Life Within a Tarot Deck

Broken Sunshine

Midoriya Izuku was devastated. Today has been the worst day of his middle school career, and it weighed heavily on his mind.

To begin with, his mother tortured him so badly last night that his back was still oozing and aching after the first aid treatment he was able to provide himself. She had also yelled at him that a Quirkless Choad would never get into High School and once he graduates from Aldera he will be kicked out into the streets. She barely tolerated him in the faint hope that he would get his Quirk, but 12 years old was the cap in late manifestation. Izuku is now 14, and still Quirkless.

The second thing was that Aldera had decided to make him a piñata once again in PE, singled out to be the other student's Test Dummy, and the teachers were smiling in sadistic approval allowing the others to use him just for kicks. Even 'Kacchan' Katsuki enjoyed the spectacle and finished it up with a palm blast to his side. He would have to treat that burn after his 'Session'.

Next, when his homeroom teacher asked who would be going to UA after graduation, he and Katsuki both raised their hands, pissing the blonde further and everyone else was laughing and throwing wadded papers, notebooks, and erasers at the greenette, forcing him to cover his head with his arms. Once the class had ended, Katsuki yelled at him accusing Izuku of taking his spotlight, demolishing one of his books, and shoving him across the school desks, knocking the shorter boy over.

He then taunted the greenette that UA will never accept those who are Quirkless and went overboard in telling him to jump off the building and wish for a Quirk the next life. He knew Katsuki didn't mean it fully but it somehow wounded him more than the explosion injury.

The icing on the shitcake? He was assaulted by a Sludge Villain trying to possess his body, and he was saved by his (former) idol All Might. He had thanked him for the rescue but when he asked the question that was egging in his mind if he can still be a hero even without a Quirk, All Might shut him down, hard.

"You better get that out of your head, a Quirkless being a Pro Hero will be nothing but a liability. It will be nothing but instant death."

Instant death...

*SMACK* I am not supporting my Quirkless son anymore! A disgrace like you, going to UA? You're better off finding a job as a prostitute or better off dead!

*BOOM* You are so pathetic, Deku. If you want to have a Quirk so bad, take a swan dive off the fucking building and wish for one in your next life!

"Maybe dying wouldn't be so bad," Izuku said quietly, all alone on whatever building All Might had left him on. "I'm so tired..." He had reached his limit, he had no support nor there was anyone he trusted to talk to him or even comfort him. Katsuki despised him, that's for sure, his mom used him for money or beat the greenette on a daily to weekly basis, and now he lost his one ray of hope. The despicable hero "I AM HERE!" All Might.

I am nothing but a loser. A stupid, Quirkless, loser who is a burden to everybody in this Godforsaken society. I am worthless.

"Looks like you will get your stupid wish, Kacchan." Izuku hiccoughed, tears flowing down as he walked towards the railing of the building, looking down at the concrete below through blurred eyes. Jumping off shouldn't be too hard.

---

Something doesn't feel right, dammit.

Katsuki was kicking empty bottles and cans in front of him in one of the alleyways in the Musatafu District with two of his classmates, Tsubasa (Wings) and Riko (Fingers), hoping to have some fun in one of the arcades nearby. However, his mind was preoccupied with a green-haired Nerd.

I always say a lot of shit to him to bring him down, but why the hell when I said that my gut felt like it was being punched with one of All Might's Detroit Smash?

His mind flashed to when he told Izuku to jump off the building and the feeling in his gut when he saw a change in the Nerd's eyes that did not suit him in the slightest. He could not explain it but...it was like his words just snuffed the light his green eyes used to have. Izuku looked...dead.

He better not take that threat to heart. Katsuki thought, now contemplating if he should look for his childhood friend. The Hag would rip me to shreds if he did.

Just then Tsubasa called out to the blonde, "O-oi, Bakugou? "

Katsuki glared at him. "Yeah, what the hell is it, Wings?"

"Was it just me or was Midoriya acting weird?"

Katsuki internally flinched and stopped, turning to his two friends. "You noticed it too?"

Riko nodded. "Yes, he seemed much more skittish and withdrawn, he hasn't done his usual muttering for three weeks."

Katsuki clicked his tongue as the information clicked in his mind. It's true, he hasn't done that for a while. What is going on with the Nerd?

Tsubasa then pulled out his phone, nervous at what he was about to show the blonde. "There was one other thing..."

Katsuki was shaking as another gut-punch feeling introduced itself in his stomach. "What is it now?"

"Before Midoriya put on his gear for PE, I had noticed something resembling bandages on his back and some of the area exposed was looking red or swollen-"

"What!?" Katsuki couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What do you mean red or swollen!!??"

Tsubasa and Riko flinched at his outburst and the explosions coming from his hands. Eventually, Tsubasa handed the blonde his phone. "I think it would be best to show you. I was able to sneak a pic without him knowing..."

"Give me that!" Katsuki snatched the phone and sure enough, it was Izuku facing away from the phone and at the lower part of his back where the bandages looked like they slipped off were indeed red, swollen, and from the looks of the shine of the plasma, fresh.

"What the hell?" The blonde was in shock, wracking his brain and trying to figure out where he got those wounds from. They weren't from him as they did not have the shine of burns, and the other student's Quirks were so pathetic that he knew that it would not cause them. He was with him to and from school too so it was not from outside his knowledge, except...

Katsuki's eyes widened in shock at a frightening thought. It couldn't be... He looked like Death on the way home yesterday. Why?

Unable to contain his rage any longer he blasted some trash cans next to him and kicked a soda bottle. Ignoring the pain in his toe as it was still full, still trying to put his logical brain at the thought he just had. He needed fucking answers. Pulling out his phone, he transferred the photo to his device and forwarded it to his mother, demanding answers and possibilities.

After a few minutes of back-and-forth speed texting, Katsuki deleted the photo from Tsubasa's phone and handed it back to him. "Do not tell anyone else about this, the Hag will investigate it." The duo nodded in confirmation. "In the meantime, let's keep an eye on Deku for the rest of the week to make sure nothing else happens to him at school."

Tsubasa and Riko nodded, ready to help Izuku as much as they could. Katsuki frowned and gnawed his thumbnail. He was trying to curb an unpleasant feeling in his stomach, but it felt foreboding. Never in his life had he felt that urge so strong, and it scared him, not to mention pissed him off.

He got out of his thoughts when he heard whimpering from his friends and he stared at them with a deadpan stare. They looked scared and when he looked behind him he stared at the eyes of a sludgy monster with a messed-up smile.

"Thank you for getting me out of that cramped prison. Now, as a reward, you will be my host. Bear with it, the pain will last for about 30 seconds."

Katsuki knew this day was going to be fucking hell. "...Shit! "