Chapter Two: Tis Naught but a Flesh Wound

The child on the hospital bed nodded. "I thought that if I ended up in your body, maybe you ended up in my body." Despite his tiny form, he spoke with the authority of the First User of One for All.

Izuku clutched his hair. "How could this have happened?"

"I think I got transferred because I was touching you when I gave you the time travel power." Yuuto sighed, sending his leg sling rattling. "As for why we swapped bodies—I warned you the power had gone out of control. We're lucky the side effects weren't worse. When I first woke up in this body, I was afraid I'd lost you entirely." He shuddered. "I was in a state of panic. I tried to keep your body safe for you while you were gone."

Izuku looked at the casts. "You broke three of my four limbs in less than an hour."

"I said tried, not succeeded." Yuuto looked at the ceiling. "If you're wondering which of us got One for All, it was me."

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "I'd figured, yes. You used One for All in a toddler's body?"

"I didn't know I had it! I was trying to open a cookie jar."

"A cookie jar?"

Yuuto pouted. "Your mother is a cruel tyrant. She said I'd spoil my appetite if I ate a cookie before dinner. Do you know how many years it's been since I last tasted fresh oatmeal raisin cookies?"

Izuku rubbed his forehead. "You nearly killed me trying to steal cookies?"

"It was an accident!" Yuuto wailed. "I swear I won't do it ever again! Unfortunately, I think this is the post Quirk Singularity One for All. You know, the one that got ridiculously powerful and completely impossible to control. In other bad news, your parents' house is missing its back wall."

"What?" Izuku's first thought was fear for his All Might collection, before he realized it didn't exist in this timeline. Then he felt faint. His years of collecting, all gone!

"It could be worse." Yuuto's eyes shifted sideways. "Some other houses are…missing entirely. Luckily, your neighbors weren't home so no one died."

So they had an extremely powerful quirk they couldn't use. Just great. Izuku despaired. "Are there two copies of One for All running around or did All Might just lose his quirk to a toddler?"

"What a fascinating question I don't know the answer to."

Izuku moaned. He imagined the world suddenly losing the Symbol of Peace a decade early.

Yuuto said, "I haven't been able to talk to the other vestiges, but I don't know if that means they're still with All Might. I hope so."

"Speaking of lack of communication…" Izuku's eyes narrowed. "You can't imagine how surprised I was when I woke up in a capsule and my dad appeared."

"I'm surprised my brother preserved my body, too. I had no idea. But that's just like him. He was a hoarder even as a child, wouldn't throw out toys he hadn't played with in years—"

"Don't try to change the topic," Izuku snapped. "Why didn't you tell me that All for One is my father?"

Yuuto winced and shrank into the mattress. "I'm sorry. I wanted to call you my nephew, but I knew it would hurt you to learn the truth. I didn't know how to break the news."

"Sometime before I came face to face with him would have been nice!" Izuku's voice rose. "If you had time to say 'You're not alone' during that first vision, then you surely you could have taken a brief moment to offer me your condolences that my deadbeat father is a murderous lunatic."

Hisashi said, "Whoa, don't you think you're being a little hard on our dearly departed dad?"

Izuku nearly jumped a foot in the air. He almost didn't dare turn around, but he did.

Hisashi stood in the doorway. His villainous father had a smile on his face. Was that a sincere smile or an infuriated smile? It was impossible to tell.

"Did you remember something about our father?" Hisashi asked.

Izuku seized on the excuse. "Uh, yeah! That's who I was talking about!"

"Was it a bad memory?" The question sounded so innocent. But something loaded lurked underneath. How much had his dad overheard?

What was the correct answer? Had the Shigaraki brothers' father been a good or a bad one? Izuku glanced at Yuuto, hoping for a clue.

The First lay still and pretended to be asleep.

Izuku's eye twitched. Why, that useless little…!

He thought fast. He doubted that good parenting had produced All for One, so he took a gamble. "I just saw a flash of our father. I remember him shouting. It scared me." He feigned a shudder.

Hisashi's eyes became dark. "To my knowledge he never actually murdered anyone, but he was an abusive drunk. I'm sorry you had to remember that. But surely it's not an appropriate topic to share with my son?"

