Chapter Text
The students of Class 1A slowly came back to themselves after the display that shocked them beyond reacting. Their teacher walking in the room with their friend was what finally caused their brains to come back online. The two stood in front of the podium, positioned close to the other, their teacher slightly behind their classmate. The class gaped a bit more, as they looked at Midoriya in a new light.
Izuku’s long repressed instincts went off, and he subtly tapped his dad to alert him of what was about to happen.
Bakugo’s explosions stopped before they sounded.
Izuku took a quick moment to internally get giddy about the fact that his dad’s quirk was back in full force. Well, maybe not full force as his orbital floor was still damaged in the USJ attack, but it was a drastic improvement from the fact that Aizawa had been completely unable to use his quirk to any effect after losing his eye.
He then turned his attention to Kacchan. The look of rage on his face was comparable to the one he’d had at the medal ceremony of the sports festival. The real 15-year-old Izuku would have been scared. This Izuku knew Kacchan better than that. He was scared, confused, and didn’t know how to express it in a healthy manner. He only really started cooling down after the remedial lessons he took to get his provisional hero licence. Deku smiled comfortingly at him.
“It’s okay Kacchan. I know it was a lot. I could have chosen a more appropriate manner to let you all know what’s going on,” he bowed slightly as he spoke, “but I have a really good reason that I hope will make more sense after Aizawa-sensei and I have told you all what’s happened.”
The class seemed surprised that Kacchan sat down without a fuss. He supposed that at this time that was a fair reaction, but with the power of hindsight, Izuku was now a certified Kacchan Wrangler. Assuring Kacchan answers were coming in the immediate future stopped the demands that were about to escape his scared friend. The lack of fuss was from how unbalanced Kacchan was feeling. Like Izuku said, expert.
“Class. It’s good to see you all again.” Aizawa gave them all a small smile.
The class’s surprise at the smile was quickly overridden by a collective droop in their faces as they realised what he meant.
“Sensei… you too?” Kaminari asked sadly, the tone mirrored by pity in his eyes.
He gave a little nod. “Midoriya and I wanted to talk to you about what happened because things will be different now.”
He caught the eye of every member of the class, to see 19 young, familiar faces face him with determination. Shota allowed himself to give the class a quick cheshire grin. There’s his class 1A. Izuku must've been thinking along similar lines, as he too turned to Aizawa to give him a blinding grin. He hid his softening smile in his capture weapon as he noticed his son’s joy.
He sobered slightly. Down to business. He and his kid hadn’t had too much time to discuss which details they did and didn’t want to share. There was no avoiding telling the class. They were too close to the centre of events.
However, there were certainly things that they did not need to know, especially now that he was back to a time where the naivete around the darker side of heroics was still present in his class. He had so much to re-teach them now. Joy.
On a more serious note, he wondered for a brief moment if they would become less competent heroes because of the lesser villain attacks before burning that thought beyond ashes.
He would not willingly cause trauma in the name of education. Aizawa knew what they were capable of, and would push them to become the best heroes they can be regardless of the fact that it may take longer than the first time around. He would see all his students graduate.
He would see them all become the pro-heroes they were determined to become.
Every single one of them.
Especially his son, who had his dream of saving people shattered the moment there were only two of them left. Maybe he was (extremely) biased, but now that he had the chance, Shota was certain Izuku was going to be one of the greatest heroes the world had ever seen.
“I’m not quite sure what you all know at the moment, so-“
He was cut off by his shaken students. “Midoriya said we died two years ago and then he sent a ball to space!”
He shot a look at his son.
“In my defence I was very emotionally compromised.”
“...Moving on. Both Midoriya and I lived the next two years from now. We came back due to a strange piece of technology left in the wastes of a very bad future.”
Izuku took over for the next bit. “The reason things were so bad was because of the League of Villains, the guys who attacked us at the USJ, and I believe that they’ve attacked Hosu now too?”
Iida and Todoroki winced, giving Izuku confirmation.
“The main issue is not the League themselves, but the man behind them.” Izuku took a breath. “I need to tell you all something that I never managed to get to tell most of you last time.”
He made direct eye contact with Kacchan as he spoke his next few words.
“My quirk is not something I was born with. For all intents and purposes I am biologically quirkless.”
Aoyama’s trembling look reminded Izuku of something else to bring up in the meeting later that day. Aoyama noticed Izuku’s gaze and turned his head down in fear. Izuku’s heart ached for his friend. He never got the chance to redeem himself, being one of the first in the class to be killed after Kacchan. This time around, Izuku would make sure Aoyama got the chance to live without fear, and hopefully, most of the guilt. Can’t feel guilty over inadvertently enabling events that didn’t happen after all.
