TW: this chapter shows how people react after someone tries to take their lives, as well as self-depreciation, foul language and self-hatred, so please, if this might make someone feel uncomfortable, don't read this and take care of your mental health.
Flashback: Three Days before Izuku's awakening.
After Inko took Izuku for surgery and went inside the hospital, Ochaco and Tenya were completely numb… As almost everything they stood for ended up shattering into dust.
Izuku broke after everything that happened, and went so far to try to end his own existence as he couldn't take the pain and suffering anymore…
Where did they went wrong?
Everything they had shared as a class… The Summer Camp, The School Festival, The Adventures at I-Island, The Provisional License Exams, their time living together…
Even after all of that, most people weren't able to trust Izuku at all…
Well, at least they felt remorse for their actions, it would be strange for them to act like nothing ever happened and ignore those issues…
But, for some reason, Ochaco felt that she could've been one of them…
The day she read his notebook, she felt really scared, as Izuku knew her weakness and could easily defeat her, probably even kill her…
Somehow, she heard a voice in her head, which uttered some words that changed her mindset before that distrust could've grown more…
"Please, have faith in him, he would never hurt you nor anyone…"
That voice sounded exhausted, filled so much regret and sadness, almost as it was begging Ochaco to believe in Izuku… So, she remembered a lot of things.
How Izuku broke himself to save her from that robot.
How Izuku almost let himself be killed by Shigaraki to protect her from danger.
How Izuku made a lot of pages focused on ways to protect her fingers and fight with a sword, so she would have more options.
How Izuku almost died to save Tenya and Native from Stain, after she was told that alongside Tsuyu by the heroic trio as a symbol of trust.
How Izuku broke himself to rescue Bakugou, despite the pain he put him through for a decade…
How Izuku nearly died saving Kouta from Muscular and Eri from Overhaul, and a lot more things…
At that moment, that doubt faded away, and she did everything in her power to protect him, just as he did towards her…
"Ochaco, I think we should return to the dorms in order to rest…" Said Tenya in an exhausted tone, not being able to do a single hand chop as he always did…
"Yeah, I think we should…" Answered Ochaco in a strained smile as they took a taxi outside the hospital, which were co-ops so they were safe… When they were inside, Ochaco couldn't take the exhaustion so she faded into a deep sleep…
Since it would take them an hour and a half to return, her dreams would open the doors to a new perspective, which will help her understand her best friend's situation a lot better…
Ochaco woke up inside a white room, and it only had two small chairs and a TV, which was a bit weird…
"Um, where am I?" She asked as she tried to analyze her surroundings, only to find someone unexpected… Herself.
Or rather, another version of herself.
Was it Himiko? No, that couldn't be, her quirk didn't allow her to access other people's dreams, so…
Was she really face to face with an alternate version of herself?
Future Ochaco seemed way older, probably in her early fifties, and time took its toll as well… Most of her brown hair faded into salt and pepper streaks, only her lower bangs keeping their original color, and her face had many worry lines and wrinkles, plus she had scars in her arms and legs too…
But the most saddening part, was her face… Her parents were currently just a decade younger than her counterpart, but their faces were not that broken…
"I guess you have a lot of questions…" Said Future Ochaco as she took her seat. "Please, ask everything you want to."
"Are you my future self?" Asked Ochaco in a neutral tone as she took her own seat. "How did you come here? And finally… Will Izuku recover from everything? Please, I have to know…"
When she mentioned Izuku's name, her counterpart just looked away in shame, before taking a breath to tell her deepest secrets to someone else…
"I'm you from an alternate timeline, one where we didn't believe in Izuku's innocence…" Said Future Ochaco as some tears fell from her face. "I found someone with a quirk that allows another person to send thoughts and appear in dreams from our past selves, so I told you to believe in him, because otherwise we would've betrayed him…"
Ochaco's heart shattered.
"Why didn't you believe in him?!" Ochaco growled as she slapped her future counterpart, who did nothing to defend herself, before slapping herself as well. "Why was I so close of betraying him…"
"Because most people have something Izuku either never had, or probably lost somewhere before joining Yuuei…" Answered Future Ochaco in a sad tone. "Self-Preservation."
One of the most basic instincts a human being could have, the desire to stay alive, to seek the best for thyself, to avoid dangers and seek pleasure and happiness… Something so rooted in a human consciousness that it drove them to move forward a lot of times…
"Since no one told me to have faith in him, my doubts kept growing and growing…" Added Future Ochaco as her tears started to flow even more. "Eventually, when they found that missing page, and Aizawa said that Izuku had a big chance to be the traitor, I didn't stand up for him, I just kept quiet because I was scared about my life…"
Apparently, only Tenya and Kyoka believed in Izuku's innocence… Everyone else treated him the same as they did in the current timeline, except that Kouji, Denki and her avoided him and couldn't even look at him in the eye.
Despite everything, that was the full extent of her counterpart's attitude… She couldn't send a glare to him, and deep inside, she prayed that he was innocent so everything would return back to normal…
Except it didn't.
