1 Welcome to U.A.

U.A. High School. Where all the best heroes come from. In front of the huge building's front gates stood a fifteen-year-old boy with short black hair that spiked up over the top of his head. He took one step forward through the entrance, 'This is where I'm going to do it. Here, I'm going to become, a hero!

My Quirk developed late, usually, quirks show up at the age of four, but I awakened my quirk when I was seven years old.'

*8 Years Ago*

"The great hero Titanium will save you!" A small boy on a playground held up his toy shield made of plastic, not titanium, then he ran to one side and jumped off the jungle gym.

As soon as his feet lifted off it, his eyes opened hugely and he realized that the ground was much farther than it had seemed.

"Waaaa! Ahhh! It hurts!"

"Oh come now, Zach," the boy opened his eyes and lifted his head. Standing before him was a beautiful woman with long red hair falling straight down to her waist. She leaned down over him and said with a coy smile, "I didn't know there were heroes who cried over such a small scratch."

"But mom, *sniff* *sniff* it hurts," Zach's lips trembled, even as he lifted his left arm to wipe his eyes.

Zach's mother looked over his head at the tiny piece of the playground that her son jumped off of. The fall was not as high as the tiny child, short for his age, though it was. She smiled while looking back down, "I don't think it's the pain that you're crying over. Did you get scared? I'm sure the great hero Titanium could have landed that-"

"But, but," Zach pursed his lips and lowered his gaze from his mom. He put his arms around his knees and pulled them back towards him, wincing a little from the scratch on his right knee that he had tried to show his mom. He sat in the wood-chips on the floor of the park's playground, and he sniffled again before saying, "I'm not really a hero. That's just pretending." He sniffled again while his mother looked down at him with wide eyes. "Mom, can I-" he paused and started lifting his head. "Without a Quirk, can I become, a hero?"

Tears filled his eyes, and he saw the water brimming in his mother's too. Even with the water in her eyes though, she was smiling wide down at him and his eyes started to grow huge. "Of course you can," she said. Zach's trembling lips curled up too, and his mom reached down her right hand in front of him. "After all, you're already my little hero. Quirk or no Quirk, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything." Zach looked at his mom's outstretched hand, then his eyes shifted to his right knee that still had a small scratch on it.

He wiped his face with his left arm, rubbing his eyes and his nose, then he lowered it and nodded. "Mm," he hummed, and he reached up with his right hand to grab his mother's outstretched

one.

*Present*

'But I wasn't Quirkless,' Zach thought, as he remembered the day he thought about so often. Other students wearing UA uniforms were walking towards the building on his sides, some of them walking

together, most alone since not many of them knew others who were going to the school. He was not the only person from his class to apply to UA, but he was the only one to get accepted and accepted to the Hero Course no less.

Zach looked down at his right hand that he moved in front of him a bit. He stared at the thin black glove that covered his hand. Some skin on his wrist showed between his glove and the gray sleeve of his student uniform, but his right hand was fully hidden inside it. Zach bit down behind his lips and clenched his right fist hard as he slowed his walk towards the school.

*8 Years Ago*

"It's a new Quirk, something we haven't seen before," the doctor standing in front of Zach said. He was one of four in the room, all of them looking interested in the boy whose head was bowed and eyes pointed straight at the floor. His right hand was covered in an oven mitt, wrapped in duct tape tightly to his arm to prevent it from coming off. "This Quirk, Death, is a very dangerous one. You must take special care not to let your son use it again. We have determined through testing that he needs to use his right hand-"

"We understand," a low voice said over Zach's shoulder. Zach could not turn to face the tall man next to him.

"And once again Titanium, we're terribly sorry for this unfortunate situation. There was no way of seeing this coming-"

"Is my son free to go?" the low voice behind Zach said, making the child bite down on his bottom lip. The way his father worded it sounded like he had been in the custody of those scientists and doctors who had done tests to see the extent of his powers over the last few days.

The doctor in front of the man and his son seemed hesitant, but then he nodded his head. "Our research team will develop a more suitable replacement for that mitt, Zach." The boy lifted his head and stared at the doctor, his eyes bloodshot and his lips trembling, blood coming out of where he had bit down on the bottom one.

The doctor who tried smiling at the boy froze at the sight of that trail of blood, at how hard the boy must have been biting down to draw it. "And, it's not your fault," the doctor added, making Zach stare through his glasses with eyes turning huge. "It could have happened to anyone."

*Present*

Zach took in a deep breath and shook his head around as he reached the entrance of the school. 'Class A, huh...' he thought, stepping into the school building and looking around at the halls he would be spending the next three years.

