Izuku liked to think that patience was typically a strong suit of his. It contrasted, perhaps, with his self-sacrificial impulses when it came to heroics, but he'd rarely found waiting to be a problem in his day-to-day life. The wait in long lines rarely bothered him, nor was he the type to pace in front of the microwave when he reheated food. He'd been perfectly capable of containing his excitement in the months between All Might merch drops, back when he made a habit of purchasing each and every one his allowance could afford before–before… He waited often. For things big and small.
He found it a struggle to wait for Recovery Girl to finish her examination.
Izuku sat in a chair across from the part-time school nurse full-time doctor–or was it the other way around; he didn't really know if she still practiced medicine outside of U.A. after her retirement from heroic field work. His good leg bounced restlessly up and down. His eyes no doubt pleaded with the woman to hurry, please just a little bit even though he knew that ensuring his physical health trumped his desire to be discharged.
Seven days. It had been seven days since the USJ attack. He'd been asleep for three. Stuck in the infirmary for four. Three days since Aizawa-sensei had visited–since his subsequent breakdown. Three days with nothing to do but sleep, stare at the walls, turn on a TV that he had no interest in watching, and talk in circles with the revolving door of loved ones–and Katsuki, for whatever unique place he occupied in Izuku's life–that came to visit. But mostly sleep, because apparently his body needed sixteen plus hours a day of rest to recover its strength.
"You seem to be doing just fine, all things considered." Recovery Girl took her hands from his ribs with an encouraging smile. She replaced them in moments with a stethoscope and told him to take a breath, which he did. She smacked his shaking knee with her cane and ordered him to stop. He did that, too.
"Sorry, just excited to go home." Izuku smiled apologetically. Normally, patience was a strong suit of his.
Turns out, that patience wears thin when you have nothing to do but lie in bed and think of the things that brought you there.
"You and every other hero I've had the pleasure of healing. I understand it can be quite boring when you're told to stay in bed, but remember that it's all for your health, dearie. Now, gummy."
Izuku ate the proffered medicinal treat without complaint. Recovery Girl hadn't used her quirk on him again since he'd first woken up in the infirmary, but she still ensured that he was receiving all the necessary vitamins that he might be missing from his normal routine. The heroine seemed exhausted every time he'd seen her and he was sure that played a part in her not healing him again, but Izuku wasn't about to open his mouth and say as much, even if just to show concern. He was sure that treating All Might and Aizawa had been straining her to her limits.
"Excellent. Now, you're free to go home, but remember to keep your weight off of that leg. I believe your mother should be arriving soon to pick you up; she mentioned stopping at the store to get some things you'll be needing."
"Great!" Izuku near immediately pushed himself up with the crutch he'd been given, to the medical professional's ire. He wilted guiltily under the dreadful aura that Recovery Girl's glare exuded and adopted a sheepish smile. "S-Sorry. Slow and steady. No weight on my leg. No training. No strenuous activity."
The oppressive atmosphere that the heroine had created vanished as quickly as it had appeared and was replaced with a charming smile that Izuku found just as threatening.
"That is correct, dearie. You'd do well to remember and follow the doctor's orders. Enthusiasm and work ethic are important pillars of a hero's life, but injuries sustained by not taking the proper time to recover only hinder your growth."
"Yes, ma'am." Izuku bowed, thoroughly chastised. Rest, recovery. Right. He could do that. He'd already been doing it for four days, after all.
"And I'd still like for you to wait a bit before trying to heal that leg with your quirk." she added, almost as an afterthought.
His lips slowly tipped into a frown. Recovery Girl hadn't mentioned his quirk since that first night. Out of courtesy, probably. It was too close a topic to the attack, the man he'd… the man he'd killed. It suited him just fine when he'd felt as though he was too weak to cope, but as the days went on, the strange sensations grew stronger, and his worries with them.
His quirk had been feeling strange ever since he'd opened his eyes four days ago–no, that wasn't quite right.
His quirk had been feeling strange ever since he'd drunk All Might's blood.
