Loss of Control
****AN: Just as a heads up, there is a section in this chapter (which will be marked off separately) that deals with and depicts rape, as well as blood and gore. Proceed with caution.****
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"Ridiculous! Completely ridiculous!"
Izuku smirked as he watched the furious woman work.
"In my defense, they attacked me first. I was acting in self-defense."
"That's no reason to be so harsh!" Recovery girl yelled as she moved between students. "It's bad enough that you let yourself be covered in potentially toxic fungus, but not a single one of the 1-B students that you faced left the arena conscious!"
"Hey, at least I did what I could to stop them from being caught by the spores too."
"Is that meant to make up for the fact that Shishida has three broken ribs? Or that Monoma and Awase both have concussions? Or that some of Shiozaki's vines were nearly torn out at the roots?"
Izuku shrugged. "Not necessarily. But the fact that they are willingly participating in a competition hosted by a hero school does, at least in my eyes. I highly doubt anyone is walking into this ignorant to the fact that they could be injured. Besides, beyond that, the fact of the matter is I could've injured them much more than I did. I only did as much as was necessary to win."
"Hmph!" She grunted as she switched patients again, anger rolling off of her tiny frame. "Necessary. None of this," she gestured at the students spread through the room, "is necessary. There are plenty of other ways to have you all get the world's attention that don't involve pummeling one another."
Izuku stayed silent. She was certainly correct, there were other ways that Yueii could present its students, but there weren't any that would appeal to the public nearly as much. Besides, Izuku didn't particularly care one way or another. He didn't care so much about gaining anyone's attention. The festival had been exciting thus far, and that was good enough for him.
Recovery Girl looked over at him, her lips pressed into a thin line.
"You're free to go. There shouldn't be any adverse side effects from the fungus, especially not with how fast you seem to heal. But I expect you to come straight back here if you feel that anything is off. And I don't want to see anyone in here for the rest of the festival because of you!"
Izuku shrugged again, before turning towards the door. "No promises." He called out over his shoulder as he left the infirmary, ignoring her angry muttering behind him.
Ochako was waiting for him in the hallway, having gotten a once-over before quickly being discharged almost as soon as she arrived at the infirmary, not even needing to be healed. Her fight with the 1-B students had barely even resulted in any bruises.
"Everything okay?" She asked as the door closed behind him.
"Of course." Izuku replied, nodding. "There weren't any issues with the mushrooms. Evidently, they only really cause problems if they get inside someone. Though Recovery Girl isn't pleased with me at all for what I did to 1-B."
"But they attacked you first." She said with a grin. "Technically you were just acting in self-defense."
"That's what I said. But the injuries they had were still too severe for her liking."
He grinned. "Whatever, it's not like it matters, she's just angry that we have to fight one another at all. Shall we join our classmates and get some lunch?"
"Actually, I was thinking about heading back to the locker rooms to shower first. I'm all sweaty after those first two events, and some of Bondo's glue got on me when we fought him."
She picked at her clothes as she spoke, where parts of it were apparently stuck to her skin, and he could see the slight pinch of discomfort in her expression. Watching this, Izuku had an idea. One of his newer quirks was ideal for this exact situation.
"Actually, there might be something I can do to help with that."
She tilted her head at him as he gestured for her to come closer, but complied, stepping towards him. Izuku glanced around for any cameras in the hallway, and was glad to see none. As soon as she was close enough, Izuku reached a hand out and, ever so gently, tapped her on the nose, activating the new quirk at the same time.
The visible dirt on Ochako's body vanished instantly, leaving perfectly clean skin behind.
It was one of the quirks he acquired the same night he found Tamako. The last quirk he'd taken that night, which he'd taken to calling 'Shower in a can.'
It did almost exactly as the name implied. With a single touch, either to himself or to another person, all the dirt, grime, and sweat would be cleared from the body, leaving them perfectly clean.
He'd only had it for a few short days, but Izuku absolutely loved the quirk already. It would never quite be able to replace the feeling of a hot shower, but being able to be fresh and clean immediately after a fight, or any other strenuous activity, was an incredible novelty. And while it didn't have any effect on clothing, it could be used often enough that, at the very least, one's clothes wouldn't become soaked with sweat.
Being dirty wasn't something that bothered Izuku – by this point he was well accustomed to getting filthy doing whatever he was doing, being covered in dirt, sweat, and even blood wouldn't hinder him – but he certainly wouldn't pass up the ability to be clean at all times.
"Better?" He asked.
She looked down at her hands as a full-body shiver traveled through her.
"That felt really weird." She said, shaking her head. "But yeah, that does feel a lot better. Thanks!"
"Do you still want to change, or is that good enough for now?"
She thought for a moment before replying. "I think I'm good. I might still change before the third event, but for now that's good enough."
"Excellent. Then let's go join out classmates."
The two of them started off down the hallway, walking in silence as Izuku led the way to the cafeteria. After a minute, Ochako glanced up at him, before speaking.
"So, was that a new one?"
She didn't specify – and it was a good thing she didn't when they couldn't be sure who might be within earshot – but Izuku knew what she was asking.
"Yep. I came across it the same night I encountered the newest addition to the apartment. I'll explain it in a bit more detail later, once we get home.
Ochako hummed in confirmation as they continued on in silence, and Izuku found himself smiling.
He still wasn't entirely used to the fact that Ochako was now aware of his quirk, but he didn't regret telling her the truth that night. He hadn't realized just how nice it would be to have someone aside from Rei not only know about his quirk but also be interested in it or even like it, until he told Ochako and she did just that.
His smile grew. He liked it, the fact that he now had someone else that liked his quirk. It allowed him to indulge in the delusion that maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought it was.
