When Midoriya Sayomi found out she was Quirkless, she didn't really know how to react.
She knew that Quirks was important, knew that most thought the only way to become a hero was if you had a strong Quirk that was good for battle. And oh how she wanted to be a Hero-
("Papa, can I be a Hero?" "I don't see why you couldn't, Little One." "But you said that if I Say my Name I'll be-" "Exactly. If, Little One, not when. It is you who decides when to Say your Name, not me. What you might become one day has no effect on what you can be now." "Really Papa?" "Have I ever lied to you, my dear Night?" "No!" "Then trust my words and be who you want to be.")
-but nobody would let her if she didn't have powers. And it got even more stupid when she knew she would get hers when she turned seven, just like all her Sisters and Cousins did!
"Maybe she's just a late bloomer?" Mama suggested, glancing at her from the corner of her eye. "I didn't get my Quirk until I was five and her father's took even longer than that."
"It's a possibility," the doctor agreed, though she could tell he only did it out of pity. "However it is a very small one. She has the extra toe-joint and while people have been know to get a Quirk even though they have it, it is very rare. Add in being a late bloomer and the chances are almost nonexistent."
Mama huffed, glaring slightly at the doctor.
"But if you don't mind me asking, what are you and your husband's Quirks, Mrs. Midoriya?"
"I can attract small objects to myself," Mama answered, demonstrating by pulling her All Might toy into her hand. "My husband could breath fire, but that isn't really going to have an impact on Sayomi."
"Oh?" the doctor asked, looking curious.
Mama smiled slightly. "My husband was infertile and couldn't have children, so we asked one of my childhood friends to… lend us a hand, if you will."
She giggled at the doctor's shocked face. He clearly didn't expected that.
"Well, then, what is her father's Quirk?" he finally got out, looking a little red.
"It's… difficult to explain," Mama replied after a moment's thought. "But he has complete control over all forms of darkness. His sister is the opposite, having complete control over light."
("Auntie, how come you look so different from Papa?" "It's because we're opposites, Little Niece." "Opposites?" "Yes. It means that I am Day and he is Night." "Oh. Is that why you're bright and Papa's dark?" "Yes it is, Little Niece.")
"Darkness?" she heard the doctor mutter and she saw his eyes look at her cross briefly before going back to Mama. "And when did his Quirk appear?"
"When he was seven, same as his sister," Mama told him, glancing at the clock on the wall. "I'm sorry, but we have to get somewhere. Thank you for your time, doctor."
She giggled at the doctor's face again as Mama lead her out of the room, her All Might toy clasped in her free hand.
When she told Kacchan what the doctor had said, she was sad but not surprised when he got angry at her and called her weak. She had Seen his Path, covered in stones coloured gold and red, and while the Path itself wasn't Hers, he wasn't a saint by any means.
"You're just a Quirkless Deku! There's no way you can be a hero without a Quirk, so just give it up!"
"Kacchan," she said sadly, looking at his shaking form in sorrow no child should be able to feel. "I might not be. Papa's powers only appear when he was seven, so there's a chance I'll get them then."
"No way!" her friend snapped back, glaring hatefully at her. "You get your Quirk when you're four, everybody knows that! You're so stupid you don't even know something so simple!"
She looked at him with wide eyes and reached out to grab his hand. "Kacchan, I-" she yelped in pain when Kacchan grabbed her arm and used his Quirk, the small explosions burning her skin.
"Just leave me the fuck alone, you useless Deku!" he screamed at her as he let go of her arm and stormed off.
She stared at Kacchan's back as she cradled her arm to her chest, resigned to the fact she had just lost her best friend.
(And if she called her Father and cried into his chest as he held her, then only Papa would know.)
When she was six, she asked Mama if they could move. She knew it worried her but she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't take having Kacch- Bakugou, someone who had been her friend for as long as she could remember, hate her simply because she would never get a Quirk.
It hurt. It hurt so, so much-
("Why won't the pain go away Onee-chan? It hurts." "I know Little Sister, I know. But you know what? I envy you." "Why?" "Because you can feel what I no longer can. You can cry at the loss of a friend, while me and our Sisters' eyes are dry when our bonds snap." "But isn't that a good thing? It doesn't hurt you then." "That is what many think, but do not let the longing for numbness drive you, Little Sister, for it is something I would not wish upon my worst enemy.")
-and it only got worse the longer she was around him, until finally, she couldn't take it anymore and begged Mama to move. It didn't take much, because Mama had wanted to do that for a long time but never had the heart to pull her away from Bakugou while she was still determined to keep being his friend even if it hurt her.
So a week later, she and Mama were moving into a house near a kindergarten she could go to, with Papa paying for it until Mama got a new job.
The house was small and had two stories, but was still bigger than the apartment they had been living in before, so as soon as Papa had dropped off the last of their things she was off to explore their new home.
