Chapter Text
Nana didn’t know where she was at first. The axis of the world tilted and when it snapped back, the light was all too bright and disorienting. Every movement brought with it the dizzying uncertainty of almost losing balance. Like slowly falling but not being sure where you’ll fall. Damn, whatever that villain’s quirk was, it sure packed a punch.
The sound of a car horn blaring jolted her. So loud, she felt it in her teeth as if she bit into ice. Nana jumped out of the way of the honking car, taking a few hasty steps backwards to steady herself by a lamppost, blinking to get her vision back. As she slowly pulled herself together, she realised that the light and the sounds weren’t just aggressively loud due to her headache and disorientation.
No, she was still in Hosu -the same spot she has been standing in when the underhanded attack came- but Hosu was burning. Bright crimson flames of explosions, some dying down, some still flaring in the distance, streets littered by glass and chunks of concrete, cars crashing into each other, civilians screaming and crying for help.
The district was under attack.
Nana only allowed a moment for the utter confusion to wash over her. The district had definitely not been like that a moment ago. She was just halfway through her usual patrol route in the middle of the workday when someone got the drop on her right as she turned a corner. That corner was now empty, save for a few pieces of smouldering trash. The sky was dark, lit only by the unrelenting urban fires . Nothing made sense.
But the terrified civilians kept crying for a hero to help. And Nana was a hero. And she was made to help.
So she ran up to a woman trapped in a blue Sedan, a thin trace of smoke already escaping from under the busted bonnet. She grabbed the metal casing, scrunched it up and ripped the door ajar. The woman inside shrieked, which was a good sign, since it meant she was alive and not catatonic in shock.
“It’s fine, I’m here,” Nana soothed, leaning in to check if she could be moved out of the seat safely.
The woman seemed to calm a bit. She nodded, more readily than Nana expected. Terrified civilians were always unpredictable but she was well-trained in dealing with them. She asked for permission to unlock her belt, seeing that it was stuck due to the collision. As she snaked around the airbags and twisted off the belt clasp, the woman cried out again. Not in pain but in fear. This time she wasn’t looking at Nana. And when the heroine followed her terrified gaze, she herself almost shrieked.
There was a thing hovering above the vehicle. Nana didn’t like to call heteromorph types ‘things’ but that— that was definitely closer to a ‘thing’ than a person. Mostly because it had its brain hanging out.
She quickly tore the seatbelt, putting away her worries about the woman’s possible injuries. She managed to drag her out just before one of the many huge fists flattened the roof of the Sedan. Near completely. In a single blow. It was half Nana’s size, just the hand. And she wasn’t a small woman.
She jumped back, depositing the woman a safe distance away and telling her to seek the police station down the street. She looked at her strangely for a moment but Nana didn’t have time to escort her. There was a villain on the loose. Flattening cars as if they were Hot Wheels under the foot of a toddler.
It had a dark blackish-brown colouration with hands sticking out from absolutely everywhere. Some of them huge and bursting from muscle (like the one it used to two-dimensionalise the Sedan with), some smaller, more malformed. Only a stump or a few fingers, clearly unusable. Others were more like feet or something in-between. Nana would lie if she said the sight didn’t make her slightly squeamish. It didn’t help that it had that district aroma of rotting flesh around it with the brain just out in the open, topping the horrific cake. Not that it seemed to be using it for much.
“Hey! Stop getting handsy with other people’s property!” Nana yelled, trying to get the villain’s attention.
At first, it didn’t seem to hear her, or acknowledge her in any way, continuing its rampage merrily. When another poor civilian wandered into its line of sight, it honed in on them, a hand extending beyond reasonable limit, trying to snatch them up.
Nana sped over, grabbing the civilian and stopping the hand with a fist of her own. The embers of One for All flared up. There was something strange about the taste of the power but she couldn’t concern herself with it right now. She knew it will eventually start to fizzle out but it wasn’t that long since she gave it to Toshinori and right now she needed it. And so it came, roaring like a beast, tamed but by no means meek.
