Summary: Himiko had come into his life, injecting hope into a dejected child. But as quickly as she came, she would depart. While gone, she was not forgotten. Their promise being the one fuel to sustain Izuku towards his heroic destiny. However, alone again, the boy, now nearly a man, still struggled with self doubt. He would need a solid foundation to begin his journey to achieving his dreams.

Five years later. Age Seventeen.

Izuku grabbed his latest Hero Analysis Book as he watched a heroic scene unfold before his eyes. The rising star, Kamui Woods, was battling a gigantic villain with his Lacquered Chains Prison, holding him back. Izuku began to study the villain and how the hero was handling him.

'It looks like his quirk just makes him larger…he doesn't seem particularly strong.'

Izuku opened his Hero Analysis Book to his entry for Kamui Woods, and updated the strength index of his quirk, which he now knew had the power to hold off a run of the mill gigantification quirk.

Izuku's eyes opened in shock as a newly-arrived giant streaked across the sky, delivering a powerful kick to the villain's face while yelling out, "Canyon Cannon!"

'Wow, now that's an impact that I can feel.'

Izuku could see that the new giant - no, giantess - had to be a Pro Heroine making her debut. The green-haired teen turned a few pages and began to make a rough sketch of the new heroine. She had long blonde hair and had purple horns, presumably as part of her costume. A beige and purple bodysuit and a purple mask that outlined her eyes made up the rest of the outfit. He began to tap the sketch with his pen.

'What's her name? I can't label this 'till I've a name.'

"Hey kid, what're you writing there?" a stranger asked from beside him, looking at the teen's sketch with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, I analyze hero quirks," Izuku replied as he bashfully turned his face to the ground.

"Hoping to become a hero one day?" His tone sounded warm, compelling Izuku to look at the man talking to him. The stranger had a warm smile on his face.

"Oh, yes, sir!" Izuku answered, feeling himself begin to grin thanks to the man's infectious energy.

"Well, good luck, then, kid! Maybe one day, I'll get to cheer you on too," the man laughed as he waved Izuku goodbye and walked further into the crowds.

Izuku nodded his head enthusiastically as the man left. "Thank you! I'll do my best."

After the police began to clear the scene and crowd, Izuku rushed home to catch the hero report as soon as possible. The young boy hurried into the house, grabbing the dinner off the table. "Sorry, mom, a new hero made their debut!"

Inko merely chuckled as her boy sped by. "Please put your dishes in the sink after you finish, Izuku!"

Izuku devoured his dinner while searching all of the different news outlets on the situation, before dashing back to the kitchen to deposit the dishes in the sink.

"All right, time to begin," he said to himself as he plopped down at his desk. Just by reading the headlines, he could see that Mt. Lady was the ner hero's name. It looked like she had a pretty powerful gigantification quirk. Not only did her size increase, but she also seemed to gain strength in a more substantial proportion to her growth.

'Not as strong as his quirk, though.'

In terms of strength, no one had ever come close to his father. At least none that he knew of, anyway.

Izuku shook his head to dispel the thoughts of his dad and focused back on the new heroine.

'She's rather young amongst those debuting as a hero, since she just recently graduated from UA, and is skipping right past the sidekick step. So inspiring!' Izuku's thoughts turned to the man who had been lighting the hero world on fire the past year. 'I guess with heroes like Hawks as an example; many people want to soar over being a sidekick and get right into the action, themselves.'

Eventually, Izuku had compiled all the information he could from the news reports. "Man, she's cool. It would be cool to have a quirk like hers." The green-haired teen tapped the pen to his chin. "What kind of weaknesses would she have? Enclosed spaces!"

'Hopefully, some of her strength is available in her normal form.' Izuku wrote his thoughts down as a potential weakness for the new heroine.

Izuku slid the book away as he saw one more report pop up on his Heroes Weekly feed. 'Just a tabloid site, maybe they caught something interesting.' Izuku clicked the link and scrolled down, and what he saw was undoubtedly attractive to the teenage boy.

There was a looping video focused on Mt. Lady after taking out the villain. Izuku stared at the video's thumbnail for a few seconds, as his teenage mind felt drawn to it. After the moment passed, Izuku snapped back into reality, his mind screaming at him, 'She's a hero!' Izuku rushed to close the Heroes Weekly website. 'She deserves better than to be posted on an article like that…she saved people today…' he thought solemnly to himself.

He tried not to think about it; heroines deserve better than that kind of behavior. However, his mind was not cooperating with him. He gripped the mouse a little harder. He was better than this. 'What's gotten me so riled up about her…?There are plenty of attractive heroes,' he thought to himself. Only two other people could do this to him.