It didn't take them long to reach their destination, the enormous cafeteria, already full of students and their families. Izuku spotted their classmates grouped together and led the way, cutting through the crowd as people – sensibly – made way for the three-thousand-pound half snake.
"Yo! Etsumi, Uraraka!" Kaminari yelled out. "Where were you two? We were looking all over for you!"
"In the infirmary." Izuku answered. "I was getting de-shroomed."
Most of them looked at him in confusion, with the exception of the other members of his team for capture the flag, who knew exactly what he meant. Actually, the three of them knew where Izuku and Ochako had gone, couldn't they have explained it to the others?
"One of my opponents was a 1-B student whose quirk lets her release fungal spores that cause mushrooms to sprout on whatever they land on."
"Ouch." Kirishima said, wincing. "That sounds like a hard quirk to go up against. But I'm guessing that she ended up in the infirmary with you?"
"Yep!" Ochako cut in. "Along with the other eleven 1-B students that attacked him at the same time."
"What!? Eleven!? So your team took on three other teams at once!?"
"Of course not!" Ashido said. "It was just Etsumi versus three teams at once. The rest of us went to take their flags."
"What the heck!? I mean, I know I shouldn't be surprised, we've all seen you fight before. But still. What the heck!?"
Izuku shrugged. "All I did was stand there. They came to me. Had they been smart, they could've just attacked me at range to force me to move away from the flags."
At that moment, Izuku perked up as he felt Tamako at the edge of his consciousness, quickly returning to their place in his mind.
"Izuku!" They called. "We're here!"
'Hello Tamako.' Izuku greeted, even as he was already turning in the direction he felt them arrive from. He immediately picked Rei out from the crowd as she made her way over to the group.
She smiled at him once she realized he had noticed her. He found himself reciprocating the gesture, a bright smile lighting up his face.
"Woah…" Someone whispered. "I don't think I've ever seen him smile like that."
"Are you surprised? Look who just showed up."
The rest of them turned their attention to Rei as she arrived at the table.
"You have a sister?" Kaminari asked. "How come you never told us?"
Izuku tilted his head. "Because, I didn't have to? Besides, I'm fairly certain that I have told you. Maybe you just weren't paying attention."
Kaminari squinted at him for a moment. "Y'know what? Fair enough."
"Anyways." Izuku said. "For those of you that don't know, this is my sister Reiko Etsumi."
He ignored the way Todoroki perked up and seemed to start paying attention to the conversation at that.
"Hello everyone." Rei greeted, waving. "You can call me Rei, if you want. Izuku's told me about all of you."
They were silent for a moment, before Ashido stood up and stuck her hand out. "Nice to meet you, Rei." She said with a smile. "My name's Mina Ashido."
"Ah right!" Rei said. "Acid quirk, right?"
"Yep~. That's me!"
With that, the ice was broken, with most of the other students introducing themselves once Ashido sat back down.
After the introductions, Izuku, Rei, and Ochako all went to get their food, which of course was being served by Lunch Rush. A few short minutes later they were back with the rest of 1-A to eat their meals. The bulk of the conversation that took place was a mix between each student recounting their fights in the first two events and questions directed at Rei, who took them all in stride.
Halfway through the allotted time they had for lunch, Present Mic's voice sounded out over the speakers, announcing that the bracket for the tournament had been decided, and that everyone should direct their attention to the nearest screen to see the matchups.
Sure enough, Izuku found one and looked over the pairings.
[Match 1: Katsuki Bakugou vs. Nirengeki Shoda]
[Match 2: Tenya Iida vs. Mina Ashido]
[Match 3: Ejirou Kirishima vs. Mei Hatsume]
[Match 4: Itsuka Kendou vs. Setsuna Tokage]
[Match 5: Ochako Uraraka vs. Tsuyu Asui]
[Match 6: Momo Yaoyorozu vs. Fumikage Tokoyami]
[Match 7: Shouto Todoroki vs. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu]
[Match 8: Hitoshi Shinsou vs. Izuku Etsumi]
Izuku smiled to himself as he read through the list. He could tell immediately that they most likely weren't randomized, or if they were, then the crowd was exceptionally lucky for the show they were about to get.
Most of the pairings were a near perfect match for each other in terms of their abilities. Just based on his first speculations, none of them except for the first, seventh, and eighth should be very quick.
It was a bit unfortunate that Shinsou had ended up against Izuku so early in the event, but if he was as serious about getting into the hero course as he seemed to be, then he should still be able to put on a good showing for whoever would end up deciding the boy's fate.
With the matchups announced, and with the cafeteria buzzing with excitement for what was to come, Izuku returned to his food.
He was looking forward to the fights. Even though he'd spent the last two weeks helping his classmates prepare, and thus had a decent understanding of their capabilities, he wasn't able to pick out who would win most of the fights.
---
For the most anticipated event of the sports festival, the first few fights of the tournament didn't last very long, going against Izuku's expectations. Not that-that necessarily meant that they weren't exciting.
The match between Bakugou and Shoda could barely be considered a fight at all, which honestly had been exactly what Izuku was expecting. He wasn't doubting Shoda's capabilities, but in order for his quirk to work he had to actually hit his opponent, which Bakugou was far too skilled to allow.
With two explosions in rapid succession, the first to disorient and the second to actually attack, Shoda was blown from the ring in a matter of seconds, resulting in Bakugou's decisive victory.
The second matchup, between Ashido and Iida, had gone nearly as quickly. Both were capable fighters in their own right, with Iida perhaps being slightly more skilled, but it was simply a matter of their split-second decisions at the start of the fight that caused it to end so quickly.
