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They stand atop the ruins of what-Izuku thinks might have-once been a movie theater or a bank. Most of the refugees were evacuated via helicopter, and those that weren’t are either bunkering down somewhere or….
Izuku doesn’t want to think about the or in that particular situation. He can’t afford to lose control of his emotions.
“One for All!” All for One calls out. His face isn’t hidden away behind a mask, and for some unmistakable reason Izuku feels a weird sort of wrong (familiar, the word you’re looking for is familiar) when he stares too long at his enemy’s face.
“I’m going to stop you!” Izuku shouts back, letting One for All crisscross his body in lines of green-white lightning. He won’t attack, at least not yet. Not without a semi-thought-out plan. But he still needs to keep All for One at bay or amuse him (judging by the smirk on his smug, very familiar, punchable face).
“Will you now?” He asks, taking a step closer. “I would love to see you try.”
He’s closer now, and Izuku can’t stop staring at his face. All the alarm bells are going off in his head.
(You know him; he knows you.)
“Get back!” Izuku gets into position to fight just in case All for One lunges for him. His hands are shaking quite badly, and his palms are starting to itch.
“Now, One for All,” he croons, mockingly, “it almost seems like you’re afraid of me. But that can't be true, can it?”
Izuku itches at his palms, trying to avoid looking at All for One longer than absolutely necessary. “You know nothing!”
(He knows you; he’s always known you.)
An odd look comes over All for One’s face. “I know you, Izuku Midoriya.”
Izuku cringes back. This can’t be good. U. A’s student files have a lot of information in them. Everything from what allergies they have to their home addresses and everything in between. It’s likely he got the file from Aoyama. He hopes his friend, despite the current circumstances, is faring alright in protective custody.
All for One continues on. “Your favorite color is red. Katsudon is your favorite food.” He clasps his hands behind his back, the smirk returning to his face. Slowly, he starts to creep closer. “You live in an apartment with your mother right here in Musutafu.”
Izuku feels warm, like he’s slowly but surely burning up from the inside out. His palms hurt, and it takes everything in him not to draw attention to it.
All for One is a few feet away now. “Her name is Inko Midoriya-”
“Leave my mother out of this!” He yells, even though it’s unlikely All for One will listen. Using people’s families against them is his thing.
“-she’s forty-one,” he continues on as if never interrupted. “She’s married to your father.” The villain monologues more, but Izuku can’t concentrate. Even with everything at stake, all the lives on the line, and seven predecessors cheering him on, he can’t focus.
All Might would be so disappointed in him. He’s certainly disappointed in himself.
A sharp pain radiates from the center of Izuku’s palms all the way up to his wrists. “Ah!” He cries out, knees folding in. Izuku clutches his hands to his chest.
“Have you finally given up?” All for One ask, but his voice doesn’t have the same mocking edge it did a few moments earlier. When Izuku doesn’t respond, he sighs heavily.
Izuku stares at the ground, eyes unfocused. There’s so much dust. When the heroes get everything back under control and they can start rebuilding their livelihoods, he wonders where they’ll start first. It’s hard to imagine what this town, the town he’s grown up in most of his life, used to look like.
A hand is shoved in front of his view. “Let me see,” All for One says, voice oddly monotone.
“No!” Izuku shouts, coming back to his senses. He scoots back, ignoring how the pieces of rubble dig into the ripped areas of his costume. “Get away!”
All for One kneels down. He doesn’t look the least bit happy. “Izuku Midoriya, give me your hand.” The tone of his voice reminds Izuku vaguely of the times when he was younger, and his mom or dad needed to get his attention for something important.
Izuku hunches in on himself, holding his sore hands to his chest even tighter. He shakes his head, dirtied curls bouncing with the movement.
“I won’t ask again. Hand now,” he says.
Seeing as how he let his enemy get right in front of him, Izuku doesn’t think he has the upper hand here. Maybe if All for One sees his hands have simply been banged up from the excessive number of fights Izuku has had to get into during the last few days, he’ll leave him alone.
