InfinityMask - Aye :P Thank you for your kind words! :D And, yeah, canon kinda strange is putting it lightly.
Darkpaladin89 - Yeah, The chances are there.
Gamer71796 - Heh, let's just say that she'll play a major role soon, resulting in her quirk being revealed.
Naruto30 - You should be :P If you want to fear him more, check my Exiting the Stage fic.
TheGreatBubbaJ - Oh, it will be :P
Detrametal - Well, this cliffhanger will make you feel even worse xD I'm sorry. Actually, no, I'm not, I enjoy tormenting my readers :v
AdrianVnz - I still plan to write that fic, except I need to finish the others first.
skyartsflammingavion - what two other stories?
(***)
It was, frankly speaking, a coincidence. However, merely three days before the scheduled date of the assault on Overhaul's base of operations, Midoriya managed to unlock a certain very important feature in the depths of the One for All.
The ability to converse with the Holders. Of course, it wasn't just a constant stream of words coming from the people inside of his quirk, he would have promptly gone insane. Or they would go insane over not being able to talk with each other, as they would be staying silent to give him some privacy of thoughts.
It required some… perhaps not meditation. But focus. A moment to empty his mind enough for the Holders to drag them for a talk.
He was actually about to go asleep when he reached that 'state' for the first time. Whether it was on purpose or because he was trying to clear his mind of thoughts about a certain girl (thus allowing himself to actually go asleep) was going to remain a mystery to everyone.
What mattered was that he suddenly found himself in front of several dead heroes. And was then promptly hugged by Nana who seemed to be absolutely overjoyed to have finally met her 'pretty much a grandson and please do not claim otherwise we all know that it's true'.
Izuku didn't even have the time to try to voice his apology about his 'unheroic' contacts on the internet, his slight breakdown after that scene on the rooftop and his contact with villains before Baigoro Danjo listed all of that himself and then said that yes, they all know about it, but no, they don't care because he is absolutely and totally worthy of One for All and they're in agreement on that.
Then he gave Midoriya a reassuring slam in the back. It was probably supposed to be a pat but it ended up being a bit too strong. So Nana promptly shouted at him while Midoriya was busy slightly crying in relief.
Nana, naturally, hugged her additional grandson closer. Before (when he calmed down) profusely thanking him for getting her biological grandson out of All for One's empire once the demon lord himself kicked the bucket. Thus giving him a chance for a normal life (even if he was still a bit too much of a weeb).
It was at this point that Izuku finally realized with full clarity that it wasn't any form of deception and that they truly and honestly accepted him.
So yeah, he cried some more and actually hugged Nana back.
It was an… emotional moment. One long overdue. Even En decided to stop being gloomy in the background and joined the brief hug pile.
(Midoriya felt like he missed an inside joke when the man that introduced himself as the LEGENDARY FIRST HOLDER HIMSELF did his absolute best not to accidentally touch Nana during said hug pile and went redder than tomato when he actually did, at least judging from the amount of chuckles it caused among other Holders, except for Nana who also went beet red).
What came afterwards was one more thing that was long overdue.
(***)
"Run that through me again." Yoichi says. He is leaning forward, his hands resting on each other right underneath his chin. He is practically a living manifestation of an old 'Concern' meme, although he and Izuku are probably the only people in the room to realize.
"Your brother owned several sets of suitjamas." Midoriya announces. He is actually sitting on Nana's lap and somehow feels like he actually belongs there. "You know, those pajamas that look like business suits."
"That I can absolutely imagine." En announces. "Because it's much easier than imagining him wearing ANYTHING that doesn't look like a business suit. I mean, can any of you imagine him in, like, a Hawaian shirt?"
"That's a fair point." Nana nods. "He was rather… single minded in his choice of attire, like seriously."
"Oh my God." Yoichi looked like he was only barely restraining his laughter. "HE WORE BUSINESS SUIT PAJAMAS, THIS SHIT IS HILARIOUS!" Then he breaks into laughter. Izuku agrees with him, except…
"Yes, but it's still not the point." Midoriya replies. "Can you, like, summon an image here from my memory if I focus on it? Because I really, REALLY can't even try to describe what I once caught him wearing."
