Chapter Text
The night after Yagi Toshinori offered his power to Midoriya Izuku, he dreamt of All for One. It was a dream of the battle he had fought, and won. Of All for One, standing over him, laughing like he had won while Toshinori’s entrails were spread across the ground. Toshinori remembered, too, the way that he had defeated him, by sweeping his legs out and then repeatedly bashing his head into the ground.
Needless to say, Toshinori awoke from the dream in a cold sweat. He found his body unwilling to respond to his commands, gripped in the vice of fear, like All for One was in this room with him. It wasn’t possible, it shouldn’t be possible, All for One was gone—but…All for One had defied death countless times before. It was entirely possible that it had happened again.
Toshinori ran hands through his hair. He had been a hero for far too long to risk ignoring his instincts. And…he had a duty, to protect others, to keep people safe. He had a successor now, and that meant his successor had to come first.
He checked the time. It was early, much earlier than their scheduled meeting time, but this would give Toshinori some time to think about what he wanted to say.
All Might was already on the beach when Izuku arrived, which was a little surprising, because Izuku was a whole hour ahead of schedule. He was already running, but he somehow ran even faster when he caught sight of his hero, a cheerful greeting already working its way onto his lips. He stopped, however, when he saw All Might’s face. In this form, he was already gaunt, but right now he looked exhausted, world-weary, ready to keel over and sleep for the next two days.
“All Might?” Izuku prompted gently, and All Might turned, sunken blue eyes falling on him. All Might offered him a smile, but it was a shadow of the brilliant smiles he usually wore, in either form.
“Ah, young Midoriya,” he said. “You’re quite early, my boy.”
Izuku shuffled awkwardly. “Ahh, I’m sorry, All Might. I probably shouldn’t have—”
“There’s no need to apologize,” All Might said, gently interrupting his rant. “There’s never a need to apologize for being enthusiastic about something, my boy.”
“Ahhhh—” Izuku said, rather eloquently.
This elicited a small chuckle from All Might, but it didn’t last long before he sobered again, casting his eyes back towards the horizon. “I’ve always loved dawn,” he said, voice low and gentle in a way that was unique to this form.
“It is beautiful,” Izuku said, cautiously, as if All Might was going to spook if he said it too loud or too fast. Which was a little ridiculous, probably, but All Might was also acting kind of strange, so Izuku couldn’t be too sure. Besides, if Kacchan was in a gloomy mood, he was prone to snapping, and since Izuku didn’t have much more of a model for people in bad moods to go off of than that one, well...Izuku had learned to always tread with care around sour expressions.
“It’s a cycle,” All Might said. “A new dawn, a new day, a fresh start. In these moments, right as the sun is first peeking over the horizon, the day is malleable—it could become anything you wanted it to be. It’s a bit like you in that way, my boy.”
Izuku had been buckling down for a life lesson (a life lesson from All Might, he wondered if he was ever going to get used to that), so he startled when All Might finished his statement. “Me?!” he squeaked out, feeling a warmth on his face that almost certainly meant he was blushing. Curse his overly expressive face.
All Might smiled fondly at him. “Yes, you. If—if you still accept my Quirk after this, that is.”
“All Might…why—why wouldn’t I? I—I’ve wanted a Quirk my whole life, and to get yours? I promise you, All Might, I—I mean, I don’t know how I deserve this amazing, no incredible, no amazingly incredible chance in the first place but I know I want your Quirk! I mean, if you want to give me your Quirk still! Ah!” He slapped a hand over his mouth, effectively silencing himself, what a silly thing to say, All Might had sounded so serious when he offered it yesterday. But—oh no. What if it was a joke? What if it was all an elaborate prank? What if he thought about it and realized that Izuku was just as useless and unworthy as everyone else thought and now—
“I don’t think you’re useless, young Midoriya.” A hand descended onto his shoulder and squeezed, eliciting a squeak from Izuku. He must have been saying his thoughts out loud again. He really needed to get a handle on that. “And there’s nobody I would rather pass One for All onto than you, but I…” All Might trailed off, taking in a deep breath. “I haven’t been completely honest with you, my boy.”
