章 2348: 90
Chapter 90: Miasma
A/N: More on the ongoing conflict! We take a bit of a deep dive into another realm before getting into the thick of things, and even then things will be a bit more reserved. Hope you all enjoy!
Izuku wasn't on Ashido's back anymore, playing the part of a passenger on his through an active battlefield.
He found himself in a place entirely different. He was pinned to the ground by some invisible force, his limbs and torso stuck but his head free to move. A cloudy mist covered his mouth, inhibiting his ability to call out to anyone.
With what little movement granted to his neck, Izuku found the landscape around him was an endless void of swirling black and grey. His surroundings had little more but—
"Midoriya? Is that you?"
And Togata was just across from him, sprawled over the floor just like him. Except for the fact that Togata's mouth remained uncovered. And that some unknown lady was kneeling beside him, her hand on his head and her eyes looking at Izuku with a narrowed gaze.
"Oh, right!" Togata exclaimed, his constant cheer not dimmed in the slightest.
"Meet Miss Shimura!" Togata gestured his head towards the woman. "She was All Might's mentor!"
So she's one of those vestiges that you talk about?
Or, at least, that was what Izuku had attempted to say. But with the misty covering over his mouth, all that came out was:
"Mmph mmph!"
"Oh, right," Togata muttered. He looked over at Shimura. "Why is it that Midoriya can't talk, but I can?"
Shimura didn't take her eyes away from Izuku when she responded. "He shouldn't even be here in the first place."
"Well it's not like he wanted to be here, you know. And neither did I, actually." Taylor appeared beside Izuku's prone form in a burst of smoke. Unlike Shimura, Taylor was standing, her arm resting behind her back as she glared down at Shimura.
"Wait!" Togata called out. "Who are you?"
Taylor blinked, her gaze moving over to the prone form of Togata. "Right,"she sighed. "Damn. That's two now. Sorry Izuku."
"Mmph!"
"Anyways," Shimura interrupted. "As for your question Mirio, your inability to move is nothing to worry about; it's something we can remedy in time. Moving in this plane is rather difficult after all. Though…"
Shmura looked at Taylor. "But it seems as if your friend's companion is unaffected." She examined Taylor again, Shimura taking in every minute detail as she scanned Taylor up and down. "Who are you again?"
Taylor ignored Shimura's query, instead turning her head and looking off in the distance, a grimace slowly taking form on her face. "Shouldn't you be informing them of more pressing matters, at the moment."
Shimura scowled. "We aren't done with this; I will have Mirio look into you. However, as for what you said, you're right. I never thought that I'd ever see him again since I'd passed, but alas…"
"Mirio." Shimura tilted his head slightly towards the direction Taylor was looking in. "Look, right there."
Izuku did the same, prompting himself to turn his gaze in the same direction. What he saw only worsened the already present feeling of unease.
It was Shigaraki. And just like Togata and Izuku, the villain had someone else with him as well. And said companion was the entire cause of Izuku's worry.
All For One himself was standing over Shigaraki. The two of them seemed to be fighting, a verbal brawl between the horribly scarred bogeyman of the villain underworld and the one who seemed to be growing to replace him.
Izuku was too far to hear exactly what was going on, but what he could see was enough for him to make a couple conclusions himself. One: Shigaraki was refusing whatever it was All For One was spouting out of his mouth. And two: All For One was adamant about whatever it was that he wanted. And even without knowing the full details, Izuku knew that neither outcome would be good in the long run.
Their argument kept going on and on. And just when Izuku thought that it would devolve into a fight, the muffled shouting stopped. And he suddenly found All For One just a few feet away from him, Shigaraki firmly in his grasp.
"Hmm…" All For One hummed, paying little heed to the struggling Shigaraki in his arms. If anything, All For One's already crude smile grew wider with Shigaraki's struggles, especially when the boy realized his mouth was covered in the same mist that covered Izuku's mouth.
"All For One," Shimura muttered, moving to stand.
