CHAPTER THREE: FEAR/INSTINCT

WELL, it looked like Izuku had his answer. Even All Might had basically told him that a person couldn't become a hero without a quirk and Izuku did not have that. Which meant that even if he wanted to become a hero, even if his family was different, was normal—

It would not be possible. Heroism was impossible for quirkless individuals.

So it was villainy for him after all then. There had to be a way. He knew he could figure out how to convince his parents that he was perfectly capable of helping out with the Family Business, despite his quirklessness, with enough time. He wasn't weak and he wasn't stupid.

That's all he wanted to do. To help them, in whatever way he could. He wanted to make himself useful to them, but the only way he could do that was if they actually let him be useful.

He hated his powerlessness. He wished he could do more, somehow, in some way. That's all he wanted, to prove Tomura-nii wrong when he called him useless.

Well, he wanted to stand beside Kacchan as his equal, too... but that was impossible. Everything in him was meant to be a villain, so that was all he ever would be. This was who he was.

Right?

[***]

The air around Izuku sung like a fiddle on a string, vibrating and ready for the next beat to fall. There was someone screaming in the distance. There was always someone screaming. He heard explosions, uneasy chatter—a plea for the right heroes to help, to arrive on the scene, to save the person trapped. It smelled like tar and sewer, an all too familiar smell.

Izuku coughed and inched through the crowds, elbowing his way closer. Did I somehow distract All Might when we were talking? I don't understand how he'd escape from him otherwise...

There was someone struggling in the voluminous slime, with no small amount of desperation in their jerky movements. Izuku glanced at the heroes watching from the sidelines, doing nothing to help the victim.

Heroes were meant to accomplish the impossible. They weren't even trying to save that poor person.

"Why aren't the heroes saving that boy?" a little boy asked beside Izuku, looking up at his mother. The woman held her child close to her, not taking her eyes off the commotion.

"I don't know... they're afraid they'll make the situation worse with their quirks."

No wonder Tomura-nii hates heroes so much, Izuku couldn't help but think as he watched with wide eyes, completely rooted to the spot. They fight for profit and they don't even try to rescue because their quirks aren't made for this type of work. If they got creative, there would have been a way to rescue that person.

The person screamed, setting off powerful explosions from their body, and Izuku stopped thinking as he stared because that couldn't... could it? Was it possible that Kacchan had gotten entangled with the slime villain as well?

Like the moment before lightning struck during a thunderstorm, the air sizzled and crackled with tension, hot at a wire and dangerous. Crimson red eyes opened and somehow, through the energy, his eyes met Izuku, wide and desperate and frightened as he gasped.

Izuku's legs moved.

He swerved under Kamui Wood's arms, branching out and pushing civilians back just like the trees his quirk copied. He ran—not away from the villain, like most rational people apparently, but toward the villain, toward Kacchan, toward his friend—

Kacchan, Kacchan, Kacchan he thought with every step he took and I must save him with every breath he took and his eyes looked like they were crying out for help with every fiber of his being.

He shrugged his backpack off, planted his feet in the ground, and threw it at the villain's eyes—its weak spot. The villain screamed and drew away, and Izuku leapt into it, clawed desperately at the slime enclosed around Kacchan's limbs, ignored his watering eyes. Kacchan jerked his head free, heaved and gasped for air; yanked an arm away and aimed an explosion at the slime—

"What the fuck are you doing?!" he gasped. "You're going to get yourself killed too!"

Izuku shook his head. "I don't know why or what I'm doing either! My legs just moved when I saw the look in your eyes!" His voice was hysterical as he tried to explain how he had just moved without thinking about it, as if he was a marionette controlled by a puppeteer's strings.

"Get away, Deku!"

"No!" he shrieked as he clawed as the slime villain started to recover and trap Kacchan again. "You're my only friend! I'm not going to let you die, dammit!"

"It's not your choice!"

High pressure developed, just like it had once before, and then was a shout of "TEXAS SMASH!" from a very familiar voice, and again, the slime villain was defeated, blown away by All Might into tiny bits and pieces. Kacchan fell to his knees, gasping and coughing and choking up the slime that had been pushed up his nose and down his throat. Izuku couldn't stop sobbing as his knees gave out and he stumbled and fell onto the cold, hard pavement.

His knees stung and his eyes hurt and he couldn't stop shaking either. He reached out to try to touch Kacchan, but Kacchan knocked his arm aside with a small explosion. He shouted, "Deku, you idiot! I had it under control!"

"You'd have died!" Izuku yelled back at him, holding his arms to his chest.

"You would have too!"

