"Hey, somebody stop that kid he's running straight to the villain!"
"Get back here kid are you trying to get yourself killed!"
"Kamui grab him before it's too late!"
"I can't I'm carrying civilians."
A myriad of voices, both civilian and hero cried out to Izuku, begging him to stop running to the sludge villain but he couldn't. He wasn't in control of his legs anymore, not after the look he saw on his childhood friend's face. Not after the realization that this situation was his fault. So he ran as fast as he could to his best friend. Through the rubble, the burning buildings, and the fire that littered the street floor.
"Your Toast kid!" the villain holding his friend shouted. It had noticed his approach and was winding up for an attack.
Izuku was scared and wanted to run away but he couldn't bring himself to. So with no intention of retreating and no control of his legs he searched his mind for a way to defeat this villain or at the very least recuse his friend. His notes on Kamui Woods's pre-emptive binding move came to mind which gave Izuku an idea that should buy him at least a few seconds to recuse his childhood friend
"Take this," Izuku shouted. Throwing his backpack at the villain, school supplies flew out bag into the villain's green sludge-like body. By chance or luck, one of the many school supplies hit the villain in one of the only solid spots on its body, the eyes.
"Gah, my eye," the sludge man roared. The pain in its eyes made the villain lose concentration on taking over Katsuki's body giving the boy a much-needed breath of air.
Using the opening he created, Izuku rushed to Katsuki and started clawing away at the sludge in hopes of freeing his friend.
"Kaachan," Izuku cried out to his friend.
"What the hell, why are you here?" Katsuki responded after coughing out the sludge in his mouth. Confused as to why Deku would be here to help instead of a hero.
"I dunno. My legs... They just started... moving!"
As Izuku's brief interaction was going on Izuku was clawing away at the sludge holding his childhood friend to no avail.
"Kachan I couldn't just watch you die," Izuku said, a strained toothy smile forming on his face despite the terror he was feeling.
The sludge villain who was previously stunned had finally recovered from Izuku's attack and was ready to deal with the nuisance who interrupted his assimilation of Bakugo's body.
"Now I'm mad, it's time to die kid!" The villain raised its slimy green hand high ready to smash Izuku into a paste.
In another world, Izuku would be rescued by All Might, and the villain would be blown away by a punch so strong it would change the weather. But... not in this universe.
As Izuku looked up at the hand that was going to end his life he shut his eyes, accepting that his death was imminent and unavoidable. At first, he was scared but then he was happy because even if just for a minute he became something he's always wanted to be, a hero. So with a smile, he waited for death.
But nothing was happening, which was weird since the attack shouldn't have been slow. And now that he was calm again Izuku realized he didn't hear the fire blazing anymore or people or the sludge villain.
Slowly but surely, Izuku opened his eyes. He saw the slimy hand of the sludge villain in mid-air and quickly moved out of the way expecting the hand to come down at any moment to end his life. But the hand didn't move, as a matter of fact, nothing did. The flames from the fire, the wind, the sludge villain, and even Katsuki weren't moving.
'Good All Might.' Izuku, didnt know why everything had stopped moving but him, he secretly hoped this phenomenon to be his quirk but at the moment what mattered wasn't a quirk but his friends. So he immediately moved to free his friend, clawing fiercely at the sludge body of the villain holding Katsuki but just like last time it wasn't working. Izuku was beginning to get frustrated, he wasn't making any headway in freeing his friend.
"Dammit! Why can't I save him? Why dammit why?" Izuku was frustrated, he thought of trying to reach the eyes so he could damage them a bit and hopefully cause enough pain to get the villain to let go of katsuki. But he was too short to reach the villain's eyes and everything he could use to get higher was either on fire or too heavy for one skinny middle schooler to carry.
Izuku's frustration evolved into anger, but not at his lack of success, though that was a significant contributor, but at his weakness. He pondered why he was so weak while clawing at the sludge, why he was so dam useless, why he was Deku.
"So you finally admit it huh?" A taunting disembodied voice came from behind Izuku. Izuku was spooked out of his relentless clawing at the sludge villain and immediately turned around to find the source of the voice. He didn't find it which scared him even more.
"Who's there?" Izuku called out in a panic. He thought that since a hero hadn't come to rescue him and Kachan already that everyone else was frozen too but he was wrong. Was the power to freeze everything not his but the owner of this voice? He didn't want to believe it, but he was always quirkless so it didnt takes much to squash down his disbelief.
"Alway going on about being a hero, being strong and yet always crying instead of putting in the work to be one. You cant even save yourself from bullies but you think you can save other people? I would be laughing if I didnt feel like throwing up," The voice took on a hostile tone, sounding both disgusted and angry at Izuku. "Face it, your just a fucking Deku! A useless burden to everyone, a loser, a fucking hypocrite. What right do you have to be prancing around acting like the world's greatest hero when you're too fucking too weak to even hold a grudge!"
Izuku flinched at the words of the strange voice, the words it spoke made Izuku feel like it was attacking his very soul. The pain of the verbal attack wasn't helped by the voice being everywhere. It was loud in his right ear, a whisper in his left, roaring in the blazing fire, and in his head all at the same time.
