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"Why is trigger so scary?" Mineta whined as he desperately scrambled to get away from The monstrous villain chasing him.
"Lead them this way!" Midoriya yelled as he leaped from rooftop to rooftop. Mineta continue to wail but followed the instruction. Behind him the raging villain followed mindlessly; too high on trigger to think about the obvious trap.
Mineta threw his balls on the ground and bounced out of the villains reach. The villain ran into Yaoyorozu's net. Sero pulled his tape taut securing the net around the druggie.
The group of four students watched with bated breath. The net held and Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as he radioed in the news. "Villain secure," he said.
The villain in question looked to be about 7 feet tall. They had bright red hair pulled into messy thick dread locks. Their skin was a pale shade of green and they were dressed in casual civilian clothes.
They continued to struggle against the net even as Izuku cautiously approached. "Hey we're not going to hurt you," he said in a calming voice. Trigger was a highly illegal drug meant to boost your quirk, but it often made the user paranoid and aggressive. "We're trying to keep you safe. My name is Deku, what's yours?" The villain hissed in reply as their golden eyes caught Izuku's concerned green ones The villain's eyes flashed and Izuku crumpled to the ground.
"Their quirk must be based on eye contact!" Momo shouted as Mineta checked Midoriya's vitals.
"He seems like he's just sleeping," Mineta said. "Do we know what their quirk is?"
Sero shook his head with a grimace as he shot a piece of tape to cover their eyes.
The ambulance and police showed up 5 minutes later and the group gave their reports quickly before heading to see Izuku in the hospital. The rest of their class was there as well. Aizawa sensei exchanged a few quiet words with the doctor before turning to the class. "Thank you all for coming," he said.
"Why'd you call us all here?" Bakugou grouched from his slouch against the wall.
"The quirk Midoriya was hit with is rather unique, and because the user was hopped up on trigger at the time it's become a real pain," Aizawa said exhausted. "The quirk he was hit with is called resolution. It puts the subject to sleep until three people have touched them. Those that touched the subject are then forced to watch the subject's worst unresolved memory."
"What do you mean by unresolved?" Tsuyu asked worriedly.
"According to the doctor, it means its a memory that they still haven't come to terms with. For example if someone lost their cat and hadn't made peace with that loss you would relive the moment they knew their cat wasn't going to come back," Aizawa said. "There is also the chance that it's a suppressed memory, something they don't want to acknowledge or think about so they ignore it and just move forward."
"With Deku's personality I bet that's probably it," Bakugou grumbled. "If there only needs to be three people why'd you call the whole class?"
"The doctor said because trigger was involved we would need at least 15 people to start the process. We called Mrs. Midoriya and she asked that his classmates be asked to help," Aizawa answered. "She is currently in America visiting with Mr. Midoriya so she can't be here herself, and they don't have any close relatives she would trust to take care of this. Just to make it clear if you agree to this you will be signing a non disclosure form and be scheduled for an appointment with HoundDog. Because this is something very personal and private, we need to respect Midoriya's wishes."
"Will Midoriya know we watched his memories?" Uraraka asked quietly.
"The doctor said that usually the subject relives their memory at the same time, but doesn't notice the other spectators. We will however be giving him a list of those who participate. Those who were with him on patrol have already been affected so they will need to stay regardless."
"Very well," Iida said chopping the air."As Midoriya's friend and class rep I will gladly take on this challenge." The rest of the class soon followed suit. Aizawa nodded his approval and handed out the forms they needed to sign before signing them himself.
"Mineta," Aizawa instructed, "since you were the first one to touch Izuku after the incident you will need to hold his hand. The rest of you will need to link hands as well."
Nervously, the class held hands. Mineta started drooling as he thought about which hot babe he could get to hold his hand. He yelped when he saw his teacher at the head of the link up line holding out his hand. "We don't have all day," Aizawa Sensei grumbled as he held out his hand. Sobbing Mineta held out his hand. Aizawa took it and immediately the world went dark.
...
