Chapter Text
Izuku never went out at night alone before. It’s not like he’s living in a dangerous neighborhood, just that you never know what might happen. Tonight he didn’t care about what might happen.
His day was just shit, all the possible types of shit. Actually, his entire life might have been shit. How did all of this happen? Theoretically everything started when he was four, when that damned doctor diagnosed him as quirkless without an ounce of mercy. That’s when his life got ruined, mom’s too, that’s when dad left, when the other kids started avoiding him and when Kacchan’s teasing became more cruel. But that’s not it, only that didn’t ruin his chances to ever achieve his dreams, at least he likes to pretend like it didn’t, no, it was that damned slime.
It was a normal day. He watched a villain attack before he went to school and took some notes on Mt. Lady, a new, barely debuted hero he was excited to see more of. Afterwards he went to school where his teacher spilled in front of the entire class that he wants to go to UA. What’s his problem? What’s all of their problems? Maybe he didn’t want to go to the hero course, UA educated not only heroes after all, why did everyone react like that? Just because he is quirkless he doesn’t deserve to go to one of the best high schools in the country? And Kacchan too, why did it matter if he was the first or not, he was gonna be a great hero anyway, so why did it matter? Well, Izuku was planning to try for the hero course, but that was irrelevant. Maybe he deserved their ridicule after all. After that entire fiasco, he almost died because of a villain. All Might saved him, and for a few minutes Izuku felt like he was losing his mind. This is All Might, the greatest hero that ever existed, the Symbol of Peace, and he actually took some time out of his day to save a nobody like him, for a few minutes that became the best day of his life. All Might was a true hero, he gave hope to the people, he always said that anyone can become a hero, as long as your heart is in the right place. This is what he was thinking about when he grabbed the hero’s leg just as he was about to take off. In his chaotic whirlwind of thoughts he barely noticed when they were high in the air, the realisation only setting in when All Might looked panicked towards him.
He expected little from that interaction. A motivational word, a pat on the back and a bright smile before All Might took off on his own. That’s exactly what he needed, he needed that desperately. He was a shy, quirkless kid looking for any kind of validation, doesn’t matter how small, and there was no one in the world better to give it to him than All Might. At least this is what he thought, but just like any other person in his life, All Might let him down. Something broke inside him at that moment, he didn’t know what, but he knew that he could never get it back ever again. He barely registered when All Might passed by him and left before he fell on his knees. The voices that he tried to ignore for so long became louder, so unbearably loud he couldn’t even hear his own thoughts over the cacophony in his mind. It was painful.
Izuku doesn’t know when he got home, but he did, somehow. The actions came naturally to him, familiar. The road back, carefully looking in the building to make sure that Kacchan wasn’t there, saying hi to his mom, doing these things was easy, they were mindless actions. Telling his mom that he doesn’t want dinner is not, and it took so much energy Izuku felt that only that alone will make his knees turn to mush under him.
All Might, All Might, All Might, he was everywhere and anywhere. Watching him, repeating to him, again and again, that he can’t be a hero, he couldn’t look at them. Izuku tried closing his eyes, but he could feel his stare on him, he tried covering himself with the blanket, but it was useless, he was still there. He started ripping the posters off the wall, crumbling them and throwing the balls of paper in a corner of his room, not even caring how much money his mom had to pay for them, he didn’t want them anymore, he couldn’t stand them. When he finished his room looked completely different, blanks, devoid of everything that made it personal, in a way, devoid of himself.
It didn’t help his situation. The posters did nothing to him, and after everything was done he felt kinda bad, his mom indeed paid a lot for them. But at least he wasn’t watching him anymore, for the first time since he met All Might, Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. That suddenly reminded him of the notebook, so he grabbed his backpack and started digging through it. It was there, damaged, a little illegible, but it was there, and inside was All Might’s autograph. Izuku started at it for a while, that was something that he dreamed of all his life, meeting All Might was an amazing experience.
“Without power, can one become a hero? No, I should think not.”
Oh yeah, it was great until then. All Might was not wrong, Izuku knew that, in a way he always knew. There’s a reason why there haven’t been any quirkless heroes, it’s just too dangerous, most hero courses would not even pretend to accept them. But still, he could have lied, he could have at least let him take the exam and fail and then he would at least have the satisfaction that he tried.
It can’t end there. All heroes said that anyone can become a hero, that’s what they always said. So he too could become a hero, he just needs another way, an unorthodox method.
“You wanna be a hero so bad? I’ve got a timesaving idea for you. If you think you’ll have a quirk in your next life… go take a swan dive off the roof.”
Kacchan’s words echoed in his mind, stabbing him at every chance they got. It almost felt like they were banging against his skull, it was painful. But it was true, if he wanted to become a hero his only alternative was to take a literal leap of faith. But is he willing to do it?
Izuku looked at the page with All Might’s autograph, touching it gently before ripping it off. Yes, yes he is, he will do anything to become a hero.
He grabs a pen and starts writing on the back of the paper. He didn’t want to worry his mother; he doesn’t want her to think that he might be out there in the world. She will be hurt, but it was the best, maybe she can rebuild her life, now that the thing that made her husband leave is gone. He tried his hardest not to get tears on the paper as he wrote, his mom will probably keep this, so it doesn’t need to be messier than it is already.
