Izuku Midoriya stared at the knife in his still hands.

Before him laid a man in a prone position. His arms and legs were bound together by rope so tightly that he didn't even have a chance to move, and his eyes and mouth were sealed shut by duct tape. The only indications that the man was even alive was the intake of breath through his nostrils, but even that was slight.

"Kill him, Izuku."

With slight hesitation, Izuku nonetheless reached down and slit the person's throat, watching blood gurgle from the cut in his throat before turning towards his sensei.

"D-Did I do good?"

"Magnificent," the faceless man said breathlessly. "Utterly magnificent."

Izuku grinned, a light, happy expression completely contrary to the heinous act that he'd just committed. The smile barely hid the dimmed, muted look in his eyes.

"I must ask, though," the faceless man said, "for future reference, since some of the others are having a bit of trouble with this task. A while ago, I told you after you eliminated the vestiges that you had to find your own justification to kill. It seems that you've found it, no? What is it?"

The boy thought for a brief moment, tilting his head. "Well, to be honest, I still haven't found a justification."

The faceless man, sensing that Izuku still had more to say, waited patiently.

"You told me to find something I believe in. Something, like a rationale or justification that allows me to kill, right?" Izuku waited for his sensei to nod before continuing. "But I found that too limiting."

"Oh?" It wasn't often these days that something could surprise All For One, but Izuku's words certainly had. "What do you mean?"

"A 'reason' to kill is too inflexible," Izuku asserted. "What happens when you lose sight of that reason, or when it proves to be incorrect? I can't speak from personal experience, but I assume that it can't be pretty."

The faceless man remained silent. Izuku was showing that he'd put a surprising amount of thought into this subject matter, far surpassing pretty much any kid his age. Certainly, out of this batch of kids, Izuku was the most mature. Maybe it had to do with his upbringing? The faceless man remembered snatching Izuku when he was being bullied by some pathetic peons who thought themselves superior just because they'd been born different.

Perhaps he'd gained that sense of maturity out of necessity. All For One would have felt bad for Izuku, but his gladness outweighed whatever pity he had—gladness that his unfortunate situation had molded him into such an intelligent child, the perfect weapon.

He could picture it now: Izuku Midoriya, leading the other multi-Quirk supersoldiers and the world to a new era, with All For One gently controlling the strings like a master puppeteer behind the scenes.

Izuku—be it as a villain, a hero, it honestly did not matter as long as All For One had some control over him—would help him change the world. Mold it into a world of All For One's liking. The details might be a bit foggy now, but hopefully…

It would be a world without the need for violence.

A world where All For One had absolute control.

All For One would be the first to admit that he'd been… a bit overzealous in his early years, maybe even a bit violent. But he'd changed, now. The first time, the original new world order that he'd built, was an error and a mistake. It didn't take long for that to crumble since it was fundamentally flawed—he'd taken over from the villain side, and things were too chaotic. Too uncontrollable. It was a world ruled through violence, not authority.

Now, he wanted to remake the world into one his little brother would be proud of.

Yes… this time, he'd do it right, take over all aspects of society; from the government, to the villains, and finally, to the heroes. Then, he'd abolish such foolish designations like "hero" or "villain." His supersoldiers would be like his fingers, enforcing peace with an iron fist. None would be able to stand up to him—not even the current bearer of One For All, All Might. When he finally rectified the mistake he made two years ago by defeating that wretched man and took what was rightfully his back…

Then, maybe then, he could reunite with his dearest younger brother again.

All For One let out a forlorn smile at that thought. After all, if his hunch was correct about how One For All worked, Yoichi Shigaraki was the only family he had left in the world.

Izuku, sensing something was off about the faceless man, said, "Is something wrong, sensei? Is my reasoning faulty?"

"Not at all," he smiled kindly at the young boy. "But, without a reason, what will you do when faced with a situation where you'd have to kill?"

"I found it too difficult to decide, so…" Izuku trailed off, but then he looked at the faceless man with a renewed vigor in his eyes.

"I'll just kill when I want to." Looking at the ceiling, he added, "Or when I have to. I just won't waste unnecessary thoughts on the subject matter. If I think about it too much… if I think about the people that I've killed with my own hands…"

The vestiges of the little girl and the old woman, both nameless and killed by his own hand, floated to the forefront of his mind. Izuku squashed it down the best he could.

"I might just go insane," he admitted. "So… no reasoning needed for me. I'll just have to steel my mind and do it, not think about it."

All For One let out a low whistle. "Not many children have the same mental fortitude that you do, Izuku."

Izuku blushed at the praise. "Well, I'm just trying to become the strongest that I can be."

A twisted grin grew on All For One's face after hearing those words.

"I knew I liked you for a reason, Izuku."

Unbreakable

Tell Me More

"So, what do you want, Deku?"

Izuku had come up to Katsuki during heroics class, asking for his aid in something. While Katsuki had initially, totally wanted to decline, Izuku said that he was giving him an opportunity to do the one thing that he desired to do: go all out.

That was the only reason that Katsuki went to help Izuku, yep. It had nothing to do with the slight ecstatic feeling that he had with Izuku talking to—yo, where the fuck is this coming from?

"I just want you to fire some AP Shots at me. The stronger, the better," Izuku answered simply.

"Oh, so you just wanna kill yourself then," Katsuki smirked. "Be my fucking guest."

Before he could start blasting, Izuku held up a finger. "I'm sorry, but could you wait a moment? Give Momo the time to finish setting up."

Oh, yeah. The tall girl was also here. She was creating what looked like circular targets out of her stomach with her Quirk and setting them up fifty yards in front of Izuku and behind Katsuki. Momo was wearing her usual stripperiffic hero costume, but shit like that wasn't enticing to Katsuki. He had a goal, and nothing was going to distract him from it.

"Alright, I'm done!" Momo reported, jumping down from the outcropping of rocks that she just finished placing the last target on. Then, her facial expression grew stern. "Izuku, just to make sure you're not planning on doing anything risky… what exactly are you planning on using these targets for?"

