AN: Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates in the last few weeks... Things have been tough since the new year started, and I have had to concentrate on finding work. Anyways~ this is a new project that has been sticking in the back of my mind for the last week or so. Seriously this was pushing to be written that it was blocking any ideas I had for my other stories! Well without further adeu, here is my newest story 'A Hero's Destiny.' I do not own 'My Hero Academia' or Destiny, they belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 1: Destined Origins
Musutafu, Japan, Year 22XX
"Get back here you useless piece of quirkless garbage!"
Running through the forest outside Musutafu, one Izuku Midoriya was currently trying to get away from his most current group of bullies that wished him bodily harm for being the only kid without a quirk. Unfortunately for the young eight year old, this treatment had become more and more regular since he was diagnosed at the age of four. At first, the treatment had been small, just some name calling and the loss of his few friends. The first change in treatment started three months after his diagnosis when the greenet attempted to help his childhood friend, Bakugo Katsuki, up after falling into a small creek when they along with two other children had been exploring the nearby woods attached to the park they frequented. Bakugo, or as Izuku called him Kacchan, instead of thanking his friend for helping him up and checking he was okay after his fall, had instead blasted Izuku with an explosion aided slap that had caused a light burn on the now crying greenet's face. When Izuku had asked why his friend had done that, Bakugo had replied in a tone that had showed only anger and disgust.
"Why would I ever need help from a shitty quirkless Deku like you?" The blond had then walked forward and faked another blow causing Izuku to flinch from fear of being hit again. Smiling in sick delight at the fear Izuku was now showing, Katsuki then continued his hurtful words.
"Just know you quirkless shit, I will never need help from someone as useless as you!" The young blonds' red eyes then narrowed in hatred at the boy who had been, up to that point, his friend, (or underling/toady/etc.) "In fact, never talk to me again you freak! Deku's like you shouldn't attempt to talk the future Number One Hero-"
Still crying on the ground, Izuku was caught completely by surprise when he was suddenly kicked in the face by Bakugo. The hit had been so hard that Izuku ended up losing one of his baby teeth and splitting his upper lip. The explosive blond then proceeded to stomp up the embankment to where his two cronies were chuckling at how their 'weak link' had been put in his place before following the blond away from the area. Izuku would stay there crying and holding onto his burnt cheek for thirty minutes before he could collect himself enough to limp back to his families apartment. When asked by his fretting mother what had happened, Izuku couldn't stop the sudden surge of tears as he told his mother what had happened between him and Kacchan. When the now sobbing boy finished his tale, Inko could only stare in shock at what her best friend's son had done to her baby boy. Never in a thousand years would Inko have thought that young Katsuki could have become so cruel and callus as to hurt Izuku just for his quirk status.
After she had managed to calm down Izuku, Inko then spent the next few hours explaining that the young boy was not in any way responsible for the actions of Katsuki. Inko would then state that Katsuki was no longer a friend to her still teary eyed son, and that he should endeavor to avoid the now hostile blond. Sad that he had lost his only friend, Izuku eventually agreed with his mother and would from then on attempt to keep away from the now toxic blond. Of course, this didn't go to plan, Izuku couldn't seem to go more than a few days without being harassed by not only his classmates, but older students as well. Inko, enraged at the way her son was being treated, attempted to bring this to the attention of the school staff and other children's parents. Only to be rebuffed by said individuals with statements such as 'Oh it's just children roughhousing' or 'well what can you expect of such a vulnerable boy playing with those so much stronger than him?'
That last statement had been from the school principal at Aldera Elementary School. Inko could only stare on in disbelief at the blatant quirkism these fools were foisting upon her boy. Even the police and local pro heroes could or would do little to help stating similar reasoning though slightly changed. Finally Inko, nearly at the breaking point, attempted to call her husband Hisashi Midoriya to hopefully get some help from the seldom seen man, if not maybe pull Izuku from the school and bring them to America. Only to almost collapse when she found that her husband had abandoned them to start a new family with a woman he had been having an affair with for the past year and a half. In response, Inko then sued the asshole and ended up with a rich settlement along with child support. This last act seemed to harden Inko, although she would never take anything out on Izuku, the young woman proceeded to cut all ties with her best friend and hunkered down to improve herself to support both herself and her son. This lead to Inko becoming an accomplished civil lawyer who primarily focused on quirk discrimination and quirkless discrimination. When Inko had told her son what had happened with his father, Izuku had been sad for a time, but was proud of his mother and supported her in her path forward.
Fast forward to the present, and Izuku was honestly sick of the treatment he was receiving at the hands of his 'peers'. He was now having to constantly dodge multiple attempts to beat him, all in the hope that these beatings would 'put the quirkless in his place.' His most recent chasers, a group of young teens from Aldera's junior high school, led by a boy with a moderate mutation that gave him the appearance of a humanoid badger or weasel, were now chasing Izuku through an old forest outside the Musutafu city limits. Izuku honestly had no idea how this group of thugs had managed to chase him this far from his original path home, but he was sure the only reason they were able to continue tracking him was due to said weasel boy's sense of smell.
