Heeeyy! Here with an update! Still working on everything else (AMOSC and Ballad, why do you torment me with writer's block so) but I figured it was high time I threw this out. Hope you all like it!

Review Response: Dear Liantei, greetings! Happy to hear it! I hope you enjoy this update as well!

Dear Dragon Lord Draco, hello! (cackles) This is not going to be the last time Deku scares the living daylights out of a hatable character, trust me. Glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Dear vampireharry the 2, hey there! Happy you enjoyed!

Dear AyameKitsune, hello there! Hope you like the update! Even if it's a bit short...

Dear EtherealTulip, hi there! (tips hat) you're welcome, I'm happy you enjoyed! Shōto was fun.

Dear Guest, hello! So ... here's the thing. Shōto knows that Izuku's Flame is made of willpower, but that doesn't mean he can't actually be Endeavor's secret kid. Think about it, we NEVER see his real father in the anime (not yet anyway) and if Inko knew that her kid was the illegitimate child of a very powerful pro hero that could ruin her to preserve his reputation, what better excuse could she give than to pretend she had a husband working overseas who had a fire-breathing quirk (just in case Izuku manifested fire of any kind instead of her small object pull quirk)? It theoretically fits, and this is the kid who in canon concluded that Izuku was All Might's secret love child. There is no talking him out of this head canon of his. XD

Dear Blitza, hi! It's a bit short, but I hope you like it! I'll do another All Might POV sometime that will hopefully be longer, but we'll see.

Dear Phantom Aficionado, hello! There will be a Cloud! I'll introduce him in the chapter after next. Also, sorry about sidelining Kirishima, I've been plotting to do an Kirishima interlude to cover that stuff later, I just gotta get a few other things finished up first.

Dear RunFromTheMedic, hey there! It's all practice. Practice and tears. :) but you're welcome! I'm so glad you like it!

Dear bladetri, hey there! XD glad to know!

Dear AkabaneKazama, hello! Nope. This misunderstanding is staying right where it is. And, as I explained to Guest above, it's actually very plausible. A "overseas" husband with a "fire-breathing quirk" would be the perfect cover/alibi for a child if the single mother was afraid of her son manifesting his tempermental, illegitimate father's fire quirk in any form. Because if it got out without an alibi, Endeavor could (and probably WOULD) have Izuku taken away from Inko and Inko's life generally ruined. Because he's an absolute jerk like that. Also, this is Shōto. Shōto CANONICALLY assumed All Might and Izuku were secret parent-child because of a few similarities in quirk and some interactions. Izuku's Flames being made out of pure Will instead of a conventional quirk are going to do exactly nothing to convince him that Izuku is not a long lost baby brother.

Dear Horrorchow, hello! Thank you! I've worked hard on the Flame representations. Nice to know they're paying off. Enjoy the new chapter!

Interlude: All Might

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When Toshinori had been approached by Nezu to teach at U.A. in order to find a successor, he expected a lot of things. He expected to do his best for all of his students, to teach them no matter if they were his successor or not, and to be very careful and judicious in his search for said successor.

He knew that his former sidekick, Sir Nighteye, and several other people who knew of the true nature of One for All were expecting him to choose Togata Mirio. While it was true that the boy had great potential and had bloomed tremendously under Sir Nighteye's tutelage, and that from everything he was told Mirio-kun seemed to have all the traits Toshinori was looking for in a successor, Toshinori wanted to make his own choice. He did not deny Mirio-kun's potential, but passing on One for All was something Toshinori could only do once, and he wanted to be absolutely certain that the person he chose would be one who would be worthy of the responsibility. Someone who would make him proud. Someone who Nana would have liked. Someone who had that one, critical thing he believed that all bearers of One for All needed most.

In all honesty, Toshinori had no idea what that One Thing was. He just knew that there had been something about Nana that no one else could emulate, something he couldn't name but had always tried his hardest to mimic even now. Gran Torino would have told him that his nostalgia and respect for his teacher were clouding his judgement, and maybe they were. But Toshinori felt like he had to at least try to find a student who had that mysterious, nameless quality. That if anyone did have that quality, he would know it when he saw it.

And if he didn't, then he could always seek out Mirio-kun.

He had sat through the entrance exams with that desire in the back of his mind, keeping a sharp eye on the many potential students as they ran and fought their way through the many robots, looking for someone who stood out to him. No one had particularly distinguished themselves by the last half of the test, and he would admit that his attention might have been wandering a bit when the zero-point robots came onto the scene and the applicants began fleeing en mass.

