"This is a national warning. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."

Izuku was stirred awake by the staticky sound of the pre-recorded message, blaring a sound worse than his alarm clock. Opening his eyes, he found he was not lying in bed, but sitting at his desk. Pushing himself up and stretched his muscles, he felt them ache from sleeping in such an awkward position. 'What the heck was I doing?'

"Roughly an hour ago, a vast majority of the population has vanished under currently unknown circumstances-" The radio continued, before Izuku slammed a hand down on its power button.

"Oh right, that." He sighed. Izuku looked down at his desk, observing all the notes sprawled across it like someone had upturned the contents of a paper recycling bin on it. He had spent all night trying to get information on the Rapture.

That's what the people left online were calling it, because apparently it stole all their creativity as well. 80% of the world, every person with a Quirk, gone in an instant. Some sort of villain attack? government experiment gone wrong? Aliens? The speculation was all over the place. Izuku managed to find a forum or two online that were still active, but they knew nothing. Most didn't even realize only people with Quirks were targeted until he 'suggested' it. And here he thought people on the internet knew everything.

Looking down at his newly named 'Apocalypse Analysis for the Present, No. 1' notebook, he flipped through to review what he found before passing out. He was promptly disappointed, seeing he hadn't written much past the first few pages. There was just too little information currently. Izuku stared at the pages in thought. 'What now? Should I just sit here and wait for something to happen? If there's a chance this is permanent however, I can't waste time sitting around.'

*grumble*

Snapped out of his musing, Izuku looked down at his stomach. It occurred to him that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning. He got up from his seat, stretching his legs out before walking out of his room. 'Can't think on an empty stomach-' He started to think before he heard a sound come from the kitchen. Izuku froze, thinking through the possibilities. 'Shit, I left the door open, didn't I! I was in such a rush, and I left all the ingredients Mom had set out as well. So, either some animals got in… Or people have already started looting. If it's the latter, I don't know anyone that's Quirkless in our community, so any confrontation probably won't start off on the right foot. I need to be careful.'

Izuku slowly shuffled over to his door and grabbed the doorknob. Turning it as slow as he could, he eventually heard a small click, and he began to inch the door slowly open. The view from his doorway allowed him to peer down the hallway, but unfortunately, he could only see the edge of the kitchen counter. He could, however, hear more clearly the sound of someone or something inside the kitchen. The sound of cupboards opening, and packages rustling could be heard form down the hall, and Izuku feared the worst. 'Either this is one resourceful raccoon, or…'

*Crash*

He snapped still at the sound of kitchen appliances falling violently to the floor. 'or maybe it's a clumsy raccoon.' He thought unimpressed.

"ow…" a small voice squeaked out in pain.

'That voice, was that… a kid? What's a kid doing out here by themselves?' Izuku thought. Figuring he had little to fear from a small child, he pushed his door open and began slowly but surely walking towards the kitchen. Once he reached the counter, he peered over it to find a small girl sitting on the floor of the kitchen. She was surrounded by food wrappers and kitchen utensils, seemingly picking through them like an animal through scraps. She had long, bluish white hair, and red eyes. For some reason she was wearing nothing but a loose, worn out dress, and had bandages wrapped around all her limbs. Despite all that, what stood out most about her appearance was the small brown horn poking out the right side of her head. Was it a Quirk? "That's impossible."

"AH?!" The girl yelped as she looked up in surprise, and immediately looked at him fearfully.

'Crap, did I say that out loud?' Izuku realized. He put his hands up non-threateningly as he walked around the counter. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." He tried to assure the girl.

His assurance seemed to do little however, as the girl began crawling backwards away from him. "S-Stay back!" She yelled.

"Wait, it's fine! I'm not going to hurt you." He repeated while stopping his approach.

She kept moving away from him, ignoring his plea, and eventually pushed herself against the walls of the kitchen. "NO! I'm cursed! If you get any closer, you'll disappear like everyone else! Stay back!" She shrieked, pulling her knees up and hiding her head behind them.

'What?' Izuku looked at the girl confused. Did she really think she was the reason everyone disappeared? "What do you mean? That's not your fault."

"Yes, it is! They always said I was cursed, that I could make people disappear by touching them. Now it's happening without even doing anything!" The girl said in a panic.