"Oh?" All For One asked, obviously amused. "What's this? A ghost is talking to me?"
"Listen here," Shimura began. "You—"
"Yes, yes. I'm sure that whatever dribble you have to say to me hasn't changed in the few decades since we last talked. So why don't we go onto more recent developments, hmm? Like young Togata here."
All For One inclined his head down to look at the aforementioned boy. "As much as it begrudges me to say it, a truly fine choice of One For All's successor. Perhaps one of the few good choices that your own successor has made, Shimura."
"But that's all old news, don't you think!?" All For One gestured out with one hand. "We have another pair with us here right now, don't we? And a pair with a much more interesting secret, in my opinion."
"Izuku Midoriya," All For One said, turning his gaze to Izuku. "I must say, it's a pleasure. Though, a bit too early of a reunion in my tastes. But at the same time, I'm rather glad. You've piqued my interest tenfold. Why, you ask?"
All For One laughed. "Well, if you really must know, through all my years on this Earth I've come to some rather amusing discoveries about myself. One being that, whenever I take someone's quirk from them, a little piece of them comes along with it."
"Every night I'd end up getting visited by these remnants, and they'd only leave whenever I relinquished their respective quirk. It wasn't until I met with Garaki that I understood what was happening."
"I thought this was something unique to myself. But when I'd given my brother his quirk and incidentally created One For All, I learned that I passed the same capability to him! I can only imagine; every wielder of One For All becoming trapped on this blighted plane for all of eternity!"
"What is your point?!" Shimura called out. "What's—"
"My point?" All For One asked, bemused. "It's quite obvious, really." He gestured to Taylor.
"Izuku Midoriya. This girl that you've brought here with you — or rather, the reason that you're even here talking to me in the first place. She's that entity from before, isn't she? The one that rejected my attempted removal of your quirk."
Izuku sent daggers at All For One with his gaze.
"Oh my, splendid!" All For One cheered."You don't even need to say anything. The look of your eyes is enough."
He looked over at Taylor. "I'll be honest, you weren't what I was expecting. Not for the mysterious force that rejected me in Kamino, nor for another who has become able to pass their own being with the passing of their quirk. Of course, I highly doubt that you'd be telling me if this accomplishment was something done of conscious thought, hmm?"
Taylor scoffed. "I don't know. What do you think?"
All For One chuckled. "Ah well, it is as expected. It seems as if the world has produced another nuisance. Though, I suppose that I should be glad that your power is merely the control of bugs, and nothing like what my brother had received."
"You think that I can't beat you if I tried?" Taylor retorted. "Is that what you're saying?"
All For One grinned. "Depends. And are you saying that I can't take you in a fight? That I can't take your host between my two pinky fingers and crush you like a toothpick?"
"You have guts, little girl. Perhaps I'll leave you alone for now; let you grow and see where you end up in a few decades' time. Though, I suppose that that decision is up to the boy you're playing host to, hmm?"
All For One suddenly sighed, looking over just past Shimura at another man who had suddenly appeared. "Oh look. Seems that you've finally joined us, brother. And I wasn't even done. Couldn't you have waited a bit more."
"I grow tired of hearing you monologue," the new coming vestige said. He looked over at the restrained form of Shigaraki by All For One's side. "Is this the boy you've taken to manipulating now?"
"Hmm…" All For One hummed. He looked back at Shigaraki. "Well, I suppose that I have no reason to hold him back anymore." He let Shigaraki fall to the floor.
"By the way Tomura," All For One said, his smile growing impossibly wider. "Did you know that Nana Shimura, this woman right here, this past wielder of One For All. Did you know that she's your grandmother?"
The world suddenly cracked, an ear-shattering screech filling the air and ripples upon ripples of force beginning to pummel Izuku's defenseless body.
"Ah, yes!" All For One shouted. "As is by your will, Tomura! One For All is acting in accordance to your attempt of taking it for yourself! Your unbridled rage is working against the very tethers holding this place together!"
