Chapter Text
A dark green haired four year old girl by the name of Izumi Midoriya was with her parents at the doctor. Why do you ask? Because today she was going to find out what her quirk was. She was very excited, barely able to sleep the night before when her father had told her about the doctor’s appointment. The next day she was practically bouncing off the walls in excitement, her and her father-who was a quirk analyst and researcher-bouncing ideas off of each other of what her quirk might be, her mother watching the rambling father-daughter duo with an amused yet fond smile.
Eventually they were in the car, driving to the hospital, the duo are still rambling quirk ideas to each other, but her mother’s interrupted the conversation saying how she hoped Izumi had a better version of her own quirk, which allowed her to pull any object toward her, provided it was something she could hold in her hand.
Her comment quickly sparked a playful argument between husband and wife at what quirk they thought their daughter would have, which was stopped by Izumi who was now hysterically giggling at her parents argument, that she wanted her quirk to be a combination of both of her parents, which made both of them smile.
Finally, they made it to the hospital and were led to the office where the quirk doctor was stationed. They sat outside of the room on some benches that were next to the door, waiting for Izumi’s name to be called. Eventually the door opens and an assistant nurse peeks out.
“Izumi,” She trailed off slightly as she looked at her board. “Midoriya? Izumi Midoriya?” She asked. To which her father raised his hand and replied with a “Here!”.
They went inside to find and found the Doctor greeting them with a kind smile. He was a short, corpulent, bald man with a bushy mustache who looked to be in his fifties wearing strange looking goggles. He greeted the family before gently leading Izumi to a bed with a privacy curtain and closed it.
“So young lady, are you excited to find out what your quirk is today?” he said to the excitedly fidgeting little girl, his voice gruff yet gentle. Chuckling at the excited nod he received in reply.
“So, what do you think your quirk will be?” He asked, only to be caught slightly by surprise as Izumi began rambling about what her quirk could end up being.
“Oooooh, I really hope I get an awesome combo of both my mom and dad’s quirks. How cool would it be to control fire, maybe I’ll also be able to breathe fire like papa and control it like mom” she continued to ramble until the doctor gently took her arm, causing her to stop and blush, a shy “sorry” being muttered out.
The doctor simply chuckled, “You have nothing to apologize for young lady, I once heard a quote from a famous scientist once that said “A great mind has the power to change the world”” The doctor said, making the little girl brighten up.
“Alright we are all done, why don’t you go sit with your parents while I do all the complicated doctor stuff.” He said, Shocking the little girl, who looked to her left arm to see a bandage already applied. “Woah, how did you do that? I didn’t even notice!”.
The doctor chuckled, “Oh, it’s not too hard, just a little thing called experience.”. Izumi then got off the bed and sat down next to her parents. They waited for a few minutes until the doctor came out from behind the curtain with a frown, worrying the parents.
“So um, tell us doctor, is it good news or bad news?” Hisashi nervously asked. To which he let out a hum before answering.
“Well, this is a rare occurrence for me. The good news is that Izumi does have a quirk, it seems to be quite a powerful one as well if the numbers I’m reading are correct,”He said, making the parents brighten up at the news. “However,” their mood quickly soured. “ The bad news is that her quirk still seems to be dormant.” the doctor said, confusing the parents.
“Dormant?” Hisashi asks. To which the doctor clarifies.
“It basically means that the person has a quirk but it has not manifested yet. Usually when a child is born, they already have their quirk genes in their DNA which were inherited from their parents, as the child grows older their quirk genes develop until they reach a suitable age for the quirk to manifest safely, which is around four to five years old, with mutant type quirks being an exception as they are born with their quirks already developed. However there are exceptions, where the quirk genes have developed but remain dormant. There are many reasons as to why, from the child not being old enough for the quirk to manifest safely to where the quirk genes don’t mix and fail to manifest which would make the child quirkless, or the quirk is dormant because the child’s body has not yet developed a resistance or immunity to their quirk. So to protect their body, the quirk doesn’t manifest until the resistance to the quirk is developed so that it can be used reliably. Which seems to be the case with young Izumi.”
Inko, who had not spoken since they first came in other than quietly comforting her daughter, began to speak.
“S-So are you saying that Izumi’s quirk won’t work because she hasn’t developed a resistance to her quirk yet?” She worriedly asked. To which the doctor nodded.
“Yes. I believe her quirk might be a combination of both of your quirks, may I ask what they are?” The doctor asked, to which Inko replied.
