MosesArk Reborn2000
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Chapter 3: A Match in the Wind
🕑 Added 2023-10-12 15:41:58 +0000 UTCThis time around, I managed to keep the world count within the limit as I do have to remember that while I enjoy this, I have to pace myself as just burning through ideas and releasing chapters that can exceed 10k words weekly can and does lead to burnout and fatigue, it's the reason why I haven't updated Hero of the Dark Skies since March, but I am working on a re-done version of but that'll take time as with season 6 long done and season 7 and another movie on the horizon, I've found that I had to re-work some characters and plot ideas, my speed not helped by the fact it's blisteringly hot.
In the days that followed Midoriya’s meltdown in the freshly coined ‘Tatoonie Incident', things had not gone well for his image. Those who didn't flee from the scene witnessed the entire thing, but to them, they only saw a crazed child try and burn both another villain and heroes alike before he fled at the sight of All Might. Worse yet, their testimony was backed by video taken by multiple people with their phones. It wasn't even a full 24 hours before the story shifted to that of a young villain's debut rampage and assault with people advised that if they saw him, to keep their distance and report it as fast as possible.
“How’s the arm?” Kamui asked Death Arms, the man back on duty after a day off for treatment, he should still be off but he here was.
“Better. Though they had to bring in Recovery Girl however to handle it.” Death Arms replied, as his arms had suffered 1st and 2nd degree burns from his proximity to the boy when his flames shot up in intensity. His right was the worst of the two but a couple of kisses from the veteran hero and he was good to go, even if she wanted him to remain for a couple of days.
"That is a mercy in itself, you could have easily ended up like the rest of the street." Kamui shuddered as he recalled the incident site once the boy had left. The entire place looked like it had been baked in an oversized oven for hours on end, nothing was spared the heat or the flames and whatever wasn't burned to ash melted. If he had tried to intervene, he wouldn't have faired well to put it lightly.
"No joke. I've handled a few fire villains before, but that kid," Death Arms recalled the scene of when the boy summoned a wall of fire, almost as tall as the buildings around them, all while that stone-like face looked on at them with a decreasing grip on reality. “He was on a whole other level, a living inferno.”
"And yet, even while looking like a cross between a snake, a volcano and a campfire, he managed to escape." Mt. Lady added, as they spent hours looking for the kid, even All Might helped but aside from a burnt-out man-hole cover 12 blocks away, he was gone.
"His mother didn't seem to know anything about it," Kamui replied, thinking about how he had been present when the police visited her to question her. They also hoped that the boy had returned somewhere familiar, somewhere he felt safe but no suck luck. “She was shocked that he would do that but seemed to also not be.”
“Pardon?” Mt. Lady asked.
“She said that he’s always had…urges, bad thoughts which he wasn’t supposed to listen to, and that fires tend to be a trigger for them.” To that, Death Arms hummed.
“I’m guessing he wasn’t supposed to head to the incident then?” He asked, to which the wood quirk user nodded his head.
"Yeah, she didn't know what drove him to break the rules as she was adamant, he was a good boy, just normal in the head," Kamui recalled that part quite clearly, how insistent she was that he shouldn't be blamed for his villainous quirk, even showed them his room which was an All Might shrine with how much merchandise the kid had collected over the years.
“He certainly didn’t look sane; the kid couldn’t even tell that burning someone alive was a bad thing.” Death Arms crossed his arms and leaned into his chair.
“Was it though?” He looked towards Mt. Lady, who didn’t seem to agree with his statement. “I mean, close to the end, it looked like he was more terrified than anything.” She had been the furthest back, but she had gotten exceptional when it came to spotting and identifying things smaller than her when she used her quirk. And to her, the boy seemed less like he genuinely believed he was doing the right thing.
Perhaps there was some truth to his words as they had recovered the villain, expecting to find him dead but he was fine, just unconscious. EMTs even reported that he didn't have any sufficient burn injuries and that he had been healed by the experience. It was the same deal with that Bakugo kid as his arm was fine after less than an hour.
"Maybe, but that didn't change the fact he broke a bunch of laws. It's fine to wish to help, but there is a process to it and because he didn't follow it, he wrecked the place." Death Arms reminded her.
