White Horse 1.1


This was it.

The final moment.

All of the deaths, all of the losses.

Everything would be avenged. Everything would be brought to justice. The Great Evil that plagued the land would be brought to heel.

He gathered all the embers of power that still burned bright within his heart and soul. The waning strength that he once had at his peak had returned for one final stand.

Compressed air, force, and energy coursed through his veins like a surge of lightning. The steam coming out of his form was much less apparent as he stood there like the remaining terminal ideal that withstood against the darkness.

Everyone believed in him. They placed their hopes in him as he heard the many determined cheers and acknowledgments of friend and foe alike.

All would be well, he reassured himself.

All Might would emerge victorious. All Might would once again prove that being a hero mattered even against insurmountable odds. No more would the number of casualties rise further.

No more would he see such needless bloodshed.

"Argh." He groaned as he grits his teeth. The energy building within him was now immense. It was as if the users of his quirk from the generations dating before his time had joined him in this single act. He knew it to be somehow the case, for the warmth of his master…

His dear, beloved master was egging him on in support.

He closed his eyes, remembering almost every part of his journey up until the very present.

The rain had grown stronger as if in defiance at his action.

Aldera and subsequently the many cities that were near the coast of where the now sunken Takoba Beach was, roared at him with approaching tidal waves that slammed against buildings, breaking them apart with relative ease.

He could hear the panicked cries of everyone behind him that ran and evacuated, most of them heroes and villains that had no choice but to unite for their survival.

The plan originally had him deal the decisive blow with all the stronger heroes that the Association could muster, but their enemy had just escalated.

It escalated to a level unforeseen.

But no matter, Toshinori knew that he had only one moment to take the monster down.

The energy in his reared fist bubbled to its maximum peak. The ground around him shuddered as he leaped into the air.

"UNITED STATES OF-

He spotted the creature, the monster that had sunk entire cities, its glowing, numerable red eyes staring back at him in an undiscernible way as the sheer speed of Toshinori's action made it so that everything around seemed to slow down.

Then, his fist descended upon the beast.

-SMASH!"

A monstrous ripple of force and energy erupted from the collision as displaced air cleared the heavy, dark storm clouds above revealing rays of sunlight returning to the emaciated city. Debris of all kinds flew everywhere as the powerful burst of energy erupted like a bomb that had discharged its payload.

What remained afterward as the dust settled was a large crater that spanned ten or more city blocks in diameter. In the center of it all was Toshinori himself who was heaving with all of the energy and strength that he had pulled from that one attack.

The adrenaline rush was still there as he prostrated in place.

Exhaustion, clarity, and pain slowly entered his system as the steam around his body started to proliferate. Ideally, he would stand tall and proudly show his victory to quickly rush away in hiding, but there was no point to it.

The secret would come out eventually, and…

He thought this was a good enough way to finally show the world what he really was.

He could hear the premature screams, cheers, and sobbing behind him as voices started to emerge. Multiple questions from villains were even present as he slowly felt his muscles deflate.

A thankful smile on his face as he felt someone land beside him.

"You did g-good kid. Nana would've been proud." He heard Gran Torino say beside him.

He nodded as his vision started to slowly black out on its edges.

"Come on… we gotta go. There's still work to do." The old man had said as he offered him a hand.

Toshinori gingerly reached out to grab it, hoping to stand…

SHIIIUTTTT!

When a high-pitched sound suddenly entered everyone's senses, only to realize a second later that sensation of pain and a spray of blood had erupted from every limb, head, or torso. As if a high-precision and much more powerful version of a water jet cutter had just spread across the entire crater.

Toshinori's shock had turned to its most damning level as he felt a spray of warm blood hitting his face and the absent sensation of where his right arm once was.

But the shock of that action was nowhere near the emotions he felt when he saw his old friend and former mentor, Gran Torino cough up blood before collapsing in place lifelessly.

He screamed. He reached out towards Gran Torino as the panic and shock of everyone around him started to conjoin into a literal nightmare.

