The library of UA University was as large and advanced as could be expected from such a prestigious institution. Endless hallways contained enough books, reports, and book reports, among a truly staggering number of other media forms, to drown any student a hundred times over. If you were searching for any knowledge on any topic, no matter how obscure, there was a pretty good chance that the UA Library's (fully digitized) collection could satisfy your curiosity.

That was exactly why one Katsuki Bakugo found himself in front of one of the database computers within the library, grumbling angrily as he typed.

He didn't usually come here; studying was easier in his dorms, and it wasn't like he needed to be good at reading books to be a kickass hero, anyway. But for a while now, something had been burning at him, and he needed answers.

To himself, Katsuki muttered, "I swear, something is up with that girl."

Across the table from Katsuki, Kirishima looked at the friend he'd made through sheer stubbornness and good self-defense instincts with concern. The redhead asked, "Bakubro, are you sure this is a good idea? Trying to look up a classmate like this doesn't sound like it's going to work."

Katsuki glared at the idiot he kept around for some reason (mostly because he would have missed Shitty Hair if he wasn't constantly tagging along, not that he'd ever tell Shitty Hair that), and snapped, "I'm telling you, that floaty bastard is up to something! There's no way she got that good at some mysterious European training facility!"

Kirishima shook his head and lightly replied, "It sounds to me like you're still upset about getting your ass handed to you, man. Come on, there's nothing wrong with losing in a spar! Just try and get better instead of acting like she cheated or something!"

Katsuki grumbled under his breath, but he didn't yell or blow things up like he would have a year ago. As awesome as he was, Katsuki could still recognize that being angry and scary was good against villains, but not so good around civilians or other heroes. So he'd tried to tone himself down a little, even just in public. Nearly two years around people nearly as capable as he was had helped him open his eyes just a little, move on from the monstrous little shit he'd been as a kid used to watching adults fall to their knees to praise him, used to being the most powerful person in the room. Maybe he even felt a little bad now when he saw people still flinch around him, or saw Deku looking at him the way he always used to…

A part of him felt regret, maybe even guilt, about what he'd done. A very small part, sure, but still, Katsuki knew full well how much of a shitty bastard he'd been when he was younger. He supposed that that was part of growing up.

As much as he hated to admit it, Twinkle Toes had made a good point when she'd beaten him; Deku, the shitty nerd, had somehow forgiven Katsuki for the shit Katsuki had done to him. The explosive blonde had no idea what the fuck Deku was doing, being that stupid, but Katsuki knew, too, that it was a second chance he didn't really deserve, hadn't earned.

And if there was one thing that could be said of Katsuki Bakugo, it was that he never took anything he hadn't earned.

So yeah, maybe Katsuki was trying to figure out how to stop being such a cranky bitch to people for no good reason nowadays. Maybe he'd stopped threatening to kill people quite as much. Maybe he'd even, grudgingly, started wondering how he could ever repair the damage he'd done to every person he'd ever been close to.

But even so, even though he was at least trying to listen to her words, something just felt wrong about Twinkle Toes. She'd come out of nowhere, claiming to be All Might's secret daughter (which Katsuki, being almost as big of an All Might fan as Deku, found suspicious,) and everyone had just sort of trusted her implicitly. But Katsuki didn't trust easily, and so he'd come here.

"Nana Shimura…" he thought as the UA database began to search through nearly two centuries of hero-related material at his command, "I'll figure out who you are, and what the hell you want with Deku. There is no way you're what you claim to be, and I'll figure you out, one way or another."

Out loud, Katsuki said, "Well, Shitty Hair, are you going to help me or not?"

Kirishima sighed and answered, "Well, I'm here now, so I guess I will. What are you looking for, anyway?"

Katsuki told him, "Something that doesn't line up with Shimura's story. Some proof that she isn't actually All Might's secret daughter."

With a joking expression, Kirishima asked, "Wait, why? What, do you think she's some sort of secret villain or a League creation or something?"

Katsuki remembered a warp villain who was not what he seemed, and a monstrosity of flesh with an exposed brain, and a demon in a suit and a terrifying mask. Grimly, he replied, "Maybe, Kirishima. Maybe."

The computer in front of him dinged; it told him he had more than six thousand hits for the term "Nana Shimura."

