Izuku Afton - Secrets (1)

Chapter 6

Izuku followed Kyoka behind a tree. "So.... what did you want to talk about?"

"Who are you?" Kyoka demanded.

"Who-who am I? You should know that- aren't I your classmate? Izuku Midoriya" He let out a shaky laugh. "...Wait, you weren't hit with an amnesia quirk, were you?"

"No, I wasn't, and no, you're not. Your real name, please," Kyoka hissed.

"You think I'm an imposter? I'm not Toga, if that's what you're thinking," Izuku promised. He thought of Kyoka's example situation, so obviously crafted to draw out Escaped. She was an Afton or Emily, sent after him like Glitchtrap was. She had to be!

"I never said you were. Fine. I'll go first." She lowered her voice. "It's me- Samantha."

Izuku froze. He could feel the effects of time going straight over his head. It felt like time was speeding up but he was slowing down, couldn't grasp a handle to be dragged along with it, left behind in its wake, and then he couldn't believe it. In a way, he was right. She was an Emily after him- just an Escaped one.

"It's you, right? The one who came up with the prank that ended in the Bite, and got in trouble for dying their hair? If it's not you, I'll have to kill you, so."

All his memories, from before, from his other universe came rushing in, making it hard to concentrate. He swallowed. "It's me. Terrence."

And then they were hugging and they were crying and he couldn't believe that after all this time, there was an Escaped right there, right next to him, and he was too blind to see it. And then Izuku backed away and said, "What about Aizawa?"

"Glitchtrap. Surely," Kyoka confirmed. "He used to do things like that, remember?"

Izuku nodded slowly. "Do you know if it's just us?" he added.

Kyoka's eye's darted around, as if checking for Escaped, and then frowned. "I'm not sure. But this has me thinking..." Everything has you thinking, Izuku thought. "If me, you and Samuel ran outside first, and then Michelle and Alex followed after, does this mean Sammy's with us?"

Izuku drew in a sharp breath, then smiled. "You always were quick on the uptake. Maybe, but we can't decide someone's him and start spilling. We'll keep an eye out and choose within reason."

"You sound so serious," Kyoka teased, then broke into giggles while Izuku protested that he was, in fact, taking this as seriously as it calls for. "But you have a point," she said, composing herself. "We were so lucky to be this close together. Sammy could be half a world away!"

Suddenly, Katsuki's voice exploded with the words, "I"M FINE! STAY OUT OF MY BUSINESS, SHITTY HAIR!"

"Well, that's our cue," Kyoka joked.

Izuku braced himself to go back. Any life he'd had in this universe resembling some sort of normality may be gone with no chance of coming back, but with someone else in the same boat, a lost friend found again, maybe the secrets won't be such a heavy burden anymore.