In such a small space, with Ashido's acid and her method of using it being what it was, a drawn out fight would only put things in her favor, with the surface of the ring becoming increasingly slippery as time passed. Iida evidently recognized this and planned to end the fight as soon as it started. However, as fast as he was, the past two weeks of fighting nearly every day in preparation for the festival had greatly improved Ashido's reaction time and instincts. So the moment Midnight signaled the start of the fight, the ground at her feet was slick with her acid and she was darting to the side, with Iida passing through the space not even a full second later. He hit the patch of acid and went straight out of the ring, his speed working against him.
The third match, between Kirishima and a support course student, Mei Hatsume, was the longest yet. Kirishima was a sturdy opponent, something akin to a tank that could punch people, and evidently support course students were allowed to make use of whatever equipment they made for themselves. Between those two points, the fight lasted long enough to make up for the two before it, and certainly made it up to the audience, judging from their cheering.
Kirishima made exceptional use of his quirk, the improvements he had gained to his reaction time and the length of time he could keep it active shining through. Hatsume, on the other hand, utilized an impressive array of support equipment to devastating effect. A combination of gear to keep her mobile and out of Kirishima's path, and hard-hitting weapons to wear him down. In the end, that combination won her the fight. Just barely managing to push Kirishima out-of-bounds with a final last-ditch attack.
The fourth match, between Itsuka Kendou and Setsuna Tokage, two students from 1-B, lasted nearly as long and was almost as exciting as the third. Being two of the most skilled fighters in the other hero class – as far as Izuku could gauge – and both knowing how the other fought meant that neither would have an easy time of things. Tokage utilized her quirk to constantly pester Kendou from all angles, while Kendou used hers to protect her back with one hand while simultaneously swatting away several pieces of Tokage at a time.
In the end, the match was decided when a single stray piece of Tokage hit the ground just outside of the ring, a result of her exhaustion not letting her redirect it in time. Afterwards, both students ended up being carted off the field and towards the infirmary.
Finally, for the fifth match, was the one that Izuku had actually been excited to watch. It was the fight between Ochako and Tsuyu, his sister and his friend.
He couldn't say for sure who he thought the winner would be – both were incredibly capable in their own right, powerful fighters that were skilled in the use of their quirks – but he found that he wasn't particularly favoring one over the other.
Izuku smiled as he watched the two students walk out into the arena. Both had smiles on their faces and walked with confidence
"So, Etsumi." Ashido said as the two students made their way onto the ring, an odd quality to her voice. "What's the deal with you and Ochako?"
"Hm?" He grunted, not turning his attention away from the arena.
"Well you two have been coming and going from school together for a while now, with her riding on your back no less. Is there a story there?"
Izuku turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised. She had a smirk on her face.
"Not really." He responded. "She's living with my sister and I, and I was flying to Yueii anyway. It wouldn't make sense to not give her a lift."
"Wait, you mean to say that you two live together?" Ashido asked, faltering. She recovered quick enough though. "Damn. You work fast, Etsumi."
Izuku tilted his head. "I don't think I understand what you mean."
"Well, you just told us that one of your classmates is living with you, when we're barely a month from the start of the year."
"…Yes? And?" Izuku asked, confused. "She needed a place to stay, so we offered?"
"What? She needed a place to stay?"
Izuku nodded. "Yes, that's what I said. Her parents live in another city, and renting somewhere separate to live, not to mention paying for food and such, is expensive. So, since my sister and I have extra space, we offered to have her stay with us."
"Wait. That's it? That's the only reason she's living with you, and why the two of you are together all the time? There's nothing else going on?"
"Yes?" Izuku answered. "Wait, what did you think was going on?"
Ashido deflated just a bit, before smirking again. "I thought that maybe you two were, y'know, together."
Izuku shook his head. "Nope. Sorry. Nothing like that."
She pouted, before turning to look down at the ring. "Hmph. You're no fun. I was expecting you to at least get a little bit embarrassed. But not only are you smarter and stronger than all of us, apparently that stuff doesn't work on you."
Izuku followed suit, turning back to look at the ring, where Midnight was once again going over the rules for the two students.
"Well, maybe next time don't make assumptions about people with next to no information. Then you won't be disappointed."
With that over with, Izuku focused all of his attention on the fight, that had just begun, excited for the outcome.
---
In the end, it was an even closer fight than the two that came before it. The two were almost a perfect counter for each other. Tsuyu could utilize her tongue to attack from a distance and her powerful legs to maintain that distance, while Ochako's quirk made it so that Tsuyu couldn't be but so bold, as a single touch would end the fight.
The fight carried on for longer than the two that preceded it, and ended with Ochako finally landing a lucky hit that rendered Tsuyu weightless.
From the sound of their cheering, no one in the stands was disappointed with the fight in the slightest. Both had given everything and came within an arm's reach of victory, only for Ochako to just barely reach it first.
Afterwards, Izuku had left the stands to meet Ochako on her way back up, to congratulate her on her victory and to offer to use 'Shower in a can' again, both of which were accepted graciously.
They ran into Tsuyu just after, who, despite losing, didn't seem disappointed. She seemed to be content that she had done her best.
The three of them arrived back in the stands just in time to see the end of the sixth match, between Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu. Evidently, the two weeks of preparation had done Yaoyorozu some good – it had been good for both of them, with Tokoyami's relationship with Dark Shadow improving by leaps and bounds – as she utilized her quirk to create flashbangs to push Dark Shadow back almost as soon as the fight began. Then, with the sapient quirk out of the picture, the fight was reduced to almost purely hand-to-hand combat, which Yaoyorozu had the upper hand in, especially since she could still create weapons to use.
After the short break that followed, Todoroki and Tetsutetsu entered the ring for the seventh match, which also happened to be the quickest one yet, an impressive feat considering the first two.
