Chapter 1: Cast from Fire.
Fire.
Ever since he was young, Midoriya Izuku had been fascinated by it, how could it not when it had so many positives? Fire helped to keep people warm both when they were at home or camping out in the woods. It heated water so that people could wash things or clean themselves as he always enjoyed a warm bath even in the summer. People could use fire to make the best stuff like his mother's katsudon or hot chocolate. Fire can even light up dark places and make them less scary to be in, letting you see that the monster you think is there was never there be begin with.
It was used in medicine, when you had to clean something, you typically sterilized it with hot water if not place it in a fire to ensure all the germs were gone. Fire was even used when making stuff, where most saw fire as merely destruction like when a villain attacks, fire is also creation as without it, they wouldn't be able to make so many tools and cool stuff. Fire allows one to take what could be useless-looking pebbles and rocks and smelt them into the finest iron, steel or gold for tools, construction or precious jewellery. Blacksmiths figured out a long time ago that treating stuff like iron and steel with fire could increase its durability and overall usefulness, it's how people came to use fire in metaphors about proving yourself, or improvement as you needed a little heat to get better, you need to be able to face the flames to ever make anything of yourself in life.
This was something he knew well, a lesson he never needed to learn because he felt so obvious to him.
But it seemed he was the only one who thought that. What was so weird about being willing to burn alive to improve?
"I'm off for school, mom!" Placing his shoes on, he turned to his mother, a plump woman of a smaller build them him as the boy had marked the point of growing taller than her when he was 13. Despite the fact she didn't have the same youthful appearance she had when he was younger, he still thought she was the most beautiful woman he knew.
Inko nodded at him, giving him a tired smile as he put her coffee down. "Have a safe day, Izuku. Remember the rules."
Even as a teenager, he wouldn't understand why he had them, but one look at his mother's bandaged arms was enough to remind him that he needed to be kept in check. "I will…keep away from sources of ignition, and if I see a fire, go the other way." He was barred from being close to any fire. He wouldn't even be in the living room when his mother cooked as the stove was a gas burner. When she was busy, he thought it would make cooking for himself a challenge, but he had learned many types of meals that didn't need him to touch the stove or the kettle.
Squeezing his hands into hers, even if the feeling was a bit numb, she pulled her son into a hug, smiling at how tall he was as she could fondly remember when she would carry him to her chest, now she couldn't even look him in the eye without looking up. "Remember your, Izuku. I love you."
"Love you too," Izuku replied, returning the gesture before he was out the door, rushing to make it to class on time. The warm May weather greeted him as he rushed out of the apartment before heading to the sidewalk. Smiling at how warm the sun's ray felt on his skin, he hummed along to a song only he knew as he made his way to school, he wasn't in a rush as he always left a bit early just in case something came up.
That precaution paid off as he heard something happening not too far from him, which only made him smile even more as he turned to head in that direction. He knew only one thing that could be the cause of it and low and behold, when he turned the corner to Tatooine station, he saw it.
A villain.
He wasn't the first one there, but a crowd had already formed with the police keeping things in order as the villain raged on. Midoriya was ecstatic upon seeing him, being able to make his face and details even from a distance as he the villain had a gigantification-style quirk that made him as tall as the surrounding buildings, which wasn't the rarest type of quirk but was still pretty uncommon but he knew that they could be used to devastating effort and worked great in the hands of hero's like the 3rd Ranked hero from the United States Godzillo!
His fan-boying was interrupted by how the villain knocked over a part of the overhead railing from the station, sending a section of steel falling into some of the ground. People screamed but another rushed forward and seemingly like a madman, stood right under it with his hands held up high to catch it, a feat that he managed without fail as his bulky arms didn't buckle under the weight of what must have been 2 tons of steel.
"It's the Punching Hero: Death Arms. He carries out justice through his great physical strength!" Someone in the crowd cried out, with others being amazed as Midoriya's eyes sparkled at the sight of the man. He might have been a local hero that he had seen around the place, even having the chance to ask for his autograph the other week, but it was still amazing to see him in person!
Towards the front of the crowd, lines of water shot out and formed into a barricade of sorts, even keeping the police at the back. The source of this was a man in a costume very much inspired by conventional firefighter gear. "Everyone, please remain behind the line, this area is dangerous." The pro instructed them, his voice as calm and fluid as the water he controlled.
"Even the rescue specialist, Backdraft is here too? Amazing!" Hearing that he was there too really made Midoriya eager to speak with him as he rarely got the chance to as the pro was often called to incidents involving fire, and Midoriya knew that he wasn't allowed to be anywhere near the stuff because it sparked by his bad impulses, but maybe if he was lucky, he could speak with him after this and still make it to school on time.
"But man, being able to turn into a giant monster seems like a great quirk." He turned his attention to the two men in front of him, even as he pulled out his notebook and record what he was seeing.
"I know, right? But what did he even do?" The other asked, with Midoriya eager to hear the answer but from the look on the first guy's face, it probably wasn't going to be interesting.
"He got caught trying to steal a lady's purse and when cornered, he flipped out." Midoriya frowned a little, insulted that someone with such an amazing quirk, so different and heroic compared to his own, would use it for something so….petty.
He started to push forward, eager to get to the front and get a better view of the action, hearing the tail end of the conversation he had been eavesdropping on as he went. "A quirk like that and he's a purse snatcher, that's underwhelming." There were other people he could hear, some commenting on the villain, on the heroes, with one guy calling his work to explain why he was late but, in this day, and age, villain attacks were a dime a dozen, so he didn't think his boss would give him much flak as his mother had been late for work a few times thanks to stuff like this.
Before he could reach the front of the crowd, a shadow passed overhead, which some saw, including a group of older girls who screamed for joy. "You can do it, Kamui!" Hearing that name made him smile even more as he pushed through to the front, getting an up-close look at the rising star among heroes. The newly arrived Kamui Woods used his quirk to swing around the villain, avoiding his attempts to strike him and keeping silent and professional.
"A young and talented rising star, his quirk is so amazing, using wood like that!" Midoriya continued to fanboy, with a man standing next to him only huffing and crossing his arms, amused with the kid's antics. Midoriya was extremely invested in the hero at work, not just his speed and reflexes, which allowed him to all but dance around the villain, but also his quirk as he never thought wood could be applied like that, he wondered if the pro tested his power against fire. Now that he thought about it, if he allowed himself to get a little burned, wood already burned pretty easily, making it a great fuel for the flames but maybe he was a type of wood that was resistant, maybe he trained himself to lessen that inherent weakness. How would he have done that? Maybe he burned himself over and over again to increase his durability, if that was true then he hoped he didn't start! He could even help-!
No! Bad thoughts!
Smacking himself to the confusion of the man next to him, he went back to making notes, trying not to think about fire or burning Kamui, that was bad, he knew that well so he shouldn't think it!
Lucky for him, Kamui Woods offered up a distraction from his pyro-centric thoughts. "Illegal use of your quirk during rush hour, destruction of state property, attempted robbery and assault resulting in bodily harm." Landing on the roof of the terminal, the pro listed off the numerous crimes that the villain had committed in the last 10 minutes alone.
Having made his judgement, he brought up his wood covered up, and from it, root-like growths started to form, as he prepared his final move to end this fight. "You are the incarnation of evil."
"Here it comes!" Midoriya cheered, he had seen him use it before, but only on TV, he wouldn't wait to witness it in person!
"Show us something flashy, Tree man!" The man next to him also cheered out.
"Pre-Emptive…" Having seen him use it many times, Midoriya was able to match his wording in his eagerness.
"Binding Lacquered Chain Prison!" Kamui Wood's arm exploded into a swarm of branches, all of them heading towards the villain who raised his arms to defend himself.
"Canyon Cannon!" Then out of nowhere, another hero appeared, a blonde-haired woman of equal if not taller size to the villain. She rushed in and delivered a giant drop kick to the villain, sending him flying right off the subway line and onto a, mercifully, empty street with a massive thud.
