Chapter Text
This, this is Musutafu. Izuku likes to describe as twelve days North of utter despair and a few degrees South of hopelessness. Located on the meridian of misery, his little village of is ever so rarely in peace. Most places have problems such as mice or mosquitos. But not Musutafu, of course not Izuku’s village. No, what they have are fierce and fiery overgrown reptiles. Beasts that love to sneak up on the sleeping Vikings, beasts that do not appear to have any sense of self-control.
“Fire!”
With a squeak, Izuku slams the front door and shuts his eyes, almost folding himself in half as fire shoots between the cracks of wood, illuminating the room and slightly burning the boy’s sleeve. He dares to open one eye and with one look at his living room, Izuku opens what is left of the door and darts outside. He dodges every axe that might accidentally hit him and dives between alleys and Vikings, trying his damn hardest to stay out of the way. It is really one of the few times Izuku is happy he is not the biggest Viking of the village.
“Get back inside, Midoriya!” A loud voice shouts from his left and Izuku turns around just in time to see a big Viking racing his way with a giant axe up in the air. Izuku’s forest green eyes widen and he stumbles out of the way, tumbling to the ground.
His back hits a lost barrel and he almost snaps his neck as he turns around to see Sekijiro, also known as Vlad, hit a giant dragon on its head with a wooden stick. The beast shrieks and flies up, creating massive gushes of wind as it escapes into the sky. Vlad shrugs his shoulders and turns around to the sheepish Izuku, who carefully gets back on his feet. Vlad glares at him and points with his thumb over his shoulder as he says with a demanding voice, “Boy, what the hell are you doing out? Isn’t it-” He cuts himself off with a scream at the sight of another dragon and with a quick ‘get back inside’, he runs off, leaving Izuku once again to his own devices.
Izuku knows the drill whenever a dragon attacks. While others go out and kill the beasts, he is supposed to stay back and not do what he does best: mess everything up and cause trouble for everyone else. Basically, be a burden to the rest of the village. It has become pretty clear that that is exactly what he is but Izuku won’t let it get the best of him.
Besides, Aizawa won’t tolerate him being late, even when dragons are on the loose. The stoic blacksmith is one of the few who could care less about his status as the runt of the group, one of the many reasons why Izuku’s father had long decided to just dump him there in the hopes of his son becoming skilful in at least one department.
Very flattering, Izuku knows. But it is what it is, whether he likes it or not.
He ducks to avoid getting hit by another flame and runs through the battlefield, avoiding any eye contact with Yagi, the village chief. The big man did not earn his name All Might for nothing. He hits the beast with loud battle cries, each hitting its mark right where he wants it. It is said that he once chopped off a dragon’s head clean off its shoulder as a baby. Does Izuku believe it? Yes, yes he does.
At the sight of the forge, Izuku sighs in relief and he jumps over the counter, almost falling inside but able to catch himself in time. It earns him a stifled chuckle from Shinsou, the adopted son of Aizawa. The purple haired guy is sharpening several swords in the heat of battle, standing by the counter as if he is ready to jump into the fight himself.
Which he definitely is. Unlike Izuku, Shinsou is a build teenager with absolutely no fear. He remains calm even in situations like this and more often than not, Izuku gets the idea he can brainwash the dragons as they almost seem to fly off at the snap of a finger.
“Ah, Midoriya. Nice of you to finally join the party. For a second I thought you’d been carried off.”
Aizawa’s deadpan voice cuts through the air and Izuku grabs one of the leather aprons to pull over his head. His green locks bounce up and down on his head as he does so and he speaks with feigned confidence, putting away the raven’s scattered appendages, “Who, me? Nah, come on, sir. I am… clearly way too muscular for those beasts’ taste. Wouldn’t know what to do with all this.” He strikes a pose with his arm, working all of his muscles to show some of it to the blacksmith, who could not be more unimpressed. Shinsou snorts from the side and calls out, holding up one of the swords, “They need toothpicks, don’t they?”
Izuku lowers his arm and mutters a soft ‘they do not’ before he gets to work, grabbing weapons that need to be sharpened. He flinches every now and then when another fireball flies across the streets but he has gotten annoyingly used to it by now. Aizawa is throwing weapons at people left and right, Shinsou doing exactly the same while waiting for his cue to leave.
Izuku dares to move to the counter and stares at a group of teens that run around with buckets of water to put out the fires that are slowly spreading across the ground. Izuku sighs at the sight of them. He so badly wishes it was him out there as well, bravely taking on dragons and putting out fires. His eyes automatically find one group of teens in particular, like they always do. A muscular red hair shouts things he can’t make out as he runs ahead of the group with his bucket, followed by a very energetic blonde and another raven, both just laughing along the way. Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero, three best friends that know no fear whatsoever. A spunky girl laughs as she dashes after them, screaming as she gets more hyped by the growing second.
