Chapter 10: Our dreams

Izuku woke up in the middle of the night and fids that he is still in the nurse's office and lets out a disappointed sigh. Eri still sleeps on the chair next to his bed with her head on the bed and lightly snoring.

He sits up and checks his surroundings and is met with the sleeping figure of Toshinori and no-one else in the room. He gets out of the bed and then stands next to the bed that Toshinori sleeps in.

Izuku sighs as he looks upon the condition that Toshinori was in. He was bloodied and had dried blood around his lips and chest. He was currently shirtless, so Izuku could see his wound and all the bruises and cuts that he had on his chest and around his stomach.

He leaves the room and is met with complete darkness in the hallway of U.A. He starts to walk around aimlessly and eventually is met with stairs and falls them, falling face first and feeling his nose slightly crack under the force.

He gets up rubbing his nose and slightly wincing. He proceeds to go down the stairs and eventually gets to the bottom floor. Or, at least he could tell it was the bottom floor form the windows that showed that he was level with the ground outside.

He had kept looking through the window as he walked the hall to the entrance and stared at the bright white moon that soared over the night sky and had shadowed the outlines of the glass and Izuku.

Then, he finds himself in front of the doors to the entrance. He goes through and is met with the chilly breeze that seemed to overpower him and had sent chills down his spine. He stays still for a few moments and looking at the frost white moon.

He starts to move again but immediately feels his phone vibrate.

'Hey Izuku, can you come meet me at the beach.' That was all Izuku saw when he realized it was Ryosuke's contact that messaged him. He immediately sprints off and leaves a cloud of dust behind him as he runs towards the beach.

He eventually gets there and sees Ryosuke mindlessly looking at the ocean that was starting to attract trash again. Izuku silently approaches and is mesmerized at the glow that emanated from his hair that shone in the moonlight.

"Ryosuke? Why'd you call me over here so late at night?" Izuku approaches carefully.

"Izuku. How would you like to meet All for One?" He says in response in a lifeless tone that made it sound like he wasn't in control.

"Why would I do that?" Izuku tenses up at the mention of All for One.

Izuku then feels a presence creeping up behind him. He continues to approach him and ignores the presence.

"Izuku. You know I still care about you, right?"

"What do you mean? What's happen- "

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a hand that held his throat but left one finger retracted. Izuku stiffens and stays still.

"Good, it seems like you're complying to our wishes. Please continue." It was the voice that was holding his throat. "Ryosuke, can we go now?"

"Yeah." He pulls his phone up to his ear.

"Hello. Did you get him?"

"Yeah, we did. Please open a portal."

"Right."

Then, a portal opened to the side of him and then the hand that was to his throat had forced him to move forward. He hesitated for a second before finally entering the portal and suddenly appearing in what seemed to be a… bar?

"Drop him there." A mist man behind the bar that hung up a call on his phone.

They then put Izuku in a chair and restrained him by restraining his arms to the arms of the chair. He then looked up to see the group that basically kidnapped him.

He sees Ryosuke sitting in a chair in the corner. In front of him was the guy who had him by his throat. He had light blue hair and pale skin that looked like snow, he added features by putting hands all over his body and one on his face that only showed his right bloodshot eye.

To his right was the mist man behind the bar that consisted of only mist and a tuxedo with a metal brace that surrounded his neck. He had squinted yellow eyes with no pupils whatsoever.

Then, there was the screen that was basically just playing static, but in the corner, it had said that it was on audio only.

"Sensei. Should we bring him to you?" The blue haired guy said to the screen. He was met with silence for a moment before the screen had finally spoken.

"No. Leave him there. I think it will be easier to talk to him this way."

"Tomura. We should take our time in what we do. So please ask the child what you wanted to." The mist man said to the blue haired guy.

"Fine, Kurogiri. Hey kid. How would you like to be under the supervision of us, the League of Villains?"

'What? They're asking me to join them, that's absolutely ridiculous.' "That is absolutely ridiculous, and I can't believe that you suggested that." Izuku said in a bold voice.

'Crap! I did it now!'

Then, the guy presumably named Tomura started laughing maniacally. "Sensei, I like this kid. We should definitely keep him."

"What? I have a lot of questions right now."

"Go ahead, child. Ask away, and I'm sure my subordinates will provide you with a well thought of answer." The screen had spoken again, directly at him.

Before he asked his first question, he started to melt the bottom of the restraints and the melted part so that they couldn't see that he was melting them. "My first question is… Why do you want me?"

He then melted them enough so that he could escape without much trouble.

