A/N: Sorry this took way too insanely long to update. Life gets busy sometimes, especially around the holidays. But I'm here and ready to finish out this story! Just a few more chapters left, and I've already got a big chunk of it finished. I hope to have the rest of this finished by the end of next month, so stay tuned!

(No manga spoilers for this chapter)

CHAPTER SIX: A QUIRK TO BE AFRAID OF?

"Huff, huff, huff, huff…"

It had only been a few days since his mother was killed and, suddenly, a young Shouta was all alone. During the incident, when his mother realized there was no chance of her getting away, she told him to run, and that's exactly what he did. He ran before the police could come, just to get as far away as possible. He didn't know where he was going or if he would even make it, but he had to try.

He's too young to know how to take the subway on his own, and he doesn't really know his way around his hometown. In every sense of the word, he is lost. So, he wanders aimlessly, hoping someone – anyone— will find him.

People notice as he walks by, but no one stops to help. He cradles himself to keep warm, the bitter cold piercing his lungs and escaping from his mouth as a thick cloud of air.

He just keeps walking, dredging through the snow, until he can't anymore. Completely out of energy, he collapses to the ground.

"Is that a child?" One passerby asks.

"What happened to him?" Another says.

"Someone should do something."

Before anyone can decide what to do, a mysterious figure appears and lifts the unconscious Shouta off the ground, cradling him.

"It's alright, you're safe now. I am here," an adult male voice says. Now in the arms of a stranger, Shouta just barely opens his eyes. "Jeez, you must be freezing, kid." The mysterious man takes the gray scarf around his neck and wraps it around Shouta to keep him warm. His small frame is almost completely enveloped in the fabric. "You'll be alright now. Let's get you someplace safe".

"A… hero…?" With that, Shouta falls out of consciousness again.

Now at a place called Iyashi Hospital, Shouta sleeps soundly in a bed for the first time in a while. Iyashi is a type of hospital run only by heroes. It acts as a safe haven for those who need treatment beyond what average hospitals can provide. These heroes all have very useful Quirks that are used to protect and treat people, but they suffer major setbacks when using them or don't have the right skillset to fight, so they built Iyashi to help people in the only way they can.

A group of heroes sit together in a large office, each doing their own work of some kind. A young man with messy brown hair, wearing purple pajamas, steps out of a back room and joins the other heroes in the office.

"How's the kid doing, Somnia?" A middle-aged female hero asks. This hero, known as Doctor X, is able to use x-rays in her eyes to look at a person and see where they might need medical treatment. Physical injuries are most notable, as she is able to see broken bones or other internal injuries. But she is also able to identify what is causing a person's distressed emotional state and determine how best to alleviate the situation. As such, her power is best suited to triaging and diagnosing patients.

"He's out like a light," Somnia, the Sleep Hero yawns, on the brink of exhaustion. This hero's Quirk allows him to put people to sleep, but it ends up draining him of energy in return. "Never had anyone take this much outta my Quirk. My best guess? He's been awake for about a week straight."

"How is that possible?" A muscular, blue-haired hero asks. "Wouldn't someone eventually suffer delusions and die after only a few days?"

Somnia walks over to the coffee pot and pours himself a cup. "It's pretty typical, yeah. But sometimes people can go on for even longer when their adrenaline is running. Something terrible must have happened to him".

Doctor X chimes in. "Well, from what I could tell, he's suffered no serious health problems, other than mild hypothermia and hunger. Seems like he's just a kid who ran away."

"Any luck on the ID, Data?" One hero asks another. Much like Ragdoll's "Search" Quirk, the hero known as Data can search their mental database based on someone's fingerprints to figure out who someone is. However, his database is limited only to a person's genetic makeup, including their age, face, and Quirk. He can use this information to search a computer database for an individual's name as well as any other documented personal information.

"Shouta Aizawa. Six years old. There's news articles that state that his mother was killed recently." Data responds.

"A villain?" The blue-haired hero asks.

"Not according to what I found. Lover's quarrel gone wrong; it seems."