Then someone —possibly Midnight— blurted, "What in the name of-?" And Toshinori's attention was drawn to the displays of Arena A. And he saw Midoriya Izuku for the first time.

Naturally, he had caught glimpses of the boy over the course of the exam, flashes of multi-colored fire and surprisingly good reflexes for someone who came from a purely civilian household. But the destruction of the zero-point obstacle … that had been on a different level altogether. It had been an astounding display of power and of determination to protect, the likes of which Toshinori hadn't seen outside the field —or even in the field— in years. To hear that the boy had been hospitalized for an impalement injury had been distressing on more than one level, and the rumors about the boy spawned by the footage of the display getting leaked to the internet were arguably even more so.

Toshinori tried not to pay attention to the rumors. But the one about the boy being Endeavor's love child was so prevalent —not to mention so plausible— that Toshinori was ashamed to admit —even if only to himself— that he had let the rumors jade his judgement for the first few days of teaching Class 1-A. Had almost written off Midoriya as a potential successor. Because power was one thing, but Endeavor, for all his popularity, was not … not someone Toshinori would ever trust with One for All or its secret. And despite his own belief in people being so much more than their bloodline, a boy raised with a powerful, recognizable quirk and likely a mother who spoke often of the prestigious, rich nature of his absent father…

A child's envy, especially for recognition from an absent parental figure, could be a very dangerous thing. Especially when that child could set things on fire at will.

But Young Midoriya was nothing like Endeavor. He was charismatic, certainly, but it was not the harsh charisma of the Number Two hero. He was popular with his classmates —except Shōto-kun, who understandably if regrettably avoided Young Midoriya like the plague—, but he was so painfully open that any thoughts of his kind, earnest nature being an act were discarded very quickly. Young Midoriya was everything he portrayed himself to be, and his ability to calm and direct his more excitable —or in Bakugo-kun's case volatile— classmates into channeling their energy productively was remarkable for his age and his naturally quiet personality.

Toshinori found himself liking Young Midoriya rather quickly. Possibly too quickly, as pointed out by Nezu after Aizawa complained about catching Toshinori watching lessons from afar five times too often. So Toshinori tried to hold back, distance himself from the situation, look at all of his students equally, observe the other classes for potential successors as well. But something always drew Toshinori back to Young Midoriya.

Then the Villain Invasion happened and Toshinori saw, in all its glory, what it was that kept drawing him back to Young Midoriya.

Toshinori remembered smashing through the doors of the USJ, fury and worry clashing inside him in equal measures, his usual smile nowhere to be found. The first thing to catch his gaze as he inspected the situation —right after Aizawa's dangerously injured state and the sheer number of villains present— was orange and purple fire dancing across Young Midoriya's arms as he dangled from the grip of a massive villain, his expression pained but fearless and wild.

Toshinori had been quick to intervene in that, fury and relief bubbling inside him as the villain with a hand on his face —Shigaraki Tomura— had the larger villain —Nōmu he called it, a puppet created to destroy All Might— throw Young Midoriya away like a rag doll in favor of attacking Toshinori himself. He had rescued Young Midoriya from midair and made sure that the other students and Eraserhead were safely out of the way before turning to face the Nōmu, ready to end the battle and the threat to his students and fellow hero.

But Nōmu had been more than he expected, and the warp hole had been a trap that would have been difficult for him to escape even in his prime, let alone now, with his power slowly dwindling away.

But then the students were there, Kirishima-kun with his hardened fists and Bakugo-kun with his red-tinted —they usually weren't that color, a second stage to his quirk perhaps?— explosions distracting Kurogiri while Todoroki-kun coated the villain's side and arm with ice that Young Midoriya shattered with a flaming kick to free Toshinori.

The others pulled away as soon as Toshinori was free and standing again, but Young Midoriya instead moved to guard Bakugo-kun while the latter held Kurogiri hostage. An action that, while commendable, almost got them both killed when Shigaraki sent the Nōmu after them. Toshinori tossed them both out of the way and took the blow himself —and holy cow had that hurt—. He ordered them to get back —later he would learn there was basically no point, especially with Young Midoriya— and fought the Nōmu all on his own.

He gave everything he had to defeat that Nōmu, intentionally created shockwaves so that the other villains could not get near either himself or his students, and in the end, his power —for all its decline— proved stronger than the Nōmu's ability to absorb blows —if only just—. But then he was out of power, barely able to hold onto his muscle form, bluffing desperately to buy time for the other heroes to show up. His bluff was called and Shigaraki and Kurogiri were racing for him-.

