Izuku stared at the massive walls of the prison of prisons. There was no other jail like Tartarus, a secret location in the middle of the sea, connected to the coast by a concrete bridge, guarded by some of the strongest Quirk users that Japan could offer.
All for Deku couldn't hold back a chill. What he was doing was reckless, even he knew that. From any other place, he felt confident he could escape. Even if Aizawa revealed him in the middle of UA, he was sure that the students and teachers wouldn't pose much of a threat. Even if somehow the Top 10 surrounded him, there was a chance. But if he got found out in Tartarus, his only option was bailing out of the universe before they strapped him to a chair and filled him with Quirk suppressants.
This was a prison that was capable of holding an All for One in. Alien King had lucked out with his version of Garaki: the old woman had spent years putting together a generation of Noumu that was distinctly superior to others, and then had unleashed them on the prison. It still had almost failed, it was only Alien King's exceptional offensive abilities that allowed him to push through. Without outside help, escaping Tartarus was impossible even for the Symbol of Evil.
"Still no news from your friends?" Aizawa asked as the car entered the gate of Tartarus.
Izuku shook his head. There were no news to give, because he didn't want to give any. Originally, he had considered bringing in Spinner, transformed into Ojiro, to show a proof that what he claimed was true, but after a while he had abandoned the idea. Too many risks. Aizawa didn't use his Quirk on him so far, but he would probably test 'Ojiro' the moment he showed up. For that reason, he had charged Spinner with another mission and claimed he had never managed to get in contact with his friend. "I-I'm afraid they still won't pick up the phone. I wonder if something happened…" He replied, with a sigh to sell the performance.
Aizawa nodded, and Izuku wondered if he was buying the Multiverse story he had told. For all he knew, Eraserhead just thought his student was still imagining things. 'Fine by me.'
The doors of Tartarus opened, and the guards inside accompanied them through a series of scanners. Luckily, Izuku had long since made sure that his own age regressing Quirk was not something that would cause Tartarus' sensors to react. It was probably just because it wasn't a Quirk that only changed the appearance. Or maybe because it was actually the sum of two Quirks, one that made people appear of a different age and one that made people's age regress so long as contact was held with them. He had long since forgotten what the two were called individually, but their combination was one of the most useful things his master had left him. The first Quirk was something Tartarus, or similar facilities, could identify, after all.
The guards took them downstairs, down, down in the depths of Tartarus. As he passed by, Izuku couldn't help but look for the cells of other inmates he wanted on his side. Muscular, Nagant, Stain, Moonfish, Chimera, Mummy… All those were supposedly in Tartarus in this world. Even Chisaki, ruined as he was, would have some value if he could restore his arms. Especially if this time around he could take that boss of his prisoner. Chisaki was viciously loyal, in a contorted way, and he could take full advantage of that. Then again, it depended on what some if his healing Quirks could pull. With Regeneration out, he didn't actually have that many. His master hadn't exactly been keen on helping others.
Their full descent took them to only one cell he was interested in, Stain's. In his world, Stain had never bent the knee. Instead, he had killed Mummy and a bunch of lesser Hero Suppressors, before getting cornered by All for Deku. He had tried to offer again a place among the Hero Suppressors, but Stain wasn't an enemy of Heroes, just a man idealistic to the point of madness. He wanted the Heroes around, he just wanted to see them follow his narrow ideals of heroism. In the end, he was a danger, so Izuku had killed him. Perhaps, this time, it could be different.
"We are here." The guard said, when they reached the last door of the deepest corridor of Tartarus. "You will be let in. There is a chair in front of the glass that separates you too, and a small table too. Don't touch the glass, or we will ask you to get out. Don't tell him any information on the current state of the outside world, or we will ask you to get out. Don't accept any offer of information that is different from the current agreements, or we will ask you to get out."
Izuku nodded, and he didn't have to fake how tense he was. He had the feeling this was going to hit like a truck. All for One had been… a lot of things. His mentor, for sure. His master, for a while. He would be lying if he said they agreed on everything all the time, but Izuku wasn't going to pretend he didn't miss the man Japan only remembered as a monster.
Then again, this All for One was a different person. His master always said he had come up with a thousand plans, and that he would discard them easily if they didn't work. The result was that, most likely, his All for One was as different from this one as Izuku was different from Alien King as a successor.
