Withered Away

1. A Cry in the Dark

"Eraser, come on." she said, making the man jump a bit, which she would've teased him if it weren't for how worried her colleague was. "He's in good hands, Eraser. I'm pretty sure Recovery Girl will do her best to treat his injuries." she said softly at the man.

Aizawa looked at her before glancing back at the glass. She saw the Erasure Hero sigh before nodding slightly. "Yeah. you're right." he said before taking a step away from the door. "Thanks, Midnight."

"Aww... Com'on Sho! We've known each other for ages now! Call me, Nemuri-chan!" she said teasingly trying to lighten up the mood.

"Don't push it." he said bluntly as he continued walking.

Midnight pouted. "Meanie!" she said childishly, earning an eye roll from the man. She giggled at his reaction before her face slowly turned serious. "Seriously though, what happened with the kid? I saw a lot of bruises all over his body while I was changing his clothes. Was he attacked by a villain?"

"I'm not really sure, but judging from his scared reaction when I saw him," he thought about his earlier encounter with the boy and narrowed his eyes. "I'd guess that he was probably being abused in some way and had probably run away, considering that some of his bruises weren't as swollen as a recently beaten up person." Despite that, Aizawa couldn't help but grow angry at that information. Who would be so heartless to hurt a young boy? Where are his parents anyway? How could they allow their child to be hurt like this?

Midnight placed her hand over his shoulder and squeezed it a bit. "Doesn't matter anymore. He's in safe hands now. We'll just ask him about it when he wakes up and recovers from his injuries."

The underground hero could only sigh. Midnight was right. The boy is in safe hands now.

Everything will be alright now. Right?

All the boy needs is a roof over his head and healing from Recovery Girl. Right?

If only it was that easy. He thought as he continued walking. He'll just have to wait. "Fine. Besides, I need to talk to Nezu about somet–"

Mid-sentence, he was cut off when one of the speakers near them spoke up. "No need. I'm working on it already." the voice of the Principal of the prestigious hero school, echoed through the hallways.

The duo blinked at the sudden words of their superior.

"How did he even know that you were going to talk to him?" the heroine asked Shota.

Shota just sighed in exasperation. "At this point, I don't even wanna know anymore." he said as he continued to the sleeping quarters where he is temporarily staying due to his frequent visits with Recovery Girl and now, his recent rescue.

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Literally six hours after getting soaked in the rain, Aizawa stands in front of Nezu's desk, the latter sitting on his desk and looking over at a file kept in a white folder. The mouse/dog/bear... man read the contents of the file with interest as the former just stood there, eyes darkened by the bags under his eyes that served as a clear indicator of his lack of sleep.

"You know that there is a chair in front of you, right? Aizawa-kun?" the chimera said, not looking up from the file.

Aizawa just gave the man a huff. "I'd rather stand than immediately fall asleep when my body comes into contact with something soft or comfortable. Plus, I did get interrupted from my sleep, didn't I?" he said that way too bluntly in front of his superior.

But instead of getting offended, Nezu just gave him a hearty laugh. "I like your humor, Aizawa-kun! Maybe I should hire you as my personal assistant." he said, causing a twitch to occur on Aizawa's left eye.

"I'd rather not. Being hired as a teacher here is bad enough and I rejected that offer." he interjected, causing another laugh to escape the chimera's mouth.

"Don't worry, I'll get you to accept that offer one day." Nezu smiled, when he heard the man grumble 'I doubt it' and looked away from him. "But that wasn't what I was going to talk to you about. It is about some information regarding our newly arrived friend here." he said and showed Aizawa the folder, which had a picture of the boy he had rescued last night.

Looking over at the picture, Aizawa's eyes lit up and snatched the folder from the desk. He looked over at the boy's picture and was surprised to see how young the boy looked without the bruises.

He opened the file and read its contents.

"Name, Izuku Yagi. Age is ten years old. Quirk, Withering Touch; a touch-based quirk that allows him to turn those he touches into a darkened, rotting state." Nezu recited the information that is written on the file. "An interesting quirk if you ask me, a rare one at that as well."

Aizawa hummed in agreement as he skimmed through the file. He read the boy's birthday, birthplace, blood type, and even his favorite food. But what really caught his attention was the boy's biological family.

Turns out the boy was one of the fraternal twins of Inko and Toshinori Yagi. for some reason, Aizawa found the last name familiar, he just couldn't point out where he heard it from.

Nonetheless, he knows who the boy's parents are and planned on visiting them to inform them of Izuku's whereabouts.

As if reading his thoughts, Nezu spoke up. "I know what you are planning on doing, Aizawa-kun. I advise you to refrain from doing so." the chimera said in a tone that felt uncharacteristically from the principal's usual cheery voice.

Shock can be seen on Aizawa's face before it morphs into annoyance. "What do you mean? He is their child. They deserve to know where he's been and what has happened to him."

"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't care either way." that caught Aizawa off-guard. Before he could ask the chimera to clarify, he continued. "You see, young Izuku here had been missing for three days and yet there weren't any missing reports reported to the police nearby."

If Aizawa was feeling drowsy earlier today, the fact that the boy was missing for three whole days and there were no missing reports woke him up. He was so confused about this and was racking his brain for answers but couldn't think of a logical explanation about this predicament.

He was so confused and deep in thought when Nezu spoke up once again. "That's not all..." Aizawa looked at the chimera. "The father of the boy..."

He saw the man sigh causing him to grit his teeth. "What!? Was he abusive? Is he a villain? Is he still alive so I can kill him and hide his body to where no one can find it? What is special about this dad of his!?" he said, voice rising.

Nezu opted for a blank expression. "Worse," he said before dropping the bomb.

"The boy's father... is All Might."

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Chapter 1 of the new story ends here! Thoughts?

I apologize for uploading the first chapter far too late. There were a lot of things that happened this past few weeks/month that I had grown sick and drained and needed a break, even to a point that I almost deleted this story.

But here they are! First chapter of Withered Away! Next Chapter will be posted next week! Chapter 2. Origin: No Hand to Hold

Hope you support this story and enjoy!

Dummy out!