Small Talk About The Past

Tsuyu arrived at her home and barged through the door, her eyes in alarm. She felt Izuku's ghost stop releasing his aura a few minutes ago and it worried her. Thinking that something bad happen she quickly leaped over the rooftops faster than ever.

"Izuku, Ochaco, Eri." She shouted slamming the door shut and looked around for her them.

"Auntie Tsu!" The frog quirk user turned her head at the stairs and saw Eri looking at her with confusion. Before the little girl could ask what's wrong, Tsuyu jumped up to the railing and over and wrapped Eri in an embrace.

"Thank goodness your safe, *ribbit*." She said while Eri quickly tried to get her surrogate aunt to let her go.

"A-A-Auntie, Too T-Tight!" She shouted the best she could as the frog user noticed and let her down before apologizing.

"Sorry Eri." Tsuyu apologized while the child let a pout play onto her lips and crossed her arms childishly. Tsuyu then remembered why she came in. "Eri ,where is Izuku and Ochaco?"

The child pointed her fingers towards Izuku's room.

"They're in there." Eri said as a frown appeared on her face. "Papa was hurt and he looked scared. Mama told me to wait in my room until he was okay."

Eri's eyes started getting glossy and her lips trembled as the anxiety and fear was killing her not knowing what would happen to her father.

"He's gonna be okay… right?" She asked the older girl, her voice close to breaking and letting out tears. Tsuyu saw this and quickly went on her knees before wiping Eri's tears away with her fingers.

"He's gonna be fine, little tadpole." Tsuyu reassured her, even though she wasn't sure about it herself. As much as she hated lying, she doesn't want to upset the child any further seeing as she was close to having a breakdown.

She was brought out of her thoughts when the door beside them opened and out came Ochaco with a soft smile on her face. Looking beside the door, she saw Eri and Tsuyu.

"Okay sweetie, you can go and see him now." Ochaco called out as the little girl got out of Tsuyu's grasp and slowly trotted her feet over to the door.

Peering her head over, she looked up at her mother before calling out to her father. "Papa?"

Her eyes met with Izuku's as the said boy was on the bed his head still resting on the pillow. He had a blanket over him and he looked less pale than before. He slowly sat himself up and gave a strained smile towards the child.

"Hi."

"PAPA!" Eri shouted with happy tears flowing down her cheeks. Running over to the bed she jumped onto the side and climbed before she was on the mattress and jumped straight into Izuku's arms. Her tiny arms clutching his stomach tightly while the latter wrapped his own arms around her frame.

"Y-You scared me… I thought you were gonna leave us…. Please don't leave." Eri whimpered as her words sent pangs of guilt towards him.

"Sorry for scaring you Eri, but I'm not leaving you anytime soon. I promise." Izuku said with a sorrowful look before changing it into a determined expression.

Eri just nodded her head up and down in his chest, but she refused to let go of him. Izuku decided to play with her hair giving her comfort and reassurance that he was still here.

Ochaco decided to leave the two for now and motioned Tsuyu to come downstairs.

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Settling down in the kitchen, Tsuyu sat on the chair near the kitchen island while Ochaco decided to make some tea.

Tsuyu decided to not to speak as Ochaco focused on putting the tea together. After putting some water in kettle, she put it on the stove and turned on the afterburner before turning around back to the kitchen island and pressed her elbows onto the counter.

"*Sigh*" Ochaco let out a sigh telling Tsuyu that something bad happened.

"You okay?"

"I wish I could tell you yes but that would be a lie." She said with a forced chuckle as she tried to make a joke about it, but her friend's blank stare wasn't having any of it.

"You don't have beat around the bush, you can tell me what happened." Tsuyu said with a straightforward tone.

"Blunt as always huh Tsu?" The Famine user quipped as her face morphed into more serious look and started explaining. "Well it's bad. While you were gone, Deku was having nightmares again."

"That doesn't sound like its bad." Tsuyu interrupted earning a small glare from the brunette.

"His entity was trying to possess him." She clarified earning a moment of silence from the frog girl.

"…Oh." Tsuyu said absently.

Yeah it was that bad.

"Why, no, how? His 'ghost' hasn't been active since our time in that place." Tsuyu asked with some emotion in her voice worried for her friend. "Was that it? Was he having nightmares about our captivity?"

"That's one of the deductions I have." The brunette paused while biting her lip.

"One?" Tsuyu asked, her face lighting in surprise that there was more to it.

"Correct. One is that his demon is reminding him of how Izuku was before being captured, you know quirkless and everything. Weak, useless, outcast, pathetic, the list goes on. Anything negative really." Ochaco sighed again, her brow furrowing even further in frustration.