"I'm not disagreeing with any of you on that, as there is something more here, but that leaves the question," Kamui Woods added, looking both in the eye. "Why did he flee from All Might? The boy loved heroes, loved All Might more than any other, yet the sight of him sent him into a fear-fueled frenzy and fled as fast as he could." That was the part he didn’t understand, even after all this time.
Thinking about it, the super-strength user gave his theory to explain it. “I would assume it’s those urges you brought up as the kid kept repeating he wasn’t a villain, yet was doing villainous things. Maybe they won out in the end and he realized he had screwed himself.” The kid certainly wasn't all there, at least partially.
Mt. Lady sighed at that, they had only recovered his backpack from the scene of the fire which meant he didn't have a phone on him they could track or even call. Leaving them with no leads on an emotionally and possibly mentally unstable student with a powerful flame quirk and apparent pyromaniac tendencies
“I just hope that this is resolved soon, his mother was a mess and I can’t imagine that 3 days with no sightings of her son is doing her any good.” Kamui Woods uttered, shaking his head at the mess of a situation this was.
"The only silver lining is the fact the press is being kept back for the moment, the last thing she needs is her face blasted all over the news." He snorted dismissingly when he mentioned the press. He had long since accepted them as a fact of life a pro, how they could rise you up and break you down in equal measure. He wouldn’t say he hated them, but he did hate the fact more than a few actors and news agencies tend to go for scandalizing drama over decency and fact.
Mt. Lady agreed with him, she might play into it but that didn’t mean she wasn’t aware of its dangers. “That’s the messed-up part of it, isn't it? It doesn't matter what the kid's deal is if he's a villain or not, the press will drag his entire family through the mud." She had studied instances when this happened back when she was a hero student, her school might have been small, remote and as poor as heck, but she had access to such materials and it was never pretty when a villain's real name was revealed. It was part of the reason they even bothered to monikers and villain names to begin with, if not to attempt to destroy the link between them and their crimes, it was to protect any family they might have.
Line Break
Waking up, Midoriya felt his stomach grumbling, giving him a clue as to what brought him out of the blissful world of dreams he had been in, right in the middle of when All Might was thanking him for saving the President of the World. Getting up, he looked down from the raptors of the abandoned warehouse he had managed to fight the night before. From his perch, he could see no signs that he had been followed or anyone coming to use the place as a place to crash.
Feeling his stomach grumble, even more than before, he was reminded of the fact he hadn't eaten anything in 2 days, his last meal being a couple of apples he reluctantly took from a grocer when they weren't looking. As he climbed down, the oversized coat he had managed to snag covered his body well enough, but his exposed arms and legs still peeked through as he slowly got back down to the floor. Once on solid ground, he frowned, feeling the gravel and dirt collecting on his bare feet but it couldn’t be helped, his clothes had burned to ash when he had his freak-out, so he was just grateful that he managed to pull his sole piece of clothing off someone’s line before he was seen.
It was bad enough that he went against his mother's rules, he didn't want to disappoint her further by being caught streaking. 'I just couldn't help myself, and now I'm stuck in this mess. Great going, Deku, you somehow found a way to screw up that not even you thought possible.' He couldn’t even go home, plead forgiveness from his mother as when he managed to double back to his apartment, after making sure he didn’t leave a trail for them to follow.
Only for him to see that the heroes were already there. He nearly ran up to them, excited as he could be to ask them questions, for an autograph till he remembered why they would be speaking with his mother, why there would be a police car in the front. One of them nearly saw him, and in panic, he fled without thinking and now.
"Now I have no idea where I am." He muttered to himself as his stomach groaned again, he didn't like it, but as he had no money to pay for food, he'd have to acquire it through less-than-moral means. "I'm sorry for what I'm about to do." He muttered as he walked out of the warehouse. Sticking to backstreets and alleys, he made his way through the place, avoiding people where he could as the last thing he needed was someone spotting him, he was already suspicious enough, but at least the oversized coat covered enough of him to ensure no one thought he was just wearing that.
It took him a while, but he finally made it to a market area, similar to Tatoonie which he burned-'No, don't think about it, just get some food and leave.' He looked around the place, trying the blend into the crowd which seemed to be working. One of the few times he was happy he was so both smaller than average for a boy his age and plain looking, so long as he minded himself, no one paid him any mind, focused on their affairs.