Just as the words left All For One's mouth, cracks began to appear all over his form. It only made the man smile even more. "And it seems that said rage is pointed at me as well. Brilliant! This is the birth of the Symbol of Chaos! Of the Symbol of Fear!"
All For One's brother scoffed. "We will not concede One For All to you! Not as long as this boy that we've chosen lives!"
All For One smirked. "We shall see."
All For One tugged on Shigaraki, pulling his form closer despite the killing intent pointed straight at him. "Come, Tomura! We have a chance to finally take this power for ourselves! Our strength combined will be enough, and these lowly spirits can finally be put to rest!"
"He doesn't seem very fond of the idea, All For One!" Shimura yelled out.
"Oh, but that's the thing," All For One announced. "That doesn't matter. Tomura will accept me. Whether he likes it or not."
All For One and Shigaraki launched forward. Shimura and the other vestige stood their ground, standing over the silent Togata with their arms raised out towards the approaching threat.
And Izuku? All Izuku could do was watch as the two forces collided in a bright flash of light.
Izuku jerked into being, the bright flash of light receding from his vision. He found himself back to reality, still stuck to Ashido's backside as she slid across the battlefield.
He took a look around, jerking his head left and right as he scanned his surroundings. Up above, Togata and Shigaraki rebounded off of one another, ricocheting off towards the ground. Considering everything, it seemed as if no time had passed at all.
"What the fuck was that!?" Izuku yelled out.
"Whoa!"Ashido squeaked, very nearly falling to the ground. "What the hell Midoriya! What are you cursing all about? And what did I tell you about yelling in my ear?! You're gonna get us killed! Heck, you're going to get yourself killed when I get you back when this is all over!"
Izuku took a breath, eyeing the falling forms of Togata and Shigaraki — the former finally coming to a stop midair just a few feet from the ground, and the latter manifesting endless spires from his back in order to steady themselves on the ground — before placing his attention back on Ashido, going along to rest his head in the crane of her neck.
"Sorry—" he said, making sure to keep watch his volume "Again, that is. It's just… this got a whole lot more complicated in the second or so I blacked out and found myself talking to All For One."
"..."
Did I say something wrong?
"Ashi—"
"No no no!" Ashido screamed. "Give me a second to process! You just— I just—"
"Later," Izuku said. "I promise."
Izuku turned his head to look at Shigaraki, who remained stationary and unmoving where it landed. "And I think you can slow down a bit. I don't think Shigaraki all there in the head… but keep a steady course, just in case."
Izuku rested his head on Ashido once more. "I need a second. Just, to think. Alright?"
"Mhmm," Ashido responded back. "I'll keep watch."
Good. But what the hell was that!?"
"Sorry. It seems that All For One and One For All were having a moment. Turns out they have a mindscape-sort of dimension too. Rather coincidental, don't you think?"
And we were pulled in because…?
"Because we were tapping into Shigaraki's connection to his shard. It's rather simple, really. Though I'm a bit surprised that the shaon of Shigaraki kept itself hidden during the whole thing. Was it intentional, I wonder?"
Does it matter?
"Hmm. Who knows? … Oh. Huh."
'Huh?' 'Huh' what?
"Oh, you're about to see."
"The hell is this?!"
Wait a second… That voice...
"Setsuna?" Izuku asked, raising his head towards where he heard the voice. And lo and behold, indeed there floated the upper half of Setsuna from the torso up, just above them.
"Yeah it's me!" she exclaimed. "You have some explaining to do, Izuku!"
Ashido snickered. "Sounds like you're about to be killed by another girl before I can do the deed."
"You're still attached to me, you know," Izuku retorted.
Ashido's eyes widened. "Oh shi—"
Before the duo could react, Setsuna's floating form zoomed and descended to their level. But instead of the thorough beating that he expected, Izuku found himself enveloped in a rather suffocating bear hug.
"Do you have any idea how worried I've been?! They wouldn't let us look for you, and look what happened because of it! You look horrible!"
