Hero of Honor

by FicFanFoom7

Heroes make an implicit oath to the people they serve that they will protect them from harm. Through otherworldly means, Izuku Midoriya will find that oaths can be sources of great power for those that keep them. Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.

1. Chapter 1: The Bond is Formed

Izuku Midoriya trembled as he stood in front of another child who was kneeling on the ground cradling a burnt shoulder. Advancing toward his position was a small gang of equally young boys. The one on the right was a heavy-set boy with red bat wings who seemed to be hovering slightly. On the left was a thin boy whose fingers were extending grotesquely. And in the middle, the obvious leader of the group, was a blond spiky-haired boy who pounded one of his fists into his other palm, the impact causing a slight pop and letting out smoke with the smell of burnt sugar.

"Well, well, well, what do you think you're doing Deku?" the spiky-haired boy asked, wearing a smile that poorly disguised the anger he felt at the situation.

"Stop it Kacchan." the trembling boy responded, "can't you see he is crying. This isn't something a hero would do."

Even though the boy trembled he stood in the three bullies' way with his hands held in front of himself forming shaky fists. Seeing the boy's resolution, weak as it was, seemed to only stoke the gang leader's anger even higher. Faster than would be expected of one so young, Kacchan lunged forward grabbing the front of the other boy's shirt.

"What would you know about how heroes would do?" The boy said maliciously, "You are nothing but a quirkless Deku. You won't ever be a hero."

As he finished talking the spiky-haired boy pushed the other to the ground, his push strengthened by an explosion from his palms which left burn marks on the other boy's shirt. Seeing that the target of their leader's ire had switched, the other two members of the gang of bullies moved to flank the boy who had stood up to them. Circling the heroic boy they joined in on the teasing.

"Yeah loser," the long-fingered boy said.

"Your nothing but a quirkless nobody." the winged boy added.

Each time the boy tried to stand the bullies would push him back down. The winged boy would lift himself into the air then grab his shoulders or a fistful of his messy green hair and drop his weight causing the smaller boy to buckle under the sudden load. The long-fingered boy would stretch out his digits and wrap them around one of the boy's ankles and pull his feet out from under him. Finally, the leader would continue to push on him, each push powered by an explosive force. As they did this they would kick dirt and pea gravel on him they continued to berate him with names and ridicule.

"Quirkless"

"Loser"

"Deku"

Eventually, the subject of their bullying collapsed to the ground, his body and spirit exhausted from the constant abuse. Seeing that the boy's defiance had stopped, the leader of the group of bullies turned and began to walk away. The winged boy immediately left as well following behind his explosive leader. The long-fingered boy, on the other hand, gave one last kick to the boy on the ground's side before he left, smiling nastily as he went.

The young hero hopeful curled up on his side clutching the final injury. After a moment he opened his eyes, which had been reflexively closed at the sudden pain from the kick, and looked at the boy he had stood in front of. A part of him tried to take solace in the fact that he had saved the boy from further pain but looking into the boy's eyes all he could see was fear. Despite Izuku's efforts, he hadn't saved the boy. He may have prevented the boy from getting hurt but the bullying that followed only made the boy fear for his own safety more. Rolling back onto his back Izuku looked at the sky forlornly.

"Maybe they are right." he thought to himself, "maybe I am just a worthless Deku."

As he thought this a slight breeze picked up and out of the bushes nearby zoomed a small blue light that seemed to dance on the currents of air. Flitting down to Izuku it circled him a few times before flying away toward the three bullies who still happened to be close by. The light circled the three bullies' heads as they talked the other two laughing at something Kacchan had said. None of them reacted to the light, no one but Izuku ever seemed to be able to see it, as it dropped and seemed to settle on one of the explosive boy's shoes before it suddenly took off and began to float lazily near Izuku's head.

Izuku watched as the bullies seemed to finish their conversation and Kacchan began to turn, presumably to lead them to wherever they planned to go. As he tried to lift his foot however, he seemed to stumble as it refused to leave the ground. The boy's excellent reflexes allowed him to catch himself before he fell, but he stared at his foot in confusion. He tried to lift it again but it refused to move. Looking around he appeared to be searching for something, a nearby person who had a quirk that would explain this perhaps, but the park was mostly empty. Looking back to his shoe he began to pull harder but nothing happened. His two lackeys said something but he just snapped at them and gave one final mighty pull. Whatever was holding his shoe down disappeared and his foot shot up destroying the boy's balance and making him fall back. Before he could land on his butt his winged companion moved forward and caught the other boy, placing him back on his feet. Kacchan froze for a moment before he exploded in unbridled fury at the winged boy. His hand launched forward and he blasted the boy in the chest sending him careening through the air. Turning away from the last member of his little gang Kacchan began to stomp away his face showing a burning simmer of rage.

The long-fingered boy seemed lost for a second looking between the direction his leader had left and the direction his friend had been blown in. After a moment, he made a decision and ran toward his winged friend. Arriving at the quivering form the long-fingered boy helped his friend to his feet and the two of them walked off together in the opposite direction that their leader had gone in.

Izuku was conflicted in his feelings about what he had just witnessed. A part of him was glad that something had made Kacchan look foolish, but he had also known that the boy would not react well especially if someone tried to help him. He had been friends with Katsuki Bakugou for most of his life and it had been an event similar in many ways to what had just happened that started their friendship toward its current state.

The breeze picked up again and Izuku could just barely hear what sounded like a childish giggle. Whipping his head around he instead only saw the small blue light bounce away carried on the wind.

"What are you?" Izuku asked himself as he contemplated the small ball of light.

---

The day Izuku had been diagnosed quirkless had been the worst of his short life. It had started fine with him adding a few more views to his favorite hero videos and then excitedly waiting at the hospital to hear about his results. Then the doctor gave the bad news.

"It's hopeless for him." the man said bluntly, "he should give it up."

The doctor and Izuku's mother, Inko, had gone on to discuss the details of how the doctor knew for sure, but all Izuku could think about was the death sentence that the doctor had given to his dream. Izuku stared at the man's dark glasses and bushy mustache as he tried to process what it would mean to be quirkless.

Numbly, he let his mother lead him by the hand first to the car then to their apartment. She allowed him to sit in front of the computer and watch videos that showed heroes as they fought valiantly against villains, or gave interviews where they gave hope to the masses. Soon, he was once again viewing the video of his favorite hero's Japanese debut when he spoke for the first time since coming back from the doctor's office.

"Mom, he is never afraid," Izuku said in a quiet voice that his mother barely heard, "and he's smiling. No matter what kind of trouble you're in he will always save you."

Turning to his mother, Izuku couldn't hold back the tears anymore as he told his mom his dream. "A super cool hero like that, that is what I want to be."

It was too much for her, seeing her son broken like that so all the mother could do was fall to her knees and hold him as she cried out apology after apology never knowing that her words only hurt him more because they told him she had given up on his dream as much as the doctor had.

That night Izuku had gone to bed with his entire foundation shaken. His sense of self was based on his dream to be a hero. Now that his dream was in question he didn't know what to believe anymore.

Waking up the next morning Izuku was filled with a profound sense of sadness. When he walked out of his room however, he saw his mother sitting at their dinner table, her head in her hands with a cup of coffee in front of her. From the surprising perceptiveness that children seem to have Izuku knew that his mother's sadness was caused by his circumstance. At that moment Izuku vowed that he would protect his mother. If she was sad because he was thinking of giving up his dream then he would never under any circumstances give it up again. Pushing his sadness and his sense of loss from his mind, Izuku twisted his face into his best All Might smile and approached his mother.

"Good morning Mom!" Izuku said with as much cheer as he could muster.

Inko jumped slightly at Izuku's sudden exclamation and turned to look at her soon. She stared for a moment at his smiling face before she spoke.

"Good morning sweetie," She said cautiously, "How are you feeling today?"

'I'm fine" Izuku said, again forcing himself to be cheerful, "Even though the doctor said I won't get a quirk, I-i don't care I'll still be a hero." It was hard for him to get the sentence out. Just thinking about the doctor's words made the feelings of loss and sadness inside begin to surge, but Izuku muscled through them to make his declaration.

Inko could see that it hurt Izuku to say that but she could also see that he was trying to act the same as he had before the doctor's diagnosis. She had a feeling he was doing it for her, after all, she knew just how selfless and special her son was. Putting on her own smile she responded to her son's words.

"I'm so proud," She said, holding back her tears, "how about you go and get ready for school while I make breakfast."

"Ok," Izuku said before turning back to his room.

Once the two were no longer facing each other their smiles fell. The Midoriya's had always been an expressive family. The day Izuku's father had been transferred to work overseas had been a day full of tears and exclamations of love. The concept of hiding their feelings from each other was difficult for the two of them so as soon as they could they dropped their facades. Inko stood to make breakfast, suddenly feeling rather hungry after the stressful night she had.

A few hours late Izuku was sitting alone in the yard of his elementary school. When he had arrived at school that morning the other children had come up to him to ask him what his quirk was. He had said he still wasn't sure. He wasn't comfortable with lying but he figured it wasn't a complete lie because the doctor might be wrong about him being quirkless. When recess had started the children had decided to start a game of soccer and Kacchan, Izuku's best friend had wanted him to join his team. But Izuku had denied the invitation, claiming that he wanted to sit and think about things. Kacchan had playfully called him a nerd but eventually went off to play with all the other kids who followed him around because of his amazing quirk.

Sitting under a tree that grew on the edge of the schoolyard, Izuku watched as the slight breeze gently shook the leaves. As he looked into the canopy, he noticed a flash of light amidst the foliage. At first, he thought he had just glimpsed the sun through the leaves but looking at the tree's shadow told him that the position of the light was wrong for where the sun should be. Rubbing his eyes trying to clear his sight in case it was just a random spot he looked back at the leaves and tried to focus on the small flash of light he thought he had seen bouncing around.

After looking closely at it long enough, it was like the light snapped into focus and he saw clearly amidst the leaves a small blue ball of light. He watched it for a moment and realized that it seemed to almost be playing a game of some kind. It would sit on a leaf and wait until the leaf was shaken by the wind enough to cause it to fall to a lower leaf. Eventually, it would bounce all the way down like a sentient Pachinko ball until it fell beneath the lowest branch where it would then fly back up to the top of the tree and do it all over again.

