Chapter 1: An Ending And A Beginning
What is your dream?
This is a question that everyone has to confront at some point in their life. There are some who can't find the answer in themselves and just spin their wheels for the rest of their lives without purpose. There are others who know their dreams, but choose to abandon them for any number of reasons. However, there are some individuals who discover their dreams and hang onto it like a dog with a bone until they see it through. For this group, a second question appears that they must answer.
What would you give for your dream?
Some people sacrifice their time. They spend years and decades devoted to their task until they complete it. Other sacrifice their other dreams. These people funnel all of their potential into their singular task to the detriment of any other goals they once had. A few choose sacrifice their family and friends to their ambition. They push them away and give all of themselves to their journey, content to remain alone to attain what could not be grasped any other way. The final group sacrifices something else, their humanity. They pursue their vision of the future beyond any line that may have once defined them, performing horrible acts that any individual with a shred of conscience would balk at.
The dreams that people chase and the lengths they go to chase them are unique to every individual and every moment in their lives. What you longed for one second could become a distant memory in the next. The depths of depravity you delved into before might fill you with cutting regret down the road. Every choice to the questions must be made every moment of every day as long as draw breath on this earth.
For many, they desire power in its infinite forms. The power to oppress others. The power to lift others up. The power to destroy what exists. The power to protect one's home. The power to obtain more power for its own sake. There are many kinds of power and many kinds of people.
Money can be another goal. To one man, it could be the goal in and of itself. To another, it is simply another form of power to live the way you want. It is both a means and an end to those who seek it.
However, in this world, there was one boy who did not desire power nor money. He needed nothing in this world but one thing. He wanted to be special.
He was different from all the others who claimed the same thing because of the size of his wish. He did not desire to be loved by all the world. He did not want to be a genius, nor an unparalleled athlete, nor a celebrity in any manner.
His one dream was to be special, but he only needed to be special for one person. He hoped that someone would eventually look at him and see him as all they needed. He hoped to be for an individual what All Might was for the world.
That is why he told people he wanted to be a hero. He saw the way that people looked at heroes and that was the way he wanted someone to look at him.
The only problem with this dream is the world is never kind to those with dreams like his. They hurt and they break those dreams like a flower before it can bloom.
When all was lost, he would be asked his question. What would you give for your dream?
This is the story of Izuku Midoriya, a boy with a heart of gold in a world darker than he deserved. This is the story of a man who fell to hell and crawled out again. This is the story of the death and birth of a forgemaster and hunter. This is the story of his dream and the price he paid to chase it.
--
People are not born equal.
That is something that I have had to learn as I got older. No matter how hard we try or how hard we wish, some people are just born greater than others.
In a world of quirks, even those with small abilities have the potential to become heroes if they push themselves hard enough and train to their limits.
However, this only applies to those who are lucky enough to be born with a quirk, women.
In some worlds, everyone might have been born with a quirk. In the one I live in, only females ever manifested the superhuman abilities known as quirks. Men held traces of the gene, but these only allowed them to pass down familial abilities to their daughters instead of manifesting anything themselves.
Superhuman women increased in number to the point that virtually every woman in the world has some quirk or another. Most of those without are from the older generations with barely any girl is born into the world without one anymore.
The men just had to learn to live in a world where they were no longer the strongest in society. Despite how most feminists like to delude themselves, when women got the advantage over men, they were not the gracious winners they liked to believe that they'd be. The only thing that really changed is the assholes typically have a bun instead of a hotdog now.
The men tried to fight back, but this eventually littered out when they realized there was nothing that they could do to stop the shift. This became all the more prevalent when the pro heroes began to appear. These powerful individuals were the cream of the crop when it came to quirks and they were comprised exclusively of women. Some men tried to ascend to hero status with tools such as armored suits and other pieces of technology, but the new status quo ensured that men would be forever isolated from such lofty positions. They didn't need the men getting any ideas.