'What is she talking about. Cursed? Does she mean her Quirk? Does it make things disappear? If so, I can understand her confusion.' Izuku shook his head sadly. No matter how dangerous a Quirk she may have, no one deserved to be called cursed. "This isn't your fault. You didn't do this. If you did, then I wouldn't be here, right?" He told the girl.

She looked up at him in surprise. "I… didn't do it?"

Izuku nodded, as he approached the girl slowly again. "That's right. I don't know what did, but I doubt a girl as nice as you are responsible." He raised his hand towards her. "My name's Izuku Midoriya. What's yours?"

The girl looked at his hand, contemplating it for a moment, before reaching out and grasping it. She was lifted to her feet by Izuku. She then looked up at him for the first time without fear. "I'm Eri."

After cleaning up the kitchen (and making sure the door was locked), Izuku put together an appropriate breakfast for Eri. Setting down a plate of eggs and hash, he looked at Eri and was both depressed and surprised by the girl. She was staring at the breakfast platter like it was a ten-course meal and kept glancing up at him like she still expected him to reveal this was some sort of joke and take it back from her.

"Dig in!" He insisted with a smile. This finally got her to start eating the meal, and Izuku sat back and observed the girl while she did. He wasn't sure what to make of Eri. She appeared to have a Quirk, if the horn on her head and talk of being 'cursed' was any indicator. But how? Not to mention the condition she was in. She looked like she had walked out of a hospital, with all the bandages on her limbs. He wouldn't think too much on it normally, but that combined with her attitude didn't paint a pleasant picture. Looking Eri over again, Izuku noticed her shiver slightly. "Oh, are you cold?" he asked.

Eri stopped eating and glanced around nervously. "N-No, I'm fine." She said skittishly.

Izuku imagined he gave Eri the look his mother gave him whenever he told an obvious lie. Looking the girl up and down, he felt like an idiot for not noticing sooner. Her dress was covered in stains and fraying at the edges. She looked like she hadn't worn a pair of shoes in a while either, her feet black with dirt and cut all over. Has she been dressed like this all night?

"Just hold on a sec." He said, walking over to the front door. Grabbing his All Might sweater from the coat hanger, he walked back behind Eri's chair. "Stick your arms up."

Eri looked back at him confused, but hesitantly raised her arms up. Izuku then pulled the sweater down over Eri's head. The oversized hoodie was a bit big however, and her horn got stuck where her head should come out. "Ah!" Eri exclaimed.

"Sorry!" Izuku apologized, before helping wiggle her head through the top. She reached her arms up but found that her hands couldn't reach the end of the sleeves. Walking around to face Eri, he couldn't help but find the look ridiculous. Eri didn't seem to mind though, as she was looking over the oversized hoodie she was now wearing in amazement, his mentors face gaudily printed on the front. "Sorry, it's a bit big, huh?" He apologized again.

Eri shook her head smiling. "No, it's fine!" she insisted, before looking at the giant face plastered on the center of his hoodie curiously. "Who is this?" She asked innocently.

Izuku froze, staring at Eri with bugged out eyes. 'H-How does she not… What kid doesn't know All Might's face?' Forget odd, had the girl been living under a rock her entire life? "That's All Might, he's the number one hero!"

"Hero?" Eri asked confused, looking at the face again. "He looks funny!" she giggled, before continuing to eat her breakfast.

Izuku walked back into the kitchen as she did, deciding to look through their food supply before he lost his mind trying to deal with the odd girl. Looking through his cupboards and fridge, he found their options rather lacking. His mom's job didn't pay much, but it was just enough to keep the house stocked for a week between the two of them. He could have stretched that if it was just him, but with Eri probably sticking around, he'd have to stock up as soon as possible. He glanced at the girl again. 'Probably should find her some actual clothes while I'm at it. I wonder if she has any more at home?'

"Hey Eri, where do you live?" He asked, absentmindedly shuffling through drawers.

"… Why do you want to know?"

Izuku looked at Eri to find she had frozen up, glancing at him nervously. "I was just thinking you needed a change of clothes. If it's close, I could run over and-"

"No!" Eri yelled. "I-I mean, it's not close, you don't want to go there. Besides, I don't have any other…" she trailed off.

"Other what?"