She managed to halt the villain but barely. They were strong. Much stronger than anticipated. She smiled and ‘gently’ yelled at the civilian to get out of sight so she can concentrate on the enemy properly. They thankfully listened.
Nana brought up her other hand to stop another fist, this time planning to flatten her. Her teeth rattled from the impact. Damn, what was this thing’s quirk made of…
A third and a fourth fist came down on top of the second one, making her knees want to buckle. Her boots dug into the cracked concrete. She needed to put all her weight on one leg when a longer, more slender arm with awfully crooked fingers bending in whichever direction they so pleased; came to claw at her midsection. She kicked the hand away, breaking those few fingers which did bend the right way but the villain didn’t seem to notice.
Nana grit her teeth, summoning more of One for All. But even if she could hold her own against the increasing pressure of half a dozen fists trying to push her into the earth; she couldn’t grow more arms like this thing had, to defend against the additional attacks.
A hand managed to wrap around her upper arm that was keeping a spindly yet steely strong limb away from her neck. It pulled and Nana felt her elbow flex, horribly close to dislocating. She grit her teeth and prepared for a very unpleasant experience if she doesn’t also manage to grow a new limb in the next three to five seconds.
Suddenly, a great flurry of wind slammed into her, nearly taking her off her feet. The creature and the pressure of their hands were gone in an instant. Nana tried to catch her breath and unearth her feet from the ground while visually processing the rapid new development.
She watched an almost equally as large, primary-coloured mountain grab the thing by a ‘handful’ of arms and fling it into the ground with ease not even Nana could have managed with One for All twicefold.
The colourful figure pulled back and flung the mutant the other way, just to be sure. Despite the definitely deadly use of force, it didn’t stop moving. To which the hero (they must be if they were attacking the thing attacking civilians) responded swiftly, seemingly expecting as such.
They reached out and started tearing away limbs without much reservation. Then tying the bigger, more deeply rooted ones together, a horrible wet cracking sound following their ministrations.
Nana stared, horrified, ready to step in. But something held her back. The thing wasn’t screaming. It wasn’t even reacting to the pain, only trying to get at its opponent. The hero predicted their attacks easily and leaned away from the longer limbs before they could get hold. But they never could find a hold on the pro. Soon they all but literally tied the villain into a ball, nonchalantly wrapping a lamppost around them as if it was merely the bow on a Christmas gift.
The hero rose, dusting their hands off, quickly surveying the perimeters for other threats, discretely coughing into their fist once. They noticed Nana standing almost idly, having a hard time catching up with all of the sudden stimuli from a rapidly burning Hosu to an unknown hero who could bend thick metal with bare hands.
The man -taller and broader than any Nana has met before- turned around, hands on his hips, head held proud, chest bursting from what she thought was a laugh.
“Fear not citizen for I—“
He stopped and stared down at Nana, mouth half open. She looked back up at him, a slight tingle telling her that maybe she should know who that man was. He seemed like a limelight hero and thus Nana probably has met or seen his face at the very least.
At first, he looked confused, thick blond brows furrowed to comic-book perfection. Then his smile, which seemed affixed to his face, wobbled. But only once. If he wasn’t staring so fixedly at Nana, she might not have even noticed. It was still there but changed in its nature somehow.
No, that wasn’t it, Nana decided. She did know this man. She knew him personally, she just didn’t know from where.
“N-nana?” His voice died off at the second syllable.
Nana did not expect to hear her given name from the mouth of any hero on the job, let alone a stranger’s. It was weak, honest and laden with a well-cultivated sort of sadness. A sorrow that ages, like exquisite red vine. But no matter how carefully you kept it, without the proper care, it only thickened and soured. Now it was so strong, the taste brought unbearable pain instead of the beloved memories it was distilled from.
She knew that voice. She would know that voice anywhere.
“Toshinori?” Nana asked, hesitant, bewildered.