"Um… About that…" His fingers twitched with nervous tension. Recovery Girl's posture seemed tense as her focus returned fully to him, but she did not speak; the heroine waited with an encouraging smile for him to finish his words and Izuku tried so hard to let that comfort him when he told her, "My quirk, it's… In the USJ, and now, the past few days in bed. Something's wrong with it, I think. Or, well, not wrong, maybe, but… different?" He did everything he could not to stutter and stumble over his words and found it to be a heroic amount of effort as he watched Recovery Girl's expression grow darker and darker with each syllable, "I'm sorry! I should have told you earlier, I just wasn't sure…"
That he wasn't going crazy. That those hazy memories of stopping the Nomu in its tracks, of lopping off its arm with power he knew he didn't have, weren't fabricated by stress and delirium. Everything before and after was so clear in his mind, so vivid and complete, that it was hard to reconcile his perfect memories of facing down the enemy leader or saving Aizawa-sensei with the imperfect haze of those hectic moments when he'd used his quirk.
But those thoughts were too unnerving, too private, even for the gentle reassurance of a medical professional. So instead Izuku allowed his words to breathe and brought his head low.
His sudden apology and bow seemed to startle Recovery Girl in some way and the fury melted off her face in an instant.
"No, no, it's alright, dearie," she soothed, "Just give me a moment to check something." She turned around and plucked a file from her desk and started to flip through it until she found whatever it was she was looking for. Her eyes skimmed the page for what seemed like an eternity before she clicked her tongue disappointedly and started to flip through the file again. Recovery Girl repeated the process two more times before it seemed she gave up on finding what she was looking for and dropped the file back onto her desk.
"Am I… is everything okay?" Izuku couldn't help but feel unnerved.
"Yes," Recovery Girl assured with a steady confidence that allowed him to breathe just a bit easier. She seemed to deliberate for a moment before she turned away to reach for the phone on her desk, continuing as she dialed, "everything will be just fine. I am the one who should apologize to you. Considering the circumstances, we felt it best to wait for you to recover before bringing the topic of your quirk up. The information I was given was very incomplete, it seems; I hadn't expected for you to feel any different until the next time you actively attempted to use it. Still, it was no excuse to put this off and I apologize for forcing you to navigate this by yourself."
'Something changed with my quirk… and they knew about it?'
His stomach sank. This felt all too familiar to the days and nights he'd spent worrying over the ins and outs of his quirk when it had first manifested. The doctor's recommendation had been to starve him of blood rather than study it–to ensure that he didn't 'develop violent tendencies' at his young age. He'd spent every day on edge. Every moment threatened to be the one he lost control. Especially when the hunger grew stronger, when he started to have daydreams of biting his classmates, his teachers, his mom. If Inko hadn't noticed, hadn't caved at the pathetic sight of his body and mind wasting away without that particular form of sustenance, he didn't know what would have become of him.
He didn't think he was ready to go through something like that again. No. He refused to go through something like that again. He didn't want half-truths or to be left in the dark. Hemokinesis was his quirk. He deserved to know what was happening to his body. He didn't… couldn't… His heart beat in a rapid rhythm. A chill washed over him. He took a deep breath to wash the feeling away.
Izuku frowned. Opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. He was ready to form words of protest when a soft voice answered Recovery Girl's call. Izuku's indignation died on his lips before it could speak. He strained to hear what they said, but couldn't quite make out the words on the other end of the line.
"Is he awake at the moment? … Yes? … Excellent. Do me a favor and hand the phone to him? … Thank you, dearie." Recovery Girl was all smiles for the few moments that she spoke to whomever had answered the phone, but that switched to something akin to frustration the moment that a more masculine voice took their place. "I was clearing Midoriya-san for discharge when he told me that his quirk feels different. I wasn't told to expect this. You have to– … I don't care if you're not ready. Have Ogawa-san bring you to Nezu's office to discuss this– … No. Now."
She did not give the man on the other end of the call the opportunity to speak before she ended it, nor did her tone of voice offer any illusion that what she'd ordered them to do was in any way optional. The frown slipped off her lips as she turned to face Izuku again,
"Sorry for the secrecy, dearie, but as a doctor, some stories aren't mine to tell." She reassured with a sympathetic smile, "How about we go for a walk and get all this cleared up?"
