XxChapter 1: A Deck of EightxX

Midoriya Izuku stood atop the roof on the south end of his junior high school. Izuku? No… he was "Deku". The useless nerd, just like Kacchan always said. Fourteen years old and no Quirk. How could could be be anything BUT useless? Quirks were the way the entire world proved themselves unique. How they portrayed power. But alas, twenty percent must fall into obscurity in exchange.

"I'm sorry, Izuku… I'm so sorry."

He never heard what he wanted to hear… never…

"You might as well give up."

It was always the same story…

"You might as well just jump off the roof and pray you'll have a Quirk in your next life!"

Maybe Kacchan was right. Maybe he was better off that way. Into the deep unknown, and whatnot. So he stepped onto the ledge, looked down, and then-

"Y'know, it would most likely hurt terribly if you were to fall from there, young man."

"AH!" Izuku was so unprepared for there to be somebody with him he stumbled and almost fell off the building right there.

"Ho-ho-ho! Startled you, did I? Well, no matter. I'm here to help you off this foolish course of yours."

Izuku nervously turned and looked towards the man. He was old, with gray hair and a matching beard. His long black cloak masked most of his garments, but gave him a strange air about. What was strangest though, was his somewhat cheeky grin he wore.

"Um… who are you?" He asked nervously.

The older man just grinned even wider. "Call me Zelretch! I, Midoriya Izuku, am here to help you!"

The green-haired boy in question couldn't help but respond with a slightly puzzled look. "Help me with what? Stopping me from hurting myself? It doesn't matter even if you do. It won't help me in the long run. Nothing can. I'm useless."

"The line between useful and useless is drawn quite thin and crossed very easily based on what is needed." Zelretch responded.

"And when will I be needed, huh?!" Izuku yelled, finally breaking. "I have no Quirk! No particularly interesting skills otherwise… I'm weak physically… I just… can't do anything. How can somebody like me-"

"Be a hero?" The man interrupted, causing Izuku to stop and give a shocked stare. "That's what you want to be, isn't it? Why someone as young as you is so obsessed with power?"

Izuku grit his teeth. "Yes… more than anything. When I see All Might smile… when I see him win… everything… it shines so bright that I can't stand being so far away from that world. The idea that I just can't… no matter how hard I try… it breaks me inside." He had started crying at this point.

Zelretch refused to lose his grin, even in the face of such heartbreak. "Boy, I won't tell you that you will become a hero. That is up to you, and you alone. But, perhaps there's some value in giving you a push. Giving you the direction in which your possible heroism will progress. How you will rise above!"

"I… don't understand… you don't think I can be a hero, but you want to help?"

"I never said you couldn't. I simply said I didn't know whether or not you would. The future is always changing, young man. What happens 100 times may not happen the 101st. Even I, who sees so much, can only guess. Educated guesses, most certainly, but you get the point."

Izuku looked puzzled once more. "You… see?" He questioned, only to jump as he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind. He turned violently to see who had snuck up on him. It was… Zelretch?

"A teleportation Quirk? Whoa..."

"Indeed. I see much, young man. And I find you, in particular, quite interesting to view. What I see is always so much fun… and I had to get in on that."

"I… uh..." Izuku was completely stumped. He had long lost track of what this old man was saying. None of it was making sense.

Zelretch then… sat cross-legged on the ground? He pat the ground and beckoned Izuku to join him, to which the young man hesitantly complied. The old man dug around in his cloak and started pulling things out. He threw many things, including a few books, a teacup, and a… was that a rabbit? It was like a comedy sketch to Izuku, and the young man couldn't help but wonder what kind of Quirk this old man really had to make all this possible.

"And… found them!" Zelretch cheered, pulling an entire suitcase from beneath his cloak. He set it on the ground, turned it towards Izuku, and opened it. Inside were eight decks of cards. The green-haired youth looked at the top card of each deck closely.

The first showed a swordsman.

The second showed an archer.

The third showed a lancer-weilder.

The fourth showed a chariot-rider.

The fifth showed a wizard.

The sixth showed a man wielding two daggers.

The seventh showed what looked like a werewolf.

The eighth though, was completely blank.

Zelretch proceeded to pick up the first deck and spread it open in front of Izuku.

"Pick a card, any card!" He said, falling into the "magician" roll a bit too easily.

Izuku didn't know what to do. Everything was so strange. He had gone from near suicide to… card tricks from a random old man on the roof of his school? Eager to get things over with, he quickly grabbed a card near the middle of the deck. What he didn't expect was for the mysterious old man to continue the process with the other seven decks of cards. Every time Izuku picked a card, Zelretch would hum, or even sometimes chuckled. One time, on the seventh deck, he choked on his spit.

Curiously though, when Izuku picked the blank card from the eighth deck, the card changed into a woman holding a set of scales. When all was said and done, Zelretch pocked the rest of the cards into a neat manner and slid them back into their slots in the suitcase. Izuku then watched in curious awe as the man took the entire suitcase and tucked it back into his cloak.

Izuku looked at the eight cards he had… the opposite sides of each card were blank… what was this? What was even going on?

"You must be confused, young man. Allow me to explain. Those… are Class Cards. They will help you on your quest to becoming a hero."

The magic word was spoken, and the young man in question immediately perked up at hearing it. "What do you mean? How will this help? Please, tell me! Can I really become a hero?!"

"Your body is not able to handle the power of these cards. One day, your body will be able to, and when that time comes, you will grab a card and say 'Install', and then the class of the card. If you do this before you are ready, you will die." Zelretch warned.

"D...die?" Izuku gulped. Even if he didn't believe a word this man said, he wouldn't do something at risk of death. But… when would he… know? "When will I know when I'm ready?"

Zelretch turned around and started walking away, towards the other end of the rooftop. "When you're forced to eat somebody's hair!"

Izuku was so surprised at the condition that he blinked heavily, only to open his eyes and see that Zelretch was completely gone. Izuku pocketed the eight cards and went towards the staircase, previous thoughts of self-harm and Kacchan gone.

Ten months later… when his idol All Might presented him one of his hairs… did Izuku know… that old man knew way more than he should… and that those cards just might be more important than he would have ever assumed…

XxPrologue EndxX

So… don't expect this to go anywhere. I'm terrible at writing fanfiction, but this is a fun idea, and I want people in the comments to suggest class cards for Izuku! So that he can become the hero "Throne" someday!