Chapter Text
Prologue
Everything was dark…
But it’s morning?
Where am I?
What happened?
A high pitch ringing is the only sound I hear…
I look around, its dark. Its hard to breathe. Am I in a room? No, its too big of a space to be counted as a room. Then why is it dark? I was sure its morning, or at least midday, and it smells weird too. Smoke? What happened? Are there heroes nearby?! Was there a fight? Why am I here? Why is there ringing? Was there an explosion? Was it a villain fighting a hero? Or was it the hero unknowingly causing collateral damage? I realize I was muttering. Man I really need to fix my habit.
I answer, “Hello? Anyone?”
Why am I on the floor?
Why can’t I see?
*cough* *cough* *cough*
“…on…? Whe…ou?”
What was that? Is that a person calling for help?
“…el….elp...” The voice, voices? Slowly, it becomes louder
What is happening? Why am I so sluggish? And why… does this feel… familiar? I go towards the voice, it sounded like a child. He sounds afraid. By the sound of his ragged breathing, he doesn’t seem to have any mask on to prevent from inhaling smoke.
I keep following the voice of the child and I respond, “Don’t worry! I’m *cough*
coming to you! *cough* Where are you? *cough* *cough*.” He’s not responding to me
Slowly and carefully I walk around what seems to be fallen debris, the tiling on the floor looks… familiar, but I can’t keep my finger on it. No, focus, lets get the child out first. Ask how I got here later. Right now, someone needs me.
“Pl…se…”, “Sa…e…” “…us…”
Us? Oh no, there’s more than one? I have to hurry and get them to safety, am I strong enough to lift them both? Are they even injured? Can they walk? Is the child weakened? No, stop with the muttering damn it. I have to concentrate.
“Don’t *cough* worry! I’m almost there! Hold on!”, I respond.
“Plea…se…”, “Sa…ve…” “…us…”, The child seems scared, I have to hurry. It might be a family trapped under all this rubble I see. Not only that but almost everything is on fire. Everywhere I see, flame, fire, debris. It looks like a home. A… home….
Wait
What
I look at the child while fanning away the smoke in my vision, and he looks… like… me? He seems to be holding a girl… no a woman with his little arms. He’s almost cradling her body, holding her tight for dear life as if she was the most important person in the world. She looks not older than 30, but young enough to look like a mother in her mid 20’s…I think? Her slender petite frame almost looks…
And she looks like she holding some sort of rag or cloth to her mouth. She’s using it to cover her mouth from inhaling too much smoke. Its really hard to see.
By the looks of her… she’s doesn’t look too good, both her feet is under a pile of heavy rubble, and there’s burns all over her body. The clothes she’s wearing… or what’s left of it looks almost charred, like she jumped into a bonfire and was left burning like a witch burning at the stake.
“Please… Help… Us…” ask the child.
Us?
“Please… anyone…help us…” slowly getting more desperate as he covers his mouth, careful to not inhale anymore smoke.
But I’m right here, sure there’s smoke obscuring his vision, but even my silhouette can be seen, even if vaguely.
I…
Before I even try to get a word out, the mother says to the child “…on’t…ry…” its not quite clear what she’s saying, but most likely she’s trying to comfort him.
She continued, “Don’t *cough* cry… My…little…*cough*”
“Please… anyone!” before anything else, the mother suddenly gave the child the damp cloth she’s been using.
“NO! NO! PLEASE COVER YOUR MOUTH!” he screamed, but the mother is not letting him. And he continues, “YOU’LL DIE! PLEASE!” and she simply shook her head
Stop…
“My…*cough*….little… hero…” she says… weakly… she’s dying…
No…
“Live…my…little hero”- as she holds her… son’s… face with her burnt hand, wiping away his tears…- “Live and be… a hero…I love you…always and forever…My Little Hero…” as she took her last breath, tears falling from her eyes, regret, fear…and hope plastered on her face…
No…..
“No….”
NO…
“NO…”
And darkness…
“NOOOOO!!!”
