Chapter Text
Deep in a forest, the sound of rustling and frantic breathing echoed.
A small figure ran past the snow-covered trees, looking around for something.
Messy dark green hair barely covered by a beanie several shades lighter. A thin black jacket. Black pants. And dark green boots.
"Where is she?!"
The small figure, a boy who is roughly 6 years old, was running in a dark forest. He was crying profusely and his clothes were slightly burned.
But he ignored the smell of caramel and smoke on himself in favor of smelling the same smell that should be on something he had lost.
Or... something that was taken from him.
The child tripped on a branch, his face plopping in the snow.
The child began to sob uncontrollably as the snow was not as deep as you'd think, so it didn't soften the impact between the thick root underneath and the child's face.
But the child didn't only cry about the physical pain...
"WHERE'S MY FRIEND!?"
He cried about the emotional pain.
(Minutes before this moment)
The child, Izuku Midoriya, was being held back by two children his age. A boy with red wings and another with longer than average fingers.
In front of them was a boy with spiky blonde hair who was glaring at the greenette while holding a toy ragdoll.
The ragdoll had waist length red hair, a button eye and a goggly eye, a blue dress, and black nubs on its legs to represent shoes.
"I can't believe Deku still plays with creepy dolls!"
"Yeah, what a baby! And he wants to be a hero even though he's quirkless."
"Shut the hell up, you two!" Yelled the blonde as he glared at Izuku.
"Kacchan! Put Ragatha down!" Izuku cried.
But the blonde snarled at the green bean before igniting his palms with firecracker-like explosions, damaging the ragdoll and causing Izuku to cry out in distress.
"Don't Talk Back To Me, DEKU! And what did I tell you about pretending to be a hero!?"
"I was just playing with Raga-"
Izuku couldn't finish as the blonde, Katsuki Bakugo, kicked the boy in the mouth.
"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! As for your stupid doll..."
Katsuki turned and prepared to throw the doll, making Izuku frantically thrash about to knock the bullies off of him.
"It can fuck off and DIE!!!"
*BOOOM!!!*
The doll was sent flying into the air as Katsuki let out an explosion more powerful than the last few since he was four.
Ragatha was sent flying far, and Izuku cried out in anguish.
But before anyone could make a comment, Izuku bashed the back of his head into the winged-boy's nose, bit the long-fingered kid's hand, and pushed Katsuki to the ground as he ran into the trees to find his friend since he was 5 years-old.
But his desperation infuriated the bullies as they chased after him.
After a while, the parents of the children realized they went into the forest and called the police or for a hero to find the children.
(Now)
Izuku could hear the loud bangs of Katsuki's quirk and tried to get up, only to fall through more snow and down a hill.
That's when he heard static and a distorted voice. A familiar voice.
Izuku got up and ran closer.
Izuku then spotted a small head of red hair as he found... his burned-up doll.
"No! No no no no! Please!" The child begged, but begging couldn't fix a doll that had been caught in an explosion.
Izuku cried yet again as he knew what his parents, specifically his fa- Hisashi, would do if they found out another toy they had gotten Izuku had been damaged.
Ragatha was not the first doll Izuku once had. He had three before her. Three his mother, Inko Midoriya had bought him despite her husband's hate for their quirkless child.
The first was when Izuku was four. A small teddy bear that Izuku named Mister Snuggles. But when Izuku was diagnosed as Quirkless, his father lashed out at his son and burned the innocent bear with his quirk before sending his... this freak... to "its" room.
After that was a plushie of a bunny that was thrown out by one of Izuku's teachers, then a plushie of pro hero, Present Mic, that Izuku customized himself and called it Mister Mike. Taken by a rich girl in class with a good quirk and everyone assumed he'd stolen it from her.
Several dolls were taken or ruined. Ragatha would be his fourth... and last. And he didn't... He Couldn't Lose Her!
That's when Izuku heard it. Not the sounds of explosions. Not the sounds of wings flapping. But a low and hostile growl.
He turned to see a giant wolf (Giant in comparison to the small child), and it looked hungry.
"AAAAH!!!"
Izuku ran again, the wolf hot on his non-existent tail, Ragatha clutched tightly to his chest.
But no matter how fast he ran, the wolf was inches away.
Eventually, Izuku tripped again.
He tripped over a stone and onto a patch of dirt. Ragatha dropped several feet away.
The wolf was upon him in an instant.
Izuku couldn't stop the tears leaking from his eyes.
He was going to die.
He was born quirkless, yet he still wanted to be a hero. A hero like the number one hero, All Might. He wanted to save people with a smile on his face.
So, when he was playing in the snow before Kaccha- Katsuki and his friends came, he pretended to be a hero and save Ragatha from a little snow monster he made.
After it was confirmed by the quirk doctor that Izuku was quirkless, his father began to hate him and beat on him and his mother. His mother barely looks at him nowadays. Katsuki, who was once his friend, treated him terribly and was the one to call him by that insulting name, Deku, which means "Useless."
Everyone treated him as lesser or as a disease. All he wanted was to make people happy and feel safe.
Suddenly, Izuku's tears started to burn and he started to hurt all over.
The wolf slashed its claws across Izuku's leg.
Then it stopped as it heard something loud. Something angry. Something vengeful. Something screaming at it.
Many shadows loomed over Izuku and the wolf, but only one looked up. The wolf's eyes widened in horror. True... Genuine... fear...
*CRACK!!!*
Izuku opened his eyes when he noticed his heart was still beating and he wasn't getting mauled.
He looked around and noticed he was in a graveyard. Several graves all about.
He then turned and saw a gravestone that was out of place. It was the stone he tripped over.
"I'm so sorry!" He apologized.
"It's... Alright..."
"Huh?"
Izuku looked around frantically, looking for whoever said that. He saw no one.
That's when he noticed Ragatha.
She was... fixed.
She wasn't burned up anymore.
"Ragatha!"
Izuku grabbed his little friend and hugged her tight.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't stop Ka- Bakugo from hurting you! I won't let anyone hurt you ever again!"
Izuku walked away, looking for anyone to help him.
He never turned back to notice the black liquid in the dirt.
He never noticed the wolf whose neck was broken and body was skewered on a spike fence.
And he never noticed Ragatha's lone eye looking up at him.