Chapter 1: The Return

AN: This idea has been brewing in my head for a while so I thought I'd start writing and holy crap, I didn't expect to write so much so fast. Please enjoy! Inspiration taken from Cursed Blood by Magnus9284!

[Unknown Location]

Weightlessness. Falling. Fear. Izuku awoke with a gasp and sat up, only for his head to slam into something a couple of inches in front of him. He blinked and found that his eyes weren't lying to him, wherever he was, it was pitch black. He blinked more and shook his head, maybe something was wrong with his eyes. Maybe… He reached out to feel around him and found smooth material all around him.

'Silk.' His mind quickly told him. Wherever he was, it was lined with silk. Izuku began to hyperventilate when he tried to push past the fabric and found an unmoving material behind. Unmoving and cold to the touch. The fear from before settled in again and he screamed, tearing at the material. He scratched and tore the fabric, pounding at the metal encasing the place he lay.

He didn't know how long he screamed and tried to claw his way out, but he no longer had a voice. His internal clock told him he had been at it for hours, but without any frame of reference he couldn't tell for sure. 'I'm going to die down here.' He thought to himself, continuing to push on the metal in a desperate attempt for freedom.

Then it happened. An unnatural calm came over him and he started to accept his fate. He ran his hand across the now gouged metal, feeling the deep trenches from the frantic attempts to get out. He started to think, to try to remember anything about what was happening before he woke up.

Kaachan. No, Katsuki. He remembered Katsuki, he remembered being on the roof at school during lunch. He remembered his once best friend yelling about something. It hadn't felt important at the time, whatever Katsuki had been yelling about. There was a blinding explosion and he remembered falling. He remembered the pure look of satisfaction and hatred on the blonde's face. He could almost feel the air rush past him as he remembered the sensation.

Katsuki had pushed him off the roof. Katsuki had cornered him on top of the school and pushed him off the roof.

Tears fell from his eyes, but a feeling of determination filled him. The grooves under his fingers were deep, maybe he could keep at it and eventually he wo… He stopped everything when he felt dirt drop from above onto his face.

Hope filled him. 'If I can get this far… maybe I can get out.'

Somewhere in his mind he knew he had been buried. The cloth and the metal surrounding him. The dirt on top of the metal. He was in a casket. 'They must have thought I was dead after the fall.' His mind was made up. He was going to get out of here and he was going to… 'What am I going to do? Do I turn him in? Should I just push him off the roof like he did to me?'

Izuku began to dig his fingers into the metal again and flinched when more dirt began to fall on his face. 'I'll figure that out after I get out of here.' He thought resolutely.

[Midoriya Family Apartment]

Mitsuki Bakugo sat silently in her best friend's apartment. A thick photo album on her lap with several more strewn around her on the floor. Inko's bright smile stared back at her. The most recent camping trip from the previous winter Inko had taken Izuku on with her own family. Her friend looked so care free, so happy. She ran her fingers over the pictures of Mitsuki and her husband cuddled up next to a fire.

The Bakugo matriarch smiled sadly. Her family had gone on the trip to celebrate her husband's promotion and had invited the two Midoriyas with them. It had been a good time, a time she had cherished. Things had looked so bright at the time. Her husband's flourishing career, her own reintroduction to her modeling career, her son was at the top of his class.

The next picture was one Mitsuki had taken herself. Izuku sat at the base of a tree highly focused on the notebook in his hands, analyzing quirks and drawing away like he always did. Inko was lounging against the same tree with a smile and her eyes closed, just basking in the moment.

A slam brought her out of her reverie and her head snapped up. "Be careful!" She yelled out. A curse and another slam followed.

"Shut up, ya old bat!" Her son yelled back.

Mitsuki scowled, her mood thoroughly ruined. She gently sat the book down on the pile and stormed herself out of the living room intent on wringing her son's neck. "Now listen here you-." She froze.

A few silent moments passed.

"Everything okay out there?" Masaru called out to his wife, fully prepared to break up another fight. "Honey?" He asked as he rounded the corner to see his wife, color draining rapidly from her face. He followed her line of sight and froze in place himself, not fully coming around the corner.

Mitsuki, always quick to anger and fight, stood stock still. Dark red eyes met green. She couldn't tear herself away from the hatred she saw. Fear. That same fear she had felt when Inko had called to tell her what had happened. Seconds passed and she couldn't even bring herself to breathe. She didn't dare blink, didn't dare take her eyes off the short figure in front of her. Fear.

She did the only thing she could in that moment. She screamed.

He still hadn't said anything. He didn't know how long he had stood there staring at his mother's best friend. He could feel the fear radiating off the woman and her husband, even after she had screamed. None of them had moved, even then. She had been the first one he had seen, the first one from that accursed family.

Time caught back up to him when wood wrapped around him from behind and he was ripped out the door of his apartment. Suddenly there was movement everywhere and everything became a blur, but he refused to look away from the woman in front of him, even as he was forced to the ground, a giant hand forced into his back to keep him in place. The wood restraints hadn't loosened either, not that he was trying to get away. Not yet.

"Let. Me. Go." He growled out; his voice deeper than it had any right to be.

There were four heroes now. His mind, even in it's singular focus, told him that Kamui Woods had him restrained and was holding him down. The pro hero Midnight was standing between him and Mitsuki. Masaru was trying to console his wife while explaining to the pro hero that the boy had been buried three days prior.

"We were at his funeral!" Masaru cried out in explanation. "That… That boy, Izuku, fell from his school and died. After we buried him and his mother, we came here to pack things up. There was no one left in their family so my wife…"

Izuku stopped listening when he saw him. Katsuki Bakugo. The boy rounded the corner, caught one sight of Izuku, and was promptly whisked away by Death Arms into one of the back rooms and away from the situation.

"Mount Lady! Loosen up!" Kamui Woods spoke up for the first time, pulling his quirk back to himself. "The boy's pulse is gone! Get one of the medics up here!"

"Get off of me!" Izuku cried out, control of his limbs coming back to him. Now he needed to move. Now that he had seen the object of his hatred, he had to do something. Despite the hand pressing him down, Izuku pushed himself up, his arms straining against the weight holding him.

Mount Lady let out a cry of surprise and brought her other hand over to wrap around Izuku completely. "Hold still kid!" Despite her increased strength in this form, the pro hero was having trouble keeping the boy still. She dug her feet into the ground and strained to hold him. "Kamui! Are you sure you checked right?! Sure seems like he's fine to me!"

Izuku kept pushing forward into the apartment in an attempt to follow after Katsuki. "Bring that bastard back!"

