Not gonna lie, this is pretty fucked up. Like it's not super fucked up, but it's certainly something.

We entered Heights Alliance with no worries. Our double date had put Kacchan, Kirishima, Shoto and I in a calm and relaxed mood. We were ready to simply return to the dorms, socialise with our friends before having dinner and heading off to our rooms. The same as any other evening. But things had been peaceful for too long. I've always been prone to attracting misfortune or danger and it seems as though my brief respite had come to an end.

"Izuku. Come here, please." Dad's voice called from the lounge as soon as I stepped into the entrance hall. I looked over at my Dad and nodded as I kicked off my shoes and replaced them with my house slippers. I quickly pecked Shoto on the cheek before rushing over to my dad.

"Hey, Dad. What's up?" I asked with a wide smile on my face. I was still riding on the wave of happiness and love from my date with Shoto. Even if Kacchan and Kiri had been present, it didn't make the date any less romantic. It just meant that I had shared a beautiful moment with two of my close friends.

"Something has happened, Izuku. We'll talk about it in my room. Hizashi will be there as well." Dad muttered as he fiddled with his engagement ring. I felt the blissed-out smile on my face immediately drop when I saw my dad fiddling with his ring. It was a rather new habit which he had picked up, but I knew exactly what it meant. He was about to give me some really bad news.

I sat on the onyx sofa in my parent's room and stared up at my parents, both of them with nervous and reluctant looks on their face. "I know you're about to give me bad news. It's written all over your faces. I probably have something to do with Hisashi, right? He's done something. He's closing in on me. He's hurt someone new. I know he's still out there, I watched him escape when All Might fought All for One." I rambled. I was trying desperately to make the problems around me seem more insignificant than they actually were. I was aware that my birth father and the Leauge Of Villains were still out there. I knew that they were most likely still after me. Just talking about either one of them sent my heart hammering, but I was used to warnings of Hisashi. I was used to being scared of seeing him out of the corner of my eye. I didn't think anything could surprise me when it came to Hisashi. I was about to be proven wrong.

"I mean, technically you're right, but..." Papa began, trailing off as he looked away from me, refusing to meet my eye.

"Izuku. You know I don't beat around the bush. It seems as though Hisashi is trying to psychologically fight you. He's... Hisashi has dug up your mother's body and destroyed her grave. We know it was him because of a sign he left behind and-" The rest of my dad's words were lost upon me. I didn't hear anything else as his words washed over me and I digested them.

Hisashi had taken my mother's body. Hisashi had destroyed her grave. Her beautiful resting-place below the weeping willow. I pictured the tree beside her grave charred and burned. I pictured the marble of her grave cracked and crumbling into an empty grave, her coffin laying open beside it.

I hadn't seen my mother's body since the night I watched her being murdered. The ceremony had been a closed casket service. My mother's body had been mutilated beyond recognition by both my 'father' and the wild animals of the forest in which he'd unceremoniously dumped her. My mind began to swarm with images which had haunted my nightmares for nearly 9 years. My mother's rotting body stretching out her arms to hug me as maggots and worms squirmed beneath her green and yellow skin. My mother's fresh cadaver, still soaked in her own crimson blood, growling at me that I should have saved her. My mother's limbs dropping off as we both stood in a black void, staring at me with blank eyes. Not saying a word. Not doing anything.

"-uku. -ku. -zuku. Izuku. Izuku! We're here, Little Listener. We're here. He's not going to touch you. We'll get Inko's body back and everything will be fine. We love you, Izuku. Everything will be fine. We'll catch him and once we do you'll be safe. We're here, Izuku. We love you. So does your mum. She's looking out for you from the beyond and she's protecting you. We'll keep both of you safe." Papa's soft voice whispered to me as I was pulled from my head and I became aware of what was going on around me.

The first thing I noticed was that I was out of breath despite the fact that I hadn't moved an inch from where I had been sitting before I blacked out and entered into a world of sorrow, pain and my worst fears.

The next thing which became obvious to me was the tears which were still running down my face and into my lap. It seemed as though I had already cried quite a few tears since my entire lap was wet with them and my throat had closed up as it usually did when I cried a lot. My throat closing up would explain why I could barely speak and why my chest hurt so much. I gasped for breath as if I had just been drowning.

The third and final thing I noticed was that I had two sets of arms wrapped securely around me. I looked to my right and saw that Papa was sat beside me. His grass green eyes look slightly red in the light. They were alight with both worry and pity. I hated seeing the pity in his eyes. I hated pity in general. I didn't want pity. I just wanted to be supported and safe. I just wanted Hisashi to get tired of ruining my life so that I could live like a normal teenager. Papa's hair was down and it tickled my cheeks slightly as he leant his head on top of mine.

