The worst thing about not being able to die was the boredom, the raw monotony of day to day life had just gotten ten times worse with the revelation that he would not be able to end it as he had planned.
Izuzku was bored, he knew he could do literally anything and just reset if there were bad consequences or he could do good things to brighten people's days but- without knowing why- just didn't want to.
Eventually he'd thought he'd gotten through the first day, gotten home and turned on the television with 'breaking news' in clear view as it showed the slime victim that had attacked him in a previous reset with another hostage. Izuku paid little attention to it until it mentioned the name of his middle school, he focused on it to see if it was anyone he knew and put down his partially destroyed notebook on the coffee table when he saw that the hostage of the slime villain was none other than his long time tormenter, Katsuki Bakugo.
Izuku felt like he should have bolted up in shock and prayed that he'd be okay but he didn't, a small dark part of him whispered that he deserved it, that it was the blondes karma for those ten years of torment. He felt like he should have been shocked but he couldn't find it in him to care, he just felt straining emptiness.
He glanced to the hero's who were doing... nothing? What were they doing? If the slime villain wasn't stopped they could cause serious damage with Katsukis quirk, not only that but there would be the death of a teen.
A loud yell from the tv broke him out of his thoughts, he could see Katsukis eyes looking around in desperation and pure fear as his oxygen depleted further. It should have make him shudder, make him wish that a hero would appear but instead he felt...odd. He felt almost nothing, knowing that his death or continued living was almost entirely in Izukus hands made him feel like he wasn't completely useless for once.
The news reporter grew more frantic as Bakugo slumped and his eyes closed, the camera shook and the woman who was reporting the news fell silent in shock. Izuku walked to the kitchen and got the sharpest knife they had, he balanced the weight between his fingers for a moment as he lingered in the moment of peace, for a moment he hesitated, the pointed blade stopped right at his neck. He hesitated to plunge it into his neck to save the life of his bully because maybe a part of him truly believed he deserved that, however small that part was he couldn't deny that he would have liked not to have to go back to what it usually was. The hesitation was short lived as he buried the knife the whole way through his throat and pulled it out, he felt a sharp stab of pain and instant light-headedness through which he could barely hear the cluttering of groceries being dropped onto the floor and a panicked 'Izuku!' Shouted by his mother as she rushed to his collapsed form and pressed her hands against his heavily bleeding wound in a futile attempt to save his current life. He was back at the black void in a matter of moments and didn't hesitate to go straight for the reset, he'd just try to tell Katsuki to head a different way home because of villain activity.
Unfortunately the plan of walking up to him and confronting him had been much easily executed in his head, the moment he'd warned him he'd flared in anger
"Don't think I can take care of myself shity Deku!" He'd yelled, somehow taking it as an insult
"N-no I just saw on the n-news and didn't want you to get I-injured" he'd stuttered, he may be immune to death but burns, bruises and grazes were pains felt all too much. Katsuki didn't seem to take this well either, it'd remain a mystery to Izuku how he managed to flip an expression of concern to an insult.
"Hah? Injured! I just said I can take it ignorant idiot!" He'd continued in a somehow louder volume and looked angrier by the second, Izuku shrunk back slightly before meekly replying with a
"S-sorry for wasting your time Katsuki" before he walked away, leaving Katsuki to turn back to his goons and 'tsk' muttering something about his time being wasted and to think something about how weird it was Deku hadn't called him by his stupid nickname. The bristley blonde practically stomped off with his two followers close behind, Izuku watched out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he'd left Katsuki dead. He tried to ignore how much he wanted to leave him dead and finally have a peaceful life, he had felt like the price for Katsukis actions of harsh bullying to multiple students was his previous state- he could have let Katsuki die permanently, he could have saved himself and others from another day of his cruel actions, wouldn't that be a good thing? It wasn't like he'd actively caused it, just kept it that way through inaction- Izuku shook the thought out of his mind, he was depressed not murderous
Izuku was staying close to where the attack happened so when he heard explosions he went in the direction they came from with the intent of doing something to prevent Katsukis death, there was already a small crowd gathered with a few hero's just standing in the sidelines and watching. Again the 'what are they doing?' Question ran through his mind, this time he caught a whisper of 'more suitable quirk' as the three discussed what to do in hushed voices- wait for a more suitable quirk? Sure their quirks weren't perfect for the situation they were trying to deal with but somebody just coming along with the perfect quirk who was also a hero seemed pretty unlikely, at least unlikely before Katsuki suffocated again- leaving a child to die just because the quirks of hero's didn't fit the situation perfectly almost seemed cowardly, and far less than heroic.