"Uhm, yeah?" Yoichi blinks at him a few times. "Before that, what's the context?"
"Mom left for a few days to visit a distant acquaintance." Midoriya replies. "Leaving him alone with us. And I might have… uhm… walked into him right in the morning because I kind of forgot to knock because I kind of didn't have to do that when mom was around as there was typically nothing… uhm… as incriminating."
"Alright." Yoichi says. They can only hope that it's not AFO naked, because that's literally the last thing they want to see. "Focus on the image then."
He does just that. A few seconds later a slightly blurry image of a distant past materializes in front of them. For a few brief seconds Yoichi looks like he just got a stroke. En in the meantime snorts loudly before starting to laugh in a distinctly non-underground hero fashion.
"P-Paw Patrol?!" Yoichi manages to utter the words. "MY BROTHER SLEPT IN PAW PATROL PAJAMAS?!"
It's colourful. It includes a handful of strategically placed kittens. The look of 'what are you doing here you weren't supposed to see that' on All for One's face actually makes it even better.
"It's the Kitten Catastrophe Crew." Midoriya grins like a madman. "Apparently his 'job' made him 'relate' to Mayor Humdinger."
Yoichi starts laughing like a maniac. Lariat, Hikage Shinomori and Nana look frozen with a combination of shock and bewilderment. En is still laughing.
Then En actually falls off his throne. Yeah. Mood. Midoriya would do the same but Nana is still hugging him as if her life depended on it.
"Oh my God." Lariat finally manages to speak. "I was murdered by a guy that was wearing KITTEN THEMED SUITJAMAS to bed." He looks like he was just hit by a truckload of existential horror.
"Okay, Second would probably try to murder someone, but I GOTTA let Third see that." Yoichi announces. Then he makes a gesture with his hand. A second later someone appears next to him - a young man wearing a combat jacket, with a black bandana on his forehead. "Third, you gotta see this!"
"I told you that I'm kinda not interested in anything now that the demon lord got murd…" Third pauses when his eyes land on the picture displayed in front of them. "What in the everliving fuck am I seeing right now?"
"The newest Holder is All Might's son." Yoichi replies with a maniacal grin on his face, while gesturing towards Izuku. Who was still on Nana's lap. "But due to a very complicated set of coincidences and circumstances he spent a while as my brother's stepson before All Might punched Hisashi out. Little Izuku has just dropped by to show us all the incriminating and humiliating family secrets of my brother, including THAT picture."
Third somehow manages to replicate the Concern meme as well. Before sitting down on a suddenly materialized throne.
"Please tell me more." Third announces, his eyes still on the picture. "Actually, wait, what did I miss? It was just like six years! Nothing important was supposed to happen and…"
"Oh, you know." Yoichi shrugs. "We're making fun of Hisashi and watching Izuku be the memetic badass that we don't deserve because my brother infected him with ancient culture. You'd have fucking died of funny when two supervillains tried to kidnap him and he went 'I'm not locked here with you, you're locked here with me.'". Third lets out a brief 'pffft'. "AND THEN THAT MADLAD RICKROLLED THE ENTIRE GODDAMN STADIUM DURING A PROVISIONAL HERO LICENSE EXAM!"
Third almost joins En in the 'laughing on the floor' group. Almost. But he manages to recover fairly quickly. And proceeds to pretend to be a cool, slightly edgy ancient vigilante that has no need for laughter at all.
"Okay, first of all, I need to see the replay of this." Third announces, his words and the tone of his voice failing to match his serious demeanor. "If that's true then you're officially my favorite living human and I'm totally going to give you my quirk for that alone. Also, what's with the little girl?"
The eyes in the room suddenly converge to a little girl that emerged out of nowhere, right next to Baigoro Danjo's throne. Lariat, naturally, freaks out and falls off in the opposite direction.
"I have come for Uncle Yoichi's headpats before going to sleep." Aiko announces. "And to check what my oniichan is doing, because he certainly isn't sleeping."
