Prologue:
Izuku Midoriya (age Eight)
All was quiet in the Midoriya residence by well past midnight. Or at least, it should have been. Izuku was well aware of how much trouble he'd get in for being up so late, and being on a random chat site on top of that. But no matter how he tried, he couldn't stay away. Despite the way his eyes burned by two am, he couldn't help but grin constantly as he surfed through the list of sites he kept taped to the underside of his desk.
On the screen, a low-quality clip played out: three men trying to break into a store were suddenly wrapped up in a long cloth like binding. After the initial run, a slowed down version played, showing a large yellow and blue blur that blurred even at the slowest frame rate. This was a rare clip; most of the time, the vigilante in question was too fast for any camera at all. But more and more often people were catching the blur as he went to work. Never seen on camera, whispered about on chat forums and back net video sites… People only knew two things about the blur.
He was a superhuman, more powerful than anything people had seen before… And someone had once leaked his name in a chat link.
All Might… Izuku murmured through an aching smile. All Might… Someday… I'll find you!
Ochako Uraraka (age Eight)
As soon as the knock at the door came, Ochako was hiding. She quivered in between the walls of the apartment, listening as those nasty voices mixed with the voices of her mommy and daddy. She clenched her eyes shut, listening to her heart beat and sound of her own shaking as the arguments began.
It wasn't until her mommy tapped on the wall with her special knock that Ochako knew she could crawl out. Her daddy had built the extra wall, with enough space for a small girl like Ochako to squeeze in between and hide; it opened underneath the closet, behind all the long coats and a stack of boxes. The moment she was free, Ochako's mommy gripped her in a hug tight enough to suffocate her. Ochako returned it with all the same fierceness, trembling all the while.
"Daddy…" Ochako looked around, then noticed where her father was lying on the floor. He'd taken another beating. Ochako's mommy wiped her face and shooed Ochako to her room. "But… Daddy…"
"Mommy will help daddy, sweetheart, now go to your room okay?" Ochako could see the tears behind mommy's smile, and how scared she was. Mommy was always scared after the villains visited.
Ochako was, too, but mommy had to look after daddy. And Ochako wasn't allowed outside anyways.
Shouto Todoroki (age Eight)
The door slammed, shaking the entire house with the force of its closing. Shouto was already awake, too tortured by nightmares and his fear of the dark to fall asleep. When the door slammed he flinched, but got out of bed and wandered to the door of his room. Judging from the footsteps, it was Enji. As his father came closer to Shouto's room, Shouto ducked back into his room and hid under the covers.
Enji was wearing his flames again.
Shouto remained as still as possible as his father's footsteps came close, closer… closer…
"Shouto…?" Enji's voice rang out low through the room, through the door. After a moment, Enji grunted and continued walking to his own room.
Shouto let out the breath he'd been holding. It had been years since his father had started going out all hours of the night (sometimes even during the day for that matter), wearing fire like a cloak and looking at everything with scary eyes. How long had it been since Shouto had seen him return covered in blood? Shouto could still remember the smell, the way the blood roasted slowly where it had overdried on Enji's skin and shirt, and the look in his father's eyes as he'd tried to hug Shouto.
He'd almost forgotten he was wearing the flames on his arms, and ruined Shouto's nightclothes in the process.
The nightmares had gotten worse after that.