Chapter Text
Pain. It was in pain. Every nerve in Its body cried out in pain, every cell trembling in anguish.
Weak. It was weak. What had once been a gargantuan, hulking mass of flesh, muscles, teeth and eyes was now pathetically small, only a single eye to see where It was going, and only enough mass to be the size of Its captor’s head.
Afraid. It was afraid. It had been easy at first. When It had awoken in that glass chamber, there were plenty of easy, helpless meals to be had. But as It gorged on their flesh, their biomass adding to Its own, It grew arrogant. As It found pieces of Its genetic code that were separated from It, gaining access to Its powers to sculpt Its flesh as It saw fit, It became prideful.
But the humans were quick to remind It that they had captured It once before.
First were the humans with weapons. Humans are a weak, helpless species, but they could make weapons that pierced Its flesh. They were dangerous in large numbers, but once It regained Its traits of Arachnoptysis and Photokinesis, they were easy to consume.
But then came the humans in white. One had a more powerful weapon, firing many flesh-piercing projectiles at once. The other wielded the dreaded fire. It didn’t like fire. It burned, hungry flames eating Its flesh. It didn’t like being eaten. But worse was that the humans in white couldn’t be eaten either. They wore clothing that It couldn’t get through, Its teeth gnashing and gnawing, feeling the flesh and bones underneath, so close, yet so far. Each encounter with the humans in white was a risk, since It couldn’t gain biomass from them. And they cheated. It loved electricity, gorging on the boxes of power wherever It found them. But the humans in white had electric shields that hurt!
And worst were the machines. Machines that flew, machines that stayed, and all the while they hurt, hurt, hurt. No biomass could be gained from them, just like the humans in white, but there wasn’t even any satisfaction to chew on them, to imagine what their flesh must taste like.
But the Dreadnought was the one It feared the most. The Dreadnought was the one It hated the most. Tall and lumbering and oh so dangerous. Humans piloted them, wielding weapons that ripped It apart in seconds. It had almost died to them many times, having to retreat to Its hives, nesting as Its flesh reformed. At first It felt vindicated when It ripped the armour plating apart, dragging out the screaming, flailing human from the controls before devouring them in a mass of teeth. But then the humans sent the humans in white to control the Dreadnoughts, and It could only express Its anger at being denied prey by toying with the humans, alive or dead It didn’t care.
But through all of this, It had one goal, one single purpose; not consuming humans, not killing everything in sight that moved, but freedom. It was trapped, even when It escaped. Trapped behind walls, trapped within steel and concrete, within the very earth itself. But it was this pursuit of freedom that hurt It. The humans were smart, smarter than It had thought. Machines that belched flames guarded the hallways, scorching and burning Its flesh. Its biomass was stripped away, and with it Its traits; first went Harpagorrhea and Keratosis, then Xiphorrhea and Acanthosis, and soon even Arachnoptysis and Photokinesis.
It had been so strong, so powerful, but now It was so weak. Its hives had all been found, It could feel Its connection with them being cut off as the humans burned them to ashes, leaving It truly alone in the facility. But Its weakness provided It with a new strength. It could fit within gaps It couldn’t have before, hiding new pathways and routes to avoid the humans who hunted it. But even though It neared the exit, sliding through a small gap in the wall, It knew Its time was short. It was dying, but even still It wanted to die outside, where there weren’t walls and cages and humans trying to hunt It.
The gap in the wall stretched on, each movement making It feel weaker and weaker, but It carried on, determined to be free, even if only in Its final moments. With one last push, It toppled out of the darkness, falling onto a patch of plant matter. It could no longer move, feeling Its life fading away, but It was satisfied. All that It had left to do was wait for it all to-
“What are you?”
Its lone eye moved to look in the direction the noise had come from, widening when It saw a human. Unlike the other humans It had hunted and been hunted in turn, this one was smaller, only half the height of the others, but nonetheless human. Maybe it was a scout or a tracker, but It didn’t care; they couldn’t take this one victory away from It. The small human reached out its hand, and It waited to be crushed; It was so weak that even a human, weak as they were, could kill It without their weapons.
But It wasn’t crushed. The small human gently picked It up in its hands, gently cradling It against its skin and clothes.
“I wonder if Kacchan knows what you are,” the small human said to itself. “He’s really smart, so maybe he’s read about you somewhere.”
It didn’t care about whatever this ‘Kacchan’ was, as all of Its attention was focused on the small human. Focused on the small human’s bare arms it rested against. Focused on the bare arms that had small cuts along it.
It saw Its chance, Its one hope for survival. Reaching Its tendrils forth, burrowing into the small human’s body, ignoring the sudden cry and shrieks of panic that it let out. The sheer energy that was required for the task was daunting, quite possibly Its last act before It died. However, It knew that there was a chance, a slim chance, that It would survive in some form or another. And regardless if It would even remember who It was, now that It had gained freedom, survival, above all else, was the sole objective.
-]l[-
He was slow to wake up, but when he did, he awoke to a splitting headache. His hands pressed to his head, pressing into his skull in a vain attempt to dissipate the pressure he could feel building there, letting out a pain-filled groan.
