Chapter One: Starting Line

—Midoriya—

"Izuku! Hurry up!"

The young boy pressed the spacebar on his keyboard, pausing the clip playing on his computer. On the screen, a man was silhouetted against rising flames, climbing over a pile of rubble with several unconscious people under his arms and slung over his massive shoulders. He had his face lifted to the sky, his mouth stretched in a wide grin, in spite of the chaos around him. The last byte of audio echoed in Izuku's ears.

Why? Because I am HERE!

He gritted his teeth and hung his head, abruptly closing out the video player and shutting down the computer. Throwing his bag over one shoulder, he looked once more at the collection of merchandise around his room celebrating the Symbol of Peace, then flipped the light switch and shut the door with a gentle click. "Yes, Mom, I'm going now," he said politely, making his way down the hallway.

Ms. Midoriya was hovering by the door like a plump, worried cloud, tugging at the fringe of her salmon-colored cardigan anxiously. Izuku slipped into his shoes, and she immediately grabbed him in a tight hug as he straightened up, knocking the wind out of his chest. "M-mom?"

She held him at arms' length, her eyes brimming with tears as she adjusted his uniform collar and tie. "I can't believe it... my baby is finally going to UA," she sniffled. "I'm so proud of you, Izuku... your father would be so proud."

Izuku offered her a small smile, with some difficulty. "I... I know, Mom," he said, thinking of the digital letter he'd received from UA with his acceptance letter, including a pre-recorded message from All Might that had been left in the hero's will.

The profuse apologies, the expression of the hero's regret at never being present in Izuku's life, not being around to help him develop and control his Quirk, were almost too much for Izuku to bear. As if he could ever hold any sort of grudge or ill will towards his hero? His father? It was like a dream come true... even if reality in a world without the Symbol of Peace was one filled with shattered dreams.

Izuku Midoriya

Quirk: One for All
A power-enhancing quirk passed down for generations, One for All enables the bearer to tap into a cultivated pool of immense strength, pushing their physical capacities far beyond match.

He would build a better world. A brighter world. "This is the start line," he murmured, aloud. Ms. Midoriya smiled, her tears spilling over, and hugged him again.

"So go! It's a marathon... not a sprint. I'll see you this evening."

Izuku looked back over his shoulder as he crossed the threshold. "Love you, Mom."

The sun gleamed intensely over scattered clouds, warming the autumn air to a comfortable degree. Izuku slipped his hands into his pockets as he walked down the street, giving the light breeze an appreciative smile.

His moment of peace was abruptly interrupted by a blaze of heat and noise erupting from the cross-street before him, and before he knew it, Izuku found himself pinned up against a lamppost.

"IDIOT!"

"K-k-kacchan?"

Katsuki Bakugo

Quirk: Explosion
His palms secrete a nitroglycerin-like substance that allows him to create combustion reactions at will. A quick temper paired with this Quirk makes him an overwhelming fighter.

Katsuki curled his lip, bringing his face closer to Izuku's. "What the hell do you think you're doing, halfwit?"

"Going... to school?" Izuku squeaked.

Katsuki bristled visibly, his already spiky hair standing further on end. "I knew you'd be fuckwitted enough to not think ahead." He let go of Izuku, dropping him roughly back on his feet before pulling out his own backpack, and threw a light hoodie at Izuku. "Put it on."

"But it's... not cold out."

"PUT IT ON!" Katsuki bellowed, smoke rising from his fingertips. "I didn't go through the trouble of putting on a show of shoving you around and making sure everyone 'knew' you're 'Quirkless' for nothing," he grumbled. "You walk up to UA looking like yourself, after blowing your cover and using your Quirk at the entrance exam, and you think everything will be fine?"

"O-oh." Izuku hadn't thought of that. "But I mean... I don't think I would have passed the entrance exam without my Quirk..." He dropped his backpack to the ground, and slipped the hoodie over his shoulders, drawing the soft hood up around his face. "It smells like Kacchan," he noted.