Fire danced like a living thing, hot and dangerous —but also safe, the way Nana had been safe, strong the way she had radiated strength until the end— around All Might, around the villains, surrounding them with an inferno as Young Midoriya and Bakugo-kun —idiots. Brave, selfless, heroic idiots— hurtled forward out of the fire to Toshinori's rescue. Bakugo-kun's explosions were the color of blood as he used the blasts to propel himself shoulder-first into Toshinori's side like a rocket, cursing like a sailor as he managed to knock Toshinori over into a cloud of debris and smoke and out of sight while Young Midoriya flung two jets of roaring fire at the villains and screamed with a strength to his voice that sent jolts through even Toshinori's heart, "Get away from him!"

The command rattled through Toshinori's head like cannon-fire, and it was in that moment he felt it. The unnamable quality that he had been searching for, that Nana had possessed just a fraction of, it was there. Inside Young Midoriya, pouring out of him like heat from the sun or water from a burst dam. It seared around them, almost hotter than the inferno Young Midoriya was causing. It was enough to steal Toshinori's already thready breath right out of his lungs.

The two villains balked from the jets of fire —from Young Midoriya's command, from the power he suddenly exuded, if only for a moment—, hesitating those crucial split seconds before Kurogiri recovered and opened wormholes to siphon away the flames and give Shigaraki the chance to grab for Young Midoriya's face-.

Then gunshots rang out and Toshinori knew that the other heroes had arrived. The villains quickly fled, Shigaraki undaunted in swearing his revenge despite his burns and gunshot wounds.

Of course, Toshinori had bigger problems to worry about than yet another villain promising to get revenge. Such as the fact that Bakugo-kun's harsh collision with Toshinori had not just knocked him down, but knocked him right out of his muscle form where one of his students could see him and where the others would see in another few seconds if something didn't happen. His inner panic was cut short by —to his not-so-distant surprise— Bakugo-kun himself, who abruptly seemed to realize that he was sprawled on top of a hero that was a lot smaller than he should be. Red eyes went wide in shock and disbelief, but then narrowed and whipped around to Young Midoriya, "Deku!" No, don't call him over, it's bad enough that one of you sees-!

Young Midoriya skidded to a stop in the fading smoke cloud, falling to his knees by Bakugo-kun and a part of Toshinori despaired as Young Midoriya took in his ragged true form with wide eyes. In any other situation, it would have been funny to see Bakugo-kun flailing with a harsh hiss of, "I swear I didn't f*ing hit him that hard! I didn't know he'd f*ing turn into a deflated zombie and holy f*ing sh*t he's coughing up blood-"

"Kacchan!" The whispered bark snapped Bakugo-kun's jaw shut faster than any order from a teacher. Young Midoriya looked around frantically, muttering under his breath as he hurriedly grabbed a handful of dirt and dust off the ground and shakily flicked it into the air in the direction of the other students. Toshinori was about to say it was a nice —if fruitless— thought when the dust in the air multiplied by a thousand, no, a million, more even, until it was a thick screen that none of the other students would be able to see through. While All Might choked in surprise at the sudden creation of a new smokescreen —how had he done that with a fire Quirk?—, Young Midoriya turned back to Bakugo-kun, "The others are going to be running over here soon, I can tell them to go assemble at the entrance since I'm Class Rep, but I'll have to go with them and they'll notice if you aren't with me."

His gaze switched to a dumbfounded Toshinori and amber eyes with purple flecks —weren't Young Midoriya's eyes supposed to be green?— drilled into Toshinori's blue with the same intensity that Nana's had when she was worried and Needed Answers, "Will you be okay with the other Pro Heroes? Or do we need to smuggle you out to Recovery Girl? She would know what to do about this wouldn't she?"

Toshinori's mouth flopped open and shut a few times, but then Kirishima-kun's voice could be heard approaching the dust cloud and he hissed, "The other Pro Heroes are fine. They know about this. Just … keep the other students away. Please."

Young Midoriya gave a curt nod, all laser focus that startled Toshinori —he seemed more like the type to flail and scream and theorize in a situation like this—, then turned and limped out of the dust cloud with Bakugo-kun at his side, "Everyone! Please help your more injured classmates and assemble by the entrance for roll call and medical attention! Let the Pros finish clean up and run security sweeps without interference!" Toshinori listened, mind spinning with a thousand things as Young Midoriya herded his classmates safely away from Toshinori's second biggest secret, never giving a hint that he had seen anything unusual about the Number One Hero.