Izuku expelled the thoughts about Mt. Lady, but instead in their place came thoughts about his childhood friend. 'Kacchan.' Puberty had done a lot for her, a lot of things he found hard to ignore. And even when pissed at him, there was something about her blood-red eyes. Only one other person entered his mind in this way; he didn't even know what she looked like now.

'Himiko.' It had been five years since the last time they saw each other. But the traumatic events around their last interaction didn't stop her from being on his mind often. Every time he thought of how she might look nowadays, she looked a little different than the last time. It felt as if the shape of her body would shift each time he thought about her. It would always come back to her face, though, and her cute perfect blonde buns. But most of all for him, were those eyes.

Those damn golden eyes.

Izuku was positively blushing now; he shouldn't be thinking about people he knew like this. He should be continuing his analysis, the one way he could accept becoming a hero.

Izuku was seated at his desk the next morning, looking at the notes he took yesterday. From behind him, he felt a classmate place their hands onto his shoulders while looking over his head.

"Found a new hero crush, Deku?" Wings asked with a smirk.

He felt a warm sensation overtake his face at the accuracy of the statement. "Ah, no! Just my same old hobby, you know, hero analysis," Izuku stammered out.

"Relax, man, it was just some teasing," Wings, said, a mischievous look spread across his face. "Although I'm sure you're jealous of a quirk like that."

"Ha," Izuku responded. Thankfully, their teacher entered the room, saving Izuku from having to make any more conversation.

As the teacher began to talk about the material he had already learned, Izuku thought about how life at school had been recently. He wasn't friends with anyone, but at least he was no longer the target of outright torment. It had become more of an afterthought. Something along the lines of "the nerd has hero aspirations again, let's make fun of him for it."

Wings and Fingers, as of late, had trouble keeping up with even that, besides some light ribbing in the morning. The two of them were now more interested in pursuing girls. Girls who were clearly disinterested.

'As long as they're not chasing me after school, they can pursue whatever the hell they want.'

Their teacher had informed them at the end of their second-to-last class that the school day had finished; instead, they were to head towards their homerooms. Izuku and his classmates shuffled back to their respective classrooms, curious to hear what the announcement would be made by the teacher today.

Their teacher cleared their throat before giving a speech, "As you all know, this is your last year at Aldera High." The teacher paused for a moment before continuing, "Our principal's seen it fit that we take some time to…advise you all on your futures." The teacher held up a stack of paper. "This is a list of all your preferred schools and coursework." The teacher set the papers down. "Of course, I don't need a stack of documents to tell me what coursework kids your age want."

As the teacher spoke the next words, the classroom exploded into students using their quirks. "You all want to be heroes!"

Izuku's eyes darted around the room as the teen scanned the room. 'So many quirks, the type of things I'll have to go up against to get into UA. If only I could use my quirk and not be afraid of hurting people...'

Izuku had his thoughts shattered and brought back into reality when their teacher used his minor voice amplification quirk. "Quit that! All of you!" The teacher coughed to clear his throat, which was now a little hoarse. "As a reminder, you are not to use your quirk on school grounds."

The teacher sighed before continuing to speak, "Now that we are back on track, I'll start going through the list." The teacher began listing off names paired with schools, usually noting that they were applying to the hero course. For many students, he gave them the advice that they were better off applying to other courses or schools. Finally, the teacher got to the name he was dreading to hear called.

"Midoriya…" The teacher did a double-take at the paper in front of him. "UA University's Hero Course." At that, the classroom burst into laughter. None of them knew the truth of his quirk. No news about the alleyway incident had ever made it to the public. Combined with Izuku's current feelings on his quirk, no one knew about it. He would need someone to be a powerful symbol of what good his quirk could do. Izuku felt panic creep up in him as the students berated him; a cold sweat started to form on his body.

"UA? UA? He thinks he can get into the UA University?"

"His quirk is so weak, though!"

"Having good grades isn't going to stop you from getting knocked in the face."

"Hell, I'd pass high school before he could even get into UA!"

"Bro, that's a dumb statement!"

"Silence!" The teacher yelled, using his quirk again to restore order to the classroom. He resumed speaking, his voice even hoarser now. "Midoriya, your test scores could get you into UA, but that would be the support or business course, not the hero course. I think that it's about time you seriously start considering your future." He put the paper down into the completed stack.

Some quiet snickering permeated the classroom.

"Moving on." The teacher nipped the minor unrest in the bud.

The teacher's voice faded out as Izuku retreated to his head to think. 'Maybe it would be best to apply to another course besides the hero course.' Izuku looked down at the notebook in front of him. 'What could I have done yesterday, if I refuse to use my quirk…? There's nothing I could have done against a villain like that.'