"SHUT UP." He found himself pinned to the lamppost again. Katsuki looked left and right, making sure no one was around, and then planted an abrupt, rough kiss on Izuku's lips. Izuku squeaked in surprise.

"K-kacchan!"

Katsuki snarled in Izuku's face. "I'm taking my dues now," he growled, "because we're not going to be any different at UA than we were in middle school. No one knows about us, got it? As far as everyone will know, we're not even close to being friends, GOT IT?"

"Got it," Izuku said, red-faced.

"Now move on," Katsuki picked up his backpack and jerked his head towards the road. "I'm not walking you to school."

Kacchan never changed, Izuku thought, a spark of warmth growing in his heart as he continued on his way. He pulled the hood of the jacket he'd been given further over his forehead, inhaling the familiar scent of his partner.

But Katsuki was right — there was no reason to assume that people would be accepting of them at UA, so they'd might as well continue their act since middle school: Bakugo, top of his class and gifted with an amazing Quirk, constantly torturing and picking on poor, helpless, Quirkless Midoriya. Everyone only assumed that it was true, and Izuku did nothing to prove the rumors wrong. And so the circumstances of his parentage were kept secret. At first, the agreement was just between childhood friends, but as they aged, Izuku and Katsuki had become much closer... and more than friends. In the dark void left in the wake of his father's loss, Katsuki had been Izuku's rock.

All the same, it was obvious that Katsuki enjoyed picking on Izuku in public. It was just his personality. It hurt Izuku to know that everyone around them thought poorly of Katsuki's attitude, because they didn't know the sides to him that Izuku did, but in his own words, Bakugo didn't give "a flying fuck" what other people think of him. Only Izuku mattered.

He rounded the corner, and the looming buildings of UA's campus and main gate came into sight. The press was everywhere, snapping pictures and talking excitedly about the first day for a brand new batch of budding heroes. He looked at the lines of reporters, hovering nervously, feeling oddly like being faced with a picket line.

A car pulled up on the main road in front of the school, and a figure stepped out, obscured by the vehicle. A din rose from the reporters, and they surged forwards towards the car, which drove away quickly. Izuku's eyes widened in understanding at the media's sudden interest as he caught sight of the person, with her distinctive black hair waving past her waist, and calm, even gait as she slipped her way through the reporters.

"What are you standing around for?" Katsuki's voice was accompanied by a hard shove on Izuku's back. "Get a move on, while she has them distracted."

"It's really her," Izuku said, his voice tiny with excitement. "Look, it's definitely her!"

"Yeah, I see," Katsuki responded uninterestedly, watching the girl make painfully slow progress towards the school's gate. "Better her than you. Now scram, let's get in there."

—Tamashini—

"You made it!" A boy with dark silver hair and a distinctive lower jaw resembling a steel trap greeted her just within the front doors. She closed her eyes and let out a tiny exhale.

"I made it."

"Oh, c'mon, Kaida, can't you be at least a little bit excited? It's the first day of school, damnit."

She looked at her lifelong friend, bemused at the smile that showed brightly in his shining eyes and the corners of his unusual mouth, accompanied by a small squeak of metal. "Don't let me dampen your spirits, Kaiketsu."

Kaiketsu Hagane

Quirk: Jaws of Steel
The lower half of his face is composed of a set of super-steel jaws that can grip and break anything. The inside of his body behaves like a forge, melding his skeleton with the same metal, which he can channel into claws and other external armaments.

"Just wish you'd cheer up a little." Kaiketsu shrugged.

"My father drove me here," Kaida said, slipping her shoes into a locker and replacing them with formal ones from her bag. "It wasn't so bad. I'm used to the press being all over our estate anyhow."

"Yeah, I know. At least they can't bug you in here, right?"

"Yeah." She closed the locker, and he led her up the stairs to the classrooms.

"I'm right here," he said, stopping outside the door labeled 1-B, and pointed down the hall, "and 1-A is right down there. You know where to find me."