And so, this new world came to be where women were at the top and men better accept that. If they didn't, they would be ostracized to the outskirts of society and forced to be the target of scathing remarks from boys and outright bullying from the girls. Kind of like me.
My train of thought is upended when I am promptly lifted up by my arms and legs before being flipped and dumped head first into a trash can. All I hear is cackling laughter from the girls before I hear a girl say, "Serves you right, Deku! You are in the trash where you belong!"
I recognize the voice as that of Katsumi Bakugo, my sister's best friend and my regular bully. She never missed a chance to make my life a living hell. She felt it was her duty to erase any impulse I had to become a hero in honor of the subjugated women that came before her. She wouldn't just stand by while some male decided that he wanted to be a hero.
Never mind that she didn't treat Izumi this poorly even though she didn't have a quirk despite being a girl. Oh, heavens no. A quirkless girl is always way more inherently capable to become a hero than a quirkless guy. I mean, that extra muscle mass and testosterone is pretty pointless when compared to girl power!
I just shouldered on and took the beatings as they came. I mean, what else is there to do? The teachers are all on their side. The female teachers don't like guys trying to be heroes and the male teachers want you to give up sooner than later. The other kids just accept it as the way of the world. People preaching about becoming heroes while beating up on those that challenge them is a universal constant that won't change as long as self-delusion trumps common sense.
I struggle around for a second before the trash can finally tips over and I go spilling out onto the ground. I am about to push off of the ground when I see a hand reaching out in front of my face. I glance up to see that it is Hitoshi Shinso, one of my only friends in this school. Most of the other guys didn't want to hang around me since I still wanted to become a hero. They had already cast aside that dream as the delusion of childhood and ignored me until I faced the facts like all of them. However, Hitoshi still cared enough to reach out to me despite being ghosted by everyone else as a result.
"Thanks, man," I say, accepting the hand and getting lifted to my feet. I brush off the pieces of garbage from my clothes while Hitoshi picks off a couple that I can't see. "It's always annoying as hell whenever they dump me in a trash can. I keep finding weird stuff for days. I once found a piece of old gum inside my pencil case after a week."
"I can't say that I miss being dunked too," Hitoshi says, his voice clearly radiating sympathy. "Makes me kind of glad that I stopped dreaming about becoming a hero."
"Yeah, but we always need more therapists in the world," I say, referring to his new goal of becoming a therapist. "The world doesn't have nearly enough guys using mindfuckery on people and getting paid money to do it."
"You apparently have never heard of advertising it seems," Hitoshi replies with a scoff and a smirk. "Therapists are just little league in comparison. But hey, at least they do a lot for sad sacks like us."
"I like to think that I am tougher than all of those other little whiners out there who couldn't become a hero, present company included," I say, with a grin on my face too.
"Oh, so you think you are a big man because you are still obsessed with being a hero?" Hitoshi asks. "Let's see how long that lasts. Hell, I bet my sister is going to be a hero before you even with her complex about her quirk."
"Come on," I say. "Hina shouldn't be so worried about her quirk. It is literally just a puppeteering quirk. It doesn't even really qualify as Brainwashing."
"Yeah, well...," Hitoshi says, his voice trailing off. "She is going to have to get over herself one of these days if she is going to try for UA like she keeps saying."
"It'll be great," I respond. "Me and Hina in the hero program, you in general studies. We can even have lunch together."
"I think that both of us will probably be in general studies," he says. "After all, I don't love your chances of making it into the hero program."
"I'll be fine," I reply, waving off his worry. "I am already a pretty decent fighter. I have around three years to go before I have to be ready. As it stands I can hold my own against anyone in school easy."
--
My head gets rocked to the side by the left hook sent flying into my face. I stumble back from the force of the blow but get pushed forward once more by the circle of people watching the fight. They definitely are not sated with the violence that they have already seen. They want a blood bath.
I am carried forward by the newly gained momentum only to be bent over by the explosion that is detonated point blank into my stomach. The air leaves my lungs and I struggle to not drop to my knees as my opponent backs away to admire their handiwork.