Then the sky once again turned dark as Toshinori looked up and saw another, much larger tidal wave about to hit everyone present…

After that, he could no longer remember what happened next.


3 MONTHS LATER…

Current Location: Unknown

Toshinori shot up from his bed. His breath was labored as the memories of the nightmare he just experienced bled right over his entire form again.

Using his left arm, he tried to wipe the tears from his face as despair now started to take over his entire being.

The memory kept coming back to him. Everything just kept coming back.

What scared him was that the faces of the many heroes that fought with him that day were slowly starting to fade or merge with other turbulent memories of equal measure.

The only consistent face he could remember with extreme detail was of his dear mentor.

Former. Figuratively and literally.

A pang of guilt raked itself to his heart as he thought about it.

He could not even salvage what was left of Gran Torino, for it was all washed away by the now-submerged cities in the aftermath of the Great Deluge.

Many were not able to salvage or save any of their loved ones and friends during that event.

The losses were just too high and the moment he woke up from the aftermath of it all, he was left in a world that felt different and far removed from the state it once was.

Things had changed once more.

It felt like the return of the age when villain empires and the like roamed free and uncontested in the world, where there was no symbol of peace and justice.

Where there was no All Might.

Everything was weighty with all the consequences involved and to this day Toshinori could still not believe that he would have to witness another era where peace was shaky and uncertain.

Worse, the uncertainty was now tenfold, a statement and fact that Toshinori could not believe himself. Whatever 'remains' that current society had superseded even the worst things that he had to endure early in his career.

Toshinori opened and closed his remaining hand. His body, the paper-thin physique that he had was now much more apparent to him than ever before.

Effectively, All Might was dead…

And as he looked around at his new quarters, that single fact was what drove the world to what it is currently.


Clothing himself with what was in his drawers, he stood up and placed his hand on the intercom next to his door. The door slid open without much fanfare as he began to step outside. Quickly enough, the bustling sound of a variety of people from all walks of life entered his senses.

A family who wheeled their injured child in a wheelchair strode past him before the door of his quarters closed shut. Immediately that feeling earlier was already present when the more he walked through the number of people that were moving in and out in the hallway, the more he saw and felt the consequences of the failures that he and the many heroes with him had experienced.

There were multiple people in their ragged clothing sleeping in the hallways with either cardboard or only the clothes they had with what was construed as a bed. Some were even begging for any food to muster towards the people that were walking by…

Many of them were children that were thin as rails due to the dwindling and shortening supplies that even the more fortunate ones were being confronted with.

A lot of bloody, even injured pro heroes of different names and cities were also present.

They were either trying to keep the fragile peace or simply doing what they thought was necessary in what living conditions they currently had.

Many were mostly civilians, with nowhere to go for safety and shelter they now resided with whatever living quarters were given to them, and most due to the uptake in population had no living quarters to speak of.

Of course, some of them were also criminals or villains in nature but due to the current state of things, none dared to even make a scene or do something heinous.

It was now an accepted thing that everyone had to contribute, that everyone had to help.

Regardless of what type of person they once were, everyone was now equal in stature.

It was like the decades-long hope of their having a 'truce' with the criminal element had now turned into reality, but for this context, the truce was that of survival over being completely left alone in the open up on the surface.

Oh, there were troublemakers for sure, but due to the existential crisis that oppressively clung to every civilian, hero, and villain, they were quickly routed out and snuffed without much of a hindrance.

Admittedly, Toshinori was thankful that such a 'truce' existed because the police were now largely defunct. The hero association was gone, the national government was up in the air, and whatever semblance of civilization, or at least in Japan's case, was now left to very small pockets of people around the island nation.

One of the most notable Toshinori thought was the one he was currently living in.

The repurposed grounds of his Alma Mater or what was left of its current state became the home of one of the largest communities of evacuees in Japan. The reason being, it was far enough inland to be safe from further incursions and was one of the most strategically easiest places where many refugees could feasibly get to.

