Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya came home from the UA entrance exam in bandages. He wasn’t hopeful about his prospects after that fiasco. The events of the last few months had gone by in a whir, and it felt like it all ended with a bang when he flunked the exam and failed to earn any points. He had saved that girl before the giant robot crushed her, but per the rules, that had been worth nothing. What would All Might do now? He had given him this quirk so that he could become a hero, and not only did he fail the exam, he couldn’t even harness the power properly. His limbs had been left in mangled twists. He was fine - if a bit sore now - after Recovery Girl’s ministrations, but it didn’t matter.
His mother could tell straight away that Izuku was all sighs and self-pity when he walked through the door to their small home. She had been ready to greet him with all the eager enthusiasm she’d had since Izuku applied for UA and manifested his quirk, but she could tell now was not the time.
“Izuku?” She leaned out of the kitchen before he could go and isolate himself in his room. Her son finally looked up from the floor, and the gloominess was clear on his face. The test must have gone very poorly indeed.
“Let’s go out to dinner tonight!” Money was tight but she could make an exception for tonight. If the news was going to be bad when the results came out later there was no point for him to mope and fixate on it the whole evening. “We can get your favorite,” She wiped her hands off on a rag and smiled comfortingly.
The look in Midoriya’s eyes softened and he lowered his bag off his shoulder. “Really?” He was so young and so earnest. His mother worried about how much he hinged on being a pro hero. She just wanted him to be happy, but it seemed like nothing would do for him except for being a hero. It had been that way since he was just a little child, first learning how to read and write.
“Yeah! Go put your bag away and we’ll- Wait, what happened to your arms?!?” She finally noticed the bandages around his arms and the motherly hysterics kicked in as she rushed over to fuss over him. Midoriya didn’t mind at all, even though it was a bit suffocating. He loved his mom, and her care for him was comforting. He reassured her that he was fine, taking off the bandages to show his healed arms, and once she calmed down they got ready to go out.
---
With a full stomach and a much-improved mood, Midoriya walked down the quiet street with his mother. They had dinner and dessert and made plenty of small talk about the current and upcoming heroes he was interested in. He knew his mother didn’t care as much about heroes as he did, but she listened attentively all the same. It made him feel a lot better, and he started thinking that maybe he could still become a hero even if he couldn’t get into UA. With his mom finally being supportive of his dream, anything was possible. It might be a disappointment when he got the inevitable rejection letter, and he wasn’t sure what All Might would think, but it would all work out. Things weren’t looking so bad in his head anymore.
A scream erupted from a nearby alleyway and Midoriya was ripped from his content thoughts. Without a second thought, he ran towards the noise, his mother chasing after him and calling him back. There stood the rancid-smelling sludge villain from what felt like lifetimes ago, filling up the dark corner of the alleyway. It was wrapped around a panicked young woman.
“No!” Midoriya looked on in horror, remembering that day all over again.
It had been his fault that the sludge villain escaped after attacking him, and when All Might had shown up while Midoriya attempted to rescue his friend, Bakugo, the villain managed to escape again, slipping out of All Might’s grasp as the hero was focused on rescuing the two boys. Authorities had been on high alert for the villain ever since, scouring storm drains and sewers, but it had yet to be uncovered. Until now, that is.
“It’s you! That stupid kid!” The sludge villain gurgled, eyes going wide as it recognized Midoriya. “It’s all your fault, y’know? These stupid heroes won’t get off my back now since you and All Might pulled that stunt and got me all over the news.”
Midoriya’s mother ran into the alleyway chasing after him. “Izuku- Oh my god!” She went white, body going stiff with fear. “Izuku!” She grabbed at his arm. “We need to run!”
He didn’t move, watching as the sludge villain dumped the now unconscious woman to the side. His mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do now. If he ran would the villain come after him? Were heroes on the way? Was that woman okay? What would All Might do?
“Aw, is that your mommy?” The villain pouted mockingly, making a slow movement forward. “I’ll make you regret causing problems for me!” It rushed forward, slipping right past Midoriya and enveloping his mother in an instant. She cried out before the slime rushed into her mouth and clogged up her throat, thrashing violently.
“Let her go!” Midoriya shouted through gritted teeth, clenching his fist and calling on One for All to fill his body with power.
“No.” The villain responded with a wide smile, laughter in its tone. Midoriya’s mother let out a muffled scream, wide, tear-filled eyes trying to tell her son to run. And in an instant, her head twisted at a sick angle to the side. The crack sounded through the alleyway like a gunshot.
Everything seemed to go silent.
Midoriya’s body went still, the power of One for All crackling on his skin. It was like the world around him slowed. His mother’s body went limp, her eyes going glassy as they continued to stare out at him. The sludge villain was laughing, but he couldn’t hear it. He could only see the disgusting, slimy teeth parting and the pulsating of the villain’s body as his mother began to slip out of its grasp.
Her body hit the ground with a heavy thump.
