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Toshinori barely needs to think it through. When a group invades his home with an unusual proposition, he accepts. And not just because their taxi is made of some very recognisable mist. He’d know, he watched Midoriya Izuku’s suicide on repeat ever since it found it’s way on the news. That same purple smoke could be seen in the last seconds of the video.
Thin, sickly, unheroic Toshinori makes his way out of the warpgate and one of the teenagers who’d come to pick him up makes a dramatic gesture.
“Welcome… to the Sanctuary!”
Toshinori smiles at him. “So this place is… a refuge for quirkless people?”
“Well at first it was just that but we kind of started picking up other victims of Quirkism so it’s kind of a mixed bag. We even got a few hero legacies.”
His eyes widened and Toshinori had to keep down a bloody choke.
“Oh but we’re not here to do a pity-party! I’ll show you around the barracks!”
Although the use of the word ‘barracks’ had Toshinori thinking of the military, it turned out the living spaces were much more cozy than implied. Once they exited the building, it didn’t take him long to realise they were in a small mountain village.
The teen stopped in front of a small house and knocked on the door repetitively, louder and louder until he stopped, cleared his throat, took a deep breath and…
“TOMURAAAAAAAA!! OPEN THE FUCKIN’ DOOR!”
After a few seconds, the first floor window opened to the irate face of a person with white hair that Toshinori couldn’t properly see from the ground.
“THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!”
“I wouldn’t be screaming if you’d just answer the door!”
“I’d open the door if you’d fucking knock, idiot!”
“I did knock, dumbass! We’ve got a few new recruits so party this friday! Also, we’re gonna be trying the silencers on the field so you better be watching! Tell the boss too if you see him!”
“Yeah, yeah, Eri is preparing a surprise so beat it!” He closed the window without waiting for an answer.
The teen laughed before turning towards a bewildered Toshinori.
“So that was Shigaraki Tomura, the Big Boss’s personal trainee… in title. I think they both kind of got distracted along the way…”
Toshinori had a lot of questions but settled for the one which would help the most for his investigation. “The Boss?”
“Ah, yeah, you’ll want to know. You’ve heard about the Deku incident, right? Well the boss is his dad. He’s the one who got the idea to rally everyone.”
Toshinori is shown around the rest of the town and warned against going near the training grounds in his poor health before being left in a comfortable room in a small house he doesn’t share with anyone yet.
His non-existent stomach twirls in knots every time he thinks of the man he’s deprived of a son, the man who is helping all of these people from children to elderly while asking nothing in return.
Hopefully. Toshinori is not quite as naive as he once was.
Since it seemed like genuine concern for his health and not a threat against his life, he searches for the training grounds the next day, curious to see what kind of training it is exactly that they are subject to.
He finds some targets littered with holes but doesn’t hear any shooting going on so he comes closer and stumbles back when a hissing sound startles him and something impacts with one of the targets. He looks at the hole and realises. Oh.
“I ALMOST SHOT YOU OH MY GOD SIR I AM SO SORRY!” a woman exclaims, riffle in her hands with a strange apparatus fixed at the end of it.
“It’s fine, hardly the most frightening experience I’ve lived through.” Toshinori half jokes. Facing All For One was much scarier. So were the consequences of his callous words. After some more fretting, the woman invites him to watch from a safe distance and Toshinori witnesses bullet after bullet hitting the targets with barely a hiss coming from the firearm.
“I don’t believe I’ve seen such an efficient silencer before.”
“You like it?” she smirks proudly. “Made that one with my own two hands. The MLA won’t hear us coming. Literally!"
His stomach drops.
“The MLA?”
“Stands for Meta Liberation Army.” She explains. “Two hundred years ago they were defending the Quirked people’s right to live. Now they want all laws that concern Quirks directly to be removed and the Quirkless people too.”
Toshinori listens attentively.
“I do think that laws around Quirks are too tight. I mean fuck, you’re not even allowed to use your Quirk in self-defence?! That’s insane! But I do believe in one thing.”
She pauses to shoot one last bullet before dismounting the silencer from the gun and properly packing it.
“People’s rights stop where others’ start. Just as Quirked people should have the right to use them, people like that Kacchan bastard should have the obligation to stop when their Quirk is hurting someone. There’s too many laws and not enough enforcement. The law to prevent Quirk usage is there, but it’s not being enforced. So we’ll take care of it ourselves when needed and protect our rights where no one else will.”
Staying at the Sanctuary is an experience. Toshinori is strongly reminded of the fun summer camps you would see in american movies. Although everyone has their own kitchens in their homes, most share their meals together. When asked about it, the enthusiastic answers feel like a punch to the throat.
“Are you kidding?! The Sanctuary was the first time some of us met another Quirkless person! Of course we’d want to spend so much time together!”
He really had forgotten the plight of his youth.
As Toshinori takes notes of every information he’s obtained so far, he can’t help but hope that somehow, the Quirked population will keep believing they are nothing more than missing children. But he eyes the training grounds with dread.
Friday comes and the place is silent. Toshinori stops a little girl, Eri, and asks her.
“Tomu-nii said they’re testing the sai-lan-cers on bad guys.” and she pulls him to the village’s reception hall. Nothing enormous but enough to host their population, with a large-ish kitchen.
