Ashes to Ashes, Power to Power: Chapter 1

I was so close to calling it a night.

My apartment felt empty and not in the lonely sense as I rejoice in the times where I am left on my own.

No, it was more of like the kind of emptiness you feel when your entire life is just slipping through your fingers and there's nothing you can do about it.

You see, I just got off a call from my boss and while those were usually just about giving me more work or telling me about a bonus, it was nothing but bad news as all I got was a simple message.

We have to let you go.

Mind you, it wasn't even the fact that I lost my job of never-ending work that I felt this empty.

It was this feeling of stagnation and unease, a feeling I had found myself in years ago before I got the job and it felt as if I was spinning the wheel of fate, but fate itself did not want to even look at me.

The apartment itself was cold and small, the walls a dim gray that matched my mood after the hours of scanning through job listings.

Hell, my eyes burned from staring at the screen for too long and I was about to turn off the PC when something stopped me.

It wasn't the usual pop-up ad that never goes away or the usual link to foreign and dangerous sites that stopped me.

Well, it was a link, but it was one that was blunt and clear.

Click here to purchase a second life. Free of charge!

"...Yeah, that's bullshit." I muttered as I clicked off, turning off the game before leaning back against my chair while palming my face.

'This place is getting too cramped for me. A walk. Yeah, a walk sounds nice.' Walks always calmed me down whenever I was younger as I liked the feeling of the air brushing my body and the textures of different pathways on the bottom of my feet.

However, it was as I reached for my jacket and picked up my wallet that my phone vibrated, making me blink in confusion as I lifted it up and turned the screen towards me.

Mom: Are you okay, sweetie? You missed my call.

Mom always liked to worry about me, but as I kept staring at the message, I let out a soft sigh before shaking my head and typing a quick message back.

I'm okay, Mom.

'I don't want to deal with her nagging right n-Urgh!' A groan escaped my lips as I watched her picture coming up, taking a deep breath and pondering on whether or not to answer before I gave a mental curse when my phone automatically took the call.

'Right, forgot she was on the Always-Answer list.'

"Hi, sweetie. Where are you?" My mom's voice sounded concerned and a bit upset and I remembered that she did not like it when I ignored her calls, especially since she was adamant against me moving out in the first place.

"At home, Mom. I'm just...finishing up on some work."

"What was that pause? You sound like you're hiding something."

"I'm not hiding anything, Mom. Now would you stop trying to f-!" I felt it before I heard and saw it.

A wave of immense heat enveloped the apartment, the windows that led to the shopping district my apartment was in lighting up with an orange hue before I gagged as a shockwave tore through my walls and sent me flying through the air.

My vision turned a blinding white as I banged the back of my head against the wall and I let out a gasping groan as I fell to the floor, landing awkwardly on my side and gritting my teeth as I felt a stabbing pain in my side.

"Kevin! Kevin! Are you there?!" I heard Mom shouting, but I ignored her as I slowly pushed myself up, staring at the windows only to stare in shock at the gaping hole in my apartment wall while flames raged throughout the apartment.

Everywhere I looked, I saw nothing but bright orange and a shimmering red, the heat of my flames enough to make it hard to breathe even with the distance between us and I wanted to jump only before I stumbled back when the floor above me collapsed downwards.

Falling through the doorway and into the hallway, I forced myself to my feet as I heard the walls cracking, continuing to push on to the backdoor every apartment had that led to the outside.

Unfortunately, my luck was just as bad as always when I watched flames bursting through the door, another explosion rocking the apartment before my eyes widened as I looked up right as a large piece of rubble slowly fell towards me.

'Holy shit, I'm...I'm about to die...' I thought as I watched the stone rubble slowly falling towards me, realizing that I was about to go even as I raised my right hand in a feeble attempt to try and stop it.

'If only I had gotten a Quirk, then a situation like this would have been nothing for me.' I could still remember the look on my mother's face when the doctors had announced me Quirkless, the sheer audacity of my sperm donor when he just left us because his son was 'faulty' in his own words.

