"You there… young boy… you look like you could use some fine wares…" The voice sounded

crusty… like stale breadIzuku flinched, darting away from the shady voice calling to him. It came from a stand with various items of ambiguous quality and origin. His eyebrows knitted in worry as he scurried along.

'This was a horrible idea.' he told himself, tightening his bag around him

It had been an honest attempt to help his mom. Since they were struggling for money, he volunteered to see if he could find any decent thrift stores in the area. When he'd done some research, he came across a 'thrift market'... which from what he'd seen, was just a bunch of thrift stores near each other. As he cast his green eyes across the… to be frank… disgusting alleyway, he had no real option to consider other than he'd fallen for the website owner's ruse.

"Wonderful." he muttered, quickening his pace

It wasn't long though before the stalls and carts became a blur. Each seemed to sell equally questionable goods, have equally questionable people occupying them, and he wasn't sure where he was anymore. The sun had gone from high noon to stretching past the nearby skyscrapers by now.

"I need to get home. Mom's gonna start worrying."

"Izuku Midoriya." He blinked, hearing his name

Who?

He cast his eyes over to an inconspicuous stall. It was a little farther away from the rest, a little darker, a little quieter… and just overall... less there. He felt his feet come to a stop, his attention stolen. There was an energy of sorts coming from the cart… it wasn't physical, of course, but something drew him in.

His red shoes scraped against the concrete, picking small bits of asphalt as they did so. His movements were slow but steady as the cart came into clearer view. He looked to the various artifacts that lined the dusty, old shelves. He glanced around, finding not a living soul. Who had called his name? Perhaps they retreated to the back of the store. He figured he could wait a moment. Curious, he continued looking, eyes glancing over the strange clothing and various implements. A stone mask, behind a wall, caught his attention for a moment. It seemed to have a slot in the forehead for a jewel of some sort. He cast his eyes to the side, a small travel Brochure for several locations, ranging from as far away as Egypt or even to the small town of

Morioh.

A pair of clackers laid on a checkered headband in a small display case. Part of him wondered about the significance of it, but he chose to move on. It wasn't like he could afford anything in here anyways. As he moved to exit, a gleam of metal caught his eyes, nearly blinding him. He turned around, looking for the offending scrap… and found an arrow. It seemed to be made of some ingeous rock, being slightly pourous in nature. Something seemed to call him, the broken arrow needed to be freed from that case. His hands tentatively inched towards it, clasping around the latch.

"Ah. Our first customer! How might I help you?"

Izuku flinched, jerking his hand away from the case.

"A-ah hello. I heard someone from in here call my name. Would you be that person?"

She, a rather short, white-haired, and sweet looking elderly woman stood between him and the case now. His hand twitched, the urge still not gone. The lady, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to his actions, putting a finger to her chin.

"I don't recall calling out anyone's name… but hey. Maybe it was one of the items I've got. See anything you like?" She glanced to the arrow, knowingly

Shit, guess there's no hiding it.

"I guess. I can't afford anything here though."

"No need to worry. I'm mostly just trying to get this stuff off my hands. My great grandfather was into a lot of pretty heavy mysticism. I mostly stick to Tarot cards."

"Mysticism." Izuku leveled a confused look

This stuff looked expensive. Hell, he thought he saw a stone that looked to easily be worth several million Yen. Her grandfather had to be rich as hell.

"Yeah. Met this Joestar fellow and dedicated his life to the family. He said the guy fought Vampires…" She gave an incredulous look, "Crazy, I know."

"What's this arrow then?" Izuku asked.

"I only ever took any kind of interest in this stuff when he was really old so… I'm not exactly sure. Something about standing up and supernatural abilities if it cuts you."

"Like a quirk?" Izuku whispered

"I guess… though I honestly couldn't tell you. I'm not exactly eager to cut myself on a century-old arrow." She glanced to the boy, giving a grunt as she reached for her keys, "You look smitten. How bout this, I'll let you have it if you do something for me."

Izuku blinked out of his stupor. An arrow that could grant quirks…

Even if it were pointless… it couldn't hurt to try.

"Sure. What is it?"

"I want see which Tarot card represents you."

Izuku blinked, "Eh?"

"Oh, it's nothing big. I just shuffle a Tarot deck and pull a card. Nothing big, just a simple hobby of mine."