Izuku pulls his trembling hands away from his chest. Cautiously, he places it in the steady hands of the enemy. His hands tingle and burn without pressure being applied to them.
All for One’s hands are calloused and rough from his many years of being alive, but they are also comfortably warm. (Izuku remembers the feeling of his dad holding his hand tightly because otherwise Izuku would slip away and get caught up in the villain attack down the street.)
The villain hums, peeling off one of Izuku’s gloves. The humming stops suddenly, and Izuku thinks he might have heard All for One’s breath hitch. “Oh, no,” the villain says, sounding horrified.
A thumb gently runs across his aching palms, soothing the hurt just a little. “I’m so sorry, Izuku.”
Izuku looks up, alarmed. “Wha-” Whatever he wants to say dies on his lips, because his hands-at least one of them-has a hole in the center of the palm. Just like….
(You know him; he knows you.)
“No!” Izuku screams, throwing himself backward. “What-what…. did you….” he can’t bring himself to say it, but the proof stares at him when he looks down at his ungloved hand.
“Izuku, I know you’re afraid. But it’s alright.” All for One speaks to him as if Izuku is some kind of frightened animal. He maintains a respectful distance. “I can help you.”
“No! Stay away from me! Get away! I-I don’t want your help,” Izuku struggles not to cry.
Growing up, his mom always told him there’s strength in crying and showing your emotions, but right now, in front of the very person he’s been training to fight (and hopefully end), Izuku feels so, very weak.
“You know, I manifested All for One right before my tenth birthday. It was during a tumultuous time, and my parents didn’t understand it. They refused to let my brother, or I leave the house in fear we’d be hunted down. Even all these years later I can still recall the searing pain as the holes in my palms made themselves known. I remember being afraid. I remember thinking I was a monster, and that was before I even learned what I could do.”
Izuku glances up, the confession taking him by surprise.
“The worst part, though, wasn’t the pain, or the whispers from my parents. It was the greed that came with my newfound ability.”
All for One reaches a hand out. “I don’t want the same for you. I’ve always wanted better for you, Izuku. Let me help you.”
He thinks briefly of telling All for One where he can stick his so-called ‘help,’ but quickly thinks better of it. His enemy has already stuck him with some copy of the All for One quirk, and there’s no telling what other damage he’s done. Maybe if Izuku plays along, he can get the villain to undo whatever he’s done to him.
Izuku takes All for One’s hand, hating himself for being reminded of his parents and All Might.
“Good,” All for One hauls him back up to his feet. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.”
In the back of his mind, Izuku thinks he might be hearing the vestiges scream at him to run away.
“Are you going to vault me?” He asks, still light-headed and in no state to fight (but he would if he has to, especially if the outcome is being locked away for however many years).
All for One laughs. “No, you only make that mistake once.” He strokes the freckles on Izuku’s cheeks. “Besides, I’m having too much fun to lock you up. Maybe another day.”
“Oh, okay. Can you take back your quirk now?”
A deep sigh and then, “no.”
Izuku blanches. “No-no? What does that mean? I thought you said you’d help me.”
“Calm yourself,” All for One says, tucking a stray piece of hair behind Izuku’s ear. “I’ll answer all your questions, after we get somewhere safe.”
Izuku wants to ask how All for One plans to leave this absolute hellhole Izuku used to proudly call home, but he finds his throat feels funny. He coughs trying to expel whatever it is. All that comes up is a dark liquid and then there’s more of it, and then even more of it until it’s all he can taste and think about.
He’s tossed into a vast, near-ending void. At first, Izuku thinks he might be dreaming. The void looks similar to the vestige world he finds himself in every time he falls asleep, but it doesn’t last long before Izuku finds himself staring at concrete flooring.
“Come on,” All for One says, pulling Izuku to his feet. “We have much to discuss.”
The room they’re in is large and filled with rows of vats with nothing inside them. The large computer in the center of the room has a giant crack in the middle of it.
