The hilt of a broken sword clattered through the hole Stonehenge had made in the wall, the grip slick with a layer of wet clay.
Izuku groaned as he pulled himself over the small ledge of wall that remained, following the remains of his sword, the rest of it buried somewhere in a giant mound of clay.
His clothes were streaked with clay and his own blood,the latter from the litany of cuts and bruises that adorned his body. The worst of which came from one of the Nomu's claws, it had sliced deep into his shoulder as Izuku had destroyed it.
But at least they were healing, albeit slowly, he would be as good as new in an hour or so. The worst part was the exhaustion, this body had none of the stamina that All Might had trained into him.
Izuku tried to stand, but his feet slipped in the wet clay that coated the soles of his sneakers and he slammed back down into the concrete floor.
"Got to keep moving." Izuku grunted as he tried again.
Only to receive the same result, hitting the floor with a wet smack, and this time he didn't have the strength to try again.
Exhaustion took him.
But Izuku didn't dream, a whirlwind of colour swallowed him and he felt himself falling.
Izuku hit the ground, landing in a clumsy and definitely ungraceful crouch. Looking down at himself he stared at his own hands, they, and the rest of his body, were made of green energy, just like Eighth had been.
And then they weren't, stabilising into a translucent form of his body, the cloned body, his outline glowing with green light.
"Again."
Izuku stood, finally taking in his surroundings, he was in Gym Beta.
"Yes, Sensei Torino."
Drenched in sweat, Iida was dressed in his UA gym gear and stood in front of a block of concrete.
Iida released a shout, launching a kick at the concrete without the use of his quirk. His padded shin bounced of unforgiving mass, leaving it unblemished.
Izuku turned his head, taking in the sight of an elderly man wearing a hero costume he didn't recognise. Based on the stories Nana had told Izuku, he assumed the man to be Gran Torino, although he was somewhat shorter than she'd described him.
Iida was trying to summon One For All's power under Gran Torino's tutelage, and so far, not succeeding.
The energy that made up Izuku's current form, clearly invisible to Iida and Gran Torino, pulsed rhythmically.
Probing the energy, Izuku's surroundings changed.
He could see his own body, his original body, lying in a hospital bed. Holding the other Izuku's remaining hand was Yagi, his head stooped, looking even more deflated than he usually did in his natural form.
Izuku had seen enough, perhaps if he accessed that energy he'd felt again it would take him back to his body, the cloned body that was.
Gritting his teeth, Izuku reached into the energy and forced himself through a barrier, dimly realising as he did that it was constructed with the now familiar energy signature of All For One.
Nana was in a fighting stance, a chamber lay ruined behind her, shards of glass scattered around her.
Activating Float, Nana pushed off into the air, avoiding the villain's prehensile hair. Twisting in mid-air, Nana cancelled her quirk and dropped towards the ground.
Bringing her foot down on the villain's back, Nana knocked her to the floor, before subduing her by slamming her face back down into the concrete.
The final villain, this one with four arms, turned to run, making it halfway down the corridor.
Nana raised her arm, revealing it was coloured dark navy, akin to the Shock Absorption Nomu. In an instant Nana's nomuified arm stretched out, grabbing the fleeing and smacking him into the wall.
With a sigh, Nana released the subdued villain and retracted her arm, examining it as she did.
"What did All For One do to you?" Nana pondered, poking her navy-coloured, the skin rippling like the surface of water.
"Nana?" Izuku spoke, his voice sounding oddly distant, even to himself.
Nana jumped and turned around. "You startled me, good, you're awake."
The pro hero frowned.
"Wait, astral projection? Guess it's good to know One For All can do that as well now."
Izuku looked down at his translucent body. "I think it's because we were in Restaria together, maybe the aftereffects of the quirk All For One used on us, combined with the power of One For All. But I could be wrong! There's so many other reasons why it-"
"Don't second guess yourself, you've got pretty good instincts for someone your age, don't be afraid to trust them." Nana assured him. "Now, if your theory is correct, can you project yourself to Eri as well, see where she is?"