Izuku tiredly disposed the red spider lillies on his desk and scrubbed the offensive words off his desk. When he was done, he looked to the teacher who was looking at their nails, blatantly ignoring him. "I'm done Miss Sali," he said. Her eyes flicked to him briefly before she waved her hands at him in dismissal. He bowed and scrambled away glad that she was kind enough to let him do this at all. His previous teacher had refused to let him clean it up. Izuku shivered as he hurried to put the supplies away. He didn't need to think about that anymore.
He had made it a habit to get to school early enough to avoid bullies and clean off his desk. He knew there was no point in cleaning it after school, the less aggressive bullies would take their time decorating it while Bakugou and his goons beat him up in a bathroom stall. Izuku just sighed and returned to his desk excitedly analyzing the fight he had seen earlier that day.
School dragged on. He went through his usual routine of ignoring the malicious comments and taunts of his classmates and teachers until he was ultimately ridiculed and threatened for wanting to be a hero. Class ended and Bakugou and his normal extras cornered Izuku in the classroom. His notebook was stolen burned and promptly thrown out a window while Bakugou put on his scariest nice guy smile and let a small explosion out on Izuku's shoulder burning through the fabric and scarring the skin in a familiar starburst pattern as he threatened him.
Izuku ran to the window to see where his notebook had landed when Bakugou paused. "If you really want to be a hero so bad, you can jump off the roof and hope you get a quirk in your next life!" He laughed viciously as he left the room. Izuku stood there in shock as he tried to process what Bakugou had said. Numbly he gathered his things and made his way to the koi pond.
Anger and frustration built up as he angrily snatched his notebook from the pond. "That's not fish food," he told the fish as he clutched the notebook to his chest and wiped the tears from his eyes. "You can't say things like that Kacchan," he angrily murmured. "If I actually did it you'd get in trouble." Izuku closed his eyes and took a few calming breaths letting a few stray tears fall down his cheeks before heading home.
As Izuku wandered through the back alleys to avoid the bullies he inspected his notebook. The damage wasn't too bad. Izuku had invested in a brand that made their paper sturdy and hard to destroy. He was grateful for the online forum that had led to that discovery.
The sound of a grate caught his attention just before Izuku turned to be engulfed by a wall of sludge. "Shhh," the sludge said. "I need you to be my medium sized meat bag." Izuku fought more as he struggled to get a breath. The sound of wind filled the tunnel and Izuku gasped as he blacked out.
Izuku awoke to a stinging cheek and the familiar face of his childhood Idol. The man had a hand up as if he was about to slap Izuku again, but Izuku didn't register it as he went it to fan mode. All Might awkwardly laughed as he bottled up the villain and prepared to jump away. "Could I ask you a question please?" Izuku asked as he picked up his notebook. He couldn't believe it he had been saved by his Idol. He had to know if the man thought the same thing as everyone else.
"Any questions can be directed to my website," All Might said. "Time waits for no man!"
"Wait!" Izuku yelled before glomping himself to All Might's leg as the hero launched himself into the air.
"What are you doing Shounen!" He yelled. "Get off right now!"
"If I let go now, I'll definitely die!" Izuku yelled.
"Ah," All Might said awkwardly. "I'll find some where to land. Close your eyes."
All Might landed on a building and started scolding the shaken teen. "I'm sorry All Might, but I have to know. Can I be a hero without a quirk?" A poofing sound answered him and Izuku looked up half expecting the Hero to have just jumped away. In the place All Might had stood a skeleton version with blood spilling out of his mouth stood. "Wait an Imposter?" Izuku asked with bulging eyes before looking at the blood. "Blood?!"
He pulled out a handkerchief and started forward as All Might held out a hand to stop him. "It's alright Shounen," he said as he wiped the blood with his own handkerchief. "You're not mistaken I really am All Might. As for your question..." All Might lifted his shirt to reveal a large gnarly scar that marred his entire right torso. "I got this from fighting a villain 5 years ago."
"When you fought Toxic Chainsaw?" Izuku asked.