Well, he didn't have anything else going on this weekend. Time to get digging.

Katsuki would figure out whatever secret Deku and his "girlfriend" were hiding, he was sure of it.

Izuku searched for Nana for a while, but gave up when he briefly looked into her mind and realized that she was still talking to All Might. Instead of getting involved in that, Izuku decided to head back to their room, figuring that Nana would come back when she was done.

In the meantime, though, Izuku couldn't stop his mind from racing, thinking over all the things he'd learned from Recovery Girl.

Nana had been killed by All For One. Izuku had known she'd died in battle against an immensely powerful villain, but somehow, he'd never quite put all the pieces together, never had it spelled out for him so clearly. Suddenly, All Might's fury when he'd battled All For One made so much more sense. Izuku didn't know what he would have done in his mentor's place, but he didn't think it would have been as heroic as All Might's last stand at Kamino had been.

But still, Izuku went in circles, trying to figure out why he'd never heard of Nana's death before. All For One was a walking, talking nuke who caused natural disaster-levels of devastation whenever he fought in earnest. Nana's One For All was certainly less powerful than All Might or Izuku, sure, but she was still strong enough to not go down easily even against All For One. Their battle must have caused massive destruction over a significant area; there was no way you could hide that sort of collateral damage. So why was All For One still able to hide in the shadows? Why was the pro hero Maverick not better known, for her heroic, public demise if nothing else?

Izuku realized with a jolt that he didn't even know that much about All For One's empire. All Might had told him of the archvillain's origins at the dawn of quirks, and of how the man had met his end, but Izuku didn't know much about what how the near-mythical evil figure had survived during the period when heroes hadn't been strong enough to face him. Nana had lived through it, and died at All For One's hands; maybe she could explain it in more detail.

Izuku settled onto the bed and decided to wait for her. He had some questions to ask.

Nana wandered down the halls of UA, lost in her own thoughts. She hadn't been lying when she'd told Toshi that she didn't want to learn too much about her old life quite yet, but she hadn't told him one of the other reasons.

Nana's memory may have large gaps, but there were a few memories that hadn't left her; she would have been happier about that if a large majority of these memories weren't of some of the worst moments in her life. Her death, encounters with All For One, senses of deep loss and grief without knowing what she was grieving for…

Yeah, Nana didn't really want any context that would make those memories hurt more, thank you very much. She wanted to form new memories first, get some happy moments before she reckoned with whatever had happened in her first life.

But those thoughts weren't the only ones that occupied Nana's mind as she started to walk back towards the dorms, an innate sense in her mind telling her, somehow, that Izuku was there. Instead, Nana kept mulling over something Toshi had told her that she didn't understand.

All For One had had a successor?

Nana knew that All For One was a narcissist and a megalomaniac, taken to the extreme; the man had no care for anything except himself, was so obsessed with his own power and his own desires that he was absolutely incapable of empathy, understanding, or respecting anyone else's existence. More than that, he was immortal, ageless, and functionally as powerful as a god; why would he ever think about a successor? What possible advantage did he believe he would get by having someone supplant him?

Worse, what kind of monster had he created for that purpose?

Nana had always believed that All For One was an aberration, an exception to humanity; she thought that most people weren't capable of the atrocities that All For One was, that he was uniquely monstrous. The thought that there might be two people like him...scared her.

Nana kept thinking as she made her way down the brick paths of UA, getting closer to the dorms.

As she opened the door, Nana overheard a conversation between two of her classmates that only made her even more curious.

Kaminari and Sero were lounging on the couch when Sero poked at his face, made a strange expression, said, "Man, I just realized my lips are super chapped."

Turning to look at him, Kaminari nodded and replied, "Yeah, dude, you're right. You kinda look like Shigaraki now."

Sero winced and muttered, "Jeez, dude, that's a little extreme. I don't look like I need sandpaper rubbed over my face to smooth it out."

Kaminari started to answer, but from across the room, Yaoyorozu demanded, "That's not funny, guys. Drop it, alright? You know how much some of our classmates were affected by him, don't joke about it."

Kaminari and Sero nodded guiltily and stopped talking, but Nana was already staring at them in confusion.

This "Shigaraki" character was another thing that Nana was really confused about. From the few times she'd heard him mentioned, he was a villain of some kind, and a bad one at that, but nobody seemed to want to talk about him. What had he done to get declared a taboo topic in this class's common room?

