Alll men are not created equal. This was the reality I learned about society at the age of four years old.
"If you wanna be a hero that badly, why don't you just take a swan dive off the roof and wish that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life!"
Midoriya Izuku walked home that day feeling the worst he'd felt since he was four years old. Even though he didn't have the extra toe joint, all the tests show that he didn't have a quirk.
Of course, the possibility of being a late bloomer is there. It may also be that his quirk is very subtle or has very specific conditions to activate. It was said that the only option was to wait because the current technology is just not advanced enough to detect such quirks. However, kids would never care about that fact and everyone started calling him quirkless, with his childhood friend as the main instigator.
And now 10 years later, he just told Izuku to kill himself.
He's an idiot. Izuku bitterly thought.
If he really did kill himself then wouldn't Kacchan be in trouble for suicide baiting?
No. He said it cause he knew that I won't go through with it.
Izuku turned left and saw the tunnel. He would ask himself why but he was familiar with Kacchan's reasoning.
Maybe he thinks that I'm too much of a coward to take his 'advice'.
Izuku let out a small huff of laughter.
He's not wrong though. I'm useless after all.
The slope went downwards and Izuku squinted a bit at the approaching darkness of the tunnel. The image of Kacchan while telling him to die appeared in his mind and frustration rolled off Izuku like waves. He remembered the time when he was just a child, when he first got the news that he was quirkless. He remembered his mother crying to him and saying that she's sorry even though she didn't need to. He remembered the decision that he made a long time ago.
I knew that this wouldn't be easy from the start. I should just stop listening to them.
Izuku clenched his fists and strengthened his resolve.
I have to keep my head up! So what if it's gonna be hard? I'm never going to kill myself over it. I won't stop 'till I become a hero like All Might!
He looked at the approaching light at the end of the tunnel and nodded to himself. Just before Izuku's feet touch the ground where the light was, it was covered by a large shadow. He turned around and saw a mud-like monster. He saw the manic eyes and menacing grin.
A villain! His mind supplied.
"Invisibility cloak size M"
Not a moment later, the slime monster enveloped his body and lifted him off the ground. Masses of something like mud covered his nose and mouth. There was pressure in his neck and entire body.
Izuku's eyes watered. He wanted to vomit.
Disgusting! No! SOMEONE!
"Don't struggle kid. This'll only hurt for 45 seconds."
Izuku's fight or flight instinct kicked in and he then he started thrashing within the hold of the villain.
I don't want to die! I don't want to die!
Izuku's vision started spinning. His head felt like bursting.
No. I can't–
Faintly, he heard someone shouting something like 'I'm here!' behind them. However, Izuku couldn't even think about what that could possibly mean for him. He closed his eyes to the feeling of drowning in despair and he just couldn't help but let himself sink to the bottom of it.
It's cold.
Izuku's head was just a pool of darkness opened. He didn't even have the time to freak out when he came face to face with a pair of beautiful golden eyes. He felt paralyzed just by looking at it.
What– what is this? What's happening?
Izuku was still confused when something else flashed in his head... a memory of a time and place he doesn't remember but he's certain that it's his.
.
.
.
"Fuck!" Two figures were running through the sewers, one looked like he was in his thirties the other looked like he was about sixteen years old.
"Fuck fuck fuck!" The man continued cursing. He looked panicked as if he was being pursued by death itself. The edges of his cape were covered with grime and he looked worse for wear but the man seemed like he couldn't care less.
The teen with him, however, was the picture of calm. He wasn't even breaking a sweat at running and jumping over random things in the sewers.
"Calm down. Your behaviour isn't helping us right now." The boy in casual clothing said in a levelled voice. Even though he was effortlessly keeping up with the man, the boy didn't look tired or shaken in the least. His cold and calculating expression didn't suit the baby face at all.
"But Izuku-sama, All for One destroyed the lab and killed all of our researchers! He violated the agreement between the two of you!" The two of them were still running.
"I know. We turn left here. Hurry." The boy whose name was said to be Izuku memorized the layout of the sewers many years ago. He knows this whole city like the back of his hand.
"He also stole two of your quirks! And one of them was stolen because you protected me!" Izuku frowned at this.
"He's smart" They turned right. "My quirks, like One for All, can't be taken normally, if at all. But for some reason he knew that he'd be able to do it now." They were now below a factory so they should take a left here.
