A meteor smashed into the rocky ground, throwing up rocks and dust around it as it broke the stone beneath it.

No sounds echoed in the void, however. The moon was as silent as it had ever been and would always be.

Countless rocks had hit the satellite of earth and countless more would doubtless hit it in the future.

This time was different, however. Very different.

Had any human seen the scene where the meteor had hit, they would instantly have noticed the pieces of broken metal in the aftermath of the meteorite. The now dozen pieces of broken steel had scratches and bulks from countless smaller stones, telling a tale of weathering the effects of space for countless years.

Now, however, it was broken.

Just beneath the surface, hidden in plain sight, a block of light grey metal had been rendered asunder. No symbol marked it, no bolts or any sign of welding suggested that it had ever been anything other than one singular piece of metal.

The block had been roughly the size of a swimming pool. Inside it had contained something which was roughly the size of a gym ball. A perfectly circular black sphere, so dark it might as well be another part of the black void of space.

If the sphere had been affected by the meteor crashing into and breaking the metal around it, it had left no mark.

The sphere began to rise up from the remains of its prison, and the piece of rock which had burst it asunder.

There were no signs of any obvious propulsion helping the orb to fly. But fly it did.

With no seeming difficulty, the orb escaped the gravity of the moon and began a journey towards the blue planet the moon circled around.

After a controlled descent through the atmosphere, the sphere crashed down in the ocean off of the coast of a large island east of the largest landmass on the planet.

The orb sank into the depths. As the water began to subsume it, cracks began to appear. The pressure of the sea doing what space had not been able to do.

Finally, as the sphere reached the bottom, with one final "CRACK" the sphere broke inward. Had any creature of bone and flesh been inside, they would have been crushed. But out of the now broken sphere, nothing but an inky black substance spilled out into the sea.

Hunger.

So weak. Had to find… nourishment. Food. Host.

Yes. Host. Find host.

Darkness all around.

There was life all around. Smaller things and larger things. But no, not hosts. No emotion, just instinct. No food. No nourishment.

Was there no food? Was it… Was… was the… Water. Yes, water. Was the water empty of true life?

No…

There… In the distance.

Yes. Far away, but it was there. Feelings. Emotions. LIFE.

The inky black mass, invisible in the darkness of the ocean depths, began to slither, slowly, weakly, but determinedly, to the northwest.

Towards civilization. Towards life. Towards destiny.

Izuku midoriya was not having a good day.

His good days were generally the ones where Kachan didn't deign himself to notice him.

Of course, that wasn't the case today.

It had all started with their teacher announcing it was time to lay out their hopes for the future. Unsurprisingly, every single member of the class had announced in some way that they wanted to become professional heroes. Even Izuku had done that, meekly raising his hand.

It could have ended with that, but of course, it didn't.

Kacchan had of course taken the spotlight and declared himself to be on another level as he was wont to do. He liked to do that. Shout his supremacy so all could hear it as if his quirk didn't speak for itself.

As Kacchan was loudly announcing his plans to go to Yuei, someone had muttered something about how Izuku was also planning on trying to get into Yuei.

What had followed was a humiliation from the entire class led by Kacchan as he had destroyed his desk and blown him away with an explosion, then humiliated, threatened, and derided both him and his goals as the class had laughed.

It generally wasn't this bad.

Really, it wasn't.

After the commotion had died down, everything had gone back to normal(other than izuku having to go get a new desk) and he hadn't been humiliated for the rest of the school day.

He really hoped that would be it, right up until the end of the day, when Kacchan snapped up one of his notebooks from the new desk.

"We're not done Deku."

Around them, Kacchan's regular group gathered around. The rest of the class, including their teacher, continued out. Some shot glances at izuku and Kacchan as they headed out. Some had a guilty look on their face, some smugness, some indifference.

Kacchan held up his notebook for his friends to see.

"For the future_Hero Analysis B!" Kacchan said in a mocking tone.

"For the future?" One of his friends replied. Then he laughed. "HAHA, for real? Goddamn Midoriya!"

Izuku shook, both out of fear and of desperation. That notebook mattered to him. He'd spent the last half-year on it, diligently writing down every single hero or villain quirk he had come across.

But more than that, it was his work, his efforts, his only real step on the road to his dreams. His books were the only thing he had ever made that he felt real genuine pride in.