Izuku looked down at his right hand and clenched it into a fist. 'If I were to use my quirk, could I stop it?' Izuku's hand flashed to a bloody fist again right in front of his eyes. He closed his eyes, focused his mind on happier thoughts, and slowed his breath to avoid alerting his class. 'There's no way I could do that. I wish I could learn to control it, but it's too dangerous to try on my own.'

Izuku thought back to the letter he received from the Toga family. 'I can easily get into UA with my academics. I could probably be an excellent support student with my quirk knowledge.' Izuku felt a smile begin to form as he imagined Katsumi and Himiko in front of him. 'Katsumi would no longer have a reason to be so mean, and I wouldn't break my promise to Himiko.'

'Wrong.' The word rang out, over and over again in his head. He pondered on why it was wrong. He didn't make one promise, he realized. He had made two to Himiko.

Just yesterday, he had told a stranger that he would become a hero. Seeing his classmates using their quirks without a care in the world had filled his mind with doubt.

He promised to her that they would become heroes, but whether or not he could weighed heavily on his mind.

After classes

Izuku was leaving school grounds when he saw Wings and Finger standing outside the school gates.

"Hey gu—"

"Deku. For being so smart. You got to get it through your brain." Fingers walked up and shoved Izuku back a bit. "You can't be a hero."

"Haha, yeah. If you can't even beat guys like us, how are you going to beat some villains?" Wings taunted Izuku from behind Fingers.

'If you guys knew what my quirk was...you'd be afraid of me.'

"Ah, okay, thanks for your thoughts!" Izuku replied in a conciliatory manner as he tried to back away.

"Oh no, you aren't getting off that easy. We're a little pissed that you think you can get into UA. Only goddesses like Katsumi can do that," Fingers said as he waved a big finger in front of him.

'Right, these guys still worship her, and they've only gotten worse since we got older.'

While Izuku was distracted by Finger in front of him, he didn't notice Wings going behind him.

"Got it!" Wings exclaimed as he turned around and ran off with a hero analysis book.

"Hey!" Izuku shouted as he chased after Wings.

As Izuku ran, he noticed that he was catching up to Wings. The green-haired teen thought to himself, 'He's chubby nowadays... I'm faster than him.'

After a few more seconds of trailing just barely behind him, Izuku felt confident, 'If I lunge now—'

Dust kicked up into Izuku's face.

'He took off.'

Izuku came to a stop for a second.

"Gah!" Izuku yelled before jogging after him.

'Hopefully, he still can't fly for long, if I just keep him in sight.'

Around twenty minutes later, Izuku saw him descend in an alleyway in front of him. 'Why…'

Izuku slowly approached the alleyway, peering down it cautiously. 'I hate these kinds of places.' Izuku crept down the poorly lit area until he saw his book, floating in the middle of a puddle.

"Oh, man…Why my hard work?" the teen whined, hastily snatching up the book and opening. He quickly discovered that one of the first few pages was missing. He stared hard at the missing page, 'What page did he steal? It looks like it was just one of my one-page analyses...'

He kicked the ground in front of him in frustration, then rapidly flipped through the rest of the pages.

'Everything else's still discernible; I can just remake this book later aside from that stupid missing page.'

Izuku shook the book some in a vain attempt to dry the book off a bit. "Ugh. I'll just have to carry it the rest of the way home," he complained to himself.

Izuku began to head out of the alleyway. He found himself holding his breath and looking around to spot any ambushes. As he got closer to the exit, he began increasing his pace, and eventually almost breaking out into a sprint when he neared the exit. 'Safe.' Izuku looked around at where he was. 'This is the opposite direction of home.'

Izuku looked at the road he came from. "I guess if I head straight that way, I should eventually get somewhere I recognize." Izuku continued down the street until he came to a section of the road ahead that led into a tunnel.

Izuku stood outside of the tunnel, contemplating if he should go around it. Izuku began to move to take another side street till an image of Katsumi appeared in his mind, "Pathetic, Deku. You want to be a hero, but a tunnel scares you?"

Izuku clenched his fists. 'She's right. If I can't do this, then I can't face villains!' He walked into the tunnel. 'See, Izuku? Not so bad.' The teen felt a surge of confidence envelop him. "I can do it. I can become a hero!"

"Heh, heh…A new invisibility cloak," a voice insidiously rang out from behind the green-haired teen.

A villain composed of sludge surged forward, and began surrounding Izuku's body, attempting to force its way down the green-haired teen's throat. 'A villain. Of course, there's a villain.'

Izuku's upper body began to react involuntarily, trying to expel the sludge from his body in any way possible. He focused the rest of his body on trying to grab on or cling to anything to try and get some leverage on getting away from the villain, but he found that there was quite literally nothing to grab.

