Long Night in the Valley by Marsalias (My Hero Academia)

Latest Update:Part 1 COMPLETE.

Summary: On paper, the Hero Commission's plan to investigate Midoriya Izuku under the guise of a training course for combating mental quirks is solid, almost foolproof, even. If Midoriya turns out to be innocent, they can pass everything off as part of the training exercise, assuming he even remembered any of it. Otherwise, they could beg forgiveness after the traitor was securely imprisoned in Tartarus.

The paper plan failed to take into account the feral ghosts living in Midoriya Izuku's head, or his equally feral living friends.

Time to bring on the chaos.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28523097/chapters/69893037

Word count:81k

Chapters:18

Chapter 1

"You shouldn't be here."

He stood on top of the stairs to the beach, looking down on them. With the sun rising behind them, his pupils were pinpoints, his irises shockingly bright. He wore a thin windbreaker over a t-shirt that read 'tracksuit' and a pair of sweatpants with his signature red shoes. His expression was strangely flat and blank. He had never looked at them like that before.

"Deku?" said Ochako, uncertainly, taking a step forward, her hand half raised, as though she could reach him despite being so far away.

The commission instructor flung out an arm, stopping her. He was staring up at the boy, too, his eyes blown wide, lips pulled back with something like worry, something like fear, and something like avarice. "Whatever that is," he said, "it isn't Midoriya Izuku."

.

Aizawa reviewed the program the commission had sent to him, ignoring the gentle bumping of the bus and the barely controlled chaos of the students around him. It looked fairly straightforward, all things considered. The requirement was new, and Aizawa felt it was illogical to test students like this, when they could simply have the material added to the course load, but, overall, he'd seen worse.

So why did this bother him so much?

He scanned the paperwork again. He was going to be getting the same certification as his students, had arranged to be part of the same general 'cohort' even, because he didn't trust them on their own. At all. Ever.

But that shouldn't be an issue. Even when they did get split up, they'd be going in groups of five and—

Ah. There it was. Groups of five, with any odd numbers being used to fill out other groups who were undergoing testing on the same day, most of whom were adult heroes, if he recalled correctly.

With the addition of Aizawa, there were twenty-one of them.

Calling on years of experience, Aizawa didn't groan. The thing was, Aizawa knew, even before arriving and having numbers and groups assigned, who the odd one out would be. There was only one student who could be so problematic without trying or indeed having any control over the variables that went into causing the problem.

Midoriya.

Aizawa almost suspected that Midoriya had some secret trouble-attracting quirk on top of the lightning-spitting bone-breaking insanity and the randomly appearing eldritch abomination tentacle things. It would fit right in.

Sadly, Midoriya's ability to find trouble didn't seem to go away when Aizawa stared at him, so he had to acknowledge that the kid was just that unlucky.

If Aizawa let Midoriya go off to complete the course on his own, he would probably discover that, oh, pro hero Wash was laundering money from an overseas smuggling operation disguised as an environmental clean up charity. Or, somehow, locate a villain, despite being at a secure hero commission building. Like he had during the provisional license exam. Or break a bone. Again. Or discover a previously unknown aspect of his quirk. Again. Or get into a fight with Bakugo. Again.

No way. Not if Aizawa had anything to say about it.

.

Izuku bounced in place, excited. He was attending a professional development course given by the Hero Standards and Practices Commission. It was like a dream come true! Literally! He dreamed about this! Of course, he'd had the dream when he was seven, and he'd just learned about the HSPC and what it did, and All Might had been the course teacher, which he wasn't going to be for this course, and which was also a little redundant, because All Might (Mr. Yagi, Toshinori, Eight) was already his teacher, and the reason behind this course, and making everyone with any kind of hero license take it, was a bit disturbing, and he'd had to opt out of some of the course features, because reasons, but, regardless—

"Midoriya," said Jiro, tapping on his shoulder, "they're calling for you."

"Oh! Thanks!" said Izuku, nodding vigorously, and, man, he really had to cut his hair soon. It was getting long enough to fall in his eyes when he did that, and that would be distracting in the field. Good thing it wouldn't matter for today!

They weren't going to be doing anything physical, after all.

He walked up to the table, showed the person with the clip board his provisional license (he could still hardly believe he had it! It was so cool!) and received a card with a number on it.

"Pin that to your shirt," said the man, hardly looking at him.

At least, the man was trying to look like he was hardly looking at him. Maybe he recognized him from the sports festival and didn't want to make things awkward? But it had been a while since the sports festival. They tended to drain from common memory pretty quickly, and—

Oh, no, he'd been holding up the line.

