Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2022-04-18
Updated:
2022-04-20
Words:
1,306
Chapters:
2/?
Comments:
14
Kudos:
23
Bookmarks:
3
Hits:
408

Reject, Rewind, Unwind

Summary:

After the Hero Program was abolished in Japan, The Unwind Initiative was Introduced to prevent those with villainous quirks and dangerous ideals from Causing trouble. From the age of 13 up to 18, Children with the potential to become villains can be turned in for Unwinding. Terminating them from society without technically ending their lives.

At least that's how it was supposed to work. Instead the system was being used to remove anyone that was seen as dangerous, troublesome, or otherwise undesirable.

And Izuku "Quirkless, useless Deku" Midoriya was on that list.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

No one expected the age of heroes to end quite like it did. 

 

If people were being honest, no one expected it to end at all.

 

Homes across the country watched on in silence as two titans fought live on tv.

 

“We urge everyone to stay away from the Kamino Ward Area! People are being Evacuated but the destruction is bringing it to a crawl” one news reporter shouts into her microphone in an attempt to be heard over the wind caused by the battle.

 

Part of a building is seen being launched behind another reporter.

 

“Footage is spreading like wildfire across the internet of a similar battle over 8 years ago, this footage has not yet been confirmed as fact.” 

 

Forums are going wild as people are discovering and sharing documentation of the villain who dates back to the start of the quirk era.

Days later, phones are still non-stop ringing as people are trying to find the whereabouts of loved ones present during the attack.

 

The phones stopped that evening when the hero commission announced that All Might had passed due to his injuries in the hospital earlier that day.

 

Six months later, the government announced that the Hero program would be abolished nationwide, all hero courses would be shut down— effective immediately— and that new measures would be put in place to prevent a tragedy like this ever happening again.

 

A week passed before the Unwind Initiative was announced as a way to prevent those with troubling quirks and dangerous ideals from being able to cause such events from ever repeating, by humanely terminating the individual— without ending a life.

 

Legacy Heroes were chosen to help aid the transition, by aiding the police until the crime rates had lowered enough for them to retire.

 

Now, most children don’t even realise that ‘Pro Hero’ had been a career before they were born.

Chapter 2

Summary:

The sight of the bright yellow form burned into his mind.

Midoriya Izuku was going to be Unwound, All because his teacher thought that a useless Deku like him couldn't do well on a test without cheating...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Izuku had learned that the world wasn’t fair at a young age. That the same people who pushed him down were being pushed up by society. Countless evenings spent treating bruises and burns, if only that had stayed the worst of it.

Izuku was 9 the first time it happened. Fighting back tears as his teacher handed him the test from the previous day, told to rip it up in front of everyone. ‘Cheater’ had been written across the top in thick red pen.

“Sir, I- I didn’t- I wouldn’t- why?” He asked, his voice faltering at anything above a mumble. Fat tears were starting to roll down his cheeks, so much for not crying in front of everyone.

“Don’t try any of that with me!” The teacher snapped, sending a glare at the young boy. “Something like you could never get that score. I don’t allow liars in my class Midoriya.”

Izuku could barely hear the teacher as the gossiping from his classmates sent him into a panic.

Stop crying. It’ll make them worse. Stop crying!!

He didn’t notice the teacher leave the desk until she was standing in front of him. Time felt like syrup as a bright yellow form was stapled to the front of his uniform. A pink copy being pinned to the wall amongst a sea of completed worksheets.

“They’ll be here to pick you up at lunch- Don’t keep them waiting.”

No. No no. No no no no! The school wouldn’t really send him off like that, they couldn’t… right? This has to be some sort of prank the teacher was playing.

Yeah! That was it, just a joke, a mean one, but Izuku had seen the information segments on TV. There should be three copies to the Triplicate, that’s what they always showed. The pink one that the parents kept as proof of the order, The yellow one that was kept with the kid as a marker and ID. And the white one, the one that-

… that got sent off to the authorities.

Izuku didn’t think he could run as fast as he did at that moment. He barely registered leaving the classroom as he sprinted through the hall. Now came the problem of actually getting out. The front door wasn’t an option— there was bound to be someone at the front office. Footsteps echoed through the hall behind him, so now would be a really great time for his brain to give him an idea— The Fire Alarm! Hopefully that would cause enough of a distraction.

Standing on the tip of his toes, he has just enough height to reach the small red box, the metal handle is cold to the touch as his finger clasp around it, and pulls the alarm.

Silence…

A moment later the cacophony of alarms is deafening as Izuku uses the noise to cover his tracks, he can hear the sound of chairs scraping the floor as students file out of the classrooms. He ducks into a crowd of older students, trying to avoid catching the eye of any teachers as they make their way out onto the yard.

He can see the gate now, there’s a teacher standing a few feet behind him, but the crowd might just be enough to let him escape. Izuku carefully pushes his way to the front of the group— better not to let them notice anything— and in a moment when he spots the teacher speaking to another student, he makes a break for it.

He can hear yelling behind him, but there’s not much they can do as he weaves his way through the busy streets. Some people give him strange looks upon noticing the form stuck to him, but most are more than happy to ignore it, and Izuku has long since passed by the time anyone tries to grab him to turn him in.

Home, gotta get home, then I can work out what to do next.

The neighbours probably aren’t too pleased as he slams open the front door to the apartment. He’s breathing heavily as he stumbles whilst taking his shoes off.

***
Inko groans at the sound of the front door being slammed open. There’s only one other person with a key to the apartment, and he should be in school right now.

Keyword: should

She gasps at the sight of her son, his face red and splotchy from tears, eyes glassy, but from fear. And then she spots the obnoxious yellow form crumpled on his chest…

“Izuku- baby what happened?” She asks, pulling him into a hug. She can feel his small form shaking as he clings onto her like his life depends on it.

“I didn’t… I didn’t do it!” Izuku mutters shakily. Still unfocused and sobbing. Inko carries him into the kitchen, anger simmering below the surface for whoever hurt her baby like this. Still holding him close, Inko gently sways on her feet, humming as she wets a small cloth to clean his face with.

Some combination of the cool cloth and gentle touch must bring him back from whatever panic he’s in, because Inko hears him take a deep breath and start sobbing even harder.

“I didn’t do it mama! I didn’t cheat! Please don’t let them take me mama! I don’t want to go! Please-“

It’s then that it clicks to her exactly what those papers on his shirt are. And if that doesn’t break her heart that her little boy— Her baby, is sobbing and panicking because someone sent out an Unwinding order against him, just because they thought he cheated!

“Izuku, listen to me, deep breaths, okay? You’re going to be alright. I won’t let them take you,” she doesn’t know who she’s comforting more with her words, but she doesn't let them stop as she cards her hand through his curls.

“They can’t take you yet anyway, You’re not thirteen yet baby, we’ll sort this out. I promise,”

Notes:

This one was a quick update because I almost had it finished, I'm normally quite a slow writer so future updates will be slower <3

Notes:

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it (*’ω’*)

I'm trying to make sure that concepts and any timeline changes are understandable, but if anything is confusing, please let me know and I can explain it!

Don't forget to drink some water, have a little snack if you need it, and take your meds if you have them <3