Chapter Text
There it was again. The itch. He was dry and itchy. Even more than he was usually. He could feel it all over his skin, like it was clinging onto him. And it was dark too. Darker than night or shadows. He didn’t know how he got here.
If he thought about it, he couldn’t really remember much of what happened after All-For-One took over his body. It all passed in such a thick fog. With patches of recognition here and there. The heroes won. They lost. But they were never meant to win in the first place, were they?
He did remember that it hurt. It hurt a lot. Even worse than when his father beat him.
Now he was hot, and he wanted to get rid of this terrible feeling enveloping his body. Especially around his stomach. It felt like he was burning there. It felt bad. Really bad. But there was nothing for him to do but endure it. For how long, there was no way of knowing. He was sure he knew one thing though.
No one was coming. No one ever did. Heroes never helped monsters like him.
And why would they? He killed his family. He killed lots of people. He did lots of terrible things.
But when he was hurt no one came to help him! It wasn’t fair. Everything he did back then, it felt justified. He’d done it all to show them their system was flawed. Curled up here though, Tomura Shigaraki began to realize maybe the system was working as intended. No one came to help him because he couldn’t be helped. It was the universe’s way of telling him that he was always a monster. And always would be.
He always would be.
There was nothing left to do now but accept his destiny and do some good for a change. He could finally fade away from this world and disappear into the void where monsters like him belonged.
Then something strange began to happen. He could’ve sworn that he heard voices. Scared erratic voices.
One voice out though. It was Izuku Midoriya. One for All’s successor. It sounded like he was right on top of him. He craned his neck to hear, and the blackness suddenly gave way to a sliver of sunlight. A beam of warm gold. Drawing him towards the hero’s voice.
“Is that…” The surprise in Midoriya’s voice was palpable. “Everyone stand back!”
He tried to sit up. But couldn’t. It felt like his body was weighed down by something. Where the light was though it was brittle and the sun came in a little further. A little push. He just needed a little push. With a bit of effort, he managed to break his head out of the darkness. The rush of fresh air forced his lungs to fill with air. He gasped and when his eyes managed to pry themselves open were met with a bright blue sky, gray clouds departing and giving way to white wispy shapes. There was also of course the stunned hero standing over him. Eyes wide. Fear? No, surprisingly not. It was surprise. He was surprised to see him, Shigaraki. As was he. There was a clamor of voices behind him, paired with the sound of bird song and distant emergency sirens dealing with the aftermath of their battle no doubt.
All at once he began to cry. He was too overwhelmed by it all to do much of anything else. It came out shrill and weak. The battle must’ve taken a lot more out of him than he thought. Never in his life did he ever sound so pitiable.
It’s okay. There’s no need to cry anymore.
A kindly voice echoed from far back in his mind as he was rushed at by Midoriya and a few other Class-As.
The green-haired boy shouted to the others behind him. “Someone! Anyone! Call an ambulance!”
Smile. It’s a new day, Tenko. The first day of your new life. And this time, I know you’ll be okay.
As the gentle voice disappeared, he felt himself lifted out from the darkness. The wind touching his skin, what appeared to be ash started flaking away from his body. He could see it fluttering away in the breeze as he was cradled close to Midoriya’s chest. The sky and the clouds overtaken by the green of his hero uniform.
“I’ve got you. It’s okay… I’m here.” That high pitched mumbly tone that used to get on his nerves kept repeating those lines into his ear. Drilling it into him until his crying eventually died down too little more then whines and whimpers. As more people drew closer, his lids started growing heavy and began closing again as he suddenly became aware he was actually very very tired.
Maybe he could just take a little nap before they shipped him off to Tartarus.
…
When he woke up again, he was not where he expected to be. Instead of a dingy cell or padded room, he was nested in a strange looking hospital room. He knew such a room anywhere, having to deal with that crackpot doc all those years. Those bright sanitizing lights, big patient monitors, and ECGs. Only there were a few odd things about this place. For one thing there were big cartoon bears and cats plastered all over the walls, wearing hospital gowns or scrubs and acting out different scenes. Stickers on the machines. Weirdest of all, the center light looked to be shaped like a big yellow sun with orange flames around it, and multi-colored plastic stars dotted the area right above his cot. His eyes traveled down to the rest of the bed. Not much to see there. Just a lump under some patterned sheets. Happy little trucks dotted in rows.
