Chapter Text
Izumi remembered the day her life changed over 10 years ago, that damn doctor’s appointment that ruined her life,
She had just turned four years old at the time, the age where children would manifest their quirks.
In a world where 80% of the population has some sort of uncanny ability called a quirk, the unfortunate 20% of the population who aren’t born with a quirk, are looked down upon and treated terribly, as if they were less than human, They were given the derogatory moniker of “Quirkless” meaning they have no power, no individuality, nothing that makes them unique in any way, shape or form.
And in terms of anyone in japan, who the quirkless made up a mere 5% of the population. It was a death sentence.
“Sorry kid, It's not gonna happen” the doctor said, a man who seemed to be in his 60’or 70’s, with a bald head and a long, shaggy mustache, he also wears strange looking goggles on his face.
Izumi’s world shattered when she heard what he said.
“W-What?, are you sure there isn’t even a small chance that she has a quirk” her worried mother said, trying to ignore the way her heart hurt when she saw the broken look on her daughter’s face.
“Unfortunately, no” he said pulling out what appears to be an X-ray of her daughter’s foot
“You see, when quirks first appeared scientists began to investigate, trying to find out a way for quirks to be detected, what they found was that there was an easy way to tell whether a child would have a quirk was to look at a child's foot, those born with quirks don’t have an extra joint at the end of the pinky toe in their foot, those without the extra joint are believed to be further along in human evolution and are extremely likely to have a quirk, on the opposite end, those who have the extra joint aren’t nearly as likely to develop a quirk, even if there is a slim chance that your daughter has a quirk, it would probably be something so obscure it won't even be able to be detected” He explained rather coldly.
Soon with nothing else they quietly thanked the Doctor and left, much less enthusiastic than when they arrived.
Little did they know the doctor was hiding a more unhinged side, after sending in the paperwork for the girl’s quirk status to be registered, he stood up from his chair and left the room.
He walked through the hallways of the building, smiling and greeting a nurse who looked like an anthropomorphic fluffy cat, before turning to an area In the hospital there was a locked-down area only accessible via the morgue, and nobody knew what it was being used for. Only the doctor himself went in and out. The reason for this is that, after walking down a long corridor of abandoned rooms, led to a massive underground facility, lined with shelves housing jars containing strange gray liquids,
On the other end of the facility, there were what seemed to be preservation tanks, containing strange, monstrous looking creatures, some looking humanoid, others not, all floating calmly in bright purple liquid.
This entire facility was built for the sole purpose of serving one man.
They say he is as old as quirks themselves, a demon in human form, they called him names like “The boogeyman” and “The Emperor of the underworld” and “The Demon Lord”, but those who were loyal to him called him “sensei”, He is the man with the ability to take and give quirks, no one knows what his real name was. He only went by one name.
ALL FOR ONE
The doctor makes his way to a desk lined with monitors showing many different things, some monitors showing the hospital’s security cameras, others showing diagnostic information.
He typed on the keyboard and opened a direct line of communication to All For One, the signal connects, he turns to a screen displaying the words ‘SOUND ONLY’
“Doctor, I assume you have news for me?” a deep, smooth, chilling voice said
“Yes, sir, I believe I have finally found a perfect candidate for the shelved project” the doctor replied, giddy excitement in his voice.
“Oh? Is it Project Star Child by any chance, good Doctor?”
“Indeed it is sir. The candidate is young, but this means she can be easily manipulated. She’s also quirkless, which further means a clean slate to work with, just as the project needed, and furthermore her genes are compatible with the combination of quirks chosen for Project Star Child, all we need to do is wait a few years to capture her to be able to enact the project as I believe if we capture her now her young body might not be able to adapt to the quirks, but even then it will likely still be a few years before she will be ready. Once she is, she will be an extremely powerful addition to your forces” the Doctor explained, taking out a file from the lowest drawer and blowing away the dust that cling to it,on the file it read ‘PROJECT STAR CHILD’.
“Excellent, Give me their name and address, when the time comes, I will arrange for her … ‘retrieval’” AFO replied, pleased that the project could finally begin.
