(Prologue: Two Sides of the Same Coin)

AN: Due to it being a prologue, this chapter is short

"Not all men are created equal."

This was a common phrase 10-year-old Izuku would turn too in his mind as the days went by in his admittedly short life. It was a statement about the reality he lived in, the very understanding he had of the society around him. Just like how All Might symbolized peace and prosperity, that phrase represented the reality of how broken his world was. A reality full of preventable victims, harshness and judgement of the masses and most importantly; a looming sense of fear that held the breath of every person alive as they went about their days.

It wasn't an opinion he was fond of, but it was what he believed in. Not everyone had to like their own personal opinions, especially if it's a negative opinion about the world you live in. But the very actions he had witnessed every day in the media proved a grim truth, one obvious enough for a child like him to easily understand. The world was broken, kept together by the thin strands of hope created by the heroes who fought an endless battle against those who wished to take advantage of their own natural abilities.

But being lost in thought right now wasn't going to Izuku any favours. Knowing his brain could conjure conundrums far deeper than that, he grimly cut his thoughts out of his head, not wanting to tempt his mind to bring back old and crude memories. He had enough bullying in his life back when he was the weak kid, the "victim" that needed saving. Right now, he was in class so he needed to pay attention.

… or his hand could magically take notes even when he isn't paying attention.

… Huh, weird.

Saving the fascinating thought of body parts other than the mouth being able to mutter in his head for a future think tank, he quickly skimmed over his notes and then stole a glance at the blackboard in front of him. It was full of math that he already knew, so he slouched in his seat, idly looking around the classroom for something less depressing than his thoughts to distract him. Looking around the class, it was immediately obvious to him that he wasn't the only person overwhelmed by the sheer boredom of the joke of a lesson he was in the middle of. His class at Aldera Middle School wasn't exactly a good one, in Kacchan terms, it was a "Festering Maggot Filled Fuckshow", but in his opinion, the school wasn't nearly as poor as the blondie made it out to be. He did acknowledge that the school needed drastic remodelling in both the curriculum and the staff. Perhaps a budgeting issue? They did recently fire that guy with his bullshit accounting quirk who could count money using a calculator embedded in his eyes and- *mutter mutter mutter*

DING. DING. DING!

Abruptly interrupted from his muttering, Izuku idly sighed as the bell rang, the noise of the bell surprising their unattentive teacher. The frail man that "taught" them wiped his face of his surprise in an instant, before pointing to the outside, prompting the class to stampede outside in a blur of joy and happiness.

Recess had begun.

On school days like this, his classmates around him laughed and played together daily. Laughing, joking, and just being as sociable as possible with the little instincts their minds and natural advantages gave him. They had no sight of the true colours the world around them had shown him, they were naive, but not pure.

They sometimes asked him to join in on the fun, but he never wanted to and always refused. They had a social hierarchy of their own in the school and he had no intention of being a part of such a cursed and decrepit hierarchy. Even if he would end up pretty darn high up there if he did end up joining, he had no reason to join them when they didn't even look at him, just his quirk.

His empathy wouldn't allow him to corrupt himself in the childlike visions of quirkism. With a single finger pointed in their direction, he always sent them on their way, wide-eyed, nervous, but more importantly, leaving him alone.

Well, not completely alone…

Turning to his right as he exited the classroom, his indifferent expression morphed into a small smile as a familiar sharp face clad with blond hair and red angry eyes came into view and walked beside him.

Izuku cried as he stood hand in hand with his childhood friend, Kacchan, both covered in bruises and cuts but standing straight with defiance in their faces. "S-stop being mean you, bullies! T-this isn't right, if you go any further, I'll have to stop y-you!" a younger, meeker Izuku declared as he scowled, a face rarely seen on the nervous boy.

On his side, Kacchan made a show of clenching his free hand into a fist in front of him. His existing scowl devolved into a face of rage and anguish. "I'll do you one better Izu, I'll kill these fuckers. You are all just pebbles in my path side characters! A hero always wins, so I can't lose to you scum even if you're older than me!" he howled, sweat glistening off of his body, making him shine.

The two older kids in front of them smirked as they raised their arms again, ready to repeat their previous beatdown on the young boys.

Only one duo returned home that day.

Kacchan. Katsuki Bakugo. His best friend.

