"I'll steal away all the things that you've protected until now." All for One cackled, firing another powerful blast of air at Yagi, watching as the hero attempted to block it, "First, the self-respect that you've kept despite your injury. Show the world your pathetic form, "Symbol of Peace". Hollow cheeks and sunken eyes, what a pathetic top hero. Then again, fitting for a hero who's let a poor child suffer for so long. Don't be embarrassed, this is the real you, isn't it?"

Yagi glared back at All for One, "Even if my body rots and grows weak, even if you try to expose that form, my heart will remain that of the Symbol of Peace! It's not something that you can steal even a single piece of!"

"Forget it, I give up. I've forgotten how stubborn you were." All for One sighed patronisingly, "Then perhaps this will not hinder your heart either; Shigaraki Tomura is Nana Shimura's grandson. I kept thinking about what you would hate the most; I created chances for you to meet, before Tomura took over on seeking you out himself. You realise it, don't you, that something so... dirty... like this, is something that I would do."

Yagi's cyan eyes burned with anger, as All for One mocked, "What's wrong, All Might? Where's that smile if yours? This really is fun... maybe I was able to steal a piece, no?"

He's... a relative of my master? What... have I done...

Focus on All for One now... I can deal with Shigaraki later...

"Remember your origin. That'll bring you past your limit!"

I want a world where everyone can smile and live together.

"There's a lot that a hero has to protect, All for One." Yagi growled, forcing his right arm to bulk up, "That's why I won't lose!"

"That's the last of it, wasn't it, All Might? A wounded hero is the most frightening. I see the image of your face coming after me with all your guts strewn around in my dreams sometimes, even now. I should watch out for two or three swings, shouldn't I?" All for One asked, red electricity crackling around his arm.

A wave of fire was blasted at All for One out of nowhere, but the villain easily deflected it.

"What, bastard... what is that form of yours, All Might?" Enji growled, stomping forwards, "What is that pitiful back!?"

Yamada hastily braked to avoid crashing into Enji, "Looks like we made it in time!"

Tensei, Kamihara and Aizawa leapt up behind him, and the Ninja Hero sighed, "Somehow.."

"Focus on the fight, All Might!" Tensei yelled, quickly lifting some rubble off a civilian, "We'll save the others!"

"This is all we can do. If we can ease the burden even a little..." Chatora yelled, picking up the woman that was trapped under the rubble, "Please, stop that man!"

"Everyone's praying for your victory! No matter what you look like... you're still everyone's hero!" Kamihara spoke up, attempting to distract All for One.

"How annoying." All for One sneered, quickly blasting all the other heroes away, "Stop talking about emotions and start looking at reality."

I'm not everyone's hero.

Young Midoriya... We never saved him from All for One's clutches... he's constantly pushed himself past the limit for the all the others... I won't ... I can't afford to fail him again!

All for One began activating a multitude of quirks, his arm rapidly bulking up, growing more and more grotesque as more and more quirks were added to the mix, "The shockwaves used before were just to wear you down. In order to kill you, I will hit you with the ultimate combination of of quirks that I have right now. I am finally certain after exchanging blows with you, All Might, One for All no longer dwells within you. You've given it to someone, and you're left with the lingering dregs, the embers. And it's slowly going out as you use it, to the point where it doesn't even have to be blown on before it's extinguished."

All for One rushed down at Yagi, "In the end, you won't save anybody. You'll die full of regrets! Even as a teacher, a mentor, it's your loss!"

Yagi hastily used his right arm to counter the attack, but it wasn't long before his arm couldn't take the strain, and he was slowly being pushed back.

All the students... Mirio...I may not be a good teacher... but I have to help them...

"The weak embers that are going out without even being blown on are resisting. They're desperately trying to go on until they fulfill their duty... How unsightly."

"It's not just because I'm a symbol!" Yagi growled, pushing all the remnants of his power into his left arm, "All of them have room to grow! Until I teach... all of them... I can't die!"