"Oh, that's, uhm…" Yoichi scratches his chin. "... All for One's biological daughter. She drops by for tea parties with me occasionally, because I'm apparently her favorite uncle." Aiko comments on that with a thumbs-up gesture, her face utterly unreadable.
Silence. Third's head turns towards Yoichi.
"I'm… going to need context on this." He announces. The stare actually makes Yoichi slightly shrink.
(***)
"Dad, dad!" Touya runs into Endeavor's room first thing in the morning. Endeavor isn't exactly a morning person on his day off, and this day isn't an exception. Of course, he only began to allow himself to indulge in some morning laziness only after he decided to SLIGHTLY calm his ass with the whole training thing.
Rei is, naturally, sleeping in her own bedroom. Having a small mansion means a lot of space. Enji Todoroki doesn't expect any change on that field. He still didn't get over the fact that she was alright with sleeping in the same building as him.
"Yes?" He pulls his head up, blinking a few times to make his eyes work again. "What is it, Tou?"
"You gotta see this!" Touya looks absolutely enthusiastic. He was oddly happy since his last visit to UA (and Aiko Midoriya, who for some reason became something of a best friend to him), but this was… something new.
Enji Todoroki has painful flashbacks to slightly older Touya wanting to 'show him something' on the Sekoto Peak. The meeting that he didn't show up to. The day his son 'died'. Trauma's really running deep in him, doesn't it?"
"What do you want to…" Endeavor tries to speak. But then Touya absolutely ignores the house rules about NO FIRE IN THE BUILDING and promptly uses his quirk to generate a short 'blade' of fire.
White fire. He isn't old enough for blue fire yet, thank the gods.
And then he PUTS HIS HAND INTO THE FIREBLADE!
That woke Endeavor up EXTREMELY well.
"Touya, you aren't supposed to do that!" He shouts while jumping out of the bed. "You know that it hurts you and…" He is trying to grab his son to pull his hand out of the fire but then he realizes something.
Touya doesn't look in any shape or degree inconvenienced by it. And then - while grinning widely - he pulls his hand out. It's not even slightly red. It was…
"It doesn't burn me anymore, dad!" His son continues smiling at him widely. "I can be a hero like you now!"
Enji Todoroki was supposed to endorse his son's newest achievement. Instead, he went slackjawed before pinching himself. Because that was literally the last thing he expected happening and he still didn't fully discount the theory that he was still asleep and…
No, the pinching hurt. What on Earth…?
"Uhm, dad?" Touya looks confused about his father's lack of happiness. "What happened?"
If he knew the answer to that question he would be significantly less confused.
(***)
Eraserhead was… greatly surprised when he was asked for a private meeting by no one else than Sir Nighteye. Especially soon before the supposed raid against some large PLF facility. That Eraserhead was going to be a part of.
They still didn't tell him where it was. Goddamn secrecy.
The 'Don't tell Nedzu' attached to the message was moderately worrying. The fact that he arrived at Sir Nighteye's agency to see detective Tsukauchi waiting for him was even more worrying. Especially as Tsukauchi didn't know anything about the reason for the meeting.
They were let into Sir Nighteye's office soon after. The amount of All Might merch was almost blinding.
Mirai Sasaki was waiting for them on the other side of his desk. There were two empty chairs opposing him.
"We…" Sir Nighteye announces. "... need to talk."
In all honesty, the two men in front of him both look like… uhm… bums. Especially Tsukauchi, who could really benefit from trimming that goatee. He looks like he let it grow out of being too dysfunctional to shave regularly.
Was that the truth or was he playing some long-con about looking dead exhausted to trigger Yagi Toshinori's hero instincts in order to make him try to 'save' his friend by acting like a normal human being for a change?
Who knows.
"Is it about the operation that I'm not supposed to know about?" Tsukauchi asks. So much about secrecy.
"Wait, how do you know about it?" Sir Nighteye's brow raises. It clearly wasn't a part of his plan for the talk.