Before the call to begin even fully left Midnight's mouth, a massive glacier erupted onto the ring, very nearly freezing Tetsutetsu solid.
"Well then, looks like I'm up." Izuku said as Todoroki began melting the ice, already rising to make his way towards the designated waiting room.
"Good luck!" Ochako cheered.
"Yeah! Good luck man!"
Izuku waved over his shoulder as he moved.
A quick trip through the interior of the stadium had him coming up on the waiting room. But the sound of voices around the corner had him halting in place.
"Bold of you to assume I give two shits what you think, Old Man."
Izuku tilted his head. That sounded like… Todoroki? But nothing that Izuku had seen from the boy had ever given the impression that he was capable of speaking with such venom.
"Shouto please." A second, almost hushed voice responded. "Just listen to me. This vendetta you have against me is only stunting your growth. If you keep going with it, especially after you graduate, you'll end up getting yourself killed."
Todoroki scoffed. "Don't pretend as if you care about that-."
"I do care. I care that your absolute refusal to use your fire is getting you hurt. I care that it'll end up getting yourself or others killed when you enter the world as a hero. Believe it or not, Shouto, I do care about your wellbeing."
"Oh, you do? You mean the same way you cared about Touya's? The way you cared about his wellbeing so much that he killed himself while trying to improve himself for you?"
The second voice was silent for a moment.
"I-. That's not-. That was-." They stuttered out, before giving up with a sigh. "That was a very long time ago, Shouto, and I've done everything I can to try to make up for it. It may not mean much to you, but I do care. Hopefully I'll be able to get you to see that one day."
The voice fell silent, and a few moments later Izuku heard heavy footsteps heading for the corner. Izuku watched as a huge, red haired man rounded it, barely sparing him a glance as he walked past.
He faltered for just a moment as he recognized the man. Endeavor was almost unrecognizable without his signature flaming hair and beard. And the voice he'd just heard from the man didn't match up at all with the authoritative, no-nonsense persona of the number two hero.
Looking away from the man, Izuku rounded the corner himself, coming face to face with the younger Todoroki. The boy was obviously angry, smoke rising from the left side of his body, while frost was spreading across the ground at his right foot. His gaze snapped to Izuku, who looked back with a raised eyebrow.
Izuku shrugged as he moved to pass Todoroki. "I'm not going to pretend to understand what I just heard. But you know, he does have a point. If you only rely on your ice, the chances of you or someone else getting hurt in the future go up."
He pulled on the temperature resistance quirk as the air around him dropped several degrees in response, and ignored the glare that was attempting to burn a hole in his head as he pushed through the door into the waiting room.
"Food for thought." He called out as the door shut.
He really didn't have any idea what was going on with that, so he wasn't going to make any assumptions. As far as he could definitively tell, Todoroki was rather upset with his father, likely over the fate of someone named 'Touya,' and was using that anger as a reason not to use his fire.
It hardly made any sense to Izuku, but then, he also didn't really care overly much, so he wasn't going to waste time thinking about it.
He settled down to relax for a few minutes before his fight, thoughts shifting from Todoroki to Shinsou. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the boy, but that was probably for the best.
Izuku wasn't a complete asshole. He wasn't trying to ruin Shinsou's chances of getting into the hero course, and didn't have any substantial reason to dislike him. Despite the relatively minor issues he had with the boy – namely his baseless hatred of those with seemingly powerful quirks and the apparent lack of effort he put into himself before complaining about others – Izuku still hoped that Shinsou would end up achieving his goal. It was for this reason that he didn't intend to follow the example of Todoroki and finish the fight the moment it began.
It was also for this reason that he hadn't – and wouldn't – use 'Appraisal' to learn Shinsou's quirk. He would give the boy a chance to put on a good show, and if that happened to include catching Izuku off guard with his quirk, then so be it. Even if he didn't know Shinsou's quirk, Izuku was confident in his ability to adapt and respond to whatever it might be.
A few minutes after settling down, an announcement sounded out through the room's speakers, telling him to report to the ring.
Izuku sighed as he raised himself back up, before moving to the door. He could hear the roar of the crowd growing louder as he moved down the hallway towards the light of the arena.
There must've been cameras in this particular hallway, because just a few moments before Izuku reached the exit, Present Mic's voice sounded out across the stadium.
"Personally folks, I think this is the fight I've been the most excited to see! Between the two competitors that I've been keeping my eyes on the most! On one side of the ring, we have the absolute powerhouse of class 1-A, who blew us away with his opening speech, and who seemed untouchable as he took on three whole teams singlehandedly during capture the flag, Izuku Etsumi!"
It was a credit to Present Mic's skill as a showman and an announcer that his announcement of Izuku's name lined up exactly with him emerging from the hallway.
"And on the other side, we have the wildcard of this years' festival! The one who has managed to slip just under the radar throughout everything so far, and who I feel has been hiding his true capabilities for the big showdown, Hitoshi Shinsou!"
Izuku met Shinsou's gaze across the ring as they both moved up onto it. The boy was already glaring at him.
As they both came to a stop, Midnight spoke up to go over the rules.
"I expect a good, clean fight from both of you." She said, loud enough for both of them to hear. "The fight will end when one of you submits, is incapacitated, or if any part of you leaves the ring."
The last part of that was mostly directed at Izuku. If any part of his tail happened to touch the ground outside of the ring, he would lose.
She looked over at Izuku. "Do you understand?"
"I do." He responded, cracking his neck.
She repeated the question for Shinsou, who only nodded in return, still glaring at Izuku.
Midnight nodded, before shouting out, "Begin!"
Izuku waited a moment before moving forward, Shinsou mirroring him a second later.
"I hope you don't think that I have anything against you." Izuku said. "I do hope that you end up making it into the hero course."