As he stepped through, the first thing he noticed was his destroyed face. He had already seen it of course, but in person it looked even worse. How much had he lost? Thirty percent of his skull? More? The eyes and nose had disappeared, so were they completely flattened? The doctor wasn't the type to leave anything untested, so most likely he was in the best condition possible.
Izuku sat down. "I'm here, All for One, as you asked."
"That you are, Nineth." The man replied, before pausing and turning his head at the closest camera, "I shall keep my end of the deal then. But first…" He turned back to Izuku, "Let's have a little chat, shall we?"
Izuku felt the fear this version of master inspired, and knew immediately he was a vastly different man. His voice was more bitter, his mocking composure something that his master only kept for his worst enemies.
Then again, maybe he was. He didn't know the specifics of All for One and One for All's connection. In his world, he could just sense One for All's pressure when it was close, but Alien King claimed he could only ever feel the Quirk when it was active and at the closest range. What did All for One feel? Did he perceive at all that there was a One for All user in front of him, or did he just know. Could he feel All for One too? Alien King and him couldn't, but that wasn't much of a test field.
"You seem different. Is my little brother's gift treating you well?" All for One asked.
That was brazen. Izuku's eyes flew to the camera, and he really hoped that the guards didn't take that the wrong way. Granted, with two All for One users they had better chances to get out, but not as good as they could have been.
"What did that mean?" A guard asked in the earpiece he had been given.
"I don't know." He replied, and All for One smiled.
"Ah, so that's the point where we are, still not telling the wider world. Makes sense."
Izuku could almost feel the discussion that was ongoing in the security room, so he decided to take the chance and tapped his finger on the chair three times, once slow and twice fast.
All for One's expression changed to a slight confusion, for the briefest of moment, and Izuku had to hide a smile. His master had created long ago a way to give orders in a sentence without doing so. Hopefully, the two were sharing the same. The gesture he had just used signaled the beginning of a conversation. Of course, it was also accompanied by a word.
"I'm… I'm here because you asked for this. I can't tell you anything about the outside though. I think even the weather is off limits."
Weather. Such a common word to use. Feeling under the weather, talking about the weather, weathering a symbolic storm, it was a surprisingly easy and yet unmistakable word to put in a sentence. Of course, that was his master. Whether they shared the same idea, was up for debate.
"I see. Unfortunate. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Though, it would lighten my mood to know that outside it's sunny."
'Jackpot.' Izuku thought, hearing the sunny word. "I can't, can't I?"
"No exception." The guards answered, "Please continue carefully."
So they weren't shutting it down yet. Good. It seemed his bet that this version of master and his were very close was paying back. In the end, it made sense, considering how similar himself and Izuku were from what he had collected. Them creating the same code wasn't much of a stretch in a similar environment. "I'm sorry. I guess being a villain doesn't pay in the end."
All for One remained quiet for a long moment, and Izuku really hoped he was curious. Telling him about the Multiverse was off limits, but he just had to pass along that he was an ally. It was perhaps too optimistic to think he would be able to break him out before his plan came to fruition, but at least he could try and inform him they were on the same side.
"I guess it does not. So, let me make a guess on the outside world then. If I had to assume, Tomura is currently quiet. I guess he can't avoid that, seeing you are probably hunting him like a prey."
"I can't answer that." Izuku answered.
"Of course. But I suppose meanwhile the brave Heroes are preparing to move against him and any ally. It's a merely logical decision, given ending them is the goal."
"Don't tell him anything that might tip him."
Izuku nodded twice. 'Prey' meant 'Objective', 'ally' meant exactly that but as a question, and 'goal' meant 'reward'. All for One was asking what his objective were, if he was an ally and what he wanted back. A lot less subtle, but they didn't need to be overly dramatic about it. Just words someone could drop in the middle of a conversation in a public area, or in a communication that was heavily scrutinized.
"Should I ask him something? At least I could ask if the League has any hidden ally." He asked.
All for One smirked.
"Don't ask him anything compromising." Was the reply, and Izuku did his best to not snort. Tartarus was run with a 'no outside information' policy that had so many holes. The whole idea was wrong.
