Midoriya stared out across the expanse of the beach he had finally cleared earlier that week, waiting for All Might. It had been ten months since he had met the #1 Hero and thinking about the fact that his childhood idol was now his mentor never failed to make the boy feel a little giddy. It subsided quickly though when he looked down and saw out the corner of the vision the mysterious mark.

He lifted his left arm and looked at the back of his hand. Upon it was an odd rune like marking, akin to that of a tattoo. He had no idea where it had come from, a fact that unnerved him and caused the boy to frown. Sometime, on rare occasions, his hand was filled with a dull ache. Was it someone's quirk at play? Or something else? Ever since it had appeared the boy couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched but oddly, it seemed reassuring in a way.

The boys thoughts turned back to the fateful he had met All Might and been chosen as the hero's successor. So many events and emotions occurred that day. All Might crushing his dreams of ever becoming a hero and then later not only rekindling them but adding more fuel to the fire than ever before.

And of course. There was the whole slime villain incident. That one gave Midoriya pause. He had been so sure of his own demise when the monster attacked him but…

The greenette watched in horror, hands clamped firmly around his mouth as someone, apparently just a kid, struggled against the slime.

"Im sorry, im so sorry."

'DAMMIT! This is my fault' His hands tightened on his face until it hurt. This whole damn situation was because of selfishness and now someone innocent was paying because the worthless nerd never tried to be realistic.

"Help will arrive soon, im sure. Someone, a real hero, will come soon."

The boy should have listened to Kacchan earlier and took him up on his suggestion. Then no one would be getting hurt right now. He could see whoever it was struggling, finally their face came down and for the briefest moments it felt as though all of time stopped. Those scared, piercing red eyes. That sound of anguish. The hair sticking out the top…

THE VILLAIN HAD KACHHAN!?

In one moment, he had gone from being in the crowd to all of a sudden being barreling down the street. It scared him how fast he was moving, it felt almost unnatural. Was this just adrenaline?

The slime villain made to attack him but the boy figured out a plan quick, taking of his bag and hurling it at the villain. Notebooks and pencils fell out, blinding his attacker when they hit his eye.

Finally, in what felt like no time at all he was scooping away at the villain. He knew it was a futile effort as he couldn't do anything before but now…..it seemed his hands were almost repelling the slime. He almost had a hold of Bakugou.

He was talking with Bakugou but not really registering his words, as so many memories filled his head. Finally one part did stand out from his own words.

"Kacchan…I couldn't just stand there and watch you die!"

He almost had him, he could feel the boy's body near. Unfortunately, even when being used a hostage by a villain the blonde was not cooperative.

"GET THE HELL OFF ME!"

"Just a little bit longer kid, and I'm done playing with you!"

The boy had barely registered death arms shout as the slimy tendril came down to him. For the second time he was sure he was about to die to the slime villain. It never came though.

"I really am pathetic." The boy looked up in shock to see All Might, in his muscular form, holding the tendril back. "I told you the traits that make a great champion but I see now I wasn't living up to my own ideals!"

The muscular blonde's fist destroyed the appendage trying to hold him. "PRO'S ARE ALWAYS RISKING THEIR LIVES, THAT'S THE TRUE TEST OF A HERO!"

"DAMN YOU ALL MIGHT."

"DEEETRROOIIIIT SMMMAASSSSHHHHH!"

"Young Midoriya!" A booming voice brought him out of his reminiscing and caused him to fall over. "Oh, sorry about that. Just you were really spacing out there."

"Ah! All Might! Sorry! I hope I didn't keep you waiting to long!?" The boy frantically rushed to apologize. The blonde cut him off with a booming laugh. He was dressed in the same outfit he had been when he'd faced the sludge villain.

"No need to worry, young man. I was just as jittery when I first did the exam, nerves can get the best of us." The blonde assured him. "But look around, you're all prepared. You finished the training way before I had anticipated. You've still been doing all the important exercises like I asked, right?"

The greenette nodded. "Yes sir. You told me how important it was and don't worry, my mom's helped keep me from overworking myself like did at first. I know it's probably silly to say this before I even have One for All but I feel like I could take on the world already in some ways."

"HAHAHA, Glad to hear it. You did good, really good. You still have quite a ways to go but you should now be a suitable vessel, enough to house the power inside your body! Now it's time for the crowning moment."

The greenette looked away, silent before turning back and quietly asking what was on his mind. A sad smile graced his lips, tears starting to form. "What did I do to be so lucky, I feel like I'm cheating."

The blonde tilted his head. Were it not for the shadows covering them you could have seen the confusion in his eyes. "You did all this for me….I'm too blessed…."

