Countdown to Reality

1. Thank you for reading, as always!

2. Not all POV in this one… well, not everybody is doing interesting stuff early morning… myself included. I usually sleep until the last minute… maybe because I stayed up writing some chapters very late? Maybe.

3. Back to the story!

Day 2. Dawn. Countdown 24: 13: 00

Midoriya Inko brewed some coffee. God, she needed it.

Tea would never be enough to deal with such a promising day.

Seeing three plates on the table felt a little nostalgic. It brought her back to happier times, when there was a third person under her roof… until there was not anymore. She turned around, kept herself busy with heating up breakfast and she buried the thought far, very far and deep down her soul.

Miracles did not happen…

… and anyway, Katsuki-chan had certainly used up the entire miracles quota. Rising from the dead surely ranked high on the miracle scale.

She bathed one minute or two into the coffee smell and the dim dawn sunlight. Then, she checked all curtains were closed before walking towards her son's room. She gently pushed the door open, expecting to find both boys still asleep.

It was a wrong assumption.

Izuku's bed was made, Katsuki-chan futon neatly folded to the side. Her son was at his desk with a notebook covered in tiny, well-ordered notes. The history textbook was in the hands of Katsuki-chan, sitting crossed-legged on a chair from the living room. He was repeatedly hitting the book on the same spot with a pencil, as if his reading somehow needed a beating. The page was starting to crumple.

She blinked.

Twice.

Both boys had showered, hair still wet, the room was clean, and the two teenagers were so focused they barely noticed her.

She was seeing things.

Izuku was a good student – the top student of his class – but he had certainly never woke up before 6 a.m. to study. Katsuki-chan was also not supposed to be very devoted to homework, since he never had homework to begin with.

Unless this was not studying, but personal revenge against school material. She would much appreciate if he would dig angry holes into his own belongings, and spare Izuku's.

"Good morning, mum." Izuku greeted, putting his pencil down. Katsuki-chan did not stop his book-torturing activity and gave no sign he had actually heard any of them.

"Izuku… Can I have a word?"

This made Katsuki-chan react. His red eyes detached from the soon-to-be-maimed textbook very slowly and threateningly. She made the effort to smile to him. "Hello Katsuki-chan. Breakfast will be ready in a minute."

Izuku and Katsuki-chan shared a glance, as if they knew each other so well that words were unnecessary… a skill they could not have acquired over phone calls. Inko made a mental note to press the matter a little further, later, when she would have more time with Izuku alone, and when the walls would not have Bakugo-ears.

There were suddenly a little too many secrets gravitating around her son, and she had the feeling cracking them open would be a lot easier without the other angry kid in her apartment.

"I'm coming."

She nodded, and leaded the way to the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of the much-needed black coffee and sat down. Izuku was not wearing his uniform yet, just a sweatshirt with sleeves long enough to cover down to his hands. Last time he tried it on, he had to roll up the sleeves, as it was two sizes too big.

She nervously played with the handle of her cup.

It was still too big.

It was still too big, but it was better, almost fitting. Izuku was definitely a little taller.

Sure, teenagers grew fast… but this fast was impressive. She felt bad for not noticing sooner and made another mental note to check with him, later, which clothes they needed to replace.

"You skipped school yesterday." She started, and her son diverted his eyes toward another corner of the kitchen, guilt all over his freckled face.

"I… yes." He admitted. "I… Kacchan called me in the night, and I was… worried. I told the teachers I was not feeling good."

"What about today?"

He looked back at her, almost horrified, which was weird because Katsuki-chan or not, he loved school. Inko added a little sugar to her coffee.

"T-today?"

"Yes. Today. Do you want to go or do you want to stay here?"

She had never seen Izuku this relieved to have the permission to skip school. Usually, skipping even one day when he was sick was something he would reluctantly agree with. He did not want to fall behind, and was so close to his friends that she often had to call him in the evening to make sure he would be back for dinner.

"I'll take that expression you have as a 'Yes'." She concluded. "I will also call my employer to ask for another leave. I don't want you both to believe I'm babysitting, but Katsuki-chan parents already called me today, even before my alarm clock rang, and since he is perfectly able to break in and out a house, I think an extra pair of eyes is necessary."

Izuku made a face clearly stating that "Katsuki-chan" and "babysitting" were two words to never put in the same sentence… or even in the same book. She could figure.

Easily.

"It's just for today, though Izuku. Tomorrow, you are back to class, and if Katsuki-chan refuses to go back home, can I trust you to back me up? His mother mainly works from home, she can keep an eye on him all day, which I can't."

Izuku looked away, as if he was uncomfortable with the entire discussion. He was playing with his fingers and tugging on his sleeves from time to time, nervously looking up.

