Chapter 36: The Mask's Off

"SMAAAAASH!"

All For One tuned out the bricks exploding inside the bar, along with the panicked shouts of everyone. He already knew what was going on. Pizza delivery, my ass.

This was a goddamn set-up. They used the press conference as a cover to bust in here and rescue their comrades. While that would have been perfectly fine under normal circumstances, the revelation that Overhaul was behind this was far too important to just ignore.

Couldn't the Heroes have waited just a few more minutes?! Kurogiri would have dropped both of them off at UA once this was all over, but no. Now all their plans had to be accelerated.

The world around the Quirk Thief slowed down with the help of Reflex Boost, a pretty self-explanatory but nifty little Quirk. The Heroes were here, which meant that they were probably also at the lab five kilometers away. There were no shopping centers or major places for people to walk through in this area, All For One made sure of it. Which meant that this part of Kamino Ward was perfectly good for becoming a battleground. He just needed to escape.

Mentally apologizing to everyone, he quickly activated Surface Control, creating an improvised warp gate behind him before Kamui Woods even had a chance to notice him. He would make sure to grab everyone once the lab was clear of Heroes, but they would have to wait.

All Might's final act has begun…


No one had a chance to properly understand what Ochako had just said. Sure, they understood the words "Nomus, lots of them," but it hadn't sunk in completely that they were dealing with more than one of those monsters just yet. Mostly due to the lack of time.

Because just a few seconds after the brown-haired girl had said it, Danger Sense flared up in her head, as she looked back out towards the main street. A nearby pick-up truck seemed to be floating now… no, wait, it was being lifted by something massive… and purple.

Kendo also seemed to notice. "Uhh, hey, is that –?"

BOOOOOM!

Too late. Mount Lady's truck-covered foot had already come crashing down on the warehouse, sending wind and debris flying. "Did the building just come down…?" Iida groaned.

Todoroki stood up, shaking his head while looking over what just happened. "Gang Orca… Mount Lady… Best Jeanist… they're all here. Even some of the Pussycats."

"Huh. Guess the Heroes were on top of this way before we were," Katsuki said.

Kendo nodded. "Well, at least we won't have to explain ourselves…"

"Come on, let's head back home," Iida said.

"I don't see All Might, he's probably elsewhere already rescuing Kodai," Todoroki said. "If he's on the scene, then there's no reason for us to be here… Uraraka? Hey, what's wrong?"

Everyone looked back at the brown-haired girl, who had her hand up to her head, in pain. Despite the Heroes being here, Danger Sense was still going off. Something was coming.


All For One came out of his makeshift warp gate to find that the Heroes were already at his other warehouse, restraining the Nomus. Wonderful. Quickly enhancing his eyes, he saw that Mustard, Punch Drunk, and Larceny were already down for the count, and that the Icemen were mentally debating whether they should start a fight or comply with the arrests.

The decision was already made by the Quirk Thief. By the time Best Jeasnist has spotted him, All For One had already unleashed a concoction of Air Cannon, Somnambulist, and a couple of other power-enhancing Quirks to knock back all of the Heroes. They'd be down for a few minutes, but hopefully, that would be more than enough time for everything to get underway.

Looking around the scenery, it was clear to the Villain that he may have gone a bit overboard with that Quirk combination. The surrounding blocks in front of him were reduced to rubble, but he could make it work. He and All Might would need a proper arena to fight in.

It seemed, however, that the majority of his League members here were gonna be down for the next few. It was time for him to grab everyone from the bar and bring them here.


"What the fuck just happened…?" Todoroki whispered.

"He took out all those Pros in an instant…" Katsuki mumbled.

Kendo was sweating. "We've got to run. But…"

"I know," Iida said. "I'm too scared to move. My legs…"

Ochako didn't know what was worse: The fact that she truly knew that All For One was toying with them back at the USJ, Danger Sense screaming at her like crazy, or the aura of fear that was keeping her in place. It felt like if she tried to move, she would puke her guts out.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Wait a minute, I recognize that voice, Ochako realized. Aizawa-sensei!


Shouta Aizawa wanted off this emotional roller coaster, right fucking now.

First was the dread of knowing that both he and one of his students was in the belly of the beast. Then, he was disturbed by the mad science All For One did on Zookeeper to get her to talk. After that came the panic at seeing the Symbol of Evil panic over Eri, and straight-up confusion at the Villain telling Shouta to grab his family and seek shelter at UA.

