Hello all! welcome to another /and the longest/ installment of All for Us!

I plan on trying to make the chapters as long as I feel they need to be, so if the length of the chapters vary, I blame my need to add in more details and more setup, or me just having fun writing it!

anyways! some questions are answered! some are left with more questions! and some are so vaguely answered that you just have to ask if they were even answered at all!

why?!

because I thought it was fun, mwhahaha!

Chapter 5.

Two months had passed since beginning his training with All Might, since the challenge the goddess issued and his meeting with Kendo for the first time. Two of those things had been going well, great even if he was to say so himself. The beach was being cleared at a reasonable rate, though he didn't really know if it was on schedule or not, All Might wouldn't say. While his version of the workout routine had all the times and amount of exercise he needed to do, All Might's had the additional information of just how much beach, percentage wise, they were to do per week. His attempt at peaking via the goddess ended with a short laugh and a 'figure it out for yourself!~' before disappearing, again.

Speaking of the goddess.

His attempts at figuring out the second aspect of his newly gained quirk were slow going, if not outright stagnant. When questioned about the second aspect of her power she had granted him, the goddess would shake her head, proclaiming how it wouldn't be much of a challenge if she just outright told him the answers. His own experiments on the matter had yielded little results either, attempts at projecting the power out in a visible way were met with headaches, while physical contact with someone only left him a stuttering mess if it wasn't his mother. A kiss on the cheek not unlike the youthful heroine Recovery Girl did not heal, nor did it drain and give him their vitality in any sort of way. His only breakthrough on the power was on a particularly warm day where his mother had worn a short-sleeved shirt when hugging him on his way out the door for training, all five of his fingers had made contact with the bare skin of her arm, causing his stomach to rapidly grow queasy as the result. While it wasn't a full realization of what he could do, it was at least something to work with.

With having at least figured out something about the secondary aspect, he then turned his full attention on the main aspect of her power, his healing factor.

It was easy enough to borrow one of his mother's kitchen knives and hide it away in his room, rarely did she check his closet that overflowed with mostly All Might memorabilia. He would wait until he could hear the faint sounds of her snoring through their thin walls, with knife in hand he would sneak into the bathroom, climbing into the tub just as to not make any mess. He knew from minor accidents at the beach that the blood would absorb back into his skin, but it was better to be safer on the off chance any of it didn't, his mother would absolutely freak. Though, he supposed she would be freaking out now had she realized that he was cutting himself to test out his 'quirk'. It was under the watchful eye of the goddess that he made small incisions on various parts of his body, they would sting, his eyes tearing up as the smooth edge of the knife ran through the soft flesh of his arms, of his thighs, his stomach. He was slow in his movements, almost as if he a painter working on the finer details of a painting, or a doctor taking his time, knowing that single misstep would cost him the patients life.

The results were mostly the same through various tests. Surface level cuts with minor amounts of bleeding would stitch themselves back together almost immediately, while larger, deeper cuts where he swore he saw the beginnings of bone would take a moment, ranging from ten to twenty seconds, to finish the healing process. Comparing it to the slime villain incident, where his chest had caved in and began flooding his lungs with blood before healing had kicked in, and he had a decent base to go off of. While not as powerful as say, old comic book heroes from the pre-quirk era, it was still an incredibly strong healing factor by today's more modern standards. Though that begged the question, just what were its limits? Was he immune to diseases? Could he die from cancer? The goddess was of life and death, did that mean he could heal any injury? Could he heal a lost limb? Could he survive without his heart? His brain?

Did his regeneration go as far as to heal his dying cells, and thus make him immortal to the passage of time?

I could probably ask the goddess, the challenge was about the second power, not the first, so she's more likely to answer. . . Right?

You're correct in believing my regeneration abilities were not part of the challenge, however, I also believe it to be more fun for you to discover your abilities by yourself! Make you work for your power to make it your own! Gifting my vessels the outright knowledge of my power without proper development on their own has led to. . . Unsavory results in the past, if you get what I mean.

