Chapter Text
His mother had always told him that he was too ready to help others, no, matter who or what they needed. And that one day, his kindness and unrealistic view of the world and its people would get him into trouble. He wished, out of all the things she had told him, that she was wrong about that. But his mother was never wrong about anything.
He thought of her warnings as hands grabbed him from the inn bed he had been sleeping peacefully in. He thought of her words as the men he had seen in town early that day dragged him into the icy streets and stuffed cloth into his mouth as he began to yell for help. He thought of her sitting by her fireplace reading a book, happy and safe. He wished to be with her now.
Blurry from sleep, Izuku tried to focus his eyes as the men who held him fast walking quickly to a group of men and women holding torches looking at him grimly. Izuku is frightened, looking at each face, eyes begging for help. But no one helped him.
"Hurry before the others notice he is gone." One of the women who had just earlier that night gave him and his colleges a warm meal. She had spoken and laughed with them. She had been so kind. They all had been so kind. He wanted to ask why. Why were they doing this? Was it just him? What had he done specifically?
When the men began to walk into the dense forest that surrounded the village dragging Izuku with them. A hand clamped around the back of his neck, hands twisting his arms behind his back, immobilizing him completely. He began to panic.
He was crying, the winter wind freezing the tears as they fell from his eyes. He thrashed trying to escape, his socked feet catching on roots and sticks as the men dragged him after them.
They struggled with him for several feet before a voice came angrily from behind him, "Enough of this."
Something cracked against the back of his skull making him blackout. Vision and consciousness came in flashes. Mostly just snow, grass, and footprints. He was coming to completely as the men finished up tieing him to the tree.
His arms wrapped around the tree behind him at a painful angle. His back dug into the bark and as he struggled to stand he realized the way he was tied up he couldn’t.
“Lord forgive us.” One of the men whispered looking back at Izuku before turning with the others. Izuku would remember this man’s face. It would plague his dreams for years. The thick beard and dull blue eyes looked at him with so much grief.
Izuku watched helplessly as they disappeared into the darkness of the trees. The wind blew through the forest, branches knocking into one another, making a terrible noise to hear when you are alone. And Izuku was utterly alone. He struggled against the rope, even if he escaped he didn’t know where he was. Sure there was snow but not enough to find his way back. And his clothes. He wore a long nightshirt and a pair of socks, which both had become cold and sooked from being dragged. He wasn’t going to last here. He was going to die.
He screamed.
The cloth was still lodged into his mouth so it was muffled. After taking a few deep breaths he used his tongue to push the cloth out then screamed again. He screamed for help, for his friends, for his mother.
Izuku didn’t know how long he had screamed for, but soon his throat was sore and rough. B
Heart still beating fast and hard he thought he would give himself a heart attack. The bitter wind made it almost difficult to breathe as he panicked.
What had he done to deserve this? He was a visitor to the little village. He and his colleagues were healers, wandering completely from village to village at the base of the mountain to help anyone they could. They had come across this village by accident, it wasn’t on any of their maps and they hadn’t heard of it before. The people looked almost relieved to see them, even though they had little to no sick. It had struck Izuku as odd, but everyone had been so kind to them he easily forgot. But now, sitting in the snow, tied to a tree waiting to freeze to death he wondered if this would happen to all of his friends staying in the other rooms in the inn.
At the angle of his arms and no coat, just his sleepwear, his arms began to grow numb as did his feet and legs. He could see his legs grow bluer by the minute. And that made him panic even more turning to look at anything other than his legs.
He was so cold. He hated the winter. Even as a child he would hide under the blankets his mother made and sit by the fire. She would get on to him about getting overheated but he never did.
It had been hours that Izuku sits tied to the tree he thinks. Thinking of his mother he falls in and out of consciousness. He hopes his friends are safe. He didn’t deserve this. To die frozen to death tied to a tree. He wonders, half conscious, if he had been the first to die like this. How many people had that terrible village brought out here?
Were they some kind of cult? Was he a sacrifice for some deity? Was he going to be killed by some monster of the woods?
