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Izuku isn’t really sure how he got roped into going trick or treating, but he isn’t complaining. Uraraka was the first to suggest it to them and for a moment he couldn’t believe it. He’d long since quit trick or treating after his Mom figured he was old enough to go by himself. To him it just seemed pathetic to go by alone. Now that he was in high school, he honestly hadn’t expected to go since he figured everyone had outgrown it at that point. When he mentioned this to Uraraka she just shook her head, rolling her eyes.
“Really Deku? You’re going to pass on free candy?” It didn’t take much more needling to get him on board. He was a little hesitant since that meant he’d have to come up with a costume, but that didn’t stop him from joining Uraraka in peer pressuring Iida and Todoroki to go with them. Eventually they both conceded. Once they brought up to Todoroki that it’d be an opportunity to have some time away from Endeavor, he agreed and they convinced Iida that without him they’d get into all sorts of trouble. Iida took one look at Midoriya and relented.
No one but Uraraka seemed to have any clue as to what they were going to dress up as. Izuku’s first thought was to go as All Might like he had done practically every year as a kid. Of course Uraraka had seen that coming and immediately suggested he go in a different direction. “I know he’s your favorite hero, but isn’t time to change it up? Maybe try something that doesn’t have anything to do with pro heroes! It’s Halloween not Hero Con.”
Well, that had knocked out absolutely any idea that he had after he was denied All Might. Todoroki and Iida hadn’t come up with much of anything better and so Uraraka with a few other suggestions from their fellow classmen came up with well...something.
And there they were, standing on the street corner in full Halloween attire. Uraraka dressed as a ghost and used her quirk to simulate the sense that it was floating just as a ghost would. Izuku had suggested the idea after Uraraka had bemoaned how cheap and boring her costume was. It had already scared off a few of the younger trick or treaters walking past.
Todorki, Izuku, and Iida had become Rock, Paper, and Scissors. “It’s perfect! Todorki should be rock because he’s so dense, Midoriya is paper because his limbs get crushed so easily and Iida is obviously scissors because of how he chops his arms!” Uraraka was grinning so wide when she announced the idea. The three of them had just stared at her before the silence broke and Izuku was muttering awkwardly and Iida was applauding her ingenuity. With nothing else in mind, the boys helped Uraraka in an intense crafting session that involved a fair amount of cardboard and paint.
It’s finally Halloween night and Uraraka seems slightly less enthusiastic than she was in the days leading up to their debut. She slouches, losing her hold on her quirk. “Too bad Tsu had to go take her siblings trick or treating. Otherwise I wouldn’t have to be the fourth wheel!” The ghost girl bemoans.
“No! No, we’re just ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors, Ghost!’” Izuku says with a bright smile on his face that he knows is sure to cheer her up. She laughs at him, rolling her eyes a little.
Iida steps forward to join the effort. “I’m sure ‘Ghost’ would win every round!” Todorki nods in silent agreement, the hint of a smile on his lips. “Now, let us begin! UA doesn’t want us out past ten! They were already very lenient with our class, letting everyone get the chance to celebrate! Let’s not waste it.”
“Yeah! Let’s go get some free candy!” Uraraka declares as she returns to her usual upbeat attitude. She activates her quirk and touches the white sheet, regaining her ghostly presence. The group starts walking, having chosen Izuku’s neighborhood since it was close to the school and a very rich suburb was just nearby. Uraraka said that the rich neighborhoods were the best for trick or treating because they could afford to hand out a bunch of candy. Originally she had suggested Todoroki or Iida’s neighborhoods since she knew them to be wealthy, but they were quite a bit farther away from UA, meaning less time trick or treating.
“Our teachers probably let us all out for the night because there hasn’t been a direct attack on UA since the summer…” Todoroki muses. Izuku and Uraraka can barely look at their fellow classmate long enough without bursting out laughing every time they saw him in his sad cardboard costume. The tall boy’s arms hung awkwardly at his sides, the spherical cardboard shape inhibiting his movement.
Iida and Izuku’s costumes weren’t much better. They had managed to carve a piece of cardboard into the shape of a pair of scissors. One ring was big enough for Iida to poke his head through. Izuku’s costume, however, was even simpler than Uraraka’s. All he had done was taped to large pieces of paper together and cut a hole in the middle where he stuck his head through. They all looked rather ridiculous, but Todoroki’s completely nonplussed expression made it perhaps all the more amusing.
