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Seated outside of Izuku's hospital room, Bakugou sat on the cushioned bench with a permanent scowl on his face while ignoring the requests of his other classmates that he return to his hospital room. His injuries weren't severe, though were serious enough that he shouldn't have left his bed like he did. Sporting a cast on his leg with minor surgery to realign some of the breaks, he needed a crutch to get around while the healing process did what it needed to in order to restore him to full health.

It wasn't until his mother finally found Katsuki before decking him hard enough in the temple to knock out the boy that he was finally dragged back to his hospital room by Mitsuki. She really didn't want to delay her son's healing more than necessary, so she took it upon herself to get her pig headed back to where he needed to be.

Inside of the currently comatose Midoriya's room were Mina and All Might. The retired hero knew better than to shoo the girl whom his successor loved dearly out of the room while he too visited the unconscious boy.

Her crying stained the eyeliner she wore as she finally managed to fall asleep while clutching at Izuku's right hand side. His arm unconsciously wrapped itself around the pink girl when she fell asleep at Midoriya's side. To the boy's left, All Might had his hands on Izuku's left arm while the teen still remained unresponsive.

The doctors did evaluate that Izuku had a surprising amount of deep injuries; as if half of the damage from him using one hundred percent was evenly spread throughout his body. That sort of unprecedented internal trauma would have killed anybody else, had the ESD medics not had the cutting edge medical tech there to stabilize the teen. Now it was all up to Izuku to wake up; whenever he was ready to do so.

Although it was faint, All Might could sense that the young Midoriya hadn't woken up yet because there was something going on within One for All.

What it was escaped the man, though the inheritors of One for all were likely trying to reach the boy before he woke up again. He just hoped that they would wrap up their business with the teen sooner than later.

?

From out of nowhere, Izuku found himself inside of a hallway that stretched up and outwards enough to fit a semi truck inside of the corridor. Luxurious black marble spanned the entire floor in a single seamless pattern while the walls were pearly white. Lighting above had the entire ceiling illuminated like one solid lighting panel. None of the chaotic black flames or shadows were present in contrast to the upscaled decorum. In trying to get his bearings, Izuku found that more of his body found itself inside of One for All for him to interact with.

A lack of clothing still made things a bit awkwards. His genitals were still absent, so the worst of his embarrassment still remained to be revealed.

Ahead of him in the hallway was a set of double doors that matched the size of the hallway. Approaching the exit revealed the ebony woodwork with two black metal handles adorning each side of the exit. Both hands grasped at the handles firmly before Midoriya pushed on them to progress from the seemingly endless hallway behind him.

Inside of the room were several individuals already seated at the conference table that spanned the length of the space itself. To the left of Izuku was a fireplace that radiated a comforting amount of warmth for the room. Windows that stretched the entirety of the right wall revealed a rainstorm that pelted against the glass as it stretched out into the darkness beyond the visible horizon. Taking a closer look at those seated at the table; a total of eight individuals were all sitting in chairs that looked to be carved out of the same ebony that the doors were made of.

Izuku recognized two of them as inheritors of One for All with the first seated at the far end of the table. Entering the room, nobody had their eyes on Midoriya at first. His presence was recognized by a few of the others, though his eyes followed where their eyes had first been planted before he made himself known.

Following their eyes, Izuku approached the chair facing away from him when he entered. Rounding the left of the tall throne-like chair, he saw someone he hadn't expected to interact with anytime soon.

"You're late."

It looked more like a black void than an actual human being. No light illuminated the figure seated comfortably at the head of the table. As if it was an image edited digitally, pitch black was all Midorya could see of the mysterious stranger.

"You aren't anybody to say who or where somebody should be in this place. Who the fuck are you, anyways?"

The second inheritor already felt his temper rise at the presence of this unknown entity. His accusation was just a loose attempt to disguise his nervousness at the fact he didn't even remember how he got here in the first place.

