The kingdom of Todoroki had seen better years. The chaos it was experiencing now was brought by King Enj Todoroki, who ruled with an iron fist. Not only was the king short-tempered and ill-mannered, but also downright cruel. His subjects learned to fear him and those who decided to dissent were purged. The purges were commonplace and citizens knew that they too could get burned at the stake just as their brothers, mothers, and lovers had. Moreover, the king had a strong personal military known as the UA Knights. The knights were not all bad and some righteous individuals joined their ranks, but most of them were power-hungry. They would carry out the king's orders without a second thought and were the ones who gathered up citizens for the king's purges. It helped that these Knights weren't ordinary humans, they each had a mark on their body called a quirk mark which would help them wield a certain power that would enhance their battle prowess. King Enji Todoroki held the quirk mark for fire, but some knights held the mark for water, wood or strength. Each mark had a unique shape and location on one's body and only 2% of the population had one. However, the mark was a requirement if you wanted to become a UA Knight. Unfortunately, one Izuku Midoriya didn't have such a mark. Still, his dream was to become one of the infamous UA Knights. Let's take a look at him, shall we?

Young Midoriya lived on a small farm on the outskirts of the kingdom with only his mother and animals to keep him company. Still, he was a big dreamer and wanted more than anything to be a UA Knight. Unfortunately, without a quirk mark, his dream could never be.

"Izuku Baby! What are you doing!" yelled Inko Midoriya. Izuku stole his mother's sheep herding staff once again. He would often pretend it was a sword and train with it. Although at first, his mother found it endearing, he was older now and should have known that he could never become a knight.

"Mom, I told you I'm training. How else am I going to become a UA Knight?" said Izuku with a big smile. Inko loved his smile, but his statement made her heartache every time.

"Izuku we talked about this," frowned Inko, "without a quirk mark there is no way you could ever become a UA Knight. Besides, why would you want to be one anyway? You do know what they did to your father right?"

"I know, I know. I'm not saying that all the knights are good, but I want to be one just like All Might. He would help people and I heard he even helped people escape the purges. I want to help people just like he did."

"I know honey, but there are other ways to do that. No one even knows what happened to All Might. Some say he was purged by the King, and I don't want to lose you like I lost your father. Stay here on the farm and help me out, that way I can keep you safe." Inko pulled her son into a tight hug. It was less for him and more for herself. She loved her son more than the entire world and promised long ago not to let anything happen to him.

"You know I don't want to leave you Mom, but the farm is struggling. If we don't make some money fast, then I don't know what's going to happen to us. If I could just become a knight, they have great pay and I would be able to support you and the farm."

"Izuku how do you plan on doing that without a mark!" His mother yelled in frustration. To her, it seemed her baby boy was just ignoring the facts.

"Don't worry, I have a plan," he smiled at his mother as he headed inside to grab his book bag. "I'm heading into town, I'll be back within a few days." he kissed his mother goodbye and ran off.

"Izuku!" Inko yelled, but to no avail. She would just have to hope that he would be back safe, but that was much easier said than done.

What Izuku told his mother was true, he did have a plan. He found a book in his father's study that held a few loose pages each highlighting different secrets of the kingdom. Various things that didn't interest Izuku about the rumored heir, castle politics and the king himself. However, there was one thing that did, the recipe for a wishing potion which was said to make any wish come true. The recipe called for 5 ingredients: a witch's acid, a feather of darkness, a tear of mourning, a hair from a retired knight and bark from the Amour Tree. Izuku figured that if he gathered all the ingredients then he could finally get a quirk mark and become a UA Knight. That being said, he had no idea how to get some of these ingredients. Still, he had to start somewhere and knew exactly where to get the first one.

Meanwhile, in the palace, Crown Prince Shoto Todoroki was busy listening to his father's drivel. The prince was familiar with his father's cruelty and wanted more than anything for the King to get what he deserved. Still, he knew that he would have to be the one to supersede him, but wanted to do anything but. The people needed a strong and kind-hearted leader now and Shoto knew that he wouldn't be able to rebuild the kingdom after all his father had done. Why would the people want another Todoroki to rule them anyway?

"Shoto? Have you been listening to a word I said?" the King grunted in frustration.

"I'm sorry father. Could you please repeat it?" asked Shoto uninterestedly.

"I swear you are going to be King of this kingdom when I die, the least you can do is listen to me. You're 18 now Shoto, it is time to get married, yet you still haven't decided from the many princesses I've shown you." said the King. Shoto remembered the many portraits of princesses brought in. They were all very pretty, but to Shoto, that was all they were. He didn't know any of them after all.

"Sorry father, but none of them interest me. I suppose I'm just not in the mood to get married right away. How am I supposed to decide if I don't even know them?"

"It's not that big of a decision boy, you are not marrying for love. You are marrying for an heir. If you don't marry then how will the Todoroki line continue?"

"Perhaps it shouldn't," Shoto muttered under his breath.

"What was that boy?!" his father yelled once again.

"Nothing father."

"I'm tired of your insolence." The King's hair began to flame up, "It has been decided, you will marry Princess Yayourozu and produce an heir. I hear her quirk mark is quite powerful and you two will be able to create strong children. After that, I don't care what you do with her. If you disobey me, then I shall teach your mother a lesson. She should have raised you better after all." sneered the King. Shoto looked up at him and fear began to overwhelm him, his father has been known to do horrible things to the queen and Shoto would not have his mother suffer any more of that.

"Yes father," the prince bowed his head down.

"Now, let's continue to plan your debut. We only have two weeks after all." smiled the King. Prince Shoto was kept hidden from the outside world. The King was paranoid that someone might try to hurt him through his son and for that reason, Shoto never saw past the castle gardens. However, now that he was 18, the King figured it was a good idea to unveil his greatest creation, and what better day to do it than his son's wedding day. Shoto wanted no such thing though, he just wanted to live a normal life. Although he knew he could not let his father continue his rule. More than anything, he wanted someone else to take over. Someone who could actually lead and be a ruler of the people. How was he, someone who hadn't met anyone out of the palace, supposed to do that? He had one hope, a recipe that he tucked in his back pocket. After his father retired to his chambers, Shoto began to pack his things. Having a little too much fool-hardy courage, he wrote a note to his personal knight, Tenya Iida, telling him to protect his mom while he was away. He knew Iida would probably be mad, and felt bad for leaving his mom, but knew that this was the only way to solve this problem for good.