He sketched a quick bow and ran over to where the rest of his classmates and teacher were waiting.

"So," said Aizawa, looking as exhausted as ever. There was a spark of something in the man's eye, though. Vigilance. Had he noticed something amiss? Should Izuku be on alert as well? "We have consecutive numbers, so most of us should be together in the same groups. Problem child."

Izuku jumped to attention. "Yes, sir?"

… It was kind of sad that he answered to the name 'problem child,' wasn't it?

(Was it sadder that he almost liked the nickname? It was nicer than what some of his other teachers had called him. It didn't have the same bite.)

"Trade numbers with Yaoyorozu."

Izuku blinked and looked at Yaoyorozu in surprise. "Um," he said. "Okay?" He unpinned his card and held it out to his classmate.

Yaoyorozu took it carefully, frowning at the number. "Why are we doing this, sensei?" she asked.

"Because knowing his luck, Midoriya is going to be the odd one out, and you're the only one I trust not to kill someone or get kidnapped if you're left on your own."

Okay. Harsh. But fair.

"What about Iida?" asked Kaminari.

"I know what I said."

Harsher—Wait. Aizawa knew about that? Since when?!

"Didn't she go off that one time, though? At Kamino?"

Aizawa turned to stare at Mina, who held her hands up. "Forget I said anything, sensei!"

"No, no, you're right. Hagakure, you take Midoriya's number."

"Eh, me?" asked the invisible girl.

"Yes," said Aizawa.

"Er, are you sure? I don't know if I could survive a Midoriya-level calamity!"

Izuku felt his jaw drop a little. Was that what they were calling it now? Rude.

"The calamity won't happen if he isn't there," reasoned Aizawa.

Which. Okay. True. But also, rude.

Izuku wasn't that bad, was he?

Izuku took Hagakure's card. The number put him between Uraraka and Aizawa, so he'd probably be with at least one of them. On reflection, Yaoyorozu's number had put him on the other side of Aizawa. Which probably wasn't a coincidence.

The rest of the class got through registration shortly thereafter, with several of his classmates trying to trade their own numbers, only for Iida to scold them. Which was typical, really. It was almost calming, and Izuku needed calm after… that.

Was his luck really that bad?

Now he was much more nervous than before. Except, before he'd been excited, and, now, he was really—

Not.

He fiddled with the sleeve of his uniform, trying not to pick at his scars or cross the line into overtly fidgeting and being distracting. He wished he'd brought one of his grip strength training tools. At least with those he could pretend their only purpose was working out, unlike his other fidget toys.

Oh, gosh, was that pro hero Rosemary, the memory hero? And Strato! The high altitude hero!

Wow, he'd been so worried he almost hadn't noticed how many amazing heroes were here! There were even some he didn't know!

And then they were being called up, number by number.

Hagakure, true to Aizawa's prediction, was placed with a group of confused-looking strangers, including Rosemary. Izuku was almost jealous. He'd love to learn how her quirk worked.

Actually… All of the people in that group were heroes with mental quirks. How interesting! Izuku would have to ask Hagakure if they gave her any tips. He was sure they'd have different insights than the other people in their class, especially considering the subject matter of the course.

The subject matter being combating mental attacks.

That's why Izuku had to opt out of being a 'subject' for the course. He didn't entirely understand it, not yet, but One for All definitely had a mental aspect, and he didn't know how or if that would show up in a simulated attack like the ones they'd be demonstrating. It was better to play it safe. His quirk was already weird enough as it was. He still wasn't sure how he'd manage to talk Aizawa and his classmates out of being suspicious after blackwhip came out. Most of that day was a blur.

Izuku suspected that things would not have been smoothed over nearly so easily if Nezu hadn't known about One for All.

He also wasn't looking forward to the reaction when the other user's quirks started coming out – Even if being able to use them was going to be really cool.

Anyway, his own group had resolved itself to consist of Aizawa, Uraraka, Iida, and Todoroki. He was relieved. Todoroki looked relieved, too. That made sense. With what Todoroki had told Izuku about his history, he wouldn't want to be doing this with people he didn't know, either.

But Todoroki would have opted out, anyway, right? Or did Endeavor not let him? Honestly, that would be par for the course for Endeavor. Todoroki said he was getting better, but… Izuku had doubts. He liked to think that people could always be saved, even from themselves, that most villains could be reformed, even if the government didn't think so, that people like Endeavor and Kacchan could see the error of their ways. But.

But even though Kacchan was better than he was before didn't mean that he didn't still do things that Izuku… didn't like.

