"All... Might..." she whispered.
He was different than she remembered him though, he looked healthier if that were possible, and his eyes showed brightly from their sockets, no longer sunken and difficult to see his eyes. It was strange, now that she saw him in this form, she realized just how deep his injury had run.
At her whisper, his expression softened and he went down to one knee so he was even in height with her.
"I'm happy to see that you are safe and healthy," he said, not quite as loudly as before.
Then he reached out and drew her into a hug.
His massive arms wrapped around her and she didn't resist. She hugged him back and the security she felt from his embrace brought tears to her eyes. She cried silently into his shoulder, and he held her, patting her back. Eventually, though, they broke apart and she wiped her eyes. She felt like she'd been crying a lot lately, and was a little bit annoyed by it.
"But... how..." she said, trying to understand what was happening.
"It's... a long story, but one you need to hear." All Might said.
"Perhaps it would be best if you sit down." Said the unknown man still sitting. He waved his hand and a chair appeared beneath her.
She looked down and sat on it, despite it looking like ornate wood, it was very comfortable. All Might likewise sat back down in his chair and moved it closer to her.
"For starters, let me introduce myself. My name is Yoichi Shigaraki." said the skinny man.
Ochako's eyes snapped to him and she felt a wave of hate and anger boil inside her. Then All Might reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, let him explain. Everything will make sense eventually." He said, reassuring her with his words and bright smile.
She fought to bring herself under control and after a few deep breaths were calm once more. When she was calm, the skinny man continued.
"My name is Yoichi Shigaraki and I am All For One's younger brother," he said.
Ochako stared, not quite believing what she was hearing. Before she could say anything he continued his explanation.
"AFO, my older brother, was born back during the early years of quirks first coming into existence. As you know he could steal quirks and use them for himself or give them to others. I was born quirkless, not uncommon for the time. I opposed my evil brother, and as a cruel joke, he gave me the ability to stockpile power. Yet I had a quirk I didn't realize until shortly after. I could transfer my quirk to another. When it became clear I could not defeat my brother I passed my power to another." Yoichi Shigaraki said.
"That quirk was known as One For All. My quirk." All Might said. "It is a quirk whose single purpose is to stop AFO. I thought I managed it once, that is how I came to be horribly injured. Then I actually accomplished it at Kamino."
"But... Shigaraki, ehm..." Ochako fumbled, looking to the other Shigaraki.
He gave her a tired smile. "It's fine, my descendent has long since died and so have I, call him whatever you want. Just call me Yoichi, or first user if you prefer." He said.
Ochako nodded. "But Shigaraki had AFO?" Ochako asked All Might.
"Yes, much like OFA he transferred it to Shigaraki and Shigaraki inherited all its power and more, but there is more to it." All Might continued.
"Quirks have something known as vestiges. Whenever AFO stole a quirk, or whenever we passed OFA to a successor, a part of the previous user goes with it. Like a lingering spirit, and that is how we are all here now." All Might said, gesturing around to the other figures of flame.
"Why are they just flames then? If the first user can be here normally and you can as well, what about the other eight?" Ochako asked, looking around at the others.
"Because OFA is dying. It should have died years ago, but we were brought back. So long as AFO exists, so will we." said the first user.
"This is getting really confusing..." Ochako said, massaging her temples.
"Allow me to explain." All Might said to the first user.
"To start, Shigaraki inherited AFO and the vestige of AFO took over the body of Shigaraki, but not completely. It's why he was so unstable and displayed random bouts of caution and other times sheer madness and recklessness. AFO and Shigaraki were in a constant battle for dominance over the physical body. OFA on the other hand started dying when I did, but Nezu had my body frozen shortly after my death and cremated a fake body. Nezu's foresight is frankly terrifying, we are fortunate to have him on our side. His foresight allowed OFA to die slowly, and when Shigaraki emerged as an almost unstoppable force, he was able to use my DNA." All Might said.
"The QUEESS was made using my DNA as a means of empowering people to fight AFO, OFA's ability to be inherited made it all possible. The sheer power OFA granted you would have destroyed your body normally. Your arms would have popped off your body like fireworks so OFA ripped your body apart on the cellular level and forced your body to adapt, to make room for all the extra power, that is why it is so painful. Your suit, along with Hikari's and Tobita's all used my DNA, but because OFA was already dying, having it split into three different parts had unfortunate consequences. None of the vestiges could manifest and interact with any of you directly. My vestige was primarily tied to you along with the second and thirds, but we were too weak. I convinced the other vestiges of your character and that's why you could tap into a portion of our power. Likewise, Hikari and Tobita were also found worthy, as you can see. " said All Might, gesturing to the far right and left chairs.
Ochako looked, and as she focused on the indistinct shapes in the chairs, she saw that they did indeed have the vague outlines of Hikari and Tobita.
"You mentioned three of the suits used your DNA, what about the other three before me?" she asked.
"Those suits were made using AFO's DNA." All Might said, his smile fading.
