Chapter Text
The only sounds in the room were the breathing of its occupants, and the grave voice of the number one hero, sharing a story he had only ever told a select few.
“At the dawn of quirks, there was a man who had the power to give and take powers.”
He told the UA staff of the man behind the League of Villains, a man from 200 years ago, who he thought he had bested when he received his injury. He spoke of that same man’s frail brother who was thought to be powerless, and talked about the forcing of a power stockpiling quirk from one brother to the other.
The room held its breath as the number one hero told them of the frail brother’s original quirk, and the subsequent merging of the two quirks to form a new power: One for All. Finally, All Might spoke of the two hundred year long fight between All for One, and One for All, the only quirk the man couldn’t steal, and the only one that had the power to rival said man due to its ability to store power over generations.
The room as silent as those who weren’t previously in the know digested the new information. Years of pro hero work meant that all the teachers were able to put two and two together. Nezu watched as understanding dawned in their eyes, and their heads whipped between All Might and Midoriya.
He smiled at how quick his staff were. He would expect nothing less. All Might and Midoriya were growing increasingly sheepish, and Aizawa looked only slightly less done than he had in the morning so he decided to officially put the information out in the open.
“You all remember the sonic boom and the subsequent rain shower from this morning that I told you all to not worry about, correct?”
He found amusement in the way his staff’s jaws dropped as they took in the small, green teenager at the front of the room.
“No way.” Present Mic denied, crossing his arms in an ‘x’ shape. Midoriya gave him a confused smile. “Look at him! He’s small, like a green bean! Surely he can’t do what an extremely buff All Might did a bit over a year ago but stronger.”
Aizawa heatedly glared at his friend from behind Midoriya. Mic shut up immediately. It would not do to further poke the papa bear. Clearly, he chose life.
Aizawa’s dignity, Nezu amusedly recited in his head. It clearly would not last long if he was going to react to surprised outbursts like Yamada’s with clear protectiveness.
He put his paws together amiably. “Ah, Yamada-kun, consider that your student has had the quirk of the long uncontested number one hero for three demanding years. I do believe that while it is largely due to spectacular effort on Midoriya-kun’s part, do remember the fact that All Might was able to create similar atmospheric phenomena years after his prime, and that Midoriya’s unprecedented power is within expectations.”
His staff looked again at Midoriya, this time with a silent awe. Aizawa’s lips quirked in a subtle smirk that he didn’t bother hiding in his capture weapon. Even All Might looked impressed that the child had managed to, at minimum, reach the power he held in his prime in just under three years. Nezu suspected that what Midoriya had achieved was greater than what All Might could manage.
“Izuku?” Aizawa prompted.
“Ah, uh, yes I did that. I’m sorry for the disturbance I may have caused! I didn’t think about how loud or… impactful it would be at the time.”
Aizawa snorted. “They’re not looking for an apology, but I’m sure it’s appreciated. They want to hear from you what you can do.”
Midoraya’s mouth went in an ‘o’ shape, and he fidgeted slightly. He didn’t want to seem like a brag, but he would tell them for the same reason he gave a raw display of power earlier that morning. “Well, we haven’t gotten to the full timeline yet, but at the first battle, which started the two year period we’ve been talking about, I could use about 45% of All Might’s power, but after- oh.” He turned to Aizawa. “We haven’t told them about the past users.”
Aizawa acknowledged what Izuku said and turned back to face the room. “It would be more logical for us to get back on track and talk about the events in order, because One for All changed from how it manifested in All Might at a certain point down the timeline of events.”
Ever the quirk nerd, Izuku couldn’t help but add. “The Kyudai Quirk Singularity Theory.” His face scrunched up at the reminder of the doctor, and he missed the glint in Nezu’s eye that formed at the implication. Recovery Girl’s eyes widened at the implications of the singularity of such a powerful quirk.
Aizawa took control of the room again. “Well, All Might provided the background to the important bits, and you also know why Midoriya was closely involved with the proceedings which you may have otherwise questioned.” His colleagues nodded. “Ok, so you all know about the man behind the League, and you know about Tomura Shigaraki, who as you may have guessed, is related to a past One for All user, hence All Might catching on.” The staff nodded again.
They were idiots sometimes, but he was glad he could count on them to keep up when it really mattered. They were good heroes, good colleagues, and, not that he would have admitted before losing them all, good friends too.
“As we were saying before, the training camp was attacked thanks to a leak on our end.” Aizawa held up three fingers. “This led to three immediate events that we cannot morally allow to occur, no matter the subsequent slight unpredictability of the timeline.”
Midoriya took over. “The first is that Pro Hero Ragdoll from the Wild Wild Pussy Cats was abducted, and lost her quirk to the stockpile within All for One. Aside from the obvious, this is bad because of the unique abilities of her quirk that allow her to ‘search’ for enemy weak points. This was used against us in the final battle and was one of the main reasons for our downfall.”
