Notes:
Thanks to my beta reader, AzureFirehawk for his help.
This is the first time I've written an action sequence. Let me know what you think!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku was eight when everything changed.
His cousin Ryuko was a great person and loved it whenever she came over with his aunt and uncle for family dinners. She wasn't his only cousin, but she was the only one he knew personally. Izuku knew that Ryuko had an older brother, but he didn't know anything about him other than his name, Raizou. He had never met the man, and he always wondered why nobody ever talked about him, but he never got anywhere when he tried to ask about him. On one fateful spring day, Izuku found out why.
He was woken up early on a Saturday morning by his father's shout of "Love you, Son!" followed by the sound of the door slamming. Izuku had raced out of bed and to one of the front windows in time to see great, bronze wings sprout from his father's back as he raced in the direction of downtown. Izuku knew what that meant: a villain, and judging by how fast his father had ran out of the house, it was a particularly dangerous one.
Izuku was always worried, of course, but he trusted his dad. Sure, he wasn't number one in the charts, but anyone in the top ten was a massive powerhouse. He quickly ran back to his room and turned his computer on, scanning the internet for news on the attack. He found a news site that had a live stream of the scene and with a gasp he realized why his father had been called.
A dragon stood in the middle of downtown, fires and street lights illuminating the black scales of the beast. The flashes of its face that Izuku could see created a terrifying image. The dragon's eyes glowed with an eerie yellow, sunk deep into its sockets, it's face was gaunt, and its nostrils were wide, creating a visage of a skull filled with sharp teeth. Green liquid dripped from its mouth as it made threatening motions with its two bone-white horns which curved forward, ready to gore anyone who came within its reach. It roared, causing the nearby ground to tremble and windows to crack. All things considered, to Izuku, it didn't look fully grown. It was clearly smaller than his father, but it was still a fearsome creature.
The dragon reared back and opened its mouth, a powerful torrent of viscous green liquid shot straight towards one of the other heroes already on site. The hero dodged, but the car behind him caught the brunt of the attack. The car was quickly dissolved to scrap as the potent acid went to work. Anyone hit by that attack would certainly have been killed, or at least maimed. The heroes there had no chance of even approaching the black dragon, but there was someone coming that did.
Stormclaw smashed down onto the street in front of the other dragon in his fully draconic form. Everyone could immediately see the difference in size between the two. However, even a smaller dragon was still a dragon. Stormclaw roared at the black dragon, lightning crackling from his mouth. The entire street shook and some nearby windows shattered, showing just how much more powerful he was than the villain. An intimidation effort, Izuku noted; an attempt to end the conflict without any more combat. The other dragon recoiled slightly, before lowering its head.
Izuku recalled his father's lessons on fighting other dragons. The height and length of dragons was an advantage in most situation, but against other dragons, it was best to keep low, to avoid exposing the underbelly. While still armored, the underbelly was much more vulnerable to other dragons, for it lacked scales.
His father had told him that their scales, in addition to being incredibly tough, provide 'natural' protection against other dragons, as they are resistant to breath attacks from other dragon quirk users. It made sense; everyone in his family did possess a vastly similar quirk, after all, and a dragon was immune to its own breath. Dragons of the same type, or those that possessed the same type of breath, like red and gold dragons, were borderline immune to each other as well.
The dragon dropped into an aggressive stance, clearly wanting to fight. Stormclaw lowered himself as well, before letting a concentrated blast of lightning shoot towards the other dragon. The black dragon tried to dodge, but the lightning blast was too fast; the beast was sent skidding backwards as electricity crackled and danced over its body.
The black dragon regained its footing and turned back to face Stormclaw. Not to be outdone, the beast roared and let out another torrent of acid towards the hero. Instead of dodging, Stormclaw simply turned into the blast, letting the tough scales of his shoulder and back take the attack. The acid dripped harmlessly off him, burning the pavement below. Izuku noted that this was a second intimidation attempt: Stormclaw was sending the message that the dragon was severely outclassed and had no hope of victory.
