Fragmented Shift

1

Curled into a tight ball beneath his bed, four year old Izuku pressed his AllMight plushie against his face to muffle his sobs as much as possible. His mummy and daddy were fighting again, they had been fighting every night since he had gone to the doctors and they told him he was quirkless.

He didn't want them to fight! He wanted everything to go back to normal, for daddy to hug him again and for mummy to smile, but daddy didn't like him anymore, and mummy didn't play with him.

He curled up tighter and hiccuped in fear when there was a loud crash. The shouting stopped. Izuku peered over AllMight's golden hair, wide emerald eyes staring at the door. He could hear footsteps coming closer.

"Izuku!" That was daddy, he sounded angry! He whined low in his throat when the door slammed open, hitting the wall hard enough that the plaster cracked.

The little boy held his breath, heart pounding in his ears.

'Please go away! I'm sorry! Don't be mad, I didn't mean to!'

The silence was heavy, pressing down on him and adding to the burning of his lungs; he needed to breathe but his daddy was still there! He'd know Izuku was there if he breathed now and he was scared!

Black spots swam in his vision as he struggled to stay silent, forcing himself to focus on the boots that slowly turned away and moved towards the door.

'Just a little more and he'll be gone!' But his chest really hurt, not even AllMight made him feel better (and AllMight had made him feel better even when he had been sick!), he couldn't stop himself from gasping, pressing his face into the fabric but daddy heard, his boots turning around and coming closer, knees slamming into the carpet floor before his daddy's face, looking more mad than he'd ever seen, appeared,

"There you are, you worthless brat! C'mere!"

The man reached under the bed, large hand gripping at green curls tightly and using them to drag the now screaming boy into the open.

"I'm sorry daddy! Please! I didn't mean to make you mad at me! I can be a good boy, promise!" He was ignored, dragged out into the middle of the room before the grip on his hair made him stand.

"You are nothing but a useless brat! I wasted four fucking years raising you and you dare to be quirkless?" He spat the word as if it was a curse, throwing Izuku to the ground. The small boy cried harder, head throbbing both from where his daddy pulled his hair and his forehead where he had hit it off of the floor.

"I-I'm s-s-so-sorry d-dadd-y," he sobbed, turning his blurry gaze to the figure towering above him, "I-I did-dn't m-mean to-"

A foot slammed into his stomach, cutting off his words and forcing him to wretch violently, spit dribbling from his mouth,

"Fucking useless! You are a disgrace to the Midoriya name, you pathetic cunt!" Blows rained down on the little boy, drawing cries and pleads.

He didn't want his daddy to hate him! He wanted cuddles and story time, he wanted daddy to play pretend he was flying to help beat the bad guys!

A vicious kick to his side rolled him over, his vision spinning wildly before focusing on the doorway where a blob of green hovered. His daddy finally stopped hitting him and he didn't even have the energy to flinch when the man spat at him, the saliva rolling down his cheek like a faux tear.

He closed his eyes and-

.

.

.

He woke up in his bed, his body hurt really bad, maybe he was sick? He remembered when he was sick before his body hurt, not like this but maybe he was more sick than last time? Emerald eyes searched his bed and furrowed when he didn't find what he was looking for.

'Where's AllMight? I need him if I'm sick!'

Slowly, carefully, he slid off of his bed and looked around his room, eyes falling on a new rug in the middle of the floor curiously before he shook the feeling away. He needed to find AllMight!

Biting his lip, Izuku screwed his eyes shut against the pain as he bent over to look under his bed, peering through a watery eye and smiling widely when he saw his favourite plushie staring back at him, stitched smile wide.

"There you are AllMight!" He crowed, skinny arm reaching forward to pull the Hero toy to his chest tightly before climbing back on his bed.

It was then he noticed how quiet it was, it felt wrong, a strange anticipation swirling in his gut but he didn't know why.

"Mummy?" His voice was soft, "Mummy, where are you?" Tears trickled from the corner of his eyes the longer he wasn't answered.

'I want mummy! I'm scared of being alone!'

His silent cries turned into heaving sobs, AllMight squished to his chest no matter how much it hurt.

Crying as loud as he was, Izuku didn't hear the footsteps moving down the hall.

"Would you shut up!"

Izuku's head shot up, a wide smile stretching the skin around his mouth when he saw his mummy standing at the door.

"Mummy! Can I have some medicine? I think I'm sick, I hurt really, really bad!" He watched in confusion as his mummy's face twisted angrily,

"How dare you pretend!" She stormed over and slapped the scared boy across his already bruised cheek, ignoring his shocked cry, "You are the reason Hisashi left you useless, quirkless boy! You're the reason he left me!" Her hand tangled in her son's hair, wrenching him from the bed and towards the window,

"Get out of my sight and don't come back until tomorrow! You know what, I don't care if you never come back!"

Izuku wriggled and clawed at the hand in his hair desperately, the other clinging to AllMight. He sobbed when he was lifted and shoved out of the window, landing heavily on the fire escape, his head slamming off of the metal with a loud bang. He laid there for a moment, head spinning wildly, before he jumped up, stumbling to the side as he desperately tried to pry open the locked window,

"M-mummy? I-I'm sorry I d-don't rem-member! I-I'll b-be a g-good boy I swear, please let m-me back in! I-it's cold! Mummy!"

Shivering violently, the small boy curled up under the window when his calls went ignored. He was only wearing a pair of shorts and a thin t-shirt, the wind cut through them easily.

He was so cold, his body throbbed in time with his heartbeat and his vision wouldn't stop swirling like he was on a ride at the carnival, it made him feel like he was going to puke; It wasn't long before he couldn't feel his toes and fingers. His shivers slowly stopped, he had to fight to keep his eyelids, heavy with exhaustion and dry from the wind, open.

He knew he shouldn't sleep, school had said if you hit your head super hard then you should stay awake, but he was so tired.

Izuku's blurry eyes scanned the buildings on the opposite side of the street, trying to find something interesting enough to stay awake, when he saw a cat walking across the wall.

'I bet that kitty isn't cold, it's fur looks super warm.'

Blinking slowly, Izuku smiled softly, imagining what it would be like to be a cat, nice and warm with fur, he would even be able to curl up on AllMight!

A gasp was pulled from his blue tinted lips, back arching as the dull pain in his body turned sharp, his bones and muscles shifting and creaking, morphing until in place of the bruised and battered little boy, laid a bruised and battered green and black furred kitten.

Izuku laid there as he caught his breath, gathering enough strength to crawl onto his plushie before his eyes closed.

'Warm.'