Exhausted and disheartened, Izuku flopped face-first onto his bed. He couldn't stop hearing Sir Nighteye in his head, over and over again, telling him that he wasn't worthy to be One for All's successor. Izuku had never felt worthy of One for All. He'd stumbled on his quirk basically through luck. His meeting with All Might had been a one in a million coincidence. Sometimes Izuku wondered if All Might had only picked him because he'd met Izuku during a slump about heroism. He'd never dared ask his mentor. But especially after Izuku had failed to place in the Sports Festival, he'd wondered if All Might was secretly disappointed in him.

When Mirio had lost his quirk, it had felt like fate. Izuku had known then what he had to do. So he'd offered to give One for All to Mirio.

And Mirio had turned him down without hesitation. Izuku felt guilty, anxious…and relieved. Deep down, he hadn't wanted to return to being a quirkless Deku. He loved his quirk, bone-breaking and all. He'd grown close to the seven and a half ghosts inside. Izuku only hoped that he could live up to One for All's great legacy. All the other past successors were such magnificent people each in their own unique way. Izuku sometimes wondered if they were secretly measuring him and finding him wanting, just like Sir Nighteye.

The vestiges assembled in the Void. Standing up on top of his throne, Yoichi waived his arms frantically. "This is a disaster of epic proportions! Our Ninth tried to ditch us."

En shook his head. "We're just lucky Mirio Togata turned him down."

"Is it because Ninth hates us?" Hikage asked, biting his nails. "I know my social skills aren't A+ after living for years alone in the forest, and my quirk sucks. I bet he wants to get rid of us because he can't take super anxiety any longer!"

Whirling, Yoichi pointed at Second and Third. "It's because of you two! You should have been nicer to him."

"But we haven't even had a chance to talk to him yet," Third protested.

Yoichi sniffed. "He probably telepathically picked up on your bad vibes and unwillingness to give him your quirks."

Second said, "We all agreed together that my quirk had grown too dangerous for anyone to use except for the most dire of situations."

Firmly, Yoichi said, "Your. Fault."

Nana groaned. "My Toshi will be devastated if he loses his adopted son."

Misty Might did not speak, but he glowed ominously. Nana patted him on the arm.

Curled up in a ball on his throne, Banjo sniffled, "I can't live without Ninth either! He's our precious ray of sunshine!"

En patted Banjo on the back. "We won't let that happen, senpai, no matter what."

"I am the most rare and powerful quirk in the world! I will not be ditched! Shafted off! Thrown away like yesterday's trash!" Yoichi's eyes glowed green. "It's settled. We need to rebuild Ninth's confidence so he never, ever tries to give us away again. This calls for hugs! Praise! Encouragement! And dark magic!"

"And what now?" Nana asked.

But she'd spoken too late. Yoichi's entire body blazed with light.

That night, Izuku dreamt of the familiar shadows of the Void swirling around him. However, he was all alone, with no visions of distant and powerful ghosts with glowing eyes sitting on thrones. At least this time he could move around and talk instead of having his body covered in shadows. But there was no one to talk to.

Gradually, the shadows formed into the First One for All holder. Raising his arms, Yoichi intoned, "Ninth, tonight you'll be visited by eight ghosts."

Izuku blinked. "I know, you all show up every night. You're looking clearer than usual, though."

"Sorry, wrong Christmas story." Yoichi shrugged. "Have you ever watched It's a Wonderful Life?"

"No?"

"It's a very old movie about a man who gets to find out what the world would have looked like if he'd never existed. My brother and I used to watch it every year. Though my brother just liked pointing out the flaws and complaining that it was too sappy." Sadness briefly flashed across Yoichi's face. "In honor of my favorite Christmas movie, I have summoned the eldritch power of One for All in order to show you what would have happened if you'd never been born or become our successor."

Izuku gasped. "You can do that?"

"We're a very spooky and eldritch quirk. We can do many mysterious things. We're far more awesome than you realized when you tried to give us away." Yoichi burst into waterfall tears. Grabbing Izuku and clutching him tightly, Yoichi wailed, "Please don't ditch us! We all adore you like our own child! You're my favorite successor!"

Izuku patted Yoichi on the back. "Is this about me offering One for All to Mirio? That's only because I thought he'd be a better successor than me. He's a great hero." Secretly Izuku felt a little touched, but he couldn't entirely believe it. Yoichi's behavior was so exaggerated, he must be acting. Maybe Yoichi was only behaving like this because he felt sorry for Izuku.

Yoichi sniffled. "You're a great hero, Ninth! And I'm going to prove it to you. Let's start with the moment when you proved yourself a worthy successor to One for All."

With a flick of Yoichi's hand, their surroundings changed. A ghostly crowd stood around them, watching as Katsuki Bakugo choked in the grip of the sludge monster. A second Izuku ran forward, leaping out with his hand extended.

