Chapter Text
Izuku opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is the sky, and the next thing he sees is the glaring sun shining down on him. He’s lying on his back, looking straight up. He squints up at the sky, his eyes adjusting to the bright shine of the sun. He lets out a groan and uses his hand to block it from his eyes.
Izuku has never really been a morning person, preferring to sleep in as long as he could before his mom came to wake him up so he wouldn't be late for school. It usually takes him a while to fully wake up and register his surroundings. He never really understood how some people could wake up and just immediately be wide awake and go about their day.
He stares some more at the sun, pouting and wishing it would go away. He spends a minute debating on just going back to sleep or getting up before his mom has to come to drag him out of bed. That's when it hits him that he woke up outside, and not in his room, where he usually wakes up.
Why is he outside? Did he fall asleep here? Where is here exactly?
Izuku sits up quickly, now wide awake. He tries to take a good look at his surroundings, but he lets out a yelp as he stumbles a bit when he doesn’t meet the resistance he was expecting when pushing himself up from the ground. He flails his arms and legs around as he starts rising up.
Izuku quickly moves his gaze to the ground underneath him, only to see he's not touching it at all. The floor is actually quite a few inches away from him while he is suspended in the air. He’s floating. This is unusual, as Izuku has never been able to float before.
Huh… How exactly is he floating?
Completely flabbergasted at the situation he has currently found himself in, Izuku moves to stand upright— or at least he tries to. Instead of floating in an upright standing position, as he had intended to do, Izuku actually keeps turning in the air. Panicked, he tries waving his arms around, trying to find some semblance of balance. A few accidental somersaults later he’s finally floating upright, somewhat stable.
Okay, so. This is new. How is he floating? Is it a quirk? Did someone use their quirk on him? While he was sleeping no less? Is it.. his quirk? Did he somehow gain a quirk in the past few days? Did it finally come in? If it did, how did it activate? And why did it activate in his sleep?—
He pauses in his mental rambling. The past few days… What’s the last thing he remembers? He remembers getting home from school, quickly going to his room to get the first aid kit to take care of some cuts and bruises he got at school, and then starting on his homework. He knows he ate dinner with his mom, it was soba, not his favorite as nothing can top katsudon but it was still good. Then he went to bed and then… nothing. Something doesn’t feel right…
Izuku looks around, taking a good look at his surroundings. This time was more successful, as he was careful to only move his head so he wouldn't lose his balance and start somersaulting through the air again. That was not a fun experience… Might have been a little fun if he hadn't been so panicked though. It could be useful for—
He shakes his head. Now is not the time to think up all the different ways this floating ability could be utilized. Izuku tries to focus on what he's seeing around him. Why is he even outside? How did he get here? Did he sleepwalk? Or sleep-float for that matter? He has never sleepwalked before, as far as he knows anyway, but there’s a first time for everything. Maybe it's some kind of quirk side effect?
Or maybe he’s dreaming? That's another possibility and it could explain his whole floating/maybe quirk situation. Besides, it's more reasonable than him suddenly gaining his quirk in his sleep or someone breaking into his house to use their quirk on him and then leaving him sleeping outside.
Well, there are a few different ways to find out whether or not he's dreaming. Izuku tries to remember the different ways one could find out if they were in a dream or not that he read about. Number 1: look at a (digital) clock. Number 2: try to read something. Number 3: look in a mirror. Number 4: counting your limbs.
Due to the unstable nature of dreams, complex and abstract systems often fail to remain stable. The sleeping mind often cannot comprehend things such as digital displays, text, mirrors, etc. So it should help Izuku find out if he's really dreaming. It might also help him wake up.
Izuku checks his wrist and pockets but he doesn’t have a digital watch or clock on him, and he hasn't spotted one in the area either. He, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to have any of his notebooks on him. Otherwise, he could’ve checked the text in them. There’s no mirror around either. Counting limbs it is then.
Izuku looks down at his body. First, the arms. One, two. Then his legs. One, two. His fingers. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. The numbers are correct. He lets out a sigh and looks up at the sky. Alright, probably not a dream then. But— He stops his train of thought and frowns. Wait a minute…
He looks back down at his body to take in the outfit he's wearing. He wasn’t wearing his All Might onesie that he last remembered putting on before going to bed. Instead, he’s wearing a red shirt with some shorts and his favorite red high tops. If the sleepwalk theory is to be believed, then did he also sleep-dress? Or did someone actually break into his house and kidnap him while he was sleeping? Did they also dress him? Why?
