NOTES::

Hi! This is just a little something I am working on. I have a lot of ideas, but I usually don't write things without a solid plan, for this: I have no solid plan. This is just for fun. I hope you enjoy it.

Prologue: Isn't it Ironic?

What is irony?

Alanis Morissette said it was like rain on your wedding day...or a free ride when you've already paid.

Personally, the reality of bitter irony is much more cruel...

Wait- wait- wait, let me go back a few steps. I am like you. Or...rather I was. I was a woman in my mid-twenties. I was a giant fucking nerd. A bigger nerd than most mind you...A math geek who went to college to be an engineer, and I did it. I had a great research job, and a great boyfriend, and life was decent I guess.

I would come home and I would watch TV, and read some books, and I read a lot of fanfiction. Like a. Lot. I loved dreaming up my own scenarios. Usually self-indulgent OC inserts that were loosely self insert (i.e. the me I wish I was, but with an edgy tragic backstory). Of course, my OC always got the character I wanted to bone (of course, why else bother daydreaming about it, right?), usually some slow burn, character driven romance with minimal plot, cause I was never the most creative person in the world, I just dreamed up what I wanted to read, and I am a sucker for a good romance.

And super hot smut.

But that's beside the point.

The point is irony. And the definition of irony, is being reincarnated into your own OC. The OC you gave a tragic backstory and constant struggles because you thought it would be a good story. Well, now, that shit you thought up? That story? That's your story now. Why? Because fuck you, that's why.

So yeah...fuck me, and fuck irony, and fuck My Hero Academia.

Chapter 1: An Accident, and a Trope

My best friend Bonnie always joked that I was one lab accident away from becoming a super villain. I guess that's another example of irony, cause that's basically what happened.

Best I can figure out is that some radiation shielding around the particle accelerator got damaged or moved or something...maintenance gone wrong. I felt the warmth on my arm and I knew. You see, you don't actually feel radiation, not really, so by the time the area starts to feel warm, you are well beyond the lethal dose.

Another thing about radiation poisoning? It's a helluva way to go. It's slow. And painful. Your hair falls out, your organs fail a cluster at a time, and your skin basically melts away from your body. I guess it was just preparation. All part of the tragic backstory.

Part of me wonders if this new life isn't just the hallucinatory product of reading far too many self-insert reincarnation fanfictions in combination with my brain matter slowly decaying in my skull.

I had always heard stories growing up that my grandmother almost died in childbirth with my mother. After that, she always said that bleeding to death wouldn't be a bad way to go. It didn't hurt...It was peaceful, like going to sleep. In the end, death was like that. The seven days of agony leading up to the death weren't fun, but that final day? The pain stopped. It was just like my grandma said. It was like I went to sleep, and fell into darkness, but then a few moments later, there was light again. Blinding artificial light, and my eyes were blurry as hell and the light hurt, and I felt like I was being manhandled. I realized I was crying, and looking around me I could see figures that looked like people, but they were huge. Why are they so big? Why aren't my eyes working? Why am I crying?

I was being handed to one of the giants, But on the way there I glanced around and saw a person on what seemed to be a hospital bed, there were others all around her, yelling in a language I didn't understand. And there was red. So much red. I finally acknowledged the slowing beeping of a heart rate monitor as I was put into the arms of a man, and I realized as he looked down at me, and I could see the outline of a blurry smile on his face, and felt the warmth of tears on my cheeks, that they weren't giants. I was just small. A baby. I looked up at the blurry face above me as the heartrate monitor flatlined, and the man clutched me tightly to his chest and choked out a sob. His arms were shaking, and he was looking beyond me, looking at the woman on the bed. The mother. My Mother.

I didn't know this woman, she had just given birth to this new me, but my mind saw my mother. The woman who raised me all by herself. The strong woman who saved people for the entirety of the day before spending as much time as she could stay awake with me at night. My mother was amazing. And I would never see her again, but almost worse than that, was the fact that I would never get to know this one. And then, I cried in earnest.

We stayed in that hospital a while, I needed checkups, and I guess my new father had to take care of my mother...Well, what was left of her. I couldn't even fathom the kind of pain he was in. I found myself hoping and praying he wouldn't blame me or resent me. I couldn't handle that. I listened and watched the people around me, and came to the conclusion that they were Japanese. Thank God for grad school... and anime. If only I had bothered to learn the language. I can identify it. I can count to ten. But beyond that, I had nothing. I mean, at least I get to grow up around it to learn it, right? It just sucks being a twenty-five year old mind in an infant body. It sucks even worse because I can't understand the people around me. Or read the signs.

