H A P P Y N E W Y E A R

First off, I recommend re-reading the last chapter or at least the final part of it because so much time has passed, and this chapter jumps RIGHT into it.

And second off, I'm really sorry for not giving you guys any update! I've been working on this on and off for the past few months, and it's taken so long for a few reasons. I have a job now, along with college, and so my free time has plummeted. The only reason I'm able to get it out now is that I'm in between semesters and got some extra time to work on it.

I've gotten some very valid criticism from so many of you and it's made me realize: making up a story as I go along is stupid. So I'm planning to do one of two things:

1) Take time to draft out the next arc before I start actually writing these chapters (This should make the chapter writing process quicker as well)

2) or just completely revamp the story and start again. Fixing mistakes, inconsistencies, and making different decisions, leading the story someplace new.

I'll probably go with option 1 because I've gotten so far already, but I'd like to know what you all think.

REVIEW TIME FELLAS

MightyMackinac: I definitely thought you deserved the shout-out. In fact I'd rate your story above mine. We all love a little OP Deku right?

ss3dj: I'm happy to know I inspired you to start your own MHA fic!

DragonStorm88: I'm blushing over here

LordXG3: I seem to have topped your cliffhanger in terms of time lol, sorry bout that.

Berserker Singh: Not gonna lie, you right

Souen11: The rest of the story was just me saying "What would be different if Deku had this Quirk?" This is really my first attempt to branch out at all, so that's probably why the writing isn't as good.

Ander Arias: Will it make him overpowered? I mean sure, in the same way One For All makes canon Deku overpowered. Considering how crazy enemies are getting in the manga, I'm sure he won't be as overpowered in comparison.

KahunaLagoona: I love seeing comments from you because you always have such unique insight, and you give me some ideas lol

Psycho Ray: I'll do my best! Thanks for the compliments as well.

Cieszesi Niezmiernie: I KNOW, THE LEAGUE IS SO FUGGIN COOL. Shigaraki is my baby

Im The Person: Thanks for sharing! Unfortunately when it comes to One For All, nobody knows exactly how it affects Quirks yet. So everyone writes it in different ways, and this is how I'm deciding to do it.

Wheatley9001: It's been 3 months and 22 days... I'M SORRY!

~Recommendation Zone~

Green Tea Rescue by ss3dj is kinda like... this story in a way, but the set-up is more interesting and the plot takes more original paths. It's only up to the beginning of the first semester at U.A. right now, so this is a great time to get started on reading it!

~Recommendation Zone~

I do not own Boku No Hero Academia or any of the characters portrayed in this story.

So, A Hero Walks Into A Bar

All Might acted quickly and punched towards Tomura and Himiko at the same time, the air pressure impacting them and knocking them away from the hostages. He leapt to Ochako and grabbed her, then jumped to Izuku before dashing away and setting them down against a building across the street.

"You foolish villains underestimated me!" All Might announced.

"Ooohhhh, that hurt," Tomura groaned as he got up. "You're really as good as they say, All Might. But, I wouldn't say I 'underestimated' you."

"Well, we'll see about that!"

All Might's eyes widened as a purple portal opened beneath himself and his two students. He grabbed them and kicked down, the air pressure pushing them up and away from the portal, but another one opened above them. All Might, again, kicked to the side of the portal.

"Perfect... Now he has to play defense and babysitter," Tomura chuckled. "Kurogiri, keep him on the move."

"Understood," the portal villain nodded.

All Might went back and forth between opening portals for a few seconds, before quickly switching directions twice and flying straight at Kurogiri.

"Do you think I wouldn't expect that?" he chuckled, opening a warp gate between them.

"Do you think I wouldn't expect that?!" All Might retorted as he kicked down into the ground.

It launched him up and away from the warp gate, and simultaneously shattered the ground underneath them. The cracks led right around Kurogiri, and the floor beneath him heaved upwards. He was about to be sent through his own portal, and he dispelled it only for a blast of wind pressure from All Might to fire him down into the ground. He was luckily quick and aware enough to open a warp gate below himself, and he came up out of the ground close by.