"What are the others?"

"Another is that he's seeing the faces of those he was forced to kill. And while it wasn't his fault, he's seeing a sick twisted version of those people in his dreams." Ochaco slightly gripped the counter as if she was trying to crush an apple but then let go as she finish her explanation.

"And number three?" Tsuyu asked her.

"….Us." She sighed with a sorrowful look on her face. Tsuyu just silently nodded her head not needing any clarification. They all knew how selfless Izuku was and how far he would go to protect them but at the same time it made them worry a lot about him, since he didn't really care for his own life, all those years of being degraded by humans along with the torture took a heavy toll on his mental state, far more than all of them combined.

The teapot let out a high whistle as steam exited through the hole. Ochaco turned off the stove before grasping the handle of the teapot and poured the tea into two separate cups.

"Tea?" She offered.

"Thank you." Tsuyu took the tea from her hand and took a small sip, the heat not really bothering her. "That's really good."

"Thanks. Anyway, I noticed something about all of us and our tenants. Besides being the Four Horsemen Of Apocalypse....we are very, very, inexperienced with our new powers." Ochaco said with a frown.

"How so?"

"My embodiment, Famine, allows me to take absorb energy of others through physical contact. I can also feed off their life force by forcing others to hunger for their desires, rather it be love, attention, power, whatever they want. The downside to it is that every time it does, my own desire gets stronger and harder to fight off." Ochaco specified.

"That would make sense." Tsuyu said as she placed a finger near her mouth. "I've noticed the other day you were looking at Izuku with different eyes. You weren't looking at him normally, it was more like lust mixed with obsession which is weird even for you." She said as her eyes widened in realization. "You were fighting your own desire, weren't you?" The frog girl asked as the brunette nodded her head.

"Yes. My… own desires become increasingly strong the more I try to resist it. It's getting tiring but, I'm doing okay so far." Ochaco admitted.

"That doesn't seem healthy. You shouldn't hold yourself back from what you want, doing so takes a toll on you physically and mentally. The more you do it…" Tsuyu started but was interrupted as the brunette held a hand up to stop her.

"The less control over myself I have I know." Ochaco stared at the tea with sad eyes, silently pondering how much longer she could hold off her desire before she loses control.

"I have to say that I agree with your thoughts on control with our powers." Tsuyu said as she looked out the window where it was still raining. "My embodiment is the sickness of health. It's a bit difficult to control when you are the creator of all disease. Before I met you guys I had a hard time being around others because of those dying around me through disease and it was worse when I was so angry at the time."

"Tsu…" Ochaco said softly as her friend showed looks of sadness and guilt.

"I'm afraid to be around other people, because even though you three don't get affected, everyone else can. I can easily kill someone and not even notice it." Tsuyu expressed in sadness. Ochaco knew what the girl was feeling, the only places she's been to outside of home was the cemetery and abandoned park in Musutafu.

"Tsu…"

"Unless you or Katsuki are with me, I can't control my range of ailments." She finished leaving a silent atmosphere as they stared into the puddles of the tea within their cups, looking at their reflections.

"It's okay to be scared." Both girls turned their heads toward the voice of Izuku as they saw him entering the kitchen with Eri holding tightly onto his right hand.

"Deku." "Izuku."

"Hey." He greeted them earning a soft smile from the brunette and a blank stare from the frog girl. He set Eri on top of the counter before setting himself in a chair right beside her and then lifted her back into his lap. "Could you get her some apple slices?"

"Already got some prepared." Ochaco said as she opened the fridge next to the stove, reached in and grabbed a plate of red and green colored apple slices. "Here you go sweetie."

"Thanks Mama." Eri replied as her eyes sparkled at the sight of the apples. She then grabbed a slice and started munching on it as soon as possible.

"So, what were you girls talking about?" Izuku asked.

"We were talking about our quirks and ghosts that we have little experience on." Tsuyu informed him.

"Our quirks?" The boy raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"The ones we had before we were captured." She clarified.

"Ah." He nodded his head in understanding. Although he's not sure if he can relate to them seeing as how his quirk came really, really, late. They all had years to practice their quirks, he didn't.

"Even though, we have complete control over are emitter quirks we have still have minimum control over our transformation ones." The brunette said while the green-haired teen gave them an unsure look.

"I'm still not entirely sure if our transformation powers are even considered quirks." He said with propping and elbow on the counter making sure Eri still have space between them. "Remember, our ghosts told us that they've been inside us the entire time before we discovered our quirks. And they said that we've been chosen to represent them. They just needed something or someone to bring them out." Izuku stated putting up air quotes when he said chosen.

