Chapter Text
‘I was not ready for today.’ Kaguya Haru thought bitterly as another explosion rocked the street. ‘ To be fair I don’t think ANYONE in Hosu was ready for today,’ She had been told by her mom to head to the store to get milk… She would have laughed if she wasn’t so terrified. The phrase ‘ No such thing as a milk run ’ came to mind. She had heard it from several places: games, manga, anime, and once even used by her character in a Shadowrun roleplaying game. ‘ Focus Haru! Find safety, get lost in thought later. ’ She was currently looking for any sort of shelter, the milk she had been sent out to buy clutched to her chest.
The first explosions had lit up the darkening sky in bright orange, on their own they hadn’t caused too much fear at first. After all, in a quirk filled society more often than not you were bound to see at least one explosion on any given day. No, it was the follow up explosions, blood curdling screams, and the fact that a hero was thrown, literally, through a building covered in blood. That had sparked the true panic. After that everything got hazy, the sun had finished setting and a night of madness descended upon the city.
Haru couldn’t even recall how long she had been trying to evacuate. Her first few attempts had ended badly, some terrifying brain person/monster had cut her off as it ‘battled’ with a hero. Honestly it had been less of a battle, and more of the hero trying not to die as he was swiftly beaten bloody. That had been enough to scramble her sense of time and direction. She was still trying to suppress the images. She knew she wasn’t supposed to panic, her whole life people had told her over and over again not to panic in a time of crisis, however what everyone failed to mention was how fucking impossible that was when it felt like the entire world was out to kill you! She was currently hiding in an alleyway curled up just praying one of the brain things didn’t find and rend her limb from limb. The chaos felt all consuming and she had given up on even being able to escape and just prayed she could remain hidden.
Even the earth shattering explosions had become background noise, barely even registering. That was, until the most recent one lit up her alleyway and shook all the buildings. She stumbled forward, dropping the precious milk as the ground rocked with powers she had thought to belong to only the top heroes and not common villains. By pure chance she glanced upwards, time slowed to a crawl as she saw a large piece of debris falling from the building, heading straight for her. She tried to scream, tried to run, tried to even move her arms, alas nothing worked. Her body was paralyzed with fear, the only thing that seemed to work was her stupid brain, it rattled away. ‘ Dead at 15, won’t even be a cliffnote in this disaster. I haven’t even had my first kiss yet! ’ Her arms finally listening to her command to move, they came up to cover her face, as if that would do anything against the chunk of building. She squeezed her eyes shut.
The next thing she felt was a rush of air, ‘ Huh dying doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would. Must have been instantaneous. Didn’t think death would feel so muscly... ’ She opened her eyes and gasped. She was currently being bridal carried by a green curly haired hero with dazzling emerald eyes and green lightning crackling all over their body. Haru now realized it wasn’t death that was ripped, it was the man carrying her. She gulped, attempting to fight off her blush, she took a steadying breath trying not to throw up from the adrenaline crash. Throwing up on the man who saved her would be very undignified. She snuck a peek at his face as he bounced between walls, with ease, carrying her away. ‘ Huh he looks really familiar. ’ Before she could continue that train of thought he stopped and set her down on wobbly legs.
“It’s safe here, miss.” He gave her a smile that inspired courage and hope as he pointed down the street. “There is an emergency evacuation zone two blocks that away.” It was then that it clicked for her. UA Sports Festival, class 1-A. The boy who had broken his limbs in his fights had just saved her. She gasped and blinked at him in disbelief. “Be quick, I would escort you but someone needs my help… I’m sorry.” He turned to leave… The thought of him breaking his limbs filled her mind with dread, she could help. He had just saved her, shouldn’t she do the same?
“WAIT! Please, let me help…” She talked quickly, her brain working overtime, being overly talkative and rambling was something she could do. “My quirk is - ‘Once Upon a Time’ it heals your body to what it should be, like I know you broke your arms at the sports festival if it were to happen again this would help that! Please, I can help…” Midoriya, if she recalled correctly, hesitated and bit his lip. It was clear he wasn’t breaking his limbs now but it could happen again… He seemed to come to the same conclusion as another explosion rocked the street and he gave a nod.
“Very well, but only if it’s quick.” He gave her another smile. He honestly looked like a knight in shining armor right now, the backdrop making him look even more heroic. She stopped her overactive imagination from running wild as it made a story of him as the heroic knight against the forces of darkness and despair. She shook her head and looked at him determined, now was not the time to be fantasizing
“Right well… Um, it… ah hell. This is for my quirk I swear.” She stood on her tippy toes and before he could argue she kissed him on the cheek. Honestly, she hadn’t thought she would have been able to manage it between her nerves and his reaction times. However she hadn’t lied, a kiss was the activation requirement of her quirk and this was the first time she had ever used it on another human. After all her first time using her quirk had been on her pet dog after he had gotten hurt, it was then she had learned about the side effect of her quirk. Visions both abstract and concrete had slowly tugged at her consciousness. It honestly felt like the slight tug of the ocean, the visions trying to sweep her in deeper but she was able to stay grounded through all of them.
