Worthless Necessity [HitoZuku]

Chapter 61 - You went dark on me

"Have any of you seen Midoriya?" Jiro asked, looking around, before turning to Iida, "I haven't seen him since classes ended."

"He's probably in his room." Uraraka sighed, "He's been down for the past week.. He hasn't even eaten for the past few days... I was thinking of asking if he wants to attend the movie night... but knowing him, he'd probably say no."

"I'll go ask! Mina, set up the movie!" Hagakure grinned and ran up the stairs. She knocked on Midoriya's door, and waited for a response, but got none. She pushed open the door anyways, finding Midoriya staring at the worksheet Aizawa had given out.

"Hey, Midoriya, we're going to watch movies all the way until midnight, cause there's no school tomorrow!" Hagakure spoke up, "Want to join us? Kirishima and Bakuogu are making popcorn; there's cheese, salty, and caramel! And -"

Midoriya looked up at Hagakure, before he shook his head, going back to his worksheet. She glanced at Reiko, who was sitting on Midoriya's desk, looking at her almost apologetically, and then at Ryuto, who was perched on Midoriya's shoulder and nuzzling him, before she turned her attention back to Midoriya.

"Come on, please?" The invisible girl whined, almost begging, "Just try it once, you'll enjoy it, I promise!"

Midoriya resolutely shook his head again, before he shifted his posture slightly away from Hagakure, a clear indication that he didn't want to talk, and he wasn't going to at all.

Hagakure turned away from his door dejectedly, "Alright then, Midoriya. Good night. But if you change you mind and decide to join us halfway through, we'll welcome you anytime."

She closed the door gently, missing how Midoriya turned around, looking at her in confusion.

--------------------

"You know, Deku? Falling off the roof of a building? What a farce. I know the truth."

"Did you really think that taking a swan dive off the roof would make you get a quirk?"

"Never! Forget it! Izuku's my son and I'll protect him with my life! I don't care what you say! He's not useless and he'll never be! He's just a child! Leave him alone!"

"It's too late ... I'm sorry... please... get out of here, hurry...Remember... it's not your fault... you're not worthless... and you'll never be. Go be... the hero... that we all believed that you could be..."

"Do you think the heroes care about you? Do you think they really want to do it? Do they really want to save a useless, quirkless child?"

Midoriya jolted up, startling Reiko and Ryuto who were nuzzled up against him. It was the same thing, the same nightmare, the same memories, playing over and over incessantly, melding together in endless cacophony of discordant images and sounds, the violent, grating waveforms constantly repeating in his head. The noise... it wouldn't stop. He remembered all the squeaking, the screeching, the screaming, the concrete and metal falling around him, and the hushed voices of people talking, but he couldn't understand a word they were saying.

He remembered the fire, all the pain, all the blood. He remembered his skull cracking, his spine splintering, being thrown and smashed into the ground again and again. He remembered the sharp metallic edge of Toga's knife tearing through his skin and into his gut, his skin peeling off, disintegrating bit by bit, decaying into nothing.

He remembered everything.

What is the meaning, the purpose, to all of this?

The room began to crinkle, crumpling around him, closing in on him, the air around him dissipating before it reaches even reaches his lungs. He blinked, trying to calm his racing heart, breathing heavily as he slowly curled up into a ball, trembling.