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It started, as it always seemed to, on what was supposed to be a pleasant day.
1A had left UA as a group to do some last-minute Christmas shopping. Shouta had tagged along to look out for them. Hizashi had called him paranoid, but considering their last trip to the mall had ended with a villain encounter Shouta thought he was being perfectly reasonable, thank you very much. Besides, it was nice to see his students doing something other than fighting for their lives.
They were all clumped in the food court, looking casually at the different shops, some more excited by the largely unhealthy fare than the others.
Still, something felt off, and it was clear that it wasn’t just him feeling it. Everyone was clumped in small groups, always within line of sight of Shouta.
A young adult pushed himself from the wall he’d been lounging on, walking purposefully towards Midoriya. Something prickled on Shouta’s neck. He followed.
“You’re that kid from UA, Deku, isn’t it? Your quirk is super strong for a first-year, huh?” He held a hand out to shake. Midoriya looked at it cautiously, the strange energy from before making him reluctant to touch a stranger. Shouta stood between them before he had to make that choice.
“I’d appreciate it if you stayed away from my students.” The pale face of the man before him twisted into a nasty smile, needle teeth glittering ominously.
“You heroes have great instincts, don’t cha?”
He lunged.
Shouta sprung backwards, pulling Midoriya along with him. The sudden movement caught the eyes of the rest of his students, all of them turning towards the beginnings of a fight. Most of his students were licensed yes - but they were his. He didn’t want them hurt, not when they were supposed to be enjoying themselves. It didn’t look like he’d have a choice though. Other people were striding towards his kids.
“1A, stick together! Todoroki and Bakugo, you have my permission to defend yourselves!” He wanted to look after his kids, to help, but he and Midoriya were being surrounded. It seemed like he had been the real target here, and Shouta wasn’t about to abandon one of his kids. He left a hand tug him sideways, and upon seeing the scars that laced it, resisted the urge to break it. A shard of something like glass whizzed through the air where his eyes had been. He internally thanked Midoriya but made a note that he really needed to teach them about communication in a battle.
He quickly flared his quirk at the villain who had thrown the glass, feeling a faint sense of satisfaction as Midoriya used the chance to land a solid punch, sending them flying into a nearby wall. The villain from before reached towards him again and he ducked, panic flaring as the hit meant for him missed his student by a hair. Midoriya looked at the villain with calculating eyes before falling into position beside him.
“Touch-based quirk.” He muttered to himself. Shouta’s eyes widened - it was a good deduction and a likely one at that. “Neither of us has the advantage here, we do best in short range.”
“You have your Air Force attack, don’t you?” Shouta returned. “I’ll suppress, you contain and finish.” Midoriya looked like he wanted to argue but bit his tongue, nodding.
“Oi, come on.” The villain droned. The longer the fight dragged on, the less human he appeared to be - teeth sharpening, eyes gaining a glassy, fish like sheen to them. It made Shouta’s skin crawl despite himself. He found himself sorely wishing he’d brought his capture weapon. Before he or the villain had a chance to make a move, a sharp burst of pressure cut past him, the villain only just dodging in time. “You two are really pissing me off now. Just get over here, Deku, and I’ll leave your stupid class alone.”
Shouta flared his quirk, hair whipping around his face. “Fuck off.” The villain only laughed, surging past him. Shouta grabbed his arm, careful to only touch the cloth of this hoodie, and threw him aside. As the villain fell, Shouta tried to crush his outstretched hand under his boot, but it was snatched away. Shouta’s eyes burned, but he refused to let his quirk drop.
The villain recovered shockingly fast, seemingly changing his target from Midoriya to Shouta. His student let out a shout of alarm, rushing towards them even as Shouta shouted at him to stay back. They both knew his quirk hadn’t been the same after the USJ incident.
“Sensei-”
The villain smiled. Shouta’s heart dropped.
“Checkmate.”
He pushed Shouta backwards, hand only just missing the bare skin of his chest. Midoriya looked horrified, rushing towards his falling teacher, quirk flickering brightly. If Shouta had been able to keep is quirk up, he’d have cut Midoriya’s. Anything to stop the kid from getting closer.
But he couldn’t.
