Chapter Text
All For One's hand was holding his head in a vice grip, pain, pain, pain- it hurts. White light sparks around Izuku, tearing into him. His jaw is clenched so hard it aches, and he can do nothing but grunt in pain as his body stands paralysed, throbbing with unfiltered power. All For One grins, malevolent and predatory.
"Izuku Midoriya. You've been a nuisance to deal with."
Izuku can see dots at the edge of his vision as everything seems to shift and blur, the only clear thing being All For One's amused voice and Izuku's internal panic.
"I've been curious about this one quirk for a while now." AFO looked down on Izuku, smug. After centuries, he would successfully end OFA. "-I've always wondered where exactly the objects end up, And i'm sure by now you've realized your predicament." he drawled on.
A dry chuckle leaves All For One's lips.
"Goodbye, Midoriya."
With that, the light surges, painfully ripping Izuku apart. His jaw opens and he screams in pure agony, tears falling freely.
"DEKU!!"
someone screams, voice raw, but Izuku doesn't know who. His consciousness fades, and his world turns to black.
—
Izuku jolts awake suddenly, memories instantly flooding his mind. His breathing is shallow, heart rate accelerated. His body is twitchy, every nerve frayed. He shivers in his cold sweat. He was walking to the store for a grocery run with Uraraka and Iida, and then- All For One, pain, blood, Iidas body was limp, blood pooling around his head. Uraraka was buried under the rubble of the collapsed building. Izuku didn't have his hero suit, all he had were his air force gloves. How was he supposed to fight this monster? Were his friends ok? What about the civilians? Where were the hero's? How-
Izuku was snapped out of his memory by a shuffling noise. Right. He didn't know where he was, he needed to be careful and figure out where All For One's quirk sent him. Izuku quietly stood and shuffled to the open ledge. It seemed he woke up in an old, abandoned apartment. The walls and ceiling sagged under its own weight, half collapsed to the right of him. There was an old ratted couch, torn and dirty beyond repair. Other furniture lay strewn out and broken. It looked like the entire building Hadn't been touched in more than a decade.
A low growl had Izuku looking down to street level, the sight making him freeze. It was a Nomu. it was pale blue, with hulking shoulders and muscular arms that almost reached the ground. Izuku ducked down once he could move again, fear increasing ten fold. He sat there, pale and shaking, curled up on himself behind the tattered couch, trying to even out his breathing and stay as quiet as possible.
Everything was wrong. There was no sound other than the occasional far out call of something animalistic - nomu, there are more of them his mind provided. Izuku took a deep breath, then slowly unwound his body from the ball he had himself wrapped up in. He can't stay here. He has to move - has to find someone. His mom. His friends. All Might. Aizawa Sensei. Anyone.
It's clear to him that whatever quirk All For One used, it's sent him somewhere far from home. Based on the Nomu and lack of civilization, it would seem he's been sent to some alternate world. Was that even possible? If that's the case, would anyone he knew even be alive? Would they recognize him? Would he ever see his own family again? Would he die here, alone- no, he can’t think that way.
He bit his lip, shaking his head to clear his spiraling thoughts. One thing at a time. He had to be careful.
Izuku stood, and quietly walked to the door of the apartment he was in. He would survive. He'd persevere. First though, he needed resources. Izuku pushed every other thought to the back of his mind. Right now, all that mattered was surviving. Then he could worry about finding someone else, and trying to get home. If. It's very unlikely I can do anything to go back. I'll probably be stuck here unless some outside force intervenes. Best not to get his hopes up, honestly. He's accepted his new reality for now.
Izuku just needs to survive.
—
It's been a month. One hellish month, Izuku’s been stuck in this apocalyptic world, somehow living through every encounter. He’s adapted quickly, somehow surviving through sheer will and insane amounts of luck. So far, he's learned a few very important lessons from the mistakes he’s made. Don't make any sound. Don't light fires. If you do, only have it going for a few minutes, then move to another spot to sleep. Don't hesitate. always aim for the brain if you're fighting a Nomu. And never use your quirk unless it's life or death. Even then don't use it unless you absolutely will not survive any other way. Something about the output One For All gives off when activated attracts nomu within a 30 mile radius, it’s like broadcasting a radio signal saying ‘free lunch!’
Learning these lessons cost him countless injuries, including the still healing gash on his shoulder, a fractured left forearm, bruised ribs, and many scrapes. It's been a rough month for Izuku Midoriya, and it was about to get even rougher.
You see, Izuku was about to learn another, very important lesson the hard way. Some Nomu hunt in packs. He’d made the assumption that Nomu hunt alone, and while the majority of them do, some kinds of Nomu actually hunt and live in packs, going so far as to have a hierarchy. Which may have been interesting to study, if not for the situation Izuku found himself in now. Hunched in on himself, back pressed against the wall behind some fallen rubble, he sits, one hand clutching the gash in his leg, the other covering his mouth in a desperate attempt to muffle his panicked breaths. He can hear one of the Nomu approaching him, a slight limp in its gaite where Izuku had managed to impale it with his knife.
