Author's Note

This chapter took me forever to write because of a decision I had to make for it going forward. But after much discussion and back and forth, I've made up my mind on the matter. Otherwise, please enjoy. I'm happy to continue thos story, and I really cannot wait to write the exam and then their time in Yuuei.

Uploaded

11/16/2024

LEGEND BELOW

"So you want to be a hero?" = Normal speech.

''He's not serious...'' = Normal thoughts.

Chapter 4

Rated-M

M rating for violence, mature themes, romance, and language.

Music of the day

Sonic Unleashed - Mazuri (Night)

"I am here!!!" The booming voice nearly swept the white haired teenager off his feet at the appearance of the number one hero, All Might sliding onto the filthy ocean front with a big grin. "And I have brought a training plan! I call it, the aim to pass American Dream plan!" He exclaimed with a mighty laugh, before deflating with a sickly cough.

Izuku paused what he'd been doing to face the hero, a handful of metal rods and concrete hovering around him. His hair, still that lively white color, was hovering upwards from the effects of his psychic powers.

Shadow, who'd been there as well, watched the mountain of a man with a curious eye from atop her throne of trash. "Hey All Might." She waved down at him, a long yawn splitting her lips. Black bags hung underneath her eyes, the girl laying on her side atop a relatively clean fridge. She was struggling to keep her eyes open, but did manage to stay awake enough to listen in on any part of the conversation.

"Ah, not sleeping well hmmm?" The man asked upon noticing her seemingly sleep deprived state. "Kids these days, always staying up past their bedtime." He tsked like a disappointed parent, before turning to face his young green haired pupil. "Now then! Young Midoriya, I know we don't have as much time as I would like to whip you into shape. With that thought in mind, I have done a little research and have come up with the perfect training regime to get you into… Why is your hair white?"

The older man felt the wind beneath his wings suddenly deflate when he finally took notice of the once green haired boy standing before him with a drastic change in hair color and a handful of heavy trash literally floating around him, surrounded by a green aura.

He had to rub his eyes because he was sure he was seeing things, but after a few moments he realized that he certainly wasn't. His new pupil was lifting items without touching them.

"Y-Young Midoriya? What is this? Your hair, this green aura?" The hero asked in disbelief.

Izuku beamed up at him, eyes glowing a soft golden color. "All Might, you wouldn't believe it, but I actually have a quirk!" He exclaimed with his usual level of giddiness. "I hypothesized that I unlocked some sort of latent ability during the battle with the slime villain, a quirk that lets me move things with my mind but I'm not too sure since I've just barely unlocked it a little over a day ago but from initial testing I've deduced that it allows me special powers related to my current physical condition which means that I can't really lift a lot seeing that I'm not really that strong but through your training I believe that I can become strong enough to become a great hero-"

"Too much!" The hero exclaimed, cutting the seemingly endless rant of explanations short. "I understand your enthusiasm and the energy behind it, but I can't follow a single thing when you go off like that!" He blew out a sigh, smiling as he managed to calm the enthusiastic teenager down.

"Now then, let's just go back to the beginning here." He cleared his throat, addressing the once green now white haired young man. "Young Midoriya, I was under the impression that you were quirkless. You weren't lying to me back then, were you?" He looked hurt.

The sudden change on his face was so intense it made the speedster's heart ache, as if Izuku was moments away from crying at the implication that he'd been lying to his idol this entire time.

That was when she realized that she needed to step in, because when Izuku got flustered he pretty much lost the ability to properly speak his thoughts.

"Actually sir, you're wrong." In a blink of an eye she was standing in between the two of them, unable to hide the frown the split her lips at the thought that Izuku would ever lie to All Might. "You must not have heard him the first time, but he just unlocked this quirk when he saved Bitchface from the slime cunt." She huffed hotly, arms crossed under her bust as she leveled a serious look up at the mountain of a man.

"It came out of nowhere and he just found out about it yesterday morning and he's been training all this time to try and better understand it so he could show you. But it's not been going so well, due to his current lack of physical strength, so he's glad that you put into place a training regime for him." The finished, tsking lowly.

"Does that fuckin' clear it up for ya?" She found it seemingly impossible to hold her tongue, even when speaking to the number one in all of Japan when it came to defending the name of her boyfriend and his feelings. There was no time in life for confusion, miscommunication, and tension when there didn't need to be.

She was swift and concise, and it certainly cleared up the situation quickly.