Shinsou snorted. "May the best man win, I guess?"
The corner of Izuku's mouth upturned, and he nodded. "Inde-."
Izuku felt a pressure of unbelievable scale press down on him as his response halted partway out of his mouth.
For a fraction of a second, Izuku thought that Tamako had returned to him, and had somehow disrupted him enough to impair his speech, but a quick attempt to continue speaking had him realizing that whatever the pressure was, it was preventing him from doing so. More than that, it was preventing him from moving at all. Tamako certainly wasn't capable of something like that, not when Izuku was still conscious.
A bolt of panic shot through Izuku with that realization. He tried to struggle against whatever was holding him, tried to exert any form of control over himself.
That little bit of panic multiplied tenfold when he realized he didn't have any. He couldn't move his body at all. Couldn't move his arms or tail, couldn't move his head or his mouth, couldn't even blink or control his breathing.
A bit belatedly, he tried to pull on his quirks. All of them, any of them at all to try to ground his mind back to his body, but none of them responded. He couldn't feel the comforting warmth of any of his quirks. It was as if he was completely empty.
At this point, his panic had escalated to the point that if his mind were at all still connected to his body, his breathing would be rapidly approaching the point of hyperventilation and his hearts would've been thundering away far too fast to be healthy.
'No.' He thought. 'No. No no. I can't move. Why can't I move? Why can't- my quirks?'
Izuku just barely recognized that Shinsou was moving closer, and that he was saying something. He saw it out of eyes that he no longer had the authority to even move or close, and heard it through ears that no longer belonged to him. But at the same time, he barely had the mental capacity to give it any thought, lost as he was in his rising panic.
The utter and absolute loss of control over himself, to the point that his body was reduced to little more than a puppet and he didn't even have access to his quirks, brought to mind a particular memory, one that he tried his best, each and every day, to bury.
Obviously Shinsou's quirk was some form of mind control. This wasn't the first time Izuku had encountered one like this. Nor was it the first time he'd experienced this sort of effect from one.
The other quirk like this that he'd encountered was currently in his possession. It was one of the many little sources of heat in his chest that he couldn't touch at the moment, despite how desperately he was reaching for it, for any of them.
That quirk was 'Siren.'
'Nonono please not again.' He begged as he heard faint whispering at the edge of his mind, and felt the phantom sensations of touch all across his body, like fingers trailing across his skin. His vision dimmed around the edges, growing darker, and for a moment, he thought he could just barely make out the side of a building in the corner of his eye. 'Please I can't go through that again.'
At the edge of his awareness, Shinsou's body was suddenly overlapped by another. One that had, quite literally, haunted Izuku's nightmares.
The phantom sensations suddenly turned into pain that exploded from his lower half, and his panic surged to new heights as a voice sounded out in his ear, as clear as it had been on the day he first heard it. Clear enough that the source of it could've been right next to him, but he couldn't know for sure because he couldn't move.
"Shhh." He hushed. "You'll be fine. Trust me."
'Nononono stop please.'
Izuku struggled frantically against the hold Shinsou's quirk had on him. He had to get out, had to escape. He couldn't let them touch him, not again, never again.
"I'll make you feel good."
'NO!'
Izuku wished he had a way to exert any form of control over himself. Something that he could use to ground his mind to his body, to use as a tether, as a foothold to wrest back control of himself.
'Why?' He suddenly thought. 'Why does this keep happening to me? Why do bad things keep happening to me no matter what I do?"
'What did I ever do to deserve this?'
Suddenly, as if a switch was flipped somewhere, all that panic, all that fear and sheer terror, every single bit of it, mutated and transformed into pure, primal anger.
Anger at the world for putting him through so much shit over the course of his life, anger at himself for being so foolish as to care about the fate of someone he didn't even know, anger at the fact that-that foolishness led to such a situation, anger at Shinsou for daring to rob Izuku of his self-control.
Above all else though, he felt anger at the original source of his fear, at the one who had scarred him in the first place, even if they were long dead by this point, and at the fact that he was being made to relive it all over again.
Izuku renewed his struggle against the shackles of Shinsou's quirk, only this time it was with a single-minded focus he'd been unable to attain while drowning in his own panic, and it was fueled by pure rage.
Izuku didn't care if Shinsou's quirk usually didn't allow people to break free from its hold, if such a thing was generally impossible once it had taken hold. Even if it was, that was only the case because it had yet to be used on Izuku. Impossibility was irrelevant to him right now. He would break free. And when he did, he would put an end to its source.
Time became meaningless to him as he struggled. It didn't matter how long it took, he would succeed. He fought against the pressure that weighed on his mind and that separated it from his body.
Finally, after an untold amount of time, Izuku broke free with one final push, the effort sending him falling forwards a bit as everything slotted back into place at once.
Finally back in his own body, finally free from the impromptu prison of his mind, and finally with access to everything he was supposed to once more.
His hands raised to his head as he remained in the same, slightly hunched position.
Then, once again with all the power of his quirks at his fingertips once more, he took all of the anger that burned through him and that had fueled his escape, and he let it explode forth.
---
Rei frowned as she looked down at the ring, and the two students in it. Specifically, she was looking at the zoomed-in image of Izuku on the screen in front of her.
"Izuku…?" She muttered.
His expression was blank, as if there was no emotion whatsoever. His eyes looked as though there were no thoughts going through his head. He looked… empty.
It unsettled her, more than just what seeing someone she cared about so lifeless would cause. The sight of Izuku like that was shaking her to her core, but she couldn't quite figure out why.
Tamako stirred in her mind, likely in response to her discomfort with the situation.
"What's wrong with Izuku?" They asked. "Why does he look like that?"