“Where are we?” Izuku asks, eyeing All for One.
“Does it matter? We’ll be safe here, for now.”
Izuku says nothing after that.
He follows the villain to a side room in the back of the lab. All for One herds Izuku inside first before easing the door closed behind him.
“Now, can we discuss you taking your quirk back?”
“Sit down,” he orders, motioning to a chair in the corner of the room. He sits, crossing his arms. All for One takes the chair across from him.
“There, now-”
“Yes. Ask your questions.”
Izuku still hasn’t figured out why All for One would pass on a quirk he holds so dear, or is it a copy? He hasn’t figured that part out yet either. Does he want to isolate him? Maybe he doesn’t need to vault Izuku if he has him under his protection. Yeah, that sounds right. All for One gives him a quirk to control him.
“One problem with that, Izuku.”
He was muttering again, wasn’t he?
“I wouldn’t give such a powerful ability away just to spite my enemies. Especially one that’s as unpredictable as All for One. Furthermore, when I said I wanted better for you, I meant it.”
That doesn’t make any sense, and he wishes first would come out of hiding and explain what his brother’s going on about.
“You keep saying that, but none of it makes any sense. Before I got One for All, and even for a little while after, I didn’t even know you existed. So, how could you have always wanted better for me?”
All for One runs a hand through his neatly trimmed hair, taking a deep breath. “Do you…” he licks his lips. “Do you remember your father?”
Izuku thinks of hot summer days and walking hand-in-hand with his father down the streets of their neighborhood, ice cream cones in hand. He thinks of warm, strong arms that would pick him up and hold him tight every time he had a nightmare. He thinks of his parents swaying to music a generation or three too old for Izuku’s tastes in the living room of their apartment. Of dad jokes and burnt pancakes and of being chased around the oak tree in front of their first house.
Izuku closes his eyes, a feeling of longing welling up in him. He hasn’t thought much of his dad since he left on that business trip however many years ago now. He’s had his mom and now All Might to fill the hole in his heart that his dad left behind.
“Not much,” his voice shakes. Izuku feels his throat tighten up, and for a second, he thinks All for One has simply gotten bored with him and is teleporting him somewhere else. Tears well up in his eyes, but he keeps them stubbornly closed, refusing to let them fall.
“Not much, hm?” Thumbs are brushed gently but firmly across his lower lash line. “Then why, my dear, are you crying? Do you miss him?”
Izuku hates these questions. Hates himself for allowing All for One to do this to him. He can feel One for All crackling underneath his skin, always within reach.
“That’s none of your business,” Izuku snaps.
“I have a son,” All for One admits, a wistful look in his eyes.
A gasp leaves Izuku. Whatever he expected All for One to say, it certainly wasn’t that. “A son?” He asks, flabbergasted. Izuku wonders what such a person might look and act like. Out of curiosity and nothing more he looks up at the villain and asks, “what’s he like?”
The villain gives a light chuckle, running his fingers through Izuku’s curls. “Well,” he starts, “for one thing, he’s a big fan of heroes.”
“Karma,” Izuku says, simply. It had to be.
“Perhaps,” All for One agrees reluctantly. “But I’ve never held his love of heroes against him. It’s the only thing that’s ever made him smile.” He frowns at that.
“Why not give this quirk to your son?”
“Izuku, do you really not recognize me?” All for One scoots his chair closer, knees touching Izuku’s.
“Yes, you’re All for One,” he answers. If the man wasn’t his mortal enemy, then Izuku would definitely be asking if the rewind quirk he used to heal his face didn’t also rewind all his brain cells.
“Correct, I am All for One. But that’s not what I was hoping you would say.”
“...Sorry…?” Izuku tries, clenching his fists to ward off another round of stabbing pain.
“You’re forgiven,” All for One says without a hint of irony. “I guess we’ll have to come back to this conversation later. For now, let me see your hands.”
