14

"Time's up! The villain team wins!" All Might's voice pierced through the silence. In the fifteen minutes she had been lurking in the room, Ochako's eyes had adjusted a bit to the darkness, allowing her to see some of what was going on. Deku's enlarged arm was pinning Mineta down, ensuring their victory while his head was bent down close to the student's body.

"Deku! We did it!" Ochako cheered as she walked up to him. She could just make out the outline of his draconic head, his long, curved jaw and ridged horns painting an intimidating silhouette. As he heard her, his eyes snapped to hers, causing her to stop in her tracks.

His reptilian eyes were glowing with intensity she had only seen once before, but this time they were filled with pure terror.

"Uh, Midoriya, c-could you get off me?" Mineta asked the horned boy, fear prominent in his voice.

Deku stumbled backwards, his quirk snapping off as his head returned to its normal shape. He collapsed onto his knees and clutched his head with both hands, squeezing his eyes shut while he let out a low, pained groan. Scales formed and faded along the lengths of his arms as he seemed to struggle with controlling his quirk.

"D-Deku? Are you okay?" Ochako was getting worried.

Intense, green eyes snapped open towards her as she said his name. His horns had grown larger still as his eyes burned brighter. He stared at her for a few moments before scrambling to his feet and staggering away towards the far wall. His legs trembled, but he stayed standing this time.

He reached his arm back, growing it large and muscular, then threw it forward, blowing a large hole in the concrete wall and letting light pour into the room. Ochako squinted as she saw Deku seemingly fighting with himself. He lurched forward, but at the same time he was trying to turn and walk back towards her and Mineta.

"Deku! What are you doing?!" Panic clawed at Ochako's heart. This wasn't normal.

He looked up at her again, seeming to gain temporary clarity from whatever he was suffering from. Just as quickly, he clutched his head with both of his hands as he let out a deep, guttural roar and pitched himself backwards.

Right out of the hole he had punched in the wall of their fifth-story room.

Ochako couldn't exactly tell anyone why she did what she did next.

Her body seemed to move on its own as she ran forward. She touched her arm and threw her weight out of herself, ignoring the nauseating repercussions, and with a small hop she leapt up to the top of the opening in the wall and looked down.

Deku was falling, his wings nowhere in sight as he continued to clutch his head. She put her legs above her and kicked off of the wall, shooting herself downwards. She rocketed towards him at high speeds, completely ignoring the rapidly-approaching ground as she managed to reach out and grab his arm, stealing the weight from him.

The effort caused her to cry out as she passed both his weight and momentum through and out of her, slowing his descent. As the air pressure caught him, she released her quirk, allowing her own weight to snap back to normal, slowing her velocity. She gradually returned Deku's weight to him, allowing him to impact the ground firmly but gently.

Both students collapsed as they landed, the strain of using her quirk so intensely causing Ochako to grow severely queasy. Deku groaned and stumbled to his feet, still clutching his head.

"D...Deku… stay down. It's gonna be...okay," she managed to gasp through her nausea.

"NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME! I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU !" he roared as he held his head, his voice breaking as his quirk continued to freak out. His wings unfurled from his back as he kicked off from the ground, soaring high into the sky and further into the fake city.

Ochako pulled herself to her own feet, but then doubled over as she lost her battle with her nausea. After wiping her face and gasping for air, she looked towards where Deku had flown.

'I should wait for All Might, but he looks like might hurt himself. I can't take that chance!' She took a deep breath to steady herself and dashed after him.

She jogged as fast as she dared while still recovering from her episode of sickness, trying to follow the path Deku had taken. She found a trail of claw marks and cracked walls that led her deeper into the city and eventually, her ears picked up what sounded like a beast roaring, causing her to immediately take off in a sprint.

Nausea threatened to overtake her again as she passed through a faint, green cloud. 'He must've hit some sort of pipeline or tank. That was jus' the traces left, but what if he got it full-on? Oh, Deku, I really hope you're okay!'

The young heroine turned around a corner and finally found the man. He was standing next to one of the smaller buildings in the city, both arms transformed into giant, scaled dragon arms. He was clawing and punching at the side of the building, and looked like he had been for a while. The building itself had a hole in it up to the second floor where the wall had collapsed from Deku's assault.

Her breath caught as she watched Deku throw his fist forward again, cracking the wall he was beating and spattering the ground with green drops of blood. 'He ran away from me last time. Somethin' is wrong, this ain't him. I should hold him down and wait for him to calm down… Before he hurts himself worse!'

