Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya.
Quirkless.
Useless.
A waste of air.
A ‘stupid deku’.
The young boy could be described with many words, none of them good. When he wasn’t being terrorized for not having a quirk, he wasn’t even regarded. Just a plain middle-schooler, his most memorable feature being the expression of anxiety that he always held on his face. Well- That, or his dark green curls. Izuku took pride in his hair, because it was his mother’s – the same beautiful shade of forest green.
The boy took a lot after his mother. Despite what the years had done to the poor woman, he had inherited his lanky form from her. That, her magnificent green eyes, and her extremely non-confrontational nature.
That’s why Izuku had been walking home, clutching a notebook that was barely still together. It was covered in burns, much like Izuku himself had been. Another struggle against Kacchan, really. It happened at least once a week, and yet it never seemed to hurt less no matter how many times it’s happened by now. Yet, despite how many times the boy endured it, he never stood up for himself. Izuku sniffled wetly, recalling how his old friend had only seemed to get angrier when he realized the meek boy wouldn’t stand up for himself.
It seemed to throw Kacchan over the edge, honestly.
The harsh words still rung in Izuku’s head, the way Kacchan said it… It felt genuine.
“How about you take a swan dive off the roof, and hope for a quirk in your next life?!” Kacchan roared, his palms sparking with the power of his explosive quirk. He shoved Izuku against a wall, and he had felt his breath hitch as Kacchan had used his quirk to burn at Izuku’s uniform. He lamented in the fact it was one of his last clean uniforms, as an ounce of dread began to build. Well- At least his mom had a late shift tonight. He’d get a chance to do his laundry.
Izuku’s train of thought had been stopped when Kacchan grabbed for his notebook- Number 14, he was sure. His eyes went wide, almost owlish, as Kacchan peered through it. His scowl deepened, as he began to burn it.
“What the hell is this stalker shit, you shitty Deku?!”
Unfortunately, that journal was one of many with notes on his old friend’s quirk. It became especially evident with how furious Kacchan had looked. Izuku couldn’t help but wince, and open his mouth to speak. However, before the boy could even think about getting a word in, Kacchan hurled the notebook outside.
Izuku was pretty sure it landed in the little pond Aldera had, considering the splashing sound he heard.
“Kacchan!- Why would you?-”
He couldn’t even finish his sentence, before Kacchan shoved the boy into the wall again, and stalked off. His lackeys made some rude gestures, before trailing behind him while laughing like little cartoon minions.
Not the tic-tacs, but it was definitely a comparable sound.
Izuku had been snapped out of his thoughts, when he caught the sound of a rattling manhole. He realized he had somehow found himself beneath the underpass on his way home already. Well, time sure does fly when you’re reminiscing about awful and terrible bullying attempts.
The manhole shifted, before a foul smelling liquid seemed to emerge. It seemed very viscious, and Izuku couldn’t help but take a step back. A deep, gurgling sort of laugh came, and finally emerged two red eyes and a set of grinning teeth. Izuku’s eyes widened in shock, as he took a step backward.
“Uh uh uhh!... We haven’t even introduced ourselves, you should stay!” The villain chided, before snatching up Izuku’s frail form. Before the boy could even make a noise of terror, the villain had begun to force some of it’s rank sludge into his mouth and nose.
Huh. Maybe this guy should be called the sludge villain.
“Heh.. heh.. Don’tcha worry, kid!... Just hijacking your body, it shouldn’t hurt a bit!”
Ah. Maybe Izuku should be more worried about that, actually.
In mere seconds, Izuku could feel himself running out of oxygen, as the terrible sludge seemed to push against his throat. It was blocking the poor boy’s air flow, and Izuku couldn’t help but feel his panic rise. It had felt like he had been in this villain’s grasp for hours, even though he knew it couldn’t have been over a minute.
He already began to see dark spots in the corners of his vision, as he struggled to keep his eyes open.
Then, a few things happened all at once.
The most noticeable was a figure in a white t-shirt and golden hair. He couldn’t quite make out the figure, though- His vision was a tad bit too blurry. Very Blurry, really.
The Sludge Villain’s grip loosening, and he was sure the guy had dropped him now. Was that a gasp?
The very loud, very noticeable of an insect’s buzzing.
However, before anything had been made clear, Izuku blacked out.
Izuku’s eyes groggily opened. He winced, pressing a hand against his forehead. He had a headache, which in all honestly, was really reasonable. After a few moments, he finally looked around. He realized he was, in fact, not in the underpass. No- instead, he was sat atop a roof with a little… Apartment? He had no clue why that was there. Despite his confusion, Izuku pulled himself to his feet.
As he approached the little apartment, he realized he could hear cheerful conversation, laughter even. He couldn’t help but peer inside the little apartment from the window. There, a young man with definitely greasy black hair and a sheepish grin, a girl with puffy pink hair, and a very large, very intimidation man were having banter. Yet, before Izuku could even do anything, he felt a sensation of falling.
In just mere moments, he found himself overlooking a city being destroyed by an enormous… Was that a monster, or a villain? Izuku couldn’t help but feel a bit excited, eager even by the sight. Then he realized, if he doesn’t run, he’s probably going to die here. He turned to do that, but as soon as he turned around, the cool night was replaced by the scorching sun.
He noticed he was standing in the highway.
How did he even get here?
Before Izuku could ask anymore questions to himself, he looked down the highway to see a fast approaching bus. Wait- was that a cat bus?? Chasing beside it was Ingenium, and Izuku’s eyes widened near comically. Ingenium, however, didn’t seem to notice the boy hopelessly standing in the highway. Y'know, most heroes probably should check up on some kid in a highway. Well, Ingenium did seem awful busy.