A sudden sharp pain in his leg knocked Izuku from his thoughts, causing the boy to trip and fall forward landing hard on the forest floor. Fighting back a scream of pain, Izuku looked down to see what had hit him, only to pale at what he found. There sticking out of his leg and covered in his blood, was what looked like a javelin made from polished stone. Izuku didn't even have a moment before he was knocked from his shock by a cruel chuckle that made its way towards him. Looking up in fear, Izuku could see the now stalking forms of three of the group of boys that had been chasing him. Crawling backwards, slowly so as to not cause more damage to his impaled leg, Izuku looked upon the three that approached him.
The first of the trio was the before mentioned weasel quirk user. The boy was thin with greased back blond hair standing at around one hundred twenty centimeters. The boys features were sharp with beady black eyes and sharp teeth that were revealed by his sick smirk. In the boy's hand was a large pocketknife that glinted dangerously in the late afternoon light. The second boy was taller than the first and looked to be the one that hit him with the spear, considering that said boy was holding another spear in his hand. The second boy's features were rather plain and blocky compared to either of his compatriots making him honestly forgettable as far as many would consider. The third boy of this trio was the most concerning of them all. The boy, if Izuku could call him such, seemed to be in his final year of middle school but was built like a troll from a fantasy story; long greasy black hair fell over his long sharp features that were dominated by his large, hooked nose, Izuku was also concerned by the near hungry look the boy was giving him as he licked his exposed yellow jagged teeth with a black tongue. In all honesty, if Izuku hadn't been scared for his life, he would have had a million questions about what their quirks were and how they worked. Before Izuku could speak he was interrupted by the oily voice of the weasel like boy.
"Well, well, well~ what do we have here? A little piece of quirkless trash bleeding all over our turf?" The still unnamed duo behind Weasel began to chuckle cruelly while egging on said boy.
Izuku attempted to speak again only to be stopped when the troll looking boy sprang forward and kicked the greenet in the chest hard launching him back into a nearby tree knocking the breath from his lungs. Izuku had to fight down the urge to vomit his lunch from the force of the kick, his vision began to grey at the corners causing him to panic inwardly while fighting back his unconsciousness. Unfortunately for the young boy, the kick had also caused the wound on his leg to grow due to the spear still lodged in it getting caught on the ground. When Izuku could finally concentrate again he could hear the clicking of someone's tongue in disappointment. Looking up, it was Weasel walking forward again while tapping the blade of his knife on his hand and shaking his head.
"No, no, no~ didn't anyone tell you? Worthless wastes of space shouldn't ever speak to their betters. Especially when said waste of space is a damn weak throwback quirkless like you." A twisted glint then filled Weasel's eyes as his tirade continued with growing fervor.
"I mean here you are, one of the dying breed of those left behind by us Meta's, breathing our air, eating our food, taking space in our schools-" Weasel's smirk was replaced by something feral and dangerous, sending fear rolling through Izuku's body seeing where this was likely going. Finally recovering enough to move slightly, Izuku forced himself back to his feet and began limping backwards while keeping his eyes on the weapons the trio held.
"So here's what's going to happen reject," Weasel then pointed his knife to himself and his two lackeys, "we are going to finish what nature should have started with a piece of garbage like you." The animalistic blond then pointed to the troll man/boy and continued with a sick gleam in his eyes. "Then Ghoul here is going to dispose of your worthless carcass, and we go on with our lives." The smile the trio then gave Izuku made the next decision easy, turning on his good leg, the young boy proceeded to limp away as fast as he could.
The trio only looked to each other before sick grins grew on their faces and they began to stalk after their worthless prey…
Izuku was panicking, he could feel that he was losing a lot of blood from his wound, the only reason he hadn't bled out yet was due to the spear still impaled in his leg. Izuku knew this was likely the day he died, he was to injured to lose his pursuers, and to far from the city for anyone to come to his aid. Tears burned in his eyes at how everything had gone, Izuku wanted to shout out and curse the trio of murderous psychopaths (and possibly one cannibal if the inferred threat about 'Ghoul' was correct). Instead, Sadness filled him at how this would affect his mother, Inko Midoriya would be all alone now if Izuku died here. Izuku could only hope that his mother would be able to survive losing him and maybe find happiness, even if he wasn't there…
Due to a combination of blood loss and exhaustion from his running, Izuku didn't notice when he stepped forward only to find nothing underfoot. Looking down, Izuku's eyes widened when he found what looked to be a deep hole in the earth. Before he could think of anything to get himself out of the situation, another lance of stone caught the boy in the shoulder toppling him forward into the darkness beyond. The last thought Izuku had before unconsciousness claimed him
'I am sorry mom…'
Back above the hole where Izuku fell, the trio of murderous assholes just smiled down at the place where the quirkless reject fell. Well, two were smiling, Ghoul on the other hand was pouting and spoke up to his leader in a drawling slow tone.
