Toshinori awoke screaming, his face gaunt with sweat. Everything was dark in the massive bedroom only to soon erupt with blinding blue light that exploded in waves from him. One For All swirled around him, surging to levels it hadn't been to in years. The power of the quirk flowed through every cell of his body, causing pain so extreme that his entire mind nearly blanked out to avoid it.
With a crash he fell to the floor, the arcs of lightning spreading far and returning to him. Pain kept mounting as he was forced to curl into the fetal position and try to bare it. Involuntarily he thrashed like a seizure had attacked him, clawing at his face as the muscle contorted into a vision of unadulterated agony. Breath left him in ragid, fleeting attempts to keep him alive then the number one hero felt his body expand and morph.
Hard packed muscle grew slowly under his skin, pushing the organs back beneath the organic armor and the bones in his limbs extended and thickened to inhuman size while his skull shifted painfully into his trademarked falsehood. Once he had fully changed into his muscle form, the power increased one hundred fold and so did the pain. He screamed and screamed and screamed until the screaming changed into sobbing.
Toshinori lost track of time as laid helpless on his floor, the power he so cherished making him into little more than an infant despite the pounds of muscle that regularly annihilated entire buildings in seconds. Eventually as the sobbing faded, he found the will to stand on his trembling legs. For all his might the very act was close to bringing him back to the floor as he limped with each step sending trillions of needles of electricity into every fiber of his being. Agonizingly, he made it to his phone and barely had the ability to dial the number with the sensation attacking his body. Yet as he was about to call someone, anyone for help, the light snuffed out like it never was there and steam fled from his form in clouds which threatened to choke the life from him.
Soon the pain evaporated in turn and left the hero in his overgrown giant of a physic. Relief filled him and pocketing the phone, he made his way back to the bed. As he stared at the ham sized fists Toshinori understood that the quirk within him had changed, though he did not know how. Measuring the amount of energy he could force out, it became overly apparent that two things just happened. Two things which filled him with a deep, existential dread.
His powers had weakened significantly and somehow, even now he could feel it drain from his soul. Yet, to his surprise there came a far larger sense of the overall amount inside him. As if he was suddenly supplemented with more time. Shaking his head, Toshinori muttered something like a soothsayer.
"Young Midoriya, what did you do?"
As he was set to lament the endless possibilities of what could be behind this, the phone in his pocket rang with his signature ringtone. Picking it up, he could see that Aizawa was calling him...at two in the morning.
Steeling himself for what might be the greatest fear he had, the call connected and he answered with a gruff, stoic voice.
"Hello?"
No response came from the other end until at last the Underground Hero spoke in a deadly quiet tone.
"Meet me at the old metro warehouse in Nagasaki, now. I think I found something that can lead us to him."
Wind, rain and earth parted in the next heartbeat when the Symbol of Peace moved like the hounds of hell were chasing him. He needed no further explanation or reason, the merest hint of a lead was enough to usher forth the deepest of resolve from his broken body. It took him far longer than it would have even a day ago, yet he did arrive before the next hour passed. Finding his comrade sulking on one of the many rooftops surrounding their target, he came to a running halt and knelt down beside the hero.
In the distance, hidden behind layers of more modern infrastructure stood a squat, black building devoid of fresh paint and on the brink of collapse from the outset. Semi trucks lined the side of the dockheads, their trailers being fitted with crates aplenty by workers in various kinds of masks or hoods, all of which depicted a red, fanged grin.
Toshinori gritted his teeth at the mocking sight of the result of his failure to his ward. Peering to his left he saw the same expression carefully hidden on Aizawa.
"Please don't tell me he's inside there."
The Eraser Hero shook his head, raising a pair of high tech binoculars to his eyes and then handing them to the giant.
"Unfortunately no, the most we've figured out is that one of the figureheads behind this...whatever it is, has his headquarters in here. Ergo, we grab him and we may get a clue as to where Midoriya is hiding. However the tip we received came from a rather unorthodox source, so I'd wager we may be walking into a trap."
Scanning the property Toshinori saw rifle barrels pointing out of every window and more guard patrols than what even the best organized villain groups could muster. Pushing the fear down, he looked to his co-worker.
"Unorthodox in what way?"
