Mind vs Might: There Are No Heroes (A Villain!Deku Fanfic)

Plea of the Fool

"Those who dont learn history, are doomed to repeat it."
-George Santayana

The battle of Tokyo was the single most decisive battle in the entire war. It was right there when after being handed defeat after the defeat by the armies of the Q.R.A, we finally scored our most significant victory. The entire upper command of the Q.R.A was annihilated, including the Fuhrer, Izuku Shigaraki, alias Dark Phoenix. It was I, Izumi Yagi, who beat him down.

Whenever I think about it, there is no pride, no satisfaction; there is only guilt and pain. He was precious, my brother who I turned my back to when we were younger, and by the time I realized, he had turned his back to me as well...

I was held up as a hero, a new symbol of peace and justice, even though I was only 17, but it did not feel right; I had murdered my brother, and they were glorifying me for it. I know he wasn't the best, but was that really necessary?

I was told that I couldn't mourn over his death, that I couldn't even bury him, that he deserved no such things. Every time I think about it, I just wished I would have been more powerful to tell them to shove it and do what was right... But I was weak... As I have always been...

The war did not end with the death of my brother. The remaining higher-ups of the Q.R.A kept the fight going. The heroes were enlisted to act as safe-keepers for the cities so the army could entirely focus on fighting back the rebels. Me and my class, at least what remained of it, was sent to a military camp where we continued our hero education, though in a bit more militaristic way than usual.

I graduated not long after, and I was stationed in the recently reconquered Musutafu. My duty was to act as a guard for the city and also to make public appearances. The government made propaganda of me as the true hero of Japan and the hero of the people. What did that mean anyway? What did the word hero mean at this point? I did not want to make it seem like the word hero had lost all of its meaning, at least not until that happened...

General Jin of the Q.R.A took command of it. It began to launch aggressive campaigns against the government's territories once again. As the Q.R.A menaced Tokyo once again, a document that forever changed our lives was signed.

Imperial Order #3678...

All heroes were to be called to the battlefield as human weapons. We had no choice but to oblige. We entered the battlefield like a hurricane using our quirks to its full capacities. Soldiers were killed, and cities burned, the lands of the countries were painted red from all the killing.

As was later assigned to the group who would track down and murder General Jin, and I was the one that killed him too...

I was considered a hero for the people for killing such menace, but once again, too me, it just felt wrong. I tried to convince myself that everything I was doing was for the good of the people to restore the era of peace that seemed so far back, but those thoughts all came crashing down later...

Imperial Order #3679

With the sign of that single damn paper, it had begun... The Quirkless war of extermination had begun.

I could not stand to see how many innocents were killed. The reasoning behind that order was that the quirkless were a threat to world security. In the entire world, the demands of extermination like these ones were being carried out.

Every time I went to the battlefield, even though I tried to ignore it, the sounds of guns being fired, people, screaming in pain and horror. The worst of all was to know that none of them were guilty of anything; they were not even soldiers. The world was filled with hate.

???: Its all your fault! And you know it.

His voice, I can't get his voice off my head.

???: You are responsible for the events that led to this! You might as well had been the one who killed everyone!

I know it... I know it damn well!

That is why I tried to make things right! I tried to! But they just don't listen! They think I am delusional, or that I just feel guilty for my brother, and yes, I do feel guilty! That is why I want to make things right!

But my words were drowned in the agonizing screams of those who died in the war...

???: You don't deserve that quirk!

???: You don't deserve to be a hero too! And at this point! You don't even deserve to live!

I just wanted to do the right thing...

As the war dragged on, the murders intensified, the battles were much more brutal. Every time, before I went to sleep, I thought about those who died under my hands, I made sure... I made sure to remember their face, because even though they are dead... I know damn well they won't ever forget mine...

The world is a place full of hatred and irony.

The quirkless hated the quirked for being different at the beginning. When the quirked became a majority, the quirked hated the quirkless for being different. Then the hatred stuck up, and the quirkless unleashed a war of hate against the quirked, just for the quirked to turn and do the same against quirkless.... Will this cycle ever break?

Maybe you could have achieved that brother...

When the war was finally over, I felt an immense relief, but the guilt was still there... Will I be able to always call myself a hero even after all I did? Turns out, I could... Will, someone like me could ever find happiness again? Turns out, I could... But... After I recalled everything in the last years, it turns out... I couldn't have been more of a fool...