“My quirk is one that can and has been passed on through generations. Its origin can be traced to around 200 years ago, with two brothers.”
Aizawa, knowing the story well now, continued on for Midoriya with his typical hunched posture.
“If you remember your history lessons well, you’ll know that this was around the dawn of quirks. You should also know that most of that time wasn’t documented due to chaos that came with the emergence of quirks. However, what we do know for sure, was that there was a man whose quirk was the ability to take quirks from others, and either keep them for himself, or give them to others.”
Izuku noticed poor Aoyama quaking in his boots. He also noticed some of the class giving him uneasy glances. They’d find out where his quirk came from soon enough so it was fine.
Aizawa continued, “This man is known as All For One.” His demeanour shifted to dead serious. “Under normal circumstances, I would have refused to tell you about him. This man is essentially a national secret level super villain. You will not, under any circumstances, talk about him to anyone outside of this room. If you feel you cannot keep your mouth shut, it may be best if you leave the room before we continue.”
Eraserhead waited a moment. They all stayed. Brats, he thought fondly. He made sure to double check anyway.
“Are you sure you all want to be here for this? Knowing the story will not affect your time here at UA, and this is not a test of any sort.”
Uraraka was the one who ended up speaking for the class.
“Sensei… with all due respect we understand you wouldn’t even offer to tell us if you didn’t think we really needed to know. And whatever it is must have something to do with Deku or the future.” She stood from her seat and made a fist in determination as she looked to the two at the front. “I think I speak for us all when I say we want to do everything in our power to help. Even if it's something as small as knowing the story so that we can provide comfort or solidarity, we want to help.”
There was a brief silence before others piped in.
“We just want to make sure you two are okay, kero.”
“Helping others is manly!”
“Midoriya-kun, Aizawa-sensei, please let us be there to lift your burdens with whatever may be coming our way!”
Both Izuku and Shota went wide-eyed at Uraraka’s declaration and the subsequent waves of support thrown at them by the rest of the class. Izuku turned his head back to face Shota and they shared a teary smile. They weren’t alone anymore.
Some of the class cooed at Izuku’s teary smile when he turned back. He let out a wet laugh at the reception of it.
“Sorry guys,” he said as he wiped some tears away. “I just need a moment.”
He received more vocal support at that. God, he loved his friends.
Once everyone settled, Aizawa began to speak again.
“Let’s resume now. So, we have a man from the dawn of quirks who can give and take quirks. Both his quirk name and villain name are All for One. This man is one of the two brothers that caused the creation of Midoriya’s quirk.”
Izuku took over.
“The other brother was believed to be quirkless. To force him into submission, All For One forced a power stockpiling quirk onto his brother. However, the other brother did have a quirk. The power to pass on other quirks.”
The class’ faces cleared up in understanding. Izuku nodded.
“The two quirks merged in the first user to become the quirk that I hold now, One for All.”
The class felt a gravity as Izuku continued.
“One for All has stockpiled the power of every previous user, growing exponentially with each new user. I received this power from the eighth a bit before the beginning of this school year. I am the ninth wielder of One for All.”
His eyes sparked a little at the declaration, as though his power was agreeing with him.
“This power… was kept alive with the goal of someday growing strong enough to be able to defeat All for One.” Izuku suddenly cut the class from their reverie as he waved frantically. “But that’s not something the eighth thought I’d have to deal with before you all say anything!” Aizawa distantly mused that Izuku was clearly remembering his own reactions to the story. “My predecessor thought he had defeated All for One five years ago at this point. It’s only after discovering that the Nomu from the USJ had multiple quirks that he realised All for One might not have been as dead as he thought.”
Jiro’s eyes widened. “Wait… the nomu?”
Deku nodded solemnly, not realising what some of his classmates had pieced together. Todoroki in particular had a particularly odd look on his face.
Yaoyorozu raised her hand hesitantly and Midoriya gestured for her to speak. “Sorry, I just want to clarify some things. This power is being cultivated to take down all for one, so I was wondering if I was right in assuming that you are now a direct target for this man?”
Aizawa was impressed by the speedy deduction, and Izuku winced at the bluntness. Izuku was trying to avoid saying that outright but he guessed it was a bit past that now. He gave her confirmation, and she continued.
“This nomu was created by the villain right?” Ah, Aizawa saw where she was going. He wished the kid good luck. Izuku hadn’t been outwardly trying to hide his connection to All Might, but the kid probably assumed he had more time to mentally prepare for the explosion. He subtly turned his gaze to Bakugo’s general vicinity, quirk at the ready, which he was still getting used to the feeling of again.