Izuku was fascinated. What could this little bit of light be? He quickly whipped his head around the schoolyard looking to see if it might be one of the other children using their quirk. However, after looking carefully around, he couldn't see any of the other kids focusing on the tree he was under. Flipping around he looked out past the fence that surrounded the school to see if there was anyone on the street, but the street was empty. There were a few people walking around but they all seemed preoccupied and none stayed in the vicinity of the tree. Looking back up Izuku again saw the light, it had just finished another round of its game when it seemed to freeze. The light didn't have eyes but Izuku could somehow feel that the light's attention was on him. It was like they both locked eyes and were stuck staring at each other. Izuku didn't know why but somewhere deep inside of him he felt a part of himself almost call out to the ball of light. A weak hope bloomed in his chest. Could it be that this was his quirk?

He focused on the light and used every ounce of will in his body to try and get the light to move, or shine brighter, or do anything in response to his desires. The light did nothing. No matter what Izuku did. He even called to the light out loud, quietly so as not to call attention to himself, but the light ignored him. Finally, Izuku gave up trying. Either the light wasn't his quirk after all, or it was a completely useless quirk that would be of no help to anyone.

With a sigh, Izuku stood to go and began walking across the field. He took a few steps when suddenly the light zipped in front of him and hovered in front of his face. The light seemed to vibrate with excitement; its, for lack of a better word, body language being a mix between an excited puppy and a child that was seeing their father or mother come home from work. Izuku was once again captivated by the thing until his attention was grabbed by someone calling his name.

"Deku, what are you looking at?" Katsuki called.

"Huh?" Izuku responded, confused by his friend's question, "Can't you see it?"

Now it was Katsuki's turn for befuddlement. He looked his friend up and down. Concerned that he appeared to be captivated by the air in front of him.

"Are you going crazy or something?" Katsuki asked rhetorically,

"Whatever, we are starting a new game and I saw you get up so I wanted to see if you'd join," Katsuki said, dismissing the conversation they had been having.

"Oh," Izuku said, "Sure I guess."

Right as he finished speaking the bell rang signaling the end of recess. The two boys groaned but they made their way toward the building for their next class. Izuku didn't seem to notice that the strange ball of light was following behind him. However, when the children had all settled back in their seats Izuku saw that right before the teacher closed the classroom door the ball of light zipped inside and began to drift around the room.

Izuku found it hard to focus on the rest of the lessons for that day as the light seemed to curiously poke its head into every nook and cranny of the classroom. Near the end of the day, it settled down on the corner of Izuku's desk. When the final bell rang Izuku watched as the light seemed to inspect the supplies that Izuku used during class. Izuku packed up his things until the only thing left was his pencil bag. The light seemed to be peering inside and seeing that gave Izuku an idea. Moving slowly so as not to startle the thing away, Izuku reached out and grabbed the sides of his pencil bag. Then as quickly as he could he lifted the bag so that the small light was inside it and zipped it shut.

He didn't know if it was possible to trap the thing but he figured he would try. Picking up the pencil bag he ran from the room and hurried out of the school tossing a quick goodbye to his friend. Once he was out of the school he was only a short walk away from his house. He ran all the way home clutching the pencil bag to his chest. When he got there, he quickly opened and shut the door and kicked off his shoes. Running past the kitchen where he saw his mother eating a snack, he quickly shouted a greeting as he ran to his room.

Slamming the door shut behind himself he slowed down and looked at the pencil bag he had been holding as securely and as gently as possible. He hoped that the sudden capture and transportation of the small light hadn't hurt it. Walking to his desk he placed the pencil bag down and got out one of his notebooks for taking notes about the heroes he watched online. Turning to a blank page, Izuku wrote at the top "Light Ball Facts." With all of his things prepared, he turned back to the pencil case and tentatively pulled open the zipper at the top. Izuku was confused but quickly became dejected when nothing happened after it was fully opened.

"Of course you can't catch light." the child said chidingly to himself.

Right as he was about to put his stuff away however, he looked back to the pencil bag and froze because right above it hovered the small ball of light vibrating. Only this time it didn't seem to give off happy vibrations as it had at the schoolyard.

Now it was vibrating like a pressure cooker that was about to explode. Suddenly the light started to move around erratically, it would zip left and right then zoom so close to Izuku's face that he went cross-eyed trying to follow it. As he watched it his hand slowly reached toward his pen to take notes. While his hand was moving toward the pen, the light zoomed down and reached it first, buzzing angrily around it before floating back up and stopping in mid-air. It seemed to be watching Izuku and the pen. Moving quickly, Izuku reached for the pen and tried to pick it up. It slipped from his fingers sticking to the desk.

Izuku stared at the pen shocked. He tried again with the same result. Looking around his desk he found a plastic ruler that he sometimes used when he was drawing. Placing the edge under the pen he tried to pry it up off the desk. The ruler snapped in his hand. He looked at the ruler and pen in disbelief before looking at the light once more, amazement shining in his eyes.

"You have a quirk," he said excitedly.

Reaching for a new pen he sat back at his desk and began to make notes about the strange light. After giving a brief description of the light he started writing down his other observations.

"Has feelings"

"Can be caught"

As he continued to write he watched as the light started to float around the room and stare at the various hero merchandise he had displayed.

"Appears curious," he wrote

Stopping his note-taking Izuku looked back at the light which had decided to land on his bed. Thinking back to the emotions that the light seemed to show when it flew out of his bag Izuku started to feel bad about essentially abducting the small creature. Mustering up his courage Izuku spoke.

"Um," he started saying uncertainly, "I am sorry for trapping you like I did."

The light floated off the bed and Izuku felt its attention switch to himself. Again he wasn't sure why he felt that way, it's not like the creature had eyes or a face. But he was able to get a sense of when the little light was looking at him.

"I just didn't know whether or not you would follow me home and I didn't want to lose the chance to learn more about you." Izuku finished his apology.

The light hung in the air for a few moments before again starting to float around the room. Izuku sat, uncertain if anything he had said made sense to the light. It seemed to respond to him but that could just be the sound of his voice. Turning back to his notes he wrote.

"Able to communicate?"

As he studied the light, he was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door.

---

Inko had not been having a very good day. After Izuku had left for school she had gone back to bed to take a nap. She had not slept well the night before with the earth-shattering news about Izuku's quirk and the emotionally draining evening watching her son breakdown at the loss of his dream she had spent most of the night tossing and turning in her bed before giving up on sleep at about 4 in the morning.

After getting up a few hours later she had gone through her normal morning routine of tidying up the house. She was very lucky that she didn't need to work, Hizashi's overseas position came with a pay increase that made sure that her and Izuku's needs were met even though it took him away from their family. She had tried to call him last night when he would be free but in the end, couldn't bring herself to do it because she was still processing the news herself. Inko had made a promise to herself though that no matter what, tonight she would give him a call

With all of her housework done Inko resolved herself to facing the issue head-on. Deciding she needed more information she opened her computer. Closing out of most of the tabs that featured videos of heroes Izuku had been watching, she opened a search engine and typed in the word that she now feared would forever define her son's life; quirkless.

The first batch of results that she found were research papers documenting the numbers of quirkless people in the population. Apparently, 80% of the population developed some form of quirk. However, of the 20% that didn't have quirks over half of that number was found in people over the age of 65. Also, in younger people, quirklessness was often tied to some other genetic disorder. After finishing the article Inko learned that the chances of a perfectly healthy child, like Izuku, being born quirkless were 1 in 200 million.

"I always knew Izuku was special," Inko said to herself, trying to keep her spirits up.

Though, as she sat looking at the number she couldn't keep up the facade. The weight of what she had found out crashed onto her shoulders and she couldn't stop herself from slumping forward and sobbing into her hands.

"How could this happen to him?" she thought to herself, but immediately felt guilty at the thought. It wasn't like Izuku had been diagnosed with a disease or disorder. He was still a healthy, bright, and kind boy. But all she could think about was his reaction after watching the videos of the heroes he admired.

What truly made Izuku special wasn't that he looked up to heroes, all children looked up to the heroes in their society. No, what made Izuku special was that he looked up to them because they saved people. It wasn't because they had cool powers, or because they wore cool outfits; Izuku idolized the selfish nature of hero work and his dream had been to help others himself, and now it looked like the dream was impossible for him to reach.

Unable to handle the topic anymore Inko stood up and began to pace around her apartment. Eventually, she found her way to the kitchen and pulled out a snack from the cupboard. A part of her knew that she shouldn't be snacking like she was, but with all that was happening she needed some form of comfort to help deal with the stress.

After taking her break she felt she needed to get back to her research. She needed to know if Izuku's dream really was dead. So with hesitant fingers, she went back to the search engine and typed in the words "quirkless hero." For these results, the first batch held a few heroes giving interviews where they spoke about quirkless people. She watched through some of them but they were mostly heroes giving platitudes that they didn't view quirkless as lesser and that they cared about all people equally. She quickly moved on knowing that those would give no consolation to her son. Scrolling down further through the results she found several articles talking about some of the first heroes to ever emerge back when most of the population hadn't developed quirks of their own. Again she knew they would be of no help.

After 45 minutes of sifting through the articles, she found it. There had been one, a hero without a quirk. He had emerged back when the ratio of quirked to quirkless in the population was still closer to 50%. He called himself Vitruvius, the name being a reference to an ancient inventor. Inko read through the information about him with hope starting to bloom from her chest. There were a few videos of him fighting people, none of them with particularly strong quirks, but he won and arrested the villains. There was even a video of him giving an interview.

"The reason I chose to be a hero even without a quirk is to show that it isn't the power that makes a hero but the heart behind it," Vitruvius said.

His career had been a subject of controversy, many people calling him a madman that put the public in danger with his message, but there was an equal number of people praising him for inspiring the quirkless population that had begun to feel that evolution had left them behind. Inko finally felt hope again. Maybe she could still believe in her son's dream. If this man had done it, maybe Izuku could too.

