Reborn 1 [Rewrite]

[A/N:

Hello readers.

I apologize for posting one chapter and then leaving and not updating for a while. I got hit with Covid, despite having like four vaccines for it, and for three weeks felt like utter crap.

Then, I just got heavy writers block and anytime I did sit down and write it felt like it was never to the standard I wanted. I'm really bad at being a perfectionist and stuff so I literally rewrote the second chapter upwards of twenty times lmao.

That would be 30k words scraped and wasted, so I will do my best to curve that habit and trudge on.

I am also going to shoot for two chapters a week, which I know isn't a lot, but I will spend that extra time making sure its at least of decent or above average quality.

If you have any questions put them here and I will answer!

Thank you, happy reading. ]

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Why are you here?'

Jordan paused, turning to his right to see if perhaps someone in the crowd around him had tapped on his shoulder and asked him such a weird question.

Although, deep down in his gut, he knew the answer already.

The question came from his own head, just like it had been for the last few months, a whisper in the backdrop of his life.

High school was over, he graduated with good grades, had a keen interest in the tech field, and had a planned future that would give him as much as he was willing to take. He had packed his bags, said goodbye to his grandpa that had raised him for the majority of life, and finally headed off to college to pursue a better life.

A better life… Jordan still hated the way that sounded, but he was willing to do anything to get out of his small home town. A place snuggly tucked away in a small patch of mesquite and sand towards the west side of Texas.

A place where everyone knew one another, was a friend of a friend, a distant cousin, or a retired teacher who talked about your older siblings and how they acted just like you. It was nice, but Jordan had never felt like nice was enough.

He wanted more.

However, after three months of living in college, he finally realized how wrong he was. Because in actuality, he had just assumed he did.

So here he was, at a festival with people he barely knew, surrounded by drunk teens and young adults just as lost as he was.

All of the previous things, accompanied by music that was the equivalent to slop, and the lyrics long turned incoherent by the mind numbing beat.

There were glost sticks tossed with abandon, alcohol stains on his white shirt, and flashing multi color spotlights lining the grass courtyard blinding him as they expertly hit his eyes every few seconds.

He was supposed to be here having fun, enjoying the smell of tobacco and alcohol swirling together, the heat from bodies rubbing against one another, the lustful gazes both male and female threw his way when they saw his foreign appearance, and just… let loose.

It should be easy, but here Jordan was, standing utterly still as others jumped up and shouted angsty lyrics at the top of their lungs

'Why are you here?'

He frowned, that was something he had been doing a lot of lately, and he was a hundred percent sure he was sporting a glare.

'Why are you here?'

The weird question again, deciding to come out in shorter intervals like clockwork now, and Jordan could almost see it in his head. An actual clock, one he wanted to grab and smash it into pieces, but he knew from experience that such a solution would never last.

It would come again when he was within his dorm, talking to strangers that he sat next to in class, learning about something he had barely an inkling of an interest in, and even when he was falling asleep on an unfamiliar bed with a girl he already forgot the name of.

The question would come the moment he closed his eyes, waiting there, simmering with an uncomfortable heat to keep him up for hours.

A distraction, what he needed was a distraction, and if he did not get it soon he would be lost in his own thoughts for hours on end.

So, he waded through the crowd, not caring of losing his 'friends' that had somehow convinced him to come here in the first place. He needed a quiet place, a good book perhaps, or a girl willing to let him release some stress.

However, as he went, his mind began to wonder.

Sayings like 'live in the moment', 'you only live once', and 'tomorrow is not guaranteed' repeated in his head, all in hopes of quelling his mid life crisis that was coming at him while he was still eighteen.

A small trickle of doubt that continued to erode the confidence he had built up because of his good looks and body and started to crumble like walls that let reality in.

Is this path he was taking correct? If it wasn't, then when would he realize? Computer Science was hard, yes that was true, but it was a safe bet for a good career right?

Was going halfway across the state the smartest choice, leaving behind his grandpa, his only family member, to live alone in a house the big bad wolf would grin upon seeing?

'Why are you here?'

Jordan was tired, he wanted to go home, his real home. Evaluate everything in life, take a deep dive into his insecurities and hope he did not drown, just to see if he was strong enough to swim to the surface.

Shaking away his thoughts, he tried focusing on anything that caught his interest, just so he would stop thinking. Luckily, he found the perfect subject as he squinted his eyes and set his gaze on movement amongst the mass of bodies that seemed completely out of place.

Like a campfire within a raging river, a beam of light within the darkness, a drop of oil in a body of water.

A man, who honestly looked homeless, was carrying around a black hand held gym bag. One that was plenty big enough to fit a body in.

The man looked dead, almost like a zombie, lifeless in the next few moments as he went on to unzip the bag. He knelt down after opening it, tightening the black cap that hid his shaggy brown hair, and then took one wide glance of the area around him.

Jordan continued to watch, not really sure why he cared in the first place, why he watched this man, or what he could possibly gain from doing so.

However, it was just odd, a man dressed fully in black amongst mostly shirtless party goers. It was like he wanted to be seen, wearing clothes an undercover superhero might wear in a marvel movie.

