Chapter Text
Fifteen Years Earlier...
A black leather clad book, emblazoned with a golden ‘V’ on both covers flies through the air, before smacking a white haired man, dressed in red leather, in the face. The man winces at the impact, before catching the book in his hands. He looks down at it for a moment, before returning his gaze before him.
Standing yards away is a similar looking man, same white hair, but dressed in blue, pushing against a mass of orange tissue, various eyes poking out from the flesh. “I’ll want that back someday!” The man gives a coy smirk, continuing to push against the creature. “But for now… Give that to my son.”
“Hey, don’t say that!” The man in red yells, pushing himself up and off from his position on the ground. He sprints towards the man in blue, before being hit with another thrown object. Hit in the stomach, the man sees a sheathed sword hanging in the air for a few moments. “Vergil… Don’t…!”
“My apologies, Dante, but it seems the only one with the power to defeat this ancient relic… Is me.” The man, Vergil, turns his focus back to the mass of flesh. “Well then, Mundus… Let us see how you fare against me, on an equal footing.” Vergil pushes one last time, the two disappearing into a blue gash in the air, before the cut closes… And they’re both gone.
The man in red, Dante, lets himself fall to his knees, an arm held out, failing to reach what isn’t there. He grimaces, before his hands clutch at the thrown objects. The book… And the sword.
“I’ll make sure your kid gets them, Vergil. I won’t let him despair over you.” Dante sighs, picking himself up and off the ground once more. “Still… You could have at least made it easier on me to get the items there. I mean…”
“How the hell am I going to take a sword to Japan?”
“Some time ago, in the rising age of heroes, there was one in specific who was said to come from Hell itself. The Legendary Dark Knight Hero, Sparda. Once an associated member of a powerful Villain Group, he rebelled against his once cohorts, and stopped an attack that would have devastated the planet. Using his, even by today’s standards, hyper powerful Quirk, Demon Lord, he created a pocket dimension, said to be a prison even stronger than the modern day stronghold of Tartarus. Most people these days don’t believe in this story, believing it a myth that villains share to themselves like a scary story at a campfire…”
A young man with forest green hair that splits off from stark white roots runs forwards, a green leather jacket over his frame, his right arm monstrous and covered in green scales, a white heat glowing off of it. He draws a sword from his back, a small engine connected at the hilt.
“But the fact is, this story is real. Sparda existed . And how do I know this? It’s simple really. I’ve met his descendants. His two sons, twins with a rocky history, and his grandson, with a history filled with pain, all because he didn’t receive his power at the same time as everybody else.”
The young man swings his sword out, striking against the skin of the horrific creature. Huge and musclebound, with a horrendous yellow beak instead of a mouth, giant teeth bared against the boy. The teen with the monstrous arms digs his sword in, before twisting the handle, flames spewing out of the engine.
“But, even in spite of the hardships he faced, mockery, abuse, neglect… The grandson only ever had one goal: Help people. Help them whenever and wherever you can, however you can. And even when faced with crushing despair…”
The flames cover all vision, before it shows the same young man, with two regular arms, and much smaller than he was before, standing with a heart broken face in front of a walking skeleton of a man with blonde hair.
“ His dream never changed.”
Present Day…
“It’s nice to have dreams, kid. But you have to be realistic. Without a power, you’ll just die.” All Might, the number one hero, and actually a very injured man, reiterates his point, before walking through the door leading off of the roof.
“So, that’s it, huh?” The young man speaks to himself, his eyes beginning to cloud over. “What else could I have expected though? I mean, it’s what I’ve heard my entire life.” He lets his head lower, as he looks over the edge of the roof. He stands in silence for a few moments before shaking his head, and heading over to the door. “Just focus on a different future for now, Izuku. Mom will get worried.” He says to himself as he walks through the exit, his attention focused squarely on his feet as they walk against the floor and the stairs.
An explosion rockets out in the distance, and Izuku gives it a glance. “Guess another villain attack is happening…” He mutters, before returning focus to the ground beneath him.
Soon enough he finds himself at the ground floor, and he continues to walk. His pocket starts vibrating, pulling out his phone, he gives a small smirk, before answering. “Hey Uncle D.”
“ He-hey, kid! ” The voice rings from the other side. “ Been a while since we last talked, so I was calling to check up on you. How are things going? Still aiming to be the best hero right? ”
Izuku flinches at the question. A hero? Right, like he could be one now. “Uh, yeah. Uhm, how are things going over at the new office? Last I heard, Lady was still trying to get that van working.”
