Prologue
There will come a soldier
A boy born to a family, treated with love and care, his hair a nightmare black, eyes bright as rubies. His skin clear of blemishes and marks, His smile a grin of sharp teeth and cheers.
Who carries a mighty sword
His power unlike many in his family, able to be a formidable shield, an unbreakable sword. Able to be tough as a rock, his kind and chivalrous heart warmed all but his family when an accident occured.
He will tear your city down
Rough-housing goes one step too far and an injury unintended. His eye, a small scar makes its home. His mother, not so lucky. Wrangling from her inner elbow to just before her wrist, an angry slice is placed.
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord
Ostracized by his family, fearful of his power, he was ignored. No food, water, locked in his room. Anytime he was allowed to see anyone, it was for their relief. He became their punching bag.
He will tear your city down
More scars he can count, at the age 8, he’s had enough. Grabbing his most prized possession, a Crimson Riot backpack, he packs what little clothes he owns and waits till dark. He’s called down before he can leave; hiding his things, he rushed down, to be met by a harsh slap and kick. He begs and pleads, met with more violence. He can do nothing but sit and take it.
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord
Once he’s alone. Broken and bruised, the family have had their revenge. The lights are out, all except for the small kitchen overhead. He crawls, willing his strength, he stands. Leaning heavily on the walls and counters, he goes to his room and grabs his bag. His vision is blurred and blackening, he hurries to the kitchen and grabs what he can. Granola, granola bars, crackers and some cans. He grabs a growler mug and fills it with water, another filled with ice and a smaller bottle again with water.
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Rushing out the back door into his backyard, Eijirou opens the back gate into the alleyway and slams it shut. Looking around, he books it. The sun has set and he’s alone. He leaves the alley and runs, not looking back. Dodging people left and right, they only glare and yell, he ignores them. His mind is just chanting “Just get away… I need to be safe!” He runs and runs, seeing the train station. Pausing to get his card out, he runs to the closest train, not caring for location. He’s panting heavy, his hands hurt from carrying the heavy growlers, he sees an empty seat and sits.
Flinching when someone gets too close, Eijirou hugs his stuff close, listening as the coms call locations and watches the outside blur as the train speeds past. Trees become streaks and buildings indistinguishable. “Now Approaching Mustafa Station. This is the Last Train of the Night.”
His head jolting away from the window, he gulps and grabs his stuff, hugging it close and disembarking the train, following the exit signs. He looks around, “Residential.” Taking a deep breath he starts walking. Taking random twists and turns, he walks. Past shops and bakeries, stores and a park. He walks. His feet hurt, he feels the burn in his legs from running, he keeps a vigilant eye out for his surroundings. He needs a place to rest for the night.
He walks.
His feet carry him to a beach, or what should be a beach. It’s piled in trash and recycled goods. Going to the boardwalk, he reads a sign “Dagobah Municipal Beach Park…” “Might be safe for the night…” Huffing a sigh, he goes to the sand and walks around the towers, some things shift in the wind, smaller pieces of trash; cans, rusted tools, cloth, tumbles down.
“Who are you?” Spinning, he meets the gaze of emeralds and molten lava, bright and toxic. A sharpened pole of aluminium pointed at his throat, a repetitive spark coming from a palm lighting the area the tiniest bit.
“Don’t make him repeat himself.” The Emerald eyes forced, the pole inching closer to his throat.
“I-I’m Kirishima! Eijiro K-Kirishima!” He stutters, croaky and raw from crying and panting heavy. His hands grip the growlers, knuckles white.
“How did you find this place?” The sparks glow brighter, the owner's voice gruff with anger laced in.
“I-I ran away! I h-have no place to go…” The two people looked at each other, a silent conversation between their gaze. The eyes of lava pools smap towards him, the spark cancelling almost immediately after and the pole leaves his throat.
“Follow us.”
“W-wait. Who are you guys?” The people turn to him
“I’m King.”
“And I’m Poet.”