He thought that seeing All Might and the other Pro Heroes busting through the wall would have made him feel better, but no. All For One disappeared when the Heroes came a-knocking, and before Shouta even had a chance to tell them that he was at the bar, a bunch of black water came pouring out of his mouth, whisking him, Kodai, and all of the Villains away.

And now, he was standing in the middle of what could best be described as a warzone, where he could see multiple Pro Heroes unconscious. At least, he hoped that they were unconscious.

"My apologies for the unpleasant ride, every… wait a minute."

Honestly speaking, Shouta would have felt a little smug at the fact his presence here seemed to have caught All For One off-guard, but that was quickly dashed when the others arrived.

Spinner was the first to arrive, spitting the black water out of his mouth.

"That was so gross!" Carmilla shouted, covering her mouth.

"This black stuff reeks!" Shigaraki growled, shaking it off him.

And then came Kodai, who seemed somehow completely unfazed.

"Well, I seem to have miscalculated," All For One said, his tone the same as always. "I suppose that, in my panic, I "grabbed" everyone at the bar, minus the Pros who barged in. Apologies."

"I don't want your damn apologies," Shouta growled. "Just let me go home."

"Of course, but I have a few things to take care of first," the Quirk Thief said, before looking towards his lackeys. "Kurogiri should arrive soon after his mission with Lady Nagant. In the meantime, I want you all to grab your downed comrades, and wait for… oh, great."

Huh? Shouta wondered what could have annoyed the Symbol of Evil now. Turning around, he did notice a few of the Pros getting up, but All For One wasn't looking at them, so…

"What?" Geten asked. "What is it?"

"They're here."

Before he could even ask who "they" was, Shouta's question was answered when a massive gust of wind blew him off his feet. The teacher lifted his head to see what was going on, only to witness the two giants grabbing at each other's hands, trying to push one off the other.

"RETURN MY COLLEAGUE AND STUDENT, ALL FOR ONE!"

He needed to get out of here, and fast. He quickly found his student in the impromptu battlefield, and tried to snap her out of her stupor. "Kodai! Come on, we need to go, NOW!"

What was going on with her?! Why was she just staring at All Might and All For One?! No, not All Might… just All For One. Why did it look like… she was worried… about him?

"Kodai?"


Yui Kodai was a girl of few words. That was kind of natural for her. Her mother was also a woman of few words, and her father… She didn't know her father. She couldn't even theorize about what he looked like, because she looked like an exact copy of her mother, only smaller.

However, if there was one thing that differentiated Yui from her mother, at least at this point in time, it was the fact that she was far more bold, and far more blunt. So, when she saw a green-haired boy her age all alone on the playground, naturally, she gravitated towards him.

She really hoped that they could be friends. None of the other kids back in the Shimane Prefecture, her birthplace, wanted to be friends with her, since all of the other girls would be jealous of her natural beauty, and thus call her a "bastard child" to make themselves feel better.

As it turned out, moving to Musutafu was slightly better.

At least she had friends there.

Or, more accurately, a friend.

The only friend she actually had was Ochako. Since all of the schoolkids made fun of her due to the fact that her family wasn't super wealthy, the two of them hit it off pretty fast. Plus, given their similar Quirks and appearances, it became their inside joke that they were cousins.

Still, she yearned for more friends.

Hopefully, this green-haired boy would be her friend.

Walking toward the green-haired child, she got a better look at him. He was definitely her age, around seven, and had green curly hair, along with big green eyes, and freckles on his face. However, she also saw that he had a sad look on his face, almost as if on the verge of crying.

So, carefully approaching him, she quietly said, "Hi."

Looking up and sniffing a bit, he weakly said, "Hi."

"Are you all right?" the black-haired girl asked.

"Y-yeah," he said, sniffling a bit. "I'm fine."

"Don't lie. You're clearly not fine."

"Oh…" he quietly said, before deciding to say, "It's ab-bout my Q-Quirk."

"Your Quirk?"

"Yeah… everyone says it's a villain Quirk. Everyone except my dad and his… friends."

That last part confused her. "What about your mom?"

At the mention of "mom", the boy looked down. "She's… not around anymore."

"Oh," Yui quietly said. "I'm sorry. I understand how you feel, kinda. I never knew my dad."

The boy nodded in understanding, but it was clear that he wanted to get back on the main subject. "Yeah… but… every kid I ever meet says it's a scary Quirk. Even my old friend."

The blue-eyed girl was starting to feel worse and worse about this boy. Shrugging it off, she continued. "That's dumb. I won't judge you based on your Quirk."

"R-really?" the green-haired child asked, his eyes full of hope.

"Mm," Yui nodded in confirmation. "To show that I trust you, I'll show you mine first. My Quirk is called "Size". It allows me to alter the size of any nonliving thing I touch."