"Oh, well," Izuku said, "I'm planning on using them for target practice."

"Target practice…?" Momo trailed off. "Target practice, how?"

Izuku pointed at Katsuki. "He's going to shoot some AP Shots at me."

Momo started, "Uhhh—"

He then pointed at the targets. " I'm going to try to deflect them and aim it at the targets."

"Uh…"

Izuku gave her a thumbs up. "And it'll be good for Kac—Bakugo, because he can practice going all out. Actually, the more he tries to hurt me, the better this training gets for me, as well."

Momo blinked.

Then she started to move in order to take down the targets that she had been meticulously setting up.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing?" Katsuki snarled.

"It's dangerous," Momo said shortly. "Izuku could get hurt, Bakugo."

"I won't, Momo! I'll stop whenever it gets too much," Izuku said in an effort to alleviate her worries.

"Hey, Deku? It kinda feels like you're looking down on me over here."

"I'm not!" Izuku immediately denied, shaking his hands. "I asked you specifically because I think you have the highest firepower in the class."

A dumb smile crossed over Katsuki's face. "Well, that's really all you had to say."

"I… still don't like this idea," Momo said, looking at Izuku. Worry was written all over her face, and it made Katsuki gag a little bit when he looked at it. She was sickeningly smitten with Izuku. It was so obvious that it hurt.

"I'll be fine. I promise," Izuku said, smiling at her. Katsuki could pinpoint the exact moment that Momo's heart melted and her legs turned into jello. Wow, that girl had it bad.

Momo, likely noticing that she'd lost her composure, hardened her face and put on a show of false bravado. "Okay, fine. But I'm going to be staying just to make sure you aren't overdoing anything."

"Alright…" Izuku frowned. "But, Momo… you might be in danger if you're in the area."

"I'll stand right behind you and make a shield, so I should be safe. Or are you not confident in your ability to safely deflect Bakugo's blasts? If that's the case, then maybe you shouldn't be doing this in the first place," Momo reasoned. Her tone left zero room for argument.

Izuku smiled. "Okay, it'll make me feel much better if you're behind me. I'm not sure what exactly is going to happen, but… I'll protect you, Momo."

Momo flushed at his words.

"Oh my GOOOOOOOOOD," Katsuki roared, slapping his forehead. "Izuku, any more out of your mouth and the poor girl's gonna blow up."

Izuku tilted his head, confused. "Why would Momo suddenly blow up?"

Katsuki briefly met eyes with Momo, who was standing off to the side of Izuku, outside of his gaze. She had a pleading look in her eyes.

"I'm not here to explain the obvious to you," Katsuki huffed, squaring his shoulders. "Hurry up and make a shield so we can get on with this farce."

Momo looked halfway in between wanting to strangle Katsuki or thank him for not saying anything more potentially devastating. She ultimately settled for a stoic silence, creating a sizable, thick shield and settling in behind Izuku.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Izuku said. He took a deep breath. Visualize opposites. Ignore the sinking feeling that those words carried with them. He could do that.

Katsuki began charging his AP Shot, taking more time than was probably necessary for him in order to give Izuku a chance to prepare. With a slight grunt, he fired his first blast at Izuku. The shot caught him in the chest, but it ricocheted off of him and bounced back towards Katsuki, narrowly missing Katsuki and leaving a smoking crater in the wall where it had struck, far away from any target.

"Hey, dipshit," Katsuki callously called out, "where are you aiming them?"

"I'm not," Izuku replied. His fingers stroked his chin. "Fire some more. I'll try not to hit you."

"Try harder," Katsuki grumbled, preparing to fire another AP Shot.

This time, Izuku rotated his body so that it was tilted towards the right. The AP Shot caught him directly in the chest, burning through his already frayed shirt, but it was deflected roughly towards the right of Izuku.

The verdanette started mumbling to himself. Katsuki only caught a portion of it: "… seems to be limited to just my body…"

Katsuki fired a weak AP Shot at Izuku to knock him out of his reverie. The blow caught him slightly off guard, as it wasn't deflected in any direction, but his strange constitution allowed him to tank it without seeming any worse off.

However, his attack had caused the rest of his shirt to burn off. Izuku's seemingly invincible nature only applied to his body, not his clothing, a fact that the girl behind Izuku seemed to love. Momo kept sneaking glances at him when she thought Katsuki wasn't looking, but he wasn't an idiot. The blushing face told him everything he needed to know.

They "practiced" like this for a good period of time, but Izuku could never manage to hit a target. The closest he got to one of the targets that Momo hung up was probably three yards, but he admitted immediately after that it had been a complete accident. Even Katsuki was starting to get tired—he started putting his all into the AP Shot after he witnessed his eleventh one not even dent Izuku, and all he got for his efforts was Izuku's skin on his chest, where he was catching most of these shots, looking slightly sunburnt.

And even that started to fade almost instantly.

Katsuki hated to admit it, but it was a humbling experience. The next time they did this, he wanted to be stronger so that—as terrible as this sounded—he could actually hurt Izuku, primarily because watching one of his stronger attacks just bounce off of another person was just an ass experience.

Sometime after Momo finally stopped drooling over Izuku's shirtless form, they decided to call it a day. Izuku looked slightly frustrated since, try as he might, he never seemed to get the hang of aiming where the AP Shots were deflected towards.

When he confessed that to Momo and Katsuki as they were walking out of the training grounds, Katsuki scoffed, "So what? At least you've got protection from ranged attacks as you run in and beat 'em up in CQC."

"But if I can't aim where they got deflected, I might just end up causing more damage than was necessary," Izuku retorted.

"And? As long as you beat up the villain, what's the problem?"

"That's too simplistic of a way to think about it, Bakugo," Momo said, frowning.

Izuku nodded. "Momo's right. When you're acting as a hero, 'beating up' a villain isn't all there is to it. You've gotta think about negative externalities. We went over this in class, didn't we?"

