Chapter Text
10 years ago.
Inko had made so many mistakes in her life. But she knew that this was her only chance to at least set one thing right.
She was lucky Hisashi was away for a month when her 4 year old son, Izuku got his quirk.
She wasn’t sure how he got the quirk he did. Maybe because Hisashi's quirk technically made part dragon? Maybe that’s why her little boy got a quirk that gave him the looks and powers of an other creature? But she didn’t know enough about quirks to be sure.
It didn’t matter anyway. Because this quirk was his only way out.
When Inko found out her husband was a villain, it had been too late to escape him. Izuku had just been born and Hisashi would not allow his child to be taken away from him.
It was clear he wanted Izuku to follow in his footsteps once he was old enough. He had been planting ideas into the boy’s head from the moment he could speak.
She knew though, that Izuku would never become a villain. He loved heroes, and she had told him to never tell his father about that fact. But as you can expect from a child that young, he slipped a few times. And when he did, Hisashi would be so angry he turned his violence towards his son.
It was the worst feeling she had ever felt. There had been no way for her to stop him from hurting her baby. And it just kept happening.
So as soon as Izuku got his quirk, a quirk that would let him transform into a lion cub, she knew she had to say goodbye. This was the only way for him to escape and not to be hurt anymore.
So she had bought them plain tickets to Africa. She had researched lion behavior. And she knew they would never hurt a cub, no matter if it was their own or not. So on their trip while ‘sight seeing’ the lions in Africa, she told him to use his quirk when no one was looking.
The vehicle they were in, together with the other tourists, had stopped on a place where they could see a pride of lions in the distance. When all the eyes of their group were on the animals they had come to see, she told her Izuku to hide in a bush next to the vehicle. And as soon as it drove away, to go to the other lions.
He had been so excited and he wanted to meet the animals, wanted to know how they interacted and if he would be able to understand them. She told him this was the only way to get close enough and to get answers to all his questions. He had believed her, and he hadn’t known that was the last time they would see each other.
She hoped he was okay. But she knew that anywhere was better than back in Japan with Hisashi.
There was just one last thing she had to do to save them both.
Now.
He knew he was different from the rest.
Once in a while, he would get this feeling. Like his chest was tightening, leaving no space for his lungs. Like his paws were on fire and his senses got muffled like he was underwater.
It would start small but gradually get worse. When he was just a small cub, it happened much more often. Every couple of days. Now he could last about 15 before it started again.
And the only thing that would make the feeling stop, was something neither he or any other in the pride could ever get used to.
His body would morph to a human form. Why it did that? He had no idea. After he changed, he couldn’t change back right away either. He would be stuck for at the very least half a day before he was able to return to his own body.
But as if all of that wasn’t bad enough, it wasn’t the only thing that made him different from the others.
First there was his eyes, while the other lions all had yellow eyes, his were green.
Then there was his growth. He was the only male, beside the 9 years old dominant male of their pride, that had stayed in their group for as long as he has.
He remembered the first time his brothers had to leave the pride. He had grown up with them and they spend their whole lives together but for some reason when they matured enough at 3 years old to become nomads or take a pride of their own, he was still a small cub.
He wasn’t sure how long he had been in under the pride’s protection now, but many young lions like himself had been born and had matured to leave.
He knew it wouldn’t be long until it was his turn now though. His manes had made an appearance and he now had a small mohawk of hair that would soon surround his face. If he was normal, would have had these features at the age of 2. But since he had taken so long to mature, and had plenty of life experience in his pride, he wouldn’t be surprised if the primary male would want him gone soon.
He thinks he will probably be leaving together with his brother who had just reached the age of 3, while his 2 sisters of that same age would stay with the pride they were in now.
Although he wouldn’t be surprised if his brother would try and take over here. He was cocky and admittedly strong for his age but it was unlikely he would actually win in a fight against the 9 year old male.
He remembered when the lion had taken over from their previous primary male. It had been a brutal fight even though the other had already been 13 at the time and was far past his prime.
He would miss the pride, but he wasn’t particularly sad about it. The lionesses who had spend their lives raising him would soon be dying of old age. Besides, he knew he would be fine on his own.
But for now he was content where he was even knowing things would soon change.
He couldn’t have known just how much though.
As most things in his life, it had started small.
It wasn’t unusual to see the big animals, with their shiny black armor, round paws (legs?) and their constant roar. As always they were being ridden by humans. He hadn’t ever seen one without humans on or around it.
So now and then they would get close to the pride and simply watch them while making murmuring noises which were unlike any other animal he had encountered.
