Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Perhaps it's the fact everyone thought Izuku's dad was just some dude named Hisashi Midoriya. But Izuku knew better than that. He's searched forums and forums about old quirks, old villains and old heroes. He eventually came across this old post about some guy named "All For One", whose quirk was described vaguely. It was too similar to Izuku's. If he could take quirks, that means the fire breath that his mom always spoke about was only one of his quirks.

But that's not important. What's important is that Izuku has been hiding his quirk from his mom for 3 months now. He's 8! He should know better, goddammit. That's why today, Izuku was going to tell his mom. He was going to tell him he's been hiding K.C.B. from his mom. He was going to tell her that he actually just copied her quirk to make her feel a bit better. To make himself feel better.

He sat in front of the TV, watching the news as All Might and a few other top heroes appeared on screen. Izuku did his usual fanboying, even if it was slightly faked. He wrote in his quirk analysis notebook, which was labelled as the fourth notebook in the collection. He wondered how he could use those pro-heroes' quirks when he got the chance to borrow and copy them. His mom was in the kitchen preparing dinner. He would tell her tonight and he would sleep with no thoughts about his prepared speech creeping up his back. Izuku would sleep better if he got this off his chest, right?

After the news paused for a commercial break, His mom called Izuku to eat. Should he bring it up before, during or after dinner? He could feel her eyes on him, watching him take a seat.

"Izuku dear, how was your day?" she asked, her oh so comforting smile messing with his nerves. How would she react when he tells her? "It was alright, mom. Kacchan and I... Well actually, Kacchan wasn't at school today. He was called in sick right before homeroom." Izuku said, remembering his 'friend's' empty seat at class today. "Oh yes, Mitsuki told me about that. I do hope he gets well soon, don't you?" she said, a slightly worried expression mixed in with her smile. He bullies quirkless kids mom, he's mean to people who can't choose.Is what he wanted to respond to her. Kacchan was somewhat of a jerk. When he tells him about the quirk after he gets better, he will definitely stop the bullying.

Izuku decided to tell his mom about the quirk after dinner. He was glad that his mom chose to cook Katsudon, his favourite food in existence, it calmed him quite a bit. After his mom finished eating, he finished his food too. It was time to stop lying to her.

"Mom, I have something really important to tell you. Like reaaaally important." he said, seeing his mother had finished washing the dishes. "Oh? What is it, Izu?" she asked, a bit confused, she sat back down on her chair by the table. Izuku took in a deep breath, trying to stop himself from just aborting this mission and calling it a day.

"I uh... I have a different quirk, and it isn't like yours..."

Chapter Text

he found it difficult everyday to just, keep up. keep up with everything, actually. as an eight year old, that's a bit crazy to believe. he just really couldn't do anything anymore properly. maybe he was still upset, after three years, upset about his lack of quirk. or was he?

enduring the bullying he could've avoided much earlier if he had been more honest was also another problem. along with his lack of quirk. he's told a few people about actually, just no one important. no one important, like his mom, or his bullies (so they'll leave him alone) or even another relative. he's only told like, two people?

then again, these two people were just as important to him. they always stuck with him. the ishikawa twins, erin and rin. he liked them, and their quirks. they were ice wielders. rin could make ice golems and stay in them and erin could make it snow and freeze things. very cool, in izuku's opinion.

he has to tell his mom at some point though, about his quirk. he'd even done research on his bloodline, just to make sure of his safety before he told his mom. just so you know, if anything gets out about his father, he's not going to be very safe.

he'd read about some strong, underground villain, who's story just lined up too perfectly. his quirk being similar to his too, way too perfectly.

but his mom deserves to know. he's trained a bit too! copying and storing quirks isn't an easy job. sometimes, if he loses focus, the quirks escape, and he can't even find them!

izuku does think his quirk is neat, after all that. other people's quirks look like lights, and if he copies or even takes them, he can eat them. they taste sweet, in his opinion, and very energizing too!

then, his mother called for dinner, and izuku realized he'd been aimlessly writing in his notebook with an All Might movie on in the background.

izuku took a deep breath. he had to tell his mom today, or at least ask about his dad. if he doesn't get the chance though, he can always ask another time.

he walked to the dinner table. it was katsudon for dinner! izuku's favorite. though maybe, it had distracted him too much, because as a deep down instinct, he had accidentally summoned a copy of his mom's quirk to get the bowl to him before he sat down.

his mom, of course, noticed. the two looked at each other for a while. izuku's mother squealed in sudden joy, and he could only try his best not to drop the warm bowl on the ground as his mother ran to hug him.

"You have a quirk!" she said, burying her head in his neck. "Oh Izuku dear, I'm so proud of you! I'm so happy for you, Izuku!" she cried, and Izuku, with his Midoriya genes and all, also cried. He used a warming quirk he had acquired from a classmate to keep their food warm as he tried to tell his mom in between sobs, about everything.

but what is, everything? and what comes after?

Chapter Text

it was a normal day at izuku's grade school. he had been lucky enough today that the ishikawas could walk home with him today. kacchan and his friends never bother izuku when rin and erin are around, so he was safe.

however, he'd been feeling a bit ill all day, seeing random orbs in his vision that looked and felt so strangely enticing to him. he had asked rin in class earlier if he could see it, however the boy had said no. izuku noticed everyone had these orbs, everyone except him. he frowned. he looked at what rin's was and he wanted to… taste it? he pulled at it, and a copy of the orb emerged. he gasped, at that time and frantically pushed it back at rin.

when he was walking with the twins, the lights never left. he did the same thing he did last time, except he held it in his hands, entranced. his hands moved on its own, and he pushed the orbs into his chest, and he almost fell to the ground, but luckily, erin had caught him with some snow! how nice. except erin was up ahead of him, and had only turned back to see izuku face first in some snow. izuku didn't mind.

the orbs tasted like ice shavings with flavoring, the ice cones, were they called? nevertheless, it was enjoyable.