To a degree he could see how that could be a problem, how past users of her powers growing stagnant in their abilities would be harmful rather than helpful, though her unwillingness to tell him stuff was also a problem. If he did not know the limits of her abilities, of his abilities, how was he supposed to plan for his future as a hero? If he could still succumb to death even with regeneration, would it not be important to know what could kill him? What absolute limit the power could or could not have? Would a simple knife to the throat kill him if it ran all the way through?

I . . . I need to know my limits, not only for my notes, but for my future career as well.

It wouldn't be all that hard of a test, to turn the knife around to plunge into his throat. It would hurt, his arm muscles would hesitate as natural instincts would scream that it was a bad idea, yet they would eventually relent to his will, to his test. There would be no scarring, no blood left behind, almost as if it never happened. It would be easy, it would be in the name of research, it would be finishing what had started had he not been interrupted on the rooftop.

the knife twisted around in his fingers to point back at him, its blade already adorning a thin coat of his own blood from his various tests these past few nights. He held his arms out in front of him, the knife pointed slightly downwards as he used the mirror to aim slightly left of center mass, towards one of the jugular veins. If his theory was right, he would heal, he would be fine, if it wasn't. . . he wouldn't need to worry about being wrong. He took a deep breath, counting to ten within his head before his eyes shut and the knife rushed forwards.

A knock at the bathroom door stopped the blade, its tip tickling his throat, whispering in sweet temptation to just take the plunge, to let it drink his rich life blood like fine wine.

Another knock at the door, this time accompanied by the voice of his mother.

"Izuku? Are you in there?"

"I-I am mom! Just needed to use the bathroom!"

"Oh, alright. . ."

His breath was held as he waited for the sounds of her shuffling off back to bed, it was harder to hear than he thought with his heart pounding away like drums in his ears. Had he not the forethought to lock the door, he'd have been caught with a bloody knife in his throat. His mother would've likely screamed, cried, and called the police in some semblance of that order, or possibly faint from shock.

The knife felt heavier in his hands than normal, one by one his fingers let go, letting the knife fall harmlessly onto his lap. His hands went up, to brush a stray strand of hair out of his eyes, they came back doused in his own sweat. He took a moment to wipe his hand on the side of his pajama shirt- one All Might themed button up with short sleeves, and released the breath he had taken minutes prior in a panic.

.

.

.

Wait, what?!

His eyes widened at the realization of just how long he had been holding his breath, that shouldn't have been possible, should it?

My best time last year for holding my breath was somewhere around thirty seconds, and even then, that would burn my lungs whenever I tried. Did regeneration keep me from feeling it? How? Simply regenerating the dying cells wouldn't have stopped the pain, nor would it have stopped me from slipping unconscious. . . Is the goddess awake?

Your questions are best saved for the morning, Izuku. When your mind is sound and your will unshaken, I promise questions will be answered.

But why? Why help me now and not earlier?

Truly? I did not expect your tests to go this far. Had I not stopped your arms, nor your mother intervened, then it is likely that your throat would be sporting a new, unexplained scar come morning.

Scar? But none of the other wounds left scars, is it because it's a lot more grievous wound?

Close, but not quite~ while my regeneration will heal all wounds, those that have a higher chance of killing you will leave a permanent scar. The knife to your throat would heal, just as any of the other cuts, but a scar would heal in place of the normally healthy skin. The only exception to this would be damage to the brain.

So in other words, I can heal from any wound that isn't to the arguably most important organ in my body? The one organ where it would be extremely helpful if it could heal from any amount of damage?

The brain is a series of interconnected pathways that store, process, and run various aspects of the body both physically and mentally. Even if I were to memorize your pathways specifically, there is little chance that I could repair it back to the state it was before its destruction. I'm a goddess dear child, there are some things that not even we can do. Now, go get some sleep you sarcastic vessel, you have school tomorrow.

It was at the reminder of school in the morning did his body express its desire with a long, drawn-out yawn. Though, with its timing he couldn't quite tell if it was natural or if the goddess was just punctuating her point with it.

Probably a little bit of columns A and B if he were to guess.