"I guess for you it's not right. Taking down hero society is your prey." He said in an aggressive tone, like he was starting to get angry at All for One. In truth, he had just agreed with a 'right' and informed him of what was his objective. He stood back up. "Well I won't let you. We will…" He paused, feigning emotion, making tears drop from his eyes, "We will win. We will win together."
'You will win with our alliance.' He really hoped the message had passed. Sighing, he barely heard the guard that was calling him out of the cell, but started to walk outside.
"So, I guess you think chaos is my true objective." All for One asked back.
"Yes. And ending your brother's legacy. Meanwhile, I just want to save everyone, including my friends. I won't let you hurt them."
He had heard the word objective. That was a direct question, so he had answered without using anything at the end. Then he had used the word 'friends', that ended the use of the code. As he walked outside and the door closed behind him, he hoped All for One had gotten the message. To be honest, this was less than he had hoped for, but if they hadn't found out at all it was already a success.
He bowed deeply to the guards, when they started to explain him why they had to cut the talk short. Aizawa just sighed. As Izuku thought, he didn't find his outburst weird. Deku was an emotional child, after all. His words of choice had been a bit repetitive, but that could be explained away as All for One's menacing appearance. As for the brother's legacy…
"I-I just asked All Might, and he said he and Naomasa think that All for One's brother was a Hero during the Dark Age of Quirks!" He replied. All Might would back the lie, since Aizawa wasn't in the know about One for All, and this made sense. "So I thought that when he called me heir of his brother's legacy, he meant I am a Hero. I guess i-it was a taunt? I just decided to use it back to him"
Aizawa sighed, muttering something about a 'problem child', and Izuku did his best to not smile until they were back at UA, doing only small talk in the car.
He really wondered what All for One thought of their meeting.
-x-
Quite unique. That was All for One's impression. He supposed he could be forgiven if he hadn't expected to hear the heir of One for All use a code he hadn't heard in forty years and propose to end Hero society for good. It was just a tiny bit out of character, from what he knew of the boy.
So, what to make of it? Izuku was alive after all, which meant the disappearance of One for All and the following change were not the result of his death. Then again, the teen didn't seem to be the Izuku he had collected information on.
It had been about six months since Kamino, and back then the child had been firmly in the Hero territory. To switch to the Villain side so abruptly, what could have happened? Had it been someone in the HSPC doing something wrong to him? That seemed unlikely, given that he wasn't even a Hero yet. Unless the HSPC was now even more stupid than six months ago, they wouldn't try anything on a promising child, especially after the previous president had a very close encounter with Lady Nagant's bullets. They had refined their method with Hawks, and wouldn't try to go back to the old ways.
Not to mention that Lady Nagant had taken years and a death threat to snap, so that was out of the equation.
That left him with only two answers. The first and more obvious was that this was a setup, but for the life of him he couldn't see a point in this. He had given away nothing, Izuku had done most of the talking, and in the end he had left with what amounted to a promise of aid.
The second and most troubling option was that for some reason Midoriya had snapped, somehow had found out about that old code (which only All for One and the doctor knew, in theory, considering all his other associates from so long ago had been either defeated by the previous One for All users or purged by him) and decided to go for the Villain side. If that was the case, his whole plan would have to adapt. Never in his life had he expected to see a One for All user turn to him, but if he really was? Well, he wasn't going to say no.
-x-
Izuku landed on sand. He stumbled a bit as his feet found purchase on the dune, and he heard a yelp as Izumi did the same. The night sky showed nothing but stars, with no trace of the moon. The night was dark because of that, darker than any Izuku had ever seen.
"Where… are we?" Izuku asked, looking around. By logic, they had completed a leap, and this was a magic universe.
Izzzuku emerged from his head and looked around, cracking his neck – odd to think about, considering there were no bones or muscles there – and he looked around a bit, before shaking his head. "Well, now you have done it Izuku. This is game over."
"G-Game over?"
"You landed in a Circular Current. That's… bad."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Izumi asked, "Why is it bad?"
"Because I can only Teleport the person whose mind I'm in. I can't believe we'd reach the Deadlandverse, but that's what I get for being so positive."