"Woah… Dori-kun, are you alright? Seems like the weather's as bad as my quirk control!!" erin said, running to help him up. the fun thing about erin is that he could only manipulate snow and ice that belonged to him, rin and relatives, plus the weather. so, being the clueless kid he was, he tried to move the snow back up into the sky, thinking the snow was his. it didn't budge.

erin tried again, waving his hand to move the snow. it didn't. all three of them were confused, and before anyone decided they'd just shovel it with their hands, izuku tried to copy erin's hand movements. he raised his hand up, the snow followed. he swiped his hand to the right, the snow followed again. he did a movement similar to an explosion, and the snow dispersed.

the twins watched in awe. wasn't he quirkless? Well, so they thought. Izuku was also in shock, that his theory actually worked. He could use other people’s quirks!

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That was two years ago. When they were six. Now, here he was, embracing his mother’s hug.

He wasn’t sure how to really go about this. Would this affect the way he goes about using his quirk? Would they have to go get a diagnosis too?

It was official that he was quirkless, especially on the papers. There was proof too, since he had the extra toe joint. Everything physically led to the signs that he was quirkless. Yet, here he was, using people’s quirks, having his OWN quirk.

He told his mother he had originally been hiding it for quite a while now, and only his friends knew about it. Kacchan didn’t, though. He would never tell Kacchan if his mother didn’t know, after all.

His mother nodded, even understanding why he didn’t tell her sooner. It could be dangerous, and she understood. She wiped the tears from her eyes.

“But Izuku, your father only has a fire-breathing quirk, so, it cannot be the man you talked about… Maybe he is simply one of our ancestors. Hisashi, your father, would never do such a thing, killing and robbing all those people!” she had said, reassuring Izuku for now that his father most likely wasn’t a villain. “Ohh, okay mom.” he simply replied, still hiccupping from crying.

His mother said that in the morning, they would go to get a diagnosis, but now, it was time to rest.

Chapter Text

Driving to the hospital had Izuku a bit shaky. The last time they went there for a quirk-related issue, he had gone home sobbing, thinking he was quirkless.

This time, they would be going to a different doctor. They didn’t trust the old one to re-detect Izuku’s quirk. Izuku tried to comfort himself, conjuring a small ice golem to play with in the car.

“Isn’t that one of Rin-kun’s? Did he give that to you, dear?” Inko asked confusedly as she drove them to the hospital. Izuku shaked his head.

“Nope. I actually, umm… Copied? Rin’s quirk. I really like Rin and Erin’s quirks. They’re fun!” and tasty, he left out. The small golem buried itself in Izuku’s arms, leaving bluish snow on his skin. It didn’t melt unless Izuku wanted it to, which prevented a mess.

Izuku made the golem float in the air, as its little beady ice eyes widened as it softly hit the roof of the car.

The golem pointed to a building ahead of them. The hospital.

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Yori Kajiwara had been working as a quirk doctor and pediatrician since she was in her late 20s. She’d seen a good amount of powerful children, and tons of parents who didn’t deserve their kids.

Her only appointment for today was Inko and Izuku Midoriya, a mother and child. She was actually familiar with Inko, having been childhood playmates, and going to the same elementary and middle school together. They had grown apart when Yori had moved away, sadly. They’d been quite close.

Yori’s quirk was an enigma, being two separate quirks from her parents, however jumbled up. Her first one, Lightwalk, allowed her to quite literally walk on light, and even use it as weapons and tools.

Her father’s quirk, Presence Detection, allowed her to detect invisible anomalies. This included hidden quirks, hidden people and also, ghosts. Her father works as a detective, and had tried to get her to work with him too, while her mother worked as a hero before her death from blood loss, and the effects of her own quirk. That’s really what got Yori to work as a doctor in the quirk field. To study quirks, and help those with them.

Yori often used her father’s side of the quirk to detect hidden quirks, especially in children.

She waited patiently for her clients to arrive, but tensed up. Someone extremely strong came her way. She could feel it, a feeling she’d only felt once before, as a child. Someone with multiple quirks.

The door opened, and she stood up, a slowly materializing light dagger hidden behind her desk. Her worries were pointless though. It was just her clients! She sighed.

“Kajiwara-san! It’s nice to see you again!” Inko said hastily, and Yori guided the two to a couch.

“Please, just call me Yori, Inko, no need for formalities! And this must be… Izuku, was it?” she asked, eyes settling on Izuku. He was the one with multiple quirks. A small child, holding that much power? Amazing! Izuku nodded. “Y-yeah, it’s Izuku.” he said shyly.

Yori noticed a small figure in the child’s arms, sleeping. It was a golem of some sort, made of ice, judging by the texture. Was this one of his quirks?

If she remembered correctly, none of his immediate family members had ice quirks. His father had fire breathing, and Inko had the ability to pull and levitate items. An ice quirk was out of the question! Amazing!

“So, Izuku-kun, could you show me your quirks?” she smiled, and it grew bigger noticing how shocked he was to know Yori had detected his multiple quirks.

Izuku looked to his mother for guidance, and he was replied to with a nod.