They did, now that Katsuki thought about it. Something about taking care not to cause too much property damage and hurting the economy. Something about supply and demand. Good God, Katsuki was getting a headache just thinking about it.

"You're sounding like Mr. Four Eyes Goody Two Shoes," Katsuki grumbled. "Ay, speaking of him… where the fuck was Iida today?"

Tenya was strangely absent from class today. Given the type of student he was and seemed to be, Katsuki figured that even if he had a cold or was deathly ill, he'd show up to class in a mask anyways.

"Oh," Izuku said. "He texted me. He had to leave after we chose our hero names. He said he had some sort of family emergency."

Momo covered her mouth with a hand. "I hope everything is alright."

"I am a bit worried," Izuku admitted, pulling out his phone. "Iida is typically pretty on top of texting people back whenever he receives a text, but he's not responding to me."

He showed them his last text with Tenya: Is everything okay? You can talk to me about anything.

The read receipt indicated that it had been read yet ignored a few hours ago.

"Huh." Katsuki scratched his head. "Seems pretty out of character for the guy, but I don't know him that well."

"No, you're right, Bakugo," Momo said. "I'm actually pretty worried now. I'll text him myself."

Try as they might, they never got a response from Tenya.

.:.

"Hello, Aizawa. It's not often that you ask to see me in private."

Shota sat down in one of the conference room's chairs after checking and making sure that all the doors to the room were sealed shut. Toshinori took a seat after seeing Shota do the same.

"Well, what's the rush about?" Toshinori said goodnaturedly. "When you texted me I need to speak with you, immediately I got pretty worried, you know."

"The person you have chosen to be your successor… Izuku Midoriya," Shota started, "you've chosen well."

Toshinori blinked. "Oh. Well, thank you," he said, a bit bashful.

"This is what he said: I want to become a symbol that says, as long as I am standing, there is hope," Shota recited. "Amongst a couple of other things. His hero name is Unbreakable, by the way."

Toshinori was about to speak before Shota cut him off. "His dream, his goal, is to be the rank one hero. Toshinori, I'm going to be frank. Nothing good will come out of hiding the truth from Midoriya."

Toshinori's whole expression changed in that very instant.

"I am asking you—as his teacher, who believes in him, and as your friend, who doesn't want to see you suffer anymore—to tell him the truth," Shota said.

Toshinori deflated. "I… I can't."

"You can't, but you should and you must," Shota stressed.

"Aizawa, I don't know if telling him the truth will result in some irrevocable change—"

"Stop hiding behind that as an excuse," Shota demanded. "You said it yourself. Even if Izuku regains his memories, you believe that he will not stray to the path of evil. So then, Toshinori, what's the real reason that you don't want to tell him?"

Toshinori remained silent. Then, after a POOF, he emerged as his true self: a skinny, Quirkless man.

"I… I still want him to have his youth, his innocence," Toshinori admitted.

Shota bluntly said, "That's stupid and you know that."

Toshinori stared at the ground. "Ever since I met him that day, he's been training. I… I don't think he had any friends. He had no one to hang out with. Just me and that beach, and then, after that, the weight room. There was a girl, I think… but that's it. But now, in college, it looks like he's happy. Genuinely so."

"Toshinori. He forfeited his youth the moment he accepted your Quirk. His innocence has probably been shattered along with his youth. You care so desperately about things that don't exist anymore."

Shota's harsh words stunned Toshinori, but the dark-haired man did not relent. "Plus, you've had that conversation with him, have you not? The one about the people that he's killed?"

Toshinori nodded glumly.

"Then what difference does it make?"

"I just… don't want him to relive those memories again," Toshinori said.

"I read the same files that you did. They're not—"

"I didn't give you all of them," Toshinori admitted. "The things that they made him do… at such a young age… no one normal gets through that unscathed."

Shota frowned. After a while, he said, "How did he react to you telling him? About the people that he's killed at the U.S.J.?"

Toshinori stared down at the ground. "His initial response was this: so what if I kill them?"

Though he didn't show it outwardly, Shota had to admit that those six words shook him a little bit. He just couldn't imagine Izuku, who always seemed polite and kind in class, utter such a phrase. But then again, there had been the bodies—or, the remains of bodies that they recovered at the U.S.J. Those corpses spoke volumes about the brutality that Izuku was capable of committing.

But, still, his position on this didn't change. "All I can say is this. You may believe that you're protecting him by not telling him the truth, but I think you're just hurting him in the long run."

"The boy—"

"Toshinori," Shota cut in, "he's a man now."

Ah. The look on Toshinori's face said it all.

"Toshinori, forgive me for being this direct," Shota said slowly, "but…"

Shota looked Toshinori in the eye.

"You see him as your son, don't you?"

Toshinori said nothing, which, to Shota, was as good as a response in the affirmative.

"I'm not going to get into the dangers of doing so," Shota said, massaging his temples. A serious headache was coming on.

It made sense, really. Training such a young protege so personally for such a long time, anyone would get attached. And for Toshinori—All Might—who never could have a private life, never could get married or start a family of his own, it must've felt like he was raising a son.

Godammit, Shota thought. "You can't do this, Toshinori. Not to yourself or to Izuku. Babying him will do no one any good."

"I—I know," Toshinori said, looking more shriveled up than he usually did.

"You have to believe in him, Toshinori."

The blonde man stayed staring at the ground.

"Give me some time to think about it," he finally said.

"Fine," Shota relented. "But consider a scenario where he finds out about his past from a source that isn't you. A source with malicious intentions."

Toshinori's normally healthy complexion paled.

"You and I both agree that it wouldn't be pretty," Shota surmised. "He may even grow to resent you for hiding things."

Toshinori had nothing he could say to that.

Shota sighed. "Look. Those are just my thoughts. You can do whatever you want with them. I'm just stating my opinion."

"I…" Toshinori seemed very, very tired. "I appreciate that."

Without anything more to say, Shota let the conversation die out. The two sat there in a rather suffocating silence before Shota finally took his leave without another word. Toshinori watched him leave with tired eyes.

He had a lot of thinking to do.

.:.