"Look, I can read Yagi like an open book at this point." Tsukauchi replies. "I don't know what's happening but he is clearly simultaneously happy and worried about something. So I took the liberty of guessing that some anti-PLF operation is happening and Midoriya Izuku is involved."
"Oh God." Eraserhead inhales deeply before Sir Nighteye has the time to reply. "I'm booking a ticket to Europe tomorrow morning. Tsukauchi, do you want one too?"
"Absolutely." Tsukauchi nods, his eyes maybe slightly deranged. "Actually, do you think that we can get Yagi to recommend us as new cosmonauts for the International Space Station? It might just be outside of the splash zone."
Sir Nighteye, uncharacteristically for him, groans in the background.
"You do not have to worry, I'm going to have my eye on him the whole time." Sir Nighteye replies. "And I was thoroughly briefed on his 'technically correct' chaos gremlin tendencies. Besides, I have decades of experience in being All Might's nanny, so there is that."
That somehow does elevate their worries. Okay, not entirely. But…
"I have actually invited you to talk about something related to Midoriya Izuku." Sir Nighteye decides to specify. "I have observed him rather attentively ever since our first meeting… which includes that one bingo game, Eraserhead… and I believe that I have managed to discover something crucial about his quirk."
"Wait." Tsukauchi suddenly raises his hand slightly. "Why are you telling it to us, then? Shouldn't you be having that talk with Midoriya or All Might?
"Because they are literally the last people I want to know about it." Sir Nighteye replies. "Except for the Paranormal Liberation Front and Nedzu, I guess."
"And you want to tell us about it, because…?" Eraserhead isn't sure if he wants to know anything more, but…
"It might sound drastic, but… I believe that having someone to know about it might be beneficial in the long-term." Sir Nighteye replies. "Just in case something happens to me."
Okay, that DID sound drastic. Sir Nighteye was an expert planner with a precognition quirk. What could possibly make him react like that?
"Uhm… did you see something in your prediction?" Tsukauchi decides to ask the question that was floating around Eraserhead's mind.
"Not really, no." Sir Nighteye replies. "Thus far everything is pointing towards our success. But… there are things that don't add up. To begin with, I begin to suspect that the enemy has someone who might be playing in the same intellectual league as me and Nedzu."
"What?" Eraserhead asks, his brow raising. "I know that Kamino was a close call, but…"
"It's less about that and more about… a lot of minor things, really." Sir Nighteye replies. "I don't exactly see the face or even the hand, but I'm seeing… fingers, I guess. Twisting events around, causing strange 'coincidences' to happen. It's thus far more of a theory than something with actual evidence, pretty much a gut feeling on my side, but I'm increasingly certain of it."
That was… revolutionary, even. And explained Sir Nighteye's decision to share some secrets with them. Except, they still weren't sure why with them.
"Whoever the person in question is, they are EXTREMELY good." Sir Nighteye continues. "I can't be one hundred percent sure that someone of that stature didn't find a way to fool my quirk. So, just in case something were to happen to me, I'm going to share something of a theory. Nedzu already knows about our mysterious mastermind, by the way. It's not the theory I called you here to talk about."
Eraserhead and Tsukauchi exchange glances. Then look at the hero in front of him and nod.
"Great." Mirai nods. "To begin with, you do know how my quirk works, yes?"
"It's a prediction quirk." Eraserhead says. "You can see someone's future, for as long as you touch them and make eye contact." Sir Nighteye nods before glancing at Tsukauchi.
"It operates on the basis of a Stable Time Loop." Tsukauchi adds. "You don't 'change' the future. What you see as a prediction is the future where you act on the basis of what you saw. So when you use it on someone before a raid, you'll see them participating in the raid with the knowledge you provided them with in mind."
That was something that Eraserhead didn't know about. Sir Nighteye in the meantime nods.
"You're correct." He admits. "What you don't know… or to be exact, what Eraserhead doesn't know… is that a few years ago, after All Might's fight against All for One, I foresaw him dying in combat a few years in the future."
