Chapter 4

"Mom," Izuku called out. He had to get his mom's attention. Yet when he saw the Herrscher placing her fingers on her lips, he froze. She hadn't done anything yet, if he made her angry then…what if she decided to...

"Yes, Izuku," Inko called as she looked at her son. He was deathly pale and sweating. "Dear, is everything alright?" She worriedly asked.

"No…it's just…I'm glad to see you're alright." Izuku quickly recovered.

"Izuku, I only said I'd be gone for a few minutes," Inko told him. "The city is in a mess after the Herrscher wrecked it and we need to stock up on supplies in case the worse comes to pass." She warned. "I told you this earlier." She reiterated.

"You did?" Izuku questioned before he noticed the Herrscher's subtle gestures. That's when it dawned on him. She had said his body was hers. Did that mean she also controlled him when he was unconscious? The Herrscher mockingly responded with a thumbs up, seemingly aware of what the growing dread on his face meant.

Izuku was terrified, to say the least. The Herrscher had pretended to be him, deceived his mother with ease and none of them were the wiser. It was frightening to think what else she could do while he was unconscious now.

"Izuku, are you sure everything is okay?" Inko asked once more as she turned to carry the groceries in the kitchen.

"Tell her yes." The Herrscher teleported behind him. "I promise, it's the only right answer you have right now. Just another little white lie, on top of all the others you've told her."

So Izuku lied. Just like he always did when he returned home from school after running into Bakugo and the others. His mom for the most part accepted his answers, but he wonders how much she actually believed his story.

"Listen Izuku, I know what happened yesterday must have been a lot to take in." Inko trailed off. "It's not every day you hear that…students from your school are attacked by a villain, and after everything that happened yesterday I know if you need to take time and process it all, you should, but just remember, if you have anything that's bothering you, anything you need to say, you can come and tell me alright," Inko spoke as tears welled up in her eyes. She looked at her son, seeing him all alone and scared.

"Mom, I…" Izuku tried to speak but his mom quickly pulled him in for a hug.

"Izuku, baby, you're all I've got. The thought of losing you, I just can't bear it." She repeated. "You have no idea how scared I was when I heard your school was destroyed. You hadn't come home, and I thought I'd lost for sure with all the chaos."

Izuku was speechless. His eyes glanced over to the Herrscher. "The school was destroyed." He whispered, not sure what to make of that.

"It was that girl, the Herrscher of the Void. She had destroyed several buildings before she fought All Might." Inko explained.

"She did?"

"I did." The Herrscher answered simply. "You had some…bad memories there. So as a gift to you…I erased it." She told him. "Consider this a thank you present for releasing me."

"It's all my fault." Izuku realized. It was all starting to make sense. The slime villain, All Might, the school, and Bakugo. He was frustrated and he had hated it all, and she had used that to her advantage.

"Izuku, please, don't think like that," Inko told him. "None of this is your fault." She consoled him.

Oh no! He had slipped up, he realized to late. Now what was he going to say to his mother? How was he going to explain the Herrscher and everything that had happened?

"Well, you did jump on All Might, you did cause him to lose slime villain, so you did technically cause Bakugo to be trapped by the villain." The Herrscher taunted. She wasn't wrong though, loathe as he would admit it.

Izuku did do all that. So, he confessed it to his mother, leaving out All Might's secret and the Herrscher's involvement of course. To say Inko was stunned would be an understatement. She merely looked at him as he finished up his explanation.

"Mom, I…"

SLAP!

Inko for the first time in his life, slapped him, and then she immediately regretted it. "What is wrong with you?" She questioned. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Izuku didn't say anything too stunned to respond. The Herrscher meanwhile just looked on with mild curiosity at the whole ordeal. It was a response on Inko's part that intrigued her. Izuku's mother paced around the room. Walking between him and her, never once acknowledging the Herrscher between her and her son.

"I know, you've been a fan of All Might, I know you've wanted to be a hero for as long as you can remember but pulling a stunt like that. Izuku, you could have tired. Did you ever think what could have happened if you had fallen off?" Inko scolded. "Never mind the slime villain, you could have been hurt or worse."

"It was fine Mom; All Might was there." Izuku tried to assure her. Unfortunately for him that was not the right words to calm her.

"That doesn't make it better." Inko scolded him. "At the end of the day, pro-heroes are still just people like you or me. They may have extraordinary power, but they are still people Izuku. You can't recklessly throw yourselves into danger and expect they'd save you, that's not the right mindset to live with."

"Look, I'm glad you're safe but just please…don't do that again." Inko sighed. "And…I'm sorry I slapped you." Inko apologized.

"No worries, Mom, I understand," Izuku told her.

"Good," Inko sighed. "I'm going to rest, we have some leftovers in the fridge," Inko told him as she headed to her room leaving Izuku and the Herrscher alone.

The Herrscher glanced at Izuku taking note where his mother had slapped him. "Oh wow…that looks red." The Herrscher chuckled. "Has she ever slapped you before?"

Izuku's eyes widened as he turned to the Herrscher and immediately went on the defensive. "No. You stay away from her." He demanded. "I won't let you hurt her."

"Now Izuku, why would I do that?" The Herrscher questioned. "Do you hate your mother so much that you think I'd kill her for you?" She mocked.