Then she found an article titled "The Fate of Vitruvius" and her growing hope died a painful death. The hero had been making a public appearance at a quirkless peoples rally when a van pulled up and a group of villains jumped out and grabbed the hero. He was quickly overpowered by the villain's quirks and taken away. Four days later he was found nailed to the side of a building his arms and legs splayed out and his costume in shreds. Underneath a message had been scrawled saying "Quirkless Know Your Place."

Inko numbly closed the program window and walked back to the kitchen. She unconsciously grabbed a bag of chips and started eating. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the image of the dead hero out of her mind. Worse, her mind seemingly on its own was superimposing the face of Izuku onto the bloody body. She was once again lost, what should she do. Should she continue to support Izuku's dream knowing that his dream would likely lead to a painful death, or did she try to make sure he gave up his dream to protect him? What was the right choice for a mother in her situation? She felt helpless.

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and shutting in quick succession. A few moments later Izuku rushed past the kitchen throwing out a quick, "Hi Mom," as he went. Inko was frozen in shock. Not at the fact that Izuku was home, though she had lost track of time, but instead at the way Izuku had looked. She had feared that when he got home the weak mask he had put on this morning would be gone. She had feared that he would be bullied at school when the other kids found out that he was quirkless. She had feared that she would once again see the broken look in his eyes that he had shown her the night before. Instead, Izuku had looked normal when he got home. She had only seen a glimpse of him as he rushed past but in that glimpse, she saw the same excitement that he had shown every day before that fateful visit to the doctor.

"What could have happened?" she asked herself, "Did he meet a hero or something?"

For a moment Inko was lost in thought trying to puzzle out why her son was acting the way he was, but in the end she gave up and decided to just go and talk to him. Turning around she looked at the kitchen and saw that she had made something of a mess from all the wrappers of the snacks she had eaten. Again a part of her worried at the number of wrappers on the counter but she pushed it away choosing to focus on her son. Her tidying done, and a small plate loaded with snacks for Izuku, she made her way to his room. As she approached, however, she paused as she heard a voice coming from inside.

"He doesn't have people over." she said to herself, "Who could he be talking to?"

Izuku didn't yet have a phone, Hisashi and she felt he was still too young for one, and her own was still on her nightstand plugged in as far as she knew. Putting this new conundrum to the side she gently reached up and knocked on the door.

"Izuku honey, can I come in?" she asked, "I brought you a snack."

She waited patiently until she heard Izuku say "okay." Opening the door Inko's eyes scanned the room looking for the source of the voice but the only person in the room was her son sitting at his desk, one of his notebooks opened.

"Honey?" Inko said curiously, "I thought I heard talking, were you on the phone with someone?"

Izuku looked back at her but instead of answering, asked his own question.

"Mom, do you see anything weird on my bed?"

Inko looked back at the bed and scanned it carefully. Not seeing anything she answered carefully.

"I'm not sure honey, what should I be looking for?"

"Nothing," Izuku said quickly, "I was just talking to myself. That's what you heard, sorry."

Inko was unsure about his response. Izuku was always an honest boy but something about the way he spoke made her feel like he was hiding something. After a moment, however, she decided to let it go. She trusted that Izuku would come to her if it were something truly important. Instead, she decided to try and broach the topic that she had been wrestling with all day.

"Izuku," she said, grabbing his attention again, "How are you feeling?"

Izuku looked puzzled for a moment so she decided to clarify,

"About what we found out yesterday," she said.

She saw Izuku's eyes drop as the topic was brought up.

"Honey, I know it was hard to hear what the doctor said so please talk to me so that I can help."

Izuku looked down for a moment like he was thinking about it. Inside Inko's heart was clenching in preparation. What would she see when her son looked up again? Would she see the same broken sadness she had seen the night before? Would she see a delusional denial of the truth? How would she react if he said he still wanted to be a hero after learning what she had today. Her internal worries were all halted when Izuku looked up and she saw the intensity that was almost glowing in his eyes.

"Mom," he said in a serious voice, "I know it will be hard but I want you to know with or without a quirk, I am still going to be a hero."

Inko was floored by his words. There was a conviction that you would never expect from a boy as young as he. In her mind, flashes of the hero Vitruvius flew through her head, but in the face of her son's declaration she squashed them down. If he still wanted to believe in himself then so would she. She didn't know if she could hold to that as the years went by but for now, she would support her boy's dream.

"Ok Izuku," she said.

They both sat quietly looking into each other's eyes for a moment. Until Inko broke the eye contact and spoke again.

"Well, I brought you a little snack to hold you over until dinner. We should eat in a few hours. Is that alright?"

Izuku smiled at her and nodded his head. She placed the plate on his desk and took the opportunity to peek into his journal.

"Light?" she thought, "must be some new quirk he saw at school."

Giving her son a quick hug Inko then made her way out of the room to start getting things ready for dinner.

---

As the door closed behind his mother Izuku's eyes immediately turned to the light which was once again lazily floating around the room. When his mother had appeared it had been on the bed which was why he asked his mother to look at it but shortly after she completely entered the room the little light had started to circle her head excitedly. That was one of the reasons Izuku had looked down, so that he wouldn't be distracted by the light, allowing him to focus on their conversation.

Izuku thought about the declaration he had made when his mother asked him about how he was feeling. If Izuku was being completely honest with himself he was still saddened by the news he received but he would stand by the oath he had made that morning that he would never give up on his dream so that he wouldn't make his mom sad like she had been last night. He was disappointed that when he said he would be a hero to her she hadn't seemed to agree with him but regardless he planned to keep his promise.

Turning back to his journal he decided to add one more thing before he put it away and started on his homework.

"Only I can see it."

As he put his journal away and pulled out his workbook he spared a glance for the floating light. What a weird thing it was and how odd that it found him the day after he received the worst news in his life.

---

Years passed and the little floating light was Izuku's constant companion. It wouldn't stay by his side every minute of every day, but it was there more often than not. Sometimes he would go outside and the light would be carried away on the wind but it was never gone for more than a day at a time. It seemed to be most excited on stormy days. Whenever there were strong winds and lightning the little ball of light seemed to love to go out and fly up to the clouds. Izuku tried to find other things that it liked. He had left out many different kinds of food and drinks for it to see if it ate any of them but even though it would hover over the offerings and seemed to vibrate in pleasure at them the light didn't seem to eat or drink.

Over the years though Izuku did begin to notice certain changes in his invisible friend. It started on that day in the park when Izuku had heard the giggling. The light was always a prankster, sometimes making Izuku's pen or book stick to his desk in the middle of class, sometimes targeting the other kids randomly. But as time went on the light seemed to become more intelligent. Rather than targeting students at random, it started to focus on those that bullied Izuku, mainly focusing on Katsuki and whoever happened to be following him around at the time. Before long though Izuku began to hear giggles more often after a prank had been set up. It got to the point where Izuku would know that something was about to happen by the giggles that would mysteriously appear. Eventually, that escalated to hearing words or phrases like "gotcha" or "watch this." To be honest, a part of Izuku was afraid that he was losing his mind. Until one day when he was twelve, he was sitting in his room studying when a small blue girl wearing a copy of his school's female uniform appeared floating in the air before him reading the workbook he was currently working on.

Izuku froze at the sight of her. His brain locked up; as if someone had slammed on the breaks. The small girl just floated oblivious to the panic attack that was starting to creep up on the naturally anxious boy. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and he exploded.

'WHAAAAAAAAA!" Izuku screamed and pushed away from the desk. His chair rolling back on its wheels sent him careening to the other side of the room.

When he stopped Izuku sat staring wide-eyed at the blue girl and breathed deeply trying to calm down his racing heart. The girl had jumped slightly and was staring back at Izuku, apparently incredulous at his reaction. Before either of them could make any kind of move the sound of frantic footsteps could be heard and the bedroom door slammed open revealing the form of Inko Midoriya, she was slightly heavier than she was when Izuku was a child but she hadn't completely lost her figure yet.

"IZUKU!" his mother screamed, "What happened, are you ok?"

Izuku's eyes went from his mother to the girl and back and he realized that his mother couldn't see her.

"U-uh, y-y-yeah," Izuku stammered, "I am fine, I just saw a spider and it startled me."

Inko immediately looked toward his desk, looking clearly in the direction of the floating girl, and gave no reaction to her.

"Do you need a magazine or something?" Inko then asked.

"No, it's fine." Izuku replied, "I can handle it. Sorry I scared you."

"Okay," Inko said, "Well dinner will be ready at 6:00"

"Thanks Mom, Love you."

With that final farewell, Inko left closing the door on her way out. Once she was gone Izuku looked back at the mysterious girl only for her to be floating right in front of his face causing him to jump again.

"Why are you so jumpy Izuku?" the girl asked.

"How do you know my name?' Izuku asked back.

The small girl smiled ruefully, "Silly Izuku," she said cutely, "we have been together for years now, of course I know your name."

Things started to click in Izuku's head. His mom couldn't see her. The way she floated in the air, she even glowed the same hue of blue.

"Y-you-your the light spirit thingy!" Izuku exclaimed.

The small figure puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and ineffectually stamped her foot.

"How dare you." she said, "I am not a light spirit thingy. I am a spren."

"A what?"

"A SPREN!" Suddenly the girl was in front of him, her eyes angry and a single finger held up in front of her. "Say it with me S-P-R-E-N."

"Spren'' Izuku said, trying out the word in his own mouth. The word sounded foreign, but he had never heard it in any of his English textbooks.

"That's right," The girl said, her face showing a bubbly personality again.

"Ok," Izuku said hesitantly, "but what is a spren?"

"I am a splinter of divinity." the spren explained in a haughty tone, "think of me as a little god come down to bless you with my presence."

"Where did you come from then?"

"I have no idea," she said, becoming dejected as she did. "All I remember is somehow coming to your world and then floating around mindlessly until one day," she pointed back at Izuku, causing him to go slightly cross-eyed as he looked at her finger, "you noticed me and I have been following you ever since."

"Speaking of," The girl said mischievously before she abruptly appeared in front of Izuku's face, beating her tiny fists against his forehead, "You meanie! You closed me up in a pencil bag and abducted me all so you could do experiments on me in your room."

Izuku blushed furiously at her phrasing. Leaning back he placed his hands in front of his face changing the target of her pointless beating.

