Izuku found himself in a Chinese People´s Liberation Army helicopter, Kacchan by his side, Shigaraki sitting across them. Intensive medical and psychiatric treatment had made the ex-villain look much healthier, he acted like a completely different person. Shigaraki had somehow convinced Tsukauchi to let him fight All for One and return to prison afterwards, his argument helped by Nejire Hadou, who had visited and spoken with the ex-villain for hours and hours.
The hunt for All for One had started the instant he had flown out of Tartarus, interrupted a week after by the typhoon hitting Okinawa and resumed a few days later. Midoriya and Bakuguou had been in the vanguard of the investigation, performing reconnaissance, arrests, detective work…even paperwork. Aizawa-sensei, as part of the investigation, had been quite lenient with classwork, allowing them to concentrate on protecting Japan instead of stressing about finals.
The Hero Net had been on high alert on a global scale, and finally, three weeks after the escape, All for One was found in a fortified temple amidst the "floating islands" of Hunan Province, China. Supported by a sect of wind monks, the supervillain was lying as low as possible, not ready to fight the world yet.
In a week, Izuku, Bakugou and Shigaraki had joined up with the Chinese Dragon Twins, Shang and Ling, the top heroes of the People´s Republic, as well as a support team of special forces soldiers, and were ready to strike. The Dragon Twins flew along the helicopters as they neared the temple, and a minute out, Izuku felt his phone vibrate. He wasn't supposed to even have signal in the middle of the mountains, so he expected no notification from the Hero Net. Kacchan´s phone sounded as well, his ringtone, a little anime witch yelling "bakuretsu bakuretsu lalala…EXPLOSION!"
Pulling out their phones, the heroes saw the face of All for One. Around them, the special forces soldiers were seeing the same in combat tablets and support equipment and were reacting with bewilderment.
The supervillain spoke "Heroes, villains, citizens. You know who I am. I apologize for the quality of the image, this broadcast Quirk is a very recent acquisition, and the monks who were kind enough to shelter me had only a small camcorder. I have a few words for my friends: Cenotaph, Farmhouse, Storm, Hail, God´s Eye, Simple, Execute. Thank you for all your help all these years, Dima, I consider you a true brother. Now all of you, people of the world, hear me. The time of chaos is finally upon us. Events are in motion now, and the society you know is in a straight path to the grave. Will you join me in a new world, or perish in the old?"
"One for All, come on, let us end this. I will enjoy crushing you again, this time for good."
Izuku could only remember the fight in snapshots. A thunderstorm raged around the island cliffs, called upon by the monk´s Quirks. The Dragon Twin Shang killed by his own fire breathing quirk, stolen away by All for One, melted into a rock spire. Kacchan´s limbs bent in unnatural directions as laid down, defeated and broken amidst the temple ruins. The monks´ elemental powers tearing apart the soldiers. All for One standing above him, his remaining arm turned into an obsidian spider leg. The spires and cliffs flattened into a crater hundreds of meters wide. All for One´s femur protruding from his thigh and dripping blood to the ground, how he placed his weight on a footless leg. All for One´s Italian dress shoe, a foot inside, discarded a few meters away. Shigaraki´s yell as he placed his hands over All for One´s face.
Izuku and Shigaraki had stood amidst All for One´s ashes as the medevac chopper arrived. "You didn't think I would just let you go, did you, Midoriya?" The voice coming from Shigaraki´s mouth wasn't his own. Pestilentia, can´t even let me have a normal nightmare, huh? "Shigaraki" was attacking a second later, but Izuku was ready. One punch to the head was all it took, in a dream One for All had no limits. "Unless you want to tell me more stories, you´re gonna let me sleep, villain!" A whisper on his ear replied "I guess I did have a bit of fun with your memories, incomplete as they were. I´ll give you a little wake up."
Above a single plane flew against the sunrise. A missile detached from one of its wings, falling down to the earth. And then it exploded. The light burned Izuku´s eyes, the sound made him deaf. The explosion expanded instantly and engulfed him. He felt his skin burn off in a millisecond, his muscles and organs boil and dissolve. His bones turned to dust. His conscience was suddenly well aware of every molecule of his being, obliterated one by one. He felt himself become smaller and smaller, until he was a single atom. Izuku felt his last atom split…and he woke up.
His throat was sore, as if he had been shouting. His heart was beating fast and his breathing was shallow. From a door burst in his mom, tears in her eyes, followed by All Might. "Izuku!" in a moment she was by his side. "It was a nightmare…it felt so real. I have to tell the agents, mom." "Can it wait for a while? We want to make sure you are okay?" She hadn't even finished talking when Toga rushed him on the other side, holding his hand. "Izu-Izu…it's alright" she said softly, a knowing glint in her eyes.
"How long did I sleep, anyway?" All Might answered "Almost a full day, but your leg is fully healed. Recovery girl even told us that your arm bones are looking sturdier than last check-up." "How are my friends?" "All recovering, young Iida took young Uraraka away to eat. The Americans wanted a word with all of you by the end of the week, when all are healed." "That is great, I´m happy they are alright. I guess they´ll want some answers soon?" His mom nodded "We also want to talk more, when you are feeling better and are well rested, your friends can see you after that. And I mean talking alone with my son, Toga. I also want to give you a talk when possible."
Toga looked more afraid of his mom than when she had fought Nomus and could only nod weakly. "Mom, would you give us a few minutes, please? I haven't been able to talk to Himiko much since we got away, I was out most of the time." "Of course, son. We are both outside if you need anything." His parents left the room, closing the door behind them. Toga took the chance to get up on his bed and cuddle next to him. Luckily the hospital had given her some scrubs instead of the half-open gown Izuku wore, so he could concentrate on actually talking to her.
"Izu-Izu, you woke up screaming. I was here as soon as the doctors cleared me, and I saw you sleep peacefully for more than twelve hours. I left twenty minutes ago to get some ramen and when I was returning, I could hear it from the elevator. Was it the dream?" "Yeah, and it all ties with Pestilentia. And to you. And in the dream, I died from a nuclear bomb. I felt it all, I was so scared!" Tears had started falling from his eyes and Himiko hugged him, her grasp just making the tears flow even more. "Shh, shh…its alright, Izu-Izu. I´m not leaving you. I´ll hold you until you feel better, okay?"
As his breathing became normal and the sobs stopped, Izuku separated a bit, sitting up in the bed. "I have actually had nightmares end like that too, Izu-Izu. How is all this connected?" Izuku took a deep breath and started "Pestilentia´s Quirk is dream control. He makes a substance that gets in the brain and lets him communicate with parts of it, even manipulating it. He is the source of your nightmares, of the voices in your head. He has been inside your mind since he had you kidnapped fourteen years ago. His men injected me with the substance and put me to sleep in the base, and he is now in my head, too. And he told me everything they did to you. I´m never letting anyone hurt you again, Himiko. You are not a monster, and I want to help you more than ever. I will be here for you. I…I love you."
Inko Midoriya fidgeted with her hands outside her son´s hospital room. She had grown to accept the idea that her son would put his life on the line as a hero, and that every method to mitigate the dangers was being used; his friend Hatsume making his suit stronger and more resistant, him getting extra training with his teachers and other pro heroes, getting him to slow down and analyse the battle before rushing in. It still made Inko´s heart ache seeing him injured, but getting congratulated by Recovery Girl on Izuku´s "progress into injuring himself less" made it a bit better.
Perhaps the real stress came from her thoughts on Toga. The incomplete archive had painted her as a dangerous individual, connected to a kidnapping and dozens of criminal acts. However, it clashed completely with the sad, lonely girl that had stayed by Izuku´s bedside, waiting for him to wake up.
She had spoken to a few of her son´s friends, his teammates. Tenya had been polite and honest, and seemed quite shook by the mission, Inko knew he needed to speak with Izuku to completely vent his feelings. Shouto had been very open on his belief that Izuku knew what he was doing, and he had told Inko that he would have felt a hypocrite criticizing his friend, as his own brother had also been a villain. If he could believe redemption for his brother was possible, he could not doubt Izuku. Momo and Tsuyu had both expressed their concern for Izuku but wanted to hear his thoughts before even thinking to judge him. Fumikage had simply told her "not everything dwelling in the shadows is evil"
The other two girls had been a different story. Inko knew they both had feelings for her son; Ochako had never acted on her feelings, Mei had perhaps not been aware of them, the poor child seemed as clueless about feelings and social interactions as she was masterful in engineering. Mei had been quite closed with her, barely conversational. Afterwards, her father had confided in Inko and told her his daughter felt betrayed by Izuku not telling her anything, and very confused at all the situation.
Ochako had refused to talk to her, perhaps out of shame. Inko just didn't know why the girl had never told Izuku her feelings. It had been plain to see for the mother, and she knew Izuku had reciprocated those feelings for a time. Until one day, on his second year, he had told his mother that Ochako seemed to start becoming uncomfortable around him and to start being distant. Inko could now empathize with the girl; being in love was very intimidating for her, she could understand becoming anxious and bottling up feelings. But Inko hadn't yet started a relationship with Toshinori, and in that moment of her life, she was bitter and disillusioned. All she could think of when her son told her of his problem, was of Hisashi drifting away from her life, leaving her alone raising a child. To this day she regretted not having been able to help her son, she regretted having reacted in pain and perhaps poisoning what could have been a beautiful relationship, if she had just encouraged her son.
Ochako had kept her distance out of a crush, and if it wasn't for Tenya and Tsuyu, maybe Inko´s words might have completely ended her son´s friendship with the girl, distant as it had become. By the third year, Ochako had stopped coming to the Midoriya house, except in the few occasions her son invited the whole team. On the last semester, Inko had hoped against hope to see Ochako a bit more, thinking the girl might feel time running out and act, but it had been in vain. Izuku hadn't seemed to care much when she had chosen to go to the graduation party with Tenya instead, but Inko felt she would never really know the answer.
After asking for advice with Ochako, Izuku had never again confided in his mother like that. Had Inko severed the trust her son had in her? Had her fear finally been too much for him? She had found out about Toga from Toshinori, and apparently, they had been on what could pretty much be called a long-distance relationship for months by the time Izuku had told him. Softly, she said. "Toshi, I think all of this is my fault."
"Inko, what do you mean? Izuku is alright and if anything, it is my fault for not being able to do more to help." "Toshi, you do more than anyone could ever ask for. You have already helped everyone so much…helped me so much. But just listen, okay? I…I think I made have caused what got young Ochako like this. I think I lost Izuku´s trust and my advice hurt him. I…I´ll just tell you, alright?" She told him everything that had happened, why she had done it, how it had changed her son, subtly but importantly.
"Inko…you can not blame yourself for that. I know that Izuku trusts you and he will open up to you if you ask him. As for Ochako, I promise I will speak with her. But please don't blame yourself for her actions, ignoring her feelings was her own decision. Or for Izuku´s, he…he went through a lot on his second year. I wish I could have helped him more with uh…girls, but…eh…you were actually my first girlfriend" he said, blushing completely. "Their training ramped up and the League of Villains cast a very dark shadow, and after All for One escaped Izuku had the fear and feelings of failure added to his own personal frustration. And then he met Toga and talked her into turning herself in, and the rest we both know. None of this is your fault, or mine, as hard to say as that is. All we can do is connect again with our boy and help him make good decisions in the future."
They stared into each other´s eyes and Inko felt at peace. The regrets were still there, but she could always do better as a person, as a mother, as she kept growing and learning. And she would have a tall, awkward, kind superhero by her side to face it all.
From the room they heard Izuku start to speak with more confidence. They could hear a phrase or two, until he said "…love you." And Inko felt the tears stream down from her eyes. But Izuku didn't stop speaking. He told the story of a little girl, taken from the arms of her murdered parents, brainwashed and trained into a merciless killer, traded like a sack of grain between villains, stripped of memory and placed in a hostile environment, where mere survival led her to violence, escape and crime. And Inko felt sorry for Himiko Toga. She felt sorry for Ako.