Chapter Text
It’s an eat or be eaten world. It always has been, only now has it been amplified. The powerful and powerless. The strong and the weak.
The gifted people, ones that are gifted a superpower called a quirk, have the ability to shape and change the world as they see fit.
“With great power, comes great responsibility.” What a joke.
With great power people have abused it time and time again, sucking the life of those around them.
Power has made them see the world as merely a plaything, a toy for their never-ending games. And I, Izuku Midoriya, am merely a powerless and quirkless human.
“Oi! Are you having those dumb daydreams again Deku?” A boy shouted. Midoriya was zoned out, not hearing him.
The boy slams his hands on Midoriya’s desk, demanding his attention. Midoriya jumps, having been pulled back down to reality. He blinks, remembering where he was.
‘Ah, school must have ended already.’ Midoriya thought in a daze, looking at the boy glaring at him.
The boy had a permanent scowl etched on his face, looking rather irritated at Midoriya’s lack of a response. “Didn’t you hear me? What the hell are you still doing here?!” The boy shouts. “Sorry Kacchan, I’ll get going now.”
Bakugou Katsuki, an ash blonde teen with cold red eyes, Midoriya’s bully.
“Tch.” Bakugou clicks his tongue. As Midoriya was packing his bag, Bakugou noticed a numbered notebook.
He snatches it out of Midoriya’s hand and flips open the pages. “The hell? You still making these? Seriously? Are you still on that stupid pipedream of yours, Deku?” Bakugou mocks, picking a random page.
“What the hell is the point of all these notes? You don’t even need them.” Bakugou says, looking at Midoriya incredulously. “It’s none of your business anyway, now give it back!” Midoriya says, reaching for the notebook.
“Nuh uh uh, not so fast. You won’t be needing this anymore.” Bakugou says, exploding the notebook and throwing it out the window into the pond below. “Don’t even bother this time, you can’t even salvage it anyway.” Midoriya looks down the window, devastated, his precious notebook now destroyed.
“Oh, and Deku? Maybe take a swan dive off the roof. You might get a quirk in your next life.” Bakugou laughs, leaving a shaken Midoriya behind.
Midoriya looked at the pond in despair, wondering whether or not to retrieve it. He remembers one of his notes and decides to leave it be.
Walking home, Midoriya was thinking deeply to himself when, all of a sudden it felt like his body was being swallowed whole.
He was covered in a swamp green slime-like substance. He felt hot, a burning sensation engulfed his entire body. He could feel his clothes slowly melting into his skin and just hot, sharp pain in every inch of his being. He couldn’t breathe, he was passing out. He couldn’t-
Midoriya woke up, his eyes adjusting to the bright lights. He sat up, looking at the white sterile walls and a tv mounted in front of him. He was wearing a hospital gown and bandaged head to toe.
“It looks like you're awake.” A doctor had come into the room, he was a stumpy bald man with goggles. “What happened to me?” Midoriya asks, perplexed. ‘How did I get to the hospital when there were no people around?’ Midoriya ponders.
“A kind man brought you here, saying he found you in a tunnel and passed out. You're lucky he found you sooner than later, you could've been in critical condition.” The doctor remarks.
“I survived that?” “Yes, mostly unscathed though I feel some of the acid's burns will leave scars.” “...I see, thank you doctor.” Midoriya says. “Now rest up, your mother is here to see you.”
Midoriya sits up, shocked to hear the revelation. ‘Mom’s here?!’ Midoriya internally panics, anxious to see his mother.
“Izuku!” She busts into the room to give Midoriya a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Should I come fetch you from school next time?”
Midoriya’s eyes go wide, frantically waving his hands in front of him. “N-no, don’t worry, it’s okay. I’ll be fine, I promise.” He says, trying to reassure her. Midoriya's mother protests, but is interrupted.
The television opens, showing the news of a burning city. “Oh my. That’s just a few streets away from where you were found earlier.” Midoriya’s mother remarks, a hand over her mouth. Midoriya looks closely at the screen, noticing something… familiar.
