Timeless (OC)

You know, have you ever wondered how your own life would ever go down? Did you imagine what kind of person you'd end up being, if you made others proud, if you ever...well, achieved anything?

That would've been the case for many around me. Why else when everyone these days had some super, fancy ability which seemed to defy everything in everyday lives? Shoot fire, accelerate objects, blow things up to kingdom come and whatnot.

These days, having a quirk was the norm.

And I wasn't any different. Just, no one really knew what it was. Except me, that is. I just never bothered to tell anyone once I found out most of my powers. Hehe, you should've seen my parents' face back when I was visiting my doctor about it!

"Mr. and Ms. Kibo. By all due respect, I cannot conclude what type of quirk your son has. There've been no physical changes, no increases in brain activity, not even some sort of change in his senses!", exclaimed the poor sap during our visit.

"But there has to be something! He's shown symptoms of developing one, no?" Oh, my poor mother. She couldn't really think how my future would go on if others found out how I never used my Quirk. Even as she was clinging to my small frame, the tuft of black hair on my head being smothered by her hand, it was evident how restless she had to have been back when I was 4 years old.

"Sharade...please, he already diagnosed him," was the only response of my old man. He was quite buffed, yet hairy around his face and chest which would've made me wanna gag nowadays. But...I guess I got used to it after a while.

Heh...I really miss th-

*Thud* "O-Oww..." Whatever that noise was, it knocked me out of my daydreaming. The bright sun above me glared down with its heat, trees and shrubbery adorning all the grass and pebble roads of this park. I could still feel the texture of squeaking wood under me. 'Good...I can still feel stuff.'

'Now, what about the no-'

"O-Oww! I-It hurts!" *Sob*

...

What I certainly didn't expect to see was a little girl crying next to, having seated next to me on the bench I had been resting on up until a few minutes ago. She was clutching her knee in discomfort, jeans ripped and the skin under it scraped.

Next to her layed a plastic water bottle on its side, with its contents gently swaying from her rocking leg. Sunlight would reflect from the surface onto my eyes, yet what bugged me more was how I could see my own reflection in it. That damn tuft hair, these dumb eyes, that...dang face!

It was too perfect. So perfect that I felt foreign in my own body-

'No, no. Stop. There's a kid injured next to you and weeping. Get your priorities together.'

With a sigh, I took out a little handkerchief from my pocket while grabbing the little girl's beverage. "Hey, kid."

I seemed to have gotten her attention at least, judging how her head seemed to turn towards me, blonde locks with brown irises staring into my soul. "W-Who are y-"

"Ikkio. Just...call me Ikkio." Now she was focused on me, the non-angry frown probably still on my face. "Would you like to see a magic trick?"

For a brief second, the girl would have that gleam of joy in their eyes, which died down as she turned towards her injury again. "W-What m-magi-"

Which, I might've forgot was already disinfected with water and bandaged with my piece of expensive cloth.

Ah yeah...my Quirk. I never told you what it was, did I? Well, dumbed down: I could freeze and resume time on my own will. There was no fancy pose, no hand movements and certainly no transformation. It just happens when I want it to, like as if my mind just registers it automatically.

[Stopwatch] was what I named it. After all, to be able to halt time at less then a moment's notice had its perks. And oh boy, did I abuse them during my childhood.

Around middle school, people did make fun of me for nothing having cool powers to show off. Some showed pity, others were cool with it but here and there, one would always brag with theirs.

Not to say how I got them back tenfold during classes in the most discreet manner possible. Sneak notes into the teacher's desk where he'd "accidently" find them, cheat at tests by halting time, walking to some guy who had all answers and filled out my sheets before sitting back down and pretending nothing happened, so on and so forth.

But physical violence never came into my mind. Sure, the comments and names stung and all, yet in the end I'd just use my powers to take a nap on the spot, laze around or be simply "awake" through the whole night to do whatever I wanted.

Never used it for heroic stuff, never planned to. Overall, being a hero was simply out of my mind's reach back then.

I thought I had all the time in the world-

"T-Thank you so much Mr. Ikkio!" Ah yeah...the kid was still there, her uninjured leg swinging calmly as it dangled while she looked into my blue eyes.

"Don't...mention it." Understanding the next generations was beyond me. Why would they be so amazed by a simple Quirk I used? 'Hmm...'

"Kid? How did you get hurt anyways?" Least thing I could do is be polite and look back towards her.

"U-Uhm, I wanted to go to the big red cross!", answered the girl with her high-pitched voice.

"The red- wait, do you mean the hospital?"

