Chapter Text
/“Shit.” He pants, shoulder slamming into the side of a brick building. The rough concrete scrapes his skin painfully, but he barely registers the sting.
He’s too focused on catching his breath and wiping sweat and blood from his eyes.
He glances behind his shoulder, eyes wide as he searches for the shadows following him. He knows he only has a moment.
Trying to catch his breath, he forces himself to push off the building.
He starts down the alley, moving as fast as he can with a throbbing ankle. He hopes it’s only twisted, but from the sick way it bends, he knows his wishful thinking is just that.
He tries not to focus on it.
Instead, he keeps his eyes glued to the alley’s exit.
Just a few more feet. He just needs to make it to the other side… He can hear the bustle of a busy street just past the alley’s opening.
If he can make it across the threshold, he can get lost in the crowded stream, and escape from whoever is chasing him.
He just… needs… to get… to the other side.
“/Tsk, tsk, tsk/, ” a low, disappointed hum comes from above him.
He curses under his breath again as he tries to push through the pain flaring up from his ankle and move faster.
But it’s no use.
“Oh, how disappointing,” the voice above him says, dropping down in front of the man and stopping him in his tracks. “I thought you’d put up more of a challenge.”
He doesn’t respond, still trying to catch his breath and blink red liquid out of his eyes.
The other man’s face cracks into a wild grin, eyes flashing with a cruel tint as he takes in his slumped frame and beaten form.
Seeing the distorted, cruel look, he spits at the other’s feet, glaring daggers at his opponent.
The action draws the villain’s eyebrows up in surprise, and then he’s laughing harshly.
“Oh, I like your spirit,” he says, chin lowering as his eyes burn white.
The injured man doesn’t shrink away from the show of power. Gritting his teeth, he pushes himself up to stand straighter and moves into a defensive stance.
The villain chuckles again, mimicking the other’s stance, before he lunges.
“This is going to be /fun/.”
The last thing Midoriya Izuku expects to see as he walks through his front door is the principal of Yuuei in his living room.
Let alone sitting on his couch comforting his crying mother as a detective talks in hushed whispers into a phone.
Yet, here he is. Frozen in place, eyes glued to that very image.
With only one thing consuming his mind.
This is about his brother.
Izuku’s stomach drops and he feels the blood drain from his face.
This is about Kyodai…