“Izuku!” a familiar voice exclaimed, warm, comforting arms wrapping around him. He looked up, seeing a familiar slim woman, her green hair straight and shoulder-length, and her green eyes filled with love and care.
“M-Mom?”
“That’s me, sweety,” his mother smiled down at him. “Really, Izuku, you shouldn’t go and scare us like that. Why, if you keep that up I’ll gain weight from stress eating!”
Izuku. That was his name, Midoriya Izuku.
“How did I get here?” Izuku asked, looking around the room. “Is this a hospital?”
“I’m afraid so, sweety. Little Katsuki was found dragging you out of the woods over his shoulder. We rushed you here as soon as possible, but I’m glad to see you were only out for a few hours,” his mother told him. “Do you remember what happened?”
Izuku’s small brow furrowed, desperately trying to remember, but everything was hazy. He remembered playing hide and seek with a boy named Kacchan, but after some searching everything went dark.
“Not really, Mum,” Izuku said. “I was playing with Kacchan, but then I fell asleep.”
“Oh, you poor thing,” his mother sighed, pulling him back into her embrace. “You must have been tired from staying up late watching those All Might videos. Well that’s the last time I let you do that kind of thing again, that’s for certain.”
“Aw, Mum!” Izuku gently complained, flashes of the smiling Symbol of Peace, his idol and hero, going through his mind. “It wasn’t even that late.”
“You’re a growing boy, and you clearly need your rest,” his mother disagreed. “I’m sure if you asked Aunty Mitsuki she’d say the same thing.”
Izuku could only grumble at her words, his wordless complaints only ending when the door to his hospital room slid open, a doctor walking in. He wore a white lab coat over a grey jacket, a strange metal disk attached to a cord that went up to his neck, light brown hair on his head and metal rimmed glasses on his nose.
“Ah, the young lad’s awake I see,” the doctor grinned, calmly walking over to the other side of Izuku’s bed. “So, how are you feeling?”
“Um, my head kinda hurts,” Izuku admitted.
“No worries, champ,” the doctor nodded, walking over to a nearby sink and filling up a plastic cup before gently handing it to Izuku’s mother. “Now, Mrs Midoriya, since young Izuku here might not have the steadiest of hands, it’s probably best if you hold the cup while he drinks.”
“Of course, Dr Masui,” his mother nodded, holding the rim of the cup to Izuku’s lips, allowing him to take slow sips of water.
“Feeling better?” Dr Masui asked, Izuku gently nodding in response. “Great! Now, it’s good that you woke up so soon, clears any risk of it being a coma, but I’ll just need to do a few more checks.”
Reaching behind his neck, he pulled out two prongs that were put into his ears, holding up the metal disk that hung from his neck.
“This is a stethoscope,” the doctor explained. “I’m going to use it to listen to your heart and your breathing, just to make sure there’s nothing wrong. Would you mind lifting up your shirt for me and turning around?”
Izuku did as the doctor asked, holding up his shirt by the edge of it with his mother’s help as the doctor scooted up the bed behind him.
“Okay, now I want you to lean forward and cross your arms over your chest; this will help me hear your heart and lungs easier,” Izuku was instructed. “Now, fair warning, this will be a bit cold, but I’ll need you to be a big boy and try to stay still. Can you do that?”
“Yes, Dr Masui.”
“Good lad,” the doctor said, pressing the head of the stethoscope to Izuku’s chest. He let out a small squeak of surprise when he felt the cold metal press against his back, but his mother’s soothing hold was enough to calm him.
“Okay, your heart sounds fine. Can you give me some deep breaths?”
Izuku took in as large of a breath as his small lungs could manage, holding it until the doctor told him to, before slowly exhaling.
“Alright, you can lower the shirt, young man,” Dr Masui told him, taking the stethoscope out of his ears and hanging it back around his neck. “Well, there’s only good news, Mrs Midoriya, I can’t find anything wrong with your son. Must have been something he ate or he might have tripped.”
“My working theory was his lack of sleep,” Izuku’s mother offered.
“That could be it. Four-year-olds are meant to get between ten and thirteen hours of sleep,” the doctor advised. “Just stay here for a moment, there’s just a few more tests I need to conduct.”
As Izuku watched the doctor walk over to a nearby cupboard, his eyes wandered over to the bedside table, where he was glad to see his favourite All Might action figure proudly standing there. He tried to reach for it, but his arms were too short, and his mother was holding him too tight.
“Mum, I-”
“Not now, sweety. The doctor’s almost done with his tests,” his mother said distractedly.
Frowning, Izuku tried to reach past his mother, his arm straining out, desperately trying to reach one of his prized possessions. But just as he was about to give up, he felt a tug underneath his skin, his eyes widening in shock and amazement as a red, fleshy tentacle shot out of the sleeve of his shirt, wrapping around the All Might toy and pulling it to his hand.
Izuku gasped, looking at his hand in shock before checking within his sleeve, only for the tentacle to have disappeared.
“Mum, look!” Izuku exclaimed, drawing his mother’s attention before glancing around, locking onto the cup he had drank from.
