Chapter Text
For almost a full five seconds, Izuku was convinced that he had heard wrong. "You don't trust me?"
The vestige of the first sighed, an exhausted drawn out sound.
“No, I do trust you Izuku. Second and Third distrusted you. Distrust can be proven wrong.” Yoichi was looking down; his fingers having clenched down onto the back of his own hands, and Izuku could see them shake. When the vestige of the First looked up at him, he saw a storm reflected in those green eyes so alike his own.
“I loathe you.”
It was the absolute truth in the voice that had Izuku stumble back. Yoichi had been fierce before, standing before his brother and telling him that Izuku was the one he chose. He had been persuasive and steady. This was something different all together. He didn’t expect it when something cut into his knees from behind and he fell down onto the throne-like chair that was suddenly behind him. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the man at the other side of the platform residing in the space inside One for All.
“You are the living proof that my brother won.”
Izuku opened his mouth to argue. All for One is dead, we won, it was over, but before a single sound could come out of his mouth, Yoichi moved his hand as a sneer of disgust fared over his face. The smoke that curled up over the broken edges in the memories wrapped around his mouth in a gag.
“You are the representation of everything that I will never have.”
Yoichi stood up, started to walk over and Izuku moved to stand up from the chair. He couldn’t. It wasn’t that there was something was stopping him, not chains or restraints, nor anything similar to the encompassing pressure that All for One had exuded. Instead, Izuku just knew that if he tried to move his body it would break and fall apart, as if fractures had been forming inside his bones and just waiting to completely shatter. Ants crawling inside his skin as if his every limb had fallen asleep at once.
Yoichi stopped in front of him, leaning down and placing one hand on each side of the armrest of the throne. He looked pale, eyes sunken in and the bones visible under his skin, and Izuku has never been more certain in his life that the one standing in front of him wanted to rip his heart out while it was still beating.
“I was never a hero, Izuku. I didn’t live long enough to be one, the government still called us monsters even while trying to stop him. I could never even consider having a family because I knew that even if I managed to run and hide my brother would come and take them along with me and I couldn’t allow that.” His voice broke, and Izuku’s heart twinged in compassion that was crawling up from a place beyond the fear. “I resign myself to the idea that I can take him down, at least. Only who do I find. My brilliant, brave against all odds, heroic nephew. My wonderful ninth holder, my legacy. I find you. I find out that he got a family of his own.”
Izuku couldn’t stop looking right back into his gaze, flinched as Yoichi moved his hand to stroke his cheek with his thumb. He didn’t miss how it stopped, hesitated, not more than a millimetre away from his eye and felt the nail brush by his lower eyelashes. Considering.
Yoichi swallowed, and a smile crept over his face. It occurred to Izuku that he had only seen the First smile gently before. Small, barely there type of smiles. This showed teeth, a grin that was undeniably much alike his brother. Except where All for One’s had been dripping with mocking glee, this was almost desperate.
Izuku felt his eyes water, unable to blink the strain away.
“I know, I know. It’s wrong. I know better than anyone else that being the flesh and blood of that monster doesn’t mean that we should take the blame for his actions.” He leaned forward, resting his forehead against Izuku’s and closed his eyes slowly. Breathing out. Smile still wide. “I should love you. I know that. It’s not your fault. It’s not my fault either. I tried so, so hard to love you. Even convinced Second and Third to like you. But it kept coming back. I could never escape it. Not when you reached new heights every day.”
The ground beneath his feet, the throne itself started to shake, as Yoichi’s eyes fluttered open again. He seemed to pay it no mind. The cracked platform shifted; the swirling void that surrounded the room was cut away as the walls grew… no. They were reversing in time. Iron walls building back up to what it once had been, shadows draping over where they were as the vault reformed.
It broke Izuku out of his stupor, and he moved his leg to try and kick Yoichi away. The moment he flexed his knee it shattered like glass, pulling his movement to a brutal stop as thousands of shards broke and splintered in him. The falling darkness chased away by green and white lightning smattering against his legs. He opened his jaw, screaming without a sound as darkness covered his mouth and Yoichi had shifted away, looking down at him, with something that could be mistaken for sympathy, the shifting colours of One for All reflecting over his body as the space around them started to close. Like a contained aurora borealis, flickering out into nothing as everything turned pitch black.
The voice spoke in the darkness, cold and clammy hands of a corpse brushing the tears away from his overheating skin.
“So be patient with me, until I learn.”