid down in his car, and a broom in one hand, and a crate full of cans (with a canopener, of course) under his other arm.

He set the crate down and swept up the floor, careful to not leave any shards of glass from the broken windows in the main part, and swept them all out of and away from the room. Aizawa went to his car and grabbed a futon, three blankets, and a pillow. Shouta was extra careful walking back to the room, trying to get up the stairs with the load of soft things blocking some of his view.

Aizawa let out a heavy groan as he threw the objects down in the room, after which he carefully set up the futon into the corner most protected from the door. He threw the pillow down, then layered the blankets down onto the futon.

There. The kid would have something now. Aizawa scribbled out a note telling him it was from him, and he had more to give if the kid wanted it. He headed off, hoping the kid got back to the bed he had made for him.

Midoriya had heard someone, a girl his age most likely, scream. He had been hiding in the shadowy alleys so that he could go out in the day without being in limbo, for exactly this reason.

He readied the metal bat he had found in both his hands, and dashed forward to the alleyway where the scream had come from. As he arrived, he realized he was behind the villain. A bulky man with a tentacle arm quirk, it seemed to be oozing something, but he didn't care to know what. He just wanted to get the girl, definitely his age, out of there.

He readied his bat, taking note of where there was and wasn’t sunlight in the alleyway, he charged. A loud noise, that was definitely the sound of something crunching into itself , rang out as the man's back was hit by the bat.

However, It was not nearly enough, as the man turned to face Izuku. Fuck. He was so screwed. But… maybe not yet.

Midoriya dashed to the left of the man, directly into the sunlight that came over the right building's top. He was already used to the shift in his perspective, as he dashed up the building, a good forty feet above where the villain was; and pushed himself off the wall, his bat ready as he went down .

It was as Kumo said, Limbo’s rules and physics were different from Earth’s, and Izuku had to learn to use every advantage he got.

The metal bat nearly crashed directly into the head of the man, but the man’s right arm managed to block him and throw him to the side. However, Midoriya still heard the loud tear, as the muscles that made tentacles move had been ripped from the impact.

That's right! Tentacle’s had muscles, not bones! He threw his bat to the patch of sunlight, he would be able to grab it in Limbo so long as it had stopped moving, and flipped his knife both out of his pocket and open. He readied his position to charge, as the man screamed from both a mix of pain and pure rage. 

Midoriya bolted , his knife tearing a large gash in the undamaged part of the man’s right arm. The man tried to grab him with his left arm, but Izuku was faster, dodging into the sunlight. Midoriya repeated his move from earlier, only running up 20 feet however, before jumping into the shadows. He went crashing down into the man's left arm, tearing nearly half of it off.

The man was absolutely pissed . But that didn’t stop Midoriya, as he dashed back into the sunlight, running over to his bat, and dashing back into the shadows. He had appeared behind the raging man, but despite the man’s bulk, he didn’t seem to know how to fight without his quirk, which was all to Izuku’s advantage. Midoriya charged at him for a final time, barely feeling his feet touch the ground, he readied his bat and…

CRUNCH

The man's head flew forward, followed by the rest of his body, as he crumpled into a pile onto the floor. Izuku could still see the man breathing, so that meant he had been correct. The man was probably made of more muscle, especially to protect vital stuff like his skull, than the average person due to his tentacle quirk.

Midoriya finally stopped, as his brain caught up to his body, and realized the fight was over. He looked up from the body, and looked at the girl.

“Uhm…”

“That was so cool! Oh I’m sorry, I should thank you first.”

The girl let out a smile, too polite to be a grin but not enough to hide the mischievousness behind it, as she got to her feet. She had long black hair, Izuku realized, it was pulled up in a high pony except for a bit that fell in front of her face.

“My name is Yaoyorozu Momo, and yours?”

Izuku froze, he had never interacted with a girl before! Well, he was dead, and had just saved her life, so he supposed that shouldn’t be a priority.

“My name… It’s Shade!”

“Like a ghost?” Yaoyorozu turned her head to the side, before blinking in realization. “Oh! That must be your quirk!”

“Oh, well, not exactly.”

Yaoyorozu froze, and then Midoriya did too. Fuck. She was smart enough to figure it all out! Midoriya could not have someone realizing who and what he was, he couldn’t trust anyone with his secret! Well, not on the living plane of course.

“You’re-”

“Weshouldcallthecops!”

“What- Oh, yes. I suppose they should be informed that this man needs to be taken in.” Yaoyorozu nodded, before continuing. “I shall give you my number, so that we may talk about this later.”

“Oh, well you see, I don’t have a phone.”

Yaoyorozu nodded before, much to Izuku’s surprise, pulling a phone out of her own arm! She moved to hand it to the boy, before just putting it in his hands, due to him standing there frozen. 

“It’s already programmed with my number in it. Now, you should get going before the cops come.” She said as she dialed in 110 into her phone.

Midoriya nodded to her, before dashing off. He couldn’t believe it! He had finally met someone his own age that was willing to be his friend! Well, he assumed so, she already knew his biggest secret and didn’t seem to want to turn him.

If Midoriya didn’t know to stay quiet, he would’ve cheered.

Chapter Text

Bakugou swung at the bag with everything he had in him. Then again. Left. Right. Left again. He was probably drawing attention to himself, but if he was, he didn’t take notice of it.

Bakugou Katsuki had become obsessed with training after Midoriya had, well, you know. He hated even thinking about the loss of his friend, but refused to accept he had actually died. He knew Midoriya, and he knew he was to much of a failure to succeed even at suicide. Right? 

But that didn’t matter to Bakugou, there were two points to his training: getting into UA and not thinking about Izuku. He needed to prove everyone at their old school wrong, he’d get into UA only using his quirk as defense and mobility. Not to attack head on like they had told him it was only good for. No. He’d attack with weapons, and would protect those around him. And he had to be able to learn how to do that quickly.

After all, the Entrance Exam for him was only 3 months away and he had so much to do. 

“ FUCK! ”

What the fuck. Bakugou turned to the noise, a purple haired boy was clutching his hand. Ah. A fucking loser. Wait, that was rude, he should go see what the hell the boy was doing.

Bakugou walked over to the boy, he guesstimated that the teen was taller than him, though it was hard to tell with him crouching over.

“Yo..?”

The purple haired boy stared up at Bakugou, his knuckles were bleeding. Midoriya would've wanted Bakugou to help him, so he did. He knelt down next to the boy and grabbed his hand.

“Who-?”

“How much does it hurt?”

“Uh. It was more shock than anything?”

Bakugou nodded before taking out some band-aids to layer onto the knuckles.

“How the hell did you hurt yourself?”

“I punched a punching bag?” Apparently Bakugou’s glare was enough to force the boy to continue. “Okay. I don’t know how to punch. Or how to wrap up my hands.”

And Bakugou, the reasonable human being he is, decided to grab the boy’s unbandaged hand and drag him over to a personal training room. He barely had to say anything to one of the worker’s, as they already knew who he was and that he’d pay for whatever he needed to to get the best training possible, after all, his mom knew this was the only outlet for emotions he would accept as he was.

“Alright. What’s your name?”

“Shinsou? Why?”

“I’m gonna teach you how to throw a punch? Name’s Bakugou.”

Shinsou blinked. Then he blinked again. 

“Alright? Are you going to join the hero course or something? I mean you-”

“Yeah. I’m going to join the Hero Course. Now show me a goddamn punch.”

Shinsou froze. He readied his fist, thumb on the outside, so he had at least something right. And then he swung at Bakugou. Bakugou caught the fist with ease, scoffing as the fellow teen tried to pull his fist back out of Bakugou’s hand.

“ That’s your punch? Oh you’re so fucking failing the exam if you don’t improve.”

Shinsou’s face reddened as he grew angry towards Bakugou. Not that Bakugou cared for the boy’s appearance, well except for Shinsou’s terrible form when throwing a punch.

“Now c’mon. Try again. This time, twist your hips before throwing a punch, a proper wind-up, not whatever the hell you just tried to do.”

Shinsou nodded, before taking his fist back from Bakugou’s hand, and stood ready to throw again.

“Widen your stance Eyebags.”

The purple haired boy grimaced at the name, but followed what Bakugou had said and widened his footing before twisting both his fist and waist back to ready himself and threw his punch. This time while Bakugou had caught it, there was an audible ‘THWACK’ on impact.

“Better. Now, stop telegraphing all your fucking goddamn movements.” 

Bakugo didn’t see Shinsou pull back and throw another punch. However, Shinsou’s speed from his anger also threw off his aim. Causing the punch to fly right by Bakugou’s head. 

“Be more aware of what you’re aiming for and what surrounds you.” 

This time, Bakugou threw a punch aimed at Shinsou’s arm. Shinsou stepped back out of instinct before throwing another punch in return. 

“C’mon now. I'll teach you through experience.” 

“Oh god.” 

Shinsou was sore all over, He probably had more fresh bruises than he had ever had before. He closed his eyes, the lights of the restaurant were far too bright for him as he was.

“With how much cream is in this thing you might as well be fucking drinking milk.”

Shinsou looked up, the blond he had met earlier that had decided to aggressively train him, had bought them both something to drink. From what it looked like Bakugou had bought himself a lemonade, with no ice for some goddamn reason.

“I need the caffeine more than I like the taste. You know you didn’t have to pay for this, right?”

Hitoshi saw the up and down look Bakugou had given him before the blond responded.

“You can’t even seem to afford good fucking athletic gear, which is like, 8,500¥ combined for the cheapest shit. So I assumed you didn’t want to waste whatever goddamn money you got on some drinks.”

Shinsou felt his face heat up, although he couldn’t tell if it was from the fact what Bakugou said was rude, correct, or the fact it meant Bakugou had actually checked out what he was wearing. Or just him in general. Okay, that train of thought could wait till he was home, it was too early in the day for gay panic.

