The Sacred Torch: Return

Pain, flesh deep and paralyzing.

"It's over. Why do you struggle so much? You knew it was useless to oppose me from the start."

Blood gushing out in a steady flow, dripping on the ground.

"Such a waste. If you stayed loyal to me, you would have had a long and promising career."

Anger burning like acid in the throat, cutting through the haze.

"I was never loyal to you."

Cold as ice laughter.

"Still pathetic, even with the quirk I gave you. What a disappointment you are, Haru."

Contempt, pulsing through the veins like venom.

"I haven't lost yet, All For One."

Confidence, with the smallest hint of confusion.

"Delusional as always, little brother. How amusing."

A hand grabbing his forehead.

"I'll just take back what's mine and be on my way. Why waste a perfectly usable quirk on someone so ungrateful."

A rush of power. Heat. Pain.

Then it's over.

Silence.

"What have you done?"

The words are no longer tinted with amusement.

"How did you do this, Haru? Answer me."

A smile stretches over his bloodied lips.

"Oh? Did I surprise you? I thought you had me all figured out."

Frigid fury. Fingers dig into his throat.

"If you don't wish to suffer the most agonizing death imaginable, you will answer me. What. Did. You. Do."

A chuckle sprays drops of blood on the other's clean face.

"A little late for that, bastard."

The fingers squeeze tighter. The air is cut off from his lungs. Can't breathe...!

"Don't test me, Haru. Tell me."

The air's back. A gasp tears out from him involuntarily.

"I... will... tell you this..."

Two pairs of eyes meet. One is emotionless. The other is burning with fire.

"I... promise. You will... pay... one day. I'm not... done."

The last deep breath, before his vision darkens.

"I will beat you."

Then it all goes black.

Reincarnations are not supposed to remember their past lives - not really. Sometimes, very rarely, a traumatic event might trigger some memories from a different life in a person. As uncommon as it was, it wasn't impossible. However, no one can simply remember everything from a past life all of a sudden, not without some outside influence or serious interference. It just wasn't natural. Unfortunately for Izuku, fate loved playing with him.

Izuku Modoriya didn't remember being the reincarnation of Haru Mayonaka, the first holder of One For All, prior receiving the quirk from from All Might. And even then, he didn't exactly remember. It came to him slowly, so gradually that he barely even noticed it at first. On the first day at UA...

"Good morning! I am from Somei Private Academy, my name is-!"

"I-I heard!" Izuku squeaked, intimidated by the tall boy who scolded him before the exam. "I'm Mayo- uh, I mean... I'm Midoriya. Haru Mido- I mean Izuku! I'm Izuku Midoriya!" He shouted finally. "Nice to meet you, Iida!"

What the heck, why did I try to introduce myself with a different name? he wondered, clueless.

During class…

"Hey Koriyoda, um, can I borrow a pencil?"

The red-haired boy blinked at him in confusion. "You mean me, man?"

Did Izuku get his name wrong? He was sure he got it right! "What, what did I say?"

"You said Koriyoda."

I said that? "Oh, r-right, sorry Kirishima! A slip of a tongue, I guess."

Except it wasn't.

"No problem, man! Here you go," Kirishima handed him a pencil with a smile. It looked familiar to Izuku.

Who the heck is 'Koriyoda'? he asked himself with bewilderment, not comprehending why his heart ached so much by just thinking about the name.

After class...

"I-is something wrong, Mr. Aizawa?" Izuku asked nervously. Eraserhead stared down at him menacingly.

"I am only going to ask you this once, Midoriya. Why," he put a sheet of paper on the desk "Did you decide to sign your work as 'Haru Mayonaka'?"

Izuku chocked. "I- I did what?!"

"If this is some kind of prank," Aizawa said to his with narrowed eyes. "Then I'm disappointed at your lack of creativity."

"Um..." Izuku had honestly no idea how to explain himself. "How, how did you know it was me?"

Eraserhead rolled his eyes in contempt. "Please. I've been grading your assignments from the beginning of the school year. I know you handwriting." He tapped the paper with his finger. "Besides that, I know perfectly well the list of people who took this test, no "Mr. Mayonaka" included. Please don't take me for an idiot."

"I'm sorry, sir, it was a mistake!" Izuku apologized pathetically, incredibly embarrassed. "I promise it won't happen again!"

"It better not. I am letting it slide only this once, you better pay attention in the future Midoriya."

"Y-yes sir."

With his friends...

"Deku? Can I ask you something?" asked Ochako on they way home from school.

"Sure! What is it, Uraraka?"

"Is 'Haru' another nickname of yours? Do you want us to call you that?"

"What?" Izuku looked at her with shock. "Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, I've just seen you write it down a couple of times. And I hear that you accidentally signed your test with it once."

Izuku's face immediately went red. He hid it in his hands. "This is so embarrassing…!"

Ochako patted him on the back. "It's okay, don't worry! I was just curious, do you want to be called Haru? It's a nice nickname." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I still like 'Deku' more, though."