He shot Aizawa a look, and the Erasure Hero immediately got the message. He glanced at All for One, activating his quirk.

All for One hissed internally, as he felt the effects of a few of his quirks slipping, spotting Yagi's left arm coming in; he had completely forgotten about the Erasure Hero's presence. Even though his quirk wasn't strong enough to fully erase the effects of his quirk, he had removed enough of its effects to the point where the villain's arm was half the size it was when he first attacked Yagi with his ultimate combination.

Yagi already had a slim chance of winning, but with Aizawa's Erasure quirk, the heroes had just secured their victory.

The Symbol of Peace put all his power into his right arm, and smashed it into All for One's face, knocking the villain out for good.

Aizawa stood in a room, along with the rest of the heroes that had participated in the Kamino Ward Incident, as well as the UA teachers, all in casual wear. Nezu was busy with the Hero Commission, and couldn't attend. As reluctant as Enji was to be present, there was a debriefing, he was required to attend it, according to Tsukauchi. The press conference at UA had ended with All for One's defeat at the hands of Yagi, though the man's true form had been revealed for the entire world to see.

All talk of Midoriya being quirkless had been abandoned in favour of talking about the true form of the Symbol of Peace, and Aizawa was relieved, and absolutely pissed off at the same time; relieved because no one knew just how badly the heroes had failed, and how Midoriya's injuries were unknown to the rest of the world, and peeved that everyone had just dismissed Midoriya's case so easily because he was quirkless.

Shinsou, Uraraka, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Iida were fine for the most part; just some minor scrapes and bruises, probably due to the falling debris from the collapsing building (Tensei had filled him in about the rescue) and Shinosu had a small electrical burn on his finger for some reason. They were all exhausted, unsurprisingly, and were resting in another room; they have yet to be interrogated.

Reiko and Ryuto were also pretty much okay. Reiko had sprained her paw, and Ryuto had pulled a few muscles in his wings from flying all over the place. Their injuries weren't too serious, though they did suffer from a mild case of malnourishment, which was something that seemed to run in Midoriya's family. They just had to rest for a few days and eat up to regain their strength. They were currently sharing the room with the five students.

Midoriya, on the other hand... wasn't doing too good. He was still in the emergency room, and while most of the heroes knew that he would survive due to his quirk, it left a very, very bad taste in their mouths that a child had suffered so much due to their failure.

The debriefing was taking place in Yagi's rather spacious hospital room. Most of the other heroes had rather mild injuries, or none at all, the only exception being Hakamata, but all he had were a few broken ribs and a busted lung, and the doctors were easily able to patch him up; compared to Midoriya's injuries, they were nothing. He was attending the debriefing while sitting in a wheelchair.

The second the debriefing ended, Enji promptly left, deeming it a waste of time, leaving the remainder of the heroes to talk amongst themselves.

"The embers inside me have gone out. The Symbol of Peace is dead. However... there is still something I must do." Yagi spoke up.

"Mirio Togata, right?" Tsukauchi nodded, "And Midoriya."

"Shigaraki Tomura. He's Shimura's grandson, that's what All for One said, right?" Tsukauchi stated, "He was telling the truth... but frankly, it's not much to go on."

"Speaking of which, Tsukauchi, your quirk doesn't work through tech. How can you tell he's lying or not?" Aizawa stared at the detected, who just sighed, "My quirk doesn't work through tech, yes. But the earpieces that all of you used, as well as mine... they were specially made so that my quirk would work. We figured that it would be more efficient if I could listen to the enemy. I may not be able to talk to them directly on the battlefield, but if I can figure out what is true and what isn't..."

"Alright. Got it." Aizawa rubbed his head, as Tsukauchi turned back to Yagi, "The two of you didn't have any interactions with this Shimura's family?"

