Chapter 1: Origins

"But if you want to help others, you could also become a police officer. They're often teased because-" As the smaller version of the world's greatest hero rambled on, he was oblivious to the boy before him not listening to a word he was saying.

Why? Because Izuku Midoriya was too busy having his world fall apart around him.

Kneeling on the floor of the rooftop, with empty, sunken, tear-filled eyes, the quirkless boy was staring into space, and as the skeletal man that was All Might spoke what were supposed to be words of encouragement, he was lost in his harrowing thoughts.

All I wanted to be is a hero with a smile. Why? Why does a single toe joint decide that I can be nothing more than a useless Deku?! I-It's not fair! If there are so many heroes with so many different powers then why do I need to have one? …Why do I have to be quirkless?

After a while, even though Midoriya wasn't listening to him, All Might stopped, looking down at the saddening sight before him. And with him silent, finally, the boy managed to pick up what was left of himself to shamble together one last question.

"E-Even if I don't have a quirk, even if I'm so much weaker than so many other heroes and have to work ten times as hard as all of them, d-do you think I could still be the first quirkless hero?" He looked up with eyes pouring down.

And All Might could see so much of himself in the boy, but lowered his head solemnly. "I'm sorry, kid. I… I want to say yes but… even as the number one hero I still struggle some days. So no. I'm sorry but you can't be a hero without a quirk." It was hypocritical yes, but what would a boy like this one be able to do against the enemies he had faced? And like he'd said, being a police officer was still available.

"I… s-see." To All Might it was like kicking a wounded puppy, but for Izuku it was so much worse. The one man he'd idolised, no, worshipped didn't believe in him, just like everyone else.

A sad moment of pity passed, the mood miserable on such a sunny day, but as Yagi went to say something else-

Boom!

An alleyway not far from them exploded, with the hero's head snapping towards it. A villain. Now? Hurriedly, with shockingly little hesitation, Toshinori bolted to the door, looking back at the slumped over boy who hadn't even seemed to notice the bang. I'm sorry.

But it was barely a second before he was rushing off of the roof, heading to the scene of the crime and silently wishing he'd never met the boy.

Meanwhile, Izuku noticed him leave but didn't say anything, numb to the world around him. No beatings from Bakugo had ever broken him this badly.

What was the point? Why was he doing this? Why hope to be a hero when he was doomed from the start? A pinkie toe joint and… some other stuff had sealed his fate long ago.

Even All Might doesn't believe in me. Kacchan was right. I really am just a useless De-

BOOM!

Another explosion blasted out, this one bigger than the last and enough to jolt the greenette's head up. He was quite used to that sound by now, but he didn't spot his 'best friend'. Looking up, through the tears Izuku spotted the rising smoke column coming from an alleyway, with an oh-so familiar thought breaking through his haunted mind. A-A villain attack!

Was it habit or was he just jumping on any distraction he could get? Probably both. Either way, it made Izuku rise from his pool of tears to stare in curiosity at the smoke.

He had to see what was going on. He needed to. He knew he was running away from his problems but he didn't care anymore. He just wanted…

Not thinking anymore, Izuku went racing to where Small Might had left before. He could wallow in despair another time, for now, he'd enjoy a hero saving the day.

That wouldn't be what he'd get.

All in all, Bakugo Katsuki had been having a damn good fucking day. He'd aced his algebra test, everyone had said more of the obvious about how he'd get into UA, and he'd even gotten to put Deku in his place before he'd left for the day.

This wasn't very different from his other days, but he was in pretty good spirits when he left, and had been when strutting down an alleyway on his journey home.

Behind him were two of his underlings. He knew they weren't his friends, only leeches that made him look better. Though any dumb fuck could look good next to these two.

They were rambling on about Deku and how pathetic he was in some attempt to appease him, but Bakugo wasn't paying attention, nor did he put any thought towards the soda bottle in front of him before he violently kicked it across the alleyway, spewing its slimy contents everywhere.

He thought nothing of it as he went on. The green slime moving and rising to surround him however was worthy of his attention. In disgusted horror he watched it rise up, and had to look at what must have been an eye staring down on him.