“Well...that’s not quite true.” Izuku mumbles softly, thinking back to the Cultural Festival. Apparently he isn’t quiet enough because his friends swivel their heads to look at him.
“What do you mean by that Midoriya?” Iida asks, suddenly very serious.
Izuku chuckles awkwardly, trying to remember if he’d said anything about Gentle Criminal before. Fortunately, he spots an upcoming house. “Oh uh...hey! Look we’re in the rich neighborhood now!”
They carry on like this for the next hour, their pillow sacks are far heavier now. The exasperation Izuku’s friends have with him is quickly replaced by good natured humor that makes Izuku feel this sense of belonging he hadn’t had the chance to miss. He’d never had something quite like this before. The chill of the night and the laughter in the air seems to flip a switch inside him that makes him ache at the thought of it all coming to an end. Izuku has real friends. For once in his life he isn’t desperate to break through that barrier of exclusivity because he is no longer the outcast.
Everything about his life after he met All Might and received One for All seems all too good to be true. At every turn where he expected misfortune and instead received kindness Izuku was taken aback. His life is wonderful, despite all the various villain attacks, Izuku is living his dream. So, why has he been holding his breath this whole time? What blow is he anticipating that will ruin it all?
Would everything change if it was revealed to everyone that he was originally quirkless? Would his friends still believe that he belonged ?
It’s not until Uraraka reaches out and puts a gentle hand on his shoulder that he realizes he’s spiralling. “Sorry,” He chuckles nervously, suddenly feeling guilty. Uraraka gives him a soft smile and offers up one of his favorite candy bars.
“I’m not a big fan of these, but I know you love them Deku! Take it, I’ve got so much already.” Izuku thanks her and tucks the chocolate bar into his pillow sack. Who is he to question their loyalties? Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki...all of Class 1A (excluding Bakugou) has been so welcoming to him. It feels like a betrayal to have doubted that.
The warmth and merriment that clung to their group is suddenly shattered by a series of urgent sobs. A little girl comes barrelling towards them. Her face is wrenched in terror and tears, and as she races towards them she cries out “HELP! Please someone help!” The girl can’t be more than ten years old and she had dressed up all in blue as some kind of princess. As she runs towards them her tiara teeters off her head and falls to the ground.
Immediately they are all alert. There is hardly anyone else around as they have found themselves beyond the wealthy neighborhood. Izuku has an idea of where they are, it’s harder to decipher in the dark. Izuku and Uraraka hurry towards the girl whilst Iida and Todoroki take in their surroundings, readying themselves for a fight.
“We’re hero students from UA.” Izuku says to the sobbing girl. “We can help you.”
“Can you tell us what’s wrong?” Uraraka asks, as they crouch down in front of her.
Iida and Todoroki are settling into fighting position now, their eyes darting around looking for trouble. In order to regain mobility, they shed their bulky costumes.
The little girl could just be lost, but the terror in her eyes puts Izuku on edge. “My - my big brother,” She begins, her sobs halting her words. “He got tired of taking me around tr- trick or - or treating so he went looking for trouble at the middle school that got damaged by those big villains a month ago.” Izuku pauses, the only middle school he knows from around here is Aldera. He hadn’t heard anything in the news about an attack and his mom hadn’t mentioned anything. “I told him not to - that he’d get hurt, but he didn’t listen. Mama told us not to go - but he didn’t listen! Then I - I heard him screaming. I went after him but - but I - I there was blood and I c - couldn’t find him. Please! You have to save him!”
Iida steps forward. “We will save your brother, but you must lead the way!”
The four of them race towards Izuku’s old Middle School, the girl in Izuku’s arms directing them the best she can. He and Iida take the lead, Todoroki and Uraraka grab on to Iida’s shoulders as they float in the air. They need to get to the girl’s brother and fast. The zero gravity keeps the buoyant pair light, but it does drag Iida down a bit. With both Izuku and Iida’s speed they make it to Aldera in record time at the cost of Izuku’s paper costume.
Aldera is nothing like how Izuku remembered it. The front of the building is in shambles. Chunks of concrete are piled together. The yard out front is charred with ash and the ground is completely disrupted. To Izuku, this school was a hellscape and now it truly looked like one. It no longer hid behind it’s pristine mask as it turned a blind eye on the abuse he had experienced there.