"Nope..." Torino sighed, "Her husband was killed, so she put her child in foster care to keep him away from the hero world. She told us that she didn't want us having any contact with her child, even if the worst were to happen to her."

"So your promise to the deceased backfired... that's sad."

"The blood relationship that my master served for the sake of peace... We have to find him."

"No. What are you planning to do once you've found him? You're not looking at him like a villain anymore; you'll definitely hesitate. No matter who he's related to, he's still a criminal. A criminal that nearly killed Midoriya twice if it weren't for his quirk. Tsukauchi and I will handle the investigation of Shigaraki from here on out. You stay in UA, continue to teach the first years and Mirio. You may not be the Symbol of Peace anymore, but you're still alive."

Torino turned around and headed for the door, "I'll be taking my leave first. I'm sure that you guys have a lot to talk about." He shut the door behind him, and Tsukauchi spoke up, "About the raid -"

"A failure." Kamihara lifted his head, "We lost the Symbol of Peace, and we only managed to find Midoriya was because of a bird, and some students who had taken the initiative to save Midoriya themselves. And the only reason that Midoriya is alive is because of a quirk."

"Wait, he has a quirk?" Maijima frowned, and Aizawa internally facepalmed; he had completely forgotten that the hero hadn't been in the hospital when Shuzenji had talked about her theories.

"Yes. All for One said so, and he was telling the truth." Tsukauchi stated, "Endeavor didn't know about it; he had destroyed his earpiece when he set himself on fire, and I'm somewhat glad that he didn't come to know of this. Speaking of which... Aizawa, were you aware about the nature of his quirk?"

"Recovery Girl had her suspicions after the USJ, but they were just theories. It's very clear that Midoriya himself wasn't too sure about the nature of his own quirk. He's refused to acknowledge his quirk, though, and has always called himself quirkless." Aizawa admitted, "Midoriya's already wary of all of us. We couldn't just go up to him and ask "Hey, we think you have a quirk and we want to test it out." It wasn't the right time to pressure him about it."

"That doesn't matter." Hakamata sighed, "According to what All for One said... Midoriya's "trauma-induced quirk" keeps him alive even though... he should be dead. It's a quirk that should have never come up in the first place; he should not have gotten into any situations where his life is at stake, especially at such an age. Plus, if people caught wind of his quirk, it would only cause more trouble; greedy people wanted to take advantage of his quirk to be immortal, and playing down the severity of his suffering. People are all talking about the fall of All Might... but someone is going to remember that Midoriya was the reason for the Kamino Incident, and all the talk will shift to him. His status as quirkless shouldn't change; it would be safer for him."

"Agreed. I didn't tell the Hero Commission about this discovery... I'm only talking to all of you about this because you were either present when it was revealed, or you're his teachers in school and you need to know about it. Outside this room, Midoriya's quirk does not exist. That, and Midoriya's vigilante persona as Void." Tsukauchi stated, "As far as I understand from All for One's words... Midoriya has the capacity to develop a quirk, but this quirk he that currently has... wasn't intended to be his actual quirk. I'm going to be very direct when I say this... I think that during Midoriya's first attempt at suicide, his quirk was activated in self preservation. His quirk only protects him from dying if he wants to die... and prevented him from dying on subsequent suicide attempts. He can only live if he wants to die, and when he wants to live... that's the only time when he can die."

"There's another thing that's bothering me..." Nishiya mumbled, "All for One said that Midoriya's quirk traps him in the very mindset that makes him hurt himself? I still... don't get that part..."

"Shit..." Kamihara's eyes widened in the realisation, "I think... he means that Midoriya's quirk is actively forcing him into a self-deciprating, making him want to die, because that's the only way that Midoriya won't die."

"That's just... sad." Takeyama admitted, "Then..."

"He doesn't care about himself." Chatora finished. "He cares more about other people than himself. I've seen Midoriya show emotion twice, once during the training camp, when Muscular attacked Kota... and after Shigaraki kicked his cat. Both times, he forced himself to fight even with his body in such a terrible state..."