“How ‘bout this, if you’re so fucking offended eyebags, you treat us next time?”

“You were right I dont have the mon- Wait. Next time?”

“Yeah? You didn’t think I was just gonna fucking train you once then let you flail on your own?”

“I mean-”

“Doesn’t matter eyebags. Now shut the hell up and give me your phone.”

Shinsou quietly handed Bakugou his phone, he didn’t want to get on the bad side of the aggressive blond. And besides, he needed the friend, and totally not just ‘cause he thought the blonde was hot.

Chapter Text

Midoriya stared at the milkshake in front of him, it was strawberry, although, he couldn’t actually eat it. Slowly he slid it back over to Yaoyorozu cautious for her response.

“Can’t eat?”

Izuku nodded.

“In general or just appetite?” Yaoyorozu questioned, taking the drink from Izuku.

“Uh, The first one..”

Yaoyorozu nodded softly while Izuku looked down shamefully. It was nighttime out, and she had requested the main overhead lights near them to be turned off, which, Izuku guessed, was something money could buy. Other than the neon lights at the corner where the wall and ceiling met, as well as the streetlights outside, there was more than enough darkness for him to be stably solid.

“So… You’re a ghost? I assume that it is.” Yaoyorozu questioned.

“Not quite? I mean, I’m dead and I can interact with the other side, but it’s not stable.”

“So you’re a what? A remnant? A ghoul?”

“A shade. Half-shade.”

“Ha, like your name! Well then,” She took a sip from her own chocolate milkshake, “I’m guessing here. Something’s tying you to reality. Some quirk or something, totally possible it’s not yours though.”

“I think… I think it’s mine? I mean, that’s what Kumo said.”

“Kumo?”

“Ghost. From Limbo.”

“I’m gonna assume Limbo and the Afterlife are two distinct places based off of how you said that. But, this is a personal question moreso, are you safe right now Shade?”

“I mean, I can’t really be hurt so long as I can access Limbo, so-”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, do you have a home, someone to care about you when you come home from your patrols, anything to give you comfort?”

“Uhhh. I’m living in a room within an abandoned building. I don’t have anyone. And, I have patrols to give me comfort?”

The glare Yaoyorozu gave him made it clear that that had not been the correct answer. He looked at his shuffling hands again, not wanting to meet her gaze.

“Okay then. You’re coming with me.”

“Wha?” Izuku’s head shot up to meet her gaze. “What do you mean-”

“You heard me. You’ll come to my house. We’ll take care of you there. You can go run off on your patrols so long as they can’t tie back to us, and most importantly that you keep yourself safe during them. You need someone to treat you like a human being, because Shade, you still are a human. Regardless of your access to Limbo.”

Midoriya didn’t realize he had started crying till tears hit his hands, and Yaoyorozu got up so she could shift into the seat next to him at the booth. She wrapped one arm around his shoulders, pulling him in so he could sob into her, while making tissues out of her other arm.

“Now c’mon, will you trust me Shade?”

“Midoriya Izuku.” The boy choked out between sobs. “That’s my name.”

“Can I call you Izuku?” She asked as she held up tissues for him to use.

Izuku nodded into her shoulder.

“Do you want to get your stuff tonight, anything you might have?”

Izuku nodded again.

“Alright.”

Izuku tuned her out in order to focus on sobbing, while she pulled out her phone to call someone. He could be safe now, right? He hoped, for the first time in his life, that everything wasn’t just some shitty nightmare he would wake up from.

Momo sat in the back seat of the limo, watching as the driver drove deeper into the more debilitated part of the city. Izuku was sleeping on the long seat, and she had decided not to bother him. He needed the sleep after all.

“We’re here young miss.”

She nodded to the speaking driver, before stepping out of the car. Noone was around, but she still pulled up her jacket's hood, as she stepped into the building. It smelled of mold and moss and dust. Momo didn’t doubt she could contract 20 different diseases by just being in the building.

She walked up to the 8th floor, carefully stepping up step after step to avoid them from giving out underneath her. Broken glass, cement, and wood littered every bit of the floor.

She couldn’t imagine how Izuku could’ve lived like this, well, she had to admit, he didn’t exactly live like this. She saw the plank covering the door frame Izuku had described as she hit the 8th floor. What had he asked for? Right. The fluffy blanket his friend had given him.

And based off the crashing sound from the floor above, she was either about to meet that friend or was gonna meet some crazy maniac. Momo quickly made a full face mask out of her arm, before slipping it onto her face under her head.

“Who are you?” A man asked.

Momo turned, on the stairs coming down, she saw him, a hobo looking man with only an identifiable scarf. Ah. She had seen him at hero galas before. Eraserhead.

“Noone. Just grabbing my friends' stuff.” Momo made her voice rougher, needing to make sure he couldn’t identify her later.

“Shade…? You’re friends with Shade? Are you a vigilante?”

“Too many questions, first off. Yes, I’m friends with Shade. New friend. Not a vigilante, just don’t want you to know who I am.”

She turned, speed walking to the room, she just needed to grab that fluffy blanket and get out. She heard the Pro Hero swear softly and follow her. Momo pushed the plank to the side, stepping into the room.

Momo could feel her heart hurt as she stared at the room. The floor had been swept and there was food and blankets, but that was the end of the niceties. The can’s hadn’t been touched, she knew why but it still hurt to see. The futon and two of the blankets were folded in the corner, from Izuku probably refusing to touch them, except for the pillow and the soft fluffy blanket he had talked to her about. They were in such a way that she could easily guess that he had cocooned himself in the blanket while sleeping on the pillow.

She heard the hero stop beside her. She didn’t care to talk with him, she just wanted to grab what Izuku had wanted and leave. Take him home, to where people would care about him, so she could give him everything he could think. So he could have the family that he deserved.

“Why… Why didn’t he eat the food?”

She ignored him, stepping further in, heading to the blanket.

“He can’t eat.”

“What-”

“His quirk.” She scooped up the blanket and pillow. “Don’t try looking it up, you won’t find anything in your databases.” 

She turned, walking past him and out of the room, before pausing to speak to him once more.

“He’ll be safe now. So stop trying to drag him down with you.”

“Wait. What’s your name?”

“...Kamimusubi.”

“One of the creation gods…?”

“No more questions.”

Momo took off, running down the stairs, no longer careful for loose stairs. She heard one or two of the steps she had hit break, but running down stairs was faster than the stairs themselves breaking.

She dashed out of the building, barely shifting the blanket and stopping in time to not hit, but rather open the door. She dropped the objects onto the limo’s pristine floor, Kuria was to thank for that, she’d have to get her to clean the blanket and pillow too.

“Hit it.”

She barely had time to sit down and grab the belt before Denkōsekka took off. Buckling herself in as they left the part of town they were in much faster than the speed they had entered at.

When Tomi Yaoyorozu had heard his daughter was bringing home a ‘Stray’, the last thing he had expected to see was a young boy, probably younger than Momo, being carried in asleep, as Momo warned everyone to turn off the lights. It was his quirk, she had said, and he could believe that.

However, Tomi’s own quirk was screaming that this boy would be someone worth holding onto. After all, ‘Investment’ had never driven him wrong before, especially when it was this reactive without even having investigated anything yet.

He grinned to himself before waving a hand for one of their, more well paid than you’d ever find in the job market, maids.

“Yes Sir?”

“Prepare a permanent room. Fill it with whatever Momo suggests for him. Adjust whatever schedules we must, and send someone to prepare any legal documents we may need. After all, Ume always wanted a younger brother.”

“On it Sir”

“Ah. And the rest of you, leave as well.”

“Yes Sir.” Numerous voices called out, before the sounds of shuffling footsteps and the shutting of the large door filled the room.

Tomi sighed, letting his resting frown switch to how he was truly feeling, a bright smile barely containing all of the mans glee. HHe took his phone out of his pocket, dialing his wonderful wife Naegi.

“Yes Tomi dear?”

“You’ve always wanted another son, right?”

“...What did you do Tomi?”

“Well. You can thank our dear Momo for bringing home the little stray.”

Chapter Text

Bakugou stood at the entrance gate, he sent a quick message to Shinsou that he had gotten there, and headed inside. He walked quiet, not caring about any of the other future competition. No Katsuki, he chided himself, fellow applicants.

He saw a girl with a brown bob stop some dumbass with yellow hair with a lightning bolt in it from falling. He clenched his fist, he hated that dumb part of his brain that had stopped breathing when he had seen the boy start falling. His goddamn shrink said it was “PTSD” or whatever, it was just a weakness he needed to get a hold on.

Katsuki almost grabbed for his bag to grab his stress outlet, but he remembered, very disappointedly, that he had turned his sword into UA the day before so he could use it for the exam. His shrink had suggested he get into a weapon to both advance his fighting if he wasn't going to use his quirk offensively, and as an outlet for his anger issues. His mom, although she had worried at first about it causing whatever she called a ‘relapse’, had fully agreed to him practicing the sword after his first session.

That had been three months ago, right after he had meant Shinsou, and now it was time for his exam. Bakugou just hoped that his precious sword would be in one piece. He kept walking, headed into the building and up to the auditorium where they would be given their written exams.

His seat, thankfully, was near the back of the room, so he wouldn’t have to deal with as many extras- no, fellow examinees. He figured the written exam would be boring, hellish no doubt, but boring. Although, he would appreciate it the most if the people around him would shut the fuck up. His goddamn reinforced hearing was not doing him any favors with several hundred students packed into the room.

Thankfully, when Present Mic walked in, the dumbasses finally shut up. At least they understood how to recognize authority figures, so maybe they weren’t entirely useless.

The Pro Hero started explaining the written exam, a section for math, a section for Japanese, a section for English, etc.. but most importantly. A section for Heroics. Present Mic, with some help from some Ectoplasm clones, passed out the tests to all the students.

