This one-shot is based off of Mataras's MHA fanfiction, "Your Hero Academia!" If you haven't read it, this story might not make sense. Regardless, I hope you enjoy!
"Even so, why don't we take this chance to start over, you and I?" Tomura Shigaraki offered, giving his enemy pause. "I've lost a great deal today, as have you. If we combine what's left of our resources and learnt to cooperate with each other, we could bring the Liberation Front and the heroes together in order to create a truly peaceful and just society, one where labels like 'hero' and 'villain' can be nothing more than abstract concepts. It's obvious by now that quirk you stole has no intention of submitting to me- but that doesn't mean that I can't help you put its power to a proper use. With All For One and One For All combined, our power would be unmatched in all the world- a world that we can make however we please. Think of it- no more suffering, no more death like we've seen today. It's a world full of many destinies of our choosing." He paused before extending a hand and adding, "Come, join my comrades and me."
Eri's answer was swift as the lightning coming from her body, which erupted into a frenzy as she said, "I desire one, noble destiny! That's worth far more than any power you could ever offer me!"
Shigaraki's countenance darkened before he snarled, "Then you've chosen doom!" He leaped forward, the lightning reflecting off his body as he reached out to grab Eri by the head, only to be stopped dead in the air by her seizing his arm and holding him in place with a flinty expression on her face.
"I'm going to rewind you until there's nothing left," she told him fiercely. "Even your regeneration abilities won't be enough to stop my quirk when it's combined with One For All."
"True, but I suggest you look more carefully at your target before you act next time," Shigaraki said before he dissolved into mud in her grip, startling her as she felt someone grab her cape from behind. "I've found that Twice wasted a fair number of opportunities like this one during that time he refused to make doubles of himself. Either way, you're done!"
She could feel death coming for her, now. It wasn't just a concept that she would be forced to reconcile with when the moment came anymore; the time had come. As it descended upon her, she feared it, as all humans do at their core. And in that moment, she could only act based upon that fear. There was no plan, no clever technique that could get her out of this. The only thing she could do was react.
"Help me!" she screamed as she turned and threw her body weight against Shigaraki, sending them both tumbling to the ground, whereupon Eri felt the power inside of her respond to her terror and desperation.
But before the power let loose from her body, she heard something that, in all her years living on the earth, she had never heard before.
It started quietly at first during her tumble with Shigaraki, but it soon grew louder and louder in between the seconds. A wheezing groan filled the air, almost as if it was some sort of siren or alarm.
Hitting the ground with Shigaraki close beside her, she blinked in dizziness as she tried to reorient herself to her surroundings. It took less than a few seconds, but there was something in front of her that she was confident wasn't there moments before - a large blue box.
In the span of five seconds, she had gone from ferocity in her desire to end Shigaraki, to pure fear of death from the villain's decay, to complete confusion as to why a large blue box had appeared in front of her in the middle of a forest when everything and everyone else was either dead or dying.
Before she could voice her confusions, a door that she didn't notice on the blue box swung open, and out ran a figure who quickly tried to pull Eri to her feet. "Come on! Up you get, We've got no time to dawdle!"
Fear and adrenaline still flooded her system from moments before. Terrified, she flailed and tried to punch the man. "Let go of me!"
Shigaraki was getting back to his feet as Eri tumbled again, this time with the man that appeared as if from nowhere, through the doors of the odd blue box. Putting aside his confusion at the appearance of this strange object, his anger and determination remained unwavering. "Do you really think you can escape from me," he asked, approaching the box.
The man sprang to his feet, hand gripping the door handle. Before he closed the door, he popped his head out and said "First time for everything!" Before slamming the door in Shigaraki's face.
The villain snarled. He didn't know who the man was or how he and his box had gotten here, but he knew that Eri, and more importantly One for All, was inside. He killed every hero in the nation, or every one that mattered to him anyways. What was a tiny blue box in his path of destruction?
Gripping the handle, he tried to wrench the door open.
But…to his great surprise, the door wouldn't budge. Not only would the door not budge, it showed no signs of his Decay.
That was impossible. Nothing, not even the earth itself, could withstand his quirk, let alone be immune to it entirely!
He tried again, and again, but even with his enhanced super-strength he could not make the door so much as crack open!
Then the noise started again: A groaning, wheezing sound that was unmistakably coming from the box. And before Shigaraki's very eyes, it started to slowly but surely disappear.
"No…no!" He growled low at first, but he repeated the word as the box became more and more transparent. Shigaraki pounded on the doors with his enhanced strength, hoping to break them open, but to no avail, until the box vanished entirely and Shigaraki was facing nothing but air.
Realizing exactly what he lost, he lurched his head back and let out a guttural roar into the sky.
Despite all that Shigaraki and his forces had taken that day: Todoroki, Bakugo, even that nuisance Akarui, Shigaraki had lost One for All and its new wielder.
Eri fell onto something that didn't feel like the dirt of the forest, but something that felt cold and smooth. The man she had attacked had already sprung to his feet. She heard him shout something, then she heard the immediate slam of the door and the man running past her.
The unreleased power of her quirk and the chaos from mere moments ago made her jump up, and it was then that she finally realized where she was. Or more accurately, where she was not:
Eri was NOT in the forest outside of Shigaraki's base. She didn't smell burnt ash or the iron smell of blood. Instead she smelled dusty books, machine oil, and…was that peppermint?
