When Izuku began his 10 month battle in hell, he was fully prepared to face whatever consequences it would bring. He didn't, however, consider the consequences it would have on his mentor, the man he had idolized his entire life.

All Might had given him one simple task: to remove every last shred of garbage from a once-beautiful beach that had become a dump. Izuku had never seen so much garbage in all his 14 years, but he was determined not to let All Might down. His new mentor was, after all, the world's most popular superhero and universal symbol of peace and justice. He was the man who had inspired Izuku to become a hero. The man who had chosen him to become his successor.

Every evening after school, without fail, All Might was waiting for him on the beach with a cooler full of drinks and sandwiches and a grin full of pep-talk. Yesterday Izuku saw him standing tall, bulging with muscles that his shirt could barely stretch over, his face chiselled and battle-hardened with a fearless, toothy grin.

Today Izuku saw him slouching, his stretched clothes sagging off his bones, his hollow eye sockets heavily shadowed under his drooping bangs. Even his best attempt at a smile seemed to slip crookedly off his face.

It was hard to get used to, and even harder to watch. Up until recently, Izuku didn't even know that the powerful All Might that he had known all his life was just a charade. The real All Might was an emaciated, frail little man whose soul had been crushed under the weight of his responsibilities and the burden of his battles. This was the man who was passing the torch to him: Izuku Midoriya, a lonely quirkless boy. Soon, it would be him shouldering those soul-crushing burdens. A burden he took without question and without hesitation.

It had only been three weeks into his training. Izuku felt like he was getting nowhere. He dreaded coming to the trash-covered beach and seeing those insurmountable piles of rubbish. He had ten months, but he barely put a dent in anything. His muscles ached, burning with every step he took. Still, he counted himself lucky he could work alongside his childhood hero and see him almost every day. When he was a kid, he never dreamed he would even have the opportunity to speak to All Might, let alone inherit his superpower and train alongside him.

His dream came true. He wasn't going to let that turn into a nightmare.

Even now, as he struggled to push a broken refrigerator across unstable, sandy terrain, sweat drenching through his shirt, he didn't regret his decision. He didn't think he ever would. Right now, All Might was on his side, cheering him on, telling him to focus on the muscles in his core instead of just his arms, coaching him every step of the way. He wasn't just going to pass on his superhuman powers and leave Izuku to struggle and figure it out on his own. He was in it for the long haul, for better or worse.

So Izuku pushed, digging his feet into the dirt, shoving his entire weight against the broken, rusty fridge.

"That's it, kid! Don't hold back!" He heard All Might shouting from nearby. And the fridge finally started to budge. Izuku heaved, his legs burning, his shoes digging into the sand as the heavy hunk of metal slid in front of him, leaving a trail in the ground. His chest burned with every gasp of breath he took.

And he worked. For three hours, until the sunset beamed over the ocean's horizon. By the end of it, Izuku only managed to push the fridge up to the roadside where it could be taken to a proper dump later.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then. Early." All Might passed him a bottled water where he sat hunched on the curb of the roadside, shoulders heaving every breath, his clothes clinging to his skin with sweat.

Izuku took it, drinking greedily. "Yes sir," he responded respectfully, averting his eyes. Tomorrow was Saturday. He wouldn't have school distracting him. He would be here all day.

"You're doing good, kid." He felt All Might's bony fingers clap him on the shoulder, once. "Most people your age? They'd never be able to do what you've just done, not in a million years. You should be proud of how far you've come in just a few weeks."

Izuku didn't feel proud. It took him far longer than he wanted. He wasn't improving fast enough. Doubt clenched his chest as he thought of all the other people in the world who deserved All Might's power more than he did. He was just an ordinary, quirkless kid.

"Come on, where's the smile?" All Might hovered over him, his knuckles on his hips. "Don't look so down on yourself, young Midoriya. You've got this."

Izuku lifted his head, and smiled. It was his best impersonation of All Might's fearless smile. The All Might he knew, anyway. The version of All Might standing in front of him had a smile more like a broken Nutcracker, but it was still there. A shell of its old self, but there.

The scrawny man gave Izuku a thumbs up in approval. "That's more like it. I'll see you tomorrow, kid." With that, All Might turned and began to head down the sidewalk.

Izuku watched his retreating back and stopped smiling.

The sun wasn't even up yet, and Izuku was already at the beach, doing his morning stretches. All Might always stressed the importance of stretching before work. It helped keep muscle injury to the minimum. He moved from stretches to sit-ups and push-ups, then started a brief jog up and down the beach's shoreline. He kept glancing up the roadside, expecting to see All Might on his way. He usually showed up as soon as the sun did.

