Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Humans were complicated. The dragon had always known that. Simple creatures couldn’t have torn the world asunder the way they did. And simple creatures certainly couldn’t have rebuilt it from stone and steel. And simple creatures certainly could not have somehow managed to jumpstart the development of magic for their species. 

And yet that last point had opened up an opportunity. She could use this. She could use them. Just as they’d thought they could use her.

But she needed a perfect candidate. One that she didn’t need to waste time teaching basics. She needed one who could hunt and fight already. Her options were quite limited in this era, most humans lived sedentary lives. It was pathetic really. If she was so inclined, they’d make such easy prey. Lucky for them, she didn’t want the attention. As much as it pained her to dim her flames, to slink in the shadows. 

Fire was not meant to hide. It was meant to burn bright.

The obvious candidates were heroes. They hunted their villains, and fought them too. But choosing someone too bright would have consequences. It was only centuries of experience that allowed her to defy the need to burn. No, she would have to start with a soul aligned to shadow. One who was naturally suited to slinking through the dark. 

Seeking shadows meant joining them, and she found herself defying her nature further to shun the sun in favor of the moon. It ached. Her blood burned. Her scales itched, even when her form was human and they weren’t actually there. Her disguise was barely held together. 

For almost two centuries fire stalked the night. In defiance of nature, and in defiance of death. She would not be found. To be found was to die. And she would not die without planting the seed. Without making sure her species could begin again.

And if she got to burn humanity in the process? Well that would just be poetic. 

The humans even gave her a name. An honor she could share with no one. To be feared enough to be named. They called her Reaper. Certainly not unique, but an honor nonetheless. And ironic. She would reap a soul eventually. Just not for death.

The hint of magic burning within humanity was enough. Enough to enact a ritual as old as time. One that had been forbidden long ago. 

She would raise a human as a dragon. Ascend them beyond what they were. Make them worth something. 

It was only right she was picky. This human would be the first of the new blood. Her line would die with her, she was not interested in a human mate. She had to choose well. That was why it took so long.

But now, after nearly two centuries she had a potential mark.

The man could hunt efficiently. She’d taken to leaving him little hints. Things that nudged him towards prey he liked so she could watch. He never killed his prey, but that was the nature of heroes she’d noticed. They seemed to think they were better for keeping their hands clean. When his targets fought back the man showed his talent in battle. His instincts were good, well honed by experience. And he was naturally comfortable in the shadows, slinking unseen by all but the dragon herself. None were able to follow him without being seen either, again except the dragon herself. She wasn’t bothered by this exception though. She was an apex predator, every aspect of her built to hunt creatures like him. It was only natural she saw him and he didn’t see her. That could change. Even in the daylight, he naturally shifted away from attention. 

It was details like this that told one what kind of dragon a soul would be if ascended. Without a natural bloodline to decide, it was decided by the soul’s natural affinity. A man who spent all his time shrouded in darkness to stalk, slinking away when eyes turned his way was easily shadow aspected. Exactly what she needed.

She watched him for weeks. This couldn’t be rushed. He had a day job too, teaching young humans to fight from the looks of it. Another plus. He would teach the next generation well. But eventually nothing more could be learned watching his routine. She needed to test him directly. 

The reaper was ready to claim a soul.

Chapter Text

Shota Aizawa knew he was being followed. 

He knew there were eyes on him in the dark. But he just couldn’t pinpoint where. It was pure instinct that told him they were there at all. Instincts that had never failed him before.

So when his shift was supposed to end at three in the morning, he didn’t go home. He couldn’t lead a stalker there. Instead he moved across the city as fast as he could hoping to lose them first. But the feeling never left, and Shota was starting to feel a cold dread. He’d never met a stalker he couldn’t lose. What kind of villain was he facing if they could keep up with his best efforts to ditch them?

Still, he didn’t falter. He kept moving, hoping to catch a glimpse. If he couldn’t lose them, he had to confront them. It wasn’t until he’d nearly reached the far edge of the city he finally caught something. A flicker of movement. His reaction was instant, lunging for it with his capture weapon ready to grab whoever it was.

His weapon missed, but he’d found his target. The stalker sidestepped the weapon and laughed.

“Oh! You weren’t supposed to see me yet! Consider me impressed” a woman’s voice called out, sounding downright delighted.

The woman in question was dressed in dark clothes. Dark sweatshirt, dark pants. Exactly what one would wear to sneak around at night. The hood had fallen when she dodged the attack, revealing her hair and face properly. Her hair was a bright red in contrast, pulled back into a loose ponytail. And her eyes were piercing gold, watching Shota with what could only be described as amusement.

Shota had expected anger. Some jerk with a grudge, or someone who just hated heroes. Not whatever this was. But he wasn’t a pro for no reason, and he lunged into battle without hesitation. 

“Good instincts. But are you put off by fear?” the woman said.

Shota just wished he had any idea what the hell she was on about. Something invisible shifted though. Her very presence seemed to become more intense. Something about her caused a deep rooted fear to stir. This wasn’t just being afraid. This was a primal instinct, buried somewhere deep within screaming ‘ danger’ . Something deep within his very nature warned him that death was in front of him.

But none of that mattered. This woman had stalked him and clearly had a reason for doing so, no matter how confused Shota himself was by it. So he shoved that deep instinctive fear aside and kept up his attack.

His kick was dodged, as were the two punches that followed. And the woman never moved to attack. She just watched with an eager expression. 

Eventually instead of dodging, she caught Shota’s fist in her hand and twisted his arm painfully behind his back before slamming him down onto the flat rooftop beneath them. It was pure luck he managed to turn his head in time to not break his nose.

“I’ve seen enough. You’ll do nicely” the woman decided.

“For what ? I’m not doing anything for you!” Shota snapped.

There had been villains before who wanted him to do their dirty work. This had to be that right? That whole fight was implied to be some kind of test. Too bad for her Shota would die before taking orders from a villain. 

“You will become more than what you are now. The details can be explained later. I need to take you somewhere better suited, and something tells me you won’t go nicely. So sleep, we’ll talk later. When you’re worth acknowledging” 

Her hand reached for a pressure point Shota recognized instantly, but he wasn’t able to thrash away before darkness claimed him. 

—

Shota woke up feeling like he’d just fallen off a cliff. Everything ached. His head pounded. And something felt off he couldn’t place. It took him a long moment to realize he wasn’t even lying down. He was standing. More specifically, he was standing over the mangled body of what he assumed was a deer. And that was when he realized what was so off.

He was standing on four legs. An extra set of limbs extended from his shoulders. Another behind his rear legs. A glance back revealed wings and a tail . And a body covered in black scales. It appeared to be his own very sharp talons that had mauled the animal in front of him judging from the amount of blood decorating them. That would explain the metallic taste in his mouth. Had he been eating it?

Shota did the very sensible thing and cursed. Loudly. Because what the fuck? Was this some kind of shapeshifting quirk?

“Lucid again, are we?” a voice called in response. 

Shota whirled around, baring his teeth on instinct, wings flaring out to make himself look bigger. 

He was met with a familiar golden stare, but the creature it came from certainly wasn’t a human woman anymore. She looked a lot like him actually from what he saw, but her scales were a glittering ruby red compared to his dark ones that only shone slightly with a matte sheen. He was dark steel next to a sparkling gemstone. The glittering creature was lying on the ground, looking at him with her head tilted curiously.

His last memory was also of the person with that voice and eyes kidnapping him.

“Explain. Now” he growled. Literally, his chest rumbled ominously. He didn’t mind that at least. It got his point across.

“What do you think is happening?” she countered.

“I’m not in the mood for games. I don’t know what kind of quirk you’ve hit me with but I need you to explain ” Shota continued to growl, the sound only getting louder.