"Child, I heard you had beaten All Might in a fight. Of course it wasn't made public, but there were some videos of the two of you fighting in the air. That's an impressive feat on its own. To be fighting toe to toe with All Might perfectly and when I heard that you had won the fight. I was even more interested to see what type of person you were."

"Really? That flatters me, All for One…"

"So you knew my name after all? That's surprising in its own features. What's even more surprising is the way you're trying to escape right now."

Izuku stiffened when he heard that. The others in the room were also confused. "I didn't know I'd be found out so easily. You're an interesting person, All for One."

"You too, Izuku Midorya. I hope I see you again in the future."

"Me too."

Everyone is confused. Izuku then destroys the restraints and then punches the wall powered with OFA and destroys it instantly. He jumps out and leaves the rest of them in shock, as well have a hole in the building.

Izuku's running as hard as he can to U.A. again. He checks the time and sees that it is 1 in the morning. He runs even harder and eventually gets thereafter like 10 minutes. He quickly goes inside and gets to the nurse's office panting and breathing heavily.

He is relieved when he sees that Eri and Toshinori were fine, but what did surprise him was Recovery Girl looking at her computer and some data that was on the screen.

She looks over to him and raises an eyebrow at his presence. "Oh, you're back."

"Yeah, I am."

"I was wondering where you went."

"Really?"

Izuku walks towards her and then looks at the data on the screen. It looked like a sort of line graph that said, 'Time.' On the bottom and, 'Power.' On the side. Izuku was confused before reading the title. 'Power of All Might's Hold on One for All.'

"What is this?" Izuku stiffens as he looks at the power.

"This is the decline of his power over the years. I needed to check it again because of your fight yesterday, but I am too surprised at how much it has declined."

"What do you mean?"

"This." She says as points to a part of the 'time' section that said, 'Prime.'

"This was All Might's prime before he had his fight with All for One. Even though he could still use about 75% of his full power at the time. Before he fought you, I can say that he could only use about 30% of it when he was fighting continuously. Now, he can only use half of that, it's honestly worrying."

"Yeah. I'm sorry if I'm the use for this."

"It's alright, Izuku-kun. Anyway, where were you?"

"It's a long story. I don't want to say anything about it yet, so I'm going to go back to sleep."

"Very well, goodnight."

"Night."

Izuku falls asleep again with the face of Recovery Girl looking at him worrying on her chair.

Next morning…

He wakes up again and sighs as he wakes up to the sight of Eri playing with Toshinori across the room. Toshinori had suffered worse injuries than him so he had his arm in an arm brace. He was currently playing with Eri, chasing her around the room laying tag, probably.

He silently gets up, looking at the two play together and enjoyed the sight.

"Eri. Toshinori." Izuku said as they both stopped in their tracks to look at Izuku. Eri ran up and gave her father a hug and dug her head into his legs. And Toshinori walks up to the both slowly as he looks at Eri with a reassuring smile.

"Papa! I was so worried last night! I woke up and you weren't there, and the nice lady and assured me that you were alright and told me to go back to sleep! Where were you?" Eri said while still digging her face into his legs.

"I actually wanted to know that as well, Izuku. Where were you last night?"

"Eri can Toshinori and I talk in private while you go and find another teacher to go and play with?"

She nods her head furiously and runs out of the room before stopping and popping her head back through the doorway.

"Bye Papa! Bye Toshinori-kun!" The two guys waved her off and she ran off again.

Izuku sighs and leads Toshinori to his bed, telling him to lay in it.

"So, how's your condition going, Toshinori-sensei?"

"Izuku, that's going off-topic. I wanted to know where you were last night."

"And I'm worried about your health. So, how's your condition going? I mean, I doubt you can keep being the symbol of peace for long, so, what's the circumstances?"

Toshinori sighs in response. "Fine. My condition is getting serious. I can't keep being the symbol of peace for long."

"When do you think you will have to stop?"

"When I beat All for One and take revenge on him and send him to prison for killing my master."

"That's good to know. About All for One, and where I was last night…"

"What about All for One?!"

"Calm down. I was just taking a walk last night and then I got a text from Ryosuke telling me to come to the beach and when I got there, I was supposedly kidnapped by someone called 'Tomura' and 'Kurogiri'. Ryosuke, from what I could tell, was brainwashed, but I didn't know who could do that. Then I heard his voice through one of the screens that was in the room. All for One's voice."

Toshinori sighs again. "Well, I'm glad you are alright. So, you said that Ryosuke was brainwashed?"

"Yeah, he was obviously not himself when he was in the room with me. Plus I have this that I got from the Tomura guy a few days ago."