And he couldn't imagine that Endeavor was changing faster than Kacchan.

"Who will they have us do first, do you think?" asked Uraraka. "I mean, I know they're going to go through all of us, but all of this is making me so nervous. I have a lot of embarrassing memories, I mean, I'm sure everyone does, but, ugh, that didn't come out right…"

"Well!" said Iida, energetically. "If they let us volunteer, I shall go first!"

"What?" said Izuku, surprised. "You didn't opt out?"

"Opt out?" asked Uraraka. "That was an option?"

"I mean, yes?" said Izuku. "I mean, I had to file a bunch of paperwork and get Mom, All Might, and Principal Nezu to sign off on it, but, I mean, it's an option for people who know secrets that shouldn't be exposed." Like Iida. What was he thinking?

"I… did not know that was an option," said Iida, who had evidently now realized he was in deep, deep trouble.

Izuku resolved to protect his friend's secrets as best as he was able, even if it meant he didn't get a good score in the training.

"I didn't think there was an opt-out option, either," said Todoroki, frowning. He reached towards his face but tugged on his hair instead of touching his scar.

Okay. So. "Am I- Am I the only one that asked? L-like, it wasn't easy, I had to get a bunch of signatures, but it was doable, I…" He shrugged, helplessly.

"I wasn't informed there was an opt-out," said Aizawa, grumpily and a little… suspiciously?

Izuku cringed. He did not need his teacher to be suspicious of him. He did not need people looking into his life. Into his past. Into his quirk.

Maybe, if they couldn't keep Iida's and Todoroki's secrets quiet, he could play his reluctance off as pertaining to those. Even if the idea made him feel incredibly guilty and unworthy of his friends.

He would just have to do his best to help them.

Before any more conversations could be had, their group was called into one of the rooms. A set of six cheap futons laid on the floor. Monitoring equipment lined one of the walls. Two commission personnel, a man and a woman, were waiting for them.

When the woman saw Izuku, she frowned and pulled her phone out of her pocket. What was that about.

"Hi," said the man, who had a rather hooked nose and very bright, almost glowing, yellow eyes. "I'm Ito Kenzo, and I'll be your instructor for today. You can call me Ito-san. This is Saito Yume, we'll be using her quirk for today's demonstration."

The woman smiled brightly, putting away her phone quickly. "The way my quirk works is that I can put up to five people into a shared dream state modeled after a sixth person's mind. All six people lose consciousness when I use my quirk, and the perception of time in the dream state is usually altered, although by how much varies depending on the group. The dream state persists until either I release it, the people involved break free, or eight hours pass. However, I'll be making the rounds once an hour to pull everyone out and let you move on to the next person in the group."

"I'll be joining the dream state with you, to help point out tactics," said Ito. "Although the person the dreamscape is modeled on won't be completely aware of what's going on, the goal is to familiarize you with what it feels like to have your minds invaded in a safe, secure environment. Saito-san's quirk is similar enough to that of several known villains to be a good example of what to expect." Ito paused. "Any questions?"

Uraraka raised her hand. "Who's going first?" she asked.

"Ah, that would be—" He broke off as Saito tugged on his sleeve and showed him her phone. The man did a double take, then paled, slightly. He glanced at Izuku. "Er," he said, "you're not supposed to be in this group."

"Yes, I-I am," said Izuku. "This is- This is my number? It matches?"

Ito glanced at Saito. Then his phone rang. "Oops," he said, looking at his phone. "It looks like I'm in the wrong group. You kids are supposed to have Suzuki-san, I was, was requested by another group, so sorry! He'll be here in a minute!" Ito retreated through the back door at high speed.

Izuku swallowed. Something was going on behind the scenes. This wasn't about the suspected traitor thing again, was it? Izuku had thought, after the training camp, that it was pretty obvious it had to be a teacher… And it couldn't be Aizawa-sensei. He'd almost been killed by the noumu.

(Also, he was the best teacher Izuku had ever had.)

A new, much taller man walked through the door. "Hello," he said. "I am Suzuki Takami. I am your instructor. Apologies for the mix up."

"No worries!" said Saito. "Everyone, go ahead, lie down, get comfortable. Midoriya-san, you're first!"

"What?" said Izuku. "But, I, um, I opted out? I filled in the paperwork and everything. I got a signature from Abe-san, and Kondo-san, and, and—" He fumbled to pull out his paperwork. He'd kept copies, just in case.

Saito and Suzuki didn't so much as look at it.

"This course doesn't have an 'opt-out,'" said Suzuki.

