It was literarily just as he finally had his home in sight that izuku was grabbed by his bag and thrown into an alleyway. Well, alleyway was kinda being overdramatic, it was a pretty large spot between two apartment complexes. Still, no one was there. Other than him and 3 others.
Kacchan and his two friends. Of course.
"What… What do you want Kacchan?"
"Same thing I waIted earlier. To teach you a lesson. And because you apparently can't fucking learn something on the first try, I'll have to fucking do it again."
Then faster than Izuku could believe, Katsuki punched him in the gut, taking the wind out him. Izuku dropped all three bags he carried, food and medicine alike on the ground in shock.
Following up at this, Katsuki quickly stepped behind him, and harshly ripped off his backpack.
He opened it and fished out something. It took Izuku's eyes a few seconds to focus on them to see what it was.
His notebooks.
No
He forced himself to his feet, the fear he felt for Kacchan being overridden by anger over the theft.
"GIVE THOSE BACK! GIVE THOSE BACK KACCHAN!".
He shook. He shook as badly as he had earlier that day just two hours earlier. Yet somehow he felt like he didn't have anything to fear to say those words.
Katsuki Bakugou was not impressed.
"The whole point of this lesson was to make you realize your place Deku, and NOW you decide to grow a backbone? Seriously Deku."
He shook his head, then unceremoniously blew up all the notebooks with one hand, the explosion being way more powerful than the previous one, turning the books into nothing more than ashes.
For a brief moment, everyone went dead silent as Izuku just stared at 3 years of his life going up in smoke.
"Got something you wanna say?" Katsuki said mockingly.
Izuku punched him in the face.
For one brief moment, all his fears evaporated as they were replaced by rage. Pure, seething rage.
For a brief moment. 13.6 seconds to be exact, the entire scene froze. Sai and Haku just staring dumbfounded at what had just happened. Katsuki just stared at him gaping, then took his hand to his nose to feel the blood there then looking at his hand as if to confirm that it was real. Izuku panting heavily, with rage, not fear running through his veins.
The moment ended as suddenly as it had begun.
"DEKUUUU!"
In that one brief moment, Izuku had felt at peace for the first time… He didn't know. Punching Katsuki had felt… Right. Like he had finally finished a long, arduous task whose weight was now finally of his shoulders.
What followed was pain.
...
Izuku woke up after maybe 4 hours judging by the way the sun had finally gone down, but its afterglow was still barely visible.
He didn't hurt. At all. Which was really, really surprising. He felt really, really sore, but the pain wasn't there.
He was certain, no positive that amongst the stuff Katsuki had done to him, he had broken his right arm. Yet he couldn't feel that.
He lifted his arm up so he could see it.
Yeah, he could see the places katsuki had blasted him. The school uniform was completely destroyed in places. Chunks had just been ripped out.
So it had actually happened. Then the question remained. Why didn't he hurt?
He sat up. Well, good news, bad news, good news and bad news again.
First good news: He didn't seem hurt. At all. Oh, his clothes was a goddamned mess, but the places where katsuki had blasted him were just fine. So where the places he had kicked and punched him.
First bad news: His clothes were utterly destroyed. Which might not have been a problem for most, but he only owned a 2 sets. His mom would not fail to notice half his school wardrobe dissapearing. Meaning he'd have to tell her what happened.
Second good news: The medicine was fine. For whatever reason, Katsuki and his underlings had left it alone. He also noticed his wallet lying on the ground, and though open, none of his cards were gone.
Second bad news: the food he'd bought as well as his bag was shredded. No, blasted apart.
He sighed. Well, there went all his savings.
As he finally got up, and began to gather up what remained of his stuff, he tried not to think about Katsuki Bakugou.
Somehow, over the course of one day, it seemed all his complicated feelings on his old childhood friend had dissapeared. All that was left was a simmering resentment. It wasn't like he didn't resent Katsuki before this. He had. But there was also other feelings mixed in. Admiration, fear, awe, respect.
Now all of it was gone. It was like he had finally woken up from a dream.
Kacchan the friend had died years ago, and taken his place was a bully without a single redeeming quality. A part of him told him that was wrong. That Katsuki still was powerful, intelligent and ambitious.
And he was. It was just that suddenly Izuku didn't give a shit anymore.
He wanted power too. He'd wanted power since he was 4 years old.
Why?
To help people. It wasn't like that had ever changed, but suddenly Izuku accepted a truth he had never been able grasp before.
Katsuki didn't care about protecting people. What he wanted, was this thing. What he had done here. To hurt others. Whatever kind of heroism Katsuki ascribed to, it wasn't something Izuku EVER wanted to be a part of.
Why the hell he had ever admired that asshole he didn't get.
Still, he COULD ignore bakugou right now. There was something else to focus on after all. Namely how in the world his wounds had healed.
...
The surge of energy had been incredible.
Adrenaline.
That was it's reason for living. What it strove for. The thing to push towards.
It had been so sweet…
The the pain. It was distant, not as heavy as it could be, but it had felt the pain.
It would kill the one who had inflicted the pain.
But that would be later. When true strength had come.
For now, it had used the energy it had so briefly tasted to heal the host. His wounds had been severe, but not beyond it's powers.
None had disturbed it while it worked. It had blended to make certain of that.
It had taken note of the hosts thoughts on the attacker as he woke. Yes, the host would agree. The Katsuki must surely perish for it's insolence.
...
Izuku unlocked the door to his room, then went and dumped everything he'd salvaged on the dinner table.
While the phone had been broken in two, he had thankfully managed to recover the unharmed Card, so he could use one of his older phones.
It was a small blessing.
He'd have to go back with a bag later to pick up the remains of everything. It was technically littering after all. Katsuki didn't care, but he did.
First though, he needed a shower and a new set of clothes.
It was while taking a shower that Izuku first noticed a mass of black liquid that fully abandoned his clothes and now moved to fuse with his skin.
"GAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
...
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