Midoriya Izuku's POV
Most people assumed that if you ever met a high-ranking Villain, the only thought you'd have going through your head would be to get away from them.
If he was completely honest, Izuku had believed this himself for most of his youth.
Despite his glowing aspirations for becoming a Hero, he had learned ever since he was little that a Quirkless boy like him couldn't do anything. Really, he'd only get in other people's way.
However, even after years of hearing these truths and facing up to the facts, Izuku still couldn't help himself. He wanted to get into the middle of the action, to help everyone he could and improve the situation in any way possible.
This of course was never a logical train of thought, and even now after meeting his adored idol All Might and inheriting his very own superpower, it continually got him into trouble.
Just like Izuku's irrepressible urges to protect others, he also couldn't stop his tendency to mumble incoherently to himself, or take note of the people around him, Hero and Villain.
They were just parts of who Izuku was.
So his excitement when he found out that the illusive, feared, anonymous supervillain 'Ground Zero' had joined his class was off the charts.
Instead of being filled with apprehension and fear like his other peers, the only things running through his head were uncountable questions.
What role did he play in the League?
Why had he become a Villain?
How had he learned to fight so skilfully?
Were the explosives on his outfit a part of his Quirk, or hand made?
What was his Quirk?
But most importantly, who was he?
Izuku had come up with hundreds of possible answers for each of these questions, focusing on the last one specifically.
He got himself hugely wound up over it, coming up with thousands of variations for what Ground Zero could look and act like.
Seeing the young Villain for himself had left Izuku absolutely speechless for the most part, and instead of continuing to feel the nervous elation he'd been experiencing all day, it came down in a huge adrenaline crash.
The second Ground Zero walked through Class 1-A's door, Izuku had been hit with a dizzying wave of nostalgic sadness. It had been so strong and so vivid, he'd almost fallen off his chair and burst into tears.
With a slim but muscular build similar to the other boys in 1-A, Ground Zero had light pallid skin and routinely narrowed eyes of a deep scarlet hue.
His ash-blonde hair had hung low over his furrowed brows, and his mouth had been twisted into an annoyed frown.
The Villain had given the rest of the class a collective once over, before taking one of Izuku's friends seat in front of him. It was true, Izuku had been trembling through the entirety of homeroom.
But it wasn't from a sense of fear or concern for his own safety like many of his friends and Ground Zero himself had assumed, rather, it was shock.
Yes, that was the perfect word for it. Izuku had fallen into a shell-shocked state, and an unshakeable sense of foreboding dread weighed over his shoulders.
There was just something so eerily familiar about the Villain's deep voice, something so dreadfully recognisable about his sharp glare.
Now, looking back on that morning, Izuku realised where the similarities lay.
— — —
"Nerd...Hold on...K-Kacchan? Is, is that you?"
Slowly, so slowly, Ground Zero turned back around to face the one who spoke.
Said boy, Midoriya Izuku, the sweet, innocent green bean of Class 1-A, was staring at the Villain in horror.
His normally placid, luminous green eyes held nothing but confusion and utter turmoil. The red eyes Izuku found himself met with however, displayed a completely opposite array of emotions.
Within seconds, the normal angered irritation that flickered behind Zero's scarlet iris's had flared up into a blazing rage. And beneath that, there was a strong undercurrent of hate. Pure, burning, hatred that seemed to contort his entire being.
A shadow fell across Ground Zero's face, and in that moment, Izuku discovered something about this position.
Being the centre of this Villain's attention was a very, very dangerous place to be, and Izuku now found himself unable to escape the fearsome gaze locked onto his own.
"What did you say?" Zero whispered.
It was the quietest and calmest thing Izuku had heard the Villain say, and somehow, that was one hundred times more terrifying than his normally yelled insults.
Izuku's pulse raced as his eyes darted from every feature on Ground Zero's face. Not even the minutest detail escaped his notice, and his breathing picked up.
All the same things were there.
The annoyed scowl, the furrowed brows, the curve of his strong jawline, the almost invisible dusting of freckles, the uniquely coloured eyes. It was all exactly the same.
Suddenly, Izuku was no longer standing in front of U.A.'s main entrance with those three other people. He was no longer a student studying to be a Hero, but rather a child dreaming to be one.
Izuku found himself in a plain white expanse, with no floor under his feet and no roof above his head.
The colour of the abyss that had seemingly swallowed his tiny form whole was that un-named shade of crème, one that might be found in the void between sleep and wake.
It was bright but unfathomably gentle on the eyes, instantly lulling the mildly panicked child into a tranquil state.
Calmer now, the small boy managed to control his hyperventilating breaths and take a proper look around. He turned to his left, only to find it empty. He turned to his right, seeing only the same lifeless space.
He was alone, it would seem.
The child's ears perked up as he heard a soft sigh coming from...behind him. Spinning around excitedly, he turned to see who else was here.
Big green eyes widen before tipping shut in a beaming close eyed smile. There, standing in front of him, was his best friend, wearing his favourite skull T-shirt. Kacchan!
Just as small as Izuku, the short—but still taller than himself—boy had spiked ashy hair, almost as untameable as Izuku's own, and a slightly dimpled smile.
But then the mahogany eyed boys grin faded, just as quick as it had come. Without warning his face smoothed out from happiness to fear, and he spun on his heel, running away.
"Hey, wait up!" Izuku called out his friend.
Almost instantly a wave of nausea swept through him, and Izuku found himself looking on things differently. Quite literally it seemed, as his small five-year-old legs had grown longer and stronger.
Looking back up from his body, Izuku saw that Kacchan had grown up too. Now no longer an infant, he was tall and well proportioned, even as a mere ten year old.
Kacchan met his eyes but instead of a simple greeting, all that filled those pools of red was melancholy regret. Besides that remorse there was nothing else, not even a glimmer of recognition.
Looking closer, the only other thing he noticed was a hint of subtly hid hostility. Izuku took a step forwards, but the other boy took a step back to match.
Shaking his head angrily, Kacchan continued moving slowly away. Izuku's face cracked in confusion. This was Kacchan, his childhood friend! Why was he acting so reproachful? Why was he running away?
Suddenly, a look of pain swept across the other boys face. Kacchan seemed to reach out to him, eyes pleading, and so Izuku held out a hand.
Kacchan mirrored his movements, revealing an arm covered in bruises, small cuts and blemishes that marred his pale skin.
Izuku's eyes widen, and he attempted to ask Kacchan what had happened. But even as blood dripped off his friends fingers and splattered across the invisible floor, Izuku couldn't find his voice.
He brought a hand up to his throat, looking down in confusion. The humid temperature dropped suddenly, sending an icy chill down Izuku's spine.
He looked back up again, only to see a heavy blackness creep across the white behind his friend. Izuku tried to shout out, tried to warn Kacchan, but his voice still wasn't working.
Finally getting his meaning, Kacchan turned around. He was confronted by a wall of midnight black, rearing up sky-high and cutting through the soothing white like ink across a blank page.
His reaction was obscured from Izuku's view, but he tried to lunge forwards and help his friend anyways. As he moved to take a step though, his foot stuck to the ground.
Looking down in dismay, he found tentacles of black sludge wrapping themselves around his legs like demented vines. Still trying to shout out, all he could do was writhe on the spot as the huge wave of darkness crashed down on Kacchan.
The other boy sent Izuku one last pleading look, before his beautiful crimson eyes disappeared from sight and the swathe of black covered his outstretched arm.
"Kacchan!"
Suddenly Izuku remembered where he knew those red eyes from.
"Deku."