That was clearly a new one to Eraserhead. It was… All Might might not be a hero (temporarily, he was going to get his 'new' hero license soon), but even as a retired Symbol of Peace he was still incredibly important to the country.
Especially now that he somehow managed to trade some of his baseline popularity for the one among the embattled minorities. In a way, he was no longer the sole pillar holding the society up… but he was still the duct tape that was holding it together.
Not the only one. But certainly a major one.
"What neither of you know…" Sir Nighteye continues. "...is that he was still missing his stomach and lung in my prediction."
Silence. Tsukauchi manages to regain his ability to speak as the first one.
"Wait, you mean… your prediction was invalidated?" The detective asks, on his face bewilderment. Sir Nighteye nods. "Didn't you just all but state that it's impossible?!"
"It's most certainly impossible." Sir Nighteye agrees with him. "I originally made a theory that Eri's quirk managed to invalidate it because, like my Foresight, it's a quirk that influences time. But after some investigations of Midoriya's family… yes, I wasn't there just to deliver the poster, Eraserhead… I made another theory."
He pauses for a brief moment. It's long enough for the clearly increasingly impatient Tsukauchi to gesture at him to hurry it up.
"You see, despite me having my quirk, I never exactly believed in the concept of 'fate'." Sir Nighteye starts. "Yes, what I'm seeing is unchangeable. However what writes it down, in the end, are our own decisions. Fate isn't predetermined by some higher entity or laws of the universe. It's merely the end-result of our own actions that I get to see before it happens. This is…" Somehow his stare grows more intensive. "... the logic of the world."
Eraserhead makes the connection first.
Class-Six quirks. Quirks that 'ignore the logic of the world'.
"You don't mean…" He tries to utter, but Sir Nighteye doesn't give him the time to formulate his rejection of the idea.
"My current theory…" Sir Nighteye continues. "... is that Class-Six quirks are something either intrinsically 'different' than the rest or are something more. Something much more."
Only now does detective Tsukauchi realize what Sir Nighteye meant with the 'logic of the world'. Judging from the look on his face, he equals Eraserhead in shock. And slight existential horror.
"You see, years ago my quirk told me that All Might was going to triumph over All for One, albeit at the cost of being gravely injured." Sir Nighteye says. "It was their first and last face-to-face meeting if you exclude the clash that ended with Nana Shimura's death. Back then I assumed that this outcome was certain. Now I begin to believe that it was merely the most probable one. Because when two Class Six quirks clashed, the outcome wasn't determined until the event happened."
"That's…" Eraserhead blinks a few times. "... existentially dreadful." Sir Nighteye shrugs.
"In a way, yes." Mirai Sasaki admits. "I don't think that the result is in any way significant when it's just a single Class-Six quirk. The All Might's death prophecy was the only incorrect prediction, despite spending years right next to Yagi. So, I believe that this mechanism only becomes significant when several Class-Six quirks either clash or influence each other. I don't know what defines the outcome in the former case. It might be willpower, it might be influence of other people around them, it might be actually determined the whole time except it's Foresight that existentially bluescreens under the strain. But what's really important to us right now is the latter case."
"When they influence each other." Eraserhead says, while Tsukauchi lets out a choking sound in the background. "Midoriyas'." He then adds, his eyes widening. Sir Nighteye once again nods.
"Four Class-Six quirks in a single house." Sir Nighteye says. "Something that has probably never happened and will probably never happen again. Three of them, in a way, orbiting over the fourth one. Over Midoriya Izuku." He makes eye contact with Eraserhead. "Who wants to make friends. Who wants to become a great hero with them. Who wants more 'uncles and aunties', more adults that actually want him to succeed, that he can look up to. Doesn't it put the last year in a different perspective?"
The chaos of the day to day school life of 1-A. The students constantly discovering new ways of using their quirks, becoming more and more skillful almost on the fly. All of them gravitating more and more towards Izuku Midoriya.
Midoriya gathering more and more 'uncles and aunties' around him, the process slow at the beginning (Stain, Lady Nagant and some of the Levelers), but seemingly accelerating nowadays. Especially after his quirk finally manifested (Eraserhead still doesn't know about One for All being transferable, but Tsukauchi does).