"P-please don't say it like that," Izuku said, "I said I was sorry, and I will apologize again if you would like."

When she heard his response and looked into his eyes she sighed and stopped flailing her fists.

"Fiiiine" she sighed, "I just can't stay mad at you, it would be like kicking a puppy."

Izuku was abashed at her description of him but he quickly forgot about it as something else occurred to him.

"I have to write this down." he said and began to scoot toward his desk where his book bag was. Reaching in he pulled out a notebook titled "Quirk Research for my Future Vol 10." Ever since he was young Izuku loved to take detailed notes of the quirks and heroes he came in contact with. At the back of each of these journals; however, was another section that he reserved for his observations about the ball of light that followed him around. Now he opened to that section and the first thing he did was cross out the title "Light Ball Facts" and change it to "Spren Facts." Internally Izuku sighed at the thought that he would need to change the title in all ten of his notebook but not doing it would bug him. With that correction made he started to write down everything that he had just talked about with the floating girl, not noticing as she floated over his shoulder to peer at what he was doing.

"So this entire time you have been writing stuff about me in these journals huh?" the small blue girl said, startling Izuku from his focused writing. He turned to look at her and caught her looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"Perv." she accused.

Izuku's blush reignited at the spren's accusation.

"N-n-no!" Izuku said, "It's not anything like that I was just trying to learn more about what you were and…" Izuku's words trailed off into incoherent mumbling as he tried to explain his purposes for the journal. Eventually, his muttering was interrupted by the sound of laughter.

"Oh honor," the spren said, holding her stomach and rolling around in the air, "you should have seen your face."

Again the near-constant blush on Izuku's face intensified due to his embarrassment.

"So cruel," he said, starting to get teary-eyed from the teasing.

"Oh calm down." the girl said as she settled down from her laughter, "I was just joking."

Floating down, she settled on the desk in front of Izuku standing with a straight-backed posture.

"I am actually grateful that you were so focused on me. It really helped our bond strengthen. Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Seranota, please be kind to me." After she introduced herself she bowed formally.

Izuku, nearly dumbstruck, offered his own introduction and bowed in response. From that day on Seranota, or Sera as she later asked to be called, was both more interesting and more troublesome for Izuku. On the one hand, he actually found it nice that he was able to talk to her about some of the observations that he had made up to this point. He learned more about her abilities such as her ability to adhere objects to each other. Unfortunately, now her endless curiosity came with a near-endless running commentary. Luckily Izuku was able to avoid any new suspicion that he was going crazy by disguising his conversations with Sera as more of the muttering that he was already known for. Not that it stopped people from thinking he was even more creepy due to the increased muttering.

However, Sera's sudden change did have one overwhelmingly positive result. Izuku finally had something he had been missing for years; a friend. Izuku would spend hours with Sera discussing his analysis of heroes and their quirks. She wouldn't always have much to say but it was so nice for Izuku to have someone who would listen to him and not belittle his comments. She would even help, as best as she could, when Izuku had to deal with bullies. Once as Katsuki was once again explaining to Izuku how useless he was Sera had floated behind him and turned into a miniature version of the boy, she then proceeded to mock the boys act giving him over exaggeratedly sharp teeth and devil-horns before miming out him blowing himself up accidentally. Izuku was so busy trying not to laugh at her impromptu show that he ignored most of what Katsuki said and after getting his customary shove to the ground he had just stood up and walked away.

Even Inko noticed the change in her son. She had done her best over the years to be accepting of her son's dream to be a hero even if she couldn't fully bring herself to support it. But, in the last couple of years, she had noticed that Izuku was happier and more lively after coming home from school. That's not to say there weren't still bad days, sometimes he would come home and she would notice that his palms were scuffed or that he had a red welt on his arm or shoulder. She had asked him about them in the past but he would just claim that they were caused by him tripping in gym class or some other innocent reason. However, on most days he had an air of contentment. When she asked him about his day he would tell random facts that they had covered in class or occasionally give some excited recounting of a hero he had seen during his commute. As a whole she was feeling cautiously optimistic about her son's future, she was nervous about him still carrying the dream of being a hero, but she supposed she would deal with it fully when he tried to get into a hero school after graduating from junior high

---

Izuku ran to school excitedly. He was about two months into his third year at Aldera Junior High and he had been lucky enough to see an honest to goodness hero battle on his way to school.

"Can you believe it Sera?" Izuku said to his invisible companion, "We saw a hero's live debut. Wasn't it awesome?"

"Yeah," the spren floating near his shoulder responded, "but it wasn't very honorable for her to steal the spotlight like that. I mean the wood arms guy basically did all the fighting and she came in at the very end."

"Maybe you are right," Izuku said back, as he slowed seeing the school approaching in the distance, "but the hero world is competitive. It is important that you make a big splash at the beginning of your career to make a name for yourself."

"But that goes against what it means to even be a hero. I couldn't imagine any of the top 10 heroes doing something like that. Except maybe Endeavor he always seemed like a real meanie." Sera replied.

Izuku huffed in response but he stayed quiet because they were approaching the stream of students entering the school's gates and he didn't want to appear like he was talking to himself. As he entered the school grounds he shifted slightly, eyes darting around looking for danger. Even though Sera made it easier to cope with the bullies Izuku still made an effort to avoid them at all costs. A few minutes later Izuku had successfully entered the school and arrived in his seat without incident, he didn't even have to hunt for his indoor shoes today. Overall he was starting to be optimistic that today was going to be a pretty good day.

---

As Izuku stared down at the gardening club's carp nibbling on his charred notebook he sighed to himself.

"So much for optimism." he thought.

Fishing his booklet out of the water he shook the water out of it glad that he had spent extra for the durable and waterproof version.

"Think before you speak idiot," Izuku continued talking to himself, "if I did what you said then you would be prosecuted for bullying someone to suicide, then you could kiss your chances of being a hero goodbye."

In his mind, he was going over the confrontation he had just gone through with his once friend, Katsuki Bakugou. It all stemmed from the fact that the teacher had told the class about his desire to try the UA entrance exam. Sera had tried her best to be there for Izuku but it had all happened so fast, Katsuki exploding his notebook and throwing it out the window. Burning his shoulder lightly by simmering the sweat in his palm then whispering his threatening words into Izuku's ear. The thing that hurt worst of all was the extent that his friend had gone to. Sure Katsuki was often rough with him and he was no stranger to hearing the other boy demean him for never letting go of his dream, but this is the first time Katsuki had seemed to actually want Izuku to suffer lasting harm. Izuku sighed once more as he dwelled on the failed friendship he once had.

"You would never actually do it right?" Izuku heard Sera's voice ask.

Izuku looked up and met her eyes and deep inside them he could see a small amount of fear. Feeling pain at seeing his friend hurting Izuku smiled in an attempt to relieve her mind.

"Of course not." He said with as much bravado as he could muster, "I already told you that quirk or no I am definitely going to be a hero."

Sera smiled at his words, her momentary doubt gone, "Yeah," she said, "Besides you don't need a dumb quirk, you have me to help you."

"Yeah!" Izuku exclaimed in agreement as he walked out of the school gate, forcing out a bit of laughter. And so with his spirits forcibly lifted, he walked home. Sera floating along beside him talking about random things. Izuku had developed a habit of walking home using the least crowded route both to avoid bullies and to allow him to freely talk with his friend. As they walked through a pedestrian underpass, Sera was once again explaining how much she wished she could beat up Katsuki causing Izuku to chuckle at the thought. After all, a grain of salt was like the equivalent of an 8-pound bowling ball for her. Izuku was listening with half an ear as he re-read through the entries of his journal double-checking to see if any of the ink had been smudged by its time in the water when his thoughts were interrupted by a shout of,

"IZUKU LOOK OUT!"

Startled by Sera's cry, he reacted too slowly to avoid the living wall of sludge that overtook him.

"Well, well, well," an evil voice whispered in his ear, "Look what I found, a medium-sized body to hide in. You're my hero kid."

Izuku's mouth and nose were flooded with a foul-smelling ooze. It forced its way down his esophagus and trachea and up into his sinuses filling him with the urge to sneeze, cough, and vomit all at once. His body could do none of these involuntary reactions because the living liquid just kept pushing in against any effort to expel it. Desperately his hands clawed at the substance, but they just passed through it. Sounds became muffled as the liquid started to fill his ears, causing them to pop painfully from their inability to regulate pressure. Within seconds Izuku was light-headed and his vision was starting to go black on the edges.

"Am I going to die?" his mind thought desperately "I don't want to die. Please, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!"

His vision continued to slip away and the last thing he saw was Sera flitting around desperately, her face a mask of distress at her helplessness. Right as he began to lose consciousness he saw her eyes widen in surprise, and an unstoppable force seemed to rip the sludge right out of him. His nose, mouth, and ears were all suddenly clear and his body reflexively gulped in a breath. However, the trauma still left his consciousness waning and the last thing he heard as blackness overtook him was a deep comforting voice saying,

"It's alright now, I am here."

---

Sensation returned slowly to Izuku, his mind muddled in a way it had never been before. He almost felt like he was floating but not on water, it was like he was on a sea of beads and for some reason he couldn't open his eyes.

"What happened?" he thought, "I was walking home. Sera was talking about Kacchan then... a villain attacked, oh right!"

He became aware of a repeating pressure on his cheek and began to pull himself into wakefulness, as he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Seranota, but instead of the small pixie-like creature he was used to, she was full-sized and leaning over him her features clouded in worry. Then his eyes cleared and he realized that, no, she was just really close, floating over his face. His mind refocused on the pressure he felt on his cheek and he realized it was a hand. He followed the arm connected to it and eventually his vision cleared enough to recognize the other face before him. It was easy for him after all, it was one of the first faces he saw after waking up every morning.

"WHA?!" Izuku said unintelligibly.

All Might straightened up as Izuku shot into a sitting position handily avoiding an embarrassing collision between their foreheads.

"HA," the hero laughed, "you are ok, excellent!"

Izuku watched in awe as the hero reached up and ran a hand through his hair in apparent relief.

"I am so sorry that you got involved in my battle with that villain. He was a slippery one and I lost him momentarily in the maze-like sewers beneath the city. Have no fear though because the villain... HAS BEEN CAPTURED!"

