(How To)Forgive and Forget

We're All Casualties(In This War Of Attrition)

Izuku perches on the ledge of his bedroom window, feet solid against the sun-warmed walls as he stares out at the mass of bare trees rattling under each strong gust of wind. He'd taken a shower and removed the bandages from his body, revealing the new divot in his wrist from Hatsume's bracelet exploding, and the spider web scar that stretches from his lower jaw to the corner of his lip. Both, along with most of the markings on his body, are faded. Like they've seen years of sun, despite only one week passing.

Even the tattoo on his left arm faded, though thankfully not enough to completely mess up Dabi's work.

The wind hits his face with all of its usual force, but none of the cold. Despite the open window and the time of year, he feels perfectly warm. His hands, which are sensitive to every little environmental change, are perfectly fine. Pain free, easy to move, and the scars are faded as well, enough to not be glaringly obvious anymore.

It's only more confirmation to his theory that he has some level of access to All For One's Quirks. Whether just the passive Quirks, or the more physical ones lurking beneath the surface waiting to be unleashed under the right circumstances, the shadowy copy of All For One that had resided within One For All for centuries provided a link. A thread, giving Izuku access to his many Quirks despite the years that had passed between his genetic snapshot and the person he is now.

Whether or not they could be accessed on command remained to be seen, but the threat alone is enough to keep All For One away...for now. Honestly, he wasn't too eager to test out any of the man's Quirks. One For All had already done enough damage to his body, and randomly fishing around in a metaphorical jar full of unknown, potentially volatile Quirks doesn't seem like a good idea, especially considering his shitty luck. It's already clear that an unknown amount of passive Quirks have been at work for a while now, and documenting them would be a much better use of his time.

He sighs, running a hand through his clipped back white curls. The League had disappeared into the depths of the mansion again, and as much as he wanted to go and talk to them...well, they'd just survived a cult attacking them. They probably need time to process everything. It would be rude to hunt them down just to talk, especially when he still hasn't figured out how to get Eri back.

On one hand, he could go back. But that would bring on prying eyes, and Nezu would probably make the correlation between him disappearing and the cult being destroyed. An attack that large wouldn't go uncovered by the media, and neither would the fact that a hero student with a strength Quirk disappeared on the same day under mysterious circumstances.

On the other hand, he could always ask Kurogiri to just...make a warp gate there. It might set off alarms that an unauthorized Quirk was being used, but he'd be gone before anyone had time to react. But...Shouto and Hitoshi...they were there too. And they probably wanted answers; closure. He couldn't exactly give that to them if he snuck in, and if Eri went missing, things might escalate, maybe even get pushed to the media.

As much as he'd like to see Nezu burn, he couldn't do that to Shouto and Hitoshi. Couldn't let them wait on someone who was never coming back. It seemed unnecessarily cruel, especially since they were the ones who stood by him when his world crumbled in his hands. They couldn't fix it—couldn't fix him—but they sat down beside him and helped him pick up the fragments of what was and could have been, even though they cut their own hands in the process.

His fingers twitch, and he grips the windowsill a little harder.

No. There has to be a better way. A way to tell them I'm alright without returning to UA, a way to get Eri and avoid Nezu, a way to—to have it all.