Izuku woke up with a start on a hard surface. Last thing he knew, he was flying across the lake after being blown away by the impact of All Might and All for One's attacks, and was probably going to drown due to his useless state. Instead, he shook awake as whatever he was laying on rocked to the side. He opened his eyes to see the ceiling of the USJ, and tilted his head to see that he was on the deck of a boat. Looking around gave him a good idea of what was going on. Yaoyorozu, Kaminari and Asui were there, as well as Aizawa and Uraraka, the students huddling around him and finishing up their attempts to wrap up his injuries and prevent any more, and Aizawa standing at the rail of the deck and probably trying to spot All for One to erase his Quirks. Izuku tried to sit up, but Yaoyorozu pushed him back down with a stern look on her face. He let himself relax, during what was probably the first genuine moment of calm since this whole goddamned attack began.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I was able to bring you all up onto the deck, and we saw … that …" Asui pointed to his hand. "… so Yaoyorozu did her best to get you all wrapped up again, and your other arm, too. What exactly happened to you two?" Asui said.
"I get the feeling that the experience is roughly the same for you all as it was for us. We saw Kaminari's big move from the plaza," Uraraka replied.
"Hmm, do you think the others are alright?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"I have faith in them. We haven't known each other very long, but I think everyone is capable of handling themselves fairly well. We have to believe that they're okay," Asui said, a calm, if strained expression on her face.
Yaoyorozu hummed in a sort of hesitant agreement, looking out over the water and across the USJ. Izuku took that chance and sat up in one quick motion, using Yaoyorozu's distraction to slip out from under her. Both his arms were screwed now, but he could still use his legs. Izuku ignored the shouts for him to move slowly and pressed his back up against the wall opposite the railing that would normally keep people from falling off the deck. He got his legs under him and pushed, forcing himself up without hurting his arms any further. He stood by himself and stumbled slightly, but held himself steady. Izuku leaned against the wall he'd used to prop himself up so that he wouldn't fall over when the boat rocked from another wave of pure force crashing into it. When the rocking stopped, Izuku looked over at Aizawa and spoke.
"What's happening with All Might and that villain?" he asked.
"Don't worry about it. Just relax, and focus on yourself. Everything will be fine," Aizawa said, but his face didn't agree with his words. Izuku could tell that he was seriously worried, and it filled him with an indescribable urge to do something. It was like the times he'd rushed out without thinking to help Thirteen and Uraraka, like every nerve ending in his body was on fire and the only thing he could do to make it stop was to move, but he was trapped on this boat.
"There's got to be something we can do to—"
"Midoriya, sit down. You're injured, and you've done more than enough today. It's regrettable that you've even had to do what you've pulled off, so I'm not going to let you push yourself further because you can't sit still for one minute," Aizawa said, turning to him for the first time since he woke up. His eyes were red, bloodshot and misty. This must've been the drawback to Erasure. Aizawa was working hard trying to help All Might, but the two titans that were still clashing were just so far out of everyone else's league that it was near-impossible to even see them, let alone make a difference in their battle. Aizawa was still trying, though, and that fanned the flames of Izuku's spirit even more, fueling that urge to help.
"Aizawa, you saw what that villain was all about. I … I know. I know what All Might's been dealing with lately, with his … time management problems," Izuku said, trying to encode it so that the others didn't pick up on what he was saying. Aizawa looked at him with wide, shocked eyes as he revealed he knew about All Might's secret. He knew All Might wasn't as strong as he once was, that he was on the decline, and he knew the UA staff had to know something about that, so he had to appeal to it. "He's not the Symbol of Peace he used to be, and this guy's on par with that All Might, not the All Might here today. They said themselves that they're here to kill All Might, so they have to be capable of just that. All Might needs us, and we're just sitting around doing nothing!"
"How do you know?" Aizawa said, eyes narrowed at him sceptically.
"I met him a long time ago and it all came out. The point is that we both know that he can't do this alone," Izuku answered.
"No. It's our job as your teachers to keep you safe, and this is the safest place for you right now," Aizawa insisted.
