Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true

I wake up.

All I see is white. Everything is so bright, it hurts my eyes.

A figure is whispering to himself, he looks at me.

Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true Your dream can't come true

He's saying those words to himself.

But his dream came true.

He won't stop saying it.

He left my mind a while ago. This is only the echo of his soul.

He left me with this message.

Was it a warning?

I reach to touch his shoulder and

Worthy

He had no emotion and spoke a single time before his body shattered like glass. My body is stabbed and cut all over. Shards dig into my flesh and tear apart my soul painting the white world red.

I can't breath

Go back

I can't breath

Go back

His name was...

All of a sudden Izuku's body came back to life. Gasping for air like a fish desperate for water. He felt the air in his mouth fill with moisture as his breathing resumed. His voice felt rough like he hadn't spoken in years. His face was covered in tears but not all of them were his own. His eyes opened to see the shitty ceiling he spent so many days under. He noticed the holes and the way the moonlight shined on her face above him. He lay on what felt like God's pillow as he looked up at the crying girl above him. He realized he was laying on her thighs and felt a blush come on his own face. The lighting shifted as he saw her face, entirely red and crying all over him. He wondered for a second if her tears brought him back to life.

It took a few more seconds to remember that he was a mage and that this wasn't how magic worked.

"Your dress looks nice," He croaked out. It sounded like he had the voice of a deadman. It didn't feel like his own. His entire body felt alien to himself. But for some reason that wasn't what he was thinking about. His mind was stuck on her soft dark green material of the dress that was cradling his head and he wondered if she had meant for it to match his hair.

"Izuku you're making no sense. There is no astral plane and it wouldn't look completely white if it did exist. I highly doubt your crest has the ability to create a goddamn reality marble," Shindo was having none of this. He knew how magecraft worked and for some godforsaken reason, everything he saw two weeks ago broke those rules.

"I'm just telling you everything I remember, you're the one who asked so give me a break. I'm gonna be late if we keep going in circles," he groaned out as Shindo inspected his notes about the event and Izuku's statement.

One moment the pickle haired prick was laying there and he just had the crest transplanted. It went perfectly, the last part fit on his body fine, it accepted the crest perfectly. The moment Eri deactivated the magic circle that held him in stasis, mana went into his crest and he rose up in a feat that made Shindo's legs hurt just remembering it. Suddenly he materialized a goddamn sword out of nothing.

Now producing or "projecting" objects and weapons was nothing special or new.

But Izuku never learned how to do it. He obviously could have if he bothered to learn it but somehow he managed to perform magic he didn't know and create something he claims to have never seen in his life. The worst part was that Shindo couldn't even ask Izuku to create the sword again because the only look he got of it was when he made it.

Sufficient to say Shindo was pissed. He wasn't allowed to inherit his family's magic crest and for years he rationalized it by saying the crest probably wasn't even useful 'it was a glorified spellbook'. If what he saw was even a quarter of what the Midoriya family crest could do then one could only imagine what a proper line of magus like his own could create. Izuku's family was only 5 generations of mages and they were able to do this? There was something up. He checked the notes he wrote from Izuku's description.

White space

Your dream can't come true

Worthy

Glass

It looked like a crackhead's shopping list. Shindo's head sunk downwards.

"Maybe the guy in my vision was a spirit?" Izuku suggested. He was clearly out of his depth but the idea didn't sound horrible. It would certainly make more sense than the ideas they came up with thus far. It would probably work better than the stupid magnet or railgun idea he came up with for the exams. Using the power of spirits? The idea wasn't uncommon but it seemed useless. Why would any powerful spirit help a nobody mage like him? And what kind of spirit conjures a sword? He would have to remember what was happening for that to work. It wasn't like Izuku's body was some kind of vessel. He was just an average mage. 25 magic circuits and a decent workout routine.

Any powerful spirits disappeared a long time ago and the only ones left for mages to find, use and abuse were those of nature and the elements. The ghosts of the dead held almost no power over this world and were pretty much fuel for rituals. If he was getting special spirits they weren't from this world. Shindo was going to have to do some digging on Hisashi Midoriya and just what kind of mage he really was.

The research notes Izuku handed over really just focused on reinforcing the body to "use the crest". There wasn't much else to the family magic outside of that. He wasn't sure if they were keeping it a secret but Shindo was beginning to wonder if his father even intended to hand over the crest in the first place. Usually, the research notes are supposed to help guide but here they felt more like instructions for the self.

