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One Month Earlier…
Izuku had escaped All For One's underwater base, but only barely. With only One For All at his disposal, Izuku had broken all his limbs and even blown apart a finger in the process of blasting his way out before he drowned.
Now, Izuku's battered body cut through the water towards the surface, he just hoped that he was close enough to shore, if he landed short, with both of his legs broken, he would drown.
Finally, Izuku exited the water and soared into the night sky. Looking down, Izuku saw a familiar sight stretched out below him.
Mustafu.
Home.
A sea of lights and buildings that was getting a lot bigger, a lot faster.
Izuku was falling, his legs trailing uselessly behind him.
This is just like the Entrance Exam, I'll use a Smash from my arm like I was going to do before Uraraka caught me.
Izuku's eyes zeroed in on Dagobah Beach, a small amount of rubbish had already accumulated in the two weeks since he'd last had a chance to clear it.
I'll head for Dagobah, the last thing I want to do is put anyone at risk with this Smash. This way the only stuff that gets damaged is dumped junk.
"And my arm."
Aiming his body towards the beach, Izuku focused intently, waiting for the right moment.
Now!
"DETROIT SMASH!"
Pain ripped through Izuku's left arm, a massive spray of blood splashing him in the face.
But it had done the job, Izuku's velocity slowed massively, allowing him to hit a discarded futon on a tower of junk and then roll down it and onto the beach with only minor injuries.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, staring up at the sky, only to see the tower of junk he'd just rolled down start to pitch over.
Trying to raise his arms to protect himself, Izuku finally saw that his left arm was gone, leaving only a bloody stump in its place. The junk crashed down on him, a searing pain in his side making him scream out in pain.
Looking down, Izuku paled at the sight of metal rebar piercing his left side. Grunting with exertion, hand shaking, Izuku reached across his body, wrapping a hand around the rebar.
If only I could access all my quirks, Hyper Regeneration to grow my arm back, then Slingshot to remove the massive pile of junk that covers where I am.
Izuku reached inside himself, trying desperately to grasp at Hyper Regeneration.
His metaphysical hand brushed something, a quirk. Izuku grasped it, hoping it was the right one.
Smoke curled out from Izuku's lips.
Fire Breath.
Ironic, even now he couldn’t escape the quirk his father had pretended to have.
Forcing his body into more of a sitting position, Izuku took a deep breath, centering himself, before fire spilled from his mouth onto his left arm, cauterising the stump.
Blinking back tears, Izuku felt Fire Breath slip from his grasp, pulled back under the waves by the quirk dampener.
I have to try again!
Again, Izuku tried grasping Hyper Regeneration, he could feel it, just out of his reach.
Grunting with exertion, Izuku put all his might into breaking through the barrier All For One had placed over his quirks.
All at once, Izuku was through the barrier, he could feel Hyper Regeneration thrumming in his veins, the quirk slowing and then stopping the blood loss.
Izuku lost his grip on the quirk, helpless as he felt it get pulled back behind the barrier. He reached out again, but he could tell he was getting weaker, his whole body was heavy, it was hard to even think.
Unconsciousness took Izuku, his vision fading to black.
I can't go…
Izuku wasn't sure how long he drifted in the dark void for, only seeing a few stray glimpses of sights he couldn’t comprend.
Gasping, Izuku awoke.
It was cold now, Izuku could see the breath rising from his lips, the tattered remains of his medical gown doing nothing to protect him from the chill.
Rain hammered down on the junk above him, rivulets of water seeping through the gaps and running down on him, his whole body soaked. Izuku desperately tried to hold on to consciousness, to stay awake, but to no avail.
Again, Izuku blacked out.
This time the visions were clearer. Izuku could see two men, one white-haired, one dark-haired, facing off against each other. Then, only one remained, the one with the white hair, standing at a grave, flowers in hand.
"You forced my hand, brother." The man spoke. "I will keep Yoichi safe, my way."
The name on the gravestone read…
Hifumi Shigaraki.
Izuku dimly realised he was watching the white-haired man from afar, over the shoulder of another man.