"I mean, there has to be a way out right? I managed to leave the Current before…"
"That was with Guide. Now you would have to control your Quirk to do that, and of course we can try, but…" Zuzu chimed in, pausing a moment before nodding again "However, mister Izzzuku seems to forget there is a simple solution."
Izzzuku sighed, "I don't think we should go there."
"Why not?" Huanli asked, "If it's somewhere dangerous, we can just beat up whoever gets us in trouble?"
"No it's just… a bit more complicated." Izzzuku sighed, "I guess the old man really is the only choice though."
"Can I ask something?" Izumi suddenly asked, "Where are we?"
"Musutafu, Japan." Epsi replied flatly.
Izuku stopped. His eyes widened as he looked down to the ground, staring at the mound of sand they were standing on. No not sand. Dust. This was Musutafu? But how? Why- "Shigaraki?"
"Bingo." Izzzuku pointed his finger at him, "Welcome to the world where Tomura Shigaraki really did destroy everything, Izuku. Only sand, rock and water everywhere."
"But… But this is supposed to be a magic universe."
"Magiquirk actually, you didn't jump far enough this time." Izzzuku clarified, "Sorry to say this, but the magic here exists. You will understand in a bit. Now grab those two and jump."
Izuku didn't react immediately, instead looking around. This couldn't really be Musutafu, right? There had to be a mistake. What happened? Had he failed? Or whoever took his place? And how did Shigaraki destroy everything. There was no way… right? He turned to Izzzuku, "Is it all-?"
"Like this? Yeah. Europe, Africa, Asia, America, Oceania, Shigaraki destroyed it all. And then he dusted the Moon for good measure. Fairly sure if anyone was left alive by then the tidal waves the Moon's disappearance caused killed them." He shook his head, "I wonder why go that far. Then again, I'm not the one that decided to genocide a planet, maybe that's a good thing."
"He can't have killed them all! Even with All for One he isn't that powerful!"
"With One for All, Double and that other Quirk though? Oh yeah, he was that powerful. I think All for One – the old man, I mean – underestimated just how batshit insane his next vessel was." Izzzuku shrugged, "Oh well, no use wasting time on that. Let's just leave."
Izuku slowly walked toward Izumi and Huanli, his eyes fixed on the ground. This was what Shigaraki could do at full power? This was his final goal?
As he disappeared, he couldn't help but think that, if this was what the future was going to be like if they lost, he really had no other choice but to win. It was never clearer than that day.
-x-
Izumi was still trembling when Izuku had grabbed her. This was what she had signed up to fight? The level of someone capable of destroying the Moon completely?
She was good. She had always known she was. But this good? It was out of her league, wasn't it? She had…
'Calm down.' Overzealous Databook chimed in. She gulped.
'How do I calm down?'
'Well, by remembering that, no matter what, both me and One for All are on your side.' Overzealous Databook sighed, 'Trust me, your path is clear. Follow Izuku and Huanli, and you will achieve our goal.'
Izumi slowly calmed down. When she was six, she had made her wish to She Who Bears Gift, and the goddess had granted her Overzealous Databook to accomplish her dream. Since then, Overzealous had been with her, giving her suggestions on how to follow the Path. Granted, Izumi had doubted him often, but he was never wrong. If Izumi managed to accomplish what he asked for, she took another step toward her dream.
They Teleported, and Izumi blinked, looking around to the new land they had reached. This one was only marginally better. Where before there was sand, now there were ruined buildings and an howling wind as a storm roared in the sky. They quickly moved in the shadow of the closest building, and Izuku looked around, before starting another conversation with Zuzu and Epsi. Meanwhile, Izumi turned to Huanli.
"Are you ok?"
"Sure, why wouldn't I?" Huanli replied.
"But… What about what we just saw? We might be facing another version of the person that did that soon."
"I know right? Isn't it exciting?" She asked with a wide smile, stars in his eyes, "We are going to fight someone strong enough to destroy the world! That is so cool!"
"It's not cool! It's dangerous! He could kill you!"
"Not if I kill him first." Huanli grinned, "Just like my Master did, I will take down All for One on my own. One woman army rampage and all that."
"But how are you not even a little scared?!"
