Chapter 1: The Journey of Darkness Begins
"You should probably give it up." the Doctor said, sitting in his chair. Izuku stiffened. His favourite All Might toy fell from his hands. The Doctor looked at Izuku's mother. "Excuse me, but you're fourth generation, right ma'am? Normally, at the age of four he would have manifested one of the quirks of either you, or his father, or some combination of the two. You can see by looking at this x-ray that Izuku has two joints. It's unusual to see that these days but it means that he has no Quirk." Izuku's dream shattered.
At home, Inko entered the computer room to see her child staring at the video of All Might's debut. It was his favourite video, after all. He spent most of his time watching it over and over again. "Mom…" she heard him say. "…he's such a cool Hero…can I be a Hero too?" Izuku turned in his chair and Inko could see the tears in her son's eyes and the pain he felt, drastically looking for some kind of hope. But she knew he had to face the truth. She ran up to him and hugged him while crying. "I'm sorry, Izuku! I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"
Over the years, Izuku was bullied for not having a Quirk especially by Katsuki Bakugo, who had an amazing Quirk called Explosion. He made fun of Izuku by calling him 'Deku' even though Izuku dearly called him Kacchan cause he truly looked up to Bakugo. This made him very underconfident about himself. Even though he seemed to accept that he was Quirkless, he was still treated as a 'minor' in society. New heroes were coming up, those that were trained to hone their Quirks in high schools. "Quirkless? That's a shame." He heard words like this every day.
At the age of 14, he witnessed, the new heroes Mt. Lady and Kamui woods work together to capture a villain. He quickly understood that all the heroes, other than All Might, fought only for fame, money and respect in society. The Hero business was a big joke. Everything he'd believed in, everything he wanted to be, was one big lie. He felt tears coming to his eyes as he ran into an alley. He sat down in a corner and cried and cried and cried.
Suddenly, he heard a voice. "Why are you crying? No hero to help you?" Izuku looked up to see a man sitting on the roof of the building he was under. He was dressed in red and black and had long black hair. He wore a tattered mask and was carrying a sheath which definitely had a sword in it. There were even small spikes on his shoes. "Heroes?" Izuku said. "They're a joke. Everything is a lie. They won't help me." The man smiled. "So you do understand how pathetic they are. The only true hero is All Might."
"I agree." Izuku said, wiping away his tears. "I'm Quirkless. I was always treated as a minor. I learned how this society has grown out to be."
"And that too at such a young age." the man said. "So you're Quirkless, eh? I'm pretty sure you feel powerless." Izuku looked at the ground. "Yes. Yes it does…but-" The man interrupted him. "You don't need to have a Quirk to be strong. Strength doesn't have to come from a special physical ability."
"Are you saying….I can be strong?"
"Yes you can. You can be as strong as you want." The man jumped down and directly faced Izuku. He watched as the boy went into deep thought. Finally, Izuku asked. "How? How can I be strong?" The man shook his head. "The life you're leading right now….it's impossible. The first step you must take to go on the path to strength is, letting go of your everyday life, and making a new one. You will have to leave everything behind. Your family and friends too. Think you can do that?"
Izuku looked at him. "I never had true friends. Just people who I wanted to be friends with. But they bullied me, no matter how hard I tried."
"What about your family?"
"My dad is abroad. He was never there for me. My mom…I love my mom…but…" Izuku remembered that night where his mom said what he didn't want to hear. "….she doesn't give me support where I want it most…that's because she doesn't understand. She thinks it's 'facing reality' but again, everything I believed in is a lie."
"So are you willing to let it all go? Right now? From this moment on?" Izuku nodded. "What do I do now?" he asked. "You can come with me. Live with me. I can teach you just how strong a person can be, Quirk or no Quirk. Wanna come?" Izuku was tempted to say yes, but he hesitated. "Why are you doing this for me?" he asked. "Why? I don't really know. But there is something about you. I can't quite put my finger on it. After all, we both seem to know the truth about this world."
He gave Izuku a hand. "Come. Together we tell the world the truth, make it a better place, and prove that strength doesn't just come from Quirks." Izuku closed his eyes. "Sorry, Mom." He thought and took the man's arm. The man smiled. As they walked together into the darkness of the alley, the man asked. "What's your name, kid?"
"Izuku. Izuku Midoriya…..what's yours?"
Chizome Akaguro, but you can call me….Stain."