Eri looked embarrassed, shuffling in her seat before responding quietly. "Clothes."

Izuku walked down the empty streets of Musutafu City with an eerie silence. He had the largest backpack he could find hanging on his back, and he double checked that his cellphone was still in his pocket. He had only walked a couple blocks from his apartments, but he felt as if he was lost in the middle of a jungle. Looking at every corner in fear and jumping at every sound. He was right not to take Eri out here. Who knows what could happen out here?

Not that he had much of a choice. Eri refused to leave the apartment currently, and she was not happy about him having to leave either. But they needed more food, and since he didn't have any way to get into his neighbors' apartments to raid them, he had to hope the nearby supermarkets hadn't been emptied out by anyone else still around. After spending a few minutes teaching Eri how to speed dial his cell with the home phone, he had set out into the new world for the first time.

'There it is.' Turning the corner, he finally reached the nearest supermarket. The front of the establishment was currently free of broken glass or fires, so it seemed the looters hadn't reached it yet. He supposed it was a bit early for roving bands of car marauders though, if what he remembered from that old Hollywood movie he saw years ago. What was it called again? Walking up to the automatic door's, he jumped when they still opened as he approached. "there's still power? Guess our country's infrastructure is better put together than I thought."

Walking through the aisles of food, he could spy some empty shelves and a few items scattered on the floor. He clearly wasn't the first to come through here, but the place was still relatively stocked, so the number of people in his area must be low. That or he was just got here before the morning rush. Finally reaching the canned good's aisle, Izuku began grabbing an assorted flavor of products. He really hoped Eri wasn't picky, because they were probably going to be eating nothing but beans for the foreseeable future.

After filling up his backpack a decent amount, he zipped it back up and walked over to the clothing section. Food may be important, but he needed to grab a few changes of clothes for Eri, and since he didn't know what size to get her, he'd just have to grab a bunch of different sizes and hope one of them fits.

The clothing section was far less ravaged by any passing looters, as he doubted that people would put clothes over food during the current crisis. The clothing section of the store was a far more open area, with fewer aisles obstructing the view. Reaching the child section, he began shuffling through the multitude of clothes and realized something important.

He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't have a single lick of fashion sense! His favorite piece of clothing was a t-shirt with the word 't-shirt' on it! Should he go for something practical? What about color? How the heck does shoe sizes even work? He really was in over his head-

"Someone, please help!"

Izuku immediately turned his head at the sound of a woman screaming in English. It appeared to be coming from the entrance of the supermarket, and he could hear multiple footsteps heading in his direction.

"Stop running already!" The voice of an older man shouted, and the sound of a few people huffing in exhaustion reached his ears. Suddenly, a group of people came running around the corner, and Izuku got a good look at the source of the commotion. There was a group of three fellows dressed in various outfits chasing after an older teenager. The three goons were all wearing bandana's in various positions, and had a matching tattoo displayed prominently somewhere on their body. A local gang?

He didn't get a chance to analyze much, as the girl they were chasing spotted him and began to head towards him. "Please help me!" she yelled in a barely accented Japanese now. Izuku looked over the teenager quickly and could easily tell she was American. With her blue eyes, long blonde hair, and American accent. She seemed to be a couple years older than him. She must have been a tourist who got stuck here. The girl ran behind him and he put his arms out instinctively. Crazy circumstances or not, he couldn't let people just do whatever they want.

The three chasing her stopped when they saw him, looking surprised to run into anyone out here. Finally stopping, Izuku could get a good look at them. The man to his left was probably in his mid-twenties and was quite skinny, with a noticeable Mohawk and piercings over one eye. His bandana was hanging in front of his mouth and had a creepy smile on it. The one to the right was harder to identify, as they were wearing baggy pants and large hooded jacket. Even their face was entirely covered by his bandana, making it impossible to even determine their age or gender. There was no confusion with the man in the middle though. Probably in his thirties, he was bald and over 6 feet of pure muscle, and Izuku could see scars up and down his body through the unbuttoned shirt he as wearing.

"Well, well, well. And here I thought all the heroes had disappeared!" the skinny one mocked, flaunting the knife in his hand.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Izuku questioned, as he glanced around trying to form a plan. 'We can't just run away from these guys. They'd catch us in no time...'