Kaida looked down the hall where he'd pointed, and nodded, ignoring the wide-eyed whispers coming from the students milling about the halls. "All right. I'll see you later."

He gave her a nonchalant wave and disappeared into his classroom, and she watched him go before turning and heading towards her own. The whispering around her made the sound of her shoes on the tiled floor sound loud and echoing, but she determinedly set her eyes straight ahead, pulling the door to the classroom open and entering without hesitation.

There were already a few other students in the classroom — a boy with a shock of yellow hair, a wild-looking one with red hair, a girl with short-cropped black hair, a pink-skinned girl, and a floating school uniform. They were all crowded together at one corner of the room, chattering excitedly amongst one another. When she entered, the yellow-haired boy looked up at her and his mouth opened in an O of surprise, but when the girl with the short hair beside him noticed Kaida as well, she grabbed the boy by the chin and turned his face away. "Don't stare like that, Kaminari, that's rude," she tutted.

Kaida looked at the desks before her. They were numbered, 1 through 20, with a small etching in the upper-left corner. I'm number 20, if memory serves correctly... she wound her way to the back of the room, counting desks as she went, until she found her seat. She noticed another person seated at the back, in seat 15, next to hers.

He looked up as she approached, placing her bag on her desk. He had distinctive, heterochromatic eyes — one blue, one grey, — and his hair was red on one side and white on the other. Kaida's eyes trailed over his left side.

"You're Endeavor's son, aren't you?" she said. "I've heard a lot about you."

The boy flinched visibly. "...Yes, I am. And I, you," he added coolly, "The other person accepted to UA through recommendations. The new Elysium."

"Sure." Kaida swept her hair over her shoulders as she took her seat.

"Strange to meet you in person," the boy said, gladly steering the conversation away from parentage. She wondered at his discomfort. "It will be interesting to work with you."

"Are you always so formal?" Kaida cracked an amused smile. "Interesting is one word for it, I suppose. Having grown up constantly hearing about the importance of the Top Three heroes, and how essential their cooperative work is, drilled into my mind... it's been a long time coming."

"Hm."

People had been steadily streaming in as they'd talked, but at that moment, a wiry boy with curly green hair slipped into the room, and a collective gasp arose from the other students. "IT'S MIDORIYA!"

"Eh?" The boy squeaked and backed up, but another student was entering, a sour expression on his face, and pushed the first boy into the room.

That's him? That's All Might's son? Kaida looked at him in disbelief.

"So all three of us, in the same class..." the boy beside her commented.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was by design. All of us have a lot to live up to... a lot to prove."

"I'm here to disprove," the boy muttered. Kaida looked at him curiously. She heard a familiar resonant voice in her mind.

"You'll have to learn more about this one."

Shut up, she thought, dismissing it coldly. She turned her attention to the front of the classroom, where the other students were mobbing Midoriya. It was a blessing, she supposed, that her family's reputation preceded her as one to respect, rather than idolize. All Might's son, on the other hand...

—Midoriya—

"Curly-hair! From the entrance exam!" The short-haired girl bounced up and down excitedly. Izuku reddened.

"I-it's Izuku," he stammered.

"Mhm," the girl grinned. She pointed at herself. "Uraraka Ochaco~," she announced.

Ochaco Uraraka

Quirk: Zero Gravity
She can nullify the gravitational pull on any object she touches, making it float until she chooses to release it. Overusing her quirk makes her nauseous, though.

"MIDORIYA-KUN." A tall boy pushed his way to the front of the small crowd, pushing his glasses up. "I want to firmly apologize... for underestimating you before the entrance exam. I did not realize who you were — and you exceeded me in realizing that there was that extra component to the exam."

"Oh," Izuku managed. "Erm. Don't worry about it, I suppose. First impressions aren't always right."

"Mm." The boy nodded firmly. "Iida Tenya, at your service."

