Birth of Two Suns

"-and after what felt like hours of rigorous battle, the group of American explorers known as the Fantastic Four, succeeded in driving away the force of those mysterious towering monsters, responsible for untold pro-"

"Hey, Yagi-san! Aren't you coming?!" a voice called to one named Toshinori Yagi.

"Oh, sorry! I'm coming!" the boy said, as he rushed to catch up with his classmate.

Toshinori Yagi, age thirteen, soon to be fourteen. He was your typical Japanese boy… if your definition of typical was of a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes that is. Boy he was sure that if anyone other than those that had the pleasure of knowing him, would have thought that he was some sort of foreigner from say, America, or Europe. But outside of that, he was fairly normal.

He and his two classmates, Ozawa and Yamato, had already finished classes and were heading for the mall near the school. It was already the afternoon and the trio had nothing better to do. There was no homework for the time being, finals wouldn't come until much later and while they may not be the smartest students there are, they sure weren't completely lost. So, as if it were a miracle, they actually had the time to goof off and enjoy their youth.

"What was that about, Yagi-san?" asked Yamamoto to the blonde boy.

"Let me guess, it was some hero thing, right?" asked Ozawa, as Yagi nodded as an answer. "Of course it would."

"You make it sound like it's something that I do often."

"Oh no, you don't do it often. You just do it whenever and every time the word hero gets thrown to the wind… which is just another way to say that you do it often." Ozawa said.

"And I bet that it had to do with some American heroes, right?" asked Yamamoto as the Toshinori nodded sheepishly. "Because of course it would."

Ah yes, another thing that was not so typical from Toshinori Yagi was not his obsession with heroes. But rather, that he obsessed with American heroes at that. Something rather atypical and that many of his classmates and friends found confusing. Their country had more than enough heroes to go around, so why would anyone go around praising heroes from other parts of the world, let alone from America?

And yet, despite that, Toshinori Yagi always looked up to those cape-wearing defenders of the innocent of the western world. Why? Even he wasn't sure about that, truth be told. Maybe it was the fact that the modern concept of what a hero should be, originated in the States. The idea of a defender of the innocent, whom swore upon their very being to always fight against villany and the forces of evil even to their dying breath. Maybe it was just how larger than life those heroes were. From those new heroes like that Iron Man fella that debuted not that long ago, to those that originated in the super hero boom as they knew it.

The Age of Miracles.

During World War II, America gave birth to this new batch of champions that fought against any and all that opposed them. From the original Human Torch and Toro, to the missing Sub-Mariner. From The Vision to the Blazing Skull. From the likes of Whizzer, Miss America and Bucky to of course the poster boy of the U.S forces.

Captain America.

Sure, it may be a sore and controversial idea to admire heroes of a country that fought against your own nation in a war which depicts your side as one of the bad guys. But dammit if those guys weren't cool. If he had to swallow his patriotic pride then he would. He wasn't sure why though, but there was something that drew the boy to them. Perhaps the fact that they seemed as if the myths of old returned to their realm of mortals and displayed their might like the gods used to? Could it be that they hit a core that the heroes of his nation just couldn't quite match? That he relates to them in a way that he can't with anyone else?

"Who was it this time? Was it… what was his name? Thor? Rumor has it that when he appeared a couple of weeks ago, he stopped some catastrophe."

"What kind?" asked Yamamoto.

"Don't know. Maybe it was an alien invasion."

"Yeah, right. As if aliens actually existed. What's next? You're going to tell me that he's the actual Norse god and not some guy that took the name because it sounded cool?" asked Ozawa.

"Well, I don't know about that, but he wasn't the one that was on the news. It was actually the Fantastic Four!" Toshinori said.

