Rebirth and Blood

Tap. Tap. Tap. That was all he heard as his hands punched in the keys across the board to his computer. His back hunched over the screen, his eyes scanning the data like an insect in an attempt to make the time fly by faster.

There were other people around him of course. They weren't bad people and in the years he spent at the company he'd actually grown somewhat close to them, but he simply loathed the association his brain had set up between his co-workers and so much constrained, managed time. He wanted to be free, to step out if only for a minute, but he knew he couldn't. Well, he could, but that would mean everyone else would have to work harder and there were things to get done and deadlines to meet.

He didn't hate the job, in fact he was quite good at it and the tasks were bearable enough, yet there was nothing in it to be passionate about. It was just numbers and statements and due dates and the occasional lawsuit he had to file. It was just enough to get by on and he supposed that was fine, but the crazy girl said it best "you're going to die one day and then you'll never get another chance at living again."

He didn't want this to be what defined him as a person. Izuku wanted to have some other part of his life be worth suffering for if he had to support himself with this mindless bullshit which chipped away at his youth. Momentarily he smiled in relief, he was a sidekick now. He made the dangerous first step towards achieving some form of his childhood dream and not to mention, offered him a second stream of income, however meager a government paycheck can be compared to those of the private sector.

With the final sheet of the hour done and a few minutes left until his lunch break, Izuku pondered something he never considered since middle school, what his hero name would be.

Briefly he consulted some of the ones he created in his boyhood, only to cringe at the examples of "Mightyman", "All Might jr." and so on. There were literally an endless amount of names he could make which once were set upon that dotted line for his sidekick license, it would be set in stone for over a decade if the articles and regulations he read up on were correct. Maybe if he had a quirk it'd be easier for him, seeing how most people base literally their entire identity on their powers.

He scowled a bit at the truth. Everyone else had abilities which made them utterly unique with no other person in the world being like them while he was left with a weakness that thankfully he could hide under his skin that marked him as a pariah in comparison. Why couldn't he be born with a telepathic fire quirk like his genetics suggested? His entire life probably would have been completely different then. Maybe he'd even be the number one hero instead of that asshole who beat the shit out of him.

Why was he damned as weak from the moment he was born? Why do people like Elemental, Lamillion and Kacchan get to have such amazing lives while he was left in the dirt, twiddling his life away in this company? It wasn't fucking fair, but he couldn't change it, not in the way he wanted. He couldn't just wish with all his might for a quirk and get it, he was stuck the way he was as a quirkless, basic human being instead of those titans with the literal powers of gods which soared above the ants like him.

His hands balled tightly into fists right as the lunch bell rung, so he exhaled, dug the resentment down and smiled to hide the seething resentment he felt in front of his coworkers as he moved to the cafeteria, took his seat in the far most table situated in the darkest corner of the room and ate his pitiful meal of cup ramen.

Nothing would change. He'd still be Deku, with a Deku's life and a Deku's trouble. He'd never get to stand on stage and give inspiring speeches to people in need, never save people from a burning building with a simple swing of his arm. All he'd ever be was a plain, normal man with a bullshit life larping as a hero next to an E-lister who was barely noticeable.

This was it and there was nothing he could do about it.

He felt his face go flush with anger and for an instant he saw red, but again, like a good little Deku, he put the emotion down deep in his soul and continued eating. He wasn't powerful enough to have his rage mean anything and even if he did reach out and murder his co-workers with the chop sticks in his hand, they weren't people deserving of such a fate even if they annoyed him.

For a moment he shut his eyes and held his breath. He couldn't do anything to get what he wanted exactly as he wanted it, so why worry about it? "Because it's fucking unfair that some motherfuckers get everything in life and I'm left with just smiling and taking it up the ass because I literally have no worth compared to them." He thought to himself.

"Goddamn I hate Stoicism." Izuku muttered to no one as he counted down the few minutes left before he needed to return to work. All around him nobody noticed him since they were so busy with their own affairs or dealing, likely, with the exact worries he was before needing to return to the grind. It was fine this way, but it certainly wasn't better.

The rest of the day was the same monotonous routine as what happened for years of him punching in the proper numbers and words for the next three hours until the bell dinged, excusing him for the day and concluding his shift. Leaving all of six hours before he needed to sleep and do it all over again the next day.

Izuku felt his teeth clench as he stood in the metro, hanging on to the overhead rail which threatened to bend in his grasp from the force his hand was exerting. "Maybe you should take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life."

He twisted the ring in his palm, the strap going tante as those words bounced around in head. Again a scowl found its way to his face with every ounce of fury directed out the window at nothing with his teeth bared and lips curled like a wild animal which only made him look more pathetic.

"I tried that you dickhead, but I couldn't go through with it so why don't you shut the hell up and leave me alone for once?"

He whispered to the world as the sound of the train destroyed the sound before anyone else could hear it. There came a laugh in his head, one that he knew was just his brain playing tricks on him, yet it sounded so real.

"No, you're just a weak, stupid Deku who couldn't even jump off a bridge right because you're a coward who's too scared to take the plunge, you fucking failure."

A loud BANG! echoed in the cabin of the train, causing him to flinch when the mag rails had an issue. It sounded so exactly like Kacchan's quirk that he felt his heart leap in his throat. 

Damn it. Damn it. God-fucking-damn it!

Why!? Why the fuck is that stupid, arrogant fucker still in his head!? He hadn't seen the fucker since middle school, Kastuki likely doesn't even know he exist anymore, so why the fuck does he still have that power over him!? 

There came a ding which indicated a stop was soon arriving and he moved to the door, not caring if this was his destination or otherwise. 