'He's all liquid. What am I supposed to do?! Is there anything I can do?' he thought to himself in a panic.

"Stop struggling, I'm just going to take control of your body for a bit," the villain instructed the squirming green-haired boy.

Izuku began to kick around and cough the best he could. 'So that's doing something, I've got to stall for time…I need a plan!'

"Don't worry, kid…it'll hurt for about a minute, and then the pain will...disappear" he said, his voice taking on a much more insidious tone.

'Like I believe you, villain! A hero should be able to figure their way out of this. What can I do? Come on, think, Izuku. Think!' Izuku began to give in to the panic as the weight of the situation dawned on his shoulders.

"Listen, kid, I heard you talking to yourself about that hero crap, so just think of it like this." The sludge villain strengthened his hold over Izuku. "Today, you can be my hero."

'Shut up. Shut up.'

"Now, can you just hurry up and die? I never thought a guy like that would be in this town, so I need you to help me out a little and let me give him the slip."

Izuku's thrashing grew weaker and weaker. 'Can't breathe...losing...strength...' Izuku looked at his arms in the sludge. 'Would my quirk even work...on someone like him? I'm gonna die. Would anyone mourn me?' Izuku thought of his mother. 'Of course she will.'

Izuku's body stopped resisting. "Good kid."

'Will anyone even miss me?' Izuku thought of Himiko. 'Maybe she's waiting for me. Hopefully, she is. I don't want to die.' Izuku tried to search for any strength left in his body, his mind even considering using his quirk. However, it was too late. All his power had left him.

As Izuku passed out, he thought he saw a towering figure appear.

'That's funny…' he thought to himself, his mind in a delirious state. 'That looks like... All... Might...'

A few minutes later.

Izuku could feel a steady hand slapping his face, over and over again. He heard someone saying, "Hey kid, wake up." It felt so distant, and yet so close at the same time. 'Wait. That voice.'

Izuku felt his strength begin to return to him, and began to open his eyes. "Ah, thank goodness!" he heard a voice call out.

A towering figure was standing above him. 'That's funny…that looks like All Might. I think I'm dreaming.' As quickly as Izuku thought he was dreaming, he felt the soreness all throughout his body. 'I'm not dreaming.' Izuku's upper body shot straight up, unable to stay still as he realized his idol was right in front of him.

"ALL MIGHT!"

"Oh ho ho, you seem to be doing a lot better now, kid." Izuku merely sat there, his mouth agape as All Might launched into a speech. "Sorry for getting you involved in my removal of villains!"

'Always cares about people.'

"I don't usually make such beginner mistakes, but perhaps being in this strange city made me a little careless."

'Always striving to improve.'

All Might held out a soda bottle with the villain inside. 'How did—'

"Anyway, kid, it's thanks to you that I succeeded!"

'Socoolsocoolsocool! All Might even thanked me! It's really him, in the flesh! I NEED HIS AUTOGRAPH!'

Izuku frantically began searching for the water damaged analysis book. "Sir, can I have your autograph in my—" Izuku found the book and held it to his face, an 'ALL MIGHT' already scribbled on its pages. "—notes..."

Izuku shot up to his feet like a rocket. Izuku began to bow back and forth while yelling out his thanks, "Oh my gosh, thank you very much! I'll make this a family heirloom!"

All Might simply nodded and paced away some. "Well, I need to take this villain where he belongs. Make sure to check out my exploits later today on TV." All Might began to stretch his legs, switching between leaning his weight on both legs before taking off.

"Really? Already?" Izuku struggled to find words to get his idol to stay. He couldn't figure out how to get his Idol to answer the question pounding in his mind. "I haven't even gotten to ask you…"

"Someone like you should know we heroes have to battle evil constantly. Time isn't a luxury." All Might began to crouch down, posed to jump off.

'Nonono. I still have questions, so many questions to ask you.' Izuku felt himself unconsciously lunging forward to stop the hero.

"With that, I'm counting on you in the future to continue—" All Might took off as he finishes his sentence, "—to support me!" What the blonde hero failed to notice was the teenager who had latched himself onto the hero's pants leg.

Izuku's mouth was flapping in the wind as he clung onto All Might's pants. 'This was dumb. Why did I make such a bad decision.' After a few moments, All Might seemed aware something was wrong, turning his head back, his face furrowed, perplexed at what he seemed to feel.

"Huh? Hey! Release me! Listen, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but that's too much!" All Might said as he lightly tried to flail the green-haired teen off.

Izuku clung onto his dear life, and struggled out a response with the air assaulting his face, "But— if I let go—right now—I'll surely die!"