All Might chuckled, "You really are a fan boy huh?" Izuku blushed with embarrassment. "No, I got this from a villain fight that was not made public. Since then my body has been slowly deteriorating. I have about 2 hours of hero time a day. My body can't take much more." All Might turned his back to Midoriya. "If I could get such a grievous injury with my power, how could I condone someone with no quirk heading into such battles? My answer is no. You can't be a hero. You could be a doctor or a police man instead. They don't get much glory, but they do a lot of good. He turned his back to Midoriya and returned to his buff form. " Knock on the door, Someone will let you down. I need to get this villain to the police station." and with that All Might was gone.
Izuku stumbled to the place his deflated idol had been standing before staring down at the pavement for who knows how long. Maybe it would be better if...A familiar explosion caught his attention and then everything went black.
...
Izuku startled awake in a hospital bed. He took a deep breath. It had been a long time since he thought about those memories. He groaned and looked around. The last thing he remembered was looking that villain in the eyes before collapsing.
A sob caught his attention. He looked to see Aizawa sensei and his classmates in various states of despair. Uraraka was openly sobbing. "Izuku!" She said before throwing herself on him and hugging him tightly. She sobbed into his shirt and Izuku hugged her back even as his stomach sunk. Why would they react this way? Had someone been hurt?
"What's wrong?" He asked scanning his classmates. They all looked fine aside from their tears and shocked faces. "Is someone hurt?"
"Problem child," Aizawa sensei said. The shocked look he had been displaying before was inexplicably softer and full of concern. "No one was hurt," he said in a soft voice. "The quirk you were hit with needed a group of people to witness a memory of an unresolved issue in your past. The dream you just had was that memory. We watched it with you."
Izuku paled as he looked to his classmates. "Oh." His eyes met Bakugou's and the blonde gritted his teeth and looked away. Uraraka squeezed him harder. Izuku shook himself and hugged her tighter before letting her go. She looked up at him and he gave her a sad smile before looking back at his teacher. "Can I talk with you privately?"
"Of course," Aizawa said before turning to the other students. "I want you all to head straight to the dorms. No fighting."
"Yes sir!" The class said in a subdued tone before heading out.
Once Izuku was alone with his teacher he took another deep breath before asking, "So what now?"
Aizawa collected himself and pulled a chair close so he could sit down. "First of all I want you to know that I had the others sign a nondisclosure agreement so they won't go telling your story to anyone else. However because of what we saw, I have to ask you some questions." Izuku nodded his eyes looking at his clenched fists. "Do you have suicidal thoughts?"
"Occasionally," Izuku said in a small voice.
"How often?" Aizawa asked struggling to keep his voice even.
"At least once a month on particularly bad days," Izuku whispered. "But I've never acted on it. I usually call my mother or a friend to talk instead. To remind me I have someone who will be hurt if I do it."
"That's good," Aizawa said softly. "Have you ever talked with anyone about those thoughts?"
"No," Izuku said closing his eyes as tears started to fall. "I didn't think anyone would listen. I looked up self therapy techniques online instead."
"That was a good idea," Aizawa said. Izuku's eyes met his with surprise. "Seeing your situation I can understand why you thought no one would help. Have you ever attempted suicide or purposely harmed yourself in any way?" Aizawa asked.
Izuku violently shook his head. "Have you ever made plans or preparations to do so?" Izuku shook his head again. "Good," Aizawa said sincerely.
Izuku looked at his teacher again and saw the sincere relief on his face. His heart lifted. He had known Aizawa cared for his students, but it didn't occur to him that that applied to Izuku as an individual. Here was a teacher who cared.
"What will happen to Bakugou?" Izuku asked.
Aizawa sighed as he thought about how kind Izuku was. "Unless you decide to press charges, nothing will happen to Bakugou or any of those people who mistreated you." He watched the boy sigh in relief before asking the next question. "May I ask why people thought you were quirkless?"
Izuku fiddled with his fingers when he answered. "I was diagnosed as quirk less when I was younger. The quirk I have now didn't manifest until the UA entrance exam."