"The fuck are you?!" He shouted, such loudness being his default as he prepared small explosions in his hands, unaware of his two followers having long scarpered.

And the monster responded in a voice that even sounded disgusting. "You don't need to know!" It gurgled out. "Now hold still and this won't hurt! Not that much, anyway!"

The thing laughed as it descended on him, and Katsuki was overwhelmed with a problem his explosions couldn't solve.

And that brings us to the present, with the explosive boy stuck in the same alley, now illuminated by the bright oranges of raging fires.

Explosions erupted from his hands as he struggled stubbornly, trying to keep the revolting thing from entering his body, around him, the buildings burned, and at the end of the alleyway, separated from the whole situation, a crowd of people stood, watching as he struggled for his life inside the swirling mess of a villain.

In the crowd were civilians and heroes, and at the front of them all, Izuku Midoriya watched on in terror, fresh tears streaming down his face.

No… Kacchan… This is all my fault… If he hadn't needed to know the answer to his stupid question, if he hadn't wasted All Might's time… This was all his fault, and now all he could do was watch as his friend died before him. It's not like a quirkless kid could do anything anyway…

"Ugh! This alley is too narrow for me to !" Midoriya was in a trance staring at Bakugo's writhing body, but the words of the giant hero Mount Lady were enough to snap his guilty conscience off of the victim.

His head jolted over to the heroes present, and with every word they said, he felt his stress only rise.

"I can't punch the villain. My punches will go right though!"

"With his explosions I can't get close! He'll just burn any wood I made. We'll have to wait for a hero with a more suitable quirk to show up!"

Wh-What?! He couldn't believe it. These were heroes, weren't they? Wasn't this their job?! And your quirks aren't useless!

Mount Lady should shrink down, obviously, then she could at least help with crowd control.

Death Arms could at least act as bait for the villain, or even try punching the parts that clearly weren't made of slime like the eye.

Backdraft should stop trying to clear the fires when more were only being made, either assaulting the slimy parts of the villain with his ranged attacks or assisting Kamui Woods. And it isn't like empty, evacuated buildings are more important than a person's life anyway!

And Kamui Woods could easily slip in there and try to grab onto Bakugo with his quirk that was perfect for this situation! He could get a little singed, but that was better than the boy dying!

There are so few quirks that wouldn't be helpful in this situation! But it didn't matter. He didn't have a quirk, and now, because of him and his idiotic wish to be a hero, his best friend was going to die.

But he couldn't let him.

Before even he could try and stop himself, Midoriya felt his legs running all on their own, and before he knew it, he had ducked past the barrier and was charging head-first into the fiery chaos of slime and explosions.

"Kid, what are you doing?!"

"You're gonna get yourself killed!"

Everyone noticed him running in, including the victim of the attack. No! Not that damn Deku helping me!

They were promptly ignored. He may be a worthless, quirkless Deku, but if he could at least help save a single life then this would be worth it. And it wasn't like the 'heroes' were helping anyway.

Only when he was nearing the volatile madness did Izuku realise he needed a plan, way later than he should've come up with one. "Haha! Looks like my old puppet's back for more! Well too bad! I've got a better one now!" The villain had already noticed him, and he had to act quick.

Thinking of anything off the top of his head, Midoriya flung his backpack off of his shoulders at the pair, with his impromptu plan going perfectly as his backpack crashed into the thing's eye. I knew it! The eyes are solid!

"Gah! You little shit!" It sent some tendrils of sludge after him, but he'd closed the distance between them before they could do anything.

He was out of time, out of space, and needed something, now!

Thinking on his feet, Midoriya snatched one of the pens off of the ground, one that had fallen out of his bag. It wasn't much, but it'd do, and when he reached the villain, he knew just how to use it.

I just need to get Kacchan some air, even a single breath will help! Avoiding an explosion, Izuku hand clutched onto Katsuki's wrist, and he yanked as hard as he could to do what he could.

But it wasn't enough, so it was then that he spun in place, and with one arm pulling on Kacchan with all his might, the other jammed a pen deep into the creature's large, yellow eye, the villain finally releasing his victim as blood spurted from his wound. "GAH! You annoying fuck!"

