Izuku could hear a faint dripping, almost sloshing noise fade into the background.

Like the sound of wading through a still river.

Heavy eyelids fluttered open, as his vision danced and blurred as if it were television static.

He felt himself sitting up, trying to concentrate his sight on nothing but what was straight ahead of him.

His vision soon realigned, almost causing him to gasp.

A huge boulder of nothing but plaster and concrete sat in front of him.
The dripping seemed to be coming from a burst pipe that twisted out from below the mass, a puddle of an unknown black substance at the foot of it.
Now becoming aware of himself, Izuku looked down and saw the same black substance lapping at his sides like a weak tide.

Where...Was he?

...

Kagayaki stared in disbelief at where the hero had absorbed the impact of his quirk, as the crowd fell still and silent.

"Th-That..."
His heart began pumping bricks, ears burning and limbs trembling.

One of the heroes tried to escort him to transfer him elsewhere, when he shook them off and yelled,
"That wasn't supposed to happen!"

He fell to his knees, arms still tightly cuffed behind him, writhing like a child throwing a tantrum.

"You weren't supposed to...He wasn't supposed to..."

He'd started to get hysterical, screaming for dear life.

"You weren't supposed to get away! You were supposed to suffer! You fucking bastard!"
He cried.

He let out a single, pain ridden yell, tears never ceasing.

"This is ridiculous. What an eyesore."
One of the pros just about had enough, and were ready to arrest him regardless, when his partner halted him.

"Don't touch him."
He ordered.

The pro rolled his eyes. The scene was becoming rather tiresome.
"Why not?"

The pro pointed at the mans barely exposed flesh, a visible glow coursing through his veins throwing his partner off.

"H-He's using his quirk? But the cuffs-"

"Are made to suppress immediate usage, but no one ever said anything about gradually losing control."

He turned and began to usher his comrades away.

"We need to get these people out of here."

...

Izuku was afraid to move.

This place had no smell.
He was neither hot nor cold.
And the strange black liquid? It seemed to stretch for miles.
Not that he could see for more than a few hundred feet, since just beyond that point was nothing but a hazy, thick fog.

It seemed to encircle where he'd found himself, as if to say this was the one safe spot in
...Wherever this was.

He'd only then realised how long he'd been sitting and gaping, before hastily stumbling to his feet and patting his suit dry.

"Uncool."
He mumbled through a clenched jaw.

He didn't know where to start.

Was he just supposed to start walking? Where was he going?
Was someone going to find him if he stayed put?
Was he alone?
How could he even be sure that what lay beyond that fog was even safe?

Izuku exclaimed in exasperation, kicking the black substance from beneath him, watching it ripple for meters.

Huh.

That gave him an idea.

...

"...Witnesses say it occurred similarly to the disappearance of former pro-hero, Ground Zero, without a trace of incineration or reduction. With the several citizens who bore witness to the exchange and could confirm this, this proves to be the cause of the disappearances two years ago. In further news, Ka-"

The screen flickered off, as Tenya removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Shoto placed the television remote on the coffee table, at an absolute loss for words.

Before he could even digest the facts and come up with something to say, Tenya abruptly stood to his feet with unnatural mannerisms as he started out of the room.

Shoto grabbed him by the arm, as Tenya refrained from meeting his gaze,

"Where are you going? This isn't something we can--"

Tenya's shoulders began to tremble, and before Shoto even came to the conclusion, he was already gasping and snivelling between hushed sobs.

"Do you...Want to talk?"
Shoto asked softly, gingerly caressing a thumb over his husband's tensing palm.

"I don't..." He wept,
"I don't want to be alone right now. Is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay. Come and sit with me, then."

Shoto pulled Tenya back, leaning against his muscular frame as he sank into the expanse of cushion beside him.

"I, um...I didn't want you to see me in this sorry state."

"That's the most ridiculous thing that's left your mouth since you asked me if I wanted to marry you, Mr. Imperium Sir."

Tenya chuckled, removing his now foggy glasses to wipe them, as Shoto swept a thumb over his cheek to dry his tears.

"You're making me look pretty foolish right about now."

He smiled, combing his hand through Shoto's snowy hair.

"I fight my battles internally, dear."

Shoto smiled warmly, nuzzling his face against Tenya's cushion of a sweater vest.

"That doesn't sound very healthy, Mr. Psychologist."

"Then get a degree in psychology and ethics and prove me wrong."
Shoto laughed, huffing for effect.

He then took a deep breath, sighing as he exhaled.

"There's no going back to the way things were, is there?"

...

A wave of the black fluid splashed and parted over a partially dry floor, as Izuku advanced forward on the path.

He'd made use of the wind resistance that occurred whenever he used his quirk, allowing the shallow flow of liquid as well as the thick fog to part so he saw where he was walking.

"Where am I even going?"
He grumbled, still punching the open air.

"Mister? Are you lost?"
Izuku flinched, spinning around to find his way back encased by the fog.

"W-Who's there? Show yourself!" He stammered to a fighting stance, before feeling a soft object collide with the back of his head.

He turned to glanced behind himself, looking down to see an odd face of cloth and differently-sized buttons staring up at him from the black liquid.

'Is this some sort of...'
He picked it up, examining its features closely.
'...Makeshift doll?'

"That was mine! Why did you throw it you moron?"
He heard the voice of a little girl snap.

His eyes lit up.

These...Were people.

Living people!

Beyond his relief, he had an abundance of questions.
What were they doing here?
Were they struck with the same quirk that he was? Or did he just find himself in this place on his own?

Izuku gulped.
"H-Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. Are there...Are there any grown-ups I can talk to?"

He spoke blindly at the mass of fog enclosing the space around him.

Great.

Now he was talking to himself.

"Stupid Izuku. Of course there's no children whispering into the fog. You're being an idiot."

He frustratedly kicked the ground, watching as the black liquid splashed with no particular direction.

"Ack!--he got the gross water on me!"
A different voice exclaimed.

"Let's head back. He's just another crazy."

"Wait...Are you guys seeing his hair?"

Izuku frowned.
What was going on with his psyche? Judging his appearance like that was uncalled for.

"What are you--wait. Is that who I think it is?"

"It's hero Deku!" One of them squealed, before Izuku felt a fairly heavy weight latch onto his neck, then both his arms and left leg.

"Deku!"
They all chimed.

Ah. So they were children after all.

Izuku could almost feel the tears coming, not just from the much-needed recognition, but also for finding life in this deserted place.

It was as though he'd found the barely visible the string of hope in a sea of darkness.

But what did this mean?
Did this mean that there were other people who survived this quirk?

People like...Like Katsuki?