Chapter 2: A Brave New World

I groggily opened my eyes, very suddenly aware of just how much my body ached.

Just a dream? It certainly didn't feel like it. I can remember the entire conversation I had with God, or at least what I assume was God, from beginning to end.

In fact, it was surprising just how well I remembered it. It was like I could replay the entire experience in my mind like a video. That would imply it definitely wasn't a dream.

Even in the darkness of the room, the sight of golden hair, a blinding smile, and a very 'America!' themed costume snapped me back to reality.

Why is All Might on my ceiling? Oh, duh. It definitely wasn't a dream then.

The conditions of my reincarnation were somewhat different than what I had seen in the few isekais I had watched over the years. While I had expected to be born into the quirk filled world of MHA, the voice had informed me that I would instead be dropping directly into the body and mind of Izuku Midoriya.

" What will happen to Izuku then? Is this gonna be one of those weird, 'angel on my shoulder' kind of things?" I asked when the voice had explained how my new life would begin.

"No, you can think of it as me creating this world from scratch. It will all be real. The people in that world will all have souls, but I will simply not create one for Izuku. His body and mind will be yours, and yours alone." The voice answered.

"That's reassuring at least. I would feel bad if you Thanos snapped the kid out of existence." I replied.

"That said, just because his soul will be absent, that does not mean his convictions and memories will be as well. You will be you, but the boy, the hero known as Izuku Midoriya will be a part of who you are."

Recalling the circumstances of my arrival seemed to spur an absolute avalanche of memories, as fourteen years of Izuku Midorya's life flooded my mind.

It was both worse than I had hoped, and better than I feared. The reality of Izuku's life seemed to fall in somewhat of a middle ground from what I had seen portrayed in the few MHA fanfics I had read over the years. Bakugou bullied the absolute shit out of Izuku, but it mercifully hadn't gotten to the extremes I had seen in some fics. Generally speaking, physical assaults had been rare from Bakugou himself, especially as the boys had gotten older and Izuku had stopped trying to follow Bakugou everywhere he went.

I knew from the anime that Bakugou didn't really hate Izuku, he just had massive inferiority and superiority complexes that were in constant conflict with one another. His anger towards Izuku came more from fear of Izuku's determination, and that Izuku kept trying to be friends with him, no matter how hard Bakugou tried to push him away because of that fear and feeling of inadequacy.

The bigger problem came from everywhere else. Bakugou's bullying encouraged others to abuse Izuku as well, and according to the knowledge of this world I inherited from Izuku, middle schools received government grants if they were responsible for a student that got into a hero school, with more prestigious schools granting commensurately larger payouts. To make matters worse, the anti-bullying law that forbade children with bullying on their permanent record from being admitted to hero schools ended up having the opposite effect from what was intended. Instead of protecting the victims, it encouraged cover ups on a massive scale.

That explains Aldera's behaviour, and why the teachers never took action against bullying. Even if some of them didn't approve of it, they weren't going to potentially end Bakugou's almost guaranteed top 100 hero career before it even began, which would mean no government grant, and thus no bonuses for any of them.

I sighed heavily as I put an arm over my eyes. Izuku did have people he could call friends when he was younger. Despite his feeble build and lack of a quirk, Izuku had often stood up to Bakugou and other bullies to protect others. This had earned him admiration from many other victims, and a few had tentatively befriended him. Unfortunately, because Izuku was quirkless, and was still so determined in spite of that, he had always gotten it the worst, and anyone who associated with him was inevitably caught up in the crossfire. Over time, those friends had either drifted away of their own volition, or even more depressingly, Izuku had pushed them away himself in an attempt to protect them from the bullying.

Fast forward to the present, and while the physical beatings had decreased over the years, the psychological ones had not. Most kids in Izuku's class were nice enough to him if it was just the two of them, but as soon as they were in a public environment, peer pressure and mob rule reigned supreme. There were a handful of exceptions. Some of the quieter kids and even a few of the friendlier popular kids were nice to him and never took part in the bullying, but they were in the minority. Unfortunately, Izuku attended a school where Bakugou was the king, instead of someone like Ashido, Kendo, or even Iida, and so the 'normal' thing to do was relentlessly bully the quirkless kid who just didn't know when to quit.

The kid has had a rough go of it. He pretty much landed in the worst possible situation. Izuku's insistence on trying to be 'friends' with Bakugou even though the latter clearly isn't interested hasn't helped either. I'll be taking care of that immediately though. Bakugou will be a great hero, and a great friend, but he isn't either of those things right now. Distancing myself should accelerate his growth and increase his maturity if I do it correctly.