It had medium sized a living room, a kitchen, a dining room, two bathrooms (One on each floor), three rooms with two of them being on the first floor and the last on the ground floor, a small attic, a two room basement and a garden with a terrace. She immediately claimed a room on the first floor, the one that had a big window she could sit in looking over the street. Papa had smiled at her choice and said he had changed it a bit just for her, making her fly off her new bed and tackle him in a hug.
Mama had at first been worried about moving but quickly fell in love with the small house and the many flowers Auntie had planted in its garden for her to take care of, as well as the bigger kitchen.
It took them a few days to unpack everything and get her into the kindergarten, but she was soon standing in her new kindergarten, looking shyly at her fellows.
"Everyone, this is Midoriya Sayomi. Midoriya-chan, this is everyone. Why don't you introduce yourself?" the caretaker, a blue haired lady with yellow eyes, asked her kindly, smiling at her.
She smiled back shyly and turned back to the kids.
"H-Hi! I'm Midoriya Sayomi and I just moved here with my mom! Please take care of me," she finished, bowing shortly to the kids before straightening.
"Thank you Midoriya-chan," the caretaker said. "Now, you can sit next to…"
And so went the day, with everyone sending her curious glances until they were allowed outside. She stood in the courtyard, unsure of what to do when she was swarmed by people asking her questions left and right.
She answered most of them, pretending she didn't hear the ones asking about her Quirk until the caretaker's came and ushered them inside again. Though she had noticed a boy staring at her from the other side of the yard with longing, looking incredibly lonely.
She didn't see the boy again until lunch rolled around and she saw him sitting all alone under a tree, slowly eating his bento.
And she Saw.
She Saw his Path, a Path clouded in bitterness and self hate, hovering over the gold and purple stones like a thick mist, and couldn't ignore it.
So she walked towards him, ignoring the whispers her action brought and stopped in front of the boy, who looked up at her in surprise.
She smiled at him. "Hi! I'm Midoriya Sayomi, what's your name?" she asked, watching the boy blink in surprise.
"Shinsou Hitoshi," came the quiet reply, the boy still staring at her in surprise.
"Nice to meet you Shinsou," she said cheerfully, gesturing to the spot next to him. "Can I sit here?"
The boy blinked again, his surprised look changing to one of wonder as he he nodded and she smiled again, plopping down next to him and opening her bento. And if she slipped the boy one of her onigiri when she saw him looking at it enviously, then he wasn't saying anything.
She and 'Toshi (Hitoshi) had gotten closer since she had first sat with him at lunch and she had continued to do so again and again, despite everyone, including the caretakers, telling her to stay away from the purple haired boy. When she had asked why, their answer had almost made her slap them.
"He has a villain's Quirk!"
'Idiots the lot of them,' is what she'd told Hitoshi when he quietly asked her why she still sat with him even after they told her that. 'It's not your Quirk that makes you a villain, it's what you do with it!'
After that he had started seeking her out instead of the other way around, shyly asking her if they could play together and blushing at her beaming smile, accepting her invitations to play at her house, until he finally got the courage to ask if she wanted to play at his house.
She'd said yes, of course, and so had Mama, and she soon met 'Toshi's parents and discovered he got his looks from his mom, but his Quirk from his dad, who could hypnotise people. They'd been ecstatic that their son had a friend and had greeted her with open arms and good natured questions.
When 'Toshi finally asked her about her Quirk, she hesitated. She didn't want to lie to her friend, but she also didn't want him to think she was lying, which the truth would no doubt make him think. So she steeled her nerves and pulled out the black and silver cross she had hanging from her neck and prayed to Papa, asking him to come and help her bring her only friend into Their world.
He came in a flash of darkness and black and made 'Toshi fall on his backside, which would have made her laugh if what they were about to talk about hadn't been so serious.
She sat down in front of 'Toshi, Papa standing behind her like a silent guardian as she told 'Toshi everything.
She told him about Papa and Auntie, about her many Sisters and Cousins, and about how she would get her powers when she was seven. She also, quietly, and with tears threatening to fall, told him what she would become if she ever Said her Name out loud.
'Toshi stared at her throughout the entire story, only looking away to glance at Papa every now and again before going right back to staring at her. When she was done she just sat there, head bowed and body shaking as she waited for him to talk.
After what seemed like an eternity, warm arms pulled her into a hug and made her blink in confusion, looking up at her best friend, whose face was buried in her hair.
"'Toshi..." she whispered, but the boy tightening his grip made her fall quiet.
"...Thank you," he finally said, voice hoarse like he was trying not to cry.
She blinked. "For what?"
He took his head out of her hair and smiled down at her shakily, eyes slightly misty. "For trusting me enough to tell me everything."
She blinked again, making the tears fall, and smiled wobbly back at him. "No," she whispered, feeling Papa wrap his wings around the two of them in a warm embrace. "Thank you for not running away."
His Path, which had long since lost the cloud of loneliness and self hatred, lights up with something she doesn't know what means yet as he blushes and looks away from her, but she can't bring herself to care.
On the night of her seventh birthday, she met a man who embraced the dark.
