Chapter Text
Midoriya Hisashi was never meant to last. It was a mere throwaway identity that he cared nothing about in the long run and had no attachment to. It wasn’t until he met Shimura Inko that Midoriya Hisashi became much more important to him. It became the identity he held in highest regard. Just below his original identity. The one that connected him to his brother.
He stumbled across her in an odd twist of fate. He could feel a quirk in use and his eyes were drawn to a beautiful woman, to Inko, as she used her quirk on a man attempting to mug her. Her quirk was very liberal with what counted as small objects, that man’s balls could attest.
He was admittedly curious about her heritage and was unable to stop himself from prying into her files until he found his answer. She was indeed the daughter of Shimura Nana. By the time the information came back to him he couldn’t find it in himself to care very much. He was already hooked. She was a breath of fresh air compared to his normal company.
Their relationship blossomed into something stronger than he ever expected and before he could even comprehend it they were married and she was pregnant. With his child. He hadn’t known what to think about that for the longest time. All For One was not what some people would call a family man and he never thought he would be. His experience with family wasn’t exactly the picture of healthy relationships and the last thing he wanted was to fall back into old habits. He was more than content to just be with Inko while he still could.
That being said, the first time he held his son in his arms he knew it was over for him. There was nothing that he wouldn’t do for Izuku. A small, cold, and uncaring part of him that he had built up over the years melted away in a single instant. He had a new goal and that was to make sure the world was ready for his son. And it would start in his world. The underground.
Izuku’s birth sparked an enormous change within his operations. There was no room for error anymore. There were no mistakes. He seamlessly switched between Midoriya Hisashi, the overworked businessman, and All For One, the Lord of the underworld. It was exhausting but it was well worth it. He wasn’t going to risk either of his sons.
When he came across Shimura Tenko as he was heading to one of his minor operations he didn’t hesitate to pick the child up and give him somewhere safe. Looking into the entire situation and hearing Tenko’s side of the story made his blood boil. Shimura Kotaro got lucky because had All for One gotten his hands on that worthless man...
It was almost nerve wracking to sit down in front of Tomura and tell him about his brother that he likely wouldn’t be meeting for many years to come but the boy was surprisingly receptive to the idea. Almost excited. If anything the wait time would likely teach him to be patient. He would attribute that to Kurogiri’s surprising aptitude with children.
The worst day of his life was the day he had to take Izuku’s quirk. He could feel it reaching to the surface, could see the effects in the way he watched quirks from the time he was a baby to the time he turned four. Other kids watched quirks in awe or excitement but Izuku was a little too much like him. There was a hungry look whenever he saw something particularly interesting. One that he himself had worn for centuries.
So he cursed his son to a life of quirklessness knowing that nothing would completely satisfy him. He wished Izuku could have grown up with his quirk but it was far too dangerous for rumors to spread. It would draw too much unnecessary attention. Attention that could get Izuku and Inko both killed.
He prepared and organized and put everything in motion because he knew that something awful was coming and it was probably wearing a tacky spandex suit. He could go on to the hero about the lack of efficiency and armor but that would be like screaming common sense to a brick wall.
In all seriousness, he knew that his time was coming to an end. All Might had been hunting him for decades and each day that passed he got closer and closer despite all of his efforts, he can only thank whatever deity out there that neglected to bless the idiotic blonde with a brain or he would have been caught much sooner and without ample time to prepare for his absence.
He took the time to record videos and messages and documents all for Izuku. He knew there was a chance that his precious son would want nothing to do with the empire he built, especially after he would learn of his father’s role in his quirk status, and he had come to terms with that. But he also knew that he had been gone for quite a bit of his son’s life and phone calls and video chats can only make up for so much. He wanted his son to have a reminder of him if he so wished it. Perhaps a small part of him just didn’t want to be forgotten by one of the people he cared about the most.
He made sure to leave specific instructions for the good Doctor to follow should anything happen to him. He was nothing if not prepared.