But they both quieted when All Might and the rest of the heroes came back, Izuku because he didn't want them to recognize his connection to his own father and Kacchan because he was in the presence of his idol. Kamui Woods frowned down at him, and Izuku couldn't help but flinch back at such displeasure.

"That was very reckless. You could have gotten killed," he scolded him. "But, it was brave. What's your quirk?"

"I'm... I don't have one."

"Stupid," Kamui Woods muttered. "It's only sheer luck that you managed to survive and didn't make the situation worse."

Izuku flinched.

Kacchan was praised for his powerful quirk and his bravery, by All Might and the other heroes, but Izuku knew his friend was fuming at being unable to escape, at being so weak...

The back of his neck prickled, and when he glanced over his shoulder, he saw All Might staring at him with a peculiar expression on his face. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't scowling either—if anything, he looked thoughtful.

But as soon as Izuku noticed, All Might was pulled back into the reporter's questions about the incident, and the strange expression was forgotten. Izuku sat there for a while, listening to the heroes praising Kacchan and bearing the scolding without saying a word, even though he wanted to say you weren't doing anything while my friend was dying, I couldn't stay away, why did you do nothing—

Kacchan grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. His grip was bruising and his movements were too forced to be gentle, and he didn't let go or loosen his grip as he marched them out of there without letting go of his wrist. Izuku tried wriggling it out of his grasp, but it was too tight. Kacchan's pace was fast, so he stumbled and fell and Kacchan jerked him back up with a yell.

"Ka-Kacchan, stop, let go, you're hurting my arm!" he said, when they got away from the reporters and heroes. But Kacchan didn't let go, so Izuku tried to yank his arm out of his grasp, and failed.

"Stop with the weak-ass struggling," Kacchan barked over his shoulder. "It's pissing me off."

"Stop hurting me and I'll stop the weak-ass struggling," Izuku snapped back at him.

Kacchan turned suddenly, all of a sudden aggressive with exploding fists, bumping his hip against his and forcing Izuku to step away from him until his back hit a wall. His arms framed around his head, and Izuku swallowed as he looked up and met his boiling crimson gaze. There was no way to get out of this either...

"Don't ever do that again," he hissed. "I didn't need your shitty weak ass to save me, do you hear me? I'm not pathetic enough to need you to save me." He spat the last bit out with a sneer. "I'm above you, Deku. Don't forget that and look down on me."

"Where are you getting all of this from? I've never looked down on you!" Izuku tried to knock Kacchan's arms away and failed. "I saw you and you looked like you were asking for help and my legs moved before I could think."

Kacchan probably would have punched him in that moment, if he was a different person, a crueler, harder person, but he barred his teeth at him and stepped back, finally allowing Izuku the space to breathe. Izuku rubbed his sore wrist and pressed his back against the wall, glaring at his friend.

"That was mean," he repeated, from already. Kacchan looked aside and licked his lips.

"... don't die. You're not meant to be a martyr or some kind of goddamn hero."

"Yeah, I know," Izuku said, bitter about the reminder of what All Might had told him as well. "It's not like I could forget with my quirklessness."

Kacchan looked at him weirdly, opened his mouth, and then very deliberately closed it after hesitating for several seconds. Izuku took several deep breaths and tried to calm his racing heart. His eyes ached. So did his head. All he wanted to do was sleep.

"Are you okay?"

No, I'm stressed and terrified about what I'm going to do in the future because I'm useless because I'm normal like most people were several hundred years ago.

"I'm fine," he lied. He smiled. "Don't worry about me."

Katsuki didn't look like he believed him, but he didn't really say anything. Instead he took another step away, still not quite meeting his eyes. "I'm sorry about your arm. Did I hurt you?"

"No," Izuku said.

"Don't fucking lie to me. You said I was earlier."

Izuku paused, pressed his lips together, and allowed his shoulders to slump. "Okay, fine, you did hurt me a little. But it's nothing, really."

But Katsuki still moved and tugged his arm up to inspect it. There were bruises forming around his wrist along with a very small burn mark, both of them in the shape of his hand.

"Fuck," Katsuki muttered under his breath. "I'm sorry I burned you. I have some ointment at my house that soothes burns good if you want some."

Mom would freak out whenever she sees it. Izuku shook his sleeve to cover the marks, hiding it from the world. With luck, his family wouldn't notice it and so they wouldn't have any reason to turn on the news.

With luck.

He had rotten luck. They probably already knew what happened and were discussing how much of a disappointment he was to the Family Business, for needing to be rescued by All Might and for drawing attention to himself.