"Yeah!" I really wondered why someone so young had to go there. Maybe for a medical check-up, for a relative or else. But regardless, it could've been personal. So I opted not to ask...yet.

"Uh, Mister? Do you have more cool thingies to show?" Well...her open smile didn't look forced, unlike most of the ones I saw lately. She really just wanted to hear a good story...

"Actually...there is one I could tell you. Would that be enough?"

"Mmhm!"

Here goes, I guess. "Back when I was a bit younger, I had a cute little dog named 'Rosemary'. Quite the cute little beagle, always up and about."

"What would he do?", asked the little girl with a tilt of her head, some remains of her tears still on her face plus the water bottle on her lap.

"The guy would always hop around, demanding pats or stratchies until he was happy, lick me in the face to wake me up. One time he even launched himself into the food bowl we'd always place in the kitchen!" I couldn't even stop myself giggling as she did, a sense of serenity sweeping over my still body.

"What happened then?"

"Well...one day, Rosemary fell asleep and wouldn't wake up." Que the concerned gasp from the kid. "My parents said he would sleep for a long, long time and that he was at peace."

There wasn't any reaction from her. I honestly didn't expect anything from her. And even so did the look in her eyes give me the feeling that such a situation wasn't unheard of before.

"I didn't want to believe it." My head turned back to where the park's other visitors were, many either walking around and enjoying the scenery or sitting on the fresh green as I watched them in listlessness. "They gave me a few minutes to spend him. So I walked up to Rosemary and hugged him tightly. I kept hugging and hugging him...until I felt a familiar licking on my cheek."

"He woke up from his sleep!?" If I didn't have the attention of that kid before, now I certainly did.

"Indeed." Now if only the wood wouldn't creak every time I leaned back! "Everyone was shocked and back then I didn't know why. After all, he just slept. Now he's still alive and living with my relatives. But in the end, the guy turned out alright. The end~."

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* "That was amazing! I wish I could meet Rosemary one day and pat him!"

Heh. "Trust me...I would as well." I never figured out in the end why I got this sappy of the past with a little girl I randomly met in the park. But, overall there wasn't any ounce of annoyance in me.

"Do you..."

'Hm? Why is she hesitating?' I tried to encourage her with a little handwave, hoping she'd get the point. And luckily (or unluckily) she did.

"Do you...t-think if I hug my Mom tight enough, she'll wake up as well?"

'...' Never in a million years did I expect such a milling question from a child. It sounded innocent enough out of her mouth, yet it didn't take a genius to figure it out.

All ideas and possible answers rang through my head at the time. 'It doesn't work that way, kid...'

At least that is what my brain tried to tell her. But...

*Pat* "You know...I think she just might." I just couldn't. I didn't want to crush the hopes and dreams of someone who has yet to experience life. And boy, did I hate myself for that back there.

Albeit my hesitant reaction and half-assed smile, she took my words seriously and responded by jumping into my chest and hugging me herself. The kid's warmth felt relaxing, almost comforting.

It didn't last long. Just a few seconds later she broke it again before standing up on her now semi-fixed leg and bowed to me. "Thank you Mr. Hero!"

There was no response from me at first. Should there have been one? Should I have replied regularly before letting her walk away like that? I certainly could've. But instead-

"Kid...do you know in which room your Mom's sleeping in?"

After her hesitant but confirming answer and departure, my own gaze was focused on the direction, slightly longing for that unfamiliar happiness I felt for bit. Afterwards...

"He. Hehehe. Hahahahaha!" Only laughter. I pulled my gaze into the clear, blue sky over me, roaring with giggling and uncontrolled laughing as everything sunk in.

"Me! A hero! Hahahaha!" It sounded like a joke. One that I could a million times over and still smirk at once everything died down. That day though, there was a little bit more.

"Huh...maybe being a Hero for once doesn't seem so bad of an idea."

And...that was the day before an ill-ridden mother woke up in her white gown after a 3 week coma, after the head doctor told her how failing organs would've killed her very soon, with her little daughter clutching onto her torso and healthy innards with her life; The handkerchief from that man would still be around her knee.

The day before a policeman found a man sleeping in the park at 5 in the morning, having tried to move him only for his body to flop down to the cut grass next to him, resulting in ambulance being called way too late.

The day before I had used up my 30 remaining years on the parent of some girl I grew fond off in a single hour, gifting her the rest of my 80 years I would've had but spent 40 of through frozen time and dead silence, with the remaining 10 transfered to Rosemary.

This is how I, Ikkio Kibo died at the registered age of 18 through natural causes, having lived over double that without anyone knowing and my body limping behind the years.

But ultimately...

This is how I became a Hero to others.

The End.