The Shadows I Hide

Chapter 11: Legend

The little boy opened his emerald green eyes in the gloom of his bedroom. He blinked, staring up at the ceiling, the haze of sleep still partially clouding his thoughts.

Why was he awake? The little boy wondered to himself. Something had woken him up, but what was it? He surveyed his darkroom intently, his gaze focusing on nothing in particular. As the fog of sleep left him little by little, the boy becomes aware of a pair of voices speaking in the hallway outside his room, too muffled to make out clearly.

Filled with the curiosity any boy that age is filled with he climbed off his bed and crept slowly towards his door. He took each step carefully, not wanting to alert the voices outside that he was awake. Closer and closer he crept to his bedroom door, step by step. As he approached the end of the room he pressed his ear to the door and strained to make out the conversation in the hall. As he did so the muffled sounds he heard became the words of a frantic voice.

"What are we going to do Takaru? If he won't have a quirk what will he do?"

"I know, I know, I don't want it to be this way either, but there's nothing to be done. The most we can do is hope things will work out. Our son won't let this stop him, he's tougher than that."

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Izuku opened his eyes a crack before wincing and closing them again. His vision was swimming and his head was pounding. The memories of a recent dream had left him disoriented. He opened his eyes again slowly, letting his vision settle before looking around the room he was in. He was lying in a gurney in what appeared to be the nurse's office. He was pretty sure he was in the nurse's office, he had been here a few times when he'd gotten injured during training exercises. Why was he here though? What had happened? His head was still fuzzy as he tried to recall what had gotten him placed in here.

He was spared any further contemplation by a gasp from the other side of the room. He turned his head towards the noise to find Uraraka standing in the doorway an astonished look on her face.

"Deku!" she shouted suddenly, her face breaking out into a smile as she ran to his bedside. "You're finally awake!" Izuku still couldn't really make sense of what was going on as she walked into the room. As he tried to straighten out his thoughts Uraraka's face popped in front of his and he was caught off guard by her deep brown eyes. They were filled with more joy than he had ever seen in the girl. He felt something stir inside his gut.

"How are you feeling Deku?" asked the brunette, leaning in a little bit closer. Izuku snapped himself out of his momentary trance and shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts.

"Confused," he said at last. "What happened? Why am in at the nurse's office?" Of all the things he had thought Uraraka might do or say, he certainly hadn't been expecting her smile to widen more. She looked like she was about to explode.

"Okay, you're freaking me out a little," he said, "Why do you have the look on your face?"

His friends' gaze didn't lessen as she replied. "Deku, you're not going to believe me when I tell you this. But it's the truth, so just trust me okay?" That was an odd request, but he nodded nonetheless. Seeming satisfied with his response the brunette continued.

"Deku, you have a quirk!" He remained unfazed for a moment, sure he'd misheard what she had said. "What are you talking about?"

"The training exercise this morning! You activated a quirk! You breathed fire!" Those words echoed in his ears, and suddenly like a gunshot, all the memories of the day's events flooded back. The exercise, Kacchan, him, what he had said, what he had done. He had breathed fire. A wave of bittersweet memories flooded over him.