"I think... we should station heroes to keep an eye on Midoriya, at least until he's well enough to return to UA. Magne made it clear that they wanted to kill the boy... though they didn't seem to know about Midoriya's quirk for some reason. Shigaraki wasn't too surprised; All for One would have filled him in, but why didn't he tell his subordinates?"

"That doesn't matter, but you do make a good point." Tsukauchi stated, "They may try to kidnap him again while he's vulnerable. I'll organise the shifts, and inform other heroes about the situation if we really have to."

Tsukauchi's phone rang, and he hastily picked it up. He listened for a minute, before ending the call, "Tamakawa says that Midoriya's finally out of the emergency room. I'm sure some of you are eager to go check on him."

"Yeah. Let's go." Chatora turned towards the door, opening it as the heroes filed out, closing it behind Nishiya, as he pushed Hakamata's wheelchair.

"What about the five students? We can't just leave them in the hospital. We should let them go home." Takeyama pointed out, "It's been a long day... and they did see Midoriya's state... and the villains might recognise them."

"That's true... I need to interrogate them as well..." Tsukauchi nodded, "I'll do it now. Ingenium, can you take your brother home after I'm done? And Mic, Cementoss, Ectoplasm, Snipe, do you mind escorting the others back as well?"

The heroes made their way to Midoriya's hospital room, just as a Shuzenji was exiting. Chatora had been called back in the last minute by the Pussycats to check on Shiretoko, and Maijima had to attend some meeting regarding UA's security. She gently closed the door behind her, and looked up at the incoming heroes.

"Recovery Girl, how is he?" Snipe asked.

"Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?" Recovery Girl asked, as the heroes looked between themselves, before turning back to her, "Good news."

"Good news, he's alive. He's lost a lot of blood, but we've given him a blood transfusion, so he should be okay... he's currently stable... for the moment."

"That's it?" Takeyama frowned, and Shuzenji nodded.

"He's suffering from pretty severe case malnourishment, he doesn't eat enough as it is, and coupled with his kidnapping, it only got worse. All his bones, save for his spine, were broken. Snapped in half, shattered from impact, even his skull had small cracks lining them. His throat was a mess and his insides were completely mangled. Broken, pierced, torn apart, disintegrated, we even found electrical burns. We couldn't even attempt a skin grafting because he has injuries littering pretty much every inch of his body. We had all the strongest healing quirks in the country, and nurses with quirks that allow them to transfer energy, and every single one of them is exhausted from trying to heal the poor kid. We've managed to fix up the worst of the damage, and it's a miracle that he's even alive."

"Recovery Girl... they're aware of Midoriya's... you know what."

Shuzenji's face fell, "Then you should know that it is the only reason he's still living and breathing. Also... be careful, especially you, Aizawa. I shouldn't have to remind you, but don't ever use your quirk in there. At this point, we don't know if he's really stable, or only alive due to... that. In the latter case... if you do end up using your quirk on him by accident..."

She didn't have to finish her sentence, the outcome was obvious; Midoriya would die.

"You guys can go in; Tamakawa's keeping an eye on him. Also... he was kept in a dark room for a very long time... so much as I hate to do it, we're keeping his eyes covered for now, until he wakes up. If he does show signs of waking up, call a doctor immediately and tell them to remove the bandages. In all my years as a hero, I've seen very bad injuries... and Midoriya's case is the worst I have ever seen in my entire life. I'm going to get some fresh air." Shuzenji pushed past them and headed to the elevator, and none of the heroes could really blame her; they had seen Midoriya's injuries, to some extent, not to mention the fact that Midoriya had probably wrecked his body further while fighting Shigaraki.