Going from stall to stall, he kept his distance as while it wouldn't be too odd for someone to compare prizes and goods, he didn't strike the appearance of someone who was buying anything. So, he had to be smart about it. he also didn't want to take anything too expensive as he just needed enough to fill him for a while so he didn't have to come back, he didn't need to make a vendor's day even worse by stealing something they couldn't afford to lose. As he went from a fruit stall, he heard something. Turning to the side, he saw that a small boy, maybe 6-7, had tripped and scrapped his knee. Focusing on it, he saw the boy's mother soothe him, the young woman smiling as she pulled out disinfectant wipes and a bandage to tend to the boy. Midoriya kept his eye on them the entire time, the crowd and distance being enough that no one picked up on this hyper-focus as his eyes didn't leave the boy's cut-up knee. He could help them, couldn’t he? All he’ll have to do is walk over, smile like a proper hero and burn his-
‘NO!’ He bit his tongue, hard enough that he could taste copper in his mouth as he violently turned to face the other way, wiping the sweat from his worried and terrified brow. He refused to let himself fall for his urges again, they were the reason he was in this mess to begin with! But…but that was the first time they came up when seeing someone hurt before it was just fire in any of its forms. So he could avoid it, ignore it and focus on something else, pinch himself if that didn't work. He had never had such thoughts when he just saw something hurt. Someone was wrong, very wrong. He had to get something to eat and get away so he could figure it out.
Lucky for him, he spotted a small bakery, with loads of baked goods being offered. Most were being kept inside the door, but there were several loaves of bread. The vendor was also busy with a customer, a glance to the side revealed that there was an alleyway, giving him an exit plan. Despite this, he felt sick to his stomach as he approached, his heart telling him to leave, to try asking, anything but theft.
But his stomach made itself clear, he listened to that.
Once he was close enough, the vendor, who looked to be a sweet old man with candy-cane-colored skin was turning to him, his mouth moving to either greet him or tell him to wait while he waited for him to finish with the customer he already had. He didn't give him a chance as before he lost what nerve he built up, he rushed forward and grabbed 2 loaves.
"Hey, stop that thief!" He heard the grasp of the customer and the shout from the now-angered vendor, but he didn't dare turn to look as he raced into the alley. Entering the narrow space, he kept running as fast as he could, not noticing that his body was starting to heat up, his speed increasing in proportion to this rise. Turning a corner, he saw the vendor out of the corner of his eye, red-well, redder in the face than before and chasing after him, but the distance between them was pretty big. He could hear the man still coming, along with the voices of others who moved to help, but he kept his focus forward, taking turns where he could, climbing over fences to give further obstacles and even doubling back at one point to confuse them.
By the time the voices had ceased with distance, he had made it to another alley, tired, sweaty and even hungrier than he had been before, he slumped on the wall, falling till he was sitting while he tried to collect his breath. But he had done it, he had stolen something.
He’ll feel guilty about it later, right now he had to eat.
Taking out the loaves, he made a face when he saw that he squashed them up during his escape, but despite looking like a lump, it was still bread. Taking out the bottle of water he picked up the other day, he saw that it still had some water in it, enough for his breakfast/lunch. With a quirk prayer, he quickly ate half of the first loaf, throwing back water in between bites for a few minutes, only stopping when he felt full. Wiping the crumbs from his face, he looked at his remaining loot. He would need to fill the water up when he next found a fountain or public bathroom, but the bread would need something to cover it, maybe a plastic bag from a store would do. Some of them had them at the front, and he didn't think they'd give much fuss if he grabbed one as they didn't charge for them. yeah, that'll work. At least he now had a game plan for the next couple of hours. Put some more distance between him and the market he stole from, refill his water, and get a plastic bag.
Not even he could screw that up.
Walking out of the alley, after making sure he didn't look too bad, he entered the streets again and searched for a public park, it would be the best place to solve his water issue. Keeping his head down, he made some progress, till he passed by a store which had tvs out front. He would have avoided them, but when he saw a flash of green and fire, his eyes couldn't resist.
It was him, he was on the news.