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Izuku’s mother nodded, and well, he had no choice. But quirks were something he had a passion for! And with his quirk, he could experience them all with just the pull of an orb.

He had been staring at Dr. Kajiwara’s quirk for a while, before that. It was two orbs in a larger orb. The orbs were fully separate from each other. One of them burned bright, and even hurt to look at. The other one was average, he supposed, but it felt like it was constantly staring at him, watching. When Dr. Kajiwara encouraged him to show his quirks, the watching orb suddenly grew, the bright one dimming. It seemed her quirks fed off each other’s power, and she most likely wouldn’t be able to use them to their full potential without proper training at the same time, as when she uses one quirk, the other one weakens. Interesting!

He shouldn’t stall though, not now.

“W-Well, my quirk is really interesting! I studied it for a while before telling my mom, so … I know a good lot about it.” he stuttered out.

“My base quirk is really just copying quirks by pulling them from the original quirk user. The quirk copy is an exact replica, and from the beginning, I can only use them based on the user’s knowledge… So for example, I would have to train to unlock the other capabilities of the other quirk. Mom doesn’t know that she can actually suspend things near her without using her quirk on them for a long time, but when I started copying her quirk, I slowly trained it to do that, though it does take tons of focus!” he continued, stopping to breathe.

“People’s quirks, along with my own, appear like weird orbs or shapes in the center of the body. If I focus on them, in my view the body of the person, along with the surrounding dims, as if the quirk is a light source. Your quirk, for example, appears to be one large circle that contains two orbs. One bright yellow one, which I think…? Is your light construct quirk, while there is a grayish, almost blue orb next to it, which I am sure is your detection quirk, which really interests me, since you could detect my already existing quirks. Uh… Aside from that, quirks have tastes to me! I- I can try taking your quirk copies, if you umm… if you would like to see it in action?” he asked.

Dr. Kajiwara nodded eagerly, and was writing in a notebook. It was interesting how their interests were slowly turning out the same. Izuku nodded, and focused on the shapes. Everything dimmed around him to them, except for all the orbs in the hospital. His mother’s mint green quirk, his own, swirling black hole of a quirk, surrounded by copies of his friends and classmates, along with quirks belonging to strangers.

The quirks of the people in the other room, a flowery purple orb, a flaming red orb, and another orb, which radiated similarly to Dr. Kajiwara’s, was more than one quirk, but wasn’t separate. The quirk was a singular one, but the user could use each side separately. Interesting.

He focused back on Dr. Kajiwara’s quirk. The large, clear orb which encased the burning, bright, yellow orb, and the grayish blue orb next to it. He pulled all the quirks he could feel, duplicating them, and ate them. He shifted his focus back to the real world. The doctor and his mom looked at him like he did something incredibly shocking, something that was unknown to him. Did the orbs become visible to others? Impossible, as far as he knew.

“Uh… Why are you- you looking at me like that? M-Mom? Dr. Kajiwara?” he asked, stuttering. They didn’t reply, seemingly stuck in time. Or maybe not.

He went through the quirks he had taken thoroughly, seeing that they probably weren’t going to move anytime soon.

The fragrance purple quirk, the fire quirk, the dual quirk, the quirks of his classmates, Rin and Erin’s quirks, his mother’s quirk. Nothing useful there. He looked through all the other hospital quirks. An ice quirk, a longevity quirk. An animal quirk. Another animal quirk. Another fire quirk. Dr. Kajiwara’s quirks. Nothing there.

A flight quirk, possible. A wing quirk, also possible. An aura detection quirk, possible? A speed quirk, very possible. A time quirk. A time quirk!? He grabbed that orb, and observed it. The user could slow everything around it, except for anyone with time quirks. The user hadn’t used the quirk in a while, the orb was covered in… dust? He liked how it looked though. The slow moving fractures within it was interesting.

How does he stop this quirk? Izuku panicked. He grabbed his own quirk, the hypnotizing black hole. He didn’t know what to do. He threw the quirk in. And time started going again. He sighed. He realized he was flying. Oh. That solves that question too, he supposed.

“Izuku! You’re flying! That’s not- Kaji- I mean, that’s not Yori’s quirk?” his mom asked, pulling him down to the couch.

“No, it isn’t.” Dr. Kajiwara squinted, and Izuku watched the grayish blue quirk brighten and enlarge. She must’ve been detecting the large increase of quirks in his body. “He might have grabbed some of the quirks in the hospital too, then.” she said, looking through her notebook.

“H- Yeah, it’s not Dr. Kajiwara’s quirk… I do have her quirks though!” he exclaimed, conjuring a glove made out of light. Dr. Kajiwara clapped. “Amazing, Izuku-kun! That’s one of my quirks, yes. Could you maybe use some of your older quirks in action? Just so I can finish my quirk report.” she said, sitting on her desk.

Izuku nodded. “Okay! The first one I’ll show is my friend, Rin’s ice golem quirk!” he gently grabbed the already existing golem which hid in his hair, and placed it on the ground. “This is a golem I already made. I can make it bigger—” he made an expanding motion with his hands, and the golem grew and grew til it almost hit the ceiling. “—And I can also make it smaller!” he did a pinching motion, and it shrunk down to its original size.

Inko watched, amazed by her son’s power.

“The next one uhm… Oh! Mom’s quirk!” he said, and pulled the golem towards him, and pulled one of the pen holders on Dr. Kajiwara’s desk towards him, before placing them back.

