Time is a fickle thing. Many like to look at it like they're watching a parade, with one thing after another passing by in sequence. However, this point of view limits our understanding of how our actions and the actions around us shape our reality. Instead imagine seeing the parade from above along with all the twists and turns it might or might not take. Imagine being able to see every available route one can go down, all of the roadblocks that could change these routes, and even how one event could stop the parade altogether.
Now imagine these routes as the paths someone can take in life and realize how one event can irrevocably alter their lives. How one wrong turn could turn a hero into a villain, how one dead end could be the start of better path, or how easy it could be to end one's journey entirely.
Time is therefore always changing, the choices and events we experience making it so that we never go to bed on the same path we woke up on. Rarely though does one's path change so drastically it has the potential to change the paths of everyone around them.
But Izuku Midoriya has always been known to defy the odds, now hasn't he? Being born Quirkless was just the first example of that. In a world where over 80% of people were born with some sort of superhuman ability or "Quirk," Izuku was in the minority that were powerless. He couldn't create black holes with a thought or manipulate strands of fiber like he was controlling his fingers; he didn't even have anything as little as stars growing from the sides of his head. According to today's society, he was completely useless.
Despite this though, Izuku had a dream: he wanted to be a hero. Like those that have dawned colorful costumes and put their lives on the line since the beginning of Quirks, Izuku wanted to spend his life saving everyone he could with a smile on his face. Even though he was Quirkless, even though no one believed in him, he knew what path he was meant to be on and planned to one day prove he could defy the odds and become the world's greatest hero!
Or that was the plan at least. But as I said before, all it takes is one moment for the path you are on to change forever. One event to turn someone's entire life around and show them a route they never even knew existed.
And in the case of Izuku Midoriya, this life changing event was him falling flat on his face.
xXDPMHAXx
Numb isn't the word Izuku would choose to describe how he is feeling; saying he feels numb means he still feels something. Right now, it is more like the teen just no longer exists, standing on that rooftop unable to feel or hear or even see his surroundings. It is like the entire world just suddenly decided to act like he wasn't even there. If Izuku was in a different state of mind he would realize that this honestly isn't too different than any other day, but he is unable to focus on the irony as only one thought could play in his head.
"Can you be a hero? Not without a Quirk."
Izuku wishes he could say he couldn't believe what he had heard, but that would be a lie.
Deep down he knew what the answer would be, he was just too caught up in his childish dreams to pay attention to it. After all, what else did he expect All Might to say when he asked if he could be like him?
All Might. The number one hero. The world's Symbol of Peace. The man Izuku has idolized his entire life. Ever since Izuku first saw the hero's debut video, the teen has been the number one hero's number one fan. There have been many days where it felt like All Might was all Izuku had. The kids at school ostracize him, his best-friend-turned-bully despises his very existence, and even his own mother doubts he could ever fulfil his dream. All Might though… Every time Izuku felt like he was a hopeless failure, that he should just give up and accept his place in the world as a useless Deku, all he had to do was look at his hero's fearless smile to know his dream could become a reality. Even if the entire world was against him, Izuku was still able to hope because he was here!
"Can you be a hero? Not without a Quirk."
Emphasis on was. Or maybe if Izuku is honest, All Might has never been here at all.
All Might. The number one hero. The world's Symbol of Peace. The man who finally crushed Izuku's dream.
Part of Izuku wishes he had gone a different way home that day. That the sludge villain had finished him off. That he never grabbed All Might's leg. That he had fallen instead of that bottle he barely caught. That he had just let the Symbol of Peace walk away instead of letting the man show him the ugly truth of heroics. There were many different ways today could have gone, ways that could have let Izuku keep smiling. But a bigger part of the teenager realizes this was probably for the best. The only way he could have ever let go of his aspirations is if he lost all hope, something All Might helped him achieve with just nine words.
"Can you be a hero? Not without a Quirk."
Maybe this was good for him. Yeah, it could be. So the world's greatest hero told him that his dream was unattainable and that he needed to give up? That just means that Izuku can move on and find a new passion in life. Maybe he could get a job designing support gear for heroes; he was good at finding out Quirks' weaknesses and could use that knowledge to counteract them with inventions. Or maybe he could go into marketing; he could use his analysis skills to pick apart heroes' personalities and figure out what they may need to improve on to be more popular. He could even still go to U.A. It isn't like the school just offers a hero course, and any course he picks would give him the best education in the eastern hemisphere. This is the start of a new life, the beginning of a new Izuku Midoriya where he could do anything! He should be happy this happened, excited even!
So why is it Izuku couldn't will himself to smile?
A tingling in his leg finally snaps Izuku out of his trance. Looking down, Izuku pulls his phone out of his pocket and realizes the source is a phone call from his mother. How he hasn't noticed the other messages she has left is beyond him, but hey seventh time's the charm right?
Izuku goes to answer the call but hesitates as he is inches from accepting. After a moment, the teen sighs before going to settings and putting his phone in do-not-disturb mode. He hates worrying his mom, but he just feels like holding a conversation would take energy he didn't have anymore. Right now, he thinks he just needs to be alone.
Izuku barely registers the tears cascading down his cheeks as that word repeats in his head. He really is alone, isn't he? After all these years, he has finally discovered the truth: that no matter how amazing someone is or how much they try to inspire others, no one will ever believe he can be anything more than a useless Deku. Not Kacchan, not Inko, not All Might…
Not even Izuku himself.
The teen finally looks up from his feet to see the sun setting from the horizon. Despite everything, Izuku can't help but recognize how beautiful it looks from where he is. Sure, he has seen more than a few sunsets in his lifetime but seeing it from the ground level isn't the same as seeing the unobstructed view one can only get from this high up.
Izuku looks down again, but instead of looking at his feet he looks at the streets below. He really is high up, isn't he? If he had to guess the greenette would say he was about nine, maybe ten stories high. If he were to fall from up here, then there was a good chance that…
"Just pray that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life, then take a swan dive off the roof of the building!"
All it would take is one jump and it would all be gone. The bullying, the hatred, the hopelessness, all Izuku's problems would disappear in an instant. No longer would he be the nuisance Kacchan detests or the burden keeping his mother from living a happy life. Maybe everyone would just be better off if Izuku listens to his oldest friend and hopes for a better roll of the dice next time.
He knows he shouldn't even be considering this, but he can't stop thinking that maybe it is for the best. After all, he may never be able to be a hero, but he can still try to do the right thing. On autopilot, Izuku takes a step towards the edge of the building.
And then he's falling.
For a second time stops as Izuku just feels himself in the air, completely at the mercy of gravity. He is completely unbound from the world, unbound from everything that has weighed him down today. When he closes his eyes, he almost feels like he is flying. And then the second ends, as the air whips past Izuku's head and he opens his eyes only to see himself slam into the concrete face first.