She had always liked the night. The dark protected her, the moon shining above brought her comfort, and the cold wind blowing past told her stories of the day gone by in a soft whisper only meant for her. Mama never worried much, because she knew that in the dark of night, nothing could truly harm her.
But this night, the night after she and Mama and 'Toshi and his parents had celebrated her seventh birthday, was different. On this night, the dark called to her like never before, twisting and turning at her feet in a mockery of a dance, trying to pull her Name out from her Soul and past her lips, to seal her Fate with a single word.
Her Sisters had warned her about this night, she recalled as she walked through the dark city. The night her wings would grow, bringing her powers with them. The night the dark would continue to whisper honeyed words into her ears until she either gave in or pushed them away with her wings.
("Father loves us," her Sisters had said, smiles of love and nostalgia painting their lips. "Loves us so, so much, and he doesn't want to lose us, so he tries to get us to Say it and join him and Auntie. He does it because he loves us, even if it sometimes breaks us.")
She didn't want to Say it, didn't want to leave Mama and her dream behind, but the words the dark whispered were tempting, filled with quiet love and pleading that made her heart ache for her Father. She knew he loved her, knew why he was using the one night where her mind was at its most open and vulnerable to try and get her to join him. This was the one chance he would ever have, because after her wings had grown, her mind would forever be protected by powers unknown to mankind.
So instead of anger, all she felt was love and affection for the Father that loved her so much he would break the Ancient Laws he himself wrote to make sure she would never leave his side.
Her footsteps echoed through the night, waiting for the moon to reach its peak as she followed old and forgotten Paths paved by the Creatures of the Night, the ones that could only be heard and felt, but never seen by Mortal eyes.
The wind toyed with her hair, inviting the black strands into a dance as it whispered in her ear, telling her to watch her steps. She cocked her head, wondering if the wind would tell her more but it doesn't, continuing to dance with her hair.
She hummed, letting the moonlight guide her to a rooftop where she could gaze upon the sky unhindered by the tall building walls. She sat at the edge, looking up at the full moon, watching it slowly move across the star filled sky as the dark whispered in her ear and moved around her, trying to coax her into the stepless dance it so loved.
The wind stopped toying with her hair, allowing the long strands to fall down again as it stopped blowing, the dark stopping its dance to lie in wait at her feet. She blinked, turning her head slightly to looked behind her at what had made everything so agitated.
A man stood behind her, his long body covered by a dark suit and a long cane in hand. The pale light of the moon cast shadows over his face and hid his features from her, making it impossible for her to see him clearly.
But it was his Path that caught her eye. A Path laid with black and grey stones, age and darkness hovering over it like a thick cloud, and the shadows dancing at his feet, unnoticed by the rest of the world. Her body turned without her consent, moving so she was facing the Dark Man.
They stare at each other for a time, the world silent, like it was holding its breath. She could feel the power building up inside her, the ageless beating of her heart joined by something else. Something Old. Older then Time and Fate and Death and everything in between, Older than her and Older then the Dark Man in front of her. The dark's whispers grew louder, its luring songs trying to cloud her mind and make her stumble.
"...You know what happens on nights like these, don't you?" she finally voiced, the Dark Man's face warming with a small smirk.
"I do," he responded, voice smoothed by the darkness clinging to his soul, calm and strong. "After all, I was once the Sire of one of your Sisters."
The Dark Man's words poked her curiosity, but she remained, the silent scream of the world warning her without words. "Father doesn't choose to Carry often," she mused, watching the darkness wrap around the Dark Man in an invisible embrace. "You must have impressed him."
The Dark Man laughed softly, shifting his grip on his cane. "I like to think I did," fondness and longing decorated his words with dull lights, the same way the moon does a rainy night. "He truly was a sight to behold." the Dark Man's shadowed gaze left something she couldn't see the lock with hers. "I was hoping finding you would let me see him, just one last time."
She hummed, kicking her feet, the power inside her growing stronger with each passing second. "Maybe it will," her voice sounded far away, like it had left her body to join the dark in its songs. "Maybe it won't. Father is a mystery. We all are."
The Dark Man huffed in helpless laughter and she smiled at him, the moon almost at its peak. "Sometimes I think he has forgotten me," the Dark Man confided in her, a bitter smile painting his lips. She shook her head, the wind once again playing with the dark strands of her hair.
"The shadows dance for you, Dark Man," she told him, cracks slowly forming on her skin, shining with an inner black light. "They whispers things you cannot hear, pulls you back when you have gone too far, and coats your heart in their Madness." she locked eyes with the Dark Man as the cracks continued to form, breaking apart her fragile body as the beating of power reached a crescendo. "Trust my words when I say, that he has never forgotten you."
And then, with the moon high in the sky, the dark screaming out in both heartbreaking sorrow and overwhelming glee, the wind blowing her hair in an unknown dance and the Dark Man her Father once loved in front of her, the Mortal shell she had been born in broke apart in an explosion of power.