Chapter Text
Izuku woke to the familiar feeling of stiff hospital sheets and the smell of cleaning chemicals. He quickly did a mental check-in, making sure he wasn’t about to die, before opening his eyes. He panicked slightly when he found he couldn’t see through one of them, calming down when he felt the bandages on his face, and then panicking again when he realized he couldn’t feel it either.
“Hey, nine, remember your breathing,” first popped into existence next to him, coaching him through his panic.
“Did I do it?” Izuku asked, voice shaking. “Did i finally kill the bastard cockroach?” First laughed, giving Izuku a ghost hug, the other vestiges appearing to join in.
“Yes Nine, yes you did,” seventh said, tears in her eyes. “I’m so glad you didn’t join us.” Izuku was crying too, the snot crying that only came with being glad that you’re alive.
“I’m glad i didn’t join you. I’m glad you’re still here. I’m just—glad all over,” Izuku choked out. Fifth laughs through the tears that he too was shedding, ruffling Izuku’s hair. Second boasts a rare smile, and Izuku could swear he saw tears in the man’s eyes as he hugged his totally-not-boyfriends. Not even Sixth and fourth were left out of the dog pile, despite their introverted don’t-touch-me personalities. For the first time ever, every single vestige was smiling, and Izuku wanted this moment to last forever.
Then someone coughed.
Instantly, every vestige turned towards the noise, and Izuku suddenly realized that he wasn’t alone in the hospital room. No, Yagi-San, Aizawa-sensei, Kachan, tsukauchi, and Nezu were standing or sitting near by. And they had all seen him talking to and hugging empty air.
Fuck.
Luckily, Izuku was saved from having to explain right away by a nurse with a clipboard appearing in the doorway.
“Is Midoriya’s legal guardian present?” He asked. Nezu nodded.
“As a UA student staying in the dorms, he is temporarily under my and Aizawa-kun’s guardianship, and we may act as such in case of emergency. All might, Bakugo-kun, and Tsukauchi-kun should leave.” Izuku blinked.
“They can stay, I trust them. Besides, they’d just have to come back since I kinda owe them an explanation.” The nurse nodded, looking down at their clip board.
“Well, I’ll get right to it. You’ve been out for a week, suffered several bruised and one broken rib, a concussion, a stab wound on your shoulder, quirk exhaustion, blood loss, scarring on your face, second and third degree burns, and you lost an eye. Luckily our medical team has several people with healing quirks, and most of your injuries have been healed. Unfortunately, the scars and missing eye will remain permanent, and you should take it easy for a few weeks. You will have mandatory physical therapy sessions to help adjust to your lack of depth perception, as well as treatment for chronic pain caused by previous injuries.” He paused for a moment, eyes scanning the room before nodding. “I’ll leave you now, call if you need anything.” Once the door closed, Izuku turned back towards the others.
“Nezu, can you deactivate the cameras and bugs?” Nezu nodded, pulling out a strange device and clicking a complicated series of buttons. “Now, do you have a guess?” The principal nodded.
“Did sir Nighteye give you a prediction before he died?” Izuku shook his head. “Then that leaves only one possibility.” Nezu looked directly into Izuku’s eyes.
“Did you time travel?” Izuku nodded.
“Well, technically my memories got transferred back to my previous body—sort of. My scars, hight, and muscle mass from the future came back as well, which is why I was able to not break my bones—at least not my limbs. I have a theory as to how this all happened, but I think I need to explain more thoroughly first.” He took a deep breath and began.
“This is a story of two brothers at the beginning of quirks.” All might coughed up blood, but Izuku ignored it.
“The elder brother had a very powerful quirk that allowed him to give and take quirks, and used his ability to amass a powerful criminal empire, ruling the underworld and plunging Japan into chaos. He didn’t start the quirk wars per se, but he sure as hell didn’t help resolve them.”
“Now, the quirk wars weren’t a simple two sided fight, but rather had a multitude of different factions vying for control. The main four, however, were the government, who were trying to get back control of a country in chaos, various activist groups advocating for rights for quirked individuals, the elder brother’s shadow empire, and the resistance.”
