It was the distinct sound of an explosion that shook Izuku out of her thoughts on the way down the stairs. She had been listlessly reviewing the events of the day, as it had been possibly the most active day she's had in her life.

All of it started with that one villain in the morning. She had been on her way to school ready to endure another day of punishment. But she had caught sight of a villain on the run from some heroes.. It caught her attention of course. As most heroes tended to. She had planned to leave as soon as it resolved, and it resolved quicker than she thought it would with the entrance and debut of Mt. Lady. The interview that occurred afterwards caused her to stay extra however. And she had to sprint so she wouldn't be late. After that…

Izuku grit her teeth and glanced out the window. Bakugou…

Bakugou had burnt her notebook to a crisp. Her notebook that she worked so hard on. That she took notes on almost every hero she knew of. Burnt her prized possession and threw it out the window. Then yelled at her for trying to apply to UA like he was. She hated him for that. For everything he's done to her over the years. Yet he was a friend. A friend. It was something she had to constantly remind herself of.

Then once she had finished school, she took a shortcut to go home. That was a mistake, thinking back on it. She had met a villain face to face. And he had… almost killed her. Would have killed her had her idol not stepped in. All Might was even more charismatic in person.

All Might was someone she was conflicted with. He was someone who had saved thousands of people. He was her idol for a majority of her life. All Might was the symbol of peace in the modern world. Yet she could not help the creeping feeling of resentment bubble up within her and burst forward.

"I cannot promise that you…"

He was the same. The same as everyone else. And she couldn't fault him for that. He had calmly explained to her why she couldn't be a hero. Because it was dangerous. Because people could get hurt. Because people died all the time in the line of duty.

"...can become a hero without a quirk. I'm sorry."

Because she could die without having a quirk.

But not even a full hour after All Might had told her that. Izuku had died from her own volition. The details were blurry and she couldn't remember the entire event clearly, but the single moment of when she struck the ground was as clear as day.

She had died. But at the same time she was still here, in the land of living, with a beating heart. It was almost enough to make her doubt her sanity, but she trusted her mind. It was the one thing in this cruel world that she could trust.

All the events brought her to now. Standing in a stairwell, 5 floors off the ground, staring at an explosion that occurred about two blocks away.

She was curious, it was obviously a villain attack, if today's precedent was anything to go by. But she wasn't sure if she wanted to get involved in another incident. Today had been rough, and she was self aware enough to realize that anything more might be too much for her. She was still paying acute attention to the sound of her chest beating, just to make sure she actually was still alive, that she knew if push came to shove and they needed to evacuate the area she would be too distracted to do so efficiently.

Another explosion blossomed into the sky. It was powerful enough that she could hear a very slight ringing in her ears from a couple blocks away.

Izuku decided to take two steps at a time and raced downwards. By the time she had reached the door to outside, another explosion had gone off, this one significantly smaller than the previous ones.

She dashed towards the scene as fast as she could. Her legs ached and her breath was running short, but she had made it without too much time going by.

The sight she was met with was absolute chaos.

Fires and infernos raged through the buildings. Eating up the air greedily and bringing a sweltering heat that Izuku could feel from a respectable distance. The two structures that were consumed in the flames looked to be falling apart at the seams. As if a single push could cause it to crumble and collapse into a sea of rubble.

Another explosion rocked the premise. It was violet and unbelievably angry. Izuku looked towards the source and her heart froze.

Sludge. Moving sludge. Sludge that laughed and had a disgusting smile. Sludge that should have been captured and turned in.

But why? Why was it here? Hadn't All Might captured the sludge villain?

He had! She saw him scoop him up and force him into those bottles. Did she have something to do with it? When she stopped him from taking off immediately, did it somehow escape without either or them noticing?

Or perhaps and even worst of all, did something happen to All Might that caused him to be unable to turn in the villain. Was he okay? He wasn't hurt was he?

Someone screamed and Izuku turned to look at the crowd. Kamui Woods stood in the front of the pack with several chutes of wood sticking out of one of his arms, creating a sort of makeshift shield.

Izuku glanced back to the villain. He was alone, rampaging and causing mayhem.