“O-okay,” Izuku said, biting down on his lip in an attempt to control the stammering. “Erm…is there…is there something else about One for All that I need to know, All Might?”
“There are lots of things you should know,” he said, with a sigh, his hand still heavy on Izuku’s shoulder. “And after you hear them, well. If you decide that you no longer want this power, then I want you to know that I will not be the slightest bit upset with you if you turn it down.”
There was a pretty fat chance of that happening, but Izuku didn’t say that. This was a serious moment, and whatever it was, it was clearly bothering All Might. He needed to go into this with a serious mindset.
All Might took a deep breath, and told him. He told him a story of two brothers, one small and weak and the other strong. He spoke of a criminal overlord, with the ability to both steal Quirks and pass them along to others, of how he passed a Quirk along to his own, supposedly Quirkless brother. And then this Quirk combined with the brother’s original, unknown Quirk, which allowed him to pass on his Quirk, creating One for All. One for All passed from generation to generation, each wielder trying to stop All for One before eventually being killed by him. It had a bloody history when it was given to All Might, and All Might made it bloodier. He fought All for One and won, but he was severely wounded in the process, which was why, now…
“There’s more though, isn’t there?” Izuku asked quietly, because he hadn’t spent his whole life being bullied to not know how to read in between the lines of what people said. “You’re—you’re worried.”
“I don’t think that he really died,” All Might said. “And, if that’s true, then it means, one day, he’ll come for you too.”
“And…I’ll probably lose that fight.”
“No, young Midoriya. I will do everything in my power to ensure that you won’t, I promise you that. I swear on my life—”
“No, don’t…don’t do that. Please. I don’t want anyone to die for me, but especially not you, All Might.” All Might was quiet, and Izuku inhaled sharply. “Okay.”
“Okay?” All Might echoed.
“Okay,” Izuku said, nodding. “I—I don’t want this to sound brash, or like I don’t care because I do—I mean, I definitely don’t want to die, and I will do everything I can to ensure that I don’t, but—I’ve always wanted to be a hero, All Might. I’ve always admired heroes. It doesn’t matter what Quirk you have, or how strong you are, or how smart you are. If you want to be the hero, you always run the risk of dying when someone stronger than you comes along. And…even if that happens, to me, which I don’t want it to…as long as I save one person in the process—that’s okay. It’s…I, well. I want to be a hero, All Might, and this is part of being a hero, so okay. I still want your Quirk, as long as you—as long as you want to give it. To me. Even though I’m not…impressive.”
To Izuku’s surprise, he suddenly found himself engulfed in a hug. All Might was hugging him. Hugging him! This was unreal. He wanted to cry. Oh, wait. He was crying.
“My boy,” All Might said, voice thick. Maybe All Might was crying too. “You are the most impressive young man I have ever met. And you already are a hero. You’re my hero.”
“Ahhhhh—” Izuku said, very eloquently.
They hugged for a long time after that.
About a week after that, All Might asked Izuku if he was aiming for the hero course at UA. The question was so sudden that Izuku nearly dropped a microwave on his toes.
The truth was, if All Might had asked him that a week ago, there would have only been one possible answer to that question. All Might had gone to UA, UA was the best, so Izuku was going to go there too, if he could. But things were a little different, now that he was going to receive All Might’s Quirk.
“No,” he said, decisively.
All Might looked caught off guard, which was a very rare expression on him. “No?” he echoed, like he couldn’t believe it.
A laugh bubbled out of Izuku’s throat. He honestly couldn’t believe it either. “No,” he repeated.
“…Why?”
“I always dreamed of going to UA,” Izuku admitted as he deposited the microwave into the back of the trash truck All Might had ordered. “For so many reasons. I mean, it was your alma mater, it’s the best hero course in the country, it’s close to where I live, but…no. I’m going to inherit your Quirk, and I think I should be careful about it, at least at first. UA is an amazing school, but if I got in, and I competed in the Sports Festivals, and people saw me using your Quirk, I think…I think that people would have questions.”
“I…I hadn’t thought of that,” All Might admitted sheepishly.
“There’s another reason I shouldn’t go,” Izuku said, pausing before he grabbed more trash. “Um, Kacchan, you know…the kid that you saved from the sludge villain.”
