Chapter Text
“Being strong isn’t just about having power or move, it is about one’s Spirit.”
Sheathing a beautiful sword after getting rid of the blood staining it, the man looked behind him at the pile of corpses and smirked. His right eye shone viciously, his desire for a fight finally satisfied.
For some time, at least.
“My ancestor said that, a lot. And I can’t help but agree with him.” He sat on the ground, careful not to hit his swords, with his legs crossed and an amused grin as he watched a little figure slightly shiver a few meters away from him. “Spirit and Ambition are synonyms, in my case at least. As a thank you, allow me to tell you a story kid.”
A little kid walked shyly until she was in front of the scary man. To her surprise, he smiled warmly at her and fondly ruffled her hair. Encouraged by that, she sat in front of him with a curious expression.
“This is the tale of a little kid, like you, who wanted to change this world. A kid who grew to become a Monster, a Monster who decided to be a Hero.” He looked at the beautiful night sky, the pollution was almost non-existent so they could see the stars shining perfectly.
“A Hero, whose Ambition transformed him into a Legend.”
“It’s been four years since the day All Might died defeating the supervillain known as All For One. Contrary to what one would think, things have gotten even worse with the disappearance of both the Symbol of Peace and the Symbol of Evil.” The reporter stated, as images of cities in Japan showed several fights between villains and heroes. “The Japan Government and the Hero Commission want to remind you that the curfew for civilians starts at 8 PM and ends at 9 AM. The following cities…”
A muscular man with wild black hair picked up the remote and turned off the television. He spared a glance at the clock and hurried to put on his clothes, preparing himself mentally for what he was about to do.
He heard the little steps coming closer to him, and couldn’t help but smile. The little person jumped at him, but he caught him with ease.
“Daddy!” The child squealed, hugging the man tightly.
The man twirled them, making his son giggle wildly, before setting him on the ground and ruffling his fluffy green hair. “Are you ready to go, Izuku?”
Izuku nodded, motioning to his yellow backpack and wooden sword. Even if he tried to hide it, his emerald eyes showed the sadness he felt.
“I know it’s hard having to move to another place, but Shizuoka isn’t safe anymore Izuku.” He sighed and pat his son’s hair, thinking of a way to cheer him up. He briefly looked at the training sword the kid always had, a bit big yet for a 6-year-old. “But, we’re going to my Great-great-great-grandfather’s home, and guess what? He had a katana too, it is exhibited in the hall and you’ll see how beautiful it is!”
He didn’t know why, but since his son was born he had an unnatural affinity with katanas. To be fair, most of his family had been skilled with swords, but the boy was something else entirely. And since his quirk awakened it was more obvious.
Maybe it was his soul, spirit, or something like that. Who knows.
As expected, the little green-haired cheered loudly at the prospect of seeing a real katana. “Yey, let’s go to the car daddy!”
And he bolted in the exact opposite direction, though thankfully Hisashi was fast enough to catch him. “The car’s not inside the laundry room, buddy.” He chuckled and picked up the boy’s luggage.
Father and son quickly got inside the former’s car.
Shizuoka had been a beautiful place to live, not as popular and rich as Tokyo or Kyoto, but the small city had nice natural parks and an aura of tranquility that attracted families to live here. Unfortunately, that was lost 4 years ago.
Hisashi drove, watching with a sad smile as the streets of his hometown were now wrecked and the natural parks he liked to visit with his wife when they were young had been reduced to ashes. Abandoned buildings, vandalized homes, and the like now were the infamous emblem of this and more cities.
‘If only the government wasn’t so weak, the Hero Commission would be more preoccupied to protect the small towns too.’ He thought, finally taking the exit that would eventually lead them to his ancestors’ home. A secure home, lonely as it would be since he and his son were the last of the family, where his little boy could grow up without villains near. ‘If only you were here too, Inko.’
As they drove through the woods, he noticed the little kid growing restless. He could understand him, during the night this place was really scary.