Eyes burning, his quirk shut itself off. Midoriya dove towards him, trying to pull him out of the way of the villain's hands - but he wasn’t fast enough - not with his teacher in his arms. In a last-ditch effort to keep the villain off his kid, he wrapped his hand around the bare skin of the villain's wrist, trying to keep it from the back of Midoriya’s neck. He wasn’t fast enough.
The ground dropped out from beneath them. Shouta could hear the panicked shouts of his students getting softer and softer, bile rising in his throat as he sees the tips of a canopy of trees he’s never seen before as he and his student rapidly hurtle towards them.
Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around Midoriya, hoping he’ll be enough to cushion his students fall. The sound of his panicked screams hurt more than any impact ever could.
All too soon, needled branches wiped against his back, cutting through his clothes like paper. Midoriya writhed in his grip, whether he was trying to help his teacher or too panicked to understand what’s happening is anyone’s guess. Still, without his quirk, Shouta was stronger, and he held tight with his right arm - reaching out with his left in a desperate attempt to catch something to slow their fall.
His hand wrapped around a branch and he couldn’t help the scream at it tore his shoulder from its socket. Arm dislocated in at least one place, he couldn’t keep a grip on it and they continued to fall, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
The overwhelming pain made him blackout.
The first though Izuku had that wasn’t one of panic or pain was the knowledge that somehow, somewhere, someone was watching him. The second was the crushing feeling of fear when he realised his teacher - his teacher who’d protected him without a thought for his own life - wasn’t waking up .
“Sensei?” His voice was shaking as he felt tears building in his eyes. His teachers left arm was mangled - dislocated at the shoulder, wrist bent at a sickening angle, all coated with mottling bruises. He bled sluggishly from countless cuts, the dark fabric of his shirt turning darker still. Izuku felt nauseous. He should have been able to do something, anything, but his teacher was stuck here; hurt badly all trying to protect him.
As delicately as he could, he lent his teacher against a nearby tree. The forest was uniform, countless fir trees counting the ground with a soft cushion of fallen needles. The lack of landmarks made his skin prickle.
He quickly cast off his jacket, using a drop of One for All to tear it into manageable strips. He looped it around his teacher’s arm, stabilizing the shoulder and wrist as best he could. Aizawa’s face twisted as he moved the limb into position. Maybe it was a good thing he wasn’t conscious for this.
The faint sound of crunching pine needles made his blood run cold. He couldn’t bring himself to look around, a sudden crushing fear overwhelming him. It felt like Kamino ward.
Exactly like Kamino ward.
Aizawa’s eyes flicker open, a pained groan slipping from his mouth and it takes more self-control than Izuku thinks he’s ever used to not start crying immediately out of sheer relief. It’s a near thing.
“Sensei.” He feels like a child, begging their parents to look under the bed for the monster he knows is there. Aizawa looked around, confused until his eyes caught on the creature over Izuku’s shoulder. He paled.
“Shit. We need to go, now.” Izuku helped him up, trembling with fear. The crunching was getting closer, and if he listened closely he could hear the faint hiss of a breathing apparatus. It’s limping. He knows it is, the steps too uneven for it to be anything else. Its pace was constant. Izuku tried to take more of Aizawa’s weight, reaching for his quirk to bolster his strength but - nothing.
“Sensei - I can’t -” His voice hiccupped and despite the imminent danger, Aizawa took a moment to look at his student, brows creased in concern. “I can’t use my quirk.”
Aizawa froze, Izuku stood in quiet horror as he watched his teacher go through the motions of activating his quirk, only for his eyes to stay black. Swallowing his fear, Izuku turned to look at the thing behind them.
His legs almost buckled beneath him.
It was distinctly humanoid, lumbering towards them with a slow but steady gait. It had been limping because one of its legs was near completely shattered, the slick sound of meat and chipping bone echoing with each lumbering step. Tubes wound around and through its neck, bottom jaw hanging by a single ragged tendon, tongue flopping freely against its scarred neck.
The most horrifying thing was its face. Well, lack of it. It’s eye sockets were caved in and bloodied, small white chips of bone standing out starkly from the mess of torn meat and skin. A large divot in its skull slowly dripped a pink, gelatinous substance that Izuku realised with mounting horror was its brain.