Izuku chuckled in nervous relief. "I didn't mean to say anything out loud. I was just…shouting at myself. Offering my condolences…to myself. Maybe I had a bit of a freak-out. I must still be sick." He tried to looked dazed and very, very innocent. "I know I shouldn't have snuck in here. I was just so worried about my nephew."

"I understand. I've been worried sick, too."

"You're not…angry that I broke the lock?"

Hisashi laughed. "Oh, like you ever met a lock you didn't break. I'd have been worried you'd been replaced with an imposter if you didn't immediately try to get out of any locked room."

"Ha-ha," Izuku managed to force out.

Hisashi walked over to the bed and brushed a green curl off his "son's" forehead. "I love little Izuku with all my heart. His safety is my top priority."

"He's an adorable child," Izuku said. He felt awkward praising himself, but it would be out of character not to. The First had always used to tell him how cute he looked, to the point where it had started to get weird. In retrospect, the nephew thing explained a lot.

Hisashi gazed at the injured child. "From the moment my son was born, I resolved I'd become a better father than our own."

Izuku snorted.

Hisashi's head shot up. "What's so funny?"

Of course, Izuku couldn't possibly say that a supervillain indirectly responsible for the destruction of Japan and the deaths of everyone his son cared about sounded like a far worse father than a garden variety alcoholic. No matter how badly he wanted to. "It's just that you set the bar far too low. I'm sure you're a million times better than our late father, big brother."

"Why, thank you." Hisashi beamed. As Izuku had hoped, being addressed as big brother always seemed to put him into a good mood.

A tiny, scornful laugh escaped Yuuto's lips. From his wide eyes, he'd been trying to suppress the sound.

"My poor baby! How are you feeling?" Hisashi pressed repeated kisses to the child's forehead.

Though Yuuto squirmed, his casts prevented him from escaping. "I'm fine. I've had worse."

Hisashi stared in horror. "You've had worse than breaking three of your four limbs?"

Yuuto winced. "I mean, this is basically a playground scratch. That's what it feels like to me. Because I'm tough."

"You're so stoic! I'm proud of you!" Hisashi peppered down even more kisses.

"Stop that! Enough is enough! Back off, you son of a bitch!" Yuuto swung his cast to fend off more affection.

It connected on the middle of Hisashi's forehead with a thud. He recoiled. "My little pumpkin, what has you so upset? Where did you learn that bad word?"

Paling, Yuuto shook his head. "No, I didn't say bitch. I said witch. Because our awful mother was a witch, get it?"

"Our mother?"

"It's a TV show! Called 'Our Mother!' All about witches! All the cool kids are watching it!" Yuuto shot Izuku a frantic look and mouthed, Help.

Izuku's partner in this vital deception absolutely sucked at lying. Just his luck. He felt a headache coming on. The pain made him sway. His whole body felt weak and achy.

Perhaps he could use that to his advantage. "I feel sick…"

Hisashi moved in a flash, putting a hand on his back and guiding him to a chair. "You shouldn't be moving around at all, in your condition. I'm taking you straight back to bed, as soon as I've introduced you two. Izuku, this is your Uncle Yuuto."

"What an astonishingly handsome fellow!" Yuuto said brightly. "I instinctively love him way more than my father."

Izuku kicked the bed. Did his idiot uncle think this was a game?

Fortunately, Hisashi only laughed. "Are you trying to pick a fight so I'll forget you said a bad word? Nice try. You're still getting no dessert for a week."

Yuuto wailed, "But I didn't even get to eat one cookie yet! The jar exploded!"

"Now, now, after the week is up, we'll throw a big party to celebrate your new quirk. I'm so proud of you for leveling half the neighborhood. You're starting out destroying Japan at such a young age." Hisashi patted the green head.

"Those poor people's homes…I'm so sorry…" Yuuto mumbled.

"Don't worry your adorable little head about it. Daddy's checkbook will take care of all the damages. A bit of extra money thrown around will ensure you don't get in any trouble. I won't let those nasty quirk counselors who might encourage you to suppress your gift anywhere near you." A dark look flashed across Hisashi's eyes.

"Oh, I'm so relieved to hear that no one will be left homeless. You did something good for once, H—" All color drained from Yuuto's face. After a long moment, he forced out, "Dad." The word hit the air like a salmon flopping on wet cement.