“What is it Izu-” his mother began before cutting herself off, her eyes shooting open wide as the tentacle appeared once more, wrapping around the plastic cup before dropping it on Izuku’s lap.
“I have a quirk!” Izuku beamed up at his mother, his grin wider than it had ever been. “I finally found my quirk!”
He went to let out a shout for joy, only for a roar to come from his mouth instead. Immediately, Dr Masui whirled around, a shocked expression clear on his face, Izuku’s mother let out a gasp of shock, and Izuku clapped his hands over his mouth.
The room was silent for a moment before Dr Masui began to laugh.
“I’ve heard of roars of victory, but that’s certainly something else,” he chuckled. “You’ve certainly got a healthy pair of lungs, young man.”
“Sorry,” Izuku quietly apologised.
“Not to worry, young man. If anything, you’ve probably found your quirk.”
“But Dr Masui, Izuku already has a quirk,” Izuku’s mother protested.
“He does?” the doctor asked, consulting a chart that rested at the foot of Izuku’s bed. “Strange, his records say he hasn’t been diagnosed yet.”
“Oh, well, no, not yet,” Izuku’s mother stammered. “But, well, oh just show him, Izuku, it’ll explain it better than I can at the moment.”
Izuku nodded, this time focusing on the clipboard Dr Masui held, the tentacle reaching out and snatching it from his grasp.
“Oh my,” Dr Masui blinked, his eyebrows raised in shock. “A child having two very distinct quirks is unheard of.”
“So you think I have two quirks?!” Izuku asked with all the excitement a child could.
“Oh, definitely not, someone having multiple quirks is simply impossible,” the doctor was quick to shut down, much to Izuku’s disappointment. “There has to be a logical explanation for this, some correlation between what we’ll call your Roar quirk and your Tentacle quirk.”
The doctor took back the clipboard before flipping through the pages, humming to himself as he did so.
“Mrs Midoriya, according to our records you have a quirk named Telekinetic Pull?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” his mother nodded. “It’s not very quick or strong due to a lack of training with it, but I’m able to pull small objects towards my hands telekinetically.”
“And your husband-”
“His father,” Izuku’s mother corrected, the same conflicted expression on her face whenever his father was brought up in a conversation.
Dr Masui grimaced, nodding in acknowledgement. “My apologies, and young Midoriya’s father has a quirk named Fire Breath?”
“It’s in the name,” his mother nodded. “Hisashi is able to breath fire with some effort. Nothing at a Pro Hero level, but enough to start a campfire.”
“Understood,” the doctor nodded, writing down a few notes. “Well, I think I’ve found the connection between young Izuku’s abilities; he appears to have a combination of your quirk’s object attraction and his father’s quirk’s lung aspect. Usually children are born with one of their parents' quirk, usually a stronger version, a combination of their parents' quirk, or a random mutation, a quirk that doesn’t have any connection. So young Izuku has a mix of the last two options, with aspects of his parents' quirks but changed in a unique manner.”
“So what’s my quirk’s name?” Izuku asked, vibrating with excitement over having a quirk of his own.
“I can’t say right now, we’ll have to send the information about it to our Quirk Identity consultants and they’ll come up with a name. Well, unless you have a name you’d prefer.”
“I think we’ll take the experts’ opinions,” Izuku’s mother said, stopping Izuku from giving his suggestions. And what was wrong with naming his quirk after All Might anyway?!
“Well, we’ll also need to do some tests first, see what limits your quirk has,” Dr Masui said, speaking directly to Izuku. “This will not only be informative for us, but it’s also so you and those around you are safe. Take that tentacle of yours for instance. If we don’t know how strong it is, then you might damage something accidentally, or worse, someone.”
“We’ll definitely take those tests, Doctor,” Izuku’s mother nodded, rubbing circles on Izuku’s back, helping to ground him and draw him away from those dark thoughts of his quirk hurting someone. “When is an available time?”
“Right now,” was the doctor’s quick reply, ushering them out of the door and down a corridor, with Izuku being held in his mother’s arms. “We have specialised facilities here at the hospital for just this situation. And believe you me, I’m just glad young Izuku doesn’t have a quirk that requires those specialised equipment. My son discovered his quirk recently, and boy was that a mess.”
“What quirk does he have?” Izuku asked, always curious about new quirks.
“My family has a history of sleep inducing quirks,” the doctor explained. “My quirk gives me an anesthetic touch, while my oldest daughter is able to put someone to sleep with a kiss. However, my son seems to have inherited a quirk that is a combination of mine and my wife’s. She has a fog quirk, you see, allowing her to create a thick cloud of fog around her, but it’s relatively harmless. My son, however, is able to create an even thicker cloud of gas around him that has an unfortunate effect of putting those who inhale it into a coma.”
“Oh no,” Izuku’s mother gasped. “Is he alright?”
“Oh yeah, the antidote wasn’t hard to figure out, so he’s perfectly fine. A little shaken up from the experience, but I’ve asked my cousin to help him. Her quirk isn’t as potent or powerful as his, but they have similar effects. Heck, she’s even been able to make a career as a Pro Hero thanks to it.”