The room she was in was large, as large as a small house. While there were a lot of details to take in; The lights on the walls, the various buttons and switches of various devices, and even 3 rotating rings on the ceiling like some imitation of a chandelier, the most important thing was the massive center console and the man who was running around it like a maniac, flipping switches and pressing buttons.
Before Eri could say anything, the room shook as if an earthquake was happening, causing her to stumble and catch the railing next to her before she could fall a third time. The man stumbled a bit, but never lost his footing. "Oh well someone is NOT a happy camper!" He spoke with an accent that Eri hadn't heard before. As she regained her footing, the man continued to run around the console, muttering to himself rather loudly.
"Just a twist here and a pull there, where to go, where to go…Away! That's a good idea, let's go away!" As quickly as he spoke, he turned to Eri mid-lever flipping. "Have you ever been on a rollercoaster? Well, this is like that but with fewer rails and more timey-wimey twists, so HANG ON!" He spoke quickly in one sentence, never giving Eri a chance to respond or even register what he was saying. A…rollercoaster?
Just as she was formulating the word, one last flip of the switch and the room shook even harder than it did before, making Eri grip the railing for dear life as that same wheezing and groaning filled her ears. She screwed her eyes shut, realizing that she had simply traded the chaos with Shigaraki for the chaos with this…this madman!
A second passed, and then five more. And then the shaking stopped. "Are you alright, then?"
Eri peeked through one of her eyes. The man had finally stopped running and was looking intently at a screen that hung off of the center console. "Sorry about the rough entrance. A bit of touch and go if I'm being honest, but there is only so much time to prepare when you're sending out a signal as powerful as a star." he spun the screen around with a flourish, and Eri was finally able to get a good look at her…savior?
The man was, in a word, raggety. The man before her, his chestnut hair in disarray, seemed to defy the very concept of order. His attire, a curious mishmash of tweed jacket and suspenders, was nonsensical, but at the same time it seemed stylish to Eri.
"What-" She was about to ask, before she cried out. She could still feel her quirk's raw power stored up within her, unreleased. Eri wanted to let it all out, but some part of her told her that if she did that now in this place, things would be very bad very quickly.
The man adjusted his bow tie as he quickly made his way to the young heroine, pulling something small out of his tweed jacket. He pointed it at her, swishing it this way and that as it let out a high pitched hum with a green light. The man flicked it up, studying it for a millisecond before his eyes widened slightly, something that worried Eri considering that the man's eyes were nothing but wide in the minute or two that she knew him.
"Well that's new," He said, seemingly to himself. He pointed the object again at her, saying "I have no idea if this will work on you, but-"
"No, it's fine…It's fine…" Eri said through slow pants. Closing her eyes again, she focused carefully on dulling her Rewind. It had taken her years to master just using the power itself, but she was at a point where she could 'deactivate' her quirk at will. Granted with the new superpower of One for All, it took a few minutes longer than normal to suppress that much raw power, but she soon felt both the adrenaline and the quirk fade away and out of her system.
"Ohhhhh that's good! That's very very good!" The man before her stated, a wide childish grin on his face. "Now then," He continued, clapping his hands together. "Where were we…?
Were were they…actually, now that everything had calmed down, where WERE they? And more importantly-
"Where's Shigaraki?" Eri asked, panic in her voice. She may not have known where they were now, but the villain couldn't have been far behind. They were trying to get away, she was going to kill him by rewinding him out of existence, and…
…She remembered Akarui's lifeless body behind him.
She had to go back. She had to end him before things got worse.
Eri spun around and immediately bolted for the door
"No, no! Don't do that, you're going to-" She ignored the man as she practically tore open the door, ready to run back out into the forest-
-Only to be met with nothing underneath her, and a black void ahead of her.
Eri let out scream as she tried to regain her footing. Thankfully before she fell out into nothing, she felt a hand grip her cape and pull her back in the room.
Once she regained her balance, Eri looked outside of the room's door and saw why she almost fell. They weren't in a forest outside of Shigaraki's base anymore, and she wasn't in a black void of nothing either.
She could see a massive big blue, white, and green ball hanging in midair straight ahead of her. Actually, midair would be the wrong word. She saw the earth sitting silently in space. All around her was the night sky, stars twinkling off in the distance, with the sun's light bearing down on the planet's surface below, as well as the surface of the moon that she could see a little to her left.
Eri was speechless. She was adrift in space.
"Yea, it's a lot to take in, I know." The man behind her said, a bit slower than the hyperactive speed he was using earlier. "So-"
"Who are you?" Eri cut the man off, shutting the door and turning around. "Who are you and where am I?"
The man's eyes lit up once again. "Ah, where are my manners? I'm the Doctor, and this is the TARDIS, and the TARDIS is in space! You're in a spaceship, I don't believe you've been on a spaceship before. Have you? Where we at, time-wise?" The newly-named Doctor pulled out a pocket watch from his jacket and peered at it closely. "I know we're at genetic deviations, but I don't think we're at space travel yet." He clicked the watch shut and looked back up to Eri. "Right! You haven't been on a spaceship yet! And for our purposes, it's the best getaway spaceship the galaxy has ever seen!"
Eri's mind was still reeling and the Doctor's literal fast-talking didn't help her understand. A spaceship? How could they be in a spaceship? But…how else could she explain the sight that was right outside of those doors?