"The number one hero... hehehe," the large blonde villain chuckled as he replaced his blue mechanical eye with another red one. "This is getting my blood pumping! BARTENDER!!"

Kurogiri, getting Muscular's signal even as he was in freefall, opened a portal below him that led right to—

"ALL MIIIIGHT!" he screamed as red muscle sinews grew and covered his body.

Before the hero could react, the villain's fist connected across his jaw. It wasn't enough to do any damage, but it was rare that All Might would receive such a strong hit so unexpectedly. It disoriented him and he almost lost his grip on Izuku and Ochako, but he quickly regained his hold and retaliated to the villain with a much stronger

"SMASH!"

Muscular was sent flying, but so was All Might. Much more so than he expected. The Number 1 Hero quickly realized that Ochako had gripped him and made him weightless. He was going to use the momentum to escape and get the students to safety, but another portal opened up in front of him and he had to back away again.

"You won't get away!" Shigaraki exclaimed, jumping at All Might through a new portal behind him.

All Might hardly noticed the villain before he was able to get a hand on his shoulder.

"AAGH!" All Might shouted in surprise and pain, as he whipped around and punched at Shigaraki. But, a portal opened between them and All Might's punch never connected. "S-Shit..!"

The portal rapidly began closing on All Might's arm, but he kicked and flew away.

Shigaraki landed back on the ground courtesy of Kurogiri. "I got him on the shoulder," he grinned as he stood up, and rubbed his broken arm. "Good job Kirogiri."

"I must say, that was an unexpectedly horrifying experience for me," Kurogiri sighed.

"Damnit, I can't get away," All Might frowned. "Not until the warp villain is incapacitated!"

"Then you should have waited to move in until we were closer," Best Jeanist sighed over the earpiece. "We're not exactly as fast as you, you know, and you called us last-minute!"

"My bad, but things were escalating too quickly!" All Might said as he dodged more portals.

"Excuse me, but your name is Twice, correct?" Kurogiri asked the black-and-grey clad villain.

"Nope! Pleased to meet ya!" Twice said with a salute.

"How do you activate your Quirk?"

"Well, I need to know the exact dimensions of whatever I'm copying, and exactly what it looks like." he explained. "ALSO YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION!"

"Make a copy of Shigaraki, if you would," Kurogiri requested.

"Eh?" the hand-covered villain tilted his head at them. "We don't need that, I can handle this without his Quirk."

"Shigaraki!" Mr. Compress said, running up to them, "multiple vehicles are on their way here."

"Damnit... More? Fine." Tomura Shigaraki turned and looked at the group of (mostly) Stain-inspired villains who wanted to join him. "This is your chance to prove yourselves! If you're serious about joining this League, then you'd better be able to tangle with heroes!"

"Really? Facing pro heroes head-on?" Magne asked. "Isn't that a bit much for first day on the job?"

"I can handle my own, thank you very much!" Himiko pouted.

"Me too," Twice assured. "Just kidding, get me the hell out of here."

"Oi oi oi, what the hell," Dabi laughed. "Are we all on the same side here?"

"Of course blockhead!" Twice exclaimed. "Unless we... aren't?!"

"Twice, hurry up and get to work," Tomura commanded, glaring daggers at him. "I believe I was clear, right?"

"Woah, All Might wasn't lying when he said things had escalated," Kamui Woods remarked as they pulled up outside of the half destroyed building.

"H-Hello?" a voice called, before a body stumbled out of the doorway. "H-Heroes?!"

"That girl!" Mt. Lady exclaimed. "It's the one who was kidnapped, Ochako Uraraka!"

Edgeshot zipped right over to her and steadied her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm... just a little banged up," she said. "But Deku, he's hurt! And All Might was somehow hurt too, but he's still fighting!"

"Deku, huh?" Edgeshot said in a tense voice. "That kid sure gets himself into a lot of trouble."

"I-I'm the one who got him into this," Ochako shook her head, looking down.

"Nonsense," Edgeshot shook his head. "He came after you because of his heroic spirit, that's all."