Kamui Woods jumped back into the fray and under the combined effort of Mt Lady and himself, they forced Izuku to stop. Midnight clicked her tongue in annoyance and ripped off her glove before releasing her quirk into the boy. After a few moments of continued struggle, Izuku lost consciousness and slumped in the other two hero's grip.

[Unknown Hospital]

When Izuku awoke again, he found himself strapped to a bed in a hospital. There were two police officers in the room with him and as soon as his eyes opened one stepped out. "Where am I?" Izuku asked the remaining officer.

The man looked uncomfortable just being in the same room as Izuku, at least that's what Izuku perceived from how he was acting. "You're at Hosu General Hospital." He finally replied.

Before Izuku could question any further the other officer entered with three doctors. The three doctors quickly rushed to his side. "I'm doctor Quinn. How are you feeling?" The now named Dr. Quinn asked while another put their fingers to his neck. The other checked the probes attached to him and checked over the machines around him.

"I'm fine. Why am I here?" Izuku glared at the doctor talking to him.

"Still no pulse." The doctor checking his pulse stated. The third chimed in affirmation after he had checked the machines.

Izuku jerked and stared in disbelief. "W-what?" His anger disappeared instantly.

"Are you in any pain?" Dr. Quinn asked, writing on the pad in his hands.

"W-what do you mean no pulse!" Izuku cried out. "I feel fine!"

"What is the last thing you remember?" Dr. Quinn leaned forward excitedly.

"I remember those heroes holding me down and knocking me out, keeping me out of my home." Izuku snapped. "Are you going to answer my question? What do you mean I don't have a pulse?"

Dr. Quinn nodded to himself. "What about before that? What do you remember before the apartment incident?"

"I woke up in a casket and had to dig myself out of a grave." Izuku was starting to freak out all over again at remembering the traumatic experience.

"Breathing is fine, lungs sound like they are in working order." The doctor to his left spoke up. "No signs of decomposition, no signs of atrophy."

Izuku jerked his arm away from the man, the strap holding his arm down going taunt. It was the first time he had noticed and it confused him, he was usually more observant than that. "Wh-why am I locked up? What's going on?"

Dr. Quinn nodded and wrote down his notes. "Quite the story there, young man. The authorities went to check out your grave. How did you manage to dig out of a metal casket, through the dirt and through a layer of concrete?"

Izuku darted his head around at everyone in the room. "I had to do something. Did you expect me to just stay down there and die?"

Dr. Quinn nodded to himself once again. "That is the general idea young man. Usually when we bury a dead body, they tend to stay dead." The doctor to his right made a small cut in Izuku's arm, causing the boy to jerk away. Everyone watched in rapt attention as the wound blackened for a few seconds before sealing itself up.

"W-what?" Izuku whispered fearfully. "What's g-going on!" He looked up at the head doctor that had been talking to him. "What do you mean dead body? I'm right here! I'm not dead!" His voice was growing panicked even more than before, his voice reaching higher as he spoke.

Dr. Quinn grinned excitedly. "That's just the thing! When we buried you, you were dead!" He opened the folder that he had brought in with him and showed Izuku a series of reports and pictures. "When we did the autopsy on your body seven days ago, you had no pulse, your back was broken in six different places, and you had no brain activity!"

Izuku stared dumbly at the pictures, pictures of him. Pictures of his chest cut open and of his body lying on a metal table. "How can that be?"

"It says here that you were born quirkless, is that true?" Dr. Quinn pushed on. Upon Izuku's shaky nod the doctor went on. "For all intents and purposes, you were dead. You are dead. You don't have a pulse, you have no brain activity during our tests, and your blood doesn't react to our tests. Young man." Dr. Quinn spread his arms. "You are the first of your kind. You are the first person to be both dead and alive."

Izuku's mind was running into overdrive. It didn't make any sense to him. If he didn't have a pulse, that means no blood was running through his veins, so whatever that black stuff that had come out of his arm must have been his dead blood, or something like that. It just wasn't possible… unless… "Did someone bring me back to life? Some quirk that raises zombies?"

Dr. Quinn shook his head. "We haven't heard of any such quirk before so there isn't any way for us to know. Now, back to my questions. Do you feel any pain? Did you feel the cut on your arm?"

Izuku looked down at his hands that were still caked in dirt and black bits of what he assumed was his blood. "I… No, I don't feel any pain. I felt the cut, but…" He looked up at the doctor. "I felt it but it didn't hurt, what does that mean?" His eyes were wide with fright.

The doctor that had cut him spoke up. "Without your brain activity, we don't have much of an explanation. The best guess we have is that when you died, part of your body died with it and your pain receptors aren't firing correctly. We don't know if you will ever feel pain again. Or it could come back tomorrow, we have no way of knowing."

Izuku shuddered. "W-what happens n-now?"

Dr. Quinn shrugged his shoulders. "This is a first for us so we would like to run some more tests on you to see if we can figure out what happened. It could be that you awakened a quirk when you died and that kept you from truly experiencing death."

"I don't want to be poked and prodded, can't I just go home?" Izuku whispered quietly.

"You don't have a home to go to just yet." One of the two officers spoke up. "With no family known, you would have to be entered into an orphanage. As of right now, no orphanage is willing to take you in. It's hard finding a place for someone like you, someone that for all intents and purposes is dead."

Izuku looked down at his hands again, trying to think of his next step, think of anything he could do to get himself out of this situation. "The Bakugo's!" He cried out in realization. "They were family friends, what about them?" It was the only thing he could think of. Despite his hatred of the youngest Bakugo, it might be his only way out of this cursed hospital.

"Do you remember attacking them?" Dr. Quinn asked, picking his notebook back up.

Izuku frowned. "I never attacked them. I was mad they were in my home."

The officer that spoke previously hummed in response and gestured to the doctors in the room. "Let's let the boy collect himself. Mrs. Mitsuki Bakugo was asking about him. You can run your tests afterwards."

Dr. Quinn nodded and smiled down at Izuku. "Get some rest young man. We will send Mrs. Bakugo in if she wishes to see you still. Now, do I have your word that you won't attack anyone if I let you out of your restraints?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, we still don't know what he is capable of." One of the other doctors spoke up.

"Nonsense. We have your word, right young man?" Dr. Quinn asked again. Izuku nodded slowly. "See, there you have it. Everything will be fine."

After the doctors had released his restraints, the officers escorted them out of the room and took up positions just outside the door.

After a few minutes of waiting, Mitsuki forced her way through the door and darted over to Izuku. "Izuku! Are you okay? How are you feeling? I'm so sorry!" She quickly wrapped him up in a hug and he could feel the tears staining his shirt.

It was only at that moment did Izuku come to realize he was still in his funeral outfit. They hadn't even bothered to change him into a hospital gown. "I-I'm okay Auntie. A l-little f-freaked out if I'm honest."