The second man turned around, revealing him to be the dark-haired man, very much alive.
Dad?
Izuku jerked awake, the sunlight blinding him. It took him a moment to realise what had awoken him.
Voices.
Is that…
"Thanks for the help."
…Kamui Woods?
"Mr. Woods, I-"
And Iida too.
Izuku started looking around himself for anything he could find to make some noise, so they knew he was here.
"Call me Kamui, Mr. Woods is my father." Kamui Woods interrupted Iida. "Actually, All Might is my father."
"Really?"
Iida really doesn't grasp humour, does he? Besides, I'm sure All Might would have told me if he had a son, right?
"I'm kidding, Iida." Kamui Woods replied in a jovial tone.
"Oh, apologies."
Izuku didn't have to be able to see him to know Iida was bowing.
"Iida, you don't have to, nevermind." Kamui Woods spoke.
I was right.
"How do you know my name?"
"You look just like your brother." Kamui Woods explained. "I've teamed up with him a few times now."
"Right. I should be getting to my search area, thank you for your time, Mr. Woods, I mean, Mr. Kamui."
"Sure thing, stay safe!"
The voices stopped, but the sound of footsteps in wet sand followed, getting louder, reaching a crescendo, before they started to get quieter again.
It's do or die.
Izuku's hand wrapped around the rebar in his stomach and pulled it out, fresh blood pouring from the wound.
With all the strength he had left, Izuku slammed it against a nearby sheet of metal.
No response.
Izuku tried again, louder this time.
"Hello, my name is Tenya Iida, is someone in there?"
Izuku banged again.
"If you're trapped, bang twice!"
Izuku grunted in pain.
One. Two.
"This is Tenya Iida, search area Vermilion-Hawk-81. There's someone trapped in the junk pile."
For a few moments there was silence.
"I understand." Iida spoke.
Izuku raised the rebar again, he needed to communicate more efficiently, hopefully Iida would recognise it.
Short. Short. Short.
Long. Long. Long.
Short. Short. Short.
"It's Morse code! They're banging in Morse code!"
Izuku paused, thinking about what to say next.
Help me.
Izuku paused, before adding.
Iida.
Izuku hoped that would get Iida's attention, but for good measure he started banging again, this time spelling out his own name.
The sound of sand being kicked up was followed by someone entering the trash pile, their silhouette casting Izuku into darkness. And then, appearing from below a low beam, was Tenya Iida.
He could see the horror on Iida's face as he stared at Izuku's mangled form.
"Oh god, Midoriya." Iida scrambled forwards, pulling off his raincoat and placing it over Izuku's shivering and soaked body.
Next came his jumper, Iida bundled it up and applied it to the stump where Izuku's arm had been.
Izuku wanted to tell him it was no good, that it was already too late. But instead, actions spoke louder than words.
"I-Iida." Izuku coughed, his shattered right hand reaching out to grasp Iida's. "I need to give it to you."
"Give what to me?" Iida questioned.
"The quirk." Izuku gasped, his chest rattling with every breath, he could barely speak. "One For All."
"One For All?" Iida repeated, frowning. "Like All For One? The First Demon?"
Izuku wasn't too shocked that Iida knew about All For One, his family had been heroes since before it was a legally sanctioned job.
And now, he's going to be the tenth wielder of One For All.
Izuku nodded. "It's the antithesis of All For One, a power gifted from person to person. The first c-cultivates the power and passes it on to the next, who refines it and passes it on again."
But I can't just pass it on as it is, it would be a death sentence to Iida.
Izuku coughed, blood issuing from his lips.
"A crystalline network of power." Izuku suddenly drove his hand down, taking Iida's with it, and impaling it on a glass shard. "It's yours now."
Izuku dove inside Iida's quirkspace, the navy blue orb that represented Engine sat in the centre, to its right, the first spark of One For All had already manifested.
Walking forwards, Izuku reached out to Engine.
And denatured it.