Bakugou worked diligently, remembering for a fact that guessing would be better than leaving any question blank. He soared through the math section, as it was his easiest subject. Japanese slowed his pace down by a tiny bit, and English slowed it down a lot. The quirk history section left a bad taste in his mouth, remembering Izuku, but he pushed through. The Heroics section was almost completely a morality quiz, so he did his best to be honest on the questions, even if it could be what failed him. And lastly the essay question…

Bakugou just stared, it was asking him what had convinced him to be a hero. Sure, writing something like money or fame was what most people were writing, or something about a nice hero they had met before. But Katsuki? Well, he had decided to be honest. So he was.

He had nearly snapped his pencil on at least three different occasions during writing. His sleeve was slightly stained with tears, as he had refused to let any stain the paper. He stared at the essay he had written, two pages, one two-sided, the other one-sided.

Bakugou felt exhausted and he hadn't even heard what the practical was going to be yet. He stood, grabbing the full packet and essay paper, careful not to grab too hard so that he didn’t crumple it. He walked into and down the nearest walkway. Setting the packet on the desk, turning and leaving before the Pro could even say anything to him.

He just wanted his sword and something to swing at.

Bakugou upon sitting back down, proceeded to zone out, his mom called it dissociating, but that was weakass shit to do so he was just zoning out. Until Present Mic called out again, upon checking the nearest clock it had been… an hour? Whatever. 

“HEYYYYY LISTENERS! CAN I GET A YEAH?”

Bakugou threw up a fist, far too tired to yell, but it was apparently more than anyone else was willing to do.

“THANK YOU LISTENER! Okay! Now! Onto the Practical Exam!”

A big glowing white board popped up, showing off 4 blacked out figures.

Ah. Bakugou was way too exhausted to keep paying full attention, not if he wanted to also be able to focus during the actual Practical Exam. He folded his arms and put his head into them, in a way that he could still see the board even past the heads of the dumbasses, no, applicants, in front of him.

The Pro kept rambling on, something about different points on the different robots. All Bakugou knew was that the smallest ones would not only be the most points, but also the easiest ones for him to take out. 

“Sir!” Fucking bitch. “What are these fourth robots! And you- with the blonde hair, stop talking!” 

Okay. Bakugou wasn’t standing for this, where did this fuckwad get off on interrupting the teacher and also picking out a kid that most people, including him, couldn’t even hear talking.

“OI! Fuckwad- Sit down and shut the fuck up!” He stood up, glaring directly at the blue haired rigid ass motherfucker. “Let the goddamn teacher explain everything before you start being fucking accusatory. And- Leave the other goddamn applicants alone, you have no fucking right to dictate how they process or listen to Present Mic.”

Apparently, Bakugou realized, swearing had been the right thing to do. As the boy just kind of sat down, a dumbfounded look on his face.

“AH! Thank you little listener! And yeah, let's get onto the last robot- The 0-Pointer!”

Boring. He just wanted to have his sword. And besides, why did no one else even say anything? Or at least not even react. Katsuki suddenly doubted how many of these fuckwads, he’d let himself call them all fuckwads now, even deserved to be heroes.

The Pro’s speech drew on for a while longer before he had finally announced that they could get ready to travel to their exams. Bakugou stood up quickly, rushing out of the room before most could even process what the pro had said. He headed directly to the room where students' support items were held for the exam.

UA had some rules for support equipment, nothing that directly enhances the person's quirk and nothing that could potentially harm others. His sword almost didn’t make it with the second requirement, but with his sword teacher vouching for him, it had been allowed in. Of course, the whole support item thing wasn’t something that was advertised, it was buried behind at least 5 other pages on the official site, and even then it was vague on what counted.

But who cared about that, he had his sword. It was a classic bastard sword, specially ordered by his mom so as to have a titanium blade. He had originally started out with a rapier, as it was lighter and easier for him to grasp, but he had taken on the broadsword a month before. The sword had teeth edging near the hilt, incase of any emergencies.

He walked out to where the buses were, getting sorted onto one of the buses heading to Exam A. He spotted both the brown haired girl, the blond from before, and the boy with a stick up his ass all getting on after him.

The drive to their exam was a quick one, only 5 minutes max by his estimation. And when they got there, all they were told was to wait until they were told to go in. The big metal doors felt cold to Katsuki, foreboding and soulless. Perhaps it was a psychological tactic?

Bakugou didn’t care too much, he stretched his arms and legs as he scanned the other people around him. Oh. The brown haired girl was right over there. Same with blondie and the blue haired bitch. Whatever.

“You!”

Was the… Yeah Glasses was yelling at him.

“You are not allowed to have a sword here! You should give that to the staff immediately!”

“It’s allowed.” Bakugou was pissed, where the hell did this jagoff get off on telling him what to do. “It’s a support weapon. And I don’t care if you don’t believe me, you piece of shit.”

Bakugou pushed forward into the front of the crowd, leaving the boy behind. Just as he reached the front he heard the speaker beep on before-

“GO!”

Fuck! Bakugou leaped forward, dashing ahead, trying to get away from others so he could blast off.

He saw the first robot, straight ahead, and drew his sword from his back. He leaped forward, pushing one hand directly behind him and blasting upwards.  He slid both hands onto the hilt of the sword, slashing down, carrying the weight of himself and the sword directly down and cutting right through the 2-pointer.

He slid his sword back into its sheath and blasted off to search for a group of bots.

Time seemed to fly back as he continued, slashing through bots and blasting anything that got in his blindspots. Until he heard a scream, and looked over to see a massive bot towering—the 0-pointer—Katsuki decided that it'd be a good way to show off his skills regardless of points. 

He blasted his way over, slow in pace but enough to keep a steady altitude, until he saw him. The blondie with the electric bolt in his hair leaped off a building in order to punch the bot! Bakugou couldn’t breathe. But he needed to. He blasted faster than he should have as the boy started to fall, the blond’s arm was broken as well. 

Katsuki grabbed the boy, shoving him under one arm, as he used the other to roughly control the descent. Bakugou could only start breathing again once his feet touched the ground.

“Hey! Help!”

The brown haired girl was trapped under the rubble. Katsuki walked over, uncertain of his own steps, and blasted the rubble off. The girl stood up, she seemed to have twisted something with how she was standing. Katsuki couldn’t take much more. He needed to go take those meds the shrink had gave him, but he had left them with his bag on main campus.

BRINNNNGGGGGGGG

Bakugou fell to his knees as the ending bell rang for the practical exam. He had done it. He would make Izuku proud, and he’d become a hero for him. He didn’t know if he wanted to sob or throw up, at least that brown haired girl had figured out which one she wanted to do. 

“You alright?” 

“Yep! Just quirk exhaustion.”

He nodded understandingly, He just wanted to get back home now that the exam was all over.

Izuku twisted his arm, examining the new gear on it as much as he could. The black arm guards were probably worth enough that he wouldn't have been able to buy them in his lifetime if he had lived. Not to mention everything else Momo’s family had given him already.

His own room, filled with soft things and whatever new thing one of the family members gifted him unprompted. For the first time in a long long time, Izuku felt truly happy with his home.

“How do they feel?” Ume asked.

Ume, Momo’s older brother, and Momo were sitting in his room, helping him try on the armor their dad had insisted on making for Izuku. Well, in reality Momo’s mom and her had made the pieces together. Izuku still felt weird about all the attention, but at least it was a good weird.

“Great. It’ll take some getting used to though. Well, the whole costume will be, are you sure?”

“Yeah Izuku, Your quirk will heal you enough to get you back if you get injured.” Ume spoke. “Besides, mom put those rules in place for your safety, so follow them and we won’t care if you go out and do vigilante shit.

“Mhm.. Uh, what were they again?”

“Seriously?” Momo questioned, looking up for the papers on the floor she was designing a final weapon on. “Do we need to write them on your wall or something?”

“Uhm… Probably?”

“I’ll do that,” Ume sighed, “Momo, help him with his chestplate, he’s about to put it on backwards somehow.”

“Got it!”

Izuku’s costume was something he doubted most heroes could even dream of having. Black treated kevlar long sleeve undershirt and pants. On top of which were flame resistant, slash resistant, and waterproof black cargo pants and green hoodie, both of which had more pockets than he could probably ever need. Also he wore a black lower face mask, and goggles that were there in case of dust or any other such thing.

Lastly was the armor, an even thicker and denser amount of kevlar were used to make them. Arm guards that went up from his palms to the whole of his forearm on the outside, thick fabric on the inside side of his arm. There were also leg guards of a similar style, but instead of just to the top of his forelegs, it also covered his knees. And finally there was a chestplate, similar to the one’s the cops used, except his was a higher armor class so that it’d resist more damage.

Momo helped him get it over his head and arms, much to Izuku’s own whining.

“I’m not a kid! I can put it on by myself.”

“On the contrary,” Momo chided, “You will always be a 15 year old.”

Izuku pouted at her, before gazing over to where Ume was writing. On big poster board that Izuku didn’t know where came from, he had written:

“Rule 1: Izuku will only do vigilante stuff when the sun is up.

Rule 2: Izuku will not hide any injuries or the events of the day from anyone in the residence.

Rule 3: Izuku will not put himself in any unnecessary danger.

Rule 4: Izuku must attend family events (Dinner, Game Night, Movie Night) if he wishes to continue his vigilantism.”

“I need to participate in family events?! But I’m not-”

“Shut up Izuku. You’re our family now, and we have already figured out you wont accept it, so this is what works.

Izuku sighed to himself, drained from the two siblings' actions.

“It’s almost noon! Can I go now? I need to get to the places where the pros dont patrol during the day, and it’ll take at least an hour!”

“Fine. Remember 8 pm, and no stopping at UA just cause they’re having their entrance exam.” Ume groaned.