He hit a lull in activity and took the time to pick up a few pastries and a gift for Izuku. It was high time he saw his adorable son in person. Izuku would absolutely love the high end stationary he found.
He should have known luck would not be on his side. The blonde oaf just happened to be in town. He barely managed to drop the bags he was carrying in time to block a vicious attack. He could only hope that Izuku would forgive him. He had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t be making it home.
Doctor Garaki Kyudai was nothing if not a loyal man. After Sensei had supported him in a time when no one else would, he had more than earned his trust and devotion.
He should have known something was off. It had been two days since he left to visit his family, due to one of the rare times everything was finished in the scheduled time frame, and he had heard nothing from the walking cataclysm. By this point Sensei has usually requested a few updates but he had received none. He got the answer to his unasked question when he checked the news on his computer while he ate his lunch.
A surprisingly frequent question popped up in conversation over the years: What would happen if All For One died suddenly? What would happen to all of the quirks he had accumulated over the years? Would they die with him? Would they simply fade from existence as if they had never been in the first place?
They spent hours theorizing over what could happen and if the news sources were anything to go by it was one of the barely touched upon theories that they had actually laughed off as an impossibility. He should have known better than that. Once upon a time, quirks were the impossibility after all.
New quirks were appearing in people all over Japan. Quirks Kyudai recognized because they belonged to his master. Now it was time to find a pattern. There had to be some rhyme or reason that only certain people were walking around with more than one quirk.
In hindsight the pattern was surprisingly easy to spot. Of course after days of research it would seem to be a simple solution. Quirks had simply returned back to their families. Most of the original holders of the quirks were gone so there was only one logical place for them to go now and that was to the relatives of the original holders.
He froze for a moment, his fingers halting above the keyboard in front of him. If the quirks were returning to their closest blood relatives or original owners that would mean there was a certain quirk resting in a very important child. His eyes wandered across the lab to the picture frame on Sensei’s desk. It was a simple family photo but the only thing Garaki’s eyes were registering was Midoriya Izuku’s smiling face.
It would appear he would be making a trip to the bar that Kurogiri and Shigaraki Tomura were holed up in at the moment. But he had some materials to gather first. Sensei always had specific directions to follow should anything happen to him. The least Garaki could do was make sure everything went as planned.
He could only hope that Midoriya Izuku didn’t start stealing quirks before he had the time to deliver Sensei’s message to the boy.
Yagi Toshinori had been tracking All For One for as long as he had a hero license. He wasn’t doing it alone, Gran Torino had been out for blood and who was he to deny his old teacher? He wouldn’t admit it was because he was too terrified to tell the old man no. Nonetheless he appreciated the help. It shouldn’t have been so hard to find someone that they knew the exact appearance of but the monster was crafty.
For a long while it seemed that they were doing great. Every single raid was one step closer to taking out that arrogant son of a bitch and avenging his master. They had been so close to finally finding him and ending this once and for all. But something drastic changed almost fourteen years ago. Suddenly, all the progress they had made seemed to vanish in an instant. There were no more leads. No more raids. Not even whispers of the man could be heard. It was like All For One had disappeared off the face of the planet.
Everyone was getting frustrated at the lack of information but no one was willing to completely give up. There was too much at stake to just let sleeping dogs lie. It was infuriating that the entire investigation had to be put on the back burner but with no leads they couldn’t justify all of their time going to it anymore. Not with major crime still happening. Not when he could help others. The search would never be abandoned but some things had to take more focus at the moment.
Toshinori wishes he could have said that a new lead was what alerted him to his nemesis but it just wasn’t true. He spent fourteen years without a single lead in All For One’s whereabouts. Only to see him out of the corner of his eye while he was shopping on his one day off.
He was tall and casually strolling out of a pastry shop with a serene smile on his face. Toshinori had to do a double take just to make sure this was who he thought because the monster he knew didn’t seem the type to go to pastry shops. Though he had to admit the macarons on display looked delicious. He would have to stop by there if the store managed to survive their clash.