Pain clenched under Izuku's chest as he remembered the slime choking him, the sensation of being unable to breathe. He looked away. "All Might would have saved Kacchan anyway. I just got in the way."

"That's not true, Ninth," Yoichi said. "Eighth moved a second too late. If not for your intervention, Katsuki Bakugo would have died. Let me show you."

Izuku waved his hands. "I don't need to see Kacchan die in front of me! That sounds like the stuff of nightmares!"

"I understand." Yoichi lowered his hand. "But you don't look like you entirely believe me."

Izuku looked away. "You could just be saying this to cheer me up."

"The visions here are true. I can show them to you, but I can't control them." Yoichi tipped up Izuku's chin to look straight into his eyes. His gaze was warm. "Let me at least show you the aftermath of a world without you in it."

On the other side of the Void, a hazy window formed letting them peek into a funeral. The grave had Katsuki Bakugo's name. Izuku had never seen Mitsuki Bakugo cry before, but she was sobbing even harder than his mother. In his skinny form, All Might briefly appeared to lay a flower on the grave, and then vanish.

Yoichi said, "After Eighth failed to save a child, he retired as a hero. He no longer felt worthy. If he hadn't met you, he would have given up on heroism."

Izuku gulped, a bit overwhelmed. "I didn't do anything special."

Yoichi said, "You analyzed the situation and realized that your classmate would die if you didn't act immediately. That, there proves you have three very special traits. One, an instinctive grasp of deadly situations. Two, the ability to act immediately. Three, the courage to risk your life." Yoichi waved his hand across the frozen crowd and the heroes around the Sludge Monster. "Plenty of people on the scene didn't have that. I'm proud of you."

None of the heroes back then had been proud of Izuku. They'd just shouted at him. Izuku felt the prickling of tears. "Thank you."

Yoichi said, "Actually, I had to arrange the visions so that we pop into different moments in time as if you weren't there, because the world changed way too drastically if you'd never existed at all. The Bakugo kid died a long time ago. Right about here."

The visions sank into the shadows, then changed to a sunny day and a group of children crossing a river. Izuku vaguely remembered that moment in time: when he'd extended a hand to help Katsuki up. Izuku laughed. "You're not telling me that Kacchan drowned in knee-deep water?"

Yoichi said, "Actually, you helping him up gave him a huge inferiority complex so he never returned here. That was a good thing, because the next day there was a huge storm and the river flooded. Not only Bakugo but half a dozen of your classmates would have died."

Izuku blinked. "Well, that's just dumb luck."

"I know, but it wasn't even the only time. See here?" Yoichi shifted the vision to a middle school Izuku purchasing a giant All Might cardboard cutout. "If you hadn't purchased this before the Bakugo kid, then he takes it home and sets it on fire while playing at fighting against All Might. His entire house burns down with no survivors. That's not even his only All Might merch-related death. There's another time you purchased an All Might card that Bakugo wanted, so he went over to the next town to buy his own and thus avoided dying in a car accident. On a more serious note, if you didn't exist then Bakugo would have bullied a different kid in middle school. That boy snapped and shoved Bakugo off the school roof. In total, he died five times before even reaching high school. I had to remove him from the flow of time for the purpose of our dream vision today, because he keeps disrupting the continuity too much. He's basically destiny's lemming."

Izuku wanted to call it a joke, but Yoichi's eyes were deadly serious. "I still don't feel like I did anything special." What, should he get a medal for being bullied? He looked down.

Yoichi put his hands in his pockets. "You know, I used to feel the same way after my heroes joined me in the Void. They're both amazing vigilantes who saved countless people during the dawn of the age of quirks. Me? I got a quirk forced on me by my older brother, then I died. That was my big contribution to the world."

Izuku stood up straighter. "But! One for All only exists because of you! If you'd given into All for One back when he imprisoned you, then there would be no hope of defeating him now."

"You should offer yourself some of that grace." Yoichi patted Izuku's head. "You saved your childhood friend's life five times before you even inherited us. Who cares if four of the times were coincidence? You still deserve credit! If dumb luck counts for me, then it counts for you."

Izuku flushed. "When you put it like that…" Maybe, just maybe, he could start to believe it.

Yoichi smiled. "You should have more confidence in yourself. I'm very happy that the universe made you my successor. I'll kill anyone who takes you away from me! Actually I mean that literally, and it's not something I'd do on-purpose, it's an issue within One for All, but the others will tell you more about that later." Yoichi faded away into the shadows. "You're up next, my hero."

Izuku shouted, "Wait! Tell me more about the killing anyone who gets One for All part! That sounds important!"