"You don't get it. I … I've spent so long wanting to be a hero and now that I have the opportunity to help people, I'm stuck on this boat! Just let me help! You're a hero, you should understand!" Izuku yelled. He felt his face get hot and his hands curl in on themselves, even if he probably shouldn't do that with the state his hand was in. He didn't know why he was getting so angry. Was it regret, from not being able to help while he was over there? He was sure he wasn't actually angry at Aizawa, the man was just doing his job, but whenever he looked over at that plaza, at the flickering, jittery, quickly vanishing and reappearing forms of the greatest hero Japan has ever known, and a villain that was matching his power and then some, his heart felt like it was going to explode, and he needed to do something about it.
Izuku looked down at his own hands. They were throbbing, but not because of his injuries. He couldn't feel any pain at that moment. All he felt was a burning anger and desire for action, an all-encompassing urge to insert himself and beat that villain, All for One. He didn't know what his deal with All Might was, since they clearly knew each other and had fought before, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that the man that had dragged Japan out of a dark age was in trouble, and Izuku could do something about it.
Then, it happened — the unthinkable occurred. All Might was overpowered. A massive jolt forced the boat to rock back and forth, as if caught in a terrible storm. Everyone was thrown back against the wall, both by the shockwave that erupted from the central plaza and by gravity. Thinking of gravity, Izuku got an idea in his head that he hated, but could have worked given the right timing. The boat slowly stopped rocking, throwing Izuku onto the railing as a result. He used this position to look out and see what had happened, only to see All Might pinned to the ground, the villain standing over him screeching what was probably supposed to be a laugh, with a patch of blood soaking his dress shirt around where he'd admitted to being injured terribly by a powerful villain that he'd barely defeated.
It suddenly all clicked for Izuku, and he realised what must have been happening. All Might had mentioned a villain he'd fought that had injured him, and that's why he could only do hero work for a certain amount of time each day, and why he had to revert to that emaciated true form of his. This villain seemingly had personal history with All Might, having been wounded by him in the past and … what had he said? He'd been forced to vacate his body in search of a new one, whatever that meant. Was this the villain that forced All Might into his current state? Was he back for revenge? If that was the case, then this was bad, this was really bad, and that realisation only made the fire in Izuku's chest burn hotter than ever. He looked around, thinking of ways to help All Might, and his eyes landed on Uraraka, who was also watching the aftermath of the fight, frozen in fear and eyes wide with numb shock at watching the number one hero be defeated.
All of Izuku's next actions weren't thought out or considered at all, simply guided by instinct and whatever half-baked plan that popped into his head as he went along. First, Izuku capped his left hand. His glove was still intact, so the mechanism still worked to seal his finger up. That meant that he only had to keep two fingers lifted away as he walked over and used his left hand to grab Uraraka's own hand and press it into his own chest, activating her Quirk on him. It hurt like hell to move his arms around like this, but somehow it only fed into the raging fire in his heart and drove him further into his anger. Then, he ran, pushing Aizawa over as he passed the taller man so that he wouldn't stop him. Izuku rushed up to the railing and leapt, using the railing itself as a launchpad. He soared over the water, the boat left behind him and the central plaza getting closer by the second. Izuku was going fast, which was probably why Aizawa didn't manage to get him in his capture weapon, but what did end up messing up his plan was Uraraka's Quirk suddenly being dispelled, leaving him to fall into the water when he was two-thirds the way across the lake.
Izuku fell into the water, which soaked through his bandages and got into his wounds, but he couldn't scream. If he screamed, he'd lose air faster, and he wasn't sure how well he could swim in his state. He had to try, though, because as cold as the water was, and as much as that water was causing a searing pain in his arm and hand, Izuku wasn't giving up. He kicked his feet out and found that he could swim well enough with one arm and two legs, so began kicking up toward the surface. His head broke through the water and he gasped for air, feeling the lightheadedness at the pain and the momentary lack of air begin fading. Izuku began to slowly swim toward the plaza, weighed down by his mangled hand being useless for swimming. As he got close, Izuku heard the conversation that All Might and All for One were having through harsh breaths and pained grunts.
"All Might, you ape. You're weak, both in flesh and in spirit. Did you really think your pitiful embers could go up against the full might of my new body?" the cold, calculating voice asked. "It's almost like you want to lose. Is it because you've found an heir to further defile my little brother's legacy?" the higher, shrill voice asked.
"What are you talking about?" All Might asked, coughing afterward.