"What?" Her sudden appearance caught everyone off guard, from the civilians, Midoriya, the police, and even the pros as Kamui Woods was left standing on the terminal roof, his super move halfway complete…but no target anymore. The shock of her arrival didn't last long as to his embarrassed confusion, dozens of guys in the group whipped out cameras and started taking pictures of the heroine, more accurately, a butt.
Having landed in a crouch, the woman slowly got up to face them. "Today is the day of my debut!" She started, but Midoriya noticed that she didn't turn her body to the cameras, just her head and kept her backside very much in view. "My name is Mt. Lady. A pleasure to make your ass-quaintance." Oh, so she wanted them to take pictures of her butt? The thought of being so blasé about it like the men that just felt emboldened by her wordplay made him red in the face.
He looked away from the whole fan service thing happening but instead saw something even worse.
A businessman, maybe in his late 30s and looking thoroughly bored with the entire situation was smoking a cigarette. Seeing the smoke rise from the cancer stick, his eyes focused on the small light, on the fire that burned through it even though he didn't want to…maybe, he didn't know but he knew he wasn't supposed to. His misgivings aside, he got a little sweaty as he was hyper-focused on that, his breathing increasing, not even noticing how things had calmed down now that the villain was defeated. His breathing increased as he felt the urge to embrace that fire, make it stronger, and larger, and use it in all manner of ways. Helping people by burning-!
"Hey, kid, you alright?" He was knocked out of his obsessive focus by the man, who shook his shoulder to get his attention. Back in reality, he reached for the back of his hand and pinched himself as hard as he could, punishing himself for that idiotic slip-up. Was that all it took, years of his mother's instructions and all it took was a simple cigarette to nearly make him act out again? She taught him better than that, he had to resist those urges! Not embrace them like a villain!
"F-fine! I'm fine!" He squeaked out to the man, his face still red as he tried to cool himself down, even if his normal body temperature was naturally higher than what would be considered normal
"…Okay." The man didn't seem to believe him, but there was some mercy for him as he didn't push things further with what Midoriya knew was suspicious behaviour, he was just glad that he didn't see what he was focused on. Not wanting to waste time, he packed his notebook away, turned and ran off towards school. He'll try to get Backdraft's autograph later, away from fire. Away from his urges.
"Since you're all 3rd years, it's about time you all think seriously about your futures." As the teacher spoke, the class paid ample attention, well most were as Midoriya was busy drawing in his notebook, having finished what he could about the heroes, he had taken to adding to the dozens of drawings of fire he had created. The other person who wasn't paying too much attention was a dirty blonde kid whose feet were kicked up on the desk while he leaned back, but no one said anything about this.
The teacher grabbed one of the many forms from the stack he had on his desk. "I'll be handing out these forms where you'll fill in what you want to be when you're grow up, and which high schools you'll be applying to but-!" As he paused, some of the students flashed their quirks
"You all want to be heroes, don't you?" Just like that, his gruff tone shifted to a more jovial one as he tossed the form into the air like it didn't matter. At his question, the entire class erupted in cheers as almost everyone activated their quirks which came in all sorts of powers. From the girl who could levitate small objects, to a student who could bulk up, the kid with the extra-large ears and a girl who could turn her hand into fire. Midoriya avoided looking at her the most.
"Yes!"
"Yes, yes, you all have wonderful quirks! But remember you can't use them on school grounds, there are rules!" The teacher didn't seem all that into actually enforcing that rule, allowing them to goof off till the kid with his feet up spoke.
"Sensei! Don't lump us together into the same group like you're equal." His voice carried a certainty and arrogance that Midoriya sometimes hated and sometimes envied. "Unlike the rest of these losers, I'm not going to end up stuck at some bottom-of-the-barrel school!" He looked up at the teacher with a smirk on his face, confident that he was the best damn student there which didn't sit well with the others but Bakugo Katsuki had never been one to care for the opinions or feelings of others, for both good but mainly bad.
"That was uncalled for, Katsuki!"
"Yeah, Where the hell do you get off saying stuff like that?!"
"You extras should just accept your role in life!" Despite that pushback, Bakugo was unrepentant as he continued to hold himself far above them.
Their teacher, who Midoriya realized was just the rest, didn't so much admonish his old friend for his behavior as he just fueled his ego by mentioning something. "Oh, if I remember correctly, you wish to apply to U.A. high, Bakugo."
Hearing that threw a bucket of water on the rage that the class felt towards the dirty blonde boy, how could it not as U.A. wasn't just some hero school? It was regarded as the best of the best, with only Shiketsu being able to call itself its rival in all things. To attend such a school, even in its general studies course was a surefire way to set yourself up for success in life ."The national school?"
"They've been in the top 5% of schools for the last 20 years!"
"It's a miracle just to get in, they have super strict entry requirements!"
Hearing all this talk about how great U.A. was and how much of an impossibility it would be to get into the place only made Bakugo's ego larger. "And that is why you're all destined to be extras till the day you're old and grey!" Uncrossing his feet, he jumped onto his desk, standing tall over the room with a smirk across his face.
"I aced the mock test, as expected of the future number one. I'm the only one from this place who even has the chance to get into U.A. And I'm going to surpass All Might and become the next top hero. My name will go down at the top of the highest earners." He proclaimed his goal to them all, the room falling silent as despite his terrible attitude and penchant for not even using their names, none could ignore his potential. Not only was he the top student grade and P.E. wise, but his quirk was made for hero work.
"Oh, Midoriya wished to go to U.A. as well, strange." Bursting that bubble, the teacher made another stunning face as he stretched his head before looking Midoriya's way in confusion. Midoriya, having wished to avoid attention sunk deeper into his chair right as the laughter started up as people looked his way with amusement or disgust and he didn't know which was worse.
"Huh, Midoriya? No way!" He tried to ignore that.
"Like you have any chance at getting in!" He tried to ignore that as well, even though he knew he trained when he could.
"Why would they even let a villain into their school?" He wasn't a villain…
"He'll just try and burn the place down in like a week!" No, he wouldn't! He wasn't even allowed near anything that make fire, even if it was, he wouldn't do something so evil!
"Who wants a villain that burns small animals for fun?" One girl sneered at him, one of the few who had been with him and Bakugo since kindergarten.
Hearing her bring up that age-old point, he couldn't help himself as he scrambled to his feet to defend himself. "I-I wasn't hurting them! I wasn't trying to help-!"
Whatever he wished to say was interrupted by Bakugo slamming his hand down on his desk, setting off an explosion which heavily damaged the school's property and sent him scrying back in fear. He knew when Kacchan was like this, there was no escaping it.
"Hey, Deku!" Bakugo approached him, his hands smoking as he seemed close to jumping the boy and beating him senseless there and then, teacher be damned. "You're even lower than the rest of the extras, where does a villain like you get off thinking he can stand in the same ring as me?"
Trying to appease him, Midoriya backed up even further to the back of the class, waving his hands about. "I-it's not like that, Kacchan, I swear! I'm not trying to fight you, h-honest." He lowered them, his face looking at the floor as he couldn't face him, but he couldn't lie about what he wanted either. "I…I just want to help people, that's all…"
"Help? From you?" Bakugo's question hurt as if he couldn't comprehend that he would want to be a hero who helped people. "You must be dumber than you look if you think anyone would want your help from a damn arsonist!"
Hours later, it was the end of the school day proved to be incredibly stressful for the boy. But it was over, so he could return home, take a warm shower and do some of his breathing exercises to keep himself in check. He had to if he wanted to be a hero like his idol.
With most of the class already done, Midoriya was still at his desk, a new one as Kacchan trashed the last one, as he went through the news reports about the morning's incident. He wasn't able to see it all, but he was still smiling as he went through the articles, many including pictures of the incident from when it happened to when it was resolved with the three heroes posing with the captured villain, Kamui Woods strangely absent from the shot.
"I can read up more at home." He said to himself as he picked up his notebook, but before he could place it into his bag, it was snatched out of his hands. Looking up, he gulped when he saw that the person who took his book was Bakugo who looked at its cover before scowling at him as if the book offended him.
"We're not done, Deku." He told the shorter boy, holding the book out of his reach.
