So for new readers! I'm going to lay out a bit of context for this chapter.

(Older readers, you already know who this is, you can go ahead and either skip it or! If you want a preview of what is coming up for Alex's spin-off story, stick around to read.)

Alexander Springfield is an Original Character of minor importance. (Not a main character or anything like that)

However, most of my older readers love this bastard for some strange reason. (Again, I have no idea why; seriously, I never expected this OC to be popular.)

My way of using OCs must follow particular criteria to warrant their existence.

One: Help advance the story without taking the spotlight from Canon Characters.

Two: Assist development or open a window for Canon Character development.

Three: To showcase the world-building and differences from canon.

Four: To fulfill a role that canon characters cannot fill (Due to either causing plot holes or because it would be out of character for them to do so, AU be damned.)

Alex is a character that fulfills all of these terms. Therefore, I began to consider this character for long-term use. I had decided to write a Spin-off for this character.

As the numbering implies, this chapter was once attached to chapter VII (when it was still chapter VIII before the remastering.)

I've decided that going forward. Mini-half chapters would be released as individual chapters due to a new segment replacing them at the end of proper chapters for future updates starting in Arc III.

My Hero Academia Untold: The Fafnir Knight (Remastered Edition)

Chapter VII-S: Alexander Springfield Origin or The Foreigner who wants to be a Hero

-Months ago, shortly after, Izuku met All Might.

Alexander Springfield* groaned as he stirred awake, still in a lot of pain.

His eyes stung and burned as his eyelids struggled to open up. It made sense, given how much he had used his quirk for the Sports Festival today. His whole body ached as if he had been rammed by a truck at full speed, only he didn't get the benefit of being Isekai'd to a fantasy world. His breathing was labored and painful even while lying down due to the bruising around his face and throat.

'Shit...I lost...' He thought while struggling to sit up with his good left arm as the right one was currently bound up in a stiff sling. 'It was already fractured earlier...pretty sure it's broken now...Damn, I need a cookie or something since I'm still pretty banged up.'

Alex knew that Recovery Girl would have worked her magic on him by now. Considering his present condition, he must not have enough stamina to finish the job. Alex finally managed to sit up straight despite the pain that shot through his heavy body. He looked around for some food; he would need it to recover some of his stamina to expedite his healing process with the school nurse again.

'Just long have I been here?' He wondered as he looked around the small room. Once, he saw the snack cart and some bright, colorful signage nearby. Alex realized that he was in one of the break rooms for Hero Course Participants of the Sports Festival.

'Wait...this isn't right...Shouldn't I be in the outer hall? That's where all the other General Studies participants are,' He wondered as his blurry version slowly regained focus. He might have been a liaison for the Hero Course, but he was still a General Education student first. 'Screw it, not important; I need to know what time it is.'

Alex's blurry vision finally cleared up after another minute, allowing him to spot the time displayed on a nearby wall clock. However, upon seeing the time, he began to feel anxious while sitting on the cot. The Sports Festival for the second-year group should have been over by now. The closing ceremonies would start any moment; hell, even that could have finished up by now; if the fights had been quick enough. Alex had managed to finish in the top eight before getting beaten out by Mezou Shouji**. The Multi-armed lad had managed to wrestle Alex into submission. Or, more accurately, choked the living crap out of him –almost literally until he passed out.

'Damn, once I was trapped...that was it,' Alex remembered as bits and pieces of his final match returned to him. Still, he grinned with some pride; once caught by the multi-armed hero course student's: Impossible Grapple Lock move, it was over for him. Yet somewhere in the young man's head, in a manic mixture of stupidity, stubbornness, and pride.

Alex would simply not allow himself to admit defeat and surrender. Not after all of the effort he had made to get this far. No, Alex preferred for this opponent to finish him off. An action that Mezou respected but acquiesced to by showing no quarter. His opponent would squeeze Alex's neck until his face turned blue and finally passed out.

'I worked too hard to just give up like that; I was going to fight until the bitter end...' Alex rubbed his neck at the memory, now fully awake and awaiting his fate. He had managed to go far for a General Ed student, especially when compared to last year. When he failed to get past the first part of the Festival. He had fallen into that damn pit with the ropes after he misjudged his quirk's jumping ability and poor health at the time. It was the second time he had failed to make it into the UA hero course after failing the practical entrance exam.

And that second failure only fueled Alex's continued commitment to join the Hero Course. It forced him to double down on his training with everything he had to achieve his desired promotion. He worked himself to the bone until the end of the last school year. Alex applied again after one very grueling trial by fire proctored by Eraserhead.

He had achieved his first goal; becoming a Liaison Student for the Hero Course.

Now fortune had smiled on him again as one of the hero course students had dropped out for personal reasons before the year had even started. With an open spot and his position as a liaison, he was ever closer to his true goal of being a proper Hero Course student.

