Prologue

Pain.

That was all that was felt in that moment. As he woke up in an unknown alley, Izuku Midoriya's body was wracked with pain. Two things were bouncing around in his head as he lay there.

"You wanna be a hero so bad? I've got a time-saving idea for you. If you think you'll have a quirk in your next life… go take a swan dive off the roof!"

"If you aspire to save people, there's always the police force. Villain custody is often thankless work, but that too is a job worthy of praise! I won't condemn dreaming. That being said… you need to see reality for what it is, kid."

The words of his idol punctured his heart, and the last of his will crumbled. So he took the advice of his bully. And for some reason, whatever god that existed had it out for him. Hated his guts. What did he do to deserve this? Why was he born quirkless?

He pondered this as he was slowly dying in the alleyway, his body never to be found. He would probably just be nothing but a distant and terrible memory for everyone he knew.

After all, who cares about the normal kid in an extraordinary world?

Maybe he would get lucky in his next life, and he'd be blessed with a quirk. A quirk more powerful than All Might. He would be the best hero and save everyone that he could. Save it all with a smile. Make the world a utopia. But until then, he would continue his descent into the cold but sweet embrace of death. It's all he had right now anyway.

"I can help you."

Sitting up and gasping for breath Izuku clawed at his chest. Coughing and spitting blood and bile all over the pristine hospital floor.

Wait. Hospital floor?

He was alive?

Why was he in so much pain?

Where was he?

Why?

The young teen had so many questions and not enough answers. As he sat alone in the dark hospital room, panting and trying to analyze the room to maybe find a semblance of similarity. Alas everything around him was too blurry. His head throbbed, as if someone had taken a pair of rods and rammed them in his temples, and let them meet in the middle.

The door creaked open, and a doctor slid in. The man was tall and gangly, but not in a disconcerting way. His dark hair was cut close to his head, and strangely he had three eyes. Must've been something to do with his quirk.

A million and four questions raced through Izuku's mind, but he decided to sit still and wait. The doctor turned his face to him and let a comforting smile grace his face.

"So son, by all logical means of modern medicine, barring Recovery Girl's quirk, you should be dead. You aren't. So more good news, it seems that the quirkless diagnosis you were told as a young child was inaccurate. You seem to have some kind of regenerative quirk, or something along those lines, we'll have to test it when you are capable of moving." The doctor cleared his throat awkwardly and then grimaced slightly, before continuing, "There isn't all good news I'm afraid though. Due to the events that happened. The security footage from the building was missing big chunks of time, almost the entire time before you were found by an officer, so we can't exactly say what happened to cause it, but you've now destroyed your eyesight beyond what your quirk could fix and require eyeglasses for the rest of your life."

Izuku just sat there soaking in the new information. It probably had something to do with the head trauma. He didn't want to tell the doctor exactly what led him to be in that alley in the first place. So he looked down at his hands, which had clenched into fists.

"There's… a big gap in my memory."

Which wasn't necessarily untrue. He couldn't remember how he got here, or what happened to him. But he did know one thing. He was done looking up to All Might. Heroes have their place in the world, but you know the saying. Never meet your idols. Was it possible that the Symbol of Peace wasn't that different from Endeavor after all? Maybe he was just better at hiding his arrogance.

That was a discussion for a different day.

The doctor nodded, "Of course Midoriya-san. We will be notifying your mother in the morning. No doubt she will be here as soon as possible."

The older man bowed and then took his leave.

He laid back down, reeling himself in from the excitement. The nighttime sky out his window provided a beautiful view. The stars that dotted the skyline were like a mesmerizing tapestry, and the moon was full and bright. He smiled.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing he survived after all. Maybe he could make something out of this worthless life of his. He raised his hand in front of his face, the appendage was blurry, and he clenched his fist, feeling invigorated.

He now had a fighting chance.

A/N: Sorry for such a short first chapter. It's definitely just to set the tone of the story, though it won't stay this dark. Rest assured things are going to be a lot different than they are in canon. More than just the stuff shown in this chapter. There's been a big divergence somewhere and those who are familiar with the series will probably know what happened, at least partially.

After this there is going to be a time-skip to the Entrance Exam. I'll go over the stuff you missed. You guys will be caught up to speed, don't worry. Feel free to leave a review, and tell me stuff that you'd like to see. I am still undecided on a pairing. I'm bouncing back and forth between four girls. They will be revealed in chapter 4, and I'll start a poll over who y'all want the main pairing to be. I will be uploading the second chapter sometime tomorrow (March 9th) and the third chapter will be next week, I don't have a concrete release schedule planned just yet but I'll figure it out. Anyway, so long and goodnight!