Chapter 29: All For One and One For All

"Candycane, I won't ask what the fuck, I won't ask when the fuck, but I will ask why the fuck?"

Shoto shrugged, "It looked like something Izuku would do."

"Fair."

"Hey!"

The rest of his class pointedly ignored the pouting from the boy in question. They were all in the cafeteria having lunch, still in their costumes and ready for the afternoon classes with All Might.

"It does seem like something you would do." Momo supported Shoto's reasoning with a nod. They all knew the bichromatic boy was trying hard to be more sociable, and who's better to base his efforts than the resident ray of sunshine that was already friends with half the school? (Momo was still in the running on the betting pool and close to winning if he kept on that rhythm).

Katsuki's head shot up. He looked around, pissed for some reason. Shaking the weird feeling off, he turned to Izuku, "Oi, Deku! You still didn't explain where you learned how to drive."

Izuku smirked back, "Dunno." His revenge was sweet but short-lived, as he had to dodge a punch right after. The boy was quick to hide behind Ochaco while his friend raged.

"Stop that, you two! We need to be well-fed for our next exercise!" Tenya chopped at them, making both boys stop and saving poor Ochaco from staying in the middle of the crossfire.

"You guys know what that's gonna be?" Toru asked, looking at Izuku and Momo in the eyes and loving that now they could make eye contact back.

"I heard him saying something about a race. Not much else, though." Izuku gave a helpless shrug.

Izuku was almost right. Yes, it was a race, but it was a rescue race! The objective was to reach the place All Might would be the fastest they could. Considering that saving people depended on being able to reach them on time, as Izuku and Shoto could attest, it made sense.

The first group, consisting of Izuku, Tenya, Hanta, Mina, and Mashirao, went inside the designed entrance of the training ground. They were going into an industrial setting this time, which meant a clustered amalgamation of pipes and buildings awaited them.

"So, who do you think will get second place?" Denki asked the rest of the class, all waiting outside the training ground and watching the participants on an assortment of big screens.

"Why second place?" Mezo asked from one of the mouths at the tips of his arms.

"Izuku is in there." The blonde pointed at the screen that showed Izuku sitting in the air with his legs crossed and writing in one of his journals. "I don't think we had much chance on a race against him before he learned how to fly."

"Point."

"Oh my stars, we were screwed on races against him now." Toru gasped, only now realizing one of if not the fastest person in class could just take off at will.

Kyoka snorted, "Since when do you say 'oh my stars'?"

"Izuku says that, and I think it's cute. Don't judge me."

"She's not the only one." Eijiro pointed out.

"I think it's fair to say all of us are adopting some of our friend's habits." Fumikage nodded to himself, "May the stars have pity upon our teachers' souls." That not only proved his point but made all of them realize Aizawa's revenge training was probably warranted.

"Back on topic." Denki clapped, "My money is on Hanta. My man can swing from a building like a pro."

"Hey, Mina knows how to slide on buildings like a pro." Eijiro grinned, "I bet she can get there before him."

Ochaco decided to give her own guess, "If it's for second place, I think Tenya can win."

Koji signed to Kyoka, who nodded and relayed the message, "Mashirao learned how to parkour with his tail, so he has a good chance too."

Katsuki set off an explosion to get everyone's attention, "It's starting."

Just as he finished speaking, a flare shot up from one of the area's buildings, making all the contestants bolt in its direction, all but one.

Izuku put his notebook away (wherever he stashes it), lit up with his quirk's energy, and simply disappeared in a green flash, leaving arcs of lightning dancing on the last spot he occupied.

Toshinori watched the flare rise in the sky for a moment, but a green glow caught his eyes quickly. Now he knew why those old superhero comics always had civilians asking if the approaching hero was a bird or a plane. Even to Toshinori's eyes, his successor was indistinguishable from a shooting star or a flash of thunder until he was close enough that he could see the boy's scarf fluterring.

The boy arrived in record time, doing a perfect superhero landing, which was something everyone disapproved of because of the strain it puts on the knees, but Toshinori saw how Izuku used Nana's quirk to slow down for a smooth landing (that still threw him for a loop every time), so he would let it slide.

