Hello and welcome people to my 3rd MHA project. This story came to me the other month and I couldn't stop thinking about it as my other 2 stories have Deku be quirkless and gain power through alternative ways, I wondered if I couldn't create a universe when he does have a quirk, just not one that abides by his wishes for what a hero's quirk should be. Part of the reason for this is that we know that there is quirk discrimination, with people framing quirks into 'heroic' and 'villainous' categories regardless of what the user is like as a person. Bakugo, Shinso and Toga are prime examples of this screwed-up mindset people have as one was held up as a future hero, fueling his ego and allowed to run rampant, the second was told what is implied to be his whole like his quirk was villainous, and the third was told to repress a key part of her personality and being till she essentially broke.

Toga also introduces the idea that quirks, all quirks influence the mindset of the user to some extent though she's an extreme example owing to the fact she was repressed. So, this led me to ask myself the question: What if Izuku had a quirk that altered how he saw things, and that quirk was seen as villainous? That felt like a great avenue for a story to blossom as I've only heard one other story that I liked with this theme where a fem Izuku has a siren-based quirk which allowed her to control anyone that heard her sing, though that story hasn't been updated in like 3 years so it's very much dead. Moving on! As this idea was so interesting to me, I couldn't decide on whether Deku could go down the villain route, or the hero so I split the story into two separate storylines. They'll be the same till a certain point which will serve as the divergent point where they head off in their directions.

When that divergence happens, I'll be clear to mark it in the opening author's note but for now, if you're reading one story, then you've already seen what's in the second one so don't worry and just read whichever one you choose to. With all that said, let's jump into things.

Chapter 1: Cast from Fire.

Fire.

Ever since he was young, Midoriya Izuku had been fascinated by it, how could it not when it had so many positives? Fire helped to keep people warm both when they were at home or camping out in the woods. It heated water so that people could wash things or clean themselves as he always enjoyed a warm bath even in the summer. People could use fire to make the best stuff like his mother's katsudon or hot chocolate. Fire can even light up dark places and make them less scary to be in, letting you see that the monster you think is there was never there be begin with.

It was used in medicine, when you had to clean something, you typically sterilized it with hot water if not place it in a fire to ensure all the germs were gone. Fire was even used when making stuff, where most saw fire as merely destruction like when a villain attacks, fire is also creation as without it, they wouldn't be able to make so many tools and cool stuff. Fire allows one to take what could be useless-looking pebbles and rocks and smelt them into the finest iron, steel or gold for tools, construction or precious jewellery. Blacksmiths figured out a long time ago that treating stuff like iron and steel with fire could increase its durability and overall usefulness, it's how people came to use fire in metaphors about proving yourself, or improvement as you needed a little heat to get better, you need to be able to face the flames to ever make anything of yourself in life.

This was something he knew well, a lesson he never needed to learn because he felt so obvious to him.

But it seemed he was the only one who thought that. What was so weird about being willing to burn alive to improve?

"I'm off for school, mom!" Placing his shoes on, he turned to his mother, a plump woman of a smaller build them him as the boy had marked the point of growing taller than her when he was 13. Despite the fact she didn't have the same youthful appearance she had when he was younger, he still thought she was the most beautiful woman he knew.

Inko nodded at him, giving him a tired smile as he put her coffee down. "Have a safe day, Izuku. Remember the rules."

Even as a teenager, he wouldn't understand why he had them, but one look at his mother's bandaged arms was enough to remind him that he needed to be kept in check. "I will…keep away from sources of ignition, and if I see a fire, go the other way." He was barred from being close to any fire. He wouldn't even be in the living room when his mother cooked as the stove was a gas burner. When she was busy, he thought it would make cooking for himself a challenge, but he had learned many types of meals that didn't need him to touch the stove or the kettle.

Squeezing his hands into hers, even if the feeling was a bit numb, she pulled her son into a hug, smiling at how tall he was as she could fondly remember when she would carry him to her chest, now she couldn't even look him in the eye without looking up. "Remember your, Izuku. I love you."

