Lost in the Fog

A Fracture of Pain

"Death is my only escape."

There was a man, sitting in a library, his face covered by shadow, only blue eyes glowing vibrantly from them. He was reading a leatherbound book, dyed green, and he had just spoken that single line. The man sat in a dignified armchair, and he seemed to stare at you, the reader. Even with that proclamation, he continued:

"Frankly, It's not a healthy to think like that. But, then, Izuku Midoriya was not, by any standard of ours, considered healthy. In our Terra, he would be perfectly fine... maybe he would thrive, needing a bit of food to put some meat on his bones... But there... he was not healthy at all. Mentally or physically. He used to hide his bruises underneath a tattered and burnt school uniform. Half a dozen bandaids held together a gash running down from the top of his right eye, halfway down his cheek. His green bush head of hair, which would only be possible with hair dye in Terra Primus, was all natura. It should've been vibrant, but... was faded and dull. Either due to stress, fatigue, or a combination of both. His eyes mirrored his tattered hair, as gaunt with sleepless bags underneath.

He didn't walk between classes. He limped. His right leg pained him whenever he walked. The result of terrible people striking him because he was different. Even as everyone belittled him, however, he still continued onward. Fighting his own unwinnable battle against all odds. Against all odds, he survived.

It was inevitable that the world, who already hated him, decided that he should be treated even worse than he already was. All for his lack of a superpower, as they call it, a quirk. In the end, while it was presented as his choice, it was not really one. And so, he thought one simple phrase:

Death is my only escape, but I want to at least try to be a hero first."

The man sighed, now only breaking his gaze from you, and down towards his left hand. A strange device swirled in it, and after a moment, light formed into a shape. It solidified... into a glass of whiskey on the rocks. He brought it up to where his lips would be, the glass glinting from the candles on the walls, before he set it down on the table next to him. Having quenched his thirst, he continued to read, from the book, while watching you.

"The poor child sat down at his desk, and waited. Izuku pondered about the last hero fight he witnessed: Mt. Lady's Debut. She, a gigantification hero, took down a gigantification villain. A larger than life battle, one that brought life to his eyes, as Izuku remembered it. It was one of the few highlights of his life, watching heroes at work. His mother was another such beacon in his life, but she was always at work. He barely saw her, and the lack of an emotional anchor was getting to him, slowly, day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute. The school day went through as it normally does for a powerless child in a world of reality defying people, with ridicule. It lead all the way to the end, with discussions of the future: "With the end of the year coming up soon, you need to take your career into consideration... Ah, screw it, you all want to be heroes!"

His class used this time to activate their quirks, and illegal action, mind you, and... of course, with the exception of Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo. Midoriya had no quirk to speak of, but Bakugo was different. All he did was sneer at the rest of them, as he knew one simple truth, at his core. He knew he was better than them. At least that was his opinion.
Their teacher spoke up again, a quiet attempt to reign in the chaos he'd unleashed.  "All right, settle down. It's against the law to use your quirks. You know this."
When everyone settled down, five minutes later than he meant to, he continued, "Bakugo, aren't you applying to UA's heroics course?"

Everyone was complaining about his attitude, but also praising him for trying. UA, the institution was one of the most reknowned in this Terra. And Katsuki held their praise with pride, ever the egoist. Izuku ignored them, as it wasn't worth listening to. However, the topic shifted to him, as it always does.