She ignored them, too caught up in her own thoughts, despite the rising concern she could feel from them. It tugged at a memory, made her feel as though she had seen him like that before. But she wasn't Izuku, she didn't have his basically perfect memory.
Then, out of nowhere, it hit her. She remembered when she last saw that expression on his face, and with that memory, her blood went cold.
"Nezu…" She started. "That boy down there, Shinsou. He doesn't happen to have a mind control quirk, does he?"
"Oh! You've got a good eye!" He responded. "Indeed he does. It's a quite interesting one, and one that I hope to see in the Hero course, provided he performs well enough today."
Rei barely heard the second part of what Nezu was saying. As soon as he confirmed her suspicion, she gasped as a wave of sheer terror washed over her, so potent that her eyes began to water and that her blood very well could've been frozen.
"Stop the fight." She whispered, her voice strained. Then, louder, "All Might. All Might you have to stop the fight right now. It's not safe."
This wasn't good. Not in the slightest. The last time Izuku looked like that had been the absolute worst day of his entire life, even when compared to the day his mother abandoned him. He'd never quite been the same afterwards.
"You don't have to worry." Nezu said. "I can assure you, Shinsou's quirk is perfectly safe. It doesn't cause any adverse effects-."
"No! You don't understand! You have to stop the fight so Izuku doesn't kill-!"
Rei's words stopped dead in her throat, choking her, as a wave of pure, malevolent bloodlust slammed into her. She could hear Nezu and All Might choking on their breath as well as she struggled to turn back towards the fight. The pressure from the feeling alone made her body not want to listen to her. She could almost see the air in the arena being distorted.
Down in the ring, she could see where Izuku had moved a bit from where he'd been frozen in place. He was hunched over, head held in his hands. Even from her spot in the stands, without the screen that magnified the ring, she could just about make out his body shaking. Though whether that was from whatever was going through his head or the rage he was feeling was impossible to tell.
As she watched, her gaze returning to her screen as she finally remembered it, Izuku lifted his head. His eyes seemed to be hidden in shadows, despite the fact that the sky was clear and the sun was blazing down on the arena. In fact, the whole stadium seemed to be darker than it had been a few short minutes ago.
Izuku's glare settled on Shinsou, his expression contorting into silent snarl. Shinsou, who only moments ago had been a mix of bitter anger and arrogance, looked to be frozen in fear, his complexion so pale that it was nearly ashen.
The pressure on the stadium managed to increase further as Izuku straightened himself up. Rei was barely able to suck down a breath.
'Tamako, you have to help him.' She thought. 'Please, you have to snap him out of it.'
She didn't get a response, but she felt Tamako leave her mind. She could only hope that they would be able to help Iz-.
Tamako slammed back into her mind almost immediately, with enough force to be painful. She could feel the terror pouring from them, which only further amplified her own, and when they spoke it almost sounded like they were out of breath, despite such a thing not being physically possible.
"I- I can't. I can't get through." they said, "He won't let me. He's too scared. I don't know what he's seeing, but whatever it is, he can't see past it."
Rei's panic only worsened with that, knowing that she didn't have a way to reach him. The last time he was like this, it had ended with a body count, followed by Izuku all but shutting down for seven straight months, and that had been with Rei at his side doing her best to pick up the pieces.
Then, Izuku started to move.
Rei felt lightheaded as he raised a hand towards Shinsou, the action almost in slow motion.
The pressure on the arena, that already threatened to crush her and everyone else in it, spiked. Rei's vision went hazy and she stopped breathing altogether. The pressure overpowered her senses until the only things that existed were the thundering of her hearts and the terror in her mind, both from her and from Tamako.
Suddenly, the pressure vanished altogether, leaving her feeling almost empty. She gasped, finally able to breath again, as her vision returned. Her head throbbed in time with her hearts as she looked down at Izuku, anxiety working its way in with her terror at what Izuku might've done.
When her vision cleared enough to make out the ring, she saw Izuku still standing where he had been moments ago, both arms down at his sides. Shinsou, on the other hand, was on the ground, unmoving.
A deafening silence suffused the entire stadium as everyone stared down at the two students, all wondering some combination of what had just happened and whether or not Shinsou was still alive.
Somehow, Midnight managed to recover relatively quickly, making her way to the ring – albeit on shaky legs – to check on Shinsou. The whole stadium seemed to hold a collective breath as she knelt down to make sure he was alive, though barely anyone felt any relief when she stood up and announced that he was unconscious, and that Izuku was the winner.
As soon as the words left her mouth, Izuku was turning away and heading for the path that led to the area beneath the stands. Rei directed her attention back to the screen as he moved, looking at the zoomed-in image of his face.
His expression was stoic, but Rei could see past it. She'd known him for nearly fifteen years. She'd seen him at his best and at his worst. She wouldn't be fooled by something like that.
Rei could see it in his eyes, in the tension in his jaw, in the way his hands were clenched at his sides.
Izuku was not okay. He was simultaneously not fully present and nearly drowning in whatever he was seeing. He was barely holding himself together.
As soon as he was out of sight, Rei raised herself up, wobbling a bit as she did, still unsteady from what had just happened. She took off towards the door with as much speed as she could manage.
"Young Etsumi, wait." All Might said before she could tear the door open. When she looked back, she could see him holding a bloodied rag to his mouth.
"What just happened… Is Izuku okay?"
Rei faltered just a bit. "Izuku… Let's just say he doesn't have a good history with mind control quirks."
And with that, she was through the door, doing her best to work out a path to him, leaving behind a silent Nezu and All Might in her wake.
'Tamako. Try to find him.' She said. 'Try to help him if you can. Let him know I'm on my way.'
"I'm on it." They said, before vanishing from her mind.
She all but threw herself down the first stairwell she found, working down them as fast as her lower half would allow.
