The Mark

Prologue

A.N: Okay, I know I said I wouldn't update this for a while but, I'm off school for the next few days so I had some free time and I figured why not write a chapter of this!
Please comment/vote and thank you for all the support so far. 😘
I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own BNHA.

Five-year old Katsuki Bakugo sat in the long corridor of a hospital, kicking his legs idly, as he waited for his mother.

Glancing around himself, he observed the bright lights above him, the tile floors and the impossibly white walls.
His legs, he noticed, were not quite long enough, so his feet hovered a few inches above the floor. Small nose twitching, the scent of cleaning products clogged his nostrils. He scrunched up his face in discomfort.

Ruffling his blond hair, his bright red eyes fell to the polka-dot plaster on the back of his hand. It covered the small wound from the injection he had gotten earlier and when his hand throbbed painfully, he reached for the plaster and picked at the edges in boredom.
After a few minutes of toying with his plaster, he remembered the treat the doctor rewarded him with for not crying when the needle pierced his skin and drained two small viles of his blood. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright green lollipop. Struggling with the wrapper, he finally managed to free the sweet from its binding and then popped it into his mouth, grinning when the bitter taste of apples hit his tongue.
Maybe if he ate the lollipop before his Mom returned, he'd be able to convince her to buy him something spicy, giving her the excuse that he lost the reward the doctor gave him. Smirking mischeviously, he bit into the lollipop and it splintered beneath his sharp teeth with a crack, just as the door to the doctor's office slammed open.
He flinched, wondering how she knew what he was planning, as his mother stormed into the corridor. Surprisingly, she didn't even spare him a glance as she marched towards the far wall and slammed her fist into it. Katsuki watched as his Mom's fist smashed a hole into the white plaster and bit back a proud grin. His mom was the strongest Alpha ever!
Of course, being so young, Katsuki wasn't sure exactly what an Alpha was. All he knew was that his mother was one and his Dad sometimes referred to her as such with a small smile adorning his lips, so of course it meant something good, right?

His mother suddenly whirled around, red eyes – the same colour as his own – pining him to the spot. They flickered in that way they always did when she was about to scold him so, he shrunk in on himself, furrowing his brows. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? He'd sat through the doctor's boring lecture without shouting at him once, he let the doctor jab him with a needle without any resistance and he even waited in the corridor calmly just as his Mom instructed.
He did nothing to anger her.
His Mom, however, seemed to think differently as she sped towards him, anger poisoning her charcoal and caramel scent. Katsuki felt the scent press down on him as she neared and quickly ripped the half-eaten lollipop out of his mouth, tossing it aside, thinking it was the problem. Undeterred, his mother grabbed his wrist and yanked him to his feet, hands falling to his shoulders and shaking him urgently.
"You can't tell anyone, Katsuki. Do you hear me? You can't tell a soul." She snapped, voice like a whip that cracked in the silent corridor. Katsuki swallowed his fear and blinked back the tears building in his eyes, before meeting her piercing gaze.
"I... I do—" He started but, she cut him off, a tremble taking over her body. It started at her fingers and then travelled up her arms, spreading until every inch of her body was shaking in some way or form.
"It doesn't matter if it's your friend or a teacher or even the nice grandmother who lives next door. Do you understand me?" The doctor peered around the door to his office, face pale and eyes darting to the small object in his mother's hands that he hadn't noticed before. It was a black strip of curved metal, with a clasp mechanism on either side. Scratched into the shiny surface there was a small symbol, similar to an upside down horse shoe.
Once Katsuki spotted it, he couldn't tear his eyes away from it.

It was like he was put under a spell; bewitched by the small pattern engraved into the steel.

His Mom caught the way his attention had been grasped and held up the strip of metal in front of him. She crouched down and the anger in her scent swelled.
"This....." She trailed off, eyes narrowing at the object in her hand. She took a deep breath. "This will keep you safe. It will protect you from—"
"I can protect myself!" He protested, the spell finally broken as he glanced up at his Mom's stern expression.
"Listen when your mother's speaking, shithead!" She roared and he glared at her, scent spiking with indignation. "I know you can protect yourself. You're strong..." She continued and Katsuki's chest grew warm at the admittance of his power.
"B....But because of what you are–" Her voice cracked with emotion and for the first time he noticed the sadness hidden beneath the anger in her scent. Her eyes grew watery and Katsuki stared at her wide-eyed. "Katsuki, from now on, I want you to think of everyone in the world as your enemy. You can trust nobody, you can rely on nobody.
Think of everyone around you as strong– stronger than you! Now, remember that if you show the slightest hint of any weakness, they will attack you."
"M-Mom..." Katsuki pulled back but, his mother embraced him quickly, arms wrapping around him and tightening painfully. She spoke against his hair, breath ghosting across his forehead. "I know, I know its hard but, you have to listen to me. Pay attention." She pulled away and pushed his fringe back, touch surprisingly gentle.

"The people around you may be human but, if they figure out what you are, they won't hesitate to attack you. They probably don't want to but, they'll have no control over themselves. Betas and Alphas – they're what's normal in this world. You're different but, that's not a bad thing.
It just means that people won't understand you and if they don't understand you, they'll try to hurt you.

Humans are dangerous."

Katsuki blinked owlishly at his mother when tears began to fall from her eyes, wetting her cheeks and rolling off her chin, before plopping to the floor. He hadn't realised that strong Alphas were allowed to cry, especially not one as fierce as his mom.
"In this world, Humans are the strongest. To win against them you have to change. You have to become even stronger, more cruel. Do you understand what I'm saying, Katsuki?" She lifted the strip of metal in her hands and reached towards him. He moved away, but she shook her head and he stood still. Slowly, the piece of metal pressed into his skin and just as he expected, it felt like ice against his neck. It was smooth and the coldness of it was so overwhelming it seeped into him and spread throughout his body, like frost coating a dying tree. His Mom's nimble fingers reached around the back of his neck and she met his gaze, teary eyes searing into him; branding the next sentence she spoke into his mind for the rest of his life.

"To live, you must become a monster. "

The strip of metal closed around his neck with a loud, echoing click that filled the empty corridor, and just like that his scent disappeared.