Izuku closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath. Alright, he should stop theorizing before he starts to panic again. Right now he just needs to figure out where he is and try to get home. Then, he has to let his mom know he’s okay. She’s probably so worried about him! When checking his pockets he noticed he didn't have his emergency phone on him, so he couldn't even call her. This is bad.
But, if he can find out his current location and how to get home he'll hopefully be able to call his mom there if she's not home. Though he might need to get the emergency keys from the hiding place underneath the stone in de plant pot next to the front door, as he doesn't have his own keys with him. Then he can start finding out what exactly happened. Maybe he can also get an explanation for the whole floating situation too, while he’s at it.
It’s currently daytime, probably early morning considering the position of the sun. There’s grass and a few trees around him. He also notices a path to the side and some peculiar, neatly arranged stones some having flowers by them and some not— Oh… those are gravestones.
He’s in a graveyard.
Why is he in a graveyard? How did he get in here? Aren’t the gates closed during the night? And aren't there any security guards or anything to keep people from just sneaking in during the night? How did he get in then? Did he sleep-break into a graveyard? He hopes not. Does it count as breaking and entering if he did it unconsciously, while he was asleep? Will it be put on his record? And if someone else put him here, will he get blamed for it anyway?
There doesn't seem to be any evidence that he didn't get in here himself. And if he can't remember anything and there are no witnesses, they probably wouldn't believe him if he said it was an accident. Oh no, will he get arrested? And if he is capable of breaking and entering a graveyard while sleeping, what more did he do while he was asleep? There’s so much he could’ve done without being consciously aware.
As far as he can remember there aren’t any graveyards close to where he lives. The closest one is about a 30-minute walk. Surely he couldn’t have actually gotten that far? He would’ve woken up by then. Or someone would have noticed him.
Izuku shakes his head. No time for panicking. He just needs to try to get out of here as quickly as possible and get back home to his mom. Maybe someone will let him use their phone? That way he can quickly call his mom to let her know that he’s okay and maybe ask if she can come pick him up.
Why did sleeping-Izuku decide to go to a graveyard of all places anyway? A hero merch store or a park would’ve been more likely. He could maybe even see himself sleepwalking to school. But no, he somehow ended up in a graveyard.
As he's considering his current options, Izuku takes a closer look at some of the gravestones around him. He notices that there’s one right behind him. He must’ve been laying on the grave while he was sleeping. Geez, that’s awkward. He hopes they didn’t mind him sleeping on their grave. He should probably leave some flowers or something. Perhaps as a 'I'm sorry I broke into this place to take a nap on your grave, I hope you're not too upset about it!'
He catches a glimpse of the text on the gravestone which makes him do a double take and immediately cuts off his train of thought.
…
What?
“Izuku, did you remember what we had to get at the store? I believe I might have left the shopping list at home…”
“I saw the list on the table and I grabbed it before leaving. Let me find where I put it.”
“Oh, thank you, sweetie!”
“It’s no problem!"
Izuku beams at his mom before rummaging through his pockets to find the shopping list. He likes going to the story with his mom and helping her shop. Though he's been coming along less the older he got, as he has more homework to deal with now. But he still tries to come along and help out as often as he can. He likes spending time with his mom, even if it's for something as simple as grocery shopping.
"Ah, here it is. We need… uhmm… some eggs, milk, coffee, new toothpaste, and some tissues.”
“Alright. Could you get the milk, coffee, and eggs while I get the toothpaste and tissues?”
“Of course, mom. I’ll be right back.”
“Thanks, Izuku!”
Izuku quickly locates the needed items and brings them back to where his mom is with the cart. After gathering everything on the list they go to the checkout. After paying for the items, they leave the store together. Izuku insisted on carrying the grocery bag, taking it from his mom's hand. It was quite light, and she could have easily carried it herself. But his mom just lets him carry it anyway, handing the bag over with a smile.
“C’mon mom, they’re not that heavy. Don’t worry about it and just let me carry them.”
"If you're sure, sweetie…"
"Mhmm!!"