"You're bleeding... Where's the cut?" Best Jeanist asked. "I can sew you up."

"I think there's a cut here," she said, reaching her hands down to her hips.

"I don't see too much blood coming from there..." Jeanist said, leaning down to get a closer look.

"Oh, no," Ochako shook her head. Then, with a sadistic grin she exclaimed, "I meant here!"

With one hand she quickly slashed Best Jeanist's face with a switchblade, and with the other hand she had swung another small knife at Edgeshot, who was able to jump away in time.

Best Jeanist fell back, and clutched at his eyes which were covered in blood.

"This girl's a villain?!" Edgeshot gasped, then flattened his arm and moved to knock her out.

But she chuckled playfully and, as the clothes and face of Ochako fell away to reveal a nude blonde girl, evaded his attack and seemed to disappear.

"W-Where'd she go?!" Mt. Lady exclaimed.

"Doesn't matter," Kamui Woods said, narrowing his eyes. "She's here to distract us. What we should focus on is finding the kids!"

"She's not only here to distract us," Edgeshot grimaced. "She's dangerous. The way she moved and seemed to disappear was incredible..! She can make use of deadly surprise attacks."

"Edge, you tend to Jeanist and protect him from that girl," Endeavor commanded. "Kamui, Mt. Lady, you two come with me."

Endeavor blasted off over the top of the building with his flames, and Kamui followed by riding a growth of wood. Mt. Lady, as well, grew to see over the roof.

"All Might...!" Endeavor exclaimed, seeing the Number 1 dodging and weaving through portals.

The Number 2 looked down and saw the villains, including the one he knew was the warp villain. He blasted straight down and fired a ball of flame at the league's bartender, who stopped making portals around All Might in his panic and pain.

"Endeavor?!" Tomura exclaimed, looking up.

Magne got up and grabbed the giant wrapped rectangular object from her back. "Endeavor, the one who brutalized Stain, and who Stain hated the most!" She unwrapped and unveiled a giant magnet, and used it to pull Endeavor down, straight into the ground head-first. "DIE!"

"Don't underestimate me!" Endeavor growled, starting to send flames across the ground.

Magne reversed his magnet and sent the hero flying back, impacting the opposite wall. Moonfish took this opportunity to jump into action, quickly extending his teeth and driving them straight at the vulnerable Number 2 hero. But before they reached Endeavor, branches crashed into Moonfish and pushed him up and out of range from the hero. The branches gripped around him to suspend him in midair.

"Woah, watch it there buddy," Kamui Woods said as he landed next to Endeavor.

"Twice," Kurogiri gasped after warping away the last of the flames, "ready?!"

Twice let the measuring tape he was using to measure Tomura flip back to its cartridge, and gave him the OK sign.

"Then let's get this party started," Shigaraki sneered.

"Young Uraraka," All Might said, prompting Ochako to open her eyes and look up at him. "If you could remove your Quirk..."

"O-Oh! Y-Yeah," she nodded and released her Quirk.

All Might landed with a grunt and set the two students down. First Ochako looked at Deku, who was still unconscious. She crawled over to him and shook his shoulder, but stopped when he let out a pained groan.

"H-He seems hurt... His leg is bleeding..." she frowned.

"I apologize for leaving you two alone, but I must return to the battle," All Might said, standing tall and facing the direction of the League's hideout. "You should be safe here. The detectives are already on their way here to pick you up and tend to your wounds."

"How's your shoulder?" Ochako asked, seeing the blood and All Might rubbing it.

"I've been through worse," he smiled at her. "Can I count on you to protect Young Midoriya until the authorities arrive?"

"You can count on me," she nodded.

"Thank you, Young Uraraka."

With that, All Might leapt away. And Ochako looked back down to Deku, whose face was contorted into a grimace. She used her Quirk to readjust him without lifting him in potentially painful ways, and settled him against the wall. She wasn't sure how he got into the League's base, but she knew he was trying to save her. And she didn't know how he got hurt, but she knew it was because of her.

"You brave, stupid Deku," she sighed, resting against the wall next to him.

