Hey everyone! I really appreciate the responses I got from the first chapter, especially from RandomDude! I love hearing people's thoughts, criticisms, compliments, everything! Every time somebody shares their feelings on my story, I get a little bit better at writing!
Anyways, hopefully you guys like this chapter! Admittedly I am waffling a little bit between making Izuku a hero or to go an alternate direction, so if you have an opinion on that, please feel free to share it!
Enjoy!
The last thing she had expected to encounter on the way to her class was a villain hell-bent on controlling her body. In fact, that possibility had never even occurred to her. And yet here she was, staring down a giant blob that seemed to have set its sights on her.
Before she could even begin to react, the thing's body came rushing towards her, enveloping her in the most disgustingly, slimy, lukewarm substance she had ever had the misfortune of touching. Although her entire head was covered by the gelatin-like substance, she clearly heard a voice above her say, "well aren't you a pretty little mask for me to wear. Normally I'd say it's too bad you're a girl, no quirk and all, but I think I can make an exception this time."
Her already queasy stomach rebelled against his words. She was sure that had her mouth not been covered, she would have been sick.
She hardly had a moment to think as her body began struggling for air, slowly asphyxiating as his liquid tentacles invaded her mouth and nose. No air could make it past the thick substance, and she was positive that she would pass out any second.
With no plan, no weapon, and no way to move even if she had either of those things, she resigned herself to her fate. She would miss everyone, and she wished she could have said goodbye to the people she loved. But most of all, she regretted that this vile thing was going to use her body to commit crimes. She knew that she couldn't be a hero, but she had certainly never wanted to act as a villain.
As the edges of her vision began fading, she barely recognized the sound of another explosion and a booming voice in front of her. She had no clue what was happening, but she could only hope that this whole ordeal would be over soon.
The next thing she knew, she was laying on the ground, hacking up half a lung trying to get her breath back. It felt like having pneumonia, where no matter how you hacked, you couldn't get the feeling of liquid out of your lungs. Before she could fully regain her composure, a large hand reached around her upper arm and lifted her to her feet.
Her exhaustion was immense, making it difficult for her to even life her head to look at her savior, but she pushed through. Slowly her head tilted up to glance at the huge figure in front of her. The sun was behind them, making look like one giant, muscled shadow. But as her eyes adjusted to the light, she immediately recognized the bright blond hair and glistening smile of the man in front of her.
All Might, the strongest man alive, her hero, the figure that decorated her bedroom, a living legend. And somehow, he had found her in this small town, on this out-of-the-way road, and saved her life.
She could feel an excitement induced panic attack coming on and quickly calmed her breathing, choosing not to speak until she had herself under control.
It seemed like the tall hero had quite enough waiting, as he chose that moment to speak. "My apologies, young lady!" His voice boomed, filling the tunnel they stood under. "I'm not as young as I used to be, and I let that villain get a little too far from me! Rest assured I will turn him into the authorities now that he is captured!"
Just now realizing that she couldn't see the awful blob, she glanced around and noticed a water bottle held in All Might's giant fist. Inside she could see a churning green liquid. When an eye slid around to look at her from within the slime, she once again felt the need to be sick, but quickly stemmed it. She would not vomit in front of her hero! Especially not when he had already had to save her.
Finally gaining some composure, she threw her hand out in front of her, as though she wanted a hand shake, and then quickly retracted it, muttering to herself, "no you idiot, he doesn't want to shake your hand." But even having said that, her hand hovered in the air in front of her, as though unsure where it should go.
Perhaps having heard her, or just being used to fangirls, All Might grabbed her hand in his large one and gave it a single, body rocking shake that had her almost flying off her feet, though she caught herself at the last second. Despite this she couldn't hold back a squeal of delight and a river of words flowing from her mouth. "Oh my gosh, All Might, I can't believe it's really you! And you saved me! This is a dream come true! Well maybe not the part with the weird, sorta rapey slime guy, but the rest of it is so cool!" She couldn't seem to get the words under control so she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, her cheeks pinking in embarrassment and happiness.
His boisterous voice laughed at her plight, obviously finding amusement in her reaction, before he spoke. "I appreciate your support, young girl! But I must be off, a hero's work is never done, and this villain needs to be dropped off with the proper authorities!"
As All Might turned to leave, Izuku panicked, wanting more time with the man she had looked up to her whole life. This was a once in a lifetime chance and she didn't want it to slip by. Still, she couldn't rightfully stop the man when he was in the middle of doing his duty.
As he prepared to leave, stretching his legs as though he was about to participate in a marathon, the thought occurred to the young girl that, if she didn't get his autograph and Kacchan found out, he would do his best to light her on fire. With that more than scary thought in mind, she reached for the man, just snagging the bottom of his shirt when he gave a mighty push with his powerful legs, rocketing into the sky. She scrabbled to get a better hold, hands going around as much of his waist as she could reach. Even stretched as far as they could go, they barely covered half of the circumference that was his pelvis.
He didn't seem to notice her for a second, but then obviously caught sight of her emerald hair flapping in the wind. He immediately began attempting to pry her away from him. "Hey hey hey! I love my fans, but this is going too far! You must let go, young lady!"
She struggled to speak with the wind whipping around her, her face buried into his hip. "If I let go right now, I'll die! I didn't mean to grab onto you like that, but I didn't have the chance to let go before you jumped!"
His face cleared slightly of the anger that had been sparked by her presence in the air and he sighed. "Yes yes, I understand. Just hold on and keep your head down. I'll let you down somewhere safe, little miss." He grabbed her back pack, guaranteeing a secure hold on the terrified middle schooler.
Only a few seconds later and they were landing on a random rooftop to a city office. Izuku crashed to the ground, her legs unable to carry her in light of how hard they were shaking.