With his last exuberant claim, the hero showed off a pair of soda bottles that contained an opaque green goo with unfocused eyeballs floating around inside. If Izuku had been fully aware he probably would have found the sight disturbing, but he was still slightly groggy so all his attention was filled with the presence of his idol at the moment.

"Oh my gosh, All Might is really here. I have to get an autograph!" Izuku thought, and began to search frantically for his notebook. Finding it nearby he opened to the next open page and found a large two-page scrawl with the autograph of his hero, "HE ALREADY DID IT!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, All Might, this will be a treasure and I will always remember this day." Izuku said standing and bowing to show his appreciation.

All Might smiled at the display and offered a salute as a "you're welcome" before he turned and took a few steps.

"Well I better get this guy to the police." the hero said, as he placed the bottles containing the villain into his pockets, "You will probably see me next on TV, until then."

Izuku was shocked and disappointed at the sudden dismissal. He still wanted to ask a few questions of the hero.

"Izuku, are you alright? I was so worried." Izuku heard Sera say.

"I'm fine," Izuku whispered distractedly, his focus still on the hero in front of him.

"Wait, please I have a…" Izuku said, but he was interrupted by the hero, who appeared to be limbering himself up.

"Sorry young man, but a hero battles time just as much as he does villains, so I've got to go."

Unsatisfied Izuku made a desperate attempt to stop the man by grabbing his pant leg right as he launched himself into the air. Adrenaline flooded Izuku's body at his sudden flight causing his hands and arms to lock around the hero's leg. Izuku just barely missed Sera transforming into a ribbon of light and zipping off after All Might and his hanger-on.

As All Might flew through the air he noticed that his trajectory was off what he had originally planned, so he looked around and noticed the wildly flapping face of the boy he had just rescued.

"Whoa son," he said, "I am fine with fans but this seems a little excessive."

"Please land All Might." the panicking boy pleaded.

"Listen boy, I don't have time please let go." and with that he started to give his leg a slight shake hoping to dislodge the fan from it, neither of them noticing the bottle getting dislodged from the movement.

"If I let go I'll die." The boy reasoned, holding on for dear life to the leg of his hero.

"Oh, I suppose you are right." the hero admitted stopping his attempts to dislodge the boy. Angling his arms to take advantage of the wind currents that his velocity created to steer himself, All Might directed his flight to a nearby high-rise building.

When they approached All Might used some precise flicks of his fingers to lower their velocity to a survivable speed for a normal person before they crashed into the roof. Upon stopping the boy was finally dislodged and he rolled to a stop a few meters away. Izuku gulped down deep breaths of air trying to get his heart-rate under control, and his arms ached from how tightly they had been gripping the legs of his hero.

All Might feeling a burning sensation building in his chest began hurrying to the side of the building. Seeing that his hero was once again leaving Izuku gasped out,

"Please wait, I have a question for you."

"NO, I WILL NOT WAIT," was the hero's sharp reply, "I do not have time, hopefully we can get the people inside to let us down."

Seeing that All Might was still somewhat ignoring him Izuku decided to go for broke and just as the most important question in his mind. As strong as his conviction may be Izuku still never felt that he had received a good answer to this question.

"Even without a quirk, can I become a hero?" Izuku said desperately.

All his life Izuku had either been scorned or laughed at because of this question. Everyone merely answered that of course he couldn't but none of those answers seemed satisfactory. They were all emotional gut reactions to the thought of a powerless person trying to save people. Izuku hoped that All Might would understand that being a hero wasn't all about power but about heart and a desire to help. He hoped that All Might would understand why he wanted to be a hero.

All Might on the other hand had frozen at the boy's words. His mind immediately flashed to that morning so long ago when a tall muscular blond-haired boy had asked a very similar question to a hero he looked up to. He thought of that hero's answer, how anyone could be a hero as long as they wore a smile in the face of adversity.

He then flashed forward to the day that same smiling hero had died. Beaten and bloody because she no longer had the near-unstoppable strength that she had already passed on to him. Even with all her skill and training, without the power of One for All she had been like a child trying to fight a tiger in the face of that man's seemingly limitless supply of quirks.

"Kid," The hero said softly, "quirks are... BAAAH."

Suddenly the smoldering pain in his chest exploded into a bonfire of agony. All Might nearly fell over as he clutched his chest fighting hopelessly to hold on to his transformation. The boy continued to talk but the hero's mind was preoccupied with the suffering he felt until it became too much and he exploded in a cloud of steam and All Might felt himself deflating as the power of One for All slipped from his grasp.

Izuku was looking down as he gave his reasoning for the question he was in the middle of explaining about his past when he was interrupted by Sera

"IZUKU LOOK!"

Remembering the last time Sera had screamed a warning like that Izuku immediately flinched and ducked down. After a moment of nothing happening, Izuku looked up at the spren and saw that she was pointing toward All Might. Following her finger, he looked ahead and was shocked by the appearance of a skeletal blond man where his hero had once stood.

"WHAAT!" Izuku screamed in surprise, "You deflated, wha-what is this, were you an imposter, a fake?"

The skeletal man stood staring at the boy before his face got serious.

"I'm All Might," he said as he opened his mouth to speak however, blood poured out of his mouth causing the boy to freak out even more in worry for the man's health.

"Calm down," the hero said, making the boy stop due to his authoritative voice, "listen I really am All Might. The form you saw was my hero form. It's kind of similar to how people hold their stomachs in at the pool to appear more fit than they are."

"That makes no sense at all," Sera said at Izuku's shoulder, but Izuku ignored her as he listened to his idol.

Sitting down by the edge of the roof All Might sighed when he finally had the weight taken off his tired legs.

"This is the real me kid, but don't go writing about this on the internet." Lifting his shirt All Might showed off a horrible scar that spanned his entire torso. "About 5 years ago a villain did this to me."

Izuku recoiled at the wound. It was discolored with spots of red and purple appearing in a pattern similar to the brown spots on an overripe banana. The skin and muscle underneath were misshapen as though the ribs weren't aligned correctly leaving it as a twisted mass of ill-healed flesh. The sight alone nearly made Izuku gag but the true horror came from thinking of who could have possibly injured the number one hero to this extent.

"My respiratory system was nearly destroyed and I have lost my entire stomach." the hero continued explaining, "due to the subsequent surgeries and recovery my body has wasted away to the state that you see now."

"Five years ago, was that from when you battled Toxic Chainsaw?" Izuku asked absently his encyclopedic knowledge of All Might's battles supplying the information subconsciously.

"Wow, you've done your homework." All Might said, impressed at the boy's knowledge, "No, that lowlife couldn't scratch me." The man smirked confidently as he said this, the look appearing out of place on such a sickly face. "No, this fight was never made public. After all, a symbol of peace who saves everyone with a smile must never be daunted by evil."

The man locked eyes with the youth as he spoke, his eyes showing a myriad of emotions: conviction, pain, sadness, and loss.

"I smile so that I can hide the tremendous pressure and pain I feel."

Izuku's entire worldview shook. He had always viewed All Might as an unstoppable force of positivity in the face of all evil. It turns out that is just what he wants the world to think. In truth, the man was just as overwhelmed as anyone would be and he forced himself to show the confidant and reliable visage that he was known for. Izuku sat silently as the hero continued.

"A pro should always be willing to risk his life for the people he is fighting for. Could you be a hero without power to back it up; sadly I don't think so."

The hero's words crashed into Izuku like a physical force causing him to take a step back to stabilize himself. He had known that there was a chance for this outcome, but he had hoped this time would be different, that he would finally hear someone tell him what he always longed to hear. Instead, his fears were confirmed; no one would support his dream.

"Kid it is good to want to help others, and there are a ton of ways to do it. You could be a doctor, or a police officer, even though they aren't as glamorous they are still honorable lines of work and provide vital service to the community." Looking up All Might saw the downcast eyes of a boy whose dream had been crushed. He felt shame but forced himself to believe that he was saving the boy from a worse future. As he entered the building to leave, finding the roof access door to be unlocked from this side, he gave a few parting words in the hope it would help the boy.

"It's not wrong to dream, but you have to be realistic, kid."

As the door shut Izuku was frozen by his despair, all of the times he had been told to give up playing on repeat in his head. A dark depression more powerful than anything he felt before overcame him, all the negative experiences compounding until he was once again that little child sitting in front of a computer after his dreams had been destroyed by an apathetic doctor. Unbidden the words of his tormentors flashed in his mind

"Loser!"

"Quirkless!"

"Deku!"

"IZUKU!"

Suddenly Izuku was ripped from his downward spiral and looked ahead into the eyes of Seranota. They seemed to brim with sparkling unshed tears as she stared into his eyes.

"What does he know, Izuku?" She said doing her best to show the same lightheartedness they had in the tunnel before the attack, "Just because he's the number one right now doesn't mean he knows everything about being a hero. I still believe in you, your mom still believes in you."

Izuku looked at her blankly as he processed what she said. She still believed in him. Yes, it was true that Sera had said that he would be a hero, but there was something too ephemeral about her for it to feel real, she could not affect the world around her in any significant way and nobody else could see her. A deep dark part of Izuku wondered sometimes if she was just a figment of his imagination. If perhaps he was as crazy as some claimed he was for still wanting to be a hero without a quirk. Even though she did say he could be a hero it just didn't have the weight that he craved.

Izuku's mind turned to his mother. Did she believe in him? Izuku loved his mother dearly, just as any son would love his mother. But whenever he would tell her his dream or talk about his future she would always smile and say "Ok Izuku." He knew she accepted that he had the dream of being a hero but never once had she told him that she believed in him. He didn't blame her, he knew how hard it must be for her that he wanted to join such a dangerous profession. It was enough that she didn't try to stop him.

As well-meaning as Sera's claim was, it wasn't enough, the cloud over his mind stayed though it lifted enough for him to offer a weak smile to her in an attempt to alleviate the pain he saw in her eyes.

"Right," he said unconvincingly, "you're right, let's go before Mom starts to worry."