"And I feel horrible too," Izuku muttered, struggling to speak due to Setsuna's hug. "And I'm pretty sure I'm running just on adrenaline right now, and I certainly don't need anymore injuries, so if you could wait to hug me more later…"
"Yeah!" Ashido shouted. "I'm… here too you know! Heck, how are you squeezing so hard?!"
"Sorry, sorry," Setsuna backed off, releasing her hold on the too. She cleared her throat, and suddenly her gaze turned much more narrowed.
A loud explosion went off, right where Shigaraki's unmoving form had been. The spectacle included a varied mix of explosions, fire and ice, and bluish-green waves descending on Shigaraki's battered form, unrelenting lest the villain be given a chance to make a move.
"A couple of us separated from the main group," Setsuna answered the duo's unsaid question. "That's Todoroki and Hado-senpai. And Bakugou. Iida and I are supposed to be escorting everyone else who's unable to continue out of the general vicinity."
"So you went ahead to find us instead of helping Iida?" Izuku questioned.
Setsuna shrugged her shoulders. "They told me you were out here. I wasn't going to leave you." She cleared her throat, her eyes narrowing as she gazed upon the duo. Anyways, mind telling me why the hell you two are out here in the middle of all of this?"
"I—"
"You better not say that you were helping despite the condition you're in."
Izuku promptly closed his mouth. And was subsequently met with a smack to his head.
"You idiot! Don't you know how reckless you are?! Why can't you just know when to stop and let others do the work?!"
"Ah! But that's what Ashido was for!" Izuku added hurriedly. "She carried around since I was too injured to walk myself."
Setsuna glared at Izuku for a long moment. And then she turned that same deadly gaze right at Ashido.
"He made me do it!" Ashido immediately shouted out.
"Wha— I did not!" Izuku stuttered.
"Did too!"
"It was your idea to get Rock Lock to stick us together!"
"But it was still your plan that—"
"Okay!" Setsuna interrupted. "Stop you two!"
Setsuna softened her gaze, encouraging the duo to settle down and relent from their squabble. "Look, Setsuna began, "we need to get out of here and as far away as possible. There's this really big guy coming this way. He's carrying the entire League on his back and—"
A loud, guttural roar echoed through the air. The ground almost seemed to shake with its mere presence, being near loud enough to where the three of them had to cover their ears.
"Are you serious!?" Setsuna screamed once the roar subsided. "That freaking monster doesn't know how to fucking stop! It should've dropped asleep like a baby a long time ago!"
Ashido let out a nervous laugh. "I'm assuming that was him?"
"Yeah. Come on, we need to move. Ashido; you rest up. Let me hold Izuku on the way back."
Both Ashido and Izuku looked aumbly at her for a pregnant pause.
"What?" Setsuna asked.
"Rock Lock bounded us together, remember?" Izuku said. "I'm probably stuck on here until we see him again."
Setsuna scowled. "Oh alright!" She started off in the direction of the others, gesturing to follow. "Come on! Let's try to regroup before the rest of the League get here!"
Ashido and Setsuna dashed off, not taking another moment to lounge around. Izuku was left free to examine the battleground once more. His gaze instantly locked onto Shigaraki. Despite the villains heavy wounds and gruesome burns, he still seemed to be fighting strong. Togata wasn't too far behind, with his dip in his top speed as obvious as the rips and tears in his costume.
Todoroki, Hado, and Bakugou were doing a fair job in providing support, though Izuku had a general idea that they wouldn't have lasted as long as they already had if Togata had been out for the count.
All things considered, things seemed to be looking up. But with the knowledge that the rest of the remaining League of Villains was but a moment's away, Izuku knew that the day would only get worse than it already was.
And despite the glaring reality he faced, he didn't know if he wanted to even imagine how much worse it could get. He could only hope that he and the others could pull through. Because otherwise...
A/N: Next chapter may be a bit different than what most of you would expect… or it might be that way halfway through the chapter… or maybe not at all. I'm not sure — I'm still deciding. Guess you'll just all have to wait and see!
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