Even though she was upset at his recklessness, she couldn't help but grin a bit. After all, she knew what he would go through to keep her safe. Even in that situation, when she didn't want him to fall into their trap, the thought that he was coming for her helped her stay strong. After all, he did make a great hero.

"The kid would have been a nice catch, but as it stands now," Tomura said, waving his hand at the heroes, "you're much more immediate threats to our organization."

"You don't say?" Endeavor scoffed. "I'm surprised you haven't already tried to run away. With us here and All Might sure to return soon, you'll be in for it."

"In for it? I'm not sure," the villain shrugged. "But I am up to it."

"... That just wasn't clever at all," Mount Lady deadpanned.

"Shigaraki is mine," Endeavor said. "He can disintegrate either your wood, or your flesh. Only my flames have the range to deal with him. Kamui you're on the Warp user, and Lady you take the Magnet user. We don't know the others' abilities as of yet, so we'll play it by ear."

"Understood," the two younger heroes nodded.

Suddenly, with a massive boom, All Might landed on the other side of the League of Villains.

"I see you weren't going to start the party without me," All Might said with a wide grin. "Well, villain, how has this situation turned out for you? No Young Midoriya, no Young Uraraka, nothing but a broken arm and the finest heroes of Japan surrounding you as a reward for your ambitions!"

"Hmm, I wonder if that's true," Shigaraki mused aloud. "I wonder if that's all the reward I get tonight."

A shiver ran down All Might's spine as he felt fingers clamp down on his ribs, right on his old wound from All For One. And the feeling of Decay followed, along with a shout of agony from the number one.

"I am here, Symbol of Peace," Tomura chuckled from behind him.

"All Might!" Endeavor shouted, immediately blasting towards the League.

However a blue wall of fire appeared in his way, and he stopped short. He turned to see the dark haired villain, covered in burn scars, approaching him with a raised hand.

"You're going to stand back, Endeavor," Dabi grinned as his patches of stapled, burnt skin stretched along with his face. "Number Two Hero, Enji Todoroki."

Mount Lady grew and kicked at the League's resident fireman, but she was suddenly held back by an intense force. She looked down to see Magne, the Magnet wielder, using her Quirk on her.

And Kamui Woods, on the other hand, had no option to even attempt intervening. After all, fire burns wood and and wood was his entire ability. He was going to go around and attack the League's other members from the side, but a searing glance from Dabi ended that hope.

So instead, the Wood hero decided to run outside and ask for backup.

"Smash!" All Might yelled as he backhand-punched Tomura in a spin.

But Tomura gave way to grey matter, and fell apart in front of him. All Might gripped his injury and fell to one knee, then glared defiantly up at the Tomura standing with the rest of the League, now with a blue wall of flame behind them.

"Too bad I'm up here," Shigaraki sighed. "I would've loved to take your punch, but I'd rather stay awake for the rest of this."

"Hey, what's going on?" Toga asked, hopping into the group.

"Hey, welcome cutie!" Twice waved. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! Get out there and hold off the heroes!"

"Hmph, I don't like the ninja guy," she pouted and crossed her arms. "He can see me when I'm trying to hide and his stare is kinda creepy."

All Might stood up and gripped his fists, and glared daggers at the League of Villains. He had a very convincing, very intimidating stance and expression, but the truth was that the only reason he was able to do that was because his adrenaline had numbed the pain of his reopened wound. He was running on fumes in the worst way.

"Tsukauchi," he said quietly into his earpiece. "Get ready to evacuate me."

Suddenly, All Might felt himself go into freefall as a portal opened underneath him. Just as he was about to jump away, strong arms reached up and grabbed him by the ankles before pulling him down through the warp gate.

"Shit—!" All Might cursed as he was brought face to fist with Muscular. And he was the face.

"You won't be rid of me that easily!" Muscular grinned and reeled back for another swing.

"Then I guess I'll have to try harder!

"DETROIT SMMAAAAAAAASSSSHHHH!" All Might yelled, as he punched Muscular straight in the head.

