Chapter Text
. . .
The war had taken the best of everyone, with the people's hope for the heroes slowly fading away and the collapse of the UA academy, the more extensive refuge in Japan, after thousands of attacks. All safe spaces disappeared, and now no one could hide from the horrors of the war.
With All for One and the League of Villains as the constant terror that not even All Might, the number one hero and symbol of Peace, the hope of the people, and the strongest man in the country can defeat, being easily defeated by the leader and murdered on live television in front of all of Japan, giving a strong attack against the people’s hope for salvation.
Endeavor, The number two hero, crumbled at the sight of his dead son coming back in front of his eyes as one of the lead villains on the attack, reviling all the stuff he has done in the past. Now being too mentally harmed and hated by the people to act, the hero resigned and ran away from Japan with most of his family, leaving the youngest son behind because of his desire to stop his brother's antics.
After that, any hero that has tried to save them has crumbled by the terrors, all of them getting their quirks stolen and killed or injured to the point of retirement. One of the few heroes to come back alive and not retire was Eraserhead, still one of the most crucial people for any plan to stop the war
The death of thousands of civilians and heroes made the people turn to the government in search of an answer. What can they do now? Are they getting help from the outside? Is someone coming to help them? What can they do now that everything is gone?
The government acted, but not how the people thought it would. Using some hero students and the help of the heroes still available, they thought of an attack against the main villain trying to defeat it by sheer numbers and the surprise factor. But they didn’t make it, they underestimated how prepared their enemy was.
How can you send literal kids to a war that not even the number one hero could win? How can expect the government that they would win? The government had lied to the people, telling them that all was under control and that only pro-heroes, the military, and the police forces were taking part in the war. The parents of any student of any Hero Academy felt rage for this fact and new chaos grew from the desperation, flags with the peace symbol on them, and flowers all across the country became the new symbol for an entire country's apology to the lives of the kids that were taken by the government’s negligence. Family members and friends of the fallen have started to paint their names on the walls of the UA Academy and any government building they can find making them a constant reminder of what have they done and how far all of this has gone.
But this didn’t end the war, the only students who survived the outcome were now protected by the civilians only united for this matter, seeing the injured teenagers, some of them crippled for life and others still fighting for their lives in hospital beds, made the blood of the citizens of Japan boiled in anger. With all hope gone, and no one to ask for instructions the cities turn into chaos. With everything slowly fading away, the people started to fight against each other for the tiniest amount of food or anything that could seem helpful in the situation. The streets became a war zone with the use of quirks and weapons without any restriction.
In the means of chaos, a rumor spread faster than anything else during does times, the belief of the last hopeful and selfless person in Japan, a mysterious figure that accepted kids, elders, and people who, because of their injuries, weren’t able to take care of themselves. They heard that he was giving food to the ones that needed it in exchange for other supplies. Others also heard that this person lives in a local zoo in Kyoto where villains don’t even dare to attack, it sounds too good to be true. Someone who exists in a true neutral zone, one where it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done to survive in this world, it seems surreal, something impossible
This zookeeper is a figure that most don't believe in, thinking of it as nothing more than a sick joke that got out of hand or a trap made by the villains to take as many people as possible in just one place. Because with the rumor came more histories from the believers that went to try and find them. Most of them came back, but never dear to talk about the zookeeper, keeping his secret, “to protect them” they said, but this didn't calm the people's worries.
Seven months before the war
. . .
Everything was calm, just like it is always in Musutafu. The sun raised with the bird's songs, and the kid's playful manners ran to their classes sometimes with their parents, others with their friends. The busy people talking on their phones and the teenagers talking with their friends, well not all teenagers, Izuku Midoriya a kid that was cursed to be born without powers in a world the powerful dominated the world. His life didn’t change much during all these years
Always bullied by his classmates for his lack of a quirk and creepy notebooks and manners, ignored by his teachers, and underestimated by his mother, who thought that he was made of glass and couldn’t do anything by himself.
After he couldn’t even defeat one robot during the UA exam the realization dumped him, everyone was right, he could never be a hero. He was too weak and even after he started training during that summer it was not enough, because he was not good enough for that work. If he couldn’t even defend himself, How could he defend others?
He tried other routes to at least help anyone that he could, but with each letter that he got more hope was lost. First, it was the police, then the medical school, then the analyst center, and the quirk counselor, he tried anything he could with would have been good with the abilities that he currently has, but no one looked further from his quirkless status. Until one letter came, in his most desperate moment he started to apply to any academies possible and finally one had accepted.
He looked at the letter and smiled. It was not what he expected to do with his life, but maybe this was just a way for the universe to show him what he was actually born to do. It’s true that he knew nothing about the matter, but he is a quick learner, if he started to investigate things right now he could get to his classmate's level, he needs to be prepared for his new mission, so maybe, only maybe, he could finally make some friends.
He was, for once, hopeful.