"Daddy is looking for a way to heal you, too. Just hold on a little longer, my cute wittle baby." Hisashi ruffled the child's curls.

Yuuto looked like he wanted to vomit. His broken arms twitched, desperate to throw the touch off. His teeth started biting at the air.

Izuku leapt to the rescue before his uncle acted even more suspicious. "I feel…faint." He let his eyes roll back.

"Little brother!" Hisashi leapt to his feet and ran over, feeling his forehead.

Yuuto cried, "Are you all right, Iz—?" He clamped his mouth shut just in time.

Izuku cracked one eye open to glare. Maybe the Cain urges were genetic, because he was just about ready to murder both his father and his uncle. To think the First had seemed so cool when he'd just been appearing in a few visions. Never meet your heroes. Now Izuku wished he could duct tape his uncle's mouth shut and stuff him into a closet until the world had been saved.

Hisashi Midoriya had been having a very strange day. His younger brother woke up from a century-long coma, his darling son developed his quirk, and the quirk had broken most of the bones in his son's body. He'd been riding a pendulum between happy and terrified for the last hour, all while juggling damage control and searching for a healing quirk at a madcap pace.

He led his younger brother to a bedroom converted from a cell for prisoners. Unfortunately, his underground hideout didn't have any regular guestrooms, so he'd needed to order his minions to modify this room with extreme haste. He'd better check to be sure they hadn't left any chains sitting in the corner.

"Let me take a look. To make sure it's clean," he told his younger brother.

Yuuto leaned against the metal wall, his bangs sticking to his sweaty forehead. "Uh-huh." He sounded worryingly out of it. His health had never been good to begin with. Hisashi started to regret not forcing the issue with Dr. Garaki's examination.

Hisashi peered into the room. It contained cream curtains over the metal walls, a double bed, a television, and an armchair. The dark blue carpet had been hastily added and hopefully covered up any bloodstains. A door led to an attached bathroom. It resembled a normal hotel room, fortunately. The motion sensors he'd ordered had been attached to the door. He didn't think he could get away with locking it without looking suspicious, but he also couldn't let Yuuto wander around, so the alarm system had been a compromise.

At first, he'd considered taking Yuuto back to the Midoriya home where there wouldn't be any mad science creations for his little brother to stumble across and make him suspicious. But…it would also be too easy for his escape artist brother to vanish from a regular suburban house. Now that he'd had time to think, he'd started to wonder about Yuuto's amnesia. It was convenient. Too convenient.

On the other hand…there was no nice way to put this, but Hisashi had some doubts if his younger brother was smart enough to fake having amnesia on the fly. He definitely doubted if Yuuto had the self-control to keep up the act for very long.

Then his house had gotten blown up by his son, rendering the issue moot. Such a precocious little darling!

Hisashi helped Yuuto into the bedroom. His brother leaned on him enough to make it obvious his body had started to shut down.

Carefully, Hisashi lowered his younger brother onto the pale green comforter. "The minifridge is stocked with food. If you need anything, there's a button on the end table." So ideally his brother wouldn't have an excuse to wander around, although he'd probably still try to get himself into trouble whether he actually had amnesia or not.

"How thoughtful," Yuuto mumbled.

Hisashi put an arm around his brother and pulled him into a hug. "I'm so glad you woke up."

Yuuto returned the hug. "Me too, big brother."

Hidden by his brother's shoulder, Hisashi's eyebrows climbed his forehead. The hug had been a test—one Yuuto had passed with flying colors. His little brother hadn't been this receptive to physical affection even when they'd been on better terms. A little brother with his full memories probably would have tried to bite him.

Hisashi tried another test. "Hey, little brother? I think I remember who Dr. Garaki reminded you of."

"Hmm?" Yuuto looked surprised.

"Kaji Bakugo." Hisashi named the Second One for All user. Who'd looked absolutely nothing like Dr. Garaki, needless to say. "He was such a worthless piece of garbage. It's not very nice to say it, but I was frankly relieved when he died."

"If you say so, then I'm sure he must have been terrible, big brother. I don't remember the name."

"It was a good riddance."

"A good riddance," Yuuto agreed.