"Well, well, well," Katsumi says, a malicious grin on her face and a sadistic glint in her red eyes. "I'm surprised that you are finally managing to stay on your feet after a couple of my hits, Deku. I guess you aren't all talk about wanting to be a hero. Not that it will do you any good when you are just a pathetic man."
I finally catch my breath after a procession of wheezing. "Better than being a flat girl like you, Kacchan," I reply, putting as much insulting oomph into the nickname as I could. "Sad to see you only take after your mom in personality and not her figure. Must be why you are so mad. No guy wants to fuck a girl with the assets of a boy."
She promptly looses her shit and charges forward to unleash another explosive combo into me. However, I regained my bearings enough to dodge her first attack and return the favor with an uppercut that snapped her head back. I follow it up with a kick to the chest to give myself more room to work in.
Katsumi is stunned for a moment after actually getting hurt. She reaches up to her jaw and winces slightly from the after affects of the blow. Then, her eyes turn back to me and they become infinitely more vicious. She was just planning to beat me up before. Now, she is going to do her best to make me suffer.
This might have been a mistake.
As I feel Katsumi's knee get very acquainted with my jaw after she used her explosions to rocket her forward into a powerful hit, I came to this surprising conclusion.
Yeah, this was a mistake.
--
I lean against the wall, nursing my tender ribs and ignoring the swelling in my jaw after Katsumi finally decided to stop actually kicking the shit out of me. The students had pretty much dispersed after the fighting was done, but Katsumi had stuck around for a moment.
"You should take this as a lesson, Deku," she says, not even bothering to face me as she is prepared to leave. "You will never be a hero. It doesn't matter if you are a man or if you had ever been born with a quirk. When you get down to it, you are a weak and pathetic wretch. You should probably hop off a building before you finish dragging Izumi down with you."
With those kind and lighthearted words, she leaves to probably meet up with the rest of her cronies. Hitoshi finally comes in and wraps one of my arms around his shoulders to help support me as we begin walking home. I saw him a couple times during the fight trying to get closer to help, but the same crowd that was keeping me in was keeping him out.
"Sorry, Izuku," he says, his voice clearly pained with guilt after only being able to watch as I was publicly beaten up. "I should have done more to help."
"It's okay, Hitoshi," I sincerely reply. "You tried way harder to stop the fight than anyone else. Even if you did get in, we would probably be in the same boat right now. I can take the concussions for the both of us. You need your brain intact if you want to get into college. We both know I have brain cells to spare since I am so much smarter than you. After a few more fights against Katsumi, you might even be able to beat me at chess for once."
Hitoshi just gives me a dry look before flicking me in the side. From the small smile on his face after hearing my grunt of pain after being touched on my injured side, I can tell that he is feeling a little better now.
We were about to leave the school grounds when Izumi stopped us.
My twin was similar to me in a lot of ways. We both inherited green hair from our mother as well as the ability to cry literal rivers. We were both at the top of our grade in academics and athletics. We both lacked quirks but loved heroes and dreamed of being one.
However, there is one detail that set us apart and made us into the people we are today. I was born a boy and she was born a girl. This difference is all that it took to set us on the different paths that our lives took.
Where I was shut out and looked down on, Izumi was accepted and celebrated. While I had to work for everything I got, she was treated like a diamond in the rough. Where I was seen as trash, she was seen as treasure. While I got beaten for my beliefs, the world believed in her.
The worst part is that I never stopped believing in her dream, but she never believed in me.
I bolster my returning strength and stand under my own power as I take my weight off of Hitoshi's support. He gives me a look like he wasn't sure, but I just gave him a nod to go on ahead. With a sigh, he listened and left me and my sister alone.
"Picking fights with Kacchan again, are we?" Izumi asks, the judgement hanging heavy in her voice.
"I didn't pick a fight," I tell her. "She started it and I defended myself."