"Love you too," Izuku replied, returning the gesture before he was out the door, rushing to make it to class on time. The warm May weather greeted him as he rushed out of the apartment before heading to the sidewalk. Smiling at how warm the sun's ray felt on his skin, he hummed along to a song only he knew as he made his way to school, he wasn't in a rush as he always left a bit early just in case something came up.

That precaution paid off as he heard something happening not too far from him, which only made him smile even more as he turned to head in that direction. He knew only one thing that could be the cause of it and low and behold, when he turned the corner to Tatooine station, he saw it.

A villain.

He wasn't the first one there, but a crowd had already formed with the police keeping things in order as the villain raged on. Midoriya was ecstatic upon seeing him, being able to make his face and details even from a distance as he the villain had a gigantification-style quirk that made him as tall as the surrounding buildings, which wasn't the rarest type of quirk but was still pretty uncommon but he knew that they could be used to devastating effort and worked great in the hands of hero's like the 3rd Ranked hero from the United States Godzillo!

His fan-boying was interrupted by how the villain knocked over a part of the overhead railing from the station, sending a section of steel falling into some of the ground. People screamed but another rushed forward and seemingly like a madman, stood right under it with his hands held up high to catch it, a feat that he managed without fail as his bulky arms didn't buckle under the weight of what must have been 2 tons of steel.

"It's the Punching Hero: Death Arms. He carries out justice through his great physical strength!" Someone in the crowd cried out, with others being amazed as Midoriya's eyes sparkled at the sight of the man. He might have been a local hero that he had seen around the place, even having the chance to ask for his autograph the other week, but it was still amazing to see him in person!

Towards the front of the crowd, lines of water shot out and formed into a barricade of sorts, even keeping the police at the back. The source of this was a man in a costume very much inspired by conventional firefighter gear. "Everyone, please remain behind the line, this area is dangerous." The pro instructed them, his voice as calm and fluid as the water he controlled.

"Even the rescue specialist, Backdraft is here too? Amazing!" Hearing that he was there too really made Midoriya eager to speak with him as he rarely got the chance to as the pro was often called to incidents involving fire, and Midoriya knew that he wasn't allowed to be anywhere near the stuff because it sparked by his bad impulses, but maybe if he was lucky, he could speak with him after this and still make it to school on time.

"But man, being able to turn into a giant monster seems like a great quirk." He turned his attention to the two men in front of him, even as he pulled out his notebook and record what he was seeing.

"I know, right? But what did he even do?" The other asked, with Midoriya eager to hear the answer but from the look on the first guy's face, it probably wasn't going to be interesting.

"He got caught trying to steal a lady's purse and when cornered, he flipped out." Midoriya frowned a little, insulted that someone with such an amazing quirk, so different and heroic compared to his own, would use it for something so….petty.

He started to push forward, eager to get to the front and get a better view of the action, hearing the tail end of the conversation he had been eavesdropping on as he went. "A quirk like that and he's a purse snatcher, that's underwhelming." There were other people he could hear, some commenting on the villain, on the heroes, with one guy calling his work to explain why he was late but, in this day, and age, villain attacks were a dime a dozen, so he didn't think his boss would give him much flak as his mother had been late for work a few times thanks to stuff like this.

Before he could reach the front of the crowd, a shadow passed overhead, which some saw, including a group of older girls who screamed for joy. "You can do it, Kamui!" Hearing that name made him smile even more as he pushed through to the front, getting an up-close look at the rising star among heroes. The newly arrived Kamui Woods used his quirk to swing around the villain, avoiding his attempts to strike him and keeping silent and professional.

"A young and talented rising star, his quirk is so amazing, using wood like that!" Midoriya continued to fanboy, with a man standing next to him only huffing and crossing his arms, amused with the kid's antics. Midoriya was extremely invested in the hero at work, not just his speed and reflexes, which allowed him to all but dance around the villain, but also his quirk as he never thought wood could be applied like that, he wondered if the pro tested his power against fire. Now that he thought about it, if he allowed himself to get a little burned, wood already burned pretty easily, making it a great fuel for the flames but maybe he was a type of wood that was resistant, maybe he trained himself to lessen that inherent weakness. How would he have done that? Maybe he burned himself over and over again to increase his durability, if that was true then he hoped he didn't start! He could even help-!