“Got it!” Izuku cheered before promptly jumping out of his window. The sun was bright outside so he knew he’d be fine.

Izuku stood in the shadows of the slums, they were ignored during the day, but underground heroes patrolled them at night, so all in all it worked out perfectly for his schedule. He walked quickly, the very slowly fading afternoon light was slowly casting more and more area into the shadows he can walk through. 

“HELP!”

He heard a shout, barely registering where it had come from, before dashing off in the direction. A woman with gold hair was watching as her own purse was being stolen, and if Izuku had to guess based off where he was, it was all the woman would have.

He took off, dashing through the shadows and sunlight charging after the man, someone with presumably a mouse quirk, and quickly caught up as he did not have to dodge as much as the man.

The mousey man was laughing as he turned the corner, probably thinking he had made it home free. Unfortunately for the man, Izuku could run up walls in Limbo. And he did just that, pushing himself off the wall, into the shadows, and right over the man.

THUD

“Really?” Izuku questioned as he pulled the purse out of his hands. “Purse stealing? Did you just finish criminal 101 or something? Like really?”

Izuku hopped off the man's back, skipping over right in front of the sunlight.

“But hey-”

“YOU-”

“-At least purse stealers like you keep me busy!”

Izuku stepped back, and into the sunlight, disappearing from the man's sight, as he ran off to go return the purse. It took him a few minutes to go find where the woman was again, but he did find and was able to return the purse to her.

“Oh my! Thank you so much!”

“No problem Ma’am!”

“What’s your name?”

“Shade.”

Izuku grinned at her before dashing off into the sunlight, he’d reemerge somewhere else to go search for the next criminal and villain to stop.

Chapter Text

It was the first day of UA and Momo was already tired. First off, her class was loud . Second off, her teacher was the hero she had met when she had picked up Izuku’s stuff. And third off, she had to deal with the shit bag Izuku had told them about. Bakugou Katsuki.

She didn’t like him from the start. First thing he had done was yell at two people to leave him alone, and only stuck around one other student. Surprisingly, she had thought he’d be friendless from the way Izuku described him.

But that didn’t matter, they had a quirk assessment to get through.

“So! What do you all think of our teacher?” The girl named Uraraka asked.

“Seems strict.” The purple one, Jirou responded.

“I agree, ribbit.” Froggy, Tsuyu.

Momo didn’t join in the conversation, as she shifted her gym uniform on. She liked the texture, but it was a little too tight for her.

“What about you Yaoyorozu?” Jirou questioned. “What’s your opinion?”

Momo thought back to when she had met the man for the first time, before speaking. “I… I think he will have a very unique teaching style.”

The other girls in the changing room nodded, before Momo realized that they were all dressed and ready. She moved, the others following behind her, as she made her way down to the field. 

Some of the boys, including Todoroki Shouto, were already standing ready. While others, including the pissy blond, hadn’t gotten there yet. She stood next to the line, the other girls also following in line. Their teacher, on the other hand, stood staring at a device in his hand, a stopwatch . 

“Sensei.” Todoroki spoke up. “How much longer will we be waiting for the rest of our class?” 

“5 minutes. Then they’ll be expelled if they make it after that.”

As if a summoning spell had taken place, Iida appeared from the doorway that led into the hallway with bathrooms and changing rooms. 

“Sensei! A fight has broken out!”

“‘Twas hardly a fight asshole.” Katsuki spoke, after pushing the door open, the other boys that had still been left entered the yard. “A yelling match based off of miscommunication, isn’t a fight in anyone's books but yours.”

“You are all unruly! And you have no respect for the dress code Bakugou!” Iida was right, Bakugou was wearing the gym shirt tied around his waist with a white t-shirt as a cover. “Your attire is messy, quite unbecoming of a-”

“Seriously Four-Eyes? If we wanna talk messy attire, you should probably stop twisting your panties in a bunch.”

The gasp from Iida nearly made Momo laugh, but she refused to find anything the blond said as even slightly redeeming.

“Shut it, All of you.” Eraserhead said, flashing his quirk over all of them so as to shock them into listening, and she had to admit that the tactic was an effective one.

“Aight teach. Then, what exactly are we fucking learning today?”

“It’s just an assessment. See where you are with your quirk, so I know how challenging I should make the future classes.”

The whole class nodded in agreement, Momo had to admit she could see the logic in the Pro Heroes strategy toward their class. She could already tell how much trouble most of them, the blond, would cause for each other and the teacher.

Okay, Momo had to be honest, she had a very strong distaste for the explosive blond, but after all that she had heard? Well, no one could really blame her for the emotions she felt towards him. Hearing how he had tormented her little brother for year after year, since the two had been 4, had made her blood boil in rage.

But no. Now was not the time, Eraserhead was about to start talking about what they were doing out here, besides the basic ‘quirk assessment’ part.

“We will be doing the ten basic physical tests, except that you will be allowed to use your quirks.”

A round of cheers and chatter ran through the class, Momo herself not participating, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Last place will be expelled.”

Ah, there it was. The silence was heavy, she wondered if Izuku would be able to walk through it or not with how thick it was, Until of course, a new voice called out, Kaminari.

“WHAT?! That’s not fair! Most of us-”

“The world’s not fair. Missions that go wrong aren’t fair, natural disasters aren't fair. And most of all, Heroics ain’t fair, it’s barely even justifiable under certain circumstances-”

“No! That’s not what I mean.” Kaminari blurted out, clearly offending their teacher when he had interrupted.

“Oh?”

“I mean! Some people have gotten to train their quirk a whole bunch, but most of us only got to use it enough to, ya know, not damage ourselves or the people around us. It’s not fair to judge us by how good we are with our quirk, when most of us don’t have much experience with them at all.”

There were nods around the whole class, Momo herself agreed and showed as such, She knew she was lucky to constantly have quirk counselors and personal trainers, that she had an understanding of her own quirks capability.

“Fine. You make a good point. Any of you who are seen not trying to use your quirk to your, safest, maximum potential, will be getting after school classes. Any of you that don’t give it your all though? You can kiss UA goodbye.”

That- That was far more reasonable than Momo wanted to admit about the man. 

Everyone gave some sort of affirmative to their Sensei’s changed words. Cheering, horraying, thumbs up, and several other forms, all went up upon hearing the proposition.

“Alright, now, let’s start.”

Momo grinned.

The tests pass by quickly. A 50-Meter Dash Iida had won, Grip strength test that 

Shoji had placed first in, and more such tests. Her favorite opponent to watch so far was another blond, this one named Monoma. He was copying others' quirks, and from what she could tell, he was hiding how powerful they were when he had the copy, so as to sell the class that his quirk was like an incomplete copy.

She approved of his strategy, he was going all out on showing off how he could use others' quirks strategically, but at the same time, not letting others know how powerful he was. Wait. He could copy others' quirks. Could he- He could see if Izuku’s whole ghost thing was an actual ghost thing or a quirk.

Huh.

Regardless, it was now the ball toss, and she was up next. She stood in the circle, making a slingshot, before planting it into the ground.

“Hey ponytail! Why don’t you stop cheating and do it right.”

What? Okay that was it. 

Momo launched the ball out of the slingshot, and as it flew off, she walked back into the group of her classmates. And then, before anyone even realized what was happening, Momo’s fist had hit Bakugou’s nose. 

The blond reeled back, their peers stepping back so as to not face her wrath next.

“What the hell ponytail?!”

“You’re a goddamn bully who can never change!”

Bakugou’s eyes widened, before an angry expression covered his face.

“The fuck you talking bout?!”

Another punch was thrown, again to Bakugou’s nose, causing it to start bleeding from the continuous impact. The blond apparently couldn’t take it anymore, as he tackled Momo to the ground.

She grabbed his hair, twisting to the side, dragging his head away from her, as he raised his fist to hit her. She kneed upwards, hitting him directly in the gut. He fell to her side, and as she moved to sit up, he grabbed her ponytail to drag her back down with him.

She aimed another punch, aiming for that goddamn mouth of his. And then- She felt the cloth of the capture weapon wrap around her arms. Momo wanted to fight more, the goddamn bitch deserved it. 

“Both of you. Are you kidding me?!” Eraserhead yelled.

Oh. Shit. What had she just done? She looked up to see a very angry Bakugou being held back by the purple one, Shinsou. Holy Fuck. She was gonna be in so much trouble.

Midoriya walked through the alleyways of the slums of Musutafu, his vigilante hood pulled completely over his head. 

The alleys were barely even crowded, only trash and some vaguely hidden belongings left. Everyone who lived in the slums were either hiding in the many abandoned buildings, or out on the main street where they were begging for help and money. Izuku couldn’t blame them at all, after all, that would make him a hypocrite.

Izuku had lived in an abandoned building for a while, and he couldn’t count the amount of nights he spent locked out of the house on the cold and desolate streets hoping for someone, anyone, to just be kind to him. 

But no, that wasn’t something he could, or should, focus on the moment.

CRASH

Well, that sounded like something he should go check out. 

Heading forward, into the next alleyway over, he walked into it to see- Hawks? The red winged hero was sitting among the trash, his left wing looked broken . 

“Hey! Are you okay?!”

“Huh- Oh. Hey little bird! I’m-” The winged Pro shifted, before wincing loudly at the movement. “I’m fine.”

Izuku nodded, walking closer, before almost standing over the older man. Observing the wing, it seemed to just be dislocated based off of the angle at which it was compared to the other one.

“Hey, can you sit up? Like, not in the trash?”

The face Hawks made told Izuku the Pro hadn’t realized that he was even sitting in the trash. Izuku laughed at the expression, before reaching out a hand to the Pro.

The Hero took Izuku’s hand and used it to stand up, struggling to balance on his own feet with his wings off balance. Izuku couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to have wings.

