To say Midoriya was nervous as All Might rapped his knuckles against the Midoriya apartment door was an understatement His mother knew he would be late home but had no idea why. She knew nothing of had occurred yet and she would likely get emotional.

The door opened and out stepped his mother, wearing a pink cardigan and blue skirt. Her eyes widened in confusion as they swept over her son and the skinny pro. Then they went over the boy's bandaged but red arm. "IZUKU! What happened?!"

"Hello, Ms. Midoriya. Apologies for the unannounced house call." All Might spoke as if he had been doing this for years. If it wasn't for Midoriya wasn't preparing to have to comfort his mother he'd be impressed, considering this was presumably the blonde's first ever house call as a teacher. "I'm Yagi Toshinori, a staff member at U.A. High."

"Oh my…" The woman said as she slowly traced her hand on her sons arm. "Please, come in, and call me Inko! I…Izuku. Are you ok?!"

"As good as can be, all things considered." Midoriya said, giving her his best smile through the pain. Suddenly he was wrapped in her arms as Toshinori stepped into their house with her invitation.

"Ah, thank you for permitting me entrance." All Might nodded as he wandered in and Izuku followed, placing a hand on his mother's back, already seeing the fear in her eyes. Once they all reached the living room and the green haired woman offered the man a seat which he took, he spoke up again. "Your son…"

"What happened?" Inko asked with a quirked eyebrow and a nervous frown as she and her son sat on the other couch. Midoriya rubbed small circles into her back as she gripped tightly onto his leg. All Might's face darkened as he looked away for a moment.

"I'm sure this is the last thing you wish to hear, especially after the scare at the USJ not to long ago…" Midoriya felt her body tense up and saw the wobble of her lips. She already could guess what was about to be said. Midoriya felt a pang of guilt when he saw her eyes start to water. "You're son had a run in with a group of presumably villains."

"W-what?! Izuku…you…." His mother turned to him and tried to speak, but she just choked on her words, unable to say what she want. Midoriya immediately pulled her into a tight embrace. "What….happened?"

"I'm…not to certain on the details myself. I'm afraid no pros were around to save your son." The blonde continued, and stopped briefly at the noise of worry that it elicited from the elder Midoriya. "That injury on your sons arm…it's a bullet wound."

CRASH!

"Inko!"

"Ah! Mom!" Izuku shouted out in worry as the woman fainted, falling onto the floor for a moment. Izuku slowly picked his mother up with help from Toshinori.

"I'm…sorry. YOU WERE SHOT?!" Inko asked rounding on her son with fear predominant in her eyes. Izuku just looked down at the floor. "Why aren't you at the hospital right now!?"

"You're son was stubborn with the paramedics." Toshinori informed while shaking his head. "Didn't go with them because he called me and refused to leave until I showed up. I take the blame for that."

"Izuku! You can't just not get help with these kinds of things!" The green haired woman lightly smacked her sons leg, leveling a stern glare however clearly there was no heart behind it.

"Sorry….."

"Um, Inko?" Toshinori interrupted and the woman looked over. "Not to interrupt you're parenting but you should be informed of the whole story."

And so, they spent the next 10 minutes explaining the details. Throughout it all Inko looked more and more ready to faint again. When they finished Midoriya had his mother clinging onto him tightly, both proud and absolutely terrified while Toshinori looked on, not sure what to say next.

"Um…Mr. Toshinori right?" The portly woman asked and when the blonde nodded she continued. "I know you're probably busy but please, for bringing my son home safe, please let me make you some tea at least?"

The blonde seemed to be about to refuse, but then he looked up and froze for a moment. "…that sounds lovely, Inko. I would appreciate it a lot."

"Excellent! Give me just a moment." The green haired woman said as she got up and wandered towards the kitchen. Midoriya looked at his mentor with a quirked eyebrow and questioning gaze.

"Damn you Midoriya's and your puppy dog eyes." Was the only answer he got Midoriya chuckled lightly as he picked up the TV remote.

"Wonder if the news has picked up on this yet. Our escape route wasn't really the definition of subtle." Midoriya wondered aloud and the gaunt teacher made a noise of what Midoriya presumed to be similar curiosity.

The screen flickered to life and Midoriya switched the channel to the news. As he had suspected, a news reporter (a woman with long brown hair and blue eyes) was talking about a mysterious shadow ramp that had shown up in Hagakure's area, connecting to the Abbey of the Everyman's building in the area.

