AN:Hello there dear reader, before you begin reading(if you haven't skipped this already), I have a message for you. I hope that you enjoy this story. I will be updating every two weeks(if everything goes as planned).

I hope that you don't get too impatient with this story, it will take a while to reach a point of real pay off, and the start will be slow and maybe even boring; but, hey, if you enjoy a good character study, I hope that this entertains you.

I apologize if I butcher any of these characters, between their personalities and mannerisms and histories. Please, feel free to criticize, complain, or just have a chat in the comments. I would love to hear just about anything from my readers (I sound a bit needy here, oops)

Lastly, I realize that Overhaul's first name is Chisaki, just like this Fem Izuku. Please forgive this, I did not realize when I wrote this and now cannot come up with another name. :P

Well, I hope you have fun with this. Now to the story.


AN 2.0 (Electric Bugaloo): Okay. Sorry. I have to do this. As a writer I am compelled to keep my readers updated, even if its a pain to us all.

This chapter was reformatted on 9/26/2021.

This chapter was over two years old and was in need of some editing. If you are a prior reader, don't worry, the content is the same plot wise. I have just made corrections to character delivery and narrative voice. If any discrepancies strike your eye as a reader, please let me know and I will be sure to correct them.

Now thats it. (411: this will be posted on every chapter edited as such.)


After living for so long and amassing so many quirks, All For One had come to realize something: quirks were useless. A quirk could not truly define a person or guarantee their safety or happiness. That was up to the individual.

All For One had come to face this reality only recently. Over his lifetime, he had seen the people become gluttonous and greedy with their power. Over the centuries he had watched an imbalance arise. Those with half decent quirks had a leg up on those who had bad ones, or even worse, no quirk at all. But, like all privileges, quirks were no indication of a person's heart or intellect or true human skill.

It was entirely juvenile in his eyes. Under his hands quirks were like water, meer tools that could be adjusted or exchanged. Yet, perhaps most ironically, the time had come to recognize that not even the most miraculous combination of such almighty quirks could keep him from his fate.

In the years that he had spent hidden away, clawing his way to a recovery from wounds that now sewed a slow end to his life, this society that had grown around him broken and twisted. It had given guns to fools and told them to shoot at whatever moved; placing 'Heroes' onto pedestals and pointing at 'Villains' as the scum of the earth.

In some ways, he envied the quirkless, they were not dependent on these social crutches. They advanced by their own strength. It was these few who society should honor, to who this fantastical commodity should truly belong.

He was amongst these thoughts when on an afternoon stroll through the streets of an urban neighborhood, savoring his few remaining days of mobility to experience the streets and the people, when he stumbled upon a group of children at a park. —For he knew that his health would not hold for much longer. Even if he still had ten years to live, they would all be spent bedridden, and so these few months would be one of his few opportunities to see the outside world. Most people would have traveled, seen all they could, if they found out that their days were numbered, but not him. He had had a few hundred years to see the world and its treasures; so, instead, he preferred to take in the common people as they lived their lives. It was, however, a pity that none could truly know him. Only the illusion he gave them of an unremarkable salary man in a cheap suit; a useful quirk that he had picked up some years ago. For he was scarred beyond recognition, his whole face reduced to mottled flesh such that he could not see through his own eyes. Instead, he had another quirk for that.—

These children who played in the park were small, probably only seven or eight years old. At first glance he had thought that there were only three of them, since the quirk he was using to see primarily was intended to recognize quirks. But then he looked closer, they were huddled around something, shouting and kicking at it. The kid who visibly led the group, the one with the explosion quirk, was shouting especially loud and letting out threatening explosions from his hands.

That's when the boys shifted and All For One saw what they had been jeering at. A girl with short green hair, curled up in the fetal position and crying violently on the floor. The small boy with the explosive quirk called out louder so that All For One could hear him now.

"Your Useless Deku. A purely useless deku! You'll never be anything."

The other two kids parroted the first boy.

"Yeah, useless."

"You'll never be anything."

"You don't even have a fucking quirk!" The first boy said before landing a vicious kick to his victim. The girl didn't respond except to tighten her shield of limbs.