Just as before, Izuku places his hands in All for One’s. He stares at Izuku’s hands for an uncomfortable amount of time. “You’ll have to wear gloves from now on. Not that that seems to be a problem for you.”
He yanks his hands out of the man’s grasp. “You said you would help me!”
“I did, and I will.”
“Then why won’t you take your quirk back? Why burden me with it?”
All for One tilts his head to the side, looking at Izuku like one would a particularly cute but annoying puppy. “I thought you were smarter than this. Perhaps I was wrong.” Before the insult can set in, All for One leans in closer. He takes Izuku’s face in his hands.
“I suppose I need to bring you up to speed on a few things. One of which is that I’m Hisashi Midoriya. Ah, ah, don’t interrupt just yet, I can tell you want to say something but save it for the end. Which, in case you haven’t caught on, means I’m your father. And since you're my son you had the potential to inherit my quirk.”
Izuku can do nothing but stare back, mouth agape. His mother….did she know? She had to know, right? But she seems so happy that All Might’s his mentor. Unless she’s allowing it for purely petty reasons, but that’s not like his mom. His mom is kind and gentle and would never settle for the scrounge of Japan.
“My mom…did she…”
“Know? No, I took an interest in her for an unrelated project of mine.” A soft, dreamy look crosses All for One’s face. “But Inko was kind to me. She has this way about her that makes you feel wanted.”
Izuku sighs, exhausted. “Yeah, mom’s the best. I hope she’s doing alright.”
“She is, don’t worry. Even when I was gone, I never left you guys alone.”
“Can you skip to the part where you tell me why I suddenly have your quirk?” Izuku would usually love to engage in small talk with his estranged father, but at the current moment his head is killing him and he is three seconds away from seriously considering cutting off his hands.
“Not one for casual discussion, are you? No matter.” He lets go of Izuku’s face in favor of grabbing his hands. “You started manifesting the quirk at a very young age. One day you were a happy, cheerful two-year-old, the next you were constantly sobbing and clinging onto Inko or I. The contrast was night and day. We thought perhaps you were teething, but a trip to the doctor’s revealed you already had all your baby teeth. Then we thought that you were just going through a phase. Well, at least, your mother did. I personally thought someone was hurting you, and you didn’t have the words to tell me yourself. Turns out, we were both sorely mistaken.” All for One smiles, widely, showing off all his teeth.
The air in the room is stale, and Izuku suddenly wishes to be back on the battlefield again. The vestiges of One for All hover anxiously over his shoulder (minus the first). They whisper words of comfort. At one point he swears he can feel Nana’s long, dark hair tickle his face when she presses a kiss to the crown of his head.
“Go on,” Izuku presses, teeth gritted to bear the pain.
He’s broken his bones countless times, over and over again. So, why does this hurt so much?
“Ah, be patient, I’m getting there.” He takes Izuku’s hands and turns them palms up. Gently, he strokes his thumbs across Izuku’s palms, just like he did back at the ruins of Musutafu. It helps the ache, and he finds himself relaxing ever so slightly. “For what it’s worth, little one, I am sorry. I didn’t want you to manifest my quirk. The moment I realized what was going on, I did everything in my power to suppress it.”
“How?” There existed pills that could maybe, potentially suppress quirk symptoms, but-to his knowledge-there exists no way to fully suppress the quirk-itself.
“I won’t lie, it was hard. I went back-and-forth with Doctor Garaki about different solutions. We came up with a three-step plan. First, you were exposed to videos and conversations on why ‘villainous’ quirks are wrong. To make you feel shame, which, according to Doctor Garaki, works to make you unconsciously try to suppress it.”
That….sounds….exactly what a villain would do. Izuku doesn’t understand why he feels so shocked at the admission. Then something occurs to him. “But I didn’t know All for One was a dangerous, or a villainous quirk. In fact, I probably didn’t know about the quirk at all. So, how would I associate discrimnation against villainous or unsavory quirks with the one I was still developing?”
“That,” All for One starts, looking to the side, “wasn’t thought of. Not my brightest idea. The project was scrapped immediately. Steps two and three worked a bit better.”
