Nightmare Deku

Thoughts and Memories

Jirou stood in the abyss, the darkness impenetrable. She couldn't even see herself. But then, her eyes opened... and she was in a car? Looking down, she found that she had become younger... 10 years old, by her guess. Why she was young made no sense to her. After all... didn't he only have the ability to manipulate nightmares? What was this new power? This must be the first test he mentioned. She sat within the passenger seat, and the car moved forward on its own. She turned to her right, and found herself having to look up to see a woman with green hair driving the car. She was sad, tears clearly having cried not too long before. 

Jirou looked up, and asked the beautiful, green haired woman. It was clearly his mother, at least before he was adopted by Allmight. "Are you ok?"

The woman actually responded, "I'm fine, sweetie. I know that you don't remember your father, but he was a wonderful man..." her voice quieted slightly as more tears ran down her face, "A wonderful man..."

Jirou looked out the window to her left... and saw a car barreling down, going to go through their red light. Her eyes widened as she couldn't do anything but go with the impact, as time slowed down with the head on collision. The car spun, taking the full blow violently. When it stopped spinning, she found that the drivers had gotten out of the other car... and they wore animal masks while carrying bags of valuables. There were 4 of them, and they were furious that they had to be stopped. A brown bear mask, yellow chicken mask, a blue rabbit, and a red fox, who had a hook for a hand. The bear one looked inside the car and saw her. Ripping open the door, they pulled Jirou out of the car, flinging her out... into a room. 

Just like a dream, the scene had changed, fluidly and quickly.

It was a bedroom, with exaggerated height. Two doors flanked the bed, and a closet lay before her. There was a flashlight on the nightstand next to the bed she was on. Jirou grabbed for it, thankful she was now back at her proper age. Turning it on, she went to the door on the right, and clicked it on. Nothing there. Making her way to the other door, there was nothing there either. When she reached the middle of the room again, however, she heard a creak, and shined her light at the closet, the source of the sound. The door moved slightly. Cautiously, she walked over, shining her light... and a red fox nightmare lurched out at her, snapping its jaws. However, she quickly closed the door, sealing it off.

Before she could take a breath, she heard a new noise coming from the bed. They sounded garbled, distorted... like pigs at slaughter. Whirling around, and shining the light, there were three miniature nightmares. They looked like teddy bears, but with sharp teeth, torn fur, and exposed metal. All dangerous... however, they fled from the light. A small relief, but it made her think... that it was clear that they weren't the big threat here. After all, even with her smaller size... she was still much bigger than them.

She couldn't rest, as she heard footsteps on the carpet coming from the right door. Going to it, Jirou heard breathing on the other side. Understanding what it inherently meant, she closed the door, and held it shut against the scratching from the other side... until it stopped and they left. Not skipping a beat, Jirou went to the other side, just in time to catch another approaching. Holding it off, she couldn't help but think to herself: Is this what he experienced? His own quirk tormenting him?

However, when she checked the bed, instead of any of the tiny nightmares, a large bear lunged at her making her fall back...

And into a new scene.

This time Jirou was sitting in a classroom. She could hear whispers around her from silhouettes, those without faces, scary, but not nightmares. The teacher mentioned something about future careers, and how they wanted to be heroes... and that's when Bakugo entered the scene. He was hunched in form, but still standing taller than her current form. His crimson gaze scanned the room, lording over everyone... until he saw her. His face curled into a cruel smile, and it was then that the violette couldn't help but think: He was much worse before he came to UA.

But then the teacher spoke, "And Midoriya wanted to go to UA as well, I heard..." His laid back smile becoming malicious and appearing more nightmarish. Everyone turned to her, and suddenly Bakugo got in her face, blasting her to the floor. The pain was miniscule compared to the seeming weight of his words. Is this what he had to deal with? Every day, all the time?

"Give up. You'll never be a hero."

The bell rang for lunch, where Jirou was instantly taken from the classroom... to a dark room. Unable to see anything, voices faded in as lights flashed on, revealing two figures. Allmight... and an interviewer. Standard fare... but still, the violette was forced to listen to it. One on television, although this one was shown in a live format... lights beaming down onto the  "Aren't there so many other, more deserving children who you could have adopted? One that isn't a burden...?"

Eyes wide, she recognized this one. It wasn't every day that Allmight talked about his personal life. Not only that, but she had been disgusted with the man's attitude. How could someone ask that of child? It was horrible. This interview... I'd heard Allmight took in a Quirkless son... but... Nightmare isn't quirkless...

"You call him that, but know nothing of what he has gone through..."

"But he will be useless, right?"

Useless?! Useless?! Consider what you are, you utter vulture, before calling anyone useless. Is that what people think of quirkless?! That's...

"No! He may be a burden, as you call it, but he reminds me of why I do what I do. Helping those who don't have the power to help themselves. And that is what the essence of being a hero is."
Instead of coming to her own conclusions, this time, Jirou heard his thoughts, undistorted. I knew it... of course I'm useless, even in his eyes...

The scene shifted once more, to the end of the day, as he packed up, Bakugo stopped her as she tried to walk out the door. He couldn't even leave his place of torment, and while it annoyed her, she could feel the emotions he went through. Fear. Trepidation. Misery. All while the blond prick asked, derisively. "You still thinking of going to UA, useless deku?"
Main bully, huh? Even if Jirou wanted to taunt back, she couldn't. This was structured like a memory... nothing more. A position she merely filled, with static characters. To walk a mile in his shoes... That must be what this is. Just walking a mile in this... villain's shoes. He lived a miserable life... but I can't forgive him. He's done worse.
However, that opinion would soon change as he stated: "Hmph! You know, there is a way for you to get another quirk..."

Wait... don't tell me...

Her eyes widened as he said the unthinkable. A hero student actually said this. "Take a swan dive off the roof. You'll get one in the next life!"

You... What the actual Fuck?! No wonder he changed. He wouldn't last a week in UA if this is how he treated others.

Before Jirou could think on it any further, the scene changed again, and she stood on a rooftop. Looking around, the violette admired the view for a moment, before horror seeped into every facet of her mind as she realized that her body was walking towards the edge, through no input of her own. No... he didn't...

She was forced to hear every dark thought in that moment. She covered her ears in a futile attempt to block out the whispers... how he hated being useless, how he believed he failed Allmight... asking why the world seemed to hate him for what he couldn't control, and then she was forced to fall forward, towards the pavement below... it was the only time when she was truly afraid... even screaming as her head was about to hit the ground...

Her vision was gone, for a moment, but there were voices. Evil ones, that spoke of what to do with him. How to use him, for their own ends. The adopted child of Allmight, the boy who believed he didn't have a quirk, but had a powerful one. One he must never know the true nature of...

It painted a clear picture. A world which despised him when he believed himself powerless... A world whose villains tried to control him, and now he was controlling his own fate. At least, that was what it looked like. He was still controlled in the end. Unable to do anything else, he'd destroy the world for treating him like this. At least, that's what Jirou thought... before she woke up to reality.