On my left, Dad sat with his arms encircling me. His usually stoic face displayed no pity, but it did display both anger and sadness. I suspect he had masked his pity with these two emotions.

I continued to cry and wail into my parents' arms. I couldn't even begin to understand why Hisashi had stolen my mother's body. Was it to spite me? Was it a display of power? What was he planning to do to my poor mother's body?

It was a long while until I finally calmed down enough to actually speak. I sniffled into my arm as I wiped away my mucus and tears in a very unsanitary way. Papa and Dad remained silent as I slowly began to calm down. My throat was raw from the amount of crying I had done and my entire t-shirt was practically see-through from the number of tears which had fallen on it.

"T-thank you." I hiccuped, refusing to look at my parents. I wanted them to see me as strong and worthy of their love. Ever since I had been taken, I had been questioning whether I was truly capable of being loved, Surely nobody wanted someone as weak as me. Surely I wasn't desirable. I thought that if I couldn't prove I was independent and strong, I wasn't worth any form of love.

This line of thinking as evident when Shoto and I got into our argument. The stem of the problem had been that I had felt inadequate. I had felt as though Shoto helping me was him thinking that I was weak. Hisashi had told me over and over again that I was weak and nobody would love me. He had drilled that into my head as a child and reignited those insecurities whilst he beat me when I was kidnapped.

"Izu. We love you so much, never forget that, ok? We will get your mother's body back and put her to rest once again. Everything will work out because we'll fight for it." Papa said in a soft voice so unlike his usual boisterous attitude which he used to mask the pain and insecurities he had. We were very similar in that regard. Putting on masks which told a false story and soothed those around us so that they wouldn't have to worry.

"I know what's going on in your head, Izuku. You aren't weak. I know that the mention of him is bound to bring up some memories and remind you of what he's said, but don't listen, ok. We're here and we say that you're strong no matter what. We can't help you if you don't express yourself for us. We want to support you, and we will. All that I ask is that you come to us if everything gets to be too much. If you feel as though you might break, talk to me, Hizashi, Katsuki, Kyoka, Shoto, Ochako or any of your other friends. We're here for you Izuku, and I really hope you remember that." Dad spoke with a rare vulnerability in his voice. He was usually so stoic and tight-lipped. This made all affection directed towards me all the more profound.

"I... I understand. I'll come to you or the others if I need help." I whisper, my voice nothing but a hum in the silence of the room.

"Would you like to talk to Aoi-san or Ihro-san. We can arrange an appointment with them so that you can get this off of your chest with a professional." Papa suggested.

I nodded my head and wrapped my arms around both of my fathers. "I love both of you so much. Thank you for being here for me." I coughed. My dads wrapped their arms around me a bit tighter, their comforting presence was all I needed to be lulled into a light slumber.

I woke up to a cold hand brushing through my curly hair. My eyelids fluttered slightly as I roused from my slumber and looked up to see Shoto smiling sweetly at me. "Welcome back, Love. How are you feeling?" Shoto asked gently.

I rubbed my eyes a bit and sat up. I realised that I was in my own bedroom which meant that either one of my parents or Shoto had most likely carried me up to my room whilst everyone was having dinner.

"I'm... I'm not doing the best in all honesty." I croaked, my throat was sore from all of the crying I had done whilst in my parents' arms. I could feel the drying tracks of my tears on my cheeks. Shoto handed me a glass of water, which I gladly took and chugged, as he began to talk.

"Katsuki, Jiro, Ochako and I were really worried when we saw Present Mic carrying you to your room. I think we were the only ones who saw it so don't worry about that. Would you like to talk about why you were so upset? You were doing so well after the date." Shoto said as he resumed stroking my hair with his right hand.

"I... I found something out which really messed with me. Could you go and get Kyoka and Kacchan. I want to tell them and you but I'm not sure if I'll be able to say it more than once." I muttered as I fiddled with my fingers and looked away from Shoto and out of the window. From where I was sat, I could see the top of the cherry blossom trees which we had sat and laughed under not even hours ago.

"Of course, Sweetheart, I'll be back in a second." Shoto kissed me on the forehead before he stood up from the chair beside my bed he was sitting on and moved towards the door. He cast a worried look over his shoulder as he left, leaving me alone to stare out across the grounds of UA.

It wasn't long until Shoto returned with Kyoka and Kacchan in tow. Kyoka looked extremely worried, her eyebrows were furrowed and her earphone jacks were subconsciously twirling around in a rather distracting manner. Kacchan, as always, didn't show much emotion on his face. He simply had his usual resting bitch face. The only difference was that there was a concerned glimmer in his eyes as his gaze locked with mine.

