I woke up, anxious what's going to happen after school with Vlad.
I punched the wall. Tch!! I'm so weak! I just allowed Vlad to be my puppeteer again!
As I am right now, I'm not strong enough to take him down. I need to wait and continue to become stronger ... stronger than Vlad ... stronger for those I care about ... stronger for my country.
Because not only does Vlad have everyone I care about here hostage, but he also has the citizens of Ghostzone as leverage against me as well. One wrong move, and an innocent person in Ghostzone could end up dead. They've done nothing wrong and don't deserve torture from Vlad!
And going to a teacher would be no help at all. I mean, what are they going to do? Go to war with Ghostzone? It's a country, not an organization!
I took a deep breath. I knew this could happen but I still wasn't ready for it, but I have to endure this for my classmates, Uncle, the old man, and every single person in U.A.
'I've endured this pain for 9 years of my life. I can keep on going for a little more.' I thought, trying to convince myself that everything will be alright.
I walked downstairs to the kitchen to make myself some breakfast, only to see the old man already up and cooking.
I waved. "Good morning, dad." I greeted. I said 'dad' this time to tell myself that nothing has changed between the old man and I because a fruitloop was added to the equation.
Aizawa is still my one and only father.
He looked up in surprise at the title but lazily waved back. "Good morning, kid."
"What's for breakfast?"
"Blueberry pancakes." Mmm...I normally don't like pancakes, but the old man puts something extra in it to make it amazing, but he won't tell me what it is as it is a 'secret'. Que air quotes.
He's just being mean.
I took a bite and I immediately smiled in extreme satisfaction with the food in front of me. I wolfed down the rest and licked the plate to make sure I didn't miss a single piece.
I heard a laugh and I looked at my dad in annoyance.
"What?! It's good!" I yelled at him while turning my head away and crossing my arms.
But even though I felt irritated at him, I felt warm in my chest again. I want this warmth to stay forever. Will it be ice cold again, just like it was when I was in Ghostzone?
I got ready and the old man drove me to school. U.A. started to come into view and I felt the chains around me tighten once more. The time to go to Vlad's temporary house is getting closer and closer. I don't know what he has in store for me but I know it's not anything good.
That's when a voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Danny. Danny. DANNY!!"
I jumped in surprise. "What?!"
The old man looked at me from the drivers seat with calculating eyes. "We're here."
I looked out the window and he was right. The school was right there in front of us and we were in the parking lot.
The old man looked at me with concern. "You were in pretty deep in your thoughts. What were you thinking about?"
I looked away and started to open the door to get out of the car. "I was thinking about those blueberry pancakes." I lied as I got out quickly.
The old man looked at me unconvincingly while shutting off the ignition and also getting out. "Really?"
I nodded my head with a forced smile. "Really." The last thing I need is for him to find out that a certain messed up fruitloop came back into my life.
We started to walk towards the entrance of the school. "You know..." the old man started as he abruptly stopped. "if you need to talk to anyone, I'm always here for you." He finished while looking at me.
I looked at the ground so he doesn't see my pained expression. I'm so sorry, dad. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. "I know." And with that, I started to walk ahead of him and arrived right outside of the classroom.
I'm so glad that the old man has to sign in and get stuff from his teacher's desk for today's lesson.
I took a deep breath. Happy face. Happy face. Happy face. I forced a smile and opened the door and went in.
I saw Mashirao and decided to talk to him. "Hey, Mashirao!" I waved as I ran up to him.
"Hey, Danny!" He waved back. "How are you?"
We started to talk about what the school has planned for us for summer break, because there is no way they're letting us take a break for that long. Especially with the USJ attack and Hero Killer incident, the villains are most likely making a move, so the school probably wants to make sure we're ready for anything.
After all, this class has some serious bad luck.
All of the other classes are jealous of us that we're getting more attention but I don't think they realize that we almost died! And twice for Izuku, Todoroki, and Iida!
I think some of us are starting to get a little jealous of Class 1-B since it's also a hero course but they don't have to go through all this crap.
That's when the old man walked in and our eyes connected. I couldn't tell what he was thinking and I'm guessing it's the same for me as he narrowed his eyes a little bit.
