Work Text:
The Call
As Toshinori watches the small, green haired boy walk off the smoking scene of a hostage situation he had thrown himself in the middle of, he can't help but feel an odd sort of tension in the air. A horrible, gut wrenching sense of overwhelming trepidation. But he doesn't follow the boy. As he watches, there is a powerful presence behind him, just out of reach, just shy of being tangible. He doesn't know it, but he can feel it. The first user stands just behind his shoulder, staring ominously as the boy wanders out of sight. The first user turns his head and disappears. Toshinori's blood runs cold, something has gone wrong but he can't figure out what.
And for the first time in a very long time, he feels alone.
As night falls, Izuku falls asleep faster than he ever had before. In his dream, he is met with a powerful entity who stares at him with wide green eyes from behind a curtain of white hair. The entity reaches out a hand and before he can even think, Izuku is reaching out his own. Their fingers touch and the entity disappears. But Izuku can tell- he can feel- he somehow knows- his instincts are suddenly perfectly aware that there is a presence within him. He puts a hand over his rib cage and can feel the double heartbeat.
Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump-- His own. It's fast, absolutely terrified and incredibly enraptured at the same time.
Thump thump.. Thump thump.. Thump thump.. Thump thump..-- The entity's. It's slow, completely calm and strangely content.
He can hear the entity's voice from just beside his heart, You are the ninth.
When he wakes up, he can't think. He's too focused on the fact that even in the waking world, the double heartbeat is still there. It's strangely in tune with his own, just in the opposite way. Completely polarized rhythms, beating when the other is waning.
He goes to school and still can't focus. He sits at his desk with his hands over his heart, just... listening. He can't even focus entirely when he's being bullied, too distracted by the feeling of the contrast in his chest. His heartbeat was erratic and terrified, fearful of his friend's explosive palms. But the entity's was calm as ever, but just enough out of tune to keep him focused on it and not the bullies. The entity seemed worried for him, the beat would always jump ever so slightly at every threat the bullies made.
When the bullies finally leave him alone, the voice speaks, Ignore them. I want you to be a hero.
But I'm Quirkless.
The voice seems to sound suddenly amused, Not for long, Ninth.
It's been a month since the Sludge Incident and Toshinori's sense of dread has not wavered. It got worse. Not to mention his Quirk has started acting up. He tried to activate One For All earlier that day and all that resulted was a short burst of energy that was the equivalent of licking a battery. Luckily, after a moment, he got it to work again. But there was even more to add to those anomalies.
Now, out of the corner of his eye, he can always see five of the past users. He never sees the first and one of the others is always nowhere to be seen, but it changes frequently. One day it would be the second, then next the third, and so on. Even his own mentor goes missing some days.
And now? He can feel someone following him. It was unnerving. By the end of the month, he had turned to his friend Naomasa. He hissed over the phone, desperate and paranoid as he felt eyes on him, "Tsukauchi?"
"Yagi? What is it?"
"I'm being followed. I don't know by who but it's been going on a for a while and I still haven't spotted them yet."
"What? Do you think it's--"
"I'm not sure. Maybe? But I feel like he would've shown himself by now." Toshinori doesn't say it but he gets the feeling that this has something to do with the missing first user and the disappearances of the others.
"I'll try to help as best I can. Maybe we can figure out who exactly has taken such an interest in you."
Before Toshinori can respond, he lets the words die on his tongue. He had looked up at the sky and he noticed a figure on a roof far overhead. Standing just at the edge. Looking directly at him. And he could've sworn that his mentor was hovering right there next to the figure. But he blinked and she wasn't there.
"Tsukauchi, I just saw them."
"And?"
"It's not All For One."
"Well, how do you know--"
"Because I'm looking right at them still."
First yawned from within, Good morning, Ninth.
Morning, First. Whose day is it?
Hmm, well Seventh had you yesterday and I always have you so... Second. Second gets you today.
Izuku pays his mother no mind as she watches him in concern. She's noticed how he's changed. He doesn't talk as much and constantly looks lost in thought. He's suddenly gaining muscle and skills he didn't have before. And he doesn't get home from school until well after dark, busy all day doing who knows what. She watches as he cracks open an energy drink and takes a long swig. She's picked up that he only has an energy drink once every six days. He has this strange cycle he goes through, some sort of odd schedule that is different each day but at the same time never changes.
Izuku goes back to his room after eating to gather his belongings for school, Inko decides to hesitantly follow, standing just outside his room, peering around the door frame. She listens as he talks to himself. It's strange. She's used to him mumbling to himself but this? This was a full conversation, loud and clear. Like he was simply talking to thin air.
"Good morning, Second."
There's a pause, like he's waiting for a reply.
"Yeah, I drank one before you arrived."
Inko thinks back to the energy drink he had chugged.
"So what are we doing for training today?"
Inko freezes. She didn't know he was training.
"Sounds like a plan."
Toshinori is trapped in a nightmare, shifting back and forth under the covers as seven voices yell at him.
Give it to him!
Give what to who?
One For All! Give it to Ninth!
My friend knows a young man! I'll set up a time and place!
NO! NINTH!
What?
HE ISN'T NINTH! GIVE IT TO NINTH!
I don't know who that is!
During the day, the stalker follows a lot closer than they had on any other day. So close that he could hear the sound of their footsteps and if he focused, maybe even their breathing. Six voices of the past users chant in his ears, Closer, Ninth. Come closer. Closer, closer, closer.
Izuku follows All Might from a short distance, he feels wrong for doing it but he can't fight it. The urge to follow is too much. The push from the first user is too strong. The pull of the other users is too insistent. And the call from All Might's Quirk is too overwhelming. He cannot resist it. They want him to get closer. Closer, much closer. They want physical contact, a transfer of the smallest hint of DNA, even if it's a single skin cell.
He forces himself off course just before his fingers can graze the hero.
Three months before UA's entrance exam, Izuku finally lets the call consume him. He attacks All Might in his small form, forcing him down in an alley. He stares ominously at the emaciated hero who stares back in absolute terror and surprise, he doesn't miss the flicker of recognition. He does not hurt the off duty hero. He doesn't even say a word. He just slides a finger along the hero's chin where blood had dripped and he smears the blood into his palms, letting it soak into the tiny grooves of his skin. He doesn't say a single word. He just nods and scurries away.
Toshinori hadn't expected the stalker to attack him and he certainly didn't expect his stalker to be the green haired teenager from the Sludge Incident. He is frozen in terror as the kid takes his blood and smears it across his hands. Toshinori's only thought is, How does he know? The kid nods and runs away, leaving him on the pavement in shock.
The remnants of One For All within Toshinori hum in content. And the new flame within Izuku sings a heavenly symphony of absolute euphoria.
Toshinori can sense that One For All is no longer with him but he can't process it. All he can think is, How? How did he take it? I didn't give it to him.
He calls Naomasa, "Tsukauchi?"
"Yeah?"
"We have a slight problem."
"What? What is it?"
"One For All just got stolen somehow."
Toshinori can't breathe as he watches a particular student preform in the entrance exam. He can't because it's the kid who stole his Quirk. He can't because the kid is using his Quirk. He can't because the kid is using his Quirk like an expert, like he's had it for over a hundred years rather than three months.
The kid catches him after the exam, speaking in a strange tone. His voice sounds almost layered, like there are two people talking instead of one.
"I'm sorry, Eighth. For taking it by force. But Ninth needed it and you weren't going to give it to him."