He took a breath drawing on the strength his dear mentor passed onto him before launching at the centuries old monster across the street. He wished he could have cleared the area but he couldn’t risk All For One slipping away for another fourteen years.
Time seemed to blur before him. One second he saw All For One’s panicked expression, the next there was a scorching fire pulsing in his side, and finally his eyes were fluttering open wincing under the bright fluorescent lights of what he assumed was a hospital room.
“So, you’re finally awake,” came the tired voice of Gran Torino from his bedside.
He slowly turned his head and blinked rapidly trying to dispel the last bit of sleep from his eyes.
“You gonna tell me what the hell happened or are you just gonna stare like an idiot?”
He cleared his rough throat for a moment before speaking up, “All For One. I saw him in the streets. I didn’t think I would have another chance so I took it.” He almost didn’t want to ask. “He’s dead, right? Did I do it, Gran? Is it over?”
Gran’s expression almost softened and he nodded. “Yeah, kid. You did it. He’s really gone. Honestly there wasn’t much left of his body when you were done but Nighteye managed to identify him. It seems he put up one hell of a fight though. You had some serious internal damage, Toshinori. You’re missing your stomach and one of your lungs took a major hit. You’re being put on a list. Hopefully an organ donor will come up sometime soon.”
Toshinori tried to laugh but all it did was send sharp pain through his tired body. “It’s amazing that’s all he managed to do. I wasn’t sure I would be making it out of there with all of my limbs intact.”
Gran scowled. “Limbs are easily replaceable with support tech. Organs don’t have the same luxury you dolt.”
He grinned. “I don’t know, I’m sure if I talked with David he might be able to work something up just for me. I could be part cyborg. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
He got a sigh in return. Sounding even more like a tired parent than usual. “There’s something else that you should know.”
The serious tone Gran had taken on wiped the smile off Toshinori’s face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“It would appear that killing All For One had some unexpected consequences to say the least. It turns out that all those quirks he’s collected over the years didn’t die with him and they had to go somewhere. People are waking up and manifesting quirks that they’ve never had before. There were some reports of some people going berserk but by the time any heroes arrived they were gone and no one could tell where they went. Like they just vanished off the face of the earth. It’s chaos at the moment and hospitals are going crazy admitting people. Some of the old quirk rehabilitation centers had to be put back into commission to hold people who can’t control their quirks just yet. The Hero Commission is going crazy trying to get enough quirk counsellors to help. They had to contact the UN to send anyone who was willing to help.”
Toshinori blinked. “That is… concerning to say the least. Is the situation under control for the most part? Do I need to step in?”
“You aren’t leaving this hospital bed until the doctor’s say you can or you will be missing a limb. It’s as under control as it can be considering the circumstances. People with the most dangerous out of control quirks have been contained so they can’t hurt anyone. They’re obviously the priority. Right now everyone else is kind of secondary. I have a feeling things aren’t going to calm down for a while though. I just thought I should warn you before you saw something about it on the news.”
He nodded slowly. The whole concept was something he was going to need time to process. At least the situation was being handled. He wasn’t sure how much help he would have been in such a situation.
A light whack to the back of the head drew him from his thoughts. “Don’t start overthinking. You need to rest so you can heal.”
Rest. Yes, that sounded good. The world will still be there tomorrow. The state it will be in is questionable but that’s a problem for future Toshinori.
Shigaraki Tomura was irritated to say the least. Every little thing seemed to grate on his nerves since the news reached them. Sensei was gone and now people were wandering around with all of his quirks.
The Doctor was lucky he had Kurogiri on hand to warp the ones overloaded with quirks to the lab. At least that way the quirks could be safely extracted and put on hold for if when his little brother decided to join them.