He never came.

Morning stretched into early afternoon. Izuku had already stacked up a bunch of tires and broken bits of machinery up by the curb. Still, no sign of All Might. Izuku decided he was probably doing hero work. Maybe there was a car accident, or a robbery. Izuku put it out of his mind and kept working.

Late afternoon arrived and he realized how exhausted he was. He had forgotten to eat lunch or drink anything. All Might always brought lunch with him. Izuku hadn't even realized he had grown reliant on the expectation. He checked his watch, noting it was 3:30. He decided he should go home and get lunch with his mom.

Just as he was headed back up to the road, he saw a familiar silhouette stumbling down the sidewalk. It was All Might, scrawny as ever, walking lopsidedly towards the beach, a cooler swinging in one hand. Something about him chilled Izuku's spine. He quickly realized it was the splotch of red on the front of All Might's stretched, white shirt.

Izuku ran up to meet him. "M-mister All Might, sir! Are you alright!?"

The superhero raised a hand. "It's nothing. Sorry I'm late. Had to do some hero work on the way here, and I lost track of time." He coughed into his hand. Izuku watched red drip down All Might's knuckles.

Izuku had seen him coughing like this many times before. He sometimes saw flecks of blood on his lips when he did, but this was more serious than that. He recalled what All Might told him the day he saw his true form. The day he saw the scar that exploded across his stomach and chest like a spiderweb of ravaged flesh.

His lungs were crushed, and his stomach was gone. He'd gone through surgery after surgery, but he would never be the same.

All Might gestured to the cooler. "Have you had lunch?"

Izuku realized he had been staring at the blood. His eyes snapped up to All Might's, and he shook his head. "No, sir."

They sat on the curb, and All Might gave Izuku sandwiches and a can of juice, but didn't have anything for himself. Izuku had almost forgotten how hungry he was. Something just didn't seem right about All Might today, and he found himself staring at him as he ate, distracted.

"You didn't… get hurt, did you? During your hero work?" Izuku finally asked him.

"No. It was a car accident. I was just getting the victims to the hospital. The ambulance couldn't reach the scene as fast as I could."

"The blood is…"

"It's mine. Don't worry about it."

Izuku was worrying. But he didn't say anything else.

As soon as he was done with lunch, he got back to working on the beach while All Might found a spot to sit under an outcropping of metal junk. Izuku worked for an hour, but he noticed All Might was being quiet. He hadn't said a word the entire time. Normally he would at least be giving him a few pointers of advice by now. Nothing.

The afternoon sun was crushing. As Izuku worked in the heat, drenched in sweat, his hands covered in the grit of sand and band-aids and blisters, he kept glancing distractedly in All Might's direction. The superhero was starting to slide sideways. His head was drooping forward. He looked like a wilting houseplant, shriveling up in the heat.

Something was wrong.

Izuku abandoned the garbage bags he was carrying, rushing up to his mentor. "H-hey. Hey, are you alright?"

The hero tried to respond, but there was a gurgling sound in his lungs. All Might doubled forward and coughed a spray of blood into the sand. Izuku watched with growing panic. He felt, for the first time, that he had to do something about this.

"Should- should I call an ambulance?" His hand hovered over the cell phone in his pocket.

All Might raised a hand in a placating gesture, wheezing, catching his breath. "Don't- don't bother. They can't do anything." He pushed himself upright, his back bumping against the broken file cabinet behind him. His head rolled back, squinting up at Izuku. He looked ill. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you today."

Something in Izuku's heart twisted. That was what he was worried about in a time like this?

This whole time, Izuku thought that he was the one who was pushing himself. Coming out here to this dreaded beach day in and day out, doing nothing but heavy lifting and painful exercises. But now, he was getting a tiny glimpse into the kind of life All Might lived. How could he even function with his internal organs missing and damaged? He was giving everything he possibly could until he had nothing left to give. And he was now apologizing for it.

"Then- then you should go home." Izuku felt so strange, suggesting this to the man who was supposed to be training him right now. "I'll be alright on my own, really."

The frail superhero started to stand. Izuku quickly realized he couldn't. Without thinking, his hand shot out to grab All Might's arm, and he helped him rise. Izuku realized just how light he was. In this form, he was a twig. Should he even walk him home like this? Should he take him to a hospital anyway? Or maybe his own house?