“Ah, yes, I remember him! Such fighting spirit. He’s going to go far.”
“Right, he is,” Izuku said, nodding vigorously. Whatever else could be said about Kacchan, that much he would never deny—Kacchan was extremely talented, he was going to be a hero, and there was no getting around that. “At UA.”
“I don’t see how that would be a problem, young Midoriya. If anything, having an ally at your school would be great!”
“I’m Quirkless, All Might,” Izuku said, gesturing helplessly. “Kacchan knows that. If I suddenly develop a Quirk, he’ll be suspicious. Really suspicious. And if he tells other people, they might get suspicious too, and then people will be even more likely to connect the dots between us.”
“I see,” All Might said, blinking rapidly.
“Also,” Izuku continued, because this was actually his biggest point, “you said that you don’t know for sure if All for One is dead or not. So I think it’ll probably be best if I keep a little bit of a lower profile until we do know. That way, I can learn how to be a hero and help people without causing everyone and their grandmother to connect dots between the two of us. I—I know that it’s a really powerful Quirk, and I know that you probably want me to become—to become a symbol, like you, and I want to! I want to too, but I just think that, right now—this is better. What…what do you think, All Might?”
All Might is quiet for a moment, and then he puffs up into his muscle form suddenly (and unnecessarily, but it is really cool). “I think that you surprise me every day, young Midoriya! You have already proven that you have the heart of a true hero, and now you are proving that you have the intelligence of one too! Well! That’s that, then! You will not attend UA!” He shrank again, with a cloud of smoke and a cough. “Did you have anywhere else in mind?”
Izuku did, because he had thought about this a great deal too. “Shiketsu High,” he said.
“Ah, an excellent choice,” All Might agreed. “Shiketsu is a prestigious school, just as prestigious as UA if not more so, but much more, ah, subtle, so to speak. And their entrance exam takes place a month after UA’s, which is good. If we stick to the schedule I outlined for you, that will give us an extra month, just for working with One for All. This is good, much better than my original plan.”
Izuku froze in the process of harnessing himself to a fridge. “A-all Might?”
“Yes, my boy?”
“Does that mean you were, uh—you were planning to give me One for All right before UA’s entrance exam? Like, the same day?”
"Er, yes?”
Izuku felt himself paling. “That’s so scary,” he whispered. “Get a Quirk—get All Might’s super-powerful Quirk—and pass a practical exam that’s legendary for how difficult it is, all in one day? That’s scary. That’s…so scary…”
“I, erm, well. It may have been an oversight in the initial planning, young Midoriya! Not to worry, though, since, ah, that is no longer the plan.”
“O-okay,” Izuku said. “Right. Yeah. That’s a good thing. Yeah.”
He hauled off a fridge to the sound of All Might’s awkward laughter.
As it turned out, Izuku’s misgivings about receiving One for All and taking an entrance exam were well-founded, seeing as he shattered his arm the first time he used it, spent a taxi ride to the nearest hospital in agony with All Might (All Might!), of all people, fretting over him.
He explained to the doctor that his Quirk had manifested late (not necessarily untrue), and that he had broken his arm when he tried to use it (not necessarily untrue), and after a few healing Quirks his arm was placed in a cast. He was told it would take a week to heal, still, but a week was a lot shorter than the usual three months, so he wasn’t that upset about it. Afterwards he was rushed off to a Quirk counselor, who dumped an armful of pamphlets on him before running several tests where he asked Izuku to turn his Quirk on and off.
The conclusion: his output power was stronger than what his body could safely handle. Which was essentially what All Might had said, when he told Izuku that he would have to train before he received One or All, lest his limbs explode. His arm didn’t explode, per se, but it came close.
The solution: reduce the power output to a level he could handle.
And then he was ushered out of the office with a reminder that he needed to visit the Quirk registry office as soon as humanly possible.
"I don’t even know what output level I was at when I broke my arm, or how much I can actually handle,” Izuku said to All Might as they walked out of the hospital. He glanced up (and up) at the hero, caught the guilty look on his face, and added, “I’m sorry you had to bring me here for this, All Might. I should’ve done better.”
