Warning: This chapter is a minimally edited first draft. It will likely go under heavy revision once I have time to get back to it, which will hopefully be soon.

~ Chapter 1: Past is Prologue ~

In the end, everything came back to Quirks.

Izuku Midoriya, 10 years old, let out an excited gasp as he craned his neck to watch the hero fight between the legs of the crowd. It was nearly over. People cheered as the hero swooped overhead like a kite, sending paper-thin strands to snap through the shoulders of his adversaries. The villains were soundly defeated.

Like most days, it had been a standard low-tier villain battle. Delinquent robbers used their Quirks to vandalize a convenience store. A few heroes, or in this case 3 sidekicks, came to face them off. A crowd gathered to gawk and cheer for the heroes. Everything was pretty normal for a superhuman society centered around heroes.

But then the boss villain arrived. A massive, 10 feet-tall bare-chested menace who announced himself as, "Pepperjack!" and started hurling giant, sword-sized chili peppers at the sidekicks and watching crowd. Harmless enough, until they started exploding and dousing their targets with highly flammable liquids.

The sidekicks were preoccupied with trying to shield the crowd from all the flying, flammable food. The fight looked to become a standstill, when a new hero suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Forming in midair out of nearly invisible strands, the stylish ninja silently sent several lines of what looked like thin metal straight through their shoulders and sides. The villains dropped unceremoniously, their ringleader's monologue cutting off abruptly.

The onlookers roared with approval. It was a resounding victory.

As the unknown hero was quickly surrounded by adoring fans and the press alike, Izuku crouched down and leaned over his notebook. His rapid scribbling, dissecting the new hero's Quirk and special move, quickly filled the page and took up nearly every available space. It was matched only by his incomprehensible rambling, his quiet mutters spurring him on in his wild theorizing. At breakneck speed, he masterfully sketched a rough rendition of the hero. Glancing up and straining himself to hear the hero's quiet responses to the cameras, he put his pen to the top of the page and wrote down a name.

Edgeshot

With mounting excitement, Izuku stood up again and stepped forward through the gathering crowd. The hero had finished with the reporters, and now seemed to be giving out autographs to a few insistent admirers. Izuku pushed his way through them, struggling to get close enough to speak with the hero. After a second where he almost tripped over someone's foot, he was finally standing in front of the man.

"Uh—um, E—E—Edgeshot, sir," he said quietly, looking up hopefully at the hero. Can—can I ask you a question?"

The hero paused, turning away from where the police were now securing the villains. "Sure, young man."

"What's your Quirk?"

The hero's eyebrows raised slightly. "My Quirk is Foldabody. If you don't mind, is there any reason you want to know?"
"I—" Izuku momentarily lost his cool, looking down shyly and feeling his face heat up with embarrassment. He clutched his notebook tightly to his chest. "I want to take notes."

The hero's eyebrows raised up a bit higher. He crouched down, ignoring the sidekick who was trying to catch his attention, and put his hand on Izuku's shoulder. He gestured to the notebook. "Can I see?"

Slightly reluctant, somewhat in awe, Izuku slowly relinquished his hold and passed the book to the hero. Edgeshot opened it and flipped through the pages, quickly at first, before slowing down to actually read a bit of what was written. His look of surprise quickly morphed into one of astonishment. He looked up at Izuku again, visibly impressed.

"You wrote these? They're very thorough."

Izuku twiddled his fingers, too shy and nervous to answer.

Behind them, the crowd was dispersing. Edgeshot went back to looking through the notebook, before flipping to the front cover and gazing at it.

"Hero Notes For the Future, volume 6," he murmured, much to Izuku's silent mortification and slight panic. He closed it and looked up to meet Izuku's eyes again, his eyes now softened with respect.

"You want to be a hero, correct?" At Izuku's silent nod, he handed over the notebook and continued. "Very well, young man. My Quirk lets me manipulate the length and thickness of my body. I've learned how to transform it faster than sound, allowing me to defeat villains soundlessly and instantly. Of course, it took serious time and effort to achieve that speed."

Edgeshot looked bemused as Izuku went into another long mutter-rant, furiously jotting down notes. After awhile, it died down, as Izuku had finished recording his thoughts and observations. The hero stood up, giving Izuku a measuring look.

"Young man, if you really want to become a hero, I can give you some tips. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"No, sir! Go ahead!" Izuku said brightly, looking up from his notes as he finally finished. He would have to go back to them when he got home. His anticipation and happiness was rising steadily. Another Quirk to look at!

"I would like to ask you the same question you asked me. What's your Quirk?"

Izuku's heart dropped.

"I… I'm Quirkless."

The hero paused, looking slightly saddened and sympathetic. Oh—sorry, I didn't realize."

"N—No," Izuku murmured sadly, looking down again as he turned away. "It—it's not your fault. Thank you."

