Chapter Text
There was a boy.
A very strange enchanted boy.
They say he wandered very far.
Very far, over land and sea.
A little shy and sad of eye.
But very wise was he…
And then one day.
He was locked away..
To be forgotten, in a gilded cage.
Of fools.. And… Kings.
But this one boy.
This one strange. And charming boy.
Could see all, their fake smiles.
That surrounded him.
And this one boy. Earned to one day.
Fly away..
But with shackles deep.
And rooted curses.
To fly away.
Seemed like a distant dream.
----
Sapphire. That was the color the sky was the day he was transported to UA. The car that took him, a midnight blue that was too close to charcoal gray for his comfort. But if he was supposed to be comfortable he wouldn’t have shackles deep on his skin, wouldn’t be wearing the rags that were considered his prison clothes. He would have been treated as a human being.
But he was long past being that, in their eyes. He was a monster, a weapon.
One being made to be put under a new liege, one that would profit and showcase him like was no tomorrow. Like yesterday didn’t exist.
The car stopping had him also stop his musings. He basked in the sunlight no matter how short his basking was as he was quickly shoved to walk faster into UA, into his pretty new cage.
In his opinion, UA wasn’t even that pretty. He could only imagine how many birds had been killed by those glass windows. He did appreciate all the nature surrounding it tho. He had been promised the freedom to roam within UA’s walls and couldn’t wait to just lose himself amongst the trees, it had been so long since he saw nature, he needed to redeem himself with it, especially after the whole destruction the war caused to the environment. That was his one regret.
Well, that and losing the war.
Eraserhead met him at the gate. He seemed as discontent with his presence as Izuku. Fun.
“Congrats, you are the first one to arrive, which means you have the pleasure of introducing the program to the rest of the students alongside me”
Izuku chuckled without any mirth behind it “This was Nedzu’s idea wasn't it?”
The hero didn’t answer him, but he didn’t have to, not really, his silence was an answer in itself. The rat really was a sadist.
“How did the public react to UA harboring the villains that destroyed their families?” Izuku found himself asking
He knew he would get no answer, and he didn’t, but Eraserhead did clench his fists which he already considered a small win.
“Right, you lost your family too, didn’t you Aizawa?”
“Keep walking and keep quiet.”
“I am walking”
“But you aren’t quiet.”
Izuku huffed in amusement. Behind them he could see another car parking, he knew that the league was participating with him, but besides them, who else? Who else would be put through this hell, this farce?
They stopped upon arriving near a building called 2A Heights Alliance.
“Is this where I’ll be staying?”
“No”
“Then why did we stop here?”
“Because as I said. You’ll be introducing the program to our students. Inside are the people you’ll have classes alongside.”
“You mean the people whose friends I definitely ended up killing at some point?”
“Indeed”
“Fun”
Aizawa walked in first, he asked Asui to gather all the students in there and once they were gathered and looking at him sighed “I’m sorry.” He bowed to them “I tried to stop this”
“Sensei? What’s happening?” Uraraka asked
“UA was forced by a lot of hands to create a new program” He looked at Todoroki as he said those words “A villain rehabilitation one, from today onwards, you’ll be studying side by side with villains, are you going to make me do all the talking? Come in, Midoriya”
Izuku opened the door after that, his hands trembled as he did but he managed to hide all his insecurities behind a mask he was well used to playing.
All eyes were on him. Ones lingering more than other “Surprise bitches” He made jazz hands, after that it was pandemonium.
It was impossible to know who was screaming what, as they screamed at the same time how insane the idea was, how he had killed a bunch of their friends and yadda yadda.
Izuku was almost relieved to have been punched by Kacchan.
Relieved because it did make everyone shut up, almost because he was punched for the silence to be accomplished.
“You should’ve fucking died” Kacchan said, going for another punch, Aizawa stopped the second one for his digress.
“Cockroaches never do.” Mina spat.
“I’m not the only one coming to this program” He looked at Shoto, understanding dawned on the half and half’s face. “And don’t worry, Kacchan , I’m not happy to be here either.”