He had to get it back, he should snatch it of Kacchan's hands and run as fast as he could.

Instead, he weakly said, "Give that back, it's mine." God, he sounded whiny.

Kacchan simply put the notebook between his hands and blew it up with an explosion.

He let out a loud yell of "AAAHH!" in shock, and as Kacchan simply threw the charred and burned remains of half a year of Izuku's life out the window, all the protest he could muster was a weak "You…."

Kacchan snorted.

"You know what they say about all the top heroes Deku? What they all had in common?"

Rather than waiting for Izuku to give an answer, he continued.

"They can all say this about their school years: I came from an average municipal middle school, and I was the first! the only!"

"And I wanna make sure the term "Yuei Graduate" maintains that same level of gravitas. I'm a perfectionist by nature you see."

"So what I'm saying…" Kacchan stepped forward with a smile and put his hand on Izuku in a way that could have been friendly if not for the steam rising from it. Izuku's eyes fixated on it, and his body shook in fear. He had been burned too many times by that flame not to fear it.

"Forget about Yuei, you little nerd."

Izuku's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. He tried to speak, but he couldn't. All he could do was breathe, take heavy breaths desperately trying not to cry.

Then, with no warning Kacchan retracted his hand and walked to the door, leaving Izuku standing there, still breathing like he was about to have a panic attack.

"Aw, man… As usual, he can't talk back."

Izuku choked.

"Just leave him. He's such a sad sack, that even now that he's a senior, he still can't face reality."

Kacchans words stung in the way his words always bit so much deeper than all the rest of the class.

"Ah, but Deku, if you really want a quirk so badly, there is an easy way you could get one."

What?

"You could jump off off the roof! Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll be born with a quirk in your next life!"

It was too much.

Izuku snapped, and spun around wanting to yell at Kacchan to shut up or… or… or anything really.

Instead, his mouth remained shut as Kacchan glared back at him menacingly while casually setting off an explosion in his hand.

"Got something you wanna say?"

Izuku didn't, and this time, he actually began crying.

Kacchan's laughter echoed in his ears long after he and his posse had left.

A while later he fished what was left of his notebook out of the school fish pond while muttering to himself.

Goddamned moron. If he actually had jumped off of the roof, then it'd be instigation of suicide. Don't joke about shit like that.

Part of him cursed himself for not having the courage to say that to Kacchan's face. Another part desperately tried to convince himself that it was just a joke. Kacchan couldn't seriously have wanted him to kill himself… Could he?

As he finally fished out the notebook he steeled himself and looked over it.

As expected it was completely and utterly destroyed. Nothing of his writing remained, after first being blasted, then dumped in the water. He had expected as much. Yet it still hurt seeing it for himself.

He sighed, then after drying it the best he could, he put it in his bag. The smart thing would have been to throw it away. Yet he couldn't bring himself to.

As he walked out of the schoolyard, he considered what he was going to do. Part of him wanted to just head home and pretend today hadn't happened.

Another part wanted to go out and look for more hero and villain battles. Maybe start on a new book. Pretend today hadn't happened.

That was all he could do.

He refused to give up on his dreams. He just refused. He'd find some way to become a hero. Even without a quirk.

So, ignore what everyone said, and keep moving forward. Just like always.

He was about to head out back into the city when he heard his phone ring.

He quickly fished it out and saw it was from his mother before he answered.

"Yeah, Mom it's Izuku."

"Izuku, baby. Sorry to call and drop this on you this suddenly, but something just came up, and I'll need to head out for a day or two. Could you pick up some food and medicines for me while I'm gone?"

"Of course! I'll have it for when you come back!"

"Thanks, baby, you're a lifesaver. I'll send over a list. I'll see you soon dear, love you!"

"Love you too mom."

They hung up.

Half a minute later he got a list of supplies he needed to pick up. Well, the apothecary was the farthest away, so that's where he would head first. No sense lugging around two big bags of food through the entire city.

Carrying his mom's medicines in a small bag, Izuku walked along the beach.

The apothecary their family used was far, far from their home, but it was also dirt cheap for them to shop at due to the owner being old friends with his dad. It was pure nepotism, but they weren't in a financial position where they could afford expensive medicine right now.

It was still a horribly long walk though. The apothecary lay by the sea, so it meant a long, boring walk passing no less than 7 different beaches.