Izuku managed to smile at her despite his humiliation. "Deku is fine, don't worry Uraraka."

Izuku didn't know why the name chased after him, why his subconscious kept dragging it out in the open. He was never ever called Haru by anyone, and he's never met a person named Koriyoda. There was no way those words meant anything to him.

Right?

It only really clicked at the Sports Festival during his fight against Hitoshi Shinsou.

Facing of all the previous One For All... seeing his own face staring back at him. Suddenly his mind cleared, as if there was a constant fog clouding it before.

He was Izuku Midoriya. But he was also Haru Mayonaka. He was a first year student at the UA academy, and he was the younger brother of the worst criminal mastermind in Japan. He was born quirkless, twice, and twice he received a quirk from someone else. He was a student and a teenager and very much alive, but he was also a thirty-year-old man who died in a brutal fight against All For One.

In short, he was two vastly different people at the same time and oh God he was so confused.

However, his conflict over the duality of his identity did not matter much in the grand scheme of things. He only needed to be Haru to know what to say to All For One in order to save the Symbol of Peace.

"Hiyaki Mayonaka! You coward!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. His shout resounded and reached everyone in the disaster area, including the hero and the villain in the middle of a battle.

All For One, ready to launch an attack which All Might wouldn't dodge in order to protect an innocent woman's life, froze. Slowly, he turned around, his sightless mask facing Izuku, his focus solely on him. Just like he'd planned.

"Using other people as targets to get one over All Might? Just how pathetic are you, Hiyaki?" he mocked him, loud and fearless for all appearances, in spite of his insides shuddering with ice-cold panic. This man killed him once in the past. He did not want to repeat the experience.

All For One was still for a beat. Silent. Then: "How do you know that name, boy?"

"Take a wild guess, All For One."

Hiyaki was silent, as if waiting for him to elaborate. The boy grinned savagely, like Koriyoda would have done.

"You need a hint? Very well. I will tell you this..."

Staring at the mask, he imagined the pair of emotionless eyes looking back at him, the last thing Haru saw before his first death. He could recall his last words vividly.

"I promised you. I promised that one day..."

He stepped forward, keeping All For One's focus only on himself, giving All Might time to act.

"...you would pay. I'm still not done."

All For One twitched, as if the words were a physical blow. It was incredibly satisfying, to see evidence of the impact he was making on the allegedly untouchable monster by words alone.

"I."

He took step forward.

"Will."

And another.

"Beat."

And another.

"You."

They stood five feet apart from each other. Haru could see All For One shaking slightly.

"Impossible."

"Is it?" Haru said to his brother, his voice calm and devoid of emotion. "And yet, here we are."

And in that moment, All Might chose to strike from behind. That one clean shot in the moment of distraction was all it took to change to course of the fight. Five minutes later, the battle was all over. Haru had the satisfaction of having the last word this time, before Hiyaki was taken away by the authorities.

"You lose, All For One," he said, and then he was free. The unbelievable weight on his soul since the beginning of this conflict finally lifted, leaving him lightheaded.

Izuku stood by the disaster zone, trebling from adrenaline and relief and leftover terror from the encounter. He might have acted as Haru back there, but now, he was all Midoriya - a schoolboy who just survived a verbal showdown with the most dangerous man in the country, if not the entire planet.

Just thinking about it caused him another mental breakdown.

"My boy?"

Izuku jumped at least two feet in the air, startled.

"A-All Might!" he exclaimed, incredibly relieved to see his mentor. Then he froze. "You're bleeding!"

"I'm fine, my boy, don't worry about it-"

Izuku grabbed his arm and started pulling. "It's going to be okay, I promise, we'll get you to the Recovery Girl-!"

"Calm down, young Midoriya, I'm not dying! They're not dangerous wounds, just superficial."

"Of course you're not." Izuku promised frantically. "Don't worry All Might! You're going to be perfectly fine, I'll make sure of it!"

All Might sighed with fond exasperation, like he wasn't surprised by his behavior. "My boy, I know you must be still pretty shaken after all of this," Izuku knew where this was going. "But I have to ask..."

"About what I said to All For One?" he said tentatively, with a bit of apprehension. But All Might's expression was free of accusation.

"You called him Hiyaki Mayonaka."

Izuku lowered his head. "I did," he whispered. "It's what he was called, before. Before All For One."

"Izuku." A warm hand squeezed his shoulder encouragingly. All Might must have seen how difficult it was for him. "Can you tell me how you know that name?"

With a heavy gulp, Izuku gathered all of his courage and looked up at his mentor. Then suddenly everything was pouring out of him.

"All Might, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, I know I should have, I was just so scared and it was just so confusing, and I didn't know what was going on, I didn't even notice at first, but then the Sports Festival happened and suddenly there were all these memories in my head and-!"

"Slow down, my boy. Deep breaths."

Izuku stopped, gasping. All Might rubbed his back.

"Now, let's start over, from the beginning."

"Right." Izuku rubbed his face tiredly. "So, at first they were like... flashes? Like those commercial pop-up ads on videos you don't pay attention to because you switch them off immediately after five seconds so you don't remember what they're really about despite seeing them?"