Shaking himself out of his shock, Izuku sets the girl down. He realizes that he doesn’t want to leave her out here all alone, but he doesn’t want to bring her with them to witness something terrible. So he makes a decision he hopes that he won’t regret. “Stay close to us. If you see a villain, tell us and then run away as fast as you can. We’ll protect you, I promise..” He smiles at her. It’s a gentle smile and he hopes with all his heart that it makes her feel safe.
The little girl nods, still frightened, but she grabs his hand and squeezes it tightly. In a strange way it gives him the courage to walk forward, and towards the place of his torment. The five of them pass through the rubble and climb the cracked steps up into the building. Izuku can tell that plenty of other teens and troublemakers have been here since it was destroyed. Graffiti lines the walls and trash is littered throughout the ruined halls. It feels so foregin yet so familiar.
Izuku lets the little girl lead him along and up to the second story. The others are alert and they all move as quickly as they can whilst navigating the destruction. He knows she’s taking him to where she found the bloody signs of her brother, but no one says a word. No one says anything at all. Izuku can just hear their breathing. Iida’s is heavy after running, the little girl’s is shuddery. Izuku’s breathing is fast, faster than it should be after only a few minutes of running.
The little girl leads them up to a classroom and Izuku’s chest seizes. It’s his old classroom from back in his third year of middle school. He doesn’t say anything though even as his uneasiness grows. He just watches as Todoroki opens the door, one hand up and ready for a surprise assailant. The door opens slowly and loudly, its creaking juts through the silence. The little girl sobs at his side and Izuku squeezes her hand in quiet reassurance.
The classroom is strangely dark. No light comes through the windows. Todoroki’s fist bursts into flame as he passes the threshold. Iida and Uraraka are close behind. Izuku can’t help but pause before following suit. The little girl tugs him forward and he lets her lead him into his old classroom.
Once inside, Uraraka is the first to speak. “Look,” Her voice is barely above a whisper as she points down at the ground. Todoroki moves closer with his fiery fist held out.
“Blood.” Todoroki whispers. Iida moves in front of the little girl, blocking her view. It’s at that moment the door swings shut with a clang. They all jump as the room rings with the sound. When nothing happens they return to their search through the classroom, wading in between desks and looking for any sort of clue as to what could have happened here.
“Deku...?” Uraraka’s voice sends everyone’s eyes over to her. She’s standing in front of the very desk Izuku had once sat in everyday last year. His heart is rocketing around in his chest as he walks towards her. His throat is dry and his hair is standing on end. It takes him a moment to register what they’re all looking at when he realizes what’s been scratched into the desk. ‘Stupid Quirkless Deku’ is etched in the wood, just the same as it was the day he’d found it written there. Izuku swallows as his friends all turn to look at him.
“What’s this about?” Iida questions. He feels their gazes drive into his very being, sharp and muddled with suspicion. Izuku keeps quiet and watches as Uraraka reaches inside the desk to pull out a bright red manilla folder. She frowns and they all stare as she opens it with careful fingers. She spills the contents on the desk and in between various pages of text Izuku spots his face among the papers. Dozens of different images all plastered with his own small and scared form.
“Is that..?” Todoroki begins, but he doesn’t need to finish the question. He knows it’s Izuku.
“These are school records.” Uraraka states, peering at the text. “They’re your school records, Deku.” As the little girl at his side lets go of his hand it’s only then that he realizes he’s trembling.
“Midoriya Izuku, 3rd year, male, fourteen...quirkless…” Uraraka’s jaw drops just slightly. Her words halting as she reaches the ugly truth.
“Midoriya,” Iida steps towards him. “How can that be?” Izuku starts stepping backward. Something is very wrong here. “Midoriya?” He had been so stupid to think that he could hide it.
Todoroki picks up one of the grainy photos. He can tell that it’s been taken from security camera footage. Three boys, one of them being Bakugou, have cornered him outside. Izuku looks bloody and terrified and absolutely pathetic. Izuku can’t take it. They know. He didn’t even get to tell them himself and now they know .
“We need to find her brother.” He says fiercely, already heading for the door. His friends call out his name, but before he can get out of that cursed classroom the little girl speaks.
