The body has five senses. Taste, Smell, Touch, Sight, and hearing. Izuku Midoriya tasted something warm and sharp. He smelled nothing. He felt cold. He could only see darkness. And he only heard voices. The voices were familiar even though he didn't recognize who they belonged to. It was like he forgot who they belonged to.
Then there was nothing.
A hand slammed on his desk and Izuku awoke from his dazed state.
He had been daydreaming again.
Kaachan was there. Standing over his desk with an annoyed expression on his face. He spoke.
Izuku heard nothing.
Kaachan made that angry face he always put on when someone was ignoring him.
Izuku blinked and rubbed his eyes.
"-like hell that means you can do shit, damn nerd!"
And all over again, Izuku wished his hearing hadn't come back.
"What, did you fall asleep and start dreaming about Heroes, again! Keep that up and your grades are gonna tank, Deku!"
He was dreaming wasn't he? It was bizarre. He couldn't even remember falling asleep. One second he had been listening to his homeroom teacher talk about the hero track. Then nothing. The dream, he couldn't remember it anymore. But he felt like it was something important. Something that he needed to remember. But he didn't know why?
Weird.
"What's this?" Kaachan asked. Before Izuku could protest, Kaachan swept up the Hero Journal Izuku had been working on. "What are you? Taking notes on how to be a Hero, huh?" Izuku made an attempt for the notebook. Kaachan lifted it out of his reach. "You really think you can be a Hero, Deku? With that nonexistent Quirk of yours? Ha. Your Quirk should be being Quirkless. You think you can get into Yuuei? You think you can be better than me with your worthless Quirk?"
"N-no, Kaachan. I never-"
"Watch this nerd," Kaachan ignited a small explosion in the palm of his hand. Igniting the notebook and causing Izuku to yelp. "This," Kaachan said, letting loose a rapid succession of explosions in similar size to the first. Each volley of combustion slowly blowing the notebook apart, pages burning away. "This is real power!"
"K-Kaachan!" Deku cried. Tears were streaming down his face already. He couldn't help it. It hurt to see his friend destroy all the time and effort Izuku had put into that Journal. It was his key to getting into Yuuei Highschool.
Kaachan began walking towards the open window, sneering over his shoulder at Izuku. "Take a page out of this journal of yours, and just buzz off!"
Izuku jumped from his seat. He couldn't reach Kaachan in time but maybe. Maybe if he was fast enough he could- The notebook was flung out the window. Izuku hit the opening and cried out in frustration as he watched the notebook land into the little coy pond out front.
He heard snickering from behind him as Kaachan made to leave with his two other friends. The one with the wings and the one with the finger quirk. "Here's some more advice you damn nerd!" Izuku was only barely paying attention to his friend anymore. "Pray that you will be born with a better Quirk in the next life. And take a swan dive off of the roof!" There was a chorus of laughter as the trio left the classroom.
Izuku didn't hear the door shutting behind them as they left. All he could hear was his notebook hitting the water with a splash.
The halls had been empty. All the students had gone ahead and went home for the day. All except for Izuku Midoriya as he begrudgingly walked with his head hung low out the front entrance and towards the koi pond. "Stop it damn it," he cursed under his breath at the fish that were enjoying their little fried notebook gourmet.
He stood there for a while in the water ignoring the fish swimming around him, occasionally giving his black uniform pants a nibble. They could nibble away all they wanted at Aldera Junior High. "Idiot," Izuku muttered under his breath on the wall home. "What if I had actually done it? Then what would you do, Kaachan?"
Kaachan had been Izuku's first friend. Their mother's were friends. Izuku had known Kaachan since his earliest memories. They had always talked and played together under the subject of heroism.
This was a world straight out of a comic book. People had superhuman abilities under a general consensus called Quirks. Around eighth percent of the world's total population had a Quirk. The rest were Quirkless. The difference could be spotted at a young age with a small useless joint in the toe.
Kaachan had gained his Quirk earlier than most. It was amazing. Explosion. Kaachan secreted nitroglycerin like sweat from his palms and could ignite it, resulting in explosions. Everyone had blessed him and praised him. Telling him that one day, he would make an amazing hero. Izuku's Quirk never came. His mother had even taken him to a doctor for testing. Turns out, Izuku has a Quirk. It just does nothing. Because of this, all of his life. He had asked everyone if he could become a Hero. And everyone refused to answer. Everyone except for Kaachan.