“Your cousin is a Pro Hero?!” Izuku exclaimed. “Cool! What’s her name?”
“She’s, uh, well, maybe it’s best if you don’t know,” Dr Masui cryptically answered. “She’s not really someone kids should be looking up to. A bit young, if you catch my drift, Mrs Midoriya.”
“What does he mean, Mum?” Izuku asked.
“I’ll tell you when you’re older, sweety. Now, how about we find out just what your quirk can do, hmm?”
-]l[-
Katsuki was bored. At least, that’s what everyone assumed when they looked at him. Sitting by himself and idly playing with some blocks, anyone could assume he was bored out of his mind. But in reality, he was anxious. Not scared, he was never scared, not even at night, but he’d admit he was anxious. It had been two days since he found Izuku passed out in the woods where they liked to play, and he hadn’t heard much from his best friend since. Aunty Inko had assured him that Izuku was fine and had recovered in the hospital, but people only went to the hospital if there was something wrong with them, right? What if he had gotten sick, or he got hurt, or-
“Kacchan, Kacchan, Kacchan!” an excited cry rang out from the front door of the kindergarten. He quickly turned his head, a small smile forming on his face at the familiar sight of a mop of green hair.
“Hey, Izuku,” he greeted. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah! The doctor said it was because I was spending too much time watching All Might videos at night.”
“Psh, that’s stupid,” Katsuki scoffed. “All Might’s the greatest hero in the world! Everyone should see him in action, and I’ll be a hero even greater than him!”
“Well, guess what?!” Izuku exclaimed, though he didn’t give Katsuki a chance to explain. “I got a quirk!”
“Wow, really?!” Katsuki grinned. “What is it? Show me!”
“Now now, Katsuki, there will be time for that later,” one of the teachers said with a gentle smile. “Come on, Izuku. How about you put your bag away first before playing with Katsuki.”
Katsuki felt cheated out of seeing his friend’s quirk, but he consoled himself over the knowledge that circle time would happen soon.
“So, Izuku, I believe you have something you’re excited to share with us all?” one of the helpers said once the children were gathered on the mat, directing the attention of the class to Izuku who was practically vibrating with excitement as he sat next to Katsuki.
“Yeah!” he excitedly cheered. “On the weekend, Kacchan and I were playing in the woods, but I passed out, so Kacchan got me help, and when I was at the hospital I discovered my quirk!”
Izuku placed his bag in the middle of the circle of seated children, holding out his arm before a red, fleshy tentacle slithered out of his sleeve, much to the shock of many in the room, wrapping around the bag and dropping it in Izuku’s lap.
“That’s a very useful quirk,” one of the teachers praised, a round of applause congratulating Izuku. But despite how proud Katsuki felt for his friend, he couldn’t help but notice many of the others kids in the kindergarten had conflicted or creeped out expressions.
“And that’s not all!” Izuku continued. “Dr Masui said that my quirk is called a ‘dual nature quirk’, which means it has different functions. So while I can create a tentacle, I can also do this!”
Izuku opened his mouth, taking in a deep breath before letting out a guttural roar, surprising even Katsuki with its volume, and his quirk made it harder to hear loud noises. Once Izuku’s roar came to an end, there was a moment of stunned silence, broken only when Katsuki began to clap, quickly joined by the other teachers and then by some of their fellow kindergarteners.
“That’s, um, quite impressive, Izuku,” a teacher praised. “But maybe only use that outside in the future, okay?”
“Okay, Miss,” Izuku grinned, looking prouder than he’d ever been. Katsuki couldn’t help but be proud too. Even though Izuku’s quirk with its dual nature didn’t seem very impressive at the moment, neither did Katsuki’s Explosion quirk. But he knew that if the two of them continued to work on improving their quirks and their bodies, then they could both become the greatest heroes in the world, always challenging each other for the title of No. 1. And it was when Katsuki and Izuku were excitedly discussing such dreams that the explosive child decided to ask the name of Izuku’s quirk.
“Um, I don’t know yet,” Izuku shyly admitted. “The hospital hasn’t gotten back to me about it.”
“Who cares what they think?!” Katsuki challenged with all the confidence of a four-year-old. “They’ll just give you some yucky, boring name. Did you know they wanted to call my Explosion quirk Nitroglycerin Secretion and Detonation?”
“Wow, that is boring,” Izuku giggled. “So, what do you think I should call it? I was thinking Mighty Lion, since I can roar!”
“Izuku, lions don’t have tentacles,” Katsuki pointed out, ignoring the obvious reference to their favourite hero.
“Oh,” Izuku frowned. “What roars and has tentacles? Octopus? No, they can’t roar. Maybe a monkey? They’re loud, right, and they have a tail. Oh, but a tail isn’t a tentacle. Hmm, what about…”
Katsuki rolled his eyes, realising that Izuku was once again mumbling to himself. Katsuki thought long and hard, doing his best to ignore his friend’s rambling, until a faint memory of something he once read came to mind. Getting up, knowing that Izuku wouldn’t notice, he walked over to the kindergarten’s library, looking at the spines until he found the one he needed. Pulling it out and tucking it under his arm, he walked back over to the corner where he and Izuku had sat, placing the book down and flipping to the page he remembered.