Cementoss found him not long after and discreetly raised a wall to keep prying eyes away. The students were sent back outside to be sorted, counted, and interviewed by the police while All Might was snuck out the back way to recover and wrap his head around what had just happened.

Villains had broken into U.S.J., two of his students had seen his true form —he needed to talk to them about that, explain and impress upon them how important it was that it remained secret—, and Young Midoriya …

Young Midoriya was the one he'd been looking for, he could feel it down into his very soul.

.

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Toshinori waited until the rush of police officers and nurses had died down before having Bakugo-kun and Young Midoriya sent to a private office to speak with him. The two were frazzled-looking and tired, but their eyes were alert the moment they caught sight of him in his true form. He opened his mouth to speak as Young Midoriya shut the door, but was interrupted by Bakugo-kun, "We won't say anything to anyone. We promise. Nobody will hear about this from us."

Toshinori blinked once in surprise, then smiled, "Thank you, my boy, I will hold you both to that. However, I felt that you two at least deserved a few answers after what you saw today." He motioned them to sit down across from him and, once they were settled, launched into the short version of events —leaving out the "eternal nemesis of my inherited quirk who also murdered my dear mentor" part—. He made sure to emphasize that he could still do his work just fine, and that while he had appreciated their heroic nature, what they'd done was far too dangerous to repeat, and that they had to keep everything he told them an absolute secret, even from their parents.

It went much better than he expected really, with Young Midoriya only getting lost in his mutterings twice and nobody screaming in astonishment —though he was fairly certain he heard Bakugo-kun call him "Zombie-Might" at some point in the conversation—. But then he tried to send Bakugo-kun away to talk to Young Midoriya privately and it all turned on its head.

"F*ck no." Bakugo-kun's look could have melted concrete.

Toshinori blinked and said automatically, "Language, Bakugo-kun." He tried to get back on topic, "Anyway, I really just need to talk to Young Midoriya in private for a few minutes, you can wait for him at the end of the hall-"

One sandy eyebrow raised over red eyes, "Let me rephrase. No way in f*ing h*ll. You talk to Deku, you f*ing talk to me too."

Toshinori started to protest again —because he knew Bakugo-kun was protective of his friend, but really— when Young Midoriya quietly cut in, "I-I'm sorry All Might, but there are no secrets between me and Kacchan. Anything you tell me, he's going to know later anyway. That's how it works."

He sat back and stared at the pair of them for several long seconds, working the new equation over in his head and wrestling with it. It was a huge risk. The more people who knew a secret, the more risk there was of it getting out. But then again, Bakugo-kun already knew about his real form and his injuries and Young Midoriya had such potential…

With a quick prayer that he wasn't making a huge mistake, he took the plunge. He told them the truth of his quirk. He told the boys how he was looking for a successor, told Young Midoriya that Toshinori thought he should be the next Symbol of Peace. He made his offer, and then he waited.

Ten minutes passed in a mixture of wide-eyed, frantic muttering and Bakugo-kun mouthing "holy sh*t" repeatedly before shooting Young Midoriya a glare that could have killed. The two boys held a staring contest, complete with tiny twitches and facial cues that was like watching a conversation, but one in a language so foreign Toshinori had no hope of reading it —he wondered how the two had gotten so close as to do that, because childhood friends or not, it was uncanny to watch—.

He was about to grudgingly offer to let them head home for the day to think it over —with more warnings not to tell anyone no matter Young Midoriya's decision— when the green haired boy turned to him, eyes glowing amber again —and how did he do that? That wasn't normal for a fire quirk—, "I'd be- I would be honored, All Might."

Toshinori had smiled at him, a wave of relief far stronger than he'd anticipated washing over him even as Bakugo-kun curled his lip and snorted in what Toshinori suspected was worry for his friend.

The looks on their faces when he offered Young Midoriya a strand of his hair was pretty priceless, even if it ruined the solemnity of the moment.

Preview: I-Island was as breathtaking as Izuku had imagined it would be, so much so he could almost forget his unease at being temporarily separated from his Elements to fly here with All Might. He could feel Kacchan and the others trickling onto I-Island even as the plan landed and All Might attracted an entire mob of eager fans though, so Izuku firmly stamped on the impulse to start throwing people that invaded his personal space.

At least All Might was apologetic about it afterwards -he should be, that was one of the single most terrifying things of Izuku's life, USJ and Stain included and-. Wait. The blond girl that had just pogo-sticked her way over to them had just called All Might ... uncle?