Second appeared before him, his perpetual scowl twisting the scar on his face. "Hey."

Izuku resisted the urge to take a step backward. He'd always found Second rather intimidating. This was the clearest the vestige had ever become, dressed in cameos with his gauntlets flashing on his wrists. "Hi," Izuku said, his eyes rapidly analyzing Second's gauntlets for any clues about his quirk. Izuku couldn't help being curious about what he might get next.

Second sighed as if he found it tedious to be roped into this. "I'm supposed to handle the entrance exam."

The shadows swirled together, then revealed a moment when the zero pointer robot bore down on the trapped Ochaco Uraraka.

Izuku said, "But that was only an exam. If I hadn't saved Uraraka, then the teachers would have stopped it."

Second said, "Nope, she dies. Her parents sued U.A. afterward and the school's reputation never recovered. The teachers stopped the robot in time, but a block of rubble fell on her head. Boom, no more floating girl."

As Second spoke, his words played out on the vision. The block of rubble landed with a hideous squelch. Where Uraraka had been, there was only a red smear.

Izuku screamed and covered his eyes. "Stop that! Make that go away right now! Don't make me watch my friends die!"

"I'm sorry," Second said, quickly causing the vision to vanish into shadows.

"Why would you possibly think that making me watch my friends die would boost my confidence?" Izuku screamed.

"I'm very sorry!" Second shuffled his feet, nervous energy radiating off him. "We thought it would be motivational, because they're not actually dead. We definitely didn't think that one through. I'll make sure the next vestige knows, because, uh, there are a lot more deaths. I'm guessing you don't want to see U.S.J.? It was a total massacre. Your teacher died, and so did half a dozen students."

Izuku lowered his head and tried to breathe. He'd be hearing the sound of Uraraka's skull cracking in his nightmares for the rest of his life.

A large hand patted him on the back. Second's worried eyes looked down at him. "I'm sorry."

"You've already said that," Izuku muttered.

"It's not real. You saved her life."

Izuku sucked in a shaky breath. "Yeah. It's a good thing I was there." For the first time this night, Izuku truly was glad that he'd become a hero, although it wasn't exactly a happy feeling.

Second groaned. "I messed everything up. Yoichi is going to be absolutely furious at me."

"This is Yoichi's fault to begin with," Izuku said, a bit of dry humor restored to his tone. "He came up with the plan. I have to right to be angry at you, but he doesn't."

"It's not just that." Second paced. "Yoichi thinks it's my fault that you want to give us away, because I haven't been nice enough to you."

"Huh?" Izuku shook his head. "It has nothing to do with you. I expected that it would take a while to win your approval."

"But I do approve of you!" Second grabbed Izuku by the shoulders. "I think you're doing great. You've got guts and smarts. You remind me a lot of Yoichi. Truth is, I always wanted kids, and seeing a little Yoichi running around just makes me feel even more parental…" Second's eyes misted over.

Izuku had no idea what was going on, but he patted Second's shoulder.

Second continued, "It's just that sometimes you remind me a bit too much of Yoichi. To the very end, Yoichi kept trying to redeem his older brother, and it's one of the reasons he died. I don't want you to walk down the same path. When I see you constantly trying to save villains, it makes me proud but also worried about you. That's why I couldn't agree with your choices, even though I'm proud of you! Don't ever think that I'm not proud of you!" He hugged Izuku. "Please don't leave because you think I don't approve of you."

Although Izuku would be embarrassed to say it, he'd actually never thought much about Second one way or another. The vestige had always been turned away facing the wall so Izuku had just assumed he wasn't active for some mysterious reason. "My decision had nothing to do with you. I just thought Mirio would be better."

Second didn't look convinced. "I'll even let you have my quirk if you stay." He lowered his voice. "Don't tell the others. They all said the quirk was too dangerous, then they made me into the bad guy withholding it. We can just pretend you snagged it from me."

"Deal!" Izuku said cheerfully. He would never, ever pass up on a chance to get a new quirk.

Second smiled. It was only a small upturning of his lips, but it was the first sincere smile that Izuku had seen on him. "I was also supposed to show you the time that Katsuki Bakugo maimed Tenya Iida in a class training exercise, but let's skip over that one. Suffice to say it's another example of why the world is better off with you in it. Also, the Bakugo brat died in the collapsing building that he caused himself, so that's another one for his death counter."

A glowing box surrounded by pink sparkles appeared in the air behind Second. The digital number read "5" but that rapidly warped into a "6."

"Kacchan died again? Are you sure you all don't have a grudge against him?" Izuku asked in mild disbelief.

But Second was already fading away. With one last wave, he shouted, "You can call me uncllllllllllle…"

Third popped into existence shortly afterward. "Leader told me about the, uh, incident. I apologize for both him and Yoichi. Would you believe that they are trying to make you feel better in their own clumsy way? Also, I think Second already explained our reasons for not speaking to you sooner."