With all the roads and infrastructure in the surface world now gone, the sentiment may not be held in full regard anymore, but UA at least was still noteworthy enough that a significant portion of refugees still arrived day by day consistently.

An issue that ballooned the current state of affairs to where they were at the current moment.

The entire campus entrance and building had been left topside, and the grounds which former would be pro-hero students would use as training grounds were now effectively demolished and repurposed into a subterranean city of sorts that expanded (much to his colleague Cementoss' expense) nearly every end of the week.

The sheer toll on the resources themselves even under the unspoken 'truce' had taxed everyone that settled in UA both mentally and physically. The whiplash of the sudden changes around the world had enforced that sentiment quite handily with how everyone was still having a hard time adjusting to the problems placed before their laps.

No one was excluded from it, not even the most stalwart or jaded folks that Toshinori knew were exempt.

"Ugh." Toshinori intoned as he nearly fell off balance when a small kid bumped into him haphazardly as if he was in a hurry.

The boy had streaks of red hair against his mostly black coloration, the most notable aspect of him was the fact that his skin, at least in the forearms, was cracked as if made of rock. The boy looked exhausted, with his eyes red as they were. He was carrying dirty-looking water bottles, some rolled on the floor as he scrambled to try and get them.

"I'm sorry mister, I-I was just delivering these to my friends." The boy exclaimed as Toshinori nodded while kneeling to help him.

"Be careful next time kid." He said simply as the boy with a thankful look took one of the bottles from his hand and hurriedly ran off, disappearing in the crowd.

Toshinori sighed as he looked around, his eyes stopping completely at a nearby wall, where posters of propaganda from the early days of the Deluge were placed. All Might being plastered with that signature smile and the text:

"EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE! FOR I AM HERE!"

He frowned when he saw it. At first, it was a promise. An assurance.

Now it was remembered as a lie. Evident to that was the amount of graffiti, damage, and defilement that said posters had. He could no longer count the amount of backlash, words, and other things spoken about All Might in general.

Chief amongst those was what was very much emphasized by the writings on those posters.

"LIAR."

He walked again amongst the crowds in a silent vigil.

Ironically, thankful that nobody knew who he was.

That nobody knew that the failure known as All Might was still among the living.


"Next." Lunch Rush said without any sort of emotion in his voice.

Toshinori pitied the man, him and his ever-expanding kitchen staff within the community kitchen holdings were already pushed to the very extent with the number of people that they had to feed day by day.

It was no question at all why they all looked haggard, almost as if they were to keel over any time.

SPLAT!

What was construed as slop was the only menu in these trying times as the long line of refugees moved along to get their share of the day. Nobody was exempted, friend or foe alike regardless of their former economic status were now reduced to share what food there was that UA could scrounge.

Toshinori moved along with one hand holding his tray as he arrived at Lunch Rush who nodded at him as he walked off to find a seat.

The area was quite packed too, with many sharing tables as they ate their meals.

He found a seat close to the restrooms where a line was also present and a smell that would bother anyone who sat nearby. However, due to the limit of the space itself, nobody had any heart to question or even complain about it.

As he sat and laid his tray on the table he quickly noticed that the man sitting next to him was the former heroine Mt. Lady. The woman was no longer in her suit, nor was she wearing anything close to what she proudly used back in her time as a Pro Hero. She only had a musty jacket on and a few slacks. Even her shirt was dirtied enough to the point that the light purple color was becoming rather dark.

Her blonde hair was no longer as vibrant as it once was, and her face was so unemotional as she slurped on her food without as much of a word coming from her mouth.

He knew some other people around the table he was in, some were still on active duty wearing their suits and such, and some were villains that he apprehended time and time again, but most of them sported the same unemotional states of being. Some talked with each other, but the atmosphere was far too grim despite that.

As he ate his fill, he suddenly heard the sound of a metal tray being thrown to the floor.