As she attempted to compose herself, All Might began walking back towards the edge of the building, obviously preparing to leave again.
Izuku quickly scrambled to her feet, taking a step towards her idol. "Wait!" She yelled before she could stop and reprimand herself for her rudeness. "Please wait, I have a question!" She didn't know exactly what it was she wanted to ask the man, but her mind was screaming at her, telling her that there was something important she needed to ask him. She had only planned on asking for an autograph or two, but it seemed something in her brain had other ideas.
Despite the desperation in her voice, All Might continued walking away, talking over his shoulder at the greenette. "Sorry young girl, but I cannot wait, I must return to my hero duties."
The farther he walked away, ignoring her presence, the more her throat seemed to well up with indescribable emotion. She didn't know why she was so upset, but she did know that this feeling would eat her alive if she didn't get the hero to stop and listen to her.
Izuku couldn't stop the next words from ripping their way out of her throat. "Please, I need to know! As a girl, as a quirkless person, do I have any hope of becoming like you? Can I, without any special powers, become a hero like you?"
Both people on the roof seemed to freeze in tandem. Izuku's whole body was shaking, and she couldn't believe that she had just asked her hero such a brazen question. Until that moment, she hadn't even realized that she still harbored a hope of becoming a hero. As a child she had entertained hopes of one day being like her favorite heroes, with particular attention on All Might. By the time she hit elementary school and faced the reality of her quirklessness, she had accepted that in a world where girls had such an inherent disadvantage, that particular dream would never come true.
Wrapped up in the thoughts swirling around her head, she paid no attention to the man in front of her. Her mind had frozen. And in the meantime, his body had begun releasing what looked like steam, and he was muttering to himself, English expletives hissed through clenched teeth.
Finally coming back to herself, Izuku raised her lowered head and opened her mouth to apologize for her brazenness, taking All Might's relative silence to mean he was angry at her. However, instead of the words she had planned, a squeak squeezed out of her throat. Where the muscled, majestic man had once stood now held an equally tall, but much skinnier man. His hair was vibrant yellow, but looked ragged and lank. His skin was pale, his eye sockets sunken into an impossibly skinny face.
Izuku quickly looked around, trying to find where the hero had gone, but quickly had to resign herself to the fact that he hadn't gone anywhere. Instead he had turned into the impossibly sick looking man in front of her.
The man coughed, spraying a small amount of blood, before speaking. "Well damn, I thought I had a little more time."
Izuku was so confused she couldn't even think in coherent sentences, but attempted to speak regardless. "But, how? Why? What? What's going on?"
All Might sighed, slumping to the ground to lean against the rail behind him. He seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders as he addresses the much younger girl.
"You're going to have to keep this to yourself," he started. "No one in the public is aware of this secret, and I'd like it to stay that way." Izuku quickly nodded, not trusting herself to say anything.
His voice sounded centuries old as he spoke with a weight that instantly had her attention. "Five years ago, I fought a villain. During the course of that fight, I was mortally wounded." He paused for just a moment, his hand dragging the too-big shirt up, exposing his ribs.
Izuku couldn't help but gasp at the sight before her. Along his ribcage was a whirlpool shaped scar, looking like someone had gouged a hole into the man's side.
He ignored her reaction, continuing on. "In order to save my life, the surgeons had to remove a majority of my stomach and intestines, leaving me weak and unable to hold nutrients. Since then, I can only hold my form as All Might for a few hours a day, and that time has been steadily dwindling. Pretty soon I'll be stuck in this form."
Izuku wanted to cry, but no tears came to her eyes. Shock had rendered her motionless.
As she stood there, bright blue pierced straight through her. Despite his diminutive figure in this form, his gaze still contained the same fire and strength that she had always drawn her to the American-themed hero.
As the silence stretched between the two of them, Izuku felt the impending conversation change. He seemed to be winding himself up to answer her previous question, one she had never meant to ask. She felt even more silly now that he had shared his past, and how hard being a hero was even for someone as powerful as him. Besides, she was fairly certain she already knew the answer he would give, and knew that having him actually verbalize it would do nothing but break her spirit.
So, when he finally opened his mouth to speak, presumably with an answer, she cut him off, "You know what, never mind. I'm so sorry for bothering you with my inane problems! You don't need to bother with me. Please, feel free to get back to what you were doing! I know being a hero must be very busy, and you have particularly limited time, so I'll just go! Thank you for listening to me!"
After her word vomit had ceased, she turned around, her face red in embarrassment and quickly scurried towards the door to the building below.
Just as her hand wrapped around the, surprisingly unlocked, door knob, she heard someone call out behind her. "Young lady, wait just a moment!"
She reluctantly turned around, only to see All Might back in his original form, but still looking oddly weary. She waited silently for him to say something, and he seemed to struggle with himself. Finally he seemed to find the words to speak. "What is your name, young lady?"
Of all the things he could of said, that certainly wasn't what she expected. "Midoriya Izuku?" Somehow the answer sounded more like her own question.
"Well young Midoriya," he began, "Something I believe you should understand is that the term 'hero' is different for each person. Sure, the media says a hero is a person with a quirk whose job is to save people from dangerous situations, but that's not all there is to it. A hero for a child might be the teacher who has helped them find something to be passionate about, a homeless person's hero might be the kind stranger who offered them food. You can even be your own hero simply by fighting to achieve your dreams. So when you ask me if I think you could be a hero like me, the answer is no. It would be too dangerous without a quirk. But if you ask whether or not I think you can be a hero, then that answer is entirely up to you. You do not need to fight villains or evacuate burning buildings to help the world."
Alrighty, that's chapter 2 done! Sorry for the long time between updates. I work two jobs and am getting ready to go back to school, so I can pretty much only write between shifts, which isn't a whole lot of time.
See you next time!