Chapter Text
A tall man wearing armor walks quietly. The wind caresses his green curly hair. His sharp green eyes take in everything around him; the road without people, the red skies, the ungodly abominations swarming towards him.
He has various weapons tied or strapped in one way or another onto his armor. On each hip he has a sheathed sword. On his left a sword in a black scabbard. On his right a sword in a red scabbard.
A winged beast lets out a screech and dives at him from above followed by a school of smaller winged monsters.
The man places a hand on the hilt of each of his swords. “Yeah, I’m itching for this too.”
The man walks quietly, hands resting on the hilts of his swords. His eyes scan the skies, now devoid of any abominations. The wind blows carrying the scent of death. Around him are scores of fallen creatures put down by none other than this wanderer.
The ground shakes and the sky begins to rupture. The wanderer is bombarded from all sides by a cacophony as the world literally tears itself apart.
The man lets out a deep sigh. He traces his fingers over the hilts of his swords then along the engravings on the scabbards. He gazes sadly at the red scabbard.
“Really alone now. Truly. I should have kept at least some alive. End of the world and I can’t share it with anyone, not even my enemies.” He scratches a freckled cheek. “This is…unfulfilling.”
The colors of the world blend together until they become unbearable to look at and the man closes his eyes. The amalgamation of sounds around him continue to swell until he can no longer make out any distinct sounds.
For the beginning of nothing this sure is loud.
Through his closed eyelids he can see a blinding light.
Must I be blinded to delve into eternal darkness?
The noise begins to take a more muffled essence even as it becomes more uniform.
The wanderer hears someone potential yelling, likely screaming, and definitely crying.
As the crying comes more into focus he hears unintelligible murmurs all around. He decides to open his eyes to the blinding light.
Beneath the blinding light his vision focuses and what seems to be the face of a young woman looks at him with great care and affection. She has soft green hair, and gentle green eyes. He does not know her but he does know the warmth in her gaze.
He reaches out instinctively for that warmth.
He does not see his toned and armored limbs but instead the small, chubby arms of a child.
Well isn’t that interesting.
I am not the man who died yesterday.
I am not the child who is born today.
Can I be the hero who will save tomorrow?
A short teenage boy walks towards a train station. He stops when he spots a massive man causing havoc. The boy walks forward again but just like the crowd around him he is stopped by pro hero Backdraft as he creates a water barrier to keep everyone away from the commotion.
Backdraft peeks behind his shoulder. “Midoriya that better not be you again.”
“It is.”
“Go on get outta here. Go to school kid.”
Izuku points with his right hand. “The big guy is closing my way to school.” His left hand is holding a sheathed sword by the scabbard.
“Uh-huh, just like last time the villain just so happened to pop up on the route to your home?”
“Yep.”
“And the park you were going to?”
“Yessir.”
“AND the convenience store.”
“It’s not my fault. I must have bad luck.”
Above them Kamui Woods springs into action demonstrating a strong control over his quirk and a good sense of acrobatics. A number of the people in the crowd cheered. His fangirls squealed.
“I can see why he’s rising so fast. He is pretty cool.”
“…”
“Are we not talking anymore?”
“…”
“Is this about the goose thing? I said I was sorry.”
“It’s not about the geese.”
“Then wh-“
Izuku was interrupted as Mt. Lady crashed into the villain with a devastating dropkick. He whistled at the display.
“Really kid?”
“What? That was really cool. Hey, you think they’ll give me their autographs?”
Backdraft just grumbled as he eyed Mt. Lady being applauded for taking down the villain and Kaumi Woods lamenting getting his thunder stolen.
Izuku leaned to get a good look at Backdraft. “You’re jealous.”
“I am not!”
“You don’t have to be. You’re pretty cool too.”
“Yeah for a rescue hero.”
“You say that like saving people isn’t the coolest thing ever.”
“I can’t take you seriously with that look on your face.”
“What? That’s just the way I look.”
“Lazy? Sleepy? Bored?”
“I prefer the term laid back. Makes me sound approachable. By the way kid at nine o clock trying to sneak in.”
Backdraft turns his attention to aforementioned child and Izuku slips right under his water barrier walking right up to Mt. Lady.
“Hiya! Mt. Lady? Could I have an autograph?”
“Mr. Midoriya you want to explain why you’re so late?” Izuku’s teacher holds two fingers to her temple trying to calm the headache she can feel coming.
“Well there was a villain attack at the train station.”
“And…?”
“Oh I asked Mt. Lady for an autograph. She didn’t give me one.”
“And…”
“I got scolded by Backdraft.”
“And…”
“Mt. Lady got on my case about…” He eyed the sword in his left hand. “Yeah.”
“And…?”
“No more and. That’s it.” Izuku gives an awkward smile that seems disingenuous given how bored his eyelids make his eyes seem.