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Their will come a poet
A boy born to a single mom, the father leaves soon after to work abroad. His hair a bush of viridian green, his eyes as bright as emeralds. His skin a canvas of freckles.
Whose weapons is His word
His life changed when he came of age to acquire his powers. He waited months after his 4th birthday. A quick visit to the doctors and his dreams were crushed. His power would never come.
He will slay you with his tongue
His life turned gray, the only people who supported him were his mom, his best friend Kacchan and his family. Everyone else turned on him, his teachers, his classmates, strangers in the street. Everyone questioned why Kacchan stayed by his side.
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord
As he and Kacchan grew, people became more distant and harsh, spewing words and throwing punches when he was alone. Kacchan would protect him when he could, but he couldn’t save him all the time. He would come home battered and bruised, cuts and scuff marks. Kacchan would argue and tell him to fight back, but the boy couldn’t.
He will slay you with his tongue
One day, while the two families were gathered at Kacchan's place, playing and laughing, the boy was going to turn 6 in a week. The news was on and the adults talked amongst themselves, when a rumble shook the building. Everyone turned towards the TV to see a villain attack just down the road from the apartment building.
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord
A flame hero was attacking the villain, no care for the damage caused. The parents held a silent conversation and quickly grabbed the children and whatever they could in small grab bags for the children; clothes, water, food, money. The building shook as the battle got closer and closer, the flurry of steps hurried. Grabbing coats and shoes, the parents hurried out the apartment, the children in toe. The heat could be felt from where they stood, their sweat staining the clothes as they tried to get away.
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“Mommy? Mommy What’s going on?” Izuku trembled, clutching an All Might stuffed toy to his chest
“Yea! Where the hell are we going?” Katsuki scowled, an All Might action figure clenched in his fist.
“We need to get away quick, Endeavor’s fight is getting close and we need to get somewhere safe.”
“C’mon brat, let’s go.” Izuku locked eyes with Katsuki, their gaze filled with fear. Grabbing each other’s hand, they stayed close behind their parents.
“Kacchan I-I’m scared…”
“Me to Zuku…” The ground shook more frequently and harder with each passing second. The parents looked down the roads and froze.
“Mitsuki…”
“Inko…” Inko crouched down in front of Izuku and squeezed him tight.
“We want you to know we love you both. No matter what happens.” Kacchans parents crouched as well and hugged him.
“You gotta look after each other, alright? No matter what happens. Be good Izuku, Katsuki.” The ground shook harder as the villain and Endeavor rounded the corner closest to them, Izuku and Katsuki’s parents needed to get away.
The villain shot up in the sky, maybe some enhancement quirk? Endeavor shot a stream of fire towards the villain, the fire close to Katsuki. He tried to cover his face from the heat when the flames licked at his hand, sparking his sweat. An explosion of sparks and smoke erupted around the two families. Screams of pain and terror filled the area. Katsuki and Izuku get flown backwards, back into the apartment building. “Mommy!!” The boys screamed, the building crumbled around them, smoke and dust filled the air.
Izuku tried to sit up, his legs and arms screamed in protest. His head thumped with pain and the air made his throat hurt. “Mommy! Kacchan!” he coughed, looking around.
“Izuku! Where are you!” Katsuki’s voice echoed, the sounds of the fight continued on. Izuku gathered his strength and stood, leaning on a cracked wall for support. He looked around, coughing. Spotting his All Might doll, he stumbles over and grabs it.
“Kacchan!”
“Izuku!”
“Kacchan! I can’t see you!” His lungs burned with smoke and ash, he stumbled around tripping over rubble and debris. He looks around, spotting the signature spiked ash blonde hair.
“Izuku!” Their eyes locked and Katsuki rushed over. His figurine tucked under his arm. They clash in a hug, fists grappling at shirts. The building groaned and creaked, more rubble flailing around them.
“W-we need to leave Kacchan! It isn't safe.” He coughed, his eyes watering. Katsuki nods and grips his forearm. They stumble and climb their way through the ruins. Finding a way out took longer than they wanted.