Yet, with just a simple blink, Izuku’s world shifted once more. He realized he was somewhere very, very dark. He also realized he heard very, very loud buzzing for whatever reason. Wonder what that was all about.
He stopped. Something seemed to be calling him- no, urging him to walk forwards. When he didn’t move, he felt a sort of tug . Finally, Izuku relented, taking careful steps forward.
Izuku realized his limbs ached, as he slowly walked forward. That, and his head.
In fact, he had an awful, ringing headache. It was much worse over his left eye, he noticed. With a grimace, he stopped to press a hand against his forehead.
Another tug, harsher this time. Izuku could notice that whatever wanted him to come closer was being very impatient.
With a deep, resigned sigh, Izuku continued forward. He finally noticed, though, that there was a light ahead. It was probably in the shape of a door-way, because that was honestly typical in these situations.
Izuku continued to walk, and his headache seemed to grow worse with every few steps.
Well, this was inconvenient, wasn’t it?
It felt like a long time passed, before Izuku was finally close enough to see the light clearly. It was, in fact, a doorway. Except, it was tall, and if the boy squinted he could tell the frame seemed to be masterfully carved. With bees.
That would honestly explain that grating buzzing he was hearing around himself.
Finally, he had made it to the door, just a bit out of breath. The golden light spilled onto the dark floor, which he now knew was a bunch of honeycomb shaped tiles. He squinted his eyes, having to adjust to the sudden bright light. After a few long seconds, his eyes opened fully, and the sight before him was breathtaking.
A large hall seemed to be crafted entirely of various golden metals. Or maybe it was all gold, who was to know. Not him, obviously.
There were pillars, once again beautifully carved. Alongside that, there seemed to be a large amount of beautifully made portraits, all of fairly pretty young women, he noticed.
Izuku took another step foward, but he felt cold hands grip his arms. Panic rose in his mind, as he looked to whoever was grabbing at him, and he soon found out he was being restrained by large, armored guards. They didn’t even look at him, if they did it was concealed by their very insect-like helmets.
Izuku tried to protest, but he noticed his mouth just wouldn’t budge. In fact, when the boy tried to struggle, he found he couldn’t move. The guards began to walk down the hall, Izuku in tow, and the only movement Izuku could manage was putting one foot in front of the other, trying to take steps to stay with the guards so he wouldn’t actually be dragged around.
It was then he noticed that at the end of the hall, stood a tall throne. In the throne sat a young woman with pink, fluffy hair.
Izuku could have sworn she’s seen this girl before, honestly.
The guards deposited him in front of the throne, to which the girl looked to him. She was missing an eye, he finally noticed. His eyes widened, as he looked through the hall, at the portraits of all the other girls. A girl with short orange hair, a woman with some sort of dragon mutation quirk, a woman with roses in her hair…
They were all so different, yet the common factor was always that they were missing a single eye.
He felt a hand grip his chin, as the girl on the throne forced him to look at her, in the eyes. Well, eye. The single eye seemed glazed over, as if his supposed captor had been…
As if she were dead.
His breath hitched, as he stared at the woman’s empty eye socket. Little.. Little legs, were gripping the edges of her socket. Something was emerging. A disgusting squishing sound came from the girl, and she groaned. An enormous bee, with a grotesque abdomen, had emerged from her eye. The girl fell limp, and the bee crawled up Izuku.
He couldn’t move.
He couldn’t shake it off.
The guards were keeping him very still, but he couldn’t even move his head to look away.
The little legs scaling his arm itched an awful amount, then he felt them on his neck. Then, his face.
Izuku sniffled, eyes wide. He just noticed he couldn’t even blink, to try and keep the bug away from him.
Suddenly, a terrible jolt of pain in his eye, and he jolted awake.
Izuku gasped, his breathing shallow. He rubbed his face, trying to rid it of the tears that began to stain it. Shakily, Izuku forced himself to his feet. There was still an incessant buzzing in his ears, and he could have sworn it reverberated through his skull. He groaned, not even stopping to see if his notebook was still there. How long it had been, Izuku had no idea, but he shakily continued his trek home.
However, he heard something.
Explosions, off in a more populated part of town. He gasped to himself, before hurrying his pace. Izuku got there just in the nick of time, to see-
“Kacchan?”
There he was, the blonde haired boy in the grasps of the sludge villain.
He felt a pounding in his head, his breathing almost slowing to a stop, as Izuku uttered his old friend’s name with terror etched in his tone.
Before Izuku even knew what he was doing, he was forcing one foot in front of the other.
The buzzing grew more intense with every step closer, something urging, begging him to not go any closer.
Before the mysterious feeling could deter him, he ran forward. Civilians gasped, the heroes Izuku never noticed on the scene looking to him in horror.
(Maybe he never noticed them because they weren’t Doing Anything. Anger bubbled up in Izuku’s stomach.)
Rage, fear, and exhaustion hit him all at once, as Kacchan seemed to notice him.
The boys violent thrashing grew stronger before-
Bees?
Where did all of these bees come from?
Izuku wasn’t very sure. They swarmed his vision, and he didn’t even know how many there were. Kacchan-
Kacchan looked mortified.
Izuku slowed to a stop, collapsing to the asphalt below. He couldn’t hear anything around him, the ringing in his ears somehow growing louder than the impossible number of bees from all around him.
Izuku thought one last thing, before he lost consciousness.
Did these bees from from me?