"I Love You to the Moon and Back" (1).
Summary:
Using Rewind on himself could be argued as a decision made in a last-ditch effort. Using Rewind on his son-who should have never listened to a certain loud-mouth, brother stealer-was also a last-ditch effort. All for One needed to save his son. He has no regrets.
Until he does.
Trigger warnings: Trigger warnings: Blood, character death, and violence - All for One is his own warning.
Chapter One:
--
All for One groans, hitting the ground with a thud. Pieces of mountain shatter on impact. They rain down on him, injuring him further.
Perfect.
The dizzying sensation of the rewind quirk disappears. An intense exhaustion washes over All for One, his body-now one hundred fifty years younger-begs him for relief, but at least the worst (for him) is over.
Gigantomachia looms over him.
Betrayal, All for One thinks to himself, staring up at one of his longest surviving associates. Is better saved for those with intelligence.
He hears his voice come from the purple haired kid with a brainwashing quirk - and, oh, if he wasn’t fighting to leave right now what he wouldn’t give for another brainwashing quirk. The kid doesn’t deserve it anyway, he used it on-
His bodyguard lunges for him, tearing up bits and pieces of the ground. Heroes scramble out of Gigantomachia’s way, and the purple-haired kid has to hold on tight to avoid slipping.
All for One, used to dealing with Gigantomachia’s tantrums, dodges to the side. He feels a bit bad about doing this to someone he once considered a close confidant.
Extending his hand, he sends a blast of air cannon towards Gigantomachia. His former bodyguard is blown backwards. The purple-haired kid is thrown off, being caught by the hero-in-training with a sentient quirk.
The move won’t kill or destroy Gigantomachia, nor does he want it to, but it will incapacitate him for a few minutes. Which is all he needs.
The heroes scurry from place-to-place, tending to those that were injured during Gigantomachia’s rampage or All for One’s attack.
All for One makes his escape while they’re distracted.
-x-x-x-
Izuku dodges another of Shiagaraki’s attacks. The man is surprisingly agile. Meaning if he loses focus for even a second, the next thing he’ll be doing is watching his body as it disintegrates into dust.
“You can still do the right thing!” He shouts, using black whip to grab Shigaraki’s hand before it can touch him.
“Why would I do the right thing!?” Is Shigaraki’s angry retort. “No one has ever done the right thing for me! Ever! Do you know what it’s like to be scared and alone, and to finally, finally be saved only to learn that the one person. The only person who saved you, was no better than all the rest!”
Izuku’s frown deepens, not that Shigaraki can see it, hidden behind his respirator. “I’m sorry,” he offers, “you deserved better.”
Shigaraki sneers at him. “Saying sorry, doesn’t make me hate you any less.”
Another attack that Izuku dodges just in time.
“I know, but I set out to save you. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
He uses a combination of Fa Jin, Gearshift, and One for All to punch Shigaraki in the chest. Every move makes it harder to breathe, but the vestiges urge him onwards.
Izuku wonders, as he floats over to Shigaraki, if it’s been five minutes yet? He wants to ask one of the vestiges, if only to see how much longer he has.
Shigaraki lies sprawled out on the ground, catching his breath from the attack. “You…. you really are so cool.” He closes his eyes, seemingly giving up or surrendering.
Izuku takes a tentative step back, bracing himself for round two. He coughs, chest tightening more and more with every passing moment.
His nemesis opens his eyes, looking up at Izuku with something akin to amusement. “Midoriya, don’t look so scared. I’m giving this round to you, little hero.”
Izuku nods, stumbling further back. Perhaps in confusion or maybe because he didn’t actually mean what he said, Shigaraki sits up. Izuku watches him open and close his mouth, telling him something.
His head feels like it’s full of cotton; he’s aware of the buzzing in his ears, the tightness in his chest, and the panic slowly overtaking his senses as his body’s deprived of precious oxygen. He stumbles back even more. His body feels weightless, he has to fight against gravity to stay standing.
From his peripheral vision he can see Shigaraki standing up.
Oh, no! He can’t fight like this!