"So, the father, then?" Somnia asks.

"I'm not sure. I couldn't find any records for the father, and the DNA test didn't turn up anything substantial either. My best guess is the father's out of the picture, and the mom just hooked up with the wrong guy."

"And this kid got mixed up in all that? The poor thing." Doctor X adds.

"There's one more thing." Data pauses for a moment. "I couldn't find a Quirk for him in my internal database. I figure that could only mean one of two things. Since he's a few years older than the normal age for Quirk manifestation, either this kid's Quirkless, or he's got some new type of Quirk no one's seen before."

The heroes in the room go silent, as this is an unprecedented situation for them.

"So… what should we do?" Somnia asks.

"We treat him. That's our job." Doctor X tells them.

"But Quirk mutations are so rare these days. I-if we don't know what sort of Quirk he has, then who knows what could happen? This boy could put us all in danger." A female hero says.

"That's true. The cases of children injuring themselves or someone else from their Quirk manifesting is remarkably high." The blue-haired hero says.

"Not to mention the mortality rate-"

"Or it could be harmless." Doctor X assures them. "He could shoot glitter out of his fingers, for all we know. We can't react out of fear. That's not what heroes do. For now, we wait. When he wakes up, he can answer some questions for us."

"Hey there, Shouta. Glad to see you're awake. How are you feeling?" Doctor X greets him kindly, setting a glass of water down next to the bed. The other heroes are in the room as well, keeping their distance.

"Where am I?" He asks, sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes.

"You're at Iyashi. It's a hospital run by heroes. You like heroes don't'cha?"

Shouta is still a bit frightened by the situation; waking up in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. He looks at the group of heroes, recognizing the somewhat forced smiles on their faces, hiding the fear inside of them.

"I want my mom…" He says.

"Shouta… do you have any other family we can get in touch with? Like, your father, or maybe a grandparent?" Somnia asks.

Shouta shakes his head solemnly. "It's just me and mom." He's quiet for a moment. "Where is she? I want my mom."

Doctor X frowns. "I know you do. But, first, can you tell us about your Quirk? Do you have one yet?" He nods. "Do you know what it is?"

"I can make them go away."

"Make what go away?"

"Other Quirks."

The heroes in the room all look at one another, concerned.

"What should we do with him? He's got no family to go to, after all."

"We have to send him to an orphanage. He's a ward of Tokyo now."

"Apparently the boy has a Quirk that can make other Quirks disappear. We're not entirely sure how it works, because we've never seen him use it. He doesn't know how to make it work, and frankly, we're not sure we want to find out. You'll want the other children to be apprised of this. It might be safer until we have a better understanding of his Quirk."

"Quirk Thief!"

"Quirk Thief!"

"Quirk Thief!"

A few weeks after his whole world had changed; losing his mother, being sent to an orphanage, and being outcast by everyone around him because of his Quirk, he managed to find someone who was there to protect him. A friend who had his back; who made sure he was never alone. They grew up together, and eight years after meeting, they both decided to start training together and set their sights on becoming heroes.

"C'mon, man, get up. I didn't hit you that hard." Yukio commands, standing in front of Shouta who is doubled over on the ground.

Shouta pants heavily, desperately trying to catch his breath. "I… can't."

"Don't say that! It's a hero's job to keep fighting, even when they think they can't. And when the bad guys think they're out of strength, that's always when the hero gets back on his feet. That's what it means to be a hero!"

"You say that, but it's not that easy for me." Shouta looks away from Yukio, ashamed. "You've got such a powerful and versatile Quirk. I'm basically useless without mine. It's not that easy to just fight back."

"That's what this training is for. If we can turn you into a combat fighter, you'd be an unstoppable hero."

"And what makes you so sure I can actually learn to fight?"

"Dunno. Just a hunch I have."

Shouta scoffs at this comment. "You know, that positive attitude of yours can get annoying sometimes."