Aizawa took a deep breath of his own at Izuku's answer. His memory flashed to the time he told him that he would be dead weight if he kept injuring himself in the field, the time when he paired the boys up for the final exam, and all the times he had left him alone with All Might.
He bowed his head to the teen in front of him. "Thank you for being honest with me," he said as Izuku sputtered in surprise. "I need to apologize for overlooking all the signs of the heinous abuse you went through. I would encourage you to set up a lawsuit against your previous school. Quirk less or not, their behavior was illegal and is likely to be repeated."
"Do you think they would take me seriously?" Izuku asked. "I tried before, and they laughed me out of the police station."
"With the testimonies of your classmates who shared your memory we could get them to at least open a case," Aizawa said. "You're not alone anymore."
Izuku's eyes filled with tears as he nodded. "Okay," he sobbed.
"Are you still comfortable with All Might as your teacher?" Aizawa asked.
Izuku looked confused before understanding lit up his eyes. "All Might apologized later that day and helped me train to get into UA," Izuku explained. "He's not at fault. The quirk likely showed that because it was a catalyst for the darkest moment."
"Are you sure?" Aizawa asked.
"Yes," Izuku said confidently.
"Alright," Aizawa said. "Then here's the plan. I want you to meet with HoundDog to work out your past issues. That is non negotiable. Your classmates are likely to have a lot of questions. How do you want to handle it?"
"I'll have to explain things like I did to you," Izuku said. "It's not fair to leave them in the dark, but I really don't want to explain it more than once. Do you think we can gather them in the dorm lobby and do it all at once?"
"That sounds fine," Aizawa said standing up. "I'll get the doctor to check you out."
...
Bakugou's stomach dropped when he saw the group text asking them all to meet in the lobby. He had dragged himself to his room as soon as he got back to ashamed to look at his friends. He had no idea that Izuku had gotten that close to actually killing himself. Why had he even said that?
He shoved those thoughts down and sat up. It was about time he faced the music. Bakugou Katsuki never backs down from anything!
He waited another 5 minutes before going down. He didn't want to run into anyone. He was the last one there. Izuku nodded to him when he saw him but Katsuki looked away. He couldn't take the guilt curling in his gut.
"Now that you're all here," Aizawa said as he stood in front of the TV with HoundDog on his right and Izuku on his left, "We can start. Izuku asked to explain somethings. I ask that you listen to him without interrupting. When he is done you may ask questions. HoundDog is here because of the nature of the memory. He will step in and mediate if it becomes necessary."
After glaring at the teens to make sure they understood, he stepped back. Izuku took a deep breath and stepped forward. "The memories you saw took place 10 months before the UA entrance exams. I was severely bullied because I was quirk less. Yes, I have a quirk now, but it didn't manifest until the entrance exam. I was legally quirk less until then. Without going into to many details, I will say that All Might has since apologized and shown support for my dream and Kacchan was the one to keep me from stepping off the edge." At this Katsuki's head snapped up in surprise.
Izuku continued, "I don't hold anything against either of them. This memory is my darkest because it was the closest I ever got to giving in to my depression. I am now seeing a counselor and am not inclined to take my own life or hurt myself in any way. I'm sorry to have caused you concern, and am so glad I didn't take that leap. I'm literally living my dream and have no intention of dying anytime soon." Izuku finished with a small bow.
The class sat quietly before Katsuki spoke up. "I don't remember saving you from any rooftops, How exactly did I save you?"
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment before looking at him. "This was the same day you got attacked by the sludge villain," Izuku said. "The explosions you were creating to get away caught my attention. I knew you wouldn't be activating your quirk unless you were in trouble so I got down safely to see if I could help. I wasn't much help in the end, but the impulse had passed. If you hadn't used your quirk I wouldn't have stopped myself."
At the admission Katsuki went pale. He stood up and left. He needed some time to get his head around how close Izuku had really come to dying.
Aizawa watched him leave, making a note to check on him before he left for the night. He stepped forward, "Are there anymore questions?" Aizawa asked. Iida shot up. "Yes?" the teacher asked.
