Chapter Text
Children's amusements have gone too far. Izuku realizes this too late, when nothing can be changed. The eyes of Kacchan and the others are enraged with flames that no one can stop.
The flame also kindles on the ground. Born from endless explosions, it takes away paths to retreat. Awakens in children something primal, cruel.
What is happening now scares Midoriya. And for the first time he realizes the danger, the threat to his life. Takes a tiny step back, shaking his whole body. Kacchan bragging smacks his fist on his hand, letting out new sparks. There is more dust. Nasty air enters the lungs, making it difficult to breathe, Izuku tries to clear his throat, but it only makes things worse.
Then he runs.
Running, driven away and unwanted. The lack of quirk oppresses, brands him and makes him hate everything: the world, society, himself.
The legs are intertwined with each other, the heart beats as if for the last time. Are the eyes full of tears the result of dust? Pain? Resentment? Who knows…
"I just… wanted to make friends!"
The forest road unexpectedly ends with a slope. Izuku does not have time to stop and falls, spinning around his axis. Every ledge, every root and stone hurts an already traumatized body. Midoriya doesn't even try to cover his head, just clenches his teeth harder. Kaсchan is screaming something above. Do not disassemble. But how much sense is there in those offensive outcries, which have not been news for him for a long time?
"Why?"
Choke.
The channel indifferently greets Izuku with cold water in the face. The chest seems to collide with something heavy and overwhelming. A new fit of coughing again knocks the breath away. Excruciating pain engulfs the leg. The instinct of self-preservation takes over the brain — the body moves chaotically to stay on the surface. These movements cause new frowns. They put a cross on the opportunity to swim out. A messy fur coat takes him further from the shore, only to drag him underwater.
The hands unconsciously cling to the water. It flows between the fingers. There is no support. A playful understanding comes that there will be no salvation either. No one in their band knew how to swim. To jump to the channel after someone who didn’t even have a quirk was something beyond the limits of fantasy. Nonsense.
So it… is there an end?
The fingers first reach for the light. It disappears, and then they clench into a weak fist and then sink.
Consciousness, like reality, becomes much darker.
The last thing on Midoriya's mind is his unwillingness to live like this.
His disappointment, pain, and fear intertwine into a great burden that prevents him from even trying to fight. The body slowly sinks to the bottom, which seems to have managed to switch places with the ground. Where is the real heaven? Where is the water? Izuku doesn't know, he doesn't feel space. Lungs are mercilessly consumed by fire, and eyes twitch.
...and then he bumps into something. A weak push is enough for bubbles of the last, precious air to fly out of the mouth.
Brown eyes look at the other drowned man with surprise.
The waters of Yokohama are calm.