"Okay." Izuku managed, even if the fire that burned in his chest wanted to demand otherwise. It didn't make him feel much better, but he could at least believe that Recovery Girl wasn't trying to be malicious in her omissions. He stiffly followed the heroine away from her desk, past the infirmary's door, and through the halls of U.A. toward the answers that awaited him.
'They knew about it.' He repeated to himself as his eyes tried to make sense of halls that were familiar after two weeks of classes. Each had morphed into a completely different place when devoid of student life. Liminal spaces. Entrancing and terrifying. 'Some changes were expected, but not the ones I've been experiencing. Masculine voice on the other end of the line, secrets that aren't Recovery Girl's to tell. All Might's blood… All Might's blood.'
All Might's quirk was officially registered as a mutator that granted him extraordinarily enhanced physicality across the board. It made sense. He never seemed to need to recharge; the man had been on camera for nearly two days straight during a crisis in New York back when he still resided in America. He'd redirected falling rubble. He'd moved at indescribable speed to bring injured civilians to medical personnel. He'd walked into burning buildings and came out with dozens of people in his arms and across his broad shoulders. Izuku loved the footage, second only to the smile on All Might's face and his signature words on his debut.
A mutator would explain all of that, easily. With no resource to run out of, unlike himself with blood or Katsuki who needed the proper hydration to sweat, All Might's only limit would be his own endurance. And yet that didn't explain the obvious. Izuku had drunk the man's blood and something had changed about his quirk. It was as if All Might's quirk had affected his own. That marked an emitter rather than a mutator. But All Might's power didn't make any sense as an emitter. He–
"We're here." Recovery Girl's smile was taught and grim and Izuku wondered why until he felt the dry feeling in his mouth and the scratch in his throat and he knew that he'd been speaking his thoughts aloud as he often did.
"Recovery Girl, I'm–"
"During the admissions exam," she stated abruptly, cutting off Izuku's incoming apology, "I was impressed with your drive to assist your peers and your capability to function without the aid of your quirk. What impressed me the most, however, was the intelligence that you displayed in quickly identifying the weak points and dissecting the patterns of the bots so that they rarely had the opportunity to attack you."
She allowed the compliment to hang in the air for a moment. Strangely, to Izuku, it felt almost suffocating instead of encouraging. Because to bring that up now would mean…
"I–"
"You are a wonderful young man and a promising young hero." Recovery Girl interrupted him again with a genuine smile that assuaged his worries if only a little and brought a bashful heat to his cheeks, "Keep an open mind, remember that head of yours, and I'm sure you'll be just fine."
She opened the door and pushed him inside before he could respond, before he could think. The door closed behind them with a decisive thud that rang in his ears.
Two people already occupied the room to match the two that had entered. A large, white, suit-wearing animal of dubious origins occupied an office chair behind the impressively large and ornate desk at the far end of the room. In another chair beside them resided the Symbol of Peace as Izuku had never seen him, draped in a hospital gown that drowned his stick-thin frame. Bandages wrapped around the left side of his face, entirely covered his eye and most of his cheek. They were a stark reminder of the state he'd been in when Izuku had last seen him. He was bony, disheveled; his everything seemed to be sunken in and weary. If Izuku had not seen for himself the hero shrink into this form in the USJ, he never would have believed they could be the same person.
He wondered if that was the point.
"Am I a mouse, a bear, or something else entirely? Who cares; what matters is that I am the principal!" The mouse/bear/unidentified-mammal announced from his seat. He seemed to be all smiles–or at least what passed as such on his muzzle–and flamboyantly waved his arms in an act of showmanship as he did so.
"Principal Nezu! It's an honor to meet you, sir." Izuku gushed, forgetting himself temporarily to his worship of all that was heroic in the world, "I've read some of your papers and watched your presentations on artificial quirks and the unsustainability of genetic research long-term on the modern unpredictable human genetic structure. It's a fascinating topic!"
"Oh?" Nezu's lips quirked up into something akin to a smirk. "Thank you, Midoriya-san. It's rare for someone to acknowledge my academic pursuits outside of my position as U.A.'s principal. Not many these days are interested in topics that argue against the progression of quirk-based research." And then something in his eyes grew dangerous. Some instinct in the back of Izuku's mind wanted him to run. He took a nervous step back, but the sensation was as fleeting as the look the principal had given him was. "I'd been told you were intelligent, but I'm pleasantly surprised that you've gone out of your way to consume and understand such material. Oh, but where are my manners? We're here to discuss something else, right? Please take a seat. I can pick your brain about intellectual pursuits later."