It was easy to sneak out of the house, his mother always went to sleep early. But when he was welcomed by the streets again, he was struck by the fact that he didn’t know where to go. No place seemed appropriate. His building? No, he doesn’t want to wake his mother. The school? He couldn’t get there at that hour. The building where All Might took him? To be honest, he didn’t even know where it was anymore.
So he walked. Across his neighborhood and beyond it, walked and looked around, at the stray cats and the few people that were on the streets. Also at the buildings, there had to be a good one around here.
Did he even have to jump? Yeah, this is what Kacchan said, but it was just so messy, he didn’t want to force some poor janitor to clean his guts off the pavement, they would have nightmares for weeks. A cleaner method would be better.
Izuku stopped muttering when he felt a sudden chill. After looking around he realised that he was next to a river. It’s the one that traverses the city, it has a large bridge over it, he remembers traversing it a few times when he was young to go visit his grandparents. The bridge gave him an idea. After all, it would be a lot less messy than his initial plan.
Stendhal was not usually patrolling in this area. The real villains were hiding on small streets and in isolated shops like the bunch of cowards that they are. That’s why he was usually keeping a strict watch on the bad neighborhoods, that’s where villains lived, and usually where their victims lived too. The heroes rarely came around, not even All Might could be seen in such a place, he is way too busy taking down bigger and more dangerous threats than drug dealers, pimps, small thieves, rapists and the occasional serial killer. So he was their only defence, and Stendhal did not shy away from being proud of himself, although he never said it out loud, heroes should always be humble after all.
That being said, the vigilante that usually kept this area in check just got pregnant and asked Stendhal and a few others to take his spot for a year until he gives birth and takes enough time to prepare for getting back in the field. This is so annoying, he is not necessarily annoyed at his colleague, just that it was his turn tonight. Don’t get him wrong, it’s not like there’s nothing to do here, there were plenty of scumbags trying to smuggle objects or people by using the river and stopping them is important, but Stendhal really believes that this mission doesn’t fit his capabilities.
Suddenly he heard a strange sound, as if something heavy fell in the water. His eyes immediately jumped to the river and caught the small glimpse of what appeared to be a person falling.
Stendhal had little time to think about what exactly happened before he jumped in the water and submerged himself. It didn’t take long to see who the person was, a child, a middle schooler, judging by the clothes. Did he fall accidentally or jump? Not important right now.
The vigilante swam towards the boy and grabbed him, bringing him back above the water as fast as he could. The boy’s body went limp in his grasp, he had a pulse, he could feel that, but he couldn’t say if he was gonna have it for long or not.
After arriving back on land he quickly takes his mask off and starts resuscitating the kid. It wasn’t his first time dealing with a suicide attempt, but it was the first one involving drowning and he was a little bit scared for the life of this kid.
Not long after the kid woke up and started coughing violently and spitting water, Stendhal sighed in relief. His relief didn’t last long though, because almost immediately the kid started violently crying. Stendhal cursed to himself. No, anything but this, he doesn’t know how to deal with this. The kid even started hyperventilating, which only made the vigilante panic even more, he should call someone, the police will get this kid home where he will be taken care of properly.
But as soon as he was taking out his phone, ready to make the call, the kid’s words made him freeze.” I just wanted to be a hero.” A hero? The kid wanted to be a hero? Then why the fuck did he jump from a bridge, no one became a hero by dying, not as far as Stendhal knows. He wanted to ask the kid, but considering his state, he doubts that the kid would even hear his questions.” He said it was the only way, but still I couldn’t. I’m so useless now I’ll never have a quirk.” Quirkless? That explained a lot. Probably the kid hoped that he would die and be reincarnated with a quirk, it was a wish often stated in the suicide notes of quirkless people, also something that the living ones joke about quite frequently. Poor kid. Some vigilantes he knows are quirkless, good people, they would have been worthy heroes if society wouldn’t have been as broken as it is.
“Even him…” The kid hardly continued.” Even All Might… he…”. At this Stendhal couldn’t control himself and grabbed the kid by the shoulders.” What is it about All Might?” He asks but the kid only cries harder burying his head in his hands. Could All Might have anything to do with this? No, impossible. All Might is the last true hero that remained in this rotten world, he couldn’t have done something that drove a kid to suicide. Even so, why was the kid mentioning him?
Stendhal couldn’t tell how much that kid cried, at some point it became ridiculous. Who cries so much? After a while he half jokingly thought that he assumed wrong and the kid actually had a quirk that made him cry buckets. That would be funny and strangely tragic considering the situation. That being said, after crying what Stendhal felt like hours and almost drowning, the kid finally fell unconscious because of the exhaustion. The vigilante took out his phone again wanting to actually call the police this time, but he couldn’t bring himself. After a while of staring at the sleeping brat he cursed himself and almost threw his phone in anger. This is probably gonna be the stupidest decision he has ever taken in his entire life. But it doesn’t matter, because if there is even a tiny possibility that this kid will help him pursue The Revival of Heroes, then he is gonna take it.