"Oww. Yeah, that's about par for the course," Izuku groans as he pushes himself up, wincing at the scratches he can feel on his skin, before looking around confused. What the heck just happened? Looking behind him, the teen arches an eyebrow as his eyes land on a book by his feet. Huh, he never even noticed this was up here. He must have tripped over it as he…as he…
Izuku blanches as, for the first time since meeting All Might, he feels something: panic. Izuku falls onto his butt as he uses his feet to get as far away from the ledge as he could. He…he was really going to do it, wasn't he? He was really going to end his life and leave everything behind. Leave behind his mom who would be distraught at the loss of her son. Leave behind Kacchan and any hope of them being friends again. Leave behind going to watch hero fights and buying new hero merchandise and eating katsudon and wearing his novelty shirts. If it weren't for that book…
The teen glances down at the book that just saved his life in quiet thanks, before his face changes to one of not-so-quiet confusion. He grabs the large book with both hands and ignores the green swirls on its cover to focus on its name. "'The Complete Guide To Ectoplasmic Entities,'" Izuku said out loud as he read the English title (a small part of Izuku feels pride as he realizes those nights spent on the American hero forums weren't for nothing after all). What the heck? What kind of book is this?
Curiosity getting the better of him, the greenette flips the book open to see that it is some kind of scientific journal. He goes through the pages, glancing at the numerous graphs and charts and briefly reading a few sentences, before stopping on one particular page. The page displays a picture of a green blob with an angry look where its head would be and a tail stretching behind it. "Ectoplasmic entities," Izuku says as he fully comprehends what he is seeing. "Wait, is this a book about ghosts?"
Who would own a book about fictional ghosts of all things? Heck, who would even write a book about ghosts in the first place? "Oh, like you have any right to judge other people's hobbies when yours includes stalking?" Izuku cringes at the hard truth he supplies himself with, knowing how creepy his own hobby is to everyone. But still, why would someone leave their book on some random rooftop?
"Hello?" Izuku calls out, trying to see if there is maybe someone else on the rooftop with him. After a few seconds of no response and realizing he is alone, he looks back at the book in his hands and begins to flip through it for any clues as to its owner may be.
Flipping forward, Izuku goes to the front page and notices a handwritten note. 'If found, please return to 4304 Amity Parkway.' Izuku's confusion grows. Amity Parkway…Isn't that over in the Aktu district? How the heck did a book get onto a downtown rooftop when it is supposed to halfway across the city? The greenette knows that part of town can be kind of sketchy. Maybe a hero from that area had it on them during a patrol? Or maybe someone was running from a hero and dropped it?
(The fact he even considers he could be holding a villain's property and isn't remotely fazed speaks wonders for Izuku's mental state right now.)
Izuku shakes his head. It doesn't really matter how it got here if he's honest, all that matters is he returns it. The teen knew that if he lost one of his hero analysis notebooks and someone found it, he would want them to return it immediately.
He looks up at the still setting sun. If Izuku had to guess there was probably another twenty minutes before it goes down completely. Maybe he should worry about this later. After all he isn't joking when he says Aktu is sketchy; it's a mostly abandoned district with pre-Quirk buildings and places where people go nowadays for backstreet activities. It would probably be safer for him if he waited for tomorrow and went after school while it is still light out. Or even better he could go to the local police station and drop it off so he didn't have to go the part of the city with the highest rate on toddler on toddler violence. If someone just decided to leave their book up here, they could probably wait a bit longer to get it back.
At least, that's what Izuku should have thought. And maybe if things had gone differently today, he would have. But on this day, the day where his childhood friend told him to kill himself, the day where he was almost murdered with no way of fighting back, the day where the man he thought of as God showed him how human Izuku is, he just thinks about how sad this person must be right now without their book and that he can do something to make them feel better.
And so instead of jumping off the roof, Izuku walks down the stairs and to the train station where he boards the first one to Aktu.
xXDPMHAXx
Izuku already regrets his decision.
The train had dropped him off about twenty minutes ago, and he had spent the time after walking towards the destination he put in his phone. It was just shy of a miracle that no one had stopped Izuku on his walk over, but that may have something to do with how deserted the place seems to be. If he had been paying more attention to his surroundings maybe he would have noticed that as he got closer to the address, there were less people hanging around almost as if they were purposely avoiding something. But unfortunately, he came to this realization too late, because by the time things click into place that maybe he made a mistake he found himself in front of 4304 Amity Parkway.
And that's when the warning bells finally began to sound off.
It isn't the run-down apartment building or home he was expecting to come across. It is instead a factory, specifically the loading dock if the large doors and concrete ramps are any indication. Although, it is run-down like Izuku was expecting with boarded up windows and walls so old any evidence of what was once produced here is long gone, so at least he was right about something.
But that isn't what is making Izuku's fight-or-flight response kick in. Instead, it is almost like the building is radiating some kind of energy that is otherworldly. Like there is something in there that Izuku shouldn't have even considered coming towards, let alone standing so close to. By all definitions, Izuku looks at the factory and thinks it feels haunted.
"Maybe I should just leave this on the doorstep," Izuku gulps as he makes his first good decision of the day. But instead of being able to follow on such a plan, he feels something hit his nose. Curiously he goes to inspect what hit him and feels water between his fingertips.
This is all the warning Izuku gets before another raindrop hits, followed by another, before it begins to pour onto the now panicking teen. Quickly looking back and seeing no place to hide from the rain, the teen sprints towards the building to escape the downpour. He doesn't even grasp what he has done until the door is closing behind him and he is standing alone in the unsettling factory.
Although the lights have long been rendered useless, the skylights and windows allow Izuku just enough light to see the space he has found himself in. The room is spacious for starters, with two stories stretching farther than he can see. The floor is filled with conveyor belts, some stretching to the catwalks above and all of them attached to different kinds of machinery. The only places there aren't belts are where there are dusty boxes stacked upon each other, leaving just enough room for a person to navigate the makeshift labyrinth. There are also multiple doors lining the walls, most likely offices and hallways leading deeper into the factory, but they all seem to have been boarded up long ago.
"Okay, stay calm. Everything is all right. No reason to freak out. It's just a creepy abandoned factory in the middle of a crime ridden part of town. Absolutely no reason to panic." Izuku almost freezes as he feels something hitting his leg but looking down he sees the culprit is just his own arm shaking in anxiety. "TRAITOR!"
Taking a steadying breath, he decides that since he is here, he should at least finish what he came here for. "Uh, hello? Is-is anyone, um, here? I, uh, I found your book downtown and, um, I-I just wanted to return it." Silence is the only answer he gets. "Hello?" Izuku calls, silently hoping for no one to answer him. And after a few more moments of quiet, he figures his wish has been granted.
