Chapter Text
The pain was excruciating.
The fire tore through the air and ignited everything it touched, melting the surrounding snow and scorching the world as each cluster of bombs hit. Izuku had only just managed to cocoon himself and Katsuki in a thick layer of mist when the explosions hit them, tearing at skin and flesh and hair. The mist would begin repair the damage at a glacial pace, only for the next wave of bombs to hit and begin the process over.
The mist’s primary purpose was to keep them alive as long as possible, though Izuku made sure to focus a considerable amount of power in keeping Katsuki numb to the pain. There was nothing he could do for himself but bite down hard on his lip to keep from crying out, the heat consuming the healer. They could only just reach one another, their charred fingers clasped tightly together.
“Stop that,” Katsuki tried to say with authority, though the smoke had made his voice hoarse. “If you have to feel it, so do I.”
Izuku shook his head, only to stop as the world swam around him. “No.” He couldn’t subject Katsuki to this torment, not if he could prevent it.
There was a thump next to him, then another, until finally the blond managed to flop on top of Izuku. The bulk of Katsuki covered his boyfriend, his back taking the full force of the inferno above them. Katsuki’s eyes were dilated and unfocused from the mist, but he kept his gaze locked firmly on Izuku, red never once leaving green.
“We protect each other,” he said firmly, their foreheads meeting. “We fight with and for each other. We’re gonna be the greatest heroes ever, remember? You and me, and Icyhot too. The best…”
Izuku could feel the tears slipping from the corners of his eyes and sizzling against his temples. His mind left their awful situation and went back to when they were just six years old, catching bugs and dreaming about being heroes. Katsuki had waited for him to come back, waited for his childhood friend to become a hero by his side and, eventually, they found each other again. Izuku knew with every fiber of his being that he wouldn’t allow himself to lose the loud, arrogant, hotheaded, romantic, wonderful boy he loved again. His heart was pounding against his chest and every part of his being was awash with pain but he continued to pump out his mist, determined to keep them both alive for as long as he could.
Katsuki’s hero suit had been designed to withstand incredibly high temperatures as well as blasts of concussive force, but Izuku could feel the material rip and singe as the assault dragged on. Their skin blistered and burst, then knitted itself together sluggishly as shimmering pink shrouded them from the worst of the nightmare.
Eventually the ground stopped shaking and the blasts ebbed, the fire burning itself out as it consumed the available sources of fuel. Izuku gave Katsuki a quick but meaningful kiss, healing him entirely before working on himself. He was grateful to feel hair emerging from the bald patches on his scalp, curling around his temples and ears and streaking across his brow. Katsuki’s blond spikes erupted from his head, exploding in their own way and sharply contrasting the shiny pink skin that covered his body. Both of their suits were torn and burnt but covered them well enough, though their support gear looked to be completely destroyed.
Izuku kept his mist active but pushed it farther out, activating his senses to look for Shigaraki. He’d been sent flying by the first blast and hadn’t managed to find his way back to the heroes during the assault, but that didn’t mean the two were rid of him. He sensed Shigaraki before he saw him, turning towards him and gasping at the sight.
The entirety of Shigaraki's body was burned beyond recognition, skin charred and peeling off in several places. What remained of his hair was little more than wisps of white floating from his scalp like smoke from a smoldering fire. He retained all of his limbs though his left arm looked to be destroyed, and his eyes were shot through with red. “Izuku…”
Katsuki struck before Izuku had time to react, blasting the villain with as much firepower as he could summon. The effect was not unlike the explosions they’d just endured, shaking the ground and igniting the world around them. Shigaraki made to dodge but was unable to avoid the blow completely, letting out an inhuman howl as his right side ignited. Katsuki readied another explosion but was struck by a retaliatory laser beam form Shigaraki. The villain fell to knees shortly after, panting hard and shaking from the pain.
“Bakugo, Midoriya!” Izuku turned to see Endeavor, Mirio and Shoto racing towards them, all three unharmed by the explosions. Shoto was nearly upon him when Izuku was jerked backwards, blackened arms holding him tightly. A hand found his throat, pressing meaningfully against it. Even without his senses, the overwhelming stench of death gave his assailant away.
“I’m afraid your little game is over, Midoriya,” came All for One’s taunting voice, its usual silkiness turned harsh in Shigaraki's ravaged mouth. “You fought well, all of you, but I’ve run out of patience.”
Izuku couldn’t help but wonder if Shigaraki had passed out from the pain or if what little remained of his psyche had finally been destroyed, overwhelmed by All for One’s power. The hands that held him began to glow as the heroes made aborted motions to intervene.
“I’ll admit you weren’t my first choice for a new body,” All for One told the healer casually, “though your power was always going to be mine; I suppose modifications can be made once I’ve settled in, and then the real fun can begin. Oh do quit squirming, this body may be weakened but I can still keep a runt like you pinned if I have to.”
The villain warded off an attack from Katsuki, inadvertently loosening his grip just enough for Izuku to act. He slammed his head backwards, his skull colliding with All for One’s nose with a sickening crunch. He turned quickly, jabbing his elbow into the villain’s temple and, with only a moment to brace himself, activated his quirk and leaned in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The subspace that held All for One’s vestiges was darker than One for All’s, jagged and splintered and shot through with veins of red. Like before pink mist swirled around Izuku, protecting his psyche from being consumed. He expected to find Shigaraki there, perhaps in his original state or even as the child Nana Shimura hoped still existed. He expected All for One in some form, and perhaps even a few faded ghosts of the quirks he’d stolen through the years. He had not expected, however, what truly awaited him: a massive, formless lump of twisted limbs and faces, mouths and eyes and ears protruding from every angle. The thing writhed and moaned, a discordant cacophony of suffering.
