The Bright Hero, Cobalt

Chapter One

A/N: A big thank you to my editors Penguin Lord0029 and nightwind83, along with all my friends who encouraged me to get into this again.

Introduction

This is the story of a young man. Many call him a hero. A smaller, but still significant number, call him a friend. In a world of quirks, giving the vast majority some ability that made them different, or more powerful, he was born without such a gift. "Quirkless," one would call him. In time, regardless of how he was born, he would become the greatest hero of all…

Mustafar Province, Year 22XX AD

Midoriya Izuku, just in his final year of middle school, was observing his dreams become fish food. Not metaphorically, mind you. His hero analysis notebook, tossed carelessly out the window, was now nourishing fish in the decorative pool it had landed in. Perhaps it wasn't literal either. Maybe it was both at the same time? His mind would race over the oddest things sometimes.

Extracting the treasured tome of tactical analysis and sketches from what would have been an underwhelming watery grave, the boy mutters to himself, "Kacchan, you can't go telling people things like that and expect to be a hero, much less number one…"

He refrained from putting what Katsuki had said into words. It made it easier not to think about, and less likely he'd be overheard and get them both in trouble.

"At least he has long since stopped hurting me physically, though I still have no idea what happened that switched that around so abruptly," the broccoli-haired boy mused internally.

It was true. For the longest time after learning he was quirkless, Kacchan had had no qualms about bashing him around verbally, physically, and explosively. Then, one day, he passed out during one of these tussles, and when he awoke, the other participants in his beating were the ones singed with telltale marks of the boy's quirk, and Bakugo Katsuki stupefied him twice with the same action by simultaneously apologizing profusely and angrily.

He never stopped verbally abusing him, though it became less frequent after that, and he not only refused to put his hands on him in any way that resembled violence, if he caught somebody else doing it…

There is a reason their homeroom teacher had looked up whether or not he could consider the act of laying hands on the small, quirkless boy a fire hazard.

As his thoughts and feelings chased each other in circles in his head, he found himself under an overpass, and abruptly felt wary for no reason he could think of.

Later in life, he'd be weirdly grateful that he didn't listen to his gut instinct of "Don't go in there, Izuku!"

An amorphous blob of a being emerged from the sewer maintenance hole in the ground, flinging the lid upward carelessly. Izuku was very aware of the prejudice against people with quirks deemed villainous by society, and so when what he thought was the right hemisphere of his brain screamed at him to bolt, he quashed it, believing it to be anxiety getting in the way of treating another person like...another person. Many people later in life would admire this trait of his, to give people the benefit of the doubt where he could. This man also appreciated Izuku's insistence on respecting others, but for all the wrong reasons.

In less than five seconds, Izuku was trying his best to simultaneously force the villain's gelatinous form from his throat and nostrils and get some much needed air. He scrambled his fingers fruitlessly against the villain's form, some basic part of his brain forcing him to fight as hard as he could despite logically knowing this man's body lacks something he could grasp like this, leading him into the darkness of his mind more swiftly than what would have happened otherwise…

Somewhere Simultaneously Close And Far, Far Away

As he fell into the depths of his own heart, he regretted being in too much of a hurry this morning to say goodbye to his mother properly, and perhaps it was this longing for connecting to others that caused what happened next. Where he was feeling naught but despair and regret, from nowhere, feelings bloomed that were not his own. After all, why would he feel parental pride in a child he'd never raised, or love for a person he's never heard of before? Spite towards a coworker he'd never met, or despair that he would not get away with his villainy now that All Might had arrived?

Believing that he was about to die, he reached further, hoping to find the hearts and minds of people he knew, and was startled upon finding he'd reached further than he'd intended, and was overwhelmed. He was now visible in this...whatever this was, and shining at his core was a tiny, bright light. Looking around, he saw many more lights, moving incredibly slowly, though a few moved at jogging speed, he noticed. Looking down, he was truly unprepared for what he saw and felt next.

The world was heavily populated, by humans, animals, plants, and other things. And upon seeing first hand the vastness of the planet in a way he could quantify, he FELT. If you existed on Earth at that moment in time, and were capable of thoughts and feelings at that moment as well, for that instant, Izuku Midoriya thought and felt with you. He was overwhelmed, yes, but not by the numbers like one might think. The love, joy, kindness, and all around positivity of the denizens of the world vastly outnumbered the spite and cruelty of what he assumed were villains. As much as he wanted to marvel at this discovery, if this was some deity giving him a chance to say goodbye before he passed on, he was going to use it.