After that, it was nothing but fifteen years of bullying and ridiculing until people learned one thing about me.

If they drew on my clothes, I would drench them in paint. If they beat me up, I would bring a bat the next day and beat the shit out of them. If they broke my arm...

'The last guy that tried that is still in the hospital for a broken spine and even though I got expelled from that school, it felt oh-so-good to know I was the reason he will never have any biological children.'  I thought with a wry smile as I felt the stone touching my fingertip, preparing myself for the pain only for my eyes to widen as I watched my skin transform.

The more the stone pushed down on me, the more my arm itself took on the same colour and texture of the stone itself before I watched in shock as it shattered against my fist, the fragments of it falling down and making me hiss as some of them gave me shallow cuts around my body.

'W-Woah, I...I don't have the words...' Staring at the stone-like arm that just saved me from death itself, I couldn't help but feel excited about the fact that I, Kevin, had a quirk despite the inferno blazing around me.

All those years...all those fucking years...and all of those peoples were fucking wrong!!

'Wait! First, I need to get the fuck out of here! I can celebrate later.' My breathing was shallow as I looked around, keeping low to stay out of the dark smoke above me while looking around for an escape.

I had thought of jumping through the hole made by the explosions, but the flames I was seeing outside was enough to make me reconsider that decision, leaving me to look at the only option left.

'Hah...hah...It's just like the movies, Kevin. Just don't think about it...and just do it.' Hyping myself as I stared at the door, I crouched while taking a deep breath before charging forward, turning my right side to be forward as I grunted and charged shoulder-first into the door.

With the stone arm and shoulder, it didn't take any effort before the door was sent flying from its hinges, but I hissed as a burning piece of rubble fell down and onto my neck, quickly swatting it away before holding a hand to the injured area while kneeling down with gritted teeth.

"Fuck!" I cursed as I kept down, coughing a bit as I had inhaled some of the smoke with my hiss before looking at the devastation in the centre of the little shopping area I lived in.

In the centre of the long shopping path stood a teenager that looked to be 14 or 15, his eyes wide with panic and his blonde hair matted with sweat and some kind of slime as the origin of said slime had him in a tight hold.

The Slime Villain looked pleased with himself as he lifted the boy's arm to the side and I watched in awe and horror as another powerful explosion shot from the boy's palm, destroying the shop as well as unleashing another wave of scorching heat that fanned the flames.

Looking past the two, I could see the heroes wanting to help, that new Mt. Lady chick looking hesitant to go forward as she barely managed to fit her leg in the pathway while Backdraft kept the flames at bay and Kamui Woods struggled to get the other injured out of here.

'Fuck! Fuck! What do I do?!'

"Just believe in yourself and you too can become a Hero!" The wise words of the top hero of our country echoed in my mind as I stood near the edge, gritting my teeth before taking a deep breath as I carefully climbed over the railing.

Looking to where the heroes stood, I saw Mt. Lady looking down at me and her eyes widened as I made a gesture to keep quiet, slowly and quietly dropping down to the second floor and not too far from where the Slime Villain was cackling at the top of his lungs.

"Ehihihihihi! Come on heroes!! Come and save the day!" I took a slow and deep breath before exhaling softly as I readied myself, swaying two times before I grunted and leapt from the second floor with a roar.

"What the-!" The Slime sounded surprised to hear me as he spun around, but it was too late as I swung my arm down and chopped his tentacle arms off of the kid.

"Go!" I growled as I grabbed the kid by his collar before throwing him away, turning around and ducking just in time as a tentacle missed taking my head off.

Reaching up and grabbing the outstretched tentacle right as the Slime went to pull it back, he looked surprised before a pained scream escaped his lips when I punched my stone arm through his eye.

I was just as horrified as I pulled my arm back, gagging at the eyeball still attached to my wrist before I gagged as a tentacle came around and crashed into my side.