“Izuku, look at this,” Katsuki said, shaking his friend’s shoulder.
“Huh, wha-” Izuku jolted, snapped out of his thoughts. “Kacchan, where did this book come from?”
“I got it, dummy,” Katsuki sighed, pointing at the open page. “How about this?”
“Chimera?” Izuku vocalised, reading the katakana. “What is this, Kacchan? A monster?”
“From Greek mythology, yeah. And look, it’s a creature with the head of a lion and a snake for a tail.”
“A snake is kinda like a tentacle, I guess.”
“And you can use your quirk as your hero name too! You could be the hero Chimera!”
“Not Mighty Lion?” Izuku quietly asked, clearly still set on an All Might name.
“Come on, Izuku, we’re going to be heroes even greater than All Might! You can’t have a name that makes everyone think of him!”
“Aw,” Izuku sighed before perking back up. “Okay! When I get home, I’ll ask Mum to tell the hospital to name my quirk Chimera!”
“Yeah, Chimera and Explosion are the names of quirks that Pros have!” Katsuki grinned. “And that’s exactly who we’ll be!”
-]l[-
But Katsuki seemed to be the only one to think so highly of Izuku’s quirk. In the weeks after Izuku first showed off his quirk, Katsuki started to notice the other kids giving Izuku weird looks behind his back or from the other side of the class. When they entered elementary school, the kids they’d hang out with would give Katsuki irritated looks when Izuku joined them in games. A year later, they stopped inviting Izuku altogether, forcing Katsuki to be the one to make sure that Izuku was included. But it all came to a head that same year when Katsuki confronted their so-called friends in the woods, demanding they explain why they were trying to exclude Izuku, his best friend.
“Because he’s got a villain’s quirk,” was their answer.
“...What?” Katsuki asked, barely able to understand what they’d said.
“His quirk, Katsuki, it’s something only a villain would have. His roar is really scary, and his tentacle is creepy too! It’s all fleshy and red and gross, and it can come out of any part of his body. He’ll never become a Pro with a quirk like that.”
Katsuki could see tears beginning to well in Izuku’s eyes, still enough of a baby that he didn’t like to fight back. But Katsuki could barely notice it, his mind consumed by a spiraling thought.
They thought Izuku couldn’t be a Pro, even though Katsuki said that Izuku could be a Pro.
They disagreed with Katsuki.
They thought Izuku’s quirk was villainous, even though Katsuki thought Izuku’s quirk was heroic.
They thought Katsuki was an idiot.
Even though he was stronger than any of them, strong enough to be Katsuki’s rival, they didn’t think Izuku could be a hero. Did they also think Katsuki couldn’t be a hero too?
Were they looking down at them?
Izuku was Katsuki’s best friend. They were like cousins, basically brothers from different mothers, or however the saying went. They were going to be the greatest heroes in the world, the best of friends, and each other’s greatest rivals. But they thought just because Izuku’s quirk was leagues better than theirs, that that means Izuku couldn’t be a hero? Just because they were jealous?
“Say that again,” Katsuki growled.
“Kacchan, it’s fine,” Izuku had insisted, only to be cut off by his friends, no, by those extras.
“Izuku will never be a hero,” one of them insisted. “He’s a creepy guy with a creepy quirk and he’ll only ever be a villain with a power like that.”
“Yeah, he’s a monster, not a hero!” another added.
Monster. They called his brother a monster. Why did they think a monster couldn’t be a hero?
“You don’t know anything,” Katsuki glared. “Izuku’s my friend, and we’re gonna be the greatest heroes in Japan, in the world, just like All Might! And if you think he’ll be a monster, then he’ll be the Monster Hero: Chimera, and prove you all wrong!”
His former friends apparently took offence to that, as one of them lashed out with a right hook, clipping Katsuki’s jaw. Fortunately, the former friend sucked at fighting, so Katsuki was barely hurt, allowing him to hit back, hitting the traitor right in the nose. The other boys ganged up on him, but despite being outnumbered, Katsuki gave just as much as he received, if not more.
“Kacchan, stop!” Izuku called out, desperately pulling on Katsuki’s shirt, trying to stop him from hitting the boy who had called Izuku a monster.
“No, Izuku, I’m gonna kill him!”
“You can’t! All Might doesn’t kill!”
“I don’t care! They deserve it!”
Katsuki felt Izuku’s tentacle wrap around him, the fleshy, muscular appendage more than strong enough to pull him away.
“Put me down, Izuku!” Katsuki raged, thrashing against his bindings.
“We can’t be heroes together if you’re arrested!” Izuku protested.
“It won’t matter,” one of the boys hissed, wiping away at the blood that trickled from his nose. “You’ll never be a hero either, Bakugo.”
“That’s not true!” Izuku exclaimed. “Kacchan is gonna be the greatest hero in the world! You’ll see!”
“Yeah right,” another of the boys scoffed. “He’ll probably be called the Explosion Murder God, ‘cause that’s all you’re good at, Bakugo; hurting people, not helping them.”