For obvious reasons, he sought the light that was his mother first. His sweet mother, who wished beyond all things for him to be able to live in a way that made him happy, was a lighthouse in a storm for him at that moment. He'd always known she loved him, but to feel it himself, as if he were a passenger in her heart, let him know that he was never wrong to love and respect her. To her, he sent feelings of love, adoration, pride, and apology. Before he could attach further and delay the final two he wanted to check on, he let go, and sought out Kacchan.

Izuku was befuddled to find him feeling regret, and realizing it was directed towards what he'd said previously. Digging just a bit deeper, he found that Kacchan was currently thinking of a way to apologize properly for what had been said. To him, he sent feelings of forgiveness, pride, and hope for the future.

If he'd lingered on the two of them for even a moment longer than he had, he'd have realized they had felt something, had realized something had just touched their hearts, and that they didn't want it to go quite yet.

Last, he sought his hero, who had always inspired him to try and smile, even when weeping. He didn't know how easy or hard it would be to find All Might, considering their bond was probably one-sided, but he had to try. All Might was...All Might was…

Mustafu Province, Same Year, Thirty Seconds Or So After The Event

Yagi Toshinori was gently smacking this young man he'd just saved in the face, hoping he'd awaken soon so he could make sure he was all right personally before getting the crap out of there. He was breathing fine, and hadn't been unconscious for long from what little he could gather, but he had to make sure. It was part of the job, and he liked being thorough when he could, time limit or no. To his immense relief, the boy opened his eyes soon after, and had the freakout he typically associated with his more devoted fans. His joy was infectious, and seeing the kid as happy as he was about his signature somehow made him grin enough that it hurt a little, but he had to skedaddle. It would be upsetting for the kid's image of him to be broken so abruptly, so the Symbol of Peace made haste to the sky, only for…

"Young man, I appreciate the adoration I get from each of my fans, but it is simply NOT SAFE TO DO WHAT YOU JUST DID! Please refrain from being near me when I take off in the future!" the smiling giant reprimanded.

"I'M SORRY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING, JUST LAND SOMEWHERE, PLEASE!" the green haired fanboy screamed at a speed that made it somewhat difficult for All Might to comprehend. Comprehend he did, however, and he landed as well.

"I knew from the moment I saw notes in your analysis book you were a hero fanboy, but to think you were a Trekkie as well! I have to say, I can now claim with some sincerity that I encountered a Klingon while I was leaping over the cities of Japan, and that makes me smile just thinking about it!" the hero hiding in the form of a bigger, more muscly hero joked, enjoying the pun and hoping his small, green-haired rescuee appreciated it as well, even if it was just to groan at how ridiculous it was. He was rewarded with the small smile on the kid's face, along with a response in kind, telling him with very specific wording and tone that he got that reference. So he'd seen the MCU, then. "Now, I apologize for my sudden departure, but villains and time don't wait for small talk, I'm afraid, and time is of the essence in my profession! Bang on the door to the roof until either someone comes to check on the noise, or someone I send your way picks you up."

"Wait, PLEASE!"

The pure desperation in his voice, along with Toshinori's 'stalker sense' not going off even after the kid hijacked him like he was a plane and not a man, stopped the hero in his tracks. He was still on the clock, after all, and heroes didn't ignore pleas that sounded as painful as this one.

"I...I've always wanted to be a hero...Ever since I saw the video of your debut, where you saved over a hundred people in a single disaster, I wanted to be like you, somebody who could help people keep going, and make them happy while I do it. I want people to look at me, and see a guarantee that they aren't going to be hurt while I'm around. However, there's one major problem with becoming that kind of hero...I've tried to deny it for so long, but a hero needs a quirk to be truly reliable, and so I need to know, from somebody who would have more experience with the subject than I would…" Izuku rambled, trying his best to make his voice loud enough and clear enough for All Might to understand.

"Experience with the subject? Kid, you have no idea…"

"Can someone like me...A quirkless nobody...CAN I BE A HERO?!" the boy asked in a scream so desperate, so hurt, it was almost quiet. He did not expect what he was about to see in the slightest.