Izuku focused, trying to focus on Eri as much as he could.
"I can feel it, but the connection is a lot weaker, and it's fading fast."
Nana placed her hand on Izuku's translucent shoulder. "You can do this, I believe in you."
Izuku redoubled his efforts, his head pounding like a drum as he grasped at the fraying link.
And then his surroundings shifted, he was in another underground facility, the air noticeably warmer than his own.
In a chamber in front of him was Eri, once again placed in a deep sleep.
"I promise I'll rescue you." Izuku swore, placing his ethereal hand on the glass. "No matter the cost."
Turning, Izuku saw All For One, his mask covering his face, talking to a woman, who looked oddly familiar.
Her hair was the exact same shade of purple as Mineta's spheres.
"Has the transfer been completed?" All For One questioned.
The woman nodded. "Midoriya has been transferred to the northern facility, Shimura to the western facility, both have been placed in deep cryofreeze."
"And the preparations for Operation Hamelin?" All For One questioned.
"Complete. All we need is your signal to commence." The woman affirmed.
"Excellent, I will inform you when I wish to commence, Utsuro, but first-"
All For One looked directly at Izuku.
The connection snapped, leaving Izuku back with Nana in what he now knew to be the western facility.
"I don't know exactly where Eri is, but it's south of me and east of you." Izuku explained, glancing down to realise his connection to Nana was beginning to fade, his projected form with it. "There was someone else there, with All For One, he called her Utsuro."
"Purple hair, haughty?"
Izuku nodded.
"Utsuro Botai, she attended UA at the same time as Toshi, a year above, in the business stream." Nana explained. "Joined the HPSC straight after she graduated."
"I think she's Mineta's mother." Izuku spoke. "Which would make her the great-granddaughter of All For One, and more importantly, her mansion in Yokohama, that's where Eri is if both Botai and All For One are there."
Nana gave a curt nod. "We don't have much time, we need to rendezvous at UA, we can come up with a plan there."
"Okay." Izuku paused. "Stay safe."
A wan smile formed on Nana's face. "Don't worry, I've been dead once, I have no intention of doing it again anytime soon if I can help it. I dread to think about how many unread emails have piled up by now."
Izuku snapped back to his own body, slumped in the corridor amongst the rubble. With a yell, Izuku pushed himself to his knees and then his feet.
"Got. To. Save. Eri"
The green-haired teen forced himself to put one leg in front of the other, using the wall for support. Taking stock, Izuku could see his earlier injuries had healed, meaning he'd been out for at least an hour.
But that hadn't helped the exhaustion, all he wanted to do was sleep, but he couldn't.
A sudden shout grabbed Izuku's attention, looking up to see another villain charging at him.
Reacting instantly, Izuku slammed his hand down on the wall, a hand forming from the concrete and capturing the charging villain before he could get too close.
Izuku hissed, rolling up his sleeve to reveal an angry rash of hives, just like the one he'd seen Overhaul get.
"This must be the drawback of his quirk." Izuku mused. "I wonder if this might work."
Amplifying the passive healing quirks still in his original body with One For All, Izuku watched as the hives began to rapidly heal.
If All For One was intending to use this body to gain One For All, then why was he putting it in cryofreeze?
Izuku groaned as the realisation hit him, he'd been played.
All For One never intended to use this body, it was just bait to separate me from my actual body, that's what he's after.
Izuku turned the corner, now feeling steady enough to leave the support of the wall behind. Staggering forwards, he found a pair of closed metal doors, light glimmering from the seam between them.
With a grunt, Izuku forced the doors open and stumbled forwards, finding himself standing in a spruce forest that stretched as far as he could see. Resolving himself, Izuku stared out at the forest, trying to search for any obvious signs of nearby civilization.
A car horn sounded in the distance.