Tenya Iida

Quirk: Engine
He possesses powerful engines in his calves that allow him to move very fast and amplify the power of his legs.

"Sit."

Everyone looked with surprise at the sound of the voice from the front of the classroom. A yellow lump of a figure emerged from behind the desk and podium, sitting upright slowly. With the loud sound of a zipper being pulled, a dark-haired, haggard man stepped out of his sleeping bag and regarded the students with bloodshot eyes.

"Eh? Was he here all along?" Kirishima looked at the man in disbelief.

"Find your seats," the man grumbled, and the students shuffled haphazardly to their spots.

"Okay... good." The man cleared his throat, and tipped his head back, dropping a few eye drops into each of his eyes before continuing. "Class 1-A: I am Shota Aizawa, and I will be your homeroom teacher." There were scattered squeals of excitement, whispers of Mr. Aizawa's hero name: Eraser Head! It's Eraser Head!

Aizawa's bloodshot eyes wandered the classroom. "It seems we're all here... but for sake of protocol, I'll go through roll call."

"Aoyama, Yuga."

"Present~"

"Ashido, Mina."

"Here!"

"Asui, Tsuyu."

"Ribbit."

"Iida, Tenya."

"Present!"

"Uraraka, Ochaco."

"Here!"

"Ojiro, Mashirao."

"Here."

"Kaminari, Denki."

"Ready to roll!"

"Kirishima, Eijiro."

"Here!"

"Koda, Koji."

"..."

At the silence, Aizawa looked up, and noted Koda timidly lifting his hand in the air. He raised an eyebrow, but nodded in acknowledgement.

"Sato, Rikido."

"Here."

"Shoji, Mezo."

"Here."

"Jiro, Kyoka."

"Here."

"Sero, Hanata."

"Here!"

"Tokoyami, Fumikage."

"Present."

"Todoroki, Shoto."

"Here."

"Hagakure, Toru."

"Here!" A floating school uniform bounced in its seat.

"Bakugo, Katsuki."

"Yeah, here."

"Midoriya, Izuku."

"Yes! Here!"

"Mineta, Minoru."

"Here!"

"...and Tamashini, Kaida."

"Here."

Aizawa shuffled his papers, putting the roll call sheet to the side, and rested his hands on the podium. "Good. So... welcome to UA. We'll be starting our first day today with an examination – not unlike the physical fitness tests that you certainly took in middle school."

"A test? On the first day?" Mineta squealed, clutching at the sides of his round head anxiously.

That's UA for you, Izuku thought to himself, filled with enthusiasm.

The teacher frowned at the interruption, but continued. "But unlike the assessments you've previously completed... this time, you'll be allowed to use your Quirks as much as you'd like." Murmurs of excitement broke out across the classroom. "Now... you'll find your PE uniforms sorted out in those lockers—" he pointed, "—along the wall. Go pick them up, and then I'll show you to the field area and changing rooms."

—Todoroki—

Shoto looked at his left hand. He distantly heard his classmates cheering one another on, whooping in appreciation at the flashy shows that everyone was putting on with letting loose their Quirks. He clenched the hand into a fist, and stuffed it in his pocket. No. It won't help me much here, anyway.

"Tamashini. Long jump." Shoto looked up as Aizawa called his classmate's name, and she stepped up to the short runway leading up to the sand-bed. Her hair had been pulled up into a sweeping ponytail, trailing down her back.

Shoto had heard and seen much about Kaida on the news and from his father, especially in the recent years since the death of Kaida's mother, the legendary Divine Dragon Hero: Elysium. Since her murder followed All Might's passing, Shoto's father, Endeavor, was now the number one hero, a fact that he wielded with great pride. Shoto's mood soured at the thought of his father, and he turned his attention back to the present.

Kaida had her hands on her knees as she bent in preparation for the short sprint and leap. Shoto felt a prickle of interest; he'd never seen the Divine Dragon Quirk in person. Aizawa gave a nod, and the girl took off.