Katsuki did his best to not react, but he could help the fact that their words cut deep. He knew his quirk could only hurt. It wasn’t like Izuku’s that could help lift debris off someone just as easily as it could hit a villain, his made explosions, and explosions hurt people. Was his quirk that he was so proud of, his quirk he put so much time and effort into training, really only suited for a villain?
“Shut. Up,” Izuku growled, his tone different and unique, one Katsuki hadn’t heard from him before. And as he looked up at his friend, the tentacle still pinning his arms to his sides, he recognised the expression on Izuku’s face; one of pure hate.
“You can mock me all you want, call my quirk villainous or creepy, I don’t care, but you don’t get to insult Kacchan!”
“And what are you gonna do about it, Midoriya?” one of the boys teased. “You were always the scaredy cat between the two of you.”
Izuku’s face twitched, and for a moment, Katsuki saw something dark within his friend’s eyes, something primal that called for blood. Whatever it was, it was buried as Izuku opened his mouth and let out a deafening, guttural roar. Even though Katsuki was held behind Izuku, behind his mouth, he could feel his bones rattling and his mind screaming at him to run away, while his soul yelled at him to stand his ground. The bullies, their former friends, however, didn’t seem to have that brave part of them that tried to stand its ground, as with cries of panic the three ran away, not one of them looking over their shoulder.
“Are you okay, Kacchan?” Izuku asked, his tentacle gently placing him back down to the ground before retreating back into his skin.
“Yeah, I’m fine. What do I care what those extras think?” he huffed, crossing his arms and glaring in the direction where they had retreated. “They can just watch from the crowds as we become the greatest heroes in history!”
“Yeah,” Izuku murmured, but the agreement sounded hollow.
The pair stood in silence for a moment, resting underneath the shade of a tree.
“Hey, Kacchan,” Izuku began with a small voice. “Do you think they’re right? Will people see my quirk and think I’m a monster?”
“How the hell am I meant to know what those extras’ll think?” Katsuki scoffed.
“Oh, yeah, I guess.”
Katsuki glanced to his side, seeing how down and conflicted Izuku was.
“Look,” he sighed, “there’ll always be people who’re jealous of our awesome quirks. If they think you’re a monster, own it! They can’t hurt you if you take pride in it.”
“What do you mean?” Izuku asked with wide eyes.
“If you’re proud to call yourself a monster who’s also a hero, then they can’t use that to hurt you. So use the hero name I made up! If you can proudly call yourself the Monster Hero: Chimera, then all those extras can only sit back and watch as you surpass all of them!”
Izuku gave him a shaky smile, rubbing away the tears that had gathered in his eyes with the back of the wrist. “Okay, I’ll try. But only if you do one thing!”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?!”
“I get to choose your hero name as well!”
Katsuki blinked at the demand before chuckling, resting his head against the truck on the tree. “Okay then, Izuku. What name should I take pride in?”
“I know you feel bad when the other kids get scared of your explosions. So you need to take pride in your quirk too!” Izuku insisted. “So if I’ll be the Monster Hero: Chimera, then you can be the Explosion Hero: Ground Zero!”
-]l[-
‘Why am I remembering this?’
Katsuki’s eyes opened, no longer reliving details in the past, but solely focused on the present. He could see the cold, rank sludge that trapped him, coating his body and flooding the inside of his mouth. He could faintly hear the explosions that rang out around him, the crackling of fires that his hijacked quirk created. But worst of all was the laughter of the villain who was doing this and the cries of the extras who watched, held back by gutless heroes who stood back and hesitated.
‘This isn’t my fault. He’s making me do this. Why isn’t someone saving me?!’
Because no matter how much he strained against this Sludge Villain’s hold, he couldn’t get free. The most he could manage was his mouth, grabbing desperate gasps of air before his mouth and nose were once again flooded. But his eyes were always clear. The villain clearly wanted Katsuki to see what he was causing.
‘You bastard!’ Katsuki raged in his mind, his body thrashing about to get another lungful of air. ‘I’m not your glorified weapon! Don’t you dare make me look like the bad guy, you shitty pile of sewage!’
But it was as Katsuki managed to free his head, hacking and coughing out the last remains of sludge in his lungs, that he saw a familiar face in the crowd.
‘Izuku?’ Katsuki thought, immediately recognising his best friend’s hair. They had left school at different times today, Izuku being assigned classroom cleaning duty on the first day while Katsuki had to immediately head home for some errand his mother wanted him to do, though they’d planned to meet up later to go for a run.
While the pair of them had maintained their physical strength, going to their local gym together multiple times a week, Izuku had always been the physically stronger one between them. No matter how much he ate (and he ate a lot), his body never seemed to lose its muscle mass. Katsuki personally thought it was a byproduct of his quirk.
Over the years the two of them had also discovered a lot about each of their quirks. Katsuki had discovered that he was able to use his quirk to glide, and he was sure he’d be able to freely fly with it soon. Izuku found out that he was able to form not only his large tentacle but also a series of smaller ones. They didn’t have any combat purpose, but rather utility, allowing Izuku to effortlessly scale any surface, even sticking to the ceiling, and all the while keeping his hands free.