It reached out a broken hand.
Izuku held tight to his teacher and ran.
What could have been hours or minutes later, they stumbled to a stop. Izuku’s panic fueled energy crashing abruptly as he fought back the urge to hyperventilate or vomit. It looked like - it looked like All for One. Or, what Izuku assumed he would have looked like after that fateful fight. He’d never seen injuries like that in person. Oh god, the smell of gore was still in the back of his throat -
“ - doriyia? Midoriya?!” Aizawa’s warm hand rested firmly against his back as he retched and heaved. Izuku tried to stop his shaking, but he couldn’t help choking on his own bile. “Easy kid, easy.” The calm tones of his teacher soothed some of the worry in his chest. Izuku fought back a shuddering sob.
“Sorry.” He wheezed out, throat tender from the acid. Aizawa just shook his head, rubbing soothing circles on Izuku’s back. It helped. It took a few minutes for Izuku to feel like he could breathe again, and he took that moment to shove down the last vestiges of his panic. He couldn’t afford that now. “Ok.” His voice cracked slightly. His teacher looked at him with an appraising eye, a faint frown on his lips, but they both knew there wasn’t any time to stop and think. Not yet, anyway.
“Field report?” Izuku muttered with a slight smile on his lips. Aizawa let out a single huff of laughter. He tried to get them used to give field reports on incidents to superiors, but all it had turned into was a game of demanding them whenever something went the slightest bit wrong. It had certainly confused 1B when Aizawa was snapping at them for a field report over something as minor as a 5 minute tardy.
“1A was out on a day trip, a suspicious man approached you and ended up starting a fight. I’m thinking we got hit with some kind of teleportation quirk?”
His first instinct was to agree with his teacher, but - but it didn’t sound right. Not at all.
“I - I don’t think so, Sensei. Or, that's not all of it.” Aizawa raised an eyebrow. Logically he knew his teacher was just curious, but he couldn’t help himself seeing the looks of contempt so many had worn before. “That, that thing. It was Al-” he bit his tongue, “-the man from Kamino ward.”
Aizawa’s face scrunched in a frown. “Was it? I didn’t look much like him to me.” Realisation dawned on Izuku, slow and creeping.
“That's - its a perception based quirk, isn’t it?” He looked around himself, missing his teacher’s thoughtful eyes on him. “This is a fear quirk. A nightmare quirk.”
“Why the forest? Why the villain?” Aizawa wasn’t being condescending, he was really trying to understand Izuku’s thought process. Still, he fought not to let his voice waver in a way he hadn’t needed to do for months.
“Its - well I don’t think it’s designed to be used on two people at once. I think it’s, well not glitching out but -”
“Drawing from too many sources?”
“Exactly!” The warm feeling in his chest from his teacher listening to him, understanding him, coupled with the exciting - if horrifying - quirk chipped away at a little of the fear around his heart.
“Then how do we escape it?” Izuku’s heart sank a little.
“I’m not sure sir, quirks like this can have so many activation conditions I wouldn’t -” Aizawa waved off his panicked muttering.
“Don’t worry, it’s not your job to get us out of here.” He looks in contempt at his ruined arm. His lack of audible complaints about the pain was kind of impressing Izuku; he’d never met anyone who could shrug off injuries like that. The ‘other than yourself’ was pushed away violently.
“Still -” Izuku fretted, the fear slowly rising again. “Quirks often have similar activation and shut off conditions.”
“It’s a start,” Aizawa muttered, before ruffling Izuku’s hair with his good hand. “You know your way around quirks, don’t you?” Despite the weight of the situation, Izuku couldn’t keep a small smile off his face.
“They’re amazing.”
Aizawa looked like he had a question to ask but bit his tongue. They settled down in the pine needles to catch their breath, hoping to have a second to breathe before they’d need to venture on.
A faint crackling noise woke Izuku. He cast his eyes around drowsily, but it still took a second to spot the figure in the woods. It was flickering brightly, made of dripping fire, but it let off no light. Rather, it seemed to be sucking light inwards, darkening the area around it. It turned its head as if listening for something. When its eyes met his, Izuku had to bite back a scream.
It had Kacchan’s eyes.