Momo, having finished her classes for the day, was about to head to the dorms to take a shower when she spotted Shoto—or, more accurately, she was spotted by Shoto, and he beckoned her to walk towards him.

A bit curious since this was Shoto of all people, someone who rarely went out of his way to talk to other people, she followed him as he wordlessly led her to an abandoned classroom, shutting the door behind her.

"Operation Capture Izuku Midoriya's Heart and Make It Boing Boing Flutter status report," he instantly demanded.

Momo deadpanned, "Please don't call it that."

"How's the war effort going?"

"Better," Momo admitted. Then, she realized what Shoto was asking her for. "Todoroki. Has it even been a full day since we've had that talk?"

"No."

Momo resisted the urge to slap her forehead. "Then what is there even for me to report? I don't even know what to say—"

Oh. Wait, there was something.

"Actually, I do have something." Momo swallowed, preparing herself to say the words. "Izuku already has a girlfriend."

Just saying the words made her stomach drop.

"Oh," Shoto frowned.

An awkward silence stretched between the two.

"I'm not… surprised, or anything," Momo hastily said. "I mean, it's Izuku. Of course he'd already have a girlfriend."

Shoto remained silent. He honestly looked more crushed than Momo had initially felt when Mina told them about it yesterday.

"It's alright," she said in an attempt to soothe the boy. "I didn't like him that much anyways, and it was more of a celebrity crush than anything."

Well, that was one of the fattest lies she'd spat out in quite a while.

"So, really, don't be upset, Todoroki," Momo said. She smiled at him, strained, and then—

Wait, she thought. Why am I the one comforting him?

Time seemed to stop.

"What the hell am I doing…?" Momo groaned, covering her eyes with her palms.

Don't cry. Don't cry. Do not cry. How embarrassing would it be if she let the fact that Izuku already had a girlfriend make her cry? She was a fucking grown ass woman, for crying out loud. She was barely a teenager anymore.

A sluggish memory of her parents floated to the forefront of her consciousness. Kill the emotions.

Try as she might, the sinking feeling deep in the pit of her stomach wouldn't go away.

Shoto opened his mouth, and then, he shut it. He repeated this a few times, looking like a fish gasping for air. If Momo wasn't currently feeling so miserable, she would have chuckled at the face he was making.

Finally, he spoke. "I… am woefully under equipped and ignorant as to how I should respond to you right now. Sorry."

"No, don't be!" Momo shook her hands, letting out a terribly fake-sounding bark of laughter. "It wasn't anything serious, anyways. Just—a little crush."

Shoto studied her for a bit. His usually impassive eyes seemed to pierce right through her.

"I think even Midoriya would be able to tell that that was a lie," he observed.

Momo hung her head. "Yeah. My bad."

Shoto shook his head. "Don't be sorry. People often will tell themselves lies to save them from the truth, and when they start believing the lie, it becomes as good as reality to them."

Ouch. Having what she was trying to do laid bare before her like that stung a little bit.

"Well," Shoto began, "what are you going to do now?"

The query was unexpected, but Momo had an answer ready for him. "I won't give up. On Izuku."

Shoto stared at her, unspeaking, and it made her feel incredibly foolish and childish. In a desperate attempt to defend her words, she explained, "He's… my first… you know. I'm sure you've had a first crush, or a first love, right? I'm not ready to just give up like that, even if he does already have a girlfriend. That's pretty stupid of me, I know, but…"

She trailed off. Shoto still stared at her, impassive.

"You know what I'm talking about, right?" Momo asked. "That feeling of first love?"

"No."

Momo sighed. "Yeah, it's just unforgettable. It's so warm, and—wait. What?"

"I don't understand the feeling," Shoto said simply.

"B-But," Momo stammered, "I… I thought you said you were a hopeless romantic?"

"That was a joke," he dismissed. "This isn't. For as long as I've been alive, I've never had a first love. I've never had a first crush. I've never found anyone attractive. I just never have been interested in romance for myself."

Momo didn't know what to say to that bombshell of an announcement.

"You're… you're not trolling me right now, are you?"

"I'd tell you if I was trolling you," Shoto said seriously.

"You… you've never thought a girl was pretty before?"

"No." Shoto stroked his chin, reflecting. "I thought that I might have been gay, but I didn't find guys attractive, either. I guess I'm just not interested, or the right one hasn't come along yet. Like, I can find people objectively attractive, just not attractive to me personally."

Wow. "This is a lot," Momo said, unaware that she'd spoken her thoughts out loud.

"Sorry."

"No, don't apologize," Momo shook her head. "This means a lot to me. You're… actually opening up to me, and I appreciate it."

Shoto blinked. "I don't recall opening up to anyo—oh."

He shut his mouth, deep in contemplation.

"This is odd," Shoto ultimately relented. "First with Midoriya… now with Yaoyorozu…"

"Hm? What was that?" Momo asked, not quite catching the last bit.

"Nothing," the heterochromatic boy dismissed. "I was just thinking… I've made some pretty good friends after coming to U.A."

Momo let out a hmph sound, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, we're a team, aren't we?"

"I wasn't referring to you, and I thought that you didn't want us to be a team."

Momo leveled a half-serious, half-playful glare at him. Shoto raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Just promise me this, Todoroki," Momo started. "If you do find someone that you think is attractive to you, someone that you end up genuinely liking… I want to be the first person to know."

"Unlikely, but sure," Shoto responded.

She shrugged. "Well, you never know. Maybe the special one will come along one of these days."

Shoto's deadpan facial expression didn't change. "Yeah, maybe that'll happen when you finally end up getting with Midoriya."

"Hey," Momo said, smiling. The expression didn't reach her eyes. "What's that supposed to imply?"

Shoto looked away. "It is supposed to mean whatever you want it to mean."

Momo peered closer at his failing poker face.

"Are… are you laughing right now?"

"No."

.:.

The current rank seven hero, Rumi Usagiyama, stood at the main entrance to U.A. University's campus.