A children’s ward?
As humiliating as it was, at least his whole body wasn’t itching anymore. Now it was just the usual itching around his eyes and neck, with some added discomfort around his navel. He needed to scratch it. To make it go away or at least replace it with something familiar.
He tried sitting up to get at it but found he could not. There weren’t any restraints but no matter how hard he tried to lift himself away from the cushy pillows supporting his neck and back. It was like gravity was keeping him pinned there.
He tried to kick his arms. Weak. They barely lifted off the soft bedding before falling back.
His arms were just as uncoordinated. Flopping around when he tried to hold them up. He was pretty sure boiled noodles had more grace.
As soon as he opened his mouth, a long pitiful wail rang out. Piercing through him. This made Izuku suddenly rush inside the room.
He came right over to his beside. He was breathing like he was out of breath, quickly shushing him. “Shh shh. It’s okay! It’s okay…you’re safe now. No one is going to hurt you.”
“Sir,” shouted a woman in scrubs, a nurse most likely. “You cannot be in here! Doctor Jion is…”
“Fuck off! He’s a hero! Give him a fucking break!” The loud man, Katsuki if he recalled, came in right behind Midoriya. Followed by other members from class-A. Everyone had that same tense expression. Like they weren’t sure what was coming next. “Deku. What the fucking hell happened man? I thought you killed him.”
“Shh! Not here. Can’t you see he’s scared.”
“He’s scared? I’m fu-freaking scared right now! He was just trying to kill us a few hours ago.”
No one was sure what was scarier. The boy on the bed or the fact Katsuki switched up his swearing.
“Buhhh… guhhh.” That was all that could come out of his mouth. Garbled nonsense. His thoughts and his mouth didn’t seem to want to connect. Not only that but his tongue felt heavy refusing to cooperate.
“Hey hey. It’s all right. You’re okay. The doctor is going to come back soon.”
That only made him want to start bawling again. Okay?! Of course he wasn’t okay! Something was terribly wrong here and not a damn person here was telling him anything useful. On top of that the mention of a doctor coming in made him begin to shake with memory of needles and scalpels. That ugly bald head.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be right here.” The former whispered soothingly as he began to pet soft downy hair. “I am not going anywhere.”
Despite himself, Shigaraki leaned into the gentle touch. A low whine escaping his throat the doctor finally came in to give the news.
This one wasn’t like the old man he was used to. The bald egg head man he was always seeing when he lived with sensei. This doctor was female with bright pink hair and fuchsia eyes. She looked… friendly. With wavy curls. Like nurse joy from the Pokémon show. That didn’t mean he trusted them. If anything, it made him more suspicious.
This lady, Dr Jion, walked past the nurse. With a careful and quiet nod, he dismissed her. Though the door was left open for the rest of the crowd to take a look inside. Mostly the other Class-A students with some notable absences.
“We’ve cleaned off the ash and sent it to off to be analyzed.” The doctor began to talk with Deku. “While I can’t say for certain, we suspect this was caused by a rare variation of a little-known transformational quirk referred to as a ‘rebirth’ quirk.”
“I’ve never heard of that before.” Eijirou replied scratching under his chin.
Midoriya sighed. “I have. It’s extremely rare. There’s a less then a 1 in 1 billion chance of someone worldwide inheriting this quirk type.”
“1 in 1 billion?!” Everyone in the room but the doctor gasped.
Ever the quirk analyst, it made sense Midoriya would be the one to have prior knowledge about such a rare quirk. Even he didn’t know about it, and sensei made him study a lot of quirks. “Only a small number of individuals have been recorded having some variation of this quirk since they first began appearing 200 years ago, but most effects are all the same. By that logic he should be suffering those same effects. Shiga…hmm. Maybe we shouldn’t say that name here.”
The doctor cleared her throat before flipping to another page. “We did a database search with the blood same we took on scene; we were able to match his files with a Tenko Shimura. With this we were able to figure out a few things about his health history and physical state.”
Tenko. How long had it been since someone called him that?
Izuku “Tenko. Is okay if we call you that? Blink once for yes, and twice for no.”
Tenko paused then decided to blink the once.