Two of his cronies walked up to them, curious about what he was doing now. "Katsuki, what's that?" Bakugo didn't so much as turn to them and just showed them the notebook over the shoulder, with the two leaning in to read the title Midoriya had written on it.
"'Ways fire can help heroes' Volume 7?" After reading it, the two laughed at the idea that he kept an entire book for that kind of stuff, which made Midoriya feel nothing but a deep embarrassment. Yes, he kept the book, what was the issue with that? "Seriously?"
"Man, it's like he's a broken record." The other shook his head, treating him like a slow child but he wasn't. His grades were in the top 10 of the class.
"G-give that back!" Midoriya got up and reached for the book, but again, Bakugo held it out of reach. Looking at him, then at the book in his hands, his face remained passive as he hit the book with a small explosion, to the shock and horror of Midoriya.
"Why?!" Midoriya cried, seeing his latest work be reduced to a burnt mess. As if to add insult to injury, Bakugo then tossed it over his shoulder right out the window as Midoriya rushed past him as if he wished to go after it. looking down from their class, he saw to his dismay that it had landed in the koi pond, no doubt entire pages of notes, theories and illustrations were lost.
Turning around, he found that he was still surrounded by the three, with Bakugo the closest to him, making him nervous, nervous in a way that led to his body temperature rising. "Listen, Deku because I'm only going to say this once. Most top-class heroes all have stories about their school days and how they were the diamonds in the rough." He started, taking a step towards him which Midoriya reacted to by stepping back, till he was up against the windows and trying to keep himself in check.
Either not noticing that Midoriya was heating up, or not caring, Bakugo continued. "It makes them shrine even brighter when they were the only ones from their school that made it and I intend to shrine the brightest by being the only one from this dump to make it into U.A. I am a perfectionist after all" Bakugo bragged, though one of his followers looked to the side.
'He's petty that's for sure.' He, however, kept that thought to himself lest the aggressive blonde turn his ire to him.
"And nothing and I mean nothing," Bakugo placed a hand on Midoriya's shoulder, feeling that his body was warmer than it should be, but disregarding that as he added to it by using a little of his quirk, his hand starting to smoke as it burned the shorter boy's jacket. "Will get in the way of that, last of all being some pyromaniac that's so fucked in the head he thinks setting fires to shit is a good thing. How you haven't ended up in jail with the rest of those loser villains is a mystery." Midoriya flinched at that…he was normal, wasn't he?
"But I shorten it since I know you're not smart, Deku." Bakugo leaned down, a smile as welcoming as a croc's on his face which filled Midoriya with nothing but fear and anxiety, things that just made him warmer. "Don't apply to U.A. after we finish our 3rd year here, I don't want to see your shitty face ever again." Bakugo released his hold on him, leaving the boy's jacket and shirt's right shoulder burned all the way through, though he felt a bit of irritation at the fact the skin was unharmed. Sure, he wasn't trying to hurt the fucker, but he would have liked to see more damage the that.
Still, he had said his piece and turned to leave the boy in his misery. Hopefully, he'll realize his place is either as some nobody or a villain that he'll take down one day, proving that he was the better of the two. As they moved to leave, Midoriya remained silent as he tried to control himself, trying to remember the rules his mother set out for him.
His silence was taken another way by his bullies who couldn't resist kicking him while he was down. "Man, look at him, he can't even say something back."
The other chuckled. "Did you expect he would? Guy has no backbone and yet he wants to be a hero. He'll run away from villains more than we would."
At the doorway into the class, Bakugo stopped, turning his head to look back at Midoriya. "Hey, Deku. If you really want to be a hero that badly, there's a quirk fix to the villainous quirk you got going," What could he possibly offer him-"Pray that you're get something better in the next life and take a swan dive off the roof." Hearing this, Izuku felt his anger and shock rise. He knew that he and Kacchan weren't close anymore, that he didn't care for him but to suggest such a thing, and to say it so casually.
It was evil.
His rising emotions only added fuel to the fire as stream started leaking from his mouth and nostrils, he turned around, his emerald eyes nearly glowing-
He stopped himself. He remembered the rules.
He pinched the back of his hand so hard that it bled, but it did the trick as he cooled, leaving him feeling empty as Bakugo looked on, seeing that he couldn't even say something to that, the boy dismissed him and left him, alone.
It took a while, but he finally managed to calm himself down to the point he wasn't a human kettle close to boiling. Leaving the class and approaching the koi pond, he muttered that he shouldn't let himself off the lease like that. 'Heroes don't do that, it'll upset mom.' He thought to himself when he envisioned what he wanted to do at that moment, shaking his head as he knew that was a bad impulse, just one of the many urges he couldn't let control him.
At the pond, he could just watch as the fishes inside tried to eat his book, even though it was far too big to fit into their mouths. He didn't know why they bothered, it wasn't like they could bite off pieces of it. "That's not food, you stupid fish." Picking up the book, he didn't care for the fish as they dispersed, as his focus on solely on his work. It didn't look too badly damaged, Bakugo's blast mainly just affected the cover which he could always replace or cover up.
But it was only when opening it, that he saw the true damage. His pencil drawings looked alright, certainly messy but not too bad, but it was the ink that was the issue as the trip into the water had left most of it runny, reducing his carefully written notes and theories into illegible nonsense that he could barely make heads or tails on, and that was only because he wrote it so he had a clue of what was supposed to be where. That wasn't even the worst bit as entire pages were stuck together, and his trying to pull them apart just tore them, so he wouldn't even just dry it page by page with a fan and sunlight.
Concluding that the entire thing couldn't be salvaged, he signed as he placed it down and took out his phone to take pictures of what he could save so he could transplant it into another book. "At least there isn't anyone else around…" He got to work, carefully flipping pages and taking the best pictures his phone could manage. As he did so, he wondered about how he could make this faster he heated the book, it'll dry it off and-
"No, no…I can't." He said to himself as he continued, thinking of how things got so bad for him, how they got to this.
No matter how much he thought about it, how many times it happened, it still stung to be sitting alone.
It was a beautiful day, with summer being the season, the group of 6-year-olds didn't need to go to school and could spend their days just playing, hanging out and having fun with the park being the best place to be for a bunch of kids that lived in apartments. Midoriya had come with them, as he always did but as it became the norm recently, they only let him join them so they could keep an eye on the villain, even if he could never understand what made him a villain at all, he didn't do anything bad.
The only thing he could think about would be the fact his quirk came in super late, as he only had it for a few months now. His 4th birthday came and went with nothing, but then his 5th came and his parent got concerned so they took him to the doctor. He explained that he had a quirk, but he also had the extra joint in his pinkie toe which the doctor confirmed was possible, but extremely rare, as in 1 in 15,000 rare with the confirmed cases of this occurring in Japan over the last 20 years being less than 4,000 so he was super rare.
Regardless, he found himself sitting alone on a park bench, with only his Limited Edition All Might action figure to keep him company as the other kids played with a ball. He wanted to join them like he used to, but they never let him. With him distracted thinking of all the cool stuff All Might could do and how he could totally save the Prime Minister and fight an army of sharks at the same time, he heard one of the boys speaking up.
"Hey, can someone get the ball, it landed next to the fire villain!" He was jolted out of his fantasy by those words, those hurtful words. Looking to the side of the bench, he saw the offending ball in question.
Despite him never wanting to hurt a fly, none of the other boys wanted anything to do with him as they backed away from him, even though he was nowhere close to them. "I don't want to; he'll burn me like he did the hamster." He ducked his head, trying to hide his tears and focus on the smiling All Might doll in his hands.
"I'm surprised he hasn't burned the ball; he loves setting things on fire." That wasn't true! He didn't like setting things on fire for no reason, he only did it to help, that was what heroes did!
"I heard that makes him a pyromaniac." He didn't know what that word meant, but he felt like it was making fun of him too.
"I'm not a villain, I was trying to help Remmy. He was sick." He muttered, thinking back to the old hamster that their class was taking care of. Everyone loved Remmy, Izuku among them, but when it was his turn to take him home for the weekend, he noticed that he was really sick. The teacher had told them he was a little old and would need to see the vet now and then, but he was able to help them right there and there! He didn't know why his classmate screamed when she saw him do it, or why his teacher called his mother, he hadn't done anything wrong.
