MHA: Undying

“Huh. So Deku gets attacked by the sludge villain instead of me?” Bakugou questions as various people freak out about his imminent suffocation.

All Might clears his throat. “Actually, Young Midoriya was attacked before you on that day.”

“””WHAT!?””” The sudden shouts mixed with on-screen All Might shouting his attack cause Aizawa to cover his ears.

“Be quiet. Or else I’ll wrap you in my scarf.”

This doesn’t deter anyone, but at the moment they’re more focused on the principal and detective admonishing All Might for his methods in waking up the victim of a villain attack.

“Um, is nobody going to comment on how Midori laughed when the villain showed up? I mean, there’s laughing in the face of danger but it’s still kind of concerning.”

“He doesn’t back down from anybody, no matter what! He’s so manly!”

“If things go the same as our time…” All Might sighs as he watches Midori cling onto his counterpart’s leg as they fly through the air. “I suspected as much. This is actually the reason as to why the villain got free and attacked Bakugou after I’d caught them. they fell out of my pocket during my initial panic.”

“Something that would not have been able to happen if you simply followed proper protocol in detainment of villains.” Nezu sips his tea while Tukauchi nods his head in agreement. He tries his best to soothe over the problems All Might causes when he doesn’t follow protocol, but it’s not easy.

Seeing All Might slouch at the admonishment, Uraraka decides to cheer him up. “At least in this world you didn’t drop the villain.” She points at his counterpart’s pocket, where everyone sees the bottle with the villain. Just before he becomes enveloped in smoke.

Seeing on-screen All Might deflate on a rooftop, Nezu and Tsukauchi sigh. “You really should be more aware of your time, All Might. That is, I’m assuming that this happened the same way in our time?” He nods.

“So, do you think that I can become a hero even though I’m quirkless?”

Hearing Midori ask the question again, this time visibly shining with joy, the students have expectant looks on their faces. After all, All Might’s entire motto is that anybody can become a hero. So obviously he’d say yes, right?

Tomura, watching his guilt-ridden expression, has a feeling that he’s going to enjoy their expressions in a few moments.

To Tomura’s surprise, he’s surprised too. The students’ expressions immediately turn from excitement to shock and horror when on-Screen All Might vomits up a waterfall of blood. It’s only thanks to Toga’s high pitched squeals of excitement that they aren’t shocked frozen. Which is further cemented when he pulls up his shirt, revealing his injury.

“This is a national level secret, children. So make sure you never speak of what you’re about to witness. Unless you want all traces of you to vanish~.” Nezu’s lighthearted tone doesn’t match the ominous words, the juxtaposition causing the students to shiver.

As they listen to him explain his injuries to Midori, a bad feeling starts to envelop them. Even Aizawa tightly grips the armrests to his seat.

“What do you think would happen to you, someone who doesn’t even have a quirk?”

The only sound heard in the theater is Tomura’s derisive snort, everyone except for those who know of All Might’s quirk too focused on the words being said. As for those who do know of it, they simply look at him with judgemental eyes, promising a reckoning.

“It’s ok to have dreams, son. But… keep them realistic.”

As he walks away from Midori, everyone’s attention turns to the All Might with them, the question obvious in their eyes. Sighing, he looks away as he confirms their suspicions. “I did indeed tell Young Midoriya that. Luckily for him, I realized that he had a quirk and helped him train it to become usable.”

Seeing their expressions morph into shock, he raises his hands in defense. “Look at what happened to all of you at the USJ. If Young Midoriya was there, quirkless, do you think he could have defended himself?”

While that silences the students, he forgot who’s there with them. “I don’t know, All Might. How about we go and ask all the people with mutation-based quirks -which my quirk doesn’t work on- I put in the hospital and ask them. After all, against people like that I’m basically fighting quirkless.”

Hearing the venom in their teacher’s voice, the students flinch. The only time they’ve heard him sound like that is when he was fighting against the villains at the USJ. When he was defending them.

Unable to say anything in response, All Might stays silent. As they wait for the screen to continue, Toga decides that it’s time for alternate All Might to get a nickname.

“Should we call the big guy here Hypo?”

The randomness of the nickname immediately lightens the mood, causing a chuckle to run throughout the theater. “Where did that come from?” Kirishima asks.

