Hey people! Here's to a new start! I hope y'all enjoy this, It may not have many uploads, its more of a side project that I do along side my other story, Flames of Hope (Shameless self promotion!) But! Let the story begin!
'Life isn't fair, and it certainly isn't kind.'
That was something that Izuku Midoriya learned the hard way at an early age. The way filled with pain and anguish.
The bruises, burns and broken bones held testament to that.
And, it all started with one simple thing, a single sentence; one sentence said by a stout man with green goggles and a bushy moustache.
"You're Quirkless, Kid."
Quirkless?
It meant that he lacked something that had become a fundamental and integral part of society; A Quirk. A special power held within almost everyone, nearly 80% of people, and his lack of a quirk set him apart from the rest, made him an oddity in a world of oddities. He lacked Individuality.
Without a Quirk, it made him wrong. He was obsolete, a relic of a bygone age, he had become a lesser being in the eyes of others in a matter of seconds.
Quirks, meanwhile, gave rise to Heroes; people who could use their quirks to save people, and in doing so gained fame and glory along with massive amounts of money.
Only one, however, stood atop the rest, the best of the best, the champion among champions: All Might, number one hero and Symbol of Peace.
All Might's presence also caused something worse to grow; Discrimination.
Quirks became what was heroic and what wasn't. A powerful quirk that people understood was heroic and the weird, wacky but useful quirks fell into a villainous category, and the quirkless? They, well, they faced the worse discrimination imaginable. He was a lesser being, an ape compared to man.
And that showed in his treatment as he grew up.
Friends turned to bullies, teachers ignored him, he was completely left completely alone, isolated by everyone except his mother. The harsh environment bred hatred and distrust.
But, even his mother had her limits;
"Mommy? Can... Can I be a Hero like All Might?"
All he received was a hug and endless apologies.
"I'm so sorry Izuku...!"
'That's not what I needed to hear, Mom...'
Izuku though, throughout his abuse, never turned to that hatred, never gave into his anger, into fear. His heart, his soul, burned with boundless determination to help others, to be their hero, and he would, but not like he thought he would when he dreamed as a child.
He clung to his dream, his sole goal to become a hero, letting it become the shroud that protected him from reality, hiding him from what the world really was.
A world of cruelty and pain
He would never give in, and he would become a hero, no matter what. And this is, this infinite well of grit and determination, what made Izuku different from any other.
For Izuku Midoriya was abnormal; His Determination allowed for his path to be his own to choose, his own to walk and his own to make.
Izuku's future laid infinite possibilities, innumerous timelines, diverging paths and none the exact same.
His heart, his heroic spirit, could remain intact, even throughout his abuse, and he could work tirelessly to become the next number one hero.
He could be taken by All for One, who would twist his pure soul into devilry and evil, and use Izuku as a puppet for destruction, the next number one villain.
He could manifest a quirk at any point in his life, from his birth to his death. Thousands of possibilities, from a Fire quirk to the Quirk All for One itself.
Even so, in this Universe and timeline, Izuku caught the eye of someone, no, perhaps, something, a being that transcends the boundaries of time and space. The Man in the Wall.
He was Chaos personified, indifferent and cold to everything, and a creature that merely wished to sate his innate hunger for chaos and havoc. And what better way to do that than by taking a teen with near infinite futures and making him into a vessel of War and Death?
Walking down the streets of Musutafu, Japan, one Izuku Midoriya rubbed his red rimmed eyes, muttering.
"I'll have to fix my uniform again..."
His focus was entirely on his body and the ruined, charred uniform which hid scars underneath. Burns of varying degrees, and long, thin cuts long since healed. Jagged patches where his skin was torn from the vicious abuse he suffered from for the short 15 years of his life.
Unfocused on his surroundings, Izuku never noticed the swirling mass that was gathering around him, or the cosmic cloud that warped the very air.
Screams could be heard as people around Izuku pointed at him, terror and fear etched on their features before he screamed himself.
Around him, the world had vanished, leaving Izuku standing stock still in terror before a familiar voice called out.
"Hey, Izu-kun."
Right in front of Izuku stood, himself. As if looking in a mirror, or a clone of himself.
The doppelganger giggled, red light coming from its eyes, wisps of black smoke wafted from its body as it spoke again:
"Do you want to be a Hero?"
The real Izuku jolted to reality, quashing the innate desire to flee from his lookalike, and answered quietly.
"More than anything..."
In the real world, cameras flashed as photos were taken of the wall of golden energy, heroes paced along the perimeter, throwing smiles and waves at the media.
Suddenly, the barrier flashed and the world watched as the green haired child was stabbed through the stomach with a large spike of pure black smoke, before his body began to evaporate in a spectacle of neon blue and blinding white particles.