Izuku looks around for somewhere he can take a breather. But there’s nowhere to go. The only building still standing is U.A, and even if Izuku could make it there in time before he passed out, he wouldn’t lead Shigaraki there. Especially when that’s the last shelter remaining for the civilians left in Musutafu.
His mom…. she’s there too…. he hopes she’s doing okay.
His vision tunnels.
“Please,” he begs Shigaraki, who’s steadily getting closer. “I don’t want to die.”
Everything blurs and he finally loses his bid against gravity, falling on his back.
Shigaraki stands above him, his features blurry. “I don’t…don’t wanna die. Please, my….mom…she….” He’s cut off by a coughing fit. His chest burns and it’s all he can do to take in large gulps of air. “Please, my mom…my dad….I want….”
The next thing Izuku knows is blessed darkness.
-x-x-x-
Tomura stands above Midoriya. The boy gasping for air even while unconscious. He should feel proud, happy even. Too many nights he couldn’t sleep, thinking of how a certain green-haired brat kept on ruining his plans. Nearly a year ago, he remembers taking the brat hostage, making him answer questions in exchange for Tomura keeping his quirk in check. His answers, though Tomura would never tell him to his face, helped to form the league of villains as they currently are.
Without him, he would have never taken a chance on so many Stain fans. The very concept made his skin crawl, but….now…..
Tomura has no way of knowing their whereabouts.
He hopes they’re okay.
Midoriya trembles, fingers twitching.
Tomura watches him, feeling not pride or happiness, but an entirely different emotion.
He frowns, kneeling down next to the little hero. Regret blooms in his chest, latching onto his shattered heart and making him hurt all over again. Tomura clenches his fists.
“It’s your fault I’m feeling like this,” he says, voice strained.
Midoriya coughs, rolling his head this way and that.
His regret turns to anger - a more familiar emotion. He reaches for Midoriya, mind made up on how to deal with heartache.
WHOOSH
He pauses, hearing someone land behind him. Tomura wonders which hero was brave enough to join the fray. Not many of them have-
With what Tomura can only guess is a wind quirk mixed with a strength enhancer, the hero knocks him across the battlefield.
Looking up, he catches a glimpse of someone that looks an awful lot like his Sensei.
-x-x-x-
To All for One’s horror, when he finally finds his son and Tomura, his son is choking on air and Tomura’s about to dust him. A quick use of air cannon fixes that problem and should hopefully keep him at bay while All for One collects Izuku.
He kneels down next to Izuku, getting a full view of the damage. Up close, he looks so much worse.
Spit clings to the sides of his mouth. His curls are weighed down by blood, sweat, and dirt. His chest heaves with every inhale and exhale. His son gives a painful wheezing sound, reminiscent of Yoichi’s worst sick days.
“Oh, Izuku,” he murmurs, stroking a thumb across his son’s freckles. “What have you got yourself into?”
The vestiges flicker in and out of sight. Not a great sign for his son’s prognosis. If All for One were anyone else, he’d start crying and begging, but he still has an ace card up his sleeve.
He pulls his son onto his lap, wrapping his arms around him. “Don’t worry, Izuku, daddy’s here and he’s going to make you all better.”
He activates rewind, a bit risky, but his son needs it. If he hurries the quirk will only take a few more years off his long life span.
He holds a hand over Izuku’s forehead, letting the quirk work its magic. The quirk isn’t the most pleasant feeling, so the groan of pain that his son gives isn’t shocking. Still, even absent from his son for much of the boy’s childhood, his paternal instincts are working overtime. He hums, trying to ease the pain.
He can feel himself grow younger as he watches his son do the same. He counts the months back in his head.
One month.
Two months.
Three months.
He only means to go back a year or two at most. His son’s body has been needlessly mangled in his pursuit of becoming a hero. A small gift to show Izuku he still cares about him, despite putting him through all those trials and tribulations for the past few months.
A strangled yell is the only warning All for One gets before a very angry-looking Tomura charges full force at him.
He shields Izuku, the quirk working overtime in response to him getting distracted. Full years are steadily taken off his son’s life. His clothes become bigger as he shrinks.
Tomura lunges out to attack him again, and All for One honestly can’t tell if he’s pissed at him or Izuku.
