Chapter Text
Chaos was the only word to describe it.
Buildings had collapsed and burned, leaving a smell of ash, making the young Midoriya Izuku cough as he was looking for his mother from whom he had been separated when the last explosion had sounded. A lot of his skin and hair was covered in soot. His ears were ringing and he had a hard time opening his eyes, filled with tears. Other civils were out in the street at the same time as him and his mother. He heard screams and cries. He tried to crawl forward, feeling the ground in front of him with his hands, when suddenly, he felt a thick and hot liquid under his fingers. He managed to open his eyes enough to see a dead body crushed under an enormous piece of stone debris. Only his arm was emerging for under it, but it was already enough for poor twelve years old Izuku to panic and let out a scream before quickly getting up and running away, crying and calling for his mom.
"Mom !! Where are you ?! Please, answer me...!"
No answer apart from the crackling of fire here and there and distant pleads of other civils in danger. As he continued his research, he saw someone with green hair on the floor near him. He immediatly rushed to them but stopped in front of a large puddle of blood flowing from the person in front of him. His legs were shaking beneath him and his heart was pounding in his chest as his eyes slowly met the ones of his dead mother, the light in them long gone, her gaze fixated on the stars in the night sky above them. Her hair and her already pale skin were drenched in her blood, her face arboring an eternal worried expression.
Izuku's breath cut short, his vision became blurry and his legs, no longer able to support his weight under the shock, gave way and he fell to his knees on the tarmac ground.
Maybe if his ears were ringing less and his head was hurting less, he'd scream in pain, but he felt unable to. Like his world just collasped. Everything felt unreal. She couldn't be dead. She promised to stay with him forever. She promised and now she was dead. Now he was alone. He couldn't process her death nor what was happening around him. He heard another explosion, but it felt far away as his senses seemed useless for a second.
Still, his only thought was 'You promised mom.' And so, he found himself parting his lips and slowly murmuring.
"Liar..."
He was scared. Terrified even. His heart was aching and he felt the need to throw up but couldn't bring himself to. Breathing became more and more difficult as he was watching his loving mother's face for the last time. He didn't know how long he stayed there. Probably a few minutes. Still, he was shaken out of it by a new explosion right at the end of the street, a few feet away from him. He backed away, his instinct telling him to run. And he was about to when he saw a blond man struggling to get up in the middle of debris. The man was obviously hurt, blood dripping off his face, arms and torso and his clothes half ripped. That's when Izuku realised the man was a hero. His clothes were actually a hero costume. He was probably fighting someone and saving people, but he seemed on the verge of fainting. A stupid need to help seized him.
-
All Might had been fighting All for One for more than two hours. He was exhausted. He had no chance of making it out alive and he had no chance of getting rid of his enemy either. He felt dumb. He thought he could save everyone. He couldn't wait anymore. People were dying while the group of rebels he was part of was waiting for the right moment. He couldn't bear it anymore and went to fight All for One without anyone's agreement. And there he was, dying and completely useless. Too much people died during their fight due to buildings getting destroyed and unstoppable attacks from All for One. And it was all his fault. All because he was incapable of waiting any longer. He wished he could apologize to Eraserhead and Gran Torino. He wished he could apologize to everyone back at their secured base.
He wished he could apologize to Nana Shimura, his mentor.
He wished he could have saved her grandson, Tenko.
He wished he could have honored the past One for All users.
Now everyone's only hope was gone and dead. Just like him whenever All for One would arrive.
As he was thinking about his mistakes, a young boy approached him, unsure in his steps, breathing heavily and crying, clothes and skin covered in soot and blood on his hands.
"Mister hero..." He said.
All Might thoughts stopped. He looked up. A kid. There was a kid. Here. And All for One would arrive soon. His heart started racing.
The kid looked at him, hair gently floating with the wind, tears in his eyes, hope in his gaze.
'Don't look at me like that, kid. I can't help you. I can't help anyone. Not even myself.'
Still, the green haired kid stepped closer and handed out his hand.
"Do you need help ?" He asked, voice shaking.
All Might met his gaze again, and at that moment, like time stopped, hope came back in his heart. It was a horrible idea. The poor kid never asked for anything and great responsabilities came with this quirk, responsabilities this kid didn't know about yet. But it was his only option, or the One for All would be stolen by his greatest enemy.