"We just wanted to help the young lass. She's clearly far from home, and we wanted to show her the Purple Oni's traditional hospitality." The big man said, with a tone that didn't even hide what he really meant by 'hospitality'.

"I don't want your help, you asses! Besides, aren't there bigger things to worry about right now?" The girl shot back in fluent Japanese. Izuku spared a glance back at her in surprise. Was she really just some tourist?

"Exactly. Any remaining authorities are rather preoccupied with the current crisis." The hooded person explained calmly, voice muffled behind their disguise.

"Which means we get to run wild. I've been dreaming of this shit for years!" The skinny one screamed far too enthusiastically. Izuku felt like he had seen a guy like him in that post-apocalypse movie. The name was on the tip of his tongue.

"Exactly. Now's the perfect time to change things up a bit." The big guy affirmed. "How about you? You look like a smart kid. The worlds changing, how about riding the wave with us instead of getting trampled on again."

Izuku couldn't believe it. Were they seriously trying to recruit him?! He shook his head in disgust. "Forget it. Just because you can do anything you want now doesn't mean you should. Even if you don't have Quirks, you're all still no better than villains."

The three of them clearly found his answer lacking, and the one in the middle sighed deeply. "Oh well, we gave you a chance. You brought this on yourself!"

The skinny one lunged forward first, knife hand stretched out towards Izuku. "Die brat!" However, Izuku dodged to the side and grabbed the outstretched appendage. "What the f-?!" the man didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, as Izuku threw him over his shoulder and into a nearby clothes display.

Finished with his first opponent, Izuku turned to see the hooded member already approaching him. Thinking fast, he grabbed the person's hoodie at the top where the zipper was. They quickly grabbed his hands, halting their oncoming attack. Izuku then headbutt them while distracted, and the hooded member fell on his back in surprise. The big guy started approaching now that his friends were down, and Izuku swung back and planted a punch square in the man's chest.

*thump*

The man didn't even flinch. Izuku looked up at his opponent's face, realizing that he may be a bit out of his league here. Curse his Hero Complex.

*BAM*

Izuku was launched back by the man's strike, falling on his back, and hitting his head. Struggling to get up, he shot the man the best glare he could muster. "I-I won't let you…" He tried to say, head still spinning.

The man just laughed. "You've got spirit, I'll give you that. But you need more than that to survive in this new world. Even without Quirks, it's always been about power! No matter how many times you try, you can't beat me."

Izuku just got up to his feat defiantly. "Even so, I can't just step aside when someone needs saving. That's not what a hero does."

"Hmph, then you can disappear like the rest of them!" the man shouted, pulling back for another punch.

Despite barely being able to stand, Izuku brought his own fist back. 'I can't give up! I won't let someone asking for my help down!' Putting everything he could into this last punch, he thought back to the last words All Might gave him before he left for the Exam. 'Just remember! Clench your butt and let your heart cry out!'

Feeling a new-found power growing throughout him, Izuku swung forward, putting it all into this one swing at the man's chest again. "SMASH!"

*BOOM*

It was as if a bomb went of in the larger man's chest. Izuku's punch launched him back and through every single aisle behind him, landing in a heap on the other side of the store. The force of his swing produced a blast of wind that sent nearby clothes flying and throwing everyone around him to the ground. With one attack, the entire supermarket had been turned into a mess.

Izuku looked at his still outstretched arm in amazement, currently ignoring the pain running through it. Even though it should be obvious to him what happened, he still couldn't believe it. The Rapture made everyone with a Quirk disappear, so he couldn't possibly have one, unless…

"You need to consume some of my DNA to receive One for All. It won't properly transfer until you digest that hair!"

Unless he didn't have the quirk when everyone disappeared, and somehow got it afterwards.

"Ughhh." Off in the distance, the large man Izuku had just soundly trounced moaned in pain. He was thankfully not dead, but likely wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.

"Boss!" The two other goons immediately ran off to go check on their friend.

While the gang members dealt with that, Izuku continued to stand there dumbfounded, too busy reeling from his newfound power to do anything. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his own and began to tug on it. Turning his head to follow the hand, he saw that the girl who he had helped was looking right at them. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

Her cries broke Izuku out of his stupor, and he finally began to move his legs, following the girl as she dragged him out of the supermarket. Eventually he ran ahead of her and began to run in the direction of his apartment. After a few blocks, he looked over his shoulder to see if they were being followed. There weren't any other people in site, and he finally stopped to let them catch their breath.

