It's not easy being green. It's certainly not easy to be an alien on a planet that hates aliens. Naturally, this story has its fair share of heartbreaking moments as Izuku has to cope with what it means to be an alien on the world he lives in, what he's capable of, and the consequences of his actions and those around him, good or bad.
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Chapter 1 - Izuku Midoriya: Birthright Part 1
- The Midoriyas' palpable frustration and anguish over their inability to have the child they wanted. It's a somewhat cliche use of the Law of Inverse Fertility, but it still hits home.
Chapter 2 - Izuku Midoriya: Birthright Part 2
- The clear emotional turmoil Izuku feels over his long-held dream to become a hero and his fears of hurting everyone he tries to help.
- Izuku looking on in horror as he realizes what he did to Katsuki and his desperate but failed attempt to save him, causing him to break down in tears and admit that the accident, initially thought to be a Villain attack, was all his fault. He then rides in the ambulance just looking at the bloody and broken Katsuki with wide, scared eyes.
- Izuku just feels worse after seeing Katsuki's parents as distraught as he was over the incident. When the police arrive to investigate, Izuku is thoroughly convinced that he's going to jail for what he did.
- Poor Izuku's Super-Hearing activates at the worst possible time, letting him hear that there shouldn't be any reason he should have powers in the first place before being forced to listen to every kind of atrocity happening around the world at the exact same time for a double whammy of trauma.
- Izuku is just so guilt-ridden after the incident and the mystery of his own abilities that he's simultaneously begging and demanding his parents to tell him who or what he is in a tone no four-year-old should have to use. His parents are at a complete loss for words after this.Izuku: Why did that happen? Why did any of this happen? If I don't have a Quirk, or any of the other powers someone can have, then why did I hurt Kacchan?! Please, just tell me what I am!
- He isn't happy with the answer and immediately declares himself a monster who doesn't belong on Earth as his parents repeatedly try and fail to console him.Izuku: So that means I hurt Kacchan because I'm a monster.
Inko: That's not true! You're not a monster, Izuku!
Izuku:Yes, I am! People who aren't monsters don't hurt their friends the way I hurt Kacchan, even if their friends were being mean!
Hisashi: That was an accident! They happen literally every day! It doesn't matter where you came from, Izuku, you're still our son-
Izuku: Even if you say that, it's not true! If I was really your son, then I wouldn't have any powers and Kacchan wouldn't have gotten hurt! But all of that happened! Because, because I'm someone who doesn't belong here! [runs to his room and locks the door, crying into his pillow as his parents pound on the door] - The sheer gravity of the Mood Whiplash Izuku gets after learning about his powers. One moment he feels like he'll never achieve his dream of being a Hero. The next he feels like he's on top of the world with an amazing Super-Strength Quirk. Just a week later he learns how much damage he can do if he's thoughtless with his new powers when he puts his best friend in the hospital with horrible scars and injuries, leaving him wracked with guilt. Then he finds out that he isn't even human, declaring himself a monster and vowing to squash his dreams of being a Hero so he will never hurt anyone again.
Chapter 3 - Izuku Midoriya: Birthright Part 3
- Izuku's guilt is so profound that even words of encouragement from All Might can't dispel Izuku's fears of the harm he will cause if he ever even thinks of being a Hero.Izuku: Wait. What am I doing? [stops bowing in gratitude] This isn't something I should be happy about. The idea of being a Hero… even if it's coming from All Might, I can't do it. I just can't do it.
- Izuku spilling out his fears of what he's capable of to All Might, repeatedly calling himself a monster the whole time.Izuku: After my parents told me that, it made sense why I was able to hurt my friend even without a Quirk: because I'm the same kind of terrible Monster they always say aliens are in school. I almost killed him when I was just four years old, and I'm getting stronger and stronger every year, without even trying. Someone like me doesn't deserve the right to be a Hero. By the time I'm old enough, I'd just destroy everything around me! Just like a Monster!
- All Might can't think of a way to reconcile Izuku's fears and doubts and reluctantly tells him that Izuku can become a Hero, but is not sure if he should become a Hero. This leaves Izuku in inconsolable tears once again.All Might: The other reason you're taking this so poorly is because of your own confirmation bias. You weren't really looking for my honest opinion, you just wanted me to tell you exactly what you wanted to hear so you could stop having doubts about your future. Life doesn't work that way, though. It's good to go to others for help, but in the end, you need to decide on how your life will go, all by yourself. Midoriya, my boy, I still think you can be a Hero, but whether or not you should be one? I honestly can't say, and it's not because you're an alien, it's because of a shortcoming you could've had, even if you were human.
- Izuku's self-loathing is so severe that he can't think of a way to refute All Might's arguments and just takes it as fact and just berates himself afterward.Izuku: It's not like he was wrong, though. I was just hoping that he'd just give me another one of his big smiles and say "Who cares if you're an alien? Go be a Hero!" I never even thought about him saying anything I didn't want to hear. That was stupid. So, so stupid.
- Even after he does a good thing by saving Katsuki from the Sludge Villain, Izuku's trauma is so deep-set that he still feels like he does nothing but endanger everyone. He's mentally and emotionally closed himself off from his ability to recognize his own good deeds.Izuku: Neither of those statements were true, though: anyone who looked at Kacchan back there would have known that he was scared out of his mind, and anyone who knew me would have known that I put everyone except myself in danger. I could have hurt Kacchan all over again, I knew that, yet I still went in to save him. What did that say about me, then?
- The fact that the Midoriyas' fears of what would happen if Izuku's alien nature were to ever come to light is very justified by Alan Scott's, the Green Lantern's, extremist stance on aliens. Even All Might can do little to assuage his fears.All Might: A lot of people would agree with that. Ever since the Lantern War, people haven't been very kind to aliens. Renegade, Starfire, Martian Manhunter, we lost a lot of great Heroes at the height of the paranoia.
