Shadow Monarch Hero: Viridian (SMH: Deku rewrite)

Interlude

Izuku woke to the piercing glare of Yaoyorozu's stormy gray eyes. "Uhm..." Izuku rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Good morning?"

She crossed her arms, long silky hair spilling over them as her blood-shot eyes fixated on Izuku. "Where were you last night?"

Izuku's immediate thought was "sorry mom." But thankfully, his awkwardness kept such words from slipping out. "I... um..." Izuku's mind raced. He didn't want to lie, but he also didn't want to tell the truth.

Yaoyorozu broke the stalemate, however. Easily deducing what was on his mind she said, "I knew it..." She tried to stand, before realizing her legs were still too weak to stand on without something to lean against, so she sat back down. "How could you?" She asked as if Izuku had personally betrayed her. "How could you go back into a Dungeon after all we went through? Wasn't that a clear sign to stop? For us to quit and find normal professions?"

Izuku didn't know what to say. He had spent dozens of Raids with Yaoyorozu, yet he'd never truly seen this side of her. She was always participating in lower Ranked Gates, so Izuku knew she had some reservations about Raiding in general, but she never let it show. At least, not until the last Gate, of course.

"We're only 18... but we both have put our lives on the line so many times... for what? Only to see that... that horrible face."

Again Izuku was speechless. The obvious answer would be: "For humanity. To stop the Gates from breaking and spilling Villains into our world." But that wasn't exactly true for Izuku. Right now, he was putting his life on the line for his family, for the people he cared about. In the grand scale of things, his efforts in the Gates didn't mean a thing compared to the S, XS, or National-Rank Heroes. He could've said that to satiate Yaoyorozu's question, but it wasn't really the answer, and that fact bugged him. Why couldn't he say that his purpose was to help more people than just his family?

Izuku had mentioned Kei to Yaoyorozu a bunch, the two of them sharing laughs about her sibling antics, or sharing admiration for how hard she was studying. But Izuku has never once heard Yaoyorozu mention her own family, and the one time he asked, her gaze grew dark. Was she fighting for them? Or was Hero work a way to fight against them?

Izuku had no answers, so he simply pondered what she had asked.

"I'm sorry... but... please... please stop raiding..." Yaoyorozu's lips pursed as she tried to hold back tears. "I'll do whatever I have to, even if I have to abuse my Quirk for money. Please... I don't want to see anyone else die." The tears were now streaming down her face as she pleaded.

Izuku was shocked. He stared wide-eyed and pale at Yaoyorozu's declaration. The only time he had ever asked her why she didn't use her Quirk to make gold and live luxuriously, she refused to answer, her body language becoming stiff and closed off. So this wasn't some half-hearted demand. She was prepared to defy whatever morals she had just for him.

He stood, walking over to her calmly and resting his hands on her shoulders. "You don't have to do that." He pulled her into a hug as she sobbed the face of that giant creature dispersing as she allowed herself the catharsis of letting it all out. "You won't have to watch me die. I promise."

"How... how can you say that?" She sobbed. "Even as an A-Rank I'm... terrified."

Izuku smiled lightly. "Yaoyorozu, I'm not sure what you fight for. But I fight for the people I love. That doesn't mean I'm not scared out of my mind, but it means I have a reason to surpass that fear. And now, I have another reason to fight."

[Would you like to show the System to Momo Yaoyorozu?]

Izuku remembered the previous night, appearing out of nowhere to help the other Heroes take down the drake. "I don't just want to fight for my family anymore. I want to save everyone I can. I want to grow stronger for the sake of everyone who has suffered because of the Gates... especially you. And now, I have the means to do so. I have the chance... to be a Hero." Izuku leaned back and said "Yes."

Suddenly, the glowing green boxes popped to life in Yaoyorozu's eyes, and she was granted a sight. The sight... of the System.

******

I'm currently on the big island in Hawaii so it's kinda hard to write and publish chapters since I just have my phone, but I figured this short chapter would be a nice little update!