“Dekkkuuuu.” The creature called. Its voice was made of the popping crackles of fires and shifting coals, so inhuman it made his head spin. Aizawa looked at him as if wondering why a creature of nightmare would call him by his hero name of all things. Izuku wasn’t sure when he’d woken up, but he felt better with his teacher beside him.
“Quirkless bastard - should -” The fire crackled sharply, it’s otherworldly voice exploding, roaring around them like it could burn them to a crisp at a moments notice. “- hAVE JUMPED OFF THE ROOF WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE .”
Izuku couldn’t help it.
He sobbed.
The creature turned to look at him, a triumphant cackle resounding in his ears. He could almost hear the voice of his teacher, urging him onwards and away, but he couldn’t move - couldn’t think. The sound of the creature, of Kacchan , taunting him echoed around and around his head. It wasn’t until he smelled burning flesh did he come out of it with a jolt.
Aizawa’s mangled arm was braced in front of him, pushing back a searing hand. He could see the tears in his teacher’s eyes.
“RUN.”
“It couldn’t see us,” Izuku whispered as he tore a strip of cloth from the hem of his shirt, gingerly wrapping it around the burn on Aizawa’s forearm. It was blackened and charred and looking at it made him feel so guilty he felt like he was going to throw up, but Aizawa just nodded thoughtfully.
“I think you’re right.” Izuku couldn’t stop the silent tears pouring down his face. “Do you think -” Aizawa’s eyes widened when he saw Izuku’s tears, his teacher looking down at him with enough concern it felt like it might break his heart. “Kid, what’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry.” He choked out, violently scrubbing at his eyes with bloodied fists. “I was stupid and I froze and I got you hurt -” He was cut off as Aizawa dragged him into a firm hug with his good arm.
“Fuck, kid, you did save me. Do you think I could have run out of there like this? You and your crazy quirk saved our lives.”
“But I froze.” Izuku whimpered. He wanted to believe his teacher, he really did. But it had been his fault his teacher had been burnt.
Wasn’t it?
“Shit - of course it wasn’t your fault.” Ah. Curse him and his habit of speaking his thoughts out loud. “Kid we are literally in a nightmare designed to exploit your greatest fears. This isn’t your fault in the slightest. If anything, I should have protected you from getting stuck here in the first place.” Izuku shook his head stubbornly, face still buried in the soft fabric of his teacher’s shirt.
“If I’m not allowed to blame myself, you aren’t either.” That coaxed a quiet huff of laughter from his teacher.
“Ok kid, you’ve got a deal.”
“What did that thing mean by quirkless?” It’s such an abrupt question it catches Izuku off guard.
“What do you mean?”
“The thing, it said quirkless. You - you aren’t. I don’t get it.” Lies flickered through Izuku’s head ‘Oh I’m just nervous about ending up like Togata-san’ or ‘I don’t know either Sensei, maybe the quirk got something muddled?’. But here, in the quiet? He couldn’t find it in himself to lie.
“I was.” Aizawa’s head jerks towards him so fast he's afraid his teacher might get whiplash.
“You were - quirkless?”
Izuku nods, curling his arms around his knees. “Got my quirk in late. Really late.” His voice chokes a little. “No one likes a quirkless kid.” Aizawa makes a pained noise in the back of his throat before drawing Izuku into another one-armed hug. He’s holding him tighter than before. It feels nice. He lets himself enjoy it for a moment before he pulls away.
“Kid, when you say late, how late do you mean?” Izuku plucked at his scarred hand nervously.
“Almost a year.”
“A year late?” Izuku lets out a laugh. It’s a quiet, bitter thing.
“Almost a year ago .”
“Shit.”
“They didn’t- “ Aizawa cuts himself off, something unreadable in his expression. “They told you to kill yourself. Didn’t they.” Izuku nodded jerkily, not trusting himself to speak. He’s expecting to be told to toughen up, or to get over himself, but the words that come out of Aizawa’s mouth next throw him for a loop.
“Thank fuck you didn’t,” Izuku looks at his teacher blankly, mind having ground to a halt. “Or we’d be down one amazing hero.” The shock on his face must show through because Aizawa looks like he’s been slapped. He holds his arm out and Izuku surges forwards, trying to ignore the tears dripping down his face. “I mean it, kid. You’re going to be amazing.”