“Right idea, but you refuse to step outside your perceived reality. Allow me to expand it then,” she stood up and stretched, “I am a dragon. And now, so are you. I gave you my blood, charged with my power and ascended you beyond humanity” 

“I told you I’m not in the mood for-”

“You are standing in front of me cloaked in scales. Still decorated with the blood of your prey. And surely you feel the power in your veins? That’s not a silly ‘quirk’ as you call them. That’s old magic. True magic. Believe me or not, I have gifted you power beyond anything you could dream of before” the red dragon doubled down.

Because despite Shota’s misgivings, she was a dragon. At least in form. She could easily be like the dragon hero he knew and just be using some kind of quirk. But that wouldn’t explain him. Because he felt off. Aside from his body and senses. It was like something in his head had been rewired. His thoughts and memories were his, but the instincts running in the background that he’d always trusted had changed somehow. Some were familiar. He was still alert for danger, still ready to slip into the dark and remain unseen. Others were less so. Like his nose picking up the scents of animals and helpfully telling his brain ‘prey’.  

He flashed his quirk at her, hoping it would fix everything for him. It didn’t.

“Undo this,” Shota demanded.

“Can’t. Even if I wanted to. But I don’t. I spent nearly two hundred years picking out a human worth ascending. You don’t get to back out” 

“Stop fucking with me” Shota snarled.

He was getting tired of this. He was being toyed with. Expected to believe some impossible nonsense about magic and dragons. Seriously?

“By all the- you want to look human again? You can take human form. It’s a bit uncomfortable, but you get used to it. Just grasp at the power in your blood and compress it into the right shape. Should be easy for you since you know what it’s like to be human. That won’t take away the truth of things, but maybe you’ll be less of a snarly malum ” 

Shota huffed, but tried it anyway. What was there to lose really? It took a few minutes, time he spent glaring at his company while figuring it out. But eventually the world seemed to rapidly grow bigger around him as he shrank from roughly the size of a horse with wings back to the size and shape of a man. His clothes were still on thankfully, but his capture weapon was gone, and a quick check of his pockets revealed his phone was too.

“I left your things on the roof. Either someone found them or you can go get them” the red dragon shared.

“You’re going to let me leave? Just like that?” Shota questioned, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“You are clearly the stubborn type. You’ll learn through experience. Believe what you want, you’ll accept the truth eventually. I’ll be keeping an eye on you. A warning though - don’t go telling anyone what we are. Humans are cruel creatures, and those that know we exist would kill for dragons’ blood. I will do what I must to protect us from that. Anyone you tell I will kill. Are we clear?”

Shota considered attacking at that. But his opponent was currently a large scaly creature as tall as a large truck at the shoulders. Even if he went back to the larger form he’d been in, he was smaller. And unfamiliar with that body. Not to mention he couldn’t land a single hit when they’d met on the roof. No, it angered him but attacking was not a move he could make. He had no way to counter the threat, and he hated the helpless feeling it left him with. Another growl left him unbidden.

The dragon in front of him just laughed, “Do challenge me when you’ve grown a bit. It’ll be fun. But for now, I’m invested in your survival. If you need me, call for Reaper. That’s what your kin have named me” and with that she was gone, a massive gust of wind from her wings battering Shota as she took off.

Shota just stood there staring at where she’d been for a long moment. What had just happened? Had any of that been real? He’d think he’d hallucinated his own part if he couldn’t still feel raw energy of some sort buzzing in his veins. He knew the name Reaper. It was a killer the police had been looking for as long as Shota could remember. No one who saw them survived.

Apparently he was the first. Because Reaper had decided to fuck with him or something. She had to be lying, but the power he could feel was definitely real and not leaving even with her gone. He had no idea what was true right now.

Oh, and now he was in the middle of the woods covered in blood and dirt. With no idea how to get home. Truly a terrible day. 

He just barely managed to catch the scent of gasoline on a breeze eventually, and chose that way to walk. He needed to get home first. He could sort out the rest later.

Chapter Text

Everything was wrong. Nothing felt real.

People gave Shota a wide berth as he trudged through the city, the blood and dirt covering him from head to toe spooking them. He didn’t really mind though, if anything he was glad for the breathing room. His senses were so overwhelmed he felt almost drunk.

It turns out a sensitive nose picked up a lot in the city. Steel, stone, gasoline, all different people and animals. That was the worst problem by far. Every breath felt almost suffocating as information threatened to overwhelm his brain. The sounds were a close second though, his mind unable to keep up with the sheer volume. They were at least familiar though. The smells assaulting his nose had been completely beyond his perception before. 

That was just his senses though. What was really wrong was his mind.

It was something one couldn’t put into words. The way his mind was reacting to reality was fundamentally different. It was like someone had gone ahead and changed all the rules on him. And Shota had always been very aware of the way his own mind worked. It was off putting, to have a different idea of what it should be doing while it handled things in a completely different way. He would have to relearn his own perception of the world if this didn’t wear off somehow. It was terrifying in a way none of the other things were. He prided himself on making logical choices, but how could he do that if all the logic had changed in an instant? The rug had been pulled out from under him and it was like he was a toddler struggling to find his footing.

His mind was processing all this information and he could barely keep up with what it actually meant. He paid more attention to this than his surroundings, letting muscle memory guide him down familiar sidewalks.

Things like cars and machines were being pushed to the back of his awareness, while people and animals were pulled to the front. His eyes wanted to hone in on the slightest movement from those living things, but he found them darting back and forth as people moved all around him. His mind seemed to rapidly process things into one of two categories: ‘prey’ and ‘things’ and react differently to both. What was concerning was that anything alive was shoved into that prey category, including people. His instincts were prepared to attack . And Shota most definitely didn’t want to attack random people. He was always on alert for people attacking him, but he’d never felt his instincts run with a need to attack anyone like this. The other category was equally strange but a little less terrifying, his mind calculating some sort of value of the things around him. If he wanted them, and how much of a fight they were worth. He wasn’t sure what the value was based on. Something in his head just approved of some things more than others, seemingly at random.

That was all Shota managed to sort out before he made it to his own front door. He didn’t have his keys or phone, so he was forced to knock. He would have rather slipped into his own room unseen by his roommate, but unfortunately he couldn’t get inside on his own. Unless he wanted to cause property damage anyway.

Hizashi Yamada opened the door and his eyes widened in surprise. Shota just blinked at him. What exactly was surprising about his best friend and roommate returning? 

“Shota! You’re alright! Where have you been?” Hizashi ushered him inside like he might disappear. He was in his hero costume, but his hair was starting to sag like he had been working nonstop for far too long. And he looked exhausted, but relief was written all over his face.

Shota wasn’t much help in soothing him, everything still felt strange and wrong. But his body relaxed as he stepped into the apartment. Something deep in his messed up brain still recognized home, and upon recognizing his own scent in the place his body seemed to just relax. It was less overwhelming than outside, his own scent and Hizashi’s drowning out most others. Even if Hizashi’s hair smelled like the fakest fruit orchard in all of existence and Shota could smell it across the room. 

Hizashi himself was fretting, those the dazed look Shota couldn’t wipe from his face probably wasn’t helping. But he was distracted again, his brain was cataloging everything in the apartment. But these ‘things’ were his things and he was checking they were all still there. Why were the coffee mugs more valuable than the TV? Shota still couldn’t find the logic in the process.

And Hizashi managed to be an exception to the whole system. Based on what Shota had picked up outside, Hizashi should have been sorted as ‘prey’. But Hizashi had somehow ended up in the ‘thing’ category and was the most valuable thing in the apartment according to whatever instinct was sorting everything. 

At least he could agree with that rating. He’d never actually cared much for possessions before, but he’d always cared deeply for his old friend. Even if he didn’t express it much. 

“Shota? Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?” Hizashi prodded, managing to yank Shota out of his head. 

How many times had he called out? Everything felt surreal. Everything was sharper than it should be, the entire world was too loud and too smelly. 

“Sorry. Quirk. Blood isn’t mine” he muttered in response.

