Izuku was ecstatic!
Today was the first official day of his schooling at UA. His training with All Might and Nezu over the last two years had paid off tremendously, allowing Izuku’s mind and body to grow into that of a bright and confident future hero.
He smiled at his phone as he passed the statue near the front door of UA, a large silver-and-white statue of All Might in his prime, almost vibrating with life , flanked by empty pedestals.
Izuku didn’t know why there would only be one statue when there were nine empty pedestals, but he learned a long time ago not to question Nezu’s ways if you valued your sanity.
He quickly entered UA’s front doors, as he was a bit late, and zoomed up to 1-A’s classroom using his Full Cowling at 5%, hopping over the sleeping bag-covered form of Aizawa outside the door and plopping down into his seat.
The classroom was packed, and he pointedly ignored Bakugou’s growling. Then Aizawa entered the room and sprung a surprise Quirk test on them all after berating them for taking too long to quiet down.
Or at least, it was supposed to be a surprise. Izuku felt like he knew the test was coming, somehow.
He used his full cowling for most of the tests, smiling at the feeling of power he got whenever he used One for All. With his current maximum of 23%, he blitzed through all of the tests and was almost uncontested for first place, only being beaten in the softball throw by the girl he had saved in the entrance exam.
After a small boy with purple orbs for hair was sent home after placing last, Aizawa sent everyone away except Izuku. Once everyone was gone, he waved the boy over. “Midoriya, Nezu has spoken a lot about you. I know that you don’t technically have to be here anymore, now that the introduction day has ended, but I would like your opinion on something.”
Izuku just nodded and smiled as the man talked, agreeing to help. They walked to the classroom where there was a picture of a man with a beard made of fire on the board.
Aizawa pointed towards it. “This man is a villain. Nicknamed Akuma, real name Enji Todoroki. Quirk: Hellflame. We have a print out of everything we know about his Quirk and usual hangouts.”
Izuku grabbed the print out and looked it over, feeling a bit off. He felt like he had heard of this man before… (Why was his head feeling so fuzzy?) Wasn’t this guy a hero?
Izuku shook his head. If Aizawa was saying he was a villain, then he definitely was. He shouldn’t get too hung up on odd feelings when there was work to be done!
Aizawa continued. “We are planning to take down Akuma in a raid on Thursday. Do you have any insights or battle strategies that we could use for it, based off of the notes?”
Izuku did a quick reread through the booklet and started to write down some plans on the board, talking Aizawa through them. He was in his element: seeing a Quirk, pulling apart its functions and making plans to take the user down.
The entire time he was writing, he had flashes of a man in a blue suit, fire spilling from red lines, talking to a boy with split red-and-white hair at what looked like the sports festival.
He finished writing down his plans to take down Akuma, who had been placed as an S-level threat. He did a quick double-check over his writings before turning to Aizawa and nodding.
Aizawa gave it a look over, before grinning at the boy. A flash of light erupts from the window, showing Izuku a face that is definitely not Aizawa . “Well done, Midoirya, this should be very helpful to me and my associates…”
The light came back, and Izuku started to sweat. Every time the light flashed, the interior of UA disappeared, showing that Izuku was standing in a blank room with a man in a black helmet.
Izuku stumbled back as his Full Cowling came to life, only to hear laughter. “You’re so full of energy, my boy! And your mind… Not even I would have come up with some of these plans!”
Izuku’s back hit the wall behind him as he felt his limbs growing weak. He hit the floor as the man All Might had told him about, All for One , walked over to him. Even with the mask on, Izuku could tell the man was smirking.
“So you’ve finally seen past the illusion! It usually takes people longer! It must be One for All’s interference, I’m sure of it.” He cracked his fingers as he placed his hand over Izuku’s face, the boy feeling too weak to stop it.
“Well, these plans should be enough to take down the Number Two hero, Endeavour… or should I say the Number One now? Either way… thank you, my boy.”
He chuckled slightly. And Izuku felt a buzzing in the back of his mind.
“Now, let us move onto the next target...”
Izuku was ecstatic!
Today was the first official day of his schooling at UA. His training with All Might and Nezu over the last year had paid off tremendously, allowing Izuku’s mind and body to grow into a bright, confident future hero.
Statues lined the path to the front door, silver and white and seemingly life-sized. There were a few of them, showcasing various top heroes, such as All Might, Endeavour, Miruko… wait. He didn’t recognise one of the statues. Spiky hair, large gauntlets… had he seen that costume before?
