Chapter Text
Clutching his right shoulder, Deku stumbled down an ally, trying to ignore the sickening combination of sensations that were the stench of smoldering flesh and the gut wrenching pain of his shattered arm. The rain pouring from the dark-gray sky overhead drenched him as he moved, and he had to wonder; where had his plan gone wrong? Everything was going smoothly at the subway station, until Uravity and Vine had shown up. He, Dabi, and Stain had set up a trap that was going to derail the train, causing it to crash, rendering the injured heroes inside completely defenseless. However, she had lifted the train off the tracks and to the ceiling while Vine, had absorbed the impact with wave after wave of plant matter, reducing the damage to almost nil, costing them their prize. How had the heroes been ready for it? He knew that the train would have defenses, but they were way more prepared than he would have thought possible. Were they tipped off? Possible, but who would betray them like that? Was it Double? Hawkes? When he realized that the plan was dust, he had called out for a retreat, hoping to minimize their losses.
Stain and Dabi had set up a solid escape route with fire and violence, but as he was halfway up the stairs leaving the station, his world was rocked by an explosion, slamming him into the concrete walls, and partly burying him in rubble. He shakily stood up, looking for his crew, but, seeing no one through the smoke, he had run from the scene, adrenaline blocking the pain from his senses as he fled. From somewhere behind him he had heard his name being called loudly by a recognizable voice, one filled his heart with fear, and he pushed himself harder, rounding every possible alley corner, breaking line of sight constantly, trying to escape, though after a minute of this he knew was he running on empty, the jostling of his movements drawing his dwindling awareness to his injuries. Ducking around a corner, he found himself in a dead end, and, his anger and frustration growing, muttered, “Stupid, stupid, stupid, should have turned left.
He spun to leave, only to find himself face to face with his pursuer. Bakugo Katsuki, his former childhood friend, who was currently operating under the name ‘King Explosion Murder.’ Looking him up and down, Bakugo’s gaze was filled with disgust and hatred for Deku. “I should have known that last blast wouldn’t have been enough. It should have been, for a worthless fuck up like you, but such is life; we live and learn. Except, you won’t,” he said, voice dripping with contempt.
He raised a gauntleted hand, the grenade facade dripping rainwater as he reached for the pin that was slid through the top. Mind racing, he threw himself to the side, hitting the ground hard, and pain, white, hot, unforgiving pain darkened his world, even as the wall behind where he once stood was reduced into powdered stone and molten metal. On the edge of his senses as he attempted to stand, he heard Bakugo’s voice, bristling with disappointment, “You can’t even die properly, can you? You should have just drowned in Sludge last year. All Might saving you was a mistake.”
Deku gritted his teeth, eyes flashing with rage as he looked up at him. “Why?” he demanded in frustration. “Why did you get power and not me? Look at you! What makes you better than me, Kacchan? What have you done to deserve your powers?”
Bakugo growled at him. “Don’t call me that. We’re not friends. If you had just stayed in your lane, you could have lived a happy life of mediocrity, maybe lead my fanclub when I became the Number One Hero, but no; if you couldn’t be a hero, you just had to become a villain. And like all villains, you’ll never learn. Before you put Ingenium in the hospital alongside Stain, I still had hope that maybe, just maybe, you could have been just arrested and learned your lesson, but no, you had to go and do... what you did to the Pussycats, so now I fully believe you’re just scum that needs to be put down. And I’ll do that with pleasure.”
Raising his other hand, he moved to pull the second pin, the barrel of the gauntlet lined up with Deku’s eyes. Screaming with anger and pain, Dekulet out all of his pent up feelings to the sky, one final act of defiance and hatred towards whatever god had cursed him with this fate. “If I had been a hero instead of you, the world would have been a better place already! You’re not a hero, you’re just a monster masquerading as one! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!”
Bakugo let out a wry chuckle, “As last words go, ‘it should have been me’ is perfect for a failure like you. Die."