"Yeah, and we have the project to thank for that." Ochaco laughed darkly thinking that about how certain conditions had to happen in order for them to awaken their ghosts. She looked over to Eri hoping that she didn't scare her, luckily the child was still drooling over the sensation of her apples and tuned everyone out.

"And I thought our tenants didn't come to us until after we were experimented on." Tsuyu added, her stare gone and replaced with her eyes slightly narrowed at the green-haired teen.

"I thought so too but then I started to recall some things. Things that gave me some insight on why we have them. Did you guys do anything different when you were younger or something out of the ordinary happen unexpectedly?" He asked them carefully.

Both girls looked at him in confusion trying to figure what he was asking before their eyes widened in realization.

"Now that I think about it…" Tsuyu started off staring at the ceiling with her finger still near her mouth. "There was this one time where I unexpectedly got sick. It was a warm day and suddenly I just collapsed in the kitchen without warning. My family took me to the hospital shortly to find out what had happened with me only to come up with nothing. The doctors said that nothing was wrong with me and that everything was fine, but I always doubted it." She explained.

"I have something similar but nothing that would make me sick. I was at a zoo and there was an exhibit about rabbits." Ochaco started and then was cut off by Tsuyu.

"You were at a zoo when this happened?" She asked but the brunette knew that she was trying to be playful.

"Hush. You had your turn." She teased shushing the frog as she just rolled her eyes and drank some more tea.

"Anyway, one of the rabbits got loose and ended with me after being chased around the entire zoo. I caught it, and I felt this weird feeling coming to my hands and body, I didn't focus on it and gave the rabbit back to the owners. Hours later, the same rabbit had passed away and they said that he died from starvation. Odd thing about it was that it was a healthy rabbit and that they fed him right as long as they've had it." Ochaco explained, recalling her own experience with her powers that day at the zoo.

"Was it the all the animals or just the rabbit?" Izuku asked.

"Just the rabbit, it was the only animal I was able to pet throughout the entire trip." She clarified.

"Now what about you Izuku?" Tsuyu asked him.

"What about me Tsuyu?" He asked in a confused tone. The frog girl reached her hand out and gave his arm a quick pinch earning a small yelp.

"First of all, I told you to call me Tsu. Second I'm talking about your weird experiences before countering your Death ghost." Tsuyu chided.

"Oh yeah um… when I was little I would…" He looked down towards Eri who looked at him with such curiousness. Turning his head up he let out a small sigh before speaking. "…I would see dead people."

"You're gonna have to be a little more elaborate on that." Tsuyu pressed.

"I mean… I would see who would die the next day or those who have died in the past from… accidents." He breathed out slowly. Now that got their attention.

"Accidents…?" Ochaco asked slowly but she figured out the answer. She was hoping it was wrong, but that hope was instantly crushed once Izuku revealed his answer.

"People that got caught up in a battle between heroes or villains… those that were killed during the fight or in the aftermath. The list goes on." He whispered.

Ochaco and Tsuyu both looked at Izuku with shocked eyes. He would see the lives of those that were going to die the next day through premonitions.

"Are you saying you could see in the future?" Ochaco asked with disbelief in her voice, but the teen chuckled somberly at her question.

"That's putting it lightly. Whether it be a natural disaster, a chaotic fight, robbery, attack, or torture, I would somehow see through the eyes of any person that was about to die and experience their death before waking up." He explained, lowering his gaze unable to meet their eyes. "Sometimes when I wake up, I wander off to the walk around town just to get my mind off my nightmares but… I would always somehow end up collecting another soul that wasn't part of my nightmare."

Ochaco gasped at this while Tsuyu let out a horrified croak and looked at her friend with wide eyes as she listened to him.

He was traumatized, a lot more than them. That would explain his nightmares, he would always be waking up in terror and fear and why he would return home looking sad sometimes.

"That explains why your head is so messed up." Catching everyone's attention they turned around and saw Katsuki leaning against the door frame with his arms cross and had a scowl on his face.

"When did you-?"

"I've been here long enough. Thanks for leaving me behind, you stupid frog." He said glaring at Tsuyu who just put a finger to the corner of her mouth as if she was thinking.

"I have no idea what you're talking about *ribbit*" She answered innocently earning a tick mark from the ash-blonde haired teen.

'Bullshit!' Katsuki shouted mentally knowing that Eri was in the room. So instead he let out a feral growl at the frog user. Turning his attention back to his friend, he noticed the look Ochaco had in her eyes.