"Nezu…" Recovery Girl warned from Izuku's side.
"Oh please, I'll be gentle on the boy." the principal chortled, and suddenly Izuku got the feeling that the danger he'd sensed coming from Nezu had been deliberate. Every move he made, every word he said… this was a test.
"Thank you, sir." He said rather than question it as he took the open seat across from Nezu and Recovery Girl claimed the one opposite All Might. The secrecy, Recovery Girl's covert confirmation in the hall, the way the principal seemed to be testing him in some way. They were all connected, and that meant this was so much deeper than one teen's quirk issues. He took a deep breath. Closed his eyes. Thought what he wanted to say. And before any of the adults could steer the conversation, Izuku opened his mouth.
"We're here to talk about what All Might's quirk did to mine, right?"
All Might seemed to choke on his next breath. Nezu's smile grew wider and more devious. Recovery Girl did not react except to heave a long-suffering sigh.
"Your intelligence was quite understated indeed." Nezu laughed. "The answer to that question is yes."
"I'm really not that special." Izuku willed the heat away from his cheeks at the compliment. He needed to be serious.
"I'm sure there are many who might argue to the contrary," Nezu laughed again, but not unkindly. Like he was sharing an inside joke with Izuku. And then the mood grew heavy once more, "Unfortunately, we're not here to discuss the excellence of our students. You wanted to know what has happened to your quirk, and we have some answers for you. All Might, would you like to begin?"
Izuku's heart beat a rapidly-rising rhythm. Nothing had changed, but suddenly the situation didn't feel so safe. His fingers trembled. His breath grew shallow. He maintained eye contact with Nezu; refused to allow it to drift anywhere else. He searched the chimera's beady black eyes for something–but what that something was he didn't know, nor did he find it. Nezu's mouth was moving, but there was no sound to be heard. His fingers shook harder. His short breaths came faster. Terror and anxiety welled within his chest and grew and grew until–
"My mom should be here for this."
It took him some time to realize that it was his voice, his lips, that had spoken those words and asked for the one thing he wanted–needed–at that moment. The room was uncomfortably silent. Recovery Girl had a hand between his shoulder blades that he wasn't precisely sure when it had appeared and rubbed soothing circles into his back. Nezu's strangely predatory smirk had dwindled into a contemplative frown. Izuku still refused to look at All Might.
"Is he… alright?" Nezu's chipper tone dropped a few octaves into concern. The frown stayed in place.
Izuku nodded his head, tried to open his mouth to tell them he was fine only for the words to stick in his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to breathe. Brought his trembling hands to his arms and wrapped them around himself. Searched inside for a calm that had all but disappeared.
"I believe he had a panic attack. I've been told he's been a bit on edge since he woke up… I should have seen this coming." Recovery Girl did not stop rubbing circles into his back as she spoke.
Izuku did what he'd been doing for the past four days and thought of everything in life that made him feel happy and safe and willed himself to breathe like a normal human being. When the feeling of dread that had filled him finally subsided, he was left cold and tired. He slowly unwrapped his hands from around his biceps and cringed at the marks his nails had dug into his flesh. Blinked away his fatigue, steadied his trembling breaths, straightened his hunched posture. Looked up, still away from All Might, and met Nezu's eyes.
"Sorry." He mumbled habitually, probably to the chagrin of everyone in the room.
"Don't apologize, Midoriya-san. The fault lies with us." Nezu's frown was deep and unhappy and paired with an unexpected shame that filled his eyes. "No student should have gone through what you have under our care… under my watch. And even as you try to recover, we're still making things harder for you with all of this secrecy."
"Young Midoriya, I…"
It was the first time All Might spoke since Izuku had entered the room. His voice was a few octaves higher than normal, less booming, and so, so very tired. His words had shook and cut off with a choked sound that finally convinced Izuku to look the man's way.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" The Symbol of Peace cried, tears running down his cheek. "I have so much to apologize to you for. So many actions that have shamed me and everything I stand for. It is incredibly selfish of me but please, before we speak of this, if you would let me I would like to repent for it all! Beginning with what I told you last year when we met."