"How did he know that today was going to be your weakest?" Another left here. Izuku looked ahead.
"He knew that I was always looking for a way to kill myself. And like I said he's one slimy piece of shit, there are a lot of ways he could've known." They saw a ladder leading to a manhole on the dead end just ahead. "I was too caught up with my goal that I forgot about him for a bit. I guess that was enough for him to get the jump on me"
"So he knew that you'd use a time quirk like mine that directly affects quirks."
The two of them climbed up the manhole and came out in a dark alleyway.
"I've always used time quirks in trying to kill myself. He knew that. And he somehow knew that I have you by my side." They stopped to catch their breath, mostly for his companion's sake. Izuku crossed his arms over his chest, thinking about what he should do in this situation. He felt small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. That bastard All for One, Shigaraki, really did a number on him. If Izuku wasn't so used to excruciating pain, then he would've already passed out from having two of his quirks stolen by the motherfucker.
He looked at the man who escaped with him.
The Time Hero: Clockwork is an up and coming hero that's just starting to break into the top 100's. His quirk is called Jack-in-a-Clock. He's able to randomly 'age' a quirk thus strengthening or weakening it either by aging it so that it unlocks a quirk's future potential or by turning back the time on a quirk to make it as weak and uncontrollable as the first day the quirk manifested. The effect of his quirk lasts for five minutes with a 10 minute interval between each use. There was also a very rare chance of erasing a quirk temporarily for 3 minutes and that's what Izuku was banking on during the entirety of their experiments that had been running for almost twenty years.
If they were able to erase his Immortality quirk then his suffering would have been over. But now...
Izuku for the first time in a long while felt frustrated. He'd been so close! Two hundred forty-nine years is a very long time and just when he had started to have hope, this happened.
If this was Izuku about ninety years ago, he would have presented himself to Shigaraki on silver platter and begged him to take his immortality away because as he is right now, the chances of it actually happening was high. But now, even though Izuku still wanted to die, he'd rather stay alive for another hundred years than to let it fall into Shigaraki's hands.
Izuku was aware that there was a point in his long life that he went insane and was prepared to do anything and everything just to die, even going as far as breaking into one of Shigaraki's base to let the man experiment on him. But really, what was he thinking going to that psychopathic son of a bitch?
"Where are we going now Izuku-sama?" Izuku's gaze refocused on Clockwork. Izuku sighed as he let his arms fall to his sides. He closed his eyes and activated one of his remaining quirks.
The once emerald orbs are now a pair of beautiful golden dragon eyes. Red facial markings that looked like fangs started from his cheek bone and covered some of his freckles. He looked at the confused face of Clockwork, smiled at him and talked in a sweet voice.
"Did that brat All for One give you an amplification quirk or another Time-related quirk?" Izuku saw how the confusion on the man's face was replaced by realization and then by deep despair and chilling terror, face visibly paling.
"Wha-what are you talking about Izuku-sama?" Clockwork took a step back. Izuku's beautiful dragon eyes had taken on a cold glint, the smile falling off his face. His vertical slits dilated to take in the terrified visage of the Pro Hero who was once a kid scavenging the garbage for scraps before Izuku gave him food, shelter, and education. Izuku's heart hurt at the memories but none of that showed on his voice and face.
"I'm talking about the effects of your quirk. I feel like I'm slowly getting smaller or younger which normally, should be impossible with my immortality quirk in effect" He looked up to Clockwork. The larger difference in height once again is a sign that his body is indeed changing.
"The effects should only be able the age of my quirks and not my appearance. So either, when you made a deal with All for One he gave you a quirk to strengthen Jack-in-a-Clock or a new quirk to make me physically younger. So tell me, which is it? And why would you betray your benefactor?"
Clockwork fell to his knees, his body shaking like a leaf. His breathing was heavy and he was clearly beginning to panic.
"Wha-Why would you think like that Izuku-sama?! All for One was attacking me too! You were the one who protected me!" Clockwork was frantically shouting now. He was desperate to plea for his innocence that he forgot the possibility of a patrolling hero to notice them. Fortunately, the place Izuku lead them to was a place that has little to none human activity.