"You call that defending yourself?" she replies. "If she hadn't gotten bored, you wouldn't be able to stand right now."
"I don't see how you can even spend time around her these days," I say. "She was bad enough when we were kids. Now that she's gotten stronger and all of the praise has gone to her head, she is about one step away from being a villain."
Izumi has many triggers which I have learned throughout the years. One of the touchiest is whenever she feels that her friend is being insulted. "You take that back," Izumi says, her voice turning into a growl. "Kacchan is going to be an incredible hero. You've seen how hard she works to get into UA."
"I have also seen her unrepentantly bully anyone she doesn't like," I respond. "I can't exactly picture All Might beating on a nerd in junior high. Can you?"
"She just needs a chance to change," Izumi says. "When she finally grows past this, she can be even better."
"You can't grow a healthy tree out of a rotten seed," I say. "You can't improve something which is flawed from its foundation. It's like trying to fix a car's engine when the entire chassis is rusted beyond repair or trying to fix the bathroom tiles in a house with a sinking foundation. She can't change because the core of who she is has never been a good person. She is mean and vindictive and looks down on anyone who tries to better themselves. She doesn't believe that anyone can become more than what they have always been. You are either dirt or a diamond and she believes that she is a bigger diamond than All Might."
"Why can't you believe she could prove you wrong?!" Izumi shouts at me. She has finally lost what little patience she had with me.
"Because she could never bring herself to even want to change!" I shout back. "She might one day be forced to play to someone's rules and restrain herself, but that doesn't change who she'll be deep down. She will forever be someone who doesn't believe in change. She thinks that everyone is the way they were always meant to be, you included."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Izumi asks, her voice gaining a dangerous tone.
"If she doesn't believe that someone can grow beyond what they were born with, then what does that mean for you?" I inquire. "You are a girl, but you never gained a quirk. In her eyes, you are just as useless as a man. As me. She says that she believes you can be a hero, but we know that she is either lying to you or treating you as the special little exception to her rule. I bet it's the former though.
"You'll try and work to get into UA together," I say, envisioning Katsumi's plan. "Who knows? You both might even get into the hero program together. But sadly, you just can't keep up without a quirk of your own. So, you slowly fall further and further behind while she excels at every challenge she meets. This doesn't bother you, of course. You are Kacchan's biggest supporter. You are overjoyed that she is living her dream. However, you end up having to drop out of the hero course after a while, so sad. But that just shows how hard it is and how awesome Kacchan is for being able to succeed. And so, Kacchan goes off and becomes a hero and a household name while you just keep on living as her biggest cheerleader. The entire time she looks at you and only sees a failure who she dragged along with her to help her remember how much better she is than you. Doesn't that sound like a blast, Izumi?"
I don't get anything else out of my mouth before I am suddenly looking to the right along with a new stinging sense of pain on my cheek that pairs unpleasantly with the ache in my jaw. I see that Izumi is slowly lowering the hand she used to slap me as her hands ball up into fists in anger. Tears slowly pool in her eyes as they look at me with loathing and heartbreak. It's not the usual emotional crying that our family is known for. It is the kind of crying we do when we are truly hurt by something. I feel my own heart squeeze in my chest as I watch a couple of glistening tears roll down her cheeks and drop onto the ground.
"You really are an asshole," Izumi says. "I knew I should have listened to Kacchan about you."
"Izumi," I say, as I try to reach out to her and apologize. Before I can, she slaps my hand away before it can get close.
"Despite everything, I cared about you, Zuku," she says. "I mean, you are my twin brother. How could I not? But every day, I watched you constantly try and dream of being a hero despite everything in the world telling you that you can't. I mean, you would die the second you try to fight a women with a strong quirk if you even made it all the way to becoming a hero. Every fight against Kacchan just proves it. Yet, despite everything, you kept trying. It didn't matter if you had to lose any chance at making friends. It didn't matter if you had to devote all your time and effort into pursuing your dream. It didn't matter if you would die in the end. You just kept on going, no matter how many failures made you more bitter as the years passed. You are just like Dad."