“We will focus on the resistance and the underground empire. The resistance opposed the elder brother, though if you find any of their members in the history books they will be labeled as terrorists. History is written by the victors and all that. My point is that they fought it out in the shadows.”
“Now, the younger brother was quirkless. He fought against his brother, The elder giving the younger a quirk in hopes of swaying him to his side. The younger continued to fight, but in the end it was futile, and he was imprisoned against his will.”
“Eventually, the resistance managed to free the younger brother, who joined them in their fight. As it turned out, the younger brother did have a quirk, one that allowed him to pass on quirks. The two quirks merged, forming a power that could oppose the elder brother.”
“This quirk was a stockpiling ability that could be transferred from one person to another, growing stronger for each holder. It could be given, but never taken, making it the perfect counter to the elder brother.“
“As it was passed down it grew stronger and stronger, eventually hitting the singularity point and then it continued growing. But hitting singularity had some interesting effects.”
“You see, the two original quirks, transference and stockpile, are very simple without many of the weird nuances that modern quirks posses. At their core, they do exactly what their names suggest, without any complex rules. They stockpile and transfer whatever they can. Separately, they could never have become so powerful, But together they perfectly complement each other, allowing stockpiles of quirks and personalities and appearances, and then transference of those same qualities.”
“When this amalgamation of a quirk reached singularity, it became sentient, allowing the current user talk to the vestiges of the previous users, as well as use their quirks. And when said user died, the quirk itself sent the part of that user that was stockpiled back in time, allowing memories and appearances of the future to merge with that of the past.”
“The elder brother was known only as All For One, the name of his quirk.” Izuku paused, looking at each of the other people in the room. “And I, Izuku Midoriya, posses his brother’s quirk, One For All.”
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Katsuki was still reeling from the reveal that Izuku had time traveled, even several hours later. Other then the weird as ghost stuff, He had known all that shit about the nerd’s quirk, but the fact that Izuku had died—and then had been brought back, just to fight the man who killed him—was a slap in the face.
Izuku hadn’t elaborated on his death, or the events that led up to it, but he didn’t have to—Katsuki understood. He didn’t like to talk about his failures either, even if they weren’t really his fault. Izuku was likely the same, and probably blamed himself for whatever happened.
So Katsuki sat and listened and waited, and when the others left—to the bathroom or to get food or to head home—Katsuki cleared his throat. Izuku looked up from the notebook that Katsuki had brought, waiting expectantly.
“Izuku I—“ he paused, trying to find the right words. “I’m sorry. I was an asshole and a villain, and you didn’t deserve anything that me or anyone else did or said.” He looked down at his shoes. “If—if you want me to leave you alone, leave UA, never see me again, then that’s your choice. You don’t have to forgive me. But—“ Katsuki swallowed. This was the hardest part, but he looked back up at izuku. “But if you’re willing, I’d like to get to know you. As equals and friends.”
They stayed there, staring at each other for a long moment, before Izuku burst out in tears. Katsuki panicked slightly, but Izuku looked at him with an enormous smile.
“I accept your apology, Kachan. Let’s be friends.”
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Outside the hospital room, Shota smiled behind his capture weapon as all might teared up.
“It’s good to see them getting along,” Shota said. All might simply nodded.
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Izuku was released from the hospital a few days later, and escorted by Yagi-San and Aizawa-sensei, he was returned to the dorms. once the hugging and crying was over they decided to watch a movie, the entire class cuddled in the common room.
No one argued when they all fell asleep in one giant pile sprawled on the various blankets, pillows and couches.
The next day, Izuku was reunited with his mother, and they, too, cried and hugged, before watching a movie.
Izuku decided to have therapy sessions with Hound dog to help with his ptsd, and the League of villains also got therapy, though they would remain in jail for the rest of their lives. Izuku was advocating for Stain and Nagant to be freed, But he was glad he al least managed to get them help.
He still had his promise to hawks, and his duty to Shoto and Kachan. Maybe the league couldn’t be redeemed, maybe they were too far gone, at least in the eyes of the law, but Izuku owed it to them to prevent history from repeating itself. But he could do that later.
For now, as he sat in his balcony looking out over the forest surrounding UA, a new day dawns.