The Shadows I Hide

Chapter 7: Terror

"Dad, when am I going to get my quirk?"

It was early afternoon when the green-haired little boy decided to pose his question to his father. The dark-haired man looked up from the tv and smiled at his son. He leaned down and picked up the boy and put him in his lap.

"Soon, I'm sure. Why are asking?"

"Well everyone else in my class is getting their quirks and I want to get mine too so I can be a hero!"

The man chuckled, "Well you certainly take after your mother kiddo. If she wants to do something, nothing can stop her from trying to accomplish it,"

The little boy beamed, "I want to be like All Might!"

"And you will buddy,"

A small moment of silence elapsed, "Dad what kind of quirk do you think I'll get?" asked the excited kid looking up at his father. He smiled and looked into his sons' eyes both the same emerald green,

"I think you'll get your mothers, you've got so much in common with her,"

"Maybe I'll get yours, dad. Maybe I'll get to breathe fire!"

For the briefest of moments so small, the boy thought he had just imagined it, his father smile wavered.

"I guess we'll see kiddo, I guess we'll see,"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Izuku slowly opened his eyes wincing as his head began to pound. Feeling disoriented from the fading dream he looked around to try and figure out where he was. He was on the floor of a dark room that was illuminated by dim candlelight. The candles were arranged in a circle around him but were too weak for him to make out much more of the room from where he watched. He tried to stand up but found he couldn't move his hands. He felt cold metal digging into his wrists and a warm sticky liquid dripping from where it cut into him. He discovered similar restraints around his ankles. It was then he began to freak out. He took a moment to breathe and try and remember how he got here.

The memories of the previous night returned to him and he began to panic. Whoever that person in the hood was they had taken him and he had no idea where he was. He strained to get a better view of the room he was in but his efforts only resulted in more pain. He could feel cuts on his wrists where the manacles had cut his skin, he could also feel cots on the palms of his hands which were beginning to sting painfully. Izuku noticed the ground he was on seemed to be somewhat damp, he was probably underground.

He silently cursed. And dropped back to the floor. Despite all the time he had spent learning to fight he had been captured with almost no effort on his assailants part. He had been useless and now he was captured. How pathetic, he thought. Now he was trapped here a mere normal person, a normal person that had no hope of being able to escape his situation. As he laid on the ground he felt something on the ground under his hands and as he felt what it was he came to the realization that it was a small crumpled piece of paper and as he continued to search the ground he discovered similar bits of trash around him. As he searched he felt his hand come in contact with a match and he stopped. He grasped the match tightly and let out a mutter of gratitude.

He began to feel around his handcuffs for the gap where they tightened but as he was doing so he began to hear voices approaching where he was. He stopped what he was doing and pretended to be unconscious. He listened intently as the voices approached. It sounded to be one male and one female voice. He began to make out words as he heard a door open somewhere ahead of him in the room.

"Are you sure this is the one we needed to find?" asked the male voice.

"I did at first," said the female. He recognized the female as the one who had fought him the previous night.