Spacetime Anomaly: MHA Fanfic

Chapter 13.2: The Hope That Broke Her Down

Looking at Izuku, Toga guessed he had at most three seconds before he would start to pull away and at most five before he started to spout hateful words. But the seconds came and went and the only change to Izuku's behavior was the sudden emergence of trembling. 'Maybe he's shaking in fear of what I'll do with my 'Evil Quirk' considering the context of our setting.' She thought.

Of course, she was entirely wrong in her thoughts as Izuku suddenly woke from his stupor with the most dazzling smile anyone had tossed her way so far throughout her life as he said, "That's amazing! Stealth Transformation-type Quirks like yours are super rare."

"W-what?" Caught completely off guard, Toga took another step away from Izuku. Though the manner in which she did so made it seem like she was backing away from a serial killer, instead of being complimented.

"You think my Quirk is amazing? I need other people's blood to make it work and all it does is let me steal people's identities..." Not knowing why she was using the same argument everyone in her life had tossed her way when they insulted her, Toga stared Izuku down in search of any signs that he was lying through his teeth.

"So what?" Izuku asked, "I could easily see someone with your Quirk become a top-tier Surveillance, Recon, or Infiltration-type Pro Hero. Even outside the Hero Industry, you could easily make a fortune in the Media Industry as a body double for any celebrity. Unless you're telling me you need gallons of blood for your Quirk to work, I can't see why it would be a problem..."

Seeing her freeze up in apparent fear as her face and skin were paling, Izuku took a step towards her as he asked, "Are you alright? You don't look so good."

Matching his forwarding step with one away of her own, Toga struck a pose in preparation to run at a moment's notice as she said, "You… You don't know what you're talking about! I could never be a hero with my villainous Quirk. No one would willingly let me drink their blood." She was at her mental breaking point as her mind waged war with conflicting thoughts.

Here she was planning to let her impulses rage with reckless abandon, hoping she could lure an unsuspecting person into trying to take advantage of her so she could justify her retaliation and drink their blood. She had gone above and beyond to take the plunge into villainy in the most redeeming way possible, as a victim of sorts lashing out against what was probable to be a villain, criminal, or delinquent at the very least and the person she targeted turned out to be the very first person to treat her nicely after learning about her Quirk?

For sixteen horrible years, everyone from her family to her peers at school had hated her existence if only because of her Quirk's nature. Her personality molded by its influence was well on its way descending into insanity. But before she could finally cross the line, before she could take the final step to truly act out on the villainous prophecies she'd heard all her life, as she stood less than an inch away from the point of no return, someone had come to give her hope. Forget that, it wasn't just anyone, but the person she almost acted out against! It felt unfair, like the world itself was laughing in her face even when she complied and stopped trying to resist its advances!

Izuku shook his head at her outburst, "You can't call a Quirk villainous, only the context in which a Quirk is used can be called villainous or otherwise. Would it be villainous of you to use my blood to transform if I willingly gave it to you?"

Frozen once more as his words sunk deep into her subconscious, Toga broke down right then and there. As her legs turned weak and she crashed onto her knees, she started sobbing for the words she'd been hoping to hear all her life. Her Quirk wasn't villainous, no Quirk was. But throughout her life, she had been given that label time and time again. Like Izuku in his first life, she grew up ostracised, only instead of being looked at as weak and targeted with physical bullying, she was feared as a monster and venemously harassed verbally.

"T-toga-san!" Izuku kneeled beside her as he no longer felt like he wasn't being eyed by a malicious predator. A moment ago, he was confident in the likelihood of a confrontation breaking out, what with Toga's erratic negative intents being tossed his way. But now, all he saw was a broken girl who was at her most vulnerable.

Izuku kneeled next to her for a couple of seconds, rubbing her back as he remembered his mother did for him when he was especially upset and after she calmed down enough to hold a conversation, he said, "Come on Toga-san. Let's get you home."

Flinching at his proposal, Toga fought her hyperventilation from crying as she said, "T-there's n-n-no point i-in d-d-doing t-that. I… I r-ran away f-from my home..."

Izuku took a second before he offered, "Alright, would you like to talk about it over coffee?" This was the best excuse he could come up with to get the two of them out of the streets, while also giving way for Toga to recollect herself.

Toga hesitated before eventually she gave in and let Izuku help her to her feet. The two then went to a local coffee shop that's open 24 hours a day, but throughout the journey, a stark silence pervaded between the two. Upon entering the coffee shop and seating themselves, however, Izuku resumed the conversation by offering, "So long as you promise you'll refrain from doing anything reckless, I'm fine with paying for you."

Toga, once more surprised by Izuku's actions, couldn't help but giggle to herself as she wiped the tear stains from her face. "You're so weird."

"I… can see your point, actually," he admitted.

Aside from Toga continuing to giggle, the two ordered drinks. As they waited for said drinks to arrive, though, Toga issued a full confession about what she had been planning to do that night; what she was planning to do to him, before they talked…

"Tonight I was fully committed to starting my career as a villain," she said. Though, aside from getting a barely noticeable twitch from Izuku, she wasn't met with any resistance. So, she continued, "If you hadn't said all that stuff back then..." She paused to look at the table, seemingly ashamed of herself, before continuing, "Even if I hadn't gone after you after learning you're a student of U.A.'s Hero Department, I probably still would have gone after someone else."

As a chilling silence returned — a silence comparable to the outside as the coffee shop was just as barren at this time of day as the streets were — Izuku asked, "Was it the words of others that drove you to villainy?"

Seeing her look of disbelief, Izuku added, "Remember I'm Quirkless? I probably didn't have it as bad as you, but from what you've told me, it's not hard to imagine that a lot of people in your life have called you evil, villainous, and so on." Smiling at her, he applied his understanding of psychology to comfort her by gently taking her hand and concluding, "When you just accepted that I was a Quirkless, I must have felt how you did back there."

Not resisting his touch, Toga shed another tear before saying, "I guess you're right… Since my Quirk manifested and the doctors confirmed its nature, everyone has rejected me. I still remember the day I visited the Quirk doctor… How everything about him changed before and after getting the results of my Quirk back… An 'unfortunate' degenerative mutation was what he called my Quirk, but I could see that he was actually referring to my existence as a whole."

As she started trembling again, Izuku went along with what he knew about the human psyche to start rubbing her knuckles in an effort to keep her calm and stable, and eventually, she continued, "After that day, my parents started distancing themselves from me. Everyone else who heard about my Quirk would give me weird looks and talk badly about me behind my back. It only made matters worse when I started showing interest in all things macabre."

Hesitating, if only for a moment, Toga resolved to confide in Izuku as she shakily explained, "I… I've always liked the color red. Growing up my favorite foods consisted of rare steaks and pomegranates. But one day, when I saw a wounded pigeon crawling helplessly on the floor, bleeding from its wings… I was just so entranced..."

Seeing her unable to continue speaking, Izuku said, "I don't see how any of this is a problem..." Succeeding in getting her attention, he elaborated, "It's been a well-doc.u.mented phenomenon that Quirks usually have a profound impact on a person's personality. Your Quirk is fueled by blood, so it would make sense for you to feel that way."