A couple of pings rang in the air which made the Doctor snap his fingers and run back to the center console. "Sorry about you almost falling into space, I really should have chosen somewhere more specific, but you can only be so fast when a homicidal disintegrating supervillain is literally banging down your doors.
Eri slowly walked towards the Doctor and the center of the room. "...Doctor? Is that your hero name?"
The Doctor looked up. "Hero what now? My Hero name?" Before the Doctor could respond a blue light started flashing on the console. "Oh but would you look at that! I have an incredible idea, I think it's time for a delicious breakfast! And I know the owner of one of the best breakfast houses in the entire galaxy!" With a press of a button, the blinking stopped and that wheezing and groaning noise returned.
Eri blinked. "…Breakfast?" She was taken aback, but starting to bubble up under the surface was anger. "After everything that's happened, how can you be thinking about breakfast at a time like this?!" Everyone she knew and loved had just been killed in front of her, and they were talking about breakfast?
The Doctor ran past her towards the doors. "Especially after everything that's happened! You just escaped certain death at the hands of a lunatic, and if I had to guess you also had a couple run-ins with his associates before him. I'd be surprised if you weren't hungry!" A rumble escaped from Eri's stomach, almost as if it heard and wanted to prove his point.
Eri blushed in embarrassment, and it caused a lot of her anger to die down, albeit it wasn't gone completely.
"But before we get to that, is it alright if I ask your name?"
"I'm-" at first she debated with telling her the man, the Doctor, her real name. But she still knew little to nothing about this man, and Bakugo would have probably called her an idiot for giving her name so haphazardly. "…Lamillion."
"Lamillion?" The Doctor repeated. "Bit of a mouthful isn't it? Lamillion, Lamillion." He said it more than once, extending certain parts and saying it in certain octaves like a child who had learned a word for the first time.
The Doctor soon stopped and smiled. "Now then," He said, opening the door. And without missing a beat, he walked out. But to Eri's surprise, he didn't walk out into empty space like she almost had. Instead he walked out onto fresh grass with the sun shining in the room. Eri hadn't felt anything, so how fast was the Doctor's spaceship?
Walking outside, Eri was met with a sight that she genuinely never thought she would see:
They weren't in a forest like before, but a park with trees dotting the area around her. In the distance Eri could also see buildings, intact buildings. Some were tall skyscrapers, some were small houses. She could hear the birds singing and people chatting. Instead of being fearful for their lives, Eri could see one person out in a jog, a young couple were sitting at a table watching something on a laptop, and a group of children were throwing a frisbee between each other.
It was life. Peaceful, ordinary life.
"Where…where are we?" She asked quietly. Eri hadn't ever left japan, but she was confident that there was nowhere on earth that didn't have a care in the world like this place. Shigaraki and his connections to the criminal world had overtaken everywhere civilization existed, so where was she?
The Doctor spread his arms out and spun around like a child. "London, 2012! A wonderful little spot in space and time, and one that I always like to go back to!"
London? But London was practically a wasteland from what she heard from Bakugo. It was-
The Doctor's words finally registered with her. Not that they were in London, but that they were in London of 2012. That wasn't possible, 2012 was years and years ago. Centuries even.
Her surprise must have been obvious to the Doctor because he spoke again: "Ah, I forgot to mention didn't I? The TARDIS isn't just a spaceship, it's a Time Machine! Time and space all rolled up into one!"
The TARDIS…the massive spaceship that she just stepped out of…was also a Time Machine?!
Eri whirled around, expecting to see a massive hull of steel behind her, only to see the same blue box that appeared before her and Shigaraki. Now that she had a better look at it, she could clearly see tinted windows and words across the top that read "Police Public Call Box."
…where was the spaceship? Didn't she just walk out of it?
The gears turning in her head, Eri swiftly walked back to the box and opened the door, and inside was the massive room that she was in minutes before. She hadn't paid any attention in all the chaos, but there was no way.
She walked a few steps inside, taking in the massive room of technology surrounding her, then stepped outside and gazed at the blue box. The box that was pathetically small in comparison to the room that it held. In absolute wonder, she walked around the box once, as if she was missing some kind of visible room or design that she didn't see before, but it was exactly as it appeared.
Her walk turned into a run as she circled the box a second time. Nothing different. She ran into the box again, the same room remained unchanged. She ran back out, leaving the door open so that she could clearly see the paradoxical room in all its expanse nestled within the small box.
"Any passing remarks?" The Doctor spoke behind her, his voice filled with a certain pride. "I've heard them all."
Eri turned to face him. After seeing the earth from space, she was convinced that nothing else could surprise her today, and here she was with the most surprising man and box in the world. And the Doctor was right: she DID have a passing remark, and it was, surprisingly enough, one that the Doctor himself hadn't ever heard before.
"Akarui would have a FIELD DAY with that box-"
The thought of her brilliant friend reminded her of exactly what had become of him. A mangled and bloody mess, being tossed on the ground by Shigaraki. His beaten face and Shigaraki's dark look still etched in her mind as she was reminded of exactly what she was: The only survivor.
Eri slowly walked back as the world blurred around her, and she shakily leaned on the TARDIS for support. The Doctor, glee disappearing from his face, ran over and lightly gripped her shoulders. "Hey…hey. Look at me."
It took a moment, but Eri could see again. When she saw the Doctor's face, she saw a smile on his face. Not one of happiness, but it was one she knew well; it was a smile that people wore when they were trying to let others know it was ok. It was a smile that Eri had seen too many times on people who shouldn't have worn it.