"Are you guys that scared of Deku? Fine, I'll get the ball. Heroes don't fear villains after all." Bakugo Katsuki, his once best friend spoke up. Hearing him refer to him like he was a bad person so casually was the tipping point as Midoriya started to cry openly, running from the park
"Look at him, Deku knows villains always run because they know they can't win." Even with the distance, he could still hear Bakugo mocking him and the others laughing, he wasn't a villain, he wasn't! He was a good boy, he did his homework, helped people, didn't use naughty words and wanted to be like All Might!
He didn't know how long he ran, all he knew was that he was back home and hugging his mother as tight as he could, crying like a baby even though he tried to stop it.
For Midoriya Inko, it had been a normal enough day. She woke up, found her son watching cartoons like she expected of a child out of class, made them breakfast and went out to do some shopping before returning home. She met up with some friends from work who insisted she change up her wardrobe, but she was fine with what she had. People called her a bit plain, but she didn't mind as she liked how she looked. She was in shape, happily married, and had a wonderful son and job so didn't see the need to change what she looked like.
She had her reservations about this, having heard that he was struggling to socialize with other kids ever since the hamster incident. Now she felt like she should have done more as she had been cleaning a few things when the door burst open and Izuku came barreling in, crying his little heart out. Acting quickly, she wrapped the boy up in her bandaged arms and tried to soothe him but all he could do was cry that he wasn't a villain over and over again. She knew he was a good boy, the best thing that could have happened to her as he was a mix of all the best parts of her and her husband and that he had a kind heart.
It wasn't his fault that he got a villainous quirk.
Stepping up to an underpass, he slapped his cheeks to get himself out of the funk. "Calm down, Izuku. They've been saying that stuff for years. you made up your mind, right!" He asked himself with more pump than he felt, but he had to, or else he'd fall deeper into that hole.
"You're gonna do it! Be just like All Might and help people with a smile and a laugh!" Remembering his idol, he did his best impression of his laugh as he walked through the underpass, halfway through when he stopped, hearing something behind him. turning around, his fear shot through the roof as all he could see was a mass of slime that seemed to bloat out the entire place. "A villain!"
He couldn't see what his face was in the dark, especially thanks to his mutant body altering his body to such an extent, but he could still feel his eyes on him. "A medium-sized invisibility cloak? You'll do." Midoriya didn't know what that meant, and he didn't want to stick around to find out so he turned on his heel and tried to run.
Keyword: Tried.
Before he could take two steps towards the exit, the villain crashed into like a jello-like wave, seconds later he was trying to force him into him through his mouth and nose, suffocating him as he tried to fight back. "Don't worry, I'm just gonna take your body for a little bit." Midoriya didn't hear him, too focused on his growing panic and dwindling oxygen supply. In his panic, his control over himself started to slip and his urges started to show themselves as his body rapidly heated up, approaching the boiling point of water in seconds, before going further than that.
The villain could feel this, steam started coming into contact with the portion of itself inside the boy's mouth and nose, and slowly, this his shock, he felt the build-up of steam starting to force him back, even when he applied more force, he found that he was losing ground as the boy become hotter and harder to handle. Soon he felt his slime-like appendages also start to heat up from extended contact with the stuff as the boy continued to heat up, it was like he was a steam engine or something!
This heat continued to rise as the boy seemingly was burning up from the inside out, his eyes wide yet not seeing a thing as the kid was seemingly trapped in a panic-induced self-preservation tactic as the steam continued as the boy started ripping at him, his movements doing more than before as his strength increased with the heat, allowing him to claw at him more, strip away more of him even as he tried to add even more force and get this over with. To Midoriya, he could feel this, in some corner of his freaking out mind, he could understand this, and from there, a simple solution came:
Hotter
His body's temperature rose, faster the before, increasing his power as the steam was soon replaced by smoke, heated smoke that burned the villain more than the steam did as he grit his teeth through it, hoping that his efforts would mean he gets a new body, one proving itself to be incredible useful but alas, the heat was too much as it started leaking out his ears and eyes, with the villain hearing a sizzling sound which to his horror, he realized was the kid's eyes, they were burning up, catching fire and he didn't even seen to notice. He found himself having to pull back as the heat was proving too much, his body was starting to bubble and cook and even through his slime, he could feel the heat.
As he pulled back from the child, letting him fall to his knees as he took mouthfuls of air and vomited out the remaining slime in equal measure, the manhole cover he had slid out from under shot out, catching his attention as he turned to see what that coul-
No, not him, anyone but HIM!
Midoriya wasn't in any state to notice the arrival, but he looked as well and felt his burnt eyes widen as they took in the sight of his idol, of the number one hero himself.
All Might was here. He couldn't hear it, but he saw the villain try to attack him, only to fail as the number one dodged the strike and jumped towards them, his right first pulled back, the next part being too loud for him not to hear.
"Texas Smash!" With that one blow, All Might created so much wind pressure with just his fist that he sent the villain flying, splatting against the sides of the underpass, the villain was knocked out by the blow. That same blow doused the boy, cooling him more than an ice bath ever could. However, with the rapidly declining adrenaline, and the sight of his hero in the flesh saving him, it all proved too much for Midoriya, who soundly fell flat on his face, out like a light, the green flames that had once been present rescinding back to where they came.
Chapter 2: Surrender in Flames
Strange, Midoriya just had the strangest dream. He dreamt of All Might a lot, but they never had him being attacked by a villain, or breaking the rules in them. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall when he went to bed, and would whatever tapping his face stop?
Wait? Tapping his face? Willing himself to see and hear through the haze, he managed to make out some words.
"-y, Hey, wake up, young man!" Looking up, he saw a hulk of a man, bent over slapping his face repeatedly.
Seeing that his eyes were open and had some light to them, the number one stopped. "Thank Goodness, I was getting a little worried!"
"All Might?" Midoriya asked, his mind still not fully functional as All Might stood back at his full height, towering over the boy.
Chuckling, the man held his hand up to his face, his award-winning smile out in full. "In the flesh, sorry about this. I'm normally better at keeping civilians out of harm's way but I was so confused by the city's sewage system that I lost my way for a bit." He laughed at his joke. "But I suppose that's bound to happen when you're in a new city."
It was only then that Midoriya was able to fully process the fight that All Might was before him and he promptly freaked out. "All Might?!" Scrambling, he got onto his knees before the man he looked up at him with awe, before looking at himself and trying to fix himself up even though along with the burn through his jacket, he was a mess.
All Might didn't question him on why he called him out twice and merely went the flow. "In the flesh! And might I say that you did a great job with the villain, using your quirk without a license is typically a no-no, but context is key and I would say you were well within the grey zone." He gave the boy a thumbs up, which confused Midoriya as he looked back at the man with a perplexed look.
"My quirk?" He didn't use his-oh. He did, he remembered the feeling, the lack of air, the panic, the fear. Fall of it came down on him like a pile of bricks, if he was standing, he would have fallen to his knees as he tried to understand what he did. "No, nonononononononono, I'm not supposed to use it, I broke the rules!' He scratched at his head, a nervous sweat breaking out on his face as he didn't mean to use his power, he-he hurt someone with it too!
All Might, seeing that the boy was freaking out, believed that he believed he was in trouble which was strange as he just told him he was in the clear. So, he tried the other option, praise the quirk itself as that always helped calm people down. "Those flames that I saw before, and I have to say, they were mighty powerful, the villain was still warm to the touch when I captured him, behold!" He held up the two soda bottles which he had with him, no soda was in them but instead, it was the villain. The important bits that he could fit into the bottles anyway.
Pinching himself, he did his best to calm down before he said something stupid in front of his idol. But then again, he had never thought that this day would come, that he would see All Might in the flesh. "It…it wasn't a dream, All Might…he's really here, right in front of me…" He mumbled as he looked at him, at how even outside one of his many hero costumes, he still struck an inspiring figure. His smile, that hair of his that had become part of his brand.
