Chapter Text
Life was always torture for Midoriya Izuku, ever since his mother and father had died when he was younger, he'd always been alone. It was a forgone conclusion for him as he'd never been around anyone who ever liked him, and because of his orphan-like state everyone made it his problem to deal with their anger. Izuku was not one to take these things without at least trying to give the people some kind of reason to not fight him all the time. But ever since his Quirkless diagnosis getting out to those within his school district he was treated as though he were a blight on the world.
Every time he was walking home from school, he'd find himself being followed back by bullies. Sometimes people who had wanted to kidnap him, but due to his small stature he was always capable of getting away without getting seen by those who chased after him. He'd always been a very fast runner; it was the one thing he decided to do after the death of his father when he was 5... the man had been a Japanese American Fitness instructor. And the man had taught Izuku that being fit was the only way to make sure he could escape those who bullied him at school, the man never taught him how to fight back due to him being a literal 5-year-old.
But when his parents were both killed when he was five years old... he didn't know what to do. Nobody wanted to adopt the Quirkless five-year-old child and went after those who had a quirk, so that made Izuku far more distant with those who really didn't want to associate with him. Even the orphanage he lived within had been very distant with him concerning the whole Quirkless diagnosis he had on his medical file.
Back to life being an absolute cunt to Midoriya Izuku, the young man was currently 13 years of age and walking to his local middle school of Aldera Junior High. It wasn't a very good middle school, but it was something for him at least... if it taught him anything useful that he didn't know at least. The fact that Izuku learned more about the things he had tested in class due to the library not too far away from the orphanage spoke a lot about the life he lived. He was hated in the orphanage he lived in, he was hated at school, he was hated by his peers... and his bullies always made comments about his parents hating him enough to allow themselves to be killed literally 8 years ago.
He never let their words get to him though, because that meant they would be getting a rise out of him. But he never let them know that their words hurt, entering the classroom with nothing more than a dulled expression as though he were waiting for his bullies to do something like usual the teacher came in before they could. The teacher spoke about how everyone needed to choose their own career profession that they wish to do when they reach the age of around 18. Izuku had originally wanted to become a Hero, he still did... but after all these years of training himself via running around Musutafu he was beginning to doubt his own strengths.
He had trained himself both mentally and physically so that he could at least take the Entrance Exams for UA. But when he thought about it, he'd never be capable of even destroying a single robot due to the fact that he'd never trained himself in physical strength to increase his maximum damage he could potentially do. Shaking his head at the teacher, Izuku had forgotten that when the teacher was talking about who wanted to go to UA that he had signed up for UA as well.
"Oh, Midoriya... it says here that you wish to join UA as well. Is that true?" The teacher asked, a bored expression on their face.
"Y-Y-Yeah, but I-I'm only g-going for the G-General Education C-Course." Izuku stated, as the teacher blinked for a moment.
"Wait, really?" The teacher asked, before looking over the paper.
Sure enough, written under the courses within UA's High School, Izuku's name was written under the General Education tab.
"Huh, well I'll-" The teacher went to say before being interrupted.
"Okay what the hell is wrong with you, you damn nerd!? You were always spouting about becoming a Hero without a Quirk, now you're not wanting to?! What gives?!" Bakugo called out, as the other students looked at him like he was crazy.
"Now you are mad at him for not wanting to become a Hero!?" "What in the hell are you talking about Bakugo!? He's Quirkless, he can't become a Hero even you say that!" "Last time I checked being smart doesn't allow one to get into UA, but whatever." Random students called out.
"I-I just don't w-wish to be a c-competitor." Izuku mumbled as Katsuki bounded over.
"Tell me what you are planning you damn nerd! You never act like this!" Katsuki growled.
Izuku gave the boy a look as though he were trying to not remember what happened the previous few weeks prior to this day. Shaking his head slightly Izuku turned his gaze down as he tried to not remember his idol's words to him a few weeks ago after being saved by All Might.
"TELL ME DEKU?! WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE YOU LOST YOUR WILL TO FUCKING LIVE!" Bakugo called out, causing everyone in the room to flinch even the teacher.
"My idol told me that I couldn't become a Hero, not without a Quirk. I'd rather not talk about it much more." Izuku retorted whilst his breathing spiked a little.
