Version A | Boku No Hero Academia Reader Insert

XXXV

"I just feel like you deserve to know the truth. Especially you, Iida-kun." He nodded, intently staring at me, along with the rest of the group.

"So when I was kidnapped, the villains tried to recruit me into the league. They said things about being rejected from society, being shunned and hurt by heroes, just being different in general.

"And I got angry. They thought that they could persuade me because I'd just been hurt, and it made me mad to think that they viewed me in such a shallow manner. So I threw a chair at Shigaraki and then almost started fighting them until All Might and other heroes came and detained them." 

"But that's where it should have stopped," Deku commented, furrowing his eyebrows. "But why did you end up in the middle of the battle?" I sighed and looked to the ground.

"After the heroes arrived, I let my guard down," I mumbled, my voice cracking. "I thought I had been saved, but then black wormholes appeared and sucked me and the villains up. I could remember All Might's face as he failed to catch me.

"Then I popped back up in the field after what had seemed like ages of falling in the pitch-black darkness. I saw Tomura Shigaraki, and a man who had a black helmet covering his entire head. He introduced himself as All For One, and said he wanted to offer something to me.

"Of course, I declined, not wanting to side with the villains. But..." I stopped, my breaths becoming more and more heavy. 

"But what?" Uraraka whispered, placing a hand on my shoulder. "(L/N)-kun, what happened?" I gave her a sad smile, then looked at everyone with the same expression.

"He offered me something I'd always wanted. It was like he knew everything about me, all my darkest secrets, all my thoughts and what I'd imagined my life would be like if it was different," I admitted, a hand clasped around my wrist as I fidgeted. 

"What did he offer you?" Tokoyami murmured, his face twisted in worry, like he already knew. I gave a chuckle, full of pity.

"He gave me the chance to finally have a quirk. He wanted to give me something in return for my loyalty. He said that we weren't that much different, that we'd both been bashed by society. He wanted to make a world without heroes, without the stigma that they carried along with them."

"Did you decline the offer?" Iida asked, stern.

"Of course I did, but never in my life had I ever felt so scared. It felt like I was weightless, and he could knock me down with a single flick. I lost my voice and he taunted me, saying that I was considering the proposal." 

"You... were you?" I felt like crying for the millionth time.

"No matter how many times I say to myself that I wasn't, that I was good... I think I know the truth deep inside me. For years and years I'd been bullied, been laughed at for not having a quirk, for being quirkless. I went to a school with people that would claim to be heroes just because they had something that I didn't, that I couldn't control. At that time, I wanted to just scream because I was just so conflicted with myself. I didn't know who I really was."

I took a breath, leaving us in the silence of the night for a few seconds, crickets chirping in the grass, the stars singing overhead.

"And then I heard Bakugo's voice. I heard his voice in my head, calling me an idiot. I thought, 'Why? Why now?' and he kept talking, saying to me that I wasn't weak, that my effort actually had results. I thought he was teasing me as well, so I shouted at him, not even caring to listen to his words. 

"I was then left alone, wallowing in my own self-destruction, unaware of my surroundings. The rest of the league had me surrounded. I just couldn't take all the stress, the trauma of the situation, as they pitied me, saying that they didn't want to hurt me while I was so weak.