Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aizawa remembers hearing a conversation when he was younger. He knew about quirks, and what it meant to have one. But overhearing his mother and father talking brought it to where he couldn’t ignore it. He recalls his mother was sobbing, saying she didn’t want a monster for a son. His father, in what appeared to be false comfort, suggested they give Shouta up. He had run off to his room after that, eyes burning, not wanting to know what she said.
She didn’t get rid of him, but did keep a close eye; if he died then he would become the monster they feared. That’s what it meant to have a quirk.

The burden of a power so great.


Years later, on a day he can’t quite remember, yet will never quite forget, Aizawa Shouta is followed home from school.
The boys start out teasing him, little jabs at his clothing, nothing he can’t handle.

It gets serious fast.

“Hey! Hey freak- we’re talking to you!”

“Is it true? You’re gonna be a fairy when you die right?”

The laughter is too loud. Aizawa can hear them, right beside him. He’s stopped walking in favor of ignoring them, like his teacher suggests he should. Just ignore them. They’ll go away. They’ll go away. It doesn’t matter. They’ll -

“Freak! He asked you a question! Are you already a cryptid or something?!”

Aizawa says nothing. The boys around him seem so much larger. There are so many of them. So many.

One of them speaks in a dangerous tone dripping with cruelty, and Shouta can hear the look on his face.

“Well, if he’s already a cryptid he won’t come back when we kill him.”

Shouta wants to run. He really does. But he supposes there isn’t a point. He was always a monster. He knew this would happen eventually. He was always a monster. Just a freak. A monster. A monster.

The mantra repeats over and over in his head as the gang starts to push him around. He doesn’t fight. They know he won’t push back. Even as one pulls out a knife, and walks towards him menacingly. He can’t fight. There are two holding him in place, he thinks maybe his ribs are broken; their hands feel so tight on his sides. He should wrap those up if he gets the chance.

He won’t, in a way.

There is no one to catch him as he falls, chest bleeding, eyes red. His breathing slows, and as he closes his eyes, he idly wonders what kind of monster he will be. Hopefully something better than the one he is now.

“All right listeners!  Welcome to Camp UA, hope you found your cabin buddy alright!!!”

Yamada Hizashi greets the campers with his usual pep, grinning wide as the kids file into the main cabin. He clears his throat loudly, and begins listing off the names to make sure everyone is accounted for. This year was going to be great, the children look excited, and he already spots a few cryptids in the crowd. Great for diversity. He’s known what it felt like to be on the outside. 

After checking names over, Hizashi writes some notes, and begins to speak again.

“I hope you all have a great time here! As you know this camp is famous for being inclusive, and we want to stay that way. But you also know I have to ask, do we have any cryptids with us? Raise your hands please!”

Nearly half the students raise their hands, and after a few more frantic scribbles, Hizashi starts to transition into introducing the other camp leaders.

They have the usual assembly this year, a small centaur-esque healer, a siren, a few humans. Hizashi nearly forgets to mention the newest member of the camp, which would be quite embarrassing seeing as All Might is the most legendary cryptid. Wolfmen aren’t seen often, and certainly none that big.

After the initial hullabaloo, things sort out. The kids and mentors get on fine, and Hizashi sneaks back to his cabin. It’s slightly further out into the woods, edging into uncharted territory. He’d been afraid at first, there’d been talk of elusive, dangerous, cryptids in the woods. After a few nights of paranoia, Hizashi was pleased to announce; no danger.

The closest thing to ‘danger’ is a stray cat who'd been coming around begging for food. Speaking of that cat, where was the thing? The creature always came around sunset, and ate the scraps Yamada left out. Hizashi leans over the bowl, and is only slightly concerned about the fullness of the dish. Cats are weird, he thinks, probably it’s found a mouse for tonight.

Nothing new, nothing dangerous, nothing scary. No worries at all.

Yamada gulps and starts making his way back to the other leaders. Maybe he should volunteer for night watch, no reason to raise concerns. Just precaution, right?

His steps grow quicker.

