Rise of the Phoenix

~ C h a p t e r 20 ~

Ok so y'all. We really apologize for the long break. Both of us have not been doing so well, and when I thought that things were going to start getting better again for a while, my home life took a turn and my mental state fell off the face of the Earth. My brain is kinda on survival mode. It is trying to do what it deems necessary to survive, and also my medication increased so like sleeping has become a thing that my body is like um.

So this is kinda a funny story I slept for over 12 hours by accident sleeping through like ten alarms... stay healthy y'all. It doesn't help school is a thing that exists... (would say don't do school kids but uh... not good advice XDDDD) However! Thank you all for being patient and I hope this will not happen again.

A good thing that happened was I was accepted into the college I want to go to! So that good. Closer to getting away from my familyyyy. Uh. This is more of me pouring out my entire life story than anything else XDDD Shinji just be like vibing out in the void and she doesn't recommend going there. Just remember to take care of yourselves and take breaks. If you are struggling that is ok, (my chill professor says struggle is growth lol... not sure if I agree with that but uh) eat random food that makes you happy! Do whatever it is that you need to do to keep yourself at least mildly happier. Because that is what matters. Remember that you are valid and so are all of your issues, and someone cares about you. <3

Hello. Self harm warning, but most of what Izuku does is self harm. Please be careful. (realizing now this is stark contrast to the note above but it was written like two weeks ago... when we were really ahead XD SO IN THAT NOTE stay safe. ) ALSO! Long chapter next week! Hope you will love! Healing is coming.... eventually XD

      Izuku now kept the typewriter in a bag he found. Although it was broken, Izuku couldn't bear to get rid of it.

The urge to analyze the quirk stayed, so Izuku collected newspaper and other scrap paper from the library to write.

Once he had started with his, Izuku couldn't stop analyzing quirks. Writing them out provided a relief that Izuku couldn't understand, but still wanted.

Another relief was one Izuku found accidentally.

A very small part of him didn't like what he was doing, but he didn't really see the harm in it. It wasn't like he would die or anything.

Izuku had been holding his typewriter when he cut himself on the glass. His eyes widened as he watched the blood pool and the pain focusing and quieting his mind.

Fascinated, he took a shard and cut his other finger. As the pain increased, so did his focus. It was also another way to punish himself. He wasn't meant to be alive.

He panicked when the cuts he made disappeared when he died. This allowed him to figure out that his body wasn't going back to before he died minutes before, but rather before the first time.

This further cemented Izuku in his habit.

However, Izuku never hurt himself in front of Nala. Something in him didn't want her to see.

Izuku retreated further into himself while also becoming more outgoing. He was less careful and didn't care as much about stealth. He went into fights with both abandon and also precision. He learned to take out the criminals in the quickest most efficient way possible.

He now could also go out more often, because when he was injured, it didn't matter because if he died he would be up and ready to fight again.

This style, of course, was way more noticeable than his previous subtlety and caution, attracting a lot of attention Izuku hadn't anticipated.

Several people had tried to grab him on separate occasions.

Izuku saw them tying up villains and talking to the police, so Izuku had to assume they were pro heroes of some sort. Izuku was confused by the increased presence of heroes, as he had never seen one around this area, but he welcomed the presence, knowing the people would be safer now.

Izuku also became more paranoid with the increased presence.

He did not want to be arrested. A deep fear of being stuck kept Izuku extremely careful when out on patrol. He always had his eyes searching as if expecting to be taken any moment to be put away.

There was also another possibility that Izuku feared. He didn't want to be someone else's experimental subject. He knew that it would be a way to be useful to a whole lot of people, but the idea terrified him to the core.

Although Izuku didn't feel like he deserved his quirk, he still couldn't ignore the want to figure out the limits, so in a way, he was his own test subject. His observations were recorded on the same bits of paper he could find when he discovered the broken typewriter. Izuku had developed quite a collection of papers with all types of quirks recorded.

When Izuku knew that he was going to die, he cut off one of his fingers haphazardly to see what would happen.

After fifteen minutes Izuku had died and came back, fascinated that his finger had returned.

He was surprised that the quirk could not only heal penetrative wounds but also things that have been unattached from his body. Izuku was very confused by the quirk. In one way, his body was just reverting back to a point in time, but Izuku was also growing and changing, no thanks to his diet, but the quirk was also adapting and changing itself. It was like the quirk was trying to prevent him from dying instead of just bringing him back from death.

He just didn't know what to make of the quirk.

He was grateful that his ears remained injured. Although he hated when they would bleed, the pain reminded Izuku of Kacchan. Izuku did notice that his hearing would get worse when he hadn't died for awhile, and this was another fact that Izuku mused about in his writing.

The first time Izuku actually was able to observe one of the pros was when he ironically had a knife through his eye.

He quietly lay out of sight behind a dumpster, waiting for the pro to leave.

This pro seemed quite young and vigilant as they stood near the zip tied villains.

The zip ties had partially been Izuku's doing. He had been able to restrain one of the twin criminals before the second one Izuku had thought was unconscious threw a knife blindly, impaling Izuku's eye.

Izuku quickly reacted, recovering from the shock, getting ready to pin down the second twin when Izuku, still extremely hyperalert, sensed a figure approaching, ducked behind a dumpster.

The pro had quickly finished what Izuku started, almost appearing to glide over the ground. It was hard to distinguish the form of the pro or what exactly they were wearing.

The pro's stance grew stiff when police arrived at the scene.

Izuku's eyes widened as the pro's hands began moving in patterns Izuku recognized as sign.

'Morning officers.' the pro bowed and the lead officer laughed and shook his head. The man said something but Izuku's damaged ears couldn't make it out.

'I got here to one villain zip tied and the other distracted by what I am guessing is the vigilante we have been tracking,' the pro signed and the police detective nodded saying something else.

"So they are trying to catch me," Izuku thought, "That isn't good," Izuku's train of thought was cut off when the pro started signing again, however, as Izuku's blood loss started to take effect, he could only make out a few words.

'...ran...posible...cat-eraser... jail...' curiosity followed Izuku into the darkness of death. He just hoped his body wouldn't get discovered when it was burst into flame.