I woke up panting like I just saw the boogeyman while running a marathon on the summer. My clothes wet because of the sweat I just
Suddenly I found myself in what looks like a broken down room, walls riddled with holes and black markings like its either been shot at or blown up on, the roof leaking water, light barely dimmed but slowly getting brighter by morning sun’s rays by a singular glass pane window, a single table on the corner of the room with a bunch of mechanical parts on it with what seemed to be blueprints and plans for a “suit” hooked on a cork board hung over the table for ease of use, a chalkboard on the opposite side of the room with tons of equations, formulas, and theories written all over it. Its my hand writing.
Its my room…
I blankly reach for the glass of water on my nightstand, and I accidentally knocked it down and it falls to the wooden floor and shatters.
“…empty…”, I look around while calming myself down. I try to keep my heart rate normal and my breathing steady. I wipe my tears away with my bedsheet, seemed unsanitary and I could’ve just used my hands or arms now that I think about it. Speaking of hands, mine where calloused and have a bunch of scars and cuts that didn’t quite fully heal yet.
“Another nightmare… damn it”, I sighed and groggily stood up out of my bed, careful not stepping on any of the shards of glass from the empty drinking glass I just knocked over, and went out of my room.
I went to my bathroom and looked in the mirror, I looked my face, and I looked like shit. Eyebags, gotten from training and overnight tinkering, that gives the Underground Hero Eraserhead a run for his money, a small cut that never faded seen from my right cheek all the way down my jaw.
I wasn’t wearing a shirt and I looked at my “chiseled” body, filled with scars and cuts that didn’t fade over the years. Some of them I remember getting in middle school, for the short time I was there physically, as well as from the “home” I used to live in. My back isn’t safe either as every inch is covered with cuts and scars with patterns ranging from a small pellet, to what seemed like a cross pattern.
Lunch Time, kids!
My arms where not free from scars either as it stretches all the way from my elbows to my forearm. No matter how I look at it, my entire upper body is filled to the brim with scars. Some might say its manly, like they’re battle scars or something, and I would agree, but not the kind of battle scars you get from wars or fighting. Its more… abusive and ugly from years of “quirk testing” and “playtime” with my so called peers.
Come on you runt!
I loathed these scars, but I learned to live with them overtime. Thank the gods my legs are free from these hideous scars though, or should I curse them for letting me live a life of hell.
Hey runt! What you got there? An All Might Figurine?
*shatter*
Every time I went out, I wear long sleeved shirts, or jackets, no matter how hot the day is, I refuse to wear anything other than a long sleeve shirt or jacket. I don’t want to walk around looking like a thug with all my visible scars. I didn’t want anyone to “pity” me as well… not anymore.
Pathetic…
My greenish-black hair all ruffled from tossing and turning last night, most likely because of the nightmare I witnessed. I should really dye it charcoal black at some point, or I’ll keep it as is. We’ll see, I suppose.
You’re better off looking bald you know, runt!
My body is covered in sweat, and I really need to shower, its an important day after all. The day of the UA Entrance Exams. I’m gonna prove to the world that even I can be a hero!
You’ll always be a Deku! You pathetic runt!
As I rinse off the soap and shampoo, and blood from my late night “mechanical mishap”, I saw a flash of the nightmare… of the memory. Every. Single. Night. I see these horrible… I had these nightmares occur every night and not once have I gotten a good night sleep, as I use that time to repair, improve, or create my inventions. At most, I get about 4 hours of sleep. This might cause problems for my body in the long run, but I haven’t gotten them yet. Besides all of this can’t compare to my life in childhood…
Always…
…
A…
….
Deku…
…..
…..
……
Rage…
I punched my shower wall so hard, I cracked the tiles and made a hole through it. Thank gods I missed the water pipe by an inch. Huh, not one drop of blood. Guess training paid off. Probably fix that hole later… Maybe
I turned off the water, and stepped out, dried myself, brushed my teeth and went back to my room to change.
My bedroom was… Well I wouldn’t call it a “bed” room anymore, other than the glass shards scattered near my nightstand, everywhere I look there are parts of some machine lying here, from nuts and bolts, to casts of mold, and there are even parts of a goddamn car engine under my bed, how it got there I completely forgot. There’s even cans and cans of empty energy drinks I drank from all the late night tinkering.
In other words is a dump. “I should really change my workspace, maybe the garage? Nah, too cluttered with my finished ones”
One of the only thing noteworthy in my room is the picture of my and my mom…
.
..