After a couple of seconds, he turned towards the class. "It's almost time for summer vacation, but of course, it wouldn't make sense for you to rest for the whole month." I looked at Mashirao. We knew it.
Kaminari looked at Kirishima, who was behind of him, with a nervous expression on his face. "Don't tell me..."
"During summer vacation, we'll have a training camp in the woods!" The old man announced.
The whole class stood up and cheered. "I knew it!! Yes!!" I looked at all of them and laughed at their excitement. I then stopped and thought for a moment.
What do you do in a regular training camp in the woods? Vlad's idea of a training camp was leaving me in the forest for a month by myself to test my survival skills.
Mina pumped a fist in the air. "Lets do a test of courage!!"
Of course, someone else was also excited but for an entirely different reason. "Baths!" Pervert.
Asui went into a dream like state. "Fireworks!"
"Open air baths!"
Iida raised his hands. "Curry."
"Hot springs!" I've had enough so I marched up to Mineta and punched the top of his head. "Ow!"
Yaoyorozu went into a thinking position. "If we're out in nature, we'll have to work under different conditions, right?"
I turned to the back and looked towards her. "We'll have to find ways to take advantage of our environment since we don't have the leverage of home field anymore. We have to come up with entirely new strategies and possibly our fighting styles have to be adjusted to our surroundings." I said while trying to imagine how much I would have to adjust.
Tokoyami crossed his arms and had a slight look of excitement on his face. "No matter what the environment, we must choose wisely, huh?" He looked down and closed his eyes in a calculating pose. "Interesting."
Hagakure was waving her arms in the air with joy. "Sleeping and eating with everyone! I'm so excited!"
I looked down, pondering on what affect this might have for me since I can't just ditch this training camp and stay with Vlad, which is probably what he would want me to do. Now that he has his 'son' back after over a year, I doubt he wants to be separated from me for too long.
For me, if Vlad actually lets me go on this trip, it will be a dream come true since it allows me to have a little freedom for an entire week.
The old man then used his quirk to make his eyes red and hair stand up to shut us all up. "However..." Well, that worked as we all quieted down. "those who do not the pass the final exam before that will be in summer school!"
"Everyone, let's do our best!" Kirishima started to yell at the class.
"This is damn stupid." Bakugou grunted out with an angry look on his face. So basically, no change.
"Girls, do your best!" Mineta yelled. I gave him a second well deserved punch.
After school was over, I walked out of the classroom, and towards my doom. I then heard a voice call out to me. "Hey, Danny! Want to walk home with us?!" I turned and it was Izuku with Uraraka and Iida. I gave them an apologetic look.
"Sorry! I've got some errands I need to do! Maybe tomorrow?!" I yelled back and they nodded.
Izuku's POV:
Was it just me, or did I see a look of sadness in Danny's eyes?
Danny's POV
I went towards the address that was given to me and...what a surprise. It's a humongous mansion. Note the sarcasm.
I knocked and the door opened to reveal Vlad. "Hello, my son." I bristled a little at the title. Only the old man has any right to call me that! "Come in." And with that, I walked into the door and I followed him to the basement, which he turned into a training room.
He made me change into combat workout clothes.
"Fight me with no Quirks. I want to see how strong you've gotten this past year." He claimed and I gritted my teeth. More like he wants to beat me until I bleed.
We stood on opposite sides of the mats and we began to spar. I dodged a sidekick and and went for a punch, which was blocked. Vlad smirked. "You've improved. U.A. has been a positive effect on you." He complimented me as he went for an another kick.
I flipped back to dodge. "Thanks, dad." Every time I call him 'dad', I die a little inside. "By the way, I wanted to ask you something."
He grabbed my arm and twisted it behind me, but I did a back kick and hit his knees and he let go. I went for a roundhouse kick, but he blocked it with his hands.
He grabbed my legged and threw me couple of feets away. I was able to land on my feet safely before he kicked my stomach and grabbed my arm to do a judo throw. That hurt. He put out his hand and I grabbed it to get up.
He's being soft. Normally, that would've ended with me bleeding on the floor with at least three bruises and broken bones.
