Chapter Text
A Gentle Fall Into Darkness:
The wind howled around him as he fell. Izuku Midoriya barely had time to process the fact that his body was no longer on solid ground. The rooftop, where he had stood just moments ago, where Bakugo’s sneering voice had echoed in his mind, was now above him. The sky stretched endlessly, pale and cold, and for a single, terrifying second, all he knew was the rushing of the wind and the sound of his heart in his chest.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this. He thought of his mother, the only light in his otherwise dark and cruel world, the posters and figures scattered about his childhood bedroom, the notebooks filled with notes and analyses for a dream that could never be a reality, would never be a reality. He thought of all the years he had spent struggling for a destiny that was never his; Izuku Midoriya could never be a hero.
He closed his eyes, embracing his death, prepared for the pain he braced himself. And then he stopped. The feeling of halted momentum shattered the quiet of his mind and suddenly a million thoughts raced across the teen’s brain, chief among them being ‘Great, I can’t even die right.’ He clenched his eyes tight, hoping against hope that whatever had caught him would let him finish falling, finally letting the sad and terrible tale of the Deku come to its miserable finale.
And then he opened his eyes. Coming face to face with a blue eyed man with silvery white hair, and a thick moustache and beard. “My my what a most unfortunate predicament. A young man plummeting from the sky. A tragedy in the making, truly! Fortunately for you I, Gentle Criminal, have ensured that no such tragedy will befall you this evening.”
As the clutter in his mind cleared, Izuku found himself more aware of the world around him, viewing the alley around him, he saw the man who had caught him, alongside a shorter red haired woman. The man was dressed in a floor length, violet overcoat, white shirt, white pants and a pair of black dress shoes.
Looking closer at the woman, Izuku mentally noted that she wore her hair in two high pigtails, the next thing he noticed was her eyes, they were an interesting shade of pink. She wore a big white bow at her neck, matching the thick white gloves she wore, an indigo shirt with large buttons and long, frilly sleeve cuffs, and a pair of white, pinstriped pants which are very poofy, making her legs seem bigger than they are. He also noticed she sported several heart motifs, heart earrings, heart-shaped buckles on the two thin, golden belts around her waist, and a wide heart design over the tops of her legs. The last thing he noticed about the woman was the fact she was holding a camera.
Turning back to the man, Izuku finally found his voice. “Y-you c-caught me?” Izuku flinched at how hoarse the words had sounded, his throat felt dry, as though during his fall, all moisture had escaped from it.
“But of course, it would have been the peak of impropriety to allow a young soul such as yourself to shatter upon the pavement.” The man smoothed his coat. “Though I must admit, one does wonder what would lead someone as young as you to take such an ill-advised flight?”
Izuku swallowed, hard, the weight of what he had just attempted pressing down on him. He had jumped, no, he had let himself fall, because… because…
“I had nowhere else to go.” the teen’s whispered utterance, brought with it a sharp inhalation of breath from both of the other occupants of the alley.
The woman stepped closer, a frown resting on her lips. “What do you mean nowhere else to go?”
Izuku clenched his fists, staring down at his feet and refusing to meet the eyes of the other two. His schoolmates’ jeers rang in his head. You’ll never be a hero. Just give it up already. You’re just a useless Deku. If you wanna be a hero so badly, why don’t you take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a Quirk in the next life. The words echoed like a curse in his mind.
“I-I’m Quirkless, useless.” He admitted. “I tried so hard, I wanted to be a hero more than anything… But I was stupid. It was never going to happen. Everyone knew it, and they made sure that I did too.” A laugh that sounded more akin to a sob escaped his throat, before he forced his emotions down. “So I finally just… stopped.”
Silence reigned for a moment as the teen’s statement passed through the minds of the alley's other two occupants. Gentle studied the boy before him, his moustache twitched as a thought came upon him, and his blue eyes softened. When he spoke his voice was less boisterous, but still retained its theatrical elegance.
“A most heartbreaking confession, young man. To dream so fervently, only to be shackled by a world that refuses to see beyond limitation—truly, a tragedy fit for the grandest of stages.”
