Heal Our Past, Change Our Future

Chapter XXXVII

Oh.

Oh, that voice.

He recognized it immediately.

Too many memories were linked with that voice, memories of pain, struggling, fear, and anger. So, many of them were blurs now. But the sounds were still so clear, the sounds of snow crunching underneath his feet, the growls and roars of the monsters hunting him.

And that melodic and bone-chilling voice that spoke to him so soothingly throughout it all.

"Hello," Izuku uttered quietly, it was as though he was in the dark, no one was at his sides, or in front of him, it was as though he was standing alone in a large ballroom, every sound echoing around him.

And the distant sound of soft music and loud chatter was hardly intelligible in the deafening silence.

Then he felt it, the smooth feeling of the black silk of her bridal gloves gently caressing the base of his neck, rubbing a soothing circle into the juncture of his spine while one of her fingers twirled in his hair.

"You've grown so wonderfully, such a strong resilient flower now my darling, never beaten easily." The woman praised with a chilling smile that Izuku didn't have to turn around to see.

"Thank you, ma'am." Izuku breathed, his entire body rigid with energy that was waiting to be released, his instincts told him to fight, told him to run, to alert everyone here that a threat was here, and they needed to be aware, or they would all die.

But then again, perhaps they'd die either way.

"And yet... You have forsaken us." That voice lost its soothing tone, instead turning cold and harsh as nails dug into the flesh of his neck, Izuku doing everything in his power not to wince at the pain of those daggers embedding themselves into his neck.

"I had no other choice," Izuku answered as evenly as he could, knowing from the past that refused to leave him, that his old master hated when he mumbled or stuttered over his words.

"No other choice? My dear child, I raised you to serve under our master. Instead, you betrayed them." Izanami's voice turned colder, and Izuku felt that old feeling of freezing settle into his bones.

Ah, he was frozen, he couldn't move even if he tried.

And he didn't want to try.

He had learned a lot out there, and despite everything that had happened since, he had never forgotten.

"They were killing innocents, ma'am. You also taught me that the unjust and unrighteous should be killed without mercy." Izuku stated, barely keeping in a cry of pain when those daggers only dug deeper into his flesh, the warm feeling of blood trickling down his neck and staining the collar of his shirt.

"Our master was nothing but righteous child. Have I not taught you better?" Izanami hissed, her icy breath hitting his ear and nearly making him shiver, though the nails still embedded in his neck kept his resolve to stay still, lest he want to lose his throat.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but what's done is done. I cannot change the past now." Izuku breathed, he knew there was no appeasing his old master's anger, but if he could make her angry enough, then perhaps she would be too preoccupied with him to go after anyone else here, and hopefully he could keep her at bay long enough for someone to notice, so the Pro Heroes could take her down.

Not that he'd live to see it.

He knew, even now, he stood no chance against the woman at his back.

She was a force of nature, a spirit, impossible for Izuku to ever defeat. Though she could be subdued by someone else.