The teen lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding before looking out one of the non-boarded up windows. "Geez, it's really coming down out there," he thinks as comes to the realization that the storm wasn't going to let up any time soon. And despite how appealing it would be to stay the night here alongside the rats, spiders, and possibly criminals, Izuku would rather not wait here until the weather clears up.
With a sigh, Izuku pulls out his phone as knows what he has to do. Even though he still isn't in the mood to talk about everything, it would probably be best if he asks his mom to come get him. At the very least he can let her know that he is okay (well…not okaybut at least he was still alive.) Except as he pulls his phone out, all he is met with is a red battery icon.
Izuku groans as he puts the phone away; this day just keeps getting better and better. So calling for help is off the table, but maybe there is a an umbrella or a raincoat in here he can use to get back to the train station without catching hypothermia. Plan in mind, he goes to the first box and pulls it open, only to stare in surprise.
"Fudge?" Indeed, inside the box is what looks to be multiple boxes of fudge candies that are centuries past their expiration date. Closing the box, Izuku goes to the next one only to see it is filled with more of the chocolates. After a dozen or so more boxes, Izuku may not have been able to find any sort of rain protection but is confident he has figured out what the factory made.
Solving that very important mystery aside, Izuku realizes that him checking these boxes is going nowhere. He is just about to make his way upstairs to see if there is anything deeper in the building when he notices it. It's a door, which by itself is nothing out of the ordinary. But the reason this one catches the greenette's eye is because it is the only door that is not boarded up.
Deciding it would probably be smart to check this room before venturing into areas unknown, Izuku walks over and opens the door to reveal an office. It has a desk in one corner, a bookshelf in another, and an old-school refrigerator in a third. There are some chairs around and a few more boxes of fudge are stacked throughout the room. Fudge wrappers also line the floor, the owner of this office apparently having been a big fan of their product. Some papers and knickknacks lay on the desk and some books are piled on the shelves, all of which are under so many layers of dust Izuku could feel his eyes begin to overflow the second he opened the door. All in all, it's really nothing special. "So why is this the only door unlocked?"
Cautiously, Izuku goes around the room hoping to find an umbrella, but he has no such luck. Suppressing a groan at the realization he came in here for nothing, the greenette turns to go upstairs before his eyes lock onto the fridge. He had planned to ignore it entirely, figuring the owner had used it to store fudge samples and not weather protection, but that plan was dismissed as he notices the sole photograph stuck to the door.
While again this would usually be nothing spectacular, Izuku can't help but notice it is the only decoration in the room that may have any sort of sentimental value. From what he can tell, every other item here is either work left behind when the factory shut down, miscellaneous stress toys one would probably get from conventions, and some surprisingly well-worn books and manuals on how fudge is made. If whoever worked here had decided to put a photo up, then why would they leave it behind?
Going to the fridge, the curious teen wipes off the layers of dust that obscure the photo to see what it is a picture of. Though it is really old, and a good chunk of the photo appears to have been torn off, the greenette can tell this is some kind family photo. The family, American if Izuku had to guess, consists of four people – a father, a mother, a sister, and brother – standing in front of a brick building that has what looks like a spaceship on top of it. The parents are wearing what looks to be jumpsuits, orange and blue respectively, whilst the teenaged kids wear more casual clothing.
"Huh. Maybe one of them used to work here?" It's a fair assumption; after all this building hasn't been in use in a long time and with how worn-out this photo looks anyone in it could have been alive back then.
Izuku lets out a small smile at the family. Why anyone would leave this behind is beyond him. If it were him, he would treasure a photo where his family looks this happy. Where his mom's eyes aren't filled with worry. Where Izuku doesn't have to wear long sleeves to hide the bruises he got between third and fourth period. Where his dad is actually here. If it was Izuku, he would never leave behind such a moment where everyone was able to truly smile.
As Izuku looks at the photo, his smile suddenly drops (and yes it was suddenly. It certainly hadn't been progressively dropping as Izuku thought of his own life) as his eyes lock on to a sign hanging on the building behind the family. It's a bit hard to make out due to the photo's age, but Izuku swears that sign is of a ghost.
The amateur sleuth takes the photo in his hands, taking it off the fridge to make sure his eyes aren't playing tricks on him. Or at least that was the plan. But as he pulls the photo, it stays stuck to the door and pulls it open to reveal what's inside. Izuku nearly keels over as the smell of decay hits his nose, barely keeping the tears in his eyes and the lunch in his stomach. It takes every fiber of his being for the teen to look up and see what horrid thing would go against the Geneva Conventions and issue chemical warfare on a middle schooler.
It's a ham. It's a full ham, rotten beyond belief from years of aging, but still just a ham in an otherwise empty fridge. Izuku grimaces as he lifts the collar of the gakuran to cover his nose and mouth. Forget the photograph, how could someone just leave a ham to rot for years? This has to being some kind of health code violation; heck, this had to be some kind of biohazard! Looking around in a hurry, Izuku spots a trashcan in the corner. The teen quietly thanks whatever deity that may be out there for finally giving him a speck of good luck as he grabs the can and carefully dumps the ham inside it, tying the bag inside up and tossing it out the open door. Immediately the stench begins to go away as the perpetrator has been captured, allowing Izuku to free his face from his uniform and take a deep breath.
Taking a few moments to breathe, Izuku straightens back up and goes to close the fridge when he sees it. Previously hidden behind the ham on the back of the fridge is a keypad, with a small keyboard and an LED screen that has five lines lighting up just enough to be visible. The greenette stares, not expecting for things to have somehow gotten weirder. Why would anyone put a keypad in a fridge of all things? It didn't make any sense. "Unless they had something they didn't want anyone to find." Izuku forces himself to ignore the thoughts his brain was so helpfully supplying, instead going to close the fridge door. It didn't matter anyway; it wasn't like he had the combination in the first place so there was no point in wondering about what the keypad may be to.
He takes a step back to leave the room only to hit something with his heel. Praying he didn't just hit a rat, Izuku looks down and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees he had just kicked one of the empty boxes laying around.
One of the empty boxes of fudge.
Fudge, the thing this factory used to sell and that someone used to love eating.
A thing that was enjoyed by the person who possibly owned this office that is also a five-letter word.
…There's no way, right?
Deciding to humor the ridiculous idea, Izuku reopens the fridge and leans inside towards the keypad. Ignoring the still lingering smell on decades-old ham, the teen presses the 'F' key with trepidation, only jumping a little bit when the keyboard beeps and the letter appears on the screen. With a gulp Izuku types in the next four letters and, against his better judgement, he hits 'enter.'
