Chapter Text
In hindsight, following a mysterious light in the middle of the night was a bad idea. Not taking a phone or some type of self-defense object made it an absolutely terrible idea.
But on all the late night strolls he had taken, he’d never seen anything as interesting as the funny little purple light glowing up ahead of him. It was just so unusual and out of place among the trees and Izuku just had to know why it was there.
So when he made the very unwise decision to wander off the paths and chase after it, he didn’t expect anything bad to happen. Maybe he expected to find some random guy also going on a late-night stroll with some super cool flashlight. Maybe he expected to see a messed up firefly that glowed purple instead of green. Or maybe he just expected to figure out that he had imagined the light and he should really go back to bed.
Something that he did not expect were monsters .
Ducking behind a bush, he tried to stay out of sight to avoid being seen by the things standing not even 10 feet in front of him.
One was a tall dragon looking thing with a lot of horns on its head. It had some really sharp claws that it was waving wildly at its smaller companion. From what Izuku could make out in the dim lighting, the lizard thing looked like it would be taller than him by a couple feet. In one of its hands it was holding a nerf gun-looking thing. For some reason it also looked like it was wearing some type of armor.
It smaller but nonetheless intimidating companion was what looked like a squirrel mixed with a bee. Big fluffy squirrel tail that kept thrashing around, two pairs of smaller crossed arms underneath the larger arms, and a vaguely squirrel-like head with antennae peeking out from the top. The tips of the antennae glowed a deep purple— was that what he had seen?
The lizard monster was growling and making wild gestures at its companion, who only buzzed back loudly and made exaggerated gestures in reply. Not wanting to get caught up in an argument between monsters, Izuku took this as his chance to leave. With any luck he’ll pass out in his bed and think this was all a fever dream.
Slowly getting up, not taking his eyes off the creatures, Izuku began to back up. They were still arguing, so hopefully they wouldn’t hear how much noise he was making-
Crack .
Of course there had to be a branch. Way to be cliché.
The squirrel bee’s head swiveled towards Izuku, who was no longer hidden by the bush, and the lizard monster also snapped its head to stare at him. There was a moment of oh crap where all three of them just stared at each other. Good thing Izuku’s bullies have been helping him train his flight reflex his whole life.
Izuku broke into a sprint and ran in the direction of his home. Hopefully neither of those monsters would follow him there. He made about ten feet before something sharp hit his neck. And his arm. And his other arm, and whatever it was kept stinging him in different places.
The forest, which was already super dark, started turning into black nothingness. The trees evaporated in front of him and world seemed to flip as he fell down.
Mom is going to be so worried .
————————————
When Izuku came to, everything around him was dark. It was hot and stuffy and itchy and he could barely breathe. He felt as if he’d been hit by a car— his whole body was sore, his head was throbbing, and it was hard to find the strength to move.
Where was he? Did those monsters kidnap him? Were they planning on cooking him in a soup and munching on his bones? His bones would barely make a good toothpick so sucks for them. How long has it been? Has his mom noticed his absence?
He could barely move, it felt like he was on some cold floor, and there were weird noises coming from around him. There was a grunting-meow sound from farther away from him, and close to him was a whistling-clicking sound. Like really close and getting even closer. Oh no. Was a monster coming closer to gather the last ingredient for its soup? These newer monsters didn’t sound at all like the ones in the forest, but it’s all the same if they’re planning to eat him.
He needed to get out. Kicking at the thing he was inside of did no good, and neither did scratching at it. It just made his fingers hurt from how itchy it was. If he kept wasting energy like this, he might actually suffocate. Claustrophobia was really starting to sink in and he found himself starting to panic. What if he never got out of here? What if his mom never knew what happened to him?
The chatter around him died once two growls punctuated the air. That probably did not bode well for Izuku.
While he was trying to claw his way out of—what he assumed it was— the bag, he could feel a little bit of pressure near his head, like someone was opening it. The monsters must be ready to take him out for their next meal. Well, it was now or never to fight back.
But once light started trickling in from the opening, nothing happened. Maybe he wasn’t about to be dragged out of the bag? Izuku turned over, reached his arms out of the bag, and hoisted himself up so he wasn’t laying completely undefended on the ground.
The sudden change in light made him squint a bit, but it definitely wasn’t that bright wherever he was. His eyes locked onto the thing inched away from his face, which was…not a human. Big beady eyes, pink fur, and antenna gave that fact away.
“Ack!” Izuku recoiled quickly, throwing himself backwards and kicking the bag off of him.
The creature apparently had the same reaction. It let out a shrill, high-pitched kettle sound and jumped backwards. It didn’t get very far, but that didn’t stop it from getting as much distance as it could from him. Which was in a very far corner huddled up next to two other monsters.