The Pro Hero stumbled forward, before crumpling back onto his knees.

“Hey, uh, do you think you could help?”

Izuku nodded, shifting to be behind the Hero, relaying to shift the joint back into place, similarly to how he would with a dislocated shoulder.

“How’d it happen?” Izuku spoke, wanting to distract Hawks from the potential pain.

“I- I did something I shouldn’t have done. I got… I got punished for it. By my handler.”

“You’re not a bird. They shouldn’t treat you like one!” Izuku got angry at people he did not know, on behalf of the winged man, as he forced the wing’s joint back into place.

“ACK! Well- I mean, I am a bird-”

“No! You’re a human! And you should be treated like one. That’s what my sister told me after all.

Hawks went quiet for a beat, although Izuku couldn’t quite figure out why, before he spoke up again.

“Were you hurt too?”

“Yeah…”

“I see. I’m Hawks.”

“I know, And I’m Shade. Good to meet you, seek me out if they hurt you again, I’ll help you.”

Chapter Text

Midoriya was running. He needed to run faster, the villain behind him was more than he could handle as he was. The sun was still pretty low in the sky, covering most of the alleys in shadows, meaning he couldn’t get to a safe spot yet.

“GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!!”

Fuck. The man was still behind him. C’mon, he just needed to find a sunny spot, or last for another half hour. Then the sun would be high enough to reach the ground on some of the alleys.

A spike of rock jutted up next to him, the villain was no doubt hot on his heels. Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!! He dodges to the side, sliding into another alleyway, a spike only not stabbing him due to his leg armor.

The man, who he had stumbled across trying to beat up a small child and their mother, and he had chosen to distract the villain. However, he hadn’t realized the man's quirk or how fast and strong he was. He just needed to find a safe spot.

Finally, after twisting down two more alleyways, he saw it. A main road going east to west. Covered in sunlight, it would allow him to escape-

Oh.

Well.

That was a new sensation? He didn’t know.

Looking forward, he was only a few feet away from the sunlight.

“You goddamn little shit, ain’t so much of a hero now, huh?”

Huh.

The man was right? He guessed.

Looking down, he finally understood why he was feeling the way he did.

Luckily for him, he didn’t need those organs or have any nerves there.

It didn’t hurt, it just felt…

Numb.

He pushed off the ground, raising his body up and over.

And stumbled forward, much to the horror of the villain.

The gaping hole in his lower torso, from the rocky spike, was pouring blood onto his clothing and the sidewalk underneath him.

He stepped forward.

And then again.

And into the sunlight.

He wanted to be home.

Bakugou sat in his seat in Class 1-A. He could feel the daggers being glared at him by Yaoyorozu. Who he still didn’t understand.

However, now was not the time to think about that, as they were just a few minutes away from their first ever heroics class.

The door to their classroom slammed open, the large figure of All Might appearing in it.

“I AM HERE!”

God he was loud. It was only like, 9 am, far too early for this bullshit.

“TODAY! WE WILL BE HOLDING” The No.1 Hero held up a- Flash card? “BATTLE TRIALS!”

It was the second day? What the hell?

“NOW!” The man pressed a button on a remote and the classroom wall opened up to reveal 20 cases. “GRAB YOUR HERO COSTUMES! WE NEED TO HEAD TO GROUND BETA!!”

So loud. Bakugou stood up, pushing forward, and grabbed his hero costume-the case labeled 17-and walked out. It was just the under pieces, he knew, most of his costume was in a special storage room for all the bulky items his class had. Luckily it was connected to the changing rooms, so he would go grab 'em there.

The rest of his class followed behind him, like the second place- no. Shinsou was second place- they were all third place losers compared to him. He headed towards the changing room, he wanted his sword.

Again, the first to enter, Shinsou and the sparky kid the closest behind him. He set his case on the bench before going into the storage room, hauling out his pieces of armor for his costume. Before finally grabbing his sword.

“Hey Bakugou!” Sparky yelled. “You got a sword!”

“So manly.” Was the spiky redhead- crying?

“What’s it made of?” Shinsou questioned.

“Titanium.” Bakugou grinned

“Isn’t Titanium highly flammable?” Scotch Tape questioned, rude.

“That’s probably the point.” Shinsou sighed.

“Oh god.” The bulky one, Sakai? Satou? Looked terrified.

Bakugou rolled his eyes, the others opinions didn’t matter to him. He slid his fireproof under clothes onto his body, just because he had a much higher resistance didn’t mean he was fire or explosion proof.

Then his armor next. Gold plated stainless steel. Fireproof, high enough melting point his quirk wouldn’t affect the pieces. Chestplate, arm and leg guards covering both his fore and upper limbs. He held his helmet in his hand, before shifting it onto his head.

He didn’t care to look at his classmates, and especially not Shinsou’s almost skintight black and purple bodysuit, before stomping off to ground Beta.

“You leaving me behind?” The voice of the tired lavender boy spoke up from behind him.

“Yes.” Bakugou continued stomping forward.

“Really?” Shinsou questioned, walking in unison with him.

“Mhm.” Bakugou slowed down a bit, walking at a comfortable pace with the insomniac.

Before the duo realized it, they were at ground Beta. A few of the girls, Yaoyorozu and bubble cheeks, had beat them to the school yard. They got in the same line, wondering where All Might was, as more of the extras filed in.

“I AM HERE!”

There he was. Late.

“NOW! LETS GET TEAMS SET UP, AND THEN WE WILL DO THE BATTLE TRIAL!!!”

All Might droned on, 2 teams vs 2 teams in a building, heroes vs villains, all to capture and defend a faux bomb. Seriously? Was this man 7? This was a game for kids to play on a playground.

Half and Half was paired with Sparkly against Pinky and Bubble Cheeks. Tail and Engines were against Octopus and Scotch Tape. Earbuds and Spiky had to fight Plain Dude and Scotch Tape. Rocky and Birdhead had Invisi and Sparky to fight. And lastly.

He and Shinsou were up against Yaoyorozu and Copy dude. Fucking Hell.

“You ready?” Shinsou grinned, patting the bomb.

“Yep.”

“Now we just need to defend this baby.”

The two waited, hiding on the fifth floor, in a room that they had needed to pass through two others to enter. 

Minutes passed, as they slowly drew closer to the ten minute time limit.

And then they heard them.

As they busted through the room that led into theirs. And then into their room. Oh fuck.

“What's up, losers!” Monoma laughed, before launching an icy blast at them. The goddamn copy quirk.

Bakugou lit up his sword, by triggering the explosive cartridge hidden in it’s hilt, before charging at the intruding duo. Yaoyorozu whipped out a sword of her own, another goddamn quirk that pissed him off, and blocked his attack.

The two blades clashed, as sparks flew. Bakugou took note and charged up a blast. His hands were some of the only parts of him that were exposed, for this exact reason. Bakugou, shot his left arm up and set off a minor explosion.

The attack sent Yaoyorozu reeling back, rubbing at her eyes from the bright light. Perfect disarming attack.

“FUCK!” Shinsou yelped.

Bakugou turned around to see Shinsou and Monoma fighting, he leapt forward to go defend the bomb, when-

“Stop this immediately.” Their homeroom teacher cut in over the cameras. “All of you get back here now. This event was unsanctioned.”

Bakugou tripped. Nearly falling on his face, before quickly recollecting himself and standing up.

Bakugou looked over at his competitors, as he felt Shinsou put an arm over his shoulders. Momo high fived Monoma, a grin on both of their obnoxious faces.

“We totally beat both their asses!” Monoma cackled.

“Mhm.” Momo nodded, with just as much enthusiasm. “By the way, Monoma.”

“What's up, Yaoyorozu?”

“I think you should meet my younger brother. He’s got a rather interesting quirk.”

The grin on the blond’s face gave her all the information both Momo and Bakugou needed about his response. Weird. He didn’t remember the Yaoyorozu family having three kids, from all those times his mom had dragged him to galas.

Whatever. He didn’t need to be involved in extras- his classmates' lives.

Ume Yaoyorozu was sitting in his class, 3-J, when all of a sudden, his phone rang. It was just before lunch, who could be calling him right now?

“Yaoyorozu! Your phone?” His arts teacher, Midnight, spoke up to him.

Right. He looked at it. His mom? Why would she be calling him while he was in class, unless-

“Oh fuck. I need to take this.”

“Important or a friend?”

“Important, I assume. She never calls me in class.”

He stood up, and quickly walked out of the classroom. He shut the door behind him, quickly answering his phone.

“Mom?”

“I need you to get Momo, I’m calling both of you out. You need to get back home.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Izuku. He came home injured. Very. His quirk has healed him mostly, but the bloodstains tell a different story on how bad it is.”

“I’ll go get Momo. You call the school. We’ll be there soon.”

Ume ducked his head back into the class, to relay some of the information to his teacher.

“I’m leaving school. Family emergency.”

Midnight nodded, and he left. He made his way forward, almost running towards the classroom where Momo was supposed to be. Running through the long halls and down stairs towards the lower floors where the lower classes learned in. 

Slowing down, only when he reaches the hallway where 1-A’s classroom was. Quickly walking, but not quite jogging, to the door, he knocks, before sliding the door open.

Noone was in the room.

“Kiddo?”

Oh! Present Mic was behind him, having come from the other side of the hallway.

“Do you know where 1-A is right now? I need to go get my sister.”

“Ground Beta. Did something happen?”

“Our brother got injured, he needs us home. Thanks for the information though!”

Ume bolted off, heading down to ground level and heading off to where his sister was. Luckily for him, they had been leaving, and met him halfway. 

“Ume?”

“Hey Momo! We- uh-” He glanced at her classmates for a minute, spotting both her teacher, All Might, and a blond that seemed to match the description of one Bakugou Katsuki. “We need to head home- our little brother got hurt.”