Izuku destroyed Iida's quirk, watching as it fell apart into a mass of junk data. Taking a deep breath and recalling how it had felt when he'd made Slingshot, Izuku poured One For All's energy into the remains of Engine.
Navy blue light blinded Izuku, forcing him to close his eyes.
Blinking, Izuku looked back to see Engine restored to its normal state, with One For All now fully manifested next to it.
The two quirks beat in tandem, for Iida the strain of One For All on his body was mitigated.
He can be the hero I couldn't be.
Izuku left the quirkspace and watched as Iida pulled his hand away, examining how the glass had gone through the palm of Izuku's hand, but only just managed to scratch the surface of his own.
"Tell All Might I gave you One For All." Izuku instructed. "And, I need you to promise me something."
Iida nodded.
I'm sorry to burden you with this, Iida. This should have been my responsibility.
Izuku's speech was starting to slur, he felt the darkness encroaching again. "You have to save Eri, he has her, All For One has her. Promise me Iida, promise you'll save Eri."
Iida nodded. "I promise."
Izuku smiled, before his body went limp, his eyes closing.
Ten days.
Ten very long days.
That was how long Izuku had been stuck like this, forced to relive the worst memories of the previous holders of One For All.
All Might watching his master die.
Nana Shimura finding her husband's body, sending her children away to keep them safe.
En holding out a hair to his successor, knowing he'd failed her.
Daigoro Banjo holding his husband's hand as the cancer slowly took him from him.
Hikage Shinomori witnessing the rise of All For One, with the full awareness that he wasn't strong enough to stop him.
Yoichi Shigaraki watching his brothers fighting over him, until one stood over the other's corpse.
Izuku occasionally got momentary relief from the memories, catching strange glimpses through someone else's eyes. Through another Izuku's eyes, one who seemed to haunt the real world like a ghost, with only Iida able to see and interact with him.
I wonder what quirk made a ghost version of me?
And then the glimpses of the ghostly Izuku were gone and the dark memories returned. They always returned. And there were so many more, Izuku could barely process the misery of it all, but he did pay attention to it.
After the third loop he started to put the pieces together, first with Nana Shimura, her daughter, the green hair and eyes, the mild telekinesis quirk.
Nana Shimura's daughter was Izuku Midoriya's mother.
Izuku had always known his mother was adopted, she'd never shied away from telling him. But this revelation was far from the only one. There was a third Shigaraki brother, with the ability to copy quirks. He died at the hands of All For One, that should have been the end of his story.
Except it wasn't.
Izuku saw him again and again, during Banjo's death, the fifth wielder crushed under rubble, while the third brother still fought All For One. He appeared again and again in the memories of En and Nana Shimura, getting older each time, until he wasn't there at all.
Nana Shimura kneeled at a hastily erected marker, two men stood behind her, her husband and who Izuku now knew was Gran Torino.
"Thank you, Hisashi, for all your support."
Shimura placed a bunch of flowers in front of the marker before standing.
"You never know, we might see him again."
It was her husband who had spoken, Nakushita Shimura, only a few months away from his own death.
"Maybe."
Nana Shimura didn't sound convinced.
The scene dissolved, leaving Izuku with the same unavoidable conclusion as the last hundred times he'd seen it. The Hisashi they mourned, he was Izuku's father, reborn by some quirk he must have made or copied with Quirksmith.
Izuku paused that line of thought.
No new memory had replaced the last, all he could see was an empty white void. Izuku breathed a small sigh of relief, glad the memories had stopped. Then he heard the voices, faint and very far away, talking about trains and UA.
"Home, the long way round."
Izuku's world dissolved into the cyclone of colours, he found he suddenly had a body again, falling for what felt like an eternity. He could see green at the end of the tunnel, getting larger and larger as he got closer, until he was free of it.
Izuku was still falling, he looked at the ground, the cities and town, the six rivers that connected them. It was Restaria, from the book, Izuku recognised the view from the map in the first book, now brought to life.
How is this possible? Am I dreaming?
