Chapter Text
Midoriya Izuku stared at the All Might poster on his ceiling in bewilderment. He’d died, he knew he’d died. He remembered the fire and the pain all too clearly. So why was he in his childhood bedroom? Quite apart from the whole being dead thing Musutafu had been destroyed in the War so this room didn’t even exist any more. Was this some kind of weird afterlife?
Maybe he was dreaming or trapped in an illusion quirk? Well there were ways to test that. He sat up and looked around - the text on the posters was readable and his peripheral vision seemed clear enough - so it was probably not a dream or illusion. There was one other possibility… He looked down at his arms and hands - they looked younger, smaller and free from scars plus he could feel a gnawing void where his quirks should be. He grabbed his phone from where it was charging beside his bed and checked the date before swearing like Kacchan on a bad day. The 25th March 2226 - the start of Spring Break and two weeks until he started at Aldera Junior High.
Either this was some sort of hellish afterlife designed to punish him for something or he had somehow been thrown back ten years into his twelve year old body.
“One last chance,” he murmured to himself. “Do it again. Do it better. Remake the World.” That was the strange voice he had heard as the fire engulfed the nine of them who were still standing had said. So probably time travel.
He checked the mirror more in hope than anything else and sure enough his twelve year old self stared back at him. But what the hell kind of Quirk could do something like this? Even Eri wouldn’t be able to pull something like this off, plus she hadn’t even been there.
Still he here was and he needed to figure out what to do now. Had anyone else been sent back or just him? How could he change things? His memories of the ten years ahead of him were… not fading, they were clear enough but after the initial blast when he first woke up they had softened and now had less intensity than the memories of the first twelve years of his life. It was almost like remembering a past life, something that had happened to someone who was not exactly him. So perhaps he should write down everything he could remember about the future in case it did fade away. Yeah, that was a good idea… he grabbed a fresh notebook from the drawer where he had always kept his stash but before he could start his notes his mother’s voice interrupted him.
“Breakfast is ready, sweetie!”
…
His mother!
Izuku’s pen clattered to the desk as he rushed to the kitchen and pulled her into a hug. “Mum!” He couldn’t contain the tears that dripped from his eyes. “I love you mum! I’m so lucky to have you!” he sobbed.
“I love you too, sweetie!” Inko said, clearly taken aback by his unusual behaviour. “But what brought this on? Is something wrong?”
“N-no… I just realised I never told you enough.” It was a lie of course. In his mind he could hear her scream as Shigaraki disintegrated her in front of him… one hell of a seventeenth birthday present. He clung to her until he convinced himself that she was really here. This time it would be okay. This time he would save her.
“Hmm…” She hesitated, clearly unconvinced given his sobs, and looked like she might press him further.
“I-it’s nothing, mum, I promise! I just had a really bad dream,” he said quietly before she could say more. “You died in it… it was horrible and it scared me.”
“Oh, sweetie,” she said. “Dreams are just dreams. I’m fine, see. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
Izuku just nodded. Nothing was going to happen to her because he would protect her. He hugged her again as his stomach rumbled loudly making them both laugh.
“Breakfast!” she said cheerfully and began spooning steamed rice into a bowl for him.
Once they’d eaten Izuku got dressed, fetched his current analysis notebook (number ten) and turned on the hero channel on the TV. He needed to update the notes in here with things he now knew. He needed to ground himself in this time so he didn’t make any mistakes. He was updating Endeavor’s entry and jotting down notes on the number two’s latest fight while wondering if there was any way to get Shouto out of there until his father came around when a loud, frantic banging on the front door interrupted him.
“Izuku, can you get that, please?” his mother called from where she was washing up.
“Of course, Mum!” He closed the notebook and hurried to the door before whoever it was knocked a hole in it only to find himself looking into the frantic eyes of his once and future best friend Bakagou Katsuki. Who at this point in time had mostly ignored and occasionally bullied Izuku. Under normal circumstances there was no way the twelve year old Kacchan would be standing at his front door staring at him with a mixture of anxiety and concern. Which meant…
“Ground Zero… you too?”
Kacchan visibly relaxed at the sound of his hero name and nodded. “Yeah. But before we talk about that I need help.”
Another proof if Izuku needed one. In this time Kacchan would never ask for help even if he desperately needed it. It had been years before he grew up enough to understand needing help wasn’t a sign of weakness.
“The fucking hag and Dad left without removing these.” Kacchan held out his hands revealing he was wearing a pair of locking quirk restraint gloves.
Izuku felt his eyes widen as he remembered what else had happened that day the first time around. “Come in!” He ushered Kacchan inside. “Mum! Come quick! Kacchan needs help.”