Touch of Chaos

Chapter 41

Gravity was a funny thing, really.

The wind whipped past him as he flew through the sky, tumbling and rolling with nothing left to break the fall. The old brick jumped in and out of view as he fell; he was so close to the building that he could touch it. The deep blue sky burned itself into his memory; it was nice, a clear sky on a warm day; a perfect way to say goodbye.

Izuku sat up in shock. Cold sweat formed a layer across his freezing skin. His heart is pounding, his mind empty. Hands shook as he ran them through his hair; it had been a while since he had seen that particular dream. Glancing around his room, he laid eyes on Katsuki; he was fast asleep, curled into the blankets next to him; undisturbed with his eyes closed peacefully. Izuku brought his still shaking hands up carefully, feeling around his neck. The brace was still tightly secured around it, trying to prevent any more serious injury.

He rolled his eyes, sick of feeling the weight of the world on his tired shoulders.

Izuku quietly pushed his legs off the edge of his bed. He didn't want to wake Katsuki up; he glanced at the clock, 4-AM, he had two hours before they needed to be at U.A. His knees trembled as he tiptoed out of his room. He hoped his mother was still asleep; he didn't feel like getting chewed out this early. Izuku and his mother might have their differences, but they still cared about each other, and she wouldn't like to see him walking about with a fractured neck.

He couldn't shower with the brace on, and he couldn't be bothered to try and get it off; he settled for throwing his sweat-soaked clothes in the wash and using a towel to clean himself off. After throwing on a hoodie (the only thing he could comfortably get his head through) and some shorts, he got to work. He tiptoed back to his room, checking to make sure Katsuki was still asleep before gathering his laptop and some of his more private quirk notebooks. More specifically, the ones about Izuku's quirks.

After the pain had started a few months ago, he decided to go more in-depth. He didn't like to analyze himself, but when his quirks were the thing killing him, he had to make exceptions. All for One was difficult, and it was made more complicated by the fact that their quirks weren't identical. Early on in his life, Izuku's father had named his quirk Mortal Envy. A sick joke really, Izuku didn't take quirks because he was envious; he took them because he had to.

He had seen AFO give and take quirks before; he knew that he had forced yet another quirk into Izuku's fragile body, and since then, the pain had vanished. His quirks still fought, they still hated one another, but they weren't killing him anymore. He couldn't tell if it was a blessing or a nightmare. Mortal Envy made it easy to understand quirks; it was always on the hunt, looking for power. But once he had taken the quirk, he couldn't read it anymore, which made this situation all the more frustrating.

From what Izuku had gathered, it wasn't a healing quirk, and if it was, it only healed life-threatening injuries. It could be a regeneration quirk or some form of quirk control, but those too came with their own set of faults. He raked his fingers through his messy curls. This shit was just too frustrating. He glanced up at the clock; he had a few minutes to get Katsuki up and get ready. He groaned before returning his laptop and books to his closet; he could work on that mess later.

After waking Katsuki and shoving his uniform in his sports bag, he headed downstairs to make cereal while Katsuki dressed for school.

It wasn't long after they had eaten and washed their bowls that Masaru Bakugo pulled up outside his apartment complex.

It was a nice change, getting driven to school. Masaru was a good guy; he and Izuku got along well. He asked a lot of questions, making sure that Izuku was ok, Katsuki and the school had told him about the attack, and it was clear from his injuries that he had been in the center of it all. He was just glad that they didn't know how involved he really was.