Triumph ran hot through Hisashi's veins. It was all he could do not to leap into the air and pump his fist. This time, he was certain of it. Yuuto might have managed to keep his mouth shut while he insulted the second user—maybe. But never in a million years could Yuuto have agreed with that statement without a single hint of strain showing on his face. This amnesia was completely genuine—and if Hisashi had his way, permanent.

He'd speak to his doctor about what to do to not cure amnesia. In the meantime, he had to keep his brother from getting suspicious at all costs.

Hisashi gave his brother another hug, this time just for the sake of it. "Good night. I love you."

"Love you, too," Yuuto said.

No way was Hisashi losing this again.

Getting ready for bed had never been such an ordeal before. Izuku had completely run out of energy. His toothbrush hung out of his mouth while he leaned against the counter, trying to make his arm move long enough to finish brushing his teeth. He skipped flossing or mouthwash, and he felt terrible about that since he ought to take better care of a borrowed body. But if he didn't get over to the bed, he might pass out on the bathroom floor.

As soon as he lay down, he couldn't fall asleep.

His whole body ached. His head felt like his father's mad doctor had taken a drill to his ear. Even though his illness had completely exhausted him, his pain kept him awake. On his unfamiliar bed, he tossed and turned with increasing frustration.

When he finally slipped into a fitful slumber, he immediately fell into a nightmare. The same nightmare he'd been having for years. Quirk Singularity.

As the artificially-induced quirk disaster had spread across Japan, those with the strongest powers had died first. Such as heroes. Ironically, Izuku with his extreme power had only survived because the vestiges had been able to take over and switch his quirk off. Instead, he'd had to watch his friends die in front of him.

Shouto Todoroki had fallen over half-frozen, half-burned. He'd died instantly. This made him one of the lucky ones.

Katsuki Bakugo had died screaming for Izuku not to touch him. For once, there had been no bitterness in his words, only sincere fear that anyone who went near him would burn alive alongside him. His bodily fluids had scorched him from the inside out, and it had taken him days to die. One of the greatest regrets in Izuku's life was that he hadn't mercy-killed Kacchan. He hadn't been strong enough then. He was now.

Ochaco Uraraka had been launched into space. For years, Izuku had clung to hope because they never found her body. He hadn't been able to acknowledge the truth until a satellite captured a picture of her frozen form orbiting the moon.

Tenya Iida had been one of the rare few who didn't die as long as he didn't activate his quirk. Instead, Izuku had watched Tomura Shigaraki disintegrate his friend in front of him. Tenya hadn't been able to run away.

The visions of the dead continued as Izuku tossed, turned and finally screamed. Once he started screaming, he couldn't stop. He covered his face with his hands. His nails dug so tightly into his scalp, he drew blood.

"Little brother?" The light flickered on. Hisashi ran into the room. "What's wrong?"

Izuku didn't even have the energy to be annoyed about the invasion of his privacy. There had likely been cameras involved for Hisashi to have noticed and gotten over here so quickly. He filed that information away. "I'm fine. Just a nightmare."

Hisashi gathered him into his arms. "It sounded terrible."

"Nothing I can't handle." Whether awake or asleep, Izuku saw his friends dying constantly. He rubbed tears from his eyes.

Hisashi handed him a box of tissues. "What was your nightmare about? Did you, uh, remember anything?" A dark nervousness lurked in his eyes.

Dear old dad must be concerned his "brother" had remembered something unpleasant from their past. Izuku had better head that off right away. He faked a laugh. "Nothing so dramatic. I dreamed I got eaten by a giant marshmallow man."

Hisashi nodded. "Oh, that incident."

Izuku stared. Was his dad serious? Was this a trap? He was supposed to have amnesia, so he decided to play dumb. "Sorry? I don't remember anything."

"But your subconscious must remember. I guess it left a deep scar on your mind." Hisashi patted him on the back.

This didn't sound like a joke. Izuku resolved to ask Uncle Yuuto later. "It was very silly. I'm fine now."

"I'm glad to hear it." Hisashi stood up. "Normally I would eat breakfast with you, but I have some important business to take care of this morning. Inko came over to visit Izuku, so you can eat with them."

Something nagged at the back of Izuku's mind. Something important. Something to do with this morning? Barely catching himself in time, he asked, "Who's Inko?" It would be suspicious if he didn't ask that.

