A quick few things before we begin.
First of all, thank you to anyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed this! Seriously it's a great motivator, especially since this is my first fic.
Another huge thanks to the lovely people at the Izuocha discord who helped me start writing this.
Also, to those wondering in the reviews: I don't plan on giving Izuku OfA yet. I haven't decided if he'll eventually get it later, but for the near future Deku's gonna rely on Return by Death and his wits to solve his problems.
Now, back to the actual first chapter
Chapter 1: Back in time
'...huh?'
"What, Deku? Are you just gonna stare at me with that look in your face, like the useless piece of shit that you are?" he heard Kacchan growling at him in the background, but Izuku wasn't paying attention to him; his thoughts were preoccupied with something much, much more important.
Izuku Midoriya had just died.
Or at least it seemed like it, but there he was, standing right in front of Bakugo, in a scene that's an exact replica of a memory he had earlier today; by all accounts, he was very much alive. However, the memories in his head were too vivid, too real to be mere hallucinations, Izuku was sure that whatever he remembered actually happened. He was absolutely, completely certain that he had been saved from a sludge villain by All Might, been told off by him, and that he seemingly fell in battle to the very same villain that attacked him earlier in the day.
But if that is the case, then why is he standing right here, in his classroom, without any kind of injuries whatsoever? And why was the scene so like what had transpired earlier today? An idea crossed Izuku's mind, but he quickly shut it down since there was no idea that could have ever happened, right?
Mistaking Izuku's lock of incredulity with a look of fear, Katsuki Bakugo turned around and started walking towards the exit, a satisfied smirk on his face. However, just as he was about to leave, Izuku let out a shout.
"Kacchan!"
"What do you want, stupid Deku?" Bakugo retorted. "Apologizing for wasting my time today?"
"Kacchan, please listen to me" Izuku pleaded, his tone of voice slightly surprising the blond teen, though it wasn't noticeable. "Don't go to Musutafu today!"
Izuku saw Katsuki frown at the sheer absurdity of this request, thought it quickly turned into an ugly scowl. "So what if I decide to go there? Actually, you know what, Deku? I'm gonna spend my entire day there, just to piss you off! Seriously, who do you think you are, ordering me to not go here and there?! Do you think you're fucking better than me, Deku?!" the now angry teenager shouted at him, which caused Izuku to recoil slightly.
"Ka-kacchan no this wasn't what I mea-" blabbered Midoriya, but before he could finish even a single sentence, his classmate had already stomped out of the classroom with his two lackeys, leaving the green haired boy alone.
Izuku was mortified, after finding, much to his dismay, his hero analysis notebook submerged in the fish pond. This meant that this was not merely a similar situation to the one he remembered from earlier on. It was in fact the same exact situation, and he had actually witnessed what happened in the future, since the pond itself was tiny and the chance of the notebook landing in it small; so having it happen twice is even rarer. This erased all the doubts about the experiences being just dreams and soon enough he began to connect the dots and started thinking to himself.
'So let's recall everything that happened after that point in my memories...while heading home, I was attacked by the sludge villain, but then All Might saved me and put him in a bottle. Afterwards I latched in to him, discovered his weak form, and listened to him tell me that I couldn't be a hero. Dejected, I ran into the sludge villain again, holding Kacchan, who then proceeded to…..knock me out? Kill me? Whatever happened, I then immediately woke up at the time of leaving school...that means...that…'
"I HAVE A QUIRK!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, which granted him some stares from the strangers around him, although at this moment Izuku Midoriya, for once in his life, couldn't care less about the stares of the people around him. He had a quirk! His lifelong dream is finally starting to look possible to him now. He was no longer weak, useless, quirkless Deku anymore. He finally has the power to save people with a smile, just like All Might!
Just then, Izuku noticed that he was nearing the tunnel where he got attacked previously by the sludge villain, so he turned around and took a longer route.
As Izuku was nearing his home, he started thinking about his newfound quirk, muttering to himself along the way
"So first of all, I need to know how the quirk was activated. It seems like it took effect either when I was dead, or gravely injured; no way of finding out currently without exposing myself to really dangerous stuff. Plus, it seems like when it activates, I go back to a certain point in time before the moment of activation with full memories of what happened, and the ability to change what transpired. Now, whether I am creating alternate realities or simply rewriting the same one, I can definitely use the knowledge I learned during my last memories to my advantage, just like me avoiding the sludge villain this time around...well, if it is really a quirk, then it doesn't offer me any kind of physical or combat advantage; it's not like Kacchan's quirk. However I can know stuff other people don't and use the information, and, like they say, knowing is half the battle. Although the conditions to activate it seem to be pretty limiting, I gotta either be gravely injured, or maybe even die, for it to activate. Up until then I'm basically just quirkless. But, in that case, I could purposefully-"
His muttering was interrupted by the sudden realization that he was standing in front of his door for a while now, doing nothing but thinking and muttering to himself. Straightening himself up, Izuku knocked twice then entered his house, feeling reinvigorated by all that happened today.
"Izuku! You're back!" the green haired boy heard his mother say. "How was today?"