Fine, if that stupid fucker won't let him be, if every attempt he makes to improve his life is poultry compared to what that cock sucker gets to live while he has to struggle and suffer just to get a fraction, a mere hint of the god like life of Katsuki Bakugou, then fine, he'll do something right for once!

Shoving his way through a crowd on the platform, Izuku moved North towards the highest object he could find with his lifelong anger still blazing like a bonfire in his chest.

Fuck 'em. Fuck his mother, fuck his teachers, fuck his co-workers, fuck his boss, fuck Sugarman, fuck that crazy bitch and fuck Kacchan! He wasn't going to play their games anymore because he can't win so why fucking play!?

A bridge was in sight, overlooking a river which cut between the cities that certainly looked high enough to get the job done.

This was it, he'd do something right and at least have somebody know how angry he was. The note was still in his back pocket so that wasn't an issue. As he stepped onto the beginning of the bridge, feeling the concrete under his shoes, Izuku marched towards the center where the point was highest. He gripped the red painted handrails and inhaled. So he was really going to do it this time? No insane women to intervene, no heroes that would catch him? Just him and the hard water below?

His fingers curled tightly around the railing, suddenly feeling very ill. Didn't he have things to do this week? The crazy girl, Himiko, they were supposed to do some training together, weren't they? And wasn't he supposed to meet his mother for dinner this Saturday?

...but none of that will matter if he simply stepped out in front, didn't it? No more pain, no more disappointment, no more watching those who looked down on him since birth have lives he could only dream of while struggling in vain to get one percent of their way of life. All it'd take is to step and let go, then he wouldn't have problems anymore.

People would move on, the world wouldn't blink and in the end he'd maybe be an obituary in the paper consisting of maybe eleven words, perhaps less. The crazy girl would find someone else to bother, Sugarman would hire another sidekick, his mother would get his life insurance money and Kacchan would get to laugh his ass off while every ounce of pain and disappointment inside him would vanish like his soul.

And yet, the long he stared down at the water, the more he realized that he didn't want to do this. He was angry, sure, but who wasn't bitter at the world with all its ugliness? He survived a major uprising by villains and had made something of himself, regardless of how mundane it was. However he still understood that he'd likely be bitterly resentful and in pain for the rest of his natural born life, thus Izuku Midoriya made a choice by giving up his choice to the whims of the universe.

A cosmic coin flip given to the fates. If there were no signs that he shouldn't jump then he would. If there were, he wouldn't. Simple as that.

So he closed his eyes and listened. Then as if responding to his challenge, there came a ring from his pocket.

Looking at the phone screen, he saw a number he didn't recognize and answered in the best, soullessly corporate way possible.

"Izuku Midoriya, how can I help you?"

A huffing breath answered back through the line that had it been at any other moment in his life, the quirkless man would be taken by surprise.

"H-Hi Midoriya, sorry to bother you at the moment, b-but I was wo-wondering if you could come down to the agency. I n-need some help with some stuff and thought we'd get some training in."

The voice was obviously Rikido Sato, who sounded like he just ran a mile and a half. Izuku closed his eyes once more, remaining silent for a solid minute before he turned away from the edge, faced the path back to the station and answered.

"Okay. I'll be there in a couple minutes."

A chuckle, deep and hardy came through the phone that might have shattered his body if he was standing next to the man. 

"Great! I tell you bro, it was getting boring just working out here by myself. I don't need help with the paperwork just since you aren't officially hired until a couple days from now, but how 'bout I show you how to lift and tell ya what, how about I bake you some cake for your time, eh?"

There was an element of honest joy in the hero's response, one Izuku hadn't heard in a long, long time from anyone. Rikido sounded actually happy to have him around, to share in the act of growing as men. The quirkless sidekick didn't have it in him to smile, so he merely began to move towards the direction of the train station.

"That will be fine."

Shutting the call off Izuku pondered something as he boarded the train. How much would he have given up if he had jumped? How many things, grand and small, would he never experience if he went through with ending it? Yes his life was pitiful and mundane and puny compared to Kacchan or Elemental or those celebrity idols or a movie star or a pro athlete. And yes he'd never get to shape the entire world or likely ever land in the history books like he wanted or have a quirk that'd make him like a god to the common man.

But you know what? It was his life. It was his struggles and sorrows and pains and triumphs and joys and memories and nobody else's. It was uniquely his alone and he only had one life, one life which defined him and he defined it. Sure it sucked at times, but it was also worth living for the simple fact that EVERYTHING changes eventually, meaning that it could get better and that there would be times that didn't suck.

There were things in front of him right now that he couldn't even guess at and his being would, by the very law of physics, be subject to change which meant he could improve, that he could be better. That he could live a better life beyond what measly annoyances and tragedies beset him at the moment, even if they lasted since his birth. Because there was no certainty that they couldn't vanish tomorrow, that he couldn't be even just 1 percent better than the person he was today.

Yes he was quirkless, yes he was relatively poor, yes he was mostly alone and certainly he was a wage slave, but he was alive and that meant he could grow past those things which held him down.

Looking at the clear blue sky, Izuku found himself remembering a phrase he had drilled into his head since childhood, the motto of Heights Alliance Academy. Plus Ultra, Go Beyond.

He would do just that because he deserved more than the hand he was dealt, he wasn't Deku, he only allowed that label to be put on him, it wasn't branded on him and there was more to his being than merely being quirkless. Thus he'd go beyond the boundaries and hurdles put before him and reach a life he can be proud of because there was nothing else for the malice of existence then to surpass it. He wouldn't accept the mundane horrors of his way, he would push past them to attain his dream.

For he was The Limit Breaker and he knew that he would win.