“My boy, you never need to be sorry for that,” All Might said, clapping him on the shoulder. “If anything, I should be sorry! I had no idea that the recoil would be so bad. I suffered no such consequences when I first used it, I’m afraid. Aha!”
Izuku started. “Aha?”
“Well, I think of my power output in percentages,” All Might continued. “I think to myself, if I want to jump from here to there, I’ll need 70% of my power. Or, if I only want to jump from here to there, I need 30%. Maybe if you start at the lowest percentage possible, like, say, 5%? You might be able to get a feel for how much you can handle that way.”
“5%, huh?” Izuku scowled. That was so low. How was he supposed to be a hero, if he was only able to use 5% of his strength?
Izuku shook his head. He wasn’t a hero, not yet. First, he needed to get into Shiketsu. And before that, he needed to face his mother.
All Might left him outside of his apartment, with as many apologies as Izuku now had pamphlets, and Izuku made his way inside.
“Mom?” he called softly, as he opened the door.
“Izuku, honey?”
“It’s me.” Izuku awkwardly slid off his shoes with his left arm. “Um, Mom—”
And at that moment, she rounded the corner, and saw the cast.
She was a Midoriya, through and through, so her first reaction was to cry. Her second reaction was to demand an explanation for the broken arm. He gave her the same one as he gave the hospital—a Quirk manifested late, when he tried to use it, he broke his arm. He wished he could tell her the truth, but he’d promised All Might, and himself, that he would keep the nature of his Quirk under wraps. She cried, then, too, but because he finally had a Quirk (he may or may not have joined her in this crying session). Then she asked him why he’d taken himself to the hospital, without even telling her about it, and he paused.
“I didn’t want to worry you,” he finally said.
“Oh, Izuku. Baby. Worry me? I’m already worried. And I need to know where you are from now on, you hear? Especially if you’re at a hospital.”
“Okay, Mom,” he said, and she started tearing up. Hoping to get this in before the waterworks started again, he blurted, “I want to go to Shiketsu.”
His mom blinked at him. “…Honey?”
“I want to go to Shiketsu.” He grit his teeth. Come on, Izuku, think of how to convince her. “Now that I have a Quirk. I want to be a hero, Mom. And if I can get it under control, then I want to go there and learn.”
“But, honey…” she trailed off. “Shiketsu is so far. And you always wanted to go to UA, not Shiketsu! Why not try for there, Izuku? I know that it’s competitive, and difficult to get in, but surely you could do it.”
Izuku shook his head. “The entrance exam for UA was today.”
“Oh,” she said.
Izuku ran his left hand down his cast. “I know it’s a lot to ask,” he said. “I would have to move out, probably, but Shiketsu offers room and board for students living far away. And I could come visit on Sundays. And their entrance exam is in a month, so if I get in there, I…” he trailed off, taking in his mother’s face. She looked like she was going to say no. He didn’t know what he would do if she did. “It’s—it’s my dream,” he finished quietly.
His mom closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. “No more broken bones between now and then.”
“Okay,” he said, nodding vigorously. “I promise. I’m going to get this Quirk under control before then.”
She fiddled with her hands nervously. It was another habit that both Midoriya’s shared. When she looked up at him, there was a determined set to her eyes. “Once, I—once I said something to you that was not right, Izuku.” He knew what she was talking about, and he started shaking his head, opening his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. “It wasn’t right, Izuku. You can’t tell me otherwise. All you wanted to do was be a hero, and me—all I could do was say that I was sorry as I crushed your dreams too.”
“Mom, no—”
“I won’t do it a second time,” she said. “I promise you that, Izuku. I want you to be a hero. I know you’ll be one.”
No, Mom, what I wanted you to say was—
“Thank you,” Izuku whispered, throat tight. They were both crying.
That week, Izuku read all the pamphlets, watched every video of All Might fighting that had ever been uploaded to the internet, and thought about percentages. All Might was suspiciously busy through all of it, despite not being in the news much for hero work.
Immediately after Izuku got the cast off, he met All Might at Dagobah Beach. It had been the hero that texted him, surprisingly, after a long bout of radio silence, so of course Izuku was going to go. Besides he had something to show for his week of careful study, anyway.