Their time at Musutafu Junior High had been eventful. Neither of them worried much about making friends, especially not with the way people looked at Izuku’s quirk, so the two of them often hung out together, watching fights of All Might and other Pros they looked up to, sparing with each other at the Bakugo household’s garden, or strategising new moves for each other. There was also that incident with the sand villain in their second year that had seen the both of them suspended for vigilantism, but rather than see it as a mark of shame, they both wore that incident as a mark of pride.
And it was for that reason that Katsuki, with dread looming in his heart, knew exactly what Izuku was about to do before he even moved.
‘Izuku, don’t!’ Katsuki shouted in his head, but the sludge that filled his mouth made it impossible to call out to his friend, not that it would have stopped him.
With a dash of speed, Izuku leapt past the barricade the local Pros had established, ignoring their cries to come back.
“You’re dead,” Katsuki heard the Sludge Villain chuckle, his arms being forced to aim towards his best friend. But before his quirk could be hijacked yet again, in one smooth motion Izuku pulled off his yellow bag before hurling it at the villain, hitting him dead in the eye.
“Ow, you brat!” the villain yelled, his eyes instinctively closing in pain. And it was this moment of blindness that gave Katsuki a chance to get free.
“Izuku, what are you doing?!” Katsuki exclaimed, managing to rip his upper body free from the sludgy mass.
“What does it look like, stupid?” Izuku grinned back at him, adrenaline no doubt coursing through his veins. “Saving you!”
Katsuki watched as Izuku gripped the top of his gakuran before pulling down, a handful of buttons popping off and clattering to the ground. And the moment part of his chest was free, a familiar red tentacle burst from his chest, wrapping itself under Katsuki’s arms.
“Wait, what are you doing?!” the Sludge Villain shrieked, and Katsuki could feel how desperately it was trying to trap him within his body. But Katsuki knew there wasn’t a chance of that; after all, he’d seen Izuku lift vending machines without issue.
With a wet squelch, Katsuki was ripped free, pulled away from the slimy villain.
“Thanks, Izuku,” he coughed, breathing deeply to try and soothe his burning lungs. But it was only as Izuku’s gaze focused on something behind him and his eyes widened that Katsuki remembered that the villain was still there. Before he could think, the tentacle that held him threw him towards the cordon of heroes, halfway out of the plaza the villain was rampaging in.
“Izuku!” Katsuki called out, his head snapping to where he should be, only to be greeted with the sight of a very confused Sludge Villain, with no sign of Izuku anywhere.
“I’m right here,” came Izuku’s voice from Katsuki’s side. He whirled around, watching with amazement as the light seemed to shimmer before revealing a crouched, panting Izuku.
“Wha, how…”
“I don’t know,” Izuku panted. “Something just, clicked, but damn was it tiring.”
“There you are, you brat!” the Sludge Villain roared. “I’ll teach you a lesson for taking away my flesh suit!”
“Can you do that invisibility thing again?” Katsuki asked, standing to his feet.
“No, but I’ve got one better,” was the reply.
Izuku held out his hand, just like he used to when they were training their quirks as kids. Only this time, rather than his familiar red tentacle, a jet of webs shot out, slamming into the villain’s face.
“Ack, what is this?!”
“Huh,” Izuku hummed to himself, glancing at his hand. “That wasn’t nearly as tiring.”
“Study your quirk when we aren’t in danger, idiot,” Katsuki growled, explosions popping in his palms. “Right now, we gotta-”
“Stand back and let me handle this!” a loud, booming voice called out, one that Katsuki and Izuku both instinctively recognised. A voice, often accompanied by his signature laugh, that they had listened to thousands of times; that of All Might, the Symbol of Peace and No. 1 Pro Hero in Japan.
“A Pro should always be prepared to risk his life!” the towering hero said, sweeping them up in one of his arms, holding them steady while the other lashed out. “Detroit Smash!”
The sheer force of the punch sent a blast of wind that splattered the villain, sending parts of his semi-liquid body flying across the plaza. Katsuki and Izuku were both stunned by the sheer power displayed by the Symbol of Peace, a sentiment shared from the silent crowd, only to be broken out of it by a raindrop falling to the ground, and then another, and another, before a light drizzle fell from the sky.
“He changed the weather with just a bunch,” some extra in the crowd remarked, breaking the silence, opening the floodgate and causing a round of applause and congratulations to sound out from the crowd.
“Are you boys alright?” All Might asked, his perpetual smile grinning down at them as he gently placed them back on the ground.
“Y-Yes, All Might,” Katsuki stammered, starstruck by seeing his idol in person, let alone speaking to him.
“Um, All Might, sir?” Izuku called out, having grabbed his thrown bag, and held out in his hands was his Hero Analysis Notebook. “Could I get your autograph?”
“Two of them, please!” Katsuki asked, bowing alongside Izuku to All Might.
“Ha ha ha, not a problem! Anything for two young fans!” All Might laughed, gently taking the pen and writing his signature twice on two different pages. Katsuki and Izuku both looked at the signatures with awe and wonder, but before they could ask All Might any more questions, he was surrounded by fans and the press, all clamoring for his attention.
