This first chapter is mainly canon stuff being retold for buildup. It splits into the AU near the end if you want to skip stuff you've already heard or read.

Surajji Fukumatsu.

26 years old. Male. Single.

Current being chased by the #1 hero in all of Japan. As you do.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a green tuft of hair. This would turn out to be the worst/best decision of his life.

"I'm sorry, my boy, but without a quirk I cannot simply say you can become a hero. Pros are risking their lives everyday for the masses, including yourself. The best thing you can do for Heroes is to ensure to never intervene in their work. If you truly still wish to help others, you should consider becoming a police officer. That is also a fine line of work."

Accounting for the bright, sunny day, the beautiful city skyline backdrop, and All Might, this moment should have been perfect. It could only be described like it was something from a novel - the protagonist, who had sustained hardship their entire life, would have their skills recognized by a man of great power, and subsequently agreed to let him come under his wing. All his life, Izuku had been told he couldn't become a hero. But right now, it was different. Standing in front of the man who had climbed to the spot of #1, surely he would see how much more Izuku had wanted to be a hero than anyone else. Izuku had beamed with the hope he had kept hidden all of this time. This was the turning point in his life. He knew his dreams could become a reality.

Izuku Midoriya wasn't ready for that answer. The man who was the greatest hero of all time; who never let a death occur after he arrived on the scene, who saved everyone with a bright, shining smile on his face. The man who had saved Izuku not 10 minutes prior. Even he told Izuku that his dreams were unattainable. Izuku felt his lungs filling up, but being completely dry. His eyes watered, but no tears fell. He hadn't earned regret. He hadn't been recognized.

He'd been pitied.

This wasn't like any scenario he could have imagined when he asked. This was much, much worse. It was a complete, thorough disassembling of his dream. He lowered his head away from the man in front of him. He had no words to say. He hadn't earned those, either. All Might lifted from his sitting position and began to walk towards the exit of the roof. As he grabbed the doorknob, Izuku felt his dream leaving with it. The man turned to Izuku, who still had his head down.

"It is with great importance that I stress this these words to you: this is no belittlement. I say this for your own personal safety. I'm sure you have many people in your life who would be devastated if one day you went missing, or worse, due to a villain when you need not to be. For now, those are people you should be looking to save." With that, All Might left through the door. Izuku Midoriya was alone once again.

"I see." Midoriya thought. What more was there to say? His teachers, classmates, Kacchan, they all knew already. He had only been confirmed of the Devil he knew, his deep suspicion- even to All Might, he couldn't be a hero. He was heartbroken. He had just wanted to help. And he couldn't give it. He thought to his mom - who had supported him so much over the years. She did every thing he wished for- she even enrolled him in that Martial arts class he'd been in since last year. If nothing else, not help others, he would do it for her. She deserved so much more than he could possible give.

Accounting for the bright, sunny day, the beautiful city skyline backdrop, and All Might, this moment should have been perfect. But for Izuku Midoriya, it was a terrible day for rain.

He left the roof.

Meanwhile, in the Tatooine shopping district, Surajji Fukumatsu found another capable host.

Izuku drained out the noise as he walked home. He flipped through the pages of his now exploded, burned, and dampened hero analysis book. An entire page was left illegible by Kacchan's handiwork earlier in the day- it was a page about the quirkless, and various fighting techniques one such could apply. There was no way Kacchan would've had time to single out the page when he grabbed it. No, it was destroyed by random chance. Izuku weakly grinned to himself. Even at a cosmic scale, the universe found its own way to butt in on his doubts. Fitting. He kept flipping until he returned to the page of All Might's signature.

"I cannot simply say you can become a hero." Those words echoed in Izuku's mind. Deep down, he knew All Might was somewhat right. For him, it would be safer to stay out of heroism. Even with a year's worth of Martial arts, he was only a purple belt. But he knew what All Might didn't. The only person who would be devastated at his death would be his mother, and the Katsuki parents. He didn't have any friends. Actually, if it wasn't for Bakugou, no one would even know that he'd've died. They would all assume he finally moved away due to his bullying, and in a month, he'd be a distant thought. All Might couldn't have possibly known what he had gone through. The scars, the pain, the rejection. Izuku grabbed the corner of the paper. He was angry. Angry at himself, angry at All Might, angry at the world, and he began to pull.