“And they were…?”
“Memory alteration and then, a couple years later, making you think you were quirkless.”
Izuku’s heart skips a beat.
All the bullying.
The loneliness.
The isolation.
The pain.
It was a….lie?
Izuku stands up, pushing All for One away. “How dare you,” he says, jabbing a finger into the villain’s chest. “How fucking dare you.”
“Izuku,” All for One tries, voice uncharacteristically soft.
“No!” He knocks his chair over in an effort to maneuver around his nemesis. All for One grabs onto him. Shaking with anger and weak from the pain, Izuku silently begs his body for one last adrenaline boost. “Let me go!” He hits at the villain’s arms and chest, throwing himself to the floor in an attempt to get away.
It works, for a moment. He lays there, on the ground, looking up at the ceiling. Wires stick out in places and there’s obvious signs of water damage. If he stays still, maybe he can count all the tiles…..
There’s a clicking sound and then All for One is standing above him, blocking his view.
“Please,” Izuku begs, he has no energy left to fight or argue, “just go away.”
His nemesis doesn’t respond. He sits down next to Izuku, a serious expression on his face.
They sit like that for a while, side-by-side, not touching, and quiet.
Izuku’s hands tingle and every so often he has to clench them into fists to make the stabbing pains manageable. Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku can see All for One move forward as if to touch him, but then jolt to keep himself from touching Izuku.
“I would never leave you-”
“Yeah? Well, you did,” Izuku snaps.
Fingers card through his hair, an expression of long-lost paternal love. “They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it only made me grow weaker.” A kiss is pressed to his forehead. “I can’t begin to imagine how hard it was for you and your mother, but please, please never, for one second, think I didn’t want to come home.”
Tears well up in Izuku’s eyes. “Mom needed you. I needed you,” his voice breaks. The lump in his throat grows, and he struggles to keep his composure. “I thought I did something wrong. I thought you went away because I was defective, and no matter what mom said, it never made the pain go away.”
“Oh, Izuku,” All for One-his father (that feels almost illegal to think)-warbles.
He’s pulled onto his father’s lap. The villain holds him tightly to his chest.
His father hums a familiar tune under his breath, rocking them back-and-forth. Just like he used to do when Izuku was small. Well, smaller.
“I can’t go back like this,” Izuku says, voice hoarse. “I-I can’t face All Might and my friends like this.”
He’s shushed, and a hand resumes carding through his curls. “Not now. That is tomorrow's problem.”
“It hurts. Why does it hurt so much?” He squeezes his eyes shut, the semi-darkness helps with his mounting headache.
His father kisses his temple, muttering something unintelligible. “I know, and I’m sorry.”
“Can’t you take it away?” Izuku asks, hating how safe he feels in the confines of his father’s arms.
“I’ve tried,” his father admits.
Something wet falls on Izuku’s face. It takes a second for him to realize it’s his father’s tears.
He goes on. “I tried so hard to protect you guys. I kept you hidden in plain sight, and when you started developing your own version of All for One, I panicked. I thought of what the hero commission would do if they ever caught wind of your ability. I thought of what heroes with morals on par with the lowest criminal scum and the backing of the law could potentially do to you and your mother. I…I didn’t know what to do.” Tears fall onto Izuku’s face faster. “I didn’t know how to make it all better…..I wanted to make you smile again.”
Izuku cries harder. “All Might’s going to be so angry with me.”
“No, the blond oaf is a lot of things. But he seems to genuinely care for you as if you were his own. Loathe as I am to admit that.”
“But-but he hates you,” Izuku insists, tired brain latching onto any relevant thought.
“Yes, and I can guarantee any hatred he has for me will be instantly overridden by his love for you.” His father shifts. “I wish I had more concrete answers and permanent solutions, but alas I do not. Tomorrow, I will answer all your remaining questions, and then we will find a viable solution to get you back out there, unashamed and as brave as you’ve always been,
together.”