Izuku's trajectory shifted without his input, his body now falling towards Lars, the hometown of the protagonist. Glancing over, Izuku started at the sight of another person, their body made from swirling green energy.
It was a vestige.
No, it's my vestige.
It was Ninth.
Without any control of their own, Izuku and Ninth zeroed in on a cottage in Lars, passing through the thatched roof as if they had Permeation. In a bed lay another Izuku, asleep, however this one seemed to be a native of this world. Izuku quickly realised both he and Ninth were gravitating towards the Izuku of this world.
And Ninth was in the lead.
Izuku tried pushing himself to go faster, to reach his target before his vestige did. But it was in vain, Izuku watched as Ninth united with the other Izuku, waking instantly. Izuku felt a force hook him around the waist and pull.
In another burst of colour, Izuku found himself falling from the sky once again, but this time he recognised it far quicker.
Kofu City.
Izuku wasn't even that far from his home, about forty-five minutes by Shinkansen.
Now I've just got to stick the landing.
But Izuku couldn't feel any of his quirks, it was like they were gone. The ground was getting nearer, the details coming into focus.
Izuku saw a familiar head of bushy green hair walking on the pavement, dressed in his UA uniform, the case that held his hero costume in hand, an eighteen daubed on the side.
Looking to both sides, Izuku saw that he was alone this time.
At least there's no competition.
Izuku shot towards the him of his world, anticipation rising as he got closer and closer.
Three.
Izuku reached out his hand.
Two.
The ground was getting awfully close.
One.
He was going to miss.
Impact!
Izuku Midoriya held up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he slowly came round.
Something poked him on the leg, making him look round. A wizened man, barely taller than Nedzu or Recovery Girl, stood over him, prodding him with his cane. Satisfied that he'd got Izuku's attention, the man raised his cane, pointing behind Izuku.
Turning to look, Izuku saw another man, running away from them at top speed.
"What?" Izuku mumbled, trying to make sense of the situation.
"You've been mugged, kid." The old man groused.
Izuku looked at the fleeing man again, then down to the pavement he sat on. The hero case was gone, the man had stolen Izuku's hero costume. Izuku leapt to his feet, ready to make chase, he'd just have to do it without his quirks and hope he was fast enough.
I don’t want to get in trouble for illegal quirk usage.
The cane rapped his hand, making him jump.
"You can use your quirks, zygote, I'm the pro hero you're going to be interning under this week." The man Izuku realised was Gran Torino spoke. "First part of your training, get that case back with only the quirk you got off Toshinori Yagi."
Get the case back with only the quirk I got off Toshinori Yagi? With only One For All? I'll break my bones instantly.
"If ya use any other quirk, the internship ends now." Gran Torino added. "After all, necessity is the mother of invention."
Izuku wracked his brain, trying to think of a way he could use One For All without breaking his bones.
"This resistance to use such a powerful quirk, Toshinori really hasn't taught you much about it, has he?"
Resistance. Just like when I use two quirks at once.
The tell-tale red lines of One For All shone through Izuku's trouser legs as he manifested five percent of the quirk in both of his lower legs. Izuku burst forwards, moving far slower than he had during the USJ incident, but fast enough to catch up to the mugger in a few short seconds.
His momentum was enough to stop the mugger, tackling him to the ground.
Izuku restrained the man, taking the hero case from him and securing it. Looking up, Izuku realised that there were at least three smartphones recording him.
With the least awkward smile and wave he could manage, Izuku acknowledged them and returned his focus to the mugger, opening his case and producing the capture tape.
Binding the mugger's arms and legs, Izuku clambered off the man, just as Gran Torino arrived on the scene, at a leisurely pace, accompanied by two police officers.
"This one here, used his quirk on my intern and nabbed his hero costume, probably to sell any support items on the black market." Gran Torino explained, poking the mugger with his cane.
"Thank you, Gran Torino, we'll take it from here." The first officer spoke, nodding his head to the elderly pro. "An intern, eh? Guess that's why you've come out of retirement."
Gran Torino shrugged. "An old sidekick of mine asked me to take him. Since he didn't get any offers."