Aizawa reached into a pouch on his belt and fished out a picture of a young man in his early twenties with heavily dyed green hair that gazed back from insane brown eyes.
"Unorthodox as in, a prominent member of the Shie Hassaikai yakuza group dropped this off at the head of Tokyo metro police station. It had details about the whole operation of this movement and from the way the note was written, they seem anxious to get rid of them."
The muscled hero cracked his knuckles in preparation to attack.
"Gang warfare, right?"
Again Aizawa shook his head.
"No, that's too mild a word. I'd sooner call it a moral cleansing, judging by how brutal the reactions have been. They take things to a level most villains won't if they find you go against the people, or that's how they phrase it from what I hear."
As he readied to rush in, the eighth user of One For All shut his eyes to clear his thoughts and plaster his signature grin on. When he opened them again, he found that everything that was once in front of him had vanished. Trucks, crates, people, it was all gone and Eraserhead shared in his bafflement, looking like he just watched gravity flow upwards.
"What just happened?"
The smaller man stared out in mild shock at the now empty truck yard.
"I don't know, everything just turned black and-"
The conversation ended suddenly when the very light from their vision vanished and the air around them shifted into a cold, squirming liquid that threatened to freeze them to the bone. They couldn't move, simply left to float in whatever was happening, seconds later finding themselves in a dingy office which stunk of coffee and cigarettes. The scent of warm tea wafted along with the older smells to the sound of heavy boots contacting the floor.
Turning to the source of the sound with arms raised, the heroes were met by the very same young man from the photo. In his left hand was a large tray filled with cakes and a kettle surrounded by cups while in his other hand was what looked to be a steel wire wrapped around his wrist. The youth smiled warmly at the pair, setting the tray down on a nearby coffee table and gesturing to a set of couches.
"Gentlemen, welcome. Please feel free to make yourself comfortable, we have much to discuss and our meeting was a long time coming."
Aizawa went wide-eyed upon hearing the man's voice but Toshinori beat him to the first word when he allowed some of his quirk to flow.
"Young man, as of this moment you're under arrest for conspiracy against the government and more charges than I can list. Give up now and I swear you will be treated fairly under the law."
The man chuckled at the professional in a deeply cynical way.
"Aren't I assured fair treatment whether I comply or not? Ah, hypocrites abound in suits. You know the sort don't you All Might? All For One and his special brand of falsehoods, he's one of the worst, but rest easy that he will be dying very soon. I promise you that. Anyway, small talk aside, we have larger issues to address and as of this moment I will be holding you both hostage until our dealing tonight is finished."
The heroes stared ready for any trick, yet before either could respond, he pulled open his trench coat to reveal a vest covering his entire upper torso in C-4 explosives, to which the wire on his wrist was connected.
"Now, let's begin shall we?"
Sweat trailed down each of their faces, All Might looking to Eraserhead and waiting for the signal on what to do when the shorter man waved him to stand down. Taking a seat on the opposite sofa and remaining neutral while Toshinori did the same.
"Tell us what you want and maybe we can get it for you."
The fanatic slapped his knee in joy, finding this to be outstandingly amusing.
"Desire, such a strange thing isn't it? What I "want" Eraserhead, is simultaneously mind shatteringly complex and at the same moment, stupidly simple. But before we get to that, let me ask something in return."
He pointed to the rotting ceiling above them.
"When the clouds part and the sun turns to face away from the earth, we're forced to see nothing but darkness and stars. That's something everyone has seen in their lives, but have you ever wondered what that is?"
The Underground hero raised an eyebrow, careful to watch the wire on the villain's wrist.
"It's like you said, darkness. Just the absence of light made by lack of ions for our eyes to process it."
The man grinned like that was the most naive thing ever.
"Yes, but what if there was more to it then we understood? The ancient Greeks believed they knew everything and we're obviously proving them wrong daily. Why can't the same be applied to our society?"
A scowl answered back from the titan as he fought to not jump out of his seat.
"Enough of this, why waste our time? You have the upper hand, so why not use it?"
The only thing he received was a finger wagged his way by the young man.
"Easy now, time is a valuable thing and I find rushing to be unhealthy for the mind. As to why, let me answer that question with another question. The emergence of quirks has been around for over four hundred years now, correct? Barely a blip on the timeline of humanity's existence but significant enough to radically change every part of reality. Have you ever thought about where these abilities came from and why they appeared?"