Yet, even though he had placed higher in this year's sports festival overall. His rival and fellow liaison for Hero Course, Sarutobi Sakuraba. Had been in the running for much longer and favored to take the treasured spot. The more Alex thought about the actions that got him here. More doubts began forming in his mind, remnants of the naysayers from here and back home. The foreigner sat there thinking over every little bit of his latest bout of the Sports Festival he had been.

It got to the point that he couldn't hold back the tears of frustration started to run down his face, burning his very skin.

He had dreamed of being a hero for countless years, especially after seeing all the great deeds people could do with their powers. His parents had wanted him to stay in the US and attend the hero courses, but he refused. He always carried this lifelong desire to apply to the same school that the world's Symbol of Peace had attended in his younger years.

Thankfully, Between his hard work and the good fortune of having a generous cousin who happened to work and live north of Tōkyō. He had been allowed the privilege to take that one-in-a-million chance by taking the American-Japanese Hero-Exchange Student program exam. Years of forwarding thinking and study had prepped him to learn the language with courses provided by one of the state colleges he happened to live nearby.

It took several exhausting exams over a period of several months.

Yet, it ended with Alex arriving in the Land of the Rising Sun after earning the privilege of taking the UA entrance exam. However, he only managed to get into the General Studies course. Now, he feared that if he didn't get the Hero Course spot now. Then it would be too late to gain any pro-hero experience by his third year in the academy.

"Springfield, you awake yet!?" Barked out the rough voice of the Pro-Hero and school counselor, Hound Dog.

"Sir!" Alex hopped out of the cot in surprise and stood to attention, nearly yelling out in pain as his body wasn't ready for the sudden moment. Instead, he simply sucked it up and quickly dried his tears with the sleeve of his good arm. "I'm up, sir!"

"Then head out to the field with the rest of the third-round competitors. The closing ceremonies for the Second Years are about to begin!"

"Yes, sir!" Alex managed to say without a hint of stuttering, breaking or sobbing to be found his voice. Alex was glad he hadn't missed the ceremony and could stand tall with everyone who had managed to get this far. Yet...on the other hand, it left his fate more ambiguous, which only compounded his ever-growing anxiety. His family and friends back home had been watching on a live stream, while his cousin Lucy should be at the stands right now.

Waiting for him to make an appearance.

'This is it...The moment of truth.' Alex thought to himself, inhaling as deeply as he could, the pain be damned.

He moved with his lead-heavy legs making his way back to the stadium with the determination of a man possessed, ignoring every ache, pain, sore, and bruise. He would be able to rest soon; he just needed to get this over with before he could. Upon arriving at the field, he saw that the ring had been fixed; and the stands filled with cheering fans as the sixteen who made it to the third round filed in various states of recovery. The platforms had already been raised for the four who; respectively occupied the first, second, and third places.

"Oh yeah! My good listeners! We are here to start the award ceremony with this year's pro-hero guest and fellow UA alumni! Give it up for the Flame Hero: Endeavor!" Present Mic's voice spoke out from the speakers.

Alex and the rest of the students in the field turned to see the fiery hero appear from the eastern entrance of the ring. Alongside his sidekicks, who held the boxes that contained the medals reserved for the top three placements. The crowd roared with excitement upon seeing Endeavor reach the center of the ring. Endeavor paused once he got there, waiting for Cementoss to make a stairway toward each of the three platforms so he could reach were the winners stood.

As he did, Present Mic began with the side announcements that would change Alex's life forever.

"While our good ol' Cementoss finishes up the stage for Endeavor, we have a bit of added recognition from the general studies and business course. The votes are in: the most entertaining match goes to Mirio Tōgata versus Yusei Kodo! I'll say, the censoring team is going to have a field day editing that fight!" He said with a laugh, making the blond who stood in first place laugh along with many others in the stands and watching from home.

"Up next, we have the crowd favorite, Nejire Hadou!" The blue-haired girl waved from her third-place spot next to Mezou.

Alex started to drown out the rest of the side announcements. He felt a little drowsy thanks to the possible concussion and was kept awake by the pain in his body. It was getting a little difficult to focus. At least until the final side announcement, the one that would change his life forever.

"And now, we have one last special announcement to make! But first, we want to show everyone this special video that was kindly put together by the General Studies Course."

The crowd went silent as their attention was directed to the screens surrounding the stadium, allowing Alex to wake up and look at the screen. It displayed footage from last year's Sports Festival, accompanied by hopeful-sounding music beating through. It was footage of the first event of the Festival. The great race, and soon enough, the camera began to follow one particular student.

The camera zoomed in to a familiar face –albeit significantly chubbier, with brown hair and bright blue eyes racing with his face in a panic. It was Alex from last year on screen.

The present-day Alex stood there with his face flushed red, seeing this and knowing what would happen next. The crowd laughed as a young man had made it to the "The Fall" section of the race. The American cringed as he watched his younger self fall into it after a quick blue flash and failing to grab onto the ledge. Alex bit his lip, trying to keep a stoic face amid the waves of laughter.

'Was this all just embarrass me?' He grimly thought, feeling like this had been made just to mock him.