As childhood friends, since they were in diapers, it was not unexpected that Izuku and Katsuki were very close. But to many's surprise, despite their clashing personalities and varying opinions, they got along more like twin brothers.

Izuku Midoriya is a meek kid with a nervous complexion that vanishes when he gets serious. He is a silent genius, someone who is exceedingly analytical, but rarely shows it off. Despite his age, he is exceedingly knowledgeable about quirk analysis and philosophies. Give him a pen and paper and a single 5-second video about an obscure hero and he could write an essay that accurately states every important facet about the heroes quirk, from strengths, uses, typing, the heroes control, possible support items, weaknesses, he knew it all. In fact, much of this comes out when he falls into his bad habit of muttering. Despite this, he is also a very kind kid, someone cowardly in mannerisms, but empathetic in nature. His dream is to become a hero, not for fame or money, but because then he can help people. It was imbued in his nature. The feats of All Might inspired him at a young age, but it wasn't the beaten villains that caught his attention, it was that All Might dove straight into a lake immediately after, to rescue an entire boat of people. It showed the true meaning of heroism, something he wishes dearly to stand behind.

His rarely-used quirk, on the other hand, was of little use to his goal. Ignition, a mutated quirk that most likely came from his father's Fire Breath quirk, allowed his fingers and toes to reach temperatures so high, he could turn thermite into gas… if it existed long enough. His quirk, no matter how much he tried to work out with it, never lasted longer than a nanosecond. A decent quirk, but despite the immense heat created, it existed for such a short time span that it would only create phantom burns if he touched someone with it. It was also beyond energy inefficient, so any of the other hundreds of utilities he could come up with became bogus, simply because he couldn't use it often enough. The only real advantage he managed to correctly deduce over the years was a decent heat resistance, which was he managed to confirm it's existence against his will when he was thrown into a burning building by some bullies that apparently didn't care about the possibility of getting a criminal record.

Katsuki Bakugo, on the other hand, is a brash and outgoing child. Hiding behind a personality of an angry, cursing wolf was a boy of more subtle talents. He is a natural at fighting, his instincts both trained and naturally talented to the point his reaction time and spatial awareness are unsurpassed at his age. He is by no means stupid, he works hard for every advantage he ever obtained. His relentless studying, exercise and observations are all just pieces of his life that he earned through determination, grit and tenacity. Unlike Izuku however, Katsuki is by no means a nice guy. To him, all of his opponents are stepping stones in his world, all of his allies (except Izuku) are extras in his story. His arrogance comes from his goal and how he is achieving it, as he wishes to be a top hero one day and has quirklessly taken down countless other students who dared to doubt him. He saw that heroes always win no matter how badly they are outmatched, so as someone who always wins, he wishes to be one of the few at the top. A very ambitious goal, but one not nearly as far-fetched as his old one. That old goal was to beat All Might and become the top hero, something he quickly and angrily realized was out of reach the day his quirk manifested.

A combination of his parents' quirks, Glycerin and Oxide Sweat, could potentially and accidentally combine to create explosive sweat or other deadly compounds. Instead, Katsuki got the one combination that didn't match his volatile personality. A quirk he would begrudgingly be grateful for, but usually hate Stable Compound. Though he retained a little bit of increased resilience from his father's quirk, his quirk was far more useless. He could sweat on command, an extremely potent combination of volatile chemicals that had a very close composition with nitroglycerin. The problem? Somehow, despite the combination of nitrogen, volatile alkaline salts and easy access to oxygen, that chemical compound mixture had about the volatility of a noble gas. No matter what he tried, from lighting his hand on with a lighter, a match, a propane explosion (which still failed but gave him a cool scar on his chest), it would not react. This did come in handy once when he was struck by lightning, as again, despite the concentration of the compound he sweated out, not even electricity would run through it. But even then, it irked him to no end, knowing that no matter what ideas he and Izu would come up with, nothing could make his sweat anymore useful than a stable disinfectant.

Two friends, two sides of the same coin, two similar yet opposite aspirations.

A meek boy who wants to save people, a brash child who wants to win.

A dream shared equally. A dream neither had the power to make a reality.

Save and win.

Win and save.

Defeat them all.

Save everyone.

…

…

...

Ignite.