Izuku clutched his head as a sense of deja-vu struck him. They were almost vibrating with life , and they were flanked by other statues.
Izuku didn’t know why there would only be one statue when there were 8 empty pedestals, but he learned a long time ago not to question Nezu’s ways if you valued your sanity.
He quickly entered UA’s front doors, as he was a bit late, and zoomed up to 1-A’s classroom using his Full Cowling at 5%, hopping over the sleeping bag covered form of Aizawa and plopping down into his seat.
The classroom was packed, and he pointedly ignored Bakugou’s growling. Then Aizawa entered the room and sprung a surprise Quirk test on them all after berating them for taking too long to quiet down.
Or at least, it was supposed to be a surprise. Izuku felt like he knew the test was coming, somehow...
He used his full cowling for most of the tests, smiling at the feeling of power he got whenever he used One for All. With his current maximum of 23%, he blitzed through all of the tests almost uncontested for first place, only being beaten in the softball throw by the girl he had saved in the exam.
After a small boy with purple orbs for hair was spared after placing last, not getting sent home due to it all being a ‘logical ruse’, Aizawa sent everyone away except Izuku.
He waved the boy over. “Midoriya, Nezu has spoken a lot about you. I know that you don’t technically have to be here anymore, now that the introduction day has ended, but I would like your opinion on something.”
Izuku just nodded and smiled as the man talked, agreeing to help. They walked to the classroom where there was a picture of a man with a beard made of fire on the board.
Aizawa pointed towards it. “This man is a villain. Nicknamed Ä̶͜͠k̵̩̻̄ṵ̷͌m̸̡̛͐ȁ̷̩ ‘Crimson Falcon’, real name E̷͈̅ņ̴͍̉̉j̵̛́ͅȉ̴̖͘ ̶̝̋T̴͎̐͌ọ̷̾̃͜d̸̙̈̉ǫ̸̢̐ȑ̷͚͕̕o̴͚̒͜k̷̭͉͊ǐ̷̲̪͝ Keigo Takami. Quirk: H̵͉̹͋̆e̸̗̎l̵̬͑l̶̹̹̒f̸̺̊̅l̷̯̗̂ǎ̴̱m̸̜͛̄ȇ̸̝ Fierce Wings. We have a print out of everything we know about his Quirk and usual hangouts.”
Izuku’s head throbbed as he was given the information, getting another wave of deja-vu. It felt like someone was… yelling at him? Like they were trying to grab his attention through a busy crowd.
He grabbed the print out and looked it over, feeling a bit off. He felt like he had heard of this guy before, but he couldn’t place where. (Why was his head feeling so fuzzy?) Wasn’t this guy a hero?
Izuku shook his head. If Aizawa was saying he was a villain, then he definitely was, he shouldn’t get too hung up on odd feelings when there was work to be done!
Aizawa continued after a little while. “We are planning to take down Ä̶͜͠k̵̩̻̄ṵ̷͌m̸̡̛͐ȁ̷̩ Crimson Falcon in a raid on Thursday. Do you have any insights or battle strategies that we could use for it, based off of the notes?”
Izuku did a quick reread through the booklet and started to write down some plans on the board, talking Aizawa through them. He was in his element, seeing a Quirk, pulling apart its functions and making plans to take the user down.
A flash of a man with red wings sending feathers out against a creature that had an exposed brain. A flash of beige coats and yellow goggles.
He finished writing down his plans to take down Ä̶͜͠k̵̩̻̄ṵ̷͌m̸̡̛͐ȁ̷̩ Crimson Falcon, who had been placed as an S-level threat. He did a quick double-check over his writings, before turning to Aizawa and nodding.
His head started throbbing faster, and his body seemed to tighten on its own as if preparing for a fight. He was confused, to say the least, as he looked back up to Aizawa, and flinched.
Aizawa gave it a look over, before grinning at the boy. A flash of light erupts from the window, showing Izuku a face that is definitely not Aizawa . “Well done Mr. Midoirya, once again your skills with analysis and tactics surprises me…”
The light came back, and Izuku started to sweat. Every time the light flashed, the interior of UA disappeared, showing that Izuku was standing in a blank room with a man in a black helmet.