Izuku nearly gives himself a concussion hitting his head as the fridge begins to shake. He quickly pulls his arm out, falling on his back in the process as the appliance rumbles violently. The teen wants to run away in – Panic? Fear? Confusion? – some negative emotion but is frozen in place as the fridge begins to slide to the left, dust falling off of it and clouding in front of Izuku. Coughing the dust from his lungs, the teen pauses a moment later as he notices the shaking can no longer be heard. Rubbing his face, he squints his eyes open only for them to shoot wide at what he sees.
Where the fridge was is now a small room, not even as big as a closet. Its dark but Izuku can make out the stainless-steel panels making up the walls and floor, along with a large coil snaking into the ceiling. Gulping the teen stands back up and cautiously walks over, only to jump back as a light flickers on. After taking a moment to make sure nothing else was going to happen, the teen walks closer and looks inside where he sees the coil leads to the wall to his left, or more specifically the switch on it with the up and down arrows on it. Izuku immediately pales as he realizes this he hasn't found a room; it's an elevator.
"Alright Midoriya. You have only made bad decisions today. But this is your chance to turn all of that around and do something right for once in your life. This is obviously something you have no business being involved in and should never have even found in the first place. What you need to do is go outside, find a phone, and call the police so they can handle this from here. Under no circumstances are you to get in this elevator and go to God-knows-where by yourself, especially without a phone or anything to protect yourself with." It was the right thing to do. Any sane person would absolutely follow this foolproof plan to stay safe.
"Although, it is still raining and there may be an umbrella down there." Let the record show that Izuku Midoriya is not a sane person.
Wanting to find the elusive rain protection (and totally not for any other reason, nope the only enticing thing about this was the possibility of an umbrella), Izuku takes a tentative step into the elevator and looks at the switch. Ignoring the lump in his throat, the teen lifts his shaking arm and presses the up arow.
Izuku's breath hitches as he waits for the lift to move, but after a moment of nothing he feels himself breath again. "Maybe it doesn't work," he says with equal parts relief and disappointment. Figuring he should at least check while he's here, Izuku goes to press the down button with much less trepidation.
He isn't sure if his heart has stopped or it's just going so fast it feels like that, but either way it's definitely no longer in his body as the elevator is sent into a free fall. Izuku screams at the top of his lungs as he plummets, holding onto the guardrails on the walls for dear life. Tears form, falling off his face only to hit the ceiling instead of the floor the elevator is dropping so fast. The teen tries in a last-ditch effort to reach for the up button so this metal box doesn't become his coffin, but its taking all of his nerd strength to not let go of the rail and fly into the roof. All he can do is hold on and hope that someone will be able to find his remains one day, no matter how unrecognizable they will be.
And then it's over. Izuku feels himself shoot into the floor, groaning as he can feel the shoulder he landed on start to bruise. He rolls onto his back to help ease the ache, eyes locked on the green lights lining the walls when it hits him. He's alive.
A short laugh escapes his mouth, then another, and then a third, and then a sigh. Can he just be done with today already? But as the door dings open and Izuku turns his head to see what it revealed, he realizes that apparently it cannot.
The good news is that the room he finds is currently empty. The bad news is Izuku appears to have found is a secret laboratory, and of the A-Z's of horrid scenarios he came up with the second that fridge began shaking, this might be the worst one.
The room looks like it is as big as the factory floor, and possibly even bigger as it is so dark he can't see where the room ends. The walls are made of the same steel as the elevator with multiple pieces of machinery attached with cables and wires. It is also very messy, with computers and monitors covering the tables, beakers and papers cluttering the workstations and much of the floor, and more boxes of fudge littering the room, all empty with the wrappers spilling out.
For many people who moments ago were worrying that they were about to be violently murdered, they would see an empty room and understand this was their opportunity to fix their mistake, using this second chance to get out before who knows what could happen to them. But for Izuku Midoriya, he sees the empty room in front of him and sees an opportunity to press his luck a bit farther and step out of the elevator to look around.
Despite the panic coursing through his veins and whatever common sense he has remaining begging him to just leave something in Izuku makes him stay. Maybe it is the mystery of it all, wondering what this lab is and how it may be connected to the book he found. Maybe it is him thinking this was his chance to be a hero, being able to uncover some kind of conspiracy and do what he can to help expose the truth behind it. Maybe he just isn't strong enough to turn away from this and go back to his regular life, and he figures whatever may happen down here is better than what will happen up there. Maybe it is all of these things and more, or none of them and something else entirely. Whatever it is, it makes Izuku walk to the light switch and turn the lights on.
The lights put up a decent fight to stay off, but after a few seconds of flickering they turn on and illuminated the lab, minus towards the back which is still bathed in darkness. Immediately Izuku's nervousness quells a bit as he looks around. Now with the lights on he can see that every surface is covered with a thick layer of dust and spiderwebs are in every nook and cranny of the room. Clearly whoever made this place has not been here in a while, which means that unless the universe just wants to spite Izuku for kicks the teen shouldn't run into anyone tonight.
…Maybe he should grab a weapon just to be safe.
The teen cautiously moves across the room to the nearest table to look for either a tool to defend himself or some evidence of what this lab may have been working on but stops as he nearly slips on the tiled floor. Catching himself on the wall in just the nick of time, he looks down to see the culprit is the puddle of water that has formed from his rain-soaked clothes. "This would never have happened if I had an umbrella," Izuku surmises as he begins to notice how cold it is in the lab and how his drenched gakuran is not helping.
He barely holds back a shiver, realizing that if he stays like this, he is going to get sick. The teen sighs, taking off his gakuran and revealing his undershirt, hoping he can wring out some of the water while he is down here. But as he takes his hand off the wall, he jumps as one of the panels swings open besides him.
Putting a hand over his chest to calm his beating heart, Izuku takes a good look at what may have been lurking in wait to jump at him when he realizes the wall didn't open but a locker did; a locker that is filled with hazmat suits. Reaching in and taking one of the pieces of clothing out, the greenette dusts it off while examining its quality. All in all, it's in good shape; there aren't any tears or holes he can see, and the material seems to still have the elasticity that makes it form-fitting. Plus, it appears to be pretty clean, only having a thin layer of dust that is easily brushed off. But the most important thing to Izuku about these suits were that they were warm and dry.
Izuku only hesitates a moment before taking off the rest of his uniform and putting on the suit. Hey, it wasn't like whoever owned them has been using them recently. And besides, if Izuku was going to take a quick look around he didn't want to risk messing with something dangerous his regular clothes couldn't protect against.
Slipping on the silver suit and the black gloves he pauses at the black boots before tossing them aside and opting to keep his red sneakers on, not knowing if the boots will be a comfortable fit for the extra toe joint and not caring to test it out. Zipping everything up, he takes a second to check himself in the mirror attached to the locker door to make sure he hadn't missed any tears when he sees it, something he somehow had managed to miss previously. On his chest is a large sticker of the face of the father in the picture upstairs.