As Izuku made his way down the stairs of the building, the smile he had put on shrank more and more with each step until finally it was gone. Sera, instead of flitting around beside him like she usually did, sat on his shoulder, her hands gripping the fabric of his uniform as though she were trying to comfort him with her presence, he could barely feel her at all. When he had exited the building he looked for a street sign to find out where he was so that he could know the way home. A few blocks later he was walking on the other side of the street to the entrance to a local shopping center. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that a crowd had formed. Then he heard the muted boom of some kind of explosion.

In his mind, he acknowledged that there must be some kind of hero fight going on, but he was apathetic to it after the conversation he just had. Unconsciously however, driven by years of running to watch every hero fight he had the chance to see, his feet carried him across the street and through the crowd to the front. As he worked his way through the crowd he heard some of the things that the bystanders were muttering.

"He's got some kid hostage."

"The heroes are just standing there."

"So much damage."

Izuku let the comments wash over him without paying much attention. Eventually, he was at the front of the crowd and could see what was happening.

It was him. The sludge villain that had attacked Izuku rampaged in the middle of the shopping district. Seeing it from the outside Izuku was horrified as he saw tendrils of green slime whip around wildly as the hostage he had, fought against him. Izuku grabbed his mouth to prevent himself from shouting in alarm.

"How is this happening? All Might caught him, how did he get free?" Izuku thought. Then he remembered he had latched onto the hero's leg and All Might had tried to shake him loose. "That shaking must have dislodged the bottle." Izuku realized, "This is all my fault."

The cloud of depression he had been feeling came back just as heavily.

"It's just like they said, I am useless. Worse than useless I did this. Because of me, someone is going through the same thing I did and it has apparently been happening for a while."

Izuku's mind flashed back to the panic he had felt while being suffocated, of the feeling of helplessness and his desperate cries for help. He looked around the scene for the heroes. There was Kamui Wood but every time he tried to get close a flare-up of flames drove him back. There was Death Arms, but he was busy lifting rubble off of civilians, and as Izuku's encyclopedia of quirk knowledge pulled up the man's he realized that he wouldn't have the power necessary to save the hostage the way All Might had saved Izuku. Looking up he saw Mount Lady, the hero who he had seen debut just this morning. She was uselessly trying to force her way between two buildings to enter the shopping district, the space too small for her to move around effectively. Finally, Izuku saw Backdraft the firefighting hero valiantly keeping the chaos from spreading to surrounding areas. None of them were perfectly suited to the situation.

"Hey, I thought All Might was chasing this guy." Izuku heard a voice say from behind himself.

"No way," Another voice said. "He's in town."

"If he was chasing this guy then where is he?" A third asked.

"He's not coming," Izuku realized, "I made him lose the villain and I made him waste his time."

In complete despair, Izuku looked back to the carnage in front of him and froze. He could see who the hostage was. He recognized the uniform. He recognized the hair and eyes, and he recognized the explosions. It was Kacchan. Izuku stared into the eyes of his tormentor and only saw one thing. A desperate cry for help.

Izuku moved. It wasn't a conscious action, instead, it was the crystallization of all his years cultivating a singular desire; to save those in need. Sera followed streaking after Izuku as a ribbon of light. Voices behind Izuku called out saying that he was acting foolishly, that he should leave it to the heroes, but he couldn't help it. Even after hearing All Might's answer to the question, there was still one more person that Izuku needed to ask: himself. Bolting up to the villain, Izuku's mind, overclocked on adrenaline in the dangerous situation, flashed through the entries in his journals. Inspired by the heroes around him, he landed on the entry for Kamui Wood. The hero's ultimate attack, the preemptive lacquered chain prison, was a single target move that sealed the enemy's movements by locking their joints and applying pressure to weak points. Looking at the enemy in front of him Izuku saw only one possible weak point, the eyes. Whipping around in a spin to dodge an incoming sludge tentacle Izuku slid the straps of his backpack down his arms and flung it at the face of the sludge villain. One of the zippers was loose enough that mid-flight it opened spilling out books and pencils on impact one of which luckily hit the boy's target.

The sludge villain roared in pain and reared back reflexively. This gave Izuku the opening he needed to slip low underneath the wildly waving attacks of the sludge villain and arrive at Katsuki. Upon arriving at the other boy he grabbed his shoulder to steady himself and looked at the sludge gathered around his face. Thinking back to his previous attempts to escape from the sludge villain he remembered the futility of trying to claw away at a liquid. Instead, he cupped his hand and pushed, scooping a portion of the sludge away from Katsuki's mouth like he was trying to swim through it. Apparently, the other boy had been able to hold his mouth shut or his thrashing had prevented the villain from penetrating too deeply because as soon as the sludge was out of the way Katsuki was able to open his mouth and cough up enough sludge to get a breath.

"DEKU?!" Katsuki yelled, "What are you doing here."

"I don't know!" Izuku yelled in reply, a shaky smile working its way to his face, "You looked like you needed saving and my legs moved on their own."

The villain regained control of itself because with a sudden wave of sludge Izuku was pushed back from the captive boy. Tumbling back from the captive boy Izuku eventually rolled back to his feet and looked back to see an enraged mass of green liquid staring menacingly at him.

"YOU!" the villain roared in a murderous rage, "I'LL KILL YOU FOR SURE THIS TIME."

It seemed like countless attacks came flying at Izuku in the form of fast-moving tentacles of living liquid. By some near-impossible feat of hysterical strength, Izuku was able to move fast enough to dodge. He vaulted to the side over the first. Clumsily scrambling to his feet he sidestepped a stream shot at him with the force of a firehose. In the periphery of his vision, he saw a water whip coming for his head and leaned back limboing just barely underneath. Doing so allowed him to see a column of slime descending on him like the hammer of an angry god. He desperately lunged back giving him some extra space and breathing room. The villain stared at him aghast as though he couldn't believe that Izuku had dodged all of those attacks. Izuku couldn't blame him because he honestly couldn't believe it either. Dodging one more stream of liquid, Izuku spotted a respite behind a pile of rubble nearby. He scrambled behind it right as another water whip struck the side of the rock pile with enough force to send up chips that stung as they peppered Izuku's side.

Suddenly, Sera was in front of him. "Izuku," she said, "I have been trying to adhere him to slow him down, but I am just too weak. I am sorry."

"It's ok," Izuku gasped out. "This is already going way better than I thought it would, maybe if we stall long enough a hero will come who can help."

Sera's face became serious. "Izuku, I can't help you like this, but there may be a way. I don't know if it will work in this world, but maybe if you say the words I can give you some power."

Izuku looked at her in puzzlement. "What words?" he asked.

"The oaths, Izuku, listen closely and you should hear them if it is possible."

"FOUND YOU." The voice of the villain said from above Izuku's head. Looking up Izuku was filled with fear as he saw the form of the sludge villain looming over him. Katsuki had been recaptured and his mouth was once again covered, his eyes filled with a mix of anger and fear. Part of Izuku wondered if the reason he hadn't been attacked yet was because the villain had been focused on recapturing the explosive boy, but he supposed it didn't matter as he saw the sludge move Katsuki's hand so that it pointed directly at Izuku. The boy's eyes filled with despair as his palm started to glow slightly, a large explosion building up.

"SAY THE WORDS, IZUKU," Sera's voice seemed to yell in his mind.

Opening his mouth Izuku tried to listen as directed and somewhere deep inside of him, the same part of himself that had seemingly been touched on the first day that he met Sera, started to vibrate. Right as he was about to let words he could just barely hear spill from his mouth; the world froze.

A power Izuku had never felt before washed over the area. Izuku blinked and looked around. The fire was still. Smoke hung motionless as it billowed from the surrounding buildings. The crowd was silent, their faces frozen in shouts of alarm. The explosion building from Katsuki's hand was still moving but it was growing at a fraction of a snail's pace. Izuku didn't understand so he looked at Sera and saw that she was still moving just as he was.

"Wha-what's going on?" Izuku asked.

Seemingly in answer to his question he heard a voice behind him,

"Ah, so that's what I have been feeling these last few years." It said.

Turning around Izuku was floored by what he saw. It was a woman, and she was shining. She was the most beautiful woman Izuku had ever seen, not because of her features, even though they were definitely beautiful, but because of the aura she gave off. She seemed to glow with a warm yellow light, like the sun on the most perfect summer's day. She walked forward and Izuku saw she was wearing robes of some sort. It wasn't a kimono or anything else that followed a Japanese aesthetic, instead, the design somehow gave off a more ancient feel like something royalty would wear in a far off land that had long been forgotten. When she reached Izuku and Sera he got a full look at her features. Her race was ambiguous, not containing any singularly defining features. Her face was symmetrical with a stately brow and sharp features that still held obvious femininity. Her eyes were black, though they weren't cold, they were like sparking chips of obsidian and seemed to contain wisdom beyond mortal comprehension. Finally, her hair was yellow, though Izuku was unsure whether that was actually its color or if that was just caused by her overwhelming aura. Seeing her up close Izuku asked the only question that was still in his head, all other thoughts having been chased away by the appearance of the transcendent being before him.

"Are you god?"

The woman smiled at him with the long-suffering smile of a parent when their child asks them a question about a basic piece of everyday life.

"After a fashion," the woman answered, "I did not create this world but I now watch over and care for it. I am Valor"

Izuku was shocked by how she said her name. It wasn't just the word valor, when she said it his mind was inundated with images of soldiers and battlefields, of the weak rising up to face the strong, of normal men being elevated by the need to stand for something greater. She wasn't just called valor, she embodied the very concept of valor.

"Now, back to the matter at hand." As she said this her focus shifted from Izuku to the space just above his right shoulder. Following her glance, Izuku was surprised to find Sera hiding there peeking over his shoulder.

"How did you get here sliver of Honor?" The divine woman asked

Sera floated around Izuku until she was in front of him, her head hung in subservience.

"I am not sure, milady." Sera admitted, "Much of my memory is fuzzy from before I began bonding with Izuku."

"Hmm," Valor hummed at the response, "I see, I am actually very surprised that you had enough power left to manifest as you have after your bond with young Izuku here matured."

"Ma'am," Izuku interrupted shyly, "I am sorry to interrupt, and I am grateful that you helped us in our hour of need, but why are you here?" Normally Izuku wouldn't have imagined intruding on someone's conversation but seeing the posture of Sera and remembering that when she had first started talking she had called herself a sliver of divinity, Izuku began to worry that his friend was in trouble for some reason. So he wanted to know if there was any way he could help.