Her heated defense of the meek little cream puff had both awed him and made the hero shrink into the sand underneath her sudden pressure.

"S-She means K-Katsuki, sir." Izuku squeaked, clarifying who this mysterious Bitchface had been. That was enough to bring clarity so as to who the slime cunt was.

"A-Ah! I see!" All Might laughed uproariously, seemingly to hide how nervous the tan skinned girl made him. "Well then, young Midoriya. I suppose that this doesn't change much in the long run. I assume that you are still interested in taking me up on my offer for my power?" He asked curiously, a grin splitting his face.

Izuku was quiet for a moment before he stood up. "Y-Yes sir!" He nodded firmly. "I'm willing to do everything I need to so that I can be the best successor I can!"

"I can see that!" He laughed, patting him on the back. "Then I suggested that you give this pamphlet a look over. I designed it specifically for you so that you will be in peak physical condition for my quirk. Your training obviously won't stop after this, for this made to pass workout plan is merely for you to obtain my power."

All Might went on to explain everything included in the training routine he'd created for Izuku, but as for Shadow, she found herself tuning it out as her attention drift towards the vastness of the ocean just to her right. She found herself drawn to it, watching the sun beginning to rise as her sleep deprivation began to rapidly catch up with her.

It was a little thing, the color of the early morning light reflecting off the surface of the water. It was beautiful, yet so common it wasn't likely to be considered special by any means.

But…

The orange that danced over the gentle waves reminded her of that volcanic power that bubbled just below the surface of her skin, held at bay by the limiters that she wore at all times. Here the orange looked serene and beautiful, calm and comforting…

But that orange inside of her was blood red, waiting to be brought forth at a moment's notice, slowly filling her up until she could no longer contain it, a cup of molten energy spilling over the top. A glance at her wrists saw the grey rings glowing a soft gold, leeching her power so that she did not hurt herself or those around her.

All this talk about quirk this and quirk that had drawn her perspective inward, and she couldn't help but wonder why she had been born with the power that she had. And in a flash came a memory, something from her past that had been locked away, suddenly released.

For her quirk?

Her trait that made her different than anyone else?

That quirk was called-

Chaos.

"It gives you power beyond comprehension, the power to make anything that you want happen. You will be fast, faster than anything else in the entire world, faster than any vessel humanity can create."

"Initial research on your blood shows outstanding performance in the presence of hostile environments, the ability to heal and repair faster than anything I've ever seen before."

"But it must be contained, it must be controlled. Your body cannot contain this level of power, not yet, not now. That is why you must wear these limiters, until the time comes that I have perfected my designs. Until the day comes that I have perfected the final piece, you must never remove these limiters from your body."

"My dearest daughter. You are special, more so than you could ever imagine. The day will come when you learn, when you finally understand why I did what I had to do…"

What?

What did he mean?

What was he talking about?

What he had to do? What did he do, what was he talking about?

She felt numb, as if she was floating in a sea of endlessness and everything at the same time.

She reached up to grab him, her small little hand barely grasping his mustache. He was young, the wrinkles she'd become so used to seeing nowhere in sight.

What was…

When was she-?

"It matters not your feelings then, for nothing you say can change what had occurred. I just hope that when that day comes, when you learn the truth, that you can forgive me."

He was crying now…

Why?

What did he do? What had he done to her??

Why did she…

Why could she not remember…?

"But until that day comes, until that moment appears that you can face my demons, I will lock these memories away. For you, it will be a blink of an eye. For me, it will have been a lifetime…"

No…

No no no!

"When you next awake, you won't remember a thing. My dearest ——, I hope that it won't be long…" The name he called out was muted, even his lips vanishing.

What did he say?

What name was he about to say?

She fell to her knees, clutching her head. The ocean before her began to blur away, the bleached white ceiling of a hospital in its place. She closed her eyes tightly, the world spinning too quickly, too fast!

"You know her time is short, Doctor. Do you wish to waste what little you have left speaking with her here and now? She only has hours left. Her vital signs-" A curt voice clipped, but it was silenced by a shout.

"Do not tell me the time!" His voice was raw, strained, bleeding. "I know how much time is left… I do not need your explanation now…" He trailed off.

That was her father…

But he was younger.

Different.

She was sick…

Yes that's right. She was sick, so daddy had to take her away. Now she was alone. Her friends were gone, her doggy was gone…

This bed was her home now, and it was so very cold…

She felt his hand wrap around her own, eyes fluttering open at his touch. "D-Daddy…?"

