Chapter Six: Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER:
Izuku slipped through the window and landed on the broken glass below. The cracking sound made him wince and glance around. The deserted laboratory held no one to notice. Broken, empty Nomu tanks filled the giant room. Bombs had been strapped to the walls, reading the building ready to explode.
From outside came the shrieks of Nomu clashing with heroes. Izuku had snuck through the chaos so he could be the first one to reach All for One. He had no faith in the other heroes to do what needed to be done.
Since only Nomu had appeared on the battlefield, Izuku had concluded they must be serving as a distraction to allow the laboratory to be evacuated. It gave Izuku a cold sense of triumph to know he'd stripped All for One of his allies and pushed his hated enemy far enough into a corner that he now avoided confronting the heroes in open battle.
Still, Izuku had the perfect bait to lure All for One into the open: himself.
Raising his voice, Izuku cried, "Dad? Where are you?" His shout echoed off the high ceiling.
"Izuku?" Hisashi ran through the doorway. "You shouldn't be here; this place is about to blow up." His eyes latched onto the ticking bomb strapped to the wall just a foot away from his son's head. "Did you just call me Dad?"
"It slipped out. I still hate you." Izuku made his voice strained, as if verge of sobbing. He rubbed nonexistent tears from his eyes. Funny, Izuku used to cry with ridiculous ease, but now he had to fake it. "I shouldn't be here. I just had to see you. D-dad, I…I found out who killed Uncle Yuuto."
"You what?" Hisashi's eyes widened.
"It was…" Izuku mumbled.
"Please, speak up." Hisashi stepped closer.
Izuku's shoulders shook as he heaved a fake sob. "I…I…" He whispered nonsense again.
Hisashi bent down so his ear was almost at Izuku's mouth.
Izuku locked eyes with his father, letting the villain see the truth in them. "I stabbed Uncle Yuuto to death while he begged me to stop."
Hisashi froze. In that one moment of total shock, his guard completely dropped.
Izuku shot out Black Whip and snapped his father's neck.
As Hisashi's corpse hit the floor, his mouth hung open in an expression of horror. Izuku enjoyed that look. He'd like to think that in his final moments, Hisashi had understood just how much his son hated him. If he'd died comprehending even a fraction of Izuku's disdain, then hopefully he'd suffered. Izuku would have liked to make his enemy's death as slow as he deserved (at least as slow as Uncle Yuuto's) but freeing his mother's mind remained his top priority.
Izuku unfastened one of the bombs from the wall. He dragged it over next to his father's dead body, far enough away not to trigger the other bombs, and reset the timer for seconds. Then Izuku hid behind one of the lab tables. He needed to make it look like All for One had died in an accidental explosion. Ideally, then he'd leave before anyone knew he'd been here.
At one time, Izuku could have easily killed Japan's greatest villain and claimed it had been unavoidable self-defense. A hero student wouldn't be expected to hold back against such a powerful villain. But so many of the villains Izuku had fought against had ended up dead that the Hero Public Safety Commission had started watching him very carefully.
Izuku knew he needed to be more careful. But he just couldn't help it. Every time he had a villain fallen and at his mercy, he imagined what would happen if they broke out of jail. Then wouldn't he basically be responsible for every single crime they committed, just like how he was responsible for All for One's crimes? It would be all his fault for not finishing them off when he had the chance.
I hesitated once. Uncle Yuuto died because I hesitated to kill a villain who happened to be my biological father. I'll never hesitate again. Villains were irredeemable monsters, all of them, even when they pretended to be people. The only way to make absolutely certain they'd never hurt anyone again was to kill them.
The very last time Izuku had hesitated to kill a villain had been Himiko Toga. She'd lain on her back bleeding and sobbing, begging him to help her. For a moment, his heart had weakened. Then he'd remembered that this stupid bitch had made a choice to become a villain, unlike his mother or his uncle. Where did she get off acting like a victim? It killed his last remaining iota of sympathy for her.
Izuku had told Himiko exactly what a disgusting piece of trash he considered her, completely unworthy of a second chance. She'd been weeping as he slit her throat with her own knife. He regretted that. Just because villains needed to be put down like mad dogs didn't mean there was any need to be cruel about it.
Killing Dr. Garaki, Izuku had definitely enjoyed a little too much. But he didn't regret that one.
The bomb went off. After the explosions had stopped, Izuku removed his fingers from his ears. Only then did he notice a sound like someone whimpering in pain.
