Note: I changed the last chapter slightly so that best doggo isn't the police chief and is stated to look younger. It doesn't make sense for him to stay in the same position for 12 years.
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It's been a few weeks since I got out of the hospital. I've tried to talk to my dad about training, but so far, he has shut me down each time I bring up the subject for some reason. I've been a little too afraid to try out my quirk since the first time I used it. Every time I think about trying to teleport, I stop myself and recall an article I read by a doctor named Kyudai Garaki. In the article, he talks about the idea of quirks and how scary they have gotten. "With each generation, new stronger and more complex quirks are created… If this continues, one day, we won't be able to control our own quirks, and with this, the end will soon come after." Every time I think about this idea, Eri pops into my head. In the anime, she had little control over her power to reverse the time of organic matter. If Aizawa didn't erase her quirk in time after the fight between Overhaul and Izuku, Izuku probably would've gone back to being a gross mush of underdeveloped cells. 'I shiver at the idea.'
Anyways, I've decided to ask my father again about training me to be a hero. Although I'm scared of the idea of losing control one day, that shouldn't stop me from trying to master my quirk. 'If I could teleport properly once, I can do it again.' I approach my father once again, ready to give it another try. "Dad, I want to be a hero." I clench my hand hard, making my knuckles turn white. "Son." My dad looks at me with a somewhat pained expression. "I've been trying to avoid this talk, but it seems you're sure of what you want to do. Come here, sit on the couch with me." He pats a spot next to him, and I climb up and sit next to my dad. "There's more to being a hero than what the T.V shows. I won't sugarcoat it even if you're young. 50% of heroes die before reaching retirement. 35% retire due to severe injury. And the other few who retire do it because they can't handle the job anymore." He stares me dead in the eyes. "Okay," I mean, I've already seen how gruesome it can get in the anime. Mr. Aizawa's arms were literally twisted behind his back when fighting Nomu in the USJ arc.
My dad is sort of taken aback by my quick acceptance of the fact, but he still tries to dissuade me. "Son, It's hard for me to give you the right idea of what being a hero means, so instead, I'll share with you what happened to me 2 weeks ago, the night I was late getting home. I was captured, son. I was doing an undercover mission for the government to find a scientist who went missing years back. I was found out, brought to a white room, and strapped down to a chair, unable to move" 'Jesus, sounds like a nightmare.' "The man I was looking for came in and experimented on me, cutting flesh and repairing It, studying me like a lab rat. After that, another man came in and grabbed my face and did something to me." He looks down at his hands, trying to find something in them. " I don't know what he did, but it felt like my body was on fire, and I was being burned from my head down. But it was strange and somehow gave me power, power that I used to escape. I have no doubt in my mind that the man let me escape. If he wanted to, he could've stopped me, but he didn't. And that's what makes villains so scary. They're unpredictable; they pop up and cause havoc without reason." 'Yup, definitely a nightmare.'
He stares at me again. I could tell he wasn't satisfied with my just sitting there, but I don't think he had the strength to go into more detail about his traumatic experience. "U.A," I said out loud to my father. "If I can't pass the U.A entrance exam when I turn 16, then I won't become a hero." I stared at my father. He seemed to consider the idea. Thousands of people apply to U.A every year. Only the top 36 candidates of the entrance exams and 4 from a special recommendation exam get in. 'Even with my quirk and knowledge of the future, if I'm unable to get in, then I'm unfit to be a hero.'
I've spent the first 3 years here. I've lazed around just like I did in my old life. I constantly think of the resolve I've already broken, 'I think I'm going to live this life even better,' I said. 'Not seeing this as the end but the beginning' What a bunch of Bull! 'I don't want to waste the life I've been given twice now, once after my death and another after Takao saved me. After falling off that bridge, I just resigned myself to die again and even questioned why I tried to save that girl! I WANTED TO DAMNIT! I want to be a hero that saves everyone! I'M NOT GOING TO SEE ANYMORE LIVES WASTE AWAY!' I scream in my mind, I'm mad, madder than I've ever been with my whole lives combined. A hero doesn't die when the first chance arises; they get past it and push forward. THEY GO BEYOND THEIR LIMITS! '*cough cough* Plus Ultra.'
My dad just looked at me while I was getting angrier and angrier by the second. He's not quite sure what to do, so he just waits for me to calm down. "Dad," I look up at him with a fire in my eyes I've never had in my old world. "I'm going to be a hero. I'm going to be more than a hero. I'm going to be a symbol, THE SYMBOL OF PEACE!" I know I'm ripping off All Might's thing, but it just feels right. I want to save this world. I feel like It's what I've been put here to do.
A vision pops into my head. It's from a conversation I've never had, but it feels like a memory all too well to have forgotten.
Flashback to a distant future
"You know Michael, I'm not one for superstition, but I don't think you're meant to be here." A grown-up Cole talks to me, he appears to be in his 20's, and we're currently laying down on a grassy hill looking at a setting sunset. "What does that mean?" I hear my voice, it sounds deeper and more mellowed out. "I mean that you could be doing so much more somewhere else. I saw it a little while after I met you, but you have unlimited potential." "Stop being cheesy man, you sound like you're about to confess your undying love to me or something," I say in a dismissive tone. "I'm being serious man, if you actually put your mind to something and focused on it, I'm sure you would achieve something previously unthinkable. It's hard for me to say, but there's an ever stockpiling campfire behind your eyes. If you can find a way to light it, I swear it could outshine the sun and light up the whole universe in the blink of any eye." "Dude, the universe is ever-expanding, and light can't move fast enough for it to happen in a blink of an eye. I doubt that this 'light' would be able to keep up." I still wasn't buying it, but I might as well play along with the analogy. "Maybe, but we'll never know if you don't try. I just hope that I'll be there to watch it when it finally catches fire." Not seeing any other way to dispute him, I let it sit there, "Mhm." I nod my head in a dismissed agreement, and I come back to reality.
Back to reality
Tears started streaming down my face, 'I'm sorry you can't be here my friend, but I promise to shine brighter than even you could see.' My dad is currently flipping his shit, he thinks he scared his son to the point of crying. 'What was that though? Whatever, it doesn't matter. All that matters right now is...' "Dad," My father stops and looks at me. I wipe the tears from my eyes, "I'm going to be the greatest ever." The fire behind my eyes sets back, burning stronger than ever but being tame and controlled. The pressure that I now realize I have been giving off this whole time fades, and I look at the cracked leg of the outamin. 'I guess I can control gravity too…?' "Shit, I broke the outamin." My mother suddenly appears around a corner and throws a wooden spoon at me, hitting me right between the eyes. "No cursing in this house!" I can tell from the red marks under her eyes that she must've been listening in and crying along with me, 'I guess mothers feel their children's pain.' My dad hugs me and says, "I'm sure you'll be great no matter what you do, I love you son." 'Man, my dad fucking rocks.' I hug him back.
'I don't know what's in store for me in the future, but I won't resign myself to any future but the best, I'll push forward and make a path I can be proud of.'