'He looks even cooler in person!' He screamed in his head, the inner fan-boy just barely held back by his logic from making itself the outer fan-boy.
Looking around, he suddenly realized that he had to get something to remember this, something to add to his All Might collection back home. 'A-autograph, I have to get an autograph, I think my chemistry book has spa-' His hero notebook was a no-go, he had thrown that back at school-wait, school! He should have a workbook that he could use so he rushed over to his backpack and pulled out the first book he could, only to open it and discover-"He already signed it!" Across two whole pages, the number one had left his mark in a way no one could miss.
"Apologies if you didn't want me that particular book, I looked through your stuff to find one that had space for it. but if you have an issue, I'll happily pay for you to get another!" All Might spoke up, holding out 10,000 Yen for him just to take, as if he could take money from the symbol of peace!
Still on his knees, he bowed to the man repeatedly. "N-n-No, it's f-Fine! I'll cherish it forever!" It would suck to have to change to a new book, but if it meant ensuring that nothing happened to this like what had occurred to his hero notebook, he'll keep it in a safe buried in the woods if he had to.
"Okay!" All Might gave him a thumbs up before he turned around, placing the two bottles in his pants' larger pockets for safekeeping.
"Well then, I have to get this guy to the police so that can book him." He turned around and started doing some leg stretches. One couldn't mess around with it came to pulled muscles, even the Symbol of Peace had to ensure he was ready before serious actions. "I see you on the other side of the screen, young man!" Hearing this knocked Midoriya right out of fan mode, as he looked at the back of the man.
"A-already?" He couldn't leave, this was too short.
"Pros have many things, but time is rarely one of them." All Might replied, finishing up his stretches as he bent low, preparing to make his exit. Hearing that, Midoriya knew that he didn't have time, time to ask what he wanted of him, to learn what he would say about him.
'But…I have so many questions I want to ask, about my dreams, about you, about my quirk.' He knew, looking at the man's back that if he let it, this would be the last time that the two met in person.
"Now," All Might started, and Midoriya did something stupid. "I'm counting on your continued support!" With that last word, the number one was off, having jumped so fast and high he might as well be flying.
All Might had done this move many times in the past, and could practically leap over tall buildings in a single bond in his sleep. Which was why he was able to tell something was off with his balance. 'Wait, why does my leg feel like it weighs more?' Looking towards his left leg, he saw to his shock the young man he had just saved, clinging to him like a baby monkey would its parent.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey," Okay, this was strange and he didn't have the time for this. "I appreciate a passionate fan, but this is too much! Let go!" He tried to unlatch the kid from him but his grip remained tight on his pants, so much so he risked tearing.
"If I let go now, I'll die!" The lad managed to say even as his mouth flapped around in the air. Hearing this, All Might stopped, remembering that not everyone can handle falling from such heights with nothing more than a laugh.
"You're right, alright then, hang on tight!" The boy did as he was told, burying his face into his leg as the man turned to look for someone he could land. He could just carry on to the local police station, but he could feel his limit coming, he wouldn't be able to do that and still maintain his form. 'Now I need to find somewhere to drop this kid off before heading to the pol-' His thoughts were halted when he coughed up a little blood, wiping it away, he knew he had maybe 60 seconds left for the day.
"Shit." He muttered before he managed to find somewhere to land, a small-ish building, no taller than maybe 6 floors but it'll do for what he needed. Coming as softly as he could, he still landed with a notable thump. Back on solid ground, Midoriya slowly unlatched from All Might's leg, falling to his hands and knees as he looked like he was about to throw up and pass out at the same time.
"I thought…I was gonna die…Why did I think that…a good idea?" He asked him aloud, and his answer was that he wasn't thinking. He had seen All Might about to leave, and just…acted.
All Might signed, his limit less than 20 seconds away as he turned to leave quickly. "Jeez, you shouldn't just grab onto people like that, you could have lost your grip and fallen and seriously hurt yourself if not worse." He scolded the lad for his recklessness before he gestured towards the door, the reason he picked this building as it meant there was a way down to street level, he didn't wish to repeat the mistakes of his youth where he left people, he saved on roofs with no way off.
"Anyway, if you knock on the door, I'm sure that the people inside will let you down from here, but I must be off." He walked towards the edge of the building, hearing this being enough for Izuku to collect himself enough to reach out to him.
"W-w-wait, All Might, I want to ask you a question!" He yelled at the man's retreating form.
"Sorry kid, no time!"
"But-!" He reached out again but stopped himself as he looked at his hands, untouched by scars or marks, practically flawless. But the same couldn't be said for his mother's, always wrapped up, because of him, because he couldn't control his urges and burned them. He needed to know the answer to his question before it burned him up from the inside out. "Can someone become like you even if they have a villainous quirk?" He asked the man, putting as much force into it as he could.
Hearing the question, All Might paused, if only for a second. "What-!" Unfortunately for him, that was a second too long as he felt his form relaxing as the pain made itself known. Despite his best efforts, he could feel it slipping away as steam started to flow off him "Crap-Not…now!" He muttered to himself, trying to win the losing battle as the steam grew in volume.
Midoriya didn't notice this, as he was looking at the floor, trying to maintain his composure as he continued to explain himself. "I've…I've wanted to help people ever since I was a kid when I saw you saving so many with a big smile. To me, it was the coolest thing in the world." He smiled, thinking of those days when he would watch that clip over and over, never getting bored of it despite being able to recall it perfectly.
Oblivious to the growing steam cloud masking All Might from view, he continued. "But the thing is, I got a quirk people don't think it's really heroic but I know it is. People tell me that my desire to burn things is a villain's mindset but I believe that my quirk can help people, that my flames can heal people just like I've done with small animals that I've found that were hurt or sick, but I wanted to…ask…you…" Looking up, he found that his statement felt less important as the person he was talking to wasn't All Might, at least, they didn't look like All Might.
Where the symbol once stood, now stood a toothpick of a man with raggy blonde hair, a bony face and eyes saw far back in his skull that he could barely see them. Seeing this stranger, he did what he could.
And he screamed in terror.
It took him a while to collect himself, trying to figure out just what had happened. Why All Might had gotten so small, why did he look like death could take him at any moment, why did he give up steam like that? "Y-y-y-you deflated?!" He stumbled out, pointing at him as he pulled at his hair, no reason for this coming to mind.
"B-but how?! All Might was right here…so you're All Might, u-unless, you're a fake?" Was he saved by an imposter? Maybe, people cosplayed pros all the time, he did it more than a few times, but no-it was too good a job. The fake got everything right, from the voice, the face, the smile, the hair-even the unbelievable strength. No one could just copy that...right?
All Might, in his weakened form, saw the boy's head getting ready to explode from the shock and confusion and decided to clear up the air, or more accurately, he had to. "I am All Mig-!" His statement was cut off by his mouth leaking blood like a leaky faucet, which only made Midoriya freak out even more.
"Are you okay?!" Okay, now was this imposter sick as well? What the heck was going on? Maybe he was still out, or that villain did take his body and this was just a fever dream of a dying brain.
Wiping away the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, All Might tried to give a simple explanation. "You know those guys at the pool that suck in their guts and puff their chest to look more in shape than they are?" Midoriya, pale-faced, nodded as he followed. "It's like that."
"H-how does that even work?!" That didn't make sense at all, All Might didn't even have a gut to suck in! Was that what the steam was, as he was like a balloon or something?
All of this was too much as Midoriya felt weak in the knees. "B-but…It can't be….All Might is fearless…he's always smiling."
Hearing this, All Might looked at his hands with a distant look in his eye. "Fearless and always smiling…" He repeated before he sighed, taking a seat on the floor with his back to the railing of the building.
"Now that you've seen me like this, young man. I ask that you don't tell anyone about it, or mention it online." He instructed the boy first and foremost, Midoriya wondered what more he could see as the man lifted his shirt, exposing his torso which made Midoriya's pale face go white as he felt sick to his stomach. The left side of his body was an ugly mess of pink, red and purple flesh and scar tissue. It looked as if he had been struck by an industrial drill, electrocuted and given 3rd degree burns at once.