"Don't worry, for I am here!" Izuku's grin as he said that showed he knew precisely how ironic it was to use that phrase.

"YES, YOU ARE, YOUNG IZUKU! CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING THE FIRST HERO ON THE SCENE!" Toshinori made a show of giving the boy the sash with "my hero" boldly written on it.

Izuku put it on and smiled, "I'm just glad I don't have to fight anyone this time."

"I think your mother would agree." Toshinori chuckled under his breath. He had a select list of people he feared, and Inko got her name on it after her display of motherly fury after learning her son had fought Stain.

Izuku chuckled, "Nana said she agrees too, but that trouble and I are basically the same thing."

Again, Toshinori reeled from the reminder that Nana was there. She always had been there. Just how little did he know about One For All? How many other secrets does the quirk have in store, just waiting for them to discover?

That line of thought led the man to remember there was one secret he knew and that he desperately needed to tell his successor.

Seeing his other students fast approaching, he whispered to Izuku, "We need to talk. Meet me after classes."

"That was fun!" Izuku, sitting in the air with his legs crossed again, grinned, "You guys did pretty well."

"Some more than others." Ochaco, also with a winner sash, smirked at Katsuki, who lost the race to her.

Katsuki was sitting on his desk now that they were back in class, and he didn't wait to bark back, "Just because you have a fancy space suit and can fly now doesn't mean I'll let you win again!"

"You didn't let me win. I won because I left you in the dust." She finished by blowing him a raspberry.

Tsuyu ribbited a giggle, "Very mature." She picked at her victory sash, "But can we keep this?"

Denki looked at his one and then at her, "Probably not."

"First, how did you win, dude? Second, will this be a thing now?" Hanta passed a hand below Izuku, who was happily Floating.

"It's honestly not the weirdest thing Izuku could do." Minoru shrugged, walking under Izuku and to his seat.

Izuku pouted, "I take offense to that."

"And I take offense to you being off your seat, Midoriya. You too, Bakugo." Aizawa's tired voice came in before the man walked to the front of the class from his sleeping bag. He took the podium and ran his gaze over his students, "We have something serious to talk about now." He enjoyed their fearful gulps, "Your exams are coming."

For a glacial second, there was silence. Then, there was chaos.

"We're doomed!" Many shouted.

Denki, completely disregarding school norms and his teacher, jumped on his desk, "No, we still have one hope!" He threw himself without hesitation at Izuku's feet, clutching his leg for dear life, "Izuku, help us! If there's one person that can make my stupid ass pass it's you!"

Izuku sighed, picked up his electric friend like a kitten, put him on his feet, and patted the boy's shoulders, "Denki, you're not stupid. Your brain's just wired differently." The class's leader then hopped on his desk, "But yeah. As class president, I'm taking an executive decision. We're all going to make study and training sessions to pass the exams with flying colors!"

"Yeah!" Was the collective cheer from the students.

Aizawa didn't complain about the noise or the students standing at their desks. No, he knew that Izuku's brand of madness produced results. So many results that, in fact, the first-year course was in for many surprises.

"That's all. Now, if you excuse me, I'm leaving." And leave he did.

"Wait. Don't we still have twenty minutes of class?" Mashirao pointed out, not noticing how Izuku paled.

"Crap." Izuku knew what that meant. Something was about to go south for them, and it did.

The fire alarm came to life, making them all flinch. It was probably a training drill, but as Aizawa left them alone, it meant they probably needed to deal with it themselves. As Izuku was already on top of his desk, he didn't waste a second on getting his friends' attention.

"Guys! The window!"

"On it." Katsuki threw the window open, "Peppermint!"

Shoto, instead of answering, promptly threw himself out the open window. He created an ice slide with his quirk just in time for the rest of the class to come right after him.

Izuku hopped to the door instead, throwing it ajar and rushing down the corridor. He took a turn just in time to see 1-B exiting their classroom. "Itsuka! Here!" His fellow class representative saw him and quickly rushed to him.

"Izuku, what happened?" She went straight to business.

"Probably a test. C'mon, we made an escape route!"

