Ashes of the Deceived. (Izuku Midoriya x reader.)

Chapter Twenty-Two.

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—First Person POV.—

"They're still here." He mutters and my stomach chooses this moment to wring itself out.

My feet shift underneath me without my permission— The image of all those corpses is still fresh in my mind.

I can practically smell the green water and rot, the idea that they are now roaming through the house with wills of their own —Which is what he is implying— Doesn't make me happy in the slightest.

"I guess they're haunting me now." He says in thought "That's why I was outside and on the roof— And also why I showed up at your house yesterday.." He admits, glancing down at his feet like a child who had just been caught doing something they shouldn't.

"They aren't that scary!" He hurriedly adds and waves his hands up in front of him "I just— Can't stand to see them— What I've done to them.." He pauses and his arms fall limply to his sides as he exhales.

"I know what you're thinking—"

Really? Because I don't—

"I should lock myself in here with them. It's my fault they are stuck like this." His voice isn't sulky. He's not asking me to disagree.

His eyes, still focused on the floorboards, are earnest "I wish I could tell them how sorry I am— That I would do anything to take it all back."

"Would it matter?" I ask quietly "Would it matter to you if your father said he was sorry?"

Izuku shakes his head "Of course not, I'm being stupid." He glances to the right for an instant, but I know he's looking at the broken board where we took his costume out of the floor last night.

He seems almost scared of it.

Maybe I should get Denki over here to fix it or something— I'm not sure he knows how to fix broken boards though.

My hand twitches and I gather up all my guts and set it on his shoulder.

"You're not being stupid, we'll figure something out, Izuku. We'll get rid of them— Aizawa will know how to get them to move on." I say the last part to myself and as I think, I glance away.

Everyone deserves some comfort, don't they? He's out now; What's done is done, and he has to find some kind of peace.

But even now, dark and distracting memories of what he'd done are racing behind his eyes. How is he supposed to let that go?

Telling him not to torture himself would make it worse, I can't give him absolution, but I want to make him forget, even if it's just for a while.

He was innocent once.

And it kills me that he can never have that innocence again.

"You have to find your way back into the world now." I state gently and Izuku opens his mouth to speak, but I'll never know what he was going to say.

The house literally lurches, like it's being battered by a tsunami from all sides. When it settles, there's a momentary jarring, and in the vibration a figure appears in front of us.

It slowly fades in from shadow until he stands there, a pale, chalky corpse in the still air.

"I only wanted to sleep." He says. It sounds like he's got a mouthful of gravel, but upon closer inspection I realize it's because all of his teeth have come loose.

It makes him look older, as does the sagging skin— But he couldn't have been more than eighteen. Just another runaway who stumbled into the wrong house.