Bakugo out of either pity or rage induced confusion just let Midoriya be and walked back to his seat. Everyone in the school knew that Izuku's idol was the same person as Katsuki's idol, and although they viewed the man in different ways for their idolization of the man. The entire school knew that when Izuku spoke he never could actually lie to anyone he spoke to, it was incredibly difficult for him to lie to anyone, not like he had anyone to lie to.
Once the school day was over, Izuku was shown walking home from school as he thought back to the day when his idol told him his dream was unattainable.
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2 weeks ago
Izuku walked out of an alleyway that had been the associate to hiding his beaten and hurt form for about an hour after school had ended. The boy walked out with a small hobble in his steps as he'd been beaten to the point that one of his legs just refused to actually work properly. And as he limped down the road with each and every single person who looked in his direction just gave him a cursory glance before continuing on their day just hurt his heart a little but more. It wasn't as though he would've informed him what he'd been through, the looks they gave him were that of indifference, pity and a bit of grim satisfaction of how he appeared.
He never even met these people, and they gave him glances like that, and he could easily tell satisfaction from a mere glance. The way their eyes smiled when they took upon his form that was scuffed and slightly burnt and smelling of caramel-like smoke gave away their true nature. The boy slowly pushed by them softly not wanting to garner enough attention to make them turn their anger of the day onto him and make his already bad day worse. By the time Izuku came towards un underpass, the boy couldn't push himself further with his injured leg as he stopped before checking up on the limb. Pulling his pant leg up he found a piece of his skin distended from how it should normally appear and gaining the courage to push it down, he felt the bone underneath the skin.
"T-This is g-gonna hurt." Izuku muttered to himself as he pushed down as hard and fast as possible.
SNAP!
"Guh!" Izuku grunted before feeling bile come up his throat.
Moving over towards the grass nearby on the side of the road, Izuku threw up his lunch's contents. By the time he was finished, he fished out some mouth spray to make sure he didn't smell from the mouth... he wanted to be healthy after all.
"D-Darn it K-Kacchan, why did y-you have t-to hurt me t-this bad? N-Now you could g-get in t-trouble if someone asks me t-the wrong questions." Izuku mumbled to himself as he picked up his backpack.
He walked underneath the underpass with a sad expression taking over his facial features. By the time he crossed the underpass, he looked to the sky as he saw a weird looking star flash by really quickly. It wasn't as though he was unaware of shooting stars, but at the same time he couldn't help but look up to it and state out a wish.
"That was a shooting star... I wish I could gain the power to become a Hero." Izuku muttered before attempting to carry on.
Then the manhole behind him was smacked upwards into the underpass behind Izuku. As the boy turned around to see what was going on behind himself, he saw a scene that was probably from a horror movie. A sludge creature appeared from the depths of the sewer system as it coughed up some sewage before spitting the remnants from it's teeth onto the ground nearby. Its eyes were vastly larger than his own as teeth as yellow as the sun when it shined brightly had shown themselves to the boy as he froze in the middle of the street.
It wasn't as though he were thinking of a way to not be seen, it was his brain was freezing. Fight or flight mode had been initiated, and the boy had been so frightened by the villain's arrival that his body had subconsciously froze in place as though it were accepting fate. The villain then muttered to themselves as they glanced around the area, seemingly moving past his frozen frame.
"Damn it! I didn't think that HE would be here... I need to escape before he can find me!" The villain muttered before his eyes found Izuku's.
And Izuku would wish for the rest of his life that the next few moments would be forgotten in his psyche. The villain smiled down at the boy before swarming his entire sludgy mass around the boy in such a way that the boy couldn't even react to how fast the villain moved.
"Nice! A medium sized skinsuit! Thanks a lot kid, you're gonna be my Hero for this! It'll take at least 48 seconds before everything will go black so don't struggle!" The villain said, forcing his sewage ridden self, down the boy's throat.
As Izuku did his very best in order to struggle and escape from the villain's grasp, the villain himself took note of the boy's internal injuries. He let out a gruff sound of exasperation.
"Your body isn't very well kept, isn't it? Last time I had to use a body I could fit myself all inside them, if I were to use you as a skinsuit, you'd practically die from me sticking myself all up inside you. Eh, whatever what's murder on my belt with Grand Theft?" The villain questioned before continuing to shove himself down Izuku's throat.