"Phew. Thanks for saving me." She said between breathes, offering a hand. "The name's Melissa Shield."

'Shield? Where do I know that name from?' He thought as he shook Melissa's hand. "I'm Izuku Midoriya. Your Japanese is really good. Are you from around here?"

"Oh, no. I just came here to visit family. I came here with my dad but…" She trailed off. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. "But what about you? I don't quite know what's going on, but didn't everyone with a Quirk disappear? How did you use your Quirk?"

"Oh that, it's a bit… Complicated?" Izuku finished lamely. He couldn't just reveal All Might's secret, even if the circumstances are rather extraordinary. He winced in pain now that the adrenaline had worn off. It felt like he pulled every muscle in the arm that he'd used One for All in. He supposed he should be lucky that it didn't explode of his body like All Might said it could.

"uh huh." Melissa clearly wasn't amused. "Anyway, what now. It's been less than 24 hours and things are already turning into a Mad Max movie out here."

"That's it!" Izuku yelled. Melissa jumped at the proclamation, looking at him like he was crazy. "Uhhh, sorry. I've had that movie on my mind since this morning, but I just couldn't remember the name."

Melissa raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you've seen those movies. They're pretty niche nowadays." Realizing they were getting off topic, she shook her head. "No, that's not important. What am I even supposed to do? There's no way for me to get home now unless you can fly a plane."

"Well," Izuku started, mouth running faster than his brain. "You could stay with me."

"Are you sure?" Melissa asked, surprised by the sudden offer.

"Yeah, I've already got one guest, what's another? It shouldn't be a problem, especially now that I've stocked up on food and-" he stopped, realizing he had forgotten something important. "Crap, I didn't grab any clothes!"

Melissa looked confused. "Clothes? Why would you need clothes?"

"Oh, they're not for me. There's this girl I found that was by herself. I'm not sure what her deal was before everything went down, but all she has now are the clothes on her back." He explained. "Oh well, we can't exactly go back to the supermarket now. Come on, my place is just around the corner."

"Well if you'll have me, I guess it would be rude to turn down your hospitality." Melissa agreed, and the two walked down the road toward his apartment.

After walking a few more blocks and turning the corner to his apartment, Izuku suddenly froze.

"What? What's wrong?" Melissa asked worried.

"That." He pointed forward. On the side of the road in front of the apartment complex's, was a rather large vehicle. It looked a bit like a S.W.A.T. truck but was painted a dark blue with white highlights. It was empty, but there wasn't anyone else in site. "It wasn't there when I left." Checking his phone, he saw that he hadn't missed any calls from Eri, so either nothing had happened, or she didn't get a chance to call him. "Let's go, quietly."

"R-Right." Melissa agreed in a hushed voice.

As they stealthily walked up the stairs to his third-floor apartment, Izuku's mind reeled. 'Who could have found us, and why? I can likely rule out the people we ran into earlier, as we would have saw them on the way over. Police? Unlikely, the vehicle wasn't marked like one, and I doubt they'd leave their vehicle unguarded, even if they were having personnel issues. Melissa didn't seem to recognize the vehicle either. Other than some heavily armored looters, there's only one other factor I can think of for people being here. Eri…'

Reaching the door to his apartment, he put an ear to it and heard Eri and another voice talking to each other. It sounded civil, but he couldn't take any chances. Opening the unlocked front door as quietly as he could, he shuffled forward trying to get a view of whoever had decided to make a surprise visit. He finally reached the corner of the wall, peaked around the corner and…

"What the Hell?"

Sitting at his kitchen table was Eri, cup of freshly steaming tea in hand. She had been blowing on it, but at Izuku's exclamation looked over in excitement. "Izuku, you're back! Look, I made a new friend!" She said happily, pointing to the other side of the table at a figure that was certainly not human, holding its own cup of recently poured tea.

"Ah, you must be Izuku Midoriya, yes?" The mouse-like being asked, setting his drink on the table. "I'm Nezu, the Principal of U.A. High School. I was hoping we could talk about your application to our Hero Course."

Next Chapter: First Class Assignment