She was incredibly athletic for her lithe build, and accelerated rapidly across the short distance. But she launched at the jump line, sailed through the air, and landed in the sand — without so much as a hint of a flare or transformation. Shoto frowned.

"4.82 meters." Aizawa made a note on his clipboard.

Well above average, but not exceptional. Shoto himself had managed 9.38 meters, by making a short slide and ramp out of ice, like a little ski jump. Others, like Bakugo and Aoyama, used their Quirks to propel themselves all the way across the sand pit.

Kaida picked herself up and made her way off to the side. She caught Shoto looking at her, and her eyes narrowed curiously. They were lambent blue, and seemed to hold an inner light, like frost in the morning. He looked away, conscious of his staring.

His curiosity wasn't satisfied for the rest of the tests either, though. At the end of it, the students gathered around their teacher as he projected the cumulative final results on a hologram for the class to see, met with mixed shouts of accomplishment and miserable grumbles.

1 – Izuku Midoriya
2 – Tenya Iida
3 – Katsuki Bakugo
4 – Shoto Todoroki
5 – Kaida Tamashini

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. Even without her Quirk, she managed to place in the top 5, just below him? He looked around. To be fair, some peoples' Quirks weren't particularly helpful in a physical fitness test...

18 – Kyoka Jiro
19 –Toru Hagakure
20 – Minoru Mineta

"You're all dismissed for lunch," Aizawa nodded, closing out the hologram. "Be back in the classroom this afternoon by the bell, please.

—Tamashini—

She frowned at Kaiketsu. "Really?"

"Yes, really," he gave her a thumbs-up. "We're working on being normal here, right? So go sit with your class and make friends. Huddling up in the corner with a freak like me won't do you any good."

"But you're not huddled up in a corner..." Kaida looked over to the table where Kaiketsu was sitting, where a few other boys were chattering away.

"Exactly." He patted her on the shoulder. "Now go over and buddy up with Class A." He turned and went to sit down without another word.

Kaida sighed, and walked around the partition to the other side of the first-year eating area, where the rest of Class A had situated themselves. They were clumped up at tables together already — she saw Midoriya being beckoned over to a window seat by Iida and Uraraka, a bunch of the girls crowded around a long table... and picked out an empty booth for herself.

She set her tray down and took a sip of her lemon tea, then pulled her phone out to check for new messages. Surely enough, four from her father.

"Hope you made it in okay!"
"Hope you're having a nice morning!"
"Hope you're making lots of friends!"
"Hope you're eating a healthy lunch!"

She rolled her eyes, and tapped out a short reply. "I'm doing alright."

A plunk caught her attention, and she looked up as a tray of cold soba was set down beside her. She looked up and saw Todoroki pointing at the seat across from her.

"Anyone sitting here?"

Kaida hesitated, the straw dangling from her mouth, but pulled her tray back to make room for him. "Go ahead."

He nodded. "Thanks."

"So what makes me more appealing than the gaggle of other girls, or the cohort of boys, or Midoriya's little triumvirate?" Kaida smirked as he slid into the booth opposite her.

"I'm not terribly sociable. This is the least occupied table."

"Fair enough," she replied with a shrug. "Same reason I claimed it in the first place." Content to sit in silence, she swirled her chopsticks around in her udon soup and took a bite.

"I'm sorry if I was too formal or... cold, before." Todoroki mixed scallions into the soba sauce, looking intently at his food. Kaida looked up as he spoke, and he brought his gaze up, offering her a small bow. "...Todoroki Shoto. It's good to meet you."

"That's not helping your case of formality," she laughed, but returned his bow with a smile. "Kaida. Just Kaida, if you don't mind. I don't need to be constantly reminded by everyone of being a Tamashini."

"I can understand the sentiment," he murmured. "If... you don't mind me commenting, you don't seem terribly enthused to be here."

She sat back in her seat. "What gives you that idea?"

