Villain Deku Fan Fiction

Chapter 4 - Insanity

All Might slowly turned to face Midoryia. "Without... a Quirk?" he asked slowly. Suddenly, his face filled with pain. All Might doubled over, breathing heavily. His skin started to smoke while he tried to keep himself from crying out in pain. Oh no, he thought. Holy sh*t, goddammit.

Midoryia, who was looking at the ground embarrassedly, didn't notice All Might's predicament, but instead continued to talk.

"It might've been because I don't have a Quirk," he said. "But I'm always made fun of... Maybe that's why... I don't know... But I think saving people is super cool."

Still oblivious to the now thick cloud of smoke that All Might was emitting, Midoryia smiled. "Saving people with a fearless smile. I want to be the greatest hero," Midoryia looked up at the hero, "like you...!"

Midoryia's face transformed from hopeful to appalled in an instant. Standing exactly where All Might had been was a scrawny man who looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks. Eyes widening in disbelief, Midoryia let out a cry of dismay. "Y-Y-You're deflating...!" he screamed, shaking with shock. "Wait, up until now... Huh?! Fake? A fake?! You're so skinny...!"

All Might scowled at Midoryia. "I am All Might... BLEH," he tried to say while spitting blood out of his mouth. Midoryia looked as though he was about to faint.

"NO WAY!" Midoryia wailed. His idol, the person he admired most in the world, was a fake.

"You know how the guys at the pool are constantly flexing and posturing?" All Might asked whilst wiping blood from his lips. "It's like that."

"No way...!" Midoryia repeated. "It can't be... All Might is fearless. He saves everyone with a smile..." How was this even possible?

Sighing, All Might turned away. "A fearless smile, huh?" He sat down exhaustedly, putting his head between his hands. "Now that you've seen me like this, young man, make sure you don't write about it online."

The deflated hero pulled up the left side of his shirt, revealing a gory wound. It looked like half of his stomach was made of shattered glass. An angry red circle on his side marked the centre of the laceration. Midoryia gasped, his eyes widening in horror.

"It's an injury I got from an enemy's attack five years ago," he said. "Half of my respiratory organs were destroyed, and I lost my whole stomach. I've become emaciated from repeated surgeries and the aftereffects. All Might looked up at Midoryia with cold eyes. "Right now, I can only work as a hero for about three hours a day."

Horrified, Midoryia took an involuntary step back, his mind spiraling. "That can't be..." he murmured. "Five years ago... was that when you fought Toxic Chainsaw?"

"You're well informed," All Might said. "But a punk like that couldn't defeat me. This fight was not made public to the world. I asked that it not be made public."

All Might paused, determination filling his eyes. "I will save people with a smile! The symbol of peace cannot be daunted by evil. I smile to show the pressure of heroes and to trick the fear inside of me."

Midoryia felt as though his entire world was collapsing in on itself. All Might, the one he had admired idolized his entire life for laughing in the face of fear, had just admitted to being afraid. He wasn't the strong, mighty hero that Midoryia had thought, and hadn't been for five years.

"Pros are always risking their lives," All Might said. "I cannot simply say 'You can become a hero even without power."

Something inside Midoryia snap. He felt the emotion draining from his face, felt his mind spiral into despair and anger. Everything he had ever wanted to be was standing right in front of him, yet it was still completely unreachable. Midoryia slowly looked down, surprised that no tears where coming to his eyes. "I see..." he said in a flat, monotone voice. What had he expected, really? To be told that you can achieve anything if you just believe! Yeah right. His mother, the kids at school, Kacchan, they had all been right. There was no hope for him.

All Might stood up, unaware of the turmoil inside Midoryia's mind. "If you want to help people," he continued as he walked towards the stairs into the building and past the emotionless boy, "then you could also become a police officer. They're often teased because they get villains delivered right to their doorstep, but that is also a fine occupation.

He hesitated at the door, turning around to face Midoryia's back. "It's not bad to dream," he said, "But you also have to consider what's realistic young man." And with that, All Might left, not realizing the effect that his words had had on the young boy.

Midoryia continued to stare at his feet. His mind went over and over the things that everyone had done to him over the years. They had stomped out his hope, crushed his dreams, until there was nothing left but the smallest sliver of resilience left in him that had kept him from going over the edge.

All Might had just destroyed it.

The more he thought about it, the funnier it seemed to Midoryia. How could he have been so stupid? His lips twitched upwards, a quiet chuckle escaping his lips. The chuckle grew louder, turning into a laugh, and then a cackle. Before long, Midoryia was howling with mirth, the sound filled with insanity. Tears ran down his freckled cheeks as he thought how painfully oblivious, how incredibly naïve he had been, for ever thinking that he could become a hero.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Midoryia knew that he had gone mad, but at the same time, he didn't care. He cackled on the rooftop for hours, taking in All Might's cruel words until an explosion in the distance caught his attention.

Oh. He thought to himself, still giggling. A villain attack. Great! I'll leave them to it, I suppose. After all, what could I do anyway? He stayed on the rooftop until dusk, watching as the sky grew pink, orange, and crimson before fading to black. When the first stars appeared in the night sky, he finally decided to go downstairs. Once he made it to the ground floor, Midoryia walked mindlessly into the cold night, a light, unstable smile on his face as his eyes remained trained on his feet.

I'll never be a hero.