"Izumi, come on," I say, my voice betraying my desperation. "You don't really mean that."
"You just get so angry at yourself and the world that you bottle it up inside," Izumi says. "Eventually, it builds up so much that you try and take it out on others if you can. Why do you think you fight Kacchan so much? It's not because you are standing up for yourself. You just want the chance to hurt someone else."
"No, no, no," I reply. "You have got it wrong. I'm nothing like him. I'm not, Izumi. Please, you have to believe me."
"I am not just going to watch you become the same hateful man that Dad was," Izumi says. "I'm not going to stand here and let you treat me like shit just like Dad did to Mom. I am not going to be the Inko to your Hisashi. I don't want to end up hollowed out inside like Mom."
"Izumi, please," I say, trying to reach out to her one last time. "I'm not that bad. I'll never be that bad. Please, let's just talk."
"You are acting the exact same way Dad used to before Mom gave up," Izumi says, her tears had slowly been drying up and she had finally put on a mask of strength. "He would apologize, say that he could change, and then would do the same thing in a week. You promised that you wouldn't end up like him, but you are just the sequel. I can't change the fact that you are my brother, but I don't want anything to do with you anymore."
"Izumi," I whisper. This is going so much worse than I had ever expected. It was like my world was breaking into pieces. If I could count on anything in this world, it was Izumi. She would snuggle up with me when I was six and afraid of thunderstorms. She would help bandage me up after I distracted Dad during one of his benders so that he wouldn't turn his sights onto her and Mom. She would my happy anchor that kept me tied down to earth no matter what. But now, my anchor was gone and I could feel myself losing that sense of safety.
"I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to hang out with you, and I don't want to be around you anymore," she says. "I just want to pretend like the only thing tying us together is our last name and Mom. We can start going to different schools and we will finally be through. I can go far way with college and we will never have to be in the same place again. You can have your life and I can have mine."
"Izumi, please don't do this," I say. It felt like a hole was opening up underneath me and I was falling into the endless dark. "Please."
"Goodbye, Zuku," she says. "For all that it is worth, I hope you do find happiness. I just can't find mine with you in my life."
With those words, she walks away from me for the last time. I know that I will see her at home, but that won't be the same. She is now just a stranger to me and one I can never reach out to again.
Hitoshi comes over to check on me after he saw Izumi leave. I just conjure up my usual grin and pretend like my world hadn't just fallen apart moments ago. I guess all of my practice is finally paying off.
--
Hitoshi and I had gone our separate ways after I managed to convince him I was fine and wouldn't keel over and die the moment he looked away. I was walking aimlessly around the city, my vision a haze that I was not truly seeing. Eventually, I was passing under a bridge when I heard a voice.
"Oh, lookie here," the voice said. "A meat suit in just my size. Shame it has to be a man, but I guess you can't win them all."
I had no time to process the statement before I was wrapped in disgusting sludge-like goo that bound my body and prevented me from moving. It slowly started to flow up my body and I felt it start pouring into my throat and up my nose.
As I began to suffocate on the slime, I realized that this is how I died. My dreams unrealized. My family ashamed of me. Alone and vulnerable to a random villain. What a shitty way to go out.
As it all began to go black, I heard a voice roar loudly, "Texas Smash!", before a massive burst of wind was sent flying through the tunnel. That was the last thing that I remembered before everything went dark.
--
"Hey, hey," a voice calls out through the darkness. He feels a soft repeated patting on his cheek that is slightly annoying. "Hey, kid. Are you okay?"
I peek my eyes open to see the worried face of All Might inches from my face. I immediately scoot back to get some room from the famous heroine. I might be an All Might fanboy, but that is a little close even for me.
"Oh my god," I say. "You are All Might!" She wasn't dressed in her usual uniform, instead choosing to wear a white t-shirt which stretched around her curves and muscles along with a pair of green cargo pants and boots.
