Chapter Text
The universe expands and contracts, and Natsume Takashi, the Boy-God of Death and Rebirth, the Angel Of the Dying Stars, watches from the rooftop of a hospital as the stars nearest Earth, still infinite in number, descend and give their gifts to the humans.
These gifts are portions of the stars themselves, insignificant to them but certainly grand for the humans, and they will tie themselves to the names Takashi chooses to give.
The first human to manifest his gift is a baby boy glowing with starlight.
His name is Bai-Qing Wei.
Others follow.
Anna Klugelheit.
Mizushima Ryuu.
Luciano Vargas.
Rosa Castel.
Different powers manifesting in ways tied to their recipients' names, until gradually, these star-sent gifts are commonplace.
Some manifestations, however, are more subtle than others, and even accounting for individual experiences, those subtle things are believed to be nonexistent.
Quirkless, humans call it.
But Takashi knows better.
Midoriya Izuku meets Natsume Takashi in an underpass on his way home.
Izuku walks with his shoulders slumped and his sleeves torn, and he is sure he's alone until he hears it- a voice, commanding and yet gentle and loving and, in some distant way, familiar.
"No. You will not hurt him."
Izuku dares to turn.
He sees a boy who looks about his age, with pale white skin and silver moonlight hair, and eyes that glitter, impossibly, like nebulae. Above his head is a halo of platinum starlight, and from his shoulderblades are golden wings, like comet tails, extended and rigid as a silvery light projects from his hand and onto the vaguely humanoid mass of sludge standing between him and Izuku.
And then, the sludge would-be villain vanishes.
The boy catches his eye and frowns.
"Ah...so you were looking, after all...I'm...sorry you had to see that. It must've looked strange."
The boy steps forward, and Izuku tears his eyes away from his wings.
"What...what did you do? Was that your Quirk? Oh- and your wings! Do they help with it?"
Surprise flickers across the boy's face.
"Eh? You can see my wings?"
Izuku nods his head, his fingers moving as if he's writing.
"They're so cool! Can you actually fly with them? Or do they have some other purpose? And what about your halo?"
The boy smiles indulgently.
"My name is Natsume Takashi, and I...don't technically have what you humans call a Quirk."
"Huh? What does that- but you said "you humans"- does that mean you're not human?"
The boy- Takashi- nods.
"Yes. I suppose the closest word humans can use to describe me would be...an "angel". But it's probably a little different from what you're thinking."
Izuku's expression begs for Takashi to tell him everything. So he does.
"I live in the space surrounding Earth, and it's my job to take the names of dying stars- and dying planets and plants and people and so on- and then give them to new bodies once they are born. I came across your planet just after it was born, and I decided to watch over it."
"As humanity evolved, the stars who oversee this planet decided to give out miniscule parts of themselves to humans, resulting in what you call Quirks, and those gifts would tie themselves to the names I give out, but my powers are from the universe itself."
Izuku frowns.
"But then...if I'm Quirkless, does that mean the stars hate me?"
Takashi puts a hand on Izuku's shoulder and looks him in the eyes.
"No," he says firmly.
"The stars gave their gifts to everyone. This idea of Quirklessness is just another way for humans to impose their power on one another, simply because your Gift is something they cannot see."
Izuku feels tears well up in the corners of his eyes, and he's so very desperate to believe in the words of this strange boy- this boy who his instinct tells him to trust.
The words spill from his lips, his voice wavering.
"Then...if you saw all that...do you...do you know what my Quirk- what my Gift is?"
Takashi wipes his thumb below Izuku's eye, drying his tears in a gesture of love that reminds Izuku very much of his mother, and nods.
"Yes. You can see my true form, Midoriya Izuku, and, I suspect, many other things seldom visible to human eyes."
Izuku smiles, something shaky and watery and timid, only to pause as he realizes one of his questions has yet to be answered.
"W-what about that sludge guy- what happened to him?"
Takashi pulls away, a smile still on his face.
"In simple terms, I teleported him."