With Bakugo freed, the boys fell to the ground, both panting for different reasons. They couldn't ignore the furious villain however, and turned to face it as it faced them.

It raised tendrils of slime, sure to kill them both swiftly and gruesomely, and they closed their eyes to take the brutal impact.

Only, it never came, and all they felt was a rumbling in the ground before them.

When they opened their eyes, in all his muscular glory, All Might stood between them and the slime, the number one hero protecting them in their time of need as a hero should. As he looked back at them, his signature smile glistened as his deep, commanding voice spoke up. "I really am a hypocrite, aren't I?"

The villain cowered at the sight of the All Might, and the battle was decided before it had even begun.

"Now villain, I will make sure that you are locked away for attacking these young children, and that you won't be able to hurt anyone again. DETROIT SMAAAAAASH!" His muscle rippled as he pulled back a punch, and everyone present could feel the power contained in it as it forced air to crash into the villain, ripping apart before it could do any more harm.

Awestruck, the crowd watched as the slime splattered all over the alleyway, and when All Might turned to them with his fists on his hips, they cried out their adoration.

Everyone marvelled at the man that could change the weather with a single punch, and for a second, the green-haired boy's intervention was forgotten about.

"Alright, that should be good. Looks like you only got slightly singed here and there. You should be good as gold by tomorrow." The paramedic finished up his check, and grateful, Izuku hopped off of the back of the ambulance. "Just remember, no matter how good your quirk is, you can't just go charging into situations like that."

Of course… "R-Right. Thank you." Izuku stuttered his words out before departing. The heroes and that were still here, but if he could escape now-

"Hey! You!"

Izuku froze, cringing, before hesitantly turning back to Mount Lady storming up to him, Death Arms and Kamui Woods at her side. They didn't look happy with him. "M-Me?"

"Yeah you! What the Hell was that?!" The three glared at him as they towered over him, demanding an answer.

"Um… W-Well… I…" He couldn't get a word out. What was he supposed to do, say he was doing their job for them?

"Yeah! We had that handled!" Death Arms butted in.

…What?

And Kamui Woods had to follow him up. "This was our debut too! Why'd you have to go and steal the spotlight?"

…What?!

Unfortunately, Mount Lady had to keep going. "Now all the attention's gonna be on you instead of us! How are heroes supposed to do their jobs when kids like you come in and steal the spotlight?!"

…WHAT?! He had been shivering out of his cowardice, but now he shook with a fury he'd never felt before, glaring at the floor beneath them. "You're not heroes…"

"Huh? What did you say, you little pun-?"

"I SAID THAT YOU'RE NOT HEROES!" He screamed in their faces, tears streaming down his face.

Off to the side, the dispersing crowd watched on curiously, but more importantly, a news reporter got the attention of his cameraman, directing his attention to the irate boy and smiling as he pointed the camera towards them.

"I-I-IF YOU WERE HEROES, YOU WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOUR ALL TO SAVING KACCHAN'S LIFE! I-IF YOU WERE HEROES, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE STOOD AROUND WHILST A BOY WAS DYING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!"

"Hey, we didn't-"

"AND IF YOU WERE REAL HEROES, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE…" His breath hitched in his throat, but he couldn't stop now. "If you were real heroes, you wouldn't have relied on a quirkless boy to do your jobs for you."

"Huh?! You're quirkless you little bastard?!"

One last ember of resistance dwindled in Izuku, and out of him, one more sentence burst out of him. "Heroes put their lives on the line to save other people, you're just costumed celebrities pretending to do the right thing while you pose for the camera!"

The street was silent. All eyes were on Izuku, and when the dust settled and his adrenaline wore off, he was left with a crowd of onlookers and three fuming heroes.

His eyes darted up to them, and the rage-filled, justice-seeking Izuku was no more. "S-S-Sorry." He whimpered, before darting in the other direction.

The last the camera picked up of him was his body sprinting off into the distance, rushing back home as fast as his legs could carry him.