No! Bad thoughts!

Smacking himself to the confusion of the man next to him, he went back to making notes, trying not to think about fire or burning Kamui, that was bad, he knew that well so he shouldn't think it!

Lucky for him, Kamui Woods offered up a distraction from his pyro-centric thoughts. "Illegal use of your quirk during rush hour, destruction of state property, attempted robbery and assault resulting in bodily harm." Landing on the roof of the terminal, the pro listed off the numerous crimes that the villain had committed in the last 10 minutes alone.

Having made his judgement, he brought up his wood covered up, and from it, root-like growths started to form, as he prepared his final move to end this fight. "You are the incarnation of evil."

"Here it comes!" Midoriya cheered, he had seen him use it before, but only on TV, he wouldn't wait to witness it in person!

"Show us something flashy, Tree man!" The man next to him also cheered out.

"Pre-Emptive…" Having seen him use it many times, Midoriya was able to match his wording in his eagerness.

"Binding Lacquered Chain Prison!" Kamui Wood's arm exploded into a swarm of branches, all of them heading towards the villain who raised his arms to defend himself.

"Canyon Cannon!" Then out of nowhere, another hero appeared, a blonde-haired woman of equal if not taller size to the villain. She rushed in and delivered a giant drop kick to the villain, sending him flying right off the subway line and onto a, mercifully, empty street with a massive thud.

"What?" Her sudden appearance caught everyone off guard, from the civilians, Midoriya, the police, and even the pros as Kamui Woods was left standing on the terminal roof, his super move halfway complete…but no target anymore. The shock of her arrival didn't last long as to his embarrassed confusion, dozens of guys in the group whipped out cameras and started taking pictures of the heroine, more accurately, a butt.

Having landed in a crouch, the woman slowly got up to face them. "Today is the day of my debut!" She started, but Midoriya noticed that she didn't turn her body to the cameras, just her head and kept her backside very much in view. "My name is Mt. Lady. A pleasure to make your ass-quaintance." Oh, so she wanted them to take pictures of her butt? The thought of being so blasé about it like the men that just felt emboldened by her wordplay made him red in the face.

He looked away from the whole fan service thing happening but instead saw something even worse.

A businessman, maybe in his late 30s and looking thoroughly bored with the entire situation was smoking a cigarette. Seeing the smoke rise from the cancer stick, his eyes focused on the small light, on the fire that burned through it even though he didn't want to…maybe, he didn't know but he knew he wasn't supposed to. His misgivings aside, he got a little sweaty as he was hyper-focused on that, his breathing increasing, not even noticing how things had calmed down now that the villain was defeated. His breathing increased as he felt the urge to embrace that fire, make it stronger, and larger, and use it in all manner of ways. Helping people by burning-!

"Hey, kid, you alright?" He was knocked out of his obsessive focus by the man, who shook his shoulder to get his attention. Back in reality, he reached for the back of his hand and pinched himself as hard as he could, punishing himself for that idiotic slip-up. Was that all it took, years of his mother's instructions and all it took was a simple cigarette to nearly make him act out again? She taught him better than that, he had to resist those urges! Not embrace them like a villain!

"F-fine! I'm fine!" He squeaked out to the man, his face still red as he tried to cool himself down, even if his normal body temperature was naturally higher than what would be considered normal

"…Okay." The man didn't seem to believe him, but there was some mercy for him as he didn't push things further with what Midoriya knew was suspicious behaviour, he was just glad that he didn't see what he was focused on. Not wanting to waste time, he packed his notebook away, turned and ran off towards school. He'll try to get Backdraft's autograph later, away from fire. Away from his urges.

"Since you're all 3rd years, it's about time you all think seriously about your futures." As the teacher spoke, the class paid ample attention, well most were as Midoriya was busy drawing in his notebook, having finished what he could about the heroes, he had taken to adding to the dozens of drawings of fire he had created. The other person who wasn't paying too much attention was a dirty blonde kid whose feet were kicked up on the desk while he leaned back, but no one said anything about this.