Izuku’s back hit the wall behind him as he felt his limbs growing weak. He hit the floor as the man All Might had told him about, All for One , walked over to him. The black mask glinted in the light, showing off the skull like build.
“Ah... you’ve finally seen past the illusion. And slightly faster this time! One for All continues to infuriate and annoy me.” He leaned down to place his hand over Izuku’s face, and Izuku got a flash of memory, no longer than a second long, of this happening many times before.
“NO!”
The yell made All for One hesitate for a moment, before he chuckled. “Still putting up a fight, my boy? It’s no use, you know. With this combination of sleep Quirks, memory manipulations Quirks, and illusions Quirks, I can keep repeating this little facade as many times as I want, using your marvellous brain to take down any Hero I could think of!”
Izuku flared his Full Cowling at 100% for just a moment, feeling the pressure build around him. He flicked his finger at the villain, and the blast of air gave him room to move.
He heard All for One yell at him. “You can run, my boy! But you can’t win! You’ll be back here sooner than you think!”
Setting his Full Cowling back down to the safe level of 23% he busted through the wall behind him…
and ran.
He was running as fast as he could.
He needed to escape from whatever All for One had been planning, but his broken fingers and fuzzy memories were making things hard for Izuku.
Where was he?
It didn’t look like a Japanese building; even with the modernizations that the country had gone through, some things had stayed the same, but this… This looked different.
Where was he?!
Crashing through a large door, he entered into what looked like an old English throne room of all things… and there was someone sitting on the throne.
What was going on?!
Sitting there on the throne was a man with stark white hair, legs draped over the side as he read a book. A golden crown sat on the man’s head and a helmet sat next to the throne.
All for One’s helmet.
The man on the throne chuckled. “Ah, you’re back! I told you that you wouldn’t be able to escape so easily! I suppose you have questions, and I will be sure to answer them…”
He clapped his hands, and a door to Izuku’s left opened, allowing a group of people to enter. Izuku knew these people well. They were his friends! Class 1-A and 1-B walked into the room, looking dazed.
“Oh my, I thought they would have recovered by now! The brainwashing process takes so much out of a person, you know! The fact that you’re still lucid enough to resist is mainly One for All’s fault!”
Izuku was panicking. Brainwashing?! Had All for One brainwashed his friends? He was looking at the group frantically as Ochako walked to the front, eyes glazed over. “Ochako! Please! Are you OK?”
His hopes were crushed when Ochako turned away from him and walked over to All for One and the rest of the group, joining them as they knelt in front of him. Izuku saw red. “You… WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FRIENDS?”
All for One just chuckled and glared at the boy. Izuku immediately felt his Quirk slip from his control as All for One’s eye’s turned red, his messy white hair floating upwards. “Now now, my boy, I wanted to treat you as a guest, so don’t make me put you down!”
He waved at the crowd of brainwashed heroes in front of him. “After all! It was all because of you that I was able to capture all of your friends and mentors! See for yourself!”
Another wave of his hand and Izuku’s vision went black, his body hitting the floor.
His mind flooded with the memories of each time All for One used him to make a plan to capture someone, each time he unwittingly caused one of his friend’s downfall…
Izuku hadn’t cried in many years, but he couldn’t stop himself from weeping now. In the corner of his eyes, he could see a few figures fighting off red tendrils… eight of them, he thought he saw.
He barely felt it when a new tendril sprouted up from the floor of his mindscape and stabbed him in the chest, barely registered when the figures fighting off the other tendrils vanished in puffs of smoke, leaving one left standing in front of Izuku.’
He thought he recognized the man, but his head was so fuzzy right now . Blond hair, muscles upon muscles, piercing blue eyes. He felt like this man was supposed to mean something to him, but he couldn’t remember what.
The man reached out for him, his mouth opening to let out a silent scream, before he too vanished into smoke, leaving Izuku alone.
A voice appeared from over him, all around him, inside of him . “Now… One for All is mine once more... You are no longer of any physical use to me, but I will let you keep your intelligence, for now.”
Izuku felt like he should be fighting, but he couldn’t quite remember how he was meant to fight something like this. His eyesight was getting blurry as his limbs became numb.
“You will continue making plans for me, after all…”
Izuku felt a pull on his mind, and found himself looking at the throne room again. He looked up and saw his king sitting on the throne, smiling at him. He knelt down in front of the man, happy to be of service to such an amazing man.
“None of this would have happened without you, my boy.”