At that thought, A crack of a twig underfoot makes Izuku come to with a jump, hope warms in his chest as he calls out for help.
It’s quiet, Izuku scans the darkness for any new shape but sees nothing. The longer no answer comes the more the warm hope is suffocated by fear. Then he sees it. The hot breath coming out of a snout. A snout. Izukus little hope dies quickly as he sees a paw, then the face of a wolf steps out of the trees.
It’s a beautiful beast, almost unnaturally red fur covered its body with a white underbelly. Wolves were rather large animals, Izuku had lived in a town where they hunters the poor beats for sport. When the hunters came back Izuku was always in awe of how big they were. But this wolf was bigger than any wolf he had seen.
It stares at Izuku for a long while before it began to walk forwards. Izuku is dying. He was sure of it as he struggled to keep his head up, he knew the signs of hypothermia and freezing to death. His limbs were frozen, but they burned terribly. His breathing was labored, he only could tell by how little the puffs of air from his mouth came up into his vision. And he was sure the wolf was a hallucination because that bright red was not natural for an animal. Or maybe it was a god. Maybe it was the deity he was to be sacrificed to.
If it was a hallucination he was happy his brain created such a beautiful creature to hallucinate.
And a deity? Well, the old gods had been there before any of the humans were. This was their home. And if it was hungry and needed to eat him, then at least he died helping something.
The wolf loomed over Izuku, the green-haired man hadn’t realized how close it had come up to him. Red eyes stared down at him as Izuku struggled to keep his head up to maintain eye contact. The wolf was even bigger up close.
But he was exhausted, and cold. His head fell forward and he sighed. Maybe this was better. He didn’t get to see the wolf take its first bite.
Lowering its head, the wolf nudged Izukus face with its snout. It was so warm that he instantly leaned to press into the wolf. The beast let out a warning growl but Izuku didn’t care. It was a hallucination after all. Or god, if that one he was already going to get eaten. If the wolf bites him he probably wouldn’t even feel it.
“If you need to eat me… that’s okay…” Izuku heard himself mumble into the dense fur of the wolf’s neck. “I’m gonna die either way… why not be useful… useful in the end.”
The wolf pulled back just enough so that Izuku couldn’t lean on it anymore. Izuku whined forcing his head up to see the wolf looking at him again.
The beast looked… sad. Its almost human eyes looked full of pity as it stared at the freezing human. The wolf leaned forward again, opening its mouth. Izuku closed his eyes and waited patiently for death. But instead, he got an alarmingly hot tongue across his face.
The wolf whined, an odd sound in the back of its throat as it licked again at Izukus face. The green-haired man grimaced, t was gross. But Izuku was too exhaustion to care, letting the beast lick over his mouth, nose and each eye.
When it pulled away this time Izuku didn’t look up. He slumped into the tree, dozing between consciousness to unconsciousness. Then there was a ripping noise and for a moment he thought he was hearing his skin tear, but then Izuku was falling forward into the snow. Arms free from the bounds.
He was too exhausted and cold to feel happy. He couldn’t get up and run because his limbs were too numb. So he just laid there. But not for long.
Izuku couldn’t open his eyes, but his hearing wasn’t impaired. The wolf trotted over to him, nuzzling into his side. It nuzzled and nuzzled until the wolf had Izukus torso over his face. In a quick, strong movement, the wolf had the man dizzy, but limp over the wolf’s back.
He had to be dreaming he thought as the wolf began to, almost carefully walk into the forest. Just like before, he was in and out of consciousness. The further the wolf trotted the closer the trees were. Every once in a while Izuku could feel his feet or arms brushing against a tree trunk.
This had to be his dying brain showing him that he was being rescued by the largest, reddest wolf he had ever seen. Then he heard a voice. Someone yelling out a name and suddenly he was being touched. Hands pressed into his face. The voice was angry as they spoke, Izuku couldn’t understand what was being said and he couldn’t open his eyes.
With the last of his strength, Izuku raised a shaky hand to pet the wolf on its head. “Hmmm… good wolf…” then he passed out.