This, once again, did not deter the villain. It roared in anger before flapping its wings, kicking up dust and debris. With its powerful legs, it surged towards Stormclaw, head low to the ground, attempting to get a hit on the larger dragon's underbelly. His father was much too experienced to let a simple attack like that work, and struck the dragon in the head with a mighty swipe of his claw, knocking it off its feet and crashing into the ground. The dragon quickly recovered, black blood dripping from its head and melting the road where it dripped. It bared its teeth and came at Stormclaw from the side. The bronze dragon turned harshly, whipping his powerful tail into the villain.
The black dragon was thrown back, smashing limply into one of the cars along the street. Stormclaw was on him in an instant, moving with speed that no creature that large had any right to possess. Before the black dragon could recover, the hero had his jaw wrapped around its neck. Lightning crackled menacingly off his fangs, causing the other dragon to flinch in pain. A third, and final, intimidation effort.
The dragon's wings slumped in submission, and it began to release their quirk's transformation. Stormclaw let the rapidly shrinking villain out of his deadly jaws, but placed a strong claw on top of them, pinning them to the ground and they reverted. As the dust settled, something had been made very clear once again: the best way to combat a dragon is with another dragon.
With a nod of affirmation, the hero let the police and the other heroes know that it was safe to approach. The gathered crowd began to cheer, and it was only a few minutes later that the villain, a black-haired man in his early twenties, was packed up into a police van and taken away. Izuku caught the man's face, and felt like he recognized him, but couldn't place it.
It wasn't until a few hours later, once his father had come home and endured the deluge of questions that his son had prepared for him, that the mystery was solved. Izuku was eating breakfast, watching the news on his phone. The villain's name was released, and Izuku dropped his spoon. The black-haired man's picture stared at him through the screen, with the words 'Raizou Tatsuma' underneath. This man was his cousin. Izuku knew that he was obviously related to him, but to find out that he was someone so closely related was a little unsettling. His father looked at him solemnly, wordlessly communicating with his son.
The news report continued. Apparently, Raizou was a lowlife with a large criminal record. The reporter on site said that, according to their sources, the rampage started when a back-alley deal went south. Raizou was angered and lashed out. The bodies of seven other criminals were found in a nearby alleyway, but thanks to the quick actions of the other nearby heroes, there were no other deaths. Many civilians were harmed, and the property damage was immense, but it was much better than it could have been if Stormclaw hadn't shown up.
Raizou had turned out so differently than his sister; they could hardly have been more different. Was it all due to the influence of their quirks? Regardless, Izuku put the thoughts away for now. He had a busy day ahead of him and he couldn't afford to be distracted thinking about his estranged cousin.
On Monday, Izuku went to school as normal. He walked into class, was greeted by most of the other students, asked a few questions about people's weekends then sat down in his seat. The school day continued without interruption. He took diligent notes, although he didn't really need to. He already knew the material, after all. Ever since he started elementary school, Izuku and Katsuki had been receiving private tutoring.
Obviously, his father wanted to send him to a prestigious private academy; a place where Izuku could receive the best education available to him. However, Izuku didn't want to be separated from Kacchan. While his father had no problem paying for him to attend with Izuku, the blonde's parents refused to accept that kind of charity. Izuku thought that they were being foolish, but he knew that people's pride was important.
Faced with the threat of not being able to see Kacchan nearly as often, Izuku came up with a solution.
Izuku proposed that Kacchan and he attend their local public school. This would allow Izuku to maintain normal social interactions, which he knew his parents were interested in him doing, and keep in contact with is best friend. So that he would not suffer from a potentially lower-quality education, his parents would hire a private tutor to give him lessons, and Kacchan could join him. This would appease Kacchan's parents, his parents, and would teach him better study habits and discipline.
His sales pitch was a success. For the past two years, the two boys had spent nearly every Saturday with their private tutor, alternating sessions between their houses.
She ran them through all the subjects at an intense pace, cramming what seemed like entire weeks of schooling into a single day. She assigned them homework for every other day of the week, more than doubling their homework load. She was a ruthless taskmaster, but the boys were always up for a challenge. The end result was that they received an education that might have even been superior to the private academy that his father had in mind.
This helped Izuku make more of his 'friends' as well. He was always willing to help give advice or tutor the other kids. He never did so at lunch, however. Lunch was his personal time, just for him and his best friend.