“All Might!” he shouted, the moment he saw him, breathless from running and excitement. “All Might, good afternoon!”
All Might chuckled. “Good afternoon, young Midoriya. You’re quite spirited today.”
“Spirited is one word for it.” Izuku paused to catch his breath, hands on his knees, and then immediately launched into his explanation. “So I love hero analysis more than anything, and even more than that I always loved analyzing you, but the thing is that I usually base my hero analyses off of their Quirks, but for you, I never knew what your Quirk was so I had to speculate! So when I was looking back at the notes I took on you and how you use it, I realized that I was wrong! About nearly everything! So I spent the week rewatching every video of you fighting I was able to find knowing how One for All works, and I came up with something. You use it constantly, don’t you? Like, throughout your whole body, I mean? Because at first I was thinking that your Quirk—our Quirk—was something that was delegated either to our fists or our legs, depending on which one we were using at the moment because that’s how every other enhancement Quirk works! However, this isn’t any other enhancement Quirk, so it makes sense that it wouldn’t work like one, which was when I realized—whole body! I don’t know what took me so long, honestly, since your muscle form is your entire body too. And your muscle form is definitely linked to One for All, so obviously, you must use One for All in your body.”
All Might was looking at him with a grin and a bright glint to his eyes. “So, did you figure it out, my boy?”
“I think I did!” Izuku said, but now he paused, because this part was…strange. “But, um. Mine’s a little different from yours.”
“Different how?” All Might asked.
“Let me just show you.”
Izuku took a deep breath, called on One for All inside him, and let it flood his entire body, only at 5% of its power. A moment later, there was a pop as the air around him dropped several temperatures, and then a crackle. He looked down at his body, and sure enough, just like every other time he’d practiced it…there was green lightning flickering around him.
All Might had certainly never done that.
“Oh,” All Might breathed, his smile growing somehow wider. “You look like her.”
This observation shocked Izuku right out of his little mini-storm and into a squeak. “What?!”
All Might chuckled to himself. “I’m sorry, I meant to say…you look like how my master looked, when she used to use One for All. Except her lightning was pink.”
“Pink…” Izuku echoed absently, enraptured. “How—how come you…”
All Might raised a brow inquisitively. “How come I never sparkled?”
“Y-yeah.”
“I never could, actually,” All Might said with a shrug and a sad smile. “My master died not too long after passing One for All down to me. A friend of hers trained me after that, since he knew about One for All too, but no matter what either of us tried, I never did manifest the lightning. We eventually just assumed it was something unique to her. Gran Torino told me I was just too blockheaded to do anything more complex than punching bad guys, though.” He chuckled.
“Gran Torino?” Izuku asked.
“Sorry, sorry. My teacher. The one that took over for my master when she died.”
“Oh,” Izuku said. “I-I’m sorry, All Might.”
All Might smiled. “Don’t be sorry, young Midoriya! I came to terms with the fact that I would never have lightning around me a long time ago.” He reached out, burying one hand in Izuku’s curls, which he ruffled mercilessly.
That’s not what I’m sorry for. Izuku bit his lip. “Right,” he said instead.
“What’s it feel like, then?”
Izuku blinked. “One for All?” he asked. All Might nodded. “Uh…like a storm, actually. Like when you step outside and it’s about to storm and the air feels charged and heavy—that’s what it feels like.”
“Huh,” All Might said. “Guess it feels the same then. For me, every time I used One for All it felt like I was releasing built up pressure. Actually, it always felt a little bit like that moment right before rain starts to fall.”
“Mm.” Izuku agreed with the sentiment. “Actually, I was thinking about my Quirk registration.”
“Oh?”
“I was thinking that maybe I should write the Quirk down as something completely unrelated to what it is, but that still fits, if that makes sense. That doesn’t make sense, let me try again. I was thinking, you know, nobody knows what your Quirk actually is, but everybody assumes it’s some sort of super strength or physical enhancement. I was thinking I should play more off the lightning motif, throw people off our trail a bit.”
“Huh,” All Might said. “Actually, that sounds like a really good idea, my boy. Though I don’t know how it would explain the super-strength.”
“I was thinking of calling it—” Izuku broke off to seize his bottom lip between his teeth. “I was thinking of calling it Inner Storm.”