"Ahh man boss, you promised that I could eat him!" Weasel only rolled his eyes at the whiny tone his underling used before answering in a calming tone.
"Hey, hey, don't sweat it man, that quirkless reject would probably have given you indigestion… well either way, we have done our duty, let's return to the others and get out of here." Both lacky's just nodded and followed their leader away from the hole.
-Line Break-
*Drip* *Drip* *Drip*
Consciousness returned slowly for Izuku, The Greenet was honestly confused at how he was even alive at this point but wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Any gratitude for his survival was quickly lost when pain shot thorough not only his leg but his right shoulder as well. Reaching up to the shoulder, Izuku was quick to find the broken shaft of stone that was originally part of the spear that hit him and pushed him into wherever he was now. Rolling to his uninjured side Izuku moved himself to a sitting position to try and see where he was. At first the darkness was to much for him to make anything out, but as his eyes adjusted, Izuku found that he was in some sort of underground cavern. Looking around, Izuku was eventually able to find a slight glow coming from a tunnel that led further into the cavern.
Realizing that this light was likely his only chance to maybe find help, Izuku struggled to his feet through both pain and dizziness brought on by blood loss. Limping slowly the injured boy made his way towards the dimly lit tunnel, worry and fear began to fill Izuku, he knew that if he didn't find anyone to help him soon that he wouldn't last much longer. Izuku then noticed that the tunnel was slowly growing brighter the further he went, eventually the light was so bright that the boy had to cover his eyes with his good arm so they could adjust. Blinking the spots from his vision, Izuku looked back up to see if he had found a way out, only to gasp in shock at the sight in front of him.
In front of Izuku was a large cavern that looked to be the size of a small stadium. All along the walls were strange gems that glowed with different colored lights; bright flickering yellow, glowing electric blue, pulsing dark violet, glacial blue, and even pulsing emerald. But what truly drew Izuku's attention was the small lake at the center of the cavern, or what laid within. There, standing nearly to the ceiling even half submerged in the lake, was a large shard of a glowing white material. Izuku couldn't tell if the shard was metallic or stone, but the white glow emanating from it seemed to soothe him.
Without even realizing it, Izuku began to slowly walk towards the shard. Each step came easier to the unaware child, Izuku not even noticing that his injuries were closing at an accelerated rate. Walking forward now in a daze, the water under Izuku's feet froze solid, twenty more steps finally brought the young boy within arms reach of the mysterious shard. Without thought Izuku reached out and gently placed his palm upon the surprisingly warm surface. Izuku seemed to come out of his trance just as his hand made contact with the shard, looking left and right, the boy gave a quick 'What?' before his vision was taken by a massive flash of light.
Over the next few seconds Izuku was shown images of another Earth. Unlike in his own world, Izuku observed as the people of this version of his home world eventually developed the technology to leave their home world to explore the deepest reaches of their own solar system. Izuku looked on in awe at how the humans of this world found something when searching the red wastes of Mars, a machine that identified itself as The Traveler. What followed this meeting was what Izuku could only describe as a golden age of advancement and discovery. Almost all of the planets of the Sol system were quickly terraformed and changed to veritable paradises, from the endless farmlands of Mercury and Mars to the vast jungles of Venus. Among the many discoveries and advancements of this age not many could compare to the development of the Exo's; machines originally built for a forgotten war but sapient to the point of being indistinguishable from humans.
Then came the fall of this golden age, later renamed the collapse by the survivors, Humanity suddenly found itself forced from its homes among the stars and back to their origin. When all hope seemed to be lost The Traveler, in a final stand to protect those left, sacrificed itself to push back the forces of a paracausal force only named The Darkness and the many foes who had been enslaved under its banner. For the next few centuries, the remnants of humanity would struggle to survive and reclaim what had been lost when their empire fell. Even though The Traveler could no longer help those left, it didn't leave its remaining people without a method to protect themselves.
Small fractures of The Traveler separated and changed to become small machines named Ghosts. These Ghosts would then travel across the planet and system to find people, alive or dead, and partner with them changing the individual into protectors simply named Guardians. These Guardians, empowered by the Light of The Traveler, would work alongside those in the aptly named Last City to fight back against the foes that worked to finish what The Darkness began during the Collapse. Time seemed to fast forward again as a single Ghost searches among the ruined remains of a Russian Cosmodrome, finally stopping above a scant few remains, the Ghost makes it's decision and reincarnates the remains into a Guardian.