Ever since the Doctor’s appointment six years ago, Izumi’s life has never been the same, suddenly everyone hated her, teachers who would look at her with kind smiles became cold, disgusted sneers and hateful glares, she became the laughing stock of her classmates, a pariah, what was worse was that her childhood best friend, katsuki Bakugou, who she looked up to and thought of as a brother and called him by the nickname ‘Kacchan’ turned his back on her and began bullying her, it didn’t help that his ego was over inflated because of the endless praise he would get thanks to his book smarts and powerful flashy ‘Explosion’ quirk, by the time she was 12 she had a hand shaped scar on her shoulder because of him using his quirk on her, he gave her the demeaning, insulting nickname of ‘Deku’, which was short for ‘Dekunobou’ meaning wooden doll, or good for nothing.
He and his goons laughed and scoffed at her dream of being a pro hero, a profession where quirks were specifically trained and used despite her lack of a quirk.
“You seriously think you can be a hero, you wouldn’t stand a chance without a quirk, Deku!!” he had screamed at her, flexing his quirk causing sparks to jump from his hand.
The only saving grace she had was her only and closest friend, Ochako Uraraka, her and her family had moved in next door three years after Izumi’s diagnosis, Her parents construction company had barely been getting work in and they were financially struggling, so they moved into her apartment complex because it was cheaper and nicer than where they used to live in the Mie prefecture, and when she first met her, they instantly became best friends, the best part was she didn’t care that she was quirkless. What was even better is that she took her demeaning insult of a nickname and turned it into its complete opposite.
“My papa only ever hires a few people that have specific quirks to help with construction, so most of the workers either have subtle quirks or don’t have one at all, and my dad treats them all the same way” she had explained to her when Izumi asked her
“That's part of the reason why I wanna he a hero” she quietly admitted with an embarrassed blush on her already permanently blushed face.
“I always see my parents so stressed and exhausted, and I wanted to help them, but they always told me to focus on my own dreams, so that's why I want to be a hero, so I can make enough money for my parents to have an easy life” she had said with passion and determination in her voice, before she added much less confidently,
“I’m sorry if it sounds greedy, I know it doesn’t sound like a very admirable motivation” The permanent pink blush on her cheeks reddening once more while her hands cupped her cheeks as she looks away, embarrassed, accidentally making herself float as she activated her quirk on herself before pulling herself back down.
Izumi smiled at her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder as she replied
“I think that's a very admirable motivation Ocha, In fact you’re probably the most grounded out of the two of us, I just want to be a hero like All Might, which just seems impossible for someone like me” she said, her face becoming sadder as she spoke, before she brightened up once more with a determined expression on her face.”I don’t care what anyone has to say, I will be a hero and no one’s gonna stop me!” she exclaimed passionately.
“Yeah! that's the spirit” she cheered, proud of her friend’s determination.
They became much closer friends, throughout grade school, so much so that by the time they were in their first year of middle school Izumi had developed a crush on the Auburn haired girl, not knowing Ochako had also developed a crush on the green haired girl, it didn’t help that as they grew, their more feminine features started to develop as they went through puberty.
One day they were at Izuku’s house relaxing in Izumi’s room after an exam at their school, her room, which was practically a hero shrine, the room used to be filled just All Might memorabilia but as she got older she had collected other hero merchandise, so instead of looking like an All Might shrine, it looked like an every hero shrine.
They were both sitting on Izumi’s bed watching an old pre quirk movie about a group of superheroes fighting a super powerful purple alien when Ochako spoke.
“Hey deku, can we promise each other something?” she asked Izumi.
“Yeah? What is it Ocha?” smiling as she heard her nickname, usually she hated that nickname, but Ochako, beautiful, amazing Ochako changed the meaning of the name into something much less demeaning.
“Y’know what?, I think Deku is short for ‘Dekiru’, It could be a great hero name, plus I think it sounds kinda cute”, She had told her only a few weeks after meeting her making Izumi blush a deep red and tear up.
“Can we promise each other that we will both go to U.A to be heroes?” she said as she looked at Izumi.
“Of course Ocha, I promise”, wrapping her pinky finger around Ochako’s as a way to uphold their promise.
You’re probably wondering what they were talking about, what is U.A you ask?
It is if not the greatest Hero university in Japan, if not the world.
U.A. is the #1 ranked University for heroics and is considered as the top Hero Academy in Japan. Students are separated based on their abilities into specific Departments and Classes - A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, and K.
The unique thing about U.A is that it does not adhere to traditional school methods, and allows their staff to teach their classes however they like. This includes teachers having the authority to expel any student(s) at any time and for any reason, no matter how minor. Furthermore, students who are expelled can be re-enrolled, although the expulsion will still remain on their permanent records, An example of that is one Homeroom teacher by the name of Shota Aizawa,also known as the underground hero EraserHead, who has gone on record to have expelled 154 students in his teaching career
U.A. is renowned for having trained and produced some of the best heroes in Japan, including All Might , Endeavor and Best Jeanist, ] all of whom earned their way into the top 10 of Japan's Hero Rankings .