"I guess I'm hiking." Izuku sighed, pulling his arms tighter around himself in an attempt to ward off the morning chill.
Before Izuku could take his first step, a portal opened and from it stepped All For One and Tomura Shigaraki, the latter had a cape draped around his shoulders.
Izuku dropped back, readying himself for a fight, the adrenaline response providing a surge of energy that took the edge of his exhaustion.
"I would have let you live, you know." All For One sighed. "I would have let you have your pick of quirks, after my plan was complete of course. I would have given you Eri, but you just can't help that sickness in you. You will try and you will fail."
"The worst thing you can do is nothing." Izuku replied, splitting his focus between All For One and an almost feral Tomura.
"How long did you spend in that world, the world my brother's mind created?" All For One questioned. "How long has it been for you since we last spoke? Days? Weeks? Months?"
"Six months, two weeks, three days."
"You counted." All For One smirked. "Yoichi was just the same."
"Tally marks on the prison walls, it helps to keep you sane." Izuku retorted.
"Restaria was not a prison." All For One argued. "I made him a paradise."
"A pretty bird cage is still just a bird cage." Izuku countered.
"And you'd rather I'd let him suffer the agony of his illness, eating away at him everyday."
"A painful truth is better than a beautiful lie." Izuku spoke. "Did you even give him a choice, to enter Restaria willingly?"
"Yoichi was too noble, he would have chosen to suffer." All For One sighed. "So I had to make the choice for him, for his own good."
"The decision you made wasn't for him, you made it for yourself." Izuku glanced at Tomura, noticing he had some kind of prosthetic hand to replace the one he'd lost during the USJ Incident.
"You are narrow-minded, Izuku." All For One snarled. "I had thought we were of similar conviction, but alas. Tomura, you may have your fun, his true body is the one we want, not this one."
"I will defeat you." Izuku declared as All For One prepared to leave. "I'll save Eri and stop you!"
"Even if you did, which is unlikely." All For One drawled. "There will always be more who will take my place."
With that, All For One stepped back into the portal as it shut, leaving Tomura behind.
"I've levelled up since our last fight." Tomura smirked. "I don't need a Nomu to help me anymore, I'll kill this boss all by myself."
With blinding speed, Tomura lunged towards Izuku, his natural hand reaching out to decay anything it could touch.
Activating One For All, Izuku only just managed to dodge the hand and sped to the opposite side of the clearing, putting space between his foe and himself.
The adrenaline wouldn't last forever, Izuku was fatigued starting this fight, he had to end it quickly.
"You've gotten slower." Tomura remarked, turning to face Izuku. "Just like All Might."
Tomura blurred again, forcing Izuku to dodge, combining One For All's speed with a single step to evade his foe.
Izuku was now thoroughly on the back foot.
I can't let Tomura get close without knowing what new quirks All For One has given him, and what that prosthetic hand can do as well.
But before Izuku could evaluate the situation he again had to evade Tomura, the villain's hand decaying the ground Izuku had just vacated.
"You can't dodge me forever." Tomura snarled. "You'll slip up eventually."
Izuku made his choice, raising his arm and activating One For All, Electrification and Discharge Digits.
Parallel Circuit: Finger of Thor!
A bolt of emerald green electricity shot from Izuku's fingertip as he flicked, aimed squarely at Tomura. The villain's chest suddenly turned to dust, forming a hole to allow the attack to pass harmless through, before reforming.
"That's new." Izuku remarked, having to dodge again.
"You beat me last time, humiliated me. This time, I'm going to kill you."
Electrification, Discharge Digits and Rock Hard are no use, Overhaul as well, if I'm close enough to use it, then he's close enough to use Decay.
"You can't beat me." Tomura taunted. "I am the ultimate creation, my quirks are in perfect synergy."
"Which quirk is the one that's given you a god complex, or is that just something All For One taught you?" Izuku retorted.