The boy's green eyes widened in amazement as she altered the size of a rock she picked up, going from a tiny pebble to a massive boulder. Yui put the rock down as she pressed her fingers together, whispering the word "release" and returning the rock to normal size.

"That's so cool!" the freckled child exclaimed.

"Your turn."

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

"It's your turn to show me your Quirk," she said. Upon seeing the nervousness of the boy, she gave a ghost of a smile, and said, "I promise I won't be scared of it."

Looking at the girl, the little boy nodded, and calmed himself by breathing in and out. Then, he closed his eyes, lifted up his hand, and made a gesture towards Yui, almost as if he was pulling something, but then, he let go of his hand, and said, "Please don't freak out."

Yui tilted her head in confusion, but then realized what the boy meant when he picked up the same rock, and altered its size, just like she did, less than a minute ago.

"It's… my Quirk," she spoke.

"Kinda," the boy mumbled, before explaining. "My Quirk is called "Stockpile". If I… take a person's Quirk for a bit, and then return it, a copy of it will be left in my body, and I can use it whenever I want."

The boy closed his eyes, waiting for the girl to panic and call him a villain, when –

"How did you take it?"

Opening his eyes, he was surprised when he saw that the black-haired girl wasn't afraid of him, but rather, genuinely curious about the mechanisms behind his Quirk. "What?"

"I asked how you took my Quirk. You didn't touch me or anything."

"Oh, uh… My mom has a Quirk that lets her attract objects from afar towards her… so it kinda mixed with my dad's Quirk, and the end product was… me?"

The two of them were quiet for a few seconds, and the green-haired boy was silently panicking. She would probably make some excuse and leave him –

"Cool."

"HUH?" the boy exclaimed, shocked. "B-but… I stole your Quirk!"

"But you gave it back," Yui said, using her Quirk once again to prove her point. "See?"

"B-but… everyone is afraid that I'll steal their Quirks!"

"Will you?"

"No! But –"

"Then I have no reason to be afraid of you."

The boy looked at the girl for a few seconds, realizing that what she said was how she genuinely felt. He was a few seconds away from crying tears of joy, when –

"Yui Kodai."

"Huh?"

"That's my name," she explained, holding out her hand. "What's yours?"

"Oh, uh…" he smiled, and took her hand. "Izuku Midoriya!"

The two of them held hands for a bit, looking at each other's eyes, when Yui asked, "So Izu-kun… What other Quirks have you copied? Just curious."

"Oh!" Izuku exclaimed, looking the happiest Yui ever saw her. "Well, there's one that…"


Risking a look up from where they were, Ochako saw that the scene below them was a complete free-for-all. All Might and All For One were using their fists, while several of the Pros and Villains who were knocked out before were getting back up, with the already-conscious ones fighting one another. But the biggest issues were Aizawa-sensei and Yui-chan.

Both of them were dodging and weaving their way around the Heroes and Villains, trying to find a way out, but both of them kept getting blocked by one attack or another. If they were going to get out of the makeshift arena, they were gonna have to be pulled out.

"I have a plan!" she told her team.


Tohsinori Yagi hated this.

He was facing off against this bastard again in six years, and his time was running out. Of course, he only has the bastard in front of him to blame, him and his Nomus and his little schemes to wear out his time limit. "Are you holding back against me?" he asked.

The blond Hero refused to answer, but they already both knew the truth. Of course he was holding back! Only half of the Pros here were fighting back against the League, and the others were still struggling to get up from whatever All For One had done to wreck this place! And to make matters worse, Aizawa and young Kodai were still caught in the crossfire.

BOOM!

Sparing a quick glance, Toshinori saw a small iceberg erupt from the side. Had the Icemen duo brought out the big guns? No, wait, there were people on top of that glacier… huh?!

YOUNG URARAKA?!

No, it wasn't just her! Young Todoroki, Bakugou, Iida and… Kendo from Class B? Well, she did help during I-Island, so it would make sense she'd follow them here, but still… WHAT?! How the hell were they even here?! No, better question, why the fuck were they here?!

"YUI-CHAN!" Young Uraraka shouted, as her arms unleashed Blackwhip, the dark tentacles snaking down to grab both young Kodai and Aizawa… wait, that was their whole plan?!

"PATHETIC!" All For One shouted. "GEOKINESIS PLUS OVERHAUL!"

Toshinori, along with several of the other Pro Heroes, gasped in horror as there was a tremor in the ground and the iceberg suddenly… broke apart. The students on top of it came tumbling down, as Uraraka tried her best to keep them from falling too hard with her Quirk.