"Now we get to the problems associated with the QUEESS. The original three suits that used AFO as a base, started to infect those users. It gave them power, but like OFA, the vestige of AFO was too split apart to work directly against the users, but you must have noticed the side effects. Heightened aggression, constant agitation, degradation of one's moral code, and more were all due to AFO's subtle influence working within them. When the war ended and the suits were retired, it was already too late. AFO's whispering vestiges had taken root within them, it drove all three of them to madness, and two to suicide. Yo Shindo was put into an institution to try and help him, but I'm afraid that allowed AFO's influence to grow. Now he lives again within Yo Shindo, who is now an unwitting pawn in AFO's schemes like so many before him." All Might said grimly.
There was a pause as Ochako digested that information.
"So... AFO has essentially come back to life, and now like a parasite, it has infested Yo Shindo..." she thought.
Then a question came to her mind, a question she didn't want to ask, but felt she must.
"And me?" Ochako asked quietly.
All Might didn't say anything at first, but she saw a great sadness come over him.
"I am sorry, young Uraraka... As time passed, the once distinct vestiges weakened so much that they started to merge together. Eventually, they latched onto you instead of remaining separate. The human mind isn't meant to handle that, so it did the only thing it could do. It broke it off from the main part of your mind, to become its own entity to ensure your mind didn't crack under the pressure. We latched onto the most readily available thing. The emotions, desires, and memories you tried to stuff away inside of yourself. Between all three of those and the vague sentience of the vestiges, a new personality was created inside of you, separate from you but still you. Had Hikari and Tobita survived their final battle, then it's likely they would have developed the same problem as you." All Might said.
"I... Always thought I had been driven mad by the war... That I had been so thoroughly broken, so thoroughly shattered that I couldn't be fixed..." She whispered, staring at her hands.
"I... I guess in a way I was..." she said, clenching her hands.
All Might didn't say anything but looked very uncomfortable.
She gave a slight self-deprecating laugh.
"I knew it wouldn't be so easy... There is no magical answer to one's problems... The other me aside... I knew something was missing inside. Something has been missing even before the Angel Project." she admitted, with that admittance came a resignation. The other her wasn't to blame for everything, she was her own separate problem altogether.
"Well... go on then." She finally said, slumping a little in her seat and gesturing to All Might to continue.
"When the war ended, and you had your suit removed, you were the only one left of your group. OFA was still tied to this world, and it started to become whole once more. Doctor Takeo continued to work on the QUEESS, and when you were put into it to try and save your life, OFA was able to come back together and merge back into one singular entity. No longer split, the vestiges were able to form back into their original forms for the most part." All Might said, smiling again.
"Now we come to our request of you." Said the first user.
"Request?" Ochako asked, puzzled.
"AFO needs to die, and so do we. Our time should have ended more than a hundred years ago. The present has paid too steep a price for our failures. We would ask you to take our power and finally end this feud that has been raging since the birth of quirks." The first user said.
"If you agree, then for the next 24 hours, what remains of OFA will be yours. After that, our power will burn itself out completely. Ideally, OFA will be dead, and if everything goes well, so will AFO. We don't want to force this on you however, you've suffered more than enough for the failings of your predecessors." All Might added.
Ochako thought about it for a while, before a final question came to her mind.
"Can Yo Shindo be saved?" she asked.
A sadness came over the first user's face. "No. Maybe, at one point something could have been done, but not anymore. Even if AFO's vestige could be purged, there is no guarantee that anything would change. I don't think AFO is controlling him, just manipulating and twisting what is already there. That was always more his style." the first user said.
Ochako closed her eyes. Thoughts of the war came to mind and she let those memories fill her. The horrors born from that war, the tragedies that befell the nation and its people, the friends and family she had lost, those that survived and who had come together to form their own family after the war ended. Then memories of the other angels came to her.
Inasa, who had always been boisterous but had a mean streak in him. Takako, the youngest of them all and who had latched onto Hikari as a father figure since she never had one growing up. Hikari, was half Japanese half European, the oldest of all of them, and a veteran hero. Tobita was once a criminal turned hero, and a truly kind and gentle soul at heart; in the end, he got what he always wanted. Yo Shindo, cold and calculating, he would use whatever methods available to him to fulfill his objectives but had always respected others who put in sincere effort.
She had fought and bled alongside them and would have done anything for them. She thought her time as an angel was over, a chapter of her life she could stuff and lock away and never think about again. How naive such thoughts had been, how desperate. As she thought more about everything, she realized there was only one real answer. She had one last battle as an angel. A friend she had to save, a cruel would-be tyrant to kill, and an age-old conflict to end once and for all. One last battle, then, one way or another, it would all be over.
She looked up at All Might.
"I'll do it." was all she said.
All Might didn't speak but his smile said more than words ever could to her. He stood up and held out his hand palm up. All around her the fiery outlines of previous users faded, and then the first user also faded, the motes of light that remained flowed to All Might's palm. A kaleidoscope of colors, and then All Might himself faded into light and flowed into it. The chairs faded into darkness and the light that illuminated the scene narrowed until only her and the kaleidoscope of color that was a burning flame remained.