"Were Denki and Hagakure the traitors in your timeline as well?" Asked Ochaco as she desired to know everything about her counterpart…
"Yes…" Replied Future Ochaco before breaking down into heavy, guttural sobs. "Denki… Broke after Izuku was tor-tortured for three days to get a forced confession, before Nedzu found the truth and had them both jai-jailed…"
Three days…
Three days…
THREE DAYS!
If her Izuku wanted to end his life after just three hours, what would've happened to his counterpart who suffered way more…
Ochaco just waited for her alternate self to calm down enough, as she was sure her heart was filled with an immense amount of regret and despair…
"After All Might told us he was innocent, I just remembered falling to my knees and not being able to move at all, realizing that I betrayed one of my most treasured people…" Said Future Ochaco as her eyes became empty, not being able to hide the full extent of her mental deterioration.
For the next week, many people in class tried to ask for Izuku's forgiveness, either by apologizing a lot, or buying him gifts like new notebooks, Katsudon tickets and more T-Shirts with unique logos, even All Might and other heroes' merchandise… But were met by angry snarls, cold stares and pointed earlobes courtesy of Tenya and Kyoka, who didn't allow anyone from their class to reach out to Izuku…
That part sickened Ochaco to her core… How could they want to buy Izuku's forgiveness?!
The only people who didn't do so were Bakugou, Tsuyu, Shoto and her… And she probably knew the reasons anyway.
"It was the most difficult week of our lives…" Continued Future Ochaco as she told her tale. "Aizawa lost both his teaching and Pro-Hero licenses, and was sent to a psychiatric hospital to treat his Paranoid Personality Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder…"
After that, Nedzu gave Class 1-A a week off until he could find another qualified teacher to educate them, so they had to stay in the dorms a lot…
"I think I should just show you the next part…" Said Future Ochaco as she couldn't even look at her younger self in the eye.
In the TV, a dreadful scene played... One that would shock Ochaco to her very soul, showing her a part of Izuku she didn't even think it existed…
Original Timeline
Izuku was TIRED of seeing gift baskets near his door, to the point he had to politely decline every single time someone tried to reach out, as he couldn't understand it…
If they hated him, why were they pretending to care about him?
Weren't those three days of interrogation and psychological torture, plus the three weeks of rejection, indifference and hatred enough punishment?
He didn't even feel anything anymore… He couldn't trust anyone anymore…
Why did Tenya and Kyoka sacrificed themselves for him?
Why was Aizawa-sensei punished, when none of his old teachers were?
Why were his classmates apologizing to him, when none of his old ones ever did so?
The contradiction was tearing him apart…
The final nail in the coffin was after he went to the kitchen to grab some water, to then return as fast as he could to avoid everyone until Kyoka and Tenya returned…
Sadly, some people were approaching him at that very moment…
"Midori…" Said Mina in a regretful tone, as she looked at him directly in the eyes. "I know I've said it a lot but, I'm sorry, we all are…"
"Yeah bro, what we did was unmanly and horrible, and we don't expect any forgiveness, but we'll make it up to you as much as we can…" Added Eijirou as he rubbed his left arm with his right one.
"Would you accept some homemade Katsudon?" Asked Momo, who carried a bowl with his most precious food…
"Or some Cheese?" Said Yuuga as he gave him some cheddar packets…
What Class 1-A didn't know was that Izuku normally kept a lot of anger inside of him, and only a mental block prevented him from snapping against other people…
But since it was broken after being tortured, yelled at and even kicked twice in those horrid three days… He couldn't keep it inside anymore.
So, after nearly twelve years of torment… He snapped.
"ENOUGH!" Growled Izuku with so much anger and hatred in his words that everyone couldn't even move, before he took the Katsudon bowl and threw it with so much force that it broke, splattering its contents into a nearby wall, as well as taking the cheese and tearing it apart with his own hands before throwing it to a window… "WHY ARE YOU ALL DOING THIS?! DO YOU THINK I'M A FUCKING BROKEN TOOL YOU CAN THROW AWAY AND TAKE BACK WHEN YOU ALL WANT TO?!"
No one could say anything after being faced with such a huge killing intent…
"WHY CAN'T YOU ALL JUST BE HONEST?!" Screamed Izuku as tears started to appear in his face. "HATE ME! USE YOUR QUIRKS TO HURT ME! BEAT ME UP! USE YOUR WORST INSULTS! TREAT ME WITH INDIFFERENCE! TELL ME TO KILL MYSELF! BUT DON'T FUCKING PRETEND TO CARE WHEN YOU NEVER DID! I'M TIRED, I'M SO TIRED OF THIS!"
After screaming, he started to laugh, and it wasn't like a normal laugh… It was a laugh filled so much anger, sadness and regret… A laugh of someone who finally broke and couldn't take it anymore.
(A/N: imagine Light Yagami's legendary laugh in Death Note, but less insane and more sorrowful).
