Chapter Text
Izuku should be happy. Hell, he should be elated. He finally gets to act, to actually do something. All his life he’s been waiting for this, from the moment he turned seven and that bloody vision showed itself to him. I should be happy . So why isn’t he? All this time he could do nothing but wait, patiently, quietly, the knowledge of the future heavy in his mind and with no way to act on it. And it wasn’t even a matter of ‘No one would believe him’, if he tried telling the authorities what he knew, it was just that it wasn’t the time. It was never the time.
I should be happy. I should be happy, because fate finally decided to be on my side. His whole life up until that point was spent worrying, fearing that the day when he began his story never came. That he would have to watch from the sidelines as friends he never made, family he never met, died. Just because some universal forces decided this time around he shouldn’t be allowed to help. So now, why isn't he happy? He knows what’s going to happen. Mostly. It will be easy. It doesn’t matter that he might get hurt. It doesn't matter that some of his counterparts died . That won’t happen to him.
Izuku stares at the ceiling in his room, listening to the sounds of the night. The buzzing of the neighboring AC unit, cars speeding by in the distance, dogs barking from a yard two streets over. It’s calming. It was always a constant, grounding him, no matter what reality he found himself in over the years.
Raises his hand, reaching for the ceiling, looking idly at his fingers, black nail polish peeling at the tips of his nails. I should probably redo them soon.
The phone vibrating on the nightstand catches him off guard, disturbing the calmness of the night. He turns in his bed, facing the nightstand and picking up his phone, squinting at the bright screen. There was a notification from one of the news sites he follows, nothing of importance, really. But that reminds him, he has a job to do. He has no time for moping around and questioning his existence.
Izuku gets up and walks to his closet, ignoring the flashes, the memories, of things that aren’t there, the knowledge that were he in another reality, were he one of his counterparts, if he had a different quirk, he would’ve been about to–
He stops that train of thought, blinking the images of pill cases and rope hidden in the depths of a closet. No point in contemplating something that hasn’t happened– won’t happen –in this reality.
Getting dressed with his usual clothes and face mask, Izuku walks to the open window in his room and jumps on the fire escape, climbing the stairs to the highest floor, then upping himself on the edge of the building and onto the roof.
Now that he’s here, now that he’s finally met Eraserhead, he might just get to test out the limits of his so-called ‘quirk’. And he knows exactly what to try first.
She’s prettier in person . Is Izuku's first thought as he lays eyes on her. He knows, in normal circumstances, that this is a bad idea. But it could very well turn out alright. His quirk did not try to stop him on the way here, so he might as well go through with it, right?
He watches the street before him carefully, making sure there are no civilians before jumping from the roof of the two story building, his messy and unpractised landing startling the only other person on the sidewalk.
Toga gazes at him warily, eyes narrowing as she brings her hands to her hips, where no doubt lay dozens of knives. “Who are you?” she asks, hazel eyes catching the light, making them slightly glow.
It’s still early, she couldn’t have killed that many. He resonates with himself as he opens his mouth, “I’ve heard about you, Toga Himiko, right?” he tries to smile, even though he knows she wouldn’t be able to see it. “It’s just that, I really like quirks, especially unusual ones, so when I heard about yours, well, I couldn’t stop myself.”
She continues to stare, posture still tense as she speaks, “How do you know about me? And you still haven’t told me who you are.”
“It’s part of my quirk, and who I am isn’t important.”
Toga's eyes narrow to slits, “What’s your quirk?” she asks.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Izuku answers.
She’s silent for a minute, seeming to be thinking. Tensing slightly, she fidgets, not quite in a fighting stance but not lowering her guard either. “Try me.”
“It’s a kind of foresight, I guess. No one else knows about it though, so if you would be so kind as to keep it a secret.” he brings his pointer finger to his mouth, miming the ‘be quiet’ gesture.
“So that means you know what I’m about to do?” she asks, half curiosity half hostility.
“Not really, but I know that in a not so far away future, something really bad is going to happen. I’m just here to warn you.” Izuku pauses, looking at a point right above Toga’s head, then shakes himself out of it. “I don’t want anyone getting hurt if I can do something about it, and I don’t want you to end up–” dead . He doesn’t finish, but the message is clear.
“And why should I believe you?” she’s a little more relaxed now, but still on edge.
“You shouldn’t.” he states, then turns to leave. “Oh, and Toga? I think we could be good friends.” Izuku throws over his shoulder as he scales the building, not looking back.