Although she was wearing the best disguise she could muster—thick, long hoodie to cover the slight bump of her tail and sunglasses—people still recognized her. She could tell from the way they began to circle around her, each one too nervous to go up and ask if it was actually her. Though, the two massive bunny ears on the side of her head, not coverable by any sort of headwear, surely gave it away.

Right as she was about to tell the onlookers to man up and get an autograph if they wanted one, she spotted Izuku jogging towards her. "R—mmmmmfphhh—"

In an instant, she'd closed the distance with a powerful kick from her legs and clamped a hand shut around Izuku's mouth. "Hero name in public," she whispered shortly before letting him go.

"M-My bad, Mirko," Izuku quickly apologized. Her name had been something she'd told him in confidence, and she wasn't like Endeavor, who everyone knew was Enji Todoroki. "Do you still remember U.A. from when you went here?"

There were some people whispering in the background, and it was starting to bug Rumi. "Hold on a sec," she told Izuku before raising her voice. "Before any of you start spreading rumors, I'm here to take my intern, Izuku Midoriya, with me out on a patrol. Before that, I'm heading to the teachers' offices to meet with All Might. Official business."

Her short, straight-to-the-point declaration was met by shocked faces. Before even one of the members from the crowd could say I thought Mirko didn't do internships, she looked at Izuku and said, "Of course I do." This school had been her alma mater, after all. "Race you there?"

Without waiting for an answer, Rumi took off. She didn't go at her top speed for Izuku's sake, but her consideration was rendered useless by a green blur overtaking her within a matter of seconds and speeding off, green electricity crackling behind him along with a… massive THUD sound.

Arriving shortly on the scene, she almost burst out laughing. Almost. Izuku had crashed head first into the concrete wall, leaving behind a human-sized crater. She looked at Izuku, who was lying on the ground, miraculously uninjured. That was… strange.

"I let you win that one," Rumi stated as evenly as possible to avoid coming off as a sore loser. Then, a bit concerned, she stepped closer and stuck out a hand, which Izuku gladly took and stood up. "Why the crash landing, though? And are you alright?"

Izuku blushed a furious shade of red. Embarrassed, he said, "Y-Yeah. You just took off and I didn't want to lose so I just gunned it without thinking about percentages, and I guess I must've gotten stronger or more used to my Quirk because I went way faster than I thought I would—"

Unable to understand, Rumi interrupted, "Hold on. Deep breaths. Then speak."

Izuku did as she instructed, taking three deep breaths. The embarrassed flush also dissipated from his face. "I misjudged the output of my Quirk."

"Okay," Rumi said, nodding. "We can work on that. But, first, let me hear what All Might has to say about your Quirk. Can you take me to his office?"

With a quick of course, Izuku led Rumi inside the office building. A few teachers that she recognized saw her and waved, giving short greetings. They were being awfully kind to her, especially considering the fact that she used to cause… just a tiny bit of trouble in her college years, especially early on. And, after what happened with her, she may or may not have went berserk for a period of time—

Rumi focused on the present. Now was not the time to think about those things.

They arrived at All Might's office and Izuku pulled out his phone, texting the hero. Within a minute, his phone buzzed, and Izuku made a surprised face. "Oh. Tosh—er, All Might wants to speak with you alone."

"Why?" Rumi said, a bit suspicious. "What does he have to say to me that you can't hear? This is about your Quirk, is it not?"

"Yeah," Izuku shrugged, "but he just wants me to run some errands for him while he talks with you. Probably won't be anything I don't know about, though. We're still figuring this Quirk out together."

With a quick goodbye, Izuku left. As he rounded the hallway and disappeared from sight, All Might opened the door with almost impeccable timing. He was wearing a suit that seemed to barely fit his bulging, muscular physique, and he invited her in with a: "Ah, Mirko. Please come in."

"Thanks, All Might." Rumi bowed her head slightly, an action she didn't perform often. But when the rank one hero comes to open the door for someone personally, it would be beyond disrespectful to not show gratitude.

The room was quite spacious, and she took a seat on one of the sofas surrounding a low table. The view was gorgeous as well, offering a clear view of the most beautiful parts of campus. As she sunk into the comfortable leather, All Might took a seat on the couch opposite of her.

"So," Rumi began, cutting right to the chase, "what's up with Izuku's Quirk?"

She could've sworn she saw some sweat drip down the side of his neck. "You have to swear that nothing leaves this room."

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Rumi said, letting some of her impatience show.

After fretting for some time, the man before her stilled. "Maybe it would just be easier to show you," All Might said, sighing.

"Show me?" Rumi parroted. "How would you show—"

With a pop, All Might suddenly became… skinny.

"What the fuck."

Mirko stood up, not believing the sight of a deflated All Might before her.

"What. The. Fuck?!"

All Might—the larger-than-life, burly superhero that possessed a godly physique—deflated. Literally fucking deflated. Nothing but skin, bones, and sunken eyes stared at her tiredly.

Quickly gathering her thoughts, Rumi quickly acted. "Are you alright?"

Before she could rush to All Might's side, the rank one hero stopped her by holding up one of his hands. "Yes, I am. Thank you for your concern." As Rumi slowly sat back down, he added, "I guess I should start from here…"

Clearing his throat, deflated—deflated!—All Might said, "The Quirk that I possessed was called One For All. It is a Quirk that possesses two unique capabilities: it stockpiles power and it can be transferred from one person to another."

"Okay…" Rumi said slowly, "but I'm failing to see how—wait."

"You probably guessed right," All Might told her. "It was transferred to me decades ago. And, a few years ago, I transferred it to Izuku Midoriya. That's why I haven't been active as a hero that much recently—I'm just fueled by the remnants of the Quirk. That muscular form you saw can only be maintained for a short period of time each day. I am, for all intents and purposes, Quirkless now."

Rumi remained silent for a while, attempting to process the bombshell that had just been dropped on her.

"So, what you're telling me is…" Rumi swallowed, an uncharacteristic amount of emotion making her voice thick, "the Symbol of Peace is no more."