She taps her chin. “Well, it’s short for hypocrite. You know, since he decided to pick and choose where his motto applies.”

“Daaammmnnn!”

“Language!” Tsukauchi shouts at Uraraka, who hunches down in her seat as a blush crosses her face. Meanwhile, nobody other than All Might has any objection to the nickname, so his counterpart’s name is decided.

“Is the damn screen busted?” Bakugou questions, as it still shows Midori standing on the rooftop in the same position he was before.

Soahc shrugs. “No. But since the sludge villain didn’t attack you this time, there’s nothing to distract him from his thoughts.”

“Excuse me, but what do you mean by that?” Inko asks, her nerves already frayed from everything she’s found out about her son’s life. Instead of answering right away, they snap their fingers and thought bubbles appear around Midori.

“Midoriya, well, the one you’ve all taken to referring to as ‘Midori’ suffers from schizophrenia. For those that don’t know, that means he has voices in his head.”

“That go round and around and again~.” At everyone else’s glares, Mina hunches down. “Sheesh, sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit. It’s like a funeral in here.”

“Poor choice of words there.” Before anyone can ask Soahc what they mean, the screen begins playing again. This time, they can see Midori’s thoughts.

They’re all shocked at what the voices in his head are saying, no one more so than All Might who’s finally realizing how traumatizing his words could be to someone in a negative headspace. (Well, considering he’s the number one hero, to anyone really. But still. Progress.) But what concerns them is Midori’s thoughts. Or rather, thought. While the voices argue, the only thing going through his head are two words.

Be realistic.

“I think it’s time for me to be realistic.”

A shiver goes down everyone’s spines at the utter defeat in his tone. Their concern rises as he takes out his charred notebook from his backpack. After seeing him write in it, their confusion rises instead as he tears out a page and writes something on it before putting it in the side pocket of his backpack.

When he scribbles out the notebook’s title and writes something else, even Bakugou starts feeling concerned. But everyone’s terror peaks when they see him throw his backpack over the side of the building and take his shoes off. There are tears in some of their eyes as they watch him begin to climb the ledge.

There’s a collective sigh of relief as he goes back to the center of the rooftop, only to still as he speaks.

“What was it you said, Kachan? A swan dive, wasn’t it? Well, I never did much swimming, but I’ll give it a shot.”

He runs forward and leaps, angling his body so that he’ll land head first. They wait for the screen to shift, and it does so, turning dark without them having to see him hit the ground. “I don’t know a lot about swimming either, but I’d give his form a seven. What about you, Crusty Lips?”

Scowling at the blonde next to him, he decides to play along. “I’ve played a few swimming games, so I’d say you’re on the mark. Silver medal, at least.”

She taps her chin. “Hmm… Maybe if they let us see him hit the ground, all covered in blood, I’d rate it higher. But they didn’t, so oh well~.”

Hearing their conversation, the students and heroes feel their anger rise, only for a susurration to run through the room at Bakugou’s words. “WHAT HAPPENED TO AUNTIE INKO!?

Looking at her seat, they see that she’s no longer there. Looking around the room, nobody sees her anywhere, but there is a new addition. On the wall, there’s a portrait of her, her eyes widened in horror.

Seeing everyone start to panic, Soahc claps his hands to get their attention. Once it’s silent, he explains. “As I told you before, time is frozen in your world while you’re here. Which is why you are all still awake despite however much time has passed. You will remain in the state you were in when you were brought here.”

He points at the portrait. “But the shock of seeing her son -even if she knows he’s not her son- commiting suicide caused her to faint. Her state of being changed, so she was ejected from the space. Any questions?”

Nezu raises his hand/paw. “Are there any side effects of this?”

Soahc nods. “There are, in fact. She’ll lose her memories of everything she’s seen here, but retain the emotions she felt. Think of it like when you have an odd feeling about something but don’t know where it’s coming from.”

Nezu nods before pointing at the portrait. “And that?”

He gets a shrug in reply. “I felt like keeping a record of those who’ve failed to hold out until the end. Anyways, would you all like to continue this world, or take a break for something more… lighthearted?”

AN: Thank you Hedgeboar for the support.