With a howl of indignation Tomura closed the gap, hand reaching out for Izuku.
A gout of flame burst from Izuku's mouth, striking Tomura's hand. In an instant, the villain's screams turned to that of pain before he retreated, nursing his scorched hand.
"You not a perfect creation, if All For One thought you were he would have given you a regeneration quirk, wouldn't he have not?"
This only served to enrage Tomura further, the villain glaring at him as he placed his prosthetic to the ground.
Dust whipped up into the air, creating a thick, obscuring cloud that enveloped Izuku entirely.
"I let you rile me up, bait me into attacking you, I won't make that mistake again." Tomura spoke, his voice seemingly coming from every direction all at once.
A red light began to shine in the dust cloud, Izuku watched it get larger before a bolt of red energy shot at him. He didn't have time to dodge, instead he turned his arms to diamond and blocked the laser fire, refracting it in every direction.
Lowering his block, Izuku looked in every possible direction, searching for where Tomura might be now. Another laser bolt appeared from the darkness, striking Izuku on the back and knocking him off his feet.
Groaning, Izuku clambered back to his feet, only for yet another laser bolt to strike him, sending him slamming against the outside wall of the facility.
Dropping into a crouch, Izuku dove wildly, only just evading the next laser blast. Sitting with his back against a tree, Izuku tried to get his breathing under control.
There was a heavy pause, before four more blasts fired in rapid succession, striking different points in the clearing.
Tomura had lost track of him, the dust wasn't only obscuring Izuku's vision, but that of its own creator. That meant All For One hadn't bothered to give his protégé a quirk that could counter that drawback.
Tomura roared with anger, giving his location away. "Ever since you and that stupid quirk of yours showed up it's all Sensei has cared about!"
Placing his hand flat on the forest floor, Izuku activated Overhaul, morphing the ground under Tomura's feet to launch him into the air.
Pushing off from the tree, shattering its trunk, Izuku rocketed towards Tomura, his fist clenched, his wake carving the dust cloud open. The villain's eyes met his opponent's, his chest again turning to dust as Izuku closed in.
Tomura had fallen right into Izuku's trap.
Opening his hand, Izuku placed his hand flat on Tomura's face as he sailed past, activating Slingshot as he did.
The villain froze in place, his eyes darting around wildly trying to find his opponent. Izuku shifted his body mid-air, pushing off and destroying another tree.
Now coming from Tomura's back, the villain had no chance to use his dust form to evade the fist that drove into him. Opening his hand, Izuku released a massive explosion, sending himself flying backwards and Tomura forwards, building the potential energy of Slingshot.
Skidding as he landed, kicking up dust and leaves, Izuku activated One For All again, heaving the felled tree onto his shoulder with ease.
"Release." Izuku spoke through gritted teeth.
Tomura shot backwards like he'd been fired from a cannon, smashing into the tree Izuku held aloft and then into the forest floor.
Dazed, Tomura had no time to react before Izuku closed the gap, grabbing him by his cape and spinning him around into a tree.
The clasp broke, sending Tomura flying, into another tree and then the ground, dirt filling his mouth. Spitting and coughing, Tomura rose into a crouch and pressed his hand against the tree, decaying it.
Guided by his other hand, Tomura formed the dust into a spike and hardened it, before firing it at Izuku.
Izuku raised his arms, turning them to diamond a moment before it struck, knocking him clean off his feet.
Rolling to a stop, Izuku groaned and looked down at his arms, seeing a spider's web of cracks running through the diamond.
Tomura, looking worse for wear, appeared over Izuku, his hand reaching out and grasping his neck, leaving a single finger from touching.
"You will die and Sensei will forget all about you!" Tomura hissed, pressing his final finger to Izuku's neck.
Izuku blurred into an ink-like form, before vanishing inside Tomura.
The void was dark, but not Izuku's own, it was like the whole plane was cast in shadow.
