2
The Tatooin Shopping District was a complete wreck. While the flames had been put out, and much of the rubble had been cleared, the street more closely resembled a war zone than the bustling market it had been just a few hours ago. Despite the property damage, the atmosphere was cheerful. Crowds of people chatted animatedly as they discussed the dramatic conclusion to the villain attack.
Footage of the 'the sludge villain incident' was already going viral. It had all of the elements necessary for great television—a grotesque, dastardly villain; a conventionally attractive child hostage; intense moments of danger and uncertainty, and of course, the sudden arrival of All Might and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. It was an instant classic—though not everyone was as pleased with the course of events as the media.
"There was absolutely no need to put yourself at risk like that! If All Might hadn't shown up when he did, you could have gotten yourself, or any of the other pros here killed!"
'Life sure has an interesting way of sorting itself out.' Midoriya mused as he sat seiza on the pavement. His current posture was due to the fact that he was in the middle of a lengthy scolding from the pro hero, Death Arms. He glanced over at Bakugo, sitting nearby with a more thoughtful version of the usual scowl on his face. 'I never would have thought that Kacchan of all people would get wrapped up in this mess.'
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you, kid!" Midoriya flinched when he received a chop on the top of his head and returned his gaze to Death Arms. The burly hero was glaring at him with a vein bulging in his forehead. Apparently, he didn't appreciate being ignored.
"Sorry." Midoriya apologized, bowing his head. "I was worried about my…" He paused. 'Friend' didn't really seem like an appropriate word to describe his and Bakugo's relationship, and 'acquaintance' seemed too distant for how long they had known each other. "…classmate. Please, continue."
After scanning Midoriya's face for a second, Death Arms let out a huff and shook his head. 'This kid is something else...he isn't even pretending to be sorry about what he did. He's clearly just waiting me to finish so he can leave. I'd put money on him doing the exact same thing if he had the chance.'
The vitriol directed at Midoriya by Death Arms was due in no small part to his own frustration. For all of his physical power, he couldn't do a thing against the fluid-like body of the sludge villain. On top of that, the fact that the boy caught in its grasp had a powerful quirk turned an already dangerous situation into a major incident that was likely to end in tragedy. He had felt so helpless watching the blond boy suffocate that bile burned in the back of his throat and he could taste the blood in his mouth where he had bitten the insides of his cheeks. When Death Arms had seen the small boy kneeling in front of him dash out from the crowd into the fray, he thought that his heart was going to stop.
There was no hesitation in the boy's movements. No fear. He had looked so damn confident sprinting towards the villain with a grim smile on his face that it took Death Arms a moment to realize that the kid wasn't a hero, but a middle-schooler out of his depth. His little trick throwing his backpack into the face of the villain had succeeded in freeing the other boy's face for a second, allowing him to breathe, but that was it. His frenzied attempts to claw the blond boy out of the villain's grasp proved to be as unsuccessful as Death Arms' own. The villain raised its arm, ready to grant whatever death wish that crazy kid had, when he appeared like magic.
All Might: "The Symbol of Peace".
The undisputed number one hero and strongest man in the world. In one blow, he did what half a dozen pros working together couldn't—he saved both boys, blew away the villain, and even put out the fires with the rain that was created as a result of the wind from his punch. Death Arms shook his head. It was no wonder that nobody but Endeavor had even tried to take All Might's place at the top. The sight of him in action was enough to shatter the confidence of anyone, villain or ambitious young hero alike.
HEROES NEVER DIE
Midoriya was lost in thought as he walked home from the scene of the incident. He had been held up by the police and the pro heroes for well over an hour before being released and the sun had already begun to set, casting the orange glow of twilight over the streets of his neighborhood. A voice called out to him, snapping Midoriya out of his reverie.
"Deku! Wait up, you bastard!"
Midoriya turned around. Bakugo stood behind him, scuffed up, out of breath and wearing an expression that was a mixture of anger and confusion. His body was lined with tension and his fists were clenched so tightly that they trembled.
Midoriya sighed in resignation. 'I probably should have expected this…let's get this over with.'
"What is it, Kacchan?" Midoriya asked, purposefully keeping his tone light and breezy, "Is there something wrong?"
"Don't give me that shit, you fucking nerd! You know goddamn well why I'm here!" Bakugo grit his teeth. "Why? Why did you do that? Do you want to make me owe you or something? Are you crazy, or do you just want to die? Why the fuck would you try to save me when there was nothing you could do?"