So of course it's going to be the university they choose to go to, to learn how to be the best heroes they could be.
The day went by, with Ochako’s parents visiting for a hearty dinner, they the retired for the night, her dad carrying a food comatose ochako over her shoulder as Izumi was sprawled over the couch, fast asleep, her mother carrying her to her room before she too went to bed.
Soon the next day arrived, Izumi going through the same torture that is her school life, being bullied by bakugo and her classmates, the teachers simply ignoring it, she would always leave out a few questions on her exam papers because she knew if she were to get better grades than bakugou she would be beaten to a pulp for it, like whats happening right now, they were outside, in the courtyard behind the school, she was huddled against the wall, trying to lean against it as much as possible, as bakugo and his two goons stood over her,
“So, Deku , I heard that you got better grades than me on our finals, what you thought you were better than me and decided to subtly brag about it with your better grades?! Huh Deku?! ”
He said lowly but by the end of it he was screaming at her, the way he spit her nickname made her flinch.
“N-no thats n-not it at all!, I-I was just trying to improve my grades so I could get into U.A that’s all, you know that kacchan” she exclaimed before continuing, her voice growing more timid and quiet as she spoke.
Turns out it was the wrong thing to say as he sneered at her, and told the other two boys to lift her up off the ground holding her by her arms as she stood on her knees, Bakugo grabbed her by her face and pulled her closer, until both their faces were only a few centimeters apart, looking into his eyes all she could see was rage, she dimly wondered what she ever did to light that inferno of rage and hatred in Bakugou’s eyes toward her.
“You still think you can be a hero, Deku? They wouldn’t let you in, and even if they did you’d probably die in the exams while I get the top spot, forget about it you damn nerd, You’ll. Never. Be. A. Hero” He growled with venom oozing from his voice, before he punched her in the face, the blow backed by his quirk, causing her to fall to the ground, holding her burnt and bleeding cheek,
“And, DON’T, you ever forget it Deku .” he said, kicking her in the gut, causing her to grunt in pain.
“Hey! Let her go, you asshole!” a familiar voice sounded out. Izumi looked up and saw Ochako running to her.
“Tch, screw off, round face, I’m teaching Deku here a lesson” he sneered at her
“Oh my gosh deku are you ok?”,she said as she Izumi up, apologizing when she touched her bruised stomach making her hiss in pain, she angrily glared at bakugou as he walked away, before he stopped and turned to face them.
“Y’know deku if ya really want to be a hero, there could be a way, just pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in you next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building” he says with a cruel smile on his face”
Her heart shatters when she hears it, she thinks she hears Ochako gasp beside her but she doesn’t care, she slowly limps towards him.
“What, got something to say?” he said as she watches her limp towards, the cruel smile turns into a shocked expression when she rears her hand and slaps him with a loud *SMACK*.
The shocked look on his face morphs into rage as he whirls around to face her, but stops when he sees her expression,
She wore a furious expression on her face, tears pouring down her face, her hand still raised and red from when she slapped him.
“Y-You, you’re not my friend” she said, her voice trembling with the force of her emotion
“Yeah, thought that was obvious, nerd” he sneered
“I thought I still had my friend in there somewhere, that this was just some faze you were going through and that once it passed i would have my friend back, but now I realized he’s gone for good , I just refused to believe it, tried so hard to ignore the reality, that he’s gone” she said, her voice trembling even more as she glared at B akugou .
“What the hell are you talking about? Get to the point already!” Bakugou exclaimed, fed up with all the talking.
“I’m saying the Kacchan I knew is well and truly gone, you killed him the day your quirk came in” She said with finality in her tone. Bakugo was too stunned to reply as he watched the two girls walk away.
As Izumi and Ochako were slowly but surely making their way to the infirmary, Ochako hopelessly trying to wipe away the blood on her cru-I mean best friend’s face, the wound however seemed to be too deep as it wouldn’t stop bleeding, It didn’t help that it stung making Izumi wince and hiss from the pain, as they were making their way to the infirmary Izumi’s mind kept replaying the words Kacch-no Bakugou said to her,
“if ya really want to be a hero, there could be a way, just pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in you next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building”
Her eyes fill with tears, she tries to stop them but no matter what she did she couldn’t stop them or the sob that escaped her throat.