Izuku cringed at the reminder of how badly he messed up the Sports Festival. He'd managed to get Todoroki to use his flames and even managed to beat him.
He'd then faced Shinso, the vestiges within One For All saving him when the purple-haired boy had brainwashed him. Then, in the semi-finals, Izuku had faced Momo, his victory had been close, pulling out the newly copied Brainwashing as his trump card.
That was when everything had gone wrong, in the finals. It was Izuku versus Bakugo, and he'd frozen, something inside of him was trapped in the memories of Bakugo telling him to jump off the school roof.
Bakugo had won, Izuku hadn't even put up a fight, which had sent the blond teen apoplectic, once again convinced that Izuku was looking down at him. In the end, they had to restrain Bakugo just to get him on the podium to accept his medal.
Izuku had ended up with just three internship offers. One was from a small agency currently under investigation for fraud, another from an agency that had tried invoicing the people they'd saved and the last one from an agency that claimed that their employees were 'like a family'.
Wait, none of that happened, did it?
A frown graced Izuku's face, he remembered the Sports Festival, coming second place, but he also remembered-
Ichigata. All For One. Overhaul. Eri. Giving One For All to Iida.
Except the memories of the later were fading fast, like a dream.
Was that all just a dream?
"Ready to receive." The second officer spoke into her radio.
"The perp is Ryuga Tanaka, 34, wanted for unlawful use of mind-altering quirk and theft." The radio issued, the operator's voice tinny and distant. "Quirk is listed as Dread, it allows him to cause anyone they touch to experience a nightmare based on their subconscious."
Upon hearing the operator's words, Izuku felt his quirkspace, not surprised to see a copy of Dread waiting for him. Meaning Tanaka had used his quirk on Izuku, this was real world and all those terrible events hadn't been real.
At least it means Eri never suffered that abuse, if she never even existed in the first place.
Izuku watched as the mugger was hauled to his feet and taken into custody.
Had she? It had all felt so real.
Izuku became aware of cane prodding his ribs.
"You awake in there?" Gran Torino demanded.
A beat passes before Izuku creaked into motion, nodding his head.
"S-Sorry, it's just what that quirk made me see, it wasn't very-"
"Pleasant?" Gran Torino supplied. "I imagine not with a quirk named 'Dread', don't exactly give me warm and cuddly vibes."
Izuku made a noise in agreement, his mind still stuck on the image of Eri reaching her hand to him.
I failed her.
Shaking his head, Izuku set off after Gran Torino, back towards the retired Pro's home.
She wasn't even real.
Izuku returned his capture tape to his hero case as he walked, allowing his eyes to linger on his Costume Beta for a few moments.
How can you know for certain? Perhaps this is the nightmare and you haven't woken up yet?
Izuku faltered mid-step, nearly tripping over a crack in the pavement.
Am I still in the nightmare?
Izuku decided to put that question into the back of his mind, focusing on refining Full Cowling with the help of Gran Torino. That mostly consisted of being beaten black and blue by the wizened hero until he had a breakthrough with Full Cowling.
So far, Izuku had managed to determine that his natural limit for Full Cowling was five percent, the same as it was when he normally used One For All.
However, he had found a number of advantages to this new technique. Instead of consciously having to apply One For All to each body part in which he wished to use it, Full Cowling could be used to spread the power throughout his body, allowing simultaneous usage.
This all took Izuku to where he was now, sitting on a train in his hero costume, beside him was Gran Torino, on their way to patrol in Roppongi.
"Next stop is Hosu City North, expected time of arrival is five minutes-"
Izuku stopped paying attention to the announcement on account of the massive form that smashed through the side of the train car. Dread pooled in Izuku's belly, it was a Nomu, on instinct he activated Full Cowling.
It was a new Nomu, not one of the two that escaped the USJ attack. This one had pale-green skin and four eyes, each one mounted in exposed brain tissue.
Gran Torino immediately took charge of the situation, delivering a kick that threw the Four-eyed Nomu back out of the train.
