He had only stayed at UA long enough to get his arm fixed, after that he left as calmly and quickly as he could.
He couldn't afford to have a life altering crisis on the steps of his dream school.
So after a quick text to his mom letting her know he was going for a walk, he headed into Mustafu, doing his best to keep the shake out of his hands as the rain drenched him;he walked aimlessly, without any real destination in mind, sending text after text pleading with All Might to meet him, all the while he let himself sort through his old/new memories.
He was Ena Midoriya, Captain of the Mustafu Special Reaction Unit, a former beat cop, one of the first Mutts to be allowed to call himself such, a first generation quirk user who'd been left abandoned at an orphanage after a lynch mob burned his family home to the ground with his parents in it. A husband, father, boss, friend to countless people who were now dead, whether from the rampage of All For One or the long march of time.
He was alone.
With a growl, he forced himself ahead, wiping his rain soaked hair out of his eyes. Looking around at the rundown neighborhood he found himself in, distrustful eyes staring at him from dark alleys and cracked windows, men and women in ratty clothes and hastily thrown on sweaters glared at him from around trash fires.
Izuku met their gaze each time, offering a sharp head bob up, making them look away.
He knew this neighborhood, and he wasn't surprised it hadn't changed.
His steps slowed as he passed a condemned two story building, a homeless man panhandling on it's steps.
Sitting outside on the curb, shivering from the cold as they waited for the police to comb through the building once again for a bomb threat, threadbare blankets and moth eaten sweaters staving off the winter chill.
"Only a little while long children!" the old matron promised them, bringing as many as she could into her lukewarm embrace, Izuku refused to budge from where he stood in front of everyone, at seven he was stronger then most adults, and he was staring down the cold-eyed civilians and the sneering police who did nothing but watch as only two patrolmen did the checks.
He could see scorch marks on the worn bricks above the windows, he wondered how long it took after his death for the purists to fire bomb the place, they'd always resented him after he put a stop to their harassments and attacks his first year as a beat cop.
He hoped the occupants had at least been able to escape.
He continued on, staring at an abandoned storefront that he knew had once been the only grocery store in the area, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was only under construction; dimly he hoped it was still under the ownership of the Changs, they had been a good family, and nice to everyone, Mutt and normie alike.
He came to a complete stop when he reached a destroyed building that sent chills down his side.
The three story building had a giant scar straight down the middle of the building face, rubble and debris still scattered about. The sign that had once proclaimed the building to be Mustafu Police Precinct 1 now only had the M-U-S-T barely hanging above the destroyed front entrance, faded and torn police tape and splintered, broken police barricades half-heartedly kept the public out.
With a grunt, Izuku vaulted over the barricade, carefully making his way over the rubble, his eyes flitting over half destroyed offices and hallways, dusty awards and pictures still hanging on the few walls that were still up right, showing long since passed officers and their families.
He was surprised to find the heavy metal door of the sallyport still standing, "Guess it's not too surprising," he mumbled to himself as he inspected the metal steel gray door, clean save for a heavy layer of dust. "Todoroki did come out the woodworks with the Tac team, probably survived the blast…" with a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, Izuku shoved his hand into the very thin gap between the door and the frame, his fingers slicing through the magnetically sealed lock easily, allowing him to roll the door open and slowly walk in to the four bay sally port, his surprise growing when he found everything inside mostly untouched, the armored vehicles that they'd so often rolled in were gone, as were their weapons and gear, but tools and bags lay strewn about, the dismantled body of a motorcycle sat in one of the bays, and Izuku ran his hand over the dust covered metal, "hey old girl." he whispered as memories of riding this cycle through the city on his rare day off flowed through his mind.
He also remembered the slender hands that had wrapped around his waist, laughing in his ear and urging him to go faster.
With a sad, fond sigh, Izuku continued on, heading towards a generator that he knew always had a gas can or two.
He'd need lights to see where he wanted to go.
True to his memory, there was a generator in a supply closet on the east side of the sallyport, three full gas cans beside it, he didn't check to see if they were good, opting to risk it, and the risk he took paid off as the generator shuttered to life after a flip of a switch, the floodlights above booming on and illuminating the building.