She reached out her hands and cupped the flame in them. She brought the flame to her breast and let it melt into her. She felt a wave of varying emotions, a wellspring of power, and then she felt hands on either shoulder.
She turned her head to the left and saw a ghostly Hikari standing next to her.
"It's an honor to be by your side once more. The final battle is upon you, do not hesitate and stay true to yourself." He said, before smiling at her. "And if you see my daughter, tell her I love her. And that I'm sorry." Then he faded back into OFA.
She turned to her right and saw Tobita, Gentle Criminal.
"Thank you, for believing in a wretched soul like me," he said softly, bowing his head before he too faded.
Then one final voice echoed from within her, already distant and almost completely gone but still strong.
"Remember young Uraraka! Let the people have no fear, for you are here! If you are afraid, then smile! You can surpass yourself!" said All Might.
She closed her eyes and let one last tear fall from her face. When she opened them, the scene around her had changed. She was standing outside again, but now she was facing a swingset her parents took her too often when she was young. Sitting on one of the swings was a figure.
She walked up to the figure until she stood in front of her. It was so dark it was almost impossible to see the figure clearly.
"Do you remember? Mom and Dad would take us here, we'd all play and have fun. We were young. We didn't know the struggles they had, all the money problems, Dad's business struggling to stay afloat. He built a house for us, friends helped him, and he took out loans. So many debts to repay..." OCHAKO said.
Ochako said nothing.
"I hate the world, I hate the world that could cause suffering to people as kind and hardworking as our parents. I hate the world that could birth demons like AFO, Shigaraki, Chisaki, Garaki, Gigantomachia, and Zeus. I hate the world that would destroy our lives, murder our friends and family, and shatter our nation." OCHAKO said.
Still, Ochako said nothing.
"I feel things. I feel a lust that has not once been satisfied, I feel a thirst for violence and bloody revenge, I feel fear so great I want to run and hide under my blankets, I feel hate so strong I could go blind from it, I feel anger so great it could turn the world to ash, I feel a sadness so heavy it's like I'm being crushed under its weight, and I feel isolation so intense that I might break from it." OCHAKO said.
Ochako said nothing.
"I... have done things... horrible things... things so terrible that no living soul will ever speak of it. Things that would make one want to rip out their own eyes, things that make one wish for death rather than live with the knowledge of what they have done." OCHAKO said.
Then OCHAKO looked up at Ochako, a mirror image, save for the fact that everything but her head was a hazy black. As if everything from the next down had turned smokey and indistinct. She was incomplete, missing entire parts of herself, but her head still remained. The only part that had been her own from the start, not borrowed from the vestiges of OFA.
"Would still have me back?" OCHAKO asked Ochako.
"Yes," Ochako said quietly.
OCHAKO stared at her for a moment before she broke into a sad smile.
"Even knowing what you would take on, you would still seek to save me... You really are a hero," she said wistfully.
"You're a hero too," Ochako said.
"No... I'm not. That was always you, always the beautiful, shining you. I won't go with you, but I hope you find happiness." OCHAKO said.
At that moment, the darkness that lurked beyond the edges of the house and the ground surrounding it began to close in. Ochako turned to look behind her, the darkness silently swept over the land, and as her parent's house and the mementos of her past were consumed she felt a sense of nostalgic sadness overtake her.
She turned back to OCHAKO and saw that she was gone, the darkness had crept over the swingset and before long it swept over her as well.
As the darkness took her into its silent arms, she heard OCHAKO's voice from the darkness like a whisper on the wind.
"Thank you... and goodbye..."
At that moment, Ochako knew that a part of her had died, and that everything that had been a part of it, was lost forever to the darkness.
The people in the observation booth watched in mute amazement as Ochako's body, still suspended by the metal arms suddenly flashed. The intermittent flashes of pink lighting stopped and for a moment they wondered if it was all over. Then Ochako started to glow like a small sun, yet it didn't hurt their eyes. They saw a kaleidoscope of wondrous light, of many different colors until it faded to the dull glow of the QUEESS, a light pink that faded in and out like the breath of some large creature.
They hadn't noticed being so entranced by the light, but the arms holding Ochako had been warped and bent, pushed up and into the ceiling leaving Ochako floating in the center of the room. Power flicked back on in the booth but all the monitors had been reset and showed nothing.
Tsu ran to the door and it opened as she approached. She leaped down the stairs, landing at the bottom and turning toward Ochako who was sideways to her. She leaped forward and when she landed next to her, she opened her eyes at last.
Tsu opened her mouth to say something but when Ochako turned her head to look at her the words died in her throat.
Ochako was different, she couldn't say how exactly, but she could see it in her eyes, in her posture, and the way she looked at her. Then Ochako smiled at her, and Tsu felt something stir within her, a sense of Deja Vu overtook her and for a moment she thought she was looking at All Might. Then she turned her gaze upward to the ceiling and the soft, radiant smile turned to one of determination.
"Everything ends tonight, this war, Zeus, the legacies of the past, even the angels. I'm ending it all." She said.
Then an opening in the ceiling directly above Ochako opened to reveal a small tunnel. She gave her one last smile then she zipped into the darkness of the tunnel.