All Might didn't react to the boy's horrified face; he had expected this after he saw his master and old partner's reactions to it. "It happened five years ago, during a battle with a villain. I lost my left lung and stomach. This emaciated form is the result of the repeated surgeries needed to save my life and the after-effects of the injuries themselves." He explained, keeping it short as while the boy deserved an explanation after seeing him like this, he didn't need the entire thing.
"Because of that, I can only maintain my All Might for around 3 hours a day." He finished, his eyes grime as he revealed that detail, something that if got out, would lead to criminals no doubt acting up as they'll just wait for him to use up his time, or all commit crimes throughout the day, with the assumption that he'll tire out before he can get to all of them.
"3 hours…no way." But…when he thought about it, it did line up. All Might had been seen doing her work less these days, but he and everyone else just thought he was getting old and slowing down before he eventually retired. He couldn't fathom that it was due to an injury that should have killed him. "5 years ago, was it when you fought Toxic Chainsaw?"
All Might let out an amused laugh. "Good guess, but no, that punk couldn't scratch me." The amusement left him as he recalled who did the deed, recalled those damned evil eyes that seemed to see people as nothing but tools to use, discard or break as he saw fit. "The fight and villain that did it was never reported, I asked them to not report it."
He could see the question on the boy's face, so he answered it before he could ask it. "All Might saves people with a smile after all, he can't be daunted by evil." He replied, his gaze turning to the city around them, spotting some people at street level just going about their day, without a care in the world. That was what he wanted for them, for everyone. That wouldn't be possible if people were scared, or villains thought they could just rampage. "I smile to show the pressure of heroes, and to hide the fear in my heart."
Hearing All Might, the symbol of Peace speak in such a manner was… eye-opening. He had always seemed greater, seemingly above humanity with how strong he was. No threat, no disaster or villain could topple him, make him lose that smile that always brought a sense of relief and calm wherever he went. But…he was human.
Looking at the wound again as All Might dropped his shirt, he wondered if maybe…he could help him. his flames, they could, he knew that they could. and how many people could say they helped All Might-
The shock
The horror
The disgust
The fear.
All the feelings people felt towards him, expressed towards him when they heard what he could do, saw what he did came roaring into his heart, shutting down any attempt to move towards the number one as he shamefully lowered his hand and held his piece. What was he thinking? Burning All Might? That was a villain's dream!
"As for your question about your quirk," Midoriya braced for disappointment, but All Might surprised him. "I don't subscribe to the idea that a quirk can be inherently good or bad, heroic or villainous. It had and always will depend on how you use it." Stunned, he looked up at him and saw despite his eyes being deep pools of black, those tiny points of blue still shined much like they would in his hero form.
"Your quirk had something to do with fire, right?" Midoriya could do nothing but nob as the man hummed in response. "Well, by that metric, Endeavour should be a villain as he has his quirk, Hellflame, right? Yet he's the number two hero, he's even solved more cases the me at this point." He laughed there, as despite his best efforts, he could never get the man to like him. but he could respect his drive to succeed and how many people he's saved doing it.
Midoriya's composure started to break. He had expected worse, he had always gotten worse, but All Might…All Might believed in him, and the man wasn't done as he could tell this kid had issues revolving around his quirk and he wouldn't let that stand. "Gang Orca keeps getting in the top 5 pros that look like they should be villains but I can tell you right now, he's an honourable man and between the two of us, he's a sucker for kids." He pretended to whisper at him, with Midoriya laughing even as the tears started to fall from the feeling of joy in his chest.
And then, he went in for the kill, standing up and despite the fact he was much smaller than normal, he still struck a heroic stance which awed the boy as he approached him and placed a fatherly hand on his shoulder. "Young man, if you're willing to put in the work, then yes, you can be a hero."
Hearing those words that he sought for so long, that he wanted to hear someone tell him was too much as he broke out in tears, smiling as his heart felt lighter than it had been in years. "Thank you, thank you," All Might just rubbed his back, letting him have his moment. Despite the fact he had used up his time for the day, it was moments like this, helping people that reminded him of why he did this, of his master's words on what a hero was meant to be, and it was truly rewarding.
It took some time for the boy to calm down, but he did as he backed away from the pro, rubbing his face to clear away the last of the tears and snot. "Sorry for wasting your time, All Might."
All Might waved it off. "None of that, heroes are there to help people, not just save them from some villain." Midoriya smiled at that before he left, taking the stairs down. As he walked, he heard a blast in the distance, seeing as there was a window close by, he could see where it was coming from.
"An explosion?" That was strange, they already had the giant villain that morning, and he was attacked by the sludge villain, was there another incident already? That was more than what they expected in their relatively quiet part of Japan. He wanted to rush on over, to see what the heroes would do, but there was an issue with that. 'Explosions…means they could be fire…but, but people could be in danger.'
He knew that his mother's rules restricted him from being anywhere close to fires but…All Might believed in him, and he was the number one. He knew he wasn't bad, and it wouldn't hurt him if he learned ways to handle fires from watching the experts in action.
For that reason, he took off as fast as he could.
Back on the roof, All Might had decided to take some time to rest before heading to the police station and got a much clearer view of the explosion and rising smoke. Knowing that he wouldn't be of much help, he had to leave it to the local heroes to handle it, right now he had-
Tapping his pockets, he didn't feel the plastic bottles. Looking down, he saw that they were gone, nowhere to be seen on the roof before a startling realization hit him. That blast, the smoke, it was in the direction that he had come from. "Don't tell me."
At the scene, things were a complete mess. Before when the purse snatcher had grown into a giant and attacked, people still formed a crowd and didn't fear too much for their safety as they trusted that the heroes would handle things. But now,
Most of Tatooin shopping district was absent as people ran for their lives, with continued blasts occurring randomly, shattering windows across the place while fires were spreading from the back street that the pros were trying their hardest to keep contained. It was this, along with the building smoke that lured Midoriya in, the idea of seeing a fire that big made his heart sing, beg for him to go there even just to watch, to feel their warmth, to see their light, to help people through the flames just like he always wanted.
As he got closer, his mother's warnings, her rules which he had lived by for years slowly kept repeating in his mind, but they grew softer as the distance decreased, replaced with a simple desire to see it, to express himself as his excited heart kicked up in his chest. What he didn't know was that this body was starting to heat up again.
With the heroes, Death Arms and two others had just arrived on the scene and could immediately tell that things would be a challenge for them. "Dammit, things are gotten out of hand." Death Arms muttered before he turned his gaze to the villain, not that his entire body seemed to be made from a sludge-like slime, but he seemed to be revolving around something, no-someone as he saw a head of blonde hair.
"He has a hostage!" The pro next to him called out to the others, as he ground his teeth and slammed his fists together before rushing the villain, moving far faster than a man his size should be able to.
Jumping into the air, he reared his fist back. "You coward!" His strength was enough to break through concrete, stone and steel in equal measure but upon impact, there wasn't a thud or even a splat, instead his first sunk into the slime of the villain's body.
He tried to pull back but found that the slime was keeping a grip on him, even when he used his other hand to try and break free. "What is this?" He stated. "It's body-I can't get a grip!" The villain smiled at him with those crooked yellow teeth of his before he formed some tendrils and sent them flying towards the pro. Death Arms saw the attack coming and blocked with his free hand, but he was still dislodged from the villain and sent into a store's steel shutters, crumbling the material with his body.
"Death Arms!" The others saw this, but couldn't move to help as they noticed that the tendrils hadn't disappeared, but were coming right for them, forcing them to dodge. "Crap!"
Seeing that the heroes couldn't approach him, much less harm him, the villain laughed. "None of you can even touch me!" He was one lucky bastard, having somehow escaped from the number one, if not for this kid kicking the bottle which got the cap loose, he'd been trapped, it was made all the better as he had a powerful quirk.
Bakugo didn't share his joy a she continuedly to struggle against the villain, putting up a good fight even if he wasn't making any real progress, one he was never one to just give up. "Like hell, I'm letting you rotten sewage beat me!" He fired off blasts from his hands, bigger than the ones he used before in an attempt to free himself from the villain and turn around and blow him straight to hell.