"I have to get home before my mom and the rest of my family gets worried about me," he explained. "I'm sure they must have seen the news by now."

Katsuki frowned. "I'll bring it over tomorrow before school then. Don't be late. Actually, you know what? Come to my house early and I'll put it on there."

"Okay," Izuku agreed, because he wouldn't be able to get out of Katsuki hovering around him the next few days like a nervous mother hen fretting over her chicks. He might be sharp and mean around the edges, and had a hair-trigger temper, but he still cared.

Izuku stepped forward, once, twice, thrice, and then he leaned his forehead against his collarbone and closed his eyes. "Thanks," he said.

Katsuki didn't say anything in response, nor did he move a muscle, but that was okay because he was still here. Solid and dependable as always. Izuku stepped away, brushed the stinging tears out of his eyes, and smiled widely.

"I'll be fine walking home on my own. Don't worry about me."

"I wasn't worried," Kacchan argued, but there was no heat in his voice as he immediately turned around and stomped off in the opposite direction. Izuku sighed in relief when he disappeared from his sight.

That was... he never wanted to do something like that again in his life. Two near-death experiences in his life was more than enough to last him a lifetime.

But there had been something exhilarating about that rush of adrenaline, that desperation to live or die. And the way his legs had moved before he could even think, to save Kacchan, who was his childhood friend, sure... but people always said villains destroyed everything they touched. People died around villains, it was as simple as that.

Yet Izuku, who was the son of the two most infamous villains in living memory, had saved a life. It had been entirely instinct, over-ruling the terror that had rooted him to the ground. It wasn't life-altering or earth-shattering, but it was... something else entirely.

He didn't know what to think.

Pressing his hand into the burn marks on his wrist, he frowned down and wondered what he could do about hiding them from his parents. Both of them. Mom would be furious, wanting to either ban him from talking to Kacchan again or going after Kacchan herself to explain why hurting her son was the wrong move. Father would be furious too, but probably more at him because he had allowed himself to be injured, not Kacchan. If he was watching the news, which was almost certain, then it was likely that he'd be in for a scolding for drawing attention to himself.

Izuku looked up suddenly. At the end of the road, a tall, thin man stood still. He recognized the skeletal-like figure—Yagi, it must be Yagi. The same person who was All Might, except this was his true form and the hero form wasn't.

Even the number one hero had secrets surrounding him, a carefully constructed image to protect the public from panic while he single-handedly kept villains at bay. If that image, that symbol of peace he represented, was ever destroyed...

Izuku picked up his pace from walking to a slow jog, and when he was within ten feet of the hero, he slowed to a halt and stared.

"Yagi-san? What are you doing here?" he asked, shaking his sleeve to cover his wrist and hiding it behind his back. He tightened his grasp around his backpack. He scoffed his feet against the ground.

"I'm here to thank you and to offer a proposal."

"Huh?"

Yagi smiled, gestured toward the bench set off to the side, and Izuku followed him, sitting on the edge of the seat and ready to flee in a heartbeat if needed. He pressed his hands together and laid them down on his lap, tilting his head to the side.

"If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't have been so moved by your determination to rescue your friend, and I would have failed in my duty as a hero to go beyond my limits to save a civilian. So, I must thank you."

Izuku stayed silent, mostly because he didn't know what to say in response to that. All Might was the number one hero, an incredible hero, even Izuku knew that and his parents were villains—but he was human too. He had his limits. So, for him to say that Izuku inspired him to go beyond that limit, when it was always the other way around...

Yagi leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, ducking his head a little—and Izuku realized that he was trying to reach his gaze, even though Izuku kept trying to look down at his hands. He blinked.

"Your legs—they moved on their own before you could think, didn't they?"

Izuku's mouth was dry. So incredibly dry. But he nodded and spoke, tried to explain as if it had been forced out of him. "I didn't think... it was all on instinct. I had to save Kacchan. Nobody else was doing anything to help him and I just—I couldn't stand aside and let him be hurt like that."

He couldn't. He was his friend. His only friend.

Yagi nodded, as if he knew exactly how Izuku had felt.

"You, a quirkless child, ran to save your friend despite the danger and despite common sense telling you not to at a time no one else could act. Many heroes have said that their bodies moved before they could think, to save someone on complete instinct. This is what happened to you, right?"

Tears stung Izuku's eyes, even though he didn't know why. All his life, everyone around him told him he was worthless or useless. Father hadn't even given him a quirk even though he had more than enough ability. And now... All Might was telling him he could become a hero.