Based off of Momo’s expression she instantly had understood what he had meant, she readied to go before glancing at another blond boy. She grabbed his wrist, quickly generating a marker, and scribbling something down.

“My house. After school today.”

The boy looked extremely confused as Momo ran towards Ume, before realization settled on his face.

Momo leaned in and whispered something to Ume, before the two started jogging back to the main entrance to go leave.

“He’s got a copy quirk. I figured he could help with Izuku.”

Ume nodded.

Chapter Text

“A on-campus field trip?” Izuku questioned. It was a dumb sounding thing to him. “That doesn’t sound like a field trip.”

“Well yeah, but a teacher who works with 2nd years will be teaching us. So-” Momo drawled tiredly.

“Can I tag along?”

“Are you still injured?”

“No! Plus- I wanna meet that Monoma guy you were talking about- I can’t believe I slept through the whole afternoon.”

“In Limbo.”

“IN LIMBO!”

“Alright fine,” The black eyed girl grinned. “You can come. Just make sure to stay out of view.”

Izuku cheered, before running off to go put on his vigilante costume to hide his identity, just in case.

Izuku had left before the bus, heading to the USJ earlier than Momo. She had planned to introduce him to Monoma there, so he had no reason to stick around at the main gate. He was still as fast as he had been before death, even if he didn’t have the limit of stamina and getting winded.

Which had led him to getting to the USJ just a minute before the bus that 1-A was on. He waited outside of the door, getting bored for a half second, before walking up the wall and perching on the solid wall above the door. No chance of no-clipping (as the older ghosts had called it) into some random nearby spot.

He saw the bus arrive, but they didn’t see him, of course. The shadowy rectangle was all he saw, as Limbo’s rules were quite different from Earth’s. The figures who off board were all blobs of the same gray material, as their souls hadn’t gone to Limbo yet, they had no imprint.

And then he saw him.

The only non-gray blob of human.

Kumo.

He grinned and waved at the cloudy ghost, who waved back ferociously when he saw Izuku.

“Hey little pavement!”

“Hi cloudy!!”

Despite knowing each other's names, as Izuku had found out, it was customary to initially greet a ghost by their imprint. A way to make sure they would know you were talking to them, as many could have the same name over the thousands of years worth of ghosts in Limbo.

The cloudy ghost, having arrived as a dark stormy color, brightened up to an almost clear sky, filled with sparse and fluffy white clouds. The older ghost walked up the wall to stand, horizontally, next to the boy.

“Here to watch someone? Or just heroes in general?”

“My sister. She adopted me after the whole, ya know, and she knows everything.”

“Well that’s good Izuku. Now. They’ll be heading in soon, don’t you wanna join?”

“You bet I do!” Izuku grinned, standing up and pushing off the wall, rolling onto the ground in front of the door.

The cloudy ghost laughed, simply walking down, and waiting in front of the wall. As someone, a tall blob-perhaps Momo?-opened the door, to let the other 1-A students in. Of course, the two ghosts were able to sneak in first. Time to have some fun.

Izuku took back everything he said, he was not having fun. He was hiding in the shadows, so as to actually watch in detail and color, as the dark blob of a misty matter formed in the plaza. He felt something wrong . There was something in that portal that was not human. The portal itself was not human.

It felt like a wraith.

He had only encountered them from a distance, and the wrathful ghosts terrified him.

They felt like his bullies.

They felt like Aldera.

They felt like Kacchan .

He needed to get to Momo, needed to warn her, but it was already too late.

The misty mass had surrounded some of the students, his sister included, and scattered them.

He ran forward, shifting into Limbo, and running towards the plaza. He couldn’t fight the villains, not in this amount of light, but he could fight that goddamn wraith that had scattered the students.

Momo spat. Something was wrong. She was in the mountain area- with-

“FUCKING HELL PONYTAIL- GET UP!!!”

The metallic taste in her mouth was only realized once her eyes had fully opened and refocused. She had slammed into her back when she had fallen through, the blood in her mouth meant it had injured her somehow- but- why had she been teleported- who had…

A blast echoed to her side, she turned to see Bakugou blasting a villain. Oh god.

They were under attack.

Shinsou shifted, trying to move, which only caused the rubble above him to shift further. He did the only logical thing, and stopped moving. He slowed his breathing, just like he had when he was hiding from his bullies.

“C’mon!” A voice, an adult he didn’t recognize, based off of the tone, called out. “We’ve only found one of the students! At least two were sent here!”

Shinsou felt something in the rubble shift. Fall. He wanted to scream from pain. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t give away his location. He couldn’t even run if he was found.

Not with a pipe in his leg.

Kaminari was terrified. He already hated water, and now he was stuck, on a boat, surrounded by villains.

“We can handle this-” Uraraka tried to comfort the electric blond, but it was of no use.

Kaminari lurched forward. He wanted to throw up. And so, he did the only thing he knew how to. He sent off a massive bolt of electricity. Charging the water full of volts that may have killed the villains.

And worst of all for the hero student.

The lights went out.

Midoriya lurched as the world shifted without warning. Suddenly, he was fully back on Earth, with no way to heal or be safe, as the lights went out. What a good time he was having.

“SHADE?!” A Pro, Eraserhead, called out.

“Fuck- Is that really Shade?” He heard a villain whisper. 

Oh well. At least he had packed his vigilante stuff. The green haired boy grabbed his bat off the back strap and leapt forward, to help fight the villains off in the plaza.

“Eraserhead- Watch out for the portal- There’s something hiding inside!” He shouted to the hero.

And then his whole world went black.

Monama shifted deeper into his hiding spot, hiding as the villains passed by, sprinting down the burning street.

He needed to find Shade. Momo had told him that her brother, the vigilante hunting villains in the slums, would be here. And so. He needed to find him. But first, he had to make the 100 meter dash out in the open so as to get to the door to leave the conflagration zone.

If he didn’t make it? He would be fucked. Simple as that.

He shifted, from a hiding stance to a crouched stance, ready to make the dash. He peeked out seeing no villains around on the ground. He ran, making a break for the door, when he heard it.

The flapping of wings.

Oh god.

If only he had Iida’s quirk, or Bakugou’s, or anyone who could’ve made him just a tiny bit faster. He could see the screw on the door handles, practically touch the door handles, when he felt something wrap around his arm.

Oh god. Please no.

Please god fucking no.

He felt the talon's grip tighten further. He didn’t even realize he screamed as he was suddenly no longer touching the ground.

Was this how he died?

He screwed his eyes shut.

He didn’t want to see the distance between himself and the ground grow in length.

Momo coughed up another round of blood, her back hurt, but she needed to trust that goddamn bully. Bakugou had her back, quite literally, in the fight. Covering her injury by taking down the villains with his sword, while she defended his with a bow she had created. Shooting down the villains who dared to not get close to the flaming sword.

She could hear, barely, Izuku’s vigilante name being called down at the plaza. So her brother was helping out, and was safe. Hopefully. But it was hard to tell, as she first had to drown out the screams.

Some from villains, but others- oh god the others. They were from her classmates, she just knew.’

She wanted to scream. From what? She didn’t know. Anger? Rage? Pain? Desperation? She was as clueless about her own feelings as she was about where everyone else was.

But in the end? Did it really even matter? She didn’t know.

She felt like the most clueless person in the world.

Monoma was dropped.

He felt everything slow, as he ran through the quirks he had under his belt, which ones could save him from the-what, 100? 200?-meter drop. Kaminari’s? No. Shinsou’s? Wouldn’t work without a target. Tsuyu’s wouldn’t work in the burning place, so that just left- Momo’s . 

He twisted, aiming his hand downwards, the rapidly approaching ground would have terrified himself in any other situation, it only slightly scared him as it was. He generated, hoping that the creation would be enough, as he really didn’t want to go splat. When-

CRASH

A figure, slightly smaller, got launched into him. Based on the direction, the person had come from the plaza. The person seemed to be fading, as they grew closer to the bright flames, so out of instinct, he reached out to the person’s quirk.

And copied.

The world turned. Spinned. Shifted.

Red flames turned gray, heat turned to a gentle warm temperature, the dark buildings turned pure white without shadow. Only rough black outlines, like those made by worn down pencils, defined the rough edges of the things around them.

The figure, a boy, seemed to shift as well. He had a well defined outline, but unlike everything else, he looked like asphalt. Like a sidewalk, covered in deep cracks and holes, puddles being the only thing to fill them.

And then.

Monoma hit the ground.

Kirishima sat quietly, his hands were tied behind his back, with rope , meaning the villains didn’t know what his quirk was. He glared at the ground, not willing to risk it with the villains.

They were still looking for the other student, Shinsou, who had been teleported with him to the ruin zone.

He looked up, two villains were guarding him. Well. That's as safe as a bet as he was probably going to get in this situation. He shifted his quirk on, focusing on his wrists, trying to cut the rope as quietly as possible.

He needed to find Shinsou before the villains did.

Nezu set down his teacup, ignoring the droning on of the blond Pro Hero, as he pulled out his phone. 

Why… Why was there no confirmation that the field trip was going good? He stood up, scurrying to his desk, not acknowledging the confusion on the no.1 hero’s face, and he checked the cams. 

No cameras in or around the USJ were on.

Oh god.

Ochako wrapped her arm around the blonde and launched off of the boat, they floated forward, she just hoped it was enough. She didn’t want to look down. Didn’t want to acknowledge the smell of burned flesh from below. 

She knows she will never be able to forget today. 

She wanted to throw up, but she didn’t know if it was from her quirk or the smell. It didn’t matter. She needed to get to shore. To the Plaza.

Aizawa dodged again, and again. He wanted to scream from pain, but instead he bit the inside of his mouth. Which was probably why he tasted blood. He needed to avoid that thing .