“Where’s mom…?” Katsuki looked around. “Mom! Dad!”
“Mommy!” He spotted his mom’s green hair and ran over. “Mommy!” He shakes her as tears fall down his face. A sticky pool of red grows around her. He looks to his left and sees Katsukis parents sprawled a few feet apart.
“Mom! Dad! Get up!” Katsuki hiccupped, tears leaving streaks, cleaning lines of ash off his face. The pools of red grow and connect around them.
“Mommy…?” Izuku turns his mom’s face towards his own, her eyes open and glazed over, her mouth open and red slowly pours out the corner of her lips.
“You’ve lost villain! Surrender!” Endeavors' voices boomed, the heat of his flames slowly getting closer.
“Mommy!” He cried, shaking her body. “Don’t leave me too mommy!”
“Dad! Now's not the time to nap! We gotta go!” Katsuki screamed. His voice hoarse from breathing smoke.
“Prominence Burn!” Endeavor’s yelled, pure rage and disgust laced his voice. The area around them grew hotter and hotter as time went on. Katsuki looked up and saw Endeavor shoot fire towards a villain on the ground.
“Izuku… we need to leave..!” He panted, wiping his tears angrily. He clutched the All Might figure in his hand and stood, grabbing Izuku’s arm.
“No! I-I can’t leave her!”
“Izuku, Endeavor’s gonna hurt us! We need to GO!” He tightens his grip and tugs him away, both boys have tears streaming down their face. Izuku tightens his hold on the stuffed toy and stumbles along with Katsuki. Izuku spots the bags their parents packed, burned and singed but intact. Halting, he wriggles out of Katsuki’s hold and rushes over. He opens them and everything is still inside.
Grabbing both, he hands one to the other boy and hiccups, wiping his tears and puts the backpack on. Coughing, the boys clasp hands and run in the opposite direction of the fight. They run as fast as their legs will take them. They stopped every once in a while, hacking and coughing.
Soon, they arrive at Dagobah Municipal Beach Park. The mounds of trash blocked the horizon and the setting sun. “We have nowhere to go…” Izuku mumbled, sniffling and wiping stray tears. He looked at Katsuki, his eyes burning with new tears.
“We’ll make this our new home… It’ll take time, but I don’t wanna be separated from you.”
“If w-we go anywhere else, they’ll take you a-away. N-No one would want me cause I’m q-quirkless…”
“I’ll kick people’s ass if they took you away!” Katsuki pulled him into a hug, his fist clenched around his shirt and backpack. The toy and figurine dropped to the floor as the boys cried.
“W-We’re family n-now…”
“Family.”
------
There will come a ruler
A boy born to a volatile but gentle family. His hair a spiked blonde and his eyes a pool of molten lava. His skin held scrapes from rough play, but a never ending smile.
Whose brow is laid in thorn
His power to light fireworks from the palms of his hands, control explosions at his beck and call, he had everything he ever wanted. People told him he’d do great things, “Be a Hero!” they said. However they were only his friend because they thought he was powerful. They didn’t matter though. Only his best friend’s, Zuku, words mattered. He was his brother in all but blood.
Smeared of oil like David’s boy
Everything changed when he and Zuku were together. Zuku’s birthday was in a week and they wanted to hang out. They were playing Hero vs. Villain when everything turned for the worse. His power betrayed him and made him lose all around him, all except for Zuku.
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord
Stuck together, they stayed alive. Those who cared for them long gone, they made their own family. They made a home in an abandoned beach, trash piled high, a perfect hiding spot. Nursing their wounds, they made it home. Finding parts and old shipping containers, they cleaned a small area and made base.
Smeared of oil like David’s boy
A few days after the attack, he found a newspaper clipping telling of the battle. He and Zuku were told to be killed in the explosion alongside their parents. There were no survivors listed. They spent the next few days clinging to each other and mourning. They went back to the burnt building and saw it barred with construction tape. Sneaking behind, they grabbed what personal items they could: jewelry and one lasting picture of both families together. The edges are only slightly charred.