"That's true," was all the response All Might gave back.

"I—have so many—questions—to ask you—please!" Izuku shouted back to All Might.

"Okay, okay. We'll do that. Just shut your eyes and mouth!" All Might yelled back to the green-haired teen.

All Might and Izuku landed on the rooftop, Izuku letting go only after touching the ground. 'Terrifying. So terrifying.' Izuku steadied himself as his body trembled from the flight through the air.

"Couldn't have been… Hopefully, it'll be easy to get down from here. I've got no time for something like this!" Izuku overheard the blonde beginning to rant to himself while looking off the edge of the roof.

Izuku stood up. "Wait, uh, I've got a question!"

"No, I cannot wait!"

'Better just ask the question. The worst All Might can do is ignore me.'

Izuku looked down as he began to ask his question, "I've got a quirk… I'm scared to use it. I don't want to use it. But despite that, I want to be a hero." Izuku clenched his hands into a ball in front of him. "What I mean is…can someone without a quirk, become a hero like you?"

The green-haired boy continued talking, despite the pain it was causing him to speak, it was liberating to talk about his strife. "Almost no one knows I've got a powerful quirk, but I hate it. I can't control it. Since everyone thinks I've got a weak quirk, people have always made fun of me for thinking I can be a hero." Izuku's head sank further as he felt a pair of tears run down his face. "Maybe because of that…maybe because of everyone doubting and picking on me…" Izuku paused as he struggled to find the words before sighing. "I just think that saving people is the coolest thing someone can do."

He smiled at that thought. "I just always remember the way you save people with that fearless smile!" Izuku looked up as he continued to speak, "I aspire to be like you, the strongest—'' Izuku's mind stopped working as he looked at the man standing before him. He was shorter, skinner, he looked deathly frail. Besides his hair and eyes, he looked nothing like the symbol of peace, only one word could come out of the teen's mouth, "WHAT?!"

Izuku paused for a moment thinking to himself, 'What's going on, who's this? THAT'S NOT ALL MIGHT, RIGHT!?'

"You're…all shriveled up? You…you must be a fake! An impostor! You're thin, way too small for All Might!"

The skeletal man stared back at Izuku before replying, blood pouring out of his mouth. "I am All Might."

"NO WAY!" Izuku shouted back at the older man.

'This isn't happening, how could this happen to All Might.'

All Might continued after Izuku's shout ended, "You know…uh…at the pool, people hold in their gut? It's like that!"

Izuku shouted again at the frail man in front of him, "NO WAY!"

All Might sat down in front of Izuku. "A fearless smile, huh…you've seen the real me, kid,but please...Don't write about it on the internet." All Might raised his shirt, revealing a gnarly wound centering on his chest. "Five years ago…a villain did this to me."

Izuku cringed as he looked away from the wound. 'All Might…'

The blonde hero continued, "My respiratory system was destroyed, and my stomach needed to be removed. I've been wasting away, ever since those surgeries. I can now only do hero work for about three hours a day. After that, I only have my true form."

"Five years ago…?" Izuku scanned his brain for who could have done this. 'What powerful villains did he fight five years ago?' He thought of a villain, an idea on who it could be. "Was it the Toxic Chainsaw that caused that wound?" he asked his idol.

All Might's mouth grew into a slight grin followed by a snort. "That lowlife? He would never be able to do something like that to me!" All Might's face grew serious. "This fight was never made public…That is, I said it must not be made public." All Might turned back towards the skyline. "The Symbol of Peace…who saves people, with a smile-" All Might spoke the last words with utter conviction, "-must never be daunted by evil." He sighed. "I guess you deserve to know. The reason I smile? It's to hold off the pressure and fear I feel."

Izuku's world view shattered a little. 'Even All Might could feel fear.'

"Heroes should always be ready to risk their lives." All Might looked Izuku in the eye as he continued to speak, "But without a power? By refusing to use a quirk? Can someone become a hero? No. I don't think they should."

'My idol…my idol thinks I shouldn't.'

All Might got up. "Listen, kid, with your passion for helping others; you could become a police officer." All Might, now a little unsure on his feet, walked towards the door. "You know, despite the mocking the villain custody officers receive, it's an important job!" All Might looked back as he passed into the entryway. "It's important to dream. However, if you aren't going to use your quirk, you need to be realistic." As he finished his last words, All Might shut the door behind him.

A short while later...

Izuku was walking home from his meeting with All Might. He was barely paying attention to the environment around him, just staring directly at the water damaged hero analysis book in his hands. 'Even my idol.'

One phrase in particular rang out in his head, 'You need to be realistic.'

