AN: This story has gotten more attention than I thought it would, thank you all so much! I'm going to try and keep updating this story every Saturday so look out for that.
Thank you to Jasonlovesbread for commenting, you're very right that some of this seems rushed and I've tried to answer some questions about what happened to Dick in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or Dick Grayson or anything DC Comics related. If I did the stories told would be a whole lot worse.
'This is it.' Dick thought, staring at the entrance to Class 1-A, 'I've finally made it.'
He was more nervous than he thought he would be, the door seemed as though it was a gateway to some other worldly place and behind those doors lied his future-whether that future was to be in heaven or in hell remained to be seen. Dick had spent a long time imagining just what life in U.A would be like. At first, he thought of joy and happiness, then of freedom and hardship, but now? Now all he could think about was how long it would take Ra's to find him or for others to find out about Ra's.
A deep sigh escaped his lips. The anxiety of the past few years was starting to get to him, and he knew it. To calm his nerves, and remind him of his goal, Dick thought of life with the League of Assassins and what brought him to U.A.
The first memory of Richard Grayson wasn't really a memory it was more of a feeling. There were no childhood friends, no parents, and no playtime at the circus, instead, there was just darkness and rage and pain and… green. A sea of green that wanted to consume him, that threatened to ruin him.
Then came Ra's al Ghul. He was the first-person Dick remembered meeting and the one who showed him how to harness the rage in order to keep order in the world. Or prepare the world for order, his Master, for that was what Ra's was, always seemed to speak in riddles and never him a direct answer. A trait that nagged at Dick in the back of his mind, but he didn't care, he wanted to repay the one who helped him become something and gave his life a higher purpose.
And healed him from a deadly injury. A few years after his training began, the head of the League told him the name of the green that had wanted his soul gone. It was called the Lazarus Pit, a type of pool found in different places around the globe with the magical ability to heal any injury or sickness at the cost of madness and constant anger. Ra's had apparently found his battered and broken body at the bottom of the mountain that housed their current compound and took pity on the ten-year-old boy.
Ra's took his, seemingly, untreatable body and put him in the pit. When he came out, his Master saw his potential and decided to train him to become his heir. At least, that's what he told Dick. Something about the convenience of the situation always puzzled him. Ra's al Ghul was not one to do things without reason, so why would he take a risk with an injured child?
Dick never voiced this question out loud, but he began to ask it more as the years passed. He didn't want to betray the man who had saved him and gave him so much.
When he was fourteen, that all changed, and he began to doubt the great Ra's al Ghul. He had just turned fourteen and after winning a sparring match against Ubu, Ra's right-hand man, his Master had deemed him ready for his first mission. He was to go to Japan and kill one Shoko Kane, a corrupted cop who thought her fire quirk made her invincible. Dick's job was to kill her and leave a message to her colleagues, no quirk would save them from the wraith of the League of Assassins.
Dick spent months taking notes on his target: her habits, relationships, anything that could tell him more about who she was. When he felt prepared he put on a black pair of cargo pants, combat boots, and a skin tight, black, long-sleeved Kevlar shirt grabbed his katana and left for Japan.
When he got there the U.A Sports Festival was taking place and video from the event was projected on every screen. Dick couldn't help but watch some of the events while he waited for night fall. It was during this time that he really took note of all the heroes in the world and a small voice in the back of his head became known. It was so tiny and unnoticeable but the moment he saw those students trying to become heroes and save other people, it became unbearably loud. It wanted to be like them, to save people and deliver justice. Dick silence it and put any thoughts of U.A and heroes out of his mind. Conflicting thoughts would not help him. So, he killed Shoko Kane with physical ease and went back to his home without a second thought to heroes or the justice brought about by the law.