“ Kid, you would not begin to believe how irritated she’s been making me with that stuff. I swear, everytime I talk to her, she’s complaining about the van! I get that having a mobile office is going to be good for business, but we still need to finish setting the one up here in Musutafu! I only wish the shop was closer so we could hang out more. Oh, but when you get into UA you’ll be pretty close, so maybe then we could see each other more often! That reminds me, I need to read that letter I got… ” Uncle ‘D’ begins to trail off, Izuku letting out a breath. Well, even if he’s not going to be a Hero, he could at least get a spot in the General Education course, or if he’s lucky he could go through support. That would do something at least.
An explosion rings out close to Izuku, causing the teen to turn his head. ‘Oh, I guess my feet just dragged me here instinctually.’ He thinks to himself, watching the large crowd forming around the narrow street. Well, might as well keep up the habit. He approaches the crowd, hoping to get even the slightest hint of what’s happening.
“Hey, don’t get too close! I hear that guy had a hostage! He could take you next!” Some person says to another, holding them back. “Besides, this is the same guy that All Might was chasing this morning! I’m sure he’ll be here any moment!”
All Might…? So then the villain was… But he was inside that bottle in All Might’s… Pocket. Oh, that’s right. When Izuku clung to the man the villain must have… No. No, it wouldn’t have happened if All Might hadn’t tried kicking Izuku off with the other leg. That was the pocket the villain was in! If All Might had thought for a second that a normal person would die from that height then the villain would be in custody by now!
Another explosion rings out, Izuku covering his ears due to being so close.
“Damn, and that blonde kid has such a good quirk too. If the heroes would actually do something, then maybe we’d be seeing this kid in action in a few years.” Someone else says, and boy does that catch Izuku’s attention.
Explosions? Strong quirk? Blonde hair? It’s Kacchan… Oh, isn’t that some irony? The same "powerful" boy who told him to jump off the roof this morning is suddenly the one without power… Izuku wants to chuckle to himself, but his morality overpowers that want. Because it’s hitting him that Kacchan is probably going through that same pain he was in. That sensation of drowning, of lacking a sense of control in your own body… The suffocation that comes with powerlessness.
Once more all Izuku can think about is power. Power this, power that, it’s all anyone cares about. But, in this hopeless situation, the people with power are doing… Nothing.
Not a hero is running into the alley to save Kacchan. Not one of these other people. Not a soul.
“ ...Kid? Kid are you still there? ” Uncle ‘D’ asks, Izuku barely paying attention. “ Kid, I keep hearing explosions, are you okay? ” Izuku keeps his eyes on the scene in front of him.
Why isn’t anyone doing anything? Is it because they think they’re weak? Backdraft is the only one actively trying to do something, putting out as many fires as he can, no one else is trying. Kamui Woods could jump on a roof and grab Kacchan. Mt. Lady could push people back on the street, grow, and stomp on that guy. Death Arms… Okay the guy just has giant fists, but he could still do something! These guys… They don’t actually care about saving Kacchan. This is just them trying to save face, before they let him… Die.
Izuku pushes his way to the front, his arm falling to his side. “ Kid?! I’m serious, Izuku, what’s going on?! ” Finally, Izuku can see the other teen entrapped in the slime, struggling to move, to breathe . Finally, with one last struggle, Kacchan manages to raise his head, and show an expression that Izuku never thought he would see.
An expression of fear and pain. An expression that says, no, screams ‘I don’t want to die’. Izuku’s eyes narrow, and the phone falls from his hand, as his body begins to move on its own.
And Izuku takes off running .
‘W-What am I doing?!’ He thinks to himself, as he rushes down the flame engulfed street. ‘Why am I running?!’ The boy screams in his head, as he continues on his path.
“ KID! ” The man on the other end of the phone yells, only a couple bystanders hearing the dropped phone. Izuku was too far gone, both in his mind and in reality, to hear his Uncle.
The slime villain rears back an arm, and Izuku thinks quickly. In this situation, a hero would likely try to blind or at least hinder the villain, right? Well, he doesn’t have guns like his Uncle, not on him at least, but he does have a backpack…! It’s not much, but it’s a work in progress, and he’s winging it.
“Take this!” Izuku screams, flinging his backpack off of his arms. The contents of the bag start spilling out, a pencil case poking the mass of goo in the eye.
The sludge retreats in on itself for a moment, allowing the blonde boy to breathe for a moment. He coughs, trying to catch his breath, before finally paying attention to Izuku. “W-What the hell?! Why are you here?!”
“I-I don’t know, my legs, they just started moving!” Izuku replies, as he starts to claw away at the sludge. “But for some reason… Sitting back and watching you get hurt… I’d rather die than let that happen!”
“A request I’m happy to fulfill!” The slime villain speaks, and Izuku’s eyes narrow in terror. He recovered faster than Izuku thought he would! But, he can almost reach Kacchan! One more swipe, and-!
