"You are antisocial and have trouble fitting in. However, you are honest and don't put on a show of yourself for others. You have a lot of self-loathing and a bit of a persecution complex. You hate the things you don't understand, and take things as fact without looking into them. However, when it comes to protecting your loved ones, you can accomplish tremendous feats of strength."

Act 1: Miracles

Just as there are countless choices to be made in life, there are countless universes. Some of these universes are as different and black and white. Others are so similar it would take a thousand lifetimes to find the single different: In one universe, we got right, and in another we go left.

This is a tale of what happens when the choices are different, and yet the choice-maker is the same and yet different.

It has often been said that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. For Naegi Makoto, it was a terrible thing to listen to.

Born with the ability to hear the thoughts of others, but with no idea how to control it, Naegi had lived a fairly normal life; he'd go to school, do homework, answer questions asked of him and spend time with his family.

His family; the one constant thing in his life. His firm but proud father, his caring mother and his sister, who thought the world of him. No matter what kind of trouble his gift or curse brought upon him, they always understood. They never thought poorly of him or spoke against his back. They never considered him a freak for his ability.

He hadn't thought much of those words, instead going about his life as usual. He had crushes yes, and acquaintances, but his family were the reason he kept his impulse in.

His impulses. That's what his parents called them, but he knew what it really was: His hidden 'evil', as many would call it, but those words came from cowards who never looked at the matter from his perspective. For ever since he had been born, Naegi had never considered the concepts of good and evil to be worth anything: You were who you were, it was that simple.

However, he knew that if he acted on these thoughts, the three beings who made his life bearable otherwise would suffer. That thought gave him a bad taste in his mouth, and he hated to see them in any sort of discomfort; whenever someone gave his mother or sister looks, he glared back at them, and they ran for the hills.

His life was normal for his final year of middle school. It was also the last year of his life he was ever truly happy; his family were so proud of him when he was accepted into Hope's Peak, although they shared his disagreement of his name: The Ultimate Luckster. But Ultimate Psychic had already been taken (Naegi made a note to test this fellow).

They had a celebratory dinner as he packed, truly looking forward to his high school life. His sister demanded he call her every week, his mom gave him a cookbook of his favorite recipes and his father took him fishing, where he had 'abused' his power to help them make a huge catch.

Life had finally been looking good for Naegi; a good education, a gift/curse that would aid him throughout life and a loving family.

And then it had happened: the whole affair with DIO and...them: The details were sketchy to him now, but somehow, while in his first year at High School, he had met Joseph Joestar, Jotaro Kjo, Noriaki Kakioyin, Jean-Pierre Polneraff and Abdovl.

It was through them he learnt what he had long thought to be mind-reading was something else entirely: It was called a Stand; a humanoid spirit with fighting power unique to him and him alone:

He had called it Miracles, getting the name from the RD Miracles band. Its abilities were to make the user invisible to others and induce hallucinated pain, as well as deflect attacks back at enemies, read most minds, as previously said, and turn the user invisible.

With the knowledge of an apparently evil Stand User on his mind, Naegi had come onboard to their little group; which he would later deem the Stardust crusaders. They went halfway around the world together, a minion of DIO around every corner. They were de and re-aged, magentizied, turned into dolls, fought in their dreams, had their souls stolen and dealt with some of the worst animals (figurative and literal) imaginable.

What Naegi loved most was the journey itself: Japan, China, India and Egypt…he saw them all: The people, the customs, the food and the beliefs. He had been an avid reader back home, but to see all this upfront was a treat to him, as it was to at least some of his fellow travellers: The Stardust Crusaders. At many a glance, they were a close-knit of fire-forged friends. And to most of them, they were…..

But as the journey went on and the Stand Users they fought grew more and more vicious and cruel, Naegi decided to forgo ignoring his impulses, and when no one was looking, he'd kill the enemy Stand Users. They were obstacles in his way and he mused, if and when DIO was destroyed, they would come for him and the other Crusaders. Best to get rid of them now. Not like anyone would miss them.

Not to mention that it felt AMAZING to indulge in these impluses. So when it came time to deal with DIO, for the first time in his life, Naegi acted instead of reacted...and embraced his inner nature.

When they finally met DIO, Naegi knew right off the bat that he could not afford to hold back on either his impulses or abilities. He also knew that he had probably the second weakest Stand in the group.

Avdovl and Iggy died first, helping him and Poleneraff in battle with Vanilla Ice, the demented and devoted servant of DIO. The fortune teller from Egypt had pushed the two out of harm's way and was reduced to nothing but a pair of arms.

"….goodbye, my friend."

Iggy dealt a critical blow to Ice, and the rage Naegi felt as he helped Poleneraff end the vampire had been genuine.

"...Dumb dog. You actually were pretty cool."

Still unaware of DIO's power, Naegi continued to follow his impulses and did something that changed the course of history forever; he went over to DIO's side, feigning an understanding of the vampire's motives and deciding to protect someone who was just living their life. In reality, he hoped that the Crusaders would weaken DIO enough for him to actually stand a chance against him, and by siding with DIO, he could better understand the power of The World.

After siding with DIO, he had felt a twinge of regret when he shuffled Polneraff and Kakoyin off the mortal coil…

"You'll see your sister soon enough, Jean-Pierre. Rest in peace with your family."