“O-Oh! Yes, I can pull any object towards me as long as it's something I can hold in my hand and Hisashi’s quirk gives him an extra organ between his throat and lungs that lets him breathe fire.” She said, looking at Hisashi as she explained his quirk, to which he takes a small breath and blows out a little puff of flame. “I can also eat other flames to store and boost my own firepower.” Hisashi added. To which the doctor nodded and continued speaking.
“I believe her quirk allows her to create flames and control them, either breathe them out or from anywhere in her body. I think that the reason it is dormant is because she hasn’t yet developed a resistance to her own flames, so to protect her from any self-harm, her quirk remains dormant until she develops a resistance to it.” He finally explained.
“So when do you think her quirk might manifest?” Hisashi asked, putting a calloused hand on his daughter’s shoulder. To which the doctor simply shrugged.
“I don’t really know. It could be a few days from now, or a few years, or it might not manifest at all, which means until that day comes she is effectively quirkless”
Quirkless
That was the word that had shattered Izumi’s heart. And made her learn an important lesson.
All men are not created equal. That was an unfair fact of life. And hers became a living hell.
The drive back home was silent. The family’s mood was much dimmer than it was in the morning. Izumi, whose eyes were bright with excitement, was now dim and lifeless. her parents' hearts feeling like they were being stabbed every time she sniffled, wiping away tears from her already tear stricken face.
Eventually they make it home, Inko going to prepare dinner, making her daughter’s favorite to cheer her up while Hisashi sat on the couch, his daughter snuggled into his side as they watched TV. but Izumi wasn’t really focusing on the shows flashing across the TV.
Eventually the food was prepared and the family had a quiet dinner, the Katsudon brightening the little girl’s mood slightly. But the atmosphere in their home was dark and depressing. They eventually finished and went to retire for the night.
When the parents had worn their sleepwear, Inko’s consisting off a pair of lime green pajamas with dark green polka dots, while Hisashi’s sleepwear was simply a tank top which revealed his lean but muscular arms and shoulders as well the dragon tattoo from his *ehem* rebellious teenage years along with black sweatpants since his quirk made his body operate at a much higher temperature than normal people, at around forty to forty five degrees celsius, which meant he rarely ever got sick and the cold never bothered him. They went to check on their daughter who hadn't even spoken let alone smiled since that disastrous doctor’s appointment.
Inko slowly opened the door with Hisashi peeking in behind her. They knew their daughter was still awake because of the sounds of the computer in her room being heard through the door. What they saw only served to shatter whatever was left of their hearts. Izumi was sitting on the chair, her knees tucked into her chest with her small arms wrapped around them. On the screen was a video she had seen thousands of times. It was of course of All Might’s-the world’s greatest hero with the grand title of Symbol of Peace-Debut. The video showed footage taken of a disaster that happened at a research facility.
“Who is he? This guy's already saved a hundred people at least and it hasn't been ten minutes! This is... this is crazy! I can't believe it!” The video was taken on a camera of someone who was there. His voice trembled from fear and shock. Suddenly there was a loud, boisterous laughter that sounded out, echoing through the air. From the fire and onto a train car, out stepped a large, very muscular man. He has chiseled features on his face with a strong jawline, pronounced cheekbones, and bushy eyebrows. He has short blond hair, swept backwards, with two distinct tufts that stick up above his head, leaning slightly to each side. His strong features regularly cast a dark shadow over his face, hiding everything but his bright blue eyes. His hero costume consisted of a skin-tight blue bodysuit decorated with a red symbol that somewhat resembles a "Y", designed with a white diamond at its center, with white lines connected to it that trace from his chest to his back shoulders; the lines trimmed with the aforementioned red symbol. The symbol appeared to have wings on the side that ran from the atop his torso before ending around his back, over which was a similar red and white design absent of the white diamond. Large white patches lined red-covered each side of his hips before ending at his lower thighs, and he wore a gold belt that had a silver buckle with red eyes. His forearm sleeves were colored in gold that each had white lines covered in blue accents over his wrists, and had spiked fins on the sides of his arms, his feet were covered in shin-length gold boots trimmed with white and red accents.
He stepped out of the wreckage carrying many injured but unharmed people on his shoulders, his large foot caving in the metal he was standing on slightly, continuing to laugh all the while.
“Look! He’s got more!” the man holding the camera yelled in shock. To which the large hero stopped laughing and spoke.
“Fear not citizens! Hope has arrived! Because I am here!” he exclaimed, his deep voice booming and boisterous.
“See that, mom?” Izumi-who had not spoken since they came home-said. She slowly turns around in her office chair and both parents feel the shards of their shattered hearts crumble to dust . The girl’s tear-stained face stared back at them, but what was worse was the trembling, broken smile on her face as she shakily pointed at the screen. “There’s a smile on his face, no matter how bad things get. Even when things seemed impossible. He never gives up.” She lets out a broken sob.