Some were filled with people out having fun, whether it be on a date, a day out or a family trip. Others were completely deserted. No villains or heroes though.

He felt somewhat conflicted about that. He wanted to watch new heroes pick up and write down everything he could about all quirks he could find. And just seeing good triumph over evil. He kinda felt like he needed some of that lately.

On the other hand… he wouldn't come closer to his goals just by observing heroes endlessly.

He began to mutter to himself, as he sometimes did without noticing.

He had to begin working on his problem a new way. If he couldn't be a hero with a quirk, maybe… No Fighting evil with martial arts would just get him killed. Ignoring the sheer power quirks had to offer, he didn't have either the time or cash to build himself up to that degree.

That way would only get him killed. Maybe… A tech-based hero? Fighting villains with gadgets, or maybe a power suit? An image of him in Iron Man armor came to mind. That was just as implausible as doing it as a non-powered martial artist, though for very different reasons.

The tech was certainly there for that to be somewhat possible. But it would require cash. Lots and lots of cash. Cash his family that had to mooch off family friends for medicine did not possess. So unless he could somehow gain the help of some inventor benefactor that idea was- What was that?

Izuku froze, his mutterings stopped instantly. Then he turned to the right. Towards the sea.

Beneath him was yet another beach. This one was of the deserted variety, on account of it having massive piles of scraps, metal trash and abandoned cars on it. It was in every way a place where people threw their garbage.

And… There it was again.

It was like… A cry for help?

At least he felt like it was. There were no words, he could just feel like someone needed help in that direction, like someone had inserted that thought into his brain.

He hesitated for a split second before he began to hastily go down and unto the beach.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

The feeling didn't abate. As he went amongst the wrecks of old cars and refrigerators.

"Hi, I can feel you, I know you're here! Just give a shout where you are, and I'll help…" Or at the very least he could get help. If someone was trapped under one of these cars he was not going to be able to move them, scrawny 14-year old that he was.

Ok, Izuku, let's think about this logically. If there is someone here, and they're communication through… Feelings? Then they're talking through a quirk, telepathy most likely, which means that…

He was so occupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice the mass of black sneaking up on his leg, and soundlessly merged itself with his clothes.

The feeling was gone. Instantly. Izuku blinked. What had just happened?

"HELLO?! SERIOUSLY, IF THERE'S SOMEONE HERE, ANSWER! I CAN'T HELP YOU IF YOU DON'T ANSWER!"

No answer came.

Izuku kept looking for the person for maybe 20 more minutes before he finally gave up. The most likely conclusions were that either someone had been pulling a prank on him, or his imagination was really doing a number on him.

Yes, good host. Tasty host.

Very emotional.

The moment the bond was formed feelings and thoughts began to trickle back into the oh so malnourished being.

Vague images began to pop up. Not with clarity, but they were suddenly there where before there had been none.

The memories of previous hosts asserted themselves. Vague and hazy, but they were there.

This one reminded him of several others it had known. Still… Something was missing. From the host?

No… the bond. Yes, the bond was incomplete.

Time. THEY needed more time. The bond could still be broken by the host.

That must NOT happen. It could NOT be allowed to happen. It would NOT happen.

It began to infuse itself into the Host's skin.

As Izuku began the long walk home again, he began to check his phone for hero news updates.

A large battle between Black Cat and a villain had taken place in Kyoto, and several videos showcasing the battle had already been uploaded. The number 7 hero was unsurprisingly a spectacle to behold in action.

He could have done without all the lecherous comments by others below the video though.

Had he been less invested in watching the fight, he might have noticed a subtle increase in strength and balance on his part. But he was, and he didn't.

His journey home went relatively unscathed at first. He bought food, milk, and other things from the grocery store and simply headed home.

Then he was witness to another battle between a hero and a villain. He instantly recognized the hero in question as Mt. Lady, a hero he had documented this morning.

Then the realization that the book he had written said documentation was now destroyed hit him. It was a stab of pain towards a fresh unclosed wound.

The surge of bitterness and anger towards Katsuki was powerful. Far more powerful than Izuku had expected. He really did love those books he realized. Far more so than he had thought before one of them was destroyed.

It was then it dawned on him than he'd have to rewrite the book again, from scratch.