Slowly but surely over time it felt like a distance was growing between the two friends. Like Izuku was at a stand still while he was watching his friend racing away towards some great destiny. With his new power, came a new overblown ego. Kaachan became arrogant. A bully. The other kids looked up to him. They looked at him like he was already a star shining bright in the night sky, while Izuku was nothing more than a passing rock in an endless void.
He would show them. He would prove them all wrong. With the destroyed notebook in his hands. He was going to become a Hero. No matter what happened. He might not be as big and strong as All Might. But Izuku would undoubtedly become a hero one day. And it all would start at Yuuei, a private High School dedicated to training up and coming Heroes along with the basic educational courses.
Something was rattling. Something loud and metallic. There were sirens in the distance. Probably a Villain attack somewhere. Maybe if he was fast enough, he could catch the tail end of the fight.
Something massive and green swarmed around him. Izuku panicked, dropping his notebook.
He couldn't think, there was no time.
He was being drowned in a horrid smelling slime monster.
"Come on kid," a disjointed voice spoke in his ears. "Just let me take your body!"
Izuku clawed uselessly at green sludge. The strange liquid was now pouring into his throat. He couldn't breathe. Everything hurts. It was tight. His throat. His chest. His nose was flaring. Everything was going dark.
Was this how he died?
Izuku opened his eyes to a giant of a man lightly slapping his face. His vision began to focus more into the man's blond hair and deep eyes.
All Might.
All Might!
Japan's strongest Hero! The number one Hero, who saves everyone with a smile on his face. Making sure that everyone feels safe telling them that, "I am here!"
"All Might!" Izuku freaked. He was mumbling. He was fumbling over his words. There were so many questions he had. What did he ask? What did he do? Wait, he could sign his notebook!
Izuku shrieked like a fan girl at a pop concert when he noticed All Might's signature on his burnt notebook.
All Might was leaving. No, he couldn't leave. There was so much he had to ask. So much he needed to know more than anything.
Before he could think, Izuku grabbed onto All Might's pant leg as he jumped into the sky. All Might landed on a nearby building and gave Izuku a light scolding for his foolish actions. Izuku nodded along but he needed to ask. He needed to know.
"All Might!" He called. "I was born with a worthless Quirk. It does nothing. I might as well be Quirkless. And I was, well I wanted to know if it was possible... Could I ever become a Hero like you! A hero that smiles while saving everyone!"
All Might was coughing. There was smoke. All Might had transformed into a smaller, weak man.
He told Izuku the truth. "No, without power you could never become a Hero."
Izuku's world shattered.
All Might went on to talk about his weakness. An injury to his stomach from his Villain a couple years back. The reason why he couldn't work as often as he used to. And now, he was at his day's limit.
All Might left Izuku heading down the stairwell.
Izuku hadn't moved from his spot. Frozen in place. Eyes locked onto the railing in front of him. How high up was he? Maybe seven stories? Would that be high enough? To take a swan dive. To be born with a better Quirk in the next life?
Police sirens and a large explosion could be heard in the distance. Had the fight from earlier still been going on?
He didn't know why. Or how. But Izuku found himself walking in that direction.
There he was standing in the crowd. It's all he ever did. Its what he was meant to do. Become just another face in the crowd. He was never meant to be the one fighting the Villains. Kaachan was right. He was nothing more than a useless, worthless, Deku.
There was a space in the crowd. And Izuku watched in horror as the Sludge Villain from earlier had a kid stuck in a hold the same way Izuku had been earlier. How was the kid still alive? He had only been held for a minute and he felt like he was dying. If it wasn't for All Might saving him…
Because of him, All Might was out of power for the day. Because of him, this kid would die. Then Izuku's eyes met with a striking familiar red across the distance. Kaachan.
Izuku moved. He was running towards Kaachan. People were screaming. Heroes were yelling. But nobody moved for the useless kid running to save his friend. Izuku blinded the villain with his backpack. Pencils and other objects lodged inside a loose floating eyeball. Izuku was clawing at green slime once again. He wouldn't let Kaachan die. The slime wrapped around Izuku and he was in the air.
His back hurt. His head hurt. Everything hurts. It was hard keeping his eyes open. Was he bleeding?
