Mahoraga Deku (Nah he'd adapt)

Chapter 5: Innocence in the Cycle

8 years. 8 years have gone by since mom and dad left... abandoned me, there's no point in saying left

Izuku Midoriya, Deku as he called himself now as a result of how useless he felt, was sitting in a room with 4 white walls, one bed with white sheets, a grey ceiling and one heck of a dusty floor. Izuku was busying himself with making markings in the wall with a blade, a dark blade that protruded out of his forearm. It was one of the quirks his body kept after All for One's experiments, and speaking of experiments or 'surgeries' as Mister Chisaki called them, Izuku was happy with how much time took between each one. It made it more bearable, not that it mattered anymore but he at least found time to himself now. With him only wearing quirk suppressant accessories in the surgery room he could at least feel less like an entrapped prey, and more like a guinea pig.

"Just a bit more and... there." Izuku made one last etch in the wall. It was a sketch of All Might. He was still Izuku's favourite hero after such a long time. Izuku looked at his sketch, a chiseled image in the wall keep in mind, with a scowl. Did All Might have the Blue with the Red surrounding the white or was it the... and why did his face not look right? While the thoughts of the twelve-year-old were something akin to maybe a 10 year old, his looks were like that of a late teen. Tall, with good amounts of muscle to go along with him and a body littered with marks.

"It's something on his face... something white and segmented." Izuku's pondering was cut short however, as his door was being opened. He stood up, guessing it was time for 'surgery'. However that thought was paused as a little girl was led into the room, and put onto the bed, she was asleep.

"Midoriya, keep the kid company will you?" Chisaki spoke at the doorway. He was different, he was wearing something funny, it looked like a bird beak but it was red with yellow. "I'm not in the mood for baby-sitting." He left with another person who had a mask on with a similar beak. He could recognise the hoodie as Chronostasis's but the face was covered.

Before Izuku could even catch up to think about anything though, the two left. Izuku went to the bed and saw the girl up close. She was so small, and had such an innocent face. Her pale blue-grey hair was as pale as her skin. What stood out was the singular horn on her head, it was set on one side of her forehead.

One thing, one thing was on Izuku's mind. And emotion, it was an emotion. That emotion, was anger. For some reason Izuku was welling up with anger. Not at the little girl but at the thought... the thought of such a young girl being here. Why was she here? Is it like when he was given up? Did her parents give her up as well? What was going on? Izuku's focus was broken when the girl stirred.

She woke up. A few seconds passed before she was crying, and backed up against the wall, cowering.

"Shh, Shhhhhhhhh, it'll be okay. I'm friendly look." Izuku was quick to try calm her down.

The girl had quieted down a bit.

"I'm a friend okay." He forced a smiled. His smile was honestly horrible, probably from his lack of having one for a long time. But at least the little girl was quiet. Wait what's that face she's making?

The girl made a face that read: "Terrified". This was shortly before she continued crying.

Was Izuku's smile really that bad?

An hour later after the girl calmed down. Izuku was sitting on the other side of the room. She was still looking scared and lost, it made Izuku sad to knew someone else was put into a situation he was all too familiar with. He started a conversation with the only way he knew to. "Hi, ummm... what's your name?" He damned himself internally, he had social skills which even at their peak were only a sliver above absolute zero.

Silence, that's what the next 5 seconds were. Pure silence. The girl finally spoke, with a tone one would probably only award to a lost puppy if it could speak. "E- Eri."

"Eri? That's a nice name." He said.

"Wha- what's your name?" Eri asked, she pulled the blanket up her own body, she was curling up.

"I'm Izuku." He said, he tried to smile again and Eri nearly hid under the blanket but she lowered it again.

"Izu... Izuzu?" Eri tried to say Izuku's name.

"Uhhh... How about Deku?"

"De...zu? Deku?" Eri said the name but very weirdly. It was as if she had a bad time pronouncing his name.

"You know what just stick with Izuzu." Izuku said. A chuckle came out of Izuku. Something that felt weird to him. The muscles below his lungs contracted and relaxed. This also got a smile out of Izuku, but not the forced smile Izuku tried to give earlier. It was natural this time. To anyone else it might not seem much but to Izuku, in that moment, it was strange. The feeling of his chuckle and the feeling of his face being shaped this way... it reminded him of an easier time.

Eri, seeing the genuine smile, had a small smile form on her lips. The three-year-old was replicating the happiness. It let her lower the thin blanket she was pulling up.

It sparked a few more questions between both. The most common answer Izuku got was a confused tilt of the head from Eri. Not that he could blame the child though. She was three so she didn't have much experience. The conversation came to a stop when he asked about Eri's quirk. She looked sad. This sadness turned into sobbing.

Before Izuku could think, he moved. His form was wrapping Eri in a hug. A hug. He didn't know why but the first thing he did was hug Eri.

Eri was close to pushing away, but something inside the crying three-year-old caused her to return the hug. She sobbed into Izuku's shoulder quietly for the next few minutes.

Both acted on some instinct neither were familiar with but they didn't deny the action either.

The souls of each reached out to each other, one keeping the other safe. In return the other gave the first one their happiness back.

What separated the two was a sound that startled Eri. A turn with a deep echo. She quickly looked up, to where the sound came from. She saw how the glowing eyes of Izuku  had turned for just a fraction of a second. Thankfully her expression gradually went form fear to curiosity.

Eri was not the only curious one though. Izuku was also curious. He knew what his quirk was at this point, considering his quirk alone was the sole reason he was going through all this pain. He had thought his quirk worked by adapting to quirks when they were used. He questioned of Eri was maybe using her quirk but he saw no indication. Nothing funny was going on. Maybe it was passive? He wasn't sure.

Meanwhile in the Batcave
"Bruce what are we even doing here?"

"Robin... I have no clue."

Meanwhile in a place relevant to the story:

Garaki was observing one last sample, the only one he had left after All for One's battle 3 years ago with All Might. "Interesting" He muttered. "His blood adapted to the quirk when it wasn't active... it seems the blood sample adapts passively at a slow pace but accelerates when the quirk factor is active. Makes sense."