"Why didn't you use your Quirk in the assessment? It's meant to be a Quirk Assessment, isn't it?"

"Why didn't you use your left?" she countered. "Half-Cold, Half-Hot, isn't it?"

Todoroki frowned.

Shoto Todoroki

Quirk: Half-Cold, Half-Hot
He can produce and control ice from his right side, and heat and flames from his left.

"Personal reasons."

"Same here," Kaida said. "It's my assessment, not the dragon's. Were you hoping for a demonstration?" She leaned across the table and put a finger to a fading bruise on his right cheekbone, a few shades lighter than the scar across his left face. Before he could flinch back in surprise, a soft glow emanated from her fingertips, and the bruising faded. She rubbed away the throb on her own face. Todoroki touched the spot, noting what she had done, and she continued, "It's not like that, or this—" she said dryly, lighting a small blue-white flame in her palm, "—would have done any good for me in the assessment. And that's all I lay claim to myself."

"You don't... claim your Quirk?" Todoroki looked at her in surprise.

"That's a rather personal question, isn't it?" Kaida felt conscious of rambling on, and was glad she didn't catch any stares from neighboring tables.

"...Sorry." He looked down at his soba again.

"It's fine," she said immediately. "We'll be colleagues soon enough, so we'll be getting to know each other one way or another eventually. Just a little soon today."

Todoroki nodded. "Right. That's understandable."

Kaida returned to her meal, feeling him staring at her again, but didn't acknowledge or comment.

The lunch hour passed quickly, and the rest of the day followed suit. She soon found herself changing shoes again at the lockers, as students streamed out the front doors.

"Kaiketsu," she stuck her head around the corner, "if you don't hurry up, you're not getting a ride home."

"I'm hurrying," he grumbled, pushing his locker shut.

"See you tomorrow, Hagane-kun!" Another boy clapped Kaiketsu on the back and grinned, baring a row of razor-sharp teeth.

"Later, Tetsutetsu," he lifted a hand.

"Making friends seems to have been successful," Kaida commented.

Kaiketsu shrugged. "He's an incredibly eager dude. A bit of a contagious personality."

"Tamashini!" She heard someone calling her name from behind, and turned just in time to see Midoriya trip over his own foot and careen forwards. Before he could hit the ground, his body froze in midair. Uraraka pulled him backwards onto his feet and put her hands on her hips.

"It's bad luck to trip on your first day!" She tutted.

"U-uh, yeah," Midoriya stuttered.

Uraraka grinned. "Anyway, are you walking home? Iida and I will walk with you!"

"R-really?"

Kaida wondered briefly at what Midoriya wanted, but chose the distraction as an opportunity to slip off. "Come on," she tugged on Kaiketsu's sleeve. "My father's waiting."

She was relieved to see that the press had been driven off at some point during the day, and the area just past the gates of UA's campus was only filled with departing students. Her father's black Mercedes was pulled up in front, right by the curb. She got in the front seat, and Kaiketsu piled into the back.

Her father looked in the rear view mirror at the backseat. "Hagane-kun, always good to see you!"

"You too, Kirisaki-san."

As she buckled her seatbelt, her father ruffled her hair. "Did you have a good first day, sweetheart?"

"I'm a little tired," she said, and leaned her head against the window. She caught sight of a red-and-white haired boy walking down the block. "Let's go."

Kaida Tamashini

Quirk: Divine Dragon
In her human form, her Quirk allows her to produce flames and emit a healing aura, but she takes on the pain of those she heals. With the spirit of the ancient celestial dragon now living within her, she can also assume a dragon form.

Next Chapter: Origins

AN: Hey, thanks for reading! This fic is the brainchild of myself and the friend who introduced me to My Hero Academia. The long-term destination is yet unknown, but the ride has begun! I'm looking for a darker take AU on the Boku no Hero Academia story. If some things are a little confusing, they should get cleared up in the next couple of chapters — or you can feel free to drop me any questions/feedback in a review!