"You heard the man. Move it!" Setsuna's floating head was quick to rush the rest of the class to follow.

"Why should we follow this 1-A tra-" Neito was interrupted by a green chain lassoing him. Izuku pulled him along, snapping the construct to send the blonde right out the window when they reached the 1-A classroom.

"Let's go!" Izuku waved to the rest before throwing himself out of the building. He landed and saw all his class already there, with the addition of Neito in Mezo's arms.

"Weeeeee!" Pony's happy cheer made Izuku look back and see 1-B sliding down. He made a quick head count and saw all forty of them were there.

"Guys! Let's go!" Izuku dashed, following the building's wall. He didn't need to look back to know his friends were right behind him.

"What's the plan, Deku?" Katsuki asked from his side, already caught up.

"Gimme a second." Izuku crouched and leaped, a quick application of his quirk sending him higher than U.A.'s main building. Up in the air, the young hero quickly found smoke rising from a window. Danger Sense was only giving a low buzz that Izuku already identified as the warning for low-end dangers and nothing urgent.

He shot back down with Float, "Found it! Tenya, Kacchan, you two go to the entrance and guide everybody outside. Momo, Itsuka, keep things in order. Shoto, with me!"

They all nodded. Shoto hopped on Izuku's back just in time for him to bolt in the fire's direction.

The duo reached the lunch hall just to see various carts on fire. If there was any doubt it was a test, it died then and there. "You freeze the ones close to the power outlets. Leave the others to me."

"Right."

The boys rushed to their targets. Izuku summoned Heroes Rising, "Water." The Keyblade glowed a deep blue and shot orbs of water out. They crashed on the burning carts and dowsed the flames with a splash.

Shoto made sure only to freeze the carts, causing the least collateral damage possible. Together, they made quick work of the situation.

"We did it!" Izuku raised his hand, which caused Shoto to blink, confused. Izuku tilted his head, "High-five?"

"Oh, right." Shoto raised his own hand and awkwardly tapped Izuku's.

"It's a start."

"More like a work in progress."

"Yeah. You'll get there." They traded a laugh at that. "C'mon, let's see how the others are doing." Izuku grabbed his friend and booked it out of there.

Back at the entrance, the hero classes had successfully organized and calmed down the rest of the student body. Itsuka and Momo made a fantastic team, taking charge of the situation and not letting panic spread. Tenya and Katsuki had a little more trouble, but the combination of the bomber's aggressiveness and the speedster's sternness somehow worked out.

Izuku appeared beside his friends in a green flash and put Shoto down, "Good job, everyone!"

"You two managed to take care of the fire?" Itsuka asked after calming down from the little scare Izuku's sudden appearance caused.

"Yup! It really was a test."

Shoto hummed, "I think the teachers are going to up the difficulty of our exams if they're already throwing things like this at us."

"Probably." Izuku suddenly perked up, "Hey, Itsuka. Would 1-B like to join our study sessions?"

Shoto saw the class representatives quickly debating the idea and muttered, "Friendship is inevitable."

Izuku munched on a sandwich as All Might and Nana had a silent conversation with their eyes. After the day's surprise test, he grabbed the winners' sashes they still needed to return and rushed to give them back, telling his friends to go ahead and that he would catch on later. With the cover-up, Izuku sneaked his way into the teacher's lounge and All Might's office.

After sitting down, Nana asked to be part of the talk too. The boy didn't see a problem and summoned the Vestige, but then she and All Might entered a quiet eye talk, so Izuku helped himself with some snacks.

A funny thing the boy had noticed was that his food intake had shot through the roof since he received One For All. His theory was that it also boosted his body's metabolism, that or he was finally reaching a growth spurt (Izuku still believed he would be tall someday).

Izuku finished the last sandwich, and seeing that his predecessors wouldn't break their staredown anytime soon, he decided to break the ice, "You wanted to talk about something, right All Might?"

The man turned to him, "Young Izuku, I called you here today to tell you something I neglected to mention about One For All." He looked to Nana again, asking for strength to keep going. She put a hand on his shoulder and gave a soft squeeze, causing Toshinori to continue, "I know you met the First, and while his story should be his to tell, this is too great to keep brushing aside."