"You might be onto something," Shindo sighed watching Izuku put on his jacket. "I'll get back to you after the exams; I'm gonna call the records person at the clocktower. The association might have some notes from when your father studied magecraft there?" It was a long shot but some of the professors did write notes about students who were exceptional. In most cases, the notes detailed weaknesses in case the mage decided to go against the association in the future. Trust was a rare thing.

Izuku looked over at the small girl still eating her breakfast.

"What kind of magecraft do you think it is, Eri?" Shindo gave him a look wondering if they talked about this already and were about to do another comedy bit. Over the years together Izuku had a fun time teaching Eri various concepts. This month they were learning and watching stand up comedy after they came across Miss Joke's Netflix specials.

"Maybe you can do sword magecraft, it makes you sharp!" Eri began laughing at her own joke, Shindo was left wondering how much longer until she was good at this. Izuku's laughter was frankly too encouraging. "Oh, Izuku good luck on the exam! You'll write the most words!"

"Thanks, Eri." Izuku chuckled as he grabbed his phone and made his way towards the door.

Before Izuku could make it to the door Shindo shouted. "Use the gandr shot I taught you against people you think are doing too good."

"I'm going to take the written test today."

"My point still stands."

Going to the UA campus for the second time was the strangest thing.

Izuku thought he was going to feel slightly more normal the second time but if he was being honest it felt even stranger because there were almost no students walking around.

The first time he walked to the written exam he saw tons of students. The amount of people going was frankly insane. The written exam was the same for recommended students and regular students applying so he got a taste for how many people were applying that time. The variation in kids was also incredible. He saw two kids with purple hair which if he was being honest was the highlight of his day. He caught a glimpse of Bakugo as well. He didn't recognize him at first because of his lack of screaming but he was there and for the first time with a smile on his face. Izuku hadn't seen him smile since they were kids.

The written exam itself wasn't too hard, though he saw a ton of students afterwards whining about it. It was multiple choice with some thinking questions that seemed to favour action above anything else. Some girl with pink hair and skin was shouting with some friends about how she was sure she failed. Everything felt so alive during the first visit.

It made today feel much more foreboding.

It was empty and there were only two people walking, that being himself and Momo. It felt odd and a bit terrifying walking through those gates and past the trees that lined the way towards the entrance.

Momo managed to get them both into the recommendation exam and from what Izuku heard and read about online there would only be about 8 students taking it with him this year. The idea that it was Izuku against a small number of elite students was not a comforting one. There was plenty of information he could find about the regular exam and the robots they had to fight but there was nothing online about the kind of challenge the recommended exam had in mind.

"Izuku, you're muttering to yourself again." Momo smiled, watching the young man try and reconcile his fear with his urge to over-prepare. "I'm sure we'll both make it in just fine. UA is trying to be more strict this year but our chances are good."

Her confidence spread to Izuku as he pushed the thoughts out of his mind and focused on the current task: walking across this oversized campus.

"Due to the low number of recommended students this year, we'll be splitting you by gender for the practical section. Men with me." The sleepy teacher with long black hair said as he pulled his long yellow sleeping bag along.

Izuku expected to be separated from his friend; he prepared specifically for this case, actually. What he didn't expect was the small number of students. He knew they were cutting down classes but this felt like they might be getting a little too strict. There were only 3 boys beside Izuku.

"For now, you guys can call me Aizawa," he muttered out, not really caring if the boys behind him heard it. Izuku caught the sentence and planned to take it to heart. He wasn't sure his peers were listening, however. He thought eyeing the competition made sense considering how manageable they seemed.

He recognized the boy Momo warned him about in advance, apparently, they went to the same private high school and his dad was the number 2 hero. He walked slightly ahead of everyone giving a mean look to anyone who interacted with him. So far it was mostly the recommendation girls he had to shoo off until now. The person trying to talk to him currently was a student Izuku didn't recognize. He was hyperactive and kept loudly talking to everyone asking names and yelling something about passion. He didn't get the chance to talk to Izuku and he could see the disappointment on his face. The last student was a quiet kid with teeth that seemed to rest outside his mouth. In fact, it didn't actually look like the guy had lips. Izuku wasn't sure why, but he was the one who seemed like he would wipe the floor with him in a one on one fight.