Aizawa continued. “The next is the kidnapping of Katsuki Bakugo.” The teachers sucked in a breath. “He was taken by one of the new League members, who joined after Stain was apprehended, and refused recruitment efforts by the league.”
Recovery Girl wore a deep frown. “Why would they try to recruit a heroics student from UA of all places?”
Aizawa sighed. “His display of rage at the sports festival led them to falsely believe he was in heroics for the wrong reasons. I suppose they thought they could gain a powerful member and create discord throughout hero society simultaneously. They managed to do so without Bakugo, but again, for obvious reasons, we cannot knowingly allow traumatic situations like these to be inflicted upon our students.” He dragged a tired hand down his face. “I’d like to cancel the camp entirely, knowing just how much danger it puts the students in, and in any other situation, I’d vehemently suggest we do so. However, the final event that was triggered was that All for One himself decided to make an appearance.”
He ignored the loud “What?!” from Hizashi and let his kid continue from where he left off.
“The heroes did a raid on two locations within Kamino ward- a bar which acts as the League’s base, and a factory with around forty nomu.” The room chilled with the knowledge of so many nomu. Just one gave All Might a hard time. “Those raids led to an encounter between All Might and All for One.” All Might’s gaunt face took on a haunted expression.
“I barely survived the first encounter, and I’ve been weakening ever since.”
The staff looked horrified. “My god…” Midnight whispered.
Izuku was quick to reassure them. “Guys, it’s okay, All Might won and lived to tell the tale! All for One was put into Tartarus. The only cost was the destruction of a section of Kamino ward, and All Might’s immediate retirement.” He looked sadly at his mentor. “He used up the last embers of One for All.”
Aizawa and Midoriya let that settle with the staff, who were looking sadly at All Might. Nezu dipped his head. “It seems a world without All Might was coming much sooner than anyone anticipated. That will cast a lot of doubt on the heroes who had to fill the space without warning.”
Mirroring each other, Aizawa and Midoriya nodded, both lost in individual memories surrounding those events.
The pensive silence was broken as people in the room shifted, ready to move forward. The two time travellers looked at each other, uncertain of what to mention next.
Hesitantly, Midoriya said “It kind of splits here, because All for One sent the League away on their own, and we know of some of the things that happened there that we need to keep a lookout for.” He turned to Aizawa unsurely, and received a dip of the head in response. Aizawa was happy to follow Izuku’s timeline. “Those events did have a direct effect on UA that is worth talking about. Us first years were pushed to take the provisional licensing exam this year instead of the next. That meant that some of us went on work studies, and all of us were pulled in for the evacuation efforts on the first…well… wave of the war.”
“War?” Powerloader mouthed worriedly to himself.
“From the student’s work studies we picked up on the first bit of League action since All for One was imprisoned.” Aizawa shifted slightly. “They got into contact with the Shie Hassaikai, who are developing bullets that can permanently erase quirks.” Aizawa and Izuku made eye contact. They were in complete agreement that saving Eri would high up on the list of priorities.
There were so many bad things they knew of that they needed to stop, but they were on a time limit, and had to avoid alerting any of the big players that something was amiss. No one ever said averting the end of the world as they knew it would be easy.
“Me and the other work study students in 1A were all with agencies working the Shie Hassaikai case. Sensei was one of the heroes assigned as well. Uh… this might actually be a current active investigation, am I breaking the law if I say too many details?”
Aizawa considered his words for a moment.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. Best we keep it to the basics.” Izuku nodded. Present Mic and Midnight seemed slightly disappointed but put their serious faces back on quickly. Pro heroes are so cool, Izuku thought. Gossipmongers, Shota thought.
Izuku shook the irrelevant thoughts away. “The bottom line of that, was that the League came to be in possession of quirk erasing bullets. Of course, any faction with bad intentions having these bullets is a bad thing, and there’s a child being hurt to make the bullets so that’s something we’ll have to figure something out for.” Izuku devolved into a slight mutter storm that Aizawa smoothly moved past, very used to Izuku’s habits.
“As the raid on the Shie Hassaikai was on, another force of heroes and police had caught wind of the League’s warp gater, Kurogiri.” Hizashi and Nemuri went stone faced at the mention of the nomu who was made from their friend.
Aizawa worked to keep his face neutral, and was comforted by Izuku’s proximity as his kid moved slightly into his space. “Thankfully, Kurogiri was captured by the task force. Unfortunately, he was operating in a manner that left him vulnerable because he went to successfully wake up another of All for One’s projects.”
Aizawa had to fight harder to keep his face neutral, and was evidently failing, as concerned looks were cast his way. Izuku gently took over.