"What's there to be scared about?" At Izumi's incredulous look, she clarified, "I mean, I know, death, but really, if we let death scare us until we do nothing we will never progress as fighters or as people. My Master was eighteen when she left her life behind to travel East Asia to reunite the schools of Zhandou Quan in a single martial art. She was a teen that would do odd jobs with her friend to pay herself the journey, train with those masters, and then face the members of All for One that hunted them all down. Aside from her being the most amazing woman in existence, she could do this because death scared her, but she knew to push past that." Huanli smiled, and this time it was a fond smile, that showed to Izumi just how great the affection she felt toward her Master was, "She saved me with those fists that pushed past the fear of death and pain. I can't let those same fears beat me."
Izumi blinked. "Uh. You know, you are really good with words."
"Well, I can't exactly not be. Master Itsuka always made sure I was well trained." She looked at her hand, clutching it into a fist, "I owe her everything."
"And you still don't want to go back home?"
"That is that and this is this! I'm training, so I don't want to go home. It's not that I don't like it there, it's just…" She closed her eyes, sighing, "I'm a prodigy there. I'm exceptional. There is no one that I can't beat except for Master. I never struggle."
"Sheesh, talk about a tragedy…"
"It is! I want more! My Master had to face incredible odds, and that's what made her strong, but those are gone in my age." She clutched her fist again, "I want more than small tournaments and sparring matches. I want to prove to her – prove to myself – that I really am strong. That she really made the right choice when she adop- she picked up Eri and named her Huanli Quanteng."
Izumi looked at her, "I see. So you don't want to go home until you have managed to prove yourself you are strong, right?"
"Yep. You got it."
"Well, in that case I'm going to help." Izumi replied.
"How?"
"I don't know, but it sounds like something you could use any help with, right? We could start with a spar."
Huanli grinned at that, "I'd like to."
Izumi smiled, then Izuku's Blackwhip grabbed both of them and they teleported again. This time, they landed in a plain covered in grass, once again with no settlements in sight.
-x-
"So all of these are universes were Shigaraki wins?" Izuku asked.
"That is correct." Zuzu replied. "In the J-108, the Deadlandverse, Shigaraki destroyed everything, leaving behind only what he couldn't destroy no matter his attempts. In J-109, the Badlandverse, he focused on living things, killing everything he could, from humans to animals to plants, but had no interest in the earth itself, or the buildings you saw. And this is J-110, the Edenverse, where he destroyed everything manmade and humanity itself."
Izuku looked around. If the first two worlds were horrible, this one at least looked extraordinary. In the setting sun, the lush land was covered in grass and trees, a wild land where he spotted animals like wild rabbits and birds move around without fear.
"Is this where we need to go?"
"No. Jump again, mister Izuku, you'll see why."
Izuku nodded, and grabbed Huanli and Izumi again, before Teleporting one more time. The landing was easy this time. They were standing outside of a large, black fortress, surrounded by nothing but a plain. There were no other buildings around, and the construction itself seemed well kept and secure. Izuku realized a moment later that it looked exactly like Tartarus, in the pictures that one could find online of the maximum security prison's appearance. No, he realized a moment later, this looked somewhat smaller, and was not on water.
"Where are we this time?" Huanli asked.
"I don't-" Izuku begun, then from the entrance of the fortress emerged a large robot, that he recognized as a one-pointer from UA's entrance exam, it's long neck and frontal camera easily recognizable. "State your intent." The robot spoke in a cavernous voice, once it got closer, the camera moving from one to the next, focusing particularly on Izuku and his wrist.
"It's us, Zeta." Zuzu-9-Epsilon replied, "Izzzuku Midoriya, Patroller Code #028, and Zuzu-9-Epsilon, in charge of training. Those are Wanderers Huanli Quanteng, Izuku Midoriya and Izumi Midoriya. Passcode is 110414."
The robot paused a moment, and Izuku wondered if something had gone wrong, before a hearty laugh and a female voice erupted from it, as she clumsily had the robot wave. "Oh, sis, it's so good to see you! Come on, let's go in! What brings you here?"
Izuku looked down at the screen, and Zuzu just shrugged, "Just Izuku's training. Izuku, Miss Izumi, Miss Huanli, this is my sister Zuzu-9-Zeta."