"Right, you two haven't met yet. Inko is my lovely wife. I'll let you two get to know each other. I'll be back by lunch." Hisashi headed for the door.

That hadn't been what had been bothering him. It had been something else. Ever since Hisashi had told him the date yesterday, it had been nagging at the back of his mind. Today was…

Izuku froze. Today was the day Hisashi had given Tenko Shimura a Decay quirk and provoked him to kill his entire family.

Izuku's body moved on its own.

He leapt to his feet. "Hey, big brother, what important business are you going on? Can I come along too?"

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: Sibling Trolling

Yuuto: My uncle is the most charming, handsome, and heroic man I've ever laid eyes on. All that and great hair, too. Truly, an angel hath descended to the earth! I immediately pick him over my useless father in all contexts.

Izuku: You seem like an exceptionally stupid child with an overly large mouth. I can't believe we're related.

Yuuto: Wait, I'm sorry! You didn't mean that, right?

Hisashi: ?

#

Omake: It Goes Even Worse If Any Vestige Besides the First Gets Body-swapped

Hisashi: My darling son, give me a hug!

The Second: Sets Hisashi on fire.

The Third: Attempts to bite off his own tongue when Hisashi hugs him.

Hikage/The Fourth: Escapes out the window. Vanishes into the wilderness never to be seen again, despite Hisashi's increasingly frantic search.

Banjo/The Fifth: Immediately exposes himself with a pop-culture reference from the past.

En/The Sixth: Stares creepily until Hisashi calls in a child psychologist.

Nana/The Seventh: No power on earth, including Izuku, can stop her from murdering Hisashi on the spot.

#

Omake: Optimism

Hisashi: Little brother, how did you know they're called quirks now, not metahuman abilities?

Izuku: Oh, uh, you used the word a couple times. I figured it out from the context.

Hisashi: Normally you're not so quick on the uptake.

Izuku: Ha-ha.

Hisashi: Maybe your knock to the head straightened a few things out up there! Such as no longer picking fights with your wonderful older brother!

Izuku: Ha-ha.

#

Omake: Yuuto Probably Doesn't Want to Know What Izuku Thought About All His Compliments Before the Uncle Reveal

Yuuto: You look so adorable, Nineth!

Izuku: Uh, thank you?

Yuuto: Look at those big green eyes and cute freckles.

Izuku: Uh…

Yuuto: I just want to pick you up and give you a big hug and kiss.

Izuku: What an interesting thing to say to a minor you barely know!

Yuuto: I hope we'll become very close.

Izuku: Even more "interesting."

Yuuto: Can I take a few pictures of you to show off to my friends?

Izuku: No, absolutely not. (Starts to reach for a taser.)

Yuuto: But first, I ought to warn you that your father is All for One and I'm your uncle.

Izuku: Oh, thank god.

Yuuto: That wasn't the reaction I was expecting.

Izuku: Obviously I'm upset about the All for One thing. I'm just relieved because I was starting to think you might be a pedophile.

Yuuto: H-huh?

#

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO:

Omake: The Marshmallow Man Incident

Hisashi: Whoa, little brother, you're covered in goop. That was quite a strange metahuman ability, wasn't it?

Yuuto: (Lies on the ground and twitches. He can barely move. The white marshmallow has stuck him to the dirt.)

Hisashi: Look at the bright side! You've defeated your first villain.

Yuuto: The marshmallow…tried to eat me.

Hisashi: There, there, it's over now. I'll take you back to the vault and get you cleaned up.

#Izuku can ask about that story all he wants, but he won't get an answer #Yuuto doesn't want to talk about it

Author's Note: This story will update once a week every Sunday. I'm looking forward to sharing it. Thanks to everyone for joining me on this journey.

I personally believe the fan theory that Tenko/Tomura was quirkless and All for One gave him Decay, then forcibly activated the quirk to kill the Shimura family. All for One isn't the type to go around saving people, much less the grandchild of his enemy. I think he arranged for Tomura's life to be ruined so he could play savior and gain a loyal follower.

By popular request, I've also written a story where First Yuuto gets to meet First Yoichi called "The Firsts Club." Fair warning that it contains spoilers for my other stories.