Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

25 th  of January 2080

Death.

He never thought that he would ever die at the age of sixteen. It was a concept he heard on daily basis, but it was one of the things he never really any paid attention to. Though a part of him wished he listened to them, after all, quirkless people always die. How foolish of him to never consider he would indeed die at that age!

Now here he was, in middle of a villain attack stabbed by multiple tendrils of slime, trying to save his bully. Blood flowed from his body and his mouth towards the ground staining his black shirt and the green slime into red.

It felt so hot... Everything felt hot, the fire around him, the explosions, his flowing blood. 

Why was he the one dying when all he wanted to was save someone... Why was fate always cruel to him? 

He could see a yellow blur rush past him towards the slime along with the shouting of heroes that were helping him from the slime. He saw a huge hulking figure hold kachaan and punch the slime.

It was All Might.

Questions swirled in his mind. Why now? Why not sooner? If he had arrived earlier, perhaps this agony could have been avoided.

As he was taken to the doctors nearby, he could sense his hearing fading and vision blurring. As the doctor treated him, he was bleeding heavily. All because of the multiple tendrils of slime that pierced him.

It hurt so much... 

Pain.

It was something he experienced on a regular basis considering all he went through. But this was a degree of pain he never experienced in all his fifteen years of life.

"Dek-"

"DEK-"

"DEKUUU" He heard Katsuki's shouting his name and shaking him violently before stopped by a doctor. He felt immense pain in his body from that rough movement.

What did he want now? Isn't the pain he already gave him enough? Did he wanted to see a pathetic death even after knowing it was all because of trying to save him?

How vicious! 

His vision blurred again. But he felt someone holding his hands tightly. He looked up and was able to see a blurred vision of a lady looking at him with worry on her face. But there was no hope of life for him. He could sense his life fading away slowly from him.

In his final moments, a sad ache pierced his heart. How desperately he longed for a loving presence beside him, to hold him dearly and say that he will be missed. He wished mom and dad loved him...

As the fact that he was dying here alone and without doing anything sank in,

I... I don't want to die like this...

I don't want to die...

He felt his vision blur to the point nothing was visible, along with his heartbeat reducing slower than before. He felt cold. Colder than ice... It must have been the blood loss that caused the cold feeling to him.

He felt his death nearing him.

He didn't even attain his dreams... He still had to fulfill his promise to himself that he would prove everyone wrong by becoming a hero.

Regret gnawed at him, wishing he had did something more. To die with the haunting thought of not doing enough, a lifetime wasted, left a bitter taste of dissatisfaction.

If I could get one more, just one more chance!

Then-

Before he could think further his heartbeat stopped along with his hand that fell limp.

Absolute darkness engulfed him in its embrace as he died.

[You have fulfilled all the requirements to complete the Quest: Courage of the Weak.]

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[Congratulations on becoming a Player.]

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Inside the world of Earthland, in a deep jungle inside of kingdom of Fiore. Lying in the ground covered with dark green and lush grass was a teenage boy with a short mop of fluffy dark-green hair laid peacefully.

Before he suddenly opened his eyes.

Bright sky and tall trees with the distinct smell of soil and flowers greeted him. He realised he was lying on ground in the middle of... Some forest?

Forests were familiar to him as he often ran inside one to hide from his tormentors and when he wanted to be alone without anyone or anything interrupting his peace. 

He slowly sat up, as his mind reeled back on the last few moments.

Wait... I'm alive? 

He looked down and his uniform was still there but it didn't have any blood stains or holes from the slime piercings he received. 

Something else also seemed off.

His body felt weirdly light. He felt refreshed, like he took a good sleep like he had never taken before.

What happened?

Considering the situation he remembered lastly, this didn't make sense. He put his hand on his chest and felt his heartbeat. His heart was beating normally.

Was he somehow saved by those doctors? But even if that happened, why was he lying in a forest out of nowhere? It felt like it all had been a dream. 

Lost in thought, he shifted his gaze up to the sky.

Huh?

As soon as he did, he saw letters floating in the air.

[You have unread messages]

....?

Izuku blinked few times to see if was seeing it right. The letters were still floating in midair, unchanged.

"What the hell...?"

-----End of Chapter-----