As well as voices that were now starting to escalate in tone.

"What is your problem?!" a male voice shouted out as Mt. Lady beside her huffed in annoyance.

"She's at it again." The former heroine muttered as Toshinori turned his head towards the noise.

"WE AT LEAST TRIED TO FIGHT BACK YOU COWARD!" the heated voice of a woman said as Toshinori saw a short woman and a man that he recognized were inches away from fighting each other.

The shorter woman grabbed the man's jacket. "You don't get to say shit to us when you and your kind ran and didn't bother to do anything!"

"So what if we ran?!" the man angrily shouted back. "Look around you, lady! You'd rather every single person here dies? You'd rather every man, woman, and child perish because you heroes kept lying to their faces that all will be well?"

The man emphasized each point as the entire cafeteria went quiet.

"That's not the goddamn point, you're just putting words in my mouth that I would never say or think in the first place." The woman defiantly said but her tone was audibly less intense than it was before.

"Then what point is there to say, lady? What do you seriously expect out of me? I ran away in fear the moment things turned to shit, is that what you want to hear from me? Because I don't deny it. I don't think anybody does in this place, even some of your heroes feel the same way…"

"That doesn-

"It was never me that failed everyone. I was already a failure, to begin with. What does that make you then?" the man said as the three people behind him moved a few meters back. The most noteworthy one, is a meek woman with white hair coming in front of the man and trying to calm him down.

"Touya, that's enough." He heard her say. The scarred man angrily walked off with his two companions as the woman with white hair apologized to the shorter woman before joining them after.

The shorter woman who was now quiet with her face nearly tearing up was quickly led away by a blonde woman in a red dress. "Come on Rumi, it's okay." The Dragon Hero said before they were out of the scene completely, the place returning to its former state as if nothing had happened.

Toshinori felt the weight on his chest further deepen as he digested what the two argued about.

He did not blame either side for what happened, for times like this already muddied the waters of everyone's feelings over what was right or wrong.

But to him, knowing he was one of the root causes of such feelings, only made his non-existent stomach a lot more painful than it was before.

Returning to his food begrudgingly, he then noticed that the device in his pocket was vibrating.

Taking it out, he read on its small screen a simple message that made him sigh.

"We need you."


The sliding door closed behind him as he viewed those who were present in the main office of all the affairs that UA was privy to. It was the former Faculty Room that the teachers in UA once shared, and it was now converted into a full-blown situation room.

Their command center to be precise.

Already he recognized the people that were allowed in its entirety.

Most of them were very prominent UA staff, but there were also key important people from the association, some Pro Heroes, some Villains, and their ringleaders, as well as anyone that could reliably contribute to the cause of making sure their community was safe and functional.

The truce even applied here, to the extent that everybody was cooperative…

Especially when towards the main screens another new harrowing set of news made everyone balk and go into slight despair in their seats.

Even Toshinori felt the same.

"Is there anything we can do… like at all?" he heard Midnight say, the heroine's expression now in defeat.

"Russia's already gone dark, even the Chinese are defunct according to my sources, they're all bunch of headless chickens at this point." A man in sunglasses said and if Toshinori recalled correctly his name was Giran.

"It makes me wonder if being in prison was better than this." The former operative, Lady Nagant said in the corner as he eyed Toshinori and grumbled.

"We have to start thinking of contingencies… we don't know how feasible it is to still stay in UA." Gang Orca provided as his colleague, Best Jeanist nodded in support.

"What does it matter with what we do? If that American Bitch can do jack shit to even a single one of them, what chance do you think we have in escaping when one of them comes here?" one of the representatives of what was left of the many scattered Yakuza groups asked the two heroes in worry.

"We can't just sit around and wait for the inevitable! People will die if we don't find a solution." Thirteen said, her helmet hanging by her side with a determined but wary look.

A great debate started as he saw the principal, Nezu doing his best to calm everybody down. Even his former sidekick, Nighteye who was now completely blind while being in a wheelchair was doing his best as well while his assistant Bubblegirl had a contemplative look on her face.