Time frozen as Japan watched as a teenager, no more than thirteen, was vaporised on live TV, leaving nothing but a smouldering waft of black smoke in the air.
People assumed that the teen had died, and the police found no evidence of a death, nor did they find evidence that teen lived, in fact, it looked as if he was erased from reality...
Izuku's eyes snapped open, veridian eyes frantically looked around the room he had somehow found himself in, hand moving subconsciously to his stomach as he scanned the room.
It wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before he was taken. The walls were sleek white with trims of gold running around them. White lights glowed luminously through the room.
His mind couldn't comprehend what was going, or where he was. All he remembered was a cloud of mist, red eyes and a massive pain in his stomach before he blacked out.
Suddenly, the entire room lurched forward, knocking Izuku from his thoughts and sending the boy to the floor; the shiny surface reflecting his face back like a mirror, and where he also noticed the change in his features.
His once bushy green hair had been washed out, replaced by snow white locks. A vague and blurry image of a man with the same hair as his own flash in his mind:
'Was that my father?'
In the deepest corners of his mind, a giggle erupted; a touch here, and a flick here causes so much change and Chaos like a stone thrown into a still pond!
Tears burst into Izuku's eyes as he whispered into the clearly empty room.
"Hello? Mom? Anyone?"
With no response, Izuku got up, rubbing the tears from his eyes as he got to his feet, and with shaky determination, Izuku walked over to the wall, running a hand over the surface, it was smooth and metallic, and cool and cold to the touch.
For about five seconds nothing happened as Izuku studied the wall, then the entire room shook heavily, sending Izuku to the floor with a dull thud, smacking his head on the surface, and Izuku felt his consciousness slip from him, the only thing he noticed was the room began to darken, the lights becoming an eerie red.
When Izuku came around, he found himself surrounded by children, all were clearly terrified, ashen faces with terror filled eyes.
Gaining his awareness, Izuku felt his entire being light up, it felt as if his soul had been ignited, so full of energy with nowhere to go; it was near overflowing, but Izuku fought the tidal wave of wild energy, his mind building something akin to a fortress to hold the power back.
It was a way for people with Mental Quirks to control their quirks, a technique he learnt, thinking it might help his quirk to come in.
At least it let him control his emotions as he grew older...
Letting his thoughts go, Izuku looked about the room again, finding that it was now filled with whimpers and sobs, which became almost hysterical when the walls began to clang, as if someone was knocking on metal.
Waiting for the clanging to stop, Izuku studied the children. All of their eyes glowed, and Izuku could feel the energy, raw and untamed in them, just like his own; but, they couldn't reel it in like he could. It leaked out, and Izuku instinctively knew that the energy was dangerous, it had an almost living awareness about it as it twisted and weaved around them.
Some children had been scarred, by what, Izuku had no clue, but the scars weren't normal, he'd know, he had many himself. Instead, their scars were black like space, as if they'd been burnt and the skin never healed from its charred state. It was clear they were painful too, as they were trimmed with red irritated skin.
Averting his eyes, he knew he was being disrespectful, and cleared his throat, Izuku asked quietly to one of the children.
"What's going on?"
Flinching back, the children looked wearily around before one spoke up, a young boy.
"We don't know, one second we were fine, and then, we were shaking and the adults began trying to kill us!"
Izuku blinked twice, then asked the clearly hysterical child as calmly as he could.
"Ok, and where are we?"
One of the older children answered.
"We're aboard the Zariman Ten Zero."
Izuku tilted his head down in thought; 'The Zariman? What's that? Where are we?'
All of a sudden, the room cowered as a door slid open and in came an adult; Izuku flinched back at the sight of the man. His skin was greyed and scarred, with eyes glowing an evil red, insanity clear in those eyes. What Izuku feared most was the knife in his hand.
Being one of the eldest, Izuku got the rest of the children behind him as the crazed man smiles, his insane mumblings ignored as Izuku shouts at the man;
"Get out now! Go! Get out!"
Clearly amused, the man takes a step forward, his mouth twisted into a smile as replies;
"Why, child, would I do that? We can have some fun !"
Fun that involved death.
Panicked, Izuku looked around for anything, and he felt that power within him respond to his call; it pooled in his palm and a beam of energy fired at the man, vaporising a hole through the man's chest; it killed him immediately.
Horrified, Izuku turned and vomited; he just killed someone!
But he was going to kill you and the rest of the children...
Inhaling deeply, Izuku shook his head, trying to knock the new voice out of his mind and focus. He could cry and whine later, he had to be a hero now! He had to help these children...