It pissed him off that they had to wait until everything died down before they could even approach him. Kurogiri and the Doctor were too busy doing damage control to talk to Izuku yet. So while they got to know the truth his baby brother was probably out there still unaware that his father is gone because of a stupid hero.
The thought just made his skin itch more. He took a deep breath and made his way into the bathroom to grab the gauze in the cabinet. He coated the entire thing with his skin medicine and carefully set it down on the counter so he could pull his hair up. Once it was all secure in a tight high ponytail, he wrapped the gauze around his neck and secured it with surgical tape just like Kurogiri taught him.
There was a chance that he would be meeting his brother soon while he wouldn’t admit it he was scared of making a bad impression. He could only hope everything would calm down soon so he actually had the opportunity to do so. He wasn’t willing to sacrifice his second chance at a family. The second chance that had been so graciously gifted to him by Sensei.
He would never forget the moment Sensei stopped in front of him when no one else bothered to look his way. He would never forget how he hadn’t been afraid or disgusted with how he looked. He would never forget the absolute lack of hesitation Sensei had when picking him up and taking him home.
He would never forget how empty he felt when they got the news that his savior was dead. And he would be damned if he let anything else take anymore of his family from him.
Midoriya Izuku was having a terrible week. Nothing seemed to want to go his way at the moment and he wasn’t quite sure why but the one thing he knew for sure was that it all started on Sunday.
He had been sitting at his desk Sunday afternoon meticulously picking through one of his old notebooks. He wanted to make sure he didn’t need to update any entries, though a small part of him wished he had a couple to do just so he wasn’t sitting there in boredom for the rest of the day.
It was small and innocuous but it felt like something suddenly clicked into place deep within his mind and he was left feeling like he was complete while also managing to feel as if he was missing something. He just brushed it off.
It didn’t come to a head until the next day. He overslept and had to rush through the motions but he managed to sprint to Aldera without any issues. He made it to class on time and collapsed in his seat in relief. However the relief did not last long at all.
He could feel something on the edge of his mind before there was an abrupt shift in the air. He felt so empty. Like there was a void in him that was begging to be filled but he didn’t know what he wanted. At least, he didn’t know until his eyes drifted across the room landing on Kazama Fumika using her quirk to cool herself down.
Kazama’s quirk was something incredible and beautiful. It was called Breeze. It allowed her to create and move minor air currents. A no nonsense description. But Izuku knew it could do more. It could be trained and refined into something powerful and beautiful and destructive. It could be a real force of nature if she was using it right but she just couldn’t see the potential. A quiet voice lurking in the back of his mind grew louder as he stared at the air currents. It begged him to take it. It begged him to fill the void that only seemed more and more desolate as he stared at Breeze.
He’d always loved quirks. He was fascinated with them and could rarely stop himself from obsessing, something he shared with his father. But it was never this bad. Never this all consuming need to know everything about it. To take it and hoard it.
He was abruptly snapped out of it as the teacher called attention to the front of the class. The experience left him shaken but he brushed it off as a fluke. He really shouldn’t have.
It continued to happen more and more over the week and each time someone activated their quirk, even if it was for a split second, he knew. He couldn’t focus in school. He couldn’t focus when he was walking home. Every single time the desire to rip the quirks away from people got stronger and stronger and it seemed the range at which he could feel quirks was only increasing by the day.
By the end of the week he was holed up in his room curled under his covers trying to ignore the world. He had gotten nothing done in a whole week. He was missing so many assignments but he could feel the next door neighbor using her quirk to make her plants grow so his focus was completely shot. His mood wasn’t improved when his mom got a call from the school about how he wasn’t paying attention in class and his grades were dropping because of it.
Nothing was going his way right now. He was struggling and normally when he was having a bad time he would talk to his dad but it was complete radio silence which was very unlike his father.
He couldn’t help but think about that saying that bad things happen in threes. Whatever was going on with him was definitely bad and his dad suddenly vanishing was number two. It only made him wonder just how bad number three was going to be.