He bowed as deep as the chair allowed him, pressed his forehead deeply into the desk, pressed his arms on either side of it in prostration. He did so and waited, silently, for Izuku to make the next move.
Izuku, who blinked, surprised. All Might had already apologized once, in the USJ. Though Izuku hadn't been able to properly forgive him, he'd thought that had been the end of it. He didn't think he was important enough to be granted so much attention from the number one hero.
"Um… sure." He finally mumbled without any idea of what to do otherwise. "But…"
He tried to maintain his calm as he looked back towards Nezu and Recovery Girl. Nezu, quick on the uptake, knew before Izuku could speak again what he was asking.
"Yes, I believe it prudent that your mother be included in this conversation. Honestly, we should have done so from the start regardless of the subject being so… sensitive." Nezu, like All Might, also seemed to be chastising himself, albeit in less dramatic fashion. Recovery Girl seemed to be giving the both of them an 'I told you so' glare. "Will she be available if we call?"
Izuku nodded.
"She went home to grab me a change of clothes and pick up some last-minute groceries. If she's not already here, she's probably waiting at the entrance like Recovery Girl asked."
"Excellent," the chimera smiled genially, "Shall we call her in, then?"
Izuku, were he to be asked if anyone on earth might be considered a saint, would answer 'my mom' without hesitation or further thought.
Inko Midoriya had become a single mother not three years after her son was born. She diligently worked two jobs to keep them afloat until life insurance and compensation from her husband's death enabled her to retire and raise her son full-time so long as they maintained a relatively frugal lifestyle.
She held her son tight to her chest and hummed serene lullabies in his ear when he cried. She showered him with love and affection when he succeeded no matter how large or small the accomplishment. She faced his issues with his quirk head-on. She argued with his doctors and eventually dismissed them entirely when their 'advice' harmed him more than helped. She gave her blood each and every morning for more than a decade so that he might maintain that much more comfort–to never again feel his body rebel against him simply for existing.
She was a crybaby. Much the same as he was. Overly-emotional. Anxious to the point that it was sometimes concerning. And kind. Kind to everyone. Kind to people he knew she probably didn't like all that much. Kind to people she'd barely met. Kind to him and kind to her best friend and kind to Kacchan and Manami and anyone else she'd ever known or spoken to or passed in the street. She had a smile for everyone, sweet and full of life.
Inko Midoriya was a saint.
Inko Midoriya was currently looking at All Might like he was the scum beneath her boots.
What had started as confusion at the overall situation had progressed into shock, and then into frustration, then anger, rage, and settled upon utter disdain as the man confessed and begged forgiveness for crushing Izuku's dreams so many months prior. How he'd been present in the crowd as Izuku threw himself at the villain to save Katsuki's life when it seemed no one else would. How he had been a coward for months and months, too scared to right his own wrong. How even after Izuku had passed the entrance exam and been assigned to his class he could not bring himself to start that conversation.
Izuku couldn't help the swell of love and affirmation he felt, equally as powerful as the terror that eclipsed him, watching his sweet, gentle mother glare fiercely at All Might, the Number One Hero, one of the world's largest celebrities, Japan's golden boy, as if she were seconds away from leaping across the desk to finish what Tomura Shigaraki had started.
The tension in the room was so thick that one could practically choke on it. Recovery Girl's expression wasn't a fraction as dark as Inko's but her disappointment weighed heavily upon them all, even if All Might was her primary target. Nezu's frown had deepened considerably. All Might had pressed his hands and face to the desk at the end of his tale and did not move, not even to twitch, awaiting Izuku's judgment of his apology.
All of this, and yet he…
How did he feel?
All Might had stumbled breathlessly over his many apologies. Tears had stung his sunken eye and stained his cheek. His voice broke and cracked. He alluded a few times to his condition–the deflated state he was in now–and how it was no excuse for his actions. How he should not have allowed it to shape and control him into something he wasn't. How Izuku's actions had saved him from that and yet…
"I appreciate your apology, All Might." Izuku's voice was small and fragile, even to him. His mother's hand gripped his own so tightly that it almost hurt and he breathed so much easier because she was exactly what he needed right now.
