God–
"How?"
–he was tired.
Midoriya Izuku had never been this physically or mentally exhausted in his short sixteen years of life.
He hadn't felt this tired when he trained for nine months to get into U.A. Or during the preparation he had done for the sports festival. Or when he tried to invent full cowl by jumping of the sides of buildings at night.
Or during the summer camb training. Or nighteye's training.
Or the immense amount of time he spent in trying to add blackwhip and the other five quirks he got later on. ( He remembered the despair he felt when he realized there were more quirks. One For All was already hard to master but now he needed to learn six more?)
Or when he left U.A. and did vigilante work for 2 months straight, he wasn't this tired.
Even crossing the ocean to get to the main fight didn't tire him.
But this? This situation? Needless to say everything before that was nothing like this.
"What will you do now, Midoriya Izuku?"
He simply stared blankly ahead without replying. It was like he wasn't even there.
When he arrived at the fortress, Shigaraki was barely even damaged, yet their own forces were decimated. No one but Lemillion was left. Alive but not unscathed.
The rest? Unconscious and therefore unavailable.
Yet he joined the fight, and Shigaraki couldn't touch him. It was a simple fight. The man-chold may have been powerful but he was inexperienced. He lacked the know-how and strategic thinking to fight with power like that. Izuku can't blame. If you can simply turn a grown man to dust why bother? Of course he knew that Eraserhead and Neito were the reason for such an outcome so he tried his best to wrap things up as fast as possible.
And he did.
Then All For One came with vengeance.
He fought him too, and this time there was no help from the Erazure quirk. He was worried that something happened to them but didn't let it distract him.
The fight was even more dangerous than the one with Shigaraki.
Izuku couldn't help but think that it was expected. Shigaraki only had his physical strength amped up by the doctor, and his quirks were rendered obsolete. But even if he had them, he wouldn't be able to do what his master could.
Fast. Deadly precise. Skillful at using multiple quirks at once and without losing any momentum could best describe All for one.
It wasn't something that was taught, but something that came from living that long.
Experience.
At some point he had even acquired decay, so he couldn't fight him in close range without losing a limb, so he used float whenever the decay spread towards his feet from where he stood and blackwhip for attack, defence, and controlling the flow of the battle.
None of it made him tired. He knew deep down that he just had to win this, and it would all be worth it even if he had to stay bedridden for months.
So when he finally landed a clean Faux 100 smash into the Demon Lord's face and disoriented him enough, he didn't hesitate to sacrifice his left hand for a full powered One For All and Fajin punch that almost collapsed the fortress they stood in.
Or so he thought.
The dust revealed no body beneath, only a wisp of purple smoke left after the devastating punch.
He knew what this was.
"That was quite dangerous, don't you think?"
That voice!
He snapped his head to the side, fierce determination burning through his being.
But when he caught sight of his opponent, his will turned to mush.
"No..." Izuku couldn't help but whisper in growing despair.
Held within the grasp of the now quickly recovering Shigaraki, pinky raised up, was his friend and childhood friend, Ochaco, and Bakugo.
While dozens of earthen spikes twisted and sharp blood floated around five of his classmates, held captive by All for One while Kurogiri stood beside him in subservience.
Todoroki, Hawks, Tokoyami, Asui, Neito, And Aizawa.
A Hostage situation.
His legs grew weak and he collapsed, falling to his knees as he could do nothing but watch.
No matter how much power he held now, there was nothing he could do.
He couldn't charge in recklessly with fear for his friends life. Even if he won and someone, even one person died here…..
He would never be able to forgive himself.
Midoriya Izuku was exhausted beyond words. A tiredness that clung tightly to him like a cool blanket. What could he do now?
Even if he could force them back, he couldn't save everyone at once. With one of his arm busted, reducing his control of how many blackwhips he use, Izuku knew he wouldn't be able to save them all.
One or two would remain regardless of what he did.
With that realisation came several things.
Self-hatred for being weak. For destroying an arm so early on. For getting arrogant and thinking that it was the end.
Despair at being as useless as always.
And while he would never admit it, he felt small hate at them for getting caught.
There was no acceptance. He would never accept such a thing.
Any plans made were discarded and remade, his mind running a mile a minute to search for any possible loophole he could exploit, any possible way he could use his quirks he hadn't thought of before. A way, anything that could save everyone!
And his prayers got answered.
The world seemed to freeze. No air, no sound, nothing. He tried moving but realised that he couldn't. In fear, his eyes snapped towards All for One and Shigaraki, yet they seemed to be in a similar situation as him.
No, looking closely, their eyes were frozen too, which meant they couldn't see what was happening.
Like time froz–
The thought was lost to him as the air between him and All For One twisted in on itself, then reset, and with it came forth an oppressive presence.
It was so powerful, alien, and oppressive that he had no doubt that if he was still standing, he would kneel without a doubt. The thought filled him with unending dread.
Similar to a black hole and spherical in shape, it had two light blue rings that curved around a sphere that burned in blue fire, each ring turning in different directions as the air around it vibrated at a maddening frequency. It blew heavy winds at each turn, each gust releasing a blast of dark blue miasma and fire, not burning as if it felt cool to touch, yet Midoriya knew it could be dangerous if it wanted to. Danger sense wasn't needed to realise that.
Then he heard it, like the devil it whispered to him and promised him anything as long as he did one thing.
He took a deep breath, any tension that could be seen in his eyes calming as he let it out.
If he said no to whatever this was, it would leave as quietly as it had come, yet the situation with Bakugo and the others wouldn't change. It simply left him where he started. The ninth knew that if he rejected it, the possibility of help coming was close to none.
Yet if they did come, what could they do? Here he was, the only contender against All for one left helpless in such a situation. He wasn't being arrogant, but he knew if they came, it would simply increase the number of watchers, and the possibility of another hostage would be possible.
He thought that he would never let such a thing happen. Not again.
Yet if he accepted, Bakugo and the others would be safe. But he would be giving his soul to whatever this thing was.
He laughed. It wasn't even worth a thought.
"If it means that I can save everyone, then….I accept".
As the word left his lips, the black hole like thing seemed to buzz to life, sending out several thin strands of blue energy that attached themselves to his form.
They stretched as they went, disconnecting and creating more and more lines as they spread until they covered him in his all.
Something seemed to grasp at his heart, no, his very soul and squeezed, before it stabbed right into it, an action that would have left him in screaming madness at the pain he felt, yet alas, he couldn't move so he could only squeeze his eyes shut, tears of pain and loss trailing down his cheeks.
Tears that would be forever unseen.
It continued unimpeded, as if unknowing or uncaring of his suffering, branding and painting itself in his heart and soul in its foulness, the light blue tendrils now covering his body till they reached his eyes.
Izuku felt sick.
But he pushed all those thoughts to the back of his mind as the black hole, seemingly content with its action, disconnected before vanishing like it once came.
The world unfroze, All for one speaking as if unknowing of the events that just took place, yet he wasn't hearing him.
He was unclenching and clenching, testing his once busted arm, gazing downwards as he felt the renewed vigour of his body and the now blooming hope Izuku thought he had lost.
He gazed at All for one as he trailed off lost words, frame tense and serious as he turned to signal tomura. Yet it was too late.
He would save everyone, even if he had to damn himself.
Izuku still wondered if he would accept that deal if he knew what the future held.