Quietly he crept out of the tub, slowly maneuvering his body so as to not make any overly loud noises on the hollow porcelain as he climbed out onto the towel laden floor. He took his notebook, his latest in the hero analysis entries, and winced as he took notice of the smeared blood on the cover. He would have to find a way to wash that off without damaging it, wouldn't he? With a shake of his head and a mental note to clean it in the morning, Izuku flushed the toilet off to his right before making his way out into the hallway of their apartment.

Sleep didn't come easy to him as he crawled back under his All Might themed covers, his thoughts lingering on what he was about to do, about to go through with, in the tub of his own home. If he hadn't thought he could heal, would he have gone through with it? With any of his tests at all? True, it was all in the name of his newfound abilities, but that shouldn't excuse the ease in which he found it to cut his own flesh, to attempt running a knife through his throat. In any other circumstance, he would be afraid, far too worried about how his mother would react to his injuries; and yet, there in the bathroom when he held the knife, when talking to his mom through the door, he was still tempted to pull the knife closer.

I'm sorry Izuku! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

Izuku shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind of those thoughts, to a degree he was successful, enough so as to close his eyes in another attempt to drift off to sleep. If he was to finally get answers to at least some of the questions about his newfound powers, he would need all the rest he could get, especially if school and training were awaiting him, if Bakugo and Itsuka were waiting for him too.

/./././

Waking up some, handful of hours later from an alarm that wouldn't stop screaming wasn't exactly the best experience, at least in his young but humble opinion. His All Might themed alarm clock had started its loud parroting of his catchphrase some four hours after he managed to drift off to slumber, by no means a refreshing amount of hours after the events of the previous night. His morning routine was a bit of a struggle, everything being a tad bit heavier than usual as his arms voiced their sore complaints at doing more than just rest. He was able to power through it easily enough, even managing to coax a stray bee to its freedom out the window after it flew in from the bathroom, his mother likely opening the window in there at some point after he fell asleep to let it in. He ate breakfast, some two slices of toast and an egg scrambled into small chunks, in relative silence; His mother having left him some time ago for one of her jobs, he was pretty sure it was assisted home care physician today.

Goddess. . . What specifically is the first power I was gifted by you?

Three questions, one in the early hours of the day, one under the mid-afternoon sun, and one as dusk settled over japan, it was all he was informed he could ask that day. Three questions in which she had to answer in honest truth, and could not refuse regardless of circumstance, though she did make it clear if he ruined their game she wouldn't be pleased. When asked about why she would answer them at different times, she pointed a finger at him, directly between his eyes.

Because you have a tendency to think out loud when posed with a question, when that happens you tend to ask multiple questions at once before arriving to your final conclusion. With your questions spaced out? Now you have to be careful, least I answer the wrong one~

In a way he could see her reasoning behind it, to try and resolve his stutter and nervous mumbles by having something worthwhile on the metaphorical line. Though, he really didn't see how that would really help him aside from putting an unnecessary amount of pressure on him to not screw up.

Sure, have him talk to girls or just people in general to have him overcome his stutter, he could see that working, if not being extremely nerve wracking.

Having say, the cure to cancer one slip of the tongue away from being forever out of his grasp? Yeah, that was just a tad bit much on the ol' pressure scale in his mind.

His thoughts had lingered on the possible questions he could ask as he made his way down to the beach. Did he want the specifics of regeneration? Its weaknesses? How many other powers would he receive? Were their limits on her abilities to help him? What did it truly mean to be a vessel? There were more, hundreds more questions he could have possibly asked, but ultimately, he had decided on the first. If he knew the inner workings of Regeneration, of its possible limits and disadvantages such as the scars, he could focus more of his time on figuring out the second power gifted to him. There had to be more to it than just nausea upon five fingered skin contact with someone after all.

He was able to see All Might's white pickup truck in the distance as he closed in on the beach, the skeletal man nowhere to be seen, likely already on the sandy shores waiting for him and Kendo to arrive. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the goddess appear, her bare feet floating some handful of inches just above the pavement. Her smile was the most prominent feature, as it stretched wider than he thought the human mouth possible.