Izuku swallowed. Neither of those would work. Too public. He would have to explain what he was doing with a withered, scrawny stranger and he didn't have a plausible story in mind. He didn't want to lie to anyone, but he promised he wouldn't explain All Might's power to anyone, even his own mother. Up until now, he and his mentor trained in secret.

"I'm sorry, sir. I just. I don't feel right watching you go on your own. Is… is it okay if. If I come with you?" Izuku asked. Hearing himself say it, it sounded so strange. Wrong. All Might was the world's most powerful superhero, and here he was, looking like he was going to faint in the heat.

Izuku heard him laugh. It sounded more like a wheeze. With the way he dipped his head, Izuku could only assume he was giving him a nod of approval. Swallowing back his concerns and questions, Izuku maneuvered All Might's arm over his shoulders and helped him stand, heading to the sidewalk.

"That way," All Might pointed down a side-alley between a general store and laundromat. Izuku figured he was trying to stay out of sight of any concerned pedestrians.

As they slipped into the alley, Izuku heard a crash. A scream. An alarm system blaring in the distance. A robbery? A break-in? As his mind scrambled to figure out what to do, he felt a sudden heat rising off of the man at his side.

The arm that All Might had draped over Izuku's shoulders was burning, giving off steam, hissing audibly. Muscles grew and bulged around the twig-thin bones of his arm. Izuku gasped, quickly slipping away from All Might, unable to take the heat. He watched in awe as the scrawny man grew five times larger with unnatural, superhuman bulk.

And then watched in horror as the hero doubled over with a spray of blood, clenching the old wound on his side. Just as soon as he transformed, he was back to his old body again, collapsing against an overturned trash can.

Izuku flew back to his side, trying to pick him up off the ground. "You can't-"

"I have to. Someone needs me." All Might hissed through clenched teeth, his fists pushing against the asphalt.

"There are other heroes! You can't help right now!" As soon as the words left his lips, Izuku wished he could've taken it back. His throat tightened in shame.

His entire room was filled with posters and action figures of All Might. Ever since he was a little boy, he watched hundreds of videos of All Might on youtube, watching him save countless lives and thwart countless villains. All his life, he dreamed he would have an opportunity to meet him.

And now he was trying to stop him from being a hero.

Izuku withdrew, bracing to get yelled at. But All Might listened. He let out a heavy sigh, marred by a rattling in his lungs. "You're right." All Might started to stand, his hand lifting to seek purchase on the building beside him. Izuku returned to his side, slipping his arm over his shoulders again. He could still feel the heat rising off his skin, like he had a sauna in his pores. Somewhere, someone's home security alarm system was still blaring. But Izuku thought he heard the telltale footsteps of Mt. Lady approaching the scene, likely with other heroes following behind her.

"They can handle it." All Might conceded as he began to walk.

All Might was the most popular hero in the world, and this was where he lived?

Izuku found himself on the doorstep of a tiny apartment in the heart of the city. When he opened the door and stepped inside, he found it clean, modestly furnished, and a little too untouched. As if no one really lived here at all. There was a visible layer of dust on the nearest countertop.

Any time he thought he caught sight of a framed photograph, Izuku didn't let his eyes linger. He looked away out of respect. Here he was, barging into his mentor's home, and he didn't even know the man's real name. He was just "All Might," the hero. Izuku felt he hadn't earned the right to know anything more about him.

He made a beeline for the nearest couch, and let All Might's weight slip off his shoulders. The pro hero laid down lengthwise, his eyes drooping shut.

Izuku stood there watching him for a moment, at a loss of what to do. The man clearly lived alone. There was no one here to look after him or take him to the hospital if things took a turn for the worst. But All Might was acting like his current circumstances weren't a surprise, that it didn't warrant any panic. Izuku drew in a breath, making a decision. He went into All Might's kitchen and opened the fridge. All he saw were soups, nutrition drinks, eggs, and noodles. All soft foods, mostly liquid. Izuku reached in and grabbed a nutrition drink before returning to All Might's couch. He held it out to him.

All Might opened one eye, squinting up at Izuku. "You're still here," it was a statement, not a question.

"Is that alright?"

All Might struggled to sit upright, pushing himself up so his back was up against the armrest. "I would rather you be training," he said, pushing his fingertips up through his messy, blond hair.

"And I would rather you feel better," Izuku responded. It must have been the adrenaline of earlier, loosening his tongue. Was it really okay that he was talking to All Might this way?

