|Chapter 1: Origin
All men are not created equal. That was something Izuku Midoriya learned at the young age of four. You see, he's quirkless. If you don't know what that is then let's have a quick little history lesson.
It all started over a hundred years ago after the great pandemic of the early 21st century, in the city of Qingqing, China. A child was born with the ability to give off light. That's just a fancy way of saying it glowed. This was the first ever recorded human to have a quirk. Ever since that day, more and more humans around the world began to gain a special sort of power.
Back then, the world's governments were working around the clock to try and understand this sudden evolution. They had to do a number of law reformations and have several safeguards if people with abilities were to walk among them. While the government was trying to fix the chaos, a select few individuals began to use their quirks for their own gain. Bank robberies, gang activity, hijacking planes.
This explosive increase in crime did not go unnoticed by society and some couldn't sit back and watch as innocent people were hurt. So individuals around the world, although small in number, began to stand up with their own abilities and fight back against the forces of darkness.
These were the first heroes and as time passed on, they became an official position in law enforcement. This led to many getting an opportunity those from the pre-quirk era could only dream of; they could become Heroes.
Hero, however, didn't always mean having a quirk. Society seemed to forget this fact and thought only those with power could be a hero. That's why quirkless Izuku Midoriya was always picked on and outcasted.
He wanted to be a hero more than anything. Ever since that day that he saw All Might on TV. He saved people, made them feel safe, all while with a smile on his face. He wanted to be like him, he wanted to be able to save people. Even if it was just one person, he wanted to be someone's hero.
Today, he was. Izuku was at the playground and was currently standing in front of a boy with curly black hair who was crying on the floor. Across from him stood someone he thought was his friend and two others.
"You can't do this Kacchan!" Izuku shouted.
Bakugou scoffed. "Trying to be a hero Deku?" The other two boys laughed.
"If you use your quirk to hurt people then you're no better than a villain." Izuku really wished he hadn't said that as Bakugou's face immediately adopted a scowl.
"What the hell did you just call me!" Bakugou yelled. He punched his fists together and a small explosion ignited. One of the other boys grew a pair of wings and the last one elongated his fingers. They rushed forward and… well you can use your imagination.
After his beating, Izuku continued to lie on the ground. It wasn't anything bad but it still hurt. The boy he was defending hadn't left and he still had tears in his eyes. He suddenly turned to Izuku.
"Why'd you do that?" The boy asked. "Why did you take that beating for me?"
Izuku looked over to him. "Because you didn't deserve to be hurt." Was all he said.
The other boy looked confused but shook it off. "My name is Akira Hikaru." He said, sticking out his hand.
Izuku looked at his hand with a tilted head. "You want to talk to me?" He asked.
"Yes." Akira said with confusion, wondering what was wrong with that.
"But I'm quirkless." Izuku dropped his head, his tears beginning to form.
The black-haired boy tilted his head. "So?" He asked. "You saved me; I don't care if you're quirkless." Izuku's eyes widened in surprise. "Let's try this again." Akira stuck his hand out again. "I'm Akira Hikaru."
Izuku shook off his surprise and grabbed his hand. "Izuku Midoriya."
That was the day Izuku made his first real friend and the day that changed his future.
10 Years Later, Aldera
"Okay, I can make it." Izuku said as he sped towards his school. After he had left his house, he had seen a giant villain rampaging at Tatooin Station. His fanboy side kicked in and he had to see it. Usually Akira would stop him and drag him to school but he was sick today.
The villain had been fighting a young, rising hero known as Kamui Woods and was losing. Just before the wood hero could finish off the giant, however, an extremely tall blonde woman flew in with a kick. She was a new hero called Mt. Lady. Izuku was going to have to update his hero notebook when he got home.
By the time the fight ended, Izuku saw that he only had about five minutes to get to class, which is why he's sprinting right now. Luckily for him he was incredibly fit and could make the trip in half the time he had. He had Akira to thank for that.
Akira made sure Izuku was able to protect himself by training with him. Akira was a blackbelt in karate, Izuku would've been one as well but no dojo they went to would take a quirkless kid. Akira took it upon himself to master the moves he learned and teach them to Izuku.
Izuku actually excelled in karate, he was great at analysing and was able to replicate the moves Akira showed with relative ease. Akira could comfortably say that Izuku was also a blackbelt, whenever they sparred he actually had to use his quirk to dodge a few hits.
Izuku arrived at school with two minutes to spare. "Get out of the way, broccoli head." A voice called behind him. Turning around he saw a pomeranian.
"S-sorry, Bakugou." He stuttered out. The blonde huffed walked past him.