The teacher grabbed one of the many forms from the stack he had on his desk. "I'll be handing out these forms where you'll fill in what you want to be when you're grow up, and which high schools you'll be applying to but-!" As he paused, some of the students flashed their quirks

"You all want to be heroes, don't you?" Just like that, his gruff tone shifted to a more jovial one as he tossed the form into the air like it didn't matter. At his question, the entire class erupted in cheers as almost everyone activated their quirks which came in all sorts of powers. From the girl who could levitate small objects, to a student who could bulk up, the kid with the extra-large ears and a girl who could turn her hand into fire. Midoriya avoided looking at her the most.

"Yes!"

"Yes, yes, you all have wonderful quirks! But remember you can't use them on school grounds, there are rules!" The teacher didn't seem all that into actually enforcing that rule, allowing them to goof off till the kid with his feet up spoke.

"Sensei! Don't lump us together into the same group like you're equal." His voice carried a certainty and arrogance that Midoriya sometimes hated and sometimes envied. "Unlike the rest of these losers, I'm not going to end up stuck at some bottom-of-the-barrel school!" He looked up at the teacher with a smirk on his face, confident that he was the best damn student there which didn't sit well with the others but Bakugo Katsuki had never been one to care for the opinions or feelings of others, for both good but mainly bad.

"That was uncalled for, Katsuki!"

"Yeah, Where the hell do you get off saying stuff like that?!"

"You extras should just accept your role in life!" Despite that pushback, Bakugo was unrepentant as he continued to hold himself far above them.

Their teacher, who Midoriya realized was just the rest, didn't so much admonish his old friend for his behavior as he just fueled his ego by mentioning something. "Oh, if I remember correctly, you wish to apply to U.A. high, Bakugo."

Hearing that threw a bucket of water on the rage that the class felt towards the dirty blonde boy, how could it not as U.A. wasn't just some hero school? It was regarded as the best of the best, with only Shiketsu being able to call itself its rival in all things. To attend such a school, even in its general studies course was a surefire way to set yourself up for success in life ."The national school?"

"They've been in the top 5% of schools for the last 20 years!"

"It's a miracle just to get in, they have super strict entry requirements!"

Hearing all this talk about how great U.A. was and how much of an impossibility it would be to get into the place only made Bakugo's ego larger. "And that is why you're all destined to be extras till the day you're old and grey!" Uncrossing his feet, he jumped onto his desk, standing tall over the room with a smirk across his face.

"I aced the mock test, as expected of the future number one. I'm the only one from this place who even has the chance to get into U.A. And I'm going to surpass All Might and become the next top hero. My name will go down at the top of the highest earners." He proclaimed his goal to them all, the room falling silent as despite his terrible attitude and penchant for not even using their names, none could ignore his potential. Not only was he the top student grade and P.E. wise, but his quirk was made for hero work.

"Oh, Midoriya wished to go to U.A. as well, strange." Bursting that bubble, the teacher made another stunning face as he stretched his head before looking Midoriya's way in confusion. Midoriya, having wished to avoid attention sunk deeper into his chair right as the laughter started up as people looked his way with amusement or disgust and he didn't know which was worse.

"Huh, Midoriya? No way!" He tried to ignore that.

"Like you have any chance at getting in!" He tried to ignore that as well, even though he knew he trained when he could.

"Why would they even let a villain into their school?" He wasn't a villain…

"He'll just try and burn the place down in like a week!" No, he wouldn't! He wasn't even allowed near anything that make fire, even if it was, he wouldn't do something so evil!

"Who wants a villain that burns small animals for fun?" One girl sneered at him, one of the few who had been with him and Bakugo since kindergarten.

Hearing her bring up that age-old point, he couldn't help himself as he scrambled to his feet to defend himself. "I-I wasn't hurting them! I wasn't trying to help-!"

