The Immortal Hero: Phoenix

Chapter 22: The Light Bursts Forth

Unlike Lunch, Dinner was a fairly calm affair since only Izuka and Katsuki still had to fight. Katsuki was still in the infirmary, though he'd long since been able to leave. He'd simply decided that the next time he faced Izuka, it would be when they fought. He sat alone, Recovery Girl having gone to eat with the staff after giving him another Bento Box like the one Auntie Inko had made for him at lunch. However, this one was made by Izuka... it was tasty, though it lacked the practised expertise of Inko's meals. Still, it tasted so much better.

As he ate, Katsuki thought back to how everything had began. Izuka had been introduced to him when they were both newborns; Inko had put Izuka down to sleep in his crib during a visit between her and Katsuki's mom. Katsuki had no memory of this naturally, but there were pictures of the two babies holding hands in their sleep. That had continued as they grew up; Izuka was always small, always timid, but she was spirited and when she smiled or laughed, the room lit up. Katsuki had always liked that. The two found a mutual love of Heroes and were determined to become Heroes together. To Katsuki, it was natural for him to decide to marry her when they grew up; she was a girl that he liked and they shared a dream; to a four year old it made all the sense in the world. Then Katsuki's quirk manifested and the compliments began. He and Izuka had always been smart for their age and had been complimented for it; Izuka took it shyly but happily while Katsuki allowed it to build his pride. As far as he was concerned, with his intelligence and quirk and all his skills, he was an amazing person.

Then Izuka was diagnosed as Quirkless.

Everything shifted after that. Katsuki had begun to associate his quirk with his greatness. He had a good quirk and got lots of compliments, so he was great. Izuka didn't have a quirk, so by that same logic, it meant she wasn't great. She had no quirk so had no use; she was a Deku. That was when the bullying started and even years later, Katsuki wished he could have beaten his younger self into the dirt for what he did. He had thought of himself as great while Deku was useless, so when she continued to walk behind him, trailing after him and even standing up to him when he was putting some other kid in their place, his view became skewed. On the one hand, he began to doubt himself, which made him angry; Izuka still prattled on about Heroes and standing up for what's right, so when she stood up to him, did that mean he was wrong? On the other hand, his insecurity about his own power made him see it as Izuka, weak and pathetic Izuka, stood up to him because despite her being quirkless and him having a quirk, she thought she was better than him. He thought she was looking down on him... It was a vicious cycle, and Izuka... his poor Izuka had been the victim of it.

Then on that fateful day at the park, someone else acknowledged how amazing his quirk was... by attempting to kidnap him so he could steal it. Katsuki would have been powerless to stop it; he'd have been taken, his quirk stolen and then killed or worse, turned into a brain dead Noumu. But Izuka, the girl he bullied and scorned, had leapt to his rescue. No quirk, no hope of survival, and yet she saved him, someone that Katsuki couldn't ever believe was worth her sacrifice. And then she was gone. For a long, miserable year, Katsuki wallowed in his sorrow. He realised too late that Izuka had never thought herself better than him, that powerful Quirks didn't make a Hero. She hadn't been standing up to him to challenge him (he had been wrong, she was right) and she hadn't been looking down on him (she should have, he was pathetic). She had been acting like a Hero, and her final act before being swallowed by darkness proved it.

When she finally returned; hurt and afraid, but alive, Katsuki had made up his mind. He would make up for what he'd done... he'd repent his sins. He had gone to the hospital to see her, ready to throw himself to the floor and beg for forgiveness he didn't think he deserved, only for Izuka to smile at him and be just so damn happy he was alright. Even in the midst of torture, she'd been worried about him. That was the moment he realised... Izuka was no human and no hero; she was an angel that had, for some incomprehensible reason, come to love him. Everything had changed after that; the two competed for their dreams but did not begrudge the other for wanting the same thing. Their friendship was rekindled and became like a shining sun; and for the first time in his life, Katsuki felt that he understood what it meant to be in love. He had kissed her tenderly at her parents' wedding and she had glowed with happiness.