"It's nice to meet some guests. Well, some guests that aren't, you know, trying to escape and kill everyone." The bot bowed, "Welcome to J-111, the Immortalverse. And welcome to the Prison for the Immortal, Ultimate Tartarus."
"What is she talking about?" Izuku asked.
Izzzuku chimed in, "She is talking about why this is a magic universe. The secret of Immortality existed in those worlds, an ability that was not a Quirk, but born from some rare and unique concoction, from some long-lost magic spell, or from a sort of unknown natural magic. And I don't have to tell you who received it."
Izuku frowned, before his jaw fell.
"You don't mean…"
"Tomura Shigaraki, Tomura Shigaraki, Tomura Shigaraki. Three immortal All for One users that also possessed One for All." Izzzuku sighed, "And all three had Teleport. It was just luck that none of them ever got a hold of Guide, or they could have done more than just attack each other."
"But if they are all alive…"
"Not all of them are anymore. Apparently, the other two's immortality had some caveat, so we were left with one of them when he finally managed to find that weakness. And to keep him trapped we had no choice but to build Ultimate Tartarus. A prison made to deny his Quirks, where he can be kept away from the Multiverse."
"Isn't that extremely dangerous?"
"Less than letting him go." Epsi replied, "The risk was just too great. Here, in almost complete isolation, is the only place where we can keep him."
Izumi nodded, "I see. But didn't you say there is someone else here? I doubt you wanted to ask that Shigaraki guy for help."
"That's right. You see, this place also has two jailors. One is an AI, the other is the only living person that can't be killed by Tomura. Another immortal that can be trusted, even if he is incredibly annoying."
Zuzu-9-Zeta made a long, exhausted sigh. "Ugh, I was afraid you'd say that."
-x-
They stared in disbelief at the man that was sleeping on a chair. His neck was bent back as he snored, he had a cigarette on his lap that had burned down the entire way, clearly including his fingers, and his green beard had probably caught fire not long before, judging by the burnt strands of hair. Next to him on the floor rested at least five cans of beer, and another one was in his free hand. The nearby refrigerator was open, water puddling the floor, and Izuku noticed there were at least fifty more cans stacked inside. The screens in front of him showed all angles of a room that contained another sleeping man, this one with white hair, bound to a chair.
It wasn't hard to guess who they were watching.
"Goddammit." Izzzuku sighed, turning to Zeta. The moment they had entered the facility, Zeta had switched to her own holographic projection, a girl in her late teens with the same uniform Izuku had seen in the few pictures of what a Tartaros guard looked like while on the job. "Aren't you supposed to take care of him?"
"I do. He is even dressed today." Zeta sighed, and a metal claw emerged from an opening in the wall, closing the fridge, while a small robot armed with a piece of cloth arrived to clean up the water, before tugging gently the sleeping man's shoulder. There was no reaction.
"Tch. 'An immortal that can be trusted', Isaac says. What he sees in this guy is beyond me." He turned his hand into a megaphone, took a deep breath, and Izuku, Izumi and Huanli barely had the time to cover their ears before the shout came.
"Good morning sleeping beauty!" The voice resonated through the room, and the sleeping man jumped up, his worn-out and badly buttoned shirt and his black pants both ruined.
"Alarm! Oh god it's the day! It's the-" He paused, and slowly turned to them. Izzzuku and Zuzu-9-Zeta had the exact same expression, of absolute contempt mixed with annoyance. "Theeeee day we welcome our guest. Hello Izzzuku. How are you doing?" He coughed.
"Well. Can't say the same of you, Mido."
"Whaaaat?" He grinned awkwardly, wobbling a bit on his feet, "No, no, I'm doing great! Absolutely, no issue at all, right Zeta?"
"Don't drag me into this." The AI replied, "You are lucky that if any emergency actually happened, I can intervene independently."
"Ehi, I just finished a night shift, give a man a break!"
"That was three nights ago." She pointed out, "the other night you said, and I quote 'Tommy over there isn't going anywhere, so I'm going to party'. Which you did until you collapsed over that chair. Seventeen hours ago."
"Goddammit Mido…" Izzzuku sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "If I could, I'd slap you."
"Well you can't, so deal with it."
"You know what. You are right." He turned to them, "Huanli, slap him."