Izuku then thought of his classroom tormentors. 'Maybe they're right if I don't use my quirk. What good could I do? If I was a quirkless hero, who would I be able to save?' An image of Katsumi appeared in front of the boys, and he imagined what she would say now.

'Don't You get it Deku? You can't be a hero, Deku.' Izuku pulled the notebook into his chest with one hand, while he felt tears threaten to breach the edges of his eyes and run down his face.

Now the thought of the teacher earlier in the day came back to him. 'I think that it's about time you seriously start considering your future.'

Izuku felt his eyes leaking; he moved his hand to wipe his tears. 'Everyone's said it, even the best of the best.'

Izuku began to mutter to himself, "Why am I crying? I already knew it. This situation's my reality. I never had a chance."

He took a sharp breath through his nose. "I tried so damned hard anyway…" Izuku thought of him and Himiko playing at the playground, convinced they were training to become heroes. The boy muttered to himself, "All that…that blonde girl gave me hope…" Izuku clenched his hands into fists. "Can I even keep my promises to you?"

A sound broke through Izuku's thoughts, shaking the ground he was standing on. 'An explosion?'

Izuku looked up to see a crowd of people gathered down the street. There had been a lot of villain activity this week. 'You would think they'd have gone into hiding for the day.' Izuku felt the hero nerd inside him pull him to the crowd of people. 'I should stop, but I'm so used to watching these hero fights. I'm just going to make myself feel bad…'

Izuku's eyes went wide with shock as the villain came into focus. 'Is that him!? How!? I thought All Might had captured him. I saw it! I swear, All Might had him in that bottle.'

'Unless…' he rebutted. All Might dropped him. But when?' Izuku pictured him latching onto All Might and flying through the air. A light bulb went off in his head. The bottles housing the villain; they had been there when All Might flailed around, trying to get Izuku off. "This is all my fault," Izuku muttered to himself.

Izuku began to pay attention to the murmurs of the crowd.

"Why don't the heroes do something? They're just standing around."

"I think it caught a high school girl. She seems to be giving it hell, though!"

'Caught…so the girl's going through the same pain I did... How much longer does she have?'

"Wait, I think I recognize that villain. I thought I saw All Might chasing after him, so what gives?"

"No way, All Might's here!?"

"Yeah, I saw him earlier today too. He's even cooler in person!"

"Then what's All Might doing now? He's letting this monster go on a rampage!"

Izuku covered his mouth as he began to feel sick. 'All my fault…this is all my fault. All Might can't do anything because of me.'

Izuku looked around at the heroes on the scene. First, he saw Mt. Lady. 'Her transformation's too big to fit down the street.' He then turned to Kamui Woods. 'His quirk's no good with that raging inferno.' Next, he looked at Backdraft. 'His water quirk isn't strong enough for a villain like that.' Finally, he saw Death Arms. 'There's nothing for him to punch.'

Izuku thought of the number one hero. 'He could do it. All Might could blow this guy away in one hit. Like he did earlier.' Izuku thought back to the chest wound All Might had shown him. 'He could do it… if his time limit wasn't up… If it wasn't for me.' Izuku clenched his mouth hard with his hands. 'Oh no…we're stuck waiting for someone. Someone with a quirk that can beat this guy!'

Izuku struggled to look at the figure fighting against the sludge villain. 'Just keep fighting! I know how it feels, but someone will come. Someone will come and save you! A hero's bound to come…yeah, a hero will come and save the day. Like they always do.' At that moment, Izuku finally got a good look at the girl struggling against the sludge villain.

She had short spiky blonde hair, and could barely make out her piercing blood-red eyes. In the past, he had seen those eyes filled with determination, confidence, and an aura of superiority. However, that was not the emotion given by her eyes now. Only one thing came pouring out of them. Only one thing Izuku could see. One feeling he had never seen in those blood-red eyes before.

Fear.

Izuku's body reacted faster than his mind could. Izuku broke through the crowd and sprinted towards Katsumi. 'My legs are moving on their own,' he thought, feeling like he was having an out of body experience.

He heard people yelling at him from behind, "Get back here, you idiot! Stop!"

Izuku dropped his water-damaged book as he got closer. 'Why am I running?' He felt a shudder go through his body. 'What am I doing? Why?'

The villain reeled his slimy body to face the teenager, staring at him, "Coming back for more, kid? This time you're dead," the villain taunted Izuku.

"What do I do? What do I do in a time like this?" Izuku began to slide his backpack.

'My body's still reacting on its own. Okay, just focus on one thing. Save Kacchan. Just save her.' Izuku instinctively ripped his backpack off, throwing it at the sludge monster. As he did so, he let out an attempt at a battle cry. "Hyah!" A few more paces and he would be at the sludge monster. "KACCHAN!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he reached where his…friend? No, childhood friend it was.