Stupid stupid stupid stupid. Why did I do that? Just because my quirk didn’t stop me doesn’t mean I should’ve gone through with it! Now If she joins the League I will be compromised! his crisis is interrupted by the teacher calling on him in class. He answers correctly, even if he hadn’t been paying attention. He already knows everything, been through these same classes over and over again, the Japanese school system being the same in most realities. At this point, he’s only coming to school for attendance, he needs his school records to be as close to perfect as they can if he wants to get into UA.
When the school day draws to a close, he notices a certain blond staring at him from across the room. At least he’s not physical about whatever it is that’s annoying him now. No one has been physical in a while. In fact, everyone’s been pretty tame ever since that . But it’s only normal, they usually quiet down after that particular incident takes place.
Except, unlike most other realities, they did start leaving Red Spider Lilies on his desk from time to time. It’s a pretty rare occurrence, here and in the other worlds, but it is a thing. Sadly. Well, he thinks, at least it’s not worse. He’s seen realities where it actually got worse after the incident, although not in many, so he should be thankful it’s just flowers. Plus, he finds he kinda likes them.
When the final bell rings Izuku’s already out the door before anyone can approach him, exiting the school and going to where he knows the abandoned building is. He hasn’t been there ever since the meeting with Eraserhead, which was a while ago, so he thinks it would be safe enough to train his quirk some more.
Izuku knows the ‘foresight’ part can’t really be trained, unless he wants to end up in the hospital with unexplainable brain damage, but if he could get to the point where he could grow a full tree in a matter of seconds, steadily hold people in the air, that would be wonderful.
Arriving at the front of the building, he walks through the empty doorframe, carefully avoiding the rubble and fallen walls and traversing it until he gets to the back, the familiar clearing welcoming him. Izuku drops his backpack somewhere near the door that's barely still standing, then holds his hands in front of him, pointing to the middle of the clearing. As his palms start to glow a warm green, the same color lighting a single point across the grass and dirt as leaves, then a sapling grow in size until they take the form of a tree, the strain on his mind making him rapidly blink narrowed eyes as he feels a headache forming.
Until now, he’s only been able to grow bushes and small trees, the tallest being around his height, which is not much. This one, though, is maybe a head taller than him. A little pride blooms in chest, his mouth forming a small smirk, and he thinks the headache is worth it.
He doesn’t notice the sun going down, the night approaching as he’s concentrating on his quirk, growing more and more trees. When Izuku finally stops, there’s barely any room left in the clearing, and there are dry blood tracks under his nose. His eyes are bloodshot, and the headache is barely manageable.
He sits down, laying on his back in the grass and closing his eyes, enjoying the silence of the still young night and basking in the dim moonlight.
The next day is a Saturday, which means Izuku gets all the day to himself while his mother is at work, which also means he gets to train his quirk more.
First thing he does after his mom leaves in the morning is get a backpack ready with water bottles and granola bars, almost forgetting his matches before making his way to the forest.
Upon arriving at his usual spot deep within the forest, he reminds himself to get back before sunset. He doesn't want to fall asleep outside again and worry his mother even more.
Izuku shoulders his backpack next to a tree, then approaches the black circle of scorched grass surrounded by rocks and gathers little sticks, twigs and fallen branches. He sits down, placing the wood in the middle of the circle.
Taking the small box of matches out of his pocket and opening it, he picks a stick, closes the box, then lights it. He holds the lit stick in his hand, staring intently at the fire as it eats hungrily at the light wood.
Izuku then drops the stick in the pile, watching silently. After a few moments, yellow and orange pockets of light escape through the pieces of wood, the fire expanding and swallowing everything whiting the stone-traced circle almost instantly.
Minutes of continuously staring at the fire reveal no other advancements, his eyes closing with a sigh.
A major set-back of his quirk is that can't create the elements, he only controls them. Hydrokinesis, Terrakinesis, Pyrokinesis and Aerokinesis are all elemental aspects of his quirk, thus his weak control over them. It's the reason a lot of people were calling him 'Avatar' in elementary school.
The only one he has a steady control over is Terrakinesis. He's always been more drawn to nature than other people, often finding himself in parks and gardens or rescuing stray animals.
He wonders if he'll ever get to the point where his Hydrokinesis could control blood, and therefore people, like he's seen in some pre-quirked cartoons that were still being broadcasted when he was little. He abandons the idea quickly. There's no way that would actually work, and even if it did, where would he get volunteers to test it on?
He shakes his head, headache coming back after the strain from last night as he uses the water to bring one of the bottles to him, opening the cap and dumping it over the fire.