God, this was not going to be simple.

She would need a lot more black coffee to live through the day.

"Izuku…" She huffed. "Even if Katsuki-chan parents don't agree, after what I've learnt and witnessed yesterday, I intend to butt in their lives as much as I can. You can spend all the time you want at their place, go there on the weekends, after school… you can call him as many times as he wants, but he has to go back, for his and our own safety."

Izuku looked away, fidgeting on his chair, half-hiding behind his own hair.

"Mum… it's just…"

"Izuku. You know this is the only rational solution."

"…Mum, I mean… maybe, I see your point, but I don't know how to explain…" He said, looking everywhere but directly at her, and God, he had never looked that anxious ever before. "It's not that simple, we need to… I… we…did… did Kacchan's parent told you about the U.A. school Kacchan talked about?"

That word again, Inko had almost forgotten it, but she suddenly remembered how important it seemed to be to Katsuki-chan when he had broken into her kitchen the day before.

She grabbed her steaming cup of coffee a little harder.

She suddenly also remembered something else. When he broke into the kitchen, Katsuki-chan had told her he did not know if Izuku knew about him being alive… which was a lie. On the other hand, his distress had not been faked. It had been real.

With this U.A. word into the equation and with what his parents told her, pieces of the puzzle slowly clicked together.

It was probably not a lie, it was just not coherent because Katsuki was not.

"They did talk about nightmares." She answered prudently, hoping against odds that Katsuki-chan was not seriously thinking he was attending a fantasy school, and was not currently getting ready to go to phantom-class. "… are you trying to tell me he won't want to go back because of the nightmares?"

If she remembered well, in the dream his parents described, Katsuki-chan believed he lived in that school.

It could be a problem.

A big one.

"Nightmares…" Izuku said sadly, shoulders lowering almost miserably. "No… no, mum it's… you don't… I mean…"

She definitely saw the moment he gave up on finishing that sentence, but before she could even start to question it, he raised his head again and continued. "I just wanted to say, if Kacchan does not want to do something, he can be strong willed. I am not sure my input or yours could change something... or anyone's, really."

Nightmares encompassing intangible schools and imaginary boarding systems aside, her son had a very valid point. She could imagine Katsuki-chan refusing for multiple receivable reasons, and no amount of good arguments making him budge.

God, this was going to be tough, she knew it from the start.

Kaminari Denki waved goodbye to his father, and headed outside. He had no idea where his new high school was, and he had no intention to find out. He turned the corner, and changed routes to go to the train station.

He had not slept much. He was exhausted, and very depressed. He looked at his own reflection in the storefronts, and felt even more down. His hair was all dark and gloomy, and it felt so unlike him.

So wrong.

So disturbing to know he could get in trouble for something as simple as hair color.

… and he was just blond. Mineta hair was purple. Even though Kaminari was not the best student in 1-A (He was actually the worst one, but he brushed the thought as irrelevant), he was almost certain blond people existed before Quirks appeared.

He was a lot less sure about other hair colors. Pink for example. In old mangas, there were plenty of cuties with pink hair, so it probably existed at some point, but he was not completely certain they matched reality. It never mattered before.

It felt so horribly weird that it suddenly did matter.

He continued walking, eyes glued to the pavement, incapable of watching his own face any longer.

The feeling from the previous evening was also still lingering in his mind, adding more weight on his already full mental plate… it was not strong or impossible to confine to a faraway corner of his brain, but it was there… it was the same sort of feeling he sometimes had when he did something wrong. Like talking about the Hero Killer in front Iida. Like talking to Jiro about her music and having her telling him to stop. That sort of shit he would do without thinking.

…but if he had done something wrong, he had no idea what it could be. Zero. Niet. Nada. Peanuts. Vacuum cleaner.

His memories of the last normal day were water in a colander, and every time he tried to actually think about what he could have done to feel like this, they escaped through holes he did not know were there.

…Bakugo roaring he was going to murder him, and not with shitty music, this damn fucking time…

(Not exactly unusual, and Bakugo did not necessarily need anybody doing anything wrong to get triggered into a pure rage).

…Aizawa being mad, like truly, really mad, speaking of expulsion and…

(Not exactly unusual either. After all, he had spoken about expulsion since the first day, even before they could think about doing something wrong).

…Hagakure giggling…

(Not unusual at all, and not even relevant).

He shook his head, turned another corner and reached the train station. It was slightly different from what he remembered. There was this new machine by the entrance, where people would swap their ID's to access the trains.