"Huh, so you won't answer me unless I get you completely cornered. Alright then, All for One attacked you because he saw no further use for you. He tried taking your quirk and the one he gave you because that would be a waste of resources. He has no further use for you 'cause he knew that from the moment he attacked, I would know who betrayed me."
Izuku saw the signs of quirk activation on Clockwork. Using Jack-in-a-Clock now would be a gamble so Clockwork might be using the amplification quirk or the other Time-quirk from Shigaraki. Izuku felt the quirk used on him earlier buzz under his skin. If what he's thinking was correct, then he doesn't have much time to waste.
"And one last thing, I saved you because I didn't want All for One to take the quirk he lent you and the one you originally have." A delighted smile came back on Izuku's face. "Time-quirks are really rare so imagine how he'd look if he lost two valuable quirks from under his nose." Izuku laughed.
When Clockwork hurriedly raised his hand to activate a quirk, Izuku's laughing abruptly stopped and he silently activated his Dragon eyes.
This was a quirk that no one knew of, even Shigaraki. Izuku went to great lengths just to hide this one because of its distinct appearance. Too bad he wasn't able to use it on the brat.
"FUCK YOU!" Clockwork snapped. "All-for-One said he'd give me your immortality and make me his successor if I sold you out. You're so dumb. You have this amazing and powerful quirk but what? You waste your time trying to kill yourself! It's stupid! I hate you!"
Izuku stopped his quirk. He just looked at him and listened.
"You're always so smug like you know everything, well guess what? Thanks to me, you'll turn into a baby, your memories will go away and you'll be a helpless little kid. All for One would find you by that time and steal your Immortality quirk." He laughed maniacally. "Even if you get the death you were looking for, know that thanks to you, the worst villain this world has ever seen would be born!"
Clockwork's voice cracked as he continued laughing. Izuku sighed, too used to hearing those words to show any reaction. Though like always, he felt an ache in his chest that he's learned to ignore.
"Falling for All for One's manipulation was stupid."
Clockwork was about to respond but he wasn't able to because Izuku's quirk was already on effect.
"Or maybe he used a brainwashing quirk this time." Izuku shrugged. "Not that it matters anymore. I knew that I was rushing things, being sloppy, but the possibility of me dying this time was high so I took that chance."
He looked at clockwork and thought about his options. He paralyzed him through his Dragon eyes. He can kill him by showing him hallucinations and stopping his heart but that was too much. He knew how that affected people. They would go insane first before dying. He didn't want to subject him to that suffering. He's failed him enough times already.
He also didn't want to experience the backlash of this quirk. He's gonna need to run away after this and he can't do that if he'll be paralyzed after using his quirk. Even with the regeneration aspect of his Immortality quirk, at the state he's in right now, it won't be enough to curb the backlash.
"You know that you won't be able to live through this, right?" Izuku stepped closer to him.
"If I don't kill you now, All for One would be able to find you and kill you after taking your quirks. Or worse, use you in one of his experiments." Izuku kneeled in front of him. He saw the man try to thrash but he couldn't. Not while he's under Izuku's quirk.
"And I know that he's done something irreparable to your head." Izuku couldn't help the sadness in his eyes. "He's always done that. He'd break your mind and then fix it after making sure that you're under his control. But you're never really 'fixed' after whatever quirks he's used on you. That's why you're acting like this. Just like everyone else who that bastard got to."
He held the man's cheeks in his hands.
"I've tried to get them back before. Fix their mind. Reverse whatever fuckery All for One did to their head." Izuku made a self deprecating smile. "Though, I wasn't able to do it. But that's to be expected from someone who's far more broken than any of you." He let out a wet chuckle.
Izuku looked at the unhinged man. The image of the cheerful and intelligent boy that once called him brother overlapped with the one in front of him. Izuku rested his forehead with his, while still holding the man's face. Then he remembered everyone else who had been in the same position, those that Shigaraki got to, and those that Izuku had to kill.
He saw all their faces and Izuku's breath hitched. He couldn't look on directly any further so Izuku closed his eyes. He could still see through it due to the nature if his quirk but it helped him calm down.
"I'm sorry Hiroto." Izuku whispered quietly, gently, while one of his hands went under Hiroto's chin and the other over his head and on the side of his temple before Izuku twisted the man's head, the cracking sound piercing his ears.