He felt his chest constrict as he saw the story. He didn’t hear anything, the TVs being muted, but he had enough context clues to guess what was happening as they showed his last yearbook photo in the top corner of footage of his freak-out. he had avoided the news since he fled, but seeing himself on screen, those people running, the fires raging-the heroes being forced back, escaping from the symbol of peace and his idol
He…he was ecstatic. His flames…they were beautiful. They covered everything and burned so bright that not even the amateur camera footage could mask that fact. His emerald flames danced on the screen with all the grace of a world-class ballet star. And there he was, standing proud, showing off his gift to the world, defeating a villain and saving someone just like a hero-
He pinched himself again, his eyes shifting to and fro as he pulled the collar of his coat higher, steam starting to leak from him as his eyes flickered. No, nonononono-not now. Not when there were so many people, he had to leave, get as far from here as he could.
His luck ran out then.
“Kid, are you alright?” Near breaking his neck, he turned to see a hero approaching him, one he vaguely recognized. “You look like you’re having issues.” He cursed whatever force in the universe put him into this position.
“I’m fine!” He tried to calm himself down but didn't have much success. "I mean, I-I fine, just nervous about…about an upcoming test is all." He didn't lie; he did have a test coming up…he just wouldn't be attending school to take it.
Sadly for him, the pro wasn’t about to let him walk off when he was clearly in distress. "Are you sure, no shame in seeking help, kid? If you want, we can…" His eyes shifted over him, as the taller man found his attention taken by something else. “Talk.”
‘Oh no.’ Midoriya recalled that the TVs were still talking about him, which meant that his picture was there for him to see.
The change was immediate. The man didn’t make it obvious, but Midoriya had seen enough pros in the field to know when one was on guard, how he shifted his feet, the movement of the muscles through the skin-tight spandex. “Kid, why don’t we find somewhere we can sit and talk, you look like you need it?” The pro smiled, but Midoriya wasn’t fooled.
“I’m good. Thank you.” He tried to thank him and just leave, but a firm hand grasping his arm kept him in place.
“Sorry kid, I can’t let you do that.” The pro remained calm in his arrest, as there were still people around which was why Midoriya was trying to leave, why couldn’t he just let him do that?!
“L-let me go!” He strained against the hero, who might have had some sort of strength quirk as even as he heated up, Midoriya struggled against him.
“I said,” He suddenly started letting out steam from his mouth and nose, catching the pro off guard. “LET ME GO!” His cry caught the attention of the people around them, who immediately tuned in to see what it was all about and to his horror, in their eyes, they saw a villain trying to resist arrest.
Putting distance between as his eyes darted all over the place, looking for an escape, the pro hissed as he flexed his hand, it wasn't burned but the kid was hot to the touch, and he hadn't even used those flames of his yet. “Dammit, even without those flames, he gets real hot!” Now with the cat out of the bag, he was far more assertive.
"J-just…leave me alone, please," Midoriya begged, even as he felt himself growing hotter, as he tried to keep the urges in check.
“That’s not going to happen, you’re coming with me whether you like it or not, villain.” The pro was hard in his stance, but Midoriya didn’t hear or see that, all he heard was that last part.
“I-i-I-I-am,” Just like before, he rattled in his head, over and over, getting louder with every repeat as he furiously scratched at his scarp. “I’m not a villain! I just want to help, just let me be!” His rant only drew further attention to them as much as it drew him in just a few days later, with some taking their phones out to record. This attention shot his panic through the roof as he saw bodies, many bodies and the flashing lights of cameras taking pictures of him as he started emitting smoke over steam, his body starting to burn up from the inside.
“If you’re not a villain as you say, then surrender!” The pro called out to him, demanding that he lay down and let them take him in before he burst into flames again.
“Nononononononono!” Midoriya didn’t hear him, all he could see was All Might looking down at him with fear, before with hate he would only reserve for a villain. “I…I-!” Midoriya was interrupted by a blast of water that knocked onto his back with a cry of pain. The crowd and pro turned to see more heroes arriving on the scene, with one still holding her hands out to Midoriya, dousing him in the hope that they could keep him from exploding.
This didn’t work.
Seemingly taking offence to someone trying to stifle them, his flames came roaring out of him like a bat out of hell, burning his coat and body to nothing but he remained on the floor, seeing the flames lick at his form, slowly turning him into some sort of infernal got people to connect the dots if who he was, and it wasn’t pretty as he started hearing comments about him.