Katsuki and Izuku, on the other hand, found themselves the centre of attention of the Pro Heroes. But rather than apologise for not rescuing Katsuki or praising his and Izuku’s actions, all they received was scorn.
“That was an incredibly risky and foolish thing you did, young man,” a bulky Pro glared at Izuku, with yellow and black caution tape wrapped around his cinderblock wristguards. “There are laws against vigilantism for a reason.”
“You’re lucky you weren’t hurt, but that’s no excuse,” another Pro added, his costume looking like a cross between a firefighter and a fire hydrant.
“Why are you mad at Izuku?!” Katsuki protested. “All he did was do your job, which you weren’t doing!”
“Watch it, kid,” another Pro warned, wearing a baseball mit on his hand.
“No!” Katsuki shouted back, not giving a damn that his outburst was splitting the attention of the nearby press between him and All Might. “While I was held by that villain, slowly being drowned in his sludge, you all decided to stand back and watch me die just because your quirks weren’t suitable for that situation?! And when Izuku, my best friend, decides to step in and save me, you criticise him?! The hell’s wrong with you?! You’re all a bunch of fakes!”
Dead silence covered the plaza, many civilians or reporters gasping in shock, while the fakes who dared to compare themselves to All Might, someone who had stepped in, had expressions of shock, regret, or rage.
“Go home, kid,” the muscular Pro with the large arms ordered.
“Make me,” Katsuki challenged.
The Pro tightened his fists, but before Katsuki could find out just how much he measured to Pros, he felt a hand grasp his shoulder.
“They’re not worth it, Katsuki,” Izuku told him, ignoring the indignant looks from the nearby Pros. “Come on, we made a promise, remember?”
For a moment Katsuki wanted to ignore his friend’s advice, to show these Pros just how little he thought of them. But instead he sighed, allowing his body to relax and turning his back on those fakes.
“I hear ya, Izuku,” he grumbled. “Let me back track a bit, yeah? I dropped my bag when that Sludge Villain grabbed me.”
Katsuki and Izuku walked away from the scene, and though some reporter crews recorded them, none followed after them, more than content with the outburst they had recorded. If anyone had, they would have witnessed what happened to the boys, but as it was, all that was left of them were two small droplets of blood.
-]l[-
Somehow, Toshinori had managed to slip away from the reporters. It wasn’t an easy thing, what with the fame that being the Symbol of Peace gave him, but a few tricks he’d picked up in his over thirty years of hero work served him well to slip away. He needed space to think and contemplate what he’d seen and what he’d heard.
That boy with the blond hair had said something that cut to Toshinori’s heart. The pain and betrayal in his voice was visceral, and Toshinori couldn’t blame the lad. It was only because he had been passing by trying to find the Sludge Villain who had fallen out of his pocket that he came across the chaos. If he hadn’t, he had no doubt that the boy and his friend would have fought side by side, regardless of the quirk laws. While it certainly showed a brave, heroic spirit within the both of them, they were unknowns, and that wasn’t something he could afford in his search.
“Do I take up Mirai’s offer?” Toshinori thought aloud to himself. “It’s been so long since we saw each other, and we parted on such poor terms. Hmm, maybe not.”
But who else could he turn to? While he was hesitant to reconnect with Mirai, Principal Nezu had contacted him about that teaching position for next year. Maybe he could hold off choosing a successor until then, but it still felt wrong to put it off for another ten or so months.
“What to do, what to do?” Toshinori muttered to himself, his eyes wandering along the signs and advertisements that were plastered on the sides of buildings, one of which drew his attention. It was an article about a familiar brown-haired man who had recently won a Nobel Quirk Prize; one David Shield, a world renowned inventor, scientist, and most importantly, Toshinori’s closest friend and former sidekick when he was a hero in the United States.
‘How long has it been since I last saw David?’ Toshinori thought to himself. ‘Oh gosh, with all my duties as All Might, it has been a while. Maybe I should pay them a visit; I’m sure young Melissa would be ecstatic to see me.’
It was then that he had an epiphany: he needed a successor, one who was pure hearted, heroic, and someone he could entrust One For All to. Those were the three required criteria he'd made for himself, but a part of him deep down had always hoped to find a successor who was like he was, someone born quirkless, born with nothing. That way, they would appreciate it all the more when they were given a power with almost no rival. He had initially given up on such a dream, since the chance of a child being born quirkless these days was astronomically low, but he’d completely overlooked Melissa, a girl who he viewed as his niece. He knew she was brave, kind, and heroic, he was sure he could trust her and David with the secret of One For All, and best of all, she was starting high school next year.
As fast as he could, Toshinori pulled out his phone, dialing David’s number that he knew off by heart.
“David, it’s me, Toshinori,” he joyfully greeted when the line connected. “Listen, you’ve moved to I-Island, correct? With Melissa? Wonderful, I was hoping you’d be free for me to visit this weekend. There’s something I need to discuss with you and Melissa, and-, no, no, David, it’s nothing worrying, quite the opposite. I have an incredible opportunity I’d like to speak with you about..."