"What? No, I don't hate my mom." Izuku defended.

"Really. Surely you must have some animosity. She never told you could be a hero, she, and your father probably both had the recessive genes that made you quirkless. It was their fault you were denied your dreams."

"No. You're wrong." Izuku answered. "My mom loves me. She's always loved me." He reaffirmed. Her words did strike a chord in his heart, but he wouldn't let her see it.

"If you say so." The Herrscher of the Void mused as she floated around the apartment. She didn't feel the need to toy with him further. She was content to end the conversation there for the time being.

The boy was still stubborn but now she had explained his situation and the hopelessness of it all. She would need to get accustomed to this new world of quirks and heroes, but her host seemed to have enough knowledge in his head to help navigate it. He was almost too curious in fact.

"She can't actually see you, can she?" Izuku asked after he mulled over the recent events in his mind. The Herrscher glanced at him, a slightly amused smile on her lips. "All that time, she never once acknowledged your existence in the room. Never seemed to hear or see you."

"You're right…as expected for such a smart host." The Herrscher praised. "No one can see, or hear me, except for you. Imagine how crazy you must sound, hearing voices that aren't there, seeing a person that no one else sees. It sounds unbelievable…like a ghost story. Tell me Izuku…are you afraid of ghosts?" The Herrscher questioned dark giggle. Her voice reverbed a little as her body faded out of existence, till eventually she disappeared altogether.

Izuku stared at where she vanished. The air still felt heavy, almost suffocating. He glanced around his apartment, looking inside every room. There was no sign of her. A part of Izuku wanted to feel relieved, a more optimistic side wanted to write it off as hysteria. That happened right, victims of villain attacks often still felt the effects of it afterward.

Maybe he was imagining the whole thing. Maybe the Herrscher wasn't real and it was mind playing tricks on him from yesterday, trying to make some sort of twisted sense of what happened. Or maybe she was real and she was here, just gaslighting him, because that's what villains were, needlessly cruel beings who took pride in the misery of others. Maybe she did the same to him.

Yet a small part of Izuku, probably the part the Herrscher had hosted herself, whispered in his ears, in the Herrscher's sweetly dark voice, no, it was real. He had fallen into the Void and he wasn't getting out.

Nezu and Recovery girl had left All Might's room. He had wanted to know more, as expected of any hero who took the needs of people first, but they knew they couldn't entertain him much longer. The more they discussed the more agitated he'd get. They had already tried to limit the information he'd be allowed, hoping that he wouldn't be pressured into continuing further. Still, they locked the doors and had a few of UA's staff keep watch.

"Do you really think All For One's responsible?" Recovery Girl questioned. It was not a topic she liked to think about. The Symbol of Evil had brought too much grief to her.

"Even if it isn't, it would be foolish not to think he wouldn't notice," Nezu noted. "Quite a few of us, have long since expected him to be alive. Injured, hopefully, crippled but alive and licking his wounds. He's had quite a lot of time to prepare and plan." Nezu noted.

"And the girl?" Recovery girl wondered.

"If she has a strong quirk, then's a target for AFO, can you imagine letting someone with that kind of power go," Nezu noted. "Ultimately no matter how you look at it, I fear things will only be turbulent from here on out." Nezu sighed.

"What did Nighteye say?" Recovery Girl questioned. "I presume he had more to say than just what the beach."

"He did," Nezu answered. "That fight between All Might and the Herrscher, it ended in a tie." He frowned. "She may have fled the scene but he nearly collapsed from exhaustion."

"Those media jackals must be having a feel day with this." Recovery girl sighed. "It never changes."

"Sir Nighteye definitely believes so," Nezu noted.

"Just a few days ago, the thought of anyone beating All Might would seem impossible, but yesterday, some random girl did it. Some nobody managed to give the Symbol of Peace a tough time and then escape, having destroyed and injured several heroes and civilians."

"Even if it is a draw. It permanently cracks All Might's image. This wasn't some preplanned attack, not as far as we known. This wasn't some veteran villain or some large evil organization. This was just one girl who looked around 18 maybe 20 for the oldest, forcing All Might to a stalemate."

"Now…you and I know All Might's running out of time, his body is starting to fail, but the public doesn't that. He may have been weakened, he may have been passed his limit, he may have been struck in the weak spot, but it all doesn't matter because to the people; It looks like anyone can stand a chance at taking him down." Nezu recalled Nighteye's words.

"He wants All Might to pick his successor soon and then retire.' Nezu iterated. "He believes if All Might keeps going the way he is, he'll only destroy himself."

"That won't work. Yagi is too stubborn." Recovery Girl sighed.

"Yes, but what can we do?" Nezu wondered.

"All Might may not have been defeated, but the idea of the Symbol of Peace was. Now criminals of all kinds are going to feel bolder, so long as the Herrscher is around." Nezu noted. "Not to mention with several heroes injured, some organizations will have to reroute some forces to Musutafu, spreading themselves thin. I can only begin to fathom what this could mean going forward."

"We'll be ready when it comes." Recovery Girl reassured. "We always have to be, that's our job as heroes."

"I hope we are," Nezu muttered. "I hope we are."