Reed Richards, Susan and Jonathan Storm and Benjamin Grim. Those four names may have not been that much some time ago, but ever since their rocket ship accident, they became synonymous with heroism, exploration and absolute greatness. For they had been exposed to some sort of radiation of the stars above and change in ways that could only be described as fantastic. Reed Richards' body became as flexible as rubber and as malleable as clay. Jonathan Storm gained the ability to engulf himself in flames. Becoming a living inferno and able to command it as if it were an extension of his self. His older sister could turn invisible and in time afterwards, capable of conjuring barriers and apparently constructs of invisibility with her own mind. And Benjamin Grimm… well, he may have gotten the short end of the stick, but by no means was he any less impressive. His skin became like rock, his size increased quite a bit and his might was more than enough to make buildings tremble with no effort. It was them who started a new era in the history of heroes. A new age never seen before.

The Age of Marvels.

Mr. Fantastic, the Human Torch, the Invisible Girl, the Thing. The Fantastic Four were born along the Age of Marvels and naturally, they were the first of a soon to be plethora of Marvels like them.

"It was incredible! They were fighting these monsters that came from beneath the ground! And the Thing lifted one of them with his bare hands and threw it to another creature and-"

"We get it, they won. Seriously, you sure can get excited about them, you know?"

"Why wouldn't I? The Fantastic Four do the impossible every day! And it's not just them! That Thor guy, that Iron Man from a couple of days ago, I even heard of this one person that is apparently some sort of monster hunter going around!"

"How do you know any of that?" asked Ozawa.

"You said it, I do this often. I made it my duty to try and learn as much as I can."

"Well, at least you don't go around writing every little detail about them in a diary or something. That'll be creepy."

"Oh come on. I'm not that dedicated." Toshinori said, with the trio soon being near the mall.

However, out of nowhere an explosion occurred. Turning to where it originated, they saw the smoke and fire that were the result of whatever catastrophe was going on over there. Soon enough, they saw a wave of people all running towards their direction and in fear. They managed to get out of the way, but even still were more than capable of seeing that some of them had bruises and cuts around their bodies. They saw their expressions and could feel their pain, their uneasiness…

Their fear and despair.

"What the hell?!" asked Yamamoto as Ozawa tried to ask one of the women running from danger.

"What happened back there?!"

"There was a villain! I-I don't know if… Oh god, I don't… Masato!" she cried in grief.

Without warning, some sort of object came down crashing near them. The sight made everyone run faster than they were before. As the smoke cleared, the trio of Toshinori and company managed to see a human figure emerging from the crater. It was a woman of jet-black hair. She had a black sleeveless top with black pants and yellow gloves. She had white boots and a white cape. They recognised that she was a pro-hero. And if she crashed here so suddenly, then that could only mean…

"Huh?" the woman said, turning to see the trio of kids nearby. "Get to safety! There's-" she was trying to say, until she felt a massive punch hitting her in the face and sending her flying into a building nearby.

The one responsible was a massive creature. He… or rather, it looked like some sort of humanoid boar. At least four or maybe five meters in height and built like it was made to tear entire armies appart with only its bare hands.

"HAHAHA! Come on! I haven't had my fill of fun just yet!" the villain shouted as he started to run to where the heroine had crashed.

Just the sight of the monster sending the pro-hero away with just one punch should have been enough to scatter anyone near the area away in fear. And while it almost did, someone remained frozen in his place. That someone was Toshinori Yagi, who saw the destruction before his eyes. The carnage and damage caused by the actions of one selfish and cruel individual. A sight that sadly, he was used to by now. But more importantly, he saw something amidst this chaos. He saw a strong figure try her best to oppose said cruelty. He saw the woman lift her two fists in the air and daring for any evildoer to come at her, for she would fight back. But also, he saw something in the corner of his eyes. He saw an elderly man trapped in rubble, injured and bleeding from his forehead. And worst of all, he was near where the pro-hero and the villain were doing battle.

"Hey, where is Yagi-san?!" asked Ozawa to his classmate.

"I don't know?! Maybe he beat us and is already somewhere safe!" he replied.

Wrong answer though.

What he did may have been called many things. Brave? Perhaps. Daring? Probably. Dumb and suicidal? Most definitely. For instead of listening to the blaring alarm that was ringing in his head, the one that warned him about the danger surrounding him and that told him to go somewhere safe, he ran towards danger rather than away from it. He couldn't allow such irrationality to govern his nation. He couldn't allow such atrocities to occured. He had to do something.