"Kid, triage and then sit tight, you don't have your provisional licence yet." Gran Torino instructed, standing on the edge of the hole in the train carriage. "If you're seen acting without a licence, the Commission will rip you to shreds."
With that, Gran Torino was gone, after the Four-eyed Nomu.
Izuku didn't miss a beat, quickly assessing that there were two civilians who were seriously injured, the worst of the two was the man who had been sat directly in the Nomu’s path. Crouching on the train carriage floor, Izuku placed his hands on the man's body, twisted and broken, with bones showing in more than a few locations.
I can do this, I think. Just brute force it.
Izuku activated Heal Times Two, the merger of the quirks of Recovery Girl and one the USJ villains, using One For All as the energy source. The man's breathing slowed as his body pulled itself back together.
"It's okay, I've healed your injuries the best I can, you'll have to heal naturally the rest of the way." Izuku assured.
Moving on, Izuku again used the super-charged healing quirk again, this time to repair the nasty compound fracture of a purple-haired woman's arm.
"That should do it." Izuku murmured to himself, before standing.
Pain lanced through Izuku's head, his vision blurring and shifting to that of some kind of medieval classroom, just for a moment. Reaching up, Izuku discreetly wiped away the blood from under his nose.
At least Full Cowling seems to lessen the strain somewhat.
Looking around the carriage, Izuku identified his target and approached them.
"I need you to look after the two of them, they'll both very likely go into shock, so keep them calm and talk to them." Izuku instructed.
"O-Okay."
Izuku nodded. "Thanks."
With a running jump, Izuku leapt out the hole in the side of the train carriage and into the night sky.
Hosu City was bathed in the orange light of fire.
Mr. Torino said I wasn't allowed to be seen acting without a licence, but who says I have to be me?
Activating Glamour, Izuku breathed a cloud of green mist that wrapped around his body, transforming him into Kamui Woods. Izuku landed on the deserted street below, barely breaking his stride as he continued running.
Don't you dare do what I think you're going to do, Iida.
In the end, Izuku was proven right. Manual had pointed him in the right direction and the perfect timing of Todoroki had allowed the three students to walk away relatively unscathed, taking Stain into custody in the process.
They had even managed to avoid landing in hot water with the Hero Commission via use of Izuku's Glamour quirk. Izuku had resumed his facade as Kamui Woods, Todoroki had been disguised as Absolute Zero, the No. 74 Hero and Iida as Piston, his own father.
For their own various reasons the three heroes had gladly taken the credit for the capture of Stain. Kamui Woods had found the whole situation amusing for a reason he wouldn't share, Absolute Zero was glad for the positive exposure and Iida's father to protect his younger son, as he couldn't the elder.
The only blip in the whole situation was the attack by the Bark Nomu, just after the other heroes had turned up at the mouth of the alleyway. It had snatched Izuku, but hadn't gotten very far. Todoroki finally came to terms with his flames and used them to burn the Nomu's armour away, before a kick from Gran Torino knocked it out.
Sworn to secrecy, the three students returned to UA after their internships with a new bond, their classmates immediately noticing how the three had suddenly jumped ahead.
Iida's renewed drive to live up to his brother's heroic ideals had pushed his engines to the next level. Todoroki's use of his flames had negated the drawbacks of his ice. And Izuku's invention of Full Cowling had reduced the strain his quirks put on his body.
For now at least.
They had one blessed month of normalcy before everything went to hell again, with the attack on the Training Camp and Bakugo's abduction. Before they knew it the situation only got worse, with the Kamino Incident and the retirement of All Might.
Izuku had watched on in horror as his mentor's true form was revealed, forced to give up being a hero by the hands of Izuku's father.
Uncle.
No, All For One was his father.
Uncle.
Izuku had once again pushed that internal argument to the back of his mind, still not sure where the dissenting voice had come from. Before he knew it summer was over, and so were the provisional licence exams, with all but Bakugo and Todoroki passing.
And then came their second set of internships, and with Gran Torino's focus on the All For One case he couldn't take Izuku this time. Leading Izuku to seek out the next best thing, at the suggestion of All Might.