"I'm talking about your successor, All Might," the villain said. "The one you gave it to, idiot."
"My … successor," All Might asked again, sounding more certain this time, as if he knew what the hell the villain was talking about.
Izuku wondered what they were talking about as he came to a quiet stop underneath the jagged yet present ledge that was previously smooth. Successor? Giving what? Izuku suddenly got a sick feeling that he knew exactly what the villain was talking about when he'd been talking about multiple Quirks this whole time, but pushed that feeling down. Sure, the public didn't know a whole lot about All Might Quirk, but that was for safety reasons. That was all, right? Was it all because he had a similar power to hold multiple Quirks? All Might was known for ending fights in a single punch, but what if he was that strong because he had more than one Quirk? It would make sense, since his strength doesn't seem to work like other regular strength Quirks. Regular strength Quirks worked by passively enhancing the body, as most were Mutant types, like Death Arms' Strongman. If they weren't Mutant types, they usually needed some kind of intake to power that strength, and it was temporary, like Sato's Sugar Rush, where the sugar he ingested was transformed into power. All Might's power didn't work like that, seemingly just making him as strong as he needed to be when he needed it. Was it because he was secretly using multiple Quirks to achieve that end? Could he even keep that secret for as long as he'd been a hero? All Might had debuted thirty seven years ago, and it would have been damn near impossible to keep that kind of thing a secret for even half that time, just because of his popularity and incident resolution rate. He'd worked all day every day for decades up until his injury, which was something else he'd managed to hide despite the level at which it affected him. Somehow, he'd made it work. Did he have support from someone, possibly of the less than legal variety? No, All Might may be clumsy with his words, and a kind of bad teacher, but he wasn't in league with villains, especially this villain, who was so clearly intent on killing him due to a personal grudge. Izuku didn't exactly agree with All Might about some things, and he didn't like the man, but he knew that he could trust him with his life and not regret it. That was just the kind of thing that All Might meant, no matter your viewpoint. That was also why Izuku had to help, because no matter his own personal feelings about him, All Might was still the best hero Japan had ever known, and he wasn't about to let him die because he sat around doing nothing.
Izuku rose slightly, just enough to see over the ledge. Unfortunately, the villain snapped his gaze over to him as soon as he did, instantly meeting his eyes and telling Izuku that his plan to silently watch wasn't going to go as he wanted. Izuku flinched back, but decided that he couldn't hide anymore. He pushed himself up onto the plaza's floor and stood up, the water from the lake dripping onto the dusty concrete. He stood before the two incomprehensibly powerful men, the two of them staring at Izuku with wide eyes, but with opposite emotions playing across their faces. All Might's pained grimace only deepened, the corners of his mouth almost touching his chin with how extremely frightened he seemed. The villain, on the other hand, seemed to light up at Izuku's appearance, a massive grin stretching his pale face. Izuku began to feel his stomach squirm at both looks, and what they could possibly mean when given at the same time like they were.
"Hmm, has the little hero come to save his teacher? It's admirable, but it's for naught, boy. I'm going to kill All Might and then I'm going to take my little brother back, even if I have to rip your body limb from limb to do so. Though, I see you may have a headstart in that department," the colder voice said. "The brat came to protect the oaf, how cute. Too bad I'm gonna crush his brain and you'll have no shot at changing anything. Then I'll take One for All and finish the job," the higher voice said.
Izuku froze. What was One for All? He looked at the villain with wide, shocked eyes and wondered what it meant. All for One was apparently the name of the villain, and so was One for All connected to him. It was the opposite, so was it a person as well? No, he said that One for All was something he could take, something he thought Izuku had. They were there for All Might and to take something, so did that mean …? No, Izuku couldn't make assumptions. But, All Might's Quirk was secret for a reason, and being a target for this villain, who had to be even more powerful than All Might by the way that he was pinning the man to the ground as the number one hero strained and struggled under him, would be as good a reason as any. Was … All Might's Quirk called One for All? Was the villain aiming to take All Might's Quirk for himself? Could someone do that? Hypothetically, there was a Quirk for anything, but Izuku had been trying to grapple with the possibility for a while now, and he refused to apply Occam's Razor and admit that there could be a Quirk that allowed a person to take and use multiple Quirks.