Ochako notices her best friends sorrow and wraps her arms around her in a gentle hug.
“W-why, why would he say that?, what did I do to deserve that, I-I thought he we were still friends somehow” she said as she buries her face into her cru-best friend's shoulder.
“He’s not your friend anymore deku-chan, he hasn’t been for a long time” she replied as she leaned her head against her best friend’s (crush’s) head.
That statement made whatever was left of Izumi’s heart shatter, she buried her head further into her crush as she sobbed, letting out all the emotions that had been swirling around in her head the past few minutes, Ochako not doing anything other than rubbing her back comfortingly.
“At least you still have me, I’ll never stop being your friend” she said resolutely.
“ Thank you” Izumi replied with as much sincerity as she could, face still buried in the other’s shoulder.
“Let’s get to the nurse’s office, and i’ll call Auntie Inko to come pick you up, you’ve had a rough day” Ochako told her as they unwrapped from the hug and continued their journey to the infirmary.
A check-up by the nurse, who was the nicest person in the entire school and a call to a frantic, worried mother later, Izumi was in her mom’s car, A tiny little dark green Nissan Micra, driving home.
Her mother looked at her daughter’s sorry state. Her left eye was swollen and bruised slightly, her bruised and heavily bandaged left cheek, her lower torso was wrapped in bandages under the crumpled, burnt uniform combined with the sad, forlorn look on her face made her heart clench, so she decided to start a conversation.
“What’s wrong sweetie, I know there is something on your mind right now” she asked
“I-It's nothing mom, I just had a rough day” her daughter replied.
Her mother sighed, knowing that no more what she said she wouldn’t tell her, so this time she decided to take more drastic measures, she had a feeling her main tormentor was Katsuki, if the bruises and burns she would come home with ever since he got his quirk weren’t an obvious tell. So she pulled her car over, parking it in an empty parking space next to a bank building.
She turned to her daughter, who was confused on why they stopped.
“Was it katsuki again?” she said, watching as her daughter flinched at the name, which simply proved her point.
“N-No” her daughter meekly replied
“Izumi, baby look at me, Can you look at me please?” she said as she gently took her daughter’s hand, she slowly turned to look at her, tears building in her eyes, Inko gently reached over and cupped her daughter’s cheeks, being extra careful of the bandaged one,
.
“Izumi, you know you can tell me anything, right?, you can always speak your mind to me and I’ll always listen, you can rant, shout and scream your mind to me and I will listen, okay?” she said, watching as her daughter’s tears began flowing down her face, too overwhelmed to keep her composure.
“Now, Izumi, tell me, was it Katsuki?” her daughter nodded slowly.
“Oh my baby” Inko said as she brought her daughter into a hug, the warmth of the hug causing Izumi to start crying, so she let her cry, gently patting her back as her daughter sobbed in her arms.
After the tears dried up she began to her everything , how katsuki had been bullying her ever since his quirk came in and her’s didn’t, how he gave her that horrible nickname and how Ochako had changed it into something endearing, how her classmates and teachers turned their back on her, how they joined in on the bullying and ridicule, and how the teachers simply ignored her suffering in some cases subtly encouraged it, and how it all led to today, where katsuki and his goons cornered her and beat her to a pulp, Ochako saving her from the beatdown, and how katsuki lost the nickname ‘Kacchan” when he suicide bated her.
Inko didn’t know where to begin, she felt like she was a horrible parent, she could’ve prevented all of this if she simply put her foot down against her daughter’s wishes and did something, but she didn’t and she now knew that it had caused her daughter so much so suffering her entire life, and she didn’t even know about it until now.
“I-Im sorry for telling you mom, I didn’t to make you always worry and be so sad, I hated it when you would get sad because of me, so I tried to hide so I wouldn’t have to make you sad all the time, and I didn’t want you to lose Auntie Mitsuki because she was your only friend and I didn’t to take her away from you after dad left because of me, I’m so sorry!” Her daughter said, her tears pouring out of her eyes as she spoke, her voice trembling and cracking from the force of her tears.
“Oh, baby!” she hugged her daughter tightly as she sobbed into her shoulder “Don’t you dare apologize for something you had no control over, I’m your mother, it's my job to worry about you, and if I have to lose the only friend I had at the time then so be it, don’t worry about me, baby, I’ll always be right there by your side, no matter what ok?” she said with conviction, despite the tears rolling down her own face.