Mitsuki leaned back and ran her hands across his face shakily as if to make sure he was really there. "I don't know how this happened, but everything is going to be okay. We're going to make everything okay."

Izuku highly doubted even she believed what she was saying. "They say I don't have a pulse and that I'm braindead."

"It's gotta be some kind of quirk that they've never seen before." She nodded to herself as if that explained everything. Izuku looked into her eyes and tried to find any semblance of normalcy in them. She was the last person he had left. He didn't have any friends, Katsuki had made sure of that. His mom didn't have any friends other than Mitsuki. No matter what, even if her son was responsible for his death in the first place, he didn't think he could bring it upon himself to tell her what had happened. He would have to find another way to go about it.

"What happened to Mom? I saw her grave next to mine…" He whispered.

Mitsuki's tears fell all the harder and she sobbed. "The day she went to claim your… claim your body, she got hit by a car when crossing the road. Some criminal was running from a hero and she didn't look up in time to get out of the way. I was on the phone with her when it happened… I'm so sorry Izuku, I'm so sorry." Izuku could only stare at the top of the woman's head as a weight settled in his stomach. His mom was dead, he had hoped that the grave had been wrong, that his fear had made him read the headstone wrong, but that wasn't the case. He was truly alone.

[Streets of Hosu]

Katsuki avoided him like the plague and Izuku couldn't be happier. Katsuki refused to even be in the same room as the… he didn't even know what to call himself. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't alive either. Maybe undead? 'That could work for now.' He thought to himself.

He didn't have to wait long though. Three months. It took three months for things to get back to some sense of normalcy. He was back at school and now, even more than before, everyone avoided him in class. That made him happy though. It made it easier to do whatever he wanted to. Teachers didn't question him whenever he didn't listen, other kids pretended he didn't exist, and it left him time to figure out where he would go from there.

It helped him get ahold of his emotions. He was quick to anger now, snapping at people for the smallest of things. But that was to be expected. A traumatic experience like that does things to people, does things to their minds. He wondered if he would ever be fully in control again.

"You need to leave."

'Ah, so it's finally come.' Izuku thought dryly to himself. "Why would I do that? Afraid your victim will say something?" He turned with a dry look towards the explosive quirk user as they left school.

"You're just as useless as before and all you do is make the old bat sad." Bakugo bit out angrily. His fists clenched at his sides. "She's too worried about what would happen to you that she barely has time to take care of herself."

"Ah, so now I'm a burden and worthless." Izuku drawled tilting his head to the side inquisitively. "How would she feel if she knew her son was a murderer?" He reached into one of his pockets and shuffled his feet.

"I don't care if I pushed you off of the roof. You would be better off dead. The rest of us would be happier if you had never come back." Bakugo stepped forward angrily, his hand popping with smoke.

"Don't look now, your temper is showing. Besides…" Izuku pulled a small black stick out of his pocket and held it up. "I'd watch what you say to me and how you act. You'd hate for your mom, or even the police… to get ahold of… this."

"W-what?"

Izuku smiled darkly and tossed the object over.

"What's this supposed to be? A USB stick?" Bakugo fumbled with the item. "What is this?"

"Don't be dumb. It's you killing me. Funny how easy it is to find a video of what happened." Izuku stuffed his hands back in his pockets.

"W-what?" Bakugo whispered in horror. "But there are no cameras on the roof of the school, there are no cameras that look up there… Don't fuck with me Dek-"

"Come now Kaachan." The green haired teen chuckled darkly. "There are cameras on every corner and in every store around."

"So… what, you're going to give this to my mom and expect her to turn me in or something?" Bakugo's voice was no louder than a whisper now, realizing his situation. He continued to glare, refusing to back down to this freak.

"I'm not that cruel, Auntie Mitsuki has been through enough. No, giving it to her would hurt her more than it would hurt you. No Kaachan. If that ever got out, you wouldn't be able to become a hero. You wouldn't be able to redeem yourself." Izuku took a few steps closer to the other boy. "No, you're going to make up for what you did. You're going to pay for getting my mother killed. I don't care about what you did to me, not anymore. At first, the only thing I could think about was turning you in and watching your dreams crumble just like you tried to do to me; what you've been doing to me for the past ten years of my quirkless life."

Bakugo clenched his teeth. "What do you want? A fucking apology? Is that what you want?"

Izuku smiled brightly, his sadistic demeanor changing instantly. "Now that's a good sport. No I want something even more. You're going to become a hero."

"W-what?"

"You're going to become a hero and make a lot of money. You're going to graduate at the top of your class like you were planning, go to U.A. and make something of yourself. But you're never going to speak to me again, not unless I speak to you first. Never will you call me Deku again, I'm Midoriya to you from now on." Izuku spread his arms out to the side. "Live with the knowledge that I could destroy your whole family with this. You think Auntie Mitsuki is sad now? How would she feel if she found out her child, her very own child, was responsible for her best friend's death? That he was a cold-blooded killer."

Bakugo refused to step back and away from Midoriya. How dare this weak boy, this worthless child, threaten his mother like this. "Why are you doing this? Hurt me all you want, but leave the old bat out of this. Or are you too weak to do something yourself?"

Izuku's smile turned manic. "You're trying to get through to my bleeding heart? The same one that because of you might never beat again? All I feel now is anger. All I want to do is hurt you, all I want to do is make you feel the same helplessness that I did. But I won't. I won't stoop to your level Kaachan. Auntie Mitsuki doesn't deserve that, but you do. Maybe she'd forgive you in time, maybe she'd try to cover it up, maybe she'd help you kill me again. But, do you think she would ever trust you?"

Bakugo stood trembling, not in fear, but in anger. He felt powerless for the first time. He'd seen Izuku heal nearly instantly from cuts and bruises already. He'd watched the boy in front of him come back from the dead.

Izuku backed away from the teen, his mask of indifference slipping back into place. "Now, I'm going to be by your side the whole way, reminding you that no matter how good you are… No matter how good you are, you're still just a murderer."

"What would Auntie Inko say if she heard you like this?" Bakugo whispered. "What do you think she would do if she heard you blackmailing someone?"

Izuku stumbled back and fell to his hands and knees. Anger flashed through him. "You'd try to use my dead mother against me? The same one that you were responsible for the death of?" He raised his hand up and grabbed ahold of one of the lampposts near him. "I don't know what she would say, and I never will. I'd trade my life for hers any day, give her just one more day to be happy again."

Bakugo smirked seeing he was turning this around on the green haired teen. "I bet she would be really proud of the hero you're becoming."

Izuku stood on shaky legs and with a quiet grunt of effort, ripped the metal pole he had been holding onto out of the ground. He clenched tightly, the metal groaning and creaking as it crumpled in his hand. "Bring her up again and I'll do more than tell everyone what happened Bakugo." He whispered. His eyes flashed with rage and he threw the pole at Bakugo.