"Ah, Uravity and friends!" All For One exclaimed. "Welcome to the party!"

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY STUDENTS!" Toshinori shouted, sending his fist towards his nemesis. "I know your games, monster! Don't you think I forgot about him!"

"Him?" All For One seemed genuinely confused. "Who are you referring to?"

"DON'T PLAY DUMB! THE GREEN-HAIRED BOY, FROM THE LAST TIME WE MET WITH ONE ANOTHER!" All Might shouted. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HIM?!"

All For One seemed to have been taken back by that question, as… he paused.


CRUMBLE…

"Number Six, we need to get out of here!" Izuku shouted, as the rubble came falling down.

BOOOOOM!

"NUMBER SIX!" the green-haired boy yelled, as he watched his comrade had become splattered by one of the larger pieces of rubble, straight towards their head.

Seeing that there was no pulse, the Midoriya child realized that he needed to cut his losses and escape the collapsing building. As he ran, he yelled out, "BUBBLE SHIELD!" which allowed him to summon a green shimmering dome that protected him from the falling rocks.

BOOM! CRASH! BOOM!

Eventually, after five minutes of running and dodging, he had made it out of the falling building, which had collapsed to the floor as soon as he got out. He was thankful for the Quirks he had that boosted his speed, otherwise, he might not have made it out in one piece.

Speaking of caulites… Dad's not gonna be happy when he learns that we lost Number Six…

Izuku was certain that his father wouldn't get mad at him, per se. There wasn't anything the boy could do to prevent the rocks from crushing his father's little pet project.

Still, it would be of little consequence. They could always try again… they had… all the time…

No.

"Dad?"

In front of Izuku was his father… but he wasn't moving. He was just laying there, on his back… as blood was flowing out of his head and chest wounds.

He'll be okay… He's the strongest person on the planet… He'll be okay!

That's when Izuku noticed it.

He wasn't breathing. He was still, like a statue.

That's when he realized his father's eyes were closed, never to open them again.

"DAD!" The nine-year-old ran to his father's body, shaking it, crying, and begging for him to wake up, despite knowing that it would never happen. "Dad, get up… please… wake up…"

That's when he heard a shuffle towards his right.

Looking up, he saw through his tear-stricken vision All Might. He looked worse for wear, holding his arm to his left side, as if all of his entrails would have spilled out if he let go.

"Why won't he wake up? Why did you hurt my dad?" he asked, in a pained voice, but he already knew the answers to those questions. His father was dead. And he was a Villain.

The reasonable side of his brain, the one Izuku prided himself on, could understand what happened. But his emotional side couldn't. He already lost his mom. Losing his dad made his entire world crumble away… and it was all because of All Might.

"MASTER IZUKU!"

In an instant, Kurogiri ran past the wounded All Might and tackled Izuku and rolled off the ground, before activating his Quirk, warping the two of them away.

The last thing Izuku saw was All Might collapsing, his face full of guilt and regret.


Ochako shook her head. While Danger Sense had begun to chill out with its physical assault of her head, it was still there, shouting alarms at her. And, yeah, it made sense. Her bone-headed plan had led to all of them getting trapped on this battlefield alongside her teacher and bestie.

"You're gonna be in detention for months, you hear me?" Aizawa-sensei hissed.

"Chew me out later," Ochako said. "How is Yui-chan holding up?"

"She seems to be in some kind of trance. She keeps staring at –"

"What did I do with him?" All For One asked.

All conversations, and even the fights around them, suddenly died down. Ochako hadn't heard what All Might had said, but she was hearing All For One's answer to… whatever it was.

"Have you really been searching all of these years? I hate to break it to you, All Might, but you will never save him. He's gone. And I should know because I –"

"YOU BASTAAARD!"

All Might's fist hit All For One square in the mask, the force of it so powerful that it sent the Villain off his feet, being lifted up by the Hero's fist, and then slammed into the ground.

BOOOOOM!

It looked painful. Painful enough that several of the Villains called out to their boss.

"No!"

"Sir!"

"Boss!"

But they weren't the only ones.

"IZUKU!"

Ochako looked towards Yui-chan, and her best friend had her hands over her mouth, as if she had just realized what she just said, and tried to take it back. But it was too late.

Everyone heard her.

Including All Might. The Symbol of Peace turned his head back towards his student, looking like he just heard the name of a ghost, as he asked her, "...What did you just say?"