"So this must be that family's lab. But if that's true, then this lab has to be decades old. How has no one found it yet?" His curiosity beginning to grow even more, Izuku turns away to look around the lab but pauses as he looks at the sticker one last time. "I really hate to ruin this guy's property but…it's not like I'm ripping it apart or anything." Before he can second-guess himself, the teen tears the sticker off of the suit and slaps it against the wall, not feeling right about just throwing the item away.
Now changed, Izuku goes over to the nearest table and begins to look around hoping to find some evidence of what may have been going on here. Alas though as he makes it to the sixth workbench, all he manages to find are research documents that are suspiciously blacked out in certain areas, pages of mathematical formulas that he is sure most scientists wouldn't know how to begin to solve, and of course more fudge wrappers; Izuku begins to think that this man may have had a bit of a problem.
It isn't until he is finishing up at this workbench does his search turn around. As he gets up to leave, his elbow bumps into one the many beakers on the table. The glass apparatus miraculously doesn't shatter as it hits the hard floor and instead begins to roll deeper into the lab. Not wanting to leave it, Izuku walks after the beaker and picks it up as it hits the wall. He is going to go put the glass back on the workbench when he looks up and what the beaker landed under. It's another light switch, except this one has a label above that reads 'DRAMATIC LIGHTING.' Interest peaked, Izuku flicks the switch on and turns around.
The once dark section of the lab lights up with three spotlights, each turning on one after another, and if Izuku thought the rest of the lab was messy, then this area was a disaster zone. The space is only a quarter of the size of the rest of the lab but seems to have double the number of papers strung about. To the left of the room lays a large workbench with multiple monitors on it and to the right are multiple pieces of complex machinery that Izuku can't even guess accomplish. Both the monitors and machinery are connected to large cables that run up the walls and seem to connect to the other cables from the rest of the lab.
But the thing that draws Izuku's eye the most is the large octagonal gate on the back wall. It must be about ten feet high, with cables leading to various points along the metal frame and an opening that reveals a small tunnel filled with wires and machinery. Although some of the metal was rusted over and some of the cables showed signs of fraying, the teen could see that it must have taken some serious skill and dedication to build whatever this was. Izuku is actually kind of floored by how impressive this gate is.
"This had to be what the people were working on here. But what it's supposed to do?" As he says that, he sees in the corner of his eye a piece of blue paper on an easel that has a drawing of the strange device. Turning to it fully, he recognizes it as the machine's blueprint. "Huh, how about that?"
Walking closer Izuku can better make out what is drawn on the blue paper and on one hand it's not what he expected, but on the other hand what else did he really expect from this place? An image of the gate is drawn next to a human for scale, and a bulbous ghost is coming out of the gate, almost looking to prey on the man before it. Looking up with wide eyes, Izuku can finally see the name of this device. "The Ghost Portal."
Despite the straightforward name, Izuku finds that he now just has even more questions. Deciding to investigate further he begins to thumb through the papers on the table in hopes of finding some answers. He almost gives up after finding more nigh impossible mathematical formulas and fudge wrappers (okay seriously, Izuku is starting to become a bit concerned for this person's well-being) when he finds it. The document is almost entirely blacked out like the others he has found, but two promising words are still entirely legible: Ghost Zone.
"Ghost Zone. Why does that sound familiar?" It takes him a few seconds to recall, but after thinking he realizes there's only one logical place he could have ever heard that term before. Taking off his bag and putting in on the floor, he reaches in and pulls out The Complete Guide to Ectoplasmic Entities. He flips through the heavy book before stopping on one particular page that has a drawing of some kind of green swirling void labeled 'The Ghost Zone.'
"Although there has been much debate in the past on where exactly the ectoplasmic entities we commonly refer to as 'ghosts' come from, one of the more popular theories revolve around a fabled Ghost Zone," Izuku reads aloud as he begins to scan the page, barely noticing the excitement that is now tingling in his veins. "A dimension parallel to our own, researchers believe that the Ghost Zone is entirely made up of the ectoplasmic energy that ghosts use to construct their physical forms and draw their powers from. However, despite the general consensus within the ecto-biologist community that the Ghost Zone is the most plausible notion of how ghosts are created, without any way to access this dimension the idea is still only theoretical."
There is more written on the page, but Izuku doesn't read on as his attention is drawn back to the iron gate before him. An entire dimension filled with ghosts. Most people would call the idea insane and leave it at that. But as mentioned above, Izuku Midoriya is not a sane person. He is the kind of person who sees the machines and the blueprints and the fudge wrappers and wonders if maybe someone had actually found a way to open a portal to this fabled land.
Does it work? Is that what happened to the people here, did they go into the Ghost Zone? If they had there certainly would be some kind of news about it, unless they never made it out. Were they trapped in there or did something terrible happen? If they died there, would their souls just stay there? Are souls real, or is there some other explanation for how ghosts are made? Are there other ghost dimensions, like some sort of heaven and hell? Oh man wait, did this mean that gods are real?!
"Calm down Midoriya. This…this is crazy! It can't be real." Yeah, yeah that's right. In the heat of the moment, he completely forgot that all this nonsense hinges on the belief that ghosts may be real, not that they are real. There's still a pretty big chance that whoever built this was just crazy, trying to find a place that doesn't exist. There is no point in driving himself insane trying to figure out concepts that drive many people into existential despair when none of this is most likely real.
But still…
As he stares at the portal that almost definitely opens to nothing, his eyes catch on a cord coming from the left side of the frame and leading to the floor. Following it, he sees the cord travel until stopping next to an extension cord that leads into one of the few empty outlets in the lab. "Is that the plug?" Is that all it really takes, one little plug connected to a regular outlet? The greenette would think that punching holes into parallel dimensions would need more energy than what it takes to power a vacuum cleaner and a hairdryer at the same time, but what does he know?
Izuku stares at the cord for a moment. He shouldn't; like it would be absolutely moronic for him plug the machine in. If whoever made this was right and it actually opened a portal into the Ghost Zone, who knows what he risks letting out. But like he said, there's no way any of this is real. The worst that would probably happen if he plugged it in would be him blowing a fuse in the lab and causing a power outage, maybe even an electrical fire. It would just be waste of his time, and anything other than walking away right now would be a bad idea.
So of course, Izuku walks forward and takes the two cords in his hands. Because sure, there is like a 99% chance of this doing nothing and him looking like an idiot, but he can't stop thinking about that 1%. That 1% that says his adventure led him to something great, something the world has never seen before. That 1% that says that whoever built all of this had to be confident that they were doing something right and that they made what may well be the scientific breakthrough of the millennia. That 1% that said that there all kinds of awesome, super cool things existed on the other side of this portal and the only thing separating it from Earth was one cord.