"Shhh! It's okay darling. Please do not speak, just listen to me." She couldn't see his face, everything blurred. "Time is short, so you must listen carefully."

-ria?

Who was?

No, this wasn't right. This was all wrong, all wrong.

She was….

Her name was Shadow, not -ria. This wasn't right, this wasn't correct. Gerald had made her healthy again, cured her illness. Why did he speak as if she was going to die?

That didn't…

T-That's not.

She was alive.

S-She, she is alive.

"Shadow listen to me-"

It was wrong.

"Shadow you must-"

Stop it.

Stop it!

She didn't want to hear it anymore!

"Shadow…?" A voice called out gently.

She growled, shaking her head. Why wouldn't they shut up!? Why wouldn't they leave her alone?! These stupid memories weren't hers! They were wrong!

Everything was all wrong!

"Shadow please remember-"

"Shadow?"

"Shadow, do not forget who you are-"

"Shadow-"

"Shadow…?"

"Hey, Shadow? Shadow!"

"What!?!" She snapped, spinning around with a vicious snarl, fist raised to smash into whoever was behind her. She felt her gloved hand collide with something large, a blast of energy exploding outward with a violent force. Sand exploded out from the beach, a blast of wind forming.

She breathed heavily, eyes narrowed as she struggled to catch her breath. But when she finally did, she saw something that would forever be cemented in the back of her head. And she would give anything to go back and change it.

Izuku cowered beneath her, his golden eyes staring up at her with…

H-His eyes were filled with…

With fear.

"Shadow! What has gotten into you?!" All Might's booming voice pulled her attention, his fist curled around her own. That's when she finally realized what she'd done, the shockwave that she'd caused from her fist colliding with the number one's.

If he hadn't stopped her…

"I-I…" She stumbled backwards, the black bags underneath her eyes that much more apparent than they were that morning. "S-Sorry. I must be not getting enough sleep lately…" The words escaped her lips without thinking, unable to look either of them in the eyes in that moment.

"You've been working too hard, haven't you?" The hero asked quietly, sighing like an understanding parent when he placed a big hand on her shoulder. "This regimen was to aid him in becoming worthy of my quirk. I wasn't aware you'd been losing sleep in helping him train these past eight months. I suppose it is my fault for not noticing sooner. I'm sorry. Don't worry too much about it. Get some sleep tonight and you'll forget it ever happened." He sighed, ruffling her hair.

She didn't even hear a word he'd said, blinking when she turned back towards the sunset. Something felt wrong, off, different.

She was sure it had been sunrise merely minutes ago.

But now the sun was going down.

She shook her head, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. She was exhausted…

How long had she been awake? What day was it? Was the Yuuei entrance exam coming up?

"H-Hey Shadow?" She flinched at his voice, knowing without looking that Izuku was standing right behind her. But she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes. He must've picked up on her emotions, because the next thing he did was so typical of him that she should've expected it, yet flinched all the same when he did.

She sucked in a quiet gasp when she felt his strong arms wrap around her midsection, his chin coming to rest on her shoulder. She felt her cheeks flushing when he hugged her from behind, simply holding her with his surprisingly muscular arms.

When did he get those? She must not have been paying attention recently…

"I'm sorry…" She murmured weakly, biting her lips.

"Don't apologize." He hummed into her neck, eyes closed as he simply basked in her presence. "Life's been so busy lately, I know you've been on edge for a little while now. So I was thinking that maybe we could I take a break, just a few days."

"But your training-" She found herself immediately speaking up to stop him, but he wasn't having it, it would seem.

"Y-You're more important than." He said seriously, spinning her around to finally make her face him. His cheeks were red when he said that, but he meant every word he said.

She found her heart fluttering beneath her breasts, cheeks warming. It touched her more than she could say. She knew how much his training meant to him, and she'd never ask him to stop on her own.

But offering it as he was, she wasn't going to turn him down. A tentative smile graced her face as she interlaced her fingers with his own. "Ok…" She smiled, heart soaring when that smile she loved so much finally found home on his face once again.

As she walked off the beach with him again, their destination his home just up the road, she found the visions from before vanishing to the back of her mind once more…

Nine months had passed since Izuku had begun his training, and in that time he'd seen a complete change in physical appearance. Gone was the scrawny teenager from before, in his place a lean muscular young man who had worked his body to the bone for three fourths of a year. He'd gone beyond his expectations and had completed the assignment he'd given him with just one month to spare, and now here he stood having just bestowed upon him his power.