Izuku’s response was so quiet he almost couldn't hear it himself.
“ Thank you .”
Izuku wasn’t sure how long they’d sat there, just trying to breathe before the next horror came. The woods felt alive, and he was half-convinced that if he took his eyes off his teacher for a second an errant branch would whisk him away, leaving him alone in this nightmare. The forest was so unnaturally silent they had both figured they’d have ample warning before something was upon them.
They were wrong.
A slight movement out of the corner of Izuku’s eye caught his attention. If he hadn’t been so pumped with adrenaline he wasn’t sure he’d have been able to dodge. He tried to activate his quirk reflexively, and let out a choked sound when it wouldn’t answer his call.
“It’s back -” Aizawa was up in a second, eyes wide and panicked as he watched his student roll away from the nightmare. It was slowly lumbering towards them, almost as if -
“It never stopped chasing us, did it?” Izuku asked with a wavering voice, eyes trained on the thing as it limped towards him. Izuku couldn’t see his teacher, couldn’t spare the second to look at him, but a bitten-off curse was enough confirmation his teacher agreed with him. “Sensei, you need to run.”
“I can’t leave you here to fight this thing alone!” He snapped, and Izuku could hear the panic in his voice. It was nice to know someone cared, even if it wasn’t going to help.
“You can’t fight it, you’re hurt -” His back hit a tree and he cursed, swinging around it. The monster didn’t even sidestep it, instead tearing the thing from the ground like it was no more than a blade of grass and tossing it aside.
“Neither can you!” Aizawa roared.
“Eraserhead.” He needed his teacher to listen to him. “One of us can get out of here. You can run, get away. I’ll keep it busy.” Izuku could see his vision blur as tears filled his eyes, but he fought to keep the tremor out of his voice. “ Please .”
The thing swiped at him again. He ducked out of the way, but the branches of the uprooted pine caught his ankles, sending him tumbling to the floor. He tried not to cry out as his ankle bent at an unnatural angle. He wasn’t successful.
Aizawa was on him in a second, shielding him like he had so many times before. Izuku wanted to sob. The creature was reaching out towards his teacher’s neck.
“Kid, run -”
He vanished.
Izuku did as his teacher said.
He ran.
He hadn’t gotten far before his ankle crumpled beneath him. He couldn’t keep running. He needed a plan, and he needed one fast. He was desperately not thinking about the way his teacher had vanished with a single touch of the creature -
Izuku froze, mind wiring.
He’d said it himself. Quirks often had similar activation and deactivation conditions. What if - what if Aizawa had just been sent back, free of the quirk? He didn’t have long to think about it, he could already see the grizzly silhouette of the thing limping towards him. Swallowing the pain and the fear he stood up, limping towards it himself.
This was his only plan. If it didn’t work - well he wouldn’t be able to think about it if he was dead, would be?
Shaking, he held a hand out, the mangled thing that wore All for One’s face reached towards it. It was dripping blood, suit jacket torn until it was more scrap than cloth. Izuku was too scared to close his eyes. It’s bloodied hand brushed his.
And he was gone.
“Midoriya? Midoriya?!” Shouta was frantic, calling for his student desperately. Vaguely, he recognised the food court they’d been in when the fight had broken out, the police tape partitioning the area off only cementing that fact in his mind. He hadn’t been there long, but where was his student? He was sure some concerned civilian or shop keeper had called the police, an injured man screaming his head off inside a crime scene wasn’t something people tended to overlook, no matter how weird their daily lives. Shouta couldn’t bring himself to care, he needed to find his student.
He’d abandoned him.
A choked scream caught his attention. He whipped his head around to see Midoriya crumpling to the floor, one of his ankles swollen and bruised. He was alive, he was safe. Shouta surged forwards, dropping to his knees in front of his student as he frantically looked over him for injuries. Midoriya smiled at him tearily, whole body shaking like a leaf.
“I worked out the deactivation condition, Sensei.”
Shouta couldn’t help the broken laughter that tore from his throat as he wrapped his own shaking arm around his student, the injuries of the other having transferred over.
“Of course you did, problem child. I told you you’d be amazing.”