Reify
Summary: Izuku's been hiding a secret for years. Ever since he touched a bug and it came back. Ever since he woke up in a hospital with his mother crying.
Standing above the body of All Might, he has to make a choice. He does.
He won't let himself regret it.
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Izuku couldn't move. His feet felt like they'd grown roots into the ground, anchoring him to the spot. He stood there, shaking, as he stared at the choking form of All Might. The man was on the ground, a hand clutching at the rebar that had been shoved through him.
“What a pity,” the villain, All for One, said with a sigh. “I’d hoped for more of a challenge.”
The laughter from the other villains rang in Izuku’s ears as he stumbled to the number one hero.
All Might’s breath was coming slower. His eyes were glazing over. He was dying.
Dying because of Izuku.
Ever since Izuku got into the hero course, using nothing but a sign he’d pried loose during the entrance exam, All Might had supported him. Sure, the man admitted he thought Izuku would end up failing in the beginning but Izuku hadn’t. All Might had supported him chasing his dreams when few others did. He’d gone on public record saying he supported the Quirkless hero student, and it caused half the people against Izuku to support him.
It hurt when All Might said he had thought Izuku would wash out, but then the man said he’d hoped the teen wouldn't. Izuku was introduced to a secret from the hero about his Quirk and why the man felt so vindicated that Izuku was clawing his way into heroics.
It made Izuku feel so guilty, knowing he was lying.
But he’d hidden it for so long…
Staring at the dying hero, Izuku knew. He knew that he couldn't keep it a secret anymore. Not now.
Izuku stayed next to All Might, the man grimacing as he removed the pole through him. Izuku didn't know why.
No, he did. It's better to bleed out fast than not.
Izuku reached out to hold the man’s hand as he died, and the hero's gloves felt slimy as he grasped them. Izuku barely heard the laughter of the villains behind him or the whirl of the media drones hovering over them. Instead, Izuku removed the jacket he'd been wearing, moving to cover the wound in All Might’s chest. As he did, he also brushed the man’s neck.
Light came back to his eyes, and pure luck let Izuku block his harsh breath as the wound knitted itself back together in a second.
“Don’t move,” Izuku said under his breath. “Don’t touch my skin either. I'm sorry for lying.”
The internal timer Izuku had for his Quirk was ticking—five minutes. He had to stall and then have All Might move.
It was enough.
Izuku stood up and turned to the villains. He stared at these people who decided to attack children and threw around phrases like ‘hero society is a failure’ or ‘you could be something better’ or ‘they don’t understand you, do they?’ These people saw the darkness of society and decided to make it worse by harming others.
These people didn’t care that they hurt people as long as they got what they wanted.
“I’ve been lying for a long time,” Izuku stated conversationally. He began walking towards the villains, his hands going to drag out the weapons they hadn't bothered taking off him. The mocking looks the villains had to see him pull out the Escrima sticks made Izuku want to laugh. Going on about being better than hero society, only for them to not see him as a threat.
“Oh?” Shigaraki looked curious. “So you do hate hero society?” Izuku rolled his eyes, wondering how the villain kept going on about it. Yeah, it wasn't a lie—Izuku sure as hell didn’t like the current hero society, but as he’d told Stain, most people were aware of the problems; it was just hard to make a move.
“When I was five, I found a dead cat. It was beaten by a group of teenagers for a laugh. My mom scared them away, and I touched the cat. All its wounds healed, and it sat up. Then I touched it again, the wounds came back, and it died,” Izuku said. His hands felt clammy. He’d never spoken about this before. He never dared voice the words hidden in his mind.
Only his mother knew.
“An illusion, Quirk,” All for One said. Izuku chuckled as he kept walking.
“Oh, my mom thought so. It’s happened, someone casting an illusion like that. But I was sure I brought the cat back. I begged to try with bugs, and we did.” Izuku swallowed. “I brought back all the bugs, and they died when I touched them a second time. We also learned of the timer. Five minutes from my touch.”
All for One hummed, sounding interested. The villains on the ground looked bored and less interested, though. The redheaded woman rolled her eyes, disbelieving. The young blonde girl seemed to enjoy the show, bouncing on her toes with a vicious smile.
“We thought they'd die again. It costs energy for me to bring things back, and as a kid, using it too often made me tired, so Mom insisted I make sure to touch them again. But then, one day, I decided I wanted to see what would happen. She let me.” Izuku took a shuddering breath. “Another bug died after the five minutes was over. But the bug I brought back lived. Until I touched it against, but the other bug stayed dead.”
Izuku kept walking. He could tell All for One didn't know what he was leading to. The villains looked bored and unbelieving, except for one with burn scars held on with staples. His eyes were wide, and he looked at All Might, who luckily seemed to be keeping still.
“We tested it a bit. I can, in fact, control who is affected as long as they're in my eyesight.” Izuku swallowed. “We didn't tell anyone. Mom was terrified of it, and I at first didn't understand until I saw a news report about a girl being kidnapped for her Quirk. I understood then. So I kept quiet.”
“Oh yeah, sure,” snorted the lizard guy, Spinner Izuku thought his name was. “You were scared people could find out you can raise dead animals.”