My brow furrowed in thought as I considered the consequences of any action I took regarding Bakugou. The past was the same as canon, but everything going forward was subject to change. In theory, I could go out, find the League of Villains, and offer my services to All for One.

There was no way I could really damage Bakugou's character development. His transformation was inevitable as soon as he left the sheltered and enabling confines of Aldera. That said, I could still derail canon and set him on a path that may cause said transformation to be delayed, or potentially limit its extent entirely.

I'll have to be careful, but I think he'd be better served by me taking a more direct approach. I just have to remember that this isn't the Bakugou that has gone through hell and grown up accordingly. This is the spoiled little shit from season one.

Dropping my arm back to my side, I took a moment to look around the room. There was All Might merch everywhere. It seemed like every square foot had at least some All Might related thing plastered on it, from the posters adorning the walls to the alarm clock beside the bed with its small hair-tuft things. It was only 5:30am according to the alarm clock, but even with the lights off and the sun only just now beginning its ascent, I could tell this was one hundred percent Izuku's room.

My room now, I suppose.

At that thought, I stopped. Closing my eyes and searching my mind, I looked for any sign that Izuku was still in there somewhere. When nothing but memories arose to meet my probing, I sighed in resignation.

He really is gone. I didn't give it much thought when God made the offer, but now that I'm taking a minute…

In many ways, it was possible that I could manage to be a better Symbol of Peace than Izuku, but I did doubt that I could be as good of a hero. Izuku was shy, lacked self confidence, and was prone to letting his emotions get the better of him, but those very same traits often made him more relatable than All Might ever was. There was a reason All Might was a hero known around the world, but very few people bothered to remember his actual name. As far as I knew, Toshinori Yagi didn't even bother using an alias when he was out and about in his 'skeleton form,' as the MHA community likes to call it. That was absolutely insane seeing as heroes like Enji Todoroki and Rumi Usagiyama would be recognized by name in an instant. All Might was seen as something more than human.

Regardless, I had grown up as a fan of DC. The concept of the man behind the mask being famous was as foreign to me as the rest of the MHA world. I had never sought praise for basic decency in my past life, and with Izuku's convictions melding with my own, the idea of fame and fortune for the act of saving people sounded like more of an inconvenience than anything else.

Maybe I'll have to take a different approach than Izuku did. More All Might than Deku. I suppose we'll see.

There was no way around the fact that the timeline would be changed very early. I had no intention of making the same mistakes Izuku had. If anything, I would be skipping through a significant amount of his development process just to spare myself some broken bones. Not to mention the personality differences. I was a social butterfly, and I had never lacked confidence, even as a child.

I'll need to find a good reason for the sudden change in personality. Not to mention the need to improve the kid's… my physique much faster than Izuku did.

At that, a sudden thought occurred to me.

Shit, Izuku is short.

Looking down at my feet, I wiggled my toes to find them far closer to my head than I was used to. In my old life, I was six feet-four inches tall. Izuku probably didn't come in at much more than five-five, if that.

Taking a deep breath to prepare myself for the inevitable vertigo, I swung my legs over the side of my bed, attempted to stand, and promptly crumpled to the floor.

Right. I'm barely over five feet. I won't hit the ground as quickly as I would normally.

Sighing, I slowly pushed myself off the floor and stood. Thankfully, Izuku's bed was pretty low, so it hadn't been particularly painful. Vertigo is also much worse when you're higher than you're used to, so being significantly shorter wasn't too bad. The awkward walk to the bathroom on the other hand made it abundantly clear that I would have to find a way to at least somewhat close the gap between my two heights sooner than later.

I'd probably get used to it eventually, but there's no telling how much this will affect my training. I'd probably eat shit again if I tried to run, and if I attempted something like weighted squats, I could seriously hurt myself. Yeah, this is definitely a problem. A significant obstacle already and all I've done is get out of bed.

Releasing another exasperated sigh, I finished making my way to the bathroom and turned on the light.

I wasn't sure exactly what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. I looked… odd. It wasn't an uncanny valley situation or anything like that, and thankfully I didn't have anime scale eyes, but I looked very different from what I had imagined a real life Izuku Midoriya to be.