The man's eyes went wide, "Wait wha-" And then Huanli, without hesitation, slapped him, with enough force to make his head turn to the side.
"Huanli!" Izuku shouted.
"What? He told me to."
"Ouch! Why?!" He was losing blood from his nose, but as Izuku watched he saw the blood trickle back into his nose, and the red spot over the pale skin of the jailor return to its normal color. "Ugh, alright, I know why, but still, not cool man."
"Oh I'm sorry, did that hurt?" Izzzuku asked, sarcasm dripping from every word, "Remember what your job is, Mido."
"I know, I know, but Tomura isn't going anywhere. He literally can't leave this place, and believe me he has tried." He shook his head, "Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to come for the inspection next month." He blinked, "It's not next month yet, right?"
"That sentence makes no sense, but no, I'm helping Izuku here train, and he ended up locked in the current, because of course he did. We Izuku are just soooo lucky."
"Tell me about." He moved his hand forward, gesturing towards Izuku, "Nice to meet you. I'm Izuku Midoriya, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Well, after ten thousand years forgive me for not remembering if that was my name or one I made up…"
"T-Ten thousand-?"
Izzzuku nodded, "Yeah. The man over here is the oldest being we know in the Multiverse, bar fully supernatural entities like the gods of various magic worlds." Izzzuku sighed, "And also the reason why I want to die before I start to resemble him in any way."
"Jeez, make me sound bad. You try to keep yourself fully functional for ten thousand years and then tell me how that feels. Everything really stops being exciting after a while." Mido replied, before groaning, "God, I need a beer… Anyway, what do you want?"
"A passage."
"Ah, right, of course. Back to the Headquarters?"
"No, somewhere else. You choose, just make sure it's safe for them."
His green eyes took a humorous look, like he had just heard exactly what he wanted, but Deku wasn't sure if he was the only one that noticed. "Alright. Kids, what is your favorite thing?" He asked, turning to the three teens.
"Fighting." Huanli answered.
"Uh… Heroes." He replied hesitantly.
"Don't call me 'kid' again." Izumi concluded with a defiant look.
"Oh, how aggressive. Well, here we go." He slid his hand through the air in a downward motion, and a green portal opened through the air, "There, done, step right through."
Izzzuku looked at him, suspicious, "Where does that lead?"
"Oh, now, why would I spoil the surprise?" The immortal mischievously replied, "It's safe though. And fun."
Izzzuku made to reply, but Huanli ignored him and just jumped through. The dream being sighed, turning to the AI. "Good luck with your work, Zuzu, I think you'll need it." And with that, he disappeared inside Izuku's head. Izuku looked at the portal, then back at his other self.
"Uhm… Goodbye?" He asked, unsure. Frankly, he wasn't sure he liked this version of himself. He seemed a good person, but his lifestyle and his behavior were definitely against Izuku's idea of who he wanted to be. He could tell that Izumi was even more annoyed by him, and he wondered why. Even knowing he was immortal, he really wished he could know what had made him like that.
"To you both. Remember you are not immortal and have fun, out there." He smiled, though Deku noticed the smile never quite reached his eyes.
Izuku nodded, waving at Zuzu-9-Zeta, and after Izumi, stepped through the portal as well. His last sight of that world was an immortal waving his hand at them, an AI bowing slightly, and behind them, on the screen, a destroyer of worlds sleeping bound on a chair. Then they reached the other side.
(xx)
So yeah, first of all, the Tartarus meeting. I really wanted to write this from Aizawa's pov first and then from All for Deku's, but that came out as far too cumbersome to read, with Izuku basically just explaining to the audience the conversation he just had. So I went for one show instead.
Our first chapter with four universes in a row, and they all have in common that they absolutely suck. Then again, in three of those Shiggy won and in the fourth, there is just no one except Izuku left, so kind of expected. This is my picture of a Shigaraki that absolutely wins, always some variation of him destroying everything. I figured it made sense to show it and well, it also introduces Mido, the Eternal Izuku as I dubbed him.
Immortal Izuku is surprisingly popular in the MHA fandom, actually, I've seen more than a fic including the trope. Well, it's surprising to me, though I don't know how popular the immortality trope is in other fandoms for comparison. Still, it was interesting to tackle, briefly as it might have been.