An emaciated man stood before him. Where once there was a titan, there now was a twig. He felt horrible for the thought the instant it formed in his head, but he was so THIN!

"YOU'RE NOT ALL MIGHT! YOU'RE AN ESCAPEE FROM A HOSPITAL!"

Toshinori sighed, then immediately regretted doing so as a bit of blood came up in the ensuing cough. "Young man, take it easy. I am All Might, and I'm also probably the only person in the area capable of both escaping a hospital AND jumping through the sky like I did a moment ago. Remember that? You were there!"

Calming down far more quickly than could be considered normal, the small fry simply replied, "Oh, right, that. That happened, didn't it? Why are you like this, though? I don't understand how that fearless smile can turn into such a grimace, not to mention the unhealthy and abrupt loss of mass!"

Sitting down, Toshinori Yagi, gestured for the kid in front of him to do the same. "That smile isn't as fearless as you think, first of all, and secondly, even in this form, I can give you a smile that's actually fearless when lives aren't at stake," the blond bombshell (seriously, check his power output. I'm not wrong about him being a bombshell) replied, then proved it with a smile that actually got Izuku to reciprocate, giving a shy grin of his own. "I wasn't always like this, you know. I got in a fight with a villain five years ago, and I came out on top, but I also lost something important…"

"Well, if it was your fight with Toxic Chainsaw, the fight was pretty one-sided, and you clearly didn't lose hope or your will to fight, so..."

Toshinori smirked, "You're a weird kid. Fun weird, not creepy weird. I'm complimenting you and doing a crap job, and I'm sorry about that. But you're both right and wrong about your answers. I happened to be the closest when Toxic Chainsaw suddenly appeared that day five years ago, but if I hadn't been, there were at least ten pros in the area that would have taken him down quickly enough. No, the fight I'm talking about was kept under wraps at my request. It was...not the kind of fight you bring up in pleasant conversation. As for the important thing I lost…" At this, the frail man lifted his shirt and showed off what caused him to appear before Izuku as emaciated as he was. "I'd say my stomach and part of my respiratory system are pretty important things for me to have lost."

Izuku gaped for all of five seconds before shutting his mouth to be less disrespectful. The injury looked horrible, and some nagging feeling in the back of his head told him that even with how casually the hero showed it off, the wound was far more emotionally painful than it was physically. He looked All Might dead in the eyes, and responded, "I will tell exactly zero people about this. That injury gives me incredibly bad feelings."

Toshinori sighed in relief, thankfully not coughing up blood from exhaling this time. "Good to know I don't have to tell you that this can't get out. Quirkless or not, you've got a good head on your shoulders. Speaking of, I need to answer your question, but to answer as thoroughly as I can, I'll need you to tell me your date of birth, because my answer probably isn't the one you're expecting, but I've gotta make sure."

The knotted mass of feelings, thoughts, and flesh that was Izuku answered before he even had time to think. "July fifteenth, sir. I'm fourteen."

Toshinori nodded. "I've got a very specific list here on my phone, and you'll know soon why I've got it. Now, let's just scroll a bit, aaaand...Wow, kid, you're pushing it, but you might still have a quirk sitting in there that could emerge before you'd apply to a hero school," All Might said with a smile that looked relieved enough for the both of them.

Izuku could only choke out a, "Wh-what?"

Toshinori leveled his gaze at the kid. "Quirks are weird as hell, and the researchers studying them are still figuring new things out, but there is precedent for quirks awakening in people who were older than you. Twenty-four thousand, five hundred and sixty-two cases exist in recorded history of people older than you obtaining a quirk. It's a small number when compared to how many did that before turning four, but it's not impossible. Four hundred and thirty-seven of these people became heroes. And as for why I'm personally invested in this information, well…" and here, he grinned like the cat that ate the canary.

"You're looking at a living part of that statistic. I got my quirk when I was a couple months older than you are today."

For half a second, Toshinori thought he saw a blue glow surround the boy before him, though it may have been a trick of the light, so he resolved to be realistic and remind him of the odds those numbers told, even if it upset him. He had a feeling, though, that the kid wouldn't be upset for much longer.