Izuku had accepted it without delay, swallowing the hair from his head with only a tiny shiver of disgust.

From his knowledge the quirk would take a little while to acclimate to his body, an hour at least before it began to show signs of his strength.

That's when it happened.

He'd just told the young man to look inward and attempt to grasp that massive reserve of power, something that didn't take him long to find.

However…

The moment that he'd done so, something began to go wrong.

Izuku's eyes closed as he drew upon that super strength, but instead of that raw power bubbling at his fingertips, it rejected him. His neck tightened, eyes widening as a silent scream shot through him. He fell to his knees, his entire body violently shivering as red lines of unbridled power began to surface on his skin.

"What's happening to him!?" Shadow was by his side in an instant, cradling him to her chest as he convulsed in an attempt to get the raging power underneath his control.

"One for all… is rejecting him?" The hero was in disbelief, mouth falling open in mortified awe. "This doesn't make sense…!"

"W-Well it's clearly not working as you intended!" She shouted, tears starting to fill her eyes as Izuku's voice finally came back to him. And the first thing that came from his throat once possible was a soul rending scream.

Lightning seemed to explode out from his body, razing the surface of the beach turning the sand to glass. His eyes began glowing a bright white, as if the entirety of the quirk was trying to escape his body from any possible direction.

The girl felt her hair stand up on end at the sudden intensity of his aura, feeling as if they were surrounded by a gathering of eight powerful souls. It was indescribable, but it didn't seem to matter. Nothing else mattered in that moment besides the cold hard truth of the situation at hand.

All Might's quirk was rejecting Izuku, and more than that, it was killing him in the process.

Her eyes widened in horror when his face split, a gash tearing open that extended from the top of his right eye down to his chin, thin and deep.

And it wasn't the only one.

A scar like line suddenly slashed across his forearm, then his chest, abdomen, ear, legs. They were more akin to fractures on the surface of a glass cup, the contents held within beginning to seep out.

Izuku Midoriya, could not contain the power of the quirk, and it was killing him.

"Take it back!!" Shadow shouted, turning back to the horrified hero, voice cracking. "T-Take it back!!!" She pleaded.

All Might was quick to act, swiping his thumb over the blood that had begun to leak out from the teenagers lips. He ingested it instantly, and within moments that power flooded from the white haired boy and back into him.

Almost instantly saw the swirling power around Izuku fading away, his shouts of pain going quiet as he fell asleep in Shadow's lap a moment later.

The ocean front fell entirely silent, the sounds of their hearts beating rapidly nearly deafening. Shadow wasn't even aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks as she hugged the unconscious boy to her chest, holding him so tightly, as if convinced that the world had just tried to take him away.

"What was that?!" She snapped, glaring murder up at the shocked hero. "What the fuck just happened!?" She stood up so quickly that the waves were pushed back from her swift movements. "H-He almost died! Were you trying to kill him!?"

A dangerous aura began to surround her, red lightning bolts arcing across the surface of the sands around her in response to her anger. Her eyes were glowing a dangerous, vile blood orange in color, a barely subdued fury bubbling at the surface.

"Y-Young Shadow, please calm yourself-" The bulky hero tried to reason, but she wasn't listening anymore.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN!?!" She snarled, a wave of pressure exploding from her body. Her clothes began to tear apart merely by staying within contact with her skin, hair floating upwards by the sheer pressure she was creating. "Don't you fuckin' dare tell me to calm down!!"

"I had no idea this would happen! You must understand, this was not my intention. His body was perfectly trained to handle my power, this has never happened before!" He pleaded with her to see reason, but she was blinded by her emotions. And he was beginning to see that.

Her first's clenched at her sides so tightly that her gloves tore apart, teeth grinding together. Like a wild animal that had just witnessed its mate's murder at the hands of a predator, her body was running on a high of emotions and hormones that she couldn't hope to calm down, and there needed to be an outlet for all this rage.

And she was looking right at it.

And she couldn't stop herself.

She snarled, seeing white, filled with the want to hurt something, the need to bring pain. It hurt, the desire so strong that it made her body ache.

If he hadn't intervened in the last moment, the two of them would have unfortunately come to blows.