“It-it’s him, the flame demon!”
“The one that escaped All Might?”
"He does look like a monster."
Midoriya ground whatever teeth he still had in his mouth together, the bones starting to crack and buckle under the heat that was consuming him. He wasn't a monster or a demon, he was him, and he wanted to do good, he wanted to help people! Burn peop-!
"No!" The crowd and pros looked on, confused over who he was talking to as he had a battle in his head, against himself, against his urges…but….but they helped, right? His fire helped people, he's known that for years, didn't he? He wanted to help people and make them stronger. With his self-control weakening, and his confusion over what he was and what he wanted to do increased, his form fully changed, bursting into flames which scared some people, with the steam created by the water striking him, few could see him but he leapt out of it, landing a ways from the heroes. His form fully changed into his volcanic flame form, the only difference being that unlike before, he didn't have legs but instead had a snake-like tail, supporting him, making him far taller than he was before, matching the height of the hero that first approached him.
"Dammit, no one said that the kid could shift into a freaking snake!" The water hero tried to stop him, directing her aim at his new spot but Midoriya was fast, slithering out of the way with seemingly little effort, he returned the favour by blasting a ball of fire at them with his mouth. The shot struck the hero, but largely hit the water tank she was carrying on her back, superheating its contents in seconds before it exploded, sending the pro flying with a scream as the others turned to her in shock.
“Aqua!” One of them called out to her, seeing her moaning on the floor in clear pain.
"Leave me alone!" Their direction was turned back to Midoriya, who was now hissing and snarling at them like an animal, his speech being hard to understand. This didn't matter to the heroes as they had a situation and they'll handle it like any other. The hero that had first confronted him raised his hands at him, from his back, the metallic drums he was carrying spat out steel cables that shot towards Midoriya, who avoided the first two, but the incoming 3 made contact, quickly wrapping around the boy to try and restrain him.
The man strained against Midoriya, whose rock-like body was proving to be a challenge for him to restrain, made all the worse by the fact his fire was heating the steel cables, forcing him to exert more effort just to keep them intact. "Call in back-up!"
Midoriya wasn’t going to wait for them to arrive, he didn’t understand why they were attacking him, why they wanted him to surrender when he didn’t do anything wrong! Flames could help people, they did help people, he helped Bakugo and yet he’s the threat? He had enough of this! With a growl that came out like two rocks smashing and grinding together in a furnace, his body grew even hotter. This heat and stress proved too much for the steel cables, shattering them and sending pieces of red-hot metal flying all over the place, including into the crowd of on-lookers, injuring some. This was enough for people to once more flee, but Midoriya didn’t so much as notice.
He just wanted to leave, so he breathed out more fire, onto anything and everything, setting the entire street ablaze as people fled, screams ringing through the air from them.
“Crap, he’s gonna lose it!”
“He’s gonna burn the entire place down!”
“Get away from here, leave the threat to the heroes!”
That word: Threat. That stuck out over the others. Why was he the threat? Was it the fire? Fire helped people, so that couldn’t be hit. But mother said so, and he wasn't supposed to just set things on fire, but he was…but was that bad? He didn't feel bad surrounded by the growing blaze. No! That was his urges talking, he had to ignore them, bury them like he always did…but, why did it feel so nice not to?
With these contradictory thoughts racing through his skull, his started to leak out more flames, hotter and brighter than before as he roared out to the sky, his voice no longer human and akin to a rock exploding from excessive heat, with that roar, he turned to the heroes and bathed the area between them in green flames. But by the time they got through, just like at Tatooine, he was gone.
Line Break
An hour later, the fires had been dealt with, and witnesses were being questioned with All Might present. Taking in the sight, he didn’t know what to feel. The area is a ruin, shops that once dotted the sides of the street wrecked, the bushes on the side of the road burnt to nothing and the 2 cars that happened to have been closed when things spiraled out of control nothing but burnt-out husks, thankfully when they exploded no-one was hurt. He had heard about the situation on the HN and rushed over as quickly as he could, but it seemed that he was too late as according to the police on the scene, the kid fled 8 minutes before he arrived, with law enforcement being more concerned with containing the blaze, keeping people back and tending to the wounded than to chase him down.
