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He doesn’t know where he is as he wakes up. Bookshelves rise up around him, shelves more empty than stocked. They feel like a maze, as he makes his way through, guiding himself towards the center. He notices the carpet under his feet shifting from the familiar emerald green if his eyes to a hardwood as he steps into a large open space.
A fireplace sits in a stone wall, flames banked low. A stained glass window sits above the mantle, portraying a large tree. Leaves of multiple colors lace through the tree; greens, yellows, blues, and even black. Some leaves look as if they’re lit up from behind, mainly the green and the black leaves.
10 armchairs, plush and comfortable, are laid out in the room. A few are pulled close in groups, except for two, mirroring one another in front of the fireplace. A table sits in the center of the space, another tree burnt into the wooden top. Two notebooks lie open, one green and one black.
Midoriya Izuku blinks, and suddenly, he’s no longer alone. Eight chairs are filled, people lounging around. He startles, until he realizes that he recognizes some of these people. Shimura Nana is curled up in an overstuffed chair to his right. Daigoro Banjo has his chair reclining, eyes closed as if sleeping.
“Wha-?” Izuku starts. But his eyes are drawn to the two people at the fireplace. One is easy to recognize, the first user of One for All, his white hair covering his face as always. However, the person next to him is terribly familiar.
Curly white hair, so like the green curls he sees in the mirror. Bright golden eyes, the same color as the first user sitting there. But he knows those eyes from the single picture of his father that sits on his mother’s nightstand.
“Dad?” He whispers. The white haired man flinches.
“Please tell me you’re joking,” Nana snaps.
“Unfortunately, he isn’t,” the first user replaces, amusement lacing his quiet voice. “Perhaps it’s irony, or destiny, but either way, it’s true. My brother is Izuku’s father.”
Izuku’s mind stutters on those words, like a skipping record. The connection between the words is being made, but nothing is processing. Mainly because there is only one brother and that means-.
“Thank you, Shiroshi. You broke him,” Midoriya Hisashi, apparently known as All for One, drawled, rolling his eyes. “That wasn’t why we brought him here, and you know that.”
“He figured it out.” The first user, Shiroshi shrugs. “It’s better to get it out of the way.”
“I’m going to kill you for him!” Nana snarls, throwing herself from her chair. “What kind of- he deserves better than a monster!”
“In my defense,” Hisashi says calmly, “I am a shadow of the original Quirk. I am not actually Izuku’s father. However, I’m aware that All for One did leave his wife and child to protect them from All Mights all-consuming grudge match. The fact that this specific quirk ended up in his lap is serendipitous at best. Besides, not the important part of this whole thing.”
“Wh-“ Izuku shakes his head, trying to focus. “Where are we?” He asks, shoving his rising panic to the side.
Hisashi smiles proudly and nods. “We are currently in your mind. This is the place in which your quirk resides inside your own thoughts. We are a manifestation of that quirk.”
“So, this is One for All?” Izuku asks.
“Not quite.” Shiroshi replies. “This library is your mind. However, when you accepted One for All, we, the shades trapped in the stockpiling, were given a place here.” He points to the stained glass. “In a way, that is the representation One for All. Notice the lit leaves? Those are the stockpiled quirks that you’ve activated. The green represents the strength, the black is Black Whip. There are other quirks within the quirk for you.”
“We, however,” Hisashi waves at the other shades, who all happily flip him off except Nana and Shiroshi. He scrunches his nose, but continues, “are free to be out of the glass, due to the nature of your natural quirk.”
Izuku chokes. “I’m Quirkless.” He forces out.
“No, you’re not.” Hisashi says.
“You have an invisible quirk, like I did.” Shiroshi points out. “A family trait, unfortunately.”
“But the toe jo-“
“A ridiculous wives tale, first off,” Hisashi waves a hand. “Also, remember that through 8 generations, that toe joint has disappeared. Your mother may be from that generation, but your father is not. Which means-“
“You can have both an extra toe joint and a quirk.” Shiroshi finishes.
Izuku feels himself falling. Luckily, Nana is right beside him, and she grabs his arm, pulling him up. She settled him in an empty armchair. He drops his head between his knees and starts taking deep breaths.
“Well, fuck,” Shiroshi mutters. Hisashi smacks his arm as he gets up and steps to Izuku’s side. Nana growls, but Hisashi brushes her off. He kneels before Izuku, hand on his back.
“Just breath, Greenbean,” he murmurs. “I know this is a lot, especially after that fight.”
With that, the memory of the fight against Nine slams into him. He chokes again and looks up. “I gave you away.” He says, staring up at the shades.
“Nah, you didn’t,” Banjo says with a grin. “We ain’t leaving.”
“He’s right,” Shiroshi says, with a nod. “This is where your Quirk comes in. Had you actually been Quirkless, we would’ve been transferred to Bakugou.”
“That would’ve been hell,” Hisashi mutters, his hand moving in wide circles, rubbing Izuku’s back.
“No doubt because you would’ve made his life hell,” Banjo points out.
Hisashi grins, completely unrepentant. “For good fucking reason.”
“This quirk you keep saying I have. What is it?”
Shiroshi shrugs, “I don’t know.”
“I’ve been calling it Resonance,” Hisashi cuts in.
“Resonance?”
“Your quirk at its core is like ours,” He waves between Shiroshi and himself. “It requires another quirk to actually work. It’s a symbiotic relationship at best.”
“You’re a parasite,” Nana snaps.
“Not quite,” Hisashi sighs. “All for One can be parasitic, but in reality, it’s main point is to take and give other quirks. One for All was a transfer quirk. But there was nothing to transfer other than the transfer itself.” He blinks. “It’s like buying shipping for shipping. There’s no real substance to the quirk.