"Already explained and no need for more apologies," Izuku said, waving his hands. He'd just as soon skip the extra feelings dump.

Third smiled slightly. "You do remind both of us of Yoichi. I mean that as high praise. You've got a lot of heart, and you're doing good."

Izuku flushed. "Oh…uh…what's next?" He wasn't good at handling compliments.

"The U.A. Sports Festival." Third waved his hands, and an image of Izuku's fight with Shouto sprang up. The image became fuzzy, and Izuku vanished. This time, Shouto fought against Fumikage, and he didn't use his flames.

Izuku said, "Surely no one died at the Sports Festival."

Third said, "Not at the festival, no. But this moment here, where you persuaded Shouto to use his flames, saved his life. Otherwise he would have died several times over fighting villains. He couldn't have lasted against Stain, much less Dabi later. I won't show you the Dabi fight—"

"Please don't," Izuku said.

"Because it's not pretty. I've seen people burned alive before but never with that level of viciousness—"

"I don't even want to hear you talk about it," Izuku said firmly.

In the background, the Sports Festival seemed to be happening at a blurry speeded-up pace, as if someone had pressed the fast-forward button on a television. The Katsuki Death Counter dinged and switched to "7." In the vision, a body covered by a white sheet was carried away from the prize podium on a stretcher.

Izuku pointed. "Did Kacchan just die again?"

Third whirled around. "That can't be right. None of the students should have been in mortal danger at the Sports Festival." Third stuck his hand into the vision and tinkered around, muttering to himself. "Hmm. So it turns out that the Bakugo boy dropped dead on the award podium from sheer rage. This was indirectly caused by your absence from the timeline, because you made him angry so frequently that he built up a partial immunity. Without you, Bakugo couldn't control his anger over his opponent not using his flames in the finals, so he choked to death on his own spittle."

Izuku said, "Whoa, apparently Kacchan's life is like a flickering candle flame." This didn't feel real, so it had no power to upset him. He only felt baffled.

Third said, "Moving on, next Tenya Iida was killed by Stain because you didn't save him." In the vision, the sobbing Iida family surrounded a gravestone. "Native died too. Tensei went mad from grief and hunted down Stain, killing them both in an explosion."

Izuku held up his hands. "No need to show me more. I believe that I saved Tenya, but anyone would have helped if they'd happened to be passing by."

Third said, "You didn't only save Tenya's life, you also helped him heal from his grief and find his will to become a hero. I've analyzed a couple different scenarios, and even in the ones where Tenya somehow survives, he always quits U.A. afterward. You saved Tenya not just physically but also emotionally. You did the same thing for your friend Shouto."

Izuku swallowed, his eyes wet. "I, uh…that actually does make me feel better. Thanks."

"You have a rare gift for reaching out to others." Third smiled. "You've helped us vestiges, too. Once, One for All only existed for the sake of killing All for One. But you and Eighth have given us a new purpose to save people. It took an adjustment for me—but it feels nice." He faded away into the shadows.

Izuku waited for the next vestige to appear. And waited. And waited.

Eventually, Izuku cleared his throat. "If the Fourth isn't coming, then can I go home?"

"I'm here," Hikage Shinomori said.

Izuku jumped a foot in the air. Hikage sat so still that he blended in with the shadows. His head was lowered, a hood covering his white hair.

Glumly, Hikage said, "I expect you want to give us away because of my quirk. I don't blame you. Danger Sense made me miserable. I was constantly overloaded until I ran away to the forest to get away from people."

"No, no, it's not like that." Izuku wondered why all the vestiges assumed they were the reason he'd offered One for All to Mirio. "The truth is, I'm already anxious all the time. Your quirk barely makes a difference. In fact, Danger Sense helps me because it tells me if my anxiety has any basis in reality."

"Oh!" Hikage's head shot up. "I'm glad."

Izuku patted the bigger man on the shoulder. "That must have been very difficult for you. It's a pity you didn't live in a time with better understanding of quirks, because I can think of a couple ways to help you. Did you know that a lot of people have found certain triggers that dampen the effect of their quirks? Of course you wouldn't want to block out your ability entirely in case of real danger…" Izuku devolved into mumbling.

Hikage stood up and stretched. "I can see my quirk is in good hands with you, Nineth. I'm in charge of showing you the training camp." The shadows around them warped into a familiar forest. "Here is where Kota would have been beaten to death by Muscular if not for you, but I'm told you don't want to see that."

"Nope! I can happily live the rest of my life without seeing a child beaten to death in front of me!"

Hikage sighed deeply. "I watched my entire group of vigilantes die at All for One's hands, including the first three holders. For decades living in the forest, I heard no sound of human voices except their screams in my nightmares."

