Chapter Text
It was a dark and stormy night. Izuku looked out the window, wishing for it to clear up soon. It was no fun to be stuck at home.
No, scratch that. He didn’t give two shits about that. It wasn’t like he left the house anyway—he had no reason to. Everything he needed was inside. Booze, TV, and groceries delivered to his door every week was a good enough life for him.
That’s right. Pro hero Deku, former symbol of peace, was now a hermit. It was hard to fathom for some of his hardcore fans and even himself at times, but he couldn’t stomach going outside anymore. Everywhere in the city held memories. Good memories, yes, but the people in them weren’t around to make new ones anymore.
“Five dead, thirty injured in Musutafu villain attack. At least two of the deaths have been confirmed to be villains,” came the smooth voice of the newscaster. “That makes the total of hero casualties this month to be—“
He scowled and viciously pressed the off button. Even though the war had long been over, hero casualties remained high. Izuku would know. He’d done his job as the symbol of peace after his mom, his friends, and even his adoptive dad had been taken, and yet it hadn’t been enough. It was never enough.
Izuku’d had enough, though. He’d had enough for a very long time. The last few years of his career had gone by with him forcing himself to work, like a marionette.
He’d had enough.
The storm didn’t abate the next day, nor the day after. Not that it mattered to him. Izuku just sat, as he usually did, on his couch as he wondered about what could’ve been if he’d been stronger, if he’d tried harder. If he had the chance to do it all again, how many people would he be able to save?
A knock sounded at the door, taking him out of his musings. Izuku sighed and slowly got to his feet. Who was it this time? He’d made it clear to everyone that he was retired, and after a year of being a hermit, they finally stopped bothering him so much. Without him, the heroes took a hit for a few months, but they too, were able to move on, like everyone else.
That didn’t stop a few stragglers from bothering him, however. Occasionally, it was some of the few surviving members of class 1A, other times it was one of the sidekicks Izuku had while he was still working. He’d let them in, no matter how exhausted it made him.
The person standing on the other end wasn’t any of them, however. They were wearing a surgical mask and had their hood up. Izuku couldn’t recognize them from physique alone, which meant they weren’t one of the big name villains on the loose.
“Hey, if you’re here to prank me…” He sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “You know what, whatever. Go for it. Try your best, whatever it is that you want to do.”
The person lunged. It was slow, and Izuku saw it coming from a mile away. He saw the way his fist lit up bright orange with an unknown quirk as it approached. The attack was so rudimentary, so obvious , Izuku could just lean slightly to the right and bring his knee up to their elbow, and the situation would be resolved. But he didn’t. He just stood and watched it come.
Ah. Was this the end? Maybe he would be able to see his friends and family again. That’d be nice.
“I’m sorry about this, Deku,” his attacker said, as his fist came crashing into Izuku’s chest.
No. He hadn’t punched him. He had merely touched him with his quirked hand, and it burned. Izuku let out a choked gasp and stumbled backwards, clutching his chest.
“What is that?” He fired up his quirk, only to find it wouldn’t come. What the hell was this guy’s quirk? How was it possible for it to cause pain while also erasing Izuku’s? No one except Eraserhead.
“Listen.” The person was a man, Izuku could tell that much.
“Who are you?” Izuku was on the floor now, and his vision was growing hazy. How was it possible for someone like him to end up in this state? Now that he thought about it, he still hadn’t had the chance to pass down his quirk. Hadn’t had the chance to go clean the graves of his loved ones this month.
He couldn’t die now.
“Not important,” he said. “My quirk is dimension travel. I can send myself and others to alternate dimensions where they inhabit their counterpart’s bodies.”
Izuku took several ragged breaths, willing himself to remain lucid, to live. He couldn’t let it end this way. What would his dad say? “A-alternate dimensions?”
“Yes. That’s what’s happening to you right now.”
“Why? Why me?”
“I’ve been paying attention to you, long after society had forgotten,” he said. “Everyone you care about is dead and the heroes don’t need you anymore. You’re just wasting away.”
A low growl escaped him and he struggled to get back to his feet, only to fail and fall once more. “What the hell do you know? Get out!” Whatever his quirk was doing to him, it fucking hurt. Retirement had really weakened him if he was so easily taken out by someone the likes of him.
“It’s okay, Deku,” he said. “I’m here to help you. You’ll be able to see them again, you know? They’re all alive, in that alternative universe you’re going to. You can fix things with all the power you gained here and save everyone, or you can live whatever life you wished you lived.”
For a second, Izuku felt a blinding hope flare in his cold heart. Then it quickly died; smothered by the realistic, jaded side of him. “That’s not possible,” he said quietly. “Don’t give me hope.”
“Then would you like for me to stop the quirk? I won’t force you to go if you refuse.”
Izuku was about to nod, but he couldn’t. He just…couldn’t. On the tiny chance that he was able to see everyone again, to fix everything like he’d been daydreaming about over and over again, he’d take it. He’d have to take it. “They’ll all be there?” he asked instead, voice small and more vulnerable than it had been in a very long time. The pain wasn’t so bad now. Just a persistent dull that Izuku could ignore if he tried hard enough.
“Yes.”
“Alright. I’ll go,” he said, consequences be damned. The next generation of heroes were strong—they’d be able to manage without him.
“Great!” he said. “Well, there’s the small caveat that they’re going to be just a bit different from the people they were here. You know, since it’s an alternate universe. Oh, and also, don’t expect things to go the same way there. Butterfly effect and all, as you’re surely familiar with.”
“What?” That wasn’t part of the deal!
“And make sure not to use your quirk in your alternate self’s body until it’s ready!” he said.
Izuku cursed himself for not thinking about that ahead of time. He needed some more time here to plan, but the man’s quirk was showing no signs of stopping. “Wait, what about—“
“Good luck and have fun!”
The last thing Izuku saw were golden eyes, shining in the dark, as he passed out.