Eri puts him to work, stating that the party tonight needs to be perfect for her surprise.
Toshinori is not alone in his situation, a few more elderly chuckling at the little girl’s bossyness.
They make a large cake and Eri tops it with a piece of broccoli and a potato.
“Why?” he can’t help but ask.
“A potato for mister Potato-Boss-Man and a broccoli for Deku!” and then she looks around before leaning in conspiratorially. “Deku is going to wake up really soon!” she whispers in his ear when he crouches to her level. His eyes widen.
“Deku isn’t- he’s alive?”
“Uh-uh. Potato-Boss-Man said he’s sleeping but I’m gonna heal them tonight!”
Evening comes and the ‘troops’ are finally back. Everyone seems enthusiastic about the party but Toshinori feels like he’s bitten on a chunk of chalk. His mouth is dry and he’s so stressed his teeth hurt.
Everyone is seated in the reception hall and someone Toshinori hasn’t met yet stands on the small stage, a mic in hand.
“1, 2, 1, 2, can everyone hear me? Great! Good evenin’ everybody! We’ve got some news for you! First off,” they talk enthusiastically, “Let us start with our new recruits! We’ve got Mr. Yagi Toshinori- where is Mr.Yagi- ah yes, over there!” they point him out in the crowd and Toshinori waves when everyone turns to take a look, a polite smile on his lips. “Mr. Yagi has some health troubles so don’t play too rough with him please. Next up, over there at the front table are… drum roll please!” People playfully start drumming on the tables.
“Escapees from the Fiery Pits of Endeavour Hell, the Todoroki brothers Natsuo and Shouto Todoroki!” The younger of the two which Toshinori does recognise lifts a fist and shouts “Fuck Endeavour!” to which the crowd choruses enthusiastically.
“Fuck him.” the party animator nods. “But before we get to the fucking- oh whoops I forgot there were children in the crowd sorry my bad- we have some good news… and some bad news… The bad news is… The MLA are still alive.”
Groans and worried murmurs spread through the room and even Toshinori can’t help a frown. But before anything else can happen-
“But the good news is, they’re certainly not in a good state compared to us!” They cackle and the mood lifts instantly.
Toshinori, reassured, reminds himself that no one had been in a bad mood, if slightly roughed up when they came back from their ‘excursion’ with the silencers.
“With that said I think we’re done with the news for this week! Use this weekend to relax and we’ll be working you to the bone next monday onward! Now dig in-”
“Wait!” a tiny voice shouts.
Toshinori looks where Eri is pulling along someone else. Suddenly all of the dread he’d felt earlier comes back with a vengeance. A man in a black suit, neck free of tie, is being dragged by the hand towards the stage. But that’s not what attracts his attention, no.
Where once was a handsome face now lies a jigsaw puzzle of scar and skin. A large respiratory apparel hides the rest.
Whatever hit his face must have truly wanted him dead. Toshinori would know. He’d aimed for the kill. But he is on his own, and surrounded by innocents… relatively innocents after their raid on the MLA. But still.
All he can do right now is keep his head down and warn Torino as soon as possible. It was lucky that despite All For One’s miraculous survival, the man did not have his sight restored.
“Could this be? Our very own Little Lady and the Boss himself! What’s up Little Lady?”
“I- I have a surprise.” she says, a lot more timidly now that she’s on the scene with all eyes on her.
“Really? You hear that everyone? A surprise! Can you show us, please?”
Eri nods enthusiastically before carefully taking All for one’s hand between her own.
Toshinori suddenly remembers what the little girl told him earlier.
Potato-Boss-Man said he’s sleeping but I’m gonna heal them tonight
Them.
Not “Him”. Them.
“I’ve trained really hard on flowers to be sure!” she says and her horn elongates, lighting up.
Toshinori stands up abruptly and starts making his way towards the exit as fast as he can. Considering all the tables, chairs and legs in his way, that's not very fast.
Those in the know start cheering, chanting Eri’s name.
Had Toshinori not turned his back he would be able to see the face of his nemesis slowly reconstructing itself. But as it is, he is far too busy apologizing for stepped toes and dropped drinks, frantically accelerating his steps.
Finally he reaches the doors but just as his hands touch the handles…
“All Might.”
Fear. All Might can’t remember the last time he’s felt such fear. Slowly, he turns around, the entirety of the reception hall staring at him including the carefully blank face of his newly healed enemy.
“Had I not met you before your hero years I might not have recognised you. But you couldn’t fool me in the end, could you?”
The monster in human disguise pats Eri’s head with an out of character gentleness.
“Thank you young lady. I am in your debt. If I may ask one more service of you?”
“I want to heal Deku-kun!” She says before All For One even asks, unaware that she’s just doomed many many people by reversing the man’s damages.
“Kurogiri. Bring young Eri here to Izuku, please. And evacuate everyone else.”
He steps down the stage, the crowd now with hateful eyes and teeth bared parting like the red sea so that there are no obstacles between a maimed All Might and a perfectly healthy All For One. All For One who also happens to be Midoriya Izuku’s father, Toshinori realises.
Death stares him in the eyes and smiles.
“This is about to get messy.”