Y-yes." Izuku muttered in a low voice.

Almost Immediately, he wished he hadn't said that. All eyes were on him now. Pointy, sharp- like knives jabbing at his skin from every end. He stood at his desk for a moment, an awkward second too long, in fact. He slumped back down, habitually preening his head down to avoid embarrassment.

The smell of burning and ash caught his attention. A glowing red hand unceremoniously slammed itself onto his desk. He glanced up to her his former childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugo giving him a nasty scowl.

"Deku," Katsuki growled, showing his jagged teeth. "Don't fucking mess with me. Is this some kind of joke?"

A set of small explosions set off in his palms like a chain reaction. Even if he'd seen it over a thousand times already, Izuku couldn't help but flinch.

"Well?" Katsuki barked, begging for a response. "Say something, nerd!"

Izuku didn't feed into his instigation. He kept quiet.

"To your seats," the teacher said with disinterest, his eyes scanning the two before switching to a different focus. Like usual, he didn't care what Katsuki did or said to Izuku.

"Tch." Katsuki reluctantly obliged and returned to his desk.

"Now…" the teacher droned on, which was masked by a quiet murmur passing around the room.

"Can you believe he actually wants to go U.A?!"

"Seriously, he's got average grades at best. Plus he's got no quirk!"

"He's delusional if he thinks they'd accept him. Do they even allow quirkless people to attend the school?"

Ridicule. Izuku was all too used to it.

Not all men are created equal.

In a world filled to the brim of supernatural powers, heroes, villains, things you'd only see in a comic book just a few centuries ago, he was quirkless. In the 20%. The part of the population that was still seen as lower down in the evolutionary line. These where the people who were shunned by society, outcasted, taunted, made fun of.

Yeah, he was one of them.

Well, that's what he thought anyway. Actually, he wasn't sure. Quirkless people had no power, right? But he was subjugated to power ten years ago. Villains invaded his home. He got shot. He met a talking sword. It possessed him. It gave him power, immense power- power he couldn't control. Did that classify as a quirk? He didn't know.

Still, that power, that "quirk". It never resurfaced. After that incident, there were no signs of the dagger having ever existed. But he knew all too well that it did exist. He wouldn't let himself forget. He couldn't let himself escape the fact that he was a murderer. A criminal. A villain.

He was no better than the ones he killed all this those years ago.

…

"Oi, shitty nerd," Katsuki hissed, "Don't apply for U.A. Got that?"

Izuku winced at his former friend's snide smile. He noticed the taunting laughs of the two cronies behind his blond bully.

"This is kind of sad. He doesn't even fight back." One sniggered.

"You'd think he'd finally get some sense seeing as it's his last year of middle school."

"I'm talking to you, Deku." Katsuki said, jostling Izuku even further. "Listen cause I'm not gonna repeat myself. If you wanna become a hero so bad… then why don't you take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life!?"

That was too far. Way too far, even for Katsuki. "Idiot." He mumbled under his breath as Katsuki let his collar go.

"What did you just say?"

"You just instigated a suicide, Kaachan." Izuku said dryly, rubbing his throat. "What if I actually did it? It'd go on your record. U.A wouldn't -"

Katsuki flared up in rage and unleashed a volley of mini explosions towards Izuku's face, followed suite by a sharp kick to the stomach.

"You piss me off." Katsuki said, his words carrying venom. He turned his body not a second later and began walking off with his cronies. "You talk so big about wanting to become a hero, yet that's all you can do. Talk. It's pathetic."

Izuku curled up into a ball, holding his stomach in pain on the floor. Katsuki was right. He really was pathetic.

…

The notebook Katsuki had thrown out the window had landed in a koi pond at the back of the school. It was drenched in water, each page soaked and barely keeping together. A patch of black covered the middle of it. Katsuki had used his quirk on it aswell.

It was un restorable.

Great. Just fucking perfect.

He clenched his hands in frustration, dumping the notebook into a recycling bin as he finally got on his way home.

What did that make it? The fourth, no-fifth hero notebook Katsuki had messed up. He gritted his teeth in spite, his head habitually looking downwards.

"He doesn't even fight back."

Why didn't he? Was it because he was weak. Defenseless. Quirkless. No, that wasn't it. The thought, although laughable, had always been the reason Izuku let himself be bullied in the first place. He didn't want to hurt anyone. No matter how much he wanted to.

He just learned to take the beatings. Day in, day out. It was a cycle.

As he reached the underpass of a tunnel, Izuku heard a nasty voice above him.

"A normal sized vessel!" The voice stated.

Before Izuku could look up, it was too late. His entire body was submerged in some kind of slime. Almost immediately it invaded his mouth and nostrils, like an intruder. His lungs were getting filled up. He couldn't breath anymore. He couldn't he even close his mouth.