Sir Nighteye.
For the first time since starting on his path to become a hero Izuku finally understood the phrase 'never meet your heroes'. Well, technically Izuku had met Sir Nighteye during the USJ attack, but his memory of that was still pretty hazy.
Either way, there was no way of avoiding it, Sir Nighteye was a dick.
But with a little bit of convincing, Izuku had managed to get him to agree to take him on as an intern. Which in of itself wasn't as bad as Izuku had been expecting it to be, even if he did have to put up with Nighteye's attempts to convince, read as bully, him to give One For All to Mirio, the Foresight hero's favoured intern.
This had led to Nighteye pairing Izuku with Mirio regularly, which he didn't mind, as the older teen was friendly with him and had taught him quite a bit while on their patrols.
Patrols like the one the two were currently on, cutting through an alley just a few streets over from the Nighteye Agency offices.
"See, the trick to my quirk is practice, you just need to get a feel for how quickly you drop through the ground, then you can time the release-"
Izuku came to a halt, suddenly aware of the weight that had latched onto his leg. Slowly looking down, Izuku's eyes landed to see a familiar head of pale-blue hair, a yellow horn peeking through it.
A memory suddenly surfaced in Izuku's mind, he was in some kind of lab, watching as a man in a plague doctor's mask traded the pale-haired girl away like cattle.
Izuku crouched down. "Eri?"
The pale-haired girl looked up at Izuku, her eyes shining with unspilled tears.
Eri gripped Izuku's hero costume. "Why are there two of you?"
Izuku felt a bell had just tolled in his ears, his head pounding as more strange memories rose to the surface, memories he didn't recognise. It felt like there was someone else inside him, screaming to get out.
"Oi, Eri, I told you not to run off."
Izuku's blood ran cold, he knew that voice, the man in the memories, who had exploded Izuku's arm with a mere touch. Standing from his crouch, Izuku placed Eri behind him, his movements somewhat hampered by the pounding of his skull.
Izuku's eyes met Overhaul's, the villain's plague mask covering the lower half of his face.
"You won't touch her." Izuku growled, fire in his eyes.
Overhaul held up his hands in a very insincere attempt to appear placating. "Mr. Hero, my daughter has run off, she does this all the time, I'm just trying to go home."
Mirio stepped forwards. "Deku-"
Izuku internally cringed at the use of his hero name, he still didn't know what he must have been thinking, or taking, to choose it.
"-why don't we call this one big understand and-"
"No." Izuku interrupted. "He's no concerned father, he is a villain, the leader of the yakuza organisation Shie Hassaikai. He experiments on Eri, his test subject , he would trade her away like property if he thought it would advance his goals."
Overhaul clapped his hands, dropping all pretence. "My, my, my, someone has done their homework."
"I'm just good at recognising monsters." Izuku snarled, trying to ignore the continuing headache.
"Foolish child." Overhaul sneered, launching himself at Izuku, hand reaching out towards him.
Watching the hand grasping for him, Izuku reached for his quirks, activating Slingshot-
The pain in his skull suddenly intensified, he could hear another voice, his voice, crying out, getting louder and louder.
Overhaul's hand made contact.
Izuku Midoriya exploded into a fine red mist.
Desperately sucking air into his lungs, Izuku sat bolt upright.
"Where am I?" Izuku breathed as he looked down at his body, clad in his UA gym uniform, then up at the white void he was in.
I’m finally me again, not trapped in that other me’s mind.
Standing, Izuku looked in every direction, but found only endless white space, reaching out into eternity.
“Hello? Can anybody hear me?” Izuku called, desperately hoping someone would reply.
Footsteps echoed from behind Izuku, making him spin around to see Overhaul, except his plague mask was missing, his hair unnaturally white and eyes of red.
Burning with anger and hatred.
“Finally, after all this time, I’ve found you.” Not-Overhaul smirked. “I will have my revenge, Izuku Midoriya.”
Quirksmith: The Lost Chapter