The hero huffed, which Izuku took to be a laugh. He reached out to take the drink from Izuku's hands and twisted off the cap. He sipped it. "I don't have a stomach. One of my surgeries involved connecting my esophagus to my intestines. It just goes straight down. So all I can eat is stuff like this. Or soft things. I don't feel hunger anymore. And if I eat the wrong thing, it can be bad." He took another sip, thinking. "My lungs are worse. They were crushed and reconstructed. I have a friend with a healing quirk, and she couldn't fix me. Said it would kill me if she tried. So it was surgery, and rest, and lots of medication. Sometimes I get lung infections. I think I've got one now."

He set the bottle down on his coffee table. "Point is, I'll never feel better, kid."

His words settled in Izuku's stomach like stones. All Might wasn't trying to imply anything, just stating facts, but Izuku felt a crushing burden on his shoulders. This pro hero was dying. Slowly dying. He wouldn't be the Symbol of Peace forever. It was him, Izuku, who was going to take up that mantle one day. If he didn't do it, then the world would be left with a gaping void where All Might once stood.

Could he ever hope to fill it?

"Maybe- maybe you'll never be completely better. But you're sick right now. And there's no one else that knows. So- so if you don't want to go to the hospital, then I'll stick around." Izuku had to go home in three hours, though, or his mom would start to worry. She knew he stayed out all day training to get in to UA High, but always expected him back at suppertime.

All Might looked up at him, giving him a sad smile.

"You're a good kid. Every day I'm reminded that I picked the right person to inherit my power."

A pinprick of warmth filled the cold anxiety in Izuku's chest. No matter how scared he was of the future, when he heard words like that, he felt like he could believe in himself. He felt heat stinging the corners of his eyes and blinked rapidly.

Izuku sat down on the edge of the coffee table, across from All Might. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it just as quickly.

He didn't have a dad anymore. It was just him and his mom at home. And sometimes, he was worried his mom didn't believe in him, didn't think he could become a hero. Without a father in his life, sometimes, he felt lost. All Might was the first person to ever look him in the eyes and tell him he could be a hero. And now it was All Might cheering him on, giving him all the validation he was so starved for all his life.

But Izuku couldn't bring himself to tell him this. He couldn't find the words to tell him how much he appreciated it. To finally have someone to be proud of him, even when he didn't feel proud of himself.

He was wrenched from his thoughts when he heard All Might coughing again. He was doubled forward, heaving, his shoulders shaking with every breath. He was spitting blood. Izuku jumped to his feet, staring at him, frozen. His eyes searched the unfamiliar apartment. Water. Paper towels. He found some on the kitchen counter behind him.

"Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital!?" Izuku returned to his mentor's side, holding out the wet paper towels. All Might took them, wiping at the blood on his chin.

"I'm sure. This … happens a lot." He pointed a shaking finger towards a cabinet in the kitchen. "I have some medicine."

Izuku rushed to the medicine cabinet, fumbling with its contents. He hadn't seen so many prescription bottles in one place. They were all crammed into a plastic container. Izuku grabbed it, bringing it over to the hero on the couch. All Might quickly selected what he needed, taking a pill and washing it down with his nutrition drink.

As he watched the hero, Izuku finally realized how to put his feelings to words.

"When… when I was a kid. I really idolized you. You were my favorite hero. I even… dressed up like you sometimes." He found himself saying into the silence of the lonely apartment. He swallowed. "I thought nothing could touch you. Like you were invincible. But now I see that-"

"-I'm weak." All Might finished for him, his shoulders sagging.
Izuku's gaze snapped to his face. "No. No, that's not what I was going to say. You're. Stronger. Way stronger than I ever thought. You have to live with… with all this pain, but you keep fighting anyway."

"I wanted to give up. The day I accidentally dropped that villain into the city." All Might continued, leaning back down on the couch. "I'm not strong. That day, I didn't think I was cut out to be a hero anymore. The person who reminded me of what I'm capable of was you."

He pointed towards Izuku's chest. "You have the soul of a hero. You are who reminded me that I'm strong."

Izuku didn't know what to say. All Might had said something similar to him before, but in this context, it put his actions in an entirely different light.

"You're going to get in to UA High." All Might continued, closing his eyes as he settled back down on the couch. "I'll be alright now. I want you to go back out there, work hard, and clean that beach. When I'm well, I'll come back and help you. But don't wait for me."

At those words, Izuku finally felt it was alright to leave him alone.

"Okay. But if things get worse. You'll call me. Right?"

"Right. And don't stop smiling." All Might grinned up at him, giving him his best attempt at his trademark smile, lifting his thumb.

Izuku smiled back.

He was still smiling as he left the apartment.