The Shadows I Hide

Chapter 24: Locating

Ochaco walked into the dark abandoned alley cautiously. She checked her phone, then double-checked to make sure. Yep, this building was the address that Bakugo had given her. She looked at the building warily. She was pretty sure that this building had been in construction several years ago, but then the company building it had run out of money and so it was abandoned.

"That sounds familiar," she mumbled to herself. She searched the ground and quickly located the entrance Bakugo had said she would find. She wasn't looking forward to sliding through it, but she didn't have a choice. Dropping onto her stomach she went in legs first and once she was sure she wouldn't get herself caught on anything, she activated her quirk and drifted to the ground noiselessly. Deactivating her quirk Ochako turned around to survey the decaying basement. It was damp and dark, she wasn't too fond of the smell. Could he really be here? It didn't seem likely, but Bakugo had been so sure. She turned on her flashlight and began to survey the room, but stopped when she noticed a colored piece of crumpled cloth on the floor. She approached the object cautiously and prodded it. It wasn't wet luckily, that would have been unpleasant. She picked it up and straightened it out revealing it to be a T-shirt. On it was All Might's smiling face looking back at her. This was his all right. She was about to put it down when she noticed the back. She turned it over fully to get a better look but was only confused by what she found. The back of the shirt has two long tears running lengthwise down the back of the shirt. She furrowed her brow. What the hell? Suddenly she heard a loud crash echo down the halls ahead of her. The loud noise was followed by a series of thuds that got dissipated quickly as whatever was making the sound retreated further and further away.

Ochako was sure that had to be him. Filled with renewed vigor she made her way through the twisted passages of the abandoned structure. She headed in the general direction that she had heard the noise, but without any other sound to guide her, she could really only guess which way to go after a certain point. She was beginning to simply wander aimlessly until she came across a door that looked like it had been forced open recently. The ground around the door was covered in drywall dust, and footprints had been made in it leading through the doorway.

Clue found. She pushed on the rough abused wooden door. It swung open reluctantly a loud screech echoing as a result, making Ochako wince. On the other side of the doorway she was confronted with stairs wrapping around and around going all the way to the top of the building. Ochako began to climb her determination to see this through spurring her on up the stairs. Floor by floor she went, never stopping, always looking for any sign of him. Five, Ten, Fifteen, Twenty. As she climbed she noticed that the building was beginning to look less and less complete. The walls and the door on the upper floors didn't have paint and in general looked less worked on. Reaching the thirty-fifth floor she stopped. The door to the floor was open, unlike all the other ones on the previous floors which had been locked. She opened the door and looked around cautiously. She took a few steps forward to examine the room further. This floor seemed very unfinished. It had its windows and all its floor support which was good since she didn't have to worry about being crushed, but aside from that the room was pretty bare.

Some abandoned construction equipment and materials were strewn around carelessly and the walls were completely unpainted leaving the walls the color and texture of the concrete they were made from. It was then she heard a noise from somewhere in the back of the room. She couldn't make it out exactly but it sounded like a voice. She walked in following the noise once again. As she approached she began to make it out more clearly. Was that growling? The closer she got the louder it seemed to get, but not just from the distance. She looked around, but no matter how much louder it got she couldn't see where it was coming from. She grew more and more confused until it sounded as though the growling were coming from every direction at once. It was then she heard a kind of click noise echo from above her head. Turning her face upwards she gazed up towards the unseen ceiling. She got a glimpse of someone perched there before they suddenly jumped down and dashed away from her. She began to run towards him. It was Izuku, she could see his messy green hair as he ran. She saw Izuku looking around frantically but whatever he was looking for he couldn't seem to find and she managed to corner. Realizing he had been cornered Izuku whipped around to face her. But his face showed no sign of recognition. His pupils were horizontal slits in his eyes and when he snarled at her she saw that his mouth was full of pointed fangs and twisted horns sprouted from his head, and black claws were present on each finger. His clothes looked abused and torn. Izuku growled at her again exposing his fangs at her, but she didn't step back. She continued to get closer to him. This seemed to be making Izuku more aggressive. He began to growl louder and lifted his claws. She was only a couple feet away from him and he suddenly lunged at her. Claws poised to strike. But his hands suddenly stopped right before they touched her. Izuku began to sniff at the air. Suddenly his pupils widened and the animalistic feeling disappeared. His horns shrunk a bit, his fangs seemed to dull out, and his claws shortened. It took a moment, but recognition soon dawned on his face.

"Uraraka?" he asked in disbelief. Then seeming to realize what was going instantly went into a panic.

"Wait, don't look at me! You shouldn't have come here! You need to stay away from me!" his ramblings went on as he clutched his head.

"You need to get out of h-" his sentence was cut short by a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around him. Izuku was silent and could feel the heat rising to his face. A long moment of silence elapsed.

"Umm, Uraraka?" asked Deku finally. She squeezed him tighter in response.

"You idiot," she muttered quietly. Suddenly she began to shake, and it was then that Izuku could start to hear her sobs.

"Why'd you have to go and leave like that?" she said quietly.

"I didn't want to end up hurting you," he said after a moment.

"You still did though Deku." She said finally looking up at him. "Don't you see, you never hurt me with your powers, even when you were the most out of it. What really hurt was the way you'd been acting towards me, and the way you left just like that." Izuku was taken aback but managed to reply, "I thought you were afraid of me,"

"Once again, you're such an idiot Deku. I wasn't scared of you, I was scared for you," Izuku's eyes widened. "I could never hate you, or be afraid of you for that. Now I know I don't have the full story and maybe you don't either. But I won't turn on you that easily," Izuku began to feel tears begin to fill his own eyes.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

"It's okay, just stick with me next time okay?" Izuku finally smiled a bit.

"Yeah; okay,"