It had thrown Shade into the conflagration zone, he needed to make sure that he didn’t get targeted as well. He knew Thirteen was up at the top, protecting some students that didn’t get teleported.

“Eraserhead-Sensei!” a familiar voice, Uraraka, called out. Oh god. His kids were here.

He turned around.

Just in time to see the villain with a spike quirk impale his students arm.

He would never forget the scream his student let out.

Just how many injuries would they have today?

Momo stumbled. The last villain in their area had fallen. And now, the adrenaline was fading.

“Hey Ponytail, we-”

She fell forward. Crashing onto the rough ground of the mountain zone.

“PONYTAIL?!”

Well shit.

Izuku sat up, the first thing he saw was the terrified looking boy, whos eyes were flying around Limbo.

“You… You must be Monoma?”

The boy, his imprint was still settling onto him, stared at Izuku. Rude.

“How- Oh. Youre… You’re Momo’s brother..? Where is this-”

“Limbo. The afterlife for unhappy souls if you wanna get specific.”

“Then-”

“No. You’re not dead, at least not in the way you think. You just copied my quirk.”

“Which means?”

“I don’t know. It might work differently for you than it did me. It only activated itself after I died, so if you-”

“No. I was still falling when I copied your’s.”

“Then it’s just the light. Get to somewhere dark and you’ll shift back.”

Izuku stood up, looking around for where he had came, a hole in the dome, about 20 meters up. Easy. He ran, towards and then up the wall. Perching on the hole, so as to gauge enemies he’d have to fight, he heard Monoma scramble up behind him.

Weirdo.

He jumped out, the shadows engulfing him as he shifted back into Earth. His injuries had healed in Limbo, meaning they hadn’t been that severe. He hoped.

Now- to fight. To protect. To make sure no one died like he had.

The Pro’s were almost there, Nezu knew, but he was still terrified for what results they would find. He could only pray that no one was dead.

At least no hero students.

He needed to make sure they were all safe. Every student that entered the building was his cub after all. And he let no one touch his cubs.

Shinsou could feel his conscious fading. He needed the heroes to get there soon.

Bakugou shifted Momo onto his back, ignoring the blood from her mouth that was no doubt staining his hair. They needed to get to the Pros.

Tokoyami held onto Tsuyu. The injured frog girl was his only priority, other than making sure they weren’t found by the villains.

Todoroki sent off another blast, he felt the landslide zone shift under him. He knew he was destabilizing it, but he needed to get rid of the villains, for both him and Ojiro.

“TODOROKI WAIT-”

The landslide shifted, and he fell into it. Oh god.

Mina launched another acid attack at the villains, trying to keep them off the fallen Pro. She needed to protect Thirteen. Needed to be a hero.

And oh god, did she not want to deal with this ever again.

Jirou hid in the ruin zone, her earjacks keeping her away from the villains, when she had heard it.

The shallow beating of a heart trapped under the rubble. She could practically taste the blood in the air. She looked in between the rubble pieces, to see what had happened.

She nearly screamed, only stopping for her safety.

“Well, What do we have here?” A villain spoke behind her.

This time, she really did scream.

Eraserhead heard the doors slam open. His co-workers were here. He felt the adrenaline stop, fade. He crumbled to his knees, only looking up to see the hand of the so-called leader in his face. Was this how he died? Huh.

“ERASERHEAD!!”

Shade's body slammed into the villain. Huh.

Aizawa’s world went black as he passed out from exhaustion.

Chapter Text

Katsuki took off shoes as entered his house, luckily he had made it out of all the aftermath quickly due to his quick statement and lack of injuries. He was about to yell to his parents that he was home, until he heard her.

His mother was in the kitchen, he could tell from where the yells were coming from, and due to his father worriedly sitting on the couch, he knew it was a phone call.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN- NO SIR! I am NOT going to calm down. IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS .”

Three months? The only big thing from three months ago was- oh. Something happened with Izuku…? That would explain the lack of funeral, but still.

Katsuki walked over to his father, silently sitting next to him. He didn’t want to process what he was hearing.

“YOU LOST HIS BODY-?! HOW?! NO- DON'T TELL ME YOUR LOOKING INTO IT. IT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN MISSING IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!”

There was a long pause from his mom, somehow more worrying than the yelling.

“Hello Tsukauchi. I would like a thorough explanation.”

Tsukauchi hit the ‘end call’ button, flipping his phone over, he set it on the table in front of him. He rubbed his brow before looking up at the dark clothed Pro Hero. 

“Eraserhead.”

“Any leads?”

Tsukauchi sighed, as if whatever information he knew was a great burden.

“A single one. Leading back to the Shie Hassaikai.”

There was a resting quiet between the two men, both knew what the yakuza were capable of, and more than knew what their priorities were, even if they couldn't prove it yet. There was a resting, heavy yet subtle, fear layering over the two. They both knew that there was a very high, very possible, chance that they never got the body back.

And if they did?

They did not want to imagine the state that it would be in.

Shade looked up, careful not to lean into the light, at the red wings that soared overhead. Like a hawk. He ducked back into the shadows of the alleyways, sure he knew it was safer in Limbo, but he was completely deaf and almost blind to the happenings of Earth.

He walked quietly, carefully but quickly, going down alley after alley. Constantly watching the sky. He couldn't trust the hawk, much less birds. He had never liked birds much anyways, if he had to be honest with himself. Especially not after that red winged hawk had bragged to the police about ‘The little green ghost Shade’. 

Along with the USJ Incident that had taken place that morning? He wanted to avoid any possible interactions with “fans”, that had popped up from the articles. Or enemies. And there were always more enemies than allies, if his middle school years had taught him anything. He wanted to groan at the comment, but the bird was still flying overhead, and that was too much noise.

He also should probably head back into Limbo to go home, since the whole family was freaking out over the USJ, but the place was loud when people freaked out. He didn't like loud . Shade liked the quiet. The early morning, Limbo's near silence, reading in the library at midnight, and so many other examples on why the peace and quiet was better.

Which is exactly why the yell, not a scream, was brain shattering to his concentration. He hated people yelling. He hated all of this. He hated feeling useless. So he ran. Despite knowing the hawk was up ahead, and knowing that the alleys were always a little too quiet when the birds were around. 

He ran across alleyways, shifting in and out of Limbo, as he worked his way towards where the noise had came from. He needed to help the person, regardless of his own situation. 

It was a purse snatcher, okay, not purse , but a sweater should fit the same general category, so it wasn't awful. If Shade was feeling like himself, he would've jumped in, said some quippy line, and left through Limbo. 

But he wasn't. He watched. He watched as the woman sprayed the—lizard? Leopard gecko—man with what seemed to be either mace or some anti-animal spray. He watched as the hawk swooped into help. 

He watched. He waited. And he saw the scene fade. The snatcher got put in cuffs, the woman left, and the hawk flew away. And he still watched. What.. What was he doing here? Why was he outside his house? His mom was going to take away dinner again if he didn't get home. He needed to get home to make sure he bandaged his burns before she got home. He needed to… he needed to keep going. He stepped forward.

Into the sunlight.

Into Limbo.

And suddenly, he could breathe again. Oh god.

He wasn't Shade. Or poor defenseless Izuku, who needed to put up with that woman . He was Izuku Midoriya. Yaoyorozu? They had never cleared it up. He needed to get home. Right. Home. His sister was injured and he needed to go back, it may be loud and crowded, but it was safe .

He didn't know why he had forgotten . Why? Why had he forgotten who he was? He had only been out of Limbo, for what, an hour? Two, at most. And yet. It felt like he had been deteriorating. 

Because he had been.

Limbo healed him, he knew that. It reverted any person, almost always ghosts until he had shown up, back to their most healed natural form over the max time of one week. And ever since Recovery Girl it had been that way, reverting back to fully healed whenever he entered. Sure it had taken longer sometimes, like when he had gotten impaled.

But this? This was different. He was actively deteriorating when he was out of Limbo. But, he just couldn't understand why, he knew his quirk was-

Oh. His quirk. He needed to get home. He needed to tell Momo, or Ume, or anyone. He needed his safety net for all of this. 

And so, just like he always had, Izuku Midoriya ran.

(18:30) Shincat: Just got out of surgery LMAO

(18:30) Shincat: attached: 25260413_182946.jpg

[photo ID: Shinsou holding up a peace sign at the camera, clearly in a hospital gown and bed, shit eating grin on face. Text bar in the middle says ‘nw i oly hve 1pole in betwen me leggies’]

(18:30) Bakubitch: U gud?

(18:31) Bakubitch: Not that I care

(18:31) Bakubitch: I see ur sense of humor hasnt changed

(18:33) Shincat: Ye

(18:36) Shincat: Jus kinda lopy frm al the meds

(18:36) Bakubitch: I can tell based off of how long u take to write.

(18:40) Shincat: Whterv cud u mean?

(18:40) Bakubitch: Point proven.

(18:41) Bakubitch: Have you ate yet?

(18:41) Bakubitch: Cuz if u havnt im bringing u smth

(18:46) Shincat: I havnt ate but I got 1 of thos tube thingies in m, fedin mee

(18:46) Bakubitch: lmao

(18:46) Bakubitch: Go to bed nerd.

(18:52) Shincat: Ur not the bos of me !!!

(18:52) Bakubitch: lol

(19:47) Bakubitch: I can see you've been offline for a while, so just wanted rq to tell u that ily and u should sleep well

[DELETE MESSAGE SENT AT 19:47? YES / NO]

[MESSAGE SENT AT 19:47 HAS BEEN DELETED]

Overhaul looked into the tube. The floating body was starting to decay again, much to his own disappointment. He waved for one of his goons to go get the filthy girl he had to reset his specimen. 

The boy was the first quirkless body he had gotten his hands one a while, and the only one who hadn't broken under his… activities. But Overhaul was certain.

This time.

This time he would do it right.