Chapter Text

Hizashi regrets his decision to volunteer for night watch already. The light shining through the dark just attracts more bugs, and not cute Mothmen like Mina. Big nasty mayflies and mosquitoes, probably getting stuck in his hair. Hizashi shivers at the thought, wishing he’d been less paranoid about the cat. It was probably fine anyways, besides all the gross bugs, nothing had happened. Yet.

About an hour after sunset, Hizashi decides to do a perimeter check. The other staff are all in a designated cabin with the kids, doing more introduction games. All Hizashi has to do is walk around the trail bordering the uncharted woods. Far away from any help. No one to hear him. He takes a deep breath and walks pointedly towards the trail. No point in delaying the horrors of what might be. The gravely path before him seems completely different lit only by the moon. During the day, it looks calm and inviting. He’d always liked walking it then. Hizashi had probably walked the trails over sixty times by now, but only ever in the daylight. The path he walks now looks so unfamiliar. Even so, there’s no way he could get lost. It’s a simple walk, and he should have it memorized, at least, his legs should. If he did somehow get lost, how long would it be until he was found? How long till they realized he was missing? What would the kids think? What if-

A screeching yowl snaps Hizashi out of his worried thoughts, and stops him in his tracks. His heart pounds against his chest as he discovers he’s gone off the normal path. With his thoughts running wild, he wasn’t paying enough attention to stop himself from taking a wrong turn. Under different circumstances, Hizashi might have been excited at a chance to chart some of the lesser known trails. As much as he hated to admit it, he was very afraid that the cat was missing for other reasons besides being a cat.
There’d been some sparse talk of a unknown cryptid living in the woods. One with ill intentions at that. Nothing solid, no evidence to justify it, just the word of locals. Most of them were hunters that spent a lot of time alone out in the forest; they didn’t have enough credibility, only because no one knew them well. They could be telling the truth, Hizashi thinks to himself. Maybe he’d be lucky enough to find a hunter before he became prey.

The pun is enough to lift Hizashi’s spirits, and he keeps walking. Might as well do some charting now that he’s here. He hums a song to himself, mood elevating until he’s gotten rid of his worries. It doesn’t usually take much to get himself out of a funk, perhaps a walk in the woods is just what he needed after all. The song he hums gets louder, until he’s singing it proudly, pausing every few seconds to take a wood stake out of his bag. He brings the bag along every time he walks a trail. It’s mostly full of supplies, but has a compartment dedicated to charting. The wooden stakes mark where he’s been, and if he gets lost he follows them back. In this case, they will been for whoever goes to find him to follow. Hizashi stops singing in favor of laughing at the definite exasperation he’d be getting for this stunt. Ah well. He’d find a resting point soon.

A resting point comes much later than expected, but Hizashi is fine with it. He’d rather make use of his time out here. He takes a minute to get a good look at his surroundings. The clearing he’s found is beautiful to say the least. It almost looks as if someone has been keeping it clean, but Hizashi knows that can’t be the case. Small white flowers speckle the soft grass beneath him, accenting the moon’s light. If he listens hard, he can make out the sounds of a creek, perhaps behind the slight hill at the edge. The hill looks to be a cave, and Hizashi immediately decides not to enter. There could be anything in there, and he isn't about to jinx his good fortune now.

Hizashi picks a spot furthest from the cave, and sits down to wait. The others must have noticed by now, and were probably on their way. All he has to do is wait. Patiently. Ugh.
The echoes of a soft song start to fill the air. Hizashi can always pass time singing. He loves it, almost as much as he loves helping the kids. Songs can cure any type of rain, as he’d long ago decided. He doesn’t get to sing as often as he’d like, so he takes advantage of this opportunity readily. His world melts away, and the song washes over any worries he’s had. Hizashi sways in time, letting the music become him. As the last note rings in the air, he opens his eyes.

Sitting a few feet away from him is a giant creature covered in bandages.

