ｓｅｖｅｎ

ｚｅｒｏ

It was a week away from Midoriya Izuku's fourth birthday and the possible days for his quirk to show up was slowly coming to an end. Bakugou Katsuki already developed his quirk and was getting jittery about Izuku not having his show up yet. She consoled into her lifelong friend, Bakugou Mitsuki, to which she eased her nerves about this. But as much as she tried to optimistic for her son, her husband had other plans. Midoriya Hisashi knew something was off with Izuku and decided to leave with a simple, "Call me if his quirk shows up; if not- block my number" when his third birthday rolled around. Whenever Izuku asked, she made up some lie about him being on a business trip and sends his blessings.

Although, Midoriya Inko noticed some changes concerning her son. He was losing focus constantly and her calm, loving, and energetic child would sometimes turn off in the middle of nowhere and become prideful, or have immense hunger, or even become seductive. Then he would blink harshly and would wonder why his mother wore such a confused face.

It got weirder when the night swallowed the sun. The Izuku she knew would run around their little flat and beg to watch the All Might video before falling asleep at the computer. But this Izuku would loiter in the kitchen and constantly eat- and when she asked why he was eating after dinner, he would look at her like she was food before shaking his head and continuing to eat. Izuku also used to stare, harshly, at the birds and squirrels that came by their window when Inko sometimes fed them. Then Inko would head out the next morning to see that the animals she fed were found dead by the window with their mouth twisted up towards the sun. Sometimes Izuku would walk outside and disappear- which would cause Ink to panic greatly. When it first happened, she called Mitsuki in hysterics- before turning around to see Izuku step out of the shadows with a blank face. She hung up the phone on a confused Mitsuki and promised to apologize to her friend later as she hugged an unresponsive Izuku.

After she realized that something was wrong, she began to have horrible nightmares. It was to the point where she was afraid to blink. It started with saying a simple goodnight to Izuku- to which he'd give a grim smile and say it back before scampering off to bed. After settling in bed, she would dream that she was being tortured into submission by an unknown being. Eyes being pulled, legs bent in unruly positions, teeth plucked one by one and placed in her empty eye sockets, and a hand reaching down her throat to pull her heart out in front of her and have it beat before it being lit on fire- to which she always woke abruptly from. The first thing she awoke to was the faint sound of a child's laugh and the silent cries of her bones settling back in place.

This particular morning, she awoke to Izuku's cries. Despite her crying bones, she ran into his room to find his room in shambles. All of the faces in his All Might posters had a charred black hole in them- and some were ripped off the wall in a frenzy.

"Who would do this mommy?" Izuku cried as he held the tattered pieces close to his chest. Inko ran in and hugged him close as she looked at the damage some more. His sheets were torn, and the walls had various claw marks on them like a raging animal was let loose in his room. Even his favorite All Might toy was incinerated- the only thing left was his feet.

Before she could comfort Izuku, his sobbing turned into laughter and he gripped her so tightly it made her whimper slightly.

"Actually, it was me"