Izuku made his way across the wreckage. He did not shy away from the sight of his father's bleeding and twisted corpse. His eyes fell on a second body, lying under the crumbled part of wall. A familiar black top hat peeked out. Mr. Compress must have arrived in just in time to be caught up in the explosion—maybe he'd been trying to save his boss without realizing the man was already dead.
Kneeling down, Izuku inspected blood leaking from the villain pinned under the rubble. It was difficult to say, but Mr. Compress might live with immediate medical treatment.
How unfortunate.
Mr. Compress cracked one eye open. His breath caught upon meeting Izuku's green eyes. "Monster," he slurred. "You…killed all my friends…you damn monster."
Izuku sighed. What a typical villain. How many people had Mr. Compress' friends killed? But he still acted like he had anything to be self-righteous about. Disgusting.
He'd have to make this one look like an accident, too. Izuku picked up a rock. It took him five strikes to bash in Mr. Compress' head, with the villain screaming obnoxiously the whole time.
As Izuku stood up, a voice came from behind him. "Young Midoriya?"
All Might. Goddammit.
Izuku thought fast. All Might hadn't seen him kill Mr. Compress, or he'd have sounded horrified rather than confused. His mentor might be suspicious, but he wasn't certain. Not yet. Izuku still had time to salvage this situation.
Bursting into sobs, Izuku ran forward. "All Might! My dad, he's d-dead." Izuku buried his face into All Might's chest to hide that no real tears fell down his cheeks. He considered picking up an eyedrop so he could fake it better in the future.
All Might's arms went around him. "Oh! I'm so sorry you had to see that, young Midoriya."
"I-I thought that I'd be fine if he died, that I didn't care anymore, but as soon as I saw his body, all my memories from my childhood came pouring back to me. Are you disappointed in me, All Might? I-I know he's your greatest enemy, but I'm still sorry that he's dead."
"I could never be disappointed in you, young Midoriya." On the contrary, All Might sounded relieved. "I knew you wouldn't be able to bring yourself to actually kill him. Your feelings are completely normal and natural. A death is always a terrible thing. Even when I thought I'd killed All for One in the past, I felt glad it was over, but I never celebrated it. Especially when it's your own father, of course you'd feel sad."
Izuku buried his face into All Might's costume to hide his grimace. All Might meant well, and he was a truly wonderful person, but Izuku had become increasingly convinced that All Might didn't have the emotional strength necessary to truly remove the villain threat from Japan. It was giving Izuku second thoughts about his original plan to retire as a hero after he found his mother.
Mom. With All for One dead, Inko Midoriya would be free again. At that reminder, Izuku pushed All Might away. "We have to look for Mom. There's a chance she's still in the building."
"Of course, young Midoriya. The other heroes should be shortly behind me. They'll help as well."
"We can't afford to wait that long. This building is on a timer to explode. If we split up, we'll be able to search faster."
"Are you sure you're okay—?"
"Please, All Might. My mother's life is at stake. If she freaks out after the brainwashing disappeared, the other villains might hurt her."
This finally convinced All Might. Once alone, Izuku let his fake sad look drop off his face. Ugh, pretending to mourn that bastard felt so disgusting. He'd killed whatever weak part of himself held any attachment to Hisashi Midoriya a long time ago.
Toshinori stepped down the deserted hallway, calling, "Mrs. Midoriya? Are you there? Heroes are on the verge of taking this building. We're aware that you've been under mind-control. If you come out, we'll help you. Your son is looking for you."
His words echoed through the empty building. Inko Midoriya was probably long gone. But Toshinori couldn't give up, not after the sincere desperation on his student's face. Izuku had been so broken-hearted at his villainous father's death, it made Toshinori's heat ache for him.
And it also made the hero breathe a sigh of relief. Anything was better than the perpetually cold look in Izuku's eyes. He'd attended therapy regularly but it hadn't seemed to do anything. Toshinori suspected his student was lying to the child psychiatrist.
Izuku had changed so drastically after his imprisonment that Toshinori had started to worry if All for One's failed attempt at mind control could have done some type of permanent damage to his ability to feel. They were treading unfamiliar ground, so anything was possible, but he had no idea how to help his student.
Hopefully, this incident would prove a breakthrough to release young Midoriya's true feelings and allow him to properly work through his pain. His tears had been so sincere. It was almost enough to convince Toshinori that he'd imagined seeing Izuku standing over Mr. Compress holding a bloody rock.
Almost.
Toshinori cleared his throat and whispered to the One for All holders inside his head, "Are you listening?" He'd started to be able to communicate with his predecessors more frequently and outside dreams ever since they'd forced a connection open with Izuku during his crisis. "Did any of you see what happened to Mr. Compress?"