Valor smiled at the boy's bravery for injecting himself into the conversation and continued to speak.

"I am here because I felt that you were about to attempt to formalize the Nahel bond between yourself and this piece of Honor, and I wanted to step in so that you would understand what would happen if you do."

Izuku's mind jumped on the unfamiliar terms that had been used but filed them away for later and focused on Valor's explanation.

"If you had said the words when you did then yes you would have received a burst of power and perhaps you may have been able to defeat this foe, but it would be at the cost of your companion's life."

Izuku's eyes shot open and he looked at Sera. Her face, instead of showing shock to match Izuku's, showed shame at the truth coming out.

"You knew?" Izuku asked, seeing the spren's reaction.

"Yes," Sera admitted sadly, "it was the only way I could see us getting out of this alive. I wasn't sure if it would actually kill me or if maybe there would be enough of me left to stay around as the same ball of light that I was when you first met me."

"You see young one," Valor said, picking up the explanation, "normally those who make bonds like this power themselves with the light of Honor. Since there is no way to get his light here if you were to try to draw power from the bond the only source would be the body of your friend. She would burn up like coal in a fire leaving only ash behind."

Bowing to Valor Izuku immediately cried out,

"Thank you for stopping us. I don't know what I would do without Sera by my side."

He really wouldn't, one of the only things helping him through all the pain he faced in life was Sera. She was his only friend and without her he was sure that the sadness he felt on his bad days would never go away. She had been with him for so long that the thought of living without her by his side was too painful to bear.

Straightening up, Izuku saw that Valor was smiling at the display of gratitude.

"Now with things as they are you have two options. I could resume time and give you this one chance to escape your current unwinnable situation, then it would be up to you to continue surviving and you can see what might happen."

Izuku began to sweat at the thought. He was on his last leg. He had only survived this long due to blind luck. He had no idea what more he could do and Katsuki was still trapped.

"Or," Valor continued, "I can see if it would be possible to help you form the bond in a way that would leave you both unharmed."

Izuku and Sera both stared at Valor wide-eyed then looked at each other. Sera's face split into a grin.

"This is it Izuku," She said, "This could be our shot. Just like we dreamed, you and me together, we could be heroes."

Her cheer was infectious. Izuku felt a smile creep onto his own face, but something stopped him. Izuku gathered that if he were to create this bond with Sera it would lead to him gaining some form of power and with that power and Sera by his side he did not doubt that they would be heroes. But he still hadn't received a satisfactory answer to the question.

"Valor, again thank you for your offer to help but before I make my choice may I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Valor said, a knowing look entering her eyes.

"Do you think a person like me now, without any powers can become a hero who can rescue people with a smile, like All Might?" Izuku asked.

Valor looked at the boy for a moment before she spoke.

"Child, look around you and what do you see."

Izuku looked at the scene around him, he saw the rubble, the burning buildings, the crowd, but then he noticed something, in front of the crowd looking on like they were bystanders themselves where all the heroes he had noticed on the scene: Death Arms, Mount Lady, Kamui Wood, and Backdraft. Every single one of them was just watching the conflict, staring as Izuku had risked his life to save his childhood tormentor.

"Every single one of the heroes here, when faced with a situation that didn't favor them, one where they would be in real danger of injury or even death, when their victory wasn't sure they faltered. They sat and waited for someone else to come along and fight for them. You, however, you ran in with nothing but your mind and body. You ran into the mouth of a lion without a single thought for the danger ahead of you."

Izuku heard her words and began to feel hope in his chest at the direction she was taking.

"With a heart like yours Izuku, I don't doubt that you could become a hero even without powers as others have."

"Finally," Izuku thought, "finally someone else believes in me."

"But," Valor continued, halting the joy Izuku had felt building in his chest, "your time as a hero would be very short-lived. As I said Izuku you are willing to charge into the lion's mouth to save the lambs it endangers, but you are charging in with nothing but your bare hands where everyone else is charging with a sword. You would be a hero, you would save people but at some point you would face a foe that would be truly impossible for you to beat. I don't doubt you would try, but you would fail."

Izuku was uncertain how to feel. At last, he had an answer and there was a part of him that, upon hearing the words, knew that they were undoubtedly true. He may try to rationalize that he would try to make up the difference with support gear or skill. But in the end, what Valor said was true. Without powers, there would come a day when Izuku would face a foe that would be impossible for him to beat, and he knew that his desire to save others would be unable to stop himself from fighting anyway, and he would die.

"Don't despair Izuku, as I said without the power you could become a hero, maybe even a great hero. But with them, you can become something more: a symbol. With the powers of the bond, you will be a shining beacon of hope and when people look up at your arrival they will know that they are safe."

Izuku looked back to Valor as she spoke. In his mind's eye he could see it. The image of himself shining as a light pushing back the darkness in people's hearts and saving them. His eyes met Sera's and he could see her eagerness. She was there for him as always. He could see in her as well a mirror to his desire. There was a reason she always included herself when she described his future dream of being a hero, just like him she wanted to save people. They were a matched set and it decisively clicked in his mind; Izuku could never truly be a hero without his partner by his side. Meeting Valor's eyes Izuku smiled brightly.

"Thank you, for your answer. I've been waiting my whole life for it."

Valor smiled and slightly bowed her head in acceptance of his thanks.

"Now," Izuku said, "how do we make this bond work?"

Sera squealed in excitement and floated over to Izuku again.

"Good," Valor said, "You have made your choice. In order to make the bond, I will need to alter you slightly. Do not fear I will not change your soul but I will change your body so that you can power the bond's abilities through alternate means just as I altered the first quirk users when I gave them the power they would need to face this world's battles."

Izuku tried not to be distracted by the fact that he had just learned the secret of where quirks came from and focused on what Valor was saying about the bond.

"I won't give you all the details of how the bond works, that will be for you and your companion to discover as your bond grows stronger. It will be up to you Izuku to live your life worthy of the oaths you take as your powers grow. Now to start the process, all you must do is say the words. I know that you already know the first ideal."

Izuku nodded the words appearing again in his mind.

"Good, one final thing. Izuku. By accepting this power you will be embarking on a set path. You are not allowed to accept any other forms of power if you embark on it. Do you still wish to continue?"

Izuku paused at that briefly wondering what else Valor could be talking about, but one look at Sera reaffirmed in his mind that this was the bath he should take.

"Yes Valor, I am sure."

"Then stand back where you were when I first appeared." Valor ordered.

Walking back Izuku took stock of what he would be fighting when time started again. The slime villain still loomed above where he stood. Katsuki's eyes still held despair as his quirk was activated against his will. The explosion in his palm was just barely starting to bloom outward showing just how little real time had passed during Valor's visit.

"Now Izuku," Valor said from behind Izuku's position, "It is time I send you out to battle once more. Now you will be armed. Face all your enemies with courage and strength, and never falter no matter the obstacle you face."

With that Valor fell silent. Then after a moment Izuku once more heard Sera's voice.

"Say the words Izuku." This time her voice was calm and resolute instead of panicked as it had been before.

Taking a deep breath Izuku spoke as clearly as he could.

"Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination."

As soon as the last syllable left his mouth Izuku's world was engulfed in flames.

---

To the spectators at the shopping district, this was one of the weirdest hero fights they had ever seen. The villain had suddenly appeared with a junior high student as a hostage, but he was almost instantly surrounded by many well known heroes. However, thanks to the hostage seemingly randomly letting off explosions from his quirk many of the heroes were forced to stay back. Then another student ran into the fray ignoring all of the shouted warnings telling him not to.

They had watched with bated breath as the young lad had run into danger, appearing braver than any of the present heroes. Gasps were heard as the teen narrowly dodged the attacks of the villain. Many were wondering if the teen had some kind of reflex enhancing quirk because nothing else the teen had done was obviously the result of a special power. Finally, the kid had been cornered behind a piece of rubble and now the crowd watched in shock and horror as the villain forced his hostage to release an enormous blast directly at the brave lad.

Nearly the whole crowd looked away as the blast went off, unwilling to watch as a child was murdered in front of their very eyes. The news reporters on site issued warnings for their viewers. When the blast subsided and there was only smoke. A cry of surprise erupted from the crowd. Everyone else looked back to the battlefield wondering what they would find. Shocked gasps could be heard all around as there, standing in the smoke, was the boy, and he was glowing.

White light billowed off him like luminous mist. Every breath he took puffed out as though it were a cold day and hung for a moment glowing in the air. He opened his eyes and they shone with a captivating inner light blazing like two green suns inlaid into his glowing visage. Looking up at the villain before him the boy smiled, his grin fierce and shining just as brightly as the rest of him. Then he moved.

He had been blown back by the blast so he was now a good 15 meters away from the villain. He sprinted covering the distance at a shocking pace. The villain seeing his approach attacked again using his liquid tendrils as whips. This time he swung two at once, one aiming high to hit the boy in the head, the other aimed low in an attempt to sweep the boy's legs out from under him. Again the boy dodged, though this time none of the frantic clumsiness from before could be found in his movements. As the two attacks approached, the shining boy dove, twisting in mid-air so that the two attacks past harmlessly above and below him. He landed already running to finish closing the gap between himself and the villain.

The crowd cheered. They couldn't help it. Deep inside themselves, they felt a relief where before there had been deep anxiety. Everything about the boy in front of them, his willingness to run into danger, his desperate fighting, and now his sudden explosion into amazing power told the crowd one thing. A hero had come.

---

Izuku was ecstatic. Every inch, no every cell of his body was infused with light. He was filled with POWER. It felt like he would never again have to feel helpless in the face of adversity, now Izuku could finally be the hero he had always dreamed of. He felt like he had the strength of ten men, and that he was light enough to float on the wind. Faster than he thought possible he was once again face to face with the villain. His mind sped up to the point that he was able to plan and act in the space of an instant.

