Blend Within || Villain Deku AU

The Underestimated Enemy

Midoriya blinked. He blinked again. To be honest, he hadn't even realized he was conscious, and besides, it's not like it mattered. His vision was too dark and blurry to take in anything anyway, and his ears were ringing too much for him to try and listen for nearby sounds. So he blinked. He blinked again.

"Izuku."

He stopped blinking. That voice didn't sound dangerous, but it sounded familiar. There weren't many choices, since Midoriya's voice memory wasn't exactly the best, and even with his brain fuzzy, his mind managed to settle on only one that had that voice and called him by his name, and he could feel himself slowly start panicking as he realized what hearing that voice could mean.

Midoriya slightly moved his head, feeling searing pain in all his body as he did so, but he managed to get a glimpse, enough for confirmation. The glistening amulet of a human heart on the chest of the male gave him away.

Standing beside him, was the one and only Keisha.

Midoriya slowly began to tremble, feeling even more pain from the small movements, but he couldn't do anything. Realization had hit him like a truck, and now his body wasn't the only thing that was aching and panicking. Because his worst fear, not counting Eri, had just come true, and he couldn't do anything. Because Keisha was there. And that could only mean one thing. He was captured. Again. By the League of Villains...

"Izuku. Can you hear me?" Midoriya slowly nodded, knowing it was better to reply than to ignore him. Shigaraki and Keisha didn't like to be ignored. "Good. Open your eyes." Keisha commanded.

Midoriya did, having not even noticed that he closed them again in the first place. His vision was swimming, but he managed to separate everything from the figure standing in front of him, and focused as much as he could onto the figure, not caring about anything else.

"Focus. If you don't focus, you won't be able to come up with a plan and win the seemingly one-sided fight."

That's right. Focus.

"Didn't you learn that you can't keep saving and standing up for everyone? Look where it brought you." Keisha said, before sighing sadly and kneeling beside Midoriya, their eyes on one level. And even though Midoriya's vision was still blurry, he could see his dark eyes, and he could see the way they looked intrigued as they watched him back. "The time is 8:32 in the morning, keep track. So? What are you gonna do now?"

Midoriya couldn't come up with an answer that he could satisfy Keisha with, and it wasn't only because he felt like his brain was melting. He could say the truth, but then Keisha would scold him and punish him for admitting he was weak, especially when he wasn't. He could lie, but then he wouldn't be able to prove himself, and he would end up suffering as well. There was no right answer except for ignoring the pain and doing something, anything, and simply respond by movement.

Keisha didn't stop him, didn't pin him down in case Midoriya would attack him, nor did he carefully push him back on what seemed like a sofa he was laying on because of his obvious concussion. He looked curious. He always did. And it doesn't matter if the saying goes "curiosity killed the cat". After all, the cat is never Keisha. It was those around him.

Midoriya sat up and tried to calm the dizziness and put all his effort into not letting the black static completely consume him. Taking deep breaths, he tried to calm down, which he knew wouldn't be possible if Shigaraki was the one standing beside him. But Keisha, he was different. He observed, and he rarely attacked. He defended, but in the end, his opponent was always the one to trip against himself and fall on his knees before Keisha. Keisha had a noticeable weakness, and that's what made him powerful. But Midoriya wasn't going to pretend he didn't know him, and so, Midoriya obeyed without fighting back.