“Do you think… I can be a hero too?”
That was the last straw for Inko as she teared up and stumbled her way to Izumi, falling to her knees as she hugged her daughter, tears streaming down her face as she cried, her face buried in her daughter’s hair. “I’m sorry, Izuku. I wish things were different.” she said. Which was not what Izumi wanted to hear. Fortunately her father came in and put his hands on her shoulder, turning her chair and letting her face him.
“It’s going to be a lot harder without a quirk, sunshine. And no one is going to believe you but,” He looked at Izumi with an encouraging grin and said, “I think you can be an awesome hero one day.” He said with a smile. He looked at his wife and gestured for her to back him up. She took a shaky breath before saying to her daughter.
“I don’t like it but, I think it’s too dangerous for you but, as your mother I’ll always worry about you. But if you really want to be a hero, all i ask is that you be careful okay? If you promise to do that then, I’ll support you as much as I can.” her words only seemed to make the little girl’s tears fall faster. “So you think I can be a hero too?” She asked, her eyes shining with hope.
“Of course sweetie,” she simply said. Which made the girl sob not in sadness but in happiness and she hugged her mother, Hisashi wrapping his arms around the crying duo as the family hugged each other.
With her hope reinvigorated and her parent’s support, she was going to be a hero. No matter what anyone thinks!.
Unfortunately the next few years of her life would prove to be very difficult for the green haired girl. When it was found out that she was practically quirkless, suddenly it was as if she had become a freak, a pariah walking the halls of the school. Classmates who were once her friends turned their backs on her and even started making fun of her, she became the laughing stock of her class. Teachers who looked at her with kind smiles didn’t even acknowledge her existence anymore. It didn’t help that her father had to leave to work overseas since he had been given the opportunity to expand. The man teared up when little Izumi had clung to his leg like a koala while crying hysterically, begging him not to go. The worst part was that Katsuki Bakugou, her childhood friend and practically brother who she had given the nickname ‘Kacchan’, had become her main tormentor. It got worse when his quirk came in. because of all the praise he got because of his powerful quirk and stellar grades, his ego grew to a ridiculous level. He hated Izumi because of her dream to be a hero despite being quirkless and bullied her because of it. The childish nickname of ‘Deku’ he had given her when they were kids, when he had mixed up the kanji in her name, had become an insult, short for the Japanese word ‘Dekunobou’ meaning wooden doll or good for nothing. He used it as an abbreviation of ‘Defenseless Izumi’.
The bullying only got worse when she reached her first year of middle school at Aldera junior high. Katsuki bullying became physical, shoving or punching the girl. On top of that her treatment at school had gotten even worse. Her classmates all had picked up on her nickname and started calling her ‘Deku’ as well. The teachers seemed to despise her very existence, her math and quirk science teachers going as far as to tamper with her grades and give her lower scores than others who had answered their tests the same way. And speaking of her grades, if she ever got better grades than bakugou ? He would beat her up to, in his words, ‘Put the damn nerd in her place’ and ‘to remind her where she belonged’.
The bullying had reached the point where her mother as well as Katsuki’s mother had to put their foot down when Izumi had come home limping, with bruises on her face as well as a distinct hand-shaped burn mark on her right shoulder thanks to Katsuki using his quirk to burn her. Thanks to her mom’s reputation as a lawyer that works on abuse and quirk discrimination cases as well as being good friends with a detective in the police force with a lie detection quirk. Inko had slapped a lawsuit on the school as well as a police investigation on quirk discrimination as well as many other charges. By the time Izumi and Katsuki had finished their second year of junior high, the entire Aldera school district was shut down. What shocked them the most was the fact that the Aldera school district was secretly an indoctrination center for an old quirk supremacist terrorist organization, though that had not been revealed to the public.
When Izumi found out, suddenly it all made sense to her. The unfair treatment of students based on their quirks. How the school put those with powerful quirks on pedestals. How she had been treated like utter shit . It broke her heart to learn that the school district’s extremely quirkist and unfair practices had resulted in twenty six suicides, not just of quirkless people, but of people whose quirks would’ve been considered useless or villainous by the general public. And they had covered up all of them . Completely written off and washed their hands of them. It infuriated Izumi, and it seemed her parents and Katsuki’s parents felt the same way.