"Come on," the Doctor told her. "I promised a delicious breakfast."
It was only a few minute's walk or so to the cafe the Doctor had chosen. It was one that had a great view of the park, as well as a nice view of the rest of London. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was quaint. Quiet. Wonderful.
Eri had never eaten at a cafe before. Not during her time with Chisaki for…obvious reasons, and there wasn't any time during her short time with UA after her rescue from the Shie Hassaikai. When Kai died and Shigaraki came to power, the last thing on her mind was going out to a cafe, if any had still existed. But now, sitting down outside under beautiful weather with a hot chocolate and a plate of eggs, hash browns, and bacon in front of her, she realized something that she never knew about herself:
Eri absolutely loved cafes.
As soon as she had her first bite of food and her first sip of hot chocolate, she was in bliss. She hadn't had anything like this since before the war with Shigaraki. She had forgotten what breakfast, good breakfast, tasted like.
"It's a good place, yea?" The Doctor asked, as he sat across from her at the table. He also had food, but it was…well, something that Eri didn't think would be tasty.
As the Doctor dipped another fish finger into his custard, he continued to talk. "Lovely place, know the owners. They were a couple of denizens from the Delta Islands on Silgala. Curious place, wonderful planet. The language is a bit difficult because half of their words have different meanings. But other than that, wonderful conversationalists!"
Taking another sip of her hot chocolate, Eri was curious. "They're from another planet?"
"Of course they are! You talked to them yourself! One of them's our waiter, you know!"
"But…they look like people."
"They ARE people!" He noticed Eri's confused look. "Oh you meant- well, there are people across the galaxy that have different forms and appearances but a lot of them have the same general humanoid shape, give or take." He took a bite of his fish finger in between breaths. "When I first saw you, I thought YOU were Sigalan."
Eri tilted her head quizzically. "I'm sorry?"
The Doctor just tapped the table with the hand that WASN'T holding a fish finger. "When our waiter comes back, look at them, and I mean really look at them." And the man just left it at that.
Eri bit down on a piece of bacon, downing the strip of crispy meat as she thought of a question that nagged at her ever since she met the Doctor. "Doctor? Can I ask you something?" She picked up her mug, cupping it in her hands and letting the heat from the drink flow through her. "…how did you find me? And why did you save me?"
The Doctor stopped eating mid-chew. He looked to the side, out towards the park and the people walking though it, playing with each other, simply going on walks. "Well, you needed help. You called out for help, and I heard you."
"How?" Eri pressed. "Are you telling me that you can hear anyone through space? Through time? Where were you when Shigaraki murdered innocents? Where were you when the last of the resistance was killed? Where were you when Kai-" she stopped. While Eri was talking she didn't realize that her voice was steadily rising and getting louder, or that she was talking just as fast as the Doctor did.
She looked down at her food, avoiding the Doctor's gaze. She had just met the man, and she was already expecting him to save everyone and make everything better, and she had no idea why.
"Lamillion. Listen to me." Eri looked back up, and all traces of the Doctor's carefree look was gone. All she could see on his face was the look of someone with.a strong resolve. "I promise you: I will help you."
He sat back in his chair, His face softened, but not back to his energetic self. It was more of a thoughtful look, as if the Doctor was trying to figure something out in his head. "The TARDIS, it picked up a massive surge of energy, but not just any energy, Lamillion: Time. Powerful and pure time. As if the TARDIS itself were there." He leaned in, squinting and studying Eri as if she were some obscure art piece or strange puzzle. "I know a lot about your time; the formation of quirks, the beginning of heroes and villains, even certain events in your time. Don't ask, I'm a time traveler. But you…what is your quirk?"
Eri was hesitant at first, but she slowly, surely started describing her quirk to the Doctor. About how she could rewind people and objects. About how she couldn't control it when she was a little girl, but has since learned how to. She left out One for All; simply due to it still being a major secret to all except herself, its predecessors and their companions, and, well…Shigaraki and the entirety of his army.
When she finished explaining her quirk, the Doctor's eyes widened once again. "Rewind…The potential power of a one-way TARDIS. Strong to be sure, but based on what you're saying it shouldn't be that strong unless-" Realization dawned on his face as he paused, but he continued his train of thought just as fast: "You have One for All, don't you?"
Eri was taken aback. "How do you know about-"
"I'm the Doctor, Lamillion, and a time traveler." He leaned forward in his seat. "I've seen the beginning and the end of time, and I've seen the creation of quirks. I know about One for All and its counterpart, and I've been trying to find a way to circumvent a fixed point in time. All of a sudden I get a call for help that takes the form of enough time energy to create a small star, it's not that hard." The Doctor spoke fast, faster than he had before, so half of the things he said went completely over Eri's head. He leaned back in his seat, shaking his head. "In that case it's a good thing I came when I did."
"What do you mean?"
"Based on what you told me, had I not intervened, you would have unleashed your supercharged quirk. With how much time energy you were radiating, there's a very good chance you would have rewound a bit more than you could chew." He started making motions with his hand like a professor giving a lecture. "You would have traveled back in time, but you wouldn't have traveled back in time!"
Eri blinked. "That…doesn't make sense, Doctor."