Nana was jolted out of her confusion by Uraraka tapping her on the shoulder. When Nana turned in surprise, her brown-haired friend smiled sweetly and said, "Hey, Shimura! What's on your mind?"

"Um, not much," Nana replied, "just curious about something."

"What is it?" Uraraka prompted, eager to help.

Nana shifted uncomfortably for a moment, but decided that it couldn't hurt to ask. She took a deep breath and asked, "Who's this Shigaraki person I keep hearing about?"

Judging by the look of disbelief on Uraraka's face, Nana was really glad she hadn't spoken loud enough for anyone else to hear. If this was something that might blow her cover, Nana was in deep shit as it was, without including even more people.

Uraraka finally answered, "Nana...how do you not know about him? He destroyed an entire city last year!"

Nana gulped, both at the revelation of a villain with such destructive power, and at the fact that she'd just screwed up, and bad.

Nana offered weakly, "Um...I've kind of been out of the loop for a while. Been in Europe, ya know?"

Skeptically, Uraraka retorted, "But the battle made international news! How didn't you hear about it?"

Nana couldn't think of anything she could say that wouldn't dig her grave even deeper, so instead she just shrugged helplessly.

Uraraka sighed, a confused look on her face. She said, "Well...it's not my place to talk about him too much, but he was the leader of the League of Villains, and he got defeated last year...by Deku, actually. I'm surprised he hasn't told you more about it."

Nana tried to control her expression as ice water flooded her veins, along with even more confusion at the stupid-ass name "The League of Villains." Instantly, she made a decision; Izuku had some explaining to do. Maybe he and Nana could finally clear up some confusing details of their pasts.

To Uraraka, Nana said, "You know what, that's an excellent point. I'll just go talk to him, okay? Thanks!"

Before Uraraka could say anything else, Nana started flying up the stairs, headed for Izuku's room as fast as she could go without smashing into something.

Uraraka watched, deeply confused. Why the hell was Shimura so weird sometimes? It was like she'd been living under a rock or something. But she hadn't known about Crimson Riot, either...maybe she just didn't like reading the news?

Uraraka shrugged and decided that the question of Nana Shimura could wait for another day. Sato was making mochi, after all, and she had to make sure that she got to eat every single one of them, even if that meant engaging in some threatening and blackmail, or maybe breaking a few kneecaps if she had to.

Izuku jumped when Nana appeared in the doorway, moving so quickly he hadn't realized she was coming. She slammed the door shut, locking it with a click as she advanced towards him.

"Nana, what are you doing?" he asked, shocked by her sudden appearance.

Nana answered, "I have some questions, Izuku."

Izuku shrugged and replied, "Well, so do I, actually."

That stopped Nana in her tracks for a moment. "Really? About what?" she asked, a quizzical look on her face.

"Why don't you tell me what your questions are about first?" Izuku proposed, "that way, we can both get our answers."

In spite of everything, Nana started chuckling as a stray thought entered her mind. At Izuku's confused expression, she joked, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours?"

Izuku just groaned and rolled his eyes, refusing to acknowledge the innuendo.

More seriously, Nana explained, "I think I've missed some stuff about what my successor and his successor were up to. Also, I almost blew our cover again, so I think I need to brush up on recent events."

Izuku nodded and replied, "Fair enough, I suppose. What do you want to know?"

"Who is this Shigaraki everyone keeps talking about, and how did you beat him?" Nana asked bluntly.

Instantly, Izuku's smile vanished, and he visibly winced. Nana's words plunged him back into memories he didn't like to dwell on, days he'd rather forget ever happened. Nana could see his regrets written on his face as well as she could see them in his mind. She felt bad for causing Izuku pain like this.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "you don't have to answer if it hurts too much."

Izuku waved her off with a gesture. "No, no, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting it, that's all," he assured her, "although...I don't really know how to talk about that, I'm afraid."

Nana nodded in understanding, then suggested, "Why don't you tell me what you want to know about?"

Izuku replied, "Sure. Recovery Girl told me about...how you died. It made me realize that I don't really know that much about All For One. I was wondering if there was anything you could tell me about him."

