A knock on the door followed by the door opening to reveal a dimly lit blue room, in the centre a man. He is sitting on an old wooden chair with his eyes closed facing away from the door. A young boy peers into the room. He goes to open his mouth but is interrupted from the man.
"I see my brother sent you."
The boy goes to open his mouth again but cannot get a word in.
"Not many people know I exist. And for a good reason. If villains were to know of my power, god knows what would happen. The world would be torn apart."
He turns around to face the boy who is still peering into the room. He raises his hand and gestures for him to come in.
"I assume you wanted to use my power as well."
The boy looks at him, or at least the silhouette of the man. He says nothing though.
"I'll take that as a yes. Don't worry. I don't blame you. We all get tempted when we hear that the impossible is possible. But before I let you, I need to know your motivation. It's assurance that you will not do anything malicious." The man says.
The boy finally speaks up. "When I was younger, I was powerless. I wanted to do good but all around me were people saying it was impossible. I now know that they were wrong. But I didn't back then. I tried so hard but it led to nothing."
"You wanted to smile while doing something good for others?"
The boy looked up, almost beaming.
"Don't look so surprised, almost all the country was watching. It must be a nice feeling though. Being recognized and being able to do good out in the world. I've always been hidden away while my brother took all the fame and glory. That's the problem with twin quirks, while one is good, the other tends to be worse."
The boy's face then sank again. He felt bad. He wanted to try and say something uplifting but he couldn't find the right words.
"Enough about me, you probably don't care about an old man's woes. You're here for one reason. I think it's time we get on with it. So, the way it works is that you have to grab my wrists and upon my eyes opening, my quirk will take action. Understand?"
The boy nodded.
"Well, take a seat." The man gestures to the one lone chair.
The boy walks over and sits down.
"So when will it be, young Midoriya?"
Before Izuku can open his mouth, the man opens his eyes. Izuku's body was being pulled around from all sides, or at least it felt like it was. Regardless of the fact that it was just the feeling of the man's quirk in action, it was agonizing. Despite having broken all the bones in his arms and legs in the tournament two weeks prior, this somehow felt worse. All he could see was a white abyss with some coloured streaks swirling around him. It was making him nauseous. After what felt like an eternity, he was pulled out. He was standing in the middle of a street. It looked fairly normal but something was wrong, it felt different. Next to him was the man.
"You have to stay within 50 meters of me otherwise…. Well, let's not get into that. Just know that it gets messy and you likely won't come out alive." The man told Izuku.
Izuku was focused on one building, a hospital. His eyes would not shift.
"So in there is where you found out?"
Izuku broke his gaze. "Y-You know?"
The man gave out a small chuckle. "Of course I know. We travelled into your past. I can tell you every minute of every day up to today. I know more about your past than you yourself. But it only lasts while we are in this state. After we have left, all my knowledge of you would have faded."
Midoriya turned to face him. "Your brother, he never told me your name. Just where to find you. What is your name?"
"It's been so long since I've had to introduce myself, I've forgotten."
"How can one forget their name?"
"When you have no one to talk to, no one to call you your name, it seems pointless remembering it."
"Don't you remember what your parents called you?"
"My mother called me a freak. Well, the times she actually spoke to me she did. Most of the time I was shunned. So I guess Freak would be my name."
"I don't like Freak. It's not a heroic name."
"But I'm far from a hero, young Midoriya."
"You could -" but before Izuku could say another word, he heard her voice.
"Are you okay, Izuku?"
He turns to face the hospital again. There stood his mother. Next to her was Izuku, 10 years younger. The younger Izuku didn't reply. Instead he looked down at his feet, tears building up in his eyes. He lifted up his arm and wiped them away, trying to hide it from his mom but it was too late. She had already seen. She took him by the hand and walked down the road.
Freak looked at Izuku. "I know what you're thinking. Go do it. Go over there and tell him. Tell yourself."
Izuku, still focused on his younger self, replied. "No. Not now. It's too soon. But could we follow them, just for a little while?"
Freak nodded. The pair walked down the road parallel to where young Izuku and his mother were walking. Izuku couldn't take his eyes off them.
"Can't they see us?" He asked Freak.
"Not really. I mean, we exist in this world but unless we interact with anyone, we are practically invisible."
"Oh. I see."
They continued walking for 5 minutes until the younger Midoriya and his mother got into their car and drove off.
"We're going home right now." Izuku explained. "My mom would take me to the computer and I would watch that clip over and over while she stayed in the kitchen. I had assumed she was making dinner. I now know what she really was doing. She was crying for me. She would then come in to check up on me. I'd tell her about how All Might always had a smile on his face, no matter how bad things got. I'd ask her if I could still be a hero without a quirk. That was the only time I saw her cry."
Freak put his hand on Izuku's shoulder. He could feel the pain and anguish that he had felt on that day 10 years ago. "We're still in your memories, we can jump around a bit… That is if you want to."
"I want to. Take us there."
"No, no. You have control here. You can move us around."