Thinking about it for a split-second, Izuku decided that he would not, by any means, worry his mother by telling her that he nearly got himself killed, or that he maybe even died for all he knew; the poor woman really cared for him and just telling her that he got roped in in the middle of a villain attack, even if he survives with no injuries, would surely devastate her.
"Everything's fine, mom. Just the same old stuff" he said, deciding that he'll keep his quirk a secret, for now at least.
"That's good, my dear. Now, guess who made you some katsudon?" his mother replied, as Izuku caught the smell of his favorite meal being cooked in the kitchen.
"Aw, jeez, mom, I dunno...All Might?" he joked in a playful manner. His mother really was the best.
After dinner, Izuku rushed to his room and turned on his computer instinctively, planning to watch his favorite video of All Might rescuing civilians from a devastating disaster. After a few watches, Izuku then opened a new tab and typed on the search engine bar
Time travel quirks
Quirk that activates when you die
Quirk that brings you back
Time quirk
Alternate reality quirk
Quirk that's hidden until you're dead
Death quirk
Surprisingly enough, Izuku couldn't find a single result similar to his own quirk, despite thoroughly searching all the national hero databases as well as some other reliable fanboy sources.
"So it's a mutation, huh? Well, if no one has this kind of quirk, then I can't really get help from anyone else in learning about it. I have to learn how to be a hero by myself. I think it activates by dying and not being fatally injured, since I remember getting into a pretty big accident back when I was 6 or 7 which should have triggered my quirk if it activated before death, so that makes using it quite counterintuitive, because for me to actually be useful, I have to die. Now, back to the issue of the combat ability, since my quirk doesn't do any damage or give me a huge advantage in battle, I have to either learn how to pack a punch, or rely some support equipment, but in that case…". Before he knew it, the green haired boy had descended into a cascade of muttering, as if in some kind of trance. After a while, Izuku had ended up with several notes on his charred hero analysis notebook.
Quirk name: [work in progress]
User: Izuku Midoriya (me!)
Description:
Once the user dies, he is transported back across time with the ability to fix what went wrong.
Pros:
-Very useful, can use knowledge of what happens as leverage
-Could be useful in disaster situations where I could know what happens and try to prevent it instead of decreasing the damage = more civilians saved
-Can afford to be careless in battle.
-Can keep failing and dying until I succeed (to be tested)
-Immortality?!
Cons:
-Not a combat quirk = practically quirkless in battle
-Only triggered occasionally
-Very counter intuitive, requires the situation to already be extremely dangerous for it to activate in the first place
-Vulnerable to being captured/taken down non lethally
-Unique quirk, nobody to teach me how to use it.
Notes:
-Need to get stronger in battle: Support? Training?
-Need to learn more about how it activates, but I don't really know HOW I can do so without getting in too much danger and risking my idea being wrong.
-Need to watch clips of heroes who don't have enhancing or emitting quirks = who fight in a quirkless-type of way, hand-to-hand or using utility times (Eraserhead?)
-NEEDS. TO. BE. KEPT. SECRET. People knowing about this quirk basically negate every advantage it has.
As Izuku kept on writing, he didn't notice his eyelids getting heavier and heavier, and soon enough he drifted into a peaceful slumber.
Inko Midoriya really loved her son; he was her pride and joy, and she liked to think that she knew him inside-out. This is why, when Izuku came home today, she couldn't help but notice an unmistakable glint in his eyes. Something had happened to her son, something important, and, as a responsible mother, she should seek to protect him; something exciting isn't necessarily something safe.
But…
For the first time in years, her baby looked radiant. Sure, he got excited before, especially when he's doing something that concerns heroes, but Inko couldn't help but notice that there used to be something else in his gaze, something deeper, sadder. She tried to talk to him about it, but he always told her that it was nothing, everything was fine. Plus, she was quite sure those bruises he got after playing with Mitsuki's son weren't just from "falling", as he used to put it. Inko wasn't stupid, she knew that quirkless people are discriminated against in this society. So, even if her intents were to protect him, is it really right to deprive her son of this happiness, of this excitement?
Her hand hovered over the handle of his door, unsure whether to confront him about what happened or not.
Eventually, she let her hand drop and walked back to her room, with a sad smile on her face.
'Well, I'll just have to support him from now on. When I was a teenager, I hated when my parents tried to control my personal life. Just...please, Izuku…..
Be safe'
"Coming in, a mysterious disappearance at Musutafu today. Reports have came in have shown that there was a disappearance, possibly a kidnapping, of-"
*click*
Shigaraki Tomura turned off the tv sitting in the corner of the room, a severed hand covering annoyed look on his face. He then turned to face his newest "party member", a person who seemed to be constituted entirely of swirling black mist.
"Kurogiri, why do some villains content themselves with just mere kidnappings? It seems so...bland. So boring. The low level quests, while easy, are worth barely any EXP or loot"
Kurogiri stayed silent, unsure how to respond.
"Kurogiri" continued Tomura. "We need a big target. We need to do something that puts our name on the map"
"Our name?" his party member asked. "Do we have an official identity now?"
"Kurogiri…..
From now on, we're the League of Villains"