"But you won't actually do it, will you?" he thought. "You're just angry because you thought you were special. You knew you weren't. You're just mad at All Might because you didn't want to be guilty about what you didn't do for yourself."

Izuku sighed. He wouldn't do it. Despite his mood, he knew that he could never replace such an item. The autograph was indifferent. When it was signed, there was nothing between him and All Might. There really wasn't anything now, either. He knew All Might wasn't hurtful- even when he was crushing the dreams of someone, he still gave them hope. He was the number 1 hero, after all. Izuku wiped his nose, and closed his book. Now, he could-

A large explosion shook an alleyway Izuku was near, bringing him back to his senses. It must've been from the same area as the one Izuku had heard when he left the roof-he had gonr here without even thinking. "Figures", Izuku sighed. It was just second nature at this point for him to walk towards anywhere there might be heroes. Well, now that he was here, he might as well take notes, after all he wanted-

Izuku grimaced. "I guess it's gonna be a bit harder than that to stop wanting to be hero", he mumbled as he crossed the street. It was a habit over 10 years strong; Izuku knew he would never truly drop it. He re-opened his "Hero Analysis for the Future #13", flipped to the next available page, and was ready to write.

What kind of Villain would even be doing this so publicly, anyways? There's no way he wouldn't know All Might is in town...did he have a death wish, or was he just trying to get All Might's attention? Many villains in the past thought that by fighting All Might they'd be famous, and tried to lure him out, but none of them ever won... so why? He must've been eager to skip town and got caught, but to make so much noise ,he obviously had failed. Either way, it was still plenty for Izuku to write about. He pushed through the crowd of onlookers to see what hero was fighting, only to see something very odd.

There wasn't one. As far as he could see, there weren't any heroes fighting the sludge monster. No wonder the street was so destroyed, no one was here to stop them. Who was so dumb as to cause so much ruckus, anyway? Izuku scanned the fire ridden alleyway. Perhaps some flame ability, like his father had, or some explosion quirk. Another explosion helped him locate the villain.

To say Izuku's stomach sank would be a comedy act. He felt like he was being pulled down by an anchor to the bottom of the ocean. How was the sludge villain here? How had he gotten away from All Might? Izuku's head suddenly rattled with familiar words.

"The best thing you can do for Heroes is to ensure to never intervene in their work." It was his fault. He had distracted All Might. The sludge villain must have fallen out of All Might's pocket's in flight. Wait, what? Izuku's mind shifted into overdrive. How could the sludge villain be causing this? Unless he had a mix of two quirks, this fire should be impossible, and even if so he would've shown it earlier against All Might. Maybe he was using his force to cause explosions in pipelines and such? No, the shopping district is all stand-market based, so there'd be no way to set off an explosion...then how?

"Why isn't a hero coming? The villain has a hostage, for Christ's sake!" a bystander (conveniently) yelled. A hostage? That would explain it. Many villains took hostages when they were on their back foot, so it seemed likely the sludge villain thought All Might was still hot on his trail. But Izuku knew he wasn't coming; the hero had spent the last of his time with a quirkless kid. He would've likely been able to simply set out the fires with a single mighty punch. He wasn't going to now. There weren't many heroes that were good with fire that were stationed in Mustafu, either. The local fire department took care of most of the incidents, and since they were stationed all around Japan, were generally more available than those who specialized with water-based quirks. Who in the world was powerful enough to create this much fire, anyway? It definitely wasn't Endeavor under there, and Izuku couldn't think of any pros with fire or explosion-based quirks. In fact, the only person he could have thought of with this kind of quirk was...

This day had now gone from bad, to worse, to impossible. In the grasps of the sludge villain, with wide, paling eyes, was Kacchan. The person who had bullied him, scarred him, belittled him, now needed a hero more than Izuku ever had. But Izuku couldn't do anything for him. He didn't have a quirk, and he would've died earlier if All Might hadn't saved him. All he could do was sit here and wait for a hero with a suitable quirk to arrive. He was useless once again. He felt tears welling up in his eyes, and he looked at Kacchan.

