Izuku wasn't crying. He wasn't! Because if he was crying then his mom would hear him and she'd come running, and that wasn't fair! She'd been staying up with him every night already, and she was already so tired…
Besides, he was a big boy now, he didn't need to bother her just because his eyes were watering and his nose was dripping and he kept hiccuping really deep inside his chest…
It wasn't fair! He wanted to be a hero more than anyone! He wanted to save people, just like All-Might did! He wanted to make Mom, and Ka-Chan, and everybody proud of him! But no, that dumb, meanie Doctor had to say that he was quirkless. Quirkless. Which meant he didn't have any quirk!
How was he supposed to be like All-Might, if he didn't have a quirk to do it with? He huddled even tighter into his blankets, fighting back wails. It wasn't fair! He just wanted to help!
The room started wobbling in front of his eyes, and he knew he was about to start sobbing like a big baby, waking up Ka-San and ruining everything-
"Hey, kid, would you mind keeping it down over there?" The voice was rough and gravelly, and it kept crackling and popping like dad's did when he used his fire breath. It was so unexpected that Izuku forgot to cry, almost falling out of his bed from surprise. "I may not look it, but trust me, I could use all the beauty sleep I can get."
"Who are you?" Izuku asked as he sat up in bed, blankets wrapped tightly around his tiny shoulders. "Where are you?" Because his room was still completely empty; it was just him, his desk, his bed, and his ultra-delux edition limited print jumbo-sized All-Might poster, smiling down at him from the wall. Nobody else there…
...unless they were invisible! "Are you invisible?" he gasped, excited to be up close with such an amazing quirk. "Is that what your quirk is, invisibility? But then how'd you get inside? Unless...oh my gosh, are you a ghost? That would be so cool!"
The stranger laughed, and Izuku smelled smoke on the wind of their breath. "Not a ghost, kid, least not the last time I checked. I suppose I've been sitting here long enough for that to change. As for all the rest of all that, I don't know what a 'quirk' is, but somehow I doubt that this is my doing."
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, brow furrowing in confusion. "I'm not doing anything."
"Might not look like much on your end, kid, but from over here…" He heard them moving, the screech of metal on metal and the rustle of cloth against the ground. "See, here I am just minding my own business, like I've been doing for…" Their voice trailed off into a wordless question, heavy with feelings that Izuku couldn't begin to understand.
"...for a really long time," they finally said. "Only for some little phantom to come wandering in all of a sudden, making teary eyes at my bonfire."
"I wasn't crying!" Izuku protested, glaring as fiercely as he could at nothing at all. He only ended up wilting, though, when their only response was a long, dry laugh. "And what's a phan-tum?"
"Well, I suppose it's a little like a ghost," they said, their voice becoming a little thoughtful. "And a bit like a shadow, too. They're white all over and a little see through, like a spirit, but they don't appear when people die. Normally, they only happen when someone very strong or very desperate reaches out across the void, and projects themselves somewhere else, casting a shadow over a distant land. I've never seen a phantom that looked so small, though. How old are you, kid?"
"Four and a half!" Izuku proudly declared.
"Oh? No wonder you're so short."
"I'm not short!"
"Yes you are, you're teeny tiny. Practically a baby. I haven't seen someone so small since…"
Izuku frowned when their voice trailed off again, filled with that same empty sorrow. "What's wrong?" he asked. A hero would help, he decided as he slipped out of bed. A hero like All-Might would know what to do.
She sighed, and he closed his eyes against the glitter of errant sparks. "Nothing's wrong kid, I'm just... I'm just a little tired, is all."
"Is it because I woke you up?"
"Heh. No, no, kid, it's not your fault. Between you and me, this is the most pleasant wake-up call I've had in a long time."
"Why? Doesn't your mother wake you up?"
"Heh. No kid, my mom doesn't wake me up in the morning. Truth be told, I haven't seen her in a long time."
"What about your father?"
"No kid, not my father either. No father, no mother, no family, no friends… I've been alone for a long, long time, kid."
"So you're lonely," he said with a child's certainty, pulling his blankets a little tighter. If he focused really, super hard, he could almost see the flicker of flames from nowhere, smell the smoke in the air. And if he squinted his eyes, he could sort of see a bunch of clutter like when his Ka-san had taken him camping in the mountains. "Is that why you feel bad? Because you're all alone."
"...sure, kid. Let's put it like that," they said, only this time he could almost see the shadowy figure stirring from where they were quietly slumped beside the fire.
"I'm all alone too," he said, and in a way he meant it with all his heart. Ka-san was the best mom, but she was so busy all the time, trying to take care of him. And Kacchan had started being so mean after he found out that Izuku was quirkless. In the dark night, it wasn't hard to feel like he was all alone. "Maybe…"
He hesitated as the figure stirred again, lifting their head into the firelight. Their skin was… weird, like it was made of paper, and their eyes were scary looking, like flames dancing within a glass. His eyes picked out more details, like the jagged edges of their armor, or the sword hilt that protruded over their back, or the crusty stains all over their gloves. He swallowed, hard.
'All-Might would help her,' he told himself. "Maybe if I help, you won't feel lonely anymore."
"Everyone who's tried to help me is dead, kid," they snapped, their head snapping towards him. For the first time, he noticed the glitter of silver atop their brow, an ornate crown almost lost in their tangled hair. "I killed most of them myself."
That, more than anything else, scared Izuku. Only villains talked about killing people, and everybody knew that villains were the worst.
But…
Their voice had sounded so sad when they said the words. It wasn't like on TV, when Ultimator was boasting about blowing up the moon or stuff. It was more like when Kacchan had run home with a squirrel, and he kept saying he didn't mean to do it, it was just an accident and he was sorry…
Maybe they were a scary villain, he decided. But maybe they weren't. He'd just have to be like All Might, and 'be ready to go down swinging. So he swallowed hard and said, "But it's okay though, right? Because I'm all the way over here, and you're over there, right?" He trailed off uncertainly when they cocked their head at him, like a curious bird. "That's what you meant, right? When you said I was casting a phantom?"
"Snrk." The sound caught them both by surprise, one hand shooting up to cover their mouth before they burst into wild laughter, shoulders shaking so hard that they almost fell over. "Oh my goddess, that has got to be the silliest excuse I have ever… Not even that stupid onion knight was ever so… They'll never…"
Eventually, the laughter trailed off into chuckles, then quiet giggling. "What's your name, kid?"
"I'm Izuku!"
"Heh. You can call me Azalea."