The Doctor sighed in exasperation. "Your quirk, rewind, with the power that it had, would have rewound the entire planet. Everything would have gone back in time. I don't know how far, but it's not the same as going back in time, say, with a time machine. Only the earth would change; everything else, You, the Universe, would have stayed exactly the same. You would cause the earth itself to go back in time while the rest of the universe kept moving forward." The Doctor had a manic panic in his voice, the more he explained. "It would have been like moving a clock hand backwards when every other mechanism of the clock wants to keep going the right way: Doing something like that on that magnitude would make a paradox so devastatingly massive that it would have cracked time itself."
As soon as he finished, he gasped for air from how long he took without taking a breath. He took a few breaths, regaining his composure. "Do you understand?"
"...Sorry Doctor, but no."
"That's ok, what's important is that it didn't happen." He gave a goofy smile and two thumbs up to Eri. "That's the long version of the 'how' of saving you. As for the 'why-' I already told you. You needed help."
Eri's head was still spinning from the long winded explanation the Doctor gave her before, but there was still one last thing on her mind. "Doctor, please let me use your time machine. There's…there's someone that I need to save."
"You're referring to Kai right?" Eri nodded. His eyes shifted this way and that. "Errrrr…I can't."
Silence fell between the two of them. The only thing that could be heard was the general conversation of people in the park and the clink of silverware of the cafe's other patrons. "You…can't…" Eri said slowly.
The Doctor folded his hands together. "I think I mentioned a fixed point in time earlier, did I mention a fixed point in time? Well, Kai dying on Nabu Island is just that." Eri didn't say anything. She didn't need to ask what he was talking about, and the Doctor knew she expected an elaboration. "As a time traveler, history CAN be rewritten…at some points. But other points? They need to happen. Otherwise time and reality will be completely destroyed. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the birth of the internet, the publishing of the E.T. video game…" The Doctor shuddered at that one, despite Eri not knowing what he was referring to. "...And in our case, the death of Kurai Hikari."
"I-" She wanted to argue. Say that rules could be changed. That they could go beyond what was possible, but something made her stop. And then the Doctor said something that made her heart shatter:
"Someone close to me tried to change a fixed point once before. And it resulted in the entirety of reality nearly imploding on itself. The only reason we're here having breakfast is because we went back to that point and let it play out like it was supposed to."
When he finished explaining, something broke inside Eri. When she realized that she had the possibility of time travel at her fingertips, something inside her clung to the hope that she could save the one person that she couldn't save. The one who could save everyone that she failed to save in her own time. But the Doctor's words…they stole away the one hope she had.
"Are we enjoying everything so far?" A new voice spoke. Eri turned to look at who was speaking to see the middle-aged waiter who served them. She simply nodded.
"Yes! Thank you very much, Jasden!" The Doctor happily said. It was astounding to Eri just how quickly the Doctor's demeanor could change on a dime. "In fact, I didn't mention this, but this is Lamillion's first time at your fine establishment!"
"Oh is that so?" The waiter looked Eri in the eyes, a pleasant smile on his face. "Well, I hope you have enjoyed yourself. And, forgive me for asking, but…" the waiter paused for a moment. "You aren't…Silgalan, are you?"
"Erm…no?"
The waiter frowned. "Oh…well, I thought- ah, never mind." His sincere smile quickly returned. "Anyways, I hope you enjoy yourselves." He then directed his attention to the Doctor. "It's always wonderful to see you again, Doctor."
During this entire conversation, there was something that was nagging Eri in the back of her mind but she couldn't place it until she remembered what the Doctor had told her earlier: 'Look at them, and I mean REALLY look at them.' And that's when she saw them: On the young man's head were two little bumps. Bumps that looked like her own horn when it was in its smallest state.
She could do nothing but stare as the waiter walked away, talking to customers at another table. As Eri observed him, thoughtful, a young boy no older than five ran with a ball under his arm, tugging at the waiter's pant leg.
Another thought occurred to Eri. "Doctor…You said they were from outer space? Did you bring them here?"
"Well, I didn't bring them here, so much as I helped them here. You know how it is: Stranded in space, close to the moon, needed a lift, et cetera. Besides, they aren't the only non-earthers that inhabit this planet, do you really think they're the first?"
So the Doctor helped them. They knew the Doctor. The Doctor…
Something else occurred to Eri. "Doctor, you never answered my question earlier."
"Sorry? What question?"
"Why are you called 'The Doctor?' It's not your real name that much is obvious. It sounds like a 'hero-name,' but I think I'd remember a hero who can time travel. And even if it was a hero name…why not choose something that seems…i don't know…related to space? Or time travel?"
The Doctor thought for a moment, which was rare. He seemed to have a quick response for almost everything. "Well let me answer your question with another question: Why are you called 'Lamillion?' Because it's not your real name, that much is obvious," he responded, parroting her own words back at her.
Eri hesitated. "Because…it was the hero-name of someone very close to me. And he died. I couldn't…I couldn't let his name die out."
"And why did HE choose that name?" The Doctor pushed.
Eri was very quick in her answer, since it was something she thought about every day since the day she first met him: "He told me that he aspired to save at least one million people, since he knew he wouldn't be able to save everyone."
The Doctor pointed at Eri. "That. That right there." He paused, as if that would be enough for Eri to understand. When she responded only with a blank look, he narrowed his eyes, but continued. "You see, your real name, my real name, ultimately doesn't matter. Because the name you choose, the name that EVERYONE chooses, whether they be a hero or otherwise, is a promise. 'Lamillion' is a promise, 'All-Might' is a promise, and Kai is the Guardian Hero. Kai - All. A promise to be a 'guardian of all.' And that's what The Doctor is: a promise."