“Let him go!” Tomura screams.
Ah, that answers his question.
He shakes his head, scrambling backwards. His attention diverted back to his son who looks only slightly older than the child with the rewind quirk. “No!”
It would be a good idea for him to turn the quirk off now, but that requires intense concentration. Something that Tomura isn’t giving him.
Tomura yells something unintelligible at him, digging his feet into the ground. With all the grace he’s come to expect of the Shimura brat, Tomura runs at him. He dodges All for One’s half-hearted attack with air cannon.
His son becomes younger still, and he only has a matter of seconds to save his son from rewinding into un-existence and mere minutes before he himself follows his son’s untimely fate.
Tomura reaches them, extending an arm out.
“Tomura, no!”
Before he can react, the child he plucked from the streets out of spite for Japan’s number one hero, tries ripping Izuku from his arms.
A bright light blinds him.
He tries to keep his hold on Izuku, but the light disorients him enough that he accidentally lets go.
Just as quickly as it appeared, the light is gone.
All for One lays on the ground, stunned. “Izuku…?” He manages to get out. His ears are ringing and his eyes sting from how bright the light was.
His voice is younger sounding, perhaps a little younger than his son’s biological age. If the circumstances were not dire, he’d mourn the loss of his credibility. He remembers how hard it was the first-time getting people to take him seriously.
“Izuku?” He looks around. “Izuku!?”
A groan gets his attention. Turning his head, he sees a mop of curly green hair attached to his now-toddler-aged son. Next to him is Tomura, also younger-but still noticeably older than Izuku-grasping the back of his son’s hero costume with four fingers.
Prying off Tomura’s fingers, All for One pulls his son back into his lap.
He kisses his son’s chubby, little face, earning a sleepy groan.
He chuckles. “I missed you so much, Izuku. I promise this time I’m not going to leave you.” Despite all the challenges that are sure to arise because of his younger age, and his son’s anger at being too young for hero work (for now), All for One can’t wait to see what life throws their way.
Wetting his thumb, he brushes some dirt from Izuku’s face. He hums a lullaby under his breath.
“What did you do to him!?” His brother hisses. Green eyes glare at him with the intensity of their dearly departed mother - only one other woman could ever scare him like she used to.
“What I had too.”
Izuku whimpers in his sleep, snuggling closer to his dad.
“You had no right!”
He takes a deep breath. He reminds himself that this is simply a projection of his brother’s personality, and not the real thing. Though, it certainly sounds the same.
“I’m his father. It’s my responsibility to keep him from destroying himself.”
His brother glowers at him. “He’s going to despise you for this.”
“There he is!” All for One hears a second before he’s forced to the ground.
“Wait! I have a child in my arms!”
Someone helps him up, they threaten him so he doesn’t make any sudden movements. Another person picks up his son. His son, clinging to the costume he stole, is ripped from his arms for the second time that day.
As he’s pinned to the ground, forced to watch as his son is taken away from him, the worst thing that could happen, happens.
It starts with a loud bang, followed by a series of explosions, and then, he and all the pro heroes watch in horror as U.A comes crashing hundreds of feet to the ground. The building breaks apart as it falls, sending bits of debris and shrapnel flying every which way.
The ground shakes in the aftermath.
No one moves.
No one breathes.
Someone, a survivor, screams for help. It breaks the spell, and the effect is instantaneous. Pro heroes rush back to where they came from, shouting out orders and yelling into their coms. Two heroes stay behind with him, pinning him into a sitting position, one of them keeping their hands on his shoulders.
All for One, Hisashi, stares at the wreckage. Numbly, he thinks of his beautiful wife. Of her gorgeous green hair and doe-like green eyes. Of her cooking. Of all the chances she gave to him when he didn’t deserve it. He thinks of slow dancing with her in their living room, and of watching Izuku try to dance with her back when he was smaller, standing on her feet while swaying to the music, squashed between his parents. He thinks of her soft skin and radiant kindness. Of how he couldn’t have possibly asked the universe for a better wife, mother of his child, and best friend.
“Inko, I’m so sorry.”
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