Izuku had been traveling in the shadows of what remains of the city he was in, looking for resources, or dare he still hoped, survivors, when something shifted in the rubble across the street. Fully alert, Izuku shifts all his attention to the grey Nomu that appears. He takes a step, and the Nomus head whips around towards him. Empty eyes staring into him. Suddenly, it takes off at speed faster than Iida’s quirk; it's maw open, split into three. Izuku is barely able to dodge, pulling out a knife and stabbing it in the leg. It screeches and backs off. Izuku takes this opportunity to run. Behind him, he can hear the nomu begin to make a clicking noise, each getting faster and faster in succession. Then it howls. Izuku freezes. Why…? He started running again, and his question was answered a minute later. It was so obvious now, yet he wished it weren’t true. This Nomu hunts in packs. One Nomu was already bad enough, but nine? He was screwed.
The Nomu got closer and closer, and Izuku decided then and there that if he didnt move right now, he would die. To his left, he saw a hole in a brick wall, just big enough that he would fit. He prayed that this kind of nomu’s power was all in speed, and not in brute strength, or he’d be dead. He abruptly shot up and sprinted to the opening, holding his supply bag in his hands. He slid on his good leg and shot under the small opening. The Nomu scratched and keened at the opening, eventually grabbing hold of Izuku’s supply bag and tearing it open before he had the chance to grab it. Wincing, Izuku stood and limped away from the entrance, looking for some way out.
The noises of the Nomu circling the building were unsettling. Sure, he had been hunted before, but never like this. They howled and scraped, clicking and popping noises surrounding him. They were using fear to try and make their prey panic, make him panic, slip up… and it was working. He desperately looked around, searching for some safe hold, an escape, anything. He’d almost missed it, buried behind boxes full of junk, but his foot caught the lip of the hole - barely any peaked out from under the boxes, but when he moved them, he found it was an opened hatch leading to the sewer system.
Izuku almost cried in relief at the sight, immediately crawling down the ladder and covering the hatch with one of the boxes previously covering his escape. The stench was awful, but it was better than what waited above. With his escape came an adrenaline crash, making him hyper aware of the injuries he had as he limped along the passage, distantly hoping he didn't get an infection.
After hours of limping through the abandoned sewers of the city, Izuku collapses, his exhaustion - and most likely infection - causing him to lose consciousness.
—
He’s awoken with a jolt as he feels something clamped on to him. He hazily looks at his arm to see a small Nomu vaguely representing a leech latched onto his arm, and is suddenly very alert. He grabs his knife and impales it right between its eyes, causing it to screech and squirm. He twists the knife, and it falls limpy to the floor, detached from his arm. Thank gosh it was a weak Nomu. He stands, wincing as he puts pressure on his leg.
Taking a deep breath, Izuku begins to walk again, looking for another service hatch he can get to ground level through.
After what feels like hours of limping along in his delerium, Izukus was able to find a hatch and climb up to street level. At this point, Izuku was running a high fever, the gash in his leg inflamed and throbbing from infection. He swayed along the wrecked storefronts of the city, finding a somewhat intact corner store and entering. Looking for supplies, he finds some expired food rotting and broken junk laying scarcely in the overturned isles. He can feel tears burn at his eyes, his muddled, feverish state making it hard to think straight. Sinking to the floor, he rests his back against the empty cashier counter. Just a quick nap he thinks, letting his eyes close, sleep taking him swiftly after.
—
He’s awoken by a shuffling noise at the front of the store, immediately grabbing his knife as panic flares to life in his chest. Heart beating fast, he quietly stands, biting his tongue to prevent himself from yelling out in pain. The quiet shuffle suddenly stops, and Izuku holds his breath. He squints through his blurry vision, trying to see what awaits him. I’m going to die. Whatever kind of Nomu that is, it will kill me like this, I- I don't want to die. Please, I don't-
Suddenly it charges, a narrow blur that moves like a human, and Izuku’s sick body is barely able to respond with a weak swipe of his knife before the nomu is tackling him to the ground, something sharp pressed to his neck. Izuku begins hyperventilating, muffled noises of panic quietly escaping. He’s scared, and more than that, confused. Why hasn't the nomu killed him yet. Why-
“Shut up, or we're both dead” a gruff voice snaps, barely a whisper, yet threatening all the same. Izuku shuts his mouth, muffling his labored breaths. The Nomu- it talked. Or maybe it wasn't a Nomu. Izuku couldn't really see them.
“W- w’h-” suddenly, his mind goes blank, aware of himself but unable to take control of his body. The familiar feeling catches him off guard, but he isn't able to identify how he knows it with his current state of mind. He fights against it at first, but really, it's no use. For some reason he doesn't feel panicked, or anything. He doesn't feel when his consciousness slips again, either.