Izuku Midoriya ran. He didn't know how long he'd been running, and he didn't know how far he'd run, but his body knew he'd run too far. Long after his sweaty clothes started clinging to him, and his legs began burning under him, the boy eventually couldn't handle anymore, and needed to stop unless he wanted to throw up.

"Urgh!" Heavily, his body collapsed to the floor, leaning back on some random brick wall, and there, Izuku tried to recover.

As he panted, his mind wandered back to the heroes earlier. Or the ones who called themselves heroes anyway.

Why do they get to be heroes? All I want to do is save people with a smile like All Might-

No. Not like All Might. All Might crushes dreams. All Might doesn't believe his own words when he smiles at the camera and says that 'Anyone can be a hero! Haha!'

But even now, even after the world tossed him aside, even after his lifelong hero revealed himself to be a hypocrite, even when his own best friend - a hero in the making - told him to kill himself, Midoriya still wanted to be a hero. He still wanted to be the shining light that people would look up to and smile, and he wanted to help make the world a safer place by making sure no one had to suffer like he and Kacchan had today.

I'm still going to be a hero. I have to be. No matter what All Might says. Even if you can't be a hero without a quirk, I will be a hero!

With a determination blossoming in him, Izuku went to stand up, ready to march home… Only to remember how tired he was.

…Oh yeah. I-I guess I'll just walk home normally then… With the pep taken out of his step, he turned to go. It's a good thing nobody saw tha-

"Young Midoriy-."

"AAAAAAHHH!" He flew back, falling to the floor again after screaming out from the new arrival. Down there, Midoriya looked up, and standing above him, a familiar gangly man looked back at him, a man that Izuku hoped he'd never have to see again. "A-A-All Might?!"

"Sh! Sh! Shh! Not so loud!" He held his hands out, and Izuku got the message. It's not like he was supposed to even know about this, nevermind any others.

"O-Oh, yeah." Midoriya picked himself off the ground again, brushing himself off. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." It didn't matter, not nearly as much as the following conversation would. "But anyway, I came here to ask you why you ran in to save that boy from the slime villai-?"

"All Might," Somehow, the boy cut off the man he'd idolised for years. Only earlier today he'd have never dreamt of doing this, but now… "I'm sorry, but I can't go through this again. I-I know it's rude to be stopping you like this, but I just want to go home right now, and I don't want to have to hear any more about how weak and worthless I am."

Refusing to meet his eye, Midoriya stumbled off. He shambled on past the most famous man in Japan and headed home, not even giving him a second glance.

And Toshinori watched him go, a frown firmly on his lips. He'd hoped the boy had calmed down from earlier with the other three heroes, but some of that potent pain was still there.

He's so much like I was once… Having a feeling he'd regret it, the man sighed and turned away. He hoped he'd get to see the boy again sometime. Maybe when he next saw him he'd be in a better mood so he could listen to his offer…

Hopefully.

I just… I just told All Might to leave me alone! All Might!

It was baffling, Midoriya couldn't believe it, but at the same time, he didn't regret it. The man was no longer the same beacon of hope he once was now, he was just a man, a gangly, wounded, lying man who didn't believe in him just like all the rest.

Mindlessly, the boy made his way back home.

At one point, he spotted Bakugo out of the corner of his eye, clearly wanting to have a 'talk' with him. Even if he didn't beat him up this time though, Izuku would rather go back and get a lecture from the man who was supposed to be All Might rather than deal with Kacchan right now.

So Izuku escaped him. As stealthily as he could, hoping the blonde bully hadn't noticed that he'd noticed him, Midoriya bobbed and weaved through alleys on his way home. He knew the paths, he'd taken them before when escaping him in the past.

After a good while of ducking through alleyways and avoiding the boy like the plague, finally, Midoriya lost the determined Bakugo and made it to his home. Clambering up each and every step, he reached the door, feeling like he just wanted to collapse in the doorway.

Tiredly, he opened the door, but hadn't been prepared for the attack… from his mother, crashing into him and crushing him in a deadly bear hug.

"IZUKUUUUUUU!" Water rushed out of the apartment as the victim struggled to breathe. She didn't relent though, and let out all her grief in this one hug, staining his uniform with her tears.