He heard a panicked yell and saw two of the two hero's holding a woman back who was almost screaming with tears streaming down her face, it was Katsukis mother as was evident by the almost identical spiky blonde hair. Even though his mother was close to Mitsuki and the death of katsuki would almost surely bring her and his mother great despair he still couldn't feel anything. The emptiness settling within him was unusual, even as he stared at the face of a distraught mother seeing the death of her only child he felt a twinge of sympathy
One thing that put him off a little was why Mitsuki was here this time, before she had greeted him cheerfully when he'd returned home so she was a good ten minutes away from the slime villain. Why had it been different this time? He had no answer for it, he had no idea how his quirk worked and didn't know if he wanted to. Coming back from the dead was a grizzly thing to happen and it had to have some sort of consequence, probably a consequence Izuku would be better off not knowing.
Even though his hopes of someday being a hero had been long abandoned and he felt empty he didn't want to waste a reset, maybe a small part of him didn't want Mitsuki to watch Katsuki die even if the current world was temporary.
Izuku ran forwards, not really sure of the reason why- maybe he didn't want Katsuki to die or maybe he knew how reckless he was allowed to be as even if his life was ended he'd just return to the same day, maybe part of him hoped 'this one will be it', maybe a tiny part of him cared about the ex friend who'd tortured him for a decade. The distraught face of Mistuki had reminded him of his last death a little and Katsuki couldn't come back, as empty as the years of bullying had made him it was still difficult to just let somebody die when he could do something. The revelation of his quirk had really hit him and probably changed his mindset for the worse but he wasn't cruel enough to let someone die, at least not yet.
Izuku ran forward, pushing though the crowd and slipping past the heroes who were still holding Mitsuki back. Izuku ran forward and slung his bag as hard as he could at the eye of the slime villain which seemed to be the only place which wasn't completely made of liquid. The villain gave a sharp yelp of surprise and loosened it's grip on Kastsuki, as the liquid loosened Izuku reached in and grabbed Katsukis leg then pulled as hard as he could- successfully freeing him from the slime. As the spiky haired blonde fell down Izuku pushed him out of the way of the newly angered villain that reached for him, instead he grabbed Izuku and he felt the thick liquid wrap around his leg and pull him in.
And again he was drowning in the thick slime of the villain, the thick liquid again filled his lungs quickly and his eyes watered. He saw Mitsuki hug Katsuki tightly and yell at the heroes standing by to do something. He looked around a bit, he met eyes with Kamui Woods- a hero he had watched fight in the morning on one reset- the hero had wide eyes, panic and guilt being the two decipherable. Izuku's lungs burned and his black crept into his vision, he closed his eyes and waited for the black screen.
... but it never came, a strong wind knocked him out of the slime villain and he gasped hard for breath that was available to him. He lay on the ground with his vision fuzzy and distorted, pain blossomed through his side and burned in his lungs.
As the ringing in his ears subsided and his vision returned he saw two pairs of feet resembling that of the heroes 'Kamui Woods' and 'Mount Lady' walking over to him, chatting lowly amongst themselves as they walked over.
'Why aren't I dead' he thought, this wasn't how it went. He was meant to die so the world would reset and he could stop Katsuki, he wasn't meant to actively save him especially not in front of a news crew. The heroes helped him up,
"That was incredibly reckless and you could have been severely injured, you should have left it to the heroes" Kamui Woods scolded, Izuku nodded
"Sorry, I should have left it to you heroes" the words felt wrong as they left his mouth, they felt like lies. Izuku wanted to believe that the heroes had been doing all they could to save both his and Katsukis life but he just couldn't, he'd seen them do little to nothing to actually help- they'd tried to calm the crowd and tried to assure Mitsuki that more help would arrive soon but they hadn't actually taken action against the villain threatening the lives of two middle school students and potentially others.
The news cast had swarmed Katsuki and his mother, the latter of which was loudly telling them to piss off as she began to take Katsuki away from the scene- presumably to a hospital. Mitsuki was walking towards him with Katsuki following, limping ever so slightly as he did.
Mistuki pushed past the heroes who did little to protest as the news cast soon migrated to the heroes to question them who did little to protest as the news cast soon migrated to the heroes to question them and a few tried to shove microphones in his face
"That was incredibly reckless, why did you do something so dangerous when there were pro-heroes around?", Izuku bites back a 'great help they were', he tried to push the microphone that is uncomfortably close away with little success
"Uh, I couldn't just... let him die"
"How did you know he would die? The heroes could have had a last minute plan you foiled with your actions, did you consider that?" Izuku tried to push through the crowd with a flock of three reporters following behind him
"No I didn't, I didn't want to watch Kats- someone die when I could do something" he began to grit his teeth a little harder at their questions
'Last minute plan? He was going to drown and they would be happy to classify it as collateral damage!'