Despite a villain being right behind him and Katsuki still needing to be saved Izuku froze and took time to digest everything the voice was saying. And when he finally took in everything he felt anger, no, rage.
"Don't talk like you know me! You could never understand the struggles I went through! Being weak, being looked down on, being made fun of, being a Deku..." Izuku shook with anger, tears welled up in his eyes, threatening to drop at any time. "Someone with a quirk as amazing as yours dosent have the right to talk about my life. Never put in the effort? What do you think I make those quirk analysis books for! "
Logically izuku knew that the voice probably didnt know what he was talking about but he didn't care. The events today were already pushing his limits to their breaking point and the mysterious voice was the straw that broke the Midoriya's back.
"You think some paper is gonna help you become a strong reliable hero?" The voice questioned mockingly. "What about some exercise you twig? How are you gonna help anybody if you come to the rescue huffing and puffing? Hahaha. Wait, I know how you'll defeat villains! You'll put them to sleep with an analysis of their quirk!" The voice entered another bout of laughter.
The more the voice laughed the more frustrated and angry Izuku became but this time he didn't say anything back because he knew the voice was right. He hadn't made any effort to improve his physique. All he did was get beat up, watch videos, and daydream of being a hero like All Might. When he thought about it now, it was pathetic, he was pathetic. The voice was right he could never be like All Might.
"That's right you're a pathetic Deku who will never be a hero. So give up on saving your friend and walk away from here, leave everything to the real heroes."
Izuku's head drooped his hair now covering his eyes. He made no response to the voice and the voice had ceased taunting and then izuku took a step forward but not a step more. He just stood there frozen in walking posture for a whole minute.
"Why did you stop? You know you can't save him, your just a Deku after all and isn't this just karma for all the bullying he and his cronies did to you. You're weak and useless and he deserves what happens to him so just walk away. " The voice whispered into Izuku's ear the same way a demon would tempt man.
"I can't be like All Might can I?" Izuku suddenly asked.
"No you can't," was the voice prompt answer.
"I can't become a great hero?"
"You never even tried."
"Your right..." Izuku acknowledged.
"I know," the voice affirmed.
"But... even so... I can't give up on my dream!" Izuku shouted."Even if I'm the lowest of low in-hero rankings, even if die a pointless death, even if I'm a useless Deku till the day I die I can't just give up on the one thing that makes my heart race." Izuku was in tears at the end of his short speech because he had finally found something he had been lacking for the longest time. Resolve.
"So you choose to be a hero even though you know how pathetic you are, how hopeless it is for someone as powerless as you to try. Just look at yourself, you can't even lift a dumbbell with those arms." The voice began taunting Izuku again.
"Your right, right now I'm pathetic. That's why I'll make a new me and leave this Deku version of myself behind!" Izuku's eyes shined with resolve, the was nothing this voice could say to change his mind anymore.
"Pff... aha... hahaha!" The voice laughed, but not in a way that was mocking. The voice laughed as if it was amused. "You're a riot, ya know that Izuku."
The world flashed white and in an instant, Izuku was in a white void instead of a burning street.
"Wha-whats going on where am I?" A confused izuku asked. Had the voice just teleported him? If that was the case he needed to get back immediately. "I have to go back to save Kacha, bring me back. Send me back now."
"Don't worry partner that's what we're here for." A voice different from the one that he was talking to him earlier spoke from behind Izuku.
Izuku turned around and hopefully put a face to a voice only to see... a floating sword. At first sight, the sword wasn't all that eye-catching, and if Izuku was being honest with himself it would look kind of bland if the bladed edge didnt glow green. Because other than the green edge the sword was completely black.
"Should have to know whoever that voice belonged to wouldn't show themself," Izuku grumbled.
"I'm the sword partner." The new voice said in exasperation. To make its points, the sword floated closer to Izuku and began repeatedly whacking him on the head with its blunt side.
"Ow ow ow, I'm sorry Mr...?" Izuku inquired while shielding his head from the blows.
That seemed to get the sword to stop hitting him in the head and start doing an introduction.
"You can call me Sword and drop the honorifics, we are partners after all."
"I'm Izuku Midoriya, it's nice to meet you but why do you keep calling me partner?"
"It's because you passed the test partner. You know, the one with the voice that was trying to get you to give up being a hero. Good on you for passing that by the way, we were manipulating your emotions quite a bit."
Izuku was going to question Sword on what he meant by emotional manipulation but the mention of the other voice brought Izuku to the realization that Kachan was still stuck in the sludge villain.
"Mr. Sword we have to go back, my friend..." Izuku was going to explain how Katsuki was stuck but was interrupted by Sword.
"Don't worry about him, you haven't been moved anywhere you're physically still in front of the sludge villain." This immediately confused izuku and it seemed that Sword had picked up on that confusion because he proceeded to explain to Izuku how his whole experience was possible. "This whole thing is happening right in here." Sword once again floated up and tapped izuku head with the blunt side of his body.
"But that's..." Izuku started.
"Impossible?" Sword finished. "Don't be so focused on what is and isn't possible, we still have your friend to save don't we?"
"But how can I save him, there is nothing the current me can do against that villain."