My hair was noticeably green, but it looked completely natural. More of a darker forest green color than something that would only be possible in animation or from bright hair dye. As for my facial features, those stood out the most. I looked like some big combination of a dozen ethnicities. The best way I could possibly describe it, is how Kirito from SAO described the people of the Underworld in the Alicization arc. I didn't look Japanese, but I didn't look Western either. It was some combination that somehow looked both completely natural, and entirely artificial.

Now that I think about it, all the posters of All Might had a similar feel to them. I look AI generated. Though I suppose anime characters don't look like real people either. Whatever. How pretty I am is the least of my concerns right now.

Splashing some water on my face, I placed my hands on the edge of the sink and pondered where I should start. In that moment, the ache I had felt when I first awakened returned to the forefront of my mind. I rubbed absentmindedly at my neck as I tried to remember why my body felt like absolute garbage.

I don't feel One for All, and I'm at Inko's house, so obviously it's very early in the canon.

Collecting my thoughts was proving harder than I imagined it would be. Izuku's memories were still trying to settle and find their place amongst my own. Thankfully, it didn't take long for my mind to dismiss the various incidents of assault throughout Izuku's life, from Bakugou or otherwise, and settle on the event in question.

The sludge villain. I got dropped into this world the day after. More importantly, the day after Izuku talked to All Might and became the successor, or at least the planned successor. That spares me from having to try and fumble my way through retracing Izuku's steps during that incident.

Making up my mind on where to start, I made my way back to my bedroom, careful not to trip over myself again.

Picking up my phone from the bedside table, I felt a pang of sadness when I found Izuku's only texts within the last several months were from his mother. Shaking my head of that depressing reality, I swapped to the contacts, checking A before scrolling down to T, and finally Y.

There it is.

Sitting at my desk, I began to rap my fingers against the surface impatiently while the phone rang.

"Hello?" A tired voice answered on the other end.

Right, it's not even six in the morning. Oh well, too late now, and this really can't wait. We need to start as quickly as possible.

"All Might, it's Midoriya. We need to talk."

Author's Note:

For the physical features, I've seen writers go with a normal, 'Izuku is Japanese and thus looks Japanese' approach, I've see people try to describe anime aesthetics but in 3D/reality, and I've seen people just straight swap their own appearance for the self-insert character. I don't really have strong feelings about it, so I went with this. I left it pretty ambiguous on purpose so you can visualize the characters pretty much however you like.

As for the height thing, that's a result of me knowing people in reality who have gone through dramatic height changes, namely a veteran friend of mine who lost his legs and experimented with prosthetics. It's harder to acclimate to getting substantially taller, but suddenly becoming shorter is also quite jarring.

With those out of the way, clarification for characterization. I grew up primarily interested in DC as far as superheroes go. As a result, the concept of heroes being rich and famous (for their hero work, not like Bruce Wayne) is really weird to me. Honestly, I find the entire system distasteful if anything. This mindset combined with me being in my late 20s, mean that I am very different from Izuku. Several core ideals are similar if not the same, but I am not the naïve optimist that Izuku is. Expect Izuku to be far more like All Might in this fic than he is in canon.

Overall Author Style Note:

I tend towards more 'realistic' interpretations, which often results in darker tones at times. Life isn't sunshine and roses, from the good guys or the bad guys. Also note that no character is safe. Anyone could die at any time because I or another character made a mistake. That's not to say that half of 1-A will die by the end of the fic. It's entirely possible that none of them do. Just be aware that the major character death warning is there for a reason. Your favorite character isn't guaranteed a happy ending. Especially for a fic like this, I don't have a laid out plan. I'm trying to write in the same way that I would live this. That results in me forgetting small details or not taking changes I've already made into account. This can have mixed results.

As for reviews/comments, let em rip. I'm not made of glass. If you have a problem with my writing style and/or plot choices, it's probably better if you actually give constructive criticism so I can determine whether or not I want to make changes, but if you want to just yell at me and tell me how shit I am, that's fine too.

I also know that some people determine whether or not they want to read a fic based on how it ends. A single story change towards the end can completely kill a fic for a lot of people. If that change is early (for example, if I made this a weird twilight style love triangle or some shit right out of the gate), then it's easy to drop and move on, but if it's a change that is likely to come later (for example, does Endeavor redeem himself and live happily ever after), you can sink a lot of time into a fic only to lose all that investment in an instant. As such, feel free to PM me. If you really don't care about spoilers, I'll answer whatever you want to know. Just be aware that if you turn around and drop it in the comments, I'll delete it.