Izuku closed his eyes. The world around them shifted. The two were moved to a kindergarten playground. Over in the corner, away from the sight of the teachers, he saw his younger self again backing away from a younger Kacchan.
"Come on, show us your quirk Deku… Oh wait. You're just a quirkless loser."
Kacchan's friends burst into laughter. Younger Izuku is trying to hold back his tears. Although he admired Kacchan, he hated when he degraded him. The older Izuku wanted to grab his younger self and tell him everything will be alright. But it still wasn't the right time. No, not yet.
"It's only been a few days since the hospital, hasn't it?"
Izuku nodded.
"Is there any other time you want to visit?"
"Just one more. Then we'll be done."
Midoriya closed his eyes again and the world formed around the two again. They were stood in the centre of Izuku's kitchen.
"Mom?" A younger Izuku's voice appeared from behind a door.
"I'm in here, Izuku" His mother called back.
"Can I talk to you?"
"Of course. What's up?"
"It's about school."
"Oh. I see. Are you struggling with a bit of homework or something?"
"No Mom. It's about the others a school."
"Did you want to invite some friends round?" She asked him.
"Mom. No one likes me."
Inko's face sunk. "I'm sure they do, Honey." She tried to reassure him.
"No they don't. They think I'm worthless without a quirk. They call me a loser and that I'm stupid for wanting to be a hero."
"You can be whatev-"
"They called me a freak. They mock me all the time."
"Honey, don't listen to them."
By now, both Inko and the younger Izuku were in tears. Freak stepped out of the room, leaving the older Izuku to watch this moment alone. Izuku appreciated the gesture but the emotions that flooded through him back then were filling up inside him once more. He wished that he had his mom as well. Someone who he could hold and love. The thoughts in his head drowned out the world around him. He could see his younger self walking back into his room.
"Hey. I have a question." He said to Freak who was still sat in the back room.
"Mm?" For once, Freak had no words. Only hums and gestures.
Izuku walked into the room and saw he was turned away once again.
"Are you able to manipulate memories? Like, removing certain events and making people perceive the memory differently?"
"I can try."
"I want you, after we're done here, to remove me, my current self, out of these memories. "
Izuku walks out of the room and sees him mom, who is now sat on the living room sofa.
"Can only be seen if interacted with" Izuku mumbles to himself, walking over to her.
"Hey Mom" Izuku says to her.
Inko looks around at him and jumps
"Please don't say anything. I will explain."
Izuku explains the situation and how he got to where he is now.
Inko's eyes are filled with tears. "My Izuku's all grown up! My son is a hero."
She wraps her arms around him. "I love you, Izuku"
"I love you too, Mom."
Izuku gets up and walks to his bedroom door and knocks. No answer. He opens the door to see himself watching the All Might clip once again. The young Izuku is sat in a dark room, the only light coming from the computer screen.
"Hi there, Izuku"
The younger version of himself turns the chair around. "Who are you?"
"I'm a hero. I've come to visit the people who don't have quirks."
"But… Shouldn't you be out there, saving people?" Young Izuku asks.
"I have a more important job, Izuku. I'm here to talk to you. I wanted to tell you something. Something important."
"If you're gonna make fun of me, don't bother."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because I have no quirk. I'm a freak to most people."
The older Izuku moves towards his younger self, still staying in the shadows.
"You're not a freak, Izuku. You are not."
"You say that you're a hero, what's your hero name?"
The older Izuku takes a deep breath. "My name is Deku"
The young Midoriya looks shocked. "This isn't funny, Kacchan."
"This isn't a joke made by Bakugo. I promise."
"Why do you call yourself Deku then?"
"Because it's your hero name"
The younger Midoriya confused, asks "What do you mean? I can't be a hero."
Izuku steps forward, falling to his knees, hugging his younger self.
"Yes you can. You can be a hero." Izuku starts to cry. "You are a hero. You will become the greatest hero of all time."
Izuku walks out of his room, meeting up with Freak once more. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he says "let's go back"
The journey back was a lot less painful than before. Before long, they were transported back into the dimly lit room. It seemed like no time had passed at all.
"You can go now, Midoriya. You have no use for me any more. I'll finish cleaning up your memories and you'll never see me again."
"I'm not leaving."
Freak looked up at him.
"I thought you would have understood by now." Izuku started. "Didn't you hear what i was saying? You're not a freak, you can be a hero. I wasn't just saying that to myself. You can be whoever you want to be, all you have to do is try."
"People wouldn't accept me. I'm a danger to society."
"Only if you believe your quirk can solely be used for evil."
"There's no other reason to go back in time to change things unless you wanted to do evil"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Well, no…. But -"
"If you can believe in yourself, others will believe in you too."
"I see." Freak says. "So if I perceive myself as a hero, I can become one?"
Izuku didn't need to say another word. He turns around and walks to the door. As he is about to leave, Freak calls out.
"I don't like Freak as a hero name… What about Memory Master?"
Izuku smiled once more. "I love it"