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord
They made a small gravesite. Rocks and sticks in a small tower, the family picture held up by both toys. The boys found some old chains and wore the wedding bands around their necks, Zuku with his mother’s, Katsuki with his mother and father’s. They clung to each other and became their supporters, being there when everyone else abandoned them.
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“Hey Kacchan?” The boy in question grunting, biting his tongue in concentration as he tinkered with the shipping container’s door. “H-how are we going to be heroes if people think we’re dead?” Freezing, he turns and looks at Izuku who hunched over a homemade notebook, bounced by string and spite.
“What do you mean?”
“Well… aren’t we still gonna be heroes? Save people like us who couldn’t escape?” His gaze looks up, locking eyes with the blonde. Katsuki grunted, going back to fiddling with the door, it tended to squeak when moving and the boys wanted the area quiet in case anybody decided to come by.
“I don’t know. But whatever we do, we need to train. We can’t save people if we are skin and bones. Be fuckin’ pointless.”
“We should head to the library… cover ourselves and look around. Cause we need to get smart… then maybe we can find something we could do to still be heroes.”
“Alright , I’m down. Now help me with this… hold it up.” The boys made the container their home. With what little money their parents put in the bags, they bought some food and cleaning supplies, like bleach, sponges, and gloves. Before they emptied the container and cleaned it, it was filled with old rugs and boxes of clothes. Some were molded and smelly, those quickly discarded to be used as something else, they used what was still relatively clean and salvageable to make home. Some rugs were laid across the floor, the more fluffy and soft ones were piled in a corner with clothes that were too small to be used as a nest for them to sleep.
Other containers held more usable items, like some pillows and blankets, clothes that fit them and reusable water bottles. While scouring the area, they realized that people threw away anything they had no need for, like unopened water bottles, a slightly dented cooler and some old weapons, like knives.
Their trip to the library was informative and initiative. They look at law books and books for their current grade level. Izuku being the brainiac he was, wrote all that he could in his notebook. It ranged from Japanese law to education years ahead of what they currently were. It was during this trip, when they looked through law, they found a term that made their dream of being heroes possible.
Vigilante (n): A member of society who uses their quirk to undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate.
“Zuku… this is how we can be heroes…”
“We’ll need to train… and make something to help.”
“Well, with your nerd brain that won’t be too difficult.” Lightly shoving his friend, Izuku paused, his eyes growing wide and turning to Katsuki with a look of awe.
“Kacchan… I wouldn’t get in trouble…”
“How? We’ll be against the law.”
“You would be because of your quirk… but I-I don’t have one.” Katsuki soon joined in his look of awe. Izuku was invisible in the eyes of the law and would most likely be barred from consequences. But they would still tread cautiously. That night, they fell asleep cuddled together with thoughts of how to go through the their plan to be vigilantes
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The next two years, they trained and built gear out of the scrape and parts around the dump. The boys soon felt confident enough to leave the safe confines of their home at night and begin patrol. They snuck around in alleys and rooftops. Climbing mounds of trash and jumping from pile to pile helped with parkour. Sulking on a rooftop, they heard a scuffle. Sharing a look, they bound over, leaning over the top to see a man with his hand over a girl’s mouth. She struggled and fought, but soon went slack as the air around the man filled with a pinkish gas. Sharing a look, the boys pulled their mask over their mouth and nose and slid down the fire escape.
Katsuki jumped off and landed on the man's shoulders and wrapped his legs around his neck. Holding his breath and tightened his hold and leaned back, making the man topple backwards and onto the floor, the girl sliding down the wall asleep. Katsuki grabbed at the man’s hands as he tried to grab him, making his hand spark and heat up, burning his skin slightly.