Because he was anxious. A nervous wreck. He'd been changed and broken in ways he didn't know how to acknowledge yet and his mom's love was one of the only cure-alls he'd ever known or could dream of.
But he didn't feel anything when he looked at All Might. Not even sadness.
"I appreciate it," he repeated, "and you have my forgiveness. I think I realized during the attack–"
His mom squeezed harder and he squeezed back as so many horrors flashed past his eyes.
"–that maybe what you did was wrong, but I think the truth is that I don't care anymore." All Might sucked in a breath, his head raised. Izuku met his startlingly-blue eye without flinching, "I don't think I've cared for a while. The same day you told me I couldn't be a hero, someone told me I could. In the end, I leapt at the chance. I took the advice I wanted to hear. I put the work in. Eventually, I stopped thinking about your words whenever I thought of that day and started to remember his. The thing is, I can't say you were entirely wrong. I can forgive you because some part of that was right. My career as a hero will have struggles simply because of who I am. It definitely would have been easier if I had chosen a different path in life. But now that I've been shown true evil…"
He thought of Tomura. The crazed look in his eye. How casually he threw away lives; turned them into games for his amusement. He thought of the man with the knife. Desperate, crazed in a different way entirely, beholden to his master and willing to murder if it would please him.
"I can't give it up when there's still people to be saved from men like him."
It wasn't really a revelation. He hadn't for a single moment in those four days spent confined to his bed considered dropping out of heroics. Perhaps it said more about him than he realized. All Might's eye was almost comically wide. Nezu found it within himself to smirk, if only slightly. Recovery Girl sighed softly.
And his mother. His kind, sweet, gentle, loving mother hugged him so tight that he forgot how to breathe and finally allowed her tears to fall into his shoulder and whimpered unintelligible affirmations of support into his hospital gown.
It was not long before Inko rose, composed herself, wiped her tears with a handkerchief pulled from her purse, took Izuku's hand, and once again resumed to glare in All Might's direction.
The room was silent.
"My quirk." Izuku rasped at last for it seemed no one else was inclined to be the first to speak.
"Your quirk." All Might squeaked. His eye was unfocused, as if he was still in some sort of shock from Izuku's speech. "Yes. No, wait." He shook his head. Closed his eye. Breathed deeply, "Before we close the topic forever–or at least unless you ever wish to speak of it again–I will thank you for your forgiveness, even if I do not deserve it. Especially after what I am about to tell you. Nezu?" He turned to the chimera questioningly, as if he did not know where to begin. Luckily, it seemed the principal was already prepared.
"To begin, I would like to impress upon you both that what you are about to be told is of the utmost secrecy. There are only five people aside from All Might himself who are privy to this information. If it were to become public knowledge, the results would be… potentially catastrophic." Nezu's tone was all business and his body language followed, stiff and without waving his arms as he was wont to do. His paws curled over each other, steepled between his elbows, "You, Midoriya-san, asked us earlier if we were here to speak about what All Might's quirk did to yours–"
Inko gasped and turned a concerned eye to Izuku, who smiled sheepishly and just nodded back towards the men on the other side of the desk as if to say 'I don't really know, but they're about to tell us.'
"–to which you are only partially correct. All Might, if you would…?"
The Symbol of Peace nodded and looked at Izuku and Inko in turn before he focused his gaze fully onto the young man across the desk from him. His frown was deep. His eye shameful. He blinked and sighed.
"My quirk is called 'One for All.' The 'Superpower' quirk that is listed on the public register is a fabrication. One For All is not a mutator, as my registration describes, nor is its ability simplistic superhuman abilities. It is an emitter, the ability of which is to stockpile the strength of its user before being passed on to the next."
Izuku's eyes widened. He'd been close. All Might's quirk made more sense as an emitter if it could affect others, too. But to stockpile and pass? That would mean…
"In the simplest of terms–"
"You gave me your quirk!?" He was dumbfounded. This flagrantly disregarded everything that was known about quirks and their effects on the human genome. Quirks were, in essence, genetic mutations unique to the individual. If a quirk were able to be passed on long-term or even permanently, that would involve a restructuring of their genetics in ways that should have been catastrophic to varying degrees of danger. If–
"Izuku?"