She reached down and pulled as much additional weight from the ground as she thought she could while still moving easily. Deku threw another building-shaking punch as he let out a terrifying roar that caused the woman to flinch and nearly stumble, but her determination would not let her falter. Keeping low, Ochako slowly crept up behind the rampaging student. As soon as she was within striking range, she lunged forward with her foot, catching him on the back of his thigh and driving him to the ground as his knee buckled.

He roared in surprise as she touched her arm, driving the weight from her body and throwing it all down her right leg and into Deku. With his leg taken out from under him and the additional weight in his body, he collapsed.

"Stay down, Deku… Calm down and talk to me!" Ochako pleaded desperately with him.

To her surprise, his quirk flared harder and he started to push himself off of the ground, straining from all the extra weight in his body. "Get… away from me. I can't afford to hurt anyone, especially not you!" His voice was hoarse; raw from screaming and breaking with emotion.

'Damn your muscles, Deku.' She placed her left knee on his back and reached down to the ground, gradually letting weight flow through her and into the man. He continued to struggle, his arms and legs bulging larger as his quirk flared. She kept weighing him down until his arms gave out. "I've got you! You're not goin' to hurt anyone!"

His eyes were locked onto hers as he panted, the glow starting to fade slightly. As he calmed down, she finally got a good look at his face. It looked like he had been crying.

"I trust you, Deku."

His eyes went wide and then fell from her face, filled with grief and guilt.

It was true, too. She had only known him for a few days, but she felt like she really could trust him. There was something about his kindness and passion that made him attractive to her beyond just his appearance. She wouldn't pretend like the way he'd goaded Iida and Mineta wasn't unsettling, especially with his altered voice, but he had told her beforehand that he hated to do it, even if it was the best plan he could think of.

But this...freak-out of his had her seriously worried. As his quirk faded, he struggled less and his breathing became more labored from the added weight. Ochako leaned down closer to him. "Are you okay now? Can we talk?"

He managed to nod his head slightly. She breathed a sigh of relief and pressed her fingers together, slowly releasing her quirk. He gasped as the excess weight left him and he was able to breathe easily again. He gingerly pushed himself up on all fours and rolled over into a sitting position, wincing at the various lacerations on his arms.

Ochako herself took a few deep breaths to steady her queasiness and then kneeled down in front of him. As her adrenaline ebbed away, her worry quickly overwhelmed her.

Deku gasped as Ochako threw her arms around him in a tight hug. "You had me so worried! Are you really okay? What was that?"

He didn't return the hug, but she felt his chest shake slightly. She pulled back and saw that a few tears were falling from his face again. He still didn't dare to meet her eyes. He looked down and spoke in a raspy voice. "Uraraka, I-"

He winced in pain. "I think some of my ribs are bruised."

'That wasn't what he was about to say…' Ochako stared at him in concern. "Let's... let's get you to Recovery Girl, then."

Before she could help him, a sound like a jet engine roared behind them. They both looked at the noise in fright, before seeing the imposing figure of their teacher standing a little bit away from them.

"Young Midoriya, Young Uraraka, are you alright?" He looked around, seeing the carnage.

"I'm okay, All Might, but Deku… something happened."

All Might grew a look of concern and… understanding? He crouched down next to Deku and whispered something in his ear that Ochako couldn't hear.

Deku looked up, confused. "My dad knew you were going to be a teacher?"

"Young Midoriya."

"Right, right, sorry. Yes, sir. I understand. But I...I think I should see the nurse first."

"Young Uraraka." All Might turned to her. "Can I entrust you to take Young Midoriya to Recovery Girl?"

"Yes, sir." She reached down and made Deku weightless, then lifted him up and gently started pulling him along with her.

Their trip to the Nurse's Office was a silent one. Deku seemed to have slipped in and out of consciousness as his wounds finally caught up to him. Recovery Girl had Ochako place him in one of the beds in her office and quickly checked him over. A quick kiss and an I.V. drip were all it took for her to declare him healed, much to Ochako's relief.

The school nurse stepped out for a moment, leaving the two students together. They sat in silence for a little longer before Deku spoke up, unable to take the awkwardness any longer.

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to." He still hadn't looked at her, but she could see how exhausted he was. After Recovery Girl's treatment, combined with his… incident earlier, she was impressed he was still conscious.

"I want to, Deku. I'm...I'm worried about you." She spoke quietly.

"I'm fine, see?" He held up his healed hands and laughed weakly.

"That's not what I mean and you know it. I'm concerned about what happened in class. What was that, Deku? It's like you were possessed!" She finally got the words she had been dying to say out of her throat.

"Oh." He stared down at his sheets. "I, uh- Uraraka, c-can I ask you something first?"

"Um, sure..."