However, even with the strength of the blast which kicked up more wind and shattered whatever windows were left, when the smoke cleared, he had made no progress. The villain's smile only grew at that lack of result as this boy was different to the other one, that one felt like he was trying to climb into a steam engine boiler and would have most likely ended painfully for him, but this one? His quirk did not affect him, and he could use it to get back at that runt that nearly burned him.
"This quirk, oh yeah this one I can manage, a powerful one too!" Bakugo didn't know who he was talking about and didn't care at the moment as he was more concerned with getting out of this mess.
Seeing that his quirk was ineffective at the moment, Death Arms turned to the other pros for aid. "I little help would be nice!" His eye landed on Backdraft, but the man was too preoccupied trying to contain the fires.
"Sorry, I got my hands full with these fires!" Backdraft called back, keeping his attention on the flames lest they spread to a gas line. Where were the fire trucks? They should be here by now!
Death Arms turned to the other one, the rising star of the area but Kamui Woods was also occupied as he used his quirk to grab as many people as he could and get them out of the fire's way. "I'm not good with explosions!" Fire, he could handle, he trained for situations involving it, but explosions? His wood wasn't good for that and no one wanted hundreds if not thousands of wooden shrapnel flying around.
Feeling the ground thud, Midoriya arrived on the scene at the same time as another mountain of a hero. "It's the rookie hero, Mt. Lady!" One of the people in the crowd called out as Mt. Lady jogged up to the scene, but the woman's face dropped when she saw the scene, more accurately, the size of the area.
"Wait, I need at least two lanes to move, this place is too small!" She could barely fit a foot into the place. If the villain was by themselves, maybe she could just step on them, but with a hostage involved, she was very limited in her options.
"Dammit, we just have to wait till someone with a more suitable quirk gets here." Death Arms hated it, but that was the best he could think of at the moment. Midoriya wondered about that, as he pushed his way to the front of the crowd, with some moving away from him, telling him he was hot to the touch. His heat made it easy for him to get to the front as people started to move away from him, allowing him to see what the villain looked like and gasped from recognition.
"Is that…" He asked himself. 'Wait, if he's here that means…he got away from All Might!' He was there, he saw it happen.
'But that's impossible, he was out, I saw him, he-' There was no way that All Might would have lost hold of him, he never would but then he remembered where he placed the villain, and how he grabbed onto him. doing the math in his head, the underpass was in this general direction, relative to the building where All Might intended to drop him. 'I did this…this is my fault.' He escaped All Might because he accidentally freed him from the man's pants, and kept him too distracted to notice till his time had run out.
He did this…the villain was out because of him.
How could he call himself good when he aided in this?
As the guilt chewed away at him, his eyes went to the flames, focusing on them above all else. His mind went into a daze. He could hear them talking about a hostage, and he could even see a head sticking out of the slime, but all of it was second priority to the flames, to the smoke, and the smell of so many things burning. All of it was so…enticing, inviting as he could almost hear the flames calling to him, to approach them, to embrace them, to love them as they do him.
He didn't know it, but his already warm body only got hotter as his quirk, for the 3rd time that day acted out, as his control over it slipped looser by the second, but…he didn't want to regain that control. Would it be so bad if he just expressed himself, all of himself, just once? Why did he have to hold back where others didn't? Steam started seeping out of his nostrils and mouth again, building in volume and heat.
Another blast knocked him out of this daze, shaking his head and clearing his vision, Midoriya was now visibly sweating and short of breath as regained himself. Shaking his head further, he tried to keep a lid on it, on those villainous urges. He wouldn't let them win, not now when this situation was all his fault. With this turmoil of the soul, he could hear it, all of it. all the times he was denounced, all the times he was mocked came screaming back into his head.
Villian
The problem child
Freak
Pyromaniac
Deku
It felt like his head was going to explode, his body was only getting hotter as people in the crowd started to notice him and started moving away, pointing and calling out, but he didn't hear any of it as the steam leaving his body only increase, escaping into the air as little embers of ash and smoke filtered through as he could feel inside burning up. Trying to regain control, he looked through the fire and smoke, he saw the face of the hostage.
He saw Bakugo and, at that moment, he was terrified.
At that moment, all of it fell away. The heroes, the noise, the crowd, even the very earth and sky. None of it mattered as he looked into those eyes. The eyes of a person who had done nothing but torment him belittled him and told him to jump off a roof not even 2 hours prior. Those same eyes that normally would hate and mock him, were now scared, pleading for help. From the corner of his mind that he did his best to ignore, to shut away, he heard a simple message.
Surrender to the Flames
And he did.
With no plan or hesitation, he broke from the crowd, everything falling back into place as his 5 senses came alive, allowing him to hear Death Arms yelling for him to stop, but he didn't. He couldn't, not when Bakugo needed help and he could offer it. As his feet carried him closer to the villain, his body was burning up as steam was replaced with smoke and his eyes, even while they started sizzling and catching fire, were flickering between their normal green hue and a glowing bright emerald.
Seeing him approaching, the villain instantly recognised him. "You again? Not this time, brat!" The villain used its control over Bakugo to aim his hand towards the boy, an explosion primed and ready which the heroes saw.
"Kid!" Mt. Lady called out to him right as the villain brought its hand down on the boy, an explosion kicking up dust. There was silence for a moment, as the people present along with the heroes thought that just witnessed a murder, but that moment passed as there was another explosion, this one coming from where the boy had just been, where the villain's extended hand was. An explosion of green flames and smoke.
The blast was stronger than anything that had happened till then, hotter as well as the villain screamed out so loud that some present had to cover their ears. The reasons for this were made clear as the villain quickly pulled back his arm, or what was left of it as the entire hand-like potion was gone, burned to nothing as even the very stump, in its sludge form was still burning as green flames licked at it. "It burns! Sweet heavens, it burns!" He screamed out, feeling more pain than he had ever had while Bakugo looked on, wide-eyed that Deku managed that. 'He burned through my tendril-how?!'
In the smoke, they could make out a figure, but it didn't appear to be the boy from before, as even with the dust and smoke blocking him from view, they could see a faint outline, it was as if he was on fire. As the scene cleared, revealing Midoriya to all, the civilians, the heroes, and even Bakugo could have only described what they saw with two things. The first would be awe, but the second emotion that came after that would be fear.
Standing completely unharmed by the villain's attempt on his life, Midoriya's entire body had gone through a radical transformation from flesh and blood to a being of rock, magma and fire. His skin had vanished, burned away and in its place, were purple stone-like scales, with the spaces in between glowing with green flowing magma-like blood, causing his body to be so hot that they could feel it even from a distance. His fingers had lengthened, gaining stone line claws with the tips also glowing from the extreme heat.
His head was covered by a flaming cobra-like hood which formed from his back and shoulders, atop of it were two green and white spots that resembled eyes so much that one could get lost in them, especially with his head angled just even a little down made it impossible to see his true eyes. When he raised his head to the villain, he felt his heart freeze from the fear as the boy's face was gone, much like his body, it had burned away, and in its place was a stone-like mask designed to resemble the face of a snake, green flames leaking out of the line that was meant to be his mouth as well as the two holes that forms his 'eyes'. That line opened, revealing that the green stone that made up his mask was segmented.
Around him, the flames that had been burning through the market flowed, as if bits of metal to a magnet, the fires that had been keeping the heroes so busy flowed and jumped right for Midoriya, the boy unhinging his jaw to accommodate the large volume of flames rushing into his body before with a heavy thud, his jaws sealed shut, leaving not even a spark of the flames behind.
"I'll save you, Kacchan." When he spoke, his voice took on a mix between a roaring fire and serpent-like tone, smoke exiting with smoke as he hissed out his 's' sounds. The villain didn't even have time to respond as Midoriya rushed him, far faster than before. He wasn't able to try and attack him as the boy closed the distance between them, but he didn't attack him, but instead reached a hand towards Bakugo, grabbing him by the arm, and ignoring him yelling in pain from the burning grip he had on him, he pulled.