The arguments started to pile up while news footage on the large screens continued to play off what was going on around the world when these attacks started 3 months ago.

A large list of names that went on and on each screen just crushed his heart entirely.

It seemed like a nightmare come true…

The world was now in such dire straights that he wonders if there is still a light at the end of the tunnel.

As he continued to watch the footage while the arguments happened in the background, he felt someone's hand touching him on the shoulder. Toshinori turned and saw one of his close friends, David Shield, the renowned inventor and scientist sporting a weary but delighted face when they saw each other.

He gestured to him nonverbally to come as they moved into another office.

As the door closed the two sat in a pertinent silence with David sitting behind a desk and Toshinori sitting on the chair facing him.

Things had not gone well for his friend too, he recalled. Ever since I-Island was ransacked and destroyed by the Seraph, David and his daughter alongside a few people were one of the very lucky people that managed to get away before the floating island was taken off the face of the Earth.

Nezu managed to reconnect with David and they were able to arrive safely in UA, but after that, tragedy after tragedy struck, and Japan like many of the world's countries was now in a state of disarray.

Toshinori sighed as he saw David smirk, the man taking out a bottle that he saved for himself that was now half-full. The smell of alcohol was prevalent in the air as the blonde American man took a drink.

"It's worse isn't it?" he asked.

"Hm?" David perked. "What do you mean?"

Toshinori pointed at the door that led back to the main faculty room. Instantly the man nodded with a bit of apprehension.

"I guess my country's still trying to assuage what little comfort there is left with the populace. With Europe mostly being in a state of martial law and the rest of Africa is reduced to warlords once again, I don't think people knowing about Cathleen's current state is going to help in the slightest."

"Is she alive?" Toshinori fearfully asked in worry.

David looked at him with a very stern expression. "Barely, some of the doctors can't even place if she'll wake up, if at all for that matter."

"I see."

David huffed as he took another drink. "The entire state of New York is literally worse than Chernobyl now. They've already moved the executive branch off D.C. and towards an undisclosed location, some of my friends say Hawaii or some other isolated place, who knows…"

"But doesn't that make them vulnerable to-

"The damn lizard and the angel? Like I said, I'm not sure if any of my sources are still correct, or if they're still alive." The American man sighed before meeting his friend's eyes again. "All I know for sure with Nezu and a few others is that the attacks have curbed somewhat."

Toshinori raised his brow at the statement. "Curbed? You mean the degree of what these things are doing against us has lessened through time?"

"By a few metrics, yes. Significant? No. What I can say is that their M.O. while unchanged, the time in between attacks leads us to believe that their dormancy periods are now slightly becoming bigger."

"Please don't tell me you're implying that sort of thing to me," Toshinori said with all seriousness he could muster. "In no way am I going to accept that someday these things will just stop altogether and no longer bother the rest of the world while they still exist."

"I'm not implying anything to you Toshinori. I am simply stating the facts." David replied with his expression now sullen and filled with affirmation.

"There has to be something that we can do David."

"If things were as simple as that All Might… I might have already given you a solution or two, but as things stand, all I can glean for any such hope to be reality is simply fictional." David then pulled out the picture of his daughter when she was still young.

"She hasn't given up David. So should you." Toshinori said, trying once more to convince his old friend to continue but the man ignored him, simply brushing his fingers across the photo as he reminisced.

"Have I told you before about Beth? My wife and how religious she was?"

Toshinori settled back in his seat as he tried to recall it.

"Somewhat. You complained in one instance that you two used to argue about it."

The man chuckled as his eyes started to water. "She used to tell me that I should always pray despite not believing in any sort of higher power. Praying helps even as a mantra, to hope that good things would pass even if you felt it wasn't."

Toshinori did not reply, he did not believe in anything at all as well.