Bakugou was still a massive bully after all these years. The only good thing he's done is stop calling him 'Deku' and that was only after Izuku stopped calling him 'Kacchan.'
'Well at least I'm off to an okay start.' He thought to himself. 'Today shouldn't be too bad.'
After School
'The universe has it out for me.' Izuku thought while walking home.
Their teacher had handed out career forms for the class and decided to single him out for wanting to be a hero despite his quirkless status. That earned a round of laughter from the class and possibly the worst insult he's ever gotten from Bakugou.
'Seriously, who tells people to kill themselves and think they can be a hero?' Izuku took Bakugou's insults with a grain of salt but still, what a dickhead. 'And I am not a statistic waiting to happen.' He didn't know if it was a good thing Akira wasn't here or not, his protective best friend might've actually killed Bakugou for that one.
Any and all thoughts were quelled as the ground beneath him began to shake lightly and a strange, slushing permeated the air. Turning around, Izuku saw a large body of sewage shoot out of a grate. The sludge suddenly grew eyes and a mouth before it began to observe its new surroundings. Its yellow eyes quickly focused on Izuku and it smiled.
"A medium sized body suit." The sludge said in a chilling voice. "You'll do perfectly." Two sludge tentacles suddenly shot out of his body towards Izuku.
While the greenette had no idea what was happening, he did know that those tentacles were several crimes waiting to happen. Unenthusiastic of being the statistic his teacher told him he would be, Izuku threw his bag behind him and dodged to the left. The sludge villain adopted a frustrated look and sent more tentacles, all of which Izuku dodged.
"Stop dodging, you little shit!" The sludge yelled. "I don't have time for this! He'll be here soo-" Whatever the sludge villain said was drowned out by a loud laugh and the sewer grate from before smashing the bridge above them.
"HAHAHA, I Am Here!" A loud voice called. Both Izuku and the sludge villain turned to the voice and adopted different expressions. Standing there, in all his glory, was…
"Holy crap, it's All Might!" Izuku said in an excited tone.
"Holy crap, it's All Might!" The sludge's tone was more fearful.
All Might observed the situation in front of him and frowned. "Attacking children?" A chill ran down the sludge's spine. "You're the worst kind of villain." He said while reeling his fist back.
The sludge villain felt a little insulted, thinking that there were several crimes that could be deemed worse than child murder. However, he didn't get to defend himself as All Might sent his fist forward.
"TEXAS SMASH!" A torrent of wind shot out of his fist and the sludge became sewage on the tunnel walls.
Izuku watched the display of power with wide eyes. 'Oh Kami, that was so cool.' He was cut by his thoughts as he saw All Might standing in front of him.
"Are you all right, young man?" The symbol of peace asked, a calming presence surrounding him.
Izuku took deep slow breaths before he answered. "Y-yes, All Might, S-sir." Internal Izuku was currently screaming and shaking another internal Izuku who was also screaming.
All Might started to pick up the sludge villain off the wall and place them inside two bottles he happened to be carrying. "I didn't mean to get you involved in my crime fighting but this city's sewer system is quite difficult to navigate." He stated with a sheepish expression.
Izuku shook his head furiously. "I-it's fine, All M-Might, S-sir." The greenette said quickly.
All Might chuckled lightly. "No need to call me sir, young..."
Izuku stiffened. "Izuku Midoriya, All Might." The man finished picking up the sludge villain and Izuku remembered something. Quickly fishing a pen and a notebook out of his bag, he opened it to a page dedicated to All Might. "C-could I-I get y-your autograph?" He asked.
All Might laughed loudly and took the book and pen. "Of course." He discreetly read the page while he was signing it and was impressed. Izuku was actually pretty close to guessing what his quirk was, not that he knew. His thoughts were cut short as he felt a sting from within him. He handed the notebook back to Izuku and picked up the two bottles with the sludge.
"Well, I got to get this fella down to the police so they can take care of him." All Might said as he crouched down. "Stay out of trouble, young Midoriya, and have a good day."
Izuku's face became panicked. 'Wait, he's leaving already? No, he can't, I still have a question for him!' What happened next was the dumbest thing Izuku had ever done and something Akira would tease him about for the rest of their lives. He grabbed on to All Might's leg as he took off. 'Holy crap! We're flying!' Izuku screamed into his head. 'Oh, actually, the wind feels really nice up here.' The feeling of the air hitting his face was calming despite being several hundred feet in the air.
Looking down at his legs, All Might saw Izuku latching on to his leg. "Kid, what are you doing?" He asked, extremely shocked. "I love my fans but this is too much! Let go!"
Izuku shook his head. "Are you kidding me? I'll die from this height!" He shouted.