Midoriya was silent for a moment, remembering the moment in question.
He stood in the crowd, frozen in place by his horror and guilt. The Sludge villain was free, and it was his fault. If he hadn't clung to All Might's leg like that, if he had found another way to move forward, none of this would have been happening. Just a short distance away, amidst a sea of fire and peril, he could see a familiar pair of red eyes widen in terror, free of their usual anger and hostility, crying out for help. At that moment, the years of Bakugo's cruel words, casual violence, and the infuriating way that he was always better, always two steps ahead—none of it mattered. His legs moved on their own, and a determined smile stretched across his face. He would fix this, one way or another. No matter how many tries it took. That was simply who he was.
At last, Midoriya replied with a shrug. "I did it because I wanted to, that's all there is to it. It had nothing to do with you, I would have done it for anyone."
"What the fuck?" Bakugo shouted, displeased with Midoriya's non-answer. "You 'wanted to'? Do you think that being suicidal makes you some kind of hero? It doesn't! You didn't do anything! I was just fine on my own, and you would have died accomplishing nothing! I don't owe you shit!" He spun on his heel and spat on the ground. "Goddamn psycho nerd!"
Midoriya stared at Bakugo's retreating form for a few seconds before shrugging and continuing on his way home. He couldn't really disagree with some of what Bakugo had said. He hadn't just been prepared to die charging in the way he did, he had been counting on it. To the outside observer, his actions would have indeed seemed suicidally reckless. But for Midoriya, his death held as much meaning to him as dying in a video game. It was, at the very worst, a painful inconvenience.
"I am here!"
"Wha—All Might!" Midoriya startled at the sudden appearance of the bulky man from behind a bush. "What are you doing here?" Midoriya paused to look around. "What happened to all of the press?"
All Might let out a booming laugh. "I stand for justice, not sound bites!" He slid into a bodybuilding pose, "Getting away from them was a piece of cake, because I am All Mihack!" With an eruption of blood from his mouth, his muscular body disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving him in his emaciated true form.
Midoriya blinked. He didn't know if he'd ever get used to that. "Okay, but…why are you here?"
All Might wiped his mouth. "I wanted to apologize to you for what I said to you earlier…and to make you an offer."
"You don't need to apologize to me, All Might." Midoriya said. "I don't regret what I did, but it's not like I really accomplished anything. It was like you said…I was powerless without a quirk I could use."
"You know," All Might said, "there are many stories about famous heroes from their high school and middle school days. For some reason, while everyone else was frozen in fear during a crisis, they alone were able to act. When asked about it later, almost all of them say the same thing…do you know what it is?"
Curious, Midoriya tilted his head. "No…what do they say?"
"That their body moved before they had a chance to think…" All Might paused a moment to savor the sight of recognition dawning in Midoriya's eyes. "That's what happened to you too, isn't it?"
Something deeply buried within Midoriya stirred in response to this simple question, making him inhale sharply. His heart constricted in his chest as the pain from ten thousand slights, ten thousand dismissals, and ten thousand rounds of mocking laughter emerged from the dark place he had locked them away. Afraid to speak through the knot rapidly growing in his throat, he nodded.
"When everyone else was frozen with indecision, you alone were able to act." All Might shook his head, "You, a quirkless, powerless boy, were more heroic than anyone else."
Midoriya grit his teeth. He hated showing weakness, letting others know that the world sometimes got to him. It was an armor he had constructed to deal with the strain of the resets. Even if he couldn't control his fate, whether he lived or died, or how people treated him, he could at least control himself—but now that armor was beginning to buckle. 'Damn it! Keep it together, Izuku! Not in front of him!'
"W-wha-wha…" Choked up by his surging emotions, Midoriya paused, took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and wiped his watering eyes with his sleeve. "What are you saying…where are you going with this, All Might?"
"Young man…" All Might said, striking a dramatic figure in the golden glow of the setting sun, even in his shrunken true form, "You too can become a hero."
Six words. A simple acknowledgement six words long was all it took to break the carefully constructed façade that Midoriya had grown to rely on. Overwhelmed, he fell to his knees and began to quietly weep. He had not cried, truly cried, in years. He had been hardened by his suffering, by the endless repeats, endured so many years of pain that he had become numb to it all. Feeling foolish, he desperately rubbed at his eyes, trying to stop himself from crying in front of his idol. The tears simply would not stop flowing and he didn't know what to do to make that happen.
