Work Text:
Toga sat in the doctor's office, feet swinging as she sat on the wax paper bed. Her mom squeezed her hand as the doctor entered, an air of seriousness around him.
"Toga's quirk is most..." He paused, as if searching for a good word, "Unusual."
Toga's smile slipped like soap in the shower.
"See your quirk, Mrs. Himiko, is the ability to multiply blood. Mr. Himko's quirk allows him to make his fingers into small objects or animals. Therefore, I'm guessing there was some kind of mutation, as it seems Toga's quirk is the ability to shapeshift into someone if she drinks their blood. The mutation, however, isn't what I'm concerned about. I'm worried about her active bloodlust."
Toga's mom dropped her hand to cover her mouth. Toga wrapped her arms around herself, curling into a ball.
"Is there anything I can do to preserve my daughter, or will she become a monster?" Her mom asked through trembling breaths. The look she gave Toga, that look of utter fear. Like she wasn't human, like she wanted to kill her mom. Like Toga was incapable of love.
"No, there isn't a singular cure. I recommend treating her with love and respect, like you would any other child of yours."
Her mom didn't not take the doctor's advice. She was called every name, from freak to monster to murderer. Even when she had done nothing.
At school, kids said, "What a disgusting obsession. She's so creepy." They called her insane.
She didn't care. Call her want they want, she just wanted to be like them. Become them. Wear their skin. She'd always been told it's not the outside what matters, it's what's inside. So why shouldn't she know their insides?
Because they were both delicious red inside. They both had the same blood. Why should she hold herself back from being authentically herself for their comfort? Oh, she thought as she gave in and devoured Saito. The blood on my face is matching him!!! How cute, how sweet, that we match!
"Oh my, you're bleeding!" She said between giggles. The only word for this was ecstatic. It was pure ecstasy.
"Stop! Please, stop!" He cried. The sheer shivers that ran through her at the taste of him. She could get drunk on this-she was drunk on this. It made her dizzy in the best way.
As she lifted her mouth from his stomach for air, she told him
"It's because I love you!" She giggled. How silly he didn't get it. She drank people up when she loved them. This was how it should be, and this is how she loved. Her way. Yes, this sweet blood coating her palms, dribbling off her chin, meant she loved him. It was her, and that was how she was.
~~~
The whispers followed her wherever she went. People treated her like a unfortunate accident of society, when she was really just her. They said it was so horrible she ended up like this.
"Insane", she heard muttered in the street.
"Crazy", she was called by those she loved.
"Murderous gleam in her eye" ,she was described in one online article.
Well of course she went crazy for love. Who didn't? Of course she went insane when she got to taste the blood of those she loved and become them. That was how she loved. of course it made her happy to see those she loved. Oh how she thirsted for their blood, how she longed to love them.
Because blood was blood, and when their blood smeared on her face, she loved how they both had the same blood coating them. How could she got get high off their blood, her meal, her love. When they fell and begged for their lives as she drank them, it made her head spin.
And she'd tell them how much she loved them and how she must become them. Eating every drop of their blood was all because she loved them so. The delicious blood was all because she loved them, the murder was because she loved them, the manical giggles was all because she loved them. Everything was because she loved them, wanted them, needed them.
~~~
Ochaco's face. The sweetest face she would ever see, the only one that wanted to know her. Ochaco could never truly let her go, Toga knew. But Ochaco had tried to satisfy her innermost desire to be understood, despite everything. Toga couldn't begin to repay that-unless? The blood splattered as Ochaco coughed, drops splattering on the ground. She was distracted by how sweet they smelled. She wanted to drink Ochaco's blood, but now not just for the joy. To save her life. She cupped her hands and swallowed, becoming Ochaco. She would give her every last drop of her own blood. No matter how Ochaco fought, her blood, her love, would not cease. She'd give it all to save Ochaco.
It's who people are inside that counts, right?
They had the same blood, guts, and face as Ochaco now. But this time, it wasn't out of murder. It was out of true and real life saving caring. Who cared Ochaco's blood was smeared on her face when it meant Ochaco would live another day? It was a good thing to have Ochaco's blood on her hands, not because she wanted to eat it, but because she would save Ochaco. The way Ochaco had looked in her eyes, calling her the cutest girl in the world? The feeling it gave her, the pure love in Ochaco's blood, was why she must drink it to save her. Ochaco could say she didn't want the help, but it didn't matter. Toga would save her. As Toga (looking like Ochaco) gave her blood for Ochaco, it made her head spin. She could feel herself fading. But it didn't matter.
Because for once, the blood truly meant love. For once, tasting blood saved someone who saved everything. This blood, the sticky iron smelling red, meant love.
That was Toga's last thought as she died.