Later that same day at lunch, Katsuki looked over at his friend at their table, spotting the notebook in his hand. Izuku was always writing in one of those during his free time. The cover of this one read 'Hero Analysis for the Future No. 4', causing him to raise his eyebrows.
"New notebook already?"
"Yep!" Izuku responded happily, taking a deep breath. "I always love the smell of a brand-new notebook. Number 3 lasted me a while, but with that villain attack over the weekend, I filled up the last pages pretty quick." He didn't say 'my cousin' because he wanted to distance himself from the event. Katsuki understood.
"Yeah, I'm not surprised," he responded after swallowing his food. "It's not often we get to see your dad in action like that. Uncle 'Sashi is a force of nature when he wants to be."
Katsuki returned to his meal, thinking quietly as he ate. Izuku kept writing hurriedly in his notebook, muttering under his breath. Katsuki smirked as he caught the sketch of Stormclaw on the first page; Izuku always made his dad the first entry of every notebook. The rest of their lunch time continued as it often did, uneventful and relaxing.
It was the walk back to class that was eventful.
Lunch had ended, and the two boys were walking side by side when they heard a voice behind them. "Oi. Are you Midoriya?" Both boys looked back to see two taller kids approaching them. They were at least two or three grades older than them.
"Yes, that's me," Izuku responded with a smile, turning to face them. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah, you can tell me when you're going to go nuts and start attacking us," the taller of the two older students said, a distinct note of frustration in his voice.
Izuku and Katsuki both froze.
"I, uh, what?" It wasn't often that Izuku was left speechless, but he certainly wasn't expecting to be asked a question like that.
"He asked when you're going to stop pretending that you're a normal kid and start trying to kill us all." The other boy took an aggressive step forward.
"I- I- I wouldn't-" Izuku had taken a step back. Several students had stopped to watch the conflict.
"Cause that's what your family does, right? Or do you think that everyone has forgotten about Terrorflame?" The shorter one continued his accusations.
Katsuki knew that none of these kids had memories of Terrorflame. Izuku could give you the date, time and location that he was finally brought to justice, and it was years before any of the students at this school were born. These kids were mad about something and were taking it out on Izuku. Sure, he was related to Terrorflame, but he was also related to Stormclaw, and Thunderwing, and Gallant. Izuku could claim just as many heroes as his ancestors as he could villains.
He wasn't really listening to what the kids were saying at this point. He was more concerned with how his friend was reacting. The boy was trying to shrink down, trying not to further anger the larger, already angry students. He had taken a step back, let his head drop, and otherwise looking like he was submitting. Or at least that's what he appeared to be doing, but Katsuki knew better.
Izuku did this whenever he was put into a corner. He pretended to back down, pretended to submit, but it was all a ploy. Katsuki looked at his green eyes, looking past the fake fear inside of them and saw them analyzing and calculating. He needed to diffuse this situation before it escalated, for the sake of both parties. That's what a hero would do. He knew Izuku didn't need to be protected, but just because someone doesn't need something doesn't mean they don't deserve something.
"Leave him alone." Katsuki took a step forward, putting himself between the wolf-playing-sheep and the older boys.
"Why are you protecting him? You know he's just gonna kill you first when he finally snaps," the taller boy sneered.
Katsuki didn't acknowledge the boy's words. "I said, leave him alone. Go to class. Let's not get in trouble. Come on, Izuku, we don't want to be late." He half turned, trying to get his friend to move.
The older students apparently had a lot of pent up emotions; frustration, anger, indignation, just to name a few. The spikey-haired blonde boy tried to defuse the situation, but instead, his cold dismissal just set the boys off. The smaller one took a swing at Katsuki.
The punch may have actually hit him if he hadn't been sparring with Izuku under the supervision of a top-ten hero for half of his life. Katsuki had great reflexes, and easily dodged the punch. He stared back at the boy, his anger overruling his judgement. He was getting heated now, and squared up to the two of them, putting Izuku behind him.
The shorter boy took another swing, then another. Katsuki dodged them both easily, but then the taller boy joined in. The students surrounding the spectacle started cheering as the blonde avoided the punches from the taller students. However, in the end, they were bigger, and he was outnumbered.