“Amazing, truly, Izuku-kun! Now, you two can wait outside, get some fresh air, and be back in an hour, I just need to compile these notes.” Dr. Kajiwara said, and Inko opened the door, ushering Izuku outside.

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Just as Dr. Kajiwara instructed, they returned in an hour, and was greeted with her on her desk surrounded by folders and papers.

“Oh! You guys are back, just in time!” she smiled. The two approached her table.

“Oh my, Yori, what’s all this…?” Inko inquired, staring at the towers of files. Dr. Kajiwara laughed. “All my notes on Izuku’s quirk, along with quirks similar to his! I’ve come up with the perfect profile for him!”

And so, she handed Izuku and Inko two sets of stapled papers each.

It read:

Izuku Midoriya

Quirk Status: Late Bloomer
Type: All Classes, can be considered Emitter-Accumulation

Quirk Name: Keep and Copy OR Acquisition
Description of Quirk: This quirk falls under all quirk classes in the Japan Quirk Classification Types System, and falls under the Emitter-Proxy-Mutant Class in the American Quirk Classification Types System, or the AQCTS. This quirk allows the user to copy and duplicate the quirks of others, and has the potential to give them to others and perhaps fully take the quirk of another. The user has the capability to store infinite quirks (see Report File 2). The user can also see and taste quirks, which is a subtype of a synesthesia quirk. The user can only use the quirk from the start of acquiring it based on the knowledge of the original user, but can train to unlock the further side of the quirk.

Quirk Restrictions and Requirements: This user requires permission to use quirk in public regardless of laws to function. Permission will be given. User is to be put under semi-surveillance.

Izuku didn’t really get the stuff under it, as the copies were already redacted. Was his quirk as dangerous as he had predicted?

At least now, he was no longer Quirkless.

Chapter Text

It’d been a week since Izuku had got his official quirk diagnosis, and school was looking to be more positive towards him.

Though more people looked at him in fear, at least they were looking at him! Kacchan apologized for his past actions, genuinely, though Izuku still stops him from bullying those with weaker quirks.

His teachers stopped lowering his grades too, which Izuku knew would help with middle school and highschool in the future.

It was safe for him to say, life was good! Great even! Maybe too great, though. People seemed to treat him like he was a deity of some sort, especially right after his re-introduction.

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Izuku’s teachers were informed of his file changes, and forced him to re-introduce himself to the class.

So he did.

During homeroom, he walked up to the front of the room, and everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at him. Uncomfy.

“Uhm, hello everyone! Teacher told me to reintroduce myself, so be it.” he took in a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m Izuku Midoriya, and my Quirk is called Acquisition. I can basically copy and keep any quirk.”

A moment of silence.

Everyone, save for Rin who happened to be his classmate, burst out laughing, not believing a lick of it. Izuku could probably melt into the floor from embarrassment. He wanted to cry! But alas, he could not.

Rin raised his hand, trying to bring Izuku out of his misery. "Can you show us your quirk, then, Midoriya?" he asked, ignoring the eyes that also moved to look at him. Izuku watched a golem of Rin poke out of the child's baby blue hair, mouthing words of encouragement. Izuku sighed.

"Uhm! Of- of course!" he shyly nodded, and had to go through his selection quickly. He picked the nearest one, the flight quirk that he had accidentally used at the hospital, and suddenly, suddenly, his head hit the ceiling. He placed his hands out to balance himself, noticing how his classmates, while most are somewhat amazed, still seemed… doubtful. Izuku frowned internally, not knowing what to do next, and Erin's quirk, out of frustration, activated, producing some snow out of his hands.

He deactivated his flight, lowering himself to the ground, closing his eyes in hopes of less embarrassment.

And yet, his ears were not met by insults and jeers, calling him a fraud, instead, it was met by applause, his classmates satisfied upon watching the rumors surrounding Izuku come through.

Izuku later went home that day with many, many more friends.

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On his way home, Izuku was alone. Kacchan had stayed at school for a bit, deciding to join the elementary school band that day, insisting Izuku go home before him.

Rin and Erin had gone the other route, needing to head to their mother's workplace for some errands, not wanting to burden Izuku by asking him to walk with them all the way there.

And so, Izuku was all on his own. He wanted to come with Rin and Erin! Or at least, watch Kacchan, but whenever he would try to enter the band room, Kacchan would send him out personally.

Izuku couldn’t help but look sad as he walked out the gate of the school. As he sighed, he turned his quirk on properly, and was immediately bombarded with the sight of hundreds of orbs, and Izuku isn’t sure what to do. There are way too many people in Musutafu today, too many for Izuku’s liking.

Izuku pondered for a while as other students walked past him, and finally settled on going to the ice cream shop he and the Ishikawas would often visit. Set on his path, Izuku began to walk. As he walked, he realized… he walked to the complete opposite side of Musutafu. He is lost!!!!

Izuku quickly tried to look at his collected quirks in hopes of one being a GPS quirk or something, but he was out of luck today, apparently. He forgot his phone at home too. There was hardly anyone around either, save for some passing cars and bikers. Izuku looked back and forth, but had no hope that turning back and walking the other way would help much, but it’s not like he had any other choice, right? So, he might as well.

He turned and began to walk, hoping to get to both the shop and home before sunset. He continued to walk, and breathed a sigh of relief when the shops started looking more familiar and the scenery felt a little less stuffier than empty corporate buildings. He kept walking, and finally walked past his school, and nodded to himself. ‘Indeed, I have made it!’, he said in his head, and finally made it to the shopping district. He bought his favorite double dutch-vanilla 2 scoop ice cream and began to head home as the sun began to set. He decided it wouldn’t hurt to use one of the speed quirks from his classmates, right?