More questions swarmed her. Why was Kamui Woods here and not fighting the villain? Where were the other heroes?

The flames roared once more. Kamui Woods backed up.

Izuku grit her teeth.

Why wasn't he doing anything? Wasn't he a hero? It was a hero's job to stop villains!

Why wasn't he-

Another explosion. Someone screamed again and bumped into Kamui Woods.

"Hey!" He yelled. "Watch out, there's a hostage!"

The crowd burst into commotion and Izuku paled. A hostage? But who?

She looked at the sludge villain. Taking note on how the body seemed to curve inward, as if to make space for something that didn't belong. How the teeth and smile seemed to be completely out of place. How the blonde hair and red eyes seemed to match those of someone she knew.

How Katsuki Bakugou seemed to often have the same exact expression of rage that the hostage had.

How Katsuki Bakugou had a quirk that could produce explosions, just like the hostage.

How Katsuki Bakugou had the exact same snarl, the exact same face and eyes and and body and everything as the hostage.

The only difference was that she had never seen that expression of pure fear on the face of Katsuki Bakugou

But she guessed that even Katsuki Bakugou was afraid of dying.

Izuku didn't even realize that she began to run ahead until she heard the yelling of Kamui Woods telling her to stop.

She didn't care.

She would help Bakugou with everything she had to offer.

Because if Katsuki Bakugou died then she would never be able to tell him how much she hated his guts looked up to him.

If he died she would never get the chance to punch him back for everything he's done to her put her arm around his just like old times and laugh it off.

She would never be able to define their terribly toxic miasma of a relationship. Were they friends? Did they hate each other? Were they rivals? The decade of mixed interactions had caused a discord of emotions to well up within her concerning Bakugou.

Adrenaline flooded her. She didn't know what on earth she was going to do. But her mind raced.

Think.

Think.

Think.

His body was impervious to physical attacks. Explosions too if Bakugou still being imprisoned was anything to go by. She couldn't punch him. She was weak anyways, she couldn't do what All Might did and pummel him with pure air pressure, she didn't have that kind of quirk. Perhaps she could get a building to fall on him? That one was off the list as well. The flames were volatile and hard to control, not to mention the possibility of hurting Bakugou.

She could…

She could…

She was out of options already.

No!

Think. Recall the memories. The first time the sludge villain went down was when All Might defeated him with absolute wind pressure from the force of his punch. He was… knocked out, not killed, and forced into a bottle. Two bottles of she recalled correctly. Was there anything strange about those bottles? She didn't think so. They were normal 2 liter bottles she saw him chug down after knocking out the villain. But then…

Then…

Another roadblock. No.

Wait.

Was there anything else?

The bottles… were normal, she confirmed that earlier. But something about them bothered her. What was it? It couldn't be before the encounter, she had yet to see them then, so it had to be after. Was it after the bottles were filled with sludge? They looked normal. Like a bottle filled with sludge. That wasn't… no.

She found it.

The eyes.

When filled with the bottle, only the eyes remained in a physical form. From the inside of the bottle she could remember seeing the floating forms of two eyeballs.

That meant he wasn't able to sludgify his eyes. It had to be.

It was an opening, a flimsy one, but it was all Izuku had.

She ducked under a sludge limbed jab. Her feet staggered a bit from her general unathleticism, but she managed to keep her footing.

The villain was tall, taller than a normal man, when meant she had to throw something. The only thing she had was her backpack.

So she did just that.

She twisted and let her backpack come into her hands with ease. Grabbing it by strap, she threw it with everything she had.

It soared through the air lazily, tumbling over and spilling some supplies out without a care.

Izuku watched it fly. Wishing, hoping, praying to any and all the gods she knew or heard of that it would hit.

Please.

She tumbled out of the way of another jab.

Please!

The sludge villain looked up and stared at the incoming backpack.

And Izuku watched it land directly on his eye.

The villain roared in pain. Releasing its complete and utter hold on Bakugou.

Izuku watched him gasp for air. Watched how his determination reignited and how that fierce expression of utter rage came back.

She dashed forward. Fully intent on pulling him out of the prison he was currently in.