…
My…Little…Hero
After a minute of contemplating, “I got time, guess I’ll clean up for now”
I picked up all the discarded parts and energy drinks and put them in two large plastic bags, one for the parts, and the other for the trash, then discarded the bags at the side for now.
I wore my plain black hoodie and pants, grabbed my schematics for the Support Course test, and my support equipment for the Hero Course test, which include an armored mask that resembled a pre-quirk superhero that made incredible suits of armor, two bracelets that act like a storage device that “digitizes” all of my weapons so that I can store and bring them out at my command, and my prized possession A single edged obsidian blade the size of an old fashioned katana, tempered carefully to prevent sheer stress and sharp enough to cut concrete as if it was butter. I combined aspects of solid steel and obsidian and nanotech (yes, I’m smart enough to make nanomachines, who says I’m useless now you fucks!) to create MY perfect blade.
Even in the off chance my sword get destroyed, it can slowly repair by using my nano-reserves. Making nanotech is hard enough with my limited materials, So I got to use it wisely, not like I have any use for it, the only thing I put my nanotech is on my katana. I’ve planned to make a wakizashi that comes with it but like I said, with the limited materials I have I can’t make it my perfect weapon, yet.
The best thing about my katana is the “innocence” function I got it installed thanks to my nanotech. Not to bore anyone with the specifics, TL;DR, it automatically detects if I’m about to use it on a human, and essentially “dulls” the blade before the point of impact making it somewhat “safe” to use to other people, still hurts like hell though. And yes, I can set it to where I can make it lethal to humans, but that’s “unethical” or “unsafe” or whatever. Point is, I’m trained with this bad boy, and anyone or anything that tries to mess with me, they got another thing coming.
Anyway, I’m wasting time, so I got to go and not be late on the exam time. Fortunately, the Support Course exam starts first and after that, I can go to the Hero Course exam an hour later.
I kissed my family photo, and went off
“See you later, Mom. It’s time for me to be a hero.”
The walk to the school was uneventful, a few window shopping here, buy some snacks there, and the occasional glances from other people wondering why there was a hooded kid in summer, holding a long briefcase and backpack, with a stoic, emotionless face, with eyes that are devoid of emotion. Just another Monday.
I finally reached my destination, and there were a lot of participants, most of them are most likely for the Hero Course exam, which doesn’t start for a few hours.
I look around the area and there are kids holding a bunch of tubes going to the west side of the school.
That must be where the Support Course Exam is located.
I went to the venue and accidentally bumped into a pink haired-dreadlocks girl wearing steampunk-ish goggles.
“Hey, watch where yo-, Oh Izu-kun!”, her name was Mei Hatsume, my inventor partner, and probably my only friend in my life other than Kacchan, even though we never spoken much after…
.
..
…
“Please! Help us!”
“Hello? Earth to Izu-kun? You there guy? I know your eyes are blank most of the time, but this is no time to be spacing out! We got a test to ace!” She grabbed me by the arm and we went to the venue, well, tried to go to the venue, as I stop us dead in our tracks as I "try" to talk to my friend.
“Woah, Mei! Hold on, be careful, I have my support equipment with me along with my blueprints!” I struggled to keep up as she was as bubbly, and awkward with no regard to personal space, as ever.
She replied, “Oh is that the katana baby you made? And are these-” holding my two wrists that have the storage bands on them “-the mini storage babies?!”, even after all this time helping her with her inventions and vice versa, she still calls them her “babies”. Its really awkward but I suppose its part of her charm.
“Mei, please stop with the whole “baby” thing when we’re out in public? It’s really awkward and people might get the wrong idea”, as I say with my expressionless face. Even though deep down I'm embarrassed, and blushing even if I don't show it in my face. Yup still as stoic as ever.
“No can do Izu-kun, I told you before already, these babies of mine are created by my blood sweat and tears, they’re my “babies”!”
“Exactly, they’re YOUR babies, please call the inventions YOU made as babies, and mine as normal”
After a bit of contemplating, with a her eyes looking at the sky and cliché tapping on the chin as if you were thinking of something, Mei simply replied with, “Nope”, and dragged me off again to the venue, not knowing a certain spiky haired blonde was watching me from a distance.
“Izuku?”
And thus, this is the start of my “Hero” career.