Sure. He was okay with that. He didn’t reallycare. Well, maybe a little. But it wasn’t like he had options.
With that out of the way the doctor resumed her rundown. “There are one of three possibilities. But we can’t be for certain which variant affected him. What we do know is that his body has experienced a complete reconstruction.”
Denki raised his hand slowly.
“His body has regrown itself cell by cell. Starting with a single original cell and quickly multiplying and becoming specialized before experiencing a sudden burst of growth. Thus, why he is as you see him now.”
Denki slowly lowered his hand, though still seemed unsure.
“Don’t be mistaken though. While this Tenko is still technically the same person, he is not the original.”
“So, he’s a clone.” Sero questioned.
“Not quite.”
“A copy?” Mina countered.
“Not quite that either.” The doctor said looking carefully at the boy on the bed. “It’s better to say he’s genetically identical, but a unique individual. Sort of like how identical twins are genetically the same but two different people.”
“But he remembers everything. Doesn’t that make him...”
“It’s too early to tell the extent of his memory, but yes. This is because of a phenomenon known the ‘ghost’ effect. Same as what’s seen in replication quirks. A person’s consciousness is replicated. He remembers everything things the original did, however there are certain things he won’t be able to remember.”
“Like what?” Satou leaned forward.
“Physical skills and life skills mostly.” The doctor said flipping to a fresh page. “The latter will include things like reading comprehension, writing, and math skills as well as other core areas. The former will be more prevalent things like the ability to sit up, the ability to walk, and of course…”
Suddenly Tenko became of a growing wet spot on the bed, and with a flustered face began to weakly try to kick away the soaked bed spread.
“Ah what the fuck?!”
“Kachan!”
“He just pissed the bed!”
“Stop yelling. You’re scaring him.”
The blonde viscously ruffled his hair. “Sorry! Sorry…”
His throat felt tight and raw as he began to mewl in discomfort. He just wanted to get away. Away from the mess he’d made. From all these people staring at him. He wanted to curl up and disappear. He didn’t understand what all these doctors were saying, or why everything felt so big.
All he could really focus on was smell of ammonia reaching his nose and the burning in his cheeks red.
“As you’ve just seen bladder muscles are significantly weaker in this state and are actually somewhat underdeveloped for his age. But it should improve in a little while.”
No dip Sherlock! Twenty-something year olds didn’t go pissing the bed.
The purple grape boy just picked at his nose. “I don’t see the big deal. I pee the bed all the time.”
“That’s because you’re a disgusting human being Mineta.” Spoke up one of the girls, who all seemed to slide away from him after this revelation.
Even in middle of his fit, he could tell the purple one was bad and to be avoided.
Then he felt himself being lifted up out of the bed into Midoriya’s lap as the hero began to rock back and forth, patting him gently on the back as he did so. The searing embarrassment was replaced by something else. Something from deep within his shallow husk.
“Yoshi yoshi.” The hero repeated, still keeping that same gentle tone. “It’s not your fault. It was just a little accident. We’ll get you cleaned up and figure this out.”
Why was he being so kind? And so mushy? Surely, he’d have a little resentment after everything he had done to the hero and his friends. No one was that forgiving. Not even Midoriya.
Then he saw something that changed everything. His reflection in big oval mirror on the wall. Instead of stark white hair, paper thin skin, and a gaunt visage… there was something else entirely. Round chubby cheeks, a mop of fuzzy black hair, and gray shiny eyes.
He almost couldn’t believe it. Not until he tried lifting his hand. As expected, it didn’t do much. Flopping around a little before it draped over the hero’s shoulder. He could still flex his fingers though. He watched as they entangled themselves into the fabric of the other’s shirt. Still dirty from the fighting.
“How old is he?”
“It’s hard to determine but we’d say around three. An exact age determination could only be made with a thorough physical exam and additional tests.”
Three? That was around the time his father started hitting him. Because he wanted to be a hero. The memory of his father suddenly brought on more tears, which he could see dewing up in the reflection.
He wanted to reach for the itch on his neck with his other, but his arm barely even moved.
Curse this stupid little body!
A nurse with black hair and purple eyes came from the sides. Arms outstretched to take him away.
He gripped on tighter. Holding onto him like a lifeline.