So now Izuku was 100% certain that he’d been kidnapped and it wasn’t some weird fever dream. The two monsters who the fuzzy creature had run off to (strange reaction…) looked like the same species as the big scaly lizard thing that he’d seen in the forest, albeit smaller.
One of the lizard creatures was a really pretty mix of red and white, like a koi fish, with two majestic curved horns on its head. One of its eyes was an icy blue, while the other was a dark grayish brown. It had pointy ears that were pinned down, and just was staring at him wide-eyes as if Izuku was about to attack him. That was… weird. It crouched half in front of the bug monster, trying to shield it from view and preventing Izuku from making out any defining features. Maybe they were friends?
Though they were probably the same species, the second lizard looked wildly different than the first. The horns on its head were a deep orange and were a lot spikier than the first one. Its patterns and coloring were as if a bee and a raccoon had a baby. The “masked” area around its eyes was black, its hands were also black, and from what he could see of its tail, it had black stripes. The rest of it was a striking yellow that melted into orange in some parts.
While the first lizard looked scared, the second one looked like it was about to murder someone ( hopefully not Izuku .). It was crouching down, its tail thumping loudly on the ground, and flexing its ( very sharp !) clawed fingers. Red eyes narrowed at him, and a loud growl escaped its snarling jaws. A muzzle around its mouth solidified the fact that this monster was probably the more dangerous one; why else would it be there if the lizard wasn’t aggressive?
But the muzzle also created another question. If these monsters in the room with him were working with the ones that kidnapped him, why would one of them be muzzled? Maybe as some sort of punishment? Whatever the reason, something about his situation seemed…off.
That’s when Izuku really took his surroundings into account. The room he was in was a dark, depressing gray. It wasn’t too cold, but still cold enough that he would be a lot more uncomfortable if he didn’t have his hoodie. Scratches and dents littered the walls, with enough variation in them that he could guess they came from different creatures. The monsters that were stuck with him were all wearing similar uniforms that looked like misshaped space suits. And on the one side that wasn’t covered by a wall, there were prison bars that occasionally crackled and fizzed with electricity.
This wasn’t happening to him. Whatever he had done wrong, which Izuku was sure was nothing , shouldn’t have been criminal enough to land him in monster jail . Once he pinched himself hard enough, he’d wake up in his warm, safe bed and know that this was all a fever dream.
One stinging pinch later and he was still stuck in this prison cell.
Well, that explained why one of his cellmates was muzzled. It was trapped, just like him.
This is bad, this is bad, this is bad -
A low growl, low enough that he had to strain to hear it, came from somewhere outside the cell. Surveying the area, Izuku saw an identical cell across the room. Unlike his, however, this one had very unfamiliar inhabitants.
The first new monster was a…bipedal panther, which had freaky glowing red eyes that were staring into his soul. It’s eyes widened when he turned to look at it— he was no expert in monster body language, but he could guess that it would probably surprised he had heard it. Some kind of white ribbon was tied around its neck, and— Wait. Were the ribbons moving ? Time to ignore that. Staring at the creature’s ribbons just seemed to make it more uncomfortable, so he inspected its two other cellmates.
The second one was a tan-red color that seemed to be redder in places where it was…rockier? The creature was, essentially, a living rock golem. The less armored parts of it, like its throat and palms, were tan, while the armored parts of it, like its forearms and knuckles, were red. It looked uncannily human, which just made it all the more creepy.
The third monster was by far the oddest one yet. It was kind of similar to the first one in the fact that it was slightly feline, except that it was an amalgamation of more of a grey cheetah, a horse, and some kind of armored creature. It had black plates armoring some parts of its arms and legs— two hoofed horse legs, though the rest of it was fairly cheetah-like. It had four beady black eyes that were all staring at him- wow, all these monsters really had a staring problem.
Shuffling backwards into the corner opposite the monsters in his cell, Izuku curled himself up as tight as possible. This was all just a bad nightmare. He had a fever and was stuck in some horrible, incredibly detailed fever dream. Once he focuses on waking up he’ll be back in his bedroom with his mom’s homemade soup waiting for him.
Still curled up, he laid down and shut his eyes. When he wakes up he’ll be back home and safe. This was just a nightmare. . .
~~~
Bang! Bang! Rattle rattle.
Izuku was rudely awoken by a horrible banging sound somewhere around him. He sat up from where he was laying down- was that his floor?- and blinked his eyes open. His mom was usually never that loud when he slept so why-
It was still cold. And gray. The monsters were still huddled up together. The rattling was creeping ever closer to him. It wasn’t a dream, this is all real. He truly was stuck in a monster jail. Why him, of all people??