Izuku bit his lip before sighing. Really, what's the worst that could happen? "Here we go…" he muttered as he braced himself before connecting the cords together.
A crackle echoed from inside as an arc of electricity shot off, followed by another. Izuku watches in awe as the two arcs began to dance around each other, growing bigger as they travel before splitting apart, becoming three arcs, then five, then ten. The teen absentmindedly drops the cord as he walks forward, entranced as the bolts begin to grow bigger and a soft hum begins to sound from inside. Izuku can't believe it; this is really happening. He doesn't even notice the grin that forms on his face as the arcs spread through the entire corridor and the hum inside begins to get louder. The electricity begins to turn a green color as the lights framing the inner walls start to light up and the hum grows into a scream. Izuku leans forward as the inner glow grows brighter and brighter and brighter until-
A final spark comes from the walls before the machine powers down in an instant, the hum going silent and the lightning fizzling out. Izuku stares smiling for another few moments before his excited face becomes one of horror. No…no that can't be it. There has to be something else. Where are the ghosts, or the green swirling void, or anything? Why isn't the portal working?! It has to work!
In a panic, Izuku takes the cords apart and plugs them back together in hopes of the portal working this time, but alas not even a spark generates. He continues this motion a few more times before going back to the book on the desk, hoping for some kind of answer, any answer. When he finds nothing in the book, he throws it to the ground and starts to scour through all the papers on the table, hoping he missed something before that could explain what may have gone wrong. He begins to toss everything insignificant away, hoping to narrow his search so he can find his answer. He may not have any real engineering experience, but maybe if he looks through the plans then he can figure out- Wait, the plans! Of course! If the answers are anywhere, they have to be in the blueprints!
He dashes to the side of the room to look over the schematics, tripping over his bag in the rush but ignoring it as tries to find the solution that just has to be here. He begins to scan the paper once, then twice, then nine and ten times. There's nothing here. No, there has to be something here! These are the blueprints after all; if they aren't here then they aren't anywhere! And if they aren't anywhere then all of this was for nothing and Izuku can't believe that! Not after everything that happened – finding the book, coming down here, discovering the lab. After all of that, this can't be how this ends! Please don't let this be the end, not after everything else today! Please let there be something, something to believe in just this once! Izuku…he just...he just can't…
The teen drops to his knees in front of the portal, all of the energy draining from his body in an instant. There's nothing, isn't there? Of course there isn't, he's such an idiot! What was he really expecting? Ghosts and a dimension filled with them? That's insane! It's like he said before – there's no way any of this is real. All of this is just the work of some crazy person who had an impossible dream.
"Can you be a hero? Not without a Quirk."
After all, if anyone knows what an impossible dream looks like, its him.
All of the despair and sorrow Izuku feels fades away with that thought as for the second time that day the teenager feels nothing. Is that what he's doing? Literally chasing ghosts in order to distract himself from everything that happened? Was he really so incapable of dealing with his uselessness that he latched on to the first thing he saw in order to give him some sense of purpose, no matter how crazy that thing may have been?
God of course he's that pathetic, look at him! He's in the basement of an abandoned factory in the middle of the night, partially wet and in an old hazmat suit hoping that he, Izuku Midoriya of all people, could actually open a portal to another dimension! That one sentence alone is enough to get him committed for the rest of his life! He swears he hears everyone he has ever met laughing at how stupid he is – his classmates, his teachers, his mom, Kacchan, All Might. Yet he can't stop himself from listening, knowing it's the only thing separating him from the loneliness that is threatening to crush him.
After a few moments, Izuku raises his head and wipes his eyes. He knew it was a bad idea to come here. He should just go home. Screw it if it was still raining; he just wants to go and sleep in his bed until he finds the will to wake back up (he ignores the voice that tells him that he will be sleeping for a long time).
He turns around to grab his bag, only to see all of its contents spread out on the floor from when he tripped over it. Not having the energy to groan, the teen bends down to collect the jettisoned items before pausing when he sees his hero analysis notebook. He gingerly picks up the book, being careful to avoid the singed edges and slightly damp paper and as he runs his thumb across the faded number thirteen.
"You really think they'd let someone like you in!"
The words from earlier weaken the barriers Izuku has spent years building up and this night has spent hours breaking down. All at once, the emptiness he was feeling begins to fade away as years of neglect and abuse started to ignite something inside of him.
"Sorry kid. It's not going to happen."
Tears pool in Izuku's eyes, a few freely falling on the burnt cover.
"Just pray that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life, then take a swan dive off the roof of the building!"
The teen grits his teeth as the tears made their way to his cheeks.
"I'm sorry Izuku! I wish things were different."
His breath becomes ragged and rapid as Izuku gets close to hyperventilating.
"It's not bad to have a dream, young man…Just make sure your dreams are attainable."
The grip he's kept on the notebook tightens, threatening to crack the hardcover.
"Can you be a hero? Not without a Quirk."
In a single moment, as Izuku lets out all of his pent-up emotions that have been bottling up in his soul since he was four years old, he rears his arm back and throws his notebook as far as he can into the portal. As it disappears into the tunnel, the Quirkless boy lets out a guttural scream ten years in the making, one loud enough that if he was anywhere else besides in an abandoned underground laboratory, he was sure there would be at least two heroes on the way to investigate whoever must have been murdered.
And then its gone. Or rather, the anger is gone, Izuku's body not having the energy to hold that much rage for too long. Instead, what fills him is the one feeling he has tried to avoid ever since All Might crushed his dream. Not the feeling of emptiness, not the feeling of loneliness, not the feeling of hopelessness – what Izuku feels is acceptance. Acceptance that there really is nothing left for him, that his dream really was impossible and the only thing that remains from it is a gaping hole in his heart.
Izuku must have only been in that position for a few minutes but to him, it felt like hours. Only when the tears became less frequent and his eyes began to dry did Izuku sit up and wipe his face. The teen blinks away whatever was left from his breakdown as he looked at the portal in front of him, hoping that machine could somehow answer the one question on his mind.
"So what now?"
Of course the only answer he gets is silence. Izuku ducks his head as he turns around, knowing this place has nothing more to give him. He grabs his bag and starts towards the elevator before stopping, turning back towards the portal. Or rather, he turns to look at the place he threw his notebook. He knows there's no point in getting it. That book is just a reminder on how he has been wasting his life, and if he really wanted to let go, he should just leave it here. But when he thinks of how much time he has spent on it, writing in it as he analyzed hero fights and staying up late coming up with new theories, he knows he can't.
Putting his bag down, the greenette walks over the massive frame and peers in to see where his book landed. Despite the encumbering darkness, the teen barely manages to spot it towards the back wedged under some wires. Taking a step into the machine, Izuku keeps a hand on the side of the portal to keep himself steady as he maneuvers across the difficult terrain. Yet this is not a full proof system Izuku learns as he trips over a clump of wires, only staying upright by shifting all his weight onto the hand on the wall.