Whatever he wished to say was interrupted by Bakugo slamming his hand down on his desk, setting off an explosion which heavily damaged the school's property and sent him scrying back in fear. He knew when Kacchan was like this, there was no escaping it.

"Hey, Deku!" Bakugo approached him, his hands smoking as he seemed close to jumping the boy and beating him senseless there and then, teacher be damned. "You're even lower than the rest of the extras, where does a villain like you get off thinking he can stand in the same ring as me?"

Trying to appease him, Midoriya backed up even further to the back of the class, waving his hands about. "I-it's not like that, Kacchan, I swear! I'm not trying to fight you, h-honest." He lowered them, his face looking at the floor as he couldn't face him, but he couldn't lie about what he wanted either. "I…I just want to help people, that's all…"

"Help? From you?" Bakugo's question hurt as if he couldn't comprehend that he would want to be a hero who helped people. "You must be dumber than you look if you think anyone would want your help from a damn arsonist!"

Hours later, it was the end of the school day proved to be incredibly stressful for the boy. But it was over, so he could return home, take a warm shower and do some of his breathing exercises to keep himself in check. He had to if he wanted to be a hero like his idol.

With most of the class already done, Midoriya was still at his desk, a new one as Kacchan trashed the last one, as he went through the news reports about the morning's incident. He wasn't able to see it all, but he was still smiling as he went through the articles, many including pictures of the incident from when it happened to when it was resolved with the three heroes posing with the captured villain, Kamui Woods strangely absent from the shot.

"I can read up more at home." He said to himself as he picked up his notebook, but before he could place it into his bag, it was snatched out of his hands. Looking up, he gulped when he saw that the person who took his book was Bakugo who looked at its cover before scowling at him as if the book offended him.

"We're not done, Deku." He told the shorter boy, holding the book out of his reach.

Two of his cronies walked up to them, curious about what he was doing now. "Katsuki, what's that?" Bakugo didn't so much as turn to them and just showed them the notebook over the shoulder, with the two leaning in to read the title Midoriya had written on it.

"'Ways fire can help heroes' Volume 7?" After reading it, the two laughed at the idea that he kept an entire book for that kind of stuff, which made Midoriya feel nothing but a deep embarrassment. Yes, he kept the book, what was the issue with that? "Seriously?"

"Man, it's like he's a broken record." The other shook his head, treating him like a slow child but he wasn't. His grades were in the top 10 of the class.

"G-give that back!" Midoriya got up and reached for the book, but again, Bakugo held it out of reach. Looking at him, then at the book in his hands, his face remained passive as he hit the book with a small explosion, to the shock and horror of Midoriya.

"Why?!" Midoriya cried, seeing his latest work be reduced to a burnt mess. As if to add insult to injury, Bakugo then tossed it over his shoulder right out the window as Midoriya rushed past him as if he wished to go after it. looking down from their class, he saw to his dismay that it had landed in the koi pond, no doubt entire pages of notes, theories and illustrations were lost.

Turning around, he found that he was still surrounded by the three, with Bakugo the closest to him, making him nervous, nervous in a way that led to his body temperature rising. "Listen, Deku because I'm only going to say this once. Most top-class heroes all have stories about their school days and how they were the diamonds in the rough." He started, taking a step towards him which Midoriya reacted to by stepping back, till he was up against the windows and trying to keep himself in check.

Either not noticing that Midoriya was heating up, or not caring, Bakugo continued. "It makes them shrine even brighter when they were the only ones from their school that made it and I intend to shrine the brightest by being the only one from this dump to make it into U.A. I am a perfectionist after all" Bakugo bragged, though one of his followers looked to the side.

'He's petty that's for sure.' He, however, kept that thought to himself lest the aggressive blonde turn his ire to him.

"And nothing and I mean nothing," Bakugo placed a hand on Midoriya's shoulder, feeling that his body was warmer than it should be, but disregarding that as he added to it by using a little of his quirk, his hand starting to smoke as it burned the shorter boy's jacket. "Will get in the way of that, last of all being some pyromaniac that's so fucked in the head he thinks setting fires to shit is a good thing. How you haven't ended up in jail with the rest of those loser villains is a mystery." Midoriya flinched at that…he was normal, wasn't he?