For nearly thirty seconds, All Might stood and watched as Midoriya silently wept, taken aback by the intense reaction the seemingly unflappable boy was having to his words. If a simple acknowledgement was enough to drive the boy to tears, All Might wondered how he would react to what he had to say next. "I have chosen you to inherit my power!"
"Eh?" That did it. His joyful tears halted by the shock of what he had just been told, Midoriya blinked, trying to process All Might's nonsensical statement. After a moment, he gave up and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I must have heard you wrong…what?"
All Might laughed. "What's that face for kid? I'm asking you if you want to try accepting my power!" All Might explained the way his quirk worked, an ability that originated during the dawn of the superpowered society, cultivated and passed on like the Olympic torch of old. "And now," he said, "It is your turn to carry this torch, should you accept it."
"Hold on a second." Midoriya said, pinching his nose and holding out a hand. "This is a lot to take in all at once. I mean yeah, nobody really knows what your quirk is and it's been a hotly debated topic on the Internet message boards ever since your debut all of those years ago, but there's never been any known case for a quirk getting passed from person to person like that since the genetic factor of quirk inheritance makes such a prospect highly unlikely at best. Although, I'm not sure that I have room to protest a quirk having unusual effects considering…but still, I—"
"Holy crap kid, take a breath!" All Might exclaimed with a geyser of blood. "Nobody beats you when it comes to spouting nonsense!" He wiped his bloody mouth with the back of his hand. "The ability to transfer power! That's the quirk I inherited, One For All!"
"One For All…" Midoriya repeated, his voice barely above a whisper. There was a weight to that name. The moment that the foreign phrase passed from his lips, Midoriya suddenly knew that something about this situation seemed…right. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he felt like he had just found a key piece of a larger puzzle.
All Might nodded. "The first person cultivates the power, then passes it to another, the next refines it and passes it along again, growing in strength from generation to generation."
"I can understand that much, but why choose me?" Midoriya asked. "You just met me."
"When we were on that roof, earlier today, you told me that you were going to become a hero, whether you had my blessing or not." All Might paused. "I have heard such declarations before, many times, but your heroic actions proved your convictions to me. My time as a hero is almost up…I've been searching for a successor for a while now, and I believe that you are worthy! Now, what say you?"
Midoriya didn't hesitate. "Of course I will."
"An instant answer!" All Might laughed. "As I expected. Let me see that notebook of yours." Midoriya handed it over and All Might wrote down an address. "Meet me at this address at 5:00AM sharp! Your training begins in two days!"
HEROES NEVER DIE
"Good morning young Midoriya!" All Might greeted his new protégé with a dazzling smile that, in defiance of all logic, still seemed to glisten with its usual intensity despite the fact that the sun hadn't risen. "There's nothing quite like the crisp morning air to get the blood flowing is there?"
"Good morning," Midoriya automatically replied, looking around at their surroundings. "So, All Might, quick question…why are we at a dump?"
All Might let out a laugh. "This is not dump, young Midoriya!"
"You could have fooled me." Midoriya replied, staring at the massive piles of trash surrounding them on all sides. "So," he said, choosing to humor All Might, "if this isn't a dump, what is it?"
"So glad you asked!" All Might said, breaking out into another posing routine. "As it happens, I did a little research on this spot last night. Do you know why this site is so polluted?"
"Something about ocean currents?" Midoriya replied, "I think I read about it once. The tides carry a lot of garbage to this particular shore, and even though it's not allowed, people take advantage and use the area as a dumping site…but that doesn't answer my question. Why are we here?"
"There are three reasons." All Might said. He held up one finger. "The first is that this an isolated area where there is very little risk of my secret being exposed."
Midoriya nodded. "That makes sense."
All Might held up a second finger, "The second is that you have a lot of work to do, and not very much time to do it! As you are now, you are not a proper vessel for One For All."
"Hold on a second." Midoriya objected, "You told me that I was worthy of your power. I was under the impression that you would be training me to use your quirk. What do you mean I'm not a proper vessel?"
All Might poked Midoriya in his bony chest. "I'm talking about your body, kid! My quirk holds the stockpiled physical prowess of eight generations of heroes! If I gave you my quirk now, your limbs would probably explode if you tried to use it!"
"…I see." Midoriya said mildly. He had never lost a limb before, and he wasn't particularly keen on adding it to his list of life experiences. "That doesn't sound like very much fun. I'd like to keep my limbs, if possible." He paused. "I'm kind of attached to them."