“He seems to react well to you Mr. Midoryia, perhaps you wouldn’t mind assisting us in getting him changed into something more comfortable?” the doctor replied, watching the interaction.
“No absolutely. Anything to help…”
“Tenko.” The nurse said hesitantly. “Mr. Midoryia and I will take you to get cleaned up now. Once that’s done you can go back to sleep for a bit longer, okay?”
He didn’t say anything. He didn’t really have anything to say. It’s not like he had a choice in the matter.
But if Midoryia stayed with him. Then he’d be alright.
…
Todoroki sat outside the hospital room. Looking in as the doctors worked in a team to carefully redress the bandages. But his eyes weren’t fixed on his brother’s charred skin and muscle. Or even his stark white boney teeth.
His eyes were transfixed on his older brother’s lifeline as it weakly traveled along its usual course. His eyes watched intensely for any sort of change. Nothing ever did.
“Hey.”
The teen glanced to his side before resuming his vigil. He knew who it was and was glad for the company. “Hey, Momo.”
“I thought I’d find you here.” She said taking a seat beside him.
“Just after we arrived, I got the alert they were going to change his bandages. It is a delicate procedure and … one of us always tries to be there for him when they do it.”
She looked through the glass before pulling her face away. Feeling nauseous looking at the scene. “I’m sorry Shoto…”
“The one decent thing my father has ever done for him is pay for the best doctors.” He said hissing terribly. “They’re doing everything they can to make him comfortable at least.”
She looked down at her hands. Making a small rubber ball to fidget with while they talked. “How do you feel about… you know?”
He didn’t need a long time to think about it, he already had his answer. “I think it’s a good thing.”
“You do?” She blinked in surprise. “After everything? All this fighting?”
“Yeah. I know it’s silly but… maybe something positive can finally come out of this war. If at least one person can be saved... it means wasn’t all for nothing.”
“Its not silly.” She said setting a hand on his shoulder. “You’re a good person. And it’ll make you a greater hero.”
Todoroki wanted to smile, he wanted to thank her. But he couldn’t. Not while watching Touya twitching on that table. “I just wish I could’ve saved him too.”
…
When Tenko woke up again, he was back in the room. The sun lamp was dimmed, revealing a nighttime moon in place of a sun with the stars around the room softly glowing. But unlike moments before time, he had a nice clean bed with happy frogs instead of soiled trucks.
He managed to down to see his scrubs had been changed changed out with a pair of footie pajamas. Not hero themed (thank God), but some type of animal he was to guess. Something soft with paw pads.
Maybe a dog? He loved dogs. Especially Corgis. Mon was his favorite corgi of all. He was the only one who protected him.
The pjs also had another added feature. Little hand mitts, the only exposed stretch of skin being a little patch of fabric, folded back to allow access to an IV line. He could see the fluid that dribbled into him. Replacing what had been lost.
A soft mumble came from his left. A chair had been propped against the wall and Midoryia, his phone was ringing, and he seemed to be slowly coming out of his brief rest. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ll turn it off…”
While the green-haired boy fumbled in the dark to switch off his phone’s ringer, ignoring the caller. It made him decide to give talking a second try, and to his amazement he managed to get out a few words this time. His voice high-pitched and wavering as he uttered his first word. “N-oh…”
“Hmm?”
“Didn’…wake me.” He said then paused, opening his mouth and smacking his lips. “Woke by me-self.”
The young hero smiled at this, ruffling his hair a little bit. “Glad to see the doctor was right. He said you’d slowly regain your ability to speak and move over the next few days, but it’ll be limited.”
“Wha…happen?” He paused and then tried to lift his arms again to no avail. “Noh, move.”
“Do you remember our conversation with Dr. Jion earlier?”
He remembered most of it but did not make any motion to clarify. The boy just sat back with huff.
“Well, Tenko. Your body isn’t moving very good right now because your body is really really tired. Your outside muscles don’t have enough strength to move very well, and your inside muscles are working very hard to get used to everything.”
“Why… I smawl?”
“This is just speculation on my part. But it is because the quirk activation only had so much energy left to regrow a new body. So, it could only make you a little body.”
“Oh… otay…” he looked up at the stars again as he struggled to find the words. “When… do I…”
“When do you what?”