“Pay attention to the problems at hand, you fucking muttonheads!”
The last blonde of the group throws water over the fire and turns around as an explosion barely misses his head. Izuku’s eyes turn dreamy as he lays them upon the blonde guy, who is now making his way back into the battlefield almost in slow motion.
Bakugou Katsuki. The fiercest Viking of Izuku’s generation, the one who is ever so keen on always being the best. The one who gets angry with everyone who crosses his way, even if it is only a mild irritation.
The one who somehow won Izuku’s little heart. Unfortunately for him, Bakugou is hell bent on ignoring Izuku’s very existence and though the bullying that he had to endure as a little kid is now mostly over, Izuku is still not on the list of people that Bakugou can be bothered to engage himself with.
“Their job is so much cooler.” Izuku says out loud, leaning over the counter as a weak attempt of joining them. Aizawa pulls him back by his collar though, hoisting him back inside. Shinsou jumps over the counter though and rushes up to Kirishima’s side, who wastes no time in throwing an arm around him to pull him along with the group. Izuku pouts as he looks at his only friend leaving him but he has no time to ponder about it as Aizawa all but throws him back into the forge.
“Oh, come on, sir! Let me out, just this once. I need to make my mark out there.” Izuku starts to whine, jumping back up and wildly pointing to the chaos outside. Aizawa raises an eyebrow at him and says, crossing his arms, “You have made plenty of fucking marks already, Midoriya. All in the wrong places, might I add.”
Izuku is not fazed by it and continues, “Two minutes, please. I’ll - I’ll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better, I might even get a date.” That might be a bit of a stretch, considering how Kacchan (a childhood name that stuck) might actually even get offended by the prospect of Izuku killing a dragon before him but it will definitely make him look cooler and that alone grants Izuku a bigger shot at scoring a date.
Aizawa sighs. “You can’t lift a hammer, boy. You can’t swing and axe and you can’t even throw one of these.” He grabs a rope that connects iron balls together to further demonstrate his point. A Viking dashes by and takes it out of the blacksmith’s hand before hurling it at another dragon.
Izuku watches it for a second and turns back to admit, “Okay, fine. But this machine will throw it for me!” He runs past Aizawa and opens the lid of a device, causing an arm to spring up with twin bows. Izuku flinches as unexpectedly a iron ball gets launched, only narrowly missing Aizawa. He flinches again when it flies against a passing Viking and grins sheepishly at the blacksmith, who is chewing on his lip as he glares at Izuku. He drops his smile and Aizawa says, “See, you are proving my point right away.”
“Mild calibration issue.” Izuku tries but the man is not having it. He rolls his eyes and drops his arms next to his muscular body as he tells the boy with a strained voice, “Midoriya, if you ever so much as want to go out there and fight dragons you need to stop all…” He stops for a moment and waves his hand in Izuku’s general direction.
“This.”
Izuku flutters with his eyes in a surprised manner before he narrows them as he speaks with an astonished tone in his voice, “You just pointed to all of me.”
Aizawa has the nerve to grin and nods. “Yes, because that’s it. Just stop being all of you.” Izuku keeps his eyes narrowed at the bemused blacksmith and makes weak attempts at appearing stronger as he speaks in a low voice, walking around Aizawa, “You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw…” He looks at his arms for a second, “Vikingness contained.”
Aizawa looks at him as if he is joking and with a deadpan expression he states, “I’ll take my chances. Sword, sharpen. Now. Let’s go.”
With a very disheartened feeling, Izuku grabs the sword and drags himself towards the grinding wheel. He peeks outside again and a low grunt escapes his lips. How he wishes he was out there. So ready to prove to the rest of the village that he too has a place among them. Killing dragons is everything around here. It defines who you are, gives you a status that will last a lifetime.
A Nadder head will get him at least noticed.
Gronckles a little tougher but taking down one of those will definitely score him that desired date of his.
Zipplebacks. Two heads, twice the status. Right up Izuku’s alley as he has not even a status to begin with.
The Monstrous Nightmare, a dragon that will absolutely turn Izuku from nobody to king. A dragon that only the best Vikings go after.