All Might laughed. "I must say, you have a talent for understatement, kid." He gestured around. "You wish to go to Yuuei for their Hero Course, is that correct?"
Midoriya nodded. "It's the best one there is. And…" He paused for a moment, shifting in uncharacteristic embarrassment, "and well, you went there, so I…yeah."
All Might chuckled, "You really are a fanboy, aren't you?" He coughed into his hand. "Anyways, Yuuei's entrance exam is only ten months away! You'll be competing with the best of the best, people who have had their entire lives to refine their quirks! You see my boy, this beach is not a dump, it is your proving ground!" All Might pulled a stack of papers out of his pocket. "As long as you follow my 'Aim to Pass! American Dream Plan', this place will be the crucible where you will be forged into a proper vessel for my power!" All Might paused. "I must warn you, this will be more difficult than anything you have ever done in your life. If you wish to back out, now is your last chance."
With a slight snort of amusement, Midoriya snatched the papers from All Might and shook his head. "Is that a serious question? I was going to become a hero without a usable quirk, remember? I had already accepted that I'd need to work harder than anyone else. If anything, this is the easy road."
"That's the spirit." All Might said approvingly before rapping a knuckle against an abandoned refrigerator, denting the side. "Many people think that heroics is mainly flashy stuff like fighting villains, but at heart, it's all about community service!" He crushed the fridge with one hand. "This is your first test! Before the date of your exam, you will clear this beach!"
Midoriya looked up from the papers detailing All Might's training regime. He blinked. He looked to his left and his vision was filled by huge mounds of trash, easily hundreds of tons of it. He looked to his right, and saw the same thing. An enormous, mind-boggling amount of trash. He squinted at one section in particular. 'Is that a car?' He rubbed his eyes, hoping that it was a figment of his fatigued mind—it was only a bit past 5:00 in the morning, after all, perhaps he was just seeing things. He opened his eyes and looked again. 'Yep, that's a car, all right. Awesome.'
"Oh." Midoriya said. He pasted a sickly smile on his face, "is that all? And here I thought you said this was going to be difficult."
All Might let out a booming laugh. "That's what I like to hear! Let's get started! First, I'd suggest you take a moment to plan how to do this as efficiently as possible. A job of this magnitude can't be accomplished with a haphazard approach!"
"Good point." Midoriya agreed. Glancing around the site, he pulled out a pocket-sized notepad began jotting down some notes. "Say, All Might…" He said, as he continued to write, "this is sort of like a rescue operation after a disaster, right? Having to decide on who and what takes priority in a time sensitive situation, being as efficient as possible in order to save the greatest number of lives?"
All Might blinked. "An interesting analysis, young Midoriya. Yes, I suppose you could make that comparison. There are times, for example, when we must ignore someone who might be closer to us, but is not in as much immediate need, or if we lack the necessary ability to help them at that moment, but can help someone else."
Curious, All Might walked over behind Midoriya and took a peek at what the boy was writing in his notepad. It had only been a little over a minute since Midoriya had begun writing in the notebook, but in that time, he had already sketched out a roughly accurate top down map of the beach and a series of notes detailing a plan of action that organized the priorities he would use to determine which trash he would dispose of first based on physical location, size, shape and weight.
"What on earth…young Midoriya," All Might said, an approving grin stretching across his face. "This is very impressive. There are seasoned pros who couldn't come with a plan of action so quickly. I knew you were clever, but this kind of operational planning and detailed attention to the layout of the surrounding area are usually skills acquired through experience…I expected to have to help you, but what you have here is perfectly workable. Good, even. Where did you learn to do this?"
"O-oh. Really?" Midoriya stammered, flushing with embarrassed pleasure. He still wasn't used to being praised instead of ridiculed for his efforts. "I was just throwing out random ideas that made sense to me…I guess picked it up from all the time I've spent watching heroes?"
"Fanboy knowledge, huh?" All Might said. "Seems like you've internalized those lessons well. Anyways, let's get started!"
'That probably is part of the reason,' Midoriya mused, nodding at All Might and scurrying off to begin the monumental task ahead of him, 'but really, this isn't all that different from figuring out how to escape from the loops. If I hadn't learned how to be observant, plan and problem solve, I'd probably still be in primary school.' He shuddered at the thought.
Midoriya didn't like to think back to the early days of his quirk, before he had figured out how to escape from the endless cycle of death, when he had no idea who he was, or what he was meant to do. Breathing heavily, Midoriya hauled an armful of garbage to the truck that All Might had secured for him and let out a grunt as he dumped the load into the bed of the vehicle. He started jogging back to the dump. 'One trip down, nine-thousand nine-hundred and ninety-nine to go.'