But by the time they had someone go after him, they found a burnt-up manhole cover 3 blocks away, so they knew he escaped using the sewers again to avoid detection, they also had a pretty good idea of which direction was going in as there was a report of a methane explosion 12 blocks north-west of them, but that was it. Heroes close by had searched the area but didn’t find him as the area of the blasts was close to the outskirts of town, close to the woods so he could have fled into them which is trouble as he’ll have plenty of places to hide in the wilderness. Perhaps if they had been more proactive in the search, they could have a solid lead on him but as it stood, they put the lives of the people here first.
He couldn't fault them for that, it was the right call to make but still, he left him feeling frustrated about the entire thing. He had been on the case since it opened up, wishing to try and capture the boy before he went too far, but looking around, he could tell he was running out of time. His escape from the hero Cable's attempt to capture sent steel cable fragments, hot to the touch into the crowd, and injured 9 people. Nothing serious at the moment but that was sheer chance. It didn't help but both the heroes' and civilians’ statements didn’t paint a good picture of the boy’s mental state, which only added fuel to the idea that couldn’t be reasoned with and would need to be taken down hard.
"If only things could have ended here, young Midoriya." He said to himself which a policeman heard.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, All Might. With you on the case, that villain’s as sure as captured.” He patted the much larger man on the back as he walked off, leaving All Might less assured and more annoyed by how the man referred to the kid, but he kept it to himself as Midoriya wasn’t helping his case with stuff like this.
“Can someone become like you even if they have a villainous quirk?” He recalled the boy's question, and how genuine he was in his wish to be a hero. How his eyes sparked when he heard him tell him that he could do it. But then he recalled stumbling into his rampage, how he didn't seem to be all there, as if his lucid mind was gone and replaced by instincts and urges. He had faced off against many villains, and had seen such looks in their eyes as well, looks that conveyed how they enjoyed using their quirks without restriction or care, with the worst being those that enjoyed using them on people. Midoriya had that same look, but also different, he was on cloud nine, but there was no cruelty or ego to be found in those eyeless holes in his face. As his mother said, it was as if he couldn't understand why what he was doing was wrong, and saw it as a good thing.
When he came to, he looked horrified, broken even.
‘Young Midoriya…’ No, he was broken by him. At that moment, Midoriya had the same look All Might had seen on many villains' faces, he had seen the same frame of emotions in their eyes when they realized he had arrived on the scene. The shock, the awe, then the fear and lastly, resignation as they accept that they're defeated before he even throws a punch. He never had seen it in the eyes of an innocent, and after he saw it, he never wished to see it again because it made him sick to his missing stomach. The boy seemed to lose all faith then and there, falling apart before he slipped through their fingers. It was only after he saw the villain's report that he realized why the boy might have thought that as despite being bathed in flames hot enough to melt the pavement, the man was fine, better than fine even as the doctors compared his condition to his last known medical check-up 3 years prior and found that he was in better condition.
Midoriya had been screaming that his flames helped people, perhaps they had a healing element to them, it would certainly fit the profile as he and the detective had found he had a history of burning small animals, but none of them were ever reported dead. It was a bitter pill to swallow as by the time he and the police had all the pieces to the puzzle, the news had already spread about the incident painting the boy in a villainous light which surely wasn't helping his mental state as it was only him paranoid and jumpy, increasing the chances for flare ups like this. A self-feeding loop where people brand him a villain, he freaks when confronted, has a flare-up and the media uses the latest incident as proof of his so-called true nature.
'I hope we find you soon, my boy. Before something happens that you can't take back.' He turned to leave, having seen all that he had come for.
Line Break
Hours later, deep in the woods, Midoriya felt like passing out. He fled as fast as he could, found a manhole and climbed into the sewers. Still on fire, and with his luck as bad as it was, he ran into a pocket of methane gas and had to deal with the explosion that caught him off guard.