The visions, as it turned out, made her quirk also something of a curse. Some of the images she had experienced had been of her dog being run over by a car, which happened six years later. The vision of death had dissuaded her from ever using her quirk on another person. However, she was willing to make an exception for his sake. After all, not only had he just saved her, it was clear he had someone else to save on this dangerous night full of monsters that bested even super heroes.
If the visions she got from using her quirk on animals were the gentle pull of the tide on the beach, the visions she received from him were like being caught in a storm in a row boat. Whenever she healed a wounded animal the visions were separate from her reality. These visions, however, grew so clear that she couldn’t tell them apart from reality at this moment.
Everything shifted as she began to see flash after flash of some figure, one that with each passing vision began to rapidly solidify into a beautiful…. Woman? That was odd, normally she only saw visions of the one she used the quirk on. She couldn’t focus on that thought as the visions tugged her deeper into them. The woman was always standing her ground in front of a wave of dark hostile forms. Fighting them off with a smile and a carefree laugh, her very visage was the picture of hope. It was not that she never faltered or never got hurt, it was just that she kept pushing through. She kept being the hero who pushed back the dark. Green lightning crackled along her entire form as she dispatched foe after foe, never halting as she strove forward pushing the darkness back. It felt like she alone was stemming the tide of evil shape shifting monstrosities protecting everyone. All with the most beautiful smile Haru had ever seen.
She was not just a hero, she was the hero. A knight protecting everyone from the forces of darkness, it was then that it clicked for Haru. She was the exact same knight who had just saved her. Haru came back to her senses, knees weak, even now the visions were overlapping with her reality all she could see was the amazing female knight. She looked up at the knight asking if she was ok. She gave a weak nod in response, the woman gave her a smile before saying she had to go. Haru reached out to try and warn her but before she could the hero was gone, bounding through the streets green lightning trailing in her wake.
“Oh… I didn’t know my quirk could… Is she? Did I do that? Is that what is meant to be? Shit, I feel like I fucked up.”
Izuku hurt everywhere, far more than he had the first time he woke up in the hospital. He whimpered and didn’t even bother trying to move, just trying to assess the situation. He couldn’t figure out why he hurt so badly, when he first woke up sure he had felt sore he had attributed that to his fight with Stain and the nomu ripping up his back with its claws. Now he hurt all over, in a deep body sort of ache. It was not the mind shattering pain of completely destroying his bones, he flinched just at the thought. It was more like his whole body had done rigorous exercise for far too long and now was making him pay the price.
He thought back to what had happened when he woke up the first time, he had been talking to Todoroki and Ida. He smirked and stifled a laugh as he recalled Todoroki referring to himself as the hand crusher. However it was around then that his pain had gotten worse, a lot worse, it felt like every one of his nerve endings had erupted in fire. He had been briefly aware of the unearthly scream he had released and the look of horror on his friends faces before darkness took him. Izuku shivered at the memory and reached up with the arm that didn’t have the IV in it to rub the sleep from his eyes, something he had learned to be careful of long ago… Something he probably shouldn’t be proud of knowing, he fought off a small blush of embarrassment. ‘ I spend too much time in hospitals… mom is going to be upset with me. ’
As he pulled away his hand, he froze in disbelief. The scars that had once marred his hands were simply gone, his hands now looked like they had a year ago. He looked down at his arms and made a strangled noise. Everything looked pristine; he continued to stare in disbelief for a moment before his eyes finally noticed something else. Two sizable mounds weighed upon his chest, he reached down to move them.
A girlish scream echoed out in the room, it took him far longer than he wanted to admit to realize that it came from him. The mounds not only felt attached, they had a soft squishy texture, and were placed in such a way… Just as he was about to put things together, and most likely dash out of bed in panic, several worried nurses rushed into the room and he only dimly realized they were all dressed in hazmat gear. “Calm down, it's ok. Mr. Midoriya please take a deep breath, you are ok. You appear to have been affected by an unknown quirk so for the safety of all we moved you to quarantine, standard operating procedure. We need you to calm down though, do you understand?” Izuku looked at the helmet disguised as a nurse and tried to take some deep breaths, but the nurses didn’t relax as they continued to hold him down. It was then he noticed he had quirk suppressant handcuffs on, he shivered.
“I… what happened?” A foreign voice echoed forth, he only realized it was his because that had been exactly what he had intended to ask. The new voice, his new voice sounded much more feminine than he used too. He shivered, as his brain finally finished confirming that the mounds now on his chest were… he gulped.
“The doctor will be in to explain in a bit, do not worry Mr. Midoriya other than a minor change in your appearance you appear to be in pristine health. We just have you isolated to make sure it's not a contagious quirk.” The nurse explained as she took out a needle and began to draw some blood. The other nurses were still holding Izuku down.