Izuku followed behind Katsuki, landing softly on the floor and taking his weapon of choice in hand, a solid aluminum pole. Stomping on his knees, he grabbed a homemade rope from his utility belt and quickly tied up the man. The man gasps for breath as Katsuki keeps his legs tight, only releasing his hold when Izuku comes over and pinches a pressure point, rendering him unconscious.
Once he was down, Izuku rushed over to the girl and checked her for wounds. The gas the man released disappeared during the struggle and the girl was slowly regaining consciousness. “Ma’am?” he questioned, gently holding her arm in case she panicked.
“Wh-What happened…?” She slurred, blinking blearily and looking around.
“That man had tried to do harm to you, we stopped him. Do you have a phone on you?” Her gaze flickered over to the man, unconscious and bound, and froze. Her hand went over her mouth, a gasp and her eyes watered quickly.
“T-Thank you… um. Yeah, h-here.” Reaching into the back pocket of her jeans, she handed the phone to Izuku, who passed it to Katsuki. He quickly opened in and dilated 110. “W-Who are you..?” Both the boys froze and glanced at each other. Katsuki was the first to speak.
“I’m King.” His voice low and gruff, maybe to seem anonymous, then he walked off tapping morse code over the speaker on the phone.
“I-Im Poet. Now, are you okay to stay here until the police arrive? We need to leave before they do. Will you be safe?”
“I-I believe so… H-He won’t escape will he..?” Her gaze flicked to the man again, cautious
“He’ll be down for a while, but we will bind him to that pole over there, at the alley entrance. You’re safe.” The lady nodded and with Izuku’s help, stood and walked to the entrance. Katsuki handed the phone back, the police still on the line and grabbed the man, dragging him harshly to the pole and tied him to the pole.
The sirens wailed in the distance and Katsuki and Izuku shared a look and nodded. “We’ve gotta go. Be careful.” Katsuki answered and bolted back into the alley way, jumping and grabbing ahold of the fire escape, climbing and disappearing over the building edge. With a nod to the girl, Izuku followed, climbing and hiding from view.
Reaching the top, they shared a glance and sighed. Their first save, and it was beyond successful. They stayed until the police came and left. The girl got in a cop car and was driven home. They weren’t caught and headed back home. Once inside the safety of their confinement, they took off their masks, simply clothed lined with various other clothes for more filtration and looked at each other. “We did it…”
“Fuck yea we did.”
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Months went by and their save count skyrocketed. They went out every night, decked in their gear and saved all that they could. They stopped rapes, robberies, muggings, fights, and soon escalated to small gang wars and circles. They built a name for themselves and soon the Mustafa Police Department were sending heroes after them, trying to stop their vigilantism.
They slipped past heroes like Death Arms and Mr. Brave. They had a close call with Rock Lock, barely managing to escape up and into an abandoned building and hiding in the shadows. During the day when they hide their features, they overheard some heroes on patrol talking about them. “The most slippery Vigilante’s they’ve encountered.” They said, and the boys had to fight an urge to laugh.
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The boys were at home, fixing their gear when they heard labored breathing. Sharing a look, Izuku grabbed his pole while Katsuki walked ahead. They wove through the piles to the entrance, where a boy with hair as black as night walked on the sand and around piles. Sneaking behind him, Katsuki stood tall and sparked his hand, “Who are you?”
The boy spun around to face him, Izuku shoved the pole in his direction, nearing his throat. The boy stayed silent, his eyes wide and bounced between Katsuki and Izuku. “Don’t make him repeat himself.”
“I-I’m Kirishima! Eijiro K-Kirishima!” He stuttered. Katsukis sparks glowed brighter.
“How’d you find this place?”
“I-I ran away! I h-have no place to go…” Katsuki looked to Izuku, who minutely shrugged. Katsuki lowered his sparks and Izuku signed ‘Abuse, bruises, help him.’ With a nod, he ended the sparks and looked at the boy.
“Follow us.” The pole backed away and Izuku motioned the boy.
“W-wait. Who are you guys?” Locking eyes with him, continuing to walk.
“I’m King.”
“And I’m Poet.”