The last thing Izuku Midoriya saw was the color red. Kacchan's eyes, two flashing stop lights being melted by the flames that surrounded him. Warning signs, begging him, pleading with him not to come to his aid. But Izuku couldn't help himself. His feet moved on their own. And then everything exploded. The slime villain's sludge-like body gave way to more fire and it began to consume Izuku too. Scarlet snakes licked at his limbs, biting and nipping away at his clothes, his skin, until he couldn't breathe and he felt like his chest was on fire, everything was on fire.

This is all my fault, Izuku tried to grab at Kacchan but his hands slipped every time; the flames were too hot, the slime too slick. Every attempt of his buried deeper and deeper in the ever-growing heat. He couldn't even see his classmate anymore. The buildings were gone, the villain had melted, everything was falling apart.

I did this, Izuku winced when he thought back to the chilling air that whipped at him while he clung onto All Might's leg. That same coldness that had transported to his body after his idol had told him what he had always been afraid to hear, what he had always known.

You can't be a hero.

He had been right all along.

They all had.

Somewhere from behind, Izuku heard the faint cries of the very same man who had crushed his dreams, along with the other heroes, but by that point, the crowd's shrieking had already been diminished. The flames took that too, encasing him in a fiery grip that wouldn't let go no matter how much he tried to run or see through them. Everything felt so distant, so far away. He felt like the cold from before was there too, but for some reason, he didn't want to reach out and grab it. He wanted to stay. He deserved to stay.

Izuku didn't know how much time had passed, but then he started drifting away too, past the burning pain coating his arms and legs, away from the guilt and doubts screaming in his head saying your fault, your fault, your fault each time in a different person's voice.

Kacchan. All Might. The doctor. His mother. His father before he left them— stop!

Please.

Taking the screams from his throat— because he was screaming now, that much he knew, that much he could feel and hear— Izuku watched in horror as they turned into nothing more than dark puffs of smoky air that left his mouth every time he tried to breathe.

Breathe.

I have to…

Breathe…

But I can't—

Breathe..!

"He's breathing, we have a pulse!"

"Move, move! Give the kid some space."

There were voices. Voices on each side of his body now. He could hear them. Feel them. Sense them. Everything was so clear now, he could understand every word and no longer felt like the flames were screaming in his ears, pulling him away.

"I think… I think he heard you. Look, his left eye twitched."

"Is that his backpack over there?"

"I'll get it, you two stay with him."

Familiar. Why was that last voice so… familiar?

The world was still on fire when Izuku opened his eyes, but he was on the ground, away from the flaming buildings. There were two strange figures hovering above him. Upon closer inspection though, he realized they were both police officers, their uniforms covered in ash, faces dripping with sweat and soot, eyes wide and full of worry. Tired and red. What else was red? Red… red like… Kacchan's eyes. Holy shit—

"Kacchan!" Izuku gasped for air, as he sat up suddenly. He tried to get up, tried to move, but the police officers held him down. They were saying things to him, shouting now over the roar of the flames that only seemed to get louder and louder as time passed, but Izuku could only watch the buildings collapse in the distance. Where he had once stood, trying to pry Kacchan away from that monster. The one he had freed.

"Is Kacchan alright?" he wheezed out. It felt like someone had shoved a ball of fire down his throat, burning his vocal cords and making him cough out until there were black spots blocking his vision. Still, Izuku had to know. "Wh-what happened to the sludge villain?" To All Might, he wanted to ask, but eventually, his voice gave out and he started coughing again.

The officer on the left gave Izuku a puzzled look but quickly shook his head. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about but they probably took your friend to the hospital already. Let's get you somewhere safe." He placed a gentle hand on Izuku's back and helped him sit up. "That blast was powerful, it knocked you out cold." As soon as he said that, Izuku felt a sharp pain running down the back of his head. It made him grit his teeth and if his throat wasn't already on fire, he would have let out a yell.

"What's your name, hun?" the female officer asked once Izuku stopped coughing. Her big blue eyes roamed his face as if searching for the answer. The longer he stared at her, the more he realized he knew her name. Her identity. But it didn't make sense. Midnight was a hero, not a police officer.

Izuku started to open his mouth to speak, to ask her what she was doing here and why she was helping him instead of saving everybody else when he heard the familiar voice again. He racked his mind for who it could belong to, but he didn't have to look far. When he looked up, Eraserhead was standing feet away from him. Izuku had seen enough interviews to figure out it was him, even if Eraser was an underground hero and didn't do too many public appearances. Except he wasn't wearing a hero costume either and wore a police uniform like Midnight.

"Eraserhead?!" he blurted out.

Midnight exchanged confused glances with the officer who helped him up, but the pro hero in question turned to stone. His eyes widened a little bit but then narrowed just as fast. "Here," Eraser's gaze flickered over to Midnight, handing her Izuku's once yellow backpack, now the color of a nickel, both straps completely burnt off. "Get the kid's information and call his parents. The paramedics are on their way." And then he left without giving Izuku a second glance, shouting commands into his walkie-talkie.