Sniffles attracted Izuku's attention, the green-haired teen catching sight of a small boy, perhaps seven or eight, crying as he sat with his arms wrapped around his knees.
The child had the same pale blue hair, the same red eyes, he was Tomura, as a child.
"Hello?" Izuku called, trying to get the boy's attention.
Head snapping up, the boy's eyes filled with fear, desperately trying to crawl backwards.
"It's okay, it's okay." Izuku assured him. "I'm a hero, I'm here to help."
"My father said heroes are only good for letting you down." The boy sniffled.
"Well I'm not going to let you down, I promise. I'm Hinode, but you can call me Izuku if you prefer, what's your name?"
"Tenko."
Izuku smiled. "That's a lovely name. Do you remember how you got here, Tenko? Where you were before you were here?"
Tenko paused, before nodding. "I was with him, the one with the red eyes like my mother's. Like me."
"What did the bad man do?" Izuku queried, trying to keep his voice as soft and as calming as possible.
"He put his hand on my head, he told me he was going to give me a quirk, that I would make a perfect vessel for his son to be reborn into."
"His son?" Izuku murmured. "You mean Tomura?"
Tenko shivered, before nodding. "He said Tomura wouldn't even remember he'd ever been anyone else, that he would inherit my memories, he would replace me."
"How old are you, Tenko?"
"I don't know." Tenko answered. "I was four when Sensei took me from my family. I tried to run home, so he killed my family, m-my parents, my sister, my dog, and destroyed my home. He made me watch, told me it was my fault, that if hadn't tried to run he wouldn't have had to do it."
Tenko broke into sobs, his chest heaving. Izuku moved forwards, hugging him.
"It's okay now." Izuku spoke. "Because I am here."
Izuku gave the most encouraging smile he could as Tenko gazed up at him, his sobs subsiding.
Standing, Izuku stood, holding his hand out to Tenko.
"Let's get you out of here." Izuku stated.
Tenko nodded, taking Izuku's hand and allowing himself to be pulled up. In an instant Tenko changed, no longer a small child but closer to fourteen or fifteen, around the same age as Izuku himself.
"That was weird." Tenko remarked, looking down at himself. "I was me, but as a child."
Izuku hummed in affirmation. "Your quirk was protecting you, instinctually, hiding your mind from All For One's, I mean, Sensei's corruption as a memory, a stray vestige."
"You don't seem surprised."
"It's not the weirdest thing I've seen today." Izuku admitted as he approached the centre of the quirkspace. "Not even top three if I'm honest."
"Where is this?" Tenko questioned, examining a rather small quirk, its light a brilliant red.
"Your quirkspace." Izuku simply, earning himself a perplexed look from Tenko.
"I can copy quirks, I have quite a few now, one of which allows me to enter a visual manifestation of my quirk and the quirks of those I touch." Izuku answered, resting his palm on the center quirk, the largest by far.
The quirk pulsed under Izuku's touch.
"Flight, manifested in Tenko Shimura, aged 4, on August 12th 2163. Type, Emitter. Allows the holder to cover themselves in an aerodynamic barrier, capable of protecting them from heat, cold, and physical harm. The barrier can also be used to enhance the user's strength and allow them unaided flight." Izuku's eyebrows vanished into his hairline. "That's one powerful quirk, your natural quirk I presume."
Tenko nodded. "I couldn't turn it off when it first manifested, my dad had to use his quirk, Float, to come up and get me."
"Float?" Izuku murmured. "And your name is Tenko Shimura."
Again Tenko nodded, a slightly bemused look on his face.
"Your grandmother, paternal grandmother, she was a hero, her name was Nana Shimura, wasn't it?" Izuku queried.
"Yeah, she was, my father hated her, said she abandoned him to focus on her hero career." Tenko answered.
"Actually, she sent him away to protect him from All For One, or Sensei as you know him." Izuku explained. "What do you think happened to your grandfather?"
"And how do you know all this?"