My entire left side felt as if it was on fire as I felt my legs leaving the ground, but I surprised myself as I grabbed the tentacle in a tight grip with my left arm while grabbing onto his remaining eye with my right stone arm.

"Let go!" He screamed as he swung and flailed his body, but I did not let up for even a single moment as I grabbed tightly before my eyes widened as the stone around my arm cracked and shattered.

'...Well, fu-!' My thought process was cut off by a sense of weightless enveloping me and I gagged as tendrils wrapped around my neck, the smoke in the air not helping as my vision began to blur.

'F-Fuck! K-Keep fighting!' I could hear some of the heroes shouting in the background and tried to swing a leg at him, but it took all of my energy to stay awake as I felt a piercing pain in my chest, the tentacles around my neck going away to reveal one of its tentacles holding a jagged piece of stone stabbed through my chest..

"Fuck you." The last thing I heard was the Slime's final whispered words and the sound of the air whistling before I took my final breath and everything went black.

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The moment I awoke, I felt nothing but a sense of eerie dread as I stood in pitch-black darkness, the only thing visible to my sight being my naked body.

'I...I actually died.' The thought itself sounded ludicrous to even myself, but as the memory of my death replayed over and over in my mind, I couldn't help the regretful sigh that escaped my lips as I slowly sat down.

'And just when I got my Quirk too. Shit...Shit...'

"Fuck!" I should have cared for the fact that my voice echoed the moment I shouted, but I didn't want to care for anything right now as I held the back of my head with gritted teeth.

"First, I lose my job. Then, I lose my apartment in that explosion and now...now I'm fucking dead. If this is the afterlife...is this what you had planned for me?! Is this what you fuckers all wanted from me?!" I shouted as I stood up, glaring out at the void and at whatever damn divine being was looking at me.

I didn't expect an answer, but I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a flash of fear when the void rumbled, something in the air rumbling and shifting as if some ancient primordial being was speaking to me.

The next, my eyes widened as a bright flash of light appeared in front of me, the light shimmering and floating in front of me before my eyes widened as I heard it speak.

"Did you die too?" It asked and I blinked before slowly nodding despite the shock rippling through my form.

"Y-Yeah. D-Did...did you?"

"Yep, and that's why I'm here. I'm about to take over your body, but I couldn't just do that so I came to ask if you want to come with."

"Is...is this some sick joke? Some last minute prank from the gods before I get cast off to hell?" I asked with a frown and the spirit hummed before it shimmered.

"I understand the doubt, but no, it is not. I was given a chance to live a second life in another reality and while I could just take over your body, it would be the equivalent of a baby in an adult's body. Therefore, would you care to join me in this endeavour?"

"What will happen? I'm...I'm guessing two souls can't exist in one body, right?" I don't even know why I was even entertaining the thought of the spirit talking to me, but the more we spoke, the more my mind just decided to take a vacation and let my instinct take over.

"You are right. We will become one. I will still be there, but parts of your personality will meld with my own and all of your memories will become mine."

"So, I'll still be dead, but alive in memory?" I asked, just feeling exhausted as the spirit hummed before it sighed.

"Listen, I would rather have just taken the spot, but I couldn't just take over and let your memory fade away. So, if you still want to join me, all you need to do is touch my light-!" Pain flared throughout my very being as I thrust my hand into the light, surprised to feel the spirit's shock before I chuckled as I saw it moulding into a perfect copy of me.

"Just like that?" It asked and I chuckled as I reached forward with my other hand and placed it on the spirit's shoulder.

"Just like that. I just want you to do one thing for me. ...Take care of Mom. She may be annoying sometimes, but she's the only one looking out for us right now."

"...Hahahaha~!! Very well. Know that she's in good hands, Kevin."

"Thank you, Eric." The spirit's name rolled off my tongue and he smiled before I closed my eyes, feeling my consciousness fading away as I got enveloped by a warm light.