The boys were each given stickers to put on their front and back. The back sticker was surprisingly easy but for some reason, the front sticker didn't seem to stick right on his chest. "Alright, the challenge is going to be a straight dash 3 kilometres. The first section of the test is going to focus on your timing and planning with metal walls that come up at random intervals for about a kilometre. You are allowed to break through the walls if possible. After that, it's a straight run where you use your quirks to make it as fast as possible. Feel free to harm your competitors in any way that is not permanent or lethal. Any broken bones and you'll have to explain why you should be a hero in the interview section afterwards. Understood?"

"Understood," the boys repeated as the teacher nodded, wrapped himself in the sleeping bag, and sat on some bleachers. He looked kind of like a caterpillar with the way he sat there.

Izuku quickly surveyed the area they would be running on. It was a massive straight-line dash that worked well for his current plan. If he did this properly, he could possibly make it all the way. Endeavours' son, Todoroki, was probably going to use ice on everyone else here so using the floor would be less than ideal. The crest, while useful in helping regulate his mana, didn't help with anything else. It was up to him from now on.

The boys all lined up in their starting positions ready to run. Izuku stood facing backwards. As he focused and pushed his arms outwards. He took a breath and imagined the trigger to activate his magic circuits. Picturing the bones in his body breaking and suddenly lines of blue appeared across his arms. He felt a crackle as the air resisted. With a grunt, he traced the image of a large chunk of metal. The air around his hands began to light up as it was reinforced and altered to force his will upon the world. The chunk of metal materialized in front of him as the other boys looked over in confusion. Based on the instructions given, this would be allowed, though for his own sake he almost wished it wasn't. He hovered his hands a few inches from the hunk of smooth metal. His pose felt like the opposite of a running position as he waited for the teacher to begin the countdown.

The teachers watching from behind the monitor didn't think much of it. A block of metal didn't seem like it was going to do the boy any good. Still, a certain rat had his eyes fixated on the screen.

Izuku began to sweat with how much mana he was putting into this chunk to make sure it wasn't erased from the world. He took a deep breath as he collected himself.

"Ready?" The teacher started. As Izuku pushed mana into his own body.

Reinforcement of body:

Durability increased 50%

Functionality heightened 5%

Weight lowered 60%

Body Voltage and Ampere increased 500%

"Set?" His face was sweating. The blue lines that covered his body could be seen from beneath his clothing with how much light was emitted through the clothing. He was being stared at by the passionate competitor next to him. Izuku amplified the wattage in his body as high as he could so he could make this math work out.

"Go!" Izuku looked behind himself and waited until his path was clear. The other boys began rushing across the field but all Izuku needed was one moment. He created the magnetic force in his body as he heard all the other boys start to use their quirks on one another. He reinforced his hands double before touching the metal block.

It was almost thirty seconds of waiting, but he finally had a window when all of the walls in his path were down.

The moment— no, the microsecond— his hands touched that slab of metal he regretted this decision.

"What's a railgun?" Momo tilted her head as she asked. She hadn't expected Izuku to show off the secret skill he had been training right on the day of her exams. He didn't want her to not know what he was going to be doing at least.

"A railgun is a military canon that uses nothing but electric power and magnetic force to launch objects up to a speed of Mach six. I was reading about them and I got the idea to implement them into my own body. The idea is to alter an object so it becomes magnetic and use my arms as rails. I then amplify my body's voltage and the items can blast off my body depending on how much power I want to use." The idea was hefty and took way too much time to perfect with Shindo, but it was sound. The ability to launch small and large items at massive distances was perfect for a hero. He got part of the idea when he saw Momo create an actual cannon for practice one time. The idea of being able to effectively burst energy out of nothing was one that was interesting. He pulled out the diagram showing how it worked.

"Wait but wouldn't that kill you? The force of the blast would surely knock you back because of Newton's third law." Her questioning was solid; Izuku loved that about her.

"It would in almost any case except for the fact that there are no chemical parts or explosions like a normal gun. The objects will be sliding along my arms or fingers meaning most of the force is going to go against them. The recoil is manageable by reinforcing and altering my body to weigh more than the object I'm firing. Add in some reinforcement on my shoe's grip and with enough energy, I can send about anything flying," Momo was taken aback, Izuku could see her face as she realized just how much thought he had put into this, and the fruit of his efforts.