Bakugo grunted as his back hit the ground, the pole weighing down on him. His eyes opened in panic and he struggled against the weight, trying to push it off of him, but it weighted too much and was forcing the air out of his lungs.

Izuku stalked forward and stared down at his once friend.

"H-help me!" Bakugo wheezed out.

"Beg me." Izuku whispered, putting more weight on the pole holding the boy down. "Beg me to help you. Beg the weak and useless Deku to save you."

Bakugo struggled against the weight, his hands popping with small explosions. Izuku could see that he was panicking and, in that panic, was having trouble activating his quirk effectively. "P-please…"

Izuku kicked the pole off the boy and stared down at him in cold indifference once again. "No more warnings Bakugo. I'm done playing your games, done being your punching bag, done being worthless. Pick yourself up and do something with the life I'm giving you." With that, Izuku turned and left Bakugo to pick himself up.

[Back alley/Hosu City]

Two years passed relatively uneventfully. Bakugo stopped trying to torment Izuku and kept to his word, never speaking to his once friend unless Izuku brought it up first. That isn't saying he was ever nice to the boy, just that he didn't openly antagonize or attack him. That was enough for Izuku, for now at least.

During that time, Mitsuki and Masaru had decided to have another child and she decided to give up her modeling career once again to raise her daughter full time. Izuku came to adore the now three-month-old Ami, feeling not like an older brother but maybe an uncle to the infant. The Bakugo family seemed happy once more. Mitsuki hadn't tried to fill the role of Izuku's mother, but had certainly earned a strong part of his heart for everything she had done for him.

Izuku himself couldn't be happier. School was incredibly easy, he absorbed knowledge from all angles. He was tied for first in their grade with Katsuki. His memory was almost eidetic now. The other kids in their grade had eventually gotten over their fear of his death and awakening, but had taken time to reevaluate how they treated him. They were cordial and nice, but none could say they were friends with Izuku. He preferred his time being a loner, away from the other kids where he could train and grow.

Outside of school, he spent most of his time learning about the limits of his… abilities. He refused to call it a quirk. You had to be alive to have a quirk. The doctors were unable to find a way to test his blood for any sign of what he was. He was an abnormality. He had even stopped growing upon the time of his death.

He barely stood at five foot one (155cm) and weighed nearly two hundred and forty pounds (109kg). He had toned from his time before death, but his muscles never grew. No, instead he found he became denser as time went and he got stronger. He could lift several times his body weight now and others would have found it comical to see someone his size lift nearly a thousand pounds if the sight hadn't been so terrifying.

He had even worked with local Heroes, the same ones that had restrained him on the day he had awoken, to see what he was capable of. He wasn't a freak with them. He was unique and different, but never a freak. The upper limits of his healing were astronomical. Cuts would heal in seconds, bruises even faster. Broken bones healed within hours and muscle tears were almost nonexistent. They still happened, but healed faster than he could tear them. He figured that was how he had become so strong so fast. But healing reduced his stamina. He would even grow weary if he took too much damage, but he could seemingly always get back up.

Sleep wasn't a necessity either. It sped up his recovery and recharged him, but he found he didn't NEED to sleep unless he wanted to. Food however, was required. He found that out the hard way when he had passed out suddenly. If he didn't eat, his stamina dropped quickly and once he was out of stamina, he would fall unconscious.

He still needed to breath though, that was one constant from when he had been alive. It annoyed him slightly, but at least he didn't require as much air as before. With training he could hold his breath for nearly five minutes; not a lot compared to athletic adults, but more than most his age.

Pain. That was one thing that worried him. He still felt everything, but it rarely actually hurt. It only started to hurt just before he ran out of stamina, then he felt everything.

The one thing that he didn't like about his abilities was how cold he was. At least to everyone that touched him. His skin was nearly ice cold, only heating up marginally at the spot that was healing. Then it would be like touching fire. But not to him, he still felt hot and cold, but unless it was to either extreme, he barely even registered it.

He even had a notebook devoted to his own abilities apart from the usual quirk research he did. He was usually found in one of the two notebooks, writing down ideas or possible uses for other quirks. Today was no different. He was currently writing down a plan to take his abilities even further during the next three months until the U.A. entrance exam.

He was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of a manhole bursting beside him. "A small camouflage meat bag, perfect." A deep voice chuckled accompanying a green gelatinous goo sliding out of the manhole.

Izuku quickly brought out his phone and sent a quick distress beacon to the local police department. This hadn't been the first time he had been targeted by a villain. He tended to be alone most of the time and wander down alleys from time to time. That, coupled with the fact that he looked like a small preteen and he was a prime target. After a few attacks the Hero Kamui Woods insisted on giving him access to their distress signals. Being on a first name basis with Pro Heroes had its benefits.

Briefly Izuku thought about turning and running, but dismissed the idea immediately. If he ran it could lead to someone else and that person might not have as good of a chance to survive as he did.

He darted his eyes around for something to help himself with while the slime finished pulling itself out of the hole in the ground. He nodded to himself, he'd just have to wait it out and endure it until help arrived.

The being raised itself high into the air to it's full height and chuckled down at the teen. "Good, you're not even going to try to run. That'll make this easy!" Tentacles shot out and wrapped around Izuku. "Just hold still for a little while longer and I promise it will only hurt for a minute!"

Izuku stood still and let the slime manhandle him, but locked his jaw closed when it tried to force his mouth open. Instead he glared back defiantly.

"Oh don't be that way, boy! The longer you fight, the more it'll hurt!" The villain roared. When Izuku refused to open his mouth, a tentacle wrapped around his arm. "Don't say I didn't warn ya!"

Izuku tried not to roll his eyes, he really tried. With a sickening crack he felt his wrist and forearm snap in multiple places. 'That sounded like it should have hurt.' He thought dryly as his arm tingled painlessly.

The slime looked down at him perplexed. "Damn…" It grumbled. "That's some serious pain tolerance you have there! Let's see how you feel about the bigger bones!" With a twist, Izuku watched as it spun his right arm spiraled, shattering every bone up to his shoulder into what had to be hundreds of pieces.

When he still refused to react, the villain shuddered. "That just isn't natural… just what are you?"

Izuku's internal clock was telling him that he was going to have to breath soon, but with the slime covering his mouth and nose, he knew he was running out of time. He only hoped that one of the Heroes showed up soon or he feared he would learn what it was like to be controlled from the inside but have no control. He didn't truly believe he would die, but he didn't want to test that theory just yet.