"Mom! C-Can't… breathe!" Finally, she released him before his face turned purple and took a step back.

"Izuku, I saw the news! You and Bakugo were caught up in that awful villain attack and…" She purposefully decided to not mention his 'performance' he gave to those three awful heroes afterwards, but that didn't mean she couldn't be worried! "Don't go scaring me like that again, Izuku!"

"M-Mom, I-"

Her son went to speak up, but Inko cut him off. She needed to get her words out. "I-I know you want to be a hero, Izuku, and that you won't let being quirkless stop you, b-but you can't just go running into situations like that! You scared the life out of me!"

He looked back at her, and on seeing the tears pouring down her bloodshot eyes, the youngest Midoriya was wracked with grief. He'd done this to her, all because he wanted to be a hero. "I'm sorry, Mom, a-and I know it was stupid, but K-Kacchan was going to die if I didn't do anything! I had to!"

She knew there was no point arguing. From what she'd heard him yell at them, it wasn't like the heroes were being much help, and his actions had helped the situation at least a little, even if they scared the life out of her. Thinking before she spoke next, Inko took a deep breath to try and calm herself. "I… I know you want to be a hero, b-but promise me you won't go running off into dangerous situations like that again, okay?"

"Mom…" He could lie to her. He didn't regret what he did, and he knew she knew that. "I c-can't promise that… I-If I want to be a hero then I'll have to go through these things. I-I can't-"

"Okay."

"Wh-What? Reall-?"

"I know I can't talk you out of these things, Izuku." She just wanted to keep her baby safe, but she couldn't. "This conversation isn't over though! You shouldn't go running into danger like that at every chance you get!"

"O-Okay Mom." He felt he'd gotten off a bit easy, but wouldn't take it for granted.

"Good…" Defeated, Inko finally got a good look at him, and changed the subject. "Now go get in the shower, you stink. And let me put your clothes in the washer before I start dinner, I'll put some fresh ones outside the bathroom for you."

"Thanks, Mom." He did that. Getting into the bathroom, Izuku disrobed himself, and after handing his mother his sweaty school clothes, he let himself relax under the hot water after the long, stressful, life-changing day he'd had.

Entering his room after dinner should have been another stress-free experience, just like the shower and dinner had been. It wasn't.

Izuku strolled in, ready to collapse into his bed, only for his eyes to meet dozens of those of his former idol's staring back at him.

He was taken aback by it. All this time… Have I really been this obsessed? Numbly, he glanced over his collection of posters, his All Might alarm clock, and every other bit of his ginormous shrine to the man. He knew he'd been a fan, but had so much of his life been consumed by jim?

It felt like every day before this one he'd been blind, and now… something in him had changed. For better or for worse he'd see.

One thing was for certain though: they had to go.

One by one, Izuku packed every item into some spare boxes they had. Methodically, emotionlessly, he put away that part of his life. It was about time he moved on anyway, and a lot of this would sell for a good amount too, he'd spent his life collecting it, after all.

When the job was done and every last trace of that man was removed from his room, Midoriya stood at his door and took one last glance at his room.

It was lifeless. Cream-coloured walls with an undecorated bed and no decorations whatsoever. The extent of his non-All Might merchandise had been the Present Mic pen sitting on his desk, besides that…

He sighed. He could choose a new favourite hero some other time, right now he wanted some well-earned rest.

And so, Midoriya climbed into bed and tucked himself in. Tonight, he knew when he shut his eyes that it wouldn't be long before he drifted off.

He'd been wrong. Hours passed, probably. He couldn't really tell, all he knew was that plenty of time had passed and he still was asleep.

It wasn't that he wasn't tired; he was, but his mind was refusing to sleep, and as he stared at the ceiling, having given up on falling asleep, all it did was question everything, begging for answers that he didn't know.

Why don't I get to be a hero? Why me? Every single person around me can, but me. People with weak quirks, people with powerful quirks that don't care about actually being a hero, all of them can be heroes… but not me.

Why? Why can't I be a hero?

He knew why. It was because he had no quirk. All Might himself knew that.

But why? Why don't I get a quirk? What makes me different?