Fear shot through the healer, arcing up his spine like a current and freezing him in place. There was no way for him to even begin to comprehend what he was seeing beyond sheer terror, the mist around him pulsating defensively. He stood opposite the palpating mass for what felt like an eternity, unable to form any strategy as to defeating it.
It's almost as if All for One is cannibalizing the vestiges he takes on, Izuku thought with alarm. It made some sense, awful though it may be; with so many personalities clashing within him, All for One would need a way to keep the vestiges he collected in check, and by some metaphysical power concentrated them into a single being to keep them inert. He wondered how many personalities were condensed into this horrific being, how many had already been destroyed and swept into nothingness.
A sound caught the healer’s attention, Izuku’s head whipping to the side to locate the source. Shigaraki had materialized beside him, only- the man next to him lacked the villain’s white hair and blood red eyes, instead having grey eyes and black hair that curled around his ear. His skin was still pale but a far cry from the eerie whiteness Shigaraki had at the compound, and his face was free of any cracks and sported only one blemish: a freckle on his chin. It was the same freckle Nana Shimura had.
So, this is who you were meant to be…Izuku thought, watching as the man took in the shapeless vestiges with an empty expression. Neither of them spoke, the silence hanging between them like a veil as eternity stretched before them.
“There’s nothing left of them,” Shigaraki said tonelessly, “not really. There’s pain and suffering, maybe even some fear, but their personalities are gone forever.” He turned to the healer, a flash of regret appearing in those unfamiliar eyes. “You should go Izuku, there’s no one left to save.”
“You’re still here,” Izuku pointed out, although he wasn’t sure if that was true. If Shigaraki had any control of the subspace, he could very well trick Izuku into believing there was more to him than blind hatred and obsession.
“Only as long as All for One lives,” he replied softly. “We both know he won’t be spared in the end, and I- I don’t deserve to be saved. I don’t want to be saved anymore. For a time I thought you might be able to do it, had hoped and prayed that I could bring you to my side to make me whole again. But too much of me has been devoured by this place, by that man who pretended to care about me. No, there’s no good outcome for me or for him; please tell me you understand that.”
It was perhaps the most rational, level headed thing Izuku had ever heard the villain say. He felt a pang of sorrow in his gut as he realized Touya could have easily met the same fate had he continued to cling to his life as Dabi, had he not saved Izuku that night outside his family home. Touya…
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” he told the man earnestly. He didn’t think he could force himself to save the man Shigaraki had become, but that didn’t stop him from mourning the one that could have been.
Shigaraki gave him a sad, bitter smile. “You really are like All Might, you know. Brave and heroic and entirely too self-sacrificing. Please leave, Izuku, I can handle this problem myself.”
Shigaraki stepped closer to the massive tumor, both hands placed firmly along its lumpy, misshapen surface. Cracks began to forms and screams rang out from it, matching cracks streaking along Shigaraki’s arms. Izuku could only watch in horror as the villain destroyed All for One’s twisted anchor and himself, a cry fighting to escape him. The void around them began to shake and pain flashed hot against Izuku’s cheeks. Shigaraki looked back for just a moment, blood pouring from the cracks appearing on his face.
“Goodbye, Izuku.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When he returned to the world Izuku registered three things simultaneously: a large Commission jet was coming over the shattered horizon, All for One was crumbling before him, and two blackened hands were holding his face in a vice-like grip. He could feel his skin decaying, the pain he’d felt earlier coming into focus and multiplying as he struggled to break free.
All for One was grinning madly with what little lips he had left, his eyes wild with pain and anger and glee. “Very well! If I’m to die by my protégé’s treachery, I’ll make sure to take you with me!”
Izuku punched and kicked at the villain’s broken body, dislodging chunks of brittle gray flesh but unable to free himself. All for One stomped at the ground, unleashing a shockwave that toppled the approaching heroes and sent them sprawling. “Useless, pathetic whelp! I dragged that boy from the filthy streets to a life that mattered, and he pays me in kind with a slatternly teenager with a savior complex. Tell me Midoriya, how many kisses did it take to win him over, hm? To win any of these simpering fools to your side? I’d melt those disgusting lips off your prepubescent face if I didn’t know you’d use it against me.”
Izuku had begun focusing his power on healing himself, though it had become a power struggle between his quirk and Shigaraki’s. “Oh yes, let’s do test your limits! I wonder how long you’ll be able to keep up? That damned Shigaraki, I should have taken this from you the moment that school broadcast your quirk to the nation! Well, it hardly matters now; I’m going to Hell, Midoriya, and you’re to be my escort!”
Katsuki roared as his fist collided with the left side of All for One’s face, Shoto’s fist striking his right. A burst of brilliant flames met a powerful explosion, burning through the remaining flesh, bone and sinew of the villain’s skull. Izuku fell backwards as All for One’s desperate grip finally released, arms falling lifelessly to his sides. Izuku sensed the last flickers of life leave Shigaraki’s body and tried to tell them, but Shoto and Katsuki continued to punch, kick, burn, freeze and explode every inch of the corpse that remained. They didn’t stop until the very ashes themselves had been pummeled into the barren earth, then fell to their knees as the night finally grew silent.
No one said a word as the jet Izuku had spied came in to land, perching itself on a world the Commission had just tried to eradicate. Endeavor stomped towards the carrier, the flames of his beard glowing like candlelight against the dark. Mirio was muttering lowly into his communicator, trailing after Endeavor with only a brief glance backwards at the students.
Katsuki and Shoto felt themselves being pulled into a tight embrace by their boyfriend, none of them making eye contact. There was little comfort in the touch, more so a tether to the world than any thing else. They clung to one another and stared blankly at the soot and smoke that was once Tomura Shigaraki, free from their nightmare but not yet awake.