That…made a surprising amount of sense to Eri. She hadn't really thought about it before, but that's how a lot of heroes chose their names. Half of them made them themed around their powers, but the other half made a promise of what they would do and how they would help, all boiled down into one word. Even One for All was, by its very nature, a promise.
With all that turning in her head, that brought her to another question.
"Then what-"
She was immediately cut out by the sound of a crash and a scream. Out of pure reflex, her chair scraped against the pavement as she jumped to her feet, her head whipping so fast towards the sound that she almost gave herself whiplash. There, in the road next to the cafe, was the little boy she saw earlier tumbling across the cement, with a large bike riding past careening out of control. However, the rider regained control of the bike, and sped away as fast as they could, without so much as a glance towards the child.
Eri sprinted towards the child as another voice rang in the air: "Adigan? ADIGAN!" The cafe's waiter dashed onto the road, even faster than Eri, picking up their son in their arms.
When Eri made it over to them both, it was clear what was wrong: The kid had hit the cement, and he was unconscious…Or at least, Eri hoped he was unconscious.
"Someone call an ambulance!" The waiter yelled back towards the cafe. He kept cradling the boy in his arms. "Adigan…Son…"
Eri reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Sir…I can help him." He looked at her, then back to his son. He made no indication, but even so, Eri gently placed her hand on the boy's forehead. His father made no move to stop her, so she continued. Closing her eyes, she focused her power through her arm and her hand, directly into the child. She heard the man next to her gasp as her horn slowly started to lengthen as a glow surrounded Eri and the boy.
And then she heard breathing. The boy wasn't just unconscious now; he was sleeping.
Eri let out a sigh of relief and she heard the boy's father do the same. He looked at her as she stood up, nodding his head. "Thank you," he said, more than once.
"Magnificent," the Doctor spoke, standing right next to the group. When he made it over there, Eri didn't notice, and even if she did she was too busy trying to register just exactly what happened.
"That bike rider-" He was going too fast to the point that he ran down a child. And he didn't even so much as spare a passing glance, and the thought made Eri's boil.
"That's it!" The Doctor broke Eri out of her thoughts with a shout, which made her nerves jump. "Lamillion, come on! Back to the TARDIS!" With almost the speed of the hit-and-run biker, the Doctor ran off into the park, only stopping when he realized that Eri wasn't following. "Come on, then! What are you waiting for?"
"I-" She was going to respond with a retort or ask him why he was so eager, but she simply sighed. Eri turned her attention to the waiter and the child, who was just starting to wake up, and gave a small bow. "Thank you for the food. It was truly wonderful." Noticing that the Doctor was getting farther away, she huffed and ran off after the man.
Soon enough, Eri caught up to the Doctor who was pacing outside of his TARDIS. "What took you so long?" He asked, before shaking his head. "Nevermind, actually. Now then, do you remember what I said?"
Eri narrowed her eyes. "You've said a lot of things, Doctor."
The Doctor waved his hands around, clearly excited as he tried to convey his thoughts. "What I said when we were sitting down at the cafe!"
"Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?"
"What I said about Kai! About the fixed point in time!"
That made Eri stop. Her breath caught in her throat. "...Doctor, what do you mean?"
He paced in front of the TARDIS as he explained: "I mentioned another fixed point in time, one that almost destroyed reality. Do you know what it was?" When Eri said nothing, he answered: "My death."
At those words, Eri blinked. "Wait…what? But-"
"I'm still alive," He finished, a massive grin widening on his face. "And there's a reason for that. You can't rewrite a fixed point in time…But what you CAN do is find a loophole!"
"A loophole." Eri repeated. Her eyes widened. "Can we save Kai the same way you stopped your death?"
"No, the way I got around it wouldn't work the same way. Kai had to actually be there, actually use his powers to stop Nine. That's what led to his death in the first place." The Doctor then muttered something else under his breath, something Eri couldn't quite hear. Something about a 'Teselecta,' whatever that was. "BUT!" The Doctor suddenly shouted. "We have the next best thing!"
He didn't elaborate. He looked at Eri expectantly, as if he was waiting for something from her. After a minute of silence, Eri finally asked. "Why did you stop, Doctor? What's the next best thing?"
He walked up to her, laying his hands on her shoulders. "Lamillion, it's you! You revived that child almost instantly! You have the power of time coursing through your veins from your quirk! We can't stop Kai from dying, but what we can do is revive him!"
Eri's mouth opened and closed, no sound coming out. When she finally found her voice, she stuttered. "I…what…that's…but…but Doctor, my quirk doesn't have that power! I could only heal people! I can't bring back the dead!
"Correction!" The Doctor exclaimed, letting go of her and spinning around on his heel. "You couldn't bring back the dead! But you have One for All! That awesome power that almost cracked time! Lamillion, remember what else I said before? The raw time energy from Rewind and One for All within you could create a star!
It was that moment when something sparked within Eri. It was something that she never truly had after the incident at Nabu Island, and something she thought she would never see again: hope. Hope to see her hero…save her hero…
A small voice interrupted Eri's thoughts, shouting something she didn't recognize. Turning towards the sound, she saw the small child from earlier running towards her with the waiter following behind. The young boy practically ran into her, giving her a big hug which Eri was unprepared for.