Izuku didn't know it now, but out of all of the bad decisions he had made today, this was possibly the worst.
As he regains his balance, the teen swears he feels part of the wall sink under his hand. Thinking that maybe he has stayed in the lab too long and may have breathed in something that is making him imagine things, he pulls his hand back to realize this is not the case. What he had not been able to see in the darkness was that there is small panel built into the wall with two buttons, one labeled off and one labeled on. He must have accidently pressed one of the buttons when he tripped. He lets out a small sigh of relief, happy he isn't hallucinating and there was a simple answer to what happened.
Yet that doesn't answer the question on how he can the see the buttons now in the dark.
Feeling ice creep down his spine, Izuku looks away from the panel and at the portal which has begun to power on. The lights on the wall are bright enough to burn his retinas, and the hum is so loud that it has become hard to hear his own thoughts. Green electricity covers the walls, dancing along the metal towards the back of the tunnel where it looks like the energy is forming one big ball that is ready to explode. And there Izuku is, standing right in the blast zone with his hand over the on button. Before he even gets a chance to think about running to safety, the energy ball explodes outward causing the lab to be filled in green light and one Quirkless teenager's pained screams.
xXDPMHAXx
Something's wrong. He knows that, but he just can't put his finger on it.
He is dying.
Did he forget to do something? Is he supposed to be somewhere?
His entire life is flashing before his eyes, and nothing he remembers can help him.
Where is he anyway? He can't seem to remember…well anything if he's honest.
Millions of volts of electricity are setting his body on fire.
Or feel anything for that matter? Is that bad?
He can feel every cell being ripped in half.
He's not really sure. Maybe it would be easier to focus without that screeching noise.
His vocal chords are shredding into pieces that get stuck in his throat.
Wait, that's not a screech. It's a scream.
It's a wail.
Someone's in trouble. He should do something.
Why isn't anyone coming to help him?
Why can't he move his legs? He knows his body is trying to move, so why isn't he?
His body is melting, his lower half already a puddle on the ground.
He tries again but remains still. He doesn't have time for this, someone needs help!
Everything is so dark. He can feel himself fading away.
Why does he feel something now? And why is he so sad?
Why is he is so alone.
Why is he so useless?
Why is he so hopeless?
Why is he such a Deku?
…
…
…
No.
Light creeps back in his vision.
He doesn't care who he is, this isn't about him.
Someone is coming. He can feel them.
The only one who matters right now is whoever is in trouble. He needs to help them.
Despite his mangled vocal cords he tries to call for them.
He knows he hasn't moved, so why does she feel like he is now closer to the screaming?
Wait, how can he hear his voice? And how can he feel his body again, didn't it melt?
It doesn't matter. All that matters is getting closer to whoever needs him.
It doesn't matter. All that matters is helping whoever is near get closer.
He can feel himself reach out, even though he knows his arm doesn't move at all.
He can feel himself reach out, even though it takes every ounce of strength to do so.
He just needs to get a little bit closer so he can touch them.
He just needs to get a little bit closer so he can grab their hand.
So he can help.
So he can heal .
So he can save.
He feels his hand touch them.
He feels his hand touch them.
And then everything went white.
xXDPMHAXx
Izuku weakly opens his eyes, only for them to nearly close again as they are assaulted by light. He uses the little strength in his body to push himself off the floor (wait, why is he on the floor?) and look around the room he is in.
Huh, did his mom clean his room or something, because nothing looks right. (Why does this place look so familiar?) There are no All Might posters on the walls, no collectibles on the shelves, heck even his bed is gone! Did she move them somewhere? And what's with all the lab equipment? Sure science is one of his favorite subjects, but he's not much of a scientist. But he has to admit, the green swirling light does look kind of cool. (Why does that light make him feel panicked.\?) Still, he'd better go ask his mom what happened quickly before he has to get to school.
Oh man, school! What time is it?! Through blurry eyes he looks around the room and sees a clock that reads 8:10 (Wait is that clock broken?) Dang it, he overslept! He needs to leave now if he wants to catch the train!
He looks down at what he is wearing. Huh, when did he get these pajamas? Were they a gift? And why is he still wearing his shoes? (Why is he glowing?) He looks up and sees a small mirror on the desk next to him. He'd better check to make sure he looks alright as well. He goes over and looks at his reflection. Ah wait this isn't a mirror – it's a picture of some white-haired kid. (Why is the picture moving?) Whatever, he can change at school. He sees his bag in the corner and picks it up, noticing how it seems to be lighter than usual. (Or is it that he is stronger?)
He begins to move to the exit of the room (how does he know where the exit is?) before realizing he doesn't need to exit; he's already upstairs. In fact, he's already outside. When did he get outside? He looks down at himself. And when did he change into his uniform? (Why is it he only has questions but no answers?)
Whatever, he can figure this out later. He looks up and sees he's raining. Maybe he should have grabbed an umbrella. (Why does that make him so annoyed?) He looks down and sees it'll be a bit of a climb to get down. (Why is he on the roof?) He begins to walk over to the edge, absentmindedly noticing how he starts to feel weaker the more he moves. Thunder crashes, lightning illuminating the night sky. Oh wait, it's night. When did school end? Did he get home? He probably should say hi to his mom, but honestly he's really tired. He may just lie down for a few minutes before dinner. He lies (falls) down on the floor (tin) and closes his eyes, ready to wake up in a few minutes. (Why does he feel he is going to miss dinner?)
xXDPMHAXx
Most people hate working the nightshift. This isn't an unbased opinion though. The world we live in revolves around our nine-to-fives, and the rest of the day is the time we get to spend on what we want to do. We have become accustomed to letting the night be when we do our chores, when we hang out with our friends, when we rest for the next day. As such, working the nightshift is a jarring experience as it upsets the schedule that has become ingrained in us since birth and tends to make us outliers to the rest of the world.
But Shota Aizawa has always been a bit of an outlier, now hasn't he? A man who had a dream to be a hero despite a quote-on-quote "useless" Quirk. A man who fought tooth and nail to get his license and has worked in the shadows ever since. A man who honestly might have their picture in the dictionary next to anti-social. So, while others may think the nightshift is too much of an inconvenience, Shota finds it is when he does his best work.
Not that there has been much work to do tonight. In the five hours since his patrol started, he has only had to stop three muggings and one bar fight, a record low for the pro hero Eraserhead. Not that Shota hasn't had slow nights of course, but he has never had a night that was so dead, especially in such a criminal hotspot like Aktu.