"Excuse me," said Aizawa. "He clearly has paperwork for an opt-out. Maybe you were misinformed. Like you were about the room."

Suzuki shook his head. "I don't know who you talked to," he said, "but they were either mistaken about what course you were referring to, or you misunderstood them."

"But," said Izuku.

"Midoriya," said Aizawa, "if you want to sit this out, it's fine. I can go with you, so you won't be alone. No one's going to make you subject yourself to a quirk you aren't comfortable with."

"He can do that," said Suzuki, "but he'll lose his provisional license. He'd have to go through recertification entirely. When's the next licensing exam?"

"Hold up," said Aizawa, "you're doing this course two more times, aren't you? I know I was given multiple options for getting this certification."

"Sure," said Saito, "but it's still going to be my quirk." She wrapped a strand of her hair around her finger, stressed.

Izuku's mind was racing. He couldn't lose his license. He couldn't lose his ability to help people. He—What would All Might think? He couldn't—

"It-It's-It's fine, sen-sensei, I'm um. It's fine! I'll- I'd have to do this anyway, right? Mi-might as well get it over with, huh?" He walked over to one of the futons, and set down his backpack, trying to hide his trembling hands. "So, is-is there anything special or specific I have to do for your quirk to work?"

"Nope," said Saito, cheerfully, "just lie down and close your eyes. Come on, everyone lay down."

Aizawa moved slowly, which was nothing short of shocking considering how eager he usually was to crawl into his sleeping bag. He put the bag down on one of the futons. "You're sure there's no way for Midoriya to opt out?"

"Positive. We're really sorry," said Saito.

"Illogical," grumbled Aizawa. He got into his sleeping bag nonetheless. "You sure about this, problem child?"

"I-I'm sure, sensei! Plus ultra, right?" He laid down, trying to get comfortable, but the panic rising in his veins really didn't allow for that. He could, distantly feel One for All (and all it contained) pressing up against the back of his mind with something like concern. He swallowed. Don't think about it.

His classmates were, hesitantly, picking out their own spots. Iida looked like he wanted to say something. Uraraka's brow was furrowed, her lips pursed. Todoroki was difficult to read, as always.

Suzuki was already lying down, staring at the ceiling.

Izuku closed his eyes.

"Alright!" said Saito. "Here we go!"

.

Yume left the room with Midoriya Izuku in it, feeling just slightly dazed. She paused for a moment in the back hallway. She had dozens of other groups to set off, and she was running late after that little snafu.

Midoriya Izuku was supposed to be in a group with Suzuki-san and four other specially picked professional heroes. Heroes who would get to the bottom of why and how he had multiple quirks, who would find out who he really was, who would figure out how he was in contact with the League of Villains and why they decided to pick some random quirkless nobody—

Assuming that's what Midoriya Izuku really was. The initial investigation had uncovered some discrepancies in his family records.

In any case, he was not supposed to be in a group with his little friends and overprotective teacher.

Oh, well. Except for Midoriya, they were all clean. If they were really heroes, they'd do what was right.

Yume pushed off the wall (when had she started leaning on it?) and stumbled. Something bright and red caught on the periphery of her vision and she looked down.

Her nose was bleeding.

She licked her lips, tasting copper. It shouldn't be bleeding. That only happened when she overused her quirk, when she tried to put too many people into one dreamscape or tried to combine two dreamscapes into one. She'd been pacing herself. This shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't be bleeding like this, like she had just put more than a dozen people under.

Saito Yume promptly passed out.

.

"Wow," said Uraraka, looking around in delight. She was still worried about Deku. He'd looked really bad right before Saito-san activated her quirk, and she and Suzuki-san had been acting kind of shady, but—

But—

This place was beautiful, and she couldn't help but be a little in awe. She'd kind of expected dreamscapes to be more… Mushy, maybe? Darker? Her dreams usually weren't very clear (except for the nightmares, and those didn't count).

But Deku's dreamscape was as bright as he was: a beautiful beach and a cerulean ocean at sunrise. Or was it sunset? Either way, the sun hovered above the ocean, its light gleaming off the waves.

"Wow," said Todoroki, approaching the breakers on the beach. He crouched, looking at the sand. "It's really…" he poked the sand, "detailed."

"As expected of Midoriya!" exclaimed Iida, waving his hands. "His attention to detail is unparalleled!"

"Hm," said Aizawa. "Too bright…" He put on his goggles.

"Excuse me," said Suzuki. "If I can have your attention, please. I apologize for the deception, however—"

"You shouldn't be here."

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28523097/chapters/69893037