He rolled his eyes, thankful for the small distraction the man gave him, but ultimately decided he needed to be elsewhere.

Then, Jordan suddenly stopped thinking when he saw what the man held, the world around him slowing to a stop as he truly came to realize what the man produced from his bag. A long gleam of gun metal gray, a drum mag probably loaded with upwards of fifty rounds, and even a red laser that seemed completely overkill.

A weapon.

The grip the man had on the carbine was tight, so tight the gun should have already become scrap metal in his hands. He was holding on to it for dear life, and as he aimed his weapon forward, along with that dead look in his eyes; Jordan knew.

It was the man's life line, he had already given up, and he no longer cared of the consequences.

Without thinking, which was the opposite of what Jordan had been doing lately, he rushed forward.

Then he heard the first sound of thunder, the screams of shock and fear, and the lifeless smile the man pulled upwards as he marinated in the chaos.

The chaos he created.

Thankfully, Jordan just barely made it in time to swat the rifle downward, the next flash of white aimed at the man's own foot. A sudden scream of agony from the shooter was definitely a sign he had been hit somewhere.

Then, they were wrestling for the weapon, Jordan doing everything in his power to keep it lowered and away from most of the crowd that was starting to clear like water thrown in a sizzling pan.

Though there were those who just looked at his struggles wide eyed, others only backing up with phones held out, and a few who were way too intoxicated to even realize what was happening.

Another shot rang out, with thankfully no scream of pain accompanying it this time, but Jordan was too far gone in his own actions to relish in the fact he may just have been a hero.

A hero.

The word felt… weird.

Like when someone repeats a word so much it sounds foreign, distant and alien, as if you had just learned it that day. Equivalent to the first time a child lost their innocence and uttered a curse word to 'try' it out, and the confusion they felt afterwards.

A hero, Jordan did not know if he was one, but the next flash of white and shout of thunder answered his question thoroughly.

He had pulled the weapon free, but not fast enough, the gunman pulling the trigger in a last ditch effort of desperation. His efforts were not in vain as a gunshot rang out, and a bullet went right through Jordan's heart.

The shock was instant, Jordan knew he had been wounded, but his body was still moving, flipping the gun around and doing something he never thought he was capable of doing.

He pulled the trigger himself, and watched in euphoria as the man's eyes lit up with emotion for the first time since Jordan had seen him.

Regret.

His eyes were filled with regret.

Jordan threw the gun to the side as if it were some creature that could hurt him, his chest heaving in uneasy expansions while his feet pulled him backwards as if he could run from the fact he had just been shot.

Then he collapsed, falling backwards with a small thud on the grass. He had wanted to get back up in a hurry, to make sure that the gunman was down for the count, but everything around him felt so cold.

Like stepping out in the dead of a winter night in nothing more than your underwear.

Freezing, he was fucking freezing.

The air in his throat suddenly became viscous and red, a trickle of crimson running along his chin and dripping onto his neck as he coughed in desperation for air.

He was dying, and the realization hit him like a three year old kicking his shin. It surprisingly stung only a little, and finally Jordan had an answer, the key to the lock that had been around his mind since he could remember.

'Why are you here?'

Jordan smirked, using his last breath on Earth to speak words that solidified everything inside him.

"To be a Hero."

Damn, that line was cheesy as hell, but he could do little to take them back as he saw his vision blurring and the sensations around him fading.

Finally, after a few more seconds, everything went dark.

However, in the darkness, Jordan felt a pull as if something was rushing to meet him.

It was like he was running full tilt, but open noticing which way was up, he realized he was falling.

Jordan tried to do something, tried to gain control of his descent, and tried to look down to see where he was going to hit.

Nevertheless, he could do nothing, and feel nothing except a heavy stone within him as gravity acted without remorse.

And finally after what felt like minutes, he hit, but no pain washed over him. Instead, a stiff breeze of chilly air licked his skin, and then came the blinding light. A light that was blurry, but soon began to focus, but was still not his usual vision.

He felt a tug, and something caressed his back like vines wrapping around him in a firm yet comfortable hold.

Jordan instinctively looked up, his mind creaking to a halt as he saw the giant of a man dressed in hospital scrubs looming over him. He had a pair of glasses, but behind them was a feature that stood out the most.

Pure black eyes like a demon, no pupils or irises, just… black.

The giant demon pulled down his medical mask, a small smile on his face as he spoke in a soft language that did not fit his otherworldly look.

Jordan shivered in fear, a rush of emotions building up before he had to let it all out in some form or he would go insane.

Which in this case, was crying, a whole lot of crying as he was cleaned and handed to a woman. A woman who looked haggard, her blonde hair messier than her usual wild spikes, and eye bags that were just as rare since the properties of her sweat kept her looking young long past her twenties.

However, despite her exhaustion, she smiled.

The crying of her son was not as annoying as it was sure to be later in life, but was currently a sign that her baby boy was healthy.

"Hello…my little Katsuki." Mitsuki Bakugou said as she closed her eyes to finally rest.