He may have even packed it in early on a different night. It would certainly be nice to get out of the rain and maybe get a head start on his lesson plan for tomorrow (those first-years were still on thin ice in Shota's book, and he was going to be sure they fully understood how serious heroics was even if he has to completely destroy, rebuild, and redestroy their spirits). There is a very good chance the Erasure Hero would be home by now if it wasn't for the favor Tsukauchi had specifically asked him to do.
Apparently, a mother called the precinct earlier and said her son hadn't come home from school yet. Said that the kid was almost never late and if he ever was he would text her ahead of time. She had tried calling him all night, but all of her calls just went to voicemail. The police tried to get her to calm down and explain that her son was probably just hanging with some of his friends, but she was pretty adamant that something had to be wrong.
Any other cop would probably have just chalked this up to an overbearing mother and would have forgotten the experience. But Tsukauchi is not like the other cops. When he hears a mother in tears, believing that something terrible must have happened to her only child, he makes sure he takes her concerns seriously and asks his colleagues to keep an eye out on their patrols so there is a better chance he can give that mother some good news the next morning.
If Shota was honest, he would probably have agreed that the mother was just worrying too much and the kid was just being a kid. But Tsukauchi tended to have a record for having intense gut feelings that let him know when something is wrong, so when he asked Shota to watch out for a green-haired middle schooler Shota made sure to do so.
Still, after five hours of neither seeing nor hearing anything about the kid, he wonders if maybe everything was alright. He'll give it another twenty minutes and then call Tsukauchi to see if maybe someone may have spotted the kid yet or if the mother called and said he came home. Maybe if that is the case, Shota will be able to go home and get a good night's sleep...or more accurately stare at the ceiling for two hours before getting up to train or to grade papers.
Insomnia really is a bitch.
Perching on an abandoned building, Shota looks through the streets to see if maybe Aktu had decided it was time to wake up and ruin the peaceful night. He will later hit himself for tempting the gods. The hair on the back of his neck bristles as the scent of ozone fills his nostrils. For a moment all he can see if white, and the only thing he can hear is a crack of thunder so loud it threatens to burst his eardrums. Shota's vision starts to return, although he has to blink away some dark spots the lightning caused, and he looks back at the city just in time to see the streetlight under him to go out. Followed by the one next to it. Followed by the building across from it. Followed by everything around him losing power and plunging him into darkness. "Of course."
He sighs, knowing that if it is starting to lightning and thunder than he really shouldn't be out here right now, especially since his primary mode of travel is by rooftop. He goes to his comms to report the power outage so he can leave when things go from bad to weird.
The power lines begin to spark with an eerie green lightning, emerald arcs traveling through the streets. Whatever they touch begins to power back on, emitting the same green glow and only getting brighter as it spreads through the various lights and electronics in the area. The glow grows so bright that Eraserhead can no longer look at it, squinting so hard his eyes may as well be closed. The little arcs begin to grow to the size of lightning bolts, zipping across the street and zapping till the pavement is charred, and the buzz it creates is almost enough to make the hero's ears bleed. Then with a final hum, the light explodes out, frying everything in the area minus the Erasure Hero who goes for cover just in time.
And then just as fast as it started it stops. The lights that aren't destroyed came back on, minus the toxic green coloring. Cautiously Eraserhead stands up from behind the roof's wall, wondering what the actual fuck just happened. He stares down at Amity Parkway looking for something, though what that he may be he has no idea.
Another crack of lighting illuminates the city once more which allows the Erasure Hero to see it. There in the distance on a rooftop – is that a person? Instincts taking over Eraserhead rushes towards where the figure is, the wet rooftops not slowing him down in the slightest as he parkours down the street. With practiced ease he jumps off the aforementioned rooftop just as the body begins to fall, wrapping them with his capture weapon just before their feet leave the roof.
Eraserhead's eyes widen in surprise as he pulls them back and sees who he saved. In his weapon is a boy, no older than fourteen with green hair and freckles on his cheeks. He is wearing a gakuran, or at least the charred remains of one. The uniform is in pieces, having multiples burns and holes in it that are still singeing. But that's not what surprises Eraserhead; what surprises him is the fact this is a kid he has seen before. Five hours ago to be exact, when Tsukauchi texted him a picture of the boy who went missing. Shota knows it: this is Izuku Midoriya.
The Erasure Hero curses as he bends down and grabs the kid's wrist, breathing a small sigh of relief when he feels a small pulse. Did he get hit by all of the weird electricity, or was it just a lightning strike? What the hell was this kid doing out in Aktu in the first place? Didn't he know how dangerous this place could be? Hell, didn't he know any place is dangerous for a middle school kid when they're alone in the middle of the night. And what was he doing on the roof of here? Jesus Christ, was this kid trying to-
The kid lets out a small, pained breath, snapping Shota out of his lecture planning. Right, none of that matters right now. All that matters is getting this kid to a hospital.
"This is Eraserhead," the hero says into his comm as he continues to watch over the greenette. "I need paramedics sent to my location ASAP. I have a possible lightning strike victim here who needs immediate medical care. A middle schooler who-" Before he can continue, he feels the wrist in his hand grow colder, as does the hero's blood as he feels the teen's pulse fading fast.
"Damn it! I need help now!" His message sent, Eraserhead immediately starts on chest compressions. After doing this for a minute, the Erasure Hero puts his head to the teen's chest, only to curse as he still cannot hear a heartbeat. He resumes the compressions, not allowing himself to panic as he focuses on his task. "Come on kid, stay with me."
Eraserhead continues this process until the blinking lights and sirens of the ambulance find its way in front of the abandoned factory. And this how the paramedics find the two, with the hero giving everything he has to keep the greenette alive.
All parties unaware, however, that the teenage has already been dead since he had stepped out of the still active portal.
xXDPMHAXx
It was a long night for everyone who knew of Izuku Midoriya's condition.
The doctors of Musutafu General worked tirelessly to keep the boy alive, having to constantly bring his temperature to normal levels and having to restart his heart more than once while they performed surgery on his burned body.
Inko Midoriya sat in ER, skin deathly pale and eyes so raw they are threating to bleed, lacking the energy to do anything but wait to see if after all of this her only child would be coming home with her on his own two feet or in a coffin.
Eraserhead, who had come with ambulance as well and was currently watching over who he assumed was the teenager's mother to make sure she didn't have a breakdown, stayed the night as well as he knew that even if decided to go home and rest he would not be able to sleep.
Katsuki Bakugo, after being told by his weeping mother about what happened to the boy she saw as a nephew, sat unnaturally quiet in his room, thinking about the fact the boy he had told to kill himself earlier that day may not make it through the night and feeling almost as numb as his former friend had been on that rooftop.
And the boy in question, Izuku Midoriya, would just lie unconscious. Unaware of the predicaments of those around him nor of the changes his actions had caused to occur that night that not only would affect his life, but the lives on everyone on this side…and the next.