Izuku startled himself awake after passing out. He was in a mostly white room, somewhere he wasn't totally familiar with yet. Turning his neck felt like trying to lift a car, and so he just kept staring at the ceiling. Dragging his hands up to rub at his face was just as hellish, but he at least managed that. Izuku pushed his fingers around his face, rubbing the numbness out of his body as his sense of touch returned to him. When his senses did level out, Izuku realised that his right hand had one less finger than he remembered. He immediately startled once again, holding his hand out and unconsciously sitting up, which he regretted as soon as his whole body tensed and flared up in pain, keeping him still in that new position. Izuku looked at his hand, wondering what the hell had happened, when the memories of the villain attack came flooding back to him. He groaned, staring through the empty space where his middle finger should've been.
"Careful, boy, you'll just hurt yourself worse if you thrash around!" Recovery Girl said, appearing in his vision from his side. Izuku turned his neck with great effort to look at her as she checked everything was still okay.
"Where am I?" Izuku asked.
"UA, where else? You've been out for a little while, and you took quite the beating, but I didn't expect you to lose your memories!" Recovery Girl said, her tone far too chipper for the conversation topic.
"Uh, right. Wait, how long was I asleep for?" he asked again.
"You've been unconscious since yesterday, when the attack happened. Your stamina was shot, so I couldn't use my Quirk to heal you right away, which is why you're still feeling some pain. My Quirk stimulates the natural healing process, and that drains a lot of energy, and so I have to wait until you're able to move around until I can heal you properly," Recovery Girl explained.
"That makes sense. How is everyone else? My classmates, the teachers?" Izuku asked, panic seeping into his voice.
"They're all fine, boy. You were the only student with significant injuries, and Aizawa and Thirteen defended themselves well. All Might was the only other person who was actually hurt in that whole mess, other than just bumps and scrapes," Recovery Girl said, gesturing over and past Izuku.
Craning his neck over to his other side, Izuku saw that the true form of All Might was laying in the bed beside him. He was awake, but silent, looking out the window as he seemed to be thinking deeply about something, Izuku went to shout in surprise, but contained himself for now. It wouldn't do any good to get loud. Izuku instead sighed, the sight of All Might's gaunt body reminding him of the first time he'd seen it, when he'd been crushed. All Might's shoulders tensed, which told Izuku that he knew what needed to be done, what needed to be said. Izuku took a deep breath in, and spoke.
"All Might, are you okay?" Izuku asked, getting the emaciated man to look over at him with raised eyebrows.
"I will be. My previous condition will be exacerbated, but I'll live. How do you feel?" All Might said.
"I feel fine. Well, apart from this." Izuku held his hand up, the one with the missing finger. "This'll probably take some getting used to."
"Recovery Girl, you can't save the finger?" All Might asked.
"Once again, I'm not a miracle worker. If you can't do it without my Quirk, I can't make it possible. All I do is speed up the things that were already going to happen, so that finger, I'm afraid, is lost," the older woman explained.
"Transplants and prosthetics are an option, right?" Izuku asked.
"Yes, though transplants have a chance at rejection, so prosthetics are usually the way to go. However, that option has some problems too, mainly the fact that you're still young, and you will quickly outgrow the prosthetics, meaning that you may need a new one in a matter of months or weeks. UA will pay for whatever you choose, but you should be aware of the pros and cons," Recovery Girl said.
"I … need to talk to my mom before I decide," Izuku said, looking at his right hand with a feeling of dread. What was he going to tell her?
"Alright. You can go home tomorrow, after a healing session tonight. Then, you can talk about your options. In the meantime, I think you have some things to discuss with each other, you two," Recovery Girl said, smirking as she turned to leave.
Izuku looked back over at All Might, finding that the muscles in his neck were hurting less and less tense than they'd been moments ago. He agreed, the two of them did need to have a talk. All Might nodded, and Recovery Girl gave the two of them some privacy by leaving the room, her nurse's office, and closing the door behind her.
It was silent for a few moments. Izuku just looked at All Might, his weak, frail body and the heavy look in his eyes a testament to how much he'd given to the people of Japan. Izuku used to associate this form of his with the way he truly was, the way Izuku saw him at his lowest. He thought he may start thinking differently from now on, seeing just what All Might had put up with for so long. Izuku let out a difficult breath, and closed his left hand in a fist.
"You were amazing," All Might said, beating him to it.
"Thanks. I was kind of just making stuff up as I went along, but it worked out well enough," Izuku replied.
"I would hardly call this 'well enough'." All Might gestured to the state of his and Izuku's bodies.