"Come closer, kid..." He demanded.
The kid listened.
"What are you doing here ... ?" All Might asked.
"... Izuku. Midoriya Izuku."
Midoriya Izuku, ninth One for All user. Sounded great. All Might got up to his knees.
"What are you doing here, young Midoriya ?"
"My mom... She's... I... I don't know...what to do..."
All Might sighed sadly.
"I'm sorry, kid... For your mother and everything I'm about to do."
"W-what do you mean-" Izuku started before All Might grabbed his face with a hand and put the other one on the kid's mouth, his blood leaking on Izuku's tongue.
Izuku tried to push him away, panicked, but All Might successfully made him swallow.
He let go of him.
"Now run. Run as far as you can and hide !" He said.
Izuku, eyes wide and mind confused, wanted to throw up again. He fucking swallowed blood. Shaking, he looked at the hero in front of him, not getting any more explanations.
All Might suddenly felt All for One's presence getting closer. Too close.
"NOW !!" He screamed, pushing Izuku away.
Startled, Izuku got up, frightened, and ran as fast as he could, as far as he could, without explanations and without a proper goodbye to his mother, still feeling the metallic taste of blood on his tongue.
Toshinori Yagi slowly turned around as he heard his enemy's footsteps behind him.
All for One was there, standing proudly in front of him.
"I fear that this is the end, Toshinori Yagi." He started, voice deep and menacing.
"Maybe for me," Toshinori answered, "but not for them."
All for One frowned.
"... You passed on the One for All while I was on my way here, didn't you ?"
By the sound of his voice, he was not pleased.
Toshinori was feeling a bit lighter now that One for All was safe. He couldn't have explained everything to Izuku, but he knew they would. He was confident and not worried in the slightest knowing the past users would help him. Still, he felt bad for the kid. But it was the only way.
He could only hope that, if Izuku couldn't defeat this monster either, he would pass on their will, just like he did.
Toshinori smiled weakly, shakily responding.
"I fear that this is the end for you too, All for One."
All for One angrily grabbed him by the collar.
"Don't worry, my friend. I will find your successor, take One for All and violently kill them."
"I won't tell you a thing." The hero warns.
"You don't need to. You will eventually, anyway." The dictator smiled.
Then, Toshinori's vision went black.
-
After these events, Izuku had ran a long time before hiding in an abandoned building and fainting from exhaustion.
The next day, he woke up to voices discussing, but couldn't comprehend what they were talking about.
"If he was dead, he would be here. But I see no Toshinori ghost stuck with us !" A man's voice said.
"You're right. He must be alive," A calmer one continued, "but it doesn't matter now. He's no longer a One for All user. Only a past one like us."
"Except he's not dead yet." A grumpy one said.
"Okay, we got it, now shush !" The calm one from before spoke again.
"He did the right thing." A woman affirmed. "Otherwise, everything would be lost."
"You're only saying that 'cause you were his mentor !" Grumpy one screamed. "Yoichi, say something !"
Every voice got silent, as if waiting for this Yoichi to speak.
"I'm just waiting for the new user to wake up." He finally says after a few seconds.
"I don't call that a new user, I call that a kid who has no idea what his life has just turned into !" The grumpy one screamed again.
"Dear god, Kudo, can you be less pessimistic for once ?!" The woman sighed.
"The kid will learn. It's no big deal." Said a new man's voice.
"Thanks En, that was really useful." Grumpy grumbled again.
Fully up because of the screaming, Izuku slowly opened his eyes, confused and scared. He saw seven persons looking at him. He backed away against the wall, heart pounding.
A man with quite long white hair got up from where he was sitting - if ghosts can sit - and approached calmly.
"Don't be scared, Midoriya Izuku." He said. "We're not here to hurt you. We want to help."
"Who... Who are you ?" Izuku managed to articulate.
"My name is Yoichi. Shigaraki Yoichi. Let me explain everything, okay ?"
As weird as it was, Izuku felt strangely relaxed hearing the man's voice and in confidence in his presence.
So he nodded.
To this day, he still wonders if he should have or not.