All Might made a low whistling sound. “It certainly sounds heroic and impressive, as far as Quirk names go, my boy.”
Izuku smiled, ducking his head. “Th-thanks. But, um. I was thinking, to describe the strength…um. I was thinking of going the manifestation route.”
“How so?”
“Well, I’ve tried turning it on a lot over the last week, and every time it sort of only works if first I think, I’m going to be a hero. So I thought that maybe writing that it’s a manifestation of what I feel inside, like determination, hence Inner Storm. Besides, with an explanation like that, I think it would be a little easier to explain why it manifested ten years late.”
“Really? How do you figure, young Midoriya?”
Izuku averted his gaze. “The sludge villain. I, um. I could say that I didn’t have enough determination, before. It would work out.”
All Might cleared his throat. “Young Midoriya, are you sure you don’t have an intelligence quirk?”
“What? Why?”
“You just…this is very forward-thinking, my boy! When I received One for All, I just ran off to the Quirk registration office, wrote down super-strength on my form, and went about my life, unknowingly condemning myself to a career of deflecting every question any reporter ever asked me about my Quirk, since it was clearly more than just super-strength.” He chuckled. “Never in a million years would I have thought to just come up with a different name for the Quirk and parameters that generally describe it.” Before Izuku knew it, All Might was ruffling his curls again (again!). “You, young Midoriya, are so, so brilliant.”
“I—I wouldn’t go that far, All Might! This is just…I’ve spent my whole life investigating everything I can about Quirks, since I didn’t have one, so I just…I just thought about how to describe One for All, too.”
“Well, my boy, I think that calling One for All ‘Inner Storm’ on your form is a brilliant idea. In the meantime, how does it feel to move around like that?”
Izuku called on One for All again, letting it thrum through him at just 5% of what it could do. He’d only attempted this so far standing still, so he was a little surprised at how stiff he felt after just one step, every muscle in his body straining.
He must have made a face, because All Might started laughing, his laugh transforming as he did, body beefing up as his hair straightened itself out. “5%, eh? Let’s jog the length of this beach, you and me!”
And they did. When All Might finally spared him, he collapsed into the sand, muscles screaming at him harder than they ever had in all their days of cleaning the beach—and he’d hauled fridges, with All Might on top of them, so that was saying something.
“Try to keep this up when you can, young Midoriya,” All Might advised, crouching down into the sand next to him. “I’m…not going to be around as much anymore, now.”
Izuku’s head popped up instantaneously. “What? All Might, why?”
All Might winced. “Actually, young Midoriya, I took a teaching position at UA.”
“You took a what at where? Why didn’t you tell me?”
"I didn’t want it to change things! Besides, I’ll always be a phone call away if you need my advice for anything.” All Might pulled his phone out of his pocket, as if to punctuate the statement. “Think it through, my boy. Why would I teach at UA?”
Izuku felt his eyes widen as the realization hit. “Your time limit. It’ll be easier to disguise that you can’t do hero work as often this way.”
“Right. And also, when One for All fully transfers to you, which it will, my boy, it will help for me to lie low too.”
“And,” Izuku added, as another idea came into his head. “If you work at UA, and if All for One is still alive, he’d suspect you were going to pass your Quirk on to one of the students there.”
All Might smiled ruefully. “That was the very first and foremost reason I ever took the job in the first place.” Izuku felt like his eyes were going to bug out of his head, but before any words could tumble out of his mouth asking All Might why he chose him instead of one of them, a student that was already capable of holding his power, All Might held up a hand to stop him. “I don’t regret my decision to pass it on to you, young Midoriya. I never will. You’re the perfect person to wield One for All, and you’re going to be an amazing hero one day.”
And then he ruffled his hair again. Izuku cried.
Izuku spent the next three weeks running along the beach, sparks of lightning flicking across his skin. He tried dancing, too. He was terrible at it, but it required more coordination than running did and moved more of his body in more complicated ways (plus he could do it inside, so it was a good alternative when bad weather struck). He even scraped together what little allowance he had and went to a local dojo, where he was able to pay for one lesson on the basics of fighting.
And then it was time for the Shiketsu High entrance exam.