In fact, none of the inheritors knew why or how it was they suddenly appeared in this strange room. Even the usually cool headed first felt himself scowl at the unknown abilities of this mystery inheritor that he had no recollection of inheriting One for All. Not even he possessed the ability to force the others to gather in one spot to converse with one another.

Ignoring the second inheritor, the shadow gestured to one of the chairs next to Nana.

"Have a seat, Midoriya. I think all of us need to have a discussion about what's in store for you."

Although cautious, Izuku approached the seat and politely bowed to the only other woman inside One for All before taking a seat next to her. She returned the gesture out of courtesy, still keeping the shade seated at the table in the corner of her eye with no lack of suspicion on her part.

"Now then, I think you have something to say to the boy, number one."

One thing was for certain; this personality didn't lack any sort of confidence in how much control they had over the conversation. Though he wanted to tell the shadow to get bent, the first inheritor turned to Izuku and addressed the boy about the purpose of this unusual meeting.

"We apologize for this, Midoriya. All of us, present company not spoken for…

He gestured to the figure seated on the opposite end of the table from where he sat from.

"... need to speak to you in regards to the quirk you have inherited. Something that I believe our unwanted guest wanted to discuss as well."

With both arms crossed and his right leg on the table, a dismissive wave told the others that they were free to speak first. Such attitudes were starting to grind on the other inheritor's patience. They felt as though this thing walked all over them in their own home while openly disrespecting their place of existence. They reluctantly let the matter slide before returning their attention to the curious Midoriya awaiting his explanation of recent developments.

"These past few months, One for All has seen some serious growth. It's reached the point that the profiles that were attached to each original quirk user are now able to speak to one another on top of those abilities themselves being enhanced."

Gesturing to the others seated at the table, the first inheritor shared with Izuku something that both reassured and concerned the other inheritors.

"Since the invasion of my brother's quirk, we have become more sentient and are now able to freely converse with you as well. Which also includes… him."

A finger pointed itself at the shade seated farther away from the rest of the group. Nobody could tell if this individual was still listening or simply zoned out with the kickback demeanor they were demonstrating openly to the others. Something that increased the tension in the room were the words that were spoken by the callous individual. It lacked no bite as the figure spoke freely towards the other inheritors.

"Yeah, well; the fact that the rest of you couldn't pull your own weight has left me with no choice but to step in and say something. Like it or not, we're stuck with each other."

That got a few feathers ruffled as several inheritors started to stand from their seats to confront the blatant insult thrown at all of them. Still looking bored, the shadow didn't bother with shifting from his sitting position as the others were giving him a death glare.

"We can fix that, motherfucker…"

"How fucking dare you."

In the face of a fight possibly breaking out, the shadowy figure finally sat up and slammed an open palm on the table. Black granite cracked under the force while the sound itself almost popped the eardrums of everybody else in the room. Turning the tables on the situation, anger seeped into the shadow's voice as he spat venom back at the other inheritors for what he thought was a failure on their part.

"I'm not the one who left a fifteen year old kid to take on the burdens of a several generation long struggle. I wasn't one of seven morons who couldn't just figure out that killing the fucker responsible for all this bullshit would have ended this whole affair ages ago."

One of the earlier inheritors stood up and pointed a finger at the shade as he shouted out of rage in the face of such brutal accusations.

"You don't know what the hell we went through! All you do is mock and laugh at us!"

"Does it look like I'm laughing?!"

Another slam of his fist on the table crushed the solid stone that the table had been constructed of. Everybody could feel the bitter anger rolling off of the shadow in thick waves. Izuku could see that the stranger hadn't been openly mocking the inheritors for his personal amusement. This person felt truly enraged by this whole affair and had been barely containing himself this whole time. The moment that the others were caught off guard, the figure stood and started slinging his own judgment at the supposed heroes who were tasked with stopping All for One.

"Your legacy is one that shouldn't exist! All of you were too caught up in your little game of superheroes that none of you thought about the ramifications of what letting something like that thing roam around freely would entail!"