Leaping up Izuku placed one hand on Katsuki's shoulder and the other on the face of the villain. Izuku may not know everything about the bond but there was one power that Sera had always been more than happy to show off to Izuku. Pushing a portion of the light he felt inside of himself into Katsuki, Izuku stuck the explosive teen to the ground he was standing on. Then through the other hand that he had placed on the face of the villain, Izuku pushed light into the villain until he had infused every piece of him. That done Izuku made the villain adhere not to anything else but he made each molecule of liquid adhere to each other. It wasn't the same as freezing the villain because he didn't become solid, but now he would hold together enough that Izuku could grab a handful of his gelatinous mass and it didn't squeeze through his fingers. Planting his own feet again Izuku grabbed the villain with both hands and pulled with all his might ripping the sludge villain off of Katsuki completely and throwing him away causing the villain to crash down far away from the former hostage. Izuku had done it, Katsuki was safe.

Izuku turned back to Katsuki and smiled. Katsuki just stared back at Izuku dumbfounded, his eyes widened by his disbelief. To be honest, Izuku was amused at this response to his sudden show of power so he opened his mouth to make a quip when suddenly he felt the power slipping from his grasp. The light wafting from his skin blinked out and the surge of power Izuku had been feeling was replaced by a sudden and ravenous hunger. Izuku's stomach growled and he felt weak in the knees. He reflexively reached out and grabbed Katsuki in order to keep himself from collapsing at his sudden weakness. Katsuki was about to shove the other boy off of himself when his eyes widened at the sight of something behind Izuku.

"I don't know where that power was the last time I tried to kill you, but it wasn't enough you little brat." The sludge villain said as it rose out of the dust cloud it had caused upon landing after Izuku's throw. With Izuku's powers now gone the effects of his adherence on the villain were canceled giving him full control of his liquid body again and letting him send out more whip-like attacks. Before the attacks could land or either boy could even react an obstacle appeared between the boys and the villain in the form of a 7'2" mountain of muscle.

"Look at me not practicing what I preach eh?" the voice of All Might said, "Both of you boys made an excellent showing today, I am sure your careers as heroes will be impressive. Now let a real pro show you how to finish a job. DETROIT SMASH!"

With that single almighty smash, the battle was over. The villain was collected and taken into custody. Katsuki was praised for his tenacity and bravery for resisting the villain in the way that he had. Izuku was scolded harshly by the heroes on the scene for rushing in and for apparent vigilantism at his use of a quirk. In the end though, he was released with no charges filed and a warning to only use his quirk in such a way again after he had received his pro license.

A few hours later and Izuku was once again making his way home. Izuku had been lucky enough that one of the ambulances on-site stocked some granola bars to help with treating someone with a blood sugar imbalance. Izuku had told them he was light-headed and one of the EMTs gladly gave him a bar to eat. It had helped but Izuku could hardly wait to get home to eat his mother's cooking.

As he walked he thought fondly about the passenger he currently had on his head. Sera was completely wiped out from the stress of formulating the bond. She had assured Izuku that this wouldn't happen every time he used his powers but it was needed this time due to the strange nature of the bond. Either way, Izuku was just happy that they had both made it out of the situation unharmed.

Katsuki had still been getting looked over when Izuku left. As much as he disliked the other boy for his cruelty and overinflated ego Izuku didn't want to see him hurt so he was glad he was being taken care of. Izuku idly wondered how Katsuki would react now that Izuku had powers as well. He chuckled as he thought back to the look of disbelief on the other boy's face when he had pulled the slime villain off of him. Smiling ruefully Izuku thought to himself,

"Knowing Kacchan he will probably take the fact that I have powers as a personal insult against himself."

As Izuku kept walking his mind finally got around to thinking of how the battle had concluded. All Might had reappeared and with a single punch ended the conflict, settled the fears of the citizens, and even changed the weather for a short time. Izuku found it awe-inspiring even after his less than ideal meeting with his idol. As he thought about the man's answer to his question however, Izuku couldn't fault the hero for saying what he had. As Valor had explained, maybe without powers Izuku could have been a hero but it would have ultimately led to his death. All Might had just been trying to protect Izuku by pointing him down a safer path.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to him again before he got swarmed by reporters." Izuku thought to himself, "I guess I will have to send him a thank you message through his website."

"I AM HERE!"

Suddenly the subject of his thoughts appeared in front of him skidding to a stop in a heroic pose.

"ALL MIGHT!" Izuku shouted in surprise, "How are you here, you were swarmed by reporters."

"HA HA, shaking them off was nothing for me. I am All Migh- Bleugh!" All Might's words were abruptly cut off by a bloody cough as he deflated instantly into his true skeletal form.

Izuku immediately began to fret about the man's health but All Might waved off his worries.

"Forget about me boy, I chased you down for a reason," the hero said to the confused Izuku, "First, I have a question for you young man. What was all that talk about being quirkless on the roof?" All Might asked, "Were you asking me for someone else perhaps?"

Izuku was caught flat-footed by the question. How much should he explain? How much could he explain? Izuku had, by some twisted chance, learned more about how quirks and the world worked than any other man alive. How does he explain what happened with Valor to anyone? Faced with that question, Izuku decided he only had one option, come up with some BS to cover it up.

"N-no All Might Sir, as hard as it may be to believe when we were on the rooftop I truly thought I was quirkless but somehow in the middle of the battle, I felt something change in me and now I guess, somehow I have a quirk." Internally, Izuku was ashamed of himself. Who would possibly believe a ridiculous story like that?

"Ah, I see. That makes sense." All Might said in response.

Izuku was shocked. "Wait, that worked?" He thought to himself

Seeing the incredulous look on the boy's face the hero explained himself.

"Son, I have been in the hero business for a long time and have seen things with quirks that would baffle the mind of any scientist out there. Part of me sometimes thinks that quirks must be part of something far greater than we humans can fully understand, so your story of how in your greatest hour of need you were able to tap into some previously unknown well of power, it just feels right to me." The hero said.

"Now the other reason I chased you down was so that I could amend the answer I gave to you on the roof today. Up there I told you that I didn't believe that you could be a hero. I was wrong to say that. As I watched what happened on that street I was filled with shame. That shopping district was filled with heroes today and none of them showed true heroism the way you did. While we all thought about how hopeless the situation was, you acted. You a boy who grew up with no powers but holding on to a desire to save others rushed into an impossible situation and pulled from it the best possible outcome. Today you reminded me what it truly means to be a Hero."

Izuku was shocked at his idol's words. He wasn't overwhelmed as he might have been if he hadn't heard the answer from Valor but to hear this man acknowledge him was no small thing for the young man.

"Kid, I want to set the record straight. Even if you hadn't awakened any kind of power, I truly believe that you can become a hero."

Izuku's heart filled with joy. He had already heard someone else say it but to hear it again, to have the statement reaffirmed made it all seem so much more real. His path was now truly fixed. Izuku Midoriya was resolved to tirelessly walk the path that would lead to him being the greatest hero he could be.

"And given the potential I saw in you today, I believe you are worthy of inheriting my power."

Izuku's mind screeched to a halt.

"Huh?" Izuku said in puzzlement at the statement.

"What's that look for my boy?" the hero in front of Izuku asked, "This has to do with my quirk, I am asking if you would like to try inheriting my power?"

Izuku's mind flashed back to his time with that divine being, to the last thing she said before he forged his bond with Sera.

"By accepting this power you will be embarking on a set path. You are not allowed to accept any other forms of power if you embark on it."

"She knew," Izuku thought, "She knew that this would be an option for me if I didn't form the bond."

Uncertainty briefly flashed through Izuku's heart and he looked up and saw Sera. She was floating weakly in the air now having left the perch she had taken on his head. Her face seemed to mirror the uncertainty Izuku felt. But then he thought of what he had learned when Valor first appeared. Sera had been willing to sacrifice her entire being to give Izuku the power he needed to survive and save Katsuki. Could he ask for a better partner than her to accompany him on the heroic path he walked? Feeling his decision reaffirmed he gave Sera a worm smile before turning back to All Might.

"All Might, as wonderful as your offer is, I am sorry to say that I cannot accept." As he said this Izuku bowed in an apology. "I have looked up to you for as long as I can remember, but when I got my power today I felt like I had embarked on a path, and unfortunately I can't leave that path to inherit yours as much as it pains me to say it."

Straightening up, Izuku met the eyes of his Idol and was surprised to see acceptance in his gaze.

"I had a feeling you would say that young man." All Might said. "When I saw you out there when you first unlocked your power as you shone like a newborn star. Something in my heart knew that I had missed a golden opportunity. Regardless I know that you will be a great hero, perhaps even greater than myself."

All Might extended out his hand, and Izuku after a moment extended his own and the two heroes grasp each other's hands as a sign of mutual respect.

"Farewell boy, I pray that our paths cross again someday so that I can see the sort of hero you become. I am sure it will be spectacular."

"Thank you for everything, All Might"

And with that the two men left walking away from each other with their heads held high, Izuku taking the next step on the path he started by saying the first ideal, and All Might stepping with reinvigorated steps on the well-worn path of heroism.

---

Valor watched this happen invisibly, her consciousness expanded to the point that it covered the globe. If she still had a mouth she would have smiled at the inspirational scene given by the two heroes. A part of her was sad that she wouldn't get to see what the boy made of himself with All Might's power, but when she had felt the sliver of Honor she knew she had to intervene.

Tanavast had been a dear friend to her, and she had been greatly saddened by his passing. The thought of the sliver of his power burning up like a firework instead of shining endlessly had been too painful for her to just sit back and not intervene. Now the bond was stabilized and supported through her own power. The one downside was that she wasn't sure how the introduction of her power into the system of the Nahel bond may change it. Only time will tell. Valor couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement as she thought about how the boy would use his power in the battles that awaited him.

"Show me how you will shape the world, Hero of Honor."

AN: Hello readers, So I am excited to present the first ever crossover between My Hero Academia and The Stormlight Archive. I read The Stormlight Archive just last year and it is officially my favorite fantasy novel series. After reading the newest installment Rythm of War I was blown away by the characterization and I was struck with the idea of having Izuku make the oaths of a knight radiant. I really hope you enjoy this new story, I am very pleased by how this first chapter came out and can't wait to write more.

On one final note, I want to give credit to my beta reader for this chapter CreativeMindAtWorkHere. They were a huge help in making this story more polished and I really think they elevated my work, so thank you to them.

Thank you for reading