"Wait, you make the projectiles right? You've been practicing air reinforcement. Then that means… You're basically an infinite railgun as long as you have the energy." Her face was a mix of horror and amazement. The concept itself was insane, but combining it with his other abilities could be catastrophic for both him and an enemy. The idea of a hero able to send a person flying with just two-handed contact was insane. She was glad Izuku planned on becoming a hero. She looked over the diagram and thought for a second. "What if you made yourself the projectile?"

He stared at her for a moment with a terrifying glint of creativity in his eyes. This changed everything.

The regret came mostly from the fact that this was going to be the first time he did this and Momo wouldn't be here to see it. He also hated how dangerous this was and hated the fact that this was probably his best chance that didn't involve shooting someone. He needed to get attention but murder didn't seem like a smart way to get it. So rail gunning himself was about the only option left.

So the microsecond his hands touched the large metal slab he knew he fucked up.

Everything went silent. Massive sparks flew off his hands. It looked like he overloaded an electrical grid with how many sparks arced out of his hands as his body was sent flying at speeds no human should ever endure. He knew humans could withstand up to Mach thirty but if he was forced to stop suddenly he would be nothing but a blood splatter on the wall.

The next sensation Izuku felt was the slam of his body into the ground. He'd watched videos of motorcyclists falling off the highway and sliding in the rain and, surprisingly enough with his reinforced body and clothing, it felt a lot like that. He was on his ass with his shoes and hands also pushing against the ground to try and slow him down. His bare hands scraped against the ground as he tried to ignore the pain. If he hadn't reinforced his hands they would probably have been skinned down to the bone. He could feel his pants starting to press into his skin and heat up from the friction as he slowly slid to a stop. His heart rate was through the roof and he could feel his hair becoming a mess. He felt like shit but before he could even think about the damage…

BANG!

The sound of the initial blast reached him, slamming into his ears as he felt the full force of a sonic boom. The wind that followed from the air pressure was hefty as well. As it blew from behind him, the wind returned his hair back into something almost normal. He had to evaluate before continuing. His body seemed intact outside of the ringing in his ears and the pain from his destroyed hands. He looked around for the competition.

He couldn't see that well from this far away but the other students had hands-on their ears as well. The blast of sound seemed to affect them as well, as Izuku quickly reoriented himself and started his run towards the finish line. He didn't have much mana left after that all-out blast so he could only reinforce his legs and shoes while he hoped to god the adrenaline didn't wear off on his raw hands.

Izuku was not a runner for sure. He only ever did it with Momo rarely, so the only thing he could manage was making sure his body worked optimally and making sure his shoes still had traction after sliding across the ground like that. He had a good feeling the bottom of his sneakers were entirely smooth with zero grip.

The distance from here to the finish line meant that he must have travelled over one and a half kilometres in a few seconds. Though if he was being honest, the pain crawling across his body and into his brain was causing the likelihood of him making it feel low. He turned around to see the three behind him battling it out with wind and ice. Todoroki was going to gain on Izuku really soon with the wind guy right behind him. If Izuku didn't find a way to make it in time, both of them would pass him. He needed something he could do with limited mana.

Goddamn it, he was horrible at improvisation.

He looked at his hands and began to whisper a healing spell

"heal my body, reject the damage done," Izuku whispered the first part of the spell as he felt his circuits start to work and transfer small amounts of mana to begin regenerating his hands. He had a plan now. It was risky but if he timed it right he could stop all of his competition. He had to focus on healing the skin on his index fingers.

Spellcasting was starting to feel like praying at this point and frankly, he needed God's help here.

Izuku had to slow down slightly as he began creating a specific bullet. He wasn't going to shoot them but with proper aim and timing, he could hopefully stop them.

He was nearing the finish line and the men behind him were catching up.

Izuku felt the magnetic force run through his arms again as he placed the bullet in between his index fingers. He pointed them like finger guns before turning around and firing the bullet into the ground and shielding his eyes. A massive BANG was heard. The sound didn't come from the actual firing but instead came from the impact it made against the ground. He turned around to continue running and opened his mouth.

Another loud BANG! shook the area as he heard the two behind him yell out in pain. The one riding the wave of ice fell off before catching himself with another ice wall and the other slammed into the ground as he lost balance with his wind.

The bullet was a small mix of magnesium with some nitrate on its tip to effectively create a mini flashbang. The light and minor blast would unbalance the others as the fluid in their ears were disrupted. Izuku's mouth being forced open closed his ears from the possibility of temporary deafness and disorientation.