As Izuku made to walk home—he had been coming from school, after all—a sudden shout from behind startled him into looking back. Over his shoulder, he saw that a particularly large chili pepper was headed straight for him. It soared through the air, pulsing softly, spinning like an out-of-control boomerang. Izuku watched in terror, frozen as it approached, closer and closer, drawing ever nearer… time seemed to slow, stretching the moment before his impending doom… he could hear his heart pounding in his throat… there was nothing else in the world, nothing but that exploding chili pepper…

BOOM!

The world came back into focus. At some point, without even realizing it, Izuku had raised his arm and closed his eyes. Opening them up again, he found that he and his notebook were not doused in heavily flammable liquid. Someone, a man with reddish-brown hair tied back into a messy ponytail, had stepped out of the remaining crowd and shielded him from the blow.

Izuku felt his vitals settle, slowly becoming aware of his surroundings. The man had turned to him in concern, seemingly unbothered by the yellowish liquid dripping from his hair and soaked clothes. Calming down, Izuku looked up at him in gratitude.

"Are you alright?" The man asked, gazing at him worriedly. His glasses, slightly foggy from the dripping liquid, gave him an intellectual, professor-like look. It was also helped by his small goatee. "You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"No, I—I'm okay," Izuku murmured thankfully, glancing towards the police. It looked like the villain, Pepperjack, had momentarily stirred and tried to attack again. Edgeshot currently had him pinned down by both shoulders again. "Th—Thank you, sir."

The man's gaze softened, and he smiled thoughtfully. "You're welcome, son. Be safe."

Nodding again, Izuku hurried off. Behind him, the man who had saved him turned around to greet the approaching police officers. Turning around the corner, Izuku broke into a sprint, opening up his notebook again. He went through his latest additions with renewed fervor, absently noting that he would need to get a new notebook soon.

Quirkless, he thought sadly, a familiar sense of pain flaring momentarily. But with a rush of vicious determination, he pushed it away.

Izuku Midoriya would always want to become a hero. Time, space, and reality itself would never change that. But he was Quirkless, and that was one thing required to become great. Quirklessness, everyone said, was synonymous with being weak. Useless. Nothing more than a liability. Nothing more than a burden.

Nothing more than a Deku.

But what if Izuku did have a Quirk? What if it was budding under the surface, ready to be used, just waiting to be activated? What if he just didn't realize it? What if something happened, something that triggered the discovery of just how amazing he could actually become?

That is not the story we'll be pursuing today.

Back at the street where the battle took place, the officers were finally taking the villains into police cars and carting them away. Edgeshot had already left. The sidekicks were giving a few final statements to the press, while the man who had saved Izuku from the flying chili was getting himself dried with the help of a paramedic.

Clothes dry once more, the man thanked his helper and resumed his walk. He was headed for the train station a few blocks away, preparing for travel. He had somewhere to go, a plan in mind that he would hopefully get done by the end of the day. A mysterious smile slowly worked its way onto his face.

As he finally stepped into the train station and got his ticket, he reflected on the boy with the curly green hair. Feelings of nostalgia, of both wry happiness and deep sadness, battled in his head for control. Letting out a deep sigh as he got situated in the train, he stared thoughtfully out the window and let his mind wander to better days. To earlier times, when he was innocent and young and knew not what the world had in store for those aiming to be heroes.

Turning away from the window, a small, sad grin lit up his face. He let his gaze drop to his lap, before closing his eyes and letting himself drift off. The train started a few minutes later, pulling out of the station with a long, deep whistle. The gentle rumbling of the tracks below, combined with the quiet conversation of the passengers around him, slowly pulled the man into a light sleep.

And Izuku Midoriya dreamed.

And it begins. When I first came up with this idea some months ago, I never imagined it would become what it is now. Originally inspired from Relic of the Future by Coeur Al'Aran, this story has developed into something that, I hope, successfully stands on its own.

Intertwine is an experiment, my attempt to explore the possibility of an overarching plot in the world of MHA greater than the battle between All For One and One For All. But it's also a writing exercise for me. Due to depression and personal trauma, I haven't written consistently in years. I've recovered a lot over 2018, and I think it's now time to get back to writing.

I look forward to writing this. I can't promise how good it'll turn out, because I haven't committed to writing for a long time. My skills are probably rusty. But know that, even if this is a writing exercise for me, I'll do my best. Storytelling is everything. And if I do this, I'm going all out.

Any constructive criticism is appreciated. If you have specific suggestions on how I can improve the storytelling, if you spot any mistakes or things that clearly go against canon, feel free to point them out. While I'm using creative liberty concerning the origins of Quirks and the truth of who's behind it all, I want to establish this story as something that could actually be true in canon. Beyond the obvious fact of time travel changing things, of course.

I don't know how good this story is going to turn out, but I aim to do my best. And I look forward to growing from this experience.

I don't own My Hero Academia.