Was that what was happening? He couldn't rule it out, but he couldn't exactly confirm it until someone had their Quirk taken, and that wasn't happening while Izuku could still move. As much as Izuku wished he'd been born different, as much as he still wished to have been made any different, Quirks were parts of someone's body, like a limb. To take a Quirk would be to violate someone's bodily autonomy on a fundamental level, a crime against the very nature of humans nowadays. It was horrible, and Izuku didn't want to admit it, but he didn't have any other solid theory about what was happening, and if he was allowing himself to go with that theory, then he had to go with the idea that popped into his head about what One for All could possibly be, being All Might's Quirk that this villain thought Izuku had for some reason. Was that a thing, giving someone else your Quirk? Or was that a thing unique to One for All and this villain's Quirk? It was probably unique, since it did go against everything modern science understood about Quirks, being unique genetic features of a person. This was starting to make his head hurt, but he had to do something, and he may as well play along if it bought All Might some time to bounce back.
"Yeah, that's me, the great successor! Come at me, asshole!" Izuku yelled.
"Oh, not yet, boy. I have to kill your master first!" the colder voice said. "I'll rip you apart and kill All Might with his own power!" the shrill voice screamed.
The villain froze at that, seemingly caught off guard by his own split nature. That was the first time that one voice had said something, and the other had contradicted that. They'd always been on the same page, sending the same message worded differently, but the lower voice had decided to kill All Might and then come after Izuku, but the higher voice wanted to kill Izuku and then use whatever One for All was to kill All Might. That was a fundamental disagreement, the first thing that had happened that had really demonstrated something that Izuku had heard the villain talk about. He'd said that the person who was standing in front, and on top, of them right now wasn't his original body. He'd had to vacate his own after a fight with All Might in the past, probably the one that gave him his injury. So, they clashed and it hurt the two of them so badly that this villain had to move into an entirely new body rather than heal his old one? Izuku didn't know what kind of Quirk could allow that, but maybe the original person whose body this was could still be in there, and that was the higher, shrill voice that kept bleeding through, and which remained when the villain's Quirks were Erased. Maybe this original person could be reasoned with, or tricked. Izuku could try something, but it would probably end badly for him. It would take the villain's attention from All Might and let him recover a little bit, though, so he had to.
"What, not as in sync as you thought? Just try taking One for All from me, I dare you!" Izuku yelled. He didn't exactly know what he was saying, but he didn't need to. This guy couldn't take what Izuku didn't have. It was a little difficult keeping up the facade when All Might shot a terrified, confused look his way from his position having his face pushed into the ground, but Izuku could deal with it.
"Oh, willing to step up so soon? I thought you'd be hard pressed to find another bullheaded brute like yourself, All Might, but it seems that you've picked another brawler to wield the second greatest Quirk known to man," the calculating voice all but whispered in All Might's ear. "You scrawny brat, if you're so confident then why don't I just come over there and crush your skull like it's cheap plastic?!" the shrill voice screamed. The villain once again paused after speaking, as if neither of the voices had known what the shrill one was going to say. This was quickly going somewhere that Izuku didn't like, but he soldiered on.
"Yeah, why don't you?" Izuku asked, putting his hands up in one of the basic fighting stances that All Might had taught them.
The villain frowned, but then smiled, but it wasn't just a smile. It was like he was trying to frown and smile at the same time, like one corner of his mouth was turned downwards, but the other corner was twisted upwards, and so it created a strange facial expression akin to a pained grin that made Izuku take a step back. The villain gave All Might one last whack upside the head and then tore himself away from the once powerful hero. He began to walk towards Izuku, staring at him with wide eyes, which mirrored his smile in a strange combination of curiosity and glee, as one half of his face seemed confused and taken aback by Izuku's brazen attitude, and the other half seemed like Christmas had come early, and he was just about to unwrap all his presents. The villain came to a stop a few metres from Izuku, ten if he had to guess. The two of them looked each other in the eye, green to red, and Izuku didn't flinch this time. He had a plan in mind, and he was about half-sure that it would work, which was honestly pretty good considering he was up against someone who had beaten All Might. Call him stupid, or ignorant, but Izuku was about to do the bravest thing he'd ever done, and the bravest thing he'd ever do.
"Come at me if you have the guts, villain!"