The First replied, "No. Izuku hasn't let any of us into his head ever since his rescue." His tone was wistful. Toshinori knew that it pained First deeply that Izuku had never been willing to form a relationship with him. After Izuku had said, Sorry, you remind me too much of him, the First had no longer tried to push it.
"Oh." Toshinori scratched a nagging itch on his back, wishing he could so easily remove the itch from his mind. "It looked like a rock fell on Mr. Compress' head. But. It's rather convenient how that one piece of rock fell at the right angle to kill him."
The First's tone sharpened. "What are you implying?"
"I just…I thought I saw young Midoriya holding a bloody rock."
"Eighth! How could you say something like that!" The anger in First's voice made Toshinori flinch. "Izuku would never, ever murder someone. That incident with Muscular was self-defense, pure and simple. Both he and Kota nearly died! Yet the Hero Public Safety Commission gave him such a hard time."
Toshinori squirmed. "It wasn't just Muscular. Numerous villains have died around Izuku."
"The Hero Public Safety Commission is irrationally suspicious of him because of his father."
"They don't even know about that."
"They suspect, especially with how Izuku started accessing all our quirks early. All for One tipped his hand with how hard he hunted Izuku." A note of anger lurked in First's voice. He had the right to be angry, after everything All for One had done to his other self. "Give me one drop of proof that Izuku has done anything wrong. Otherwise, I'll start suspecting that you're holding Izuku's parentage against him, too."
"I'd never do that!" Toshinori protested. "I don't have proof. Just…remember how Shouto Todoroki transferred to Shiketsu High School after Endeavor's death? He came to see me right before. He said he was leaving because he suspected Izuku had killed his father, after he told Izuku about his past." Toshinori still remembered the haunted look of guilt in the poor boy's eyes.
"He didn't have any proof, either," the First growled.
"No, but…" Toshonori wasn't sure how to put it into words. But he'd gotten a strange and horrified feeling when Izuku had told him afterward it was a shame that Shouto had transferred because he'd hoped they'd become good friends. According to Izuku, their shared hatred of their fathers gave them something in common. Even Toshinori didn't know why he'd gotten such a chill from those words. He'd gone back over Endeavor's case again, and sure enough, no evidence that the number two hero had died of anything except a freak allergic reaction to shellfish.
"Please, Izuku has been going through such a hard time. He hasn't been able to make any friends in his class. People started whispering behind his back after he developed multiple quirks. He's such a kind boy but everyone sees him as a villain." The First's voice turned pleading. "If even you give up on him, Eighth, then who will he have?"
Toshinori's heart melted. He knew Izuku—the boy was kind to the very core of his being. He deserved the benefit of the doubt. "I'm sorry. You're right. I know Izuku must be innocent."
A scream pierced the air.
Toshinori ran toward the noise. He found Izuku sitting on the floor, cradling his mother's dead body. Izuku made a keening sound like a dying animal as he rocked her back and forth.
A gun lay on the floor. The bullet wound in Inko Midoriya's head strongly suggested suicide. This had clearly been her office, judging from the family pictures. And the records of Nomu on the desk suggested that All for One had unfortunately involved his brainwashed wife quite thoroughly in his horrific experiments. After her conscience returned with his death, the guilt must have been too much for her to bear.
Izuku whispered, "It's all my fault. It's all because I didn't kill that man when I had the chance. If I'd killed All for One back then, or even just let Nana do it, then it wouldn't have been too late to save you. It's all my fault."
"Young Midoriya, please, don't say such cruel things to yourself." Toshinori knelt down and spread his arms wide to offer his student a hug. He was afraid to touch Izuku without permission for fear of startling him. "You have no idea what might or might not have happened if you'd done something differently in the past. Please don't torment yourself like this."
Izuku ignored his outstretched arms. "Do I deserve this, Mom? Maybe I do. I've researched into every person who died from All for One's schemes since I failed to kill him that day. I've memorized each name. I'm sure there are more people I don't know about, people who I might as well have murdered myself. I whisper the names when I go to sleep every night. Yes, I do deserve this. What right did my family have to be saved when I caused so many other people to die because of my weakness?"
"Young Midoriya!" Toshinori shouted. "Please listen to me. You're not responsible for people who All for One kills. Only he's responsible for his own crimes."
Izuku wasn't listening to him. He kept making that terrible, animalistic sound in the back of his throat.
Toshinori said, "My boy, please come with me. You don't need to keep looking at…the body. I'll get you help. I think you should take a break from school for a while, focus on healing your mind."