"Well, we're not dead," Izuku joked, but he couldn't smile right now, he was still too … tired and empty feeling to do that.
"That is correct, though it's all thanks to you that we even survived," All Might admitted. "You diving in gave me the time I needed to gather my strength and pull off that one last move. It also saved my life, so I thank you, Izuku Midoriya. I regret not being able to keep you from getting as hurt as you are, but you are the reason that nobody died back then. You were my hero, and I give you my gratitude and thanks."
Izuku had been expecting All Might to say something like that, but hearing the Symbol of Peace say that Izuku was his hero? He fought not to sob and cry at the way his chest tightened and his eyes stung with the unshed tears that wanted to fall.
"Don't thank me. Just tell me why. Why were those guys there in the first place? What is One for All, and why was that All for One guy after it?" Izuku asked, his voice breaking from the effort to keep himself together.
All Might's grim expression darkened considerably. He looked lost, yet oddly determined at the same time.
"If I tell you, you must promise to never utter a single word of it to another person, ever. Only four people other than myself know this secret, those people being the principal, Recovery Girl, a good friend of mine and an old teacher that helped train me. Not even the Hero Public Safety Commission knows this little tidbit, do you understand?" All Might said.
"I do."
"Very well, then. My Quirk is not my own, it was given to me by my master, who also received it from someone else. It's a sacred torch, carried by a legacy of heroes that has been maintained since the Dawn of Quirks, and which has one sole goal; opposing All for One. That Quirk's name is One for All, and I am its eighth wielder. All for One is a monster, a devil in the shape of a man that has been alive since the Dawn of Quirks, and who has the power to give and take Quirks as he wishes. I thought I had defeated him six years ago, but I was wrong, and now he's come back to take One for All for good, though he thinks that I must have already passed it on to one of the kids in your class, which admittedly was my goal when I took a position as your teacher," All Might explained.
Izuku was numb all over again. Sure, he'd thought all that, but to have it confirmed, and to have the knowledge that All for One was seemingly immortal and that this Quirk, One for All, was supposed to be given to one of his classmates? He wanted to lash out, call All Might an idiot for planning to hand a child the power of the number one hero, for putting their class in danger because of it, and not making sure that he'd really put All for One down all those years ago. Izuku couldn't do that, though. He needed to treat this with the level-headed respect and maturity that All Might clearly thought he would when telling him all this. So, Izuku took a breath, and tried his best to formulate a coherent response.
"Okay, I'm just going to ignore that you planned to give a high schooler ultimate power, and that I lost a finger because you didn't double-tap. What exactly was your plan to pass One for All on? Just retire? The country needs you, probably more than ever if All for One is back," Izuku said.
"I don't know. I'll have to rethink my plan. What I do know, though, is who I want to succeed me and take on One for All when I am ready to pass it on," All Might said, smiling slightly as he looked Izuku in the eye.
"Who? Is it Kirishima? He'd be great with it. Or Iida, even if he is a little uptight. Maybe Uraraka, she's perfect," Izuku rambled. He got sidetracked thinking about Uraraka, though, and trailed off into silence after that, frowning as he looked over at All Might with a light warmth in his cheeks.
"All fine choices, even if I suspect that you're playing favourites with Young Uraraka," All Might said, causing the light heat that made Izuku's face warm to become a furious blush. "But no, I am not planning to make any of those admirable heroes-in-training my successor."
"Then who's your choice?" Izuku asked, frowning as he didn't understand that look that All Might had in his eyes.
"You, Young Midoriya."
Izuku froze, coming to realise what that look from All Might had been about. He let out a harsh breath, feeling his heart beat hard against his aching ribs as he processed that. All Might wanted Izuku to take One for All? Why? Izuku didn't think he was Symbol of Peace material, even if he wanted to be the greatest hero. He didn't want to be a Symbol of Peace, he wanted to be his own kind of hero, separate from All Might, not just another version of him. That would go against everything he was trying to do. Izuku looked All Might in the eyes once again and tried his best to calm his breathing.
"No."
"No?" All Might asked, his satisfied look turning into a morbid curiosity.
"No. I don't want it. Pick someone else," Izuku clarified with a shake in his voice.
"But … why?" All Might asked, his voice airy and far away, as if he was in shock.
"I could ask you the same thing. Why pick me?" Izuku shot back.