'Don't worry Izuku. I'm coming.'
---
Izuku barely made it to the restroom in time.
The moment he was out of sight, he took off as fast as he could, the hallways blurring around him with the speed quirks he was utilizing. He entered the first restroom he saw, locking the door behind him and physically tearing the door off a stall before planting himself in front of a toilet just in time to puke his guts out, losing the lunch he just ate.
He went into a fit of coughing as he tried not to choke on his own vomit. His breathing was very rapidly becoming erratic.
'I'm fine. I'm okay.' He tried to reassure himself. 'He's not here. He can't hurt me. I'm strong now. He can't touch me.'
The phantom sensations were back, as a memory – the memory – flashed across his vision, which blurred as he found himself being pulled into it.
He shook his head, doing his best to fight it off. No… He didn't want to go back there. He didn't want to go back to that night.
Izuku heaved as his stomach threatened to empty itself again, and in that single moment of lapsed concentration, his vision faded, and he was forcibly thrust into his worst memory.
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**WARNING: This is the section I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. It deals with/contains rape, as well as blood and gore. Proceed with caution.**
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Izuku was unbelievably hungry.
The past few weeks had been especially hard on him and Rei. Between the other homeless people that hogged every scrap of food for themselves, almost constant bad weather, and simple bad luck, they'd barely managed to find enough food to survive. The last two days in particular were especially bad, with the two of them finding nothing at all.
Eventually, it got to the point that Rei decided she was going to venture out a bit further than usual to look, outside of the relative safety of the few square blocks that made up their 'home' territory.
Because they were so desperate, and because she didn't know how safe it would be for them to leave the known area, she left Izuku behind to search a few alleyways by himself.
She was hesitant to do so – he was only six, after all – but they convinced themselves it was okay. The tiny area that she left him in was hidden from view from any major roads, and they hadn't encountered anyone else searching there before. Besides, he was proving to be capable enough when it came to defending himself. It should be okay to leave him alone for a few hours.
After Rei left him, Izuku busied himself walking from dumpster to dumpster, searching through their contents and ignoring the constant hunger pangs. He searched for what felt like hours, but only managed to find a single scrap that was barely even good enough to eat anymore.
Eventually, he got to the last spot, but was still empty handed. His stomach growled in complaint.
He eyed the end of the alleyway as he wrapped his arms around his middle. He knew some other places he could check, he and Rei had been around this area enough for him to know where to go. She had told him not to go anywhere else, but – his stomach rumbled again, bringing a fresh wave of discomfort – he was so hungry. They were both so hungry.
Rei could pretend all she wanted, but Izuku had noticed that she'd been giving him the little bit of food they found.
As that thought went through his head, he came to a decision. He crept to the entrance to the alley, peeking around the corner to check the street before darting across it as quickly as his short, undernourished legs would allow.
He didn't notice the pair of eyes watching him as he made it to the next alley.
Izuku spent the next few minutes searching through the new area, having only marginally more success than before, finding a single edible scrap that he stuffed into his pocket for Rei to have.
A noise off to Izuku's side had him freezing in place. A moment later, a second noise sounded out, one that he definitely recognized as footsteps, and he scrambled to hide behind the dumpster he'd been searching through, pressing himself into the pitch black shadow.
"Hello?" A voice called. "Little boy?"
The person, a man from the sound of the voice, fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
"I know you're there. It's okay, you don't have to hide, I won't hurt you." They seemed to hesitate a moment. "You're hungry, right? I-. I brought some food for you."
Izuku stomach growled at the mention of food, and against his better judgement, and Rei's voice in his head telling him to stay still until the stranger left, he crept forward and peeked around the edge of his hiding spot.
The man smiled when he saw Izuku's head peeking out.
"Look." He said, gesturing at the bag in his hand. "I brought you some food. It's okay."
Izuku very nearly started drooling at the sight of it. He recognized the bag, and the colorful logo on the side. It was fast food. His stomach pinched painfully at the thought of the hot, delicious food that was only feet away from him. He could barely remember what it tasted like, but he definitely remembered that it was tasty, much more so than the scraps they had been pulling from the garbage.
Rei's voice in his head was still yelling at him to run away, but his stomach was much louder, and eventually won. He slowly crept out of his hiding spot and out into the open. He stepped closer to the man, stopping a few feet away. He wanted the food – wanted it more than anything else in the world right now – but just over two years on the street had given him a healthy distrust of other people, especially adults.
The man, apparently recognizing that Izuku was hesitant to get any closer, set the food down on the ground and backed a few feet away from it.
Eyeing him a few seconds longer to make sure he wasn't going to try anything, Izuku closed the rest of the distance between him in the food, tearing into the bag almost immediately.
"Are you okay?" The man asked, startling Izuku as he munched on a fry – even though he was so hungry it felt like his stomach was trying to eat him, Rei had taught him to always take his time with any food he got, that way it didn't go to waste – and nearly making him back away to his hiding spot again. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?"
Izuku hesitated, finishing another fry before responding. "Rei told me I shouldn't talk to strangers."
The man nodded. "And that is very good advice indeed. Who's Rei? She sounds like a very smart person."
Izuku perked up slightly at the mention of her, as he thought about how she had agreed to be his family.
"She's my sister!" He said, a bit louder.
"Well she sounds like a very good sister if she's giving you advice like that. Where is she? How come someone as young as you isn't with her?"
Izuku's enthusiasm dimmed a bit at that question. "She's looking for food."
"I see." The man said. "It's unfortunate that you two have to scrounge around for stuff to eat."
Izuku didn't have anything to say to that, and instead occupied himself with another fry.
"But that stuff is good, right?" He asked. "It might not be the healthiest, but not much can beat simple fast food."