"But I shorten it since I know you're not smart, Deku." Bakugo leaned down, a smile as welcoming as a croc's on his face which filled Midoriya with nothing but fear and anxiety, things that just made him warmer. "Don't apply to U.A. after we finish our 3rd year here, I don't want to see your shitty face ever again." Bakugo released his hold on him, leaving the boy's jacket and shirt's right shoulder burned all the way through, though he felt a bit of irritation at the fact the skin was unharmed. Sure, he wasn't trying to hurt the fucker, but he would have liked to see more damage the that.

Still, he had said his piece and turned to leave the boy in his misery. Hopefully, he'll realize his place is either as some nobody or a villain that he'll take down one day, proving that he was the better of the two. As they moved to leave, Midoriya remained silent as he tried to control himself, trying to remember the rules his mother set out for him.

His silence was taken another way by his bullies who couldn't resist kicking him while he was down. "Man, look at him, he can't even say something back."

The other chuckled. "Did you expect he would? Guy has no backbone and yet he wants to be a hero. He'll run away from villains more than we would."

At the doorway into the class, Bakugo stopped, turning his head to look back at Midoriya. "Hey, Deku. If you really want to be a hero that badly, there's a quirk fix to the villainous quirk you got going," What could he possibly offer him-"Pray that you're get something better in the next life and take a swan dive off the roof." Hearing this, Izuku felt his anger and shock rise. He knew that he and Kacchan weren't close anymore, that he didn't care for him but to suggest such a thing, and to say it so casually.

It was evil.

His rising emotions only added fuel to the fire as stream started leaking from his mouth and nostrils, he turned around, his emerald eyes nearly glowing-

He stopped himself. He remembered the rules.

He pinched the back of his hand so hard that it bled, but it did the trick as he cooled, leaving him feeling empty as Bakugo looked on, seeing that he couldn't even say something to that, the boy dismissed him and left him, alone.

It took a while, but he finally managed to calm himself down to the point he wasn't a human kettle close to boiling. Leaving the class and approaching the koi pond, he muttered that he shouldn't let himself off the lease like that. 'Heroes don't do that, it'll upset mom.' He thought to himself when he envisioned what he wanted to do at that moment, shaking his head as he knew that was a bad impulse, just one of the many urges he couldn't let control him.

At the pond, he could just watch as the fishes inside tried to eat his book, even though it was far too big to fit into their mouths. He didn't know why they bothered, it wasn't like they could bite off pieces of it. "That's not food, you stupid fish." Picking up the book, he didn't care for the fish as they dispersed, as his focus on solely on his work. It didn't look too badly damaged, Bakugo's blast mainly just affected the cover which he could always replace or cover up.

But it was only when opening it, that he saw the true damage. His pencil drawings looked alright, certainly messy but not too bad, but it was the ink that was the issue as the trip into the water had left most of it runny, reducing his carefully written notes and theories into illegible nonsense that he could barely make heads or tails on, and that was only because he wrote it so he had a clue of what was supposed to be where. That wasn't even the worst bit as entire pages were stuck together, and his trying to pull them apart just tore them, so he wouldn't even just dry it page by page with a fan and sunlight.

Concluding that the entire thing couldn't be salvaged, he signed as he placed it down and took out his phone to take pictures of what he could save so he could transplant it into another book. "At least there isn't anyone else around…" He got to work, carefully flipping pages and taking the best pictures his phone could manage. As he did so, he wondered about how he could make this faster he heated the book, it'll dry it off and-

"No, no…I can't." He said to himself as he continued, thinking of how things got so bad for him, how they got to this.

No matter how much he thought about it, how many times it happened, it still stung to be sitting alone.

It was a beautiful day, with summer being the season, the group of 6-year-olds didn't need to go to school and could spend their days just playing, hanging out and having fun with the park being the best place to be for a bunch of kids that lived in apartments. Midoriya had come with them, as he always did but as it became the norm recently, they only let him join them so they could keep an eye on the villain, even if he could never understand what made him a villain at all, he didn't do anything bad.