Nobody could interrupt the shouting shade as he dug his proverbial talons deeper into the group as a whole.

"Some basic intel grabbing and a few competent people willing to die for the greater good would have ended this a long time ago! Each one of you has some responsibility in this! You all wanted to handle this as heroes, and look where we are!"

His finger pointed itself directly at the startled Izuku. He hadn't expected to be called upon like this out of nowhere, so it certainly made him jump when the angered man suddenly made the boy the center of attention.

" A kid?! A fucking kid has to clean up your fucking mess?! Worst of all, one of you is even considering asking him to kill your only family left!"

Midoriya could feel the mood of the room stoop to something darker at the reveal that one of the inheritors was about to ask that the teen try and kill someone. Someone who they were related to by blood.

"You were the one who left your family broken! You abandoned them because you wanted to be noble. You weren't concerned about their safety; you were too self involved with being a hero and can't cash out on a check you overdrew…"

Nana felt the tears pour down her face in streams. Her gloved hand couldn't completely stifle the sobs she struggled to choke back. If she could go back to that day where she left her son crying for his mother, she would have gladly stopped herself from making one of the worst mistakes she had ever made in her entire life. Despite her good intentions, her family were all killed by her grandson. Reality was a cruel mistress, but it never lied when the facts were all laid out. It truly fell upon her for who was responsible for the creation of Shigaraki Tomura.

Wood exploded against the shadow out of nowhere. Shrapnel showered itself in a cone from where the blacked out person stood. From where the projectile originated, Izuku had a glare in his eyes that could melt steel aimed directly at the man who mercilessly tore into the heroes who passed away in the line of duty.

"You…"

Jabbing his finger at the shade, Midoriya shot back at the shadow with his own words of wisdom.

"You need to shut the fuck up, now!"

Almost everyone else in the room was shocked at the crass language used by the usually polite Izuku. The boy never got like this; even when he faced off against villains out to hurt innocent people.

"They messed up, sure! That doesn't mean that you can just dig your heels into their misery! Their pain!"

For the first time, the shade let another person speak their minds at him. It seemed that he even listened closely to what Midoriya had to say to the stranger.

"What matters now is that there are people who need help! My help! Even now, Nana needs someone to stand up for her!"

Her crying stopped for a moment as the older woman looked up at the back of the one who stood up for her. She never realized a back could look so powerful and broad as Izuku stood with no intentions of letting this senseless abuse continue.

"If you want to say something, say it to me! I won't just stand by and let you hurt anybody else! That's not what I am!"

"... Then what are you?"

There was a pause as Izuku lingered on the question. He did something that genuinely surprised the other inheritors. On his face, a toothy grin that looked somewhat familiar to the others stretched Izuku's lips when he responded with what he thought was the truth. His truth.

"I dunno… All I know is that I want to be the best I can be. Someone who I can be proud of. Hero or not…"

Eyes like pure emerald gems sparkled with life that only those with resolute spirits could only hope to have. Midoriya looked the stranger dead in the eyes with nothing but the confidence he had to be more than certain.

"I will be someone worthy of being the greatest hero in the world. Whatever people call me, I know who I'll be. No matter what."

Everybody else felt something deep inside of them move with what they had just witnessed; coming from someone who was still a child to them. All their experiences and struggles had made them into what they were now, yet all of their growth felt like nothing worth mentioning with what they saw in this boy. Here this boy of about sixteen had a heart that radiated a pure sort of strength rarely found within even the most capable heroes of history's past. This was a soul that would only come into existence once every few generations; if the human race even possessed such luck with the best odds.

With the wind taken out of their sails, the shadow simply dusted off his still pitch black front before sitting back down. He leaned forward with his elbows now propped up on his knees as he readdressed the room.

"Apologies for losing my temper. With that out of the way, we still have a good deal to talk about with what awaits Izuku."