"It was your hard work that did this, not mine young Midoriya." The blonde assured him as he plucked a strand of hair from his head. "'There's a difference between being lucky and deserving. One's an accident, the other a reward. Never get the two confused!"

The greenette looked up to see the blonde almost radiating light as if he replaced the sun itself. The loose strand of hair of hair held tight in his grasp fluttering in the wind. "Take that to heart young man! This gift, you earned it with your own valiant efforts."

The greenette felt an immense joy inside. It was finally time. He held out his hands and prepared for whatever came next.

"EAT THIS!"

Ok, that he hadn't prepared for. "uh….?"

"To inherit my power you gotta swallow some of my DNA, that's how it works!" The blonde nervously explained.

"This isn't exactly what I had in mind!?" The greenette exclaimed confused. He kicked himself mentally for how ungrateful that must have sounded after all the work his mentor put in for him.

"Come on there's no time! Now hurry up or you'll be late for the exam! Now EAT, EAT, EAAAATTTTT!"

"AGGGGGGHHHHHHHH"

Midoriya stared at the entrance to the school he so badly wished to attend. He had swallowed the hair, which had been anything but a pleasant experience. He didn't really feel any different than he did before but he trusted All Might.

He had asked why the blonde had waited until today to give him the power if he was prepared as soon as he cleared the beach. The answer hadn't been the most comforting.

"Even if you're a more prepared vessel now, One for All will be stronger going to you than when I received it. It doesn't hurt to be prepared, so I thought it would be best to keep you training and building your body up as long as possible before giving it you."

The boy covered his mouth with his marked hand. 'I swallowed the hair but I don't feel any different.'

"Stupid Deku." He heard a familiar growl from behind him. He turned around to see his former childhood friend stalking towards him with his usual scowl.

"Oh Kacchan-"

"Get out of my way before I set you on fire!" The greenette defiantly didn't need to be told twice. He got out of the blonde's way immediately

"Oh hey good morning, lets both just do our best out there, ok? Good luck!" The greenette sputtered out as quickly as possible while flailing like a lunatic. The blonde simply ignored him and continued walking. Just as the greenette thought he'd managed to avoid an altercation with the blonde, said boy stopped in his tracks.

"Oh, and keep that stupid fucking mark hidden. That stupid tale you came up with about it will get me in just as much trouble if anyone see's it." With that. The blonde took his leave. The greenette let out a sigh of relief and watched the explosion quirk wielder walk away as some other students talked about him.

'Ever since that day, Kacchan's been taking it easier on me. Guess I was just scared out of habit' the greenette shook his head and stood proud. 'But I'm not defenseless anymore. Yeah, I have to remember all the hard work I did.' He could feel his legs shaking like mad. Nerves really did get the best of people, like All Might said. All Might….'Thanks to All Might, I'm actually going to be a hero!'

His feet collided and he felt the wind brush past his face as he tripped and fell. 'Or I'll just die.'

But he didn't, before he could collide with the ground he stopped. He couldn't feel his feet on the ground though?

"Heh, are you ok?" That was unmistakably a girl's voice, and hand on his back? Without think he immediately started flailing in midair before realizing what he was doing and stopping. He looked to his left to see a cute (very cute) brown haired girl. She set him back on to his feet and pressed her fingers together making a sort of pyramid shape.

"I stopped you with my quirk. Sorry I didn't ask first but I figured you wouldn't mind me catching you." The greenette just stared. "Isn't this all like, way nerve-wracking?"

"Uhh, I….Uhh" Was all the greenette could get out. He could already hear Kacchan laughing at him if he learned about this.

"Well guess I'll see you inside. Bye!" The girl told him with a bright smile. The greenette just stood there for a couple minutes, mentally rebooting. Finally, when his brain came back to him he shouted aloud "HOLY WOW, I TALKED TO A GIRL?!"

That plus the maniacal laughter scaring everyone around him….once he calmed down and realized what he was doing, he vowed to smash himself over the head with a lamp when he got home. Maybe he'd be able to forget it then.

As he sat in the exam hall, trying his best not to freak out about Kacchan being right beside him. He had embarrassed himself again with his muttering. He had really gotten on one tall blue-haired boys nerves. He was focusing on the test as best as possible, it was not all that hard by Midoriya's standards but he couldn't help his mind still drifting.

Midoriya wandered down the street, a sad gaze in his eyes. He had been seriously chewed out for trying to save Kacchan. He still wasn't even entirely why he had moved, it was like his body had gone on auto-pilot.