That was the best answer he could give for now. The villain had claimed all sorts of other things, but since none of those things should be possible Shota would have to look into it. Maybe see what he could find on Reaper’s case file. 

“What happened? Shota you’ve been gone for three days , we’ve had everyone looking!” anxiety crept into Hizashi’s voice. 

Shota flinched, “Three days?”

That didn’t make sense. Had he been unconscious for that long? He’d assumed it had only been a few hours.

“You didn’t even know ? What happened?” Hizashi asked again, his voice quiet. Which really said a lot for him. Hizashi had been terrified. 

Hot anger flared in Shota, surprising him. His kidnapper had hurt Hizashi by taking him. Nobody was allowed to mess with his things like that. Shota briefly considered taking off to rip Reaper apart before he caught himself.

That was. Concerning. 

Shota wanted to tell Hizashi everything. But there was a threat hanging over anyone he might tell, from an enemy he hadn’t been able to beat. He could always tell later. Once he understood the risk. So for now he summed things up with careful omission.

“I had an unwanted stalker. So I picked a fight and lost. Woke up in the woods earlier today with a dead deer, that’s where the blood is from. No injuries as far as I know. But I had to walk all the way back. My phone and other things are probably still on the roof where we fought” 

“Yeah, I found those. Tracked your phone when you didn’t come home in the morning” Hizashi still sounded worried.

What was Shota supposed to say? ‘Sorry for getting kidnapped’? He hadn’t exactly wanted it to happen.

But he could deal with that later. Once everything felt real again. If he was lucky, this would all wear off and go back to normal.

Unfortunately, Shota was not usually a lucky man.

Chapter Text

Shota was forced to take a day off from his teaching. He’d managed to fight it down to just one day, but apparently Nezu considered it completely necessary. Which was just ridiculous. He hadn’t had this much pushback after the USJ. Still, there was no winning against Nezu when he had his mind set.

All that meant was that Shota spent most of the day pacing his apartment. At some point he’d started rubbing his face against furniture like an oversized cat, which was just ridiculous. Still, something about it made him less… restless. And Hizashi was at work and not in the shared apartment to question it. So he just let it happen. It wasn’t worth fighting every little thing, better to save his energy for figuring out what the hell had actually happened. 

He was luckily given access to Reaper’s files. As a hero targeted by the villain, it wasn’t really hard to plead his case. It didn’t give him much to go off of. Reaper was wanted for multiple murders, but until Shota had been able to describe her there hadn’t actually been a physical description. Usually people didn’t survive meeting her, they only knew it was Reaper doing the killings because all the crime scenes matched. Nothing left save for blood on the ground. They’d given the name to the killer with no idea who it actually was. 

None of it explained what had happened to him. He knew what Reaper claimed but that couldn’t be right. Dragons didn’t exist, but dragon quirks did. She could be delusional, thinking she was actually a mythical creature. Shota had never heard of a dragon quirk that could somehow affect other people though. And it had done something to him. Even if he tried to write off physically being something else in the woods as some sort of wild dream, everything about himself was still all wrong. Dragon quirks didn’t go and rewrite someone else’s mind like this.

And he still couldn’t ask anyone else, the threat he didn’t yet know how to address hanging over his head. The file had only confirmed Reaper was dangerous. He couldn’t rush into telling anyone that he couldn’t assure would be protected. 

Safe to say, his day off was a complete waste of time.

Things had started to feel a little more real by the time he went back to UA. Nothing had gone back to normal, but as time passed he just got used to it. 

That didn’t stop Class 1-A from being far too loud. A growl tore itself out of him before he could stop himself, but luckily his students completely misinterpreted it. They started asking if he’d skipped breakfast, which led to the realization that he actually had. Not intentionally, he just wasn’t hungry and hadn’t thought about it. He still wasn’t hungry actually.

They did shut up though. And try to give him whatever snacks they had in their bags. Which he refused, of course. And then he had to calm them down properly and assure them he was fine after his brief kidnapping.

Teaching was surprisingly smooth after that. Though his students quickly became another anomaly in the system his mind had. Because at the start of the day they’d been sorted as prey like every other person. But by the end of their heroics class (which Shota had been supervising ever since the disastrous first class All Might had taught. Not officially, but if he was free for the period he was allowed to loom nearby and glare threateningly at the number one hero.) they had somehow changed their category. Every single one of them.

Except Mineta. And that was where the problem started. Because Mineta would not stop harassing other students. And while Shota had been keeping an eye on that situation to see if Mineta would learn or not, he’d never been quite this angry about it before. 

Shota was a practical man. He watched, he waited, and he acted when the moment was right. He was not someone to be consumed by fury and make rash decisions. Yet that was exactly what he ended up doing when Mineta tried to slip into the girls’ changing room after class.

“You are done” Shota had declared, unable to stop himself any longer as he grabbed Mineta by the arm and dragged him to Nezu’s office. 

Nobody even noticed how quick and angry the decision had been. Shota had been keeping documentation already in case he needed it, and so it looked to everyone else like Shota had just finally decided the kid was beyond redemption. But Shota knew. He’d felt the red hot anger, the energy that had been flowing through him since waking in the woods humming in his blood. 

He didn’t regret it in the end though. He couldn’t, not when various girls from the class spent the rest of the day approaching to quietly thank him. Perhaps this was how it would have ended for that particular student anyway. 

Still, Shota didn’t forget the way he’d acted. He desperately needed space to think, and the inside of the building suddenly felt way too small. So he didn’t go home after work. Instead he found himself up on a rooftop, trying to sort out his mind. Everything felt easier up there, high above the city. His head was clearer somehow.

He sorted through everything he knew. The categories everything was placed in. The anomalies to that system his class and closest friend presented. The way his emotions regarding those students had overwhelmed him. He’d channeled it into expelling Mineta, but something in him had wanted to hurt that child. He’d just appeased it by relishing in the emotional pain expulsion had caused. Whatever was wrong with him, it was genuinely dangerous to those around him. 

He stayed up there so long the sun began to set. And that was when someone decided to join him.

“Waiting for the moon?” a familiar voice asked.

Familiar enough that Shota readied himself for a fight, scarf gripped tightly in his hand. 

“Easy. We both know you won’t fare well in a fight with me just yet” Reaper just smiled like she was amused. Red wings were half folded against her back, reminding Shota of a demon.

“What do you want?” Shota demanded. Because she was right. He hadn’t even touched her in their last fight. Playing for information was the better move.

“I did say I’d be keeping an eye on you. Figure yourself out yet?” Reaper asked with a tilt of her head. 

“Why do you care?” Shota snapped.

“Because I want you to survive. You won’t survive if you refuse to listen and do something stupid” 

“Why me? You’ve killed countless others! I saw the files!” 

That was the real question after all. Why would Reaper, a villain nobody ever saw and lived to tell the tale, decide to specifically spare one random hero? Reaper seemed to actually consider the question, until she opened her mouth and revealed what had actually confused her.

“Files? Are they actually tracking exactly how many humans I kill? They really do take these things personally. You do know there’s around seven billion humans, right? Eating one here and there isn’t going to run them to extinction. And you are the one I chose to ascend. The first step in bringing my own species back from the brink of extinction. You had the right skills and instincts to survive, so I picked you” 

“You ate your victims?” Shota questioned, the rest of her response falling on deaf ears.

That was a horrifying note to add to the police reports.

“Yes? I don’t particularly enjoy eating humans, they’re too small and boney for my taste. But wasting prey is an affront to nature, so once I’d killed them it was only right. Do you expect me to leave perfectly good food to rot so I can go kill something else? If we all did that, the balance between predator and prey would fall apart” she just blinked at Shota in confusion like he was the weird one.

“What the fuck?” was all that Shota found himself able to say.

Somehow in all his years as a hero, cannibalism was one of the few things he hadn’t had to deal with. It was incredibly off putting, hearing someone talk about it like this.