"No!" Izuku leapt to his feet, finally seeming to notice his mentor. "You can't! Being a hero is all I have left!"
"I'm not telling you to quit permanently, but I think you should focus on your therapy—"
"Please don't take One for All from me! I know I'm not good enough to be your successor, but I'll do better! I'll make up for all my mistakes! If I lose my last reason for living, I'll die! I'll go join Mom!"
Toshinori flinched, terrified by the sincerity in Izuku's voice. He feared the boy meant his threat to kill himself. "No one said anything about taking One for All away. How about a compromise? Let your psychiatrist decide if you're fit to return to school."
Izuku calmed down immediately. "That's reasonable. I understand that you're only concerned about me. I'm sorry for making a scene, All Might." The smile on his face looked grotesque for its normality.
"Please don't apologize! Why would you apologize for being upset that your mother is dead?" Toshinori found Izuku's sudden flip to calmness even more unnerving than his earlier fit.
Izuku seemed entirely too confident he could get medical permission to return to school. (He's a good liar, Toshinori's secret thoughts whispered.) Toshinori had a feeling he'd made a mistake. He should have pressed harder for Izuku to take a break. But he had no blood connection to the boy, and thus no authority to force him if he refused.
Toshinori was so desperate to help Izuku, but he didn't have the faintest idea how.
SIX YEARS LATER:
Izuku stopped outside the white door labeled "301." He stared into the retinal scanner as it identified him. The motion detectors and numerous locks were subtle, painted white to blend in with the door. Carefully, he disabled each one.
He always visited All Might—or just Toshinori Yagi, now—at least once every week, to make sure his former mentor was being well-treated. But he almost never stepped into the room. Izuku was under no illusion that Toshinori wanted to see him. Not when Izuku had been the one to have him committed to this mental hospital.
The papers Izuku had found at All for One's hideout had been full of blackmail material, on powerful politicians and on the Hero Public Safety Commission. By the time All Might had gathered his evidence on Izuku's murders of numerous villains and brought his findings to the commission, it had been too late. Izuku had already been controlling the commission from the shadows.
These days, he controlled it openly.
An elderly couple strolled down the hallway, likely visiting a relative. The woman tugged the man's arm and hissed, "Is that the president of the Hero Public Safety Commission?"
Ducking his head lower, Izuku stepped into the room. He didn't want to be recognized. As far as the public knew, All Might had retired to a location kept secret to protect the former number one hero from villain attacks. Izuku's control over the Japanese government was strong enough that he could have ruined All Might's reputation, but he just couldn't bring himself to do that to his old favorite hero.
"Young Midoriya?" Toshinori called. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. The straps on his arms would barely reach far enough.
Izuku winced. He'd hoped that Toshinori would remain asleep. He scanned his former mentor's face, making certain the haziness in his voice was sleepiness not drugs. (They'd tried to put Toshinori on drugs after the last escape attempt, but Izuku had put a firm stop to that.) Then he edged for the door.
"Wait, please!" The desperation in Toshinori's voice brought Izuku to a halt. Toshinori waved a newspaper at him. "I read about your latest laws granting a blanket allowance for civilians to use lethal force against villains. Did you know a group of men murdered a giant woman with a mutant quirk as she walked home from work late at night, because they thought she was a villain?"
"I'm confident they must have been justified to use lethal force," Izuku replied, a habitual political response. In reality, if All Might identified the case as suspect, there was likely to be something fishy about it. He made a mental note to investigate later and deal out justice as necessary. "Our laws restricting people from using their quirks were outdated and overly harsh. Civilians need to be able to defend themselves."
"You're not entirely wrong about that, but you've gone too far in the other direction. Society has always been quick to label people as villains, and now you've made that a death sentence." Toshinori closed his eyes. "Young Midoriya, I spent years failing to find the right words to say to you. I told you that everything would be all right, even though I knew it wouldn't be. I should have told you that bad things happen, you can't stop all of them, you can only try to make the world better. But you can't fight evil with more evil."
This was the first time in a long time Toshinori had been willing to have an actual discussion with him, so Izuku decided to try. "I have made the world better. Look at the statistics on crime rates. There's hardly a villain to be found in Japan, outside the prisons." Lately, Izuku had trouble finding villains to kill, which irritated him more than he cared to admit. He only felt good about himself when he was killing villains.
Toshinori asked, "But have the death rates gone down? Or have you labeled every person who died a 'villain'? Society defines what counts as a crime or a criminal. It's easy to fudge the numbers."
Izuku frowned. "Villain need to die. It's the only way everyone else will be safe." They'd returned to the same old argument again, so he knew no further discussion would help. He turned toward the door.