Izuku then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a crumbled-up piece of paper. He hands it to him and Toshinori look at the paper to what appears to be a letter.

His face fills with shock as he continues to read the letter. He then drops to the floor and has an expression that's mixed with sadness, disappointment and fear. "So, that man has actually come back, huh?"

"Yeah, it seems like it."

"I'll report this to the teachers, and you should go fetch Eri and head home and get some rest, huh."

"Yeah sure, I will do that. I'll help you get that to the office and to Nezu first before I leave."

"Very well."

They then proceed to head to Nezu's office and are walking down the hallway when they see that Eri I am peeking her head around the corner, making a cute giggle.

"Eri! What are you doing?"

"Oh, Papa, Toshinori-kun! I've just been playing with Cementoss-san!"

He then appears around the corner and looks at Izuku straight in the eyes.

"I see you are healing well, Cementoss-san?" Izuku said, pointing at the cracks in his cement body.

"Yes, Midorya. To be honest, I wasn't expecting that fight to end so quickly. You caught me off guard. Good job, by the way, making it in, I mean."

"I understand Cementoss-san. I hope that we will see each other again in the future." Izuku says with a slight bow.

"You too Midorya." Cementoss replied with a bow of his own.

Eri runs around Izuku and Toshinori a couple times more before she jumps into Izuku's arms and snuggles against his chest. Izuku smile at this and beckons for Toshinori to keep going. They do and say their regard to Cementoss and head toward Nezu's office. They get there and is immediately greeted by the door opening and Aizawa stepping out.

"Oh, Aizawa-sensei! Are you healing well?" Izuku points out the bandages that Aizawa has over his body and his arm.

"Yes, I'm doing fine, brat. All Might, Nezu wants to see you personally." Aizawa says looking at Toshinori.

"Yes, in fact, Izuku and I were just going in to see him." Toshinori replies with a serious tone.

"Very well." With that, Aizawa leaves and leaves the trio in front of the door.

Izuku steps in along with Toshinori and sit down facing toward the chair that was facing away from them. The chair turns and the trio are met with a serious look from Nezu. Toshinori and Izuku return the serious look and Izuku gives Toshinori a nod.

He then takes out the letter that was in his pocket and hands it to Nezu. His facial features become a mixture between shock and seriousness.

"Toshinori-kun. You know what this means, right?" Nezu says as he turns away from them again.

"Of course Nezu. We will be fully prepared for when this happens."

"Very good, Toshinori-kun." Nezu drops his serious look and goes back to his goofy and fluffy expression. "Izuku-kun? I need to speak with you before you and Eri-chan leave. Is that okay with the two of you?"

"Yes, Nezu-sensei." Izuku stands up and leaves the room to let the two of them chat before he came back in.

He caresses Eri and she falls asleep, giving cute little snores every so often. Izuku holds her bridal style. Then, Toshinori left the room and met Izuku outside. Closing the door to let the two of the talk, they fall into silence.

"Be ready for what he's about to tell you." Izuku gets confused by this remark.

Toshinori leaves, leaving a confused Izuku to stand there and sweat drop thinking about what's about to go down. Izuku gulps and enters the room. He sits in the chair he sat in before. He closes his eyes and waits for Nezu to speak.

He waits for a while before Izuku hears audio from a video that Nezu seems to be playing. Izuku opens his eyes and is surprised when he finds Nezu smiling at the video he's playing.

Izuku can roughly make out the audio for the video. He could tell it was his voice, but he didn't know whether that's an actual video.

"Izuku-kun. This is a great debut."

Izuku looks at him confused at why he said that. Nezu takes note of this and flips the computer that had the video on it that was paused.

Nezu pressed play and Izuku immediately realized that it was him. It was him talking to the girl that he had given his autograph to. Izuku smiles as he watches himself ruffle the girl's hair and start to walk away.

"Izuku-kun, I have two things to tell you before we go and talk about… this."

"Very well. Please, go ahead." Izuku feels confident and listens intently.

"Izuku-kun. The first thing is whether or not you know that Ryosuke was brainwashed during that incident that happened last night."

"What?! Of course he was brainwashed! He wouldn't have done that! I'm his… successor, and I don't think he would have done that." Izuku explains this as he stands up and slams his hands onto Nezu's desk. "I just think he was picked up by the wrong people." Izuku looks at the ground in sadness.

He hears Nezu laugh and he looks at him again, confused. "Well, Izuku-kun. I think that was the right answer. In fact, I also think that he was picked up by the wrong people. That's why I also wanted to ask you if you think you can save him when you see him next time." Nezu looks at him in complete seriousness.

