Father of Mine (Everclear)

I come to in an endless void. Well, void may not be the most apt description, given that there was no chilling, icy darkness, but just a plain, white infinite nothing.

I looked at my own body, nothing but a grayscale silhouette of the man that used to be. I reached out to touch my face, only to discover that my hand passed straight through.

I tried to scream. No sound came out, or if it did, I couldn't hear it. I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't smell anything.

I couldn't even feel anything. There was no light breeze, no pressure, not even any floaty feeling.

Just me, alone with hazy, half coherent thoughts, like I was high, drunk and on morphine all at the same time.

I lie there for what could be minutes, hours, or days. I can't tell. Time has lost all meaning. I am alone, isolated in this endless wasteland.

That was before something appeared in the distance, manifesting like a rip in space.

I couldn't make out what it was from this distance, so I willed my body to move closer, finding myself drifting ever nearer to the mysterious phenomena in the distance.

Even when I got within a couple hundred feet, I could just barely make out what it was. A panel of darkness. Somehow both shimmering with and nullifying all light in the surroundings, like a tear in the very cosmos.

It called out to my soul, like a close, personal friend, so I moved closer to the wall- no, the Gate, and reached out to touch it.

Every inch closer I got; I could see my silhouette distorting. I could feel it attempting to absorb my very essence. My soul.

But I couldn't bring myself to pull away.

The Gate felt so real, so alive, it was the opposite of this sterile, endless white prison. I willed myself further, pushing my spectral form to touch the portal.

I watched as I got closer, as the pull got stronger. The tear emitted a hellish static, a sound like the void itself being deep-fried. I watched as the darkness shivered, as if anticipating my touch.

And then I reached it.

And everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sorry kids. It's not gonna happen."

I opened my eyes in a sparse doctor's office. There wasn't much around, a bed surrounded by a curtain, a small desk along the wall, some basic posters. What really drew my attention were the two x-rays on the wall, seemingly of children's feet.

"Oh dear. So you really think something's wrong, then?"

That drew my attention to the other people in the room, two of them startlingly familiar.

The first was a fat old man, reclining in a rolling chair like it was a throne. He was wearing a basic lab coat, but what really stuck out were his weird ass goggles and that Dr. Egghead mustache.

The other two seemed to be a mother-son duo. The younger of the two was a small child, maybe four or so, with curly green locks of hair, four small freckles on either cheek, and tears welling in his large emerald eyes.

The mother was pretty, but in that plain way a lot of housewives are. Dark green hair tied up in a half-ponytail, a pink sweater and blue skirt.

"Most of the other kindergarteners in their class have begun to show signs already." The woman said.

"My records say you're a fourth-generation quirk user." The doctor said in a bored voice. "What powers do you and the boys' father have?"

"Nothing too special. I can float small objects towards me, and my husband breathes fire. They're useful enough, I suppose." The woman said, the child still sitting there looking shell-shocked.

Wait a minute. I thought, beginning to panic. I know these fuckers.

"Izuku and Akatani should have manifested one of those Quirks or a combination of both, but after viewing their x-rays, I don't think they're going to."

Quirks.

The word hit me like a truck. Good news is, I now recognize the two people sitting in front of me, Izuku Midoriya and Inko Midoriya.

But why the fuck am I here?

The doctor continued, uncaring of my rising panic. "You see, when superpowers first began appearing, there were many research studies conducted, and doctors discovered a link between the bones in a person's foot and their likelihood of developing a Quirk. People with quirks only have one joint in their pinky toes. Their bodies have evolved into a more streamlined version of the human form."

I don't care about any of that! Why am I here? How did I get here? Was it that fucking Gateway?

The doctor tapped the x-rays. "You can see here that Izuku and Akatani have two joints in their pinkies, like roughly 20% of the population today."

Wait, who the fuck is Akatani?

"Based on the research that's available, its safe to say your sons aren't going to develop a Quirk."

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!

I looked down at my hands. Or... not my hands. These were too small, missing the light scars and callouses that used to mark my skin from years of playing guitar. Looking further at my legs, I saw stubby, useless little things. These couldn't be mine; they obviously belong to a child.

Unless they are yours. I imagined a voice whispering over my shoulder. C'mon. You know what this is. Just admit it.