"You were amazing yesterday, more of a hero than anyone in that attack. Certainly more of a hero than myself. You, the student, ended up having to save me, the number one hero in Japan. That shows me that you've got guts, a strong moral compass, and the resolve to keep going when you face obstacles. When I looked at you yesterday, I didn't see a boy, barely in high school. I saw a fierce spirit that refused to yield against an overwhelming force, even if you knew you couldn't do much. In you, I saw the very essence of what One for All is and what its holders have strived to be since its inception. I saw everything I wanted to be when I was a boy, and all the ideals I've worked to uphold shining through you as you stood tall and held your ground. I saw the ideal holder of One for All, the one it was made for," All Might said. He swung his legs off the bed and stood up slowly, pushing up onto his feet as he looked down at Izuku with his piercing blue eyes, hidden by shadows.
"Izuku Midoriya, I want you to be the one to inherit my Quirk and carry on my legacy as the number one hero."
"Still, no thanks," Izuku said.
"Why not?!" All Might all but yelled as he came back down on the bed, accompanied by a whine from the springs inside it.
"I don't want it. Since before I could remember, I've wanted to be a hero. Since I was four years old, I've needed to be a hero. Ever since that day we met and talked on that rooftop, I've needed to be a hero with my own two hands, and the blood they've spilled. Even though I had a Quirk that would be suited to a villain, even though I've ended and changed so many lives, even though I've caused my fair share of pain, I want to be a hero. Do you know why that is?" Izuku said. All Might didn't respond. "It's because I wanted to help people. It's because I needed to atone for my wrongdoings. It's because the world put me down and made me feel like it was all my fault, and that I was wrong to be born. It's because you told me I couldn't do it. My whole life has been consumed by anger and pain, and sorrow because of the way things have gone. I'm determined to never allow that kind of suffering to happen to another person again. I'm set on this path, and I'll do it with my own Quirk. With the tools I was given to kill and cause destruction, I'll carve out a path for others to move past that pain and misery. I'll comfort a lost and scared child with the touch of death, and I'll do it by myself, because that's the way it needs to be. Accepting One for All, using your power to push myself along wouldn't help my cause. I'm sorry, All Might, but I need to become a hero with Decimation alone, so that I can show the world that hurt me, held me back and pushed me down, that I'm better than every horrible thing that has happened in my past, and that I can turn those terrible memories into positive change for those who need it most. I'll be the number one hero, that is what I'm sure of, and I don't want One for All to do it. So give it to someone else."
Izuku took a large breath in after his half-rant, half-confession. He looked All Might dead in the eye as he rejected his offer and admitted to his true feelings. After a moment of silence, and All Might looking oddly hurt, Izuku realised what he said might've been a bit harsh, and leapt back in to correct himself.
"I'd be more than happy to help you look for a successor, it's just that I'm not it. I'm sorry if that hurt your feelings, but I needed to say it," Izuku said.
"And I needed to hear it. I'm so sorry, Young Midoriya, for everything that has happened, for all that you've been through. I have regretted the words I spoke to you on that day ever since I left that rooftop, but learning more about you, seeing how well you've done in class and getting to live because you intervened, it's taught me something. I was wrong to say that you couldn't be a hero, and I was wrong to think that I could make things better just by saying a few worthless words about heroism and hope. I hurt you, Young Midoriya, and for that I humbly apologise. I appreciate your offer of help regardless of your status as my successor, and hope that I can earn your respect by being the best teacher I can be in the future," All Might said in that same tired, hollow tone that he always had when in his true form.
Izuku sighed again. This was proving to be a very emotionally charged conversation. He was just glad that he was able to have it, since he'd been sure that All for One would simply just kill him at a few different points throughout that battle. Izuku stayed silent after a while, basking in the feeling of being alive after such a thing had occurred. Izuku looked back at his right hand, wondering if he'd be able to use it the same way he had before. Of course not, he realised, because he had a finger missing. Again, that was something that he'd have to adjust to, probably with a prosthetic, but he could figure that out later. For now, Izuku was content knowing that he was alive, that both himself and All Might were safe, and that they'd somewhat come to terms with each other after butting heads for so long. Izuku knew that the conflict was mostly on his end, and he could see now that he was being immature. He should've been trying to learn from All Might this whole time, because whether Izuku liked it or not, he was still the number one hero, and he still had valuable lessons to teach him. Izuku smiled, knowing that he could look forward to the future now that he'd made up with All Might and gotten through the first week of school without dying. That was a strange qualifier for 'having a good time', but that was the one he'd been forced to clear.
Despite the struggles that had tried their best to keep him down, Izuku was past his first week of high school, and he was ready to take on the rest of his life, no longer weighed down by his anger and his sorrow, and all the terrible things in his past. Izuku was free of it now, and now he could work toward becoming the best version of himself possible.
End of Arc 5: Encountering the Uncounterable
Author's Note: Yes, uncounterable is a word.