Izuku glanced over, his hand still resting on the quirk. "Because she sent my mother away as well."
"Wait, your mother?" Tenko questioned. "That means, that means we're cousins."
"Exactly." Izuku muttered, turning his attention to a smaller red quirk. "Laser, manifested in Toshiyuki Morikawa, aged 17, on November 23rd 2054. Allows the holder to fire energy beams from their eyes."
"This doesn't make any sense, the Sensei, I mean, All For One, he took that laser quirk from X-Less." Tenko spoke while staring up into the void. "I know I've been out of it for a few years, but I'm pretty sure X-Less isn't over a hundred years old."
"No, I doubt he is." Izuku mused. "Either X-Less was quirkless and All For One gave him that quirk, or All For One lied to Shigaraki and kept X-Less's quirk for himself, palming a weaker, first or second generation quirk off on Shigaraki."
"What about the others?" Tenko queried.
Izuku nodded, before scanning each in turn. "Blur, a speed-enhancer, third-generation. Dust Devil, sand-based self-transformation, fourth-generation."
"And the last one?"
"Decay." Izuku stated darkly. "Manifested in Tomura Shigaraki, aged 11, on April 1st 2042. Allows the user to turn anything they touch with all five digits to dust."
"That's the one, the first quirk that All For One forced on me." Tenko stated, his voice hollow.
"The manifestation date, that's from the first or second generation of quirked, but it's stronger than you'd expect from that era." Izuku muttered. "It also means that Tomura Shigaraki is a vestige, a parasite, not a true consciousness."
"I want it gone!" Tenko exclaimed, his eyes glowing red for a second. "That's the quirk he used to kill my family, the quirk he used to turn my body into a monster, and me a passenger forced to watch."
Izuku gave Tenko his best, if somewhat shaky, smile. "It's okay, I've got an idea, I know how to free you from Tomura Shigaraki."
"Please."
Izuku nodded resolutely, desperately hoping his idea was even possible.
After all, if One For All could deconstruct itself and then transfer to someone else, then why not the other quirks the holder possessed.
Izuku held his hands out, shaped as if he was clutching a football, focusing intently on his target quirk.
And then, with an almost anticlimactic pop, Two Becomes One came into existence within Tenko's quirkspace.
Tenko took a step back, an uneasy look on his face. "You're like him, you can give and take quirks."
Izuku panted from exertion, his hands on his knees. "Not really, I can only give quirks I've copied, not take them, and until now this was all just a theory I had in the back of my mind."
"Oh."
Tenko seemed to deflate, clearly still overwhelmed by the current situation and unsure how to even begin to process any of it.
"Basically, this quirk allows the holder to turn their body into an intangible form and possess someone else, it's what I'm using right now." Izuku explained as he started modifying the quirk. "But what I'm going to do is invert it, instead of merging two bodies, I'm going to make it separate one body into two."
"You're going to use it to split me from Shigaraki?"
Izuku nodded. "I am, it's the only way, but once I finalise my modifications that's when they'll take hold, and I'll be expelled out of here since the quirk I used to possess you no longer exists in that form."
Tenko looked at Izuku nonplussed.
"Basically, once I'm done, I'll be pulled out of here. Activating the quirk and separating you from Tomura Shigaraki is all on you." Izuku simplified, inverting the trigger node and rewiring it into a different place in the quirk. "Got it?"
"I understand." Tenko paused. "Isn't this all a bit cobbled together?"
Izuku shrugged. "Sometimes you have to build your wings on the way down."
"Righ-"
Tenko suddenly collapsed to his knees, clutching his head as he cried out in pain.
Izuku rushed to the other boy's side, reaching his hand out to touch Tenko's shoulder. Just before contact, a beam of red energy shot from the void and blasted Izuku off his feet.
Rolling to a stop, Izuku looked up to see Tomura Shigaraki loom out from the gloom, his eyes glowing red.