“Th - that’s him. That’s my big brother,” Izuku stops and turns to see that she’s pointing at the picture in Todoroki’s hand. “H - Hagiwara.” She’s crying again. Izuku knows he is too, but he doesn’t dare let his tears fall. Something is terribly wrong here. As soon as he saw this little girl an avalanche had erupted and he had no way of stopping what was about to happen next.
A loud thump sends everyone’s attention towards the closet door at the back part of the room they haven't searched yet. No one moves for a second, but then the little girl is racing towards it before anyone can tell her no. She twists the handle. She swings the door open wide. Thunk. A figure slumps at her feet and then she’s screaming with everything her tiny body has left. They rush forward. Uraraka pulls her back, shielding the little girl from the horrific scene.
Todoroki kneels down, a pile of blood forming around his feet. He turns the body on its side and Izuku can see that it’s a boy just around their age. He has dark brown hair and a strangely motionless face that Izuku recognizes is that of one of his past tormentors. Hagiwara.
He freezes, not even comprehending. His eyes search the lifeless form and he finally spots where those stretchy, extendable fingers - those that had made him so much better than stupid, quirkless, Deku - should be. Yet all he sees are bloody stumps. Hagiwara’s fingers are entirely gone, making him as good as quirkless.
The little girl sobs in Uraraka’s shaking arms and Izuku can barely breathe. That’s Hagiwara, the boy who bullied him for ten years and Hagiwara is dead. It doesn’t make any sense. For so much of his life Hagiwara had seemed so untouchable and here he was, lying on the ground, bloody as Izuku had been so many times before the other boy’s feet.
Izuku feels himself stumbling backward, unable to breathe. The stench of blood, the sense of death seeping into his lungs and Izuku can’t breathe. It’s like the sludge villain all over again. Iida catches him, tries to get Izuku to look away, but he can’t stop staring. He can’t stop staring at the corpse of his abuser.
Todoroki and Iida lead him out into the hall where Uraraka had whisked away the little girl. “Midoriya, you’ve got to breathe.” He thinks that might be Todoroki saying that. He can’t tell because everything seems to be shutting down. His body is malfunctioning and he can’t even cry. The other boy keeps attempting reassurance, but it’s indecipherable. He just gasps for air as if there isn’t a little girl a few feet away from them that has just lost her brother to a horrific demise. Izuku is drowning, but that shouldn’t matter because there is someone who needs his help. A little girl needs his help, but he’s too weak to do a single thing about it.
“I’m going to call UA. It’s what we should have done as soon as we met the girl anyway.” Iida says and even though Izuku feels as if he’s underwater he hears the others’ agreement. A few moments later there is a sound of frustration. “Argh, I can’t get through. There’s no service.”
“We should get out of here.” Todoroki is close to him, holding onto his shoulder. Izuku feels himself disappearing beneath Todoroki’s hand. He sinks into the cool linoleum floor and vanishes. He hadn’t realized he had fallen to the floor til now. Nothing was making sense. “I think someone is targeting Midoriya. They could still be here, waiting for him.”
Uraraka’s eyes are on Izuku and he can’t tell whether it’s concern or distrust. “You really think so? That folder with all that stuff on him… about him being...being quirkless? And how he knew that - that boy?”
“Yes.” Todoroki is staring at him too and Izuku can’t bring himself to stare anywhere but the wall across from him.
“Could it be the League…?” Uraraka asks. No one answers. “We really need to get out of here.” Todoroki begins to help Midoriya to his feet. “Wait, where’s the girl?” Urakaka squeaks and everyone is wildly looking around. Little Miss Hagiwara is gone and that’s what returns Izuku to the world.
“How could you lose sight of her?” Todoroki demands, but no argument begins. The four of them split into pairs. Izuku goes with Todoroki and they take the west wing. Calling her name feels wrong on Izuku’s tongue, he can barely get the sound out. Hagiwara had been his tormentor, not a scared little girl and now he wasn’t anything at all. But he keeps going, calling her name as he checks in classrooms, and bathrooms, and closets on the left side of the hall while Todoroki checks the right and calls a name he can hardly recognize is hers.
“Is that supposed to be there?” Todoroki asks when they reunite in the hallway before Izuku even registers the giant steel wall blocking the hallway.