'Good luck, Kevin.'

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A warm sensation flushed over my body as I felt my consciousness returning, wincing at the lack of the eerie cold from the void before I became aware of everything around me.

I could feel the hard ground beneath me, the fading ache in my chest and the faint, muffled sound of people shouting in the distance as I slowly sat up.

A soft groan escaped my lips as I forced my eyes open, wincing at the bright light and the pain that flared with every breath even as I looked up at the sky.

'I'm...I'm alive...' Struggling to push myself up, my eyes widened and I turned to the side right as I gagged, throwing up spittle and some sticky slime before steadying my trembling hands as I wiped away the residue on my mouth.

I could still feel the lingering ache from the wound that killed me, but as I looked down at my chest, I found myself greeted by freshly healed skin of a faint pink colour as well as the ripped shirt I was wearing.

"H-Hey! The guy's awake!" I blinked as I heard a voice shouting while standing up, turning and being surprised by the sight of Kamui Woods rushing over while extending out wooden tendrils that caught me as I fell forward.

"Urgh~T-Thanks." My voice sounded hoarse and rough, thankful for Kamui Woods shifting me around and letting me lie on my back as he slowly carried me away from the flames that Backdraft was putting out.

"No problem. I have to say, though. We thought you were...you know?"

"Dead? It will take more than that to kill me?" Despite the fact that I was talking to what was once a fictional character from a manga series I read in a language I did not know the slightest thing of a few seconds ago, it felt natural as I watched Kamui give an amused chuckle.

"I suppose it is?"

"The kid...is he safe?" I asked, referring to the menace to society that I had saved and watched as Kamui smiled while softly placing me on one of those gurney things ambulances use.

"See for yourself." He said as he nodded to the side and I turned my head to see Bakugo being spoken to by a guy with big forearms and another hero in some kind of blue bodysuit, his eyes wide as he looked at me before I smirked as he huffed and looked away.

"You are safe now, young man!" The sheer charisma and power radiating from that voice left me in awe as I watched the muscular behemoth known as the Symbol of Peace standing besides my gurney.

"T-Thanks."

"Hahaha! It is I who should thank you. Thanks to your bravery, I was able to get here in time to save you and the boy. I regret that I took so long and nearly cost you your life, but I along with every hero here am proud to congratulate you for the good work you did."

"Just don't do it again." Kamui Woods chimed in and I chuckled as All Might, giving a soft smile while shaking my head.

"No need to worry about that, man. I'm fine with just the one heroic act under my name." I spoke with a grin and All Might chuckled as he nodded, patting my shoulder with a soft yet firm hand before continuing on to address the press.

"You think you can make it home on your own?"

'Considering my home is a pile of rubble, I think I'll be fine.'

"Yeah, I think I can." I spoke and he nodded before I watched as he swung himself into the air, in awe at his skillful use of branches before turning to the EMT as he stopped in front of me.

"Do you feel any pain?" He asked and I ignored the fact that he had a third eye with a bullseye in its centre as I shook my head, to which he hummed as his third eye looked me over before nodding with a smile.

"Can't see anything with my X-Ray so you're good to go. Just take a few of these and you'll be okay by tomorrow."

"Pain meds?" I asked with a smirk and chuckled as he nodded, taking the bottle of four pills before climbing off of the gurney and taking a deep breath while he went to check up on the others.

"Just do one thing for me. Take care of Mom."

'One step at a time. I'll do my best to protect her, but first things first...' I thought as I turned to the rubble behind me before a slight frown spread across my face.

I need a new place to stay.

A/N: Alright, here we are. I've looked through the poll and decided to change it into a normal story. Basically, it's no longer a quest-style story but it's still a Patreon-exclusive as I feel like this should still be exclusive to you guys.

It's still going to be the same story that I've been busy with up to Chapter 3 and then Sunday, I'll start writing it like I would any other story.

Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...

Welcome to the new and revised Ashes to Ashes, Power to Power.