Kacchan broke free from the grasp around her mouth, she yelled at the boy, "Deku! Why?" Her eyes looked like they were on the verge of tears.

"I don't know! My body just started moving on their own!" Izuku yelled back, desperately trying to tear the sludge off of Katsumi. He thought about her question for a moment. 'There were plenty of reasons why.' Desire to be a hero, the fact that he caused this mess, his desire to prove everyone wrong. But it was here, at this moment.

At this moment, one reason stood out.

Izuku looked right into Kacchan's eyes. "You looked scared! You looked like you needed help, Kacchan!" He noticed it now: she was losing the fight. She didn't have much more in her. "Hang on, Kacchan!" he yelled, as he attempted to wrap his arms around her head in a desperate attempt to pull her out.

He was too slow. The sludge monster moved its body upwards, taking Katsumi with him. "I just need a bit longer, so stop getting in my way!" The villain yelled at Izuku while wrapping his body in sludge.

'Great…I escaped death once today…only to run back into it.' Izuku looked up at Katsumi. 'I can't fail her. My quirk; Would it work?' Izuku made eye contact with Katsumi.

He saw a single tear leave her right eye.

'Of course.' Izuku felt the power swell to life inside him, pouring out from his heart, and his emotions were now beginning to feed its power. 'I have to restrain it more this time. I can't hurt her.' His skin began to feel warm.

The sensation abruptly left him, as he felt someone grab his arm, and Katsumi's in one fell swoop. The power shattered inside him as a feeling of safety washed over him.

A rough jerk brought the two high schoolers away from the sludge monster. Izuku only heard the man talk as his body faced the sky. "I was pathetic. The lesson I gave to you; I should practice what I preach! A pro hero should always be ready to put their life on the line."

The voice boomed out, "DETROIT SMASH!"

Izuku felt the air pressure fall around him, but he couldn't watch what was happening. He lay on the ground, with his head next to Katsumi's. 'That man was All Might. There's no way he could lose to that villain.' A slow but steady rain began to fall on Izuku's face. The green-haired teen smiled despite everything. 'He even changed the weather pattern…so cool.'

After a few minutes of recovery, Izuku sat up, and Death Arms came over to the boy. "There was absolutely no reason for you to do that, young man!" Izuku hung his head down in response to that statement. He was right; there was nothing he could have done there.

As Death Arms finished his statement, Mt. Lady walked up with her arms crossed under her chest. "You gotta know when you can help a situation and when you'll make the situation worse. Whatever your quirk is, it wasn't suited for this battle, just like mine."

As she scolded him, Izuku lifted his head some and saw the skin-tight suit clinging to her body. 'Oh no.' Izuku's head dropped back down as he tried to contain a blush. 'I just had to see that clip of her last night…'

In contrast to the lecturing Izuku had received from the heroes, he could overhear Katsumi being praised by other heroes for holding on for so long. Like most people, they began to compliment her quirk as well. After a few minutes of this, the heroes were satisfied with the lesson they had given Izuku.

'Everyone can see it. Everyone could see it. I can't be a hero.'

A short while later.

Izuku was walking home from the Sludge Villain incident, talking to himself as his mind pondered what went down. "I wish I apologized to All Might…I probably made him look pretty dumb, losing track of that villain." Izuku sighed to himself, "Guess I'll have just to send him a message on his website…doubt he'd ever want to see a fan like me again."

"Hey, Deku!" was yelled out behind him in a familiar voice.

Izuku turned around to see Katsumi, in her school uniform, trembling as she approached him. Her head pointed to the ground. "I…" Katsumi started. She paused, taking a deep breath, followed by her looking up at Izuku. "I never asked you to save me!"

Katsumi slowly stomped towards the green-haired teen. "You couldn't have helped me. We both know that. Your quirk means you will never be a hero." The explosive blonde was close to Izuku now, glaring at his eyes. "Why'd a damn nerd like you get so tall?!" she shouted in frustration.

Izuku shut his eyes as he, suddenly, was being pressed into the wall. Trying to back up into a wall, ended up with him falling onto his butt. 'God, she's stronger than she looks.' Izuku opened his eyes to find Katsumi bending over to be eye level with him.

"I heard from my worshippers today. They texted me what your teacher said," Katsumi told him. She paused as she turned her right side of her head away and wiped it with her hand. "They said you…stupid, almost-quirkless, Deku wants to go to UA."

Katsumi got right into Izuku's face, and he could feel her breath on his face as she spoke. Her eyes found his, with a wavering voice, she continued talking, "They said that you wanted to get into the hero course." The blonde put her right hand on his cheek as if to line up a slap.