He knew that too, it was because…

Wait. Why am I quirkless?

What makes him quirkless? Midoriya couldn't believe he'd never asked himself this before.

I-I know I don't have that pinkie toe joint, but a tiny bone can't decide whether or not some people can grow 50 feet tall. Can it?

It seemed ridiculous to think that, but could it? He genuinely didn't know.

And Izuku knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he found out.

With energy he didn't think he had left, the quirkless boy swung himself out of his bed, and after tiptoeing over to his computer, he powered it on and waited. When the screen eventually lit up and burned his eyes, Midoriya was greeted with the one tab he'd kept open for so many years: the one of All Might that had made him who he was today.

He hesitated to do it, but soon, after just a simple click, the tab was closed, and the last remnant of the hero was purged from the room.

Now wasn't the time for that though, now was the time for getting his questions answered. He could mourn moving on from All Might another time.

Alright, so, biologically, how do people get quirks?

The search began. He started just searching up what quirks were, starting off small, but that didn't last long when every answer was the same repeated, nonspecific text that he could find in a school book. 'Quirks are power often considered like superpowers inherited genetically that give any person one of many miraculous abilities. It all started when…'

It must be because everybody already knows what quirks are that there's not much explanation to them, but that still doesn't tell me how they exist!

When he moved away from the more mainstream answers, getting nowhere with any of that unoriginal drivel, that led to Izuku not getting an uncountable amount of unhelpful answers, but getting no helpful ones!

'How do people get quirks scientifically?'

'0 Results Found.'

'How do people get quirks biologically?'

'0 Results Found.'

'What in a person's body gives them quirks?'

'0 Results Found.'

'How do people get quirks?'

'1 Results Found.'

Wait, what? It caught him off guard, but before he got excited at finally finding something after his period of nothingness, the boy realised it probably wouldn't be anything too helpful anyway. That didn't stop him from enthusiastically clicking on the link though.

What opened up seemed to be an obscure news article from decades ago, which wasn't comforting in the slightest, but regardless Midoriya began reading.

'Crazed Quirk Doctor Turns To Human Experimentation

Earlier today, on what should have been a nice, sunny morning for Randamu Hospital, police stormed up to the building to arrest one of the doctors there: Kyudai Garaki.

Known to some as the man behind the Quirk Singularity Theory, he was a paediatrician and quirk doctor who worked there, beloved by his coworkers, but for some, he wasn't seen in such a friendly light. At day, he was the kindly doctor who told children what made them unique, but at night, he kidnapped and experimented on his patients, in his words having made a 'breakthrough in quirk research as we know it'.'

Midoriya was skimming through it, he didn't need to read every word. Blah, blah, blah, he was discovered when one of his subjects escaped… Quirk Singularity Theory was already looked down on and this didn't help its case… Oh, here!

'We still don't know what broke the disillusioned man, but he was heard yelling as he was hauled into a police van, witnesses citing that he said numerous things among 'You can't do this to me! I'm on the precipice of making a masterpiece!' and 'Does nobody ever wonder how people get quirks? I know! I could give you all the quirks you could ever want!' to bystanders before he was hauled away.

The man trying to play God will receive numerous life sentences for what he's done, a light punishment for what he's done to others.'

Izuku couldn't believe this. Yes, it was a news article from decades ago about what seemed to be a crazy scientist, but it wasn't just that, it was a lead, and something that brought up a question that Midoriya couldn't have even fathomed beforehand.

Can quirks be given? Could I be given a quirk?

He didn't know yet, but even if he spent all night searching, he was desperate to know, and would stop at nothing to find his answers.

Midoriya didn't get much sleep that night.

Authors Notes:

Ah shit, here we go again.

This fic is a rewrite of my old fic All For Izu, however this time I actually intend to stick with it for longer. And I've got a LOT planned.

It'll be updated over time. Maybe every now and then I'll leave it for a while and come back to it a while later, but this time I intend to do a lot more with it than abandon it after a bunch of not planned out chapters. I don't intend to burn myself out like I did the first time.

Oh, and if anyone wants to proofread the chapters any chapters beforehand, or if you just want to give some advice, be my guest. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!