‘Are those explosions?’ Midoriya thinks to himself, hearing the familiar sound over the speakers. The camera zooms in to show a green slime yokai devouring someone whole.
‘Who’s in there?’ Midoriya wonders, the person in the yokai isn't clear as day but the person was wearing a school uniform similar to Midoriya's. Through the zoomed in camera, Midoriya could see they had spiky, ash blonde hair.
It’s Kacchan!’ Midoriya instinctively pulls out the IV drip from his hand, hissing in pain. “Izuku! Why did you do that?” Midoriya’s mother comes closer to her son, worry laced in her tone. “I have to save Kacchan!” Midoriya shouts, running out of the room, limping.
His mother alerts a nurse that he was running away. Midoriya goes down the fire escape when two security guards immediately block Midoriya’s path, not letting him through, Midoriya runs back up. One of the security guards grabs him by the arm as the other calls that Midoriya was captured.
Midoriya bites down on the security guard’s arm as the guard lets Midoriya go, shouting in pain. Midoriya gets away, running up the stairs, jolts of pain running through his legs on every step he takes. “Hey kid, get back here! Your mother is worried about you!” One the guard shouts.
Hearing his mother worried, Midoriya freezes in his tracks. ‘I’m sorry mom, I hope you can forgive me.’ He continues up the steps, and barges back into the hospital. The people inside all look at him in confusion. Breathing heavily, he slams the door behind him and leans his back on it.
‘I’m not gonna make it at this rate.’ He sees a window big enough for him to go through as he hears the guards approaching quickly. He dashes for the window as the guards open the door, chasing him.
“Kid, stop! You’re going to get hurt!” The other guard says clenching his arm from the bite earlier. Midoriya reaches the window and smashes it, curling himself into a ball and landing on the ground.
Midoriya looks up to see the floor he came out of. ‘Oh my Might that was high.’ He gets up with shards of glass stuck to his skin. His body felt weak from the impact of the fall.
Midoriya quickly gets up, feeling a sharp pain reverberate throughout his entire body. He saw fire and smoke coming out, a few streets away. He tries to walk, staggering. ‘I’m not gonna get anywhere with this.’ Midoriya thinks to himself, taking a bike and cycling towards Bakugou.
“Shit! We just missed him.” The guard remarks. “I don’t get paid enough to deal with this shit.” The other guard sighs, communicating Midoriya’s escape to his walkie-talkie.
“Hey Kacchan, what do you wanna be when you grow up?” A young Midoriya asks as he looks for shells. “A pro-hero, duh! Isn’t that obvious?” Bakugou asks incredulously, building a sandcastle.
“Well yeah, but isn’t it super dangerous?” Midoriya asks, finding a pretty shell. He shows Bakugou the shell happily as Bakugou gives him a thumbs up. “So? I still wanna be the no.1 hero.” He says, continuing to build his sandcastle.
“No.1 hero? And beat All Might? No way!” Midoriya clutches the shell to his chest, shaking his head. “Oh yeah? Watch me.” Bakugou smirks. Midoriya’s eyes widen as he smirks as well. “You promise that?” Bakugou’s grin widens, “Hell yeah, I am.”
Midoriya ponders, “In that case I’ll become the no. 1 hero too!” He exclaims. “What?! Are you crazy?! You know that's not how it works?!" Bakugou replies in surprise.
"Well I don't want you to be alone!" Midoriya promises.
Bakugou is speechless, smiles and mutters under his breath. 'You better keep that promise.’ Midoriya comes closer, not hearing what Bakugou said. “What was that?” Midoriya asks.
Bakugou’s eyes widened, immediately frowned and looked away. “Nothing!” Midoriya adorns a cat-like grin, he heard it. Bakugou notices and is about to protest when Inko shouts. “It’s time to go home boys!” Midoriya smiles and challenges Bakugou, “Last one there is a rotten egg!” He runs off. “Hey, no fair!” Bakugou shouts as the two boys laugh.
