Stuck Between Realities-Remastered

Part 5~The Reality of INH

"I have an idea. How much hand-to-hand combat do you know?" Izuku looked at Uraraka as they planned their attack on Katsuki and Iida.

"I know a little, enough to hold my own in a fight. Why?"

"I have a plan. If you fight Kacchan with single hits, you can hold him off while I fly up and fight Iida. I know Kacchan will have challenged me so you can wear my spear costume and a wig to look like me and keep him distracted. I would get you to float up to Iida, but I don't want you to get nauseous and out of condition."

Uraraka blushed a little, unable to find a proper retort as she began the plan.

~~~

Izuku had reached the level where the bomb was being held, using his Griffin to fly up to the window. Once there, he shifted, becoming a smaller sphinx and sneaking through the crack in the window.

Iida was pacing the room, removing all the objects from within. He did not notice Izuku.

Izuku jumped up to the weapon, climbing atop it and curling up. He could have made more of an effort to get All Might's attention, but he had had a rough night and couldn't take a good nap.

It took another two minutes until Iida noticed Izuku and gave him a confused and startled look. He turned to the camera, trying to get All Might's attention, when the ground began to shake.

The loud explosion echoed out as Izuku jumped off, falling to the ground with a thud and shifting back to normal.

Smoke rose from outside the window. The fire was below him. There was fire below him. Izuku couldn't hear All Might speaking or Iida's attempts to get his attention. Everything twisted, moving around him and contorting until the familiar voice could be heard. "Hello Izuku." Then the pain started.

Iida had no idea what was happening. Izuku was sat on the floor, covering his ears and rocking back and forth. His nails were digging into his flesh, warm blood pooling out as his eyes shot around the room, trying to look for something.

Iida knelt in front of Izuku, trying to get a response, but nothing worked. "Midoriya. Can you hear me? Midoriya, please respond!" Nothing.

"Deku!" Katsuki and Uraraka charged into the room. "What's happening?"

"What happened to Deku-kun?" Uraraka, they both stared at Deku as if he were going to start giving them answers.

"I don't know what happened. He just screamed. He is not responding to anything I say. Bakugo, you two are friends. What's happened?"

"I don't know," Katsuki spoke so softly it could almost be missed amongst the chaos. He looked around for an answer before he saw the smoke. "The fire. Maybe it's the fire." Katsuki began cursing. He should have known.

"Now, now, don't blame yourself. If little Izuku refuses to take his pills, he should expect this to happen."

The group turned, watching Hitoshi enter with a white mouse bear thing. Nezu and Hitoshi both looked worried. Hitoshi gently approached Izuku, wrapping him in the capture gear around his neck before forcing him to take some kind of pill.

Slowly, agonisingly slowly, Izuku stopped twitching. He stopped rocking back and forth and removed his claws from his head. He very slowly became responsive.

By the time he was completely calm, the rest of the class had arrived. "Are you alright now?" Nezu looked at Izuku, who avoided his gaze guiltily.

"I'm sorry Nezu. I swear I mention to refill before I got here it's just been busy. You're not upset, are you? I know how hard you've worked to-" Izuku bit his lip trying to slow his breathing as Hitoshi pulled him into a hug. "Are you going to kick me out?"

"Why, of course not. I know you didn't do it on purpose, but you should have taken more care. We don't want you to start getting hurt." Nezu ruffled Izuku's hair, a bright smile on his face which was slightly creepy now that he had blood on his hand. "You go get patched up before you pass out from blood loss... again."

Izuku stumbled to his feet, supported by Hitoshi as they began to leave, almost making it to the door when Iida called out. "I apologise if this is personal; however, what just happened to you, and how can we help if this happens again?"

Nezu and Hitsohi shared a worried look, almost debating whether to answer when Izuku spoke. "It's called INH." The announcement came with a couple gasps but for the majority, they had no idea what that was. "It stands for Impaired Nerve and Heart Disease. 10 years ago there was a villain who had a Quirk to destroy and recreate the nerves in a body. The victim would struggle to use the new nerves and therefore couldn't do anything to fight back to get away.

Aside from the general long recovery time, there was a different, much worse side effect. Anyone forced to undergo the Quirk would experience hallucinations, which, for all intents and purposes, are real to that person. Every sense that person had would tell them that the hallucinations were real. They are real and, most of the time, very painful."

The class was quiet until, from the back, Mina whispered, "I still don't get why he was screaming."

"He was having an attack," Hitoshi shouted, looking more than ready to break a nose.

"The attacks don't always have a trigger, but being around certain things can increase the likelihood of it happening," Izuku continued. "Fire is one of them."

Katsuki looked down, a fresh wave of guilt hitting him.

"I think that is enough for now. Let's get going. You're starting to sway." Nezu began to lead a struggling Izuku away, having to stop to force Hitoshi to stay and finish his lesson, instead getting Uraraka, who needed to visit Recovery Girl herself, to help Izuku get there in one piece.

~~~

The day was over, and the sun was setting. After an excessive amount of monitoring, Izuku was finally free to go, now with two refills, one for home and an emergency one he was being forced to keep in his hero suit.

As he left school, he paused, seeing Katsuki waiting. "I thought," he paused. "I thought it was something else."

"You thought I had PTSD." Izuku smiled a little, walking to Katsuki's side. "Technically, you're not wrong; you just got the wrong event."

"What happened?"

"I got attacked by a psychopath who gave me INH. Not much to say."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"I wasn't alone. Emiko came as soon as she could, and Charlie was there that day. I don't think she's forgiven herself either."

"Charlie?"

"You would like her. She's violent like you."

"I missed a lot."

"You disappeared on me."

Katsuki fidgeted.

"You said we wouldn't leave each other's side, but you disappeared on me. You could have said goodbye."

"My parents, they got paranoid. They were terrified, every second of every day."

Izuku hummed. "My dad left. He couldn't handle it all. He said I was a bad omen. Emiko and Mum fight a lot, too. It's gotten better, but it's still bad."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising."

"I'm here now."

"Better. Can you cook?"

"What?"

"We can't cook, and mum is always out. I want to eat something that's not burnt."

Katsuki smiled. "I can cook. I just got to tell my family where I am."

Izuku nodded as they began to walk home.