“Minor change!?! My voice is way higher, my scars are gone, I appear to have breasts, and I… IF I AM not MISTaKEn, I’M MIssINg mY PeNIs!” Izuku was damn near hysterical, voice cracking as he listed off some of his noticed changes. “How is this a minor change?!” Izuku looked at the nurses bewildered. He tried to ignore that a not so small part of him felt at peace, almost giddy. He quickly shoved that ‘small’ part of her back into its box.
“Mr. Midoriya, we understand you might be a bit upset but please calm down or we will be forced to sedate you, again.” Izuku gulped and stopped struggling, he leaned back shaking his head in disbelief. The door opened a moment later and yet another person in hazmat gear entered.
“Ah Ms. Midoriya, glad to see you are finally awake. It is good to officially meet you, I am your attending physician, Dr. Calico.” Even through the hazmat suit Izuku could clearly tell that the doctor had a cat quirk, fur, whiskers and cat ears could be seen inside the helmet of her hazmat suit. Izuku didn’t bother correcting her that he was not a miss.
‘ Not that you mind that much. ’ Came a whisper that sent a chill down his spine. He bit his lip and suppressed the phantom voice, now was not the time… she once more shoved the voice back into its box.
“I... What is going on?” Izuku finally brought himself to ask. Dr. Calico grabbed his file from the nurse and flipped it open.
“Well as far as we can tell you were affected by an unknown quirk, during your service in the Hosu incident. The quirk seems to have completely healed your injuries as well as fixed some pre existing damage. Assuming this is your x-ray.” She held up an x-ray that Izuku recognized as one taken after the Sports Festival. He shivered and gave a reluctant nod as she continued on. “It also has, for lack of a better term, given you a female body.” Calico explained as she began writing notes in the file. “As for why you are here. We had to isolate you, in an attempt to stop the spread of the quirk should it be contagious. Standard protocol you see.” She closed the chart and handed it back to the nurse.
Izuku then remembered the young girl. “Wait! I know what happened, I think. A young girl I saved, she said she had a quirk that could heal me! Maybe it’s a side effect of her attempting to heal me? I…” He cast his mind back trying to recall everything she had said in the moment. ‘ Damn I was so focused on Iida that I was barely paying attention. ’ He sighed in frustration before it hit him. “I remember! She said her quirk was called ‘Once Upon a Time.’ If you check the quirk registry that should give you an answer.” Hopefully this would help them figure out what was going on.
“Oh that is very helpful thank you Ms. Midoriya. You will be allowed visitors once we verify you're not contagious, but other than that please use the call button if you need us for now you should rest, and try to come to terms with your new… situation.” The doctor gave a nod to the nurses and with that quickly left, leaving the nurses to finish checking Izuku’s vitals before they too started to head out.
Izuku was quickly left alone with nothing but his thoughts and a voice that refused to leave her alone.
‘ You know, it’s ok to admit that you want this. ’ Izuku shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself.
“Shut up…”
‘ I mean, how stupid is it that you won’t let yourself transition because you have to follow in All Might’s footsteps. Which you somehow interpreted to mean you had to be a ‘man’. ’ The voice said in disgust.
“Shut…. Up!”
‘ I mean I get it, look at Ryukyu the dragon hero…. Ranked below a literal washing machine. Sexism is a hell of a thing. ’
“I SAID SHUT UP!” Izuku started shaking as the voice let out a bitter laugh.
‘ How could you be the next symbol of peace as a girl… Even if it was all you ever wanted. ’
“Stop…” She whimpered in between sobs.
‘ The worst part is, you are so depressed and full of self loathing that you aren’t even trying to be the best hero you can be. You are too busy trying to create a meaningful self-sacrifice rather than be the next ‘Symbol of Peace’. ’
“SHUT UP!” Izuku screamed, green lightning crackling along her skin even with the restraints.
‘ No, I am DONE hiding who WE are. I am done with you pretending you aren’t a dysphoric, near suicidal mess. I am done letting you torture yourself. I won’t go away any more. You can’t shove me into that box ever again! You have to accept the truth. We were born in the wrong body and this is a fucking blessing. ’
Izuku screamed and the quirk suppressant cuffs shattered. As they did, a lot of things happened at once. First off the alarm started blaring, then the green lightning became much more violent lashing out, black tendrils erupted around her and began thrashing around, fog started to fill the room, she began to float, and finally a new voice echoed forth in her head.
‘ I think that is quite enough, ’ the voice sounded eerily familiar but she couldn’t quite place it. ‘ Sheesh while I am glad there is another female holder of One for All, however you really have some issues Miss Ninth. ’ As the voice spoke a specter started to take form rapidly solidifying.
In front of Izuku stood a woman, and even though Izuku had never met her, she knew her name. Shimura Nana. ‘ Come on let’s have us a little chat. Girl to girl. ’ Izuku felt a tug at the edge of her mind, and instinctively she realized Nana was trying to pull her into a ‘shared’ dream so that they could talk uninterrupted. She hesitated for only a moment before relaxing her mind and letting Nana pull her in.
The sound of nurses rushing in to check on Izuku was dimly heard in the background as One for All stopped activating on its own.