Her face scrunched up. "Tsch." Her hand lowered.

She took a step back. "I'm applying to the hero course there. I better not see you applying too, Deku!" she instructed the boy.

'She's probably right…' Izuku lowered his eyes at her last statement, and his breath hitched as he realized he was looking at her chest. His eyes never darted back up faster in his life.

Katsumi didn't seem to notice where his eyes had drifted momentarily, as she leaned in again to speak into his ear. She didn't feel that their bodies were now connected; the situation was rapidly becoming extremely uncomfortable for Izuku. "A hero nerd like you could be the greatest support equipment inventor or a great businessman…so go to UA, just not the hero course."

Katsumi backed away, staring intently with her blood-red eyes at Izuku. "Got it?" she asked him.

Izuku was struggling between the fear and his bodily reaction caused by Katsumi's proximity. The young teen was only able to give off a stuttering reply. "Y-Yeah, maybe y-you're r-right… K-Kacchan." Izuku noticed the blonde-haired woman was staring at his lips as he replied.

Katsumi allowed herself a brief smile as she straightened herself out. "Good. I better see you at the UA Entrance Exam. Support course only." She twirled around, her skirt fluttering with her movement, and began to walk off.

Izuku looked down at his lower body and sighed, and the boy began to contemplate their conversation, 'She's right. I couldn't do anything there… I can't trust myself to use my quirk.' An image of Himiko flashed briefly in his mind, before shattering. 'I'm glad I tried to, though. Maybe with that, I can forget this hero thing and focus on a realistic future.'

Izuku stood up, beginning to sulk his way back home.

His misery was interrupted by a towering figure sliding into view, a booming voice interrupting his depressing thoughts, "I am here!" Izuku involuntarily jumped up at the surprise of his idol sliding back into his life.

"All Might!? Why are you here? Reporters surrounded you, and I couldn't get to you!" Izuku questioned the grand hero.

All Might began his reply in his heroic tone, "Haha! I'm the number one! Losing some reporters is child's play for me! After all, I'm All Mi—"

COUGH COUGH COUGH.

Blood spewed from the heros mouth as he transformed into his true form. Izuku recoiled in terror. 'ALL MIGHT! NOT AGAIN!' It took the boy a few moments, but Izuku slowly calmed down from the shock of seeing his idolized hero transforming into his real form again.

"Kid," All Might started his voice heavy with strain. The skeletal hero's eyes latched onto Izuku; something was inspiring about his piercing blue eyes being surrounded by darkness, almost as if it symbolized something. "I needed to thank you for what you have done…and also, I have an offer to make to you…"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" the green-haired boy asked.; He couldn't think of what the hero could want from him now.

All Might elaborated, "If you hadn't told me your story…I'd be nothing but a pile of big muscles. I wouldn't have been true to myself. So thank you for making me see the error of my ways."

'Fake muscles?'

Izuku felt the need to apologize. "But I got in your way, and I made you look like a fool. Someone too afraid of his quirk that he might as well be quirkless. I still thought I could ask you a question. I caused this entire mess."

All Might stopped for a few moments, his's eyes trained on the teen as if he was studying him. He let out a small laugh before speaking again, "But that's the point, kid."

Izuku's face grew a puzzled look in exchange.

All Might continued to explain his logic. "Look, kid. I don't know the details of your hang up on your quirk." The skinny man paused again, seemingly considering each word carefully. "Despite that, of everyone at the scene…it was you, a man going through so much self-doubt, a man who thinks he seems to be wishing he was quirkless." All Might's voice began to rise as he spoke, "You were the one to act. You were the one who spurred me into action! There's one thing shared amongst almost all the top heroes, tales of their potential before maturity." Despite his current form, his voice reached the strength of his muscle form. "We all claimed…that our bodies moved before we could even think!"

Izuku's body began to double over in emotion, in shock at the scene unfolding in front of him. But why was that scene coming back to him now? The words his mother said to him on the night his father left...

'I'm sorry Izuku, I'm sorry.'

'No, mom. Back then, what I wanted you to say was...'

"Izuku. You can become a hero."

A/N:

Thank you for all your reviews. Izuku's quirk is something that I am going to be slowly revealing more and more about, we will get to see more of it in the next chapter with All Might.

I have written a lot of this before ever posting(10 finished, 1 partially around 100k words). I am just having to edit everything I first wrote before, because:
1. I am a bad writer, who has gotten marginally better at grammar.

2. Adjusting how I wrote things before.

I am aiming to post about a chapter a week for the first ten chapters, so that way I don't flood the volunteer editing channel I get editing for this from. After that, I don't know how long it will be in between chapter postings.