“Don’t worry Izuku, we’ll be in Kuraigana soon.” He tried to calm the kid.
To his confusion, the boy shook his head. “It’s not that, Dad. There…” He looked around them, focusing on the top of the trees. “I… I hear a lot of presences, l-like wild animals everywhere.”
Hisashi tried to think of the reasons for that. ‘I thought the baboons wouldn’t appear until a few kilometers later. But if Izuku is sensing them…’
The boy’s quirk had manifested when he was four, almost giving his father a heart attack when the little boy fell to the ground crying. He claimed that he could hear a lot of voices screaming and then falling silent around them while they went shopping.
Investigating later, Hisashi had found out that villains had taken one of the hotels and started killing civilians. That was what his son heard, the cries of help from their poor souls dying.
It was unnerving, but it would be pretty useful for him when he grew up. Detecting people always came on handy during these times.
A little explosion coming from one of his tires alerted Hisashi that maybe the ‘wild animals’ weren’t baboons after all.
“Izuku, stay here and don’t come out okay?” he whispered to the kid’s ear, picking the necessary tools to fix the flat tire.
Once outside, the black-haired quickly closed all the doors of the car. Remembering where his boy was looking when he mentioned the presences, he took a deep breath.
“Fire Breath!”
The man shot a hell of flames to the top of the trees surrounding him, smirking with satisfaction as he heard the cries of pain of several people. 13 people fell off the trees, severely burnt, while 10 more appeared unharmed.
“Shit” Hisashi muttered when he saw that 1 of them had a substance-like body, like mud. Those kinds of quirks were extremely difficult to fight. “What do you want?”
The mud villain took a step, probably, to the front. “There is a fee to pay for abandoning our city!” He announced, while his 9 companions laughed and nodded. “10000 Yens, each of you. Plus another 10000 for my friends, you hurt them pretty badly.”
Hisashi, knowing he didn’t have all that money, decided to bluff. “You’re joking, right? You should pay me those 30000 Yens instead, in exchange for not killing the rest of you.” He said, taking a battle stance and exhaling a bit of fire from his mouth.
Some villains flinched at that, to his relief. If they were scared it would be easier to deal with this and go away with his son.
“You got some guts there, I gotta give that to you.” The mud villain said, chuckling. Then he snapped his fingers. “Hedoro.”
*Boom*
Hisashi’s almost got whiplash, turning his head as fast as he could when he heard his car exploding from the inside out. A sludge-like being got out of it with his son covered in sludge, the little boy struggling as much as he could to try and free himself.
Somehow, the kid had managed to take his wooden sword with him.
“Now.” The tone of the mud villain was insanely smug, irritating Hisashi even more. “Are you gonna pay, or should I tell my little brother to kill your brat?”
The black-haired abandoned the battle stance, lifting his hands in a signal of surrender.
“I only have 2000 Yens. Take that and the car if you want, just leave us alone.” He didn’t mind walking the few kilometers left to his family’s home if it meant that his son would be okay.
The mud villain looked about to accept when his brother made an excited sound. “What?”
“Nii-san, this kid’s quirk is amazing. Can I possess his body?” He asked, as more sludge covered the child.
Hisashi watched in despair as the mud one appeared to think about it. Meanwhile, Izuku was struggling to breathe as the sludge started to get in his mouth.
“Sure.” The mud one said, smiling at the sludge villain. He turned to Hisashi. “Congratulations! Since my brother has taken a liking to your brat’s quirk, you only have to pay 2000 Yens and can leave with your car!” He exclaimed with a cheery tone. “Pity though, the Possession my Lil bro it’s talking about will suffocate your child to death. ”
Suddenly, the temperature around them raised alarmingly. Every time Hisashi took a breath, flames escaped from his mouth. The 9 villains surrounding the brothers took a few steps back, frightened by the rage of the father.
“You. Won’t. Kill. My. Kid.” Each word was punctuated with a step and a flame.