“...maybe I’m prying a bit too much, so forgive me Midoriya, but was All Might the villain’s target for a reason other than being the number one hero?” Izuku’s eyes widened as his classmates put the pieces together and yelled uproariously.
“THERE’S NO WAY THE DAMN NERD GOT HIS QUIRK FROM ALL MIGHT!” Deku sweatdropped, mentally thanking his dad for being quicker than him on the uptake and saving the room from being exploded.
Kirishima hesitantly spoke. “We all noticed the similarities between their quirks at the start of the year. It could easily be explained by it literally being the same quirk.”
Mineta added in, “Not to mention the scary amount of power Midoriya showed us earlier.” He shivered at the thought.
Slow nods of agreement travelled through the group as Izuku stammered like he was 15 again. Mentally, he meant. He was quietened as Aizawa plopped a hand on his head, the action also silencing the rest of the class.
“All Might was the eighth holder of One for All, however, Midoriya hasn’t had a chance to speak to him yet, so we won’t give you details of his involvement until we get the go-ahead from All Might.”
“...Wow, Midoriya.” Izuku looked at Sero, confused. “One of the greatest heroes to have ever existed gave you his quirk.” Midoriya went beet red at the roundabout praise.
“Man, Midoriya. Just when I thought you couldn’t get more impressive after internships you go and yeet a ball into space, then tell us it’s because the number one hero saw you and basically went ‘I want you to replace me.’”
Izuku hid his face in his hands while Aizawa sent parts of his capture weapon over to contain Bakugo, whose racket the class was ignoring in favour of their awe. It made for a comical picture, with a very embarrassed strawberry child in front of his glaring dad. Not that the class knew that last little tidbit.
Izuku was eager to move on. “Where were we in the story?”
“You were telling us how you realised All for One was alive because of the nomu.” Bless Asui.
“Right, right. So now you know the background of my quirk and of All for One. In the original timeline, we were attacked at the training camp that we’re supposed to go to during the holidays after midterms.” He swiftly decided to leave out the part of Kacchan’s kidnapping. His Kacchan Expert senses were warning him against including that little tidbit at the moment. “Those events led to All for One revealing himself and fighting All Might, who won, but ultimately, had to retire at the end of the battle.”
The thought of All Might retiring so soon had the class reeling.
“All for One managed to have plans in motion despite being in Tartarus. He managed to complete a transfer of his quirk over to his successor Tomura Shigaraki. This not only strengthened Shigaraki’s existing decay quirk, but also gave him all the other quirks all for one had stockpiled. By the end of this year, Shigaraki was stronger than All for One, and All Might was unable to fight.”
He paused a bit, losing himself in memories.
“In that time, Shigaraki also gained an army’s worth of allies. We didn’t finish our first year when the first wave of the war struck.” Solemnly, he added “That was when Kacchan died.”
A pang struck the hearts of all in the class. Bakugo as he was now, however, didn’t seem to accept this turn of events.
“THERE’S NO WAY I’D LOSE TO THAT FUCKER!”
Izuku looked at him in tears. “You saved my life.”
Kacchan was instantly silenced.
Wetly, Izuku continued, “I wasn’t anywhere near the power level I showed you all earlier. I hadn’t even surpassed All Might’s 60% at the time. The reality is that the villains were simply too strong.”
Aizawa decided to spare his son from talking about his friend’s deaths.
“Lots of pros were killed in the first wave. Morale was at an all time low. It didn’t help that if heroes weren’t killed, they were left physically unable to fight. I myself ended up losing a leg and an eye, rendering my quirk unusable. For you all, Bakugo’s death triggered one after the next.” He looked sadly upon his class. “The fighting went on for six months. In the final days, there were only five people left alive in the whole of Japan.”
It was like all the air was sucked out of the room. Five people?!
“The four survivors were on the hero’s side. The fifth was Shigaraki. He had been weakened from All for One, the person attempting to take over his body, but by the time that final fight came around we were all significantly weakened. The two heroes…”
This time Izuku saved Aizawa from recounting two of his best friend’s deaths.
“The two heroes that fought with us died alongside Shigaraki. In the end, it was just me and Aizawa-sensei. It stayed that way for the next year and a half. We had been searching for food preserves in a science facility when I tripped and accidentally activated the same device that must have sent our consciousness back into ourselves from two years before then.”
He changed his forlorn look into one of determination, creating hope in the hearts of his peers.
“I can only assume that the power stockpile has a link to the consciousness of each user. By the beginning of what should have been our second year, I had surpassed All Might’s level of power. The power I showed you earlier is a result of me holding on to this quirk for three years.” His electric eyes caught those of his classmates. “We have the means to stop all the villains now, before they kill anyone. I promise to you all that you will not see the future that Aizawa-sensei and I lived.”
They believed him.