Timeloop Trouble

Chapter 8 - A Prison of Your Own Making

Izuku didn't know where he was, or rather when he was. Because this was One For All. The misty outlines in the corner of his eyes, the way the laws of physics seemed to disappear, the little wisp like thingies wafting off him like smoke. It could only mean one thing: he was dreaming. Dreaming of One For All, or within One For All, in this case. Still, Izuku had no idea where he was, whose memory this was, because it wasn't his own, he was sure about that.

But then he saw a small figure hunched over in the corner of the room. Izuku didn't know who it was, not immediately. The boy had pulled his knees to his chest, his head facing down, his hair falling down with it. Izuku sat down next to him, vaguely aware of the fact he had a body, that he was dressed in the same pajamas he went to sleep in. He was also aware that the person next to him was Yoichi. Some part of his brain seemed to have connected the dots somehow, even if no word had been spoken yet.

They both looked up when the door opened and another presence entered the room. Izuku recognized him, too. The second wielder of One For All. Then his surroundings faded into nothingness, mist, smoke. Yoichi was still there, though, as was Second.

"You're hiding away," Second said. Izuku felt as though those words weren't meant for him, but it still hurt, in a weird way. He was hiding, wasn't he? Hiding from his past, from the future, from everything. Izuku was barely even living in the present.

"I'm imprisoned," Yoichi corrected him, glancing sideways at Izuku. "Trapped in a vault of my brother's making."

"This is your rescue," Izuku whispered, realizing what that scene was. "The day Second broke you out, the day you escaped from All For One's clutches."

"You're hiding," Second repeated, walking closer to them. This time he was talking to Izuku.

"Trapped in a prison of your own making," Yoichi supplied. "Locking away your feelings and weaknesses in a vault, hoping they will never resurface."

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked.

"You're trying to run away from who you are, who you were," Second said, kneeling down in front of them. "You try to deny the past, but you can't, not forever."

"You can't keep the memories at bay, Izuku. Not by force," Yoichi told him. "As long as you don't face yourself, you'll stay trapped. Locked in a vault in the depths of your heart."

Izuku frowned, pulling his knees up to his chest in a similar fashion as Yoichi had done. The vestiges had never been so talkative so soon, and Izuku wondered whether they'd just accepted him without question, or maybe Izuku's natural proficiency with the quirk had increased somehow over the span of four lifetimes. Izuku didn't know the answer, and he was too tired to try and figure it out. He doubted that, even if he wanted to, Yoichi and Second would let him right now. Their focus was on something else entirely right now, after all.

"I'm doing what I can," Izuku mumbled.

"We know," Yoichi said. "We're with you, every step of the way."

"You don't have to walk this path alone," Second added, basically repeating what Yoichi just said. "Isn't that right, Tenth."

Izuku's eyes widened, his head shooting up. Tenth. There never was a tenth. Izuku was the last, the ninth, or Nine as they liked to call him sometimes. But that was a name they only used back in the day, when the ghost of the past didn't know him all that well, when their minds weren't fully integrated yet. So he had no idea what to expect, how to react when a shimmery orange figure manifested next to Second. His form was unclear, vague and ever changing, but his aura, the feelings that radiated off of this spirit- It couldn't be more clear.