Muscular was launched at group of villains standing above him, but Mr. Compress simply condensed Muscular into a marble and caught him.

All Might collapsed and heaved a heavy sigh, and glanced up at the villains once again.

"Game over," Tomura said. Then suddenly he became ecstatic and exclaimed, "IT'S GAME OVER ALL MIGHT!"

However Dabi's blue firewall parted, as a blast from Endeavor sent the flame user through his own flames. Edgeshot had run in to provide backup, and was able to provide Endeavor an opening. The number 2 hero followed up by shooting his flames right at the League members who were now exposed.

"Shit!" Magne exclaimed, turning her focus to Endeavor.

In her panic she let Mount Lady free, and the humongous heroine took the opportunity to land a gargantuan kick on the villain, knocking her out.

Dabi sent a fire blast back at Endeavor's to counter it, but the hero's fire was quickly overtaking his. His effort wasn't in vain however, as it gave Kurogiri enough time to warp the group out of there.

"W-What?" Tomura asked, realizing that they were back at their warehouse. "Kurogiri, what are we doing here?!"

"Muscular requires immediate medical attention," Kurogiri explained as he took Mr. Compress and guided him to the doctor's quarters. "Even he can't tank a blow like that from All Might."

"I don't care! We could have changed position, spread out, surrounded the heroes!" Tomura complained.

"My Quirk has been abused enough tonight," Kurogiri stated. "I'm beyond exhausted after that trick with All Might... I've never gone that far before."

"Besides could we have really taken them all on anyways?" Twice asked. "I mean, except for Endeavor and Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods and All Might, those guys were wimps!"

"Shut it," Tomura snapped at him, scraping at his own neck.

"Hey warp guy," Toga complained, "we left Magne and the straight-jacket guy."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't get them as well. My Quirk is completely spent as it is..."

"Damn it..!" Tomura exclaimed, vigorously scratching his neck with both hands.

"Calm yourself, young one."

Heavy, reassuring hands rested on his shoulders.

"Tonight was not a loss by any means."

All Might shrunk down to his emaciated true self as he gagged and coughed up blood. He fell on all fours, then clutched his side in pain and fell down onto the ground.

"All Might!" Endeavor exclaimed, running up to his side. "What... the hell is this.!?"

"N-Nothing... I'm fine, really—" All Might said, momentarily puffing back up before deflating and hacking up more blood.

"All Might!" Naomasa Tsukauchi exclaimed as he ran into the battleground and knelt down. "How bad is it?"

"Hospital... Now..." Toshinori gasped.

Izuku Midoriya felt the edges of consciousness pulling him from under the fuzzy blanket of sleep. Reluctantly, as he did every morning, he opened his eyes to let them adjust to the light. But it was much brighter than normal. In fact, the whole room was white. Confused, he began to sit up to look around, but he grimaced as he became very aware of a pointed migraine and decided to lay back down.

"IZUKU!!!" the familiar voice of his mother exclaimed as Izuku felt her weight land on him in a strong hug.

The impact made Izuku aware of another pain in his abdomen, and he groaned out.

"Oh my goodness my baby I'm so sorry!" she gasped as she got off of him. "It's just... I'm so glad you're awake!"

"W-What's going on?" Izuku asked groggily. His speech was slurred a bit and his mouth was dry and scratchy.

"Hold on honey, let's sit you up first," Inko said, grabbing a controller and making the hospital bed fold up.

"H-Huh? Hospital?!" Izuku exclaimed then coughed because of his dry mouth, exacerbating his migraine. "Owwww..."

"Here, drink something," a nurse said, offering a water cup. "Try not to move too much."

Izuku drank the cup of water, and sighed in relief at the sensation. He looked up at his mom and swallowed, before asking, "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" she asked, looking more concerned. "The League of Villains took Ochako, and you—"

"Uraraka! Is she alright?!" Izuku shouted. "I-I tried to save her but I couldn't... I didn't even find her."

"She's fine!" Inko raised her voice, gripping his shoulders tightly. "I'm more concerned about you. You took off on such a dangerous adventure and didn't tell me! I was worried sick all night, and then I saw the news about a fight between All Might and the League of Villains and then I got a call from the detectives and—" she began rambling as tears came down.