The next few months pass by in a blur, Izuku falling into a kind-of routine. Every day after school he would train his quirk, with the few exceptions when he got quirk exhaustion and the headache he got was too bad. Whenever a new vision would kick in, he would document every detail he could remember, then try to find a way to stop it from happening. He visited Toga once in a while, getting on friend-ish terms with her, which was good.
There was no luck in finding any other future members of the League, which was a shame, but at least he got Toga. He’ll need to find a way to localize the others though, especially Twice and Dabi. They’ll turn out troublesome if left unattended.
But he can figure that out later. Right now, he needs to get ready, seeing as it’s the morning of the entrance exam.
This can only go two ways, either very well, or extremely bad. Izuku really hopes it’s the former. He would hate to continuously break the law just because he couldn’t pass the exam. Actually, that’s a lie, he couldn't care less about the law, but it would be really annoying to have to constantly run away from the heroes.
As he gets ready and makes sure he has everything he needs, he can’t help but start worrying, and his mother’s fussing doesn’t exactly help. He’s about to walk out the door, hands only slightly shaking, when his mother pulls him in a hug.
“No matter what happens today,” she lets go, looking him in the eyes. “I couldn’t be prouder.” she declares, and he ignores the sting in his eyes that are definitely tears as he hugs his mother once again.
The whole ride to UA, he’s awfully calm. Of course, all of his nerves come back in full force once he’s in front of the gates. I don’t stand a chance. he thinks as he takes in every person that passes him by. Why did I ever think I could even try – he stops that train of thought. There’s no point in overthinking when he’s already here. Plus, he’s got plenty of training these past few months. He’s got this!
When Present Mic announces the start of the exam, he doesn’t even notice when he starts running, or when he destroys a 2-pointer by growing thick vines through its center. He only comes to five minutes later, when he remembers that the zero pointer is released at the end of the exam. He starts running to the center of the mock city, where he knows a familiar bob of brown hair will get stuck under the rubble.
Izuku gets there just as the zero pointer announces its presence, all other contestants running away as he hears her shout for help. Izuku approaches the girl– Uraraka Ochako –a girly voice, from memories that are not his, supplies. He crouches next to her, vines and bushes holding the rubble off of her as he helps her get up. He grows more vines, trees, and roots to hold the zero pointer in place as he remembers the sprained ankle, and proceeds to pick Uraraka up in a bridal carry and start running, giving himself little boosts of speed by controlling the wind.
“Thank you!” she shouts to be heard over all the commotion caused by the zero pointer.
“You're welcome!” he shouts back, not knowing what else to say.
The buzzer announcing the end of the exam sounds just as he sees Recovery Girl, talking with some other contestants.
As he approaches, the old woman notices them and he lets Uraraka down, leaving her in the hero's care.
As he makes his way out of the mock city, through the UA gates, and onto the train, he allows himself to feel the little pride that swirls in his chest. It doesn't compare however to the amount of pride his mother shows when he gets home and tells her how the exam went. She's nothing but ecstatic, showering Izuku in kisses and hugs.
After eating dinner and sitting together watching a movie in the living room, his mother a calming presence next to him, he forgets everything about his anxieties from earlier that day.
The two weeks of waiting for the results go by way too fast, faster than he would've liked. He spent the entire time worrying over his performance. What if this reality didn't have rescue points? What if he hadn't managed to destroy enough robots? What if he gets rejected? He can't let that happen, even if in the main scheme of things it wouldn't be such a big deal.
In all of his worrying, he almost doesn't expect the moment he goes to sleep and immediately reopens his eyes– not his –to blond hair and tears, to a senses sharpened by anger that's not his, to hurt and betrayal and a mixture of feelings that aren't his, to a flying man wearing a dark mask that covered the entirety of his head– All For One –and for a second the anger is so powerful all he sees is red and How could he he hurt Kacchan he hurt his friends he has no right how could he –
And then he wakes up. He startles as he sits up, shaking with the anger of someone else, struggling to keep his breathing normal and eyes darting around the room and stopping at a point on the wall.
He brings a hand to his chest, taking in a deep breath, sagging with relief as he feels the remains of the vision fade away like they were never there. Lowering himself back, head hitting the pillow once again, he finds he doesn't really want to get up and write down everything he can before he forgets. He hasn't really got enough sleep between his anxiety for the exam and his planning in case he got rejected.
And so, no one can blame him if the next morning he wakes up to his mother's delicious cooking, the last remains of the vision disappearing completely from his memory.