Jade

Part 58

"Consider this my rebellious phase."

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"Mandalay!" Izuku yelled as he saw the brunette. He ground his feet into the soil below him and came to a halt.

"The villains are after a student, Kachan. You need to let him know, he needs to be okay." He frantically said. "He's in the forest, for the scare thingy. Oh and let the students know that they have permission to use their quirks for self defense."

He'd deal with repercussions of lying about the permission later, there were bigger problems at hand.

She nodded and did whatever she had to do to use her quirk, Izuku had no clue because well...uh he didn't have one.

Never stopped him though.

"Kachan of class 1A, stick with a group and move back to camp. Kids, you're allowed to use your quirks if necessary by Eraserhead's authority. Do not engage with the villains unless it's unavoidable."

As soon as he'd heard the telepathic message he ran into the forest blindly, leaving behind the frantic students, two villains, and the other teachers.

He weaved between the trees, panicking as the time went by with no sign of the explosive blonde that he considered one of his closest friends.

As he sped around the forest in his search, his sense of presence had dramatically dropped to the point where he had almost ran head first into a raging Dark Shadow.

By some higher power Shoji had managed to pull the greenette away before he did.

"Shoji! Shoji, thank the lord. Have you seen Kachan?" Izuku got out of the multi handed teen's hold and spoke as his head shot around in different directions.

"No, I haven't. I heard Mandalay but-" Shoji stopped speaking, taking a closer look at Izuku and noticing his disheveled state; dirt all over him, a couple darkening bruises here and there, twigs in his hair that made it look like a real bush, a small cut above his eyebrow, how that had come to be is a mystery.

"Are you okay, Izuku-"

"Shoji, if you haven't seen Kachan I'm gonna ask you to head back to camp or help me look for him." Izuku quickly interrupted, not having time for his apparent concern for him. "I really don't have time so just decide now, please."

Shoji paused for a moment before agreeing. "But we need to help Tokoyami, Dark Shadow's lost his mind and he's on a rampage." He adds.

"Okay, but the only thing that can stop him is light. Try using your arms to find Todoroki or Kachan, they can make light." Izuku says as he grabs a hold of one of Shoji's arms and hurries in the direction that Dark Shadow was heading in.

They kept on their way until Shoji heard familiar crackles as he sped up, putting both of them in Dark Shadow's path but soon they could see the white and red, and spiky blond hair.

"We need light!" Shoji yelled, catching the attention of the teens only for them to get distracted from the sudden apparent villain that they were fighting.

This villain could extend his teeth and if that wasn't enough of a scare with how strong it was, then the villain's get-up sure was.

His mouth was pulled to the side so his quirk could freely function and he was in some sort of straight jacket. It looked quite painful and although Izuku was focused on the blond he couldn't help the pity that he felt for the villain.

The poor guy must have been alienated because of his quirk and would have been forced to turn to villainy.

Society should really shut up now and then.

Always, would be preferable but you can't have everything.

Shoto was about to use his flames in Dark Shadow's direction but Katsuki stopped him.

"What are you doing, Kachan!?" Izuku yelled but understood what the plan was right after the words had left hid mouth. Shoji and Izuku, and Katsuki and Shoto jumped out of both paths of rampage and let them deal with eachother.

"Are you okay?" Izuku asked and rushed to Katsuki, scanning him from top to bottom for injuries.

Why did he care so much?

This is the person that tormented him for years.

This was the person who had everything but still decided to take what was left of Izuku's sense of safety and friendship as a child.

This is the person that almost pushed him off the edge.

If it weren't for Miya, it was very likely that he would have taken that final step off the roof.

Why did Izuku even bother with him!?

He should loathe him-

"Stop staring at me!"

Izuku shook his head and looked at the ground with an angry expression instead

"Could you use your quirks now?" Izuku said with just a little bite. "Dark Shadow's heading for us." He stepped back and listened for the sound of Katsuki and Shoto's quirks, soon Tokoyami was walking towards them and apologizing for letting Dark Shadow loose.

"It wasn't your fault, so don't worry. Let's go."

"We need to get back to camp, Kachan stand in the middle, everyone else surround him." he heard fast footsteps approach from behind him and stepped to the side making Katsuki -who was most likely about to throw a punch at Izuku- walk into a bush.

"I don't need to be fucking coddled, I'm stronger than all of you combined-" He didn't get to finish his sentence because Izuku had tripped him and pulled him into a head hold.

"Shut up." Izuku said, dropped him and took a few steps in the direction of camp before glaring at everyone who wasn't moving with him.

Katsuki growled but followed suit. Soon they were all surrounding the grumpy blond with Izuku and Tokoyami at the back and Shoji and Shoto in front.

"Duck as soon as you hear a noise, if I tell you to run then just run. Do not question me." They began walking. "I'm not Aizawa but you can be sure that I'm just as impatient. Floating hair or not I'll kick all of your asses"

Nobody responded but they all stiffened at his words. Izuku's demeanor somehow changed from worried to furious, in the span of a few seconds.

They walked as quietly as the could, the only sound was of the wind in trees and distant crackle of fire.

And oh, footsteps apparently.

They came from the many branches surrounding them. Izuku snapped his fingers and they all got down on their knees immediately, even Katsuki.

"Huddle together. When I snap my fingers twice I want you to split into groups of two and run." Izuku spoke just above a whisper. "Don't head toward camp directly, stay low and take unpredictable paths."

The rustling in the trees had grown far less subtle. "Tokoyami and Kachan, Shoji and Shoto." They all nodded and moved hurriedly.

Suddenly, a blinding light flashed and they all covered their eyes. "Fuck" Izuku cursed under his breath, he stood up and looked around but there was no sign of anything, he turned back and all his friends were still there...so what was the point of the flash?

Izuku heard a twig breaking and whipped his head around, it was a wonder how his neck was still in one peice with how fast he spun around.

"Izuku~"

Two snaps.