He really wanted to apologize to All Might considering the whole mess was his fault in the first place but had been unable to because of the amount of reporters. He'd have to try and send the man a message when he got home.

"DEKU!" He heard a familiar voice call out behind him. Turning around the greenette saw the blonde running down the street to him. Finally he caught up and he seemed as though he was pretty out of breathe.

"Kacchan?" He asked confused. The blonde's hands tightened into fists and his hair covered his eyes, creating an ominous shadow on his face as he growled out what he had come to say.

"Listen, I'd never ask for a weakling like you to help me, don't think you can look down on me! Huh?! Got that!? I was fine by myself! You're just a quirkless failure who won't even cut it as a rent-a-cop! You didn't help me! You did nothing, don't forget i-" The blonde was cut out of his angry rant as he looked down at the boy's hand. "What the hell? Deku, the fuck is that?!"

"Huh?" That question defiantly confused him. He had something on his hand? He looked down and screamed when he saw the mark. "AGHGHH, WHAT IS THAT?!"

"You don't know? What the fuck Deku?!" The blonde asked, surprise taking place instead of his usual anger for now. "YOU DIDN'T FUCKING HAVE THAT EARLIER!" The blonde composed himself (well as best he could considering who he was) and just glared. "Go to a fucking doctor or something Deku. Not my fucking problem."

And with that the blonde stomped away, leaving Deku to freak out alone about the mark. What the heck was it? Where had it come from? How had he not noticed?

As he studied it he found it calmed him in a weird way. He'd definitely have to go to the doctor or something with it though. He sighed, just one more thing on this nightmare of a day.

'He's not wrong about me doing nothing, it's not like I actually did anything to help today.' The boy thought as he continued to walk, warily eyeing his hand. 'At least I tried, guess now I should get back to giving up on my dreams and figuring this thing out.'

"I AM HERE!"

"TIME'S UP LISTENERS! Time to get ready for that practical!" Present Mic's voice cut through his memories like a knife to butter. The boy looked and was relieved to see that despite his trance state he'd still managed to finish the test.

He signed his name at the top and brought it to the front like everyone else before heading off to the buses to start the practical exam. It wouldn't take long for them to arrive. Until then though, the greenette slipped back into his memories once more. It was quickly becoming a way to keep himself from freaking out to much.

"All Might?! Why are you here? How did you get rid of those reporters?!" The boy asked surprised. The blonde let out a booming laugh.

"I stand for justice! Not soundbytes, because I….I AM ALL MI-ugghh" The muscular blonde disappeared in cloud of smoke and out emerged his skinny form. The form that had been Midoriya's third, no fourth…fifth…..one of the many shocks of his day. The skinny man coughed before wiping away the blood.

"Young man, I wanted to thank you and aslo discuss your question from earlier."

"huh?"

"If you hadn't told me about your life, if you hadn't run into that fight, I would have been a worthless bystander watching from the crowd. So thanks."

"Oh no! It was my fault he was there to begin with. I got in the way of your hard work, I wasted your energy….and not to mention your time." The boy said sadly. He knew if he just had learned his place like Kacchan said, none of this would have happened.

"I'm not done. You told me you didn't have a power, so when I saw this timid quirkless boy try to save a life it inspired me to act too. There are stories about every hero, how they became great. Most have one thing in common. Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think, almost on their own…." Midoriya felt the tears start to form in his eyes as his gaze hit the ground.

"I'm sorry Izuku, I wish things were different." His mother's voice carved through his mind. The boy's hands shot to his chest as he felt as is the world was dragging him down onto the ground.

"…and today, that's what happened to you." He couldn't hold them back anymore, the tears started to flow freely down his face, as he collapsed to the floor.

His mom hadn't ever told him…in his entire life…..the words he wanted to hear…the ones he needed to hear…..

The wind picked up in its intensity. So much noise but it was all cut out by one small sentence ringing louder than all else.

"Young man…..You too can become a hero."

"I deem you worthy of my power, my quirk is yours to inherit."

The bus had finally arrived. He was here. It wouldn't be long until the exam started. In the meantime everyone was stretching and doing exercises to prepare themselves.

To his surprise he actually spotted the brown haired girl from earlier. 'Oh hey its her! I should probably thank her for earlier.'

Before the boy could get to close though a strong hand clamped down on his shoulder. He turned and to his not so pleasant surprise it was the blue-haired boy from earlier.

"She seems to be trying to prepare for the trials ahead. What are you going to do? Distract her and ruin her chances to succeed?!" He accused the greenette. The boy immediately jumped to defend himself. He could hear the other students talking about him. 'Why do I feel like everyone's already written me off?'