His ears pricked up when he heard the sound of a surprised squeak, he whirled around and stalked out of the supply room, eyes roaming the room for anything out of place.
His eyes zeroed in on footprints in the heavy dust, he couldn't tell where they lead, so he positioned himself in front of the exit, and focused.
Once again he unleashed the beast, the pressure filling the sallyport in an unbearing miasma, "you have three seconds to show yourself," he ordered, "one."
"W-wait!"
Izuku raised an eyebrow when a trail of footprints suddenly sprang up, running up to him, "H-hold on a second!" The voice was feminine, possibly around his age, maybe a little younger.
"Who are you?" he demanded to know, still on guard.
"I-I'm Hagakure Toru!" she said quickly, "I-I'm sorry for following you, but you looked kind of rough when you left UA-"
"You've been following me since UA?" he asked coldly.
"Only because you looked out of it dude! I thought you had a concussion or something!" she snapped, "and can you pull your quirk back a bit? It's seriously freaking me out!"
Izuku blinked, and let out a shaky sigh, pulling back on his power, "sorry…" he muttered, "i'm fine, so you can leave.' he turned away and started walking towards another bay. Searching around for something.
He jumped a bit when he heard her talking right next to him.
"What are you looking for?" she asked, giggling when she saw him jolt.
"Please don't do that." he sighed wearily, "my nerves are already frayed."
"Sorry, I can go put my clothes back on, but I'm curious what you're doing out here!"
"W-wait what?" Izuku spluttered, blushing as he watched the trail of dust she kicked up as she ran out the door, "don't think about it Ena, don't think about it." he whispered to himself, forcing his embarrassment down as he continued looking, grumbling when he had to go to another bay to keep searching.
"Alright! I'm back!"
Izuku looked up, raising an eyebrow when he saw a floating t-shirt and sweatpants, as well as black and white sneakers, "you didn't really need to come back." he said, looking back down at a metal door set in the ground.
"Of course I do! You're being really weird!" Hagakure exclaimed, "honestly! What teenager has a whole secret building!?"
"It's not mine…well, not technically." he sighed, feeling around the door until he found the groove on it, prying it open to reveal a keypad, "it's…hard to explain."
"Well try." she urged, looking over his shoulder, "how else would you know about all this stuff."
Izuku didn't say anything, instead he punched in a five digit code, with a schlunk! The door unlocked and Izuku hauled it open, revealing concrete stairs.
"And I'm guessing you're not going to tell me how you know the combination huh?"
"I don't tell secrets to people who stalk me." Izuku quipped, heading down the steps, Hagakure bouncing after him.
"I told you I was making sure you were okay! I was originally only going to follow you to your house to make sure you got home okay, but you came here instead!"
Izuku spared a glance back, then straight ahead, "I…I started remembering things…" he muttered, "things that never happened to me…it all came rushing in at the entrance exam along with my-" he stopped talking, stopping in the middle of the stairs, causing Hagakure to run into his back.
"Your what?" she asked, unphased by his sudden stop.
"With my quirk…' he finished quietly, continuing on.
"Your quirk? Your quirk…your quirk. Your quirk!?" Hagakure shouted, her confusion turning to realization, "There's no way-you're telling me your quirk came in today?"
"You're seeing my problem here right?" he asked with a slightly hysterical laugh, 'I've always had…small glimpses, memories that would pop up throughout my life, things I remember that I had no right remembering, but this? It's different." Finally they reached the bottom of the stairs, greeted by another metal door, "it all came rushing in….the majority of a life that I didn't live…and I needed somewhere to go to sort through it all." another five-digit code and the door slid open, lights almost immediately turning on to reveal a large room, stacked with equipment and weapons as well as work tables.
"What is this place?" she whispered in awe.
"It's a bug out room we made back when Quirks were just starting out," He said, walking further into the room, hands running over tools and personal items of his long gone team, "when we first got the licensing for using our quirks, we were sure that the Purist movement would try and revoke them as soon as they could, this here was where we'd go if we lost the right to legally use our quirks."