Izuku hummed in confirmation as he finished off a mouthful. "It's really good."
The man seemed to perk up, as if he had an idea. "Tell you what, if you'd like, the two of us can go get some more of that, that way Rei can have some too when you see her again. Would you like that?"
Izuku knew he should say no. He already had enough, and Rei's voice was telling him as much. He shouldn't press his luck any more than he already had.
But… He was still so hungry, and he wanted Rei to have something warm to eat too. It would be okay to get some food for her too, right?
After a few moments of hesitation, Izuku finally nodded. "Okay. Yes pl-."
The words halted in his throat, freezing in place as Izuku's mind started to feel heavy. He felt floaty, and for some reason he couldn't speak.
Suddenly, before Izuku could even work out what had just happened to him, the man was on him.
"Finally." The man breathed. "I thought that would take forever. It's a good thing you're so stupid, otherwise it would've taken even longer.
Hands traveled across his body as the man spoke, touching every bit of him they could reach, messing with his clothes before, a moment later, the man's mouth was on his neck.
This continued for several long --too long. Too too too long-- minutes, Izuku beginning to panic more and more as he realized that he couldn't move, couldn't do anything to get away from the man or stop whatever was happening. He couldn't even use his quirks.
The man whispered a steady stream of platitudes in Izuku's ear, at least when his mouth wasn't otherwise occupied. A repeated mantra of 'You're okay. You're going to be fine.' 'You'll like it, trust me.' 'I'm going to make you feel good.'
Eventually, Izuku realized that none of his clothes were on him anymore, and that the man had begun to touch him elsewhere, doing things that Izuku didn't understand but got a feeling of absolute wrongness --wrongwrongwrong please please stop I don't like it-- from. It made his skin crawl, and he wanted nothing more than to put his clothes back on or activate his snake tail quirk and curl up with Rei, but he couldn't do any of that. He could do nothing to stop what was happening.
After some time of this, Izuku felt something else touch him, and a moment later his entire world was consumed by pain. It was all-encompassing, and threatened to destroy him. Were he capable of even falling unconscious, he would have immediately, but unfortunately, it was as if something was forcing him to remain present, forcing him to experience every little bit of it.
Izuku's mind hazed over, lost to the pain and to the never-ending mantra of 'I don't like it I don't like it please stop please Rei save me.'
Finally, after what felt like hours of pure, mind-bending, obliterating pain, Izuku heard something just at the edge of his awareness. He thought he might recognize it, but couldn't quite make out what it was through the haze his mind had found itself in.
He heard it again barely a minute later. Or was it an hour later? Either way, it was a bit louder this time, and Izuku really felt like he should recognize it. Evidently it was loud enough for the man to hear too, as he clamped a hand over Izuku's mouth and moved his mouth --disgustingly hot breath on his neck please please please stop please-- and whispered in a breathy voice, "Quiet now. Can't have anyone interrupting our fun, now can we?"
Before Izuku could fully comprehend what the man had said, however, the noise sounded out again. It shocked Izuku out of the haze he was in, enough for him to finally recognize what it was.
"IZUKU!"
"What the fuck!?" The man exclaimed, turning towards the intrusion, and just like that, the spell was broken.
A ragged, gasping breath tore its way into Izuku, turning into a pained scream partway through as he was thrust back into his body all at once.
He was immediately and intimately aware of how closely he was pressed up against the man's chest --too close way too close please I don't like it--, and before he was even fully cognizant that he had control over himself again, he was grasping for his quirk, his natural one. It was almost an automatic reaction, to draw on that one first to defend himself.
It relied on skin-to-skin contact, and there was already enough of that --too much too much too much stop please.--
He latched onto the man's quirk, before tearing it away with all his might. A pained yell sounded out from the man, and he recoiled back away from Izuku, as much as he could at least.
Barely even a second later, still before Izuku was fully aware of what he was doing, he lashed an arm out at the man, unknowingly pulling on his claw quirk at the same time.
His claws struck the man's neck and met with little resistance as they passed straight through, silencing him. Blood splattered across Izuku's face as the man's body went limp, falling lifelessly to the ground. The head separated with a sickening squelch, thudding against the ground as it fell.
Izuku fell back from the man, falling backwards onto the ground as they separated. As soon as his back landed, he rolled onto his side, ignoring the blinding pain that was still burning across his lower half, and vomited the meager contents of his stomach across the ground.
Rei was at his side almost immediately. Through blurred vision – oh, he must've started crying at some point – he could make out the panic and terror in her features. Tears were rolling down her face as she reached for him, hands shaking.
She hesitated to touch him, almost as if she was afraid that she might hurt him or break him if she did.
"Rei…" He croaked, reaching up at her.
That seemed to be the breaking point, as she finally touched him, scooping her hands beneath him and pulling him close.
The pain exploded through him again as he was moved, and very nearly emptied the non-existent contents of his stomach again. He heard Rei say something in his ear as the pain consumed him, and he was finally allowed to fall unconscious
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This is the end of that section. Back to safety.
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Izuku sucked in a ragged breath as he slammed back into himself, recoiling hard enough to actually slam into the wall behind him.
His hands went to the sides of his head, pressing down on his ears and grasping at his hair. He scrunched his eyes shut as he slid down the wall, before falling onto his side.
Phantom sensations from the memory he just relived danced across him. Hands on his body, joining a mouth to touch places that should never have been touched and that weren't even present with his snake tail, and that same mind-numbing pain that burned through him as he was violated.
He clamped a hand over his mouth, fighting the urge to vomit again.
Bits and pieces of the memory flashed across his vision again, and Izuku groaned in response.
"Please no." He groaned, almost inaudible. "Please not again."
"Please. I can't take it."