"Are you ok, Izu? We were so worried about you when we saw you being carried upstairs by Hizashi. You looked like you had been crying a lot." Kyoka whispered as she walked to my bedside and pulled me into a friendly and comforting hug. I tried my best to smile at her as she pulled away, but it came out as more of a pained grimace than anything.

"No. I'm not ok. Something has happened and I... I thought I should tell you all together." I whispered, gesturing for everyone to take a seat. Everyone sat down. Kacchan took the chair beside my bed, Kyoka sat at the end of my bed and leant against the wall while Shoto sat next to me and pulled me onto his lap.

"I'm just gonna say it outright. Hisashi has done something again. He's... he's..." my voice cracked slightly as I tried my hardest to get the sentence out. It felt like it was stuck in my throat, as though it was blocking my airways and threatening to overwhelm me.

"It's ok, Izuku, take your time," Kacchan said in a gruff voice. It was his attempt at being soothing and I couldn't have been more thankful that he was trying to keep me calm. Everyone knew that wasn't exactly Kacchan's forte.

"He destroyed my mum's grave. He... stole her body from the casket." I cried, my head falling into my palms as I cried and wailed for the second time that day.

The shock, disgust and anger in the air were palpable. I'm sure if I tried hard enough, I could have reached out and pulled a strand of each emotion from the air.

"He did what." a voice growled rather ferally. Surprisingly, it wasn't Kacchan who had growled, he was too busy sitting in shock beside me. His gaze wandering around the room and his eyes alight with pain. No, it was Kyoka who had practically snarled the words out.

I looked over at Kyoka and saw the undiluted anger in her eyes. Kyoka had never met my mum. I had met Kyoka when I started school after living with Shota for a month or two. The most Kyoka had ever seen of my mum were the videos which the police had managed to rescue from my old house. They were some of my most treasured items. The only people to have ever seen them beside me were Kacchan, Kyoka and my dad. Nobody else had ever laid an eye upon them. It suffices to say, Kyoka had never actually known my mother, but given the way she had reacted, you would have thought she was her best friend.

"That fucking sick bastard! Where the fuck does he get off on doing something as foul as this! Who does he think he is? I swear to whatever gods are out there if I ever see that man again he won't be able to move by the time I'm done with him!" Kyoka fumed, I could practically see the steam pouring from her ears as she continued to shout explicits to the ceiling.

On the other side of the spectrum to Kyoka, Kacchan was sat silently staring at my bedside table. Not a single word had passed his lips since I had told them what had happened. His eyes were glued to the picture of my mum and I laughing happily together. The face of Hisashi was scribbled out with a black pen.

Shoto hadn't said anything either, he simply squeezed my waist slightly at the news. I looked up at him through my tears to see him staring off into the distance, a conflicted look on his face.

When Kyoka finally tired herself out from all of her shoutings, we all sat in silence. Simply digesting the information that I had put out into the open.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him." Kacchan quietly hissed. "I knew he was bad news when we were kids. If I had done something back then, Auntie Inko would still be alive and he'd be gone. First, he abuses the two of you, then he kills Auntie Inko, then he escapes prison only to attack you and ultimately kidnap you before he finally decides to fucking take his ex-wife's body. When I next see that man, I won't hesitate to put him through the same amount of pain he put you through. In fact, I won't kill him, that's too light of a sentence. I'll disfigure him so bad that he won't be able to live the rest of his measly life in prison without feeling excruciating pain." Kacchan said all of this far too calmly.

If you were familiar with the Katsuki Bakugo anger levels then you would know how bad him being calm was. Occasional yelling and generally just being loud was level 1, he isn't angry. Level 2 was him shouting a bit more with swear words every other word. And the explosions he produced weren't just tiny pops for show. Level 3 is when he's really into it. He's practically screaming by this point and the explosions he produces are big enough to be considered attacks. If he's a high level 3, he might even have some tears in his eyes. Level 4 was the final level. In this level there are no explosions, there's hardly any swearing, there's no screaming, shouting or tears. There is simply an eery calm that you would never associate with Kacchan.

"We'll do whatever we can to help you, Love. We will find Hisashi and when we do he's in for a world of pain." Shoto murmured into my ear, just loud enough for the other two to hear and nod along to. I smiled at my friends and boyfriend. How as I lucky enough to find people who would murder for me? 

Thank you for reading chapter 24 of Phenomenon. I've been feeling ill this week so if there are any mistakes that I didn't pick up on when I checked this, please tell me.

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are.