He tried to move his body but it was useless, he was swinging at nothing, moving like a fish out of water. He yelled for help but all that came out was a muffled moan.

"Yes! Don't resist." The slime said, "you're body will be mine in a few seconds."

This feeling was all too familiar. Way too much too his liking. His eyes drooped, his swings were getting weaker and slower. He was losing consciousness. Fast. He couldn't do anything. His vision darkened and he let out one last spout of air.

He was going to die again. He wouldn't be so lucky this time. He wouldn't survive this.

"Everything is fine now." A voice boomed from behind him, "why?" It drew closer and closer. "Because I'm here!"

"Deeeetroiiit smash!" The heroic voice yelled.

Suddenly, a huge gust of tremendously fast winds blew the slime villain into nothing but splatter across the walls of the underpass.

Izuku could breath. He was alive. Still alive. Somehow. He coughed up pieces of the slime, trying desperately to get air back into his system as soon as possible. He wanted to throw up.

"This should do the job."

Izuku turned to the voice.

His jaw dropped.

"N-no way…" He stuttered. "All might!?"

The worlds number 1 hero, All might. In the flesh. Izuku couldn't believe it. He got saved by the All might? The All might who's saved thousands of lives, beaten thousands of hero and all without once budging the smile on his face?

He never thought he'd need his life long idol this way and so close. His inner fanboy wanted to explode out in shrieks but he managed to hold back.

The top hero turned to Izuku after stuffing the remains of the villain into a Coca Cola can and the. Dumping it into a grocery bag in his other bag. "Young man, are you alright?"

Izuku, without a thought, nodded his head. He was speechless. He'd seen so many recordings of the number 1 but face to face was much, much different. He was much taller, bulkier in real life. His hair was way more radiantly gold in color. His toothy smile, even grander.

"That's a relief," All might said, "I'm sorry I hadn't arrived earlier.-"

"N-no it's- Its fine! I'm fine! I- thank you, All might!" Izuku assured.

"That's good to hear," All might walked out of the underpass and crouched.

Realization hit. Izuku's ecstatic face turned into a grimace one he figured out that his idol was going to leave already. No. This-this was a once in a life time opportunity. A chance to ask him a question. A question he'd held onto for so long to.

He needed an answer, not just from anyone, but from All might. He couldn't let this moment pass. He needed to know.

"Wait!" He called.

The hulking man stopped in his tracks and turned his head. "I really must be going now-"

"Sir!-" He blurted with a huff, "Wait!"

"I'm sorry young man, however evil doers never rest-"

"Please! I-I have a really important question that I wanted to ask you!" Izuku continued, "Please!"

All might was taken off guard by Izuku's tone. For a second he could've sworn the he saw a glimmer of fire penetrate through the freckled boy's emerald green eyes. He let out a chuckle.

"Go ahead," he responded, seeing the boy's face light up. He had time. He hadn't used his transformation quirk for too long that day so he could afford to stick around for a while longer.

Izuku, without missing a beat asked, "Can I become a hero without a quirk?"

All mights smile quickly morphed into a frown. It was not a frown of sadness or anger, but pity. It was a shame, really. The boy showed charisma and burning desire to be a hero just off his eyes alone. But, he was a hero. He knew just how bad it could be fighting villains for a living.

He couldn't just tell him to pursue his dreams. No, that would simply equate to sending a promising child to their death. He opened his mouth, trying to find the right words.

"I'm sorry, young man." He said sourly, "It's not a bad thing to dream. But you can't become a hero without a quirk."

He rested his hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Become a policeman, they may not get recognized as much, but they are just as admirable as heroes."

"Well," he finished with a turn, "I really need to be going now. Stay safe!" He crouched for a moment and then jumped, leaving a small crater on the ground as he made his exit. His body out of sight within just a few seconds.

Izuku was left frozen in his own thought.

"You can't become a hero."

Of course. Of course he couldn't. He was nothing but a villain- a cold hearted bastard who had the nerve to even think of becoming a hero.

To think, the person who he admired most, the person he wanted to become like, his idol. Even he shot him down.

He wiped his face, trying to erase the tears trickling down his cheeks like a stream of water.

He hated being quirkless. Much more than that, he hated having too much power. Having the power to kill with ease. He shivered at the notion.

He was stuck. He found himself in a very dark place. And he didn't know how to get out of it.

…

A few days had passed, each one going by in a blur. He was still entrapped in his usual cycle. Wake up, eat, go to school, go home, eat, sleep. It had all become monotonous.

The beatings were still frequent. Katsuki noticed his shift in demeanor, but he didn't care. Izuku was just another quirkless roach that needed to be stepped on. Why would he care about him?