"Shadow! Stop!" Izuku's voice rang out across the beach front, akin to a gong. The girl found that anger vanishing instantly upon hearing his voice, the energy she'd conjured dissipating as she glanced down to the young man kneeling by her side, holding desperately onto her arm.

Her eyes narrowed in on his fingers, burned by contact with her bare flesh, his skin scorched by her anger. And that made her heart sink.

She felt numb as he captured her in a hug, her arms falling lifelessly by her side, eyes staring blankly ahead.

What was she doing?

Why had she lost control so quickly, so easily?

She'd done exactly what she'd been terrified of this entire time, lost control of her anger, and had harmed the one person that she'd never wanted to.

This was why she knew that she wasn't cut out for the hero work. She was more likely to fly off the handle and get someone killed then actually save anyone, her powers too unsightly to handle safely.

They were ugly, her powers. All they ever did was hurt those around her, burn those that she loved, and scare those she cared about. Those burns on his fingers were a permanent reminder of that fact.

She wanted to die, crawl up into a hole in the ground and drown the world around her out. She didn't want him to hold her, crying into her shoulder, arms wrapped around her tightly.

She wanted to get away, leave and run away from everything here, fleeing her problems with the speed that she'd been given. But he wouldn't let her go.

"P-Please let go…" She mumbled weakly, unable to make herself look him in the eyes.

"No. I'm not going to do that." He muttered into her neck, if anything, his grip around her growing tighter. "I'm not ever going to let you go. Not here, n-not now." He declared firmly, holding her tightly to his chest. "What sort of b-boyfriend would I be if I left you alone when you needed my help. How could I call myself a hero if I abandoned you?" He trailed off, pulling back slightly so he could look her in the eyes.

"Shadow…? Please look at me." He asked quietly, firmly gripping her shoulders for fear she would try to run. She bit her lips, looking down in shame.

But…

Then he cupped her chin, gently directing her gaze up to his own. She was crying, silent tears pouring down her cheeks as she stared into his wide golden eyes. Eyes that were so full of love and affection and adoration that it made that little ball of self deprecating pain inside her chest begin to unravel.

"I'm not afraid of you. I'm not scared of you." He spoke quietly yet firmly, no ounce of deceit in his voice. "And I'm not going to abandon you because you lost control."

"I-I-I'm going to hurt you…" She squeaked out in a small voice, unable to manage anything more. "Y-You're not safe around me…" She felt so vulnerable in that moment, anything he said next could tilt her one way or another.

But…

Then he smiled, a look that even now somehow managed to touch her heart. "And I will be right there to hold you after you do. You won't push me away, you can't." He admitted gently, cheeks flushing. "Shadow… I love you. A-And something like this isn't going to scare me off. So please, stop pushing me away…" He trailed off as he leaned forward, capturing her lips with his own.

And just like that, she felt her fears melting away as she gave into him. Everything else was forgotten in that moment, completely enraptured by the sensation of his lips on hers. She felt that she could do anything with him by her side, a living breathing limiter to help keep her in control.

The beach stood forgotten by the both of them, more concerned with caring for the other. The reason behind the quirk rejection, her outbursts of unbridled power, and everything else could wait until later.

To him…?

She was far more important, and it didn't matter how many scars he'd gain if it meant he got to love her. Perhaps it was his self sacrificing nature, or his desire to help those around him, he didn't know. But one thing was for sure.

He wasn't going to turn tail and run away from anyone that needed his help, and she was at the top that list of people he was going to protect. That was just one part of his love for her, and she was just going to have to accept that she couldn't scare him away with a few scars or burns.

All Might stood silently from a short distance, watching them with a smile. He was afraid of might happen should he be unable to calm her down, but in the end he supposed that he'd nothing to worry about. Despite that, however, his more pressing concern was related to his own quirk.

Why had his body rejected the power? What had gone wrong, and why had it been so quick to fall apart? It had practically tried to tear itself out of his body, and he was sure it would've killed him had he not taken it back.

In that moment he couldn't even begin to understand what had gone wrong, or more pressingly, why. It certainly required more research before he could move forward, and he was hoping that the boy could shed some light into what was going on as soon as possible. But looking at them now, he knew it was going to have to wait for later.

Either way, one thing was for sure.

Izuku Midoriya was not going to be the one to obtain his power…

Chapter

4

End

Notes

Yep, Izuku won't be the next wielder of One For All. Big sad, but I have plans for the quirk going forward.