"That's why you'll have me,"
Izuku looked at the sword confused. "How can you help if you're just my imagination." Izuku felt that his question was justified. After all, Sword had just admitted to everything happening being in his head.
Sword somehow sighed and tilted forward before turning left and right in an imitation of a human shaking their head. "Listen, partner, I was your imagination but when you passed the test you unlocked your power, me, and now that you unlocked me I can manifest into the real world with you."
"Ohh... Wait does that make you my quirk?" Izuku's voice was hushed yet excited. The answer was obvious but he wanted to hear it from Sword.
"Isn't that obvious? Listen, while we can stay in here for another 30 minutes before anything outside changes I'm sure you want to save your friend. So how about we get out of here and do just that." As soon as a sword had finished his words the void they were in began to fade and started to resemble the fiery street block that he was supposed to be on.
"Wait!" Izuku cried out to Sword. " How will I know how to use you? I never even picked up a sword before."
"Do what you've always done partner, follow your heart. It's gotten you this far hasn't it?" With those final words, the void and Sword completely faded away and Izuku was once again before the sludge villain.
"Time to die brat!" The sludge villain's hand began its descent, fully capable and willing to end Izuku's life.
"Save the boy, he gonna get killed!" Death Arm shouted as he and a couple of other heroes made a charge toward the villain but at the speed they were going it would be too late to save Izuku.
"I have to do something and it has to be now!" All Might had finally begun to successfully force a transformation and was a second away from blitzing the villain.
While the efforts of the heroes were valiant and brave it was ultimately unnecessary. Why you may ask? Because the Izuku Midoriya standing before them wasn't the same helpless boy he was a second ago.
Just when Izuku was about to be crushed by the villain, his form blurred and disappeared. In the wake of his disappearance, nearly a hundred thin glowing green lines appeared all over the sludge villain's body.
For a second, nothing happened and nothing seemed like it would happen until a deafening sonic boom rang out followed by the sludge villains exploding into hundreds of different pieces. The sludge villain's body showered the street block and just as people were wondering who was responsible for defeating the villain they spotted izuku holding not just the hostage but a pitch-black sword with an edge that glowed same green color as the lines that appeared on the villain.
The crowd and heroes were, to say the least, shocked. The kid who more than a few watching had written of as dead had somehow simultaneously defeated the villain and rescued the hostage as well.
Soon shock had turned into excitement and excitement into cheers. Civilians and reporters alike began to rave about the feat Izuku had pulled off. Jumping and shouting cheers to him.
"Woah, that kid is fast!"
"Did you hear that boom? I think he broke the sound barrier!"
"I didnt even see him move."
"That kid's attack was like somethin' out of an anime!"
"I think he was moving as fast as All Might!"
Speaking of All Might, he had missed his chance to enter the fray and was even more shocked than everyone else. It was only a few minutes ago that the Izuku boy had told him he was quirkless and from the look, the boy gave him when confessed he confessed he was quirkless All Might didnt think he was lying.
'Did the Midoriya boy's quirk awaken just now?' All Might thought to himself.
After thinking on the subject for a few moments Toshinori concluded that it's possible. He remembered, that when he was quirkless and desperate for a quirk, he searched for and found research articles that said people could awaken their quirks in response to a traumatic event. Which meant the boy had charged in with reckless abandon with no regard for his own life to save his friend even if he was going to die himself. Foolish and idiotic beyond belief... Which made him perfect to inherit One For All. Finally, after years of searching, he found a successor.
Death Arms and the other heroes, who were shocked by izuku display of speed and strength, broke out of their shocked state and began to do their job. Arresting/gathering the sludge villain and helping the victims.
Thanks to the sonic boom displacing air, the fires surrounding the area went out making the job of gathering the sludge villain easier.
As the other heroes fanned out to gather the sludge villain, Death Arms approached Izuku and the unconscious Bakugo to bring them to the medics. As he approached Izuku, he noticed that the boy hadn't moved from his position since his swift but dramatic victory over the villain.
"Hey kid you all right?" Death Arms asked he put his hand on izuku shoulder.
When izuku didnt react Death Arms began to turn him around. "Hey, kid I asked if you're alright-." The sight that greeted Death Arms was not what he expected. The boy who had seemingly effortlessly triumphed over the villain multiple heroes couldn't take down looked like he was dead. His eyes, mouth, ears, and nose were all leaking blood and his complexion was as pale as a ghost. Yet for some reason, the kid was smiling, as if satisfied with his deed despite the outcome.
"Shit, someone get this kid a medic!" Death Arms gently moved Izuku from his standing position onto his back and began to check Izuku's vitals. What he discovered wasn't good, Izuku's heartbeat was beginning to slow down and his breathing was slowly becoming shallow. "Hold on kid everything's going to be ok. I asked for that medic yesterday, where the fuck is it!"
Soon an ambulance arrived and rushed Izuku to the hospital.
However, help was too late to stop what was to come.
It was on this day that Izuku Midoriya died.....
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Authors Note: This is the end of the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading this because writing this with how busy I am is a bitch.
Heads up, if something isn't making sense in this story it's most likely not supposed to or a mistake.