“You don’t have to. Just make sure you eat once a week or so, or you will whether you want to or not. At some point instinct overrides our personal preferences” Reaper just rolled her eyes.

“You’re insane,” Shota decided.

“I’m perfectly sane. Just not human. You’ll understand in time. Just listen enough to go into the woods and hunt this weekend. You’ll be fine then. And take a flight under the moon. You look like you need it” Reaper said.

And then she was gone, with a gust of wind produced from the powerful wingbeat that launched her skyward. 

Shota just stared at where she’d been. What was he supposed to do now? Listen to the crazy murderer who apparently ate people? 

For now all he could do was wait and see what happened.

Chapter Text

Shota hated to admit that a villain might be right, but it was starting to look that way.

The rest of the week had passed relatively normally at first. If anything, he seemed to be doing well. He’d made record numbers of villains caught on patrols, something in him felt alive on the rooftops at night and his heightened senses made it difficult for anyone to slip away.

But now he was hungry, and it was proving to be a problem. While before his brain recognizing prey and categorizing it had just been a background process, he was finding himself distracted by it now. Considering how to catch each one near him before he caught himself and forcibly cut that train of thought. 

It was terrifying, honestly. If his focus lapsed for a second too long, somebody might be hurt or even killed. He couldn’t deny that. Pretending it wasn’t sure was a surefire way to make sure it ended up going wrong.

He had tried to eat regular food. Both at home and in the UA cafeteria. Both attempts had tasted like ash and made him sick. So apparently his body was outright rejecting anything else. He’d even tried just eating meat from the food, but it had tasted like cardboard and left him oddly thirsty. And it hadn’t been nearly enough. It meant the changes weren’t just mental like he’d been focused on. Something in his physical body had been changed too, and it wasn’t going to accept what he’d had before.

All of this meant he had to consider Reaper might have given him good information about his condition. And he wasn’t sure what to make of that. It meant she was telling the truth in some capacity, and that she knew something despite how insane she seemed. And that she really didn’t mean any ill will, at least for the moment. 

Either way, the logical answer was to find prey that wasn’t people. And deal with how he felt about that later. If he was correct in assuming based on his instincts that he was an obligate carnivore, he needed to somehow catch an animal. And he’d never been into hunting, so he wasn’t sure how to do that. 

That was how he found himself standing in the woods in full hero gear on a Saturday night, the moon high above his head. 

He felt ridiculous. What was he supposed to do out here? He was fast with his capture weapon, but he’d never chased wild animals. He was picking up the scents, and something wild and dangerous in him wanted to go. The ever present energy that buzzed in his veins seemed to rise closer to the surface, threatening to burst. He could give himself over to it. It would be easy. Relaxing even, after all the time he’d spent keeping it in check. But was that safe? Would he be able to pull it back later or would he become some kind of rampaging animal?

“You’re overthinking. Stop” Reaper called from somewhere above him in the trees. Because of course she was here too. The moment he was pulled out of his mind he could pinpoint where she was, his heightened senses locking onto where she crouched in the branches.

His instincts considered her a threat and he was inclined to agree.

“Can you stop stalking me?” Shota snapped.

He hated being stuck with a villain he couldn’t actually catch. He knew not trying to fight again just yet and getting what information he could was the right move, but that didn’t mean he liked it.

“Once I know you’re adapting well. Now what’s the hold up? I know you want to run and fly. You’re barely holding that form. Suppressing into a smaller form is difficult to maintain. Eventually you need to release it” Reaper questioned, dropping into view out of the trees.

Shota was torn for a moment. Asking seemed like a bad idea. Voicing one’s concerns to a villain never ended well. But her information was starting to seem good. Even if she was insane, she might know the answer.

“Will I be able to stop?” he finally asked, hating himself for needing to.

“Of course. Letting your instincts do their job doesn’t make you some mindless beast. As long as you don’t totally starve yourself you will be in control of the situation. You’ll enjoy this, actually. You already like to run and leap, flying is even better”

“I’d better not regret this” Shota warned, making it very clear this did not mean they were on friendly terms now.

Reaper didn’t say a word, just smiled again like she knew everything and slipped away.

Shota waited until he couldn’t detect her at all anymore to do anything else. Reaching for the energy rushing through him was almost like using his quirk. But it was far more powerful, and a lot less focused. His quirk already knew what it wanted to do - erase - and where it wanted to go - his eyes. This power just wanted to explode with no real direction. He decided to bite the bullet and let it.

His blood seemed to boil as power filled his entire body and it took barely a second before he was suddenly standing far taller than he had just been, and catching himself with his arms that were now scaled legs because he could no longer stand on just two.

So the whole shapeshifting thing hadn’t been some weird fever dream. That would also be filed away to examine after he solved the immediate problem of needing food.

Solutions to that immediate problem practically threw themselves at him, the scents crowding his nose. This body knew how to hunt, and it was easy enough to let his instincts guide him into a crouch and slink into the shadows. A creature this size had no right being as silent and invisible as he was, but not a single sound was made as he crept through the trees. It was only when he glanced down at his own feet he realized why. He was creeping quite literally into shadows, his body slipping into them like they were water. It reminded him of that one kid in class 1-B’s quirk, actually. Another thing for the list of ‘things to consider later’. 

Shota had never been squeamish with blood. He saw a lot of blood and death in his line of work. It was still strange to lunge out of the trees at a group of deer, take one down, and tear it apart eating it. It just seemed… vicious. And it was odd to know he was the one making that mess and not a villain. It was at least cleaner than whatever he’d woken up to last time (had that been him? He was starting to wonder). Nothing was left behind save the blood staining the grass, and he was uncomfortably reminded of Reaper’s file and her admission she’d eaten all those people. He’d even instinctively licked the blood from his scales, which hopefully meant he wouldn’t find his clothes covered in it later.

Shota had no idea what he was anymore. Normal people didn’t spend a Saturday night terrorizing woodland animals like some kind of monster. Normal people didn’t have to worry they’d end up terrorizing other people.

And unfortunately the time to process it all was now, because the immediate problem had been solved. He found his eyes looking to the sky. He’d always liked to think high on the rooftops. His wings half spread instinctively, ready to take the leap. He moved before he could second guess himself, launching upward with powerful wingbeats that shook the treetops as he rose above them.

It almost reminded him of his patrols, spent sprinting from rooftop to rooftop, leaping briefly into the air between each one. But now gravity was merely a suggestion, and the right updraft carried him high above the clouds easily. The stars were bright, decorating the expanse around him with twinkling lights. His entire body felt alive, his mind soothed by the wind and moonlight. 

This was good. This was the best he’d felt since his kidnapping. Perhaps even longer. 

Up here, Shota could think more easily.

What was he, actually? Because dragons weren’t supposed to exist, yet that was what he appeared to be here in the clouds. People certainly didn’t become giant flying reptiles on the daily. There was only one dragon hero Shota knew of. And she didn’t have half the problems he did as far as he knew. And Shota already had a quirk, one that still worked. He’d never heard of any quirk that could alter someone else this much. But Reaper had clearly done it, somehow making him similar to her. 

In the end, all he could really decide was that he might need to reconsider what he thought was real.

Chapter Text

Life didn’t stop for existential crises. 

Shota still had to go and send his students off for internships at the start of the week, even while their departure made something fierce and possessive burn within him. 

He attempted to channel the restlessness it left him with into research. In an incognito browser on his private computer. He was not going to explain to anyone why he was suddenly interested in mythology. Modern stories about dragons were useless. Honestly there were a lot of weird romance books out there. Shota needed the old ones, the ones that might be rooted in fact somewhere. 