“It takes energy. A lot of energy. When my mom died, my father’s doing. He tried to burn our apartment down, and Mom breathed in too much smoke; when she died, I touched her hand. Passed out and woke up two hours later in the hospital.” Izuku took a shuddering breath. “Mom was alive, but a woman her age had died from smoke inhalation despite not being near the fire. A freak accident or maybe something else, they said. We knew.” Izuku stopped walking. He smiled. “It's been three and a half minutes,” he flipped the sticks in his hands. “Wanna take some potshots, All Might?” Izuku knelt, jabbing the weapons into the ground as the hero stood up. The jacket fell away to reveal a ruined hero suit but a healed chest just as the hero launched a low-level punch, causing air to rush at the villains.
Izuku barely held onto the Escrima sticks, clutching them tightly.
“Young Midoriya-“ All Might began, but the crackle of ice caused Izuku to spot Todoroki, creating a smooth ice bridge that ran right past Izuku. The sound of engines echoed as Iida ran across it, Uraraka holding onto him as she offered a hand to Izuku. He grabbed it as Shigaraki screamed,
“Get the brat!”
“I have to stay in eyesight of the villain!” Izuku shouted to his friends as he was dragged along by Iida, weightless thanks to Uraraka. She looked at him with pained eyes.
She knew. She knew what he was doing.
“Okay!” she called back. Iida swallowed but nodded. Both knew what this meant.
Izuku was killing someone. He was choosing to do so.
Neither could articulate how they felt, but they knew it was a possibility. After the USJ, a special class discussed how sometimes heroes were put into a compromising situation and how sometimes they would have two choices: life or death.
Izuku wasn't sure if this counted. He thought so, given that it was All for One, the boogeyman of stories. But he didn't know if they would let it slide.
“It is alright, Tomura,” All for One laughed darkly. “I doubt such a mere boy can kill me. Leave, and let me handle this,” he ordered.
Izuku didn't know if the guy was just arrogant or if he had a trick up his sleeve. As his friends spirited him away, Mt Lady knelt to offer her hand, letting the teens grab on so she could lift them to put on a roof. Her face was grim as she looked at Izuku.
She knew, too.
Every hero on the battlefield knew. Izuku could feel it. He saw how Best Jeanist’s face pulled hard into itself, his eyebrows pinching together. How Gran Torino hit harder.
They all knew what Izuku was about to do.
Izuku stood on the roof watching as the fight went on, his timer counting down. Any… one, two-
All for One dropped to his knees. His hand went to his chest.
“What?!” the man choked. “No! My- NO-” he fell over, and Izuku closed his eyes.
He’d just killed someone.
He didn't fully regret it.
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Notes on this AU:
-Izuku is touch starved. Since Inko can't touch his skin without dying, they don't often hug or anything. They have to take a lot of precautions.
-Inko has a lot of guilt over the death of the woman. She doesn't talk about it but she sometimes wonders what if she'd touched Izuku while he was unconscious to save the other woman’s life. She feels terrible about it.
-All Might supported Izuku partly because it was the right thing, partly because Izuku proved himself and partly out of spite. ‘Remember when you assholes said a Quirkless person can’t be a hero? Here he is.’
-Aizawa did not fully support Izuku at first. He was actually going to expel him to ‘show the world is against him before letting him back in,’ but Nezu hacked the machine to give correct points, proving Izuku was 11th out of the whole class. Nezu also sent a message stating, ‘Quirkism is not welcome, as you know.’ This threw Aizawa off his game, and when he confronted Nezu, the principal ripped apart any argument by rephrasing it as Aizawa’s old naysayers did. Drove it home for Aizawa. He is now in therapy and a much better teacher.
-Bakugou is currently suspended. Aizawa, with therapy, isn't as expulsion-happy. (I also refuse to believe that he leaves the black marks on their records because, oh god, wtf is that dude.) Also, Bakugou has been toeing the line until his final exam, when, like canon, he smacks Izuku, which is an instant fail for the blonde. He tries to attack Izuku and is now suspended. They're debating about full expulsion, but it's a mess.
-Of 1A, only Hagakure was firmly against Izuku. Aizawa did move the lowest-scoring member to Gen Ed for a week, and it was her. She was pissed off. She has always struggled with being invisible and comforted herself with the idea that at least she was useful, unlike Quirkless people. Ultimately, they had to swap her for a 1B member because she kept harassing Izuku. She is in therapy and on a tight leash.
-IDK who swapped with her. Monoma maybe.
-The only reason Bakugou and Hagakure weren't expelled is that it's actually more challenging to get expelled from the Hero course than you think. Aizawa may scare them, but with how much UA relies on its reputation, the board is super leery of expelling anyone. That being said, Bakugou, with his history of physical assault, is closer than Hagakure, who was verbal. Plus, she is actually doing alright in therapy compared to Bakugou.
-Izuku is best friends with Uraraka and Iida.
-Bakugou wasn't at the USJ. He had been temporarily suspended for a few days after the Battle Trials and would have gone with 1B instead, but the attack happened. Due to this, Kirishima never latched onto him. Instead, Kirishima is best friends with Tododoki and helps Izuku get him to use his fire.
-Bakugou’s Quirk and aggression are why he’s still in 1A, and no one wanted to remove Izuku from his support.
-Uraraka won the sports festival -AFO was arrogant enough to think his healing and durability Quirks would keep him alive. However, Izuku’s Quirk doesn't swap the wounds. What it does is trade lives. All Might died, and there must be another death to balance it. So, AFO didn't stand a chance.