"Honour is overrated, but at least you die doing what you feel is right….Aniki."

But he had felt nothing for Jotaro.

"You are incredibly emotionally-dense and a horrid son. Miss Holly deserves so much better."

Joseph was a relief; as funny as he could be, his catchphrases had annoyed the SHIT out of Naegi.

"You have NO idea how long I've been waiting to do that!"

Vins, the mysterious woman who had brought back several of DIO's minions and had apparently made an arrangement with Jotaro to aid the Crusaders if Naegi went rouge, was surprisingly fun to fight….and Miracles-user sympathized with her reasons as he ended her.

"Go see your son and rest in peace."

And the best part? For the first time in his life, Naegi actually felt powerful! And that feeling grew even more when it was HE, not Jotaro, who had ended DIO's reign.

Naegi admitted that DIO's mind had actually been a waste: It was what he could honesty and truly call a brilliant mind. One ignorant of its own evil and yet still smart enough to keep a moral compass. One determined to do ANYTHING, even give up humanity for power and do something that had never been done before.

"So powerful. So intelligent...and so arrogant. You were destined to fail from the start. I mean, what good is stopping time...when you can hear it coming? And don't worry, I'll deal with your priest soon enough...though I may go after that Arrow first….Oh, yeah DIO. I can read your mind. I know EVERYTHING. And unlike you, I'm settling for godhood."

It had not occurred to him at first, but he caught a glimpse of a smile as the vampire died. There had been a sense of kinship between the two during their battle: They had the same glare of pure evil and did/had loved only one thing before all this went down. Their abilities were godly and they had been mocked all their lives, told they would not amount to anything….

Those fools who had mocked them were now or soon would be turning over in their graves.

With DIO dead, Naegi helped himself to the vast treasures and fortunes the vampire had horded, and then used Joseph's credit card to buy his way back home, where he was warmly welcomed back by his family.

However, when Naegi finally returned home, he came back with a purpose.

DIO, as grand as his power was, had failed in one aspect; Naegi realized that the vampire had failed to truly grasp the limits of his power: He had only used the Stand Arrow once, never once seeming to wonder what would've happened if it had been used a 2nd time? It took him awhile, but Naegi did eventually find out how the Stand Arrows came into the possession of their owners.

He went to Italy, found the man who had sold Enya the Stand Arrow, killed him and took the Stand Arrow for himself. He was not disappointed with the results of his Stand's evolution, nor was he disappointed with the loot he helped himself to.

Miracles Requiem took his abilities to levels he hadn't thought before; he could now enter minds, like Death 13 or that Freddy fellow in those horror movies his dad showed to him, and then there were his beloved vectors, ghostly like psychic arms that could either destroy or mostly heal anything they managed to hold onto with an extended range to the entire world!

With these new powers, life was looking even better for Naegi when he returned to school: his grades skyrocketed and he began to live more dangerously, actually forming bonds with his classmates….and quite possibly, feeling the romantic version of love for the first time.

And then his parents and sister were killed. No one cared to look for their murderers or comfort him, telling him to get over it, and some even thinking they deserved to die for his existence.

So he went back to the damn school, only to be trapped in it and 'forced' to partake in a Mutual Killing Game when things suddenly changed, everyone's memoires erased save for his own. He eventually find out who and why his family, the lights of his life, had been killed….A despair fetish.

That was the last straw.

In what seemed like seconds or minutes (he didn't really care), he had done what nothing, not even the cause of the dinosaurs' extinction, had done:

Naegi Makoto ended all life on his planet. Man, woman, child, plant, animal….None were safe from him. All it cost him was a corner of his face.

He was truly the strongest to ever live: The Ultimate Genocide.

And then the euphoria died and he could no longer laugh at the burning and crying round him, he sat and waited. For what? He didn't know or care.

The world was finally quiet. He could hear himself think. Something he had wanted for so, so long….complete utter silence.

And he couldn't think up a single damn thing aside from the image of his parents, the Crusaders, his classmates, and even DIO appeared for a brief second, but vanished.

And then something dripped from his face. Huh. It was funny and yet tragic….

He laughed again as tears poured down his face: With no silence, he had nothing to spur thought.

He didn't regret his actions. But on that note, an idea popped up in his head:

"What if I had known?"

Miracles Reqiuem's full abilities had done him well in ending life….and yet, that was what the Stand Arrow did only once. What happened if used twice? That, after all, was what had led to him killing DIO and begun his crusade.

With that, his mind was made up.

Using the Stand Arrow one last time, and this time stabbing himself, perhaps in an attempt to end his life he didn't know, Naegi used his powers to the utmost limit and did something else that had never been done before: He went on a one way trip back in time. Back to when he had first the Crusaders and with a new mission.

But that is not where this tale begins.

No, our tale occurs on the first day of High school for ANOTHER Naegi Makoto.

Read and review would ye kindly?

Titanic sized thanks to Danmaku-OverLord, who coined the idea and is co-developing this story and many others with me.

He also suggested some edits along with Lolrus555. Give their fics a read and review, will ya?

See ya when I see ya, keep safe and have a good one; chapter two will be up shortly.