All Might adopted a sheepish expression. "Oh right, hang on then. I'll find a building for us to land on." His eyes trailed below him and he dove towards one. Izuku tightened his grip on All Might, the latter coughing into his fist. A small trail of blood came out. 'Shit.' As he picked up Izuku from his leg, both All Might and the greenette missed the bottles holding the sludge villain slipping to the streets below.
The two eventually landed on a building, and Izuku actually kind of missed the feeling of the air. 'A lot more fun than I thought it would be.' Izuku thought. 'Man, I wish I could fly.'
"That wasn't a very smart move, young man." However, he couldn't think on that for long. "You could've gotten seriously hurt." All Might scolded. "Bang on the door, someone will answer eventually." He began to walk away but Izuku stopped him.
"Please no!" The greenette pleaded, getting in front of All Might faster than the man expected. "Don't go yet! I have a really important question I want to ask!" His eyes closed and he looked to the ground, missing All Might's body beginning to emit steam.
'So this is how I'm found out.' The symbol of peace thought. 'I can't even move right now, that would hurt. A lot.'
"Can I be a hero without a quirk?" Izuku asked as a trail of blood ran down All Might's mouth. "All my life, people have told me to give up on being a hero. Give up on living. Not even my Mother believes in me." The large blonde was slowly becoming skinnier. "The only person who thinks I'm not worthless is my best friend, Akira. So please, tell me, can I be a hero?" He finally opened his eyes and looked in front of him, only to find All Might had disappeared. "Eh?"
In the place where the number one hero had stood, was instead a skinny, frail blonde surrounded by steam. 'Oh, he's not screami-' His body cut off his voice as he coughed out blood violently.
"AHHHHH!" That got Izuku screaming.
"Of course." The skinny man grumbled.
Izuku started shaking lightly. "Who are you? You're not All Might-" He cut himself off as he stared into the eyes of the skinny man. His eyes were shadowed but a bright blue shone through the darkness. The greenette couldn't mistake those eyes for anyone else. "A-All M-Might?"
"Yes, it's me." All Might sighed, sitting down. "I'm trusting you not to tell a soul about this, okay?" He said with a tone that sent a shiver down Izuku's spine.
"Y-y-yes, S-sir!" The greenette exclaimed.
All Might lifted up his shirt, revealing an incredibly large scar that almost made Izuku hurl. "I got this bad boy from a fight five years back. My stomach was destroyed and my respiratory system is damaged." The internal Izuku's were going through every fight from five years ago that could've caused that kind of damage but came up short. "I can only be a hero for about three hours a day at most, then I'm back to being this."
"Was the fight you got that injury from covered up?" Izuku asked, surprising the hero slightly. "I know all of your broadcasted fights from the past ten years and I can't think of a single one that could've caused this much damage." He explained.
All Might chuckled lightly. "You hit that right on the mark, kid. Yeah, the fight was covered up. I made sure of that. If the world were to figure out that their symbol of peace is like this, there would be a global panic. I'm the guy that always smiles without fear but honestly, there's a lot of fear behind that smile. It's just a brave face I put on; this job isn't easy." He looked back at Izuku and stood up. "Pro heroes are always risking their lives. Unfortunately, some villains can't be beaten without power. So, no, I don't think you can become a hero without a quirk."
Izuku froze and he felt his world shatter. 'What?'
"There are other professions you could do if you want to save people." All Might quickly tried to salvage the boy's broken face. "Become a police officer or a firefighter. They don't always get the praise since heroes take most of the spotlight but they do good work." However, it was for naught as the greenette stood still. "It's good to have dreams, young man, but… you have to be realistic." The blonde walked to the stair's entrance and closed the door, leaving behind a shattered Izuku.
'But… I've worked so hard.' The greenette thought. 'I trained to overcome that.'
Izuku's thoughts were cut short by an explosion. His eyes quickly travelled towards the source of the noise and the greenette could spot a large smoke cloud forming. 'A villain attack. I wonder what hero is-' He stopped himself as he remembered All Might's words. With a sigh, he looked over the side of the building before jumping.
The greenette landed on the wall of the other building, gripping on to a pole, before jumping back and forth between the walls until he was on the ground. He didn't really think about how impressive that was and continued to walk home. After a bit of walking the scent of smoke invaded his senses. Looking in front of him he saw a large crowd.
'My legs must have brought me here.' Izuku thought, though his nose unconsciously sniffed the air and he recognised the familiar scent of burnt sugar. 'Nitroglycerin?' His face morphed to one of horror and he rushed through the crowd. The greenette's suspicions were confirmed as he saw a familiar head of blonde hair and… 'The sludge villain? Didn't All Might…' He flashbacked to grabbing on to All Might and felt dread. 'He must have gotten out after I grabbed on to All Might. This is my fault.'
