Hey guys! Here's another chapter, a short one! I hope y'all enjoy this one! I also wanted to say that each and every one of you, each of you lovely Readers of mine, are so so SO appreciated! I love every single one of you! Cheers to you, my Readers! To that degree, the song above is Pretty Shining People by George Ezra!
Tik.
Tok.
Tik.
Tok.
Izuku counted the clock's rhythmic tune as his eyes locked onto the sky, mind replaying the event that happened mere hours ago; hundreds of streaks entered the sky, blazing like shooting stars as they rose and Izuku knew what they were.
What was happening...
His practical mind, one that was borne out of desperation and need during his vigilante era, screamed out, seeing a massive weapon against All for One vanish into the void of space, never to be seen again. But his emotional side, one that was borne out of love and care, saw this as a relief, the world wouldn't be completely destroyed by fire of untold heat and deadliness.
His family wouldn't be part of the ash that covered the tome Earth would become if those weapons were fired.
And yet, Izuku knew that his chances of winning against All for One was at the bottom of the barrel; he had no army, no support, nothing but the clothes on his back and a ruin of the mighty Tartarus as a home.
How grim the future looked.
But...
Standing up, Izuku cracked his neck. He had no time to wallow in his self pity, his depression; he had to look beyond himself and to do that he had to stop looking solely at Japan, and instead the world entirely.
In his panic, in his fear and misery, he hadn't considered support from beyond the boundaries of Japan, and yet, it would help immensely if he could get the world behind him, if he could get support from the other heroes around the world, if he could corner All for One in Japan.
And...
Izuku knew what All for One wanted; he knew that creature wanted to be the 'Demon King', to rule over the world, and to have One for All back.
One of which he has, One for All, and if Izuku could get the remaining countries to rally behind him, he could lure All for One into a trap far better than the first one that the heroes of Japan had created.
After that, he'd have All for One right in his crosshairs...
"Can you finish it, Ninth?" First asks calmly.
Could he? Could he kill All for One? His soul, his spirit rejects the idea. Even if the man was a monster of Lovecraftian dreams, Izuku couldn't kill him. And yet, killing the man would put an end to the suffering of millions, perhaps billions, of people who would suffer under him, who have suffered under him.
People like Shigaraki...
"Seventh, could Tenko be alive? Like you are? Like the Vestiges? Is he alive within All for One?"
Weird quirk science of sentient quirks, but Izuku saw Tenko and All for One merge, did that destroy both All for One and Tenko, or is there a shard of each still alive?
Does that mean the body of All for One buried under Tartarus is alive?
Izuku shivered in dread. He never checked, he was so busy surviving that the thought was lost in between the flood. That was an issue that could be sorted out in a bit.
"It's... Possible?"
Unlikely, he had heard between the lines, but not impossible; separating the two would be his goal then, ripping All for One and Tenko Shimura apart, and with more planning, he would know what to do after that.
"Is that Shigaraki brat really worth trying to save?" Izuku mentally glared at the voice, and he felt Fifth shrivel.
"Yes. Shigaraki has done irredeemable things, and yet, there is Hope in there. I saw a child in there that needed saving; I'm going to reach out, be the hand that saves a life." Second's voice calls out.
"And yet, if this goes wrong, it's not just you who will fall, the World will fall with you, is that a risk you're willing to take? To risk the world for one life?" Izuku doesn't waver, but before he could answer, First puts out.
"That's true, but remember you did the same for me; I was All for One's brother, you knew nothing about me, I could have been as bad as him, but Second, you reached your hand that day." Izuku grinned brightly.
"One for All is a quirk born from that single act of trust, to reach out for someone, that is what One for All is."
Yes, even if he didn't have big, dangerous nuclear bombs behind him, he still had a bit of faith, trust and a sprinkling of Main Characte-
*Ahem*
Pixie dust.
He had a sprinkling of Pixie dust.
All he had to do was travel around the world to grovel at the peoples feet in order for them to fight back against All for One and his tyrannical plans.
It would take weeks to get that support however, and in that time, who knows what All for One could do; the man was on the path to his so-called Ascension at the rate he was pushing, and the world would be forced to bow to him.
Not that Izuku would let that happen, even if he had to take on the might of the full Front himself.