And Deku’s world went white.
Slowly, however, he realized he was still breathing. As his senses returned, he felt warm, smooth stone under his cheek, his body on that same, firm surface. Was this what dying felt like? From somewhere above him, he heard a voice, soft and calm. “Hmmm green hair, huh? That’s neat, haven’t seen anyone with green hair before. Anyone who’s human, anyways. Are you human?”
Deku leaned up on his good shoulder, looking through glazed eyes at the man standing over him. He had a spiky shock of black hair, black eyes, skin that somehow looked both well-maintained and weathered, an orange suit of clothing and blue boots. His gaze was... warm, was the only way to put it. Taking a deep breath to answer, the movement caused his wounds to erupt in agony, and he began coughing, hard and racking. The stranger made a sound of panic, calling out, “Hey, Dende, he needs some healing!”
A second set of footsteps grew louder from somewhere nearby, and Deku felt a hand settle on his back. Slowly, but surely, his senses grew fuzzy, and then more clear as the pain receded. He opened his eyes, looking at his shoulder, the flesh newly knitted and pink, as if the burns were weeks old. He flexed his fingers, and felt no twinges of pain from his formerly broken bones. He slowly pushed himself to a sitting position, taking stock of his surroundings. He was apparently on the top of a large, circular building, with square, white paving stones making up the ground, and plots of trees planted with what initially seemed to be no care, but upon closer observation, they gave off a unified sense of structured discipline with how they were set up, as in enforcing invisible walls of separation along the area. Several dozen meters away through a path lined with these trees, he could also see a long, ornate building with three rounded towers, the two on the sides, held aloft by pillars, were made of a smooth white material that blended naturally into the golden slopes of the secondary levels of the roofs, merging with the long horizontal hall that made up the main body of the building. The central tower, however, was more grand, its tower seeming to have a second floor, though no stairs were connecting it to the building below, but windows could be made out from this distance.
“Uh, hello?” the orange-clad man asked him again, and he started, looking him in the eyes. “Do you understand me? I mean, I haven’t met anyone who couldn’t, but I you are form another universe.”
To his right, a green skinned being with two antennae adorning his face from his forehead and wearing white robes, a lilac sash across his waist, and a maroon vest spoke in a low, gentle tone. “He should, Goku, but he also might just be in shock. Healing him drained me more than I thought it would, and I believe he was on death’s doorstep when we summoned him.”
The other, Goku, nodded, then knelt in front of Deku, holding his hand out. “Are you okay?”
Deku, still slightly off balance, looked him in the eyes. As he thought before, there wasn’t a hint of malice to be found, and he took Goku’s hand, letting him help him to his feet. “I’m... fine, now. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Goku, Mr...” he trailed off, looking at the green man, eyes unsure, “Dende?”
Nodding, the robed figure smiled in response. “Yup, I guess you heard him call me over. I’m the Guardian of this planet.”
Blinking confusedly, Deku opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Goku. “Right, sorry, I kind of kidnapped you from your world, but I promise there’s a good reason for it.”
Shifting his attention, Deku stared at him blankly. “Kidnapped?”
Goku scratched the back of his head awkwardly, shrugging his shoulders. “Uh, yeah. See, we used these objects called Dragon Balls to make a wish for ‘Someone who could train with Uub.’ See, I’m kind of stepping away staying on Earth all the time, what with a new threat, which was actually an old threat, that showed up and put me and my buddy Vegeta into the dirt with barely any effort So, I needed to find someone who could replace me. My son was gonna do it, but he’s got a job and responsibilities and all that boring stuff, and honestly, I get the feeling he’s not one to fight constantly to stay on top of things. I’ve got a second son, but Chichi -- my wife, I mean -- told me that he was gonna follow Gohan -- my first son -- in becoming an upstanding citizen with a job and that ‘Saving the world doesn’t keep your black hole of a stomach fed!’ So, I needed to find another replacement, and I have a choice in mind, Uub, but he’s a kid, and I can’t really train him effectively, so I made a wish to get someone who could train alongside him and help him take my place.”