Dragon myths were pretty much universal, but Shota narrowed his options based on his own appearance. He’d gotten a better look at himself last night, having only registered black scales the first time. He was fairly sleek, and roughly the height of a horse at the shoulder he believed, but his wings made him look way bulkier. And his eyes were an ominous red like when he used Erasure, though instead of a glow they just had pupils slit like a cat’s. A pair of horns a shade darker than his scales had decorated his head. Pretty typical European dragon really. He hadn’t been into fantasy, but he hadn’t lived under a rock either. Though he did wonder why he looked like the winged European myths and not Japanese ones if he was supposed to be a dragon. He was born and raised in Japan after all, and so was his whole family. 

Though his family had never been dragons, so maybe that was a moot point. 

On occasion he’d look away from the screen, blink a couple times, and wonder if he was really starting to believe this. Maybe he was going insane. Reaper already seemed pretty far gone. 

The research wasn’t even helping that much. The universal belief seemed to be that dragons like him burned villages, kidnapped princesses, and hoarded gold. Which seemed ridiculous at a glance. But Reaper did seem like the village burning type, and Shota was still fighting off an aggressive possessiveness of his absent students. Why gold though? Gold wasn’t exactly useful. 

That created an awkward conversation a couple days in. Because lost in thought, Shota had gone to the kitchen for a drink only to find himself arranging the coffee mugs on prominent display atop the counter and muttering about how they were way more useful than gold. Hizashi walked in with groceries just as he finished and just kind of stared.

“Uh, why are the mugs on the counter?” Hizashi had asked.

“So we can see them,” Shota helpfully supplied.

“Alright. Why do we need to see them?” Hizashi spoke slowly like he was questioning a child.

And Shota suddenly couldn’t comprehend why that needed to be asked, which is what pulled him back to his senses. Those were his mugs! Why wouldn’t he want everyone to see them? Even in the moment he’d been preening with pride of some sort while Hizashi eyed the mugs.

Shota blinked in surprise, realizing he hadn’t even noticed the odd train of thought.

“I’m. Not actually sure. I just wanted to see them” he eventually answered.

It was an impractical place for mugs. They couldn’t use the counter like this. But putting them back in the cabinet meant hiding them, which suddenly bothered Shota. He mentally smacked himself as he realized what was going on. Gold was useless. And he was hoarding mugs. Wonderful. 

The bigger problem was what clicked for him moments later. He was hoarding his students too. The way he’d felt about the mugs had been the same, though he got the feeling the students were more valuable. That was why he’d been feeling so bad while they were gone. And that probably meant Hizashi was in the hoard too. Great.

“We will need our counter back eventually. It’s quite a party out here actually, I didn’t realize we had quite so many” Hizashi pointed out.

As if some god had heard the comment, one of the mugs chose that moment to fall off the counter and shatter. Dark blue fragments scattered across the kitchen floor.

A keening sound tore itself from Shota before he could stop it as he crouched down next to the pieces.

“Oh shit, Shota?” Hizashi panicked, probably expecting some kind of injury based on the noise.

But there was no injury. Shota was busy mourning a broken mug like it had been his child. He pulled the shattered pieces closer to him. Or started to, before Hizashi grabbed his arms, saying something about hurting himself. The sense of loss was intense. It had been his and now it was gone. And there wasn’t even anyone to blame, no retribution to be had. 

He slowly stood up and moved away, leaving Hizashi to his self imposed task of cleaning up the mess. It was without thought he moved straight out the front door, ignoring the voice calling after him. Despite not having his capture weapon, he eventually found himself on a rooftop via a fire escape underneath an orange sky.

No amount of research would tell him why a broken mug had felt like someone dying. He actually wanted that stupid villain to show up and give him an answer. It was pathetic really. Mourning a mug on a rooftop, hoping for a literal murderer to show up. What was he becoming?

And for better or worse, the murderer did show up.

“I think I know that face, but I’ll let you explain it” was all Reaper said, dropping down behind him. 

“Why am I having a fucking breakdown over a broken mug?” Shota demanded. 

“Knew it. Don’t think I’ve heard of hoarding mugs before, but everyone has their thing. I don’t know how much you have, but your hoard is likely still small. That makes every loss hit quite hard. Is it just the mugs, or do you have something else as well? They’re essential to us, a source of pride and a way to impress others. Gifts for each other’s hoard are even essential in courtship. I quite miss mine. Don’t try living without one, feels like shit” Reaper actually sounded mournful at the end, it was the first hint of anything other than amusement or seriousness she had shown.

“Is hoarding people normal?” Shota then risked asking.

Because it didn’t sound normal. People were alive, they weren’t collectible things like coffee mugs.

“Ah. That makes sense. You have a roommate, you would have considered him yours from the start since he lived in your space. It happens. Hoarding living things is less common, but it happens. I had a human princess once. She stabbed me in the talon, and I found her amusing so I kept her” Reaper 

“Are you seriously telling me you actually kidnapped a princess?” Shota snorted at how ridiculous it sounded.

“Stories come from somewhere. And I’m old enough to take credit for some. Though I think my mother is to blame for many of the more… fiery ones. The Romans called her ​​Terror Astrorum, a name she adopted with pride. She never liked humans” 

“I don’t know what’s going on anymore. I start to believe you and then you start saying shit like this” Shota sighed. He was tired of not knowing what he was. He just wanted someone to tell him whether this villain was stringing him along in some messed up game or if he really was a mythical creature.

“You still have doubts? Look at me for a moment. Your magic should be able to sense mine. To sense it is old magic. Perhaps I should behave a little more seriously for a moment” she straightened up, her expression hardening.

Shota had sensed the energy around her before, he realized. Subconsciously, as a sign of danger because the power before him was greater than his own. It seemed to flare up now, menacingly. Fire flickered faintly on the ground at Reaper’s feet as energy seemed to radiate from her, more intense than anything Shota had ever felt. Even her eyes glowed like golden embers.

“This is true power. True magic. Humanity has only just tapped the surface. It will be many more generations before they develop proper magic. A quirk can command fire. I am fire. It burns in my blood, in my very soul. I am the wildfire that scorches the earth that it may be born anew, and the warm hearth that awaits on a cold night. The heat of the sun and stars upon which life relies. Is that enough for you?” she spoke in a deep growling voice, slower and more intently than anything she’d said before. Gone was the carefree villain who brushed off murder like life was a game. In her place was something else entirely. Something wise and terrifying all at once.

Something Shota could take seriously enough to believe, as insane as it all was.

The moment he nodded, Reaper relaxed and the tension vanished. The glow faded, and the mirth returned to her eyes, “Good. I have my fun with you, but don’t doubt that I’m a force of nature. And you will be too, in time. Though you’re born of shadow rather than fire”

Shota was about to say something when the phone in his pocket blared out a very specific tone that had him yanking it out.

It was a hero alert. Calling everyone who could be there to Hosu because of an attack. Ida was in Hosu, and Endeavour had responded immediately, meaning Todoroki likely was as well. Shota gripped the phone so tightly that his knuckles went white. His students were in danger. His students. That terrible, possessive beast completely overwhelmed him.

“How fast can I fly?” 

Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya knew the situation he was in was bad. Three students against the Hero Killer, with the only real hero present too injured to be of any help. Todoroki’s arrival had been a relief, but he couldn’t tell if it would be enough yet. 

Ida still couldn’t get up, Stain’s quirk keeping him paralyzed on the ground. So Izuku and Todoroki fought with everything they had to keep the villain back. They were managing, just barely. And things started to look up after a terrifying moment where Todoroki was nearly cut down when Ida finally managed to throw himself into the fight, destroying one of Stain’s swords in the process.

Then something shifted. Everyone suddenly halted, even Stain. Izuku could feel a strange sense of danger, some deep rooted instinctive fear telling him it wasn’t safe here. And the way everyone stopped and looked around wide eyed told him they felt it too. 

For a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath. 

Then a monster lunged out from the dark, clamping its massive jaws around Stain’s shoulder and sinking sharp talons into his back, pinning the Hero Killer to the ground. And with the horrific sounds of tearing flesh and cracking bone, the beast tore Stain’s right arm clean off and cast it aside with a snarl. 