As the memory fades away, Midoriya pedals faster, reaching his destination. There were huge fires licked with fiery colors of red, yellow and orange. Black smoke filled the air with a thick layer of soot and sulfur.
Policemen were helping with the evacuation and ambulances were stationed nearby to help with the injured. Midoriya looks at the heroes and firefighters putting out the flames. The entire street was set ablaze and they only made a bit of progress. He goes up to one of the heroes, a tall and burly man named Death Arms.
“Excuse me…” Midoriya starts, sweat beading on his skin. He’s just realized he’s never talked to a pro-hero before. He was nervous waiting for him to answer.
“What do you think you’re doing here? You’re not supposed to be here.” The man chastises. “Um.. my friend, he’s trapped inside the acid yokai.” Midoriya anxiously replies. “You think we don’t know that? We’re waiting for a stronger hero to deal with it.” The man replies nonchalantly.
Midoriya’s mouth gapes open, muttering out a reply. “B-but he’s going to die!” He sputters. “If we don’t save him now he… he might not survive.” Midoriya’s body shook as he came to the realization. ‘I’m going to be the strongest hero the world has ever seen!’
“It comes with the job kid, not even All Might can save everyone.” The man shakes his head, Midoriya looking at Death Arms in astonishment. 'A hero not saving a life?’ The thought was foreign to Midoriya, it sounded wrong.
Midoriya gets on his knees, begging for Death Arms to help him. To help Kacchan. He grabs Death Arms’ hand but it is swatted away. “It’s not safe here kid, go.” Death Arms chastises. “But-” He interrupts. “No buts, you’ve wasted enough of my time.” Midoriya, defeated, knees stay on the rough concrete floor, scraped and bruised.
“I’ll go.” A tall woman with purple horns on her head says. Midoriya doesn’t recognize her. ‘Maybe she’s new?’ He wonders. Death Arms tries to stop her but she retaliates. The woman and Death Arms get into an argument about the stakes of the situation.
“You only want to volunteer so you can steal all the glory!” Death Arms shouts. The woman was taken aback for a brief moment but regained her composure. “So what? Doesn’t change the fact that there’s a kid dying out there.” The woman crosses her arms with a scowl written on her face.
“Fine. Do whatever you want! If you die, don't forget I told you so.” The woman scoffs at Death Arms, and approaches Midoriya. “Come on, there’s no time for dilly-dallying.” The woman says, walking away.
“Right!” Midoriya follows behind her but trips, landing on his face. ‘Damn it.’ He thinks to himself, trying to get back up. The woman looks back, sees Midoriya’s fallen figure, picks him up and carries Midoriya on her back.
“I’m sorry.” Midoriya mumbles into her suit. “It’s fine. It’s a miracle that you haven’t passed out yet.” She replies. “Thank you, for earlier.” Midoriya says.
The woman doesn't speak for a moment and clarifies, “You know I’m only doing this for the attention I’ll get right?”
"Still, I appreciate it. Not everyone can be brave.” Midoriya thanks her again. “Hah… Look at yourself, you’re so brave it’s stupid.” Midoriya chuckles, agreeing to her statement.
“I’ll come with you.” Kamui Woods butts in. “What can you even do? You're just going to burn in the fire.” The woman gestures to the burning buildings.
“It’s better than going in alone.” The wooden hero argues. The two start arguing when Midoriya notices another hero.
Backdraft, the firefighter hero. Known to be the first robot hero made by the Hero Commission. The hero was currently helping the other firefighters put out the fire.
“Guys!” Midoriya interjects, and the two heroes stop. “I have a plan!”
“Are you sure about this?” The woman, who's name is Mt. Lady asks. “No, but it's our only chance at saving him.” Midoriya replies, coughing at the thick smoke. “Just hold on, we're almost there.” Mt. Lady assures him, sprinting faster.
They arrive at the scene, Bakugou nearly fully submerged inside the yokai. “Kacchan! Hang in there, we're coming to get you!” Midoriya shouts. He saw Bakugou's eyes, slowly blinking open, as the yokai squeezed Bakugou. Bakugou's face contorts in pain.