A few feet away from him, All Might had arrived at the scene and also felt a sense of dread run through him. 'Damnit, he must've escaped.' He thought as his hands traced the spot where he had kept the sludge villain.
"Wasn't All Might chasing this guy earlier?" One of the crowd members asked.
"All Might, really? Where is he?" Another inquired.
The symbol of peace could only feel more dread as their words hit him. 'I was lecturing that kid earlier about what it takes to be a hero and I make a mistake like this. I was too worried about my time limit. I'm pathetic.'
Back with Izuku, he looked up to see Bakugou still struggling. They suddenly locked eyes and the world seemed to slow down around them. For Bakugou, he saw someone he thought was beneath him see him in a weak position, he felt frail. For Izuku, he could only see the fear in Bakugou's eyes, they were screaming for help.
Before he knew it, he had dropped his bag and was running towards Bakugou and the sludge villain. 'Hold on I'm doing what now?'
"Stop, you idiot!" Death Arms shouted. "What are you doing!"
"Get back here, kid!" Kamui Woods tried to reach him but the fire started to flare and his arms flinched back. "Damnit!"
The sludge villain saw Izuku running towards him and became annoyed. "Not this little shit again!" He spouted before shooting forward three tentacles towards his emerald assailant.
'Again?' The crowd and heroes thought collectively.
From his place in the sludge, Bakugou watched Izuku with a confused look. 'Again?'
'What the hell am I doing? Why am I running towards him? Legs, please stop.' Izuku was trying to force his body to shut down but it had other plans. 'You know what, screw it.' Seeing that he wasn't stopping and those tentacles were coming for him, he decided to just roll with it. 'I got myself in this situation, I'm seeing it through.'
The greenette picked up a broken pipe off the ground and dodged to the left, missing the tentacles shot at him. He burst forward and jumped left again, running up the alley's wall before jumping on to the opposite wall. His hand grabbed on to a pole with one hand and threw the pipe at the sludge villain with the other. The pipe hit the sludge directly in the eye, making it jerk back and giving Bakugou a much needed breath of air.
Izuku jumped down to the ground and did a roll to break his fall before grabbing a jagged piece of debris and rushed at the villain again. He employed the same strategy and ran up the wall on the right and jumped towards the sludges other eye, slashing it with the debris.
"AHHH! You little SHIT!" The sludge jerked back further and Bakugou managed to force both of his arms out.
Izuku dropped down to the ground and began to pull on the blonde's arms. "What the hell are you doing here, nerd!?" Bakugou shouted, keeping a tight grip on Izuku.
"Once I looked into your eyes all I could see was fear and my body started to move on its own!" The greenette exclaimed. "I tried to stop myself but I couldn't!"
All Might felt those words hit him like a freight train. 'This kid…' The gaunt man started to steam as he reached down deep within himself.
Slowly but surely, Izuku was able to release Bakugou from the sludges hold until he threw Bakugou behind him with a surprising amount of strength.
Feeling that his hostage was lost, the sludge villain looked to Izuku with its remaining eye. "Forget taking over someone's body! I'm going to murder you!" The sludge villain launched forward a cluster of tentacles.
Izuku had picked up another pipe and was batting off the tentacles while moving backwards. Bakugou had gotten up and was also moving backwards while blowing up any tentacles that got close to him and taking a point in front of Izuku.
The sludge villain, seeing that none of its attacks were working, reeled back its entire body. "You're dead now, kids!" It slammed its whole body downwards on the two. However, something stopped it.
"All Might?" Izuku asked, shocked. 'Isn't he on a time limit?'
"I really am pathetic." The large pillar said as he lifted up the sludge. "I told you the traits of a true champion and yet, I haven't lived up to those ideals." He reeled his fist back. "A hero always risks their lives for the innocent, that's our job, with everything we have!"
The sludge villain knew it was useless to do anything but went for a suicide attack. "DAMN YOU, ALL MIGHT!"
Said blonde smiled widely before throwing his fist forward. "DETROIT SMASH!"
Needless to say, the sludge villain was absolutely demolished. The wind pressure from that attack was so powerful that it sent a tornado into the sky and Mt. Lady had to shield the crowd with her body. After the wind stopped, the sky began to change and small droplets fell onto all the onlookers.
"It's raining." One of the crowd members said in astonishment.
Death Arms looked up in the sky to see a large cluster of clouds spiralling. 'Holy crap.' His big arms suddenly felt very small. 'He changed the weather with a single punch.'