'Maybe in a more controlled environment…' He thought to himself, trying to distract his own mind from its impending demise. 'Oh! What about limbs? If I lost a limb, would it grow back or would it just heal over? Maybe if I held the body part where it should be, would it repair itself?'

"Have no fear!"

Izuku could have sighed in relief had he the chance.

"I'm sorry citizen. You got caught up in my chase of this villain. Worry not, for I will save you!" All-Might climbed out of the manhole, standing nearly eight feet tall. "Texas… SMASH" All Might reared his arm back, and with a burst of speed and power, burst the slime into thousands of tiny droplets.

Izuku gasped for breath as soon as he was able to, bending over at the waist while he retched internally. "Man, that guy smelled so bad!" He groaned, blowing slime out of his nose. Not a moment later, after swearing under his breath at trying to use his now broken arm, did he remember his distress call. Quickly picking the phone up he stared down at a broken phone, the slime villain having filled the internal wiring and frying the electronics. He deadpanned down at it then shoved it in his pocket.

"Ah! Are you alright young man?" All Might asked as he bent over to retrieve the main portions of the villain. "I am terribly sorry that you got caught up in this endeavor."

Izuku looked up and nodded rapidly, but had his notebook out in the blink of an eye. "I'm alright, but I have to ask… Can I have your autograph! I'm such a huge fan!"

All Might chuckled heartily and, in a flash, he had signed the notebook. "Oh my! Your arm!" The Pro Hero exclaimed. "Please! Let us get you to a hospital! You must be in great pain!"

Izuku looked down adoringly at the signature in his hand. "Thank you so much All Might! I'll treasure this forever!" The excited teen held it up with his free hand in a moment of triumph. "I can't tell you what this means to me!"

"Y-young man?" All Might looked down questioningly at the green haired teen. "Y-your arm?"

Izuku waved him off with his good arm. "Happens all the time, I'll be healed in no time. Nothing to worry about. But, speaking of which. Do you have a phone on you?"

"I'm sorry, but I am unable to give out my contact information to fans. Can't show favoritism you see!" All Might stood to his full height once again and stuck a pose.

Izuku sweat dropped and pulled his own phone out of his pocket for reference, the slime still dripping off of it. "No, no no no. I don't want your number, I need you to get in touch with the police department!" All Might looked down in confusion. "I sent a distress-"

"Midoriya/Izuku/Dead Boy!"

Izuku looked up as a giant foot slammed into the ground next to him. In the next moment two men landed next to him and the foot shrunk rapidly to reveal Kamui Woods, Death Arms, and Mount Lady.

"We got your distress message!"

"Are you alright?!"

"What happened!?"

Izuku sighed happily and waved at the trio. "Everything's okay, guys. All Might showed up just before you did and took care of it." He held up his phone to show them it's destroyed state. "Couldn't send a message to cancel the signal."

The two men stepped up to All Might and saluted smartly while Mount Lady started to fret over Izuku's broken arm and kept turning him every which way to make sure he wasn't hurt any further. "Thank you for saving our wayward apprentice!"

All Might chuckled. "But of course! I only wish I could have gotten here sooner to prevent young…"

"Izuku Midoriya, sir."

"Yes! Young Midoriya! He has taken a rather horrific injury because I wasn't fast enough. I am merely happy I was here to prevent further harm!" All Might struck a pose once again before giving a charming smile and wave. "I'll leave him in your care now that you're here! Farewell!" With that the man leapt off into the air with the villain in two bottles.

Death Arms' shoulders drooped now that the situation was taken care of. "You really need to take more care of yourself, Dead Boy." He said in a deep, gruff voice. "But I am glad someone made it in time."

Izuku chuckled weakly under the attention he was getting from the three Pro Heroes and looked down at the ground. "I was distracted by my research and he got the drop on me before I could get away." The green haired teen mumbled.

"But your arm!" Kamui Woods stepped up and poked at the red and swollen flesh. "It seems to be healing already, so at least there is that."

Izuku finally looked over at his arm and took stock of what had happened. The arm itself was still twisted horrifyingly so he gripped the wrist with his free hand and straightened it out, cringing at the feeling of bones moving between his muscles. "At least it didn't get torn off." He grumbled. He frowned at the arm realizing the quick twist had shredded his jacket and shirt. "Gonna have to get a new uniform though…"

Mount Lady continued to fret over the teen, touching gently over his arm before checking the rest of him for any other damage. When she couldn't find anything else she settled for hugging him tightly. "Ugh!" She quickly let go and backed up a couple of steps. "You smell like sewage!" She looked down at herself and cringed at the sticky substance on her uniform.

Izuku chuckled and nodded his head back the way they had come. "Let's get out of here, I need to get home so my arm can properly heal up."

The four continued to chat about the incident and made their way back to the main road when an explosion rippled through the air. As one they turned and saw fire launch into the air. Izuku narrowed his eyes, he had seen that type of explosion in the past and quickly darted in that direction.

The three heroes were quick on his trail, easily overtaking him and disappearing down the street faster than he could keep up with. 'Damnit Bakugo, what the hell is going on…'

By the time Izuku caught up to the situation there was a crowd blocking the way. He pushed his way through with his good arm and stood next to Kamui Woods. "Why isn't anyone doing anything?" He asked as he assessed what was going on.

His eyes widened at the sight of the same slime that had attacked him wreaking chaos. 'But All Might had it with him! What happened? Did he get away or did something happen to All Might?'

"You shouldn't be here Midoriya, let us do our job and stay back." Kamui Woods stood at the ready, looking for an opening to run in. "The villain has someone in it's clutches. If we move too fast the boy may be hurt!"

Izuku glared over at the man. "Then grab him with your wood and have Mount Lady smash the slime! It's viscous, you won't kill it by crushing it!"

"I can't get close or the villain will attack the boy and if I throw my spears it may move the boy in the way and then we'll hurt him directly!" Kamui retorted angrily. He sighed quickly after. "I'm not angry with you Izuku, but this is serious. The boy isn't like you, if he gets hurt, he could die from something you'll shrug off!"

Izuku looked back over at the villain and grew even angrier. "That's Bakugo!"

"Katsuki?"

"Wait! Where's Ami? She was supposed to be with him! He was taking her to the store while Auntie got some rest!" Izuku cried out, his eyes scanning the ground around the villain and his old friend. "There!" He pointed over at a baby carrier dangling off a door with a child in it. "She's not moving! We gotta do something!"

"Shit… this is bad!" Death Arms flexed his muscles and tried to look for an opening.

"Do something, damnit!" Izuku cried out fearfully.

"I'm thinking!" Mount Lady cried out above them.

Inspiration awoke within Izuku. "Kamui." His quiet whisper focused hero's vision over towards him from the corner of his eyes. "Grab Ami, I'll get Bakugo out of there. As soon as Bakugo is out, have Mount Lady stomp that thing into the ground!"