"Tell him I don't mind. It's not only my story, it's ours." The calm reassurance that Izuku tried to relay from Yoichi's words helped bring the mood up.

"Thank you. First." All Might took a deep breath, centering himself, "One For All was born from another quirk, a quirk that could take and give powers, an opposite to it. This quirk belongs to a man I spend all my life fighting, just as the ones before us spent theirs."

Izuku saw how Nana's face tightened, and All Might's knuckles turned white from gripping his knees. Even inside his heart, the Vestiges seemed to tense.

Toshinori's eyes glowed with a barely concealed fury as he kept speaking, "That man had been trying to take over Japan, and our world, since the first surge of quirks. With his power, he created an army to destroy his enemies, no matter what means he needed to use. That man called himself the Symbol of Evil, and while his name was lost to history, we holders of One For All call him…All For One."

While Toshinori was expecting a reaction from his successor, he didn't expect him to zone out in one of his visions. Nana took her hand off his shoulder to smack her forehead with, "You gotta be kidding me. Oh, the other was gonna whine about this for ages."

"Why that?" Toshinori sighed and asked, seeing the conversation just got more complicated.

Nana checked to see if Izuku was still out of commission and started to explain, "Every time that happens, things on the other side turn chaotic." The woman leaned back, Floating closer to Izuku and petting his fluffy mob of hair, "We're putting his heart back together, which in practice means that we're trying to put the world's biggest and most complex glass work back in one piece."

Toshinori scratched his head, "You mean that figuratively?"

"Nope!" Nana popped the 'p' on the word, chuckling in exasperation, "Or if it is, then it's a really practical metaphor." She shook her head, huffing in slight annoyance, "There are literal glasswork panels in there, and most of them are shattered, his memories are shattered. We still don't know how that happened, as a certain someone doesn't think it's all that important." Nana grumbled under her breath and shot Izuku an annoyed look.

Toshinori couldn't even imagine how that would start to work, but he was never one to get stumped on hows or whys, Toshinori was always a man of action and solving problems, "So, you slowly put these panels together, and they cause Izuku's visions? There's something I can do to help?"

Nana, still petting Izuku, raised a finger from her free hand, "It's not we that cause these." She gestured to the catatonic boy, "When we do it on our time, the memories come back to him more naturally, or in dreams, don't ask me why. The visions happen when his heart tries to forcefully reconstruct the memory, which usually means generalized chaos and things going sideways." The woman gave a tired sigh, "And while it speeds things along, we could go without the sudden pressure of tiding everything up while memory fragments are falling from the sky. Got nailed on the head by one, not a fun experience." She rubbed the side of her head.

Toshinori mentally scrapped the idea of trying to induce more of Izuku's episodes on purpose, "There's nothing I can do then?"

Nana considered something for a moment, her face getting pensive for a second. She must have reached a decision because she started to speak again, "You kinda are. Your Vestige is inside One For All too, not completely, but enough to offer another pair of hands."

That threw Toshinori for another loop, but he knew the time to freak out would be later, possibly alone in his apartment with a cup of whatever strong drink he could buy on the way to it. "I would appreciate being on par with the situation, you know?"

Nana shrugged helplessly, "If it makes you feel better, now you probably know more than Little Nine here." She patted Izuku's hair.

Toshinori blinked, two times, "What?"

"Long story. Thing is, Izuku is not ready to know some things, not while his heart is a constant falling hazard from how many holes it has." At Nana's words, Toshinori glanced at the floating woman and raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes, "I know how ironic it is coming from me."

Before Toshinori could get a jab in, Izuku sprung up, standing on the couch and shouting, "That's why!"

After recovering from the jumpscare, Nana shot Izuku a look, "What's why?"

He plopped back down and pulled his notebook from the unknown space he kept it, "The name! One For All always seemed to ring a bell for me, but I didn't know why, but now I do!" He noted down furiously whatever his most recent vision was, "All for one and one for all was the motto of the musketeers!" He tilted his head, "Or at least it was on the last time I visited the Country of the Musketeers in my Mark of Mastery exam."