His legs felt a bit lighter as he sprinted on the way home, pulling the key out of his pocket and unlocking the door, noting his mom wasn’t back yet.

At least he was!

Finally able to relax, he dropped his things on his bed, went back into the living room, and turned on some All Might cartoons to watch, waiting for his mother to come home.

As the sound of the voice actors began to merge and blur, Izuku felt his eyes flutter shut as he fell asleep on the couch, any hunger for dinner forgotten.

Chapter Text

A dream. He’s running. He’s running far away. A dream, he’s running to a place where he can’t be found.

“ yoichi …! where are you….? this isn’t funny, yoichi. “ says a voice, probably a man in his twenties. He continues to run. He can’t let himself get caught.

He doesn’t want to be put in the vault. Not again. He can’t run for long though, his body is far too weak, is it not?

“ yoichi …! where are you….? come out of where you’re hiding. i only want to protect you, yoichi. “ exclaims the voice, and he dives for an alleyway out of nowhere, hiding behind a trash can.

He can’t let him do all that again. He cannot let himself be found. He pulls his legs towards himself in a protective stance, in a scared stance. He can’t make a noise.

The man’s shoes click on the ground as he walks. The clicking and tapping get louder. The shadows come closer.

“ yoichi. i’ve found you. don’t do that ever again, yoichi. “ says the man as he grabs him by the shirt and suddenly it all goes dark.

“ you aren’t meant to be here. “ says the voice, it’s all around him now. It feels like there are eyes all around him. It feels suffocating.

“ wake up, izuku. “ and then somehow, it gets darker, and brighter once again. The dream ends.

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“Wake up, Izuku..! What are you doing sleeping on the couch, dear?” Inko worriedly asked, shaking her son awake. It was 9 PM and Inko knew she should’ve just moved Izuku to his bed, but her back wasn’t too energized for that at the moment.

“M… Mom? Y-you’re home…” Izuku mumbles as he slowly wakes up, taking in his surroundings. His mother’s quirk glows bright in the dimmed room, the only actual light open being the one by the front door. He notices that the TV’s been switched off, and there was now only silence, save for his breathing and his mom’s breathing.

“I am, and I was very worried. Now, how about we eat dinner and you head on to your actual bed? I managed to buy some katsudon on the way back, since I left work quite late already..” Inko says, helping Izuku get up. He manages to drag himself to the table, and the smell of the still warm katsudon is refreshing, and comforting. He thanks his mom for the food, eats and heads on to bed.

Back to sleep it is.

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Another dream. This time, it is dark. It is dark, and cold. It is dark, and cold, and unwelcoming. Izuku wants to leave this dream, and move onto the next.

“ then why don’t you ? why don’t you move onto the next ? “ questions the voice. “ there’s not much point in lingering here anyway, little child . leave this dream, and move onto the next, izuku . wouldn’t hurt . “ the voice hides a small chuckle.

“But… I don’t want to leave you here, wouldn’t that be rude…?” Izuku manages to say, his words echoing in the dark space. “ i wouldn’t mind if you left . if you don’t choose to leave however, i might have to make you . our meeting is too … premature anyway . “ the voice replies. “What do you mean… ?” The voice doesn’t answer Izuku, and he finds himself in another dream.

Another dream. This time, it is bright. It is bright, and warm. He looks up, and there is a sun instead of a dark, endless void.

It is an endless day. It is an endless sky. Izuku finds all the quirks he’s ever copied, and he feels warmer. He takes a stroll in this dream. He hears a loud thud, and turns to look. It’s… Rin’s quirk? He knows this, for a reason unknown to him. It’s a golem the size of Rin. Izuku stares at it for a while, and the golem stares back. He can hear faint whispers of what should be Rin’s voice, and he reaches out.

He reaches out, and suddenly it is cold . He’s in a cabin now, in the middle of a snowy forest.

Izuku knows this place. He’s been here before. It’s the Ishikawa cabin located in Rikubetsu, by far one of the coldest places he’s ever visited. He walks in the cabin, he feels like he has to, and then the world around him shatters . Was he not allowed in there? Now, it’s warm again, and he finds himself in the sky once more. He supposes he should try another time. Maybe.

Dreams are weird, but he supposes there’s nothing much he can do about it.

He hears faint ringing, and the faint voice of All Might. The sounds get closer, and his bedside alarm appears in front of him. “ WAAAAAAKEEEEE UP!!!!!!!! “ yells the miniature All Might figure, as the bell continuously goes off next to him.

Being the All Might fan he is, he follows orders and wakes up.

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Izuku wakes up just before his second, louder alarm starts ringing, and immediately cancels it.

He gets in the shower and showers. He puts on clothes. He fixes his bed. Izuku heads to the kitchen, but his mom isn’t quite done yet with cooking. He decides to go watch some cartoons again, and it seems like his mom doesn’t mind anyway. They were only playing some old second-gen hero cartoon about a hero he wasn’t even sure existed, a Greek hero named “Makriá”, who could teleport to places on pictures. It was a silly yet educational cartoon that was teaching kids about geography, so he kept it on.

He found himself tuning out the show as he felt his quirk reach out for something. He knows his control is a bit bad at times, but what could his quirk possibly want? Every quirk within a 3 kilometer radius of his home was already copied, really. What could his quirk possibly need?? He activated his quirk properly as his eyes shifted to look at quirks instead of the real world, surroundings dimming. Using his quirk like some form of radar, he looked around. There wasn’t even… anything.