A white cart was pushed just outside of his cell. The guard that brought it was some horrible, huge, spider creature with six arms and creepy bug eyes. While Izuku would normally find arachnids cool, this one was just plain creepy and uncomfortable to look at. The spider monster grabbed a single plate off the cart and turned to slide it into some hole in the door (was that always there??) before spotting the three creatures locked up with him. Did it not know they were there? It didn’t expect them all to eat from one little plate, did it? Unless. . . did it expect there to be only one of them??
Who would that one of them have been?
Regardless, it hissed and started making clicky spider noises with it’s mandibles towards his cellmates. The angry lizard thumped it’s tail on the floor and made an even louder hiss back, adding on some extra grumble sounds. After a little more of this exchange the spider grabbed three more plates off the cart and slid all four onto a tray through the hole in the door, which clicked closed after a few seconds. The spider then put trays into the cell opposite theirs and continued on down the hallway (how many cells were there??)
The two monsters had obviously conversed just now. But they sounded so different, and they were clearly different types of monsters, so how did they know what the other was saying? Was it some sort of common creature language? ( Was it something Izuku could learn?)
The food tray had slid closer to the koi-scaled lizard. It carefully handed out plates to its two friends before briefly eyeing Izuku, not daring to make eye contact with him- was it truly scared of him? Thankfully it slid the tray with the final food bowl and water pouch over to him and he reached out to grab it.
They had been given something extremely unappetizing. The best way to describe it was some sort of grey, grainy, jello bread. More gray to match with the cell. Beautiful. Izuku picked it up and it wobbled in his hands like jello, and had the consistency of it as well. It genuinely looked like terribly expired bread, the gross seedy kind in the dollar store that nobody wanted. If he wasn’t actually stuck in one of his worst nightmares he wouldn’t eat it, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
All the other creatures, both in his cell and the one in front of theirs, had already dug into their “meal”. Might as well try it. While it had an unplaceable scent, it didn’t set off any alarms in his head so he took a bite out of it. Time to pray to whatever gods were out there to not let him get food poisoning.
…It tasted like wet bread with a slightly sweet undertone. Talk about anticlimatic. He should be glad that at least he hadn’t started seizing up and dying at the new food. It was still slightly disappointing that monster food tasted so bland .
There was another jel-bread in the bowl, so he scarfed down that one as well. It didn’t get any better the second time, unfortunately.
In the corner where his cellmates were all huddled up, the two lizards had shifted slightly so they were no longer completely blocking the furry one, giving Izuku a better chance to inspect it. It was reminiscent of a pretty butterfly, albeit covered in fur. It had a long, soft, pink coat with splotches of brown, and two elegant magenta wings decorating it’s back. It had butterfly eyes on a vaguely human face and two antennae curled up on its head. The weirdest part was how it had hooved goat legs instead of spindly insect legs.
They had all finished eating and were sitting awkwardly in silence. Angry lizard was glaring at him and he met its gaze head-on; if it wanted to have a staring contest, fine. From the other cell the panther growled— no, said something to the lizard to make it drop its eyes to the floor and refuse to look at him anymore. Izuku tried looking over at the other two inhabitants but they also wouldn’t meet his gaze.
They truly seemed scared of him. As if he was the dangerous one, not just some human amongst monsters. Hah. Hopefully if they were scared of him, they wouldn’t try murdering him in his sleep. Which they didn’t earlier, but they’ll always have the chance to, and that doesn’t bode well for him at all. As long as they stay on their side and he stays on his everything will be fine .
…It was still hard to believe that he got put into monster jail. Why was he even here? Obviously not to be food (as of yet), and nothing else has happened in the couple hours he’s been here, so why ? Experiments? Gladiator fights? Neither of those thoughts sounded appealing. And where even was he? Somewhere deep in the center of the earth? Area 51? An unexplored mountain that no human has ever touched?
Maybe he wasn’t even on Earth at all. Maybe he had been kidnapped by aliens and he was in space and had no chance of getting home. The thought nearly made him laugh; the existence of aliens was-
Wait. When he was much younger, there had been rumors of an “alien invasion” in China. It was a hot topic that spread like wildfire around city streets and cramped hallways, everyone knowing about it but not having any proof to back up the existence of extraterrestrial invaders. After a while, once gossip had calmed down, the rumors disappeared. Like a whisper that you couldn’t be sure was even there. Many people, himself included as he grew, tried to scrounge up any information on the most absurd claim that had gone around in ages. Though like most things the government wanted covered up, it had been removed without any noticeable traces.
That was, if it was even real. It was obviously just a rumor, propaganda to spread fear. He couldn’t really be stuck in space, among the stars, millions of miles away from Earth. From home.
Right?