"Yes, I am," she says, striking a pose. "Sorry for taking so long to come to the rescue. I got lost in the sewer system. I can't say that I am too familiar with the layout in Musutafu."
"That's okay," I reply, still starstruck. "What happened to the villain?" I looked around but I couldn't find a trace of the slime monster.
"Don't worry," All Might says before holding up a 2-liter bottle filled with the sludge. "I trapped her in here. It should be easy to take her to the police station now."
I just remembered that I should probably get an autograph and I started rifling around in my backpack for my drawing notebook. I had sketched out a lot of pro heroes in it, including All Might, so it is perfect for an autograph. I pull it open to see an autograph already on the drawing of All Might.
"Thank you so much," I say. "This is a massive honor."
"No problem," she says before putting the bottle of soda in one of her pant pockets. "I better get going. Plenty more villains to stop."
Right as she begins to jump away, I realize that I want to ask her a question. With my only chance to talk to All Might quickly disappearing, I make a quick impulse decision and leap forward. I grab onto her leg and hold onto dear life as we rocket up into the sky. It was only due to my physical training that I was able to resist the g-forces that I was put under.
I think at some point All Might realized that I was latched onto her because she proceeded to land on the top of a building. I don't know if she saw me or something because my eyes were clamped shut and the roar of the wind was louder than anything else.
When she finally came to a stop on solid land, I collapse to the ground and cherish the feeling of a solid surface beneath me.
"What the hell was that, kid?!" All Might asks in surprise. "Why did you grab onto me like that? You could have killed yourself!"
"I wanted to ask you a question," I say, steeling my nerves and getting up from the roof. "Can a man ever become a pro hero? If anyone would know, it's you. So, is there any chance that I can be a pro like you?"
All Might stops for a second and seems to consider the question for a second. It seemed like she wasn't sure how to answer before she came to a decision and began to respond. "I don't think that a man can become a pro hero," she said.
"You don't?" I ask, years of insults and bullying flashing through my mind.
"For the work of being a pro hero, you need more than just a strong heart," she says. "I have seen pros with years of experience and strong quirks die because they were just not powerful enough. I can't say that someone who does not even possess a quirk could survive in this line of work. Don't think this is because of being a man. I don't believe that something as meaningless as gender makes a difference. I would say the same to a quirkless woman. In the end, you just aren't strong enough.
"You can become a doctor, a firefighter, or a doctor if you want to help others," All Might says, her voice apologetic but serious nonetheless. "I just can't support your dream of being a hero."
She turns before jumping away, off to fight some other criminal or menace. I just stand on the roof of the building, coming to terms with what she said. My dream was hopeless, even to the number one hero. It was like when I was talking to Izumi. Everything is going dark, like the light I had been experiencing for years is slowly fading into abyssal black. I have just been deluding myself for years. I consider just moving on, but who am I without this driving me forward? Would I just become my dad like Izumi said?
My spiral was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. I pull it out of my pocket and see from the caller ID that it is Itsuka. It is only then that I realize that I am not alone. No matter what, I have Itsuka.
We had met when I started training at her family's dojo a couple of years back. We hit it off and started dating recently. Even though we don't see as much of each other nowadays, we are still close. We had been planning on trying to get into the same UA-prep affiliated high school. This was the first big hurdle to trying to become a hero and we were ready to tackle it together.
I take a deep breath before answering the call. "Hey, Itsuka," I say. "What's up? You don't usually call this early. Is something wrong?"
"We need to talk," my girlfriend replies, her voice soft and hesitant.
"Are you okay?" I ask, worried because her usually confident demeanor is completely gone. "Did something happen?"
"My parents wanted to send me to live with my grandfather for a couple of years," Itsuka says. "My dad can't do much more to train me nowadays and my grandfather offered to advance my training since I am planning to become a pro hero."
"That's great!" I say. "Your grandfather never trains anyone personally anymore. This will be incredible for you. I am happy to hear it."