He quickly reached where the old man was. He had some ruble on top of him and could not get up because of it. Thankfully, young Yagi was no slouch in physical activities. He was rather athletic actually, so he moved quickly and started to move the rubble off the man. By the time he was done, he helped the old man get up and started to rush him away from danger as far as possible. Meanwhile, the two powerhouses kept on fighting. The heroine managed to land one mighty hook at the villain, who fell to the ground.

"Remain down! There's no reason to keep on fighting like this! Just surrender and- GHA!" the woman yelled, for in her attempt to talk the villain down, the boar-looking individual grabbed some dirt and debris and hurled it to her eyes.

Successfully blinding her momentarily, the villain took this as his opportunity to strike and retaliate. He formed a fist and struck her, and then again, and again, until finally he grabbed her by the head and smashed her into the ground. And as the beating was occuring, Toshinori looked back and cursed.

"Mister? Can you walk by yourself?" he asked.

Meanwhile back in the battle, the villain raised one of his fists in the air and prepared to strike once more.

"Just wait until the boss hears about this! He'll probably grant me more power than he did already!"

"Gh… h-he's just using you. C-Can't you see that once he no longer has a use for you he'll throw you out like an old piece of clothing? It's not too late, you can still walk away from this!" the woman told him.

"You think I care what you say? Thanks to him, I'm no longer the weakling being pushed around! This time, I'm the one doing any pushing! This time, I'm the one in charge and all thanks to him! If he wants to throw me away after this is done, then so be it. At least he took the time to look in my direction." the villain snarled.

Just as he was about to strike at the woman, he felt a small, yet sharp pain in his back. He turned to see why he felt that and when he did, he was met with the sight of Toshinori Yagi. He had gotten back to the woman's aid and without thinking, grabbed a metal rod that was laying in the ground and tried to smack the villain. However, it was no more than a bee's sting to someone like him. As a matter of fact, it was even less than that. For the behemoth looked as if nothing had happened while the rod was completely bent the other way around.

"Well look what we have here? Some punk wants to play hero?" he said, smacking the rod away from Toshinori's hands and preparing to strike at the terrified boy.

"I say…" the woman said, getting up and grabbing the arm that he was about to use to hit the boy. "He definitely knows the part." and with one powerfull uppercut, she knocked him deveraly meters into the air.

She then made one great leap and was soon at the same height where the villain was. Pulling back her right fist, she hit the villain with such force, that the impact almost felt like a located tremor. Creating a crater larger than the villain himself and finally knocking him down. As for Toshinori, he had looked for cover because even he knew that it would probably be better than to remain in ground zero. When all was done, he peeked from his hiding place and saw that up in the sky, the woman remained. As if she was floating, looking down on his fallen foe.

She then looked at where the boy was and to his surprise… she smiled at him.

"That was very foolish, young man… But I got to say, you sure helped me out." the pro-hero said.

After the fight, the police arrived to get the villain away and make sure that he couldn't hurt anyone… at least any more. So, after she made sure that everything was now under control, she decided that maybe she should have a talk with the young boy. Sure, he did try to help out, but just because he meant well, it didn't mean that he should have run towards the villain that just punched the side of a building with one hit. So, here she was, walking with the boy alongside the river of the city. The clouds started to form and soon enough, a light snow started to gently fall on top of the city.

"I know… it's just that… I had to do something. I wasn't thinking and I just… well, I just acted. My body just moved without thinking… I'm sorry, I know that I shouldn't have done it."

"Yes, you shouldn't have. It was dangerous and you could have gotten hurt, or worse. You could have lost your own life." the woman told the boy, who looked down to the ground. "But…" the woman said, making Toshinori lift his gaze and see the woman smile at him. "It was appreciated."

"You...you mean it?" he asked.

"I'm sure that I could have managed to get out of the mess by myself. But by the time I would be done, that villain could have caused untold damage. So, thanks to you, I was able to finish this before it could have gotten out of hand." she told the boy, making him feel better with himself.

"That's… at least I did something." he said, before turning to the woman. "I'm sorry, but… I don't think I've ever got your name." he told the woman.