"Give me your hand!" She yelled.

Bakugou snarled. "I don't need your damn help!"

Fury lit up her eyes. "Give me your hand!" She repeated.

"Why are you helping me?!" His voice was full of anger and tinged with something else. Confusion, fear, desperation. Hope.

Bakugou asked the question that Izuku had been asking herself all her life.

Why?

Why was she helping him?

To tell him how much she hated him later?

How much she wanted to bash his face in as revenge for everything he's done?

Tell him how much she admires how he never backs down?

How he had everything he could ever want and still wanted more?

Tell him that they weren't friends at all?

How she wasn't sure what they really were at all?

But Izuku knew deep down, that wasn't why she helped Katsuki Bakugou. The reason she helped Bakugou, despite everything he's done to her over the years was simple.

"Because you looked like you wanted help."

Bakugou's eyes widened. His face went slack in surprise. Then he snarled once again. "You little Deku!" He wrenched his arm out of the grasp of the sludge and brought it to her face, and explosion of smoke going off in the process.

But it was only that, smoke, no explosion.

Izuku didn't hesitate. She grabbed onto his arm with both of hers and pulled. Pulled with everything she had. And when he didn't budge, she pulled again.

And again.

And again.

Until finally.

Bakugou came loose.

He fell forward onto Izuku causing both of them to tumble onto the ground.

Izuku pushed him off and they both scrambled to get up. "Hurry!" She yelled.

Bakugou dashed forward. Izuku quickly followed.

Izuku could hardly believe it. Everything was a blur but it was working. They were almost free! So close. Freedom was so close! Kamui had opened a hole in his wooden shield to allow Bakugou and her through. She just needed to get there!

"Why you little shits!" Izuku heard a roar from behind her. She glanced a peek behind her.

The sludge villain had recovered, and if his uproar was anything to go by. He was furious.

Izuku looked back forward. Bakugou had already made it to safety and was yelling obscenities at her.

She was close.

So close.

Just a little more an-

Izuku felt as if the ground had been pulled out from beneath her. She yelped and crashed into the ground shoulder first.

"Deku!" She heard from the crowd.

No! No no no no no no no no! She was so close!

Pain flared up as she was dragged across the ground. A tentacle of sludge wrapped around her ankle.

A gurgly laugh rose up from the villain. "Oh? You were the girl from earlier aren't you?" He said, bringing Izuku up and letting her dangle from the air. "How ironic that you would be the one to come running forward playing hero."

The villain laughed again. "Now then, I hope you're prepared." His voice become chilly. "Because I'm going to show you how it feels to die."

And then he enveloped her entirely.

Izuku wanted to laugh. How it felt to die? She already knew what it felt like. She knew how felt it to have all of the bones in your body crushed at once. To have the last bit of life be extinguished from your body.

She couldn't breathe.

She wanted to scream. To scream at how unfair the world was. How she must have been the most unlucky person in the world. How nothing ever seemed to go her way.

She wanted to yell at everyone. To tell them how much she hated them for having quirks. How cruel and mean they were to her just because she didn't have one. She was still a person. She wasn't any less human just because she lacked a quirk.

She wanted to thrash about. To give everyone who had ever bullied her a good punch to the gut. To see how they liked it when someone hurt them.

But she couldn't. She couldn't move. She couldn't talk. Her body felt like it was slowly shutting down. How had Bakugou survived this for so long?

Everything was going dark. Her vision slowly developed dark spots.

"Everything is fine. Why?"

She was going to die.

She was going to die.

She was going to die.

She didn't want to die.

Not again.

"Because I am here."

Izuku felt herself slipping.

Falling.

She was almost gone.

If only she got the chance to say goodbye.

Her mother would worry on why she was late.

She would cry and weep.

Izuku's heart clenched in pain. Of everything that could happen. Making her mother sad was the last thing on her list.

Please…

Anyone…

And then everything shifted.

Izuku felt her body being pulled upwards. Up and out of the body of sludge. Oxygen filled her lungs and colour returned. Everything was a blur.

"Detroit…"

She felt so weak. So helpless. Who? Who saved her?

"...Smash!"