Later, as he staggered home to shower before heading to school, Midoriya couldn't help but smile. He was dirty and exhausted, every muscle in his body was screaming at him in protest, but still, he smiled. He wasn't that scared, confused little boy any more. He could endure any pain, any hardship, because this was what he was meant to do. He was sure of it.
(Ten months later)
It had been a close thing. Midoriya felt like kicking himself after his overzealous deviation from All Might's plan cost him several days due to overwork, but in the end, he had barely made it in time, finishing the beach clean-up with only hours to spare before the Yuuei entrance exam.
All Might had not yet arrived, and it had still been dark when he dumped that final armload of garbage into the bed of the truck. It was a simple action, one that he had repeated thousands of times. As he grew fitter and stronger during the course of his training, each load seemed a little easier than the last. However, nothing could prepare Midoriya for the rush, the sheer sense of accomplishment that flooded though him when he heard the trash clang against the metal bed of the truck.
Filled with a sudden, wild energy, Midoriya broke into a run towards the beach. The frigid April air burned his lungs as he sprinted down the path he had run so many times before, something was bubbling up, growing inside of him, ready to burst. At the edge of the pavement and the beach, there was a large stack of cars that formed a makeshift tower—the only remaining proof that the dump existed. Moving with a dexterity that he couldn't believe, he scaled the tower of cars and made it to the top, just in time to see the sun peek over the horizon. Bit by bit, the sun cast its rays over the surface of the ocean, staining the water and the sky with brilliant red and orange hues, illuminating the spotless sands of the cleared beach and taking his breath away at the sight of it.
It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. Overcome by the power of the scene, the proof of what he had done—what he had accomplished—his eyes welled up with tears and his heart swelled with triumph, so full that he thought he would burst if he did not let it out. He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs to their limit before screaming out at the ocean, as loudly and powerfully as he could. He didn't use words—he didn't have to—it was his challenge to the universe, a primal howl into the void, a defiant declaration that he had won; he had arrived, and nothing in this world or any others could stop him.
Almost as quickly as the wild, manic energy had come, it left, and Midoriya soon found himself in the position of being incredibly light-headed and unbalanced on a precarious tower made of wrecked cars five meters above ground level. His legs went out from under him and he stumbled from the perch, hurtling towards the ground.
'Oh, you've got to be kidding me!' Midoriya mentally swore. He closed his eyes and prepared to wake up at whichever point in the past that universe saw fit to return him, but once again, he found himself rescued from that fate by the arrival of All Might, who had appeared just in time to stop his fall.
"Well done my boy!" All Might's voice thrummed with warmth and pride, as he lowered Midoriya to his feet. His face was split by a massive grin, an honest smile this time, completely unlike the smile-shaped mask he wore most of the time. Midoriya had learned to distinguish the difference between the two during their months together.
"All Might…" Midoriya whispered, his voice hoarse from all of the screaming he had just done. "I did it…I really did it, didn't I?"
"Yes," All Might agreed, "you have done an excellent job. I'd say that you have exceeded my expectations, but I never doubted you for a moment. You have become a fitting vessel in the past ten months." All Might coughed, "Anyways, it's time for your award ceremony!"
Midoriya nodded. There was nothing that he could possibly say that would accurately convey his feelings at the moment, so he decided to simply let All Might do his thing.
"Young Midoriya, someone once told me that there is a difference between those that are born with everything, and those who have earned what they have through their own effort." All Might plucked a hair from his head with all of the ceremony and flourish he could muster. "My boy, if you were to forget everything else I have ever—or will ever teach you—I want you to remember this: you have earned this power."
Midoriya stood as still as a statue, frozen in shock by the gravity of the sentiment All Might had just laid upon him, and the reality of what he had actually accomplished. He had finally been recognized, truly seen for who he really was by the man he admired most. He was going to be next symbol of peace, the shining pillar of justice that held the evil and darkness of the world at bay.
"All Might…" Midoriya began, "I don't even know what to—"
All Might extended his plucked hair to Midoriya, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Now, eat this."
Midoriya blinked. "…What?"
AN: So much for his touching moment. Another week, another chapter bites the dust! The response to this story has been kind of overwhelming. I'm glad so many people enjoyed it. As always, leave a comment or a review, and don't be shy to let me know what you think. Next week will be the next chapter of Semper Fast.
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