“We need to go, now!” Izuku decided. Whatever this was, they couldn’t fight it. They’d barely been fighting Stain. He grabbed hold of Native, helping the hero up and Ida was quick to try and help despite his own injuries. The little group stumbled their way out the alleyway, Todoroki leaving walls of ice behind them in case the creature decided to follow.

“What was that?” Todoroki asked when they stood breathlessly on the other side of the main road. 

“It must have been some kind of Nomu. The city is full of them” Ida suggested, sitting heavily on the ground.

“It could be. But aren’t the ones here grey? That one was black. Maybe like the one at the USJ?” Izuku noted. 

Truthfully, he had his doubts. While he couldn’t voice it, something had seemed off with the theory. He’d seen the USJ Nomu and the ones attacking here, and if one paid attention there was something almost… robotic about their actions. Like they were preprogrammed, and there was not a single emotion behind their actions. Whatever this was, it had moved more fluidly and seemed genuinely enraged. That attack on Stain had been genuinely vicious, not at all like something simply following a kill order. But Izuku couldn’t explain this in a way that made sense, so he kept it to himself. Objectively, the Nomu theory made the most sense anyway. And people might think he was crazy if he started spouting nonsense about monsters. Maybe he could ask All Might later. 

The heroes started arriving quickly after that. Izuku got lectured by Gran Torino briefly, but the older man just seemed mostly relieved he had survived. Izuku is able to recount what happened, with the others offering up their own additions. But even that can’t go smoothly, because just as Izuku starts to relax, he’s suddenly yanked up into the air by a flying Nomu. Its claws dig painfully into his back and the city quickly starts to race by below him, the wind stealing the voices of everyone crying out in alarm. And just as quickly he was falling, the only warning being a screech of pain from the Nomu that abruptly cut off. Izuku hit the ground hard, the air driven from his lungs painfully. 

He sat up gasping for breath, eyes landing quickly on the Nomu. It was dead, its head torn clean off. And a woman was holding the head, examining it.

“-desecration. Humanity really is too far gone” was all Izuku managed to catch of her muttering. 

She glanced his way briefly, golden eyes seeming to glow through the darkness that had fallen over the city. Then she tossed the head aside and took off on a pair of red wings that seemed to suddenly grow from her back. 

People surrounded Izuku within moments, checking him for injuries. Even more heroes, and police arrived, as well as ambulances. Endeavor was using his flames to melt the ice wall into the alleyway they’d abandoned Stain in. Izuku never got to see what they found back there, too busy being fussed over by paramedics. But later on he would hear all that had been found of the Hero Killer was a dismembered corpse and an alleyway painted in blood. 

—

“No, I know about the attack! I’m telling you, something was wrong before that! He was acting weird!” Hizashi Yamada argued on the phone.

He’d called the only other person he could think of when Shota didn’t come back by midnight. The hero Midnight, ironically.

“Yamada, you haven’t told me what was weird. Aizawa going out for a moonlit stroll isn’t exactly unusual, especially with his students near this attack”

“Right, sorry. It’s been a long night. I came home from the store and he’d moved all our mugs onto the countertop. Said he wanted to see them? I’ve never seen him do anything so strange! And then one fell and broke and he just bolted! He looked like he’d just watched someone die!”

“That’s… I don’t even have a good joke, that’s not normal” Kayama admitted.

“Should I get him help? What if it’s some kind of mental break? He’s been a little out of it since that whole kidnapping incident…” Hizashi fretted. 

“I would talk to him before committing him to the psych ward. You know how he is with his problems” Kayama reminded him. 

“Yeah I probably should-” Hizashi started, but he stopped abruptly at the sound of the balcony door opening.

Shota stood there looking downright haunted.

“He just got back, I’ll call you later” Hizashi quickly said, ending the call before rushing over, “Shota! Are you alright?”

Shota barely glanced his way, and Hizashi recognized the signs that he was lost in his own head.

“Hey. What’s bugging you?” he tried again, much more gently.

“I… It’s nothing” Shota answered, starting to walk away.

Hizashi grabbed his arm and Shota completely flinched. Hizashi let go immediately, and Shota hurried into his own room before any questions could be asked.

Hizashi stared at the now empty space for a long moment before pulling out his phone and sending a text to Kayama.

Yeah, something is really wrong.

—

Tomura Shigaraki was cursing up a storm as he returned to his hideout. 

Nothing had gone the way he wanted. Sure, people were talking about him. But they thought he’d killed the Hero Killer! And that was what they cared about! And the worst part? He hadn’t! Whatever had killed Stain hadn’t been a Nomu. 

The doctor had confirmed it. He’d only given Tomura the grey Nomu. There hadn’t been any black ones like the one he’d brought to try and kill All Might. There’d been a whole argument about it.

But both Tomura and the doctor agreed on one thing, though. Whatever had killed Stain would be incredibly useful if they could get their hands on it.

Chapter Text

Shota knew an intervention was coming. 

It had happened a few other times before. Shota kept his problems to himself. Hizashi and Kayama, who had known him since high school, could recognize the subtle signs that something was bothering him. One or both of them would eventually corner him and demand to know what was up. Usually he’d get annoyed enough that he’d just confess and they’d actually help him with whatever the issue was.

He couldn’t really do that this time. For one, Reaper had renewed her threat after their return from Hosu. 

“I swear if you try to turn yourself in I will torch the place myself to get you out. We got incredibly lucky that those kids thought you were one of those monsters. But you cannot go blabbing about it. I will silence anyone who knows too much. There’s already a chance the wrong people will connect the dots. Have your crisis alone, and let it go. You aren’t human anymore, and defending what’s yours is a natural instinct. You did nothing wrong, so sort that out in your head and keep quiet” she had said with the tone of someone trying to slap some sense into him.

And honestly, the more Shota learned about himself, the more afraid he was of what Reaper could do if she really tried. So he took her threat seriously. But even if he didn’t, he’d be confessing to murder if he told anyone.

Shota had killed before. It was an unspoken reality of heroics - sometimes you chose yourself over the villain when the stakes were high. He hadn’t been there as a hero on scene though. He couldn’t claim that when he hadn’t done anything to help the actual situation. And the stakes hadn’t been dire. Stain hadn’t even been able to fight back. That wasn’t heroic in the slightest. It was straight up murder.

So all he could do was try and pull himself together alone. To just get over it. And infuriatingly, it was almost easy. Something in him wanted to be proud of defending his students. And he could almost let that overtake the guilt. But then new guilt would rise up, guilt about feeling good about it at all. He’d never been so disconnected from himself in his life. The closest had been Oboro’s death, and at least his entire mind could agree that was awful. 

The relief at seeing his students all arrive to class when their internships ended was a small help at least. He’d done something terrible, but at least he had protected them. But their stupid gossip got to him quickly. Because of course all they could talk about was Hosu and Stain.

“Did the League really just off Stain then?”

“That’s what everyone is saying. They’re debating if Reaper was involved too. Apparently they saw her there”

“Isn’t that the villain that kidnapped Aizawa-sensei? Maybe that’s why he seems out of it?” 

“Oh yeah. I didn’t even think of that”

It didn’t even matter who was speaking. Every conversation was similar, with the exception of Midoriya, Ida, and Todoroki who were all notably less interested in the topic. Shota’s sensitive ears didn’t let him tune it out as easily as he’d like. Still, he was respected enough by this class that they all went silent when he called for their attention and started the day.

A couple weeks went by, and it didn’t get better. Shota was being too soft on his students, suddenly terrified of what would happen if he let himself get mad at them. Even Shinso, who had been respectful to a fault since being offered training, had started snarking at him. 

So when Hizashi threw an arm around his shoulders at the end of the school day one afternoon with a hero grade smile and started guiding him somewhere, Shota knew he was done for. He was out of time, and his friends wouldn’t let him go until they knew what was wrong.

