A/N – Why has this not been a thing until now? I mean one of Deku's defining traits is jumping into the jaws of danger to save others regardless of how scared he is. Plus it is right in his name Midoriya! But anyways, this is a bit of a proof of concept that I wanted to try out. I've seen a couple of "Deku gets a different Quirk instead of One For All" ideas and I wondered what it would be life if someone threw "the most powerful weapon" in the DC universe instead, and here we have…
The Emerald Hero
The Torch
With labored breathes, Abin Sur checked his Power Ring for what it felt like the millionth time. The seasoned Lantern had lost track of how long he had been waiting for a responds, but, even now, none came. "Am I really… The last one…?" He wondered out loud.
Looking out of his vessel, the man could see the wreckage left behind by the war. "The War of Light… Hah…! More like the War on Light." When the full might of seven Corps thundered down on each other all that was left was destruction and darkness.
Where once shone every color of the spectrum, now there was nothing.
He had been against the war from the start, but Abin Sur had kept quiet and simply obeyed orders and did his duty, even when the call the arms came, and now it was too late. "The Guardians… Kilowog, Tomar-Re… Everyone…" The weight of everything he had lost wash over seasoned warrior. Those thought hurt more than the grave wounds on his body. "The light of the Green Lanterns… Has died out…" He said as he leaned back on the cockpit chair.
It felt as if an eternity had pass, during which the violet man allowed himself to give up. His wounds were beyond treatment and he had nothing left, and no one left. It would be so easy to just let it all go. After some time, Abin Sur finally opened his eyes again, and the first thing they saw was his Green Lantern Ring, still glowing brightly and defiantly inspite of everything that had happened.
"No…" The experienced Lantern grumbled. "I cannot let our light die out here… Before I die… I need to make sure it will continue to shine…" He stated as he brought his Power Ring towards him and concentrated. "Find it… The one that will bear our torch." He commanded as his ship came to life and synced with the Power Ring. "Take me to that person." Abin Sur willed before he lost consciousness.
The waves crashing on the shores were almost loud enough to hide the sniff from the heartbroken boy sitting on the beach just out of the reach of the water. Midoriya Izuku rubbed a couple of tears out of his eyes before looking out at the sun setting behind the ocean in front of him.
The boy was in his secret hideout, a remote spot on the beach that had managed to stay mostly clean of trash. Izuku had found it a couple of years ago and it had quickly become his go-to place when he wanted to be alone. The boy would often spent hours in this place reviewing his notes and fantasizing about becoming a hero safe in the knowledge that the mountains of trash around it kept prying eyes from witnessing his more embarrassing moments. Today, those same barriers were used to hide the boy's tears from the world.
"He's right… This is for the best…" The green haired boy weakly muttered. This could have been the best day of his young life given the fact that he had a chance to meet All Might, his long time hero, in person. Izuku had even managed to build up enough courage to grave on to the legendary figure before he leapt away and ask the Pro if there was any chance for him to also become a hero.
All Might answer had been even more devastating than the revelation that, behind his confident and ever smiling persona, hid a broken body struggling to keep going by sheer willpower. The Symbol of Peace, with his voiced tired and straining, told the young boy that he could not become a hero without a Quirk.
Letting out a sigh of defeat, the middle school student gazed up at the darkening sky. "Of course a Quirkless guy like me could never…" He trailed off. Wiggling his toes, Izuku cursed the extra joint in his toe that indicated his lack of a Quirk.
After the fateful meeting with All Might, Izuku tried to go home but end up wandering the city aimlessly. Eventually, the boy realized that his feet were subconsciously taking him towards the villain attack he had seen from the rooftop. The realization almost sent the young man into tears, so he quickly turned around and ran away in the opposite direction and kept on running until he reached the beachfront.
By now, the day had almost completely turned into night and several stars started to make themselves known. "I have to go… Before Mom starts to worry…" Izuku muttered to himself as he decided he had finally cried enough.
However, just as the boy stood up, something overhead caught his attention. The brightest start currently in the sky was shining with a bright green light that seemed to grow stronger and stronger with each passing second.
Izuku felt almost hypnotized by the bright green light until a loud noise snapped him out of it. The entire beachfront suddenly started to shake as the boy realized that the sounds were also coming from above and that, whatever the green star actually was, it was coming towards him.
Acting on instinct, the green haired boy threw himself into the sand mere seconds before a powerful gust of wind swept through the beach, quickly followed by a powerful crash just a couple of dozen yards behind him among the trash.
Hesitantly, the middle school student stood up and looked towards the crash site from where a large column of smoke was already coming out. Curiosity got the best of the young man as he peered over the mountain of trash. "Did a hero crash landed here?" He wondered out loud.
Inside the crater created by the impact rested some sort of vehicle or container. The dents, burn marks, and sparks all around it made its battered state obvious to the green haired boy.
"Huh… I don't recognize it from any of the heroes I know…" Izuku commented as he looked over the damaged aircraft. Eventually, his green eyes fell on the ship's cockpit where something seemed to stir.
Immediately, any apprehension or fear disappeared from the boy as he rushed into the crater. "Hold on! I'm coming!" He shouted. The realization that someone was inside the vehicle and most likely hurt overrode everything else in the young man's mind.
Reaching the cockpit, Izuku tried to pry it open, but the ship was so hot that, the moment his hands touched the aircraft, he reflexively pulled them back.
Thinking quickly, the boy searched his backpack for anything he could use to open the vehicle. The first thing the middle school student found was his hero notebook.
Without thinking twice about, Izuku ripped the book in half and, which a piece in each hand, use it to grab on to the upper portion of the cockpit.