"You said you trusted me earlier..." He paused. "Why? We haven't even known each other for a week."

She blinked. 'Why do I trust him?' The question echoed in her mind for a moment as she rubbed her hands together.

"Well, you kinda saved my life, right? That earns some trust right there." She laughed weakly, just as he had done. "And besides, you're a really passionate guy. I've seen that look in your eye when you talk about heroes and about quirks. I can't help but feel comfortable around you." She began to blush slightly as she spoke.

Deku sat there for a few moments. "I trust you, too. Especially after you… after you caught me. I thought I was going to die. I can't help but feel comfortable around you as well." He smiled weakly. "I guess I can tell you… I should tell you. I really hope you'll still want to be friends after I tell you, though. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't…"

Ochako drew back slightly. "I find that hard to believe…"

The green-haired man hesitated, not meeting her eyes. "Uraraka, do you know what Quirk Adaptation is?"

"You mean how our bodies grow into our quirks?"

"Yeah. For example, without the extra elastin and other stuff in his body, Kacchan's Explosion would have destroyed his body years ago."

"It makes sense to me, Deku. That's why I'm so tall." She figured if they were having a heart-to-heart, she might as well get it off her chest. Maybe her confession would help him feel better as well.

He stopped and looked at her in surprise before averting his gaze once again. "Really?"

"I guess I've never really explained how my quirk works." She held up her hand. "You see these pads on my fingers?"

Deku seemed hesitant to look at her, like she was going to attack him or something. "Yes? I figured they had to do with your quirk."

"Yep. I call my quirk Gravity Shift, but it's a little misleading. What I do is I effectively remove the mass of things I touch. That part seems pretty obvious, yeah?"

Deku nodded weakly.

"What is less obvious is what I do with it. You see, the mass has to go somewhere . It either flows out through my feet to whatever I'm standing on, or I keep it in my body. The taller I am, the more evenly distributed the weight is, and the easier it is to move while I'm holding mass."

"That's… wow." Deku was wide-eyed.

"You took physics, you know the basic formula of momentum, right? The momentum of an object is based on its mass and its velocity; that's the mechanic behind my quirk. If I throw something that I've made lighter and then return it's weight to it, it slows down normally. The energy doesn't change, so as its mass increases, its velocity decreases."

"But… the entrance exam. That block you threw impacted like a meteor." He smiled weakly, but fondly, at the memory.

"That's something I learned how to do recently, honestly. I found out how to mess with the energy of an object. It takes a lot out of me, but I can take or give energy when I add or remove weight. It feels sort of like I'm blowing out a candle or something, or taking a really deep breath."

Deku laughed for some reason.

"Does that all make sense? When I threw that block at that robot, I had to put all of my quirk's energy behind it to keep it moving at speed. And when you were falling, if I just took your weight, you would have just sped up, even with the air pushing back on you. I took the energy and your mass and threw it out of my body."

"But what did you throw it into?" Deku was clearly curious, but his tone was still completely flat.

"Air isn't just a void, Deku. It has mass, it exists. I pushed it into the air around my feet. Doing that is really hard, cause it's so… airy, you know?" She laughed awkwardly. "But using my quirk like that makes me really sick, and I probably won't be able to use my quirk at all tomorrow from overusing it today."

"Won't be able to use it?"

Ochako nodded firmly. "If I use my quirk too much, it sort of stops working for a while. I have to rest or I simply can't make anything float. If you hadn't handled most of the battle trial yourself, I probably wouldn't have been able to save you."

"And that's why you're tall?" Deku looked like he was flagging, his voice was almost monotone.

"Yeah. Quirk Adaptation… and I guess my dad was pretty tall, and you know how astronauts get taller in space? I guess messing with gravity combined with my growth spurt growing up did this."

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Deku finally responded. "...that sounds made up." They both chuckled, him weaker than her.

"Most people are put off by tall women, so it's made my life hard sometimes. Nothing I can do about it, though." She shrugged, casting her eyes away.

Izuku didn't respond for another good while. "You know that's bullshit, right?"

"W-what?" Her eyes snapped back at the man on the bed.

"Tall women are hot, Uraraka..." His eyes slowly moved to catch her gaze, and she noticed how hazy they were. "You are really hot." His voice was completely flat, even with what he was saying.

"You… what?"

"It's part of why I get so dumb around you. That and your eyes are really pretty. Am I overstepping? I might be overstepping..." He blinked and looked away. "Sorry, I might be a little sleep-drunk… I don't think my filter is working."