All Might was standing over him. Kaachan behind him with a numb expression. Red eyes glazed as he stared at Izuku.
Don't cry, Kaachan. All Might is here, we are saved.
He felt cold. He could only see darkness. And he only heard voices.
They belonged to All Might, Kaachan, Heroes, and paramedics.
Then there was nothing.
A hand slammed on his desk and Izuku awoke from his dazed state. He had been daydreaming again.
Kaachan was there. Standing over his desk with an annoyed expression on his face. He spoke.
Kaachan looked down at Izuku with a snarl and asked, "what the hell is your problem?"
"Kaachan!" Izuku yelled, leaping up to embrace Kaachan in a tight hug. "You are okay!"
Everything in the classroom went silent. Wait a moment. Classroom? Izuku looked around, stunned. Where was All Might? What happened to the Villain? Was it all just a dream?
Kaachan's body tensed under Izuku's grip. His eyes wide. Then the explosion happened. Izuku cried out in pain as his friend blasted him away with his Quirk. Izuku looked up at Kaachan with teary eyes.
"What the fuck?" Kaachan asked out loud. Absolute rage seeping through his lips. His eyes were narrowed like dagger points. "Get your brain checked, damn stupid nerd!"
Izuku lay on the classroom floor.
Kaachan walked over to his friends who were standing by the door. "Come on, let's beat it."
Izuku was crying. It had just been a terrible, terrible dream. A nightmare. As if All Might had a weakness or Kaachan could be stopped by a Sludge Villain. Maybe Izuku did need to get his brain checked.
Or maybe… just maybe it wasn't a dream after all. When Izuku was five the Doctor had told Izuku that he did in fact possess a quirk. An Invisible Quirk. Not a power that could turn Izuku invisible but a power that showed no noticeable change.
Could Izuku have some form of Foresight? Like Sir Nighteye. No. Nighteye's Quirk showed the future.
Izuku's Quirk showed Kaachan ruining his notebook. That hadn't happened because of Izuku's outburst. So what was his quirk? A variant of Foresight? No. It was more than Foresight. Izuku could remember the feeling of being choked, of being slammed against a wall, and the utter devastation caused by All Might's words.
All Might…
If what Izuku saw had actually happened. Then that would mean…
"No, without power you could never become a hero."
Izuku deflated. His Hope's had risen at the thought of his quirk finally emerging only to be dashed by those damning words.
Izuku walked home feeling the weight of despair hang over his shoulders.
The number one Hero had told him his dreams of becoming a Hero were an impossibility. The number one Hero was a fake. A golden symbol for all to admire and envy. Just a mask hiding the frail and dying man beneath.
Izuku rubbed his eyes. Despite the Hero's harsh words… Izuku was sad for him.
Izuku passed over the sewer opening where the Slime Villain had attacked him in the vision. Nothing happened. He wondered if his Quirk showed him alternate realities. Possibilities thrown into the wind by a series of butterflies. A Quirk that allowed him to live brief possible outcomes that were parallel to his world.
When he realized that this could be yet another alternate reality. It was a strange thought that would lead him down a rabbit hole if he continued down that path.
Izuku pushed open the door and heard the noise. It was so distinct and it pulled at his heart. His emerald eyes widened and he dashed forwards.
Izuku was met with his crying mother at the kitchen table. Her phone was lying beside her. "Mom! Mom, what's wrong?" He asked her.
Inko Midoriya looked up at her son with all the strength she lacked and said, "Mitsuki called." Was this about Kaachan? Just what trouble was he causing for their parents now? "Izuku," her voice was soft and fragile. "There was a Villain attack earlier today. The Villain took someone hostage. All Might stopped him before anyone else could be hurt."
A Villain attack. The Sludge Villain that had attacked Izuku and Kaachan in the alternate reality. So All Might had saved the day again. "That's great," Izuku said with a smile. "Then what's wrong?"
Inko visibly steeled herself. "The hostage suffocated before All Might arrived on the scene."
Izuku deflated. Oh. Well, I guess you can't save everyone. Even if you are All Might.
Inko choked on a sob.
Wait.
Why did Kaachan's mom call about the villain attack? Why was his mother so upset? Izuku remembered his "dream" from earlier and dreaded his mother's next words.
"Katsuki was the hostage."
Izuku felt his blood run cold.
"Katsuki was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital."
Izuku broke.