“Now!” Midoriya shouts, desperation laced in his tone. Mt. Lady enlarges herself as tall as a 3 story building, Midoriya tightly gripping on her back in order to not fall off.
“Hey.” Mt. Lady says with her now deepened voice. The yokai notices and is momentarily distracted. Backdraft sprays soapy water at the yokai, and it recoils from the attack. Kamui Woods reaches out with his branch like arms and grabs Bakugou.
“I got him, let's run!” Kamui yells, running back. The soapy water only distracts it temporarily. The yokai bellows, growing larger, with bubbles bubbling on its surface and screams. The yokai moves to attack Backdraft, when Midoriya jumps off Mt. Lady's back.
The yokai swallows Midoriya whole, finishing what it didn't earlier. Midoriya is once again engulfed in the acid as it eats him alive. This time the pain is much worse thanks to his injuries. He screams and claws the acid helplessly, drowning. Mt. Lady tries to swat away the yokai to with no success. The acid clung to her hand, burning her skin to her suit.
Backdraft tries to spray the water at the yokai again to no success. The yokai dodged the attacks swiftly and squirting a bit of its acid onto Backdraft’s face.
Suddenly, a hand grabs Midoriya. “Detroit smash!” The voice punches the yokai. A strong gust of wind blows, blowing the yokai away from Midoriya. The man catches Midoriya and hands him over to Mt. Lady. Rain starts to pour, putting out some of the fire.
“Go get him treated, I need to catch that yokai before it escapes again.” All Might says, running off to capture it. Mt. Lady snaps out of her stupor and dashes to get Midoriya to safety.
“Ugh..” Midoriya wakes up to a terrible headache. He tries to sit up when a shot of pain courses through his body. “Argh!” Midoriya’s mother, Inko Midoriya notices and stops talking to the doctor.
“Oh my Might, how are you feeling? Don't sit up yet, you're badly hurt.” She looks at her son in concern. “I- what happened?” Midoriya lays down, his head spinning as he tries to remember what happened.
“You jumped out the window.” The doctor replies, continuing. “Have acid burns all over your body, and a few fractures in your legs. You've been knocked out for 3 days.”
He says, bowing his head to Inko and leaves the room.
“I'm sorry mom I-” Midoriya starts, “No it's okay, I know you were just doing the right thing.” Inko touches his cheek, caressing it gently. “I'm really sorry mom.” The two touch their foreheads together as Inko cries. “I’m just glad you’re alive.” She hugs her son, crying into his shoulder.
Inko dries her tears and Midoriya decides to ask, “How's Kacchan?” Inko blinks in surprise, turning to face him. Unsure of what to say. “He's in the ICU right now.” Midoriya's eyes widened in surprise, shocked.
“Can I see him?” Midoriya asks, trying to sit up again. “Agh!” Inko immediately helps him lay back down. “You can see him when you get better, you're heavily injured too.” Midoriya relents, as much as he wants to see Bakugou he would just have to wait.
All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. Inko goes to open it and is speaking with the person behind it. She says goodbye to her son, saying that there's someone who wants to see him.
The mysterious visitor comes in. She's a woman with a tall stature and long, nearly floor length blonde hair. ‘She looks familiar, where have I seen her before?’ Midoriya ponders.
“Have you forgotten about me already?” The lady asks as she crosses her arms. “Mt. Lady?” Midoriya guesses. “Jackpot.” She smirks, ‘She looks different out of her hero costume.’
“Oh yeah? Why is that?” She raises an eyebrow at him. Midoriya immediately covers his mouth. “Did I say that out loud?” She rolls her eyes, “Yes you did.” Midoriya tries to explain himself, “I- I don't know why I said that, it's probably because I've never seen a hero in casual clothes though I-”
“I'm just pulling your leg.” She chuckles, “You're really fun to tease, aren't you?” She closes the gap between her and Midoriya's face, making Midoriya flustered.