"I don't think th-"

Izuku wasn't listening, his feet were moving before he even realized he was moving. He had to do something, if not for Bakugo, then it had to be for Ami. Bakugo's explosions would hurt her sooner or later and the fires his explosions were starting would quickly smoke up the area.

"Dead Boy, no!" Death Arms leapt after him, not two steps behind the teen.

"God damnit kid!" Kamui speared his wooden arms to the dangling infant and quickly brought it back to him as safely as possible.

Izuku threw everything he had into his legs and forced himself to move faster. Before he could blink, he was in front of the slime villain, not even realizing he had moved as fast as he did. "You again! I don't need you now, I have a better suit!"

"Let go of Kaachan!" Izuku reached into the slime with his remaining good arm and grabbed Bakugo's arm.

"Midoriya! I don't need-" With more force than he thought he had in him, Izuku pivoted and forcefully ripped the teen out of the slime's grip and threw him back. He must have underestimated his strength because as soon as he let go of Bakugo, the boy rocketed through the air into Death Arms, sending the two flying back into the crowd nearly fifty feet away.

Izuku took a step away but didn't have a chance to run further before he was picked up entirely by the slime. Before his head was pulled into the slime he cried out. "Do it now, Mount Lady!"

"But Izuku! I'll hit-"

"Yu! I'll be alright, just do it!" he cried out just before the slime slipped into his mouth.

Izuku watched in what seemed like slow motion as Mount Lady rocketed into the air. Now standing over eighty feet tall she let out a cry and slammed her foot down directly on the villain. He could see the pained expression she held. He could hear the fearful screams from the crowd. He could see the horror in Kamui Woods' eyes behind his mask. In a last-ditch effort Izuku curled himself into a ball to minimize the damage.

He felt the attack for only a brief moment before everything went black.

Kamui Woods immediately handed the infant off to the paramedics that had shown up and sprinted his way forward, moving as if everything was in slow motion. He could feel, more than he saw, Death Arms falling in beside him while Mount Lady shrunk so fast she was falling out of the air directly over the crater that the villain and their friend lay in.

Behind the crowd stood a gaunt man looking on in horror at the desperate act of bravery shown by the young man. 'He threw everything away for that boy.' He thought to himself. "I'm pathetic…" He whispered to himself. 'How can I be a symbol of hope when I'm not willing to give my everything.'

All Might wanted to bulk up and provide support, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. He would only serve to take away some of the glory from those that deserved it. Reporters would hound him for interviews and people would fawn over his sudden appearance. The three heroes didn't deserve that. Izuku didn't deserve that. 'A mere boy like him throwing his life away just to help another…' He clenched a weak fist as he watched. 'I could have done something; I should have done something!'

So, he did the only thing he could in that moment. He watched and prayed.

Silence fell over the crowd now that the action had come to an end, people moving out of the way for medics to get to the injured individuals. Even Backdraft showed up moments later to start putting out the fires that Bakugo's quirk had started.

Bakugo cradled his now crying sister with his good arm. Someone to his left gently wrapped his forearm to cover the black handprint from where Izuku had grabbed him. The boy was mumbling quietly under his breath, his eyes locked on the crater off in the distance.

In the crater itself, it had only taken moments to secure the villain. The three knelt next to the body, unsure of what to do. Did they dare move him to check him over? How would they even know if he was alright?

Death Arms shoved the contained and unconscious villain to Mount Lady. "You need to take this thing to the police."

"I can't just leave! I hurt him!" She cried out. Her vision was growing blurry from the tears.

"You can't be here right now. We need to keep a level head and do what we can." Kamui Woods stated robotically. "We trained for stuff like this, we just have to do what we can and pray things work out in the end."

The two males locked eyes and nodded. "We'll take care of him Yu. Please, just go for now. We'll keep you updated on what happens." Death Arms whispered.

Mount Lady trembled for a few heartbeats but forced the fear and sadness down. They were right, they had to show everyone else that everything was okay. She whipped the tears from her eyes and hugged the contained villain to her chest to head over to the crowd. "Any medics available please go help Kamui and Death Arms. Everyone else needs to leave while we take care of the situation!"

When no one moved she started to grow. "You all need to leave! Everything is alright here now. Everyone is safe, so please… Let us do what we do best." Using her larger body, the woman began to usher everyone back, eventually having to resort to gently pushing some that looked like they were going to refuse.

[Hosu General Hospital]

Later, once the area had been deemed safe and everyone had been evacuated, Toshinori Yagi stood outside a hospital room while he watched a blonde woman sit next to the broken and battered boy on a hospital bed. He was equal parts saddened by the sight. For all everyone knew, the boy was dead. But, from what he had heard, the boy had been dead for the past two years. 'Just what keeps you going?' Toshinori thought to himself

"Katsuki and Ami are okay." The woman chanted quietly down at the crippled boy. "You are such a stupid, stupid man." Toshinori could tell that she was fighting against her need to cry just by the sound of her voice cracking as she spoke. "No matter how stupid you are, I wouldn't expect anything less from you. It's because of you that they are okay. They are okay, but we need you to wake up Izu. I need you to wake up."

The boy didn't move, gave no sign that he heard her. She stared down at the bandaged body and let out a shaky breath. Almost every part of his body was covered with the bandages, only one of his eyes and part of a cheek was visible.

"We already lost you once, please don't let us lose you again."

…

"Ami needs her uncle. Who else is going to teach her about the more artistic side of life? Masaru is too analytical, Katsuki is too brash… I… I don't think I can take losing one of my sons." She begged.

…

"Doctor Quinn said you weren't healing like normal. Your heart is still not beating, scans of your brain are still blank." She whispered, wiping the singular tear from one of her eyes. "But they can't tell if you're really gone or not. You weren't supposed to come back the first time, so maybe you'll come back again?" She reasoned to herself despite how bleak it looked.

…

She looked over to the steady beeping of the singular machine that they knew would work on the young man, if he was still alive that is. "As long as you keep breathing with that machine, there is still a chance. Please Izu, please come back to us. Even the brat is afraid you won't wake up. I know how hard that sounds with how little you talk, but I can see it. He's been a better person since you came back. He helps out around the house more; he actually spends time with us… But these past couple of days he has been so reserved. He needs you as much as we do."

…

"I'll bring Ami by to see you when she wakes up from her nap today, maybe having her around will help."

The woman leant over and kissed on the undamaged part of his face, just under his left eye. "I know you want to see Inko, but it's not your time yet, okay? You still have so much to live for. The world still needs your light. Just a little longer okay?"