Finally, after that embarrassing encounter was over it was time for the exam to begin as Present Mic announced. When the boy looked back down from the post the pro was at he was surprised to find that everyone was already way ahead of him. 'I'm already behind!'

"Crap." The boy got out as he rushed after the others. "Hey wait up save some villains for me!"

"This is fine, I'll catch up. No need to worry. After all, I've got All Might's power in me!" The blonde's words from earlier ran through his mind.

'You may have molded your body into a proper vessel but you did it in a hurry, be cautious. You've not even taken it for a test drive yet. The physical backlash of one for all can be intense. There's no time to go into the fine details but…..take note!'

Midoriya's eyes scanned all around looking for any of the faux villains to try to take out. 'You've got to prepare yourself before using this quirk, so I want you to clench your butt cheeks and yell this from the depths of your heart! Sma-'

Suddenly one of the faux villains came crashing through the wall and bearing down on him. "Ah, a 1 pointer!"

"TARGET AQUIRED." The villains rushed at him.

"Woah, gotta dodge him!" He knew what he needed to do. Unfortunately, it seemed as if his body refused to get the message as he was frozen in place. 'Why won't my feet move?! HOLY CRAP IM GONNA DIE-'

The villain bearing down on him was destroyed in an instant as a bright blue laser shot through the robot.

"Got him~" A fancy voice called out. Midoriya looked to see one of the people from earlier, a blonde boy with specialized gear give him a wink. "Merci Beaucoup, we make a great team with you as my decoy. Although, I doubt I'll be seeing to much of each other in the future. ADIEU!"

"What did he mean by that?" The greenette wondered.

"SIX MINUTES AND TWO SECONDS LEFT." That brought the boy out of his stupor. He rushed as fast as he could. On the look out for anymore villains but they all seemed to be destroyed now.

"Not good, not good, not good!" As he looked around he saw the brown haired girl once again, levitating some robots into the air. 'Her again?!'

"And RELEASE!" She exclaimed while touching her fingers together like before. The robots all fell from the air and exploded. She took a second to catch her breathe. "Alright, that should put me at least at twenty-eight points!"

'Twenty-eight?!' The greenette questioned. How had she gotten so many already?! Suddenly an explosion came from the boys side and he looked to see the blue-haired boy destroying another robot with a kick.

"That puts me at forty-five!" 'How'd he get so many!?

All around people started listing there scores, all amazingly high. All much better than Midoriya's zero. 'At this rate, there won't be any enemies left….IM GONNA FAIL!'

The greenette felt ready to cry, even if the exam wasn't over yet. He had yet to destroy and villains and at this rate he wouldn't score even one measly point. A part of him wished he'd even just run into a zero pointer so he could prove he could at least actually do something even if didn't get any points for it.

Of course, fate was a fickle mistress and only heeded his wishes when he could suffer for it usually. A loud rumbling broke out across the field drawing the attention of all the participants. Windows shattered, building cracked and dust was kicked up everywhere. Midoriya would have used a select few words he'd learned from Kacchan if his mouth wasn't sealed shut from fear.

A robot as tall as skyscraper was peering out at him and the rest, its massive treads coming towards them with no regards for their survival. Midoriya wanted to kick Present Mic despite the hero being a favorite of his. This was the zero pointer?! 'Isn't this a little extreme?!'

The gigantic villain punched the ground kicking up dirt and debris everywhere causing Midoriya to fall back. He stared wide-eyed in fear at the robot as the other ran past him without a second thought. He turned and tried to crawl away as fast as possible. 'This is a disaster! I gotta run away and find some smaller villains. CrapCrapCrapCrap, im still at zero points!'

"LESS THAN TWO MINUTES REMAINING!" Present Mic's voice boomed out across the mock city.

"What, two minutes?! No, No, No!" Images of all the work he and All Might did at the beach clouded his mind 'Everything All Might did for me….all that training….it'll be wasted!'

"OW!"

Midoriya froze, turning around as time seemed to slow like it did when he had tried to save Bakugou. He saw the brown-haired girl stuck on the floor. Her leg was trapped under some rubble she was unable to move and the zero pointer was bearing down on her fast. It would crush her soon. Her voice rang clear through the boys mind.

"Im sorry I didn't ask first, but I figured you wouldn't mind me catching you."

Without another thought the boy could feel himself back on his feet and running. This time though he was running right towards the danger, not that that was how his mind currently thought of it. All he could see was that he was running to help someone in need.

His legs braced, he felt an energy coursing through him. Two in fact. One was familiar but the other was not. He jumped up, summoning the power of One for All and…..something else. His legs lifted up as the boy jumped.