Power. Izuku felt unrelenting power. Power that she felt before. Power that could only belonged to one person.

"All Might…?" She muttered. Her eyes still not fully recovered.

"Yes. Everything is alright, Midoriya-shoujo."

He set her down on the ground.

Izuku blinked twice, her vision slowly sliding back into focus.

All Might stood before her. His visage tall and charismatic. His muscles bulged and flexed with every movement he made. The white shirt he was wearing wasn't skin tight, but it did little to hide his massive figure.

Rain pelted Izuku's face. She blinked and looked upwards. It was clear skies and sunny a second ago, but it seemed to have changed in an instant.

As if a spell had been broken by the rain, the stunned onlookers let out a cry of joy at seeing All Might. People rushed to greet him.

Still frazzled by the events prior, Izuku could only watch as the number one hero was surrounded by fans.

"Hey kid." A voice sounded from her side. She turned to match the voice with face. "Are you alright?" Kamui Woods asked.

Izuku opened her mouth to respond, but when she noticed that she was once again trembling, she opted to nod instead.

Kamui quirked an eyebrow before he sighed. "Good. I can't tell you how close to a heart attack I was when I saw a random kid run in."

She couldn't help herself. "But…"

"No buts kid." He interrupted her. "What you did was reckless, you were lucky that All Might was there."

She didn't understand, why was she being reprimanded? Why was she being scolded? Hadn't she done the right thing? She saved Bakugou! She might have gotten caught in the process, but that didn't matter. Everyone was fine in the end.

But Kamui Woods was here. Telling her how reckless she was, how she could have died. How she should have waited. Waited. While a more advantageous hero came to the scene. How she was naive in thinking she could take on a villain by herself.

But…

She didn't understand…

Izuku chanced a glance over at Bakugou. He was surrounded by people. The fawns over his powerful quirk, how he was so brave against the sludge villain. How he would grow up to be an amazing hero with how strong he was currently.

Ah…

That's right…

She had almost forgot.

That the world she lived in was unfair.

That people like her were left in the dust no matter their efforts.


It was late in the evening when the police had finally finished questioning her and Bakugou. They had let her go after giving her a brief scolding. She had accepted it without a rebuttal.

She had walked home alone. Her mother had been called in advance by the officer on the scene telling her that Izuku would be late.

It was odd, she thought. At how the day played out.

In a event that was nothing more than a haze, new emotions had welled up from deep inside her. She wanted power, craved and hungered for it. And she wanted to be on top of the world.

She had thought she could reach the top. Even without a quirk, as long as she was determined enough she could do it.

But…

Izuku grit her teeth. She didn't do anything wrong. She hadn't acted on her desire for power, or her desire to be the top. She had acted because it was the right thing to do.

How was saving someone bad? That was what a hero did.

She didn't understand.

Why-

"Deku."

Izuku blinked and turned.

Katsuki Bakugou stood in front of her.

"Kacchan" She said before she could stop herself.

He marched up to her and grabbed her by the collar. His red eyes glared at her, as if wanting to her to drop dead on the spot.

"You didn't fucking save me Deku." He growled. "You understand? You didn't fucking do anything."

Izuku stayed silent. She stared back into Bakugou's angry red orbs.

He shook her once before throwing her down onto the ground. "Stay out of my fucking way, quirkless loser."

He turned and started to walk away. Bakugou was completely over talking with Izuku. He had nothing left to say to her.

Izuku however, did.

"Kacchan." She called out.

He whipped around towards her, a furious snarl on his face. "What did I just fucking-"

"Do you remember what you said to me earlier?" Izuku asked.

"Hah?" Irritation flitted across his face. "You're going to have to be more fucking specific dumbass."

Izuku smiled. "The ground hurt."

Bakugou's face went through a multitude of expression. Anger being the first and foremost. Then he looked confused.

Then he paled.

And then, Katsuki Bakugou turned around and stormed off.

Izuku Midoriya watched him leave.


Start: April 26th. 2018.

End: May 1st. 2018.

Words: 3473.

The story will loosely follow canon. It will get dark, and there will be more serious themes like in the first chapter.

Thank you.

-FN