After that, he found that he emerged close to the tree-line and didn't wait to see if the coast was clear, he just booked it, doing his best to avoid leaving a trail for anyone to follow him. Unlike when he stole the bread, he didn't stop running or slithering for 2 hours. When his transformed state burnt out, he still kept moving even though he felt like his legs and lungs were killing him. It was only now, with the sun close to setting that he found himself slowing down, and that was more due to him burning through the calories that he had just eaten for lunch, with his clothes, water bottle and remaining bread gone, leaving him worse off than when he woke up.
All he could do now was keep moving, and hope he found somewhere he could rest for the night, preferably somewhere that wouldn't have the risk of someone seeing him in the nude. With his only guide to that possible location being the old country road he had found leading up the mountain, he didn't walk on it, as he was naked and exhausted, but he walked alongside it in the thick bush. With only 30 minutes of sunlight left, he finally dragged himself to the destination that the path led to, which was an old shrine. Its walls were damaged, in need of serious repair and covered with plants. Stepping into the courtyard, he found that it was more of the same as the place didn't appear to of had any guests or workers in decades.
There were small statues lining the path, but they too were busted up, with just a few still recognizable as serpents or serpent men. To the sides, he made out additional buildings with one of them burnt out and another's roof having collapsed onto itself.
A good place to bunker down till he figured out what the hell he was going to do now.
Approaching the main building, he saw that it wasn't in great shape either, but compared to the rest, it was still stable and strong. Wiping away the exhaustion-induced sweat from his forehead, he read the sign above the entryway.
Temple of the Fire God: Kagu-tsuchi
He couldn't even mind the energy to panic at the fact that of all the places he could end up in, it was an abandoned temple to the very thing that he was running from. So, he just laughed, at himself, at the situation, and how much fate seemed to enjoy messing with him, at all of it.
He laughed so hard that he heard critters and other animals on the temple grounds run away, having heard his presence. When he finally stopped, he was just tired, hungry, and alone. With no options, he walked into the shrine and saw a statue of the God in question in the back, one barely touched the elements and the years of no care, but in front of them in the centre of the room, was a large heath, one meant to house a fire, perhaps as a means to show that the God was present, perhaps it was a sign of worship-he didn't know. All he did now was that he had nothing but depression and resignation, so he fell to his knees before the status and prayed. For mercy, for his curse of a quirk to be taken from him, to see the world like how others told him he had to.
He slept on the floor of the shrine, using an old tattered rag he found as a bed. As he closed his eyes, he couldn't be sure of it but the last thing he saw was the stature, whose stone eyes seemed to light up before the cool empty heath followed suit. As he slept, he found himself standing amongst fire, great gales and rolling waves of green infernos. It was like watching an ocean of flames being kicked and swung about by a powerful storm.
He stood in the centre of it, his spot on the proverbial beach shifting so that he walked on the fire, moved as the waves rose and fell, but he felt no fear or confusion, but he was merely awed by the majesty, by the power, but the scale of such a massing of fire. To his left, he watches as the flames crash into crowds of people his mind tells him that are the sick and injured, burning them but healing them, with the retreating wave of fire leaving behind healthy and happy people who thank the flames, praise them. To his right, he sees waves of fire, just as big as those previous slam into villains by the dozens, burning them, forcing them back and saving even more people.
It was all magical, a land of fire, a land he would love to see.
A shadow was suddenly cast over him, looking back, he saw that the sun was bloated out by a truly giant serpent, its body so long it made buses look like clown cars, its body made from stone and iron, with rivers of molten magma flowing its many tens of thousands of hardened scales, every now then, there was an eruption, as if it's entire body was nothing but a collection of volcanoes. Its hooded head blanketed the area from the sun, but at the same time, illuminated the spot where he stood through the brilliance of the emerald magma and flames flowing off its body. It's slit eyes watching, seeing deeper into him that should be possible, and conveying without words a simple message.
He was his power
He was his might
He could help him, he will help him, and they'll fix the world and heal its people…all he needs to do is burn it all.
That was a fun ending, sadly before any of you ask, no-his quirk isn’t like Dark Shadow, it’s not sentient and capable of forming outside the body, this was more Midoriya’s fragile mental state trying to make sense of things. As for why he didn't surrender to the pro? The same reason most innocent people don't ask for a lawyer, surrendering implies guilt and for most, when you believe yourself in the clear, you don't feel like you should. Throw in a high-stress situation and you'll be all but assured to make questionable decisions.