“Go to Tar-tar-aus.”
“Tartar sauce?” The teen chuckled for a moment, not quite understanding what he meant. But when the realization dawned on him, he went quiet. A hard look on his face as he took Tenko’s mitted hands. “You’re not going to ‘Tartar sauce’. You are going to stay right here until the doctor says you’re ready to leave.”
“Then what?”
“Well… then you’re going to come stay with me. There is still a lot to figure out but I can make the space in my dorm till then.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to make sure what happened to you never happens again.”
“You can’t.” He said in a mumbling voice.
“Yeah, I can. And I will.” Those green eyes almost seemed to glow with determination, more than he had ever seen them. “You told me once the heroes failed you before. Well, this hero won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I promised I’d save you, I didn’t forget that promise.”
“Why?”
Midoriya just gave a sigh and pushed away a stray lock of hair from the boy’s eyes. “You should go back to sleep.”
Sleep? All he did was sleep! Ever since he got here! He was sick of sleeping. But he also didn’t really feel like being awake right now. His eyes were dry and heavy, slowly on their way to shutting again anyway. Still! It wasn’t fair! “Don’t wanna.”
“How about you just rest your eyes for a little?”
“Noh eep?”
“Not if you don’t want to.”
He yawned and settled back into bed, managing to roll to his side and curl up his body a little. “Don wanna eep.”
He then felt a hand begin to run along his back as Izuku began to hum an old Japanese lullaby. A variation of the Edo Lullaby. The soothing melody plus the soothing massage he was getting made it very hard to stay awake. In his last bit of conscious thought before eventually fading back into dreams, he realized how sneaky Izuku could be when he wanted to. Without even trying very hard he’d made him do exactly what the teen wanted.
If he had him on his side they could’ve won. Maybe then he wouldn’t have lost so many of his friends.
Was there even anyone left?
Oh well… guess there really wasn’t any point thinking about it any further. And just like that his heavy thoughts faded away into a distant hum of a gentle call to sleep.
nen nen cororiyo, ocororiyo
boya wa yoiko da, nen ne shina
boya no omori wa, doko e itta
ano yama koete, sato e itta
sato no miyage ni nani morota
den den daikon ni, sho no fue
go to sleep, go to sleep
you are a good boy, go to sleep
where did your nanny go
she crossed over a mountain and went to her village
what souvenir did you get from her village
a small drum and a flute.
…
Yagi Toshinori felt uneasy about this whole thing. One one hand, the threat of all for one had been vanquished.
But on the other hand, now they were left with the last remaining piece of Tomura Shigaraki. A defenseless vulnerable child who carried in him both the potential to be good, and the potential to be the worst evil known to mankind.
And he knew that everyone in the room was thinking the same thing.
One hero spoke. “We can’t send a child to Tartarus.”
“We can’t just leave him free to roam the streets either.” Answered another.
“He’s only a small child. A weak one from what I understand. What harm could he cause?” Present Mic was leaning back in his chair with his usual grin.
“Look at what he’s grown into the first time.” Mirko was tapping her feet looking very
The blonde waved him off, giving him a pointed look. “That was with All for One’s influence. And the doctor explained that this quirk makes a new person. Without him in the picture he’s just a regular little boy.”
Hawks shook his head, folding his arms and leaning back. “One who must have all the memories of the former. No. It’s too dangerous.”
Fat Gum spoke up with a worried look. “Good thing there’s more of us who agree then disagree that the kid should be cared for instead of locked up.”
The bunny hero shrugged. “Who do you suppose we have to take on this task then? Hmm? Who would be crazy enough to even consider…”
“I will.”
Everyone turned to look at Izuku.
“Midoryia my boy…” Why was he even surprised? Of course, it would be his successor who would offer take on this duty. Had he been a few years younger and a few years fitter, he would have taken him on himself. But he knew that the child needed real support. Both physically and emotionally.
The rabbit hero’s voice rose. “Deku, you don’t have any obligation to help him!”
“She’s right, you don’t know what you’re asking here.” Another faceless hero’s voice echoed before the young man before them shut them down.
“Yes, I do.” He said standing a little straighter. “And I will. I will be responsible for him and make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone or hurt himself.”
“That’s very admirable, but you’re still only a student.” Present Mic said with a sigh as he leaned back a little.