The mud villain looked at his brother, knowing that the process took a while. ‘Once Hedoro possesses the brat, this idiot will be done. No father would attack his son, even if it’s only the kid’s body.’ With that thought, the villain turned into mud and attacked Hisashi.
The man shot a wall of flames to stop the mud, getting a nice surprise when he heard the mud villain grunt in pain. Apparently, Special-Emitters aren’t as invulnerable as they say.
Unfortunately, he was caught in the shoulder by a lance made of mud, but the black-haired breathed a stream of fire to the mud villain’s face (or where it should be) to stun him. He jumped a few steps back, ignoring the bleeding hole in his shoulder.
The man took a deeper breath, preparing to finish the villain off and try to rescue his son.
But, both men stopped dead in their tracks when they heard a cry of pain coming from where their respective relatives were.
‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, this villain is going to kill me.’ Izuku thought, as the sludge villain tried to possess him. He struggled, resisting with all his might to wait for his father to rescue him.
“It’s pointless, stupid brat. My brother is going to kill your dad and I’m gonna take over your body.” The sludge villain said smugly, the sludge almost reaching his lungs.
At the same time, Izuku saw his father getting impaled in the shoulder with a lance of mud. He felt his quirk flare up, but instead of hearing presences, it was like a flow within him that covered his body like armor.
“Leave my Daddy alone!” he tried to scream throughout the sludge covering his mouth, as he started to struggle more violently. He kicked, punched, and even tried to bite the villain.
To Hedoro’s surprise, he felt pain when the kid did that. Then, one of the child’s fists caught him in the eye while the leg managed to painfully stomp his stomach.
Finally, Izuku freed his practice katana. He twisted and grabbed the sword with both hands, swinging it to the man’s throat with all the strength he could muster.
“AGH!” he cried in pain, being forced to stop taking over the kid’s body. The boy almost broke his trachea, which should be impossible given that conventional attacks should not work on him.
Hisashi saw this as an opportunity and used a fire breath to propel himself to his kid.
He caught him, both dashing meters away from the villains. But the brothers were hot on their heels, at least the mud one, and the man knew that. They wouldn’t leave them alive after all that.
At least, his kid should live.
“Izuku, hear me out. You have to run as fast as you can in that direction.” He motioned to where the forest got even darker. “Try to calm down enough to use your quirk and feel the presence of animals, there will be a lot of them near Kuraigana. Go with them, they’re friends.”
Somehow, the kid knew he didn’t have the intention of coming back. “Daddy, please don’t leave.” He started crying, grabbing his father’s shirt in his tiny fists.
The man didn’t let the tears show, needing to be strong for his kid. “Izuku, I love you so much. And your mom loved you even more. That’s why I need you to go.” He said, carefully placing his hands over his son’s to make him let go. “Go Izuku, go and live a life your mom and I would be proud of. I know you’re meant to do Great things Izuku.”
He ruffled the kid’s green hair, trying to ignore his emerald eyes filled with despair. A little crunch coming from some meters away from them alerted the man that the time was up.
“GO!” He shouted to the kid. He was relieved when the kid ran as fast as he could in the direction he was told, although he hoped his lack of orientation would attack too soon this time.
He saw the sludge and mud move closer to him, along with the other 9 villains that had regained their guts, and took the deepest breath he could as he started spinning and molding the flames inside him. He felt his pure being burning, using his own life as fuel to make sure no one would attack his son.
“Come to hell with me, Motherfuckers!”
Izuku ran as fast he could, tears flowing wildly down his face. His sword swung wildly on his back, making him wish he was tall enough to have it on his hip.
“TATSU MAKI! (Dragon Twister)” he heard his father roar, making him look back with the hope to see his father again.
Instead, a massive tornado of fire tore apart the zone of the forest where his father once stood.
He fell to his knees, watching the scene when someone landed next to him and put a sharp thing against his neck.