It also seemed the press had caught wind of the massive shutdowns of schools across the country. The news channels on tv covered the drama. Their cameras showed police vehicles surrounding the school and officers in SWAT gear arresting teachers and even some students. Even the Dean of UA had caught wind of the drama and since Katsuki was also arrested, the chimera with an intelligence quirk knew about their desire to apply to UA’s hero course. So Katsuki was given an option of either going into therapy and doing mandatory community service or being forced to go to a juvenile detention center, which would put a black mark on his record, practically banning him from applying to any hero school in the country. Of course not wanting his chance of being a hero to be lost, he took the first option. Heck both of them had to go to therapy together.
The therapist was a lady with sharp facial features and iridescent hair and eyes, but she always wore a small but kind smile. She encouraged them to simply talk to each other, to talk about how they truly felt about each other. The first month yielded absolutely no success. Katsuki’s pride would not allow him to speak, even going as far as to say that he would rather drop dead.
It was only after the third month where Izumi had poured her heart out at the ash blonde boy did he finally talk.
He talked about how despite being quirkless, despite being so far behind him, she always somehow managed to be so far ahead of him. He hated that and wished she would disappear. So he bullied her to keep her at bay, to try to lord his superiority over her.
The therapist listened to Katsuki’s words with a smile and with empath quirk, she could feel the kaleidoscope of emotions within the explosive ash blonde boy. Anger, envy, frustration as well as a mix of emotions associated with inferiority. So she relayed Katsuki’s words in a much less crude manner.
“So, going off from what I’ve been able to gleam from your words. When your quirk came in, a nearly endless amount of praise was heaped onto you because of it being so flashy and powerful and ‘heroic’,” She said, doing air quotes. “All the praise led to your ego inflating to unreasonable proportions to the point where you called everyone around you ‘extras’,” She continued, doing air quotes again. “But, all that praise led to you feeling like you had to live up to and surpass everyone’s expectations as well as developing a superiority complex to try and hide away from your also developing inferiority complex. So when Izumi wanted to be a hero despite being quirkless, you thought of her as a threat when in reality, you were envious of her,” Katsuki opened his mouth to try and deny but was stopped when the therapist simply raised her hand. “You were envious of her because even though the both of you wanted to be heroes, Izumi displayed heroic qualities you wish you had. So you bullied her in an attempt to push her away so that she wouldn’t be a hero and so that you could continue to hide from your insecurities as well as your own weaknesses.”
Her blunt words burnt through the hearts of both Katsuki and Izumi. Izumi was silent, only the tears rolling down her face betrayed how she really felt. Meanwhile Katsuki was trembling, clenching his teeth as his quirk sparked and popped, smoke seeping from his clenched fists.
Izumi hesitantly looked over to Katsuki, barely getting the words she wanted to say out of her mouth. “I-Is that how you really felt Kacchan?”.
The ash blonde’s fists clenched even harder. “Shut up dammit. I don’t need your pity. I don't need you always looking down on me. none of this would've happened if you kept your damn mouth shut. we wouldn't be here with a shrink and my chances at UA wouldn't have been put in jeopardy” He growled as he glared daggers at Izumi, trying to repair any scrap of his broken pride left.
Izumi’s eyes widened as she stared at her childhood friend, the closest thing she had to a brother, in disbelief. “Is that what you really think?” her question was once again met with silence.
“You idiot”
Katsuki's head snapped toward her so fast, she was sure it would’ve snapped if he moved any faster. His now wide eyes stared at Izumi in shock. She looks back at him with tears in her eyes but what shocked him was the furious expression.
“Do you honestly think I look down on you? You idiot, I looked up to you! You have so much going for you that I don’t have! I kept chasing after you because I admired you. In my eyes you were so cool. Your strength. That constant drive to be the best. You were so much better than I was at those kinds of things,” She clenched her fists as she glared at Katsuki. He thought he was seeing things but were her eyes glowing? And why was the room getting warmer?
“Dammit Kacchan, you were the closest thing I had to a brother when we were kids!” She yelled, her voice cracking from her emotion, leaving the blonde in shock at her words.
She wiped her eyes with her sleeves as she contnues . “If we’d just talked, actually talked to each other about how we felt about each other. Maybe none of this wouldn’t have happened. We wouldn’t be here in therapy. We wouldn’t have grown to hate each other. And we would still be friends.” She sniffed, muttering a small “thank you” when the therapist gently pushed the tissue box across the table to her.
Eventually the group therapy session ended, the two teenagers walking out of the therapist's office and walking down the long hallway to the reception where their mother’s were waiting. As they were walking Katsuki began to speak, his voice quieter and more nervous than Izumi had ever heard him.