"I—I don't understand. Why are you telling me this? I'm—I—I can't—I'm quirkless, I can't—I'm useless. There's no way I'm remotely heroic—it was just for Kacchan—" He looked at Yagi, and Yagi shook his head.

"You can become a hero," he said, voice soft, and Izuku stared and stared. Hot tears fell down his cheeks.

"I can't," he said softly, shaking his head. "I have no quirk. My parents wouldn't allow it." My parents are villains.

"You can," said All Might. A light shone in his hand as he held it out to Izuku, until he closed his fist around it, shutting out the light. "You, who possessed no power, were the one who shined more than the other so-called heroes. That's why I decided that you're the one who is worthy of inheriting my quirk."

Wait, what?

"I'm sorry, what? Inherit your quirk...? But quirks are genetic, there's no way..." but then Izuku trailed off, remembering how his father once mentioned a brother who stole a quirk from him and passed it down onto his successor. Did All Might's quirk work like that somehow?

"Many people generally mislabel my quirk under a generic super strength boost, and I've always evaded the topic in interviews when it comes up. However, while that's correct, my quirk has another aspect to it that's unknown to the public—it's a power like the sacred torch of legend, the one that comes from one bearer to the next."

A quirk that's inherited... but that's so hard to wrap my head around it. There's nothing in history that left a trace that it's possible, outside of the family. Everyone has their own individualities which make up the fundamental factor of their quirk—

"Jeez, kid, there's no need to look so skeptical. I might keep a lot to my chest, but I don't tell lies."

Izuku shut up and looked back up at Yagi, trying to wipe his face blank. Yagi still had that thoughtful expression on his face.

"My quirk is the power to transfer power, and the name of this ability I've been entrusted with is called One for All."

Just... like... All for One. Just like father's quirk.

Izuku stayed silent, overwhelmed by the information Yagi was giving to him.

"One man cultivates the power and then gives it to another. Again, it's fostered and passed down, and in doing so, it strengthens over time so that hearts with the unwavering call to save lives can utilize this quirk."

"Why are you offering this quirk to someone like me? I've never even wanted to enter heroics."

Even though I admire you and Kacchan wishes to become stronger than you and I want to emulate Kacchan... heroics was never a possible path for me.

Or, at least, it hadn't been possible for him before now.

"I've been looking for a successor for a while now, and I finally stumbled upon you." Yagi explained. "You who, quirkless and therefore powerless, with no interest in being a hero, still moved on instinct to protect your friend, a quality of a true hero."

"I..." Izuku said softly. "It was for Kacchan. He's my only friend. I don't see that as really heroic; all I wanted was to save him."

"But your body moved to save him before you could think, didn't it?"

"I... yes." He admitted. It'd been instinct for him to save Kacchan.

Yagi smiled wryly. "Of course, it is your choice to inherit this power entirely and the responsibility to saving people that comes along with it."

Izuku looked into the distance because... part of him did want to accept this. Part of him wanted to spite his father and accept a quirk and prove to him that he wasn't useless, but the larger part of him wanted to learn what it was like to be like All Might, to have a chance to stand with Kacchan as his equal...

"All I've ever wanted, my entire life, is to be useful," he admitted quietly. "Not useless. Not worthless. Good for something. And... and accepting your quirk, it means I'd be able to help people, right?"

"Yes. Even though heroics is difficult and often self-sacrificial, you would help people."

He raised his hand to his face, swiped his arm across his cheeks to dry his tears, and took a deep breath. For Kacchan; it was for Kacchan.

Maybe for himself a little, too. He never had a heroic bone in his body, his entire family were villains, but... he wanted to get to know Yagi, or All Might, or both of them. His father would be furious with him for accepting a foreign quirk, would be even more so once he discovered it was All Might's quirk, but...

Something.

Or maybe it was the rush of exhilaration still clouding his judgement, maybe it was the way that some part deep inside of him practically sung with joy at... all of this. He wanted to help people, but more than anything else, he wanted to try to understand Kacchan, understand All Might, understand what drove heroes to act the way they did, to prove to his father that they could be reasoned with, that they could explain why they did the things they did...

He didn't even know what it was that nudged him to accept this. Maybe it was all the small voices in the back of his head, the mean ones, that whispered he couldn't and that he might as well just give up, since he was useless.

It'd be better than being forced into an arranged marriage because of his quirklessness, if he had no choice but to go to a quirkless school. Anything was better than that. Even heroics. Especially heroics.

At least his life would have some kind of meaning to it.

"Okay. I-I'll do it."

Even if he didn't quite understand it right now.

Yagi looked surprised, but then his expression smoothed out into a small, relieved smile.