Izuku tried to think of something helpful and empathetic to say. Third had said that Izuku had the ability to heal people. Somehow that had increased the pressure. "I'm very sorry." There had to be more he could say. "I'm going to do my best to fulfil the purpose of One for All, so everyone's sacrifices won't be in vain."

Hikage said, "Our sacrifices already mattered, because you and Eighth saved so many people. Without you, the students who went to rescue Katsuki Bakugo would have all died. Eighth died trying to protect them. Bakugo got dragged away and turned into a Nomu…does that count?" Hikage peered at the Katsuki Bakugo death counter. It dinged and went up to eight. "It counts."

There was a wavy Nomu with gauntlets in the shadows. Izuku did not look at it. It would be a bit too much like looking at the corpse of his childhood friend. "I believe you, so make that thing go away." Izuku increasingly realized that his options were either improving his self-esteem or suffering irreparable trauma at the hands of well-meaning ghosts. His anxiety picked the latter but his unwillingness to see more corpses of his friends was willing to try the former.

Hikage said, "One more piece of advice: I recommend the hermit lifestyle. It did wonders for my anxiety. Besides, you still could have saved Kota if you'd been living in the forest."

"What about Kacchan?" Izuku pointed out.

"Eh." Hikage faded away.

Daigoro Banjo exploded into existence with a giant grin. "Hey, kid! I heard someone needed a pick-me-up! I'm great at those! But Yoichi forbade me to give you alcohol, so instead I have prepared a PowerPoint presentation."

A light like a projector shone into the Void. Banjo pointed at a slide containing pictures of numerous early heroes, including Crimson Riot. "Here are the greatest heroes from the first generation, in my option. Also, here are the reasons why you remind me of them in: 1. Courage; 2. Cunning; and 3. Ass-kicking! All of those traits are important in heroes, but especially ass-kicking."

Banjo continued yammering as he flipped through the slides. Izuku wished he could take this presentation back to the real world and show it to Kirishima, who would have been delighted at so many new images of his idol.

Banjo said, "You're doing awesome! I for one wouldn't want One for All in anyone else's hands—"

Izuku interrupted, "But I basically just got One for All due to luck. I happened to meet All Might when he was depressed, I happened to have a chance to save Kacchan, and All Might happened to find me inspiring. I'm just an ordinary kid."

Banjo shrugged. "Plenty of us holders got One for All through dumb luck. We desperately handed it off to the closest person before All for One killed us. You wanna know how I got it? I found Hikage dying and he told me to eat a hair. If I'd been a tad less trusting then One for All's legacy would have been over!" Banjo thrust out his chest and laughed. "I wasn't chosen or special. I was just there."

"I didn't know." Izuku swallowed. "I hope I didn't accidentally offend you."

"Not at all! Because I have confidence in myself! Am I funky?"

"Definitely," Izuku said.

Banjo pointed at him. "That means you're funky too! Believe in yourself!"

"I'll do my best," Izuku said.

"My work here is done." Banjo spun around and walked away.

Izuku called, "Wait! Weren't you supposed to show me a vision of the world where I didn't exist?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh right!" Banjo slapped his forehead and spun around. "I was going to tell you about what happened to Hikage. We thought it might be too traumatic for Hikage to talk about, and I was there, so I'm the logical choice."

Izuku didn't see what this had to do with his own alternate timeline, but he nodded.

"Have you seen Hikage's white hair and the cracks on his face?" Banjo did not wait for an answer. "One for All did that to him. The quirk has grown too strong over time. It puts too much strain on the user's body. It prematurely aged Hikage to death."

"Then All Might—" Izuku shouted.

"No need to worry, kid! All Might is safe, because he's quirkless. Only people without a quirk can handle One for All's power." Banjo beamed. "See? You're the perfect Ninth holder! In a world where quirkless have become so rare, it's a miracle that All Might found and picked you. Sometimes dumb luck results in the best holders, hmm?" He winked.

This was a lot for Izuku to take in. "Then if All Might have given One for All to Mirio—"

Banjo drew a finger across his throat. "The quirk's gotten way stronger. The poor boy wouldn't have lasted a month."

The shadows swirled into an old man lying on a bed. It took Izuku a moment to recognize the withered creature with white hair as Mirio. His fingers had shriveled into claws. His teeth had fallen out. Cracks had formed all over his body, not only his face but also his arms and legs.

Banjo said, "Eighth blamed himself so much. He tried to take back the quirk, but it was too late. Mirio Togata continued to age until his heart gave out. After that, All Might never tried to pass on his quirk again. He died fighting All for One, and we died with him."

Izuku lowered his eyes. He could not speak.