From now on he just had to make the last of the run. It was only a few dozen meters left before he could make it. Two behind him would be blinded for a few seconds at most so all he needed to do was…run…

Before he could finish the thought a wall of ice was thrown up raising up to the level of his apartment as he blocked off the boy's only way forward. Todoroki managed to effectively block off Izuku by sending a massive wall of ice while he was blind. Izuku turned around to see the man rubbing his eyes and pushing himself up with more ice to effectively elevate himself over the blockade he put up. He looked down on Izuku as he felt a sea of rage growing in him.

'Shit,' Izuku thought to himself as he tried to think of any way to get over the wall. With this amount of mana, he couldn't do anything special. So he could feel his mind go back to the basics of what he always knew. Reinforce and Alter.

He pressed his hands against the wall of ice and quickly began to inspect for any possible weak points. The one closest to him would have to do. His cold hands pushed on the area as he sent his mana into it. He felt his feet slip as he couldn't reinforce his shoes with the amount of mana left in his body. He held on by pressing the side of his shoe against the ground. Izuku screamed as he felt his body overload and sent mana into the wall at inhuman speeds. The blue light wrapped and warped the weak point in the ice structure before Izuku pushed his body into it. He was doing everything in his power to force his way through.

'Shit, it didn't break'

He didn't have enough energy in his body, he had to get physical.

He slammed his body into the point he weakened. Nothing.

'Again' his foot slipped and he lost power but it cracked for the first time.

'Again' he couldn't reinforce his entire body for this; he was limited to two parts. The ice cracked more.

"COME ON" he screamed as he reinforced his arm and his head, smashing those parts into it like a monster. Blasting through the wall like a sledgehammer as he made his mad dash for the finish line, he was maybe 15 meters from it as he heard the ice user land on the ground. Todoroki shot ice across the floor making it impossible for Izuku to run with his shoes and shutting down his momentum.

It was about 10 meters from the finish and the other guy was riding a wave of ice. He was going to overtake Izuku. 'Just one more,' he pleaded as he sent the last bit of mana into his fingers before yelling again from the pain when—

CRACK

It was the sound of thunder as he aimed his hand towards the competitor and flicked his index finger, causing the massive rush of wind to blast out of his hand and knock Todoroki to the side. It didn't help to stop or slow him down but it pushed Izuku back with the ice fast enough to cross the finish line and crash into the floor. It was over.

The announcer called out his number as first place while he laid there on the floor. Izuku wasn't sure if he could move his body, but he certainly didn't want to. The pain felt unbearable but compared to how he used to use reinforcement this was certainly better. His heart was beating out of his chest and he felt his breathing even out as he lay there. For once he didn't feel like he was going to pass out, but he almost wished he did.

He looked around to see any confirmation but all he saw was the wind user and Todoroki talking to each other. Well, it didn't look like much of a conversation as the guy with the wind walked away, seemingly offended. He walked over to Izuku and bent over 90 degrees to look down at the damaged young man. The figure above him had a large body that covered the sun from Izuku's eyes.

"Good job at winning the practical." His smile was infectious, but physically Izuku didn't think he could smile right now. The man looked over at Todoroki with a particular look on his face before looking down at Izuku. "I'd love to have a chance to have another battle one day; you were really putting everything into that." he put a hand out downwards and Izuku grasped it expecting to be pulled up, but he just shook his hand as Izuku lied there on the ground. "Good luck," he said before walking away.

Izuku just closed his eyes and rested, waiting for the next announcement as he felt his body slowly repair itself with the minimal mana he had left. The finger in his hand had to have been broken. The purple bruised colour around his index finger confirmed that before he even felt it. He opened his eyes again to see the instructor standing over him.

"Hero's don't get to sleep on the job and neither do you." His voice was rough and tired but oddly enough he seemed empathetic. "It's time for the interviews."

And with that Izuku picked himself up off the floor and sluggishly followed the teacher into another building.

'Surely this part will be easy,' he thought to himself.

Authors Note

Well, that was a doozy, it was a bit hard to write this one with all the moving parts. Next time there will be a bit more romance and character details so I hope you guys can get behind /

As usual, the fic was edited by the lovely people in the Total Command Discord and the wonderful Witchilly on Ao3

Comments/Reviews/Speculation/Questions are always great. Until next time.