Yagi’s loud voice snaps Izuku back to reality and he sees the chief run across the field towards a flaming Nightmare. “Reload the canons! I will take care of this!” He charges at the beast but Izuku does not bother watching. The chief can handle himself just fine. No, Izuku is way more interested in the sudden screech that echoes through the village. The sound makes all dragons stop their fighting and look up towards the sky. A catapult explodes on the side and Izuku dives beneath the counter. He peeks over the wood and finds almost all Vikings diving out of the way. Izuku looks up to the sky and his eyes widen at the sight of a purple light behind the darkened clouds.
The ultimate prize. A dragon who does not show himself, a dragon who never misses his shot and is known to mankind as the unholy offspring of death itself.
A Night Fury.
“Midoriya! Man the forts, I’m going out there! Don’t you fucking move or else there will be consequences!”
Izuku turns his head around to watch Aizawa run onto the battlefield to join the others. His eyes widen. This is his chance. Izuku does not hesitate and jumps up. He skips around the counter and charges into the open field with a wheeled contraption, weaving his way through the chaos. He quickly throws a ‘be right back’ over his shoulder and dashes towards to the top of the village as quick as his legs can carry him. He reaches the top of the cliff that overlooks the entire ocean surrounding their little island and he lets go of the handles. He unfolds the contraption with quick hands and positions himself behind it, moving the bow towards the dark sky.
“Come on, please. Give me something to shoot at. Anything.” Izuku whispers to himself, eyes darting all over the stars. His legs are starting to shake but he tries his best to ignore the feeling. Now is not the time to be scared.
All of a sudden a shadow passes the moon and Izuku gasps. With clumsy and hurried moves he tries to shoot and he almost catapults himself away as the heavy machine fires towards the shadow. A loud whack echoes, followed by a screech. With widened eyes, Izuku watches the shadow tumble down to the ground and he is suddenly beside himself. His fingers weave themselves into his curls and he stumbles backwards, laughing like a maniac to himself as he exclaims, “I - I hit it! I hit it! Did anyone see that?” He turns around, ready to proclaim his victory when another shadow falls over him. Izuku freezes and very slowly turns around. He gapes when two angry yellow eyes are staring right back at him and it only takes some smoke that escapes from the dragon’s nose for Izuku to let out a scream before he runs away.
It attracts the attention of Yagi, who immediately looks away from another dragon. The blonde chief watches as Izuku ever so desperately runs away from a Monstrous Nightmare. Yagi closes his eyes for a second and pushes a couple of his men into the direction of a group of dragons before he goes after Izuku, who is very ready to face death already.
He stumbles onto a square and dives behind one of the few pillars that is still standing. He shuts his eyes as the beast opens fire at him, barely missing him as a result of the pillar. Izuku takes no chances and waits a few seconds before he has the guts to look around the pillar. He is met with the dragon being cornered by Yagi, who looks very ready to kill the beast. The Nightmare tries to fire at him but nothing comes out. Yagi grins and hisses, “Too bad you are all out.”
He drives the dragon away by going at it with his iron hammer until the beast whines and takes off. Yagi watches it for a short second before he turns around to look at Izuku. The boy is trying to make himself just a little smaller, watching with a very sheepish expression as the pillar he is hiding behind falls down. He sees all the other Vikings gathering on the square and Izuku sighs. He slowly turns around and looks at the stormy expression on the chief's face. Izuku can see Bakugou all but glaring at him from the side but all Izuku can only focus on is the angry chief. He scratches behind his head and tries, “I - eh, I’m sorry, dad?”
It is all Yagi needs to walk up to him to grab him by the collar. Izuku tries to struggle but with no result. He looks up towards his father, who is not all in the mood for one of Izuku’s many long rants. However, Izuku feels that he has every reason for one now and starts, “But, dad, hear me out. I hit a Night Fury. I swear, it is not like one of those other times. You guys were busy and missed it, I get that. But it went down, I am serious! I had a very clear shot and-”
“Izuku!” Yagi roars, successfully shutting up the younger boy. His father drops him back onto the ground and continues with his angry rant, much to Izuku’s dismay and embarrassment, “My boy, I really hate to say this but every single time you step out of the house, disaster follows. I don’t know how you do it, but you do it. Can’t you see I have bigger problems to deal with? Why can’t you follow the simplest orders, just once?”
This is something that Izuku truly hates than anything else in the world. This disappointed look on his father’s face. Being the son of the chief means a lot of things, a lot of things that Izuku can’t live up to. He has a reputation to uphold, not only for himself but especially for his father. As the future heir he is supposed to be strong, independent and someone the people can look up to. Qualities that his father possesses but not him. Izuku is nothing like his father and the fact that he serves as the loser of the village only fuels his father’s disappointment in him. Izuku can handle being seen as a nobody by the village but by his own father? That stings.