"Not yet. I can function as the Symbol of Peace for a little more, but the day that I must hang up my mantle is approaching fast."

The loss that she felt was indescribable. Rumi liked to think that she had her shit together, but hearing all of this almost made her despair. Almost. All Might had just been an undefeatable pillar, a golden boy, for so long—she grew up hearing about All Might's exploits—that she couldn't imagine a world with him… gone.

"I'm sorry to hear about that," Rumi said quietly.

"Don't be," All Might said. "Instead, celebrate that I've given it to someone who will be even better than I: Izuku. You've witnessed his talent and the results of his hard work firsthand, correct?"

Hearing his name shook Rumi out of her funk, slightly. She was here to glean information about Izuku. "Yes, I have. So, you're telling me that Izuku now possesses the same Quirk that you used to have?"

"… yeah," All Might said, sounding awfully dodgy.

Rumi frowned. "Is that not it?"

All Might looked like he was carefully thinking about something, considering his options. "Mirko, I'm assuming that all I say right here will be repeated back to Izuku?"

The frown on Rumi's face deepened. "Of course. It's only natural that he and I communicate about these types of things if we want him to improve."

A thin line formed on All Might's lips. "Alright. The Quirk One For All is a stockpiling of power. That means, in addition to the boosts it gives to a person's strength and speed, it gives a person all of the Quirks that the previous wielders possessed. Since I was Quirkless, I didn't pass on a Quirk, but all of the previous wielders' Quirks were passed on to Izuku."

All Might held up one finger before Rumi could say anything. "The one that I know for sure that I've seen him manifest is Blackwhip. It's those tendrils of darkness that come out of his arms. He may have also manifested Danger Sense and Float subconsciously."

"Wait, wait, wait," Rumi said. "Let me get this straight. Besides One For All, he has the Quirks of the previous wielders as well? As in, like, Izuku basically has multiple Quirks within him and can use all of them?"

So this was what Izuku meant when he said that his Quirk had multiple facets to it and didn't know all of them. He just didn't know how to use some of these Quirks that fell under One For All Quirks.

"Well," All Might said, "he can't use all of them. I, for example, couldn't use a single one of the previous users' Quirks. We can attempt to teach him, but I'm unsure of what the results would be."

"Then we'll try," Rumi said, excited. "What are the One For All Quirks? Do you know them?"

"Yes, I know all of them except for the second user's," All Might responded. "Starting from my predecessor, it goes, Float, Smokescreen, Blackwhip, Danger Sense, and then Fa Jin."

"What do they do? Do you know?" Rumi asked, growing more and more excited. If Izuku could master all of these Quirks, he could become one of the most versatile—and strongest—heroes that ever lived, and she could have a hand in molding him. It felt like, truly, she was watching history in the making.

Make this shitty world better.

Her words—Kaina's words—still haunted Rumi, but at the same time, it served as fuel. Along with the guilt she felt over her death, it fueled Rumi to push herself to be better, to be stronger. Rumi knew, without a doubt, that helping Izuku, teaching him to be a real hero, might become one of the most meaningful contributions that she could make to society as a whole.

"I don't know much save for some vague descriptions—Float, though, I am closely acquainted with. That's the ability to levitate in midair." All Might had a wistful look on his face as he told Rumi this.

"So you're telling me Izuku can fucking fly."

All Might nodded. "I'm not sure what the applications are, but yes, he probably could if he can use the Quirk."

Rumi whistled. "Okay, gonna take a while to process that. Alright, what about Smokescreen?"

"The name describes it pretty aptly," All Might admitted. "The user can emit a large quantity of smoke at his location. Blackwhip I already explained, and Danger Sense is a perception Quirk that identifies potential threats around the user. Fa Jin is a bit… we don't have much information on that Quirk. All I know it does is something about kinetic energy."

Rumi stroked her chin, absorbing all of the information. "What about the one that makes him impervious to injuries? Or is that just a side effect of One For All?"

For a moment, a panicked expression crossed All Might's face. "What do you mean?" he asked in an effort to buy time. Rumi's instincts suggested something was off, but she toned down the knee jerk reaction to call All Might out on it. She'll ask him about it later.

"He has some type of resistance to physical damage, no?" Rumi asked, narrowing her eyes. "I saw it just a few minutes ago. He sprinted headfirst into a wall and came out all fine and dandy. Said something about misjudging output. Going at the speed he was at and crashing like that… there should, at the very least, be some blood. Not to mention a concussion."

"Misjudging output…?" All Might grimly said. "Did he say anything about percentages?"

"I think so," Rumi answered. "Does that mean anything?"

"I believe so," All Might sighed. Another thing that needed to be explained. "When Izuku first received One For All, he couldn't use it fully without breaking his bones. I mean that literally, by the way. So I had him start off using percentages of the overall power so that he could control it."

All Might paused for a moment to think before resuming:

"But, even then… I think that there were inconsistencies between how much he actually drew from the Quirk and what he thought he used."

"So is control an issue?" Rumi asked. "Because that can be worked on."

"Well… it is, but it's not just that." All Might grabbed his hair in frustration. "He has… additional Quirks that you need to watch out for that affect his usage of One For All."

The bunny girl tilted her head. "Well, he should have his original Quirk, yeah?" That much was obvious.

All Might remained silent.

Rumi waited for an answer to her question.

A few moments passed.

"What is his original Quirk, All Might?" Rumi asked in an attempt to restart the conversation.

A tense, awkward silence reigned.

Rumi stared at All Might, but he didn't return her gaze.

His brows were knit, fingers tightly clenched.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face.

"Look. Everything that you've said thus far sounds all nice and good on paper, but…" Rumi trailed off before suddenly snarling, "why the fuck does it feel like you're hiding something from me, All Might?"

"Mirko," he said weakly, "please promise me you won't repeat any part of what I say to Izuku."

"I can't promise you that, and I fail to see how that's relevant to our conversation," Rumi immediately fired back.

A complicated expression came over All Might's face. "Then I'm afraid I can't tell you."