After unloading ALL that emotional baggage, they were left exhausted, having to take a drink of water because they were so dehydrated
They resumed their journey home, stopping at a nearby grocery store to buy the groceries needed for the next week, they went in and bought everything they did, and left, Izumi enjoying her Mint chocolate chip ice cream that they got from the ice cream vendor inside the store, lifting the mood slightly as both women had small smiles on their faces, it was nice
But it wasn’t meant to last.
*BOOM*
A massive explosion rocked through the street they were in, making the ground shake as flames went high into the sky.
Inko and Izumi were caught within a mere fifty meters of the epicenter, throwing the both of them off their feet and blew them several meters away, where both landed hard
The force of the explosion caused massive rubble to go flying, some crashing into the street, while others were thrown into other buildings.
Inko remained conscious despite landing head-first, dazed and confused as to what had happened.
She slowly sat up, a hand coming to her head as she looked around “What..What just happened?” but she very realized something that turned her blood in her veins to ice.
Panic immediately surged through her as she sat up despite the searing pain in her leg and back “IZUMI!!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, despite the noise from other panicking people,
“IZUMI, WHERE ARE YOU?!” getting no response as she hurriedly began to walk around, calling out for her daughter, still getting no response.
As Heroes and Emergency services arrived, they began looking for the green haired girl. Looking everywhere they looked but they still could not find her at all.
Inko would later learn, hours later on her hospital bed, that they were only able to find her daughter’s intact red sneakers, and because her body couldn’t be found it was declared a missing person’s case and an investigation began.
It didn’t even last two days before the case was closed, deemed unsolved by the police precinct for insufficient evidence, but she knew the truth, she knew the second they saw that her daughter was quirkless, they washed their hands off the entire case and closed it, when another missing persons case of a child with a quirk that change the color of her nails lasted TWO MONTHS before it was closed.
It was then that Inko truly despaired, as thoughts swirled around her head asking Why?
Why did it have to be Izumi?, she was a kind and sweet child who could never hurt a fly,
WHY HER?!
Inko didn’t know. She didn’t know, But she did know that she wished it had been her. Instead of her daughter, If she had to die for her daughter to live then she would do it with no hesitation, but she was gone, and Inko was still here , and she hated it.
She vowed that she would do everything she could, to find her daughter and bring her back.
No. Matter. What. It . Took.
Darkness was all Izumi could see, What had happened? Where was she?
Her senses slowly began to return to her, but everything felt… off.
She couldn’t hear and it was like she was underwater.
Izumi finally managed to open her eyes, but the second she did she realized something was wrong.
Why was everything so dark, and why could she see bubbles?
It took her a few seconds to realize what was happening.
Her eyes widened as she began to look around while panic began to grow in her. ‘Where am I? What is this?’ she wondered internally.
She seemed to be in some sort of tank filled with purple and was wearing a mask that was allowing her to breathe. She also felt something attached to her back, limiting her movements slightly. She also had no clothes, but she only half registered this fact.
As she looked around, a small light caught her attention.
It looked like a TV screen, and sitting in front of it was a figure.
Izumi dragged herself to the glass wall of the tank, then she tried to bang on it, but because of the liquid it was slow and made little sound.
But evidently it was enough, as she could see the figure turning. “Oh? You’re awake? That’s quite surprising, I was sure I had already put you to sleep,” the figure said.
Izumi’s eyes widened further. She recognised that voice, and the figure’s face was illuminated by the TV screen.
It was the doctor that had diagnosed her as quirkless.
The doctor hummed. “Ah, you recognise me then. It won’t matter in the end,” he said as he walked towards Izumi.
Izumi began to move back in the tank as he approached while her body began to tremble. Had he put her in the tank? Why?
The doctor walked up to a control pad beside the tank, then while looking at Izumi he pressed a button. “The next time you wake up, you won’t remember any of this,” he said as a smile began to spread across his face.
Izumi had no time to feel fear or anything else as she suddenly began to feel very sleepy.
Despite trying desperately to stay awake, Izumi fell asleep in just a few seconds.
The doctor hummed to himself as he watched Izumi go limp in the tank. “She’ll be my greatest work yet,” he spoke with a gleeful tone and smile as he looked at the unconscious girl.
“You’ll be better than my Nomu’s could ever hope to be” he said, his smile growing unnaturally wider.