Wiping his mouth, Izuku called out to the lost children. "My name is Izuku, what about all of you?"
After the incident, it became clear that Time had stopped, or at least paused, and for the children, it lost its meaning whilst aboard the Zariman; wherever the children were, time worked differently than the norm. The children never grew up, they remained the same, stagnant; they stayed just as they were, never growing up. Still remaining as children, even if months, perhaps years passed by.
In the early days aboard the Zariman, Izuku and the children had been hunted down relentlessly by the insane adults aboard for weeks on end, always fearing for their lives; until, one day, the children fought back, slaying the adults and leaving the children to adrift together.
Without the fear of the Adults, the children thrived. They could do things like the children they were, they danced and sang and played.
However, Izuku was different, he wasn't from here, this place, this time, that much he knew, he had an outsider's perspective. As such, he broke away from his peers, and used the remaining onboard computer systems to learn and grow his mind in place of his body.
With patience and some help, Izuku even managed to get the ship's 'Cephalon' functioning, getting himself a teacher to help him learn about the new place he found himself in. Cephalon Melica was a godsend, an intelligence made to teach, she held everything that Izuku needed, and with her help, he learned.
He learned about the Orokin Empire, the Tau System and the Origin System, he learned of the Zariman, the ship he was aboard and its mission to colonise the Tau System.
He found out about the Void and what it was; a place that wasn't bound by the laws of physics.
He learned of how the Origin System was almost exactly like his own solar system, but so far advanced, it made things seem like magic; from the massive fleets of ships to the sleek, majestic towers of the Orokin Empire.
And, with Time having no meaning in the Void, Izuku became dedicated, near obsessed, with learning; be it from the many datebanks on the ship to training with his powers, he absorbed information and knowledge like a sponge in water.
His powers, far more controlled and powerful than the other children, were like a gift bestowed to him from the Void itself.
Such naivety, one born from the mind of a child wanting something they'd lacked.
And, He would soon find that these powers were cursed upon him.
After all, Power always has a drawback, for nothing is ever really free.
Paranoia sank in, and Izuku watched the children, the unseen shadows, and listened to the mocking, echoing laughter, and Izuku slowly, methodically, began to unravel the mystery. The oddities that happened within the destroyed halls of the Zariman, the distinct physical changes, and the pulsating growths along the wall, Izuku noted them all down, broke them down.
In his mind, he could hear The Voice, his eyes caught the changes in behaviours in the other children, as he began to have visions in his dreams, and then in the real world.
Dreams and visions of a creature, taking Izuku's form, calling him the name only his mother called him,
"Hey Izu-kun."
His paranoia-filled journey led Izuku into an encounter with another child, Rell, one outcasted by the other children, and Izuku realised that Rell could also hear the entity, although it seemed that Rell could not see It like Izuku could.
After much talk, many whispered conspiracies, they came up with an apt name: The Man in the Wall.
Honestly, Izuku was terrified of the being; It was entirely unknown, and the white haired boy knew next to nothing of It, or It's motivation. And the one thing Izuku did know was that It was unpredictable and dangerous.
Izuku tended to describe the entity as Chaos personified, just like the place in which It resided in.
On occasion, Izuku heard the creature, the thing lurking in Its prisoned abyss, trying to get out...
Rap.
Tap.
Tap.
Then, one day, the children of the Zariman felt the vessel as it shook uncontrollably like a ship in a stormy sea. Izuku looked upon his own creation, a simple computer connected to the Zariman's systems, and to Melica, and saw that another vessel had found them, somehow, and began to board.
In fact, Izuku looked from beyond the large window of his hidden room, to see the vastness of space, with twinkling stars, and not the warping visage of the Void; he could no longer see the twisting and ever changing Void, but space, true space.
And the clearly Orokin ship docking onto the derelict Zariman, its extravagant golden trims, its bleached white hull and neon blue highlights in all its glory.
The sounds of the Orokin's arrival alone triggered the children, their memories haunting them as they lashed out with the Void, deathly scared of the things trying to get at them once more.
Their powers, so vicious and volcanic, caused fear in the invading people; one person, a woman, was burned badly by one of the children for getting too close, the top half of her face completely burned away.
Izuku, however, stood in front of the children, his powers glowing an eerie blue, his neck straining with the scars left by the Void, and whispered.
"You will not pass me."
Before the children could run or make an escape, or before Izuku could fire off his power, some kind of pink gas leaked through the air ducts, making the children fall one by one until they all fell asleep, including Izuku.
The last thing Izuku saw before he fell asleep was men with guns and swords marching in.
"This one... DNA is different... Evolved... Slimlined... Another Gene... "
"Something more... Something better..."
(What do you think of the beginning?)