Her brain, however, was working just fine, and it was panicking. It was good that Deku wasn't looking at her or he would have seen her blush. 'He thinks I'm pretty?! He thinks I'm ' really hot?!' Dammit, and I was just startin' to get less flustered around him!'

'Wait... filter? Does that mean that's how he normally thinks about me?!'

"Oh, right, we were talking about me. Sorry for distracting you."

She just stared silently at him, mind racing.

"So, Quirk Adaptation. Because my quirk is a transformation-class quirk, I don't have much in the way of physical adaptations. It'd be redundant, seeing as how I just change my body. I just have the basic adaptations that most everyone has, slightly enhanced durability and such."

Ochako was managing to calm down. His droning voice reminded her of some of her old teachers and was threatening to put her to sleep if she wasn't so wrapped up in his every word.

"My changes are mostly mental. Sort of like how Tsu is a bit different because of her quirk. Although, mine are much more severe than that."

"Really? You don't seem any different." Ochako finally managed to speak, slightly proud of herself for how much she was keeping herself together.

Deku continued to stare forward, almost unblinkingly. "My family's quirks have something we call 'instincts'. It's basically like they have a mind of their own. You remember Tokoyami's quirk from the test yesterday? It's sort of like that...but in my mind."

He sighed heavily before continuing. "My father's quirk, my cousin's quirk, my grandfather's quirk… their instincts were all mostly heroic. My dad talks about his yelling at him to push through pain when fighting a villain, or telling him where a trapped civilian might be. Our instincts are a part of our quirk, and if we work with them and listen to them, our quirks work with our bodies better."

Ochako nearly forgot all about his compliments as she gasped. "Woah. So, what, you have a voice in your head? Your quirk talks to you?"

He bowed his head. "Yeah. You probably think I'm crazy or something. There's a reason that outside of my family, only Kacchan and his parents know."

"Hey, quirks are weird, right? I don't think Tokoyami is crazy." Ochako smiled to try and comfort him, even though he was refusing to look at her.

He smiled weakly. "The worst part is what my quirk says to me. I'm sure you've heard about villains like Terrorflame or Frostheart, right?"

Ochako's breath caught. Of course she had, but surely it was a bit taboo to bring that up with him, right? Well, he was the one who said it… "Yeah… They're your relatives, right?"

"Yeah. And my quirk is like theirs." Deku's hands gripped his sheets, knuckles turning white. "My quirk is evil, Uraraka. I'm defying my nature by even trying to be a hero."

Ochako gasped. "...Evil?"

Deku looked like he wanted to cry, but he was too tired. "It's not just a voice in my head. If it was just a voice, I could ignore it. It's so much more than that. It's not just a voice, it's my voice. It speaks in every part of my brain, drowning out everything else. If I don't calm it or appease it, it just gets louder. It gets worse until I can't think about anything else than doing what it wants."

He let out a single, bitter laugh. "My dad's quirk tells him how to be a hero, my quirk tells me how to lie and hurt people. I've tried since the day my quirk fully manifested to become a hero, despite everything. But after today, I… I think I should give up."

"No! You can't!" She jumped to her feet, eyes wide at what she was hearing. "I've never seen someone more suited to be a hero than you! Think about the entrance exam!"

"Have you forgotten what you saw today?" he retaliated, face twisting with anguish. "After time expired, all of that. That was me, trying desperately to fight my quirk. What if you weren't there to save me from myself? What if I actually had hurt Mineta like it wanted me to?"

Ochako's mind was reeling from what the boy was telling her. "You...you looked like you had a headache, a really bad one. Is that what you were doing? Fighting the voice in your head?"

He nodded. "You saved me in more ways than one today. Now I can leave UA just as a dropout, and not as a criminal." He smiled sadly.

A long silence passed between the two. Finally, with a deep breath, Ochako walked over to his bed and towered over him. "Deku. Look at me."

He hesitated, before finally shifting his guilt-filled eyes up at her.

She poked him in the chest. "You are not leaving UA. Do you understand me?"

"I… what?"

"Do. You. Understand. Me?"

"How can you trust me after this? How can you care about me? I'm a monst-"

She slapped him. Hard.

"Don't you dare say that!" She was crying now, her emotions having overwhelmed her. "Nobody but you thinks that!"

"Do that again." His eyes and tone finally had some life in it, but those eyes widened as what he just said echoed in the room. His hand quickly clamped down over his mouth. "Sorry. No filter," he mumbled out as his energy dropped again.

She blinked and felt her face grow warm. "D-damn it, Deku, I'm serious!" She shook her head to dispel the blush and took a steadying breath.