“No geese this time?”
“No maam.”
“You realize you’ve missed roughly half the day?”
“Unfortunate.”
“It’s literally three minutes till lunchtime.”
“Look at that, there is a brightside to this situation.” His teacher didn’t respond. “I’ll go sit down then.” The teacher just got up and left, presumably for the teacher’s lounge.
None of the other students said anything to Izuku or even looked at him. Three minutes passed and when the lunchbell rang he got up, and walked out of the classroom with his lunch in his right hand and his sword in his left.
None of the students moves until he’s out of the room. Once he is there’s a collective sigh from everyone.
Izuku walks out onto the roof and sat down. He ate in silence gazing up at the sky. His eyes make it seem like he’ll fall asleep any minute. He uses only his right to eat. His left hand keeps a grip on his sword the whole time.
He sneaks back into class as the bell is ringing and their teacher is just walking in. His desk is at the very back so no one notices him. He pulls out his hero notebook drawing Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods on separate pages.
His left hand neither loosens nor tightens the grip on the scabbard. He hears the teacher talk about hero schools and the rest of the class gets excited but he just keeps drawing. He adds more and more detail to Mt. Lady from his memory of that morning. He adds the confident smirk she had after taking the credit for the villain takedown. He adds the dirt and debris smudges from when she dropkicked the villain on her feet and hamstrings. He adds her victory pose she once the villain was restrained. He adds the hungry look in her eyes.
“Oh yeah Midoriya, you wanted to go to U.A. too right?”
A few of the students glance back at him.
Bakugo glares and growls at him. “Deku...”
Izuku merely nods but does not raise his head from his notebook.
Class ends and mostly everyone rushes out as quickly as they can. It isn’t long before only Izuku and Bakugo are left.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Deku?”
“Finishing this drawing.” A soft smile forms across Izuku’s face.
“You know what I’m talking about!”
“I don’t.”
“Why are you aiming for U.A.?”
“Because I want to?”
“I’m the only person that’s supposed to make it in from this shithole.”
“Didn’t get that memo.” Izuku kept his gaze on his drawing.
Bakugo grit his teeth. “We’re finishing this today.”
Izuku didn’t respond.
Furious, Bakugo rips the notebook out of Izuku’s hands and uses his quirk on it.
Izuku just stares at Bakugo with the same unchanging eyes.
Bakugo throws the notebook out the window.
Izuku stands up and Bakugo grins at the sight. The grin disappears when he sees Izuku put on his backpack.
“Where the hell are you going?”
“Notebook, then home.” Izuku walks towards the door.
Bakugo jumps and slams his hand on the door blocking the way out. “No you’re not. You’re not leaving until you do this with me.”
Izuku raises his right hand to his cheek. “This is a little forward. What if someone catches us doing these immoral act-“
Bakugo dashes forward letting off an explosion from his right hand. Izuku leans on one leg and Bakugo’s hand swoops right past him. Bakugo tries again and the same thing happens. Izuku backs up as Bakugo fires off explosions behind him to get himself airborn and give himself momentum. Bakugo comes at Izuku with a kick which the boy sidesteps with few movements.
As he’s in the middle of his attack Bakugo feels something tug at his foot and throw his momentum off causing him to crash into the desks. He hits his chin on the edge of a desk and brings down a few with him.
Izuku looks back at him. “I seem to remember telling you that you were going to need years for this.” His eyes were a bit more open and focused.
Bakugo glares at him. “We’re not stopping here. We’re finishing this fight.”
“Fight? We weren’t fighting. We just got a little clumsy and you fell.” Izuku opens the door. “Be careful. Floor’s slippery.”
Izuku walks out leaving Bakugo with an unpleasant but familiar taste in his mouth.
Izuku picks up the notebook out of the fishpond. “Sheesh, you guys are almost as bad as the geese.” He walks off towards his home with the sun beginning to set.
He flips through the pages looking at the ruined drawings.
“Guess I’ll have to start over.”
He flaps the notebook trying to get some of the water off of it.
“Yeah that’s not gonna work.”
He drops his right arm to his side holding the notebook. He times a bounce with his left hand to his walking cadence.
When he gets home he has to go up a few set of stairs and nighttime fully arrives as he reaches his door.
He enters his home placing the sword on the kitchen counter and leaving it there.
“Izuku? Oh, honey you’re home. How was school?”
Izuku’s eyes open up as if he’s fully awakening for the first time throughout the entire day. He gives her a soft smile as he holds up his notebook. “It was okay. I need a new notebook. Had an accident and this one got ruined.”
He places the notebook on a table and walks over embracing his mother wholeheartedly. She kisses his forehead running a hand through his curls.
“Come on, dinner’s ready.”
His smile widens and he nods giving the hug a tight but painless squeeze before letting her go. His eyes are large and hold the same warmth that Inko's do.