With that simple action, he freed the boy and threw him back towards the heroes in the same motion, Death Arms being quick enough to catch him before doing a quick inspection of him, seeing that where the walking inferno had touched him, he had burned through his school's jacket as well as the skin, leaving a nasty burn as the Bakugo flinched from the pain of it, but also from the confused fer of what Deku had become.
With the hostage free and out of the way, the villain prepared for a follow-up attack, but Midoriya didn't do that. "You...you need to improve; you need to be made better and that can only be done through the flames." Seemingly at his command, the fires around them, that had long died out came roaring back to life, greater and hotter than ever. The pros were forced back even further, having tried to get closer now that things had calmed, with the crowd crying out in shock and fear as the heat from before had intensified.
Around Midoriya, his newly conjured flames took on a green tint, the same as his own. Seeing that he had no chance against this monster, the villain tried to flee but turning around, he found his exit cut off by a curtain of fire. If it was normal stuff, he would take his chances and just rush on through it, but these flames could burn him in seconds. Turning back to the monster, he could only beg as he saw him approaching him, each step heating the pavement in those few seconds of contact.
"Pl-Please, mercy, don't hurt me!" Midoriya didn't stop his approach, but his face mask did shift as his mouth opened just a little in mockery of what his smile would look like. Spewing out small puffs of flames and smoke with every word, he replied.
"I don't wish to hurt you; I wish to help you. You have nothing to fear from the flames. The fire can guide you in the dark, warm in the cold, make you better than you yesterday," Again, no one present could tell what Midoriya was talking about, or why he chose now of all times to say what he did, but the heroes could tell something was off, but acted too late.
"All one needs is to embrace it." Without warning or hesitation, Midoriya's jaw shot open and from it, came out a torrent of swirling green flames that engulfed the villain whole, causing him to scream in pain as it felt like every part of his being was being cooked alive before it become too much and he lost consciousness, falling to the ground with a splat as he's still steaming slime body lost all cohesion or sense of control. Midoriya was confused by that, wondering why the villain screamed like he was dying, it was only some fire, nothing to write home about.
Before he could understand that, his back was hit with a double burst of water from Backdraft, dousing him if only a little and filling the space with heated steam as Midoriya cried out in pain and confusion. Why were the heroes attacking him, why were they trying to douse him? Turning to the heroes while increasing the heat of his flames, he saw Death Arms, nearly on top of him with his fist reared back.
He was too slow and disorientated to react to the punch that hit him right in the face, severely cracking his face mask and spilling superheated magma-like blood on the floor, where it sizzled like water dropped onto a hot stove. "Why are you attacking me?"
Death Arms couldn't believe this kid, after what he did, he had the gall to ask such a question, but if he wanted an answer, he'd get one. "You can't be serious! You just killed a man!"
Cocking his head to the side, Midoriya wondered just what the man was talking about. "Killed-no I helped!" He gave another smile, not noticing how unnerving it was while Death Arms saw how the damage, he managed to land at the price of burning his fist was healing, the stone shifting back into place and sealing up as if his attack never happened. "Right?" Midoriya looked at the crowd, and what he saw wasn't hope or relief, it was fear.
The exact opposite of what All Might brought. Seeing this, messed with his head, made him question himself and his actions as his flames burned bright. "Nonononono! I'm good. I know I am! My fire helps people, I helped people!" He started rambling, but it was loud enough that the others could hear.
"You're insane, kid. You didn't help that kid or the villain." Death Arms pointed back towards Bakugo, who was being seen two by two heroes, and then back to the villain, still out and unresponsive on the floor a ways away from the two. Seeing this, seeing the burn on Bakugo's arm caused even greater confusion and imbalance in him.
Gripping his head, his stone-like claws dug into his skull, causing more of his magma blood to pour from the wounds as his mind started unravelling as what he thought and what he saw was contradicting what he wanted to do. "No,no,no,nonononono! I'm not a villain, I'm not! I help people, I do! Like All Might, he brings smiles, I bring smiles, that I want, that's why I act!" His apparent mental breakdown terrified those who saw it, more so as his flames seemed to increase in power with his emotions and insanity. Hissing out, his body heated up even further than it was already, the magma flowing between the many scales that covered his body glowing brighter, the stones themselves taking on a glow as they absorbed more of his ambient heat.
"I'm good, and I'll prove it!" Around him, flames shot out from his body, growing to encompass most of the space as people started to run away from him, his eyes burning emerald looked at them, at all of them as his flames consumed everything they touched, turning the pavement below him to melted slag as the pros had to retreat even further with Back Daft putting his all into combating the flames, but his water evaporated long before it could even touch the boy.
Through the crowd, he saw it. All Might was there, in his weakened form, watching him, holding his injured side.
And he was appalled.
Seeing his idol look at him like that broke something in him, and with it, his flames died out as quickly as they emerged as he fell to his knees. "I'm not good…I was never good." He whispered, speaking as if it was a truth of life, a bitter pill as he felt like crying as he accepted that fact.
Looking at his hands, he couldn't stop shaking as his emotions got the best of him. "What have I become; I broke the rules…I…I." Why did he come, why couldn't he just listen to his mother, to his teachers, to everyone who knew him? He couldn't be a hero, he wasn't made for it, how could he when his mere presence could scare even the number one?
Losing all sense of composure, he started crying but with no tears as his body continued to lose strength as he cried for forgiveness.
All Might had been involved in hundreds if not thousands of incidents, and he could say that none of them were anything close to this.
He had arrived just as Midoriya had shifted forms, and had seen him save the boy, but then he saw him try and kill the villain. He very well has might as no one could check on him. All while speaking as if fire was nothing more than air, or as beneficial as a trip to the doctor. He seemed confused, as if he couldn't understand why what he had done was wrong, and in that moment, he thought back to the roof, when the boy had explained his dilemma.
For the first time, he wondered if he was wrong, and some quirks seemed to destined one to horrible fates as he understood that whatever this boy's quirk was, it messed with how he saw the world to the extent that fire and burning weren't bad things but rather were beneficial. And when he was confronted with that error, he started to spiral and in doing so, become an even greater issue than the villain could ever hope to be.
When he created that massive pillar of fire, he had been stunned, having not felt flames so strong, even when he would on rare occasions, work with Endeavour. He had been about to step in, to end this even if it meant pushing his limit but then the boy and him locked eyes…and something died in those burning emeralds.
As if by snap of the fingers, the boy fell apart, his attack, his fire-all of it vanished as he was reduced to what he was now. Not a monster that needed to be defeated, not a villain that needed to be jailed, not a threat that needed to be worried about.
But a boy in need.
Taking a breath, he willed himself past his limits, changed back into his hero form and approached the boy. He ignored how the crowd that remained turned and awed at him, or even as the other heroes moved aside for him, keeping his focus on the boy who was at his lowest. "My boy."
He couldn't have known that he had just the wrong thing.
"My Boy." Midoriya felt his soul turn to ice at that, he knew he scared All Might, he didn't need to tell him, he didn't want to hear it anymore then he was already hearing that and so much banging around in his head. His mother, his father, his teachers, his old friends, they were all in his head already. Looking up, he didn't see All Might or the other heroes. He just saw shadows, shadows that meant him harm. He didn't want to get hurt, but he didn't want to hurt them.
So he chose option 3 and screamed, what came out of his jaws wasn't a human scream, it wasn't even an animalistic one, what he screeched was closer to the sound of rock being superheated to the point of evaporating near instantly, the sound that would be heard at ground zero of an atomic blast. With that roar, fire comes flooding out of him like a broken dam. The hero heroes held their ears, one falling to their knees from the pain of that horrific sound while All Might ground his teeth and took it, seeing the flames and decided he needed to deal with that as he wound up for another punch.
"Texas Smash!" Just like before, when he defeated the slime villain, the air pressure generated by the attack blew away the flames, leaving the place a burnt and melted mess, including a massive hole in the pavement, having been melting through to the sewers, which was now puffing out steam from the water being heated to boiling. Seeing that, he realized what had just happened.
Midoriya had fled.