"You guys were just…ready to become criminals at a moment's notice?" she asked incredulously.
"Different times." He muttered, stopping at a familiar workstation, beretta's sat dismantled on a soft cloth, as gleaming and shiny as he remembered them, a display box sat next to them, ready for use. "When we kept the unit going for five years we converted this place to a private workshop where we could work with some vigilante's who were on the street.'
"Are those yours?" Hagakure asked in awe, and apparent fear.
"No," he said quietly, "these were the guns of a trusted friend, a vigilante named Ravager, he died on an op and we were planning on putting his Baretta's on display when…"
Ash and blood, a well dressed man-
"Until plans changed." he finished. Moving on.
Hagakure hummed as she moved off on her own, picking up a photo of a red-haired man standing stoically with a blue haired woman, "who are these two?" she asked, showing him the picture.
Izuku smiled, some tension bleeding out of his shoulders, "Haru Todoroki, Sergeant, worked under me, that's his wife Lyra, no last name, a sweatshop worker we saved during a drug bust, they met again a few years after the bust, hit it off…had a few kids if i remember correctly."
"Wow, sounds like one hell of a love story!"
"Yeah." he said, finally reaching his own work station, covered in old cases he worked on his off time as well as trophies he'd taken from crime scenes, calling cards and weapons of the villains he'd put away.
And on the back of a rolling chair, was a leather trench coat, worn and well cared for, with several stitches where he had to mend it.
"Surprise!"
Ena blinked in surprise, he was sitting in his old room, plain and spartan as he remembered, he himself was in his bed, bandaged up from his last fight that had gotten him his own precinct and special unit, as well as a promotion to Lieutenant.
She was sitting beside his bed, emerald eyes sparkling with happiness as she presented him with a leather trench coat as dark as her raven hair, "congratulations on your promotion." she gushed as he gently took the jacket from her hands, running his gauze covered fingers over the professional stitching.
"I know we're living paycheck to paycheck," she said, giving him a gentle smile as she put her hands over his, "but you've earned something nice Ena."
"Hey."
Izuku jumped a bit and looked to the floating clothes that were Hagakure, her voice soft with concern, "are you alright?"
"Um…yeah." he said, putting the jacket down. "Did you need something?"
"Not really, but I did have a question, all of this is from like…a bajillion years ago, right?" She asked.
"A hundred and twenty give or take, yeah. Why?"
"Well…why is all of this down here not covered in dust like it was upstairs.
Izuku's blood ran cold as he realized she was right, and then something else clicked in his mind, "my coat…my coat wasn't down here." he whispered, looking back to the coat, "i was wearing it when-"
And then they both heard the sound of someone punching a code into a door set in on the other side of the room.
Izuku quickly opened a drawer on the desk, pulling a .38 revolver, making sure it was loaded before aiming it at the door, Hagakure yelping as she jumped behind him.
"Why are you pulling a gun!?" She whispered fiercely, "Just do your quirk pressure thingy!"
"Using my quirk ." Izuku muttered, keeping his gun trained on the door as it finally cracked open, "Freeze! Don't move!" He ordered with all the authority being a police captain afforded him.
An old, gravelly laugh is what greeted him as an old man, stooped over with age, shuffled into the room, leaning on his cane. His hair was short, and almost pure white. He was wearing a button up tucked into blue jeans, the left arm sleeve tied off at his shoulder. "You don't need that Peashooter son, you're among friends."
"And how do I know that?" Izuku asked, refusing to lower the gun.
"Bravo 2."
His eyes narrowed as he lowered it, "Alpha 1" he responded, "you're not Haru."
"No I'm not." the old man confirmed, limping further into the room, sitting down on a nearby stool to give the two children some space, "though I'm surprised a descendant of Ena Midoriya would know who Haru Todoroki is, Much less the access codes to get in here, figured all of that was lost to you when Sana decided to distance herself from the life."
"I have my own ways of finding out information." He said.