Once again all the participants were staring, but this time not at the zero pointer but at the boy hurtling through the air. He had kicked up just as much dirt as the zero pointer did when it hit the ground.

The boy was barely registering anything properly at this point. Instincts kicking in. He ignored the pains his leg suddenly had that seemed to be phasing in and out. One moment the villain had filled his entire vision. The next all he saw was blue sky. He looked down.

He'd overshot! He'd misjudged how much power he had and had sailed right above the villain which was still on its way to crushing the girl. What did he do now?!

To his surprise he got an answer.

"Look at your marked hand."

The boy recognized the voice barely but had no idea who's it was. 'what was that?!' He did as it said though and was surprised to see the mark glowing a brilliant blue. His hand seemed to act all of its own accord as he turned back to face the robot. Some small, semi-opaque black and purple tendrils shot out his hand and wrapped around the robots head, pulling the boy back.

He was confused but didn't have time for questions. He had to save that girl! Now he had a slight bit more idea of his power he aimed for the robots head and kicked towards the robot, using the wind pressure generated by his legs and flying to the robot. He turned around mid-air, remembering the way he'd seen the blue haired boy destroy one of the smaller villains and smashed right through the robots head, coming out the other side.

Now that he was on the trajectory to the ground he had a path he could follow! The panels of the robots head were falling through the air thanks to the way he had smashed through. He probably had only a few more seconds to act, the way he'd smashed through had also accelerated the rate at which the robot was going to crush girl.

He sent the power coursing through him one last time and kicked himself towards the falling panels, trying to jump between them. They gave him the vantage he need, as he rocketed towards the robots chest.

He pulled his left arm back, ready to punch the robot full force as All Might's voice came through in his head. He felt it had to be his left arm for some reason.

'Clench your butt cheeks kid and yell this from the depths of your heart!'

"SMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He felt his fist connect with the metal for a moment and only a moment. In the next, in such a short frame of time the villain had gone flying. The greenette looked on in shock. The villain was exploding miles away in the air.

Finally the boy's sense's came back to him. 'This is…..kind of like when I tried to save Kacchan….I moved without thinking…..now I have a quirk.' The boy looked at his left hand. 'And the mark…what was that…is the mark some quirk I never knew about?! Both are, real power…'

"JUST ONE MINUTE LEFT." He heard Present Mic announce. He finally realized he was still floating high in the air and started to fall.

"Agghh! Ok…don't panic! I jumped using One for All so I should be able to use it to get down too, just like All Might! Or maybe I can use those tendrils again?! Either way landing should be a piece of cake, right?!'

The boy tried to use his arm again but he couldn't feel it nor his legs. 'What the?' he looked back on saw to his horror how everything but his right arm was flapping about. 'I'm broken?! What happened, my legs where fine before?! That's my marked hand as well!"

'You've molded your body into a proper vessel but you did it in a hurry. So be cautious, the physical backlash of One for All can be intense.'

'He warned me, I should've listened. I can barely contain this borrowed power, even after ten months of training! And this is just a hair of his quirk! I got way ahead of myself attacking that giant villain. I'm acting like a pro when I don't even have enough skill to be a sidekick'

'No!' the boy decided 'This isn't over! There's gotta be something I can do! A Detroit Smash. It's the only chance I've got to survive. My legs and my left arm are broke, so just one option! I can do this but if my timings off even a little, I'm toast! Even if I live I've got zero points!' The boy lifted his arm, preparing himself. 'and if I break my left arm too then there's no way I'm gonna pass the exam!

A scream left the boys throat as he got closer and closer to the ground. Could he do it? Was it already too late?! He had to do it now!

Before he could though, he felt something solid slap the side of his face, throwing him to the side. He hovered in the air before he hit the ground, so close to hitting it.

"Urgh….Re….lease." he heard a voice groan out before he was dropped unceremoniously onto the road. He looked up to see the girl he'd just saved on top of a bit of robot. She ended up emptying the contents of her stomach onto the road from the strain of saving him.

'I'm alive…..that girl…..she stopped my fall again….' The boy could see black splotches on the edge of his vision. 'Sure seemed to take a lot out of her…..but at least she doesn't look injured. That's a relief.'

The boys hand slammed into the ground. Making a fist as he started to crawl along the ground. 'and now, thanks to her…'

"I still have a chance to get at least one point before….."

"TIMES UP!" Present Mic announced as sirens blared. Midoriya felt his heart tighten in his chest as tears started to fall. The splotches in his vision got bigger and the boy fell unconscious right there and then. Just as he did he swore he could hear the voice again from before.

"You did good, even if you don't realize it."