He tossed me a towel and a water bottle.
"What is it?" He asks me after we settled down.
I took a drink and did a deep breath. "My class is going to go to a training camp in the woods for the summer break. Can I go?" I asked him.
He looked at me with narrow eyes. "The whole summer?"
I nodded my head. "Yeah."
"Will it get you to be stronger?"
Of course that's all he cares about. I nodded again. "Yeah."
He stopped looking at me and stared ahead. "Then of course you can go."
My eyebrows rose in shock. "Really? I thought you wouldn't since it's a whole week away from you." I commented in surprise.
"It's fine. We'll just make it all up before you go." He said with a sick smile. What in the world does he have planned for me?!
"I think it's been a while since you've done pain training, am I right? Let's make sure you haven't gone soft." He declared as he stood up.
My heart raced in fear. I hate pain training. It's the worst and the pain is almost always unbearable.
He took me to another room, sat me down, and put 2 bracelets on me. My heart's fear went into overdrive as I recognized these things.
They're shock bracelets. They send electric shocks through you and it's controlled by a button on a remote.
Vlad had the remote in his hands and gave me a hard glance. "Let's make sure you haven't forgotten pain yet." And he pressed the button.
The electric shocks were as painful as hell, but I didn't dare to cry out as I knew that would prove I had weakened to Vlad.
After what seemed like forever, the torture finally stopped and I took the moment to catch my breath. I looked up and saw Vlad's satisfaction. He took off the bracelets.
"Hmph. You are as strong as I remember, if not stronger. You really are my son." He said with pride. "You'll have dinner at my place. Tell that pro hero of yours that you'll be coming home late and then change." And with that, he left.
Damn him! Damn it all!! I threw something across the room, but I'm not sure what as I was too angry to pay attention on what I had in my hand. How much more pain am I going to suffer?!
I took a deep breath. Calm down. I need to endure this so no one dies. I just need to bear with it a little more...
I took out my phone and dialed the old man's number. The phone was immediately answered. "Danny, where are you?! I was worried!"
"Hey, old man! Remember when I told you how I found a lost kid and brought him to his mother? Well, I met the mom again and she wanted to invite me to dinner as a thank you, so I'll be a bit late." I lied as I explained my tardiness.
I heard him sigh. "Okay. I understand. Just remember to call the moment you are about to come back home, okay?"
I smiled. "Okay."
"Stay safe."
"You, too."
And with that, he hung up. I clenched my phone. I really hate lying to him.
I changed my clothes and one of the knights directed me to the dinning room. The table was one of those really long ones where it can seat 20 people.
I took a seat at the opposite side of Vlad and looked at the food that was served to me. It was a ribeye steak with mashed potatoes, corn, and asparagus on the side.
I prefer Uncle's okonomiyakis over this. I started to dig in with table manners that I would never use in front of Aizawa.
Vlad looked at me with a pleased smile. "It's good to know that you haven't forgotten your table manners. I had feared you would've turned into a savage beast like most commoners." He commented and I gripped my utensils hard.
He does realize he's basically insulting the old man and my friends, right? I rolled my eyes. What am I saying? Of course he does.
"Thanks." I gritted out.
"Remember, you have to call me the moment you arrive and the moment you leave that training camp, okay, my son?" I nodded, not trusting my mouth to not make things worse.
After the 'pleasant' dinner, I grabbed my stuff and was ready to go. Vlad then called out to me. "Remember to come back tomorrow."
I nodded my head. "Okay." I lifelessly replied back.
I went to door and saw Desiree waiting for me. My eyes lit up in happiness as I hugged her. "I missed you so much!" I said as she hugged me back. "I missed you, too. I'm sorry I couldn't stall Vlad longer." She said with guilt. I stopped hugging her and shook my head.
"It's enough you got me freedom, even if it was for a little while. I'm happy and made a bunch of friends! And it's all thanks to you!" I shouted as I reassured her.
She smiled angelically. "Good for you. I'm so happy for you."
I nodded. "I've got to go. The old man who's taking care of me is waiting for me at home." She nodded and I went out the door
"Bye, Danny."
Bye, Desiree."
To be continued...