"I knew we should have copyrighted that," Yoichi complained weakly from inside Izuku's heart, out of breath after minutes of all Vestiges running around like headless chickens. Which was somewhat surprising, considering he wasn't exactly alive.

"Wait, so there's somewhere where the name of our quirk and his are part of some code of honor or something?" Nana was genuinely confused, not having been inside to see what had transpired on Izuku's last trip down memory lane. Even then, she managed to gather enough disgust to spit any mention of their mutual enemy like an insult.

"Yes!" Izuku's smile was radiant, seemingly not noticing it. "It meant that we all would fight together, and each of us would have the others' backs!" He looked down at his sketch of him and his friends crossing blades to chant the motto, "It's not surprising it's the name Yoichi chose for our quirk."

"Couldn't agree more, my boy." Toshinori chuckled, then flinched, "I'm just sad half of it got spoiled for us."

Izuku looked down, then back at his mentor, "The reason you called me to talk about All For One it's because he's still out there, right?"

The deadly silence that followed was his answer.

Izuku's grip on his notebook tightened. It made sense; someone with that type of power could create Nomus, and to call himself Symbol of Evil gave the boy an idea of just how much Darkness All For One had in his heart. Even then, even after two hundred years and all the strife between One For All and All For One, it wasn't over.

He couldn't accept that. He wouldn't accept that. That motto, the maxima of the musketeers, meant too much to let something tarnish it. Izuku stood up suddenly, his eyes almost glowing with newfound resolve, "So what? I just need to get the meaning back. Symbol of Evil? Bring it on! I'm gonna show him what all for one and one for all really means!"

Surprise was the prevalent feeling shared by Toshinori and Nana, even if it shouldn't. Toshinori shook his head, "What did I expect? I should have known better than think you would be scared."

"Yup!" Izuku chuckled and put his hands on his waist, "You taught me that I should put on a big smile even when I'm scared." He huffed, "Not like there's much to be scared of. If some two centuries-old punk thinks he can beat us, then he won't know what hit 'im!" Izuku smashed his fist on his palm, an arc of viridescent lightning jumping from one arm to the other.

Nana knew it wouldn't be that easy; it never was, "While I approve of all the confidence, this is serious. All For One won't play fair. He never has and never will." Her face turned downcast, with a deep sadness filling her tone.

Izuku, always with his empathy picking on every minute change of the mood, felt the grief hit him like a truck. He traded a glance with All Might, seeing how he also wilted from the Seventh's sudden bout of sadness. "Nana?"

The woman turned back to him, offering a brittle smile, "All For One uses whatever trick to make sure you hurt. H-he…he went after my family, killed my husband, and if not for Gran then-" A sob interrupted her, spectral tears falling from the Summoned Vestige's eyes, "Then my son wouldn't have survived too."

Izuku felt something bubbling inside his heart, overwhelming everything else with the sound of static. It reached deafening heights in a fraction of a second, and Izuku asked himself again, for what felt like the first time and the millionth at the same time.

Why did children have to die in a war?

Like a steel cable snapping, there was a crack, and the static vanished, leaving Izuku with a clarity of mind that surprised even him. "I won't let him hurt anyone else."

"Izuku, it's not that easy-"

He interrupted Nana, "I don't care. I won't let him hurt anyone else. I promise I won't let him hurt anyone else!" Izuku's heart thundered in his chest so hard his ribs hurt, "I'll end this war and get us all our happy ending, even if I have to write it with my own hands!"

Izuku didn't know when he activated Full Cowling. Maybe he didn't; maybe One For All manifested on its own to show its support to its holder. Even then, in that moment, covered by an emerald aura of power, Izuku was sure. He would fulfill that promise.

Nana smiled, a fragile little thing, "I hope you can." She dried her tears as her form started to turn transparent, her time drawing to an end, "I can't see my son anymore, but you are also part of the family now, Izuku." Nana's lips stretched in a more genuine smile, even if it was still wet with grief, "Take care, you two. I can't have my boys visiting me on the other side too soon." With that parting words, she returned to One For All.