He gulped before starting his walk towards the classroom. 'I'm out of my league here, all the others are going to have such powerful Quirks.'

Tied for the last place on the entrance exam, the last place of the accepted students though, he reminded himself of all the ones who did not even make the Hero Course, but it did not help.

The distraction of thinking of his classmates was pushed aside by what he had just been thinking about, and his look darkened once again. He tried to mask it by smiling as he walked towards his classroom, but he felt his chest ache. Dad didn't see it that way.

*7 Years Ago*

Zach walked out into his living room in the dead of night. He had a thick mitten over his right hand, something he only took off to bathe, sleep, or wash the mitten itself. The apartment in Musutafu was not small, but it was cozy. The living room was connected to the dining room and kitchen, and there were only two bedrooms with a bathroom in between them. Zach walked into the living room where the lights were off, but there was light coming from the television still on and at a loud volume that had been keeping him up.

The eight-year-old walked over to the coffee table in front of the couch and he picked up a few empty beer cans. He lifted them as softly as he could so as not to wake the man on the recliner chair to his left. He cleaned up the room a bit, then walked back towards his dad and looked at the can still loosely held in the man's hand.

He thought about grabbing it, but he shook his head and then turned to the tv. The remote was sitting on his dad's lap, but if he was not going to risk waking him by taking the beer, he was not going to risk anything that might. Zach lowered the volume with the actual tv buttons a few notches, then he waited for the sleeping man to adjust to the lower volume, before turning off the tv.

Zach stood up and took a step back towards his room. "What are you doing up?" A voice asked in the darkness behind him. He looked back and saw a shadow stand up from the chair.

"You, who killed your mother," the man getting out of his chair fell back on it and over the armrest farther from his son.

The boy heard the crash, but he did not make sense of what was happening. After he heard that voice, saying those words, he spun around and sprinted for his room. He was crying as he shoved his head in his pillow, using it to muffle his sobs. 'Mom, I'm sorry!'

*Present*

He never did talk about that night. Maybe he forgot about it or thought it was a dream. Or maybe, he just didn't care anymore... even back then.

Zach clenched his eyes shut tight before opening them fast and glancing around. He spotted a couple of girls walking his direction down the hall, but one of them who he thought might have been looking his way turned back to her friend and said something with a smile on her face. Zach let out a sigh and continued walking.

Get it all out now, at least. When class starts, it's time to make friends and learn and train to be a hero. 'Because I can be one! I can be a hero. He told me so! Even with this curse, I will be one!'

*7 Years Ago*

Zach breathed in heavily, and he breathed out in staggered breaths like he needed to breathe in again while it was all coming out. He was hyperventilating, but he took a step forward anyway.

He brought his other foot forward too so that both of his feet were on the ledge. Zach stood on top of his apartment, and he thought of the last time he thought he saw a fall this far. His heavy breathing slowed down as he imagined that day, that fall that seemed so long ago but was fresh in his memory.

He knew that this drop was farther though. The eight-year-old knew what a drop this far meant. He lifted his hand and pulled the mitten off of it. Then he reached below and grabbed the specially designed glove made just for him, and he peeled that up and off his hand too. He dropped the glove off the roof, watching as it fell. It blew in the wind and he gulped but steadied himself.

'I'll forget one day. I'll, I'll wind up doing it again. How many close calls have there been in a year? What if it starts happening with my left hand too?!'

His feet slid farther towards the edge, then a gust of wind hit him, and he threw his arms out to the sides for balance. He wobbled back and forth, half-hoping that the wind would succeed and take the choice out of his hands. Zach did not fall though, and that made him bare his teeth and scrunch up his face. Tears came out of his eyes, and he clenched his right hand so hard that it hurt. "Mom," he whispered. Someone screamed down on the street below, right as Zach closed his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Stop!"

"Oh my God, someone stop him- oh God!"

"AHH!"

Zach fell from the roof, and then he felt a strong jolt. Was that death? He thought, his eyes snapping open in shock at how little it hurt. His heart started speeding up, and he sat there in the arms of a muscular man in a mostly blue costume with some red and yellow to it.

The man who always saved people with a smile, All Might, was staring down at the boy he was flying through the sky with, with a sad and confused frown on his face.

"D-D-Don't," Zach's voice came out hoarse, and his eyes darted to his right arm that was being held against his side by the way All Might was carrying him. His heart started racing even faster, panic rising through him, and he screamed, "DON'T TOUCH ME ALL MIGHT!"