The two of them ended up in an empty classroom, where of course Kayama was waiting, sitting on a desk with her arms crossed. 

“This is an intervention, I assume?” Shota just sighed in defeat.

Internally he was trying to make up excuses. They would never understand that he could not tell them.

“That’s right, listener!” Hizashi declared with his iconic finger guns. Like he was a hero rather than a concerned friend.

“You don’t need to be Present Mic at my intervention” Shota grumbled.

He knew what it meant. Hizashi was trying to mask his own distress behind his hero persona. 

“Sorry man. I’m just really worried about you. You’ve been really out of it lately” Hizashi conceded.

Briefly anger at himself flared up in Shota. One of his people was hurt and it was his fault. He desperately shoved it back down. At least it was only on one front. For some reason, Kayama had not yet been hoarded in his brain. Probably because he hadn’t really had time to spend with her in a while. Then again, the only non-student he seemed to consider one of his was Hizashi. Who lived with him.

“I would think it’s obvious I’ve been stressed. My students keep nearly getting themselves killed” Shota tried, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

“That doesn’t explain everything. You’ve been off for a while now. And the coffee mugs? What were you even doing that day?”

Of course the stupid mug incident would be an issue. Shota had made a distressed sound that could have rivaled Hizashi and bolted. And hadn’t spoken about it since. He’d been too caught up in the other events of that night to remember to clear that up. And he really didn’t have a reasonable answer.

“I don’t even know why I wanted to look at the mugs. But I guess I liked that one more than I thought” Shota tried to shrug it off.

“You have never cared about any possession other than that sleeping bag of yours in your life” Kayama chimed in.

The sleeping bag was considered a prize possession in his little hoard. Not that Shota would admit that.

“Well apparently I liked that mug,” Shota snapped back. He was just as unhappy about his stupid devastation over a mug as they were.

“We just want to help you, man! You know that, this isn’t the first time” Hizashi reminded him.

Shota just grit his teeth. He did know that. But he also knew they couldn’t this time. And he was getting angry, and anger could be dangerous.

“Just. Leave it be. For once in your lives just fuck off” Shota hissed out, far harsher than he intended.

He needed to be alone right now until he could trust himself again. He stomped out of the room, refusing to look at either of them.

Chapter Text

Hizashi sat on the couch in Kayama’s apartment that evening, both of them wearing grave expressions. 

“I’ve never seen him this bad. Not since we were kids” Hizashi sighed.

“He doesn’t usually get that defensive when we prod. Usually he sighs like a dramatic grouch and then confesses” Kayama agreed.

“I ordered a new mug. I was desperate" Hizashi confessed.

Kayama actually laughed at that, “Are you going to confess to Aizawa with coffee mugs now?” 

“Shut up. Not the time” Hizashi jabbed her with his elbow.

Usually she’d remind him it was never the time to confess the seemingly eternal crush he’d had on his roommate but for once she was silent. It really wasn’t the time.

“You live with him. When exactly did he start seeming off?” Kayama pried instead.

“Let’s see. He recovered fine from the USJ. Went right back to how he was, I think his self esteem took a hit but nothing dire. Then he got kidnapped… we never really talked about that actually. He was definitely a bit off afterwards” Hizashi sat up.

“The timing matches up I think,” Kayama nodded.

“Did you see the report he gave on it? Maybe there’s details there? He didn’t tell me, but he must have told the police, right?” Hizashi asked.

“We can look,” Kayama decided, grabbing her laptop from the coffee table in front of them.

A couple minutes of clicking followed as she went ahead and signed in to her hero account on the database and found the right report. Then another moment as she took it in and frowned.

“This is… quite vague actually. But he did meet the villain again,” she said, turning the laptop to Hizashi.

All Shota’s report on the incident summed up to was pretty much what he’d told Hizashi when he first showed up. He’d fought a stalker who identified herself as the known villain Reaper, lost, and woke up three days later in the woods. He gave a physical description of Reaper, and was noted as the first one to survive an encounter with the villain in the larger record centered around her. He’d provided more information from a future encounter later on, saying the villain had some kind of fixation on him and had confessed to cannibalism with her victims.

Then there was nothing. Despite the reported fixation no other encounters had been reported. 

“What he said implies the villain wasn’t going to leave him alone but there’s nothing else here. Could she have something on him? Some way to keep him quiet?” Hizashi muttered, his mind racing to put together pieces.

“She was seen in Hosu. Which was the same night he completely freaked out” Kayama added.

“But what would she have on him? Shota’s record is clean. He has no ammo and no audience for a scandal” Hizashi wondered.

He pulled up his friend’s record on the laptop just in case, but it was exactly as he remembered. 

“And how does that connect to losing his mind over a cheap coffee mug?” Kayama was thinking as well.

They were missing pieces to this puzzle, and Hizashi hated that. 

“I’m going to look into this villain more. Maybe we’ll get some answers that way” Hizashi decided, passing the laptop back to Kayama. 

“Just be careful. A few heroes have tried to corner her now, and none of them made it back” Kayama warned him. 

“Except for Shota. And the reason for that will have to tell us something if I can find it” Hizashi insisted.

Villains were often terrible people. Especially repeat killers like this. But they always had a reason, no matter how twisted, for their actions. Reaper had a reason for killing people. And a reason for not killing one specific person. That had to be the biggest piece they were missing.

So Hizashi went home, pulled out his own laptop, and started digging through Reaper’s records properly. They went back surprisingly far, it was rare a killer like this was loose for so many years before being caught. The name had been given to her by the police after the third case linked to the same killer, and Shota’s eventual report suggested she’d adopted the name they gave her. Nothing was ever found beyond blood, and they didn’t even have a description of the villain until Shota provided it. 

Hosu had been the second time someone was able to describe her. And it had been Midoriya who did so, giving a description of the woman who’d taken down the Nomu that tried to fly off with him. He hadn’t known it was Reaper, but the police had matched the description to Shota’s description of the villain quickly enough. And that was an oddly shaped puzzle piece. Why would she have saved Midoriya? Nothing else in the case Hizashi was building gave a reason for that at all. It must have to do with her recent connection to Shota, but it didn’t make sense. If she was taking advantage of him somehow, why would she save his student?

At two in the morning, Hizashi had to admit defeat for the night. But the next day he ended up pulling Midoriya aside after class with a serious expression.

“Hey listener! You’re not in trouble!” he was quick to assure the boy’s nerves. He knew firsthand from his own high school days how terrifying it was to be kept back by a teacher and not know why.

“What is it, Mic-sensei?” Midoriya asked. He still looked a bit nervous even with the reassurance. Like Hizashi might know all his secrets or something.

Hizashi was not interested in some teenager’s probably boring secrets though, and he didn’t know if Midoriya had any.

“I’m looking into a villain, and the last sighting just happened to be yours! Figured ya wouldn’t mind helping me out with a case if that’s alright? You saw Reaper in Hosu, correct, listener?” he leaned fully into his hero persona, aiming finger guns at the kid. 

“Oh! Yeah I did, but only briefly. I don’t know if I can actually help. She ripped the head off the Nomu that grabbed me and left not long after I fell. I didn’t even know who she was until the police told me” Midoriya explained, more relaxed now that he knew what was wanted from him.

“Is there anything you didn’t say in that report? You won’t be in trouble if you missed anything! I’m just trying to collect all the details, ya dig? Even the stuff you think isn’t important could be a huge help! Right down to the tiniest detail!” Hizashi encouraged him.

Midoriya thought for a moment, his eyes far away as he sorted through the memory.

“She was muttering something. I only heard a sentence. Something about humanity being too far gone?” Midoriya offered.

It wasn’t much, but had to mean something. It could be part of a motive for her actions. So Hizashi grinned at the kid and gave him a thumbs up.