What just happened? Izuku blinked. Midnight was talking to him again, waving her hands in his face but Izuku was still watching the spot where Eraserhead had been standing. Why are Eraserhead and Midnight wearing police uniforms? Where are the other heroes? Where is All Might? Did he defeat the villain? D-did he win? He glanced around trying to keep his body from shaking.

"I found his I.D.," the male officer said, pulling out a card from his pack. "His name is Izuku Midoriya and he goes to—"

Everything else faded into the background while Izuku gathered his thoughts. He didn't know where Kacchan was or if he was even alive, there was no sign of All Might or the sludge villain, and the only 'heroes' on the scene didn't even look like heroes at all! The only thing he could see was the bright red flames that a couple of firefighters were desperately trying to put out in the distance. There weren't even that many people around, the crowd from before reduced to just one or two civilians lying on the floor in a similar condition as him.

And the worst part about all of this was that nobody was telling him anything at all, as if they didn't know, as if something bad had happened and they didn't want to make him worry.

Somehow, part of Izuku knew the second guess was wrong, but he was too tired to figure it out and make sense of what he was looking at, who he was looking at.

He didn't want to know.

Izuku subtly glanced at Midnight again while she shouted at someone on her talkie, reading her name tag over and over while his vision blurred with tears of confusion.

Officer Kayama.

Officer Kayama.

Officer freaking Kayama.

Not Midnight, not the R-rated hero, just her name.

Izuku knew if he looked at Eraserhead's tag, he would see his real name too. And for some reason that terrified him.

He didn't even let himself think about it anymore because the more he stared, the more he knew that this, whatever this was, whatever was going on, was wrong, so very wrong. The more his headache increased and his heart rate accelerated, the more he felt like passing out. So Izuku willingly gave in to the feeling, fading into the darkness with the thought that maybe, just maybe when he woke up, everything would be back to normal again. All Might would be there, yelling at him for being stupid and quirkless, while Kacchan called him useless, and his mother watched him with her disappointed gaze. They would all be there and that's all that mattered.

—

When Izuku opened his eyes again, he was in his bed. It took him a while to adjust to the harsh lighting in the room until his gaze settled on the All Might poster taped to the ceiling, the hero's blinding smile making him want to close his eyes and fall back asleep. Seeing All Might again reminded him of their conversation on the roof and Izuku was too tired to deal with all those emotions again. Especially after everything that happened.

Izuku groaned, sitting up slowly. His entire body ached and the world started spinning, but he steadied himself with the desk by his bed. That was his first mistake.

Izuku bit back a yell and gripped his wrist tightly, staring at his wrapped up hand in frustration. He couldn't really flex it without feeling like his skin was being torn off. His other hand was wrapped up too but it didn't hurt as much. It made it much harder for him to sit up by himself.

For some reason, it made him think back to the way the officer had pressed his arm against his back and the memory nearly sent him back down again. Midnight's piercing blue eyes gazed back at him while he stared at the blue of his slippers and he smacked his face in frustration, opting to stay barefoot despite the chill of the hardwood floor. Don't think about that right now, Izuku, he took a shaky breath, you don't even know if that was real.

Real.

Like Kacchan's eyes blending in with the fire while it swallowed up his helpless frame.

Real.

Like when Izuku reached out to try and desperately reach his childhood best friend. He stared at his hands again and found they were shaking.

Had Kacchan been shaking while the villain swallowed him up?

No, Izuku clenched his fists despite the pain. Even while being held captive by the villain, Kacchan would never seem helpless to him. Izuku could tell he had been trying to fight just as much as he had.

He wasn't sure how much of his encounter with the officers was a dream, or how much Izuku wanted it to be, but he hoped what they told him was true: that Kacchan had been taken to a hospital and that he was safe. Izuku needed it to be true. Not just because he felt guilty for being the reason the villain escaped, but because Kacchan deserved to live. He had the potential and power to become a hero and surpass All Might, just like he always said he would when they played together as kids. If there was anybody who deserved to meet All Might or even be associated with him now, it was him.

Bakugou Katsuki.

Useless, Deku.

Kacchan's voice sounded so real in his head, that Izuku nearly stumbled. He had to get better, he had to go see him again, make sure he was okay so he could apologize and—

Wait, what day is it anyway? Izuku stopped suddenly, looking around in a daze before doubling over in a coughing fit. It felt like someone had suctioned all the moisture out of his mouth and scraped his airways with sandpaper. He could barely breathe, let alone swallow without gasping for air. How long had it been since he drank something?

I need water, his gaze settled on the glass sitting atop his desk. It was next to a pile of manga he didn't recognize but Izuku focused on his hands instead. He wondered if he would even have the strength to pick up the glass.