"I hate to break it to you, though, but your chances of obtaining a quirk are still slim, and obtaining one that can be used for hero work is slimmer still. However, there are plenty of jobs you can apply for to become a hero. My best friend, a man I respect greatly, is a detective, and personally, my biggest hero happens to be a doctor! They are both heroes, surrounded by other heroes both quirkless and not, and if you don't get a quirk, become a hero by being like them instead of being like me!" The words of All Might were spoken with such incredible pride, that Izuku could FEEL how much he appreciated the work of this doctor and detective. It wasn't a perfect answer, but the man had clearly seen his need to be taken seriously, and made sure to give an honest, and hopeful, response.

This beautiful moment was interrupted by an explosion several blocks away, and Izuku could have sworn he heard a familiar voice scream for help in the back of his head…

In An Alley Near The Tatooine Open Air Market

Bakugo Katsuki was absolutely PEEVED. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue for him, but the source of his rage was one that was far more difficult to deal with. It wasn't somebody around him that had fucked up this time. No, this time HE was the one to fuck up, and what a way to do it!

Two of his cronies had followed him. They might be useful, since they might know something he might not think of to get as an apology gift for the bothersome kid he'd fucked up with. He wouldn't call these two friends, far from it. He had a friend once, essentially gifted to him on a silver platter, and then like a toddler, he chucked the plate to the other side of the room. By the time he'd realized how much of a fuckup he'd caused, it was far too late to salvage what might have been a healthy friendship. Now, he only really bothered Dek-no, Izuku, because his FUCKING PRIDE made it crazy hard to admit how much he fucked up, and he didn't want to be wrong.

He knew thinking like this was unhealthy, but the golem of flesh, blood, bone, and explosive sweat that was his body was controlled by an EMOTIONAL ASSHAT OF A BRAIN! There were days he wondered whether the world would benefit from him just getting the right hemisphere removed.

Hearing the word "Deku" brought him out of his head so fast it almost gave him whiplash. "Don't bother him for a month after this...No, just don't ever bother him again! And quit calling him Deku! I fucked up real bad this time," Katsuki said darkly.

One of the two of them, he'll just think of him as Minion Number Two, responded, "Yeah, you did kinda cross a line there…"

Katsuki's eyes widened dangerously. "Crossed a line? I think I fucking SMILED at him when I said that shit! I didn't just cross a line, I flew past it without any regard whatsoever, like I was Endeavor trying to get to the scene of a villain attack before All Might could beat me to it! Saying I crossed a line is like saying the ocean is a little fucking moist!" the teenage boomer (again, technically not wrong. Don't expect puns like that to ever vanish, BTW) shouted in response.

Minion Number One decided to make his stupidity apparent, and replied, "Well, it's just Deku-"

Really, compared to how pissed off he was, his response of blowing up a nearby dumpster was painfully underwhelming. "Don't. Call. Him. Deku."

The fear he saw in his cronies' eyes at the time was expected. What clued him in to the danger they were in was the intensity of that fear, as well as their eyes focusing above and behind him. Turning around, he saw the leery gaze of some buttmunch whose expression screamed "Villain." Naturally, Katsuki solved this problem by blowing it the fuck up. Problem is, Slimy McStink Turd was made of slime, and just put himself back together. Katsuki did some basic math in his head, and came up with the answer of fuckty-nine thousand fuck all.

"COCK-MUNCHING TURD MONGER!" He roared, aiming a weaker explosion at the extras who'd followed him today. If he was gonna get fucking murdered today, he was at least gonna do it right. Knocking those two out and getting them further away from the personification of raw sewage was an important part of that.

He was gonna go down swinging if he had any say in it, illegal quirk usage or not.

Minutes Later, With All Might And Izuku

Upon seeing the explosion, and realizing more were following, Toshinori beat the absolute crap out of a single spot on the door to the roof like a man possessed, until a breach allowed him to unlock and open it from the other side. Sensing the urgency of the situation, Izuku followed. He also noted to keep in mind that even in his base form, All Might is still pretty strong. It didn't take the two of them long to arrive at the scene of the destruction. The two of them had realized en route that the sludge villain that had unintentionally caused the two of them to meet had escaped when Izuku grabbed a ride on the skinniest assault craft in existence. And it gained the ability to throw around explosions at some point.