Izuku couldn't think for a few more moments as he struggled as hard as he could, thinking of a way to escape from the villain's grasp. But nothing came to mind as his arms slowly began to weaken from his breath being taken away from him, sludge slowly working their way down into his lungs preventing him from getting oxygen. As the boy's eyes began to dull and the darkness of death entered his view, the manhole behind the villain had blasted into the underpass again this time the manhole actually staying in the roof.
"Worry not young man! Why? Because I am here!" A familiar sounding voice called out.
"WHAT THE!? ALL MIGHT!? HOW DID YOU GET HERE!?" The villain called out fearfully.
"Because Villain! Justice is never lost forever! TEXAS... SMASH!" All Might called out with a gust of wind causing the villain to be ripped apart dropping Izuku.
The boy fell towards the ground as he glanced over at All Might one last time as his consciousness was fading out. And only one thought came to his mind.
'A-All Might?'
A few minutes later, Izuku woke up to the incessant smacking of his facial cheek forcing him to wake up. Bile raised up from his stomach as the feeling of sewage being stuck in his lungs forced themselves out as the boy moved away from his Idol and threw up in the nearby grass. He felt a rather large hand rubbing his back as he retched up more than enough sewage that could've made him sick to his stomach later on if it hadn't come out now. Looking up he found his idol standing happily as he was filling a 2-liter soda bottle with the villain that he'd defeated.
"A-All Might!? W-What are you doing h-here!?" Izuku called out, as the man smiled at him.
"Sorry for getting you wrapped up in my Heroing lad! This guy had me chase him all over the Musutafu Sewer System. It was a maze down there if you ask me, but if anything now that the villain is caught, I must be off!" All Might called out, just before he turned around however Izuku stuck his notebook in his face.
"P-Please sign this! I-I need to have your a-autograph sir!" Izuku said, as the Hero chuckled.
"Well I guess I can spare a few moments for you young man! Who do I make this out to?" All Might asked, with a smile on his face.
"M-Midoriya I-Izuku." The boy replied as All Might smiled at him again.
"It's always nice to meet a fan Young Midoriya, now work hard on your Quirk to become a Hero!" All Might said, as he watched the boy's face fall at the word Quirk.
'That's odd.' The Hero thought to himself before mentally shrugging.
"I-I have to ask you a q-question sir... it won't take long... I promise!" Izuku said, as he tugged on the man's shirt.
"I must be off young man, I need to take the villain to the police." All Might stated in a stern way.
"S-Sir! I promise it won't take more than a minute!" Izuku called out, as All Might thought about his next move.
"*Sigh* What do you wish to tell me young man? What's so important that you have to stop me from doing my job?" All Might asked, maybe a bit too harshly but his limit was about to be reached damn it!
"I-I have to know... c-can I become a H-Hero... even if I don't have a Quirk?" Izuku asked, as he looked at the ground.
"Can you tell me why you are asking me this question young man?" All Might asked, without thinking.
"H-Huh?" Izuku asked, looking up to his idol.
"Why are you asking me if you can become a Hero?" All Might asked.
"B-Because e-everyone said that I-I couldn't become a H-Hero like you... without a Quirk t-that is." Izuku said, as All Might nodded.
"Tell me, what can you do against a Strength Enhancing Quirk user?" All Might asked, rather bluntly.
"I-I can fight them through technique and u-use my surroundings in order to find a weakness in their fighting style. I-It really only d-depends on how they utilize their strength sir." Izuku said, as All Might nodded.
"Depends on how the person is utilizing their Quirk you say. Hm... how about this, what do you think you could do against a villain who could run as fast as Ingenium or fly like Hawks?" All Might asked, as he stared at the boy.
"I-I wouldn't k-know since it's n-never happened before sir." Izuku said, looking away.
"That is my point, you may have spirit and determination to become a Hero. Hell, if I could become a Hero whilst being Quirkless I'd probably be an afterthought in the Japanese Heroics. But listen to me when I say this Midoriya-shonen... being a Hero is a lot more than punching a villain into unconsciousness you need to have the heart, mind, spirit and power to become a Hero. So to answer your question young man... I cannot say that you can become a Hero." All Might said, preparing to leave.
Just as he was about to jump away, he turned his head to see the distraught expression of the boy whose dream he practically grabbed and yeeted away. The boy looked to be on the verge of tears had it not been for the blatant confused sadness in his eyes as he spoke again.