The solemn moment was broken by the sound of the Katsuki Bakugo Death Counter dinging.

At this point more annoyed than concerned, Izuku demanded, "What killed Kacchan this time?"

Banjo said, "After Bakugo heard that All Might was dying, he tried to scale the hospital in order to get his All Might card autographed before it was too late. He tragically fell to his death."

For once, Izuku completely understood. Izuku crossed his arm over his heart in a salute to a fellow fallen fanboy. "He died a true hero."

Banjo's forehead wrinkled. "I thought it was a stupid way to die myself. I'm done for real this time. Your turn, En! Be funky!" Banjo faded away.

En seemed to explode from the shadows. His coat blended into the darkness, his face as pale as a vampire. Nevertheless, En managed a small smile and a thumbs-up. "You have my approval as the Ninth holder. You've been growing in leaps and bounds, and your recent rescue of Eri was truly impressive."

Looking down, Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "But Mirio lost his quirk…if I'd been better or faster, that wouldn't have happened."

"Would you like to see the rescue mission if you hadn't been along?" En gestured at the shadows. An image of the yakuza compound appeared, except the entire front half of the building was missing.

"No corpses please," Izuku said quickly.

"Eri didn't leave any behind." En's eyes gleamed ominously over his high collar. "She lost control and went on a rampage, rewinding every single yakuza and most of the heroes. Her overexertion even caused her body to crumble away. Now nothing remains but an empty building and a pile of dust."

Izuku shuddered. It broke his heart to imagine such a cruel fate for his friends and that sweet little girl who had suffered so much.

The Katsuki Death Counter shot up to ten. Izuku pointed. "Did Kacchan die in the massacre?"

En coughed. "Actually he died of a papercut from his All Might card."

"What does that have to do with me?" Izuku asked, concerned that maybe Kacchan might be about to die in the real world.

"You see, in the timeline where you exist, Katsuki keeps his All Might merchandise locked away and hidden to prevent you from stealing it. But if you don't exist, then he frequently takes out the card and looks at it, leading to the fatal papercut."

"Oh," Izuku said. "Wait, a papercut? How is that possible? Kacchan sets off explosions in his own face all the time but it never harms him."

En shrugged.

Izuku mumbled, "I suppose the cut could have gotten infected or he could have set his room on fire again…"

"Before I go, I have a story to tell you." En swallowed and stepped forward. "It's painful for me to talk about, but I promised senpai. You feel like you obtained One for All by luck, but I obtained it through treachery. I was originally a spy for All for One, assigned to get close to Banjo-senpai and make him trust me enough to give me his quirk."

Izuku gasped. "But…how…" Since he knew how All for One had a track record of brainwashing people, he didn't blame En.

En said, "I turned against All for One after realizing his true nature, but not before my senpai died. So if you're ever doubting yourself as One for All's successor then remember you can't possibly be our greatest failure—because that's already me."

"No!" Nana tackled En from behind with a hug. "You're not a failure! You saved my life. You were a good hero. All for One took you in as a child and manipulated you. It wasn't your fault. You've long since made up for the past."

Izuku asked, "That's true?"

En hung his head. "Yes, I was one of All for One's collection of orphans."

Izuku grabbed En's hands. "This means that it's possible for someone to be saved from All for One's brainwashing! You give me hope for Tomura Shigaraki. Thank you."

"When you put it like that, I don't feel like a total failure." En smiled. "Thank you, Nineth." He faded away.

Nana turned to Izuku with a soft smile that reminded him of his mother. "The others have already talked about your value as a hero. I want to talk about your value as a person."

Izuku had been wondering what there was left to show him. He shrugged. "Everyone has value as a person, of course."

Nana placed a hand on his shoulder. "You mean a lot to me, Izuku. May I call you Izuku? Since Toshinori treats you as a son, I think of you like my grandchild."

Izuku flushed. "I, uh, I don't mind."

"Let's peak a bit into the past." Nana waved across the shadows. An image appeared of the Midoriya family apartment, a number on the door. "Here is where Inko Midoriya lives, alone and childless."

Izuku swallowed. "She's probably less anxious without me as a son."

A sad look in her eyes, Nana shook her head. "You didn't cause your mother's anxiety disorder. She always had it. But without you, she had no reason to treat it."

Part of the wall vanished. It showed a living room with trash piled high, clearly having been left there a long time. Izuku gasped. He could not imagine his neat and tidy mother letting her home get into such a state.

Nana said, "For a long time, you were the only reason your mother got out of bed in the morning. You've always cheered her up just by being at her side. In the timeline where you did not exist, she turned into a shut-in."

Izuku's eyes became wet. "I didn't know. I had no idea it was this bad."

"She already sought help a long time ago in your timeline. This future will not come to pass." Nana waved the vision away.