"Wait!" Toshinori called. This time, Izuku paid no heed. Toshinori said, "I know this isn't who you are. Maybe when All for One invaded your mind, he did something to you. I want to help you."
"Stop, Nineth." Nana's voice, this time. Izuku hadn't heard the vestiges since he threw them out of his head. But apparently Toshinori's presence had allowed them to materialize again. Nana's ghostly form hovered over the bed. She looked like she'd aged years. She whispered, "You need to finish listening to him. This is your last chance."
"My last chance?" Izuku cocked his head, amused and curious.
Nana took a deep breath. "All of us have been voting on if we should stop your heart. On the last vote, everyone but First agreed. Step down from your position and give up One for All, or we'll end our legacy with our own hands. I'm sorry, Izuku, but we can't let this continue any longer. I'd like to think this is what the boy I first met years ago would want if he could see what he'd become."
Toshinori said, "Wait, Nana, you said you'd give me one more chance to convince him."
"There's no need to worry, All Might," Izuku said. "They can't do anything."
Nana stared. "As I told you years ago—"
"My father was researching ways to make sure you couldn't do that as part of his plan to recapture me." Izuku's lips twisted. "I followed his instructions and severed my connection to you a long time ago. You're only anchored to All Might, now. Don't worry. As soon as I'm done making Japan safe, I'll give One for All back to him and let him go. Then he can pick a better successor next time."
Izuku turned and walked out of the room quickly, because he had no desire to hear the response.
What Nana had said had hurt him, but he understood. He knew he was an irredeemable monster. But someone had to get his hands dirty in order to fix this messed-up world. Somewhere out there, an innocent child believed in heroes, just like Izuku once had, blissfully unaware of the world's darkness. If Izuku could kill all the villains before that child ended up broken just like him, then all his suffering would be worth it.
When all the monsters were dead, Izuku would lie down and die himself, and then there would finally be no monsters left.
In the meantime, he had more villains to kill. Japan's heroes had been so successful lately that other countries had asked them for advice. Time to move his villain purge to cover the entire world.
Author's Note:
The wonderfully talented sandturnipz (Instragram)/ bigturnipz (Twitter) drew a beautiful Evil First picture as cover art for this story. RIP Uncle Yuuto. Delete the spaces to get the link:
aimportantdragoncollector.
tumblr.
com/
post/660431111114162177/evil-first
Is everyone who asked me to write Evil Izuku sorry yet? Hisashi is definitely sorry!
With Izuku's personality, I see him fitting the Well-Intentioned Extremist Trope more than an outright villain. Izuku is only capable of turning evil when he sincerely believes that he's saving people. This is a bad ending, but not the bad ending All for One wanted.
If it's too hard to believe that Izuku would ever do these things, then one possible alternative interpretation is that Izuku's mind got scarred by Hisashi's invasion. Hisashi never succeeded in creating a bond between them, but Izuku's empathy took permanent damage and it twisted his heroism into something darker. Or maybe Toshinori only created that theory because he was grasping at straws desperately trying to believe that Izuku hadn't turned into a monster. Who knows?
I apologize again for this hideously depressing ending. I'll write something funny for my oneshot on Thursday, I promise. It will contain the crack version of Evil First and Evil Izuku. You can use that to wipe this story from your mind.
I think I've bullied Yuuto enough, so next Tuesday I'll let him star in something more light-hearted, like a cracky prologue about his very first time running away from home.
On Sunday, I'll be introducing my new long story, Forgiveness is the Attribute of the Strong. In this fanfiction, Hisashi and Yoichi will time-travel to the modern era as children and get adopted by All Might—
Hisashi: Found you! It's murder time!
Author: I'm trying to promote my newest story, can you come back later?
Hisashi: Bold of you to assume you're going to live until Sunday.
Yuuto: For once, I'm in complete agreement with you, big brother. You hold her down, and I'll punch.
Author: Aw, look, you're finally getting along! I've resolved your brotherly quarrel, let's celebrate, ha-ha.
Yuuto: Let me get my flamethrower.
Author: Guys, I have a compromise. This time I wrote an Evil First story, next time I'm going to write a heroic adorable child All for One story. See? I'm being fair.
Hisashi: You're only making me want to murder you even more. And I didn't even think that was possible.
Yuuto: After what you did to my precious nephew, you're not getting out of this one so easily.
Hisashi: You're not getting out of this one alive.
Intermission. Imagine a field of frolicking bunnies. That sight would be far more pleasant than what is going on at this moment.