“That’s super helpful, listener! If you think of anything else, feel free to talk to me anytime! Go catch up to your buddies for now, I’m sure they’re missing ya!” he dismissed the student, who nodded and ran out to catch up with his friends.

Hizashi filed what he’d learned away mentally. A general disdain for humanity could explain a motive for the murders, but it didn’t explain anything he actually wanted to know. What about Shota would make him an exception to an opinion like that? Or useful to someone with that opinion? 

Present Mic often could come across as airheaded and stupid, but that was just a facade. Hizashi Yamada was incredibly smart, and had a talent for solving the cases placed in front of him. 

So he knew what he had to do. Shota wouldn’t talk. There was a reason he wouldn’t and Hizashi couldn’t brute force his way past it. So he’d have to get answers from the other party involved.

Present Mic would just have to hunt down Reaper.

Chapter Text

Life sort of returned to normal. Final Exams were approaching, and preparing for them was a welcome distraction.

Still, Shota grappled with what had happened. His mind was fighting with itself still, unable to decide if it should be proud or wracked with guilt. Reaper eventually started to get impatient with this. 

It didn’t surprise Shota when she snapped.

“Are you still moping?” she’d sighed upon seeing the way he watched the city a mere couple days before the exams.

“Excuse me for not just getting over murder” Shota growled back. He was starting to get really sick of her.

“You shouldn’t feel bad about it at all! Do you think those cats you’re always looking at feel bad when they kill a mouse? It’s not possible. It’s like a built-in protection. Predators do not empathize with prey. Your memories are the problem. Your mind isn’t built to feel bad anymore, but you’re making yourself feel that way through association with old memories. Just let it go” Reaper insisted.

“How many times do I need to tell you to fuck off before you listen?” Shota shot back.

“You-” that was the only word that left Reaper before speech was replaced by a snarl and without warning she’d lunged forward and pinned Shota to the rooftop.

He snarled right back and struggled to free himself, but she seemed to weigh more than she should as she pinned his arms and legs with her own. Power seemed to radiate from her, and some instinct rose up to warn Shota he was outmatched and needed to back down. Not that he listened to it.

“You just deny everything about yourself, don’t you? Even now you sense the power of an elder and still you don’t yield like you should. Stop playing human. They’re the monsters you’re so afraid of becoming. They kill and they take with no respect for this world. Do you think I became the last of my kind through bad luck? No, they saw power and they craved it. They destroyed every last bit of magic in this world for a chance to have it for themselves. Dragons’ blood, unicorn horns, phoenix feathers, they wanted all of it. And now there’s nothing left but the two of us. Do you really think killing one stultus who would have happily taken from you makes you so bad? Vae tibi! Kill them all you want. Discerpere eos!” she continued to rambled in what sounded like Latin for another minute before realizing it, “And you now have me speaking old tongues like my mother! She never could move on from Latin… I will find a way to encourage you to behave as you should if you don’t shape up. I didn’t want to do this with a heavy claw, but I don’t have much choice. I will not let you ruin everything I have worked for by being a fool and offering yourself up for death. It took me nearly two hundred years to find a suitable candidate. I will not let you fuck this up” 

Then she was gone, launching straight up into the sky from Shota’s chest. He sat up and rubbed his wrists, which now oozed blood from the tips of sharp claws digging in. He hadn’t understood every word, but he knew a threat when he heard one. Not that he could do much about it. She’d been following him for how long now? And he still hadn’t been able to think of anything to do about it. Even stopped trying for a while, just accepting she was part of his life now.

But she was a dangerous villain. And the sheer hatred she’d expressed had been a harsh reminder. He’d gotten too comfortable letting her hang around. He needed to get rid of her.

The fact she stopped bothering him on patrol after that should have been a relief, but it felt more like the calm before a storm.

Shota’s students mostly passed their final exams. And the ones who didn’t weren’t hopeless. It even gave him a reason to move Shinso into 1-A finally. He’d joined the exams to even out the numbers and had passed. Shota never really dealt with the guilt he felt. He didn’t like how easily his brain filed the event away eventually, but it did make dealing with everything in front of him easier. 

The approaching training camp was the big thing to worry about at first, until Shota realized why Hizashi had stopped pestering him about his feelings. That incredibly smart idiot had connected some dots somewhere, because now he was investigating Reaper. And with the threats hanging over Shota’s head, that was terrifying.

“Did the police put you on that case?” he asked one rainy evening after he’d seen Hizashi’s laptop.

He’d walked past the couch with a mug of coffee in hand and nearly froze when he recognized the case files on the screen. It was hard not to when Shota had dug through those same files himself not so long ago.

“Which one? They’ve given me a few” Hizashi answered.

“Reaper. Did they put you on it or are you just mad at her for kidnapping me?” Shota clarified.

Hizashi could get pretty angry. Shota had seen him destroy some eardrums a little more than necessary when villains had upset him. Or break some noses, which was a lot more funny. No one ever expected to be just plain punched in the face by Present Mic for some reason.

“Would you help me at all if it was a revenge case?” Hizashi teased, but something in his eyes was calculating.

“Everything I have is in the reports” Shota just shrugged. 

“Any idea why you weren’t killed? Not that I’m unhappy about that! But it’s the only outlier in this entire file aside from what happened with Midoriya in Hosu” Hizashi asked.

“None,” Shota shrugged again. It wasn’t entirely a lie. He still wasn’t entirely sure why it had to be him of all people.

“Have you seen anything weird since that second report? You said she was pretty interested in you and then there’s been nothing since” Hizashi continued.

“Nothing. Maybe she lost interest?” Shota’s next answer was a downright lie, and it tasted like ash on his tongue. But he could lie well when he wanted to. It was an essential skill for blending in.

“Could be. She’s back on her old pattern as of this morning” Hizashi nodded, but he didn’t look convinced.

Shota wasn’t actually surprised that Reaper was killing again, but it did startle him a bit to hear. Still, Hizashi’s obvious suspicion was the bigger issue. 

“Oh that all reminds me” Hizashi suddenly declared closing the laptop, “I got you a new mug. Looks just like that one you liked so much” his expression was carefully neutral. Like he was observing the reaction, even as he reached into his bag where it rested, slumped next to the coffee table, and pulled out a small box.

Shota wasn’t prepared for his own reaction either, honestly. He accepted the box, trying to ignore the sudden warmth that filled him at the gesture. It was just another cheap generic mug, why did he feel like he’d been given something precious? He pulled it out of the box, holding it gently like it would break if he gripped too tightly.

“Ah. Thanks” he muttered, unable to keep some of the warmth from creeping into his voice.

The slightest narrowing of Hizashi’s eyes indicated he’d noticed, but the other man didn’t say anything about it.

Most people knew Hizashi’s loud persona. They had no idea just how smart Present Mic actually was. How efficiently he could work out a case. Shota knew of course. And he knew exactly how his fellow hero got when deep in investigation. Quieter, more calculating. 

Safe to say, Shota knew he was done for. Hizashi was looking into this, and he was deep enough where he wouldn’t be stopped. And he had no idea the danger he was putting himself in.

“Hizashi. Please. Just leave that case be” Shota actually begged.

It was a massive red flag. He knew that. But Hizashi was already digging, and Shota knew he wouldn’t stop. 

Hizashi’s gaze shot up from the laptop, green eyes bright with alarm. Shota held his gaze, letting unspoken words pass between them. 

The real meaning of Shota’s plea was obvious to them both - Yes I’m in trouble. Keep yourself out of it.

“Well someone has to look into it! This villain has been out there awhile now. Might as well be me” Hizashi replied.

I’m going to help you. I won’t leave it be. - Hizashi’s words held their own meaning.

The two knew each other too well. And they’d been heroes for too long. The messages passed easily between neutral faces. Shota clutched the new mug closer to his chest. He wanted desperately to prevent it, but he couldn’t help the sense of dread that fell over him. 

This wouldn’t end well.