A tendril of slime, high in pressure, and sharp as a sword comes swinging down, and just as Izuku sticks into the slime once more…
SHINK
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Izuku cries in pain, as his arm is cut through, a cut that opens his skin and splits it apart in a ‘V’ formation. Blood begins to gush out, a fountain of the substance sprouting from the injury.
“Guess I missed… I’ll just go aga-HUH?!” The villain boasts in arrogance, before he begins to feel his very being bubble with hellish heat.
From where Izuku’s hand was inserted, and from the drops of blood that were spilled, steam begins to form, before it turns into smoke, and Izuku’s blood becomes an erupting green flame. The flames begin to dance, before flying through the air, collecting around Izuku’s injured arm. The flames solidify into crystal, before shattering, revealing a deep forest green hide that connects to patches of blue light, Izuku’s hand now sporting claws where his fingers once were, the last two digits of each bathed in the same blue light. Izuku’s eyes begin to glow red, as instinct begins to take over, and clenches his claws into a fist.
His head throbs in pain, and in the milliseconds between now, and his next set of actions, a voice echoes through his mind, saying, “ Power… Give me… More… Power…! ”
“Ngh… rrrrrrrRRRRAAAAA GGGHHHHHH! ” Izuku lets out a feral scream, as he drives his fist further into the slime, the villain splitting apart at the force. “ Kacchan! ” Izuku roars , his still human hand reaching out to grab at the blonde boy.
‘Kacchan’ watches in stunned silence as Izuku grabs him by the collar, and drags him away from his previous point of capture. Suddenly, the two boys are covered in shadow, as a familiar sight to everyone there, now stands between them and the villain.
“ I had told you the traits of the greatest champion… But it seems I wasn’t living up to my own ideal! ” The man yells, grabbing both boys hands in one of his own, Izuku now returning to sanity thankful that it wasn’t his new arm, because holy shit how did that happen ? “ A pro is always willing to risk their life! That is the true test of a hero! ” The hero stares at the villain, before rearing back his other hand, curling it into a fist. “ DETROIT… SMASH! ” The man punches forwards, a burst of air pouring out from the punch, and splitting the villain entirely, separating his body into piles of goo.
He lets go of the two teenage boys, Izuku laying flat against the ground, as he looks at his hand.
‘Willing to risk their life, huh?’
After being scolded by the heroes for rushing in like he did (because of course they’d yell at the only one who actually did something) Izuku found his phone, dead, on the ground and continued his walk home after picking up his stuff. All the while, the only thing he could do is stare at his arm. It glowed intensely, as he thought back on the day's events. It turns out, he didn’t need to jump off of a roof to get a Quirk after all.
It did cost his writing arm though.
Izuku chuckles at his little bit of self depreciation. Well, even still, he can actually do something now, can’t he? Using a quirk he just got, one that made his arm strong… He could be a hero for sure with that. He’d need to train to get the rest of his body to match up with that strength, but if his quirk ( his quirk, that feels so weird to say) works like he hopes it does, then the arm itself will only get stronger and stronger, the more the rest of his body is enhanced. That’s how Uncle D-
“Deku!” A voice calls out, Izuku turning around to face the boy he just helped… No, the boy he did save. “I-I didn’t need your help back there! I was just about to blow him to pieces!”
“Really?” Izuku asks, shocking both himself and Kac-No. The other teen’s name is Katsuki Bakugou, there’s no point in calling him a name that meant something once. Might as well ride this confidence high for now. “Because for all your talk of bravado, and being the strongest, the only person who rushed almost lost his fucking arm!” Izuku yells, holding up his now changed limb. “And now, now that I actually have a quirk, life is going to change! All because I have a quirk, and people watched on live tv that it split a villain in half for a moment! They’re not going to start caring about me, Izuku Midoriya, they’re going to care about my quirk, Whatever This Arm Is! So guess what, you won! I almost killed myself, and was rewarded with a quirk. Congratulations, Bakugou, I’m not a Deku anymore.” Izuku turns back around, adjusting his backpack with his human arm, before walking off.
Katsuki watches as he walks away, before turning around himself. “They’ll only care about the quirk, huh? Yeah… That’s usually what it’s like.” He goes to walk home, his mind thinking back to anyone who liked him outside of his quirk… And only one green haired boy comes to mind.
Izuku keeps walking, until a large shadow covers his vision, and he looks up to see one of the last people he wanted to be around right now. “All Might, sir.” He says, giving the man a bow, if only because you should be respectful to heroes (no matter how badly they stepped on and crushed your dreams before). Izuku concludes his bow, and goes to keep walking, his face sporting a frown.