Izuku whispered, "I really thought I was the one making my mom sad for a long time."

Nana engulfed him in a hug. "Oh, Izuku. It was never your fault."

Izuku let himself weep into Nana's arms, comforted by her embrace.

Patting his head, Nana said, "I'm especially grateful for how you helped my Toshi."

"All Might?" Izuku looked up. "I didn't do anything. I know All Might suffered in the timeline where the Sludge Monster killed Kacchan, but that wasn't truly his fault. All Might never would have lost the Sludge Monster without me, so you all cheated on that one by only showing my removal in one moment of time."

"In that moment, you did more than save your childhood friend." Nana brushed Izuku's hair. "You gave Toshinori back his belief in heroes. He'd fallen into a serious depression. In the universe where he never met you, he lost all his purpose and drive. The combination of his ill mental and physical health affected his hero work. He was only going through the motions of a job he hated. He slipped out of number one place not in a dramatic battle with All for One, but as part of a slow and steady decline."

Izuku rubbed away the tears in his eyes. He could not imagine a world where All Might hated being a hero. "But I didn't do anything."

"Yes, you did," Nana said firmly. "Toshinori was unbearably lonely before he met you. You gave him back purpose. You're the reason he reached out to Gran Torino and Sir Nighteye to talk to them again. Your smiles every day brought back joy to his life. Izuku, if there's one thing I want you to take away from this dream, it's that sometimes just being by someone's side is enough to save them."

Izuku had never thought of himself as that important to All Might. His hero meant everything to him, had changed his life, but Izuku did not have the capability to repay him. Or so he'd thought until now. Izuku straightened. "Then I won't leave All Might. I won't give up One for All. I promise."

Nana beamed like the sun coming out of a cloud. "That's all I could ever ask of you, Izuku."

Once again, the touching moment was broken by the Katsuki Bakugo Death Counter going off like crazy. A long whine emerged as the numbers shot up until they reached 99, then the counter fizzled and exploded.

"Is that thing broken?" Izuku asked.

Nana sighed. She picked up the counter and closed her eyes, concentrating. "Hmm. It appears that All Might merch became extremely cheap after he fell from number one. Bakugo went crazy buying up merch until it formed into massive pile that fell on him, killing him. The reason he keeps dying is because every time we remove one of his deaths from the timeline, he just continues buying more merchandise until it kills him again."

Izuku's eyes widened. "So much All Might merchandise? Freely available? All because I didn't exist?"

With a worried look in her eyes, Nana grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Izuku, snap out of it! You can't own All Might merchandise if you don't exist."

The hideous unfairness of it all made Izuku nearly weep again. Did this mean that Katsuki had a better collection than him? Even in an alternate timeline, that could not be tolerated!

Nana said, "Also, after Toshinori's fall from grace, new merchandise stopped being made. Much of his unsold merchandise got thrown away."

Izuku gasped. "This is an abomination! Clearly I must preserve my existence no matter what!"

Nana smiled and wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Remember, you need to stay as One for All's successor too."

Misty Might appeared next to Nana, nodding his head vigorously.

Nana turned around, "Oh, you came? Did you want to show Izuku a vision too?" Leaning down, she whispered to Izuku, "We're not sure how much he understands when we talk."

"I'm pleased to see anything you want to show me, sir," Izuku said, according full respect to his most valuable piece of All Might merchandise. (Even alternate timeline Katsuki hadn't managed to collect All Might's ghost! Ha!)

"I'll leave you two alone, then." Nana vanished.

Misty Might glowed, then the shadowy world changed. The image showed All Might sitting behind his desk shouting into the phone. "Mirai, I picked the ideal boy as my successor, and I don't want to hear one more word from you on the subject! If you ever say that to him again, then I'm going no contact." He hung up the phone and slumped down on his desk with a sigh.

"Whoa, All Might defended me?" Izuku blinked. "I never knew that."

Misty Might pointed at the scene, as if asking Izuku to keep watching.

All Might pulled out papers in a clear folder from his desk drawer. He sighed. "What a shame that I can't figure out what happened to Hisashi Midoriya. His mother already gave me her permission. I'll have to hold onto these a little longer."

Izuku peered down at the blurry pages. "Are those adoption papers? All Might wants to adopt me?"

Misty Might nodded.

"This is the happiest day of my life!" Izuku burst into waterfall tears. "I'll never let you go, Misty Might! I promise!"

Misty Might pulled Izuku into a hug. Izuku wept into his chest.

The other vestiges appeared around him, holding up a massive banner that read, WE LOVE YOU NINTH!

Second shouted, "Thank you for giving us hope of defeating All for One!"

"Yeah, and saving us from boredom too." Banjo winked.

Yoichi called, "You're the best successor we could ever have!"