"Even after she died, I still kept at it, when the nights were tough. When the days were sour." He then looked at Toshinori with a sad smile. "I stopped completely knowing that it was pointless. Because even if God existed, he doesn't care for any of us here… he doesn't care that millions are dying out there right now, because we're all human. It doesn't matter what we do, there will always be limitations to what our existence could achieve. It doesn't matter what sort of hope we place in others or into the future when we all just die and return to dust."

"David… don-

"I'm never going to see Beth again. I'm sure in time I'll never be able to see Melissa as well… because I'm merely human. Nothing matters in the end. Nothing truly matters…"

"David you can't just do this to you-

Toshinori tried to grab the bottle from his friend's hands only to snatch it away and empty the contents of it into his stomach. He then forcefully placed the bottle on the desk with a heavy thud and scowled.

"There is nothing we can do Toshinori. Nothing. We're just useless bugs against the newly established food chain. Bacteria in a petri dish of whatever cosmic power up there uses us for experiments."

"You don't believe that."

"Oh believe me I do… if anything I'm sure our friends outside are starting to realize the same as well." David then rests his head on his desk as if trying to sleep. Exhausted with the events that transpired around them.

Toshinori almost felt the same, but his friend's words were not without merit in the current climate. He then stared into the distance before the door to the room they were in slid open revealing Nezu who was worse for wear than his usual tailored self.

"He's drunk against isn't he?" Nezu said as Toshinori nodded.

The former principal sighed heavily as he jumped atop the desk and grabbed the bottle into both of his arms. "I feel sorry for the man, he's not been himself for more than a week you see."

"I understand sir."

"I apologize if he misled you about what I require you to do today."

"What is it?" he asked, perplexed, thinking that it was David who had sent the message.

"Well the request is never going to be easy, but since it's only been you, Stars and Stripes, as well as him that managed to do anything at all in the current crisis, so… "

Toshinori did not like where this was going.

"I would like you to try and talk with him again."

The scowl on his face was very evident but Nezu did not wither in his gaze.

"Do I have a choice?" he tried.

"No… at this point All Might, you should know yourself that we can't afford to second guess what needs to be done. Even if it's unsavory."

It took a few seconds for those words to sink in but Toshinori eventually complied.

"I understand."


He arrived at the medical stations where many men and women were still in need of medical care and supervision for their injuries or diseases.

The situation there was very stressful with many volunteers running everywhere to try and keep up with the needs of the patients everywhere in the joint.

He knew Recovery Girl was somewhere with the other doctors doing their best with what they had as he walked while being escorted by a large well-suited man that was seemingly made up of dark purple mist.

Eventually, they stopped at the end of the hallway where Toshinori bit his lips, trying to hold back what he wanted to say when he saw who was on the bed.

A very frail and bony man was laid atop it. He barely had any legs as his weak, heavily scarred torso and face where there were no eyes present were clear to Toshinori's eyes.

The man was in such a pitiful state that he did not even detect his presence, for he could no longer feel much of anything.

Toshinori wanted to spit on the man's face…

But he knew what was at stake here.

He knew that they needed him.

"Have you c-come to p-pity me… A-All Might?" he heard the very weak, defeated voice of the man he hated all his life say.

There was no other choice, both of them were already broken in their respective viewpoints, and try as Toshinori might, he knew that world had grown past the ideologies that both championed.

Both knew that the world was no longer what it used to be.


END.

AN: I got inspiration mostly from a prompt that my friend and I discussed. The Witch's Cauldron doesn't exist here and sure, I'm not their most avid supporter but they did do something to curb most of the problems that Cannon Worm has. I don't know if the piece in itself can do the prompt justice, but I tried my best anyway…

Also, please do not go into a moral debate about Cauldron and things… that go nowhere in my opinion, just know that I still dislike them with every fiber of my being, but hey, you can't fault the good things that they brought to the table.

Finally, if you're wondering why the attacks seem extreme with the three Halpers in this fic, well, we haven't resolved anything with Kota yet and his connection to the three.