AN: Hi. Welcome to my latest fic.

This idea came to me as I was watching the first season of the MHA anime this weekend, and it refused to go away. So, I jotted some stuff down, and...well, this happened. This is the first crossover between Watchmen and My Hero Academia at the time of this note, so maybe it'll scratch your itch for now until someone else does it better. I will come out and say that this is more or less an experimental side project while I work on my other active fic, but hey, we'll see where this goes.

Hope you enjoy!

They had a choice, all of them.

They stood idly by, surrendering truth in exchange for a fragile peace built on one lie and millions of corpses. World came to rest in the hands of a madman, blinded by his own arrogance to the atrocities he committed.

They had a choice, and they compromised.

Not me. Even in the face of Armageddon, I did not compromise. Manhattan killed me to preserve Veidt's utopia, to ensure that the facade remained undamaged even as the world descended into Hell.

I chose death.

So...why was I here?

The unkempt man's eyes shot open, pupils silently seizing up as the light of the morning sun over the horizon filled his vision. Beach sand adhered to his leather trench coat, his red hair and stubbled jaw scratchy with the abrasive grains. The man grimaced and looked around with wide eyes, seemingly in search of someone or something of great importance.

Under the sand, a small patch of shifting black and white glistened in the sun, the two colors moving freely but never mixing, never compromising their hues.

'My face.'

Sighing silently in relief, the vagrant pulled the fabric free from the dunes, its human head-shaped form hanging loosely from his gloved hands as the sand poured out of it. He rolled the mask in silence before stuffing it into his coat beside his grapple gun and standing up, his knees shaking slightly as if learning to walk once again.

His face would have to wait. The city could not bear it this early in the day. The dread it brought was too overwhelming for the light, had to be contained in the dark with the rest of its fearful secrets.

For now, his mask would have to do. For now, Rorschach would wait, silently watching.

For now, Walter Kovacs would walk the streets.

The man staggered uneasily down the beach toward the concrete stairs, completely ignoring the gazes of disdain from the beach patrons. They likely assumed that he was a drunk, a vagrant, an aimless wanderer waiting to die.

It was better that way.

Scuffed, unshined leather shoes met well-maintained asphalt as he ambled up the stairs, his gaze fixed down the road at the densely-populated metropolis before him. This city felt different from New York, the stench of iniquity and filth slightly altered but still ever-present and all too evident to Kovacs. The language of the signage adorning the walls of the skyscrapers was not his own, but a nonsensical hodgepodge of brushstrokes and butchered English phrasing. Futuristic-looking, obscenely small compact cars zoomed through the streets as suited salarymen filed down the sidewalks, their expressionless faces seemingly waiting for something. Droves of uniformed schoolchildren ran along as well, their eyes alight with excitement.

Kovacs' eyes narrowed, his face blank.

There was a fairly strong chance that he was wrong about his location or just hallucinating somehow, but the detective was not satisfied with these answers.

As if in search of another clue or a breakthrough, the man's gaze shifted upward, fixating itself on a billowing white banner flying high above the street's buildings. The wind changed suddenly, causing the banner to fly open and reveal its true colors.

A red circle on a field of white. The flag of the Rising Sun.

The flag of Japan.

'...Shit.'

Izuku yawned as he stepped out of his apartment, U.A. school bag slung across his back and one of his mom's box lunches in his hand. The night prior was a long one; while he never was one to struggle with schoolwork or to slack off on his studies, the Hero Course had a surprisingly rigorous workload that he knew he couldn't afford to falter under. The sun shone brightly through the windows of the complex as he descended the flights of stairs and reached street level, the road in front of his home as busy as always with the droves of morning commuters that passed by.

He looked out across the horizon, the blue sky filling him anew with determination. Fate had smiled upon him, and the city had been kind. His journey to the fulfillment of his dream was just beginning, but the green-haired kid knew that there was a bright future waiting just around the corner for him to seize it.

Deku raised his hand and opened it before looking at his palm. This hand had been broken numerous times before, a result of his ongoing battle for control of One For All...but deep down, Izuku knew it was worth it. Turning back to the street, the young man began his walk to U.A. High, grinning ear to ear.

"Today is gonna be a good day."

AN: Well, there you have it. First chapter complete. It was short, yeah, but I'll have more coming fairly soon.

Let me know what you think so far. It's my first time writing for both of these works, and I'm especially concerned about doing Rorschach justice, since Watchmen is probably my favorite comic/graphic novel of all time. So, leave a review if you want to give some praise, have something to share, or have a critique you'd like me to work on.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next chapter.