The heroes shared a look as the larger one answered.
"Of course, that's become the second largest asked question in history. As to why, no one can answer that."
A sort of mania grew in the ringleader.
"I don't believe you haven't some inkling of a clue, All Might. After all, you're using a quirk that's been passed down since the very start of the age of wonder. The eighth bearer, if I remember correctly."
Bafflement assaulted Toshinori's heart as the man holding him hostage continued to talk, the voice growing more unhinged when he saw the terror in the hero's eyes.
"You've been carrying that burden for so long in order to keep people safe and grant them hope, for that I give you my deepest thanks. However, you never questioned where it came from, did you? All For One granted the power to his brother and it now flows through you. However, it didn't come from him originally. He stole it and that person never showed their soul to any of the previous users. Would you like to know why?"
Blue lightning crackled from the brawler's body, ready to strike at the villain who somehow knew his secret when he remembered how weaker he'd become.
"Very well, I'll listen. Why?"
The man smirked, picking up a tea cup and filling it.
"Because that person was a vessel for something else. Something that was made to match the ability of the Collector, or "All For One" as it's owner likes to call it. You see, your power is essentially a metaphysical software update that empowers each quirk given to it. The Processor if you will. Much slower and less adaptable than its counterpart, but in exchange it can retain the full memory, personality and ability of previous users all while enhancing the power of each quirk while the Collector can absorb the surface level ability of any individual at the cost of the power being weakened and no semblance of personality or any knowledge remain. Very similar but importantly different."
Toshinori swore he felt a tooth crack when he had to restrain himself.
"Alright, you're spot on about things, but how do you know all this? Is All For One feeding you information?"
The man nearly choked on his tea as he tried to retort.
"No, that man is little more than a pawn to what showed me the truth. I…"
He hesitated as the words lingered on his lips.
"I said that the original owner of your quirk was a vessel, the same applies to All For One. He doesn't consciously know that, but he still serves the same thing I do. That's why he's obsessed with collecting quirks, because that is part of it and he is being manipulated into doing it's will."
Aizawa cut in, becoming unnerved as this went on.
"You sound so sure, but if that's the case then what is "it"?"
The cultist opened his mouth then swiftly ceased as he became lost in thought.
"It...is One. One concept birthed from countless others that knows everything and yet nothing, One idea built from every thought and yet created every thought. One eye which sees everything and yet is blind. It...is the darkness and the light, good and evil, hot and cold. Everything and nothing. It is our worst nightmares and our highest ideals given shape. It is...One."
He pursed his lips when he only met confusion on his guests' expression. Habitually he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"I guess I need to explain better. You know who I follow, yes? The Smile Man?"
Both heroes withheld a show of anger under the tenseness of the situation. Aizawa leaned back as far as he dared on the sofa, trying not to move too quickly.
"Unfortunately."
The man nodded indifferently to the crime fighter.
"Good, now I feel the need to say that I do honestly follow his teachings and would serve him as my leader, as we all would. However, he isn't the only reason. You see, I'm aware that he is...or rather was in possession of your quirk All Might."
The air in the room suddenly grew cold, becoming like ice to the Symbol of Peace.
"What!? How do you-"
"I'll get to that, but right now it's important that you understand a single thing above all else. For most of my life, I was quirkless. I wasn't born with an amazing ability that would grant me a better life and so I fell into the cesspit of society, surrounded by victims too scared to even look up anymore and animals who saw them as less than dogs. That was my life, that was my family's life and about three years ago, I decided I'd had enough of this shit world and was ready to hang myself."
His breathing grew heavy for a moment as he recalled the memory, a certain fear mixing with awe.
"But before I went through with it, I knelt down and prayed to anything that would listen. I...I never got an answer from god, but...something heard me that night. I went to sleep after chickening out and as I laid dreaming in my bed, I saw it."
The wood armrest of the sofa creaked under the strain of his grip.
"I was alone in this total darkness, unable to move or breathe or do anything other than think. It was like a thousand years passed me until a green eye appeared in the blackness, the thing was hardly open, but...it spoke to me. Not like how you and I would, but somehow it told me about futures and places that don't make sense and then it offered me something. I saw a future where humanity had conquered the stars and anything was possible, it showed me this and another person."
