Chapter Text
The greatest hero of all time fought with fervent zeal. The most heinous villain the world had ever known was attacking with lethal intent.
After a battle without equal, the Symbol of Peace, All Might, stood victorious. Yet, before falling to defeat, All For One, the Symbol of Fear, managed to inflict a terrible wound.
The hero had a devastating hole in his torso. Pieces of his lung and viscera spilled out among pools of his own blood. Finally, the hero collapsed.
From the wreckage of the battle, an old man—clad in a doctor’s coat, strange goggles, and sporting a large mustache—scurried toward the villain. In his hands, he clutched a vial of black liquid labeled V-252.
"No..." the villain spoke weakly. "...I will survive... Give it... To him." A weak, malevolent smile formed on his face.
"To All Might?" the old man said, confused. "But—!" The villain silenced him.
"Do not question me," he threatened. "Give it... And get me out of here..."
Still doubtful, the old man approached the dying hero, uncorked the vial, and spilled the liquid near him. The substance began to move as if it were alive, slithering toward the hero. The black fluid entered the gaping wound All For One had inflicted on All Might.
The doctor took the weakened villain and fled the scene.
By the time the ambulances arrived, the hole in the hero’s body was gone, and his tortured breathing had calmed. There was no trace of the black liquid.
...
Time passed, and All Might recovered magnificently. It was as if he had never been injured. In fact, he was even stronger.
His costume changed as well, though no one knew where the new one came from.
However, that wasn't the only thing that changed within him. Slowly, he became more violent, rough, and inconsiderate.
As time went on, this new attitude grew more noticeable. His approval ratings plummeted rapidly. But inversely proportional to his drop in popularity was his ability to stop criminals.
He grew stronger, faster, and tougher with every fight. He also grew colder, more violent, more... Bad.
Yet, he still held onto a sliver of humanity, visible whenever he spent time with the Shields, his friends—especially with the young girl, Melissa, his nearly adopted niece. But his relationship with David, the girl's father, was slowly beginning to rot.
When he retired to sleep, All Might began to dream. Toshinori Yagi, All Might, had never been prone to extravagant dreams. But ever since that fight, he started dreaming strange things. He dreamed of an alien world, a planet humanity had yet to discover. It was entirely red.
What was most notable about the planet, though, was that it moved. And not like Earth. It writhed, molded, and constantly shifted its form. It was as if it were alive.
Each night, with every dream, he got closer to the planet. Until finally, he arrived on its surface. The sky and clouds were blood-red, while the ground was an amalgam of colors—predominantly black and red, with patches of yellow, white, and blue. The entire floor seemed liquid, but to the touch, it acted more gelatinous, or even solid. All the colors of the floor writhed, displaying the changes Toshinori had already witnessed in the planet's surface. Yet, everything seemed to move in a pattern.
Following the pattern, Toshinori ventured deeper into the strange world. Until finally, he saw it.
A gigantic throne loomed, and the ground spun around it. On the throne sat an equally colossal figure. It was a terrifying, even grotesque, being. What looked like a spider was etched onto its chest, and a macabre smile was permanently fixed on its face. In its right hand, it grasped a sword that appeared to be made of the same material as the planet itself. Around it, grotesque beings swirled, bowing as if it were their king or their God.
The strange God began to laugh, and its subjects imitated it. The cackles made All Might’s ears ache until he woke up. His ears were bleeding.
This dream repeated night after night. But each time, he managed to endure it a little longer. Until he began to laugh with them.
The fear he felt for these creatures slowly began to fade. One night, while dreaming, he looked at his hands. He had transformed into one of them.
The more he became like them in his dreams, the more violent he became in reality.
The poor standing he now had in Japan motivated him to leave his home country and move to the United States.
Years passed. In his dream world, All Might grew more and more like the monsters. In the real world, he acted more and more like a monster.
Finally, after five years away from his homeland, All Might returned to Japan.
...
14 years earlier...
A woman was in labor. After much effort, the baby was born. Sadly, his mother had lost too much strength...
Years passed, and the boy, accompanied by his father, visited his mother’s grave every week.
Finally, at age four, the boy was taken to the doctor by his father to determine what his Quirk was. But he had no Quirk at all.
Devastated, the boy had to endure the next ten years of his life filled with hatred from his peers.
His father had taught him never to lie. But pretending to be okay every day made him realize he had become a compulsive liar.
His father supported him, even if it meant killing himself with work. He was employed by a pharmaceutical company, LIFE.
But the chemicals and other materials he worked with were killing him. Now he couldn't support his son; he couldn't even get out of bed.
The emerald-haired boy who was once a ray of sunshine, full of joy, had dimmed. And that only made the teasing from his classmates intensify.
The boy was poisoned.