✓LIFE SENTENCE|| TodoDeku Au

☆Twenty-Four☆

~ Third Person P.O.V ~

"Space. A word that can be altered into many forms, a word he once longed for. Close. Another word that can be altered, a word he once loathed. Now? Space is a concept so foreign to him . . ."
—BisexualCricket, Poetry Journal

For Shoto, life was a curse bestowed upon him from whoever controlled the conceptualization of soulmates.      

Some people, those who crave the 'power' of having years and years before meeting their soulmate—years of relishing in their undying youth—would kill to be in his spot. Forever eighteen. The eternal flame of life coursing through their veins, the sense of power and dignity it would give them . . . It was something most people desired. In the world they lived in, a world filled with selfishness, hatred, and death—being able to live was a prize, a blessing sent from those above.

Life and death.

Elderly and youth.

Love and loneliness. 

These six things played a big factor in everyday society, they determined who you are as a person and where you stood. They were evenly divided factors at that; death, elderly, and love were concepts some people wanted. A chance at finding the one you are destined for, to grow old with one another, to die with one another—it was a fairy tale dream come true. Whereas, life, youth, and loneliness were a forbidden desire wanted by most . . . tainting a once beautiful world in ugliness and hate.

Shoto had always wondered what he did in a past life to deserve such a thing, to be given the curse of eternal youth. And as the days turned to weeks, the weeks into months, and the months to years the word shifted around him as he remained the same—unmoving, unchanging. Forever eighteen. 

Life and death were two notions Shoto pondered more than anything else, for a while the thought of having a soulmate was nothing but a waste of time to him. This person that had not even graced the earth yet was the determining factor on the matters of his soul. This person that had not yet seen the horrors and wonders he has was the reason for him experiencing it all in the first place. All because they weren't alive yet.

He loathed his soulmate for a few decades, hated whoever they were for being the sole reason for his undying flame of youth. Why him? What made this person so special that they got the easy way out? They would not have to wait as long as he had, they would not have to endure countless wars, see the hundreds and thousands of deaths of loved ones. Whoever his soulmate was got te option of the easy route, most likely wait a few years then they'd be gifted with life.

However, all that changed quite some time ago . . . in another lifetime. For Shoto had seen secondhand what it truly meant to have a soulmate, to have someone you would die for, someone you would live for, someone you would do anything for. He had seen a plethora of soldiers, men, women, basic citizens, give their everything just so their other half could thrive.  So they could see the light of another day.

Because of this, Shoto found himself asking a one-word question; over and over again.

Why?

This one word had been altered into countless notions, queries, and beliefs throughout Shoto's time. Naturally, they were all traced back to its origin . . . that fateful day all those years ago. The death of another, the death of a loved one, was the only way he was able to see the purpose of soulmates. As horrid as it may be, because of that death he was able to realize the meaning of his curse. His undying flame of youth. Shoto's revelation that day came in such small dosages, however, just enough to aid him in his understanding of why his curse would one day become a blessing.

And now, sitting here in Izuku's presence, those small dosages form before erupted within him like a wildfire. Destroying and taking over any and everything in its path, consuming him, devouring him until there was nothing but love, excitement, and fear in replacement of him.