"I'm sorry," the waiter said apologetically. "Adigan was insistent that he come find you."
"Oh, I-" Eri was at a loss for words. She hadn't had anything like this happen to her, and she certainly wasn't used to children giving her hugs. "It's-it's alright." She assured the man, looking back down at the child hugging her.
"Thank you, Chronoa!" The child said, using that same word that Eri didn't recognize. She slowly and somewhat awkwardly returned the hug, kneeling down to be at the same eye level as the young boy.
"Hey," She gently spoke. "It was nothing to worry about." The child continued to hug her for a bit longer, before finally letting go. He kept smiling, saying thank you again and calling her chronoa. But looking into his eyes, Eri realized something that she would never forget:
The young boy, Adigan, reminded her of herself as a child. She looked at Lemillion and Kai with those same eyes. Those same hopeful eyes.
Adigan ran back to his father, and the two walked back towards the cafe. Adigan kept looking back and waving to Eri, who slowly waved back.
"Well," The Doctor said quietly, not with his usual energy, but a smile still on his face nonetheless. "He spoke in Silgalan. Wonderful language, that. One word alone can have up to ten different meanings…depends on the context." The Doctor appeared thoughtful, contemplating something. But after a moment, he asked "Are you ready to go?" Eri simply nodded, unsure of how to feel. There was an ocean of emotions roiling about inside her, as she knew exactly when she was going to go.
The Doctor raised his hand and snapped his fingers, which caused the TARDIS's door to open on its own, beckoning the both of them.
As soon as the both of them entered the familiar room, the Doctor sped to his console. However, instead of whizzing around like he did before, pressing buttons and flipping switches, he peered intently at one of the screens hanging above the console. "Now let's see here…
Eri watched him expectantly, wondering exactly what he was doing. Based on their first trip to the past, this didn't look anything like preparing the TARDIS for time travel. "Doctor?" She asked, after a minute of waiting.
"Hm? Yes?" The Doctor responded, never taking his eyes off the monitor. But before Eri could ask anything, a blaring alarm sounded with a blinking red light on the console interrupted her thoughts. But the alarm didn't bother her; what DID was the fact that the Doctor's smile left his face.
"What is that?" She asked again. "Doctor, what's wrong?" He pushed the monitor to the side, leaning against the console and not responding.
He was deep in thought by the expression on his face, and it was several moments before he spoke again. "Well…" He said slowly. "This is quite a predicament."
"What is it?" Eri asked, making her way towards the screen that the Doctor looked at. Before she had a chance to see what the screen showed, the Doctor swung it away from her and shouting "No, do NOT look!"
She hadn't heard the Doctor raise his voice, and it caught her off guard, making her reflexively take a defensive stance. What Eri realized however was that the Doctor didn't raise his voice in anger; he raised it in fear.
"…Sorry," the Doctor said. "It's just- well, there's an issue."
Eri relaxed her stance, but the Doctor sounded almost resigned. After learning that there was a way to save Kai, she wasn't about to have her hope ripped away from her a second time today. "What issue, Doctor?"
The Doctor took a deep breath and started pacing around the center console. "I took a look at the time stream that you WOULD be a part of, and there's…events…that will happen. Stuff that you would take part in, and if you did, there will be paradoxes. Paradoxes upon paradoxes." He started waving his hands about again as he continued. "Now normally paradoxes sort themselves out naturally, but with how many of the paradoxes will stack on top of each other:" He paused, trying to think of a good way to put the problem in perspective. "Well, it would be like building towers with poor structure across a city. They would all fall into each other and leave nothing but absolute destruction in their wake. No city left standing."
Eri felt anger rise in her chest. "Are you telling me that, after saying there was a way to save him, there really isn't a way to change history?"
To her surprise, the Doctor shook his head. "The timeline and the paradoxes you'd cause have a common thread:" He gestured all around him. "The TARDIS. Your knowledge of time travel, and your knowledge of the Doctor."
"So what, simply because I know you exist, Kai will still die?!" Eri was screaming at this point. It may have looked intimidating to anyone else, seeing electricity crackle across her body and her horn growing larger, but the Doctor was completely unfazed. The look on his eyes showed nothing but pity to the young hero.
With a calm voice, he finally spoke. "I wanted to make sure you were alright with it."
Eri laughed bitterly. "Alright? Of course I'm not alright with it, Doctor." She spat his name out. "How could I be alright with letting my friend die?!"
"That's not what I was referring to."
She was still angry, and One for All still ran across her body. But those words made her pause. "Fine then. You wanted to make sure I was alright with what, Doctor?"
"You said it yourself: Simply because you know I exist, going back now will cause paradox upon paradox in events to come to stack on top of each other until time itself unravels. So…Would you be alright with forgetting me?"
Eri inhaled sharply. Somehow, she knew exactly what he was implying: The Doctor was a time-traveling alien who had a box that was bigger on the inside that beggared the imagination. Believing he had the ability to erase memories seemed like a cakewalk.
She knew immediately what her answer was, but a small part of her made her hesitate. The Doctor was the man who had given her hope, and it felt that he had done so much for her in such a small window of time.
"I-"
Eri buckled to her knees as she let out a scream. Her running emotions had made her Rewind and One for All skyrocket, and even though she was trying to contain it, it wasn't something you couldn't just put the brakes on.
The Doctor rushed towards her as soon as she fell, calling out her name.