"Maybe if you'd stayed out of it you wouldn't have gotten hurt"
"Maybe if I'd stayed out of it he'd be dead and they would have just stood by and watched it happen" he snapped at the news lady before scowling and pushing through people
"Why didn't you use your quirk? A dangerous villain attacked and you just used your schoolbag" Izuku turned to face them sharply
"Because I don't have a quirk" he said clearly, leaving the people in their slight shock as he ran down an unfamiliar path and took random turns to loose them.
After successfully shaking the reporters he walked down the unknown path with his bag being held by the top loop, the rest of it had remnants of slime on it which he refused to touch. He was looking at the golden sunset as he walked and dropped his bag to the floor when All Might appeared out of an alley yelling
"I am here!", Izuku blinked a few times before picking his bag up and trying to go around the number one hero, he really didn't feel like talking to the guy who'd taken the last shred of hope he had and crushed it into dust
"H-hey!" All Might said in his loud tone, his smile faltered a little as he jogged a little to catch up with Izuku, after the looming symbol of peace trying to get him to turn around for a minute or so he sighed and turned around
"What?" His tone sharp, All Might almost flinched before spurting blood and reverting to his skeletal shrunken form, Izuku didn't react as he'd seen it before on the rooftop- Izuku grit his teeth a bit
"What you did there was very reckless young man! You could have gotten hurt" he said, the boy didn't seemed to be excited or happy to see him but rather annoyed, angry even, which was much different from his usual reactions
"So?" He said half to himself, All Might faltered in his decision- the boy had seemed the perfect candidate to inherit his quirk from saving that boy but now... now he wasn't so sure.
"Why did you do it?" He asked, hoping that he'd answer as a hero would, hoping he'd finally found a successor to keep the world safe. Izuku sighed
"I couldn't just let him die, drowning in sludge is the worst way to die.", the 'trust me' spoken only in his head, "Even if he does deserve it I can't stand by and do nothing", the boys dull eyes sent a shiver up his spine as he said those words with such lack of emotion- 'even if he deserves it', those words seemed to echoe in All Mights head as he looked at the teen and fear slowly crept into his mind. He tried to push away the feeling of 'don't', he needed a successor soon or the symbol of peace would die out who knows what would happen then
'Even if he is a bit off he still saved that boy when he didn't have to, he still felt the need to do something- that's heroic in itself, to take action' All Might reasoned in his head
"You have the makings of a true hero!" He announced, the boy laughed dryly
"Is this a sort of joke?" His tone suddenly much harsher, All Might swallowed
"Of course not young man! I'm looking for a successor to be the next symbol of peace, the next person to inherit my quirk 'One for all', you fit the-"
"No" it was said simply but cut through his words like a hot knife through butter, Izuku was reaching into his bag, All Might blinked at the blunt response
"N-No?" He repeated in a questioning tone, the cold hard look in his eyes sent a shiver down All Mights spine as Izuku pulled something out of his bag, the metal glinting in the dimming light as All Mights eyes widened
"Young man, what are you doing with a box cutt-" he started when Izuku flipped it around so the blade was pointing to himself
"This isn't how it is meant to go", his dull eyes flicked between the blade and All Might
"W-What do you mean? Please put the cutter do-"
"Choose a better successor next time" again his words cut through his easily, he plunged the cutter into his neck and pulled it out again leaving blood to spurt out of the wound. All Might had lunged forward to try and stop the boy but it was too late, he was left to bleed out in his former idols arms as he shakily called an ambulance. Seeing a notebook hanging out of his bag he reached for it with trembling hands, opening it randomly to find his own signature in large handwriting over two pages near the middle, his brows furrowed in confusion- it was dated this day, he had never met this boy before how did he have his signature?
All Might brushed it off as sirens approached and the puddle of blood growing around All Might widened as he desperately tried to stop the bleeding by pressing his hands against the gaping wound in the child's neck, he couldn't help the tears that escaped his eyes.
Izuku wastes no time resetting, coming to in the classroom he's seen far too much of this repeated day, he hears angry footsteps and the usual
"Oi Deku!"
'Here we go again'
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If this fic isn't for you and you want to review I only ask it's constructive, if it's mindless hate I will ignore