Izuku opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out. He just bites his lip and looks down, eyes roaming over the Vikings who are all glaring at him. Yagi sighs and points towards the direction of their home. “Get back to the house.” His eyes find Aizawa and he says, “Please make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up.”
Aizawa frowns for a second but he pushes Izuku away from the judging eyes, out of this pit of shame. He walks past Bakugo and his friends, dubbed the Bakusquad and Izuku feels his stomach curl as they all chuckle at him.
“That was… quite the performance, Mido.” Kaminari snickers, leaning over Kirishima’s shoulders to grin at Izuku. Jirou, a girl who is not so much a friend of Bakugo but definitely respected by him, snorts and crosses her arms as she says, “I really don’t think I have seen anyone mess that up so badly.” Aizawa glares at both teens and they are wise enough not to say anything else.
“Thanks, thank you. Really.” Izuku mutters and his eyes finds the judgmental look on Bakugo’s face. His crush scoffs and turns around, once again completely ignoring the boy’s presence. Izuku’s eyes casts down and he does not look up until they reach the safety of his own home. Aizawa only lets go of him when he stands right in front of the half burned front door and he crosses his arms, looking at Izuku with an expression that he can’t fully read. But he understands plenty.
Izuku casts a dejected glance at the blacksmith and lets out a loud sigh, running his hand through his messy curls. He almost hesitates to speak at the look on Aizawa’s face but Izuku musters up the courage to exclaim, “I-I really did hit it this time. Sir, I swear.”
Aizawa takes pity on him and his face softens, though it happens for such a short second that Izuku almost misses it. The blacksmith drops the tense shoulders and glances at the defeated stance of the chief’s son.
“I’m sure you did, Izuku.”
Izuku purposely ignores the tone in Aizawa’s voice and continues, wildy trashing his arms around, “My dad-my-he never listens. Why doesn’t he listen to me? And when he does listen to me… he just looks disappointed in me. He has this look on his face, you know? Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich. And let me tell you, it’s like he just… like he was brought the wrong offspring.”
Aizawa opens his mouth to interfere but Izuku leaves no space as he continues in one breath, imitating the chief, “My man, I think I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms. Extra guts and glory on the side. This here - this appears to be a talking fish bone.”
The raven rolls his eyes and points out as he walks up the porch to get closer to Izuku, “I want to point out that you’re not thinking about this straight. You know your father loves you, even if - well, you know what. It is not so much what you look like, alright? It’s what’s inside that he has trouble with.”
“That was very kind of you, thanks.” Izuku mutters with a sarcastic undertone, not at all feeling any better.
Aizawa sighs. “Look, the point is, stop trying so damn hard to be something that you’re not.”
Izuku goes quiet for a moment and just looks at the door knob, his scarred fingers curling around the hot iron as he presses his lips in one fine line. All of his life, he has been the odd one out, the outcast of Musutafu. Being born as the son of the mighty chief meant that a lot of people (read: everyone) expected him to be just as great as his father. The opposite was proved quite early on, resulting in him not even getting a chance at having friends. Being a Viking means being strong and fierceness, not being overly emotional and too weak to lift a hammer. At first, he had his mother by his side to help him when things were getting to him but when he was seven, she was taken from their homes during another dragon raid. Izuku has not given up any hope, but the village and his father have long accepted that she is no longer alive and that hurts.
The moment he did not have her wings to hide under, there was no one to really stand by his side. His father is a sweet man, don’t get him wrong, but as chief he has duties. Duties that appear to be more important than supporting your son. Izuku understands, or at least, he tries to. But when all the children in the village only look at you with pitiful eyes or just flat out ignore or bully you, it can get to your head.
He doesn’t want to be the loser of the village.
“I-I.. I just want to be one of you guys.” Izuku all but whispers, his hands curling up into tight fists. He feels tears welling up in his eyes but he wipes them away with a frustrated hand, refusing to look into Aizawa’s direction. The blacksmith says nothing but Izuku knows by now that the man is giving him an expression that can only be read as hidden compassion. Izuku has known him his entire life and though most of his facial expressions seem like the same deadpan ones, he has come to understand what each of them meant.
For better or worse, he supposes. He is in no mood to see another look of pity directed at him so without saying anything else, Izuku slumps back inside his home, softly closing the door. He slams his head against the wood and winces a little before he stares up at the thick bars that cross the high ceiling, following the many patterns carved into the wood. He heavens a sigh and closes his eyes for short second before he moves his body around to press his ear against the door. He hears no sound and without any further waiting, he dashes across the room and slips back outside through the back door to run as fast as he possibly can, straight into the woods that keep the village covered.
He will prove himself to his father, and today, today will be that day.