He stared for a few seconds, and then fumbled in his bag. His own ID shown a dark-haired, Quirkless version of himself. He squeezed it hard, almost breaking it… how was he so lucky when he had read so horrible things about the others…? How fair was this?

He swapped it, the machine beeped, and he was allowed to buy a ticket. Sitting on the train, He tried checking the busy schedule Yao-Momo had send him early in the evening.

Kaminari would not tell her, but he felt her efforts were like trying to fight alone against a tsunami wave – not a figure of speech. Even All Might never tried that -. They were only two provisional-licensed heroes, what could they possibly do?

"…did you heard? There was a jailbreak in the night!"

Kaminari looked up. Two middle school girls were chatting loudly, and other people around them were staring.

"That's so scary…" The second one whispered, looking around as if the escapee had a chance to be on the train.

Kaminari did not do the same. (That would have been so stupid.)

"It was all over the news this morning. They don't know what happened."

Kaminari opened his backpack. Instead of textbooks, he had filled it with a small lunch, water, and a battery charger for his phone. He had forgotten to charge it (He felt like hitting himself for that). He usually never bothered checking the power level and simply chewed on the cord from time to time. A battery charger. He never used one before to charge something that was not himself.

He had enough electricity charged up inside his body to power up the entire train for hours, and he couldn't use it to charge his phone. This was getting ridiculous.

"I'm never checking the news, it's either boring or scary."

He agreed, – only Heroes news were interesting, and since this world had none of that… – but he would have preferred if they could just be quiet. Trains were supposed to be quiet, especially on mornings. The old woman in front of the girls was also making a face, visibly ready to give them a fair scolding.

"It's not!" The other one exclaimed. "Have you checked it? It is amazing! There was a big fire, and then there were icebergs spurting from the buildings! It's so big they haven't removed it yet!"

Time almost stopped.

His brain literally bugged on the words.

Jailbreak, fire, ice. Possibilities leaded to one and only name.

Kaminari jumped from his sit, and the two girls stepped backward, startled by the sudden move. Ignoring the additional stares now focused on himself, he spoke even louder than they had.

"Icebergs? Fire? Can you show me?!"

Both girls got closer from one another, obviously scared. Kaminari did not even notice. His brain was buzzing. Ice quirks were rare. Ice quirks capable of spurring icebergs-sized ice cubes and lighting up fire big enough to be on the news even less so.

"Was the jailbreak successful?"

The two did not answer, trying to avoid his insisting stare. People were whispering and the old lady was clapping her foot down, annoyed. He grabbed one by the shoulder.

"Please, you need to tell me!"

"Let me go!" She screamed, and her friend hit him in the arm with her backpack, which was containing much more than just lunch and battery charger… probably good, old-fashion, heavy textbooks, with plenty of hard angles. The shock forced him to let go of her shoulder.

"Don't touch her, or I call the police!" She shouted, and Kaminari felt a much bigger and stronger hand fall on his shoulder.

He turned around, facing two tall university students ready to play heroes.

"Why don't you go down next station?" The first one suggested while the second stood between him and the girls.

Kaminari shot a rapid look at the next station name. In any case, it did not really mattered. "I think I will do that," he agreed, trying to look dumb, nice, and non-threatening.

"Good." The second university student approved, not moving from where he stood.

Kaminari tried to forgot he still had a foreign hand on his shoulder and bit his lips hard, doing his best to remain calm. The whole train had its eyes set on him, and he had no time to deal with this misunderstanding and Todoroki… "Do you mind if I charge my phone to check the news?" He blurted out.

The university students seemed very little impressed.

"Why? Is this jailbreak that amazing?"

"I…I… no, I don't know…"

"Are you one of these freaks who think Quirks are amazing?"

Kaminari shut his mouth, and the hand on his shoulder squeezed hard. The middle school girl, the one he had scared, took also a step back, as if she was thinking Quirks were an amazing gift. She stared very hard at the floor, and Kaminari only then noticed.

The girl was trying to hide her hands in her skirt pockets, but the pockets were a little bit too small, and her skin was not exactly normal. There were tiny, flesh-colored scales appearing all over them.

She had a Quirk. One that was currently activating.

"Hey, where are you looking?" The second university student angrily asked, and Kaminari realized he was actually staring right at her skirt.

"N-Nowhere!" He exclaimed, horrified by the second misunderstanding and even more afraid to bring more attention to the girl. She hid a little behind her friend, who fiercely looked at them.

They looked so scared.

They should not feel scared. They should not. Quirk was just a part of her.

This felt so wrong.

"You know, I think we could get off next station too," the university student said to his friend, but Kaminari was not even listening.

This was so stupid. This girl was so young, her friend seemed so decided to protect her, and he had put them both in danger… because if anyone else on the train noticed her hands, there was no telling what would happen to her.