Yukio ignores this and instead offers Shouta a hand to get back up on his feet. "Here's the deal. You commit to this training, one hundred percent, for a full week. And if you can manage to hit me at least once, you have to apply to UA with me."

"This again? I told you, Yukio, I'd never get into that school, no matter how much I train. Besides what do I even get out of this deal of yours? Other than the chance to punch you for once." He smirks.

"You want to be a hero too, right? UA is the best place to make that happen! Trust me. This is the best-case scenario for you. If you don't train, you won't get stronger. And if you don't get stronger…" Yukio steps closer to Shouta. "You'll never be able to avenge your mom."

Shouta is caught off guard by this comment, since Yukio usually isn't this intrusive. "I…"

"I know you wanna save people." He says, softly. He puts a hand on Shouta's shoulder. "You've got a good heart. Even with that wall you've got up."

Shouta is touched by this, but he's also a little embarrassed, so he tries to hide it. "Yeah, okay. Whatever."

Yukio chuckles. "Alright! Let's keep going! The entrance exam is in a few months; we don't got a lot of time!"

"I keep telling you, Shouta. You've gotta learn to control your Quirk more. You can't always activate it on command, and sometimes it activates sporadically. That's not gonna be good in a fight."

"Yeah, I know that already. How am I supposed to fix that?"

Yukio thinks about this for a minute. "Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Shouta scoffs but does as he's told. "How is this supposed to help me?" Yukio doesn't respond. "Yukio?" Still no response. Shouta opens one eye to peek at what Yukio is doing, but when he looks, he sees that Yukio is gone. He looks around, trying to see where he went, but he can't find him. Before he can call out to him again, Yukio jumps out from a tree, landing right in front of Shouta. Shouta yelps, startled by this, and his Quirk activates.

"That's what I thought." Yukio smirks.

"What the hell, man? You almost gave me a heart attack." Shouta says, shoving Yukio's shoulder.

"I figured it out. Remember when you told me about the time your Quirk first manifested?" Shouta recalls the moment his mother was being abused, and his Quirk first emerged. He was afraid to fight back against the man who was attacking them, but his Quirk was there to protect them. "And when you first came to the orphanage?" The moment he was bombarded by a kid with a similar Quirk to the man who abused his mother, his Quirk activated yet again, afraid of the boy's power. "Your Quirk responds to fear. You use it when you're afraid as a means to protect yourself or others."

"I… guess that makes sense."

"Your whole life, everyone's been afraid of your Quirk. Including you. If you change the way you see your Quirk, then you should be able to control it better. So instead of using your Quirk for defense, try thinking of it as a prerequisite for an offensive attack. Take away the bad guy's means to fight back and overwhelm them with your combat skills."

The two of them trained for several weeks. They practiced stealth, hand to hand combat, and overall working to improve control over Shouta's Quirk. In the beginning, Shouta got beat down a lot; wanting to give up every day. But Yukio wouldn't let him. He always gave him some sort of speech about trying his best and finding strength within himself; pushing past his limits to go beyond.

And with each training session, Shouta got better. He mastered control over his quirk and learned a lot of new fighting techniques. His use of Erasure, followed by a sneak attack, proved to be most effective. Though, Yukio narrowly avoided his attacks every time. Until…

"I did it?" Shouta pants, his mouth open in amazement. Out of breath, he looks to Yukio, flat on his back, after having been knocked to the ground by Shouta. He finally managed to hit Yukio. "I… did it?"

Yukio reaches up, touching his cheek, where the sting of Shouta's punch still sits. "You sure did," Yukio says with a grin on his face.

Shouta laughs, proud. "I can't believe it." Shouta's uproarious laughter turns into awe and shock. "I'm gonna be a hero," he realizes.

"Not yet," Yukio says, standing up. "We still have to pass UA's entrance exam. But yeah…" Yukio smiles at his friend. "You're gonna be a hero."

"You haven't decided what your hero costume's gonna look like yet?" Yukio asks, now sitting next to Shouta in class 1-A. The students are all required to write up a request for their hero costumes, as their first set of training exercises are going to begin soon.

