What if All Might couldn't get away from the reporters fast enough.
What if Bakugo was a bit more pissed?
Don't own My Hero or DC.
This prompt is up for adoption.
Izuku couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Izuku, despite the near deafening ringing going off in his ears, couldn't believe what he was hearing.
As his bleary eyes threatened to shut, to hide the scene from his still lucid mind, Izuku watched the scene in front of him, forcing himself to see the cruel reality in front of him.
"HMM, YOU'D NEED A LITTLE ADJUSTMENT IN THE WAY OF PUBLIC SPEAKING, BUT I CAN SEE SOME SERIOUS COMPETITION IN YOU IN A FEW YEARS YOUNG MAN." It had to be a lie. Even as All Might put a hand on Bakugo's shoulder, signature smile aimed at the explosive blonde, Izuku prayed it was a lie. "MORE THEN A LITTLE WORK WILL GO A LONG WAY TO BEING A HERO, BUT I CAN SEE A GREAT HERO IN YOU YOUNG MAN." It had to be...
Even as Izuku let out a quiet cough, the taste of iron on his tongue, he prayed that the scene in front of him was a lie.
Because if it wasn't...
If the sight of All Might, his lifelong idol, the man he wished to be like one day, and the man who'd broken his dreams... Calling Bakugo, his decade long tormentor, one who'd beat him, broken him, because he was Quirkless, a Hero...
Then...
Then... Was being a Hero something he'd truly want?
Heroes were meant to save, to protect, to nurture those around them.
But Bakugo was nothing like a Hero. He was the most Villainous person he'd ever met, had ever had the misfortune to be on the other end of his 'Heroic Quirk', and easily the antithesis of what a Hero stood for.
All Might was THE Hero, the one everyone looked up too and aspired to be...
And here he was, saying Bakugo, the one who was responsible for beating Izuku to the point of being bloodied and rasping out blood and bits of slime from the leftovers in his lungs while his whole body burned, a Hero?
That...
That had to be a lie.
It HAD to be!
You know it's not. Something whispered. When has reality ever been fair to you? When has a HERO ever done anything for you?
The more it spoke, in a voice that sound so similar to his own, the more he started to agree. Years of beatings, of Quirkism, of degradation, of hate, had left their marks on him...
Some of them more literally then others... And nearly all of them from the same person...
But through all of it he had taken it, bottled all the negative emotions he'd felt because it wouldn't be Heroic of him to give into them... But here was Bakugo, the poster child for all things Villain, being told by All Might that he could be a great Hero...
At that moment, fueled by the pain his body was in, the betrayal from the man he'd idolized for years, something in Izuku
Cracked
He'd tried so hard to be a good person.
Tried so hard to be someone All Might could be proud of.
Tried to endure years of suffering so he could be a Hero...
And THIS was what he got in return? Back against a wall, uniform burned and torn after his tormentor beat him for 'Getting in the way of him blowing that Shitty villain up!'
All the while the man who'd broken his dreams told his tormentor he could be a great Hero?
THEY were what Heroes were supposed to be?!
Crack
Then there were the trio of useless Heroes who just watched as Bakugo was drowning, even as hurt and disillusioned as he was Izuku recognized Backdraft was atleast doing his best to put out the fires caused by Bakugo, and scolded him for doing THEIR jobs!
They were supposed to be Heroes too, so why weren't they?
Crack
Why did it always end up being HIM that paid for everyone else's mistakes?!
Why did HE have to always draw the short end of the stick?
'Just give it up, it ain't happening.'
'I'm sorry Izuku! I'm so sorry!'
'Quirkless freak!'
Crack
(Why?)
'Null!'
'QUIRKLESS DEKU!
Crack
(Why do they get to have it all?)
'Poor woman, why she wastes her life for a Quirkless I'll never know.'
'Take a swan dive off the roof and pray you get a Quirk in your next life.'
'No, you can't be a Hero.'
CRACK
(WHY DO THEY GET TO HAVE IT ALL WHILE I SUFFER?!)
And so, in his lowest moment, the wall Izuku had built around his more volatile emotions shattered beyond repair, flooding his pain wracked body with everything he'd been hiding for years.
Hate
Despair
Bitterness
So many flavors of the same emotions flooded his mind, eclipsing the pain he was in by a fair margin...
But beyond those emotions...
Beyond the pain his body was in...
One emotion easily overshadowed them all.
ANGER.
THIS was what Heroes were supposed to be?!
THIS was the society he was meant to protect by becoming a Hero?
THIS was what he'd have to accept?!
Memories of every beating, slur, disdainful look and jeer he'd ever received flashed through Izuku's mind, all topped off with the sight of an ecstatic Bakugo telling All Might he'd surpass him and be the #1 Hero...
And that was when it all crystalized for Izuku.
He Hated the world just as much as it hated him...
And it was time he broke it just as much as it broke him.
The moment that thought processed in his mind, a bright red light flashed in front of Izuku. Due to his state he couldn't turn to look at it, but even with ringing ears, he heard still heard what it said.
[Izuku Midoriya of Earth; You have great rage in your heart, you belong to the Red Lantern Corps.]
Then all Izuku knew was RED.