“He awoke a giant called Gigantomachia, who was faithful to All for One, and later, Tomura Shigaraki.” He looked sadly at Midnight. The staff caught the direction of his gaze worriedly. “Gigantomachia uh… killed quite a few heroes in the first battle.”
A wave of sorrow passed through the room, and those closest to Nemuri shifted their seats to be even closer, as though they were reminding themselves that she was still there.
“All I know of the villain’s activity is second and third-hand accounts from Aizawa-sensei and a hero who was sent to play a double agent. The League of Villains somehow came to be in charge of a whole hidden faction in society, who opposed quirk restriction laws. They called themselves the Meta Liberation Army. Together with the League of Villains, they became the Paranormal Liberation Front, and the main force behind the war.”
Izuku paused yet again. He felt his dad place a hand on his shoulder. This is where his involvement really came to fruition, and he was a little bit nervous to share the specificities of One for All. The quirk had basically become an open secret after the first war, but he had never explicitly shared its details to anyone but his dad.
“While all that was happening with the villains, classes were going by as normal.” He winced slightly. “Or, as normal as they could until I maybe got another quirk during a training exercise?”
Understanding dawned in Nezu’s and Recovery Girl’s eyes. The rest of the room, however…
Mic laughed, slightly crazed. “Little listener… what?”
All Might gaped at Midoriya. “My boy surely you can’t mean…” he trailed off, the anomalous notion being a lot to process.
Aizawa was thoroughly enjoying the confusion his colleagues were experiencing. Serves them right for trying to tease him after their first meeting.
Izuku ducked his head and coughed lightly in his fist. “So, One for All hit singularity meaning I slowly gained access to all the past user’s quirks.”
Midnight whistled. “Damn kid. How many quirks is that?”
“I’m the ninth user… two of us were born quirkless, so including One for All itself I have seven.”
Ectoplasm paused. “You have seven?” The rest of the staff similarly paused, including Nezu himself, interested to hear the answer.
Izuku nodded, and released a tendril of black whip. “Somehow, even though my body is weaker than it was two, three years in the future, my progress with One for All came back with me.” Meaningfully, he added, “It’s in the exact same form it was from the final moment spent in the future.” Comprehension filled Shota’s eyes. He had been wondering if Izuku would regain access to the vestiges of the past users. Izuku had mentioned how lonely he felt upon losing them. The silver lining, he supposed, was that Izuku wouldn’t have to go through that loss again.
Sniped huffed amusedly. “I was wondering why you were so specific about using 45% of All Might’s power. It’s because you had others.” He leaned forward, and, while seriously wanting to know the answer, asked lightheartedly, “How strong are you really, young’un?”
Izuku took a deep breath, and tried to radiate the reassurance he had aimed to achieve with his class. Standing taller, he told the staff “I’m strong enough to completely stop All for One’s schemes.”
The implications of that statement were vast. He had essentially just told a room of highly competent heroes, including the current undisputed number one hero that he could stop not only All for One, but Shigaraki who was implied to have become stronger by ending the world, and all of his side projects, like the nomu and Gigantomachia. From anyone else, including All Might, it would have been the most overzealous declaration of the century.
Of course, the staff all trusted Midoriya unquestionably, but confirmation from the harshest teacher in UA, the best hero school in Japan, and maybe the world, would be what sold it. They all turned to face Eraserhead for his endorsement. They were still unused to the more emotive version of their friend and were taken aback by the sheer pride glittering in his eyes. It was, however, very telling, and he didn’t need to say a word.
“Damn kid,” Vlad King said, supportively, but somewhat dazedly. “That’s insane.” From behind Vlad, Thirteen gave Midoriya a jovial thumbs up. “You must’ve worked so hard to gain mastery of seven quirks so quickly, and to such a high standard. Midoriya-kun you are an amazing student.”
The teachers were glowing with pride at the achievements of their student. This is what they worked for; ensuring that each student comes in to their full potential to make the world a better place, pro hero or not.
Izuku relaxed at the acceptance and support of his teachers, and sent a beaming smile to his dad. The sheer pride in his dad’s returning smile would fuel his serotonin needs for weeks to come.
Hizashi and Nemuri watched the interaction with hearts in their eyes. That was their best friend, prideful and loving towards a child of his own. The meeting had been going on for the better half of the hour, and they still hadn’t touched on the worst of it.
They turned to face each other, and she saw Hizashi’s heart break through his face as he mentally went over what got Shota and Midoriya to that point, and the losses along the way. She placed a comforting hand on Hizashi’s knee. She wouldn’t die this time. She would trust in Shota and Midoriya, and all the plans they would make together in the evening.
For now, they could do little more than prepare themselves to hear about the climax of the events which left Japan’s total population to a grand total of two.
Nemuri steeled her resolve.