The old woman was staring at the girls.

She was staring, and she would have even without his input, but he still felt responsible.

It was just a part of her, and there was shame, and terror, and hate on her face, and she was so young, and he was a hero and he could not let it slide, he just could not let her be scared, he could not let it happen and stay silent…

This felt so wrong.

This felt so wrong it was sickening. His hair were just his hair. The girl Quirk was just her Quirk. His own ability to charge his phone was only just that. His friends were just his friends. No one deserved this amount of wrongness.

Kaminari whirled to face the university student, reaching an invisible limit of how much he could accept.

"What if I do think it's amazing?" He said, the words escaping his lips so fast he could not contain them. The wagon stopped the chatting.

He refused to let panic overwhelm him.

He needed to keep the attention focused on anything but the girls. Consequences be damned.

"Then maybe you need to review your lessons, freak." The university student told him, and Kaminari continued to stare straight in his eyes.

He was good at bringing attention to himself. He was even better at answering dumbly. He smiled at the two taller-older-mean students.

"Then, I do think it's amazing, which you are not."

The crowed was silent, eyes widening, mouth agape, as if the words were taboo. The girls were frozen, eyes even wider, and the student's grip over his shoulder started to hurt.

"By the way, this our station, I believe." He boldly added, smiling.

It was not smart, but it felt finally right.

Just a little, but still.

Kaminari Denki knew he could knock out the two students. It was an indisputable fact. He had a dangerous Quirk (ridiculous word). They were Quirkless people. Taller, older, bulkier people, but Quirkless all the same.

Kaminari Denki also knew he could not use his Quirk. Which was kind of switching the odds...

…next time he was seeing Uraraka, he would ask her for self-defense advance lessons. (He could probably also ask Ojiro too, but Ojiro was a lot less cutter.)

The first one pushed him off the train, and he understood they would not let his bravado slide.

"Why don't we have a little chat before we part?"

They pushed him to a corner of the train station, and he did not resist. He could take a little beating, (He trained daily with Sero, Bakugo and Kirishima, after all, and the two latest were not exactly delicate in that matter), and in the event that it was too much, it was 100% preferable to be in a place with no cameras or witnesses… because, well, he still had a dangerous Quirk he could use just fine.

He was slammed into a wall, and he winced.

"You harass girls and you think Quirks are amazing. You really are the worst."

"I don't harass girls," he corrected, because it was very much true, (he was not Mineta, thank you very much) which earned him to be pushed a little harder into the wall.

"Don't even try to pretend, you had your eyes all over her! Is it fun, to disrespect people like this? Is it fun, for you, to look down on girls and to spout nonsense about what is only making our lives harder?" The student yelled, "Did you think about the people on that train who lost dear ones to this shit? Did you think they think of it as amazing? Is it amazing to lose someone you liked because he suddenly put everyone in danger?"

Kaminari stared, not sure to understand well. The student was angry, yes, but he also looked sad. Really, really sad. The other one was looking away, arms crossed as if to protect himself.

"Let me tell you, having a Quirk is a death sentence! It is not amazing, it will never be amazing!"

"…having a Quirk is not like this…" He whispered.

"It is dangerous, it is uncontrollable, and it spreads! Despite all research, there is still no real way to erase it, and people are hurt every day! What is it your dumb ass don't understand?!"

A punch connected with his stomach, and he did not even try to avoid it.

What the student was saying felt wrong.

In another way that his hair, his Quirk and everything else felt wrong. As if Kaminari was the one exacerbating the pain showing in every word the student was saying.

His own bravado suddenly did not feel right anymore. Not really.

"Next time you open your mouth, think before speaking! Think about the feelings of the people around you! How they may have lost someone, and how you will hurt them! Is that clear?"

Kaminari did not make any sign he agreed. He was feeling stupid, and this had a bitter taste.

His eyes glued again to the pavement.

How could the world be so fucked up that even standing for others felt wrong?

He wanted U.A. back, his life back, his dorm back, everything back.

He bit his lip. It was quivering.

"I hope you feel sorry. Don't ever do that again, because next time, people might not be as nice as we were. Let's go."

Kaminari continued staring at the ground for what felt like an eternity.

"I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!" Bakugo exclaimed.

Izuku had just finished breakfast, and since his mother had gone to take a very short shower, they had tried to contact again Kirishima and Kaminari. None of them answered.

Izuku had no time to calm Kacchan, and frankly, he barely had the energy to give it a try. He had slept very little, and he had never thought ever before he would be the one hoping Kacchan would stop mumbling… because that was what he did. Half the night, deep in sleep, counting minutes, or sheep, or something, and not even noticing he did.