It takes Hizashi a few seconds to confirm the existence of the creature. It’s definitely there, looking at him with multiple eyes. The thing is huge, and in its black, claw like hands is- the cat? Hizashi realizes he’s just staring, open mouthed at the probable cryptid before him.
It seems to realize this as well, and scoots back hurriedly, placing the cat down.

“W-wait! Who are you? I won’t bite!”

The creature makes no attempt at response, and keeps scooting away, eyes becoming slightly illuminated with red. Hizashi feels dizzy, but presses on.

“I’m Yamada, Yamada Hizashi! Do you live here? I see you like-“

Hizashi feels something around his leg, and nearly jumps out of his skin. He doesn’t want to take his eyes off the creature, but he looks down.

“Ah! Only the cat. You scared me silly thing!”

He momentarily forgets the situation at hand, and reaches down to pick up the cat. She purrs, nuzzling his hand. As he strokes her, Hizashi realizes the dizzy feeling has stopped.
The Mummy like man has also stopped, no longer moving away, and is staring at him again. Hizashi smiles and holds the cat up.

“You like her too? She’s a lovely cat! I haven’t named her yet, I was thinking about ‘oreo’ but then I thought, nah, that’s to common, and then I was wondering if she already HAD a name, and if so, how would she react to being called something else? I suppose it doesn’t really matter since she is a cat and cats don’t seem to care that much what we call them and- AH!"
Hizashi is cut off by the creature pushing him over into a bush. For a moment he thinks things are about to get violent, but then looks up to see the creature huffing at him in apparent annoyance. Man, he really does talk too much. Hizashi bellows out his laughter, still on the ground, clutching his sides. He swears he can see the creature suppressing a chuckle.

“So! What’s your name? Tell me about yourself! I know you like cats, right?”

The creature seems to shrink in on itself. Hizashi realizes he hasn't heard a word out of the cryptid. He wonders how long the Mummy man has been around. How many years in hiding? Depending on how old it is, it could have been around for The Hunt. A great war on cryptids, reformed the entire world. They’ve got laws now, but if this particular cryptid is that old…
Hizashi decides right then that he has to help. He stands up, and holds out his hand.

“Come with me. I swear you’ll be safe. I’ve got a nice cabin, and you’ll get to meet others like you!”

The giant cryptid before him looks skeptical. How long has it been since anyone was nice to it? How long has it been since it had a home? Hizashi is undeterred. This is what camp UA is for, and he isn’t about to keep anyone away from having a family. Not even strange things he finds in the woods.

“We can bring the cat, and if you don’t want anyone to see you at first, I’ll make sure they don’t. I promise I won’t let anything happen. No one is gonna hurt you, not again.”

The creature slowly takes his hand, and Hizashi smiles wider than he’s ever smiled as a low rumble echos over the clearing.

“Aizawa Shouta.”

Chapter Text

Shouta woke up to the sound of the forest around him. He didn’t recall falling asleep out here, what would his parents say? He hadn’t been home since yesterday, for some reason. He forced his eyes open, and as the world around him began to clear, he found himself wondering where here was. Nothing felt right, in fact, his body seemed off as well. Shouta begrudgingly tried to remember the previous day. He’d gone to school, been teased a bit, ate lunch, walked home. No, not home. He wasn’t home now. He was in the woods, feeling entirely unlike himself. He sighed, unable to dredge up anything else. Maybe he’d finally gone insane. Well, crazy or not, he had to go home and apologize to his mother.

Shouta sat up, and raised a hand to run it through his hair. It was wrapped in thick white bandages. Did he injure himself? He looked at his other hand, and grunted in confusion; this hand was covered as well. He looked down at his chest. More bandages. In fact, the bandages were covering his entire body; instead of holding in blood, they held some sort of black substance. It all hit him at once. The boys, the knife, the pain, the laughing, the pain. He scrambled back, shaking his head. He was a monster. A real, disgusting monster. Shouta stood quickly, eyes darting around his surroundings. The boys had dumped his body in the middle of a clearing. They had taken his bag, and left him.