The hero shooting through the sky finally landed on the roof of a building not far from the apartment the child stepped off of. He continued holding the boy in his arms even as the kid struggled, but as he opened his mouth to start speaking, the kid screamed again, "You'll die!"

'Is this-' All Might looked to the child's right hand that the kid was clenching so hard into a fist to prevent from accidentally touching All Might.

All Might put the boy down and then stared down at the top of his head and his short spiky black hair. The hero with bright yellow gloves and hair to match them kept frowning for a second while looking at the boy, then a smile broke across his face. "Young man," he began, his voice motivational, inspiring.

Zach's head flinched and then lifted up to see the hero before him, hands in fists on his sides. He was smiling. Zach's eyes opened hugely and the tears already filling them stopped spilling out as confusion took over him.

"Wh-What?" Zach said.

"You are far too young to take your own life. Though you will never be old enough," All Might bent down on a knee and reached forward. Zach tried pulling back, but All Might put a hand down on top of his head before he could. "Don't you have a dream?"

Zach froze and his face filled with shock. "My dream?" He whispered. He closed his eyes and tried looking down, but All Might had a hand on his head so all he could do was dart his eyes to the floor when they opened back up.

"I haven't thought about it since that day. How could I, even consider being a hero? After what I did? "I don't-"

"I don't believe that," All Might said. He laughed loudly and then lowered his hand from the boy's head to his right shoulder, making Zach flinch and look at the hero's face in fear.

"All Might, you can't-"

"You're Titanium's son, aren't you?" All Might asked, his voice knowing even before Zach reacted with huge eyes. "An unlucky one," All Might continued, and Zach could not tell if the man was talking about him or his father. He continued through while looking straight into the boy's eyes and squeezing his shoulder a little tighter, even moving his arm down to the top of the boy's arm as well. "A very, very unlucky one. So much misfortune, for such an innocent child. And you are innocent."

Zach's lips started trembling and his eyes teared up again. Hearing that from the world's greatest hero, made his heart pound, and the tears spill back out and cover his face. "What is your dream?" All Might asked.

"Children have dreams, and you are a child, so tell me, young man. What is yours?"

"Ah, snf ah, I- I!" Zach clenched his fists even tighter at his sides, and then he snapped his head back and screamed, "I WANT TO BE A HERO!"

"And that," All Might said, making the boy snap his head back down with huge eyes that he just yelled that. All Might was smiling wide at him still but leaning farther forward now so their heads were closer together before he finished, "Is a magnificent dream..."

*Present*

'All Might's going to be a teacher here this year. I wonder if he remembers me?'

Zach saw his classroom up ahead, and he spotted a boy with spiky yellow hair and another whose red hair was even more crazy heading into the room one after the other.

He thought about his own black hair and how he had considered switching it up and slicking it down for the first day of class, but he now realized that the short spikes in it would not stick out as much as he had once thought. *Fwew,* he let out a breath of relief.

"Hey there," a girl's voice said on his right. He turned his head and saw a girl his age with pink skin slow down as she got to his side. The fact that she was slowing down meant she had jogged to get up next to him, and Zach looked at the pink-haired girl in some surprise. "What class did you wind up getting into?" She asked.

"Class A," Zach replied, his voice quiet, one notch above a whisper.

The girl in front of him smiled at his response though, and she said, "Me too. I'm Ashido Mina," she greeted, spinning to face him fully now that she knew he was in her class.

"Thanks for the help at the Entrance Exam."

"No, thank you," Zach said, and she looked at him in surprise while Zach turned back forward and frowned after saying it. "If I hadn't done that, if you didn't need the help, I wouldn't have gotten the points I needed to get in. I barely made it at all," he added in a softer voice.

"Nice," Ashido fist-pumped and Zach glanced back at her in confusion. "I thought I owed you one, but let's just call it even then." The girl had thin horns sticking out of her wavy pink hair, her eyes were black with small yellow irises, and she did not look very human.

She smiled at him though, and Zach smiled back and nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, even," he said.

They reached the door and Ashido ran in first and right up to a desk in there where she saw someone else she already knew.

Zach paused before following her in, looking up at the 1-A sticking out of the entrance.

'All Might' he thought, looking back down and imagining if he had the number one hero as his homeroom teacher.

'I know you save, everyone you can.'

All Might is the greatest hero, but even he can't save everyone.

'Suicides don't just stop because of a great hero. So I don't blame you at all. You stopped me from ending my life. Sometimes, you can stop them.

Two years after that day though, I would start living on my own.'

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