Izuku looks on in awe as this Guardian would travel from his simple beginnings to the safety of the Last City, after arriving there events are sent into motion that drags this new Guardian into battle against many of the foes that now remain within the Sol System. Images of these enemies flash through Izuku's mind; from the many tribes of The Fallen, the militaristic empire of conquerors The Cabal, the absolute nightmare fuel that is The Hive, and finally the Vex, literal death bots made for the sole objective of killing all organic life and converting it to more Vex.
Names and images then rushed through the young boy's mind, the Sol Progeny and the assault of the Black Garden, the resurrection and defeat of the Hive Prince Crota and his disciples, Skolas and his rebellion against the Fallen and the Awoken with his House of Wolves, The arrival of the Taken King Oryx; the father of Crota and the leader of The Taken. Then came the SIVA Crisis, a plague of self-aware and self-replicating nanomachines weaponized by the Fallen House of Devils. Then came the horrors of the Red War; two years after the end of the Taken War, the Last City was caught completely off guard when a Cabal strike force titled The Red Legion and led by an albino Cabal named Ghaul. Ghaul in a move that made Izuku flinch in its cruelty then stripped the Light of the Traveler from the Guardians, the boy despaired as the Guardian named 'Young Wolf' was tossed by the Cabal leader, broken and Lightless, from his ship to what the being considered his death.
Izuku then watched as this Guardian struggled to escape the Last City as it burned around him. Time seemed to fast forward once more showing Young Wolf traversing the harsh wilderness in the attempt to find any survivors, only to find salvation with some of the few remaining remnants of humanity after the Guardians evacuated the planet to regroup. The young boy then watches as the Guardian, led by visions, finds a shard similar to the one Izuku himself had found and is able to re-empower himself. Flash forwarding once more showing Young Wolf's journey to reclaim and defeat the Red Legion, the war ending with the defeat and death of Ghaul by the reawakened Traveler in a blast of pure Light that spread throughout the entirety of space.
As Izuku laughed in joy at the victory, he is brought out of his celebration as the story continues from Young Wolf's perspective. Izuku gasped at the massive construct on Mercury used by the Vex to manipulate time itself, then the discovery of a Vex plot by the Ghost of a thought lost Guardian named Osiris. Izuku continued to look on amazed as Wolf fought the Vex through the past, present, and future in an attempt to stop the Vex Mind Panoptes alongside Osiris. More and more images are shown to Izuku as he attempted to absorb as much as he could. Izuku couldn't help but feel inspired as Young Wolf worked alongside his fellow Guardians to fight back against insurmountable odds that would even topple the most powerful of heroes in his world. Even All Might, to Izuku's dismay wouldn't be able to even hold a candle to any of the foes the Guardians faced. Izuku, laughed and cheered when the Guardians won, he cried when they lost those precious, such as when the leader of the Hunters Cayd-6 was murdered by the brainwashed Uldren Sov, the thought dead brother of the Awoken Queen Mara Sov, and his Scorn forces.
Izuku then looked on in awe at how Young Wolf would discover new abilities and powers derivative of the Darkness in the attempt to face a foe that had been hidden in the background and only spoken of in whispers. This unknown being, spoken of in fear by those who knew of it, and spoken of in reverence by its followers and disciples had many names; The Entity, The Voice in the Darkness, The Black Edge, The Formless One, but the name it gave itself was… The Witness. Flashes of the Witness then flashed across Izuku's mind causing his breath to halt at the sheer wrongness of this being. Izuku then was forced to see as the multiple plans put in place by this being manipulated Young Wolf and his Ghost into giving it the perfect opportunity to enable its Final Shape. In the final moments of the vision, Izuku could only watch in shock and fear as the being approached The Traveler as it attacked with everything it had. The boy could then feel the pain as The Witness carved a line of energy into the surface of The Traveler. Izuku could then feel the desperation of The Traveler as it made a decision to separate a piece of itself and send it from their world to hopefully help another world to avoid the likely fate of its own universe. Then before everything went dark Izuku could hear the final words of The Witness as it seemed to stare directly at Izuku freezing him in place.
"We have seen enough. The children of Sol cry out for Salvation. You promised them life, but deliver only death, as you have for so many before. Enough…Enough death…Enough life. You have no pieces left to place. The game is over. Do not be afraid-" The being then finished its etching creating a glowing kaleidoscopic portal in the surface of The Traveler. Floating forward once more before speaking once more. "Your pale heart holds the key… This time…There is no escape."
It was the moment that The Witness entered the portal that the vision ended causing Izuku to collapse to the still frozen lake as the glow of the cavern diminished as the Shard of the Traveler dimmed. Unknown to all those in this world, this was the day that a hero was made that would use the power of both the Light and the Darkness to protect everyone.