“Maybe I should try using the doctor’s detection quirk…?” he mumbled to himself, and grabbed the copy from out of the void. He felt it brighten and envelop him, and suddenly he saw it. It was some cat with a weird invisibility quirk. It wasn’t detectable with just his quirk, but it needed Dr. Kajiwara’s quirk too. How strange. It was outside his house, so he immediately got up, put on some slippers and ran out of the house, much to his mother’s confusion.

Keeping the detection quirk on, he looked for the cat. It was a small kitty, judging by the way its quirk lit up, so maybe there was a mother cat nearby? A quick survey showed no other quirked cats in the area, so he sighed. A sad little orphan baby, he frowned.

He did his rounds around the house, and found the cat sitting near his mother’s small garden planters. Lessening his quirk usage to let him see better, he noted that the cat’s fur was entirely white, save for a small, star-like blotch on its forehead. The kitty didn’t seem to care that he was there, apparently, which was extremely convenient. As he stood there though, he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it. Might as well get a copy of the quirk while it was around though, which he did. It was a small, electric blue ball, fit for the size of the cat. Funnily enough, it had textures resembling yarn. He quickly ate the small quirk ball, finding that it just tasted like ice cold water without the ice or the cold.

Satisfied, Izuku went back inside to find actual food on the table and his mother in the house’s other bathroom. Might as well eat, he doesn’t want to be late for school after all!

Quickly munching down all the food, he put his now empty plate on the sink and hurried to brush his teeth in the first bathroom. He still had a good 30 minutes before school gates opened, he soon realized as he glanced at the clock. 6:00 AM. He sighed. What’s an eight year old like him doing being up so early anyway?

Chapter Text

The bell rang, signaling the start of lunch. Today they could go into the cafeteria, and because Rin and Erin didn’t have lunch, they dragged him and his precious All Might bento with them. He used a weight shifting quirk to make him as light as possible just so he could actively be dragged, making Erin look like he’s extremely strong.

The two boys left him at a table so they could actually buy lunch as he nibbled on some karaage his mother packed for him, waiting for the twins to return.

He pulled out his Hero Analysis for the Future #9, and started writing about the hero he saw on the cartoons that morning, everything about his quirk down to the smallest details on the hero’s animated face and body.

Quickly finishing that entry, he flipped the page and started writing about the cat he had also seen that morning, a purely white kitty with blue eyes that couldn’t possibly be more than a year old, and the strange invisibility quirk it possessed. The quirk most likely derived from the need for the cat to protect itself and to be stealthy, and was based on whatever its parents’ quirks could possibly be.

Why was it detectable using Dr. Kajiwara’s quirk, but not when he uses his own quirk only? It weirded him out. Could that cat have been an escaped lab experiment or something?

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he was quickly pulled out of his mumbling trance. “What are you rambling on about today, Dori-kun? Is it somethin’ cool?” Erin asked, and Rin peeked from behind his brother inquisitively.

Izuku slowly closed his notebook and chuckled, embarrassed. “Err, just some stuff I saw earlier. A cat with an invisibility quirk, and this cartoon I was watching this morning about this hero called Makriá from like, 30 years ago?” he replied, and Rin’s eyes widened, and it seemed he knew what cartoon it was. “Oh!! Mapping the World with Makriá!! I love that show!!!! Our dad used to play it on the TV all the time last year, ya know?” Rin grinned excitedly. Izuku was shocked, and nodded along as Rin began to ramble on about some of the episodes as they ate.

He didn’t mind the spoilers, because he doubted he'd ever be able to catch the show ever again anyway…

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Izuku packed his stuff back into his schoolbag the exact moment the last teacher left the room, deciding that he wanted to get out of the classroom ASAP. Not that he hated the classroom or anything, but he heard that Present Mic, alongside some other heroes, were going to be holding a music event at the shopping district! He wasn't sure how he had forgotten it was going to happen today, but all that mattered was that he remembered it now.

The shopping district was on the same route to Ms. Ishikawa's workplace, so he and the twins could hang out too, which he was overjoyed to realize.

He found Rin and Erin waiting for him outside the door, and he quickly grabbed both of them and bolted down the stairs, carefully applying their science teacher's eternal balance quirk to prevent any of them from falling, and a durability spreading quirk to stop them from generating enough friction to set each other on fire.

“Aren’t we going too fast???” exclaimed Rin, but Izuku simply ignored him and continued to run until they got to the shopping district. By then, the two were out of breath, and Izuku apologized profusely, explaining he was way too excited.

They guided each other through the crowd and into the front to see the pro heroes. Present Mic was hosting the event though, so Izuku was sure his loud voice would've carried to the back of the ever growing crowd anyway!

“HEY HEY HEY LISTENERS!!! GLAD YOU ALL COULD MAKE IT!!! ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR OUR OPEN MIC EVENT?? OBVIOUSLY ORGANIZED BY YOURS TRULY, PRESENT MIC!!!! NOW, CAN I GET A YEAAAAHHHHHHH?!?” exclaimed the extremely vocal hero, who hoped the crowd could match his energy. He was not disappointed, as a mix of ‘YEAH's and general cheering erupted from where Izuku stood.

“GREAT JOB, LISTENERS! YOU ALL HAVE AMAZING ENERGY!!! NOW, LET'S HEAR IT FOR OUR FIRST PERFORMER AND MY EMPLOYEE, THE DOWN TO EARTH PRO HERO, GAEAAAAAA!!!!!!!! SHE'S OUT HERE TODAY TO SING SOME SONGS, AND SHOW OFF HER CAREFULLY CRAFTED SCULPTURES…. THAT CAN DANCE!!” explained Present Mic, waiting for the performer to enter the stage.

Gaea had a mix of green and brown hair, alongside a flowy blouse and pants, all covered in different types of armor for protection, such as the surprisingly expensive kevlar.

A masquerade mask covered her eyes, but it didn't seem to be actually part of her actual hero costume, judging by how out of place the elegant design was from her truly down to earth clothing.

Gaea's first song was called “Raindrops”, a song written around 2178, twenty three years before Izuku was born. It was a solemn song about war, but it talked about the beauty of nature too. She sang some other songs Izuku didn't recognize after that, but still, he hummed along to it.

Just before Gaea could play her last song, Izuku felt a horrific sign of danger emit from his detection quirk. As he looked down to clutch his nauseated head from the strong detection, a loud vyooom… was heard. All the electricity powering the shopping district suddenly switched off, causing the scene to quiet down and darken.

Erin and Rin quickly huddled around Izuku, both scared. “Dori-kun, are you okay???” asked Erin, hand reaching to pat him on the back. Izuku could only weakly shake his head as he tried to throw the detection quirk in the mental deactivation prison he had just set up so he could get his head to stop aching.

Izuku slowly tried to stand up, only partially noticing Rin holding him to help him up. There was either a villain attack or a natural disaster going on, and he and the twins were right in the middle of it.

Chapter Text

Rin kept his hand on Izuku’s chest in an attempt to both hold him back and protect him. Izuku looked around in a frantic, dazed manner. Dr. Kajiwara’s detection quirk pulsed and clawed at his head, making it hurt to see. Izuku needed to get the hell out of there.

Before Izuku could start running, loud laughter was heard. It was sickeningly high-pitched, like it belonged to either some deranged girl or an insane kid. Either way, it only made Izuku’s head hurt like crazy. The ground kept rumbling, and Izuku did not know what to do. It’s like his legs suddenly forgot how to move, really. And then the building in front of them crumbled, debris flying everywhere. Just great. Really, really great.

Izuku wished he could stop time right now, just like at the hospital. He really did. Too bad he locked that quirk away in the void that is his own quirk, and it was buried way too deep for him to reach for it now. Curse you, Izuku from a good two weeks ago! Izuku was glad that there were like, twelve pro-heroes in the area, which he was reminded of when he heard Present Mic’s deafening, quirk-enhanced scream.

The dust and debris was cleared and pushed away by the sheer force of Present Mic’s screaming, which revealed the partially incapacitated villains. Izuku shivered. He was right, it was some possibly deranged girl. It was the infamous Electric Rock duo! It consisted of a villain by the name of Elekstatika, and another who simply went by Rocker.

The duo was known for bank robbing and property destruction, but also electrical disturbances in general, in which Elekstatika, the deranged villain girl, would steal from power grids and electric poles to feed her quirk, to cause more destruction. From what Izuku had seen and read about her, she was barely in her 20s, making a name for herself, accompanied by her giant, rocky boyfriend who would carry her on his shoulder. The duo managed to make it to Musutafu, and right where Izuku happened to be. Just his luck.

Elekstatika sent out a burst of pure electricity to try and aim at Present Mic, but it was quickly blocked by Gaea’s earth wall, which was raised within a split second of the release of the electrical burst. Amazing… Izuku should get his hand on both of those quirks… Enough of that, Izuku! Focus on getting out of there with the twins, UNSCATHED AS POSSIBLE!!!

Izuku tried to shake the hungry thoughts out of his head, but in such a dangerous situation, it only, somehow, made the quirk orbs look more appetizing. He didn’t notice Erin’s loud yelp as some rocky debris cut his cheek deeply, right below his glasses frame. He didn’t even notice as Rin began to pull his collar and drag him away because suddenly, he felt hungry for the orbs. He reached out, and his world lit up in a way only he could see, in a way only he could feel. He could feel the quirks duplicate and float towards him, he could feel his own quirk move on its own, hungrily taking all of them, even quirks of civilians.

Get up, Izuku! Stop being so… hungry! People need help! You need to get out of there so you wouldn’t end up being one of those people! screamed Izuku in his head as he started to try and move on his own, stopping Rin in his tracks. He felt his world light up even more as he subconsciously grabbed a speed quirk and a flight quirk, and proceeded to get the FUCK out of there.

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Having run a good 5 miles away from the scene of chaos with the twins in either of his arms, Izuku was sure he wouldn’t hear nor see anymore of the chaos, but even in the setting sun, he could still see debris and energy blasts fling in the air, with a vague sense that Present Mic was still screaming his heart out. This was not good, not good at all.

Out of breath, he stopped at a convenience store with the twins. “Are you two… alright?” Izuku asked, observing the two boys, concerned. Rin pointed sharply at his brother. “Erin’s got a weirdly deep cut on his cheek.” Rin said, pushing Erin towards Izuku slightly. Izuku looked through his quirks and found a healing quirk, and immediately used it on Erin, just to feel a sharp pain on his own cheek and a scar on Erin’s. “Agh..!” Izuku winced, touching his cheek and pulling away his hand to see red. “It’s an… injury transfer quirk…???” Izuku scowled, and put the quirk away. He pulled out a small self-regeneration quirk he had copied from a gecko he saw back at school earlier in the month. The skin closed up with a significantly smaller scar.