“Hey, listen uh,” He let out an annoyed sigh. “I’m sorry for being a dick to you and well, yeah just.. Being a dick in general.” he grumbled. A few seconds pass in silence, the only sound being their footsteps as well the general hospital ambience. He looked up at Izumi, only to be surprised to find a small smile on the green haired girl’s face.
“It’s ok Kacchan, it wasn’t your fault, it was the people around us that made us like this.” She said solemnly. Katsuki opened his mouth to retort but then closed it and frowned because she was right and he hated that. The people around him, constantly heaping praise on him over inflated his ego and turned him into an arrogant little shit. And the high expectations from everyone around him forced him to be the best for fear of humiliating himself and letting those people down. Combined with Izumi’s kind nature and heroic tendencies, it caused both his superiority and inferiority to explode. Turning him into what he was today.
“I just wanted to say this doesn’t change a damn thing. I’m still gonna be the number one hero and this time I won’t give a crap of what others will think of me.” Katsuki said stubbornly. To which Izumi smiled and replied. “I’ll be right there with you Kacchan. I’ll become a hero too.” making Katsuki scoff slightly and roll his eyes, but looked back at Izumi with some respect in his eyes and said. “yeah yeah, just don’t slack off ya hear me Deku? And build some muscle dammit, you’re built like a twig. Do you seriously think you can be a hero with that big brain of yours alone?”. Surprising Izumi who gave him a determined grin and replied. “Right, I won’t”.
Eventually they make it to their mothers who immediately begin fussing over them after seeing their red rimmed and puffy eyes. Izumi’s mom asking worry-filled questions to an emotionally exhausted Izumi who was trying to calm her mother down and reassure that she was ok while Katsuki’s mom was…well arguing with him. As usual. They had to leave so as to not cause a disturbance when the two ash blondes had nearly started yelling at each other.
Katsuki was thinking about the weird occurrence that happened to Izumi. Her eyes were glowing slightly and the air around her had heated up slightly. His first assumption was that Izumi had lied to him about being quirkless but he quickly snuffed out that thought and beat it with a bat before it ruined his mood. He remembered what her parents had said when they met up a week after her doctor’s appointment. His uncle said that she did have a quirk, but her body never developed a resistance to it so her body won’t let use it in an attempt to protect her. But it seems her quirk might be trying to finally manifest. He decided to address his concerns to his aunt.
He approached her as she was putting on a seatbelt as well as draping a small blanket over the now asleep Izumi, preparing for the long drive back home.
“Hey auntie” He called for her. To which she turned to him with a small smile. “Oh Katsuki, Is there something you want to talk about?” surprising Katsuki. He was always surprised at how observant his aunt actually was.
“Yeah um first of all, I’m sorry for being a dick to Izumi,” He said to which Inko smiled and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It’s fine Katsuki, as long as you repair your friendship with Izumi, that's all I ask.”
“Yeah thanks, and.. There’s something else too,” he said to which she nodded at him to continue, confused and a little worried. “I think Izumi’s quirk might show up soon.” He said, making her quietly gasp.
“Are you sure Katsuki? And how did you notice?” SHe asked him, her worry obvious in her voice and facial expression. He then explained how when she was yelling at him, her eyes glowed dimly and the air around her heated up slightly when she was angry.
Inko put a hand on her cheek as she thought. “Well, If what you said was true, then the doctor’s theory about what her quirk is might be true,” her worry increased as she thought of what would happen if her daughter’s quirk decided to reveal itself. Will she have managed to develop a resistance or will she burn herself alive if it manifested. She pushed her worries aside so that she doesn’t make herself go crazy with worry but she would have to call her husband to let him know.
She looked back up at Katsuki and nodded. “Thank you for telling me Katsuki. Run along now, you don’t want to have to go home so late.” She said, making Katsuki take out his phone to look at the time, he muttered out a “shit” when he saw that it was 6:30 pm, apologizing when Inko said “Language”.
Eventually they both take the long drive home.Inko parking her car and carrying a still comatose Izumi all the way up to her apartment. Tucking her into her bed before retiring for the night herself, making sure to call her husband before to tell him about Izumi’s quirk before going to sleep.
Unbeknownst to them, hidden in the darkness across the street from the Midoriya family’s apartment, was a figure obscured in darkness. The figure took out his phone and dialed a number before putting it to his ear. The call connects and the man speaks. His voice was deep and gruff. “I found them boss, what do I do now?” He asked, to which a voice replied ominously through the phone. “Keep an eye on them, when the time comes we’ll use them to get the cash we deserve and get our comrade out of prison” Making the man smile deviously.
The family had no idea what was coming for them. And the terrifying force that was going to be unleashed onto the world.