"Sensei said you would try and get inside my head." Shigaraki growled. "I didn't think it would be so literal."
Izuku clenched his fists and rocketed forwards, ready to deliver a punch directly to his opponent. A moment before impact, Shigaraki vanished and reappeared a distance away from Izuku.
"I don't have time for this." Shigaraki groused.
"Me neither." Izuku murmured as he looked down at his hands, seeing them start to fade away. "Tenko! I can't keep him busy and alter the quirk at the same time, if I can't continue what I started, the quirk is going to fall apart."
Tenko stood frozen. "I can't, I can't fight that quirk."
"You have too." Izuku urged as he dodged Shigaraki's grasp before breathing a gout of flame that forced the villain to take a few steps back. "I believe you can do this, this is your body, not his, he's just a parasite that needs excising!"
Shigaraki chuckled, moving with blinding speed to place his hand on Izuku's chest, ready to decay.
Time seemed to slow down, Izuku knew what he had to do, the only way to win was to not play. Izuku lowered his arms and adopted a neutral stance, awaiting Shigaraki's decay grip.
The blue-haired teen watched in horror as the boy, his own age, his own cousin, resigned himself to his fate, decayed by the same quirk that had taken Tenko's whole family from him. He couldn't watch it happen again.
Tenko moved before he could think.
Twin beams of red energy struck Shigaraki's outstretched hand, burning it and forcing him to recoil away from Izuku.
Wasting no time, Izuku dashed over to Two Becomes One, resuming his work moments before the quirk denatured.
"No, no. You can't defy me." Shigaraki hissed as he stood. "You can't take those quirks Sensei gifted me away!"
The villain turned to face Tenko, who was trying his best to stay as calm as he could in the face of an older copy of himself whose mind had been slowly overwritten by a parasitic quirk.
"Hold him off as long as you can." Izuku instructed, working as fast as he could to alter the quirk in front of him.
Tenko's eyes seemed to calm, his posture hardening. "That won't be a problem."
Firing Laser again, Tenko blasted Shigaraki off his feet and sent him tumbling further away from Izuku.
"You're just a parasite, a quirk with thoughts, a quirk that was used to kill my entire family." Tenko stated, his voice unnervingly calm. "But you're not just an unwilling tool, I've seen your thoughts, your memories, you enjoyed decaying them, all you want is decay more and more, you hunger for that destruction."
Shigaraki glared angrily. "I am no parasite."
"Yes you are." Tenko retorted, beginning to float into the air. "This is my body, this is my mind. I am Tenko Shimura, not you."
"No." Shigaraki hissed. "You're just an illusion, I was Tenko Shimura, I killed him and was reborn in the flames."
Tenko fired his laser beams again, this time Shigaraki braced himself, forced back a few metres.
"If you were Tenko Shimura, then our sister, what was her name?" Tenko demanded.
"Such a simple question, it was…"
Izuku glanced up, seeing for the first time there was uncertainty in Shigaraki's eyes.
"It was, it was-"
"Hana." Tenko stated. "Her name was Hana and if you were really me, then you would never even consider working for the monster that killed her."
Tenko rocketed forwards, slamming his fist into Shigaraki before flying forwards to grab him before he could hit the ground. Twisting in mid-air, Tenko spun to build up speed and slammed Shigaraki down into the ground.
Silence fell for a few seconds, before Shigaraki began to chuckle.
"I know what this is, I understand what's going on." Shigaraki began to stand. "A test from Sensei, to see if I'm truly loyal. I will not be fooled, I forgot her name because I didn't care to remember it."
Anger etched itself deeper into Tenko's face.
"I know because I was the one who killed her, I decayed her and the others, and I'd do it again with no hesitation." Shigaraki straightened himself up. "So go ahead, try your paltry tricks, I'll defeat this boss with no continues!"
Smirking, Shigaraki activated Blur and raced at Tenko, placing his hand on his chest before he could react.
Nothing happened.
