Chapter Text
Japan is at war with itself. Villains and heroes are fighting throughout the country.
The villains had been preparing for this.
The heroes hadn't.
“Give up?”
All Might coughs, seeing blood spatter to the ground. More trickles from the hole in his side that he tried fruitlessly to stop. He can't quite tell where the red ends and he begins, but he can't give up now, even as his footing remains unsteady and his vision swims and sways.
“Never,” he spits.
The villain makes a tutting noise, lowering himself to the ground on one of the pillars of earth he’d created earlier. He lowers his mask for a moment, his remaining eye narrowed in a sadistic grin that's only heightened by the countless gashes, scrapes and other injuries that leave his face bloody and bruised. Mutilated. A normal man wouldn’t be standing after all this, but All For One is far from normal.
“Then let me give you an incentive.” He rests his left arm on All Might’s unharmed shoulder in an almost casual way. His right has been enhanced with quirks to a dangerous, frightening and frankly almost impressive degree. It sweeps out, showcasing the scene in front of them.
All Might can't count the bodies littering the now deserted grounds, hero or otherwise. The villains hadn’t been above taking hostages. This hardly looks like a school anymore.
The ground is stained red.
“You can stop all this in an instant. At my word, the villains will cease their actions. No one else will die. If you choose to do as I say.”
All For One has every villain in Japan operating under his thumb. All Might is unsure of how he did it. It must’ve taken years to gain such a following.
All Might coughs. He's breathing more blood than air at this point.
“Which is?” he asks, playing along, but he knows he can’t let this villain win.
“Give me One For All, and everything will stop.”
Somehow he finds himself doubting that.
All Might’s body begins to steam, his hold on One For All’s power slipping. His vision is blurry and spotted, his skin cold and clammy. His hands are warm with blood.
The sound of helicopter blades comes from overhead. Even a city-wide lockdown can't keep the reporters away.
“Looks like you’re running out of time,” says All For One. “Don’t make me do something I’ll regret.”
The rest of his power slips away abruptly, leaving All Might as the stick figure of a man he is in his everyday life. Surprisingly, All For One’s arm deflates too. Looking around Yagi catches a glimpse of red eyes in the shadows. They met his for a moment before blinking out. One For All once again buzzes under his fingertips.
He takes advantage of All For One’s confusion to inflate again, aiming a punch with all of his remaining power at the villain’s face.
All For One flies across the street, crashing through the glass wall of the great building and causing the wall to crumble in on itself. The top of the tower tips and caves inward. Tons of concrete and glass crumble on top of the villain. All Might deflates again.
He doesn’t want to, but he doesn’t have a choice. Yagi runs. Or, well, tries to as best he can when there's a gaping hole in his side, making it more of a stagger as he sways. He hears reassuring voices next to him as someone slips their arm around him for support, their face obscured by the dark spots in his vision. He finds his consciousness blurring away, hours falling away like water through his fingers.
Somehow, they end up far away. Yagi can't remember how he got here, but he finds himself surrounded by heroes. They aren't at UA anymore.
The block of scrambled buildings seems abandoned and seemingly useless to anyone else. They can't see the intricate labyrinth of a base nestled in the heart of the wreckage, being woven as they speak by a young and now newly crippled hero.
Yagi tries not to think about the bodies littering the ground, nor that many might soon join them.
“He’ll live,” a stern voice insists. As the room fades out, a part of Yagi doubts she's right.
In the distance, All For One pulls himself out of the wreckage of UA’s tower. His numerous injuries aren't a problem with his even more plentiful quirks.
He finds that he can no longer see, but he knows the heroes are gone either way. Maybe not dead, as he had originally planned, but the villains have won either way. This can still work.
And it does.
This is where the project began.