Reincarnation.

But. But why? But when? But WHO? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

At this point I was full on freaking out, at least internally. On the outside, I didn't move even a muscle, having gone into shock. Luckily, Izuku was the same, so it didn't draw too much attention.

After a silence so tense it was almost physical, Inko gathered her resolve. "Alright. Thank you, Dr. Tsubasa. We are going to leave now to… digest the news."

At that, she scooped Izuku up in her arms and held my hand, guiding me alongside out of the doctor's office. The way out was a blur, faces flowing past, rooms and hallways both stretching forever and condensing to a point.

I noticed nothing, too focused on my frantic thoughts to pay attention to where we were, to pay attention to what Inko was saying. I remember numbly crawling into a car-seat, at least that much.

Everything felt so far away, like I was just watching from the outside.

At some point Inko drove us home, Mustafu Ward blurring past through the windows. I felt lost.

*Briing-Briing*

The sound of Inko calling someone snapped me out of it. A rough male voice answered, like someone who'd been smoking since he was a toddler.

"Hey Inky. How'd the appointment go? What quirks do my boys have?" Hisashi Midoriya said. He sounded cheerful, but I could feel a darkness under it.

"'Sashi… It's not good. The boys… they don't have quirks. Neither one." Inko said, her voice shaking.

The line went dead. Inko just stared at the road ahead, unblinking so the tears in her eyes wouldn't fall.

Hisashi huffed through the phone, voice low. "No Quirks. Neither one. You're telling me neither child has a quirk? You're saying they're Nulls?"

Inko choked back a sob. "That's- that's what the doctor said. "Apparently, they've got some kind of extra joint in their toes. It's a done deal."

Hisashi didn't respond. The only sounds I could hear were the rumbling of the engine and Izuku's tiny, quiet sniffles.

He wasn't going to respond. I don't know how I knew, but I did. He'd never been too caring about Izuku and I, but he got far less so after our fourth birthday.

How do I know that?

I found myself reaching over to Izuku, the gap between our car-seats small enough that I could hold his hand. He immediately gripped me back, strangling my hand with all the strength his tiny body could muster, using me as a lifeline.

I tightened my grip in turn.

Minutes passed, Inko just quietly driving us home. I could hear Hisashi breathing over the phone, slowly getting more and more heated. Eventually, he just cut the line. I could feel Izuku gripping my hand like I was the last thing on earth. I saw the streets pass us by, people in brightly colored costumes and people with strange Quirks flowing past like a stream.

I was so, so lost.

As time ticked by, I began to recognize more of my surroundings, remember more of my- Akatani's- past. Granted, he was four, nearing five, so there was not much to remember. There were nights where they were a good, normal family.

 Izuku and I would sit on the floor in front of the couch, watching those old Westerns Dad loves, our parents sitting right behind us. There were the 'Hero' games Izu and I would play, where mom would be a citizen in distress, waiting for All Might (Izuku) and Endeavor (Me) to come save her.

Apparently Akatani's favorite hero is Endeavor. He wanted to have a fire Quirk just like him, he would say. Just like his father.

Well that was going to change, at least.

I could also remember bad times. Akatani wasn't even aware anything was wrong, it was all in the peripherals, the vibes.

Hisashi was getting more distant with time, reached a breaking point on Izuku's and my own birthday. He would give Izu and Akatani special 'games' where if we could breathe fire or move things and if we did, we would win and get a prize.

We never won.

Every time he couldn't squeeze that bit of potential out of us, he'd get a little more distant. I could feel it, Hisashi wouldn't be sticking around much longer. Given the term 'Null' he'd used earlier, I wasn't sure I'd want him to.

I could feel the car turn down a familiar street, so could Izu, apparently, given that he stopped sniffling.

We rounded on a mid-sized apartment complex, pulling into the underground parking. Inko pulled into a spot, marked 35A. Apparently this was my new home.

I helped Izu out of his car seat, the child was too distressed to do it himself. Mom opened our doors, allowing us to crawl out of the car onto the cold cement.

Izuku rushed over to me, clinging to my side.

We walked to the elevator in silence, no one saying anything until we reached the front door.

When we got there, the door was unlocked, so we just walked in.

Hisashi wasn't there.

Neither was his stuff.