An excellent first question, my dear Vessel! As you're already aware to in some degree, Regeneration utilizes your bodies vitality in order to rapidly repair and regrow your bodies damaged tissues. Its response time relies not only on how much energy you have to spare, but also on the bodies pain receptors! It's not perfect, hardly anything is, for it is unable to fully repair damaged brain tissues. To my immediate knowledge, it should also protect you from the minority of diseases- those pesky things like bubonic plague or that thing that eats your flesh, stuff that destroys your bodily tissues, you know?

So, my theory was partially correct, while it won't stave off the common cold or the flu, it'll keep me protected from the worst of what could develop, wait- would that also include parasites?

Yup! So at least you won't have to worry about dying from those!. . . Just from anything else that could possibly bypass my regeneration. That being said. In the unlikely circumstance where you've exhausted regeneration and are still continuing to get injured, I shall consciously take control and try to mitigate the damage as much as possible.

She appeared in front of him within the blink of an eye, he jumped back, while she pointed an accusatory finger at his chest.

But that doesn't give you permission to injure yourself as much as possible, understand? Regeneration has its limits, I have my limits, your body has its limits. And I'll be damned if my vacation is cut short because you went and did something stupid. Got it?

The rapid nodding of his head had the goddess before him smiling ever so slightly. His eyebrow rose as her grin widened considerably without warning, with a wink she disappeared, letting him walk face first into Kendo's surprisingly well toned back. From the corner of the orangette's left eye she stared back at him, only for him to go bowing down at a near perfect ninety-degree angle. Completely missing the confused look on her face as she fully turned around.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I wasn't paying attention!"

"Uh- Midoriya? You don't have you apologize, least not so formally like that, you know?"

The way her eyes scrunched up the tiniest amount at the edges as she smiled sent blood rushing to his face, it was that, or being bent down so close to a girl wearing just short shorts and a plain black crop top that showed a healthy amount of her stomach.

It was fine though, hopefully she wouldn't have noticed the blush with the colour draining from his face as the goddess appeared behind her, the wicked smile still present on her face.

Another fun little fact about regeneration is how my Vessels are bestowed the boon of hyper fertility as well~ Life goddess and all that jazz, you know?

Yeah

Kendo probably noticed his blush now.

/./././

The whispers began as soon as he walked through the door to the classroom.

"Don't look now, the hero wannabe just entered"

"Do you think Bakugo's finally gonna explode at Deku today? He's been oddly quiet lately"

"Did you hear? That vigilante Knuckleduster died!"

He paused on the way to his desk at the last hushed bit of conversation he was able to hear, Knuckleduster had died? When?! How?! More importantly, why wasn't it circulating the hero news boards he had subscribed to?!

His hands dove into his pockets as he fished around for his phone, finding the cellular device on his left he quickly tore it free from its fabric prison. His fingers flew across the screen to unlock it, pulling up the first search engine he could see before typing in the quirkless vigilante's name.

"Yeah, I heard he was found close to the scene of an active bank robbery"

He clicked onto the first link that popped up, updated some hour or two ago, his eyes flashed to the picture, of the man with the majority of his face obscured by a black bandana who stared back at the camera.

"They suspect someone with a kind of disintegrating quirk- Half the guy's body was gone!"

His eyes lingered on the image of the man's disinterested face, of the enlarged image that showed nothing below his waist. They roamed over the text below, of the police statement given by those who found the body, and that of the last person he had saved- a woman clerk from the bank. The reporter noted her distress when writing down her statement, no doubt distraught over the fact her savior was killed moment after her rescue. His eyes narrowed by just a fraction as he read further down the news article, of how the piles of dust around the vigilante matched with not only his DNA, but that of a handful of other people. It went on to compare the mystery murder to an as of yet unsolved case close to a decade old, one where an entire family had been discovered killed, all save for the son of the couple that had died.

Was it the same person, the same villain? Was it their associates robbing the bank and he decided on payback for ruining the heist?

"They think the villain was wearing perfume too, there were a ton of dead bees!"

Why was the villain wearing perfume? Was it apart of their quirk? If that was the case, was it probably some form of gas secreted from their pores or their mouth? Doubtful, otherwise the surrounding buildings and pavement likely would've been disintegrated as well; Unless it was a gas that only affected organic matter- which would make sense then. If the bees had died during combat they would have dusted as well, but afterwards when its affects weren't as strong, it could have just left them dying or dead already.