"Well… I guess the charade is over…"

All Might, and everyone else, turned back towards the downed All For One, the Hero's fist still planted on his mask. His voice sounded… off. Fake. In fact, Ochako could swear she heard the voice of a kid in there, along with the older voice she had been accustomed to.

"Enough of this," All For One said, grabbing All Might's arm, the Villain's own limb suddenly becoming bigger, pushing off the blond Hero and sending him backwards.

All For One stood up, his black mask now cracked beyond repair, pieces of it falling off, and even his body shrinking down, revealing… a boy with black hair, red eyes… and freckles.

"Wait a minute… Akatani?" Todoroki said. "From the Business Course?"

"Oh, right." Akatani placed one of his hands on his hair, and his free fingers on his eyes, muttered "Prism," and suddenly… They were both replaced with green. "I have got to admit, Prism is an excellent Quirk. It lets me change the color of anything I touch…"

"No…" All Might whispered. "It can't be…"

"Oh, but it is; no more masks." The green-haired boy smiled, as he said, "We finally see each other face-to-face once more… It's been, what? Oh, now I remember? SIX YEARS."

Six years ago? Ochako thought to herself. That was when…

All Might's last major fight against All For One. The day half his body was destroyed. The reason he had slowly been fading away from the Hero world. He had always told Ochako that All For One was responsible for this. But then, why? Why was this reaction so… different…?

"Deku…?"

Ochjako turned to see Katsuki staring at the Villain, his face looking… so utterly blank. As if he had just seen his family get murdered. No, it was worse than that. There would have been sadness, or anger, but there was just… nothing. He looked… completely broken.

As the Symbol of Peace stared at the ghost, her classmates wondered what the fuck was going on, Ochako looked at Yui-chan, who simply said that same name again.

"Izuku…"


Yui knew that something was up with Izuku.

In the past two years since she met him, she learned all of his little tells. Like how each of his different types of crying can be differentiated. Like how, while he's terrible at lying, he's really good at dodging questions. Or how long it'll take for his analysis to turn into mumble-storms.

But today, all she saw… was his blank face.

Quietly approaching him at the park bench, she asked, "Izu-kun, is something wrong?"

Looking up to her blue eyes with his hollow ones, he said, "My dad died… a few days ago."

Oh.

Yui understood now. One of the reasons she and Izuku bonded so fast when they initially met was due to the fact that they both had a single parent taking care of them. That, plus the fact that Ochako moved away a year ago only added to Yui's desire to see Izuku even more.

Sure, they could still technically call her, and they could visit each other over the weekends, so she really couldn't compare losing a friend because they moved away and to losing a parent because they died, but she still understood the concept of being alone.

So, in an effort to make him feel less alone… she hugged him.

Izuku was slightly surprised by the gesture, but soon enough, he realized and sank himself into the girl's shoulder, as he cried and cried his heart out, while she simply held him tighter, and patted him on the back, and reassured him that everything would be okay.

And while not everything would be okay for a long time, for that brief moment, Izuku always knew he would have someone to confide in with a girl named Yui Kodai.


Ochako had no idea what was going on.

As the Symbol of Evil stood there and smiled menacingly, everyone else was still. All Might and Katsuki looked catatonic. Kendo, Todoroki, and Iida, along with the on-site members of the League of Villains were simply waiting for… something, anything to happen.

The brown-haired looked towards someone, anyone, to tell her what was going on… Yui. Her best friend. She could always tell Ochako, they were in this together! Always and forever!

Ochako looked towards her best friend. "Hey… Yui-chan… what's going on…?"

The black-haired girl stood up, and didn't even bother looking at her. She simply tilted her head towards Ochako, showing only a small smile and her tear-stained cheeks.

"I'm sorry… Occhan."

THWIP!

And that's when she threw her knife… right towards her best friend.


Author's Note: I noticed that one of my previous chapters for this story and "The Dungeon Crawlers" both had a similar name, so that's fun. I don't have any behind-the-scenes notes for this, so I'm just gonna roll right into the comments!

Devil Joker: Happy New Year, my friend, even if it's been three days since then, as of posting this. But anyways, I'm glad to hear from you again after our conversations on Discord. Well, here are All Might and Katsuki's reactions to the big reveal! I'm gonna try and make them a bit more in-depth next time, but I hope that's good for now!

CustardSomethingOrOther: THE REVEAL HAS FINALLY HAPPENED! WHOO!

BananaComFuturo: Wow, this is one of the most positive comments I've ever read! I'm glad you liked my deception of Ochako and the use of her Quirk so much! I'll also be glad to tell you to keep your eyes out on some more interactions with her and Katsuki!

Anyways, I've made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, /ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore