Chapter Text
It was a cold and wet night.
Izuku Midoriya learned that every night on the streets was cold. That lesson was one learned quickly. And when it rained that only made things worse. The rain has a way of worming its way into you and leeching at your stamina. Letting the cold get in.
Life had not been kind to Izuku Midoriya. Not at any point in his life really. When he was four years old he was diagnosed as quirkless. And at age five his mother died. Izuku couldn't remember how long ago that was, but it only happened maybe a month or two ago. And now he was scavenging in dumpsters for food and sleeping in alleyways. Well, he slept when he could. The streets of Naruhata have never really been safe for a child to sleep in. Izuku often ended up crying himself to sleep. However, even in this dreary existence, he would still try and find the day's paper to read about heroes while he was scavenging for food. You could say it's one of the things that kept him going. Even though reading was especially difficult for someone as young as him.
Today, on this particularly rainy night the cardboard box that Izuku slept in was beginning to give way to the rain. Izuku's slumber was troubled. It wasn't difficult to see why. But Izuku Midoriya awakened quite suddenly, not to the pouring rain but to a dreary stillness of weather. He peeked out from his cardboard bed to take in his surroundings. The alley that he slept in was the same, but different in a way. Izuku got on his feet, exploring the alley. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary until his gaze turned to the end of the alley. Instead of the slums of Naruhata he gazed out over nothing. Sharp rocks suspended over an endless abyss. Izuku stalked towards the end of the alley, his curiosity overcoming his fear.
Peeking out from the alleyway reveals more of what Izuku glanced. An endless abyss with a number of jagged black rocks suspended seemingly in midair. "So you've made it." Izuku heard, a voice the sounded mighty and bored. The darkness and nothing coalescing into the form of a man. His clothes fine and his eyes pitch black. "Izuku Midoriya." Said the floating man.
"W-who are you? What is this place? How are you floating? Is it your quirk? How-?" Izuku managed to speak in spite of his terror. The man raising his hand to stop the boy for speaking further.
"So many questions. I'll give you only some of the answers myself. I can't go on to tell you everything you dont know about the world now can I? I am the Outsider. I am a god from an age before quirks, from an age before everything you can imagine. And this place is the Void. Older than even I, yet ever present. And I have drawn you here to give you what you have always dreamed of." The man spoke, revealing himself to be the Outsider. As he finished speaking Izuku could feel a burning sensation in his left hand.
"I-it hurts... What? Is this??" he muttered inspecting the new mark on the back of his hand. It was a curious symbol that after burning itself into Izuku’s being looked not dissimilar to a curious tattoo.
"This is my mark. And with it you will finally be able to achieve the greatness that was stolen from you at birth. I cannot give you a quirk. But with my mark you will be able to call on the powers of the void to harness magic. How you use these powers will be up to you, Izuku. But know that I will be watching you with a great interest." The Outsider said as he disappeared into the air and up to a rock a bit out of jumping distance. "Now. Seeing as you are younger than most of the mortals that I have granted my mark to, I will see to it that you can at least properly use my mark before I return you to your world. Harness the magic of the void and follow me." He said again staring down at the young boy with his unforgiving gaze.
Izuku didn't really know what to say. He was stunned into silence. Partially from the overwhelming news that The Outsider shared with him and partially from the incredible weight of it all. Gods? Magic? The Void? It was all a bit overwhelming. Be that as it may Izuku could still feel the Void in his hand, and he made a fist, focusing the magic to be released as he reached out towards the Outsider. At that moment Izuku was transported, in a blink he found himself standing next to the Outsider. "Good." Said the Outsider, "A quick learner. That will serve you well. Come along. There is something for you at the heart of this place."
Izuku Followed the Outsider through the Void. They traveled maybe a mile before they reached something of interest. Much of the Void was the same, infinite but repetitive. But this was something unique. A stone pedestal, not dissimilar to the stones that Izuku had been running and blinking across holding up a human heart that seemed to have been modified by metallic parts. "This is my second gift to you. The heart of a living thing, molded by my hands." said the outsider again, appearing next to the pedestal that lifted the heart. "With this heart you will hear many secrets, and be drawn to many curiosities. With this heart you will be able to find my runes. My mark is not evolved in the same manner as the quirks of your world. It is something that is unnatural to you, and the method of its strength comes equally unnaturally." The Outsider explained, Izuku's own chest growing tight at the explanation. "Find my runes in the lonely corners of your world and you may even grow strong enough to be a hero as you so desire." He taunted boredly, disappearing again into the air.
Izuku grasped the heart. It was warm. It seemed familiar. And as he took it in his hand it began to beat. The beating of the heart magnifying as he faced onward into the void. Izuku squeezed the heart gently... ((This place is where time stops. And where nothing reigns.)) rang out in his head. It was a familiar voice. One he heard in a dream once before? Well, that's a thought for later. A thought for once he was out of the Void. Pressing back the memory of the voice of the heart Izuku pressed on into the Void. Following the beating heart to the Outsider's rune.
The rune itself was no different from the mark on Izuku's hand. Save for that it was carved into some kind of bone. The heart almost bursting with how quickly it beat as he drew closer to it. But the instant that Izuku grasped the rune the heart stopped beating, and the Outsider appeared again, frightening Izuku just a little bit. If the Outsider noticed, he didn't react to Izuku flinching. "For now this is all I will teach you Izuku. Now I return you to your world. And remember. I'll be watching you." The Outsider spoke, and Izuku's vision faded to black.
Or more accurately, they opened. Izuku once again found himself in the damp box that he was sleeping in this night. (A dream?) Izuku thought to himself. (That would surely make more sense than-) His thoughts interrupted by the soft thump of something in his hand, the Heart. And upon the hand holding the Heart was a mark, the same one he saw in his dreams. "Oh." He muttered aloud, the rain drowning out the sound to any prying ears. (B-but with this... I can be a hero!) his tears of joy lost in the rain.