Toshinori stared at his successor, seeing his power settle. The boy kept his eyes locked on where Nana had been a moment ago, almost glowing with the idea forming behind them. The man sighed, knowing Izuku would always choose the path less traveled as long as it could help even one person, "What are you thinking, my boy?"

Izuku didn't turn, he didn't move, and he didn't deny that he had an idea brewing in his head, "Nana said that she can't see her family anymore, right?"

"Yes?"

"But her son survived, right?"

Toshinori saw where that was leading. Still, it was not like he could stop Izuku even if he wanted to, "Yes. Nana put him in foster care after the attack that took her husband's life."

"So he's still out there somewhere, right?"

"Possibly. Gran promised not to look for him, and I never had the courage to do it myself." Not after I failed to save her, was what he didn't say.

"I didn't promise that. And everyone says I blurred the line between courage and insanity a while ago, soooo…." Izuku finally looked at Toshinori, a grin on his face.

"Telling you to give up won't work, right?"

Izuku doesn't know what "give up" means. He also never bothered with learning. What he was planning to learn was just where the rest of Nana's family was. That was why after their talk, organizing the future studying sessions of the hero course, giving Eri her lessons on magic, and helping his mother cooking, Izuku was on his computer with a mission.

The boy had a one-hour nap, three shots of expresso, and a brownie, which meant he was prepared to fist-fight a god or die trying. Instead of battling any deity, Izuku tied his scarf on his forehead like a bandana, turned on his computer, and went down the rabbit hole.

He wasn't a stranger to research rampages, the darker corners of the internet, nor to doing stuff that might have been a little illegal (Izuku made a note to not go near any Danish intelligence agency anytime soon).

Nana complained at the start, saying he didn't need to do that for her and other things along those lines, but after a while, she stopped. Izuku was sure that it had been when the hope to see her son had turned too much to ignore.

With the silent company of his predecessor, Izuku dove into depths many people didn't even know existed. He didn't know who Nana got to scrub her son's presence off the face of the earth or what they did, but Izuku was impressed.

He also wasn't stopped. When the clock hit 4 A.M, he leaned back and smirked.

Unfortunately, the more he found, the more his face fell.

"No." Nana's broken voice was the only company Izuku had inside his dark room. On his computer's screen, his hunt's results only left a bitter taste in his mouth.

In a small cemetery, a boy carried flowers, walking somberly down the stone paths between gravestones. The sun was barely peeking through the distant horizon, leaving most of the sky still in darker tones.

He buried his face in his yellow scarf, trying to stop the tears that incessantly fell from his eyes.

Braving the gloomy path, he marched past one grave after the other, his destination clear to him. At the very end of the road, stood a lonely obelisk to honor those whose lives came to an end.

The boy laid down the flowers. He stood there, reading the names of the family.

Kotaro.

Nao.

Hana.

Tenko.

Each member shared the same family name.

Shimura.

The boy kneeled, put his hands on the ground, and bowed until his forehead touched the cold stone below him.

"I'm sorry." His voice filled the desert graveyard, its tone kind and gentle, "I couldn't save you all. You got dragged into this war, and that is not your fault. It's not her fault. The fault rests on the man who started it in the first place." The chill wind flowed past him, "That's not an excuse. No, that's a promise."

The boy, with his green eyes clear, sat on his legs. "I promise I'll end this war."

He ran his eyes through the names one more time, one by one, and marked them in his heart. "We're family now. Don't matter the blood, don't matter the past. We're family, and I'll honor you all." He traced his fingers down the grave's edge.

"Don't hate her. She loves you, more than anything. It hurts so much for her to see you like this." He pulled his hand back, "But hurting is part of carrying. It means she won't ever forget, and one day, you will see each other again."

The boy stood back up. He watched as the sun rose, bringing light to the dark skies.

"My name is Midoriya Izuku, and I promise…I'll make things right."


Yes, yes, I'm crying.

I know this chapter suddenly and violently took a nosedive and ended a punch right on the feels, but I think that if it makes people feel something, then it's a good chapter.

You know the usual song and dance by now. Silverbits and keeperofhounds are awesome betas and the main this thing is readable.

Go join the discord and cry together with the amazing people there.

discord . gg / stAGY4V