Sakamata carefully pushed open the door, and the heroes filed into Midoriya's hospital room. There was a constant beeping from the heart monitor next to the bed, and watched as Midoriya's chest rose and fell, every so slightly. A faint layer of mist appeared as he breathed on the inside of the oxygen mask that had been placed over Midoriya's mouth and nose. The boy's eyes were covered with bandages, as well as his arms and neck that were visible under the thick blanket. He ridiculously pale, even paler than how he usually was, and there was an IV connected to his arm through the bandages.

Midoriya lay eerily still, not even twitching as the heroes moved closer.

No one said a single word.

"Hey, Hound Dog, how was he after the USJ incident?" Nishiya asked. "Like... mentally. Were there... any changes?"

"Oh, yeah. He was involved in that too. Poor kid." Takeyama sighed, looking down at Midoriya's unmoving form, and the remaining heroes turned to look at Inui for answers.

"He was a bit jumpy when he first woke up... but after a few days... no change at all. He doesn't speak if spoken to, prefers to sign, is keeping a close eye on everything around him... he's didn't even seem to care about it at all. I have to say... I'm worried about his mental state when he wakes up. It was already messed up before he went for the training camp..." Inui shook his head.

"Wait, didn't he like... have a collar that he was really attached to?" Kayama asked, and Kan nodded, "Yeah. Gave it to Shinsou, apparently, before he was kidnapped."

"And that's the very same item that he punched a nurse in the face for." Kayama let out a dry chuckle. "He trusts Hitoshi, at the very least.

"And there is progress." Aizawa spoke up, "He's taken to talking to Hitoshi, Iida, Uraraka, Todoroki and Koda... so there's that. Only for the past two weeks... but it's still something. His classmates have noticed, but they're making a point to not react to it so they won't scare him."

"Really?" Inui's eyes lit up, "That's great to hear."

"But then... this happened. I don't know how this will affect him." Aizawa continued, and Inui's face fell.

"We'll just have to wait until he wakes up." Sakamata said, patting Inui on the back, "Don't worry, we'll help. We'll find a way to help out, somehow."

"Hey, Aizawa." Kamihara asked, picking at his rice, "You mentioned that this...Ryuto went missing from the UA dorms in the morning... any ideas how he ended up in Kamino?"

"Uh... who?" Takeyama asked, shoving her spoon into her mouth. They had stayed in Midoriya's room for as long as they could before the doctors kicked them out, and they had practically been forced by Tsukauchi to grab a bite.

"Reiko is Midoriya's cat, and Ryuto is his hawk." Kayama explained, "He's had Reiko for some time already, but just adopted Ryuto after the Sports Festival. Mic accidentally knocked out the power early in the morning... they probably used that opportunity to escape."

"And we don't even know how they managed to get out." Aizawa hissed, "They were in Midoriya's room, and the windows were all closed. If they wanted to get out of the building, they would have to open the door to Midoriya's room, and then open the front doors to the dorms."

"My question is how did they even get to Kamino in the first place. Or how they even knew to get there." Inui added.

Tsukauchi frowned, poking his dumpling, "I did remember seeing a cat and a bird on Yaoyorozu's bed when I interrogated her... I didn't think too much of it at the time. Yaoyorozu activated the receiver to ensure it was working before passing it to the police force... that's the only time I could think of where they could figure out Midoriya's location."

"That just opens up more questions. They apparently knew how to get all the way from Musutafu to Kamino. Then, the tracker led to the Nomu hideout, not Midoriya's location, so how on earth did a cat and a bird find him before we did?"

"Don't underestimate Reiko. That cat is smart." Ectoplasm pointed out, "She knows math, for some reason. She keeps smacking Kaminari's hand whenever he writes any wrong equations. It's funny... but I have absolutely no idea how Midoriya managed to teach his cat how to do maths."

"That means she also knows how to read, right? Since according to Tsukauchi... she was able to read the location off Yaoyorozu's tracker." Sakamata added, "That's one smart cat."

"That doesn't mean that they she can open a door to get out in the first place." Aizawa grumbled.