“ Young m an.” All Might deflates as Izuku walks past him, blood spurting from his mouth. “I have come to apologize, and make amends for what I said earlier.”
“What for? You were right, weren’t you? I couldn’t do anything until a quirk I didn’t know I had suddenly sprouted from nowhere.” Izuku stops in place, refusing to turn around, lest he let his fanboy tendencies take over. “I couldn’t be a hero without power, and I have that now. No apology needed.”
“But, that’s-“
“If you’re about to say that’s not true, then you can forget it!” Izuku yells, shutting the blonde man up. “All my life, people have looked down on me and beaten me up, because I was nothing compared to them. Because I didn’t have anything to protect myself with. My own mom treats me like glass some days because of it, but I don’t put it past her because she means well. And it’s not like I could run to my dad, because he died protecting everybody, like an actual hero!” Izuku reaches up to his head, running a clawed finger through the white of his hair. “But now…” He pulls his hand back out, clenching it into a fist. “Now I’m the one with power. And I’m going to use this power to do what you never could!” Izuku turns around, his eyes glowing red, as his fist burns with white heat. “I’m going to give everyone that hope they deserve. That hope that they can be whoever they want to be. So, have a good day, All Might. And don’t worry, I’ll keep your dumbass secret.” Izuku turns back around and walks off, a scowl on his face, as tears stream down his cheeks.
On a dead street in the middle of Musutafu, Toshinori Yagi stands with a hand outstretched, as he watches the only person he had ever considered worthy of being a successor so far, walk away. All because Toshinori had given into his cynicism, instead of inspiring people like a Symbol should have. But he will not give up here. Not if he has anything to do about it. He’s failed this boy once, he shall not do it again.
Izuku slams the door to his apartment (with his human hand, thankfully) a breath once held escaping his lips. He walks over to his room, and tears the All Might sign from the door (he doesn’t tear the rope though, what he’s about to do… He won’t damage anything, but he won’t let it be him anymore). He opens the door, and gets to work.
He strips his bed of the bed sheets, throwing them over to the corner, before he starts to walk around his room, tossing various framed posters and pictures onto the pile. He pulls out a bunch of figurine boxes, and starts putting the toys away too. He strips his walls of all things All Might, and goes to grab another poster, before stopping.
A picture of the Number Three Pro Hero, Rebellion, hangs on his wall. A hero so ingrained in Izuku’s life, that he was very sad to learn that All Might was his (once) favorite. Izuku pauses, digging his phone out from his pocket (removing the All Might case) and plugging it on the charger. His phone powers on, and he’s met with a number of missed calls. He opens it up, and taps on the contact. It rings… Rings… Rings…
“ Kid? Kid! Oh thank god, you finally answered! What the hell is going on- “
“Uncle Dante…” Izuku interrupts, sobs echoing through his voice as he finally lets his emotions out. “I really need you right now.” Izuku cries, tears escaping his eyes.
“ Give me a few minutes. I’m bringing Trish, and Lady, and a shitton of pizza and stuff to make sundaes. Do you need me to grab you anything else? I can pop by the store and see if they have any new All- “
“Uncle Dante, please .” Izuku is wracked with dread when his Uncle starts to speak that last word. “I just… I really don’t want to be alone right now.”
“ I’m on my way over kid. ”
When Inko Midoriya makes her way home from work, she’s surprised to see a familiar pair of motorcycles parked outside of her apartment complex. She wasn’t expecting her Brother In Law to be coming over today, let alone be bringing his co-workers. It’s a pleasant surprise though, and one she will always welcome.
She can only hope Izuku is being a good host for now, but that’s a worry she rarely ever has. Dante loves Izuku, and Izuku clearly loves his uncle. His co-workers also share that same familial fondness, so she shouldn’t worry about these things.
And then she hears the muffled sobs of her son as she steps up to her door.
If there is a sound that makes any mother worry, it’s the sound of her children crying. No matter if Izuku is a year from graduating High School. Her baby needs her help now.
She unlocks the door, and rushes into the apartment, fear in her eyes. And then she spots a scene she was never sure she would experience.
There was Izuku, crying into his Uncle’s arms, as the man’s co-workers each lay a hand on his shoulders, and the boy clutches onto a shredded piece of pizza in his… Claws. Izuku now has a claw on his hand, or rather the claw is his hand. “Izuku…” Inko mutters, the group turning attention to her.
“Mom…!” Izuku sobs, as his Uncle lets him go, the boy running over to hug his mother.
An embrace she welcomes, even if his hand is coated in pizza grease. Because Izuku needs his family right now, and his family is here in the room with him. His mother, his uncle, whatever Dante’s coworkers are to him…
And, the spirit of pro hero Yamato, Vergil Midoriya, was most likely here as well.