Eri, trying to bring her quirk back under control, was breathing heavily. Electricity sparked off her, causing the Doctor to jump back a little.
"Doctor…" She said in between breaths. She was able to hold off her quirk, but she was afraid it was only a matter of time until she lost control. "If…you can…There's…something I…need to know…" It was a simple question, but Eri was able to ask it. And once the Doctor answered it, She closed her eyes. "Ah…so that's…what He called me…" Her eyes then opened. "Please…" The Doctor immediately knew what she was asking.
Whipping out his wand from his jacket, he saw an opportunity. "I can redirect your quirk with the Sonic," he said faster than normally for him. "Rewind your memories before I came." He pointed the screwdriver at her forehead, but before he turned it on, he saw her eyes. There was panic there, yes, but there was something more prevalent: Resolve. "…Thank you, Doctor." Eri managed to get out.
The Doctor gave her one last goofy smile. "Now then:" The sonic screwdriver glowed green. "Geronimo!"
Eri heard herself scream 'help me!' before falling to the forest ground. But for some reason, it felt more intense- as if the wind was coursing through her very being, not just the space around her. And for some reason, Eri could almost feel her power shake the ground beneath her and make it tremble in fear. She wasn't sure what exactly was happening, but she could no longer feel Shigaraki nearby, so after a moment of blindly lashing out with her powers, she began to try and contain them.
It proved to be more difficult than she would have thought, but somehow she managed to calm the storm of energy and allow the light to die away. The instant that she had, however, her body gave out, and she fell flat on the forest floor. As the wind around her began to die down, she found it rather odd that she could hear the rustling of the leaves on the trees that shouldn't have been there in the first place. And strangely enough, there was another sound faintly on the traces of the wind: An odd sort of…wheezing groan that was even now, fading away into total silence
Even stranger, was that in her mind, she could feel something…blank. She KNEW that she had just seen Shigaraki, but at the same time, she felt that significantly more time had passed between then and now…but that wasn't possible…was it?
And despite being in a life-or-death situation mere moments before, there was something in her head. Well, two things- two words. The first strangely was Chronoa, a word that seemed foreign to her, but she still innately knew exactly what the word meant. The second wasn't so much a word, but…a title? A name? A doctor?
Eri blinked. Doctor…Doctor Who?
Somewhere else, somewhen else, in the very heart of One for All itself, ten figures sat in a circle as winds of space and colors swirled around them. And at their head, a young man in shaggy white hair smiled as he felt what was happening on the outside, with their new wielder.
"It's incredible, isn't it?" The young man, the First, asked no one in particular.
Nana Shimura, the Seventh, leaned casually in her own seat, leaning her head in her fist. "What? That the hope of One for All and the world has miraculously returned? I would have thought all was lost when Shigaraki practically burned the world to the ground." She smirked. "Although I suppose now we'll have another chance in the past."
The First shook his head. "That is certainly incredible, but it wasn't what I was referring to." He laughed. "But I would never have thought that One for All or another wielder would meet the Doctor again."
Nana frowned. "Again? Have you met this 'Doctor' before?'
The First laughed lightly in response. "Once. And it was one of the most important meetings of my entire life."
"Why's that?" Daigoro, the Fifth, asked before Nana was allowed the chance.
Leaning forward in his chair and folding his hands, the First's smile never left his face. "One for All was born when my Brother's stockpiling quirk merged with my own power." He looked up to the other vestiges in the room. "But if I was thought to be quirkless, how do you think that I discovered I could pass on quirks?" The room was silent.
Another voice, one that belonged to the Eighth, spoke up: "Did the Doctor-" He never finished his sentence, hoping that the First would give them all some kind of answer. Instead, he leaned back in his chair, still smiling.
"Eri forgot." A lone voice quietly spoke. The voice of the Ninth. "What does that mean for us?"
The First thought carefully for a moment. "You heard the Doctor. Eri's knowledge and experience with him would be devastating. The Eleventh wielder is a far different person than any of us." He held a finger up to his lips playfully. "I don't know if we will forget or not, but if we didn't, then I think we'd best keep quiet about the Doctor."
"You never answered." The vestige of the Tenth spoke up, directly opposite of the First. "All of these questions and you never answered the first one. Not about the so-called 'Doctor; What is it that you find so incredible?"
Looking around the entire room, a part of the First couldn't conceive that they didn't know what he was talking about. "Really?" He was met with silence. "Don't you all find it incredible? An alien language can have power, inspiration, and hope all merged together into a single word. A single promise. Chronoa." He spoke, and it was as if the mere mention of the word made the colors and the winds of the space around them fluctuate with power. The wind and colors seemed to get stronger. Almost as if Eri's quirk was going to effect the entirety of the wielder's of One for All. "A word that, to them and to the Eleventh, means many things: 'Time,' 'Hero,' 'Savior,'" He paused before he said the last definition of the word.
"...and 'Doctor.'"
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
I don't have a whole lot to say here, but I wanted to put this down just in case:
First off, this entire one-shot is based off of Mataras's MHA fanfiction, "Your Hero Academia!" It's a very good an interesting read (albeit extremely long at this point), and I highly recommend it if you're looking for an interesting AU of MHA that deals a lot more with the high-powered quirks and interpersonal relationships!
That's it. I have nothing else. I hope you enjoyed this little one shot (and personal headcanon of mine), and I wish you a wonderful day!
-Silver