(This is a rewrite of Shattered Mirror)
"Can I be hero too?"
"Without a Quirk? I should think not, young man."
And that was it, the end of a lifetime of dreaming. Of holding on to that faint hope that someday, he too could be a hero. He could feel his whole world crashing down around his ears, as All Might's cold, final words echoed in his head.
Tears spilled quietly down his face, not a sob in sight, only the warm saltiness of failure. He could almost hear Bakugou in his ears, telling him to take a swan dive off the roof, telling him he was a failure and a crybaby.
He stopped his blind wandering for a moment, leaning against the walls of the subway tunnel to press his hands into the sockets of his eyes, trying in vain to stifle the flood of agony from within.
It was one thing to be called useless by Kacchan, but to hear the man, the hero he had idolized his entire life tell him he truly wouldn't amount to anything, that he could never so much as brush at his dream..... that cut deeper than 14 years of taunts from Kacchan ever would.
Then again, perhaps the years of bullying had desensitized him to the sting. He pulled out his phone, eyes tracing his long time favorite video of All Might. Fond memories of fangirling over the hero as a young child flooded back over him, bittersweet in the light of failure.
More tears slipped from his already bloodshot eyes. Midoriya had shed so many tears that his face was raw and red from the saltiness and all he could taste the the ocean of despair that had flooded his tear ducts.
Yet again, he wished he had something like Kacchan's anger to drive him, something that would keep him going besides despair and faint hope. Something to help him rebel and rage and the universe, rather than lay down and cry.
Weak.
He had always been the weak on. The useless Deku. Worthless, Quirk-less and Future-less.
Yet again he lamented the lack of strength he had been born with. Why couldn't Izuku have been born with All Might's strength? Why was the universe so damn cruel.
What had he done to deserve this?
The darkness of the subway tunnel, the very same one where he had been attacked and then rescued by his hero earlier, stood out in sharp contrast with the mango light of the setting sun. Its bright warmth caught on whispy clouds hanging in the lower sky.
He stepped out of the sunlight, further into the darkness of the tunnel, away in to the coolness of the protected alcove, always hidden from the sun.
Small traces of dirty slime from the villain clung to the walls, darker than dark against the charcoal concrete.
He walked a little further into the humid dimness, trailing his fingers along the walls and trying to hold back the treacherous tears that pricked against his eyes, scratched up his throat and closed in on his airway.
Why?
Why?
Midoriya let a few warm tears slid pathetically down his face, falling against his lips and dripping down his chin.
"I thought I might find you hear." The voice was cool, rough and distinctly male.
He whipped around, his hands coming up in front of him, ready to fight with what little he had against whatever villain haunted the tunnel now. After all, it would be foolish to ever dream of All Might sparing time for him the second time around.