The world rushed back into Midoriya’s senses. The villain’s laughter, its foul sewage smell, the wet sounds it made against the pavement, the feeling of One for All coursing through his body, and screaming. Midoriya was screaming. Raw, unbridled rage and fear tore through his throat and came out in a frightening, animalistic wail. His whole body felt like it was on fire, the power within him set ablaze as he snapped.
The sludge villain made the smallest move forward, intending to grab up the boy next and scurry out of the alleyway before the authorities could show up. Midoriya’s body moved on its own, power flooding every cell in his body so intensely he felt he might explode. He shot up into the air - one leg crumpling behind him - and within a microsecond, he was coming down on the sludge villain with a double-handed strike containing 100% of One for All. Every bone in both his arms shattered instantly, the shock wave broke every single window and glass door on the entire street, flooding out of the alleyway in a huge blast. The villain didn’t even have a chance to react. It had no idea what was coming. Every last drop of the sludge villain scattered onto the walls and ground around them. All that was left was a limp mass that might have been its core, a dull expression fixed on its face. It had been killed instantly.
And Midoriya was still screaming.
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When the authorities and a local hero finally arrived on the scene, mere minutes after Midoriya killed the sludge villain, they found him kneeling over his mother’s corpse with an empty expression. The vile gunk from the villain was smeared across his face. His arms and one leg were twisted and bruised, obviously injured beyond use for the moment. He was unresponsive so they just loaded him up in an ambulance and sent him off to a hospital, prioritizing cleaning up the scene and caring for the other surviving victim before taking statements.
The woman had regained consciousness shortly after being dropped and witnessed the boy’s outburst of power. She retold everything she could remember, and the police managed to get evidence from a store’s security footage right across the street. Midoriya’s quirk usage was obvious, and the lifeless remains they had from the sludge villain were undeniable. He had wrongfully used his quirk, and villain or not, it had resulted in a casualty. Word quickly reached All Might after UA received the news about the would-be student. He visited the hospital while Midoriya was asleep and argued with the police on the boy’s behalf, but there was only so much that could be done.
The following day Midoriya woke up and found his hospital room being guarded by a police officer. He didn’t fully register the situation until All Might and a detective walked in, both wearing grave expressions. The air in the room became thick and oppressive. The groggy haze cleared from Midoriya’s mind and he remembered everything that happened the night before.
He sat up - his wounds must have been tended to by Recovery Girl again - and let out a heavy breath. “All Might... I’m sorry-” His voice cracked and tears started falling over his cheeks.
“Young Midoriya, please.” The hero held up a hand to tell him to stop talking. “I’m truly sorry for what happened... and for your loss. That villain should have been caught long ago, and I blame myself entirely for not making sure of that on my first encounter with it.” Midoriya started crying harder, snot slipping out of his nose as he openly sobbed. All Might winced, turning to the officer accompanying him.
“I’m afraid we only have more bad news,” the man spoke hesitantly, worried that this was a bad time to tell the kid. But as soon as he was released in the afternoon he’d find out anyway, so it was better to lay it all out now. “I will be frank. You wrongfully used your quirk against that villain. You ended his life. And while it was in self-defense, this is still a serious crime. It can not be ignored.”
Midoriya’s tears slowed as he began to understand what this man was getting at. He wiped his face on the sleeve of the hospital gown, furrowing his brow.
“When you’re released from the hospital today you will be taken into custody. Your hearing in court will follow shortly after. Being that you’re just a child, and this was in self-defense after witnessing some extreme horrors, the sentencing will be lenient. I expect you’ll only end up serving a few months in a correctional facility and then be put out on probation.” He cleared his throat, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking at All Might with raised eyebrows.
The hero sighed heavily. “Midoriya. You were accepted into the hero course at UA.” Midoriya felt his heart skip a shameful beat before he registered the heavy ‘ were ’. “Unfortunately, after this incident, they will no longer be able to accept you into the program. It will be difficult for you to find a hero course that would accept you after this, but not impossible.” He went quiet to allow that to sink in.
Midoriya looked from his idol to the detective, and then to the blanket covering him. He found his hands gripping the fabric tightly and willed himself to let it go. “I... understand.” He didn’t understand. He wouldn’t understand. His mother died. He defeated the villain. Sure he used more strength than he should have, but after all that why was he being punished? It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. The words repeated over and over in his head, and as much as he tried to ignore them he couldn’t drown that voice out.
It was his fault. The villain escaping the first time was his fault. When it attacked Bakugo it was his fault. When it got away again it was his fault. When he ran into the alleyway instead of listening to his mother and walking away it was his fault. When he watched his mother die it was his fault. When he let his rage consume him and killed the villain it was his fault.
But damn it , it deserved to die after what it had done. And the ‘real’ heroes hadn’t been there to take care of that thing. What else was he supposed to have done? Those intense feelings and frustrations rose up into his throat again and began to chip away at his idolization of heroes and hero society. It would continue to do so until he began to lose faith entirely.
The officer accompanying All Might spoke a little longer, explaining things in more detail, but Midoriya didn’t listen. He stared at the blanket, keeping his expression flat as they expressed their condolences and All Might apologized again. He didn’t look up again until the door closed behind them and he was alone once more. Like he always would be.