I tried to stay quiet as my father carried me out, buckling me into the carseat and getting into the car himself. I heard his sigh as he looked at the passenger seat beside him, but then he turned around back to me, and since my eyes were already beginning to function a bit better, I could see the slight smile. Bittersweet. I don't know if he was trying to be comforting to me or himself. Probably both. The ride was silent for a while, but then he started talking. I couldn't understand a bit of it, but his voice was smooth, even when he started choking up. Maybe he was talking about his wife?

He carried me around the home, feeding me from a bottle (weird) and then finally tucking me into a crib, continuing to talk softly to me. He gently rubbed my head and whispered, "Meiko..." and I got the feeling that that was my name now. My name was Meiko. I was an infant. This was my father. And this was my home.

I got lucky. I kept my mind. My knowledge from before. My memories, but I also got the benefits of a child's mind. The elasticity, the pension for absorption. Between that and the dedication of my father to my learning, I was getting the hang of Japanese in no time. And with that, came understanding. I expected to be born again the day after my death; it felt like there was no time at all between death and rebirth. But no. The year was actually 2207, as I could read from the calendar next to the clock in the living room. But it felt so wrong. The TV I watched cartoons on was just an average flatscreen LCD like I was used to, and my father used a basic smartphone. Shouldn't the technology have improved in 200 years? Could I be in a different reality? An alternate timeline? Is the physics here different? What else could have changed? I was pondering these question when I heard my father's voice, talking on the phone turn alarmed. "Wait, what happened downtown?" Silence, "It's still on? What channel?"

And then he walked over to the remote on the table, while my two-year old body was confined to the crib in front of the TV, he came over to me with a smile, his phone pressed against his shoulder, "Hey there, princess, I need to change the channel a minute, okay?" I nodded, and he changed the channel to the news before plopping down on the couch beside me, and my eyes went to the screen, and in that moment, I realized the full brevity of my situation. Because on that screen was a person I had seen countless times. A face plastered across t-shirts and posters around my home. Except he wasn't animated. And he wasn't voiced by Chris Sabat, which disappointed me more than it probably should have. He stood in the wreckage of a building, flames behind him and injured people looking up at him; The voice rang out across the living room, "Never fear! Because I am here!"

I was broken from my daze and reminded to breathe when I heard my father's voice again, speaking into the phone, "Oh man, I know! All Might is the greatest! I am just glad I get to see it live for once!"

My mind was racing as I stared at the screen. All Might. All Might is on the TV. No...That can't be right. This can't be real. I look down at my chubby little fingers gripping the rail harder than I realized. I was NOT reincarnated into a fictional world. This is...this is a cheesy fanfiction plot? This can't be real!

Apparently, I whimpered, and I was visibly distressed, because I heard a quick "Gotta go" before my father rushed to kneel before me, brushing his thumb across my cheek, "Hey, don't be afraid Meiko. All might is a hero. He saved those people because he is super strong! And one day, you might have a great quirk that will let you be a hero, too!" I could basically feel the panic showing on my face, and he saw it too, cause he quickly gave a smile, "But it's okay if you don't. I never had a quirk, and I never let it bother me. Your mother though..." He chuckled, a sort of wistful wonder appeared on his face, "She was something else. She called hers "Light Bending". She could pull all the light out of a room and leave it in complete darkness, or she could expel light from around her, lighting up a dark room. When she really focused, she could bend the light into illusions. Make people see whatever she wanted them to see..." He sighed, "She woulda been a great hero." He tilts his head, and looks at me with a smile, "But that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to paint, and have a family." A silent tear escapes his left eye and he wipes it away, giving me a comforting smile once more, "She wanted to marry me, and have you, and paint the beauty in the world."

I managed a smile at him, and it seemed to lift his spirits, and he continued, "So what I am telling you is...no matter if you have a quirk or not. Or if you want to be a hero, or a grocery store owner or whatever...whatever you want. I'll be proud of you. You're my Meiko. You're my bright light, and I'll always be there for you." He leans forward and kisses my forehead. And then back onto his heels, "It's about lunchtime. What do you say? You hungry?" I nod, and he disappears into the kitchen, giving me a moment alone to process. I am living in a self-insert fanfiction. Probably. All I know is that I am in the world of My Hero Academia. All might is the number one hero. I may not even be in the right time period to follow the story I knew. I wouldn't know for sure until years from now. If I even find out at all? I could live out my life without ever running into Izuku Midoriya or any of the UA class 1-A. I felt the pang of disappointment at the thought of that. What was the point of living in the world of My Hero and not even getting to meet the characters I adore? And most importantly... I could have a quirk. I could have a quirk.

Holy fuck.