It was not his fault, but still…

Izuku had scribbled those figures in the margins of his notebook, wondering if they meant something for his friend, but of course, he would not ask, and Kacchan would not tell him even if he did.

Nightmares were certainly a touchier subject that cellphones.

His mother entered the room before he could even turn towards him. Her hair was still wet, and it was obvious how hastily she had dressed up.

"Katsuki-chan…" She began, and Izuku stepped quickly in front of the kitchen table, hiding his phone from view. Kacchan was still not supposed to call and know other people. "…we do have neighbors."

"As if neighbors ever care when they hear noise from other people's apartments," Kacchan said.

Izuku took the opportunity to check his sleeves, since his mother had all her attention on his childhood friend. Somewhere in the night between twenty-eight, zero-zero, zero-zero minus three, zero-zero, zero-zero and twenty-four, nineteen, zero-five it had occurred to him that he should not let anyone see his scars.

He was certain his mother would freak out, and a lot more than she had in the real world.

The ones on the back of his right hand were difficult to conceal and he was checking it every minute… trying hard not to look suspicious… and failing miserably.

"They do. I already went there to explain my microwave exploded yesterday... DVD players explode by themselves a lot less often." Kacchan obviously felt little guilt. Inko got closer, hands on her hips. "I am not saying you both can't have fun, but if you could not scream on the top your lungs, that would be wonderful."

"Ha?! You were the one being goddamn loud yesterday. Just so you know, I was not even screaming on the top of my lungs," he said factually, and unfortunately, it was very much true. He could be a lot louder.

"I'm glad to learn that." His mother answered, visibly not glad. "…so… what are your plans for today? Have you finished studying?"

They looked at each other, and Izuku nodded very slightly. They had covered most of Japan modern history in the morning – well, to be perfectly honest, Izuku did read all of it, and Katsuki read only the more relevant information – and it had resulted in a perfect waste of time and energy, since they were not an inch closer to understanding what could have possibly happen.

"About that mum… I've got this… r-remedial test on Saturday and… i-it's modern history… Quirks and all… and w-we've checked my textbook and everything, but I... I got some questions."

"It's rare," she said, sitting down just next to Kacchan, who did his best to have the phone disappearing from sight. Izuku managed to catch it before it fall off the table. "You are usually the one teaching me about what you learn at school."

"I-I-I am?"

Kacchan snorted, and Inko laughed. "So what questions do you have that the textbook cannot answer? I warn you both, I may be a little older than you are, but I'm not a dinosaur, I probably won't be able to answer everything."

Izuku took a deep breath. "Quirks appeared at one point of history, and I understand that it was a difficult time. Then, governments all over the world started to make laws about it. Time, propaganda, fear of the unknown, it lead to the world of today. What I… what w-we can't find is if there was a specific e-event that made the governments believe it would be impossible for people with Quirks to adapt to society. The laws, they could have been different. They could have only forbid dangerous uses of quirks in public spaces, or order for specific quirks-diplomas if someone wanted to use theirs on a job. They did not, they went further than this, and I do not get why. It's… it's written everywhere there were coup d'état, attacks, but it's always a generality, not something specific."

His mother slowly lost her smile. She looked at Kacchan and he stared back. Then only did she answered. "This is a difficult question. I was not born, but my grandparents would sometimes speak about it. They spoke about attacks as something they could experience on a daily basis, and they were so thankful for governments to begin massive arrests and studying of the Quirks in order to find a way to stop Quirks from spreading."

She sighed.

"You should not write this in your exam, Izuku, because I'm not exactly sure it's accurate, but granny, she would tell me there was one day, when she was young, she got up from bed at night and she saw the light from the stars flicker. Someone's Quirk was so powerful at the time, that it affected stars. Stars. Life as we know it could have been destroyed in a blink… it scared people. It scared all earth on the same day, and just after that event, policies began to take effect for real." She explained. "It must have been so terrifying, having the sky lit off and on again and again… Katsuki-chan, are you okay?"

Izuku, focused on his mother story, only noticed Kacchan's face. It was blank, almost vacant. His eyes were a little unfocused, as if he was seeing something beyond them, something that was not exactly there, with them.

"I…," he said, eyelids flickering fast, and before Izuku could react, the vacant expression was gone, replaced by much more usual anger. He pushed his chair out of the way and was already putting on his father shoes before they had time to process what happened.

He opened the door, and Inko got up instantly, "Katsuki-chan!"

He put the hoodie over his head and slammed the door shut.

"Katsuki-chan, you can't, if someone sees…!"

"I'll go," Izuku said, and he headed outside.