"Well… How about you just call me by my actual name. I'm Shimura. Shimura Nana." the woman, now known as Shimura, presented herself to the boy.

"I'm Yagi Toshinori. It's a pleasure." he told her.

"Yagi, what you did was rather stupid… but also brave. I take it that someone like you aspires to become a pro-hero, right?" Shimura asked.

However, to her surprise, the boy did not answer right away. As a matter of fact, the boy looked down to the ground and seemed rather downed compared to before.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked Toshinori.

"... I… I'm not sure about that?" he said, the sad tone being fairly audible. "I… I don't have a quirk." he admitted.

Perhaps that was another reason why young Toshinori Yagi looked up to the Marvels of the western world. As far as he knew, not only were quirks such a rarity there that those who have god given abilities were often shoned by those around them, but their champions didn't even have them at all. As far as he knew, none of the Marvels had a quirk. If anything, they were all born quirkless. Sure, the Fantastic Four had powers, but not because they were born with them, but because they obtained them after their crash. The same goes for the Iron Man, the only thing that they knew of him was that he was hired to be Tony Stark's own personal bodyguard. But that was it. That golden armor of his was most likely the only thing that allowed him to perform such awe inducing feats of suspense. Even those of the Age of Miracles had no need for such a thing as a quirk.

The Whizzer didn't have one, neither did the Vision or that Red Raven fella as far as he remembered. Heck the only one of the original Invaders that probably had one was the Sub-Mariner and even then, it was sketchy at best whether or not that's true. And of course, Captain America himself was also quirkless. The one man that could tear tanks appart and entire platoons of soldiers by himself had no quirk, or even any other source of powers at all. Just a pair of hands, two boots on the ground and one round mighty shield that made any who oppose him yield.

Those facts gave him hope. Hope that he could still be a hero despite being quirkless. Just like those crusaders of justice that hailed from the west… but… that was probably never going to happen. They were two different cultures. Different ideologies and different opportunities. Heck, despite the fact that the United States is the birthplace of modern heroes, they didn't bother to teach them anything to those who wish to do good. For them, all it took to be a hero was a noble heart and the will to face adversity. In Japan though, they started to create something called hero schools, places to nurture those who wish to be heroes into true champions of justice. But, most of them would never take him in no matter how noble his intentions were. U.A, the very best the country had to offer, didn't even admit those born quirkless to even the other courses. And the same goes to the other hero schools.

"You're quirkless?" Shimura asked.

"I know… it's a fantasy right?"

"... That doesn't answer my question though." Shimura said, confusing the boy a bit, who turned to the woman, who was still smiling. "Do you aspire to be a pro-hero?" she asked once more.

"... I… well… I'm not sure that pro-hero is the right word to describe what I want to be."

"And what would the right word be?" Shimura asked as the two stopped walking.

"Well… I'm sure that the country is not in shortage of reasons to need heroes. And I'll admit that becoming a hero is something that I want because of it. It's like villains ruled this country with an iron fist. Making everyone else afraid and terrified. Governing us with absolute fear of even our own neighbors…" Toshinori admitted.

His words were true. Crime has been rising more and more by the day. The sight of destruction of a while ago was not the first one to be witnessed by his own eyes. It's almost as if every week, every day even, news of a new catastrophe always hits the T.V, the radio, the papers. And nobody knew why? Why was Japan in such shape?

"You're right… I'll admit that sometimes even heroes like me feel overwhelmed. What could we be missing to beat this darkness?"

"... perhaps a symbol?" Toshinori said, making Nana turn to him with expectations.

"What was that? Did you say something, kid?" she asked, as the boy blushed for a bit.

"It's… it's nothing, just some childish thought."

"Don't be shy. If you have something to say, then say it. I won't judge, so go on. What was it that you were saying?"

"Well… how do I put it?" he asked, taking a deep breath and trying his best to explain his desire. "I want to make a world where everyone smiles and lives together happily. For that to happen, people need a symbol."

"A symbol?"

