Phenomenon

Chapter 24: Grave Robber

Not gonna lie, this is pretty fucked up. Like it's not super fucked up, but it's certainly something.

We entered Heights Alliance with no worries. Our double date had put Kacchan, Kirishima, Shoto and I in a calm and relaxed mood. We were ready to simply return to the dorms, socialise with our friends before having dinner and heading off to our rooms. The same as any other evening. But things had been peaceful for too long. I've always been prone to attracting misfortune or danger and it seems as though my brief respite had come to an end.

"Izuku. Come here, please." Dad's voice called from the lounge as soon as I stepped into the entrance hall. I looked over at my Dad and nodded as I kicked off my shoes and replaced them with my house slippers. I quickly pecked Shoto on the cheek before rushing over to my dad.

"Hey, Dad. What's up?" I asked with a wide smile on my face. I was still riding on the wave of happiness and love from my date with Shoto. Even if Kacchan and Kiri had been present, it didn't make the date any less romantic. It just meant that I had shared a beautiful moment with two of my close friends.

"Something has happened, Izuku. We'll talk about it in my room. Hizashi will be there as well." Dad muttered as he fiddled with his engagement ring. I felt the blissed-out smile on my face immediately drop when I saw my dad fiddling with his ring. It was a rather new habit which he had picked up, but I knew exactly what it meant. He was about to give me some really bad news.

I sat on the onyx sofa in my parent's room and stared up at my parents, both of them with nervous and reluctant looks on their face. "I know you're about to give me bad news. It's written all over your faces. I probably have something to do with Hisashi, right? He's done something. He's closing in on me. He's hurt someone new. I know he's still out there, I watched him escape when All Might fought All for One." I rambled. I was trying desperately to make the problems around me seem more insignificant than they actually were. I was aware that my birth father and the Leauge Of Villains were still out there. I knew that they were most likely still after me. Just talking about either one of them sent my heart hammering, but I was used to warnings of Hisashi. I was used to being scared of seeing him out of the corner of my eye. I didn't think anything could surprise me when it came to Hisashi. I was about to be proven wrong.

"I mean, technically you're right, but..." Papa began, trailing off as he looked away from me, refusing to meet my eye.

"Izuku. You know I don't beat around the bush. It seems as though Hisashi is trying to psychologically fight you. He's... Hisashi has dug up your mother's body and destroyed her grave. We know it was him because of a sign he left behind and-" The rest of my dad's words were lost upon me. I didn't hear anything else as his words washed over me and I digested them.

Hisashi had taken my mother's body. Hisashi had destroyed her grave. Her beautiful resting-place below the weeping willow. I pictured the tree beside her grave charred and burned. I pictured the marble of her grave cracked and crumbling into an empty grave, her coffin laying open beside it.

I hadn't seen my mother's body since the night I watched her being murdered. The ceremony had been a closed casket service. My mother's body had been mutilated beyond recognition by both my 'father' and the wild animals of the forest in which he'd unceremoniously dumped her. My mind began to swarm with images which had haunted my nightmares for nearly 9 years. My mother's rotting body stretching out her arms to hug me as maggots and worms squirmed beneath her green and yellow skin. My mother's fresh cadaver, still soaked in her own crimson blood, growling at me that I should have saved her. My mother's limbs dropping off as we both stood in a black void, staring at me with blank eyes. Not saying a word. Not doing anything.

"-uku. -ku. -zuku. Izuku. Izuku! We're here, Little Listener. We're here. He's not going to touch you. We'll get Inko's body back and everything will be fine. We love you, Izuku. Everything will be fine. We'll catch him and once we do you'll be safe. We're here, Izuku. We love you. So does your mum. She's looking out for you from the beyond and she's protecting you. We'll keep both of you safe." Papa's soft voice whispered to me as I was pulled from my head and I became aware of what was going on around me.