She glared down at him with a determined look. "Deku, I saw you in that battle trial. You had a brilliant plan. You had a plan for Aizawa's test. Everything you do has thought behind it. Don't think I haven't noticed! You said you've been like this since you got your quirk, but you've handled it before, right? You've had a plan! Are you telling me you came to UA without a plan on how to handle your quirk?"

He slumped back into his bed, hand falling to his side. "I… I had one. My dad taught me for years to turn my quirk's instincts to my own goals. To sort of twist it, or trick it. The first time it happened, it was an accident. The entrance exam."

"When you saved me?"

Deku once again smiled weakly, but fondly. "Yeah. My instincts yelled at me there, and I worked with them. That's how I was able to push myself to stop that zero-pointer." He let out an airy laugh. "I couldn't use my quirk the next day after that, I guess like you."

"I couldn't use mine for a week after that, Deku." She sat back down as he looked at her in shock, or as much shock as his depleted body could muster. "But what were your instincts telling you?"

"They told me to protect you. I had to save you. It wasn't an option."

"That doesn't sound very evil, Deku." Maybe he was overreacting...

Deku nodded his head. "That's because that was the twist. I turned it's desire to want you for itself into a desire to keep you safe."

Ochako froze again. "To… want me for itself?" She could feel her blush creeping back onto her face.

"I said that out loud? Crap." Deku sighed. "Yeah, that's what happened. I turned that selfishness into heroism, I guess. I was actually proud of myself. I believed I could actually do this. But now...I know better."

"Look, Deku, I want to hurt Mineta a bit, too. He's a creep, don't feel guilty about that."

He threw his eyes to the ceiling in frustration. "You don't get it. It didn't want to just hurt him. My instincts wanted to kill him. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't stopped me."

Ochako was not expecting to hear that. "K-kill?"

"Yeah." Deku's voice shook slightly. "See why I said you won't want to be friends with me anymore? My quirk is evil. If I can't control it-"

"Then you'll learn how. That's why we're here, right?"

"You can't just overlook mur-"

"Did you kill him? Did you hurt him outside of the exercise?"

"No, bu-"

"Then it's okay." She put a comforting hand on his, but he recoiled from her touch. "You're dealing with something none of us can really understand. You can't control what you think, especially when you have something yelling in your ear about it."

She paused for a second.

"What did you mean when you said that I stopped you?"

Deku paused for a moment, thinking. "When you spoke, my quirk seemed to... listen. When I was fighting it, all that existed to me was myself and a black void. But when you said 'Deku', it was like a ray of light through the darkness and I could think again. It only lasted for a moment at a time, but that's how I pulled away from Mineta and punched that hole in the wall."

Ochako tried to ignore the rather romantic imagery and prompted him to continue. "And you jumping out of the building?"

Deku nodded weakly, his eyes struggling to remain open. "I had to do whatever it took to make sure I didn't hurt Mineta. If it meant dying, then so be it." His voice attempted to sound determined, but he was too tired to sell it.

"And you think you're not fit to be a hero." She crossed her arms smugly. "You would rather die than kill."

His eyes widened and he stared at his sheets for a moment. Then he finally cracked a real smile. "I… I didn't think of that." He hung his head in relief as well as exhaustion. "Maybe I can do this."

"You will do this. You're not leaving UA and that's final. If your quirk wants me so bad, tell it that killing is off-limits." She screamed internally for being so bold.

"That… might actually work." He rubbed his chin in thought.

He turned up to look at her, his emerald eyes staring into her brown. They were clear and filled with determination, just how she thought they should always be. "Uraraka. If I do stay here at UA, then I have to ask something of you. A favor."

"Anything, Deku."

"If I ever lose control again, you have to stop me. I would rather be broken or dead than have this happen again. You have my full permission to do whatever it takes to stop me." His voice was no longer monotone, but full of deadly seriousness.

"W-what?" The intensity in his voice took her by surprise.

" Please , promise that you'll stop me." She couldn't ignore the pleading look on his face.

She clutched her hand to her chest and looked down for a moment, before steeling herself, turning back and looking him dead in the eyes. "I promise."

"Thank you. Really." He finally began to lose his battle with his exhaustion. It seemed now that he had gotten all those things off of his chest, his willpower faltered. His eyes closed as he fell asleep. "Thank... you… Ocha..."

Ochako began to blush again. 'Was he about to-' She jumped in her chair as Recovery Girl walked back in. 'Wait, was she waiting for us to finish talking?'

She decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth and just accepted her good fortune. She let a smile grow across her face, but all the emotions she had just experienced welled up inside of her. Joy, embarrassment, sadness, anger, fear… it was overwhelming. Even through her grin, she couldn't stop a few small tears from falling.