"You mean…" Tsukauchi manages to speak first. "That he is basically WARPING REALITY? And that's why everything is so crazy nowadays?!" Sir Nighteye shakes his head.
"He doesn't warp reality." Sir Nighteye replies. "I'd rather describe it as his efforts and those that he influences… for example by offering someone tips on their quirks… having tendencies for improbable outcomes, typically according to what he intends to happen but not always. So he doesn't 'warp reality'. If anything, he warps or twists probability. Unfortunately, not always for the better."
"What?" Eraserhead stares at him questioningly.
"Dabi, Eraserhead." Sir Nighteye replies. "Midoriya didn't have his quirk back then, but the other three… or two, if it was before Eri… were already orbiting around him. It's my theory that if Dabi wasn't rejected by him, the Arch-Arsonist wouldn't be born. Dabi would still be a villain, but he wouldn't amass even nearly as large a body-count if his hatred wasn't further inflamed by that particular rejection of his story."
"He can't know." This time it's Tsukauchi. "He is either going to second-guess his every decision since he might be somehow 'influencing his friends or uncles and aunties' against their will, or…" He takes a deep breath. "I just don't think that someone should have such a power and be aware of it. Use it willingly. Even if it's someone as blindingly pure and good as Midoriya. "
"We're in agreement, detective." Sir Nighteye replies, before glancing at Eraserhead. Who also nods. "No one can know, preferably. Especially Nedzu. Unless one of you thinks that handing the power over probability and what's de facto the concept of Fate itself to the Rat God of Chaos is a good idea?"
Oddly enough, neither of them thinks so. He might be on their side, but… his occasional sadism and random bouts of omniscience were very, VERY worrying on their own.
"I, personally, believe that the three of us are influenced to a slightly lesser degree due to our quirks." Sir Nighteye continues. "I have a precognition quirk. Eraserhead has one that's practically a materialized 'No'. Tsukauchi's is about the concept of truth. The rest…" He sighs. "I expect us to work together on damage control if Izuku accidentally messes something up."
The two of them nod.
"There's also another reason for me sharing it before the raid." Sir Nighteye adds. "Because we can't be sure that Revenant was the only clone of All for One. And this means having a Class Six quirk." Tsukauchi gulps loudly. Eraserhead has better control over himself, but the implication of that… they can't exactly trust his prediction anymore.
And what if there are more clones out there? Hopefully Revenant was the first and last one of his kind.
(***)
Several seconds after the final procedure is completed, he opens his eyes. He's laying on a hospital bed. Judging from the rather specific aesthetics of the room in question, he must be in Doctor Garaki's laboratory.
He can feel the quirks in his body. He can remember… a lot of things, but there are also major holes in his memory. He'll have to work on that sooner or later.
Doctor Garaki is there.
"Welcome, Nemesis." The old doctor says. "I'm afraid that the heroes managed to locate one of our friends from the Paranormal Liberation Front. If you show up at the right moment, you should be able to obtain both revenge… and a lot of interesting quirks. So, what do you say, old friend?"
Nemesis smiles.
(***)
This is, honestly, one of the three Big Plottwists that I planned for that fic. Three downright existential plottwists that change everything that you thought to be 'established' in the fic and your own expectations about what happens next. The discovery that this practically-a-crackfic actually wasn't a crackfic the whole time. I mean, we had kids driving tanks on UA grounds AND tags of 'Crack Taken Seriously' immediatelly followed by 'Like dead serious tbh'. Truly it didn't check out at all, hmm?
The remaining two Existential Plottwists are going to happen around the climax of the final battle arc and the epilogue, by the way. Also, the next chapter is going to be the first one from the Innocence Lost Arc. It's going to last until chapter 60. Then a bit of an aftermath and some character development (and Aiko's quirk reveal), and then... well, chapter 66 is the start of the Endgame Arc, which is the 'final battle arc' mentioned above. The fic ends at chapter 70, by the way :P It's fully written now.