Bringing the conversation back on track, the first inheritor picked up on the clue and cleared their throat before asking that Midoriya seat themselves back down. Looking back down at the chairs revealed that his own chair had been fully restored and placed behind him once again. Scanning the rest of the room, even the table had been restored to its former state before it got damaged. A friendly reminder that this place was nothing more than a mental scape where only the minds of those inside of One for All could convene.

Getting back on track, the other inheritors shared with Izuku that the quirk possessed additional abilities that a few inheritors wished to share with the teen. The fourth and fifth inheritors wanted Izuku to utilize their abilities, Danger Sense and Smoke Screen.

These abilities were those of avoiding damage or conflicts. Utilizing these skills would take time and practice, which the inheritors were more than happy to help with.

"That's not enough."

After a good amount of silence, the shadow finally spoke up once more. None of the arrogant behavior presented itself as he spoke frankly and directly.

"Izuku, you're not nearly ready enough to go out into the field. Honestly, it's a miracle that you even survived with the little training you've received so far."

Standing up from his chair, The shadow rounded the table to approach the scantily covered teen.

"All the powers in the entire world would only do you so much good if you're still tripping over your feet. The fact that you tried to dig into my head for something to use, which I still find upsetting, against that Humaride group tells me you still can't hold your own. A gun that can shoot as far as the moon still needs to be aimed."

Midoriya wanted to correct the shade. Not about the mislabeling of Humarise, but the sentiment that came with the last statement made by the man.

"One for all isn't something that kills people…"

"Too late for that, kid."

Confusion spread on his face for a moment before turning to the other inheritors for an answer to the cryptic answer. The first informed Izuku of the incident that concerned the fight against Nine on Nabu Island. They all watched as the person who Izuku trusted with One for All utilized the quirk to completely atomize the man who tried to take Katsuma's quirk for himself. Revealing that the incident also birthed this shadow was the shade himself. He saw no need for secrets if it meant that the trust between them would be violated.

Aside from that morbid reveal, everyone still agreed that the training of developing Izuku's skills over his new quirks needed to coincide with some sort of physical training to boost his combat prowess.

One person came to mind for Izuku. Whether or not they would actually agree would depend however.

There was still one last question on Midoriya's mind. Something he couldn't shake off no matter how much he tried to put it off to the side.

"What happened between me and Shigaraki? Before I fell unconscious…"

Virtually everybody in the room fell silent at the question. All eyes were on the shadow as they waited for an explanation to the strange phenomenon that rendered both Izuku and Tomura unconscious. The mystery about what caused the melding of the two quirks.

Before they could ask anymore questions, the shadow raised his right arm and snapped his fingers. The entire space went pitch black in a single instant. Midoriya felt as though he was floating upwards. His entire body started to tingle as he realized that he was starting to finally come out of his temporary coma.

ESD Medical Recovery Ward

Coming out of a groggy slumber, Izuku started to test the limits of his current physical movement little by little.

As his eyes were readjusting to the limited lighting in his bed, something he noticed was that his right side felt restricted. Opening his eyes fully after adjusting to only having moonlight as his light source allowed Midoriya to see a sleeping Mina in casual attire curled up next to him in the sheets.

Taking in every single detail of his girl as she slept felt like something he needed to do with every chance he could afford going forward. Those beautiful golden irises were hidden under two lids that puffed up a little from her nonstop crying. Her pink skin that left her absolutely perfect in his eyes lacked the usual makeup she habitually put on, leaving her exposed for only him to see. That sweet scent of her breath as she softly snored while asleep. Despite her numerous attempts to convince her better half of her occasional body odor, Izuku found Mina to smell as good as lollipops at any given time. Nothing about her could ever scare him away. If anything, everything about her drove him insane with adoration.

He wanted a life with her.

Maybe a family would come out of it, but she meant so much to him. The others were passing through his mind one by one as he felt the reality of the situation finally dawn on him. It fell upon him to make sure that he was ready for whatever was going to happen. With lovers like these, it only felt right that he fought with everything he had and then some.