"This is Alexander Springfield, a General Studies student and foreign guest of UA," The narrator began. Alex quickly sobered up, recognizing that voice; it belonged to one of his friends in the General Studies Course. "He's a bit silly and maybe a bit more forward than we're normally used to, but he's a good, hard-working guy."

The video continued showing a montage of Alex training hard last year. From heavy exercises to fight training to experimenting with support gear. The scene changed again, showing the boy beaming as the camera panned on the scale he stood on to show how much weight he had lost. The following scene shows him participating in joint lessons with the Hero Course. And the scene following that was when Alex had entered Site Omega alone, as it would serve as the final exam for Eraserhead to gain the Liaison position.

The final scene changed to the day Principal Nezu and his homeroom teacher announced his promotion to Liaison for the Hero Course.

"He may have failed in his first Sports Festival, but that didn't stop him from trying. If anything, it made him far more determined to make it into the Hero Course."

Alex's face continued to burn, but now he felt uplifted by happier thoughts. The video soon concluded, finishing up with two still pictures; the first was of him with his General Studies homeroom class; the second was with the Classes 1-A and 1-B joint photograph.

"And recognition for the most improvement made is Alexander Springfield." Present Mic announced once the video came to an end. The crowds went from laughter to applauding him now. The poor boy didn't know what to do but awkwardly waved with his good arm nervously while maintaining a shy smile.

"But dear listeners, it doesn't just end there! As some of you may have noticed, recently, we had a spot open up in the Hero Course..."

Alex suddenly froze, taking a sharp breath as he heard those words. As his heart began holding out for that hope. The hope to achieve one of his longest-held dreams he carried for years.

"And after today's performance, a unanimous decision was made during the break while we set the stage for the award ceremony! I've officially gotten the OK from Principal Nezu himself! Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce and welcome our newest addition to the Hero Course: Alexander Springfield; welcome aboard to your hero Academia!"

The crowd cheered and whooped as Alex simply stood still, his brain trying to progress those words. At that moment, he wasn't even sure if he had heard him correctly.

No way just happened, right?

He was dreaming; yeah, that's right, it was just a dream.

He was still lying unconscious on that cot with his damaged brain making all of this up.

"YOU DID IT, MAN!"

"YOU'RE ONE OF US NOW!"

"CONGRATULATIONS, SPRINGFIELD!"

Alex was snapped out of his thought as he faced his fellow competitors, who all began cheering and congratulating him. It was only then that his eyes started to burn again, but this time they were tears of joy that had sprung pouring down his face without any control.

'This isn't a dream. This is real; this is actually happening...I did it...I finally did it...'

His heavy legs finally gave in as he fell to his knees. He had done it; after all the blood, sweat, and tears he shed for all these years had finally paid off. There were no words to describe his joy, so he settled to cry right then and there, to cry those happy tears.

Today was the day he was officially a Hero Course student at last.

Meanwhile, from the comfort of his home, Izuku watched as tears ran down his face. He could relate to the emotions of the foreign boy who was just told that his dreams had finally come true.

Author's commentary

* Alexander Johnathan Springfield: Again, surprised by how much of a following this OC ended up getting, I decided to make a small general profile for him.

Age: (17 Arc I) (18 in Arc II)

Hair color: Dark brown

Eye color: Bright blue (Eyes have a natural glow; it is a passive side-effect of his quirk.)

Height: 5'10

The character was inspired by a combination of two of my best friends. (Not by name, just by character behavior, traits, and philosophy.)

Quirk: Blink. Can lock on to a target within his eyesight and flash toward that spot when he blinks.

I have been asked if his quirk was based on Tracer from Overwatch. However, my answer is no; instead, his quirk was inspired by a similar ability of the same name from the video game series: Dishonored. So if you've ever played that game and used that ability, it is the same only based on eyesight.

**Mezou Shouji: Yes, new readers, you read that correctly. Older readers knew this already, but when dealing with an Alternate Universe, I believe you have to do far more than simply give Izuku a quirk. I did age Mezou up to make him a third-year student, so he will not be attending UA as a 1-A student, and this chapter did feature the OC who replaced him. There are few other replacements, but most of those are canon characters.

There is only 1 OC for both 1-A and 1-B, with all other changes being characters that are still part of the actual series. And I'll say this now, my older readers know about this too.

No, I will not be replacing Mineta.

Mineta has his role to play in this story. I have no intention of removing him, period. I'm neutral towards the character, and I found that there are things to like and dislike about him.

I, however, want to challenge myself to make him a better character than his canon counterpart; while keeping him within character. A tall order, but damn it, I mean it. This isn't a jab at any other authors who do this. But I think that other authors lose a massive amount of opportunity to something new and make an effort to actually try and improve on a character. I would instead do this, then go the lazy route of condemning him with no chance to improve.

I hope that other people see my plans with Mineta. They would think more carefully about doing something similar with him; instead of simply replacing Mineta in their story or making him a punching bag.

(I got OCs like Alex to be punching bags for me instead.)

Well, that's all for now!

Until next time as always,

with love,

ZX