"ALL OF YOU PROBABLY GOT EVERYTHING JUST BY EXISTING, BY BEING YOURSELVES, BUT I HAD TO WORK MY ASS OFF TO GET WHAT I HAD, AND I WASN'T EVEN WORTHY OF THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT, AS ALMOST ALL OF YOU HURT ME…" Said Izuku at the top of his lungs, before speaking in a calmer tone… "Just look at yourselves, you're probably afraid that I will hurt all of you right now…"
"No… That's not…" Murmured Eijirou as much as he could, before noticing the expressions in Mina, Yuuga and Momo's faces.
Izuku had been right, after all… And if he could've seen his face, he too would've been afraid as well.
"I get it, okay?! I FUCKING GET IT!" Growled Izuku once more, not repressing a single emotion as his anger reignited. "I'M A MONSTER! I'M A STUPID, USELESS, TOXIC, CONDESCENDING PIECE OF SHIT AND DEKU, I GET IT! THAT'S WHY I FUCKING HATE MYSELF, MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE, SO DON'T PRETEND OTHERWISE! I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY, I DON'T WANT ANY OF THIS, SO PLEASE, LEAVE ME ALONE! BEFORE I LOSE WHATLITTLE SENSE OF REASON, I HAVE LEFT!"
"Izu… Izuku…" Said Future Ochaco as she saw the entire conflict unfold…
Thankfully for everyone present, Izuku's anger finally burned out… Instead, sadness took its place, as he fell to the ground into a fetal position and started sobbing and screaming so hard and they could feel the sorrow from his body.
Future Ochaco tried to comfort him, but was stopped by an earlobe who stabbed her in the stomach, as Kyoka used her body to shield Izuku before Tenya and his mother arrived at the scene, faces filled with anger towards everyone else in the area.
"What the hell have you all done?!" Growled Kyoka towards her four classmates. "What part of leaving him alone you BASTARDS don't understand?"
"Let me die, please, let me die…" Murmured Izuku as he sobbed, before his mom hushed him to then pet his hair and carry him with her quirk, using her body to shield him from everybody else. "Please, I can't stand this…"
"We just wanted to help…" Murmured Mina as she couldn't understand how they messed up things so badly…
"This is unforgivable…" Added Tenya as he gave all four of them his strongest glare. "I want all of you to heed my words, as everything you're doing right now, and everything you've done in the past days, was not done for Izuku's benefit, but rather to ease and erase the guilt dwelling in your hearts."
"Tenya, please, I don't think they are that selfish…" Said Future Ochaco, trying to see the best in her classmates' actions…
"It's Iida for you, Uraraka." Answered Tenya in a serious tone. "And you have no right to justify their actions, as neither them, you or almost everyone in this class did the right thing when you could, when you had to, and now, that's it convenient to apologize most of you jump to harass my BROTHER for days… At least you, Asui, Todoroki and Bakugou did not pretend to care so, I guess you four are a bit better than the rest, so please, take that as your victory, and if all of you truly cared for Izuku at least once, just leave us alone, okay?"
When he finished, he made a human shield with Kyoka to protect Miss Midoriya and Izuku, until they both left the room for good…
Ochaco couldn't stop crying as she saw what happened…
How could they all have been so inconsiderate?
How could she have been so selfish?
How could she abandon Izuku…?
"Remember what I told you about self-preservation?" Asked Future Ochaco as she gave her counterpart some tissues to dry her tears, before patting her head a bit… "As most of us were traumatized by the League and their attacks, we all wanted to save ourselves so, we did what you saw to ensure our survival…"
It was true… As much as Ochaco didn't want to accept it…
Izuku was someone who endured bullying, rejection, indifference and raw, genuine hatred by almost everyone he used to know (except for his mom, of course), so that slowly tore apart his self-esteem and self-worth, meaning that he grew up into an empty being, someone who lived entirely through an ideal, and was willing to die as long as someone else could smile and be happy, and when the same people he tried to protect turned his back on him…
It either drove him to madness at her counterpart's timeline, or to suicide into the current one…
"I think you arrived to the dorms so, we will continue this talk later…" Said Future Ochaco as she hugged her present self. "Please, no matter what happens, you need to save Izuku…"
She woke up in front of the dorms, just a minute before the taxi arrived. After thanking the driver, Tenya helped her get out of the car before going to their rooms, as they both needed a well-deserved night of sleep…
Somehow… She was angry with her future counterpart for not helping Izuku while she could, but another part of her… Was worried.
Future Ochaco was a broken woman, either in heart, soul and body… Whatever happened after that, she had to prepare herself for the worst, but that information would clear a better path for her best friend…
Also… Thanks to her message, Izuku gained three more allies, thus his support system was far stronger, so things would be better…
"Izuku…" Murmured Ochaco after getting into her room, to then fall to her bed, ready for sleep to conquer her again… "I swear that I will save you, all of us will save you, I will be your Ally of Justice…"
After those words, Ochaco Uraraka once again fell asleep, this time, into a dreamless one.
Hello, the author here!
Sorry for the late, college was really hard, but now that I'm in vacation it's time to continue the story!
Thanks for all the support as well, please take care and have good days! :D