"There's something else, Izuku," she says. "I have to leave for years to learn from him. I won't be back until we are eighteen."
"That's okay, Itsuka," I respond. It might not be the best since I won't be able to see her in person, but I will still have her in my life. "We can just call each other and text. We can make this work."
"My grandfather demands total dedication from his students," Itsuka says. "He doesn't want me to be distracted by anything else. He said that I can only truly learn when I devote all of myself to my training. That means I can't divide myself between his instruction and a relationship."
"We can just pick up where we left off when you get back," I say, trying to avoid where I fear this conversation is going. "It won't be that long before we are eighteen and you are back in Musutafu. It'll be like we never missed a beat."
"You don't get it, Izuku," she says. I can hear from the small catch in her voice that she is crying. That's when I know what she is trying to say. "He says that I have to choose. I can either learn from him or I can keep you in my life. I can't have both. If I go with him, I have to completely cut you out of my life from now on so that I can leave my past behind. Or, I can stay here and never fully realize my training."
"You chose him," I say, my voice a whisper. The last light that I still had glowing in my heart slowly began to flicker and dim.
"This is my best chance of becoming a hero," she says, her voice shaking so much that I know for sure she is openly crying now. "If I don't do this, I am risking my dream on the hopes that I can become good enough. But if I do train with him, there will be nothing stopping me from reaching the top ten after I graduate from UA."
"So, is this goodbye?" I ask. It was like a cold had begun to seep into my body and naw at my insides. I could feel the end coming, but there was nothing I could possibly do to stop it.
"Yes," she answers. "I am sorry that I couldn't choose you. I just couldn't make myself abandon my dream."
"It's okay, Itsuka," I say. "I understand. Why sacrifice your dream for just some guy?"
"Izuku, you are not just some guy to me," she says, her voice pained as she struggles to keep talking. "You are my best friend and the first person who supported me in trying to be a hero. I..." She trails off before finishing, but I can tell what she was about to say. The only thing holding her back is the fact that she will probably break down if she says it out loud.
"I love you too, Itsuka," I say, tears forming in my own eyes as I squeeze my phone so hard I am surprised it doesn't crack. "Goodbye."
I barely hear the beep of the call hanging up. I just stand on the roof of the building lost. At least until a voice rings out to me. "Oh well, I say that you are better off without her."
I turn to see a man walking across the roof towards me. He was dressed in dress pants, a white dress shirt with a red tie, and brown loafers. He had curly black hair and reddish-brown eyes that held a sharp edge to them. The grin spread across his face was the type held by a man who felt he was better than you on an inherent level. He was my father, Hisashi Midoriya.
"I mean, you can clearly do better," he says. "Was a goody toe-shoes like her going to do all that much in the world even if she becomes a pro hero? No, she is far too naive to make a change for people like us. For those who are powerless to this twisted world we were born in."
"Shut up," I growl at him. "You don't know what you are talking about."
"Yes, I do," he says, with his smarmy grin still stretched across his face. "We are better, stronger, and smarter than most of the women in this world. However, since we are lowly men without quirks, we are looked down on like scum for trying to excel like we deserve to."
"I am not like you," I say, shaking my head. "I am nothing like you."
"Of course you are," he says. "The proof is already here. I am the part of you that wants to take control. The part that hates being looked down on. That hates losing. That hates being disrespected. I am the part of you that is just like Hisashi. Hell, I even look the same because you know who you are."
"I would sooner die than be like you," I mutter, before I get an idea.
"Hey, don't go thinking anything stupid," Hisashi says.
I just ignore him and dial up my mom's contact info. I start the call and have to wait only a second for her to pick up. "Hello," she says.
"Mom, I am not going to be home for dinner tonight," I say. "Don't worry. I am just going to be over at a friend's house. Just spend some mother-daughter time with Izumi. I know you guys click easier when I'm not around to mess up the dynamic."
"Okay, Izuku," she says. "Have fun with your friend."
