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An explosion rang past Izuku’s ears. Dust and rubble burst around the group, scraping gashes along Izuku’s back. His breath caught in his chest as a wave of pure fear overtook his heart.
Slowly, terrifyingly, he raised his head.
A man was moving across the rubble torn ground of Kamino. Floating in mid-air, he looked down at the battered bodies of the heroes sent to investigate. He floated from on high, and he clapped. Applause at the destruction he had made.
Izuku felt something twist within his stomach. Something strange, something odd and unusual.
A rough voice carried over the battlefield.
“What was that?”
Kacchan was here. And all the other villains too, dropping onto the battlefield one by one
Izuku didn’t have time to do anything before All Might smashed into the floating man.
Pain exploded along Izuku’s body. He choked, keeling over to his knees. The pain was red hot, a pain far-reaching, a locus further than the physical boundaries of his body.
Izuku had felt this pain once before. The pain a parent shared with a child was a pain unlike anything else, a pain that was felt in the body and the soul. Everyone had it, even before the dawn of Quirks. It was something that couldn’t be explained, couldn’t be rationally understood, but was something that had come to be the norm.
The pain had kept Izuku in the hospital for months when he was nine. There had been nothing wrong with him until he’d keeled over mid-class and screamed until his voice had failed him. It was a miracle he’d even survived. That was the power of a soul bond. A connection with a man Izuku could barely remember, and it had managed to put him into a coma for months.
This wasn’t the time. Not now, when they were so close to saving Kacchan. His dad could wait. Izuku had his own injuries to deal with, he couldn’t manage the strain of much more.
His body didn’t understand the urgency. Limbs shaking, heart pumping, Izuku fell to the floor. He felt the heat of blood bubble behind his lips.
In the delirium of pain, he didn’t notice the attention of the two clashing titans turn to him.
Two voices rang out as one.
“Izuku.” “Young Midoriya!”
One terrified, the other disarmingly light.
Hands wrapped around Izuku’s biceps as Todoroki and Iida tried their best to drag him upwards. Izuku tried his best to bat them off. It was too late. Izuku had been seen. They had to run to save themselves.
“Magne,” All For One’s steel voice rang out, arms still locked in heavy battle against All Might. “You’re close enough, could you kindly bring Izuku over to me?”
“Sure thing, boss man,” the villain that must have been Magne replied. They raised a hand and Izuku felt a swooping sensation grow deep in his stomach. Besides Magne, Toga began to glow with a tangible aura, an aura that was matched by Izuku’s own.
His feet slipped against the ground, a deep pulling sensation yanking him forwards. Hands grabbed at his arms, tugging him back. Izuku fought against the sensation as hard as he could, but with one final yank from Magne’s end, Izuku was flying free. Spiralling through the air, he crash-landed against Toga who stared up at him with eyes of adoration. He rolled off her instantly, fists raised and teeth bared.
All attention turned to Izuku, and for a second the battlefield paused in anticipation.
Kacchan’s next explosion petered out into unfocused sparks, the villains he was fighting taking the moment to pounce.
Even All For One risked a look over to Izuku, and in that moment of distraction, All Might landed another punch deep in All For One’s stomach.
Agony reverberated through Izuku’s chest. He collapsed, waves of pain shaking his entire body to the core. Knees scraped against dirt, rocks digging into his cheek. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t breathe past the pain, couldn’t move.
No one had touched him. No one had even laid a finger on him. How was this possible?
“Do you understand or are you always as thick as you have once been?” All For One rasped. His head rose, steady on against All Might’s form. All Might wasn’t moving. He was frozen, gaze caught onto Izuku. Izuku raised his head and locked eyes with All Might.
Please, Izuku thought, just… please!
“What did you do?” All Might snarled. His fist rose up, the dirt drifting off the ground as the power of One for All built around him.
All For One stepped over and yanked Izuku upwards, an arm gripping around his chest. Izuku sucked in a breath, lungs screaming in agony. He had barely any power left to move, yet alone fight off the monster that held him in his arms.
“Do not touch him,” All Might thundered. Izuku had never seen him so mad. The purity of his rage, a viper poison held in the acidity of his words… Izuku had never seen All Might like this before.
“Why shouldn’t a father hold his son?” All For One sneered. “Or do you dare deny me that, too?”
All Might’s face whitened. “Liar.”
Izuku let his head slump slightly, allowing him sight of the man clutching him to his chest. The words had not passed over him.
It was an answer. A reason why this was happening. It made sense. It made far too much sense. Why he’d been hospitalized, why he was nine. Why he was here in pain now. He could feel his soulbond reacting to All For One’s touch, felt it try to reach out in mindless familiarity. Even his soul knew that All For One wasn’t lying.
But Izuku didn’t want sense. He didn’t want rationality. He wanted to get himself and Kacchan out of danger.
Izuku tilted his head forward, locking eyes with All Might.
“Do it,” Izuku mouthed. “I don’t care. Stop him.”
All Might’s expression softened, the rage painting his brow lessening to be replaced with pain instead.
“Put him down, All For One,” All Might said solemnly.
All For One’s hand curled around Izuku’s head, pressing his skull against All For One’s suited chest. The world spun dangerously in Izuku’s vision. How was All For One still standing if this was what he was feeling? How could he keep such composure through the pain?