“I just- I'm please- don't-” Midoriya’’s face flushes, unused to a pretty woman's face being so close to his. Mt. Lady, pulls away, standing back up. “Proving my point exactly.” She smirks, relishing in Midoriya's reaction.
Midoriya finally recovers so he asks what he's been wondering this whole time, “What are you doing here? And.. what happened to your hands?”
Mt. Lady's hands were bandaged, and waves it off. “I needed to check on how the victims were holding up and this?” She gestures to her hand, "This is nothing." She cooly says.
"I see." As Midoriya processed her statement, something didn't add up. “I thought you said you were only helping me for attention?” Midoriya looked at her questioningly.
Mt. Lady shrugs, “All Might stole the show. I wasn't really featured anywhere because of that.”
In truth, while All Might did take the spotlight, all the heroes in the scene were still interviewed. She had just been too busy worrying about Midoriya and Bakugou's well-being to have realize that reporters wanted to interview her.
“All Might was there?” Midoriya asks in wonder, squealing to himself, “I wish I had gotten a picture or his autograph!” He exclaims. ‘You were in mortal danger and that's the first thing you worry about?’ Mt. Lady shakes her head, smiling.
“Well I better get going, work isn't going to do itself.” Mt. Lady says her farewells. “Oh! Thank you for coming by!” Midoriya smiles. She waves her hand in goodbye.
‘Wait, I forgot to ask for an autograph!’ Midoriya groans.
“I don't think I want him to become a pro-hero after this.” Mitsuki says, who's Bakugou's mother. Inko looks at Bakugou's still body with tubes connected to him. Trying to save him.
“He’s strong. He'll be okay.” Inko says, looking at Mitsuki. Mitsuki sighs, “I know, but I wish he didn't have to suffer like this.” Inko pats her friend on the shoulder. “It's just, when they say that it's common for children to be eaten by yokai, I didn't realize it would happen to him too.” Mitsuki sobs, placing her palms in her hands, feeling helpless and defeated. “It's just how it is, with the world we live in.”
Midoriya stares at the ceiling of his room, feeling hungry all of a sudden. 'I wonder where mom is.’ All of a sudden a skinny man walks into his room with food in hand. 'He doesn't look like he works here.’ The man was wearing a baggy shirt and pants with his hands bandaged up. ‘Maybe he's a fellow patient?’
“You hungry shonen?” The man asks, “Yeah,” Midoriya replies, “but I'm lying down.” The man moves beside the bed and presses a few buttons. The bed elevates upward for Midoriya to be able to eat.
“Better?” The man asks, “Yeah.” Midoriya feels uncomfortable with a stranger in the room. The man grabs a small table and places it on the bed, putting down the food he bought him.
“Katsudon??” Midoriya salivates at the appearance of his favorite food. His guard is down immediately as he chows down on it, not skipping a beat. “Whoa, you better slow down, you don't wanna choke-” Midoriya immediately chokes on his food, coughing as the man hands him a glass of water.
As Midoriya recovers, he thanks the man. “Thank you, but how did you know this was my favorite?” He asks. “I, uh, asked your mother.” The man replies. “I see.” Midoriya says as he resumes eating. The awkward silence plays out as Midoriya finishes his food.
The man hands him the pills he needs to eat. “How do you know I'm supposed to eat this?” Midoriya asks, looking at the medicine. “Ah, well you don't have to eat it yet. You should probably wait for your mother.” A beat of silence passes.
“I better get going.” The man swiftly walks out. “Oh, wait mister!” Midoriya shouts as the man closes the door. “Thank you so much for the food!” Midoriya happily waves.
‘That was weird, who was that?’ Midoriya wonders, ‘I hope the food wasn't poisoned.’ He sweats, dread piling in his stomach.
Inko comes into the room with food in hand, shocked that Midoriya's bed was tilted up. “You ate already?” She asks, looking at the evidence on the table. “Uh yeah…?” Midoriya replies, nervously laughs. “Why are you looking at me like that?” Inko asks.
