Izuku Midoryia One-Shots

Reflective Mirrors

Izuku is staring at himself. Only it's not him. It can't be because Izuku is in his seat while the other him is standing in the middle of the class with eyes dulled and face blank without a single twitch of surprise. Something inside Izuku stirs at the sight of the other him, and it hurts. The other him is wearing a black and white suit and has a scar right across the bridge of his nose. His forearms are proudly exposed and covered in criss-crossed scars that look like the ones that Izuku has on his hips.

"Who are you and why do you look like my student?" Aizawa's voice breaks through everybodies shocked state, but the person that looks like Izuku but isn't Izuku doesn't answer. All he does is look at him, and Izuku feels nauseated by it. The gaze is like broken glass, and he finds himself relating to it without knowing why.

"You made it." His voice is different from his own, but there's similarities in it as well. It reminded him of his middle school self and how he wouldn't let an ounce of emotion slip through his voice no matter the costs. It's more practiced, Izuku realizes. Less forced and more believable than his ever was.

The boy who is him (but it isn't. This is someone he could never be. This is someone who only resided in his nightmares that he didn't even remember) starts walking towards Izuku. It's as if he's floating- footsteps so quiet that Jiro couldn't even hear them. Aizawa and the rest of the class tense, but for some reason, Izuku doesn't feel threatened. Perhaps it's because this is him, and even though they are strangers to each other, Izuku doesn't think the other him has any reason to hurt.

"Huh?" Izuku doesn't know what his alter means by 'he made it', but it sounds relieved.

The other him smiles down at Izuku. The smile brings tears to his eyes at how resigned at agonizing it looks. The hollowness of the other's eyes seeps into Izuku's stomach; a sensation he hasn't felt since middle school.

"You're going to be a hero." It's true. He is going to be a hero. The truth of it still feels forieng and dream-like.

"What about you? Aren't you going to be a hero?" The alter's face darkens at that, and Izuku wants to throw up because that look is that of someone who has given up.

"It didn't work out for me. I gave up. Tried to take someone's advice," the other him looks at Kacchan when he says that, and they both pale. They know what he tried to do, and Izuku finds that hard to digest. Finds it hard to even breathe.

Izuku had lost count of how many times he thought about ending it, but actually going through with it? Never. There was something soul crushing at the fact that in another universe, he did.

The alter continues, "I failed and only fell down a darker path. Don't think I'm you, because I'm not. You're a hero, and I'm a villain."

At this revelation, Aizawa wraps his student that's not his student in his capture weapon. It doesn't matter if this person (He's still a kid, Shouta realizes. Why didn't anyone save him?) has the face of his problem child. He's a villain.

Izuku however, thinks he's lying.

"No. You're not."

"I work with villains." He then makes eye contact with Aizawa, "You asked who I was. My name is Atlas, and I've hurt people. So, so many people."

"Tell me why we're different." It's the first time that Atlas looks surprised, but it's quickly washed away.

"I help villains-"

"How? What are you trying to accomplish?" At this, his alter looks defeated. His mouth opening and closing with words that are begging to escape.