Aizawa nodded. “You’ve still got three years left at school. You can’t look after a kid when you’re just a kid yourself. Let us handle this.”
“So, you just want to send him away? Is that right?!”
“No, Midoryia.” Yagi stood up in his seat. “Of course not. I… we know how important it is that young Tenko gets all the support he needs. And I agree it’d be better if he were to do it where we can keep an eye on him. But it is a very big responsibility becoming someone’s guardian when you’re still only sixteen.”
“You don’t think I can?”
The former hero couldn’t help but laugh. Feeling it settle in his bones and light him up with warmth from inside. “Absolutely I do. I believe if there’s anyone capable of doing it, it’s you. However, you need to be sure this is something that you really want.”
“Hold on there!” Came from another.
“I agree with Toshinori.” Aizawa also stood up. A serious expression on his face but also one of mutual understanding. “Midoryia. Once you decide this, we go through the official channels. That’s it. No going back without consequences. You’ll be his full legal guardian. Whatever he does from that point on, you will have to answer for.”
“So, my boy. When you say you’re ready for what it takes…are you prepared to become someone’s parent? For the rest of their life?”
The teen looked at the room full of heroes and teachers. Some were shocked. Others incredulous. A few even looked afraid. He took in the faces of his past mentors and guides all looking at him with silent support. Then he bowed to the room as he spoke with conviction. “Yes. I am prepared to do that for Tenko. I will learn how to be a proper parent to him. I will do everything in my power to give him a good life.”
“Well,” President Nezu sipped his tea, “that’s all fine. But what about school?”
Shoot. He didn’t think about that. “I suppose…I’ll have to drop out. Get a job”
“Absolutely not young man. I won’t lose such a promising student. And what kind of example will it send to young Tenko if you do not finish your education. No no no. I shan’t allow it.”
“Finally,” Eraserhead sighs. “We hear some sense.”
“This is a unique situation which allows me to enact a plan I’ve had for a long time!” He stands up holding up a stack of papers overhead. “I figured young Midoriya would make this decision, so I got pre-approval from the school board and here it is! Ta-dah!”
“Huh. What’s that?” Izuku and everyone’s eyes looked at the stack of papers in the president’s hand that he proudly displayed for all to see.
“It’s a special grant program for teen parents and guardians attending our school. Now promising students will no longer have to choose between familial obligations and their future dreams. We can strengthen multiple generations at once by offering accommodations for both students and staff. Just imagine it. Finally, a safe place for heroes in training to watch over their children, to foster their unique strengths and help them grow.”
“President Nezu.” Yagi’s jaw dropped.
“We have already begun assembling a team to handle the daycare and nursery school respectively. Construction will begin as soon as we have cleared away most of the war debris.”
“Aren’t you rushing this a little?!”
“For now, we’ll have to make do with what resources we have. I’m sure your teacher can make some allowances while you adjust to your caretaking role.”
“Everyone just stop!” Powerful fists slammed into the table. It was Mirko. Her face twisted in anger. “We already had one traitor. We don’t need another one a few years down the line. Or did you forget about him.”
Fat Gum quickly came to his defense. “You worry too much my friend. You assume that Midoriya is unable to handle Tenko’s power, well if he could defeat him once, he could easily do it again. Isn’t that right?”
Midoriya smiled and bowed to them all again. “Thank you everyone. If you don’t mind. I’m going to wait with my friends for him to wake up.”
“As you should. Go. We’ll take care of the hard stuff. I’m sure the hero association could shell out a little something for you both to live a little easier. You and your teammates saved the world after all.” Walked over to pat the boy on the back. “Get some rest yourself. It’s not everyday you suddenly have a kid.”
With that, the green-haired boy walked out of the room. More sure than ever he was doing the right thing. Meanwhile everyone else seemed to deflate with exhaustion.
“You really think he’ll be able to stop him again.” Said a voice from the far back. Everyone knew who it was but stayed silent as they spoke. “Even when he’s attached to this little monster?”
“Especially then. Because now he has the obligation as the child’s guardian to make sure he follows the correct path this time.” The jolly hero said with a big grin.
“Where do you suppose that path will lead him then?”
Nezu sipped his tea and smiled. “Ultimately? Happiness.”