He felt taller now. His hands seemed claw like under the bandages, and if he concentrated he could see the red of his now mutated quirk tinting his vision. Shouta stumbled over. Nothing would ever be the same now. Not ever. His new giant body shuddered. In a panic, he failed to see three hunters moving stealthily towards him, guns drawn. Shouta didn’t notice until it was too late; and they’d already begun to shoot. In a flurry of movement, he tried to dodge at least some of the bullets. Less than successful, he screamed, but all that left his mouth was a terrifyingly loud screech. His demonic wailing caused the hunters a brief distraction as they slammed their hands over their ears, and it was more than enough time for Shouta to escape. He began sprinting, scrambling over land as fast as he could. He ran for hours with new strange energy, stopping finally in a different clearing. This one had a cave, and some sort of creek running nearby. “Perfect home for a monster like me,” Shouta thought, making a beeline for the cave. His wounds had seemingly healed by the time he entered the cave, but the stress of the situation exhausted him too much to say for certain, to say anything really. All he wanted to do now was sleep. Aizawa Shouta lay back and closed his eyes.

Hizashi can’t help but stare at Aizawa expectantly now that he’s heard him talk.

The other seems to be completely apathetic to this, but on the walk back to where Hizashi thinks the camp might be, he notices Aizawa stealing wide eyed glances at him too.

Hizashi knows this is against camp protocol, heck, he doesn’t know if this cryptid is even registered. For some reason though, he knows Aizawa won’t try to harm the kids. Sure mummy man looks big and intimidating, but come on! He’d sat and listened to a complete stranger singing dorky love songs before freaking out once being spotted. Clearly Aizawa hadn’t had the greatest experience with his quirk mutation. Hizashi ponders on his own quirk experience for a split second, before he attempts to spark up a conversation.

“So, Aizawa,”

Aizawa turns to him with a surprised grumble, multiple eyes squinting in confusion at the impromptu noise. Hizashi isn’t dazed.

“How much do you know about quirks?”

Aizawa turns his head away in depressed disinterest and doesn’t speak. Bring it back in, Hizashi tells himself. 

“Cuz, things have changed a ton since even I was a kiddo!” Now Hizashi has Aizawa’s interest, however doubtful it may be. He presses on.

“The camp I help run, the UA one I told you about, it’s an entire camp for those with quirks! Some of the kids are already cryptids, like you, and no one ever bullies them. They’re the most popular, in fact-”

Hizashi is ready to start gushing about his campers when Aizawa stops in his tracks. For a very lovely few moments Hizashi thinks he’s gotten Aizawa to see the wonders of quirks in just two sentences, but he soon spots what's gotten his newest friend so nervous. Two men in the near distance, appearing to be locals.

He hasn’t even got to begin to start telling Aizawa it’s okay when the cryptid in question shoves him behind a large, green bush. Hizashi almost screams when he instantly spots a spider two feet away from his boots, but opts for becoming stone still instead. He hears the men shouting, which isn’t right at all. They shouldn’t be shouting unless they see a threat, and the only possible threat here is-

Shouta.

All at once Hizashi jumps, hearing gunshots loudly echo in the forest. A panicked howl, scrambling of bodies, shouting, and then silence. His heart stops in his chest.

“...Shouta?” He whispers hopefully.

Nothing responds, and to make matters worse something is coming towards him now, closer to his hiding spot. Hizashi breathes heavily. Maybe this was the dangerous cryptid, or some giant bug, or maybe Aizawa got attacked by hunters, or worse, KILLED by hunters, and it would be Hizashi's fault for not listening-

"Yamada Hizashi, you're late for check in!" His would be attacker shouts at him. In the voice of an old lady. 

Except it wasn't an attacker- it was an old lady, and she was staring at him with a dangerous expression as he lowered his ready fists. Hizashi stares at her, mouth agape.

“Recovery girl?” He manages.

She nods. “Plus All Might and Miss Nemuri.”

Hizashi sinks to the ground in relief. Thank god they'd finally come looking for him. 

He’s about to relax when Midnight shouts at him impatiently, effectivly jolting him out of the calm he'd found.

“Yamada! Who in the hell is this?”