However, the tiny voice in his mind kept coming back and soon he couldn't make it leave. Dick began to doubt the truth behind his Master's words and the mission of the League of Assassins, but he still kept telling himself that they were right and it was his thoughts that were wrong. The children of U.A and the heroes of the world were just encouraging evil and villainy to grow with their constant arrests, killing was the only way to get results. Everyone that the League killed deserved death for breaking the law and hurting others. Richard Grayson truly believed in their crusade. Then that day happened.
It had been a year after his first official mission and he spent most of his time traveling the world, doing Ra's al Ghul's bidding and ending those who the system had failed to give due punishment, but that day he had been taking short leave to recover from a broken leg after his last hit had fought back harder than expected. Dick was walking on his hands in the courtyard when yelling in the Master's 'office' -said office was more of a throne room- drew him to investigate. He plopped down on the ground and grabbed the crutches nearby before hobbling towards the excitement. Peaking around the door, Dick found a large group of League members surrounding a woman clutching something against her chest for dear life. He couldn't make out much else through the sea of black that surrounded her.
Then Ra's came in, and the room quieted. The woman cowered before him.
"This woman has deemed it acceptable to steal." He spat, hand reaching for the sword at his side, "Now she must face the consequences of her actions." He pulled his weapon towards him, prepared to strike.
"Please! Have mercy! My-"Before the woman could finish her plea, Ra's al Ghul struck and she was no more. The woman fell to the ground, the bundle still grasped tightly in her hands. The ones surrounding her started to cheer, and Dick was prepared to turn away. The woman had broken the law and thus needed to be put down. Before he could leave, a wail pierced the air. The bundle she was holding was a child, an infant, wrapped in blankets. Dick took a step forward, wishing to help the defenseless thing when Ra's beat him to it, but his way of helping the child was not kind. He took the sword that had been used to kill the mother and struck the child.
"If the mother is not fit for society than neither is the child."
Dick couldn't take anymore and quickly went off to his chambers, mind working a mile a minute trying to rationalize what he had just seen. The mother must have stolen for her child, a noble cause, yet Ra's took no pity on her. Society had forsaken the two and following the law would have killed the child, either from starvation or from illness. Its mother was doing what was necessary to protect it. What kind of perfect world killed those who couldn't help themselves? Additionally, with how calm Ra's was with his actions it was too likely that he had killed children and infants many times before. If innocents were being killed here, Dick didn't want to be apart of the League of Assassins. He had to get out. But, how?
He was only fifteen and would have a bunch of trained killers tailing him unless he came up with somewhere, they couldn't attack easily. Maybe somewhere that had the eyes of the public and people willing to fight against those who would threaten the peace. Someplace that had people like the heroes he would see on missions. That's when it hit him. U.A! It was perfect! The school had the Sports Festival every year which put its students in the forefront of all media and had heroes as the school's staff. Ra's wouldn't dare attack him if the public paid so much attention to him and, even if he sent someone to kill him, the heroes and heroes in training would be willing to fight back. In order to make sure his plan reached its fullest potential, Dick had to enter the hero course. This would allow him to get close enough to the staff that they would want to protect him no matter what and would give him more media attention than the other, non-hero course, students. With his basic plan formed, Dick prepared himself and waited for the right moment to leave the clutches of Ra's al Ghul and his League of Assassins.
Now, Dick Grayson was sixteen years-old and free of his former Master. He just needed to make sure this lasted.
"Move it, Loser!" A blonde, spikey haired boy shoved past him and entered the room as if he owned the place. Dick didn't need to speak with his classmate to know that he was very arrogant and someone who might be fun to watch in the grueling training that was to come.
Though rude and rather arrogant, the blonde had the right idea. It was time for him to go in and take his place with the other future heroes of the world.
AN: Yes, I am going with Dick with amnesia because, to me, it gives the story more potential for relationships to build. If Dick new about his life before, than he would spend most of the time as a solo vigilante and would try to avoid getting close to anyone. Also, I have a headcanon that the longer you stay dead the more 'changes' occur when you use the Lazarus Pit, such a how far back it 'resets' your body and how much mental damage one takes. As always thank you for reading this mess!