It only seemed to get worse the longer time passed. Three weeks into this insatiable need and he was about to go crazy. He had figured out that he must have gained some kind of quirk due to the recent Quirk Surge but he hadn’t told a single person in his life. It probably would have been a good idea but some part of him said it would have awful repercussions.
In order to placate his paranoia and get help he had gone online to try and contact a quirk counsellor. The receptionist had talked to him briefly but essentially told him that there was a long waiting list and he wasn’t going to be a priority. He understood but it still irritated him. He only got more irritated with every quirk counsellor he called. They all said the same thing. If he wanted help he wouldn’t be getting it for months, maybe even years.
Whatever his quirk was it seemed to be good for one thing and it was recognizing the quirks around him. They all felt different, unique. Every quirk had its own personalized color, voice, and emotion associated with it. It was how he realized that someone had been following him for the past week. He wrote it off at first as paranoia but after three days he decided that maybe his quirk was onto something.
Eventually, the owner of the quirk he had been feeling gained the confidence to approach. He was tall and a deep violet mist seemed to pour off of his body. Sharp yellow eyes were observing him with hesitation but he couldn’t feel any hostility from the man.
They stared at each other for a while before Misty spoke up. “Hello, Midoriya Izuku. My name is Kurogiri. I have worked under your father for quite some time. Unfortunately, I have been tasked with delivering news of his passing to you. Almost four weeks ago he was caught up in the attack in Okayama. He asked that you get this should anything happen to him,” Kurogiri reached into his pocket and took out a flash drive stylized to look like an old fashioned key. It was definitely from Izuku’s father. He always liked odd things like that. “He also wished for you to know that you will always have a place to go should you want it. All you have to do is call the number engraved on the back of the key and I will come get you.”
What in the world was he supposed to say to that? He was reeling from the influx of serious information. Instead of saying anything he just nodded in response. Kurogiri seemed to take it as a dismissal and bowed before vanishing in a purple vortex. A warp gate. He let the mental breakdown of the quirk distract his mind from the fact that he just learned his father died weeks ago and what he was going to tell his mother.
His hand clenched tightly around the flash drive as he made his way home in a daze. He had so many thoughts and questions running through his head until he came to the only conclusion he could. Had his father been a law abiding citizen and died in a villain attack then he would have been put on a missing persons list by now. They would have been notified by the police that he was missing. He wouldn’t have been tracked down by someone who worked for his father to be told he was dead.
Izuku loved his father more than anything. Despite being unable to physically be there often he always made a point to call or text Izuku when he had the time. They also had scheduled video chats that were never interrupted no matter what. His dad always supported him and was always present in his life and his sudden absence made much more sense now that he had a vague picture of what happened.
The door to the apartment shut behind him. He barely registered taking his shoes off and making his way to his room. Before he knew it the flash drive was plugged into his computer and his mouse was hovering over the first video file. He stopped before he opened it. His mother didn’t need to hear this. He walked over to his door and locked it before pulling his ear phones from his backpack. He put one in his ear and left the other hanging so he could hear his mother if she called him.
With that he clicked on the video file and his father’s face appeared on screen. Curly white hair and piercing golden eyes. The image always brought him a feeling of comfort. It still did. That made a small part of him feel guilty. His dad was a villain. He shouldn’t feel comfort knowing that.
Midoriya Hisashi sat back in his chair and let out a soft sigh, preparing himself for what he’s about to say. “Izuku, if you are watching this it means that I am dead. By this point you have probably figured out that I haven’t been completely honest about the work I do. You were always quick on the draw. I will be the first to admit that I have not acted with the best intentions in the past but so many things changed when I met your mother and we had you. I met her by chance but I will never regret it because I do love her. She is smart, kind, and fierce. You really do take after her.”