Ah, so the fourth child was quirkless…

It had been some time since he had seen a quirkless child. Less and less of them were being born, and so most of those he encountered were adults and had for the most part figured themselves a place in this quirk filled world. So, of course, most of the adults operated just fine, but children were a different ball game; they were especially vulnerable at an age in which quirks were new and exciting and a determining factor for their position amongst their peers.

All for One should have kept walking —This was not his concern. The children could sort themselves out.— yet he could not tear his gaze away from the kicking and jeering and that small thing curled against the blows.

Before he could stop himself he was striding through the gate at the edge of the park. "Hey you three!"

—What was he doing? He was above such hasty flights of fancy! Yet… Surely he could afford some harmless good on his ledger.–

"Ah! An adult." One of the kids howled in surprise. The blonde one landed one last kick before they all turned to stare at him with wide eyes.

Two of them swallowed nervously and looked to the boy with the explosive quirk for a signal. He must have been their leader, for he glared brazenly at All For One with beady red eyes, before he gave a grunt and a 'lets get out of here'. Then they shot the girl a withering glare and trudged off to the street.

"It's okay now." All For One said. "Those three are gone."

The girl on the floor peeked her head up and looked around to confirm that her aggressors were indeed gone. She wiped her snot and tears on her dirty pants before turning her big curious green eyes towards her benefactor.

"W-why did you stop them?" She asked with a sniff.

He paused, unsure himself, before settling into a smile. "I just had a moment to spare."

Her curiosity turned to suspicion, clearly no one else had had a 'moment to spare.'

"What do you want with me?" She said skeptically.

All For One chuckled, "Nothing at all. I suppose that I was just curious." He paused for a moment. "Why didn't you try to defend yourself?"

The girl's green eyes turned bitter and she looked away from him in defeat.

"I gave up on fighting them. I'm not strong enough."

"Not strong enough? Why is that?"

She wrapped her little arms around her little knees and squeezed them towards her chest, as if that would protect her from judgement. "I'm quirkless. Useless."

"And?"

The girl looked up in surprise. This was a fact of immense consequence! There was no 'and?' about it!

All For one couldn't help but chuckle.

"Find a way to protect yourself, child. This is not all you are. You can still grow into someone amazing. —You know, my brother was born quirkless, just like you. Granted we had a few disagreements, but ultimately he became a great symbol and left a legacy of hope and ambition."

"A hero? Was he a hero?" Her face was alight with such wonder that he could not bring himself to show her the absolute hate that twisted in his gut. She leaned forwards eagerly. "Are you saying that I can become a hero? Someone like All Might?"

Him. All For One's smile flinched, just barely. Of course she had to mention him. "Perhaps, in your own way. But, forget quirks, what's important is what's up here." He said, tapping his temple. "Today, flashy quirks are a dime a dozen, but what really makes someone stand out is what they can do with their skills."

The girl watched him with big eyes, full of wonder, as if she were ingraining this moment in her memory.

Suddenly a voice called for him, from the edge of the park.

"Sir? what are you doing here?" Kurogiri stood by the gate, his voice was stiff with disbelief and his jaw was practically hanging open in surprise.

He must have been quite the sight for his underling. The horrible, terrifying, villain All For One, a legend who haunted the nightmares of the proudest heroes, was sitting in a park comforting a beaten little girl. The thought brought a smile of amusement to his lips as he savored the unusual moment.

"Ah. I am just… keeping this young woman company."

"Who? —Well, b-boss," Kurogiri began evidently at a loss for words, "I thought that you would be home. I'm afraid that we have a meeting later today, you can't miss it."

"My friend is right, I have to be going." All For One said with an apologetic smile. "I guess that this is goodbye, little miss."

"Wait!" The little girl blurted out suddenly, scrambling to her feet. "My name's not 'little miss', it's Chisaki. Chisaki Midoriya!" The girl's eyes were filled with an excited determination and a bright smile was on her lips. "I heard that you're supposed to introduce yourself to new friends."

All For One looked down in astonishment, and he was sure that Kurogiri's eyes were just about to pop out of his eye sockets at the brazen display of familiarity to his boss.

It was almost hard to believe that this same child had been crying and hurt only minutes before.

How amusing.

All For One smiled slowly at her innocence. "Very well then, Chisaki Midoriya. You may call me Sensei."