Strangers Do Not Mourn

Chapter One

April 13th, 2257 (Monday):

"He'll never be a hero, better he finds out now than later, I guess."

"I'm sorry, Izuku. It's not going to happen, kid. Not without a quirk. Perhaps law enforcement."

"They get crap for not catching all the villains thanks to heroes, but it's a fine profession."

"Useless, Deku. Make sure you're dreams are attainable."

Too many voices echoed in Midoriya Izuku's head as he walked, flipping through his burnt hero journal. All Might telling him he couldn't be a hero without a quirk almost hurt more than when his mother did. It was only because All Might was his hero, while he conversed with his mother and had to listen to her fake enthusiasm for his dream daily. He could only imagine Kacchan laughing at him if he found out about Izuku being told he was stupid by All Might or his mom not believing in him.

Midoriya sniffled, trying to convince himself not to cry at the fear that everyone's words were true all along. And with that fear came the reluctant acceptance that he would never amount to anything other than a Deku. He needed to accept that he had just been avoiding reality, instead of trying desperately to prove himself and everyone wrong.

"Y'know if you really want to be a hero that badly, there actually might be another way. Just pray that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life. Then take a swan dive off the roof of a building."

Frantically Izuku shook Kacchan's voice out of his head. He shouldn't be entertaining such an idea. His mom would be devastated. Kacchan would also be blamed for his death. It wouldn't be fair to ruin Kacchan's dream to be a hero, just because he couldn't be one himself.

"I can't be selfish like that," Izuku muttered to himself with a look of self-loathing.

When a loud explosion went off all of a sudden, Midoriya gasped in a moment of excitement as he turned to see a crowd gathering around the entrance of the shopping district. The excitement died quickly as he remembered he had no reason to take hero analyses anymore. He wiped the fresh tears from his eyes before they could fall as he tiredly stared at the crowd. The teen stood there wondering if he subconsciously wandered in the direction of a villain fight out of habit while his mind had spiraled in torturous thoughts.

It wouldn't be that big of a leap to say that he had. For years the only thing to have brought him joy had been analyzing fights. It was the only thing that made his dream of being a hero feel achievable. Now, it was pointless.

Even so, Izuku stared longingly at the growing crowd until he finally decided to have one last hoorah. With forced motivation, he walked to the crosswalk and waited for the light to change before crossing the road to the crowd. Once he joined the rat king of spectators he briefly considered grabbing his pencil in order to take notes. However, that thought fled his mind when he stood on his tiptoes to get a better look.

Time felt like it froze for him and he inhaled sharply when his mind registered that he was seeing the sludge villain from earlier. And for the faintest moment, he second-guessed his own eyes because All Might had captured him.

Izuku paled and fell back onto his heels in realization. He must have accidentally knocked the bottle loose when he had latched onto All Might's leg. That meant that this carnage was his fault. His mom was going to kill him.

"Why aren't the heroes doing anything?" a man in the crowd to the left of Midoriya asked out of the blue.

An older man turned to the male as he replied, "It looks like they met their match. Plus, the villain captured a kid. Things aren't looking good for him."