“Don’t fucking call me that you vermin, you have no right after what you did”
“Bro, it’s not worth it”
Izuku ignored Katsuki’s words in favor of watching the way his childhood bestie relaxed at Kirishima’s touch, that was interesting to say the least. Had he known of their relation during the war maybe that tape guy would be alive instead of the red head.
Funny, how some things worked.
“Can I go to my own dorm now, Eraserhead? I’ve introduced myself and the program as well as I could, I’m really interested in all the commodities Nedzu promised me”
“Right” Aizawa seemed to leave whatever daze he was in “Any questions? No? Good, I’ll be back later”
Izuku waved his goodbye as he walked out of the 2A dorms. “Lovely bunch”
“Keep quiet.”
Eraserhead was such a bundle of joy. Makes him wonder If they should have killed him instead of Mic. But well, it wasn’t like their deaths had been meticulously planned, it was war.. It just.. Happened.
What felt like an eternity later they stopped in front of a dorm with a shared appearance as the Height Alliance’s one, but a sole V instead.
“Please tell me the V isn’t for villain, that’d be so uncreative of Nedzu”
Aizawa’s silence was all he needed for an answer
“It’s not that surprising, he is an animal I suppose, I don’t think they are known for their creative ways, but who am I to know? I’m not an anima- HUMF”
“KUMO!”
Himiko, it was Himiko.
Immediately he found himself relaxing in her arms and hugging her back, Eraserhead didn’t seem to deem his presence necessary after he was delivered, so he simply left without looking back.
He wasn’t ashamed to say he must have stayed in her embrace for more than ten minutes. Nor ashamed of how easily his mask slipped from his face, he was so relieved she was there, so relieved to see Dabi, Tomura, all the faces that he considered family, even some he did not, but that didn’t matter, he had Himiko with him.
“You smell like shit” She told him, muffled by his own clothes.
“So do you”
The two giggled at each other
“Oh great, the psychotic pair are together once again” Dabi said, rolling his eyes, but there was fondness in his voice that he could not hide, and making fun of them proved to be a great mistake, because seconds later he was being tackled by them both and forced to hug them back.
Horrible. Terrible.
He hugged them back even so, with the strength a protective older brother has.
Of course as an older brother the hug quickly became an assassination attempt on his part.
Which ended with bites and kicks from all of them.
They honestly didn’t care if they were behaving like fools in front of other villains that they did not know, they were known enough to be feared with or without displays of affection.
Besides.
They were all fools there.
---
Primrose. That was the color he decided to paint his bedroom wall as soon as he saw that they were a horrible gray-ish white.
Nedzu had promised him paint and brushes which upon further inspection were in his closet so it was only a matter of time until he got rid of it. He had a multitude of clothes along with the special UA uniform they had that clearly distinguished them from the other students and the best part, a phone and computer.
It had barely any access to anything but at least he and Tomu could play games with it.
All of this almost made it all worth it.
Almost.
It was still a cage, no matter how pretty it was, and he couldn’t let himself forget that. He couldn’t forget who put him there.
After a long bath, a long look through everything he now had in possession and a few mental breakdowns he went back to the common room. “Hey, Himichan, you want to go exploring the woods around us?”
“HELL YEAH!”
“I’m joining”
They both looked at the voice that said that, they had no freaking clue who the hell that guy was, but he had gray hair, and that simple fact already put him on Izuku’s shit list, still, he was a nice villain, and he only had these guys to count on If they wanted a chance to get out of there.
“Sure, but uh, who are you?”
“Hoyo Makihara”
Himiko and Izuku looked at each other and back at him, she let her head fall, like a puppy “Do we know you?”
“You don’t, but I’d like to.”
Tomura immediately glared at the guy from the other side of the room, but it wasn’t like the brats couldn’t take care of themselves, still, he didn’t like the situation, not one bit.
“Alright then Makihara, let’s gooo!”
The three followed into UA’s woods, Himiko and Izuku skipping ahead with their arms crossed while Makihara followed them silently behind, occasionally joining in their conversation.
It was almost relaxing. If not for the dread that came with the calm before the storm.