Shigaraki removed his hand and placed it back down.
Yet still Decay did nothing.
"What?"
Tenko reared his fist back and punched Shigaraki, sending him spinning away.
"My quirk, my true quirk, Flight allows me to create an aerodynamic barrier around my body, you can't decay air."
With a crash like thunder, Tenko flew forwards, ramming Shigaraki and gripping him around the waist.
"No, no, my true quirk is Decay!" Shigaraki yelled, trying and failing to break free.
"Correct." Tenko spoke as he stopped his ascent, twisting in the air so Shigaraki was aimed downwards. "And you are not me!"
With a yell, Tenko activated Flight and shot towards the ground, gaining speed with every passing second.
"You were not me those eleven years All For One honed me into a child soldier! You were not me when he murdered my family! You're just a parasite, feeding on my anger, my hatred."
The ground began to near, Shigaraki's expression finally betraying the fear he felt.
"I am Tenko Shimura, and you will control me no longer!"
An explosion of white light radiated out from the point of impact, momentarily blinding Izuku as he continued to modify Two Becomes One.
Tenko shook his head, standing and turning to face the beaten Shigaraki.
"I am Tenko Shimura, I have to be Tenko Shimura." Shigaraki intonted hurriedly, his form glitching.
Tenko backed away. "What's happening?"
"Shigaraki, he's like a computer, he can't handle information he can't process." Izuku explained. "Just a few more seconds, I'll be done, hopefully before he goes-"
Shigaraki tilted his head back and screamed, hands made from dark energy erupting from his chest, setting their sights on Izuku and Tenko.
"I guess this will have to do." Izuku muttered hurriedly as the hands beared down on them.
Izuku let go of the quirk.
The quirkspace around Izuku vanished in a swirl of colour, as he found himself being ejected from Shigaraki's body at high speed, his back slamming against a tree trunk.
"I think my bruises have bruises." Izuku groaned as he clambered to his feet, flexing his back and wincing as he did.
Staggering forwards, Izuku came across Shigaraki, led on his back with his eyes staring unblinkingly, a quiet, continuous whine issuing from his lips.
"Midoriya?"
Passing Shigaraki, Izuku put one foot in front of the other, trying to stay upright. A rock in his path, tripping him and sending him crashing to the ground.
Or it should have.
Hands caught him, stopping his fall.
Izuku felt three quirks blossom into existence within him, Flight, Laser and Blur.
"It's okay. I'm here." Tenko smiled, slinging Izuku's arm over his shoulder.
Izuku returned the smile. "Thank you. Cousin."
Together the two teens limped their way in the direction of civilization in relative silence as a mountain road became visible through the trees.
"So, any more surprise relatives I need to know about?" Tenko queried as they passed the treeline, finding themselves on the verge of the empty road.
"All For One is my father, well, his clone is." Izuku answered as Tenko helped him sit against a tree trunk. "And then there's Mikumo, pretty sure he's my half-brother, on the paternal side. And Mineta. The Children of All For One, obviously, and there's also-"
"I get the idea." Tenko interrupted, before the two of them burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
"It's kind of crazy, isn't it?" Izuku choked out through laughter.
Tenko couldn't respond, dissolving into fits of giggles every time he came close to calming down.
"Do you know what I just realised?" Tenko finally managed to speak through gasps. "I have super-strength and can fly, I could have flown us here!"
The observation sent them both spiralling back into howls of laughter, the relief of having escaped their respective imprisonments heightening the humour of the situation.
Headlights flashed onto the two of them, sobering them up as they watched a car drive up the mountain road towards them.
The car stopped, and then so did the engine, taking the blinding headlights with it. A car door opened, on the driver's side.
Izuku frowned. "Hello?"
Closing the car door, Hisashi Midoriya walked to the front of the car, unchanged in the six years since Izuku had last seen him, except for a few more grey hairs at his temples.
"Need a lift?"
Botai Mansion Raid Arc