But then a second cough, much worse than the first, attacked his body and forced Izuku to reach out. He wasn't really sure what happened next, but even before his fingers made contact with the glass, he felt a strange sensation spread throughout his hand. And while it wasn't painful, he had never felt it before. At the same time, the glass started to wobble towards him and for a while, it seemed to even float before it shattered into a bunch of tiny pieces.

Izuku jumped back in surprise. What was that? His own reflection stared back at him in surprise from the many shards that littered the floor and he stared back, constantly switching back and forth between the broken cup and his own hand.

"D-did I…" he turned his hand over and realized it was shaking again, "Did I do that?"

But Izuku had no time to think as footsteps approached the door, followed by a soft, familiar voice he had been prepared to never hear from again.

"Sweetie? Is everything okay? I heard a loud noise."

Forgetting all about his hands, Izuku scrambled to his feet and rushed towards the door. The world swayed a little but he pushed on, throwing the door open and crashing into his mother's arms, tears already spilling down his cheeks.

"M-mom!" Izuku wrapped his arms around her torso gently, snuggling up against her chest and letting his quiet sobs fill the room. "I thought I… I thought I'd never get to see you again," he stopped only to catch his breath, the words pouring out of him as fast as the tears that just kept coming. "I thought I'd never get a chance to say goodbye." He had seen her in the flames, burning behind Kacchan, the result of Izuku's mistake.

Inko was crying now too, pulling him close and holding him tight. "Oh, Izuku… my little Izuku," she said shakily. "I was so worried when you didn't come home yesterday after school and then I got the call from the hospital and I didn't know what to think," she stepped back to hold his face in her hands.

When their eyes met, Izuku felt his bottom lip tremble and he buried his face in her neck again. "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry, mom. Everything that happened… it was all my fault." He didn't think, he just spoke, the words rushing out of him so quickly he couldn't stop himself. "The fire, the villain getting released, K-kacchan..."

"Izuku, slow down honey. None of this is your fault," Inko tilted his chin up so they were looking at each other again. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed. "The fire was an accident. Someone left the oven on in their apartment and—"

"What?" Izuku asked. "An apartment fire? B-but that doesn't make any sense. The only reason the villain escaped was because I got in All Might's way." Hearing him say those words out loud to his own mother made Izuku nauseous, but he was going to have to tell her eventually.

"All Might?" Inko's face went pale. "You couldn't possibly have met him, honey."

"L-look, I know it sounds crazy, mom, but we really did meet. He saved me the first time, from the sludge villain, I mean," Izuku said while taking in a shaky breath. "But then I..." The image of Kacchan's pleading gaze flashed in his mind and Izuku squeezed his eyes shut. "I had to go and ask him that stupid question. About me. About being quirkless and now Kacchan…" Izuku shivered when he imagined his best friend hooked up to a hospital bed, various wires and tubes connected to his body, all while a faint beeping of the machine whirred in the background.

"Oh, dear," Inko seemed to take in a huge breath. Her hands were back on Izuku's shoulders, squeezing them gently. Izuku found the gesture strange as if she expected him to fall or something. "The doctor warned me about this yesterday," another squeeze, although this time it seemed like she was holding herself together, "but I didn't want it to be true."

"Warned you?" Izuku asked, with a slight frown. "Mom, what are you talking about?"

"W-well, you see…" Inko said while she tucked a green curl behind his ear, "he said there was a possibility that you wouldn't remember certain things when you woke up because of where you hit your head during the fire."

"Okay?" Izuku blinked. His head did hurt, but he didn't feel like there was anything missing. He still remembered everything that had happened to him, his brain running at full speed, continuously replaying each and every event that had transpired the day before.

"He um," Inko seemed to hesitate, "he also said that your version of reality might be a little... mixed up for a while."

"My version of reality..." Izuku's words got stuck in his throat when he noticed the all-too-familiar look on his mother's face. It was the same way she looked at him after they told him he would never get a quirk. It was the same way she looked at him after he asked her if he was the reason Hishashi left. It was the same way she looked at him when he imagined her body burning up in the fire.

But nothing could have prepared him for what she said next. Not even the guilty expression he had come to memorize on his mother's lovely face.

"So, Izuku," she said slowly, blinking back tears, "there's no way you could've met All Might because..."

A pause. Izuku felt sick to his stomach.

"All Might isn't real."

I AM SO EXCITED TO POST THIS Y'ALL HAVE NO IDEA! I've always wanted to write an Izuku-centric hero fic and well, one day I was just kind of thinking, what if the roles were reversed? What if quirks didn't exist but somehow only Izuku had one? And then that tiny idea kind of spiraled into this whole fic LOL.

Obviously, I held off on posting this because I've had to do a lot of worldbuilding when it comes to the character's new occupations, however, I think I figured everything out. Maybe. We shall see. Hopefully, this doesn't crash and burn sbfbqwacskfboiqwfjwjdqoidnjifgevfi. This won't really follow canon exactly but some things will be similar!

Please let me know what you think, I hope you stick along :D (cross posted to AO3 under the same name)