A shocked silence.

"Is this a bad joke?" Rumi asked. Any feeling of loss that she experienced from hearing about All Might's impending retirement was being washed away by fury. "What bullshit is this?"

"Please," All Might said, a begging look in his eyes, "this is a conversation that I have to have with Izuku first. Then I—or he—can tell you about it. But, please, let me talk to the boy first."

"You're…" Rumi choked out, seeing red, "you're hiding something about his own Quirk from Izuku?"

"I—" All Might faltered. "I will have a conversation with Izuku soon."

Rumi remained silent for a while. She—she didn't know what to think. Her fury was blinding her, and she allowed it to wash over her in waves until it settled and she could actually see straight.

"I thought you were a better man than this," Rumi snarled. A part of the hurt stemmed from the shattering image of All Might that she had in her mind, and she wanted to lash out. "Please do something before my opinion of you gets worse, Number One."

All Might slowly met her furious gaze. "I will have that talk with young Izuku. You have my word."

Rumi huffed. "That doesn't mean jack shit until I hear it from Izuku himself that you've spoken to him."

"Fair,"All Might sighed. Then, in a quieter voice, he asked, "What are you going to tell Izuku the next time you see him?"

"The truth," Rumi said evenly in an effort to keep her temper in check. "That you're hiding something about his own Quirk from him."

All Might looked like he was severely regretting having this conversation with Rumi. "And I suppose that nothing I say can convince you out of doing that?"

"Yep."

Eyes downcast, he relented, "Fine. So be it."

A tense silence staled the air around them.

"Fuck,"Rumi cussed, unleashing a bit of frustration by cursing and bouncing her leg up and down.

She came here to learn about Izuku's Quirk, not leave with more questions than answers. That seemed to be a trend with the boy. Add to that the fact that Japan's greatest hero was hiding something—good reason or not be damned—from his own protege… the situation was just ass. Rumi knew that sometimes the truth could be more harmful than a lie, she wasn't an idiot, but still, the idea of lying just did not sit well with her.

And, if Rumi was being completely honest, she hated the idea of being left out of the loop.

"Look, I don't get where the hesitation is coming from," Rumi finally said. "It can't be that bad. Just tell him. Don't hide things from someone who—need I remind you?—is your own protege."

"I will," All Might said firmly, ending all further discourse on the subject matter.

Sensing that there was nothing further to be talked about, Rumi rose from her seat. All Might began to rise with her, but she kept him seated with a well-timed glare.

"Don't worry. I'll see myself out."

Seeing All Might like this—skinny, fragile, and the conversation she just had simply made her…

It made her feel pissed off.

.:.

Izuku followed Rumi as she wordlessly led him to a modest-looking gym on the outskirts of Mustafu.

Ever since he met back up with Rumi after her meeting with his mentor, she looked… angry. Okay, that might have been an understatement—the woman was furious. She didn't direct it towards Izuku, but it certainly reflected in her actions: a terse "follow me" was all Izuku got before she walked off. Her grit teeth and narrowed gaze discouraged any attempts Izuku wanted to make at conversation.

The meeting with All Might must have gone terribly wrong. That was the only feasible explanation.

They entered an elevator and Rumi clicked B3. As they started moving downwards, Rumi finally spoke. "You're allowed to talk, you know."

Izuku squeaked. "Y-You seemed upset, so I didn't wanna—"

"My bad," Rumi cut in, looking at Izuku. "I'm not mad—well, scratch that. I'm pretty pissed off, but not at you, so I won't unleash any of my frustration on you or anything." Her gaze visibly softened.

"Oh. Well, thanks," Izuku awkwardly said. "If you don't m-mind me asking, what made you so mad? Was it something that happened with All Might?"

"Yeah," Rumi said. A ding announced their arrival at their destination, and Izuku followed Rumi out. They were in a massive underground room with no notable features save for the fact that they seemed to be surrounded by solid concrete walls.

Rumi threw a look back at him. "He's hiding something about your own Quirk from you," she bluntly said.

Izuku tilted his head at her, confused. "He's hiding something about One For All?" Then, a bit panicked, he quickly added to make sure, "Wait, he told you about One For All, right?"

"He did," Rumi quickly said since it seemed like Izuku was about to have a panic attack over having said something he shouldn't have. "I meant your own Quirk."

"But I—wait, what?" Izuku looked perplexed. "Rumi, he didn't tell you that I was Quirkless before he gave me One For All?"

Rumi blinked.

"Huh?"

"Yeah," Izuku said a bit bashfully. "I… I didn't have a Quirk growing up. I was born Quirkless, you see."

That… that didn't make any sense. That didn't make any fucking sense.

"But now, I have more Quirks than I can possibly handle," Izuku continued, completely missing just how lost Rumi was. "Like Blackwhip," Here, he manifested a singular strand of dark energy and coiled it around his finger tips. "And Electromagneta and Chrono Force. They're—"

"Wait, wait." Rumi held up a hand. "Electromagneta? Chrono Force? What's that?"

"Oh, I see that he didn't tell you about the One For All-related Quirks. They're the Quirks of the previous users that have been passed along with One For All, like Blackwhip."

"No, no, no…" Rumi was starting to piece together what was going on. There was a fundamental gap in information that was presented to the two. "All Might said that the One For All Quirks were Blackwhip, Danger Sense, Fa Jin, Smokescreen, and, uh… Float, not Electromagneta or Chrono Force."

Izuku looked at her like he couldn't comprehend what she was talking about. For a slight moment, something dark within Izuku threatened to eat him whole. The doubts about the natures of some of his Quirks came roaring back. However, Izuku ignored them. He already made the decision to believe in All Might.

"But Toshinori said that Electromagneta and Chrono Force were One For All Quirks…" Izuku trailed off, tilting his head. "Ah, well, he probably just forgot. Electromagneta allows me to manipulate electrons and reverse charges, but it's limited to my body. Chrono Force allows me to 'freeze' parts of my body to handle higher outputs of One For All and to reverse any damage done to me. That's why, when I crashed into that wall earlier, I wasn't injured."