"Why do you continue to protect her?" Hisashi says. "She didn't protect you when you were getting beaten. She just gave up and spent her days floating through life while you suffered through it."
I just ignore his voice while I called Hitoshi instead. "What's up?" Hitoshi asks as he picks up.
"I need to ask you a favor," I say. "It's about Izumi."
"Does it have something to do with your fight earlier?" he inquires. "You both got pretty heated from what I could hear."
"A bit," I admit. "She doesn't want me around anymore. It's a whole thing. So, since I have to give her some space, I need you to start watching out for her. Try to be subtle enough that she doesn't notice, but make sure that no one causes her any problems."
"Easy enough," Hitoshi replies. "But why do you sound like you are not going to be around to tell me tomorrow?"
"I am going to be going with Itsuka to her grandfather's dojo," I say. "Apparently, he decided I was good enough to train along with her. So, I am going to be heading off tonight."
"That's great!" Hitoshi says. "Just make sure you don't give the old man a great grandchild while you both are over there, lovebirds."
"Thanks, man," I say. "I know I can always count on you, Hitoshi. Thanks for being my best bud."
"Always, Mido," he says. "Can I drop by before they send you to the geriatric drill sergeant? Say goodbye before you drive off into the sunset?"
"Sorry, man," I say. "I wanted to just spend one last night with my mom and sister before I won't see them for a while."
"I get it, I get it," he says. "Anyway, good luck. I am going to miss your dorky ass."
"I'll be seeing you, Hitoshi," I reply.
"Later!" he says before hanging up. I glance down at the phone before casually tossing it to the side. I look out over the side of the building and take in Musutafu from this high up for a moment. I think I am going to miss this place.
"You are really going to take the coward's way out?" Hisashi asks before he shifts into a duplicate of me. "You are going to throw away the dream that you worked so hard for?"
"No, I am not," I say to my mirror image. "I am going to be the hero who takes down the monster before he can hurt anyone important to him, even if it costs him his life."
"You can't let it all end like this!" he shouts, his eyes manic as he tries to come up with some argument to stop me.
"Don't you remember what I said?" I ask him. "I would rather die as the Izuku that Izumi could call her brother than live to be the same as my father. It's what a hero would do. Dying to protect his family. I guess I could be a hero after all."
Taking that last step forward, I fall over the edge. Everything played out in my mind in a sequence so fast I couldn't process them all, but I could remember the important ones. Three year old Izumi's smile as she opens up a Christmas present. Mom fussing over me after I tripped and hurt myself as a kid. Itsuka grinning at me from above after sending me to the ground during a spar. Hitoshi scoffing when I tell him something funny, but failing to hide the twitching corner of his mouth.
My last thought right before it was all over was, 'This wasn't such a bad life after all.'
--
Author's Note:
Thank you, boys and girls, for reading the first chapter of my newest foray into the depths of fanfiction. This is likely one of my most experimental story ideas to date. I mean, I don't think that I have seen any stories where someone gets Forgemaster powers from Castlevania, let alone Izuku. There have been many stories which give him everything from original powers to being the Anti-Christ to having the Six-Eyes and Limitless. So, instead of going through the tried and true process of giving him a power from a popular show, I decided to instead choose one from a kick-ass show that has hardly any fanfiction, let alone a crossover with MHA.
I apologize if this chapter was kind of angsty. I didn't want to spend so long writing as much as I did for this first chapter. I originally planned for a short chapter to hit the major plot points before I do a time jump. Instead, I ended up writing another fairly long chapter. Even then, I think it feels a little rushed emotionally and I hope you didn't get turned off by that. By the time I got through it, I didn't want to spend even more time developing the emotions for long enough that I could have written another chapter instead. So, here you go.
Anyway, feel free to drop a review and tell me how I did. Favorite and follow so you can stay up to date on Izuku's hero journey. If you enjoyed this, try out some of my other stories. I am planning on additional chapters as soon as I can.
Until next time,
Titan900