“No,” He croaks out, totally unable to hide the fear in his voice. “L- let’s regroup with Iida and Uraraka. Maybe they found her.”
“Are you sure you checked all the rooms on your side?” There is something about Todoroki’s tone that takes Izuku aback. It’s so different from Todoroki’s efforts at comforting him just a few minutes earlier.
“Wh - what? Of course I did.” He stammers out, but it sounds unconvincing even as he speaks the truth.
“How am I supposed to know when you lied to all of us about your quirk? Sure, you have one now, but you haven’t had the same kind of training that I’ve gotten. I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this from everyone and expected us to think that you’re even on the same playing field as the rest of UA.” And all of a sudden Izuku recognizes that disgust he had received in abundance for all his life until he reached high school. There’s remorse and revulsion in Todoroki’s voice, the same sort of tone he has when he spoke of his father back during the sport’s festival.
“How does that have anything to do with whether or not I checked every room?” It’s all he can do not to burst out crying. He feels that prickling in his eyes, tries desperately to shove it down.
“It’s not like I can take your word for it. You know plenty of things about me, don’t I deserve to know something so huge about you?” The boy scoffs. “To think that I thought of us as friends.”
It’s then that Izuku can’t hold back the dam of emotion that had been threatening to crack ever since he stepped foot into the ruined school. And Izuku is crying. Crying just like he did when he walked these halls and endured the suffering of a quirkless child.
“Pathetic.” Todoroki turns and walks back down the hall and Izuku almost let’s the two toned boy leave him behind, but he’d be in even more trouble alone. So, Izuku follows Todoroki through his middle school halls. For a moment it’s not the silky red and white of the back of Todoroki’s head that he sees, instead it’s blond and spikey and brimming with rage. And all of a sudden it’s happening all over again.
When they reach the door that leads to Hagiwara’s lifeless body they do not see either Iida or Uraraka nor the little girl. There’s a tense silence between them that stretches on as they wait for their friends - Izuku isn’t sure he can call them that anymore - to return. Hagiwara had been a friend before he had learned that Izuku was quirkless. Would Iida and Uraraka turn on him too? Would they reveal his terrible secret to their whole class? Was he to be an outcast once more, named not just merely a quirkless Deku, but a traitor too?
Izuku is ripped from his spiralling thoughts when the sound of a disturbance breaks out from down towards the east wing. In an instant, both Todoroki and Izuku are tearing down the hall and Izuku is terrified for the friends that he has almost certainly already lost. He just hopes he won’t lose them in more ways than one.
Before he can panic for them any longer, Iida and Uraraka stumble out of two separate rooms. They appear to be unharmed, but their expressions say otherwise. “What happened?” Izuku asks as soon as they catch up to them.
Uraraka holds up a familiar looking bullet. “My quirk isn’t working.” She breathes out, true fear in her voice. They all look to Iida, who nods miserably.
“I got hit with one too, I went and looked for the assailant within the classroom, but some sort of contraption was rigged to the ceiling and pointed at the door. It triggered as soon as I was in clear shot.” Iida is unnervingly disconcerted. For once without a plan of action or lectures over protocol.
“I almost didn’t even realize,” Uraraka murmurs. “But I had forgotten to release the gravity on my costume. Just after I was hit, the sheet fell limp and I found this buried in my leg.”
Izuku reaches out and takes the bullet from her. “It doesn’t look like the permanent quirk destroying bullets.”
“How would you know?’ Todoroki challenges. “Whoever is operating this whole thing could have changed the bullets’ design. Their quirks could be gone.”
There’s a pang in Izuku’s chest. He’d hoped that maybe this betrayal wouldn’t hurt as much as it did last time, but somehow it’s so much worse.
“D - don’t say that, Todoroki.” Uraraka snaps. One look at Iida and Uraraka tells Izuku how terrified they are of Todoroki’s words being true.
“I’ve seen the permanent quirk destroying bullets before. They don’t look like this. The League might not have even found a way to replicate them yet for all we know. They don’t have Eri, it’d be very difficult and time consuming to recreate it without her.” Izuku isn’t sure how convincing he sounds. He’s on the verge of tears again, his terror building and building before it overflows.
“Okay, okay,” Uraraka says. “I really hope you’re right, Deku.”
“Of course he’s right.” Iida says, taking that string of hope and gripping onto it with all he has.