Because it couldn’t have been Toshinori. Her Toshinori was a small little beanpole, barely as tall as her. Which was impressive for a sixteen-year-old but still. This was— This was a man. Not even a man but a hero. A formidable figure with features cut out of marble and aged only firmer and sharper than they already were in his youth. His blond hair, the same sunflower shade as Toshinori’s, was combed and slicked back, two bangs standing up in a V instead of falling to hide his face. A bad habit Nana was in the process of teaching Toshinori out of. A hero shouldn’t hide behind anything but a smile. Like this man was so clearly doing, albeit the façade was becoming a rather wobbly one.
“Nana?” he asked again, this time nearly a whisper, scorching on Nana’s skin from how desperate it was. “How—“
“All Might!” someone yelled behind them and soon, another man clad in spandex appeared. Nana didn’t know this hero either. They seemed to be water themed, based on the blue shades and fin designs. “There’s a building that has been destabilised by one of the Noumu, it’s about to collapse—“
“O-on it dear colleague,” the hero who named himself ‘All Might’ boomed, voice a stark disconnect from his face that was still glued to Nana, eyes shining in the shadow of his bushy brows. “I— I have to go help them—,” he said to her hastily, low enough for the other hero not to catch. “Stay here. Please,” he added, voice thick with an emotion exactly like someone trying to hold back a sob. “Please, if you’re real, stay.”
And he was gone in another flurry of wind. Faster than Nana has ever hoped to become even before she gave away One for All.
The water-based hero gave an uncertain wave to Nana. She waved back. “I don’t think we’ve met,” he said in an amicable tone while surveying the perimeters, looking for civilians needing help, very prim and professional. “Manual,” he greeted with a brief bow.
Nana bowed back, eyes and mind on the space where ‘All Might’ has disappeared. “Plateau,” she replied, trying to shake the emotional fog out of her head. Hero work comes first. “What’s going on here? What happened?”
“The League happened,” Manual replied bitterly, “I’m on my way to help the fire brigade. You don’t happen to have a water-based quirk, do you? One of the Noumu had a pyrokinetic one and Endeavour isn’t much help either,” he added with a tired smile. He seemed to be having a long and subpar day.
“No, my quirk is Float. I specialise in subduction,” Nana said apologetically, “I’m, also decent at evacuation and rescue, if need be.”
“Can you handle clearing this area?” Manual asked, seemingly grateful for the unexpected help. “I really ought to go back. All Might and Endeavour have the Noumu handled but the fires…”
“Yes of course!” Nana beamed at him and he, similarly to the civilian in the car, looked at her strangely but seemed to react positively, nodding and turning on his heel.
“One more thing before you go,” she halted him, biting the inside of her cheek. “Who was that?”
“Who?” Manual asked, more confused than Nana expected him to be.
“That big fella you called ‘All Might’.”
Manual studied her as if he thought she was testing him or making a joke. Nana kept her face open. In situations like this, she found honestly the best policy. Whatever the rime or reason for any of this was, she needed to get in the loop as fast as possible.
“He’s— All Might,” Manual said awkwardly.
“I know his name. But who is he?”
Manual got even more confused if possible. “He’s— he’s the Number One hero? The Symbol of Peace? I’m sorry are you— am I missing something here…”
I want to be a Symbol of Peace for people to look up to.
Nana blinked. Her head buzzed. That was Toshinori. Somehow. But it also wasn’t. Her Toshinori was merely a teen not— not a more than middle-aged man as tall as a tree! And so broad and strained looking! What was going on?
“Thank you, I’ll let you go back to work now,” she said quickly, flashing a more reassuring kind of smile. “I’ll see to it that this area is clear, don’t hesitate to ping me if you, or— All Might needs help.”
