Chapter Text
Izuku looked across the city, taking in the mass destruction all around him. Fires burned everywhere, and the majority of the buildings had been smashed to rubble. In the distance, he could hear someone screaming; shrill and loud, a sound that he knew all too well. It was the sound of utter heartbreak and despair.
He looked down the other side of the street and forced himself to stand his ground. He could see Jirou’s crushed body one hundred yards away, barely recognizable. Kaminari was kneeling over her, sobbing and desperately pleading for her to wake up. Just past them lay Ojiro and Aoyama, both of them unmoving in that unnaturally still way that the dead always did. In front of him, Shinsou, Shouji, Kouda and Yaomomo were broken in ways no one would be able to survive, each a few feet away from one another.
Izuku squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to take deep breaths. He couldn’t afford to lose his focus right now, not when he was so close to finishing this. He opened them again and raced forward, stepping around the bodies of his fallen comrades. He passed more along his way- Hagakure, Asui, Uraraka, Iida, Ashido, Kirishima, Todoroki, Aizawa, god no more please no more-
And then he saw him.
Shigaraki Tomura stood in the middle of the destruction, holding someone up by their throat. The person’s arms were limp at their sides, their costume destroyed from the battle they had valiantly fought until the very end. Izuku skidded to a stop, his heart pounding in his chest less than one hundred yards away. He blinked, then blinked again. Out of everyone, all of his friends, the people he would lay his life down for, he could not handle this one being taken from him too.
“No,” he whispered, his voice quaking. He wanted to cry, but his body wouldn’t let him. The adrenaline rush was too much, along with the hardness that came along with the atrocities of war. But this? This was too much. He couldn’t- he couldn’t-
“Ah, so you’re finally here,” Shigaraki purred, a treacherous grin on his face. Izuku could see his pinky finger extended away from the throat of his victim. Izuku couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead, please g o d don’t be dead-
“Please,” he said, louder this time. “Please! No!”
“I was waiting for you,” Shigaraki said, as if Izuku hadn’t even spoken. His pinky finger slowly began to lower. “I wanted you to see this, Deku . Watch as I destroy the very last thing you love.”
“No!” Izuku rushed forward with a burst of speed, but it was too late. Shigaraki’s pinky connected, and with that, the body in his arms began to disintegrate.
Within moments, Bakugou Katsuki was nothing but ashes.
And Midoriya Izuku was all alone. He closed his eyes as he fell to his knees, dizziness pounding through his skull.
And he screamed like no one had ever screamed before.
“-off the roof? Maybe then…”
Izuku blinked, inhaling so sharply that he nearly choked. The three people in the room with him startled, two of them stepping back suddenly. A wave of nausea hit the small boy with enough force to nearly keel him over, but he held steadfast. He… he knew the sensation all too well… didn’t he? But why… why would he…
“Deku?”
Izuku looked up, emerald eyes meeting fiery vermillion. He stared at the face above him, so smooth and familiar. So achingly familiar that he felt like crying, and yet he couldn’t feel any signs of tears. Why couldn’t he… why was he feeling this way?
Katsuki sneered down at him. “Are you even listening to me?”
Izuku let out the breath he’d been holding, lowering his gaze from Kacchan’s to roam his face. He looked so young, not a single scar in sight. But why would there be? Why did Izuku feel this sudden sense of wrongness ? Was this not his reality? Why was he expecting Katsuki to be broader, older , with scars that he would have no reason to possess?
“Oi, fuckface!” Katsuki let off a small explosion, catching Izuku’s attention once more. Something inside of him, pushed far back, told him that he should be flinching and apologizing. The other, bigger part of him held his ground, forcing him to stay firm. He was used to Katsuki’s explosions by now.
‘ But why… why would I be used to them…?’
“Kacchan…” Izuku said softly, furrowing his brow. “You’re… here.”
“What the fuck?” Katsuki snapped. “Where the fuck else would I be?” The blond leaned down until he was nearly nose-to-nose with Izuku, and why did that also feel so wrong? Wasn’t he supposed to be taller than Katsuki now?
Wasn’t he? Why was he again?
“What the fuck is wrong with you, hah ?!”
“I don’t…” Izuku trailed off, glancing to the side. He was in his middle school classroom… his third year. He was fourteen years old, turning fifteen in a few weeks. This was the classroom he spent every single day in, right? Every day for the past few months, since school had begun. Every day, right?
“What the fuck ever,” Katsuki snorted, stepping back. “Stay the hell away from me, Deku. Don’t you even think of applying to U.A..”
U.A. . Izuku jolted at the name, a sudden memory coming to mind. Fire, destruction. The tall building left in nothing but ruin, so many lives lost…
Just as quickly, the memory- is that what it was?- was gone. He stood in that position for a long moment, only vaguely aware of Katsuki and his cronies leaving the classroom.
He wasn’t sure how long it took him to move again, but he did. He held tight to his backpack and trudged out of the classroom, his mind still in a hazy fog. He couldn’t shake the intense feeling of deja vu, like he was forgetting something massively important. His feet carried him without his mind noticing, too lost in thought. Muscle memory guided his way home, until he crossed underneath an overpass. He went underneath it every day, walking to and from school, and yet this time something was different.