Putting all his strength into it, the green haired boy tried up pry the aircraft open. "Don't… Worry! I'll… Get you… Out…!" He shouted as he strained his body to the limit. Despite all the layers of paper, he could feel his hands being burned, but instead of letting that stop him, he channeled the pain into opening the cockpit and saving whoever was inside of it.
Suddenly, the upper portion of the cockpit gave up and flew open, causing the young man to fall back.
Quickly getting to his feet, Izuku immediately check on the ship's occupant.
Inside the fallen craft was a bald man with violet skin and wearing a tight fitting green costume stained with what looked like blue colored blood. "Is he a new hero? I definitely don't recognize him…" The middle schooler thought. "Are you alright?!" He asked.
After several tense seconds, the man began to stir. A pair of bright green eyes opened and struggled to focus on the young man. "Where… Where am I…?" He barely managed to ask.
"Uh… You crashed on the beach…" Izuku answered. "In Musutafu city." He quickly added when he realized that the man may have flown here from far away.
The injured man shook his head. "No… Which planet…?" He asked.
It took a few seconds for the words to register in the boy's head. "What?!" He exclaimed as he brain quickly did the math. The vehicle that dropped on the beach had not been a plane, but a spaceship. "You… You… You're an alien?!" He asked perplexed.
The violet man seemed to have tried to laugh, but instead ended up coughing up more blood. "My name is… Abin Sur from the planet Ungara…" He revealed. "Member of the Green Lantern Corps… Probably the last one…" The alien added. "What planet… Did I end up in…?"
Izuku took several seconds to process all the information he had just heard. In today's world, thing that may have seen fantastic a few decades ago were now common place. It was not all that rare to witness an epic battle between the forces of good and evil during your daily commute to school. However, interacting with alien life was in a whole other level. "Ear… Earth… You're on Earth…" The boy finally answered.
A low chuckle escaped the wounded alien. "The planet full of Metas? So… I made it back to my sector…" He commented offhandedly.
"What… What happened to you?" The middle schooler managed to ask.
Painfully sighing, Abin Sur leaned back on his chair. "The War of Light…" He responded. "All seven corps of the emotional spectrum met in one final battle." The violet man continued. "It was massacre for all sides… There were no winners or losers in that battle… We all just ended up killing each other."
The young boy remained silent as he tried his best to make sense of the alien's words.
"I fought… Until I could not find anyone else to fight against." Abin Sur revealed. "I tried to contact the Guardians… My bosses, but there was no answer from them… Or for anyone else…" His breath became noticeably more labored as he talked. "I knew the severity of my wounds… So I synced my Ring to the ship's navigation… And went set off to find…" The violet man's words trailed a bit as his green eyes lock on Izuku's. "I guess it was to find you… My Ring guided me to you." He said before raising his right hand to reveal a glowing green ring on one of his fingers.
Izuku focused on the ring for a couple of seconds before looking up at the violet man. "What… What do you mean…?" He asked in confusion.
Abin Sur coughed bit before answering. "When Lanterns fall… Their rings set out to find someone worthy to take their place…" He revealed. "I simply had this Ring make its decision a bit ahead of time… And it chose you."
The green haired boy shook his head. "I don't understand anything that you're saying…" He stated. "But I can guarantee you that I am not worthy of… Whatever it is that you're ring is looking at me for." The young man tried to explain.
The alien's eyes drifted to the boy's burned hands for a second before looking up again. "I do not believe that the Ring made a mistake." The man said before extending his hand towards the boy.
Without thinking much about it, Izuku followed suit and brought his own hand forward to meet the alien's. The boy was surprised by how weak the man grip was.
"May I ask what your name is…?" Abin Sur requested.
"Mi… Midoriya Izuku…" The young man answered with a gulp.
The alien nodded in understanding. "It is a heavy burden I leave you with…" He started to say. "After the war, I do not know what tomorrow may bring… The Guardians… The other Corps…. Everyone is gone… Yet, if I survived long enough to make to this planet… It must be because a Green Lantern is needed here." The violet man informed.
Izuku could see how each word came out at a great cost for Abin Sur. Part of him wanted to go and try to get help, but deep down he knew that there was no time for anyone else to come, and the feeling of powerlessness at not being able to save the man in front of him ate the boy up. "I still don't understand what you are talking about…" The middle schooler confessed.
A smile appeared on the violet man's face. "You will… Someday…" He assured. "You will be our Torchbearer now… And I know… Your light will be the brightest of them all…" His words were now coming between longer pauses. "May Ion… Guide your path… Midoriya Izuku of Earth…" Abin Sur said right before closing his eyes as life left his body.
Despite the oddity of the situation and having only met the alien man for a couple of minutes, Izuku was not surprised to find out tears running down his cheeks as the violet hand slipped out of his grasp.
However, as Abin Sur's hand fell, the green ring slipped off his finger on its own and remained hovering in mid air.
The freckled boy looked on in amazement as the small object started to glow with a blinding green light.
Suddenly, a powerful voiced started to echo inside the young man's head. "Izuku Midoriya of Earth. You have the ability to overcome great fear for the sake of others…" The light from the ring became almost unbearable for the middle schooler. "You have been chosen!" It boomed. There was a surge of light and everything became green.
A/N – So yeah, that's the idea. Deku, a kid that comes off as bit of a push over until the situation gets critical in which case all bets are off, is now in possession of possible the last Power Ring in the universe, a weapon which power is directly correlated with the user's will power, bravery, and confidence. It is going to be fun!
I purposely killed off all the different Crops as an excuse for why Deku does not leave Earth as a Lantern usually does when chosen. There are no Guardians or Corp for him to go to. This story will be about Deku dealing with all the stuff from the My Hero Academia series, but with a Green Lantern Ring instead, with a couple of twists thrown in there for good measure. I hope you guys like it and thanks for reading.