"As your friend and the class representative I want you to know that I am always here if you or anyone else ever need to talk," He said clenching his hands fiercely. "You have my utmost support!" The rest of the class quickly agreed and Izuku cried tears of joy at the fact that he was blessed with such amazing friends.
"Can we have a sleep over tonight in the lobby?" Mina suggested. She knew many of her classmates wouldn't want to let Izuku out of their sight.
"I'll supervise," HoundDog said quickly. He had preapproved this with Nedzu when they were informed of the situation.
"Keep it down," Aizawa said. The class cheered and Tooru pulled her Uno deck out of her pocket.
Once festivities were underway, Aizawa slipped away to find Katsuki. He knocked on the kid's door and waited until it was opened. Katsuki's eyes were red rimmed, as if he'd been crying. "How are you holding up? Aizawa asked.
Katsuki scoffed, "Why do you care? I'm the evil one that told a weak kid to jump off a building."
"You're a misguided teen from a toxic environment who said something he obviously regrets," Aizawa said in an even tone. "Midoriya said he doesn't plan to press charges and legally none of us can either. He's giving you a second chance here. Don't waste it. I scheduled you a session with HoundDog. You are just as much a part of this class as anyone else. If anyone gives you a hard time report it. Understand?"
"I can take care of myself," Bakugou said, but there was no heat behind it.
"I would suggest you talk things over with Midoriya. If you feel like you need an adult mediator just ask, in fact I would strongly encourage it," Aizawa said. "It will take some time, but things will settle down again."
At that moment Aizawa saw Kirishima, Mina, Kaminari and Sero making their way to Bakugou's room. "I need to go write up a report. You know where to find me if you need me." Aizawa nodded to his students as he left.
"Dude, we're having a class sleepover in the lobby," Sero said. "Are you coming?"
"Am I welcome?" He asked seriously.
"Of course bro!" Kirishima said. "If Izuku is willing to forgive you none of the rest have the right to be jerks about it."
"I would avoid Uraraka and Todoroki though," Kaminari said. "They'll probably try to start something."
"Why aren't you guys mad at me?" Bakugou asked folding his arms in front of him.
Mina was the one that answered. "We aren't friends with middle school Bakugou, we're friends with you. It's obvious you feel bad about it, so there's no need to keep bashing you for it." The rest of the group nodded.
Kirishima came over to the blonde and threw his arm around his shoulders. "Now come on! The party awaits!" Katsuki smiled at the red head's antics and relented. Mina whooped as she pulled him towards the elevator.
When Katsuki made it to the lobby the party was already in full swing. Izuku looked up and saw the blonde. He smiled relieved when he saw him. Beside him he heard Uraraka and Todoroki scoff loudly. "What's he doing here?" Todoroki asked.
"He's part of the class too," Izuku said with a frown.
"But he told you to--" Uraraka choked on her words when Izuku turned to her in anger.
"That does not justify you treating him badly," Izuku said. "I appreciate the support and I know you have to work through your own feelings, but it happened almost two years ago. We've both changed since then. Making him into a villain won't help anything."
"I'm sorry for upsetting you," Todoroki said as he patted Uraraka's shoulder.
"Me too," Uraraka said as she hugged Izuku again. "I just need some time to deal with it."
"It's alright," Izuku said. "Sorry for getting mad."
"Uno Flash!" Tooru yelled from across the room gaining the trio's attention. Izuku laughed as she and Aoyama both stood up and struck a pose while sparkling. Bad feelings faded into the background as the night wore on and Izuku fell asleep feeling loved and hopeful. He was so grateful for this life he had gained.
Katsuki stared at the ceiling while his classmates slept. How was Izuku so forgiving? Why did he insist on looking up to him and saving him when he was usually the one that needed the most help? Why did he stand up for him even when he should hate him?
Bakugou looked at the drooling face of his childhood friend. Maybe one day he would figure it out, but for now he was just glad that his careless words hadn't led to something more catastrophic. He was glad he had the time to find out.