Now, it was Nana's turn to wince painfully, the grimace on her face killing the last of the light mood in the quiet dorm room.

When she could meet Izuku's eyes again, Nana mused, "Damn, we really know how to ask uncomfortable questions, don't we?

"I'm sorry…" Izuku began, only to stop as Nana held up her hand.

"It's okay, I don't mind you asking," Nana told him, "but like you, I'm not sure how I'm going to talk about the pieces I still remember about him. All of what I have is...really painful, and also pretty personal, honestly."

Izuku tried, "We don't have to talk about it…"

Nana shook her head, a glimmer of stubbornness reasserting itself in her eyes as she replied, "No, Izuku, we should talk more about this. It's just...well, it's not like either of us are therapists, or good at talking about our feelings, are we?"

Izuku smiled ruefully, agreeing, "Yeah, we aren't. What do you want to do?"

Nana stroked her chin thoughtfully for a long moment, trying to come up with a solution. Neither of them wanted to talk about what they'd experienced; the memories were too painful, buried too deep to extract just to satisfy another's curiosity. And yet, both of them wanted the other to understand, to know what weighed upon the other half of the inexplicable, impossible link they shared.

That's when it hit Nana. The link!

They hadn't explored it too deeply yet; what if it could help them?

"Izuku, I have an idea. Now, get over here," Nana announced, determination filling her expression.

"W-what are you talking about?" Izuku stammered nervously as Nana marched towards him, falling backwards on the bed just from the force of her presence.

"It's simple," Nana told him while she plopped herself down next to him, her hands instinctively finding her boyfriend's, "you want to know more about All For One and why Toshi and I hate him so much, right?"

Izuku nodded, still confused.

Nana continued, "And I want to know more about this Shigaraki person people keep talking about."

Izuku flinched again at the name, but Nana's hand, now stroking his thigh reassuringly, helped anchor him in the present.

Nana watched the flinch with too much understanding, her eyes old and pained. But she went on, "And we both really need to figure out more about this link, anyway. So, here's my idea: the memories we both need to explain are...too painful to bring up, aren't they?"

Softly, Izuku agreed, "Y-yeah...they are."

Izuku didn't think he could tell anyone, even Nana, what he'd thought, how he'd felt, during that last, terrifying battle with Tomura Shigaraki. Similarly, he knew that All For One was an incredibly sensitive topic for Nana, one Izuku never wanted to force her to relive if she didn't want to.

"So, instead of explaining the memories, why don't we... show them instead?" Nana proposed, her voice soft but measured.

Izuku tilted his head thoughtfully, trying to wrap his head around the idea. "How?" he asked.

Nana shrugged and replied, "I don't know. We've had times where we've felt what the other person is feeling, right? Like, isn't that how you found me so quickly after I got shocked the other day?"

Izuku said, "Yeah. Apparently pain is shared over the link, too."

Surprised, Nana responded, "Wait, you didn't tell me that! You're saying that when I got hit, you felt everything I did?"

Izuku nodded wordlessly, and Nana felt her stomach drop. That...could be bad. It could be good, too, but right now, when she was seriously considering reliving one of her most terrifying memories for the man she loved, Nana's mind couldn't help but run down the list of all the ways that the pain-sharing part of their link could be turned against them. But most terrifying of all was a possibility she'd never considered before.

Nana whispered, "Wait... what happens if one of us dies?"

Izuku's face went white, as white as Nana's already was. For a long time, they stared at each other, unable to voice the terror coursing through their veins. It was an untestable theory, but even if they hadn't been linked so closely that the loss of one mind might do irreparable harm to the other, the thought of losing one another when they already loved each other was almost too much to bear. It was unthinkable; Nana's fragmented mind rejected it outright, refused to imagine a world where this sweet, kind, handsome man would ever leave her side, ever not be there to carry her, laughing, to their room to kiss her silly.

At last, Izuku coughed quietly and decided, "I think...that's a problem for another time. For now, let's talk about what you were saying. You want us to...show each other our memories?"

Nana shook herself to dislodge the fear from her heart, and focused on the man she loved, smiling encouragingly at her.

Nana explained, "Well, if we can share emotions, sensations, thoughts, and all the rest of that stuff, what's to stop us from sharing memories?"

Izuku stroked his chin for a moment before responding, "Well, nothing, I suppose. But how is that different from just looking through each other's memories?"

