Act 1 - Ravages of Time
Chapter Summary: Basically Iris and Izuku got aclimatized to a new life. Also Izuku makes some shocking discoveries and wonders about his mother.
Izuku's PoV
Green Flare. A Quirk that never came up, when All Might explained to me it what One for All was. The only thing I knew was that All Might's mentor, Nana Shimura and the 7th wielder of OFA had a Quirk called Float. There was nothing on the Green Flare. But how did I know the Quirk's name anyway? I had more questions than before but no anwsers. But what I did know was that I landed in the Dawn of Quirks. An era that was not only chaotic and violent but when AFO was rampaging, before he eventually injured, almost killed by All Might.
During the Dawn of Quirk's the First, the Second and the Third Wielders lived - but OFA by that time was much weaker, with each User it's power was growing. After all, OFA was a stockpilling Quirk. It was passed down for many generations up to me, the Ninth holder - and then poof! Gone, like it vanished without a trace. Leaving behind only the "Green Flare". A Quirk that was unknown to me, I had no clue what it was doing.
In others words, I was fucked. And I had to figure out how to survive this. Even if I had to make a deal with a devil. In others words, joining arms with "Iris".
-"Just when Japan went to shit" - I mumbled, trying to piece the information
-"Right, we're stuck in the past with no way to go back home" - "Iris" frowned -"By the way, how I should call you? I only know you as a hero in training, Deku".
-"My name's Izuku Midoriya but call me...Zuku" - I replied -"And you?"
-"I'm Arisa Kanai but I prefer to be called Iris. It's my nickname" - the girl introduced herself with a quiet sigh -"Alright, now that out of the way, we should get going. God knows what and who lurks in this shithole".
I nodded and followed Iris. She seemed...reliable, focused on the goal. Iris back in our times, wasn't vicious or just plain cruel - no, she had her own moral codex that she followed. Maybe that was why, Iris admitted that she didn't see herself as Pro - hero. She didn't want to be restricted by the law or by the Hero Commission which was understandable. Iris also fought Villains and took down Nomu's, though she only fought Hero Killer in the act of revenge. But I felt relieved, knowing that she had few allies in the Hero system - it only confirmed that Iris just wanted to help. But she wanted to remain independent, free from the shackles that would definetly bind her if she became a Pro Hero. But still, too many things about her remained unknown.
We entered an abandoned grocery store with shattered shop windows, blood stained floor and broken shelves. I went left, Iris went right and we started rummaging through the store. Many stuff was missing, probably stolen by the people before us - but I found a small can of potted apricots, a bottle of mineral water and pack of crackers. It wasn't bad but it wasn't looking good either. The store must have been abandoned quite some time ago. When we finished rummaging, we've figured that we needed some normal clothes and a backpack.
So we left the shop and we entered an deserted apartment building on our right side. Iris left her stuff with me, to check it there are people living there. Fortunately non - one was here, so entered the 2nd floor of the building and 1st apartment on the right. The floor, the walls and the curtains were covered in dried, old blood - whatever happened in Osaka, it was massacre. It left a desolated, fallen city.
I put our supplies on the nearest table and went to the bedroom to search for the backpack. After a 15 minutes of rummaging, I found a dark green military backpack. Then I went for the nearest wardrobe and came out with green hoodie, blue jacket, black jeans and cool gray sneakers - I replaced my hero costume with the clothes I found. I went to the bathroom and looked at the hanging broken mirror. When I looked at my reflection, I almost screamed.
My hair turned raven black and my right eye became crimson red. My haircut remained very much the same, the scars on my body also didn't disappear. So why the fuck my hair and my right's eye colors changed?! I took few deep breaths, while still looking at my panicked reflection in a broken mirror. My first thought was that those were the effects of the Time Travel and the Villain's Quirk. It didn't make sense but it was the only theory I had.
Defeated, I left the bathroom and noticed Iris standing in the middle of the living room, dressed in new clothes - black sweater, dark gray rain jacket, military green pants and dark blue "all weather" shoes. She held in her left hand a black backpack and she was packing half the supplies she found. She noticed me and put the backpack on the table.
-"We should spent the night here, then leave early in the morning" - Iris suggested
-"I agree. But I still have a question though" - I said trying not to sound tired
-"Sure, ask away but I can't anwser everything. Some stuff I want keep private" - Iris replied defensively
-"Alright. So, why do you follow me? I wanted to attack you" - I asked
-"You bore no ill intentions, you looked for me for anwsers which is understandable. You wanted to capture me because you had to" - Iris replied blatantly -"And why do I follow you? It's logical, we're stuck in the distant past and the Dawn of Quirks times aren't fun. Strength in numbers, those kinda of stuff. You're capable, I saw you when you faced the Hero Killer. I only finished the job".
-"I would've died to Nomu's but you still went ahead and saved me. Why?"
-"To be completely honest, my legs kind of just moved on my own. You needed help, and it seems my heroic side refused to die on it's own" - Iris revealed, a bit embarassed
I nodded a bit surprised. In the end we stayed in the abandoned apartment for the night, after we ate supper. I blocked the door with a shelf and a free chair and then went to second bedroom where I found my new clothes. I sat on the bed and looked at the fallen city behind the window. Inko must've felt relieved, knowing that her chore is gone - when I was younger, she said multiple times that I was a curse, a burden for her. I never took it seriously - after all, what to expect from a mentally unstable woman who disliked heroes after being abandoned by one? After she started drinking, I stopped calling her "mom". For me, she was Inko Midoriya not my mother.
She stopped being one after I was diagnosed quirkless.