Shouta shrugs. "Who cares what I look like? It's not really something I'm interested in."

"Well, I can help you with it."

"Design the whole thing, for all I care." He says, tossing the paper to him, casually.

"No, this has gotta be something you put your heart into, Shochan. You don't want to end up looking like Hizashi, do you?"

~"HHHHHEEEEEEEYYYY!"~

"Here, let's start small. Why don't you think of a color?"

"Black, I guess." He mutters.

"Ah, that's perfect! Since you'll want to work as a stealth hero, you can be disguised by the night. I like it." Yukio starts coloring in the paper.

Shouta perks up a tiny bit, getting more interested in the idea. "I might also need a utility belt of some kind. You know, in case I need to disarm a villain or something."

"I like it. I like it." Yukio says, sketching frantically. "What else?"

Shouta thinks for a moment, then shrugs. "I don't know. What else is there?"

"You want something that's gonna make you stand out. Something that defines you as a hero."

Shouta thinks for a moment, recalling the moment he was saved by a mysterious man after his mother's death. The first person who felt like a real hero to Shouta.

Shouta takes the paper and draws on it before handing it back to Yukio. "What's this? A scarf?"

"It's just… something important to me, alright?"

"Okay, sure. But, how do you want to use it?"

"You and me, we're gonna be heroes!" Yukio grins widely and holds his thumb out to Shouta. Shouta feigns a grin, then gives him a thumb back.

All of those memories feel like a lifetime ago to Aizawa. It's been over fifteen years, and the person he once knew as his friend, is no longer the man he remembers. A young, aspiring hero turned villain. How can any of what he's been hearing be true? And if it is true, how can any of the time they spent together have been real?

The thought of this has been plaguing Aizawa's mind for weeks. It's the only thing he's been able to think about. He's tormented by the thought of his old friend kidnapping and stealing Quirks from other people. What could have caused all this to happen? And could he have done something to stop it? Can he do something to stop it now?

Late at night, he sits at his desk, looking over some papers; files on the recent kidnapping victims:

Kuroda Shou, 21, from Edogawa. Quirk: Soar.

Fujioka Gina, 32, from Kōtō. Quirk: Void.

Nakajima Minori, 34, from Shinjuku. Quirk: Truth Serum.

Yoshihara Takashi, 25, from Shinjuku. Quirk: Elevation.

Yamaoka Michi, 29, from Shinjuku. Quirk: Pathway.

Oshima Hikaru, 30, from Minato. Quirk: Light Refraction.

Sugita Mayumi, 26, from Minato. Quirk: Archery.

Okano Shuichi, 10, from Taito. Quirk: Mind Reading.

"This is taking too long," Aizawa mutters to himself. "It's been two weeks since the last kidnapping. If not UA, where could they be headed next?" He looks at a map of Japan's districts, tracking the path of the kidnappings. "The first kidnapping was in Edogawa… then west to Kōtō … they crossed Chiyoda to get to Shinjuku… Then south to Minato and back north to Taito… There doesn't appear to be a real pattern here. If there isn't a pattern, then what? The victims themselves? There must be a nexus. Or could they just be doing all this at random?" He mulls over the papers more, getting increasingly frustrated. "This doesn't make any sense… Wait a minute…!" He looks at one particular victim's file, analyzing the photo. "I remember him… Nakajima. He was at the orphanage with us…"

Aizawa recognizes this man with the Truth Serum Quirk as one of the kids who used to taunt him at the orphanage; the one that had spit in his food. He tormented Aizawa relentlessly for several months, always making him admit to stuff he was ashamed to say. For some reason, he had it out for Aizawa and bullied him every day until he was eventually adopted.

"How did he find him? And why him? Revenge? No… None of these other victims were in the orphanage as far as I remember. And this boy… Shuichi. How does he fit in to all this? He's just a child…" Aizawa goes back and forth between the countless files on his desk, searching desperately for something that will help him. "I need to put a stop to this. And soon."