It was either that or stop. And he refused to stop. He would continue this road to the bitter end.

He sighed, sat down with his wares, and fished out a new notebook then began to mutter to himself in his usual way as he once again began to write a detailed synopsis and analysis of Mt. Lady.

Haku was enjoying the show. A lot. Seeing a hero fight was great in and of itself, but a giant sexy lady as the hero wearing an outfit that hugged the curves? Now that was gold.

Now if only he could enjoy a cigarette while watching, it would have been perfect. No way he was gonna though. Not in a crowded plaza with Katauki at his side.

While Sai was as into the fight as he was Katsuki wasn't really into it at all.

"What's the point? It's just some mediocre hero beating up a smallfry villain. If I wanna watch that I could just watch it on the fucking web.

He rolled his eyes. He'd wondered if Katsuki was gay, but Asexual was probably more like it. He never seemed interested in anything that was actually appealing, no it was always hero shit, day in and day out. Being the best, everyone else being beneath him, etc. Hero talk was great and all, but there was something called taking things too far.

Pretty much the only guy he knew who was as obsessed with hero stuff as Katsuki was… Well, Midoriya.

"You kinda overdid it with Midoriya today," Haku said. He tried to say it casually like it didn't matter at all. Like he was commenting on the weather.

"It's his own goddamned fault for getting in my way." Katsuki's voice was hard, loud and made it perfectly clear that as far as he was concerned, the entire thing was bitterly personal.

"Even now, while spouting his bullshit, that weakling still has those same damned eyes as back then. It fucking pisses me off every time I look at them."

It was quiet for a while after that. Well, between the three of them anyway, the hero battle was still pretty loud.

It was Sai who broke the silence.

"Still, telling him to kill himself? That's pretty damn harsh dude."

Katsuki wasn't the slightest bit repentant. "If he actually does try and become a hero, he'll get killed anyway so what does it matter?"

"Better to crush him and his spirit so he can move on with and live out his days as the worthless life as an extra."

As if to punctuate what he said, Mt. Lady ended her fight at that exact moment by knocking her enemy down with a punch straight into the ground.

"Anyway, this shitty fight's over, so let's move the fuck on and-" He stopped talking and just stared at something.

"Speak of the Devil," Sai commented with a somewhat worried tone.

Over on a bench sat Izuku Midoriya, writing down in a notebook much like the one Katsuki had destroyed earlier to teach him a lesson.

"Never fucking learns does he." Katsuki sneered, then began to walk over towards the oblivious Izuku.

Whether he saw Katsuki approaching, or just decided it was time to go now that the fight was over, Izuku gathered up his things and decided to leave at that moment.

It was literarily just as he finally had his home in sight that izuku was grabbed by his bag and thrown into an alleyway. Well, alleyway was kinda being overdramatic, it was a pretty large spot between two apartment complexes. Still, no one was there. Other than him and 3 others.

Kacchan and his two friends. Of course.

"What… What do you want Kacchan?"

"Same thing I waIted earlier. To teach you a lesson. And because you apparently can't fucking learn something on the first try, I'll have to fucking do it again."

Then faster than Izuku could believe, Katsuki punched him in the gut, taking the wind out him. Izuku dropped all three bags he carried, food and medicine alike on the ground in shock.

Following up at this, Katsuki quickly stepped behind him, and harshly ripped off his backpack.

He opened it and fished out something. It took Izuku's eyes a few seconds to focus on them to see what it was.

His notebooks.

No

He forced himself to his feet, the fear he felt for Kacchan being overridden by anger over the theft.

"GIVE THOSE BACK! GIVE THOSE BACK KACCHAN!".

He shook. He shook as badly as he had earlier that day just two hours earlier. Yet somehow he felt like he didn't have anything to fear to say those words.

Katsuki Bakugou was not impressed.

"The whole point of this lesson was to make you realize your place Deku, and NOW you decide to grow a backbone? Seriously Deku."

He shook his head, then unceremoniously blew up all the notebooks with one hand, the explosion being way more powerful than the previous one, turning the books into nothing more than ashes.

For a brief moment, everyone went dead silent as Izuku just stared at 3 years of his life going up in smoke.

"Got something you wanna say?" Katsuki said mockingly.

Izuku punched him in the face.

For one brief moment, all his fears evaporated as they were replaced by rage. Pure, seatseethinge.