All Might blinked. Then he chuckled. "That's... a terrible metaphor, but I get it."

"Yeah, so... I was basically seeing my life." Izuku fidgeted. He couldn't believe he was talking about it. He never told this to ANYONE, not even his mom. "But not my life. It's still a bit confusing... but from what I understand I remembered a life I had before I was reincarnated."

"Reincarnated." All Might repeated, slowly, as if trying to ingest the concept.

"Yeah." Izuku huffed. Then he giggled a bit hysterically. "Crazy stuff, right?"

All Might shook his head, his arm squeezing his shoulder in empathy. "My boy, we live in a superhuman society where people can bend laws of physics to their will without any effort. I think reincarnation is not as far-fetched as some might believe."

Izuku's eyes widened, and he looked at his mentor in amazement. "You believe me?"

"How could I not?" All Might shrugged with a helpless smile. "What you said shocked All For One enough to make him make a mistake, which is extraordinary by itself. I understand that you knew him in your… past life?"

Izuku ruffled his hair with a deep sigh. Now for the most difficult confession of all. "That's a little of an understatement. He was..." He tensed, preparing for the worst. "He was my brother."

All Might froze. For a long, uncomfortable moment, he stared at Izuku like he'd never seen him before.

"You're..." he rasped, and he had to clear his throat. "You are the original holder of One For All?"

"Were. Was. I mean, I died." Izuku babbled, shaking from tension and ready to bury himself underground from the pressure. "Not anymore, right? I think. I've been Izuku this entire life. B-but yeah. My name was Haru Mayonaka back then."

All Might looked too shocked to say anything to that. After another moment of silence, Izuku could no longer take it and blurted out:

"All Might? Do you hate me?"

"What?" All Might snapped out of his shock, surprised. "No, of course not! Why would you ask that, my boy?"

Hearing the familiar nickname made Izuku loosen up a bit. Still... "B-because... All For One and I... he's my..." he stuttered out, unable to look at the hero's face. "And I'm..."

"But you're not, Izuku. Not anymore, at least. You said it yourself."

"B-but..."

All Might chuckled suddenly. "Where's all this nervousness coming from? You were so bold and confident when you were facing him."

"Because I was being Haru back there!" the boy exclaimed. "But now, I'm just Izuku! And I'm shy and a crybaby and I admire you so much and feel like a complete child." He hid his face in his arms in embarrassment. "I have all the theoretical knowledge and memories from my life as Haru but I don't feel the experience he had, if that makes sense."

"I see."

"When I was facing All For One I just tried to act like I was Haru again, but now I'm just Izuku and I'm just a kid and I'm scared that you're disappointed in me and you're going to leave me now that you know the truth about me-"

He was suddenly held by a pair of arms, tugged closed to All Might's chest.

"Never, my boy." All Might put his hand on his head, petting his hair like a father would. Izuku felt warm at the thought, his eyes quickly getting moist. "You are Izuku Midoriya. You are my successor and an amazing young man with incredible potential. I would never leave you, regardless of who you used to be. Besides, from what I've seen of Haru Mayonaka, you were just as great and amazing in the past life as you are now. Why on Earth would be disappointed?"

Predictably, Izuku's eyes spilled. He sniffled, tears running down his face. "You mean it All Might?"

"Of course I do!" All Might said confidently. "I'm so proud of you, Izuku. And I'm not going anywhere."

Izuku cried for a while out of sheer relief of being accepted and finally sharing his burden with someone. After several minutes, he confessed:

"I miss Koriyoda."

All Might's didn't waver, steadily petting his head. "Koriyoda?"

"Haru's best friend." It was weird to refer to himself in third person, but he needed to be clear. "He was the first one to inherit One For All."

"He must have been an amazing friend."

"He really was..." He shouldn't be saying this, but Izuku couldn't help himself: "I died for him, you know."

For a split of a second All Might tensed, then relaxed. Izuku hesitantly continued: "All For One was coming for us. I knew we couldn't both escape. I tricked Koriyoda in swallowing some of my blood, he didn't realize what I was doing at the time. I told him to run and I stayed behind to slow Hiyaki down. The words I told All For One today... I was repeating my words from right before he killed me."

All Might said nothing at first. Then, with a deep emotion in his voice Izuku couldn't decipher:

"'I will beat you', huh? You said that to him?"

"Yeah."

"Well, guess what my boy? And you did it. You really did beat him."

Izuku hugged All Might with a surge of emotion. Finally, it was over.

Haru could rest in peace, and Izuku intended to live his fullest for the both sides of him.

The End.

Author's Note:

This AU was requested by one of my reviewers, "Lokilust". Thank you very much for the inspiration! I hope it met your expectations, even though there was more of All Might & Izuku father & son relationship and fluff than an epic butt-kicking reincarnated Izuku… Oh well.

Thank you very much for reading, check out my "The Sacred Torch: Origins" story if you haven't already, please review if you liked it, but most importantly - read on and enjoy! ;)