Izuku paused for a moment. If that was it, then he couldn't see a reason to turn her down. It was basically a free gift.

"Sure. Though… after that, I might need some help figuring out where the nearest train station is."

"You'd be the first person to take some of this junk off my hands, so I don't see why not." She gestured to a table with two chairs, "I'll be back in a minute with my cards."

True to her word, she'd only been gone behind bead curtain for mere moments before she returned with a deck of cards, each bearing unfamiliar, yet completely fascinating designs. She briefly shuffled them, rotating some cards so that they would be upside down. Her fingers were well-practiced at the task, only taking a minute to shuffle the cards several dozen times. She reached one hand, pulling the top card and sliding it to him.

He stared blankly. Was he supposed to…?

"Well? Flip it over. Perhaps you're a Tower? Maybe Magician?

He tentatively reached for it, flipping it over.

The World

She blinked, smile spreading across her face.

"Ah. The World. You're the first I've seen with that card. You've got some success in your future kid. I have a feelin' you're gonna go big. Maybe you'll win the lottery or somethin'."

He felt a chill travel down his spine.

Something told him she wasn't wrong.

_

Izuku bit his lip, the sun high in the sky as light leaked from his bedroom window. On his desk sat the arrow. Much as he wanted to just get it over with, he was still hesitant. What if the wound got infected and he never got a quirk. He could loose a finger or arm just because of his desperation to have a quirk. The one question that rolled through his mind:

Was. It. Worth. It?

His mind screamed to him that he should just put the arrow in a box and leave it there for all time… another part of him whispered otherwise. It was low, almost unintelligible, but deafening in comparison to his logic focused brain. It whispered of the power he could hold.

The world would be at his fingertips.

Izuku let out a sigh. He didn't want the world… he wanted to become a hero… to save others with a smile on his face.

He hummed a moment, an idea popping into his mind.

If he took the world… he could shape it, make it a better place. Being a hero would allow him the resources to aim higher… and save more than even All Might could. For now… though? He needed this power.

He reached out grasping the broken shaft, bringing the tip to his finger. He could feel the edge brush against his skin. His breath shook, nervousness overcoming him.

"Izu-chan! I'm home!" He jerked, pain erupting in his hand as the arrow parted his flesh

*Snap*

His breath caught in his throat as he watched the tip snap off. Strangely enough, he didn't bleed. It took a moment, but the shard of the arrow had entered his hand, the only sign being a slight discoloration in the flesh of his hand.

His breath shuddered as he looked down at his hand.

That was definitely not normal. Maybe there was some stock in the arrow's abilities. Time would tell. He looked back at his door, standing up from his desk.

"Sorry! I was caught up in homework! I'll meet you downstairs!" He shouted back to his mother, removing the jacket to his school uniform and heading down the stairs

As he entered the kitchen, he noticed the bags of groceries.

"Let me help with that." He said, pulling a stalk of celery out of one of the bags

As he moved to put it in the fridge, his mother spoke up.

"So, did you find anything in the thrift market?"

He let out a sigh.

"It's okay honey. Things might be tight for a bit but I can easily wo-"

"I'm going to UA."

A chill took the air, cautious tension filling the room. His mother's hands stilled, choosing to support her as she rested against the counter.

"Just promise me you'll be safe." Her voice was soft, delicate, and motherly

"That's it?" He asked, his eyes wide

"Yes." She let out her own sigh, letting the tension relax slightly, "I have many regrets throughout my life… what I said that day… is my biggest mistake."

Her voice was calm and practiced, her words coming out as if she'd practiced them infront of a mirror. Izuku looked into her eyes, trying to find a hint of doubt…

His heart gripped with guilt. He saw none.

"I didn't know what to say… so I said the worst thing I could've… and for that, I'm a horrible mother." Tears welled up in her eyes as Izuku watched his mother's jaw tremble

"I want you to be a hero even greater than All Might." Her voice was somehow perfectly steady

"Okay, Mom." He smiled, "I won't let you down."

_

Well, That's our prologue.

Honestly, I won't promise anything when it comes to this story, since my track record on that is shit. I got the idea in the middle of drawing what would become the current Story Picture.

Welp. See ya, Hopefully.