His mother shook him gently out of his ramble. Izuku's eyes quickly focused back on the world around him. All Might appeared slightly dumbfounded, Recovery Girl smiled proudly, and Nezu grinned like he'd been given everything he wanted for Christmas.
"Most of what you said is correct," Nezu affirmed, "However, our research about One for All seems to indicate that it exists somewhat in tandem with its holder's genetic code rather than rewriting it. In this sense, non-quirkless individuals have possessed it in the past with no repercussions. You may think of it as something akin to a quirk-based genetic parasite, although I am not convinced that is the best example."
"'Non-quirkless individuals…' So I'm not the first? And does that mean that All Might–?"
"Yes and yes. I am the eighth holder of One for All and I was quirkless when I received it." If All Might seemed bothered by the latter in the modern day social climate, he did not show it on his face, "It is passed down through a transfer of DNA while the current holder wills it to the next."
"When you asked me to drink your blood in the USJ."
"Precisely."
"When it's done, leave me to them. You must stay safe."
Izuku remembered All Might's words in the USJ. How desperate he had seemed for the young hero's safety.
"You passed it to me because you thought you were going to die."
All Might sighed deeply.
"Yes and no," he looked directly into Izuku's eyes, "I decided on that same day that I failed you that you were the one I wished to inherit this power. How could I not? With an entire crowd of heroes present–including myself–you were the only one who moved to save Young Bakugo from the villain's clutches." His eye closed, his lips trembled, "You are certainly more worthy than I."
"I'm not–"
"It is the truth." All Might would not allow him to deny it for even a second, "I allowed my cowardice to lead me for many years, but I can believe it was all worth it if I was led to you. There is no one else I would rather have wield this power."
Silence. One beat. Two. And finally–
"What does this mean for Izuku?"
Thank goodness his mom was there. All Might seemed to agree. Some of the tension left his posture as most of the heavy atmosphere dissipated. Even if the woman still looked like she was going to kill him.
"One for All's stockpile appears to experience some form of non-linear growth. It is not quite exponential, but the previous users' power means the current holder can train harder, which means more strength for the next user. In addition, Young Midoriya is not quirkless like myself. For the previous holders, their quirks did not interact at all with One for All; they existed somewhat adjacently, like roommates. If Young Midoriya's quirk has mutated in some fashion, it is new territory for us all. Perhaps it is due to the unique nature of his vampirism-class quirk or a mutation of One for All itself. There is no real way of knowing without extensive testing. All told, if Young Midoriya decides to keep One for All, he will eventually grow stronger than myself at my peak. Much stronger."
Izuku digested all of the information as best he could. It seemed straightforward enough. But All Might's last sentence stopped his train of thought.
"'If' I decide to keep it?"
Sure, he'd been slightly lukewarm towards All Might and his apology, but certainly there were very few up and coming heroes who would turn down the strength of the Symbol of Peace if saving as many people as possible was their priority? And yet All Might's expression was grim. He winced and, with some assistance from a Recovery Girl who'd apparently expected it, moved aside his hospital gown to reveal the sunken, scarred wound Izuku had witnessed in the USJ. Inko gasped, horrified.
"My deflated form is not a result of the passing on of One for All," All Might stated slowly, "This injury destroyed over sixty percent of my digestive tract, one of my lungs, and one of my kidneys. I needed dozens of surgeries just to survive and frankly, my long-term life expectancy isn't looking so good. This happened five years ago, when I fought the world's greatest evil for what I thought was the last time."
"Who…" Izuku's mind was racing. Five years ago… the only major battle All Might had was… "Toxic Chainsaw?"
"No. It was right after. Close enough that I could blame the time off for the injury on him. This one's name is All for One."
"Which can't be a coincidence." Izuku stated the obvious.
"If only we were so lucky. All for One is his villain name as well as the name of his quirk. It's the exact opposite of One for All. While One for All stockpiles individual power and passes it from one person to the next, All for One is able to steal, combine, assimilate, and gift others' quirks at his discretion. Full genetic manipulation. We have zero understanding how it works on a genetic level. And the quirk he wants most is–
"One for All."