"I'm sure…well! Let's start with some introductions. I'm Touma Todoroki, fifth son of Haru Todoroki."
"Touma…" Izuku muttered, a memory of a newborn baby with blue/red hair flitting through his mind, "Touma! You were-" he stopped himself, making Touma look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You shouldn't know me," he muttered, leaning forward, "in fact, you should be star-struck for meeting a Todoroki, so let's start getting some questions answered."
"He's a reincarnated soul!" Hagakure blurted, ignoring Izuku's furious glare, "he got ALL of his memories back during the entrance exam at UA and he came here to sort them out!"
Touma blinked, looking at Izuku, who popped his jaw as sighed, "Yes, she's right." he muttered tightly, "I'm Izuku MIdoriya…but I have the memories of my great grandfather, Ena Midoriya. I don't know how or why…all I know is that they're here now."
Touma stared at him, looking for any kind of deceit, "hmm, well, pops was always sure that you'd return somehow," he muttered, leaning back, 'didn't think he would be right."
"First time he's been right in over a hundred years." Izuku said dryly, making Touma chuckle. "You've been keeping this place going?"
"That I have," he confirmed, "pops never wanted to talk about what happened to you, my older siblings never brought you up, and the world at large had forgotten about you; but, when he'd get some drinks in him, late at night, he'd talk about you, it was painful for him, but he told me everything, after that I decided to keep this place running, keeping it clean, let a few trustworthy people run their early hero days out of this place, never knew why I was doing it, but now…" he looked at him again, appraising him, "Ena Midoriya…heh, you made All For Ones Asshole pucker at the mere mention of your name."
Izuku stiffened at the name, "All For One?" Hagakure questioned.
"A brutal tyrant." He grunted, "if there was a first supervillain, he was it, he kept Japan in turmoil during the early years of quirks, able to tear someone's quirk from them and gift it to another if he so chose, or to keep it for himself; he used this power to empower those who'd help him, and destroy those who stood in his path. He was a ghost for the most part, but there were always whispers, and there was evidence if you looked hard enough." he looked at Izuku, who was glaring down at his desk, fists clenched at his side, "every time he's stepped into the light it was to snuff out a particularly stubborn enemy. And there was only one that had the man hiding away for over five years before continuing his onslaught."
Toru turned and looked at Izuku, who's eyes were far away, "are you okay?" she asked.
His eyes shot to her, darting about in the general vicinity of her face before looking to Touma, "Is he dead?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper, shaking ever so slightly.
"I don't know," Touma admitted, "I was able to track him through the years, deter his movements here and there, feed the right intel to the right people. All of it came to a head five years ago, when All-Might faced him in battle at a Saitama Warehouse district. We don't know what the result of that battle was, and All-Might wouldn't talk."
Izuku grimaced, "I have to know." he muttered, pulling his phone out and glaring at it, "but he won't answer."
"You have a line to All-Might?" Touma asked, visibly impressed.
"No way! That's so cool!" Toru gushed, making Izuku sigh in realization that he'd just let another secret slip, he really was rattled.
"I do, but he's not answering." he grumbled, 'I've been messaging him since I got out of the infirmary."
"What have you been sending him?" Toru demanded to know.
"Just that we need to talk." Izuku sighed, letting himself fall back into the rolling chair. "Hard to say anything else, how do I even begin explaining this?"
"He knows the basics right?" Touma asked.
"Basically? Yeah." Izuku confirmed.
"Mhmm, let me see your phone."
WVWVW
Toshinori was glad they were only going over the first fifty candidates today, the process was fairly streamlined, but the faculty of UA still had to go through every single candidate to vote on their rescue points; Toshinori was only there to observe, not vote, but they still asked his opinion on a few students.
Currently the teachers were starting to pack up and leave, talking amicably amongst themselves, all of them looking forward to the weekend.
"Ah Yagi!" Nezu called cheerfully, walking across the table to stand in front of the skinny number one hero.
"Principal Nezu, Sir.' Yagi greeted, "thank you for letting me sit in on these decisions."