Izuku: It's not like that's even over. Look! Up in the sky! The sun's setting, so if you look closely, you can see the light of Alan Scott's Green Palace! The space station he's been living in for almost a century to shoot down anyone like me who comes anywhere near here! And everyone's okay with that!
All Might: That's true. If anyone ever found out about you being an alien, you'd probably get a Hero or two sent to capture you. If that happened, you'd need to pray that Alan Scott doesn't personally go after you.
Chapter 4 - The Übermenschen Part 1
- How blatantly uncomfortable Izuku is around Mt. Fuji as he's surrounded by people who turned his arrival on Earth into a cheap tourist trap. It's even more discomforting to hear everyone, from adults to children to kids his own age, say that they would like nothing more than to beat him into a bloody pulp solely for being an alien.
- Even though All Might tries to assure Izuku to the contrary when the boy turns down the offer of obtaining One for All and tries his best to be happy that Izuku is choosing his own path in life, All Might knows he doesn't have much time left to find a successor.All Might was glad that Midoriya chose his own path, he really was. The last thing he wanted to do was force a responsibility onto him that he didn't want to take. There were other people who would surely be worthy, it didn't have to be Midoriya. Hopefully he'd have enough time to find someone else.
- Izuku is just so desperate to find out who he is and obtain some closure that he just barely stops short of screaming at Firestorm to let him continue searching for the spaceship.Izuku: Please, Firestorm, I have to see this through!
Firestorm: No! I'm not letting you get hurt just so you can chase after some stupid alien crap!
Izuku: It's not stupid to me! It's- [stops himself, internally] It's my whole life!
Chapter 5 - The Übermenschen Part 2
- The Ultra-Humanite casually mentions how he found the alien spaceship, the last vestige of Izuku's heritage, and beat it into submission. Izuku struggles to keep the rage and anguish he's feeling under wraps as he watches the Villain touch and beat the last remaining link to Izuku's home planet and true identity.
- All Might and Firestorm are utterly stricken with grief when Izuku is seemingly blasted off Mt. Fuji to his death.
Chapter 6 - The Übermenschen Part 3
- After meeting his father, Jor-El, Izuku tries to give him a hug, only to pass right through him because Jor-El was only a hologram.
- Izuku falls to his knees after learning that he's the Last Son of Krypton, having spent the days since he discovered he was an alien wondering if his relatives were held up, gone, or simply didn't want him. He tries his best to put on a brave face, but he's clearly hurting from the revelation.Jor-El: Are you alright, Kal-El?
Izuku: I’m fine. [getting up off the floor] As fine as you can be when you find out you’re an endangered species, at least. - Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van only get to hold their son once each before Krypton's destruction, having only minutes to send their last, tearful goodbyes as the planet they love is doomed to explode. They both reminisce on all the things they wanted to do with him and all the things they want him to have and enjoy, unsure if baby Kal-El will ever know how much they loved him.Jor-El: There's so much we wanted to do with you, Kal-El. We wanted to take you camping in the Scarlet Jungle. We wanted to take you to Twenx so you could see where your ancestors hailed from. We wanted to be there when you decided on a Guild to commit yourself to, making us proud with whatever you decided upon. But most of all, we-we just wanted a chance to be your parents.
Lara: We didn't get the chance to raise you, but someone out there will. Make sure you're a good boy who treats them and everyone around you with respect. Jor-El says that the people of Earth have special abilities, too, but that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with your own. You don't have to use your powers to be special, but you can't use them to spread chaos. Try and make lots of friends, get a girlfriend or two or however many they let you have at a time, have a good diet so you grow up big and strong, and remember-
Jor-El: And remember-
Both: -we will always love you. - After coming out of K.E.L.E.X.'s simulation, Izuku's composure finally crumbles under the weight of everything he's learned and experienced, descending into hysterical sobbing before he even realizes he's doing it.
Chapter 7 - For All Seasons
- Even after learning that he's the Last Son of Krypton, Izuku clings to the hope that someone could have survived Krypton's destruction aside from him, however slim that chance may be. While readers may know that his hopes are justified because of the existence of Supergirl, Izuku himself has no way of knowing this.
- For all the progress he's made in trying not to let his past mistakes define him, Izuku's insistence on not using his Super-Hearing shows that he still has a lot of unresolved trauma. K.E.L.E.X.'s complete lack of tact does not help matters.Izuku: I-I also have super hearing, but… I don’t want to use that power.
K.E.L.E.X.: I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. IT IS AN ABILITY YOU GAIN NATURALLY FROM LIVING ON THIS PLANET. IT WOULD BE ILLOGICAL FOR YOU TO NOT EMBRACE IT.
Izuku: t’s just that it’s, it’s really powerful, and whenever I try to use it, I always hear lots of stuff from all over and, well, none of it’s very good.
K.E.L.E.X.: TO WHAT EXTENT? MURDER? SUICIDE? ILLNESS? STARVATION? TORTURE? SEXUAL VIOLATI-
Izuku: Look, I just don't want to use it, okay?!
Chapter 10 - Deku's Pal, Katsuki Bakugou Part 2
- It's clear that Izuku is still terrified of letting his secret come to light, immediately flying into a panic when the House of El crest gets noticed. He admits he feels stupid when he remembers that there's no way anyone present could know about it.
- Bakugou walks into Ground Beta completely shirtless, revealing his scars for everyone to see. The mere sight of this reminds Izuku of his greatest mistake, his mood plummeting as people begin asking how Bakugou was injured so badly.Tenya: Midoriya-kun, would it be out of line to ask about that?
Izuku: [eyes locked on the floor] Please and thank you.