The way that Izuku easily explained All Might's slip made sense… but Rumi's instincts told her that there was something more to the picture. "He… made it sound like there was more to it."

"That's odd. Oh, well, he'll probably tell me about it sometime." Izuku smiled, but that action only served to fuel Rumi with anger.

He believes in All Might to that extent, Rumi bitterly thought, even if he doesn't deserve the trust.

It was kind of awe-inspiring to see that level of belief again. Rumi used to have the mental fortitude to believe in someone so blindly—she used to believe that she and Kaina could do anything together, after all. She used to believe that her mentor could get out of any hairy situation that they found themselves in. And what did her belief leave her with?

It left her with a burnt down building, a dead president of the Public Safety Commission, and…

And not even a body that Rumi could use to bury the woman who changed her life, who meant the world to her.

"You really believe in him, don't you?" Rumi asked.

"Yeah," Izuku replied. "I mean, I've been his number one fan for as long as I can remember."

Rumi hesitated—a rarity, nowadays—but nevertheless pressed on. "What… what if he's lying to you?"

The green-haired boy shrugged. "I guess… I'll just accept that he did. He probably has a good reason for it, and I won't waste any extraneous thoughts on the subject matter. It can't hurt you if you don't think about it. The last time I really thought deeply about something… if I didn't get advice from Himiko, I probably would have had a complete breakdown. So… I'd prefer to avoid thinking too deeply about something like that."

It seemed to Rumi that the boy had put All Might on such a high pedestal in his head that it would take a lot more than him lying to Izuku to tear him down from it. How nice it must have been to believe in someone to that extent.

"But that line of reasoning…" Rumi said, frowning, "it just sounds like you're running away from your problems rather than facing them."

"I'm a fast runner," Izuku countered.

Rumi's frown deepened. "I'm definitely no psych major, but that doesn't seem healthy. Running from your problems."

"You're right," Izuku admitted. "But I'm not strong enough yet to face them."

He turned to face Rumi and bowed deeply. "So, please teach me. Teach me how to be strong enough to face them, head on. Teach me about being a real hero—one who doesn't just save others, but one who can also save himself."

Fuck. When he put it that way, how could Rumi refuse?

.:.

At a nice, private beach, Tomura walked up to All For One, who was currently lying down in the sand underneath an umbrella.

"Sensei," he said simply, knowing full well that All For One had been tracking his movements the moment that he arrived on the beach. "How are you doing?"

"Ah, Tomura…" the man languidly murmured, not even bothering to look at him. "I was just checking up on our operations overseas when a sudden urge for the sun overcame me. Our lady friend with the good aim sends her regards. What brings you here?"

The sight was a strange one, Tomura had to admit. It wasn't everyday that you saw the Symbol of Fear without his iconic suit, yet here he was, basking in the sand wearing nothing but a black speedo. The older man's body was filled with an innumerable amount of scars, hard, rigid muscles bulging underneath gruesome-looking marks. Tomura had to wonder how he even survived some of the nastier-looking ones, especially the one that brutalized his face so much that the mess of scar tissue covered his eyes completely.

He'd actually told Tomura about that. When Tomura was younger and actually curious about the world, he asked his sensei why he didn't have eyes. The response was simple:

"That child All Might dragged my face through six blocks of solid concrete."

Shaking his head, Tomura prevented himself from revisiting any of his older memories. That was an ugly place that he didn't want to go to. "I'm here to discuss Izuku Midoriya's Quirks. I saw something strange at the sports festival the other day."

"Oh, yeah. That was happening." All For One didn't stir from his spot. "How did our Izuku perform?"

Tomura sighed. "You and I both know how he did."

"Well, I've only heard the results," All For One said. "I'm asking you this: how did he perform?"

Tomura swallowed, slightly regretting his earlier snarkiness. From now on, he'll be more direct in his approach. "Sensei, the files on him claim that he didn't have a strength-enhancing Quirk. Or an earthquake-inducing one. But he shattered whole ice walls with his bare fists and rattled the entire stadium by stomping his feet. And he had these… black strands of darkness…? "

All For One instantly sat up, rigid. Even though he didn't have eyes, he turned his face and looked at Tomura.

Oh.

Oh.

Tomura felt like he was drowning. He felt like he was at the bottom of the ocean, with billions of tons of water pressing down into him. The pressure was so great that Tomura couldn't breathe. Even with his own strength-enhancing Quirks, Tomura felt like an insignificant bug, no, a flea, underneath All For One's eyeless gaze.

As he struggled to stay conscious and even breathe, Tomura thought: so this was what it feels like when All For One actually concentrates on someone.

"Tell me more," All For One said simply.

1. Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows! We've officially breached 2k follows! I never could have imagined that this was going to happen when I started Unbreakable. Thank you so much!

2. The title of this chapter while I was working on it was "Mirko Loses Her Shit."

3. You might have recognized the name Kaina. She's the mentor-figure Mirko lost… or at least, thought she lost… ahah. Ahahahaha. If you aren't up-to-date on the manga and care about spoilers, I would advise against looking it up. Just wanted to point this out because I want to make it clear that this is not canon, and I said from the very first chapter that some characters will have altered backstories and thus behave differently. So please do not leave a review saying this is not canon!1! I know it's not. This whole story's premise is an AU. Constructive criticism is welcome, though.

4. Some of you probably noticed by now, but I just wanted to highlight that Izuku's coping mechanism—basically running away and never actually facing his problems—that's, uh… that's not the healthiest coping mechanism, and he'll have to face the consequences when his demons catch up to him one day. Ahaha.

5. The two All Might sections were fun to write. It makes sense to me that All Might would come to see Izuku as a son of sorts—I always had that impression from the anime, and I guess that, in this story, it makes even more sense that this happened because he spent more time training with Izuku. The two sections with Shota and Rumi basically serve to force All Might's hand. Expect a heavy conversation with Izuku coming up soon~

6. All For One in a speedo is an entertaining image to me.