Timeloop Trouble

Chapter 39 - Quirky Revelations

Izuku couldn't sleep. How could he? The comet that was supposed to pass by ten years from now had made an early appearance, one that only happened every hundred years. It made him remember things he apparently forgot. That Kacchan had been a part of One For All even after that timeline had passed. That Izuku was able to connect to Tenko on a level that should've only been possible if he possessed All For One. His whole theory about a linear time loop, however crazy it sounded, suddenly gained a lot more evidence.

It already had a solid base, namely Kacchan's essence within the quirk. A part Izuku had forgotten about over the course of time during their many failed attempts at reversing this loop. It was a link to their original timeline, something that hadn't happened at the time when he dreamed about it. Then there was Tenko, who'd reacted to Nana during the second timeline. That shouldn't have been possible, either. Not without some sort of connection allowing their minds to mingle. Something like One For All and All For One.

And now the comet... The very same one Izuku saw in his first life, now passing by way too early. It made him wonder whether the comet had passed by in other timelines, too, but that he simply hadn't noticed, too busy trying to fix things to look at what was happening around him. How many years had passed since it all started? Izuku wasn't sure... He'd died before the loop was finished often enough that his experience itself wasn't enough to take everything into account. But it was enough to validate one thing, to be certain of something he wasn't sure about before.

This wasn't time travel.

This time loop wasn't a loop at all. It was sequential, linear. Not everything got rewinded, not fully. So that must mean there were other sorts of quirks in the mix. Illusions, memory alteration, maybe also hallucinogenic ones, Izuku wasn't sure. It would explain why they were never able to figure out how Jikan's machine works. It wasn't a time machine, nor a perfect rewind machine. It was something else, some sort of hybrid of dreams and reality. Which meant that everything here, everything he experienced, was based on the one true timeline. The real timeline.

It would explain why everything seemed to warp towards the given path. Why there was something akin to fate keeping everything together, setting certain experiences in stone while others were far more fluid. It meant reality as he once knew it still existed, buried underneath all of these tricks and lies. But even so, years upon years had passed. And so the time Izuku so desired to return to had passed with it. Gone forever more. Which made him wonder what their current reality looked like without the influence of Jikan's fucked up machine. I mean, in normal circumstances, they would've all died a long time ago, right? So rewind must affect their bodies more than anything.

What about their minds, though? Sure, their memories got altered, but that quirk was easily penetrable in the right circumstances. It mustn't be as strong as rewind, then. Which made him wonder why they didn't use rewind for everything? Maybe that wasn't logistically possible? Maybe time travel was still a fever dream, after all. Kacchan shifted next to him, making Izuku look over. Yeah, he could bring back Kacchan's memories right here, right now. Undo the effects of whatever quirk they were under by simply telling him to jump off a roof and pray for a quirk-

Wait.

Quirks.

Jikan's goal was to restore All Might to greatness, right? And by rewinding their bodies, it was only logical for him to regain his strength and power, but what about his quirk..? One For All couldn't be transferred without the specific intent to do so, and Izuku had never- God, this idea was stupid and reckless and had absolutely no foundation whatsoever but- He glanced aside at Kacchan again, who was deep asleep. It was probably nothing. This was all just some stupid hypothesis, but Izuku was going to drive himself insane if he didn't at least try. A few minutes later, he was standing by the cliffside, shivering as a cold breeze made its way underneath his clothes.