He laughed looking off screen with a fond expression. “After I met her I backed off a bit on my operations. I spent so long being so sure of myself and your mother managed to flip everything I thought I knew on its head within a year. When I found out she was pregnant I got nervous. My previous experience with my family wasn’t ideal. There was so much resentment between my brother and myself and most of it was my fault. There are just some things you can’t force. But all the doubts I had were gone when I saw you for the first time.
“Things really changed then. I realized that there were things that needed to be done. I wanted to make the world safer for you. So I tried to do just that. The society that we live in now is very biased and there is no changing that unless someone that everyday people listen to starts speaking up about it. Unfortunately I do not see that happening anytime soon. I couldn’t make the changes to society that you needed but I have made changes to my own empire. To the underground. You are well within your rights to distance yourself from my operations if you so wish but, even if you do make that decision, there are plenty of people you can contact who will gladly help you no matter how small or large the issue.
“I don’t want you to think that this is an obligation because it is not. It’s merely something to keep in mind. No matter what you choose, you and your mother will be well taken care of for the rest of your lives. You will never have to worry about a thing, I promise.” He reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Now, onto something else important. I have made multiple videos for almost every scenario I could think of, which I now realize may have been a bit excessive as this is such a ludicrous concept- though it is one that has fascinated me for quite some time.
“My quirk is called All For One- All For One is also my underworld moniker, don’t laugh at my lack of creativity- it allows me to take the quirk of anyone I touch or give a quirk to whoever I wish.” He paused for a long time staring blankly at the camera.
“I don’t want you to hate me. Izuku, you were not born quirkless. You had a variation of my quirk. I didn’t anticipate you developing an advanced version of my own quirk but you did. It was a perfect blend of mine and Inko’s. The ability to take quirks from a distance. To pull them toward you at will. I took your quirk before you ever got the chance to use it. I know firsthand the trouble it causes and I couldn’t allow the heroes hunting me down to be drawn to you or your mother.
“If you are getting this particular video it is because there is a possibility that your quirk has returned to you upon my death. I theorized many things that could happen to the quirks in my possession when I died but this one was particularly fascinating. Quirks scattering once I die. I only discussed it openly once but you know how I am, I can’t let something interesting go.
“I know it may not be exactly the same but the only way I can describe my quirk is a vicious hunger. It compels me to take quirks and the longer I go without taking a quirk the worse it gets. It becomes impossible to ignore to the point that it’s all I can think about. The quirk is insatiable and a pain to live with at times. I wish I could give you some way to ease the pain but I can’t. The only thing I can offer is someone who can take the quirk from you if you decide you do not want it. All you would have to do is call the number on the key and ask for Garaki.
“It’s probably not the solution you wanted, after all you’ve spent your entire life waiting on a quirk, but it is the only one I can safely offer you. I know it’s not enough but as long as you have your quirk you will always have a piece of me with you. I want you to know that I love you, Izuku. I love you and I’m sorry I can’t be there to tell you that in person.” He reached for the camera and the image cut off abruptly.
Izuku leaned back in his chair with silent tears streaming down his face. This was it. This was real. His father was gone and he spent weeks not even knowing. Waiting for a call or text only for one of his subordinates to bring the bad news.
He couldn’t pin down exactly how he was feeling to one emotion. Was he angry? Absolutely, he was furious. He spent his whole life hated because he was quirkless only to discover he wasn’t. But he also understood. A quirk that could take other quirks would cause a panic. People wouldn’t just hate him, they would be terrified. And fear makes people unpredictable.
He clicked out of the video before it could replay and shut his computer down. He had a lot to think about and he didn’t know how much time he would have before another quirk snapped him out of focus.
He set his earphones down and collapsed on his bed unable to truly process the overload of information he just got. There was only one thing that was certain to him and it was the burning curiosity of what it would feel like to use his quirk. It was the one thing he had left of his dad. His final gift from the person who mattered most. And he didn’t even know if he could bring himself to keep it.
Maybe a much more terrifying thought, he had no idea if he could resist using it.