"A symbol of peace." Toshinori finally said, sounding more confident than before and gaining Nana's full interest in his words. "The reason crime is on the rise everywhere is because citizens have no one to believe in. They need to rely on someone… That's why, I want to be the pillar that gives people hope." he said.

"Huh… So that's what drives you to become a hero. Even though you're quirkless." Nana said.

"Yes!"

"... hehe." Nana chuckled, before addressing the boy in front of her. "Yagi Toshinori. Is that right? Those are some pretty funny ideas you got there. You're kind of crazy."

Toshinori Yagi… quite the interesting character, right? A boy with no quirk, some could say with no power, and yet he is more than willing to stand above the wickedness of society. He wishes, he hopes to become a symbol so that others can live in peace. Here is a boy with no power, who carves power not for him, but for the sake of others. He wishes recognition, because he wants everyone to look at him and to hear him say that everything is alright… that… she wonders…

"Tell me kid… what if I told you that you could accomplish your dream?" she suddenly asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What if you were given the chance of obtaining the means to achieve your goal? What would your answer to that be?"

"I… I… is this some sort of prank? I'm confused? What-"

"One week. In one week's time, meet me at Tezuka park. More specifically, in front of Osamu's flower garden at 7:00 A.M."

"I… I'm still not sure what you're talking about. Why should I do that? What's the point?"

"I want to prove your mettle and conviction. Is your desire to become a hero, a symbol, true to its core? Or are they just pretty words?"

"Of course they are real! I meant every last word that I said!"

"Then you'll be there without exception."

"But to what end? What's the point in even-"

"Because… young Yagi…" the heroine said, with a caring tone that also commanded attention. "Perhaps… I may be witness to the birth of a shining sun before my eyes." she suddenly said, leaving the boy speechless.

Afterwards, Nana started to walk away. Surprising Toshinori, who tried to call to her, and yet she answered before he could do so.

"Yagi Toshinori… If your drive is more than enough, if you can show me the lengths of your conviction and prove that they're more than just mere words and wishful thinking…" she told him, turning back once more and smiling at the boy. "Then you too, can become a hero!"

And with that declaration, she left.

Toshinori was just frozen. Not moving an inch and not even blinking. He was processing what this heroine had told him. He… he could become a hero? He… it's not like he had never thought of it, heck it was his one dream, his aspiration. But… he never thought it possible that there could be someone that truly believed he could be one. He never… what was that warm feeling inside of him? Why did it feel like he was given a treasure beyond words? And more importantly… why was he crying despite not being sad? Why was he smiling?

"I… I can be a hero?" he repeated those words to himself over and over, to make sure that he heard right.

He never knew he needed something so much until now.

And as the boy was contemplating the events that unfolded before him, as the snow fell lightly around him, on the other side of the world, there were tears as well.

In one lonesome ACME warehouse at the waterfront of New York city, there was supposed to be a criminal. Hiding like a rat and waiting for the moon to lower to escape away in the darkness. There were police cars surrounding the building but still not sure of how to act. And then, when they finally decided to move in, they witnessed something that none were prepared for.

There were signs of wreckage all around them. Almost as if a tornado had gotten inside the building and smashed anything in its path. There were webs all around them. Not like the ones an old building should have. For these ones were so large that any spider capable of spinning said threads could eat a horse with ease. And within the webs, there was a cocoon. And within the cocoon… there was a man.

"What the hell is that?" one officer asked.

They got the man out and it turned out to be the burglar that they were searching for. He was beaten, covered in bruises and his own blood covering parts of his face. He looked like he was beaten within an inch of his life before being left inside of that web. And while the officers were asking questions, somewhere atop of a building nearby, observing the warehouse… a boy was sobbing.

"My fault… it's all my fault…" he cried.

The age of Marvels was at hand and on that day, on that night, the world gained another one… or maybe… it could have gained two. It was hard to tell.

Two symbols that would define the future. Two figures that would accomplish wonders and whose shoulders will carry worlds…

Two suns were born that day. Two that shined with such intensity, that they could illuminate the darkest of nights.

On that night, on that day… The Amazing Spider-Man and All Might, truly came to be.