"But of course! You need to have first hand accounts of your future students after all, one in particular if I guessed right."
"You did," Toshi confirmed with a small smile, "I have no doubt he'll score first place."
His phone buzzed noisily against the table, making a few other teachers look over, "would this be him?" Nezu questioned, picking up the phone."
"Yeah, kids been calling me non-stop since he got done, probably worried about what he scored, he'll be fine sweating for a bit."
"You…may want to message him back." Nezu said, showing him the message that just came through.
We need to talk about All For One.
WVWVW
Izuku had set out on his own when All-Might told him to meet at the beach, Touma had offered to drive Tooru home, who gladly took it after wishing Izuku good luck.
Now Izuku was stepping onto the sands of Dagobah, his trenchcoat fluttering slightly in the wind. The moon slowly peaking out from behind the clouds.
"Who did this?"
Ena looked over at the flabbergasted Lieutenant who'd just been transfered to their precinct, currently they were looking over three blocks of what used to be a business area. Now nothing but rubble.
"We don't have a name." Ena muttered as he pulled his cigarettes, lighting one, "the underground whispers of him, a meta so strong he could lay waste to this city and still have enough in the tank to take on tokyo…we only know the Moniker the few unlucky souls who've met him knew him by…All For One."
"Young Midoriya?"
Izuku didn't flinch, nor did he look back at All-Might, who was fully transformed, entire body tense and ready for a fight.
"Tell me he's dead, Toshi."
"W-what?" All Might asked, slightly taken off guard.
"Tell me that bastard is dead." Izuku said again, "tell me that the man who slaughtered countless thousands, the man who taunted me for twenty long years and destroyed my precinct, who killed my friends, took MY LIFE." his words ended in a snarl, the sand beneath him kicking up from the excess power of his quirk as that ungodly pressure bore down on All Might, the Symbol of Peace, who felt a trickle of fear run down his spine as the boy finally turned around and met his mentors eyes, burning with power and righteous fury.
They were far older than he remembered.
"This-this has to do with your past life, the one you told me about." All Might began slowly, "you've remembered more."
"I've remembered everything." He said bluntly, "hurt like hell, I thought my head was gonna split open, and damn me if I didn't give it my best shot." He took a step forward, eyes pleading with All-Might, "tell me he's Dead Toshinori. Tell me you ended him and burned his putrid body."
All-might deflated, "our final fight he gave me this wound." He rasped, gesturing to his stomach, "and I splattered his head across the pavement, he's dead young Midoriya."
Ena let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as he fell to his knees, Toshinori quick to run to his side, worrying over the young former-captain as he tried to wave the hero off, "im fine." He rasped his voice shaking with a thousand emotions, "im fine…are you sure?"
"I buried his body where I killed him." All-Might reassured him, "he's gone Young Midoriya-or…are…are you someone else now?"
Izuku's laugh was slightly hysterical, "im me." He said plainly, "im both? It definitely doesn't feel like im a new person, im just…Toshi he murdered so many of my friends.." The grief he'd been holding in finally came crashing down; the memories of the men he lost combating that mens forces, the ones lost in that final attack, the ones who'd survived but that he'd never see again, the passage of time having claimed them.
Toshinori wrapped Izuku up in a hug as the sobbed. "Its alright, I'm here Izuku."
"I'm here."
WVWVW
Deep in the dark warehouses of Kamino Ward, an ancient evil stirred from his dreamless sleep. The aches and pains of his century of living slowly returning to the forefront of his mind along with his consciousness.
But another feeling came to the forefront of his mind, one he hadn't felt in almost eighty years, a niggling, squirming feeling that had plagued him for the few years he had to heal after one of his more brutal fights.
A name slowly came to him as he focused on this feeling, that feeling of dread and powerlessness that had haunted his dreams and required the dreamless sleep quirk he'd hunted down.
Ena Midoriya. He thought, trying to shake that cold feeling, he's dead. His only family is quirkless, he's no threat to me anymore.
His self-reassurance did nothing to squash that heavy feeling.