“There we go, all better! How about you, Rin? Are you hurt anywhere?” Izuku questioned, but was met with a headshake. “Alright then! Let’s head home! I’ll drop you guys off first, and then I’ll head home.” Izuku said, grinning as he grabbed their hands and started running, the speed quirk turned off.

Chapter Text

Izuku was engaged in a very intense staring contest with the wall. At least, that’s what it would look like to any normal person. In reality, he was looking at the little cat located directly behind his wall, as it sniffed around Izuku’s home. He really wanted to take the poor thing in! But for now, all he could do was stare at it from a safe distance, as his mother was away for work on a weekend due to an emergency.

If he were to get rabies or some other illness from the cat, no one could rush him to the hospital.

He decided to just use this time to try out some quirks, starting with the cat’s. Feeling the cool water-like texture of the quirk wash over him, he immediately ran to the mirror. Izuku was shocked! He couldn’t see himself, and not only that, but his shadow was nonexistent! Izuku was amazed with how nature seemed to bless those who needed it with extremely cool quirks! He turned off the quirk and decided to look through his other options.

He remembered the fire-ice quirk he saw at the hospital and checked to see if he had taken it, grinning to himself when he felt the weird equilibrium that was the quirk ball. It wasn’t too hot or cold if he held it from the bottom, but the temperature would spike or drop easily if he held the quirk ball from the sides.

Izuku felt the quirk flow into his body, and he conjured up a flame from his left finger. “Just like what dad supposedly had… Hmmm…” Izuku put out the flame and formed a small icicle on his right palm. “A classic combination..!” Izuku smiled, before letting the icicle melt into his left hand. Izuku kept the quirk back into his own, dismissing the created flames and formerly icy water.

“Hm… I should probably organize my quirks so I’m not caught off guard like last time.” he said aloud to himself, and manifested the energy to drag out his own quirk ball. It was a large, circular void, with all his collected quirks either circling around it or grouping up inside his quirk’s center. It was like a black hole, and it creeped him out, despite it being his quirk, a reflection of himself.

He prepared to dip his hand into the center and see what he had locked away in his makeshift quirk jail. With a loud swoop, Izuku watched his arm disappear into the void of his quirk. It was cold, as weird wisps of something brushed against his arm. He blindly searched for a group of quirks, and took them into his hand, dragging it out of the void.

His quirk’s manifestation shrunk slightly due to the sudden decrease of locked quirks. He gave a good look at the quirks in his hand. The time quirk Izuku had used in the hospital drifted in the air, pulsating. There was that weird aura detection quirk he’d also picked up from then, which shined in the light, as a weird rainbow gradient surrounded it like a flame. He didn’t quite know how it worked just yet, but he placed both quirks with the rest of the quirks that orbited his own instead of plunging them back into the void.

He looked at the six other quirks that he had taken out, scanning them in his head. He took a blue orb that seemed unassuming, and he wondered why he locked it in there. But as he brought it closer to him, the world around him became pure darkness, as white outlines seemed to redraw the shapes of the objects around him, while he himself seemed to turn into a red outline. And as he looked around, he saw the outlines of others, also drawn in red. It was disorienting, to say the least. He couldn’t handle this, nor really figure out how to use this quirk just yet, so he put it away from him, and threw it back in the void. Izuku sighed in relief, rubbing his eyes. “That was weird…”

He later checked the other quirks, sending all five back to the void, deciding he either couldn’t handle them just yet. He went back to sit on the couch, somewhat exhausted. His eyes fluttered closed, and he fell into a nap.

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He’s dreaming again.

“you’re here again?” a voice says. “i thought i told you to leave, the last time you were here. and yet… here you are.” the voice sighs. Izuku tilts his head in confusion.

“how silly.” the voice seemed to smile, even if Izuku couldn’t see it, but he could tell. “i guess there isn’t much of a point for me to send you away, little child. but this place… isn’t the best place to dream about. i’ll take you someplace else.” the voice said, and suddenly Izuku found himself in the dream place where he could go to his quirks. “Why are we here…?” Izuku asks.

“it’s simply much better here, better than the dark void we keep finding each other in, little child.” the voice pointed out, somewhat louder, or closer to Izuku now. “Oh. I guess that is true..!” Izuku responded, and the voice giggled.

The voice giggled, and then it wasn’t a voice. It was a person. A boy his age, with messy white hair cut just above the ear. He wore a gray shirt, and shorts matching Izuku’s. His red, crimson eyes seemed to pierce into Izuku, watching his every move. “Woah…?!?” Izuku exclaimed. “Is this you…?” Izuku asked, and the white haired boy nodded. “Yes. Would you prefer I look a bit older? My voice doesn’t fit that of this body, after all.” the boy said, and he seemed to grow much taller, and lean. He’s a teenager now.

Izuku said nothing, but seemed amazed. “Before you wake up, I guess I should give you my name. You can just call me… Shigaraki. I already know your name.” Shigaraki smiled, walking closer to Izuku. Izuku felt the scenery flicker and fade, and he looked concerned. Shigaraki looked around, and sighed. “You’re waking up. It’s okay. There’s always next time, after all. Bye, Izuku.” the white haired figure seemed to melt into the background, and faded along with it. Izuku’s eyes fluttered open. He’s awake now.

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Somewhere else in Japan, a white haired man awoke as well, his piercing stare looking straight at the ceiling, which cracked slightly. Must be his quirk.

“There’s always next time, after all.” the man smiled, and got up.