"…How long…" She started.

"What… I don't…" The Death user was instantly cut off.

"Zuzu..." Her voice caught them all off guard. Izuku however knew that she was serious, she always called him by his first name or Deku when they were in private. However, when she calls him by Zuzu, he knew that he was either in trouble with her or that they needed a serious talk.

"How long were you having these nightmares?" She asked him.

She had a feeling what his answer would be, but she needed to hear it from him. When was the last time he had a nice dream that didn't involve someone dying, how long has it been since he's been able to sleep peacefully, did he always have these nightmares from the beginning and never told them?

Was he endlessly being tormented before he met her?

"Since I was four." That was answer filled their stomachs with dread. He was having these nightmares since he was little.

"Was it daily….?" She asked him. He didn't answer as he found the floor suddenly interesting and that was Ochaco needed to confirm his answer.

"Could you guys give us some space?" She asked them slowly as her hair covered her eyes from view, however all three teens knew that it was a more of a demand than a request. Tsuyu looked at the brunette with worry while Katsuki simply let out a grunt.

"Alright kid, let's go." The blonde said while picking up Eri.

"What!? No! My apples~" Eri whined as the blonde carried her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes. The child then tried to wiggle out of Katsuki's hold, even pounding her little fists on his shoulder. "Put me down Uncle Kacchan."

"Nope." He answered with a smirk, liking that Eri was trying to fight back. Tsuyu shook her head at the blonde's antics before she let herself out of the chair. Standing up she grabbed her tea and Eri's plate of apples before leaving the room, she gave her friends one last look and then headed out.

The atmosphere was a bit tense as Ochaco stared at Izuku with a stern gaze. He couldn't imagine her expression on her face… well he could but he rather not see it. Suddenly the brunette moved and sat down at the chair next to him, his gaze still on the floor.

"Zuzu." She called out to him, her voice still firm. He couldn't find any strength to face her, afraid that she would look at him with disappointment in her eyes.

"Why… why didn't you tell me about this?" She asked him, slightly hurt that he kept this hidden from her.

"I didn't want to be a burden to you… or anyone. You all have your own things to worry about, so I didn't ask and tried to deal with it on my own like I use too. I didn't want to impose on you with my problems. It's kind of pathetic isn't it, me asking for help when I can't even handle a single nightmare on my own." He explained.

Ochaco let out a small sound of surprise before her facial expression turned into worry. While she was happy that he thought about them she didn't like the fact that he was putting himself down or that he didn't ask for her help.

"Deku." She called softly as she framed his face with her soft hands and forced him to gaze into her own eyes. Her eyes were filled with compassion and love. "You don't have to do everything by yourself anymore, you have us now. Katsuki, Eri, Tsuyu and me. You're not alone anymore, you can tell us what's wrong and we won't judge you for it."

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I…" He tried to apologize but he couldn't as he stuttered, and tears were welling in his eyes.

Ochaco softly smiled at him before pressing her lips gently against his. Izuku remained frozen as she kissed him directly, she's does this every now and then but he would still freeze up like a block of ice, he was still not used to lip contact.

The brunette released her lips from his and gazed at him lovingly before pressing her forehead against his.

"You don't need to be sorry, just remember we're here for you. All I ask is that you talk to us if something's bothering you and if hurts we'll be right here waiting, okay?"

"Okay." He said feeling better as if a huge weight was pulled off his chest.

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"So, why did you bring us to this shitty dump?" Katsuki asked the green-haired teen. All five of them were at Dagobah Beach, the now knew junkyard of Musutafu. Izuku and Katsuki were talking to each other while Ochaco show Eri the view of the ocean from above using her quirk. Tsuyu was scavenging the place so it was just them and all the girls were out of earshot so Katsuki could finally curse.

"Because Ochaco and Tsuyu were right about our powers. We have minimum control over our them and we haven't exactly trained our quirks other than using them for house activities." He explained to him.

"I know that already you shitty nerd, what I want to know is exactly why we are here?" He asked in an annoyed tone. "This place is a pile of shit. It's full of nothing but trash and litter, and it's nothing more than a junkyard. Hell, I bet someone even took a dump here because it's wasteland full of shit." He complained.

"This is used to be a beach, Kacchan." Izuku said with a blank look on his face earning a scowl from the blonde.

"Either way it's shit. So, tell me why we are here before I start blowing up." He threatened as a tic mark pulse on his forehead.

"To train of course." Izuku answered.

"What?" And just like that all Katsuki's anger subsided into a blank expression.