“Or what? You would risk the death of my son trying to take me down?” All For One asked. “Don’t test me, All Might, I will not hesitate to react.”
Nails pressed against the top of Izuku’s forehead, digging deep into his flesh. The touch burned and a sob was wrenched out of his lungs.
With All For One’s other hand, sharp red tendrils flew through the air stabbed into the resting form of Kurogiri. A warp gate opened onto darkness, a void to nowhere.
“Tomura, leave now. I will be right with you,” All For One called out to his apprentice.
All Might’s eyes flickered between All For One and the group of villains making their way to the gate. Kacchan couldn’t be seen, but the blue marble flicking through one of the villain’s hands told Izuku enough.
Terror spiked through Izuku’s heart. The villains had Kacchan, Izuku had seen him fall, and now even All Might was hesitating.
He had to do something.
Fighting past the bounds of his aching body, Izuku made a move. He twisted upwards and sunk his teeth into All For One’s hand. All For One jerked, his tight grip slipping.
Izuku pushed forward, stumbling out of All For One’s arms. The distance between him and All Might felt like an impossible canyon. He had to make it. He had to be strong enough. Each step tore at his legs, throat catching on each ragged breath, but he had to make it.
All Might moved in sync, arms stretching out towards Izuku. Izuku reached back. The distance between their fingers was electrified with the surety of hope. Izuku had made it. He’d done it, without even a spark of One for All.
Izuku was only a few feet away when something slammed into his side. All For One’s body wrapping around him and curving him out of the way as the ground tremored. A wall of dirt and debris rose up and smashed into All Might.
“No!” Izuku screamed, struggling out of All For One’s grip. He couldn’t even see past the cloud, couldn’t see the bright flashes of All Might’s costume. The earth had come alive and swallowed him whole.
Suddenly, it felt like a weight crashed into him. His knees buckled under the new strain. A pain reverberating through muscle and bone.
All For One picked him up in his arms, Izuku too weak to fight back, and began walking to the still-open portal. Every other villain had gone through already, leaving the two of them left on the battlefield.
A massive boom echoed through the sky. All Might. The silt still in the air cleared, an explosion of air forcing it away from the electrified body of Izuku’s mentor.
But it was too late. All For One stepped through the portal. It closed behind him, leaving the last thing Izuku saw was All Might’s body, hurtling through the air towards them. So close, but yet so far.
“You kept the brat?” a rough voice called out. Izuku recognised it immediately. Shigaraki. He tried to twist in All For One’s arms, tried to turn around, but All For One cupped a hand around Izuku’s eyes, blocking his view.
“Yes, and he needs medical attention,” All For One said, a current of tension running through his voice. “I trust you to figure out how you will deal with Bakugou, while I shall speak with the doctor.”
“But–”
“Tomura,” All For One snapped. “Not now.”
All For One began moving, feet rapping against the floor, not waiting for a reply from Shigaraki. Izuku could feel his hold on his consciousness weaken, the sound echoing in his ears too many times to be real.
There was the sound of a door creaking open. Izuku was laid down on something, the hand over his eyes removed. He blinked hard at the bright lights above, burning into his retinas. He tried to push himself up, but his limbs were steadfastly not responding.
“Don’t struggle, child,” All For One murmured as he busied himself off to the side. “How are you even still fighting after such a great burden?”
“It’s proof… you’re not my father,” Izuku mumbled. “If you were, you’d be feeling the same.”
All For One chuckled. “Clever thoughts, but based on a logical fallacy. Soulbonds are equal only to those who cannot control them. I found a Quirk that can manipulate the bond many years ago. You took the brunt of my pain. You kept me standing, and for that, I presume I should thank you.”
“That’s… that’s not possible,” Izuku muttered. He’d never heard of Quirks that could affect soulbonds. All For One was lying. Had to be.
But how else could Izuku explain the sudden waves of pain? Pain that had come from nothing Izuku himself had received?
Something strangely coloured moved into view. Izuku recognised it as medicine, strong working, the kind that was imbued with the power of Quirked science. An IV was set up, inserted into his wrist.
“I am sorry for the pain you had to undergo,” All For One said. “Alas, that is all part of the plan. What you were meant to be.”
“You… what?” Izuku struggled to speak past the numbness overtaking his tongue.
“Do you not understand? You’re my collateral. The one thing All Might would never be willing to hurt, and you’re mine. Every move All Might makes against me becomes directed against you tenfold.” All For One let out a laugh. “And there’s nothing he can do to stop you.”
The horror of his situation settled into Izuku’s bones. All For One was right. Izuku’s was All Might’s weakness. He wasn’t just a student to the man. All Might would never risk fighting All For One with his full strength when Izuku was at risk, and Izuku had seen the effects of that today. Izuku and Kacchan, both taken, while all All Might could do was stand there.
“No…” Izuku whispered. “You can’t make me your weapon…”
“Too late for that,” All For One mused.
The bright lights no longer looked so bright. Were they darker? Or was the whole room fading from him? He tried to blink but found his eyes were shut. He hadn’t noticed them closing.
“My pain and his Quirk,” All For One whispered, voice loud in Izuku’s ear, fresh against the silence. “All For you, the perfect vessel.”
No. Izuku wouldn’t be used like this. Wouldn’t be turned against All Might like this.
But it was too late. The pain was overwhelming, and unconsciousness met him like an old friend.