He would make a person without a quirk develop a true gift. Just like the prequirk people had wanted. And he knew right where to start.

He heard the door creak open, snapping him momentarily out of his own brain, before he fell back into his patterns. Eri, his precious undo button for these wonderful activities, knew what to do. She never even argued with him anymore when it came to the body. How perfect.

Perhaps she deserved a reward? Ah. He knew. He knew exactly what to craft the boy into. And he knew Eri would love the gift when he was done.

After all, who didn't want their own guardian angel?

He knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that Eri would probably not want the potential fucked up experiment as a guardian. Well. Not without him getting any training. But first. Overhaul needed to finish what he started.

He tossing out his gloves with barely more than a flick, a routine he was so used to helped him, feeling calming on his uneasy soul.

He turned any and all attention away from everything else. There was no way, that this time he would fail, he needed absolute concentration, if he wanted Izuku Midoriya to survive his activities. 

He grinned furiously under his mask, and he reached out.

Laying a hand on the glass, he gently extended his quirk like a cautious puppy…

And then the glass exploded.

Leaving his specimen to be his alone to test on. And by the pre quirk gods he will use it well. They gave him his power, and he will use it like Prometheus did, and shape humans to his will.

Of course, as the Narrator, I must inform you that, Overhaul has never heard the end of Prometheus's story. And if you, dear reader, do not know, than I am by no means the one who shall in form you. 

Overhaul, like the rest of us, will be forced to pay the price for trying to be a god. After all, not everyone can achieve what I could.

Chapter Text

Midoriya knew that for this one time, probably the first ever time in his life, he shouldn't trust his gut. But it was insistent. Whenever he stepped into Limbo, even for a second, he could feel it, the pull. Somewhere, something, perhaps someone, was pulling for him whenever he stepped into Limbo. And he had done his best to ignore it for the past week, and the week before, and the week before that week.

He had barely patrolled since the ‘incident’, as the Yaoyorozus called it, and always around high noon, when the least amount of shadow was possible. Sure, it was most definitely unsafe, having his senses being unreliable, but so was losing himself again. His room was always bright, he only ever went into the dark when it was meal time or when anyone in the family wanted to talk with him.

Which all in all, only made the insistent pulling at his gut worse. And so, figuring it couldn't be that far, all while knowing the sports festival was tomorrow, he decided to go find it. Momo and Ume were at school, and the older Yaoyorozu’s were at work. Meaning no one would notice for at least five hours.

He slipped on his vigilante gear, deciding to be safer than sorry later. And jumped out the window. 

He landed on the ground, perhaps the grass was soft and green, or maybe there were flowers of all colors below him, he didn't know. He just felt the pull. And so he followed, down and out of the Yaoyorozu property, and into the streets of Musutafu.

It took him down to the train line, almost empty as it was midday, and almost no one was going anywhere. He stood at the edge of the platform, wondering where to go, as going any further would pull him out of Limbo. But, he truly already knew what to do, all thanks to the same awful feeling.

He waited for the subway to pull up, and quietly slipped into it. It was almost completely empty, so he was free to take a seat on the chairs lining the side. He hesitated, he had never been allowed to even think about taking up one of those chairs before, but now wasn't then, and he swiftly moved to sit down upon that realization.

He now knew instinctively where to go, to find the source of the tug, and he had decided to follow it without question. Because perhaps maybe, just maybe, it'd give him an answer to a question he didn't even know yet.

And Izuku was nothing, if not a curious person.

Eri sat quietly in her room, ever since Overhaul had gotten Mr. Angel he had been obsessed with him, which was a thought that she didn't know if she liked or not. She wondered if it was wrong of her to be happy that Overhaul wasn't giving her pain anymore.

He had even upgraded her room! Her bed wasn't a mattress in the middle of the floor, but now an actual bed frame and bed in the corner of the room! She knew it was silly, and probably an awful thing to think about, as she only got these nice things whenever Mr. Angel’s experiments went well.

If Mr. Angel ever woke up or met her, she would say sorry for all her bad thoughts. Eri was a good girl, just like her dad had taught her, and because she was a good girl, she needed to stay strong!

Even, even if it really really realllyyyyy sucked to stay strong, she had to do it!

Only good girls get saved, that's what the TV always running with the pre-quirk programs said. Or really, that's what her guards said to her when she watched them. Which she did, quite a lot, as it was the only form of entertainment besides the stuff on her bed. None of which deserved her attention, as she had been given a new one every time Mr. Angel got hurt, and celebrating someone getting hurt didn't feel like something a good girl would do.

She knew Mr. Angel would probably say she could play with them, he seemed nice like that. She just knew, from what she had seen of his face, it looked peaceful. Nothing like the angry sneers and glowering eyebrows she was used to.

She liked Mr. Angel, and if he really was one, that meant he’d save her. And if he saved her, that would mean she was a good girl. So. She just needed to be a really good girl and Mr. Angel would come.

There was a knock on her door, she blinked, and the sound rung into her room again. Eri scrambled up from where she had been sitting on the bed, to go to open the door. She walked over the cold concrete on her bare feet, her hair was matted from lack of brushing, and her single dress was worn. Maybe if she was lucky… No! Mr. Angel would only come if she thought good things and did even better actions.

And so she reached up to the door handle, using all her force, and turned it open. There was no lock or key on the inside, but on the outside, where she could not reach. The door clicked open, and opened towards her, making her scramble back. 

Rappa was standing in front of her. She liked Rappa, he didn't make mean faces at her, and he never said mean words to her. And! He was the one who brought her stuff. 

The much taller man looked around her room, moving his head side to side, as if trying to look for something. Eri looked up at him, quietly wondering why he was here if he wasn't bringing her something, because if Overhaul was gonna do his tests on her, he would've come himself or sent the tiny mimic man, who she very much did not like.

The man, apparently done surveying the room, reached in and shut the door behind him as he left. Well, okay. She was still being a good girl, and if Rappa had been sent, that means… Oh. That means that Mr. Angel’s test time had been successful again. Eri was glad that Mr. Angel was asleep the whole time, she hated it when Overhaul was in a bad mood and had her stay awake during her test time.

“...Why?” She thought quietly to herself, wondering what they had come for.

“Why what?” Another voice in the room spoke.

She turned around to see a man—boy?—sitting on her bed. He had some really shiny black stuff on his chest and arms and legs, just like the knights she had seen on the screen. His pants had lots of pockets, she wondered what he kept in them, and his big hoodie was a really pretty green. The mask on his face wasn’t anything like the bird masks everyone else wore, rather, it looked more like those cool tech masks she got to see if an old sci-fi show was on. She had been told she was very smart when she had listed all the pre-quirk genres and so-

Wait.

The boy, she was going with boy because he didn't seem tall or mean enough to be a grown-up, wasn’t supposed to be in her room. How had he gotten in?! She backed up, nearly crashing into the door before he had said anything.

The boy looked panicked, pulling down his mask and hood, waving his hands trying to calm her and- oh. She stared into those green eyes, they were the same bright awful green that was in the tube. But they, oh, oh they looked so gentle.

Eri felt it in her bones, her gut, whatever her shows and her caretakers called it. She knew she could trust him. She stepped forward, surprising him, and then she stepped forward again.

“You’re him…?”

“Who?”

“Mr. Angel.”

“I’m no angel-” The boy with the green eyes, Mr. Angel, laughed. “Most people even call me a demon…”

“But why? You look so nice.”

There was a smile on Mr. Angel’s face, but it didn’t look right. It wasn’t a happy smile. She had seen unhappy smiles before, in the glint in Overhaul’s eyes as he gave her her tests. But this, this wasn’t that. It was sad .

“Why are you sad, Mr. Angel?”

Chapter Text

Hi.
It's been a while. Over a year, actually.

I'd like to start this by apologizing, I had said a week or two for a hiatus to adjust to school. And at the time, I had genuinely ment it. Chapter 15 still sits with 2 and half written pages, and the rest of it outlined for another good 6-8 pages at the least. And I really had planned on finishing it and posting it after getting into the rythm of school. "As soon as I get used to my classes." I had promised myself, which gradually turned into; "During this break I'll finish this chapter!" to "I just dont have the time, but I will finish it!" Deep down, I knew I'd probably never get back to it, much less with the same writing style and emotions behind it. You see, when I started writing this, I was doing online school for my Sophmore year of highschool. I had ended many long, suprisingly fake, friendships; and was only close with my partners and my cat.

When I went on hiatus, I figured my new school would be just as shitty as my old one, where I'd end up with fake friends, if any, and would just do the bare minimum and then go home. Instead, it was nothing like my old school or my homeschooling days, or my online days; I had teachers who gave a crap, new friends who I still hand out with, and an actual want to try. So between changing my entire schedule, my mental and emotional health getting way better, and actually having friendships and hanging out with people outside of school, writing in general went to the back burner. But now I've gotten used to actual human life and not just awful struggling day to day existince, and am working on something you'll be glad to hear about:

A rewrite.

While I'm not disappointed by the writing style of DbtS or ESC, I am frustrated by the rushed nature in which I wrote them. I rushed plots so I could get to scenes I actually had thought out, skipped over important relationship building, and didnt care much for the outlining or the pacing. By the time I did care, I had already established the fast pace, so I couldnt slow down without it feeling even more awkward. So instead I've decided to rewrite from the start, and starting with DbtS, and going on to ESC when I finish writing DbtS, so I don't overfill my schedule even more. I'll also switch to uploading chapters once every two weeks, on Saturday. Before I publish the first rewritten chapter, I want to finish the complete layout for the story and all its filler and rewrites, and include scenes I skipped over originally.

Expect the first chapter on September 27th of this year, the last Saturday of the month. I'm sorry about not uploading or posting anything in over a year, but I plan to be back very soon.

Thank you for waiting, AceOfArson