"I have no idea," Nana replied, "but who knows? Maybe something weird will happen if one of us is reliving the memory while the other person is both receiving and broadcasting it back."

Izuku raised an eyebrow as he said, "You want to...create a feedback loop with our memories?"

Nana nodded, and a crazy grin broke over her face despite herself. "Yeah. If nothing else, it'll be interesting," she confirmed.

Izuku shrugged; he knew better than to resist Nana's crazy ideas, and honestly, this did sound interesting. It would mean his questions would get answered, anyway. And part of him knew that Nana would be a good person to open up to, to admit his fears and bad memories too. She would understand.

"Okay," Izuku said, "let's do this."

Nana beamed at him, baring her teeth in excitement. With relish, she replied, "Excellent. So, now we just have to figure out what we're doing."

"Do we ever know what we're doing?" Izuku joked.

Nana told him, "Speak for yourself, babe. I always know what I'm doing."

"Sure you do," Izuku retorted dryly, "I remember when you forgot you had a quirk. Are you sure you knew what you were doing then?"

Nana huffed, but went quiet again. When she spoke once more, it was quietly, seriously. She said, "Okay, Izuku. I'm not sure how to do this, exactly, but...here goes nothing."

With that, she stood up once more, tugging Izuku alongside her by his wrist. As he rose to his feet, Nana brought him to the middle of the room, facing towards her. Izuku found himself entranced by her eyes, which were filled with a seriousness and a depth that he'd never seen before. They didn't twinkle or gleam with mischief like Nana's eyes so often did; instead, they rippled with sorrow, along with something that might have been hope.

Nana told him, "Izuku, take my hands."

He did, without hesitating; both of them raised their hands up, pressing flat against each other's palms. Izuku noticed how much his hands dwarfed Nana's; he could feel the toughness of her calloused hands in every line of her skin, and the gentleness of her touch in every bit of warmth he got from her fingers.

Slowly, Nana folded her hands over Izuku's, and he did the same. She stepped in close, until her body was flush against him. Izuku might have gotten aroused by that, by the way her breasts squeezed against his muscled chest, but he was too busy opening their link, letting Nana's mind entwine with his until they couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

Nana pressed her forehead against Izuku's, or maybe he pressed his forehead against hers. Izuku and Nana stared into each other's eyes, green meeting black, expressions full of love and hope and a tinge of fear at the risk they were about to take.

Nana breathed out, the air blowing over Izuku's face, making him blink. Nana let the cage that held her most painful memories leak just a tiny bit, pulling out what she was looking for like a scientist might remove a deadly substance from its containment. She swore to herself that no other person would ever see this, ever know her so closely and intimately, except for the boy whose mind was also her own. She sent it out, and Izuku picked it up, sending it back to her.

Nana realized that Izuku wasn't actually seeing the memory yet, that he was sending it back to her without processing it. The memory built upon itself, growing more powerful, more intense, more all-encompassing with every cycle of sending and receiving. Nana sank down further into the storm of emotions that always raged whenever she thought of the man she'd given her life to stop, feeling it swirl like a whirlpool. It sucked her and Izuku down, down, down, moving as one into her past.

With a jolt, Nana realized that she was still breathing, in perfect sync with Izuku's own exhalations. Their heartbeats were in sync as well; how had she never noticed that before, when they always had beat together?

She focused on her breathing as the whirlpool got bigger, stronger, darker.

In, out.

In, out.

In, out.

There was a sudden spark, a prickle that passed between Nana and Izuku so quickly she only just noticed it. Suddenly, the whirlpool was pulling them deeper, into an inky blackness that only existed in their shared mindscape. The room around them was fading, dissolving into smoke and shadow, replaced with a strengthening echo.

Nana was afraid, but Izuku's warm presence beside her gave her strength. She could sense his fear, too, a thorny knot in his gut at the strange sensations he had never known existed.

Just before the whirlpool pulled them completely under, Nana whispered without using her voice, "Izuku, do you trust me?"

Instantly, Izuku's response resonated through the link, so simple and ironclad it chased the worry from Nana's soul like fire burning away dead brush.

"Always," he told her in a voice that rumbled like thunder in her mind, "always."

And then they were underwater, and their consciousnesses were gone.