The crowd continued to praise All Might and roared when he shot his fist up in the air in victory.
Izuku could only stare at All Might in awe and amazement. 'That was so cool.'
Later
The remainder of the sludge was packed away by the police and heroes. Izuku got chewed out by Kamui Woods and Death arms but they both applauded his bravery and skill; they even signed his notebook. The greenette wanted to apologise to All Might but the army of reporters made that difficult. 'Seriously how did they even get there so fast? Some of those news agencies are from different prefectures.'
Izuku was cut from his thoughts as he heard a very familiar voice behind him. "Hey, nerd!"
Turning around the greenette saw Bakugou running towards him. "O-oh, B-Bakugou."
The blonde stopped a few feet away from Izuku, an angry look on his face. "Listen here, you damn nerd! I didn't need your help back there! I was doing just fine on my own!" Izuku flinched at the blonde's voice. "Thank you though." Before immediately doing a double take.
"W-what?" Izuku asked in both fear and worry.
"I said thank you!" Bakugou shouted. "That doesn't mean you aren't still a useless fuck though." With that said, he walked away, leaving behind a confused Izuku.
Said teen stood there for two minutes, failing to process what happened. 'What emotions am I supposed to be feeling right now?' Today had been a rollercoaster, more than usual anyway. At least things couldn't get any crazier.
"I am here!"
Never mind.
"A-All Might? Why are you here? How'd you escape the reporters?" Izuku asked, he wanted the answer to the last question the most.
"Because I am the embodiment of justice! I am All Might-" The large blonde was cut off as he started to cough violently, blood leaking out of his mouth. He looked back to Izuku after taking care of himself. "Young man, I'm here to thank you. I'm also here to talk to you about the question you had earlier. If you hadn't told me about yourself, than I would've just been another bystander watching. So, thank you."
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "There's nothing to thank m-me about." He suddenly became downcast. "I-it was my fault he escaped in the first place, I only got in the way-"
"I'm not finished." All Might cut Izuku off before he could degrade himself. "You told me you didn't have a quirk, so when I saw you run down that alley, and do some pretty kick ass moves, I was inspired." The greenette looked at All Might in surprise. "There are stories about every hero, how they became great. Most have one thing in common, their body moved before they had a chance to think." Izuku's eyes widened. "That's what I saw today. Young man, you too can become a hero." The inner Izuku's were currently trying to fight back all the tears that were threatening to spill out of his eyes. "Which is why, I've deemed you worthy to inherit my power." Any emotion Izuku was feeling became replaced by confusion.
"Wha-huh?" The inner Izuku's were working overtime to process what All Might said. "Inherit?"
"Hahaha, you should see your face right now." All Might laughed. "Listen well, young man, my power is a torch that has been passed down through generations. I am the eighth wielder of this power." All Might stuck his hand out and rainbow light emitted from his hand. "Its name is One For All."
"One… For… All…" Izuku slowly repeated. The inner Izuku's were now going through all the pros and cons of a power being passed down through eight generations; as well as trying to get Izuku's body moving again.
"Yes, it is this cultivated power that has allowed me to save people." All Might explained. "It's what allowed me to become a hero and I want to give you that same opportunity."
"But… why would you want to give me this power?" Izuku asked. "What if I can't do any good with it?"
The symbol of peace smiled at the teen. "Young man, you saved that other boy's life today. The rest of us heroes merely stood by and watched. You may be quirkless, but that doesn't make you any less of a hero. I've been on a hunt for a successor for some time now. Now, I've found you. Do you accept?" All Might asked, holding out his arm.
The inner Izuku's wasted no time in unfreezing the rest of Izuku. "Yes, sir, I accept!" Izuku shouted.
All Might chuckled lightly. "No hesitation, that's good. Meet me at Dagoba beach in two days." The man began to walk off but Izuku stopped him after the inner Izuku's had finished processing the whole day.
"Wait, All Might, can I bring someone tomorrow?" Izuku asked.
All Might looked at him sceptically. "This power is supposed to be a secret. I know you won't tell but I don't think I can trust anyone else." He said.
"Please, sir!" Izuku pleaded. "He's my best friend, without him I don't even know if I'd still have the will to keep living." Though morbid, it was true. "And I think he might be able to help you as well." He finished.
All Might, while concerned for his new successor's mental health, was intrigued. "In what way?" He asked.
Izuku only pointed to the left side of the man's body. All Might's eyes widened at the implications Izuku was giving, before recollecting himself and nodding. "Alright then, I'll see you and your friend in two days, young Midoriya."
With that, they both walked off. Their futures changed and intertwined.
Izuku had one thought on his mind though. 'How am I going to explain this to Mum?'