"M-Mom! I'm okay, really," Izuku said, holding her by an arm to steady her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I knew you would've stopped me."

"Of course I would have!" she exclaimed, now looking less upset and more angry. "That was very, very stupid of you! I know you're capable, and I know that you have such a selfless heart, but I also know you're smarter than this!"

"I know it was stupid, but... If Uraraka is okay, then it was worth it," he smiled. "I'm sorry but if I had to redo it, I'd make the same choice."

"Izuku..." she sighed, rubbing her face. The fatigue of worry was showing in the bags under her eyes.

Noticing her tiredness, he asked, "How long was I—?"

"About a day and a half," the nurse said. "You were in bad shape, but we were able to stabilize you."

"What did I hurt?" Izuku asked.

"Your liver burst, for some reason," she said taking a look at the clipboard. "That's odd, since there was no cut or bruise on the skin... Your leg lost most of the skin layer, but there was no bone or muscle damage. And you had a lot of strange brain activity. Although your heartbeat was normal, the doctors noted rapid pulses in your head."

"W-Wait, my liver?!" Izuku gulped. "How am I—?"

"People can live with less than half of a full liver," she said. "But luckily, it was an easy tear to fix and the doctors expect a full recovery."

Izuku felt his side, and noticed fresh stitches. Looking at his mom, he asked, "Can we afford this?!"

"U.A. is covering it," Inko sighed as she sat down and rubbed her forehead. "You're going to worry me to death, you know that?"

"I'm sorry," he chuckled, then winced and laid back down. "How long will I stay here?"

"Another day at least," the nurse said. "But that's mainly for the doctors to monitor you. In fact, I'll go tell them you're awake."

Once she left, Izuku looked at his mom and asked, "Have you slept at all the last couple of days..?"

"What do you think?" she asked with a deadpan look. Then with a sigh, she said, "Now that you're awake I'm much more at ease... I'll probably go home once we see the doctors again."

"That's probably for the best," he nodded. "Hey Mom. Thanks, I appreciate you."

"Yeah, you'd better," she smiled.

"So... Do you know how things turned out?" he asked. "I don't remember anything since I... y'know, passed out."

"Well I know that they captured a couple of villains and they recovered you and Ochako... But I haven't heard much else."

Izuku grabbed his phone from the table and opened the news tab. He found a story about it, and his eyes widened as he read the headline.

All Might Missing in Action After Brawl With Villains! No Comment From His Agency.

"It's been a couple days?" he asked his mom. "All Might hasn't been... I mean, nobody's seen him since then, even though they've been asking his agency for—"

"Listen honey, about that..." Inko sighed, "I actually got to chat with the detective, Tsukauchi. He came to check up on you yesterday and talk with the doctors, and he told me that you'll be able to meet All Might as soon as you're out of here."

"Really? Did he say anything else?" Izuku leaned forward, then winced and laid back again.

"No, he didn't," she shook her head.

The door opened, and the doctor walked in and smiled.

He asked Izuku a few questions, and gave him a standard check-up. They proceeded with a second scan of his head, and another one of his liver. In the end, they concluded that all he needed was a bit more rest to clear the headache, and they recommended 3-4 weeks without strenuous exercise to give his liver time to heal. He had left by early in the afternoon the next day, and less than an hour later he was in another hospital.

"Hey there Midoriya," Naomasa said as he walked over to meet him. "How are you feeling?"

"A little sore, and my head kinda hurts," he shrugged. "I'm fine. Why does All Might want to meet here?"

"We'll talk more inside," the detective said. He looked up to Inko and asked, "Is it alright if you stay in the waiting room?"

"... I suppose," Inko nodded, "since I know he'll be in All Might's care. Although I would like to know what's going on."

"I'll see if we can make that happen," Naomasa smiled. Turning to Izuku, he motioned down the hall with his hand, "Follow me."