The woman bit her lip as she stepped toward him, her pink eyes shone with empathy and compassion. Placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “That’s not fair,” She whispered solemnly. “They told you that? They made you feel like you had no choice but… but this?” Her voice wavered somewhere between anger and sorrow.
The greenette nodded slightly, still averting his gaze. “I was never enough.”
Gentle sighed and placed a hand on his chest theatrically. “Ah, but allow me to propose a counter argument! Who, my dear boy, has the authority to dictate what you are ‘enough’ for? Society? Those who lack imagination and the heart to envision the grand picture? I, for one, do not accept their verdict!”
Izuku finally looked up, his eyes shining with confusion, and a deep buried hope. “But… I don’t have a Quirk. I can’t be a hero. That’s just the way it is.”
The redhead huffed, her frown deepening. “That’s the way they want it to be. But why should you listen to them?”
There was a beat of silence before Gentle spoke again in a serious tone, his usual theatrical act gone for the moment. “This world is unjust, young man. It turns its back on those who do not fit within its narrow mold. But if it refuses to acknowledge your worth then perhaps… Perhaps it is the world that must be proven wrong.”
Izuku blinked. “Proven wrong?” the words lingered for a moment.
A smile, slow and knowing, spread across Gentle’s face as his usual exuberance returned. “Indeed! A grand act of defiance, a tale of one who refused to be cast aside, one who would not be so easily discarded by this world! Tell me, my boy, if the world will not allow you to walk the path of a hero… would you consider, instead, taking a different road? One where you need not beg for acceptance—but rather, carve your own legend?”
The woman grinned at Gentle’s words, excitement flickering in her eyes. “It doesn’t have to be over. You can still be something great !”
Izuku’s breath caught in his throat. The idea felt foreign, unreal—like something out of a dream. A different road. One not bound by the expectations of those who had mocked him, beaten him down, and left him to rot. But what did that even mean?
“I…” The green haired teen’s voice faltered, his mind warring with itself. “I don’t understand.”
The man’s smile softened, his piercing blue eyes shining with something Izuku couldn’t quite name—understanding, perhaps, or maybe compassion.
“My boy, you have been told your entire life that there is but one way to be great. One way to matter.” The white haired criminal spread his arms wide, as if gesturing to the whole world beyond the dimly lit alley. “But that is the lie of a narrow-minded society. True greatness is not granted—it is seized , shaped by those who dare to defy the constraints placed upon them. And the greatest secret of this deceptive society is that all its inhabitants matter.”
The pink-eyed woman nodded eagerly. “You don’t need a hero license to make a difference! You don’t need their rules! You just need you! ”
Izuku’s hands trembled at his sides. He had spent his whole life chasing a dream that had been stolen from him before he was even born. Was it really so impossible that there was another way? Another purpose for someone like him?
“But… If I don’t become a hero, then what am I supposed to be?” The words left his lips before he could stop them, raw and uncertain.
Gentle chuckled, a rich and rolling sound that carried a deep warmth, stepping closer. “That, dear boy, is a most exhilarating question. And the only one who can answer it… is you.”
Izuku stared at the man and his—apparent—accomplice, something in his chest twisting painfully. A path beyond the one he had always known. Beyond hero society. Beyond the heckling and mockery of his classmates.
He had spent so long believing that without a Quirk he was nothing . But here, in this forgotten alley, beneath the glow of flickering streetlights, two strangers—two criminals—were telling him he could be something , no, they were telling him that he already was. They were telling him that he could be great.
He just had to choose it.
The silence stretched, thick with uncertainty. Then, slowly, Izuku let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “...What would I have to do? If I wanted to walk that other path?”
The woman beamed, clapping her hands together. Gentle merely smiled, tilting his head ever so slightly.
“Ah, my dear boy,” The man grinned with a twinkle in his eye. “The first step is quite simple.” He extended his hand. “Let us begin with introductions, shall we?”
Izuku hesitated—just for an instant—then reached forward, his fingers closing around Gentle’s offered hand.
And with that single gesture, his gentle fall into darkness truly began.