"What's with the face, Deku?" Katsuki leered, the words rolling off his tough like drops of poison. "Angry? Come on. If you're so pissed why don't you just fight me?"

Izuku's head shot up only to be immediately cowered down by Katsuki's intimidating red eyes. He accepted another punch to the face, unfazed.

"Oi, Deku." Katsuki grumbled, annoyed by his lack of reaction. "How'd you expect to be a hero if you don't even wanna fight back?" He pushed him down.

"Not like you'd even have a chance of winning anyway." He spat musingly.

…

He gripped the straps of his bad up, kicking the dirt by his feet. Another day, another beating. Another day of ridicule. Another day of getting eyed at like a stray dog, trying to find a home. Except, in his case, no one cared to pick him up. To give him a "home", a sense of belonging.

His legs dragged along the pavement, annoyed and frustrated.

It was supposed to be a normal day, a daily occurrence, Nothing new… but, as he would soon find out. That day…

Would quickly turn into the second most stressful day of his entire life.

...

Yelling, screaming, people. Lots of people. Izuku was curious to see what commotion had amassed a slew of people to huddle around it. He walked towards the crowd, digging in, cutting through the small gaps between each person.

Once he reached the front of the crowd and was swiftly pushed back before he got any further.

"Stay back!" A man with gigantic arms ordered before charging back into action.

'Was that…" His eyes widened, 'Death arms? The pro hero?'

That's when two other figures took his attention.

'Kamui woods? Mt. Lady?!' His eyes then focused on the person they were desperately rushing to. 'A Villain.' He realized. A real villain attack, not just on the news. And he was there to see it.

His jaw dropped as the heroes moved around with swift movements.

"I'll bind him!" Kamui woods declared, the other two heroes nodded in unison. The hero made of wood extended his arm out. His arm morphed longer and longer, splitting into a large branch system.

"Lacquered Chains Prison!" He exclaimed as the branches entrapped the villain in wood based prison.

The villain scoffed, "You think that's all it's gonna take to beat me!?" He punched through the prison with ease, blowing bits of it back into the heroes. He staggered back with a grin.

"My quirk allows me to increase my strength the longer I fight!" He yelled, "You can't even nudge me with the same attacks anymore!"

His muscles grew larger as each second passed.

"He's right!" Death arms said, "we can't keep going like this. We need to think of something to stop him before he gets too strong."

"Yeah, I got that." Mount lady chimed, "But right now I don't see an opening. Even if I turn big I won't be nearly as strong enough to beat him in strength alone."

'Shit!' The villain backed up even more, 'My quirk only works up to 10 minutes max. I didn't expect to find so many heroes here! I need to get outta here…'

"Just turn yourself In, villain!"

"Like hell," the villain dug his hands into the ground- cracking it before picking up the chunk he just cut out. His eyes rotated along the crowd, his grin getting even larger. He honed in on a perfect target.

In a surprise turn of events, the villain hurled the boulder towards the crowd, passing the heroes at a tremendous speed. Kamui woods reached out for th boulder with his quirk, but he simply wasn't fast enough.

Luckily, most of crowd had managed to move out of the way. Most.

All but one unlucky child had stayed behind, unaware of why his mother had let go of his hands and as to why a giant rock was rapidly heading his direction. That's when the child felt something, someone grab his body.

Izuku didn't know what the hell his body was doing when he rushed out like that, he hadn't even thought about moving his legs and yet they had already came to decision to save the child.

He grabbed the child. Now what the hell was he going to do? His legs weren't fast enough, the rock was looming towards him and the child.

'You can't become a hero without a quirk.'

All might was right.

Without power, can one really become a hero? No- simple as that. Without power he was just some wannabe. He was still quirkless. He had no power.

He blinked.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he realized he wasn't in front of the boulder anymore. Not even in the city. Was he even in Japan anymore?

Endless miles of sand, sand and more sand surrounded him.

'This place… it's familiar,' He pondered, 'This place its-'

"What the hell, it's you again!" A voice beckoned from behind him. He turned, his eyes widened.

In front of him, the talking dagger layed, ever so still, sunk into the sand.

"You…" the sword semi closed its eye, "you look way different than before. Has it really been that long already?!" The dagger cackled.

Izuku backwards by the sudden collapse of his legs. "Y-you…" his voice shook. "W-What are you doing here?"

"Huh? The hell are you talking about?"

"I-I… I thought you were gone- You're not supposed to be here-"

"That's What I'm fucking saying! But he still keeps me here."

He?

Izuku felt a tap at his shoulder, he turned his head and yelped in surprise when he saw a man looking at him with a toothy smile. Quickly switching from the sword to the man to the sword and then back to the man, He found himself bewildered.