“Yeah, cause he’s never lied to you before.” Todoroki crushes that little bit of reassurance as quickly as Izuku had offered it. Iida and Uraraka freeze, their faces like stone. It takes them a moment to recover, that forlorn look returns to their features and they eye Izuku with fragile reliance.
“We need to keep searching for the girl.” Iida manages to say. They head down stairs, on edge and alert. This time they remain together, afraid to split up for fear that they will succumb to something much worse than temporary, quirk destroying bullets.
They have almost returned to the front of the school building when they are halted by a giant steel wall. Now that Izuku really looks at it, the blockade juts through the ceiling and up into the second story.
“This wasn’t here before,” Uraraka squeaks out. She’s right. The steel wall cuts them off right where the front of the school had been destroyed and right where they had initially entered.
“There’s still plenty of ways out. There’s a back entrance or we could break open a window.” Izuku voices, making use of his knowledge of the school. He knows this and yet he’s starting to realize that the wall's very existence is clearly the work of a quirk which means someone is here. And that someone is trying to trap them.
“Where is Hagiwara?” Iida hisses. “We need to find her and get out of here right now!”
“Unless she is the one trying to trap us.” Todoroki spits out.
“No! No, her brother is dead! Why would she kill her own brother just to get to us?” Uraraka sputters out and Izuku can see the tears spilling from her eyes even amidst the dark.
“Just to get to Midoriya, you mean.” Todoroki counters, his voice laced with venom.
Uraraka gasps and is about to protest when suddenly the whole building begins to shake. The four of them look around wildly, fear choking them as the whole school is violently rocked. When the ground finally settles they glance at each other and hurry into a classroom to see the terrible outcome. Looking outside the windows they can see nothing but the shiny silver sheen of metal. In fact, now they can’t see much at all.
“Todoroki, give us some light.” Iida commands. Nothing happens.
“ My quirk isn’t working.” Todoroki states when no illuminating flame appears. “Midoriya, try yours.”
Izuku reaches for One for All and nothing happens. No great crackling green light or surge of energy. “It - It’s gone.” He chokes out.
They are in almost total darkness with no quirks at hand and a killer with immense power that has managed to snag them in their trap. There’s a missing little girl. There’s a dead teenage boy. UA thinks they’re all still out trick or treating.
How had he missed it? How had he not realized One for All had been snuffed out? Or had he been too out of it, reeling from Hagiwara’s death and his secret exposed to even notice? If Izuku was wrong and these really were quirk destroying bullets, how had he lost the greatest gift, All Might’s legacy, this amazing power so easily?
“Quirkless again, huh Midoriya? And you just so happened to fail to realize that until I asked you? Did you really think it was a good idea to keep secrets from us again?” Todoroki has a malice in his voice that threatens to rip Izuku apart.
Iida and Uraraka are looking at him again. He sees the doubt in their eyes. He sees the mistrust. “No! No, I honestly didn’t know until I tried just now!” Izuku attempts to explain, but Todoroki is already dismissing him.
“You know what, I’m done with this. I work far better alone anyways.” Todoroki, despite Iida and Uraraka’s protests and Izuku’s tears, turns and walks out the door.
“He shouldn’t go out there by himself. He’s quirkless, he can’t do anything -” Uraraka cuts herself off suddenly, intensely aware of Izuku. “I - I…” She flounders for a moment, but no apology ever comes. She is right. Against a villain as great of a threat as the one they’re facing, there isn’t much they can do without their powers.
“C’mon, let’s go after him.” Iida leads the way out, but when they return to the hall Todoroki is nowhere to be found. It’s dark, but there is no sound of footsteps storming away. It’s quiet. Before they can call out to him, however, the atmosphere abruptly shifts into the constricting and overwhelming sensation of pure dread. Faint red light appears from behind them and as they turn to look, a horrifyingly familiar voice cuts through the silence.
“Children shouldn’t be off wandering by themselves.” All for One chides. Izuku can’t see that cruel smile from behind the monster’s mask, but he can feel it in his words.
“All for One,” Uraraka gasps. “You’re - you’re supposed to be in Tartarus.”
There’s a conniving chuckle before All for One says, “You really think I would allow myself to rot, to waste away in that place while my son remains out here, completely misguided by those he believes to be trustworthy yet are in all actuality, wholly corrupt?”
