Revenge Doth Not A Hero Make

Prologue: Izuku Midoriya

"-so no, I honestly don't think you can become a hero without a quirk."

Those words rang in Midoriya's ears.

Well, more than rang.

They pounded.

Bellowed.

Screeched.

Like nails on a chalkboard.

Like a punch to the gut. 

Like a gunshot right next to his ears.

All at the same time.

All Might continued to speak but only bits and pieces came through.

"-it's not bad to have a dream, young man, just make sure your dreams are attainable, realistic, understand?"

And with that All Might was gone.

Midoriya's hero was gone.

Midoriya's own hopes and dreams were gone.

Funny how those things can be built for decades only to be torn apart in mere seconds with only a few words.

Guess those words mean a lot when they come from your idol.

Getting told he's a quirkless loser who'll never account to anything felt different when it came from his hero. After all, Kacchan reminded him of that all the time. 

But hearing it from All Might....made it real.

Set it in stone.

No.

He can't become a hero.

An explosion went off several blocks off, momentarily ripping Midoriya away from his thoughts. 

Oh, another villain attack. Wonder what heroes will show up? He took a few steps to leave.

No.

Wait.

What does it matter?

What's the point of keeping up with villain attacks? With taking notes about hero costumes or various abilities and quirks? 

There is none.

That's the point.

Midoriya's a useless piece of garbage who'll never make an impact on the world because he was born unspectacular. All his classmates have abilities that make them special. Midoriya has...nothing.

He was born with nothing.

Nothing but a pathetic desire to be something he could never achieve. 

Tears started rolling down Midoriya's cheeks.

It wasn't fair.

He wanted to be a hero.

Wanted to save people.

But...just look at him. He's quirkless. He's small. He's scrawny. He cries over everything. Heroes aren't like that. 

Meanwhile others are born inherently special and don't have to work hard to even get noticed.

Like Kacchan.

Things were easy for Kacchan. He had a cool, flashy quirk. He had a big personality. He had achievable goals. 

He was obviously gonna get into UA. Probably with little effort, too.

It's not fair.

Midoriya hadn't realized this, but he'd started walking as he was thinking. Eventually, the smell of something burning, along with a sewage-like scent filled his nostrils. 

Oh. Must be that villain attack. He didn't even realize he walked in that direction. He glanced in the alley to see the giant sludge monster from earlier.

Oh.

All Might must've dropped the bottles.

Because of Midoriya.

The boy's heart twisted.

See, he can't save anybody. He just ruins everything. He let a villain free. He distracted the number one hero and wasted his time.

Someone in the crowd mentioned a kid getting captured by the villain and Midoriya craned his neck to see. A yell broke out from the alley and Midoriya spotted a spiky tuff of blonde hair.

His big green eyes met very frightened red ones.

Kacchan was captured.

Midoriya couldn't move. 

So his mind raced instead.

His breathing quickened and his grip on his backpack straps tightened.

Kacchan deserved this.

Deserved a little bit of a struggle.

Midoriya tried shaking those thoughts away. No, he cared about Kacchan, he doesn't want his childhood friend to suffer like this. 

But those nagging thoughts still crept in. 

Kacchan looked scared.

Though, he never seemed to care whenever he'd storm up to Midoriya and leave Midoriya feeling scared and helpless. 

So why should Midoriya care right now? 

He wants to.

But he just felt so....

empty.

After all, there's nothing he can do. He can't be a hero. He can't save people. So why bother?

Midoriya watched as Kacchan's eyes went blank and rolled into the back of his head. 

He'll let the heroes deal with this.

After all, they're the special ones here.

They're the ones with the born abilities to do great things. 

There's a difference between heroes and the bystanders who are just the backdrop to their heroic deeds. 

Bystanders don't matter.

Midoriya is a bystander. 

So he turned and started heading home.

All the while, thoughts bounced around in his head. About wanting to be a hero. About possibly watching his childhood friend die right in front of him. About being told by the person he looked up to most that he'll never amount to anything special.

It's not fair.

It's not fair that some people are born special and can achieve whatever dream they want.

It's not fair that people like Midoriya are born without any abilities and can try their hardest while being unable to get anywhere. 

So maybe that dream has to change.

Maybe Midoriya can embrace the fact that he's a bystander. That he blends into crowds. That he's inconspicuous. 

And maybe there's a few people in this world who need to be brought down from their high horse and see what it's really like to be helpless. 

Midoriya made it back home to a distressed mother on the phone. He caught the name 'Mitsuki'. Huh. Kacchan's mom must've called. Midoriya simply walked through to his bedroom, able to hear the conversation in the other room. He was tired and wanted to lay down.

Well, Kacchan didn't die apparently.

Reinforcements had gotten there and were able to save Bakugou from the villain. He passed out and had to get his lungs pumped to get sludge out.

Midoriya didn't know right now if it was a good or bad thing that Kacchan survived. 

Rather, it felt more like an opportunity.