"Yes, Sir! I will bring Ryosuke-sensei back to normal!"

"That's good. My second thing I wanted to ask you. Have you decided on your hero motto?"

"Motto?" Izuku looks at him confused.

"Yes motto. What's your hero quote to the people?"

"Isn't that a little too early for that?" Izuku says as he waves his hands around in the air.

"Nothing's to early when it comes to be a hero. Now, please tell me your motto."

"Fine. I was thinking of this one for a while. In fact, it relates to how I was before I was born."

"Oh? Now I want to hear this. Go on."

"Very well." Izuku takes a deep breath.

"Most heroes are born with talent and have potential for greatness. While those that are quirkless are left in the dust. If you have the drive, will and mind to be a hero. Then what's stopping you from being one? If you don't believe in yourself, then gain strength that only true heroes can obtain. Whatever the case, everyone must not regret that deep inside, they are a hero, and they can still achieve greatness. Even if they are not born equally." Izuku takes another deep breath.

"How was that?" Izuku asks Nezu who has his eyes closed and silently nods to himself.

"That was good, Izuku-kun. Really inspiring. It's sort of like All Might's quote about everyone being heroes."

"That's what I based it off, along with the way quirkless people are treated and thrown out by society."

"I see, very good. Now back to your mini debut."

"Right, Nezu-sensei."

"This is a really good debut, if you wanted to gain respect from the people, I mean. But if you wanted to come off as a strong hero, then this was not that good."

"Right, I'll do better next time."

"Very good, you are dismissed."

"Yes, Nezu-sensei!" They both say their regards and Izuku leaves with Eri. He gets into civilian clothing before exiting the building.

They walk the streets in peace. Some people look at them with looks of smiles and faces that say they are cute together. He still holds her in his arms and is currently walking to his apartment.

On the way there, he meets a few civilians as they pass each other and wish each other good days.

Then, he recognizes a familiar face. It's the girl that he met and gave an autograph to and had seen in the video. Though she might not recognize him in his civilian clothing. He closes his eyes and continues to walk, going past them before he stops and notices a tug at his sleeve. He turns around to see the girl tugging at his sleeve and her mother beckoning her to come back to her.

He bends down so he is eye level with her. He gives her a small smile. Her face lights up and then hugs the hero in training. Izuku is surprised by this action.

Her mother comes over and bows down saying sorry to Izuku. He stops her and slowly gets her off.

He spoke again but with a low and calming voice. "Child, how are you? And how are your observations going?" Her face lights up and the mother gets confused by the situation.

"T-they're really g-good! B-by the way, Sir! I s-saw you with I-Ingenium. Are you working with him as well?"

"No child. I was merely noting his actions, as I am a hero in training."

"N-no, you're not! Y-you're a s-strong h-hero! I wish I could be one…"

"Why do you want to be one, Child?"

"I want to be a hero so I can help people! I want to save people so that they can feel safe when I'm around and working! B-but I c-can't do that…"

"Why not, Child?"

"It's because I have a useless quirk." Izuku responds by liftin his eyebrow. "You see… I have a quirk that lets me make people turn into cement."

Izuku closes his eyes in amusement. 'She found that to be useless. Then I guess I will get to use part of my motto already.'

"Listen, Child. You were born with a good quirk, and talent that makes you destined for greatness! But you think that you can not do that? Maybe you don't believe in yourself because you haven't found out the full capabilities of your quirk. Whatever the case, you must not forget that deep inside, you are a great hero! Reignite your passion and take on the path to be a hero! I will be supporting you throughout your journey as a hero. Now…" Izuku stands back up ruffling the girl's hair and holding Eri with one hand.

"I have to go. Excuse me, Child and Ma'am." He nods towards the woman, to which she bows in response, still looking confused.

Izuku walks away, satisfied with how he said his new motto. The woman walks to her child and asks her who the man was, as she did not figure it out.

"That was the man that gave me an autograph the other day, Mom! He's also an amazing hero! Wow! He looked so cool!" She practically screams as she gets into the car that was waiting for her and her mother.

As soon as she steps in, she gets out her notebook and starts to draw the form of which Izuku had taken. Him kneeling in front of her, with a beaming smile. She also writes down what he said next to the picture. She could only remember parts of it, as she is only a small child.

"You haven't found the full capabilities of your quirk.
Reignite your passion and take the path to be a hero!
You must not forget deep inside; you are a great hero!" Was all she could write down before she felt sleepy and fell asleep, pen and notebook in hand.

Her hand had covered most of the words and quotes that were there. Except five words that was left uncovered.

'you are a great hero!'