A punch from the taller boy hit Katsuki straight in the jaw. He'd been hit harder, a lot harder, but it was still a solid hit. His vision went blurry for a second and he stumbled back. Before he could regain his footing, he felt something shoot past him at dizzying speed.
He got his bearings back as a crash echoed through the hallway. He looked through the stars in his vision to see that Izuku had flown past him and tackled the boy who had punched him. Izuku was sitting on the larger boy's chest, pinning him to the ground. Katsuki could only see the back of his friend's head, but he could imagine the expression on his face.
"YOU DO NOT HIT KACCHAN!" Izuku screamed at the top of his lungs, voice deepened with the unconscious activation of his quirk.
Izuku reared his right arm back, clenched in a fist, and brought it down on the boy's face with furious, burning anger. With a loud, dull noise, the boy was knocked out. The punch was solid, but judging from the sound, Katsuki doubted any bones were broken. Izuku whipped his head towards the other aggressor, allowing Katsuki to see his eyes.
They were glowing with the tell-tale energy of his quirk. They moved unnaturally, turning and focusing on the older student in a distinctly reptilian fashion. The other boy took a terrified step backwards, before turning and running down the hallway. The rest of the students followed suit, leaving the two friends with the unconscious student.
The older students were suspended for three days for the fight, while Izuku was suspended for a week. Due to the testimonies of other students that he only dodged and tried to help, Katsuki was spared any formal punishment.
His parents had come rushing to the school when they received the call. They met with the principal and after a brief meeting, they were on their way home. Izuku had barely spoken a word since the event, and he was still clearly fuming. Inko, in her wisdom, knew that Izuku needed to confront what he was feeling. She started gently.
"Izuku, honey? Why did you hit that boy?"
Izuku thought for a moment. He was still angry, furious even, but not at her. He continued to glare out the window while he finally spoke. "He hurt Kacchan."
"You hit Katsuki all the time, and so does your father." She was playing devil's advocate to help encourage her son to think .
"That's different. We are training, helping each other," Izuku huffed.
"That's why you're not angry at your father when he hits Katsuki, but what about them hitting him made you so angry? You know he's tough enough to handle himself. Defending your friend is fine, but your anger went past that. Why?" She was moving in for the metaphorical kill.
That may have seemed like a harsh line of questioning for an eight year old, but Inko knew what she had to do to push her son to think. "Because they were trying to hurt Kacchan. They hit him. They…" He trailed off for a moment as he considered what he wanted to say, thinking like his mother wanted him to.
"They hurt what's mine."
Hisashi took the week of Izuku's suspension as vacation. Inko believed that he should be the one to oversee his punishment, as the incident was clearly quirk-related. Early on Wednesday, the second full day of Izuku's suspension, he got a notification from his home security system that there was a car approaching down the driveway.
Hisashi raised an eyebrow, moving over to the screen on the wall to view the security camera feed. He hadn't expected anybody that day until much later, after all. He flipped the screen on, watching the car come to a stop. He saw the man that stepped out of the car and his eyes widened. Then his brow furrowed. He made his way to the door, opening it as the man approached.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Hisashi asked, a forced politeness in his voice.
"I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by," the man responded in kind.
"I don't believe that for a second."
"Fine. I came to talk about your son, in light of Raizou."
Hisashi sighed. He had expected as much. "Alright, come on in then."
Izuku had woken up early that morning to finish his homework. Kacchan had been coming over after school to bring it to him, which he was grateful for. It was mostly just busy work for him, of course, but he didn't want his grades to slip. He was already missing a week of school, falling further behind was unacceptable.
He sighed. He felt bad for hitting that boy, especially as hard as he did; he really didn't know what had come over him. Izuku remembered doing it, but his memory felt like he was watching someone else do that, not himself. It was honestly mostly a blur. One moment he was pretending to be scared, letting those bullies think they had him where they wanted him, and the next he felt something snap.
Seeing those jerks hit Kacchan had made him so unreasonably angry. Kacchan was tough, he didn't need to be protected. But...Izuku didn't need to be protected either, but Kacchan stepped out anyway. He was just returning the favor to his friend. They protected each other like friends are supposed to do, right?