"We're gonna use this place to train our ourselves and our powers." Izuku repeated as if it was an obvious answer.

Katsuki looked at him as if he was dumb before knocking on Izuku's skull.

"Is your head hollow or something because that has to be the dumbest shit I've ever heard come out of your mouth?"

"No, I'm serious." He said his expression filled with determination. "We could clean the beach as part of our training routine."

"Routine?" Katsuki raised an eyebrow at this.

"Yeah, I mean there's tons of stuff all around this beach. Trucks, junk, tires, metal, garbage, electronics, old stuff basically anything heavy, this place is a complete dump after all."

"You mean a pile of shit." Katsuki reminded him but Izuku raised his own eyebrow and shook his head negatively.

"No, I mean a dump." He repeated.

"It's a pile of shit." Katsuki said a little louder. Both teens glared at each other, Izuku's eyes filled with defiance and Katsuki eyes filled with challenge.

"I'm not swearing you know that." Izuku stated while Katsuki let out a small smirk play on his lipss.

"Oh, you will, one of these days you will, and I will be right here waiting until you do." The explosive user answered as his eyes glowed red letting out a maniacal laughter and flames raged in the background making Izuku sweat drop at the sight.

'I think he's starting to lose his mind.' He thought mentally.

Oh who was he kidding, Izuku was sure if angered enough, Katsuki can blow up and go on a rampage all the while with an evil grin on his face and cackled with such evil laughter.

Izuku then let out an inwardly shutter at the thought of Katsuki being a villain. They were both brought out of their conversation as the girls came back from their sightseeing.

"Well, you were right Izuku, this place is a complete wasteland." Tsuyu said as she narrowed her eyes at the trash around them. "Still, I give a 3 out of 10. If we were living in the future where all life became non-existent and robots ruled the earth, then this place wouldn't be so bad." She finished bluntly earning strange looks from all three teenagers.

"Papa, this place is stinky." Eri whined as she covered her nose with both hands. Izuku let out a nervous chuckle before stopping himself.

"So Deku, if we're really determined on cleaning this entire beach then where do we even start? This place is huge and loads of garbage everywhere it will take months to clean." Ochaco asked him.

"That's where this comes in." Izuku reached into his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper labeled Dagobah Beach Cleanup Camp.

"Deku, what is that?" Katsuki asked narrow his eyes and then looked back at the boy like he was an idiot. "Please tell me this is not what I think it is."

"This is our routine of how we are going to clean the beach. Now first I would have to scout the entire beach since I've only researched how it was completely abandoned and dirty it was. Then I would have to make sections of the beach depending on location and what is there, then once that's settled we do a jog from around the beach and back. We'll be assigned different sections everyday and clean the beach while using our quirks and apocalyptic powers-" And with that the boy started another one of his famous muttering sessions.

Honestly it was like listening to audiobook, only the speed going playing at 1.5x per second. Katsuki eyes twitched, Ochaco smiled at this and Tsuyu just blankly stared at his form. Eri looked at him giggling and tug her mother's arm.

"Papa's doing it again." She said childishly while the brunette rubbed her hand through the child's hair.

"Hang on a second." Ochaco then walked to Izuku and simply booped him on the nose bringing him out of his state.

"Huh?"

"You're doing it again."

"Oh… s-sorry." He said embarrassed that he did his thing again. Old habits die hard. Suddenly he replaced his embarrassed expression with a determined one.

"Alright guys, we have a long road ahead of us but if we do this, we'll have better control over our powers and become better people, it'll be worth it."

"I'll help too!" Eri shouted with determination as she raised her fists in the air.

"This seems sufficient, I don't mind following this plan." Tsuyu said.

"I'll go wherever you go Deku. I'll get stronger and become a better host for Famine." Ochaco beamed with determination in her voice.

"I hate this…" Katsuki stated bluntly until he released a grin at them. "…but if it means I can finally blow something up, then I'm on board. I'll get stronger and finally beat you Deku."

'Of course that would be your motivation.' The three teens thought in unison while Eri beamed at her uncle.

Ignoring his friends' challenge Izuku smiled brightly at his friends…family… determination. "Alright, now let's clean ourselves a beach, Plus Ultra!" He shouted as he pumped his fist in the air.

"Yeah!" Everyone shouted together as they pumped their fists into the air in excitement.

And with that the group was ready to take on their next 10 months of hell to control their powers, unaware that their training would gain the attention of a few individuals.

A certainly famous hero.

A underworld boogeyman.

A Certain Rat.

...

...

...

And someone else.