The only thing he could think about would be the fact his quirk came in super late, as he only had it for a few months now. His 4th birthday came and went with nothing, but then his 5th came and his parent got concerned so they took him to the doctor. He explained that he had a quirk, but he also had the extra joint in his pinkie toe which the doctor confirmed was possible, but extremely rare, as in 1 in 15,000 rare with the confirmed cases of this occurring in Japan over the last 20 years being less than 4,000 so he was super rare.

Regardless, he found himself sitting alone on a park bench, with only his Limited Edition All Might action figure to keep him company as the other kids played with a ball. He wanted to join them like he used to, but they never let him. With him distracted thinking of all the cool stuff All Might could do and how he could totally save the Prime Minister and fight an army of sharks at the same time, he heard one of the boys speaking up.

"Hey, can someone get the ball, it landed next to the fire villain!" He was jolted out of his fantasy by those words, those hurtful words. Looking to the side of the bench, he saw the offending ball in question.

Despite him never wanting to hurt a fly, none of the other boys wanted anything to do with him as they backed away from him, even though he was nowhere close to them. "I don't want to; he'll burn me like he did the hamster." He ducked his head, trying to hide his tears and focus on the smiling All Might doll in his hands.

"I'm surprised he hasn't burned the ball; he loves setting things on fire." That wasn't true! He didn't like setting things on fire for no reason, he only did it to help, that was what heroes did!

"I heard that makes him a pyromaniac." He didn't know what that word meant, but he felt like it was making fun of him too.

"I'm not a villain, I was trying to help Remmy. He was sick." He muttered, thinking back to the old hamster that their class was taking care of. Everyone loved Remmy, Izuku among them, but when it was his turn to take him home for the weekend, he noticed that he was really sick. The teacher had told them he was a little old and would need to see the vet now and then, but he was able to help them right there and there! He didn't know why his classmate screamed when she saw him do it, or why his teacher called his mother, he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Are you guys that scared of Deku? Fine, I'll get the ball. Heroes don't fear villains after all." Bakugo Katsuki, his once best friend spoke up. Hearing him refer to him like he was a bad person so casually was the tipping point as Midoriya started to cry openly, running from the park

"Look at him, Deku knows villains always run because they know they can't win." Even with the distance, he could still hear Bakugo mocking him and the others laughing, he wasn't a villain, he wasn't! He was a good boy, he did his homework, helped people, didn't use naughty words and wanted to be like All Might!

He didn't know how long he ran, all he knew was that he was back home and hugging his mother as tight as he could, crying like a baby even though he tried to stop it.

For Midoriya Inko, it had been a normal enough day. She woke up, found her son watching cartoons like she expected of a child out of class, made them breakfast and went out to do some shopping before returning home. She met up with some friends from work who insisted she change up her wardrobe, but she was fine with what she had. People called her a bit plain, but she didn't mind as she liked how she looked. She was in shape, happily married, and had a wonderful son and job so didn't see the need to change what she looked like.

She had her reservations about this, having heard that he was struggling to socialize with other kids ever since the hamster incident. Now she felt like she should have done more as she had been cleaning a few things when the door burst open and Izuku came barreling in, crying his little heart out. Acting quickly, she wrapped the boy up in her bandaged arms and tried to soothe him but all he could do was cry that he wasn't a villain over and over again. She knew he was a good boy, the best thing that could have happened to her as he was a mix of all the best parts of her and her husband and that he had a kind heart.

It wasn't his fault that he got a villainous quirk.

Stepping up to an underpass, he slapped his cheeks to get himself out of the funk. "Calm down, Izuku. They've been saying that stuff for years. you made up your mind, right!" He asked himself with more pump than he felt, but he had to, or else he'd fall deeper into that hole.

"You're gonna do it! Be just like All Might and help people with a smile and a laugh!" Remembering his idol, he did his best impression of his laugh as he walked through the underpass, halfway through when he stopped, hearing something behind him. turning around, his fear shot through the roof as all he could see was a mass of slime that seemed to bloat out the entire place. "A villain!"