"It's alright to dream young man, but you need to know when you are just going to be in the way of other Heroes." All Might stated before leaping away.
Izuku stood there watching as the man who he had idolized just left him on the street. With nothing more than a signed notebook about Heroes and their quirks in his hands... said hands now trembling in sadness as he suddenly dropped the notebook on the ground with a sad huff. His eyes dulled moments later as he walked back towards the orphanage that had become his home long after the deaths of his parents. From that moment on, Izuku couldn't stare at the man he idolized in the same way he used to... he could only view the man as the person who broke his dreams and disintegrated his desire to save people.
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Izuku was seen walking by the underpass again, staring at the now open manhole as he stayed wary of it. By the time he passed by it, he came across a thought that entered his mind the more he thought about it. His life wasn't getting any better the longer he stayed in Japan, if anything his life seemingly just would continue to get worse over time and High School would just provide the same results in his life just as Aldera had. So taking a deep breath he looked at his phone for the nearest plane out of the country, he really just wanted to get away from everything that was happening at the moment.
Just as he was looking over random places to head to in a bid to just get away from everything. He came across a place that had a small ad for joining their religion, tilting his head at the ad cover he opened it up to reveal a recruitment board that was asking for more Priests to join the Vatican. When he glanced at what the age level of it was, he couldn't help but see how they were asking for applicants who were around the age of 10 to join. The only thing they were required to do in order to stay within their ranks was to just believe in their religion... and as Izuku stared at the recruitment ad for a few moments longer he gained a new goal.
Join whatever this recruitment ad talked about and see what they were about. If he could become stronger through them, then he didn't care if it destroyed him mentally and turned him into an insane person... so long as he could at least make one friend that didn't treat him like garbage. He was fine with what he'd have to endure just to have a singular friend, so as he signed up for it he received a notice that he'd be given a free plane ticket to Rome, Italy. Smiling a little, Izuku grabbed his backpack and went to make his way over towards the little orphanage that he'd called home for a majority of his life.
Gathering his belongings, he prepared to leave when one of the Orphanage's guides walked over to him. Seeing the backpack filled with his clothing and other supplies they gave him a look that demanded that he give them information on what he's planning on doing.
"I'm moving out into a different country. I... was accepted into training in another country's boot camp." Izuku informed as the guide nodded.
"Make sure that when you get there that you don't die." The guide said, before walking away.
Izuku tilted his head at that kind of action, nobody ever told him to die explicitly... but nobody had ever told him to not die either. So to hear one of the guides tell him that specifically made him believe that she wanted him just to die alone without anyone being nearby. So letting out a sigh, he opened the door to the orphanage and walked down the sidewalk and made his way towards the airport. By the time he'd arrived there, he was greeted by one of the flight attendants who looked at him with curiosity as he showed them his little sign up for the Vatican Church. He was surprised that they actually allowed him on board one of their planes towards Italy.
So as he sat down in his seat, he looked out the window as he mentally said goodbye to Musutafu, Japan. Now it was time for him to find his place in the world, one where he wouldn't be constantly kicked, beaten and discriminated for how he had no power to protect himself.
He was unaware of the fact that he was willingly joining a Faction in a Three-Way Cold War. A Faction that was part of something far bigger than the life he had currently lived, but at the same time... was waiting for his arrival in Italy.
By the time the plan was landing in Italy, someone waited in the Roman Airport. She had short blue hair with a green fringe at the front of her head but had the most beautiful set of golden yellow eyes that showed off how serious she could really be. And as she wore her Vatican robes to greet the new recruit, she was pleasantly surprised when a young boy who had green hair and eyes walked out in front of her with what appeared to be a slight limp in his step. Tilting her head at that, she approached the boy with confusion on her expression as she spoke out to him.
"Are you Midoriya Izuku?" The girl asked.
The boy stared at her in confusion before a rising blush appeared on his face as the young woman waited for him to speak. Until she got tired of him being quiet.
"Are you Midoriya Izuku?" She asked, catching the boy off guard and getting him to nod.
"I can see that you match your name, come with me. We have a lot to talk about in the Vatican." She said, before Izuku spoke to her.
"W-What's your n-name?" Izuku asked, as the young woman glanced over her shoulder.
"You'll find out when we get to our destination." The woman said, with a smirk on her face.