Toshinori stared continued to watch the boy, even after the woman left. There just had to be something that he could do, something that All Might could do. If there wasn't, then what good was all of the money he had? If he couldn't use it for something like this, then what good would it be for.

Resolutely, the man pulled out his phone and dialed up one of his emergency contacts. "David… No this… No... David be quiet!" Silence hung in the air at his sudden outburst. "I need you in Hosu tonight… No tomorrow might not be in time… No…" Toshinori sighed. "I'm calling in Terra's favor, yes I know what that means… Just be here tonight." He never got a reply, just the sound of the line going dead. He prayed his friend would understand. He knew how much bringing up Terra's name hurt the man. The man's wife had begged All Might to leave both her and her husband to save their daughter. That request had ultimately killed the woman as she bled to death from previous internal bleeding.

Izuku stood in a golden light and looked out at the scene in front of him. Despite the knowledge of what was happening, he knew there was nothing he could do to alter the events around him.

His body was locked in a state of unending torture. His strength and energy so low he could feel every broken bone, every bruise and cut that adorned his body. He could not control how he healed, could not talk his body into directing what little energy he had.

No, what little energy he had was keeping his soul tethered to the husk of his body. He had to give it to the doctors of the hospital, though. The one thing they did to help him was to hook his body up to the ventilator. The energy and stamina his body took from breathing was all that was keeping him tethered.

But that was all they were doing correctly. They tried injecting him with various medicines. Painkillers that did the opposite of their intended affect and caused him more pain when his body tried to fight the foreign substance. Fools, his blood didn't pump through his veins, the medicine sat in the injection site and did nothing.

They moved his bones into place. At least they had tried to do the right thing there. Instead they had to cut him open to fix the jagged bone and left him with more wounds that they had sewn up, but he could still feel the cuts.

At least they had removed the IV. That had merely swollen up the injection point to near softball before they realized their foley and removed the bloated site. It left him with another wound that refused to heal.

Worse than the shattering pain that kept his body rigid was the emotional pain. It was something he hadn't felt since he had come to terms with his own mother's death. He could feel the pain from Mitsuki when she cried over him. He had thrown himself all around in whatever white void he was stuck in to make himself move, to give her any sign that he was still there.

Even Masaru had been there expressing his wishes that Izuku get better. That had been a weird sensation. Masaru was as close to a father figure that Izuku had ever had, and would ever likely see again. Izuku felt regret that he didn't spend more time getting to know the man. If he ever woke up from this horror, Izuku resolutely told himself that he would remedy that mistake.

Ami hadn't understood what was happening, but the infant girl could feel the distress her family was in and had been upset as well.

Katsuki. He had not been surprised by the anger the boy felt. When they were alone, he told Izuku to just give up and let his family move on without him. The blonde had gone on to tell him that if he had woken up, Katsuki himself would likely turn himself in just so the two would never meet again. It was a hollow threat. Katsuki was too determined to just give up his dreams because he didn't like someone.

Strangely enough he felt inspired by Katsuki's threats. It only made him want to awaken all the more. Because he knew it would hurt the boy. Now that was something to live for, hurt the boy even more. Don't let Katsuki off that easily. He felt something within him grow and he latched onto that feeling of hatred.

Those hadn't been his only visitors either. His trio of Pro Hero friends… that stopped him in his tracks and he forgot his pain for a few moments. How long had it been since he had real friends? Katsuki had been his last true friend, back before he became quirkless. He knew the Heroes weren't his true friends, he couldn't confide in them his secrets and his true goals in life, but he felt accepted by them. He wasn't a freak of nature.

All Might had also shown up strangely. To further his own knowledge that no one knew he was still aware of what was around him, All Might revealed that he was in fact a man named Toshinori Yagi. Toshinori confessed that Izuku had revitalized his belief in the hero system.

Toshinori hadn't been alone. He had brought along someone any self-respecting hero fanatic would recognize at a mere glance. David Shield. Despite the pain, Izuku had gushed internally at seeing the inventor of so many hero gadgets and technological advances. The man had brought a flurry of excitement, hope, and unbridled pain.

The entire wing had been evacuated upon David's arrival so he could work. Only Doctor Quinn and Kamui Woods were allowed to stay as they knew the most about Izuku.

"Tell me everything you know about his condition and quirk." David intoned seriously.

"Don't call it a quirk." Kamui snapped out before blinking and blushing in embarrassment. "Sorry… Izuku gets testy when people refer to his condition as a quirk. He claims he isn't alive, so it can't be a quirk."

David waved his hand to tell him to hurry up.

"His heart no longer beats, he has no brain activity that we can see, he can feel everything like normal, but there is no pain." Doctor Quinn interjected, hoping to get this out of the way as fast as possible. "Everything heals an-"

"Until now." David was unwrapping the bandages none too gently.

"Yes, yes." Doctor Quinn waved his hand dismissively. "Healing wears him out quickly, but as long as he keeps himself rested and well fed, bones heal in hours and cuts heal in seconds to minutes depending on varying depth and length." Doctor Quinn handed over the file that detailed the tests they had completed previously.

"If he isn't healing, that begs that he doesn't have the internal energy to devote to regenerating." David slipped gloves on and was reopening one of the sewn cuts on Izuku's chest.

"Do you have to do that?" Kamui spoke up. "He doesn't feel pain normally, but he has mentioned that when he runs out of energy, or stamina as he likes to call it, the pain appears."

"Ah, so somehow he is blocking out the pain until he no longer has the energy to hold it back. Most… interesting." David smiled excitedly at his new project. Toshinori had called in on David's darkest favors he had.

It was no favor, not any longer, not in David's eyes. Toshinori had given David a gift in this boy, a new project to devote himself to figuring out. Terra had brought him his beautiful daughter Melissa, what would this boy bring him?

"That's a fair assessment, but we have no way of restoring his stamina." Doctor Quinn nodded to himself. "We've tried giving him an IV, but since his blood doesn't pump, it pools in his arm where it was inserted. We can't get food into his stomach because his stomach was ruptured and we risk infecting the boy from the inside. We have no idea what complications infection would do to his body, if it would even affect him in the first place."

David hummed. "So sleeping and absorbing nutrients from food are how he regenerates his stamina?"

"We believe so. We were only able to test so much; his guardian wouldn't allow us to experiment too much. What we were able to experiment with was without her permission when Midoriya here felt he needed to learn at least something about himself. I'd rather not incur the wrath of that woman any more than we have to. She destroyed part of the research wing and ran off several of our more promising residents when she found out we were breaking bones to test his regenerative abilities." Doctor Quinn shivered at the memory of the irate woman.

"She's not here, so we don't' have to worry about her right now." David dismissed the notion instantly. "What about shock treatment?"

"Like a battery?" Kamui flinched back at the suggestion.