He couldn't see what his face was in the dark, especially thanks to his mutant body altering his body to such an extent, but he could still feel his eyes on him. "A medium-sized invisibility cloak? You'll do." Midoriya didn't know what that meant, and he didn't want to stick around to find out so he turned on his heel and tried to run.

Keyword: Tried.

Before he could take two steps towards the exit, the villain crashed into like a jello-like wave, seconds later he was trying to force him into him through his mouth and nose, suffocating him as he tried to fight back. "Don't worry, I'm just gonna take your body for a little bit." Midoriya didn't hear him, too focused on his growing panic and dwindling oxygen supply. In his panic, his control over himself started to slip and his urges started to show themselves as his body rapidly heated up, approaching the boiling point of water in seconds, before going further than that.

The villain could feel this, steam started coming into contact with the portion of itself inside the boy's mouth and nose, and slowly, this his shock, he felt the build-up of steam starting to force him back, even when he applied more force, he found that he was losing ground as the boy become hotter and harder to handle. Soon he felt his slime-like appendages also start to heat up from extended contact with the stuff as the boy continued to heat up, it was like he was a steam engine or something!

This heat continued to rise as the boy seemingly was burning up from the inside out, his eyes wide yet not seeing a thing as the kid was seemingly trapped in a panic-induced self-preservation tactic as the steam continued as the boy started ripping at him, his movements doing more than before as his strength increased with the heat, allowing him to claw at him more, strip away more of him even as he tried to add even more force and get this over with. To Midoriya, he could feel this, in some corner of his freaking out mind, he could understand this, and from there, a simple solution came:

Hotter

His body's temperature rose, faster the before, increasing his power as the steam was soon replaced by smoke, heated smoke that burned the villain more than the steam did as he grit his teeth through it, hoping that his efforts would mean he gets a new body, one proving itself to be incredible useful but alas, the heat was too much as it started leaking out his ears and eyes, with the villain hearing a sizzling sound which to his horror, he realized was the kid's eyes, they were burning up, catching fire and he didn't even seen to notice. He found himself having to pull back as the heat was proving too much, his body was starting to bubble and cook and even through his slime, he could feel the heat.

As he pulled back from the child, letting him fall to his knees as he took mouthfuls of air and vomited out the remaining slime in equal measure, the manhole cover he had slid out from under shot out, catching his attention as he turned to see what that coul-

No, not him, anyone but HIM!

Midoriya wasn't in any state to notice the arrival, but he looked as well and felt his burnt eyes widen as they took in the sight of his idol, of the number one hero himself.

All Might was here. He couldn't hear it, but he saw the villain try to attack him, only to fail as the number one dodged the strike and jumped towards them, his right first pulled back, the next part being too loud for him not to hear.

"Texas Smash!" With that one blow, All Might created so much wind pressure with just his fist that he sent the villain flying, splatting against the sides of the underpass, the villain was knocked out by the blow. That same blow doused the boy, cooling him more than an ice bath ever could. However, with the rapidly declining adrenaline, and the sight of his hero in the flesh saving him, it all proved too much for Midoriya, who soundly fell flat on his face, out like a light, the green flames that had once been present rescinding back to where they came.

And it's done! What did you think? Was it a fun read, do you have questions or theories for the future? If you do, please leave a review about them, it's always fun reading the feedback from you guys. I wanted to reveal more about his quirk, and his backstory here but I held myself back. There was also the word limit as I'm keeping chapters between 6-7K so if I did add more, it wouldn't get the time it needed to leave an impact. And again, this story will diverge in the future, with the one being known as the Path of Waves and the villain being known as Path of Storms, a gold star to whoever can figure out who will be important reasons for the change in either of those.

Anyway, that's it. the next chapter will be out October 12th but if you like, just head on over to my p-a-t-r-e-o-n at p-a-t-r-e-o-n Ducksmakegreatminers and you be able to read chapters a week early, join me on discord, and offer up ideals for commissions I can write for you.

p a t reon . com (slash) Ducksmakegreatminers