“Do...do you mean Tomura Shigaraki?” Iida dares to ask. Izuku wonders how either of them can even speak.
All for One laughs again, but there is a tinge of sorrow to it that Izuku had not expected. “No, no Tomura is not my progeny. Tomura is nothing like my son.”
“Then...who..?” Izuku can barely get the words out.
“Why, you are my dear boy.” All for One spreads his arms out in suggestion of an embrace. Izuku stands there frozen, as his entire world is destroyed.
“Midoriya..?” Iida stumbles backward. He gapes at Izuku in horror.
“What?” Uraraka breathes, and Izuku can hear it in their voices. He’s lied to them about so much. They can’t tell if this is another lie, another betrayal.
“Yes.” All for One says before Izuku can bring himself to deny it. “Yes you are, Izuku.”
“NO!” Izuku shouts, his voice cracks as emotion tears through his vocal chords. “No, I’m not!”
All for One shakes his head, tisking. “Just because you may hate the truth doesn’t make it any less of a reality.” He watches as Izuku crumbles into sobs. This can’t be true. It can’t be. All for One sighs, “I hope you will someday understand that this truth isn’t something to be afraid of. I care about you Izuku. That Hagiwara boy hurt you, he betrayed your trust and now I have avenged you. These friends you have here won’t care about you anymore after what they have learned about you. You know that, one has already given up on you. I will never give up on you, Izuku. You will never have to worry that I will betray you.”
“Stop!” Izuku croaks out, because in a terrifying way All for One’s words made sense. The monster began walking forward with those outstretched arms. “Stop!” He sobbed. All for One shouldn’t be making sense.
But Uraraka and Iida look at him as if he is just as horrifying of a monster as All for One. They look at him not as some pathetic quirkless loser, but as if he is just the same kind of monster as All for One.
“I am a reasonable man. I will leave your so-called friends alive, but they won’t grant you that same kindness. They’ll be sure to tell their beloved heroes all about what you really are, Izuku. And you’ll never have a chance at your dream. They’ll never let you become a hero. But with me, we can aspire to a new dream, a better dream. There is no reason to fear me, my dear boy. In fact I’ll let you hear it from them. I’m sure they’ll tell you just how much you can trust them.”
Izuku looks over at the two people who had been his first real friends. “You wouldn’t tell anyone would you?”
Iida attempts to respond, but then hesitates. “I - I hate to say it Midoriya, but I think we would have to. For your safety and everyone else’s.”
Uraraka is trembling, but at Iida’s words she appears even more distressed. “But Iida, Deku would never be able to become a hero if this got out.”
There’s a pained expression on Iida’s face and he won’t look at Izuku at all. “I’m - I’m sorry. I just don’t know if keeping such a secret like this is worth the risk…”
A sob breaks from Izuku’s chest. Any sort of hope that this perfect life he’d been living for the past several months would remain so wonderful, was ruined. “All I wanted was to be a hero,”
“I know.” Iida whispers.
“Well if you tell anybody, I’ll just say that you’re lying Iida.” Uraraka declares with ferocious intent. “No one else besides me could confirm your story.”
Izuku isn’t expecting All for One’s booming laughter. “Well, it seems I’ve misjudged you after all Miss Uraraka Ochako. You really are loyal. Now I know why Toga is so enraptured with you.”
Izuku swallows back bile at the mention of the girl’s name. He was already feeling nauseous. “Toga..?” All for One tilts his head and if it weren’t for the mask, Izuku suspects he might see the man’s brows raised in humorous suggestion. “She - she pretended to be Hagiwara’s little sister to lead us here, didn’t she?” Izuku demands.
“How clever you are, my dear boy. Hagiwara doesn’t even have a little sister. Toga just picked a random and unfortunate little girl who’d been out trick or treating all on her lonesome.” All for One’s voice is so cavalier, but his words send terror crawling down Izuku’s spine.
“What did she do with her?” Izuku stops short when he senses a silent, sneaking finger coming up to him from behind.
“Don’t work Izuku, I didn’t kill her or anything. I just got enough of her blood to lead you here. I did it so we can be together. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?” Toga’s voice comes close to his ear. Her fingers wrap around his shoulder. Her cheek touches his cheek. “Me, you and Ochako? All together and free!”