He saw the life leave his face.
He was still seeing through his quirk.
Izuku hasn't opened his eyes.
He let the head fall and rest on Izuku's shoulder. He hugged the dead body and felt his heart be crushed from grief for the nth time. One of the people that he's considered family was once again killed by his own hands.
"I'm sorry Hiroto."
"Izuku-sama!"
"I'm sorry."
"I did it! I erased one of your quirks! Though it was the Dragon hand… Don't worry though, we're getting closer to erasing your immortality quirk. Come on, let's do another test!"
"I–"
"I'll make sure that you'll be finally able to rest Izuku-sama."
"Hiroto–"
"I'll give you my life Izuku-sama. Even if I'll be sad if– no, when, when you die, I'll make sure of it. We'll make sure of it. We all wish for your happiness. We want to give you what you've given us… Izuku-nii-san."
Izuku held him tighter, feeling the warmth leave his family.
"AAGGGGHHHHHHHHH! AGHHHHHHH!*hic* AAGGHHHHHHH! *hic*" Izuku tried to breathe in but he couldn't. His closed eyes burned with the need to shed tears.
He couldn't.
He wouldn't.
He doesn't dare to.
Izuku struggled with getting his breathing under control.
His shaking arms laid Hiroto down on the ground.
He shakily stood up.
He took another deep breath– then all his shaking stopped.
He forced his body to relax. He was fine. He was stable on his feet, even when his head felt like it was struggling to think straight, he stood tall. He looked at Hiroto through his closed eyes.
He took another breath. It was still a bit shaky. Izuku was feeling faint but he decided to not just use his quirk to look at Hiroto, he deserved better than that.
"Goodbye brother."
Izuku opened his eyes– only to see the large face of a man.
"Hey– Oh good!" Izuku felt disoriented. Everything seemed like it was spinning. He was just standing a second ago and now he was lying on the ground. His head felt like it was smashed against a concrete wall with the headache he's having.
The man kept talking.
"Oh man, that gave me a fright. I thought those red markings were blood, thank God it wasn't. Although I must say getting tattoos at such a young age is quite concerning. Of course, it's a form of art that beautifully expresses one's inner self but young man, I advise you to wait until you're older before getting more, alright?"
Hiroto? Where's Hiroto's body? And where am I?
"And also I have to ask, are your eyes part of your quirk? Is it a mutation passed through generations? I have to say, they are quite beautiful."
Izuku closed his eyes. He needed to think. Why was he here? Who was this man? Why does his head hurt like a bitch?
Izuku was extremely confused however he was nothing if not adaptable. Therefore, he looked at the man above him using his quirk and decided to give him a sweet smile.
"Thank you sir." Oh damn, his throat hurts. "But if you're hitting on me, I'd like to politely decline." Then he added as an afterthought. "You're too old for my taste."
The man froze and just gaped. Izuku let out a sigh.
"I'm sorry but if you don't get out of my face right now I'd have to scream for help."
That jolted the man into quickly jumping backwards, causing wind to hit Izuku's body and throw him a bit into the air.
He heard the man let out a startled shout but Izuku just twisted his body in the air, easily landing on the ground, and rolling into a crouch with his eyes still closed. He would have stuck a perfect landing but Izuku needed to roll because he was used to moving with the Dragon leg quirk that made him rarely lose his balance and now that it was gone, Izuku needed to spend a long time recalibrating his movements.
Izuku frowned slightly as he faced at the man. He dare say he pouted.
"Now, that wasn't very nice." His voice sounded rough, just like the times he died from suffocation or from his throat being crushed.
The man was still gaping at him. Izuku needed to get out of here right now. The headache he was feeling was getting more and more painful. It wasn't debilitating, far from it based on Izuku's standards but it hindered him from actually thinking clearly.
"Maybe there's a misunderstanding on my part but I really need to now." He stood up and took his… bag? When did he have a bag with him?
He faced the man once again, and then he bowed.
"You seem kind Mister. Just be careful not to be mistaken as a predator next time, okay?" Izuku straightened and smiled innocently at him before turning around.
The smile was immediately replaced with a grimace.
Focus. I need to go somewhere where I can focus.
Izuku controlled his expression when he entered a street with many people. He managed to calm himself down as he walked around aimlessly. He turned to enter an empty alleyway and when he was far enough from the street, he leaned on a wall.
What happened? I left Hiroto's body since I still wasn't sure that Shigaraki hasn't sent anyone to follow us. Yeah, that's right.
Izuku felt himself remembering what happened to him. It was as if he back at that night. He saw himself running away from Hiroto's body.
He ran, turned at corners, and went further down the road until he passed by a shop. He saw his reflection on the glass. His overgrown dyed brown curls covered a bit of his eyes but in the darkness of the night, his dragon eyes shined a terrifyingly alluring golden light. If he's to believe Hiroto, then he's gonna be turned back into an infant. When that happens, will he grow up with his natural hair color? That's likely. Also it's a good thing that no one really knew his real appearance, not even Shigaraki. It would be good for going off the grid for now. He broke in the shop and got what he needed.
Will my quirks be turned off too? If it would, then it would be ideal if I die while I'm growing up with no memories of what I really am.
It took him a while but he was able to go in decent distance away from where his laboratory was. When Izuku had the appearance of a two-year-old, he saw two women walking down the dark and empty street. One was ash blond and the other had green hair, the latter crying while her friend comforted her. Izuku was at the corner. He was now naked, his clothes thrown away in a random dump. He felt himself shrinking just a little bit.
This is bad. I'm getting younger again.
Izuku got inside the small basket he 'found' along the way and covered himself with a small blanket. He put the letter he wrote earlier on top of it. His dragon eyes and markings have disappeared a while ago and he felt that his regeneration had weaken to the worst he'd ever felt but the immortality was still there, which was admittedly too bad.
Izuku found his thoughts in disorder. When the two women were finally able to see him, Izuku was already a month year old baby, crying, pure and innocent, seemingly not tainted by the world that is full of filth. On the top of the folded paper, 'Baby Izuku' was written in beautiful handwriting.
He knew that he was probably going to lose his memory and be raised as someone who wasn't an immortal monster, away from Shigaraki, away from all of this. It felt like a dream. But now, he had woken up from that dream and will never be able to sleep peacefully again, because now, he'll be living in the nightmare that is his life.
Izuku's knees felt weak as he slid down the wall.
I remember now.
He probably came back to his own self when this body died and regenerated. He vaguely remembered that there was a villain that attacked him. Was the guy he was with the one who saved him?
He's probably a hero, huh?
Izuku didn't have the time to dwell on whatever difficulty and embarrassment he put the hero through since he still needed to go through the memories that he had while he wasn't himself. However, it was hard. Now, large beads of sweat ran down his face and he had a hard time catching his breath. Everything in his body hurt. His head felt like it was splitting open and his lungs burned.
Am I actually panicking right now? Fuck, what a joke.
Izuku bit his lips until it was cut. It barely hurt so Izuku took one of his fingers and snapped it until the bone was showing. When it didn't regenerate after a second, Izuku was disappointed but not surprised and just went and snapped his other fingers. He relished the pain and used it to ground himself back to reality. He broke the fingers on his other hand by pushing it one by one against the wall until he heard the familiar sound of bones snapping. Izuku just kept breathing in and out until he felt himself start calming down again. He thought he was over resorting to that old habit of his but Izuku was more shaken than he first thought. He went over his memories and tried make sense of it all.
The woman who took him in as a 'baby' was Midoriya Inko, a woman who was left by her husband because she was unable to carry a baby. The night she found Izuku, she was being consoled by her best friend Bakugou Mitsuki. After they read the letter Izuku made, Inko had decided to take him in and after all the legal matters were settled he then became Midoriya Izuku.
Thanks to Hiroto's quirks, Izuku's memories along with his Dragon Eyes and Regeneration were sealed. Unfortunately, his Immortality really was too powerful to be affected. But since Immortality was the only active quirk he had, even though he didn't have that extra toe joint that would have normally meant that he had a quirk, no one was able to know what it was. Then, Midoriya Izuku was tormented, abused, and was regarded as worthless for being thought of as part of the twenty percent of humanity.
The treatment for the quirkless had been different two hundred years ago. Back then, they were the ones considered as human beings and those with quirks were the ones treated as freaks, monsters, and some even called them the devils' spawn. As time passed and the quirked outnumbered the quirkless, the hatred had been returned to them tenfold. It was hellish. Izuku hated remembering it.
It's a good thing that now whether it was the quirked or the quirkless, they weren't actively hunted and/or experimented on for scientific or sadistic purposes. It was relatively peaceful compared to his time. However, from what Izuku had seen, things aren't that easy today either. Suicide rates are still high for most of the quirkless population. Either that or they choose to endure the abuse and/or neglect from the people around them.
For fourteen years, Midoriya Izuku had lived on as quirkless. And even though the worst did not happen to him, the physical and emotional abuse he suffered from the people around him, had almost made him lose hope plenty of times already. The kid would bounce back every time he was pushed down but even that tenacity had to have a breaking point, he was just human after all.
And a case to that point of being human:
Midoriya Izuku had died of suffocation at fourteen years old.
When the body had died, his Immortality quirk kicked in and at the same time, the effects of Hiroto's quirks were overpowered, and Izuku's memories along with his other quirk was released from within the depths of his psyche.
This was what Izuku had wanted. Shigaraki didn't achieve his goal, Izuku was free and is legally part of society instead of the pseudo-vigilante he once was. Now he has a family once again. Granted, it was a small family but for someone like Izuku, just one person was enough.
He should have been happy, but he wasn't. His heart hurt. Midoriya Izuku's memories live within him and he's aware that that kid was him. But he just can't help but see the kid as someone independent from him. They may share the same body but they were two completely different beings.
One was a human and the other was a monster.
The pure and bright smile that he puts on when he eats katsudon and the determined light that comes from his eyes, those are not Izuku's. Midoriya Izuku was human and the real him was a monster. Midoriya Izuku had lived and died as a normal human being. It was ironic that he who has an incredibly powerful quirk had spent most of his life researching how to be quirkless, normal, while his quirkless counterpart would have given anything to have a quirk, any quirk to make him feel like he was worth something.
He shouldn't have felt like that in the first place. What kind of fucked up society have I been living in?
Izuku felt like laughing. No matter what version of him lived, he still didn't get what he wanted the most, whether that be the acceptance of society or acceptance of the sweet embrace of death. That goes to show that no matter what, he would be left longing for that one thing that he would never have. It felt like the world hated him. He felt like he was drowning, despair was enveloping him again. Izuku knew that everything was crumbling down and he couldn't do anything but let the ruin happen.
No matter how adaptable he was, Izuku was not stable. He never really was in the first place but the him right now was just a bit worse off. Izuku just woke up from a fourteen year sleep by dying and was forced to bear the brunt of fourteen years' worth of memories filled with despair and hopelessness.
He felt the familiar burn in his eyes and before he knew it, a sob threatened to escape his throat.
"*hic* Fuck." He felt like he wanted to cry.
But he couldn't.
He wouldn't.
He doesn't dare to.
It felt like he needed to grieve everything that's happened. Izuku wanted to be sad for himself and his counterpart, just once, but he doesn't think that he deserves it. If he couldn't let himself cry for the people that had been with him during his long long life, then how dare he do it for himself?
No. I may not be able to cry for the other me but I can still grant him his dream.
Midoriya Izuku wanted to be a hero but the world wouldn't let him. And since Izuku's own dream of death wouldn't come true anytime soon, he is at least gonna try and grant the wish of his other self. He's going to be a hero, not as his two hundred sixty three year old self but as the fourteen year old Midoriya Izuku.
And if in the process he manages to kill Shigaraki, then nothing could be better– Well, death would obviously be, but killing Shigaraki was more doable than his wish.
He's so tired of living as himself so he'll try to play the role of his counterpart. He'll follow the script of the character of Midoriya Izuku as he reaches for his dreams. And this monster will make sure to turn that dream into reality. This will be the story of how Midoriya Izuku becomes the greatest hero.
And if people think that being helped by an immortal is cheating then they will just have to learn that all men are not created equal.
A/N:
Hey. This is a story that I first wrote in ao3 under the username GrimReader and it's 16 chapters but I wanted to edit the story. I just needed to change how some characters were portrayed and their interactions but I don't plan to change much plot wise. I'm putting the edited version here then when I catch up to chapter 16 I'll update the one in ao3 and then start updating in the two platforms. Thanks for reading! Comments are appreciated :)