Subject #259 [COMPLETE]

Chapter 23: Inko's Story

Word Count: 771

Inko's POV

She was devastated when the doctors told her her child was quirkless after they took him away for a brief moment to take some tests. Her husband stood up and excused himself after the news, but was never heard from again.

"I'll still love you Izuku, even if I may be the only person in the world who does." She cried while holding her baby. He was sleeping peacefully in her arms, a small stir was the only sign he might've heard her.

Two years came and went quickly. Inko was just waving goodbye to the nanny that took care of Izuku for her when suddenly, an unknown number called. Hoping it would just be her husband who had changed his phone number, she picked up and tentatively said a small, "Hello?"

"Mrs. Inko Midoriya," The formality surprised Inko a bit, but she continued listening. "We would like to present you with an opportunity to work with our team of scientists to develop the next revolutionary medicine. We are confident your skills would benefit our company."

Inko's heart swelled but quickly deflated. "Thank you for the offer, but I have a son to care for. I would have to decline-"

"You may bring your son with you to the research facility." The mysterious person's words cut off the rest of Inko's sentence. There was a barely noticeable desperation in their voice. "We can take care of him."

Inko accepted of course, and was flown a few days later to a remote island. Her son, Izuku Midoriya, was laughing and running around her in giddy circles. She smiled at Izuku's excitement.

"I'm starting work right away?" Inko frowned after a man with a purple plague mask, who was her boss apparently, gave her a tour of the huge facility. Inko suspected she would be carrying the map of the place they provided with her for months. "What about My son?"

"Don't worry, he'll be with some other kids that also came." The man help out his hand to shake. "You can call me Overhaul. I'm the leading researcher. Nice to meet you."

And after quick introductions, Inko was put to work. Each day she worked from sunrise to sunset and could barely see Izuku. Whenever she asked about the children, she was always ignored or snapped at to get back to work.

What was even stranger was when she went to bed, a voice inside her head would repeat over and over, I don't have a son, I don't have a son.

In the first few weeks, it was strange and suspicious, but it didn't seem to affect Inko much so she didn't do anything about it. But after listening to the same line over and over every night, she slowly started to believe it. The small green-haired boy faded from her memory.

Inko told a colleague on the team about the voice, who just quickly shushed her and told her that they would tell Overhaul to give some medicine to block out the voice.

The next day, Inko's colleague handed her a pill bottle and instructed her to take one everyday before bed for a week.

"I put in a few extras just in case you lose some. If you need more, just tell me." They hurried back to their office all whilst grumbling.

Long story short, the pills worked after a week and Inko stored the extras in the back of a cabinet in case the voice started bothering her again, which they never did. But from that week on, the green-haired boy that occasionally found their way into her memory never surfaced again.

Inko awoke with a start and picked herself up from the floor. Her clothes were sopping wet and her teeth were chattering slightly. A quick look around with her flashlight showed her that the dual-haired boy and...Izuku were gone.

Her dream was still fuzzy in her mind, slowly slipping away as dreams do, but this one seemed more like a puzzle piece that was missing, finally found.

She rushed back to her office and threw everything out of the way until she found it, a small unlabeled bottle covered with a layer of dust.

A quick test proved there was a small concentration of memory wiping liquid in the pills. And after ripping apart her pillow, she discovered small, almost invisible speakers inside.

She forced up the contents of the dream while despairing. It was all lies. All lies. But one thought made her smile as she a portion of her dream became a little clearer. My son is alive.
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Hello wonderful readers :D

Finally a little bit of hope among the angst :)

Also about the brainwashing-mantra thingy, I have no idea if it is actually real or not but I saw it in a movie so I was like eh ok I'll add it cuz it's cool

As always, thanks for reading :)