“Imayormaynothavetakenfoodfromastrangerandateitwithoutasecondthoughtand-” Midoriya rambles. “Okay wait, say it slower, I did not understand a word you just said.” He pauses. “There was a man that gave me katsudon and I may or may not have eaten it.” He admits sheepishly as Inko lights up.
“Oh! That must be from the lanky man, he was a patient here as well. Though I don't think the cafeteria is selling any katsudon right now.” Inko explains. Midoriya's mouth hangs open. ‘Did he really go outside just to buy me a katsudon?’ He was flabbergasted.
“Oh my Might, I won't be able to pay him back the katsudon since he's an outpatient.” Inko sighs, “Here chounan, take your pills.” She hands him the medicine and a glass of water.
A week passed by as Midoriya was slowly recovering and waiting to be able to visit Bakugou. Fortunately, Bakugou has been moved from the ICU to a regular hospital room since his body has stabilized.
Inko is pushing Midoriya in a wheelchair to visit Bakugou. He knocks on the door and Mitsuki opens it.
“Oh look who decided to stop by! How are you doing?” Mitsuki looked tired, her hair was a mess and she had dark circles under her eyes. She ruffles Midoriya's fluffy hair. He chuckles at the action.
“I’m doing great, how's Kacchan?” Midoriya regrets saying anything as he sees Mitsuki's face harden. “He hasn't woken up, we're scared that he might be in a coma.”
Inko wheels Midoriya into the room, Bakugou had various tubes attached to him and his body was wrapped head to toe in bandages.
Midoriya decides to wheel himself closer to Bakugou's bed and talk to him for a bit. “Hey Kacchan…” A beat of silence follows.
“All Might was there, and he, uh saved me. I didn't really get to see it but I bet it's as cool as he is on screen.” Bakugou's face twitches and Mitsuki notices.
“Keep going, I think he can hear you!” Midoriya meekly nods and continues, “I also got to talk with this new, really cool hero whose name is Mt. Lady and she can make herself as big as a building, isn't that cool? I wonder-” Midoriya rambles on talking about the various heroes he got to meet that day.
“And Backdraft was so cool, I didn't really know what to expect but-” “SHUT THE FUCK UP DEKU!” Bakugou screams, having a coughing fit. “Oh my Might, Kacchan you're awake!” Midoriya exclaims. “Yeah, no thanks to you.” Bakugou coughs, his voice coarse and dry.
“Thanks to him you woke up and this is how you thank him?!” Mitsuki slaps his head. “Ow! You stupid old hag!” Bakugou complains, coughing again.
“Here, have some water.” Inko hands him a cup of water. Bakugou takes it and stares at it, contemplating. “Well, what are you waiting for?!” Mitsuki scolds. Bakugou was about to say something again when Mitsuki looked at him pointedly.
“...thank you.” Bakugou mumbles. “I didn't hear what you said, say it louder!” Mitsuki was about to hit Bakugou again when Inko stopped her. “It’s okay Mitsuki, I heard it just fine.” She looks at Bakugou with a small smile. “Just drink it up so you can feel better.” He looks at the cup he’s holding and drinks it in one gulp.
“what are you looking at me for?” Bakugou dryly asks Midoriya. “Nothing. Just glad you're awake.” Midoriya smiles. Inko decides to leave the room with Mitsuki so the two can talk alone.
“the hell you save me for?” Bakugou asks. Midoriya, confused, asks what he means by that.
“I saw you on that Mt.Lady woman's back or whatever, what were you doing there?” Midoriya understands and explains, “Ah, I saw you on the news and rushed to help you.” “Why?” Bakugou asks, “Well I-”
“why me? why would you help me ?” Bakugou asks. “I-” Midoriya tries to interject. “get out.” Bakugou says. “Huh?” Midoriya tilts his head, not hearing him.
“I said, get. OUT.” Bakugou says as loud as he can, coughing afterwards. “Oh. Okay, sorry, sorry.” Midoriya wheels himself to the door, “Kacchan, get better soon okay?” He smiles before opening the door. Leaving Bakugou alone with his thoughts.