Manual laughed at that and waved her goodbye, shaking his head as he left. Only after did Nana realise that her pinger didn’t seem to be working. Neither did her phone. It was on, showing the correct time but had no service or data. She tried calling Toshinori anyway but it didn’t go through. Then she tried Sorahiko just for good measure but got the same result. All the while scoping the perimeters, keeping her surroundings in mind. She really didn’t want to run into another one of those ‘Noumu’ again but she’ll fight it if she has to. The mystery of this whole situation will have to wait until the crisis was averted.
She did end up stumbling upon a pay phone. No monsters to booth. (Hah.) She tried Toshinori again, but this time while the call did go through, it said that the recipient didn’t exist. Same with Sorahiko. Or any of her other contracts. She finally tried her husband, even though she knew he won’t pick up. There were no phone lines to the afterlife.
Her confusion was slowly turning into alarm. Something wasn’t right. It couldn’t have been this payphone, she tried 111 just to be sure and it rang out. She of course quickly hung up before they could pick up. She didn’t want to waste resources.
Nana exited the booth, venturing even further away from the spot All Might told her to wait in. All Might, who by all means, shared little similarity and a lot of similarity with her Toshinori. Sure, he looked so, so much different but the more Nana recalled his face, the more she managed to gaslight herself into seeing the similarities. And the design he was wearing, so colourful, so Golden Age Coming book-y… It screamed nerdy Toshi. And the way he smiled, so reassuring, so affixed, so expertly. Exactly how Nana would have wanted Toshinori to smile.
Well, not exactly, no. She would have told her pupil to relax a bit, let some sincerity shine through. An average civilian wouldn’t know of course but they would feel it. That strain.
Nana kept churning these thoughts, getting none the wiser for it. Her eyes caught a window display which had the same reds and blues that occupied her mind. She turned to approach, squinting to see behind the shattered glass, finding a wide assortment of ‘All Might’ memorabilia. Action figures, bobbleheads, cards, pillowcases, keychains, mugs, all the usual tourist trinkets, all with that familiarly alien face and slightly straining smile fixed on them in glossy paint.
She reached inside through the broken glass and picked up a book that seemed to be a collectors’ album. ‘All Might Through The Ages’ it read. She opened it up, facing the same picture she did in real life. A heroic pose, muscles bursting almost unnaturally under the latex, smile a million carats and then one. Flipping the pages, she was greeted by a much more familiar presentation. Well, still not ‘her’ Toshi, but the ‘All Might’ in it was younger. Much younger.
’Young Age’ it read, approx 2221-2223. Image taken in California, United States.’
If possible, that only confused Nana more. First of all, what was possibly-Toshinori doing in California out of all places? And secondly, it wasn’t 2221 yet. It was 2215, May 11th.
She flipped the pages, going through the few ‘Young Age’ photos, stopping at a two-page spread of his ‘debut’. Toshinori was holding up a ferry, saving thousands of people trapped on it. Then came what was labelled as his ‘Bronze Age’ (Woah that is a very daring suit young man), his ‘Silver Age’ (she didn’t like the suit as much in those) and finally, she arrived at his ‘Golden Age’ some thirty-five years later.
Forty after the date her phone displayed.
She flipped back and forth between two pages. One showing the end of Silver Age Toshinori shaking hands with the president of The United Board of Heroes, and the first Golden Age snapshot of All Might carrying a hundred people on his back, grimy and bloody but still smiling. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was so different about those two smiles but something was. Something was wrong in that second photo, Nana could feel it in that motherly tingle clenching her throat.
But that wasn’t the most important takeaway from this book. No, what Nana came to horrifiedly realise, was, that unless someone very capable was messing with her head, she was, most probably, in the future.
She looked back the way she came, deciding to bring the book. She’ll reimburse the owner once she figured out how much inflation worked its magic in the last forty years. It was best to wait for Toshinori/All Might/Whoever took up the handle of her protégée, at the set meeting point.
But a crash and an awful screech from her left stopped her in her tracks near immediately. She sighed, dropping the book back down and running in the direction of the noise. Answers will have to wait. Someone needed saving and as a hero, it was her duty to save.