Kacchan looked back at him.

Izuku leaped out from the crowd into the burning alley. He truly had learned nothing. Despite the person in front of him, how cruel he was, he still needed help. And Izuku would give it to him. The crowd roared behind him.

"Is he suicidal? Why isn't he waiting for a hero?" Izuku knew he wasn't suicidal. Why should they wait for heroes when someone is suffering? This is what a pro would do. Except for one thing- Izuku didn't know what to do. He just knew he had to do something. That's why he ran- because he knew he could do good. He stumbled as he approached the sludge villain, who turned round to meet him.

"Why the hell are you here, you damned brat? All Might won't save you again! If he were coming, he'd already be here! I'll REALLY kill you this time if you want to die so damn much!" Izuku kept running. It was too late for him to run away. The sludge villain raised his left hand and shot it towards him. Izuku ducked and rolled as it pounded the cement behind him.

"Anything, think of anything Izuku" he thought. "Your notes. You remember them. What would a pro do?" Izuku didn't know if he was thinking too much or not at all. He grabbed his notebook; the same one that was burned by the person in front of him, signed by a person above him, which carried details of his own quirklessness and how he would overcome it. And he threw it directly at the monster's eyes. Realistically, it should've failed. The book should've missed, or had no effect, or barely stagger the villain, but it sent him seething backwards, and relinquishing his hold on Kacchan. Kacchan fell the the ground, coughing profusely. Izuku ran and put his hand around him. "Kacchan? Are you okay? Come on, we need to get out of really quickly!" He looked back to the sludge monster who was quickly recovering from the attack. Right, it was a book. "Come on let's go, we're not going to be saved by-"

"Fear not children, for I AM HERE! A little later than I would've liked, but here!" izuku looked back, and before him stood everything he wanted to be. All Might, the #1 hero, the symbol of peace. Despite being past his limit, he would never let someone die after he arrived on the scene. To All Might, seeing Izuku dash from the crowd when no one else did convinced him- he was avoiding his own truths. A Pro Hero always puts his life on the line for the good of others, and now was no different. He turned to the awed Izuku. "Young Midoriya, you have done more than well enough. Let me finish it for you." He turned the sludge monster, disgusted. "Villain! Turn yourself in now and you will spare yourself a longer sentence in prison! I've defeated you once, and i'll do it as many times as I need!" The sludge villain's eye twitched convulsively.

"You PRICK! Why are you just now showing up? Just to give me false hope? You're not better than me, you just get recognized for your deeds! I didn't get shit!" he yelled. Despite his words, Surajji knew he stood no chance. No one did against All Might.

"W-we're saved..." Izuku gasped, crying. He would live knowing he had helped someone. He could be a hero!

"Like HELL I'm doing that, All Might! You pros are all the same! I'll get punished just as much, YOU JUST DON'T WANT TO SULLY YOUR PERFECT LITTLE HANDS!" The sludge villain was trying to buy time-what for, Izuku didn't know. But they both knew one thing- nothing could be done against All Might.

"I see. Then, you have brought this upon yourself in the name of Justice." All Might lunged towards Surajji. Surajji veered to his left, near to where Izuku and Bakugou were kneeling.

In the next second, several things happened. First, all Might impacted with part of Surajji. Second, that part of him went flying into the air, and the fire that consumed the alley was immediately put out. Third, he grabbed a child from the Villain's clutches. Those 1st and 3rd steps were the problems. He only held a blond boy in his hands, and he hadn't made direct contact with the sludge villain.

Izuku, however, saw only blackness cover him as the sludge villain grabbed him. He felt himself being pulled downward, and for a single second, swore he saw All Might confused.

Fourth, All Might saw the villain leap into an open sewage pipe, and the lid being pulled over by a mass of green sludge.

The villain had escaped. And when he looked around, what he didn't see scared him the most.

Fifth, Izuku Midoriya was gone.

Hope ya'll liked it. I hadn't seen anything like this (Izuku losing his 2nd encounter with the sludge villain), so when it popped into my head I knew I had to do it. I'll probably upload the next chapter Wednesday or earlier. Also, did you no there's no character tag or the sludge villain? Weird. #SludgeLivesMatterToo