"Correct," All Might hesitated, but only briefly. A look from Nezu told him to leave nothing out, "Of the seven previous holders of One for All before me, only a single one died of natural causes. The rest perished at the hands of All for One shortly after transferring the quirk to a new host."
"Izuku…" Inko squeezed his hand, terror in her eyes and her voice. This was a villain not even All Might could defeat. That seven All Mights before All Might couldn't defeat. Izuku would be stronger than even he eventually, but still…
Izuku breathed deeply.
"And we know he's still active? You said you thought you finished it." He asked. He already knew the answer. He'd seen his work firsthand. He just wanted confirmation.
"Of the hundreds of villains that invaded the USJ," Nezu answered, seemingly to All Might's relief, "nearly eighty percent of them were quirkless. Statistically improbable. Quirkless people are a fraction of a percent of the population in the current generation and even among All Might's age group only rests at about ten percent."
"I don't-I-I did good, right? Please! Please! I did what you asked! Please tell me I did good! I just want it back!"
"An army of soldiers who will do anything you ask, even go on a suicide mission into one of the most well-defended places in the country because they're desperate for their stolen quirks." Izuku whispered.
His stomach churned. It wouldn't have changed anything. That man had wanted to kill Aizawa. He was about to. He'd been a criminal even before his quirk had been stolen and chances are he would have followed Shigaraki's lead all the same given enough incentive. And yet still, that desperation. To have something so close to being your identity snatched away. He couldn't even imagine it.
It was vile.
It made him sick.
"Precisely." The flare of pride in Nezu's eyes was tempered by his grim tone and the frown upon his muzzle.
"It can only be him" All Might stated, "The League of Villains' shadowy master. He must be weakened still or he'd have done the job himself. He always expected the attack to fail. He just wanted me to know that he was here. Always watching; always plotting." The pro hero's fists clenched on the desk and his body trembled with frustration.
"And that's everything?" Izuku asked, "All Might's quirk will grant me the stockpiled power of eight generations and it is intended that eventually I will use it to fight the world's greatest supervillain?"
"That is the vastly simplified version, yes." Nezu affirmed. "You may take as much time as you need to think about it. Or, if you are not willing, a strand of hair or drop of blood are all that is necessary to return the power to All Might."
"Izu…" Inko's lips trembled. Her eyes watered. Izuku sighed and leaned into her side. Closed his eyes. Opened them. Leaned in deeper to his mother. Took in her scent. Her warmth. Her love. Then repeated himself.
"I can't give it up when there's still people to be saved from men like him."
Hello everyone, hope 2024 is off to a good start for you!
I tried my best to get this out for Christmas, but after I missed the deadline I instead dedicated myself to polishing this chapter to the best of my ability and taking an extra few weeks to do so. It is one of the longer chapters so far and that goes doubly so as it is effectively one single scene that I only broke up into three separate parts to indicate tonal shifts more than the actual passage of time or switch of perspectives.
I am incredibly, uncharacteristically proud of this one to be honest. Everything from Izuku's initial anxiousness to go home to mama bear Inko to Izuku officially accepting the burden of One for All just works for me. Of the three, Inko is perhaps my proudest achievement in this chapter. I think it is very easy in adventure/romance and especially the shonen genre to forget about the importance of parental love, but I wanted her front and center during Izuku's time of need and to really paint the picture of just how much he relies on her emotionally because in a lot of ways she's all he has. And Inko herself might be one of the kindest people Izuku knows, but that's only because he's never seen her go mama bear mode before. Her son is everything to her and learning about what All Might's done turns him from heroic to vile in her books instantaneously and without recourse.
As for specific content stuff, you'll notice a lot of One for All is not necessarily canon compliant, and it will not be. I can personally confirm that Izuku will not possess the quirks of past holders if you were worried about that and I have deleted the "Quirked users die young because it burns them out" BS that made Izuku one of the only realistic options for OFA in canon. We'll be exploring the specific changes to his quirk in future chapters; this one was mostly about the 'why' and not the 'what' that had changed. Izuku is fine waiting to figure it out as long as he knows it's not his quirk about to make him go cyberpsycho.
And that is all for now! Thank you as always for reading my work and please leave a follow or review if you have the time! They make me incredibly happy and help improve my writing!
Have a great day!