"Exactly!" David looked frenzied for a moment before he could compose himself. "Electricity might refill him… Fire might work too if we can concentrate it somehow… Have you tried replacing his heart or his blood?"

"N-no…" Doctor Quinn paled rapidly. "We don't know exactly what is keeping him alive. For all we know, it could be his heart, though it doesn't beat, that is keeping him alive."

"Well he certainly doesn't seem alive right now. You said he heals, that's not happening. He doesn't bleed, a machine is keeping him breathing, not that we know it is doing anything more than pushing air into an empty husk of a body."

There was a shift in the room. Everyone felt it. It felt like the light in the room was being sucked away, if only for a nanosecond. All three locked eyes, confirming they had all felt it. David no longer tried to hide the fanatical grin. "There is our answer. The boy is still in there!"

Kamui darted towards the door, "I have to tell his family!"

"You'll do nothing of the sort!" David's biting remark brought Kamui to a stop. "They don't know if he is alive yet, let's keep it that way. We can work more freely if they don't know what we are doing."

"Surely that's just cruel, wouldn't you think doctor?"

Doctor Quinn chewed on his knuckle as he looked down at the boy. "I have to agree with Mr. Shield here, Mr. Woods. Telling the Bakugo family would keep their eyes on what we are doing. If we can work freely without having them question what we are doing, maybe we can try some radical treatments undisturbed."

"Nothing leaves this room from here on out. If either of you two leak what we are doing before we are done, I'll make your lives hell." David waved a hand absently, his attention already devoted onto logging everything he could currently see on the boy.

Kamui Woods shivered. This was one of the most powerful men in the world so he didn't doubt he could make it happen.

David gathered all of his papers and walked purposefully towards the door. "Bring the boy to the largest room you have here, I'm going to need space to experiment to find out what works."

[One Week Later/Hosu General Hospital]

An unearthly sound erupted from Izuku's throat before it turned into an inhuman roar.

David stopped the test immediately and was at the boy's side, watching as the skin around Izuku's neck knit itself together. He could even see the bones moving under the skin as they tried to fit back into place. The scream and movement stopped in mere moments.

"We're on the right track!" David cheered excitedly.

Two others watched in silence over what was happening in front of them. The entire process was inhuman. It was cruel. There was nothing else to it.

A small animal watched a video of the process in rapt attention. "This boy." A melodious voice that should not have been possessed by such an animal whispered. "This is exactly what the future needs!" He grinned excitedly, nearly as crazed as David's own enthusiasm. At this rate the boy would be healed by the testing cycle.

A small hand ran across the picture of the pale boy that was attached to the application in front of him. "I have to made some adjustments to the entrance test, can't have the boy growing stagnant…"

[One Month Later/I-Island Research Facility]

The next time Izuku came to consciousness was in the middle of a giant room filled with various pieces of equipment and objects, some close to what the public would deem to be torture devices.

"You've finally awoken!" David's face entered his view, the smile more manic than he remembered seeing in the past. "You're on I-Island where we have more privacy. We can do whatever we want here!"

"…" Izuku's mouth worked, but no words came out.

"Ah, figures you wouldn't have use of your vocal cords yet. No worries my friend, we will get you all fixed up in time. For now, can you move your head?"

Izuku slowly nodded, flinching in pain as he did. It seemed the muscles and bones in his neck still weren't completely healed. The rest of his body screamed in fire and pain but he fought to focus on the man above him.

"Good! Then you're hearing is back! Now, do you hurt?"

Another nod.

"Good good, that's a step in the right direction. Now, I'm going to warn you. Now that you are awake, this is going to hurt more than anything you've ever felt before. Are you ready?"

A set of determined eyes focused intently on the scientist and a short nod acquiesced his suspicions.

"Good, good. Now, I'm going to cut open your bindings and your sutures to let your body heal itself on it's own, nod if you understand."

Izuku nodded in understanding.

"While I work do you want me to tell you what I'm going to be doing as I do it or would you rather not know?"

A dry look adorned the boy's face despite the obvious pain in his eyes.

"Right, right. Yes or no questions, I forgot myself for a moment. First, do you want me to tell you what I'm going to do before I do it?"

A moment passed before he received a hesitant nod.

"An inquisitive mind. Good. Yes…" David went about cutting the sutures that adorned Izuku's body, mumbling to himself about what the next bout of treatment he was going to administer was. "Last question. Maybe the most important one that I have to ask."

The two met eyes, intensity sparking between the two.

"Since you've been out, have you been aware of what's been happening?" David shook his head. "I don't need that answer, I already can see it in your eyes. No. I need to know, do you know what you are now?"

Izuku's lips peeled back in a feral smile. A strong nod sent a bubble of newfound excitement through the scientist.

David grinned back. "I had hoped so." He gestured to the bodies that lay around them though he knew Izuku couldn't see them just yet. "You are going change everything my boy. No, I don't think I can call you a boy any longer, now can I? I can't wait to see what you accomplish my friend!"

One of the bodies closest to the two twitched and groaned only for David to kick it further away. The body rolled to a stop and didn't move again. "No more of that now, I can't have you awakening and ruining what we have discovered!"

"Worry not my boy! After we get you all healed up, we will get you back to that family of yours!" David sang out as he grabbed a thin rod. He gave it a small twist and green energy radiated from the tip. David's smile should have scared Izuku, but the teen could only share the excitement in having his body back to himself.

AN: Yes, yes, I know. Izuku is super OOC with his attitude and what's happened to him. But you wouldn't be reading fanfiction if you wanted to see him be the same person he is in the manga/anime. I will be changing a few things timeline wise for the story, but you will see a lot of similar things happen, there will just be a different outcome. With those other outcomes, comes consequences and benefits all their own! I have an idea about the future of this story, but feel free to message me or comment on what you think is already planned or want to see happen! Further chapters may not be THIS long, but I'll do my best to keep them full and often!

Other than that, yes there will be a relationship in this in the upcoming chapters, but I haven't quite decided how/where I want said relationship to go. There may be a few red herrings before a real relationship happens, maybe not! You'll just have to read and see! The only one that you won't have to worry about is Izuku/Bakugo. Just no. Especially not for this story. Bakugo is already set in concrete about his relationship issues in my mind. I won't say one way or another whether he will or won't be in a relationship, but know that you can't sway my mind on what I've decided with him.

Another note I want to bring up is Izuku's seemingly rapid change in personality. Think of it this way; he lives with his murderer. Every time he see's Bakugo, he sees the person that killed him, and the same person that he deems responsible for his mother's death. His mother was the SINGLE PERSON that he had that even LIKED him. Just imagine how much pain he is in because of that person being dead. We've already seen how he fakes emotions in the source material, now he just doesn't have as good of a filter.