Oh. It got that by grabbing a really explosive person that Izuku cares about he doesn't know why he cares he doesn't know he wants to help move help him help him!

HELP HIM!

Then their eyes meet, and he stops for half an instant, feeling feelings that weren't his again. He thought that was just a near death experience. It came back? More importantly…

"Stay the fuck away, Izuku!"

"Fucking live!"

"Grow fucking old!"

"Be happy!"

"Look after my mom and dad. I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."

Izuku had no way to see it, but his eyes glowed green for all of one second, and he flew, his feet moving as fast as he could make them carry him. Past the heroes keeping bystanders safe. Past fiery, burning wreckage. His backpack is flung at the slime fiend before he even has a chance to realize he removed it from his back, books and stationary flung all over the monster who WAS HURTING HIS FRIEND RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM!

"KACCHAN!"

Screaming it like it was a battle cry, he then followed his school supplies' example and flung himself at the creature hurting his friend. The monster screamed something, and Izuku didn't know what was said, but it ticked him off enough that he punched the villain in his teeth. Its apparently SOLID teeth. The punch wasn't all that strong, but it must have startled the slimeball, because it lost a bit of its hold on Kacchan and more importantly, it let him breathe.

"YOU STUPID DIPSHIT, IZUKU! YOU'RE GONNA GET KILLED! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! DON'T DIE FOR SOME EXPLOSIVE, ANGRY PISSANT LIKE ME! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE AND LIVE! I AM NOT WORTH YOUR FUCKING LIFE!"

It should be noted that his response was both literally and verbally scathing. Letting him breathe had him firing off his quirk with greater might than he'd been using seconds before, and this was distracting as heck for the villain, who was having issues keeping in one piece now.

"Shut up, Kacchan!" Izuku growled at the boy before him, and even though the explosions kept coming, the look of absolute astonishment on his face let him know he FELT that. "I don't know if I felt this through a quirk or the act of some god, or even if it was real, but I felt what everyone felt earlier today, and you know what? The world is beautiful. The world is worth fighting for."

YOUR FRIENDSHIP IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR!"

And Izuku glowed green. Green particles of...something, like a cloud of green mist, floated around them all. Things that had been sitting around, books, pencils, FLAMING CHUNKS OF RUBBLE, they stopped sitting around. They floated off the ground, and decided they didn't like the slime creature. They flew at him, not really doing all that much, but it did tell All Might that his new friend did have a new power, and now that he'd seen it, he no longer had to hold himself back like he had for the past quarter minute.

All Might flew at his foe, ripped the two kids away from him, and made it rain.

"DETROIT SMAAAAAAASH!"

He might not have Foresight like his former sidekick, but the little glimpse into the future he saw when looking at those two boys fighting to help each other out made him think for the moment that the future was looking pretty good.

Hours Later, Near Izuku's Home

Izuku's walk home happened in relative silence. It had stopped raining minutes after All Might saved the day, and after all the questioning from police, the clear sky and the warm sunset helped put him at ease. He was incredibly tired, but also incredibly satisfied with how his day had gone. He wasn't sure how it could get better at this point.

"Izuku!"

His heart nearly leapt from his mouth. No way. Did Kacchan just call him...something that wasn't Deku? "Kacchan, wha-"

Izuku didn't get to see how he did it, but it wasn't with his quirk, what with the lack of loud noises. Regardless, the green-haired boy found himself on his back, looking up at the sneering face of his friend. Some part of his brain assured him he wasn't in danger, and considering what his quirk seemed to be doing, he listened to that tiny voice, and simply smiled at the intimidating face of Katsuki Bakugou.

"Today, Deku the fucking weakling died. He was survived by his mother, who deserves every good thing that comes her way, his mother's best friends, who are like an aunt and uncle to him, and some dumb punk who fucked up and killed him."

This...was not how Izuku expected today to go at all.

"The dumb piece of shit, who should have been Deku's best friend, and should have fucking known better than to treat him the way he did, did not expect what happened next, though, and he should have fucking seen it coming."

Leaning back, Kacchan gazed skyward, a manic look on his face, and tiny explosions popping in his palms. "This world is full of heroes, and while Deku wasn't a hero, the man who rose where he fell, Motherfucking Midoriya Izuku, was. He came by one day and avenged Deku's death by punching his killer in his smug face!"