“However, when combined with another quirk, like the stockpiling quirk, you get the actual One for All quirk. All for One quirk can’t even work without other quirks. And in the same vein, Resonance works on the same wavelength.”
Izuku nods. “So, how do I work with the other quirks?”
Hisashi smiles at him, hand still on his back. “Before, you could take a piece of the other quirk and basically create a field in which you bounce power between yourself and the other person. You make both of you more powerful.”
“When you fought Todoroki, you were resonating with his quirk without even realizing it, making him more powerful.” Shiroshi points out.
“What! I make my opponents stronger?!” Izuku exclaims.
“You can,” Hisashi says softly. “However, you can also resonate with your allies. That’s what happened with Eri-chan during your fight with Overhaul.”
“And also what we did with Bakugou, except in reverse.” Shiroshi adds.
“Reverse?” Izuku tilts his head.
“You didn’t bounce Bakugou’s quirk,” Hisashi says. “You gave him a portion of One for All and bounced that.”
Izuku blinks, playing the fight in his head. He had meant to give Bakugou One for All in an attempt to increase his power. He looks up. “But I felt the embers die,” He whispers.
“Those weren’t your embers,” Nana murmurs.
“Shimura is right. You weren’t feeling your power die. You were feeling Bakugou’s borrowed power die. You only gave him a little.”
“Which means he used it up during the fight!” Izuku says.
“Yep,” Hisashi smiles down at him, before kissing the top of his head. “You instinctively worked to get the most power you could between you two.”
Izuku glances up at him with a confused look. He turns to the room. “Still ignoring that part,” He mumbles. He looks around. “You said that this is my mind? Why is it a library?”
“Well, where else do you put all your notebooks?” SHiroshi says with a grin.
“We’ve read some of these notebooks. A good amount of them are about quirks. They are terrifying, by the way.” One of the other users pipes up. “Do you realize that you have ways to neutralize the majority of the current superheroes?”
“I know,” Izuku says quietly.
“I believe that you’ve been accidentally resonating with hero quirks, which enhances your understanding of the quirks, which is amazing.” Hisashi says. “Which then get written down in the notebooks.”
“While you’re here, let’s explain some stuff about your quirk. Notice the table?” Shiroshi points. Izuku looks to the table with the tree carved into it. Beneath it were some unopened notebooks, each matching a color in the stained glass tree. Izuku walks over to it and looks at the notebooks on the table. Each one had diagrams. One showed a small Izuku covered in green lightning. The other showed a small Izuku using Black Whip.
“They’re quirks,” Izuku said quietly, flipping a page on the green lightning one.
“Yes. And these are the rest. Our quirks,” Nana said, reaching down and pulling up a light blue notebook. “ Here, this is Float.”
Izuku took it and opened it. On the left page was a diagram of Nana floating above the air. One the right was an Izuku floating above the ground with random notes all over it.
“If you place it on the table, then you’ll be able to access it.” Hisashi says from the chair. “I’m pretty sure you can do that with all the notebooks here, but I’m not sure.”
“But, these are the ones in One for All, aren’t they?” Izuku points under the table.
“Yes, but here’s the secret, Izuku. I gave my brother a stockpiling quirk.” Hisashi grins. “No one ever said that it didn’t stockpile things from me.”
“Not only that,” Shiroshi adds with a mirrored grin. “Remember that your resonance takes a piece of power from others. Add that to a stockpiling quirk-”
“And you might be keeping a piece of the quirk.”
“Which means I might be able to use them!” Izuku finishes, eyes wide with excitement. Then he shifts, suddenlly uncomfortable. “But doesn’t that make me like All for One?”
“No, kid.” Nana says softly.
“Not at all,” Shiroshi adds. “You’re not stealing the quirk. You’re basically copying it.”
“Oh,” Izuku says softly.
The bookshelves waver, like a heat mirage and Izuku jerks in surprise. He turns to Hisashi and Shiroshi. Both of them smile at him. “It’s okay,” Shiroshi says. “You’re just waking up.”
“Will I remember this?” Izuku wraps his arms around himself.
“Of course!” Hisashi pulls him close in a hug. “We’re still in your head, Izuku. And if you think about it before you sleep, you can come back here. We can look into your quirks more.”
“Thank you,” Izuku says softly. “Thank you for helping me and being with me.” He looks up at Hisashi. “What do we do about this?” He waves a hand between them.
“We don't have to do anything yet. MOst likely, the real Hisashi doesn’t even remember he has a son. He’s missing a large portion of his head after all.”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure that he can’t remember most things,” Nana adds, her voice snide.
Izuku doesn’t catch the rest of it. He blinks once and is looking up at the ceiling. He looks around to see a dozing All Might in a chair at his bedside. A door opens, and Recovery Girl walks in. The sheer disappointment in her face.
“Didn’t I tell you to stop breaking your arms?” She asks sharply. “And pray tell, how did you drag Bakugou into this mess too?”
“I’m not sure, but it was either that or let a couple of little kids to die,” Izuku says with a pained shrug, looking down at his arms in their casts.
Recovery Girl’s face softens. “Well, good job on that. You kids did good.”
“Thank you,” He says quietly. He leans back to stare, mind racing. He knew that what the shades said were true, but his brain was anxiously racing on the fact that he knew where his father was. The emails and calls had stopped years ago, but now, he could piece together how and why.
He looked at All Might. He knew that the former hero was proud of him and loved him. He wondered if he would still love him if he knew that he was All for One’s son.
He shivered and closed his eyes. He would be the number one hero, to help people and to clean up his father’s crimes. He had to now.