Izuku tries to pull away, but before he can escape her a knife flashes at his throat. “Oh, Izuku we’re gonna have so much fun.”
In an instant, black and red tentacles surge forward, shoving Toga off of him and into the wall. Izuku whips his head forwards to see All for One with his arm extended, hand outstretched. “My son does not seem to appreciate your affection Toga. Keep your hands off him or I will never let you become anyone else ever again.” All this time All for One had been talking to Izuku there had been an underlying sort of tenderness in his tone. That had completely vanished, leaving behind true murderous intent.
The three of them watch as All for One drops, Toga’s now unconscious body to the ground. Her knife clatters to the ground. “I would never hesitate to protect you, Izuku. I would never hurt you.”
“But will you hurt my friends? What happened to Todoroki? Are all of their quirks gone, now?” Izuku isn’t sure speaking so accusatorily to All for One is such a good idea, but Izuku does believe that the man wouldn’t hurt him at least.
All for One sends one tentacle into the shadows behind him and brings out an unconscious Todoroki. “I won’t hurt your friends so long as they don’t hurt you. This one said some rather cruel things after he learned the true nature of your past. I’d say he deserved my wrath.” The tentacle drops Todoroki to the ground beside Toga. “But, you don’t have to worry. Everyone’s quirks will be returned to them. They’re too valuable to just erase.”
Uraraka lets out a relieved breath and Iida seems to ease slightly beside her.
“So, then why did you trap us here?” Izuku asks. He’s been skirting the question this whole time. He knows he won’t like the answer.
“Why, I just wanted to reveal the truth to you. I wanted to show you where your closest allies really aligned. I wanted to show you my devotion. They know who you truly are now. Do you honestly see them standing by you after all that they’ve learned? They still don’t even know all your secrets, my dear boy. How are they to remain loyal to you when they don’t understand you at all?”
“They don’t understand me?” Izuku’s feet carry him closer to the man that dares call himself his father. “You don’t understand me at all! You told them that I was quirkless! You stole that choice, that secret from me. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want them to know about that misery, maybe one day I would have felt strong enough to tell them. But you took that away! You killed Hagiwara. Yes, he tormented me. Yes, he was cruel, but he did not deserve that . I never wished anything like that upon him no matter how many times he threatened to do the same to me because that’s not who I am. I want to save everyone . If you understood me, you would get that!” He’s breathing hard when he stops. Izuku doesn’t back down from All for One’s simmering form. He starts to wonder if he’s pushed too far, if All for One will break his promise, but then the man is calm. His confidence and undisturbed composure has returned as quickly as it vanished. .
“You’re my son. It’s true, I haven’t gotten to know you the way that I should. But it seems that we have all failed you. I don’t intend to steal you from your life, my dear boy. I want it to be your decision to stand at my side and help me recreate this world. We both know, there is much about it that is broken. You are proof of that, Izuku. We do not share the same dreams, not yet, but you’ll learn. And when you do, I will welcome you with open arms.”
“I will never go to you.” Izuku bites out, meaning every word. “You are no father of mine.”
“Our DNA says otherwise.” Is All for One’s smooth reply. “Don’t worry, I forgive you. No matter what you say or do, someday you will prove me right. For now though, I’ll wait. You and your friends are free to go.” All for One lifts a hand and the steel wall behind him shifts and grumbles, shaking the school as it slides into the earth below.
Iida and Uraraka are fast to react and they hurry to Todoroki’s side. “C’mon Deku, we need to hurry.” Says Uraraka with an imploring glance in his direction.
“He needs medical attention.” Iida snaps in a low, urgent tone. One look at Todoroki and Izuku can see that the boy is bleeding from his arm and multiple knife wounds. Beside him, Toga still retains remnants of gray cardboard. It tells him all he needs to know. He watches as his friends carry Todoroki in between them and start heading back through the collapsed entrance. He isn’t prepared for the conversations that will follow once they return to UA. He’d rather run back to his apartment and cry in his mother’s arms. She won’t ever abandon him like the rest of the people in his life have and soon will. All for One may have lied about plenty, but he wasn’t all wrong.
“I will let you go, but you should know,” A firm set of arms wrap around his shoulders. All for One’s voice burrows itself into Izuku’s ears as he quivers in his father’s arms. “In the end the only thing you can trust, is your own blood.”