Midoriya only somewhat focused as his mind was on other matters such as the definitely impending visit with the outsider and how his friends would react when they found out what had happened. He heard something about how the ramp was presumed to be a villain's quirk which he scoffed at. All Might seemed to focus on the report intently with a look of worry.

Inko walked through with a cup of tea that had steam rising from it. Just as the boy was about to tune out the report for good, the reporter said something that made his blood freeze.

"And now, a word about the incident from High Overseer Naozumi."

"WHAT?!" Midoriya shouted out as he suddenly bolted up in seat, worrying both Inko and Toshinori.

"My boy, are you ok?! What was that about?" The blonde asked with a worried gaze. Midoriya didn't focus on his mother or mentor, but on the TV as the leader of the overseers appeared.

"That's the….he's the one who ordered the other two to shoot and kill us." He explained and even without seeing he could feel the sudden aura of rage coming from the two behind him. "I….he recovered way too fast….I didn't hold back, he should be in their building recovering still…."

"Oh." Was the only reply that came from either of the adults.

"So sir, mister Naozumi. This is the first time a member of the Abbey has willingly appeared in media as far as I'm aware. What do you have to say about all of this? And are you ok? That scar looks recent and doesn't look pleasant" The reporter asked and the man laughed. Right in the middle of his forehead was a diagonal scar that had clearly only just appeared recently. Midoriya had no doubt it had come from his attack. A bitter and still angry part of Midoriya couldn't help the spiteful thought of 'Good.'

"Ah yes, this ugly little mark. Not pretty too look at. However I'm sure It shall serve a good purpose from now on." The bastard chuckled and something inside Midoriya flipped upside down at the way he spoke. When he had been inside the outpost, he had gotten the sense the group were all incompetent but now…something was different about the leader. The smile the man wore was as charismatic as All Might's but the greenette could sense something more, something worse behind it. "Both this scar and the incident to which this interview is about, they are related."

"Oh, would you like to elaborate sir?"

"Ah, of course. But first, while It's certainly not to my intention to use this generous opportunity you have given me to force the abbey's beliefs upon anyone…" 'Doubt that.' "Its important to know, those who worship the dark and evil we do not tolerate. This of course means villains and the like, but we call them Heretics. All this sudden commotion, is the work of one such heretic…"

Midoriya was on his feet in second, mark alight with blue burning energy. A heavy glare levelled at the television.

"Izuku…" His mum warned lightly.

"Sit down, young man. Do not let his words get to you. They are false and so should be ignored." All Might added in a soothing tone and the boy took a calming breath. They were right. He nodded to show he understood and took his seat once more.

"...This heretic has the audacity to break into out sanctum, and wreak havoc. He helped free a criminal that was briefly trapped in our building, who we merely were holding onto for law enforcement until they arrived to arrest the law breaker."

"And what law did this "criminal" break?"

"He committed theft." Midoriya saw red. The bastard was lying through his teeth with a smile that was really starting to get on the greenette's nerves. A small part in the back of his mind briefly wondered if this was how Bakugou always felt. "This of course is minor to all the crimes committed by the other heretic. The thief was a man named Haruki Aki, the public should know."

"….I should have thrown him off the top of the building." Midoriya comments without remorse, causing both Inko and All Might to choke on their drinks.

"Now my boy, you don't mean that." All Might warned but Midoriya just looked at the ground.

"Maybe…Can't say I feel guilty about it though."

"That's….I can understand that much I suppose." Inko said, though she was really starting to worry about the mental state of her son with everything lately. As it would turn out, there had to be one more, major fuck you given to the green haired teen by the universe at least.

"While this man should be captured if possible, the real threat and who the public should be prepared to catch on the spot, if the police have any sense, is the heretic who aided a criminal, the heretic who attacked me and my fellow brothers in the abbey and who trespassed in our outpost. This scar on my face, it is proof the public should be afraid of and aim to imprison Izuku Midoriya as soon as possible."

"I take it back. I do mean it when I said I should have thrown him off the roof!" Midoriya snapped. It wasn't like him to make threats like that when angry, but it wasn't like he was accused by a racist religious zealot of an innocent torturing asshole of being the one who was evil every day.

"Izuku…" His mom trailed off but the boy was too angry to say anything back, just raising to his feet and stomping off to his room without a word to the two adults. He could apologize later, right now he just wanted to scream.

Once his door slammed shut, he flung himself atop his bed, head butting his pillow and letting out his strongest scream of frustration.

"Yes, I do imagine this is probably quite frustrating."

The greenette lifted his gaze, and not really surprising him at all, he was within the void. "I thought you would have waited until I fell asleep."

"I considered." The god replied lazily, looking out into the abyss of the void. "I decided to just get it over with for you. I'm sure you would appreciate some real rest soon. You don't get as much of it when your soul is whisked away into the void."

"Oh…..So THAT'S how I get here." Midoriya muttered before launching up, vaguely registering that somehow his bed was here with him despite that supposed fact. "Wait souls are real?!"

"Is it really so surprising?" The outsider asks, with the slightest hint of amusement. "But yes, souls do exist. And that's what we need to discuss here and now. Souls, magic, echoes and the void. I suggest you prepare that brain of yours my dear Izuku. You are about to get the front row seat to a comprehensive explanation of how magic affects the world that no one else can get."

"Uh….ok…." Izuku nods as he swings his feet over the side of the bed. "So…They really don't like you..."

"Yes. I believe you saw the page about Daud?" The only answer the void deity got was the boy's face darkening, as he turned his gaze to the ground. It was all the outsider needed as an answer. "To answer the questions you no doubt hold. Yes I did mark Daud. Yes he did kill many, many people. Some were even innocent. No I did not instigate or even encourage these actions. I didn't discourage them either. I am a god, I have always been…neutral. My mark, the magic it grants, they are tools. Think of it like a knife I have given to two different people. One has attacked a wild animal to get his food, the other merely cut down some cornstalks. I gave both the same tool, it was their choice how they used it."

"So…You didn't corrupt him?" Midoriya asked before his hands suddenly shot to his mouth, covering it. "I mean, uh, I'm not saying you were…"

"No. though I can't fault how people may come to that conclusion. The abbey have been sullying my name for a long time, and I never bothered to fix that. I never gave people my powers because they asked nicely or because they were 'worthy souls', I gave my powers to people in bad places, who were suffering. I know what its like, to be stuck without hope and no way to escape. I never truly intervened from there, for the most part. Some thanked me, other ignored me and some turned against me.

"So…he was just a bad apple….?" Midoriya asked. Suddenly a big chunk of what Midoriya had started mentally dubbing 'Void rock' floated by. Upon it was the statues from the last visit. Suddenly Midoriya realized the masked one was an overseer.

"I suppose it could be viewed that way, yes. These statues, they represent the…problems that have arisen recently through my actions."

"Problems?"

"I ran from the world, and took the void with me. Now I have placed in another world, a world that…wasn't never meant to interact with the void. Put simply, actions have consequences, mine have resulted in serious ones. I have already said this much before, now it is time to elaborate."

The part of rock the overseer statue was upon suddenly disconnected and floated towards them.

"Let us start with the pests that are the Abbey, seeing as they were your most recent encounter. They shouldn't exist here, though neither should any magic but that is beside the point. When I moved the void, there were certain elements of the real world that were…connected to the void. The Abbey was one such thing, due to their constant meddling and tampering. The void tried to make them fit in with the world, giving them normal names for the area's they appeared in, re-wrote their personal history, their memories. None of it changes their hatred of magic though. I personally have chosen to dub situations like the Abbey 'Void Echoes.', echoes of the old world bleeding into the new. Of everything magic has wrought upon the world, they may be the LEAST worrying. They are cruel, violent and much like their old selves despite the new memories but they are now, for the most part, unthreatening. The old Abbey had so much political sway and such a large presence in society that they were nigh untouchable. They would use cosmological signs to figure out what children would be the best to become new overseers and kidnap them, if they didn't meet their expectations, they would kill the children."

Midoriya felt like he would be sick, actually gagging over the side of void rock they were stood upon.

"I understand and agree, they are disgusting horrible people but please do not make a mess in my void. Now, they have no sway in this world and due to their short numbers and the amount of pro heroes around, they have to just accept whoever they can get, I suspect this is the only reason they even let you in. as you may have noticed, all these circumstances have led to them being quite incompetent for the most part."

Midoriya nodded, still trying to process what he had just heard before.

"Naozumi is not as incompetent as his fellow overseers, I warn you now." Somehow, despite the still bored tone, his voice had a sudden edge that unnerved the greenette. "You already have what has just happened, but even beyond that. He is smart, if not overly confident. He is not their leader for no reason. More worryingly, he has connections. He may not be the strongest threat, but he is not one to be ignored. Keep your wits about you, Izuku. Lest his machinations catch you."

The statue suddenly crumbled and cracked, and the statue of the demon floated towards them. Now that he saw it properly, he realized a curious fact. "Hey, wait,, why am I not freaking out? I…"

"A little magic work from myself. I would prefer you take in what I have to say, not have a panic attack on the floor of my home. In case you have wondered at any point, his name used to be, at least as far as most people were aware, 'Shin No Waru', almost prophetic really. His actual name was Yuuto Chiba. He was no more than a lowly thug, robbing small stores in the dead of night. He was surprisingly good at not getting caught. Then one day, he was chased down by a pro. This was just a few weeks before I came to you, to bestow my mark upon you. He made it up on top of a roof and he refused to be imprisoned, even if he had to take drastic measures."

"He didn't….He did didn't he?" Midoriya asked, already seeing where this could be going. Though it raised a lot of questions.

"Yes, he jumped off the roof. It was twice the size of your own apartment building. The chances of survival were practically nil. Now, it wasn't too long before this that I had first shown up in this world, the void had first shown up. Now you see… in the old world when someone would die, regardless of whether they were good or evil, they would end up in the void before eventually wandering into non-existence when they finally came to peace with their death. That's….not how souls work in this world. Before the void showed up, they would split based upon their morality, and go to different other worldly planes. Planes that for the record, do not approve of my sudden appearance. Especially not the one that took the souls that were 'evil' because suddenly many for those evil souls suddenly were brought into the void."

"Woah woah woah, back up!" Midoriya stopped the god, shaking his head. "You can't just drop the revelation on someone that.. what, heaven and hell exist?! And then just continue on!"

"I can, I just did. And I have no idea what they are called. Like I said, they refuse to converse with me or admit me any entrance."

"…..so the void became hell? Bad souls came here?"

"Basically, yes. Now I have no idea what happens to souls in either of those places but I have come to learn, souls of this world do not simply cease to be like the ones of the old world. Your souls persist and this raises some….problems."

The statue of the demon, of Yuuto, did not crumble like the overseer before when Midoriya's own statue floated forward and beside his, the two statues he had been unable to discern the features of floated beside his own. One was of a tall woman with swept black hair and brown eyes. A fancy looking silk scarf hung around her mouth, covering the lower portion of her face. Beside her was a statue of some random kid, who had blonde hair and knife's seemingly sticking out of his arms. A quirk, or was he just stabbed?

"How magic works in this world….its not the same as the old world really. There are many variables that have changed and caused different results…This statue…" The ever droning god walked up to the woman. "Her name is Empress Emily Jessamine Kadlwin. She was one of my old marked."

Immediately upon hearing that, the greenette hopped out of his bed and walked up to get a closer look. Her left hand was covered in a wrap not to dissimilar from the one he had worn before.

"Nothing separated her from her subjects but circumstances to receive my mark. Anyone in the old world, so long as I decided to give it to them, could bear my mark."

"And it's not like that here?" Midoriya guessed. The outsider trailed a hand atop the statue of the knife kid.

"No. Your souls are all more…colorful and unique. Not all of them react the same to magic. It….it corrupts them, kills them or just drives them insane." The outsider said as casually as if he was stating the weather, while the statue suddenly crumbled, along with the statue of the empress. "You're one of the few cases not like this. In fact, not only are you one of the strongest souls capable of using unfiltered magic….you may be one of the very strongest from what I have sensed."

"Wait seriously?" The boy asked surprised as he walked up to the god. Him, his soul, more powerful? An initially quirkless, weak kid?

"I do not know what makes a soul strong or weak yet, but I can sense the difference and so far you have been one of the stronger ones, even among the strong. You are definitely stronger than any soul to bear it before you. It why I decided to mark you of all people, I wonder how you're unique position may affect it. For example, you were able to link four people together with your Domino power. Emily, who possessed the power before you had to work to that point."

Midoriya started off into the distance. How was he supposed to react to that?

"All your powers are…pre-existing in those who were marked before. I still let your soul naturally develop its own powers but I limited it to only what has come before, as my curiosity struck. What will be different? For another example, you have been practicing to achieve those tendrils when weakening Far Reach, correct?"

"Yes. It was…frustrating."

"Well Emily, who also possessed the Far Reach power before you could not do that at all, no marked individual could truly 'control' their energy output. This is what has me so excited to see what comes from your mark. Enough deviating from the initial topic. The souls that appeared in the void, not only where a majority of them weak, none had the body to filter any of the natural magic of the void flowing into them. A demon is an evil soul, who has been corrupted by void magic and given a second magic form, a twisted power hungry form with an evil soul. They are immune to most non-magical methods of attack or even feeling. They are already dead, they just refuse to move on. Killing Yutoo was the best thing anyone could have done for him and those who knew him, it gave him the chance to move on properly. Demons… feed on acts of evil, as that's how these new forms began. That's why Yuuto was even at the USJ. Well one of the reasons."

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to like the second even less than the first?" Midoriya asks deadpan. However a small part of him inside was elated, he really HADN'T murdered anyone. Or at least, he had only helped a soul leave which wasn't really murder. A part of him though, it still churned at the memories, it didn't seem painless.

"Like I said, they are power hungry. Most evil creatures are, really. Of course, demons are already possibly the height of mortal power most can reach, so they would need to get back here, into the void to continue even further, to get more power. One way they may be able to get here…."

"It's my mark…." Midoriya finished and the god just nodded. "…crap."

"Indeed. I…there are some other things but you really should sleep. I'll inform you of them, when you finally meet them. I have no doubt you will be fine even without information. Its hardly fun just telling you everything."

"Wait!" Midoriya didn't WANT to leave without that information but clearly he had no choice.

"My last bit of advice for now, Izuku. You should really focus when you feel weak, otherwise you won't get far. Also sometimes…you have to run before you can walk or even crawl, maybe apply that to your training and see what happens?"

Midoriya hadn't been the happiest when he had returned from the void, once more smashing his head against his pillow. He was certain the Outsider was just enjoying messing with him by withholding information. That coupled with the earlier appearance of the high overseer on the news and Midoriya was really anything but happy at that point. He had left, to find All Might had gone home (but left a note apologizing for having to leave and saying he would do what he could.) His mom had made his favorite food and made sure he knew, angry or not, he wasn't getting out of a hospital visit on Sunday at the latest.

The greenette, once had finally digested his food and thanked his mother, finally feeling a little better went to bed. Sadly his brain hadn't agreed with the idea of a good night's sleep. Nightmares plagued his mind. There was the usual, with Yuuto screaming as he exploded into smoke.

But now there was a new one invading his mind, everything that could of gone wrong when he visited the Abbey, everything that could still go wrong.

The dream that had truly left the most impact though. He hadn't thought about the moment much due to having other things to focus on but now he didn't and so his brain focused upon the moment his panic attack had almost gotten Aki killed.

He could see the bullet flying clearly, and his nightmares kept providing the same scenario: "What if you hadn't been able to fight it off? What if you're panic attack had been just a little worse? What would have happened?"

Ultimately, after the third dream ending with a bullet in Aki's chest, Midoriya could no longer doze off. He merely laid there, the moment stuck on loop in his memories.

He had no idea how long he just replayed the moment in the mind, realizing how truly close it had been, how very near Aki came to death, to Midoriya leaving a little girl fatherless because he was as weak as Bakugou had always told him.

He picked up his phone, ignoring the '20+ new messages', not prepared to deal with any of the drama the earlier news report would surely lead to. He just wanted to check the time, and saw it read 02:30 Am.

Groaning lightly, the greenette rose from his bed and wandered out into the living room, where to his surprise his mother was sat upon the couch, looking at the currently switched off TV.

"Mom?" He asked drowsily, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Why are you awake?"

"Oh Izu…" The woman looked back upon hearing him and he felt a stab of guilt when he saw small tears in her eyes. "It's…it's not fair, why do you have to be punished for d-doing something good?!"

"I don't know…" Was the quiet answer he gave, walking past her to the front door where he knew his bag was. After rummaging inside for a moment, he pulled out the page detective Tsukauchi had given him and clutched it tightly as he wandered back into the living room.

He sat down beside his mother and held it out. She took it with curiosity replacing the sadness in her eyes, though it quickly rushed back as she read the name above the phone number. "Izuku..what….?"

"PTSD."

"Oh honey…" The portly woman accidentally crumpled the paper as her grip tightened before she pulled her son into a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry…"

It wasn't the first time someone had suggested he go to therapy, he had never liked the idea. He had planned to just throw the sheet away at some point. This wasn't for him though, this was for the people who he couldn't afford to have a panic attack while saving. He felt his eyes start to water. "T-thank you…."

Both Midoriya's ultimately broke into a fit of tears on the couch, eventually crying themselves to sleep in each other's grasp.