A finger was pointed to the black banner hanging over by the window that depicted a golden, red fanged smile.
"It showed me a man who would teach us how to save ourselves and treat us right, like a leader should. And that I would be this man's right hand, shaping humanity into something better. All I needed to do was say yes and it would happen, so I did. Then when I woke up the very next day, that man appeared in my neighborhood and killed all the monsters we were too weak to."
Sharpened steel glinted in the low light of the room as a fighting knife was drawn from somewhere inside his coat.
"I knew right then and there that this was my destiny. Yet the dreams kept coming, showing more and more with each night until...it gave me something. I don't even think it's a quirk, but…"
He stopped and stared at the two with a hard lined fear which evened into a direct instance.
"Look, I need to figure out who he is. It doesn't know or won't show me his real face and in order to bring about what I want, he has to be found. I used to be able to catch glimpses from his dreams, but since those seven left his body, I'm left with nothing. All I know is that he passed the quirk onto someone very important to him, but I can't make out a face."
He stood up, the cord growing taunt in his hands.
"So tell me before I do something I'll regret."
Neither hero budged under the pressure, the less famous one staring right back without a hint of defeat.
"Kid, how do you even know this thing is real? Maybe it's just a figment of your imagination and you-"
The Underground hero felt his voice shrivel in his throat when the brown of the criminal's eyes became engulfed by his pupils and then slowly filled from the sides with an inching liquid, turning them completely pitch black like ink. The thing didn't move or even breathe as the whole of the world faded around them.
The air turned icy and thick, almost as if it wasn't oxygen that lingered in the throat. The darkness surrounded them on every side, the floor shifting to a vaguely pinkish rock that glowed weakly under foot. There was the sudden feeling of emptiness, of being thrown out of the confines of a room into a vast open plain, only the sensation was a trillion, trillion times more. They could see the face of the young man, his eyes an organically unnatural shade which continued to squirm this way and that inside his sockets. Pinpricks of light dotted above, below and around them, failing to do more than blind the two in the primordial dark with the effort. The man smiled proudly with an arm outstretched to a scene behind his guests.
"Here it is, the end of creation. The limit of the universe right before us. Covered in shadow, waiting for the right creatures to take it. To expand beyond and peer past the veil. That is what it showed me, this very place alight with uncountable souls on endless worlds that had evolved into something more than pain and suffering. A realm of void built upon by the hopes and dreams of the noblest of humanity. He shall lead us here, The One shall grant the power and I will be his herald of the new age."
Fear crawled inside the veins of the men who dared to follow the gestured hand and view what was behind them. Nothing rested beyond the visible space, no lights hung, no bits of rock orbited, nothing except an endless curtain that knew no depths other than infinity. It was the very edge of what their vision could see and as they engrained the sight into memory, everything changed.
Darkness was invaded by electric glow from cheap light bulbs and the air returned to the normal, thin sort while the stink of coffee greeted the nostrils. The inky black of the madman's eyes receded into his skull and left the brown of his irises to greet his guests.
"I have shown you what my dream is, so please, won't you tell his name and end this petty stage we're at? You'll be remembered as a saint in the new way and people shall follow your examples forever, chanting the deeds into the hope lit sky of eternity while the suffering of the past is a bygone thing?"
The mind boggling scene kept playing out in Toshinori's mind, wondering if what he saw was a basic illusion quirk or...something else. There was a childish sense of admiration in the villain's request, a quality he had heard since the start of his career, yet he recalled the person who used to look up to him the most, the one he failed.
"No and nothing on this earth will make me. That boy has suffered enough from the ambitions of others and I swear to you now that I'll defend him to my last breath."
The smile died on his face, yet not a single hint of malice or danger replaced it. If anything the youth simply looked mildly disappointed.
"Well, I tried at least. Thank you for your time gentlemen, we are forever grateful to you both and I hope to see you all again soon."
Light dashed from everything once more and the heroes found themselves crouched in the exact spot they originally were near the outskirts of the warehouse. The building stood still in the deathly silence which had taken over the city as of late before itself was covered in a thick, crawling liquid of blackness and began to fade into a space beyond space before disappearing right in front of the men.
Aizawa and Toshinori said nothing to each other as the reality set in. They knew one thing however, they were now facing something far worse than mere villains.