After a minute or so of walking, the two entered a room and the detective closed the door behind them. Izuku's eyes widened as he took in the sight of his teacher, the number one hero. He was in his deflated form, with bandages visible past his medical gown and a few bruises and scrapes. He was wearing a breathing mask and had several tubes hooked up to him.

"Young Midoriya..."

The struggling voice was far too weak to be All Might's, or even Toshinori Yagi's. He patted the seat next to his medical bed. Izuku gulped and slowly walked over to him, and sat down. He met the eyes of his idol, and noticed that they seemed to be the only feature that held the same brightness as before.

"Young Midoriya," he repeated.

"A-All—" Izuku choked on his own throat, too dry and tense to form words. He swallowed and managed a shaky, "All Might..."

"You know," the hero smiled, "I couldn't ask for a braver, or a more heroic successor."

"All Might, n-no," Izuku shook his head, "I wasn't heroic at all. I was never even able to reach Uraraka, let alone save her. I was knocked out of commission and now you're—"

"These injuries are not your doing, Young Midoriya," All Might stated, resting a large hand on his student's shoulder. "I took on the responsibility of being a hero, and I went in to save you two. That was my choice. And you risked just as much as I did."

"... How bad is it?" Izuku asked. "Can you still..?"

"Shigaraki was able to use his Quirk on me. He destroyed some of the muscle in my shoulder and..." All Might looked down at the injury on his stomach and rested his hand there, before saying, "He targeted the wound I received six years ago. I was already limited by it, but now... Even once I'm recovered, I may not be able to puff out my chest anymore."

"Y-You... But All Might..." he muttered, squinting his eyes as tears filled them. "N-No, you can't—"

Izuku broke down, sobbing, and All Might put an arm around him and pulled him into a hug. For a few minutes no words were said, and Toshinori allowed his young successor to let out his tears. Eventually Izuku's eyes dried and he pulled away, and he looked up at his teacher.

"All Might," he said with his best attempt at a confident face, "I won't let you down."

"I know," he laughed. "But don't get too dramatic here, it's not like I've died. I'll still see you at U.A. Besides, I'll be helping you learn to control this new power of yours as well."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded with a hint of a smile. "So then... Wait, how did Shigaraki know about your injury?

All Might sighed and his face grew somber as he looked at the the wall. "It's certain now. Before we suspected he returned, but... Only All For One knew of my injury. He must be mentoring Shigaraki. And now that this has happened to me... I'm not sure I'll be able to help you face him."

Izuku met his mom in the waiting room, who immediately asked, "What's going on? Is everything alright?"

"N-No, not really," Izuku said. "Mom, I want to talk about this more in private."

"Sure honey," she nodded understandingly. "Let's go home and we can talk there."

They took the train home, and Izuku was uncomfortably quiet the whole way. It was understandable, given everything he had to take in. He was planning to tell his mom about All Might's injuries once they were inside, but All For One was a separate matter. He couldn't confide with his mom about it, and he didn't know how to cope with the fact that he'd have to defeat the villain who dealt such a horrible blow to All Might.

Well he planned to worry about it later. For the time being, he started thinking about how he could explain the fact that All Might would have to cease hero work without breaking down into tears again. But before he could get started, as soon as they walked into the apartment, they were greeted by

"Uraraka?! What are you doing here?!" Izuku asked, in shock.

"Oh I forgot, when you went to see All Might with Tsukauchi I let Ochako know that we were gonna come home soon," Inko explained. "I told her where the key was so she could let herself in."

"I wanted to see you as soon as I could, to thank you for saving me," Ochako said, scratching the back of her head. "So, thank you Deku! And I was never able to properly give this to you."

She presented him with the All Might poster and birthday card that she'd bought before she was taken.

"Happy belated birthday!" she smiled.

Izuku couldn't stop himself anymore. He collapsed as the tears rolled down his face, and he violently sobbed as he was embraced by his mother and Ochako.

Author's notes:

Be sure to leave suggestions, feedback, theories, and anything else in the comments! Again, I'm sorry for taking my time with this chapter. Hopefully this won't be a problem in the future.

As always, feedback and input are greatly appreciated and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!