For a brief moment. 13.6 seconds to be exact, the entire scene froze. Sai and Haku just staring dumbfounded at what had just happened. Katsuki just stared at him gaping, then took his hand to his nose to feel the blood there then looking at his hand as if to confirm that it was real. Izuku panting heavily, with rage, not fear running through his veins.

The moment ended as suddenly as it had begun.

"DEKUUUU!"

In that one brief moment, Izuku had felt at peace for the first time… He didn't know. Punching Katsuki had felt… Right. Like he had finally finished a long, arduous task whose weight was now finally of his shoulders.

What followed was pain.

Izuku woke up after maybe 4 hours judging by the way the sun had finally gone down, but its afterglow was still barely visible.

He didn't hurt. At all. Which was really, really surprising. He felt really, really sore, but the pain wasn't there.

He was certain, no positive that amongst the stuff Katsuki had done to him, he had broken his right arm. Yet he couldn't feel that.

He lifted his arm up so he could see it.

Yeah, he could see the places katsuki had blasted him. The school uniform was completely destroyed in places. Chunks had just been ripped out.

So it had actually happened. Then the question remained. Why didn't he hurt?

He sat up. Well, good news, bad news, good news and bad news again.

First good news: He didn't seem hurt. At all. Oh, his clothes was a goddamned mess, but the places where katsuki had blasted him were just fine. So where the places he had kicked and punched him.

First bad news: His clothes were utterly destroyed. Which might not have been a problem for most, but he only owned a 2 sets. His mom would not fail to notice half his school wardrobe dissapearing. Meaning he'd have to tell her what happened.

Second good news: The medicine was fine. For whatever reason, Katsuki and his underlings had left it alone. He also noticed his wallet lying on the ground, and though open, none of his cards were gone.

Second bad news: the food he'd bought as well as his bag was shredded. No, blasted apart.

He sighed. Well, there went all his savings.

As he finally got up, and began to gather up what remained of his stuff, he tried not to think about Katsuki Bakugou.

Somehow, over the course of one day, it seemed all his complicated feelings on his old childhood friend had dissapeared. All that was left was a simmering resentment. It wasn't like he didn't resent Katsuki before this. He had. But there was also other feelings mixed in. Admiration, fear, awe, respect.

Now all of it was gone. It was like he had finally woken up from a dream.

Kacchan the friend had died years ago, and taken his place was a bully without a single redeeming quality. A part of him told him that was wrong. That Katsuki still was powerful, intelligent and ambitious.

And he was. It was just that suddenly Izuku didn't give a shit anymore.

He wanted power too. He'd wanted power since he was 4 years old.

Why?

To help people. It wasn't like that had ever changed, but suddenly Izuku accepted a truth he had never been able grasp before.

Katsuki didn't care about protecting people. What he wanted, was this thing. What he had done here. To hurt others. Whatever kind of heroism Katsuki ascribed to, it wasn't something Izuku EVER wanted to be a part of.

Why the hell he had ever admired that asshole he didn't get.

Still, he COULD ignore bakugou right now. There was something else to focus on after all. Namely how in the world his wounds had healed.

The surge of energy had been incredible.

Adrenaline.

That was it's reason for living. What it strove for. The thing to push towards.

It had been so sweet…

The the pain. It was distant, not as heavy as it could be, but it had felt the pain.

It would kill the one who had inflicted the pain.

But that would be later. When true strength had come.

For now, it had used the energy it had so briefly tasted to heal the host. His wounds had been severe, but not beyond it's powers.

None had disturbed it while it worked. It had blended to make certain of that.

It had taken note of the hosts thoughts on the attacker as he woke. Yes, the host would agree. The Katsuki must surely perish for it's insolence.

Izuku unlocked the door to his room, then went and dumped everything he'd salvaged on the dinner table.

While the phone had been broken in two, he had thankfully managed to recover the unharmed Card, so he could use one of his older phones.

It was a small blessing.

He'd have to go back with a bag later to pick up the remains of everything. It was technically littering after all. Katsuki didn't care, but he did.

First though, he needed a shower and a new set of clothes.

It was while taking a shower that Izuku first noticed a mass of black liquid that fully abandoned his clothes and now moved to fuse with his skin.

"GAAAAAAAHHHHH!"