Blinking rapidly, Deku tried to just take in the vast deluge of information dumped on him, and raised a hand when Goku took a pause in talking. “Uhm, so you... summoned me? From my world? To train with this kid to take your place? Then... what happens to me after?”
Dende responded this time. “You’ll gain strength enough to rival the most powerful beings on earth. Well, as far as a human can go, and then we’ll send you back to your world, hopefully to moments after we took you so you don’t lose any time there for being here.”
“You keep saying that, are you not human?”
Goku cocked his head to the side and laughed. “Oh, no, I’m a Saiyan, a warrior race from a planet called Vegeta.”
Deku frowned. “I thought you said that was your friend’s name.”
Goku chuckled, smiling wryly. “Well, yeah. Someone in his family tree changed the name before his birth. I think it was his grandfather, but his dad was Vegeta, and he’s Vegeta. So he’s V3! Vegeta of Vegeta of Vegeta.”
Slowly getting overwhelmed, Deku coughed, and asked, “So, is he not human?” he asked, pointing to Dende.
Dende looked surprised. “I... Have you... Do you have humans that look like me where you come from?”
“Yeah, and more different too. One of my... acquaintances has a bird for a head, another has bird wings, another has a hammer for a head, and so on.” Deku said, trying to sound casual as he realized that he’s talking to two actual aliens. Are they common here?
Goku scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Why a hammer? Do you have giant nails to fight on your Earth?”
Deku couldn’t help it; he laughed. Long and hard, the first genuine laugh he’d let out in over a year. When he finally stopped, he wiped a tear from his eye, saying, “No, no, just, my world has people born with powers called Quirks. They can give you abilities from nullifying gravity, to transforming to creating explosions with your sweat...” He trailed off as he said this, his thoughts turning dark as he was flooded with memories of the world he just left.
Reaching up and patting his shoulder, Goku asked, “So, what’s your ‘quirk’ thing?”
Turning away, Deku quietly answered, his voice bitter, “I don’t have one.”
Goku frowned. “That seems like a sore spot for you. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I know what it’s like to have things in your heart you can’t bear to speak of.”
He closed his eyes, Deku tried to repress those memories of his childhood; the bullying, the exclusion, the crushing despair as his dreams were stomped on and tossed aside. He shuddered, as he remembered All For One finding him on that building’s edge, ready to jump, how he had felt so worthless, felt so alone. AFO’s offer to take his power back, to show those heroes how wrong they were, to show them he was strong, was the only thing that gave him the strength to step off that ledge. He shook, the barriers he had erected against those thoughts in his mind wavering.
Dende chimed in, having walked closer to offer his support. “I know we just met you, so I hope we’re not overstepping, but I watched friends and family die in front of me due to a horrific monster of a tyrant, and even though it was over an Earth decade ago, I still have nightmares occasionally where I’m that small child again, cowering, just hoping for someone, anyone to help me, to tell me it will all be okay. And I’ll tell you the same; it will be okay. You’re not alone.”
He realized he was going to cry, and, choking back his tears, Deku looked at Goku, eyes wet. He let himself remember his helplessness and his weakness. The allies he’s lost, the heroes who betrayed his trust, and left him to rot in the dark. How he saw their shining masks of Goodness slip when they tossed him aside and chose Kacchan instead. He let those feelings wash over him, filling him with the resolve to do what he must. Taking a steadying breath, he asked, “You can make me strong? Strong enough to change my world?”
Goku nodded, his compassionate smile filling Deku with confidence, with hope. “Yes, I can. I promise you this, uh... I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
Deku almost responded with his villain name, one that he had attached to his hatred and despair. He realized here that that childhood nickname had no meaning here, no power over him, and for now he would put it aside, letting it hold his resentment and hatred, and instead said, “I’m Izuku Midoriya. I’ll be in your care.”