Plan Z for later; for now, he needed to make a Plan A and a Plan B and go from there.
With a pen in hand, Izuku began to jot down information and plans on an old notebook he's scavenged, ideas and thoughts flowed onto the page until his pen suddenly stopped at a thought.
"Could All for One's quirk be forced onto others?" Izuku knew for a fact All for One could force quirks on others, he did create One for All, but could he force his own quirk on others, transferring his quirk and consciousness from one host to another like he had done to Shigaraki. Effective immortality?
How does one stop that?
By destroying the quirk completely.
Izuku needed to obliterate All for One, the very quirk that birthed One for All and caused so much pain throughout the two hundred years it had been around.
Biting his lip, Izuku thought heavily. All for One was a quirk beyond powerful, who knows what could ultimately destroy it other than something equal to its power...
Like One for All.
However, all of this hinges on the thought that All for One can be transferred from host to host without issue and the consciousness of All for One overriding the original host's conscious mind.
If not, Izuku could just... end All for One and let the quirk die with him.
Deep in his guts, however, Izuku knew that it wouldn't be that simple. All for One had been planning this for over 200 years, and even with an immortality quirk, he would never let his twisted dream go without clinging onto it with every bone in his body, and every quirk in his possession.
Just killing All for One won't just work.
It won't just end there, no doubt that All for One will come back; he's like a particularly stubborn cockroach.
He can get to that later.
After an hour of plotting the downfall of a budding evil empire, Izuku snaps his notebook closed with a satisfied hum; he had plans in plans built on sub-plans.
He felt like Nezu at that moment.
But, the main thing was his plan. He knew how he was going to end this massive nightmare, and to do it, he needed people, needed the best of the best.
He needed an Elite Squad.
After watching the Front's Vanguard Squad, the best of which the Front had to offer; he knew he needed his own to take the fight to All for One and his army.
Japan wouldn't cut it, the heroes here were too few in numbers and the most were still alive were only wet behind the ear heroes; the veterans and rising stars of the Japanese Heroes were swiftly killed by the Front during the first fight.
They were less of a threat to All for One that way.
So, the rest of the Top Heroes around the world may help, he had no doubt that the ones that came here before everything went to Hell, the heroes from the United Kingdom and the United States may want to return, if for nothing more than kicking All for One in the teeth for what he'd done.
Hopefully, there would be more who were willing to join the fight.
And little did he know of the collective of Top Heroes around the world that were breathing down All for One's neck, all ready to jump on the chance to attack the man that destroyed the world.
Shouta is Tired.
Exhausted, burned out, weary. There were so many words to use to describe how Shouta was feeling, but Tired was the simplest. Tired physically, emotionally and mentally.
He had no idea as to how long they'd been down there for, it could have been days or weeks for all Shouta knew; Eri was getting restless and so was Hizashi.
Neither were people who just sat around, they didn't do sitting around, they were active people at heart. And it broke Shouta's heart seeing them so down and depressed, he hurt so bad at seeing his loved ones hurt.
Yet, the other option was flat out death or worse.
And that terrified the underground group immeasurable. To fear something more than death itself.
So they remained in that tiny, hidden bunker under the very city that the new Devil called home; living in absolute fear of discovery, fear of making a noise, fear of making any kind of movement outside of the bunker.
It was a terrible existence.
But better than what was offered on the surface.
Luckily, and Shouta still thanked whatever Deity or higher power was out there, that the bunker was stocked with enough food to last a full 2 years inside before it ran out. Water also wasn't a problem, they were technically illegally, not really anymore, connected to the city's water lanes.
They were surviving.
They will survive this.
They'll be alright.
A small hope, but Hope nonetheless, and it is Hope that carries a person through the darkest of times. That is what Shouta believed, that is what he saw in his Problem Child so long ago; A spark of hope, and one he knew that the kid would burn, would work so hard for, to build into the Flames of Hope that would burn away the dark in the world, and leave it brighter for the future.
A Bright Future led by Hope.
Carried by the next generation, the ones who will carry it like a torch until it is needed to once more light up the darkest of days.
People will remember...
The World will remember...
That Hope, as it always has, will prevail.
"God that's so cheesy Sho!"
"Shut it, 'Sashi!"
(Hey, how are you?)