“Alright, you can carry them for me. But if you need any help carrying the bags…“
“If I need any help I’ll make sure to let you know mom”
She pats his head while a closed-eye smile before speaking up again.
“Oh, let's go to the park. We can get some ice cream on the way home.”
“Really?”
“Mhmm!”
“Yes! Thanks, mom!—”
Their conversation gets cut short as a hand coming from behind suddenly covers Izuku's mouth. He drops the grocery bags on the sidewalk in surprise. The eggs crack as they land on the pavement. Izuku's hands immediately fly toward the hand on his face, trying to get it off. It doesn't work. The person holding him keeps a firm grip on him as they drag him back into the alley he and his mom just walked past.
“Izuku!”
Without a second thought, his mom takes off after them into the alley. The person dragging him starts moving quicker to the back of the alley. Likely to get as far away from the street and any possible witnesses as they can. In his struggle, Izuku manages to glance at the person holding him and take in their appearance.
It’s a woman with short silver hair. One of her hands is covering his mouth. The other hand is in a finger gun position against the back of his head. Izuku notices that the perp’s index fingers are mutated; they look like gun barrels. So she has a mutation quirk that makes her index fingers look like gun barrels and considering the way she's holding one of them against his head the quirk likely has an emitter aspect as well which lets her shoot from them.
“Stop struggling, kid!”
The woman grumbles at him. She stops dragging him once they get to they get far enough in the alley and switches her gaze from him to his mom. His mom had followed them into the alley. The perp adjusts her hold so that she’s holding him more securely. Lowering his chances of being able to escape her hold successfully. Before his mom can do anything, the woman speaks up.
“Not a sound and don’t come any closer or the kid gets it! I’m not afraid to shoot a child. Got it?!”
Izuku sees his mom shakily nodding. She seems to be doing her best to keep calm. Izuku, meanwhile, is terrified. His entire body is shaking and tears are flowing down his face. His mom doesn’t move from her position, standing stiffly in front of them. He catches his mom’s eyes. The look she gives him tells him to go along with what the perp says. He tries to nod but the grip the woman has on him makes him unable to do so.
“Good. Now, you two are gonna hand over all of your valuables. Money, phones, jewelry, everything, and do it quick!”
His mom carefully nods and she starts slowly combing through her bag. She lets a few items, like her bracelet and her purse, fall to the ground. She sticks her hand in her bag again, as if she’s going to grab something else. Suddenly, the woman holding him lurches forward. It’s as if she’s been grabbed by something. She’s being dragged towards his mom, hands pointing forward.
Ah. Izuku quickly understands what's happening. His mom is using her quirk, which allows her to pull small objects toward herself, to pull the perp’s hands toward her. Because the woman's hands are attached to her body, she gets dragged behind.
The perp lets out a startled yelp, having not expected this. A gunshot sounds through the alley. The sudden movement had startled the woman, making her quirk accidentally activate. A bullet shot out from her finger and into the air. Izuku, now free and still shaking and crying, starts carefully making his way over to his mom. The woman’s eyes narrow at them and she starts yelling.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH! I told you not to move!”
She raises her hand and shoots a bullet toward them. It was aimed at him. Izuku is frozen in place, staring right at the bullet coming toward him. Before he knows it, his mom shoves him out of the way, falling on top of him. She lets out a scream as the bullet goes through her arm. Izuku unfreezes.
“MOM, NO!”
The perp clicks her tongue, annoyed. His mom is crying from the pain and breathing heavily. Izuku is full-on panicking at this point. He tries to think quickly and remembers that he needs to put pressure on the wound to stem the bleeding. He takes off his jacket and presses it onto the wound. He starts putting pressure on it and tries to take the emergency phone his mom got him out of his pocket to call 119. It slips out of his shaking hand.
“All of this could’ve been avoided if you two just played along nicely. But no, you just had to put up a fight.
“Well, looks like I have to clean up a bigger mess now. Thanks.”
Izuku raises his head to look at the woman, only to stare straight into the barrel of one of her finger guns.
His mom tries to move.
A third gunshot sounds through the alley.
He falls down.
“IZUK—!”
A fourth gunshot sounds through the alley.
It’s the last thing he hears before his vision goes black.
In disbelief, he rereads the text on the gravestone.
Here lies
Izuku Midoriya
2303 - 2315
Kind and gentle of heart