“ Ah, what a great medium-sized meat suit…!”
Izuku jerked to a stop, whipping his head to face behind him. His gaze locked on the sewer grate on the ground, and he stared hard for a moment, bracing for something. When nothing happened, he felt himself slowly relax. That feeling had been so intense, he thought for sure…
And then the grate exploded, the manhole cover flipping out of sight. A dark sludge-like substance trickled forward, dragging itself across the asphalt, muttering to itself.
“Gotta get away, gotta get away from him!” The sludge person said, completely rising from the depths of the sewer. When it faced Izuku, its eyes widened a fraction. “Ah! What a great medium-sized meat suit!”
Izuku jolted. Hadn’t he just-?
“Hold still, kid!” The slime called, lurching toward him. Izuku barely had a moment to think before it engulfed him completely. He opened his mouth to cry out, only to find the cavity filling up with the slime. He was aware that the slime-person-man was speaking to him, but with the substance forcing itself into his mouth, nose, ears , he couldn’t hear him. The sludge was everywhere, and he could do nothing but feel himself losing consciousness.
‘Just hold on Izuku… he’s coming…’
He didn’t have more than a second to think about the weirdness of the thought before another person emerged from the sewer behind him, and a familiar voice called out a familiar phrase.
“Do not fear, citizen! I am here!”
It was the last thing he heard before his mind faded to black.
(“ shhh… don’t worry, izuku. we won’t leave you. we know you’re scared… you must do everything the way it was done before, if you have any chance of saving them…”
“nana, be silent. you mustn’t give too much away…”)
Izuku woke with a gasp, jerked into a sitting position. He sucked in precious air like it was the last thing he would ever do, gulping in lung fulls as fast as he could. Someone crouching next to him laughed, and Midoriya turned to look at him.
All Might was crouching there, smiling that wide smile at him. “You scared me for a moment, young man! I thought for sure I was too late!”
“A-A-All Might?!” Izuku cried, reaching to rub at his eyes. When he lowered his hands, All Might was still there. “You’re- you’re here!”
“Yes, I am!” All Might grinned. “But I’m afraid I must be going now. I must take this villain to the police for custody!”
“Wait!” Izuku’s voice ripped from his throat, practically without his consent. He scrambled to his feet as All Might stood, shoving what looked like a two-liter bottle of soda into his pocket. “All Might, I have something I want to ask you!”
“I’m sorry, but I’m really in a rush,” All Might said, stepping away from him. “I apologize, young man!” He crouched, gearing up to jump away from the scene, and-
( “grab his leg! you must grab his leg!”)
And he grabbed hold of All Might’s leg just as he pushed off of the ground. The two of them soared into the air, wind whipping at their clothing. Izuku instinctively clung even tighter, squeezing his eyes shut against the pressure. All Might made a noise of surprise at his unexpected charge.
“Young man! You must let go at once!”
“If I let go, I’ll die!” Izuku squealed in fear.
“Oh, right!”
Before he knew what was happening, the two of them touched down on a rooftop. Izuku backed away from his childhood hero, barely cognizant of the reprimanding he was receiving. He stared at his red shoes, hearing a voice that didn’t sound like his own plaguing his mind.
( “ask him, izuku. ask him what you want to ask.”)
“All Might,” Izuku said, clearing his throat. “I have to ask you something.”
“I’m truly sorry, but I really must be going-” All Might tried to say, but Izuku cut him off.
“Do you think I can be a hero without a quirk?”
(x)
“That was weird, right?” Extra number one said, walking behind Katsuki. “Deku’s weird, but he’s not usually that weird.”
“I know, right?” Extra number two agreed. “I mean, one minute he looked scared shitless, and the next it was like he was completely out of it! Maybe he’s on drugs or something.”
Katsuki couldn’t help but snort at their idiocy, his hands sparking a bit in the pockets of his pants. “Please. Fucking Deku would never do drugs. Don’t say stupid shit.” He kicked at a soda bottle laying on the ground in front of him, watching as it hit the wall of the alleyway they were cutting through. The three of them walked past it to the mouth of the alleyway, exiting onto the main street.
“I’m just saying!” Extra number two whined, his irritating voice grating along Katsuki’s nerves.
Katsuki whipped to face him, his scowl more fierce than usual. “Don’t spread fucking rumours, alright? You don’t know-” Katsuki’s eyes caught on movement behind the extra, and stayed there. The extras noticed how he’d frozen in place, and turned to see what he was looking at.
“That damn guy!” The creature growled, growing and growing until it seemed to reach its full height. “Damn lucky that he dropped me…!”
“Oh, shit,” Extra number one said, backing away. “Run!”
His cry caught the attention of the monster, and the two of them bolted. Katsuki stared at the thing, cocking his head to the side. He pulled his hands out of his pants and let his palms spark menacingly. The thing’s eyes trailed down to them and widened a fraction. Katsuki felt a smirk pulling at his lips a moment before it spoke again.
“Well, that’s a nice quirk,” the thing said. “It will be fun to take over your body!”
And that was where it all went to shit.