When he was younger, he would hide behind the lionesses and lion of the pride with the other cubs. But now he was strong enough to stand in front of the 3 cubs who were only a year old, together with the lionesses.
From this position he had a much better few of the humans on top of the weird roaring animal. They never got too close but he and his pride were always on guard.
The humans were hard to read. They didn’t seem to be communicating in body language at all and their murmuring noises were often in the same tone.
But he still found it fascinating to watch them. They interacted so differently. And it was strange to see how they moved, like using their paws to pick up objects. He had tried doing the same when he was in his human form, picking up rocks and sticks. He had always found that very entertaining.
But the fingers on his paws in his human form were useless. They didn’t have claws, the skin wasn’t strong enough to run long distances without breaking. Not to mention how slow his human form made him. It was simply inconvenient but unfortunately for him still necessary to change to that form every 15 days.
He wasn’t sure how he knew, but his pride let the humans come closer then others would have. Maybe it was how the humans always stopped at a certain distance before moving closer when they saw that the lions weren’t tensing as much as expected. Merely watching them without the fear that their instincts should have given them.
That was probably his fault. The pride was so used to seeing him in his human form by now, knowing how helpless he was when he was like that, just made them less fearful than they probably should be of the people on top of the black animal.
He listened to their talking while watching their behavior closely. He didn’t understand a thing they were saying but he still clung to every word, wishing for a way of making sure he could remember it all.
“It’s amazing how close this pride is letting us without showing signs of aggression or other defensive behavior” One of them talked in the weird, impossible to understand language. The others made humming noises while bobbing their heads up and down.
He tried to mimic it, nodding his head like the humans were doing. The lioness closest to him, the one that has cared for him for as long as he could remember saw what he was doing and growled at him while nipping him in his shoulder as a warning. It was a clear ‘knock it off. Don’t act like them.’
He huffed a little. It’s not like he would show them his human form or anything. He stopped bobbing his head anyway, he knew his place. It was important to keep watching them, especially because the humans didn’t use body language. They wouldn’t show obvious signs of an attack so the they had to keep their eyes open if they didn’t want to be caught off guard when a fight broke out. And exactly for this reason he couldn’t distract the pride.
His eyes went back to the humans. And at that exact moment, he locked eyes with one of them. He didn’t blink or break the eye contact. He knew they didn’t think like him but he didn’t want to give the human a sign of trust.
The dark brown eyes of the human widened. So maybe he did understand what this eye contact meant?
“Guys… please tell me I’m not the only one seeing this.”
He wanted to tilt his head at the funny sounds the guy was choking out while still keeping their eyes locked. He refrained though.
“What?”
“What is it Isaac? What do you see?”
The others directed their attention to the human still looking at him. Only then did the human look away, instead turning his head to the others.
He couldn’t help but feel a bit smug about winning their little staring contest.
“Look at the young male in the front. About 2 years old I think. His eyes…”
Then the human looked back into his eyes while pointing his finger right at him. This made all the other humans turn in his direction as well.
He wasn’t sure why, but suddenly they were all trying to make eye contact.
He didn’t like this, he bared his teeth just a little in warning. Were they threatening him? It’s not like they could single him out, his pride wouldn’t let that happen. Right?
He made eye contact with them, one by one. Not backing down. He knew better than to show weakness in a potentially dangerous situation.
“No way!”
“They’re green? How is that possible!?”
“You think it’s the work of a quirk?”
“But that means someone had to get close enough to use their quirk on him. We’ve also been watching this area close enough that we would have noticed poachers or villains this far in.”
“What would be the point anyway? Why would someone take such a risk just to change a lion’s eye color?”
“Maybe the lion himself has a quirk? More animals with quirks are being found every day so it’s possible.”
They were all quiet after that. But their voices had been just a bit louder, less cautious and they were all leaning forward.
He and his pride could feel the emotions shifting and they were now all baring their teeth. Telling the humans they had overstayed their welcome.
The humans seemed to take notice though.
“Marcel, get ready to drive. Adrian, did you get pictures? It’s time to get out of here. We need to get this back to the boss, I’m sure he’ll want to keep close watch on this one when he hears about it. Hell, he’ll probably want to bring him in for research.”
“Alright.”
“I got him on camera.”
“I really hope I get to see him again.”
After a few more mumbles back and forth, the animal they rode started moving away from them. Most of humans were still looking at him from over their shoulder.
The pride relaxed as the humans got farther away. He yawned.
He couldn’t help his fascination with the species of his other form. He wished he would get to see the humans again soon.
He really should have known to be careful what you wish for.