The vision finally faded away.

Izuku woke up. He was back in his bedroom, staring at the red letters on his alarm clock. For a moment, he mistook the clock for the death counter and wondered how Kacchan had died eight hundred times.

The dream still remained in Izuku's mind, so vivid that he knew it had all been real. Crazy though it sounded, the vestiges truly cared about him that much. Izuku smiled. For the first time in a long time, he felt appreciated, valued, and loved.

The fuzzy feelings lasted about until Izuku went downstairs for breakfast. As soon as Izuku stuck the toast in the toaster, Second popped up behind him. "You're doing great, my adopted child! Toast that toast to perfection!"

"Um, thanks?" Izuku said.

When he started buttering the toast, Hikage appeared. "Make sure you don't drop it. That would ruin your breakfast, and ruin your whole day! It would be terrible to watch you go hungry! Terrible!"

"I have this covered." Izuku sighed. Just how long were they planning to do this? Last night had been nice, but this was getting excessive.

As Izuku started eating, Banjo said, "A healthy breakfast is the start of every hero's day. You're doing wonderful."

"Don't forget to drink your milk too," Nana added.

En said, "What a great breakfast, perfect for your training regime."

Izuku glared. "Now you're patronizing me."

All the vestiges hovered around him, falling all over themselves to assure him that they were serious and he was the best successor ever.

When Izuku put on a sneaker, Yoichi popped up next to him. "Tie those laces! You're doing great!"

Izuku groaned. "Okay, I feel an adequate amount of love and affirmation now. You can all go away."

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: The Dad for One Omake

Yoichi: We'll be showing what happens if you never existed, because if you die, Japan sinks into the ocean.

Izuku: Now you're just being ridiculous. Why would my death cause a global catastrophe?

Yoichi: No reason! Pay no attention to the All for One vestige trying to sneak out of the Void vault.

#

Omake: Sibling Similarities

All for One: It seems like you got very upset about Izuku trying to give up One for All, little brother. It doesn't feel great when family leaves you, does it? DOES IT?

Yoichi: Oh, shut up, the critical difference here is that I'm awesome and didn't deserve it.

#

Omake: The Quirk Apprehension Test

Izuku: If I never attended U.A., then wouldn't Mr. Aizawa have expelled someone on the first day of school?

Second: Yeah, but that only killed the internet controversy over whether Minoru Mineta is bisexual.

#

Omake: Hugs for All

Izuku: (Pounces on Ochaco and hugs her) I'm so happy that you're alive! And look, you have an intact skull! (He feels her head). No cracks or blood here!

Ochaco: (Blushing) Uh, Deku…you're, um…touching me…a lot…

Izuku: I'm going to buy you a helmet that you can wear everywhere from now on.

Ochaco: (Faints.)

Shouto: What happened to Uraraka? Should I call Recovery Girl? Also, if you're giving out free hugs then can I have one too?

Izuku: Todoroki, just the person I wanted to see! Until I figure out a way to fireproof every single part of your body, I'll be following you around everywhere with this fire extinguisher.

#

Omake: Dad for One Part Two

Izuku: Why does everyone die if I don't go along on the mission to Kamino to rescue Kacchan?

Hikage: All for One blew up the wall that you all hid behind during his battle with All Might.

Izuku: But what does my presence or absence have to do with that?

Hikage: Uhhhh…please direct all questions on that topic to Yoichi!

#

Omake: The True Fate of Sir Nighteye's Tenth Anniversary All Might Poster

Izuku: What if erasing myself from existence is my one chance to own a Tenth Anniversary All Might poster at a cheap price?

Nana: (Desperate) Have you considered grave-robbing?

#

Omake: Battle of the Fanboys

Izuku: Kacchan, I have unfortunate news. It turns out that you're at unusually high risk of dying in All Might merch-related accidents, so I'm going to have to confiscate your entire collection. This is for your own good.

Katsuki: I SEE THROUGH YOUR LIES SHITTY DEKU! YOU'RE DROOLING OVER MY MERCH!

Izuku: All of your merch will find a loving home with me, especially your favorite All Might card. A bit of lamination will make those corners safe!

#

Omake: The Distant Future

Tomura-AFO: Izuku Midoriya, you've finally arrived! But Katsuki Bakugo is already dead. You're too late to save him.

Izuku: Oh, no! Katsuki's All Might card finally succeeded in murdering him!

Tomura-AFO: What? No! That was clearly my murder!

Izuku: I warned him so many times to give up the card before it was too late. Damn, that was one fatal papercut.

Author's Note: Thank you to coffeeandtoastforbreakfast for this beautiful prompt, and for drawing amazing fanart for my favorite scene in this fic, when the vestiges hold up a banner for Izuku. Delete the spaces to get the link:
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