That wasn't what it felt like, though. It felt… natural to lash out at them. The moment that they hit his friend, they had made a mistake. They dared to hurt something of his, to disrespect him like that. It was an insult he could not stomach. But as soon as his rage had left him, he had felt disgusted. His anger on that ride home with his parents had been directed at himself, not the bullies.
Those thoughts weren't heroic, his actions weren't heroic. His actions were past merely protective, they were possessive. He became angry at himself again, frustrated with his thoughts. He needed to talk to his dad about these feelings. His dad wouldn't judge him, and nobody could be better suited to help him.
Izuku left his room and went to find his dad, but to his surprise, he heard his father talking to someone. His tone was a little heated, and the man he was talking to didn't sound much happier. He debated just going back to his room, but his curiosity got the better of him. He walked towards the back porch, pretending he didn't hear the voice and just walked right in. He planned on acting surprised as an excuse, but it turned out he didn't need to act.
Sitting there next to his father was another man who looked quite similar to him, although a few years younger. His hair was pulled back in a small bun and was a golden blonde instead of his father's bronze. Two golden horns swept back across his head, starting right above his eyes, and two smaller horns stuck out on each side of his head. He had a long, wispy moustache and beard, and a shrewd look in his eyes. Izuku knew this man. This was the Gold Dragon hero, Purifier. He stared at the man, the man stared back. They both blinked.
"Uncle Hatsuo?"
"Why is he home? Isn't it a school day?" Hatsuo asked his brother after Izuku had been sent away to go play downstairs.
Hisashi sighed. "He got suspended."
"For what?" Eyebrow raised in vindication.
"He got in a fight. He wasn't the instigator." Hisashi defended his son.
"This is what I'm talking about, Hisashi." He pointed his finger at the table in emphasis. "He's dangerous, it's not his fault, but it is his fate."
"You know, he isn't an actual dragon." Hisashi said firmly. "He's a boy with a quirk. We are just a family with a quirk."
"You know he has dangerous instincts. I can't believe you're still training him." Hatsuo folded his arms. "You're training a future villain. You know that. You know how strong our instincts become."
"You don't know my son." Hisashi was officially angry.
"There has never been a chromatic hero. The closest a chromatic can get to being a hero is not being a villain." Hatsuo was heating up too.
Hisashi internally rolled his eyes. His brother had probably been sitting on that line for a while.
Hisashi had lost enough of his temper to go for the throat. "What would dad say if he saw you now, wanting to throw your own nephew to the wolves."
"At least you might know!" Hatsuo was reacting as he expected: violently. "I never got to know the man. It was all 'Hisashi this', 'Hisashi that'! I was finally successful. I was finally worthy of his attention. And then on the day of my success, he was cut down." His voice lowered as he hissed through his clenched teeth. " By. His. Own. Brother. Blood doesn't mean a damn thing to these monsters."
"What, are you suggesting that I let you detain my son right now? To toss him in prison like the criminal he is?" He asked sarcastically.
"Of course not. Just because Purifier isn't as high in the rankings as Stormclaw doesn't mean that I've suddenly forgotten how the law works." Hatsuo had stood up, his visit clearly coming to an end. "I've come here to ask, no, beg you to stop training a chromatic dragon. You can't think that it's a good idea."
"No, I think it's a fantastic idea." Hisashi stood up as well. "Izuku is a strong boy in more way than one. No amount of instinct is going to change his desire to be a hero. He wants nothing more than to protect, help and befriend people."
"You say that after he got suspended for fighting?" Hatsuo retorted.
"He was accosted, bullied by other students who just saw his family, and not him. He didn't react until they hit his friend. They attacked him and his friend because of who he was related to, and who they feared he would become, and not for who he is." Hisashi pointed an accusing finger. "Exactly like what is happening right now."
Hatsuo had made his way to the door. "Fine. Disgrace our father's memory and train a chromatic. Just know that I'll always be looking out for you, brother. " He said the word sardonically. "When your son finally embraces his destiny and turns on you, I just hope I'll make it in time to stop him before he kills you."
He slammed the door on his way out, leaving an angry and exasperated Hisashi behind him.
Hisashi sighed and rubbed his forehead before letting out a small, tired chuckle. "Well. That was melodramatic."
Notes:
Thanks to all of you for your support. I'll see you all next chapter!