Before he could dwell much further on the vigilante's death, a shoulder shoved its way into his back, he stumbled forwards- nearly dropping his phone in the process, before turning around to stare into the furious eyes of one Katsuki Bakugo.

"Out of my way, Nerd."

"S-sorry Kacchan!"

His eyes narrowed at his slip of the tongue, years of calling the blonde bomber the nickname having ingrained it as normal way of greeting him, and subsequently pissing off the exploding teen. Surprisngly, the ashen-blonde only scowled before moving past the viridianette, moving to take his seat in class just in front of his own.

Oh, right, he was in school and class was seconds away from starting, he should probably go take his seat, shouldn't he?

It didn't take long for the teacher to arrive, to begin droning on about a subject in math they had already covered a previous class or two ago. Nobody said a word to correct him on his error, the silent agreement amongst the students for an easy class in full effect. Normally, he would be the one to correct the teacher, to garter the classes collective ire in exchange for more knowledge- as why would he care if everyone who already hated him continued to do so? He remained silent this time around, unable to bring himself to correct the teacher this time, as he wrote wall after wall of text down in his hero analysis notebook- one volume number #14. His own newfound "quirk" and its usage was surely more important than a new math class, right? Right.

A hero costume he had to design at some point as well, one that he had to submit to U.A before he tried out for their exam in order for them to complete before classes started. Though, that posed the question on just how they were able to do that if they didn't know who was supposed to pass, did they construct all the costumes and scrap the ones who didn't pass? How did they afford the materials for that? What happens if they scrap the wrong one? Where did they store them all?

The sound of a bell broke his train of thoughts, he blinked, a quick glance around at his classmates showed many of them already in the middle of leaving the classroom. His eyes immediately went to the space just above the door, to the analog clock that proclaimed to all that the time had just shifted to twelve O' one pm. Lunch? What?

You've been lost in your thoughts for awhile now, mg dear Vessel. Why, you didn't even notice when the teacher had switched from math to history. But that's beside the point, have you thought of your second question for me?

Ignoring the startling /and somewhat concerning/ fact that he somehow got lost in his own thoughts for a handful of hours, he did in fact have his next question prepared. He gently closed his notebook, stuffing it back into his bag before he stood in order to make his way out the classroom.

How many abilities am I to be gifted by you?

Another good question! I have no idea!

He stumbled, nearly tripping over nothing at the cheerfulness of her tone, a quick apologetic glance to the girl who's desk he nearly landed on had him rush out the classroom doors at high speeds. Down the hall and to his left were the stairs that lead to the rooftop, his save haven during the lunch period from Bakugo and his goons.

What do you mean you don't know?!

The amount of gifts a Vessel is given isn't reliant on me, but by our compatibility. My previous vessels in which their soul resonated with my own, have had upwards of ten to twenty abilities of mine! For all I know I'm only able to gift you the two, or subsequently I could be able to gift you fifteen. We won't fully know until I've fully adjusted to your body. Though rest assured that the lowest amount of gifts I've been able to give has only ever been three.

That, made sense in a way, and didn't at the same time. On one hand he could understand that the amount of abilities he might be able to get would be reliant on the bond shared between the two, of how compatible their souls supposedly would be. But how could she not know how many she could give?! Hasn't she had two months in order to adjust to him being her vessel?!

The passage of time is relative, while its been two months for you, hardly any time has passed at all for me!

Ah, that made more sense then, she was a goddess after all. According to most religions those have a tendency to either live forever, or at the very least a long time. The concept of time likely lost the majority of its meaning when days begin to blur and years pass within the blink of an eye.

At least he managed to sort of get an answer to his question, a third gift, a third "quirk" was at least guaranteed at some point in the future.

It was something to put thought into as he opened the door that led to the rooftop, something he could probably get an idea for while eating his lunch.

Hopefully he wouldn't miss the bell to return to class.

Another chapter! some important information, some not so important! and a whole bunch of random things that may or may not have importance in the future!

isn't it just exciting?!

next chapter! either July 26th or July 27th