Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya was the perfect hero, the top of hero society, the new shining light of the world, the symbol of peace. That was of course until he died. It was rather sudden, a small incident downtown or that was what he thought, he knew better now of course,
though it was a bit late for regrets.
He woke up and to say the least he was a bit confused,
cradled in his mother's arms, tiny, unable to do more than cry as he was embraced by her warm loving arms, wrapped tightly soft blanket. 'This was nice' was all he thought.
Years past and his memories of this life slowly began to blur, they faded until they were nothing more than what seemed like deja vu. That was of course only the first time. Life was a bit easier for him, though, like he always knew what might be coming around the corner.
It wasn't until the exact same thing happened again when he realized something truly worrying was happening, he should be dead by all accounts he knew it, there was no doubt, not after that.
But he woke up yet again, in the same place a tiny infant cradled in his mother's arms, the crying didn't stop for much longer that time. He was tormented, horrified, but what more was there to do than let these thoughts swirl inside his infant mind. He promised himself would remember this time of course, it was easier too as well, living the exact same life yet again, left little to the imagination, little to be surprised about.
He was maybe 5 when a something huge struck him from the side. hard. He woke up in the hospital however unfortunately not in the time or hospital he wanted it to be. "Weird" he thought.
That was unlike the ones before, of course he had been standing very close to quite the spectacular hero fight with some low level bank robber villain, he hadn't been paying attention after he ran away from his mother to look at the fight, it wasn't he had seen or even noticed the fight in the past to life's? At that point anything new or different really was a quite a marvel.
But nevertheless he was here again the same place he kept being dragged back to ripped from his reality upon death and every time brought back, maybe he realized this could be his quirk. His little heart skipped a beat to realize he might of had one all along. Though, it may be really more of a curse if he was honest. Or may a chance he thought, to live the perfect life!
Now his life was never bad before of course the first, second had been amazing (though almost identical in most ways) this time he thought, he would make it perfect, he could in fact save everyone. Everyone.
So he relives his life a couple of times actually, he didn't change it to much at the beginning of course, he had to meet All Might, that bit and the parts that followed were always the best. His childhood was a bit more upbeat, Kachann of course would always be spoiled as a child and Izuku would stand up to him when he went to bully that child, ending up with him getting beaten instead, he'd take it, maybe with a few less bruises than before, maybe with a bit less stuttering. He knew knew what you needed to be the greatest hero.
His mother was less downtrodden (which he was extremely happy about) by that 'lack of a quick' he took it a lot better after all.
It was one of these times when he felt a little bit more courageous,
'quirkless good for nothing deku', he quipped at the child. Now Izuku was no child, he reviled in reliving his youth if he was honest. But he decided, he'd give something new a try.
'I do have a quirk, K-Kachann' he slightly stuttered.
'Excuse me’ Bakugou bit back.
'I have a quirk' he said, a little louder.
'You do?' the boy questioned.
Naturally, he wouldn't believe me...but Izuku thought. 'I just can’t use it...it'll hurt me'. He said with the utmost confidence.
Bakugou was about to question this, but as he looked into the still small child's eyes, he saw that firm unwavering gaze, for some reason that made him angry.
'Well if you can't use it, how's it even different from no quirk at all' He mocked angrily.
'well kachann, one day i'll show it to you' he said, with those bright big eyes sparkling blindingly in the sunlight'.
The fiery boy huffed and turned away 'whatever Deku'.
All his anger was gone, he suddenly felt unsettled, something in the depths of Deku's eyes made his stomach twist and he had no idea what.
That life continued as usual after that, fewer harsh words and threats from that child at least, Izuku smiled.
Years slipped by, quicker that they should for a young child, but he mused, he wasn't really a child, no he hadn’t been one for decades and decades he thought, even if time was collapsing on itself.
The time came in his life, again where could fix the mistakes he’d made previously, some he fixed didn't always end up for the best....
So when it came for him to yet again relive them, he did, he did not fix them again, he couldn't, he couldn’t stand the horror.
Some nights he lay awake seeing the faces of the ones he could of saved, he knew it was possible, but much more horrendous scenes would lay in wait for him. He couldn’t save everyone, but he tried, oh god he tried.
The guilt ate him up inside, every repeat he’d never forget their faces, the looks of horror when the worst scenarios came into play.
But he pushed on forever determined to live his life to the best of his ability, the hero people deserve, fulfilling the one thing that still made him happy, saving people, saving people.
Then he would get his magic finale where he would finally get to rest, a rest from the endless cycle of repeating, repeating, repeating. But it never ended, it never stopped.
He had been happy when he got to use all for one without constantly breaking his fingers or arms, he had been happy when finally got to the point of his previous deaths, he was prepared for the ambush on the city, the quirk repressing bullets, stopping the final screams of terror when the world saw their symbol of peace yet again destroyed in front of them like All might had been, but much, much more gruesomely and of course more death involved.
He had chosen a successor, fell in love, created the perfect legacy had the perfect life, the only regrets were the things he couldn’t change, the loss of a friend, death was inevitable, it ate him up inside but somehow, even he couldn’t save everyone and eventually he became numb.
He had died protecting, for sacrifice, for love... but still he came back, again and again.
He was content, no one to save, no one left to teach, nothing left to do, he had no regrets.
He told himself there was nothing left for him to do, he wanted to move on, on to a place he had yet to reach maybe it was nothingness but still he wished to rest, to pass on. The endless repeating.
So when he peacefully closed his eyes, he thought he had finally won, release, victory.
….
But then, they opened again.