"W-who are you?" He asked distraughtly.

"Me? I'm… my name is… Uh. Dunno." The man laughed, much to Izuku's dismay. "But there are bigger things to worry about now." His long, almost unnaturally beautiful hair swayed side to side in the wind.

Oddly, it was one of the most magnificent things Izuku had ever seen in his life.

Wait a second.

"You don't know your name!?" Izuku said, his face in disbelief.

"Yup!" The man said proudly, "Now, Izuku, I need you to do something for me." He turned Izuku back towards Rubilax. "Grab that pest and take it to your world."

"Who the hell are you calling a pest!" The sword raged. "Wait- you're letting me free?" It asked a moment later with confusion in its tone.

Izuku did a double take to made sure he heard that right. "Wait- what!? You can't be serious. I won't do that."

The man tilted his head like a blissful child. "Why not?"

"-Because he'll posses me!" Izuku asserted. "If that happens I'll…" he lowered his head. "I might…"

"Kill people?" The man said.

Izuku lifted his head. "H-how did you know that?"

"Not important." The man took Izuku to his feet and dusted the sand off him. "Right now… you want to be a hero, isn't that right?"

"Y-Yes…" Izuku said dimly. "But I don't have a quirk. I don't have the power to become.-"

The man's grin grew wider as he rapidly pointed at the talking dagger. "If all you need is power, then use that!"

"Haven't you been listening?!" Izuku snapped back, "If I let him posses me again. I'll-"

"Upupup," the man interrupted, "That's only if you let him posses you." He nudged Izuku closer to the sword.

"Wait- are you saying that I-"

"Can control it? Hell yeah! So, go ahead and grab it."

Izuku looked at the dagger again. His stomach lurched, his head spun. He felt like he would throw up every time he looked at it.

No. No.

"No! I don't care. I won't!"

The man sighed. "Look. Right now, you're decision is what is standing between the life or death of you and the child you were trying to protect."

Izuku froze in realization. His stomach sunk.

"Choose."

Izuku gazed at the dagger. It gazed back.

"What would a hero do, Izuku?"

"He wouldn't hesitate to save anyone." Izuku answered, earning him an even bigger smile from the mysterious man. Not a second longer did he waste.

He rushed over to the sword and grabbed the handle.

A familiar zap of pain surged within each and every cell of his body. It burned, it froze it poisoned. But he had to get passed it.

"Don't let it posses you!" The man chirped.

"Haha! What a joke. It's only a matter of time until my power dominates you." The weapon spoke, "No matter how tough you think you are.-"

"SSSSSSS-HUDDDDUPPPPPPP!" Izuku shouted, his words echoing throughout the endless desert.

His muscles stretched, his mind was flickering, his skin felt like bursting. But he wouldn't succumb. He couldn't. He wouldn't.

He wouldn't make the same mistake he made ten years ago.

The sword could only blink furiously as the mist pouring out of it came to a stop. "The hell!?" It fumed in anger. "How did such a weak looking runt-"

"Yes, Yes! A job well done!" The man applauded, "Now. When you return, you'll be returning with the pest."

Izuku nodded to the best of his abilities. He was still standing. He was still okay. He was still him. He looked down at the dagger.

A small grin couldn't keep itself from creeping across Izuku's face. He did it. He managed to control it.

"N-now." He struggled, "how do I get back?..."

"Oh, give it about 3 seconds." The man shrugged, "give or take. A word of advice, don't and I'm being serious when I say this, do not allow anyone to touch that thing. Good luck, Izuku."

Don't let anyone touch the dagger? And how did he know his name?

He still had questions, but at that moment...

He blinked again.

He wasn't in the desert anymore. He was in Japan. In the city of Musutafu. About to get hit by a giant boulder.

Shit.

He felt something in his left hand. The dagger. He raised the dagger up and held the child in the other. Then something stuck out to him like a sore thumb.

This dagger was tiny. The boulder was huge. How was this thing going to help him in any way?

The boulder came into contact with the tip of the dagger and, instantaneously, the puny looking dagger grew tenfold. It's blade turned a dark, brown pigment, it's metal material becoming rock. In the cracks of the rocks, magma flowed, quickly, but steadily, looking as if it would spill it out at any moment.

With ease, the dagger- no - sword cut through the boulder like it was paper. It split into two halves, each narrowly missing Izuku and the child and crashing into a building across the street.

Everything went silent. Izuku's entire shaking due to the adrenaline.

"Woah, cool!" The child exclaimed, pointing at their mother and then back to Izuku's sword. "I want that! Can I get it for my birthday?"

Izuku felt as if his body would turn into mush in second now.