Laying off the pop rocks, Kacchan looked down to Izuku and glared. "Get off the fucking ground and deck me in the fucking jaw, nerd."

Izuku got up, and hesitated for but a few seconds, realizing that his friend needed this as much as he himself did, and his knuckles met the ash-blond's chin. The hot head was knocked back about a foot and a half, a bit of blood in his mouth from biting the inside of his cheek. He spat the bit of blood out on the ground. "That was pathetic. Get some muscle on you."

Katsuki turned around, about to head home, grinning like a madman. "I can't compete with you like that. Get some fucking training in, then we'll see who's the bigger hero when we get to U.A," the bombastic boy said with a glint in his eyes, then felt something...off, and turned around to see something crazy.

Izuku was positively beaming at him, and he was glowing again, but this time…

"Huh. Wonder what the blue glow means?"

Katsuki couldn't remove the grin from his face hours after he'd gotten home. The grin was unsettling as all fuck, but at least his parents knew it wasn't something to worry about.

Outside The Midoriya Residence

Izuku had nearly gotten home, when-

"I am here!"

All Might skidded to a halt right at the intersection near his home, and made his way over. Izuku stood there with his mouth gaping like a fish's as the mightiest of men made his way over, reverting to his base form quickly after appearing. The young fanboy came to his senses just as Toshinori stopped in front of him. "Kid, you were amazing. I'm glad I saw what I did, but I had a couple hours to think, and it was reckless of me to wait and see if your quirk emerged in that situation, no matter how sure I was it was going to happen soon, or how confident I was in my reaction speed, so I'm here to apologize for the gamble I took," the number one pro hero explained, grimace set on his face.

"Thankfully, I've thought of a very fitting way to repay you," he continued, a sheepish smile appearing on his visage. "I'm thinking I'll pull a string or two and take you to see that hero of mine. You know, the doctor I mentioned? She'll be able to help figure out what's up with your quirk and whatnot. After that, though...I'm going to train you for ten months, so you can get into whatever hero school you set your sights on. I'd recommend my alma mater, U.A., but I have no idea whether you have some other school in mind or not, so let's get you toughened up enough that you can go wherever you need to go to become a hero. Now, before anything, I don't think I got your name, kid. What's the name of the next big hero whose journey starts today?"

Izuku was glowing again. It kept happening, and it was a bit weird, but he wasn't complaining. "I'm Midoriya Izuku, sir!" he exclaimed happily.

The hero beneath a hero smiled, and extended his hand. "Yagi Toshinori. I look forward to seeing where you go from here."

The two shook hands, and were interrupted once more, not with an explosion this time, but with the front door opening.

Midoriya Inko wasn't what she used to be. Anxiety and stress had made her shorter and plumper than she'd once been, but she didn't let that get in her way of trying her best for her son. So when she felt him reach out into her heart earlier in the day, in a way that felt so hurt, she was beside herself with worry. Her relief when she saw the news later and learned he was okay was only tarnished by the concern that he could become a hero now. It was his dream, and she wanted him to be happy, but she couldn't stop worrying.

When she left the house to head to the station upon realizing he hadn't returned yet despite the lateness, she was a bit startled to see him shaking hands with a taller gentleman who gave the impression he was impressed with her son's actions. Suspicious thoughts aside, it was a happy day for her son, who had manifested his powers, and would now have an easier time of becoming a hero, so she didn't immediately demand answers from the stranger who appeared to have been talking to him, and simply opened her arms, tearing up as she and her son were wont to do, applying her quirk gently to let her brilliant, beautiful baby boy know she needed him in her arms.

"Izuku, I want to be mad at you, but...everything you did today was good. Your quirk manifested, you saved Katsuki, you survived to come home to me...I'm mad at you, and I will be finding a way to punish you properly, but I'm just so happy!" the big hearted woman wept, the waterworks coming on for real now. "My baby boy is a hero!"

If the startling amounts of water coming from the woman's tear ducts had startled Toshinori, the absolute flood that emerged from young Midoriya's had him nearly fall to the ground. The mother and son were an odd pair, but Toshinori smiled. That blue glow had come back, and he'd never known how peaceful green and blue looked together like that.

"This is the best part of the job, by far."